Hiruzen was sat in his office as the sun rose, the specks of dust that floated in the sunrays were captivating to the elderly kage, each speck could be a memory for him, he had lived for too long. The words of Ryou Yamada had been stuck in his head ever since they had talked in the park, the words had opened up old wounds that had long since closed. He thought his skin had grown to be resistant to those sorts of words but... Konoha had betrayed its long standing ally, they had failed to protect them twice and had tarnished their memory by letting it rot away until very few even knew the name. Regret.
It pained him to admit it but in this instant he felt all of his sixty-eight years of age come hammering down on his old weathered bones. He had made so many mistakes in his long life, leaving Naruto in the orphanage, sending Jiraiya away, letting Asuma join the twelve guardian ninja, letting Tsunade ferment in her misery... In all honesty he even regretted retaking the mantle of Hokage. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as his right hand went to his neck in an attempt at massaging away the growing pain at its base. He could have been enjoying his retirement with what was left of his family by now, maybe he could have even convinced Asuma to come back home instead of staying in an appartement.
The sound of something wooden tapping against the ground that was accompagnied by lalmost silent footsteps warned Hiruzen of the person's arrival before they even opened the door. Said big brown doors were pushed open in one smooth motion and the person behind them stepped in, if he didn't have a cane Hiruzen was sure he wouldn't have heard the footsteps.
- Hiruzen. It is not like you to look so depressed.
Hiruzen's tired grey eyes drifted up towards the person who had entered. He was greeted to the sight of a heavily bandaged man with an x-shaped scar on his chin who was leaning on a strange carved cane. The man's spiky black hair was made even more so by the bandages that covered half his face.
- What do you want Danzo ? I'm not in the mood to deal with you.
Danzo frowned slightly, ever since he had ordered Itachi to kill his clan for the good of the village Hiruzen had began distrusting him, sometimes he might even catch a hateful glance being sent his way. It was sad really, true they had been rivals for the longest time but Danzo had still seen Hiruzen as a friend if nothing else. The man slightly adjusted his robes in an attempt to seem less uptight.
- I was simply checking up on a friend Hiruzen-kun. I had heard that you talked with that new arrival, part of the Uzumaki clan isn't he ?
The Hokage frowned at him, he didn't know how he found these things out but Hiruzen didn't like it, it meant that some of his own Anbu were not loyal to him but to Danzo and that was a frightening idea.
- I did and he enlightened me as to how i've failed in my duties.
It was Danzo's turn to frown. When the man had failed in obtaining the Hokage's hat, in order to bring about the prosperity of Konoha and subsequently a contiental peace due to none being able to stand against the millitary strength of his village, he had decided that he would aid Hiruzen in achieving the same goal. Even if the bandaged man disagreed with many of his friend's actions he could never say there was no logical explanation behind them. Like the fact that he made sure no one ever touched the container of the kyuubi by ensuring some of his most loyal Anbu were constantly at his side even going so far as to put Kakashi Hatake, an Anbu captain, on the jounin roster in order to have the man teach the kyuubi's Jinchuriki. At first he had thought that it was a waste of valuable resources but he began to reason that if the boy was harmed by civilians or shinobi of the village it would mean the boy would have a twitsted view of Konoha and he would be open to manipulation or might even turn against the village on his own initiative, Danzo could not allow that to happen.
- If you have previously failed in your duties then you should make sure it never happens again.
Danzo made a good point and Hiruzen knew it, maybe if he was younger that phrase would have put the wind in his sails and made him promise to never let those sorts of things happen again. But Hiruzen was an old man, by shinobi standards he was ancient, the life expectancy of a shinobi was maximum fourty years old and that was low when compared to the life expectancy of Kumo's shinobi which had been boosted up, they had the best medics anyone had ever seen due to the fact that almost everyone had lightning affinities in the country, an affinity which tied in with excellent chakra control. Not to mention that Kumo actualy had a pension system for shinobi that they had adapted from the civilian's system. Hiruzen wished he could put into action something like that in his own village. Why couldnt he do that sort of thing again ?
- Even if I tried to make all of my wrongs into rights I couldn't. You know better than anyone that I have let the council gain too much power over the years. I have become nothing more than a figure head at this point. The only powers I do have are over my shinobi. At this point i'm no longer the leader of the village, I'm a glorified general at best.
It was true, many diffrent incidents seemed to pile up leeding to a distrust of the previous system where the Hokage held the rights to do whatever he wanted. It was true that no one had yet to abuse the powers they had but in the eyes of the coucil it was but a matter of time until Hiruzen died and someone else took his place, someone who might decided they wanted to do whatever they wanted. Something glinted in Danzo's eyes, nostalgia and sadness drove him to say what he said next with emotions that he thought he had long since locked away.
- Then regain your political powers, strive to make the village great, make sure that your sucessor is right for when you die. Lay the foundations, make sure they are solid so that future generations can build the walls and the roof ! You don't need to do everything yourself, trust in the next generation, trust that they can achieve what you could not. That is what everyone has done before you. Hashirama left behind his legacy, his will of fire, to those who would strive for peace like he did ! Tobirama took that untamed will of fire and hammered away at it, refining the system his brother had begun and ensuring that the village could prosper without him! Do you not remember? When Tobirama died on the battlefield did he not pass down his will of fire to you ?
- Danzo, you forget that I already had set the foundations for the next generation and then I passed down my will of fire to Minato... My will died that night...
Danzo's eyes didn't falter at his words, infact they seemed to burn brighter than they had in a long time.
