Chapter 5: Liberation of Nami no Kuni (Part I)

Kurenai Yuhi watched the innumerable amount of rose petals swirling rapidly around her, barely allowing her to see what was beyond them. After a few moments she nodded her head and made a ram hand seal. "Kai!"

The storm of rose petals disappeared almost if glass was broken all around the black haired jonin. In front of there stood Sakura with an expectant expression on her face. There was a noticeable change about her, the main ones being that she wasn't wearing her apron skirt, there was a tanto sheathed right above the pouch she had strapped to the small of her back and that she had more muscle tone in her arms and legs. Her extra training was clearly yielding results.

"How was it, Kurenai-sensei?"

Kurenai gave her arguably favorite student a bright small. "It was excellent, Sakura! Every time you use that genjutsu it gets noticeably better. I would only suggest that you allow the recipient of the genjutsu to also aid in the construction of the illusion to make more real to them but nothing else other than that," she said with a proud tone.

Sakura beamed happily at her. "Thank you, sensei. I still have to work on making as if the petals are attacking my opponent to mask my actual attacks but I will do as you say first before adding that."

Kurenai nodded in agreement with her before giving her a curiously look. "Are you going tot train with your friends and Anko today?" She inquired. She wholeheartedly approved of that. While she was a bit wary of the influence someone like Anko, who was her best friend despite not approving of most of her antics, she felt that those training sessions could only be beneficial for her. And it showed. Kurenai could say without a sliver of doubt that Sakura was the most skilled member of her team right now and she was growing faster than her other two teammates.

Speaking of Kiba and Shino, it was only her and Sakura today since those two had clan duties and training to tend to today. That was the only downside she could see of having those two as members of her team. Well, that and Kiba's blatant perversion but a genjutsu where she put him in a gay strip club quickly got him to behave.

Sakura shook her head. "Not really. Today it's only going to be me, Ino, Anko-sensei and another girl named Tenten, who Anko says is good friends with her and Naruto-kun," she said, which after the amount of time she spent with the Tokubetsu jonin and Naruto only could mean that it was another girl they were having sex with. While it made her feel jealous, it only made her more excited for the time Hinata finally made her move on Naruto so she and Ino could experience by themselves just what Naruto had that got two girls hooked on him.

Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And why is that?" She asked curiously. Kurenai was not stupid. She knew Anko and she knew that she was regularly having sex with Naruto. She also knew, from experience, that Anko liked girls as much as she liked boys so that likely meant that Tenten was also having sex with Anko and Naruto as well. She also noticed the fact that Naruto was the only boy in those extra training sessions and she could guess what Anko was intending. She knew that Sakura had a massive crush on the blond Jinchuriki and the only reason she didn't disapprove of the extra training session, despite the likely second intention behind them, was because of their visible results.

Kurenai wasn't really bothered by any of that. A genin was already considered an adult in the eyes of the village so as long as they didn't do anything to negatively affect their development as ninja or the village itself, they could do everything they wanted and no one would bat an eyelash. Kurenai, however, was curious about this Naruto Uzumaki. She knew what he had sealed inside of him but that didn't matter to her. She trusted the Yondaime's technique and she knew that Naruto was essentially the reason why they were alive now. No, what made her curious what was it about him that Anko had finally fucked a man and why did he attract some many girls willing to share him.

Perhaps…

"They are on a C-Rank mission. They are escorting and protecting a bridge builder to Nami no Kuni until he finishes the bridge so they'll likely be gone for about a month," she said, unknowingly pulling out Kurenai from her thoughts, and there was an air of slight depression around Sakura. After three weeks of seeing and interacting directly with him almost every day, a month without Naruto sounded almost like torture.

Kurenai blinked in surprise. "What? Kakashi already took his team on a C-Rank mission? We still have about two weeks before we were expected to do that," she said with some disbelief. She knew that Kakashi tended to be a bit irresponsible sometimes but she knew that he would never knowingly put his team in danger. For him to already take his team on a C-Rank mission outside that village…

Sakura smiled and waved off Kurenai's worries. "Oh, I wouldn't worry too much Kurenai-sensei. You told me yourself that Kakashi-san is considered the strongest jonin in the village. But also…" she trailed off and her smile turned into a smirk when Kurenai raised an eyebrow at her. "Naruto-kun and Hinata are way stronger than what the let others think."

XXXXXXXXXX

(Western Shores of Nami no Kuni – The Day After the ambush of the Demon Brothers)

"So, Naruto, I've been meaning to ask…" began Kakashi as he stepped off the boat Tazuna's friend had used to carry the five of them from the mainland to the island that was Nami no Kuni. They had also seen some of the unfinished bridge through the somewhat thick mist that had appeared halfway during the morning and they all had been shocked by the sheer size of it, much to Tazuna's expressed pride. Kakashi gave Naruto a curious with his single visible eye. "What was that technique you used to get behind the Demon Brothers? You moved as faster than the average jonin for a moment."

Naruto stepped off the boat and held his hand towards Hinata to help her as he answered. "Oh, that? It's a high-speed combat-oriented technique I developed using the Shunshin as a basis. Instead channeling and molding chakra through my whole body and release it continuously, I focus most of it on my legs and take 'steps' while releasing the molded chakra in bursts with each 'step' I take. I call it Shunpo (Flash Step). Neat, huh?" He answered nonchalantly, grinning at the grateful smile and blush from Hinata as helped her get off the boat.

Kakashi blinked once. "Yeah, neat…" He trailed off, chalking it up to Naruto inheriting his father's absurd and ridiculous talent for creating new techniques. Thankfully, he didn't inherit his terrible naming sense. Kakashi also took notice of Sasuke's envious look as he stepped off the boat and sighed. He turned towards the bridge builder. "So, Tazuna, how far is your house from here?" He inquired.

Tazuna stepped off the boat and thanked his friend before turning towards Kakashi. "It's only a few hours away from here if we walk without stopping. Just follow the shore until where the river meets the sea and then we go upriver and we will reach it," said Tazuna as he adjusted his back pack.

Kakashi nodded before turning towards his team. "You heard the man. Diamond formation. Hinata you take point, Naruto and Sasuke will cover the flanks and I will bring up the rear. As you know, Gato might have sent more men to kill Tazuna so be on high alert."

