Magnus: Here goes the new chapter, next will be the last one of this arc, so, enjoy this, and get ready for the next bloody battle, and remember, Read and Review!
Disclaimer: We don't own Naruto, as well as anything you believe is being mentioned in this fanfic, Reiko Zonbolt, Arashi Uzumaki and Yukina Hyuga belongs to Kage Bijuu, the Harversters are co-owned by Kage Bijuu and me, the other OCs belong to me
Chapter 28
Wave – Part 5
It was near noon when the group arrived to Tazuna's home, from saving Haku to this point, it was a boring trip, with Haku doing most of the questions, up to now, Arashi and Yukina were grateful for his presence, since Kakashi and Sasuke forgot about them being not human, Naruto for his part was doing his best to creep out everyone, his smile toward Haku was doing wonders on scaring out the delicate boy, who, despite being a tool for Zabuza, couldn't help but to feel like a mouse in front of a tiger under the gaze of the blond chaos bringer
"Well, we are finally here, feel at home", Tazuna said as he open the door of his humble home
"Nice home... but we won't fit inside, not all of us of course", Lee pointed out, ready to take room in the wilderness, for he loathed stealing the comfort of others
"Nah, it's ok, some of us can share beds with our mates, don't you agree, Arashi?", Naruto stated, and Arashi nodded in a very firm way, holding Yukina close to him
"True, and I believe that Neji-nii-san will have no trouble sharing his futon with Tenten, isn't it, Nii-san?", Hinata teased, Neji and Tenten deeply blushed, but said nothing
"And I'll sleep with you two!", Anko playfully said while hugging both Naruto and Hinata, who struggled against her, but it was more a game than an actual struggle
"Well, then Kakashi, Sasuke, Lee and Haku can share the other room, since we only have two spare rooms, and it will be already too much with the couples and the chaperon there", Tazuna offered
"It's ok, I don't mind", Haku replied with a smile, but the other two weren't that happy
"NO WAY IN THE FUCKING HELL!!!", Both Kakashi and Sasuke shouted, terrorized by the idea of being with Haku in the same room
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!, Scared of a little boy?!, RIDICULOUS!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!", Lee's boisterous voice echoed far in the distance, scaring animals and other things in the nearby, and alerting the other residents of the house
"What is going on?... Dad!, you are back!, and who are this people?", A beautiful woman asked, she immediately caught Kakashi's eye
"Ah!, Tsunami!, these people are here to protect me and to ensure that the bridge is completed, please, prepare dinner for our guests, it has been a long journey, and they already saved my life twice!", Tazuna said to the woman, which was now identified as Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami
"Hey, brother Lee, I believe that it will be impolite for us to take away these people's food, why don't you go and get some fresh meat, while Hinata and I help this beautiful woman to cook dinner?", Naruto asked, and Lee happily nodded
"We'll help him out", Kakashi said, while dragging Sasuke to follow the overmuscled boy
Two hours later...
Tsunami thought that by helping, Naruto and Hinata had meant to cut vegetables, or only moving things, she was wrong, Naruto and Hinata almost drove her away from the kitchen, where they took total control, it was as if they were dancing, preparing lots and lots of food
"I didn't know we had that much food...", Tsunami muttered, in fact, she didn't recognize half of the food they were preparing, suddenly, Lee entered the kitchen, with a big boar on his shoulders
"Here is the meat, more fresh is impossible!", Lee happily said, while puting the dead animal on the floor, where he started to remove the skin and organs, Tsunami watched him in awe
"Hey, we got some meat too!", Kakashi whined, he was holding two rabbits, which was not impressive in the eyes of the beautiful woman
"Geez!, Kakashi!, how can you expect to get her attention when Lee has a bigger one than you?", Anko teased in a way that earned the laughs of many of the guests, and Kakashi growled, he wished to get bloody revenge
'It seems that they do not get along at all, perhaps we can turn them against each other', Haku thought
Dinner time...
At the table, Tazuna and his family were sharing a wonderful dinner with the Konoha shinobies and the other guests, Naruto was telling jokes about how this Gato was so screwed up with them there to protect the bridge builder, earning boisterous laughs from Lee and Anko, and giggles from Hinata, Arashi and Yukina were only sharing glances and giggles, Neji and Tenten were telling stories about the town, and how poor it looked, Kakashi and Sasuke were silent, while Haku looked at all of them intently, she felt something warm, these people were nice to him, and not asked any question to him, no other than his name, where he lived, or how he kept his hair so smooth, until a small kid made his discomfort noticeable
"All of you should return to your places, you are going to get killed if you keep playing hero!", The boy shouted, his face was pained and angry at the same time
"Why do you say that, kiddo?, can't you see that there is pretty powerful people here?", Anko asked, her face was very proud of her team and her own power
"Can't you understand?, Gato has the money, and the power, he does as he sees fit, he kills anyone who opposes him, he won't hesitate to kill you!", the boy ranted
"INARI!", Tsunami shouted, unable to take it anymore, Inari just ran to his room, and a loud sound of a door getting closed reached the group
"Please, forgive my son, he has been like this since...", Tsunami started to explain, some of the guests felt sad for the story, others felt their blood boiling in rage
Inari's room, a few minutes later...
