Greetings everyone! it's been a few months since last time i updated . . . heh . . . well . . . i'll get around to explaining why in just a sec but first i'd like to mention that i come with the gift of a rather long chapter! the chapter comes in at 26 pages for 9995 words exactly . . . almost made me go and put five words in somewhere just to make it an even 10K . . . still trying hard to resist the temptation.

now for the explanation on why it took me so long to write a chapter, skip if you don't care, I won't be offended, really, it's not that interesting to most people i've met. in anycase, I have ADD or Attention Deficit Disorder . . . it's annoying because I get distracted really easy . . . that combined with the fact i have Chronic Depression . . . i think that's it's official name . . . this means that the juices in my head are a little off kilter and make me feel symptoms similar to depression, easily beat with meds but meds don't work for me so I have to deal with it . . . oh well, i am actually dealing with it . . . sorta. a lot has happened since the start of the year, I won't bore you with the details but . . . a lot has happened. can't promise my updates will be more frequent but i can promise there will be updates . . . eventually.

now that that is out of the way, I hope you enjoy this extra large chapter . . . you will probably notice the difference from where i've left it and come back a month or two later and couldn't remember what i was writing at the time . . . that happened once . . . i wrote a filler scene that got me back on track . . . so random filler scene is random but hey, it's content . . . i liked it, i'm keeping it!

in anycase, i hope you all enjoy, see you at the bottom!

Part 15

"When you have hovered between life and death so many times that it doesn't phase you anymore . . . then you may call yourself a ninja. When you have become so deadly that your profile is entered into my bingo book . . . then you may have earned the title . . . ninja" Zabuza said as he held one hand up in a half ram sign and the other hand held the water prison that Kakashi was caught in. Zabuza was about to thicken the mist until he disappeared completely but he saw the deadpan expressions of the three young upstart brats that Kakashi had brought along with him.

"Really sensei?" the pink haired girl asked "are we really doing this again? I mean . . . last time you had the excuse of coming up against an unknown jutsu that was apparently custom made to fight sharingan users . . . but this time?" the girl questioned, the note of exasperation in her voice very clear.

"So what's the plan captain?" The blonde asked, directing his question to the pink haired girl. Zabuza frowned, he had heard something about a pink haired girl but he couldn't remember, he was starting to regret not checking the newly updated bingo book before starting this mission.

"You haven't checked the bingo book in a while have you?" The pink haired girl asked him, clearly she was in it but was probably only a D-rank or a C-rank, it almost amused him that she was trying to toot her own horn to the sound of such a low ranking.

"Doesn't matter, anyone who dyes their hair that colour is asking to be killed" Zabuza replied and all three of the children sighed. The girl looked at the old man behind her and then back to Zabuza.

"Well, since the old man lied, I don't really care if he dies or not, our priority is Kakashi-sensei" the girl said and the other two nodded "Right, Sasuke, Naruto . . . jutsu if you please" she added and the two boys casually stepped forward before running through some hand signs. Zabuza's water clone took up position in front of him so as to intercept any feeble jutsu these genin could unleash but was surprised when, half a second later, a fireball was launched towards him. Zabuza had a moment to admire the brat that casted that jutsu before he noticed the jutsu casted by the other brat, a wind jutsu, and how that jutsu picked up the fire ball and turned it into a flaming bomb of unparalleled destruction. The water clone was quite literally vapourised and Zabuza was forced to leap out of the way, catching the edge of the jutsu anyway. It was small wonder why the brats were so confidant.

Zabuza recollected his thoughts enough to notice that the pink haired girl was standing across from him, her unusual katana in her hands and held in a diagonal cross body guard. He also noticed her killing intent which was sucking the warmth out of him.

"I shall be your opponent for now" the girl said and finally it clicked for Zabuza, he had seen her name and dismissed it since no bounty was posted be she was, in fact, in his bingo book.

