They had a quick cold breakfast and then broke camp, leaving no trace they'd ever been there. The group took off at a moderate pace with the food fresh in their stomachs, picking up speed after an hour. At the fastest pace Sakura could manage, they reached the coastline just before noon.
"It's an hour by boat from here to my island in Wave Country," Tazuna said once they had lunch at a charming port town. "Gato owns the only ferry, though, so needless to say that's out unless you have some ninja trick to make me invisible or something. I do have a friend who owes me a favor in town. He has a small rowboat. Would be awfully cramped, but we could probably sneak past the patrols under cover of night or the morning mist. Any other ideas?"
"Hmm… thoughts, Yuugao?" Kakashi prompted the female Jonin.
"We could disguise Tazuna and take the ferry, but sadly Kakashi-senpai is one of the more recognizable of all Hidden Leaf shinobi. Naturally, we could disguise him too, but frankly taking the ferry seems more trouble than it's worth given Team 7 has little to no training in undercover work. I'd rather not risk it, and besides the cost would be a waste of resources. In case you were unaware, Client Tazuna, most ninja learn a chakra control exercise to walk on water. You and the Genin could fit in this rowboat if your friend is willing to risk a roundtrip in and out of hostile territory. I'm inclined to take a third option with much less risk. Genma, Raidou, you can bring passengers when you use the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, yes? You did so yesterday with the Demon Brothers," Yuugao broke down with cold logic.
"Been a while since I went swimming," Raidou shrugged, pulling out a Storage Scroll and unsealing a rebreather. Civilian science had yet to crack how to make artificial gills, but Sealing Jutsu had done the trick for centuries. Genma copied his fellow Special Jonin.
"Wait, what's the plan now?" Tazuna blinked.
"Genma and Raidou are going to swim to Wave Country and teleport back and forth with that yellow flash thing you saw yesterday to get the rest of us there," Naruto dumbed down for the civilian.
They found an out of the way cove on the beach where they were away from any prying eyes. Genma and Raidou stripped to compression shorts and a fundoshi respectively (something Yuugao hadn't blinked at but had made Sakura turn tomato red) and then dived right into the surf with nothing but a Flying Thunder God kunai apiece held in their grip. Two more were stabbed into the wet sand to serve as anchor points for the two shinobi.
"And now we wait," Kakashi drawled, pulling out his Icha Icha novel.
"Don't suppose I could get a swimming lesson?" Naruto asked after a few minutes of boring stillness.
"You can't swim?" Sasuke asked, his tone incredulous at the lack of this basic skill.
"Oh, sor-ry, not like I'm an orphan who was just on this side of the poverty line most of my life. I couldn't afford a trip to the gym or the hot springs and like hell I was going to risk drowning trying to teach myself in one of the rivers or lakes near the village," Naruto shot back defensively. "Don't tell me, the Uchiha District has its own pool and you learned as a little kid, ya filthy rich bastard."
"Now, now boys, no fighting," Kakashi cut in before Sasuke could retort. Kakashi made a familiar hand seal and a single Shadow Clone poofed into existence. "Naruto, here's your swimming lesson."
"Yo. Disrobe to your comfort level and let's get in the water," Clone-Kakashi said before casually walking on top of the surf until he was past the breakers. He turned to regard Naruto, balancing on the rising and falling water he inexplicably wasn't sinking into. "I'm waiting!"
With a shrug at the craziness of a world of ninja, Naruto took his headband off with care and tucked it into his jacket pocket. He stripped off his jacket, mesh undershirt, sandals, and combat pants until he was in just his boxers. Figuring he really didn't want to deal with wet underwear all day and Kakashi had said 'his' comfort level, he shucked those off too.
"NARUTO! You're naked!" Sakura screeched at a high enough intensity to crack glass.
"Yes, I am. You don't have to look, though," Naruto said flippantly before going to walk into the waves towards Clone-Kakashi.
"That doesn't look natural," Tazuna said in a shocked stupor as Naruto in all his glory walked past. The old man's eyes were rather obviously aimed low.
"Well, I wasn't born with it, if that's what you mean. It changed when my Bloodline Limit came in," Naruto said in passing.
"I now understand what you meant about why I'd need to go through the Change as well if that's what Hayate is going to grow into," Yuugao said without a hint of blush, merely academic curiosity.
"Tell me having 4 balls is unique to you along with the ears and not part of the male Ward template," Sasuke said, eyes assessing Naruto more as if imagining himself with a near-identical build.
"Yeah, Wards keep just two balls, get the same size for them and the shaft, though," Naruto confirmed, now ankle-deep in the water.
"Is no one else going to address the fact that Naruto is naked?! Have you no shame?!" Sakura was still shouting.
Naruto paused and looked over his shoulder. "Sakura, does it look like I have anything to feel ashamed about? And I am a master of the subtle art of not giving a fuck what anyone thinks of me. Get over it." With that, he turned back to Clone-Kakashi, determined to filter out any more noise from behind him.
"How the gods made us, what's the big deal?" Kakashi said, not even looking up from his book.
"Once you've seen a person's insides, seeing their outsides loses its shock value," Yuugao shrugged nonchalantly.
