Author's Note: Been a while, hasn't it. Before moving into the chapter, I think I'll just apologise for the greatest delay I have yet to cause. So I am sincerely sorry.

Now, on with the story.

Chapter 11: A new devil is born

"Hello." talking

'Hello.' thinking

"Hello." Kyuubi talking

'Hello.' Kyuubi thinking

*Knock* Sound effects

Gatou stood there motionlessly, with a kunai and a katana impaling him from the front and the back respectively. For a couple of moments, no one moved or said anything. Gatou slowly looked downwards, and saw a blonde haired kid holding the kunai buried deep into his solar plexus. The cold, emotionless look on the boy's face sent chills up Gatou's back.

The blonde boy twisted the kunai, causing Gatou's body to spasm, before pulling the kunai out crudely. Blood poured out of the open wound as if it were coming out of a geyser. Gatou then experienced another bout of spasms, as the katana that impaled him from behind was pulled out as roughly, if not more, as the kunai.

Once the katana was pulled out, Gatou lost his strength, slumping down to his knees. He then fell face first into his own blood. As Gatou lay there on the pool of blood, bleeding out, his eyesight dimming, his last thoughts were, "Am I really dying?"

Complete silence enveloped the bridge as Gatou died. No one could really comprehend what had just occurred. It was quick, and it was efficient. The kill took an overall of 3 seconds, and that was only because there were two people performing the kill. Gatou had been unable to make a single sound, and had died within seconds of the kill.

The blonde boy walked up to the now dead crime lord, and stood beside the body. He looked at the dead body with disdain. He bent down, and wiped his bloodied kunai on the shirt if Gatou, before putting it back in his kunai holster. A shadow covered him, and he looked up to see a girl of his age wiping a katana with a piece of cloth. The boy stood up, facing the girl, and spoke.

"You shouldn't have interfered, Maki." The blonde said with some contempt. "I could have handled this one by myself."

"And how were you going to do that, Naruto?" asked Maki, with a hint of disbelieve, as she sheathed her katana. "You didn't even get here in time to save the poor girl." Maki pointed at Haku's dead body, which was only a few feet away from them.

"And whose fault do you think that is?" Naruto asked, getting angry, "If you hadn't stopped me on my way here, I could have gotten here ages ago."

"As if." replied Maki, whipping her head to the side in a show of pride. "You didn't even get here before me."

"Again, it was your fault that I was late." replied Naruto, clearly riled up by Maki's prideful display.

"If you can't even get over such a small setback, you can never hope to surpass me." boasted Maki.

"A small setback… You almost killed me back there." Naruto roared.

"Like I said, small setback." said Maki.

"You… What… Aaagghh!" Naruto sputtered in dismay.

"Is this really the time to be having a lover's quarrel?" The two bickering ninjas were broken out of their conversation by Sasuke, who had walked up to them in an attempt to calm them down. "We have a situation on our hand you know." He said, pointing to the hundreds of bandits that Gatou had brought with him, and none were all too pleased with their boss's sudden demise.

"The brat's right." exclaimed one of the bandits. "You killed our boss ya know."

"That's right." shouted another. "Who's going to pay us now, huh?"

"I say we kill them all and then split the bounty on their heads." offered a bandit.

"Yeah. Let's kill'em all." Roared the bandits in unison.

"… It really is a situation, isn't it?" Naruto muttered. He stepped over Gatou's body, placing himself in between the bandits and his teammates. "We better clean this mess up. Don't you agree, Maki?" he said, cracking his knuckles.

"I suppose we really should." replied Maki, taking her katana out of the sheath once more, before taking a low single handed stance, while pointing the tip of the blade downward.

Naruto crouched on all four of his limbs, poising himself like a tiger out on a hunt… or more like a fox out on a hunt. He then turned his head around, looking at Kakashi and spoke. "Don't tell anyone what's going to happen next. No one. Do you understand?" Naruto spoke with an overwhelming tone, one which made it almost impossible to refuse.

But Kakashi wasn't a Jounin just for show. He shrugged off the pressure with a nonchalant jerk of his head and spoke. "I'll still have to report to Hokage-dono, you know."

