I know that it is a bit soon, but he will be going to the Land of Waves. Firstly, I will be mixing things up such as sending a team to help with them in the Land of Waves. Secondly, no Haku will not be a girl. Thirdly, the team I will be sending will have a change of heart and a change of mind when they are done with the mission in people and life. Fourthly, I am making this a Sakura, Sasuke, and slight Kakashi-bashing fanfic. Finally, thank you for taking the time to read this, and have a good day.
"Talking"
"Thoughts"
"Kyuubi talking/Inner Sakura"
Chapter 3: Onto the Land of Waves
3 WEEKS LATER
Naruto was rustling in his sleep; he was having a hard time sleeping as of late and it was because of nightmares. Normally, it would have been the villagers beating him to the ground but tonight and the past night were about a certain one-eyed Jonin.
IN THE DREAM
Naruto was being tossed around like a ragdoll by Kakashi. He was not letting up in his attacks and Naruto couldn't seem to do anything. Naruto finally had gotten to a sturdy stance to defend himself, but Kakashi had put him into a headlock while whispering just for him to hear.
"You are a pathetic ninja. The only thing that makes you useful is the Shadow Clone Jutsu and that is it. I do not even know how you were able to graduate but you will never be Hokage with how weak you are. You have so much to work on that you won't even be an average ninja. You will likely die in the field, especially with the kill-me orange outfit you always wear, but that is ok, you don't have anybody waiting at home for you anyway."
With that, he slipped out a kunai stabbing him in the back causing him to wake up breathing heavily and sweating. He noticed that it was drizzling outside today, and he was glad he had shelter right now. He didn't understand, the past few nights had been about what Kakashi said to him that day and it stuck in his head ever since then. Was he really that pathetic? Naruto recently has been asking Kakashi for training, but Naruto has been turned down more times than he could count saying to him "You need to work on the basics before you can." Then he would go off to train Sasuke while Sakura watched.
That is the thing though, he has been working on the basics for about a month now and he is getting good at it now. His taijutsu in the academy style was excellent in every aspect of it and he even had the power to supply it. His Kunai and Shuriken throwing was great now and he would get about 7 for 10 on standing targets but 5 for 10 on moving targets. What made the most improvement was his chakra control. He had moved onto Stage 2 of the Leaf Sticking Exercise which was putting leaves to your fingers. He could now hold the leaf on his forehead as well as hold 10 leaves on his fingers for about 25 seconds before something went wrong. He had also started a strength and conditioning regimen. In Might Dai's book, it said how he needed to improve through physical training. Exercises such as pushups, sit-ups, crunches, pullups, squats, punches, kicks, and more. He started with 50 for each and has moved up to 125 for each. He even started to do laps around his training field to get even more conditioned. Starting at 10 laps and has made his way up to 18 now. He was also going up to 10 clones to train now and he has learned lots of information.
His ninjutsu needed more work though. He has improved in some aspects such as his Substitution Jutsu. He was able to do the jutsu with faster hand seals and was able to replace himself from 40 feet away now rather than 20 feet away. His ninjutsu knowledge hasn't expanded too much as he needs to have certain chakra control and manipulation before learning the jutsu. He had also picked a book on how to use the academy jutsu with fewer or no hand seals. First what he needed to do was increase the speed at which he used them and then slowly incorporate not using hand seals. He has gotten the hand seals on the Henge to the half ram seal but that was it so far.
Naruto then got up out of his sleeping bag to change for the day. He now put on his new attire and equipment from the Dragons Den he just bought. He was grateful to have met new people to have helped him.
FLASHBACK TO THE DAY AFTER THE VISIT TO THE LIBRARY
Naruto and his team have completed another D-rank mission, being dismissed by their sensei, he made his way to the shinobi shop that the old man told him about. The Dragon's Den was across town from where he was, and he was fine with that to be honest as he liked to go on walks around the village when people weren't glaring at him all the time. He had finally made it and entered the shop. The place was big with what looked like a forgery in the back, weapons lining the walls, and stairs leading up to the top of the shop which was likely the family's house. He didn't seem to notice the girl with twin buns on her head, green pants, and a pink tank top. She had tapped his shoulder getting his attention.
"Hello, my name is Tenten Higurashi, and welcome to The Dragons Den, how may I be of service to you today?"
"Hello, miss my name is Naruto Uzumaki, I am looking for some attire and shinobi supplies like kunai and shuriken, probably like 60 of each, you know."
Tenten giggled slightly putting her hand to her mouth, "Well I can see why you would want to find some new attire with that on."
Naruto pouted puffing his cheeks and scratching the back of his head, "It can't be that bad can it."
Tenten then gestured him towards the shinobi attire, "Just a little bit, but follow me and I can help you."
Tenten showed him to the back corner of the store where the clothing was, and he was in awe. There was everything he could have needed. It was then Tenten spoke up, "I'll go get the Shuriken and Kunai that you need," she said walking away from him. Naruto then looked around. He knew that an all-orange outfit was likely not to be a good thing so at the maximum he would have some slight orange. He then saw something that caught his eye. It was a long-sleeved gray shirt that had a Uzumaki spiral on the back (Not that he knew that yet.) He also picked out some black Anbu-style plants with black sandals. "Damn, I'll need an extra bit of protection too," he said to himself. He then saw the light gray mesh fishnet armor that was a light but strong fabric that he could put under it. He even found a black sash to replace the blue sash for his ninja headband. He placed the attire on the counter and waited for Tenten to return with the sets of kunai and shuriken. After a short while, she returned with throwable weapons asking him, "Would you like anything else today?"
