Chapter 59 Zabuza vs Naruto and a secret alliance

...Iron country ...

When all of the kage and the sand village representative came outside . Zabuza asked mifune something in his ears . Mifune respects a perfect duel with honour .

" Mr Naruto uzumaki . Are you ready to battle in a duel with zabuza . We have a training ground nearby where our samurai boys can challenge each other . If you want to use ninjutsu that's fine by us . Our samurai will learn few things after looking at both of your style ," Mifune said to Naruto . All the kages looked at him . They stopped in their tracks to watch this small boy's strength .

" I don't mind it . Last time our battle was interrupted but not this time . Are you ready to lose zabuza San ," Naruto said to zabuza . Who looks at him as if he is cracking a joke .

" You can dream about it . You are not the only one who improved after land of waves . Where is the training ground . I am itching to fight this brat ," Zabuza said to Naruto and then the last part to mifune . He is excited about this fight .

Mifune took zabuza and Naruto to a clean training ground where other young samurai boys are practicing . All the others are curious about the fight so they followed them .

" You can resume your practice later . So these two ninja can test their swordsmanship in this ground . Please come to the sideline so they have enough space to fight ," Kota said to the samurais who are practicing earlier in the ground . All of them listened to him and walked to the sidelines .

Kota stood as the referee on the instruction of mifune nearby . Zabuza and Naruto walked in the center of the training ground .

" I put my money on zabuza . What do you say Tsuchikage ," Raikage said to Tsuchikage . Zabuza is more experienced in his eyes .

" Even I will put my money on zabuza . Even though minato's brat is a prodigy . It doesn't mean he can beat an experienced swordsman like zabuza . Last time he must have caught zabuza by a surprise ," Onoki said to Raikage .

" Well I have never seen how Naruto fight . But he is a young lad who can grow as a handsome man one day . But still I put my money on zabuza ," Mizukage said to others . She is sure that zabuza can win this match with ease .

" I don't gamble now a days but If you asking who will win then it will be Naruto ," Tsunade said to them . She went towards mifune and said something which only he can hear .

" Well I cannot say much as I have not seen either of them fight in a battlefield . So I will remain neutral in this matter . Swordplay is not my area to criticize . Gaara who will win in your opinion ," Chiyo said to others and last part to only gaara . She has heard a lot of things from others about Naruto and zabuza .

" Well I think Naruto will win . He is very tricky ninja who can outclass anyone ," Gaara said to chiyo . He is trying to change after his sleeping problem is solved . He can think clearly after now .

" Who do you think will win this battle , general mifune ," Chiyo asked mifune . He is looking at the both zabuza and Naruto .

" Well experience plays a huge role but we don't know how much Naruto has challenged himself with his sword . But I have a feeling Naruto can win this match ," Mifune said to them .

" Begin ," Kota said to both zabuza and Naruto .

As soon the match begin both of them unsheathed their sword and ran towards at each other in a tremendous speed and their sword clashed with each other . Then both of them jumped backward to maintain some distance .

" You have quite a lot of strength in your arms ," Zabuza said to Naruto while striking on Naruto's neck but Naruto blocked him by his sword .

" You are quite brute to use your strength plus the weight of that heavy sword ," Naruto said to zabuza . He leaned a little and tried to cut the legs of zabuza who also blocked him .

" It's name is Kubikiribocho . It's a heavy sword from the day it was forged ," Zabuza said and attempted to cut on the biceps of Naruto repeatedly . But he blocked all of his attempts by his swords .

For few minutes they only tried to tire each other out . None of them are gaining an upper hand in the first part of pure kenjutsu battle .

Zabuza jumped back and put one of his hand in the air and other on chest doing a hand seal .

" Hidden in the mist jutsu ," Zabuza said and a mist surrounded them . Zabuza went to attack him in the mist but he doesn't knew about Naruto's sensor skills . He can locate him anywhere due to his range . Zabuza tried to atttack him from behind but Naruto suddenly turned back and blocked it . Again zabuza disappeared in the mist and tried again but he failed every time to surprise him .

