Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Naruto" – Talking

'Naruto' – Thoughts

Naruto – Flashback

Naruto – Jutsu

Cracking Gaps: Sins of a Family

Blood and Reality Flooding the Waves

Previously on Cracking Gaps: Sins of a Family,

Later that day, closer to dinner time,

"Hello Keiji and Mito. How was your day?" Kushina asked despite not facing then as she washed the dishes. The twins just ignored her as usual now; they were not stupid. They saw that despite their presence clear to their parents, the Hokage and his wife acted like they were a childless couple living their lives.

"It was just fine. We got to learn about elemental Ninjutsu." Keiji started.

"Yeah, Naruto-sensei promised us some of those Ninjutsu once we mastered water walking." Mito finished with a small half lie; it was undeniable that Naruto did promise them like that. It was just that he also asked the twins to keep the fact they are practicing the elements from the parents. It was because the Hokage and his wife could pretty much separate them again once they find out how far they all had gotten under his teachings; the twins didn't want to even imagine being taken from their sensei and his girlfriend who was a great teammate to them.

"Oh. Okay then, dinner will be ready in an hour once I get this dishes clean and leaving them to dry. I just wish that Naruto will hurry up because I have been hearing from Minato-kun that the other teams are more ahead than your team is." Kushina said and didn't notice the sad grins on their faces. It turned out that Kushina will believe anything the twins will say, no doubt about it; that was one of the factors to Naruto's bad history with her and her husband. Now the twins are feeling guiltier about it than before.

During dinner, it was all no different. Neither one of the twins will even as much as talk to their parents. "What is wrong babies? You don't look very happy and you barely touched your food." Kushina finally took her eyes from her plate and placed them on the twins and finally notice that they were indeed not every happy about something.

"Mom, please tell us the truth. We have other siblings besides ourselves right?" Mito begged of Kushina and Keiji joined,

"Please mom. Please be honest." Now this has gotten even the attention of the Hokage himself.

"I keep telling you my children. You are the only kids we ever had and that is all we can ask for?" Kushina said but Keiji suddenly slammed his fist on the table, ignoring how it hurts.

"I told you to stop lying! Why are you still not telling us the truth!?" Keiji got up from his seat and shook the table, scattering the food and leaving a mess everywhere. "Do you really not take our word seriously? Just what are we to you!?"

"Young man, you will not talk to your mother that way! If you can't accept her answer than maybe you should go to your room!" Minato yelled as he won't let anyone disobey or back talk in front of his wife, not even his own children.

"Then why are you still lying to us! We are not stupid anymore, we know that we have a big brother. Why else did you raise us to bully Naruto if he was a stranger to us all!? Keep him in our home if he was a stranger? Let us bully and hurt him if he was a stranger!? WHY!?" Keiji shouted and until he was hit hard on the cheek. By Kushina!

"How dare you question our parenting! If you don't like how we raise our children than you have no right to remain in our clan!" Kushina then covered her mouth when she realized what she had said and it had gone too far.

"So that is it huh?" Keiji got up even with the slap mark clear as day, red in his flesh. "If we don't do something, even a little something or become a little something than we are nothing to you. Nothing but trash to be thrown away on cleaning day. In this case it was that day years ago and if you want your heirs than don't make today that same day! Naruto-sensei was right about you all along! I hate you!" Keiji ranted and then ran up to his bedroom that he shared with his twin. Speaking of which, Mito ignored her parents begging for forgiveness and went up to the same room, leaving the Hokage and his wife to stay in the dining room among the mess they made, literally.

It was it, the end of the rope for the twins, hot water for the parents and the moment of truth for everyone that is involved whatever they wanted to or not. All we can do is hope there is very little bloodshed when the climax comes around the corner uninvited.

"You told your own parent you hate them?" Naruto asked while at the team's favorite place to go between training and missions. But Keiji and Mito just weren't in the mood for either. They were feeling a little guilty for yelling at their parents, they were the only family they have; no uncles, no aunts, no cousins or even any siblings other than each other or do they?

"Yes Naruto-sensei…we just couldn't take it anymore." Keiji said in a low voice, the complete opposite of the loud and obnoxious boy that he was in the Academy. This must hit harder than it looks.

"Yes, we wanted just one thing and yet our parents just give us toys, flowers and all the training in the world. They made us accept them instead of wanting a brother or a sister. They just wanted us to be spoiled." Mito said, ignoring the tears falling down her cheeks. She just felt like a girl who saw her favorite doll take apart only to find out that her parents stole it and left the debit on her.

