Chapter 3
It had been three years since the massacre and there was no progress with Sasuke and Satsumei. Sasuke had more or less become cold-hearted and obsessed with getting revenge. When he wasn't at the academy, he was in the training grounds of the Uchiha clan exhausting himself day after day. He was getting stronger for sure, but he lost sight of what's important in life. Instead of brooding he should be trying to help his mother and sister cope. But he even became cold to them as well, he barely talked to his mother and ignored his sister completely.
Speaking of his sister, Satsumei became extremely distant, not so much as ignoring people as if she literally didn't seem to hear them. It was almost as if she was trapped in a world of emptiness. The only people she would speak to were Mikoto, Kushina and Naruto. Axel could only ever get one-word answers from her. He didn't once blame her for it, merely told her he'd be there if she needed someone to confide in.
Mikoto seemed to be doing much better than the children, she had basically told them she more or less knew this or something of the like would be the outcome for the clan but that she expected to also be dead. For the first year she took any chance she got to thank Axel for being there to save her. It meant the world to her that she could be alive for her children. She hadn't even cared too much about the fact she could have died, but that she wouldn't be around for her babies.
Naruto was sad that people had died but the only people he was attached to from the clan were the three that were still alive so his relief and happiness at their survival ultimately kept him from having any kind of depression. He did stay by Satsumei's side as much as possible to help her through but even he could only get her to talk so much.
Kushina mostly stayed by Axel's side just in case he lost control of his emotions as she was the only one that could actually get through when he pulled too much of Kurama's chakra. She wanted to be around for Mikoto but if Axel did end up snapping the whole village would end up a smoking crater, so he was the priority.
"Great, now the elders want me to make the clan secrets part of the public archives. The funny thing is that they're making good points. Mikoto is current clan head by default but she's not even an active shinobi so what would she need them for. I can reason that the children need them but their argument would be that the siblings are far from becoming shinobi so the information is better used in the hands of the village," Axel stated offhandedly with a tired sigh escaping.
Right now, he was in his office with Kushina, Kakashi, and Shikaku dealing with damage control. The massacre had spooked the entirety of the village and shook the foundations. The irony of the whole thing was that it truly did cement the message from his entrance ceremony, this world was cruel and would snuff out life at any time.
"So, what will you do?" was Kushina's question. Indeed, what would he do? This was clearly some kind of scheme by Danzo so even if he just straight out said no there would be some kind of work around pulled. But he did have one idea.
"I'll try and have Mikoto sign over rights to the clan. Technically by bloodline I SHOULD be the clan head anyway but… life didn't quite workout that way," Axel's voice teetered off as he thought about the implications. "What your suggesting could drive a bigger wedge between her and Sasuke. He could end up hating her for giving you clan head," it was very well possible, but Axel had to take a chance, he'd talk with Mikoto, she had the final say and he was merely suggesting.
"I'll inform her of any and all implications and possible consequences," his tone made it obvious that the discussion was closed.
"How are they doing in the academy?" he asked, he never did have enough time to go through ALL the happenings of the village and the academy was something that got neglected.
"They're at the top of their class. The three of them may as well be considered prodigies. Naruto soaks everything you teach like a sponge, he actually is beating the records set by you and Minato," Kushina's voice held so much pride it was palpable. "That's good, I'm glad. He wants me to teach him Kenjutsu and then ninkenjutsu as well as my brand of nintaijutsu. I told him I have no problem teaching him the Kenjutsu in my free time but he'd have to wait until he becomes a genin for ninkenjutsu and chunin for my nintaijutsu. I don't need him being too immature to know how much chakra to pump into his fist and accidently blow a hand off. My half of Kurama has admitted even his chakra can't regenerate body parts."
"When will you start his kenjutsu training?" Kakashi was heavily interested as he had wielded his father's White Light Chakra Saber before it was broken in combat.
"During summer break, it'll give him plenty of time to practice as well as he won't have to split his attention between his training and school. And yes, your more than welcome to join. If memory serves you were quite the swordsman yourself in the ANBU. I'll also see if I can get Yugao to help. I'm sure she wouldn't mind having a student to pass her prowess onto."
"Were you able to locate the sword you were talking about?" Kushina piped up.
"I have reason to believe it's in the Land of Wind, I'll be heading off on a weeklong excursion to retrieve them here soon. You three will be in charge while I'm gone. You can ask Hiruzen for any help you may need."
When he went back to his paperwork, they had all left, the conversation clearly over.
The Uchiha compound- Nighttime
Axel was strolling through the compound with one destination in mind, the Naka Shrine. If what his father had once told him and Minato when they were wee lads was true then there was a tablet that held some secrets for him.
When he arrived and entered, he looked around and noticed the seventh tatami mat was ever so slightly disturbed. 'There!' he thought and walked over kicking it out of the way. 'When they were still alive, they were lucky this place was off limits because they sure as hell don't know how to be inconspicuous."
He saw a stairway where the tatami mat was covering and descended down until he got to what he assumed was the secret clan meeting room. He looked around and spotted the tablet he was looking for, he approached and noticed it was indeed illegible. Activating his Sharingan he noticed some of it could now be read and then further advancing to his Mangekyou most of the knowledge on the tablet was now accessible.
It was a moment of silence with him taking in every detail until "This fucking thing has been tampered with!"
"Whelp, it's useless to me now," he said off-handedly and with a swipe of his hand and a pulse of chakra the tablet crumbled into a pile of dust. He turned to walk out and noticed that he had a tail. "Naruto, why are you following me?"
"What made that tablet so important you had to leave the house this late at night?" how dare he answer a question with a question! Little brat. He sighed before beginning the lecture.
"According to your grandfather its supposed to more or less hold the history of chakra, and it's supposed to also tell the tale of Hagoromo Otsutsuki."
"Who's that?" this kid was about to have his mind blown.
"The Sage of Six Paths, the first ever wielder of the Sharingan. Which means he's our ancestor. We're part of a direct line of descendants of his."
"That's awesome but why did you have to read it now?"
"Call it general curiosity. Now, let's go home, your mother's probably worried sick by now and I'm somehow going to get my ass chewed out because of this."
He was right, somehow it got blamed on him and he got hit over the head with a frying pan, Naruto got bear hugged by an overly protective mother. How was that fair? Mikoto ended up trying to console him by saying 'there, there' and rubbing the forming bump on his head, and Satsumei was actually laughing her ass off! If it brought her out of that shell though, so be it. He'd take one for the team. Sasuke was still brooding in the corner. At least life in this village wasn't boring.
The week of finals and one week before graduation
Time flew by as always, it had been six whole years since the massacre and the students were all excited and some of them slightly nervous. The clan heirs were all ready for it because when they saw Naruto, Sasuke and Satsumei dominating the class they got their asses in gear and started working harder to not be left behind. Sakura surprised even Naruto, she seemed to have gotten a talk from someone because she actually started taking her career as a kunoichi seriously.