Naruto pointed towards his clothing, "Could I get four more sets of this please."
Tenten nodded and proceeded to go under the counter and hand him the needed clothing. She was curious about this shinobi and wanted to ask him some questions.
"So, are you a newly minted Genin," she asked placing down the black pants. Naruto nodded.
"Well, then who is your sensei and all that?"
"My sensei's name is Kakashi Hatake." Tenten's eyes widened like saucers, and it did not go unnoticed by Naruto. "What's wrong?" Tenten waved it off.
"Oh, it was nothing, just my sensei's name is Might Guy, and he is as he says, his "Eternal Rival". She said using air quotes. Naruto then was confused. Kakashi had a rival, and who was this Might Guy, he must have been the son of the Might Dai.
"Hey, is he the son of Might Dai by chance?" Now it was Tenten's turn to look confused, "Who the heck is Might Dai?" Naruto reached into his equipment pouch pulling out the book and showing it to her.
"Yeah, I thought that the author looked weird, he has huge eyebrows and a weird haircut, but he does give useful information." Tenten looked at the picture of the author and went wide-eyed. This guy did look like her sensei and despite the fact they had the same surname there was no question about it. He was his son.
"Well, I guess this is his dad. He has never really shared his past with us," she replied.
"Yeah, my sensei is the same," said Naruto.
"So, you want to better yourself, huh, not a lot of Genin do that unless their sensei trains them, but it looks like you are doing it on your own huh," she said resting on her elbows on the counter.
"Yeah, I want to become Hokage one day, you know, and I would like to learn various ninja arts to become the best. I started by perfecting the basics and then moving on up from there. That and my sensei is too lazy to train us."
Tenten nodded her head in understanding, "Yeah, I get that, though there aren't too many kunoichi that take it seriously anymore. It upsets me. It gives us a bad name because everyone thinks that we are all fangirls. It doesn't help when your dream is to be like Tsunade Senju," she said moving over to grab the mesh shirts.
"Yeah, my teammate Sakura, is a fangirl for my teammate Sasuke, the last Uchiha. But, hey, you said you have a dream to be like Tsunade Senju, yeah. That means we have big aspirations, and we must live up to them. So, I tell you what, if you need help then I will help you because people like us are the future and we must stick together, you know."
Tenten was a little surprised someone other than her sensei would help her. "Well, I will have to keep that in mind if I do need help but as of right now, I think that I am ok, but you did say that you want to learn different ninja arts to help you in the long run. I would recommend two arts for you and if you would like to learn them you can come back to the shop and I will show them that or I can show you them now," she replied with a smile.
"Sounds good Tenten, but I only have enough money for the clothes right now, I will be back for them eventually."
Tenten nodded going to the register. "Alright, so the total is around 2,138 dollars and 21 cents. The reason being the fishnet armor as it is a lot of money."
Naruto's eyes widened but pulled out the money from his toad wallet, Gama, and handed it to her. Tenten then sealed the supplies into the scroll waving him off. "Until next time Naruto. Naruto waved back at her leaving the shop with the sound of the bell.
FLASHBACK END
Hey, place on his new clothes he had been saving to see other people's reactions and smiles. He looked awesome, like he was ready to kick butt. He was glad that he made a new friend in Tenten though he hadn't been to see her in a while. However, that would have to wait until after the mission. He made his way towards Training Ground 7. He would have set a routine to do some of his exercises in the morning to loosen up and then finish him in the afternoon. His teammates made fun of him in the beginning until Sasuke copied him into doing it and Sakura had shut up.
Yeah, that's right Naruto had stopped calling her Sakura-chan because she didn't earn it. He lost most of his respect toward his teammates, but his sensei still held high in his regard even after his nightmares. He would master the basics then he would move on and ask Kakashi once again to train him. It was a bit of a naive thought but what could you do?
After a while, he made his way to the training ground to see Sakura blabbing on Sasuke about something useless. Naruto sat on the opposite side of the bridge hoping they would say something and nothing came of it. Naruto was upset but realized Sakura and Sasuke hadn't noticed him yet and that hurt him more. This team he was on was supposed to be a family, not a dysfunctional one. Kakashi then appeared.
"How are my cute Genin today?"
"YOUR LATE!" screeched Sakura.
"Well, you see, I forgot to walk my fish before coming here so I had to quickly do that."
Every one of them sweat dropped. They didn't even have a response to that horrible excuse.
"Anyway, let us go get a mission," Kakashi then pulled out his book to read to the tower. Soon after they reached the tower and Naruto still didn't get a compliment. He was upset but he knew the old man would say something.
They entered the office to see Hiruzen with Iruka again handing out missions. Hiruzen saw Naruto with his new attire smiled and thought of another blonde 12 years ago.
