AN: Here we are with the next installment of this little story. I know that it can take time for each chapter to come out, but if you want to be up to date with my progress, you can use the link to the Discord server in my profile. But now, have fun with this chapter. Shoutout to my Beta who made it much more pleasant for you to read! Thanks to all my reviewers, too.
The last thing I want to mention is that for the moment I have decided on Naruto's summons. It will be revealed in Act 3 though. So, you have to be patient for a bit longer.
Beta: PraetorXyn - u/9025231/PraetorXyn
Uzumaki Compound, sometime before the start of the C-Rank mission
"Well Naruto-kun, that is all I could uncover at the moment." Hatsumi, Kushina, Minato, and Mito stood in the office of the compound, while Naruto prepared his scrolls of equipment as he was updated on everything Hatsumi could find out in the past weeks and months. His face was one big frown, and he paused sorting his gear for a moment.
"The situation in Amegakure is 'troublesome' to quote my former classmate. If we can't establish contact, we won't be able to do anything. Try to find a way to get through that blockade Hatsumi-chan. Kusa is a completely different matter. First, it is aligned with Konoha, so we have some leverage on the political side of things, but we would have to strategize about how to approach the old man. How did we obtain the information and all? Maybe we can invest some funds and use one of the converted agents to pose as a client and request my team or another to go to Kusa for a delivery or escort. Please think about that while I try to solve the situation in Wave," Naruto strategized while looking at his supporters — especially his parents, who looked back with approval written all over their faces.
"Very well Naru-chan. Maybe we can try and provide aid to our relatives in Kusa? The report said that they are not treated very well and are kept under surveillance, but with some hidden seals and explanations we could do some good while we try to find a solution to get them out." Kushina was excited to hear that some of her clan had survived; even if they were not treated well at the moment, they lived. The rest could be solved later — or at least she hoped so.
"Hatsumi-chan, do what you can for those in Kusa as kā-san mentioned. I will try to look after Wave. It's annoying that your jutsu is such a complex one tō-san. With the help of that jutsu, I could solve everything in a flash." Naruto sighed and looked at his father with a little grin. Minato Namikaze looked back at his son and smiled.
"Well, you can thank the nīdaime for that. I am sure you will get it sooner rather than later. I mean, you are my son, I'm sure you will get it." Again he flashed a big smile, and Naruto nodded back as he unsealed some of his equipment, giving his tools a once over. His kunai, shuriken, and senbon looked good. Empty fuda and finished seals had been sealed away in categories: flash tags, explosive tags, empty scrolls for supplies, and his camping gear were neatly arranged in his main storage scroll.
"Yeah, thanks, jiji. When I get the chance, I will, tō-san," Naruto chuckled. He put the strap of the scroll diagonally over his shoulder so the big scroll rested on his back. Without even making hand seals, two clones poofed into existence beside him. Naruto looked at them and merely nodded. Both henged into different people: a raven-haired woman in her twenties with a slender figure and a bulky-looking balding elder. Both took the secret tunnel to emerge into Konoha's Red Light district and buy Naruto his supplies.
"Now, I have a mission and team to get to." The blonde looked at his parents. "I will stay sharp as you told me and look into the matter with this Gatō guy," he said, switching from the Gatō part to Hatsumi. "If it stays on C-Rank level, I will try to restrict myself, but if anything out of the ordinary happens, the gloves come off. Even as a genin, I am protected from that stupid civilian side of the council. The old man knows that you are here, training me, and has knowledge about the treaty, so we can assume he will hold the old farts of the council back as well as he can. Let's hope I won't have to enact the final clauses of the treaty, as that would be much more troublesome," Naruto finished as he sighed and nodded once before lightening up a bit. "Gee, enough doom and gloom, I'm out." He vanished in a sealless Shunshin.
"Well, we can't say Naruto has problems taking the reins into his hands," Minato chuckled. "Hatsumi, you may want to step up your training and begin more operations to secure the Kusa contacts," Minato instructed, and she nodded before Mito included herself in the conversation.