"I feel very inadequate, but I still think you're overreacting, young lady," Tazuna shrugged, reaching into his pack for yet another bottle of liquor.
Sasuke alone stayed silent, though that seemed more he was lost in thought than solidarity with Sakura.
Yin Sakura grit her teeth and pointedly turned her back on Naruto. Stupid Naruto with his stupid big arms and tight ass and no tan lines and lickable abs and–
No! She was in love with Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun!
Speak for yourself, bitch! I'd totally jump that beefcake and his monster cock over the pale stringbean with little dick energy! He even treats both of us like people unlike your precious Sasuke! CHA! Yang Sakura roared from within her mental cage. She'd certainly changed her tune over the last week the more she got to know both her teammates.
And stupid Yang Sakura did not have a point, she never had a point, that was Yin Sakura's opinion and she was sticking to it!
While Sakura wrestled with her sanity, her blond teammate was walking deeper into the ocean. Naruto got up to his pecs into the water, getting a bit uncomfortable at the floaty feeling and how unsteady his feet's grip on the sand beneath was getting.
Clone-Kakashi looked down at him, his one eye showing laser-like focus. Guess the man's Shadow Clones weren't quite as lazy or work-adverse. "First trick to swimming, finding out your natural buoyancy. Some people float like bubbles in water, some sink like an anchor. Time to check where you fall on the spectrum. Rest assured, I won't let you drown no matter what happens during this lesson. Now, take a deep breath, relax every muscle, and let your feet come off the 'floor'."
Naruto took a deep steadying breath, tried to release all the tension in his body, and gave a little hop off the sand. Within two seconds, his head had sunk below the water. He tried to keep his cool, but when he just kept sinking he panicked and got his feet back under him. He stood up sharply, his head breaking the surface. He gasped, more out of breath than he really should be given how long he'd actually been holding it.
"Well, looks like you're more of an 'anchor' type," Clone-Kakashi shrugged. "It won't really stop you from swimming, you just need to spend more effort keeping your head above water than the average swimmer. Which brings us to our first lesson: treading water."
Naruto took the Shadow Clone's instructions seriously, slowly picking up the described skills with practice and growing more comfortable the longer he stayed in the water. He was just getting the hang of the breaststroke when there was a yellow flash back on the shore.
"Flying Thunder God Express, at your service. Next stop: Wave Country," Genma said, doing some Jutsu that dried him in an instant before starting to put his clothes back on. "Raidou and I will go back and forth one at a time so the kunai at the other end don't go unsupervised." He saw Naruto walking nude out of the water and blushed. "And the fact you are my old friend's son has never been more awkward."
"Feel free to look, but I don't do dudes. Sorry, not sorry," Naruto said casually. He belatedly realized he didn't have a towel, but he had an idea of how to dry off quickly. Focusing, he used the Water Rune for only the second time since he'd gotten adopted into the Progenitor species. With a flex of chakra and intention, all the moisture clinging to his skin flowed into a little ball in his hands, which he 'threw' to splash on the sand.
"Aren't you married anyway?" Genma managed, even if he did rather obviously enjoy the display of Progenitor masculinity.
"Hinata-chan and I are semi-open. She's bi and fine with dating anyone I'm willing to date with the goal of working up to that person joining our marriage. Since I'm women-only, that limits her options a little but she assures me she's okay with it. On the off chance you're trans, I could use the Change to rewrite your DNA and make you a woman. Otherwise, no chance you'll end up Genma Uzumaki or otherwise in my harem," Naruto said candidly as he got back into his clothes. The sand clinging to his feet made his sandals a bit uncomfortable, but for a ninja that was nothing.
"Nope. Standard man into men here. Not my first time crushing on a straight guy, though, I'll survive," Genma waved off. "Anyway, who's getting flashed first? Yes, I made it dirty for no reason."
Yuugao elected to go first and Kakashi last so there would be a Jonin at each end for the length of the transit. In less than two minutes, and half of that was Raidou getting redressed, all 7 of them had been teleported to a mangrove forest near the shoreline of Wave Country. "My house is on the other side of this island," Tazuna said once he got oriented and realized where they were in his homeland. "And that's about 20 minutes down the road from the main village and where I'm building the bridge. Probably best to go to my place first, not show my face in town just yet. 'Sides, I haven't seen my family in weeks."
"Very well, Tazuna-san," Kakashi nodded. He pocketed his Icha Icha. "Everyone, stay alert. Zabuza and Haku will be on the hunt for our client. Assuming Tazuna's daughter and grandson haven't been taken hostage in his absence, they'll still likely be watching the house for Tazuna's return. We're knowingly walking into a likely ambush. At the first hint of danger or if there's a sudden fog, Team 7, your orders are to do Manji Formation around Tazuna and don't distract the big kids. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto and Sakura nodded. Sasuke just went "Hnn," and seemed rather sullen about it.
They got into formation around Tazuna and took off at his directions through the mangroves back to the nearest dirt road. Wave Country wasn't the most developed nation in the world. They were about halfway through the trip when Genma paused. Sharply turning his head, he spat out his senbon. There was the faintest sound of impact.
Tense as piano wire, Team 7 watched Genma cautiously go into the bushes and come back with… a dead rabbit.
"Yum, dinner," Raidou snarked at his comrade.