The tests for graduation were simple, there was a written portion that was strictly history and politics of the shinobi world, there was a shuriken and kunai test, there were taijutsu matches, and the ninjutsu part of the test was different this year. Axel made sure to implement elemental manipulation at the third year. All students were required to have three jutsus of their elemental affinity. Axel decided the basic three jutsus they were teaching wasn't enough. When the Third War was finished, he noticed that they massively reduced the difficulty of the curriculum. While this allowed more students to pass and Konoha to fill out the ranks from the losses during said war it wasn't producing GOOD shinobi. In this line of profession, it was all about quality over quantity, after all he was literally worth legions of soldiers at this point. His feat of strength is literally tearing apart TWO armies with just his hands so… he didn't want to be producing weak shinobi that were just going to get killed out in the field. It'd be irresponsible of him to send them to their deaths because they're unprepared.
Naruto passed at the top of the class with Satsumei right behind him and Sasuke following them. This put Axel in an interesting position because the general strategy when picking teams is to put the dead last with the rookie and kunoichi of the year. But this year he was going to do something different besides, the jonin he was thinking about in particular had made a special request and Axel agreed to it immediately. Technically everyone was requesting Naruto but hey, not everyone can win. The jonin of the new teams had all agreed whoever got the future Hokage in the making would have what would be considered the strongest team because of him alone. With his plan he was going to replicate his old team though thus creating another new sannin-like team.
The day before team announcements came around Axel called Kakashi into his office. "You wished to see me Lord Fifth?" he knew not to be late, never with Axel.
"Yes, I have fantastic news for you. Your team requests have been fully approved and I've already picked your third member," Axel responded pushing three folders forward. Kakashi eye smiled at the first two but raised his eyebrow at the third one. "Permission to speak freely sir?"
"Go ahead. I expected questions anyway."
"Why Sasuke Uchiha?"
"With this team I was trying to replicate my own, Satsumei would take the place of Mikoto, Naruto is like a combination of both myself and Minato. He's absolutely brilliant in the shinobi arts like his father but he's always training himself into the ground like myself to get even stronger, never letting himself get complacent. The problem was who the hell would I put with those two?"
"I'm following so far."
"Well, Sasuke seems like he could be a flight risk based on his behavior since the massacre, I should know, I live with him. The only person of his generation he speaks to is Naruto. I want you to take him because your also my only jonin with the sharingan. You have something that all three of them will need, and if Sasuke does become a flight risk or turns his back on his teammates at least I would have put the top two genin other than himself. Any more concerns?"
"If he does become a flight risk and turn on us?"
"Bring him in for interrogation and possibly rehabilitation, if that isn't possible you have my full authorization to terminate him. I'll deal with Mikoto myself."
"Very well, anything I need to know about Naruto that you haven't told me?"
"He can use up to two tails worth. He's better at Kenjutsu than I was at his age, he has four affinities, so he knows jutsus from all elements except earth, frankly he's just stronger than either me or Minato were at that age. If you do that accursed bell test, he may actually be capable of doing it on his own. Don't underestimate him if you do," was Axel's response before going back to paperwork dropping the conversation in typical Axel fashion.
The next day Naruto was drifting in and out of consciousness leaning his right cheek on his hand. As soon as Iruka walked in everyone noticed Mizuki his assistant wasn't with him. "Where's Mizuki?" someone in the back of the class asked. "There was an incident last night involving him and he will no longer be teaching here. But we have more important matters. Your all graduating and getting placed on genin squads today! I've gotten to watch you grow-"
Naruto more or less tuned him out as he dozed off before an elbow hit him in the ribs. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Satsumei trying to hold back a smirk. He glanced the other way and saw Sasuke staring out the window probably thinking about revenge.
Naruto didn't let himself doze off any longer but didn't pay attention either until the actual team assignments and even then, he didn't until his name was called.
"Team seven! Naruto Uchiha!" he sat up immediately getting a yelp out of the girl next to him. "Sasuke Uchiha!" a glance over to said boy told him that he didn't care. "And Satsumei Uchiha! Your jonin instructor is Kakashi Hatake!" Naruto jumped out of his chair with a 'YEAH!' and startled the girl next to him yet again. "Naruto! Your gonna give me a heart attack! Knock it off!" she hollered indignantly but she was just as happy as him. Naruto was the one she wanted to be teamed up with and she preferred Sasuke over everyone else here even if he still gave her the cold shoulder most of the time, at the end of the day she knew she could count on him to have her back… she hoped.
The rest of the teams went by, Team Eight was Hinata, Kiba, Shino and Sakura interestingly enough. Four-man team? That's different. Their jonin was Kurenai, all Naruto knew about the woman was that she was extremely gifted in regard to genjutsu even earning her the moniker of 'Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress'. Team Ten was the classic Ino-Shika-Cho combo, never gets old and always seems to happen. Their instructor was Asuma Sarutobi, the only living wind specialist in Konoha (since his own father was dead), and the son of the old man.
"Your jonin senseis will be here momentarily!" Iruka stated before leaving the room and within ten minutes teams began filing out until all that was left was Team Seven. They didn't wait for too long which totally surprised Naruto because Kakashi was late for everything except meeting with his uncle. His uncle must have threatened him. "Alright, my cute little genin, meet me on the rooftop in ten minutes," he said after holding eye contact with Naruto for just a moment and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. They filed out and ascended the floors of the academy and made it in less than ten minutes.
"Well, the early bird catches the worm or so they say. I can appreciate punctuality."
'You are literally the only shinobi I know who's ever as late as you are,' Naruto thought with a sweat drop and Kakashi somehow knew what he was thinking because he pointed directly at Naruto. "Good! Sunshine here has volunteered to go first with introductions, tell us your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future," he said with a pointed stare, it was freaking weird with only one eye. Granted Naruto's been dealing with this man all his life but still can't get used to all of his habits.
"Can you give me an example?"
"Sure. My name is Kakashi Hatake and I have a few likes, I also have some dislikes, your far too young to know my hobbies, and dreams? I can't really think of any," he stated drawing sweat drops from all of his genin. 'You didn't tell us anything.'
"I guess I'm first. My name is Naruto Uchiha, I like ramen, swords and my friends. I don't like traitors, the time it takes to make instant ramen, or people who can't see me for me. My hobbies are training and pestering my uncle. My dream is to take the hat from my uncle one day and do my father proud!" he exclaimed the last part with fierce determination. 'He already is little brother' was the thought Kakashi left unsaid. "You next emo"
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, and I don't particularly like anything, and I have far too many dislikes. I don't have any hobbies and my dream isn't so much a dream as it is a reality. I WILL kill a certain someone and then I might attempt to rebuild the Uchiha clan," he said not so much as blinking or looking at any of them. 'First red flag, but also interesting he has another goal in life. I might be able to work with this' "You next mini-Mikoto."
