Here is the new chapter! Please review would love to hear what you think of the story so far!
IMPORTANT - I updated chapter 4 so check it out! There was somethings added like dialog between Naruto and Arashi thats important and will make more sense with what happens in this chapter. I hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto.
Previously...
"So my flesh bag of a container decided to finally show his face." Whatever was inside grumbled. Its massive form stood up and walked over to the bars of its cell and its piercing red eyes with slits staring back at shocked cerulean blue.
...
A shocked Naruto was looking up at the great Kyuubi no Yoko. The strongest of all nine bijuu, and he was face to face with the great beast. The bijuu that almost destroyed konoha and that had killed many shinobi and civilians thirteen years ago, including his parents. The Kyuubi was a red-orange colored kitsune with black fur around its red eyes that stretched up to its ears and nine long tails. It also had an upper-body structure of a human, complete with opposable thumbs on its clawed hands.
"Kyuubi.." Naruto could only say as he examined the monstrous bijuu who was glaring at him.
"What is it that you want? Or were you going to let me out of this prison so I can be on my way?" said the kyuubi with malice ever prsent in it's voice.
"I didn't want anything. I was just meditating, and now here I am. You and I both know I can't do that because, for starters, I will die." said Naruto with a rasied eyebrow as he sat down in front of the kyuubi's prison cell.
"Who cares if you die. I just want to be free. But of course, your tou-san had to seal me away again into another Uzumaki. Your race never changes, always seeking power to kill and conquer. But out of all the containers I've been sealed into and the humans that I had the displeasure in meeting besides one, you feel different... where is your hate? I can't feel any hate coming from you. I never could. I reap of malice and destruction, but I could never play off your emotions. Why is it that you don't hate you should with everything that you've been through?" the kyuubi finished with an intrigued gruff voice.
"I don't know, I just don't. What some of the things the villagers have done to me and even some shinobi are unforgivable to most. I just couldn't hate them because they were acting out of fear. They were fearful of me because of you. I don't hate you either, even if you think that I should because of the life that I've lived. I'll prove everyone wrong that has ever doubted me or wronged me. Hate will only bring one suffering, and life is too short to hate, especially as a shinobi. And besides hating someone would be too troublesome, so I just don't." replied Naruto, looking into the kyuubi's red slitted eyes and not breaking eye contact with the great beast. The kyuubi snorted before laying down and resting his head on one of his arms in a lazy fashion while closing his eyes.
"And besides, my life hasn't been all bad. I've had a few people to always encourage me. I'm pretty sure you have seen some of my life, haven't you? Yeah, you are sealed away, but we will always be interconnected if we like it or not. We didn't ask for this, but it happened. Life likes to deal shitty hands sometimes, but you have to make the best out of it." Naruto said with a smile, and one of the kyuubi's eyes was opened to show he was listening.
"You're a very naive child. In the end, you humans are all the same. Power-hungry fools are what you all are. You will try and take my power for yourself as all the others have. To take and use as you please as I will have to sit here in my prison and wait until you wither away and die. In the end, you will end up as the rest, and I'll be in my next flesh bag of a container." the kyuubi said with a snort, making the blonde raise an eyebrow.
"I would prefer we could just work together. I never planned on taking your power for myself, but you already knew that, didn't you. Us working together would be more beneficial for us. I mean, it's not like you aren't really doing anything anyway, so why not help me out. Even if we didn't ask for this, we can still work together." Naruto said with a smile, but the kyuubi just frowned.
"Why would I want to do that? How about this? You rip that seal off and let me out so i can be free." the kyuubi said with narrowed eyes, making the blonde just sigh before he had an idea.
"How about we make a deal?" the blonde jinchuuriki asked, getting the kyuubi's attention.
"Speak." The great beast said, willing to listen to what the blonde had to say.
"I'll probably live for about eighty-five years maybe a little longer if I don't die out in the field. That isn't really long for you since you can live forever, I'm assuming. So how about this. Before I die, I'll set you free. But in return, you help me. So it's a win, win situation for you. And you have my word." said Naruto as he looked at the large kitsune with anticipation.
"You amuse me, child. And if I say no?" asked the kyuubi as he pondered on what his container said.
"If you say no. The day that I die, you die with me. I'm pretty good with seals, as you know, so I'll figure out a way where you can't come back." the blonde said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"So it's an ultimatum then?" asked the kyuubi with gritted teeth he couldn't believe the audacity of this child.
"On the contrary, I'm either giving you freedom if you help me, or death if you don't." said the blonde in a matter fact tone, making the kyuubi snort. The kyuubi thought on it, and if he helped the blonde, he would earn his long awaited freedom. He knew the blonde wasn't lying, and he would set him free. What was the worst thing that could happen. He also seemed different compared to the others he was still annoying to him but all the humans were with their little nuances. In the end the blonde would set him free.
"Fine. I agree to your terms, kit. But there is something you need to know. To access my full power one day, you will have to take that seal off. You aren't ready for that, and besides, you will still need to earn my trust before I even let you attempt that." said the kyuubi with a huff, making the blonde grin ear to ear.
