I don't own Naruto
Previously on Kiri's Phantom Blade
The man began reaching for a D-rank when Zabuza just picked up a folder off the B-rank stack and began reading.
"This will do, thanks."
Meanwhile, both the Chunin and the students were shocked.
'B-rank to start off easy?'
Chapter 6
Adventures of Team Swordsmen
Chojuro spoke up first after receiving their mission.
"Zabuza-sensei, How long will the mission be? I only have a few days worth of supplies."
Zabuza shrugged.
"That should be fine. A small village in the Land of Lightning, but right on the border of Water, they have been experiencing constant attacks by bandits…"
Haku spoke up quickly.
"Why would the council accept this mission? It could cause a war with Kumo. Even if it's on the border, it is still their land. The current Raikage is known to be rather quick to anger…"
Naruto and Chojuro nodded their agreement, but Zabuza spoke up.
"True, but they have been attempting to get word to Kumo for nearly two weeks with no response. Their military is being beaten back…On top of that, we sent a message to Kumo and never received a reply. Sounds like someone is screening their mail before the Raikage can see it."
Seeing his student's faces still skeptical, Zabuza sighed.
"Plus the village has agreed to take blame of any fallout from this…their military won't be able to keep their raiding groups at bay for much longer…There is a boat waiting at the Northern Docks, lets go."
Still a little unsure, the Jonin and three Genin board the boat and wait…
Even though the trip is only about eight hours, Naruto is ready to blow a gasket by the time they can see land.
When the boat docks, the first one off is Naruto.
Zabuza is quick to scold him.
"Quiet, your drawing unneeded attention to us."
Getting a hold of himself, Naruto nodded.
"Our mission orders say that we should be going to meet the mayor, he lives above a large brown fishing shop…"
The three just look at him like he's stupid.
"Hey that's what it says."
Shrugging, they begin their search. After twenty minutes, the four begin to get angry.
"This whole damn village is made of brown fishing stores."
Zabuza, finally having enough. The next person they walk by is average height, with short brown hair and black glasses. He is wearing tan pants and a white shirt.
Zabuza, being ever impatient lifts the man up by his shirt.
"HEY! Where the fuck is the Mayor?"
The man looks at Zabuza in fear as his legs try to run, despite not being on the ground.
"I-I am the Mayor."
All three sweat-drop.
"Uhhh, good. We are here for a mission. We are Kiri nin."
The man's face lights up.
"Oh good! We have been trying to get messages to Kumo for two weeks with no reply."
Zabuza nodded.
"When we received you message, we attempted to contact Kumo, however we received no response. It's possible that whoever is attacking you, has someone on the inside in Kumo."
The Mayor nodded.
"We suspected the same thing."
Zabuza thought for a minute before continuing.
"Ok, tell us about the attackers."
The Mayor nodded and began.
"Well, they seem like ordinary bandits. They come almost every night, usually about two dozen men armed with swords and spears. At first we suspected that they didn't have the man-power for a full scale attack, so they were going to slowly weaken us. However, they have lost a lot more men then us."
Zabuza nodded.
"Keep your men indoors for tonight. We will handle it."
Tears shown at the corners of the mayor's eyes.
"Thank you Shinobi-san. Though we have not lost many, each loss hurts our village greatly."
Zabuza gave a cocky smirk.
"Consider the pest exterminated."
"Ok team, it's only two hours till sundown. I want each at a gate. I'll roam between the three. Naruto you get West, Chojuro North and Haku South. Set up traps but only ones that won't cause damage and civilians are unlikely to set off."
The three Genin nodded before taking off to prepare. Naruto spent his time lining the mountain side and trees with tripwires set up to throw kunai and shuriken.
Haku strategically placed water around the gate for her newly complete, and most powerful technique.
Chojuro was unable to prepare traps since his gate was the primary civilian entrance.
Speaking into his communicator for the first time, Zabuza got their attention.
"It's sundown. What's your situation?"
"This is Naruto, all clear."
"This is Chojuro, all clear."
…
…
"Haku, what is your status."
…
"Hak-"
"Stand bye, I have some movement, it appears to be shinobi, a skilled one at that."
"Follow him, I'll watch over your gate, be there in twenty seconds…go."
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
"I lost the shinobi and am under attack by at least four dozen bandits armed with explosives…unable to pursue."
"Hai, everyone hear that. Be on the lookout for a shinobi. I'll be at your gate in ten sec…"
"No need. Ice Release: Divine Intervention."
When Zabuza arrived, he was shocked, he had never seen Haku move so fast, he could just barely track her.
He watched as Haku froze a dozen patches of water on the ground into her ice mirrors. However, this time the mirror stayed on the ground.
Zabuza was shocked when she sunk into one of the mirrors, simultaneously appearing from another, easily piercing the bodies of the four bandits nearby with Nuibari, tying the four in a large knot.
