One week later
After that day, Naruto continued training Sakura, who had managed to make good progress in her techniques. Taijutsu was in the middle or high genin rank, and in Ninjutsu, she managed to learn the jutsu completely. And Genjutsus, she could cast D and C-rank ones. The relationship between Naruto and Tsunami was going quite well, although they had to hide it to prevent the rest of the group from finding out, at least until the woman felt confident. The construction of the bridge was going great since, thanks to Naruto's clones and Tazuna's directions, the bridge was almost finished. At that point, Team 7 finished breakfast and said goodbye to the woman and the child. They then headed to the area where the bridge was. That took 10 minutes.
At that Naruto knew that today was going to be the day that Zabuza was going to attack so he made the excuse that he had forgotten something at Tazuna's house, at that he used his sensor abilities, that he felt how near Tazuna's house there were two chakra signatures which he assumed were Gato's henchmen so he quickened his pace.
With Tsunami
After saying goodbye to Team Tsunami, she began to tidy up the living room a bit while her son helped her by sweeping the room. They both heard the door being destroyed out of nowhere and saw two men with swords enter the house. "Well, well, what do we have here?" said a balding man who was a little taller than his companion. "But it's none other than the daughter and grandson of the builder," he said, looking at the woman and the child.
"You should know that Gato-sama has been wanting to talk to you, so he sent us to bring you before him," said the second man, who had his hair tied in a ponytail. At that, the bald man began to act like Tsunami. "So, if you come with us, we promise not to harm you." At that, Inari stood in front of his mother with his arms outstretched. "I won't let them hurt my Kaa-san!" said Inari, feeling scared as he saw one of the men pointing his sword at him, but he still didn't move from his spot. "Now we have a little hero here," the man said as he punched the boy in the face, sending him to the side.
"INARI!!" the worried woman screamed as she tried to get to where her son was lying but was held by the same man's arm. "Although before taking them to Gato-sama, we could have some fun with the dog," the man said in Tsunami's ear. By pure instinct, she grabbed the man by the arm and managed to throw him to the ground with a combat movement. This surprised the two men, Inari and Tsunami herself, with her movements.
The man fell on his sword and hit his head, which Tsunami took advantage of and went to where Inari was to see that he was not very hurt so that they both could get up. ' How did I do that?' the woman questioned herself as she unconsciously touched the mark, as for a few moments she felt as if her body was moving on its own. "Damn bitch, you're going to pay for this," said the second guy as he lunged with his sword in hand, while Tsunami couldn't react in time so she just limited herself to closing her eyes while hugging and protecting her son. The sound of metal clashing against metal was heard in the room.
"You know it's rude to touch a woman without her permission," said a voice that made Tsunami open her eyes and see Naruto blocking the blow from Gato's minion with a black sword. "Who are you?" the bald man asked, trying to overpower the blonde with force, but it was in vain. "My name doesn't matter," the Uzumaki said as he looked at the man with pure coldness. "Since, after all, the dead can't speak," Naruto said, putting some strength into his grip and deflecting the man's sword upward.
To then sent a slash that decapitated the man, and his body fell to the ground, seeing that the other man was scared to see his partner being killed so he tried to leave the house only to feel a pain emerge from his chest and the last thing he saw was a dark sword protruding from his chest. After finishing with both subjects, Naruto seals the bodies of both bandits along with the blood that was dripping from them and heads towards the woman and the child, where the latter had his eyes covered by Tsunami. "Are you okay?" the blonde asked, while the boy looked at him and then pounced on him with tears in his eyes.
"Naruto-nii," Inari said, "I was so scared… those men…" the little boy said while sobbing and hugging the blonde. "Okay, okay, Inari, everything is okay," Naruto said, gently stroking the boy's head. "You were very brave when you protected your mother." "But, I…I was scared" Inari said raising her head and looking at the Hanyou "Remember this Inari," said Naruto drying the boy's tears "A brave person is not the one who is not afraid, the person despite having it and continues forward" said the Uzumaki smiling at the boy "You did very well" said the blonde. Earning a smile from Tsunami's son, the two parted ways, and Naruto was hugged by Tsunami.
"Thank you, thank you, Naruto-kun," said the housewife with tears falling from her eyes, which were wiped away by Naruto. "Okay, calm down, Tsunami-chan. I like it a lot more when you smile," said the blonde, reciprocating the hug. "I better go. I have to protect your father," said the Hanyou as he separated from the hug. But before the Uzumaki could turn his head to leave, Tsunami kissed him on the lips, which surprised the blonde and Inari a little because of how sudden it was, but the jinchuriki soon kissed the woman back, when the couple separated, where you could see how Tsunami had a strong blush on her face. "Take care, Naruto-kun," the woman said with a smile, receiving a nod from the blonde. "Of course, Tsunami-chan," said the Hanyou, who walked away from the house to start running towards the bridge.
When Inari and Tsunami lose sight of the blonde, the woman turns around and sees her son smiling at her. "Well, I think I better call Naruto-nii, Tou-san," said the boy, watching as his mother's face tried to compete with a tomato.
With Naruto
When Naruto noticed he was a good distance away, he quickly stopped. "Well, I think I'm far enough away now," said the Uzumaki, creating about three shadow clones. You know," said the blonde to his clones, who jumped into the trees. This will keep me informed if another group attacks them again," thought the original. I look ahead.
'If they decided to attack, that means Zabuza and Haku are already on the bridge,' thought the Hanyou, so he began to sink into his shadow to reach the bridge faster. "Here we go," Naruto said as he completely sank into the shadows and headed toward the battlefield.
Battle of the Bridge
When the Konoha group and the builder arrived at the bridge, the first thing they noticed was a thick fog in the area, which made the entire group alert and advance carefully while they took out a kunai as a precaution, and Tazuna stood in the middle of the group.
Soon the group arrived at the place where Tazuna along with the rest of the builders had left the work the other day, but upon arriving at that assigned place both team 7 and Nami's builder could see how the workers, who were about 10 most, were piled up in a heap next to the bridge.
Tazuna moved towards where his men were, away from the group, when someone grabbed him, and the builder saw that Kakashi was stopping him. "Wait, Tazuna-san," Kakashi said, earning an annoyed look from his client. "What do you think you're doing? I let go," Tazuna said as he looked at his men. "They could be hurt or-" Before he could continue, the builder spun around so that he was face to face with the copy ninja.
"There's no blood," Kakashi said, pointing to the bodies of the builders. Tsunami's father soon noticed this and opened his eyes. "Besides, they're still breathing," said Hatake as he began walking toward the shoulders. "If they left them alive it only means two things," said the white-haired man as the group quickly arrived where all of Tazuna's builders were lying down "They were simply knocked out and are unconscious or is it a trap of some kind," said Kakashi as his students approached the pile of bodies along with their sensei.
Which created a pair of shadow clones to head toward the group and begin to examine them. After a few moments, the clones began to withdraw the workers to a safe area while one of the white-haired clones dissipated, sending the information to the white-haired man. "Your workers are fine; they're just unconscious and with a few bumps, but nothing serious", said Kakashi, making Tazuna sigh quietly, but as soon as he did that, the Hatake began to perform hand seals. "Earth-style mud walls," Kakashi said, placing his hands on the ground and creating earth walls in front of him, Tazuna, and his students, who looked confused at this action. Only for something to hit against said walls, where everyone could see how traces of water flew out upon impact with Kakashi's jutsu, when the attack ended, the Konoha jonin looked forward toward the part of the bridge that had not yet been finished.
"Come out now, Zabuza," Kakashi said with a serious look. "There they come," said a voice in the fog, causing it to clear a bit, only to reveal Kiri's mercenary. "I was beginning to think they got scared and ran away," said Zabuza, while Haku stood beside him in his Ninja Hunter mask. "Run away, huh? Why would I run away if this is going to be a way to show my power when I defeat you and your pet?" said Sasuke while everyone was left blank. Zabuza didn't pay attention to Sasuke's comment, so he decided to concentrate on the copy ninja. "Whatever," said the mist demon, looking at his apprentice. "Go get the builder and bring him back alive or not, I'll take care of Kakashi," said the swordsman, heading forward.