"Haruno Sakura the Ice Blade of Konoha . . . A-rank . . . approach with caution" Zabuza said with a smirk, not that anyone could see it. If Zabuza had bothered to read her bingo book entry, he might have been worried about the fact that it was getting colder from just her killing intent but he hadn't. Zabuza ran at Sakura with his blade out and flashing but Sakura merely ducked under the swipe and brought her own sword across in attempt to hamstring him. Zabuza leaped forward and twisted around, bringing his sword down onto Sakura where it met her sword and was redirected into the water, stopping the moment of the blade and preventing him from chaining strikes. The girl lunged forward in an attempt to take his head off with the sharpened back end of her sword which Zabuza countered by taking bounding step backwards and bringing his sword up in front of him to catch the blow. A loud clang sounded out across the clearing as edge met edge and neither sword chipped. This surprised Zabuza as the seven swords of the mist were famous for being unbeatable and yet this girl's double edged katana was able to take the blade edge to edge and suffer no damage.

Zabuza was also tracking the fact that as the fight went on it was getting progressively colder, he already noticed the fact that the girl's chakra was turning the water to ice in it's attempt to keep her own it but now his own was doing the same. Zabuza jumped backwards far enough that it would give him an opening to cast jutsu, he had already figured her weakness would be jutsu since she had ordered the other two to do it for her but his view of the pink haired girl was obstructed by Hatake Kakashi who was looking a slight more livid than he was before, this lead to Kakashi copying his water dragon jutsu.

Sakura sighed as she carried the unconscious form of her sensei over her shoulders while Tazuna led them to his house.

"What that man said back there . . . about you being famous" Tazuna asked Sakura who looked at him and sighed again.

"I'm not really famous . . . someone just noted that I'm something of a threat up close and personal" Sakura replied.

"She's famous for killing a badass war veteran from Suna . . . they weren't too happy but since he was a missing-nin, they couldn't put a bounty on her" Naruto replied with a grin. Sakura wanted to strangle him, laughing at her when all he did was cast one wind jutsu, unseal a table and sip hot tea with Sasuke while she was fighting to the death with an A-ranked missing-nin who had actually earned his ranking. Speaking of Naruto and Sasuke, Sasuke had decided he'd had enough practice with his ninjato to start wearing it out on missions and so now he could freak out all the clients with his "sentient sword" schtick.

"Shut up idiot, at least I do something on this squad" Sakura shot back causing Naruto to chuckle.

"My sword didn't want to fight" Sasuke said in his usual monotone while glancing away.

"Awwww poor Sasuke can't get it up" Naruto immediately countered and even Sakura laughed at that. Sasuke bristled and it's what made it so amusing.

"Shut up dobe" came the retort . . . it only made Sakura and Naruto giggle more. It was funny because Sasuke was the most sexually active and was also the most sensitive to inadequacy jokes.

"Hey Sasuke, I heard about you and Ami . . . if you're . . . you know . . . how come you didn't go out with any of the girls in class?" Sakura questioned, casting a glance at the boy in question.

"None of you were worth it back then" Sasuke replied, causing both Naruto and Sakura to nod in agreement

"Fair enough" Sakura replied.

"Isn't that a bit rude?" Tazuna asked, casting a glance at the children behind him.

"Not really . . . almost all the girls in the class were all Sasuke this Sasuke that oooooh Sasuke!" Sakura answered "we even grew our hair out because of a rumor that Sasuke likes long hair!" she added "I hate long hair . . . well . . . I hate long hair on me . . . on other people it's fiiiiiiiine" she continued, getting a wistful look on her face.

"Oh yeah! That's right! You're having sex with Ino these days aren't you?" Naruto said, turning to look at the pinkett. Sasuke also turned as this was news to him.

"W-well . . . once . . . that was once and I was very drunk . . . but she kinda is my girlfriend these days so . . . yeah" Sakura replied.

"How old are you three again?" Tazuna asked, unable to believe that twelve year olds were drinking and having sex like it's an everyday occurance.

"We age one year for every person we kill" Sakura answered in a monotone. "At least . . . that's what they say . . . if it were true, I'd have died of old age months ago" she added and the other two nodded and Tazuna suddenly felt really sad and slightly afraid . . . children who have killed so many more people than they have years left to live.