"He is the perfect balance of the both of you, Kushina and Minato. It won't be long before I can tell him of some of his heritage and people will notice him. Though that may be a problem from the other nations," he thought.
"Naruto-kun, my boy, you look great in the new outfit," said Hirzuen smiling.
"Yes, indeed Naruto, you look like a shinobi," said Iruka.
"Thank you, guys, I thought I needed something different; you know."
It was then that the rest of Team 7 saw Naruto's new outfit. Kakashi didn't spare a glance, Sasuke grunted, while Sakura was seething.
"Who does this idiot, think he is, trying to one-up Sasuke-kun like that," exclaimed Inner Sakura raising her fist.
"Well, we have a plethora of missions today, such as catching Tora, painting a fence, plucking weeds, and…"
He was cut off by Naruto who was trying to be respectful in his way. "Old man, would it be ok if we can try a C-rank mission." Iruka was about to say something to Naruto when he was cut off too. "And before you say anything, Iruka-sensei, we have done the minimum number of D-rank missions which is 30 before we can request a C-rank mission. So would it be alright if we can try something easier to mix things up, you know?"
Both the men couldn't fault the logic of the young Genin. He was right in the fact that it takes a minimum of 30 D-rank missions before doing a C-rank mission. Hiruzen was amazed at the level of respect he was showing him too. It was then you could hear a smack coming from Naruto's direction because Sakura decided this was a great time to slap him backside of the head.
"You idiot you can't just disrespect the Hokage like that and you can't request a mission like that," she said screeching.
"Actually, Sakura-chan he can, it is up to the sensei of a team if they are up for that type of mission though," replied Hiruzen with an edge. Why was she hitting upside the head when he did everything the proper way? In his own way anyway.
"Sorry Lord 3rd," she replied sheepishly moving back.
"Well, Kakashi-kun, do you think they are ready?"
Kakashi put his book away to ponder this. After a moment of silence, he came to a decision. "I think that we are ready to do a C-rank mission."
Hiruzen nodded, "Alright send him in."
Team 7 turned around to see a man with a bottle of sake. Drunk as a skunk.
"Hello, my name is Tazuna, *hick*, these are the ninja you got me, they look like pipsqueaks."
Kakashi spoke up and said, "It will be all right Tazuna-san, you see you have me a very capable Jonin, and you have my student Sasuke who is a prodigy like me."
Tazuna nodded and then fell and passed out on the floor. Hiruzen sighed ignoring Kakashi's praise for only the Uchiha and not his entire team.
"The mission will be to escort and protect Tazuna the bridge builder to his homeland in the Land of Waves. You leave in one hour at the gates. Make sure to pack for about 2 to 3 weeks' worth of travel. Dismissed."
Team 7 left and Naruto left to get his supplies and say a quick goodbye to Tenten. After gathering everything he made his way to the Dragons Den. He opened the door to the place and saw Tenten balancing a kunai on her finger looking bored. She heard the bell and turned her head to see Naruto. She smiled and made his way to him. Naruto went to greet her when she lightly punched him.
"Ow!" yelped Naruto slightly rubbing his shoulder. "Is that any way to greet someone?"
Tenten lightly scowled at him, "It is when I haven't seen you in like 3 weeks Naruto. Where have you been?"
"I'm sorry Tenten. I have been busy with training and missions. I didn't mean for it to get in the way," Naruto said apologetically.
Tenten stopped scowling and hit him again so lightly that he didn't notice. "Well just make sure to check in and hang out when you can. So, what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to tell you that I am heading on a C-rank mission for a few weeks, and I wanted to let you know I was wondering if you would like to train after we get back to make up for the lack of me hanging out."
Tenten smiled, "Of course we can, and I see you have already down the 30 D-rank missions down to do a C-rank mission."
"Dang right we do, it is because of how awesome I am," said Naruto flexing his muscles in front of her.
Tenten giggled, "Well, I wish you good luck, and bring some stuff to learn on your trip. You could use that time to get better."
Naruto patted his backpack, "I already do, I found some interesting books on taijutsu, chakra control, and some other stuff so we are good."
Tenten then pushed him out of the store, "Well, like I said good luck and stay safe and get stronger," she said with a wave.
Naruto gave a foxy smile and waved, "I will have fun while I'm gone."
Tenten smiled and saw him leave. She turned around to see her mother, Yumi Higurashi, smirking knowingly at her. "Oh, my is my little Tenten-chan talking to boys."
Tenten brushed past her, "Mom, that was just my friend, so you don't have to worry about it."
Her mother didn't let up however, "First Neji and now this Naruto boy you are talking to. My little girl is growing up so fast," she said wiping a fake tear from her eye.
Tenten scoffed and went into the other room to avoid her mom, but she soon followed after her.
Naruto had made his way to the gate to see Sakura and Sasuke waiting. Sakura saw Naruto and decided to remark, "You were almost late Naruto-baka. You were the one who asked for this mission," said Sakura.
"Sakura I am 10 minutes early and it's not like Kakashi will be on time anyway," he said waving his hand in a shooing motion. That was another thing he had stopped doing as well. He had dropped the -chan suffix to her name as he felt she did not deserve the affectionate title.
Sakura got less irritated and replied, "Yeah I guess you are right."
