Chapter 16
Gato
3 years came and went. Naruto just had his 13th birthday. Sometime ago Zabuza had the idea to make October 10th Naruto's birthday. None but Zabuza knew that this was his real birthday.
Naruto had grown out his hair a little with bangs framing his face. He wore a black t-shirt over his mesh shirt and had black cargo pants. Haku and Fu didn't change that much, though Haku did get a mesh shirt underneath his clothes like Naruto and Fu.
Both Fu and Naruto got their own hunter-nin masks. Naruto's had red whiskers on his while Fu decided to go for a green framing and Haku's just got a new standard Mist hunter-nin mask- which caused him to be teased immensely about his lack of creativity. In addition, all three of them got a blank mask "for missions where you would work incognito with me" Zabuza had said.
All three of them wore gravity seals that added various amounts of resistance on each limb. For Fu, it was like moving through mud, for Haku, it was like syrup but Naruto had it worst of them all. It was like moving through wet cement. Of course this was only when they first started. By now each of them had gotten used to the feeling and would probably increase the resistance sometime soon.
As promised, the group visited Ryuunosuke regularly to either chat or get more weapons. It's became a regular thing to visit him around once a month, usually to tell of their missions or to stock up for or after a mission. The kids see Ryuunosuke as some sort of an uncle.
4 months ago, when they visited the blacksmith, Zabuza told him of his plan to return to fight with the rebels and that he wanted Ryuunosuke to go back with him. Ever since then, Zabuza had been trying to convince him.
Each time he had been rejected. By now Zabuza was at his wits end. "It's been almost 6 years Ryu" he said. "It's time to stop running, at this time, the rebels need all the help they can get." He said before looking at the grave of their deceased teammate "it's what Shiro would have wanted"
"I don't know Zabuza. I don't think I can go back. I got too much bad memories there, my clan, Shiro, besides, how can I face all the rebels that have been fighting? Me, they guy who provided the rebels with weapons in the coup, the guy who ran away at the first sign of danger." Ryuunosuke said sadly.
"That's no excuse and you know it. I'm in the same boat as you. I also have bad memories there. I'm the one who started the coup in the first place. Yet I have decided to stop running. Its time you do too." Zabuza said standing up. "I plan on going back after this last mission. I hope you have decided by then."
Ryuunosuke sighed before looking at the grave of his deceased teammate. "What should I do Shiro?" he asked out loud.
Zabuza found the trio sparring in the yard as they always did whenever he had to speak to Ryuunosuke privately. From what he had gathered, they always switched the conditions. Sometimes it was all out, royal rumble, sometimes it was 2v1, sometimes with restrictions like no jutsu. This time it seemed to be fighting in cold conditions with the occasional random jutsu.
Naruto was fighting Fu in hand to hand on a layer of ice while a few clones stayed back, waiting for an opening. Haku was to the side deep in concentration while beads of sweat were showing on his forehead. He had a clone on each side, one holding an ice grenade in each hand and the other with ice senbon hovering in the air. Each would send out an attack at random intervals to distract the sparring Jinchuriki.
"Team Zabuza, fall in." he commanded after watching for a minute. Immediately Naruto and Fu stopped what they were doing and Haku released his jutsu. "It's time for our next mission." He told them. The group nodded. They were already used to the routine.
They walked towards the door. There they found Ryuunosuke. "See you soon kids" he said with a smile.
"Bye Ryuunosuke" they chorused as they walked out.
"Think about what I said Ryu" Zabuza muttered as he walked past. Ryuunosuke watched them leave. When he wouldn't see them anymore he sighed and walked back in.
"Our client is a man named Gato. He is the owner of Gato transport and one of the wealthiest men around. Our target is a bridge builder named Tazuna." Zabuza stated, holing up a picture. "We are to meet Gato in Wave country a week from now." The trio of kids nodded with a bit of a sweat drop. It wasn't unusual for them to get assassination missions but seriously, one of the wealthiest men in the world wanting to assassinate a bridge builder?
