Chapter 27: Mr. and Mrs. Mizukage
After all this time, I have returned, if you want to run I'll wait.
For those of you still here it this chapter will probably be more humorous than anything else, since it will focus on the relationship between Mei and Zabuza and the relationship between Mei and Haku.
Also, Chōjūrō is 19 in Shippūden so it is conceivable that he would be one of the Mizukage's guards. Also I know that the Konoha-Suna Chunin Exam Filler Arc gives a vague time frame for when Mei became Mizukage, but without specifics and given that whether or not filler is canon is sometimes questionable, particularly in Naruto, I think this still works. Even if it didn't this is an AU fic. I apologize for getting back on this subject but just want to discourage anyone from just reviewing to say, "Mei wasn't Mizukage yet."
Now, on with the chapter.
Konoha Main Street
It had been two weeks since the message from Kiri had arrived and it was the day Zabuza had been dreading. Terumi Mei and her delegation had arrived in Konoha and had asked for Zabuza and Haku. The Mizukage had also expressed a desire to meet with Team 7, wanting to meet those who had done what Kiri Tracker Nin could not do.
"Zabuza-san, you're seeing this woman for the first time in years and you look like you're walking to your execution, why is that?" Naruto asked as he, Team 7, Haku, and Zabuza made their way towards the Hokage Mansion.
"My, most likely, ex-fiancée is going to be there and she is going to be pissed. Not only that but she is one of the most powerful women in Mizu no Kuni, add to it, she has two kekkei genkai, Yōton and Futton, which she will probably use on me the second she sees me. So yes, I look like I'm walking to my execution because that may be exactly what I'm doing," Zabuza ranted.
"Uh huh. So what's everyone else doing today?" Naruto said, unfazed.
On the plus side, if Mei kills me or lets me come back at least I won't have to deal with this maniac, Zabuza thought, weighing his options.
"Have you thought about what you're going to say Zabuza-san?" Sakura asked.
"I think I'd rather hear what everyone else is doing today," Zabuza said.
As the group was walking they heard whispers, most of which were about how attractive the Mizukage was.
"Did you get a look at her?"
"Kiri is lucky to have such a babe as their Kage."
"I managed to get a picture."
"I want a copy."
"Well Zabuza-san, you may not be too thrilled that Mei-sama came to get you, but every man we've passed sure is," Naruto said. Getting no reply Naruto turned to where Zabuza had been only moments before to find him gone. "Hey where did he go?" Naruto asked.
"Look behind us," Haku said.
Every man who had made a comment about Terumi Mei now looked as though they had been mauled by some wild animal. After a few seconds a civilian villager came running towards Naruto and his group with Zabuza walking briskly behind him. Looking over his shoulder the man said, "Please, I didn't know that she was your fiancée. Please don't hurt me."
"Give me the camera and I might consider it," Zabuza said evenly as he easily caught up with the man.
"Here, I can go now right?" the man asked.
"As soon as you get up sure," Zabuza said.
"What do you, ahh," the man started to ask before Zabuza brought the camera down on his head knocking him out and breaking the camera. Next Zabuza grabbed the film and destroyed it.
"Huh, I never took Zabuza for the jealous type," Kakashi said.
"Well no man likes having other men ogling his girlfriend, or fiancée or whatever their relationship is at this point," Naruto said.
"So if-?" Sasuke started to ask.
As if reading his mind, Naruto said, "No, no. If they had been talking about Hinata, I would have killed them."
It's terrifying that he said that so casually, the group thought as the group continued on its way.
The Hokage Mansion
Given that they were hosting foreign dignitaries, it was no surprise that the security was tight at the Hokage Mansion. As the group approached the Sandaime's office they were stopped by two ANBU, one in a bear mask and one in a boar mask. Naruto said, "Momochi, party of six."
"Smartass," Boar said.
"Boar!" Bear admonished. Turning back to the group Bear said, "They are expecting you."
