Chapter 5.5:
Naruto was now 13, and he had far more experience with this world.
TenTen and he were close pals, Sasuke now adorned a smile 24/7, much in contrast to his previous demeanor, but still had his moments of depression.
Rock Lee was in love with his new book, "Naruto's Grappling Method of Winning Battles."
Neji went on a year-long mission alone, administered by the Hyuuga household, to train and hone his Byakugaan.
Currently, Naruto was sent on a reinforcement mission to help genins Kiba, Hinata, and Shino, led by Jounin Kurenai, [Team 8], to help subdue Zabuza.
Naruto was quick to respond to the original summons for reinforcement, and the Hokage knew that Naruto was ready for dealing with Zabuza, despite being a genin in name. But as for the reason Naruto wanted to fight Zabuza so badly….
Kubikiribōchō. Executioner's Blade. Naruto's first weapon after he got labeled a criminal in his old world.
It healed itself with blood and had a shape designed for slicing through humans specifically. The ridge near the hilt sliced through appendages like elbows, knees, necks, and shoulders nicely. The long blade after the Ridge, with a slightly protruding tip and went beyond the back of the sword was amazing, slicing, piercing, blocking, and grappling. The hole in the Sword was great for aerodynamics, and the flat part of the blade could withstand many attacks.
But the greatest part about it? You twist the bottom of the handle ever so slightly to the right, it splits right into two, lighter Kubikiribōchōs of the same size. Dual wield, baby!
And then the added bonuses of all good swords, chakra conductive abilities, sharp edges that last longer and sharper than a great chef's favorite knife.
They say the greatest chef's favorite knife is the sharpest thing in the world. As a professional at-home-chef, I cannot help but chuckle in disappointment but I can indeed say that chef knives are (or have the potential to be) insanely sharp!
But all things said and done, he wanted to see Kurenai for some other things.
(No this is not a NarutoXKurenai pairing, pairings are yet to be decided. But the last thing I want is for this to stop focusing on the action and be too focused on creating an ultimate romantic story)
Her Genjutsu was supposedly unparalleled by those without dojutsu, and even rivals some prominent figures from the Uchiha clan, had they been alive.
And that requires, mind you, in Naruto's own words, "a crap ton of shit and shit ton of control."
Vulgar much?
But all things said and done, Genjutsu was his favorite (not best) fighting style before ansatsu jitsu and the other two. Plus his secret one (hint hint, it's a kenjutsu and fuinjutsu mix).
But for a child with aspirations as high Naruto, paired with the control of a rat eating solid hydrochloric acid with a hint of lemon, learning Genjutsu is the best first step,
That or become the third green beast of konoha.
Yeah no.
Anyways, Naruto just passed over the water to the land of Mist, and utilizing the help of a mix between flash step and Tarzan style swinging, he glided through the forest with minimal effort and time, and reached the home that was the abode of the humble Tazuna.
Naruto knocked, and Kurenai responded right away, hand behind her back clenching a kunai.
'She noticed my chakra coming right at her and was prepared…'
Naruto looked at her hand once more.
"Very poorly." He spoke aloud, to which Kurenai felt disdain but paid no heed. She noticed the headband instantly and stealthily put away her kunai so Naruto wouldn't notice.
He noticed pretty easily. For him, she was practically showing him the kunai on a pedestal.
"They sent a genin?"
"Your eyes are pretty, old-aunty"
Kurenai understood he felt offended, but she couldn't help but be reeling in pain and minimally Happy at the same time from Naruto's statement.
Kiba ran down the stairs and pounced at Naruto.
No, you don't.
The great genin grabbed Kiba's throat and his other hand reached into his open mouth and grasped his upper jaw, and after a simple pivot with his left ankle, he threw Kiba into the pathway and stomped his chest.
'Sasuke would have attacked better than this,' Naruto found himself thinking.
Kiba wheezed, and when he gasped, Naruto was about to Stomp again when Kurenai quickly slid in a curve and caught Naruto's foot, and kept her other hand over Kiba's hand, a green aura over it.
Well, that was how it was supposed to go.
Kurenai slid in a curve and attempted to grab his foot by placing her hand in the path of his foot, and started healing Kiba, but was shocked to see that her hand healing Kiba was stomped on, and the hand that was supposed to grab his foot caught the air.
'He reacted to my movement in a millisecond and avoided my hand?'
Kiba wheezed, even more, and a little mist of blood came out of his mouth with it.
Naruto did not stop. He had no tolerance to those who attacked him, the remnants of his dark days as a criminal.
He quickly lifted his foot, before Kurenai could even attempt to grab at him, and did a front flip, landing his ankle on Kiba's stomach, avoiding Kurenai's hand as she was not his target. Again, a remnant of his days as a VIP ANBU, to not kill or harm those who aren't the target.
Kiba did not wheeze this time, he just got knocked out, but for some reason, Kurenai wasn't shocked, she seemed…
Happy?
Hinata came running down the stairs, looking gassed and tired. Her clothes were ripped and numerous scratch wounds adorned her skin. She had dark bags under her eyes and her hair was disheveled.
"Sensei, Kiba- Naruto!?"
She automatically turned red and tried to cover up as many of her "bad" features as she could with her hand.
Kurenai interjected, "Kiba is in a trance. Our first fight with Zabuza ended poorly, Shino is currently in a coma and the slash in his back isn't closing, and Kiba was both traumatized and enraged, so he became like this."
Naruto read about this somewhere, "Inuzaki's Rage?"
"Bingo, he can't stop being like this until he kills or witnesses the killing of Zabuza. Sigh, thanks for knocking him out, none of us have been able to."
Naruto frowned, a jounin couldn't take down a person of this caliber? And if so, why isn't she more surprised that I could?
"I have questions about Naruto, I'm assuming that's your name, since the description the Hokage gave me matches you perfectly. But first, let's go inside. Tazuna is working on the bridge and his family was evacuated by an upcoming rebellion group. This house is ours for now."
Naruto nodded, he felt weird being told that the Hokage was easily spreading information about him to anybody.
Yes, his standards for confidentiality are very high.
He walked into the home after Kurenai stepped back in, and Hinata carried Kiba back inside, making sure to lock him in his room and add a seal to his door.