"Hai, Zabuza-sama," Haku said as he headed to where Tazuna was. "Sakura, Sasuke, protect the builder," said Kakashi, taking out a pair of kunai and then heading to face the traitor of the mist to see how the false ninja hunter went after the swordsman. When the weapons of both Hatake and the former Kiri-Nin clashed with each other, Haku took advantage and headed towards where the two members of Team 7 and Tazuna were.
With Sasuke
Seeing Zabuza's ally heading towards them, Sasuke begins to run in his direction to intercept him, to which Haku stopped about 3 meters from the Uchiha, who had his superior smile on his face. "I would ask you to surrender, but where's the fun in that?" said the raven, watching as his opponent didn't seem to have reacted. "Are you done talking? Because if so, I have a mission to accomplish," Haku said indifferently, causing Sasuke to frown and grit his teeth, feeling like he was not being taken into account by his adversary.
"You'll see, you damn scum, I'll make you eat your words," said the Uchiha as he lunged towards Haku with kunai in hand. He made Haku a pair of senbon needles to throw towards Sasuke, who managed to block some of the needles, but due to a slight carelessness, he failed to block one of those needles, which ended up with one of them sticking into one of his thighs. This caused the Konoha raven-haired boy to stop and pull the senbon needle out of his body, but when he looked back in front of him, he saw Haku standing in front of him just a few meters away.
Both opponents started a Taijutsu fight, Haku with bare hands and Sasuke with Kunai in hand. "Die," Sasuke said as he began throwing punches and cuts, intending to stab his opponent in vital areas so Haku had to move to the side to avoid Sasuke's attacks. Zabuza's apprentice had to step back a little to dodge a kick from Sasuke, to see how the Uchiha passed by her, so using one of her hands, she hit Sasuke's hand, moving it to the side.
This made Sasuke growl slightly, but he continued to throw slashes at him, along with the occasional kick from the raven, causing Haku to back away slowly. Zabuza's apprentice began to block each blow, then moved to the side as she saw the Uchiha throw both kunai at her, managing to get away from the attack range. The false hunter managed to avoid both weapons to confront Sasuke again. Seeing that when he kicked him again, he noticed an opening in his attack, so Haku extended his hand to catch the Uchiha's kick. He was surprised by that action, but he didn't have time to think about it because he received a strong blow to his face. This threw the member of Team 7 off balance, as he saw his opponent kick him backward, where the Uchiha hit the ground hard, where he soon felt the air leave his lungs for a few moments.
Sasuke started coughing as he tried to catch his breath."GRRRR you will pay for that scum" growled the Konoha raven now more recovered then took some distance and began to make signs with his hands "Fire-style great fireball jutsu" said Sasuke as a fireball formed in his mouth and launched it at his opponent. To which Haku responded with his own hand seals "Water style: pressure bullet" She slightly lifted her mask so she could then shoot a water ball that when it collided with the fireball generated a bit of steam, the fake hunter took out a kunai from her sleeves and then raised it in the air where she blocked a stab from Sasuke, both opponents were fighting in a battle of strength.
While maintaining their position. "Wow, you're not doing badly," said the dark-haired man, trying to overcome his opponent's strength. ' This better end soon,' Haku thought, looking at the Uchiha. 'You better give up if you don't want to get hurt,' the fake hunter offered to her opponent. "I give up, HAHAHAHA," Sasuke said and started laughing. "Why would I do something like that?" the Uchiha asked. "Because if you don't, you'll die," Haku said, so he could start making seals with his free hand, which made Sasuke open his eyes. "Ice-style; demonic ice mirrors" aid Zabuza's subordinate so that crystal structures begin to form around her so that soon these structures would be smooth.
It resembled a pair of mirrors as both Haku and Sasuke's reflections could be seen, where the masked woman soon moved away from the Uchiha and sank into one of these. "Surrender now, or you will die," said Haku from the mirror, only to see his opponent simply perform another pair of hand seals. "Fire style Great Fireball Jutsu," shouted Sasuke as he fired a fireball with the mirrors.
When the fireball hit the mirrors, Sasuke saw how his jutsu was not only effective, but it seemed like it hadn't done anything to him. "TSK, how annoying", said Sasuke after seeing how his jutsu was not effective "Let's see if you can withstand this," said the Konoha genin to again perform hand seals "Fire style Tongues of Fire," said the Uchiha to shoot three bursts of fire (Like a flamethrower) at the mirror in which she was. When the jutsu collided with the mirrors, a bit of smoke rose. The genin smiled when he saw how the mirror where his opponent was and the mirrors around him were melted. "It's useless," Haku said, surprising Sasuke, who looked back to see her in another mirror. "As long as my mirrors are still standing, I can move between them to avoid any attack you throw at me," the masked woman said. Sasuke just growled at those words but was also surprised to see how the ice mirrors he had managed to destroy rose again.
"Let's end this Ice style: thousand needles of death," said Zabuza's apprentice so that several senbon needles began to form from all the mirrors, which shot out in the direction of the Uchiha. He just watched as the needles got closer and closer. ' No, I won't die, move, damn it, I can't die like this, I'll die without being able to kill him,' thought Sasuke while his whole body felt great tension and stress, but while he lamented, the Uchiha could notice how everyone seemed to go slower. The senbons seemed to go slower, and Sasuke could foresee where they were going. 'I can see them' the Konoha genin thought as he started moving forward while jumping and avoiding the first senbons and then moving his body enough so that the senbon needles only tore his clothes and left a few cuts.
Soon, Sasuke found himself lying on the ground as he began to gasp for air to try and calm down, realizing that he had managed to escape death. "Are those?" said Haku as she saw how Sasuke's black eyes had changed to a blood-red color while two tendrils appeared in each of them. The ice user began to curse for not having taken care of the Uchiha much sooner. As Sasuke began to get up and look forward, he noticed something in the glass mirrors, where he could see how his clan's Doujutsu, the Sharingan, was displayed in his eyes. The Uchiha was stupefied, but soon that surprise turned into joy.
"Hehehe, finally, finally I woke it up, I was finally able to awaken the Sharingan," said Sasuke, laughing again, then looking at his opponent and smiling at him "Now you will die, since like my ancestors did with their enemies, now I can see any movement you make, I am invincible" shouted the Konoha genin. Haku responded by throwing more senbons, but Sasuke just smiled as he began to dodge every senbon that came at him, causing his smile to widen. "It's useless. Now that I have these eyes, no one will be able to defeat me," declared the Uchiha to his opponent. But in that, Sasuke felt like his right arm and left leg felt heavy, so he looked away at his body only for him to open his eyes in pure surprise, as he saw how two ice senbons were embedded in both his left arm and his right leg.
"But how, at what moment?" said the Uchiha in disbelief, not having seen when his opponent had managed to stick the needles into him. So I look at his opponent. "It seems like your precious eyes can't see everything," Haku said as he began to analyze the situation ' It seems like if you can't see where the attack is coming from, you won't be able to predict it ' Haku thought. So Zabuza's apprentice began to attack the raven, who managed to avoid some by using a kunai to destroy them, but little by little, the senbons were embedded in the Uchiha, who tried to perform another set of hand seals, but his opponent did not give him time to finish them.
As he launched another group of senbon needles at him, in no time, Sasuke began to imitate a pincushion while moaning in pain at the feeling of all the ice needles stuck in his skin. "You AAAAHH!!" the dark-haired boy complained as he looked angrily at Haku. "You'll pay for this, you damn piece of shit," said Sasuke, who tried to move, but discovered that his body was barely responding. Feeling that he had already dealt with his opponent, Haku was preparing another attack to knock the Uchiha unconscious, not wanting to kill him due to his gentle nature, so he fired his senbon at non-lethal points.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" A scream could be heard throughout the battlefield, but to Haku's horror, it was feminine. The ice user could only frown as she watched the pink-haired girl stand where the Uchiha had previously been, in front of the builder. Tazuna didn't say anything, as he was very surprised by everything that had happened as he looked at the Uchiha. Haku came out of his mirror and approached the girl while getting rid of the ice senbon.
