Fate Part 1

Chapter was over 20k words, so I broke it half. Other chapter comes out right after this one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything I make references to. This is a work of fanfiction that I make no money off of.

Sasuke POV:

Sasuke woke up and stretched his arms, groaning slightly.

Checking the clock he had packed with him, he saw it was about 6:00.

Groaning at waking up earlier than he wanted to, he pulled himself up from the cot that was designated as his when Rin packed several things into storage scrolls to save weight.

'I wonder if I can ask her to show me some things about Fuinjutsu?' He thought.

He didn't want to ask Naruto, knowing the red haired Genin would expect some knowledge and of equal exchange for anything he was willing to part with.

It had been a couple days since Naruto had started sparring with him to help train his taijutsu while using his Sharingan. The payment Naruto requested was one that still left him irritated with him.

He'd have been angry, but he saw what Naruto's reasoning was. Naruto, despite any protests to the contrary, acted on a hair trigger whenever something concerning Rin happened. Possibly being in the sights of an S-rank clan killer would obviously have him on edge.

Shaking his head, he got up and went to the kitchen, fairly certain Naruto was awake already.

Sure enough, Naruto was awake, cooking what appeared to be some eggs.

"Sasuke." He said simply, not turning around.

"Naruto." He replied flatly, sitting down at the table, "Where'd you get the eggs?"

"Storage scroll." He shrugged, flipping the eggs with a slight sizzling sound being heard.

"How do you keep them cold?" He asked, genuinely curious.

Naruto sighed and lowered the heat on the stove.

"Add a couple different temperature absorption seals into the matrix to suck out the temperature in the pocket dimension, whilst still not contradicting any of the parts of the storage section, making it cold enough to be refrigerated."

"I didn't understand any of that." Sasuke said flatly.

Naruto just shrugged, turning up the heat again.

"I wouldn't expect you to."

The room was quiet except for the sound of the eggs cooking.

Naruto finished the eggs, loading them onto a plate and set it on the table, pulling some silverware and what looked to be salt from a small storage scroll he had in his pocket.

"Do you have seals for everything?" Sasuke asked, noticing how much Naruto used.

"Yes," Naruto said seriously, sprinkling salt in the eggs, "Anything I ever need is in storage seals."

Sasuke listened and noticed the shear amount of eggs on the plate.

"How many did you fix that for?" He asked, trying to judge how much was there.

"This is for me." Naruto pointed to himself, before taking a large bite.

"How the hell many did you use?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

Naruto started to look irritated at the questions, frowning as he swallowed the bite.

"I made ten," He said, taking another large bite, "Fixing food is always fun for me and Rin." he added sarcastically.

Sasuke had seen the amount of food Rin ate when they trained as a team, astounded at how she could put away that much food.

"How," Sasuke said, trying to make sense of it, "Can the two of you possibly eat that much and not look like an Akimichi?"

Naruto just snorted in amusement.

"Don't let Choji hear you say that," He warned, taking an additional bite, "But it's because our bodies burn through things faster, that's why we heal faster, have more energy, and we're stamina freaks. Now let me eat, I'm starving." He then went back to eating again.

At the look Sasuke kept giving him, Naruto shot him a glare.

"Oh for Kami's sake," He said irritably, "What the hell do you want to talk about? Quit beating around the bush and tell me what you want? Tell me or I'll assume you want some stale bread, Duck-san."

Sasuke twitched at the duck comment.

"Would you be able to show me some things about seals?" He asked flatly, returning the glare the other boy was sending him.

Naruto shook his head.

"We don't have the time," He said, pushing away his plate, "The bridge will be finished soon and we'll be on our way back to Konoha."

Rin and Naruto had been using their clones to speed up the construction of the bridge following several of the workers thinking about leaving.

But Sasuke heard about how a mysterious old man and a few helpers had been delivering food to the people in Nami. He even heard rumours that people woke up and had stacks of food in their living rooms.

"Could you at least show me the basics so I can study on my own?" Sasuke asked, his irritation starting to bleed into his tone.

Naruto gave him a look of condescension, before he pulled out a blank sheet of paper and wrote out a seal with a brush he took from another seal.

'Where the hell are the seals even at?' Sasuke thought.

Naruto only had his shirt and pants on, no jacket or anything else he could have multiple storage seals at.

"Here," Naruto smiled, looking at Sasuke like he was a child, "Have at it." he slid the paper to Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at it. And looked at it.

And looked at it.

"I don't understand this." Sasuke threw his arms up, looking at the absolute nonsense on the paper.

"That is the most basic storage seal I know." Naruto said simply, "Sealing isn't like taijutsu or other physical things like Ninjutsu, it has it's own rules and issues."

"If I held your hand for the rest of the day and helped you along, any seal you'd make might last til morning."

Sasuke looked at the seal and felt himself get cold at his complete lack of understanding.

Whatever thing he did in learning the Shinobi arts, he could always think of something to get a certain technique or task done. His mind was sharp and he had the drive.

But he didn't even know where to begin looking at a simple seal.

"And the more complex ones will be different when I use them compared to you." Naruto added.

Sasuke looked at Naruto again, trying to keep the defeatism out of his mind.

"Explain, now." He demanded, seeing Naruto's eyes flash slightly.

Naruto stared at him for a few seconds, before he grabbed his plate again and took another bite of eggs.

Sasuke needed answers and grabbed Naruto's plate to stop him from eating.

He ended up nearly jumping out of his skin when a short chakra blade drove down towards his hand from Naruto's left, digging into the table.

"Don't." Naruto warned, fixing him with a glare, "I'm already in a foul mood because I've got a damn headache from helping build the damn bridge and all the feedback from my bunshin. I've got bunshin outside and I'm going to get some more feedback, so let me eat in peace, Uchiha."

Sasuke matched his glare with a glare of his own, not wanting to relent.

