Okay, there's a good reason why I haven't updated, and I'm pretty sure it's acceptable. This time I have been stuck with homework, so I might be stuck for a while. Not to mention EOGs are starting, and I need to concentrate. I'll try my best nonetheless and continue writing. Ja ne!
Me no own Naru.
There's alot of fog. That's what was running through the minds of team seven. They were now in a small boat, looking around them for anything out of the ordinary. The man controlling the boat turned off the motor and started using an oar. As they kept going, they saw the bridge Tazuna was supposed to be working on and stared at it in awe. It was very big and impressive, even when it wasn't finished.
Once they reached land, they thanked the man and went on their way. Almost a week has passed since they left Konohagakure, and Akyo was bored to death. Nothing had happened since that attach from those 'Demon Brothers'. If those jackasses were real demons, they would be the biggest disgrace to all true demons. Meanwhile, team seven and Tazuna were walking through the misty area. Akyo sniffed the air and frowned. The mist was strange, there was something in it that seemed... controlled. She smelled again and barked at Naruto, "There's chakra in this mist!" Naruto took a sniff as well. Yep, there was chakra alright. Then he heard something, and whatever it was, it was heading towards them. Apparently, so did his sensei.
"Everyone get down!" Kakashi shouted, bringing Sasuke and Tazuna down. Sakura, however, froze when she saw a giant piece of metal spinning towards her. Just as it was about to slice her head off, there was a loud, 'CLANG' as another, much thinner blade appeared in front of her.
The second blade twisted, making the larger piece of metal go flying into the trunk of a tree. Sakura blinked and realized that Naruto was beside her, his katana out and right in front of her. He smiled at her and cheerfully said, "Hi!" Sakura could only blush at how Naruto was so close to her, letting his breath reach her face. It sent chills down her spine, and it sure as hell wasn't that she was scared.
Everyone looked up to the piece of metal, which turned out to be a giant cleaver. In an instant there was a man standing on the sword's handle. He had blue striped pants, no shirt, and had bandages covering his mouth and forehead. Around his black head of hair was a slanted headband with a slashed Kiri symbol on it. He looked at them and leaked out alot of KI. The bridge builder and two of the genin were paralyzed by fear while the third one, along with his partner, leaked out a bit of his own KI which countered that of the man's.
"Hatake Kakashi, or would you prefer Sharingan no Kakashi. I've heard you've copied over a thousand jutsu using that eye of yours. I'm quite impressed by that blond one though. The boy can actually withstand my KI, and even counter it with his own. What's your name gaki?" said the bandaged man while jumping down and taking his sword with him.
"Uzumaki Naruto, and I believe you are Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Bloody Mist, right?" Naruto said, getting into a defensive position.
The swordsman nodded and Kakashi took out a kunai. "Naruto, protect the Tazuna and leave Zabuza to me."
"Hai." Naruto disappeared and now stood in front of Tazuna, Akyo by his side after growing as tall as he was. Sasuke was the next to shake out of his shock and take a defensive position next to Tazuna, Sakura not far behind.
Zabuza looked at them and said, "Just look at you. Kids playing ninja. How unfortunate for you to die here and now."
When he said this, Sasuke was about to charge but Naruto said, "Sasuke, stay put. He's trying to get you angry." 'And is succeeding.' he mentally added.
Zabuza turned his attention to Kakashi and said calmly. "Listen, how 'bout I make this simpler for you. Give me the bridge builder so I can kill him and you live. Or you can fight me, die, then I kill the bridge builder. Your choice."
Naruto was the one to answer with a smile and a simple, "Thanks, but no thanks!" Akyo barking next to him to show her approval, though it sounded huge and scary now that she was a giant. The three genin were impressed when Kakashi and Zabuza started battling, even if they couldn't see much with the fog Zabuza summoned up using a jutsu. Kakashi was later forced to use his Sharingan he kept under the headband when things went south. This got Sasuke and Sakura shocked, and Naruto thought Kakashi was getting old if he was using the Sharingan now.
