Chapter 8
Middle of Konoha 2 months after the bell test
We currently see Naruto in a bush with a radio earpiece in and listening to orders from Kakashi, the current D-rank they were on was the dreaded Tora the cat mission, capture Tora and return him back to Madam Shijimi, Naruto was listening to Kakashi using the codenames he gave them and replied with "Copy Sensei, I have Tora in my sights, he is about 5 meters North of my location close to Broody (Sasuke) and a little whiles away from Screecher (Sakura)" Naruto finished as he kept moving to the edge of the bush still being silent until he heard Kakashi tell him to stay in position until Sasuke and Sakura were in postion, Naruto sighed and 10 minutes later they made their move to catch Tora, Sasuke dived at it scaring it towards Sakura who went to catch it making it run to Naruto who let it jump into his arms and scratched it's ear gently "Target captured Sensei, the target has the red ribbon on it's ear, definitely Tora" Naruto finished as he sat next to a tree playing with Tora while Sakura and Sasuke got their breath and glared at Tora "And you two wonder why poor Tora runs away from you? You do nothing but glare at her, poor kitty" Naruto said sarcastically while playing with Tora who seemed to make a noise in agreement.
After a minute Kakashi appeared next to them and saw Naruto with Tora, "Let's go finish this mission then we'll see about taking a new one" Kakashi said as Naruto stood up carrying Tora whilst his teammates dragged themselves back to the Hokage tower still glaring at the cat, upon entering the mission room Naruto spotted Madam Shijimi and handed her Tora, until he saw how she was 'hugging' the cat, he took Tora back and glared at Madam Shijimi before saying.
"You can't cuddle Tora like that, she's living too probably growing near her end because of you and your so called hugs" this shocked everyone that Naruto would talk to the Fire Daimyo's wife like that before Madam Shijimi asked.
"How should I show my darling Tora all my love then?" She sounded defeated which surprised Hiruzen the most as usually she would be stubborn and try to fight anyone who accuses her of that.
"Just hug her gently, stroke her fur softly and don't wrap your arms around her neck, it seriously hurts her oh and get another cat as when she is in heat she will need the companion" He finished as he showed her how to carefully take care of Tora and she nodded taking in his instructions as she put her hands out for Tora who seemed to flinch away before giving it a go and enjoying how much different it was now, she stayed still while Madam Shijimi had smiled at Tora and rubbed her ears as well, this happened until Hiruzen cleared his throat.
"Well Madam Shijimi" Hiruzen said softly as she turned to him still caring for Tora who looked as if she was in heaven "I believe that is the mission done" he finished as she nodded and handed over the mission money and some extra "Uh Ma'am there is too much here" Hiruzen said as Madam Shijimi just shook her head.
"The extra is for this young man, he looks so much like Hikari-chan and the fact he has her attitude to tell me how to look after my baby I believe he deserves it" After she finished she didn't realize the wide eyed Naruto who whispered softly.
"You knew kaa-chan?" It was worded as a question but was more so a statement as Madam Shijimi turned to him and nodded confused. "How did you know kaa-chan?" he asked softly and surprised everyone as they saw the tears building up in his eyes.
"Hikari-chan was his kaa-chan Hiruzen-dono?" She asked to the Hokage who nodded confused as to how she knew Hikari "That would explain why Tora loves you so much, after all Tora's parents were owned by your kaa-chan" Madam Shijimi said before thinking "So you must be little Naruto huh?" She asked as Naruto nodded, she knew of him through letters that Hikari and the Fire Daimyo would send each other when Hikari was still alive. Madam Shijimi walked up to him and smiled "She's in a better place now Naruto, but if you need someone to talk to I'm sure me and Kaneko-kun would be happy to have you over to talk" (Kaneko is the Fire Daimyo) Naruto was stood stunned before he smiled softly and nodded and Madam Shijimi knew she should be heading home so she walked towards the door "I shall be heading home now, I'm sure Kaneko-kun will want you over for a meeting sometime Hiruzen-dono so I'll see you then, if not then we'll see each other next when the Chunnin exams are happening" with that Madam Shijimi left with Tora purring softly in her arms, after a small amount of silence it was soon filled with laughing from Naruto.
"What's funny Naruto?" Asked Hiruzen as Naruto gained a smirk before he sat down.
"The fact I just got rid of one of the dreaded D-ranks" Naruto replied stunning everyone until Hiruzen burst out into laughter as well "So I guess the tournament you all had on to see who would end up kill the cat first can be called off, after all it's never going to die until old age gets it" Naruto smirked at the shocked looks of the chunnins in the that he knew of it "Oh and I'm sure team 7 has enough D-ranks under their belt to get a C-rank, isn't that right Sandaime-sama?" Naruto asked making the Hokage and the chunnin check their files and then nod defeatedly.
