Akuma Sannin

by VOLLUNDAESIR913

Dark/Grey Naruto, Jiongu, Hanyou, Half-demon, Santoryu, Harem, Multi-Harem, slight gender bender, fem. Hidan. After only a few days after the Kyuubi attacked Konoha and was defeated, Hiruzen Sarutobi shows the civilian and shinobi councils their new resident Jinchuuriki. After almost being murdered, Naruto isn't even human anymore, and no matter what some one WILL snap...

15. The Wave Arc Pt 1

Akuma Sannin

Hello everybody! It's finally here! I've been wanting to get to this chapter for so damn long it aint even funny, been one Hell of a ride so far so let's keep it going. This is the Wave Arc, involving Konoha's Team 7 and 8, as well as Kumo's Team 13 and Naruto. I'm sorry y'all are getting this so late in the year, but I wanted to start 2024 off with a bang. I've been waiting for this Arc since chapter 1, so I hope you all enjoy it!

Kurenai silently huffed to herself as she walked back towards both of the Genin teams with Kakashi, after spending the last 3 hours interrogating 'The Demon Brothers' neither of them were happy. Their mission had started out fine enough, after an interesting debrief with the Hokage, they were both flabbergasted by what the old man had had to say about their joint mission. Now Kurenai would never admit this outloud to anyone, but after finding out just how many different nations, and their respective Kages' were involved in this mission, she was actually glad to have the perverted cyclops backing her up. As annoying as she found the man to be, Kurenai could readily admit that when push came to shove, Kakashi lived up to the legend. A legend well earned in her opinion…...she'd be damned if she told him that though.

They were both surprised by how resilient The Demon Brothers were, the Bingo Book had Gozu and Mezu pegged as C Rank Chunin. But that entry was admittedly dated, as the two of them had fought more at high B Rank, borderline A Rank individually. As a team however, they gave her and Kakashi a workout. This was a problem since that meant that their mission, which was already delicate enough as is, shot up from a C Rank to high A Rank Mission within the first 4 hours. What was worse was that neither of them were able to get anything out of the two brothers, something that they both agreed was impressive. Between Kakashi's experience and use of the Sharingan, her Genjutsu and interrogation training (thanks Anko), they weren't able to get much out of them. All they could confirm was that their target was Tazuna, which meant that the old drunk had some explaining to do. Granted they were already aware of the situation with Wave Country and Gato, but the old man not telling them that assassins were likely coming for him pissed her off regardless. It's the principle of the thing damn it!

After forcing Tazuna to fess up to what was going on to them and their respective Genin, both Jonin started to shed some more light on the subject, by telling them about debrief that they had with the Hokage. Kurenai was pretty sure that the looks on the Genins' faces were nearly identical to the ones she and Kakashi had shared when they first heard all of this. Due to the pressure involved in the mission, turning back was not an option, so she and Kakashi had taken time to instruct the six Genin on how they would proceed. They had Kiba up front and center with Hinata behind him regularly pulsing her Byakugan, this way they could not only track any scents that would be up the road from them, but would also have the benefit of Hinata's vision scouting further ahead.

Next up was Kurenai herself as an experienced Jonin who could use her Genjutsu to trap attacking enemies, while also using her Ninjutsu as well. Behind her was Sasuke, who would use his Sharingan to observe any enemies that they may come across. After that was Tazuna, followed by Sakura who would offer ranged support with her various Fuinjutsu and shuriken. Next was Shino and Sai, whose long ranged abilities would work tremendously well in corralling enemies into overlapping fields of fire, while Shino's Kikouchu Beetles sapped them of their chakra. Ending the train of people was Kakashi bringing up the rear.

Things had been going smoothly for the rest of the trip to the beach, where they waited till 0430 in the morning for their contact to arrive to take them across the sea to Wave Country. Arriving in a medium sized boat with a pair of what looked like especially large canoes attached to the main body of the boat, and a pair of odd triangular sails. The boatman, a man named Tenki, quietly ushered them all aboard and immediately set sail, wasting only a few moments to clasp arms with Tazuna before getting underway. After they were far enough away from the coast, Tenki explained that things had been getting worse at Wave since Tazuna had left, and that apparently Gato had hired professional shinobi from Mizu to take him out. Local scuttlebut was that Gato had hired some of Mizu's big guns to handle things for him, as he had recently discovered something on the island and wanted nothing to distract him or get in his way.

This led to Kakashi and Kurenai conversing for some time while the Genin asked Tenki various questions about his boat, who was only too happy to answer as any sailor would. Tenki explained how the extra bows attached to the main body of the ship on either side allow it to sit higher up closer to the surface of the water, allowing his ship that is technically called a tri-marine, to cut through the wave as easily as it does. And that the sails are lanteen sails, which are effective in lighter winds like what are seen in Wave, causing less drag to make sailing more efficient. Lanteen sails allow Tanki's ship to sail much "closer to the wind", meaning when he needs to, he can sail as much as 45 degrees into the wind without any problems.

The rest of the boat ride was uneventful till they finally got close enough to see the bridge that Tazuna was building, something that had all of the Gennin in awe over. Even Kurenai and Kakashi were visibly impressed, massive as the unfinished bridge was, jutting out of the heavy mists of the early morning. Pulling into a shallow cove where Teams 7 and 8 could disembark from the boat, they bid Tenki goodbye before heading off. Using the heavy mist to their advantage, they stayed off of the main roads while remaining in the same formation they had in Fire Country. They all remained as close as they could to one another as the mists were especially heavy, thankfully Tazuna knew the countryside very well having lived there his whole life. After being on the road for a couple of hours, they were coming up on a small lake when both Kiba and Akamaru's noses picked up a scent.

"Hold up guys." Kiba instructed, as he and his ninken both took deep breaths.

"What do you smell?" asked Sai.

"Up ahead, the air reeks of blood." answered Kiba, as Akamaru barked in the affirmative, having smelled the same thing.

"Hinata, if you wouldn't mind?" asked Kurenai, gaining a nod from the younger kunoichi. A second later the trademark bulging of the veins around her eyes became visible, signaling the activation of her clan's Dojutsu the Byakugan.

"That's…." started Hinata. "There's something wrong with the mist, it's all soaked in chakra, I'm having trouble seeing things past 50 meters!"

"How is that possible?" asked Sasuke, as everyone was now on high alert while Tazuna was looking at the ninja he hired confused.

"It's like this no matter where or how far out I look, I….I think the mist has been like this since we got off of Tenki's boat." answered Hinata, who had already slipped into her Gentle Fist stance.

"Kakashi." said Kurenai, getting the now alert Jonin's attention. "You're the Ninjutsu specialist, what jutsu could do this?"

"Thankfully I've had to deal with this several times during the last war." Kakashi began as he rolled back his sleeve to reveal multiple sealing tattoos, placing his right hand over one of them he quickly unsealed an ornate wakizashi.

"Is that what I think it is?" thought Kurenai, as she noticed the weapon Kakashi had just unsealed.

"This is the specialty of the shinobi from the Hidden Mist Village, Kirigakure. It's a jutsu that creates a mist that's so thick it becomes physically impossible for the naked eye to see anything beyond the reach of your arm." stated Kakashi, as the mist slowly began to get thicker and thicker. "That's not what's concerning me however."

"What are you talking about?" asked Sakura, who had just unsealed a large studded Kanabo from one of her sealing scrolls.

"The Hidden Mist Jutsu is not supposed to be capable of covering such a massive swath of land in mists, let alone affect a Byakugan like this when normally a Byakugan user would have no trouble seeing through the jutsu." answered Kakashi. "Only a truly gifted and powerful shinobi could pull something like this off. Think about it, there were already heavy mists covering the waters, and a large portion of the bridge, before we even got off the boat."

"And we've been walking around for over 2 hours." finished Sai, who already had a blank scroll in one hand with an ink brush in the other.

"Everybody duck!" shrieked Hinata, as she tackled Kurenai and Sasuke to the ground. Nearly everyone else followed suit as what seemed like a massive whirlwind of steel flew over their heads less than a second later, Kakashi meanwhile whipped around and deflected the large incoming object up towards a tree. Looking up, the Konoha shinobi and Tazuna saw arguably the single largest sword any of them had ever seen in their lives, buried in the trunk of a large tree. A second later the sword's owner appeared standing on the flat of the large blade, looking down on them from his vantage point.

He was a massive specimen who appeared to be something straight out of their worst nightmare, standing at a towering 6' 6" with a very muscular build. With pale skin, short spiky black hair and small eyebrows, he wore a black ANBU cargo pants complete with a waist guard and black leather combat boots, but was otherwise shirtless. Over that was a black leather utility belt with a demon themed buckle, at each of his hips were what appeared to be two bone daggers in sheaths made out of bone and cast iron. At the back of his belt was a very large shinobi pouch, a single magnetized belt ran across his bare chest that was obviously used to store his sword. On his legs and arms, were demon themed greaves that came up to his knees, and arm vambraces that protected his knuckles.

"Shit…." growled Kakashi, as he and the rest all got up off of the ground. His town immediately put everyone in the group on edge, as they'd never heard the usually laid back ninja take that tone with anyone.

"I see my reputation precedes me." the man gruffly stated, as he scanned the entire group. "Copy Cat Kakashi and Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress Kurenai Yuhi, now it makes sense why Gozu and Meizu failed."

"Zabuza Momochi." stated Kakashi. "Former Head of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, otherwise known as the Demon of the Mist."

"This is the man that Asuma told us of?" asked Kurenai as she eyed the newcomer. "This makes no sense! What the Hell is he doing here?! He shouldn't have even left his village!"

"And how is my favorite chain smoking monkey by the way?" asked Zabuza, in what almost sounded like an affectionate tone. "He didn't stick around for long after I put down the former Mizukage."

