Chapter 92 Old friend

Land of Waves

Two figures were walking across the large recently constructed bridge to the small island nation. Naruto was walking with his arms behind his head grinning the entire way across the bridge and it was starting to get on Jiraiya's nerves.

"Okay you can stop grinning," he told the boy.

"You're just jealous that I got a bridge named after me," Naruto told him.

"It was called the Great Hatake bridge," he shot back at him remembering the sign. "How do you know it wasn't named after Kakashi, he was leading the mission."

"Still has part of my name in it, even if it's the family name, so there," he told him.

"Should never have come here," Jiraiya muttered under his breath as he rubbed his face. He really hoped that whoever this swordsman was that Naruto was right about him. He had asked the kid but apparently he was told to never talk about events outside of the village.

As a spy master Jiraiya got it, you could never know who was listening at all times so it was good that the kid knew how to keep his mouth shut when it really mattered, although it was a little annoying not knowing things. It was one of the reason Jiraiya had become the spy master well it was one of the lesser ones if he had to admit to it, but at least now he knew more than most. In the war he had hated going into danger without all the information, it left too much that could go wrong even though he knew that sometimes you had to tell your soldiers something when something else was planned in case they were captured or they were a diversion.

Finally they had walked to the other side of the bridge as a small village was seen nearby.

"Man I hope this place got better since the last time," Naruto remembered how much trouble the place had been in when they had been here last.

They finished getting across the bridge as Naruto could finally see the town. The place looked to be recovering it was hard to believe that it had nearly been a year since he had been here last and already he could see an improvement. The houses were in better shape, people looked healthier, the place looked a bit more bustling. He even saw kids playing in the streets.

Naruto couldn't help the smile on his face looking around it felt nice knowing that what he and the others did had helped out so much.

"So where are these friends of yours?" Jiraiya asked.

That was a good question, the letters he got from Haku didn't mention it but he did send them to old man Tazuna's place with his daughter and grandson so they would know.

"I think I know how to track them down just follow me," Naruto said confidently although it had been awhile and the place did look a bit different. He remembered that their home was on the edge of the village near the forests. He did have to ask someone for directions at least once to make sure they were still living in the same area.

Thankfully ever since the bridge was built Tazuna was a major player in the town. Apparently he was rebuilding the fishing docks to allow for more ships and for some trade.

Naruto also noticed the looks he was getting, he saw people waving to him and the smiles at him. Apparently word was getting around town that he was back, it was kind of strange seeing this and the reactions. Back home he was just another ninja but here he and the others were heroes for this village, it felt kind of nice actually.

Eventually they made their way and Naruto saw the familiar house it looked a bit nicer now that he got a good look at it. Fresh paint and also seemed to have the roof redone, it was a nice little improvement made to the house.

"This the place?" Jiraiya asked him.

"Yep, they should know where to find him," Naruto went to the front door and knocked, he hoped someone was home. Thankfully he heard someone coming and the door opened to reveal a nice looking woman with long blue hair. Her face lit up as she saw the young boy in front of her.

"Naruto-kun, what a surprise," she beamed at him.

"Hi ya Tsunami," Naruto was glad to see her again. "I was in the area and kind of was hoping to meet up with Haku, I wanted to get some training in using a sword from, well you know who." He didn't want to ruin the surprise but also didn't want to use his name just in case.

"Oh really? Well both are out but they should be back at any moment." She told him.

"Wait, are they living here?" Naruto wanted to make sure he understood her meaning.

"Well it's a big house and they both needed a place to stay, Haku also needed help with healing up so I was here to help. Inari had been a great help as well with Haku."

"That's great to hear," He remembered that Inari had been a bit of a brat before and maybe pretty nihilistic but he had changed by the time they left.

"Yes, he's been helping out with my father lately, I think he's going to follow in his footsteps and become a builder too." Tsunami smiled and then looked to the man with them. "If I may ask who are you sir?"

Naruto was about to say something but Jiraiya stepped in front of him before he ruined his reputation with whatever came out of his mouth.

"I'm Jiraiya from Konoha, also known as The Toad Sage and one of the great Sannin." He boasted as he slapped a hand down on Naruto's shoulder. "I'm also this boy's teacher for the next little while too."