- My friend, it is you who has forgotten, your will of fire still lives, Naruto Uzumaki still lives, the will of fire was never stomped out, it never could be. Not even the strongest of the tailed beasts could dream of diminishing it! So why do you doubt yourself Hiruzen ?
Something within Hiruzen fell into place, he had awaited the words his friend was speaking for a long time, maybe he hadn't even known himself that he had been waiting for them, but he definitly had. And now a fire that had been going out was rekindled, it was now blazing and Danzo could see it in the Hokage's eyes, Hiruzen Sarutobi was back.
- Anbu ! Send a message to Jiraiya and Tsunade, call them back to the village ! If Tsunade dosen't come willingly then hunt her down and get Bear-kun to drag her back here.
The words were spoken with something that no one had heard from the man before them in a long time. The words were spoken with determination, one that not even mountains could oppose.
- If you don't mind me asking Hiruzen-kun but what are you going to be doing ?
The god of shinobi turned to his oldest friend and gave him what could only be described as a 'shit eating grin' something that many would have thought out of place on the old man. Danzo however recognised it as the smile that Hiruzen had when he was young and was plotting something that would make the lives of a lot of people difficult.
- I'm going to be retaking the power that rightfully belongs to me !
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Naruto sneezed rather loudly and as he reopened his eyes he was greeted to several glares and people shushing him.
- Are you trying to get us killed boy? The voice came out in a harsh whisper, If Gato's men notice that we're here we'll be killed.
Naruto gave the man a strange look as he tilted his head to the side. Naruto and Inutsuna were currently guarding the huge bridge that was in construction and ever since they had arrived Naruto noticed that not many of the builders seemed very confident in what they were doing, only the occasional motivational outburst from Tazuna were keeping them here, it was sad to watch really. Sakura and Sasuke were with Kakashi at Tazuna's house doing some special training, the white haired jounin had said that it would be best to be better prepared for when the missing nin would return. Naruto had also wanted to join but Kakashi had convinced him to go so that he could learn new things about his relative.
- Hey we're here to protect you, those guys don't stand a chance against us, believe it!
The builder who had spoken gave a disbelieving look at the orange clad brat. Did he really think he could fight the mercenaries that Gato had hired when so many adults had already died trying to do the same ?
- Whatever brat.
And with that the man went back to his work hauling materials to the other builders. Inutsuna walked up to Naruto from the other side of the bridge, his head turned to look at the man who was walking away.
- Naruto-sempai, you know that those guys don't really have much hope right? I mean their whole town is being starved out... And everyone's poor cause of Gato's ridiculous taxes.
The two blond haired boys looked at each other for a few seconds. Naruto knew they had no hope left but he couldn't stand it that everyone just rolled over and gave up like that.
- Why don't we do something about it then ?
The sound of dark laughter suddenly echoed out accross the clearing, Naruto leapt up from his sitting position and pulled out his kunnai while Inutsuna simply rested his hand on the hilt of his tanto.
- Well look at all this Damu! They think they're gonna save their wittle country by building this stupid bridge ! Ha !
All the builders turned towards the two men who were currently walking towards the bridge but they quickly looked down at the ground with somber eyes. Naruto looked around and noticed that the builders didn't look angry, like he expected but instead just looked resigned, as if they hadn't hired ninja to protect them.
- I know right, hey Guchi why don't we destroy a bit of it just to slow 'em down !
The two men burst into laughter as they were finnaly fully visible. They were only a few feet from the bridge now, Guchi was dressed in some strange black and red robes that were tied to his body by an orange sash. The only thing Inutsuna could compare his clothing to was some martial artists he had met in Tanigakure. The fact that he was unarmed also made him think that he might be from said village. However the other man was visibly armed with a horrible looking serrated katana and even Naruto knew the man was a Samuraï just by looking at his clothing. He wore a white hakama that resembled baggy pants and he also had wooden sandals on, not to mention that he had his dark blue hair tied back into a pony tail. However Damu didn't wear any armor or even a shirt for that matter, something that was strange for a samuraï.
Just as the man named Damu was about to step onto the bridge he was forced to jump back as a shuriken landed where he had been a few seconds prior, his eyes darkened as he looked up towards the fool who had attacked him. Before he could see who it was the person landed right infront of him lashing out with a clumsy punch at his midsection. Despite being clumsy the punch had some force to it as it sent the ex-samuraï flying backwards, the man corrected himself and landed with a string of curses.
- Who'd you think you are ya bastard ?! You don't just attack one of Gato's men !
- I was about to ask the same question! There's no way i'm letting you near this bridge that so many people worked hard to build!
The words were said with anger but to the builders they sounded full of conviction, something they sorely lacked. They looked away as the katana weilding mercenary ran towards the boy intent on decapitating him. The builders were forced to look back rather quickly however at the sound of metal against metal.
- Naruto-sempai, you take care of that other guy, i'll fight this wannabe !
- Who are you calling a wannabe ?!
Naruto leapt away to fight the strange unnarmed man, he quickly settled into his brawling stance with his kunnai drawn. The man infront of him however settled into a rather strange stance. He seemed overly calm as he placed his legs far apart, one arm behind his back while the other came forwards with each finger outstretched. Naruto frowned at the man waiting for him to attack was boring and so the orange clad genin leapt into action, unconsciously channeling chakra to his feet as the ground crumbled under the strain. He brought his right fist towards the man's face while at the same time bringing his kunnai up to cut the man's arm. Guchi didn't move to dodge instead he simply batted away the fist that was aimed at his head and he sent the kunnai Naruto had been using flying away with a single chop to the blonde boy's wrist, he then forced the boy to leap back with a palm thrust aimed at his chest.
