Chapter Five: Revelations and Reunions
Author's note: As always, I'd like to start off by thanking all of the new people that have left a like, comment, review and message.
As for the harem, so far, the members are Haku and Mabui, and the girl from Iwagakure will be Kurotsuchi (predictable, but I don't really know much about the Bee girl from the filler episodes.)
As for Konoha girls, and I say, "girls," because I'm thinking of having at least two girls from Konoha. I put up a poll on my profile (For reference the girls I was thinking of were: Mitarashi Anko, Inuzuka Hana, Yamanaka Ino, Hyuuga Hinata, Hyuuga Hanabi, Yakumo Kurama, or a Female Itachi.)
I also was toying with the idea of having Terumi Mei, but I'd like to see what you guys think.
Otherwise, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Bold: Technique Name (English Translation)
Italics: Thoughts
Horizontal Line: Flashback
(Scene Change): Do you really need to ask?
When Kakashi awoke that morning, the first thing he did was listen to the various sounds he had become familiar with over the past week; the creaks and groans of the house settling, the wind tousling the leaves of the tree outside his window, the gentle splash of the sea lapping at the dock; everything sounded the same.
And yet, as he laid in his futon and listened to the sounds-absently noting that Tsunami had just left her room and was heading to the bathroom and then the kitchen, her regular morning routine-he could not help but feel like something was…off. Like something had changed or was going to change.
Kakashi did a check of his body, flexing each muscle from his toes up to his ears, to see if he felt a negative response; nothing. He scanned the room to see if anything was out of place; his flak jacket was where he left it in the corner, leaning against his backpack, a backpack that carried some extra changes of clothes-he kept his weapons sealed in a scroll which never left his person. Again, he found nothing out of the ordinary.
Kakashi then sent out a minor pulse of chakra, a technique Anbu are taught to sus out hidden people, though the technique is imperfect when compared to the discerning eye of the Byakugan or the senses of a sensor-nin. And it was as Kakashi sent out a pulse that he found something, though what he found was the last thing he expected. Rather than finding some hidden foe prepped and waiting to strike, he instead found that his chakra felt…disturbed. Not disturbed in the sense that he was under the thrall of a genjutsu, no; his chakra felt…anxious. Anxious as if it could sense something bad was going to happen.
To explain this feeling, one has to remember that chakra consists of two halves; the physical half, Yang, and the spiritual half, Yin. Much study has been done into the Yang half of chakra, while very little study has been done into the Yin half of chakra. This is because it is easy to measure how much a man weighs, but not how much his spirit weighs. Yet this is not to say that just because you cannot measure your spirit does not mean it does not exist. On the contrary, many veteran shinobi will swear up and down that the spiritual half of chakra does exist because it has helped to save their lives, warning them of imminent ambushes seconds before their physical senses-sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell-could discern anything was amiss. When asked what tipped them off to the ambush, to a one their response was, "I felt something was wrong."
To the lay person this might appear as nothing more than superstition, and yet, one need not look further than the priestess bloodline of Oni no Kuni to see that chakra is capable of granting visions of the future. So why would it not be capable of giving premonitions?
Suffice to say, chakra is capable of many strange and wondrous things, and only a fool would ignore their own chakra when it was giving them a warning, and Kakashi was no fool. The only question was; what was it warning of?
The feeling of anxiousness persisted throughout the day, to the point where Kakashi couldn't even find enjoyment from his favorite book. It was as he, his squad and his client's family were sitting at the dining table, having a late lunch, when he got an inkling of what his chakra was warning him of.
"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, is it alright if I go meet up with Haku-chan?" Naruto asked. It was a normal request, one that Kakashi had granted without fail every time. Though not without Kakashi having a shadow-clone follow the boy, for his protection, of course. Although, if Kakashi's clone happened to observe something noteworthy and just so happened to have a notebook on hand…Well, you wouldn't expect a dog not to bark just like you wouldn't expect a writer not to write, right?
However, the second Kakashi heard his student's request, the anxious feeling his chakra was giving off intensified. Something was going to happen at that meeting, he could feel it, but he needed more information to formulate a plan. And so, he asked Naruto, sounding casual; "Oh, and what are you two going to be doing?"