"We are almost there . . . we have a room you can put your sensei in" Tazuna said as he turned away and stared straight ahead.

"So, any problems?" Kakashi asked, he was sitting up on the futon he had been sleeping in and was holding a bowl of soup.

"Inari's a little shit with a pity problem" Naruto added helpfully

"That's the client's grandson . . . actually might be a problem . . . he is so convinced Gato is going to win that it's entirely possible he will try and hinder our mission to prove himself right" Sakura commented "but other than that, Zabuza is probably still alive, the masked hunter is likely a fake and you are getting an ear bashing from you know who when we get back" she added. Kakashi sighed as he realised all this was going on report and him getting a major case of chakra exhaustion would not be received kindly by Minori.

"It takes a lot of chakra to be able to breath in a water prison jutsu" Kakashi replied "So what are we looking in terms of opposition? Just Zabuza and his accomplice?"

"That's all the info we have on shinobi forces, Gato does have his own private army however and has been using the island to train and equip them out of sight from any of the major powers on the mainland" Sasuke reported, his method of gathering that information had left a girl of questionable age very happy and a man that intended to rape her very unhappy . . . and also very talkative. "Seems our friends from wind have set up an establishment here too . . . outfitted differently though"

"I see you are up" Tazuna noted as he walked into the room that Team Seven was occupying "We shouldn't have much of a problem now that Zabuza is dead" he added

"Zabuza isn't dead" Naruto commented, giving Tazuna a sidelong glance.

"What?! But that hunter-nin?" came the exclamation from the aging bridge builder.

"Yes, the hunter-nin . . . used senbon to the neck . . . that's not an instant kill point but you can put a person in a near death-like state that could fool some basic methods of detecting life signs" Sasuke commented, making the rest of the team look at him with odd expressions. "What? Medical Ninjutsu is a form of Ninjutsu and it was decided I'd be the Ninjutsu specialist" Sasuke said in explanation.

"We didn't expect you to go above and beyond the call of duty like that" Naruto said for his team and both Kakashi and Sakura nodded in affirmative.

"Well . . . either way, Zabuza is still alive so we are going to need to make sure we are ready for when he does . . . make sure there is a good watch going for the bridge and the house, I'd recommend having someone on rest so they can jump straight into a battle as soon as it's needed" Kakashi instructed and his three genin nodded. Kakashi had a moment to notice that all three of them had become quite the hardened soldiers in his brief few months with them, their swords on full display and their wary, alert gazes keeping everything of importance in view. Kakashi almost felt bad that these children might be approaching his own levels at their age and he could definitely see the behavioural changes as well. "Naruto . . . did you see the scar on Zabuza's chest?" Kakashi asked and Naruto dropped his head down, closing his eyes.

"Yes" was the very quiet reply, the manner in which Naruto replied answering kakashi's follow-up question.

"It looked like a sword cut . . . what's special about it?" Sasuke asked as both he and Sakura turned their attention to the blonde.

"The cut was unmistakably made using a Yadokawa blade" Naruto answered, his voice very quiet. "Which means that someone drew their sword to fight him . . . Yadokawa family traditions dictate that if you draw your blade, you must kill . . . either your enemy . . . or yourself" Naruto said, forestalling Sasuke's question.

"What does that mean? There are other Yadokawa around? I thought you and Minori were the only two" Sakura asked, her mind already drawing the likely conclusion to this story.

"He was there . . . the night my clan was destroyed" that one sentence slammed into Sasuke hard as he realised just what Naruto would be going through. "He wasn't alone in that battle of course . . . no one Kiri-nin would have been able to destroy the clan . . . but he was there . . . and on the side of the enemy" Naruto explained

"If I remember correctly, the battle between Kiri and the Yadokawa clan was what caused them to withdraw from the war . . . we barely even fought them actually, just a small . . . excursion but that was it" Kakashi commented and Sasuke and Sakura nodded.

"Are you going to be alright?" Sakura asked, putting a hand on Naruto's arm to comfort him.