"We have to talk to Hiruzen about the upcoming exams and such. Better yet, include talks about Uzushio. As far as I understand, the Fire Daimyo could secure the lands for Hi no Kuni. He assured that if a legitimate claim was made by the Uzumaki clan he would be willing to part with it again. It's disgusting if you ask me, that he thinks he can hold onto our lands, but his forces secured it after the fall of our clan, or so you could say. I mean the forces of Hi no Kuni, as the current daimyo should be the son or grandson of the man I referred to. Either way, we would have to relocate and everything to make a legitimate claim, but the first steps should be taken as soon as possible," Mito said with a stern expression and looked at her fellow Uzumaki, even those only related by marriage. Hatsumi nodded and thought about increasing her agents at a quicker pace. If possible to deal with everything, she would have to talk with Hiruzen first. The Uzumaki had planned something. What would happen if this thought-dead clan rose from the ashes to make their presence known again? Would it lead to another annihilation by the great villages, or would they take their revenge on them?
With Team 7 and Tazuna, Konoha Gates, some hours later
"Okay my little genin, gear check," Kakashi instructed before they could sign out of the village for the mission. Sakura and Sasuke had packed as the handbook of the academy taught them for a two-week mission. Naruto looked at their backpacks, and — with a short sigh — made them a storage scroll each. They had improved thanks to the training, and even Sakura wasn't the useless kunoichi she had been after graduating the academy, but the blonde ninja quickly summarized why backpacks would be a bad idea. Kakashi was quick to reimburse him for the materials and told his teammates he would dock the amount from the mission payment. That led to a little discussion which was quickly shut down, and shortly thereafter Team 7 and Tazuna said goodbye to Konoha and began their trek towards Wave country.
Naruto — who wore ANBU-style black pants and shinobi boots and a dark green shirt with the Uzumaki symbol on his back — scribbled in his notebook as they traveled in a diamond-like formation around their client. After experimenting with the shuriken and kunai Kage Bunshin, he wanted to develop a fūinjutsu formula that imitated the effect to duplicate a sealed weapon and do so for as long as it was supplied with chakra. When he could come up with something like that, he could not only save on using his kunai and shuriken, but also use the formula in traps or other offensive or defensive seals. His clone kept his eyes open while Sakura engaged Tazuna in conversation. They traveled at a civilian pace, which was good for Naruto, as he had enough time to think about the seal. He was mumbling and thinking aloud a bit.
"If I put the storage formula here, then an analysis formula here leading to the duplication formula here. No… that would be finite. That should be open…" While he walked, his clone noticed two puddles on the road, and a brief period of concentration led to the confirmation of the hidden chakra signatures. The clone made some coded hand gestures to Kakashi, who was reading his Icha-Icha and merely acknowledged the message by turning the paper and blinking in a certain pattern. In the next moment, two Kiri-nin emerged from the puddles. The chain between their gauntlets wrapped quickly around Kakashi and ripped him apart. Blood flew everywhere. Sakura screamedtheir sensei's name in her usual banshee-like manner. Even Sasuke was shocked to a standstill. Three clones quickly got his two teammates and the bridge builder inside a triangular barrier while the original clone dispersed to share his memories with Naruto. The blonde took a second to seal his supplies away and looked at his team.
"Protect our client; I will handle this. And pull yourselves together, damnit!" His voice was nearly neutral and devoid of emotion, but at the last words, you could hear his disapproval. The two Kiri-nin looked at the blonde genin with open mouths. A thrown kunai against the barrier showed that they would have to go through him to get to their objective, so again they rushed in near perfect synchronization at the young shinobi. The chain menacingly dragged over the ground. They tried to trap him, only to be held back by a chain.
"You call that a chain attack? Amateurs!" Naruto spat out, only to anger them more. They disconnected the chains and rushed at him in a pincer formation, still from two sides. Both attacks missed him by a small margin. The Uzumaki was grinning now, but his voice was still belittling. "Come on… in Konoha, we have cats who can attack faster than you two old farts," he taunted, all the while dodging kicks and punches from the two nuke-nin.
"Shut up brat, and just die already!" one of them screamed and nearly hit Naruto with a bit of spittle that flew out of his rebreather. The blonde dodged again and again.