- Damn, you're fast aren't you ?
- Stating the obvious brat, if you don't want to die you better focus !
And with that the martial artist shot forwards with a speed that Naruto had never seen, a palm violently slammed against his chest and he felt the wind shoot out of his lungs, the next stike hit his chin sending him into the air slightly and slamming his teeth together painfully. The assault didn't stop there however as a sudden kick to his ribs sent him flying out into the nearby forest, Guchi wasn't satistfied with just that seeing as he dove into the forest after the boy. That was his first mistake, you should never fight a Konoha shinobi in a forest.
The second Guchi arrived at where he thought the blond brat had been he was assaulted by a wave of shuriken, despite the suprise attack Guchi managed to either dodge or bat away the spinning metal stars with the back of his hand. As soon as the onslaught stopped he scanned his surrounding for his opponent but the brat, despite being dressed in bright orange, was suprisingly very hard to spot. It was only the slightest of sounds that warned Guchi that something was above him, he looked up just in time to block a downwards kick that would have probably dislocated his shoulder. Naruto used the force of the blocked attack to shoot back off into the shadows of the trees.
Guchi smirked, this was good. The brat was somewhat smart, he knew that he couldn't fight the martial artist head on so instead he favored a hit and run tactic to whittle away at the older man's defenses. This would be a good fight. He felt the attack coming from behind and so he span arround, barely blocking a punch with his palm but instead of letting the brat dart back off he clutched his fist to hold him in place and brought his other hand back around from his back to strike the boy in the face. It was only instincs that saved him as a shuriken came flying at his back, he dodged at the last second but it still managed to scratch him. The spinning wheel of death collided with the face of the blond he was holding, Guchi was only shocked for a few seconds before the blond he was holding burst into smoke. Once again he barely had time to dodge as two attacks came at him from two diffrent directions, a punch from the front and a kick from the back. He managed to block the two attacks with both his forearms but he was now completly confused. He tryed to see who the second person was but they disapeared too fast, the brat hadn't been this fast before.
Guchi unfortunatly didn't have a lot of knowledge about ninjutsu and chakra. If he did he would have known that Naruto was using shadow clones to attack and as soon as they had attacked he dispersed them, simulating the affect of sudden attacks out of nowhere along with instant disapearance. This tactic was effective as long as the clones weren't forcefully dispelled by the ennemy. Because when Naruto himself dispelled them there was no sound or smoke, the chakra was gently brought back to him. But when they were forcefully dispelled there was a loud pop and a cloud of smoke because of the chakra being violently and suddenly released from its container.
Despite Guchi having dispelled a clone he still hadn't figured it out, something that confused Naruto to no end.
The blond slowly stepped it up a notch sending in five clones and then seven and then ten. This tactic wouldn't work for many as it required ridiculous amounts of Chakra. Naruto was slowly beginning to understand how special he really was and it wasn't really that comforting. When Kakashi had first seen Naruto use the jutsu he had said that a normal jounin could barely make five shadow clones without being completly drained of chakra. But the first time Naruto had used the jutsu he had made at least two hundred clones to beat the shit out of Mizuki. Something else Naruto had noticed about his jutsu was that when he did overuse it his head would begin to hurt like hell and then he would feel a strange warmth come from his stomac and it would just go away.
The blond shinobi had long since ditched the idea of making his clones disapear seeing as it didn't really matter and instead now just had ten clones beating the shit out of the martial artist from all sides, it was almost pitiful. Guchi didn't stand a chance as the attacks rained down on him, he counted six punches and four kicks along with the occasional shuriken being tossed at him. Now either the boy was inhumanly fast or he was using some kind of shinobi trick to do this. Either way Guchi didn't care at this point he just wanted to strangle the brat, the pain that was beggining to blosom accross his entire body was unbearable. It was just a slight noise, a leaf rustling maybe, but Guchi heard it and he shot towards it with all the speed he had, hitting and dispelling almost all of the clones in his mad dash.
Naruto was grappled out of the tree by the speedy martial artist and the blond didn't have to be a genius to realise that the man was intent on killing him as he felt his throat get crushed by the man's extraordinary strength. He felt tears well up in his eyes as he tryed to reach behind his back for a shuriken, seeing as his kunnai was still next to the bridge somewhere, but the pouch was clamped shut by the weight of his body and Guchi's who was forcing all of it down onto the blond boy.
It was so sudden when it happened that Naruto was still trying to catch up to what had happened when Guchi's lifeless body fell to the ground, a shuriken sticking out of his neck. Naruto's bright blue eyes turned to a clone as he tryed to regain his breath. Strangely enough the clone was clutching at it's neck with a pained expression on its face and was panting heavily.
- D-Don't you dare hurt our boss !
And with that the clone vanished into thin air. Naruto wasn't sure what had happened but he was supprised to say the least, the clones had never really talked before save for when he had fought Mizuki but they had just said the same things as him. And why had it seemed to be in the same pain as him ? He didn't understand it... He slowly got up and started stumbling towards where he thought the bridge was.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Inutsuna watched as Guchi dashed off after Naruto, the dog like boy didn't know whether Naruto could handle that martial artist on his own... He had to take down this Damu guy as quickly as possible, Ryou-sama would be sad if anything happened to one of his relatives and Inutsuna didn't want to see his master like that again.