Naruto paused in his crouching position, every muscle in his body tensed for the strike. He considered the idea, and then nodded. "Only Hokage-jiji then." he said, before turning towards the bandits, who had taken the time to just stand there and make a din.

A low, rumbling growl emanated from Naruto, which slowly rose to a thundering roar, silencing the bandits. Chakra began to leak from Naruto at an alarming rate, forming a cloak over him. Soon the blue chakra began to change colour, slowly inching towards red. The red chakra seemed to be boiling as it completely enveloped Naruto. It shaped itself like a fox, giving Naruto the appearance of one. The excess chakra gathered together to form a tail. Naruto's pupils changed to slits, while his birthmarks on his cheeks elongated. Then, just as suddenly as the chakra began leaking, it stopped, leaving Naruto in the form.

'Is that Naruto?' wondered Sasuke, awestruck by the transformation. But it wasn't over yet, not by a long shot.

A reckless smile appeared on Naruto's face as he stretched his limbs. He then began releasing a large amount of black energy, the kind that no one had ever seen before. It didn't resemble chakra in the slightest, and felt as if one could touch it if they wanted to. The cloak around Naruto slowly darkened, until it was pitch black. Then with a flash of light, the cloak dissipated, leaving a fairly flustered and normal Naruto.

"Um… What just happened?" asked a clearly bewildered Sasuke.

"I think he just messed it up." replied Kakashi.

"Pfft! Hahaha!" Maki burst into laughter at Naruto's misfire of whatever he had attempted to do.

"We can't let the brat do whatever it was that he tried to do." roared one of the bandits.

"Yeah." shouted another. "Attack!"

And answering the call, all of the bandits charged towards the group of ninja.

"Shit." Naruto jumped up in panic. "Misaki, cover me." He said rummaging his backpack for something unsuccessfully. When no response came, he turned around, and found himself faced with a clearly pissed Misaki.

"Oh, so now you remember me." Misaki said, a vein pulsing on her forehead.

"Come on, Misaki. This is no time to be angry." pleaded Naruto, "You can be angry at me as much as you like later on."

"Really?" questioned Misaki.

"Yes, really." answered Naruto.

"Good." said Misaki. She stepped in front of Naruto, and went through several hand signs. A large amount of chakra flooded out of her, which poured down the sides of the bridge and into the sea. Then, pillars of water shot out of the sea, before converging together, forming a wall of water between the bandits and the shinobi.

"I can only hold this for a minute, so get your ass moving and do what you need to." Misaki shouted.

Naruto pulled a small pouch out of his backpack, before grabbing a red pill from it. He put the pill into his mouth, and crouched down on all fours as he swallowed the pill. Then, like before, a large amount of chakra leaked from him, which changed colour from blue to red much faster this time around. As the chakra began wrapping around Naruto, the water wall collapsed.

Misaki fell down on her knees, clearly expended by the large amount of chakra usage. She looked in Naruto's direction panting heavily, hoping that the time she provided was enough. And it was, as she saw Naruto fully cloaked in the red chakra.

'This is interesting.' thought Maki, as she prepared to charge into the bandits. 'I wondered what the idiot's gonna do with that much chakra. Hope he doesn't get in my way.'

Maki soon found out, as two huge arm-like appendages shot from Naruto's chakra cloak and towards the bandits. The chakra hands grabbed as many bandits in its grasp before chucking them over the side of the bridges. After throwing over a large amount of the frontal assault, Naruto shot of right into the middle of the bandits. The chakra had now formed two tails, which whipped out with regular intervals at unsuspecting victims, who were swept away with no mercy.

Not wanting to be outdone, Maki charged right into the now rapidly diminishing front-line. Not many could follow the fast and lithe movements of Maki, or her swift and precise sword-strikes, which sliced off legs, torso and heads with ease. The only way one could follow her was to look for the chunks of sliced bandits which trailed behind her.

That was when a large water dragon burst right out of the sea and collapsed on the majority of the bandits left, wiping them out instantly. Naruto and Maki both paused to see Zabuza releasing enough oppressing pressure to match his name of Demon. Having finally broken out of his stupor of seeing Haku die in front of him, he was now looking more menacing than ever. Needless to say that the handful of bandits left decided to test their luck at sea; that is, they jumped into the sea even though most of them could not swim.

