Edit: Sorry, put up the wrong one, here's the right one.

Edit #2: Fixed some mistakes and cleaned it up a bit

Hey guys, here's another chapter of DFOTM, I swear I'm gonna find a way to make the acronym sound better. Anyway, I apologize for the long break between before and now, but hopefully with this coming out pretty soon, I can earn back your trust that this story is gonna be completed. Also i have something i want to get your opinions on after the chapter. Okay enough of that. Last time we saw our protagonists training under a retired jonin then getting a mission in the land of waves. Naruto is conflicted but determined to see it through, how will things play out?

Human speech: "blah blah blah"

Human thoughts: "blah blah blah"

Demon speech: "blah blah blah"

Demon thoughts: "blah blah blah".

Flashbacks: Flashback begin/end

Jutsu: "blah blah blah"

It had been a few days since the trio had arrived in wave and there was still no news about Tazuna returning. This was fine at first but Naruto being… well Naruto, meant that doing nothing wouldn't last long.

"So why are we doing this?" Haku asked while she painted a post.

"There's not really much to teach you brats right now, plus it'll get the loud one to shut up." Zabuza explained while sticking another post into the ground They both looked over at the blonde who was currently digging holes for more posts.

"Come on guys, we were all bored so why not do something normal for once. It'll make the place look a bit nicer too." The Jinchuriki had a huge grin on his face even though he was covered in sweat and dirt.

"No, I get that. What I mean is why are WE doing this, when he can make some clones who could do this instead?!" Haku pointed her brush at Zabuza, splattering a bit of paint towards him.

Naruto crossed his arms and gave Haku the same look one would give a child who needed something simple explained to them.

"Haku-chan, we're all bored, yes?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, but that do-mpmh." Haku gave Naruto a cold stare as he placed his finger over her mouth.

"Exactly, Now sure he could throw a bunch of clones at our problems and bam, problems solved. Naruto shrugged.

"Okay, so why won't h-mpmh." Haku instinctively reached for a senbon before cursing at the fact that she wasn't armed at the moment.

"However, that's no fun. If we have clones build the fence, then not only will we be bored, we'll be bored with a fence." Naruto shook his head at her as he explained this.

"Naruto I swear to kami if you do th-mpmh!" Her eyes shadowed as Naruto interrupted her a third time.

"Silly Haku-chan, I thought this was obvious but apparen-NGH!" Naruto fell to the ground with a high pitched squeal as he cupped his groin.

Haku kicked him in his side for good measure before going back to painting.

Zabuza pretended to ignore this and continue his work while trying to figure out if he didn't scare them enough over the years.

Kurama was laughing.

Naruto was keeping his distance from Haku out of fear of being skewered, which was a very real possibility considering the look she was giving him. The two ninja were currently resting by the brand new fence while their master was going through his katas in the back. Now that they weren't doing manual labor, they were back to being bored.

"Man, I'm just about ready to go after them myself." Naruto said with a sigh.

"Relax Naruto-kun, You could learn a thing or two about patience anyway." Haku chuckled.

"You could learn a thing or two about not going for the nuts." Naruto mumbled which made Haku laugh more.

"You know you had it coming." Naruto pouted at this response.

The two shinobi continued to talk with one another for another hour or so. It was these moments where they could forget the world around them and focus on each other that made them happy. Well it made Haku happy, Naruto couldn't enjoy it as much her because of a certain someone.

"Hurry up and tell her already kit, this sappy shit is unbearable!" Kurama yelled. Naruto would say he whined but Kurama would just get more angry.

"I told you a thousand times ero-jiji, I'm not gonna do it. It would just make things weird between us." Naruto sighed.

"You keep saying that but you but you still harbor feelings for her, why?" Kurama asked.

"Heh, when you spend every day with someone, whether you're traveling, training, or surviving life or death situations, it just happens at some point." Naruto had a small laugh at this.

"So a simple crush then?" Kurama deadpanned.

"Nope, she's the reason I'm here right now. I could have been kidnapped by slave traders or killed but she prevented that and didn't even mean to." His trademark foxy grin was clear on his face.