"Oh, well that sounds impressive." She honestly stated although she hadn't heard of him before which was only fitting she was a civilian that lived in a civilian town. Ninjas weren't even seen in this town until Naruto and his group came.

Of course Jiraiya wasn't used to not being recognized either by sight or by his reputation, even as an author of his books he was well known. Before he could say anything more the sounds of people walking up from behind was heard. They all turned to see two individuals walking up to the house, one a tall young looking person with long brown hair standing next to a large man who was wearing a scarf around the bottom of his face.

When they got closer there was a tense moment between the large man and Jiraiya as they locked eyes with each other. Both could see a warrior when they were face to face with another.

Jiraiya knew this man immediately even with the new look he was trying to pull off there were a few faces from the bingo books that he memorized just because of how dangerous they were. Some people you couldn't let them catch you by surprise and sometimes their reputation made it impossible to not know someone. This man was all that and more as Jiraiya turned to Naruto.

"You never said that the man you wanted to see what the Demon of the Hidden Mist himself, Zabuza Momochi!"

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Naruto shrugged.

"Well consider me surprised!" Jiraiya told him then he turned to face Zabuza. "You are supposed to be dead."

"Well consider me a ghost then," Zabuza crossed his arms as but he wasn't relaxing his body. This was Jiraiya of the Sannin, truth be told there was a time he thought of taking the guy one once, but then he got smarter and given the trouble Kakashi gave him he no longer wanted to test himself against the Toad Sage. But he wasn't going to show any weakness in front of this man either.

"Although meeting Jiraiya the Sennin wasn't something I thought I was going to see today either so consider us both surprised." Zabuza said to him letting him know that he knew who Jiraiya was as well.

"We wished to remain dead to the world," Haku told him with his gentle voice. "We asked Kakashi-san and the others to say we were killed and in return we've stayed here in this village as its silent protectors."

"I'm glad to see you're up and walking again Haku," Naruto was glad to see the older boy was doing much better. They had stayed in touch through letters although they had to be careful about not saying names at times in case they fell into the wrong hands. So it was nice to see him back on his feet again.

"The medical ninjas sent by Konoha were very good," Haku smiled happy to see his friend again. "It's also very good to see you again my friend."

"Yep, me and..." He paused seeing the look on Jiraiya's face and decided on not busting his balls for once. "Jiraiya are training and the reason I'm here was I was hoping that I could get in some sword training with you Zabuza."

"You want the long answer or the short one?" The man asked Naruto.

"Uh...both?"

"Short answer no, long answer hell no, now get lost." He told him gruffly.

"What? Why the hell not? Come on you owe us for making you guys 'dead' to the world you know," Naruto challenged him.

"Kid me training you isn't going to be some little training session you could end up dead," Zabuza told him looking down at the kid. "The way I train is filled with blood and pain and that's something you'll have to face when you train with me."

"Haku made it," Naruto pointed out.

"I didn't train Haku in the art of the sword," he explained further. "I didn't go easy on Haku either but that training wasn't with a sword. I was trained to be one of the greatest killers with a blade and that's not something to take lightly. My sword is one of the legendary blades of my country with only one person alive able to wield it."

"To be picked to wield one of the seven legendary blades and become one of the seven swordsmen isn't easy and I was part of the strongest generation. You really think you can match up to that?"

"No," Naruto told him actually taking the man aback a bit from that he hadn't expected that kind of answer.

Jiraiya eyed the boy, he was staying out of this seeing if the kid was starting to grow a bit in other ways. Besides this whole trip to here was the boy's idea and although he had to admit that if Naruto could get training from one of the greatest swordsman in the world it would be worth it. That is if Naruto could convince him, this would be another little test for Naruto and Jiraiya was eager to see how he handled it.

"I know that I can't match your skills that's why I came to see you, if there's anyone that I can learn anything from it's from you. It would take me years to get as good as you and I don't got that kind of time. I've never turned away from a challenge and I'm not turning away from this one." Naruto told him with as much conviction as he could.

"Hell if I had fifty years I probably wouldn't match up in sword skills with you or any of the other guys in the Seven. But I need to learn to be stronger and you are the only guy in the world I can think of who can help me."

Haku looked to Zabuza, "I believe he has earned at least a chance."