"I swear it sounded heavier than this little thing when I heard a noise," Genma frowned, looking vaguely guilty for killing something so cute.
Yuugao drew her katana, which was all the others needed to know that shit was about to go down. "Look at the coloring. It's got a winter coat and it's almost summer. That rabbit was kept in captivity, likely to be used for the Replacement Jutsu."
Out of nowhere, unnaturally fast, a mist thicker than soup rolled out of the forest to envelop all of them in a nearly impenetrable cloud of white.
"Genin, now!" Kakashi barked, drawing a kunai in a lightning fast draw.
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke took a triangular stance around a trembling Tazuna. Wanting to go the extra mile to protect their client, Naruto used a good 4 mind-boxes to fuel the Force Rune and made a dome-shaped force field around the four of them.
Barely 2 seconds after Naruto formed the barrier, there was an impact that felt like a giant swinging a 10-ton sledgehammer. Naruto got a glimpse of a tall shadow and a bigass sword before it vanished back into the mist. His shield had cracked and caved in from the blow, looking like shattered glass floating in mid-air.
"Fuck, that was close," Naruto breathed, even as he tried to repair the damage as fast as he could, mending the cracks and sealing the dome back up.
"Curious… a sealless Barrier Ninjutsu done that fast… and the boy is a Genin you say, Copycat Kakashi?"
The voice was a demon's. It wasn't just the hoarse quality or how full of malice it was. It came from everywhere and nowhere at once, and was as much a weapon or attack as any blade. Something about how Zabuza Momochi molded the sounds coming out his mouth penetrated deep into Naruto's mind. With just a handful of syllables, the Missing-Nin got the Genin so terrified he was almost ready to slit his own throat just to make the oppressive feeling stop.
Then there was a wave of chakra and the mist cleared in a circle around the group. Naruto shook his head, wondering how he'd let some stupid voice get to him so bad. He looked around and saw Sasuke clutching a kunai, the tip pointed at himself rather than outward. The Uchiha saw him looking and corrected his grip, but Naruto already realized that Sasuke had fallen for the same trick. Sakura oddly seemed the best out of the three of them, Tazuna had already soiled himself based on the smell.
"Auditory-based Genjutsu combined with focused Killing Intent at each of us. All while using the Silent Killing technique and maintaining a Hidden Mist Jutsu this large. Not bad, Demon Zabuza," Kakashi drawled, moving his hands from the hand seal he'd used to send out the wave of chakra that had dispelled all the subtle tricks Zabuza had been throwing at them.
"And an area-of-effect Negation Jutsu so quick and wide on your own part… you live up to your reputation, Copycat Kakashi," came that voice again. Still creepy as all get out, but it lacked the subliminal effect it had before. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to just hand over the old man… entertaining as it would be, I have no need to slaughter you all…"
"I'd like to see you try it," Yuugao called out, her whole being tense and seemingly ready to explode into violent motion in any direction.
"My lucky day… 8 enemies… 8 targets… throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, jugular vein, subclavian artery, kidney, heart… decisions, decisions… how shall each of you die…"
Raidou, seemingly randomly, threw his kunai back towards Team 7 and the force field. In a flash, he oriented in mid-air and brought the kunai up to block yet another slash of that giant blade, the Decapitating Carving Knife of legend. Raidou was batted out of the air like a baseball, but he flashed again back to his original position, where he'd dropped another Flying Thunder God kunai. Yuugao blurred, she moved so fast, going to slash Zabuza while he had revealed himself. Before she reached the man though, she had to dodge a barrage of senbon needles all aimed at pressure points that would have crippled her with pain. Zabuza, visible only for a second, vanished back into the mist held at bay by Kakashi's Negation.
"He was stalling while Haku got into position," Genma stated the obvious. "Kakashi, feel like pulling out the old ace?"
"If I use my eye while maintaining this Negation Jutsu, I'll be at risk of chakra exhaustion in less than 10 minutes. I'd rather play defense here with my team while you three play hide-and-seek with Zabuza and his little friend," Kakashi argued.
"Ah… so the Demon Brothers sang… you know about my handy tool…" Zabuza threw his voice from wherever he was hiding.
"Secret Jutsu: Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!"
The second voice was rather androgynous, either a high male tenor or a female alto. More importantly, it came from directly behind Team 7, just within the cover of the mist. Out of nowhere, all the water droplets in the air seemed to coalesce and harden into literally a thousand long, thin, very sharp icicles. There was a bare second to see how the light played off the hundreds of prisms to make a rather beautiful effect, before they all flew through the air almost too fast to track, all aimed at Naruto's force field.
"I CAN'T HOLD IT!" Naruto shouted, bleeding through chakra as he tried to maintain the shield against waves upon waves of surprisingly hard strikes. Each needle was breaking against the barrier, but they somehow carried all the force of a fastball concentrated into an impact the size of a pin. The field was cracking more and more with each racing heartbeat, and he knew in his bones that it was going to collapse before he could repair it. And then Team 7 and Tazuna would turn into pincushions.
"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!" Kakashi had spun on his heel and threw out his hands. A wave of lightning extended from his palms, hitting and then bouncing between all the remaining needles. The icicles shattered and melted from the heat of the electric discharge, before the lightning dissipated into the air when it ran out of targets.