"She wants me to meet her guardian," the blond answered, as he raised a clump of rice to his lips.
"Guardian?' I was unaware Haku had a guardian." Kakashi commented, "Do you know who her guardian is?"
Naruto swallowed his food. "No."
"Do you know what her guardian does for a living?" Kakashi lost his casual tone, something Sakura and Sasuke picked up on as they lowered their chopsticks and observed the conversation between their teammate and sensei.
Naruto placed down his chopsticks, as he turned his full attention to Kakashi. "I know he works in private security."
Kakashi's visible eye narrowed. "Hmm, and where are you meeting?" Tsunami picked up on the growing tension in the room and decided to excuse herself from the table and usher Inari out of the room.
Naruto shrugged, as he placed his hands underneath the table, thankful that Tsunami had just left because it made what he was about to do much easier. Crossing his fingers in a cross shaped seal, he focused on summoning a shadow-clone underneath the table without smoke and sound, as he was doing so, Naruto answered his sensei's question; "At her house, I guess?"
"Do you know where her house is?" Kakashi pressed. Tazuna decided at this point in time that discretion was the larger part of valor and excused himself from the table to go and join his daughter in the kitchen.
"I don't know, what's with the third-degree? You didn't have a problem with me meeting with her before." Naruto glared, both at the line of questioning and the focus he had to put into pulling off the technique. And as if God himself was listening, Sakura decided to chime in;
"I agree with Naruto, you didn't seem to have a problem with him meeting her before, what's the problem now?" Sakura wondered. Although she hasn't met this Haku girl, she was thankful that her presence has managed to steer Naruto's affections away from herself.
Naruto nearly cried tears of joy for Sakura, unknowingly, drawing attention away from him and onto herself, because it allowed him to finish summoning the shadow-clone underneath the table, unseen and unheard. And not a moment too soon, for Kakashi's response to Sakura had Naruto seeing red;
"That was because he met her in a public place or I had a shadow-clone following him," Kakashi explained.
"What?!" Naruto shot up out of his seat, his chair falling over; Sasuke tensed his shoulders and Sakura looked about to admonish her teammate, physically. But Naruto didn't care. How could Kakashi-sensei spy on him?! Before he could get started on a rant, Kakashi cut him off:
"Genin, name and registration number," Kakashi ordered, his tone of voice causing Sasuke and Sakura to stiffen in their seats.
Naruto's back stiffened, his eyes losing focus as he stood at attention and said in a monotone, "Uzumaki Naruto, 012607."
Kakashi had Naruto stand at attention for ten seconds, watching as the tension left the blond's shoulders. When he was sure Naruto had calmed down enough, he calmly explained his actions; "I followed you because we do not know who Haku is, nor her intentions. For all we know she could be an enemy. Now," Kakashi held up a hand to stall Naruto's protests, "I will say from my observations that she doesn't appear like she wants to harm you. Quite the opposite, in fact. Nevertheless, you can never be too careful in our world."
"Are you saying I can't meet with her?" Naruto growled through his teeth.
"I never said that. What I'm saying is that we are going to treat this like a potential ambush. We'll both create shadow-clones, one going in your place while my shadow-clone will trail it. If there's no danger, then you'll be free to arrange a meeting at a neutral location." Kakashi saw that Naruto had slightly relaxed once he had heard the plan. Unknowing that Naruto had made his own plans.
"And why don't you just go with him, Sensei?" Sakura asked, her tone respectful. She didn't know that her laid back teacher was capable of sounding so harsh.
Kakashi gave Sakura an eye-smile as he pointed at the swing door that led to the kitchen where Tazuna and his family were waiting out the argument.
Sakura blushed as she let out a sheepish chuckle, "Right."
Kakashi chuckled as he stood up from the table, placed the index and middle fingers of his hands into the shape of a cross, flared his chakra and was soon enveloped in a cloud of white smoke. When the smoke dissipated, another Kakashi was standing next to him; "So, ready to go?"