"M-Mizukage?" asked Hinata. "You m-mean you killed your…"

"Mind your place girl, the adults are speaking." Zabuza cut in, as he stepped off of his sword, ripping it out of the tree as he landed on the ground. "As much as I would like to take a trip down Memory Lane with you, I'm on the job."

"I take it you're after Tazuna-san here?" asked Kurenai, though it was more of a statement than anything else.

"Bingo." Zabuza confirmed, as he nonchalantly rolled his shoulders and cracked his back, making a loud sickening series of cracks and pops. "If it's any consolation old man, it's nothing personal."

"Teams 7 and 8, listen carefully." Kakashi said quietly, as he slowly pulled his headband up to reveal an implanted Sharingan eye much to their shock. "You all need to run, run as fast as you can. Sai, you know what to do with Tazuna-san."

"Hai." said Sai, who was already busy drawing something down on his scroll.

"Trying to buy your Genin time to save your client huh?" asked Zabuza. "Well it's not going to be enough!"

Without another word Zabuza seemed to disappear and reappear right in front of Tazuna in mid-swing, reacting quickly Kakashi Substituted with the old man, bringing his Chakra Saber up to meet Zabuza's blade just in time. The force of Zabuza's blade pushed him back several feet and would've most likely sent him flying, but Kakashi knew what he was doing. Sinking his hips for a lower, more stable center of gravity, Kakashi quickly pumped chakra into his muscles to reinforce them so that he could combat Zabuza's insane strength. It was a gamble, Kakashi knew, but it paid off as he was able to dig in well, and eventually bring the massive blade to halt.

Multiple things seemed to happen all at once, Sai quickly finished what he was drawing on his scroll before slapping his hand down on the scroll and pouring a large amount of chakra into the scroll. The effect was that a literal drawing of a large lion seemed to jump off of the scroll while becoming the size of a very large horse, not waiting to stick around, Sai grabbed Tazuna and threw him onto the drawing's back before taking off down the road towards the lake.

Sai gasped as he felt the large drain on his chakra reserves, quickly popping a small black pill that he fished out of his ninja pouch, he breathed a little easier as he checked on Tazuna. As this was happening Kurenai dashed forward while winding her right fist back for a punch, as she did this, her entire right hand and forearm became engulfed in stone. The stone then extended back past her elbow several inches, this part of Kurenai's new 'gauntlet' being cylindrical and hollow.

"Doton/Katon Combination: Rocket Fist Jutsu!" she cried out, a split second later intense flames shot out of the hollow back end of her stone gauntlet.

Propelling her, and her fist across several feet at Zabuza at intense speeds, who was forced to break away from Kakashi and bring his massive sword up to block the strike. When Kurenai's rock covered fist collided with Zabuza's blade, this resulted in a small shockwave, accompanied by a very loud ringing. Almost like the gong of a temple bell being rung, the force from Kurenai's jutsu was enough to send Zabuza flying back roughly 70 feet. This all seemed to be enough to shock the other Genin out of their reveries, and spur them into action. Not wanting to wait around they all took off after Sai and Tazuna, and quickly caught up.

"Smart kids, they won't get far though." grunted Zabuza as he fought the two Jonin. Making a single one handed hand sign, Zabuza spat out several large globs of water that then formed into Water Clones of himself that then went after Tazuna and their Genin.

"No!" yelled Kakashi, who was now officially pissed that his Genin were in real danger as he blazed through several hand signs.

"Raiton: Raijin's Barrage!" he yelled as large amounts of Raiton chakra gathered into each of his hands, bringing them together with his palms outstretched, the Raiton chakra became a visible ball around his hands. Which he then aimed at the Water Clones.

Kakashi then began launching bolt after bolt, after literal bolt of lightning at the backs of Zabuza's clones. He was mostly successful, as the clones weren't able to dodge or defend themselves from being hit by the lethal bolts of lightning. Much to Kakashi's frustration however, three of the clones survived the onslaught, as they were at the 'front' of the pack that was about to attack the retreating group of Genin. And so they had a little extra time to dodge that their brothers simply didn't have, not wasting a moment the three clones quickly caught up to Tazuna and the Genin. Kurenai and Kakashi were forced to watch out of the corner of their eyes as they both fought off Zabuza, as their Genin tried to fight off the clones and survive.

With the Genin

As the clones went to attack, Team 7 and 8 jumped back as Sai jumped off of his Lion Beast with Tazuna, as soon as they touched the ground Sai made a hand sign and let out an uncharacteristic yell as he pumped as much chakra into his Lion Beast as he could. The effect was immediate, as the Lion Beast swelled in size till it was 15 feet tall at the shoulder. Letting out a roar that could be heard for miles, the Lion Beast attacked two of the clones with furious swipes of its claws, forcing the clones back. As one of the clones left the other to deal with the Lion Beast, it was immediately forced to bring up its sword to block the large incoming Demon Windmill Shuriken that had been thrown by Sakura.

The Clone realized just in time that the oversized shuriken was covered in explosive tags, and was able to get away just in time before they all went off. Fate would not be kind as the clone was sent flying from the force of the blast straight towards Hinata, who capitalized on this by introducing it to the splendors of her clan's Gentle Fist. Striking the clone over and over again in what few tenketsu it had, she finished with a large palm thrust to its heart which caused it to explode in a splash of water.

Meanwhile, Sakura charged forward at the third clone with her kanabo raised. With her small frame it looked somewhat comical as the young Genin swung the 6 foot long weapon, only for the amused clone to meet the club with its own sword. Before the Water Clone could register anything else however, there was a brief flash of light from Sakura's Kanabo that left the clone blinded. When the clone opened it's eyes, it saw that the entire Kanabo was covered in sealing tags that had a couple dozen chains coming out of them to bind him into place. The last thing the clone saw were the burning Explosive Tags, that were fixing to detonate before a second flash reduced it to water vapor.

With the remaining clone that had been battling Sai's Lion Beast, it had more luck as the ink construct suddenly dissolved into a massive puddle of ink. Looking over, the clone saw how Sai was apparently out cold on the ground, next to a panting Shino who was sweating profusely. The clone quickly figured that the boy in glasses had to have been pouring his chakra into the unconscious one, so that they could keep the jutsu going for far longer than normal. Without really thinking the clone jumped up and twisted to dodge the 3 Demon Windmill Shuriken that had been thrown at it, before raising its sword to block an obvious overhead strike from Sasuke.

"So you fancy yourself a swordsman huh?" asked the clone. "Fine, I'll entertain you for a bit." it said before it began to engage Sasuke in a clearly one sided duel. Having put its sword away, the clone had begun attacking Sasuke with its knives, showing a surprising amount of grace and speed a man his size had no right possessing.

Sasuke's Sharingan was blazing with 2 tomoe in each of his eyes spinning rapidly, as he tried to keep up with the clone and predict its movements. Eventually as the duel went on, the clone began to slow as it discovered that it was running out of chakra faster than it should have. Thinking quickly, the clone disarmed Sasuke and sent him flying into a tree near Sai and Shino with a kick to the gut. As it looked around it noticed that Hinata was holding a familiar hand sign which caused the clone to curse, quickly pulsing some of its chakra it now noticed how it was covered in Kikaichu beetles.

"Fuck!" the clone snarled before charging at Tazuna, figuring it should stop fucking around and just finish the job while it still could.

The clone managed to cross the distance and was coming up on Tazuna and a smoking and singed Sakura, when the pink haired Genin slammed a sealing tag down on the ground. The sealing tag pulsed with chakra before causing a 20 ft. tall, 30 ft. wide wall of earth to shoot up fast enough that the clone wound up crashing into it. Snarling, the clone was prepared to simply jump over it when the clone's danger senses started screaming at him. Whipping around the clone brought its sword up just in time to block a full on assault from what looked to be a massive chakra drill, effectively putting the clone inbetween a literal rock and a hard place.

This was now a serious problem, as the clone knew it was just a water clone, and so it was nowhere near as durable as the original. Already the clone could feel what made up its sword was cracking and coming undone, the power behind the Inuzuka's drill jutsu would definitely be enough to take it out if he got hit with it. Before the clone could do anything else however, a second drill came crashing through the earth wall behind him and slammed into the clone's back. The clone had just enough time to mentally congratulate the Genin on what they had accomplished, albeit begrudgingly.

With Zabuza and the Jonin

An enormous swell of relief and pride poured through both of the Jonin as they and even Zabuza stopped to observe, if briefly, the destruction of both of his Water Clones. Something that none of them had expected, with Kurenai and Kakashi both silently dreading that they would have to add their respective Genins' names to the Konoha Memorial Monument. Knowing that their client, and more importantly that their Genin were all safe for the moment, the two Jonin both started to cut loose. Zabuza, handling both of the Jonin almost with ease, as it seemed he had an answer for everything that they tried on him.

At one point while their Genin were still fighting Zabuza's clones, Kurenai had thrown Kakashi her katana before disengaging. Leaving Kakashi to begin duel wielding both blades, almost like a samurai from Iron Country. Meanwhile, Kurenai began going through hand signs as fast as she possibly could before holding the sign for concentration. The effect on Zabua was immediate and nearly cost him his life while he dueled Kakashi, as the large man found himself suddenly not being able to see or hear anything.

The Bringer of Darkness Technique, one of the most powerful Genjutsus the Hidden Leaf Village had to offer. A Genjutsu that was made specifically to combat those with the Sharingan or Byakugan by temporarily cutting off the signals that the eyes and ears send to the brain. This was a jutsu that had been developed by Tobirama Senju himself, who had personally trained the Sandaime Hokage in its use. It was only 6 years ago that the Uchiha Matriarch herself, trained all of the village ANBU in this jutsu. The only problems were that it was an advanced Genjutsu that required a specialist to be able to perform, and that required large amounts of chakra to maintain. With many shinobi likening the chakra drain to having to create a new Shadow Clone every 2 or 3 seconds, that the genjutsu was maintained.