Sakura's POV
Sakura had gone and stayed with the bridge builder, feeling she wouldn't be much help as she watched the Uchiha elite get an extreme acupuncture treatment. Suddenly, she felt a pull, and before she could react, pain shot through her body as she found herself in the ice dome that the masked shinobi had made. Meanwhile, Sasuke was where she once was, to the shock of Tazuna. Her vision slowly faded as coldness flooded her body. "SAKURA-CHAN!" an enraged Naruto shouted.
Change of POV
Naruto was livid. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. One moment, Sasuke was in the ice dome while Sakura protected the client; the next, both had switched places. Now, Sakura was lying prone inside the dome of ice mirrors, with countless senbons sticking out of her body. Meanwhile, he could see the smug look on the last Uchiha's face.
A swirl of black and dark red energy surrounded his body as his canines became more elongated. His fingernails turned more claw-like as they lengthened. Meanwhile, the whisker marks that defined his cheeks became more prominent, while his eyes changed one was a black eye with a white slit and two tomo rotating and the other was red with a black slit and three tomos. His clothes fluttered from the gusts of wind his power was generating around his body. "She should feel honored Sasuke said indifferently as his body trembled and looked like he was about to fall to the ground. "Serving as a shield for the elite is the best a useless person like her can do," he said, looking at Naruto. There was a feeling of great pressure on the spot, causing everyone to freeze and be unable to move their muscles, but Sasuke couldn't think about that as he felt his body lift off the ground and then felt great pain in his stomach that made him spit out blood.
The Uchiha hit one of the concrete pillars of the bridge, where Sasuke could be seen embedded in the pillar and was also unconscious. Everyone could see Naruto standing where his teammate had previously stood. "Did you kill him?" Tazuna asked the Blonde, who simply shook his head. "Don't just knock him unconscious," said the Uzumaki, his eyes darkened, and the Hanyou formed two shadow clones. "Keep an eye on them," said the original, to which his two clones nodded. One went to get the Uchiha out of the pillar while the other stayed with Tazuna to protect him.
At that, Haku noticed the dark glow in his eyes that were still shadowed. The jinchuriki had witnessed everything since he emerged from the shadows near a tree next to the bridge, where he could see how his teammate was replaced by Sakura, causing her to receive the attack. This bothered him greatly since he knew that some people would do anything to survive, but still seeing how they attacked his partner, whom he began to see as a friend.
Thoughts of Killing The Uchiha passed through his mind, only to be stopped. "Naruto, that's enough," Kurama growled to him. he wanted nothing but to see Naruto rip the Uchiha apart. "This isn't the time for that. Remember where we are," said Kurama 'But' tried to reply to the blonde. "I also want to see him in pain but remember what you promised Mikoto and Suki even if he is scum Think how they'll feel." Said Kurama, making Naruto stop dead in his tracks. As much as he despised Sasuke at this moment and frankly didn't care about the consequences that would come from killing him, he couldn't and didn't want to think about causing Mikoto and Suki-chan two of the few people that he app appreciated in the world, and one of the first to treat him like a human being any kind of pain, whether physical or mental.
So Naruto reluctantly had to swallow his anger and annoyance, having to sigh to calm himself down. "You're right, as much as I hate to admit it Kurama Thank you," Said Naruto beginning to feel his anger dissipate "Yeah yeah Whenever you want," said The Uzumaki then headed towards where Haku was, who was still holding Sakura, the Ice user was applying a cream to the places where her senbons had hit the pink haired girl. "How are you?" the Hanyou asked the ice user, who had taken off her mask and seemed a little calmer. "He'll get better soon, I know a little medical ninjutsu," said Haku making the Blonde sigh "Naruto-kun, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." said the ice user, panicking a little, but was stopped by the Uzumaki, who had placed his hand on her shoulder.
' He's going to hate me for this; of course, he will. I should have finished that bastard off with the first blow,' Haku thought, but she felt the Blonde grab her cheek and stare at her with a soft smile. This caused the girl to blush because of how close the young man was to her face. "Calm down, Haku-chan. None of this is your fault; it was the bastard who caused all this," said Naruto, calming the ice user a little.
Naruto began to approach Zabuza's apprentice, who, upon seeing this action, blushed a little at the Blonde's actions. ' He's going to... Naruto-kun's going to... ' Haku thought as she watched Hanyou's actions, making her more nervous but excited at the same time. ' It's going to be my first kiss,' the ice user thought as she closed her eyes. But only to open them again when she felt Naruto kissing her on the forehead. "Thank you for what you did for my friend, Haku," the Blonde said, causing Haku to feel slightly disappointed, which made her sigh a little as Naruto put his cloak on Sakura. Soon, the Uzumaki gets up and turns around, then begins to head towards the area where Kakashi and Zabuza are.
"Naruto-kun, where are you going?" Haku asked, looking at the Uzumaki's back. "I'm just going to give him the rematch I promised Zabuza," said the hanyou while looking at Haku. "Ah, I almost forgot," said the Blonde, forming a sword of darkness in his hands and pointing it at the face of the ice user, who was surprised by this action.
"Are you giving up, Haku-chan?" the Hanyou asked with a smile, which made Haku understand what the Blonde meant.
"I surrender, Naruto-kun," said Haku, smiling back at the jinchuriki. Upon hearing those words, the jinchuriki threw away his sword and headed toward where his sensei was fighting the mist demon.
With Kakashi and Zabuza
Kakashi, at this point, was having a hard time with his fight because Zabuza had found a way to counteract the effect of his Sharingan by closing his eyes and using the rest of his senses to attack the Konoha jonin. This way, it prevented Hatake from predicting certain movements of his opponent. Furthermore, it was noticeable that his excessive use of his left eye was taking its toll on Team 7's sensei. "Water style, water dragon bullet," Zabuza said, causing a large amount of water in the shape of a dragon to shoot out against Kakashi, forcing the silver-haired man to back up and move to the side to avoid his opponent's jutsu.
The water dragon crashed into one of the bridge's retaining walls, destroying that part. Kakashi quickly closed the distance with his enemy and then had to duck to avoid a slash that was going to cut him in two. Having avoided the enormous sword, the Hatake soon launched a sweep at Zabuza's legs.
He had to jump back, which the silver-haired Jonin took advantage of to launch a flurry of shurikens at his opponent. Zabuza, using his sword, manages to block the projectiles that come towards him.
But the moment he pulled his sword away, the swordsman had to open his eyes slightly to see Kakashi performing a sequence of hand seals.
"Water style, great water dragon," Kakashi said, finishing the sequence of seals.
But using all his strength and speed, Zabuza ran towards one of the bridge's concrete pillars and began to climb it. He barely managed to dodge the blow of the jutsu, which devastated and destroyed the bridge pillar.
The swordsman turned towards Kakashi, to run towards where the Hatake was just enough to launch a thrust that the silver-haired man had difficulty stopping with the two kunai he held in his hands.
Zabuza began to apply more force on his push, managing to make Kakashi begin to back away, but they both heard a scream and both unconsciously looked at the place where the scream came from, where Kakashi could see how Sakura was hit by several ice senbons in her body.
The silver-haired man was about to blame the fake hunter when he saw where Sasuke was; he had several ice needles on his body, which made Kakashi open his eyes.
' Did Sasuke do... ' thought Hatake, not believing what he was seeing, as both separated because both Zabuza and Kakashi saw Naruto hit the Uchiha, and he hit one of the bridge pillars.
Internally, Hatake wanted to scold his blonde apprentice for the headache of punching Sasue, but another part of him wanted to congratulate him for hitting the Uchiha for sacrificing a person in such a way. For his part, Zabuza knew that his revenge on the blonde had arrived. So the former Kiri Shinobi looks at the copy ninja. "Well, Kakashi, our fight is over," said the mist demon.
"Don't tell me you're giving up," the Jonin said, looking back at his opponent. No, I'm just switching opponents," said the swordsman, watching as Naruto arrived at the place and stood next to Kakashi. Since I want a rematch with the Gaki," said the former Kiri-Nin.
