Chapter 42
New sensei
"Mission Success" Mangetsu reported as he reformed himself inside the commander's tent "they are on their way back now"
Ryuji nodded, staring intently at the map "that's good. One less thing to worry about" he said and placed a marker on the map. "anything else of note happen?"
Mangetsu walked up and stood next to Ryuji and studied the map for a few minutes. "We came across Tsunade of the Sannin on the way back"
Ryuji's head snapped up "explain"
"yes, Child, explain." One of the elders, Makoto Suzuki piped up "Tsunade hasn't been spotted by even Konoha ninja in the last 15 years"
"perhaps it would be easier for them to explain themselves" Chukichi said, looking at the door just before a familiar pattern of knocking was heard. "enter, team Zabuza"
Xxx
As per Tsunade's orders, Ranmaru was walking on his own as opposed to riding on Raiga's back. Of course, due to his extended period of not walking and the muscles on his legs were not very developed. This drastically reduced the group's walking speed.
Naruto chatted idly with Haku and Chojuro while Fu walked with Ranmaru with Raiga observing the whole group from behind. Mangetsu had already gone ahead to report.
Finally, about an hour more of civilian paced walking, the shinobi arrived at a small town. Haku walked into a normal restaurant with a few scattered people enjoying their lunch while the rest of the group stayed outside and kept watch.
Approaching the bar counters Haku spotted the bartender cleaning one of the glasses and idly wondered if there was some curse where bartenders had to continuously polish the glasses for all of eternity. Haku shook his head and sat on one of the stools. "one Scattered Mist" he ordered. The bartender looked at him out of the corner of his eye "aren't you a little too young to order drinks, miss?"
Haku sent a slight bit of chakra into the table as his eyebrow twitched. The twitching was increased when he spotted the small smile tugging at the bartender's lips. "do not worry for me, I can hold my own. Also, I am male" he said, emphasising the last word with a small burst of chakra, barely noticeable to anyone less than a trained sensor.
The bartender's smile widened a miniscule amount as he turned around and handed started making the drink. As he did so, Haku observed the chandelier overhead. In the reflection he saw the bartender make small, almost unnoticeable finger movements as he mixed the ingredients.
"One Scattered Mist" the bartender said as he placed the drink in front of Haku "still sceptical about you holding your own though Mis- I mean Sir. These are made of some strong stuff. The strongest ingredients found from all over the Land of Water. There hasn't been a lot of the ingredients in stock lately but I think a lot should arrive soon. Apparently some rich businessman took interest and started funding the growth of it, should all be in stock in just over a year."
Haku nodded "I think I will come back and taste the products of his investment then" he said as he left a pouch on the table and downed the rest of the drink before leaving the glass on the table.
Putting the pouch in his pocket and reaching for the glass, the bartender noticed a small fog on the edge of the cup. He brought the glass closer for inspection and let out a loud bellow of laughter at what he found.
"you suck, Decim"
Xxxx
Arriving at the place Decim signalled at Chojuro raced through the handseals needed to unravel the genjutsu. The forest of trees fell away to reveal the hiding place of the Mist Rebels "welcome to the Rebels" Naruto said and grandly spread out his arms. Let's go report our return, shall we?" he said and headed towards the middle of the camp.
Raiga, noticing the beads of sweat on Ranamru's head, picked him up and placed him in the carry sack once more before following Naruto and ignoring the whispers and mistrusting glares of the other Rebels.
Xxx
"Come in Team Zabuza" said a voice from inside the tent and Raiga could feel the slight burst of chakra that was the protection seals being released.
The small tent could just barely fit the whole group with less than a meter space apart.
"Report" said the elder.
And report they did. Starting from when they arrived at the mine, to when they encountered Raiga, the battle, aftermath, and their stay in Tanzaku town.
Chukichi looked intently at Ranmaru who was cowering behind Raiga "you telling me that this little guy sensed Mangetsu from the beginning? That's impressive and slightly unbelievable. What clan are you from?"
"Unknown." Raiga said "I found him in a shack at a random village I was tasked to rid the bloodline users of back when I was still loyal to Yagura."
"I see" Chukichi looked at Ranmaru again "would you like to work under me, Ranmaru? As an apprentice. You have a rare gift and I can help you develop it further."
The small boy looked at the back of Raiga's head "I am Raigas' eyes. If he wishes for me to be yours then I will"
Raiga shifted his head just enough to look at Ranmaru out of the corner of his eye "Ranmaru. I have raised you for the past 6 years. You are an inseparable part of me. But it's time for you to make your own decision. You can stay with me, just as we have always been. Or you can go with Chukichi. Whatever you choose, I will stand by you." He said as he knelt down.
Ranmaru jumped out of the sack and looked in Raiga's eyes. "I will go. For your sake. I will come back and be even stronger. Will you still let me be your eyes then?"
"Of course. You are the best eyes a guy can ever ask for. Go, train under Chukichi. Once your training is done, return to me so I can have eyes many times sharper than before."