The young blond haired boy eyed up his opponent, observing his stance and trying to find a hole in it. There weren't any, this guy was a bonafide swordsman. Inutsuna smirked slightly, he wasn't as good as Ryou-sama though. Inutsuna charged the man who was clutching his serrated Katana with both hands.
The dog like boy got up close and personal using his small size to get as close to his opponent as possible, he was mere centimeters away from the man when he brought his Tanto up in a stabbing motion aimed at the merc's heart. Damu was shocked at the speed the little brat was using but he still managed to react in time to hit the Tanto downwards with his serrated blade, suddenly trapping the smaller blade against the ground. The tall samuraï let his right hand leave the blade he was holding in favor of striking out at the boy with a vicious punch. The blue eyed boy suprisingly managed to dodge around his punch and headbutted his chin, making the man recoil which in turn liberated his Tanto. Inutsuna moved low to the ground once again, his hands practicaly scrapping against the grass as he brought his Tanto up in the same stabbing motion from before. What Inutsuna hadn't expected was for Damu to react instantaneously this time, despite still in the process of stumbling backwards he clutched his katana with both hands and brought it down in a wide splitting motion. Despite having already dodged out of the way of where he predicted the blade would go his instincs shouted at him to jump away and so he did.
- Hn... So you noticed...
Inutsuna looked at the blade that hadn't made contact with the ground and then down at the ground itself that looked like it had been crushed by a huge warhammer. The man raised his blade up and Inutsuna could now distinctly see the outlines of a warhammer made of wind surrounding the Katana like an outer shell. If Inutsuna hadn't dodged he would have been crushed.
- Fine if you want to play like that no-shirt-san then let's see what you can do against this !
Damu was taken aback by the sudden burst of chakra that came from the boy, it was so heavy he felt like he could choke on it. He half heartedly noticed that the boy's katana began shining a bright white and the air around the blade seemed to shimmer slightly. Inutsuna launched himself forwards and this time instead of moving low to the ground with several kicks to move faster, he pushed forwards with a single chakra filled kick. He swung his tanto against the man's katana slash wind hammer hybrid and used the force to bounce back, he then kicked off the ground again, once again striking the katana.
The shirtless samuraï wasn't sure what was going on, previously the brat had been aiming at him but now he was bouncing off of the ground, trees and his katana like a ball in a god damned pin ball machine. He was purposely targeting his katana. Not only that but he seemed to be getting faster and faster and his strikes seemed to become harder and harder. It was only at the last second that he noticed his blade had begun to crack. He watched in slow motion as the blond brat bounced off of the ground and shot towards him like a water bullet, his Tanto striking his Katana one last time as it shattered, some of the shards cutting into his body, the shockwave that came with the strike echoed through his bones and he felt the force that had been building up without a target suddenly target him.
Stoïc eyes watched from the forest line, the person completly hidden by the shadows of the leaves, as Damu bounced several times off of the ground. It was true that Damu was nowhere near as strong as Zabuza-sama but the fact that the boy beat him so easily was worrying, when they had fought he was just messing around which angered the hidden shadow even more as it clutched at its damaged arm. The boy had somehow used earth natured chakra to increase the weight of his blade by a lot, his fighting style completly changed when he did that. At first he stayed low and tryed to stab upwards at any vitals he could, like when they had fought, but the second he increased the weight of his Tanto he had aimed at the man's weapon, striking downwards in order to take full advantage of the weight boost. The shadow slowly faded away, detachedly watching as the boy stabbed Damu in the side of the head.
Inutsuna was about to dash off into the forest when suddenly Kakashi walked out of the area carrying something on his back.
- No need to worry Inutsuna-san, Naruto-kun is fine, just a little worn out me thinks...
Inutsuna barely acknowledged the man as he ran up to him, his eyes intently stairing at his relative with worry. It was then and there that Kakashi decided that the young boy hadn't been lying this whole time, he hadn't just made everything up to get close to the Jinchuriki of the nine tailed fox. No this boy was the genuin article, an Uzumaki who wanted to have a family.
Suddenly the sound of applause echoed out through the clearing, cheers and whistles accompanying it. Kakashi's lone eye scanned around and he noticed several builders approaching but not only, apparently some civilians had been drawn by the noise and they were all smilling brightly.
It was the first time in a long time that the people of wave had hope, hope that they could build the bridge with the help of these shinobi, hope that they could liberate their country, hope that they could finnaly be free.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Naruto sat at the table with his teammates, his sensei, Tazuna and Inutsuna. They were waiting for the food that would be set out infront of them soon but in the meantime there were conversations being exchanged over the wooden table. Naruto felt somewhat strange as Sasuke was the one to question the blond about the fight.
-Dobe, how strong was the mercenary you fought? If we can get a general idea of the strength of Gato's forces then we can know what to prepare for.
It was clear that Sasuke added the explanation as an afterthought but only Inutsuna and Kakashi seemed to notice.
- Well Guchi, the guy I fought, used this strange sort of taijutsu but he didn't really seem to understand what chakra was which was really weird...
Sasuke nodded slightly but before he could say anything it was suprisingly Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter and their host that spoke up.
- You defeated Guchi ? That horrible man was One of Gato's most trusted mercenaries! He was second in trust only to Damu !
Inutsuna was slightly shocked those guys had been some of the best Gato had ? They weren't that skilled... Zabuza was alot stronger... No wait she had said 'most trusted' that didn't mean strongest.