"Kakashi-Nii, I'll take care of Zabuza," Naruto said without looking at his jonin sensei. Since it seems we have unfinished business," the blonde said. Kakashi looked at Naruto, sighing. Alright, Naruto, I'll give you enough time. I'll deal with both you and Sasuke's punishment later," said Kakashi, noticing the repressed anger in Naruto's eyes.
"Understood Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto causing Kakashi to step back a couple of meters, while Zabuza looked closely at the genin "So," said Naruto looking closely at Zabuza "I hope you're not too tired Zabuza-san, I promised you a Kenjutsu battle and I'm sorry in advance if I overstep my boundaries," said the Uzumaki as he formed a dark Katana. "Because I plan to release some stress in our fight," the blonde said, causing Zabuza to get emotional at those words.
"Not at all, Gaki. You don't know how long I've been waiting for this moment, since I haven't been able to think about anything else these days," said Zabuza, getting into position for combat
'You've grown a lot since the kid I met and even helped me get over some of my suffering,' thought Kakashi. "Well, Zabuza, are you ready?" said Uzumaki, looking with a face that reflected pure excitement. "Go Gaki!!" Zabuza shouted with a smile under his bandages.
In less than a second, both opponents ran toward each other, with Zabuza swinging his sword at Naruto, who put his sword to block the blow, causing him to move to the side. So, Uzumaki grabs the handle of his sword and quickly moves it upwards, causing Zabuza's sword to follow the same trajectory, which Naruto takes advantage of to launch an upward cut toward the chest of the former Kiri swordsman. Zabuza responded by spinning his sword in his hands to stop his opponent's blow, where he could feel the entire blade of his weapon slightly bend under the force of the blonde's cut.
Seeing how his attack was blocked, the Uzumaki stepped back a little so that the moment his feet barely touched the ground, the Uzumaki once again lunged at his opponent, who had to use all his strength to start moving his sword. To begin blocking the blows and cuts that the Uzumaki was throwing at him, where soon both of them launched cuts in different directions, causing them to start moving all over the place. As Zabuza stepped back again to jump toward one of the bridge pillars, where he leaned over the concrete structure, the swordsman used his strength to jump forward toward the Uzumaki. To send him a downward cut.
*CLANK*
A loud metallic sound rings out all around the bridge. Zabuza opened his eyes as he saw the blonde stopping his blow by raising his katana and holding the handle while supporting the blade with his other hand. While at his feet, he could see how the ground was slightly cracked. He believed that the Uzumaki would retreat from his blow, but he stopped thinking about that when he felt his entire body begin to retreat or, rather, be sent back by the Uzumaki's force. When Zabuza hits the ground, he sees how the blonde is heading towards his direction again, which causes him to start moving in a zigzag, but the Hanyou soon catches up to him and starts slashing each other again.
Seeing how the jinchuriki moved to the side, Zabuza sent a punch towards the Hanyou's face, who moved a few centimeters to avoid the blow, to which Zabuza launched a diagonal slash towards the Hanyou, who placed his sword to block the blow, but he didn't expect Zabuza to use both of his hands in the slash he threw at him.
This made him jump backward, placing one of his hands on the ground. Naruto began to perform some one-handed backflips while holding his sword with his other hand. The blonde jumped and landed on another of the pillars, where he stuck his feet to the vertical surface of the structure, but he didn't have much time since he had to lean to the right to avoid Zabuza's sword sticking into the concrete of the pillar. This caused the blonde to move and land on the ground, only to see the swordsman heading towards him, which the Uzumaki took advantage of to launch a horizontal cut at the former Kiri-Nin's torso.
But he was surprised how Zabuza managed to lean enough to avoid the edge of his sword. When the former Kiri-Nin walked past the jinchuriki to approach where his sword was stuck, he managed to pull it out without any problem, Both opponents looked at each other for a few moments. "Come on, Gaki, I'm just getting started," Zabuza said, smiling beneath his bandages as the blonde smiled back. "In that case, let's continue," Naruto said, giving his opponent a smile from the sheer excitement of the moment.
At that, Naruto launches himself toward the former Kiri swordsman and begins to move his sword faster, throwing blows to both sides of his opponent, where Zabuza begins to try to contain them and then attempts a counterattack. But Zabuza could barely do so due to the speed of his opponent's attacks, where he began to feel how the Uzumaki's cuts began to overcome his defense, causing superficial cuts to appear on the former Kiri shinobi's body. The swordsman swung his sword harder against the blonde, causing both weapons to start releasing sparks with each cut they made. Then, both clashed their weapons and remained in the grip of pure strength by both opponents.
As the two struggled, the Uzumaki moved his sword to the side, sliding his sword along the blade of Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō so that the edge of his katana pointed at the face of the former Kiri-Nin, who had to move to the side to avoid the blow. This caused Zabuza to lose his balance slightly as he had to step back, but that carelessness was enough for Naruto to slip under Zabuza's guard and deliver a strong blow to his stomach with his fist, which made him spit out a little blood, staining his bandages. As Zabuza flew backward, he tried to slash the Uzumaki's head, but the Hanyou simply ducked under the slash, while the former Kiri-Nin stepped back a couple of meters.
Both opponents looked at each other, where Zabuza was holding his stomach as he tried to catch his breath, but it could also be seen how a smile remained on Naruto and Zabuza's faces, although the Kiri-nin's was covered by his blood-stained bandages. Naruto had to admit one thing: although he had spent several years training with Anko, Yugao, Mikoto, and Kakashi, he could not deny the excitement he felt at this moment before a real fight; the difference was quite a lot. He didn't know much about his opponent, this wasn't a practice duel in which both could come out alive, even if they both had a deal there was a chance that one would end up killing the other, whereas, even if the Uzumaki was limited, he couldn't help but feel the need to test his limits in this fight.
That simple uncertainty and self-improvement were exciting in the blonde's mind, so he focused on his opponent, who seemed to be enjoying the entire fight, even though his body was bleeding and he was injured, but in the swordsman's gaze, there was no desire to give up. And without anyone saying anything, they once again engaged in a Kenjutsu fight. Zabuza and Naruto continued to exchange blows with each other, and one of these slashes hit the ground, leaving fine cut marks on the concrete in its wake. Zabuza was pleasantly surprised to see that the blonde was not only giving him a great fight but was also giving him a hard time defending himself.
"This is better than I expected, Gaki!" Zabuza shouted in ecstasy as he blocked a blow from the young jinchuriki. "I haven't had fun like this in years!" the former Kiri shinobi declared. Naruto just smiled back at his opponent as he dodged and blocked another of Zabuza's attacks, causing him to jump back and get into a new stance as he decided to end this. The blonde was even on his knees, with both legs separated diagonally, and holding his sword with his left hand the upper part of the sheath, and his right hand the handle, while the sharp part was facing upwards. "Dance of the dawn sun," said the Uzumaki, making Zabuza prepare for the blow, but the swordsman only watched as Naruto disappeared from his place and reappeared in front of him.
Zabuza sends a stab at the blonde, but Naruto doesn't even notice until the sword is centimeters from his face. At that moment, Zabuza saw how his sword flew out of his hands and then felt something cold resting against his neck. Looking to the side, he could see the blonde's body next to him while he could be seen holding his katana just centimeters from his neck.
Kakashi stared in amazement at his student. This is because if it weren't for his Sharingan, he could say that he wouldn't have seen Uzumaki's movements. The moment Zabuza launched the thrust with his sword at the blonde's face, the latter moved his katana at high speed from bottom to top, deflecting his enemy's weapon from his face.
So then, the Uzumaki headed toward his opponent's neck to stop before cutting off his head. The silver-haired Joninn could swear that his student's movements resembled the rising of the sun at dawn, as he had seen the completion of that technique in the past and how lethal the technique was. Kakashi could only smile at the sight of the Uzumaki and, for a few moments, had a brief image of the past. He could see how a red-haired woman finished off several enemies using a katana, only that she had finished performing it, where Hatake could remember seeing several bodies lying down from various subjects who seemed to be enemies.