"It's not like I knew anyone who died" Naruto replied, resisting the urge to shrug Sakura's arm off.

"Well . . . we should get ready for a hard few weeks . . . even if we don't end up fighting Zabuza, those civilian soldiers will be problem and this time we haven't got a suna team to trick into being our backup" Kakashi said causing the three to nod, get up and leave the room. "Great . . . now that they are gone" Kakashi said before pulling out a little green book "I can catch up on some reading" he added before giggling at some form of raunchy content.

Naruto sat on the roof of the Tazuna's house staring in the direction of a nearby forest. The sun had only just poked its head above the horizon and the Fuinjutsu sensor net he had set up in a wide bubble around the perimeter had been tripped. Summoning a team of five clones, Naruto got up and quietly left to investigate, the clones would continue his watch in his stead.

Once he arrived at the location, he noticed a girl, maybe his age, possibly a couple years older, picking out distinctive plants. The girl had long jet black hair and was outfitted in a pink kimono that somehow managed to stay clean despite her getting on her knees to gracefully pick the herbs she was after. This rubbed Naruto wrong for several factors. One, if the village people actually came here to pick herbs, they would have picked them all by know due to the scarcity of anything. Two, that girl's kimono looked far too clean and valuable for anyone from this island, even Tazuna, one of the wealthiest people in Wave, had to wear worn clothing. And last reason was that Sasuke had gone out and grabbed a few of those plants himself, stating that they were useful for someone that's just done damage to their muscles and chakra network.

"Who are you?" Naruto called out from his place on one of the tree branches, his arms folded. The girl was on her feet in a flash and the look in her eye said 'oh no, I've been found' but only for an instant before schooling into startled surprise. Still, the look was there long enough for a ninja to notice.

"Uh, Haku . . . sorry, I'm afraid you frightened me" The girl said in a soft, smooth voice like silk in the breeze. Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Are you . . . are you a ninja?" Haku asked, the obvious attempt at gathering information almost made Naruto laugh.

"Yes, I'm currently protecting the man who lives nearby . . . you have trespassed into the zone of control of my team, state your allegiance" Naruto replied, invoking the relatively new concept of 'zone of control' which was created at the end of the third shinobi war in which a shinobi team on duty would have a zone of control around their mission, if your mission interfered with a mission from another nation but didn't directly oppose it, you could just declare your allegiance and announce you weren't an enemy. As far as Naruto knew, it wasn't being used all that often due to the inherent risk of letting your guard down around allies, still, he had invoked it and the girl was clearly a ninja.

"I'm just a girl from the village" Haku said with a frown as if she was confused, this didn't bode well for Naruto who pulled out a kunai.

"State your allegiance or be declared enemy" Naruto commanded, getting ready to flare his chakra.

"Please! I'm just here to gather herbs for a friend!" Haku said, trying to look as innocent as possible. It struck Naruto that she didn't know what he was doing, she didn't know about the zone of control thing. "Do you have anyone precious you would die to protect?" Haku asked out of the blue. Naruto said nothing but watched her intently, ready to move if she attacked. "Only when you have a precious person to protect do you truly become strong" she continued "I have someone like that . . . they need this medicine" so that was her game, she wanted to use a pity pull to make Naruto let her go. It also clicked then that she was the fake hunter-nin that swooped in to save Zabuza.

"You're Zabuza's accomplis aren't you" Naruto said, it wasn't a question but rather a statement. Haku merely smiled.

"Are you going to kill me shinobi-san?" Haku asked and Naruto was struck by an intense desire to not do that

"I should, you had to know you were wandering into an area defended by shinobi" Naruto replied.

"I needed herbs and the ones I need only grow here" Haku replied still standing in the middle of the clearing.

"Why are you so devoted to Zabuza anyway?" Naruto asked with a sigh.

"He rescued me from the streets" was the simple reply, Haku hadn't changed her expression at all as she said this but Naruto's eyes shot up in surprise.

"So you are an orphan and he was your nee-chan" Naruto said softly, Haku almost didn't here him at all. "Why were you on the streets? What happened to your parents?" he asked after a moment.