Only once did Naruto have to intervene, and that was when Zabuza suddenly appeared inside the genin's defense. When he was about to cleave Tazuna in half, black spikes appeared out of the ground and impaled him in the stomach, chest, legs, and head, all appearing when Naruto ran through some hand seals and sending his fist into the ground while whispering, "Shadow Style: Black Spike Death!"
The man suddenly burst into water, showing that it was actually a Water-Clone. Akyo suddenly lunged forward and chomped on something, which turned out to be Zabuza's blade. They struggled for a moment, Zabuza trying his best to keep the giant fox at bay as she tried to disarm him from his Executioner's-Blade by pulling and jerking with her teeth and claws. With a great push, Zabuza finally got rid of the fox as it jumped back when he tried to slice her down the middle. He quickly blocked a strike from Kakashi and pushed the one-eyed jonin into the water.
Just when Kakashi was about to get up and keep fighting, he realized he was suddenly trapped inside one of Zabuza's jutsu as he was encased in a sphere of water. The downside was that Zabuza had to keep physical contact with the sphere so Kakashi didn't get out, so hew made three Water-Clones and sent them to kill the rest.
"Run! Take Tazuna and get out of here! The Water-Clones can't go far from the original, so they'll eventually disperse when you're far enough." Kakashi ordered. Naruto cocked his head to the side and mocked surprise.
"Kakashi-sensei! I feel hurt! I think you forgot something you taught us all. Those who abandon orders are trash, but those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash. Therefore, we're not leaving you just like that!" And with that, Naruto disappeared, appeared next to a tree and reached his left hand inside the shadows. He used some chakra to mold the shadows and brought his hand out. He was now holding a second katana made of shadows with wind designs on it. It looked the same as Akyo's katana form, only it didn't have a fang at the butt.
He then looked at Zabuza and said, "You have five seconds to let my sensei go, or I will harm you greatly." The way he said 'greatly' made a chill go up everyone's spine. When Zabuza didn't respond, Naruto got into a stance with Merciless in his right arm, leaning on his neck, and the shadow katana by his right hip (AN: If you've seen or played Kingdom Hearts 2, think of Sora's Valor Form stance.). He rushed towards one of the clones and instantly cut it in half, then when the next one tried to slice him by the waist he jumped up and Akyo chomped the clone's head off as it burst into water. The last one would've cut off her head, had Naruto not cut his head off when he wasn't looking. Now only the original was left, and he was getting a bit... uncomfortable. He couldn't say worried, the brat was just a kid, and jonin don't get worried by kids.
Naruto took out a scroll from his pants leg and unsealed a large fuma shuriken. He brought it back and started spinning it, before throwing it towards Zabuza's arm. Zabuza had two choices; either leave the jutsu and let Kakashi go to fight, or have his hand cut off, Kakashi out, then fight. Duh! He let go of the sphere, just in time to dodge the spinning blade that was about to slice his arm off. Now freed, Kakashi resumed his fight with Zabuza with Akyo and Naruto with him. Soon Naruto and Akyo were back with Tazuna and his teammates as Kakashi started mimicking everything Zabuza did in perfect synchronization. Soon Zabuza was so confused Kakashi was finally able to make a hand seal before Zabuza. "Water Style: Great Whirlpool jutsu!" shouted Kakashi as a great amount of water went rushing towards Zabuza and slammed onto his chest.
The Mist swordsman was sent through a dozen trees before finally stopping in one. Then Naruto stabbed his arms and legs before placing the shadow katana on Zabuza's neck. Kakashi appeared next to Naruto and also pulled out a kunai, ready to kill Zabuza. The swordsman knew he was totally screwed. His arms and legs were horribly damaged, his breathing became difficult and painful, and he felt like every bone in his body was broken. He looked up at the two shinobi before him and coughed up some blood through his bandages. "Can you see... the future?" asked Zabuza to the white-haired shinobi.
