17 A Forest Fairy *wave part 6*

"Sensei, where did Naruto go?" Sakura asked when she took a moment to stop mentally rap*ing Sasuke. Kakashi sighed, he saw him walk off into the forest, no doubt due to the fact he was depressed about not being able to do the tree climbing exercise. "I'll go check on him." He said before shunshin'd off into the forest. It only took the copy-nin twelve seconds to find a collapsed form of a red-haired teenager. He appeared next to the body and carefully flipped it over. Kakashi's eyes widened after a moment of looking at the teens face "This- Naruto?!" He couldn't fathom this, he didn't even recognize him at first, but those eyes and whiskers are the only things that remained unchanged. He kneeled down and checked for wounds, seeing none he breathed a sigh of relief, shaking the boy gently a low growl escaped the mouth of Naruto as he was brought back into consciousness. His face froze as he saw Kakashi ask him "Naruto? Are you okay?" Naruto nodded as he felt his face and arms, marveling at their new look. "Better than ever," Naruto said in a deep voice, a far cry from his former high pitched one.

As he stood up, Kakashi could hear the bones cracking and popping on Naruto's body like sticks in a fire. Kakashi was only 5'9 and now had to tilt his head a bit to look into the eyes of the twelve-year-old Naruto. "Hinata is going to be either scared or impressed..." Naruto mumbled. Kakashi's eyes widened a bit at this 'don't tell me...' "Naruto, did I hear Hinata? As in the heir to the Hyuuga clan?" He asked with trepidation. Naruto flinched a bit at being heard, 'curse my mouth'. "Yeah, we've been an item since last valentines day, so about... two months now?" He said simply. "Naruto, you have to be careful, the Hyuuga wouldn't take very kindly to, you courting their daughter."

"You don't have to worry Sensei." Naruto said looking into his sensei's face, "I will make them agree to it through my actions. Naruto Uzumaki doesn't back down." with that he started walking back to the others and Kakashi followed after him. A minute later Naruto asked "By the way sensei, why didn't you tell me you were my father's student" At this question Kakashi tripped over himself and fell flat on his face, he quickly sat up while sputtering "How-w-w-- What how did you, I mean HOW?!" While Kakashi was panicking, Naruto was merely laughing. "I met him in my mind, he sealed a part of himself along with the yin portion of the Kyuubi. The only reason I'm alive right now is because he gave that Yin part to restore balance to Kyuubi." Kakashi looked down at the ground and sighed as he started talking "I'm so sorry Naruto, I was planning to tell you when you were graduated, I knew that your drive was becoming Hokage, and telling you who your father was may have caused you to stop trying, or even hate all of Konoha for hating you when your father had been killed by the Kyuubi to save them.

"He didn't die fighting the Kyuubi," Naruto said. "He died fighting the person controlling the Kyuubi. He even warned me not to try fighting him because he would kill me with a snap of his fingers. Also, If you don't teach me anything good since I know my father took good care of you, I'll be really pissed. He finished with a mischievous grin. "Kakashi just started laughing and promised to himself to take care of this boy. "Alright, I will. Now, let's go back to the others, they were worried about you. And try not to surprise them with your new look too much, kay'?" Kakashi said with his eyesmile.

The walk back was passed in relative silence, mostly only talking about what happened to his body, Naruto just passed it off as his bloodline evolving, sort of like a sharingans tomoe. Once they reached the place where the other two genin were practicing, Sasuke and Sakura were confused who had walked back with their sensei until they noticed the whiskers and same clothes. "Naruto?..." they both spoke simultaneously. Naruto had to then 'explain' his bloodline and how it evolved causing him to look different. Once he had appeased the curiosity of the two, he walked to the kunai that was still stuck in the ground and grabbed it.

'Alright, circulate it to the soles of his feet. Keep it even, and don't lose focus.' Naruto then started walking, not running towards the tree. First foot, stuck second stuck.' Kakashi was was clearly surprised, Sasuke was livid, and Sakura was for the first time questioning Sasuke's godhood. Before long, Naruto was at the top of the tree. This was surprisingly easy for him, he had constantly played games, where you had to know where the keys were on his keyboard, were without looking, what they did, what they enemy could do. So keeping his concentration split while walking was easy as could be. Also, it seemed like the nature chakra in the tree was almost calling out to him and supplementing his own, and making sure it stayed at the right amount. 'so this is the difference in a humans chakra and a tailed beasts, humans are just using their own body's chakra, but tailed beasts chakra comes from the earth itself, it gives it to them freely. Maybe I could even unlock sage mode easier..' Like this, the training went on till dark.