"Great! So, how does this work then? What if I needed a boost or your help? How would I be able to tap into your chakra?" asked Naruto with a quizzical face while tapping his chin.
The kyuubi looked at the grinning blonde with a calculated eye. It would interesting to see how the blonde would react using his chakra. Both of his containers before could hardly handle it. He thought on it for a second before he made up his mind.
"Just ask, and I will flood my chakra into your coils. Would you like to get a feel of what my power entails so you can prepare yourself later?" asked the kyuubi with a raised eyebrow, making the blonde think for a second before nodding, making the kyuubi smirk showing his long fangs.
There was some sort of red chakra that started leaking out from the cage, and it started to surround Naruto in a vortex before it slowly seeped into the blonde. Naruto felt a rush of chakra into his chakra coils that made him wince in pain. The power that he felt was amazing, even if it stung a little. But the chakra was filled with malice like he wanted to destroy everything in his path.
He shook his head from that thought and controlled his breathing and relaxed his muscles. He looked at his hands and noticed his fingernails grew, sharp claw-like nails and he had some red cloak around his entire body. He looked behind himself and noticed he had one tail behind him, which he thought was intriguing.
"This is one tail worth of my chakra. I'm actually quite surprised with how you adjusted to it. That is what my chakra feels like, kit. Now leave me." said the kyuubi as he closed his eyes, and Naruto stood up and looked around the room before scratching the back of his head sheepishly as the chakra recededback to the seal on his stomach.
"Heheh, how do I leave?" Naruto asked nervously, and the kyuubi opened one eye and effectively kicked Naruto out of his mindscape.
"He's a interesting child. He's different from the other's. Only time will tell if I made a mistake or not." The kyuubi mused before closing his lone eye while he thought about his interaction with the blonde.
With Naruto...
Naruto wasn't prepared for that, so after he was kicked out rather aggressively he might add, from his mindscape the tree branch he was sitting on in the lotus position he fell off and landed on his head. The blonde rubbed his now sore head and started calling the kyuubi every curse in the book.
"I can hear you, you know." said the kyuubi, startling the blonde as he looked around and made sure there wasn't a gigantic kitsune running about.
"I'm talking to you through your mindscape. Stop looking around if someone sees you, they're gonna think you're crazy." the kyuubi said with a huff making the blonde nod.
"If you could talk to me through my mindscape, why didn't you do it sooner?" asked the blonde out loud, making the kyuubi roll its eyes.
"You don't have to talk out loud. Just think it, and I'll hear it. And because I didn't want to." the kyuubi simply said, making the whiskered blonde sweat drop.
Naruto didnt respond effectively ending the conversation. Naruto started making his way back to Tazuna's house via shunshin. Naruto appeared in a swirl of wind and noticed his surrogate brother waiting for him outside leaning up against the side of Tazuna's house.
"Yo, kakashi-nii. I'm sorry for what happened earlier and I won't have another outburst like that again. But I have something to tell you and I don't want you to freak out." said Naruto with an excited tone making the jounin narrow his lone eye a little before telling Naruto to continue.
"I met the kyuubi." said the blonde and Kakashi nodded before realizing what Naruto actually said.
"Wait! You what!" Kakashi exclaimed making Naruto scratch the back of his head sheepishly before explaining everything that happened leaving out the part where he would set the kyuubi free when he died. Kakashi could only shake his head in shock.
"So he agreed to work with you then?" asked Kakashi as he rubbed his temple feeling a headache coming from what his blonde protégé told him.
"Yeah, surprisingly, he did. Remember when we went to Uzushiogakure and Arashi-jiji told me to come back once I met the kyuubi?" asked Naruto, and Kakashi nodded but gave Naruto a stern look before Naruto sighed.
"That's not what I was gonna ask Kakashi-nii. Once we were finished with the mission and we were back in konoha, I was gonna ask Hokage-jiji if he could send me out once we get back. If that was ok with you?" asked Naruto with pleading eyes, and it was Kakashi's turn to sigh.
"Yes, Naruto, that is fine. This time, though, you are probably gonna make the trip by yourself unless we can find another jounin to go with you. But knowing you, you'd probably want to go alone for this. And I have responsibilities as a jounin sensei now and Sasuke and Sakura can't be left behind like that." Kakashi said, and the blonde nodded, agreeing with the one-eyed shinobi.
"Also, Naruto, next time if you're gonna have an outburst like that again.. Go easy on them. Inari is just a child, but with what you said and me telling the boy the type of person you are, I think he turned over a new leaf." said the copy ninja making the whiskered blonde raise an eyebrow at that statement.
"What did you tell him about me?" asked Naruto as Kakashi peered his eye over to the blonde as they walked into Tazuna's house.
"The truth. Let's get some rest. You have to be up bright and early for your shift tomorrow with Tazuna." said Kakashi, and Naruto just nodded, knowing his sensei wasn't gonna tell him what he told Inari.
Four days later...