As the group of five began to walk, Sasuke couldn't help but give his teammates looks of jealousy and dislike, and even hatred in the case of Naruto, as they made their way through the foggy beach. The blond was better than him in everything they did except in the theoretical stuff back in the Academy but after a month and a half of being with him on the same team, Sasuke had to face the hard, cold reality.

He was better than Naruto at that not because the blond was stupid. No, it was because the blond just didn't enough care about that since he found it pointless. In his own words, 'you couldn't keep yourself alive and beat anyone with most of those lessons'.

As they trained and interacted (barely) with each other, Sasuke realized that Naruto was extremely intelligent and insightful, so much, that his mental capabilities astounded even Kakashi sometimes. The strategies and plans that he came up with by taking into account the abilities and roles of their team… if he was honest with himself, Naruto reminded him a little of Itachi, his brother and the person he wanted to kill. Not because of their personalities as they couldn't be more different than the other. But because of how much he felt outclassed by them.

And that was enough to for Sasuke to feel some kind of hatred for Naruto, since in his mind, there couldn't by anyone stronger than him. To Sasuke, that wasn't arrogance… it was a fact. He needed to be the strongest there existed if he wanted to kill his older brother. And the fact that Naruto, someone his age, could make Kakashi, the man considered to be the strongest jonin in the village, actually try when they sparred, while with him he could tell Kakashi barely got serious, was enough to make Sasuke hate Naruto, not as much as he hated his brother for killing his clan and his mother for seemingly not wanting to do anything about it, but the hate was still there.

Even Hinata, that Hyuga bitch, he disliked. Not only because she was close friends with Naruto but because she was also more skilled than him. While he surpassed her in shuriken jutsu and their ninjutsu were about even, she was so much better than him in taijutsu and chakra control. And he could use her Kekkei Genkai already. It wasn't to extent of the blond, but Hinata was someone he could do without seeing her every day.

But Sasuke couldn't act on it, at least not yet. Naruto and Hinata had their uses. When they sparred Sasuke was pushed to his limits and he had grown more in this month than in the past year so he would hold back on his personal feelings until Naruto particularly was of no more use. He just needed to be patient and bid his time.

Naruto for his part maintained a seemingly oblivious air around him as he occasionally looked around. Inwardly, however, he was amused at the emotions coming from Sasuke whenever he looked at him when he thought he didn't notice. It seemed like Sasuke could no longer blind himself to the fact that both he and Hinata were stronger than him. He knew that Sasuke already disliked and felt neutral about Hinata, but it seemed like being showed up by both of them brought out Sasuke's inferiority complex, making him get negative feelings towards Hinata and increase the ones he already had towards Naruto.

Inwardly, Naruto gave a careless shrug. 'As long as he doesn't do anything stupid towards me or Hinata-chan, he can fuck off for all I care,' he said, the Kurama part of him gleeful at an Uchiha like Sasuke feeling inferior to himself.

They reached the delta of the river and the team began to follow it into the forest, the mist thickening as they walked further. Not thick enough so the path they were following couldn't be seem, but it was enough that it was noticeable compared to before.

Sasuke tensed slightly as he stopped thinking about the many ways he could kill Naruto in the future. He needed to prove himself that his time on this team had not been wasted so he was on high alert as he looked into the trees and bushes, actually hoping for an ambush of some sorts.

A bush twitched.

Sasuke's eyes widened. 'There!' In less than a second Sasuke reached into his pouch, brought out a handful of shuriken and threw them into the bush that had twitched, alerting the other three and making Hinata tense, Naruto sharply turn in that direction, Tazuna jump in fright and Kakashi blink before he went to check on what had Sasuke react like that.

Sasuke held his breath as Kakashi bent down behind the bush only for to hear him snickering much to his confusion. Kakashi rose back up and there was a white, trembling bunny held on his arms. Sasuke stared incredulously at the frightened animal as his arms fell limply at his sides.

"A rabbit?" He asked dully and Naruto began to laugh in amusement. Hinata relaxed before looking at Sasuke with some disapproval, even if her lips twitched upwards to show that she was also amused. Tazuna sighed in relief at the false alarm, chuckling as he beheld the ridiculous situation.

Kakashi also chuckled before looking down at the rabbit, who stared back up at him with wide eyes. Slowly, his chuckles died down as he looked at the rabbit's white fur. That was weird. Rabbits only had white fur in winter so that meant that this rabbit was raised indoors. And that begged the question, what was doing a white furred rabbit in the middle of Nami no Kuni in the middle of the summer?

Kakashi's eye widened.

"GET DOWN!" He shouted before he quickly tackled Tazuna into the floor and the genin were also were quick to also hit the floor.

Something big and rapidly went rapidly over their heads and imbedded itself deeply into the bark of a tree that wasn't too far away from them. The three genin and Kakashi quickly stood from the ground and took a defensive formation around the frightened Tazuna. They looked at the object that had been thrown at them: a massive broadsword shaped like a giant butcher knife, the blade itself has two cut outs, a circle close to the top and a semi-circular one nearer the handle.

Kakashi recognized the blade right away. "That's the Kubikiribocho (Decapitating Carving Knife). One of the blades of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. And this particular one belongs to…" Kakashi trailed off as a tall man appeared standing on the handle of the blade in a Shunshin. He was very muscular, had grayish skin, spiky black hair, small eyebrows and half of his face was covered in bandages. He had no shirt on and his arms were covered in stripped arm warmers. He had dark pants and black ninja sandals on his feet. "… Zabuza Momochi."

Zabuza chuckled, his voice deep and raspy but clearly heard from behind his bandages as he spoke. "It's no wonder that the Demon Brothers failed and were captured so easily," he said before locking eyes with the silver haired jonin. "It's an honor to be recognized by someone such as you, the Copy Ninja, Kakashi of the Sharingan, the man that, according to my bingo book, has copied over one thousand techniques."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he shot a look towards his sensei. 'Kakashi of the Sharingan?! What?!'

Kakashi had an uncharacteristic serious expression on his face as he looked at Zabuza. "I'm afraid that the credit for that most go to my students," he said as he tensed his entire body, clearly in preparation for a confrontation.