"Say it, don't spray it, ya know," he chuckled while his teammates slowly got out of their shocked state. He used his chakra chains in a formation at which Sasuke could only groan at the sight.
"Chain Style: Three Way Chain Formation - Devouring Dragon Bite!"
The blonde intoned, smirking. Three chains — all of them with dragon-like heads at the end — rushed at the Demon Brothers. Fortunately for them, their instincts kicked in, and now they could dodge the snake-like chains which tried to get a hold of them. What they didn't know was that Naruto was playing with them. His clones were ready to unleash the prepared fūinjutsu and only waited for his signal.
"Why are you running eh?" Naruto joked, and one Shunshin later he had one of them captured and began absorbing his chakra through the chains. He could feel the small scratch in his reserves get filled with every passing second. At the same time, his clones unleashed the trap on the second one. A barrier manifested itself, and seconds later the gravity inside the barrier rose so high that one of the demon brothers passed out. The other took a bit longer, but as his chakra was sucked out of him, he followed shortly thereafter. "You can come out now, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto spoke slowly as he closed his eyes and looked for other signatures. The barrier around the team dispersed, and Kakashi stood over the two passed-out Kiri-in.
"Well done Naruto. Protection of the client and team, and use of non-lethal methods to allow information gathering. Full marks." Kakashi eye-smiled at his student, and nodded at his two other pupils. "For you two, you are ninja now. Enemies can be behind every tree sometimes. Be on your guard, always." The two nodded, Sasuke not satisfied with his reaction. Kakashi turned to Tazuna. "So, mister super bridge builder: can you explain why two C-ranked nuke-nin from Kirigakure wanted to attack you and not my Genin after disposing of little old me?" He still smiled, but this one promised lots of pain if he didn't get the right answers. Tazuna was shaking a bit and wanted to take some steps backward only to bump into Naruto.
"I would appreciate it if you could answer sensei's question, old man. We wouldn't want any surprises would we?" He used the same type of smile as Kakashi, and his chains swayed behind him, resembling cobras ready to strike at any given moment. Tazuna was shaking from fear now. He looked behind him to see that nearly thirteen-year-old kid who had beat up two adults and made it look easy. Before him was his teacher who would have to be better, right? He took some deep breaths to calm down for a bit.
"Well it's like this…" he said as he began to explain everything. Gatōs dominance over Wave with his business and syndicate. His idea with the bridge to get more freedom to his people. He even tried to guilt trip them with his family.
"I would say that qualifies for a B-Rank bordering A-Rank mission, depending on who will fight us next," Kakashi concluded his analysis. He had put away his precious Icha-Icha and looked at his genin. "Now, my students, the rules state that we can abandon the mission without consequences — something I have the feeling that two of you wouldn't want" He looked at Naruto — who didn't look bothered in the slightest — and Sasuke — who seemed to want to prove himself after his poor showing against the Demon Brothers. Naruto gave him a nod while Sasuke wanted to say something only to be stopped by a raised hand from Kakashi. "Hold your horses, I know what you want to say." He looked at Sakura who seemed to be deep in thought. "How about you Sakura: are we going forward or going back to the village?" he asked with a calm voice. The pink-haired kunoichi had a conflicted expression as she gave a short glance at Sasuke, who still looked angry.
"I would. Well. I think we should report back, but continue forward," she brought out with some minor stuttering. Naruto sighed loudly enough to be heard by everyone. Kakashi looked at his blonde student with an expectant look.
"Yes, Naruto? Do you have something to share with the rest of the class?" The jōnin looked amused and curious about what he wanted to add to the conversation. Naruto looked in the direction where they had bound the Demon Brothers to trees for the next patrol to pick up. Naruto hadn't wanted to waste the prisoner scrolls he carried for one of them, and had lacked enough materials to make new ones, so Kakahsi had decided to go with the pick-up plan.
"They should bloody their hands with our prisoners. I will waive my claim on the bounties if that would be a problem. Either way, even if we are lucky, Gatō has only rōnin and bandits left. We may have to kill; better to do it now rather than later in a hostile environment," he concluded with his calm and analytical voice. Kakashi was looking at the blonde.
