Dusk & Dawn (Naruto AU)

[Meridian_Prime]

Which reminds me, I forgot to re-edit with my latest changes.

I wouldn't call it bloodthirsty per se... but I can kinda see what you mean, I guess? Naruto wants the money, and they tried to kill his friend. That's... kind of it. He hasn't actually killed anyone, thought. If he had, he'd be much harder on the decision.

Click to shrink...

I'm not necessarily saying it's bad. Given his different upbringing, this may well make sense for him--as I said, I might just need to reread from the top. It's just that Naruto as a character has always been defined by is almost ridiculous capacity for kindness and forgiveness, especially given the world he lives in. It's kind of his shtick. So to see him go the typical ninja route of "kill them to deal with the problem" is a bit jarring. He spends half of canon going on about his 'ninja way' and changing how ninjas operate after all.

Just thought it might be useful feedback. As a reader, that line really stuck out to me.

 

[Canis]

I'm not necessarily saying it's bad. Given his different upbringing, this may well make sense for him--as I said, I might just need to reread from the top. It's just that Naruto as a character has always been defined by is almost ridiculous capacity for kindness and forgiveness, especially given the world he lives in. It's kind of his shtick. So to see him go the typical ninja route of "kill them to deal with the problem" is a bit jarring. He spends half of canon going on about his 'ninja way' and changing how ninjas operate after all.

Just thought it might be useful feedback. As a reader, that line really stuck out to me.

Click to shrink...

...not really. What you're describing is Part 2 Naruto. Part 1 Naruto while not exactly kill happy had no problem going for crippling or killing blows and didn't try to talk his opponents down. THAT formed out of his experiences with Haku and Gaara and what I like to think of as character decay. Honestly while we were starting to see signs of it towards the end of Part 1, Part 2's writing really slipped. Beforehand we actually had some measure of depth with the characters, but in Part 2 they were all basically Shonen stereotypes.

Zabuza was an outlier and only because of Haku's regard for him did Naruto even try to reach out to Zabuza emotionally. And even then it was accidental. He was basically cursing Zabuza for the way he was treating Haku's death.

 

[TC9078]

tbh, I thought the most jarring part was Naruto not wanting to be Hokage... guess I was wrong on that one :lol

 

[Canis]

tbh, I thought the most jarring part was Naruto not wanting to be Hokage... guess I was wrong on that one :lol

Click to shrink...

Canonically Naruto's desire to be Hokage was because the Hokage was the most acknowledged person in the Village. Here he has the acknowledgement he craved in canon and got it early enough that he didn't latch onto becoming the Hokage as a means of obtaining recognition and acknowledgement. His canon journey was supposedly about growing up and his motivations changing while retaining the same dream.

One of the things I like, at least in concept, about the Boruto manga (don't read it but I do poke at it from time to time) is that it continues to show how being Hokage fucks up your family life and shows that one of the sacrifices a good Hokage must make is their family. Basically Naruto got his happy ending and his dream and subsequently ruined his happy ending with his dream.

I'm hoping he gets his happy ending and manages to keep it here.

 

[TC9078]

Kakashi woke slowly. His head felt like someone had cracked open his skull, slammed some stuff together in it, then closed it up with rusted nails. His muscles felt weak and sore, and his ribs felt like he'd pissed off Kushina on the absolute wrong day of the month.

Slowly, the memories of the battle returned to him, and he carefully opened his right eye. The ceiling was cracked and seemed to be rather rough. Kakashi tried to sit up, but only felt pain as he didn't move. Groaning loudly, he let his body relax a bit.

A few moments later, Sakura came running into the room. "Kakashi-sensei!" she said with a huge smile, "you're finally awake!" She walked up and knelt next to him. "You really scared, us. You know that, right? Naruto-kun was inconsolable— I had to use his whiskers against him again, and Uchiha-san won't stop needling him about it. And both will be upset that you woke up while they were gone."

"Gone?" Kakashi asked, "where are they?"

"Uchiha-san is off watching the bridge, he said he felt it was the least we could do in exchange for keeping you here," Sakura explained. "Naruto-kun ran off to try and find a way to scale the cliff face without chakra."

"Why would he want to go up there?" Kakashi asked, feeling like he was missing something rather important.

"Sensei..." Sakura said, looking down, "the Old City is up on that part of the island." The Old City? Of course, how could he have forgotten? Of course Naruto would get curious if it was right there. He'd wanted to visit the ruins of Uzushiogakure no Sato for years, but it seemed only now was he actually taking time to put it into actions.

"Sasuke-kun should be more careful," Kakashi said, "Zabuza will be up in about a week, depending on how long I've been out for, and his oi-nin accomplice is still out there."

"He knows, he's being careful," Sakura said, standing up. "I'll go and tell Tsunami-san that you're up. She makes some great miso soup!" Sakura ran off down the hallway, leaving Kakashi laying on the futon. Sighing, he tried once again to force himself into a sitting position, succeeding only through liberal use of his arms. He still felt horrifically exhausted, but at least now he could look around.

-D&D-​

About two hours later, Sasuke returned with Tazuna. "Glad to see you're awake, sensei," the boy said, leaning against the wall. "I don't want to have to take on someone like Zabuza again without some Jōnin backup."

"Well, I'm happy you cared, Sasuke-kun," Kakashi said, attempting to smile with his eye. "Even if it was only to provide backup. Where's Naruto-kun?"

"Still in the woods. He should be back soon, though," Sasuke replied. As he finished saying that, rapid footsteps came by and into the house. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Sasuke muttered, as Naruto came running in and glomped Kakashi.

"Nii-san! You're okay!" Naruto cheered. Kakashi carefully wrapped an arm around the boy.

"Of course I'm okay, Naruto-kun," Kakashi said calmly, "now, what's this about you trying to get up to Uzu?" Naruto pulled back and blushed.

"Well, I heard from Tazuna-san that there used to be a path up the cliff, and I've been trying to find it," Naruto said.

"And what makes you think you can find it?" Kakashi asked him. Naruto simply smiled at him and jabbed a thumb at himself.

"Because I'm Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo! If anyone can find out how to get there, it's me!"

"Okay," Kakashi said, ruffling Naruto's hair, "rest up, we'll go and take a look at that in the morning."

-D&D-​

When morning came, Kakashi limped his way through the woods with his crutches until they arrived a small clearing. "Sasuke-kun," Kakashi said, "Uzu probably has traps set up against it for Uchiha, like how they did against Hyūga. Therefore, it would be dangerous to both you and us to drag you up there. However, I have some training for you— do you know tree walking?"

"I know the concept, I've seen both Naruto and Bubblegum do it," Sasuke replied.

"Good, then press your feet to the bark and adjust the amount of chakra you use. Too little and you'll fall. Too much and you'll go flying off," Kakashi explained. "Well, hop to it. I'll be back later today, but I can't leave any Kage Bunshin here due to my chakra exhaustion— so I hope you are a fast learner." Kakashi turned and walked away slowly. "Ciao! Good luck, Sasuke-kun!"

Kakashi limped away from the clearing with his other two Genin in tow. After nearly half an hour of walking through the trees, they came to the cliff face. He could barely see up to the top— it was just a wall of pure smooth stone. Knowing just how Kushina was, Kakashi figured that the Uzumaki likely made it like that themselves to avoid infiltrators. The three agreed to split up and look for anything suspicious. About an hour and a half later, they did.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura called from her place about twenty feet up.

"Yes, Sakura-kun?" Kakashi said, craning his head to look up at her.

"I found a spiral up here! I think this might be what we needed!" she said. Kakashi nodded and walked to grab Naruto, who immediately ran up to investigate himself.

-D&D-​

After staring at the spiral for about ten minutes, Naruto thought he figured out how to open it. It was a chakra seal, but not quite so simple— it needed chakra to be transferred through a medium, rather than directly as other seals did. Of course, it would take forever to get a seal together that could channel his chakra in an effective manner, so that plan was a bust.

"Wait," Sakura said, after explaining his idea to her, "why don't you just smear some blood on it? Wouldn't that do that same thing?" Naruto just stared at her.

Wow. I know shinobi are supposed to look underneath the underneath… but that seems so much simpler, Naruto thought. "Alright," he said, "let's try it out." Naruto pulled out a kunai and sliced across his palm lightly, before placing his palm on the spiral. The carving glowed briefly, before vanishing.

The air suddenly because heavy, as rock began to crack. Small rocks from the cliff face began to fall first, then larger and heavier ones; but all fell in a specific pattern. Ten minutes later, to the astonishment of the three observers, the fallen rocks had formed a perfect path up the cliff, complete with seals to hold the rocks together.

Kakashi in particular was glaring at the pathway up. "That is such bullshit," he said, not caring that he just swore in front of his Genin. Naruto found himself in agreement with his teacher— even he couldn't pull something like that off. Well, maybe he could, if you gave him a few decades.

Sakura was the first to start walking up the path. Naruto followed after her after a moment's hesitation. Kakashi brought up the rear. At the top of the cliff was a similar forest, with the remnants of an old road along the forest floor. Naruto took off running up said road, leaving both Sakura and Kakashi in the dust.

The forest and greenery around him seemingly faded as he ran, his vision focused solely on the road ahead of him. He thought he could vaguely hear his team calling out to him, but didn't think about it as he kept running. After some time of running — Naruto didn't keep track of how long it was for — the path went up a medium-sized hill. Before Naruto could reach the top, however, he screwed up his balance and tripped over his own feet, going right down on his face in a tumble. Great going, me!

-D&D-​

Sakura stopped running after a minute and simply started strolling next to Kakashi as he limped along. It was hard to believe how untouched this area was. Vines and moss grew freely along the forest floor, with the exception of the road, which was likely kept free of plants by seals. After observing a bird flying from branch to branch for a few minutes, she turned to her limping teacher. There was a question she'd had, and wanted him to answer.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, "what was it that you said to Zabuza? You said that if they showed up, it would make this mission S-ranked?"

"Ah," Kakashi said looking at the ground, "that would be a jinchūriki. I hope you never have to face one. They are easily the most dangerous thing a shinobi could ever realistically encounter."

"But… what are they?" Sakura asked, pressing on.

Kakashi sighed loudly, and looked down at his feet, shaking his head. Sakura looked back at him, worriedly. "I can't give specifics," the man said after a moment, "because much of the information is extremely classified. S-rank at minimum, for most of it. A jinchūriki is a person that has one of the nine bijū sealed inside of them. They essentially act as a container— holding the bijū and preventing them from terrorizing the world.

"They were created around the founding of the villages. Jinchūriki act as a village's insurance. Their last resort. They keep the balance of power by being capable of taking on entire armies single-handed if they are unleashed. It was supposed to prevent future wars… a lot of good that did. Shodai-sama gave two bijū to each of the other Kage. One of the jinchūriki of Sunagakure defected to Takigakure during the Second Shinobi World War, but otherwise it's remained the same since the beginning."

"But," Sakura said, "why did Shodai-sama only keep one?" Kakashi chuckled at her question.

"Ah, why indeed? In fact, why didn't he just keep all of them for Konoha? To be honest, we'll never really know," Kakashi admitted. "Shodai-sama was very powerful, but he was also a very kind man, from what Sandaime-sama tells me."

"So, who has what bijū? Or is that classified?" Sakura asked.

"Keep asking like that," Kakashi said, "and I can tell you a bunch of stuff without technically breaking the rules. Just vague enough that I can answer. To answer your question, each bijū is classified by the number of tails that they have— from one to nine.

"The Ichibi no Tanuki is possessed by Sunagakure. The Nibi is possessed by Kumogakure. The Sanbi…" Kakashi trailed off, "the Sanbi no Kyodaigame… is held by Kirigakure. The Yonbi and Gobi are held by Iwagakure… or at least they were. The Rokubi is held by Kirigakure. The Nanabi has been held by Takigakure, ever since the Second War. The Hachibi is held by Kumogakure. Konoha… well, there's only one left."

"The Kyūbi no Yōko," Sakura muttered, hand over her mouth. "So, the attack twelve years ago-"

"Most information on it is classified," Kakashi said, "but we had a jinchūriki before the attack… she died protecting the village."

"And if Konoha didn't have their jinchūriki anymore, then the rest of the Five Great Shinobi Nations would have attacked us, hoping to humble us after the Third War, especially after Yondaime-sama's death," Sakura muttered. "Therefore, it's improbable that we don't have one anymore— but the fact that their name hasn't been revealed likely means that they are young, or were at the time of the attack. Knowing their destructive potential, they would almost certainly be press-ganged into the Academy, if they didn't want to become a shinobi. It's unlikely they wouldn't be revealed after they became a shinobi, since Konoha would want to show itself off. Sandaime-sama would almost certainly be forced push through them becoming a shinobi as soon as they reasonably could.

"The problem is, the youngest person in our grade was N-" Sakura stopped herself, then froze in her tracks. Her eyes widened as she put the data together— the village's hatred of Naruto, the nickname 'Akuma-gaki,' his ability to greatly overpower the simplest of jutsu, and the horrific control of said power. It all made sense. "Naruto-kun..." she said, clasping her wrist over her heart. "Naruto-kun is Konoha's jinchūriki, isn't he?" Sakura asked.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," Kakashi said, walking past her. That was all the confirmation she needed. So, her best friend was a jinchūriki— that was certainly news. Not news that she could share, but still news nonetheless. It didn't change her thoughts on him— so he had a chakra demon locked away in his gut. Both she and him had sealed and unsealed enough paint and feathers to cover the Hokage monument several times over, so it was obvious enough how it worked.

"It's not like it really matters," Sakura said, walking back up next to Kakashi. "Naruto-kun is Naruto-kun. He's him, not his… prisoner? Tenant? Whatever, he's still him."

"That's very mature of you, Sakura-kun," Kakashi said, "though I should tell you that talking about it is forbidden by decree of Sandaime-sama. It's punishable by, at minimum, a heavy fine— at maximum, people have been taken to T&I or even outright killed by ANBU for breaking this law."

"Why would I talk about it?" Sakura asked, "I want to protect— Naruto-kun!" she saw the boy laying on his back halfway up the hill, and immediately took off running to him. Tapping his shoulder lightly, Sakura felt her breathing get much faster. Come on, please be okay! she thought rapidly. After a few more taps, the boy groaned loudly. Sakura smiled to herself and hugged the boy tightly.