"Oh shit," The redhead muttered, the golden blade fading to reveal a deep gash in the wood of the table, "I'll need to pay to fix that."

Sasuke took a deep breath and decided he wasn't going to get anything out of Naruto and got up to leave.

As he went to go outside, he heard Naruto speak.

"Give me 10 minutes and I'll be done."

Sasuke nodded and continued on outside, spotting a slight flash of red near some trees.

The last week involved him polishing over the water walking exercise, tree walking already being covered during the group training with the other genin teams.

He hated that both Naruto and Rin always seemed to be a step ahead of him, Naruto probably being several.

Kakashi had trained them when they were younger, something that he didn't have.

He didn't have anyone to tell him if he was doing things right, he only had the clan library and his own intellect at his disposal.

The two obviously had something going on with them. He had heard Shikamaru and Ino talk about how Naruto had what appeared to be a red chakra cloak engulf him after they had fought off an ambush by several high ranking missing nin.

Sasuke couldn't bring himself to envy Naruto having the chance to test his mettle against competent Shinobi, having heard from eavesdropping on the other two Genin what had been said.

It was one thing to see him on the ground, gasping for air and mumbling "Not yet. Not yet." repeatedly, but that could be explained by Ino not using her jutsu properly combined with Naruto having a terrible memory.

But it didn't explain the worry in Shikamaru's voice.

"I don't know what's going on with him, and I hate not knowing. It's so troublesome to try and figure things out with him. Troublesome redhead."

Sasuke didn't buy it for a minute that Naruto went out into the woods simply to train destructive jutsu. He looked ready to leave the table when they first got to Tazuna's within minutes.

He was obviously hiding something, and he'd find out what it was eventually.

///////////////////////

Sasuke was starting to piss me off now. The little duckling decided that since I'd started helping him in training, he had a monopoly on my time.

Dumbass.

The feedback I was getting from the clones was giving me headaches, coupled with continuing to train some more jutsu and the Lightning Cloak. But the biggest factor that had me on edge was that things were going down today. Haku had come back and said Zabuza was willing to take a deal, luring Gato towards the bridge to see Tazuna dead at his feet.

But the plan was that Zabuza would kill any of the bandits that Gato hired and would be given his sword back with whatever money he wanted from Gato's personal stash that wasn't extorted from Wave.

All in all, a decent deal that I didn't expect to happen.

I finished eating my eggs, dropping the plate in the sink, and went outside to talk with Sasuke and order my clones to dispell.

Getting outside, I saw Sasuke looking at the sunrise, before he turned when he heard me.

Wanting to be blunt and to the point, I spoke first.

"I've been learning seals for nearly six years, Sasuke. You aren't getting anywhere without someone pointing you in the right direction."

Sasuke scoffed.

"Explain it as easily as you can."

Deciding to humour myself, I chose an analogy.

"Imagine fixing oatmeal." I said, pulling out the sheet of paper I used earlier, pointing towards different parts, "It's crushed oats and either milk or water mixed in, possibly butter and sugar. Following?"

Sasuke nodded, paying rapt attention.

"Whether you eat it like a normal human, followed up with a proper warm up exercise, or you crunch oats with your teeth, chug boiling water and then do jumping jacks, the same material is in your gut."

"That is an awful metaphor." Sasuke said, looking more confused than before.

"Oh dear God." I muttered in English irritably, running my fingers through my hair, "How do you shit?" I asked out of the blue.

Sasuke looked at me like I'd gone insane.

"What?" He asked, his tone filled with disgust.

"Do you drop your pants and sit down before you shit?" I asked, my tone completely serious.

"I'm not dignifying that with a response."

"I'll assume you just fling it like a monkey then." I said flatly, turning up my nose.

"You're insufferable." He said.

"And you're acting like a whiny bitch," I snarked, "Not a girl, a bitch. Bellyaching and bitchy."

I'd never say that to or about a woman and mean it, but I needed Sasuke to stop whining and answer my question, no matter how weird it sounded, even by my standard.

Growling, Sasuke gave me a death glare, before exhaling exasperatedly.

"Drop my pants and sit." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Good, my apprentice, " I said, applauding his compliance, "This is a complex aspect of seals that isn't common knowledge for novice seal users, but here goes. Certain parts must be done in a certain order. It's not much of an issue with small seals like storage seals and cheap exploding tags, but anything of any true values submits to this rule."

"Why the analogy then?" Sasuke asked, impatience audible.

"How well do you think it would go if you shit before you drop your pants and sit down?"

Sasuke looked at me with disgust.

"Mucking up the order of things is very bad. The analogy is the same for high level seals, mess up the order and you're in for a shitty day, shitty days involving seals tend to be rather explosive."

"You ever blow yourself up?" Sasuke snarked, not noticing me flinch slightly.

Ashina blew himself up, I didn't want to know what that felt like. My clones were insane enough to blow themselves up with seals, I wasn't.

"My bunshin did." I admitted, "But let's not get sidetracked. Back to a complex part of seals."

Sasuke looked at me with a sharp look again, listening closely.

"Chakra affinity and ink composition matter," I continued, "Any high end sophisticated seals I make will be very difficult for Hinata to use since the two of us have opposing affinities in the form of fire and water. That is, if it isn't slightly modified for her."

"Same with us." He gestured between the two of us.

I blinked at that. Did he not know?

"What?" Sasuke asked, noticing me stop.

"You don't know your affinity?" I asked, looking him dead in the eye.

"Fire." He said simply, like he were commenting on the weather.

"No, it's lightning." I said, "You seem to have developed a secondary fire affinity from using Katon jutsu constantly."

Sasuke's eyes widened, obviously being shocked by the news.

"How do you know?"

I just shrugged.

"Your chakra feels like Kakashi's. It crackles like his does and mine to a degree."

Sasuke then frowned and muttered something under his breath, sounding something like 'No wonder it was so hard.'