Naruto smelled blood everywhere, and the home didn't feel very homely. It felt like a refugee camp.
After some snooping around and inquiring with the others, it was safe to claim that the situation was quite dire. THe hokage was sugar coating a lot of things, but Naruto understood by this point, he wasn't protecting Tazuna with the Team, he was protecting Tazuna and the team.
The hardest part about this is, the blonde sat down, he can't reveal his intentions to actually annihilate Zabuza and take the Kubikiribocho for himself, and the fact that he hates operating with others who only tie him down.
Even as a normal ANBU, he only completed the minimum protection-type mission to get promoted to a VIP ANBU.
"AH! Damn it all! It all ends if I kill Zabuza."
The blonde stood up with new and fresh rigor. He pulled out 3 random kunais and tested their sharpness with his finger.
"Sharp enough," he spoke as he licked the blood on his finger off.
Setting the kunai back, Naruto left a note, and rushed out the door. Moments later, Kurenai came running down the steps, as she felt Naruto's chakra signature rapidly moving away from the house, at faster-than-jounin speed. And with the whole Zabuza terror going around, the best possible conclusion was achieved.
"Zabuza couldn't have - no! Impossible! I can't let Naruto die in my hands!" Kurenai muttered, and rushed out, ignoring Naruto's note completely.
After a few moments, at high speed running, the blonde quickly covered miles, and using his sonar pulses, he quickly found Zabuza.
- Aren't you rushing this decision? This seems quite in contrast to your usually calm and thoughtful manner.
"Haven't heard from you in a bit!"
Tsunizu's voice got sterner.
- answer the question.
"Yes I am rushing it, but Kurenai is enough for protection. If I'm holding off Zabuza, then the only thing this Gato guy can do is rally up the mobs and launch a gung ho attack directly on the house. We both know genjutsu works better for the masses."
Naruto had not yet realised that Kurenai was following him. Infact, she was so slow in comparison to Naruto, She had already stepped out of his (Insanely large mind you) sensing range. She was only following the general direction of where he was headed.
Eventually, Zabuza eating a meal with someone else came into view of the blonde. There were empty Sake bottles all around them, even Naruto could smell the stench from here. The other person, a child of the same age as Naruto, was not eating, and was standing up, head bent down and leaning forward in a submissive bow.
He was eating, and the person beside him flinched as he reached for seconds.
"Flinching?"
Naruto ran himself through the causes of flinching for almost no reason.
"Torture Trauma?"
Now that Naruto got a good look at their surroundings, it was filled with torturing tools, including bloody tweezers, knives, and even the state of art zapper.
The person's clothes covered a lot of the features necessary to determine gender, and the skin shown had scars and still open wounds.
"Haku! Get me Sake!" Zabuza spoke, his voice jumpy and clearly indicating heavy intoxication.
The person obediently ran to the nearest unopened Sake bottle and opened it, and frantically gave it to Zabuza.
He held the bottle and let a growl escape his lips.
"Insolent brat! It's not cold! I told you to bring me Sake COLD! ARGH! YOU DARE DEFY ME!"
He stood up, visibly shaking. The bowl on his lap filled with food came tumbling down and the food spilled, and Sake sloshed around and a majority of it flew out, pouring on Haku.
Zabuza front-kicked Haku, who dared not to block it.
Naruto saw his or her eyes, they saw the kick coming. The same way he saw it...
… in slow motion.
But he or she didn't block it? Not even an attempt?
As this Haku person went flying into a torturing tool behind her, she let out a gasp that was quite feminine, too feminine too be a high pitched male.
Zabuza took an empty Sake bottle and shattered it on his chest, and still held onto the handle. With the handle, he pointed to a table that was meant to stretch itself, while trapping the hand and feet of whoever laid on it. Brutal by itself.
"Lay on it. NOW!"
She trembled, and started crying.
"I FUCKING TOLD YOU TO LAY ON IT! NOT WEEP LIKE A FUCKING CHILD. I TOOK CARE OF YOU FOR 10 YEARS FOR THIS?!"
He walked with visible rage and threw the handle at Haku, impaling the sharp ends into her arm.
"STILL TRYING TO DEFY ME? HOW DARE YOU!"
He kept picking up bottles, shattering them, and then throwing the handle at Haku. Some missed due to his intoxicated state, and others missed because Haku moved ever so slightly, but 90% hit regardless.
Zabuza got extremely close and kicked Haku in the direction of the table. She went tumbling towards it with intense speed.
CRASH!
Her shoulder hit the table hard. It was already impaled by Sake bottles, so only caused greater injury, but Haku was no longer crying.
Her brown eyes turned a bright azure blue, and a bluish aura enveloped her.
The blonde gulped, just from sheer excitement. Afterall, even Naruto enters that state often, the most recent being when he committed the Midnight Massacre before his genin test.
"Temperament Overdrive." He muttered what this state was called, named by Naruto himself, and was a state (by the history of his first life) that would be first witnessed 12 years from now.
Haku raised her fists, and her female physique only seemed to make it more formidable, and her hair was fluttering wildly behind her. But perhaps the greatest thing that happened was that the sake Zabuza spilled on her became frozen on her shirt.
"Ice style?"
Zabuza was not shocked at the ice, but rather that she dared to even fight him. So much so, the man did not speak, but only hastened his shaking of rage.
"Now is as good a time as ever to pop out of this place." Naruto spoke, jumping down, and quickly dashing towards Zabuza, kunai in hand. Zabuza did not notice Naruto in sheer rage+intoxication that when he did, it was too late.
The blonde jumped towards Zabuza, spiralling rapidly with the kunai, and with all the centrifugal force he developed, stopped himself, and slashed a deep cut into his neck, and painted the air with a perfect crescent of red trailing from the bloody kunai.
"Have a good night!" Naruto mentioned as he kicked off Zabuza's dead chest, backflipping, and landing perfectly on the ground, hands up in a showy posture as though he were a gymnast.
- having fun are we!
"You betcha!" Naruto spoke. His identity was in a crisis right now, since the biggest things happening in his life disappeared, and a new life was given to him afresh. He still didn't know how to react and think, so he had a happy personality this time.
He glanced at Zabuza, and made sure he was dead.
- No breath, no pulse, and now chakra flows. He's a corpse for sure.