"Hm, that actually makes sense. When did you get smart?" Kurama mocked.

"Hey! You wanna fight, cause I'll kick your ass!" Naruto shouted, startling Haku.

"You know, I may be used to you suddenly going silent and making faces, but your gonna have to work on not shouting out when he pisses you off." Haku gave him a pointed look.

Whatever Naruto would have said was cut off by Zabuza appearing in front of them.

"Gear up, they're here." Zabuza stated.

All conversation stopped as Naruto and Haku rushed to gather their supplies. They came out of the cabin 3 minutes later. Zabuza gave a nod then shunshined out of the area with his pupils following right after.

The bridge builder, Tazuna, and his hired team of ninjas were walking through the forest. They had arrived in wave about ten minutes ago and were keeping their guard up for anything suspicious. The trio of mercenaries were perched in a tree nearby analyzing the group. Zabuza frowned a bit when he saw the leader.

"No wonder Gato never heard back from the demon brothers. Naruto, we'll take them head on, Haku you sit back and support if we end up in a bad situation." Zabuza ordered.

"Yes sensei" Naruto nodded.

"That pale one is stronger than the other two brats. He's almost as strong as you two, maybe equally so." Zabuza explained.

"So you want me to keep him distracted so he doesn't try anything?" Zabuza nodded at Naruto's guess.

"Exactly. Also, if things look rough for us then I want you to put us in a false death state Haku. Then you are gonna pose as a kiri hunter nin and "collect" our bodies." He took out two brand new hunter nin masks as he said this.

"Yes master/sensei." Haku and Naruto put on their masks and went to take up positions in the area.

Zabuza pulled out a scroll and brought out a small white rabbit to let loose.

"After this, we'll be one step closer to fully supporting the civil war." Zabuza said to himself.

"And one step closer to giving you peace." Zabuza sighed as he let the rabbit go.

"AH! Sai, what did you do?!" a girl with pink hair screamed.

"I killed this rabbit." The pale boy in the group said calmly. He had a small somewhat creepy smile on his face.

"Obviously, but why?! It was minding It's business!" the pinkette kept shouting.

"Sakura, shut up. You're annoying." the kid with hair that was spiked towards the back stated.

"Ah, Im sorry Sasuke-kun." The now named Sakura tried to cuddle up against Sasuke but was held away by his outstretched arm.

"Maa maa you three, Sai just caught lunch so let's-EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Kakashi stiffened then suddenly shouted at the group.

The group of five dove to the ground as a large blade flew over them and embedded itself into a tree. Not a moment later Zabuza appeared on the hilt of the blade with his back towards them. Naruto was leaning against the base of the tree with his arms folded, looking down. Zabuza looked over his shoulder and locked eyes with Kakashi.

"Well well, if it isn't the rogue ninja of Kirigakure, Zabuza Momochi." Kakashi took a few steps towards the tree as he said this.

"And you're Kakashi of the sharingan if i'm not mistaken." Sasuke had a shocked look on his face.

"Ah, so the blue one behind you must be the fabled last uchiha. we could fetch a hefty amount for your head, or rather what's inside of it." Naruto said.

"I've heard rumors that you had a partner, I assume this is him." Kakashi was giving him a look as if trying to figure out a puzzle.

"Yes, but enough with the introductions. Give us the bridge builder and you all can go home." Zabuza dropped out of the tree with his sword and rested it on his shoulder.

"Sorry, but that's not exactly an option for us." Kakashi pulled up his headband, revealing a fully matured sharingan.

"Heh, I figured you'd say that. Well then let's get this over with." Zabuza shunshined to the lake behind them placed each of his hands in a half tiger seal with one raised above him.

Kakashi threw a kunai to interrupt him but this was blocked by Naruto's wakizashi.

"Now now, You don't wanna ruin the fun right?" Naruto had a gleeful tone to his voice which freaked out two of the three genin behind kakashi.

"Sai, Sakura, Sasuke, protect Tazuna!" Kakashi was preparing for a fight while they formed up around the client.