- Oh Yeah ! That was the guy Inutsuna took down.
As Naruto said this he smilled brightly and did a swinging motion in the air as if he had a sword to resemble Inutsuna as much as possible. The gasp he received from Tsunami sounded as shocked as Naruto had ever heard someone be. Aparently a ten year old defeating someone like that wasn't very strange to Naruto. The sudden and loud joy-filled laughter that echoed throughout the house came from Tazuna as he entered the room.
- Man you guys really are super ninja! I never thought I would see the day when those super bad guys got what was comming to 'em !
- Father ! Don't encourage them, they're kids and one of them isn't even a shinobi! They shouldn't be fighting, let alone killing people !
At that Naruto decided he should speak up but he was cut off.
- Yeah mom's right, they'll just die if they keep fighting like that, after all heroes always wind up dead.
The boy who had spoken had at some point taken a seat at the table and was now openly glaring at the shinobi one by one.
- Hey we defeated Gato's strongest fighters so what makes you think we can't take down the rest ! And I ain't dying 'till i become Hokage believe it !
The boy looked at Naruto as if he was the stupidest person he had ever met.
- Baka ! Guchi and Damu were just his most trusted! His strongest mercenaries are Zori and Waraji!
Naruto did not look impressed at the supposed strongest mercenaries' names.
- They're litteraly named after sandals... How could a super Hero like me not defeat those weaklings?
The boy seemed to turn a strange shade of red with anger, Naruto didn't mean to be disrespecful but those were the people who had killed his illegitimate father.
- Shut the hell up ! You don't know anything ! Heroes don't exist !
And with that the boy stormed off. Naruto looked towards the worried Tsunami who was going after the boy and then towards Tazuna who now had a downcast air about him.
- Sorry, that was totaly not super... But the meaning of courage has been stolen from the people of this island... And from Inari. Ever since that day... Because of that incident.
Everyone turned to look at Tazuna. Kakashi who had stayed quiet so far was the one to speak.
- That incident ? What do you mean Tazuna-san ? What happened to Inari-kun ?
The man rubbed the bridge of his nose as he sighed heavily. He seemed, for the first time since they had met him, as old as he was.
- Before I get to that... I have to tell you about the man who was called the Hero of Wave...
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
- Damn it ! How in god's name did my most trusted men get taken down by a pair of brats ?! This is your fault !
Five people were currently in an office with a large wooden desk and a disproportionately tiny man sat behind it dressed in a black tuxedo and black sunglasses.
- You should calm yourself Gato-san, just because you're paying us dosen't mean we won't just kill you and take your money.
Gato flinched slightly at that and had a cold sweat on his neck at the tone the huge man took. He hated dealing with shinobi, they were too unruly especially the missing nin.
- Fine just get out of my sight ! And you better take care of those brats and that bridge builder soon, understood ?!
It couldn't be seen under his bandage wraps but Zabuza was smirking.
- Of course Gato-sama .
And with that Haku and Zabuza left the room.
- How is your arm Haku?
Haku didn't want to anwser at first. The ligaments in the arm had been severed and there was nothing that could be done to make it heal faster without using an Iryo ninjutsu.
- I am fine Zabuza-sama, I do not need my left arm to fight, I have already mastered the use of one handed seals with my bloodline and I can easily throw senbon with only one hand aswell...
Zabuza Frowned slightly as he looked at his apprentice. It was worrying, that sort of injury could end a shinobi's career if not taken care of.
- I know but a damaged tool is still less effective than one that isn't, if you had use of both arms you would be a lot more valuable. Keep that in mind... At least I can still use your brains. When shall we strike against the bridge builder and those brats ?
Haku hesitated slightly, herbs could be collected and used as painkillers to allow some use of the damaged arm.
- I will collect some herbs before we strike, I can do that tomorow morning... We will attack after the demon brothers have recovered.
Zabuza nodded slightly as they approached the room they had been given by Gato.
- Good, the Demon brothers will be useful in taking down those brats while I kill the copy nin.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
After hearing Inari's story and having learnt everything about Kaiza and how he died Naruto had rushed off promising that he would prove heroes do exist, it was a bold claim but it still put a smile on Kakashi's face.
Sakura walked out of the hallway that not only lead to the stairway that went upstairs but also to the small room she had been sleeping in with Tsunami, the boys had slept next door in the guest room. It was a shame really, Sakura would have loved to have slept in the same room as Sasuke but Naruto-baka and that Inutsuna kid would be there aswell. She let out a loud yawn as she stepped into the living area of the rather decent sized house. The house had two stories but Sakura had so far only really explored the first. It had a living area that had tatami mats lining the floor, it had a few shelves and a window that allowed anyone in the room to gaze out at the sea. A dusty futon had been laine out for Kakashi to sleep on while they were staying here. Connecting to the same room was the entrance slash dinning area that also had the kitchen in it, the floor seemed to be made of hardened dirt at first glance but it was infact made of a fired clay mixture, this area was however lower to the ground than the living area and so it meant she had to jump down to get to the table. The difference in height was due to the fact that most of the house was built over the sea and was only held up by reinforced stilts.
As she entered she noticed her sensei was sat in between the two rooms with his legs crossed, he seemed to be conversing with Tazuna who was sat at the head of the table with a tiny nine year old Inari on his left and Sasuke sat at the other end of the table with Inutsuna on his right, Tsunami was humming peacefully as she prepared the breakfast for everyone.