Zabuza was about to pursue them, when he was blocked by a large wall of red chakra. He turned to face Naruto, who had appeared right behind him in an instant.

"Don't do something rash here Zabuza." warned Naruto, as his cloak began to diminish around him, until it remained only on his left arm, extending out into the wall.

"Stop blocking my way brat." Zabuza growled, giving Naruto a murderous look. "You won't live to regret it."

"While I understand your impulse to have revenge…" began Naruto, but was interrupted by a livid Zabuza.

"You don't understand me!" roared Zabuza. "Did you even have to watch…" this time, it was Zabuza's turn to be interrupted.

"Shut your trap, you stupid man." Naruto snapped. "You should mourn only when all hopes of saving your partner has disappeared."

"Wha… Do you mean she's still alive?" asked Zabuza, who couldn't believe his ears.

"Technically, she's dead." Naruto raised a finger to silence Zabuza. "But there's still a chance to save her."

"How much longer would it take her to wake up?"

"She should wake up soon."

Haku heard distant voices as the darkness engulfing her slowly began to dissipate. She was disoriented at first, unable to remember where she was or what she was doing. Only a dull haze remained in her mind. But it soon cleared, as she slowly began to regain consciousness, as well as control over her body. With great effort, she snapped her eyes open, only to be blinded by the light. She squinted her eyes, trying to get her bearing right, when she noticed a blonde boy looking at her face closely.

With speed that surprised even her, Haku attempted to roll away from the boy, whom she was yet to recognize. But the boy reacted with greater speed, grabbing her hand, before pulling her back into the bed.

"You shouldn't be moving yet." the boy said, and Haku's vision restored enough to recognize him as Naruto.

"Haku!" someone called from behind Naruto. Haku's eyes refocused, and she finally noticed a very familiar person standing right behind Naruto.

"Zabuza-sama!" she cried, leaping forward into Zabuza's hands, who for once, had tears running from his eyes.

"I'm so glad." said Zabuza as he hugged onto Haku. "I thought that I almost lost you."

"I'm sorry to have worried you." said Haku, tears streaming from her eyes as well.

"While I would normally gladly let you continue this reunion," Naruto piped suddenly, "I still need to run a few check ups on her."

"Fine." replied Zabuza curtly, letting go of Haku. "Do your check up quickly."

Zabuza moved aside to give Naruto some space, who begin quickly to stretch Haku's arms and legs out.

"The arms are alright." said Naruto. "So are the legs. Neck's fine too." He said, rotating Haku's head around. Then, his hands moved downward before...

*squish*

… he groped her.

Time seemed to stop inside the room, as Haku and Zabuza both froze in their spots. Naruto continued to grope Haku's breast, admiring them.

"Well, the breasts seem to be alright, too." He said, smiling.

Blood quickly rose to Haku's cheek, forming a ferocious blush. "Kyaaaaaaaah!" she let out a cute scream, before punching Naruto right in the face, causing him to fly out of the room through the open door.

"You filthy, perverted bastard!" roared Haku, charging after him. She was blocked, surprisingly by Zabuza, who had closed the door behind him.

"While I want to kill the brat as much as you do." said Zabuza bitterly. "You kind of owe your life to him."

Naruto pulled himself up from the ground, dusting off his clothes as he did.

"And strength is back to normal too." he muttered to himself, before walking down the stairs.

"Is she up yet?" a voice asked Naruto, who looked up to see Sasuke waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yup." replied Naruto as he walked into the dining room. He looked around, and saw Misaki sitting at the table, and was accompanied by Tazuna, who for once was not drinking. Tazuna's daughter Tsunami was currently in the kitchen, a delicious smell coming from it. "Where's Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, noticing the Jounin's presence, or rather, the lack of it.

"He said something about sending a report." said Misaki, getting up from the table.

The three genin converged, before walking out of the house together. At the door, they met Kakashi, who had just returned from his errand.