" Well the battle should be over by now . Why zabuza is taking so long . Even kakashi has a problem to locate him in the mist ," Haku said to mei . He is worried now .

" I am surprised too . He can hold this long in a blind match with zabuza ," Mei said to others . Hidden in the mist jutsu is a jutsu which cannot be blocked by majority of ninja population for more than five minutes . If they are attacked by one of the seven swordsman of their village .

" Air slash ," Naruto said and a burst of wind appeared from his sword's slash . It blow away the mist from his surrounding .

Naruto came out unscatched from the mist . No injuries in any part of his body . It surprised others .

" I impressed by your performance so far Naruto uzumaki . You are very quick in blocking my sword attacks and adjusting in your body stance according to the situation ," Zabuza praised his opponent . No one can easily counter his jutsu without a dojutsu .

Naruto and zabuza fought for more than thirty minutes . So mifune interrupted them .

" You both have to stop your duel now . As every kage already fulfilled the purpose of coming here . And they have to return their own village as soon as possible to fulfill their own responsibility . So we have to stop your duel . It's nice to see both of you showing your skills but it is getting late for kages and we also have other works to fulfill ," Mifune said to zabuza and Naruto . Samurai are all about the total discipline like modern military . Even if he wanted to let them continue but his samurai code stopped him from doing that .

" I wanted to win against you but it doesn't matter as our two encounter has ended up in a draw ," Naruto said to zabuza . Both of them looked at each other .

" If you want to continue our duel . Come to mist village if you have time . It was a long time anyone other than seven mist swordmen can gave me such a good practice . You should be happy that you have two draw with me ," Zabuza said to Naruto . Because of the bandage on his mouth no one has seen him smiling .

" I can't promise that but if I come to mist village be ready for a duel . You have a lot of time to prepare for your loss . hehehehehhe ," Naruto said zabuza . In reply zabuza said nothing and went near Haku , Mei and Ao .

Chiyo , Tsuchikage and Raikage were evaluating zabuza and Naruto for the future reference . Mifune stopped both of them because all of them are from foreign nation and they have to leave their country after their meeting as it is a neutral zone for all shinobi nations . So he doesn't want any kind of dispute in his country by them . If one of them would have lost . It would not be liked by their respective village kage .

" Well done Naruto kun . In such young age you have faced zabuza for more than thirty minutes alone in a sword duel ," Mifune said to Naruto . After all zabuza is an adult but Naruto is still a twelve year child .

" Thanks general mifune . One day I would be the best ninja this world has ever seen ," Naruto said to mifune and started to walk towards his konoha companions .

" Let's go Naruto . We have no reason to stay any longer in the Iron country ," Tsunade said to her companions . Naruto , Tsunade , Anko and Hiruzen disappeared in a quick shunshin .

After Tsunade left with her party . Few moments later Tsuchikage and Raikage left with their companions . As there is no reason for them to stay behind . Mist and sand villages are weak in their eyes . Their is no reason for them to stay with them any longer .

" I can understand Tsunade left early . She is very quick to leave as soon as the duel is over . But I felt Raikage and Tsuchikage looked down on us . What do you think Mizukage ? " Chiyo said to Mei Terumi . She wanted to know her thoughts .

" It doesn't matter to me . As long as they don't wage a war upon my village I can ignore this kind of small matters . My village is still in a recovery period from the civil war . Well I am impressed by the current hokage . She become the first female kage and under her rule they recovered so fast as if there was no invasion to their village ," Mei said to chiyo . She is impressed by the growth of konoha under Tsunade . Even as a female she did a phenomenal job which many kage took longer time to finish under their leadership .

" Well , Tsunade is a world class medic nin . I would never except any less from her in that situation . But she changed a lot from the last time I met . She is awfully quiet if I compare her from her own younger self . There is also a lot of tension between Iwa , Kumo and konoha . We should keep our villages out of their affairs . What do you say mizukage ? " Chiyo said to Mei . After all recently both of their villages weakened due to external or internal war .

