Yo ladies, gents, and other; I 'aven't written in awhile and fer that I'm sorry, I was caught up in one'f my other story. Now, this chapter's gonna show how the two teams interact with one another and how well they can put up with each other. To any Twilight fans, I'm sorry, but I just ain't a fan'f vampires sparkling and how it portrays people in those situations. I don't own JACKSHIT 'bout Naruto.
"Yo"/'Yo' speech and thoughts of people and hanyou(human form)
"Sup" speech of demons and hanyou(demon form)
jutsu
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The calm was all there had to be; Ino had a paperback to read, Shikamaru had his clouds, Choji his snacks, Kakashi had hardcover smut, Asuma had his cigarettes, Sasuke and Naruto had training, a rivalry, and pranks to pull. And what did she have, absolutely nothing, she had nothing to do. Sakura was in a form of depression, severe boredom is what it's called. She had been there watching 'her' boys train, prank, and read all week while she had nothing to occupy her attention, aside from her Sasuke stalking 'career'. Today was their break from training, they had been training most of the week, while her boys had been training the total week.
Naruto was less abrasive, but was still a bit of a prick in Sakura's opinion. Se couldn't blame him, he had few to no friends as a child and he suddenly had plenty, that would have made her reclusive and somewhat hostile. While she didn't blame him, she didn't especially like his negative attitude towards everyone he didn't trust, which was just about everyone except Shikamaru and Choji. Sakura saw where this train of thought would be taking her and found the idea of having the Yamanaka heiress as counsel appealing.
She found her best friend and rival in the forest with a fox in the clearing looking at her curiously. She found this quaint little display of affection from Naruto almost endearing...almost. She walked into the clearing as quietly as she could, with as much stealth as she knew she had, only for the fox to land on her shoulder and put her throat in his mouth before even looking at her. She was of course, scared but she was also amazed at Naruto's subconscious protectiveness over Ino.
Naruto saw who it was and whined in apology as he let go of Sakura's throat which he tried to heal with gentle and tender licks to the offending wound, "It's okay Naruto, you haven't done anything wrong. You're just cautious and protective of those you hold precious...Where did that come from? Hm!" She gave a nonchalant shrug to her own question when the voice of her rival carried over to her, or rather to her passenger.
"Foxy-kun, where'd you go? Fox-Oh, there you are, and you found Billboard-Brow too!" Sakura didn't even feel offended by the insulting nickname, the presence of Naruto in a fox henge had a surprisingly strong calming effect over her.
"Hey,Ino-pig...I was wondering, if you could give me some advise with how to deal with my boys, like this rascal here!" At her mention of the fox, she gave him a good scratch behind the left ear which she was rewarded with a wagging tail and a fox purr, getting the two girls to giggle. Ino's giggling stopped slowly, as did Sakura's, while she contemplated the question and the answer.
"Sure, I'll be your counsel for now. Until Foxy-kun wakes up." Sakura nodded until she heard the last part, to which she looked at her like she lost her mind. "What do you mean, 'Until Foxy-kun wakes up'? He's awake right now isn't he?" Ino shook her head with a small, sad smile.
"No, not entirely. He's been training so hard that when he came to this little clearing that we found him in, he passed out as a fox. I've been waiting for him to wake up from his dreams and his sleep-training. He's been somewhat hostile to me as well, probably from nightmares. He only attacked you, because of coincidence I'm guessing. He was probably in an area with enemies coming from your general direction and that his conscious mind caught scent of. if you looked carefully, you'd have noticed that his yes aren't completely open and in them, he's not all there...It's so sad at how far he'll go to protect his precious people and himself..."
Sakura looked to make sure that Ino wasn't pulling her leg, to behold that indeed Naruto was only half-conscious, "I-if he's half-conscious, th-than that means...Sasuke-kun is probably already out cold..." Ino gave her a sad nod to her realization.
"Anyway, what did you want to talk about? Foxy-kun, come on let's get you somewhere else to sleep besides Sakura's shoulder!" At the mention of his name, Naruto perked up and followed after Ino to where she was sitting before. Sakura followed quietly, so as not to wake up the fox in her rival's lap and to not disturb mentioned girl from her book, the title was one she hadn't heard of, "Twilight?"