- Naruto-san didn't come back again last night then ?
- I'm sure Naruto-sempai is fine...
Sakura decided that she would put her two ryo in even if she had just arrived.
- He's been training ever since you told us your story, he's very simple minded and stubborn...
- You don't have to worry about him Tazuna-san, he might not look like one but Naruto is a real Shinobi.
- He may have used too much chakra and energy by now... He's probably already dead.
The pink haired girl chuckled slighlty, she didn't hate the orange loving boy, sometimes he could even act 'cute' god forbid but his infatuation with her when she had already stated she loved Sasuke was a pain. It was true that recently he had less time to hound her seeing as he was busy training.
Sasuke deadpanned at his pink haired teammate with his fingers locked together.
- I wouldn't joke about that if i were you, It wouldn't suprise me if he was dead... He's such a moron.
Kakashi eye smilled at his students strange humor but still sweatdropped at Sasuke's words.
- That's cruel Sasuke-kun.
Elsewhere unbeknownst to everyone that was currently talking in Tazuna's house a certain blond haired leaf shinobi was lying in the grass of a brightly lit forest, drool slightly dribbiling out of his mouth as the sun's rays bathed him in warmth and reflected off of his forehead protector and the kunnai he had clutched in his hand. Suprisingly the birds of the forest were not uncomfortable with the boy's presence, some pecking at the ground nearby and one of the braver ones had even settled on his chest.
The sound of gentle humming echoed out from a very feminine young woman with long black hair who also happened to be wearing a lovely pink kimono with red spirals on it. She also had a purple ribbon tied around her neck. The young girl half heartedly noticed something shinning in the forest and turned her gaze to investigate, she almost instantly realised that what was slightly blinding her was a Konoha forehead protector. The girl frowned heavily as she got closer to the boy, scaring away the birds that had been peacefully resting up until then. She slowly reached down towards the boy's neck looking as if she was tempted to strangle the boy in his sleep, something stopped her however. The fading marks on his neck plus the peaceful look on his face was too much for her. She simply shook his shoulder in the end.
- You'll catch a cold if you sleep in a place like this.
The young blond shinobi slowly blinked the sleep from his eyes as he unnoticably tightened the grip he had on his kunnai.
- Huh ? Who're you ?
- Ah, i'm just looking for some herbs, would you like to help me ?
Naruto blinked a few times as his vision finnaly focused on the beautiful girl before him. He ignored the fact that she didn't answer his question in favor of answering hers.
- Sure !
Naruto looked up at the sky and judged that it was actualy rather early in the morning. Iruka had taught him to precisely tell the time by looking at the sun but Naruto had only half remembered what he had said and that was just because it meant he didn't need a watch. After the girl had showed Naruto what she was looking for the two settled into a comfortable silence as they each picked the herbs. The silence was short lived however.
- You sure are up early miss, you wouldn't think these herbs were all that important...
- Well i could say the same thing about you, it's not everyday you find someone just sleeping out in the middle of a forest, what were you doing out here anyway ?
- Training to become a Hero !
The girl chuckled lightly at the boy's claim, but her eyes barely reflected it. She scanned the boy from head to toe with her eyes and she noticed something. Despite the baggy clothes he wore and his chubby face he definitly had some muscle on him, the kind only obtained through daily phisical exercise. Another thing was that despite being crouched down and picking herbs he was doing so in such a way that he could easily dodge out of the way of a suprise attack with his legs constantly tensing with each movement she took no matter how small. It was almost scary to see such instincs in a child, although she wasn't one to talk.
- You're a shinobi right ?
- Ah ! You noticed ? But i'm not just any shinobi ! I'm gonna be Hokage someday, believe it !
- Is that why you were training then ?
- Mhh... Not only that ! I want to make everyone acknowledge me ! And I need to prove that Heroes do exist !
- Is that for someone else or for yourself then ?
Naruto squinted, placed a hand on his chin and tilted his head to the side either trying to understand what she had said or decide on what his answer was. The girl couldn't help but giggle at his expression.
- What I mean is... Is there someone important to you, someone who you want to acknowledge you ?
Naruto noticed how the girl's eyes darkened slightly as she spoke, a serious expression crossing her face. What he couldn't know was that the girl before him was completly lost in her dark past.
- When a person has something important to protect, that's when they become truly strong.
Naruto thought back to his past experiences, when he had protected Iruka from Mizuki, when Inutsuna and Kakashi had protected them from Zabuza and his apprentice and... And when Kaiza had protected Inari and Wave country with his own two arms...
- I can understand that...
It seemed like that was the right thing to say as the girl smilled brightly at the blond haired shinobi.
- Well, I have collected enough herbs thanks to you. Let's meet again someday...
- Yeah, let's !
The young girl suddenly stopped in her tracks as she glanced back at the shinobi over her shoulder.
- Oh and by the way... I'm a boy.
- Ehhhhhh ?!
And with that the mysterious androgynous boy disapeared into the treeline.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
It was Naruto's turn to get training from Kakashi. Sakura was out on the bridge protecting the builders during their afternoon shift while Sasuke was in another part of the forest still training. Apparently Sakura had aced the training Kakashi had given her and so she was now assigned full time as Tazuna's guard, also Kakashi doubted Gato would try anything so soon after his embarassing defeat at the vlond duo's hands. Supprisingly more people had turned up to help than before and as a result the construction of the bridge was advancing smoothly, accoarding to Tazuna they would be able to finnish in two weeks if they kept up the good work.