"I am not a mini version of my mom!" she yelled angrily, she loved her mother but being know for looking like her mother was not something she wanted, and it upset her whenever she was compared to the woman. She was her own person dammit!
"Fine, your up next princess," well, that was probably the best she'd get, after all she's interacted with this guy a few times whenever he visited the estate and as impressive as his record is as a shinobi, he's ridiculously nonchalant and uncaring at times. "Good enough. My name is Satsumei Uchiha, and I like tomatoes, cooking, and books. I dislike traitors, and people who think I'm a clone of my mother. My hobbies are training and studying new jutsu and techniques. My dream is to find answers, and I suppose I can help blondie here become Hokage," she ended receiving an eye smile.
"Very good, I hate to be the one to inform you but you're not technically genin yet," all except Naruto was surprised. Axel had told stories of his genin days and how Jiraiya decided to skip the actual test. "Before you say anything let me explain. The graduation test was essentially a way to weed out those completely unfit to become shinobi. The jonin are required to put you through a test of their choosing to test your actual meddle. We put you through more difficulty than what the academy did so that we can assess if it's even worth training you or if you'll just freeze up on the battlefield. The current Hokage is very strict about who gets into the ranks because he doesn't want people going out into the field just to get their comrades killed."
"So, when do we take the test?" Naruto asked impatiently, wanting to do it now.
"Tommorrow, meet me at training ground seven at seven sharp. Oh, and don't eat anything or you might puke," he responded before disappearing in another swirl of leaves.
"Whelp, I'm feeling kind of hungry, either of you want to come get a bite to eat with me?" he received the classic Uchiha 'Hn' from Sasuke who just walked away. "Sure, I would love to join you Naruto," she owed this boy a lot, he dragged her out of the pits of despair after the massacre. No matter how many times he failed to get anything out of her, how many times she curled in on herself retreating into the emotional shell she'd built up for herself, he never gave up and eventually got through to her. She still has trauma from it even though she didn't witness it happen, but it was getting better. Along with constantly being around him she was also going with her mother to therapy sessions. The therapist said they should be fine but gave the option to keep it going incase either of them relapsed and so they of course took them up on it.
"How about ramen?" of course he wanted ramen, she didn't mind, at least Ichiraku's was delicious. "Sure, I'm not picky," that wasn't completely true but around him she really didn't mind what they ate.
While they were walking to the ramen stand, she caught Naruto stealing quick glances here and there. He acted like he was watching the sights, but he's been in the village all his life so there probably wasn't a single place he hadn't seen other than probably the red-light district.
He couldn't help it, he found her to be quite attractive and puberty is a bitch. Her gray kimono style blouse similar to the legendary Tsunade's with a black sash towards the bottom holding it together, and long black pants ending with white wrappings around her ankles and black sandals. She didn't really care much about her appearance from what he could tell, either that or she was extremely confident in her looks, she NEVER wore makeup or did any fancy hairstyles. She obviously got her looks from her mother as she really did look like a mini-Mikoto, he didn't mind as Aunt Mikoto was a beautiful woman. Those onyx eyes and the bangs framing her face, they were all alluring to him. He was aware that she knew he was peeking, but he just couldn't help it especially with that smile of hers.
When they finally got to Ichiraku's Naruto immediately ordered three bowls of miso ramen and Satsumei ordered one. They talked about their planned training to do once they're officially genin and other topics, how things are going at home, etc. It was a nice time and honestly it almost felt like a date but neither one would say it out of fear of making the other uncomfortable. After ten bowls for Naruto they fought over the bill but Naruto won out simply stating that money quite literally meant nothing to him due to the inheritance from his father. She felt like she was taking advantage of his kindness but he also reminded her that he ate four times as much as her so it wouldn't have been fair for her to pay anyway.
The walk back home was relatively silent as they both got lost in thoughts. It wasn't until they saw Axel standing outside the estate waiting up for them or at least Naruto that they noticed they were home.
"Hey kiddos! I was able to get the paperwork done early and wanted to test Naruto myself tonight," Axel stated. "It's been a while since we last sparred so I'm down!"
Five minutes later the whole family was in the backyard, which was massive, perfect for high intensity fights with large scale jutsus. Even Sasuke was sitting with everyone. Axel and Naruto went topless just to save their clothes. This fight would no doubt leave anything not made of probably chakra metal in tatters and even that would get beaten to shit. Mikoto and Satsumei were enjoying the show. Naruto himself was surprisingly well built for his age and Axel may as well have been chiseled by the gods themselves. 'That's what Naruto will look like one day!? I'm still going to be knocking away fangirls well into his adult life!' Satsumei thought and one quick glance showed that Mikoto was just smiling away, she was EATING Axel up. Satsumei and Sasuke were well aware that the marriage to Fugaku was more formality than anything, she was a trophy wife at best. Her love for her children was real but there was no love between the two adults. Her heart had been stolen even before the third war by Axel, the only reason she had gotten married to Fugaku was clan politics. She didn't regret it because she got her children out of it.
"Alright Naruto, a few ground rules. I want you to come at me with everything you have! I am restricting myself to taijutsu and weapons only. I will not be using sage mode or Kurama's chakra. I want you to come at me with the intent to kill," Axel stated deadly serious. This was a test of just how far along Naruto had come. "You got it sensei!" he gave a mock salute and got into position.
Axel crossed his arms across his chest in an almost mocking manner as Naruto slid into a loose stance; right hand and foot forward, left hand and foot back. They both watched as a leaf fell to the ground and as soon as it hit the ground Naruto took off toward Axel throwing a loose punch from his right and Axel side stepped the blow and sidestepped another coming the other direction, the process repeated showing that Axel wasn't trying and what made it funnier was his long spiky hair waving around with every movement almost looking like it was dancing. After a few more tries Naruto attempted a round-house kick and was met by a hand catching the foot and throwing him across the clearing. "Good, your much faster than you were the last time we did this!"
Naruto performed a cross-sign with the pointer and middle fingers on each hand and two more Narutos appeared on either side of him. They rushed in and one did a leg sweep while the other did a jumping high kick attempting to take advantage of Axel jumping over the sweep. The clones didn't expect Axel to grab the clone on the ground and literally pull him up and hit the airborne clone making them both pop. The real Naruto was merely observing. 'Good, he's using the shadow clones for their original purpose, reconnasaince.'
"How about we kick it up a bit?" Axel asked rhetorically as his right hand grazed over his left forearm pulsing with chakra and his left hand grazed his right forearm also pulsing with chakra. Instantly seals appeared and then two 'pops' accompanying large smoke clouds were seen. Axel pulled his signature claymore from the cloud on his left and his father's gunbai from the right. He swiped them out to his sides completely dispersing the smoke. It really was pretty damn badass.