Naruto frowned, as he tapped his foot in front of his clone, a signal for his clone to be ready to use Kawarimi (Replacement). "I don't like tricking Haku-chan like this. I promised that I would meet with her guardian, not a clone."
The real Kakashi nodded, "I know, but this is for your own safety; do you understand?"
Naruto gave Kakashi his signature grin as he squinted his eyes shut and placed his hands behind his head, as he tapped his foot; "I understand your plan, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto placed his hands in the same hand sign as Kakashi, charged his chakra, and was covered by a plume of thick white smoke that engulfed his side of the room.
When the smoke cleared, there were two Narutos standing there. Kakashi stared at the two clones and threw one of his chopsticks at the Naruto standing on the right, piercing through his right shoulder. That Naruto looked shocked for a second before he dispelled; a clone.
"What was that for?!" The remaining Naruto yelled, as he felt a hand tap his left foot; the original was now underneath the table.
Kakashi shrugged, "I wanted to know which one was the real one. Now make another clone, and this time, use less smoke."
'Naruto' nodded as he tapped his foot in front of the original, signaling for him to be ready to make the switch. The clone then put his hands into the cross shaped hand seal, charged his chakra and was covered by a plume of white smoke that only covered Naruto's side of the table. Again, when the smoke cleared, there were two Naruto's standing there.
Kakashi pointed to the Naruto on the right, "You're going with my clone."
The Naruto on the right turned to his other self, looking dejected, "Sorry, boss. Looks like he got us."
The other Naruto also looked dejected, "I know, it was a good try though."
"Nice try, Naruto," the real Kakashi said as he ruffled the leftward Naruto's hair, "But it will take more preparation than that if you want to get one over on a jonin." Kakashi motioned for the two clones to leave. Not noticing a third Naruto, underneath the table, who was grinning like a loon.
(Scene Change)
"I'm so glad that you're coming to meet my guardian," Haku said as they walked, her left arm looped through his right with her fingers threaded with his. She enjoyed how warm Naruto's hand was, especially how he was stroking the top of her thumb with his own, a very relaxing gesture. "It means a lot to me."
Naruto gently squeezed her hand, "It's no problem." Naruto enjoyed how smooth and cool Haku's hands were, though he couldn't help but note that she did have some calluses on her palms, as if she was used to handling rough tools. Naruto mentally shook his head, "Haku-chan's not a ninja. She could have gotten those calluses from picking herbs, right?" Naruto was so distracted with his thoughts that he didn't even notice that Haku was asking him a question. Though he did notice when she stopped walking, raised their held hands, and placed a soft, lingering kiss on his knuckles.
When Haku was sure that she had Naruto's attention, she lifted her lips and shot him a teasing grin; "It's not nice to ignore a lady. Now, what's on your mind?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his hand with his free hand as he avoided looking her in the eye, "It's nothing, just thinking of some stuff." When he caught a look of the growing pout on her face he quickly amended, "Some ninja stuff. Sorry, but I can't tell you more." Naruto shot her an apologetic grin.
Haku studied Naruto for a few seconds, her mind awhirl; "He's avoiding eye contact and his shoulders are tense; anxious? Maybe? About what? Me? Is he breaking up with me?" Haku's heart nearly leapt into her throat at that thought when her rational mind took over, "No, he would be avoiding physical contact if that were the case. Does he suspect something?" Haku decided to ease her anxiety by teasing Naruto and giving him a hint of her and Zabuza's plans; "Well, I hope that when we're at your village you can tell me more about this 'ninja stuff."
Naruto mouthed the word "village" as his brain processed what she said; "Wait, you want to move to Konoha?"
"Yes," Haku nodded, "My guardian and I would like to have a more permanent place to call home, and I can't imagine a better place than Konoha. After all, aren't I dating the future Hokage?"
"Dating?!" Naruto's eyes bugged out, "We're dating?!"
Haku dramatically gasped, dropping Naruto's hand as she turned her back on him and took a few steps away; "I didn't know you liked to string girls along."
"String along? No, I would never string you along!" Naruto denied as he placed his hands on Haku's shoulders and turned her around and looked her right in the eye. "I'd love to date you."