Naruto, Kakashi and Inutsuna were currently out in the forest that wasn't too far from Tazuna's home, the birds and insects seemed to still as if listening to the conversations going on in the small clearing.
- Now Naruto-kun I was going to teach you tree climbing because of your horrible chakra control but I think we should start with something a little simpler. You're going to be doing the leaf balancing exercise understood ? And once you've managed to get one to stick to your forhead you're going to try and stick one to your forehead and arm at the same time, this way you'll be able to learn to channel chakra to two diffrent places at the same time that'll be useful for what i'm planning for you. And once you've managed that you'll be doing the same thing but with as many stones as you can handle along both your arms... Seeing as you have huge chakra reserves that should be easy right ?
Naruto puffed his cheeks out at his teacher, he felt insulted that he didn't think he was good enough to do the same exercise as his teammates but the fact that he said he had plans for him made something stir in his heart. After Naruto's chat with Inutsuna in the forest when he had found out about his mother the young blond gained a new view towards a lot of things.
- Now get to it Naruto-kun... Meanwhile, Inutsuna-kun seing as we're going to be fighting together until we get back to Konoha I need to know what you're capable of doing.
- I can do water walking, my elemental affinity is earth, I use Ryou-sama's style of Kenjutsu, I use a variation of the Inuzuka clan's taijutsu style developped by my branch of the Uzumaki clan called the Whirling Claw style. Apart from that I don't have very many jutsu, just the a few basic earth jutsu like earth wall and earth spear and some fire jutsu that accentuate my kenjutsu...
Kakashi nodded, approving of the skills the boy possessed, these things along with the immense speed he had would be perfect for facing off against Zabuza's subordinate.
- Any particular weaknesses ?
Inutsuna went from being proud to slightly embaressed as he spoke.
- I'm actualy really weak to Genjutsu, my master said it was because I rely heavily on instincs when I fight so i'm really easy to manipulate...
- That's fine, Zabuza dosen't look like the kind of person who uses Genjutsu and neither does that Haku person... But there's something about that one, you'll want to be careful when fighting them...
- I'm fighting Haku ?
- Yes, I'll deal with Zabuza, you and Sasuke will deal with Haku while Sakura and Naruto deal with any extra fighters... But that's not important right now... What could I teach you I wonder ? We wouldn't want you slacking off now would we ?
Kakashi's lone Eye turned towards the blond ninja that for some reason was still stood there looking at the white haired jounin with a strange grimace.
- What is it Naruto-kun ?
- Sensei... I have no clue what you just told me to do... Chakra control ? Leaf balancing excercice ? Wasat ?
Kakashi gazed at his student with a deadpan expression. Just how stupid was his student again ?
- Chakra control is your ability to channel the correct ammount of Chakra for what you want to use it for, which is mainly jutsu. Take the tree climbing exercice I mentioned, that excercice requires you to channel chakra to your feet, which is said to be the hardest area to channel the right ammount to. The thing is if you channel too much you'll blow yourself away and damage the tree in the process but if you channel too little you'll just fall back down. It's the same idea for jutsu, use too much chakra and the technique will be extremly powerful but very chakra intensive and have the risk of backfiring... Use too little and the jutsu won't form properly if at all. I gave you the leaf balancing excercice which consists of channeling chakra to your forehead to make a leaf stick to it.
Naruto looked at his sensei with his head titled and looked as if he was searching for something.
- Chakra ? Where have I heard that before ?
A loud facepalm could be heard echoing through the clearing as Naruto's sensei decided that he might become depressive if this went on.
- Naruto-sempai, honestly how do you not know this stuff ? It's essential for a shinobi !
- Hey it's not my fault the teachers were always so boring, every time they started talking about this kind of stuff I would get really tired and fall asleep !
Kakashi frowned slightly at that, it was true that when Kakashi had watched the boy he had fallen asleep during important lessons... In hindsight Kakashi wondered if it was always a coincidence or if there was something else behind it.
- Simply put chakra is a unison of your body's phisical energy which you can increase via phisical training and spiritual energy which you can increase via chakra control exercices or meditation. When you call upon chakra using hand seals you are transforming your phisical and spiritual energy into chakra, however you also have a natural ammount of chakra that circulates through your body that is transformed in your chakra coils. You can use the chakra from there aswell but in general it's more time consuming and less efficient, that is unless it's to stick to surfaces or increase your phisical strength. Also handseals are what a lot of people use to transform their chakra but people have been known to master the transformation with one handed seals or even none at all, allowing them to rule the battlefield. The first person to ever use jutsu without a single handseal was supposedly Tobirama Senju.
Naruto scratched his head before suddenly looking over towards Inutsuna.
- Hey, I don't really get all that complicated mumbo jumbo sensei is talking about, but isn't this the sort of thing you should learn with your body ?
Inutsuna sighed heavily at the his blond relative's stupidity but he couldn't fault the boy's reasoning.
- Yes, you're right so how about you go and practice and see how well you do ?
And like that the orange bundle of energy shot off into the trees to grab a leaf to balance on his head. Kakashi gave a slight eye smile at the Uzumaki before him.
- Now where we ? Ah yes... A jutsu of some sort maybe ? I have thousands of them after all !
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
It had been eight days since they had arrived at Tazuna's house, it was currently late at night and the moon was high up in the sky. Naruto was lying in the grass panting heavily, he had large rocks littered around him as his whole body was drenched in sweat and caked in dirt. The sound of someone climbing down the tree was revealed to be Sasuke who was just about as filthy as Naruto was. He seemed almost as exhausted as the blonde.