Inari was looking at the photo of the man that adopted him, and loved his mother so much, the man that taught him what it means to be a hero, he was the hero of the people, he was his idol, he was everything he wanted to be, but Gato came and killed him, making an example of him, the image of his father smiling at him was still fresh on his mind and heart, like a deep burn
"He was such a great man, I'll gladly avenge his death by torturing Gato's body and soul", Naruto said, scaring the crap out of the kid
"HOW DID YOU ENTER?!", Inari shouted, he never heard him enter, in fact, his door was still closed and the lock was still on
"It maters not, you didn't mind to share your opinion downstairs, insulting us in the way, so, now you'll listen to my opinion, as I said before, I'll avenge that good man who was betrayed by his people, for his memory, not for those who abandoned him", Naruto stated, Inari's face grew in anger
"But!...", Inari tried to fight back, but wasn't allowed to
"But what?, are you going to tell me tha he wasn't betrayed by the towns people, by You?!, DID YOU EVEN TRIED TO SAVE HIM?!, DID ANYONE EVEN LIFTED A FINGER TO SAVE HIM?!, DID ANYONE AT LEAST YELL AT GATO TO STOP AND FREE HIM?!..., no, what the people did, was to remain silent, to expect their hero to free himself, to save himself, to keep fighting for all of you, yeah, he was a great hero, but even the greatest of the heroes is bound to fall if no one stands with him, if no one support him, tell me, Inari, did your daddy raised a coward, didn't he taught you to be valiant, to fight for what is good?, no?, then I feel sorry for him, his legacy would be better dead", Naruto explained with a rather cold voice, Inari was at the verge of tears, it was too much to be told that he betrayed his father
"YOU KNOW NOTHING!", Inari shouted, while punching Naruto, who made no effort to evade, the punch had absolute no effect on him
"Now, tell me boy, why can you fight back at me, the Yokai King, who can kill you and everyone in this country in the link of the eye, money or not, power or not... and not being able to stand against a rich man who have to hire tugs to do his dirty work, who have to rely on fear tactics to get what he wants, who most probably will be on the floor nursing due to this extremely weak punch you just threw at me?", Naruto asked, and Inari could swear, that the blond shinobi grew up to seven feet tall during his speech
"I see, I'll tell you something boy, this Gato, he won before his first strike, because you, all of you, decided to leave your fights on the shoulders of only one man, but when that man needed you, all of you, you turned your backs on him, because none of you wanted to fight... you don't need us to destroy Gato, if all of you could unite, if all of you could work together, then he'll run away with the tail between his legs, but that is not going to happen, right?, all of you are only concerned on staying alive, it's a shame that your father died for a buch of parasites like you", Naruto continued, Inari was now allowing his tears to run freely on his face, Naruto was leashing at him relentlessly, and he hasn't finished yet
"Before you dare to yell at me again, telling me that I don't know a fucking thing, let me told you something, my true father died defending the people of my village, he gave his life to allow that bunch of fucking idiot bastards to keep their stupid lives... I truly regret his decision, many time I've wished that he just decided to take me and run away from there, so we could have lived a life as a happy family, but no, I had to be left alone and suffer the mistreatment from the people, but some good things came of it, like my beloved Hinata, or my dear adoptive father, so, in their name, I won't let anything to stop me, what about you, Inari, isn't your father name enough for you to live strong, not even your mother is worth to protect?", Naruto asked, and the vanished from Inari's sight, leaving the young boy alone to his thoughts
"I think you were a little too harsh on him, Naruto-kun", Hinata reprimand him, just outside of Inari's room
"I know, but someone have to wake him up, he needs to be the spark that this town needs to revive, because if they don't come back to life, another Gato will appear, and all the effort will be wasted", Naruto explained, his face was pained, pained for leashing like that to the kid
"I understand that, but it doesn't make it any less horrible... let's go to our room already, I'm sure you are tired", Hinata said, feeling sorry for both Naruto and Inari
Later that night...
Kakashi and Sasuke decided to sleep on the living room, last thing they wanted was Anko teasing them nonstop for not only have flirting with a boy, but also slept on the same room, this left Haku and Lee alone in the room, both were silent and in opposite sides of the room, Haku thought that this would be the perfect time to be friendly with one of the most strong looking person of the group
"Humm... Lee, I know I may sound repetitive, but, I want to thank you for being so nice to me", Haku said while fidgeting to add more effect to his words
"It's noting, people like you are worth to have around", Lee replied
"Huh?, really?, why is that?", Haku asked, thanking to the darkness of the room for covering his blush, he wasn't attracted to Lee, but felt his word very touching
"Because you'll bring an awesome battle to us, I'm looking forward to it... by the way, when are you going to betray us?, is your leader very strong?", Lee asked, and Haku felt his heart stopping, somehow he was discovered, somehow this boy didn't mind about it, and somehow, he looked happy by it
"How?, how did you know?", Haku asked, too shocked to attempt to kill him
"You have the air of a seasoned warrior, maybe not the manliness that it carries, but your muscles, the way you moves, it says that you are a precision battler", Lee replied, showing no intentions on going either on the offensive or defense
"I see... what is going to happen now?", Haku asked, dumbfounded by the surreality of the situation, his mind told him to get ready to kill or be killed, but the air of peace and friendship told him to do nothing, that he was safe
"I think we should sleep, tomorrow my brother and sister will spar with me, I need a little of exercise, I don't know about you, but I suggest you to say nothing about this to Kakashi and his team, they know nothing", Lee replied, never eyeing Haku
"I see, Lee, won't you mind if I watch your spar?, I mean, knowing that I'm your... enemy", Haku asked, the last word left his mouth with a foul taste
"Sure you can, if you are better prepared to fight me, then it will be a much more enjoyable fight!", Lee replied cheerfully, and then he tured his head to look at Haku
"Haku, are you strong?", Lee asked, and Haku felt a shiver going thru his spine
"Well, I can take on several ANBU operatives without breaking a sweat", Haku replied, and cringed at the wicked smile that Lee sported
"And your leader is stronger than you?", Lee asked now, his emotion showing
"Yes, I guess, he trained me", Haku replied, unknowingly giving information to his enemy, and when the wicked smile turned into a sadistic grin, Haku felt the need to childishly covering his head with the blankets
"Great, maybe this time I will be able to use my full strength... Haku, please, tell your leader to fight to his fullest from the beginning, and if I have to fight with you, I beg you, do your best, I want a full scale battle, and I won't admit any less from a friend like you", Lee stated, that night Haku had nightmares of him and Zabuza beaten to a pulp by this boy alone... little he knew, that his nightmares would be pleasant dreams compared to what he'll face
Meanwhile, in a hidden lab near the border of the land of Rice...
Kimimaru, the most loyal of Orochimaru's vassals, was laying on bed, lots of tubes being attached to his body, which was weak and in pain, a terrible sickness struck his body, stealing his dream of being the next body of his precious Orochimaru, he held no hopes on rising again and being useful, but wanted to live until Orochimaru managed to get at least one of his goals, that's what kept him living, yet today, the terror he felt on his very soul was so much, in front of him, three cloaked men were standing, their faces hidden by an unnatural shadow, exuding astonishing power, the one with the iron mask was particularly fearsome, and unstoppable
"Kimimaru, you are bound to die, but that can be remedied, if you serve me...", Minato stated, his voice shook Kimimaru's soul
"I only live for Orochimaru-sama... if you mean any harm to him...", Kimimaru tried to sound brave, but his voice was weak, he may be able to stand and kill one of the other two, but not the masked one
"I serve the soon to come Overlord, but if you are truly concerned about your current lord, I can grant you this, I, and those who serve me, won't harm him, so long you willingly join us", Minato said, and Kimimaru relaxed, finally he found a way to be of use to his master, by giving his life to this powerful demon, his lord won't have to worry about them, meaning less obstacles for his goals
"Fine, I'll serve you, though I don't know what can a dieing man do for you", Kimimaru replied
"You have nothing to worry about, just put this ring on your finger, and the answer will be revealed to you", Minato replied, while giving the ring to Kimimaru, who put it on his finger immediately, then the darkness enveloped him, and from the bed, a new Ring Wraith raised
"Only five left... MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!", Minato's laugh echoed everywhere, startling everyone in there, but by the time someone got to the room, nobody was there, not even the sick Kimimaru, the one who checked up cursed his luck for having to deliver such news to his leader
Scraps From the Personal Journal of Dr. Marcus Sronghold
Third Entry
These Konoha kids are very funny, today, Sakura and I, attended this blind boy, Naraku, we were cleaning his empty eye sockets, my apprentice cringed at first, but she managed to do the job, all while the two teammates of the blind boy where having a verbal fight, by what I heard, the Maeda boy is in love with the young Zonbolt, but is an unrequited love, Reiko is not only already engaged to someone else, but in total love with her designated husband, whenever Matsukaze tries to get on her good graces, the girl describes just how much better is her soon to be husband, it was fun to watch the young Maeda, although after they left, Sakura surprised me with her comment
"Please, don't tell me I was like that with the Uchiha!... well, at least I've chosen a better man this time"
Now I wonder, who is my apprentice after?, I just hope this don't distract her, for that can cost someone else life...
Magnus: I hope you enjoyed this, Next chapter will be the epic battle at the bridge, is time to make your bets on the outcome... so, how many seconds will Zabuza last against Naruto and the gang, see ya in next chapter!