Ranmaru nodded and smiled at Raiga before walking to Chukichi.
"If that is all, Team Zabuza, dismissed." Ryuji said.
Xxx
"Dodge!" Hibiki Saito shouted as he swung his claymore down and shattered the earth Naruto was standing a second before "Faster!"
Naruto barely had time to move before the claymore turned into a senbon that was sent flying towards him and flew through the tree behind him… and a few trees behind that.
While still in mid-air Naruto cursed as he felt a slight resistance against his clothes. Out of the corner of his eye the blond ninja caught a glimpse of the sun being reflected off the ninja wire before the wires tightened and cut Naruto into several pieces.
Naruto's body parts fell onto the ground and bounced once before a poof of smoke engulfed it. Once it cleared the body parts were no more, instead there lay a cleanly diced up log.
Xxx
Hidden by the trees Suzuno Kamazuki kept her senses wide open to search for the blond ninja. "I've got you" she smirked and threw a kunai at a tree to her right. Naruto's eyes widened in slight surprise before he smirked and moved out of the way. "how did you know I was there?" Naruto asked.
"Call it a woman's intuition" Suzuno whispered from behind him.
Naruto nodded. "I see" he said before he collapsed into a puddle of water. "looks like just one step ahead isn't enough if I don't see your traps that alert you"
"you know it" Suzuno laughed as Hibiki landed next to her. "Naruto. Time to kick it up a notch" he shouted.
"you got it" Naruto replied from under him, his sharingan blazing and his three tome spinning. Hibiki stared at the sharingan eyes that told you that he knew what move you would make before you did.
"Sneaky brat" Suzuno muttered as she jumped away "you never did leave the area. You just liquefied yourself in a way that made it look like a water clone"
Naruto smirked and bursted out the ground behind Hibiki with his golden katana already in mid-swing. "I got you- huh?" Naruto muttered, confused as his swing was halted by seemingly no reason and allowing Hibiki time to turn around.
"chakra strings" was the only explanation he got as the hold on his sword was released.
Naruto nodded in understanding and charged at Hibiki again.
The two engaged in a furry of blocks, strikes and parries. Neither giving an inch. Naruto's smaller and more flexible body countering Hibik's strength and changing weapons. Whenever Naruto was about to land a hit Suzuno would divert or slow down his swing just enough for Hibiki to react and whenever Hibiki was about to change his weapon Naruto's sharingan could tell.
"Small amount of chakra for small weapons. Chakra in the legs and arms for heavy styled weapons, only arms for simply big weapons. Water natured chakra in the arms and hands for fluid movement" Naruto muttered before moving his eyes to glance at Suzuno for a second.
The puppeteer smirked and unrolled a scroll "it seems you've gotten used to Hibiki. How about me?" she said as she sent chakra to the scroll and summoned her puppet.
Xxxxxx
"Unlike Naruto and Fu, you do not have a giant powerhouse of chakra inside you to help you tank through tough situations, however you do have your own unique set of skills. But first you must build your chakra up." Mangetsu explained.
Haku nodded "I am already aware of this and I've been training to increase my chakra as much as I can"
Mangetsu raised an eyebrow "oh really?" he said "then surely you can do this, water style: giant water dragon jutsu" Mangetsu shouted racing through handseals before placing his hands in the lake they were standing next to.
At first nothing happened. Then, slowly from the middle of the lake a small sprout appeared and kept growing. When it was about as high as the trees the rest of the face appeared. Piercing yellow eyes the half size of Haku and a long serpentine body that wrapped itself around the clearing multiple times.
Haku looked down to see the lake, about 15 meters deep and 20 meters radius, completely emptied save the occasional fish. The ice user slowly turned around to look at Mangetsu only to jump back in shock when he saw the head of the dragon looking over the Hozuki's shoulder.
"Well? Can you?" Mangetsu asked rhetorically.
Haku gulped "no" he said ashamed.
Mangetsu nodded, satisfied and sent the water back the lake "this is only a fraction what chakra powerhouses and Kage level shinobi can do. Kisame is estimated to have enough chakra to flood Sunagakure if he wished. Of course I don't expect you to match those chakra monsters at your age, but I do expect you to be able to do this much without much effort by the time things start heating up."
Haku nodded "I'll do it."
"Good now show me what you can do" Mangetsu said. "show me what jutsu you have. Then we can refine them to the point that you only need the barest number of handseals to perform them. I will train you until you are exhausted. Mentally, physically, and in the form of chakra.
Xxxxx
"Mangetsu asked me to help you. I can see why. Lightning chakra and the Sword of the Thunder God." Raiga said "but a sword is merely a tool. How good it is depends on the wielder. So tell me girl, how good are you"
Fu unsealed the hilt and was about to start sending chakra to it when Raiga stopped her. "I asked how good you are. Not how good the sword is. Battle me with these" he said and threw two boken at her. "These are my old training swords." He said and showed his own pair of boken.
Fu nodded and resealed the chakra sword before running forward with a boken in each hand.