"Where are you lot going?" he asked them.

"Just for a walk." replied Naruto.

"Don't be too long." said Kakashi as he took out his book. "The mission isn't over yet."

"Sure, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto nodded.

The trio walked for a little while, before coming to a stop inside a small clearing in the forest surrounding the house.

"So..." Sasuke began. "Are you going to tell us about that Maki chick?"

Naruto looked apprehensively at Sasuke for bringing up the topic from the get go, as he could now feel the intense glare that Misaki was sending him.

"You had to bring that up didn't you." Naruto muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?" Misaki asked dangerously.

"Nothing, nothing." Naruto replied, flustered.

"Right..." Misaki was not convinced. She crossed her arms, and began tapping her right foot. "Come on. What are you waiting for?"

And thus Naruto explained his past with Maki, how he met her, how she had killed her, and then there subsequent 'reunion' in the forest earlier during the day. He did leave out a few details here and there, but he gave his teammates a proper explanation.

"So... you are telling me that this Maki girl asked you out on a date, and then killed you?" Sasuke was dubious.

"Yup." Naruto nodded seriously.

"That is just... pathetic." Sasuke ridiculed Naruto, a full blown grin appearing on his lips.

"Hey, just so you know, I didn't actually die. I was reborn into the powerful devil that you see today." Naruto argued.

"But it's still pathetic." Sasuke replied triumphantly.

"Guh!" Naruto groaned, having given to Sasuke the perfect ammunition for his sarcastic comments.

"And that's the story." Zabuza finished.

"So you are telling me that I died, then that perverted ninja did something to my body, and I came back to life?" Haku asked incredulously. "And now I am somehow bound to do what he bids me to do?"

"Well that's one way of summing it up." Zabuza agreed.

"You know Zabuza-sama, I respect you. But I never expected you to believe such cock and bull story." Haku scolded Zabuza.

"But you really did die." Zabuza tried to defend himself.

"That still doesn't mean that I am somehow bound to him." Haku said bitterly.

"But, but..." Zabuza stuttered.

"No buts." Haku raised a finger. "I didn't expect Zabuza-sama to do something so silly. I am going to ask him again." Haku muttered. Zabuza felt a chill go up his spine as Haku began muttering several rather violent ways of getting the truth from Naruto.

Haku and Zabuza came down to the dining room a little while later to find Kakashi leaning against a wall with a book in his hands. A young woman was in the kitchen, whom Zabuza recognized as the bridge builders daughter. The said bridge builder, Tazuna, had visibly stiffened at the sight of Zabuza, the previous encounters laying heavy in his mind.

Zabuza scanned the room for the genins, and once he didn't find them, he asked Kakashi.

"Where's the blonde brat?"

Before Kakashi could reply however, the door opened, and in came the three genin.

"Ah, brat. Good timing. We need to talk." said Zabuza.

"Huh?" Naruto looked puzzled. "About what?"

"It's about my servitu..." Haku began, but couldn't finish her sentence as Naruto showed a rare burst of speed to reach Haku and slammed a hand over her mouth.

"Why don't we go outside and talk?" Naruto chuckled nervously, before pulling Haku behind him as he rushed outside.

An awkward silence followed, which was broken by Kakashi. "That was weird."

"Why did you drag me out like that?" asked Haku angrily.

"They don't know about the situation yet." answered Naruto, slightly out of breath, "and I plan on keeping it that way for a while."

"Why is that?" Haku was puzzled.

"Uh... it's rather complicated, and I want to explain things in the right order." replied Naruto.

"Alright. Then explain to me why I am supposed to follow your orders?" Haku asked, her anger and irritation surfacing again.

"About that... It's not like you have to listen to them... more like you should listen as long as they are reasonable." Naruto tried to explain.

"Even if they are reasonable, why should I follow them?" Haku failed to understand Naruto's reasoning.

"Well, it directly relates to the method I used to revive you." Naruto began. "You see, you were dead. There's no doubt about it. It was not possible to bring you back to life through any normal methods. So what I did was …." at this Naruto's volume dipped to unintelligible levels.

"What exactly did you do?" Haku asked, her temper rising.