Ino nodded and grimaced at the book in her hand, "Yes, and no matter how much I hate this book, I can't seem to put it down for long...Uuungghh! Call it, 'a guilty pleasure', the writing isn't the problem, it's the story! It makes boys look like only total dicks and it makes them seem like they don't have hearts except in their crotch. It makes the main heroine a total dunce when it comes to what is obvious, it just-Ungh!" Her groans made Naruto stir and he nuzzled closer to Ino, so as to comfort her, they both saw this and smiled softly at the subconscious show of affection. The smiles faltered when they realized that Naruto wouldn't remember any of this or the closeness he showed them.
Sakura decided that now was the time to get things off her chest(her still un-Ya know what? I ain't gonna play that card, it's too early and it's offensive). She started with how she felt useless for her boys, how they would be ahead of her from the beginning to the end, how she felt inadequate as a teammate and friend. Her story ended with a sigh from Sakura and a yawn from Naruto as he awoke. His initial reaction after he realized the close proximity to Ino was to jump back and growl, although semi-hostilely.
"Easy easy, Foxy-kun, no one's going to hurt you...I won't hurt you and neither will Sakura, just take it easy..." Her words were lost on deaf ears, as Naruto growled louder and when Ino made to pet him, he bit her hand and didn't let go. Ino's response wasn't loud like it normally would be, she grunted in pain but she just let him be. He kept growling as she tried a little harder to soothe him out of his hostility.
"Nothing's going to hurt you. Nothing's going to hurt you," Sakura was still looking shocked at her friend's calm demeanor and the fact that naruto's growls were becoming less and less threatening. It was a minute or two after he bit her, that he let go of her hand and began to lick at the wound he had created. Ino smiled softly, but joyfully at the fact that she had calmed down the scared fox of a teammate for her rival.
"You must have been having a nightmare, huh? You also must have thought I was going to hurt you, like*sniffle*them..." Naruto-fox looked up at her with confused eyes, he'd never known anyone except Ichiraku chef Ayame to cry for him. Seeing Ino cry made him feel extreme confusion and a bit of guilt at making a pretty girl cry, 'Pretty? That's one thing I've known Ino-san to be, but I've never thought of it much besides as common knowledge...Why does she make me feel so weird, like my heart will burst if I'm not careful and yet so calm? What is she?!'
His musings were cut short by Ino's tears meeting his fur, "I remember you...You were the fox at the park that Haruno-san soaked when 'Naruto' went missing, hehehe, to think we wouldn't recognize you until now...We're such idiots, oh well," Her tears stopped flowing abruptly as she perked up with a devious smirk on her face that Naruto mistook for the kind the villagers gave him.
He leaped away from Ino and growled in a truly menacing fashion, to which Sakura face-palmed, "Damn it. You were so close, then you had to make a face he thought meant pain from his horrible childhood...Okay, Ino try again, just don't make any sudden movements and don't make any part of you seem negatively familiar to him..." Before she could act upon these instructions they heard two voices that would come to Naruto's aid if he were in trouble, which is what it would be if they didn't calm him down.
"I'm telling you Choji, I heard Naruto growling about someone being just like the villagers..." Shikamaru and Choji walked into the clearing and saw what was very reminiscent to the villages ganging up on Naruto as a little boy. They looked heatedly at Sakura and Ino, who had the decency to look sheepish.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Choji and Shikamaru yelled in unison as they got into defensive stances near Naruto in case of a fight. Naruto was barking at the girls with fervor and what appeared to be tears at the corners of his eyes. The girls and Choji looked to Shikamaru for a translation for the barking, "H-He's asking if you two have learned about what the law hides...He-He wants to know if you'll be as bad as the villagers were or if you'll be*sobbing lightly at his feeling of uselessness* worse than them!" Shikamaru's tears and glare was joined by Choji's and Naruto's own tears.
Ino and Sakura were confused at the mention of a law hiding something but they felt more sadness that they brought horrible memories back to the front of Naruto's mind, "We don't know of any law hiding anything, Ino didn't even mean to look threatening or hostile, we just want answers!" Sakura's pleas were heartfelt but didn't sound like it to the three ex-dropouts.