'Just like the Yellow Flash. By the time you see what's happening, your already dead...Mei said she got stronger, but this is insane.'
Zabuza couldn't help but smile proudly at his adoptive daughter.
That is until his radio goes dead.
"Anyone read me? Anyone?"
Haku appears out of a mirror, and cuts down one more bandit before turning to him and gesturing to her headset.
Using signals from their time as a missing nin, Zabuza tells her that she is on her own while he goes and checks on the others.
Haku quickly nods before sinking into the mirror.
Crash
Zabuza watches as a building near Chojuro's gate is collapsed.
'Damn kids, I told them to watch the collateral damage. Kumo could come down on us really hard for that. At least all the buildings near the entrances have been evacuated.'
When he looked towards Naruto's gate he saw a large cloud of mist.
'They sure are all taking this seriously.'
Suddenly, as fast as the fighting began, it stopped.
A crackling and broken voice could be heard on the headset.
"c-ca-can a-an-nyon-e he-ear m-me?"
"Go ahead Chojuro."
Slowly, the headsets began functioning properly.
"South gate clear."
"North gate clear."
"West gate clear."
"Anyone get sight of that shinobi?"
"Negative"
"No"
"Sorry"
"DAMN! I bet that whole thing was a distraction for whatever that shinobi did."
Meanwhile not far from the village.
A man dressed in all black sat in a tree. He had long brown hair and green eyes. On his left bicep was an Iwa forehead protector. Through the center of it was a slash.
If one were to look in any Bingo Book, you would find him. His name was Ishi Suterusu. He was an A-rank missing-nin from Iwa. Not to mention was the ex-head of Iwa's espionage department. He was famous in Iwa's Anbu for destroying the Yondaime's home and seal vault in order to keep other Konoha nin from learning the techniques that changed the tide of the war.
Across his entire stomach was a large gash.
"Damn that brat!"
*Flashback
Ishi was watching his target. He was slightly surprised by the fact that Kiri nin were there but that didn't really matter, they were only Genin and the over-exaggerated Demon of the Hidden Mist. They were no threat.
Taking up his position at the South gate, he signaled for the attack. Using the noise from the bandits, he made his way towards the gate.
To say he was surprised would be an understatement.
'She saw me? Nobody has ever seen me if I don't want to be. I need to be careful.'
Luckily, the bombs that the bandits used, distracted her enough for her to lose sight of him…
*Six minutes later*
With his deed done, he was ready to head out…The only question was how.
'I can't go the way I came. She was skilled enough to see me. I can't go North, that gate is to small and I would surly be seen even by an academy student. West it is.'
Looking West, he saw that the Kiri nin had provided the perfect cover.
'Fools always did think that the Hidden Mist Jutsu only helps them.'
Making his way through the mist as silently as he could, he was shocked when the blonde haired zanbatou wielder appeared in front of him.
Acting fast, he substituted with one of the bandits but not before receiving a cut that would most likely be his undoing.
*End Flashback*
Ishi looked up at the sky as he began to feel his strength fading away. All he could see were those eyes. Those yellow, uncaring cat-like eyes as claws tore his brother's throat out.
"At least I will have my revenge."
With his last words said, he passed from the world of the living.
Next morning with Team Zabuza
"Alright, it appears that was the only attack."
All three nodded.
"Now, I know your tired but this is why you train. I have alerted the Mayor and he is putting his military on high alert. Meanwhile we are going to search the surrounding area. Hopefully we can find some sort of track from that shinobi."
The three nodded and awaited their orders.
"Fan out, stay within radio range, and begin at each of your gates."
"Hai Zabuza-sensei."
Zabuza watched as his three students dissolved into puddles of water.
'Those three are going to do great things. They haven't slept in almost two days and are still going strong.'
It wasn't ten minutes after the search began when Naruto's voice came over the radio.
"I have the Shinobi. He is dead, from what I can tell since last night some time."
"Stay where you are, I'm in route. Haku, Chojuro, continue your search. Especially you Haku, he came in through your gate."
"Hai Zabuza-sensei."
It didn't take long for Zabuza to arrive where he found a brown haired Iwa Jonin, long dead from a deep slash across his stomach.
As soon as he saw the damage he know what happened.
"Congratulations Naruto, you killed your first A-rank missing nin."
Naruto's eyes went wide.
"WHAT? I didn't kill him."
Zabuza gave him a wicked smirk.
"See how the cut is even, it means that the sword caught him evenly, if it was slashed then it would start small right here and get bigger before getting small again."
Naruto nodded slowly before interrupting.
"But if I did it he would have been cut in half. There is no way he would have been able to jump back fast enough for him to dislodge my sword from his stomach. Not to mention there is no way I wouldn't have cut all the way through."