"Alright everyone lets head back, we will continue tomorrow," Kakashi stated and the other two genins stopped and went over to Kakashi, but Naruto just continued walking up and down the trees. "Naruto? are you coming?" Kakashi asked him. "No, I'm going to keep training," Naruto replied. "Do you know you will be okay?" Kakashi asked, clearly hinting to his supposed visions of the future. "Yes, I will be completely fine." Kakashi just nodded at Naruto's words and walked off, the other two genin running to catch up.

"Kurama?" Naruto said in his mind a few minutes after the others left. "What?" He heard the response. "If I have the chakra organs of a tailed beast now, that means instead of normal chakra im using Senjutsu chakra, right?" He asked, hopeful. "No, you are now essentially a chakra beast in human form. While nature energy is in tune with you, you still can't use it as you don't know how to absorb it. However, there is a way to make it accept you since nature energy is semi-sentient and only gives it to those worthy." Kurama told him "Alright, how do I make it accept me? Naruto asked expectantly, it was times like these that his biological age really overcame his mental one, even if it was only of a 14-year-old compared to a twelve-year-old. "Well, the easiest one is to simply send out your chakra to the plants around you, nourishing them, showing that you care for it. If you do this enough it will begin to accept you and let you use some. The more you do this the more it will let you have." Kurama stated.

Then I guess I have to begin. Naruto plopped down in the area surrounded by trees. He began to send out his new chakra the same way he sent out the yang energy to form his armor, except it went into the ground around him instead of his skin. The chakra that existed in him after his change into a tailed beast was huge, and with the chakra that Kurama still was able to send him, he basically had an infinite amount of chakra. Before long the red mist of his chakra had spread around thirty feet around him, covering the ground and closest trees to him. He watched in wonder as flowers bloomed around him and the trees grew bigger. He could feel the earth itself talking to him, he could feel its thanks. He could feel its love, and he could even feel a slight fulfilling feeling as if he was food to the hungry, it made him feel happy, and he couldn't help but say to the earth. "Your welcome."

This continued for six hours till he abruptly fell asleep. The flowers and grass around him still growing, came around him and formed a soft bed for him and the trees leaves covered the area above him, to block out the evening sun and then, the life of the forest returned to normal as they protected the child that they loved.

*****-Inside Zabuza's base.-*****

Within the base Haku watched over the bedridden Zabuza, mixing some of the herbs they had.

"So even you have come back defeated."The hunter-nin turned to see Gato standing in between two thugs. One of them was shirtless with a black hakama, and an eye patch on his right eye. His left shoulder was adorned with a vine tattoo pattern while he had barbed wire tattoos running down his arms. The other was wearing a baggy gray jacket festooned with many pockets, a pair of black shorts and a black beanie on his head. Both of them had a hand holding the sheaths of their swords, trying to make themselves look menacing. Haku thought the pair looked pathetic with their posturing.

"It looks like the Kiri Ninja are pretty pathetic." Gato continued as he moved into the room, feeling confident now that Zabuza was bedridden. "You can't even avenge your men, how pathetic. And you call yourself a devil?" "…" Zabuza said nothing, causing both of Gato's Ronin to start unsheathing their blades. "Hold on for a moment," Gato held up a hand as he continued walking up to Zabuza. He stopped at the bed and looked down at the Kiri missing ninja, "Hey. There's no need to stay silent."

Gato began to reach out his hand towards Zabuza's throat, but before it could get there the hunter-nin grabbed onto the business man's wrist. "Don't touch Zabuza-sama with your dirty hands!" The hunter ninja snarled, giving him a glare that looked like it would burn straight through the fat businessman. "Hey let go! Let go you fucking- ARGH!" Gato shouted, only to scream as the hunter ninja tossed him back.

The two ronin moved their hands towards their swords. However, their eyes widened when they found the hunter ninja between them, holding their own swords against their throats.

"You shouldn't do that," The hunter ninja said. "I'm really angry right now."

Gato and both his cronies began to sweat.

"One more time! if you fail one more time! You are dead!" Gato shouted as he stood up and shook his hand in a fist. "I'm giving you one more chance to complete this! If you fail, I'll make sure that every ninja in Kiri knows where you are!" Gato and his two thugs left, slamming the door on their way out.