"Sakura-chan~," the boy whined, "it's hard to breathe when you hug me like that."

"Naruto-kun, what am I feeling right now?" Sakura asked.

"Fear, sadness, and worry are the strongest, but you're feeling a lot of things at the moment," Naruto said.

"Then you should know to shut up, right now," she said.

"Ah… right," the boy muttered, finally reaching around and hugging her back. Sakura stopped paying attention and just focused on the boy in her arms.

Well, his beating heart is a greater comfort to me than anything has been in this mission so far, Sakura thought. The only thing that could bring me more comfort would be the news that Sōka-ba took a long walk off a short pier— with stones in her pockets.

"Oi, Oi! I hate to break up such a touching moment," Kakashi called, "but we're here!"

-D&D-​

A maze of and wood. That's what Naruto could sum up about the Old City. Of course, the remains of Uzushiogakure no Sato were much more complex than that. The river flowed down the middle of the ruins, but there were still many buildings and pillars with large spirals that Naruto could see. Squinting, he could see other symbols as well, but none very clear. His heart pounding in anticipation, Naruto was the first to run down the hill. Sakura followed right behind him. Kakashi brought up the rear as they walked down the path.

As they reached the gate, Naruto stopped, motioning for the others to do the same. "Booby traps," Naruto said, walking up to one of the spirals at the edge of the gate. He reopened the wound on his hand and pressed it into the spiral. It then began to glow blue, and Naruto felt the air get lighter.

Barrier seals, he thought, but even more efficient than Konoha's. If I can find the designs for these, that would be of immense help to the village! Looking back at the spiral, the blue glow began to subside slightly. He walked passed it and motioned for the others to follow him.

"The barrier will only stay down for a minute, tops. I can open it again from the inside, but I'm not sure anything good would happen if we walk into it," Naruto said, as they walked into the ghost town. Inside the village was an eerie paradise, untouched by nature, but obviously worn down by years of non-use. At each intersection, Naruto would crane his neck to see anything of significance. Whipping out his notebook and a pencil, Naruto began scribbling down what he saw.

After wandering for around ten minutes, Kakashi pointed out a building that they passed. "That looks kind of like something Kushina-chan told me about, once," he said. "I think she said it was some kind of armoury… I say we check it out."

"Why not?" Naruto said with a shrug. He'd found several cool things, but nothing big yet. Inside was something very simple, a small room filled with what looked like storage seals engraved on walls, but with other components as well. Naruto walked up to one and gave it a look over.

Let's see… standard storage seal, but with a special addit… ah! "It's a blood storage seal! It'll only open for the person that it's bonded to, or to a direct descendent of them," Naruto said. "It says their names above each one, so we can look at them as long as we can." With that, the three of them broke off and began looking at the different names on the wall. Most names Naruto couldn't recognize, or were insignificant… until he saw one particular name.

"Hasu Seidai?" Naruto asked, "why does that name sound familiar?" He stared at the kanji for a bit longer, before rapid footsteps came up behind him. He turned around to see Sakura standing there with a pale face.

"Ojii-chan..." Sakura muttered, trembling lightly, "he died during the Third Shinobi World War— he led an attack on an Iwa position in an attempt to steal intel. Only one member of his squad made it back, but they got the info on the Iwa supply lines."

"That's right," Kakashi interjected, "it revealed that their supply lines went via Kannabi Bridge, near Kusagakure. My team got the mission to destroy it."

"You told me that one," Naruto said, looking down, "one of your teammates died there— he gave you his sharingan in the hopes that it would protect you before his death. You still talk to him at the memorial stone— along with the other one and otō-sama."

"Who knows," Kakashi shrugged, going back to the other part of the room, "I guess I'm just sentimental like that. Also, be careful of the audience, Naruto-kun." Naruto turned and looked at Sakura, who was still staring at her grandfather's name.

"Your father is Yondaime-sama?" Sakura asked quietly. Naruto simply looked down and nodded. "It makes sense then, how you know Jiraiya-sama and why Kakashi-sensei knows your mother. The 'friends' line didn't exactly add up, especially with what kā-chan said about Yondaime-sama and Kushina-san."

Sakura took a shuriken and sliced lightly into her thumb, before rubbing it on the seal. A small basket appeared in a puff of smoke in front of the seal, covered in a tarp. Naruto walked over to see as she opened the tarp. Inside was a small set of storage scrolls, a genin uniform with a mesh shirt, a hitai-ate, and several inrō filled with shuriken and kunai.

"Wow! That's so cool, Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered. "That uniform would look awesome on you, actually!"

"Uh," Sakura blushed, "thanks, Naruto-kun." The redhead chuckled lightly at that. Suddenly, a loud SLAM rang out from the other side of the room. Naruto spun quickly to look— a trap door was open on the ground, and Kakashi-sensei was nowhere in sight.

"Aw, crap!" Naruto ran over to the trap door and shot several chains straight down the hole, until they successfully found the falling item and wrapped around it. Carefully retracting them while keeping the shape, he slowly pulled the silver-haired man out from the hole he had gotten himself into.

Kakashi, upon touching the ground, shook his head rapidly. "Should have known," he said, "there are certainly traps against the Uchiha— but it checks for the sharingan, not for the blood itself."

"Nii-san, why are you using your sharingan when you're so low on chakra?" Naruto asked. Kakashi suddenly froze.

"Um, let's just keep checking these seals and see if we find anything good," Kakashi said with a wave of his hand, obviously eager to change the subject. Each seal they found, it was mostly names that Naruto couldn't recognize. In the process of looking through them, Sakura found three more seals belonging to her ancestors, each containing similar items— one contained a Jōnin vest and uniform, but the other two were Genin uniforms. After a look at another name he didn't recognize, he found one that he partially did— Uzumaki Jun. On a whim, Naruto smeared some blood on the seal, and from it emerged a much larger basket that what had come from Sakura's. Within it was a similar standard Genin uniform, armoured gloves with the Uzushio spiral, a hitai-ate, several weapons and storage scrolls, and one extra rolled up scroll.

On a whim, Naruto opened the extra scroll. The only thing it contained was Jun's name. Really? What was this supposed to do, act as a business card while he was out murdering people? Frustrated, Naruto grabbed the scroll to roll back up, when a drop of blood from his still cut finger landed on the scroll. The blood sank into the paper, disappearing, before the scroll itself began to change. Jun's name was pushed to the top as lines traced down, with more names appearing on the paper, until they stopped at one— Uzumaki Naruto. Scroll that knows my name. That's totally not creepy at all. The scroll was a family tree of his Uzumaki heritage, going to his mother, Uzumaki Kushina, her father, Uzumaki Nagisa, his father, Uzumaki Ren, and Ren's father, Uzumaki Ashina. Shaking it, he tried to get more, but nothing came of it.

Maybe if I add someone else's blood to it, it'll work? Naruto thought. But I don't know any other Uzumaki… damn! At least he could tell the name of his grandfather great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather. He'd read of the name Uzumaki Ashina before… he was the Clan Head of the Uzumaki during the founding of Konoha. The Shodai Hokage had tried to convince him to move the people of Uzushio to Konoha after the founding of Kirigakure, but he'd refused and built up Uzushio as Konoha's ally. It cost the Clan its life when the alliance of Kirigakure, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Umigakure allied to get rid of the village that had cost so many lost lives during the First Shinobi World War with their fūinjutsu. Then they had promptly turned on each other over dividing up the loot taken from the village. Umigakure's Village Head then declared himself Kage, and it turned the Second War into the free-for-all it became.

"Hey, it's getting dark out, we should head back to the house now!" Sakura called. Naruto looked out the door, and saw that it was indeed much darker now. "Naruto-kun! Kakashi-sensei! Let's go!" After looking at one last seal, Naruto turned and ran to Sakura, with Kakashi limping behind them, having unsealed a spare pair of crutches. As they left, Naruto felt a pull back into the city in the back of his mind, but pushed it to the side. He could always come back and investigate that. That fountain in the middle had looked particularly beautiful, after all.

-D&D-
*the next day*​

Naruto yawned loudly, as Sakura next to him did the same. Of course, since Kakashi was practically bedridden from bringing out his sharingan the previous day, the two of them were left to guard Tazuna as Sasuke continued to practice tree climbing. Of course, there wasn't much to do, so Naruto just sat around spinning the water in his balloon.

"Why are only the two of you here, again? Why can't the kid with the weird hair help guard me, then train in the evening?" Tazuna asked them.

"Because he needs to get that skill done, stat," Sakura said, "once he learns that, we can get him started on how to walk and/or skate on water. That skill could be quite important— it was for me, after all."

"Right, you skated on the water back over to the shore after hitting that sword guy," Tazuna admitted. A loud snapping sound rang out as part of the crane gave way unexpectedly. Quickly, Naruto shot out four chakra chains, wrapping them around the pieces of the crane.

"Suiton: Suiben!" Sakura's voice called, as water rose from the ground and formed into a long arm, wrapping around the falling material that the crane had held and yanking it back onto the bridge. Once she had done so, Naruto watched her dash across the bridge and use Suiton: Suiben again, this time grabbing a man who had been hiding behind a crane.

Quickly setting his hands into the Mi seal, Naruto ran up the Sakura's whip and slapped the bottom of it. "Raiton: Denkō!" he yelled, an arc of lightning travelling from him hand into the whip of water and up to the trapped man. It electrocuted the man, to a loud scream from the victim, before Sakura deposited him on the ground. Giving Sakura a quick high five in congratulations, he walked up to the shaking man on the ground.

"Now, you are going to talk," Naruto said, grabbing the man by his collar. "And don't make me ask twice!"

-D&D-
*that evening*
​

Footsteps clashing against the tree, Sasuke ran up the trunk yet again, only to slip off at the last moment again. Scoffing, he marked his spot on the tree and fell back to the ground. Come on! he thought, I can do this! I see Naruto and Bubblegum do this all the time! Too much chakra and I shoot off! Too little and I slide back down! Panting heavily, he crouched back down for one last run up the tree. Breaking into a run, he felt his feet stick as he ran up, further and further, going right past his previous record. Yes! Sasuke thought. But those thoughts quickly soured as his foot slipped yet again and fell back. He slashed the bark with his kunai as he went tumbling down. Oh shit. Then everything went dark.

-D&D-​

Meanwhile, in town, Sakura and Naruto were guarding Tazuna as he went to the market to buy food.

"Seriously, he made me ask twice! He couldn't just say 'I was offered a small fortune to sabotage the bridge?' It's like he wanted me to throw him to his doom!" Naruto said. Sakura shook her head in response. He'd been going on about that all day. Yes, it was cool that they actually managed a basic Denkō Ninjutsu, but all he cared about was the fact that the guy had made him ask the question twice. Then he had bawled out the answer, and gotten thrown off the bridge with the power of Naruto's Fūton: Reppūshō.

Unfortunately, with Kakashi unconscious, the three of them were forced to split responsibilities— Sasuke had continued trying to walk up a tree, with limited success. All over the roads of the village, there were people in rags that could scarcely be called clothes. Most of them were huddled against walls or ducked inside alleys like street children back in Konoha. The children that she could see were clothed even worse than the poor kids who lived in the Red Light district that she occasionally saw peaking out when she had to run through that part of the village quickly to get somewhere.

Whoever designed Konoha so that the fastest way from the Uzushio District to the Business District was through the Red Light District should be hung from the nearest sour apple tree, Sakura thought.

-D&D-​

Back in Konoha, the Hokage sneezed harshly while at his desk, before shaking his head and returning to his copy of Icha Icha Violence. It was his favourite chapter, after all. He'd even just gotten a letter from Jiraiya announcing that the next book would be published soon: Icha Icha Domination. Hiruzen didn't know that Jiraiya even knew about that subject, but he'd certainly be reading it, if only to see how accurate he portrayed it. If the boy had gotten it ghostwritten, he was gonna interrogate out of him whomever wrote it. Maybe that could keep him away from the office when someone inevitably brought up education reform again.

-D&D-​

A boy ran as fast as he could out of a shop on the left, labelled 'butcher.' A man with a cleaver ran out after him, but was unable to catch him. "Stop! Thief!" the man yelled. But the boy was too fast, and vanished into the alley on the opposite side of the street before anyone could think to help. Sakura looked down at the ground. She remembered a few times when Naruto had had to steal food just to make ends meet without having to eat only instant ramen for four days in a row. While she did feel sorry for the store owner, she also felt sad for the unfortunate child who was so down on his luck that he was forced to rob someone for food.

"It's terrible, what Gatō has done to this place," Tazuna said. "Everyone is so poor, theft is almost a must for survival, for anyone. From shop owners to the homeless."

The small group continued walking until they reached a small shop. Inside was a small counter with an old cash register and practically empty shelves, with vegetables that looked only days away from expiring. There's practically nothing here! This is horrible! Leaning forward, Sakura tried to get a closer look at the one carrot to make sure there was no mold on it. Then, she felt a hand brush her butt.

"Pervert!" Sakura screamed loudly. She then spun around rapidly with a roundhouse kick to the unsuspecting man's groin. As the man fell, Naruto suddenly fished a kunai out, stabbing the man in the hand that had touched her, before slashing his arm. Naruto then spun the man around and put the kunai to his neck.

"Naruto-kun!" Sakura yelled quickly. Naruto stopped his motion, but continued to pin the man.

"Kid, please don't kill the man! We're losing enough people as it is!" Tazuna said.

"I don't know if you were paying attention, jiji, but this thing just molested Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled. "I guess the dementia is kicking in a bit early, ne?!"

"Please," the man muttered, "please, I- I didn't mean to-"

Naruto shot a chakra chain from his shoulder and smacked the man upside the head. "No one said you could talk," he muttered.

"Naruto-kun, just let him go. We need to head back," Sakura said. It's not that Naruto wasn't justified, he certainly was. They were just in a rush— and if the man wasn't lying, it was an accident. Even if it wasn't, the hand stab was plenty punishment, and incentive to not do it again.

"But Sakura-chan-" the boy said. Naruto's face looked more sad than angry.

"Naruto. Let him go," Sakura said, more forceful than the previous time. She didn't drop his honorific often, but when she did Naruto knew to listen. The boy looked down and nodded, removing the kunai from the man's neck and putting it back in his inrō.