Choji spoke up at this point, the words they spoke weren't convincing to them, "And you had to be menacing about it?! Then ask your questions, just don't hurt an already wounded soul!" Choji's voice was raised and the other two were ready for a fight or running away. Ino took the initiative to ask the questions that Sakura mentioned, "Why was he treated so badly as a child? Why was he hunted as a fox? What is it that the law hides? WHY WAS HE SPYING ON US THOSE THREE MONTHS HE WAS MISSING?!"
Ino was tearing up at the hate that each memory brought up as Naruto released more and more killer intent. Choji and Shikamaru were breathing heavily, but they were still standing as they weren't the focus of his anger. When it seemed that Sakura and Ino would die, Naruto let up on the intent but not the glare as he released the henge. He came out of the smoke without a shirt on, but what caught the girls attention was a glowing seal on Naruto's stomach. They looked at it for a moment or two before Naruto spoke in a voice that Team 10 had never heard, the only word for it would be...demonic.
"You want to know what the law hides?! IT HIDES ME! IT HIDES ME FROM THE WORLD, I AM KONOHA'S SALVATION BY LIVING, I AM KONOHA'S GREATEST WEAPON! I AM ITS DEMISE! I am what the villagers fear would become of the old Naruto, HAHAHAHAHA! THEY DIDN'T WANT ME THEY WANTED AN OBEDIENT WEAPON, THE VILLAGERS WERE WHAT STOPPED THAT FROM HAPPENING, AND KAKASHI LET THE OLD NARUTO DIE! HAHAHAHA! I won't destroy Konoha, not yet, I have too much to protect there! BUT, when they leave or are safe from what I do...THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES WILL BE NO MORE! It will begin anew after I destroy what Tobirama-sama and my clan's leader tried to create that was ruined by ARROGANT, IGNORANT, HIGH AND MIGHTILY BIASED VILLAGERS! There are a few in the village, who aren't shinobi who will be spared, but they are few and fleeting...I, am the gate to a horrible demise, and right now the beast is SCRATCHING AT THE DOOR! HAHAHAHAH! I WILL BE THE END OF WHAT CRUEL CIVILIANS RUINED FOR TOBIRAMA-SAMA AND MY ANCESTRAL CLAN!"
His rant was cut short by a swift chop to the back of the neck, courtesy of Kakashi who was with Sasuke and Asuma. Asuma breathed a sigh of relief that the secret was kept, until Shikamaru spoke, "Choji, Kiba, Akamaru and I already know of what the law hides!" Asuma and Kakashi paled at this, the law would kill the four of them if they spoke of it to the current generation. Before he could speak, Choji did, "We won't tell anyone, that's not our place...But be aware, that secrets never, and I mean never stay buried! Naruto will tell them one day, and when that day comes...The people who wronged him, will face his judgement!"
The two dropouts left the clearing, killer intent leaking from them as the walked away. Naruto got up slowly, though the thing about it was that it wasn't Naruto, the jonin senseis could tell by the way he stood; with confidence, with a feral vibe in his stance, and a sadistically, primal smirk on his face. His eyes were blood red and his voice was too heavy to belong to Naruto, "Good job, ningen, I applaud you at the speech you gave them, HAHAHAHA! He chose well on the time to scare you, he will keep his promise, that is how he always was and will be...I hate him for being my prison, but-HAHAHAHAHA! HE SURE AS HELL CAN ENTERTAIN HIS PRISONER! The first I see suffering, is the son of Hatake Sakumo," Kakashi paled at what he had created through inaction, "For you were the one to leave him in the 'capable' hands of the villagers. Ningen's never been my favorite vessel, but...He's not someone I can hate entirely...He may even be able to tame my rage, but that remains to be seen! Now, for what Sarutobi Hiruzen has done, he will be told of what has transpired! Am I clear, Sarutobi Asuma and Hatake Kakashi?!"
He received two sets of nods and scared salutes. His smirk grew as his presence left Naruto's consciousness. Asuma looked to the girls and Sasuke as he gave them a direct order, "You will never speak of this unless told otherwise, understood?" His voice was quiet, just above a whisper, but the message was clear, 'Tell anyone, and there will be Hell to pay'. Kakashi tentatively picked up Naruto in a piggy-back, with that, they left to Tazuna's house.
