Hello readers,
So finally I start with the Wave-arc. It is this arc in the manga-anime which has a big impact on the story especially the main character Naruto. It is here after the battle on the bridge thus Naruto decides his way of a ninja.
Also the arc has one of my favorite characters in it, Haku. Though Haku is categorized as a male in the manga-anime and also sites, the Haku in my story will be a female in my fiction. I have started a poll of what is to be done with Haku so do what.
Chapter 4 – Journey to Wave.
It was 7 in the morning that Naruto arrived at his apartment after about 2 hours of morning training. Normally the morning training session continued till about 9 in the morning but today he had to end it early to get ready to meet his team by in an hour for heir first C-rank mission. Even though it was just a normal C-rank mission but still he excited since it was way better than the D-rank missions their sensei chose since being a genin.
A D-rank mission in his opinion was nothing but chores which people felt lazy to do. But for some reason the missions they performed till date were the he felt that they were the worst kind of chores out of all the piles of chores. He was certain by now that they had to take on these chores because of their lazy-ass jounin sensei and was sure the chronologically late bastard was taking sadistic pleasure watching his students suffer.
Naruto took a shower to wash of the sweat from the morning workout after which he proceeded to pack his stuff for the mission. Naruto's attire consisted of dark blue shinobi pants, dark blue tee shirt, orange half sleeve jacket, blue shinobi sandals and fingerless gloves also a shuriken holder was strapped to each thigh.
Naruto sealed his camping gear, basic medical kit, a trap kit, food and water (mostly ramen), extra set of clothes and extra weapons in some scrolls and stuffed them in his utility belt along his waist. He sealed the basic equipment of sealing (brush, ink bottles and any other stuff) in the containment seal on his left wrist. He sealed a few kunais in the seals placed on his gloves. The two seals would only be visible if he applied his chakra to it. The seal on the gloves was special as he could summon the number of kunais he wanted by applying a bit of chakra but only when he wanted. Thus the seal would not interfere when he molded chakra while using a jutsu.
Only 15 minutes before he would meet his team at the east gate. He left his house after activating the security seal he put on his door.
…At the same time at Uchiha compound…
The two Uchiha siblings were dressed in their normal attire. The two had packed the essentials such as the camping gear, food, water, medical kit, extra weapons and extra clothes, Hitomi also had packed stuffs girls need (a.n. I am a boy and so have no clue what extra stuffs girls carry). The two were now walking through the Uchiha compound heading towards the east gate to meet their team.
"So what do you think of our team?" asked Hitomi.
Sasuke had a raised eyebrow at the sudden question, "Hnn… Why do you ask?"
The two of them hardly talked about their teammates, hell other than the team meetings and missions they had never interacted with their teammates. Though they had some interesting moments with the team of which most of them were because of the blonde but even then it had never been a reason of talking about them. So his sister asking him about his opinion on the team members had taken Sasuke by surprise.
"Well simple really, from today on until the next week or more we will be with them 24 hours of the day", said Hitomi as it was obvious.
"I see…" said Sasuke.
The two walked in silence for a minute after which Sasuke spoke with an annoyed voice breaking the silence surrounding them, "I am not going to pass any opinion on Kakashi-sensei. As for the other two, Sakura would be good in my books if she stops pestering me for dates and decides to spend some of her time to be a better ninja."
"Ya, I think you are right about that…" said Hitomi as she released a sigh and slowly her lips started to form a grin on her face as she continued "… so you want her to spend some of her time to be a better ninja (to which Sasuke looked at her a bit confused)… so she could swoon over you for most of her time."
Sasuke looked at her with a horrified look as he spoke, "What! How could you even think like that?"
Hitomi couldn't help but laugh at the horrified expression on her brother's face. She knew well enough how much of all people he was the one who hated the fan girls the most and Sakura was one of his biggest fan girl.
Sakura was the member of the 'Uchiha Sasuke fan club', a club in which the girls thought they were the perfect brie/girlfriend for Sasuke as they loved him though they knew nothing about the real Sasuke and also thought that he would be there to save them out of any dangers.
Sasuke was glaring daggers at his sister seeing her laugh at his cost and then suddenly a sly grin spread on his face as he spoke, "I swear the dobe is having adverse effect on you being close to him after all you are the dobe's hime."
Suddenly Hitomi's laughter died as she looked at her brother with her eyes gone wide as she shouted, "I am not Uzumaki's Hime!"
"But he is the only one that calls you hime…" said Sasuke with the grin still on his face as his sister's face turned a bit red in embarrassment "… no the only one you allow to call you HIME."
At this Hitomi's face had completely turned red as she shouted, "IT IS NOT LIKE THAT!"
Now Sasuke was downright laughing at his sister's embarrassing state as it was seriously a face to funny to watch. While seeing her brother laugh at her Hitomi understood that he was making fun of her which caused her to scowl.
It was a couple of minutes later that on of them finally spoke as Sasuke spoke with a bit of annoyance, "… the dobe is decent for someone without a clan…" with a lot of focus on the word decent where annoyance was spilling like water.
Hitomi was not surprised by to hear the annoyance in Sasuke's voice as he spoke of Naruto and especially when he used the word decent. Naruto was a civilian and an orphan one who lived on his own as far as the Uchiha siblings could remember and also for some reason no one seemed to help him. Hitomi only remembered a few people who actually helped Naruto or even rather associated with him. After knowing Naruto to be an average-decent student at the academy the boy actually turned out to be on par with them, no if she actually was to be truthful then he was better than both of them.