The former Mist ninja thought it over for a long moment, he did owe the kid and his people as Mist thought he was dead. Sure he had to pretty much stay in this backwater village but it hadn't been all bad. He wasn't bored and it was nice to be able to stick on one place without having to always be looking over his shoulder.

Still the training with a blade wasn't something he took lightly.

He palmed his face in frustration and then gave Naruto a very steady look. "Fine I'll give you one chance, if you survived the training today then maybe just maybe I'll teach you a little something."

"Alright!" Naruto couldn't believe his luck but he was going to get some major training done. Sure his dad had taught him literally everything he knew about using a sword but even his dad would have to admit that in the skills of a blade Zabuza was better. It was a good thing that his dad was basically better at everything else that got him to beat the man.

"We'll start in a couple of hours, I'll have to get my sword ready," He told him moving into the house.

"Well kid if you survive you might have just did me a favor of finding someone to help you with your sword skills." Jiraiya had to admit to him this was a major find. He had a few ideas for sword masters but they didn't compare with one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Then his attention turned to the other member in the group as Zabuza and Tsunami went into the house together.

"So kid what's with the girl?" Jiraiya whispered at Naruto.

"Girl?" Naruto looked around and when he saw Haku he knew what the old man was thinking. Hell it was hard not to think of Haku as a girl the first time you saw him. He was about to correct his teacher when an evil idea came to mind. "Oh that's Haku, been with Zabuza for years."

"She's a ninja too?"

"Oh yeah and Haku's tough too."

He gave the 'woman' another look, "Must be in order to be with Zabuza for a long time."

"Well truth is, I think Haku is into older guys." He really tried not to give anything away but it looked like he got the old pervert hook line and sinker. "I mean Haku sticks around him all the time."

"Huh, you don't say," Jiraiya grinned wondering if he could get some new inspiration for one of his books. He moved over to Haku smiling at 'her' as he began to introduce himself.

"Well there Haku isn't it? It's nice to meet you."

Haku smiled as he bowed to him politely. "It is an honor to meet you, I've heard of Jiraiya of the Sannin."

"Well I assure you that everything you heard was most likely true," he grinned. "So I have to ask what's such a lovely lady like yourself do when you're not a silent protector of this village?" He asked placing an arm around Haku's shoulders.

Haku blinked in confusion for a moment before softly laughing once before smiling at the older man. "I believe you are under the wrong impression about me Jiraiya-san, you see I'm actually a..."

From far away the horrified male scream sent birds racing from their branches, people in the village jumped as some turned to wonder what kind of horror would cause such a blood curdling scream. Questions were asked and even though a few swore it came from Tsumani's home no one in the village ever found out what happened that day.

Konoha

It was early morning when Kakashi woke up he turned in his bed as he wrapped his arm around the person sharing it. Anko shifted but she didn't wake up, she always was one to take her time waking up in the morning he found which he didn't mind at the moment. Both of them were free today and he wanted to spend some time with her. Hell he wouldn't mind the whole day with her if that was possible.

They were both so busy they didn't get to see each other as much as they used to.

Kakashi took a breath as he could still smell the lingering scent of the perfume she used last night on their date. It was her favorite brand and honestly he liked the way it smelt, he felt her shift in his arms knowing she was going to wake up soon but he wanted to enjoy the moment longer.

The place was just too quiet lately with Naruto gone, the only times it didn't feel like that was when she was here or his friends dropping by. In those moments when he returned home though he could feel the emptiness of it. He hadn't felt so alone since before he took Naruto in, after the death of his father, then also when Rin and Obito that emptiness only grew inside of him.

It wasn't until Naruto came along when that emptiness slowly vanished but now it was back sometimes and Kakashi found out that he didn't like that emptiness anymore. It was in moments like this that he felt more at peace, moments with her especially. He had been thinking for weeks on something and maybe now was the time to ask her.

She groaned as she stretched out and muttered something.

Kakashi smirked, "Sorry didn't catch that."

"I said don't wake me," she muttered.

"You sound awake to me." He joked lightly with her.

"Give me a minute and I'll fix that," she yawned. "Let me sleep in, we've been going on mission after mission and I want to relax. So let me sleep because I'm not getting out of this bed anytime soon."