"Really?" Haku asked, sounding skeptical.
Naruto vigorously nodded.
"Yay!" Haku cheered as she proceeded to hug the stuffing out of Naruto. "Now, let's go, my guardian is waiting!" Without waiting for a response, Haku grabbed Naruto's hand and dragged him towards Zabuza's base. Unaware of a one-eyed shadow-clone following them from above.
"Her body language seems genuine, though I'd know for sure if I could use the sharingan without the risk of popping." The Kakashi clone shook his head. "The real me needs to get back into shape."
(Scene Change)
The sun was beginning to set as Jiraiya was walking down a well-worn dirt path towards the house of Tazuna the bridge builder. According to Kaito, Tazuna was on the top of Gatō's kill list, and because of this, Tazuna went to Konoha to hire a team of ninja, one of whom Jiraiya knew personally.
"So, Kakashi finally leashed himself to a Genin team?" Jiraiya mused, "Must be some brats if he passed them. Or the council and Sarutobi-sensei forced him." Jiraiya shrugged. "I'll hear it from the horse's mouth soon enough."
A rustling from some bushes off to his left caused the man to pause. To any casual observer, it looked like the man was simply admiring the scenery, but to an experienced shinobi, Jiraiya looked primed and ready to kill someone in six different ways before they could blink. Jiraiya threw his senses towards the bush, and relaxed when he felt the familiar warmth, he associated with his toad summons. Though that warmth soon fled when a green toad with red cheeks and a white underbelly hopped out of the bushes with poor tidings:
"Jiraiya-sama! Bad news; Gatō's working with Kiri!"
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean, Yoshi? Explain."
The toad frantically hopped up and down, "I saw Gatō speaking with a Kiri-nin. The guy from Kiri was super tall and wore an Oinin mask, he also had a weird sword that looked like a sewing needle!"
"Kuriarare Kushimaru," Jiraiya murmured under his breath as his mind tried to rationalize this piece of information. "Why would the Mizukage send away his last loyal swordsman during a civil war?" Jiraiya needed more information. He crouched down in front of the excitable toad, "Yoshi, tell me what happened."
Yoshi stopped jumping up and down as he recounted his mission; "I trailed one of Gatō's goons, like you asked, and I followed him to a warehouse a few miles away from town; Gatō's running drugs."
"Unsurprising," Jiraiya commented, "But what does that have to do with Gatō working with Kiri?"
Yoshi croaked indignantly, "I don't know. All I know is that I saw Gatō standing at the window to his office next to the tall guy."
"Did you hear their conversation?" Jiraiya pressed. Information was a shinobi's lifeblood, and that went doubly so for spymasters.
"No," Yoshi shook his head, "I was too far away to hear. Although, Gatō did look pale standing next to that Kushimaru guy."
Jiraiya snorted, "I don't blame him. If even half of the stories I've heard about that man are true…" Jiraiya trailed off as he recalled what he knew of Kushimaru; highly skilled swordsman, and a sadist with a predilection for crucifixion with his sword, Nuibari. Jiraiya stood up, he needed to get this information to Kakashi, and fast.
"Thanks for the report. See if you can find out where Gatō's base is." Jiraiya dismissed the scout toad and started sprinting towards Tazuna's house; the setting sun beginning to dip below the horizon, and casting long shadows.
(Scene Change)
The sun had set by the time Haku and Naruto had arrived. "We're here!" Haku announced as she waved her arm towards a conical building a couple of stories tall that was suspended off of the ground by wires attached to the surrounding trees. The entrance to the building was a wooden rampway that was also suspended by wires that were attached to the bottom of the building. All in all, the building looked like a hanging, upside-down top.
Naruto had a nervous grin on his face as he stared at the strange building, "Haku-chan, what did you say your guardian did again?"
"Private security," she answered as she began dragging the blond up the rampway and towards the entry door.
Naruto's eyebrow twitched; "There's no way a guy working 'private security' lives in a place like this," Naruto thought. When they reached the entry door Naruto turned to Haku and just decided to ask her flat out; "Haku, are you trying to kill me?"