"That easy? Wasn't he like the owner of the kubikiribocho?"
- Ninjas still haven't developed to your level just yet.
"But still…" he whined like a child who lost something.
"Y-you killed him?"
Naruto turned around, and saw Haku still in Temperament Overdrive (TO), but not being aggressive.
'Damn, facing someone in TO really would make a normal guy shiver in his boots wouldn't it?'
- Sigh, I'm guessing you're still unfazed?
'I'm not normal! It's insulting you even questioned that!'
Naruto still had to respond to the inquiry given to him.
"Yeah. He seemed like -?"
"Thank you!" she spoke, now out of TO, and hugging Naruto tightly.
"It was nothing?" Naruto spoke, unsure of what to say. He didn't avoid the hug, it was easy for him too, but rather he was curious about why she was saying thank you, but reaching into his utility pouch and grasping one of his kunai.
A few moments passed during which Haku made sure of her grip on Naruto's kunai behind his back. And then muttered.
"I'm sorry."
"No you aren't"
CHOP!
A quick chop to the neck and she was out cold. The kunai in her hand fell helplessly and slumped on his shoulder.
"I would have killed you, but Ice types are rare. And if my history is right… You could be one of the last of the Yuki tribe."
A rustle in the bushes, and the two + corpses were missing. From the bush emerged a panting Kurenai.
"Oh, it's just you!" Naruto spoke. Haku and Zabuza were hanging from his shoulders, but he carried them effortlessly, his knees not buckling the least.
"Naruto… what is all thi-"
"Here hold this." Naruto spoke, and Kurenai reached for one of the bodies quickly, realizing that she could have her inquiries solved later.
Naruto grabbed Zabuza and chucked him, quite literally, at Kurenai.
"Zabuza? He's dead? How did you kill him?"
"Kunai to neck, simple and clean, as all killing should be?"
There was a long pause, in which Kurenai deeply reflected Naruto's statement.
"I have so many questions about Naruto, and you're going to have to answer a few of them for sure."
"Yeah yeah I will, but first! Let's go home! My job is over, Kiba's is going to be fixed after seeing that," he pointed to Zabuza, " and your worries are going to be much less. I'll take Shino back with me since he can get better treatment at Konoha, and then come back to finish the rest of the mission with you as Shino's replacement."
Kurenai's eyes widened. She gazed upon Naruto as he looked around the site for something. Amongst all this, she realised that Naruto was already leagues above people his age, and possibly greater than her as a shinobi.
He thought about all this the moment he came and rushed to finish the job instantly, all whilst caring about the team but not sacrificing practicality. His tendency to do gung-ho things will need work, but that can be said about many shinobi of all ranks, even some hokages!
Kurenai was snapped out of her daze, as amongst the open sake bottles, Naruto lifted a large blade with a single hand. It was chipped and ruined, and smelled of alcohol, and it looked like a desaturated picture.
"Aish…. This is worse than I thought…."
After many moments, a voice spoke out from the trance Naruto had, belonging to the jounin.
"Let's go home, Naruto."
"Alright."
The wind blowed and moved a few leaves, upon which Naruto jumped head first into a few trees
If you want to see the best representation of how I envisioned Naruto's head first jump, which he uses mainly to quickly garner speed and cover distance easily, search up "Warframe bullet jump gif" and go to images.
It looks a little over the top from what I imagined but the essence is there, but yes Naruto spins when he bullet jumps.
It can only be done once and then you have to land ON GROUND, but I'm making it so that Naruto can propel himself off anything, trees, walls, roofs, and eventually once his level gets high enough, straight off the air.
Kurenai also jumped only a few nanoseconds after Naruto but was already far behind him.
Now the surprise building up inside her started seeping out.
"HOW THE HELL IS HE SO FAST AT 13 YEARS OLD?"
'Can't help it oba-san, gotta go fast'
Moments later, he got home, threw Haku onto the sofa, picked up Shino from where he was resting and made his way to Konoha, making sure to dispose of his previous note so that any misconceptions were cleared, and then again, did consecutive head-first jumps, making sure not to spin so that Shino feels minimal discomfort.
He did lose about 15% speed not spinning, but gained 20% extra speed by propelling himself more often, and an additional 30% speed by using his kubikiribocho as a handle of sorts so his propelling was more powerful.
After some intense propelling, the blonde got to Konoha in under 30 minutes.
Yes did go ALL OUT, in general using 135% of his ENTIRE ability. Jk. Naruto could make the same trip in 5 minutes alone.
The blonde walked into Konoha, somewhat early evening, completely fine , Shino comfortably resting on his back. Luckily, he made sure that the impact from jumping at such high speeds would not reach Shino, and that took a lot more energy than he thought.
"But I gotta do what I gotta do."
The winds beckoned Naruto forward, and the blonde got to the hospital relatively fine. UNfortunately, he still had to take the back routes and alleyways, as well leave Shino on the doorstep of the hospital and knock before running away.
His reputation in the village never got better.
Meanwhile, in the land of waves, Kurenai got back to the home around 45 minutes, not only because she wasn't pushing herself to be faster, but she was also carrying the hunk called Zabuza.
Upon reaching, she quickly went up to Kiba's room, where she found Hinata tattered and looking terrible, dozing off on the floor in front of Kiba's door. She smiled, knowing that Hinata was such a caring person and kind to the bone.
"I'm not sure I could hold on that long, trying to restrain Kiba."
She placed Zabuza down, and meticulously placed Hinata on her bed, then went back to Zabuza. She unsealed Kiba's room, and threw Zabuza in the room. Kiba's growling was heard, it was deep and rowdy, very grotesque yet weak sounding.
He had no food, sleep, water, or rest, in this state, and his body was going past its limits.
"Grr…" the growling died out, and Kiba was sprawled on the floor, asleep in front of Zabuza's corpse.
As the narrator, I assure you, Zabuza really is dead. No really, there will be no grandiose plan in which Zabuza was alive the whole time. He is dead.
I thought to myself, since Naruto can beat up Kakashi, when the jounin uses his sharingan and goes full out, but the same Kakashi can beat Zabuza, then Naruto can easily beat Zabuza.
AB, BC, therefore AC.