" I sensed the tension between them . For the timing I will stay out of their cold war . I noticed you paid a lot of attention to that young boy Naruto . Any specific reason for doing that ? " Mei said to chiyo . In response of that chiyo smiled at her .

" He is not only a kenjutsu master but his fuinjutsu is also above everyone else . From my eyes I have never seen anyone who can perform such a work in that field of fuinjutsu . In my opinion he is the second best fuinjutsu user after Kai uzumaki . Even then I have never seen the work of Kai uzumaki ," Chiyo said to Mei . Their conversation brought light on Kai once again .

" Before this day I never heard about Kai . To think someone who can surpass Kai is working under Tsunade . If their is another war between Konoha , Iwa and Kumo . Konoha will win it for sure . Tsunade has hidden a lot of ace in her sleeves. Even the third hokage looked quite energetic for an old man . I thought he is the younger self of himself when I saw him for the first time today ," Mei said to chiyo . It made chiyo realize that she missed something while paying a lot of attention to Naruto .

" Sorry for interrupting but I thought that lady Anko has a lot of chakra which is comparable to kage . I never met her before but If I am right she works for the intelligence department of konoha ," Ao said to them . Anko didn't even said a word during the meeting . Ao used his Byakugan to take a look at others and found that anko is more dangerous than she looks . His Byakugan is hidden by the eye patch . Naruto still has the death reaper seal on his stomach so Ao couldn't see the actual amount of chakra possesed by him .

" You are joking right . when I saw her last time she has jonin level chakra . It was one month before the final of chunin exam ," Baki said to Ao . He was there during the invasion but he has not seen anko anywhere after the second round of chunin exam .

" It looks like konoha recently became more secretive than usual . It started after Tsunade became the Hokage . Recently they wiped out spies of other villages to avoid any kind of information leak from their village ," Chiyo said to them . Recently no one knows any information about konoha's internal affairs .

" Konoha has a lot of famous jonin like kakashi , Mighty gai and the famous ino-shika -cho trio . And the other elder of konoha Danzo who does everything in shadow . Well I heard even third hokage has difficulty in controlling him . But now he is silent for some reason after Tsunade became hokage ," Mei said to Chiyo . Even chiyo knows some of the dark work of danzo behind the back of third hokage .

" We should exchange information among our villages . It will be beneficial for both of our villages in a long run . What do you say Mizukage ," Chiyo asked Mei . It was her original intention for which she came to kage summit . After all other three great ninja villages are thriving at this time . And Mist and sand are still in a dire situation .

" Well it is a tempting offer . I originally came for this purpose and I was waiting for other villages to leave . I agree with your offer ," Mei said to chiyo . And a secret alliance was made between them for exchanging information .

" I expect nothing less from both of you . After all a women mind is not something men can understand ," Tsunade came out of a tree with her party . Everyone from mist and sand was shocked due to the sudden appearance of Hokage .

Mifune who was nearby came to meet tsunade again . He thought she meet with a problem . As a host he has to solve it .

" Lady Hokage you have returned so soon . Is there a problem ," Mifune asked her . He doesn't have a good feeling about the current situation .

" Actually I thought to buy some chakra swords for my nephew if it is possible . Meanwhile I will talk with ladies . After all it is good to know about some kage level gossip ," Tsunade said to them . Her sudden appeareance shocked chiyo and mei . They have not seen this coming .

" Kota go with Naruto to show him a sword shop . Naruto kun the chakra sword is not cheap . And a famous sword shop is nearby so you do not have to waste a lot of time looking in another shop ," Mifune said to Naruto . Iron country is known for producing high-level swords . And they charge according to the level of their swords .

" I have a lot of money so it is not a problem ," Naruto said to mifune with a smile and soon left with Kota . Mifune stood their in a distance as it is not an official meeting . Listening to their conversation might be rude from his part . As all of them are ladies .

" I was waiting when both of you will make an alliance . Both of you took a lot of time ," Tsunade said it with a smile . It was clear to them she knew their plan .

" Do Iwa and Kumo are aware of our plan Lady hokage ?" Mei asked her . If Tsunade is aware about their plans then there is a chance that Iwa and Kumo are also aware about there intention .