"What?!" Haku gasped as she let go of the door handle and spun to face Naruto. "I would never kill you!"
"She won't," a rough voice rasped from behind Naruto, "But I might."
Before Naruto could spin around, he felt a large hand grab him by the nape of his neck as he was lifted into the air and carried through the entry door.
Up in the trees, Kakashi's shadow-clone was dumbfounded, a single thought playing through its mind as he moved to infiltrate the building through a window on the lower level; "Zabuza's alive?!"
The clone was so preoccupied by that thought that he didn't notice a subtle mist began to roll in and surround the hideout. Nor did he notice a nearly seven-foot-tall man appear from behind one of the thick tree trunks.
"Naughty Zabu-chan, what are you doing with a Konoha-nin?" Kushimaru wondered aloud. He thought about it for a few seconds, then shrugged it off as non-important. Zabuza would die tonight, so any plans he had were all for naught. Kushimaru then pulled some of the mist from the air to form a water-clone of himself. He ordered the clone; "Go watch Zabu-chan, I'll give you the signal when I'm done preparing out here.
The clone nodded as it went to infiltrate the building from another window on the lower level.
(Scene Change)
"So, brat, you want to date Haku?" Zabuza asked as he dropped the blond on the floor, suppressing an amused chuckle as he saw the blond genin spin around and get himself into a boxer's stance. "He's improved," Zabuza noted, "But he still has some holes in his defense…Raise your right hand."
"What?" Naruto asked, sounding confused, but he refused to lower his stance as he quickly glanced around the room he was brought to; four exits, the entryway he was brought through, a ladder behind him, a window to his right that was ten feet above him and a window to his left that was near his height but was twenty feet away; the room featured three target dummies peppered with senbon, as well as crates with, presumably, other shinobi supplies.
"You're leaving your right side open," Zabuza pointed out.
Naruto blinked as he looked down at his right side, was he leaving himself open? He didn't think so. Was this all a trick by Zabuza to lower his guard?
As if Zabuza could read Naruto's mind, the missing-nin said; "If I wanted to kill you, I would've done it. Now, raise your right hand so that it's just about level with your chin…that's it. Balance your weight on the balls of your feet…good…you're looking more like a competent shinobi, especially since you've gotten rid of that atrocious eyesore of a jumpsuit."
"Hey! Orange is awesome, damn it!" Naruto dropped his stance as he pointed an accusing finger at Zabuza for the slight towards his favorite color.
"It ain't the right color for a shinobi, brat!" Zabuza growled.
"What would you know, 'no-brows?!" Naruto mocked.
"Why you little…" Zabuza's right hand reached over his right shoulder for his sword, but before he could wrap his hand around Kubikiribōchō's handle, he felt an ice-cold chop to the top of his head.
"Zabuza-sama! You are not going to kill Naruto-kun!" Haku admonished her master as she shook off the bits of ice that clung to her hand. Unaware of the fact that Naruto was watching her with widened eyes, having just borne witness to a violent side of Haku that he had never seen before.
Zabuza rubbed the growing bump on his head as he threw a pitying look towards Naruto, "Brat, if Haku treats you anyway she treats me, I pity you."
"But Haku-chan's never hit me," Naruto stated.
"What?!" Zabuza's chin was in danger of ripping his neck bandages because of how far his jaw dropped at that revelation. "Then how does she get you to stop doing things then?"
Naruto simply blushed and started to study a very interesting crack on the ceiling, while Haku simply giggled as she walked over to Naruto, looped her arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder. She then turned to Zabuza and said two words: "Hisame-sensei."
Zabuza crossed his arms over his sleeveless black shirt as he turned his head and studied a very interesting crack on the wall, thankful that his neck bandages hid the slight blush that stood out on his light grayish skin; "Right, moving on." Zabuza then addressed Naruto, "Brat, you must be wondering why you're here and why I'm alive, right?"
Naruto nodded, as he threw a wary glance towards Haku.
Zabuza noted this, "Don't worry, if Haku had wanted to hurt you she would have done so by now." Zabuza unconsciously rubbed his neck, "She can be quite vicious with those senbon of hers."