He glared at the man. "Get out of my sight. If you ever come near Sakura-chan again, I won't hesitate to put one in your throat. Now go." The man ran out of the shop clutching his arm. The rest of the trip was spent in silence, with the exception of when Naruto gave a small child a bowl of Miso Ramen from one of his scrolls to eat.

-D&D-​

When they finally got back, Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, made a simple curry out of what they managed to get. It was surprisingly tasty, and all of them ate it up quickly— with the exception of Sasuke, who hadn't shown up. For Naruto, it was quite relaxing, after the great annoyance that was their trip into town. Still, he thought, I'm still annoyed. Maybe I should head out into the woods to cool off— Sasuke could probably use some tips on how to tree-walk, given that he hasn't come back yet. I wonder if he can see the chakra I mold as I climb the tree— if he can, that would make this far easier.

Placing his hands into a Tori seal, he rested his head back on the chair. "Fūton: Soyokaze no Jutsu," he said simply. A gentle gust of wind then cleared out the dust in the room, mostly toward the edges. Naruto stood up and stretched. "I wanna go and find Sasuke-san. He should be mostly done tree walking by now."

"Good plan," Kakashi said, "I'll be able to do light work tomorrow, so I can actually watch him train and give him any more pointers."

"Once he finally gets up that damn tree, then we can finally have the whole team watching the bridge!" Sakura said with a smile.

"We only have a few more days until the bridge is done, after all," Tazuna said, clasping his finger. "If you'd prefer to leave, you can do so. You've done more than enough, even when I didn't deserve it."

"No point," Kakashi said, fiddling with his glove. "There's only a few days left, like you said. We'll leave once the bridge is finished, as agreed. And, of course, your agreement?"

"Yes, of course. I'll be sending installments to Konoha from customs and tolls from the bridge as soon as people start using it," Tazuna nodded.

"Why did you even make that agreement? It'll be pointless in the end," the small boy at the end of the table muttered, "no one goes against Gatō and lives."

"Meh," Naruto said. "Killing me is more trouble than it would be worth. I die and the whole island blows up— Gatō can't make any money off of an island that doesn't exist. It would be very bad for business, 'specially considering how much money he seems to have spent trying to hold onto his monopoly here."

"Shut up!" the boy yelled, "How can you be so relaxed! You're gonna die if you stay here! Best you run now before he catches up— maybe you can live for a few years! No one can beat Gatō's men, no matter how hard you train."

"Well, I'm not like you guys. I'm a shinobi of the Uzumaki Clan," Naruto said. "Sasuke-san is a shinobi of the Uchiha. Sakura-chan is a great shinobi from our village. And Nii-san can beat anything those guys throw at us, once he's healthy again. We'll do our job, and do it right, 'ttebayo!"

"It makes me sick! You just come here and act like you know everything, when you know nothing of this place!" the boy shouted, tears falling from the emotion. "You just act all happy-go-lucky, and think everyone will love you for it! So stop acting like you know everything about it! You don't know anything about pain!"

The whole room went silent, except for a plate dropping to the ground, shattering. Hearing only his own heartbeat, Naruto let the legs of his chair smack back into the ground, before promptly grabbing it by the back and smashing it to the ground, splintering it into several small pieces. He glared at the small boy, his arms trembling, fists clenched, and tears beginning to fall. Before he could lose it, though, he turned around and ran, ignoring the calls of his name behind him. Naruto ran into the room that Team 7 had been allotted and slammed the door, drawing a quick gravity seal on the door that would make it nigh-impossible to open. Unless someone happened to have Namekuji-hime on hand, they wouldn't be coming through without his permission.

-D&D-​

Later that night, Naruto quietly slipped out of his room and down to the door. I need to cool off a bit— I almost lost it in there… I haven't had any incidents in years! Stepping out the door, he walked along the wooden boards, enjoying the spray of the ocean waves that gave the island its newer name. It was at least a nice distraction from his current woes… and the fact that he was still making no progress on getting the stupid balloon to pop.

As he strolled, he heard sniffling and crying. Curious, Naruto walked over to the source of it. Sticking his back to the wall, he peaked around the corner he heard the sound from. There, he saw the small boy from earlier curled up in a ball, sobbing his eyes out. Naruto looked down at the dock. It's just like when I found Sakura. He shook his head. He's different, though. He had a family here that loves and supports him, and obviously want to help him through it. Sakura's parents were gone when I found her, she had no one— then I helped her and she did. Well… at least she had parents.

Deciding what to do, then and there, Naruto nodded to himself. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he walked silently over to the sobbing boy. Carefully sitting next to him, he spoke. "You know," the boy jumped at Naruto's voice, "if you're gonna sit here and cry forever, you might as well just jump in." Naruto said, pointing at the water. "It'd be a lot less painful than wrecking yourself with sadness every day."

"I'm not gonna drown myself," the boy spat, "who would even think of doing something like that!?"

"I have. A few times," Naruto admitted, quietly. "Sometimes, when the pain became too much to bear, I thought about just ending it. It was stupid, I acknowledge that, but the thought did cross my mind. It just seemed so hopeless." Gritting his teeth, Naruto pulled his sensing off of Sakura and let it spread out, as he so rarely could. Naruto felt from the small boy grief, anger, confusion, and sadness. As if those weren't obvious, already. Why do I care about this little shit? He doesn't even try!

"Hope is dumb. People can hope, but the weak can never fight against the strong. Hoping will just make it hurt longer. If I just accept that no one can beat Gatō, it'll pass quicker. You can't possibly understand that pain."

"I guess, in a sense, you're right," Naruto said, "I never met my parents. Otō-sama died protecting our village against a demon on the day of my birth. Okā-sama died right next to him— they found her wrapped around me, trying to protect me. But I certainly understand the pain you feel.

"I was the son of two heroes, yet they tossed me in an orphanage instead of letting me stay with either of my godparents. The matrons at the orphanage hated me. They thought I was the demon in human form, since I was found where otō-sama killed it. After one of them disappeared in the night after mistreating me, they made it more subtle. I had a curfew that I had to be back by, I always had to stay in a room, I wasn't allowed to play with the other kids. Whenever prospective parents came by to adopt children, I was always locked in my room. The one time a family did show interest, they claimed that they'd lost my paperwork, and they adopted another child instead. I was always let out last for dinner, only being able to eat what was left.

"I ran away many times. At one time, when I was walking around during a storm, an old man who runs a ramen shop brought me inside, dried me off, and gave me a bowl of ramen. Ever since, I've gone there as often as I'm able. Even then, people glare at me when I just pass them by. They'd cross the street just to get away from me while I walked. They'd grab their kids and leave when I came to the playground. The only break I get it the Uzushio District of Konoha. The people from Uzushio settled there after the war, and have their own rules."

"So that's where Uzu went..." the boy muttered, further burying his face from view. "Why do you still try, then? You should know that living doesn't mean anything. I just exist because I don't have to see tō-chan yet."

"You're right. Life doesn't mean anything on its own. That's why I give it meaning— my friends, the people around me, the buildings I like to look at, and even the food I eat. I decide what life means to me, not anyone else," Naruto said. "The people of this land aren't able to choose what it means— Gatō prevents them from doing so. That's why he has to be stopped."

"But no one can—" the boy began.

"You're right," Naruto interrupted, "no one can. But you all aren't just one person. With enough people, even someone as powerful as Gatō would fall."

The boy looked up a bit at Naruto. "D-Do you really think that? If enough people stood against him at once, we could fight him?"

"Of course. Gatō isn't a shinobi or a samurai. He's an old man with money. I've only seen him hire a single nuke-nin, so I assume he's stingy. He likes to make examples, but can't keep doing so forever. If enough people stand up and refuse to fear him, he'd probably cut his losses and run for it," Naruto explained. "Of course, if you're lucky, there is always the chance of a more… permanent… solution."

"And… what is that more permanent solution?" the boy asked. Naruto frowned and looked down at him.

"Just bring some rope. Someone else will take care of it," Naruto said, purposefully cryptic. The boy nodded. Naruto could feel his emotions starting to recede a bit. The boy's face at least reflected some hope— or at least that's what Naruto thought. He wasn't great with facial expressions.

"Thanks, I guess. I didn't really think about strength of numbers. Also, my name is Inari, so stop calling me 'kid,'" Inari said.

"Well, then, get some sleep, Inari-kun. Tomorrow, your grandfather has a bridge to finish. Once it's done, the guy will finally show his face, more than likely. That's your chance to attack," Naruto said.

"Right!" Inari said, jumping to his feet and running inside.

Naruto shook his head. How the hell did that work? I wasn't even trying, but he just responded well to it. Rather than continuing to wonder about how the hell he actually pulled that off, he simply hopped off the dock and stood on the surface of the water, letting the waves splash his face. It was far more calming than he'd been expecting. Perhaps this place had some hope for it, after all.

-D&D-​

The first thing Sasuke noticed when he woke up was his head hurting. The second was the birds chirping around him. The third was the hand shaking his shoulder. "Wake up," a voice called, "you'll catch a cold if you sleep out here." Groaning lightly, Sasuke opened his eyes. Above him was a… boy, with waist-length hair. At least he was used to long haired effeminate males from when the Uchiha were still alive.

"Ow," Sasuke muttered, rubbing his head. At least he wasn't concussed. That would have been difficult to fix on a mission. Though, why his team hadn't come and gotten him, he didn't know. Either they just didn't care, or thought he was fine. Or Naruto had checked up on him and decided it would be funny to leave him in the woods. He would not put that past the redheaded prankster.

"So, what would a person be doing in the forest with a basket of medicinal herbs?" Sasuke asked, as polite and formal as he could. Said boy across from him looked down at the baskets, then back at him.

"My… father… was injured in a fight. I came to grab some herbs to speed along his recovery," he said. "Would you mind helping me, Shinobi-san?" Biting his lip, Sasuke was about to refuse. But then he thought about it. He really had nothing better to do, and wasn't in the mood to knock himself unconscious falling from a tree again. So, reluctantly, he sighed and agreed.

For at least an hour, he discreetly used his sharingan to find the herbs that the boy had been looking for. They weren't hard to find, they were more or less just hidden in plain sight. Others herbs were just sticking out of the ground in an easy to access location that was on the other side of where the boy had found him. Sasuke didn't keep track of the time, but the boy was very helpful in telling him which herbs did what as he found them. Of course, a simple flash from his sharingan engraved those in his memory forever— one could never tell when they might come in handy.

After some time, the boy simply smiled at him. "Okay, I think I've gathered enough herbs. But… I must ask, what is a shinobi such as yourself doing out here in the woods?"

It was an innocent enough question, and it's not like it would reveal anything crucial. "Training," Sasuke said, crossing his legs. Of course, it was a bit awkward, but at least he could easily reach his inrō if he needed to make a quick getaway. Otherwise, if someone snuck up on them, then it could get dicey.

"But… you already look strong. Why would you need to train?" the boy asked, looking down at the ground.

Sasuke looked down at the ground as well. He fought hard to keep his eyes open. If he closed them, all he would see was the image of Itachi standing over their parents bodies, the bloody sword in his hand and his mangekyō sharingan activated. What a joke, Sasuke thought, I'll never fight the way he wants me to. He just wants to lure me into a trap to finish the job! Maybe add my eyes to whatever sick collection he's keeping with the rest of the Clan's.

"I need to get stronger," Sasuke finally answered, "just being strong isn't enough. I need to be the absolute best that I can possibly be. I always need to be pushing my limits."

"And is that strength for your own sake, or someone else's?" the boy asked. Sasuke sat still and thought about that question. It was strangely difficult. He wanted to get stronger and avenge the Uchiha, so he guessed it was for someone else's sake, but also for his own.

"That's a difficult question to answer," Sasuke answered honestly. He wasn't going to go into any further detail. If it would satisfy this boy's curiosity, then so be it. These things were common knowledge back in Konoha— and probably in the other villages as well, knowing how efficient each village's spy network was.

The boy seemed to be looking down and remembering something. It was like how Naruto would often describe him doing. Do I really look like that when I remember the past?! Sasuke thought.

"When a person is protecting something that is precious to them, that is when their true strength comes out," the boy said, eyes hardened. Sasuke was about to respond, but then thought about the words. It made sense. Kakashi had fought hardest when he was trying to protect them from Zabuza. Naruto always fought hardest when he was afraid Bubblegum might be in danger. He himself had fought harder, when he'd protected Naruto from Hana-jukeisha.

"I guess… you may have a point there," Sasuke mumbled. The boy smiled and nodded. He picked up the basket and walked away.

"I hope we'll meet again somewhere. You'll become strong, I know it," the boy said. "You're also probably the first person I met that didn't mistake me for a girl at first. I always meant to cut my hair, but never ended up getting around to it."

Sasuke simply sat there and thought about the boy's words some more. In every instance of a person being at their strongest, they'd been protecting something. Yondaime-sama defeated the Kyūbi no Yōko while protecting Konoha— as well as his wife and son, if the journal that okā-sama left is correct. The Sannin always defeated their enemies while guarding each other's backs… protecting each other.

As he pondered the thoughts, a hand tapped his shoulder. Looking up, Sasuke saw Naruto frowning down at him.

"Sasuke-san! What're you still doing out here! Come on, we need to go and eat food~!" Naruto whined. Shaking his head at the boy's antics, Sasuke accepted the hand. Naruto kept glancing at him, but Sasuke assumed it was his natural worry. At least someone cared enough to check up on him. Then again, maybe Bubblegum had wanted to, but Naruto volunteered first. It didn't matter to Sasuke either way, though.

Spoiler: Chapter 5 Jutsu List

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Technique

Suiton: Suiben - Water Release: Water Whip

Raiton: Denkō* - Lighting Release: Lightning

Fūton: Reppūshō - Wind Release: Gale Palm

Fūton: Soyokaze no Jutsu* - Wind Release: (Gentle) Breeze Technique

*Original Jutsu created by me

Spoiler: Japanese terms

Namekuji-hime - Slug Princess (aka, Senju Tsunade)

Jukeisha - suffix meaning "convict," someone convicted of a crime

Thanks for reading this chapter! It's un-beta'd right now, but that should change soon. Leave a comment down below and like this post if you enjoyed! I'll see you next chapter!