It was the day before on the projected day of when Zabuza and the hunter-nin named Haku would be coming back to finish the job of killing Tazuna. Naruto was the only one upstairs sleeping while the rest of his team and Tazuna went to the bridge to continue working on it. Naruto finished mastering the chidori, and so he decided to maintain the guard duty while Sasuke and Sakura could get extra training for a couple more days.
From what Kakashi said, they made a giant leap compared to when they started the mission they were on, and they both picked up everything rather quickly. Kakashi was rather impressed with Sakura because he showed her how to apply chakra to her limbs, and when she punched the boulder she was practicing on, she left a giant spider web crack. Which made the blonde happy for her even though he subconsciously gulped.
Kakashi also told him about Sasuke taking a little longer on the water walking exercise, but he completed it on the second day. He wasn't able to crack the boulder like Sakura, so he focused on increasing his speed by applying chakra to his legs. It was rather useful, but he was only able to do it in short bursts so he would exhaust his reserves.
He was sleeping in on this day because the rest of team seven decided to give Naruto a day off. He worked three twelve hour shifts consecutively so they told him to get his rest so he would be well rested for the next day. Naruto didn't object to that and he was gonna take the day to relax and be lazy for once.
That was until he heard tsunami scream from the downstairs kitchen, and he jumped up. He grabbed his sword and dashed downstairs and he saw Inari standing in front of his mother in a protective manner as their were two thugs with swords standing at the front door with sinister smirks.
"Look at this kid trying to protect his mother haha. Let's just kill him and take the woman. Gatō only told us to take one hostage to have leverage over the bridge builder." one of the thugs said and the other nodded with a sinister grin.
"I don't think so!" everyone in the room snapped their heads to the stairs and saw our favorite blonde with a pissed off expression making the two thugs laugh.
"Its just another kid. Oh look he has a sword. What are you gonna do with that little guy. Why don't you put the katana down before you hurt yourself." one of the thugs said condescendingly making the blonde smirk.
"Why don't you come and try and take it. Unless you're scared to?" Naruto said mockingly as he wave the sword back in forth egging on the two thugs and it seemed to work as they both gritted their teeth.
One thug charged Naruto with his sword over his head and before he could swing his blade down to kill the blonde, Naruto disappeared and reappeared infront of the thug with his leg extended out kicking the thug in the gut and sent him flying through the front door shocking the second thug. Naruto looked over to the second thug and crouched down with his hand on his sheathed katana and before anyone could react the blonde disappeared and reappeared behind the thug with his sword unsheathed extended out. He resheathed his katana slowly and once it made a 'click' a large gash appeared on the thugs chest before falling face first presumingly dead.
Naruto summoned ten kage bushins before Inari and Tsunami processed what just happened. "You both go into town and stay safe. My bushins will protect you if the need arises. I have to go now. Good job on protecting your kaa-san Inari, but I'll take it from it from here." Naruto said, before they could reply, the blonde disappeared in a swirl of wind.
After Naruto was gone both Inari and Tsunami ran out of the house and they saw the first thug knocked unconscious laying on the ground. Inari for the first time in a long time had hope in his young eyes.
'Go get them, Naruto-nii!' thought the young Inari with a smile on his face.
With team seven on the bridge...
Kakashi, along with his two genins and their client, just reached the bridge and noticed there was a mist surrounding the area. They looked around and noticed that Tazuna's workers were all laying around the bridge near the entrance, with senbons sticking out of their neck. Kakashi looked forward on the bridge and saw two figures one with an exceptionally long sword.
"Zabuza. I see that you made a full recovery. You also brought that fake hunter-nin with you." Said the copy ninja making the missing-nin lift his Kubikiribocho and rested it on his shoulder.
"Yeah, it would seem so, Kakashi. You and that blonde gaki with the mokuton did a number on me. Who would've thought that konohagakure had another mokuton user. It's too bad he couldn't make it. I would've loved to cleave him in two. I guess once we are done with you three and the bridge builder, I'll pay him a visit." said Zabuza as he flared his killing intent with a sadistic grin even though you couldn't see it with the bandages covering his face.
"Mokuton what is that, kakashi-sensei?" asked the pinkette but the question was ignored by her sensei.
"Sasuke, you take the hunter-nin. Take your time, because you can't afford making mistakes with him or you will be killed. Do not hesitate if you see an opening. Sakura, you stay with Tazuna and whatever you do, do not leave his side no matter what. I have Zabuza." said Kakashi as he lifted his hitai-ate up revealing his sharigan eye.
"What about Naruto? What about our plan that we made?" Sakura asked nerves ever present in her voice.
"Plans change, Sakura. Naruto will be here and once he does he will know what to do. Sasuke if you can't defeat the hunter-nin try to stall. Trust your instincts." finished Kakashi and sasuke nodded in return with a smirk on his face.
"I'll be able to defeat him. Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei." said Sasuke drawing a kunai as he finished and Kakashi did the same.
The mist started to get thicker, but team seven were still able to see the two figures before Zabuza dashed forward along with his protégé and Kakashi and Sasuke followed suit.
With Kakashi...