"My . . . my mother had a bloodline that she passed on to me" Haku dropped off and looked away, staring at the pretty green grass. Again Naruto was shocked to his core.

"You're from Kiri aren't you?" he asked and that got a reaction out of Haku. "your father found out, tried to kill you and your mother but she kill him and died of her own wounds" Naruto surmised.

"You are partially correct . . . my mother didn't kill my father . . . he and the villagers he rounded up killed her first . . . I used my power without meaning to and killed everyone" Haku said having returned to staring at the ground.

"I'm a Yadokawa . . . do you know what that means?" Naruto asked the girl, she shook her head. "Zabuza was there the night that Kiri turned on my clan . . . there are only two of us left . . . me and my sister . . . she adopted me . . . I was practically on the streets myself . . . I grew up in the hidden leaf village but because of . . . circumstances, the villagers hated me . . . I had a house but it was safer and warmer to live on the streets come winter" Naruto recounted, casting his eyes downward. "If it hadn't been for Nee-chan . . . I don't think I'd have survived the winter" Naruto took a long look into Haku's eyes as she did the same for him, they were both orphans from the street and that natural orphan desire to band together for protection and safety was weighing heavily on both of them, despite having been forgotten for so long.

"You said Zabuza was there the night your clan was destroyed?" Haku finally asked.

"The scar on his chest is the proof . . . he wasn't just there, he was the enemy . . . I'm afraid I must kill him for the honor of those that died" Naruto said forlornly as he knew that meant he would likely have to kill Haku as well. For her part, Haku looked down as she realised this too, but then she looked up at Naruto.

"Even with these herbs, we have a week before Zabuza can hope to challenge you again" Haku said, seemingly like she was going somewhere "Would you mind if I returned to . . . gather herbs?" she asked and Naruto already saw what she was getting to . . . she wanted someone like her to talk to for the first time in her life, even if it was just for a short time.

"I really should just kill you know . . ." Naruto said before putting his kunai away and dropping into the clearing. "Let me help" he added before walking towards her. Haku got a faint smile on her face before kneeling and picking out some herbs.

"You were out for a while" Sakura casually said to Naruto as she stirred a pot of soup that had been made from Konoha rations that they had brought. Naruto had just walked back in after spending a good chunk of the morning with Haku.

"Had to check on something . . . got caught up with it though" Naruto said vaguely. "What are you doing here? Isn't Tazuna supposed to be heading to the bridge by now?" he asked.

"I'm on rest duty . . . Sasuke got the honor of guarding the client and you are guarding the family so I'm chilling with Sensei for today until tomorrow when I take over from you on family guard duty" Sakura said, filling him in on the team assignments.

"Speaking of Sensei . . . how is he doing?" Naruto asked as he sat at the table and waited patiently for the food to be ready. Sakura shrugged.

"I'm not a medic . . . Sasuke said that he should be up and running at reasonable efficiency by the end of the week so long as he doesn't try any more water jutsu" Sakura stopped tending the soup and stared at the ceiling speculatively "I honestly never expected Sasuke to start studying medicine just because we assigned him the role of ninjutsu specialist"

"It is surprising isn't it" Naruto replied just at Tsunami walked into the room.

"Oh, you two have already prepared lunch?" Tsunami asked, looking at Sakura in surprised.

"I have nothing better to do at the moment" Sakura replied and Naruto was still technically watching the house, his clones were still in place after all. Shortly after saying this, Sakura poured the soup into four bowls and sat three on the table while Naruto spawned a clone and had it run the last bowl of soup up to Kakashi.

"Inari! Food's ready!" Tsunami called out to the little boy while Sakura and Naruto winced. "He really isn't that bad once you get to know him . . . he's just a little troubled is all" Tsunami said in defence of her son. Naruto and Sakura gave the woman deadpan stares right up until Inari came down, grabbed a bowl and then left again, only pausing long enough to glare at Naruto and Sakura.

"You took longer than expected" came Zabuza's weary voice.