"Yes! Uzumaki is indeed a mystery!" said Hitomi with a small smile on her face to which she received a raised eyebrow from Sasuke. The two walked in silence towards the gates to meet their team.
…At the same time Hanuro household…
Hanuro Sakura was currently in her room rechecking the stuffs she had packed last night for the mission. "Make-up kit – check, beautiful dresses to impress Sasuke-kun – check, camping gear – check, basic medical kit – check, weapons – check, food – check."
She had informed her parents of the mission last night after she came home. Both parents being civilians were a bit worried about their daughter. She had told them what C-rank missions were and also there with her would be Kakashi-sensei and the two Uchihas which insured them.
…0800 hours at the east gate…
The Uchiha siblings were the first to arrive at the gates 5 minutes before their meeting time. The two were silently thinking over the conversation they had few minutes prior. Sakura was the next to arrive at about exactly 8'o clock. She looked over her teammates who seemed rather busy thinking over something so she decided to stand quietly alongside a tree.
Naruto was the next to arrive as he was about 10 minutes late. It seemed neither his sensei (which was obvious) nor the client had yet arrived at the gates. The Uchiha siblings were present along with Sakura also waiting in anticipation of their first C-rank mission.
Sasuke was the first to notice the blonde and found something rather amusing as he asked, "Where is your stuff, dobe? Or is it that you don't intend to join the mission? Is it because you are afraid to face a few bandits?"
Hitomi and Sakura both turned to the direction where Sasuke was looking as he was making a jab at Naruto to find the blonde in his everyday gear and no luggage on him.
"Good one teme! Never knew you could actually say such mean stuff…" said Naruto with a small sad face then suddenly his face turned back to normal "… what am I saying. You are always like that…"
This caused Sasuke to scowl in annoyance and a bit of anger while Sakura looked at him with a face full of hatred at his jab at her Sasuke-kun. As for Hitomi she just didn't understand what to do again since it was her brother on one side and truth on other but for some reason she lately would support the truth and surely the fact didn't matter that on the side of the truth was Naruto as a giggle left her lips.
"As for my stuff…" said Naruto patting the utility belt on his pants "…I got everything in here."
"BAKA, WE ARE GOING OUT FOR A MISSION WHICH COULD LAST FOR MORE THAN A WEEK", screeched Sakura.
"Now Sakura I am certain you must have heard of sealing scrolls?" asked Naruto to which both the Uchiha's got a knowing look.
"Indeed! What do you take me as an idiot like you?" said Sakura with an annoyed look.
"Then shouldn't you have already concluded that I sealed my stuffs in sealing scrolls which I am carrying in my utility belt", said Naruto to which Sakura felt truly stupid.
…1 hour later…
Kakashi showed up with Tazuna at the gates as he found all of his students were already present there and currently resting along the trees on the roadside. He glanced at each of his students to find them at least sufficiently ready on the outside to carry on the mission other then Naruto who was not carrying any stuff with him. He was about to question the blonde when his eyes lay on the book he was reading.
'A book on Fuinjutsu… Now that certainly is interesting…' thought Kakashi.
"Naruto where is your stuff?" asked Kakashi to Naruto to which he pointed at his utility pouch.
Kakashi added two and two together as he again asked "Sealing scrolls?" to which the blonde nodded.
Kakashi wondered where the boy had found the sealing scrolls or did he make those himself as seeing the book he was reading.
"Okay team lets go", said Kakashi in a bored voice as his team and Tazuna followed him as they left the gates of Konoha onwards to Nami no Kuni.
…On the road to wave…
Team 7 walked down the road that led to Nami no Kuni along with Tazuna in silence. This was their second day on the road. The whole journey until now was a silent affair apart from the times when Sakura was trying to make Sasuke notice her or the small bickering between Tazuna and Naruto or the time when Naruto talked with Hitomi which mostly ended with an annoyed Hitomi.
It was about noon time as the sun was shining with all its grace above all their heads. As they were walking down the road, both Naruto's eyes caught the sight of a puddle of water in middle of the road. By looking around Naruto could tell that the place wasn't graced with rain in the past couple of days so a water puddle on such a hot ay was suspicious. He had also learned that there were techniques where the surroundings were used to hide so he came to a conclusion that the puddle was an enemy ambush. Naruto looked at his sensei with as he pointed the man with his eyes at the puddle with a 'what-do-we-do-now?' look.
Kakashi caught the look on Naruto's face an gave him his infamous eye smile with a bit of pride while passing a message 'don't act, just relax for now.'
Even though Kakashi had asked him to not act that didn't stop him from keeping an eye on the puddle. He watched two figures rise from the puddle as the team walked past it as they quickly made their way towards Kakashi and wrapped him with the chains attached to their gauntlets quickly killing Kakashi. Watching the pieces of Kakashi fly around caused Naruto to stand in his place shell shocked. His sight caught his team and Tazuna also in the same predicament also he could clearly see the fear in the eyes of Sakura and Tazuna.