Even with the disturbing scene, Kakashi could only smile under his mask as he remembered the person who had performed something similar, but he shook off those thoughts as he returned to the present and began to approach where the Uzumaki was. For his part, Zabuza could feel some of his blood slide down his body before the edge of Hanyou Naruto's sword, where the former Kiri shinobi easily knew that the sword could cut off his head without much effort since it was barely resting against his neck and had already caused a minor wound, but it was still a wound.
"I win, Zabuza-san," said the jinchuriki, removing his sword from his opponent's neck, who only sighed. "That was a great fight, Gaki. I haven't had fun like that in a long time," the swordsman said with pride in his voice as he wiped the small trail of blood from his neck. 'Should tell him I was still holding back' thought Naruto. "Nah, it'll be funnier when he figures out you were still holding back and wants to rematch you." Laughed Kurama. 'Yeah, maybe' But Uzumaki moved his head to the side towards the area of the beginning of the bridge where he could feel a large presence approaching his position. Naruto turned and saw that both Kakashi and Zabuza had also noticed.
Naruto formed a pair of shadow clones and sent them to protect Haku, Sakura, and Sasuke, although the latter was more to avoid a problem than for his generosity. When the clones returned, he could see how Sakura could already walk while Sasuke was still unconscious. While Haku, seeing Zabuza's condition, approached to try to heal his wounds, to which the swordsman told him that he was fine and that there was nothing to worry about, for his part, Tazuna was confused.
The reason why Zabuza didn't try to kill him and why the blonde had brought them to that place. But a moment later, their doubts were cleared because the entire group saw a crowd of at least 1,000 bandits standing in front of them with swords, spears, knives, etc. Each of the bandit horde members was talking amongst themselves, but soon they all started moving as they made way for one person, causing Tazuna to frown and grit his teeth.
"Well it seems I'm going to stop hiring renegade shinobi from Kiri since it seems they can't meet my expectations", said Gato, who stood in front of all the bandits "And it seems the mist demon was defeated by a waste of a brat," said the tycoon while laughing which was followed by the entire group of bandits.
"I'm sorry, Zabuza, but high-ranking shinobi are very expensive, and it seems they are no longer as accurate or useful as they sound," said Gato, looking at the aforementioned to adjust his glasses. "So instead, I decided to pay all these gentlemen to help me complete the job I assigned to you," said the tyrant Nami, looking at Tazuna while spitting on the ground. For his part, Zabuza wasn't paying attention to what Gato was saying; rather, he was very calm, watching and analyzing which of all the bandits could represent a real threat.
He could identify that most of them were small-time criminals and the occasional samurai with some experience in the use of the sword, but then he noticed how Kakashi and Naruto had stood next to him. "Hey, Gaki, you don't have a soldier pill, do you?" the Mist swordsman asked without taking his eyes off all the bandits, hoping that the Hanyou had one.
"You're actually in luck. I still have some left," the blonde said in a low voice as he discreetly passed the pill to the former Kiri-Nin so he could chew it and swallow it, then look at the silver-haired jonin. "Kakashi, it seems we are no longer enemies, so I am no longer going after the builder's head," said Zabuza, making Tazuna sigh a little at his words. "So you are cordially obliged to participate in this," said the now ex-employee of Gato, looking discreetly at the silver-haired jonin.
"Wow, I thought you weren't going to invite me to this party," Kakashi said in his lazy tone as he looked at his student. He knelt and opened a scroll as he took out a saber. " The legendary white lightsaber, huh, I heard it was destroyed, but looking at it now, it seems like it never broke," said Zabuza, whistling at the sword in admiration. "I repaired it years ago, but I didn't want to use it, considering how it broke. I also relied too much on the Sharingan. " Kakashi said, 'You're up, Naruto,' finished the silver-haired jonin, receiving a nod from the blonde. "Alright, I'll take care of the ones on the right, Zabuza, you take care of the ones in the middle, and Naruto will go after the ones on the left. The first one to reach Gato will see what he does with him," said Kakashi. "Naturally, I would tell you to shut up, but I like that idea," Zabuza said, while the blonde watched as his clones stood in front of the rest of the group that was not going to participate in the fight. Meanwhile, several of the bandits began to laugh upon hearing the silver-haired man's words.
"Ha, you see, boss, they think they can take on all of us, isn't that funny?" said one of the bandits standing next to Gato while swinging a sword, making Gato chuckle. "It's pathetic, but in the end, it doesn't matter," said the tyrant while smiling. "But enough with the talk, kill them all, and those who bring me the women can have fun with them later!" Gatou shouted while all the criminals behind him screamed with excitement and began to run toward where the shinobi were.
As the three shinobi stood up front, they rushed forward. The three suddenly smiled; they made a half-tiger seal. A smoke cloud appeared, and some water formed under Zabuza, revealing some clones as well as A man with blue skin and black clothing rushing toward the thugs. They immediately started moving down the bandits. Naruto would jump and weave around the attacks as he used his katana to slice the bandits. His clones would attack the ones that passed them. Zabuza was in his element as he made some mist and started to mow down the bandits, who were starting to get scared. Kakashi smirked behind his mask as he used both ninjutsu and his kenjutsu, adding to the chaos when he threw a giant fireball that burned a lot of the bandits as he mowed them down with a lighting-infused sword. Following his sensei's example, Naruto quickly began to do it as well.
Gato, seeing the massacre, realized he had underestimated the shinobi as he began to escape. Only to be surprised when Naruto jumped in the air, his sword making an arc. "Dance of the full moon," said Naruto as he disappeared and reappeared in front of some bandits. "What are you doing?!! Kill him or else-" Gato didn't finish launching his threat. He saw how each of his men appeared with several wounds on their bodies, which allowed a gust of blood to come out of them, then showing how the heads, arms, torsos, and legs of the different mercenaries were detached from their places.
"What the fuck!!" Gato shouted, not believing what was happening, but he didn't have time to think about it. He got scared when he saw how the young jinchuriki was staring at him with a pair of blue eyes that had a yellow tint. Gato didn't think twice and tried to escape, but he made the worst mistake one can make when facing an enemy. Turning around, Gato realized this when the Hanyou appeared in front of him, surprising him. But what he missed the most was seeing the Uzumaki move his katana in front of him, only for Nami's tyrant to hear something fall to the ground, then look down, where he opened his eyes in horror, then screamed in pain and fell to the ground.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH MY HAND!!!!!, YOU CUT OFF MY HAND YOU DAMN SON OF A BITCH!!!" shouted Gato, as his right hand had been cut off by Uzumaki's sword, the billionaire held the severed part while looking at the blonde. "You dare insult my mother," Naruto said in a deep voice, which scared Gato, who barely managed to stand up and tried to flee, only for the Uzumaki to move his sword and cut off Gato's foot. "AAAAAAHHHH, ENOUGH PLEASE!!!, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!!!" Gato screamed between sobs as he tried to crawl away. "Please have mercy, I beg you, stop, have mercy," begged the dwarf, who stopped when Naruto placed his foot on his back, preventing the man from escaping.
Naruto was boiling with anger at how this excuse for a human was asking for such a thing. "Mercy?" the Uzumaki asked in a whisper. "How many were those who asked you for mercy before you killed them, how many women begged your men not to rape them before they were abused," said the Hanyou who began to crush Gato's back. Who howled in pain.
"How many families asked for mercy before you and your men destroyed them and burned their homes and now… you dare to ask for it after everything you've done?" said the blonde in a dead tone while he took the small man by the neck and made him look into his yellowish-blue eyes. "There is no mercy for scum like you," Naruto said looking with disgust and repugnance at the small man "You should know that those who take the lives of other people must be prepared to take their own," said the Uzumaki, so Gato could see how Naruto's eyes went from white to black. Which scared him even more.
"You are… a monster." Gato barely managed to say those words, which fell on deaf ears on the part of the Uzumaki. "Your soul belongs to Shinigami-sama, and let you never find peace," said the jinchuriki, making Gato turn pale. The Uzumaki soon grabbed Nami's tyrant quite tightly and then threw the fat dwarf into the air a little while he began to perform a couple of hand seals.