One week later
The week had passed since Naruto's 'encounter' and the genin, except Shikamaru and Choji, were a little scared of Naruto. The bridge was nearing completion, it was Naruto's turn to stand guard over the assembly and he pitched in about fifty or so kage bunshin to speed up the work. The day was very dull, the work was almost finished, and there had been no sign of Zabuza. Naruto was of course bored and it seemed like he would have to train in order for the workers to avoid his pranks when a mist settled on the bridge, settling a combat-hungry smirk on Naruto's face.
The workers all left the bridge with urgency as they could feel the bloodlust practically flowing in waves off Naruto. As the mist thickened, Naruto's bloodlust grew tenfold when he caught the scent of Zabuza and kid he met in a clearing one night.
Flashback no Jutsu
Naruto was laying down on the ground after falling from a tree he had 'fallen' asleep in. Along came a young boy, who was dressed in a kimono and a hairstyle similar to that of a girl. She saw Naruto and recognized him from the fight with Zabuza, 'Should I kill him? I would be doing Zabuza-sama a service for battle...But then, he wouldn't be challenged, and Zabuza-sama loves a good challenge. I might as well learn who this child is, besides the fact that he is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and a Konoha-nin.' His musings were cut short as a snarl escaped the now fully awakened Naruto.
"Woah! I mean you no ha-" "BULLSHIT! I KNOW YOUR SCENT, YOU'RE THE FAKE HUNTER-NIN THAT TOOK ZABUZA-SAN FROM THE FIGHT I WAS ENJOYING!" The boy looked surprised at his statement, when it hit him, 'That's right, the Kyuubi is a kitsune. Which means its vessel will have stronger senses than an average human.' Naruto let a snarl escape his throat while he spoke to the enemy before him, "Give me a reason I shouldn't kill you right here and now?!"
The boy was scared by the blond young man in front of him and that's when self-preservation kicked an idea into his mind, "If you kill me, Zabuza-sama won't be fully healed by the time your next fight comes around! So, if you let me live, I'll heal Zabuza-sama to his strongest and make sure he gets stronger, so you two may have a better battle than last time. Will you let me live if I do that?"
Naruto nodded an affirmative, he asked one last thing before helping out the boy, "What's your name?" "Yuki Haku, I am also known as Haku of the Hyoton. I am the last of the Yuki clan."
Naruto nodded and began gathering herbs that Haku pointed out to him.
Flashback no Jutsu KAI
The mist was thicker as was Naruto's bloodlust, "Come out Haku! Let's get this over with first!" Out of the oppressive fog came the false hunter-nin. He was in a good mood, for unbeknownst to the blond in front of him, his team wouldn't be coming to his rescue anytime soon. They had thugs all over the bridge builder's house and were causing mayhem for the jonin and genin.
"It's time, Naruto. This battle will be glorious, for that there is no doubt!" Haku's voice wasn't overexcited nor was under-enthused. He was calm and collected, but the killer intent he released was nothing to sneeze at. Naruto closed his eyes, steeling his resolve, when he opened his eyes...It was both fast and slow, it was as if he were two people in the same spot. His eyes opened slowly as he looked up, at the same time they shot open. There was only one thing that was the same for both illusions, the eyes were a bloodcurdling red and slitted.
"I see you're going to send all of your pain and anger into your attacks, very well, then I shall carry that for you until we finish this battle!" The resolve in his voice was admirable, but inside he was worried if he would be able to do that without dying. Naruto's presence wasn't that of a human boy, it was that of a strong demon, "LET'S SEE WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF!"
That battlecry released so much killer intent, it reached the house of Tazuna letting the ninja know that Naruto was having fun. He ran quadrupedal at Haku, chakra cloak and tail at once for better battle experience. Haku threw senbon at Naruto as if they were pebbles in size. Each needle hit its target without fail, they just had no effect, 'OH SHIIIIIITT!'
Haku was rammed into a pile of iron beams, picked up, thrown, round housed, pummeled and basically beat the shit out of. Naruto wasn't in any better shape; he'd been trapped in a bunch of ice mirrors, stabbed by senbon of ice and metal, impaled by ice spikes, and a few other things. They were both breathing heavily, but after a minute or two, Naruto began to cackle maniacally.
