A Different Choice

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Naruto x ?

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Story Start

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Kakashi had theorized that Zabuza would be out for roughly a week meaning that they had that much time to prepare and it would be a good two days still until Kakashi would be able to move around and recuperate from his chakra exhaustion to train them.

"What are we supposed to do for training until then?"

The door to the house opened to reveal a little boy wearing overalls and a strange hat. As the boy came in, he said, "What's the point in training?" Apparently he had been listening in.

Tazuna instantly brightened and shouted. "Inari, where have you been?"

"Welcome home, grandpa." Inari said as he walked over and gave Tazuna a hug.

Tsunami, seeing her son's rudeness, said, "Inari, greet our guests properly! They're the ninja that brought your grandfather home safely."

"But Mama, they are just going to die." said the little boy in a flat voice. Naruto and the rest were taken aback by this, and who wouldn't be when a child dismissed they were as good as dead.

an eight-year-old says you're going to die. Naruto was flustered and was almost ready to smack the kid. He may have become calmer over the past few months, but he still had his buttons.

Inari looks over the shinobi then says, "No one can beat Gato and his men…"

Sasuke only snorted as he glared at the boy. Naruto by this point decides to try and cheer the boy up, "Don't worry, kid; with us here Gato will be stopped and we'll protect your grandpa. Normally we shinobi don't act in the role as heroes, but you have my word we won't fail."

Inari just grunts as he says, "Hero? You're dumb, there's no such thing!"

Naruto shook his head, saddened to here such a thing from a child. "Whether you believe us or not, we are shinobi. We are paid to do a job, and we will do it at the cost of our own lives if necessary. It doesn't matter if you think of us as heroes or not, but we will not fail."

Naruto then locked his blue eyes with Inari again, causing the boy to drop on his behind. "I cannot and will not die before I achieve my dreams. In seven day's time Gato will be dead. That I assure you."

Not long after Naruto's words Inari had stormed off in a huff. When Sakura questioned what could have turned a boy so sullen that's when they learned the story of Kaiza, this town's hero who had stood up to Gato only to have been killed by his mercenaries to set an example. Now more than ever Naruto was determined to kill this Gato.

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Naruto had been fairly surprised when Kakashi tasked him to oversee his teammates training the first few days.

Naruto decided to start training with Sakura as he had much bigger plans for Sasuke. The last Uchiha would make a better ally then enemy.

Sakura he decided had high potential for Iijutsu so he taught her the healing palm technique. While Naruto knew a few basic medical jutsu his vast chakra made it difficult for him to use them to the level a professional medic nin could, but Sakura's uncanny perfect chakra control made it where she was perfect for it.

Her reaction to slashing his arm and having her heal it resulted in an earful he would be dealing for the coming weak if not longer. He hadn't meant to panic the girl, but flesh wounds were something he recovered from thanks to the Kyuubi's healing factor.

Between that and having her work on the water walking exercise Sakura would be preoccupied for the next few days.

He hadn't been surprised to learn that all the while he was showing Sakura that Sasuke had been observing.

"Why? If you were this smart at the academy why didn't you show it?" The chakra reserves. The Jutsu. As much as Sasuke didn't want to admit it Naruto could have easily been a contender for the top rank.

"If my own allies think I'm weak then surely my enemies will underestimate me." Naruto answered with a simple shrug.

Sasuke mentally chastise himself for being so stupid. Naruto had fooled him…fooled them all so easily. He would not be taken in so easily.

"How would you like to unlock your Sharingan?"

That was all that needed to be said to get Sasuke's full attention. "Explain…please." He grounded out. He had slowly gained some modicum of respect for Naruto who showed he was more than some average shinobi.

"I may not know how your clansmen activated the Sharingan, but I have heard there is a way to activate it in response to a life threatening situation. If we create that need we could possibly trigger it."

"I highly doubt training will cause that effect."

Naruto grinned, "No, but being put in an actual battle will. I'm leaving a dozen kagebunshin around Tazuna's house to keep an eye on him. You and I are going information gathering to learn all we can about Gato and if we're lucky we'll encounter some of his mercenaries. Pushing you to your limits against enough of them should qualify."