Zabuza nodded at his students words.
"True, but this isn't just some Chunin. This here is Ishi Suterusu, he was a big shot in Iwa. Very famous for his stealth skills. No, he decided to travel through your mist in order to leave the village, believing his stealth skill would be plenty to pass you. However, you surprised him and after he was at this point, he probably substituted with something, more likely someone. I've seen it several times when using the mist."
Naruto looked down.
"Damn it!"
Zabuza was surprised by his shout.
"What's wrong?"
"If it wasn't for me we would be able to question him, but the dead don't speak."
Zabuza shook off Naruto's worries.
"We will search his possessions and maybe that will lead us to his mission."
Both Naruto's and Zabuza's head sets went off with Chojuro on the other end.
"I have searched the area within five miles of the gate and found nothing."
Next Haku spoke up.
"I found the main bandit camp but they cleaned it up pretty well. I was unable to find anything of value."
"Ok, both of you, we are currently about one mile outside of the West gate. Report to me now."
"Hai."
When the others arrived, they continued to search the dead man, all they found of interest were some unique sealing tags.
Chojuro wasn't sure but he believed they could have been responsible for disabling the radios.
Other than that, nothing. Just standard equipment. Mostly things to help with escape. Smoke bombs, pepper bombs, flash tags, etc.
As the four brought him towards the village, Naruto placed the strange radio tag in his pocket, never noticing that the small purple stain on the back, began to leak through his pocket before getting on his skin.
As soon as the Kiri nin left the area. An Iwa Anbu dropped the Genjutsu that hid him as a rock.
"Seems like Kiri has some serious Genin. To be able to detect Ishi while using the Hidden Mist Jutsu. He must be even better than Zabuza. Ishi was an A-rank ninja strictly for his stealth…"
If you were to look close enough, you could see the Iwa nin shudder slightly at the though of someone being able to detect his former comrade.
The Iwa nin turned to stone before crumbling to dust, well on his way back home, to inform his leader of the new development.
With Team Zabuza
As they made their way back to the village, Naruto was feeling strange.
'W-why do I feel so angry? So full of hate?'
Slowly, things that he usually wouldn't even notice were on the verge of setting him off.
Half way there he finally blew up, scaring everyone.
"GODDAMMIT CHUJURO! WHY THE FUCK DO YOU INSIST ON WEARING THOSE STUPID EARMU…"
Before he was able to finish he fell to the ground, unconscious.
In their shock, Haku nearly missed catching him.
If they were shocked before, they were stunned when red chakra slowly began to circle around him.
When Naruto finally woke up, he was shocked to find himself standing on a clear blue pond. The water was in fact so blue that it didn't seem natural. The edges were made of dark jagged rock. Towards the far end, was a huge mountain, several times bigger than the pond.
"Where am I?"
If he was expecting an answer he was sorely mistaken.
Walking around, and trying to discover his current location, he noticed that at the far end, near the mountain, the pond was rather dirty, it appeared to be turning red.
The further he got, the redder the water was.
So far, nothing was making any sense.
He noticed a wall made out of boulders.
That is until he saw a very familiar symbol.
"Th-that's my seal…then, this must be where the Kyubbi is…It's a dam, not a mountain."
ROAR
Naruto could hear the Kyubbi slamming around, probably trying to get free.
That was when it all came back to him…
'I was angry, really angry…it must have something to do with Kyubbi.'
Upon closer inspection, Naruto realized that there was some strange purple goo attacking his seal. Red water that looked like it should only be trickling was shooting out like a Water Jutsu.
"Ok, my chakra is the blue water and Kyubbi's is the red water. The old man said that Kyubbi's chakra would slowly bleed into my own. That is not slowly, why is there so much red…Is it always like this? No, the anger I felt must have been from all the extra chakra."
Naruto's eyes went wide as a part of the dam that was the seal broke and more red water was mixing with the blue.
'It's almost half way taken over.'
"I WILL CRUSH YOU HUMAN!"
"This is bad…"
Outside
"Ice Release: Ice Wall Jutsu!"
Naruto's fist obliterated the wall, a red shroud surrounding him, giving him the appearance of a one-tailed fox.
"RRROOOAAARRR!"
The berserk Naruto's tail whipped around, heading right for the Haku, the tail pierced right through her stomach. Slowly, her complexion paled, until she was blue. It was merely an Ice Clone. It was shocking when the girl turned her head to Naruto.
"You can do this Naruto. Ice Shrapnel Clone!"
A pale light made itself know at her core before she exploded, sending jagged pieces of ice in every direction.
Naruto roared in pain when several pieces of ice imbed themselves in his torso.
"RRROOOAAARRR!"
Slowly, a second tail began to form, Naruto's red eyes promising death.
"Hiramekarei: Unleash!"