Fugaku probably didn't like how Sasuke was taking longer to learn fire release than Itachi was. At least that was one less thing Sasuke could brood over.

"But back to the elemental part," I said, trying not to get distracted, "Exploding tags and storage seals aren't bothered by different affinities, but the high tier seals are. To compensate for the slight difference, you need to add certain portions to ensure stability. That's why seal masters that can truly be called master are so rare. Certain seals have to be borderline custom built to the specific seal user."

The best chakra conductive ink involved using a small amount of your own blood in the ink, the fluid holding chakra in it for longer than others.

A high tier seal made by me could be used by Rin without any issue at all, our close blood relation meant that our chakra was similar enough, even if we had different affinities.

An opposing affinity basically meant that the seal needed to be tweaked by only about a 2 percent margin, which was massive when it came to the delicate art of seals.

Sasuke was quiet throughout my explanation.

"So you won't teach me anything because it would be too time consuming for me and dangerous if I do it on my own?" He asked, looking irritated at the thought of not being able to master a certain field of combat.

"It would serve you better to focus on Ninjutsu and Genjutsu," I replied, being blunt, "It would take you years to be competent, and I'm not giving information on some things."

Sasuke looked at me strangely at the last part.

"What do you mean?"

"There's certain things about sealing that I won't ever shar- stop it," I snapped when I saw him get irritated, "They're innovations and insights that my clan made. I wouldn't presume to expect you to tell me private things about the Uchiha."

Sasuke dropped the look on his face and at least tried to look contrite.

"Oh."

The only thing worth me 'sharing' anything would involve Sasuke telling me about the Mangekyo Sharingan and the Naka shrine, and I would bet big that that he'd never do that.

I looked away from him and made a clone, ordering it to send orders for the portion of my clones working on assorted things to dispell.

The clone nodded and dispelled in a puff of smoke, several clones dispelling seconds later.

I blinked and squinted my eyes from the slight headache I got, before it faded shortly after.

Sasuke looked at me again strangely, his face emotionless like it was when he was thinking.

I heard him take a quick intake of breath seconds later.

"You get memories from them," He stated, already knowing that, "That's how the two of you train."

A glanced towards him and didn't answer, wanting him to continue.

"You won't have to worry about blowing yourself up with seals. Show me how to do it." He nearly demanded the last part.

I just turned to look at him lazily.

"No."

Sasuke glared at me.

"What do mean no?" He said tightly, keeping his eyes on me.

"You'll melt your brain if you try the training Rin and I do."

"I don't believe you." He said.

"Not my problem," I shrugged, "Ask Kakashi about what happens when you make too many. Just a warning, it'll kill you."

Sasuke continue to glare at me, probably not wanting to drop it.

"Whatever," He bit out, "I'll figure it out on my own time."

"Try and copy me or Rin, and I'll break both your arms." I said flatly, no joking in my tone.

At Sasuke's look of shock, I explained.

"Ask for permission, not a problem. But if you copy any of our jutsu with your eyes, I'll make sure you regret it."

"What is the problem with me trying to get stronger?" He demanded, his posture was more guarded, almost like he were ready for a fight.

"The Jutsu I use were earned from me working my ass off training. I'm not willing to part with them just because you expect everyone to kiss your ass because of those damned peepers of yours." I gestured towards his face.

Sasuke huffed and turned away.

"Like you would understand."

"Believe me," I said seriously, "I understand."

"No, you don't." Sasuke turned to glare back at me.

I gave him a genuine look of surprise.

Did he really forget what the hell Rin told him?

Much to my irritation, Rin had shared the particular incident that nearly got me killed. I'd planned on using that specific event in a conversation with Sasuke to get through to him, which would have been now.

Looking at the sun to determine roughly how much longer Kakashi and Asuma would be, I turned back to Sasuke.

"I just talked with you a couple days ago about this shit," I glared, vexed by what seemed like a reversion in his behavior, "I'm not getting myself, Rin, or my friends killed because your brother decided to go murder happy."

"What does that have to do with you not helping me?" Sasuke demanded.

"You. Will. Kill. Yourself." I said very slowly, looking straight into his coal coloured eyes, "You won't pace yourself properly and someone will find you dead at a training ground from either chakra exhaustion or a brain hemorrhage."

At his skepticism, I went into an extremely detailed explanation of how Kage bunshin worked, including the feedback damage and how anybody that didn't heal quickly like Rin and me would get severe headaches at best from using several for training, or actual brain damage.

After the near pointless waste of my time, Sasuke finally exhaled and dropped the glare he kept aimed at me.

"Believe me, Sasuke," I said, still looking at him, "If I feared that you'd surpass me, I'd kill you now."

Sasuke's glare returned, but I raised a hand to placate him.

"You're a comrade and fellow Konoha Shinobi," I continued, leaning a little closer to him, "You being strong makes Konoha stronger and therefore safer. You're no good to anyone, especially yourself, if you get killed from training in certain fields that are unsafe when trying to rush it. I should know, I've lost count how many times I've been stabbed or how many bones I've broken."

Sasuke looked like he was about to say something, but he stopped when he saw me tense and turn to my left.

I felt a familiar chakra signature about 200 yards away, approaching at a sedate pace.

"Kakashi's here." I said, alerting Sasuke why I turned.

Kakashi came into view and he didn't look pleased, judging by his stride.

Most couldn't spot that, but I'd been around and interacted with the man for years, making it easy for me.

He got to us and raised a brow, glancing at the two of us.

"Am I interrupting something?" He asked, giving me a slight wink.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," I nodded, making a faux sense of embarrassment lace my voice, "Sasuke-kun isn't happy with me. I've been very bad."

He didn't look impressed.

"That works better when you're Henged." Kakashi deadpanned.

"Oh," My eyes widened, "I knew I forgot something."

I then Henged as 'Naruko'.

"Sasuke-kun," I simpered, trying to channel as much fangirl mojo as I could, "I've been a bad girl. Spank me, Sasuke-kun."