"Is that so?" Zabuza showed genuine curiosity as he looked at the three genin surrounding Tazuna in a manji formation, who were looking back at him with varying expression of trepidation and determination. "Well, they do look like they aren't completely useless at the very least. There's even a Hyuga among them. It's still not surprising since they were trained by you," he said with a shrug of his massive shoulders as he in one motion jumped down and pulled out his massive blade from the tree. He landed on top of the water of the river next to them.

"I assume that your objective is to kill the bridge builder," stated Kakashi as he didn't take away his eye from Zabuza.

Zabuza simply nodded his head. "That'd be correct. That's my mission. So, if you would kindly move aside so I can get that done, I'll let you and your students live to see another day."

Kakashi's eyes hardened as he reached for his headband. "Sorry. I'm afraid that our mission is to escort him safely towards his home and protect him while he finishes building his bridge," he said before pulling up his headband, revealing a red eye with three tomoe slowly spinning around a round pupil.

Sasuke looked at his sense with a conflicted expression on his face. 'He really has the sharingan! How?!'

Neither Naruto nor Hinata were surprised. Naruto already knew because obvious reasons and Hinata also knew because she had seen the eye and the concentrated amount of chakra whenever she activated her Byakugan in close proximity with him. She had not brought it up since he had not mentioned it, which meant that he had his reasons and doing so would have been extremely rude on her part.

Zabuza only looked faintly amused. "Oh, the Sharingan already? For me?" He asked before his countenance shifted completely as an air of bloodthirstiness took hold of him as he made a half ram seal in front of his chest with his right hand and his left arms was completely extended over his head, his left hand also doing a half ram hand seal. "You honor me, Kakashi! Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Hiding in the Mist Technique)." He declared and the mist around them suddenly thickened to the point they could barely see Kakashi standing in front of them.

"Don't lower your guard and protect Tazuna. Zabuza is a master of the silent killing technique. If you are careless, you'll be dead before you realize it. I will take care of this," said Kakashi before lowering himself into a stance and flicking open the kunai holster strapped to his thigh.

Then, from seemingly all around them, Zabuza's dark and raspy chuckle was heard. "Eight spots. The larynx, the spine, the lungs, the liver, the carotid and subclavian arteries, the kidneys, the heart. For which one should I go, hm?" He seemingly wondered to himself as his killing intent slowly began to build up in intensity.

Kakashi frowned before flaring his own chakra to disperse the mist a bit back to the point where he could be easily seen by the three genin and Tazuna. The silver haired jonin then began to clash Zabuza's killing intent with his own.

Naruto and Hinata were unaffected by the atmosphere. Hinata because she got used to it thanks to her training with Anko and Naruto because he remembered feeling and producing intent many, many times stronger than this. These guys had nothing on Madara or Hashimara much less Kurama.

Sasuke was the only one who was affected by this and he was trembling as he looked at Kakashi with a frightened expression on his face. 'What an intense thirst for blood… If I breath, if I blink… I will be killed… If this keeps going, I'll lose my mind! The killing intent of two jonin about to fight… to feel like my life is the hands of someone else…' He thought as he tightened his hold on kunai and turned it towards himself. 'I'd rather kill myself to get rid of this feeling!'

"Sasuke!" Kakashi's shouted managed to pull Sasuke out of his suddenly suicidal thoughts. "Calm down and don't worry. I will protect the three of you with my life if I have to. I won't let anyone on my team die," he said reassuringly before turning towards Sasuke with a double eye smile on his face.

Sasuke looked at the silver haired jonin in surprise before visibly calming down.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," said Zabuza as he suddenly appeared in the middle of the manji formation with his massive blade ready to be swung from his back. "This is the en-! Gah!" As the Hyuga grabbed Tazuna and jumped away along with the other two genin, Zabuza looked down to see two silver chains glowing purple shoved into his abdomen, the chains themselves preventing the blood from coming out. He followed their length to see that they were coming from the back of the blond, who was smirking at him. "You… what's your name, brat?"

Naruto's smirk widened. "Naruto Uzumaki, at your service." He didn't lower his guard. He could tell that something wasn't right. Even as just Naruto he would have been able to figure that out.

Zabuza had visible surprise in his eyes. "Uzumaki…" he muttered before turning his attention towards Hinata, who stood in a ready stance in front of Tazuna, and then turning towards Sasuke who was also on a ready stance and glaring at him. "And your name?"

"…Sasuke Uchiha."

Zabuza suddenly chuckled in amusement. "I see. Hyuga, Uzumaki, Uchiha…" he turned towards Kakashi who had not moved from his place but had his sharingan locked directly on Zabuza's form. "I can see why you didn't move immediately to defend them. Quite the bunch you have, eh, Kakashi?"

Kakashi simply inclined his head. "They are my students after all," he stated simply.

Zabuza chuckled again. "I see. However…" He trailed off and eyes widened when Zabuza suddenly turned into water, Naruto's spike-ended chains falling to the ground with the liquid, and another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi seemingly out of the mist itself sword already mid swing. "Die!"

Kakashi was seemingly bisected at the waist.

Zabuza's eyes widened when Kakashi also turned into water. 'What?! Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Clone Technique)… Did he…' thought Zabuza frantically before freezing as he felt something could and sharp being pressed to his neck.

"Don't move." Kakashi was behind Zabuza and held a kunai to his throat as he glared at the rogue ninja from Kirigakure. "This is the end."

Hinata smiled.

Sasuke scoffed but there was a smirk on his face.

Naruto grinned as he retracted his chains back into his body. "Showoff."

Tazuna gave a sigh of relief.

Their 'victory' was short lived as Zabuza began to chuckle in amusement. " 'This is the end,' you say?" He asked rhetorically as he flicked his eyes towards the silver haired jonin behind him. "It seems like you still don't understand. You won't be able to defeat by copying my moves indiscriminately. You can be sure of that."

Kakashi just frowned as he tightened his hold on the kunai and imperceptibly tensed his body. The three genin also seemed to notice this as they quickly got their guard up, Tazuna now looking worried once again.