"Alright call in the client" Hiruzen said to one of the 2 chunnins who nodded and went to get Tazuna "Team 7 your mission will be to escort Tazuna the bridge builder home to Nami no Kuni (Wave Country) and protect him while he builds a bridge that will connect Nami and Hi no Kuni (Fire Country) together" he finishes off getting a nod from the team as Tazuna enters "This is Tazuna, the VIP of this mission who you will all be protecting" Hiruzen said as he then turned from team 7 to Tazuna "Tazuna this is team 7, the strongest out of the current graduates from the academy" Hiruzen said as Tazuna started to make remarks about the team which was silenced by someone with a kunai to his neck and the bottle of sake he had disappearing from his hand, when he turned to look at who it was he saw Naruto there which surprised everyone but the Hokage at how fast he was and the Hokage knew about his seals that are slowing him down, the speed he moved at was as fast if not faster than Kakashi when he stops holding back.
"So Tazuna-san do you believe us inadequate to escort you back to Nami and protect you whilst you build your bridge?" Naruto asked almost daring Tazuna to speak out, when Tazuna shook his head Naruto sighed and lowered the kunai, though Naruto was getting a bad feeling about this mission, as Kakashi gave them the orders to meet at the North gates in 1 hour, so Naruto just used shunshin to get home and packed up his stuff into a scroll while also looking at his mother's picture "I'm going on my first C-rank kaa-chan, so I won't be back for a month, I'll activate the anti-personal seals to stop anyone from entering" he smiled softly "I'll make sure to be safe" he said before whispering "I still miss you" he smiled faintly before leaving and activating the seals and heading towards the North gates. Once he reached the North gates he smirked seeing Kakashi already there "So your teams training isn't something the great Kakashi Hatake takes serious but a silly C-rank is?" Naruto asked with mirth before using Anbu hand signs and signing to Kakashi about his bad feeling of this mission, Kakashi only nodded and looked at Tazuna.
"Well this is a political mission of sorts so I have to be on time, or I face a punishment from Hokage-sama" Kakashi replied as jokingly as Naruto was which got him a chuckle, when the rest of the team got there they all left, just missing a certain blonde Senju entering through the Southern gates of Konoha with her black haired apprentice and a pet pig, these were Tsunade Senju, Shizune Kato and Tonton, the three walked to the Hokage's office and spoke to Hiruzen about Naruto and where he was which is how they found out about his mission to Nami which made Tsunade sigh and walk to the Senju compound to stay there until he gets back.
-Back with team 7-
Team 7 was walking along the road whilst Naruto saw a puddle which was weird as there hadn't been rain for almost a month in Hi no Kuni until he picked up on the chunnin chakra reserves inside both puddles making him nod, look to Kakashi slightly who nodded slightly to not give it away to there current enemies, as they walked past the puddles Kakashi used the Kawarimi with a log to replace himself from being killed by the shuriken chain connecting the gauntlets of the Demon Brothers, Naruto jumped into action and commanded the team "Sakura protect Tazuna as best as you can, Sasuke you take Gozu and I'll take Meizu and once I beat him I'll come assist you got it?" Naruto asked leaving no space for them to retort about the orders as he jumped into action and started to trade attacks with Meizu, only for Naruto to speed up and look bored as he landed a strong punch into Meizu's stomach launching him into a tree, Naruto used some ninja wire to tie him to the tree whilst he then bolted to fight a surprised Gozu with Sasuke after a well placed punch Naruto ties the two brothers to the same tree before hitting one of them awake for questioning "So Kakashi how did I do for my first time taking over the team?" Sakura looked at Naruto as if he was crazy until they heard Kakashi.
"It was amazing for your first time taking the lead on a mission" Kakashi said surprising Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna as they all thought he died, "What? There is a replacement technique for a reason" Kakashi said with a small smirk under his mask making Sakura and Sasuke feel dumb about forgetting it. After a minute or so they decided to interrogate Gozu and Meizu for who hired them and who their target was, they told them they were hired by Gato to take out Tazuna but said nothing else, Naruto knocked the two out and put them in a prisoner scroll and sent them back to Konoha with one of Kakashi's summons Pakkun whilst Kakashi sent a report "So Tazuna why should we continue this mission? After all you not only lied to us about the ranking but there could be stronger oppenents later on?" Kakashi so Tazuna explained everything trying to get sympathy from the team so Kakashi turned to his team "What do you want to do?"
Sasuke answered with a holier than thou attitude saying "We'll do it after all it could help me prove how much stronger I am" this got a screech about how cool he is from Sakura whilst Naruto sighed.
"Yeah sure we'll do it" Naruto stood up as he walked to Tazuna and then passed him "Let's go, the sooner we get to Nami the sooner I can get home" and so team 7 headed off towards Nami while Pakkun ran to the Hokage office.
-With Pakkun-
Pakkun jumped through the Hokage's office window as he dropped the letter and the scroll for Hiruzen "Hokage-sama" Pakkun said before continuing "Team 7 is headed to Nami and bumped into these two, they dispatched the enemy and sealed them away before continuing the mission but they plan to get the money that Nami owes us after they have recovered" Pakkun said making Hiruzen nod as Pakkun then dispelled and went back to the summoning realm.
