Kakashi had to admit, he wasn't sure what to think of today. The night had passed and he had not received any more updates from his blond student turned vampire. That could mean any number of things, for one the boy could've ended up getting in over his head (unlikely but possible since Gatō had at least two nuke-nin under his command) or he could have simply decided against giving an update due to not knowing if the silver haired shinobi was awake or not.

There was also the third possibility but he really didn't want to go there. Still, for now his focus was simply in making sure that his other two genin were trained up and Tazuna was being guarded.

Guarding Tazuna wouldn't prove that difficult given the fact he was up a running, plus the chances were that Gatō would be more busy trying to find out who wiped out one of his camps, meaning he would probably be more concerned with sending his men to find Naruto than Tazuna, Sasuke or Sakura.

Still, that didn't change the fact that he had to start teaching his non-vampiric genin how to properly control their chakra and what better way than teaching them how to climb trees?

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto sat calmly against a tree, it's canopy blocking out the hazardous sun and further enhancing the protection the clothes Kakashi-sensei had given him against it.

"So all that is left are the ninja and the mercs guarding Gatō himself huh?" came the slightly giddy words of the giant chakra construct that was sealed within his corpse.

"Yeah, though I need a little rest right now," the blue eyed blood sucker thought back as his mind focused on the fate of the mercenaries that worked for Gatō. Honestly despite knowing how cruel he had been to them, he couldn't bring himself to care.

He was certain it was courtesy of the memories he had assimilated from some of them that made it possible for him to demonize the men, actually being capable of remembering their deeds and the emotions associated with the acts made it easy for him to think of them as less than human.

However that didn't change the fact that there was a mental strain from the acts and he needed rest, especially given how he had discovered the ability to manipulate minds, implanting false images, making their minds ignore certain presences and above all, the ability to completely shatter the mind of his victims.

He had found that the stronger the will of his victim the harder it was to manipulate their mind (he had also found that the fox inside him was surprisingly weak willed, probably why he was so vulnerable to the sharingan). Of course the mental battle that existed was something that could tire him out especially if his enemy had a strong will.

Silence reigned in the clearing, at least until the blond felt a mind coming his direction, delving slightly into the mind he was shocked to discover that it was the hunter nin that he had discovered had saved Zabuza. Of course looking a little deeper into the persons mind he found himself growing depressed at the thought of fighting someone like that.

He had nothing against completely decimating the bandits that worked for Gatō, they were a bunch of dark souled monstrosities as it was, however this ninja was nothing like that. He could see how similar they were to each other and how the hunter nin didn't seem to agree with what Gatō was doing to the country but was only working for him out of duty to Zabuza who in turn, only worked for Gatō out of desperation.

Despite these thoughts, he remained focused on the fake hunter nin that was currently dressed in a pink dress that went down to his feet, with his long raven coloured hair stretching down to his back… honestly Naruto could not believe that this person with the lithe frame, slender face and dressed in pink was a boy but he knew from the boys memories that that was in fact the case.

"Wait? That's a boy? Are you fucking kidding me?! I've seen girls that look less girly than that guy!" Kyūbi shouted from his place in his cage, earning a small twitch off the blond vampire.

"You think I feel any different? I hate to admit it but this guy is prettier than Sakura-chan," Naruto admitted in his head as the boy walked over with surface thoughts contemplating killing him.

"So dying has affected your sexuality huh boy?" the red eyed beast accused from behind the bars holding it at bay.

"No it hasn't, that guy's just a trap," the spiky haired youth thought calmly before feeling the hunter nins mind settle on waking him up instead of killing him.

"There is no need to do that," the whiskered vampire stated calmly as the feminine boys hand made towards him, earning a recoil from the docile ninja.

"Sorry, I thought you were asleep," the boy said with smile that didn't quite reach his mind.

"I can tell," the blue eyed genin deadpanned, earning a small chuckle off the hazel eyed individual.

"So what were you doing sleeping out here? You could catch a cold," the feminine boy asked with a warm smile that Naruto probably would've blushed at seeing if he didn't know the person he was facing was his own gender (and he had blood flowing through his veins to let him blush).

"I won't catch a cold," the currently cloaked youth stated calmly, earning a raised eyebrow off the stranger.

"And what makes you so certain of that?" the dark haired boy queried with a smile only to suddenly jump away and pull out a senbon as a blood covered white rabbit launched itself from one of the branches to the area the fake hunter ninja had been kneeling only moments earlier.