In response Naruto flung two scrolls into the air while channeling chakra into them eliciting two smoke clouds he reached in and swiped out revealing two odachis each five feet in length. The one in his left hand surrounded by a maelstrom of extremely high-powered wind, the stream of air so powerful that clothes, hair and leaves were blown around all across the clearing regardless of proximity. The sword in his right hand constantly crackling with lightning.
"Pulling out Fujin and Ryujin at the same time, I'm honored," Axel mocked.
"Don't be. You know damn well it's required in this situation," Naruto defiantly stated back.
Axel swiped his claymore from left to right while pumping chakra into it sending a huge wave of fire forward, then swiped his gunbai the opposite way sending a blast of wind chakra that combined and doubled the size and temperature of the fire attack.
Naruto without seals conjured two more clones who each ran through hand seals.
"Water Style: Water Vortex Jutsu!"
"Lightning Style: Great Thunderhead Jutsu!"
The vortex of water began clashing with the oncoming attack and right when it was about to be beaten a giant blast of lightning came down from the sky and struck down in the middle of the collision further weakening Axel's attack but it kept going.
Naruto swiped from right to left with Fujin his wind odachi sending a giant blast of wind, and left to right with Ryujin his lightning odachi sending a giant lighting bolt essentially creating a small supercell flying toward his opponent's attack. The attacks collided and after a huge explosion dissipated. "Good, your already in sync with your weapons," Axel stated with pride. It was phenomenal getting this praise but Naruto was already worn out chakra-wise. Ironic since he had the titanic furball in his gut.
The amount of chakra needed to give those shadow clones enough chakra to make attacks of that level was already ridiculous but factor in how much chakra he put into his weapons just now and tanked probably half his total chakra just now fending off that attack.
"You wanna call it quits? I'm very happy with your progress," Axel offered but knew Naruto would turn the offer down.
"I have one last thing to do," he stated aggressively. Everyone other than Axel tensed ever so slightly when they felt the fox's chakra burst out of Naruto and he was covered in the red bubbling aura, his fangs elongating, his nails growing into claws, his eyes turning red with slit pupils.
In an instant he was upon Axel wildly flailing but even Axel had to somewhat try against these blows. It wasn't that there was any skill, but that if they somehow hit, it would fucking hurt. His main defense right now was his gunbai due to its size, he just had to adjust positions to defend against the onslaught. It was nothing to him but lesser shinobi would be hard pressed to stand against it.
Naruto kept going even though his muscles were aching, screaming for him to stop. He wouldn't listen, his onslaught kept going until all of a sudden he was locked down by blood red chains that were blocking all chakra usage, Kurama's chakra evaporated near instantaneously and Naruto was left confused until he took a good look at Axel and noticed the Mangekyou active.
"I thought you said you were only going to use taijutsu and weapons?"
"That was correct until you started pulling on more than just two tails of chakra. You didn't even realize you were losing control," was Axel's simple response. "You did phenomenal though. I truly expected a bit less from you, I didn't believe anyone could make that much progress in a year but color me surprised."
Naruto couldn't help but love the praise. Growing up he'd gotten praise whenever he did something above average, but Uncle Axel's praises always seemed as valuable as gold, so genuine, so much more valuable than even his mother's, he hated to think it but it was true. Uncle Axel is considered the strongest man in the Elemental Nations so praise from him MEANS something. And he doesn't lie about these things.
Naruto began to fall before Axel caught him. "Easy now, you spent an enormous amount of chakra in the fight, and you went up to three tails worth so not only are you physically exhausted, but your body is trying to recuperate from using the fox's chakra," he said as he noticed the cuts all over Naruto's body from the stray wind chakra. He looked at himself and noticed the same just less of them. 'Must not have noticed it due to the adrenaline'
"Hey Kushina, can you grab your son and put him in to rest. I'll have Kakashi push the test back a few hours, so he has more time to recover," he more or less commanded walking Naruto over to her. She took him away and he glanced over at the other three occupants. "Sasuke, before you strive to beat Itachi, use this as a lesson. Hatred will always hold you back. The power you just saw from Naruto comes from the need to protect his precious people, including you."
Sasuke gave him a 'hn' and skulked into the house. "Well, he'll either learn the lesson eventually or he'll fail, after all Kakashi learned it the hard way, why can't he?" he mumbled off handedly and noticed the Uchiha mother and daughter still eyeing him up and down. "Well ladies. Like what you see?" they couldn't say anything, they were caught red-handed, if they told the truth they would look like perverts and if they lied, he'd know anyway, but that's when another voice saved them and said what they were thinking anyways.
"Of course they like what they see, your smoking hot!" came Kushina's voice as she walked back out to the porch. "Kushina! That's your brother!" Mikoto finally found her voice and that's the first thing she thought of? "Meh, as long as I don't touch it's fine. Besides my heart will always belong to Minato. Anywho, I'm gonna cook dinner now, get cleaned up," even Mikoto couldn't rebut that.
Dinner went by relatively quietly other than topics about training, Axel giving a few pointers to the aspiring shinobi and kunoichi, they ate it up. The man is a living legend, if he says even one little thing would make a difference then it would. He even told them to make sure to eat breakfast in the morning. He knew what Kakashi said, and it was fucked up, even he wasn't that cruel. Later that night he sent Kakashi a summon with a message pushing the test back two hours.
Training ground seven
9 am came too quickly for the not quite yet genin, Naruto was fully recuperated from the bout with Axel and Sasuke and Satsumei were ready and raring to go.
"Naruto," she said his name getting his attention, but she was looking anywhere but at him. "What's up?" he asked, bright grin on his face.
"You know Kakashi a great deal more than either of us, could you tell us any of his abilities?"
"Oh yeah, Kakashi is arguably the strongest jonin currently residing in the village not counting my mom. He's got jutsu of every nature that he's acquired over the course of his career. He was a student of my father and is dangerously intelligent. He's got a dog summoning contract though to what effect they have in combat I do not know," Naruto explained. "You know you shouldn't give away peoples secrets Naruto," Kakashi said jumping down from one of the trees nearby.
"A shinobi must always be prepared whether it's knowledge, gear, or abilities. I think it would be perfectly within mission parameters to have knowledge on most famous shinobi."
"You'd be correct. The test is simple, I have two bells here. Your mission is to get a bell and whoever doesn't get one gets sent back to the academy. You have all day however we will break for lunch at noon," Kakashi explained eyeing up his team's reactions. Naruto was completely unbothered by the conditions set, most likely expecting something like this. Satsumei seemed worried but for herself or her team he couldn't ascertain. Sasuke had that Uchiha smirk on his face. 'He's definitely the problem child.'
"Begin!" Sasuke and Satsumei darted out of the clearing to the trees leaving Naruto and Kakashi standing across from each other. "Naruto, you know you can't defeat me on your own so why try?"
"Reconnaissance purposes. Think of this as me gathering more info on your abilities," Naruto didn't even give him a chance to respond as he'd already charged forward summoning Fujin out of a scroll and bringing the blade down.