"I kinda turned you into a devil." Naruto replied nervously.

"What do you mean turned me into a devil?" Haku asked threateningly.

"You know, those things that show up in stories and legends, like demons, but not exactly the same..." said Naruto.

"Again with your stories. If can't come up with a good enough explanation, at least don't lie." Haku turned to leave, unconvinced by Naruto's feeble explanation.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." a voice reverberated through the area. A figure walked out of the shadow of the trees.

"Maki!" Naruto exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to pass on a message, but seeing you can't even explain things to your new recruit properly, I decided that I should step in before this little girl here ends up dead again." Maki replied.

"Hey, who are you calling a little girl?" Haku exclaimed.

"Oh shut up. I'm doing you a favor." Maki snapped at Haku, before turning towards Naruto. "The best way to talk about devils is to give a demonstration."

Maki charged Naruto with tremendous speed, her katana making way to her hand in the blink of an eye. She sliced at Naruto, making him jump into the air. She then proceeded with a stabbing attack at the airborne Naruto, who had no way to dodge the attack. Haku closed her eyes on instinct, but when no sound of flesh being impaled by a sword came, she opened her eyes, and the sight that greeted her was surprising to say the least.

Naruto was currently hovering several meters above the ground. He had black bat like wings out of his back, which had allowed him to fly out of the way of the sword.

"That wasn't a very nice thing to do." Naruto said gravely.

"And I'm not trying to be nice to you." replied Maki, equally serious.

"Tch." Naruto clicked his tongue in irritation. "What are you here for anyway?"

"I came here to confirm that she is going to join your group or not." Maki answered

"And if she's not?" asked Naruto.

"Well... you already know what's going to happen, don't you." Maki replied, a crazed look appearing on her face along with a bloodthirsty grin. "And I'm going to take extreme pleasure in exacting the punishment."

A tense atmosphere descended between the two, and Haku began to remember once again, the prowess of Naruto's skills that she had seen before, and if someone was at an equal... no, at a better footing than him invited fear towards them.

"As you can see, I'm still in the middle of explaining things to her." Naruto said. "And the only way you can go after her is if I declare her as a stray. If I don't... well, let's just say that your master won't be very pleased to pay for damages caused by your willfulness."

"Awww, you're such a party pooper." Maki pouted. She turned around to leave, before twisting her head in Naruto's direction. "But if you ever need a stray to kill, all you have to do is just ask." and with that, she disappeared into the woods.

Naruto looked in the direction where Maki went for a while, before slowly hovering down onto the ground, folding his wings, and turning towards Haku.

"So, where were we."

Misaki leaned against a tree, waiting for something. It had been a while since Naruto had left with Haku. Misaki had left immediately after them, having sensed a certain something in the vicinity. She didn't have to wait too long, as she felt it fly past her. Letting go of all restraints, she summoned several magic circles, which then went on to fire many more magic attacks, all of which converged into one spot, which exploded with absolutely no finesse.

"That's not a very nice greeting, is it?" a voice spoke up from behind Misaki. Misaki spun around, and was met with a punch right in the gut, which send her flying. "Let me return the favor." the owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows, revealing herself to be Maki.

Misaki puled herself up from the ground, before standing face to face with Maki.

"So, will you tell me the reason for such a warm welcome?" Maki asked sarcastically. "Or do I have to beat it out of you."

"Why did you come back into Naruto's life?" Misaki asked, seething with anger.

"Straight to the point, I see." Maki muttered to herself. She then spoke out loud, smiling. "What make's you think that I came back into his life willing?"

"There's no way a bitch like you wouldn't want to get into his life, now that he's strong." Misaki growled.

One didn't need to be an expert to realize that Maki's smile was fake, the amount of negative energy escaping her was quite intense.

"Hmm... Jealous, I see. Didn't think I'll see someone jealous for him." Maki muttered, pretending to ignore the insult. "Anyway. I didn't know that that stupid idiot was going to be here as well. And, no. I don't think that he's strong either."

"Then you're wrong." Misaki roared.

"Oh. And what will you do. Prove to me by defeating me?" Maki goaded Misaki. "You're just his lackey."