"Dance of the Crescent Moon!" Yuugao, two suddenly there Shadow Clones of herself with her, all dashed at multiple angles towards the revealed Haku. They wore a blue-green haori and a Hidden Mist ANBU mask. Yuugao and her two copies left afterimages, the steel of her katana glinting like a crescent moon as she dashed in for a killing blow.
Haku, of all things, seemed to step back into a mirror made of ice. The mirror shattered into frost before Yuugao could get close enough to strike.
A fresh wave of mist rolled in, creeping up on Team 7 inside a barely standing force field.
"Okay, fuck this shit!" Naruto growled. He dropped the Force rune, borrowed as much energy as he dared from every Ward in his network, and filled each spare mind-box he had with the Lightning Rune. "Electrokinesis!" he shouted on some random impulse, before throwing his hand towards the mist. In other words, the thousands of electrically conductive water droplets in the air. A blue bolt of pure electricity launched from Naruto's palm.
The whole cloud of mist lit up like a spotlight. There was a crack of thunder, deafeningly loud at such close range. In the echoing silence that followed, the mist faded as fast as it appeared. The forest around them was all burned black and smoking, having all been cooked with lightning. Incongruously, a rectangular pane of mirror-like ice was floating a mere 20 meters from the road. The two reflections showing in it seemed to come alive and step out of the mirror, becoming 3D.
Zabuza Momochi was shirtless, revealing a tall, leonine body honed for both strength and speed. He wore Hidden Mist camo-patterned pants, and held the Decapitating Carving Knife as if it weighed a feather in his right hand. His slashed headband was tied high on his forehead, a face mask made of wrapped bandages similar to Kakashi's around his nose, mouth, and neck. The Ice Release user Haku had a slight, short build, looking like a doll with their old-fashioned formal clothes and silky black hair held up in a white bun holder. Apart from the ANBU mask and the senbon holsters.
"Next time, let's open with that," Genma said lightly, orienting to get into position between the Missing-Nin and Team 7 with Tazuna.
"Naruto, you good?" Kakashi checked, one hand holding a kunai and the other going towards his headband, as if to reveal his hidden left eye.
"I'm plum out of chakra, but I'm still breathing. Unless I figure out in the next 10 seconds how to collect 'rent' from my 'tenant', I'm dead weight," Naruto said honestly, panting as, for one of the only times in his life, he felt the hollow sensation of chakra exhaustion.
Tazuna, unexpectedly, clutched his left arm and fell to the ground.
"CHA! HE'S HAVING A HEART ATTACK!" Yang Sakura suddenly took control and shouted to alert them all.
"Are you kidding me?!" Yuugao huffed, even as she rushed to their client's side. "Genin Uchiha, you are trained in CPR, yes?"
"Y-yes!" Sasuke, who was shaking like a leaf, nodded, seemingly seizing on the opportunity to feel useful.
"I will administer cardiac thumps. Breathe into his mouth on my signal," Yuugao ordered, focusing more on saving their client than killing their enemy. "Kakashi-senpai, Genma, Raidou, I trust you can handle the situation?"
Raidou rolled up his right sleeve, revealing a Storage Seal tattooed on his own skin. With a puff of smoke, a katana with a black, non-reflective surface appeared in his right hand. His left still clutched a Flying Thunder God kunai. Genma had his own tri-pronged blade and three senbon held between his fingers in the other hand. Kakashi got into his battle stance with a single kunai, but his Sharingan eye was now revealed and trained on Zabuza and Haku.
"Well, this is an unexpected outcome to our little game," Zabuza drawled. He eyed Yuugao and Sasuke working on trying to revive a still Tazuna. "My only objective is that the bridge builder dies. He seems to be doing that all on his own. Don't suppose you can just hand over his body and I'll be on my way?"
"'Fraid not," Kakashi said flatly. "If it helps, we'll make it quick. Consider it a professional courtesy."
"That's my line," Zabuza seemed to grin behind his bandages. "Haku, I'll deal with these three. Get past the female and Genin to finish off the target."
"Yes, Zabuza-sama," came that ambiguous voice.
"Sakura, take over for Yuugao. She's going to need her hands free," Naruto said, digging deep. He was truly out of steam, and he'd drained all his Wards just shy of tapping them for life force. Still, he could move. Ergo, he could fight.
"You take over, Naruto." And Sakura's voice had a sharp, hard edge he'd never heard from her before. "You're out of chakra, but you can still do chest thumps. I'm still fresh. I'll look after you three while Yuugao takes on Haku."
"Agreed. Genin Uzumaki, take over in 3… 2…" Yuugao said.
Naruto glanced at Sakura. And something in her eyes convinced him this was actually a good idea.
"1!" Yuugao said.
Naruto knelt down and took Yuugao's swiftly vacated position hovering over Tazuna. He pressed his hands atop each other over Tazuna's sternum. "Don't you die on us, old man!" he shouted down.
The sounds of combat rang behind him, but Naruto blocked all that out. His and Sasuke's job was to stop Tazuna from dying. But as a whole minute passed and their client remained unresponsive, he started to despair.
*Naruto-kun! Tap me for life force and heal him!* Hinata, sounding faint and far-off, all but shouted in his head.