Kakashi got a kunai out just in time to block the sword and was surprised by the strength Naruto put behind the blow. Then he noticed it, the stream of wind behind Naruto's blade that was pushing it forward. "Impressive, ninkenjutsu at your age. What else will you show."
"A lot more than this. I'm sure my uncle told you not to fight me like I'm some run of the mill genin," Naruto answered back before releasing the grip of his left hand allowing the stream of wind to do most of the work for him. His left hand pulled a scroll from his pocket pulsing with chakra, and it unsealed allowing him to swipe Ryujin out of the air and bring it down on Kakashi.
Kakashi was hit as the move was done so quick and suddenly, but he disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving behind a log. "I knew you'd substitute out of that."
"I'm impressed by your strategy. You fooled me into thinking you were only going to use Fujin and while I was busy holding it back brought in Ryujin. You're using the art of deception at such a young age. They grow up so fast."
"Your mocking isn't going to throw me off. I've been both insulted and praised all my life I'm used to it," he didn't give him time as yet again he was upon Kakashi this time a crackling Ryujin coming down and Fujin coming in from the side. Kakashi barely managed to roll to the right before the swords could slice him through. Kakashi pulled out a second kunai and covered both of his blades in lightning chakra meeting Naruto mid-charge. He also added wind chakra to the blades to elongate them. Luckily, Axel trained him to do it with two chakra natures. It was excruciatingly painful training but apparently it paid off. He didn't think it would be useful but it probably just evened the playing field back out.
Combined with his already longer arms than Naruto the extended blades made it a mere chore to deal with the two odachis. He was extremely impressed with Naruto's swordsmanship, wielding two blades of that size would suck for almost anyone, the blades would normally cause one to over extend and create openings, but Naruto used them in such a way as to make every swipe force the opponent into a position where Naruto could easily deflect the opposing blade or outright overpower his foe's guard. If it wasn't for Kakashi's experience and instincts he probably would have already been down for the count.
Then he saw it, Naruto overextended on one of his swipes and couldn't move in time for the knee to his gut. HARD. It sent him careening across the clearing but when he struck down, he went up in a poof of smoke. Kakashi looked around the clearing and even tried to sense around to find Naruto but couldn't find him. He put his kunai away and pulled out an orange book and started giggling perversely.
Naruto popped up out of nowhere right next to Satsumei not too far away from the clearing and immediately had to duck underneath a kunai trying to swipe his head off. "Whoa! Calm down Satsumei, it's me Naruto!"
"Stop startling me!" she yelled indignantly and put her kunai away. "Did your little scouting mission get you what you needed?"
"Yeah, this test is about teamwork. There's no way to get the bell from him if you're not bordering on jonin level at least. He rather easily adapts to almost any change in the flow of battle. Even worse he's capable of charging his kunai with more than one nature, something I thought only my uncle and father could do."
"There were rumors going around that he had started slacking off on his training after the third war, but I guess that just went out the window. Apparently, he's been trained by your uncle which makes this much more difficult," Satsumei responded clearly deterred. "Don't worry, I'm coming up with a plan and a plan B as we speak. I just need to get Sasuke in on it," he assured placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her that sunshine smile of his. She felt her courage coming back and knew Naruto wouldn't let this end in failure.
They then went to find said brooder and found him in the ground with only his head above the dirt. "What happened to you?" Naruto asked rather uncaringly, he was too busy trying not to laugh. "None of your business, besides I at least touched one of the bells," Kakashi went easy on him!? The nerve!
"You realize he LET you touch it right? He was analyzing your skills and the moment he was no longer satisfied he put you in the ground. Now, are you going to hear me out or act like a spoilt brat?" even Satsumei thought that was too harsh but she'd let them work it out. Naruto is the only one who ever seems to get through to Sasuke so she'd trust him
Sasuke seemed to deliberate for a few minutes and Naruto gave him all the time he needed. "There're only two bells. One of us gets sent back no matter what."
Naruto seemed to think about it for just a second before erupting into full blown laughter. It took him thirty seconds to stop and calm down, he even wiped a tear away! "My dear Sasuke, if you honestly think Kakashi can take only two genin then you're a fool. You've let him get in your head and rattle you this whole time. Like my uncle has always told me, always look underneath the underneath."
"You mean to tell me he can't just fail one of us?"
"He COULD but that would mean the other two are put on reserve which doesn't make much sense considering our proficiency with the shinobi arts at our age. The only requirement is to show we can work together. Frankly, I'm not even sure that we have to get the bells. Don't get me wrong, we're getting those damn bells."
"What if your wrong?"
"Then you can have my bell, you have my word, and you know I don't go back on my word."
"Then you have my cooperation. What's your brilliant plan?" with Sasuke on board Naruto unsealed a shovel to dig him out and then they huddled together for Naruto to explain plan A and plan B.
Five minutes later Kakashi was standing in the clearing he battled Naruto in, one hand in pocket, the other supporting the book he had his nose dug into until he snapped it shut and put it away to look directly at Naruto. "Back again? This won't end well"
"We'll see." Naruto instantly charged forward with two tails worth of Kurama's chakra surrounding him, features going through the familiar transformation. Kakashi barely blocked Naruto swinging both hands down from above like a hammer. He couldn't help but take notice how much force was in the swing. If he hadn't been training with Axel using the fox's chakra this whole time not only would he be completely unprepared for this boost in strength, but he'd also be sporting more than just a few bruises after this. "I wasn't going to use his chakra, but I somehow get the feeling you can handle it," Naruto stated as he began a wild barrage of punches and kicks aimed to steer Kakashi towards their trap. Kakashi was frustrated but the sense of pride he had for his little brother outweighed that. It wouldn't behoove him to start thinking irrationally with how crafty the boy is.
Kakashi was being led to the river nearby by Naruto's constant hammering away at his defenses, it's not that he couldn't stop him, but he didn't want to because it could both cause extreme harm to the boy and because he wanted to see more. Besides he could sense the other two nearby in the same direction they were headed so clearly there was some kind of teamwork going on. He'd let them initiate their plan and then foil it. Oh, the fun he would be having with these three.
They came out to a river and Naruto immediately disengaged letting the cloak of chakra dissipate. One moment his eyes were closed, the next Kakashi had a set of crimson eyes with two tomoe each staring back at him. An eyebrow raised but he said nothing. Sasuke descended from a tree and began blurring through hand signs before breathing deep. "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" the ball of fire was surprisingly large and hot for a shinobi his age but that wasn't the end of it.
Naruto unsealed Fujin and pumped a large amount of chakra into the blade, swiping the blade towards the fire ball, releasing a giant blast of high-speed wind.