Zabuza chuckled darkly again. "You do live up to your reputation. I know that you copied my Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu when you talked down the Uchiha kid from killing himself when he couldn't handle our killing intent clashing. By making your clone speak as if it was the real you, you diverted my attention to the clone while the you used the Kirigakure no Jutsu to hide and observe my movements. However…"

Kakashi's eyes widened as another Zabuza appeared behind him in a burst of speed. "I'm not that easy to defeat!" The Zabuza in front of Kakashi burst into water, making the others gasp in shock at that one also being a clone. Zabuza swung his swords with both arms with the intent of bisecting Kakashi for real this time but the silver haired jonin was fast enough to duck under the swing.

Zabuza's overextended swing caused the Kubikiribocho to be inbedded into the ground behind him. Zabuza, however, showed the amount of experience he had when he simply turned around, changing his hold around the handle of his massive sword, and sent Kakashi flying into the river with snapping back kick.

Before either genin could do anything, Zabuza pulled out his sword from the ground and disappeared in a burst of speed.

Kakashi emerged from the water and stared at the water surrounding him with trepidation. 'What's with this water? It's heavier than it should for some reason…'

Zabuza suddenly reappeared standing on the water right behind him, his massive sword strapped to his back. He went through six rapid hand seals before spreading his palms towards Kakashi with his index fingers and thumbs touching at the tip. "Fool! Suiro no Jutsu! (Water Prison Technique)."

"Shit!" Shouted Kakashi as the water around him swirled to form a thick spherical prison around him. 'I thought I could use the water as cover, but it turned out to be a mistake on my part…' thought Kakashi as he glared at Zabuza, who stood at his side with his right hand pressed to the prison, indicating that he needed to be contact with it to keep it active. It seemed like Kakashi still retained some of the sloppiness he got from when he slacked off in his training. When he was in ANBU something like this wouldn't have happened.

Zabuza chuckled as he looked down at the trapped Kakashi. "You fell for it. This is a special prison you can't escape from. You gave me a hard time when you were moving," he admitted before turning towards where the genin and Tazuna were. "Now then, Kakashi… I will finish you off later. First, I'm going to get rid of them. Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" He declared, making a half ram seal with the hand that was free.

Three clones of Zabuza rose from the water in front of him and slowly walked forward and into the land in front of Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke, who had jumped to stand protectively in front of Tazuna.

The original Zabuza chuckled darkly as he leered at the three genin. "You three think that just because you have those forehead protectors you are suddenly real ninja. You might have some skill but a real ninja is someone that has gone through numerous life and death situations. In other words, you can only call yourself ninja if you appear on my bingo book. You three aren't real ninja yet."

The three clones of Zabuza reached for their own copy of Kubikiribocho, the intention to kill the three genin and Zabuza clear on their faces.

That was when Kakashi chuckled, showing amusement for the first time since the confrontation began, and getting Zabuza's attention once again.

"It seems like you haven't learned your lesson, Zabuza…" trailed of Kakashi, his own smirk felt in his words as he looked up at Zabuza with his mismatched eyes, giving the rogue ninja a feeling of foreboding. "You really shouldn't underestimate neither of my students."

Naruto smirked before disappearing in a burst of speed. The eyes of Zabuza's clones and of the original widened in disbelief. Naruto then appeared behind the three clones, his back to them and skidding slightly across the ground with his left leg in front of his right one, with his hidden blades displayed, arms extended at his side and smirk still in place as he looked at the original Zabuza directly in the eye.

The three water clones of Zabuza burst into water.

'What?! What the fuck was that speed?! He suddenly moved as fast me or Kakashi! Isn't he just a genin?!' thought Zabuza before he quickly recalled the name of the blond. While it was still shocking, it made a bit more sense now.

"Hey, No-Brows!" Shouted Naruto and Zabuza twitched when he heard how the blond called him. Naruto pointed at him with his right hidden blade, which was dripping with water, likely from when he cut down the clones. "Put this in your bingo book! The man that will become the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato in the future stands in front of you! I am Naruto Uzumaki! Don't you fucking dare look down on me!"

Behind him, Hinata gave a wide smile as she tightened her stance and activated her Byakugan, ready to fight and unafraid as well.

Sasuke gave the blond a look of envy and anger, knowing that he couldn't have pulled that off, before shaking his head and tightening his own stance in preparation. 'Soon…'

Tazuna couldn't help but grin in excitement as hope bloomed up a thousand-fold deep his chest and spread through his entire body. 'These guys! These guys can really…'

"Uzumaki, huh?" said Zabuza with some annoyance in his voice as he slightly shook with anger at the ease at which his clones were destroyed by a mere kid. "You may not look like them but you certainly do live up to that surname of yours, brat."

Kakashi eyed Zabuza with a frown. 'He is a ninja from Kirigakure. Of course, he should know…'

Sasuke's eyes widened as he understood the implications of Zabuza's words. "What the hell does that mean?" He couldn't help but ask.

Hinata only frowned. As the heiress of the Hyuga Clan, she was well versed in the history of Konoha and its many allies due to her studies. She wasn't surprised at all by Zabuza's words.

Naruto merely raised an eyebrow at him as he loosened his stance a bit. Zabuza couldn't move if he wanted to keep Kakashi imprisoned and he wasn't molding chakra nor his emotions indicted that he was about to attack. While there wasn't really anything that Zabuza could do to harm him, considering the experience he had under his sleeve, he couldn't afford to lower his guard due to how limited he was thanks to the resistance seal.

Zabuza gave Sasuke an amused look before chuckling. "You truly don't know? Konoha has surely fallen low if one of its ninja doesn't know about one of their greatest allies of the past," he said, easily shrugging off the Uchiha's growl of annoyance at the perceived insult. "The Uzumaki Clan of Uzushiogakure (Village Hidden by Whirling Tides)… what a fearsome bunch. With hair as red as blood, members that could live for hundreds of years and still be on their prime, unparalleled masters in the art of fuinjutsu and kenjutsu… it took the combined forces of Kirigakure no Sato, Iwagakure no Sato (Village Hidden by Rocks) and Kumogakure no Sato (Village Hidden by Clouds) to wipe them out during the Second Shinobi World War… and it was damn near thing. A true pyrrhic victory if I ever saw one."