 

[TC9078]

It was nightfall by the time Sasuke finally reached the top of the tree. Naruto had given him some tips, and recommended using the Hitsuji hand seal to guide his chakra if he was still having issues. Sasuke didn't understand why Naruto hadn't simply told him about that in the beginning— but then again, he didn't understand much about Naruto, anyway. Sure, he had a bit more insight after the events of that morning, but the last Uzumaki was every bit as confusing as that stone tablet under the Naka Shrine.

I've awakened the sharingan now, Sasuke thought, maybe it has something on it that will help me defeat him? Whether he meant his brother or Naruto at that moment, he never decided, before climbing back down the tree. He didn't stop on his way back to the house, where he simply pushed open the door with a satisfied smirk on his face. "I made it to the top of the tree, finally. I didn't even need the Hitsuji seal to do it," he announced.

"Very good, Sasuke-kun!" Kakashi said, nodding at him. "Starting tomorrow, all of us will be guarding the bridge! It'll only be a couple more days at most until the bridge is completed, after all."

"Yes, indeed," Tazuna confirmed. "There is little work left to be done. Once the bridge is completed, goods can flow across it. Gatō may wish to destroy it, of course, and I expect him to try. But we can take care of that later. I expect him to at least try to recoup from his losses before trying again. That gives us valuable time, which we will use. If we suspect something is wrong, we would likely send for a team from Konoha— and have the money to pay for a B or A-ranked mission this time."

"Of course," Kakashi said, "you likely won't have someone as nice as me next time. Make sure you inform them up front about the monetary situation, they can set you up with some credit that you can pay back."

"That won't be a problem, of course. You've been very helpful, Shinobi-san," Tazuna said, bowing his head.

"Right then!" Naruto yelled, jumping up. "Let's get some rest and then do what we came here to do!"

"Naruto-kun! Not so loud!" Sakura said, grabbing the boy by his jacket sleeve.

"S-Sorry, Sakura-chan!" Naruto stuttered, not quite so loud this time. A slight blush also adorned the boy's face. Sasuke didn't understand what the relationship between those two was, and he honestly hoped he never did— it was troublesome enough putting up with them. Great, now I'm starting to sound like Shikamaru.

-D&D-​

The next morning, the group woke up quickly. It was, after all, the first day that all four of them would be guarding the bridge together. As they walked through the village, several people waved at Tazuna, who waved back. Naruto shook his head, but smiled all the same. He was obviously some kind of inspiration to them, and it was good for him to embrace the role.

As they approached the bridge, Naruto noticed that there wasn't any noise. That was weird, as several workers always arrived early and got the crane moving so they could grease it down easier. Then Kakashi threw his arm out suddenly. That's when Naruto saw the first worker unconscious, then the rest came into view.

"Take Tazuna and head back to the village, now!" Kakashi growled out. As they went to do just that, a thick fog began to roll in from the water. "Crap! Never mind then, get in a defensive formation around him! Protect each other, and do not lose sight of each other!"

Naruto quickly flew through seals, before clapping his hands. "Fūton: Reppūshō!" he called. A gust of wind blew out around him, briefly extinguishing the fog around them, but it came back after a few seconds.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" Zabuza's voice called from the distance. Kakashi jumped backwards just as the massive dragon smashed into the bridge. The dragon broke into a torrent of water that splashed all over the centre of the bridge. "You think I didn't learn from last time?" the voice called out, seemingly from all directions, "now that I know you have a Fūton user, Kakashi, I've adjusted the fog a bit. It won't be so easy this time!" Kakashi ducked, and a sword swiped right over his head, grazing the top of his hair.

"Nii-san! Kick his ass!" Naruto called, pumping his fist in the air.

"Don't be so sure!" the nuke-nin called out, before five copies of him rose from the ground around them.

"You just had to jinx it, didn't you, Naruto?!" Sasuke called out to him. Said boy fished a kunai out of his inrō and held it in a reverse grip.

"Oh, shut up, Sasuke-san! Just kill these clones so we can—" Naruto hadn't even finished his sentence before Sasuke was standing back in his previous position, and all the clones fell to water around them. "Show off!" he called.

"And? The clones are gone, aren't they?" Sasuke said.

"Oh-ho. These genin seem to be even better than I'd expected," Zabuza intoned. "Take care of them, Haku."

"Yes, Zabuza-sama!" the voice Naruto recognized as the fake oi-nin said. Knowing it wouldn't help him in the mist, Naruto closed his eyes and took his sensing off Sakura. As it expanded, he could feel all of them, and could sense their rough location in relation to him— except for those within a certain distance, that he could sense completely. Suddenly, the oi-nin, Haku, dashed straight for them.

"Move! Sakura-chan, stay with Tazuna-san! Sasuke, back me up!" Naruto called. Two calls of "Right!" and "Why do I have to stay back, Naruto-kun?!" answered him. Naruto rolled his eyes and jumped up, throwing a kunai at Haku.

"Just trust me on this, Sakura-chan!" he called, as he heard the kunai clang off of something in front of the oi-nin. "I've got it!" As the oi-nin approached him, Naruto bounced back, and Sasuke ran in front of him, kunai drawn.

-D&D-​

As soon as Sasuke saw Naruto jump back, he rushed forward. He could track the sound of the kunai with his ears, even if that wasn't the best weapon to use in the mist. It didn't matter, as following the sound brought him straight to the boy Zabuza called 'Haku.' As he swung his kunai, the masked boy brought up a senbon and blocked it. At the same time, the boy made no attempt to break the block and counterattack, either.

You're gonna play that game to stop me from doing jutsu? Sasuke thought. Well, you obviously don't know this trick. Sasuke shoved his free hand at Haku's other hand, quickly forming the Mi seal, Haku's copying his own out of muscle memory, before Sasuke flew through the next four. Sasuke simply smirked at the masked boy as he looked at his own hand.

"Thanks for that," he said, before bringing his foot up to the boy's chin, and kicked him away, using the force of his chakra to bounce back. While airborne, Sasuke pressed his hands into the Tora seal. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" he called, shooting a large ball of fire in Haku's direction. It obviously missed, but lit up the boy's shadow for Sasuke to see. Without warning, Sasuke ran over to Haku and punched him hard in the stomach, sending him stumbling back.

The mist dissipated for a short moment, as Haku stood back up. Naruto chose this time to swap with Sakura, and sent her up to assist Sasuke. When she arrived at Sasuke's side, he glanced at her and nodded, before fishing out another kunai and standing at guard.

"I'm disappointed, Haku; at this rate, we'll be driven back," Zabuza intoned.

"You're right, Zabuza-sama," Haku replied, standing back up, "we can't have that." The boy placed his hands into a sign reminiscent of the Tora seal, but with his index fingers crossed under his middle. Sasuke then saw chakra visibly radiate off of the boy, like Naruto when he was about to make an entire army. As more chakra radiated off, Sasuke noticed that he could see his breath as he exhaled. Looking down, crystals of ice began to form on the numerous puddles caused by the earlier Suiryūdan no Jutsu.

"Shit!" Kakashi called out to them. "Sasuke, Sakura! Get out of there, now!" Not about to question Kakashi's judgement on this, Sasuke turned to run, only for the water to rise up in a wall, still freezing in the process. He turned to run another way, but the water only rose up around him in every which way. As he continued looking around for a source of escape, Haku's mask and body appeared in a single wall of ice, before appearing on all of them.

"Are these," Sakura said, "mirrors?" Haku's voice rang out around them in response.

"Hyōton Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōshō!" his voice called. Hyōton… but that bloodline is supposed to be dead!

"Hyōton," Sakura recited, "the elemental kekkei genkai combination of 'Suiton' and 'Fūton'. Using the wind to cool the water, they have control over the created ice, and their chakra is fused into it in many instances. This kekkei genkai was once common in Yuki no Kuni, but most of their users were exterminated in the chaos following the First Shinobi World War, making it exclusive to the Yuki Clan of Kirigakure no Sato.

"However, during the Third Shinobi World War, many of their members were wiped out fighting against Uchiha Clan forces, who could outright counter their jutsu in several cases."

"How?!" Sasuke asked, hoping that Sakura would finish her rant quickly and just get to the point. It was fine when they were training, but it was another thing when they were in the middle of a fight!

"Well, if you'd let me finish, I'd tell you! It's quite simple, honestly. You'll think you're stupid the moment I say it. It's just—" Sakura said, before a senbon impaled itself in her shoulder.

"Well, that's quite enough of that," Haku said, another senbon sliding into his hand. And then all Sasuke knew was pain. He tried to raise his arms to protect himself, but the senbon were relentless. Damn it, Bubblegum! he thought, why couldn't you just cut straight to the point for once!

Each moment, another senbon sliced into his skin and exited just as quickly, leaving scratches, gashed, and holes in his skin. Naruto! You better get us out of this soon! Sasuke thought quickly. Then he heard Sakura scream.

-D&D-​

The moment Kakashi heard Sakura's scream, he grabbed Naruto's shoulder and held him tightly. Naruto glared up at him, murder in his eyes. "Naruto," Kakashi whispered harshly, "if you run there now, you'll only get gutted from being distracted! We need a plan of action!"

"Well, Nii-san, got any ideas?" Naruto asked, throwing his arms out to the side. Kakashi glared at the dome of ice. He did have one idea, but it would require time. Time that he didn't have, as he quickly flickered over to Tazuna's backside and parried a blow from Zabuza's sword with his tantō.

"I got one, but I would need time to do it! Right now, we need to beat this guy first!" Kakashi called. Almost instantly, Naruto was at his side. Just as quick, Zabuza faded back into the mist, and it seemed to thicken.

"He's spreading his chakra all over the mist," Naruto muttered. "It's making it hard to see his location." The boy grit his teeth in frustration, obviously not happy about that fact. "Nii-san," he said suddenly, "give me your tantō. Let me take him, you do whatever you need to do to protect Tazuna-san."

"Naruto," Kakashi said, deadly serious, "this is not the time for jokes. Even if it wasn't a joke, I'm not sending a Genin, months out of the Academy, to attack an S-rank nuke-nin!"

"But, I'm not just a Genin, Nii-san," Naruto said, looking up at him with determined eyes. "I'm the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yōko. I can fight him!"

"You don't even know how to use the damn thing's powers yet!" Kakashi said, "it's out of the question!"

"Nii-san, please!" Naruto begged. "Sakura-chan is getting weaker, we need to get her and Sasuke-san out of there, now!"

"Getting yourself killed to help your comrades won't help them!" Kakashi said, parrying another attempt by Zabuza.

"If you won't help me, Nii-san, then I'll do it myself!" Naruto yelled. The boy crossed his fingers in the Bunshin seal.

"If you do that, I'll have you expelled from the Shinobi Forces, Naruto!" Kakashi yelled.

"I don't care! It's like you said, those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash; Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled. Blue chakra began to flow out around the boy as three Kage Bunshin appeared around him. Those three rushed into the mist, and never returned. Clenching his fist around his tantō, Kakashi threw it in Naruto's direction. The boy nodded at him, as a golden chain shot from his shoulder and grabbed the tantō, pulling it back into his hand.

-D&D-​

As soon as the tantō was in his hand, Naruto smirked. Shutting his eyes again, he let his sensing try to locate the nuke-nin in the mist. Unfortunately, Zabuza's chakra was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Cleching his teeth, Naruto crossed his fingers again, creating several more Kage Bunshin, and sending them all over the bridge in pairs. Sure enough, one was soon cut down, sending the memory back to Naruto. So, the chakra in the mist gets slightly weaker and then skyrockets right before he appears? Perfect.

As Zabuza rushed another one of them, the clones all smiled in sync. "Bunshin, Daibakuha," all intoned. Zabuza immediately substituted with one of his clones as a huge explosion went off around the area he once stood.

While Tazuna wailed in the background about damage to his bridge, Naruto raised the tantō to block the next attack as it came down. Surprisingly, the small sword held firm as the two pushed against each other. Then, Naruto felt Sakura's chakra drop rapidly. Wait, what?

-D&D-
*in the dome, moments earlier*​

After near constant pain, Sasuke was finally able to fire off a shuriken, momentarily blocking some of the senbon and giving him a moment to breathe. Almost immediately Sakura stumbled up next to him. "Use your sharingan! It can see him!" she growled out. Mentally, Sasuke slapped himself for not thinking of that. He quickly activated his sharingan and focused on the fast moving boy. Time slowed as he watched the boy move at a speed that was almost normal.

Haku threw another round of senbon at him, and this time he dodged out of the way of each and every one. Haku then began to jump from mirror to mirror, throwing senbon that he either dodged or blocked each time. Looking over, Sakura was finally able to dodge many of them, or deflect the with kunai and shuriken. Glancing back at Haku, he jumped from another mirror, leaving a slight opening for Sasuke to strike. Smirking, Sasuke grabbed a kunai and hurled it at where the boy was going to be. It struck the boy dead in the chest. But before Sasuke could celebrate his victory, the boy turned to water.

What, Mizu Bunshin?! Sasuke thought, but then— he turned and saw nothing. Haku had completely vanished.

"Uchiha! Duck!" Sakura called. He made to do so, but then saw the senbon coming from the other direction— if he ducked, he'd be skewered! Gritting his teeth, he knew he had to take the senbon in the back to keep his legs functioning. It would be painful, but he could take it. Bending his knees, Sasuke jumped forward to avoid the senbon and rolled on the ground behind them. Gritting his teeth, he braced himself for the senbon coming for his back.

Only he felt nothing. Reaching around to check, he felt no new senbon on him. Turning around, he instead saw a mop of pink standing there. She turned her head around to look at him. "You didn't dodge fast enough," she said, coughing up some blood. "You damned idiot," she muttered, losing her balance and falling back. Before she could hit the ground, Sasuke ran forward and grabbed her.

Carefully, he held her in his arms. The girl coughed blood again. "Sorry… I guess I'm not a very good medic— I'm supposed to be the last of my squad standing."

"You idiot!" Sasuke growled. "Why would you save me?!"

"I don't," another cough, "know," she said. "My body," she coughed again, "moved on its own." Sakura looked up at him, pleading. "Please, beat him. Beat him and help Naruto-kun," she said, before coughing again. "Do what I couldn't… help him," her eyes drooped, and her breaths became quickened. "Please… help him… S-Sasuke..." she muttered, before slumping in his arms and closing her eyes.