"Water style: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Zabuza and Naruto disappeared as a thick mist rolled in, surrounding the team.

Kakashi flared his chakra to disrupt the technique around him and his team.

"I'll protect you all with my life." Kakashi told them in hopes of calming them down.

"I don't think you can." Kakashi turned towards the voice and saw Zabuza behind his team ready to cut them down. He rushed over and stabbed Zabuza only for him to burst into water. Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi and cut him in two only to meet the same result.

"He copied my jutsu, when?!" Zabuza thought back to when Kakashi looked at his clone.

"Haha, Pretty clever Kakashi." Kakashi had appeared once more behind Zabuza and held a kunai to his throat.

"Nothing personal Zabuza, just business. I'm sure you understand." Zabuza laughed at this.

"You're right, which is why are business is finished here." Kakashi's eyes widened as he felt a presence behind him.

He ducked as Naruto's wakizashi sailed over his head. Zabuza jumped away towards the water as Naruto continued his rotation and launched a kick at Kakashi, sending him flying towards the lake. He then turned and made a dash towards Tazuna before he was cut off by Sai and Sasuke.

"Heh, step aside kiddies and you won't get hurt, much." Naruto directed killing intent towards them which made sasuke freeze up.

Sai handled it much better and only showed recognition to it but little else.

"Our mission is to protect the client, we won't fail the mission." Sai pulled out a scroll and an inkbrush as he said this.

"Water style: Water Prison Jutsu!" Naruto heard Zabuza shout and smirked under his mask.

"Well kids, looks like your down a member, so you wanna rethink my offer?" Naruto asked.

Team 7 looked worried now that their leader was down. Tazuna looked completely terrified since he was certain he would die.

"It'll be quick old man, I'll at least give you that." Naruto dashed forward, ready to finish the mission.

And we're gonna leave it here ladies and gentlemen. I know cliffhangers suck but I couldn't resist. This was the second dilemma I was mentioning in the last chapter. Not so much a dilemma but more so a block at the moment. I'm indecisive as hell and the problem I'm facing right now is that, well it really doesn't matter if Tazuna lives or dies. He never had much of an impact on the story after this so yeah. It's because it doesn't matter that I'm at an impasse. So what do you guys think should happen? I won't guarantee that i'll go with the most votes but I want to see what you guys think and take it into consideration.

Now onto reviews.

: I really didn't consider at first that Kakashi or Sai would recognize Naruto so thanks for making me aware of that. I don't want them to be completely certain just yet though and I imagine it wouldn't be hard to get someone to make a mask you ask for so, Naruto gets one too.

Plums: I had the same thoughts and that's probably how it would have went if an OC was chosen. With sai being on team 7 and having harsher training, the possibility of them saving kakashi still exists. Root was supposed to be anbu level but they never really showed it. Im changing that here, however since sai is young he's only about chunin level.

Zeuseus: Honestly if i had introduced an oc, he would have been generic and most likely have died here. Then that would have opened up more problems with kakashi losing another team member and such. Would've been fun to write though.

jh831: Thanks, I like to make them long so you guys can get a lot of enjoyment to last until the next one.

Tigrezztail: I didn't want Naruto to be a ruthless killer. He'll kill those who deserve it and those types of people definitely get more hits put out on them. Innocents are rarely touched so Naruto's gonna be shaken up at the prospect.

Blazing heart frigid soul: Your idea was really intriguing to me. It gave me an idea of potentially writing a second series which would just be how things would be different depending on certain things. Like how would this whole scenario change if it was an OC or Yakumo?

Seros109: Thank you, I definitely wanna keep the rivalry aspect of Naruto and Sasuke and i feel like a Naruto who can beat Sasuke fairly easily will help it. Sasuke left because he felt he wasn't getting strong enough in the village. Naruto catching up to him only made it worse. So how would he feel when he finds out the person who beat his ass on his first mission outside the village was from konoha.

As always, Thank you all so much for reading and im really sorry about the long author's notes. Next chapter will be out in about 2 weeks.

Until next time, FeralKyuubi out!