Naruto was the first to come out of shock as he watched the two ninjas make their way towards Tazuna. Naruto forced chakra to the sole of his legs as he made his way towards Tazuna to intercept the attack of the two ninjas. He delivered powerful spinning kicks to the midsection of the two making them stumble backwards and loose their balance. Naruto followed the kicks with chakra enhanced punches to the face of the two which flung them backwards a few feet. Naruto would had continued with his assault if he didn't catch the sight of a shuriken and kunai heading towards the two which seemed to be thrown by Hitomi as he glanced towards the others. The two projectiles caught the chain which connected the two assailants and pinned them to the tree behind them. A kick was planted to the face of the two assailants courtesy of Sasuke while they were pinned to the tree. Sakura who by now ha come out of shock seeing Kakashi die moved in front of Tazuna with a kunai in a hand in a defensive position.
Naruto watched as the chains that kept them attached were suddenly removed from their claw gauntlets as the two dashed towards two respective targets. One made a straight beeline for the bridge builder while the second to the one closest to him of team 7 which happened to be Hitomi. Naruto looked at Sasuke and both came to a general decision of protecting the one closest to them as both used chakra to speed off to intercept the closest assailant.
Sakura was really scared as she saw one of the assailants make its way towards her and Tazuna with the sharp claw gauntlet. One part of her mind was screaming her to move out of the place to avoid the attack while the other part kept screaming about her duty as a ninja to save the client. She didn't know which part of her brain were to listen but nothing mattered now as she was rooted in the place with fear so she did what she could do as her grip on the kunai tightened. But before the assailant could reach her she saw the silhouette of Sasuke enter her line of vision and take a defensive position between her and the assailant.
On he other hand with Hitomi, she was fairing way better than Sakura as she seemed ready to stop the assailants attack and counter it. Also while she steadied herself for a counterattack, she couldn't help but wonder what the reason for using the claw gauntlet as she was certain that it wasn't meant only for injuring the opponents. Her eyes darted to her side when she felt a presence close to her and was a tidbit surprised to find it to be Uzumaki. She could tell that he was here to assist her as she saw him smiling at her to which she returned with hr own smile as both got ready to go on the attack.
But both the assailants never reached their two targets as both were hit defeated by a blur to all who happened to be Kakashi. Kakashi stood in front of the five with one assailant on his shoulder while other in his arm unconscious to which everyone relaxed a bit and also surprised to see Kakashi alive.
"KAKASHI-SENSEI! YOU ARE ALIVE, BUT HOW?" called out Sakura at the top of her voice.
Meanwhile the remaining three genins looked at the place were Kakashi's body parts were scattered to only find pieces of logs scattered around. The three easily concluded that their sensei had used kawariminojutsu to escape being cut into pieces and must have used some sort off genjutsu to fool all that the assailants had succeeded.
'Showoff' thought Hitomi and Sasuke sending a mild glare at their sensei.
'I should have expected something of this sort. He already knew of the puddle' Naruto thought as he berated himself all the while shooting annoyed glares at their sensei.
"Good job you four at standing against an unexpected enemy ninja duo (which caused the four genin to smile)… Though at first you four were shocked to move (which annoyed the four)… but it was good that you all quickly regained your composure…" said Kakashi with an eye smile which further annoyed the genins.
"And whose fault was that?" asked an annoyed Naruto.
"Ah! Sorry, sorry, I wanted to know who the two were after", said Kakashi completely dismissing his annoyed students.
"Wait you mean to tell me that you already knew there was someone about to attack us?" asked Tazuna who until now was rather too quite considering the bickering that would take place between him and Naruto.
It was Naruto who answered his question instead of Kakashi, "Yes, it was rather simple! A puddle of water in middle of the street in such a hot afternoon! Also the surrounding indicated that it hadn't seen rain at least for the past couple of days."
When Naruto mentioned this, his teammates just looked at him with surprise that the blonde actually knew that thre was going to b attacked and they didn't especially Sasuke.
"It is just as Naruto said. I decided to only take action after I confirmed their target. Was it a rivalry between shinobis of different villages? Or you the bridge builder?" said Kakashi to which Tazuna started sweating hoping that they wouldn't find out.
Those reactions on Tazuna's face weren't missed by Kakashi as he continued speaking, "By their movements and your reaction it is simple to figure out that their target was you and also you knew of shinobis being after your life (now Tazuna was sweating bullets)… but still you felt it unnecessary to mention while you requested for the mission… It is easily a B-rank mission with the shinobis after your life… so care to explain why you left out such important information?"
Noticing the seriousness in Kakashi's voice Tazuna decided to tell them everything about the mission as well as the reason of his lies so far. He told them about Gatou and his goons and how they had taken over their small village in Nami no Kuni. How the man had taken over he seas that surrounded Nami no Kuni cutting it from the main land thus leaving the country in a financial debacle since they relied highly on the sea for fishery and trade. How the bridge he was building was the only hope for people of his village. Since the trade and fishery had suffered because of Gatou the village and neither h had enough money to pay for high ranking missions which was the reason of his lie.
"Has it is, this is not a mission for a genin team. So as it stands me and my genin team will return back to the village…" said Kakashi to which the genins looked at him disbelief.
Tazuna knew this was coming and also he didn't wish to see the kids to take on the mission but he just couldn't let the only protection to leave. His conscience was in a jam as on one side were these genins while on the other was his village and family as it was time to male a decision. Finally he decided to be selfish for his village and family as even though in front of him were twelve year olds but they were the only hope he had now as he removed his last trump card.