"With this last mission concludes our training. Once we are paid, we will go back to Ryu one last time before we head to Mist to help with the rebellion." The teens felt a whirlwind of emotions, inside there was shock, fear and each felt a little bit of proudness.
It's been 3 long years since they had become team Zabuza. 3 years of the same routine of train, mission, visit Ryuunosuke. Now it was going to change. They would likely have to fight much stronger enemies and there was a much greater chance they would be killed.
"Do you think we are ready?" Fu asked. Though she knew she was much stronger than before, she still wasn't sure she was strong enough to fight in a war.
"Of course. I wouldn't take you back there if I didn't." Zabuza told her. "I would rate you around chunin level. Not strong enough to take on a full jonin yet, but I'm sure you would give a lot of them a run for their money. Especially if you work as a team" he said. Each of them beamed with pride.
"Enough talk, it will take 5 days to get from here to Wave country if we go civilian speed, and add in the fact that we still have to avoid patrols when crossing the boarders, we will make it in exactly a week." Zabuza calculated.
Naruto stared at their client from the shadows of his mansion. Behind his masked his mouth twitched. "This midget is Gato? He's even shorter than me!" he thought while trying to hold back his laughter.
Gato was a short man. He wore a black business suit with a purple tie. He also had puffy brown hair and a small pair of glasses. "Who are you?" he asked rudely.
"I am Zabuza Momochi, the ninja who took on your assassination mission" Zabuza answered, clearly experienced on rude clients.
"Are you sure you can handle it?" Gato sneered before looking at Zabuza's appearance. "You don't look like much. Barely better than some gangster. And what's with that huge sword? Bet you can't even wield it. I think you better leave. I'll get someone more competent than some guy who carries around a sword hoping that would be intimidating enough." He insulted before turning around, "Guards, escort him outside." He commanded.
Two thugs moved forward to grab onto Zabuza's arms, but before they could even get within arm's reach, each had been frozen in fear. Naruto and Fu each had a kunai around a "guard's" throat while Haku had one around Gato's.
"It was not wise of you to insult our sensei" Haku said monotony.
"W-w-who are you" Gato stuttered as he felt the temperature drop a few degrees.
"Gato, meet my students, Naruto, Fu and Haku." Zabuza introduced. As each name was called, the teens removed their kunai from their targets before removing their masks. "As you can see, you could have easily been killed by my students alone. Now, do you still feel I'm not competent enough? Or should I just leave? Before you answer, bear in mind that I don't like wasting my time." He stated as he effortlessly took the large blade off his back before swinging it and stopping it just short of touching Gato's throat.
"F-fine! You can take the job" Gato snarled as he tried and failed to look intimidating. "But pull something like that again and I'll replace you."
"Duly noted, now I believe that our rooms have also been organized?"
Gato snarled again, "Kenpachi, take them to a room." He commanded as he stormed out.
Zabuza looked at the terrified man, "Well? Lead the way."
The trio of teens went into town to do some scouting. What they expected was a town like all the others they've been to. What they saw was a town that was run down and in poverty. Children were begging and starving, the prices were ridiculous, around 4 times the usual for outdated and rotten food. The overall atmosphere was gloomy and there was a look of hopelessness in everyone they saw. The trio saw this and felt sick.
"I don't understand!" Fu muttered, causing the other two to look at her. "From what we were taught in Waterfall, Wave shouldn't be like this! It should've been prospering as the center of trade!" A random passerby heard this and took pity on her confusion.
"We once were, that was a year ago." He said. "Then a man named Gato came to our village, he seemed like such a nice man. He used his wealth to help Wave. He built new houses and hired people to remove the bandits in the surrounding area. Soon we all grew to like him. Slowly, he asked each business to join and be part of his. Seeing how much he had helped us, nobody disagreed. Soon the whole of Wave's costal trade was under his was only then that we discovered that he was more than we thought.
