Sorry for the wait, new chapter...Enjoy!


The scene Naruto and Yugao arrived to was a gory one, to say the least. Kakashi was down on one knee, breathing heavily. Around him, a torrent of blood. Behind him was his shocked and fearful genin, who quickly regained their bearings and moved to help their downed sensei. Yugao also jumped in. "Kakashi, are you alright?" She asked her former ANBU captain.

He nodded before blacking out and hitting the ground with a thud. "Sensei!" Sakura and Sasuke sounded, moving forwards abruptly to catch the man's fall, with Sai replicating the action. As soon as his body was stabilized on top of their forms, the purple-haired woman who was presumably Naruto's sensei spoke.

"What happened?" She asked, quirking her eyebrows at the genin who began to retell the story as they had seen it.

"It was awful. Kakashi-sensei was facing off against some guy named Zabuza." Sakura noted that at the name 'Zabuza' being mentioned, Yugao had a considerable reaction. Beckoning her to continue, Yugao waited intently for the girl to complete her retelling of the tale. "He was doing just fine until he unveiled his Sharingan, that's what made him black out. Anyways, during his battle with Zabuza, he was imprisoned in some water bubble and then Zabuza sent some water clones after us..." Sakura trailed off, finishing her tirade with a tired sigh that Yugao replicated.

It seemed Naruto's presence was forgotten in the midst of all that had happened. He was standing right to the side of Yugao, returning looks of disdain that Sakura sent his way throughout her retelling of the story.

On their trek to Tazuna's cabin, which he so gratefully offered to the ninja for their services, they exchanged tense looks at one another. Sasuke, with Kakashi's prone body still in tow, spoke first. "So, Naruto, what have you been up to lately?" He inquired, trying to get a gauge of his self-proclaimed rival's power. In all honesty, he hadn't learned much from Kakashi, but he hoped that would change in the near future.

"Nothing." Naruto kept his lips tight when it came to his training and whatever he learned. It was like this from the beginning. Whenever it came to his strength though, he made sure to lord over everyone about how powerful he was compared to them. "Still haven't learned anything and could beat you with no sweat." There it was. Naruto gloated once again about his "superiority" over Sasuke and the others, and he was just about tired of it.

Before Sasuke could rebuttal, Naruto's sensei, the purple-haired woman who he had come to know as Yugao spoke. "Naruto, stop that!" She commanded the boy, who ceased his incessant gloating, instead firing a glare at his sensei who fired one right back. Hers was even more powerful.

Finally, the joint teams had reached the cabin, with no words being spent after Naruto and Yugao's glaring match. They knocked on the door to be greeted by a black-haired woman who smiled kindly at them. "Father!" She squeaked, before engulfing Tazuna in a strong hug that the elderly man returned.

"It's good to see you too, Tsunami. How's Inari?" The elder chortled. Before the woman could respond, Naruto interrupted.

"How sweet. Now move out the way, it's been like nine seconds." Naruto cut rudely, pushing past the elder and entering the house. With a scowl at the boy's back, Team 7, sans Kakashi and Sai, also trudged past, muttering simple sorries to the two.

"Sorry about that.." Yugao said, scratching her hair in embarrassment at her student's crass behavior.

Tsunami waved her hand toward the woman, seemingly unfazed by the moody blonde's outburst. "Oh no, it's fine! Teens and their hormones, right?" She laughed dumbly, to which Yugao grimaced.

"Yeah, hormones."


It had been three hours since their arrival at Tazuna's cabin and the two joint teams were very, very bored. Kakashi had woken up about three minutes, holding his head in pain and muttering about never using the Sharingan for that long ever again, much to Sasuke's amusement.

Soon enough, all of the members of Team Yugao and Team Kakashi entered the living room. "I have something very serious to announce," Kakashi said, his tone serious. "As you may have seen, Zabuza was dispatched of by the hunter-nin," Kakashi air quoted, "That could not be the further from the truth." Shocked gasps rang in the living room.

"You see, the hunter-nin used senbon, not a deadly weapon to dispatch of Zabuza. He also displayed reluctance to burn Zabuza's body in front of us and instead used some lame excuse as to why he did not do so. This is my reasoning as to why Zabuza is still alive."

Yugao nodded. "I second that statement. Hunter-nin are very thorough and kill their target, regardless of where they are at the moment." Further, that was proof that Zabuza was dead, Sasuke scowled. Sakura grit her teeth at the news, knowing that this could only spell trouble. Not only did they have to deal with Zabuza next time, but odds are his little helper as well.

Naruto smirked, knowing full well he was not capable to defeat these foes alone, but they would be a very fun challenge. If worst came to worst, he would not hesitate to them murder them with the power of the Kyuubi.

"Well then, we can't just let you sit here and mope all day. He's going to be here soon, and his little buddy too. In preparation for that, let's do some training!" Kakashi exclaimed before realizing he himself was in a cast and could do nothing more than mope.

Yugao laughed at his expense before speaking. "Seeing as he cannot commence the training, I will. Follow me." She walked out of the room, all of the genin following her and leaving a sad, moping Kakashi behind on the living room couch.


I know this chapter is pretty short, but I really don't feel like writing today. I also didn't want to leave you guys with nothing so here it is. Thanks for reading!"