"All at once? Good, I would feel better with more witnesses," Zabuza told them. With that the group entered the Hokage's Office. Inside was, of course, Sarutobi Hiruzen, but there were three others. One was a woman with green eyes, and ankle-length, auburn hair styled into a herringbone pattern at the back, a top-knot tied with a dark blue band, and with four bangs at the front. Two bangs are short, with one covering her right eye, and two are long, crossing each other on her bust, just below her chin. She was also wearing a blue dress. This was clearly Terumi Mei as she was the only woman in the room. With her were two men: a young man with short, tufty blue hair, and dark eyes. He also has pointed, shark-like teeth. He wore square, black-rimmed glasses connected to ear protectors, a blue pin-striped shirt and camouflage pattern pants. The other was a middle aged man with blue hair which is styled in a moussed-up manner. His left eye was blue and his right eye was covered with an eye-patch. He also wore the standard striped, grey suit, with a green haori that had white trimmings that stop halfway down, over them. The other most noticeable feature that this man possessed were the talismans he wore on each ear.
"Team 7, Zabuza-san, Haku-san, this is the Godaime Mizukage, Terumi Mei. The taller man is Ao and the younger man is Chōjūrō," Hiruzen said introducing the Kiri delegation.
"It's an honor to meet you," Naruto said as he bowed.
"A pleasure," Sakura said.
"You honor us with your presence," Kakashi said, although slightly warily.
"We've met," Zabuza said.
"Nice to see you too, Zabuza," Mei responded. Looking over to Team 7, Mei said, "Are these the talented ninja who finally caught you?"
"Okay, one I came willingly; second, it was mostly that blonde mental patient that convinced me," Zabuza explained.
"Given his background I believe that Naruto's sanity is well within acceptable deviations… for now," Hiruzen said.
"Wow, what a ringing endorsement. I am filled with confidence," Zabuza replied sarcastically.
"And I'm standing right here," Naruto reminded them. That got a laugh out of all those present.
"Well, I'm grateful, I believe that Hokage-dono said your name was Naruto?" Mei asked, waiting for a proper introduction.
"Uzumaki Naruto, Mizukage-sama. These are my teammates Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura and our jonin sensei, Hatake Kakashi," Naruto said.
"I like him Hokage-dono, I may just invite him to come to Kiri," Mei said. Looking back over at Zabuza and Haku, Mei asked, "Who is that with you Zabuza?"
"This is Haku…" Zabuza started.
"I'm his to-," Haku started.
"…he's my son, I sort of adopted him before I had to run," Zabuza said like it was no big deal. This statement had visibly stunned both Haku and Mei though.
Zabuza-sama, thank you, Haku thought, touched.
"Oh you poor boy, I know how difficult Zabuza and be," Mei said.
"Better difficult then paranoid," Zabuza countered.
Chōjūrō leaned over to Ao and asked, "Should we say something?"
Ao responded by whispering, "You can, I'm actually enjoying this."
"Paranoid?! How am I paranoid?" Mei asked, offended.
"Now let's just hold on," Hiruzen said, trying to calm the two down.
"Who's the 'old one'?" Mei asked angrily.
"Thanks for making my point Mei," Zabuza said.
"Everyone but Zabuza, get out," Mei said quietly but still sounding pissed.
"But this is my office," Hiruzen said.
"Out!" Mei shouted.
"Kicked out of my own office, I don't believe this," Hiruzen complained as he left with the others.
It had been ten minutes. Neither Mei nor Zabuza had come out of the office and everyone was starting to get nervous.
"Whatever is going on in there has been going on for a while, someone should check on them," Chōjūrō suggested.
"Well it is Jiji's office," Naruto pointed out. His implication was met with approval be almost all those present.
"That works."
"Yeah."
"He's right, Hokage-sama."
"The boy makes a good point."