Kurenai moved Kiba back to his bed, and carried Zabuza outside, where she covered him with sticks and dry leaves, and lit him on fire in front of the house. Eventually, after basking in the warmth during the cool, dark blue evening, she walked back inside and tied up Haku's arms and feet, as well as sealed her chakra, then gently placed her in the vacant guest bedroom.
All her tasks finished, she turned on a small light next to a sofa, and sat down with a book and a cup of tea, a blanket around her shoulder.
Getting herself comfortable, she read peacefully in the dim light as the evening progressed, all the way into the early night until she fell asleep.
It was around this time that Naruto came back. He took his sweet time at Konoha, making sure Shino got administered to the hospital safely, as well as taking the liberty of sparring with Sasuke and Kakashi one more time in a 2v1 fashion (and beating them), before stepping back into the forest toward Kurenai.
The path to the land of Waves required a method to travel through water. Naruto easily avoided this difficulty that most amateur ninja's face, by simply using a rendition of his bullet jump.
Aquatic Frog Leap, as he called it at first, when he performed and developed the technique for the first time, but eventually referred to it as simply "Jumping fast but underwater."
But in essence, it was basically jumping so hard yet delicately off the the surface of the water, that two things happen,
1. The jumper gets propelled
2. The water's surface tension caused by the covalent bond between the molecules, is sufficient enough as a platform to launch the jumper.
Niwato's Law (Newton's Law) states that all force must be reciprocated by an opposite object with the same magnitude and opposite direction.
So the force this bullet jump creates is very high (tons of Tons, in fact, pun intended), but the surface tension of water cannot maintain such a thing, so ,simply put, using a style of stepping similar to the short distance Shunshin (a technique that does not utilize chakra), the force applied is retracted faster than the opposite object can reciprocate it.
The short distance Shunshin stepping motion helps, as the point of impact is greatly reduced, as the impact put on the ground is mostly on the big and middle toe (first two from the inside of the foot), and is done in a jabbing like fashion.
The SDS (short distance shunshin) is actually a rapid sprint, instead of the much believed "jump" or "teleportation" that people perceive it to be. And if performed in slow motion, it looks as though the performer is running awkwardly.
The performer will look as though his/her toes hit the ground as hard as he can, but quickly retracts the foot a fraction of a yoctosecond (a second multiplied by 10 to the -24). Search it up, "what is a yocto?" you'll see.
With this technique in hand, used and performed with minor tweaks for water, can essentially let any person run quickly on water without the use of chakra. A breakthrough in Naruto's old life that forever changed water-top warfare.
The only real problem is that the water does not support objects that are stationary, so whoever tries to "run in place" using this technique on water will still fall.
Sorry for my moment of geeking out and theorizing weird shit.
Hence Naruto made distance over water.
By around 11:30 PM, Naruto was back at Tazuna's home. He found Kurenai peacefully sleeping on the sofa, he legs up and in a fetal position, a blanket covering her, and an open book on the side table. The dim light gently gave Kurenai a glow as she slept.
Naruto was indifferent to her beauty, and walked past her to where he sensed Haku's repressed and sealed, but calm chakra signature.
He opened the door, and saw that Haku was awake, her eyes dead, but her body calm, despite being tied up and chakra sealed.
"Good evening, ermmm, your name?"
She spoke calmly, "Haku."
"Haku, Haku, alright. Good evening then Haku. Hungry?"
She stiffened her neck, and pursed her lips, as though she dare not make any indication of response, through head movement or audible speech. Naruto noticed, but didn't point it out.
But… her stomach grumbled LOUD!
"Pfffft! You okay with some soup?"
Again her belly responded for her. And Naruto made his way downstairs, after untying her arms and legs, and locking the door behind him once he left. Any attempt she made to escape would be caught and she could never outrun Naruto anyway. The blonde genin was a beast to be reckoned with.
And this fact was something Haku understood quickly, and resolved herself to stay here.
Downstairs, Naruto got started. He found a sharp knife, at least by common standards, and a cutting board. Some onions, tomatoes, carrots, chicken bone, vegetable broth and chicken stock, and some other things.
In a large pot, he poured a hefty amount of water and dumped the ingredients inside (washed and untampered with) along with salt and a small pinch of sugar.
Then he let the water simmer for a few minutes, before eventually adding everything into a large bowl and mashing everything together (after removing all inedible or even remotely bad tasting parts) until a smooth, velvety soul was formed.
He added a little more salt after a simple taste test and instantly threw the pot on the stove. The last thing he needs is a tasteless vegetable mesh.
In fact, his skills had gotten a bit rusty. Since in this world, he never had access to good ingredients and even functioning kitchen-ware.
But habits die hard, and some of the skills Naruto made sure to hone and perfect were still fresh and unhindered, as though they had been practiced since the invention of cooking (yes, that level of brilliance).
All in all, the soup came out fantastic, despite it not being made in a way that's best for a good soup.
Pouring it meticulously into a wood bowl and garnishing with basil and a little bit of butter, he went upstairs and handed the bowl to Haku, who despite her doubtfulness in the safety of the "soup" gulped it down in a few seconds.
'Didn't even try to enjoy the food did she…'
She looked down shamefully, as her two hands extended out for seconds.
Smiling, the bowl left her hand and went back to Naruto, who instead of getting up, opened his mouth to speak.
"Did Zabuza torture you?"
The sudden bringing up of Zabuza, the name of her longest, deepest, trauma, froze her. Her chakra seeped out in a non-violent, but freezing manner.
"Yes," she spoke. Not a single stutter or vibration in her voice, the song gle word was projected clear and concise. The person who said it however was currently breaking down.
God knows how many people broke down in front of Naruto, asking for mercy, crying from torture, regretting old decisions, all the sort, and eventually killed all sympathy for a weeping individual from Naruto.
Cold hearted through and through, the indifferent blonde waited as though he was waiting for the bus to arrive, and stared off into nothingness as she trembled.
As the girl once again regained a fragile composure, his second question. One which caused his face to darken in cold anticipation for the response.
"You liked the food?"
She raised her head, the face of Naruto quite indeed invoking a little bit of fear, but she couldn't help but laugh.
She laughed, and upon this session of laughter she realized she was free from so many things.
Free from Zabuza, free from the torture, free from slavery, free from regret, free from helplessness and most importantly, free from this state of lifelessness, a state that kept her from falling into madness from her fine string of sanity.