Everyone looked up, Naruto included, only to see Chojuro with a giant chakra hammer slam Naruto into the ground, forcing the boy several feet into the ground.
Zabuza, unable to do any running merely yelled to his team.
"Move to immobilize!"
Chojuro, who still had his sword over the berserk Naruto yellowed out.
"Hiramekarei: Bind!"
The giant hammer dissolved, warping itself around the boy's arms and legs, keeping him from moving.
Zabuza wasn't to far behind the boy.
"Water Release: Water Prison Justu!"
Around both, Chojuro's sword and Naruto a dome of water appeared, entrapping the blond.
Chojuro was just glad he could still use his swords abilities when he wasn't touching it.
Haku was the last to walk up, she merely touched Zabuza's water prison.
"Demonic Ice Mirror Encampment."
From the surrounding water, several mirrors of ice rose, and bound themselves together, surrounding the boy.
The three were panting in near-exhaustion when they realized they were alright.
Zabuza couldn't help but shiver when flashback of his fight with Yagura passed through his head.
*Flashback
Zabuza was panting, he was covered in small cuts and bruises. He held in his hand, what was left of Kubikiribocho, a mere chunk of steel, maybe four inches long.
His opponent was even worse. Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage's was bleeding profusely from a gash on his stomach. His arm was bent in an unnatural way. Instead of his normal green eyes, Yagura's eyes were purple, the same color as the strange chakra shroud surrounding him, two tails, dancing around him.
"I MAY BE NO SAINT, BUT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO IS WRONG!"
The Mizukage just stared at what was once, one of his most loyal nin.
"Those things are an abomination and must be destroyed. Why can't you see this?"
Zabuza glared even harder at the man that was his leader.
"Perhaps in death you will see the destruction these monsters create."
Slowly, the ominous feeling grew, the third, and final tail grew, the layer of chakra on his back, solidified, forming a spiked shell...
*End Flashback
Zabuza shook his head to get rid of the memory, it was not one he liked.
All three were just thankful that he hadn't escaped.
Inside Seal
Without having any other better ideas, Naruto flashed through some hand seals, making sure to concentrate on getting the blue water.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Missile Jutsu"
As the blue water rose and charged for the seal, the red water attempted to block it by forming a wall. However, the red water was just acting on instinct and had no will, the blue water blew right through the red water and hit the seal. Almost immediately the purple goo began to sizzle before disappearing.
The damage was already done.
"What do I do?"
A large boulder from the top fell down and for the first time, Naruto was greeted with the sight of the Kyubbi no Yoko. The hatred in it's eyes made Naruto shudder.
Without a second thought, Naruto flashed through the same hand seals he had just done.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Missile Jutsu"
However, much to his shock, the water hit the giant fox but the fox didn't even blink.
"I-I'm sorry Haku-chan, Zabuza-sensei. I don't know what to do."
"That's ok, because I do."
Naruto was expecting a lot of things. But to see his dead father, the Yondaime Hokage standing there wasn't one of them.
While Naruto was still shocked, Minato walked up and fixed the seal by simply lying his hand over it. It quickly siphoned most of the red water back to Kyubbi's side.
Outside
Chojuro could barely hear the pained wail from his sword when the binds broke, the water and ice merely evaporated. Standing, in all his glory, was an 8-tailed Naruto. The boy was about to pounce when the energy faded, leaving Naruto to fall to the ground, unconscious.
Inside the Seal
Naruto was standing across from his father…
While his father had tears in his eyes.
"So, your telling me that only a few people respected my wishes."
Naruto sadly shook his head.
"Not even that many… only one, Sarutobi-sensei. I earned the others."
Naruto noticed the Hokage ball his fists in anger.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'm happy."
"Don't lie to me. How can someone be happy when their entire village hates them, with the exception of five or six people."
Naruto smirked. Obviously the Yellow Flash wasn't known for his keen eye.
"My village loves me. It's your village that hates me."
Minato's head shot up, and for the first time he noticed the Kiri headband.
"So you abandoned Konoha for Kiri, not that I can blame you. How did Sarutobi take it?"
Naruto shrugged.
"Pretty good, it was his idea."
"Why would he do that."
Naruto smirked again.
"Two words, Blood Alliance."
At first he began chuckling, then it became a laugh before it was full blown cackling.
When he finally calmed down, Minato managed to get some words out.
"That old geezer always made the council think they had him where they wanted him but he was always the one to come out ahead."
It was at that minute that Minato's eyes went wide.
"Wait a minute… So how far have you gotten with using Kyubbi's chakra?"
Naruto raised an eyebrow before responding.
"Never have"
Minato's eyes widened.
"What caused you to lose control?"
Naruto shrugged.
"I don't know, this is the first time I came here. There was some weird purple goo on the seal, I think it was designed to destroy it."