Kakashi nodded and said, "Yes, I can. And your future, Momochi Zabuza, is death." Just as Kakashi was about to slice Zabuza's neck, two senbon needles pierced Zabuza's neck. The Mist nin's eyes widened before they rolled to the back of his head and his body went limp. Another ninja with a strange mask, a green battle kimono, and strange brown pants appeared next to Zabuza's body. Whoever it was, it was hard to tell if it was male or female, since his/her hair was in a bun and two bangs on either side of his/her face.
"Thank you, I have been after Momochi for weeks now. You have just made my job easier." said the ninja.
Naruto nodded and said, "It's a pleasure, but are you sure he's dead?" The masked ninja nodded and slung one of Zabuza's arms over his/her neck while taking the giant blade on the other. "Um, wouldn't it be easier to just cut the head off and burn the body?" Naruto asked, genuinely confused. Before he could ask anything else, the nin was already gone, so he just shrugged it off.
"Well," Kakashi said, his voice slightly slurring, "we'll have to go on now. And... I think I'm falling." and true to his word, he fell forward and was about to have his head in the mud, but Naruto caught him and slung him over Akyo after covering his left eye with his headband. He and Akyo walked over to Tazuna, oblivious to the glare he was getting from the Uchiha.
'Why does the dead-last have to be as powerful as he is now? He doesn't deserve any of this power, it belongs to me, an Uchiha elite! I'll find out how you got this strong sooner or later, just you wait dobe!'
Meanwhile, Sakura was thinking something along the lines of, 'I can't believe Naruto-kun is this strong. Wait... Naruto-kun? Why am I thinking like that! I like Sasuke-kun... r-right?' 'Bah, of course we don't! Naruto-kun will protect us till the end! We HAVE to have him soon, before anyone else can!' screamed Inner-Sakura inside the pinkette's head. She shook her head, trying to shut the voice of her inner-self, and asked, "Um, Tazuna-san? We might need a place to stay since Kakashi-sensei will need time to recover. Is it okay if we stay at your home?"
Tazuna nodded. "Of course. Follow me."
Meanwhile, somewhere else, a certain masked-nin had some tools sprawled out in front of her. She looked at Zabuza's body and mumbled, "Well, better take out the senbon now."
Just as she was about to take out the needles, Zabuza's hand shot up and caught the nin's wrist while he glared at her. "Agh, fuck Haku. You really like putting me in that death-state, don't you?" asked the once-dead Mist-nin.
"Sorry Zabuza-sama, but it was the only way to take you out of there. Besides, it was either that, or I had to cut off your head. And if you don't realize it, you need your head to live and think."
"Pah! Just hurry up to the base, we need to get ready as soon as possible. And take that damn mask off! It creeps me out. How much time till I get better?"
"About a week, maybe less if I get a few herbs so you can heal faster." said the young girl as she took off the mask, showing a pale and beautiful face. She picked up Zabuza once again and went on her way to their home.
After some walking, team seven arrived at Tazuna's house with Kakashi still very tired from chakra exhaustion. As they got closer to the door, Tazuna was greeted by his daughter Tsunami. She ran up to him and enveloped him in a tight hug that was almost enough to crush his old bones. Naruto and Sakura smiled while Sasuke just kept brooding.
"Dad, I'm glad you're home!" she then turns to the genin and says, "You must be the ones to protect my father. Thank you."
She then bows to them and Naruto said, "Um, there's no need for you to bow, we're just here to do our job. And we might need a place to put him in." he finished by jerking a thumb at Kakashi, who was still barely able to move, much less stay awake. Tsunami guided him to a room upstairs and told Naruto Kakashi could stay there. Naruto thanked her and placed Kakashi right there in a futon so he could rest. After exiting the room, he went to another where he and his teammates would be staying in. He was thinking on how his days were going. He began to talk to Kyu-chan more, he noticed Sakura stopped calling him 'Naruto-baka' and just called him 'Naruto'.
Though sometimes it sounded like she wanted to say something else after his name. He was close to creating his own original shadow technique and was ready to perhaps ask Hinata on a date. Not only that, but Sakura had started training seriously after some talking.