About 20 minutes later. Tazuna was getting frustrated. "Your sensei said he would be here, where is he?" he asked annoyed scratching the back of his head.
Sakura replied with her being slightly annoyed too. "It is like this every day; you should have about another 2 hours before he shows up." With a puff of smoke, Kakshi was there in front of them giving an eye smile with his eyes closed. All three Genin were amazed that he was here.
"Yo, you guys ready," he asked. All he heard was silence and when he opened his eyes, he just saw all his Genin mouths agape.
He sweatdropped. "Guys, I can't be that bad can I."
This resulted in all three of them nodding. Kakashi sighed and moved them along. "Alright let us hit the road. With Tazuna-san traveling with us it will take about four days to travel rather than two. Set up Diamond formation with Sasuke in front."
Naruto was practically jumping up and down. This was his first time outside the village in his life and he would make the most of it.
3 HOURS LATER
Naruto was slightly bored, but his smile never left his face. They had been traveling for the past few hours now and it was hot even if they were in the Land of Fire. He had been wiping sweat from his forehead every 5 minutes and he was trying to figure out why his sensei wasn't sweating when he was wearing thicker clothing than he was. Sakura after a few hours of nonstop talking towards Sasuke decided she would switch to a different person and that was Tazuna.
"So Tazuna-san, does the Land of Waves have any ninja?" she asked curiously.
Kakashi, still reading his book, said something before Tazuna could. "Well Sakura, there are very few villages that can supply the ninja needed to protect their town and one of them is the Land of Waves. Small villages such as the Land of Waves will ask the nearest Village for assistance such as us. They had to ask us as The Hidden Mist is in the middle of a civil war. There are several others, but the five largest ninja villages are the Hidden Leaf Village in the Land of Fire, the Hidden Cloud in the Land of Lightning, the Hidden Sand in the Land of Wind, The Hidden Mist in the Land of Water, and finally the Hidden Rock in the Land of Earth."
"Wow, there are a lot of ninjas out there," she said in amazement.
Kakashi nodded at this and Tazuna nearly fell into the puddle in the middle of the road narrowly avoiding it. Naruto just stared at the puddle as they passed it.
"Why is there a puddle in the middle of the road in this heat? I know that it drizzled this morning, but it should have dried up."
With Naruto in his thoughts, Kakashi was being wrapped up in the chains. Naruto heard the chains and quickly turned around pulling out a kunai with Sasuke doing the same. The two individuals that did this just stared where Kakashi once stood, blood where they stood. "One down, now let's move to the bridge builder."
All four of them stood there in terror. It was Naruto who made the first move. He slid under the clawed weapon punching the man in his elbow followed by pushing the other one away. Sasuke jumped into the fray kicking the second one in the head. Both men were in pain now and couldn't react in time as Sasuke and Naruto through their kunai into the chain of the gauntlet, pinning the men into the tree. Naruto summoned a shadow clone and ran over pinning both of their hands to the tree preventing them from moving any further.
It was then that Kakashi fell from the tree clapping his hands. "Well done, Sasuke, I expected nothing else from you, though Naruto you need to react faster so that you will not hinder your teammates, understood." Naruto just stared confusedly at his teacher.
"I was the one that immobilized them, and Sakura just stood in front of the bridge builder."
"Sensei, I thought you died and why didn't you help out," gasped Sakura. She then looked over to the puddle of blood to see nothing was there anymore. "A Genjutsu," she thought.
"It was a Genjutsu, Sakura, now as to the reason why I did that was for two reasons. One reason is that these two are the Demon Brothers. Essentially, they act like mercenaries, and they are from the Village Hidden in the Mist. So, either they attacked me for my status, or they attacked us because they were hired to take out the bridge builder," explained Kakashi knocking out the Demon Brothers and sending a death glare at Tazuna.
Tazuna was sweating bullets at this point. He started to sputter out, "W…we...ell…you…see." He was abruptly cut off cut off by Kakashi.
"You lied, in the report that you made. You said this was a C-rank mission which is used for protection against bandits, muggers, and the like. Not from enemy ninjas that are chasing a bounty on your head. We will have to head back for the safety of my Genin, but before we do explain why you lied."
I am not going to explain what happens as we all know what happens here .
Kakashi rubbed the bridge of his nose sighing, "Even if it was because Gato was doing this that doesn't justify why you did it. I understand that these Genin are ninjas, but they are also 12 years old. This isn't the warring states period where children are sent out to die anymore. So now we will have to turn back…"
Naruto interrupted Kakashi from finishing that sentence. "No."
Kakashi sighed again, "Naruto you must realize you are not ready for a mission like this. This is now a B-rank if not it is an A-rank mission."
"That doesn't matter how are we supposed to be experienced if we never experience anything. If we were to leave Tazuna-san here now the Land of Waves will continue to suffer, and we will likely lose business from them. And besides, if this is an A-rank mission as you say, we can always send for backup like an experienced Chunin or even another Jonin team," explained Naruto frustratedly.
"I unfortunately have to agree with the dobe," said Sasuke in a bored tone.
"I agree with Sasuke-kun," screeched Sakura.
