Hidden Genes
Summary: There is a type of jutsu only one shinobi could use,the Shodaime became famous for it being impossible for anyone who doesn't have his DNA, and even then it was rare. Sharingan is an Uchiha doujutsu,so no one can have it unless an eye is given, so why does the Kyuubi vessel have both?Why does he move like the Yondaime?
Silence reigned supreme as the Chidori finally quited down, having hit its mark. Zabuza opened his eyes, unbelieving of the sight before him. Sakura let out a shriek and Tazuna gasped. Kakashi's face had horror written all over it, his hand, wrist and half of his forearm covered in warm blood. Haku's eyes were icy and unseeing, face pale.
And Naruto coughed up blood, eyes unfocused from pain, head hanging forwards and thankful to his lucky stars that he had pushed Haku out of the way by some strange miracle. His breathing was ragged but he would live. Kakashi had struck closer to his shoulder than to the center of his chest and Kurama was already working overtime to fix up his injuries, little wisps of red chakra dancing over his skin now revealed by the hole in his orange jacket.
Damn it, Naruto! You need to stop doing this! It's not good for your health! Kurama scolded from inside of his head but Naruto could say nothing to the Kyuubi, still focusing on his painful breathing as time appeared to stop around him, Haku, Zabuza and Kakashi. Zabuza seems to have lost his concentration in the middle of this whole thing, panic at being so close to death and now surprise by the proceedings of Haku's and then Naruto's interference, so the mist around them was slowly but steadily clearing up. One of the two of Haku's mirrors had formed and one had shattered upon Naruto shoving Haku to the side. The other still hung in the air behind Zabuza. Haku was on the floor, stunned by what a complete stranger had done for him.
Kakashi finally lifted his hand from Naruto's chest, anguish and panic and horror all over his face, even though the mask hid half of it. He made as if to reach for Naruto but flinched away when Naruto groaned in pain as the wound was carefully pieced back together by Kurama's chakra. When the process was finished, Naruto sighed in relief and swayed slightly. Thankfully, Kakashi caught him just in time, steadying the dizzy blond. Damn, that had hurt.
When Kakashi felt the steady breathing on his neck from his student, he was snapped out of his panic and relieved anger made him snap. ''What were you thinking, you idiot?! I could have killed you! Did you even think about what you were doing!? DAMN IT NARUTO, ARE YOU EVEN AWARE OF HOW THIS COULD HAVE-''
But Naruto had already tuned out his sensei, wondering dazedly how he had manged to make it in time. He didn't know any teleportation techniques. He hadn't made any hand signs. Actually, the only teleportation technique he knew th mechanics of was the Flying Thunder God but he had never dared do it before. Had he done it uncousinly? But how had he ended up where he had? He hadn't thrown any marked kunai there even if he had done everything else unconsciously. He hadn't marked Haku or Kakashi or-
Kakashi. Kakashi was his Tou-chan's student. Tou-chan had left a kunai with Kakashi-sensei. Naruto had sensed it after he had first held a Flying Thunder God Kunai, many years ago. He had never recognized its separate presence from Kakashi's before he had held one of those special kunai in his own hand and had felt the chakra in the seal on their handle. Kakashi must have had that kunai on him and Naruto ad instinctively done the thing he had been training eight years to succeed. And now he had no idea how he had done it. Great, back to the drawing board, as the saying went.
The blond was only half aware of when Zabuza started talking, spewing some shit about even Kakashi having a few tools of his own, only his weapons were poorly made and didn't function how they should. Naruto was still a bit too out of it to hear all the words or to remember the speech later, but he still got the gist of it and he suddenly grew very annoyed. It had been such a nice start to the day he had thought as cursed his whole life until Team 7, Inari, Tsunami and Tazuna had thrown him a small party this morning. Then Zabuza just had to come and ruin it and now, here he was, spewing nonsense and shit about shinobi being nothing more than tools and weapons and how they had no dreams and should kill their hearts so they could kill efficiently like all weapons were meant to. And from the small flare of chakra from Haku, Naruto knew the older boy had taken that last bit as a direct hit to him.