"Wh-what's so funny?!" Haku didn't know if he was laughing at his skills, or out of madness. If it were the former, Haku couldn't decide whether he'd be offended or scared or both, "HAHAHAHAHA! I'M LAUGHING AT THE FACT THAT WE'RE EVENLY MATCHED WHILE I'M AT ONE TAIL!" Haku's blood turned to ice at the last part, he knew where this was leading, "YOU'D USE TWO TAILS AGAINST ME!"
The question was more of a statement after realizing that he was royally screwed in the power department. Naruto looked incredulously at Haku as if he were insane, "WHAT, NO! THEN I WOULDN'T BE HAVING SO MUCH FUN!HAHAHAHAHA! I'M GOING TO BEAT YOUR ASS INTO THE GROUND WITH ONLY ONE TAIL! I WILL HONOR YOU WITH BEING AS STRONG AS YOU! YOUR CLAN DESERVES THAT MUCH RIGHT? THEN DO THEM PROUD, FIGHT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF YOUR CLAN!"
Those words, they brought Haku into a new level of power. Around him, the air cooled until crystals of ice surrounded Haku! The crystals circled him while they crumbled into makeshift armor on the false hunter-nin. He stood there wearing a trench coat of fabric ice, his arms had gauntlets, his shoes were now boots...All in all, he looked ready to level an army! He took a taijutsu stance and ran at Naruto, who reciprocated the action in a quadrupedal fashion. They met halfway from their respective side of the bridge to the other's and they crossed senbon and clawed hand.
Unknown to them, the genin and jonin senseis had beaten all of the thugs into unconsciousness. The group reached the bridge to find Naruto fighting Haku, they stood transfixed watching the battle before them. Zabuza had just strolled over to them and waited for small talk to begin. When it didn't come, he made it.
"SO," The group jumped and looked to him in unison, "He's only using one of them, huh? That young man's strong if he can hold Haku on his own with only one! I'd hate to see him use four, damn he'd give me a run for my money with that power..." The jonin, Shikamaru, and Choji knew he meant tails while the other genin were in the dark. The words of Naruto carried over to them and made the Konoha-nin shiver in fear of what he was capable of. Zabuza looked on intrigued that such a young shinobi could give another, his senior by three years, as much as a hard time as Naruto could.
When they thought the battle would end in a draw, they heard Naruto's speech for Haku to honor his clan and saw what Haku could do. Asuma and Kakashi looked to a silently surprised Zabuza, "Did you know he could do that?!" Receiving a shake of the head no, they looked to the battle where the air was spinning around them with their respective chakra taking a temporary form. Naruto's, a fox, and Haku, a wolf, as the air was practically buzzing with power.
Naruto was having too much fun to use more than one tail, if he only went into his initial jinchuuriki form he'd die. The battle was long and tedious, but entertaining as well as soul clearing, "How much pain and hatred am I-I holding, Naruto-san!" His voice was strong, but it cracked for a moment while asking.
"At least three years! I've had it rough, I never knew why I was hurt, so I had it worse than any of the others! THEY WERE TOLD WHY THEY WERE REJECTED, WHY THEY WERE TREATED LIKE THEY SHOULD BE IN HELL, WHY NO ONE WOULD SHOW EVEN AN OUNCE OF KINDNESS!" Those assembled heard every demonically edged word. The people who didn't know him that well, like Tazuna who was on the bridge, were now very afraid of getting Naruto angry from what he lived through as a child. The genin felt a great deal of guilt for adding onto his Hellish childhood, while the jonin senseis felt like scum for not helping when they should have.
Naruto's hair was on end and looked shaggy, like a foxes when it's scared or intimidating. His mouth had a black outline around it, his eyes were similar but not as much. The outline though, was only temporary, if he opened his mouth wide it could be seen. The chakra cloak's tail was waving around violently, it looked like he was happy, happy! Happy that he was hurt, that he was taking and giving a beating, that he was flaunting demonic chakra which can kill an average person if too close for too long.