"Damn… I really wanted to get you with that one fake hunter-san," the now red eyed genin said with a calm voice as he rose from his seat and looked at his target.

Immediately the pacifist ninja froze in shock, he couldn't believe that this person he was facing knew who he was, sure if he had been conscious then there was the small possibility that he could identify him but he had spent most of the fight against Zabuza unconscious or on fire so he shouldn't have known enough to identify him.

"How did you know?" he asked nervously, honestly all he knew about his enemy was that they had enough power to overwhelm Zabuza, though exactly how he managed that was unknown.

"I have my ways Haku of the Yuki clan," the currently masked vampire stated calmly, causing his foes eyes to widen in shock once again, "now, go bunny and deal with your former owner."

"His name's Shiro," the young boy said with a twitching eye upon seeing the fate of his pet.

"It's Bunny," Naruto stated with his own twitch.

"Shiro."

"Bunny."

"Shiro."

"Bunny."

"Shiro."

"Bunny," by that point the rabbit ghoul had successfully reached its former owner and proceeded to try and bite him, however the act failed quite miserably as the senbon using hunter nin jumped back.

That was when he found a fist colliding with his chest, at least that was what it looked like, the power behind it was far greater than even Zabuza's and that was saying something.

The result of the blow knocked the slightly older boy into a tree, cracking the bark and creating a large amount of internal bleeding, forcing him to bite back a scream of pain as he started going through one handed seals.

He never got to finish as a firm grip grabbed his hands and without a seconds hesitation, crushed the offending appendages.

"Understand this Haku-san, the only reason you're still alive right now is because you have something that could benefit my village and I intend on doing everything I can to help my home," and with that statement said, Naruto gave the boy a head-butt, knocking the mortal out of consciousness.

Naruto knew that if he was still alive he would be forcing his breathing and heartbeat to calm down after making such a statement however without either of them there, he instead decided to try something that he hadn't done since dying.

Placing his hands in a cross-shaped seal, he attempted to channel his chakra, smiling slightly upon feeling the familiar energy starting to flow again before he let out a yell of "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and found a single copy of himself standing next to him.

Without a single word or thought being uttered the bunshin got straight to its job, picking up the unconscious boy and making its way back towards Tazuna's residence where it would hand over the prisoner to his sensei who would be waiting for him by then.

"Kakashi-sensei," he thought while connecting himself with his team leader.

"Naruto, are you alright?" the silver haired Jōnin asked with a hint of concern passing over the psychic link.

"Yeah… I'm nearly finished my mission, all that's left is Zabuza and the people guarding Gatō himself," the spiky hared youth stated calmly, earning a mental nod off his teacher.

"I see, what about the fake hunter nin?" the one eyed ninja asked, earning a hint of guilt from the psychic link.

"I've captured him," the blue eyed vampire stated earning a feeling of confusion from his sensei.

"Why did you capture him and why do you feel so guilty?" the sharingan warrior asked as kindly as he could manage.

"Because they're not a bad person but they're also the last of the Yuki-clan," instantly Kakashi understood the feelings of his shortest student, capturing a bloodline holder is something that was taught at the academy, that kekkei genkai were a powerful weapon for any shinobi village to have and that obtaining new ones could increase the strength of their home once they managed to make the clan large and loyal enough to give them a boost in strength.

"I see…" the silence that reigned after that was deafening as the experienced Jōnin understood why his student felt guilty, after all it was explained to all the students at the shinobi academy that those with kekkei genkai would be forced to breed for the sake of the village, "so what's your plan now?"

"I'm going to get a bit of rest, I've been up all night so I'm just going to try and get myself back up to full strength before going after Zabuza and then… I'll deal with Gatō," the coldness in Naruto's tone was not missed by the Jōnin instructor.

."Naruto, are you alright?" the older of the two asked with his concern passing clearly through the link.

"Kakashi-sensei… I've absorbed the memories of several bandits, they were… disgusting vermin, taking pleasure in the suffering of others… one of them even…" Naruto couldn't bring himself from saying it however his disgust as well of the memory was passed onto his sensei who immediately returned the feeling towards the person he was thinking of.

"I see… it is unfortunate you absorbed memories like that," the one eyed Jōnin stated clearly, earning a scowl from Naruto.

"At least now I know one thing," sensing the apprehension coming from his sensei, the young boy made a simple statement that made cold shivers run down the cycloptic Jōnin's spine, "there are some people that deserve to suffer."

"Hehe, it looks like the kid is going to get even more fun," the giant fox sealed in Naruto's gut stated with a viscous grin etched on its face.