But now, she could smile without worrying about her being a nuisance. A gift that she quite frankly earned.
Tears rolled down as she laughed, and the laughter continued, not from Naruto's actions, but she laughed at something far deeper into herself, and cried about the same thing.
The tears stopped rolling down but the laughter continued.
A hearty, bouncy, childish laughter, that held great experiences behind it, a laugh that told the story of a desperate child who got saved.
"Yes, I loved it so much!" She spoke after regaining her breath, and she looked up, dirt and grease covered her widely smiling face, her hair disheveled and falling to her knees, arms as thin as bones, but perhaps the best she looked all day.
"Coming right up. How about while you wait, take a shower, and get into some clean clothes. I'll wake up the rest and prepare meals for them too."
"Ok!"
And so, Naruto successfully assisted team Kurenai.
He went down, and prepared the same soup but for larger people. And expecting that everybody will eat for 3, going by overall wellness and condition of everybody in the household.
In the end he prepared dinner for 16 people (12 for Kurenai, Hinata, Kiba, and Haku, 2 for Naruto and Tazuna, 2 for food measure in case anyone didn't have their fill yet.)
He also prepared sandwiches and a quick batch of croutons.
The smell alone woke up Kiba and Kurenai, and Haku had already come downstairs.
Naruto went to wake up Hinata, but Kurenai refused and went to go herself.
"If Hinata woke up after the best sleep she's had in a long time, and the first thing she sees is your face, then you won't be able to wake her up till morning."
Naruto nodded, while internally teasing Hinata.
'To think she can't handle a face as handsome as mine. Poor girl can't handle these guns.' He thought while internally kissing his biceps and grooming his whiskers.
Yes, his identity crisis hits hard sometimes.
Now obviously Hinata was shocked to see Naruto cooking and serving her food, and deeply troubled/pleased by the fact that 'Naruto touched every part of my food' but otherwise she ate in peace.
No one dared to bring up Haku as all attempts were shut down by Kurenai and Naruto.
After everyone had their fill, including Tazuna as Naruto went to deliver his food directly to the bridge, the elephant in the room was addressed. Tazuna was still at the Bridge so this was 100% a talk between shinobi.
Kiba was the first to raise a finger, to which Kurenai opened her mouth to stop but Naruto stopped her, and nodded to Kiba.
"First of all, who is she? And why does she smell like him?"
"Him" was obviously Zabuza, and for a person she had lived with for so long, a simple shower couldn't mask the scent to an Inuzaki's nose.
Haku visibly became flustered and hence Naruto responded for her to Kiba
"She was the slave of Zabuza since she was very young. She had been tortured, abused, and suffered through a lot of horrendous acts. Luckily, when I killed Zabuza," Hinata's and Kiba's eyes visibly widened in surprise and disbelief, "I found her half beaten."
Upon hearing such information, they looked to Kurenai like a child looking for confirmation from a parent.
'Cute'
"It's all true."
"All of it?" said Kiba, though he only referred to the part about Naruto single handedly killing Zabuza.
"Every single detail was true to the letter."
Hinata managed to get her voice out for the first time. She clearly was forcing herself to speak in Naruto's presence.
"What's going to Haku now?"
"If we take her back to Konoha, and the Hokage is lenient, then she will learn from the academy, and become a genin. I'll see if I can request a crash course academy, an intensive 3 weeks plus test, so that Haku can be battle ready as fast as possible,"
Then, after his thoughts became a little more clear.
"If we're lucky as well, then she can skip the academy and go straight to the test. Then she could take your vacant spot where Shino was, or become our third team member.
All things said and done, a lot of this relies on the Hokage's willingness to take her into Konoha, and more importantly see that she is no longer related to Zabuza or his goals anymore."
Kurenai chirped in, "I'll pitch in for Haku's acceptance into Konoha. But if Hiruzen was to still be cautious of Haku, he might ban her from being a shinobi."
For the first time in this entire conversation, did the person who was the subject of the matter actually speak.
"As long as I can live free and safe, I'm happy. I've never wished to use chakra, and using my ice style to hurt others was always against my values."
Naruto grimaced at the idea that such a talented and potential filled individual didn't want to use her skills, but ultimately agreed.
I know it seems against Naruto's nature, being a cruel, cunning, sharp mind who was brutal and emotionless to the core.
But regardless of all that, he valued virtues such as freeness and safety on a deeper level than most can even think of. Since those two virtues are the things most easily and quickly stripped away from criminals.
Haku continued.
"I feel so happy that I was rescued by you. I'm truly grateful that the string of fate led you to me. You gave me food, clean clothes, and rest, despite me being an accomplice of a man that ruined your team."
-This feels awfully familiar, doesn't it?
'What do you mean?'
-It's the exact opposite of your situation, is it not?
-You also were an "accomplice" of Kurama, but the villagers treated you exactly the opposite. Neither you nor Haku helped Kurama or Zabuza in any way, but are still irrefutably connected to their evil counterparts.
-For Haku, she was accepted as a completely separate entity from Zabuza, and Kurenai's team has accepted that, and don't harbor any hate. The people of Konoha however find you as the same as Kurama. A monster in Man's skin.
Internally, deep inside, I.N felt jealousy. He hadn't gone down the road of ninja-ship beyond the academy and hence never obtained certain morals and ideologies. He didn't feel guilty when he felt jealous, he felt rage.
And when I.N thought about how easily Haku got something he slogged everyday for, a fuse blew up.
And this explosion was big.
Red aura seeped out of Naruto, and his whiskers grow thick and intense. His canines extended and sharpened themselves, and his nails grew.
'Well shit.'
His senses going haywire in anger/rage was not a rare event for Naruto. But at least he knew what angered him, and could always turn his anger off like a switch. But this was different.
It came from him, felt familiar and so closely resembled his emotion of rage, but it wasn't his.
'Damn Fox.'
"Naruto! What's going on?!"
The blonde looked at the people around the table for the first time since the aura started. Hinata was struggling to breathe and Kiba looked like a dog in pain.
Through the heavy, almost opaque aura, Naruto could barely make out that even Kurenai-sensei was having trouble.
But her skills and experience that's got her to the position she is now, respected jounin of Konoha and a valuable part of its attack power, really came to show themselves.