The wind and the fire combined to make a giant blaze that covered most of the area they were in. Kakashi fast on his feet flew through hand signs and exactly like Naruto knew would happen Kakashi sucked in water from the river next to them and then shot it out creating a giant wall of water. The two attacks clashed continuously until Kakashi finally felt the fire attack start to give. Unfortunately, he didn't notice Satsumei creep up behind him and cut the strings for the bells.
She grabbed the bells and jumped away right as he noticed and before he could do anything Naruto and Sasuke jumped in front of her. "So, Kakashi-sensei. Does this mean we pass?"
"Yes, but only two of you get to pass," he said in an uncaring tone. Naruto nodded his head towards Sasuke and Satsumei handed a bell to him. "That's your final answer Naruto?"
"I wouldn't be worthy of taking my uncle's hat if I couldn't make sacrifices like this. What's one more year anyway," Naruto said with a foxy grin.
"Well then… you all pass!" Naruto figured so he just continued to grin, Satsumei was jumping for joy and Sasuke was smirking smugly. "You figured out the point of the test and used everyone's strengths to your advantage. Naruto also went ahead and took one for the team by fighting me one on one so he could gather information on my fighting style. You'll be a great leader one day. Go home, celebrate with your family and I'll swing by later to join you. I have to report to the Hokage," with that he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
"Let's go home guys."
"Who made you the leader?"
"Well, I AM the son of a Hokage and the nephew of one as well. Leadership RUNS in my veins."
"Guys, no fighting."
"Tch. Don't boss me around."
Namikaze Residence
Kushina made a feast to celebrate their passing and it was a lively night, even Sasuke seemed to be happy and that just made everyone happier. When Axel finally finished his paperwork and listening to Kakashi's report they headed home to join in, Axel immediately devouring everything in sight and even picking a fight with Naruto over certain scraps. How they loved Kushina's cooking. They loved it so much that while they were wrestling on the ground now, they didn't notice the shadow creeping up on them until it was too late. Suddenly they were both picked up by chakra chains and had their heads knocked against each other. Poor Naruto was seeing stars and Axel just felt some minor discomfort. "Hah! You'll have to do better than that ya damn witch!"
Famous last words as he was repeatedly slammed into the floor… over and over until finally "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it I swear!"
She did stop but threw him across the room. "You're paying for the repairs Ax," she said with a tone that left no room for arguments leaving him mumbling incoherent curses. He doesn't cause the damage but somehow gets stuck with it, how the hell is that fair?
"I'm putting you under house arrest for assaulting your Hokage!" it was in gest but still she took the bait. "You want some more!?" eyes shadowed and her hair flowing behind her in nine tails and he was officially terrified, holy shit. "As fun as this evening has been, and it has, I mean how often do you get to see the strongest man in the nations get flung around by a fiery red head? I must get home. Team meeting's at seven tomorrow morning. We'll do some light training and then go on a mission," Kakashi stated before leaving.
"Naruto, snap out of it!" Satsumei was trying and failing to shake him out of his current dizziness even going so far as to smack him a few times. "Aunt Kushina, I think you broke him!"
"Nonsense, he's just a little disoriented. Watch and learn," Kushina responded as she grabbed a glass of ice-cold water and then proceeded to dump it over Naruto's head. The effect was instant, Naruto shot up and was in a fighting stance. "Who did that!?"
"Naruto honey, its time for bed," Kushina responded to his indignant shout and slapped him upside the head. "Yes mom," he said while rubbing the spot she hit. "Night everyone," he yawned and walked upstairs to his room.
"Well, that was easy, you all can go to bed now. I can handle the dishes," Kushina tried to more or less command but Axel wasn't having it. "No, you did enough by making all this for us, I got-" he didn't get to finish as he was pushed up the stairs.
"Absolutely not! You are the Hokage and you do more than enough work seeing to the needs of the village, shadow clones or not you are not doing meager chores such as this! If you're that worried about it I'm sure Mikoto and Satsumei would be willing to help me with this," her response was answered by nods. "Well, if you ladies have it. Sasuke you want some last minute training before bed?" he was immediately pushed out of the house by the emo. He couldn't and wouldn't pass this chance up!
Training ground seven- morning
Naruto knew light training would be boring but he didn't realize it would do nothing for him! Kakashi had insisted on teamwork exercises but the way the boy saw it, his team would work together when it mattered, they might go so far as bickering any chance they got but that was acceptable as long as they left it off the battlefield. They couldn't and wouldn't be their parent's old team. There was just too much hurt, sorrow, and darkness lurking in their hearts for that. Even Satsumei relapsed once in a while no matter how temporary it was. That was his theory on why he was truly put with these two, other than him they had the most potential but if they relapsed in combat and froze up he should be capable of bringing them back alive.
Kakashi said in a week they would be doing actual physical combat training as well as working on flaws they all might have. For Naruto that meant his mediocre at best chakra control. For Satsumei that was her physical strength as well as slight confidence issues. Sasuke's biggest flaw was his ego hands down but that was neither here nor there.
They had finally got around to do a mission and while the Hokage had said he would rather send them on a C-Rank mission he did also mention that it was unorthodox and simply too soon. They needed more time and for the most part they were fine with that. At least he TRIED to give them somewhat interesting jobs. That damn cat pissed them off, the general chores got annoying after awhile and simple delivery missions didn't take long at all. But… it could be worse, they could be thrown straight into a war that they can't back out of, or so it was explained to them by the Hokage. He was right, they weren't ready for anything like that and they knew that for sure, even Sasuke was a bit somber at that thought. When complaining and what not they forgot that their parents, sensei, and Hokage all grew up during times of great war and they took for granted the peace they got to grow up in.
After finally two weeks of D-Ranks they had gotten the required number of missions required to take their first C-Rank and the Hokage specifically requested them for it. As long as Kakashi was willing to accept the mission under the circumstances that anything off the rocker happens and he sends a message back to the village, they would get to go on their first mission outside the village. Kakashi seemed like he would deny it but Naruto worked his magic by pulling the big brother card and he had Kakashi wrapped around his finger.
The mission was simple, escort a bridge builder to the land of waves and protect him from bandits and the like. Axel told them something smelled fishy so to be on their guard. With a "Yes Lord Fifth!" they all left to meet up at the village gates in an hour. Axel watched their retreating forms with a smile. Kushina off to his side merely watched him before speaking up. "What's got you so happy?"
"I'm just reminiscing. I'm thirty-eight years old and thirteen of those years have primarily been spent here in this office. I miss the field and I'll probably end up living vicariously through that team. Especially my nephew. I envy Kakashi just a little bit. I can't help it. The only reason I'm still in this position is that it's the best way for me to keep both you and Naruto safe. I've still got a few more tasks as the Hokage but that's beside the point," it was a rare sign of weakness, and she was currently the only one he would pour his heart out like this to. She listened with rapt attention and took a moment to think. He didn't give her time to say anything. "If I ended up going back to jonin I would have pulled some strings and become their jonin myself frankly," he stated as he pulled out the viewing ball that the hokage all had access to and watched their interaction with the client.