Kakashi looked away, whether from trying not to laugh or because he wanted to hide his reaction, I don't know. But Sasuke at first reacted just as I expected, his face turning pink and trying to look away.

The next words out of his mouth caused my brain to nearly short circuit.

"Did you base that off of Rin?" He asked.

I blinked owlishly at what had just left the Uchiha's mouth.

"What?" I growled, dropping the Henge.

No way in hell did he just insinuate that. That little jutsu is based off what the blonde, chibi Naruto looked like using it.

"That's a blonde with whisker marks," He managed to say clearly, "And it almost looks like Rin's face."

"That is not what it's based on," I said tightly, "That's creepy to even humour. I did not base my sexy jutsu on my sister."

Just like that, I was in a shitty mood.

I wasn't in a joking mood now, so I turned to Kakashi.

"Any updates?" I asked flatly, turning away from Sasuke, who had a slight grin on his face.

"Nothing of importance," Kakashi replied, scratching the side of his head, "The bridge is almost complete and the other issue looks like it will be resolved soon."

The 'other' issue was whether Zabuza would keep his word or not and lure Gato to the bridge so he could be killed.

If Zabuza thought he could ambush me to get the sword, he'd be in for a surprise.

I had 8 explosive tags strapped to the blade, all them being linked so that they'd explode if one was removed.

Kakashi then turned to Sasuke.

"Go wake Rin and the others up." He instructed, "I need to speak with Naruto about something."

Sasuke, at the tone Kakashi used, didn't offer any protest and turned to go back to Tazuna's and the others up.

After Sasuke left, it was just Kakashi and me there.

Grinning, I looked at Kakashi with a knowing look. "I told you how Rin punches me when I try to wake her up, right?"

"Yes," Kakashi nodded, "Why do you think I mentioned her in particular?"

I snickered at how much our humour lined up. Sasuke was easy to dick around with, his emo-ness not completely cured yet.

"But I do need to speak with you though." He said seriously, his visible eye narrowing.

"About?" I asked, wondering why he was acting this way.

"One serious thing and one that's not. First, you have a plan for when we reach the bridge and encounter Zabuza?"

"Yes, I already have a plan." I said simply.

"Care to tell me? I trust that you have everything covered, but I don't want to go in blind."

I explained the plan I had, Kakashi looking pleased with what my plan was.

"Wait until Gato shows up while having explosives on the blade," He mused out loud, "Good plan. Now, the next question."

I noticed how Kakashi looked at me with irritation.

"When did you see Anko naked?"

I felt a shiver go down my spine at the question and more so the reminder of that memory.

"Hmm?" I asked, not giving an answer.

"The Henge is based on Anko, isn't it?"

I stayed quiet, not comfortable with Kakashi bringing it up.

"I assume you'd be able to tell that it's based on her?" I asked, shifting around a bit in discomfort.

Kakashi nodded while still looking at me. "Yes."

At the unwavering look he kept giving me, I regaled him with the harrowing tale of how I had witnessed Anko in her 'divine splendor'.

I'd been trying to track her by smell, something she insisted that I try and train into something useful, but it was a mixed bag on results.

Flooding chakra into my nose enhanced my already above average sense of smell, but being in an area with thousands of people made it hard.

I didn't think for a moment that the day I was tracking her was the day she'd go to the hot springs. I ended up wondering towards there without thinking that I was headed to the hot springs.

I ended up, and I still don't know how the hell I didn't get caught, getting a full frontal view of Anko when she didn't have a towel covering her.

Saying she was hot would be an understatement. She looked drop dead gorgeous and was near perfectly proportionate in her physical attributes, and how she was fit, toned, and looked sleek like a predator nearly drove me insane. The fact that she was dripping wet from bathing and her hair was down made things very uncomfortable for me that night.

Rin wondered why I'd been out of it that day, avoiding talking about Anko and seemingly lost in my own thoughts.

I couldn't even look Anko in the eye for a few days afterwords, worried that she'd notice something was off.

After I finished the explanation, he chuckled lightly.

"I don't know what you did to deserve the luck of the gods," He grinned, "But I don't know how she didn't spot you. Frankly, what were you thinking was gonna happen?"

"Pardon the hell out of me for not thinking that I'd see my first pair of tits that day." I snarked, not mentioning how they weren't the first pair I'd seen, but they were possibly the best.

"It wasn't just that that you saw, now was it?" He kept the damn grin on his face.

"Whatever," I groaned, not wanting to talk about it anymore, "It worked on Jiji, so bite me."

Kakashi's eye widened in shock, before started openly laughing at what he'd just heard.

"She will kill you if she finds out." He managed to force out between laughs.

Anko may not be shy about flaunting what she's got, but flaunting is very different from frolicking around naked in front of the Sandaime Hokage.

"That's why you aren't going to say a single damn thing, right?" I said firmly, fixing him with a glare.

"Obviously," He deadpanned, "I put too much effort in training you."

"I feel so loved." I scoffed, acting like I was insulted.

Kakashi continued to chuckle at me playing up my aggravation, until he calmed himself and quieted down.

"Seriously though, why did you choose blonde hair for the Henge and not red?" He asked.

I seldom saw my own hair day in day out, given that it wasn't long enough for me to see it until recently. I also have kept it tied back slightly now that it's gotten to a certain length. I saw Rin the most often, making the use of her shade of hair the easiest for me to use for a Henge.

Scratching at my nose, I answered. "I see Rin's hair more often than my own. Makes it easier to use that hair colour instead." I said.

At my answer, Kakashi seemed to understand.

"Unrelated thing," I said suddenly, remembering what I wanted to ask before, "I don't know if you know anything about it, but would I be able to open any of the Celestial Gates safely?" I asked.

Gai had used them in sparring against me a couple times to showcase them so all the Genin would be prepared for it in the event that a fight occurred with Gai going fully unleashed.