Within all her pains, she managed to keep a part of her mind rational enough to pinch her thighs as hard as possible and force herself to breathe calmly and deeply.
But Hinata and Kiba were still in distress and Kurenai was in no state to help them.
Or was she?
In a harsh, silent whisper.
"Fourteen Sealing Arts: Fourteen's Burden."
Chakra that combated the aura seeped rapidly around Naruto and the aura.
Obviously it wasn't enough to stop the Aura, but that wasn't what she was going for.
The Fuinjutsu couldn't keep the aura at bay, but could push it away… from the genin.
In a few moments, Hinata had resumed breathing and thinking normally, and both Kiba and Haku were passed out but safe from harm.
Through the struggles of pushing past "his" rage, he shouted, "RUN AWAY! THIS RED STUFFS ABOUT TO BECOME VIOLENT!"
Kurenai glanced at Hinata before grabbing Kiba and watching Hinata grab Haku, and then speeding to the door, and racing out, safe from anything that she believed could happen.
It was 2:30 AM exactly, and Kurenai, immediately after leaving the house, saw a horde of people led by a chubby, short man, whom she knew was named Gato.
He stroked his chin in a pleased manner, and grinned.
Kurenai noticed the crowd of 250-ish around them.
All of them were chunin level or higher shinobi.
She had no hope, and Hinata was behind her, and the one trump card she had obtained was currently about to self-destruct.
She panicked. It was the first time in a long time, and it didn't show externally, but she was panicking in her head.
Shouts from the shinobi on front of her echoes and growled and pulled out weapons and started doing hand signs.
'So much noise' Kurenai thought. Her senses were in full flare.
Amongst it all though, a single, perfect voice, reached out to her.
"Genjutsu always works better on the masses."
She looked behind her, shocked, and saw Naruto, a hot red punch mark on his cheek.
"Naruto?! You're-"
"I'm fine, you rest up a bit, I got this."
Naruto wasn't cold hearted enough to not recognize that for anybody, a day as stressful as the last 24 hours was very tiring, and that this day was going on till 2:30, way past bedtime.
Jounin or not, both Physical and Mental exhaustion was imminent and unavoidable.
Kurenai shook her head, which Naruto did not even try to understand why, he saw the resistance and closed it.
CHOP!
A chop to the neck and Kurenai was out cold.
Naruto, quite un-gentleman-like, threw Kurenai into the home.
Hinata followed suit on her own.
He sighed, and his breath came out as fog.
He was angry that he got angry. Yes, he didn't like it when his emotions were not in control. He prided himself on being able to meddle with his emotion like it was play-doh, but this deeply annoyed him.
Naruto did not think, plan, or even pull out a kunai. His canines did not enlarge and whiskers furry up. Not a single drop of KI was released, or a single fluctuation in his chakra.
Naruto looked as calm as can be, yet how furiously the sky trembled in front of him.
Gato screamed at his men. And they ran at Naruto.
He looked down once, from his gaze that went onto the sky in thought, and simply spoke.
"Oh poor souls."
Everything beyond this point was indescribable by Kurenai, Hinata, Haku, or anyone who witnessed it.
His hands alone, ripped past armor, cut through arms, and tore up bodies.
His feet kicked into people, and stepped into so many. His kicks blew entire people apart.
By the end of it, Naruto had easily decimated the 250 shinobi. And only his hands and feet were covered with red.
His clothes, face, hair, everything except his feet and hands, were pristine.
Not a single sweat bead on Naruto. His breath was normal, his chakra still full and flowing.
There was silence.
Gato stood in place, shocked, not a sound could be made.
Naruto reached down and picked up an amulet in front of the man. He opened it and saw the shinobi, and another female beside him in the other piece.
She was very beautiful, and was possibly the wife of the man.
Naruto felt IN internally start to cry.
'Are you sad we killed this man?'
IN responded
~He was a husband, he was going to go home after this and smile after seeing his wife. She would be staying up, so that she could greet him when he came home. She'll never see him again and we made sure she'll never see him again.
'Are you not happy we are alive?'
I.N stopped crying. Naruto felt Tsunizu also paying attention to him.
They had understood something very important.
The Naruto they know, had a personality so heavily based on his experiences, a simple identity crisis wouldn't budge it.
~You're… a monster.
Naruto smiled, it had been a long time since he heard that. It brought him melancholy joy.
Tsunizu had a different view.
-I knew it was the right idea to choose you.
~HOW COULD YOU BE RIGHT ABOUT PICKING A MONSTER? DID YOU NOT SEE THIS? HE KILLED 250 LIVES AND WAS HAPPY BECAUSE HE FUCKING SURVIVED. HE DID NOT CARE THAT THOSE PEOPLE HAD LIVES TOO. THAT'S SHEER INSANITY!
-I picked him because he doesn't give a shit to things like that. That's the difference between you and him. You don't know real darkness. You know loneliness, physical pain, struggle. But he's survived it all and thrived.
Tsunizu's voice softened.
-He forged himself to be indifferent. You simply ignored it. Ignorance is different from indifference. Ignorance keeps you sane. Indifference keeps you safe.
I.N was not pleased, and he wasn't going to give up.
Tsunizu decided that it was best to simply show him.
-I.N, watch.
Tsunizu inserted a memory into I.N's head. It was a memory of Naruto's. Genin Naruto.
He was on a battlefield. It was him, a few other genin, and 3 jounin who were running.
"Buy us some time trash! You need the strong ninja to live! We don't need trash like you! Hold them off here and die!" Said one of the Jounin.
Another one chirped in, "Don't you dare run away!"
In the distance, an army of 1150 fully trained shinobi.
Genin Naruto stood up, and rallied up all his genin, and counted them up.
"14 genin huh?" His voice was happy and charismatic. 15 troops against 1150.
"We got a mission folks. It's our first mission since the academy. Simple right? Hold off the enemy till the VIPs get to safety. We've learnt about this in the academy."
Some of the genin started crying, and Naruto's voice started to break down.
"G-Get up! Don't start crying!" Naruto spoke, a few tears rolling down his cheeks.
Tsunizu fast forwarded. The numbers dropped to 6, Naruto included. One got slashed easily, and now there were 5.