The village gates
"You're just a bunch of snot nosed brats! You think you can protect me?" Sasuke bristled at the insult and even Satsumei was having a hard time containing her normally long fuse, so it was up to Naruto to diffuse it, he decided to use a bit of reverse psychology. "Well, Tazuna-san if you think your up to the task of fighting bandits better than trained and deadly shinobi then please be my guest. I have no problem both writing your memoir and even bringing you straight to your bandits if that's what you want," Tazuna paled considerably at the thought and back in the office Axel had started laughing uncontrollably and Kushina was merely flabbergasted.
"Naruto! That's not how we treat our allies or our clients! You should apologize immediately," Kakashi chided but Naruto caught on to the playful tone behind it, nonetheless he acted the part anyway, he even gave a bow!
"My apologies, my sensei is indeed correct and that was also uncalled for. Please allow my humble team and I to accompany you on this quest of yours," Kakashi was really having a hard time keeping it in, if Naruto went any further than this he would be on the ground dying of laughter.
"Uhm, apologies accepted kid, just please stop bowing like that! I'm not royalty or anything. Just escort me please," the drunken old man stated noticeably uncomfortably.
"My cute little genin please excuse me for one minute and we can leave," Kakashi said eyeing Naruto the whole time and receiving a smirk back. He went out of earshot and let it out, the only one hearing his laughter was Naruto due to his enhanced hearing from Kurama. When he came back Naruto gave him a knowing smirk and proceeded to walk out the gates seemingly beginning the mission.
They walked for about a day, Naruto in the front because he happened to be a sensor, Sasuke and Satsumei on either side of Tazuna for his protection and Kakashi in the back to supervise and survey. They passed by a puddle of water and Kakashi was instantly joined by a clone of Naruto, he didn't see Naruto make the hand signs so it must have been seal less. They locked eyes for a moment, Kakashi shook his head and the clone dispersed relaying the information back to Naruto.
They didn't get much farther when suddenly two shinobi appeared on either side of them surrounding Kakashi in chains and pulling them slicing him in half.
Naruto jumped in front of Tazuna summoning Fujin and Ryujin, Sasuke leaped at one of the shinobi and began close range combat and Satsumei froze until "You've got this! Don't freeze up, you've been training for this!"
The encouragement from her whiskered friend was enough for her to leap into action, she easily out sped the enemy disarming them and disabling them with ninja wire with ease. She wouldn't admit it, but she was the fastest member of the genin without counting Naruto's chakra cloak. She looked over at Sasuke noticing his enemy was tied up with his own chain.
They heard clapping coming from the side of the path they'd been on and saw Kakashi walking out from the trees. "Good job you three, you all came up with strategies and knew what to do in the event I had died," he said before ducking under a swing from Naruto.
"What good does letting us think you get killed do!? I ACTUALLY thought you were dead until I sensed your chakra signature!" Kakashi caught his wrist before he could throw another. "I'm gonna let this slide this once since you're on your first big mission and clearly emotionally distraught but for future reference attacking your superior officer will result in punishment. To answer your question, I wanted to test the three of you. IF it got out of hand I would have stepped in," he explained with an eye smile.
"However, we have a much more important task at hand. You've withheld information from us, haven't you Tazuna?" turning his attention onto the boat builder made him wilt under the cyclops's gaze. The explanation that Kakashi had received took about a minute and to say he was fuming on the inside was an understatement. This man had put his cute little genin in danger because of a lack of money. Lord Axel would have been more than willing to work something out with the people of Wave so Kakashi couldn't understand why they would do this.
"Well, the parameters have gone well above the original mission given to us. I have half a mind to cancel this thing. Those were the Demon Brothers of the Hidden Mists. This just went up to an A-Rank mission," Kakashi explained.
"Kakashi-sensei, I request that you send a message to Lord Fifth and request us to keep the mission but have him send back up in the form of jonin Kushina Uzumaki. We have a good political opportunity here and I have no reason to believe that the current Hokage won't see it too," Naruto chimed in with as much professionalism as he could. Kakashi thought about it for a moment before coming to a conclusion.
"Very well, I'll leave this up to the Hokage to decide," Kakashi went through some hand signs before biting the tip of his thumb, drawing blood and swiping across a scroll. A poof of smoke was emitted and a brown pug with a blue vest and the Konoha forehead protector popped into existence. "What's up Kakashi?"
"Pakkun I need you to deliver a message to Lord Fifth ASAP," Kakashi quickly pulled out a blank scroll and began writing Naruto's proposal, he sealed the scroll up and handed it to the pug and it took off with what looked to be a salute. "Alright my cute little genin, we're going to wait here for the message back, in the meantime let's get to know our client here and his land's plight."
Hokage's office- one hour later
Axel was laughing uproariously when he read the message. When he finally calmed down, he had to wipe tears from his eyes. "Thank you for delivering this message, Pakkun. You are dismissed, I will let Kakashi know my answer right away," the dog gave a nod of his head and dispelled in a poof of smoke.
"Lord Fifth, what's got you in such a good mood?" Kushina asked from right beside him. He handed her the scroll. "Your son may just be a political genius and I fully intend to let him have his way right now."
"So, you intend to send me in?"
"Yup, however you have a different goal here. I want you to assassinate this Gato person. I have a personal hatred for him. Take his fortune and return it to the people of Wave, if you find anything pertaining to shinobi retrieve it as spoils of war. You leave now. Meet up with Team Seven in Wave."
"At once my lord," she gave a bow and exited the office to grab her gear.
Axel blurred through hand signs and bit his thumb drawing blood, he swiped it across a scroll. In a poof of smoke an eagle like bird with a mixture of blood red and brown feathers appeared. Its beak was crimson red, and it had crimson red eyes with a slit for the pupils. It looked like it had a crown of fire atop its head. Believe it or not this was the boss summons for the phoenix clan. He appears in this form for Axel alone as it gets him some time away from the monotonous life of being a leader. "Lord Ifrit, I humbly request for you to deliver a message for me. It seems my favorite team of genin and Kakashi has gotten into a mess and require some aid."
"Lord Axel, of course, anything to get away from that stupid political meeting. You know how that is I'm sure," the phoenix said in a not quite booming voice but definitely commanding one. "Yes, indeed. I however do not have the time to sit here and reminisce over the trivialities of leadership. I need this message delivered ASAP my old friend."
"As you wish. We'll talk later, in the meantime I may just watch your nephew's progress from afar. I'm highly interested in the prospect of another summoner and based on what I've heard about him from you he could be the one," with that statement he took the scroll Axel had wrote his message on during the conversation between his talons and waited for Axel to open the window and took off, leaving a small trail of fire in his wake.
Naruto and his team
The genin were about to protest when all of a sudden Kakashi held out his arm to his side like a perch and Ifrit came down grabbing Kakashi's arm with one foot and holding the scroll with the other. Even Naruto was amazed as he hadn't met any of Axel's summons.