"You're one of the ones that I'm thinking of making suffer," the spiky haired boy stated calmly, earning an indignant scoff off the bijū.

"And what've I done to deserve that huh?" the kitsune asked the vampiric genin.

"Annoy me," instantly he knew that his sensei had a sweatdrop at his statement.

"Awe… looks like little Naru-chan is growing up to become a beautiful sadist," the red eyed fox said in a mocking tone, earning a twitch of his hosts eye.

"That's it, screw you, I'm going to get some sleep," and with that, the other two participants in the conversation found themselves shut out of the blonds thoughts.

XXX XXX XXX

It was official, Gatō was pissed off. He had sent several messengers to the three camps he had set up within Nami no kuni and not one of them had returned. It was really pissing him off that they hadn't come back when they were supposed to be fast at running, that is the whole reason he hired them in the first place.

By all rights, they should've been back over two hours ago and yet they were nowhere to be seen.

It was for this reason that he decided it was time to see his hired muscle himself, well at least the one he wasn't afraid of right now, a single demon that was bedridden would be no danger to a man of his influence.

"Zōri, Waraji! It's time to pay the little demon a visit!" the short shipping magnate shouted, causing his two bodyguards, a pair of ronin, one with silver hair, a black cap, a grey jacket and a pair of linear tattoos running from his eyes, while the other had an eyepatch, no shirt, dark hair and a plant like tattoo wrapping around his arm.

"Alright boss," the light haired one said with a calm grin before turning to his partner, "and remember Waraji, no killing the ninja."

"Shut up Zōri, I don't care for weak pricks that can't even stand," the darker haired one said before the pair were silenced by their boss.

"Both of you shut up, your job is to looking intimidating and kill those I tell you to, so shut up and do as I say," the short business man stated angrily, earning nods of acknowledgement from the two swordsmen.

It was unfortunate that they had to walk at Gatō's pace because doing so meant the trip took far longer than it normally would've, resulting in the trip taking nearly three hours courtesy of the shipping magnates short strides… at least it would've if they had made it the whole way.

"Well would you look at that, the pathetic bastard has left his fortress," came a cold call from behind the group, causing them to turn and face their opponent, only to laugh upon seeing someone only slightly taller than the shipping magnate.

They chose to ignore the fact the person was dressed in a cloak and was wearing a Konoha hitae-ate, neither fact mattered to them, after all what danger was a single short ninja to two ronin that were thrown out of the daimyo's service due to being too violent?

"Kill him," the short man wearing glasses ordered his bodyguards who quickly charged at the blond genin.

Naruto found himself completely unconcerned with his opponents movements, honestly he had faced faster and more agile opponents back in the academy and now, he had the strength and speed to overcome people like this with minimal effort.

Seeing the two swordsmen drawing their blades to slice him apart with an Iaijutsu on each side, he effortlessly caught both blades with his bare hands, any fear he may have possessed extinguished by the knowledge that he had caught Zabuza's blade with minimal effort when he could barely see it.

Shock was the only emotion that existed within the other occupants of the area as the spiky haired youth simply jerked his wrists and sent the two ronin flying courtesy of keeping their grips on their blades.

It was upon seeing this that Gatō felt unbridled fear, here he was in the middle of nowhere with just his two bodyguards that had been stopped effortlessly by this strange enemy. So it was with no shame coursing through his veins that the businessman proceeded to turn his back on the others and start running like his life depended on it.

That is until he felt a hand grasp his shoulder and with minimal effort, snap his collar bone with nothing more than pressure.

"I would ask you if you had any last words but you don't deserve them," Naruto stated calmly as he tracked the bodyguards progress towards him before simply placing his hand on the shipping magnates neck and with minimal effort, snap it like a stick of Pocky.

And once again he moved his hands to catch the swords coming his way, however instead of throwing their owners like last time, the whiskered genin simply snapped the blades, shocking the pair of ronin just long enough to find the tips of their swords thrust into their necks by the darkly dressed genin.

"You two don't deserve any last words either," the blue eyed vampire stated coldly before he used one of the dying ronin's swords to remove Gatō's head before he proceeded to continue on his way towards Zabuza's hideout with the singular goal of wiping out every last enemy on his mission.

XXX XXX XXX

Zabuza was worried, Haku should've been back long ago with plants to help create a healing balm, however he was nowhere to be seen. Given the fact that the bridge builder had arrived with a team of ninja and he had been unable to neutralise Hatake because of the damage he suffered from that immortal genin, he knew the worst possible scenario was playing out, Haku had been caught.