Naruto looked closely at the target dummies and saw that one of them had two senbon pierced through its neck. It looked just like…Naruto jumped away from Haku and pointed a finger at her, "You're the Oinin who took out Zabuza! But he said…" Naruto pointed at Zabuza, "That you were…and!" Naruto pointed back at Haku then to Zabuza then to Haku again until finally, he threw up his hands and yelled out; "Just what the hell is going on?!"
Zabuza stepped forward. "Listen up brat because I'm only going to explain this once, you remember when I fought your teacher?" Seeing Naruto nod, Zabuza continued, "And do you remember what I said about Kiri's graduation ceremony?" Naruto's flinch told Zabuza that the blond remembered. "What he didn't tell you is that Kiri was even worse than that! Have you ever heard of the Bloodline Purges?"
"No, I haven't," Naruto responded, "But what does this have to do with you wanting to meet with me?"
"I'm getting to it," Zabuza growled, "During these purges, people like Haku were hunted down to extinction," Zabuza gestured towards the girl in question, a girl who had yet to move from the spot where Naruto had separated from her. She was looking down towards the ground, her bangs shadowing her face.
Naruto gasped, "But why?"
"There have been a lot of civil wars in Kiri, and people with bloodlines featured prominently in all of them. So much so that people began seeing bloodline holders as harbingers of war," Zabuza shrugged, "Irrational, but because of this view, you had people start to believe that if they got rid of bloodline holders the wars would stop." Zabuza looked towards Haku, and his eyes softened, "But the wars didn't stop. Regardless of how many bloodline holders they purged."
Naruto walked over to Haku, lifted her chin and flinched when he saw the look in her eyes; the warmth and playfulness he had come to associate with her chocolate brown eyes were long gone, replaced with a cold lifelessness that he had seen reflected in the mirror more times than he would care to admit. Naruto did what he did on their first date; hold her to his chest and try to shield her from the cruelness of the world. Naruto nodded over Haku's shoulder, motioning Zabuza to continue.
"It was one day that I was on patrol that I met Haku, and saw that she had the same eyes that I had; cold, lifeless. She had no purpose, so I decided to give her one as a shinobi. I trained her, teaching her what I knew for the next couple of years, and things were good, for a time. Then Yagura came to power, and everything got worse. Under Yagura, Kiri really lived up to its nickname of 'the Village of the Bloody Mist."
"How bad?" Naruto asked, though he soon regretted it.
Zabuza took a shaky breath, "Yagura allowed Kushimaru, another swordsman, to string up 'dissenters' along the outside of the Kage's office, while they were alive. Some of them were children."
Naruto pulled back from the hug to look down at Haku, just to make sure that she was still there. And he was glad he did, because otherwise he would have never caught the slight movement from the window to his left as he heard a high-pitched voice state; "Those were good times, Zabu-chan."
Naruto threw Haku to his left as a silver blur flew through the window, cutting a few strands of Haku's hair as she was falling to the ground, as it continued on its path through Naruto's right shoulder to bury itself in the wall behind him. Naruto let out a yell of pain as he reflexively fell to his knees and reached towards his right shoulder, or at least, he tried to; he found that he was kept standing by some unknown force. When he looked at his shoulder, he saw some of his blood hanging in the air. Naruto focused his eyes and saw that his blood was clinging to some razor wire.
"Naruto!" Haku yelled out as she saw the blond's bloody right shoulder. She got up, her hands glowing white as she channeled her Hyōton chakra so that she could seal Naruto's wound with ice, but before she could even take two steps Zabuza barked out; "Stop!"
"Zabuza! Naruto's hurt! I need…" Haku began to plead with her master, but she was cut off.
"I know," he said, his eyes never leaving the window to his right, as his hand grasped the handle of Kubikiribōchō, "But if you take one step closer that wire through his shoulder will cut him in half." Zabuza roared at the window, "Isn't that right, Kushimaru?!"
"Ruin my fun, why don't you, Zabu-chan," Kushimaru said as he climbed through the window, a loop of razor wire wound tightly around his right hand. "Dismemberment loses half it's fun when the prey expects it."