Kakashi was close to beheading Zabuza with both blades, when to everyone's shock, he was able to not only block the attack but also kick Kakashi away from him! Looking closely, both Jonin saw how Zabuza had his eyes closed and had adopted an almost calm and serene look on his face. Stowing his sword on his back, he then drew 2 of his daggers from his belt and adopted a stance that reminded them of the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist stance.

"I'm a Swordsman of the Hidden Mist…." said Zabuza. "I have spent my entire life being regularly deprived of my senses, be it walking the streets of my home, when on a mission, during training, or during my village's civil war." he explained as he slowly opened up his eyes, glaring at them both despite the Genjutsu still being active. What made both of the Jonins' blood run cold however, was how Zabuza's eyes seemed to glow with their own purple bioluminescence, indicating some form of a Dojutsu.

"DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT WOULD WORK?!" he roared, as pressed the attack once again.

Going for a diagonal slash at Kakashi, he then quickly pulsed his chakra, shattering the illusion he was under. He did this not a moment too soon as Kurenai reappeared back in his vision as the Genjutsu dropped, in mid-swing with her katana back in her hands. Using one of his bone daggers to deflect the incoming strike, Zabuza began a short duel with the Genjutsu Mistress. He could honestly admit that he was impressed by her swordsmanship, she kept things up close and personal, forcing him to use his daggers to deflect and redirect attacks where he could. Never giving him an opening, or a chance to bring his Executioner's Blade to bear.

While this was going on however, Zabuza noticed that Kakashi had all but disappeared no matter where he looked. He got his answer as he suddenly felt a pair of hands come up from the ground and grab his ankles, before yanking him down into the ground. He only had enough time to look up and see Kakashi's and Kurenai's blades coming towards his face before everything went dark. For the two Konoha Jonin, they were both panting as they stood there with their blades still impaled in Zabuza's head.

Their relief was short lived though as the body then burst into smoke, signaling that all they had managed to do was kill a clone. Their horror was further compounded as they both recognized that particular clone jutsu, the Shadow Clone, which was supposed to only be known to Konoha. And seeing how what they killed was a clone that could only mean one thing, this spurred both Jonin to whip around and take off after their Genin, who had already been trying to put as much distance between them and the fight as they could . Try as hard as they might, it was too late, their Genin had only just made it to the edge of the lake when a ball of water, roughly the size of a person's head, shot out of the lake. It detonated right in front of them, resulting in waves of water going everywhere. The concussive force of the blast as well as the waves of water slammed into the Genin and Tazuna, sending them flying backward to land in front of the Jonin.

"Suiton: Hydro Torpedo." said a chillingly familiar voice. As Tazuna and the Genin slowly picked themselves up off the ground, they all turned to see Zabuza slowly rise out of a large puddle of water just in front of the lake. "A nifty little C rank Jutsu, just as strong as its Katon equivalent, the Great Fireball Jutsu. But I've found it to be far more useful, afterall, it doesn't grab a person's attention nearly as much as a massive ball of fire. But what do you think?"

"I think I'm going to have a very long talk with Asuma when I get back to Konoha." growled Kurenai as she wiped some of her now soaked hair out of her face, as her mascara ran down her face.

"Anything else he tell you that he shouldn't have?" asked Kurenai, who was now thoroughly cross with her old flame.

"Just that you're really good at one handed seals, and can do them really really fast." answered Zabuza as he started going through hand signs at a truly blistering speed.

"Katon: Searing Migraine!" growled Kurenai, before spitting out a massive torrent of white hot flames. The flames were so hot that all of the Genin and Tazuna had to shut their eyes and jump back from the Jonin, traveling along the ground was a 60 ft. wide wall of flames that was just as tall.

"Suiton: Water Encampment Wall!" Zabuza called out, causing a massive deluge of water to shoot up from the lake behind him and create a massive swirling dome around him. As the two jutsus met the collision shook the ground, as steam started to cover the area Kakashi finished some hand signs of his own.

"Raiton: Electromagnetic Murder!" After a quick buildup of chakra which seemed to make Kakashi briefly glow with electricity, the electricity then shot down his legs into the ground. Large streams of uncontrollable electricity ran along the ground, tearing up the earth as it went, till it struck the now smaller swirling dome of water.

The effect was immediate, as they could all see the raw raiton course threw the swirling water, with large bolts of electricity arcing all throughout the center of the dome. Something that allowed them to all see glimpses of Zabuza's silhouette as the bolts struck, this kept up for several minutes before Kakashi ended the jutsu. As everyone stood there waiting to see what would happen, Kurenai discreetly got Shino's attention and began talking to him in Konoha Sign Language.

"I need you to spread your beetles out as far as you can, and have them hide." Kurenai wordlessly told her pupil before looking at Kiba who was now waiting for her to more or less speak. "You and Akamaru take to the trees, be ready to do a pincer attack."

After getting a nod of understanding, Kiba then took into the trees as Akamaru did the same in the opposite direction. Looking back, Kakashi was wordlessly instructing his Genin on what to do as quickly as he could, all of whom knew what was on the line and surrounded Tazuna.

After they were done, he looked back towards Kurenai. "Didn't know you were packing that kind of heat." The cyclops signed, causing a small smile to quirk up at the edges of Kurenai's mouth.

Before they could sign anything else however, what was left of Zabuza's jutsu promptly ended, causing the remaining water to come crashing down to the ground. To everyone's horror, there stood a mostly unharmed Zabuza with his Executioner's Blade resting on his shoulder covered in Raiton chakra. He simply glared at Kakashi and Kurenai as the Raiton chakra quickly died down, till there was none left to be seen.

"Ow…" he growled as he cracked his neck.

"Momochi-san this has-" Kurenai began to say before being cut off.

"OH! Now you want to talk? Now you want to try a little diplomacy, well it's too late for that woman!" Zabuza roared as his sword once again became covered in massive amounts of Raiton chakra.

"Chakra Flow…" thought an alarmed Kakashi and Kurenai.

"So his second element was Raiton all along. He must have used Chakra Flow with his sword to absorb all of that Raiton I hit him with…I can count the number of people I know who can do that on one hand, and I'm one of them." thought a grim Kakashi as he started pouring chakra into his saber, it had been a long time since he had to use this technique, even longer with his father's saber. As the blade on his Chakra Saber began to glow bright white with his chakra, it began to solidify.

"Oh ho~ I see someone knows the Chakra Sabre Technique, how quaint." growled Zabuza, before forward at Kakashi and Kurenai with his sword raised.

As he neared the two Jonin he quickly stopped, spinning on his heel he then launched all of the Raiton chakra that he had coated his blade with into the air in a large crescent shaped arc. The Raiton chakra took off through the air only to collide with a large ball of blue fire, causing a mid-air explosion. When the smoke settled, there were 5 new shinobi standing there with their weapons ready. Four of them were clearly Genin based on their appearances since they couldn't be older than they were, it was their apparent Jonin Sensei that really caught everyone's attention.

Standing at 5 '10", she was a very beautiful woman with piercing dark eyes that had long, straight, blonde, hair bound with taut bandages, and she wore red lipstick. She wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants, both of which had a design similar to clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of blue beads wound around her left hand. She also wore the standard Kumogakure forehead protector, sandals and a kunai holster, which was strapped to her right thigh. She also wore bandages around her arms and legs as well as a red belt around her waist. While she was just as much a looker as Kurenai, what Zabuza and the shinobi from Konoha were focussing on was the fact that she was covered in blue flames with black markings running through the fire!

"I was wondering when you were going to make yourself known." muttered Kakashi, causing the blonde woman to spare him a quick glance.

"Wasn't about to jump head first into this without taking a good hard look." the woman responded.

"We can go over this later Yugito-san, right now we have more pressing concerns." Kurenai chimed in, not taking her eyes off of Zabuza for even a second.

"And just what fresh Hell is this?!" questioned Zabuza. "Last I checked your villages weren't on the best of terms, now you're doing joint missions together?"

"A lot of things have changed over the years, regardless this isn't exactly what you would call a normal joint mission. It's not just our villages who are involved." said Kakashi, as he fished out a scroll from his ninja pouch before holding it up for Zabuza to see.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" asked Zabuza, who hadn't budged since the blonde woman had made her entrance.

"Just take his scroll and read it, we may not need to be enemies." answered Yugito.

"Do you seriously think I'm going to fall for something basic?" sneered Zabuza, a massive tick mark appearing on his forehead.

"If you don't believe us, then why don't you have your little friend join us so that he can read it?" offered Kurenai, causing Zabuza to quirk a hairless brow. For a few minutes he simply stared them down, his face and posture not giving them any inkling towards his intentions.

Finally he raised a hand and snapped his fingers, causing an unknown shinobi to appear. The newcomer had his hair pinned back in a bun with bangs framing the sides of his face, wearing sandals and what looked to be a battle kimono. At the shinobi's left hip, was a long thin sword that was sheathed with a small charm dangling from the end of a bit of wire, that was attached to the end of the sword handle. Something that caused Kakashi to raise an eyebrow, but said nothing. Completing the ensemble was a Hunter Nin mask with the symbol of Kiri on the forehead, which gave the obviously young shinobi a rather spooky look.