"Why you..." Misaki lost her temper at this point. With her wings unfurling, she summoned hundreds of magic circles, all surrounding Maki. She then hurled a series of magic attacks which assaulted Maki from all direction. The explosion this time was even greater, and the smoke and debris burst upwards in a mushroom cloud.

Misaki was panting heavily, having expended all her energy into one attack. But as the smoke began clearing, she couldn't find any sign of Maki. Suddenly, a twig broke behind her. Before she could turn around, however, a hand lashed out, chopping her in the neck, rendering her unconscious.

"Too easy."

"Right, so as just demonstrated, you are now... a devil." said Naruto.

Haku remained speechless for a while, before speaking. "So... I have wings."

"Yup." replied Naruto, nodding heavily. "And special powers too."

"Like what?" asked Haku, starting to feel curious.

"Well, for one thing, you'll live for a very long time." Naruto said, enjoying Haku's surprised expression. "You'll have improved endurance, for one thing. You'll also have greater speed than before." At this, Haku's eyes widened even more. "Although there will be some negatives too." Haku deflated a bit. "You'll be extremely adverse to sunlight, for one thing. In fact, if you're not too careful, it might even kill you." Haku was clearly depressed at this. "But no need to worry. A simple spell can fix that."

Haku contemplated all the information, before clapping her hand as if she remembered something. "You still haven't told me why I have to serve you."

"Well..." Naruto seemed to weigh his words a bit. "I'm going to tell you the truth. You don't have to follow my orders. But if you don't I can declare you a stray devil."

"And...?" Haku urged Naruto to continue.

"Other devils will hunt you down." Naruto stated.

"Now wait just a minute..." Haku began, but Naruto beat her to it.

"You don't have to worry about that. All you need to do is be my knight."

"Aren't you messing up the order?" Haku asked.

"No... I didn't mean it like a princess and knight thing. I meant that I'll be the king while you'll be the knight." Naruto explained.

"That still doesn't explain it." Haku was miffed.

"Um... I managed to get a high rank in the devils echelon after a hellish training and several ridiculous battles. Which in turn allowed me to revive humans and make them my, should I say employee. They work for me, and they get paid. Once they become strong enough themselves, they can get a higher rank, and later employ others too." Naruto elaborated.

"So I'll get paid?" Haku asked.

"Yup." replied Naruto, happy to have made the point go through.

"And I don't necessarily have to follow your orders?"

Naruto nodded.

"But I have to leave Zabuza-sama." Haku said in realization.

"I'm afraid so." replied Naruto. "But you don't have to worry about him. An acquaintance of mine will take him in, give him jobs so that he can finally realize his dream of freeing the Land of Water. So, do we have a deal?"

Haku considered all the information given to her. She reached a conclusion (Albeit a painful one).

"As long as I can still help Zabuza-sama." Haku nodded. "I won't do anything for you other wise."

"Deal."

Misaki slowly came to her senses. As she slowly pulled herself to a sitting position, a rustling noise alerted her of the presence of a figure behind her. She spoke to the figure without even turning around.

"Did you get enough information, Sasuke?"

"Plenty." Sasuke replied, his sharingan blazing.

Omake

Andrew: Hello people! It's been a while, hasn't it.

Naruto: It's been a while alright. People began forgetting you already.

Andrew: Well, I can't really give any excuse. I couldn't come up with the rest of the story for a while. In fact, I even decided what I would do after this, but I couldn't decide on this chapter.

Naruto: At least it wasn't an indefinite hiatus.

Andrew: Yeah, I think I won't stop writing this yet, atleast.

Naruto: So, what now?

Andrew: Now, we wrap it up. I won't be making any promises, but I hope to make quicker updates, on the same level as I did previously.

Naruto: Let's hope that you do, because the readers won't be happy with such a small chapter after this long.

Andrew: I know, I know. So wrapping it up, we'll be moving into the Chuunin exam arc next. Or will we? Find out next time on...

Naruto and Andrew (together): Blonde Haired Devil.

Andrew: You know what, this really is stupid.

Naruto: I've been telling you that for ages.