"I didn't think about that, but you are right, Naruto. Listen up Sakura and Sasuke: if you want to go forward with the mission, you will have to take your first lives now by executing both prisoners, understood?" Sasuke looked determined and nodded, while Sakura gulped and gave a very slow nod. Kakashi vanished into the trees.
"I should work on chakra leeching seals, or better let my clones work on them." Naruto thought aloud, unsealing his notebook, taking down some notes, and — after summoning some clones — gave them each the task to work out the details of his seals. It didn't take long for Kakashi to come back, empty-handed and with a frown.
"We may have a problem. Someone cut both of them free. Naruto, did you sense anything?" The jōnin looked at the blonde genin who seemed to work on one of his problems only he could understand. Looking up he stood up and closed his eyes making a half Ram seal.
"Three signatures are moving away from our position. Should I send a squad to pursue them?" Kakashi thought about it for barely a second before giving him a nod. Three Kage Bunshin poofed into existence. "And Naruto: you are not to engage, only scout, all right? If your clones are dispelled, we will be blind to possible ambushes," Kakashi completed his orders, only for the three Naruto clones to pick up speed and take to the trees. The original scribbled something on a scroll and gave it to Kakashi. It was a coded message to the Hokage. The silver-haired jōnin nodded and summoned Pakkun to get the scroll to the Hokage before Team 7 plus Tazuna moved — with caution, but moving nonetheless.
Somewhere in Hi no Kuni near a Casino
"Are you sure this is one of the Sannin, Itachi?" Shisui Uchiha looked at his surrogate brother who looked at the passed-out woman with blonde twin pigtails and a green haori over a gray kimono shirt barely containing two large breasts. Itachi wore a black cloak with red clouds, while Shisui looked like a civilian. They had met up and were in contact with their Uzumaki friends. Itachi had infiltrated the Akatsuki — an organization of high-class nuke-nin who did freelance mercenary work for some great and minor villages. Shisui supported his friend from the shadows — something which had led both Uchiha to their current situation. After finding out about the illness that had befallen Itachi, Shisui had worked on him to get himself healed — even if they had to use strong genjutsu to convince a certain Sannin who was hailed as the best Iryo-nin in a century to assist.
"I don't like this approach, but it has to be done. I will redeem myself by saving Konoha from the shadows like a true shinobi should," Itachi had told him in his typical monotone voice. It had taken some time to wake the Sannin up and put her in a strong genjutsu so she could heal him. The cure had been easier than they had thought: it seemed someone had poisoned him. Tsunade had had little trouble providing him with the antidote and some good instructions to remedy the damage. The whole procedure had taken more than two weeks and some careful planning on the Uchihas' side so Shizune didn't notice that her mistress had been vanishing more than usual, but it had been worth it. Both Itachi and Shisui were healthy and could continue with their mission.
Itachi and Shisui had both refrained from using the second stage of their eyes to preserve their vision — even if they thought they might have a solution for the eyes. What some Uchiha thought to be gospel — that only the eyes of a close blood relative could let the Mangekyō progress to the next stage — was only half true. A Sharingan from a close blood relative would instantly develop into the eternal version of the eyes, even if it was just a three tomoe version. If you wanted to use non-related eyes, it had to be a Mangekyō. So, if they both ran into more trouble and had to resort to using their eyes more, they could theoretically switch their pairs and recover from any damage. This was something they would only resort to if the need arose.
Each believed their dōjutsu was a tool — nothing more, nothing less. It was something you could use if you must, but best reversed as a last resort, like exchanging a pair of eyes would be. If the nīdaime had still been alive, he might have been able to overlook his hatred and suspicion of the clan for these two. They were simply that different from their now nearly extinct clan. Tsunade wouldn't remember that she had helped, but for some reason the next week she won nearly every gamble she took and could pay off some debts. More accurately, Shizune paid them off after redirecting some money. With Itachi and Shisui working all around the elemental nations, they had left one of Naruto's living helpers to deal with the problems in and around Hi no Kuni.