Kakashi raised a brow in question. "Why would you want to know that?"

There were two things I could use as a force multiplier to make me surpass nearly all of those out to kill me, even if I wasn't a Jinchuriki.

Those two things were either mastering the opening of the Gates or Senjutsu.

The Gates were likely the easy route, Gai obviously taking a shine to me despite me having a very "Unyouthful" sense of humour.

Gai valued hard work and loved the fact that he didn't need to cultivate a deep drive for greatness in me. I already had it. He could very likely teach it to me if I explained how the technique could help me to protect Konoha and my comrades.

Senjutsu gave me two paths to pursue, one that I would flat out reject.

Jiraiya would undoubtedly teach me, being mine and Rin's godfather, as well as knowing of the Akatsuki.

Senjutsu would make a normal A-rank into someone who could contend with a solid S-rank on even ground at the very least. And I wasn't going to be a simple A-rank by the time I mastered it.

The second path of learning it would be from the resident serpent of the world, Orochimaru. The less said about the son of a bitch, the better.

Even if I didn't know the depths of evil he had committed, I still wouldn't very well train under him.

Once is an event. Two is a coincidence. Three is a pattern.

Redheads that use lightning never mesh well with big ass serpents.

'Jormungandr and Vritra seem to need some company.' I thought amusedly, maintaining eye contact with Kakashi.

"It could be useful if I could use something as a last resort that isn't going to turn me into a wreck if I don't have it on a tight leash." I said firmly, letting my resolve to not be a liability known.

Kakashi was still for a moment, thinking to himself by the looks of it.

Putting his hand to his chin, he hummed slightly. "I'm not sure whether it would be safe for you or not. I'll need to talk with Gai and the Hokage to see if it would cause any seal disruptions. We don't need something to happen again."

I shivered slightly at the memory of that night, remembering the terror of it all.

"Naruto," Kakashi said softly, catching my attention, "I haven't asked you this, but since no one else is here, I will. Do you remember who did it? Anything at all that could point to who did?" He asked, leaning closer to me.

'Why would he bring this up?' I asked myself. It didn't make sense to me why he'd feel the need to ask at this specific time frame.

Taking a breath, I looked at him with a sense of resignation. "An Uchiha, I think."

At Kakashi's look of intense focus, I continued.

"The chakra of males and females feel different. So does the chakra certain clans have. I think it was a male Uchiha, or possibly someone with an eye like you do. That memory is burned in my head more than anyone could know." I whispered, almost hearing the sound of flesh getting pierced and the feeling of blood dripping down on me.

Kakashi put a hand on my shoulder, looking at me with sympathy.

"Everyone lost something that day, you more than most."

I shut off my sensing because I didn't want to feel the echo of Obito's chakra coming from right in front of me.

'I could ask him now. I could ask about Minato and finish the charade right now. No, I'll wait. I'll wait until we get back to Konoha.'

Kakashi looked over my shoulder and straightened up, clearing his throat.

I turned to see what he was looking at and saw the other Genin coming towards us, looking tired but awake.

"Where's Rin?" I asked, seeing that she wasn't with them.

"She didn't want to wake up." Sasuke ground out, his left eye looking swelled.

Shaking my head, I gave him a look of false disappointment. "You call yourself a genius?" I asked condescendingly, "Yet you don't know how to wake a girl up without getting punched?"

"I refuse to believe you know how to wake her up without getting punched." Sasuke ground out.

I turned to look and see that the others looked a little drowsy, but were awake. Shikamaru looked like he was ready to lay down on the ground and go back to sleep.

"Wake up, Shikamaru, or I'll help keep you awake." I grinned, letting some lightning chakra dance around my fingers as I wiggled them at him.

Shikamaru grumbled under his breath and dug at his eyes with two of his fingers. "Troublesome."

"Not my fault that you're a lazy ass." I grinned.

I then turned back to Sasuke.

"You failed in your task, Sasuke," I intoned imperiously, "You bring shame to Konoha."

"I tried waking her up," He growled, "She called me an asshole and punched me."

"Do or do not. There is no try." I grinned, enjoying the irritation on Sasuke's face.

"You do it then." He frowned, not wanting to talk anymore.

I grinned and made a hand seal to make a clone. I grinned at the clone, who grinned back at the thought I had in mind. The clone dashed to Tazuna's and went to grab one of the storage seals I had water in.

After about a minute or two, I heard screaming and profanity coming from the house.

"SASUKE!"

Sasuke looked at me with horror.

"What the hell did you do?"

"Dropped water on her." I shrugged, enjoying the renewed look of fear on Sasuke's face.

My clone Henged as Sasuke and dropped over two gallons of water on Rin after making some stupid comment about how, "It's time to wake up, my love."

Rin came charging out of the house a minute later, her clothes drenched and sticking to her frame. Her hair was still soaking wet and clung to her face.

Her vision zeroed in on Sasuke, before she audibly growled and charged at him.

Sasuke threw his hands up into a guard position as Rin aimed a punch at his face. He blocked the punch and shifted to the side as she tried to aim a kick at his balls.

"Rin." I called out, trying to calm her down.

She ignored me and kept trying to punch Sasuke, one of her kicks sending him staggering from the impact of stopping it.

I stepped in front of the two of them right as Sasuke jumped back and caught one of her punches, ignoring the stinging in my palm.

"Let me go!" She growled, her chakra flaring slightly from being pissed.

"I'm the one that woke you up," I said flatly, "I Henged a clone."

Rin calmed slightly, before glaring at me.

"You're a jerk." She grumbled, "I'm going back to get my gear."

She then ran back to get her things, reminding me that I needed to get my own.

"I need to get my stuff as well." I looked at Kakashi, who nodded and gestured for me to go, hiding his smirk.

Sparing the others a glance, who had been quietly watching the spectacle I made, I rushed to the house to grab everything I left.