Tazuna started speaking with his head lowered with a small hint of sadness, "Well… if you quit the mission now… I will definitely be killed… but…" as he suddenly started laughing as he spoke out loud "Don't worry about it! If I die my cute 10 year old grandson will cry for a few days! Oh yeah, and my daughter will live a sad life hating Konoha ninjas forever. But it won't be your fault. Not at all!"
The five Konoha ninjas looked with disbelieving look a huge sweat drops as finally Kakashi spoke as he released a huge sigh, "well, I guess we have no choice. We will protect you at least until you get back to your country."
…2 days later…
The group of six headed to Nami no Kuni with relative peace. Since the encounter with the two missing-nins couple of days back who according to Kakashi were demon brothers of Kirigakure everyone had been on constant alert for possible enemy attacks. But so far they encountered neither other missing-nins nor any bandits which according to both Kakashi and Naruto seemed to feel that there was certainly something wrong as their destination was now just a few hours of walk away.
Currently Team 7 along with Tazuna were aboard a small boat which one of the villagers of Nami no Kuni was rowing across the sea to that separated Hi no Kuni from Nami no Kuni. The man who was rowing the boat always rowed the boa through the area where there was a thick fog cover. When asked why he did so and also was not using the motor, he said that it was to keep them all from being detected by Gatou and his thugs. After a few minutes of journey they were able to see the bridge and indeed true to Tazuna's words the bridge was magnificent and gigantic.
After getting of the boat the six of them took a road through the forests which ha a small fog cover as they made their way towards Tazuna's home. But for some odd reason Naruto found the fog to be slowly thickening as the visibility started to drop. Naruto threw a kunai in the nearby bushes when he thought that he heard some kind of movement in the bushes startling the others but from the bushes came out a white snow rabbit which hurried itself out of the area.
"BAKA NARUTO, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKI NG?" screeched Sakura tying to punch Naruto which he dodged.
"Shhh, be quite Sakura! I thought I heard something in the bushes…" said Naruto as he pointing at the bushes to which the others were going to say something but he said "… and I am damn sure it wasn't the rabbit."
'That was a snow rabbit and still in the summer its fur was still white. It was probably used for a kawarimi' thought Kakashi as he caught the sight of the escaping rabbit. Since snow rabbits were not native to this area and also its fur was snow white indicating it was kept in a cold place as the weather here wasn't cold enough to turn its fur white.
As Kakashi was busy thinking who would use a rabbit for a kawarimi, he forced chakra throughout his boy getting ready to engage any enemy-nin as he was certain this time it would be a jounin level ninja. And a few seconds later h prepared himself to fight, his Inuzuka level hearing caught the sound of something cutting trough the air and heading towards them as he shouted, "GET DOWN."
The genins and Tazuna did exactly as Kakashi shouted as they could hear the seriousness, panic and a bit of fear in his voice. Naruto and Hitomi grabbed Tazuna and forced him on the ground as both Sakura and Sasuke also ducked into a sleeping position. All of them felt something pass from above them a second later they had ducked down on the ground. Looking at the place where the supposed object had went, all of them paled at the sight of super large sword stuck in a tree. But what caused them to shake in a bit of fear was the sight of the half naked missing-nin standing on the sword.
The man was shirtless wearing only pants and armbands. His face below the eyes was covered in bandages. He wore his headband on his head in a tilted fashion. The mark on the headband signified he was ninja from Kirigakure no Sato and the slash mark along it marked him as a missing ninja.
"Well, well, if it isn't missing-nin Momochi Zabuza from Kirigakure no Sato", said Kakashi as his eyes fixed on the man on the sword.
"Everyone stand guard over Tazuna and whatever happens don't interfere in this fight as this is on a whole new level… For this I will have to do this", said Kakashi lifting his hitai-te above his left eye.
"No wonder the demon brothers were defeated. To think I will be meeting you here and also getting to see your left eye on our first encounter. Kakashi Hatake of Konohagakure no Sato, famed as Copy ninja Kakashi and also Sharingan no Kakashi, the man who has copied over a 1000 jutsus", said Zabuza.
When Kakashi lifted the hitai-te it revealed to all the Sharingan with 3 tomoe in his left eye which caused the Uchiha-siblings at him in utter shock while for Sakura and Tazuna looked at him in confusion. The only one who didn't look confused or shocked was Naruto as he had read about the left Sharingan eye of Kakashi in one of his father's journal. Though it didn't explain under what circumstances did Kakashi get the eye but it was said to be a gift from his dying friend and teammate Uchiha Obito.
'Sharingan, but how?' was the thought that roamed the minds of both Sasuke and Hitomi.
Naruto watched Zabuza disappear from the tree along with his sword in smoke and felt him reappear on the water surface nearby. Naruto saw Zabuza stand on the water in a very unique stance which he concluded to be some sort of hand seal as he felt Zabuza's chakra start to rise.
"Let's see you fight against this KIRIGAKURE NO JUTSU", everyone heard Zabuza say as the mist in the area gradually increased to the point it was hard to even see what or who was next to you.
"He will come after me first. Momochi Zabuza… as a shinobi of Kirigakure… he was known as an expert of Muonsatsugai(silentkilling) art. You don't even notice until you're already dead… it's not like I can use the Sharingan perfectly. You guys be careful", said Kakashi in a serious tone.