"Why are you here? Isn't the war still going on in Kiri?" Zabuza asked as he put some more weight on his right foot, ready to spring at a moment's notice.
"Ah, ah, ah," Kushimaru raised his left hand and wagged his finger, "You move and I channel my wind chakra through this wire, and you know just how…messy that can be." When Kushimaru saw Zabuza lean back he continued, "That's better. As for why I'm here, a little imp told us that he had a certain demon under his employ, and that the demon was injured. It was too good an opportunity to pass up. Although," Kushimaru narrowed his eyes behind his mask, "It appears your injuries have been greatly exaggerated."
"Gatō," Zabuza growled out the name with all of the malice in his heart, sounding more demon than man. "And what does the imp get out of this?"
"Distribution rights for his drugs in Kiri," Kushimaru then pointed at Haku, "And the bloodline freak. I believe he wants to turn her into his whore."
"Don't you dare touch her!" Naruto yelled out, his voice sounding rougher, deeper than usual. If one were to take a close look at his eyes, they would see that they had started to turn from his sapphire blue to a bright violet that was tinged with red.
Kushimaru glanced towards the boy, "The only sounds prey should make are screaming." Kushimaru tugged on the wire in his hand and rolled his wrist to the right, getting grunts of pain from the boy as the wire sliced through the muscles and bones of his shoulder. "Oh, someone has a pain tolerance," Kushimaru noted, sounding gleeful. "Those prey make the best sounds."
Unknown to three of the occupants in the room, a shadow-clone of one Hatake Kakashi was watching from the other window, waiting for his opportunity to intervene. Though if the blonde could hear the jonin's inner dialogue he would be more concerned about what the jonin was planning to do to him, rather than the hole through his shoulder; "If this boy gets through this alive, I'll make his previous punishment look like a walk in the park."
When the clone saw Kushimaru start to torture his student, he saw his opportunity. He leaped through the window, throwing a brace of shuriken at Kushimaru's right arm as he was dropping. Then as he landed, he charged a Chidori (One Thousand Birds) in his right hand, the blue lightning crackling and chirping like its namesake, as he channeled chakra to his legs and rushed towards Kushimaru.
The clone's plan was half-effective. While he was able to separate Kushimaru from his wire, he was unable to hit the man with his Chidori, due to the tunnel vision one experiences when using the technique without the sharingan. Kushimaru sidestepped the clone, and when he was about to dispel it with a chop to its throat, Zabuza came in and beheaded Kushimaru. Only to be shocked when the head and body turned into water; a water clone.
Zabuza didn't even have the time to think about how or when Kushimaru made the switch, when he felt a sandaled foot kick him in the back and send him flying out the window. "Let's play, Zabu-chan!"
Just before Kakashi's clone ran out of chakra, he turned towards Naruto and ordered him to "Run," exploding in a puff of white smoke as he did so.
(Scene Change)
Kakashi and Naruto were sitting on the roof of Tazuna's house watching the sunset. Though unknown to the jonin at this time, the blond sitting next to him was a shadow-clone.
"What will we do when Haku-chan doesn't turn out to be an enemy?" The clone asked his sensei.
Kakashi let out a sigh. "If she isn't an enemy, then I guess that's up to you and Haku to decide. However," Kakashi closed his one eye as he prepared himself for his student's inevitable blow up, "If she turns out to be an enemy, she might have to be eliminated." Kakashi was not disappointed.
"What do you mean we would kill her?!" Naruto roared so loud that Kakashi swore he saw the ocean recede slightly.
"Might,' 'might,' I said, 'might," Kakashi repeated until the genin had calmed down. "Though it's possible I don't think it's probable, ok?"
"Well, I don't think it's possible at all," Naruto huffed as he crossed his arms, turned away from his sensei and looked towards the dirt road. Though his planned pouting session was interrupted by the appearance of an unknown man with waist length white hair, dressed in some kabuki garb, running down said road. "Hey, Sensei, is there some traveling show in Nami that we don't know about?"
"Hmm," Kakashi looked where his student was looking, and was promptly shocked. "Jiraiya-sama," he gasped, "What's he doing in Nami?"