Naruto hated himself for even considering it. But the Mission came first, all of Wave Country was depending on Tazuna to live, and Hinata had volunteered. He focused on his Connection to his wife, his first Ward. She was on the verge of chakra exhaustion. And yet there was still energy to be tapped, her vital reserves meant purely to keep her alive. Determined to repair the damage as soon as he saw her again, Naruto siphoned about 10% of Hinata's life force. Taking the precious energy, he filled a mind-box with the Healing Rune and pushed it through his hands into Tazuna's body.
Tazuna gasped, his heart restarting and pumping life-giving oxygen back through his body.
"I thought you were– Great Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke cut off his own question to do a lone Tiger hand seal before breathing out a mass of flames.
Naruto threw himself down over Tazuna, feeling the skin on his face start to blister from his proximity to the heat. But it was worth it to hear a cry of pain and a presence just behind him that he'd been too distracted to notice was thrown back. When he heard the flow of flames end and Sasuke gasp in a breath, Naruto sat back up and turned. He was just in time to see Yuugao decapitate what turned out to be an Ice Clone. The real Haku was still on fire and rolling on the ground behind them.
"Cherry Blossom Fist!" Sakura charged over to the distracted Haku. Her fist actually glowing with charged chakra, probably all she had in her body, she brought it down straight on the enemy ninja's head. Haku, Special Jonin-level or not, was still a human being vulnerable to a concussion. And while underweight and with arms like sticks, Sakura knew how to throw a punch. The slender Ice Bloodline Limit user stopped moving, still covered in small fires eating away at their clothes.
"Whoa… tell me it's over. I can't take any more of this ninja nonsense," Tazuna groaned, rubbing his chest as he sat up.
"Zabuza fled, Haku is unconscious," Yuugao informed Tazuna and Team 7. "We are safe for the moment."
Naruto turned to see Kakashi tilting his headband to act as an eye patch again over his transplanted Sharingan eye. He looked not a hair out of place, which probably spoke more to his sheer skill than how much or little he'd contributed to the battle. Genma had a nasty gash on his shoulder, as if Zabuza's sword had almost chopped off his whole left arm and he'd barely dodged. Raidou was visibly exhausted and oddly soaked from head to toe, probably hit by some Water Ninjutsu during the fight.
"Well… three down, one to go, and we're all still alive. I call this a win!" Naruto said with forced cheer when all he really wanted to do was lie down on the soft earth and sleep for a week.
"That's what I like about you, Naruto: your optimism," Kakashi said with an eye-smile.
Yuugao, looking almost as fresh as Kakashi, pulled out another length of chakra-suppressing rope and began to pickpocket Haku of any and all tools or weapons before tying them up. Taking off the mask revealed a face like a porcelain doll, which combined with the long hair gave Haku a very feminine look. Yuugao, however, announced the captured Missing-Nin was male after noting a small Adam's apple and patting down his groin for any hidden surprises. Once Haku was wrapped in knots he'd likely have no way to get out of, Yuugao turned to Raidou and Genma. "Genma, you need medical attention. Raidou, flash Haku and Genma back to the village, to T&I and the Hospital respectively. Probably worth getting checked out yourself. Once you're released and recharged, flash back to the kunai you'll leave with us. Understood?"
"Yes, Yuugao," the two Special Jonin nodded. Raidou got a good grip on his teammate and the restrained Haku before vanishing with the Flying Thunder God Jutsu.
"Oh, congratulations by the way, Sasuke," Kakashi said casually. "If you ask nice, I'll even give you lessons."
"What are you talking about?" Sasuke blinked his eyes. His blood-red eyes with black geometric markings.
"Your Sharingan activated," Naruto spelled out for the Uchiha.
Sasuke gasped, before looking genuinely happy for the first time since Naruto had known the guy. "Yes… I am an Uchiha… my birthright…"
"Yeah, yeah, coming of age, major milestone, whoop-de-doo," Sakura grumbled. Probably Yang Sakura on a jailbreak, Yin Sakura would have been gushing and praising Sasuke for his achievement. "Can we all just get to Tazuna's house already?"
"Probably for the best," Yuugao nodded. "Client Tazuna, please lead the way."
"Right. Um, thanks for saving my life. I know it's your job and everything but… thanks a lot," Tazuna managed, still rubbing his chest after his heart attack.
"You're welcome, Tazuna-san," Kakashi nodded.
The 6 of them resumed their trip down the dirt road.
"Yin and Yang Sakura, you both did good back there. I'm proud to be your teammate," Naruto managed, still fighting the pull of gravity on his eyelids. It was taking everything he had to walk a straight line. "Same to you, Sasuke."
"Thanks, Naruto. Cha, I should thank you with a kiss. Ignore her. Don't ignore me. THIS is why I lock her up but I'm too tired for that right now. Yo, bitch, if I hadn't pooled chakra with you at the end we might not have won! … Good point," Sakura said, her whole gait and affect shifting with each sentence as her two personalities fought over who was 'driving' their shared body.
"Yin-Yang Dissociation Disorder, yes? I read your file, but you showed little signs typical of most cases. Now I know that you've taken the rather toxic route of one personality suppressing the other to maintain constant supremacy. You're literally at half your full potential strength that way, I hope you realize. Yin and Yang are meant to be in harmony, not competition," Yuugao commented from her position in the front.