The four genins moved further close to Tazuna as per Kakashi's order as the seriousness in his voice told them that they were to stay on complete guard. The mist gradually increased with every second as also the air around felt really heavy as it was filled with powerful killing intent which made all the 4 genins along with Tazuna shiver.
Suddenly every one heard Zabuza's voice "8 choices. Liver, Lungs, Spine, Clavicle vein, Neck vein, Kidneys, Heart. Which one should I go after?"
'What an incredibly dangerous killing intent. It feels like I will die if I make a make a move…' thought Sasuke while shivering and sweating.
'Un… unbelievable… this is what it means to feel like to die' though Hitomi while she to was shivering and sweating even more than Sasuke.
Sakura was slowly drifting to unconsciousness with the amount of killing intent.
Tazuna was in same state as Sakura as he thought 'is this how fight between two ninjas happen?'
'Hold yourself steady Naruto. This isn't the time to buckle under pressure' thought Naruto while trying to control his shaking.
"Don't worry; I will protect you all even if it kills me. I don't let my comrades die", said Kakashi with an eye smile as he felt the condition of his charges as he released his own killing intent to negate that of Zabuza.
"We will see about that", they all heard Zabuza say and suddenly he was in between the genins and Tazuna.
As he was about to cut Tazuna in half, Kakashi appeared in front of him stopping his strike as he pierced Zabuza with a kunai. But the Zabuza that was pierced turned out to be a mizu bunshin as a second Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi about to cut in half.
"SENSEI! BEHIND YOU!" yelled out Naruto as he found the second Zabuza appear behind Kakashi ready to cut him in half.
Zabuza swung his sword in a horizontal arc cutting Kakashi in half to which the genins and Tazuna turned pale green as Sakura screamed in fear. But just like the first Zabuza turned into water after being pierced the same happened with Kakashi as he to turn into water indicating it was a mizu bunshin as a second Kakashi appeared behind the second Zabuza with a kunai to his neck.
"It's over!" said Kakashi in a deadly tone.
Then Zabuza went on to explain how Kakashi even in the thick mist copied the mizu bunshin no jutsu and fooled him. But as he finished his explanation another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi ready to swing his sword as Kakashi pierced the one in front of him to be another clone. Kakashi was able to avoid the first strike of the sword by Zabuza as he crouched on the ground. But before he could counter attack, Zabuza used his sword as a base delivering a strong kick which sent Kakashi to the nearby water source. Zabuza intended to continue with another sword swing but couldn't as his path was blocked by makibishi.
The four genins couldn't believe the ease with Kakashi was taken down by the missing-nin Zabuza and this small fight also proved the enemy was really strong physically too.
Naruto looked at the direction where Kakashi had fallen inside the water source as he found him coming out of the water. Kakashi's face looked to him as though he was thinking about something which had to do with the water surface he was surfacing on. He then watched Zabuza blur into existence behind Kakashi as the missing-nin quickly spread through hand seals to which Kakashi looked worried as the man captured him a water bubble prison. From what Naruto could remember that the jutsu Zabuza used was called SuirōnoJutsu(waterprisonjutsu) from all the scrolls and information he read upon water jutsus. If he remembered correctly, the SuirōnoJutsu(waterprisonjutsu) was one of Kirigakure's hidden jutsu which according to information is used to trap enemy-nin in a bubble of water which is literally inescapable.
"Kids now days think themselves as real ninjas when they wear a hitai-te… But you know what? A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death", said Zabuza while creating a mizubunshinof himself.
"Basically… once you are good enough to be listed in my hand book…" continued the clone Zabuza from where the real left but was stopped as his eyes lay on the fifty or so blonde haired kid in front of him.
While Zabuza and his clone were trying to give a speech about real ninjas, Naruto gathered his chakra to perform the kage bunshin no jutsu creating an army of fifty Naruto with the hope that this many would be enough to distract the clone Zabuza enough for him to execute his plan.
"I would have loved to listen to you speak but first I have a sensei to save…" said the real Naruto as all the clones seemed ready to charge.
"What are you doing Naruto? He is not someone you guys can beat. Take Tazuna-san and run away. As long as he is keeping me trapped he can't move. The mizubunshincannot go very far from the real body", shouted Kakashi as he looked towards Naruto.
"I know that sensei but I am not going to abandon a comrade. Didn't you say before 'in the ninja world those who break the codes and rules are thrash… but those who ignore their comrades are lower than thrash', right?" said the real Naruto clones.
"CHARGE!" shouted the real Naruto as all the clones dashed forward to attack Zabuza's clone at the same time in hopes of subduing him with numbers. But the idea seemed futile as Zabuza easily threw of all the clones that had jumped on him with intention to subdue him.
Watching all the clones of Naruto sent flying away with nothing but pure strength the remaining three members of Team 7 and Tazuna could only think one thing about Zabuza 'He is really strong!'
"Kagebunshinnojutsu,that's a very interesting jutsu you have in your arsenal blondie. For a genin like you to have one of Konoha's forbidden jutsu in his arsenal, you must be someone special…" said the clone Zabuza.
'Forbidden jutsu!' was the only thing the other three genins could think as they heard that the kage bunshin was a forbidden jutsu as all there knew what forbidden jutsus were exactly were.
"But you are still far away from being a true ninja. When I was your age… these hands were already dyed with blood", said Zabuza as he made a scary expression looking at his hands scaring all.
"Devil… Zabuza…" said Kakashi in a dark tone to the real Zabuza.