(Flashback)
Sakura was once again stalking Uchiha Sasuke via roof jumping. She was proud of herself for not being caught by one of the members of the Uchiha clan. What she didn't know was that the Uchiha ass was always too busy brooding to even notice a fly buzzing in his hair if it ever happened. As Sasuke entered the Uchiha district, still his legally, Sakura had no choice but to stop her pursuit and go home. On her way to her house, she could've sworn she saw something in the shadows heading towards a training ground. Curiosity getting the best of her, she ran towards said training ground and watched as a shadow literally came out and walked towards the middle of the clearing.
Slowly it started gaining color, its hair the last thing to change back, before there stood Naruto and Akyo. Akyo then jumped from Naruto's head and growled something at Naruto, who started on stretching. After doing so, the blond then made a single cross-shaped hand sign and in an instant, without a single puff of smoke, there appeared an army of blonds in front of the original. Sakura was amazed and wondered what Naruto was about to do. She saw him give out orders, but was still too far away to hear. When Naruto was done talking, all the clones took out the exact same katana from their backs, the kanji for 'Merciless' on both sides, and they all took up a fighting stance. Naruto also took out his own and mirrored the clones. Then it was quiet.
Nobody made a sound, and the only thing Sakura could hear was her own heartbeat and her breathing. Then, as if a switch was activated, all the Naruto-clones charged at Naruto. The real one started hacking and slicing all the clones that came to him from all directions and angles. Sakura was even more surprised. Even from here, she could hear the sound of metal-against-metal every time Naruto parried and blocked a sword aimed at him. It was a clear sign that these weren't regular clones since normal ones were mere illusions.
They had no sent, they made no sound, and they always needed a person to control them. These were attacking the original with independent thought, they made sounds, the weapons they had were real, and they also seemed to be performing some jutsu using the shadows every now and then. In about half-an-hour, there stood only Naruto, slightly panting and looking over what his clones just gave him. He had a good guard, but there were still a few weaknesses and some openings he had to work on.
As he sat down to rest, Akyo went up to him and said, "Naruto-sama, the pink-haired girl is watching us. Should I take care of her?"
"No," Naruto spoke back, "Leave her alone. Maybe I can make her train a little." With that thought, his body seemed to sink into a black and inky pool as he slowly melted into the shadows. Sakura was startled, not sure where he went, before she heard breathing behind her, along with what sounded like a dog panting. She slowly turned around and met cerulean-blue eyes and a smile from the blond she had just been... um, observing. He looked at her as if joking around and asked, "Enjoying the show?" Sakura couldn't help the blush that was spreading across her face.
Naruto chuckled and asked, "So how's your training been, Sakura-san? You getting any better?" Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Mainly because there was nothing to say. She suddenly forgot why she ever even became a kunoichi in the first place.
She shook her head and looked at the ground in shame. "Sorry Naruto. I haven't really been training at all. And besides, all I do is ask Sasuke-kun for a date, but he ignores me completely."
Naruto nodded and asked, "Do you still want to be a kunoichi?"
Sakura nodded and said, "Yeah. I came this far, and I'm not backing out!" Naruto nodded, seemingly happy with the girl's answer.
He took out a small slip of paper and said, "Channel some of your chakra into this, then we can determine your chakra affinity." Doing so, the paper turned soggy and wet in an instant.
She smiles, knowing what it meant. "Looks like I have water! Cool!" she exclaimed happily.
Naruto nodded. "Come on, let's star your training.
(Flashback End)
Ever since then, Sakura had been working hard to become a strong kunoichi. She wasn't over her crush, but she was no longer obsessed with him either.
Outside, the same cloaked figure was perched on a tree looking through a window to see the blond boy his little sister has been speaking very highly of. A few strands of platinum-blond hair could be seen sticking out of his black hood. He chuckled lightly. "I came here looking for my sister and I find her with a blond ningen. What have you got here? Perhaps he really is a potential mate like you said... nee-chan." His amber and slitted eyes flashed for a second before he disappeared into the darkness of the inky shadows.
Well, there we go. Hope you enjoyed!
Also, check the pole on my profile and I'll leave it up until the next time I update.