Kakashi thought about it. He did have a point to help with the mission he could send another team. He was surprised Naruto had that idea, to begin with.
"You know what Naruto that is a decent idea, I'm surprised you came up with it," he said as he patted his head.
Naruto gave a deadpan look, "You act like I can't come up with an idea of my own."
Kakashi started to form hand seals yelling, "Summoning Jutsu," and out came a small pug.
"Did you need something, Kakashi," said the pug. "Ah, Pakkun, I need you to go back to the Hokage Tower and request for backup on this mission, understood." Pakkun gave a salute and jumped off.
"Looks like you are in luck Tazuna-san, we can continue the mission but expect backup later on."
Tazuna was in tears at this point, "Thank you so much brat, it means the world to me." As he hugged Naruto.
Naruto was not used to this feeling and started to push him off, "It is alright Tazuna-san, but you are squishing me." Tazuna quickly got off him and said sorry and continued their way.
2 HOURS LATER AT THE HOKAGE TOWER
Team 10 was turning into another D-rank mission when Pakkun jumped through the window on the Hokage's desk.
"Pakkun, what are you doing here? Does Kakashi have a message?" he asked questionly.
"Yes, Kakashi has asked for backup on a mission that turned C-rank to A-rank sir," replied Pakkun.
Hiruzen just sighed and shook his head, "I'm going to sound like a Nara, but this is troublesome." Shikamaru sneezed and muttered about troublesome word stealers.
Hiruzen started to sift through the shinobi available. "Let us see here, Genma with Aoba, Anko, Izumo, and Kotetsu are gone. Hayate is on a B-rank mission. Kurenai and her team are on a D-rank mission. God damn it, there is no one available."
"Hey, uh, Dad, we can go. We have 31 missions under our belt, and I think they are ready," replied Asuma taking a puff on his cigarette.
Hiruzen stared at Team 10 for a good long while and sighed, "Alright but this is only happening because more specialized shinobi are on missions right now, so don't get used to this," he said handing him a copy of a scroll about the mission before them.
"Now go on and good luck, catch up to them."
"Yeah, I get to see Sasuke-kun," swooned Ino.
Chouji pulled out a bag of chips saying, "I still don't know what you see in him."
2 DAYS LATER WITH TEAM 7
Team 7 was almost to Tazuna's house making better time than they thought but they were still waiting for word on their backup. Kakashi explained to them that if it was a Jonin like theirs they would be about a few hours behind, but if it was a specific ninja then they would have already caught up with them.
Many of them were wary of their surroundings and in their thoughts, but no one was thinking harder than Sasuke right now. He was a little bit ticked off that Naruto was actually able to subdue the enemy quickly and to the point, even if Kakashi had praised him and not Naruto. He needed to be strong enough to kill the man that killed his clan and once he unlocked the Sharingan then he would have ensured it. He was interrupted from his thoughts when Naruto threw a kunai in the bushes thinking he heard something.
Naruto was sweating badly, he felt as if something had been watching his team for so long that he grew paranoid. He slowly walked to the bush's kunai in hand. He moved the bush slightly and sighed in relief. He bent down to pick up a small snow rabbit.
Sakura became ticked off, "Naruto you idiot, don't scare us like that. I should smack you for that." Sakura started to make her way over when Naruto said.
"You know, I do find it weird that the rabbit's coat is snow white even in the summer months…"
Kakashi realized it, "Substitution." He then heard a whooshing sound, "DUCK!" Kakashi jumped pulling down Tazuna while the other three Genin fell to the ground narrowly avoiding the sword that slammed into a tree.
The group looked up to see a man with a bandaged mask over his mouth and in camo clothing standing on his sword wedge deep in the thick tree.
"Well, if it isn't the bridge builder that I am looking for. Oh, and what is this? This appears to be Kakashi Hatake. The man to have copied over 1000 jutsu. Or Kakashi of the Sharigan."
Kakashi slowly stood and set himself in a fighting stance preparing for anything. "Well, it appears I have a bit of a fan don't I. No matter, what is it that you want from us, Zabuza Momochi."
The now-named Zabuza slowly squatted on the blade grabbed a hold of the hilt and said, "Well I am here for the bridge builder and if you are to stand in the way of me you and your team will die."
Kakashi moved his headband to reveal a 3 Tomoe Sharingan, "So be it. Team 7, Triangle Formation." Team 7 surrounded Tazuna and they all were shaken from fear and adrenaline.
"How the hell does Kakashi have the Sharingan; is he family? No, he isn't, his last name is Hatake," thought Sasuke.
Sasuke then started to talk, "The Sharingan is one of the strongest Dojutsu's in the world…"
Naruto cut him off slightly annoyed, "Sasuke-teme, why the hell would you explain the mechanics of something to the enemy? How about you explain to us later?"
Sasuke had nothing to say as the dobe did have a point. Sakura didn't recognize the comment as she was busy trying to pass out.
Zabuza formed a hand seal, "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu."
A thick mist clouded up the nice sunny day and Team 7 could barely see Kakashi now. Zabuza was nowhere to be seen until they heard his voice all through the mist.