"Thank you, Lord Ifrit, for delivering this message," Kakashi acknowledged with a bow of his head. The phoenixes were more or less the most legendary of all summons, there was only one clan that surpassed them and the scroll was lost to time. "But of course! Anything for my summoner and old friend!"
Kakashi took a few seconds to read the message and gave an eye-smile. "Good news, the mission is a go. Kushina shall meet us in Wave and we're free to continue the mission of guarding Tazuna. There should be a boat about three hours ahead of us that can take us to Wave."
Three and a half hours later
'How did it come to this?' Naruto wondered as he was blocking the sword strike of two water clones of one Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist. His odachis were more than enough to contend with the man's clones, the problem was that Kakashi was now in a giant bubble of water losing oxygen quickly. Even with the Sharingan in his left eye, he got caught somehow. This wouldn't do at all.
He glanced back and gave Satsumei a reassuring smile and then looked to his right to see Sasuke barely holding on against another of Zabuza's clones.
Naruto pumped chakra into his swords slicing clean through the opponents' imitation blades and decapitated them in an instant. He looked to Zabuza. 'All I have to do is force him to let go of that jutsu. Kurama's chakra should probably be enough since he'll be using one arm to defend. That giant sword of his will turn out to be his downfall now,' he thought with a devious grin that no genin should be capable of.
Before he made a move he sensed another chakra signature in the nearby trees. Hostility unconfirmed, chunin level chakra reserves confirmed. "Satsumei! Stay by Tazuna's side! We've got another shinobi in the area and I can't tell if they're with Zabuza or not. If they get near the old man attack with extreme prejudice," he didn't turn back to see if she heard him.
He noticed Zabuza tense ever so slightly and the chakra signature fluctuate a bit. He's made them nervous, good.
He rocketed at Zabuza swinging both swords down on top of him. Zabuza blocked both swords with the Executioner's Blade and held them off at first but then noticed he was slowly being overpowered. He noticed the crimson eyes with slits staring at him and the bubbling red chakra cloak. 'A jinchuuricki,' he thought, now actually somewhat worried.
Having to make a split second decision Zabuza grabbed his massive sword's handle with his other hand and used his full strength to fling Naruto away. This unfortunately had the effect of freeing Kakashi from his watery prison who was now upon him, kunai already drawn, ready to gouge his neck open before it was blocked.
Naruto flew back towards his team and made sure to finish off the water clone Sasuke was dealing with as he went. He landed sliding to a stop in front of Satsumei. "Alright, now we let Kakashi-sensei take it from here," his teammates nodded and took position around Tazuna.
They watched as Kakashi and Zabuza jumped away from each other and began using the same hand seals, water dragons forming behind them from the water they were standing on. "The Sharingan's eye of hypnosis, it plants powerful mental suggestions that implore the victim to do whatever the user wants. Usually you think your doing what you think is best but your just falling into a trap," Naruto explained somewhat quietly to make sure Zabuza didn't hear.
The two water dragons collided and Kakashi's won out slamming into Zabuza and knocking him into one of the nearby trees. Kakashi went to make the killing blow when two senbon needles suddenly struck Zabuza in the neck seemingly killing him.
A hunter nin jumped down from the trees and approached Zabuza's body. "I must thank you. I've been hunting this man for awhile now and you just saved me much trouble," it was an androgynous voice and looking at them indicated not whether they were male or female.
Kakashi felt Zabuza's neck for a pulse and indeed there was none so he decided to let it go. The nin took the body and left the area. Naruto narrowed his eyes in suspicion but said nothing. If Kakashi was okay with it then he wouldn't question it.
"Alright let's get Tazuna ho-" Kakashi began before collapsing. Naruto barely slid in in time to catch Kakashi. "He must have used the Sharingan too much. Tazuna, we need to get to your house so he can rest."
"Huh? Oh, of course, right this way," the drunk stammered as he pointed in a direction away from the shore they just fought on. Naruto summoned a small battalion of shadow clones to take position around them and they took off. Naruto took position in the back due to the current dead weight he was carrying and Sasuke and Satsumei took position up front.
When they finally got to Tazuna's house an hour later, they knocked and the door was opened by a pretty blue haired woman in a pink blouse and long blue skirt. She tackled Tazuna and nearly knocked him over hugging and fussing over him. They all introduced themselves and when asked if there was a room Kakashi could rest in she brought them to one of the guest rooms.
Now all three genin were standing around the room gathering their thoughts. Satsumei was the first to voice her concerns. "What do we do now?"
"I'm going to go meet up with mom and bring her back here. She should be arriving by boat anytime now. I'll leave some shadow clones here. If anything happens they'll pop and alert me," Naruto stated performing the cross hand sign, and ten more of him popped up.
"Naruto, you can't leave us here with a bunch of shadow clones. What if something happens? What if Gato hired more ninjas to come kill Tazuna?" her voice held much doubt as well as insecurity but he just smiled that sunshine smile. "You don't have to worry about that. I'll be using Kurama's chakra to speed myself up. I'll grab her and be back in an hour. Regarding more ninjas, I have reason to believe there are no more and I'll leave it at that."
They heard some coughing and looked to see Kakashi trying to sit up. Naruto helped him up and placed him sitting up against the wall behind. "Let Naruto go. We've got his shadow clones here and our best option for defense is getting Kushina here. Naruto, make it snappy," he commanded and Naruto gave a salute and left immediately.
Half hour later
Naruto loved the rush of the air against his face and running through his hair as he dashed around at speeds civilians couldn't dream of. It was a shame he really couldn't enjoy it right now. Kurama's chakra bubbling around him he'd even pumped wind chakra to his feet for maximum speed. They needed his mother right now. They were in over their heads with this mission.
He saw the shore they fought Zabuza on and noticed a boat was approaching along with that vibrant red hair that always made him feel safe.
Kushina barely touched down off the boat when she had to brace herself or be tackled to the ground. "Naruto! Your getting too big for that!" she yelled but she was squeezing him just as much as he was squeezing her. She was so worried when they got the message at the office that she didn't actually grab much in terms of supplies. Just her weapons, a couple of sealing scrolls and a change of uniform.
"Mom, we have to get back to Tazuna's house. Kakashi-sensei can't fight and we were attacked by Zabuza Momochi!"
"Is anyone seriously hurt!?"
"No, it's just that Kakashi-sensei is now in a state of mild chakra exhaustion. He overused his Sharingan."
"I see, let's go, you can tell me everything on the way," she said and they left at top speed.
Tazuna's house
"Alright everyone! While Kakashi is down I'm in charge. We'll be escorting him to the bridge every morning as a team and then in the late afternoon we will be here at the house training. Oh, and boy am I gonna train you all into the ground," she said with a devious grin that sent shivers down the genin's spines.