Naruto knew them all by name. Shinto, Mira, Hitoha, and more. All of them dead.
Rage swelled, no where near the rage Naruto could muster up now, but it was there. And it was uncontrolled.
Made him foolish.
"AAAAGH!" He shouted with his might and went on a rampage. Here he was so excited that this was the first time he was on a mission with all his close friends.
"WHY DID YOU KILL THEM?!"
For all he cared, it was their last mission.
Tsunizu sighed and fast forwarded. Naruto fought for 3 days without rest. His arms and legs and chest and head and everything bruised and cut and sliced. He lost blood by the liter but stood upright.
And yet, no one lived to witness it.
1150 well trained shinobi, wiped out.
But the eyes of Naruto were dead. He looked at his friend's corpse, and shrugged. It no longer affected him. He didn't feel rage or relief, just a numbing sense of nothing.
Indifference to the world around him. It hurt, and it will hurt forever.
And this experience was I.N's to share with him.
And now, Naruto was justified. I.N had nothing to say to man so terribly broken by his own conflicts. It wasn't pity nor admiration. It was sheer consideration for a disturbed individual.
~I… understand.
'Where'd all your vigor go?'
I.N smiled. He lost it completely. In fact it was the first time I.N felt that maybe his life was better than most.
He shook his head and stayed silent, quietly developing his chakra and making sure that Kurama stayed dormant.
Outside, Naruto piled up all the bodies he made, after letting Gato go, and with a simple fire jutsu, and a lot of chakra, set it ablaze.
Kurenai, who got knocked out, only to come to again near the end of the fight, once again realized the need for a serious session of Q&A with the boy.
It was now 2:39, yes, 7 minutes to kill 250 shinobi. Naruto walked back indoors after basking in the flames. He let Gato go, he felt the need to make sure Gato realizes his mistakes before Naruto makes him realize.
As walked past the door frame, he glanced at Kurenai.
"My chakra control is beyond trash. There's too much to control at once. And right now, my goal is to learn Genjutsu to the best of my abilities." He paused, making sure his eye contact with Kurenai was stable. "I need you to help me with that."
Naruto had already switched to another topic, but the rest of the squad was still stuck on the events that conspired a minute ago.
"Sigh… Naruto, we need to have a talk. It's not going to wait tomorrow, we're having it right now."
Naruto had the general idea. She was going to try to get some info about him straight from the source. How cute.
After putting Hinata, Kiba, and Haku securely asleep, Kurenai sat down at the dining table and motioned Naruto to follow suit.
"Who are you? There's no way you're a genin who passed a few months ago. Sasuke hasn't reached your level and he was the top of your class. You graduated at the bottom. Don't give me any of this hard work bullshit, I'm not falling for it."
The blonde put his elbows on the dining table and propped his chin on both of his hands, very child-like.
"Latent Talent?"
Kurenai understood he did not wish to tell. But right now, Naruto was a part of Kurenai's team, and Kurenai needed to know whether or not Naruto is a danger to her team. After all, any person in proximity of another so insanely powerful person would be cautious.
"Give me more. You don't know what talent you have until somebody tells you, and no one talks to you in the village." Kurenai grimaced internally, it wasn't going to sit well with what she'll have to say next. "You're a monster inside those gates, remember?"
Naruto couldn't help it this time.
"Cute."
He had to say it, this attempt of an interrogation was weak, it was beyond that sometimes.
"HUH?" She shouted.
"Sorry, you don't know how to pull out information do you? And you can't put Genjutsu on a jinchuriki, I've seen you try before."
Naruto swirled his hand above him, gently nudging the chakra Kurenai had expelled over him.
"Openness Genjutsu? Trying to make it easier to work with? You put too much faith in simple methods."
Her red eyes glowed. An open challenge. Give me all you've got.
Kurenai did not speak, she simply pointed to her eyes.
The Genjutsu was inspired from the sharingan doujutsu, but the trigger was not actually the eyes, it was the finger pointing to it.
Naruto stared at it. Kurenai noticed.
"Gotcha." Kurenai spoke.
She unleashed her Genjutsu, fully expecting it to hit, only for Naruto to shrug in complete normal-ness.
"Don't try. And I think this meeting is over, good night."
Kurenai and Naruto stood up and Naruto made his way to his room, as Kurenai quietly observed his retreating form.
"Tell me, how did you get so strong so quickly?" She wanted her genin to grow as well.
"You couldn't do it even if you had the choice to."
Naruto turned his head around, and his words brought about memories he wished to forget. Memories so vividly disturbing and traumatizing, his eyes turned grayish-blue for a flash.
His entire body language drowned in sorrow for a moment, and Naruto smiled weakly. "It would be too much for someone to handle."
Kurenai saw the sadness in his eyes, and felt indescribable experiences behind them.
"Why did you have to?"
"Go to sleep."
"Why?"
Naruto looked deeper into Kurenai's eyes as though they searched through her memories.
"You've never been through war, have you?"
The Naruto that Kurenai was talking to was not the 14 year old Naruto she saw. There was a powerful man behind him, who's survived too many times.
A man who died alone and tragically.
She did not ask questions then, and she did not feel grief that her interrogation failed.
"Good night Naruto."
"Sleep tight."
The night was not a comfortable one, but many people got a well deserved rest.
The next day, Naruto was gone with Haku, a not saying he'll be back. Obviously he came back well before anyone was awake (took him 40 minutes to get there, 5 to come back and he started at 6:30), so he prepared his gear by sharpening all his kunai and shurikens and repainting his paper bombs and seals.
It was now 8:30, and Kurenai had just woke up. She was obviously quite tired from yesterday, but she should rather finish the mission and go home, then sleep in full leisure.
'Acceptable' Naruto thought.
If he was going to be cautious about his sleep, he would either not sleep at all, or sleep for 5 minutes at a time, patrolling every 5 minutes for ten minutes.
But he was learning and quickly understood that his levels were far above anybody else's.
Kurenai walked down the stairs and waltzed onto the front yard, where she sat down and took hair deep breaths.
"The only work remaining is the finishing of the bridge." She spoke to herself.
There was some silence and she drifted angrily.