For what felt like minutes, Sasuke just stared at her ashen face. After finally finding his senses, Sasuke took a deep breath. He committed himself to what he was about to do. "Don't worry. I will… Sakura." Bringing his hands up to his sides, he looked straight at the mirror where Haku stood. Clenching his fists, he glared at the figure.

"Is this the first time one of your comrades has died?" Haku asked him, tilting his head. Sasuke chose not to answer him, and sped through hand seals before the fake oi-nin could respond.

"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" he called, before blowing out several small fireballs that scattered around Haku. The boy responded by bouncing back into his mirror. Each fireball hit a single mirror, failing to make anything more than a small crack in each.

"That type of firepower can't destroy my mirrors; you'll have to try a bit harder than that, Uchiha-kun," the boy said.

-D&D-​

Kakashi had been observing Naruto with his normal eye while he gathered chakra in his left one for his technique, when the boy suddenly went rigid. This allowed Zabuza to quickly move in and slash at the boy. Before Kakashi could move, Naruto barely pushed himself back, and thus only got a massive gash from his left hip to his right shoulder, rather than being bisected by the massive blade. Of course, the momentum left Naruto splayed rather haphazardly on the bridge, but the boy pushed himself up and onto his knees, despite the searing pain he must be in. Then Kakashi looked dead at Naruto, and his face was distraught, before turning to outright sadness. The boy's face scrunched up and he buried his head in his arms. Naruto shook and Kakashi could hear the sniffling from across the bridge.

Did something happen to Sasuke or Sakura? Kakashi thought, still watching Naruto. The boy continued shaking and crying for a few more moments, before he pushed himself to his feet, his eyes obscured by his hair. He muttered something under his breath, and Zabuza grabbed his sword and looked at the boy.

"What was that, brat?" the nuke-nin said. Naruto wobbled as he took a step forward. Around him, the water left on the bridge began to boil and steam, as the boy walked steadily closer to the nuke-nin. Oh, Kakashi thought, oh that's not good. Not good at all! I might have to use my sharingan to restrain the boy before— suddenly, a burst of chakra flowed out from the boy, bubbling out from his stomach, slowly coating his body in red. That happens. Shit, that's not good! That is very not good!

"I said," Naruto growled out, "I'm going to kill you!" Naruto fell onto his hands and knees as the chakra continued to spread, forming into horns above his head and two long tails behind him. Not good! Kakashi screamed internally, not good at all! The wounds on the boy's chest began to steam as they closed, and Naruto let out a roar, blowing away all the mist around him, and growled as he hunched for an attack. Out of control jinchūriki! That is not what I wanted to write on my team's first C-rank mission report! The boy charged the swordsman, as fast as Kakashi could see. The nuke-nin was smart enough to dodge out of the way of the rampaging jinchūriki, as Naruto's punch shook the entire bridge as it hit slammed into it.

Naruto's seal is still holding, even if the Kyūbi's chakra is escaping! I still have time! Kakashi thought, as he felt the chakra in his left eye increase dramatically. Good, my mangekyō is activated. Now, time to see if I can still do this! Kakashi stared straight on at the mirror, closing his right eye to completely focus his dōjutsu.

In the centre of the mirror, the air began to swirl and blur. A small barrier appeared around it, blurring the air inside. The mirror stayed steady. Focusing harder, the swirl got bigger. Then, a small crack appeared in the ice near the barrier. Then another one. Slowly more cracks appeared in the ice, and spread. Holding his head to keep it steady, Kakashi continued to focus his mangekyō on the mirror. The cracks began to radiate out in a pattern around the swirling vortex.

Finally, a sound reminiscent of shattering glass rang out as a piece broke off the mirror and was sucked in, followed by another piece, and another. Within moments, almost the entire mirror had been sucked in. Through the mirror, Kakashi could see Sasuke's shocked face. The boy quickly performed several hand signs and substituted with a fallen kunai next to Kakashi.

Taking a deep breath, Kakashi fell to one knee as he lost his hold on the mangekyō, feeling it shift back into a normal sharingan. Okay, I got Sasuke out. Kakashi thought. If Sakura is down in there, then Haku should come out of the mirror now and try to stop us. Quickly looking back at Naruto, Kakashi watched as he punched Zabuza in the stomach, sending the nuke-nin flying into one of the mirrors and shattering it completely, before crashing out the other side and breaking a second one.

The mist dissipated completely after the punch, leaving the entire bridge visible to Kakashi. Naruto stood steady, the tails of chakra dancing behind him, when he suddenly fell to his knees screaming and holding his head. Appearing quickly, Haku threw several senbon at the boy, only for the cloak of chakra to absorb and dissolve them to dust.

"Damn fuzzball! Shut up!" Naruto screamed, as the chakra began to recede slowly. First, the second tail vanished, then the other tail, then the horns. Finally, the red chakra itself receded back into Naruto's stomach. Once the chakra was gone, Naruto fell onto his hands, panting heavily.

-D&D-​

As soon as Naruto fell to his knees, Sasuke ran to him. The boy was spent, and Sasuke wasn't about to let his other teammate die on him. Crouching down, he touched Naruto's shoulder. The boy looked at him with a sad smile.

"Hey, Sasuke-san. My chains made the Kyūbi shut up for now, but these asses still need to be beaten," Naruto said. He looked at Sasuke dead in the eyes. "Nice sharingan, it's gotten better." Glancing at a puddle, Sasuke noticed that his sharingan had indeed improved. His right eye now sported all three tomoe, while his left contained two. It wasn't complete, but it was very close. Noticing movement out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke grabbed Naruto and jumped, avoiding another barrage of senbon. Landing next to Kakashi, he handed Naruto over to his teacher before turning back to face the masked boy.

"Sasuke-kun," Kakashi said, making Sasuke turn around to face him again. "Stay here. Guard Tazuna-san, but finish off Haku there if you can. I'll take care of Zabuza." Slicing a small cut on his thumb, Kakashi performed five hand seals, then slammed his hand into the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Kakashi called out. In a puff of smoke, several dogs appeared on the ground, before rushing over to both Haku and Zabuza, pinning the latter and partially restraining the former.

Seeing a chance, Sasuke rushed forward in an attempt to knock Haku's feet out from under him. Haku stepped back and used his single hand to form seals. One hand seals… I haven't seen that since— several unpleasant memories returned to Sasuke at that time. The image of his parents bloody and dead on the ground, Itachi standing over them, flashed by in his mind. As well as the images of his dead aunts, uncles, and cousins.

"Fūton: Toppa!" Haku called, a gust blowing from behind his mask in a powerful gust toward him. Remembering his training with tree climbing, Sasuke used his chakra to stick to the bridge and keep running. While he ran, he used flipped through the hand signs for his own technique.

"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" Sasuke called, spitting a large ball of fire partially shaped like a dragon head flew straight into the gust of wind, magnifying greatly as it impacted. He thought he could see some water forming up, but the fire was much too hot, and it simply boiled most of it away. When the steam cleared, much of Haku's kimono was burned off, he sported bright red burns up and down his body, and his mask was cracked.

"Here's some advice," Sasuke said, striding over to the false oi-nin, "don't shoot a Fūton jutsu at a Katon user." As he got closer, the mask began to crack further, and pieces started to break off. When Sasuke was right in front of Haku, the last piece of the mask broke off, and he froze when he saw the face in front of him.

"You? But… but… why?" Sasuke asked, his eyes returning to normal. The long haired boy in front of him looked down at the ground. "Why?! You said that you were searching to help your father, not seeking to help an S-class nuke-nin!"

Haku smiled wistfully. "I suppose you wouldn't understand," he shifted on his feet, now devoid of his geta sandals. "I suppose I should start from the beginning, shouldn't I?

"Mizu no Kuni has been in some tough spots recently. In the Third Shinobi World War, the Rokubi Jinchūriki died, and the beast had to be sealed into a young child. The Sanbi was later stolen and then killed when inside it's new jinchūriki, leaving Kirigakure no Sato without any deterrent against the other villages, and they crashed out of the war, before the Yellow Flash ever took the field against them. The Bloody Mist descended into a bloody civil war, with the clans of Kirigakure taking sides.

"Two Clans in particular fell into a brutal feud— the Kaguya Clan and the Yuki Clan. The Yuki Clan were survivors from Yuki no Kuni that defected to Kirigakure during the First Shinobi World War, they carried the Hyōton kekkei genkai. Meanwhile the Kaguya Clan originated in Hi no Kuni, and carried the Shikotsumyaku kekkei genkai. They claimed to be descended from the Rabbit Goddess, Kaguya-hime. Legend tells that they fled after a war with the Senju Clan that left the Kaguya with no choice but to flee, even though only two Senju, a pair of brothers, were still alive. Their old allies during the war, the Uchiha Clan, turned their backs on them and refused to help them. The remaining clansmen loaded themselves onto boats and crossed the sea to Mizu no Kuni. Ironically, it was the elder of the two surviving Senju brothers that came to this island that we now stand on with several of his warriors, and set himself up here, to watch in case they ever returned.

"The Yuki and Kaguya fought on opposite sides, devastating the landscape. For years, many towns up and down Mizu no Kuni had their streets stained red from blood— combatants or otherwise. Then, after nearly a decade of civil war, the Sanbi Jinchūriki of the time, Karatachi Yagura, came to the battlefield and single-handedly ended the war. Such was his achievement that he was proclaimed Yondaime Mizukage, at only fourteen years old.

"The Yuki and Kaguya Clans, devastated, were forcibly disestablished in the village. The Kaguya Clan fled back to the mainland, their leadership intact. The Yuki Clan, however, did not have any more leadership, and thus scattered throughout Mizu no Kuni. For the years of suffering their powers inflicted on the people of the country, the people of it feared the Hyōton and Shikotsumyaku. The surviving Yuki Clan members hid their powers to not face ostracisation.

"My mother was a Yuki Clan survivor. She married my father, hiding her power. Then, I was born, and we were a happy little family. But, I inherited my mother's kekkei genkai. My father saw me using it once… and later that day, he gathered an angry mob, killed my mother, and tried to kill me. In my fear, I killed him with my Hyōton.

"I lived on the streets of different villages for a while after that. I would dig through trash scraps for food, slept wherever the snow didn't settle, and huddled next to houses for warmth. Then Zabuza-sama found me while he was going around Mizu no Kuni. He chose to take me in. He gave me a home, he gave me food, he gave me a purpose. When Yagura turned out to be just like his predecessor, I joined Zabuza-sama in executing his coup d'état. When that failed, I followed him as we left the country with our comrades that could follow us, to raise the money to try again. I live to serve and be useful to him. Without serving him, my life has no meaning, and I might as well just be a hollow shell."

Sasuke stood and attempted to make sense of all that Haku had just said. Everything that had been said made sense to Sasuke. He'd lost everything extremely fast as a child, and had sought out anything to give his life meaning. And unlike Sasuke, he didn't have the convenience of revenge being an option. As he opened his mouth to reply, he heard loud clapping.

Turning to the source of the noise, Sasuke saw a man with a purple hat and grey jacket clapping at him, before the man opened his eyes and smirked. "See, that was great and all. But, we have some work to do. Boys!" the man said, as many more men began climbing onto the bridge behind him. The man turned back to him and grinned wider, withdrawing a katana from a scabbard at his side.

"Momochi Zabuza! You are your partner are obviously not worth what it cost to hire you! S-rank my ass, I told my the boss it would be more worth it to hire Akatsuki! They're a bit more expensive, but they always deliver!" he called. "Consider yourselves fired! Get them, boys! And once you do, kill the kids and cyclops, then loot the town for all it's worth!"

Hearing coughing, Sasuke whipped his head around to see Naruto up on one knee. After giving him a thumbs up, Naruto crossed his fingers, muttering the call for his Kage Bunshin. Within moments, many Naruto covered the bridge. Kakashi nodded at Sasuke as well, flipping through his own seals. Sasuke did the same as Kakashi. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" both called, illusionary clones appearing around them.

Then the Naruto Army charged, with the Sasuke Company and Kakashi Brigade right behind them. Two of the men tried to turn back, but the samurai responded by cutting the net that they'd climbed up with his katana. "We came here to do a job, and no amount of children will stop us!" He held his sword forward, and charged, some of the men getting the courage to do the same.

It was a short and bloody skirmish, but several of Naruto's Kage Bunshin still stood when it was over. About midway through the battle, Zabuza had gotten back up, pissed that he wasn't getting paid, and started having a good time cutting down thugs with his blade. Haku had wanted to join, but he was made to sit down before he hurt himself further.

-D&D-​

After the massacre was over, Zabuza had hauled a short old man with glasses off the boat and thrown him down on the bridge. Said man stumbled back up to his feet. "You are dead! All of you! It doesn't matter if you kill me, I have contacts that I've already sent your likenesses off to! They have nearly infinite money, and won't stop until your heads are mounted above my nephew's mantelpiece!"

Of course, no one was really paying him any mind. Naruto had walked over to where Sakura lay on the bridge, pale and still. Carefully, he'd picked her up and rested her on his knees, muttering softly under his breath everything from prayers to sad ramblings.

"Little boy," Naruto heard a voice from behind him. Quickly turning, the fake oi-nin, Haku, stood there and knelt next to him. Naruto glowered at him, a light red haze going over his vision.

"What do you want?" Naruto growled. The oi-nin shook his head.

"To help you with that," he said, pointing to Sakura. Before Naruto could ask what the boy meant, Haku's hand reached out and grabbed one of the senbon in Sakura's neck, gingerly pulling it out. Almost immediately, the pink-haired girl inhaled sharply, before breathing at a slow pace.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto said loudly. The girl didn't wake up, but colour was already returning to her skin. Letting his emotions loose, Naruto cradled her tightly and cried. He wasn't sure whether it was worry at almost losing her, or relief that she was alive. His sensory abilities already picked up her minuscule amount of remaining chakra flowing through her body.

-D&D-​

Sasuke walked up next to Haku as Naruto continued to cry. "Why did you spare her life?" he asked. "Not that I'm complaining, but you had no reason to not kill her."