Without waiting to hear what the newcomer might've said, Kakashi quickly tossed the scroll over to the masked shinobi. The next several minutes ticked by at a snail's pace for the bridge builder and the gathered shinobi, as they all watched the Hunter Nin read through the scroll, only to stiffen briefly before looking towards them, then back to his master. Dashing over, the Hunter Nin quickly began whispering into Zabuza's ear. While they couldn't make out much of what was said, they were all able to see the incredulous look on Zabuza's face. After a few more moments, Zabuza suddenly flared his chakra causing the blade to become alive with pure electricity once more. With a roar Zabuza slammed the massive sword down towards the ground, causing a blinding flash.

"Ahhh! Shit!" Kiba and Sasuke cursed as they rubbed their eyes.

"Fuck!" cried Hinata, who had all but doubled over due to the pain in her eyes.

"Owwwwwwww…." groaned Tazuna, who was now massaging his temples.

"It's moments like these that I'm glad I wear sunglasses." Shino said quietly, though just loud enough for everyone to hear him, and then unanimously flip him off. Though none of them save Hinata could see it due to her Byakugan, but that caused a small smile to quirk up at the edges of his mouth.

"Freaking smartass…." Kurenai internally grumbled to herself, as she was reminded of several conversations she had with Shino on the merits of why she and the team should wear sunglasses. She would soon discover much to her chagrin after her squad was formed, that Shino seemed to have an obsession with getting people to see the truth in why they should wear sunglasses like he does. Something that reminded her far too much of a certain eccentric Jonin who wears spandex, she was still dreading the day Shino and that man ever met…..

"Well, it looks like he's gone." Kakashi said calmly.

"Now what?" asked Sakura. "Should we try to send a message for more backup?"

"Yeah, I'm with Sakura on that one." stated Kiba, as he put his Kusarigama away. "No Brows is still out there, and he even has someone helping him!"

"It would be prudent to alert Konoha." agreed Sasuke as he slowly hauled Sai up onto his shoulder, having stowed his sword.

"I don't think that will be necessary." said Kurenai as she resealed her Katana into a sealing tattoo that she had hidden on her upper arm.

"Why do you say that?" asked Tazuna.

"Because Zabuza has my mission scroll." the cycloptic ninja answered, with his patented 'eye smile'. "Now….catch me." he said right before he fell forward, and face planted on the ground.

"Woah! Kakashi-sensei, are you alright?!" asked a panicked Sakura as she quickly rolled Kakashi over to check on him, only to find him passed out and lightly snoring.

"What's wrong with him?! Did that big feller with the sword get 'em earlier?" exclaimed Tazuna.

"No Tazuna-san, like Sai over there my colleague is suffering from chakra exhaustion." responded Kurenai, who quickly picked Kakashi up and slung him over her shoulder.

"We should get moving." stated Yugito, gaining everyone's attention. "We're not too far away from Tazuna-san's home, those two will be able to rest just fine once we get there."

"Right, teams 7 and 8 let's get out of here." Kurenai all but barked as she and Yugito both took off with the Genin surrounding them while Kiba was once again carrying Tazuna.

20 minutes later

Tsunami was sitting down at the kitchen table wringing a dish cloth in her hands as she waited, it would've been clear to anyone seeing her for the first time that she was a nervous wreck. First a bunch of strange shinobi that were from a village that she was not expecting to see showed up at her front door step at the crack of dawn, which immediately put her on edge as she assumed they were hired by Gato. Not much of a stretch of the imagination, given how her father was supposedly coming back with ninja from Konoha to help them. Things quickly calmed down for her and Inari when they started explaining who they were and why they were there, she could admit that she was starting to come around, and that these Kumo shinobi were being genuine about their intentions after a while. Them showing her their mission scroll, and all that was put down at the bottom, with official seals and stamps, certainly helped her believe them.

But then everything had changed, when they all heard this massive roar. They were all instantly on alert, and the Kumo shinobi quickly left, stating that there had to be a big fight going on. Now Tsunami was reverting back to an old nervous habit she thought she had gotten rid of years ago before she had gotten pregnant with Inari, who had since ran into his room and slammed the door shut. She couldn't blame him either, after all that he had lost, and now it looked like they might just lose her father, his grandpa. Her thoughts came to a screeching halt however, when she heard a banging on her front door.

"Tsunami-san! It's me Yugito, I need you to let us in. We have Tazuna with us, along with the shinobi from Konoha!" came Yugito's familiar voice, causing her to jump up out of her seat.

"C-Coming!" she managed to get out as she made her way to the door, upon opening it she was hit with a sight she was not expecting.

She was taken aback, first by the sheer amount of ninjas that were surrounding her father, and second that the ones that she didn't recognize all looked like they had just survived a war. Or at the very least had come off of a fresh battlefield. Something else that she noticed after seeing that her father was alright, thank Kami, was that a few of the ninjas appeared to be unconscious.

"What the?! C-Come inside quick! I have some couches in the living room where you can place your wounded!" exclaimed a panicked Tsunami.

"Thankyou ma'am, but they're not really hurt, they're just exhausted." said one of the ninjas from Konoha, a little girl with pink hair and green eyes.

Before she could say anything else all of the ninja began filing into her house, laying the two unconscious ones down on the couches, while taking up whatever spots were open. Tsunami listened as they explained who they all were and what had happened, with her father chiming in here and there to fill in the blanks. Neither of them had expected things to go this way, as when Tazuna left for Konoha, they figured the most they'd be able to bring back was a single shinobi team. Instead she had what looked to be a small army of them, and from different villages no less! It didn't help that she could hardly believe some of the things that they told her, and she would've probably not believed them either if it wasn't for her father's grim nods as he silently confirmed everything.

"Soooo uhhhhh, Kurenai-sensei." said Kiba.

"Yes?"

"What were you and Kakashi-sensei talking about before he passed out? Why does Zabuza having his mission scroll matter?" he asked, causing everyone in the room to look at the Genjutsu Mistress.

"You remember when we debriefed you on what was really going on after the Demon Brothers attacked?" started Kurenai.

"Wait! Someone else attacked you too?!" asked a concerned Tsunami.

"Yes, it was before we had even left Fire Country. We had handled the two attackers well enough, but were only able to confirm that they were after Tazuna. We took steps to ensure that someone from our village would arrive to pick them up and take them to the Interrogation Unit for further questioning." answered a slightly exasperated Kurenai, Tsunami must have picked up on this because she blushed slightly before nodding.

"I see, sorry for interrupting." she said quietly.

"It's alright, given the circumstances it's completely understandable." responded Kurenai. "After dealing with the Demon Brothers, we debriefed your father and our Genin on what was really going on with the mission. We had already known about many of the things that were going on in Wave Country, as well as who was responsible for everything."

"You knew?" Tsunami asked, a shocked look splayed out on her face.

"Hai, but it wasn't just our village who knew, but other shinobi villages as well. It turns out that Gato managed to make a very long and lengthy list of enemies in very high places, and all of them want to get it back in blood." answered Kurenai.

"Our village of Kumo for one." volunteered Yugito. "It was actually my team some months back that started clearing out bandit camps, drug rings, and some human traffickers. The first bandit camp we ever raided showed us a map for dozens of different locations all over Lightning Country, we kept our Raikage informed and kept on bringing in more and more information with each new sight we hit."

"Oh my…..that many?" asked Tsunami, gaining a grim nod from the blonde woman.

"We eventually confirmed that Gato had created a massive drug and human slave empire that stretched from Kumo, all the way down across multiple nations to the very Southern edges of Fire Country." said Yota, speaking up for the first time.

"What happened then?"

"Needless to say our Raikage was understandably….irked." answered Yugito.

"If by 'irked' you mean he blew the top off of a mountain." muttered Karui, causing Tsunami to visibly pale as she heard that.

"The Raikage wound up informing the Hokage, as well as the Lightning and Fire Daimyos, and even the Daimyos of the other nations that were affected by Gato's criminal empire." said Yugito, wanting to press on and wrap this up. "In the span of 10 days, all of the leaders agreed to unanimously sanction a mission to be conducted by Kumo and Konoha, to take out Gato and liquidate his entire company. That mission scroll had the signatures and seals of every Kage and Daimyo involved on it, and now Zabuza has the proof."

"Holy shit…" said a voice from the middle of the stairwell. Looking over everyone saw a young boy of about 8 years old, wearing overalls and a striped hat.

"Inari!" scolded Tsunami, as she all but teleported from the other side of the room to stand right next to the young boy. And was now in the process of twisting said boy's ear, causing the boy to yelp in pain.

"What have I told you about that sort of language young man?!" she asked, as she twisted the little boy's ear a little more.

"Ahhh! To not to, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It won't happen again I promise!" yelled Inari, as he pleaded for mercy. Which thankfully came as Tsunami let go of his ear, causing him to release a sigh of relief.

"Hmpf, that's what you said the last time." Tsunami huffed before guiding her son down the stairs to meet their guests. "Everyone, this is my somewhat foul-mouthed son Inari."

"S-S-So a lot of really, powerful people want him gone?" asked Inari, as if he didn't believe what he had just heard.

"Hai." responded Kurenai in a gentle voice.

"So what, is Zabuza just going to back off now?" asked Yota. "He's a missing nin isn't he? Not like he can afford to turn down the money…"

"Th-That's not t-the case." groaned Kakashi from his spot on the couch, shocking nearly everyone there.

"Woah! Kakashi-sensei!" exclaimed Sakura.

"How is that guy even awake?!" exclaimed Samui.

"Just can't stay down for long can you?" asked Saksuke with a grin as he checked on Sai, who was still out cold.

"Everyone please calm down!" barked Yugito and Kurenai simultaneously, which had the desired effect of quieting the room. Looking over, they watched as Kakashi stiffly got himself up into a somewhat comfortable sitting position on the couch before speaking.

"Water please." croaked Kakashi, prompting Tsunami to disappear into the kitchen only to reappear moments later to give him a glass. After downing the water by drinking through his mask, something that confused the Kumo shinobi as well as the civilians, he spoke again more clearly.