"Aaah, what is up with that genin the Hokage sent over? One doesn't simply just kill Zabuza, and 250 shinobi alone easily. That's insane! AND HE MADE TWO ROUND TRIPS TO KONOHA AND HERE IN THE SAME DAY AAAAAAH IT HURTS MY BRAIN."
Hinata decided to wake up at 9:15. Naruto was calmly reading a book in the kitchen, and Kurenai was talking to the plants outside. She did not know Naruto was awake.
"Hi sensei, what are we doing today?"
Kurenai turned around sharply, partly because her talking to plants was embarrassing, but she wanted Hinata to sleep more.
"We're taking the day off, today just rest and gather yourselves."
Hinata shook her head.
"I want to help with anything."
"You helped Kiba more than enough. A day off is necessary for good development. Overworking causes more harm than good."
Hinata opened her mouth when Naruto hugged her from behind.
"N-N-Naruto?!"
It was not a normal hug though, she quickly realized. His arms tightened around her wait and he flipped her over, knocking her out for at least 6-7 hours guaranteed.
"There, all fixed." Naruto spoke, lifting up Hinata and carrying her to her bed, where he gently tucked her in.
Kurenai sighed, 'gung-ho as always'.
That day went by peacefully, and Gato was obviously conspiring something, but the tiny little sliver of faith in humanity left in Naruto let him believe that Gato was not.
The next day came, and Tazuna, who usually stays on the bridge 24/7, made his way home, his clothes burnt and his arm badly injured.
"Gato….." he said at the door frame, and Naruto was already on his way.
Upon arrival, the bridge was aflame, half of their hard work now turned into ashes. Naruto quickly made his way to the river down below, and punched the surface of the water so hard it drenched the bridge completely.
Gato stammered before running away, noticing the "blasted blonde haired shinobi".
Naruto was not having it. He raced after Gato, and within moments, he was in front of him, deadly sharp kunai in hand, his body churning out intensely potent KI.
"I trusted you to repent. I thought that this world was different. You are all scum in the end."
SLICE
Blood spattered and Naruto avoided it gracefully. Gato screamed due to his missing finger. Naruto repeated the process 9 more times.
8 fingers and two thumbs lay on the ground. Next Naruto cut off his toes. All of them. Then the wrists and ankles.
Then the elbows and knees. Then the hips and shoulders. Then Naruto paused. He gazed upon the carnage he unleashed.
He made sure Gato didn't die, and he for sure made sure Gato didn't fall unconscious.
Then, in a single motion, he cut the neck.
It was such a clean slice that the kunai made a sound of slicing.
SHLING.
And Gato was no more.
Naruto calmly enjoyed the sight of his head rolling off to the side, before noticing the faint, pulsating black orb in Gato's carnage.
He reached into it and shattered it in his palm, and the aura seeped into his body.
Naruto was shocked at how much he got. Nearly the size of a tennis ball from one person!
"So even evil people - humans, have this?"
He relished the sickening feeling once again, before eyeing all the delinquents who burnt down the bridge.
He opened his mouth to show mercy. Let them repent, but the carnage of Gato caught his eye, and he knew that it was not worth the effort.
"Finish them now, finish the job" the words of his senpai years ago resonated in his head.
"To never let his opponent gain an opportunity to retaliate is to be a hidden protector of the leaf."
The clutch on the Kunai strengthened. And then the kunai vanished.
Like a magic trick, it reappeared inside someone's head.
"AAAAAAAAH!"
A visceral shout later, all hell broke loose upon the land.
A builder, who survived the burning and purging by delinquents, gave the bridge its second name, after the one Tazuna gives.
"The Bridge of the Crimson Purge."
Eventually, there was a stench of blood so thick it made a jounin nauseous.
Kurenai had a suspicion this would happen, seeing the actions of Naruto beforehand.
Through the bodies, Naruto came drenched in blood, looking as though he's lost all hope on something.
After seeing Kurenai, he stumbled and fell unconscious. Before he did, he muttered.
"I need a better body."
Kurenai couldn't hear it, and rushed over to help Naruto.
As she gazed upon the face of the child, calm and innocent, she scanned the scene more closely. She's seen how he handled delinquent shinobi before. This was more…
Savage.
It was done not with the intent to be "finished with it" but rather an intent to kill.
Yet somehow she managed to think amongst this carnage, as an exhausted, unconscious boy lay in her lap…
"What a badass way to start off your shinobi career Naruto."
She also knew that the moment the Hokage hears of this, it's going to become ANBU recruitment time for Naruto soon.
How could the Hokage pass up the opportunity to enlist the genin with potential and skill like Naruto's into the only spot in the world where skill and potential were in abundance.
She looked at the calm boy in her arms and frowned.
'The ANBU isn't for children.'
XXX
2 weeks after the mission completion:
Naruto's shadow clone, Kakashi, and Sasuke were sparring against the original Naruto.
Since team 7 was about to pass the infamous "Week 10" where genin squads are applicable for higher-level missions, Sasuke and the team would need to learn to fight against shinobi, as a team.
Since Sasuke has always been fighting one v one, his teamwork lagged proportional to how fast his solo skills progressed.
Fortunately, Naruto foresaw this and started teamwork training in advance. This was the very reason he re-learned the shadow clone.
Currently, the situation was quite dire, and still building up.
Since Naruto was the center of operations, he (Shadow Clone Naruto, AKA: sNaruto) was at the forefront giving call outs.
"S, flank Right. K, maintain high ground and visual. I'm moving in."
He moved in towards the original, swapping between kunais to find his sharpest one. Rapidly stepping sideways, he circled Naruto concealed.
But they both knew they both knew where the other was. (Say that 5 times real fast)
sNaruto rushed in, leaving a small crater in the ground, while using the physical movement and illusory techniques to disappear from sight in flashes while rushes.
He'd be running, and then he'd disappear for a moment, then reappear in the same direction he was running before he disappeared, covering the same distance he did if he didn't disappear.
All the worse when sNaruto started running in an erratic zig-zag.
"Rushing in!" shouted Sasuke in an adrenaline frenzy, once Naruto's focus was entirely on his clone.
And then instantly, the spar was over. sNaruto poofed away, and Sasuke was caught by the collar and chucked towards Kakashi, where they both collided and fell down painfully.
Sasuke made the dumb mistake of calling himself out before attacking.
Dumbass.