- Dobe, I think we should start heading back.
Naruto smilled up with his eyes still closed tightly to avoid any sweat getting into them.
- What? Tired already... Sasuke-chan ?
Ever since Naruto had stayed out until early morning training and had run into that weird boy, Sasuke had insisted on training with the orange loving nuissance. He had said that at least that way there would be someone to drag him back.
Despite his words the orange boy got up and put an arm around the black haired Uchiha when he offered. They walked towards Tazuna's home at a nail's pace but they managed to get there without colapsing at least. Sasuke slid the door open and stepped inside. Both boys were greeted to the sight of Kakashi, Tazuna, Inutsuna and Inari sat around the table. Sakura and Tsunami had probably already gone to bed.
- Wow Naruto-sempai you look disgusting, and you smell like crap aswell !
- Hehe, Sasuke made it to the top of the tree and I finnaly managed to balance that huge rock you told me to sensei, with just my chakra !
- Ah Good... That means Sakura, Inutsuna and Sasuke have finnished the training I had planned... I guess the rest of your training can wait until we get back to the village Naruto so that way everyone will be guarding the bridge in its finnal stages.
As Sasuke 'gently' diposited the blond shinobi onto a stool Tazuna began talking.
- Yeah the bridge is almost finished we don't have much left to do... But i'm super worn out from work Hehe !
- Father, Naruto-kun don't overwork yourselves understood ?
Sasuke observed as Inari, the annoying crybaby, looked at Naruto with several emotions flashing past his face only to finnish on a look of anger and sadness. Tears streamed down the boys face as he suddenly shot out of his seat, slamming his small hands onto the table .
- Why do you guys even bother working so hard ?! No matter how hard you train, you're still no match for Gato's men ! No matter what glorious claims you make or how hard you work... When facing the strong, the weak will always end up dead !
The Outburst was met with suprise and wide eyes from everyone at the table including Inutsuna, the boy had shouted so loudly that he had even woken up Sakura and Tsunami who were now switching their looks from a silent Naruto to a livid looking Inari. The only person who seemed to stay completly calm was Naruto, his yellow spiky hair casting a shadow over his eyes.
- Whatever... I ain't like you brat, i'm not weak.
At this point the stream of tears had turned into a waterfall and the little boy's voice was slightly cracking as he shouted.
- I'd hate to be like you ! You don't know anything about this country, about Gato ! And yet you're being so nosy ! What the hell do you know about me ?! I'm different from you, you're always acting like a clown and smilling like an idiot ! You don't know how hard life can be !
You don't know how hard life can be !? He had grown up in an orphanage, got kicked out at five years old, sure the old man gave him an appartement and a monthly allowance but the only places that gave him a decent price was Ichiraku Ramen and Choji's fammily restaurant but even then he could only buy simple things and not a lot of it. Only one weapons shop would sell their products to him when he made genin so he scoured training grounds in order to collect any old kunnai or shiruken that might have been left behind in training. Almost everyone in the village either glared at him or completly ingored him, calling him a demon or a cursed child. So when a pampered brat who has a loving mother and grandfather, who has food in his belly and just sits around crying all day tells him that he dosen't know how hard life can be ? We lets just say no one would hold it against him to snap.
- It's fine if you want to play the star of a tragedy and cry about it all day long.
The usualy cheerful boy shot out of his chair, his sky blue eyes turning a shade of cyan that resembled ice.
- So just keep on crying forever... You little sissy !
The words were said with such venom that Sakura and Sasuke were completly taken aback, it was as if he was a completly different person than who they knew. Inari on the other hand was completly frozen, he wasn't a shinobi so even the tiny ammount of killing intent that had slipped into his words was enough to scare him half to death. Kakashi however just looked at Naruto with somber eyes. As soon as Sakura recovered she glared at her teammate from the other room.
- Naruto, enough !
- Fine. I'm going to bed. 'Night.
And like that the spell was broken and Inari rushed out the door with tears still flowing from his eyes. Kakashi got up and slowly followed the boy outside. He found him sat on the wooden overhang stairing down at the Sea letting his salty tears fall into it.
- May i join you Inari-kun ?
Without waiting for an anwser he sat down next to the boy.
- Naruto didn't mean any harm when he said that... He just dosen't use his head when he speaks...
Kakashi looked out at the sea, admiring how the moon reflected off of its surface.
- Tazuna-san told us about your father... And like you Naruto grew up without one, infact he grew up without ever knowing who either of his parents were, only recently has he found out about his mother... The truth is he's had a much rougher past than you, his life was and maybe still is, very hard... But i've never heard him complain or cry about those things... Instead he focuses on training to gain everyone's approval... He's probably sick and tired of crying. You know he's probably better suited to understand you than anyone else... He also knows what it means to be strong, just like your father.
The silence that invaded the area after Kakashi's speach was not an awkward one. But unknown to the two who were sat outside, three other people had been at the window listening intently.
- It can't be true can it ? There's no way Naruto, that sunny cheerful idiot could have as hard a life as Kakashi-sensei is making it out to be ?
- Sakura you shouldn't be so trusting of the masks people want you to see... remember what Kakashi-sensei said, look underneath the underneath... If anything the dobe's life could be even worse than we think.
Inutsuna on the other hand was trying to mentaly register everything so that he could report it back to his master when they finnaly went back to Konoha.