"Are you all ready to die?" Everyone was then hit was a huge way of killing intent. Kakashi and Naruto were still standing just fine. The other three were not fairing off too well. Kakashi held years of experience as a shinobi to brush this off. Naruto brushed it off from the years of villagers hating, glaring, and even beating him to a pulp. Kakashi could barely see his team, but he saw that Sasuke and Sakura were shaken up.
"Listen, everyone, I will protect you, and you will be fine. I will not let my comrades die," said Kakashi in a firm yet gentle tone. That seemed to have calmed down the Genin and even Tazuna. Until Zabuza's raspy voice echoed in the mist again.
"Ah, it appears the blonde is still standing from my killing intent. It makes you wonder what one must go through to withstand this." The now-sweating Sakura and Sasuke stared at their teammate to see he had one kunai in his left hand barely being affected.
"How the hell is the dobe, withstanding this? I feel like I am going to puke. I must figure out what training he is doing to make him this strong. I refuse to have him be stronger than me," thought Sasuke furiously.
He was broken out of his thoughts when Zabuza said in a low voice, "Eight points. Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart. Which one should be my kill point?"
Kakashi flared his chakra to be able to see his genin team. Then there was silence. Pure silence. Zabuza then lunged at the group with his sword cocked back to strike, when Kakashi came into the fray and deflected the sword and cut his side. Zabuza then dispersed in water.
"Water Clone, that means there are more of them," stated Kakashi.
"Your damn right there is," replied Zabuza as a few more water clones charged at Kakashi.
Kakashi sliced and diced them but missed one of them as a kunai stabbed him right through the head. All the genin were shocked until Kakashi dispersed into the water as well.
"You have got to be shitting me, you copied my jutsu," Zabuza said as he was able to be seen by everyone now. Kakashi was now behind Zabuza Kunai right near his jugular. Zabuza was tense trying not to move. Both were now standing on the water. "They don't call you Kakashi of the Sharingan for nothing, but you're still a fool." The clone dispelled and Kakashi started to have water envelope him.
"Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu" exclaimed Zabuza. Kakashi was now trapped and unable to move with Zabuza's hand placed inside of the water ball.
"Shit. I grew careless," thought Kakashi.
"You all need to get out of here, I am trapped, and you cannot do much else. Take the client and leave while you still can. If he makes more water clones, they are unable to go far."
Everyone was conflicted. Their sensei was trapped, and they were unable to think of a plan. Suddenly just a Kakashi predicted Zabuza made a half ram seal and 2 more water clones appeared. They slowly made their way over to them.
Naruto broke them out of their musings. "Guys, I got an idea." Naruto crouched down a started to look in his backpack.
"Who went and made you leader dobe," asked Sasuke agitated.
"No one teme, but unless you got a better idea to free Kakashi-sensei then go along with it," he replied as he pulled out two fuma shuriken. He threw one to Sasuke and he put one on his back.
"Hold onto it until I say," said Naruto as he formed the ram seal.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu," Naruto said as nearly 50 more copies of him appeared.
Zabuza raised an eyebrow while smirking under his mask. "You got some spunk brat; I'll give you that, but you cannot defeat me."
The Naruto clones charged at the Zabuza water clones. 25 each was facing each of them and many of them were dispelled from just the swing of his sword Kubikiribōchō. Many threw Kunai and Shuriken hoping they nicked him once as that was all he needed before he would dispel.
Zabuza was laughing at the kid's display. He understood the Shadow Clone Jutsu was hard to learn and the fact that a Genin was doing it was very impressive but against a Jonin-level ninja like him he was nothing. That was when he heard a slashing sound. Zabuza looked at the clones and saw they had been dispelled by a kunai that came from the trees. It was out of his peripheral vision, and he didn't see it. The rest of the Naruto clones were dispelled except one.
"Sasuke, get ready to throw it," Naruto yelled. Sasuke nodded and both genin unfolded the Fuma Shuriken. Sasuke threw his first directed at Zabuza followed by Naruto.
Zabuza was slightly sweating now, "Alright so my left hand is free so I should be able to catch this one and jump over the shuriken he is going to throw," he thought quickly.
"You brats didn't think this through your heads did you." Zabuza caught Sasuke's shuriken followed by jumping over Naruto's.
Naruto started to chuckle and replied to Zabuza, "No I already did. I knew you were going to do that," as he dispersed into smoke. Everyone's eyes widened. Zabuza turned his head to see yet another Fuma Shuriken flying towards him.
"Oh god, I can't do anything now. I must release this jutsu to prevent it from hitting me. That damn brat."
Zabuza grabbed the Fuma Shuriken but in turn, released Kakashi from his prison and got a swift punch right in the face from Kakashi. Zabuza flew across the lake before collecting himself again and standing on the lake. Naruto jumped back to the group who was smiling to himself.
"I knew that would work," said Naruto happy with himself.
"Dobe, how the hell did you know that would work," exclaimed Sasuke.
"Well, when I created all those clones, I knew that he couldn't keep track of them all, so I ran nearby to hide behind a tree while you and the clone threw them. I knew that he could catch one and jump over another Fuma Shuriken, but he wouldn't be able to dodge a third," he said matter of fact.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, "This is the class dobe and deal last. Why is he this strong? I need to up my training. I need to learn this Shadow Clone Jutsu."