"I wouldn't complain about that."

"You better not buster," she turned and cuddled up to him getting comfortable.

He didn't mind in fact he liked having her like this as he couldn't help but gently stroke her hair slightly. Now that she was awake maybe now was the time.

"You know you don't have to leave."

"Told you I'm not getting out of bed anytime soon."

"I meant here," he explained to her. "You could always just...move in."

Anko wasn't sure she heard him right with her sleep idled mind finally caught up to her. Her eyes snapped open as she was fully awake now, she pushed up looking down at him wondering if he was just messing with her. She looked at him but she could see how serious he was being with her.

"What brought this on?" She asked.

"Well we pretty much spend most of our time at each other's places if we just moved in together we'd be cutting out the middle man."

She stared at him and he couldn't get a decent read on her mind in that moment, he really wasn't sure if Anko wanted to move in with him or not. Yes they loved each other they had said as much to each other but it was a major change for the both of them. All he did know is that he did want her here, he wanted more of her in his life.

But maybe he should be more honest with her instead of being more light hearted.

"I also want you here with me, I want to see you every morning and every night when we can. I want to know we'll always have each other to go home to, I love you Anko and I love having you in my life as much as I can." There he had said it all he had bared his soul to her and now he would have to wait to see how she would react to it.

Anko was literally at a loss for words, she had no idea what to think or say. Thankfully it seemed that Kakashi saw this and was not going to put her on the spot.

"Don't worry I'm not expecting you to answer me or anything but I just wanted to put the offer out on the table. Take your time and think about it and when you're ready you can give me an answer, I'm not going to pressure you into this Anko. If we ever do this I want to do this for the right reasons."

She was glad for that but she felt a sliver of panic inside of her for a moment, "I think I'll go brush my teeth."

With that she got up and went to the bathroom no longer feeling like sleeping.

Kakashi sighed staring up at the ceiling, "Well now that's out there, I really hope I didn't push things."

Anko found the bathroom as she got her spare toothbrush and started to brush her teeth while her mind raced. Was she really ready to move in with Kakashi? She liked being independent with her own home and space but as she thought she also thought how nice it was to come back to someone there for her. When she went home to her apartment alone it felt strangely 'empty' to her like something was missing.

She finished with her teeth and thought about a shower as she paused and looked around the bathroom. She had a toothbrush here, she had her own soaps, hair products and a few other things. She knew she had some makeup in the cabinet next to the mirror. The bathroom wasn't the only thing here, as she had at least her own towels that she liked in the closet in the hall, some of her clothing was in a drawer in Kakashi's bedroom that he set aside for her, hell she had some laundry still here. She had an old tea set in one of his cupboards when she wanted tea her way.

Without knowing it she had slowly been moving in over time, hell Kakashi even had some stuff at her place, not as much but it was still there. She felt the growing realization that she was so close to already living here that she felt a moment of panic.

Anko knew she was never one to really admit her deeper feelings she just wasn't used to it. It took her a long time to admit she wasn't just in lust with Kakashi, to liking him to actually have fallen in love with him. She never thought she was the one to fall in love, get married and having kids, she always figured she would die young given how life had treated her. But slowly over the years those thoughts seemed to get further and further away.

Was she really ready to actually open herself up to a new possibility?

She honestly wasn't sure, Kakashi gave her time so that was good because she need time to really think about it. This would be a major change for them both and she needed to be sure it was something she actually wanted. She sighed as she stripped out of her shirt and panties and got into the shower letting the warm water hit her body.

"Why can't things just stay the same and simple?" She asked out lout to no one in particular. She never liked change but she couldn't run away from it she just needed time to do some soul searching.

-Wave Village-

"Crap!" Naruto screamed out ducking under the massive blade as it missed his head and cut the tree behind in clean through. The large man across from him pulled his massive sword back for another attack.

"What the hell that nearly took my head off!" Naruto yelled at Zabuza.

"Your enemies won't take it easy on you brat," the large former Mist ninja told him coldly. "If you can't take a simple attack like that then you might as well let me take your head right here and now and save someone the trouble later."

"You're just pissed that my dad kicked your ass," Naruto muttered getting his blade ready, he wasn't sure he wanted to take on Zabuza's own sword with his own directly, the massive blade might shatter Naruto's own sword. Unfortunately Zabuza heard that comment and Naruto ended up dodging yet another close shave from the massive blade.