With Hatsumi, Konoha Outskirts
Hatsumi had changed into more formal attire — the blue kimono with gold lining looked expensive just looking at it — and was listening to Sai's report, who told her about the progress of the liberation of the ROOT agents they had already freed from Danzō's reins.
"Finally, I have to say that Danzō is recruiting more and more to make up for his losses. He didn't seem to be suspicious, just a little bit more interested in upping the training regime. 'As long as the mission is accomplished, losses are to be expected in the work of shinobi,' he sometimes grumbles after getting reports from the lone survivor of a cell." Sai knelt before Hatsumi, who listened intently, unwilling to miss anything. She nodded, trying not to look too disgusted by Danzō's take on the lives of his subordinates.
The good thing was that 70% of the killed-in-action agents were just relocated and laying low, so to speak. Hatsumi was building up Uzushio's new spy network. Unfortunately, not all could be freed, and some even had to be killed, because they liked how Danzō treated them. For the sake of the operation, Hatsumi had authorized Sai to kill those who didn't want to be freed. She had felt a bit hypocritical, but had been forced to silence those thoughts along with the crimes Danzō committed she was collecting on the long list she was keeping. Each day she struggled more and more to not kill him herself, but she had to wait. Hatsumi was carefully planning everything so he couldn't slip the net she had begun to spin around the old warhawk. If all fell into place in accordance with her calculations, everything would fall into place around the chūnin exam finals.
"Very good, Sai. Get me some agents to look into the Kusa matter. Try to establish some form of communication with them. Provide them with help as you see fit while we try to work out how to get them out of that kami-forsaken village, but that could take some time. However, don't get caught. If relations with us are discovered before we're ready, our position would be compromised," Hatsumi explained while checking the privacy seals they used. Her subordinate only nodded. His emotions were slowly coming back. Like all freed ROOT soldiers, he had developed some form of split personality. His mission persona matched his ROOT training and suppressed emotions for the sake of the mission, and his day-to-day persona was slowly getting to normal levels of emotional and social interaction. They exchanged some more information, but cut the meeting after that so Hatsumi would not be late for her meeting with Sandaime Sarutobi.
With Hatsumi, Uzumaki Compound, Tea pavilion
"Thank you for coming to our humble home for this meeting," Mito opened the conversation. She and Hiruzen sat at a table, while Hatsumi stood a bit behind after providing them both with fresh tea. Even if Mito was some kind of chakra manifestation, she still liked to drink her tea once in a while.
"Think nothing of it, Mito-sama. The request Hatsumi-san had delivered was very intriguing, to say the least. I know your trust in my abilities to keep the house clean has plummeted, but even I know that the Hokage office can have more eyes and ears than the seals can cover sometimes. So, let us begin with your request. You mentioned that you wanted to know what the official status of Uzushio is at the moment?" After both had taken the ceremonial sips of tea in the beginning, he took his next one to moisten his vocal chords. "It is complicated. If you ask the daimyo, it belongs to Hi no Kuni. If you ask the shinobi though, that's trickier. The overwhelming majority wouldn't even know where it is. Those who are in the know and not of Konoha origin say it's a cursed land and belongs to no one. Officially, Konoha laid claim to it with the end of the last war. If you ask me, you would need the backing of our daimyo if you wanted to reclaim it, but that is just me," the old Hokage answered the question in the summons.
"I thought as much. The unfortunate thing is that to make that claim, Naruto would have to be recognized as a fully qualified adult capable of making decisions — something attributed to chūnin and above. You may have gained back some power, but I am afraid my grandson-figure could be cheated out of something he has already earned. His fūinjutsu progress alone would qualify him for a tokubetsu jōnin promotion," Mito slowly explained with a caring undertone for Naruto. Hiruzen looked intrigued and gauged the old Uzumaki.