Neither Kakashi nor Hinata were surprised since they already knew this. Naruto just scowled as he was reminded of that fact that he was one of the few members that were still alive from his clan. He knew that there were other survivors out there, and Kushina always intended to look for them when she got the chance, but it kind of hurt to be reminded of the fact that he was the only member of his family in Konoha.

Sasuke, instead of feeling some kind of sympathy for the blond since their situation was very similar, had so many negative feelings towards him that his thoughts were in a different direction. 'He has that kind of background?! That explains why he never seems to run out of chakra and why he is so good with those hidden blades and seals.' His eyes then widened when he recalled the cold words of his mother regarding Naruto when he called her a no-name orphan. 'So that's why she…'

Naruto shook his head before regarding Zabuza with a glare. "You seem to know a bit about me, huh? Don't think that I don't know a few things about you… Kirigakure no Kijin (Demon of the Hidden Mist)."

Zabuza raised an almost no existent eyebrow at him. "Oh?"

Sasuke, Hinata and Tazuna looked at Naruto with curious eyes. It was Hinata who spoke, her voice a bit unsure. "What do you mean by that, Naruto-kun?"

"When I learned we were coming to Nami, I went to investigate a bit on the country so I could be somewhat familiar with the place I was going to spend a month in," he said, not looking away from Zabuza. "After seeing it mentioned in the book about Nami, I also ended up reading a bit about Mizu no Kuni (Land of Water) and Kirigakure no Sato. That was when I learned about their graduation test and the reason why Kirigakure used to be called Chigiri no Sato (Village of the Bloody Mist), students wishing to graduate and join the ninja ranks had to go against one another in fights to the death with those who survived being the ones to become genin."

Kakashi already knew about this so he wasn't surprised. Tazuna paled before turning to look at Zabuza with wide eyes. Sasuke looked at Zabuza now with even more trepidation than before. Hinata gasped before turning towards Zabuza with horrified eyes.

"And that's not the worse part," said Naruto grimly as Zabuza looked down, his brow obscuring his eyes. "Thirteen years ago, Kirigakure had to go through a reformation regarding that system because the previous year appeared someone that forced the higher ups to do it. That someone was a kid that had not even joined the Kirigakure Ninja Academy… that kid went and murdered more than one hundred of the candidates of that year without remorse or hesitation."

Zabuza gave a sigh of nostalgia as a sadistic expression appeared on his eyes. "Man, wasn't that a fun time," he said and chuckled when Sasuke, Hinata and Tazuna paled as now the three of them were looking at him with utter horror. He noticed that Naruto's expression had not shifted from his serious glare. "Hm, despite knowing all that, you aren't afraid of me?"

Naruto scoffed. "You are hardly the scariest thing I've faced, No-Brows," he said, recalling all the experiences he had as Kushina, Minato and Kurama.

While Hinata, Sasuke and Tazuna wondered why the blond could mean by that, Kakashi looked sharply at his blond student. 'Does that mean that he has already make contact with the Kyubi? I must make and speak with Hokage-sama. Perhaps Jiraiya-sama is needed earlier than expected.'

"Enough talking! Hinata-chan! Sasuke! Protect Tazuna-san! I will free Kakashi-sensei so he can beat No-Brows!" Shouted Naruto as he slipped into his ready stance.

Both Hinata and Sasuke, the latter irked at the blond daring to order him around, quickly regained their defensive positions in front of Tazuna. They knew that Naruto was easily the stronger member of the team and thus the one the most chance of succeeding. They also couldn't leave Tazuna unprotected and back him up, since Zabuza could use the opportunity to kill him and make them fail the mission. For now, this was the best course of action.

Zabuza chuckled. "Do you think you even have a chance, brat?" He asked mockingly.

Naruto smirked. "Watch me… if you can," he said before using Shunpo, disappearing in a burst of speed. A moment later he reappeared in front of Zabuza, his right arm cocked back with his finger spread open and his hidden blade prepared to skewer Zabuza right through the face. A line of water suddenly rose behind him as it finally registered the speed at which the blond had moved on top of it.

"Ha! That speed of yours isn't surprising anymore!" Shouted Zabuza before swinging his massive sword in a diagonal downward arc in front of him with his left arm, which was the one free from keeping Kakashi's water prison active. To the horror of Tazuna, the attack was true and the Kubikiribocho nearly cut Naruto in two from right shoulder to left hip, the blade stopping right in the middle of his abdomen.

Zabuza seemed to relish in looking at Naruto's innards, the blood coating his blade and the look of frozen shock that was plastered in the face of the surely dead blond. "And honestly, I've seen faster. Ah, what a pity. So much wasted potential…" trailed off Zabuza before he turned towards the blond teammates to relish in their horrified faces at watching the blond die so gruesomely only for his eyes to widen when he saw their smirking faces. 'Huh?'

"You still don't get it, Zabuza…" spoke Kakashi suddenly and Zabuza's eyes widened when the blond that was literally hanging from his blade suddenly shoved the hidden blade on his left hand into Zabuza's left forearm, skewering it completely and cleanly through. Zabuza gasped in pain and shock and he turned towards the blond he was sure he just killed to see that his face that had frozen in shock after being supposedly killed was contorted into a savage grin.

"Hehe." Zabuza's eyes widened even further when he heard the voice of the blond chuckling darkly behind him. "Kaboom."

The real Naruto, who had been standing on the water a few feet behind Zabuza jumped back as the blond that had been nearly bisected by Zabuza exploded into a great conflagration of fire and smoke that obscured both Kakashi and Zabuza from sight but also dispersed some of the mist due to the shockwave it produced.

The smoke quickly cleared and it was with visible relieve that Tazuna watched the left arm of a clearly injured Zabuza being easily held back by Kakashi who was only soaking wet. It seemed like Zabuza had been about to throw his massive blade at Naruto but was stopped by Kakashi grabbing him. The left side of Zabuza had some serious burns and most of his bandages had burned off, revealing the fact that he had jagged sharp teeth. He was also bleeding from hole he had in his left forearm, however it seemed like no nerves had been hit since he was still tightly holding his blade.