"Ah… so you have heard a little about it", said the real Zabuza with a big grin on his face.
As the little conversation was taking place no one noticed a couple of Naruto disappear out of the fight when they charged on Zabuza's clone as one Naruto was still with them. As suddenly all eyes darted upwards from where they heard Naruto shout.
"Take this you eye brow less freak", shouted Naruto as he threw a gigantic shuriken directly at Zabuza from midair with all the force he could.
"A shuriken won't work against me", said the Zabuza clone as he watched the shuriken head towards him as he placed his hands on his swords handle.
But to his and others surprise the shuriken flew by his side as it was aimed for the real Zabuza.
"I see… you're aiming it at the real me… but…" said the real Zabuza as he caught the shuriken with his free left hand "… That's not enough!"
But the moment he stopped the incoming shuriken his eyes landed on the shadow of the shuriken which still seemed to be making its way towards him.
"Another one in the shuriken's shadow?" said the real Zabuza completely taken by surprise.
Meanwhile even Kakashi was taken by surprise of the shuriken in the shadow of the first one as he thought 'that's Kage Shuriken no Jutsu (shadow shuriken no jutsu)'
All the three remaining genins watched in surprise and awe as they saw the second shuriken about to hit Zabuza.
…Hitomi's point of view…
'A second shuriken hiding in the blind spot…! Ingenious!' thought Hitomi as she glanced at the two Naruto in front of her with a small blush on her face.
"But!" the real Zabuza said as he jumped on his place letting the shuriken pass by harmlessly as he spoke again making a dark face, "still not enough."
The three looked completely scared now as they saw how simply the man dodged the shuriken which was to close to him without losing his ground.
'He dodged it!' shouted Hitomi in her mind as she glanced at Naruto to see how the boy must be feeling now that his idea had failed. But instead of seeing an angry or frustrate look on the face of the two Naruto she saw a smirk which she usually saw when one of his pranks were sure going to succeed.
As she tried to think what was the reason the two identical blondes were smirking about her eyes went back towards where Zabuza and Kakashi were. But what happened next took her by complete surprise and looking around she found that she was not the only one to be surprised by this as all saw the second shuriken transform into Naruto as it threw a kunai directly at Zabuza which she was certain he couldn't avoid now unless…
And as she thought, Zabuza did avoid the kunai by removing his hands of the water bubble and the only thing the kunai did was give a cut on one of Zabuza's cheeks. She watched the amount of anger with which Zabuza looked at Naruto scared her for the blonde's life. She watched as Zabuza was about to throw the shuriken in his hand at Naruto who was had just landed on the water surface.
"MOVE! NARUTO!" she shouted at the top of the voice hoping that would somehow save the blonde.
But in the midst of her worry for the blonde she hadn't seen to what had happened to Kakashi as she now saw him stopping the shuriken before it even left Zabuza's hand with the metal plate on his gloves. She didn't understand as how Kakashi had gotten out of the water bubble prison. She tried to fix the dots and got a general idea of that the prison only stood until the user kept one of his hands on it to keep it stable.
'Did Naruto already know that?' wondered Hitomi as she glanced at the two Naruto in front of her whose grins had widened.
"Kakashi-sensei!" she heard Sakura shout in pure joy at seeing their sensei was no longer captured.
"… Naruto, great plan" she heard Kakashi say and she could also hear he pride in her sensei's voice.
She then listened to how Naruto had used the kage bunshins as the means for distraction so that no one would see him transform into the shuriken. Also that he had no delusion that he could defeat Zabuza as his only aim was to save Kakashi from the water prison as he had come to realize that he had to separate the real Zabuza away from the bubble to release Kakashi from it. She couldn't help but help but think of how the plan was ingenious especially it being made up on the spot.
…End of Hitomi's point of view…
…Naruto's point of view…
From his place on the water surface Naruto watched in awe as the two jounin level ninjas separate from each other and started forming hand seals. The speed at which the two formed the seals mesmerized him as he could hardly keep a track of what seals the two were performing.
Even though he could hardly track down as to which exact seals the two were performing, he had a feeling that both were performing the seals for the same jutsu. And so he was proven right as both of them used the Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique) which created two gigantic water dragons which clashed with each other and so did Kakashi and Zabuza with a kunai and the sword respectively.
While the two used the Suiryūdan no Jutsu, the water surface became violent causing Naruto to use more chakra to keep himself steady on the water surface. He then watched as Kakashi not only use the same jutsu as Zabuza at the same time but also was doing the same movememts as Zabuza and the biggest surprise was that he was able to complete the interrupted sentence of Zabuza as the two performed seals for another jutsu.
Naruto knew of the ability of Sharingan to copy all forms of nin-tai-gen jutsus but what he was watching Kakashi do was completely ridiculous. His mind started to flood with various reasons Kakashi was capable of doing such a feat as he knew that the Sharingan eye wasn't he main cause of this. But what happened next was something he couldn't believe as he saw Kakashi complete the jutsu which the two were making seals for before Zabuza though it did cement one of his theories.
Naruto made his way far away from the water surface as possible as Kakashi used the Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique) which created a gigantic waterfall which headed towards Zabuza. Even getting out of the water Naruto was struck by the waves caused by the jutsu and hoped that he never would be on the receiving end of the jutsu as he saw the destruction it caused in its path.