"Zabuza is the leader of the Hidden Mist Village, he's the new Mizukage of Kirigakure." he said, shocking all but Kurenai.

"Is that what he meant when he mentioned killing the last Mizukage?" asked Hinata, gaining a nod from the masked ninja.

"Afraid so..." said Kakashi. "Roughly four months before you all graduated from the Academy, an old colleague and friend of ours came back to the village. He had left to go be a part of the shinobi force that guarded the Fire Daimyo, but after some time there was an attempted coup by some of the members. Our colleague led the group that was still loyal to the Daimyo, in the end only him and one of his comrades survived ."

"Oooookayyy, what does that have to do with Zabuza?." asked Kiba.

"Because after the group was officially disbanded, he never came back home." answered Kurenai who had a new look on her face that none of the Genin had ever seen before. "His name is Asuma, Asuma… Sarutobi."

"So he's from the same clan as your Hokage?" asked Omoi, only for Kurenai to shake her head.

"Yes but….. he's the Hokage's son." she answered. "And when he left to join the Twelve Ninja Guardians…...he and his father didn't exactly leave things on good terms."

"What does that mean?" asked Tazuna.

"That's another story for another time." answered Kakashi. "The point is, no one saw or heard from him for years till he just up and returned to the village earlier this year. He eventually told us all where he had been, he had been fighting in the Kiri Civil War for the Bloodline Rebels."

"Seriously?!" Sasuke exclaimed, hardly believing it.

"He wound up being put on rotation as a Jonin Sensei, so that he could slowly get back into the swing of things, and get used to not being at war." said Kurenai.

"And he told us how he and a Kunoichi held off two whole battalions of enemy shinobi so that Zabuza could fight the previous Mizukage alone." said Kakashi.

"Great, so we're literally going up against a Kage." groaned Sai, as he tried and failed to get into a sitting position from the couch.

"Sai!" exclaimed the Konoha Genin.

"So you're up? You're made of sterner stuff than most kids your age." complimented Kakashi.

"Thankyou." groaned Sai as Sakura and Hinata helped him to sit up, cracking his neck, everyone was treated to a series of sickening cracks and pops that no child had any business producing.

"Gross…" muttered Sasuke.

"You said it." Kiba agreed, as Tsunami, Hinata, and Sakura all shuddered at the sound.

"Like we've been saying, there's a reasonable chance that Zabuza will leave us be, and cancel the contract that he has with Gato." Said Kakshi, regaining everyone's attention.

"Why?" asked Inari.

"Because by this point he knows just how many enemy villages, and their corresponding nations would be aligned against him." answered Kakashi. "Buuuut, it also depends on how desperate he may be. He did just get done fighting a civil war and so his country and village are both poor and weak right now."

"Meaning a contract from such a wealthy shipping magnate like Gato could be the one thing that pulls his village, and all of Water Country out of economic ruin." finished Tazuna as he crossed his arms.

"Precisely." Kurenai confirmed.

"Kami…..his people are probably worse off than our own " muttered Tsunami, though not quietly enough as Inari looked at her shocked that she would ever say something like that.

"What are you talking about Kaa-san? That can't be true." asked Inari. "And….what's a civil war?"

"Don't worry about that right now Inari-kun, I'll explain it all later." shushed Tsunami.

"Now in the meantime, what are we really going to do about Zabuza?" asked Tazuna. "I know I'm not an expert in ninja matters, but a man with a sword larger than my body just tried to kill me and almost succeeded."

"Correct." responded Kurenai, who was busy trying to wipe off her ruined mascara. "While it pains me to say it, me and Kakashi were outmatched by that man. And if it wasn't for Yugito-san's timely arrival, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Does war really do that to you? Make you that powerful?" asked Kiba, causing all of the adults to stiffen.

"Yes." answered Kurenai.

"The Third Great Shinobi War was the longest and bloodiest of them all, and out of it came some of the single most dangerous men and women to have ever walked the earth. More dangerous than any other generation that came before it….with a few exceptions of course" explained Kakashi. "This is why we would need more firepower, if we're to stand a chance against Zabuza if he decides to come after Tazuna again."

"Firepower we have now thanks to Yugito-san here." said Kurenai as she tilted her head towards the blonde Jonin.

"What does that mean?" asked a confused Sakura.

"Let's just say it's a long story and leave it at that." responded Yugito. "And while I'm grateful for the vote of confidence, I'm not at Zabuza's level. The training I've done has easily made me capable of killing Kage level opponents, but I myself am not at that level. I haven't been through a war like he has…..all that man likely knows, is how to kill."

"You're an S Class Kunoichi, aren't you?" asked Sakura, whose eyes had widened considerably as the revelation dawned on her.

"Kage Killer." muttered Shino under his breath, though thankfully his high collar muffled his voice before anyone heard him.

"The problem now is we need to make sure that each of our respective villages are aware of what's going on, and I don't know of any faster way aside from sending an animal summons." said Kakashi as he fished a summoning scroll out of his vest.

"That won't be a problem Kakashi-san." said Yugito. "I know a jutsu that we can use to send messages to both of our respective Kages, and they will arrive within an instant."

"And what would that be?" asked Kurenai.

"It's a village jutsu that I'm not normally supposed to use around foreign ninja, but given the circumstances I can make an exception.." answered Yugito without batting an eye. "Now let's get to writing our reports, by my estimation if we send them out within the next few hours then they should be showing up at both Kages' desks near the same time."

"Wait a minute, so those scrolls will just show up on the Hokage's desk?" asked a suddenly concerned Kakashi, as the thought of any ninja, being able to teleport whatever they wanted to the Hokage's desk was a serious security risk.

"Afraid not, all I can do is send them to the Front Gate of your village." answered Yugito. "You see you need to have a lot of information on the location you want to send things to beforehand, or at least see where you're trying to transport things to in order for the jutsu to work. And I've never been in the Hokage's office, but I've seen the Front Gates of Konoha before."

"Oh, alright." Kakashi replied, visibly calming down.

Over the next hour and a half, the three Jonin took to writing out their own reports as quickly as they could. While they were writing the rest that were gathered all watched on in curiosity, before long they were all standing outside where Yugito took the 3 scrolls and placed them down on the ground. Before beginning, she looked up to make sure Kakashi and Sasuke both had their Sharingans covered up or deactivated. Leveling them with a silent glare, both stiffened before nodding. Feeling satisfied, Yugito started with her scroll, blazing through a short series of hand signs the scroll seemed to become enveloped in lightning before shooting off into the sky faster than any of them could track. A loud boom of thunder was left in it's wake, as the scroll seemed to disappear in a brilliant flash of lightning.

"Woah! That was totally wicked!" shouted Inari with glee, prompting the others to laugh.

"What was that?" asked Hinata.

"Heavenly Transfer Technique, it can transfer objects and people anywhere you need faster than the speed of light." answered Yugito, before blazing through the same seals again causing Kakashi's and Kurenai's scrolls to disappear in the same manner as the first scroll had.

"Even people? That would make it as dangerous as the Yellow Flash's jutsu!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Not really." said Yugito. "While it can do all of that, there are differences that mean the world when we're talking about moving people from place to place."

"What do you mean Yugito-san?" asked Sai.

"The Yellow Flash's jutsu was a literal teleportation jutsu, while the Heavenly Transfer Technique simply moves your body from where you're standing, to another place at speeds greater than light itself." explained Yugito, causing Kakashi and Kurenai to both become extremely pale as they quickly grasped what she was really saying.

"Dear Kami….." muttered Kurenai, who visibly shuddered much to the confusion of the Genin.

"What's wrong Kurenai-san? Are you cold?" Inari asked innocently.

"No Inari-kun I'm not, thank you though." Kurenai responded sweetly. "I just understood why Yugito-san's jutsu is so dangerous."

"What are you talking about Kurenai-sensei?" asked Kiba. "How could that jutsu be dangerous?"

"Because the human body was never meant to travel at those speeds." answered Kakashi.

"Bingo." confirmed Yugito. "The Flash's jutsu worked more like the Substitution Jutsu, folding space to teleport you from Point A to Point B. But the Heavenly Transfer doesn't work like that. Instead it instantly moves you to wherever you're trying to go, at speeds so intense that if your body is not strong enough to handle the strain…..and well…"

"'Well'... what?" asked Kiba.

"It'll rip you apart." answered Yugito, causing Inari, Tsunami, and the Genin to become shocked at what they heard. "Your insides will explode inside of you, and that's before you arrive at your destination. A couple of people wound up as a puddle of blood and crushed bone particles. " she said, causing Inari and the Konoha Genin to become sick to their stomachs.

"They pretty much disappeared from where they were standing, and then wherever they reappeared, it was like a bomb went off and they needed to be cleaned off the walls with a mop." said Yota. "My Aniki sometimes uses that jutsu on criminals that've been caught in Lightning Country, but only on the worst of the worst though."

"Plus I'm not that good at the jutsu." confessed Yugito. "It's not supposed to make a sound when it's used, there is someone that's a true master of the jutsu though. She usually uses it to transport more paperwork onto the Raikage's desk, whenever he pisses her off."

"Is that why I sometimes hear him screaming and cursing from the other side of town in the evening?" asked Omoi, a grin quickly spreading across his face as his lollipop threatened to fall out his mouth.

"Yep!" Yugito chirped, before she looked back towards a very pale Tsunami whose son was just as pale. "Tsunami-san, if it would be alright with you I'd like to get everyone fed as well as get our Konoha comrades a place to rest after what they've been through."

"Oh! Yes, definitely. I'll see about breakfast, but I'll need someone's help later to pick up more supplies. I wasn't expecting so many people…" responded Tsunami, as she mentally started to try to put together just how she was going to feed some many hungry ninja.