He knew that scenario was the worst possible, no matter which village you went to, kekkei genkai were always treated in one of two ways, either disdain (and that only happened in Kiri) or adoration. He knew that even the supposedly clean Konohagakure no Sato had its fair share of dirty secrets and that Haku would be used as a breeding factory whether he liked it or not.

The fact that he didn't trust Gatō or his men didn't make matters any easier, especially now that he had no one to guard him.

"It's funny, I never thought you cared about your accomplice so much," came a voice that instantly shocked the former Kiri nin.

"What the? I can't even hear his breathing or heartbeat!" the swordsman thought to himself as he lay on his bed with his muscles refusing to move an inch courtesy of the temporary death state he was placed under by his accomplice.

"That's because I don't have a heart beat and I only breath when I talk," Naruto stated from his position at the foot of the bed.

"The fuck's going on? Can he read my mind like Hatake?" the owner of Kubikiribōchō thought to himself only to receive an answer as soon as he finished.

"No, Kakashi-sensei can only place you under a genjutsu that makes your thoughts predictable, I actually can read your mind," the vampire stated calmly.

"So Zabuza, please say your last words, I want to hear them come from your mouth instead of festering in the front of your mind," Naruto demanded from the legendary swordsman.

"Go fuck yourself," the mist ninja stated, earning a frown of disappointment from the blue eyed genin.

"I was hoping you would ask for Haku to be kept safe but if that's the case then I won't bother trying to help him," Naruto stated before pulling his face mask down and in an instant, sunk his fangs into the bedridden swordsman.

Naruto once again felt the rush of memories entering his mind, the knowledge of how to train in the arts that Zabuza employed, the knowledge of why Zabuza tried to overthrow the Mizukage and most importantly as far as the blond was concerned, the regret for all the harm he had caused because of the Mizukage and the rebellion.

It didn't take long for the blond to finish draining the legendary ninja of his blood before lifting the corpse to its feet.

"Alright, it's time to collect the rest of my ghouls and return to Kakashi-sensei," Naruto muttered to himself before walking out of the room, the corpse of Zabuza following him.

XXX XXX XXX

Kakashi really didn't know what to think right now, to think he had to place an anti-suicide seal on the prisoner in order to stop them from offing himself, not that he blamed the boy, it was well known among ninja that prisoners with kekkei genkai were not treated well… at all.

Honestly the best future Haku had would be being locked in a room with three square meals a day while being forced to impregnate several women before having his head split open by one of the Yamanaka's and being executed, well that is unless he was bought by a kind Konoha civilian as a slave but that pretty much never happened.

Kakashi would not deny that most of the civilians that bought slaves were anything but nice people and the treatment the enslaved tended to undergo was some of the worst that could be imagined, however it was Hi no Kuni law that allowed such treatment, since the daimyo officially acknowledges slaves as property instead of people, any cruelty that occurred to the poor souls was perfectly legal.

And the Hokage had no say in it.

Honestly if it wasn't for the necessity of strengthening the village Kakashi would've killed the poor boy already but even Naruto acknowledged that the village comes first when it came down to things like that.

The one good thing however came from the reactions of the others that stayed under the same roof when they found out that Haku was a boy, it was especially funny given the fact that Sakura seemed exceptionally depressed at the knowledge that there was a boy that made a better girl than she did.

Of course he didn't let Tsunami or Tazuna know the reason behind keeping the fake hunter ninja alive and imprisoned, such a thing would probably disgust the duo especially if they knew that it was common practice among shinobi villages.

He was interrupted from his musings by a knock on the front door that made him look at it suspiciously.

"Kakashi-sensei, it's me, I have a little problem I've brought for you to help me solve," appeared within the heads of everyone in the house including the Hyōton user who immediately stiffened at the psychic message.

Letting out a sigh, the silver haired Jōnin walked over to the door and without hesitation opened it only to say a single sentence upon seeing the problem Naruto had.

"Oh shit."

XXX XXX XXX

It took several hours for Kakashi to assist Naruto in doing something to keep his ghouls out of public view and easily accessible with what was essentially a combination of a storage and summoning scroll, allowing him to store all the ghouls in a single pocket dimension with the potential of being summoned specifically.

Kakashi also had to admit that Zombie Zabuza was actually a pretty intimidating sight, especially with the sword that he still dragged around everywhere… even if Naruto offered it to his sensei stating 'it would be cooler in your hands'.