Minato appeared in thought for a few minutes.
"Tell me about the mission…"
"Well, it is in a small fishing village on the border of the Land of Lightning…"
When he was done. Minato was still thinking.
"That sounds just like when Suna tried to poison Sarutobi through his tobacco."
Naruto's confused face forced Minato to go into detail.
"During the Second Shinobi war, Sarutobi almost died because someone was able to lace his tobacco with some slow acting poison. They did it just like that. They used bandits to attack the village over and over again. They needed the time for their shinobi to make sure it was the one going to Sarutobi and not just some random unlucky bastard. Luckily Tsunade was able to catch it or the Sandaime would have died."
Naruto was thinking…
However his thoughts were interrupted.
Just like that before his eyes, Minato began to fade away.
"Looks like I'm out of chakra. Good luck my son, grow strong and protect those important to you…"
Naruto stood there for a moment, staring where his father had just stood.
"Goodbye…Father…I wonder how I get out o…f-ack."
When Naruto opened his eyes, he saw that Haku was trying to get Zabuza off him who just so happened to be kicking him in the ribs while Chojuro watched, unsure of what to do.
Easily kicking the distracted Zabuza off him, Naruto grabbed Haku in a hug.
"I thought I was never going to see you again."
"I love being in your arms again but we need to hurry."
All of them were in shinobi mode.
"I believe that Iwa nin had a grudge against Kumo. Somewhere I picked up some poison that attacked my seal…If it wasn't for a failsafe that the Yondaime put in we would all be dead."
Chojuro wasn't sold.
"You say they had a grudge against Kumo, but you said it affected your seal. What good would that do against everyone else."
Naruto sighed and began to quickly explain.
"What kind of village is this?"
"A fishing village."
"What kind of Jinchuuriki does Kumo have?"
Chojuro was drawing a blank so Haku helped.
"A half bull, half octopus and a cat."
Naruto nodded.
"The Nibi Jinchuuriki. It is even listed in the Bingo Book that she loves sushi, what better way to get revenge than force one of its protectors to attack the civilians. If it succeeds and kills a lot of people he wins. If it fails and they have to kill their Jinchuuriki he wins…"
The others all agreed.
Arriving at the Mayors 'house'. They knocked quickly.
When the tired Mayor saw who it was he was alert.
"Is something the matter shinobi-san? I thought the bandits were taken care of."
Zabuza took up the lead.
"Yes, they are taken care of. But we believe they were just a distraction."
The Mayor's eyes went wide.
"A distraction for what?"
"They wanted to poison one of the shinobi of Kumo."
So they explained their theory and the Mayor was sad to tell them that it probably arrived in Kumo a few hours earlier.
With haste, the four Kiri nin ran as fast as they could to Kumo's main gate. Unfortunately, all but Naruto was wounded, but the boy was exhausted.
As they were running, they could feel more and more of Kumo's Anbu merging on their position.
"Zabuza-sensei what should we do?"
…
"If they order us to stop we stop. But I will make sure they know what we are here for."
Before they knew it, they were being tailed by a dozen Anbu level ninja.
When they finally reached the gate, they were shocked to see the Raikage already there. His famous lightning armor active.
When the Kiri nin arrived, the Raikage got a good look at them.
'Hmm, Zabuza Momochi... I wonder if he gave his sword to the blonde just because of some political bullshit, or if there is something special about him. I'll have to find out.'
"You Kiri nin better have a good explanation for charging my village."
Excitement could be seen in the Raikage's eyes. Something that was reflected in Naruto's.
"Raikage-sama, you must make sure that the Nibi Jinchuuriki doesn't eat the sushi. It is poisoned!"
The Raikage's eyes went wide before he narrowed them at the team.
"How do I know this isn't some sort of ploy?"
…
Naruto interrupted their talk.
"Look, just send some ninja to make sure she doesn't eat the sushi… If she does then her and a lot of people are going to die."
"You say her sushi is poisoned. How will a lot of people die?"
'explain that.'
"The poison won't affect her, she won't even know anything is happening. The poison will attack her seal, it works as a corrosive. The Nibi would be released within five minutes of her consuming it."
For almost a minute, the A appeared to be in deep thought.
"Darui, bring Yugito here, make sure she doesn't eat her sushi. But stop by the hospital on the way and have it analyzed."
"Ok, Boss."
For nearly ten minutes the Kiri team waited patiently while the Kumo nin held their weapons at the ready, just waiting for a reason to strike.
After ten minutes, an annoyed Yugito showed up.
"The hospital said there was some sort of foreign chemical, but couldn't analyze it that quickly… Darui decided to stay and wait. I thought I would inform you that it appeared they were correct."
"Hmm…Arrest them."
'This will assure that he fights with everything he has.'