He forced chakra to his feet as he dashed towards the place where Zabuza and Kakashi were as he took in the destruction caused by one single jutsu. He finally reached the place as he stood at a safe distance to see Zabuza barely standing with the help of the tree as kunais were stuck in his legs and arms as Kakashi was crouched on the branch of the tree.
"How…? Can you see the future?" he heard Zabuza ask to Kakashi as he had a clue what the eyebrow less freak meant as he watched the fight from real close distance.
"Yeah… you are going to die", he heard Kakashi say.
He knew that his sensei was about to kill Zabuza which caused him to feel a bi nervous as this would be the first time he was going to see someone kill someone else. But he was a ninja and this was how the life of ninjas was and Zabuza was their enemy. So he steeled himself to what he was about to witness. But before his sensei could go for the kill he saw a couple of senbon strike Zabuza's neck instantly killing him.
"Hehe… You're right. He's dead. *insert heart*" he heard a feminine voice.
His eyes traveled to the source of the voice to find what looked like a female ninja wearing a white mask with red wavy design with the insignia of Kirigakure on it. And from her small conversation with Kakashi he found out that she was a hunter-nin of Kiri who was searching for Zabuza to kill him. He watched as the hunter-nin landed before the dead body of Zabuza which Kakashi confirmed him to be dead and took it of somewhere else to dispose it off and the secrets it held.
…End of Naruto's point of view…
Kakashi sighed in relief has he saw the Hunter-nin disappear with the dead body of Zabuza as he pulled his hitai-te over his Sharingan eye as he spoke, "now, we have to get Tazuna-san back to his home. Let's go!"
"Hahaha! Super thanks, guys! Come over to my house and relax for a while!" said Tazuna with a big smile on his face.
"That hunter-nin was about our age… and yet that powerful…" said Naruto as his eyes were still fixed on the place from where the hunter-nin disappeared.
The other three couldn't argue with Naruto as hey too ha the same feeling as Naruto as they saw the ease with which the hunter-nin killed Zabuza. And to add to the fact was that the hunter-nin seemed to be about their age or at the most a couple of years older than them.
"You are right Naruto. In the ninja world there exists kids younger than you guys and yet stronger than me", said Kakashi.
'How did the hunter-nin obtain such power? I intend to gain such power to kill him' thought Sasuke.
Hitomi knew that the words of Kakashi were indeed true as she knew of one such person that being her elder brother. Now that she thought about it, her eyes drifted towards Naruto as she wondered if the boy would also be that powerful if someone actually looked after his training. She remembered well enough that most teachers at the academy outright neglected him and his training/education and on some cases she felt that they even tried to sabotage it.
'Naruto, your mystery just keeps on increasing…' she thought as she looked at the blonde with a small smile on her face.
The team decided to head to Tazuna's house for some well deserved rest especially for their sensei. But before they could take another step, Kakashi collapsed because of chakra exhaustion.
"SENSEI!" the four genins shouted gathering around Kakashi along with Tazuna as all looked worried about the one eyed scarecrow.
"Hey, what happened to him?" asked Tazuna with concern in his voice.
"Kakashi-sensei doesn't seem that hurt… must be chakra exhaustion", said Hitomi as she kneeled down checking her sensei for any form of injuries.
"But how?" asked Sakura.
"It must be because of the Sharingan eye. He does always keeps it covered all the time", said Naruto gaining curious looks from the others.
Naruto noticed the curious glares as he answered the unspoken question, "it must take a huge amount of chakra to use the Sharingan eye… also the last jutsu surely took a lot out of him."
No one could argue with the blonde's logic about the Sharingan eye and also the last water jutsu as all had witnessed the destruction caused by the jutsu. Such a powerful jutsu would surely need a large amount of chakra to execute.
"Well we are going to get nothing staying here so let's head to old man Tazuna's house before we encounter more enemy and also there Kakashi-sensei can rest a bit", said Naruto while looking at Tazuna who just nodded.
"Oi Sasuke! Help me carry sensei!" said Naruto as he went on to lift Kakashi from one side.
…At Tazuna's house…
Currently the four genins were sitting around a sleeping Kakashi as they trying to remove the mask to get a look at how their sensei's face looked beneath it. Suddenly Kakashi woke in a sort of panic startling the four of their job as they quickly hurried to the corner of the room in hopes Kakashi didn't notice what they were doing.
'What am I missing?' thought Kakashi as he woke up with an uneasy feeling.
"You finally woke up it seems", said Tazuna who had just entered the room along with a woman in her late 20's and a boy about 7-8 years old.
Tazuna introduced the two as his daughter Tsunami and his grandson Inari to Kakashi who had just woken up. Tsunami thanked the ninjas for safely escorting her father back home and also looked a bit concerned about the team and their sensei. Inari didn't say anything and just quietly left the room seeing which Tsunami left after him excusing her and apologizing for her son's behaviour.
"Sensei you look a bit worried…" said Naruto as he looked at Kakashi's face.
"I was just thinking about the fight with Zabuza…" said Kakashi earning confused look from all his students and Tazuna as he then looked at everyone as he asked "… Do you all remember what weapon the hunter-nin used? And also what happened afterwards?"
"Well the hunter-nin used senbons", said Hitomi supplying the answer to the first question.
"And afterwards took Zabuza's dead body to dispose it of", said Sakura answering the second question.