"That shouldn't be a problem at all Tsunami-san, as we've all brought our standard rations which can last us a few days each. And Omoi here is a very accomplished fisherman." responded Yugito.

"I can go into the water later on and get some fish, this way we'll all have something we can easily eat for dinner Tsunami-san." confirmed Omoi.

"Thank you, that would be very helpful." said Tsunami, who was mentally relieved as the prospect of feeding so many people just got that much easier. "I'll have to warn you though that as far as lodging, you'll all have to share rooms."

"That shouldn't be a problem Tsunami-san." responded Kurenai. "We can keep it simple, girls with girls, and boys with boys."

"Works for me." Kakashi grunted as he was helped back up from the stump he'd been sitting on by Sai and Kiba.

"That reminds me…" said Yugito, getting both Konoha Jonins' attention. "Given what you all just went through, me and my team will take today and tonight's shifts. This way you can all recover, but how long do you think you'll be out of commission Kakashi-san?"

"Shouldn't take longer than 5 days for me to recover fully." answered Kakashi.

"That's not ideal…." Yugito responded with a frown. "But not like there's much that can be done about it, I'll see about setting up traps with my team tonight. This way if anyone even comes within a mile of this house we'll know."

"Thankyou Yugito-san." came Kakashi's grateful reply.

"Don't mention it, just get some rest for me." Yugito replied with a kind smile. Kakashi nodded at this, before he was helped back into the house by Kurenai.

In Kumo

Ay was in a good mood, he was in a really good mood. Everything about his morning had gone great, his meetings had been short and hassle free, and he had even managed to not have any paperwork that day! Ay had also gotten back several mission reports from some of his shinobi, who'd all reported success, along with the clients' all giving feedback on how satisfied and happy they were the results his shinobi had yielded. Something that he's always happy to get as it makes his village look good. And now he was getting ready to leave early as there was nothing else on the schedule for him to deal with, figuring he'd see if Mabui was interested in getting some drinks given the rare easy day they'd both gotten to enjoy. And who knows, maybe they could patch things up between them after what happened the other week? He had managed to make it halfway to the door, when his senses went off. Spinning around he watched as a scroll with the tell tale signs of the Heavenly Transfer Jutsu crashed through his window and landed on desk. The sonic boom that came afterward, told him exactly who the scroll was from.

"Kami damnit Yugito….." muttered Ay, as he walked back to his desk to read the scroll. As he read the mission report, he became more and more concerned.

"Shit!" he thought after reading the scroll, this was not good. Things were already tricky as it was given how many Kages and Daimyos were involved, but now with the intervention of the newest Mizukage, Ay Yotsuki was more than a little concerned. Zabuza Motherfucking Momochi, the man had only just ended the Kiri Civil War, and would naturally be looking for anything that would help strengthen his village, and Water Country as a whole.

"Mabui!" Ay roared, not wasting any time.

"Yes Raikage-sama?" Mabui asked tersely as she entered his office. Ay bit back a grimace from showing on his face, now was not the time.

"Read this." was all he said before handing the scroll over to her. Ay watched as the angry…..gorgeous woman all but snatched the scroll from his hand and began reading. Ay watched Mabui's expression change multiple times as she read, even doing that thing where she scrunches up her nose. "Stop that!" Ay silently berated himself as Mabui wrapped up the scroll.

"What are your orders, Raikage-sama?" she asked stiffly.

"I need you to send that to Naruto-kun, with a note telling him to get his ass down from that mountain." Ay answered, keeping his face and voice neutral.

"It shall be done, Raikage-sama." responded Mabui before she turned on her heel and walked out of his office.

10 minutes later

Naruto walked in with the scroll in hand, an uncharacteristic look of alarm on his normally carefree face. Covered in ash and soot, with a clear sheen of sweat on his bare chest, it was clear he had been in the middle of training when the scroll appeared in front of him. Placing it down in Ay's desk, the Hanyou wasted no time and simply spoke the first thing that came to mind.

"What the fuck is this, and what are we going to do about it?"

"We are not going to do a damn thing." answered Ay. "You are going to go down there to provide backup, as well as speak to that man on my behalf."

"Seriously? And what would you have me say? You do remember what happened the last time you sent me on a diplomatic mission right?" Naruto asked incredulously.

The one and only time he had been sent for a diplomatic mission, had gone South so fast and so hard everyone involved agreed never again. As it led to Snow Country being renamed Spring Country, the current Daimyo Doto being brutally murdered, and a world famous actress being revealed as the rightful heir and crowned The Lady Daimyo of the land of Spring and Winter.

"Believe me I'd rather not but everyone else that I'd send is already away on mission, and even then it'd still have to be you considering how Bee is, and no one else is strong enough to contend with Zabuza." remarked Ay.

"Yeah, don't I know it. Fucking Zabuza…" sighed Naruto. "You know we tried to recruit him and one other to the Akatsuki once?"

"I take it, it didn't go well?" asked Ay, causing Naruto to shake his head.

"Kakuzu and Hitome spent nearly a week trying to find them, only for one of them to rise up from the ground on a throne of lava, with Zabuza appearing there with that fucking sword of his already at their throats." said Naruto as he scratched one of his large ears.

"Hell of a way to make a first impression." commented an amused Ay. "Regardless, Zabuza is a problem that needs to be handled carefully. He's fresh out of a brutal war that was said to be even bloodier than the last Shinobi War, and that's saying something if any of the reports are to be believed. Yugito's not ready to face an opponent like that, even with Mata's help she'd likely lose."

"So you want to send someone who was basically raised by people like that?" came Naruto's sly reply.

"Bingo, and see if you can bring him and Water Country into the fold." answered Ay.

"Meaning?" came Naruto's curious response.

"Meaning I want you to see if the new Mizukage would be interested in joining in a type of trade deal, between us, Konoha, and possibly Suna if they're interested." answered Ay. "Historically speaking, Kiri has always been a massive maritime trade and shipping powerhouse that no one could ever hope to compete with. It made their economy the strongest out of nearly all of the known Hidden Villages and countries, so some trade deals that help them get back to that point would be very tempting."

"That's right, they must be hurting for trade after the war." said Naruto in realization.

"We might just be able to buy Zabuza off by simply outbidding his current employer, afterall, what's more profitable? A shipping magnate who's about to be murdered by several countries, or a trade deal with several countries?"

"Alright, alright." said Naruto, who was now rubbing his hands together. "I assume you're going to be drawing something up with Mabui tonight? Cause I'm leaving in the morning, no sense in wasting any time."

"Yes, swing by here in the morning to pick up the scroll, and give my best to Yugito and her brats when you see them." answered Ay, a slight smile on his normally stern face.

"By the way…." started Naruto, who silently looked towards the closed office door. "How are things going between you and her?" he asked gently, he and Ay, along with C, Darui, Mabui, Killer Bee and Yugito had all become family over the years. So he knew this was a very touchy subject, especially for Ay, who was not used to letting people get this close to him.

"About as well as you'd think." Ay said with a sigh, as he suddenly looked like he'd aged 20 years at that moment as he sat back in his chair. "I didn't even mean to kiss her but…. we'd been tip-toeing around each other for a couple of years now. I still don't even know when we started to get close to one another."

"Yeah…" said Naruto, a small smile on his face as he thought of his two girlfriends. "It was the same for me when it came to Kurama and Yugito, at least I had some heads up with Kurama. But with Yugito, we didn't even realize how we felt about each other till we were straight up snogging."

"Hmpf, you're telling me.." Ay grunted, before smirking. "Remind me again, what happened afterward?"

"Well, look at the time! Got to go!" yelled a blushing Naruto, who then disappeared in a black flash of lightning. Leaving a chuckling Ay behind in his office, staring at the door, Ay started thinking again on what to do about the situation he found himself in with Mabui.

The next morning in Wavy Country

Everyone in Tazuna's house was currently sitting down for breakfast, with Omoi having gone fishing before anyone woke up as he had the last shift of the night going into the morning. Everyone sat down to fried fish over rice, with Tsunami making miso soup, they were all discussing how and what they were going to do while they waited for backup. Kakashi, Kurenai and Yugito were going over the beginnings of a training regime for the Genin, to try to teach them as much as they could in the time they had, and so were going over what each Genin knew.

"So Karui has an affinity for Raiton and Katon, Omoi has an affinity for Raiton and Doton, and Samui has Raiton and Fuuton." started Yugito. "And Yota, due to his clan's Kekkei Genkai, has an affinity for all five elements."

"Well for starters, Hinata here is a bit of a special case. She has affinities for Suiton and Raiton, but it is believed that she can also grow to have an affinity for the other 3 elements as well." explained Kurenai, gaining confused looks from Teams 7 and 13. "Kiba has an affinity for Katon and Suiton, while Akamaru has one for Doton. And Shino has affinities for Doton and recently acquired an affinity for Fuuton."

"Well Sai here has an affinity for Doton and Suiton, and only just recently started looking into Katon jutsus. We were surprised to see that Sasuke has an affinity for Raiton, with Katon being his secondary affinity. Rare for his clan. And Sakura here has affinities for Doton and Suiton, and is also getting pretty good with Fuinjutsu." stated Kakashi.

"Well that's certainly surprising, not many my age are competent with the art. Looks like you found yourself a real gem there Kakashi-san." complimented Yugito, causing Sakura to blush

"A-Arigato Yugito-san. I don't have very good chakra reserves, so I thought I'd look to Fuinjutsu to make up for it." Sakura admitted.

"Small chakra reserves huh?" asked Yugito, gaining a nod. "Well luckily for you that's probably one of the things you're going to be working on, do you know any jutsu for your elements?"