The Jinchuuriki suddenly shrugged himself free of Kakashi's steadying and restraining hands, turned around with the speed he must have inherited from his father and gave Zabuza a punch straight to his face with the strength of his mother, sending the six foot man flying several meters back. When everyone recovered from the shock of such a display of strength from Naruto, the Uzumaki had already walked over to Zabuza and had taken him by his tight shirt, lifting him to look the enraged boy into his red eyes. And yes, not just the Kyuubi was staring out of those blood colored orbs. He allowed Zabuza, too, to see the spinning tomoe of his Sharingan, knowing that the Kekkei Genkai of the Uchiha Clan tended to at times drive more fear into people than even the biju do. He ignored Kurama's reprimanding him of once again revealing his secret to someone, a third person in the very same day, and just focused on the idiot in front of him.
''What is wrong with you?'' The Jinchuuriki demanded, baring his teeth at the grown man, who flinched back on instinct from those swirling tomoe. ''How can you talk like that?! Haku nearly died for you just a handful of minutes ago! He was ready to give up all of his dreams of staying by your side because he wanted to fulfill your dreams! How can you ignore his feelings and label him nothing more than a tool, a weapon!?''
''Because that is what a shinobi is.'' Zabuza countered when he got his bearings back together, startling Naruto with the finality and reassignment in his words. ''In the world of shinobi, there are only those who use and those whom are used. We shinobi are simply tools… what I wanted was his blood, not him… I have no regrets."
A tear of frustration slid down the blond boy's face. ''And what would have happened had he died?'' He asked, his voice rough even as his powers subsided. "What would you do then? Would you just forget him? All the years you've spent together?" Even without his red eyes, the glare Naruto leveled Zabuza with was quite fearsome and searing. Zabuza would be lying if he said he didn't find it strangely intimidating, remembering old stories told by older ninja when he had been a kid, stories about a blond man with impossibly blue eyes from whom you should run on sight. Why this boy reminded him of the stories of the legendary Yellow Flash, Zabuza did not want to contemplate. "Can you seriously say that you wouldn't care? That you wouldn't be lonely without him? That's a lie and you know it! No one can spend years together and remain completely cold towards each other! You took him in! Something in you called out to him and vice versa! Could you really lose that companionship and act as though nothing happened?" Naruto clutched his fists tightly before wrapping his arms around himself as though a chill was freezing him inside out. "That's cruel. It's too cruel. What a lonely existence, if even the one you can identify with is considered meaningless."
"Stop," the missing nin snapped, pushing Naruto away from him and standing up, walking towards Tsubasa, Sakura, Kakashi and Haku, the silver haired jonin immediately jumping to his feet from where he had been checking Haku over. Kakashi raised his hands to weave the seals if necessary as Zabuza took one step closer, startled when Haku immediately clamped one of his smaller hands around his wrist and tugged to mess up any signs he made.
"I've only ever had a handful of people who saw past prejudice and accepted me as me." The Jinchuuriki paid no mind, also turning around to face the man's back. "For them, I'd do anything. They are more important to me than my own life. If I'd had someone like Haku every day of my life, I'd treat him like a treasure. How can you disregard him like that? How can you be so selfish and ungrateful? He must have saved your life a dozen times! The least you could do is appreciate him for it."
"If you don't shut up-"
"You'll what!?" Naruto snarled, letting a little of Kurama seep into his voice, watching in satisfaction as Zabuza stiffened, remembering Naruto obviously wasn't very ordinary. "Will you disregard me, too? Will you be a jerk? I'm way past used to that!"
"Just shut up!" Zabuza growled out but Naruto was nothing if not mulishly stubborn.
"I will not! You're treating someone who has been by your side for years like trash! How can someone like me - who spent my first four years all alone - not say something! Haku, he ... He would do anything for you! Can't you see that!? He loves you! You're his most important person in the whole wide world!" If Naruto could focus on anything other than Zabuza's back, he would have noticed Kakashi's eyes widen as he glanced between the Swordsman and his younger partner or Sakura's confused face or Haku's sudden blush of embarrassment and shame both when Zabuza looked at him. "He would die for you and you just ... you would just ... toss him aside. I know shinobi are supposed to be tools used by the village and their clients, but we're also people! We have dreams and wishes and emotions! We feel and we hurt and we cry." As if in testimony to his words, twin tears rolled down Naruto's cheeks and he brought up his arm to wipe them away with his dirty sleeve. "We're born and die just like everyone else. Why can't we be human, too? Why can't we just be? Can't we love?"