However the truly great part had nothing to do with the hundred strong zombie army Naruto had managed to collect, instead it was the head of a certain businessman that truly mattered.

Naruto couldn't stop himself from grinning a cruel smile upon seeing the sheer shock and disgust on Inari's face when he showed the head of the billionaire to the family, he was far less entertained by the reaction of his pink haired teammate and quickly put the severed head back under his cloak before she ended up vomiting.

However that didn't change the fact that displaying the head in the middle of the closest town completely changed the atmosphere of Nami and even more importantly, resulted in far more civilians coming to work on the bridge.

So it was with minimal effort that they proceeded to finish their mission, without Gato, Zabuza or his men, Nami no longer really needed them, however that didn't change the fact that they were hired to protect him until the bridge was completed.

Because of this the team simply decided to practice the tree climbing exercise with Sakura getting it down in a matter of minutes while Sasuke struggled and Naruto… well he rotted the tree he tried to practice on, apparently the stagnant nature of his chakra had resulted in him essentially obtaining what Kakashi-sensei decided to call 'fukyuuton(1)'.

Of course the simple fact that his chakra needed to undergo nature transformation in order to get rid of that meant any jutsu powered by raw chakra would end up possessing the corrosive property of his regular chakra, even the Kage bunshin released a cloud of corrosive chakra upon being dispersed.

However it soon came time to leave the country and Naruto honestly couldn't be happier, throughout his entire stay within the country he had been reminded of the memories he had absorbed, it wouldn't have been so bad if they weren't all disgusting and brutal.

He wanted nothing more right now than to leave the country and the people behind so he was quickly filling with relief upon the completion of the bridge and the possibility of going home.

On top of that, it didn't feel too bad to be recognised as a hero.

"Thanks to you, we've completed the bridge but… this is super sad," the old bridge builder said as the group of three ninja, one prisoner, one vampire and one undead rabbit stood at the end of the bridge ready to leave at last.

"Come on, this place is filled with bad memories for me," the cloaked blond stated as he turned around to leave with the rest.

"W-wait!" a young call sounded through the crowd that soon parted to reveal a young girl that was panting while carrying a small box in her hand, "please wait!"

Turning around the blond couldn't stop his eyes from widening in shock upon seeing the young girl he had freed from the second bandit camp.

"Sorry but I have some memories I'd rather forget about this place," Naruto stated calmly before once again turning around.

"P-please… w-we spent a-a-all week making you this," the young girl said as tears threatened to pour from her eyes as Naruto tried to get the memories of one of the bandits out of his head.

Feeling a hand grip his shoulder he looked to his side to see Kakashi looking at him.

"Take it, they want to give you something to thank you for saving their country, so accept it," the one eyed Jōnin thought, knowing that Naruto would listen to his thoughts.

"She was in one of the camps I destroyed, she was… she was raped by a man I drank the blood of," immediately the disgust that appeared in his sensei spread out to him.

"Then it is even more important that you accept the gift," the silver haired man informed the blond, earning a small nod of acceptance from Naruto before the blond turned around.

Walking towards the girl, Naruto almost trembled at the memories that flooded his mind of this sweet innocent girl being defiled by one of the monsters he had killed, the mere thought of such a thing was waking him feel sick with the only thing stopping him from throwing up being his inability to.

Reaching his gloved hand out to accept the small box, he opened it with a sense of anticipation, only for his eyes to widen at the contents.

In it was a bright silver chain necklace with a pendant that looked like a pair of swords crossed behind a round shield that was decorated with an engraving of a wave and the kanji for hero.

If Naruto could release tears in his undead state, he was certain he would've. The gift he had just received would be a constant reminder for him of what happened in Nami, however upon looking at it he was able to focus not on the memories he had absorbed but the people he had saved.

"It's beautiful," he said quietly, though loud enough to be heard before he unclasped the chain and without taking down his hood or mask, he proceeded to place it on his neck where it hung proudly.

Upon fixing the necklace around his neck, the young vampire proceed to lower his mask quickly and give the young girl a quick kiss to her forehead, earning a minor flinch and a small blush, "thank you."

"I-i-it's not a problem, y-you saved u-us after all," the young girl said nervously after the hero of wave put his mask back up.

"I promise, I'll come and see you all again someday," the now significantly happier shinobi said before turned around, "so it's time to return home."

"Indeed it is Naruto, indeed it is," Kakashi stated calmly as the group proceeded to leave the country with a single prisoner in tow.

XXX XXX XXX

(1) Rot Release