Hinata hugged Mito when it was clear that the latter was on the verge of crying. It took a while but starting a few days ago, Hinata had finally gotten to be good friends with Mito Namikaze. It seemed that Naruto's efforts including that illusion he cast over them, to tune their behavior down a lot of levels, had finally shown some results.

Keiji just looked at his 'only' sister and forgot about the blind pride he showed in the Academy to hug her too. It was a relief to see twins who hated everyone including each other finally get along and even show some work in getting onto everyone's good sides after their former history of alienating the Academy Students and the other adults throughout the village.

"Listen guys…" Naruto said after a long and pregnant silence, "I don't want you to think that you should average each other from what the Hokage and his wife had did to us all. It is no different than going against everything you ever worked for, all for some stupid desire to rid yourself of feelings you are too afraid to face on your own! That is the difference than an avengers and those who take revenge for themselves."

"We are not afraid!" Keiji said into Naruto's face. "We are not weak! We will do this! We will pull through, just you see!" Mito felt like something in her chest was warming up and she felt like she was flying in the sky as if she suddenly turned into a bird.

'Naruto-sensei…you really are a miracle worker. I want you for an older brother and Keiji-nii-san, you desire him as the same.' Mito thought as she steeled her nerves and stood up from weeping to face Naruto and anything else that comes to bring her down. What no one noticed was a shooting star that was so bright that it was able to be spotted by the forest creatures even though the sun was at its brightest that day. Maybe someone up there really did have a change of heart; if only everyone down below will be patient enough to allow the chance of redemption show itself around that far away corner, no change arrives by itself.

XXXXX

After a couple more months of training and D-rank chores,

"…And that is why we like to go on our first C-rank. It is about time we give my team so outdoor experience." Naruto said while in the office of the Hokage at the Hokage's tower.

"And for what reason do you think that my children are ready for this. You are trending on thin ice here Naruto." Minato said in a stern tone.

"Hey! We have done over two hundred of these stupid chores! We all are bored of it!" Keiji had gotten his loud personally back but he instead used it when simple clam talking had gotten anywhere in any conversation.

"We need to get out of the village before we all get mad from it all! Why can't you just stop worrying about us and let us become real Shinobi!" Mito took her turn yelling at their 'father' who sighed very hard.

"Fine, fine. Send in the next client, Tazuna-san!" Minato found it hard to admit, even to the face of his own wife, that he was wrapped around Mito's little finger. He just can't help it since Mito is like his little princess.

When the door opened, Team Seven saw their latest client and the one for their first C-rank mission. Tazuna is a grey-haired, bespectacled man with a large beard and dark eyes. He wore a sleeveless V-neck shirt with an obi, pants and a pair of sandals. He also carried a towel around his neck and wore a pointed hat on his head. "This are the Shinobi I asked for!? They are nothing but a bunch of little kids! But that big guy looks promising and that girl has a great fig…" He stopped when a Kunai just barely missed him and instead shattered his bottle of sake he had on hand.

"We may be kids but we are still Shinobi and if the Hokage won't tolerate such poor examples for your age then I will Tazuna-san…" Naruto said with his hand outward and his eyes covered in black. That made him the culprit who nearly scared Tazuna so badly, he was wet in the space between his legs.

"R-right. Y-y-you w-will j-just h-have t-to d-do." Tazuna said, stuttering almost as bad as Hinata when she is blushing a rose red and when she was embarrassed. Team Seven snickered at his misery and misfortune. They love their teacher, he makes them laugh and have a good time no matter what it seems.

XXXXX

Later, Team Seven went on their way with Tazuna in hand and went in the direction of the client's home; Nami no Kuni. It was located on the border of Hi no Kuni and Mizu no Kuni. According to Tazuna, this country has no Shinobi like the main Shinobi lands; they don't even have samurai. They are just a free style trading hub for the other countries complete with expert bridge builders and fisherman.

But while Team Seven and Tazuna were walking down the paved path, Naruto noticed something that only an amateur Genjutsu user can make. There were puddles on the path despite it being a rather dry week and faraway from any other water source. But if they think that they can fool Naruto then so be it.

"Sensei!" Team Seven shouted out when they saw two brothers emerge as if out of nowhere and butchered their Sensei right in front of their eyes.