"follow your instincts. They will tell you how to use the swords. If you are meant for duel wielding then your arms will move on their own." Raiga said while swinging his own wooden swords.
Fu narrowed her eyebrows and met his swords with her own causing the two to be at a standstill.
"Duel wielding is a gift. Sure, you can learn duel wielding with decades of practice, but few are ever willing to spend decades to learn one skill, instead opting for flashy jutsu or the stubble genjutsu. The people born with the gift will find the skill a second nature. Your body automatically responds to the call." Raiga said, pulling his swords back and sidestepped the unbalanced Fu before striking down with his left hand.
Fu, though surprised at the sudden loss of resistance, didn't stagger and instead used her momentum to fall into a handstand and used her leg to kick Raiga's forearm and diverted the strike away from her.
"Again"
Fu complied and charged forward once more. This time instead of simply crossing swords the two engaged in a furry of slashes, blocks and parries. Fu's nimble movements struggling to keep up with the experience of Raiga. Fu's thrust at Raiga's stomach was blocked. With her dominant arm occupied Raiga took a swipe at Fu's head. The mint haired jinchuriki leaned back and watched the stick pass in front of her eyes.
Fu pulled back for a moment before dashing in with one sword in front aiming to impale the older swordsman who stood still and waited until the last second before lifting his boken and diverting the strike allowing Fu to rush past him once again off balance.
Not giving Fu a chance to recover, Raiga dashed in and swung both arms down in a scissors motion. Fu raised her own arms and just barely managed to hold against Raiga's attack. Fu slowly pushed against Raiga's sword to his surprise. Fu was beating him in a contest of strength.
Fu took advantage of his moment of surprise and, with a burst of strength, threw Raiga's swords up as she got into his guard and slammed her swords against Raiga's midsection and throwing him back.
Fu looked to where Raiga was thrown and gasped for breath. In that last moment she felt her arms push even harder than she thought she could, it was as if the arms pushed themselves instead of her simply controlling them.
"Good" Raiga said from behind her, "you beat my water clone. It seems you have some talent after all. The path ahead of you will be long and hard, best get started."
Xxxx
"Raiga has joined the Rebels"
"The Rebels are growing little by little. As of now they have all but Samehada. If they get Kisame-"
"Enough. I have already taken measures to ensure that it is impossible for them to enlist Kisame. When the time comes, he will fight on our side.
"Fine. But we must do something about them before they grow too strong."
A pair of pink pupilless eyes opened "We will not lose. Six of the seven swords or not, they will not be able to withstand the might of the True Mist"
Xxxx
AN:extremely delayed happy holidays and happy new year everyone!
I received a few complaints about lack of romance, sharingan and how the story doesn't seem to be progressing.
1) the reason there hasn't been romance (or only slight hints) is because they're around 12-14. It just seems weird for 12 year olds to be in that kind of relationship. There will be more romance in at a later date (after the time skip which i will address in a moment). For now i will remove the romance section.
2) sharingan: i admit there has been a slightly less amount of sharingan action than i would have liked but with a normal sharingan i don't see how much more i can write about it without someone teaching Naruto how to use sharingan based genjutsu. So when the Mangekyo comes in there will be a more noticeable use of the sharingan
3)the lack of plot. The next arc will be the last filler arc. After this arc there will be a time skip where we can hopefully start getting to the good stuff.
4) i think i said this before but i plan to go back and rewrite the first few chapters when i stop procrastinating and also going to edit chapter 39 to include the sharingan in the fight with Raiga.
the summoned animals for Naruto for Fu have been confirmed but the summons for Haku are still open.
Special thanks to effectivesage for directing me to an amazing Naruto world map. If anyone wants to check it out it's on cdc4/f/2017/247/8/b/naruto_complete_world_map_by_fire_
Let's all give a warm welcome to Luciendar for agreeing to Beta *loud applause*
Review:
BlackDragonshinigami: what if i was to name it "Corrupt medic cheats money off little child"
Effectivesage: thanks for your support and the map!
Zeus501: you never know, maybe Tsunade isn't going back to the village ;)
: thanks
Wyrthra: she understands cause all shinobi have their own secrets. It's in their nature
DocRoy: because background and not give it so an under trained experiment
Rayne Arianna Maranochi: like i said above, you dont know for sure she's going back to the leaf ;)
25: what i said to DocRoy
inuyasha16451: Glad you think so. here's the next chapter
LetsSeeIfICanDoThisToo: Sad to see you go. just gonna put this here if you ever come back. the story is slow because there needs to be a buildup before a couple of kids can actually change anything. for now its just prepping for war.
Lucidendar: yes Kakashi lived through the war and had a lot of experience as an ANBU captain but there was a period of time after he resigned as ANBU and i think his skills dulled in that time, unlike Zabuza who has been constantly needing his skills. Itachi may have two Mangekyo against Kakashi's one normal, but you'd think if Kakashi was an S-rank shinobi he'd be more cautious.