Before the Kiri nin could respond, they all had chakra suppression seals placed on them.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THE MEANING BEHIND THIS?"
The Raikage shrugged.
"You broke the law and now you will be punished for it."
Just as he was about to walk away, Naruto called out to him.
"HEY A!"
The Anbu were about to strike for speaking to their leader in such a disrespectful manner but the A stopped them with a wave.
"What do you want?"
Taking a deep breath, Naruto spoke up.
"Your beliefs of strength being the only thing that truly matters is rather well known…How about I show you just how strong Kiri really is."
A mentally smiled.
'Bingo'
"You? A genin, wants to fight me? One of the strongest ninjas alive, and definitely the fastest."
Naruto, feeling slightly more comfortable smirked confidently.
"Well, if you don't think you can win."
The Raikage got a gleam in his eye.
"Ha, I could beat you even without my lightning armor."
"When."
"Tomorrow, noon. You will stay in the small hotel around the corner. Anbu team 4 here will be watching you, no funny business. Also, all except for the blonde will keep their chakra suppressors."
Without waiting for a reply, the Raikage walked away while thinking about the fight the next day.
'If nothing else, it should be entertaining.'
With Kiri nin
The four man Anbu team led them to their hotel before disappearing into a shadow. However, the Kiri team were able to easily track them from the sounds they made, from their heartbeat to their footsteps, it was like a beacon.
The second the door to their hotel closed, Haku made her move.
SLAP!
"What-the-hell-is-the-matter-with-you?"
Every word was accentuated with another slap.
Despite having her chakra sealed, she was easily able to overpower the blonde genin.
"I'm sorry but it was all I could think of. At least now we have a shot."
Haku's glare told Naruto that she wasn't convinced.
"I kind of hoped he would have delayed it for longer so that Kiri could get wind of what happened and hopefully send back-up."
Though, still not happy, Haku relented since nobody else had any better ideas.
'That, and instead of being stuck in a jail cell I'm in a hotel.'
The four slept soundly, even through their worry. Growing up as ninja can really help steel the nerves.
It is ten minutes to noon and Naruto is standing in the center of the training ground that his fight would take place in.
If one was to look at him, he seemed fine, however, to anyone who truly knew him. It was easy to see he was nervous.
His eyes closed, relying on his keen hearing to alert him of what was going on around him.
His arm twitching towards his sword at the slightest noise.
The whispering of the small, gathered crowd of Jonin stopped suddenly.
When Naruto opened his eyes, he saw the Raikage walking towards him with a similar looking man to his side.
They were both huge men, built more like body builders then shinobi.
The Raikage wore his Kage robes with no shirt, he had large gold bracers on each arm with a fuma shuriken tattoo on each bicep.
The man next to him is of similar size and build, he has white hair in corn-rolls, along with a goatee. The strange thing is that he has seven swords on his back.
'How could anyone fight with seven swords?'
The Raikage speaks up, breaking Naruto from his analysis.
"Ok, the fight is between me and Naruto Uzumaki, Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko and Apprentice of Zabuza Momochi."
When the large man spoke of his Jinchuuriki status, all the Kiri nin's eyes went wide, along with the surrounding Kumo nin.
"How-"
A just smirked.
"I've seen the power a Jinchuuriki can hold, I make it a habit to know the abilities of each of them. That is easy for all except for you, and the Ichibi seeing as you two are just coming of Shinobi age."
Before Naruto could speak, A continued.
"The fight has been agreed upon, if you impress me, I will let your team go. If you fail then you will face trial for attempting to invade Kumo. It was agreed upon at an earlier time that I will not be allowed to use my famous Lightning Armor. Lets begin."
As he drew his sword, Naruto discretely placed an exploding tag on the flat side of the blade.
Stabbing the sword into the ground, Naruto flashed through several hand seals that his village was famous for.
"If I want any chance of beating you, I need every advantage I can get. Water Release: Choking Fog Jutsu"
"HA you will have to do better than that."
Just as he was about to slam the ground to clear the mist, he heard the distinct sound of metal flying through the air. Acting on instinct, he jumped. He got the shock of his life when he looked down at the sword below him.
'EXPLODING TAG!'
The Raikage was unable to move from above the sword and was forced to receive the brunt of the explosion.
Naruto sprinted and caught his sword before it hit the ground.
"Very clever, because of the size of the sword very few would try and block it, add in the fact with the mist, it would be even more risky to try. With the length of it, it make the only feasible dodge either above or below. My size means getting on the ground would prove slower, so, you put the exploding tag so that it would go off right at my feet. It would have worked against a weaker shinobi, but exploding tags are like bug bites to me. Think of something else."
Naruto was shocked.
'He figured out my entire thought process in the span of ten seconds. Not to mention an exploding tag at point blank range barely singed him. He is smart and built like a tank. This just got harder.'