"One down." One of them said. He had shoulder-length, wild dark-brown hair and dark eyes. He wears a rebreather that covers the lower half of his face and a large, clawed, poisonous gauntlet on his right arm which had a chain coming out of it that had the other end attached to his brother's own gauntlet. He wore a camouflage suit with bandages around his waist, dark-coloured, knee-length sandals and a ragged black cape. His forehead protector had a single horn on it.

"Four more to go." The other sneered along as if they were twins, conjoined in mind. He had shoulder-length, wild dark-brown hair and dark eyes. He wears a rebreather that covers the lower half of his face and a large, clawed, poisonous gauntlet on his left arm which had a chain coming out of it that had the other end attached to his brother's own gauntlet. He wore a camouflage suit with bandages around his waist, dark-coloured, knee-length sandals and several pouches around his waist. His forehead protector had two horns on it.

They all thought that Team Seven was just going to drop dead and throw away Tazuna like that. They were wrong when they turned to face their new targets. That was when Keiji had shown some speed from Raiton training and struck the first one with enough momentum to send him flying. "Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga!" Keiji was not going to let his prey get away and brought the first assassin down with a surge of lightning.

"Gōzu! You bastard! Drop dead!" The second assassin shouted and just barely recovered from that sudden attack on his partner just to charge at Keiji.

"Suirō no Jutsu!" The assassin had stopped dead hard against a dome of water, strengthen by raw Chakra surging through. That impact and recoil had caused the assassin to twitch and shake in his place, the perfect chance for a sneak attack.

"Doton: Doroku Gaeshi!" The assassin just stood in his place even after the solid ground he was standing on had suddenly lifted like pages from a book. He couldn't help himself when the slab of dirt had caused him to crash hard into the ground behind him with the chunk of earth landing right on him.

That was enough to knock him out just like with his partner that he called Gōzu. Team Seven then took them both and found a good tree to tie them with rope. "But what about your dead Sensei!?" Tazuna was frozen in fear about all this but was wondering why Team Seven could do this so casually until he followed their thumbs pointing to, instead of flesh and bone, chunks of wood lying on the ground. It was like a log had come out of nowhere and was given a poor chopping job.

"What did we tell you Tazuna-san? We Konoha Shinobi are more than capable of protecting you." Tazuna then saw Naruto just walk out of the woods, like nothing had happened and he was just hiding instead. After getting his desired hits from his worried team, Naruto faced Tazuna somehow fully healed. "Now please explain why the Oni Kyōdai will waste their time and risk getting caught just to try and kill you? They are Chunin level Missing Shinobi and they are not part of a simple escort C-rank mission."

Tazuna then had to take the staring of Team Seven who joined their Sense in order to further enhance their glares. They too wanted answers, this is more like a B-rank escort mission. Tazuna then confessed that he has these Missing Nin after him because of a man hiring them; Gato of Gato Inc. He is one of the world's wealthiest men and owned a very productive enterprise over smaller businesses. Tazuna's village just had to be Gato's favorite place to suck dry as if a weed in a garden; that was why Tazuna was only able to afford a C-rank mission in order to protect him. Being a bridge builder, if he finished his latest project then Gato's hold over Nami no Kuni will die.

But Gato was more than greedy, he was clever and knew of the threat Tazuna posed to his rule. That is the basis of why an old man had assassins on his head. Tazuna then begged for the mission to go on because he has no money left to save his town.

Ultimately, Naruto had ended the old man's begging for mercy and forgiveness by saying he has a good guy complex stronger than he was. But his team knew that was just an excuse to be the good guy and forget the rules to help a country that just happen to be on their borders.

And so, they took a boat ride until they had to walk on land once again. But when Keiji got scolded for striking a rabbit; Naruto realized that action actually was a signal never to be found. "Duck!" He directed his team and client to hit the dirt and just in time for a large object to move in the air like a fast pace boomerang that was embedded in one of the trees.

"Aww…I wanted a little more blood. You raised your team too good Konoha." A voice had pierced the air and even made the natural mist so thick that it was nearly hard to see. Despite all that, Naruto kept his cool and saw the one person who tried to kill his team clearly.

"Zabuza Momochi. A-rank Missing Nin from Kirigakure. Former member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū. The Kirigakure no Kijin." Naruto said and once his team got a good look, they were nearly scared out of their heads.

Zabuza was a tall and noticeably muscular man with pale skin, short spiky black hair, brown eyes, and small eyebrows. He was normally seen wearing bandages like a mask over the bottom half of his face. Under his mask, he had a relatively narrow jawline and jagged-teeth, a trait he shared with his fellow Swordsmen. He wore his forehead protector sideways on his head, and prior to his defection from Kirigakure, donned the village's Anbu uniform and flak jacket. After his defection, and during his first appearance, he was seen shirtless, with his chest only covered by a belt to which he attached his Kubikiribōchō, wearing baggy pants with the striped pattern typical of Kirigakure and mimetic wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, with matching leg-warmers.