"No diagnosis, no opinion," Sakura said flatly, and it was the first time Naruto thought he ever saw both halves of Sakura agree on something.
"You weren't so bad yourself, Uzumaki," Sasuke said, hands in his pocket. It seemed to pain him to pay anyone a compliment, but he soldiered on. "You did the most to protect Tazuna and shift the tide of the battle. You also restarted his heart. Which confuses me, because you said you were out of chakra. So how did you use the Healing Rune?"
"I had the Mind Rune with Hinata still on out of pure habit. She volunteered to let me tap her for life force. Just a little, she should be fine until I get back to the village and can restore her to perfect health. I still feel icky for doing it, though," Naruto confessed.
"Hmm. Seems to me Hinata deserves honorable mention in the final report for this Mission. If not for her, the client would not have survived," Kakashi said. He still seemed tense and on alert, and frankly more awake than he'd been since the Team formed.
"Always thought it would be my liver that got me, not the ol' ticker," Tazuna gave a weak chuckle.
"You were exposed to extremely stressful and traumatic events too fast for your mind and body to process them. And you are not a young man anymore. These things happen. The point is you are still breathing here and now," Yuugao turned to address the bridge builder.
"Though it couldn't hurt to lay off the sauce a little," Naruto found it in himself to wisecrack.
They trudged through the near-tropical rainforest until they reached a clearing. A modest two-story house rested just off the beach, with a wooden dock extending from the shoreline a short distance.
"Two people inside, an adult female and a male child. They're the only ones who've been here for at least a week. Seems Gato spared your family, Tazuna-san," Kakashi said, demonstrating sensory abilities he'd never indicated he had before.
"Guess even sleazeball criminals have some limits… or he was too dumb to think to go for them. Not sure which I'd prefer, honestly," Tazuna huffed, though he was clearly relieved at Kakashi's words. He led them to the front door. He knocked in a specific pattern on two different spots of the door, clearly a rudimentary code to assure those inside it was a friendly outside.
The door opened a crack, and an uncommonly pretty woman in her mid 30s showed her face. There was no chain. The woman's face lit up and she opened the door wide. She was maybe 5' 2 and 100 pounds soaking wet, but there was a certain strength to her bearing, a resilience that could weather the hard times with determination. "Father! You came back!"
"You bet I did, Tsunami! And I brought reinforcements! Meet my super cool ninja escort!" Tazuna grinned, pulling the woman who was probably his daughter into a tight hug before waving an arm at the 5 shinobi waiting patiently outside the threshold. "That's Yuugao, she's a badass with a sword. Kakashi can take charge when he needs to and he can toss lightning! Sakura's alright, can throw a decent punch. Sasuke here can breathe fire, no joke. And Naruto, well, Naruto saved my life about 3 times already!"
"A thousand thanks, Honorable Shinobi!" Tsunami bowed at the waist. "You have my eternal gratitude for seeing my Father safely home!"
"You're welcome, Tsunami-san. But the job's only half done. Now we have to protect him while he finishes his bridge and saves your country," Kakashi said politely.
"I am legit about to pass out, show me the nearest soft horizontal surface and I'll take it," Naruto spoke up, truly feeling woozy and faint after throwing around so much chakra during the fight earlier.
"Oh, of course! Come in, come in!" Tsunami hurried them past the door. She rather obviously checked for any threats before closing and securely locking the door. She turned and led the party to a living room. "The couch is free for you, Naruto-san, or I can set up a futon in the guest room upstairs."
"Can't make it up the steps. Wake me if you need me, but please don't need me," Naruto said, before shuffling over and falling face first over the armrest onto the cushions. He was asleep in seconds.
He woke up to find it dark outside and no clocks to hint whether it was night or very early morning. Someone had adjusted him into a proper sleeping position and pulled off his sandals. They'd also covered him with a blanket and slipped a pillow under his head. He felt achy and his reserves were only half-full, but it was still better than where he'd been when he lost consciousness.
Naruto closed his eyes and listened, but all he heard were the sounds of a sleeping house. Then he turned his focus inward and checked his network. All of them, even Hiruzen, had recovered closer to a tenth of their full chakra reserves in the time he'd been asleep. Hmm, curious. Did being a Progenitor come with faster recovery time? Or was it an Uzumaki thing, who were famed for their bountiful physical energy? Or perhaps a Jinchuuriki thing, having a second chakra source inside his body to help fill his tank when it emptied? Maybe a mix of all three, for all he knew.
Naruto heard the padding of footsteps on a stairwell, and he sat up. He turned and saw Tsunami, now in a floor-length robe over a conservative nightgown coming down the steps. She noticed him and blinked. "Oh, Naruto-san. You're up. You slept right through dinner, but the others assured me it was better you rest." She spoke barely above a whisper, conscious of all the others sleeping.
"Yeah, and I could do with some more sleep. But now I'm hungry as hell and need the bathroom. Could you show me where the toilet is, please?" Naruto requested politely at similar volume.
Tsunami finished her descent and guided him to a full bathroom on the ground floor. Naruto did his business, washed his hands, and came back out. "I'm afraid there weren't any leftovers, but if I can try and put something together if you want," Tsunami offered.