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For the first few hours anytime Nauto so much as brought up Gato's name he was screamed at, ignored, or shooed away. Everyone in this town seemed frightened of the man and while Naruto knew for good reason he didn't think it would be this bad.

Finally, someone gave Naruto the answers he was looking for. An older blond, forties, soft lilac blue eyes with her hair done in the style of a single pony-tail. Her clothes were worn out, gray, and patchy like most of the inhabitants.

She was one of the few who still had a fire in her, and was willing to tell Naruto of who he wanted to know. Like that massive dam his kagebunshin had come across when he sent them exploring when they first arrived the town.

Gato essentially had a strangle hold on the country. Having bought all the power and water stations and bleeding the citizens dry with his outrageous prices.

Having a complete monopoly on the shipping industry along with many other industries throughout a few countries.

Thanks to the man's damn a massive river had been turned into a near dying stream. The citizens of the settlements were staring as the lack of water meant they couldn't tend to their crops and the dying plant life meant the animals migrating to elsewhere. With the lack of vital plants for cotton or other such things that also meant a strangle hold on the clothing economy except for once more Gato's goods.

Even the Daimoyo had been killed to keep the man unopposed. Everyone has been taxed to near poverty levels driving those with little money outside of the country.

With his money Gato had people working for him in other countries. Fonding Mercenaries, pirates, drug lords…anyone willing to work for him to get his hand on the resources and cut of the profits.

He was a criminal of the highest order and a big status symbol in the continent with countless connections. Naruto knew eliminating the man would paint a target on not only the killer's back, but the country as well. Only by negotiating an alliance with wave with Konoha would anyone think twice about attacking the country again.

"We got your information, what's your plan now Uzumaki?" Sasuke questioned him as Naruto began pondering if it would be truly wise for him and Sasuke to publically challenged a man with that much wealth or influence.

"I admit, attacking them head on will be too foolish. I underestimated Gato's wealth and influence. Give me a day to think about how to approach this. In the mean time how would you like to learn the Mizu Bunshin? It'll probably be a tough jutsu for you, being a water jutsu and its not as good as Kagebunshin, but for the duration of while we're in Wave not to mention whenever you're in water territory it serves for a satisfactory distraction and crowd control technique. Also will help you build up your chakra reserves."

Sasuke merely grunted in response. Well something was better than nothing and while Sasuke was prideful he was not eager to challenge a man who could practically hire an army of shinobi in retaliation for messing with his business.

Returning back to Tazuna's house Naruto left behind a kagebunshin to instruct Sasuke while he went about training of his own. By the dozens he was creating kagebunshin and henging them in the countless faces he had seen during the journey into town. He would have his clones scour every bit of inch they could of this area. Memorize every face and study every inch for the coming battle to come. If we got lucky he would find cracks in Gato's infrastructures and maybe even discovery Zabuza's whereabouts.

Naruto took off his weights and began practicing his Taijutsu form. Having grabbed some compact on the go food bars he continued his training far into the night. He began mentally going over the battle that Kakashi and Zabuza had. The dispel of his countless bunshin gave him many different perspectives to analyze every jutsu and movement.

Zabuza had escaped by the skin of his teeth. From when the battle started he was at a disadvantage without his weapon and the knowledge that Kakashi had of his opponent allowed him to formulate a plan and be ready. Being a former ANBU captain he was sure Kakashi at least heard stories of Zabuza's abilities. If not for the hunter-nin's intervention Zabuza would not have escaped that battle alive.

Zabuza would not only be ready, but his aid would be there as well. An aid that seemed to be a skilled iijutsu-user at that. He would need to be ready.

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Haku picked her way forward through the brush as she neared the clearing where the herbs she was seeking grew. Pushing aside the branches in front of her, she came across a startling sight.

The blond. Haku bent down and placed her basket on the ground, straightening her pink kimono as she stood up, she steeled herself. Walking softly over to his sleeping form, she bent down and kneeled near his head. She looked closer and compared him to what she could remember of him from yesterday. Up close he looked a fair bit more muscular with frizzy hair and he had marks on his face as well.

But tried as she might the nin could not find it in herself to end his life. Unbeknownst to her the blond had Kagebunshin he created on stand by just in case someone tried to attack him while he slept.

"Hey you shouldn't be sleeping out here."