I collected everything and put on all the essentials, the armour still having a gash in it that I tried to pry close and close shut with lightning chakra to make it useable.

Putting my jacket over the armour, I left the house to return to Kakashi and the others.

I failed to hide my amusement when I could feel Rin and Sasuke's stares boring into me.

Ignoring them to torment them further, I looked at Kakashi. "Where's Asuma?" I asked expectantly, assuming he was with Tazuna.

"At the bridge with Tazuna." Kakashi said, confirming my thoughts.

I nodded at the answer, feeling Rin's chakra sharpen.

Rin seemed to have enough of me avoiding looking at her and stomped towards me, huffing and puffing.

"We are going to talk," She gritted out in English, "Why did you wake me up like that?"

She probably couldn't fathom why the hell I'd say something like that. Making a teasing comment while looking like Sasuke was actually rather tame for what they usually do.

"Clones, remember?" I replied in English, ignoring the looks of confusion we were receiving, "My clones are insane."

"The clones are you!" She said angrily, her face twisted in irritation, "Why the hell would your clone say that?"

"The same reason they blow themselves up." I shrugged, having already explained.

"Grr." Rin shook her head, aggravated by it. But that didn't make sense. I've done crazier shit to get her mad. I couldn't understand why it would be bothering her as much.

I turned to Kakashi, who actually seemed annoyed by what was happening.

"We going to go?" I asked expectantly.

Kakashi gave me a deadpanned look. "Once you stop acting like an idiot."

Affronted by such an accusation, I refused to take such an insult without a proper counter.

"I am not an idiot," I said, chest puffed out, "I am a fool. A fool that learned from the greatest of fools." I grinned.

"Who's more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows?" Kakashi asked flatly, not amused by my antics.

A slight intake of breath was all that I showed, but my mind kicked into gear.

"Kenobi." I seemed to hear a near manic voice seem to echo in my mind.

'Don't say it. Don't say it.' I bit my tongue to stifle the response.

Kakashi probably mistook my reaction for me relenting, judging by what he said next.

"We're heading out now. The bridge will be finished today and we'll probably be heading out tomorrow morning, fortune willing." he finished, fixing me with a discreet look.

One way or another, things would end today. I prayed Zabuza wouldn't try to pull anything stupid, but I wasn't holding out for that based upon how pissed Haku looked when I met her the second time and was making demands that favoured me and my own.

If he did try anything stupid at the bridge, I was prepared. The clones that had been helping to build the bridge had laced certain sections with seals that were buried under the wooden boards. The seals were there to either channel lightning chakra into traps or to act as gravity seals to hold the bastard down.

I let my mind wonder slightly as we left Tazuna's and headed towards the bridge.

'I need to make some clones to protect the house.'

I made a hand seal and spawned several clones that immediately sped off towards the house.

At the look Kakashi gave me, I shrugged. "Just in case something happens."

Nodding in acceptance, Kakashi took the lead and took us on a merry journey to the nearly complete bridge.

/////////////////

Shikamaru POV:

The others may not be able to see it, but Shikamaru could see how tense Naruto was. The red haired boy had always been an enigma to him. Whenever he would try and gauge someone's character, he was normally able to tell by how they spoke, walked, or acted.

Naruto acted more like his father than he did those his own age.

Shikamaru was aware of how few others his age were as intelligent as he was. Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji being the closest ones, with Naruto likely surpassing him.

But as they made their way to the bridge, Shikamaru kept thinking of what mystery had eluded him for the last few days since Naruto had been a near gibbering wreck for a few minutes following the ambush by Momochi Zabuza.

Naruto and Rin both would talk in a different language at times, completely different from what he'd ever heard. He assumed that Naruto was saying something concerning Rin after the Iwa nin had lied and said that Rin had been attacked.

Ino had spoken with him about how the chakra Naruto was radiating felt like. Hatred and malevolence would be an understatement. He'd seen the slight manic grin on Naruto's face as he swung the blade down and nearly cut the Iwa kunoichi's arm off. He'd seen the chakra cloak try and take the shape of something with ears on it, almost looking like some sort of dog or wolf.

The chakra cloak was something that wasn't the same as his ability to make chakra blades. It wasn't lost on the Nara of why Naruto asked him for some advice on how his own chakra would feel when he'd manipulate his shadow.

Naruto's ability was likely a yin release technique, the likelihood of it added onto by Ino mentioning how Naruto's chakra blade "felt" similar to a Nara's shadow.

'So he's hiding something.' Shikamaru thought, looking towards the object of his thoughts having an animated conversation with Ino and Hinata.

Neither of the two would speak about what they talked with him about, Hinata even threatening to hit him if he pushed for more details.

How such a sweet girl could become that, not vicious, troublesome more like it, was lost on him. His dad swore that women brought out the best in men, a sentiment that was absent with all the girls he could think of.

Ino acted too much like his own mom, Hinata had her eyes on no one but Naruto, and Rin was...He wasn't sure what to think about Rin. The girl wasn't an idiot, nor was she too harsh on him when he wouldn't keep up with her in taijutsu, but seeing Naruto's reaction to the ambush gave him pause. He didn't need to get more friendly with Rin, getting confused with a romantic feeling when she has a potentially unstable older brother that hovers over everything.

He didn't want to think of Naruto that way, but he saw how dangerous of a Shinobi he was. It's not normal for a 13 year old to be capable of fighting against Jonin level Shinobi and come out of it without any near lethal injuries.

Naruto was one of the guys that he could consider a friend that could actually trade barbs with him, being of a similar intellectual level, but again, he saw Naruto's reaction and Ino's when she jumped into his mind. Trauma can do terrible things to people, and Nara Shikamaru didn't know what the hell ability Naruto had that responded to his hatred and fury, making him more of an animal than anything else.

"Thinking of something, Shika?" Choji asked quietly, the two of them being a little bit further away from the others.

Scowling slightly, Shikamaru looked at Choji and nodded. "Troublesome things."