"You're the one that asked for this brat and this is why I didn't want to teach you." He told him moving slowly around the boy like a shark circling its prey before it struck. "I was trained to kill without hesitation and without mercy, I've bathed in the blood of many including my own people. I'm a ninja when the hidden Mist was known as the bloodiest nation because we had to be."

"We're not large like the other nations and we're surrounded by water so there's nowhere to run to. We had to be more vicious and deadly than the other nations to compensate for all of this and we stood next to the larger nations as equals. If you don't have the drive to go all the way you might as well let me take your head now and save someone else the trouble."

"Now you asked me to test you out for training so you better start doing better or you can find someone else to train you brat," he ended the conversation with that as he readied his massive blade again.

Naruto remembered the fight that Takamura had as Zabuza's words rang in his head. He even remembered a few lessons his dad told him and his team about this as well. Naruto knew that guys like Itachi were after him now and he had to be ready for it. He was going to be in for some really tough fights and he couldn't hold back. The guys he was going to face weren't and he had to be ready for it.

Steeling himself he got up and looked right at the man in front of him.

Zabuza paused sensing the change in the boy as he looked him over, Naruto's posture was better and he didn't see any hesitation in the boy. Maybe this wouldn't be a total waste of time after all, that is if the kid survived. He wasn't going to actually kill the kid but if he wasn't ready he might lose some blood if he was lucky a body part at the worse. Zabuza didn't believe in codling someone, he sure as hell never was and he wasn't going to here either.

'Well at least he's got fire let's see if his will and determination matches,' Zabuza thought to himself as he rushed forward testing the boy's metal. He had to admit the boy did seem faster and a bit tougher physically but if you couldn't get into the right mindset all that physical training wouldn't be as effective.

Still at least the boy was finally showing some promise, Zabuza continued on he wasn't trying to kill the kid but if he hesitated at all he might end up feeling the bite of his swords blade on his flesh.

It was late in the day when Naruto and Zabuza came back to the house when they entered the front door Naruto was soon surprised to see another old face to see him.

"Hey old man you sober?" Naruto joked with seeing Tazuna sitting at the kitchen table with Jiraiya. Apparently the two older men had been talking in depth when they had showed up again.

"Still a brat yourself I see," Tazuna said back but grinned seeing the young man again. "There's someone else that would like to see you as well and here he comes."

Loud thumping was heard as the sounds of someone quickly making their way down the stairs was heard. From the doorway came Tsunami's son, Inari. The young boy was wearing his ever present white hat as his young face lit up at seeing Naruto.

"Naruto!" The boy shouted and ran over to him giving the older boy a hug.

"Hey there Inari," Naruto was glad to see the young boy again, sure they had gotten off to a rotten start, mainly from Inari's defeatist attitude but after Inari was able to find hope again he had changed a lot from that boy he had first met.

"So mom says you're staying here to train?" The boy asked him looking up.

"Well for a bit at least," He honestly had no idea how long he would be here or if Zabuza was going to continue training him. He got the feeling that today was just a test to see if he would get the training and he really hoped he passed. Then he noticed Jiraiya giving him an evil look from the kitchen table.

"Oh come on you're still not mad are you?" Naruto asked him.

Jiraiya gave him a leveled look, "What do you think brat?"

"I never said Haku was a girl," Naruto told him as he had been very careful about not using a gender when he had been talking about Haku to Jiraiya. Of course he also knew full well that Jiraiya knew what he had done too but he was still going to play innocent on his part.

"Well consider this karma for all your perverted ways finally catching up with you," he shrugged with a smile.

"Kid I don't know when and I don't know how but I will see 'karma' coming back at you." The old hermit warned him.

Naruto looked to Zabuza, "So did I pass will I get more training?"

"We'll see after tomorrow's lessons, that is if you survive," he told him as he went to put away the massive blade of his after he took the time to get it looked at.

Naruto wasn't sure if he was joking or not, he would have to ask Haku later but first he looked down at Inari. "So what's been going on since I've been gone?"

"Oh man a lot's been happening," Inari grinned up at him.

Next up Chapter 30 : Desert Wind