Zabuza swung his blade overhead intent on cutting the one-eyed shinobi in half. Kakashi dodged to the left before kicking the missing-nin in the stomach, sending Zabuza flying back a few meters before righting himself mid-air and landing in a crouch. Zabuza had to jump back as Kakashi was already upon him, as he made a vertical slash with a kunai in hand.
After dodging, Zabuza went through handseals and noticed Kakashi was doing the same before they shouted, "Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu!" Two massive water dragons rose from the river underneath the bridge before they shot forward, colliding with one another and burst in a rain of water.
As the rain was falling from the cancelled out water dragons Kakashi appeared behind the missing-nin and stabbed him in the back only for water to leak out of the wound. Zabuza bursted into water before the original appeared behind Kakashi and cleaved him in two only for the copy ninja to turn into water.
Zabuza brought his blade up and blocked a slash from the copy ninja with his Kubikiribocho and pushed the sharigan wielding ninja back a few meters. The two shinobi eyed each other before Zabuza stabbed his sword into the bridge with a grin.
"That sharigan is gonna be a problem. Good thing I have something to counter act that heh." Said Zabuza before going through a couple of handseals, and the mist started to get thicker to the point Kakashi couldn't see five feet in front of him.
"Here, I thought you were gonna face me, face to face. I guess I was wrong." said the copy ninja as he raised his kunai just in time to block the massive sword of Zabuza.
"Yes you were. I have the advantage inside this mist. Silent killing is my speciality after all." Zabuza echoed throughout the mist making it so Kakashi couldn't pin point his location.
'I hate this jutsu. I can't see anything, which makes my sharigan useless, there has to be something I can do" Kakashi mused to himself before ducking underneath an overhead slash of the missing-nin. The deadly game of cat and mouse had just begun.
With Sasuke...
After Sasuke rushed forward to meet his adversary they met with steel meeting... Ice. Sasuke was shocked the hunter-nin was using ice as a sword but got over it as the mask wearing shinobi tried to stab him. Sasuke jumped back before throwing a handful of shuriken only to be met by senbons only for one of them to get by and pierced Sasuke in the leg. Sasuke grunted in pain and plucked the senbon out of his leg and ducking underneath the ice weapon of his enemy.
Sasuke and the hunter-nin fought back and forth to try and get a feel for the other and to see if the other would make a mistake. The hunter-nin shifted to another gear as he picked up the pace and the only way the raven haired genin could keep up was if he pumped chakra to his legs and arms something he was still getting use to. The hunter-nin over extended on a punch, and that was what Sasuke was waiting for. Sasuke capitalized on his opening.
Sasuke kicked the hunter-nin in the gut sending the hunter-nin flying before going through handseals and ended on the tiger seal. "Fire style : Fireball jutsu!" as Sasuke sent a fireball at the masked shinobi and out of no where a ice mirror appeared and to Sasukes shock the masked wearing nin materialized in the mirror showing his reflection.
Sasuke smirked before throwing a kunai with a paper bomb attached to it at the ice mirror exploding on contact. Once the smoked cleared the smirk on Sasukes face disappeared as the ice mirror showed no signs of damage. Before Sasuke could react more of the same ice mirrors materialized surrounding the raven haired genin and before he knew it he was in a dome of ice.
"Hyōton style : Demonic mirroring Ice Crystals!" finished the hunter-nin. Sasuke darted his eyes back and forth between the mirrors trying to figure out where the masked nin would attack from. Each mirror showed a reflection of the hunter-nin as the masked shinobi pulled three senbon out and launched them at the konoha genin.
Sasuke was surprised when multitudes of senbon started raining down upon him. Sasuke tried to dodge as many as he could, and to his surprise, it almost seemed like the senbons started to slow down, and he could even predict on their intended targeted area. He wasn't fortunate enough to dodge every single senbon as he had half of a dozen land true on his person. Sasuke grunted in pain but stood standing, not letting the senbons deter him from the task at hand.
"Sharigan? No wonder you were able to dodge so many. But it matters not. Your defeat was cemented as soon as I trapped you in here with me. There is nothing you can do. Give up." Said the hunter-nin and saw that Sasuke smirked in defiance and prepared himself for what was to come next.
"So be it." Said the masked shinobi releasing dozens upon dozens of senbons at Sasuke who started blocking them with his kunai only for a couple more to hit there marks on the young Uchiha.
With Naruto...
Naruto appeared in gust of wind in front of the bridge only to see the thick mist as before when they faced Zabuza six days prior. Naruto dashed forward and put his hands in the cross seal. Four copies of the blonde appeared in a puff of smoke. They located Tazuna and a worried looking Sakura and before they could say anything the bushins surrounded the two before erecting the same barrier they made before. Naruto saw a small glint in the distance and dashed forward towards it before coming to a dome of ice... mirrors and squeezing through.
Naruto surveyed the area and one of the things he noticed was Sasuke barely standing up on his two feet. Sasuke hand dozens of senbons sticking out of his body. Naruto appeared next to Sasuke and placed a hand on his shoulder startling the raven haired shinobi. Sasuke turned and looked Naruto in the eyes and Naruto noticed that Sasuke awoken his sharigan. He must have been pushed to the limit to awaken them.