The battle was over, with a damn close draw if Naruto's chakra cloak and emotions hadn't inhibited Haku. Naruto looked like a pin cushion and he was looking at Haku without any hate, without any malice, with only gratitude for holding his pain and hatred from three years for even a little while. He then caught scent of the Konoha-nin and Zabuza. His feral and sadistic smirk returned, he ran on quadrupedal at Zabuza. When he noticed that he had a demon-high young ninja coming at him, he did the intelligent thing, he pulled Kubikiribocho off his back with the flat facing Naruto.
Naruto hit the flat of the blade and broke it in half, cutting himself in the process, "Well well, if I want to fight at full strength, I'll have to make you bleed on Kubikiribocho's shortened blade now won't I?" After saying this, he activated his Demon Shroud, involuntarily scaring everyone except Naruto and getting Zabuza to laugh at their reactions.
"Since you're wearing your Cloak, I'll wear my Shroud!" He cut Naruto deeply, only for the wound to heal with a hiss and steam to float off the injury. Once the blood touched the blade, the rest of it began to regenerate a little. "Funny thing about Kubikiribocho, if it's broken, I just need to get your blood blade or preferably the handle where the seal resides!"
Those watching the interaction between the Demon of the Mist and the Kitsunin were beyond the fear known to human beings, "This ain't a fight between shinobi anymore, HAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Zabuza saw what he meant and went with the train of thought, "IT'S A BATTLE BETWEEN DEMONS/DEMONS!!" When the workers on the bridge heard this, they backed the fuck up! No way were they going to be caught in the crossfire of the two demons.
The Konoha shinobi were away from the conflict by now, but they could still feel the power leaking from the two powerhouses for shinobi. The genin who didn't already know what Naruto was looked to the ninja of Konoha that did. The only thing that was said by the four of them was, "Don't ask! It's a law that would kill us all if we told you!" That shut them up, it worked to get them quiet but more curious as well.
Back in the battle, the demon shroud and chakra cloak were acting like two different types of blazing infernos. The purple of the shroud belonging to the Demon of the Mist and the orange of the Kitsunin were meeting at the middle between the combatants and they were fighting for superiority of the battle. The two energies were suffocating with how much chakra and killer intent was being put out. Suddenly, the two of them were gone and reappeared somewhere else on the bridge. The whole bridge, workers and all, had become their battleground.
As Naruto spoke/yelled, it was clear that the Kyuubi was actually helping its jinchuuriki in the hopes of surviving and having an entertaining battle. Naruto's whisker marks were darker in appearance and his smirk was spreading to that of the Cheshire cat. The adrenaline and release of pent up emotions was like an addicting drug for the blond. The bloodlust circulating between the two demonic warriors was palpable, the taste was that of fresh blood and of ghost peppers.
The clashing of Zabuza's mighty blade, Kubikiribocho with Naruto's claws that were tied to kunai was sending sparks everywhere and setting small fires upon the bridge. The audience(I BROKE THE FOURTH WALL!OMFG...not!) was too scared to move, for fear of getting in the way and becoming a casualty in the crossfire. The next thing to occur from the battle was what scared them all, from the two powerful shinobi came bloodcurdling laughter and their chakra seemed to surround them as a blizzard of fire. Then the chakra engulfed them and made large constructs of their chakra. Naruto, a six-tailed fox(if you've seen him in the episode he went seven-tails, you'll know what I'm talkin' 'bout) and Zabuza, a larger version of himself.
The bridge was in ruins now, from the weight of the constructs and from the overbearing punishment that was coming from Naruto and Zabuza. Naruto's words that he spoke after this weren't only his now, they had another, much deeper and more ancient voice speaking in tandem with his own, "LET'S DANCE WITH THE DEVIL! EH, MOMOCHI ZABUZA, DEMON OF THE MIST?" Konoha's ninja were in awe and terror that was Naruto, he had been such a nice child, now he was a bloodthirsty B-rank threat. Choji and Shikamaru were among those afflicted by horror, but they knew Naruto wouldn't attack them of his own free will and he wouldn't hurt anyone he considered precious.