" No . Except me both the other country are unaware about your plan . Even if both of you want to exchange information among yourself . I don't have a problem with it . I will provide a free passage in our borders . So you can exchange your information much faster . Your ninja couldn't pass from the other two ninja villages border without alerting them . It will create a larger time gap between the exchange in information among both of you ," Tsunade said to them . The distance between their village is longer as both are in different side of map .

" What do you want to gain from both villages Lady hokage ? By helping us you will gain nothing in return due to our current condition . Or are you trying to put us in your side from the very beginning ," Chiyo said to Tsunade . She couldn't read this woman after she became hokage .

" Well that is my original intention . But I also want to exchange information among all three of our village secretly . But even then I don't like others spies in my village . Even if Raikage and Tsuchikage are arrogant about their strength . I am not one of them . Recently both of them are acquiring a lot of power and territory . If they will get a chance they will invade your village to improve their stronghold , " Tsunade said to them and started to manipulate them . But most of her words are true .

Her words made them think about it . Whatever she said it was a true accusations on Iwa and Kumo .

" I know about that it is nothing new considering their behaviour ," Chiyo said to them . Even Mei supported her words .

" You should know Raikage is the one behind the attack on my nephew . Even before he attacked him I knew about it beforehand . Even if I questioned him about it he would have made an excuse . So my sister in law didn't leave their ninja alive in her encounter with them . Recently Iwagakure used akatsuki to attack my nephew . Well they have became quite bold to target my family members in konoha . I don't know what they can do to your village . Akatsuki never attack a random ninja without a huge payment ," Tsunade said to them . She also want to take her revenge from Iwa and Kumo . She will not slide this moment to manipulate the weaker ninja nations to join her side .

" They are doing a lot of thing behind our back recently . I am ready to form an alliance with you . What about you lady chiyo ? " Mei said to them . It will beneficial for her village in future .

" I would have accept but due to our village being part of a recent invasion in your village . I don't think your council will approve the alliance between our village ," Chiyo said to Tsunade . She stated the true fact as every shinobi and civilan council will think about this kind of offer . Mostly it ends in a failure .

" Don't worry about it . I became hokage with full power . Before I became hokage my sensei has eliminated all the bad roots of civilan council . And shinobi council listens every word of mine ," Tsunade said to them . She holds ultimate authority now in konoha after fire damiyo .

" What about Danzo and his men who hides in the shadow of konoha ? They will create a lot of problem in konoha regarding our alliance . Konoha and mist can become allies without a problem ," Chiyo said to Tsunade . Even if she wants to continue their alliance but it is not a good thought according to the current scenario .

" You don't have to think about Danzo . He is only one man . Not the whole council of konoha . All the advisors , shinobis and civilans are in my side . One person opinion will not change it . He is quiet now a days because of his reputation is down due to his own actions . He is a not existing problem for me . Here I already made documents for all three of us . You can read it and sign it later . If you find it acceptable ," Tsunade said to them and handed them few documents . Chiyo and Mei read it . And found their is no flaw in it .

" You came fully prepared this time Lady hokage . I am impressed by your work ," Mei said to Tsunade . She read the documents three times and signed it . Chiyo already signed the documents as the representative of sand . They distributed three documents among themselves as a proof .

" So now konoha , sand and mist are in a secret alliance to exchange information and also to support each other in a war situation against other two ninja villages ," Tsunade said to them . She is happy in her heart but didn't show in her face .

" Well I thought it was impossible to establish an alliance with konoha , after our village was tricked by Orochimaru . But now the things have changed , a lot after you became hokage ," Chiyo said to Tsunade . She is impressed by the speed of her decision making .

" Nothing is impossible if you truly want it . Now after I finished my real meeting . I have a boat to catch ," Mei said to chiyo and Tsunade .

" I also have to leave lady hokage . I have a lot of work in the absence of a real kazekage ," Chiyo said to Mei and Tsunade .

Naruto returned with Kota by this time .