"Well," Haku replied, looking down at the ground, "I was aiming for you, and I didn't want to kill you; I just wanted to disable you so that you wouldn't get in my way. I wouldn't have killed her in any case, anyway. She's precious to you… and you fight for those precious to you."

Precious? Sasuke wasn't sure if that was the word he would use for her. She certainly was precious to Naruto, if the loud sobbing was any indication. But Sasuke didn't know quite how he felt about her. He was certainly grateful to her for saving his life… well, not exactly, but she was willing to die to save him, and that counted for something.

"Hey, we missing something?!" a high-pitched voice called. Sasuke turned and saw Tazuna's grandson, Inari, standing there with a large bowl on his head and a crossbow resting over his shoulder, and a coil of rope around the other. Behind him was a large mob armed with snapped brooms, rusted cleavers, random knives, pitchforks, and other assorted items that they could grab.

"Not much!" Sasuke called back, "just an old geezer who doesn't know when he's been beat. Figure you lot could teach him a lesson in that." At that, the mob got a dangerous glint in their eyes as they marched forward and surrounded Gatō. Despite his protesting, they forced him to move forward through the town. Kakashi forced himself up to follow, and Naruto carried the unconscious Sakura bridal style. Zabuza and Haku remained in the back watching carefully.

As they reached the town square, one of the town's residents threw Gatō against the wall. Each person that wished to take a hit at him threw a punch or a kick, sometimes both depending on their grievance. Inari himself simply shot Gatō with his crossbow in the groin, much to the chagrin of all the male witnesses. After several minutes, the man was kneeling in a bloody heap on the ground.

"You're all dead! I own you all! I own this town! In fact, fuck this town! When my nephew gets word of this, he'll bring hell down upon your heads! You think I'm hell?! Wait until you face him! No one survives the wrath of Haruno Kaika!" the man screamed.

Naruto's head shot up and he glared at the old man. "Right," he called, "like he'd do jack shit for you after you nearly killed his niece!" Naruto shifted his hold on Sakura just enough for the man to be able to see the crest on the back of her shirt. The bloodied man seemed to get even paler. Especially because if what he'd said was true, he'd already sent word to the Haruno Clan to get a hit all of them… and asking the Haruno Clan Patriarch to order his own granddaughter's death was… highly unlikely at best. She hadn't harmed the Clan, after all, and her father seemed to finally be getting back into the Clan's good graces.

"Let's finish this!" one of the crowd called.

"But how do we do it?! It's hard to choose!" another asked.

Inari blinked, then raised his arm. Several people looked at him. "I have some rope!" he said, innocently. The people of the crowd looked at him, and then smiled. They were cruel smiles, that showed malevolence with every crease. One man nodded, and took the rope from Inari. Jeering and shouting erupted as several people held him by the arms and the man wrapped one end of the rope around his neck.

"Hang him! Hang him! Hang him!" the crowd chanted, as one end of the rope was thrown over a 10 foot sign. Many in the crowd grabbed hold of the rope and began to pull, and Gatō began to lift off the ground, his hands clawing at the rope and his feet kicking. A look of pure terror showed from his face as he flopped around in the air. After about twenty seconds of cheering and jeering, the man's feet stopped twitching.

"Good riddance," Zabuza muttered behind them.

-D&D-​

The next few days were spent recovering. Sasuke didn't realize how exhausted he was after all of that. He'd gone back to the house and slept until morning. Apparently, while they were at the bridge, another one of Gatō's men had tried to take his daughter, Tsunami, hostage. But Naruto had left a trap by the door that had exploded in his face, knocking him out while also sending him sinking into the ocean. No one had noticed a thing until his body turned up floating the next morning by the bridge. At the least fish would eat well.

However, on the morning of the third day, Sakura was still unconscious. Apparently, she had severe chakra exhaustion, and was lucky to be alive. They would be running at top speed back to Konoha to get her looked at by the hospital, but she was completely stable for now. In an effort to wake her up, Sasuke had observed Naruto wrapping his hand around her wrist, and summoning up some of that bubbling red chakra that had healed him on the bridge. It had barely touched her hand when Kakashi had flickered in.

"Naruto!" he screamed. The boy jumped back and the chakra receded into his seal.

"Nii-san, what—" he said.

"Don't 'what' me!" Kakashi said, "you can't just give any person bijū chakra! It'll kill them!" He grabbed Sakura's hand and showed that it looked like it had been stuck in an open flame. "And worse, you pushed it into her tenketsu!" Kakashi quickly fished a scroll out of his vest and placed it over Sakura's hand, before releasing it. The symbol etched on the scroll transferred to Sakura's hand, in the shape of a small spiral.

Once the spiral appeared, Kakashi pulled out a small brush and ink, and pushed up Sakura's sleeve and began drawing several symbols that he had no knowledge of, but that Naruto was studying intensely— he'd even pulled out his notebook. Figuring it might be useful, Sasuke activated his sharingan to watch.

After several painful minutes of him applying the seals to her arm, he began to extend the lines of seals in a circle along the floor. Once he finished, he began rapidly making hand seals that Sasuke instinctively copied. "Fūja Hōin!" Kakashi called. Sakura's body thrashed even as she remained unconscious, and the letters on the ground and her arm withdrew into a circle that surrounded the spiral. Once the letters stopped growing, Sakura's body stopped thrashing, and she returned to sleeping. Naruto got another severe admonishing from Kakashi, before the man went back to his own room and promptly passed out for the rest of the day.

Two days later, the bridge was complete. A boat had also come by, to take Zabuza and Haku off somewhere.

"Out of curiosity," Sasuke asked Haku, "where are you two going?"

"Oh, we're heading back to Mizu no Kuni," Haku replied, "Apparently, the one leading the rebellion against the Yondaime Mizukage is very interested in our services. She, as the claimant Godaime Mizukage, wishes to have have Zabuza-sama return as a Jōnin, as one of the Seven Swordsman would provide her claim with a great deal of legitimacy. She also offered to make me a Genin under his command, to sweeten the deal."

"Try not to blab too much, Haku!" Zabuza called. "Hatake-san. I really should kill you for Akechi-senpai's death… but it's not my place. And he was kind of a dick, anyway."

"Thanks for that," Kakashi replied in a nod. With Sakura wrapped tight around Naruto's shoulders, Team 7 set off across the bridge back to Hi no Kuni. It was a fairly large bridge, so even at their running speed, it still took them several minutes to cross.

"Who was it that Zabuza just mentioned?" Naruto asked. Kakashi turned to look at the boy as the kept running.

"Oh, he was talking about Sataki Akechi, The Great Dragon of Kirigakure," Kakashi said. "He was a powerful ANBU of Kiri, and apparently Zabuza's mentor when he was in ANBU. His signature move was Suiryūdan no Jutsu, it gave him his moniker. I killed him on a mission a few years back when I was in ANBU. Yes, that is technically classified, but you already knew that fact. I'll tell Sandaime-sama and he'll likely only give me a stern talking to over it."

"You plan on coming back here, Naruto?" Sasuke asked. The boy nodded with a light smile.

"Of course, dattebayo! I want a group with me when I search the Uzumaki Compound, though. There are probably tons of traps in there!" Naruto replied.

"But, Naruto-kun, couldn't you just disable them?" Kakashi asked. Naruto scratched the back of his head and giggled, but didn't answer the question. Sasuke just shook his head. All of them are idiots. But goddamn it, they're decent idiots! I'm not gonna let anything happen to them. That's my promise.

Spoiler: Chapter 6 Jutsu List

Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu - Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu - Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

Hyōton Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōshō - Ice Release Hidden Technique: Demonic Crystal Ice Mirrors

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Technique

Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu - Water Clone Technique

Bunshin Daibakuha - Clone Great Explosion

Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu - Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique

Fūton: Toppa - Wind Release: Breakthrough

Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu - Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique

Bunshin no Jutsu - Clone Technique

Spoiler: Other Japanese

Oi-nin - Tracker/Hunter ninja

Thanks to y'all for reading this chapter! This one is also unbeta'd, but oh well, that should change soon. Leave a like and a comment down below! See you next chapter, where we will be completely done with the Wave Arc!

 

[TC9078]

On their third day of travel back towards Konoha, Sakura finally woke up. While she was still weak and couldn't walk, she was at least able to speak. While she rode on Kakashi's back on the last leg of their journey, he relayed the events of the bridge and what followed.

"So, in short, Gatō is dead, Zabuza and Haku are off to join the rebellion in Kirigakure," Kakashi said, "and that mark on your hand is a juinjutsu that I kept on me in case something like that happened. The circle around it keeps it contained. Just to let you know, though, it responds to your will. So if you let it, it'll come out. I have to highly recommend you not do so, though. It will kill you."

After that sobering thought, Sakura let her head rest on his shoulders. She didn't talk much, as it took more energy to talk that she really wanted to use. After another day of travel, they arrived at the gates of Konohagakure no Sato. They must have looked awful. Kakashi's vest was torn up, Naruto's jacket was torn and has a huge slice down the middle of it, and Sasuke looked like he'd gotten into a tussle with a giant porcupine.

At least we're back in Konoha now! Fresh food, soft bed… and Sōka. Shit. Tō-chan and Kā-chan won't be home until the end of the year! I don't wanna have to put up with her again! Okay, don't panic. I'll just stay at Naruto's, no issues. I haven't stayed over at his place for that long before though… longest I stayed there was a week.

"Hey, Naruto-kun," Sakura called, "once I get out of the hospital, would you mind if I just stayed at your place? I don't wanna see Sōka-ba after what happened when we left."

"Of course, Sakura-chan. You know you always can, dattebayo!" Naruto said, not skipping a beat. After some admonishing by the two Chūnin at the gates, they were let into Konoha, and they made a beeline for the hospital. Carefully, Sakura was carried up to the desk.

"My teammate here is suffering from pretty bad chakra exhaustion. Would you mind looking at her?" Naruto asked. Looking up, the receptionist nodded and rang a bell to call an iryō-nin to look her over. A green glowing palm brushed her face and arms, before the medic frowned.

"Can we get a gurney over here?" she called. "Severe chakra exhaustion and running a high fever." Carefully, Sakura felt herself lowered onto a gurney and taken into the hospital. Great, so much for being subtle.

-D&D-​

"Think Sakura-chan will be okay?" Naruto asked as they trekked up the stairs to the Hokage office.

"She'll be fine. I left instructions for them to not touch the seal, so all she has to deal with is chakra exhaustion. The hospital is great at fixing that, so there are no issues there," Kakashi answered. They finally came to the door outside the office. The ANBU guards appeared for brief moment, then waved them in, before vanishing again. The three members of Team 7 walked in through the door. Inside the room was a bunch of smoke flowing out the open window, and the room stank of tobacco.

"Ah, Team 7! You've finally returned!" Sarutobi said, before laughing. "Now I can finally stop deflecting questions!" His face suddenly turned dead serious. "I've read the written report, Kakashi-kun," he said, waving his hand to activate the silencing seals. "But I'd like you to relay it back to me, in detail." Kakashi nodded.

"We left the village with our client to escort him back to Nami no Kuni, and about four days into our trip, we were attacked by two Kiri nuke-nin, Gōzu and Meizu," Kakashi said, "we considered turning back, but certain individuals," he glanced at Naruto, "convinced me, against my better judgement, to at least escort Tazuna-san home.

"However, this proved to be a bad choice, as midway through escorting him on the island, we were attacked by another nuke-nin from Kirigakure: Momochi Zabuza-san, one of the Seven Swordsman. Because of my arrogance, I got trapped inside of his Suirō no Jutsu, and my team managed to get me out by Sakura-kun using Henge no Jutsu to turn herself into a Fūma Shuriken and forcing Zabuza-san to drop the jutsu. Shortly after, Zabuza-san's partner showed up and knocked him out. He was disguised as a Kirigakure hunter-nin, and I was, regretfully, unable to see through the ruse before he had left.

"After the fight, I was overcome with chakra exhaustion, and so my team carried me back to Tazuna-san's home to rest. Each took turns watching the bridge until I was well enough to walk. Once I was, I gave Sasuke-kun instructions on tree walking while I escorted Naruto-kun and Sakura-kun to the ruins of Uzushiogakure no Sato to look for items, since we couldn't stay there for very long. We found a few items of note there."

"You didn't touch the reflecting pool in the centre of the village, right?" Sarutobi asked.

"No, we barely paid it any mind, Sandaime-sama," Kakashi confirmed.

"Good. Naruto may be an Uzumaki, but that thing is evil. It'll kill anyone that touches it, generally. And woe to the soul who tries to walk on top of it," the Hokage said, "a shinobi from a squad I was travelling with long ago tried to water walk on top of it as a joke. It swallowed him whole. He came flying out, dead by drowning, a few days later. The people of Uzu never touched it, they just cleaned it with a stick. Only person that could touch it was the Uzumaki Clan Head— they would just jump straight in. If the pool accepted them, then they were officially head of the Clan. If not, then it was onto the next candidate. Each member of the main clan would have a small water from it poured over their head at their birth— as a way of connecting them to it should they become Head."

"Then maybe I should—" Naruto began, but everyone turned to him.

"NO!" they all shouted.

"To continue on," Kakashi said, "after the trip to Uzushio, all four of us made to guard Tazuna-san until his bridge was finished, as thanks for letting us rest at his home. While there, we were challenged again by Zabuza-san and his partner. During that fight, Sasuke-kun fully matured his sharingan, but Sakura was put into a near-death state by Zabuza-san's partner. This caused Naruto to unconsciously tap into the Kyūbi's power, and he activated a cloak with two tails. He managed to restrain it after beating Zabuza, thankfully. Afterwards, the businessman Gatō showed up and threatened all of us with death via payment to Sakura's grandfather— but after no one cared to give him the time of day on that, the oppressed villagers of Nami no Kuni rose up against him and lynched him in the street. We came back a few days later, while Zabuza-san and his partner left to join the rebellion in Kirigakure."

"I see," Hiruzen said, "any other details?"

"Yes," Sasuke said, "to get me away from Haku, Zabuza's partner, Kakashi-sensei used a mangekyō sharingan power." The Hokage looked at Kakashi, but nodded.

"Hokage-jiji," Naruto said, "could you maybe get someone to look at my seal? I'm having to use my chains to keep it shut, I think I let too much chakra out at once. I only had to use one chain at first, but I had to use a second as of this morning."