The now free Kakashi glared at Zabuza with his mismatched eyes, a glare in his eyes that for a moment honestly scared Zabuza. "… you do not underestimate neither of my students. Specially Naruto Uzumaki," he said, tightening the hold he had on Zabuza's left wrist.

Zabuza grimaced in pain as he glared at the grinning blond who stood quite a few yards away from him now. "Ho-how?!"

"The moment I moved using Shunpo, I created a Bunshin Daibakuha behind you and used Kawarimi with it. Then it was only a matter of making you believe you actually killed me for the few seconds it takes to trigger the explosion. I knew Kakashi-sensei would be protected by the water prison so that's why I went with that plan out of the dozens I had to force you to release the prison since it was the one with highest chance of injuring you, which would make things even easier," he said before sending a two fingered salute towards his silver haired jonin. "All yours, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi gave his blond student an approving nod. "That was perfectly executed, Naruto. Well done. Go back to the others. I will deal with this," he said and watched as Naruto quickly used Shunpo to move back to stand next his teammates. Sasuke looked at him with envy, Hinata gave him a relieved smile and Tazuna patted him on the back with an extremely relieved expression on his face. Kakashi looked directly into Zabuza's eyes, the tomoe of his sharingan slowly increasing the speed at which they were spinning around the pupil. "Let me tell you that the same trick won't work against me twice. What are going to do now?"

Zabuza's eye twitched before he tried to use his strength to force down Kakashi's arm. His eyes widened in pain and surprise when Kakashi's arm barely budged as his glare only intensified. 'My strength is being affected by the burns caused by that brat! I can no longer win in a physical contest. That means…' Zabuza thought before quickly stopping applying strength downwards and sharply switched is efforts to pull back. The motion was so sudden that in the moment Kakashi reflexively loosened his hold when he stopped applying strength Zabuza managed to release himself from Kakashi's hold.

The two of them simultaneously jumped back. While in the air, Zabuza formed an ox hand seal. Kakashi's left eye widened as his tomoe began to spin even faster and he did the same at exactly the same time as Zabuza.

Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke noticed and their eyes widened. 'The Sharingan…'

Kakashi and Zabuza landed back on the water, now yards away from the other, and began to go through a long chain of the exact same hand seals at the exact same time. They performed forty-four hand seals in just a few seconds, the water beneath them starting slowly lose its pacific state as they neared its end, before the sequence ended in the bird hand seal.

At the same exact time, both Kakashi and Zabuza shouted the name of their technique as the water in between them began rise up. "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu! (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)."

Twin eastern dragons made of water with glowing yellow eyes rose up twirling around each other. When they reached their apex, they roared and lunged towards the humans the stood opposite of them. They, however, met in the middle and clashed against one another before collapsing in massive burst of water that disturbed the water of the river to the point that massive waves were created due to the amount of water that suddenly fell back into it.

As tens of thousands of gallons of water were sent their way in the shape of a wide current, Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke had to use chakra to stick the ground to maintain their footing and Naruto produced a chain from his back that he wrapped around Tazuna to keep him from being dragged by the current.

Seemingly undisturbed by the consequences of their techniques, Zabuza and Kakashi were pushing against one another. Zabuza using his massive blade, this time with his right arm since that side wasn't quite as injured and thus held more strength, and Kakashi using a simple kunai. They glared at each other, the tomoe of Kakashi's sharingan once again spinning almost lazily.

'Something's weird… What's going on…?' Zabuza thought as he tried to push back against Kakashi, using his injured left arm to put more strength into his efforts. He thought back to when they went through the hand seals for the Suiryudan no Jutsu at the exact same time. 'The Sharingan is supposed to be an ability that allows the user to memorize the opponent's technique and then copy it. However… our techniques were executed at the exact same time! Did he…'

The contest of strength continued without any of them coming out as the superior one.

Zabuza clicked his tongue in annoyance. "This guy…!" Zabuza quickly disengaged from Kakashi and jumped back a few meters, Kakashi doing the same at the exact same time. Zabuza then began to jog in a circle on top the water and Kakashi did the same, his movements matching Zabuza's perfectly until they stood until the other had been after jumping back from their latest contest of strength. Zabuza winced a bit as he got into the pose he took whenever he was going to use the Kirigakure no Jutsu…

… only for his eyes to widen when he saw that Kakashi was doing the exact same pose.

Tazuna's eyes widened from where he was as Naruto released him from his chain. "He's moving just like him! And with such perfect timing!"

The three genin just continued to look at the ongoing fight with focused eyes, not wanting to miss a single moment of it. This was also the first time they saw Kakashi truly serious (In the case Hinata and Sasuke. 'Naruto' already had an idea of what he was capable of) and that was further motivation to pay the utmost attention.

'This guy… My movements are being perfectly…' he thought, slowly lowering his left arm, not without a wince of pain, and watching Kakashi doing the same along with him.

"… predicted by him," said Kakashi, his Sharingan locked directly with Zabuza's eyes.

Zabuza froze as he stared at Kakashi in disbelief. 'What?! He read what I was going to say in my mind?!' he thought before joining his hands by the tips of his fingers in front of his chest, watching as Kakashi did the same along with him. "Damn it. This guy…"

"… has such unpleasant eyes, right?" finished Kakashi his sentence almost mockingly.

Zabuza's entire body twitched in anger before glaring at Kakashi with bloodshot eyes as he former the tiger hand seal. Kakashi did them same at the same time.

"What you are doing is just copying! Nothing original! You can't beat me, you monkey!" The two of them spoke at the same time and Zabuza's expression morphed into one of utter disbelief.

He quickly managed to get his wits about him and quickly began to go through a sequence of hand seals. 'I'll make it so you'll never open that copycat mouth of yours again!' He was forced to end it in the last tiger hand seal, for hand seals still remaining to complete the technique, when he saw himself appeared slightly behind Kakashi, who was also on the tiger hand seal. His eyes widened. 'Me?! That can't be?! Is he using a genjutsu?!'

Kakashi then suddenly went through the last four remaining hand seals as the tomoe of his sharingan began to spin rapidly once again. "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu! (Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique)."