"Hai, for Doton I know the Stone Shuriken, Rock Bullet, Double Suicide Decapitation, and Mud Clone Jutsus. And For Suiton, I know the Water Shuriken, Water Bullet, Water Puddle, and Eight Tentacles Jutsu." answered Sakura.

"No C ranks?" asked Yugito, causing Sakura to shake her head.

"We had to work up to this point in order to get her chakra reserves up to snuff, as she comes from a civilian family." answered Kakashi. "I didn't want to teach her a C Rank Jutsu that she'd only be able to use once, and then be wiped out for the rest of the day. When I could show her several D Ranks that she could practice to get used to molding her chakra into each element, while building up her reserves gradually."

"Smart." complimented Kurenai.

"Thanks, but you should be saying that about Sakura. She came up with the idea to use Fuinjutsu, not me. And she also has the best chakra control I've ever seen in anyone her age, there are some seasoned Chunin that don't have her chakra control."

As Kakashi was saying this, Sakura's blush continued to get worse and worse as she wasn't used to being praised like this. But before anything else could happen, there was a loud series of knocks on the front door, causing everyone to go deathly still. All three Jonins silently made their way to the door, as a feminine voice called out.

"Hello?! Is this the residence of Tazuna the Bridgebuilder?!" called the voice.

"Who is it?" asked Yugito.

"Yugito-chan, is that you? It's me Amai! I've been looking all over this island for you!" the voice answered excitedly, as Yugito quickly relaxed and chuckled.

"Alright one second!" Yugito called out, before looking at everyone else.

"I apologize in advance, but Amai is one of my boyfriend's personal summons and she's a bit of a hugger." Yugito explained before she opened up the door. The sight that greeted the Konoho shinobi and Tazuna's family, was not anything that they were expecting. Sitting there on the welcome mat with what everyone assumed was a happy smile, was a large Black Salamander wearing a blue haori with white kanji on the back for 'Poison'. The Salamander appeared to be roughly 3 feet tall at the shoulder when on all fours, but was at least 7 feet long from its nose to the tip of its tail.

"Yugito!" Amai cried before launching herself at the blonde woman in a flying tackle hug, after skidding to a halt in front of the thoroughly confused audience, the large Salamander gave her an affectionate lick on the cheeks. "How've ya been? It's been a while since I last saw you."

"Amai, we literally just saw each other the week before I left for this mission." chuckled Yugito as she gently pushed the very heavy Salamander off of her and got up.

"And my how time flies!" chirped the happy Salamander. "Oh! And who might you all be?" she asked as she looked around at everyone.

"Well hello there, I'm Kakashi Hatake." said Kakashi, before he began introducing everyone to the large Summon.

"Well it's nice to meet you all, but I need to get to why I'm here." responded Amai after shaking hands with everyone Kakashi introduced her to, while also managing to nearly rip their arms out of their sockets in the process.

"Raikage-sama got your scroll, but was very angry that you ruined his office again Yugi-chan." began Amai. "Anyways Naruto-kun asked me to find you so I can reverse summon him here right away, something about not wanting to use a certain jutsu. I don't know why though, after all he put that tattoo on your-"

"Okay! That's enough! Please just summon him here!" cried Yugito, who was now blushing furiously.

"Meh, okay." responded Amai, before she walked back outside where there was more space. As everyone followed her she made sure she had enough room, before going through a short series of hand signs. "Summoning Jutsu!" cried out Amai, as she slammed her 'hand' down on the ground, followed by an explosion of smoke.

"*cough….cough! Get off me!" cried a male voice as the smoke slowly cleared away. Eventually clearing to reveal what appeared to be a very large man in his late teens, who was currently being crushed under the weight of the large Salamander.

"Hehehe, sorry Naruto-chan!" Amai chirped, as she quickly got off of her Summoner. "But you know I'm still not good with doing a Reverse Summon, so you had to expect something like this to happen."

"Yeah, I did." sighed Naruto as he got up and dusted himself off.

Standing up to his full height, he was a peculiar sight for anyone who wasn't familiar with him. Standing at 6'6" with large blood-red fox ears that stuck up from atop his head, his shaggy mane of hair matching his ears in color seamlessly. He had deep thick whisker marks on each of his cheeks that seemed to lend to an already feral appearance, and when he briefly opened his mouth everyone saw the mouthful of razor sharp teeth. But what really captured everyone's attention were his slitted, blood-red eyes, and large fluffy fox tail that stuck out of the back of his pants.

"What the…" began Kiba, as all of the Genin from Konoha, as well as Tazuna and his family, seemed to be taken aback by Naruto's appearance, though for different reasons.

Hinata let out a small gasp as she once more was looking at the one who saved her when she was little, and was at a loss for words as she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. All of the Konoha Genin didn't know what to think looking at the newcomer, though as Shino looked around he noticed how Kakashi and Kurenai both looked like they had seen a ghost.

"Hey babe." purred Yugito as she quickly wrapped Naruto up in a quick hug, one that looked like it would've lasted a lot longer if they weren't around others. "Thanks for making it out here so quickly."

"No problem Kitten." replied Naruto as he nuzzled his girlfriend, before breaking away to look at everyone else.

"Yo." he said with a wave to everyone else, before he seemed to freeze as he noticed Hinata. Something that all of the adults noticed, as Naruto made his way over to her.

"U-U-Ummmm, h-h-how do you d-do?" Hinata stammered out, as she mentally kicked herself as she hadn't stuttered like that since she was eight years old.

"Long time no see little princess." stated Naruto, a soft smile spreading across his face. "We'll talk later and catch up, I'm looking forward to hearing how you've been since we last saw one another."

"H-Hai! Ummm I-Imean…Hai, that would be great." replied Hinata as she forced her childhood stammer back down, and managed to get out a proper response.

"Good." said Naruto before looking towards everyone else, taking a quick stock of them he was about to speak when his nose picked up a familiar scent. Quickly sniffing the air, Naruto zeroed in on Kurenai before busting up laughing.

"What's so funny nii-san?" asked Yota, as he and everyone else looked at the Hanyou confusedly.

"How ya doin Raven?" asked Naruto as he eyed Kurenai down. "Finally decided to quit hunting and raise up a few future hunters of your own huh?" he asked, causing all but Kakashi and Kurenai to wonder what he was talking about.

"Son of a bitch…." muttered Kurenai, shocking her team as none of them thought she was even capable of profanity. "Yeah it's been a while alright, about 2 years since that mission in Wolf Country."

"Excuse me Kurenai-sensei, but how do you two know each other?" asked Kiba, giving voice to what was going on in nearly everyone's minds.

"We had several run-ins with one another when out on Hunting Missions." explained Kurenai. "Before becoming a Jonin, I had spent the bulk of my career in ANBU, specifically as a Hunter Nin."

"Oh my." said Hinata.

"Seriously?!" cried Kiba.

"Yes, it's actually why Hokage-sama put me in charge of the three of you. As I had extensive experience conducting tracking missions by myself or as part of a squad, where my Genjutsu would be used to disarm and incapacitate opponents before they knew I was even there." said Kurenai.

"Oh please, stop being so modest." snorted Naruto, gaining everyone's attention. "This woman was a pain in my ass. Do you know how many dozens of targets either me or my underlings tried to track down, only to find out she'd already gotten them?"

"Ohhhhh, so you're like a badass!" responded Kiba, causing Kurenai to let out a short laugh.

"Something like that I suppose." smiled Kurenai.

"Yeah….she supposes." snorted Naruto. "Doesn't change the fact that she earned the nickname, 'Mrs. Bag n' Tag' for how many shinobi she brought in."

"Kurenai-san." said Sasuke, speaking up for the first time. "After my mother started training others outside of our Clan, she said that she had taken a young promising woman as a personal apprentice…Are you the one that my mother spoke of?"

"Yes, I am." answered Kurenai, instantly sobering up as she spoke to her former master's son.

"Anyway, let's take this inside." suggested Kakashi, a sentiment that everyone shared as they all quickly made their way into Tazuna's home. Eventually they managed to find places to sit, with Amai resting at Naruto's feet as he sat at the table.

"Those reports were very detailed." started Naruto as he fished out a scroll from his shinobi pouch. "And they painted a clear enough picture that the Raikage wants to try to outbid Gato, he's already sent messages to the Hokage and various Daimyos to let them know what's going on."

"And let me guess, now that they know that the new Mizukage is in play, they're going to want this handled delicately." said Yugito. "Doesn't Ay remember what happened the last time you went on a diplomatic mission?"

"Yeah, and I reminded him of that too. But then he reminded me that there wasn't anyone else he could send besides Bee, so here I am." responded Naruto, getting a look of understanding from Yugito and Team 13.

"So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" asked Tazuna.

"Sit and wait is about all we can do I'm afraid, the Daimyos and the Kages are all going to figure things out on their end." explained Naruto. "And Zabuza isn't about to piss off that many countries just to protect someone like Gato, and in the meantime we can all take turns protecting you and your family while you finish that bridge."

"We can also train all of our Genin while we wait, just in case things take a turn for the worst." stated Kurenai.

"Seconded." stated Kakashi. "I'd rather our Teams be better prepared than they were yesterday."

"Agreed, even we weren't expecting this level of trouble." said Naruto. "Also I'll be handling security from here on out, this way everyone here can focus on training."

"Naruto-san, are you sure about that?" asked a surprised Kurenai.

"Yep, I'll just cover this place with Shadow Clones. If any of them get taken out I'll immediately know about it, and plus I'm a sensor type, so it'll be impossible for anyone to sneak up on us anyways." replied Naruto.

From there they all began filling Naruto in on what they'd already discussed that morning, so that he was caught up to speed on Teams 7 and 8 were capable of.

