Chapter 11

Last Time:

Zabuza finished his introduction as he hefted the large blade over his shoulder.

Now:

Naruto looked ahead at zabuza and drew an arrow. "Don't get over confident. Underestimating an opponent is the biggest mistake you could make in battle." Zabuza looked at the kid in front of him before he went through a series of hand seals. "Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Zabuza yelled and a large amount of mist moved into the clearing. "Shit." Naruto muttered under his breath and made 4 Shadow clones. "You guys stick with Tazuna. I'll take care of Zabuza."

The clones nodded and formed a protective formation around Tazuna. Naruto extended his bow and prepared an arrow. " Seven points… Lungs, heart, kidney…." Naruto struggled to hear the rest as the voice kept bouncing around the clearing. A sudden slash appeared on his arm, but not deep enough to disable him. Naruto winced at the burning sensation in his arm, but ignored it for the moment. He had bigger fish to fry. Naruto closed his eyes and focused as much as he could on the environment around him. 'Remember, everything makes a sound. No matter how diminutive it is, its there.' He smirked at the memory from his tracking lessons with Hawkeye.

'Ok, he's got a huge blade and it's spilled blood.' Naruto thought as he channeled a small amount of chakra to his nose and started sniffing the air. 'There's too much salt in the atmosphere to be able to pinpoint it using that method.' Naruto grimaced as another slash appeared over his shoulder. 'Damn it! But wait…' Naruto thought as he focused chakra in his ears. He heard the low sound of footsteps moving all around him. 'That's too many to be just him.. multiple opponents? No, different scents would have made a different aroma. Clones?' Naruto mused, but was shaken by a low sound of a blade slicing through the air.

'That's it, the blade is too big to move undetected. It always makes a sound, but due to his reputation and the thrill of battle, an opponent never has the time to slow down and listen!' Naruto surmised as he roled out of the way of the incoming blade. " You're good brat, but let me ask you something. Who shall I strike first?" 'Who?!' "Get down!" Naruto yelled at the formation as he let loose an arrow. Over the clones and Tazuna was Zabuza with his blade mid slash when Naruto's arrow went through his head.

Naruto watched as the Zabuza standing over the clones turned into pure water. 'So I was right, he was using clones.!' Naruto thought as he made a few hand seals. "Wind Release: Spinning Wind!" Naruto yelled as he coated his hands with wind chakra and began spinning, forming a mini tornado that cleared away a lot of the mist. As Naruto stepped out of the tornado, he became slightly disoriented. Zabuza saw this as a chance to attack and charged head on, intent on killing the blonde when an arrow buried itself into his chest.

Before he could react, the arrow then critical and blew up inside of his chest. Instead of the regular splatter of blood and bones, only water flew. 'Shit, another clone!' Naruto thought as he made two more shadow clones and had them run to the forest. 'A distraction?' thought Zabuza as he watched the young blonde. He shrugged and charged at Naruto ready to end his life, only to duck under a clone holding a standard Katana. "Finally, my kind of battle!" Zabuza said with an insane glee as he hefted his Butchers Sword and ran at the clone.

Naruto ducked under a slash from the giant blade and tried to slash upwards towards Zabuza's neck, only for the nin to jump back and begin a chain of hand seals. "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!" Naruto watched as a giant dragon made of water rose out of the nearby lake and only had one thought. 'Fuck…' He barely had time to jump backwards as the dragon began charging towards him.

Zabuza watched as the young brat tried to avoid his water dragon by jumping onto the lake and water walking on its surface. 'Big Mistake.' Zabuza thought as he shunshinned behind Naruto. 'Shit, this water feels weird…thick, like its laced with.. chakra! Shit!' Naruto thought as he made a few hand seals. After a poof, Naruto still stood there, but was wearing a huge grin on his face.

'What did he do?' Zabuza wondered as he put finished his chain of hand seals and put his hand on Narutos shoulder. "Water Prison Technique!" Naruto watched as the overly thick water rose and began forming a circular prison around him, not even leaving any space for him to breath. "First mistake: You ran into your enemy's element." Zabuza stated with a satisfied smirk as he looked at Naruto in the bubble. Naruto smirked as he began focusing chakra into his stomach.

A few seconds later, a large explosion shook the clearing, completely dispelling the water prison and knocking Zabuza roughly into a tree. "First Mistake: You underestimated your opponent." Naruto said as he jumped out from behind the forest line. "But..how?" Zabuza asked as he used his sword to stand up. "Simple exploding clone." Naruto replied as he unsealed his blade from his shoulder and resealed his bow. Naruto ran at the downed Zabuza with his blade poised to slash the throat, only for 3 senbon to pierce Zabuza's throat. Naruto studied the senbon and went to take Zabuza's pulse, only to find that he was dead.

Naruto looked around to see what had just happened, but found the clearing to be empty. Before he could even voice a question, a ninja wearing a hunter nin mask came down and grabbed Zabuza's body. "Thank you for your assistance. I have been searching for him for a very long time." The hunter nin said and shunshinned away, leaving Naruto and Tazuna alone in the clearing. "What just happened?" Tazuna asked Naruto as the blond tried to hold his still bleeding arm.

"Hunter-nin. They hunt down missing ninja from their respective villages in an effort to prevent village secrets from being made public. Is your house near here, old man?" Naruto replied and asked at the same time. "Yea, just up ahead. Think you'll be able to make it?" Tazuna asked his blond guard. "Yea, I just need a good night's rest and an antibiotic cream or ointment." Naruto said as he followed Tazuna towards his house.