"What took... you so.. long dob -" he was cut off as the raven haired boy passed out and fell into Naruto's arms. Naruto gritted his teeth and picked Sasuke up, and threw him over his shoulder. Naruto disappeared from view in a burst of speed, shocking Haku, who couldn't react in time. Naruto appeared beside the barrier with Sasuke before laying down the unconscious Uchiha.
"Sasuke-kun! Is he dead!?" the pinkette screeched, making Tazuna wince from the loud outburst of Sakura.
"He's only knocked out, Sakura. I'm going back to finish off that hunter-nin." Naruto said as the barrier deactivated and appeared once again, but this time Sasuke was inside, and Sakura rushed over to him and placed the raven haired Uchiha's head gingerly in her lap.
Naruto unsheathed his Katana as he started making his way back to Haku. He didn't have to go far since Haku deactivated his ice mirrors and met him face to face. Naruto activated his Shinwagan as Haku started creating a sword made of ice. Naruto's eyes started glowing, and the whirlpool in his eyes was spinning as his eyes took everything in from the simple jutsu Haku just showed him.
Naruto saw how Haku mixed both water and wind affinities in perfect synchronization to create the sword of ice. Naruto wanting to test it out if what Arashi said was true and started mixing both affinities the same as Haku did and to his delight a sword of ice appeared in his left hand making the blonde smirk leaving the hunter-nin stunned.
"H-how? Are you a part of the Y-yuki clan?" Asked a shocked Haku, making the blonde smirk.
"No, Haku, I'm not. Let's just say copying kekkei genkai is my specialty. Long story short, if I master the first two steps of the elemental affinities, I can copy the kekkei genkai at will and use it just as powerful as the initial user. But if I don't have them mastered, I wouldn't be able to." said Naruto as he twisted his katana and the sword of ice in his hands in a reverse grip preparing himself to face the ice user.
The hyōton user shook off his shock as he had to bring up his blade just in the knick of time to block Naruto's katana. Haku had to shift to his left to dodge the ice blade that would've stabbed him in his gut. Naruto did a spinning back kick, and Haku had just enough time to bring his hands up in an X to block. Haku skidded back a few feet before he had to back flip away to dodge Naruto again before going through handseals, and to his shock, Naruto was performing the same.
"Hyōton release : Thousand Flying Ice Needles of Death!" They both proclaimed as long ice needles formed all around both shinobi. They shot all the ice needles at each other but they canceled each other out in a shower of ice.
"Stop copying me!" exclaimed a frustrated Haku which was out of character of the more stoic teenager.
"Why would I do that?" asked a smirking blonde, and Haku went through more handseals, and like before, a dome of ice mirrors appeared all around the blonde. Haku materialized into one of the mirrors as the blonde couldn't control the full on grin that graced his face as he dodge the on slaught of senbons that came his way and deflected the rest with his two blades.
"You know I can do the same now, right?" asked they blonde with the same grin ever present on his face only for Haku to tilt his head in confusion. The confusion turned into shock after the realization hit Haku.
"Don't worry. I dont know what will happen if I try to get in the mirrors with you. Besides, I'd like to see what this jutsu can do first hand. You better hurry because you are running low on chakra. From what I can tell as well is that this jutsu eats away a lot of your reserves. So you better hurry." Naruto said with a smirk griping his blades firmly as eight black chains shot out of the bridge surrounding the blonde in a circle evenly spread out from each other.
Haku didn't respond as the on slaught of senbons were being thrown at the blonde from every direction. The black chakra chains started whipping around his person, knocking the majority of the senbons away from Naruto harmlessly to the ground. Naruto spinning both blades in circular motions, blocking the remaining senbons that got past his chains.
Haku, not believing what he just witnessed, continued throwing the remaining senbon he had, to try and neutralize the blonde but to no avail. It didn't matter what he did. He couldn't get through the blonde's defense, and when he tried jumping to another mirror, one of the chakra chains latched around his ankle.
The black chain whipped around the masked nin before slamming Haku into the bridge, effectively knocking the air out of his lungs. The ice mirrors surrounding the two shattered all around them, and before haku could blink, he was thrown into the air by the chain. Haku was soaring up into the air and Naruto appeared above the hunter-nin as a swirling sound could be heard by the latter, and haku noticed a blue spinning orb of chakra in the blonde's hand.
"Time to finish this! Rasengan!" the blonde yelled and shoved the spinning orb into Haku's gut. Haku was sent careening back below to the bridge, his back hitting first, which created spider web cracks in the thick wooden boards. The shockwave of Naruto's rasengan dispearsed the mist in the surrounding area for a brief moment before coming right back like it never left.
The mask on Haku's face slid off and fell beside him as the blonde landed beside Haku and saw he was unconscious with a smoking hole in his shirt where the rasengan hit its mark. Naruto pulled out some ninja wire and tied up the boy so he didn't get any ideas before leaving to find Kakashi.