"Fire-style fire dragon," said Naruto as a giant fire dragon emerged from his mouth, heading towards Gato. The last thing he saw was the dragon's head. Gato's scream could be heard throughout the place, which screamed for a couple of seconds before it disappeared. Seeing this, all the remaining mercenaries panicked and began to escape, since with Gato dead, they had no reason to continue fighting.
To this, Naruto sheathed his sword and put it back into his seal. "Let's just let them escape like that?" Zabuza asked, covered in blood, to the silver-haired Jonin who was next to him, who took out his orange-covered book, which confused Zabuza. "I wouldn't worry about it," Kakashi said as he pointed in the direction the bandits were heading.
The swordsman saw how several people, who turned out to be Wave's civilians, took care of some bandits who were trying to flee, soon overwhelmed by the people carrying sticks, picks, metal bars, bears, etc., and several ended up surrendering. Both men saw how in front of all the people was a child, whom Kakashi managed to recognize as Tsunami's son, which made him smile when he saw how Inari approached Naruto and ruffled his hair. Then, tell him a few words, which Inari nodded, so that Naruto began to walk towards where he and Zabuza were.
Then they saw Haku, Sakura, and Tazuna approaching with a clone of Naruto dragging the unconscious Uchiha, which dissipated when it reached the group. Haku, seeing the state of the Kiri swordsman, became worried and approached him to check on him. "Calm down, Haku. I'm unharmed; this isn't my blood," said Zabuza, calming the ice user. And now, what are you going to do, Zabuza-san?" asked Kakashi, who was still reading his orange book, which annoyed Sakura and Haku.
"Are you not going to hand me over or kill me?" the swordsman questioned, to which the silver-haired Joninin shrugged while continuing to read his book. "Naturally I would," the copy ninja said. "But given the conditions you were in and the reasons behind them, I don't see a reason to hand you over, at least not at the moment. It would be very troublesome," Kakashi said, looking over his book at the swordsman, who sighed somewhat relieved.
"In that case, I think I'll take some of Gato's fortune and return to Kiri to help the resistance with the civil war," said Zabuza surprising everyone with his decision, but then he looked at the blonde "Naruto-san I have a request to ask you," said the swordsman which caught the attention of the young jinchuriki. "What is it, Zabuza-san?" the blonde asked. The aforementioned looked at Haku for a few moments, causing a knot to form in the swordsman's neck, but he spoke anyway. "I want you to take Haku with you," said the ex-Kiri-Nin, surprising the aforementioned, as well as the blonde. "B-but Zabuza-sama I…!" said Haku, still surprised by the words of the traitor of the mist.
"Haku!" the swordsman said, silencing his apprentice. "This is not the life I want for you, Haku. Where I am going, there will be nothing but conflict and death. I want you to have a place to rest without having one eye open every moment." Zabuza said as he looked at the ice user. And he placed a hand on her head. "You are a user of a Kekkei Genkai, Ice release of the Yuki clan, if you return to Kiri most likely the men who supported the blood purges will go after you", said Zabuza making his apprentice shudder slightly at those words "You are the closest thing to a daughter I have and no matter how bad a father I may seem I want you to be safe," said the swordsman.
Haku had a couple of tears in his eyes as he listened to the swordsman's words, who looked back at the blonde for his answer. "I accept, but only if it's what Haku-chan wants," said the Hanyou, looking at the girl, who wiped away her tears. "I'll go with you, Naruto-kun," the now-identified member of the Yuki clan replied after a few seconds with a smile, trusting in his father figure, while the blonde gave him one of his own.
"Great, when we get back, talk to Jiji so he can accommodate you as a Konoha Kunoichi," said the blonde. "I think you're forgetting one thing, Naruto," Kakashi said as he turned the page in his book. "And that is that when Sasuke recovers and sees Haku, he's going to try to hurt her," he said while Haku and Sakura frowned. "While I can prevent that from happening on our return to the village, I cannot intervene if the civilians try to give it to Sasuke since neither you nor I have legal authority over it."
"Don't worry about it Kakashi-nii" said the Uzumaki while the group laughed lightly at the nickname and made the silver-haired man sigh "Since according to the Law of War if an enemy surrenders or hands himself over to a group or person, he automatically becomes a prisoner and the person or group to whom he surrendered will be legally responsible for him" said the red-haired man making the jonin remember that legal loophole.
"And since it is a law signed after the first great ninja war, neither the old mummies nor those of the civil council can do anything about it. This even makes it impossible for the Hokage to act on that matter," declared the Uzumaki, making Kakashi and Zabuza sigh, calming Haku.
"Wait, that means that since she is your prisoner, she will have to be with you to keep an eye on her," Sakura said, remembering something about the subject. So Haku-san will have to…" "Live with me," the blonde said to his partner. This statement made Haku blush heavily and begin to imagine very colorful scenarios, to say the least. Zabuza looked at the Uzumaki with annoyance and then grabbed him by the clothes.
"Gaki," Zabuza said in a hollow voice, "If you dare to touch a hair of Haku, I will find you and castrate you." The swordsman threatened the blonde while a death curse filtered out from the swordsman. This caused Haku to have a deep blush on her face at what the person she considered a father to her had just said.
"H-Hai," Naruto said with a drop of sweat, seeing the swordsman's overprotective actions. With everything settled, everyone headed to Tazuna's house with the new guests and with the Uchiha still being dragged by the jinchuriki clone.
The rest of the day was spent with Naruto, Sakura, and Haku helping civilians injured while fighting the bandits, while Zabuza and Kakashi took those who needed more urgent help to the hospital. This place was one of the few that remained in operation because Gatou used it for his injured men, but this time, the doctors treated the civilians of Nami no Kuni.
Three days later
In those three days the city of Nami had not been in such a good mood in so long, the next day after Gato's death, his lair was raided which contained all the money that had been stolen from people for so long, of course they had to take care of the guards first, but it was a piece of cake for Naruto and a Zabuza, which did not end well for the guards.
After that, Zabuza is given a part to help Kiri in that war. Naruto searched and found certain documents, which made him smile, so he sealed them in one of his seals. In addition, when the people were informed that Gato had murdered the Daimio of the Wave to prevent him from asking for help from the rest of the Nations and intervening with their activities in Nami, it was decided that a new Daimio would be appointed in the following weeks.
Also, that same day, Sasuke managed to recover from his wound, and the moment he saw Haku, he tried to attack her. he was stopped by Kakashi and Naruto. After explaining the situation to the emo, he demanded that both Haku and Naruto be severely punished for laying a hand on him. This was denied by Kakashi, saying that what Naruto did was the least he could expect by sacrificing a comrade in such a way as for Haku's position. According to the Law of War, Haku was under Naruto's protection, and not even the Hokage could interfere in this. This angered the Uchiha, who were away from the group for the next few days.
On the second day, the entire village helps finish the bridge, and a huge party is held to celebrate Gato's downfall and Nami's return to prosperity. In addition to Haku getting along quite well with Tsunami and Sakura, Kakashi also got along quite well with Zabuza since they both shared a fondness for reading a certain brand of perverted books. This, of course, caused both Kakashi and Zabuza to earn large bumps on their heads courtesy of the women of the house.
When the third day arrived, Team 7 was getting ready to leave. When in Tsunami's room, Naruto was with the woman while they said goodbye with a passionate kiss, and then they both separated. "I wish you would stay a little longer," Tsunami said, her head resting on the blonde's chest. "I wish I could stay a little longer too, but I promise I'll come back for you," the Uzumaki said as he kissed the woman again. After getting ready, the Konoha group, along with Haku and Zabuza, met on the bridge, where Zabuza was saying goodbye to Haku while she hugged him he returned the hug, and Yuki had a couple of tears falling from her eyes.
"I don't want to say goodbye," Haku said, looking at the swordsman, who had a sad look on his face. "Me neither," Zabuza said as he parted from his adopted daughter. "I'll miss you, Haku," said the renegade Kiri. "And I love you Tou-san," said Haku. "JE, I never thought someone would call me that way," Zabuza said as he separated from Haku and began his way to Kiri to support the resistance.