Putting more chakra into his Choking Fog, which didn't seem to be affecting A at all.
Naruto silently made his way behind the Raikage. Naruto attempted a downward slash, but much to his shock, the Raikage quickly turned around and caught the sword in his bare hands. (much like Killer B did to Suigetsu)
The force of the swing caused A to sink into the ground.
Just as the larger man was about to pull the sword from the young man's grasp, he felt Naruto's feet run up his chest using chakra to stick to him.
The powerful, double footed kick to the face caused A to stumble back, as well as release his grip on the sword. As A stumbled and Naruto fell to the ground, Naruto spun in a circle and scored a shallow cut on the Kage's arm.
'This kid has serious potential.'
Acting while he still knew his location, A ran up to Naruto and picked him up by the head before slamming him into the ground.
He was only more impressed when 'Naruto' turned to water.
'He created a clone for emergencies. Clever.'
However, he was forced out of his musing when all the mist suddenly disappeared with a shout.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Missile Jutsu"
The mist condensed into what was the largest elemental dragon he had ever seen.
Impressed by the kids Ninjutsu, A simply let his giant fist fly at the large water monster.
Much to all of the Kiri nin's shock and Kumo nin's pride, the water dragon was defeated by the Raikage's bare fist.
However, it wasn't without punishment. The Raikage's right hand was now bleeding rather severely.
Meanwhile, Naruto's head was spinning.
'He just punched, PUNCHED my strongest, battletested Jutsu and beat it. This is unreal...Kenjutsu is all I have that can actually hurt him.'
Against his better judgment, Naruto charged at the giant of a man.
Much to Naruto's relief, the man began to dodge.
Swing after swing, the Raikage was showing just how good he was.
'I can't even touch him. No wonder he is considered the fastest man alive. He doesn't even have his lightning armor on.'
The Raikage continued to dodge like it was nothing. However, in his head was another story.
'This kid is good. Lets see how he does without his sword.'
Without delay, the Raikage locked eyes with Naruto, an amused smirk on his face.
Naruto went in for a slash that could have taken off his head, but A just ducked under it, sliding right next to Naruto.
The Kumo nin had to fight, not to laugh when they saw the Raikage take a kunai from Naruto's own pouch.
Naruto quickly turned, attempting a downward slash.
However, everyone was in for a shock. The kunai began to glow as if electricity was traveling through it.
The Raikage easily placed the small knife in the way of the giant cleaver.
It cut through the legendary zanbatou like it was made of butter.
In his shock, Naruto was unable to do anything when the large fist of the Raikage connected with his face.
The force of the punch sent him flying, through several large boulders before he landed in the nearby pond.
"I must say…You're not bad."
After several seconds, the boy didn't surface and A was beginning to get disappointed.
"ANBU, grab the boy, make sure he is alive."
Two members of Kumo's Anbu shimmered into existence before diving into the water to retrieve the boy.
They came up several seconds later with the boy, bloody and broken.
"Tch, not to bad. But I've seen better."
"CARE TO RETHINK THAT!?"
A's eyes widened to comical proportions. Turning quickly, he saw the boy. His shock turned to pain when the boy's destroyed sword suddenly grew back to it's normal size, the scent of blood was heavy in the air.
A was to shocked to defend when the blade was dragged across his stomach. His own blood splattering on the ground below him.
In that instant, the fight was over.
'A Genin drew my blood. Incredible.'
Haku was the first by Naruto's side.
However, Kumo Anbu were closely following, ready to end his life on the Raikage's word.
"The Kiri nin are free to go. I think drawing the blood of a Kage is enough to warrant being impressed. They go free, I am a man of my word."
Many of the Kumo nin didn't like that very much. But fear of the Raikage's temper kept their mouths shut.
The Anbu members released the suppression seals from Chojuro, Zabuza and Haku.
The Raikage turned to Zabuza.
"You are free to spend the night so he can recover, but you will be out of Kumo tomorrow morning."
Zabuza nodded, the Kiri group made their way to their hotel, Naruto leaning on both, Haku and Chojuro.
The Kiri nin stayed in the same room as before. Where, Haku refused to leave Naruto's side.
They all left, eager to get home.
That evening, they are on the boat and Kiri comes into sight.
"Oh, hey GakI, you get to give the report."
"Why?"
Zabuza shrugged.
"You saved our asses, you deserve the credit."
Haku was about to speak up, but a look from Zabuza silenced her.
'Sorry Naruto-kun.'
Later, when the arrive in Mei's office, Zabuza, Haku, and Chojuro leave Naruto alone to give his report.
"YOU DID WHAT?!"
Mei gave Naruto an ass chewing he would never forget.
Meanwhile in Iwa
"Dog, is this a joke? Because it isn't funny."