Zabuza's eyes almost flew out of their sockets. "Wha… what?!" He couldn't do anything as in front of Kakashi water rose and swirled into a vortex that quickly conjured gallons upon gallons of water and then swiftly shot towards the rogue ninja from Kirigakure in the form of a raging stream of swirling water that damaged everything on its path.

"This can't be…!" Screamed Zabuza as he was hit by the swirling waters shaped and moving almost like a wide like drill point, the remaining water of the river being pushed back with even more force and quantity that when the Suiryudan had been used. Nearby trees were ripped apart as Zabuza was buffeted around as he was consumed by the chaotic waters. 'I was the one who tried to execute the technique but I couldn't keep up with him!' That was the only thing Zabuza could think of as he was pushed around harshly by the swirling waters.

Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke had to once again do the same thing they did when water dragons has clashed.

Zabuza's punishment continued until it was painfully stopped against a tree that managed to not be ripped a part because it was noticeably bigger and stronger than the others ad because the Daibakufu no Jutsu had begun to lose its power. As the attack died down, Zabuza could be seen leaning against the tree that had harshly stopped him, haggard breaths leaving his mouth as he tried to raise his limps arms to no avail. They had gone numb due to the incredible force Kakashi's last attack carried and since he was hit directly by it, plus the injuries he already sustained from the blond's exploding clone, the strain on his bones and muscles just became too much to handle.

Four kunai were suddenly flying towards Zabuza and the rogue ninja from Kirigakure screamed in pain when they imbedded themselves deeply into his arms and legs, one for each.

Kakashi appeared crouching on the lowest branch of the tree that had stopped Zabuza. He looked down at his finished opponent. "This is the end," he declared with finality.

"Why…?" Zabuza looked up and glared back at Kakashi, his face contorted in pain. "Can you see the future?"

"Yeah," said Kakashi simply before raising a kunai. "And your future is death."

Then, before Kakashi could carry out his sentence, two senbon flew directly towards Zabuza's neck. Before Kakashi could do more than widen his eyes, Zabuza collapsed to the ground not moving and his face frozen in a expression of pained shock. The eyes of Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke and Tazuna, all of whom had run over after Kakashi's technique finished ad things calmed down, also widened when they saw this.

All of them turned towards where the senbon had come from to see a figure standing on one of the branches of a nearby tree that miraculously had not been ripped apart by Kakashi's last attack. They were wearing a pinstriped outfit which stopped at their knees. Over this they wore a green haori with white trimmings, and around their waist a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped around twice. They also wore light-brown platoon sandals with straps in the same color as their kimono and nail polish on their fingernails and toenails in matching blue green color. Their long black hair was gathered in a white bun holder, while two locks of hair fell loose framing their masked face, bound with metal hair cuffs at the ends. Said mask was white with thin, curved eye-holes and a red wavy design in place of the mouth, as well as the Kirigakure symbol etched in the top.

"It's true. He died," they said, their voice so muffled by their mask and their clothes so bulky around their form that their gender couldn't be determined.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes before jumping down and kneeling next to the prone and still body of Zabuza.

Naruto raised an eyebrow when he picked up the sudden emotions of worry and panic coming from the new arrival. 'Hm, what's this? Perhaps they are with Zabuza?' He thought to himself as he decided to let this play out without interfering. It was not like he could explain why he was attacking the new arrival, who to the others was apparently an enemy of the seemingly deceased Zabuza, without having to explain how he had gotten to that conclusion. It was best to not deal with that annoyance for now.

Kakashi pressed his index and middle fingers to Zabuza's neck and checked for his carotid pulse. After a few moments he removed his hand and looked up at the new arrival with a frown. "He really is dead."

The new arrival bowed formally at the waist towards Kakashi. "Thank you very much. I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza."

Kakashi kept the serious expression on his face as he replied. "That mask… If I remember correctly, you must be a hunter-nin from Kirigakure."

The hunter-nin from their bow. "You are very well informed."

The three genin and Tazuna cautiously approached in order to listen to the conversation with more clarity.

"Yes. I am a member of the pursuing ninja unit that hunt exiled ninja," they said and Naruto could tell by their emotions and the beating of their heart that they were lying. Also, when he got this close he could finally determine the gender of this person thanks to his nose.

'Oh? So that's how it is, huh?' He thought with amusement as he crossed his arms and kept a mildly curious expression on his face as he looked on.

Despite the voice being muffled, Kakashi still managed to get something from it. 'They aren't that much older than Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke. Yet, they are already a hunter-nin. They are not an ordinary person,' he thought as his frown intensified while looking at the hunter-nin.

After a tense moment Kakashi simply stood up, shoved his hands into his pocket and walked calmly walked towards his team and Tazuna. "Then I leave the rest to you, Hunter-nin-san," said Kakashi, losing his frown and adopting his characteristic lazy and uncaring expression.

"Of course," the hunter-nin said before they moved from the tree branch they stood on towards the ground right next to the prone Zabuza in a swirl of mist and leaves from the tree. They kneeled down and threw one of Zabuza's arm over their shoulders before rising up a bit. "The battle ends here for now. I must go dispose of this corpse. It's a body filled with many secrets after all. If you'll excuse me," they said before making a half ram seal with their left arm and disappeared with Zabuza's body in a swirl of mist and grass blades from the ground.

Naruto stared at the place they had been with a frown before turning towards the silver-haired jonin. "Kakashi-sensei. They…"

Kakashi sighed as he reached towards his forehead protector and brought it down to once again cover his Sharingan. "I know," he said simply before turning towards Naruto, his expression still lazy and uncaring. "Naruto, you are in charge until further notice. Make sure Tazuna-san arrives safely to his house and establish a perimeter around it with your clones. Hinata, Sasuke, listen to Naruto. Take his words as if they were coming from me, understood?"

Naruto simply nodded at him. "Sure thing, Kakashi-sensei. You can count of me."

Hinata could tell what was about to happen and she deactivated her Byakugan before nodding at Kakashi with a smile. "Of course, Kakashi-sensei."

Sasuke scowled. "What the hell does that-!" He paused in mid speech and his eyes widened when Kakashi suddenly collapsed forward, two clones that Naruto suddenly created preventing him from hitting the ground face first.

"What the hell?!" Exclaimed Tazuna as he looked at Kakashi with worry. "Is he okay?!"