On the lake, Kakashi and Zabuza were running through a series of hand seals. Soon enough Team 7 and Tazuna saw two huge water dragons appear from the lake.
Both exclaimed, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu," Both the large water dragons clashed with each other. Kakashi's was just ever so slightly more powerful and Zabuza was flung back to a tree at the edge of the lake.
"How were you able to…see my jutsu…it's like you are able…to," "See what you are seeing, like seeing into the future," finished Kakashi.
Zabuza's eyes widened. Maybe he could see into the future. Team 7 was now watching this up close to see Zabuza and Kakashi staring at each other. Zabuza was about to speak when a few Senbon pierced his neck, collapsing to the ground.
A hunter ninja then dropped to the ground landing in front of the team. Picking up Zabuza the young boy said, "Thank you for taking care of him. Now the secrets he holds will be destroyed."
With that, the hunter teleported away from them leaving an exhausted Kakashi. Kakashi turned to the group and said, "Good job Sasuke on that throw, now let us get going…" he said before passing out on the ground.
Naruto just sighed. He was getting tired of this. He thought Kakashi would say something to him and not Sasuke, but his sensei was playing favorites. It didn't matter right now though he needed to get his sensei to Tazuna's house.
"Tazuna-san how far away is your house?" Naruto asked while summoning Shadow Clones to pick him up.
"It is about 10 minutes that way, follow me, and I'll show you the way," he replied leading the way.
Sasuke got next to Naruto heatedly asking, "How the hell were you able to brush off that Killing Intent like it was nothing?!"
Naruto sighed and looked him right in his onyx eyes and replied, "Sasuke, I am going, to be frank with you, firstly, if I were to tell you, you would not believe me. Secondly, the way I am used to it is something I do not wish on my worst enemy. Thirdly, I would not teach because I can not teach you like that, it is something that must come through experience."
"Like I did," he said with a whisper thankfully not having the others hear him.
Sasuke was more surprised than anything mainly by how serious Naruto was. Sasuke stood to the side quietly for the remainder of the walk. He would just once let Naruto be about this seeing as he got as serious as he did when someone talked about his older brother.
The group finally made it to Tazuna's house. Tazuna opened the door, "Tsunami-chan I am home, and I have reinforcements like I said."
It was then a beautiful woman wearing a pink apron came from the kitchen running to Tazuna. "Oh my gosh, Dad, you're ok and you have a team of ninjas from the Leaf village."
"I know, I know, but we need to get their sensei here to bed so he can recover," Tazuna said with some concern. She then looked to the gray-haired man and so four blondes carrying him.
Naruto could see she was confused and said to her, "Do not worry miss, this is a jutsu I am just a clone of the original."
Tsunami nodded and gestured him down a hallway, "Right, follow me this way we have a bedroom for your Sensei."
"Though I should assure you miss Tsunami that there will be more ninjas coming in to help with the protection of your dad, oh and my name is Naruto Uzumaki by the way nice to meet you," Naruto said to her.
Tsunami just nodded and replied to him, "Oh, that is good, we have plenty of room and food as of now so we should be ok, Naruto-kun."
Naruto saw the bed and placed Kakashi down on it, covering him up in the blanket. He then left the room to go downstairs and sit in the living room with the others. He saw the clock and noted it was only 3 o'clock and there was still plenty of day left. He hoped reinforcements would come soon.
WHILE THE FIGHT WAS HAPPENING
Asuma felt the chakra from the fight and got worried.
"This is Kakashi's chakra, shit, we need to pick up the pace. I'll have to put chakra in my legs to move faster."
Asuma stopped the group, "Troublesome, why did we stop Asuma-sensei?" asked a tired Shikamaru.
"You guys need to get on my back. Kakashi is currently fighting an enemy and we need to hurry. We can get there in 6 hours if we go at the same pace we are going at right now. I can get there in an hour if you hop on my back." Asuma summoned 2 shadow clones and lowered themselves to their level.
"Troublesome."
"Great now I am going to smell like cigarettes," complained Ino.
"Now I can not eat anymore," said Chouji in anime tears.
1 HOUR LATER
Asuma was able to make it to Kakashi's chakra signature in record time. The clones stopped in their tracks when they saw a decently sized house in a forested area.
"Hey, are you guys alright? Guys?" Asuma turned around to see all three of his Genin were pale and white-eyed, groaning softly. He had the decency to be embarrassed as he said, "Sorry guys, I could have gone a bit slower so that you didn't have whiplash."
He slowly set the Genin down and let them get their bearings. Asuma walked up to the house and knocked on the door waiting for someone to answer. There was no way this wasn't the house they needed to be at as he felt Kakashi's chakra signature towards the back of the house. The door slowly opened, and it was Naruto who was standing there.
"Oh, what's up guys? I am assuming that you are the reinforcements."
Asuma nodded smiling, "How you are doing kid, can we come in and Kakashi can give the low down of what is happening."
"Yes and no, yes you can come in, but no to talking to Kakashi, he is out cold right now from chakra exhaustion." He let Team 10 in and that was when they finally got a good glimpse of Naruto for the first time in a while now. They hadn't seen each other in about a month and Naruto was no longer wearing his orange jumpsuit but rather proper shinobi attire. Ino was the first to comment on Naruto's changes.