"Oh, don't worry, I brought a month's worth of rations. Mind if I borrow your kitchen, though? I'd prefer some hot food to just scarfing down a protein bar," Naruto checked.
"Of course, of course. Would you like some chamomile tea? That's what I came down for," Tsunami offered, all a gracious hostess.
"If you're offering, sure," Naruto agreed.
Naruto went to his pack, which was tucked next to his sandals at the foot of the couch. He found his 'food' Storage Scroll and brought it with him to the kitchen. Tsunami looked at him in confusion as he unrolled the paper to the right section, then gasped as he tapped it, flared his chakra, and a can of hearty, calorie-dense soup appeared with a little smoke. "Oh, my word! I knew ninjas could do magic, but I never thought I'd see it myself."
"We call it 'Jutsu' instead of 'spells', but it pretty much is magic or psychic powers or whatever word you want to call it," Naruto said, amused at such an exaggerated reaction to a simple Storage Scroll. Then again, he'd grown up with stuff like this, Wave Country had no ninja for her to have witnessed doing similar tricks.
"How does this scroll work?" Tsunami asked, eyes bright with curiosity even as she started filling the kettle with water.
"It uses Sealing Jutsu, which are basically 'magic spells' that can be written down on paper. For some reason, and we're still not fully sure why, the right symbols written in the right way can just warp reality if you feed them enough chakra. Chakra is the energy ninjas use to do, well, everything ninjas do. It's a mix of a person's Yin or mental energy with their Yang or bodily energy. Anyway, this is a Storage Scroll, which is an ordinary scroll filled with lots of Storage Seals. Think pocket dimensions. I put this can of soup 'in' the Seal before I left the Hidden Leaf Village, and I just took it 'out'," Naruto explained patiently as he used the handy tab opener built into the lid to open the soup can.
He found a clean pot and poured it in, then found himself a bit stymied by an actual wood-burning stove. Shrugging, he fed some wood chips from a nearby bucket into the receptacle for both burners so Tsunami could make her tea as well. "This is a low-level Fire Nature Jutsu that lets me breathe a little bit of fire. Instead of written symbols like with Sealing Jutsu, ninjas use special hand seals to mold their chakra into the right shape to cast Ninjutsu." Naruto slowly did the hand seals for Tsunami's viewing pleasure before settling on the last one. "Fireball Jutsu." Naruto leaned down and breathed a small stream of fire directly on the wood, stopping after a couple seconds when it caught.
"Absolutely extraordinary," Tsunami breathed. She laid the kettle on one of the burners, bringing her fingers down as if to feel whether the fire was real. She flinched back when she went too far and got a light burn.
"Oh, let me get that," Naruto said. He reached out without thinking and gently clasped Tsunami's wrist to bring her hand up to his face. He focused on the Healing Rune and poured a little of his recovered energy into Tsunami's body to heal the mild damage. "There, good as new," he grinned.
"T-thank you," Tsunami was blushing very hard. Naruto only just realized how familiar he was being with a woman he'd just met. Feeling a little heat in his own cheeks, Naruto let go of her hand and took a step back.
"So… got a bowl for when this heats up?" Naruto asked, trying to move past the moment.
Tsunami turned to open one of the drawers. His eyes, almost against his will, dipped low towards her ass but her robe and nightgown were too loose to give him a real idea of what she was packing. Not that he should be looking. He was a guest in Tsunami's house. More importantly, he was a visitor from another country only there for however long it took for Tazuna to finish his bridge. It made no good sense even to try and recruit her indirectly as a Ward, let alone his harem. And with the whole imprint and the fact the Change was physically necessary to safely have sex with him, he couldn't exactly do anything casual. So, he concluded, he was not to see Tsunami as a sexual being on any level. It would just cause trouble.
She turned back, unaware he'd just 'friend-zoned' her in his head, and handed him a plain ceramic bowl. He took it and went to focus on monitoring his soup for when it would start to bubble.
"Oh. You're married. I didn't see the ring until now," Tsunami commented when she came back with two tea cups from a different drawer.
"Yes, I am," Naruto confirmed. He glanced down at the gold band Hinata put on his finger and felt his lips go up in an involuntary smile.
"How long have you been together? I only ask because you seem a tad young, if you don't mind my saying so," Tsunami said as she reached for a jar of loose leaf herbal tea and started to fill each cup.
"We are. And not long. It was a bit of a whirlwind, one thing just led to another. I love her to death, though, and she feels the same about me," Naruto said, thinking fondly of the last two weeks and so much that had occurred in such a short time.
"This sounds like an interesting story," Tsunami said leadingly.
Naruto figured there were worse midnight snack conversations than how he'd gotten married literally the day after the first date. "Well, it all started back when we were 6 years old…"
Naruto spent the next 20 minutes telling the tale of Hinata falling in love with him at a distance, how a simple hospital visit had led to a confession, a magical first day together, Hinata's father's rather extreme reaction to their new relationship, and how Naruto had married Hinata hours after she'd been kicked out of her only home with nothing but the clothes on her back. By the time he finished, he'd also finished his soup and was nursing his cup of chamomile tea.