Naruto simply nodded with a smile as his clones put the unconscious and limp body of Kakashi in comfortable position to carry him around. "Yeah. He's just a bit roughed up and suffering from a mild case of chakra exhaustion. Nothing that a night of rest and a few complete meals shouldn't solve," he answered before giving Tazuna an expectant look. "Well, what are we waiting for? You heard Kakashi-sensei. Let's go to your house, Tazuna-san."

Tazuna sighed in relief at the blond's words. "Right. Then my house it this way. It should take about an hour to get there."

Naruto nodded at him before turning towards his teammates. "Alright. Hinata-chan, can you take point? Thank you. Sasuke, please take the left flank. I will bring up the rear and the right flank with my clones. We'll form a diamond formation around Tazuna and the clones carrying Kakashi. I doubt we will be attacked on our way there but there's no such thing as excessive paranoia, right?"

Hinata nodded at him and took her position. Sasuke did the same reluctantly after glaring at Naruto for a moment. The blond himself created another clone that moved to the right flank while the original stood on the back of their formation. They began to make their way towards Tazuna's house in that manner, the destroyed forest and altered channel of the river being the only proof that two high-leveled elite ninjas had fought here.

XXXXXXXXXX

(Main Settlement of Nami no Kuni – Tazuna's House – About an Hour Later)

Team seven, with the unconscious Kakashi, and Tazuna arrived to a medium sized, two floor house that was directly adjacent to the ocean. They had followed the river until they reached the entrance of the main town of Nami no Kuni before they walked towards were Tazuna lived, which was on the docks of said town, just by the ocean. They could even see the part of bridge that was connected to the town from there and they noticed that the distance between the bridge and Tazuna's house was not that big.

Tazuna's house had cream colored walls, which had a few rectangular windows, and had red colored tiles, with the second floor being smaller than the first one and resting directly on the center of the structure. And while the house looked comfy enough from the outside, one could clearly see that it lacked some maintenance, but compared to the others, this one actually looked nice.

As Tazuna knocked on the door and announced his arrival, Naruto tilted his head and looked in the direction of the town. His expression was contorted into a troubled frown, which mirrored the one on Hinata's face. Sasuke also looked a bit disturbed. After they saw the condition the town was in, it was understandable these were the expressions they sported on their faces.

Gato deserved to die and if Naruto had it his way, much to the approval of the parts of him that were Kushina and Kurama, he would make it slow and painful for that sick bastard. However, the Minato in him first suggested to learn more and make the most out of the situation before moving in to kill Gato painfully and slowly. It was one thing to simply disregard another person's feelings but it was a completely different one to ruin the life of someone didn't deserve it so you could satiate your lust for wealth and having power over others.

"Father! You came back!"

Naruto heard the female voice and he immediately stopped thinking so darkly. He turned towards the voice and smirked when he saw the mature beauty that had greeted them. She had dark blue colored hair that reached the small of her back and long bangs framed her pretty face. Her body was something else too as beneath that red shirt and blue skirt, Naruto could see that she had big breasts, wide hips and a nice plump ass.

'Nice. She can give Anko a run for her money in the size department,' thought Naruto perversely.

Tazuna beamed as he hugged his daughter. "Of course, I came back Tsunami-chan! And I brought a group of super ninjas that will not only protect me while I finish the bridge but also get rid of Gato for good," said Tazuna as he stepped out of the hug and to the side, so Tsunami could see Team seven.

Tsunami looked at them with a smile on her face as she bowed in thanks. "You all have my gratitude for bringing back my father safe and sound and helping us get rid of the despicable man," she said, her voice becoming somewhat harsh at the as her black eyes narrowed into a frown.

Hinata nodded her head, frown still marring her beautiful features. "Of course, Tsunami-san. After seeing the state of the town, there is no way we are going to allow that evil man to continue on with his wicked ways," assured Hinata, her voice easily carrying her resolve.

She nodded gratefully at her before blinking and gasping when she noticed the unconscious form of Kakashi being carried by what looked like identical twins of the handsome blond. "Oh my! Is he okay?"

Naruto waved her concern off as he smiled at her. "Yeah. He just needs a place to lay down and sleep and after that generous amounts of food. He should be back to full health in a few days afterwards," assured Naruto.

Slightly behind him, Sasuke simply scoffed and crossed his arms before turning his head towards the see.

Tsunami, despite being the words of the blond, still looked a bit unsure. "Um, okay then. Now, please come inside and make yourselves at home," she said with another bow and stepping aside so they could enter. The group made it into the house and Tsunami motioned all of them towards the living room. When the Konoha ninja and Tazuna were there she spoke once again and motioned towards the stairs. "I can see all of you are tired and wary from your trip so I'm going to prepare something to eat for you. The rooms are upstairs. There are two guestrooms that you can use. You can put him in one of them," she instructed before bowing at them, and with a discreet look in Naruto's direction that was noticed not only by the blond in question, she went into the kitchen.

Naruto watched her go for a moment before turning towards his clones. "Take him to one of the rooms and laid him down. Take off his sandals, vest and forehead protector so he is more comfortable. Oh, and put some cloth on top of his left eye in case he wakes up. His Sharingan constantly draws chakra when it isn't covered and that's the last thing we want in that state," he ordered and watched as the clone went upstairs before turning towards his teammates. "Sasuke, since you barely tolerate me and Hinata-chan is more comfortable around me, are you going to share with Kakashi-sensei?"

Sasuke just rolled his eyes before crossing his arms and looking away in annoyance. "Whatever."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and exchanged a significant look with Hinata that had him grinning. "Alright then," he declared after a moment, getting the attention of his teammates and Tazuna, who looked at him curiously. "While we wait for the food, we should discuss what we are going to do while we wait for Zabuza to recuperate and to prepare for his next attempt at Tazuna's life," he suggested brightly.

A pause.

"What?!" Those were the screams of incredulity that came from his teammates and Tazuna as they looked at him with wide eyes.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at them. Tazuna he could understand, since he was a civilian, but he seriously had expected both Sasuke and Hinata to have picked up on it as well. Oh, well. "You didn't notice? Okay, so this is how Hunter-nin are supposed to go about their hunts…"