~Tazuna's House ~

Naruto groaned as he and Tazuna arrived at his house. The walk hadn't been bad, the problem was that his wound burned whenever exposed to the salty air of the land of Waves. Tazuna knocked on the door and was greeted by his daughter, Tsunami. "Father, I'm so glad you're safe!" Tsunami said as she hugged Tazuna. ' Civilian, average woman. Mother, if her countenance is correct. Makes does with what she has as made clear by her plain, but well cared for clothes…' Naruto thought as he looked at the woman before him.

"Well, it's all thanks to my super awesome guard, Naruto!" Tazuna happily exclaimed, putting Naruto in the spotlight. "Thank you for taking care of my Father, Naruto-kun." Tsunami said as she bowed slightly. "Um..hey, it's no problem, right? I'm just doing what anyone else would have done." He said as he scratched the back of his head. "You both must be starving, please come in while I make something to eat." Tsunami said in a happy tone.

As Naruto walked into the home, he was greeted by the sight of an irritated kid wearing a bucket hat and simple overalls. The kid stormed off upstairs after seeing Naruto walk in. "I am sorry about Inari-chan. He's a good boy, he just hasn't been the same ever since…the incident." Tsunami started. Naruto took a seat at the dinner table as Tsunami brought him a cup of tea. "What happened?" Naruto asked as he took a sip of tea.

"Well, everything was fine in the land of waves until Gato came along. He bought out most of the ports for shipping and trading. After that, he began rising taxes and charging people outrageous prices, strengthening his grip on our country. By the time he became the tyrant he is, our country was completely dependent on his trading monopoly. He's been draining the land dry ever since." Tsunami finished. " This bridge I'm building is the only hope this country has of being liberated from its dependence on Gato." Tazuna finished.

"So this bridge is the only way you can be liberated from Gato?" Naruto reiterated and Tazuna nodded. "What can you tell me about Gato?" Naruto asked as he finished the last bit of tea he had in his cup. "Not much is known of him. He spends most of his time holed up in his giant mansion. He's a bit paranoid, if his security force and lackeys are anything to go by." Tazuna started. "He's extremely greedy. He sends out his thugs every week to collect a "Cost of living" tax from every citizen. Anyone who can't afford to pay it has to answer to him in person."

Naruto nodded as he began formulating a plan in his head. " This mansion he lives in, are there any public records with the floor plans for the place?" Naruto asked. "Yea, I'm the one who built the place." Tazuna said. "Ok, I can help, I believe. I will need the blueprints for his mansion and any easy entrance or underground tunnels you can find." Naruto said. Tazuna wondered what the kid was planning, but nodded anyway. "I can get them in a few days." Tazuna said. "Good. Now, is there a room I can sleep in for the evening? I'm sure that these next few days are going to be tough.

Tsunami nodded and led him to a room upstairs. As soon as Naruto's head hit the pillow, he drifted off to sleep.

~ With Zabuza ~

Zabuza groaned as he looked at his adoptive son treat his injuries. That blond brat had been good, he had to give that much to him. "Zabuza-sama, you really need to be more careful. You got too cocky and underestimated your opponent, and look where that got you." Zabuza grumbled about smart-ass kids, but nodded. "How long till I'm up and running?" "With any luck and a lot of herbs, a few days, but you should take a full week to recover." Haku answered his master.

"Yea, sure. I'll make sure that I'm well rested and ready for my rematch with the brat. I'm sure he won't make it easy." Zabuza finished with a small grin. Haku smiled at his father's behavior, but it was cut off as Gato, their employer, arrived…

~ The next day~

Naruto groaned as he slowly got out of bed. If there was one enemy that could easily defeat him, it was those 5 minutes after he woke up. He headed to the bathroom, took a shower, and got dressed. As he adjusted his black beret and headed downstairs, he was greeted by the sight of Tazuna and Tsunami at the breakfast table finishing up their morning routine. "You know, for a guard, you wake up extremely late." Tazuna said to Naruto as Naruto sat to his breakfast.

"For a drunk, you sure can hide a hang over well.." Naruto said as he tapped his glass with his fork, making tazuna wince at the noise. It felt like a needle was being forced through his skull. "Touché. Now hurry up. We have to go to the bridge and make sure everything is going well." Naruto nodded as he finished up his breakfast.

~ Time Skip – The Bridge ~

Naruto watched as the men worked on the bridge. While Tazuna might have been the world's most over qualified drunk, Naruto had to admit he did good work. The bridge was huge and very well constructed, especially considering the limited resource they had to work with. "What do you mean you're quitting?" Naruto turned to see Tazuna talking to some man who was quitting because the work had gotten too dangerous and he had to keep the safety of his family in mind.

As Naruto approached Tazuna, the old carpenter began grumbling about his troubles. "Damn it, not even a week and I've lost 4 men." "Don't worry, something will turn up." Naruto said as he stood next to Tazuna. " I doubt it, Kid. I've drained most of my work offers here dry. Unless you want to help, I've got nothing." Naruto nodded as he adjusted his gloves and went to help the 2 men struggling to move a beam. "Where are you going?" Tazuna asked Naruto . "To help instead of whine." Naruto replied.

Tazuna was about to shoot back a smart-ass remark, but figured it was better left in his mouth. But this kid, who was he? Not only did he not expect pay for the work he did as a bodyguard, but he also helped out wherever he could. Then his words. 'To help instead of whine..' Tazuna thought about these words. Sure, they were simple, but they seemed to hold such a great impact. Maybe it was time to stop sitting in the sidelines and to actually help. With that in mind, Tazuna headed off to see what was needed and how he could get it done..