He was a drug dealer, a smuggler and had own personal army, the bandits we though he had killed was actually offered a place in it. One day, he came to Wave personally and demanded outrageous taxes to be paid to him. Though we knew we never could afford such outrageous amounts, the army he brought kept us in line." He sighed.
"Then why don't you rebel?" Naruto asked.
"We did. One man, Kaiza, who was a wandering fisherman who came to our village 2 years ago and saved one of our children. He knew what Gato was doing was wrong. He rallied the people to rebel. We refused to pay the taxes and even attacked the tax collectors. Kaiza became our hope." He said while smiling a little at the memory. "But it was not to be. By the end of two weeks, Kaiza was captured by Gato. He gathered the whole town and tortured him before killing him to show the town the fate of those who opposed him. Ever since then the whole town has felt like there's been no hope" he finished sadly.
"That's it? You going to let Gato keep doing this?" Haku asked surprised.
"Of course not" he said with determination before looking around. Seemingly satisfied that he didn't find what he was looking for he whispered, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but Tazuna, our town's bridge builder is building a gigantic bridge to connect us to the mainland. The plan is that trade will continue through the bridge, thus breaking his hold on Wave." The trio's eyes widened in surprise when they heard of their target's name, but being ninja they quickly recovered and hid it.
"That's great news!" Fu whispered acting like she thought it was great news to draw the man's attention away from when they almost got caught. "Where is he now?" she asked.
"It is." He said smiling, though he could have sworn that the other let go of a breath they were holding but dismissed it as his imagination, after all, there's nothing a couple of kids could hide was there? "He is almost completed the bridge, now is the dangerous part. There are rumors that Gato has hired shinobi to kill him so he went to the Hidden Leaf village to hire shinobi to protect himself. He should be back any day now."
The trio looked at each other, each thinking the same thing. "We must report this to Zabuza-sensei" They each gave a slight bow to the man "thank you" they chorused before leaving.
Team Zabuza sat around a table staring at a map. The trio had just reported their findings to Zabuza and were waiting to be told their next move.
"If the bridge builder went to the Leaf, he would most likely follow this path back." He mused tracing a route on the map. "Naruto. Fu. Create a strong shadow clone to monitor the route. When you come across them, have the clones engage to test their skill. Dispel when you think you have gathered sufficient information." He ordered. "if you have an opportunity to kill him, don't hesitate."
"Yes sensei" Naruto and Fu chorused before concentrating.
"Shadow clone jutsu" they said as their chakra flared and used the amount they would for 10 for a single one.
"Go" Zabuza ordered. The clones nodded before disappearing to complete their mission.
AN: Yo. I finally finished exams and since you have been waiting long enough, I typed out this chapter as fast as I could. (Surprisingly it reached 2500 words which is above my average amount!)
With this chapter starts the wave arc! Yay!
Also, this chapter has been Betaed by Jman22056
Reviews:
BlackDragonShinigami: Déjà vu much?
Zeus501: muahahaha go kitten! =^.^=
AmbertheCat: it's true there aren't many unique strong Naruto fics out there. I myself have seen my share of strong Naruto fics that are so similar I have to double check to see if I hadn't already read it. I suppose you can say that it's one of my subconscious reasons for creating this story from scratch. Hmm, for Konoha reacting to Naruto, well they won't know for quite some time, though Kakashi might be a different story. The blue sharingan has its own lengthy explanation that will be explained later on (though he will receive the sharingan in a few chapters). Finally his parents. I did drop a hint in chapter 7 when Zabuza was ranting, so yes they are still Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, though I am going to take some liberties with his grandparents. I believe that I answered all your questions without giving away too much. Thanks for your support!
Noahendless: thank you
LordVanity: umm… ok?
Dinobae: honestly I received a notification email to your review in class and I just stared at it for a minute like an idiot…
MiseryWolf97: I'm looking forward towards the relationships too; I've always been a big fan of Fu. (Hey that rhymes!) The sword names haven't really been decided yet. I'll put in request for names later when some things are revealed.