-Back with team 7-
Team 7 was riding on the boat as Naruto got a shiver up his spine "I feel like I'm going to be in trouble when I get back" he muttered surprising the team who looked at him.
"How?" Kakashi asked as Naruto shrugged and tried to put the feeling to the back of his head for now, upon reaching the land Naruto noticed the mist seemed to get heavier as they continued to walk.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei, how many people are there that are rouge from Kirigakure?" Naruto asked seeming curious though he remembered the whole bingo book, Kakashi seemed to get the hint and started to list them off.
"Quite a few considering they are in a civil war" Kakashi said as Naruto nodded and asked about the most famous ones "The ex Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū (Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist)" Kakashi said and seemed to piece it together as Naruto nodded and seemed to look lost in thought though he kept his sensing up to his max range and sensed their next opponents and sighed. After walking for a couple hours Naruto launched a kunai at a bush which made a white bunny hop out making Naruto and Kakashi on edge, though Sakura started to screech about him hurting a bunny making Naruto glare at her to shut her up they stayed still for 10 seconds where Kakashi then heard a sword colliding with the wind and shouted "Get down!" Naruto grabbed Tazuna and Sakura and got down while Kakashi got Sasuke and dived down.
As Naruto looked up he saw the Kubikiribocho stuck into a tree and smirked softly "So I was right, it's the Kirigakura no Kijin (Demon of the Hidden Mist) Zabuza Momochi" Naruto grinned as he saw Zabuza land on the sword as Naruto slowly stood up and unsealed a sword from his wrist, the blade had a red tassel hanging from the handle while it's blade was as black as the night sky, the handle was held in Naruto's hand as Naruto grinned and held it out in a ready position "Zabuza meet my favorite blade, Muramasa" Naruto grinned at the shocked face on Zabuza.
"So he did have a legacy, Shunshin no Shisui gave his sword over to someone but not his kid?" He asked as Naruto grinned more "So let me guess cousin or little brother"
Naruto's grin seemed to soften as he replied "Cousin, though he did look after me when my kaa-san died so I guess he was kind of like an older brother" Naruto said before he stood up straight and said "Though don't let my age fool you as I am the only one to see through his Dance of the Flash" Naruto smirked as he let his body relax a little "And I was the one he trained for years in all aspects he could, so I gained his kenjutsu style with some of my own little twists, I like to call this style Dance of the Maelstrom" he took a deep breath before readying his stance "Kakashi-sensei you don't mind if I take this fight?" He asked and Kakashi looked at him before he sighed and nodded. Naruto just smiled and looked at Zabuza "Kenjutsu only? No ninjutsu and if we lose the blade we change to taijutsu" Naruto said as he took a test swing of his sword and smiled more getting used to the weight again, Zabuza just nodded and took his sword from within the tree and he and Naruto jumped to the water standing there with little effort shocking team 7 and Tazuna, Kakashi because he wasn't expecting him to know the water walking already and the rest that he could stand on water. As Naruto and Zabuza stared each other down a green leaf landed on the water's surface giving an untold command to start as they dashed at each other making the water explode from where they first were at the sudden pressure and speed, once they met they were more so on Zabuza's side of the lake proving that either Naruto was faster than Zabuza or Zabuza was holding back so Naruto grinned as their blades clashed over and over.
Their speeds kept increasing until Tazuna, Sakura and Sasuke couldn't see the blades only the sparks let off from the clashing of the blades, this continued for 5 minutes before the two in combat backed away both of them with a smirk. "So the gaki isn't too bad, guess I should stop holding back" Zabuza said while inside he was cursing himself as he was almost going all out and Naruto was keeping up perfectly.
Naruto had a small smirk on his face as he looked to Zabuza "I guess we should stop with the restraints huh?" Naruto asked as he started to release the restriction seals on his body and his chakra exploded from his body scaring Tazuna, Sakura and Sasuke, shocking Kakashi and the hidden Haku and making Zabuza grin, it reminded Zabuza of the amount of chakra that Kisame had which made him happy to be fighting someone with that much chakra who was still so young.
Zabuza chuckled and then started to laugh "You sure do have a lot of chakra" Zabuza said as Naruto nodded "Well let's go" while outwardly grinning inwardly Zabuza had resigned himself to his fate and was willing to accept death by this kid 'No young man' Zabuza thought as the two kicked off of the water surface towards each other, Zabuza didn't even get as far as he did the first time before he was stopped by a blade intercepting his own, they fought like this until Naruto hit his blade away and then kicked him into a tree, as he hit the tree he was winded and fell to the floor, this is when he accomplice decided to interject and take Zabuza away by making him seem dead and then shunshining away with him, Tazuna took the Konoha-nin to his home and they stayed there for a week.