"Ah, your seal may be a bit too loose because of your release of the Kyūbi's chakra, Naruto-kun," the Hokage said. "We can put a two-pronged seal over it to reinforce it for now, but ultimately, we'll need Jiraiya-kun to tighten the seal with your seal's key, that he has."

"Can't I just make one?" Naruto asked.

"No, you can't. Minato-kun made the key specifically tailored to your seal— if you made your own seal, then you could make a key for it. That much I know for certain," Sarutobi replied.

"Ugh, why'd otō-sama have to give it to someone who's never around?!" Naruto whined. "And don't worry, Sasuke-san knows already— his mother wrote about it in her journal."

"Damn it, Mikoto-kun," the Hokage muttered, "I told you not to write it down anywhere. Where you that upset about not getting Naruto-kun's custody?"

"Custody?" Sasuke muttered.

"She was my godmother, Sasuke-san," Naruto said, "since my godfather was on a mission and couldn't come back, your mother was supposed to be the one to raise me. The other clans refused to let her."

"And I hadn't been reinstated as Hokage yet, so there wasn't anything I could have done at that point. I had him put in an orphanage with a bunch of other Kyūbi orphans and had my ANBU shadow him. I had hoped he'd make friends while there, but I obviously didn't do enough," Hiruzen said. "Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-kun said that your sharingan is fully matured now— may I see that?"

Sasuke nodded. Naruto looked over as the boy activated his sharingan, showing off the red eyes with three tomoe in each. The Sandaime nodded. "And Kakashi-kun, any effects on your eyes from the use of your mangekyō?"

"No, Hokage-sama. Nothing besides the immense chakra drain," Kakashi said.

"And still no insight on exactly what the technique does?" Sarutobi said.

"No. Sorry," Kakashi replied, scratching the back of his head. Sasuke, on the other hand, had a look in his eye, though Naruto couldn't quite pin down what it was supposed to be.

"Alright. Naruto-kun, stay here so that I can add the extra seal. I'll also grant you the bounties for Gōzu and Meizu. Kakashi-kun, Sasuke-kun, dismissed," Hiruzen said.

-D&D-​

A few days later, Sakura was discharged from the hospital, back in pristine condition. Her aunt had raged over not being allowed to visit her, but she was legally an adult, in most ways. She could deny anyone the right to visit her— at the moment, the only ones she wanted to see were on her team.

Almost immediately, she walked her way back to Naruto's apartment, where the ever-faithful boy had set up a futon at the far end of the living room for her, as well as a small dresser for her to store her clothing in… that was previously in Naruto's room.

Walking into Naruto's bedroom, the boy was sitting cross-legged on the ground as he placed different clothes into storage seals on his wall. "Naruto-kun! You didn't need to give me the dresser! This probably isn't a permanent arrangement!" she said.

"I needed to replace it anyway. It's nearly September, and your parents won't be back until the Chūnin Exams— with any luck, we'll get to watch the year above us fight a bunch," Naruto said. "Where are the next ones, anyway? I know that they're here in December."

"After this round in Konoha, they'll be in Sunagakure next July, then they won't be in any village next December," Sakura said.

"Why won't they be?" Naruto asked.

"Because, they'll be in the capital of Tetsu no Kuni. All the shinobi villages will be sending their Genin, and the Samurai are very… well, they don't tolerate bad behavior," Sakura said. "It would probably be our best bet— less likelihood of you being assassinated or Sasuke getting his eyes gouged out by some greedy foreign Genin."

"Eh?" Naruto said. "But wouldn't that probably cause the Fourth Shinobi World War? Is getting a sharingan that you can't turn off really that important? Sasuke doesn't even have that extra thing that Kakashi has!"

"Trust me, Naruto. That's why the Uchiha abandoned the Kaguya Clan to the wrath of the Senju and their allies— because one Kaguya warrior got greedy and killed one of his allies, tried to make it look like an accident, and stole both his eyes. For some people, a dōjutsu is worth getting millions killed," Sakura said. "Also, can I see your new seal?"

"Oh, um, sure," Naruto said. He pulled up his shirt and let a small amount of chakra flow out. His typical Hakke no Fūin Shiki showed proudly, and overlaid around it was a simple circle seal with two prongs, one facing up and one facing down. It seemed fairly weak, but overlaid on top of his existing seal, it probably did just fine.

"Out of curiosity, why a two pronged seal?" Sakura asked.

"Highest we can use without it being overkill— another Shishō Fūin or anything over it would just be dumb, and I can't use an odd numbered seal on top of mine or it'll cut off my access to the Kyūbi's chakra. It's been slowly mixing with mine for years, just cutting it off will cause issues. Too high of an odd numbered seal, and it would practically be the same as just outright ripping it from my body," Naruto said.

"What happens when a jinchūriki loses their bijū in that way?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, they die. No questions asked," Naruto said with a shrug. "My mother survived for a few hours, but she was on her last legs by the time she sacrificed herself to hold the Kyūbi off, she would have died fairly rapidly anyway, even if she hadn't."

"What if they had the beast sealed back into them before they died, assuming they were powerful enough to not die right away?" Sakura asked.

"Um… I don't know. I mean, maybe if Otō-sama had enough time he could have sealed part of the Kyūbi back into Okā-sama," Naruto said, "but it may not have mattered. I'm just not sure of the answer there."

-D&D-​

Under the warm summer sun, Sasuke ran to the side and threw another kunai into the target, hitting dead centre. Even while moving I can hit fine, but it's not enough! After coming to a stop and collecting his kunai, he walked back across his training field.

After toweling his face off, he walked back to the main part of the compound, drinking from his water bottle as he thought. What was that trick with the mangekyō sharingan that Kakashi-sensei used? He glanced at the Uchiha archives building as he walked past it. Maybe that has something? Otō-sama did always have higher access to it, same with the elders. Probably not anywhere we would think to look.

Resolving himself, Sasuke walked into the building. There was still dried blood in a few places, but he focused on anything but that. Out of the desk by the front - where the Uchiha Clan Archivist once sat - Sasuke grabbed out a candle and lit it with a match, not trusting his control of small amounts of fire just yet, before putting a small glass cover over it.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and walked down into the archives. The doors hadn't been opened since… that night, so there was quite a lot of dust around. Rows upon rows of books that hadn't been touched in years. Sasuke knew where the restricted section was, and walked past the tonnes of tomes. Eventually, he reached the gate where the restricted section was, and pushed it open lightly. Looking at the book covers within, it was mostly old genealogies and treaties— things he would likely have to read once he became Clan Head.

After hours of looking over tomes found from all over, he finally came to what he was looking for. A seemingly inconspicuous book near the centre shelf on the left side of the section, about the history of the sharingan, started by a woman named Uchiha Naori, and added to by various other Uchiha over the years. The last to add their name to the list was his father, Uchiha Fugaku. Thumbing through the pages, it contained mostly normal things about the sharingan, including how it evolves the tomoe, how it activates, and the different techniques one can use with it. Overall, it was only a bit more detailed than the basic primer that every clansman was given when they were children. But at the back of the book, there was a small blood seal. Taking a deep breath, Sasuke used the corner of the paper to slice his finger, letting a bit of blood drip onto the page.

With the seal released, the book became almost twice as long, and filled with many pages of other designs of the sharingan— mangekyō designs. Hiding it in a book that most people would put back on the shelf out of boredom, then tucking the secret in a small seal that no one without a sharingan could catch. Brilliant. The first mangekyō in the book was a spiral pattern. No abilities were listed for it. All mangekyō sharingan after it were some variation of a pinwheel fan or shuriken. Various abilities cropped up throughout it. Powers over fire, absurdly powerful genjutsu, space-time ninjutsu that could let someone jump dimensions. Sasuke wasn't sure how that last one worked, but it was clearly not something to mess with. As he paged through, he came to one in specific.

"Kamui— a rare ability that could appear in the mangekyō sharingan. Creates a spiral-type portal around a focal point that will suck anything, or anyone, into the dimension it is linked to," Sasuke read quietly, "it could also manifest as personal teleportation, allowing a person to transport themselves, or any individual part, into the dimension." Sasuke nodded and marked the page to open later. Turning to the back, one of the last entries was for his father, Uchiha Fugaku.

Drawn in the centre of the page was a mangekyō sharingan in a clockwise mitsudomoe with a dots in the centre of each. Underneath, it had two abilities listed for it. "Right eye," Sasuke read, "Tsukuyomi, the most powerful genjutsu that exists. Traps the target in a world of the caster's creation, by default for three days, the time can be increased with more chakra, or ended by the caster's disgression." Sasuke clenched his fist. Three days. That's about how long he had been trapped in the genjutsu Itachi had cast on him. He had a name to that ability now— he could find some way to counter it.

"Left eye," he continued, "Enton: Kagutsuchi, the power to manipulate or even disperse the flames of Amaterasu. Without a caster of Amaterasu, this ability cannot be further observed at this time." Well, that one was completely useless. Sasuke flipped the page, the last one labelled. This one was labelled 'Uchiha Shisui.' His second cousin on his father's side, and his fourth cousin once removed on his mother's. This one was in the shape of a four-sided shuriken, with a four small tomoe around the outside.

"Both eyes possess the genjutsu of Kotoamatsukami, the function of which is unknown— it's likely quite powerful, though," he muttered. That was supremely unhelpful. Looking at the blank next page, Sasuke took a deep breath. Taking a pen and ink bottle from the desk, Sasuke began to trace Kakashi's mangekyō into the book, being careful to line the edges of the shuriken up properly. What was the name of the Uchiha who gave him his sharingan? Right, that was Uchiha Obito. Carefully writing both of their names under the fresh drawing, he recorded down Kamui's description and powers.

Quickly moving to the next page, he drew a circle, but then stopped. He couldn't bring himself to recall the memories of that night. Sasuke decided to let the ink dry, and then show the book to Kakashi next time they met.

-D&D-​

Sakura reached in the air and stretched. "I'm gonna go and take a shower. You ought to as well," she said. But then she had an idea. "Come on, it'll save time if we both go at once."

"But didn't your parents tell us not to do that anymore?" Naruto asked, looking up at her.

"Meh. What they don't know can't hurt them— I don't see why we can't, though. We don't even face each other," Sakura said.

"I agree with you, but what does that matter? We've known each other since the start of the Academy, and changed in front of each other more times than not at this point," Naruto said, before he stopped and blinked. "I think I know why Ino's rumours took so easily."

"Well fuck her and her rumours," Sakura said, walking out of the bedroom, and into the bathroom. Looking around, there was even a separate clothing hamper for her to throw her clothes into now, and a section of the bathroom counter for her to put her stuff. Naruto is so sweet it hurts sometimes, Sakura thought.

A few minutes later, she was finally standing under the running water letting her thoughts run through her head, or maybe just the warm water. After a few minutes, she heard the shower door open, and footsteps come in behind her.

"Been a while since we did this," Naruto said quietly. It was rather uncharacteristic of him. He would usually be over the moon.

"Yeah, since before the last few months at the Academy," Sakura said, smiling despite herself. Especially since her best friend was right there with her, and there was no mission or otherwise to keep them from just talking. As she was about to open her mouth, she felt two arms wrap around her shoulders and hug her tight.

I knew it, something is bothering him, Sakura thought. "Naruto-kun, what's wrong?" She grabbed one of his hands and squeezed it lightly.

"I..." the boy stuttered, "I'm scared." Sakura frowned. Naruto rarely got scared of anything, and would never admit to being scared— the fact that he was now had to be a sign of something. Not of anything good, certainly.

"What of?" she asked, in the calmest voice she could.

"I— don't know the words for it," Naruto admitted, "I'm just reminded of our time at the Academy… and it reminds me of when I was betrayed by someone I trusted. I'm scared that it will happen again. I don't want it to! I want to trust people, but that bastard made me paranoid! It still scares me, it scares me that someone I trusted could betray me so fully, and that it could happen again!"

Spinning around, Sakura quickly hugged the boy back and held him tight as he began to shake and cry. She carefully rubbed her hand along his shoulder to soothe him. It was best he let it out now, rather than in front of an audience. "It's okay, Naruto-kun. It's okay to be scared," she whispered.

"But- but how can I trust people like this?!" Naruto said, "I need people to have my back, otherwise I'll die quickly as a shinobi! In the past few days I've had nightmares of getting blasted point-blank by one of Sasuke-san's fire jutsu or Nii-san driving his Raikiri through my heart. I don't want it to affect my performance, but I'm afraid it will!" Sakura pulled back and looked at his face. Naruto was so obviously distraught, but she didn't know how to help him. And she would die before she let him go into a counselling program controlled by either civilians or Ino's relatives.

Keeping her left arm around him, Sakura carefully placed her right hand over his heart. She could feel the long scar from Kubikiribōchō as she placed her hand flat against his chest. She then took a few steps back, so that she was arm distance away from him. She could see the blush on Naruto's face from seeing her like this, but there were no secrets here. Not between them.

"Naruto-kun," she said, keeping her eyes locked on his, "place your right hand over my heart." The boy, blush not vanishing, closed his eyes and reached out his hand for her chest. His blush only deepened when he figured out exactly where he hit. Rolling her eyes, Sakura used her left hand to put his hand in the right spot, a little up and to his left. The boy looked at her, carefully in the eyes, his own showing his 'sorry.' With a slight smile she hoped he would take as 'no problem,' she nodded at him.

"Uzumaki Naruto," she said, "I, Haruno Sakura, do swear on both my life and my clan's honour that I will never betray you or knowingly act against your person." Naruto's blush deepened, and more tears returned to his eyes, but he nodded and smiled.

"I, Uzumaki Naruto, do vow and confirm the same," the boy said. The two simply stared into each other's eyes after swearing that to each other. Naruto ended it by raising his left hand to his mouth and biting it slightly, enough to draw a little blood. Sakura did the same in response. After nodding to each other, the two smeared the blood on each other's chests, swearing on their blood.

After their oath, the two quickly finished washing up and changed into fresh clothes. There was a team meeting later that day, and they needed to look at least okay for it. Besides a quick talk about the new seal on her hand, they did so without any distractions.