Choji frowned at his short reply, probably knowing something wasn't right. He was his best friend after all.

Sighing at his friends expression, Shikamaru continued, being sure to keep his voice down.

"I need to talk to my dad about Naruto," He whispered, looking directly into Choji's eyes, "Something is with him and I hate not knowing."

Kakashi and Asuma reacted too quickly and with too much concern for Naruto when Ino used her clan Jutsu on him. She was tight-lipped on what she saw, meaning it had to have been bad.

Sparing Naruto a glance, he hoped that the boy would be able to trust him enough to share what he seemed to be burdened with all the time. The burden almost like how his dad looked when he was working extra shifts as Jonin Commander or when he'd been training alongside Inoichi and Choza more so lately.

A recently turned 13 year old he may be, but he was Nara Shikaku's son, a genius by the standards of his own clan. Something was going on that would shake the world, something that all the adults were aware of...and possibly Naruto.

'Troublesome parents. Troublesome Senseis. And troublesome redheads.' He grumbled to himself.

He was pulled from his thoughts when Kakashi lifted his left arm to halt them, stopping their walking.

His hand had his index and ring fingers raised up, signaling a possible attack.

The seven of them got into a ready position, most of them drawing kunai while Rin had her tanto out and Naruto's hand was glowing a slight shade of gold.

"Naruto," Kakashi said sharply, his tone tense, "Have your bunshin sensed anything? Hinata, see anything?"

They didn't just have a good sensor and a novice sensor in the form of Naruto and Ino, they also had a Hyuga.

Naruto spawned a bunshin and dispelled it instantly, a look of slight irritation on his face seconds later.

"Nothing." He said shortly, pressing his fingers to his brow discreetly.

Hinata had her Byakugan activated, the veins around her eyes enlarged.

"I don't see anything, Kakashi-sensei." She said, her eyes still active.

Kakashi reached into his jacket and pulled out a message scroll that matched the one that Asuma had, pressing some chakra into it to open it.

He popped open the scroll and looked at it for all of two seconds, before he straightened up and stuffed it back into his jacket.

"Double pace," He said, stretching his arms for a moment, "Message from Asuma: Zabuza is at the bridge."

Shikamaru heard Naruto say something under his breath that was obviously bad enough for Rin to shoot a glare at him.

"This is where the fun begins." He heard Naruto say, returning the glare to Rin.

The other genin tensed and readied to follow Kakashi, who right before he took off with a blistering pace, gave a quick look towards them.

Troublesome.

/////////////////

Naruto POV:

'Offer an olive branch, and I get burned.' I thought cynically, reaching the bridge that symbolized the entire region's hope.

We got to the bridge and I saw the resident antagonist, Zabuza, with 5 workers restrained and Haku standing several meters away.

Asuma was at one side of the bridge with Tazuna, eying the two, while Zabuza was closer to the other side, his hostages looking pale and frightened.

At the realization at what he was doing, I got angry. Not just angry, furious.

'How dare he?' I felt my chakra begin to flow faster in response to my emotion. 'I spare Haku and offer the chance of a bloodless option, but he does this.'

Ignoring Kakashi clearing his throat, I approached Zabuza with Kubikiribocho on display in my right hand, dragging it across the ground for effect.

'The Iwa bastards likely turned tail and ran.' I thought angrily, cursing the fact that I let them get away. They'll probably spread the word that a redhead that uses a sword is in Konoha's employ, but fuck it. I'll kill anything that tries to kill me.

At the sight of me, Zabuza lifted up a sword in salute, the blade being very different from Kubikiribocho.

The blade Zabuza had looked more realistic to what a blade should look like in a conventional sense, being a katana about 3 feet long.

"Downsized?" I snarked, lifting up my own blade for comparison.

Zabuza laughed and swung the sword from side to side, hearing it cut through the mist heavy air. "Not my personal choice," He admitted, "But it's the next best I've got."

"Being on the run has a habit of making replacing your gear difficult," I grinned, before thinking of something better to say, "Not that I'd trust your judgement anyway, trying to over throw a Jinchuriki."

I felt Kakashi's chakra get closer, Zabuza readying his blade in a standard guard position.

The former Kiri nin made a quick hand seal and a Mizu bunshin appeared from the standing water next to the hostages, blade placed on one of their necks.

"Come closer, Hatake," He shouted, "And I'll make them a head shorter, one at a time." His bunshin tapping one of them on the neck repeatedly. I could hear the man weeping audibly and could see him shaking like a leaf.

"What do you want, asshole?" I demanded, a clone of mine popping to tell me that the clones I sent out minutes before I got here were Henged and in position. "I got your damn blade here." I gestured towards it, before spitting on it.

At the last action, Zabuza gave me a look of hatred.

"I value that blade more than I value the lives of this meat here," He snarled, jerking his hand towards the hostages, "I wasn't being cutesy when I said I'd kill them."

"Kill one of them," I promised, a chakra blade forming in my other hand, "And I'll feed you your own heart." My Killing Intent spiked as high as I could manage.

Zabuza didn't look fazed and actually chuckled at the little display, spiking his own.

Kurama was an inferno that felt like my very soul was burning, Zabuza's, while potent, wasn't anything in comparison to a vengeful Bijuu.

"I haven't come across a kid your age worth killing in a long time. I'm going to enjoy this." He laughed, looking positively gleeful.

"What are you wanting, demon?" I asked mockingly, wanting to know what the bastard had in mind.

"My mentor talked of how the Uzumaki were some of the best fighters he went up against," He grinned, almost looking wistful at whatever memory he was thinking of, "I've always wanted to see what it's like to fight one on one against one."

"You're out of luck," I said simply, "What made you think I was one?"

"Don't play coy with me, boy," He warned, his chakra spiking to try and intimidate me, "A redhead your age that's skilled in Kenjutsu is pretty damn noticeable. That little blade trick you use was something my predecessor spoke about when he talked about the fall of Uzushiogakure."