"What do you want me to do, just hand it to him? At the moment, Kakahsi is monitoring his leadership in the field. One C-Rank escort mission won't be enough to evaluate whether he has the — as you called it — skill to make qualified adult decisions. If he can make a good enough impression in that regard, I won't stand in his way, and I will sign his promotion to the level Kakashi and I think he is. I am not opposed to Naruto gaining the recognition he deserves in my point of view." The old Hokage sighed a bit and took a sip of his tea. Just at that moment, Pakkun appeared, placing a scroll in front of the Hokage. "Pakkun, a report from Kakashi already? That's new. Even if he wanted to be a good role model." The Hokage opened the scroll and read through it. His face darkened a bit. "I am sorry, but I think I'll have to cut my visit short. Team 7 seems to be cursed again. They ran into C-ranking nuke-nin. Naruto reported one unknown enemy and a plausible connection to another A-Rank nuke-nin, who could be in the area. Everyone is fine though, and Kakashi praised Naruto's actions for saving his team and the client, as well as his foresight, and now they request backup." Hiruzen stood up and gathered some chakra to use the Shunshin. Mito nodded; their talk could be resumed at a later date or time.
With Team 7 and Tazuna, somewhere between Konoha and Wave
They had made some ground after the last encounter. Naruto always had two clones concentrating on their sensing while three others were on standby for a triangle-style barrier around Tazuna and Sakura. The decision to place Sakura with Tazuna was an easy one. She could do some genjutsu now, but still, that was her only strong point. She had started researching medical ninjutsu, but hadn't gotten far into it before the mission. Each member of Team 7 varied in strength far more than was typical for rookie teams. The weakest link was Sakura at the moment. After that came Sasuke, who would rank at a high overall genin level with more experience. After that he had Naruto. Kakashi didn't want to take the bet on who could beat the other if he and Naruto went all out.
"Listen up, we don't know if and when our backup will arrive. So, some standing orders for you. If I am incapacitated, the next in the chain of command is Naruto, and after that, Sasuke. Clear?" After he got three hais — something he was very relieved about — he looked at all three.
"I know this mission escalated quickly, but as I said earlier, that's why not everyone can do this job. That is the reason we train so hard. We can do this, and I will try my very best to get us all back home safely," Kakashi ended his pep talk, and even Sakura looked a bit better. Each of the ninja knew that the next hours would be critical for the mission. It didn't take long for them to reach the beach. The fog of the morning sea was everywhere and you couldn't see far, but in the distance was the silhouette of a large bridge.
"Is this the bridge you are currently building, Tazuna-san?" Sakura asked with a voice just above a whisper. The bridge builder nodded and wanted to answer, only for Kakashi to silence them with a quick gesture. He had sensed the nearing friend of the builder who gave them a passage above the dangerous waters and around Gatō's patrols. On the other shore, they took a short break before they made their way toward Tazuna's house.
The peace of the early morning didn't hold long. Naruto's sensor net of clones picked up the nearing chakra signatures. He quickly had some shuriken in his hands and threw them in their direction, not only to slow the approach, but also to signal to his team what was about to happen. He laced all of the throwing stars with his Fūton chakra, and his clones raised a barrier around Tazuna. A scream in the distance let Naruto smirk for a second, only to rein his emotions right back in as four people landed in the clearing. One was a tall man with a large blade on his back, the demon brothers he already knew, but the third looked like a Kiri hunter-nin. One of the demon brothers had a cauterized deep gash on his left arm.
"Well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi, nuke-nin from Kirigakure, and a former member of the Seven Swordsmen. Say Zabuza, do they hunt you because you failed to assassinate your Mizukage, or because you still hold onto that genital compensator of yours?" Kakashi provoked with a short wink in Naruto's direction. The blonde was beginning to mold chakra to support his team as Zabuza took hold of his Kubikiribōchō, pointing it at Kakashi.
"Time to die, Kakashi of the Sharingan. I would have given you the choice to hand over the bridge builder, but it seems you are adamant about dying today." The clearing was flooded with the killing intent of the Demon of the Mist. Tazuna passed out, while Sakura and Sasuke began to sweat bullets. Sakura looked paler than usual, and Sasuke had a face like a ghost.