Haku was watching as the man who had cared for and raised her for several years left, which made her lower her head. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Naruto smiling at her, which calmed her down a little. "Zabuza is a tough guy. I'm sure he'll be fine. He did this thinking about what was best for you," said Naruto while wiping away a tear.
"Thank you, Naruto-kun," said the ice user and then bowed her head with the Uzumaki's palm. Sakura, seeing this, felt a slight pain in her chest, which surprised her a lot and made her think. ' Why does it hurt so much? ' Haruno asked herself and then looked at the blonde and opened her eyes. ' So that's it, I'm falling in love with I'm' the pink-haired girl concluded.
At that point, the group saw a large crowd of people approaching, including Tazuna's family. Tazuna stood in front of the group and addressed them. "We just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for our village and that we're in doubt with Konoha," said Tazuna, as the entire group nodded. It was a pleasure to help," Kakashi said. We hope that relations with Nami and Konoha will be mutually beneficial in the future."
"Once a new Daimio is chosen, we will try to begin negotiations with Konoha as soon as possible," said Tazuna as everyone shouted praises at the Konoha group. Alright, Team 7, let's go," Kakashi said, making the entire Team 7 and Haku start walking and slowly disappear from the people of the village.
"And have you already thought of a name for the bridge?" Tsunami asked her father. "How about we call it Tazuna's Super Bridge?" said the construct, making everyone's sweat drop. At that point, names began to be thrown around, some a bit exaggerated, others very absurd, and others that had nothing to do with it. At that point, Inari's lightbulb came on.
"How about the Great Naruto Bridge?" Inari said, drawing everyone's attention. "I think that's a great name," Tsunami said as everyone nodded at the idea.
"Alright, from now on, this will be the great Naruto Bridge, in the name of the person who gave Nami hope again," Tazuna shouted as everyone cheered the name of the bridge in honor of their savior. Tsunami looks at the bridge and lightly touches the mark the blonde gave her. 'I hope to see you again soon, Naruto-kun,' the woman thought as she looked at where the blonde and his group had gone.
Four days later
The return to Konoha was anything but pleasant, as throughout the entire journey, Naruto was tired and tempted to knock out the Uchiha again. This is because Sasuke didn't stop ranting that he should give him one of his techniques and he should apologize for hitting him open or that he should give him the ice girl so that he could have, according to him, the honor of serving an elite Uchiha, this, of course, was an excuse to get revenge on her.
When the first night arrived, the silver-haired jonin proceeded to give his two students their respective punishments, where Hatake gave Naruto that both he and Sasuke would have to carry out at least 5 D-rank missions each separately before their next official mission. Sasuke refused, but Kakashi quickly made him realize that what he was saying was not an option but an order. The Uzumaki decided not to argue and went to rest, but unfortunately, it was not going to be that easy for him.
Sasuke went so far as to enact his vengeance on Haku during the night and probably would have succeeded if Naruto hadn't stayed up to guard her the entire night. Only for Sasuke to try it again and again after the first time failed. Sakura felt even more uneasy about the Uchiha. So much so that she began sleeping in Haku's tent so she could be close to Naruto, not knowing that her blonde teammate hadn't slept at all the entire trip back, even with his clones. Sasuke would try to put them in genjutsu after "putting" one on Kakashi. That was until Kakashi put a stop to that, which Naruto appreciated, but the Uchiha still tried to do it two more times.
Konoha, Hokage tower
Team 7 and Haku were in front of the Hokage, who was smoking his pipe while next to the leader of the leaf. When the silver-haired jonin reported the Uchiha's actions, the latter tried to excuse himself by ranting that what he did was necessary for him to survive so he could continue the fight. This caused everyone to look at them with a frown, especially Sakura. But Hiruzen decided to leave it for the moment. After a while, Kakashi finished giving his report. Where he also included the part of the sanctions of both Naruto and Sasuke.
"I see. Very good job, Kakashi," said Hiruzen, taking a big drag of his pizza and blowing out all the smoke. "Good job, Team 7. You will be given payment for an A-Rank mission," said the Hokage, looking at Sasuke and Naruto. "This week, Team 7 will not have any missions since you two will have to fulfill the punishment that Kakashi imposed on you," declared the Sarutobi, looking at the two mentioned, making Naruto nod, while Sasuke let out a growl, but ended up nodding.
"As I understand it, you wish to join our village, Ms. Haku?" The elder man asked, turning his attention to the ice user. "That is correct, Hokage-sama." She replied with confidence. "Zabuza-sama said he wanted me to have a more stable environment so that I could be safe."
"And where is Zabuza now?" asked Hiruzen. "He's decided to join the rebels in the Kiri civil war to fight back for his people," said the masked Jonin. "It is good to hear a shinobi of his talent has found something worth fighting for." The Hokage smiled before turning back to Haku. "Protocol dictates that due to your prior involvement with a Missing-nin, you are to be placed on probation for six months, as well as submit to interrogation sessions for one month. Do you accept?"
"I do, Hokage-sama," Haku said firmly, showing her resolve to join the village. "Very well." He signaled one of the ANBU who was hidden in the room. "Bring me Anko." Instantly, the ANBU vanished in a swirl of leaves, before returning a few seconds later with the Snake mistress, who had immediately jumped on Naruto, causing the old man to gawk at the scene. However, the Hokage could only chuckle at the sight before him after he had gotten over his shock. He had known of the two's relationship and knew all too well the worries of a long-term mission outside of the village.
'Shit she's Anko' thought inner Sakura. 'How the hell did Naruto-Kun manage to get her, and how are we supposed to compete with her.' thought Sakura, unconsciously looking down at her chest. 'I don't know if I should be jealous of her kissing Naruto or that you don't dare to kiss him like that,' said Inner.
"Anko," Hiruzen coughed. "If you wouldn't mind waiting until you two are in a more private setting, we have important things to discuss." "I don't know if I can wait that long, Hokage-sama." Anko grinned. "I'm tempted to borrow your desk for a few hours." The implications caused all the males, minus one, female to have a slight nosebleed. Both Kakashi and Hiruzen were imagining something like that happening in their favorite orange book series, whilst Sakura was being assaulted by images of her and Naruto on the desk by her inner self. Meanwhile, Haku was severely blushing.
"Anyways, what do you need, old man?" The Snake Mistress asked, snapping everyone out of their stupor."Haku here wishes to join the village." Hiruzen informed her. "I am assigning you as her handler during her probation."
"Sweet, I got a new friend!" She exclaimed as she grabbed hold of Haku's hand and dragged her to the door. Though not before stopping by Naruto and giving him a deep kiss. After the kiss was broken, Naruto leaned in and whispered something in the snake mistress's ear, getting a nod from her before the two girls left the office.
"Well if that is-" "Wait, what about that ice bitch!!" Sasuke shouted, causing everyone to look at him. "She must pay for what she did to me. I demand that she be handed over to me so that I can make sure she pays for her actions against me!" the Uchiha shouted. "Genin Sasuke Uchiha," Hiruzen said as he sent a death glare to the boy who shuddered in fear "I have already determined what will happen to Haku-san, you better remember who is in charge of the village, otherwise you will be considered a traitor and your head will roll at my command, I AM CLEAR" Hiruzen said which earned him a shaky nod from the Uchiha. "With all that settled, you are all dismissed, besides Naruto," Hiruzen said, looking at team 7 when Naruto stepped up.
Sakura hesitated a little, not wanting to be alone with the Uchiha, which made Kakashi frown, knowing that she only trusted being around them now. Naruto turned to see his pink-haired teammate looking unsure of what to do. It was clear that she didn't want to be too far away from him. Giving her a soft smile, he pulled her into a gentle hug to reassure her that it would be fine. "If you need someone to talk to, I'll be at my apartment later. The key is behind the third loose board on the wall." He whispered to her, earning a nod in confirmation before she left the office.
In the hallway, the Uchiha sighed. ' Damn, she's going to ask me out with her again,' the raven-haired boy mentally growled in annoyance but was surprised when Sakura just left the place, seeing this Sasuke just shrugged and headed to one of the training fields to practice with his new eyes and possibly enter his clan's library.