"Kit, that flesh bag of a sensei is thirty-five meters behind you." said the kyuubi, making the blonde jump slightly. It was gonna be some time before he got used to that.
Naruto was about to dash off in that direction before an idea came to mind as he smirked. The blonde henged himself into Haku, making himself look identical to the hunter-nin, mask, and all.
Naruto dashed forward until he was close enough to his sensei and Zabuza, who were interlocked with one another kunai against Kubikiribocho. Both Kakashi and Zabuza had some small cuts throughout their bodies, Kakashi had a slash mark across his torso with blood staining his jounin vest, but it wasn't anything life threatening.
He went through the handseals for demonic ice mirrors, and a sheet of ice appeared in front of him floating. Naruto took a deep breath before slowing entering the mirror. The next thing both the missing-nin and the copy-cat ninja saw was a dome of ice mirrors surrounding the pair making Zabuza smirk as he saw his protégé reflections in the mirrors throughout.
"It seems like my tool has beaten your little genin, Kakashi. Give up and hand me the bridge builder so I can finish my job. Or I can just kill you and finish my mission afterward." Zabuza said as 'haku' walked out of the mirrors beside his comrade, making Kakashi raise an eyebrow towards the hunter-nin.
"You and I both know I can't do that, Zabuza. You would have to kill me to finish your mission, but it's too bad you aren't gonna be able to. Isn't that right, Naruto?" Kakashi finished, and before the missing-nin could react, black chakra chains erupted from the bridge behind Zabuza and pierced him through both of his shoulders, splashing blood towards Kakashi. Zabuza dropped his Kubikiribocho, losing the use of his arms, and Naruto kicked him behind his knee, making the missing nin fall to his knees, as the chains tighten so he couldn't move making Zabuza grunt in pain. The mist started to clear from the bridge rapidly before disappearing all together.
Zabuza had a face of shock. How could this child have mokuton and hyōton it just didn't make sense. What type of monster was this genin. But then that brought him to his next thought, Haku. Was he dead?
"Heh, I guess you are right, Kakashi. It looks like I lost this battle. I'm assuming you killed Haku, gaki?" asked Zabuza glancing over at Naruto who disabled his henge and had a smirk on his face. He patted himself on the back thinking of that on the fly. Even fooling a jounin of all people.
"No, but he's only knocked out and he's not gonna be able to move around for the next couple of days." Naruto said as he eyed the jounin who seemed to sigh in relief something both Naruto and his sensei picked up on.
"For someone who called him a tool, you seemed relieved he's still alive. All this bravado you give off isn't fooling anyone. You care for him don't you, Zabuza-teme?" asked the blonde making the missing-nin narrow his eyes.
"I don't think it really matters what I feel given the situation I'm in, gaki. My time has come. Finish it, Kakashi." said Zabuza as he raised his head and had a slight smile on his face accepting his inevitable end.
Kakashi went through a familiar set of handseals, and the sounds of birds chirping could be heard in the area. Kakashi was about to end the life of Zabuza but stopped when he heard the sound of someone clapping. The group turned towards the edge of the unfinished bridge and saw a large group of thugs probably just over a hundred. There was a short man who stood in front of the large group, Gatō.
Gatō had shaggy brown hair and had a pair of small, circular black glasses. He wore a black suit with a purple tie with pointed black dress shoes and a black cane. He was the man who was the founder of Gatō shipping company that secretly dealt drugs on the side and who basically ran Nami no Kuni and was a billionaire because of it. He was the one who had people killed if they ever got out of line and put his business at risk. He was the scum who was destroying this country and it's families that lived in it.
"Well, well, Zabuza. How the mighty have fallen, haha. If only they could've finished the job, so I didn't have to see your smug face again along with your brat who sprained my arm. I came here with these men to kill you and your lacky after you killed the bridge builder but it seems like you failed yet again. These men didn't cost half of what you wanted. It's funny really you thinking I was actually going to pay you that large sum. You shinobi are foolish and greedy and now you will all die here, hahaha!" the short man snickered as both Kakashi and Naruto looked at one another before the blonde tossed kakashi his sword. Kakashi caught it with a raised eyebrow and to his surprise Naruto created two blades of ice shaped like his Katana.
"Release me, gaki. We are no longer enemies." said Zabuza in his gruff voice only for Naruto to shake his head in the negative.
"No can do, Zabuza-teme. You're in no shape to fight. You'll only get in the way. Kakashi-nii and I have got it from here. So you rest up and get some beauty sleep." said Naruto which infuriated Zabuza as he glared at the blonde.
Naruto put his fingers in the cross hand seal before shouting "Tajū kage bushin no jutsu!" To the thugs shock and horror there were easily three hundred clones of the blonde that appeared in a large cloud of smoke. All the thugs took a instinctual step back looking at all the whiskered blonde haired Naruto's.
"Don't worry everyone it's just another one of the shinobi's tricks. Kill them ALL!" gatō shouted making the thugs think twice before charging at the clones. But what happened next did not go the thugs way, carnage. One after another dropped to the ground either unconscious or dead. Naruto's clones unleashed mayhem onto the thugs and they couldn't do anything about it. And soon enough, after the last thug dropped, the clones that were left turned and faced a scared, helpless Gatō.