"Alright," Hiruzen said, cutting the rest off. He unlocked his office door and went inside. A minute later the door opened and Hiruzen asked for Kakashi and Ao to join them. Four more minutes had passed before the door opened again and the group was treated to a smug looking Zabuza, a happy Mei, a visibly disturbed Hiruzen, and a bewildered Kakashi and Ao as well as a trashed office.
"What happened?" Naruto asked. He wasn't the only one who wanted to know, the whole group was confused.
"The short version is: I came in, they were making out in my nearly destroyed office and demanded a quickie marriage with Kakashi and Ao serving as witnesses if you haven't already guessed. I don't want to think about what happened before that," Hiruzen said. And I am going to have my office sterilized or burned just to be safe, you can be sure of that, he thought.
"We'll be extending our stay if it's alright with you Hokage-dono," Mei said, leaving no room for argument.
"But who will run Kiri?" Naruto asked.
"Ao, Chōjūrō, could one of you be a dear and send a message home saying we'll be here a while longer while we work out an alliance treaty?" Mei asked, even though it was clearly an order.
"Hai, Mizukage-sama," they said as they both took off to send word to Kiri.
"Hokage-dono can we start the negotiations in a few days, Konoha has given me a husband and a son and I don't want to give away too much because of my good mood," Mei said.
"That will be fine," Hiruzen said. I need the time to clean this office.
After Mei and Zabuza left, Naruto asked, "What the hell just happened?"
One week later
True to her word, Mei had met with Hiruzen to work out a treaty between Kiri and Konoha. The signing was one of the biggest events Konoha had seen in years and everyone had gathered outside of the Hokage Mansion to celebrate it. Hiruzen, Team 7, the Kiri delegation, Haku, Zabuza, and the recently released Demon Brothers stood at the top of the Hokage Mansions central tower while Hiruzen addressed the village.
"…and let the signing of this treaty signal a new era of cooperation and friendship between our two villages," Hiruzen finished. Once his speech was finished, both he and Mei signed the treaty and a resounding cheer came from everyone gathered. Once that had died down, Mei stepped forward to speak.
"As the people of Kiri will tell you, since becoming Mizukage, it has been my fondest wish to show the world that the days of the Bloody Mist are a thing of the past. I must admit that I haven't been too sure how to go about this but thanks to a certain group of your ninja I believe that I and my village have taken the first step. I would like to take this time to acknowledge this team of Konoha ninja: Team 7 led by Hatake Kakashi," Mei then paused to allow for applause.
I was hoping she wouldn't do this, Naruto thought.
"Haruno Sakura," Mei continued. More applause.
"I'm sure she means well," Kurama said in an attempt to console his human partner.
"Uchiha Sasuke." This was met with the loudest applause yet and a few cheers of, "Sasuke-kun!"
Ugh, let's get this over with, Naruto thought, dreading what was about to happen.
"And last, but certainly not least, Uzumaki Naruto!" Mei announced as she herself started to applaud. After a few seconds the villagers seemed to come around to the idea and joined in.
I didn't expect this, maybe some quiet applause so they didn't seem rude but not this, Naruto thought. He looked over and caught Mei's eye, to his surprise the Godaime Mizukage winked at him.
"Naruto, I think she did this just for you. I think she's trying to get them to warm up to you," Kurama said, putting the pieces together.
Aww, she's a real sweetheart. I guess Zabuza must have told her about you, and here I thought he didn't like me, Naruto thought.
Later
At Konoha's main gate the Kiri ninja, Team 7, the Sandaime, and Hinata had gathered to say their good-byes. Once Haku had explained that Hinata was a friend, Mei, who had taken to her role as stepmother surprisingly quickly, requested that the Hyuga heiress see them off so Haku could say good-bye to all of his friends from Konoha.
"We thank you for your hospitality Hokage-dono, and it has been fun but we need to head back to Kiri," Mei said.
"I understand Mizukage-dono. It was an honor having you and I'm glad that our two villages are finally allies," Hiruzen said.