Sakura, Hitomi, Sasuke and Tazuna couldn't understand what Kakashi was getting at trying to remember the fight with Zabuza especially the part where the hunter-nin appeared and how things went after it. But so was not the case with Naruto as he was trying to figure out what Kakashi was trying to say as he knew one thing that a man as Kakashi would never joke around such a topic.
When Sakura asked who that masked-nin was, Kakashi told her that the kid would be a member of Kirigakure's special hunter-nin team as it is them who wore such masks. He then explained to all about what the job of the hunter-nin exactly was and that is disposing of bodies without a trace as they were also called as erasers. He then explained why such a team was necessary for each village as a ninja's body consists of various secrets of their hidden villages from jutsus, different chakra types, herbs and other things which could reveal village secrets. As an example he mentioned that if enemies were to capture him or his dead body they could work to find out secrets about Sharingan and other things he knew of thus giving them excess to those jutsus and information. Thus highlighting how important the hunter-nins were to a village especially in case of a missing-nin and ninjas who abandon their country as he termed them 'specialist who guard village secret'.
"No sound, no smell… that is a ninja's end", said Kakashi after his long lecture on hunter-nins.
"So that Zabuza has been chopped up and disposed of? SCARY!" said Sakura as she was completely frightened as she imagined pieces of Zabuza's body scaring all.
For a few seconds silence regained as finally Naruto spoke putting forth the conclusion he ha come up after he heard the explanation, "So you mean to say that Zabuza is alive."
"NARUTO-BAKA! You really are an idiot! Kakashi-sensei checked on Zabuza and he was surely dead", said Sakura with a scowl as she didn't want to see Zabuza ever again.
"Actually Sakura, I think Naruto is right", said Kakashi which caused all everyone's eyes apart from Naruto to widen while Sakura and Tazuna seemed to be outright frightened.
"But sensei you checked Zabuza's pulse yourself and declared him dead", said Hitomi as she also was a bit scared remembering the fight between the jounin level ninjas.
Kakashi went to explain how when he checked on Zabuza, the man must have been put on a momentary death. As the weapons used were senbons which are mostly used for disabling a person but in a hands of a medic-nin could be truly deadly. As all hunter-nins are well knowledgeable about the human body because of their job and it is very easy for them to put a human body in a momentary death state. He also said that the hunter-nin dispose of their target's body on spot while the hunter-nin they met took off with Zabuza's body. this news scared Sakura and Tazuna a bit further but caused Sasuke, Hitomi and Naruto to shake a bit in excitement in hopes of fighting Zabuza again and also the hunter-nin who was now conclude his ally. He also said that it would take about a week or two for Zabuza to attack again as it would take that much time for him to recover the injuries and momentary death state.
"For the next few days I will be training you, so that you can also help more in the fight", said Kakashi when asked what they were to do now.
"How can training for a week help to fight someone like Zabuza? With whom even you had trouble fighting with", asked Hitomi.
"Now, now don't count yourselves down. You all did well against the demon brothers… and that was a nice plan you implemented against Zabuza", said Kakashi as he looked at Naruto who flashed his biggest grin back at Kakashi happy to be praised.
"But it was also risky… you should have taken help from you teammates", said Kakashi in a stern voice.
"At first I was going to make them join my plan, but it all changed when Zabuza decided to talk about his past", said Naruto in his defense earning a questioning look from all and a raised eyebrow from Kakashi.
'Does he know?' thought Kakashi.
Naruto decided to continue as no one asked him anything but seemed curious, "I don't know what Zabuza intended to say but whatever it was, it was certainly not good as with each word he spoke your facial expressions (Pointing at Kakashi) turned pale and angry at the same time. It sure was something that would have destroyed the little confidence we had. So I decided to take quick action."
"I see… and yes you were right", said Kakashi as he then went on with what Zabuza was going to say.
Kakashi told them about the final obstacle before graduating the ninja academy at Kiri and the reason it was cancelled ten years ago. The reason being the appearance of a devil that killed all the students in cold blood even though he was not a ninja and that devil happened to be Zabuza. When Kakashi was finished with his little story from the past, everyone's face in the room had turned pale as no word was spoken for the next couple of minutes.
"YOU DID A GREAT JOB BRAT!" shouted Tazuna patting Naruto's shoulder defusing the gloomy atmosphere in the room.
'It is good that Naruto ended the speech in middle or we would be frozen just like now against a jounin who wanted to kill us' thought Hitomi letting a smile grace her face as she looked at the blonde in admiration.
'Naruto was able to come up with all this' thought Sakura looking at Naruto. 'CHA! I bet even Sasuke-kun could have done all this' said inner-Sakura to which Sakura only nodded.
'Damn you dobe, even at a time like that you were able to steady yourself and fight while I an Uchiha could not do a thing' thought Sasuke as he was for the first time felt inferior to someone.
'But next time I will be prepared and I will show that I am superior to you dobe' thought Sasuke as he sent a small glare at the blonde.
But while he glared at the blonde and then turned to look at his sister to see what she might be thinking. But he wasn't ready to see his sister look at the blonde with the eyes similar to the Hyuuga girl as the academy as he thought 'WHAT THE!'
End Chapter.
Now as all you have noticed that Naruto didn't do much additional in the fight between Zabuza and Kakashi. Simply because those two are at a level which Naruto isn't. Naruto is at a mid-chunnin level and as I think of it the difference between a chunnin level ninja and jounin level ninja is big.
Do vote in the pole.