"Haku," Zabuza said, getting his partner's attention. "You didn't have to do that."

"I know," Haku said with a smile, spotting the protrusion in the sheets that showed Zabuza was holding a kunai. "But it's still too early to kill Gato. If we cause a commotion right now, the hunters will be after us again. We must be patient."Zabuza sighed. "Damn…I hate it when you're right." Haku just smiled as she asked, "Right about what?"

*****-The next morning-****

"It seems we're out of medical herbs," Haku mumbled with a sigh. Closing the pantry the hunter ninja walked back into Zabuza's room. Walking over to the bed, Haku looked down at him. "You were far more injured than I thought. We're all out of herbs." "What's your point?" grunted Zabuza.

"My point is I need to go out and get some more for you," Haku gave the man a blank stare, slightly irritated by Zabuza's attitude. "I'll be back sometime around noon, I should be able to get enough for you to finish healing." "Whatever," Zabuza grunted, trying to shift his position in the bed despite the sharp pains he felt as he moved. Not waiting for a reply Haku left the room.

Haku hummed a small tune while walking through the forest, looking for the herbs that the fake hunter ninja had found a few days ago. After passing by a particularly large tree Haku found the herbs. Bending over to pick one up before pausing and marveling at the beauty that had sprung up in the area since the last time she had been here. She then noticed a figure lying on the ground a little ways away. Acting cautious Haku approached the figure to see who it was, not recognizing the redhead, but she still got a blush at his near perfect body and face, that was when she noticed the Konoha shinobi headband tied around his arm, 'Reinforcements?' She thought. The hunter's breath hitched, wondering what should be done.

Kneeling down Haku looked the figure over. The boy had messy maroon red hair along with three whisker-like scars on each cheek on his well shaped and handsome face. She could see how tightly his cloths hun to his body, showing off his surprisingly muscular figure underneath.

Haku reached a hand out to the teen's throat. This boy was a hindrance to Zabuza's plan; the best option would be to remove him before he could cause a problem. However, Haku paused and gently began to shake the teen's shoulder.

"Hey, wake up. You'll catch a cold if you sleep out here," Haku said. Naruto stirred, stifling a groan he opened his eyes. And the first thing he saw was… "An Angel... Am I in Heaven?" he asked as he saw a beautiful girl with a heart-shaped face and a set of chocolate brown eyes. Him being slightly groggy and his sleep-addled mind coming to what he obviously thought was the correct conclusion.

Haku blushed at being called an angel, "I'm afraid not. If I was, you would have to be dead in order for us to meet." Naruto blinked a bit as the blurriness to his vision began to clear up. Sitting up he stretched his arms above his head as he let out a loud yawn. Bringing his hands back down and leaning against them, Naruto turned to look at the person who had woken him, Haku.

It was a young woman who looked to be maybe a year or two older than him. She had long dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. She was wearing a pink yukata with blue floral designs on it. A small black choker was around her neck. She was currently smiling at him with a kind smile.

Naruto blushed a bit, "sorry. I was just um… taking an um nap." he said.

Haku giggled a bit, "That's perfectly alright. Though, you should be more careful, if you stay out here all night long you may catch a cold and die. Then you really would be seeing angels." Naruto just scratched the back of his head. He paused as he looked over at Haku and tilted his head and asked. though knowing the answer, "So what about you? What are you doing this early in the morning?"

Haku smiled and lifted the basket she was holding, "I'm picking some herbs for my friend who got injured a while ago. I'm gathering these to help in his recovery."

"That's pretty cool," Naruto said, gaining an interested look in his eye. "I know a bit about herbs since a friend of mine owns a florist shop. Do you need any help picking them?" 'I really should stop pulling this shit out of my ass.' He thought to himself.

"That would be nice," Haku said as she bent down, setting the basket back on the ground and grabbed a few of the herbs. Nodding his head Naruto formed a quick hand seal, "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" A clone appeared next to Naruto before it hopped off towards the house. Bending down Naruto looked over to see Haku looking at him curiously.

"It's a clone." He explained, figuring that was why she was looking at him. "I have to tell my sensei where I'm at; if I don't show up he'll probably come looking for me." Haku nodded at the explanation and, feeling this would be an opportunity to gain some insight into Zabuza's enemies the fake hunter decided to start a conversation. "So you're a ninja?" she asked.