The clones were all dispelled and the only ones that were left was the three shinobi. The chakra chains disappeared and let Zabuza go as the missing-nin stood up and looked at Kakashi and the blonde.
"He's all yours, Zabuza. Do with him as you wish." Kakashi said as Zabuza bit off his bandages and showed his face and his shark like teeth.
"Hey, gaki. Toss me a kunai." said Zabuza and Naruto obliged tossing him a kunai and the missing-nin catching it in his mouth while dashing towards a frighten gatō.
"Z-zabuza I-Ill pay y-you double! Tri-triple! Ju-just let me LIVE!" exclaimed the pint size man. Zabuza didn't even acknowledge Gatō fully intent on killing the man. As Zabuza was getting closer and closer Gatō only saw his impending doom as a hannya mask formed behind Zabuza showing he was truly the Kirigakure no Kijin. With a final scream from the pint size man, it was over. Gatō's reign and terror in Nami no Kuni was officially over.
Zabuza walked over shakingly the bloodloss was finally making him light-headed. He saw Haku about fifteen yards away and slowly but surely made his way over to him before passing out beside him. Naruto and Kakashi walked over to the pair before picking them up and walking back over to their team.
"So you copied that one's kekkei genkai huh?" asked Kakashi as he lowered his hitai-ate over his sharigan eye.
"Yeah I did. How the hell did you know it was me anyway!? You ruined my grand entrance!" asked an irritated Naruto receiving Kakashi's patented eye-smile.
"You forget my sharigan can see chakra and on top of that I know your scent." said Kakashi in a matter a fact tone making the blonde frown.
"You suck, Kakashi-nii! I was hoping to scare you a little bit but you had to ruin all my fun!" pouted Naruto as his surrogate brother ruffled his moppy blonde hair infuriating Naruto even more.
Naruto and Kakashi made it back to the rest of their team along with a passed out Zabuza and Haku. The barrier that was protecting the three deactivated and the clones dispelled right after. Tazuna had a smile on his face along with Sakura while Sasuke started to stir.
"Hey everyone! We aren't late, are we!" Everyone turned to see Tazuna's grandson Inari waving along with the rest of the town who were all holding some type of weapon looking to fight for their home country. Tazuna looked at everyone from town and couldn't help but cry tears of joy as he wiped them away with his arm. He couldn't thank team seven enough for all that they did, especially Naruto.
Later that night...
After the past day of events played again in Tazuna's mind, he took another celebratory swig of sake. He felt the burning sensation hit the back of his throat and slowly made it's way down his wind pipe. Everyone was asleep, but he wanted to relax and celebrate knowing his home country would be going back to normal and flourish once again.
Tazuna didn't know how to feel about Zabuza and Haku staying at his house. Who could blame him? Zabuza was sent to kill him multiple times, but Kakashi put him at ease, telling him he was more of a friend than foe after Zabuza killed his meal ticket. On top of that, he won't be able to use his arms until they were fully healed courtesy of the blonde genin. He was still uneasy about the situation, but he trusted the jounin.
He was about to take another sip of his sake but noticed Naruto coming down the stairs. Naruto walked up to the table and sat down across from Tazuna, and the latter smiled at the boy.
"Cant sleep, gak- Naruto-san?" corrected Tazuna he couldn't really call him gaki anymore he would show the pre-teen the respect he deserved.
"No, not really, Tazuna-oji-san. I actually wanted to ask you something. It's more like me hiring your services." said the blonde, making Tazuna raise an eyebrow at the whiskered jinchuuriki.
"You need to hire my services? What for exactly?" asked Tazuna he was interested in what the blonde had to say.
"Long story short, I need to hire you to help rebuild my ancestors' home. Uzshiogakure no Sato. It has been in ruins since the beginning of the third great shinobi world war, and I'd like to have it rise from the ashes and return it to its former glory. I have done a lot of clean-up when I was their the last time. I've done a little bit of work to start it off, but there is still plenty to do. Most of the debris and destroyed buildings have been cleared by my part. I've saved some wood and bricks that were salvageable. The only thing left that I need is a master builder. You fit with what I need done. I can make small houses sure, but you can craft something that I can't, that only a master builder could build. I'll be able to pay you some up front, probably a good portion on what you are gonna charge me. I have the map right here to get to uzshio, and I can try and get konoha to hire you an escort if need be. So what do you say?" finished Naruto with a hopeful smile.
Tazuna leaned back in his chair as he rubbed his chin, thinking of what the blonde just asked of him. It would be a lot of work this he already knew. This whiskered blonde, though, saved his country and helped change Inari back into the happy boy he was previously before everything happened. The old man sighed before giving the blonde a nod with a smile.