"What's the matter, Jiji?" asked Naruto, looking at his grandfather figure. The Hokage took out two scrolls, one red, another blue. Naruto stared at them, confused as Kakashi did. "The Red Scrolls contain the deeds of the Uzumaki, Senju, and Namikaze clan lands. The blue ones are the Senju, Uzumaki, and Namikaze bank accounts. The last one contains your parent's signature jutsus like the Flying Thundergod, Rasengan, and your mother's Kenjutsu as well as Jutsu from the Uzumaki she had come with. The last one was given to me by your mother before your birth saying she had a horrible feeling." said HIruzen his head looking down.
."But I thought you would need a little more time for the accounts," said the Uzumaki, somewhat bewildered. "Didn't you say they were the most precious thing that the bastards of the civil council were looking for?" asked the Uzumaki.
"Yes, but let's say I have my methods," Hiruzen said, smiling. Wanting to see what face the members of the civil council would make when they saw that they would never be able to get their claws into the funds in those accounts and that by giving his inheritance to his substitute grandson, the paperwork of the civilians demanding this would cease. Given this perspective, it was a double victory for the Sarutobi, who watched as Naruto sealed the scrolls in the arm seals.
"If that's all, Naruto-kun Kakashi you are dismissed?" asked the Hokage. "There's something I would like to discuss with you," said Naruto surprising both adults one already having a thought about what it could be. "But it's more personal, so if you could dismiss the ANBU for the moment. Though Neko-chan and Kakashi-nii are allowed to stay, as it does involve her."
This immediately got the old man's attention. Promptly he dismissed his ANBU as Neko joined them on the floor before activating his privacy seals. "What is this about Naruto-kun and why does it involve ANBU Neko?" However, he didn't miss how the female ANBU was acting a little excited as if she knew exactly what the blonde was about to say.
"To be honest Jiji, I wish to enter myself into the CRA on my terms," said Naruto Shocking the Hokage. "And what those this have to do with Neko?" asked Hiruzen curiously earning a blush from Naruto and Yugao as Kakashi chuckled a bit. "Well... About that" Naruto was about to say it when "I'm Naruto-kun's Fiance" said Yugao embarrassed.
With Sakura
The pinkette slowly made her way to her home. While she had come to terms with what had happened, she still felt unsafe around the Uchiha.
Aside from being used as a literal meat shield to take a blow meant for him and the repeated times Sasuke had tried to attack Haku. Shuddering at the memory, Sakura continued her trek home. Opening the door to see her mother busily going about her duties within the home. "You're back Sakura-chan," said a voice from what was the kitchen, Sakura approached the kitchen and saw a blonde-haired woman who looked to be in her 30s or 40s, she was wearing a simple set of clothes, a white blouse, and tight grayish purple pants, she had a B cup even though she was an adult, she had fair skin and green eyes, the woman was Sakura's mother, Mebuki Haruno "How did your mission go?" the blonde asked her daughter. "Were you able to get your Sasuke-kun?"
The last part made the pinkette frown a bit in disgust. "Mission was fine mom, I was able to learn a lot of new things to progress my career as a kunoichi better," Sakura answered honestly, though she tried to avoid any mention of the emo duck ass. "And tell me were you able to get closer to your destined Husband? Maybe get a date with him"
"Well, the truth is that I no longer think Sasuke is the one anymore," Sakura said, a little embarrassed at finally saying those words, "And I no longer have any interest in pursuing him. I'm just going to focus on my training so I can be a better Kunoichi." but she was slightly surprised to see her mother's surprised face, who was looking at her. "But why would you say that darling, I'm sure that boy is the one for you", said Sakura's mother, where the pink-haired girl felt as if her parent's words were more of an order than a suggestion.
"Other than the fact that the bastard tried to kill me?" Sakura seethed at the memory catching her mother off guard. That bastard used substitution on me so I would take a hit for him!" Mebuki merely sighed and brought her daughter into a hug but Sakura didn't feel anywhere as warm or comforting as Naruto's had. "Sometimes we must make sacrifices to
show the ones we love how far we will go for them." The woman smiled, causing Sakura's eyes to widen in shock at what her mother was saying. "Like I said dear, you are destined to be married to him and you two will give me lots of grandchildren to spoil." Sakura was stunned as she was released from the hug her mother had held on her.
'She doesn't even care that I could have died because of his actions!' She thought to herself, while her inner self was seething in anger. "It's just a shame that the demon brat didn't get himself killed," Mebuki commented off-handedly. "Would have done the village a huge favor if he never made it back." She's talking about Naruto-kun!' Inner Sakura exclaimed, her anger rising even further at the woman. Sakura herself could only mentally agree as her body was still in shock. Slowly she made her way to the stairs to go to her bedroom.
'Inner, I don't think I can stay in this house tonight.' The pinkette mentally told her counterpart. 'Well, Naruto-kun said we could go to his apartment if we needed anyone to talk to.' Inner reminded her.' You're right! Except, I don't know where he lives.' thought Sakura sadly. 'Well, 'mother dear' is on the Civilian Council, I bet she has his address somewhere in her office.' Inner stated, with clear indication that she was not very fond of the woman right now. Especially with the amount of venom that was dripping off the word, mother. "Are you alright dear?" Her mother asked as she saw her daughter going up the stairs. "Just tired." That was all Sakura replied with, not wanting to be around the woman at this point.
"Well honey, I have to go take care of some business exports. I'll be back in a few days," said Mebuki, leaving her some money that she assumed would be enough for her lunch and dinner for the next few days. For Sakura, this was not a surprise, since her father, being an active merchant, did not spend much time at home and her mother, being a member of the civil council, supervised certain activities in different areas of commerce.
Sakura watched as her mother left before quickly producing a shadow clone of her own to get some of her stuff while she made a beeline toward the woman's office. She knew the woman had the boy's address since every council member was given an up-to-date list of all the citizens, their Addresses, and their status within the village. It wasn't hard to find Naruto, as his name had been scribbled out and the words 'Demon Brat' written above them. Memorizing the address, Sakura closed the address book and was about to leave before something caught her eye.
Laying open on the desk was her mother's diary. Curiosity getting the better of her, she sat down and began to read some of the entries. Becoming more shocked and appalled by her mother's actions as tears formed in her eyes. Inside the diary, she detailed every 'Fox Hunt' she had organized in hopes of killing the child. Only to be prevented each time by ANBU. Their closest success had been on the boy's sixth birthday. After that, many of the entries detailed the woman's frustration that there had not been any successful hunts for years after the boy turned six, due to the child mysteriously vanishing from sight. Wiping the tears away, Sakura stood up and left the house. With her newest discovery, she knew that she couldn't stand to look at her mother, let alone live in the same house as her.
Her destination set, Sakura quickly navigated her way towards where the blonde resided. It didn't take her long to arrive in front of the apartment complex. She could see the telltale signs of attempted graffiti and vandalism, causing her anger to rise once more. Quickly, she made her way to his door and found the spare key he had told her about. Once unlocked, she placed the key back into its hiding spot, before she disappeared into the apartment. Locking the door behind her. Once inside, Sakura took in her surroundings. For some reason, she had half expected the place to be a mess, but surprisingly it was clean and well-organized. Realizing she had nothing to do, as she had only come with what she had from the mission. Slowly, she gravitated toward his bedroom and sat down on the bed. Letting out a long sigh as she lay down.
This was how Naruto found the pink-haired girl when he arrived home some hours later. The talk with the Hokage had gone on far longer than he had wanted, but the details had to be ironed out. The fact that Kakashi was there and took a role to help Naruto helped a lot. Currently, he was pretty much already in the CRA. He was the last of two large clans as well as his father forming his own after becoming hokage. Even if he hated him he would still use what was presented to him. Not to mention his Bloodline Fortunately, the old man had scheduled the council meeting for late tomorrow afternoon to give the young blonde time to sleep. Smiling as he looked over Sakura's sleeping form, he draped a blanket over her before leaving the room and closing the door behind him. Opting to take the couch for the night.