Needless to say, Naruto, Yugito, and Team 13 were impressed when they were told how the Konoha Genin were able to take out 3 of Zabuza's Water Clones. No small feat, considering how a Water Clone only has 10% of the user's power, and those clones belonged to the new Mizukage. This gained the respect and interest of Team 13, and had them all wanting to spar immediately. The rest of the day would be filled with all of the Genin sparring furiously with each other, in teams, one on one, and finally after lunch, in a massive free-for-all that lasted just over 2 hours. All the while under the watchful eyes of their Jonins, as well as Tazuna and his family, with Inari spending most of the time watching with stars in his eyes at what he saw. Tazuna and his family were further surprised, when Naruto took out a scroll that was in his pouch and began unsealing large amounts of already packaged and preserved food. Food that quickly filled up Tsunami's kitchen, explaining that this should tide them over for the foreseeable future.

The next day, Naruto and Kurenai would go out with Tazuna to the village to not only get an idea of just how bad things are, as well as make sure Tazuna's workers are ready to continue with construction. The villagers were all happy to hear that not only had Tazuna come back alive, but had also managed to bring back so much help. Though Kurenai made sure Tazuna didn't divulge too much information, the last thing any of them needed was word getting to Gato, that several countries were out for his head. Better to let that little tidbit remain a surprise for later. Tazuna was able to quickly organize all of the laborers working under him to get them all on the same page, and that construction would continue that very next morning.

Later at Tazuna's House

Naruto had just finished working out the schedule with the other Jonin, saying he'd take over watching over Tazuna and the workers by himself for the next few days. This way the three Jonin could simply focus on training their Genin to work together, as well as train them individually. As the Hanyou stepped out onto the back patio he saw Hinata sitting by the small pier, talking to Inari. With his hearing, it was easy for Naruto to pick up on their conversation and listen in for a few minutes.

"How could that happen?" asked Inari. "You're from a ninja village, bad things don't happen in places like that!"

"Just because I come from a Hidden Village, doesn't mean people can't get hurt. In fact, from my experience, it just means that the people getting hurt are going to have it worse. Because the criminals that are hurting others are ninjas themselves." answered Hinata.

"S-So a man really tried to steal you?" asked Inari.

"Kidnap me, yes."answered Hinata. "I was younger than you when it happened. I can't tell you how scared I was, I didn't know what was going on, or where I was being taken to. I couldn't see anything either, since he had thrown me into a thick sack."

"What happened then? You're here now so….." asked Inari, trailing off at the end.

"An older boy with fox ears tried to rescue me." answered Hinata with a small smile, as she remembered her protector fighting off the evil bad man. "He beat him up real good too, but it wasn't enough."

"You mean…..Naruto-san?" asked a shocked Inari.

"Hai, I was lucky that he happened to be in the village at the time." admitted Hinata.

"But he couldn't beat a grown up could he?" asked Inari, only for Hinata to shake her head.

"No that wasn't it, my attacker knew he was losing, and figured if he couldn't escape with me then he'd make sure no one could have me." answered Hinata as she briefly opened up her shirt enough to show off the scar above her heart. "He threw his sword at me before anyone could move, I died for a little while."

"B-But….." started a shaking Inari.

"I can't tell you how pissed off I was when that happened." stated Naruto as he approached, causing the two of them to jump in their seats as they hadn't heard him coming up. "Had to make her like me, in order to save her."

"Like you? But Hinata-san doesn't have…." started Inari, who was still very weirded out by Naruto's inhuman appearance.

"No, that's not what I meant." chuckled Naruto. "Let's just say that neither of us are actually human anymore, me less so than her."

"How is that possible? And…what do you mean" asked Inari.

"That is a very long story, and isn't the kind of thing you need to be hear till you're older. It'll just give you nightmares." said Naruto. "Just keep in mind that while things are indeed safer in a Hidden Village, that just means that when bad things happen, they're infinitely worse than anywhere else."

"And why is that?" asked Inari.

"Because that means the bad guys doing all of those horrible things are ninjas, and they're the kind of people that nightmares are made of." answered a serious Naruto. "Now run along Inari, your mother asked me to fetch you so you can help her with the chores."

"Shoot, and I thought she'd forget too." groused Inari, as he got up. "Thankyou for talking with me, Hinata-san."

"It was my pleasure." responded Hinata with a slight nod, as she watched Inari then head back inside the house. "Are we finally going to have that 'talk' now?" she asked as she leveled a steady look at Naruto.

"Yeah, I figured now was as good a time as any." responded Naruto as he took a seat beside her. "I figure you've got all types of questions about your body, and its condition…I know I did."

"I've had every single adult member of my clan, along with all of the medical shinobi in Konoha, and Lady Tsunade herself all look me over, countless times." started Hinata. "And they STILL can't figure out what these threads actually are."

"It's called the Jiongu, or Earth Grudge Fear." answered Naruto, as he pulled a scroll out from his shinobi pouch and handed it to her. "In that scroll is everything I've learned about it over the years, most of which from the man who originally gave it to me, as well as some of my own findings."

"Everything? Like where it comes from?" asked Hinata.

"No, that in particular is not in there. No one other than myself and a select few need to know of its origins. Origins that you're not ready for." answered Naruto. "For now, it's best you focus on everything else regarding the Jiongu. Such as how to wield it properly, and just what it's actually capable of."

"Like what?" asked Hinata.

"Like essentially making you immortal for one." responded Naruto, gaining a gasp of shock from Hinata.

"Oh yeah, so long as no one actually kills you, old age is not something you have to worry about." said Naruto. "The man who gave me the Jiongu, he's in his eighties, but he doesn't look any older than 35 years old."

"Kami….." breathed Hinata, as she tried to wrap her head around what she was being told.

"With time you'll be able to incorporate it into your clan's taijutsu style, and from there you should be able to expand your repertoire of skills and techniques." stated Naruto. "Such as applying all Five Nature Transformations to the Jyuken."

"S-Seriously?" asked Hinata.

"Oh yeah." confirmed Naruto. "When you take a person's heart using the Jiongu, you can then add it to your body and automatically gain all that extra chakra, as well as that person's primary nature affinity."

"S-S-So I could have as many as f-f-five hearts?!" stuttered Hinata, as she tried to digest what she just heard.

"No….I'm saying you could have A LOT MORE than just five measly hearts, and that's also covered at the very beginning of the scroll." answered Naruto.

"Fuck…." sighed Hinata, as she stared down at the water and rubbed her temples.

"Ha! Good one." laughed Naruto. "Just don't let Tsunami hear you saying that."

"Sure….So…" Hinata began. "Why were you there that night?"

"The night you were kidnapped?" asked Naruto. "Well that's easy, I was there with my guardians to acquire some intel. I spent time at my old favorite ramen stand-"

"No, I mean sure I'd like to know about that as well but…" interrupted Hinata. "But I'm talking about the night you saved my mom, and gave me that plushy."

"Ahhhhhh, yeah….that." said Naruto as he scratched his head. "Well a lot of it actually has to do with the night I rescued you." From there Naruto would recap everything that happened that day between him, Hitome, and Kakuzu. How they were forced to go there because the Golden Company was there, and the intel they needed simply couldn't wait for the Golden Company to move to another village. Hinata listened as Naruto told her about how he spent his time at Ichiraku Ramen, catching up with 2 of the only people in the village who ever showed him kindness.

And how he was able to sense Hinata's immense fear from across the village, along with the desperation of her kidnapper. That was how he was able to find them in the first place, because Naruto had felt that type of fear before, and knew it couldn't mean anything good for Hinata. Naruto would then go on to tell her about the fight itself, how both were trying to throw everything they could at each other without attracting too much attention, and how Naruto struggled during that fight. Eventually getting to the part where Hinata was killed, and what Naruto had to do to bring her back to life.

Hinata listened in shock and a little disgust, if the slight pale green to her complexion was any indicator, as Naruto described ripping out his own hear and giving it to her to replace her old one. The process involved was unlike anything she had ever heard of before in her life, and it was the little details that seemed to stick out the most to her. Such as, how the Jiongu threads seemed to suck up and absorb all of Hinata's blood from the ground, and her and her father's robes before delivering it all back into her body.

By the time Naruto had finished telling her what had happened that night, Hinata didn't know what to think. Though it did clear up many of the things that Lady Tsunade had discovered during their monthly checkups, such as why she had always felt brimming with energy. It only been theorized that it was due to her having a non-human heart, that was also a Uzumaki heart. Well, mystery solved! Just knowing that she could also add more hearts to the one she already had, seriously made her head spin.

"I know this is a lot to dump on you." said Naruto, regaining Hinata's attention. "Believe me I know, but it gets easier to come to terms with it over time."

"How long did it…take you to get used to it?" Hinata asked.

"A couple of years." answered Naruto honestly. "Getting past what led to me getting it in the first place however… much longer."

Hinata tensed at that, as everyone in Konoha knew of what had happened to The Yellow Flash's son. Particularly who was responsible, and the backlash that befell the clans and families of those involved. Such as the stories of the Sandaime Hokage tearing through the village, slaughtering the guilty and any who got in his way.

"Now come on, let's go see about helping Tsunami-san." stated Naruto as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"Yes, let's." responded Hinata, who was unable to stop the smile that was spreading across her face.

As they made their way into the kitchen, they both shared a laugh as they saw that Inari had somehow managed to get flour all in his hair. Before either could say anything further though, they were all hit with a massive blast of KI. Followed by a buildup of chakra that was shaking the entire house. Rushing outside to the front lawn, all of the Konoha and Kumo shinobi came face-to-face with a shirtless Zabauza.

"Sup." Zabuza grunted before tossing a familiar scroll towards Kakashi, who deftly caught it. "Now…let's talk."