"I'll be honored to do it, Naruto-san. We will need a lot of supplies, wood, and the such. I'll be able to start sometime next month and can give you a time frame on when it could be finished once I see what I have to work with. I don't think it would be a problem, especially if you loaned me some of those bushins you lent me on the bridge before. I can send in a submittal with the hokage on when I will need a long-term escort." Tazuna said with a smile before pulling out another shot glass and pouring some for Naruto and putting it in front of the confused blonde.
"No offense, Tazuna-oji-san, but I don't think I'm old enough yet for that." said Naruto with a raised eyebrow, which elicited a laugh from the old man.
"So you're old enough to kill, but not drink a little sake? We just agreed to terms on a deal. This is a part of the deal. So drink." Tazuna said as he lifted his shot glass in front of Naruto. The blonde picked it up and clink their glasses together. Naruto watched the old man tap it on the table before throwing back the shot and drinking it, Naruto did the same. Naruto started coughing from the burning sensation at the back of his throat. Do people actually drink that? What the hell was wrong with people it tasted horrible!
Tazuna laughed after he saw the blondes face and said, "When you get older, you'll like it a lot more. Why don't you try and get some sleep, Naruto. We still have a bridge to finish." he finished with a smile. Naruto nodded and started making his way to team sevens room.
"Hey, Naruto-san," tazuna said, making the whiskered blonde turn around. The bridge builder continued, "Thank you for everything you and your team have done for my family and country. We will forever be in your debt as well as konoha's."
"Of course. You and your country don't owe us anything, though. Next time, just pay for a higher ranking mission, though hehe." Naruto laughed, Tazuna did the same and nodded at the blonde. Naruto retired for the night and Tazuna did the same not to long after the blonde.
One week later...
Team seven, along with Haku and a bandaged up Zabuza whose arms were in slings. They were in front of the newly built bridge of Nami no Kuni. All the villagers and Tazuna and his family said their goodbyes to the team that saved their country. Naruto ruffled Inari's head, which made the boy smile as the rest of the team said their goodbyes. The six started walking away as they started to talk amonst themselves.
"So what are your plans now, Zabuza?" Kakashi asked looking at the missing-nin which gained his attention.
"Haku and I will play it by ear. Gonna have to wait awhile until my arms heal thanks to that gaki of yours." Zabuza said narrowing his eyes at the blonde who sheepishly scratched the back of his head who chuckled nervously.
"Why don't you just come with us to Konoha? We could put in a good word for you even if you tried to kill us. I know hokage-jiji would love to have another powerful shinobi in his ranks. What else do yall have to lose? Its not like you are commited to a village or anything and you would have a place that you could call home." Naruto said looking over at the two who pondered on what the blonde just offered.
"Naruto you can't just go offering that without discussing it with the hokage... But he does have a point. He would probably put you on probabtion for a set period of time until he deemed you trust worthy enough. You can also do as many missions as your heart desires." said Kakashi looking at Zabuza who seemed to be deep in thought.
"What do you think, Haku? Should we?" asked the gruff voice of Zabuza as he looked at his protégé.
"It would be nice, Zabuza-sama. We wouldn't be on the run anymore and we would have a place that we can call home." said Haku making the missing-nin sigh.
"Sure, why not." Zabuza said and the blonde grinned ear to ear.
"So we are just gonna bring them with us Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura with a concerned face making her jounin sensei eye smile at her.
"Yes, Sakura." said Kakshi and left it at that. Naruto turned to Sasuke which gained the raven haired genins attention.
"How are you feeling, teme? I saw that you awaken your sharigan finally! I know you have got to be excited for that." said the blonde as the uchiha smirked.
"Yeah, I'm not feeling as sore as before and yeah I am. Its about time that I did." said Sasuke with a smirk making the blonde laugh.
The group talked between each other as they made their way back to Konoha. The mission was completed. The mission was more than they expected but in the end they made new friends and enemies that became possible comrades. It's funny how that works.
Back with Tazuna...
Tazuna and his family along with the villagers watched the group of six fleeting forms in the distance. Tazuna hasn't felt this happy in a long, long time. Today marked a new day for his country and he couldn't wait to see the fruits of their labor of whats to come.
He was brought out of his thoughts when someone asked "What are we going to name the bridge?"
"What about The great Tazuna bridge haha," he said with a laugh making his daughter roll her eyes at him.
"Tou-san we aren't naming it after you." she said but couldn't help the smile that graced her face at her fathers antics.
"And why not? I'm the one who built it?" He said with a grin making her sweatdrop and a good portion of the villagers.
"What about the great Naruto bridge?" said Inari with a smile as everyone looked around between each other and all of them kinda agreed with the boy.
"The great Naruto bridge, huh," said Tazuna as he looked in the distance and saw the blonde who was smiling and laughing.
"I like that. So do we all agree then?" asked Tazuna and received nods in return as he smiled happily along with his family.
"The great Naruto bridge it is then!"
And finished! I hope you enjoyed! Please review and tell me how I did and if there is anything I need to work on. It means a lot if you do review so don't be shy! 9k words in this chapter is by far the most i've written a single chapter! Tell me how I did on the fight scenes I'm not the best at them but I hope I'm getting better!
Until next time!
-Kenshin88 out