"Oh, is this the moment a shinobi measures their worth by throwing their killing intent around like ryō? Give me a second." The blonde seemed enthusiastic, his cheery nature taking some of the pressure off his teammates. Kakashi had time to change the position of his headband so his Sharingan was looking at the situation, only to gulp as he was met with a wave of Naruto's resonating killing intent. It felt massive, and he was not the target. The Demon Brothers were both on one knee sweating, the hunter-nin tensed, and Zabuza was shocked. Naruto looked at his sensei. "I'll take the unknown one. I think you want Zabuza. Sasuke and Sakura should be able to deal with the injured Demon Brothers." That was his last sentence as he rushed at the hunter-nin, with a short distance Shunshin.
Zabuza was able to finish the hand seals for the Kirigakure no Jutsu and fog spread around them, only for them all to hear Naruto's voice from somewhere: "Fūton: Daitoppa!" The gust of wind that followed was mere inches from becoming a storm on the measurement scale, and that was the last thing Zabuza could only wonder about before he had to dodge Kakashi Hatake's kunai. Both jōnin were locked in battle and equally matched. The sound of metal hitting metal was prominent, after the hunter-nin was able to recover after the first roundhouse from Naruto could only be blocked in the last second thousands of water needles were trying to pierce the blonde.
With Sasuke and Sakura
The two genin stood opposite the Demon Brothers, who first wanted to charge at Naruto but his impressive display of killing intent had encouraged them to change their plans to attack the other genin. Without much talking — just some glances — Sasuke — who wanted to redeem himself — rushed at them both, throwing a kunai at one while rushing through the hand seals for his favorite jutsu.
"Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" The sizable fireball rushed at the injured brother, only to be met with two Water Ball jutsu, creating more steam. Sakura didn't know what to do. She couldn't see anything, and she was blind and scared. Her hands gripped the kunai, her legs shaking, and only her reflexes saved her from a swipe at her with a cutting chain. Shortly thereafter, the injured brother attacked her with kicks and punches. Each time her blocks were a bit late.
She staggered backward. Each hit pushed her further. The pinkette kunoichi had trouble forming the right thoughts, even for the simplest strategy they had trained. Her first real battle situation was overwhelming her. Then after she dodged a swing of the clawed gauntlet, she felt a sharp sting and had to look at her side. The kunai Meizu had taken on the other hand had managed to hit her and cut her dress at her side. Blood slowly oozed out of the wound. She didn't realize at that moment how she had fought against Meizu, and neither did she notice that the fog was only thing she could see was her opponent looking at her with a smirk— bloodied kunai in hand — licking her blood from it and rushing at Sakura again. He aimed at her chest this time, and with a far superior speed to her own. What happened next was something they had been told countless times in the academy, team training, and everywhere must always be prevented from happening: she froze. Her body couldn't move, her brain was empty. Kakashi had made sure they could do the Kawarimi nearly in an instant, but even that was something evading Sakura's mind. She closed her eyes and counted the seconds till she died, while she waited for the pain to hit her and be over.
That moment never came. What the pinkette saw as she opened her eyes again was the familiar back of the Uchiha, and over his shoulder, she could see both brothers on the ground with fatal wounds in the neck. Meizu had a cut nearly beheading him, while Gozu looked like something was stabbed into the back of his neck.
"You okay Haruno?" Sasuke asked her with red eyes and two tomoe in each of them directly looking over his shoulder at his teammate. Still shaking, Sakura just nodded. She calmed herself with a short breathing exercise.
"Thank you, but how?" she finally got out under some significant effort to be in control of her body again. The Uchiha looked at the kunai which had penetrated somewhere below his stomach and grunted as the adrenaline subsided, only to be met by a short gasp.
"Sasuke, you are hurt!"
"Yeah, he is, because you froze." Another known voice let Sakura switch her sight to one blonde Naruto Uzumaki. "He saved you and paid the price, oh, and congratulations on unlocking your Sharingan Sasuke," he added looking to his left. Following his look she saw Kakashi with a diagonal gash at the front. The two seemingly dead Demon Brothers were the only ones around them that she could barrier around Tazuna was still in effect.