I needed Gato to show up on time and give Kakashi or Asuma time to make a plan, so I decided to play for time.

"What did the pussy say?" I asked, enjoying the reaction to the comment that Zabuza displayed.

"He said how much they begged for mercy when their Kage was killed." He laughed, maintaining a guarded stance.

Zabuza was lying. Hiruzen shared what happened during the battle, especially the final hours of it.

Any surrendering Uzumaki would have had explosives strapped to them as a trap, probably why there weren't any bodies that Orochimaru ever used for experimentation, come to think of it.

'Imagine if the bastard had access to an Uzumaki host?' I thought, not liking the prospect.

"Funny how most of the coalition got killed." I grinned maliciously, "Makes you think on whether they were meat to be diced up."

Zabuza just laughed at my statement.

"It'll be a shame to kill you, so I'll try to go easy on you." He then stepped a few feet closer to me, prompting me to raise Kubikiribocho in a ready position.

"This," He pointed at the blade he held, "Is a chakra conductive blade I took from a Hunter nin that tried to kill me. Fight me alone, and I'll give you the blade, let the hostages go, and I'll kill Gato for you."

I felt Kakashi's chakra shift before he even speaking.

"Naruto," he began, but I cut him off.

"You altered the deal," I stated simply, frowning at him, "What's stopping me from letting Kakashi and Asuma turn you into fish food?"

Zabuza simply pointed at the hostages.

"Kill them," I countered, "And I'll make you beg for death before I kill you."

"You won't though," Zabuza chuckled, "You're a damn hero, aren't you? You want this to be nice, civil, and clean. You'll fight to protect them. You'll talk before you fight."

At the last sentence, something clicked. That was similar to what I said to Haku.

My gaze turned to Haku, who had her mask on.

The lives of the workers were on the line because she told Zabuza that I could possibly be manipulated by kindness.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Eying Zabuza's backup blade, I did something that had Kakashi looking at me with shock.

I lifted up Kubikiribocho and offered it to Zabuza.

"I'll trade you."

"What are you doing, Naruto?" He asked, his Hitai-ate lifted up to show his Sharingan.

"You will stay out of this," I demanded, fixing the older man with an unwavering gaze, "I'm not letting them get killed."

They might not have been in this situation if I hadn't shown that one act of mercy to Haku.

'No, don't think that.' I growled internally. 'You're not them.'

I am not a monster. I am not Obito. I am me.

If I could manage it, Zabuza was going to die very painfully. I hate being played for a fool. Fuck the chance of him doing anything.

Kakashi just shook his head in irritation, knowing he wouldn't be able to convince me.

Zabuza looked ready and willing, flipping the blade around and ready to fling it to me.

"On the count of three?" He asked amusedly.

Nodding, I readied the blade to be thrown.

One. Two.

Three.

The katana came straight towards me as Kubikiribocho went sailing towards Zabuza.

I had the mind enhancement of the lightning cloak active in case Zabuza tried something. My eyes never left him though.

Catching the blade, I tested the reach and feel of it.

I could tell he wasn't lying about it being chakra conductive. I was pushing a small amount into it and it wasn't resisting.

This thing would have been damn expensive back in Konoha. I'd initially planned on buying one, but the money needed for food to take to Wave took priority.

Looking at Kakashi, I said one sentence.

"Back away, I will deal with this scum myself."

Zabuza was busy tearing off the explosives I'd put on the blade, before he laughed at what I'd said.

I had deactivated them as a threw it.

I glanced towards everyone that was behind us, trying to not look at Rin who was hearing everything said.

The look of terror on her face almost made me reconsider what I was doing. Were the lives of the workers worth causing her emotional pain from worry? Was this worth risking getting hurt? I don't know. But I made my choice and I was going to stick to it.

The feeling of her chakra, the way it, Ino's, and Hinata's was shifting meant they were scared for me. Shikamaru and Choji's was as well, but to a lesser extent.

Sasuke's was very cold, something that I hadn't felt from him before. I had no idea what he was feeling right now.

Kakashi's chakra was one that I was so familiar with, I could feel the subtle shifts in it where I might as well be reading his mind.

He was flicking between anger, concern, and irritation at a rapid pace.

Steeling myself, I turned to face Zabuza with my new sword at rest.

"Your move." I said firmly, shooting a look of anger at Haku.

"You fool," Zabuza laughed, looking at how Kakashi had backed up to let the fight commence, "I've been trained by the greatest of swordsmen and killed a whole lot scarier Shinobi than you." He then raised his sword in a high guard.

This was it. The fight I'd been looking forward to. I picked my environment well. The seals were still in place based on the extremely faint chakra outline I could feel under the wood where I placed them. Zabuza had no idea what was coming.

Pushing chakra into my limbs, I felt the exhilaration of the upcoming fight push aside all doubt and worry.

"And they're all dead." I said firmly, " Dead at the hands of my clan. And I'm not a typical Shinobi. You think you know what a demon is because of your little pet name?" I demanded, my chakra flaring, "I know what a true demon is." I finished, channeling lightning chakra through the blade, the sound of crackling being heard across the bridge.

"I'll let your friends see that you had a good death." Zabuza promised, his chakra beginning to flow quickly in preparation for the fight.

"You are mistaken." I said firmly, adopting the most common Uzumaki stance for Kenjutsu.

Blade held horizontal to the right of my head, left hand held out with my index and middle fingers pointed out towards him in a challenge.

Zabuza raised his own blade and laughed loudly.

"Attack, Shinobi." He said the last word almost mockingly, beginning to twirl his blade as he approached me.

He kept swinging it in a certain pattern to scrape at the bridge to make a crunching sound as parts of the wood gave way under the swings. That little scare tactic might work on novices, but I wasn't one.

The moment he reached me, I lunged my blade forward to catch his mid swing.

(End Chapter) Part two is next.