If only it were so easy, my little kit. Kurama cooed to his host, wishing he could drag the boy into his mind space and curl around Naruto like an oversized blanket and hide him from the world. If only love were that easy. If only people like us, like you could accept emotion. But shinobi are still thought of as tools first and foremost.
"If that's what it means to be a shinobi, to throw away all that makes me human," Naruto said, both to Zabuza and as a reply to Kurama's words. "Then I don't want to be a ninja. No, I'm going to change what it means to be a shinobi." The blond declared, feeling his chakra rise and his powers surge. But he pushed it all back down. These powers were from an era not his own, an era of war and conflict. Perhaps it has shaped what it means to be a ninja but he will not let it shape the future.
Naruto-
'I've made up my mind, Kurama. No more Sharingan or Mokuton.' The Uzumaki said with a determination unlike any Kurama had seen in him before. 'It is those two powers that had raged on a war for years. Their users are all mostly dead. Let Sasuke and Itachi worry about the Sharingan but the Mokuton is dead and it's for the best for it to stay that way.'
Naruto, those powers are a core part of you! You can't just-
"I will change what it means to be a shinobi! No longer will shinobi be forced to forsake their emotions and dear people! As the boy who will one day definitely become Hokage, I promise you this! And I never go back on my word! I will never run away!" Zabuza slowly began turning around to face the Kyuubi boy. "Because that is my nindo!" The two jonin level ninja froze in place and Haku turned wide eyes on Naruto. "Better believe it, dattebayo."
"And what if you lose someone important?" The Swordsman of the Bloody Mist questioned, flicking his eyes over to where Sasuke had started twitching, slowly waking up. Sakura and Kakashi followed his gaze and a scream left the girl's throat as she lunged towards the Uchiha, forgetting all about their client. Kakashi called after her but Tazuna just shook his head and hurried after the distraught girl, not wanting to keep her away from the boy she liked when he was in such a state. "What will you do then? What will you do when saving a friend means failing a crucial mission?" Kakashi paled for some reason but Naruto figured they'd have to talk about that when their eventual conversation of sensitive topics finally comes. "Will you disobey orders? In the shinobi world, those who don't follow orders are trash. You will end your career in a second."
"While those who don't follow orders may be trash, those who don't value their comrades are worse than trash." If Kakashi wasn't already so rigidly still, Naruto was sure he'd be turned to stone or maybe diamonds when he heard him utter those words back at Zabuza. "It may be idealistic, but I want to change the meaning of what it is to be a shinobi. A shinobi is the one who endures but that doesn't mean that we can't have some happiness here and there, too. We should be allowed to have our own loved ones, too." His expression suddenly changed as a thought occurred to him. What was it that Zabuza had been saying about his early life as a Mist ninja? Was he treating Haku like he was ... because of the training they had drilled into him since a young age? That was ... an awfully sad thought, but most probable. His eyes softened even if they didn't lose any of their determination. "You don't have to push him away anymore, Zabuza. You don't have to be so lonely."
Zabuza turned his head away, facing Kakashi and Haku, both of whom were strangely flabbergasted. Naruto wondered what that was about. "Stop. Don't say anymore, brat. Your words ... cut deeper than any blade." That intrigued the blond and he carefully made his way towards Zabuza, only to freeze in place when he saw a single drop of clear liquid falling towards the ground. Anyone who wasn't Naruto or a doujitsu Kekkei Genkai wielder would not have seen it, but Naruto's eyesight was better than even an Uchiha's or a Hyuuga's, since Kurama was also enhancing it. So he had no difficulty seeing that single tear, soon followed by another and another and he realized why the jonin and the teen on the other side of the Swordsman were so shocked. Zabuza was crying. "My dreams ... My dreams were once great. But perhaps I was not meant to fulfill them as I was. But you ... You better not screw up, boy." The tall man turned his head to look at Naruto again and he saw the tears still streaming down the half bandaged face. "I think I like your nindo better than my own. And I want to be the shinobi you are envisioning."
Naruto grinned from ear to ear, feeling relief flood him as Zabuza stopped exuding killing intent and relaxed his muscles. Haku smiled a lovely smile as he let go of Kakashi and stood up to run over to his partner, Kakashi himself also relaxing as they finally heard Sasuke grumbling at Sakura to let him go, only for them all to freeze in place when they heard slow, delaborate clapping from the unfinished side of the bridge.