"What happened? Where are they?" Naruto sighed and began his explanation. He explained how Kakashi was able to deal some damage to Zabuza, only to overextend at some point, getting a nice reminder thanks to Zabuza's sword — which repaired a dent in itself that very moment — which Naruto seemingly had to point out. While one of his clones was administering first aid to Kakashi and even a scowling — but at the same time satisfied-looking Sasuke — he told how he had fought the hunter-nin to a point it revealed itself as a Hyōton user. Most things Sakura could comprehend only as Naruto snapped his fingers at her: she was back in the here and now.
"And then you just froze. You could have changed with one of my clones like I told you in training. Damn. You were lucky Sasuke was only a few meters away and had unlocked his eyes to predict the movement just right that he only got a flesh wound. I hope that was finally enough to get you to train for real Sakura. There will not always be one of us to save your hide. We can't always look behind our backs to save miss little pink princess, ya know. Get your shit together!" The last words cut deep. Was she really that useless?
"Mā mā, Naruto, that's enough. Even if your words hold truth in them, now's not the right place or time to say them." Kakashi was standing again, albeit a bit unsteady. He was exhausted, and his Sharingan was covered again, but the fight with the A-Rank nuke-nin had nearly put him into unconsciousness through sheer chakra exhaustion. "We have no time to stay here in the open. Naruto, seal those two dead bodies away. Get some clones out, and then we will move to Tazuna's house ASAP."
Unknown Location, Somewhere in Wave
Zabuza Momochi and his tool sat in their hideout far away from Gatō and his pathetic excuse for guards. Better thugs, sure, but nothing more. The Kiri hunter-nin had their mask down and showed a feminine face, but the face showed no emotion. The battle outfit was torn in some places, and you could see some bruises shining through. A short — very unladylike — grunt was before Haku looked at Zabuza. "Zabuza-sama, don't move now while I'm applying the cream for the burns." Haku was administering some aid to her master, who suffered cuts and burns from Kakashi's jutsu — nothing too major, but he was out of commission for a while. He laid still while Haku patched him together.
Unbeknownst to the both of them, they had a follower who stayed outside most of the time. Naruto had his clones following the two fleeing shinobi with enough distance to remain hidden. Thanks to his father's jutsu, he could place locator tags without problems, and in his fight with Haku, he hadn't had any problems doing so. Now his clones were listening in on the conversation between the two nin. It was something to hear the reason why they did what they did. Everything seemed to be related to the reigning Mizukage.
The clone watched next as Zabuza repaired the rest of his sword with his blood. He would have to look into that. Yet another thing for the research department he internally chuckled. The clone spy looked for many things to gather information. At the moment the person now identified as Haku met with Gatō, he hit the jackpot as it were. His mission complete, he put up some further barriers to spawn a Shadow Clone in case something happened at both places, and it dispelled itself.
Naruto was meditating in the forest when the information hit him. He looked with a big smile and summoned some clones who added to the existing ones and worked on the new things.
He rushed through some hand seals and a new Naruto appeared.
"You know what to do. I'm off for now." The clone nodded. He was a new version of the Kage Bunshin, something Naruto had worked on to have a sparring partner. It could bleed and recover like a person, it just needed half of Naruto's whole chakra capacity at the moment to create one with a quarter of Naruto's chakra. For reference, Naruto's complete chakra capacity was roughly three times that of Hiruzen Sarutobi at the moment. He could even hold onto the memory transfer function. This was the reason he lost so much capacity in the creation, but the result was something he could work with. Because you likely had to be of Uzumaki heritage to have this much chakra to throw around, he called it the Uzubunshin. His clone would train and do everything he would do — even support his team — while the original would do some further investigating.
Unbeknownst to him, his tenant was pleased by his development: this host was finally one who could match up to his might. Even if the kyūbi hated the Uzumaki for imprisoning him in the first place with that terrible fūinjutsu they were so good at, he had to acknowledge that the new leader of the clan was someone worthy of his respect. Since he had started training, the boy hadn't even drawn his power subconsciously. He was strong enough without it to wreck adults, and all of that within reason. To say the fox was impressed would be a stretch — though not a big one — and if Naruto was about to do what the fox thought he was, he would only gain more respect from the fox.