"No Tsuchikage-sama. A blonde haired Genin from Kiri was able to successfully Silent Kill Ishi. I was just as shocked as you are. However, he is the apprentice of Zabuza Momochi. The greatest user of the Silent Killing Jutsu to ever come out of Kiri. It appears as though Kiri is regaining strength faster than anybody had believed they would."
"Describe the boy to me."
"From what I was able to see, he had spiky blonde hair, blue eyes, and three whisker marks on each cheek."
Slowly, the rage in the Sandaime Tsuchikage built to the blowing point. In a rare show of physical strength, Onoki picked up his desk and threw it at a nearby wall, smashing the very large desk to pieces and shocking the Anbu.
"My spies in Konoha have recently discovered that the boy they sent to Kiri for an alliance was not only the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, but he was the son of that man."
The Anbu's eyes went wide.
"That man. As in the Yellow Flash?"
"Hai."
"Assemble the Shinobi Council. They must hear of this."
*Elsewhere
"Hmm, Sasori's poison seemed to work…Unfortunately, the plan failed. It was a good one to."
"Hai Pein-sama, had the Kyubbi Jinchuuriki not gotten exposed to such a small amount, we would have the Kyubbi and Nibi, now."
"To bad, if the plan worked, we could probably get the other villages to beg us to take their Jinchuuriki."
In Kiri
The next few weeks were nothing but low-rank bandit assassination missions.
It was upon returning from one of these missions, that Mei showed real concern.
"Take a seat you four."
When Team Swordsmen and Mei spoke, she was usually her happy, carefree self. This time she was in full Mizukage-mode.
They immediately obeyed.
"Now, this was originally supposed to be a surprise, but you three were chosen as the only team from Kiri to travel to Konoha and participate in the Chunin Exams."
All three appeared very excited.
"But, there is an issue."
Everyone straightened up at that.
"Two days ago, Jiraiya paid me a visit."
Zabuza seemed to get angry at that.
'Damn pervert better keep his hands and eyes to himself.'
"He informed me, that Iwa not only knows of Naruto's heritage, but now they are planning to target him during the Chunin Exams. In order to target him, they need to target all of you. You need to remember, they won't be sending some green Genin. These are going to be experienced ninja masquerading as Genin. I will leave it up to you. If you wish to participate we will back you. If not, then we understand."
All three shared a determined nod.
"It is time the world remembered just why the Seven Swordsmen were feared."
Mei and Zabuza smiled proudly.
"Ok, you have two months until you leave. As you should be aware. The main element of Iwa, is earth. Water's weakness, you each have a way to deal with that. However, Naruto, your's is least effective. I would advise learning some Lightning Ninjutsu."
"Hai Mizukage-sama. I have been planning on it ever since I had Kubikiribocho cut in half. I would like to learn to channel lightning chakra through her."
Mei nodded.
"Unfortunately, the only reputable lightning user is no longer a Kiri shinobi. We do however, have several lightning Jutsu scrolls that you can learn to start."
"Hai, I will start with that and begin experimenting."
Mei nodded, giving Zabuza control of his team.
"Ok, in light of this new information, Team Swordsmen will be put on hold. For the next two months we will be training you three into the ground. Is that understood?"
"Hai Zabuza-sensei."
The next two months went quickly for the swordsmen. Naruto now knew two lightning Jutsu, his lack of affinity made them considerably more difficult to master, but he had them down to a level where they would be useful in combat.
He was able to channel Lightning chakra through his sword, but he learned that his lack of affinity for it would be a real problem. It forced him to hold a one-handed seal as he channeled chakra into the blade. Plus, he was unable to sharpen the chakra. It would merely shock anyone it touched. However, it would make it highly effective at cutting through Earth Jutsu.
Haku, had spent the time, increasing her reserves. As well as practicing her most powerful technique. Ice Release: Divine Intervention, it was basically a toned down version of the Yondaime Hokage's Hiraishin.
Chojuro spent his time increasing his chakra reserves even further, thus allowing him to use Hiramekarei, for a longer period of time.
Standing on the docks of Kiri are three nin. Who despite their young age and low rank, are three of the strongest ninja in Kiri.
"Ok, good luck you four. I will see you in a month and a half. I will be there for the final stage of the exams."
"Hai Mizukage-sama."
Zabuza looks to his students and gestures for them to board the boat. However, he stays.
"Bye Mei-chan. I will see you when you arrive."
Giving her a chaste kiss, he heads for the boat.
Mei whispers to his back.
"Bye Zabuza-kun."
So, Team Swordsmen make their way to Konoha, not knowing the adventures in store for them.
Please review, I'm getting tons of hits but not as many reviews…
I would really like to know what you thought of the whole idea…mission to Kumo and what-not, it is the first arc I thought up completely…no cannon.