Naruto opened his eyes to see a feminine face staring at him. Naruto lightly blushed as the person before him was pretty with her pale complexion and deep raven hair. I guess I overdid it while training." Getting a better look at her the woman in front of him was wearing a pink kimono that seemed to be slightly baggy on her. It seemed to hide her form well. "What are you doing out here? Its not safe to be a pretty girl in this area. I hear Gato employs people who are some real scumbags."

"I am here to collect herbs for my friend that is injured. Since it is early in the morning, I don't have to worry about Gato." She replied.

"Well that's nice, how about I help you?" Naruto offered.

After introducing herself Haku proceeded to show Naruto what herb to look for and the two spent five minutes gathering the herbs. Naruto placed the herbs he gathered into Haku's basket.

"To have been training out here to get stronger. You must be strong I bet. Do you have a goal you are trying to attain?"

Naruto thought for a few seconds. "I train not only to become strong to become Hokage, but to bring admiration and honor to my lost clan and to protect those I care about."

"We have a similar ideal I see. I believe becoming strong is a result of wanting to protect those you consider precious. Without the one I consider precious I wouldn't know what to do. I think a person can only grow stronger the more they want to protect their precious people." Haku stated her reason. Naruto liked that logic.

"You know that makes a lot of sense. I am definitely motivated by those I care about. Protecting them is my utmost concern." Naruto said as he smiled at Haku. They sat in comfortable silence as the sun continued to rise in the sky. Haku got up from her position and grabbed the basket.

"It was nice to talk to you Naruto-san but I have to go." Haku bowed slight and turned to leave.

"Tell Zabuza that we don't have a reason to fight. I'm pretty sure Konoha wouldn't pass up the chance to recruit someone of his caliber to Konoha. I personally know the Hokage so I can vouch for you guys." Naruto told Haku who flinched.

"You are mistaken Naruto-san. I do not know any Zabuza." Haku made a potion to her sleeve where she kept senbons.

"Please, you carry yourself far too guarded to be a civilian. Not to mention my kagebunshin dispelled a few minutes ago after seeing you contemplate whether to attack me. Haku-san, I don't want us to be enemies. I can see it. You have a gentle heart. One not made for killing."

"Regardless Naruto-san we are on opposite sides. When the time that comes for us to fight I must do what I most to protect Zabuza-sama."

"Then until then how about a truce? I am looking to eliminate Gato and help the condition of this country. If Zabuza agrees not to kill the bridge builder I'll pay him three times what Gato was offering him."

Haku was a bit skeptical at this. "Many have tried and failed to kill Gato. What makes you any different?"

"What can I say I have a habit of being surprise." He replied with a wink.

Something about the blond's conviction and confidence made Haku want to believe him.

"I also would hate to have to fight you." He added as Haku contemplated his words and linked them to his first reaction upon seeing her.

'You do know I'm a boy right?" Haku said as she watched Naruto's reaction. Naruto was shocked at the sight of such a beautiful boy before he began laughing.

"That would have gotten me Haku-chan, but you're kind of lacking something." Naruto said pointing to his own adam's apple. "Not to mention you don't smell like any guy I ever met."

"I am in fact a boy." Haku denied the claim that she was female. Zabuza taught her that hiding her identity sense kunoichi by far were targeted for violent and sexual crimes by a substantial rate not to mention decimation.

"I'll keep your secret between us Haku-chan, but you don't fool me. I hope we can meet again before the battle. Also your chest bindings are showing."

Haku looked down and immediately cursed herself for being so gullible. She didn't know what to make of the blond, but one thing was for sure. If he had wanted to if he could have made the first move and attack her after his clones had dispelled. Without a large body of water she was at a clear disadvantage in this forest area. Either way if she did agree to meet him again she might be able to pump information out of him about his team mates.

"There is a festival over in a town eight miles from here which will be occurring two days from now. Its one of the few towns that has any money left. If you want we could attend." By tomorrow Zaubza would have recovered enough to be able to hold his own against any of Zabuza's bandits or so called samurai.

"I'll see you there Haku-chan." Naruto replied with a grin. He was sure Haku would be using the opportunity to try to get information out of him, but all the while he would be doing the same.

Six days. They had six days to get ready.