-D&D-​

An hour later, both stood on a small bridge overlooking a stream, along with Sasuke, who showed up shortly after them. Naruto wore his normal outfit, sans the jacket that was still being mended. Sakura had changed up her outfit completely, wearing her grandfather's summer genin uniform that they looted from Uzushiogakure with a vest sporting her family crest on top. Sasuke was wearing the same thing as usual, but was sporting a jacket that was a slightly lighter shade of blue than usual.

Sakura hoped he was in a decent mood; because if he wasn't, it'd bring down their entire day. Sasuke looked at them and waved, and both waved back. It had been awkward for Sakura to talk to him after the whole 'saving his life' thing, after all. To brush off the awkwardness, Sakura decided to start the conversation with something very much not about that.

"So, how long do you think we'll have to wait for Kakashi-sensei today?" she asked. Naruto spoke up right away.

"Probably normal. Nii-san will just sit and chat to the memorial stone for hours. It's not like otō-"

"S-rank!" Sakura reminded him. The boy's face turned as red as his hair.

"Ahem," Naruto coughed, "it's not like Yondaime-sama will answer him. And I don't think he's listening, anyway. So I'm not sure why he does it."

"Maybe it's his way of coping with the loss?" Sasuke said. "I mean, from all I know of him, he lost both of his teammates one by one, then when he was finally starting to work through it, his sensei died. It would have destroyed a lesser man. He's lucky to still be sane at this point."

"Well, I'm not, per se," Kakashi cut in from one of the torii arches above the bridge. "After Minato-sensei died, I joined ANBU for a long time, and even had a stint as a member of the highly-specialized Root division. I only left ANBU a few years ago, since Sandaime-sama thought teaching Genin would be good for me."

"Well, the Genin you taught mostly turned out alright, except that one you booted from the Shinobi forces. Not even sure what became of him," Naruto said.

"Oh, he tried to turn his life around, but never found any place that would accept him, so left the village with his family. They live somewhere in Cha no Kuni now, but they still carry the stigma of having a family member dishonourably discharged from the Shinobi Forces," Kakashi said.

"That seems a bit harsh," Sakura said, "but you don't get a dishonourable without good reason most of the time. You have to do something pretty bad to earn that— unless you're a scapegoat for something, but that seems unlikely in this case."

"Kid tried to maim Aka-bō when he went to the memorial stone to talk to his mother," Kakashi said. Given what he had said earlier about Kakashi's habits, his two teammates gave him a side-eyed stare. The boy at least had the courtesy to blush. "Since the team wasn't doing too well, anyway, I failed the other two and gave the last that, as punishment. It was fairly lenient. Last time a shinobi tried to hurt Naruto-kun, about a decade ago, he entertained T&I for two weeks, was dishonourably discharged and stripped of all rank, then had his chakra sealed before being hanged in a dark room with almost no witnesses."

All three of them gulped at that description. Sakura tried to not gag at the thought. Konoha did not mess around when it came to protecting their jinchūriki. "But that's a bit too dark for right now, so let's get started on our day! We're gonna be learning elemental nature transformation!"

"But Nii-san!" Naruto whined, "we already know what our affinities are!"

"You are right, and each of you are extremely lucky to possess two of them each. However, before any of you can learn the cooler things, you'll need to learn how to control one of your elements better. So, each of you, choose one of your elements to go all-in on," Kakashi said.

After looking at each other wearily, they nodded.

"I'll train my Fūton more," Naruto said.

"I'm already very good with my Katon, so I'll focus on my Raiton," Sasuke said.

"I'll continue training my Suiton," Sakura said.

Kakashi nodded at each of them. "Well, I'll leave a Kage Bunshin here to watch over Sakura-kun's progress, and Naruto-kun can continue training with his leaf cutting. Since Sasuke-kun wants to learn Raiton, I'll keep an eye on him personally. It's quite a volatile element."

-D&D-​

After several hours of training, the exhausted members of Team 7 lumbered toward Ichiraku Ramen for dinner, at Naruto's insistence. While Naruto had been attempting to cut a leaf with his chakra, and getting a few slivers off of it, the other two had much different tasks.

Sasuke had been assigned to channel static electricity that he created through a small stone to break it. To do so, according to Kakashi, required both speed and great power. Sasuke hadn't made much progress, much to his frustration. Training with Katon had been hard as well, but not as annoying. He got substantially more frustrated as he was informed that the training for Katon was, in some ways, even more difficult at times.

Sakura, on the other hand, was forced to draw out water from a leaf that she was given, and pool it on top of it without letting it break. Like that experiment that they'd done in year 2 of the Academy, when they'd dripped water on top of a coin to show some properties of it. Sakura understood how it worked, but it was still difficult to pull off. She still did it, to her sensei's surprise, but she still needed to fine tune it a bit more before she could move onto the next step, which was apparently quite annoying, even for experienced Suiton users.

As they walked, Kakashi apparently was getting summoned for something by the Hokage, and so flickered off to leave the Genin to keep walking. As the boys walked, Sakura walked off to the side after a quick indicator, hoping to clear her head for a moment. Once she mastered Suiton, she would need to get very good at Doton. Kakashi had indicated to her that once she finished up both of those to his liking, he would have her do mostly physical exercises, 'maybe even training with Team 9,' he'd said. He wouldn't let her touch trying to fuse them again until after she made Chūnin. By then, she might have the chakra to at least make a bonsai without nearly passing out. After all, it was still super weak, and her family tree didn't give her any hints as to how she could possess it.

Then, the sound came. "Oi, Forehead Girl!" the voice called. Sakura stopped. And I was having such a good day, too! she mentally whined. She turned to see Ino jogging up the street with her teammates in tow— they'd probably just gotten released, too. After waiting a while for Ino to get to her, Sakura crossed her arms and gave her a level glare.

"What do you want, Ino-buta?" Sakura said. She hated the blonde even more than in the academy, now that she knew exactly what disgusting rumour Ino had been spreading about her and Naruto. I don't even like him that way! she screamed internally. Even if I did, I can't understand emotions like that yet! I've barely hit adolescence! This caused her glare to intensify, which Ino returned with smirk.

"What, did your boy-toy ditch you? Figures, even he had to have gotten tired of your ugliness eventually," Ino said, flipping her hair, "and at least you're not holding Sasuke-kun back with how pathetic you are."

Sakura was surprised that's all she had to say, but shrugged. "Nah, Naruto-kun is just getting our orders ready at Ichiraku. Sasuke-san is with him— he even complimented my skill today, isn't that great?" Hook, line, and sinker.

Ino went red in the face and sputtered. "Wha-What?! No, you're lying! No way that Sasuke-kun would praise your skills and not mine! I was the top student in our class besides him!" she said.

"And yet, you've never once shown that your skills are worthy of praise. Need I remind you that despite your totals, your skill on the taijutsu test was barely passing? And that if you'd screwed up that last kata any further, you'd have failed and fallen behind Hinata-chan?" Sakura said. She knew Ino was still bitter about almost losing the position of top kunoichi to the Hyūga heiress. While Sakura had tried, she just couldn't pass the bluenette's grades, not without getting a perfect on the ninjutsu and taijutsu tests, which she didn't. Stupid katas, why did I have to trip over my feet!

"Well, Forehead, since you obviously seem to be on a roll today, and waving how much smarter you are than me around, how about you answer me this," Ino said, crossing her arms. Suddenly, she grinned and opened one eye in Sakura's direction. "Uzumaki-san has such a rare hair colour, I just have to know: does the carpet match the drapes?"

All Sakura could do was stare, even as she felt heat rise to her cheeks lightly. Of all the things she could have said, that was what she chose? Glancing around quickly, she saw a small trash bin that was probably just filled up. Running over to it, she quickly grabbed the bin and spun around, releasing it at the unsuspecting blonde, with a cry of "INOOOO!" Said girl didn't even have time to dodge before the bin hit her squarely in the gut, sending her flying back a solid five feat.

Like a predator, Sakura slowly strode up to the fallen kunoichi, murder in her eyes. Step by step, she walked closer and closer, until she stood directly in front of Ino. The blonde looked up at her, defiant. Then, Sakura simply smiled and closed her eyes.

"Feel free to mock me all you want, Ino-buta. But say anything bad about Naruto-kun again, and I'll make you wish that you couldn't sense chakra," she said, her tone not changing the entire time. Sakura simply spun on her heel and walked a few steps, before looking over her shoulder.

"And for your information, Naruto-kun is a redhead, through and through," she said, a cheeky grin on her face. Ino then blushed brightly.

"Wait, you actually did b—" Ino began, but Sakura didn't listen. She simply closed one eye and stuck out her tongue at Ino, pulling her one eyelid down at the same time. Then she turned her back to her and jogged off, in a better mood than she had been before. After a minute, she arrived at Ichiraku, where Naruto and Sasuke both sat waiting for her. Smiling brightly, she ran over and joined them. Her Shio Ramen never tasted so sweet as it did today.

-D&D-​

The small camp was unlike anything that Haku had seen before. Unlike when he'd lived with Zabuza in Kirigakure, this had shinobi of all ranks running in and out of various tents and running off into the distance. Some others were carrying injured shinobi on a stretcher to a large tent with a small white marking above it.

Of course, he was following Zabuza and their ANBU escort to a different tent, this one mostly inconspicuous, except with its size. After a nodding, the ANBU opened the tent flap and signalled for them to go inside. After walking into the tent, several more ANBU surrounded them, and escorted them up to a makeshift desk made from three folding tables and four filing cabinets.

Behind the desk sat a young woman with ginger hair. She wore a Jōnin uniform, but also wore a cloak identifying her as the claimant Godaime Mizukage. Haku thought she looked familiar, but couldn't identify exactly who it was. Zabuza, on the other hand, tensed at seeing the person.

"Of all the people it could have been leading the rebellion, it just had to be you, Mei-chan," he muttered. Haku blinked in surprise that his teacher was so familiar with the woman.

The woman narrowed her eyes at him. "And who were you expecting to lead it? It's not like there's tons of Kiri Jōnin that have the nerve to face Yagura. Besides, were you expecting someone else?"

"No, I just didn't know who could be leading it," Zabuza explained. "Have any of the other Seven Swordsman shown up?"

"No, unfortunately," Mei replied, "besides a few reports of Hoshigaki-san occasionally popping up here, you're the first one I've seen since the civil war started."

"And what about Utakata-san? I would think he'd be helpful in facing Yagura in the future," Zabuza asked.

"No sign of him. I have people all over Mizu no Kuni looking for him. Unfortunately, so does Yagura," Mei said. "As far as I can tell, he just wants to be left alone— if he helps us take down Yagura, I'll happily discharge him as a shinobi and strike his bounty down. But we need to actually find him to give him the offer.

"Now, since you're here, I'm assuming you want to join up with me? Good, having two of the Seven Swordsman here will make this far easier. Have you given thought to taking on an apprentice?" Mei asked.

"If you mean for my sword, I already have one: Mangetsu-san's younger brother. Haven't seen him since my attempted coup, but he wouldn't die so easily. Otherwise, I have Haku-kun here. He's a scion of the Yuki Clan, and has their kekkei genkai."

Mei looked over at Haku. He blushed lightly at being stared at by such a beautiful woman. "A Yuki? That's good, we had a girl who was an offspring of the clan as well, but she left due to a mission gone wrong— her sensei and one teammate died, the other convinced her to leave so she wouldn't follow them. Having the kekkei genkai again would be an immense boost. How old are you, boy?"

"I'm fourteen, Mizukage-sama," Haku said, bowing respectfully.

"Have you worked with other shinobi your own age before, or attended the shinobi academy?" Mei asked.

"No, Mizukage-sama; I worked with the Demon Brothers occasionally, but they mainly worked separate from Zabuza-sama and myself," Haku said.

"Alright, that's fine. Despite your power, I'll instate you as a Genin of Kirigakure no Sato. Assuming that Zabuza-san is willing to take on a team as a Jōnin-sensei, of course," Mei said, turning to smile at the swordsman.

"Me, a Jōnin-sensei? You've got to be joking," Zabuza said.

"Afraid not. I need most of my Jōnin out in the field, and I'd rather not just leave the poor Yuki boy in the Genin pool. It wouldn't be for long— the Chūnin Exams are in a few months and your apprentice can be promoted there. Then I'll put you both into ANBU and send you off to do missions for me. Until then, though, you need to watch over some Genin."

"Ugh, fine. Whatever. As long as I get Yagura's head when this is all over, I'll support this," Zabuza said with a sigh. "Just don't give me any incompetents. When do I have to meet my team?"

"When I finish assembling them," Mei said, "I have one person I know will take a shine to you, but I'll need a third member— it'll be done soon. Now run along with your brand new Genin. I'll get him a Shinobi ID Number soon."

-D&D-​

Sarutobi sighed as he opened another signed request for him to address issues at the Academy. Apparently, Umino Iruka had been forced to improv a lecture about Uzushiogakure for the younger kids after his grandson mentioned the village during the lesson on the Second War, since it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the textbook. Crinkling up the letter and throwing it in the incinerator, he moved on to the list of mission requests.

I would have time to address educational reform if I could have about ten days in one sitting… if Danzō hadn't screwed up the negotiations, I'd be able to do that! The aged Hokage thought, reading through the monotonous requests and separating them into piles based on rank. Muttering to himself, he quickly wrote and signed an order to have Homura, Koharu, and Danzō assigned to the graveyard shift for guard duty.

Babysitting, D-rank. Sewage Cleanup, D-rank. Dog Walking, D-rank. Tora… D-rank, Much as I would like to make that an S-rank just so I could send my ANBU after it. Bandit camp that needs cleaning out, C to B-rank. Assassination of a troublesome noble in Kaze no Kuni, S-rank. Nuke-nin on northern border, A to S-rank. Escort of Madam Shijimi back to the capital, C-rank. Guarding the harvest prayer at Hi no Tera, C-rank.

Sarutobi took a deep inhale from his pipe. I might accept Jiraiya's offer of that special herb he picked up that he said cooled your nerves far more than tobacco. It can't make it any worse.

Spoiler: Chapter 7 Jutsu List

Suirō no Jutsu – Water Prison Technique

Henge no Jutsu – Transformation Technique

Chapter is currently unbeta'd, though that should change soon. Thank you all for reading! Like the post and leave a comment down below, and I'll see you all next chapter!