The battle was soon over, with Naruto unconscious and Zabuza close behind. Naruto was out with a soft, contented smile on his face. Zabuza wasn't about to pass out though, he had just pushed himself to new levels of power and he would train to use that when necessary. Zabuza went to pick up Haku, when he lost feeling in both his arms. Looking to his numb appendages, he saw that there were senbon everywhere and that someone had stabbed them into him when he wasn't looking.
There was the sound of slow clapping, everyone looked to the sound's source and saw Gato with over a hundred thugs behind him. He was trying to keep a confident smirk on as were his subordinates, but they were sweating buckets and were fidgeting uncontrollably, "So, Gato, this is how you solve problems when you know you're done for? Hehehehe, and you'd use cheap and worthless thugs as mercenaries. Hehehehe, that's sad, even for you...I could take out half of these scum without my arms on my own, and yet you hope to win against not only me but Konoha's shinobi?!"
Zabuza was hysterically laughing at the hopelessness that Gato had put on himself and his sorry excuse for mercenaries. The said shipping magnate was now near scared to death as were the few of his subordinates who died from the demonic chakra still heavy in the air. Those who were barely holding on were starting to think of running, but they had a code of honor amongst themselves that they wouldn't leave a client until the job's done.
Gato was starting to gasp for breathe, the chakra that Naruto and Zabuza combined was like a poison to the average human being's immune system. Zabuza pushed a great deal of what he had left for chakra into his arms, getting them to work again, then ran at Gato and the rest of his men with Kubikirbocho ready to tear through flesh and bones. The remaining 'mercenaries' were fifteen, and they weren't far from dying until Zabuza put them out of their misery. Gato was then cut down to half his already half-pint size with one swing of Zabuza's arm with Kubikiribocho in hand.
The bridge builders were too afraid to breath properly, their breathes were shallow and short-lived. They understood that the oxygen was tainted with a fatal poison that was inadvertently made from the fight between Naruto and Zabuza. After a few minutes, Zabuza called to the Konoha shinobi that it was fine to come down and that they could go back to Konoha with a mission success, "Well, now that Gato's gone, I'm not your enemy. That kid there," He gestured to the still contentedly sleeping Naruto, "Is strong, when he reaches jonin rank, I know for a fact that I won't be a match for him. Now, my demon shroud and his chakra cloak are near nothing compared to what they were...We used up so much chakra that we're now starting from scratch in the 'demon' department, hehehe! It's almost too funny, to think that the best of Haku and myself came from a kid's desire for peace of soul after the hell he grew up in...I'm going back to Kirigakure, to reestablish myself as a Kiri shinobi. Haku will follow me and from the near death scrape that he has experienced from being that close to the fight, I won't see him as a tool anymore! Now, get going before I change my mind, the kid and I aren't as strong as we used to be, but I'm still strong enough to make all of you near Shinigami's feet..."
He let that threat hang there and the jonin of Konoha knew that they had to am-scray while the am-scraying was good. They left after getting everything they needed in order for the trip back and left after they heard what the bridge would be named, "The Great Naruto Bridge, huh? I kind of like the sound of that!" Kakashi's words rang true for the entire group of shinobi, they had seen an epic battle between demons, and now they had seen a gigantic bridge be named after their favorite knucklehead.
The journey, they knew, was far from over. It would only get harder, even if they were to tame Naruto's bloodlust, it would be one hell of a life. Naruto's pranks and bipolar behavior, Sakura's self-esteem problems, Sasuke's thirst for power to get revenge and rebirth his clan, Kakashi's guilt? Their lives were all about to meet the meaning of, 'rain hell on them', for the new Team 7 was about to show the shinobi world what really goes on behind the masks of others.
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Badass moment engaged! Yea, I made Naruto and Zabuza lose their demonic powers, I can't 'ave Naruto godlike an' same goes fer Zabuza. I 'ad to give 'em a kickstart and then take it away. If I just gave 'em the strength to level armies, the story would end in Hell. Also, the training as a genin for Naruto would've been all for not if he were godlike. He's back to 'is fox strength, which's still stronger than 'e was in canon so 'e didn't drop too drastically. 'E's gonna grow an' develop as the story goes on and learn to forgive while keepin' 'is promise to make Konoha what Tobirama wanted. That's all fer now ladies, gents and other! SEE YA!