"You know what Naruto, I think that you look pretty good in that and not that orange abomination you once wore," said Ino with her finger under her chin.
Naruto looked sheepishly, "Yeah looking back on it now it did look pretty, standout, if you will."
Chouji started to pull out a bag of chips and said to him, "Well, change will happen eventually, but you look good in that."
Shikamaru was just staring at the blonde enigma in front of him. When his mom came home and said he was reading in the library and checking out books, he thought she was lying. But, with this and the new clothes he has on, he has changed and Shikamaru is going to find out why he did.
Naruto walked towards the kitchen to show them that Tsunami was in there making dinner. She looked up and saw more people and smiled, "Well, it appears the backup has arrived, you are just in time, luckily, I made a lot of dinner. However, I believe introductions are in order. My name is Tsunami."
Asuma cleared his throat to speak, "Well, my name is Asuma Sarutobi, leader of Team 10. This big-boned boy right here is Chouji Akimichi, the blonde right here is Ino Yamanaka, and this here is Shikamaru Nara."
"Dinner is about to be ready so you may freshen up," she said drying her hands on a towel. Dinner was interesting, to say the least. There was a total of 10 people. Kakashi was the only one not there for obvious reasons, but Ino and Sakura were trying to get attention from Sasuke while Chouji kept scraping food into his bottomless stomach only stopping when Naruto and Shikamaru said to save some for everyone. Naruto had sat next to Inari the son of Tsunami, and he was a boy around Konohamaru's age. He had made a big deal about whether they were going to die if they stayed here but Naruto and the others ignored him. After dinner, Asuma pulled Team 7 to the side to find out what happened so far.
"Alright you three, give me some information about what happened on this journey so far."
Sasuke began to talk, "Well we thought it was a normal mission when the Demon Brothers attacked us, we found out Tazuna lied about the mission rank as the Land of Waves as their country was too poor to afford it because of Gato the business tycoon." He gritted his teeth, he hated how Naruto had gotten stronger, but he couldn't lie here, "Kakashi then sent for backup after the dobe came up with it. A little bit of time passed and a couple of days later or today rather, we were attacked by Zabuza Momochi."
Asuma's eyes widened. No wonder Kakashi was tired and his chakra nearly depleted. Naruto continued for Sasuke. "Then, we protected Tazuna-san while Kakashi fought Zabuza. Kakashi got caught in one of his jutsu that prevented him from moving. I came up with a plan to free him using Fuma Shuriken and eventually, he was freed Kakashi stopped him by using some Water Dragon from the lake and Zabuza was defeated after that, and it was solidified when a Hunter ninja came from nowhere and used senbon to kill him." Asuma just nodded at this, this was quite the story.
"Well Naruto, it appears you have improved greatly, keep up the good work, but I want you all to make a proper report when we get back because that seemed like the watered-down version of it." All three nodded but Naruto was thinking about something. Senbon was used to stun and paralyze an enemy and did not kill the enemy. They were getting ready to go back inside when it hit Naruto.
"Oh god."
They turned around to see Naruto was sweating slightly. Asuma asked the question on their mind. "What is wrong kid?"
"What if…Zabuza is still alive?" he asked slowly.
Sakura spoke next, "You idiot, we saw him die from that Hunter ninja after he threw the senbon in his neck."
"How am I the idiot, Sakura? Senbon are used to demobilize the targets that they through them at. You would need a lot of Senbon to kill anyone for the matter. I also don't know too much about the body but isn't the neck where you could paralyze the enemy." Asuma thought about it more and more and his deduction was right. Senbon are not used to kill like that, and you would need hundreds to kill someone.
Asuma patted his head, "Good job kid. Way to use that brain of yours. I'll have to discuss this with Kakashi when he wakes up, and everyone else for that matter." Everyone walked away while Sasuke stayed where he was fuming.
"There is no way the dobe of the graduating class can deduce someone like that. Great, I'll have to make sure that he doesn't beat me in smarts and nothing else for that matter."
A few hours passed before it was time to hit the hay when Tsunami commented something. "Well, we have enough room for everyone, but you will have to share rooms."
Shikamaru shrugged, "Simple, we just have the 2 Sensei's, the 4 boys, and the 2 girls in their rooms then." Tsunami smiled, "Good, alright goodnight, everyone."
Everyone went to their rooms assigned to them and when the boys got to their room, there were only three beds. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Sasuke jumped onto a bed while Naruto just stood there getting his sleeping bag out to lie in the corner. Shikamaru watched this and asked, "Why did you not take the bed Naruto." Naruto looked at him unrolling the bag out, "You guys seemed to have wanted so I thought, why fight something like that." Shikamaru nodded and turned to fall asleep. Sasuke eased into the bed trying to rid his mind of thoughts of the blonde lying in the corner. Chouji was already out for the count, but Naruto just lay there honestly wishing he had a bed. His dirt "bed" under the bridge if you could call it was comfier than this hardwood floor, but everyone wanted the bed bad so he thought it would be better to take one for the team. Soon enough, he slowly drifted off into the Oasis of Dreams.
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