"I simply don't understand why this Hiashi would disown his own daughter just for being with you. You seem an upstanding young man," Tsunami frowned in confusion.
"There was a lot of 'ninja' stuff involved. I really shouldn't tell you any secrets of my village. It really did boil down that he'd rather lose her as a daughter than gain me as a son-in-law. He hates me that much and he always saw Hinata-chan as a 'disappointment'," Naruto sighed.
"I love my Inari more than life itself. I know in my head that not every parent in the world must feel the same for their own children. But still, I struggle to understand how any father could do such a thing to his own flesh and blood. Maybe the world is just a darker place than I want to believe," Tsunami said pensively, taking a sip of her steaming tea.
"I can't help but notice you don't have a ring," Naruto decided to point out. "May I ask about Inari's father?"
"A traveling merchant. He sailed in on a summer day, and we happened to cross paths. I was young, easily seduced. I believed his honeyed words that he would take me away from this backwater island and show me the world. He was gone by autumn, leaving me nothing but Inari to remember him by," Tsunami revealed, more nostalgic than anything as she told the tale. "I did my best as a single parent, and Father helped as much as he could, of course. And then Inari met…" she trailed off, a deep pain suffusing her every feature.
"You don't owe me any details. But if you want to share your burden, I'd be happy to help carry it," Naruto said sincerely.
Tsunami met his eyes, and something softened. "His name was Kaiza. A simple fisherman, come to Wave Country for fresh opportunity. He found Inari drowning one day and leapt into the water to save him. He kept popping in to check on my boy, make sure he was recovering well. Then he started popping in to see me too. Before you knew it, he felt like part of the family. Father told me he even asked for his blessing. Before…"
"Before what, Tsunami-chan?" Naruto asked after a beat of silence.
Tsunami gathered herself before forcing out the words. "Kaiza always had strong values. When Gato took over, he refused to just bow down and let it happen. He tried to gather a militia and fight back. Gato made an example of him. Kaiza was executed in the village square, right in front of Inari. It broke my son, and yet galvanized Father. He started building the bridge after that, trying to honor Kaiza's legacy of resistance. And now part of me is waiting for the day Father is killed too." She bowed her head and started to shake with silent sobs.
Naruto never claimed not to be a bleeding heart. He reached for the Empathy and Healing Runes, then reached out to 'feel' Tsunami's emotions. Pain, so much pain. A heartbroken widow, a terrified daughter, a mother trying her best and knowing it wasn't enough, a woman who felt alone in all the world. With deliberation, Naruto channeled chakra across the distance between them to inject positive energy back into Tsunami's heart and soften the edges of the negatives. Not erase them, just make them easier to carry.
Tsunami looked up, blinking teary eyes. "What… what are you doing?"
"More magic," Naruto said with a grin, stopping only when he felt his reserves dip dangerously low. He ended the use of the Runes, having done as much as he could for Tsunami's mental and emotional health as he could.
"... Why?" Tsunami finally asked, looking like a great weight had lifted off her shoulders.
Naruto shrugged. "Why not? You were in pain, I had the power to help. So I did."
Tsunami burst into light giggles, bringing up her hand to cover her mouth and muffle them so she didn't wake up the house. "I'd say 'third time is the charm', but you're already locked down," she managed between laughter, clearly meaning it as a flirty joke.
Naruto gulped. He shouldn't. He really shouldn't. Fuck it, he was doing it. "Um… well… not as locked down as you think."
"What do you mean, Naruto-kun?" Tsunami asked, her amusement dying down.
"Hinata-chan… likes women too. She likes the idea of being head wife of the Uzumaki harem. We, er, kinda have two girlfriends together. Of course, this is still a bad idea. You'd have to move to Hidden Leaf with me, I haven't even met Inari and seen whether he'd be okay with me as a stepfather, I saved Tazuna's life so he owes me one but it feels kind of icky to cash it in getting his blessing to sweep you off your feet and carry you back to my home–"
"Naruto-kun," Tsunami said firmly. Naruto stopped his babbling and prepared to listen. "Please do not joke. There's no way a handsome young man like you wants to tie himself down with a used up baby mama like me."
"Tsunami-chan, you're way more than that and we both know it," Naruto frowned.
Tsunami just stared at him. "You're serious," she finally said in disbelief. "You would take me back with you? Inari and all?"
"Well, we'd have to have a few long talks about all the logistics, there's some 'ninja' things I'd have to read you into, and then there's whether Inari would even want to come or stay here with Tazuna though I'd actually be fine bringing Tazuna along too… But, all that aside, yes. You seem lovely, Tsunami-chan, and I'd be happy to have you be part of my life. And I kinda have a history of rushing into relationships so me half-proposing within an hour of properly meeting you isn't really out of character for me," Naruto laid out.
Tsunami took a long, slow breath. She finished off her tea. "I am going to go back to bed. If I wake up and this wasn't all a dream, we can have a real talk about 'us' tomorrow. Good night, Naruto-kun."
"Good night, Tsunami-chan," Naruto nodded, well aware he'd dropped a sizable bomb on her out of nowhere.
Tsunami got up, left her cup in the sink, and went back to the stairs. Naruto watched her walk away, and reflected that maybe he needed to learn some self-restraint.