And one of the things that made the Genin wary of Zabuza was the Kubikiribōchō itself. The blade has two cut outs, a circle close to the top and a semi-circular one nearer the handle that aptly fit the sword's purpose of decapitation. The latter notch allows a strap to be wrapped around the weapon, making it easier for the user to carry.

"It seems that my reputation precedes me even after how I was run out of my home for trying to save it. Don't you dare try to say there is a better way than I did in hopes to save my village!" Zabuza said until he shouted like he wanted to beat what Team Seven was going to say next. "Anyway, I get to face the infamous Twisted Eye of Konoha eh? The one Jonin who set the new record as the youngest Jonin and your skill in Ninjutsu and other shit are just dandy but one time, one of your Genjutsu actually killed someone on its own. I am scared~!" That should be sarcastic but Zabuza might say that way by accident; he really meant it because once he started shaking, he kept that up.

"Team, this will hit harder than when I got you guys together. If I fall, never forget what I have trained you and try to get Tazuna to safety!" Naruto said, "That is what Shinobi really do!" Naruto said like he wanted his team to abandon him for the sake of the village. But something else happened and it was something that was going to be craved into the hearts like the picture on a stone tablet.

"Hai Sensei!" They instead steeled their glaze and their Chakra so much that it was leaking out a near solid glow. It was like Zabuza's Killer Intent and Kirigakure no Jutsu couldn't bring them down. What a team!

XXXXX

At the Hokage Tower in Konoha,

"What are you saying Hokage-sama?" Mighty Guy, one of Konoha's Jonin that specializes in Taijutsu, asked while freaking everyone out. Guy is a tall and well-built man with high cheek-bones, thick eyebrows and black hair cut in a bowl style. Guy wears a green jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers and the standard Konoha flak jacket. His forehead protector, is on a red cloth and is worn around his waist, like a belt. His hair also had the shape of his signature bowl-style though a bit longer and shaggier, framing the side of his face.

As for freaking everyone for asking a question like everyone else, you see that Mighty Guy was the loudest man in Konoha. It ripped everyone's earbuds to listen to him rant and yell about the 'Flames of Youth' all day, nonstop. But that all changed for the better when Naruto became Jonin and was acquainted with Guy; let's just say that it took only a few minutes for Naruto to trick Guy into speaking a lot calmer and to threaten him into becoming sterile and mute if it ever happened it again. Who knew that a boy three times younger than Mighty Guy could be so sadist and yet a savior to everyone's ears. But all that was merely over half a year ago and after hearing Guy's ranting for years was a hard habit to get over.

Back to the meeting now, "But I thought that when you assigned your Youthful children to Naruto-kun, there won't be a problem."

"I know Guy but we have discussed just last night and we were told that the C-rank mission has turned into an A-rank. We need Team Seven back and as soon as possible. That is why I am giving Team Nine this job to bring my children back and give them a real C-rank mission." Minato said and Guy sighed. Both Jonin were great friends and even thought Guy was an eccentric Jonin, he was able to raise a fully successful team in just one year. To do this means that Guy was thinking that Naruto was a poor excuse for a teacher to allow all this to happen; if only this was easier for everyone involved then the world will be happier.

End of Chapter 7.

*Thanks for the wait, I am still trying to adjust to my new schedule. I even have to miss out on a BBQ party in to attend all my classes. What a life, the thigs my friends plan that my busy schedule only prove to get in the way. Don't you feel like your school is only out to ruin your fun?

And to be honest, I was not counting on making another chapter in this story until you all demanded it. So I hope that working all week had paid off.*

Translations:

Nami no Kuni – Wave Village

Hi no Kuni – Land of Fire

Mizu no Kuni – Land of Water

Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga – Lightning Release: Lightning Beast Tracking Fang

Suirō no Jutsu – Art of the Water Prison

Doton: Doroku Gaeshi – Earth Release: Earth Shore Return

Oni Kyōdai – Demon Brothers

Kirigakure – Hidden Mist Village

Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū – Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist

Kirigakure no Kijin – Demon of the Mist

Kubikiribōchō – Decapitating Carving Knife

Kirigakure no Jutsu – Hiding in the Mist Technique