"Jiraiya-sama?' Must be some important dude, for Sensei to react like this," Naruto rubbed his chin as he examined the man who was getting closer to the house, and seemed to be making a beeline towards the roof. Before Naruto could ask his Sensei who Jiraiya was Kakashi had jumped down from the roof and sprinted to meet Jiraiya. Naruto shrugged and followed his sensei.
"Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi greeted, "What brings you to Nami no Kuni?"
"Sensei wanted me to look into something," Jiraiya told him, "Though I was surprised to find Nami in such dire straits. Tell me, have you had any run-ins with Gatō or his associates?"
Kakashi nodded as he began to explain what happened; "Yes, my team and I ran into one of the seven swordsmen…"
"You've already faced Kuriarare Kushimaru?!" Jiraiya's outburst cutoff Kakashi. Though Kakashi was more confused by the content of Jiraiya's shout than the volume.
"Kuriarare Kushimaru?" Kakashi parroted.
"Yes, Kushimaru; tall guy with shaggy blond hair and a predilection for crucifixion. You know him?" Jiraiya asked sarcastically.
"Hey, what's going on?" Naruto asked as he came to a stop next to his sensei.
"Beat it, brat. This is a grownup conver…" Jiraiya began to tell off who he assumed was one of Kakashi's students when he paused and actually looked at the kid; spiky blond hair, piercing blue eyes, give the kid a more angular face and get rid of the whiskers and the kid would be a spitting image of; "Minato?"
"Minato?" Naruto tilted his head, "My name's Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konohagakure." Naruto finished his introduction with a bright grin.
Jiraiya shook his head to clear the image of a young Minato overlapping his son. "Sorry, brat, you just reminded me of someone else. Regardless, I was talking with your sensei about…"
"Kuriarare Kushimaru," Kakashi stated, cutting off Jiraiya. Kakashi looked pale, as if he had just seen a ghost. And given that his shadow-clone had just dispelled, it's safe to say he just had.
"Yeah, Kushimaru's…" Jiraiya was about to tell Kakashi what he and his toads discovered when the jonin cut him off again:
"Kushimaru is on the island. He's here to hunt down Momochi Zabuza, and he's wounded Naruto."
"What?" Jiraiya turned the same shade of pale as Kakashi, as he lifted a shaky finger and pointed it towards the 'Naruto' standing in front of him. "Then who's this?!" Jiraiya was beginning to lose it, he had just met his godson, and now you're telling him he's off fighting some sewing sadist?!
"A shadow-clone," Kakashi growled as he leveled a glare so fierce at the clone that it could curdle stone. "Though how, I don't know."
"How could you let a genin fool you?!" Jiraiya sounded incredulous.
"Um, guys, shouldn't we be going to rescue the real me?" The clone asked, reminding the two men of the more pressing issue at hand. Both men blinked and soon got their mission faces back on.
"Tell me where he is, Kakashi," Jiraiya ordered as he started gathering a massive amount of chakra. His godson was in danger, and he'd be damned if he didn't use everything in his power to protect him; there's no such thing as overkill when it comes to protecting what you love.
Kakashi pointed behind Jiraiya, "A couple of miles west through the forest. It's a conical building, you can't miss it."
Jiraiya nodded as bit his right thumb and flew through five hand seals; boar, dog, bird, monkey and ending on ram; "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" Jiraiya yelled out as he slammed his right hand on the ground and was soon surrounded by a plume of white smoke.
"Jiraiya-boy, why have you summoned us? We were just about to settle down for dinner?" An elderly male voice asked from inside the smoke. "Ma made her special cricket casserole."
"Yeah, I don't want my dinner to go cold," an elderly female voice said.
The smoke cleared to reveal two toads; the male was green with white hair styled in a mohawk, thick eyebrows of the same color and he was wearing a simple cape; the female was lime green with purple marking the back and top of her head and was wearing a simple cape as well. These were the two great sage toads of Mount Myōboku: Fukasaku and Shima. But to members and summoners of the toad clan, they are known as Pa and Ma.
"I'm sorry, Pa, Ma, but I need your help and time is of the essence," Jiraiya told them.