" My nephew is back . It looks like all of you are busy in their village work . So without wasting any time we will take our leave ," Tsunade left with her team . And this time they left for real . Soon chiyo left with her group . Mei was about to leave when mifune came to them .

" So your gossip has finished lady mizukage ," Mifune asked her . In his heart he knew this ladies have discussed something dangerous behind the back of Raikage and Tsuchikage .

" You know the ladies like to talk . Especially when there is no men around them . We are also leaving now ," Mizukage said to mifune .

" Zabuza , you did great by facing that boy . You are a true warrior even in that pain you kept attacking him . I know your wrist are internally injured by continuously blocking naruto's attack ," Mifune said to zabuza . When Mei , Haku and Ao heard it they were surprised as they is no wound in his wrist .

" I know that boy is more furious than I have imagined . I never enjoyed this kind of sword battle with anyone . I thought I misjudged him last time but I repeated the same mistake this time . I still can't believe his strikes can be such powerful to shake my wrists and bones . Cocytus trained him really well . Still I feel that boy has heavens luck to obtain such a good teacher ," Zabuza said to mifune . He is happy to have such a great battle .

" Thank you general mifune . You saved our reputation by stopping the match in front of other kages ," Mei said to mifune .

" It is my job as an host . Even then lady Hokage already knew about this outcome and told me earlier that I have to stop the match as soon as the thirty minutes are over . At first I thought she is worried about Naruto but well I was surprised by that boy's performance . I stopped it little late due to their performance . I was mesmerized by their performance . I should train even more otherwise they will surpass me in no time ," Mifune said to them .

" Once again thank you general mifune . Now we have to take our leave ," Mei said to mifune and left with her team . Mifune went back to do his work . The ground has become full with the young samurais who started their practice all over again .

.........

.....Inside the boat .....

Haku was looking at zabuza injuries . Even he was not bleeding . But his wrist has swollen because of his constant blocking and attacking Naruto . Mei and Ao are standing nearby .

Haku is a medic nin so he started to heal zabuza's wrist .

" It is good that I trained in medical ninjutsu after we left Land of waves . You should avoid getting injured like this Zabuza sama ," Haku said to zabuza . His words irritated zabuza ears .

" You like it when I get injured . Now don't deny it . For this purpose only you learned medical ninjutsu . You always remind me about the incident of land of waves ," Zabuza said to Haku . Mei and Ao are listening to their conversation . It is a scene which they are used to see everytime zabuza gets injured .

" Don't be so hard on the kid , zabuza . You are the one who challenged that boy ," Ao said to zabuza .

" I thought I will show him that I went easy on him last time . But that boy he even outclassed me this time . I will train even harder for the time he will come in mist . No one will save his wrists at that time . I will not satisfy till his wrists get swollen like how he did it with mine . I will have my revenge ," Zabuza said to them . Haku laughed at zabuza .

" You can come to me anytime for the treatment zabuza sama . By the next time Naruto would have be grown as a teenager . He only twelve this time . I am worried about you when you face him when he will turn sixteen . Even if you lose I will support you ," Haku said to zabuza . So much for showing his bone of confidence .

" Haku that is not how you should encourage your master zabuza . It looked more like you believe he will lose . Even then you will encourage him ," Ao said to Haku . He has a headache due to their constant arguing . By the time zabuza was fully healed from his injury .

Their boat is going at the full speed towards the mist village .

..........

....Near the border of sunagkure ....

Chiyo is running at the medium speed with her team .

" Gaara you didn't talk with that konoha kid . I thought you wanted to talk with him ," Chiyo asked gaara .

" I am not confident in talking with him . I just observed him . He can even badmouth Tsuchikage but I was nervous to open my mouth in such a meeting ," Gaara is learning the way of his new life .

" You will learn it later . Don't sweat about it . In that kind of meeting usually you don't have to open your mouth if you are not sure about talking . Even I was nervous what to say or should remain quiet ," Baki said to gaara . He is happy that gaara has changed a lot after the failed invasion .

All of them reached at the gates of sunagakure . All four of them entered together to attend the council meeting to give the new information about their alliance with mist and konoha .