"I'm a little impressed that it all happened so quickly," Naruto said.
"Well Hokage-sama and Mei-sama are both fair people," Haku said. Once Mei made a throat clearing noise, Haku revised his statement, "I mean, Hokage-sama and Kaa-sama are both fair people."
"It doesn't hurt that both of us wanted this," Mei added.
"Well Zabuza, Haku, I'm glad I got to meet you both and I hope you enjoyed my company as much as I enjoyed yours," Naruto said.
"It was a pleasure meeting you both," Hinata agreed.
"I'm going to miss all of you, you've all been very good to us," Haku said sadly.
"Yeah, sure, whatever," Zabuza said, uninterested.
"He's weeping inside, I assure you," Mei told the genin. With that the ninja of Kiri turned and began their long trek home.
Once they were out of sight, Hiruzen turned to Kakashi and said, "You should be proud of your team Kakashi, they've accomplished more on their first major mission than most ninja accomplish in their entire lives."
"Yeah, I'm interested in seeing how they top themselves," Kakashi responded.
Weeks later
It had been over a month since the treaty between Kiri and Konoha had been signed and things had pretty much gone back to normal. Naruto, however, had been moping since Haku and Zabuza left, and although he still went on missions and trained as hard as he ever did, his mood had still been noticeable and Kakashi thought it was time to address it.
"Naruto, I know you miss your friends but you can't keep moping like this," Kakashi told him.
"I'm sorry Sensei, I'm just not good with good-byes, and I have so few real friends that makes it even harder," Naruto apologized.
"Tell us how you really feel, Naruto-baka," Sakura deadpanned.
"You know I care about you guys too, Sakura," Naruto countered.
"Do we?" Sasuke asked.
"As entertaining as I'm sure this would be, I'd like to talk with Naruto alone for a few minutes," Kakashi interrupted. Once Sakura and Sasuke had gone off to train by themselves Kakashi said, "Naruto, I'm not someone who is good with emotions. I thought that if I gave you enough time then you would be able to deal with it on your own," Kami-sama, I'm a hypocrite, "but instead of dealing with it you've just been going through the motions of daily life and I'm worried about how it's affecting you and your squad mates."
"I know I've been mopey Kakashi-sensei, Haku's background was so similar to my own that he was one of the few I could actually consider a kindred spirit. But I've also had a lot on my mind, my training with Zabuza and Haku hit a snag before they left and now it seems to be on an indefinite hold and I think I may be bored," Naruto told his Sensei.
"I suppose after that mission everything else would seem boring, but you know it has to be done," Kakashi told him.
"I know, but I still wish something exciting would happen," Naruto admitted.
Spying a falcon circling above the training field, Kakashi said, "Well Naruto, you might just get your wish."
And scene, or chapter I suppose. Next up, the Chunin Exams. Yes, Haku will be part of a genin team, with some OCs some of you have given me. Before that though, I want to know if anyone thinks I should make Haku, Isobu's jinchūriki, I kind of want to but I can go either way, tell me in your reviews.
I thought the relationship between Zabuza and Mei should be like the one between Archer and Lana, except theirs will actually work out in the end. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about Netflix Archer, you won't be sorry.
So, how does everyone like The Seventh Hokage manga? I have to tell you I liked Sarada but am now a little pissed off at her. I understand being mad but where's the loyalty to the woman who raised her? "Curse of Hatred" my ass, that's more the actions of a brat. And is it me or is Chouchou just annoying as all hell? I'm still not sold on the idea that Karin is Sarada's mother, I'm sure Karin just kept a lock of Sasuke's hair in her desk. Well, it doesn't really matter, I think Kishimoto said Sakura is Sarada's mother, and is just jerking us around, it certainly wouldn't be the first time.
Sorry about that, I just felt the need to put that out there with people who actually care about the subject.
Anyway read and review and I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner.