I'm back at it again with another chapter! I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto.
Team seven, along with their client Tazuna, was making their way to wave. They were in a diamond formation surrounding Tazuna Naruto in the front, Sakura and Sasuke to his right and left respectfully and Kakashi in the rear. They made small talk to help pass the time. They were slowly trudging along at a slow pace, and in the distance, Kakashi and Naruto noticed a puddle.
'Weird. It hasn't tained in days' They both thought as they continued past the puddle. Once passed the puddle two figures emerged from the puddle. They both had shoulder-length, dark-brown hair and dark eyes. They wore a rebreather that covered the lower half of their face and a large, clawed, gauntlet which had a chain coming out of it that had the other end attached to the others own gauntlet. They both wore a camouflage suit with bandages around their waist, dark-coloured, knee-length sandals and a ragged black cape. They both had Kirigakure forehead protectors on.
Without giving warning, the chains shot forward and wrapped around Kakashi, who had a shocked look on his face, and before he could react, the Kiri shinobi pulled and tore Kakashi to shreds. Which shocked the bridge builder and Sakura.
Without hesitation, Naruto unsheathed his sword and raced towards the shinobi, while Sasuke followed suit. Before the Kiri shinobi could react, Naruto was already in front of him, slashing at him in a vertical motion. The kiri nin with his gauntlet arm went to block, but too his shock and horror the sword went right through like a hot knife through butter, effectively losing his right arm in the process. What the kiri nin didn't know was that Naruto was using his wind affinity to coat his weapon wrong move on the kiri-nins part. Before the Kiri nin could scream out in pain, Naruto performed a horizontal slash and successfully chopped off the kiri nins head. Shocking his teammates and the other kiri nin.
"GŌZU! You bastard I'll kill you!" he was about to charge at our young blonde before Sasuke kicked him and sent him flying and while he was in the air a black chain with a blood colored spike wrapped around the the kiri nin and slammed him into the ground effectively knocking the kiri-nin out cold.
It took a second for it to process, but Naruto looked at the now named Gōzu with shock in his eyes, realizing he had just killed another human life. He just reacted, and his body moved on itself as if he were on auto pilot. Naruto knew what he was getting into the day he started training to be a shinobi with Kakashi, but it just didn't sit right with him it felt... wrong. Naruto was taken out of his thoughts by a hand being placed on his shoulder none other than his sensei, Kakashi. Kakashi gave him a sad smile and patted him on his back wordlessly, saying 'everything would be alright'.
Naruto made his way back to his teammate and Tazuna along with Sasuke who looked at him with a surprised look who could blame him Naruto just took a life and made it look effortlessly. Sakura was shocked of the situation as well and kicked herself for freezing up. Both her teammates didnt even hesitate for a second but she did and she made a promise to herself she would try her best never to do it again.
"You alright, gaki?" asked the bridge builder and received a nod and a sad smile in return. Tazuna couldn't help but feel sorry for the blonde. 'One who is so young already taking a life. And he took it to protect me.' He thought looking at Naruto.
"We thought you were killed, Kakashi-sensei! I'm so happy that you are alright!" said Sakura and received an eye-smile in return. Kakashi walked up to the downed kiri-nin and dragged him to a tree, and tied him up. Splashing some water in his face to try and wake him up to no avail.
"You sure did a number on him, Naruto. There's no waking him up. So, Tazuna, would you like to explain why the demon brothers just attacked our team?" Kakashi asked, narrowing his lone eye at Tazuna, who started sweating under the jounins gaze.
"You do know that C-ranks are for only bandits and the such that might try and attack you. But shinobi, who are after you, is at minimum of a b-rank, and you just had two chunins try an attack us. You lied to us, Tazuna, and I dont tolerate liars. So if you know what's good for you, you will tell us everything, and if i even get a hint that you're lying, i'm taking my team and leaving, and you can fend for yourself." Kakashi said as he looked at Tazuna, who looked at the ground in defeat.
Tazuna gave in and told the group the truth. Tazuna revealed that they were indeed after him, Deciding to tell them the whole truth, Tazuna tells them of Gato, the owner of a large corporation had effectively taken control of his land, and who was pretty much a gang boss. He had drained the Land of Wave's economy to suit his own purposes, so Tazuna didn't have the money for a B-ranked mission, and the only thing that can break his hold on the country is the bridge Tazuna was wanting to build. Tazuna wouldn't look at Kakashi after telling him the truth.
"Well, Tazuna, while i dont appreciate you lying to us, at least you finally told the truth. But that doesn't mean we will finish the mission. That I'll leave up to my genin squad. So your fate is in their hands as of this moment. What do you three want to do? Continue the mission or head back to Konoha?" asked Kakashi while he looked at his three students.
"You already know my answer, Kakashi-nii. This is our first mission outside of konoha and ill be damned if i'll let those scrubs scare me off like that and besides even if we run into someone stronger than those guys you and I are almost on par with one another. So anything they throw at us, we can take head-on. This is the experience i need to get stronger, and I'll be damned if i turn my back on people who need konoha's help." exclaimed Naruto, and Kakashi eye smiled and nodded and looked at his two teammates.
"What the dobe said. I didn't come all the way out here just to turn around with my tail between my legs. I want to continue on with the mission." said Sasuke with a smirk. Kakashi looked at Sakura and noticed she was uncomfortable with the situation.
"What do you say, Sakura? Everyone has to agree to continue the mission. If you dont want to continue its ok they can send out another team to replace us." said Kakashi while he looked at Sakura and saw all the emotions running across her face. She looked at her team and saw the determined faces of both Sasuke and Naruto. The main reason she was hesitating was because of what Naruto had to do. Would she have to kill someone too was she even cut out to be a shinobi. But remembering back to the promise she made to herself and with a determined look, she looked at her sensei and nodded.
Kakashi looked at his team, and an eye smiled. They have come a long way in a month. At least Sakura and Sasuke have. Naruto was always surprising him throughout the years, but this didn't he already knew the answer before he even asked Naruto.
"Well, that settles it then. But Tazuna-san, just because we are continuing, does not mean you won't be paying Konoha the correct amount once our mission is completed. And for lying, there will be an extra fee do I make myself clear." Kakashi said while biting his thumb and going through handseals, and Tazuna nodded in return.
"Summoning jutsu!" kakashi said, and there was a poof of smoke, and once the smoke cleared a miniature pug with a konohahitai-ate was in its place.
"You called Kakashi?" said the minature pug in a gruff voice, and Sakura, along with Tazuna, looked on in shock.
'That dog can talk!" they both thought.
"Yes, Pakkun. Take this scroll to hokage-sama. Our mission has just got a little more complicated. Everything is fine, but if I need backup, i just want someone on stand by if need be." Finished Kakashi while he tossed the scroll to the now named pakkun who caught it in his mouth.
"Sure thing kakashi-san. Oh hey Naruto how have you been?" asked pakkun while his tail wagged after he saw Naruto.
"Ive been good its good to see you again. Oh I got something for you... 'digs in his kunai pouch'... here it is." naruto said as he pulled out a piece of some dryed meat. Pakkun dropped the scroll and Naruto tossed it too pakkun who caught it and swallowed it without even chewing said treat.
"Thanks, Naruto! I'll be going now, later." Pakkun said, and picked the scroll back up and saluted Kakashi before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"Ok everyone lets move out." said Kakashi as they continued their mission.
Eight hours later...
Team seven, along with their client Tazuna, made their way and got on a small charter boat that he arranged with an old friend. As they were getting closer to wave country, it was getting more and more foggy almost to the point where it was getting harder to see. They were on the boat for about fourty five minutes when a partially built bridge came into view.
"Tazuna-san, is that the bridge you're building?" asked Naruto and was amazed at the workmanship of the well crafted bridge.
"Yeah, gaki. That is the bridge that will open many doors for my country and hopefully end Gato's rein." Said Tazuna with a smile on his face.
While Naruto and Tazuna were talking, Kakashi couldn't get a sinking feeling from out of his gut. He felt like he was being watched, and it wasn't sitting right with the silver haired jounin. Something wasn't right, and he didn't like it.
"We are here. It's time to move Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura be on guard dont lose focus for even a second. Do you all understand?" said Kakashi and received three nods in return.
They made their way off the ship and stayed in the same formation as before. They continued like that for about twenty more minutes, and the fog was getting denser and denser, and it was to the point where the group couldn't see even five foot in front themselves.
Naruto sensed something to his left, and he had thrown a chakra induced kunai. But what he thrown his weapon at was nothing more than a bunny. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he kept his senses at the max as he scanned the area. At least the areas he could see before activated his shinwagan, not liking what was going on
"Naruto, you almost killed a harmless bunny what has gotten into yo-... what happened to your eyes, Naruto?" asked his pink haired teammate who couldn't help but stare into his eyes. Sasuke tried to get a look at Naruto's eyes too but couldn't get a good look because of the fog they were stuck in.
"I'll tell you later, Sakura. Kakashi-sensei, there's chakra laced into this fog. Someone is purpos- EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Naruto yelled, and everyone jumped straight down to their bellies while Naruto unsheathed his sword and deflected a huge sword that just tried and dismembered his entire team and himself. The sword lodged itself into a tree about eight meters from the team seven and Tazuna. A man appeared standing on the handle of the blade while the fogged cleared up a little so the party could see the man who had just tried to kill them all.
Zabuza was a tall and noticeably muscular man with light grayish skin, short spiky black hair, dark brown eyes, and small eyebrows. He was wearing bandages like a mask over the bottom half of his face. He wore a Kiri hitai-ate sideways on his head. he was shirtless, with his chest only covered by a belt and wearing baggy pants with the striped pattern typical of Kirigakure and mimetic wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, with matching leg-warmers
"You got balls, brat. Deflecting my Kubikiribōchō like you did not many have done that, and I survived. I shouldn't be surprised though seeing who your jounin sensei is. Sharigan no Kakashi." said the man in a gruff voice.
Kakashi eyed the man and said, "Momochi Zabuza the Kirigakure no Kijin. Why am I not surprised. The demon brothers were a dead giveaway, but I was hoping we didn't have to run into you now. This mission has definitely gotten more serious."
Kakashi grabbed his hitai-ate and lifted it up, revealing a sharigan that shocked Sasuke. Sasuke also noticed Narutos doujutsu and was shocked he had one he didnt recognized it, but it seemed like 'the dead last' was full of surprises.
"You honor me, Kakashi, on showing me the sharigan so soon. So I'm assuming you aren't going to hand over the bridge builder?" said Zabuza with a bloodthirsty grin. Not that you could see it with the bandages and all.
"Not on your life." Kakashi said with narrowed eyes, pulling out a kunai and holding it in a crossed guard grip.
"I wished this could've been under better circumstances, Kakashi but i was hired for a job and I inten-" Zabuza was cut off as he ducked underneath of a black sword slashing through where his head was not even a second before and he gripped the handle of his sword before pulling an acrobatic twist and kicking the blonde sword wielder only for him to use his leg as a spring board jumping and landed back with his team.
"Damn, I thought I had him there." Naruto muttered, shocking his two teammates and even Zabuza.
"Naruto, this isn't someone I would've tried that against. Dont try to rush. You caught him off guard, but that won't work again. Let me handle this one dont be reckless like that again." said Kakashi not taking his eyes off of Zabuza. Naruto replied with a 'hai sensei' and left it at that.
'He's fast, even faster than Haku. That was unexpected. If I was even a half a second late, my head would have been rolling. I'll have to keep an eye on that gaki.' Zabuza thought to himself as he went through a couple handseals, and the mist got thicker to the point team seven couldn't even see in front of them.
"Eight points. Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys and heart." zabuza said but to everyones surprise his voice was coming from everywhere.
"Which one wants to be my first kill." he said again as the killing intent in the area was over whelming to the point Sasuke grabbed a kunai and was ready to kill himself only to be stopped by Kakashi.
"Don't worry, Sasuke. We aren't gonna die here today, and I won't let anything happen to you or the rest of the team. I promise." Kakashi said, and it seemed to work as Sasuke got himself under control.
Naruto put his fingers in a cross and exclaimed, "Kage bushin!" Before anyone realized there was a minature army of kage bushins surrounding the group. Naruto made a hundred bushins and all, but four of them went out into the mist and tried to locate the missing nin.
Naruto looked at the other four and said, "You know what to do." and the four clones nodded and surrounded the bridge builder and his two other teammates at four points and clapped their hands together and slammed their hands to the ground and exclaimed "Four Red Yang Formation". A red barrier rose up and surrounded the three in eight by eight area and extended out at an angle at the four corners to seal in the bushins so they couldn't get dispelled.
"Quick thinking, Naruto. How long can you keep that barrier up?" asked Kakashi as they both stood back to back.
"Long enough to take this fucker out." Naruto replied before continuing "He is decimating my clones. He has already destroyed half of them, and i can't exactly pinpoint where he is because of this damn mist."
"Somebody just wanted a damn C-rank. And here we are back to back, trying not to die. I could've been reading that new icha icha book relaxing at home, but no, I'm here with you in this kami forsaken mist." Kakashi said, narrowing his eyes and scanning the area.
"But I thought that wasn't the reason why you didn't want to get us a c-rank it was because of 'teamwork' as you put it. You see, you told Tazuna you didn't like liars and look at you lying. I guess you dont like yourself very much, huh, ero-nii. There goes my last clone get ready." said our favorite blonde while gripping his sword firmly, preparing for what's to come.
"I didn't lie... I fibbed. There's a difference. But you -" Kakashi was cut-off but blocking a strike that wouldve surely cut him in half. "wouldn't understand that because you are still just a gaki!"
Naruto blocked a couple strikes and replied back "Oh I understand perfectly fine you're just a fucking pervert and a lazy ass. You fibbed. That's still fucking lying jackass!" Naruto exclaimed while blocking another overhead slash that wouldve surely killed Kakashi and naruto in one swing.
"Naruto language!" Kakashi said using his kunai to help block the overhead slash.
"Someone is trying to kill us and you're worried about my language?" asked Naruto as he threw a kick towards the missing-nin who dodged and went back into the mist.
"Yeah what gives Kakashi lay off of the gaki already." Zabuza voiced echoed through out the mist.
"See even he is agreeing with me. Thanks." said Naruto with a smirk and received a 'no problem' as both kakashi and Naruto had to duck underneath a horizontal slash that would've surely killed them.
"Naruto, no fraternizing with the enemy!" exclaimed Kakashi only to receive a roll of the eyes from naruto not that he could see him shit he could hardly see his hand in front of his face.
"I'm tired of this damn fog. Hey Zabuza-teme, can you ease up on this mist jutsu you're doing so I can stick you with my sword already?" asked Naruto only to have to block another strike. Those strikes that Zabuza was throwing out were something fierce.
"No, I dont think so, gaki." replied Zabuza.
"Well it was worth a shot I guess." said Naruto surveying the area.
"Alright enough of this already." said Naruto before going through handseals.
"Wind style : Violent Whirlwind" Naruto produced a powerful stream of wind from his mouth around the area it was strong to clear some of the mist but to Naruto's disdain the mist reappeared as if it never left.
"I hate this! Kakashi, is there anything you have in mind?" asked Naruto as he heard chuckling from the mist.
"Working on it." As he said that Kakashi and Naruto were both kicked in the chest and sent flying and landed on a small lake about ten meters away.
"You're mind." Zabuza said as he appeared behind Kakashi, finishing his handseals and trapping him in an orb of water.
"Water style : Water prison jutsu!" Zabuza finished with his hand attached to the orb of water with a smirk on his face.
"Shit/Shit!" said/ thought Naruto and his sensei.
"It seems I won this round, sharigan no Kakashi. Tell the blonde to drop the barrier, and I'll kill you quickly along with your gaki's." Zabuza said matter of factly in his gruff voice without taking his eyes off of our favorite blonde.
"I don't think so, Zabuza-teme," said Naruto as he dug in his kunai pouch, and without a second thought, he had thrown eight shuriken before going through handseals
"Shuriken Kage bushin no Jutsu!" exclaimed Naruto as the eight shuriken turned into forty and headed for the kiri-nin.
"Mizu bushin no jutsu!" Zabuza said, and five clones appeared and knocked the shurikens away.
"Nice try. But you are gonna have to try harder than that." said Zabuza as his mizu bushins stood in front of Zabuza, getting ready to skewer Naruto.
Naruto went through more hand seals and finished in the snake seal and yelled, "Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kōtan (Wood Release : Nativity of a World of Trees)!" To Zabuza's shock trees start rising from the water at a fast pace heading towards him and his mizu bushins.
Zabuza had to end his jutsu holding Kakashi and jumped away his bushins didn't react and time and were destroyed by the forest. Kakashi appeared next to Naruto while trying to regain his breath. Naruto continued his Jutsu and was trying to at least subdue the missing nin.
Zabuza, for better or worse, was running for his life and not to get caught or tripped up in the blodes mokuton jutsu. How could that blonde have a kekkei genkai that was related to the Shodaime hokage. He thought it was lost the day that he died. It seemed Konoha kept him a secret no wonder he was so fast he was probably trained the day he was born. Zabuza lost concentration for a split second, and that was all Naruto needed as he ensnarled him, by the ankle and once his ankle was in a one of mokutons branches both arms and his other ankle was ensnarled as he was held in the air by the thick branches with his arms and legs spread out. Zabuza tried to break free but to no avail.
"Got him! You're up Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto proclaimed as kakashi went through handseals of his own.
Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (water style : water dragon jutsu)" Kakashi finished as massive a water dragon was moulded from the lake they were on and shot towards the kiri-nin who's eye's widen as the dragon made direct impact with Zabuza breaking him from the branches of the mokuton and sent him careening across the battlefield before Zabuzas back hit a tree that stopped his decent and sent bark flying leaving an imprint of Zabuza's body in the tree.
Zabuza tried to get up but he was pretty sure he broke a few ribs and had some internal bleeding. Naruto and Kakashi made their way to the down Zabuza as he shakingly looked up to the two shinobi who defeated him.
"Wasn't expecting the Mokuton from you gaki I got careless 'cough'.." Zabuza said. Naruto didn't reply as he lifted his sword to end the Kiri-nin but before he could there was a whistle in the air that alarmed both Naruto and Kakashi but to their surprise whatever it was hit Zabuza and the missing nin fell onto his side presumingly dead.
A shinobi appeared, and the shinobi's outfit consisted of the standard Kirigakure pinstriped outfit, which stopped at their knees. Over this, they wore a green haori with white trimmings, and around their waist, a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped around his waist twice. They had long hair that was tied into a bun and had brown sandles. They also wore a hunter-nin mask, which was white with thin, curved eye-holes and a red wavy design in place of the mouth, as well as the Kirigakure symbol etched on the top.
The kiri-nin walked over to Zabuza and checked his pulse before looking over to the duo and said, "Thank you. I've been tracking him for a while now. Thank you for your assistance, Konoha-nin-san. I'll dispose of the body and be going now."
The hunter-nin bent down and picked up Zabuza before disappearing in a shunshin.
Both Naruto and Kakashi sighed in relief before Naruto asked "Wait I thought kiri hunter-nins were supposed to dispose of the body where they killed them?"
Kakashi looked at his protégé and pulled down his hitai-ate and replied, "They are." Naruto sighed and asked."So I'm assuming we will be seeing them again?" and received a nod in return. Naruto sighed at that, hoping that it would've been over.
They made their way back to the group, and Naruto dispelled the bushins effectively, ending the barrier. As they were making their way back, the mist started clearing up, and Naruto deactivated his shinwagan.
"What the hell dobe. I could've helped the two of you. Why did you leave me in the barrier with these, too?" Sasuke asked, incredulously narrowing his eyes at his blonde teammate.
"The main reason is because if Kakashi and I both died, we could've weakened him enough for you to hold him back so Tazuna had enough time to escape. But don't worry, we all will get another chance to get a crack at him, and he isn't alone." Naruto replied while sheepishly scratching the back of his head.
That answer was good enough to put sasuke at ease and nodded with a smirk. Sakura had a worried look on her face about them having to face an adversary like that again. Tazuna was thankful he was still breathing and was thankful to the konoha squad, giving him the chance to finish his bridge.
"Since that is dealt with, we can head to my house so you all can get some much needed rest." said Tazuna with an appreciated smile.
"How far are we away before we reach your house, Tazuna-san?" Asked Kakashi
"About an hour." replied Tazuna and received a nod in return.
"Let's continue then before someone else comes and tries to kill us." said Kakashi and received four nods in return, and they made their way to Tazuna's house.
And finished I hoped you enjoyed it! It's been a long time since I've attempted a fight scene. Leave a review and tell me how I did! I will try and finish this arc in the next couple of chapters.
Please review it'll be much appreciated thank you for taking the time to read my story it means a lot. I hope everyone has a great memorial day weekend and be safe.
Until next time!
-Kenshin88 out