"I know . . . I ran into one of the Konoha shinobi who was on patrol . . . he said something odd about 'zone of control' when he saw me and didn't buy that I was a civilian" Haku replied, she had changed back into her normal battle kimono and was kneeling in front of Zabuza who sighed when he heard Haku's account.

"He had identified you as a shinobi and was demanding to know if you were friend of foe . . . I suppose you could be forgiven for not knowing that since I would have needed to teach you but it's usually something that applies to village shinobi and not missing-nin like me or homeless-nin like yourself" Zabuza explained "How did you get away from him?" he asked before turning to look at the kneeling girl who blushed in response and looked away.

"I didn't" was all the answer she gave though it was enough for Zabuza who turned his head so the girl wouldn't see the flash of sadness run through his eyes.

"You are too soft Haku" Zabuza said softly though the girl will never know that he meant that as a compliment and wished she would never hold a weapon in her life.

"Forgive me . . . it might also be worth noting that the shinobi was from the Yadokawa clan" Haku said and Zabuza nearly snapped his neck with how hard he brought his gaze down upon the kneeling girl.

"What did you just say?" he hissed out.

"The boy is a Yadokawa . . . he has the bloodline to match" Haku said, holding her position and not even flinching at the intensity of Zabuza's gaze, all the while memories flashed through the man's head, memories he desperately wished he could go back and fix.

"Whoa Hinata!" Kiba called out, drool hanging from his mouth to match the perverted look. Hinata and her team were out of the village on a simple courier mission to one of the border stations and had stopped for the night, this had lead to Hinata Exiting her room in less than modest dress. The Heiress looked down and noticed the fact that her breasts were kept from view by nothing more than a hand of fabric that she was using as a binding and her bottom half consisted of panties mostly there for practicality, both of which left practically nothing to the imagination. Hinata sighed, stepped back into her room, spent a minute getting dressed and then came out in her standard skin tight black three quarter pants with a hyuga kimono shirt slightly exposing her chest but not enough to give anyone a view. Kiba was still staring at the poor girl with a perverted expression.

"Have you no shame Hinata?" Kurenai asked as she sipped a cup of tea. Hinata merely returned a flat expression.

"Not especially no . . . I was trained out of my modesty years ago" she said as she sat at the table the team had been sitting around. Shino had said nothing however and Hinata was very well aware of the fact that he had been enjoying the view as much as Kiba but was far more polite about it and thus hadn't made any comments.

"What would your family say to your lack of modesty?" Kurenai tried again, she was desperately trying to instill some proper feminine values in the heiress while drilling the two boys on their place but so far she had been met with resistance at every turn.

"I'm a Hyuuga . . . we see through clothes every time we use the Byakugan" Hinata replied instantly making Kiba drool some more while Kurenai stifled a blush. Kurenai took another sip of her tea before sighing, it really was a lost cause with these three, Hinata was an exhabitionist, Shino was a pervert and Kiba was a horn dog.

"How are you doing Hinata?" was Shino's first words of the day, he was referencing the previous day's incident where some bandits had found the three genin alone and had decided to take Hinata as a 'bed pet' as they had put it. Hinata had promptly responded by unleashing rapid fire hand strikes that burnt the flesh of the bandits with each hit, they were all dead before they hit the ground.

"I'm fine Shino, thank you for asking" nobody missed the cold emotionless tint to Hinata's voice as she responded, the poor girl had even refused to look at the meat that Kiba had served for dinner for him and the other three members of the team, supplying Hinata with rice and Tofu instead.

"I'll bet team seven hasn't gotten anything anywhere near as good as we've gotten" Kiba boasted loudly with his typical wolfish grin.

"You would be correct Kiba" came Hinata's emotionless voice again and this brought the attention of the others. "They haven't had anything nearly as good as us" she added and Kurenai winced, she knew that Team seven was being used to hunt down bandits and the like, they were probably approaching chunin level body counts if they hadn't already passed them months ago.

"Kiba, team seven is a frontline combat squad . . ." Kurenai said, letting the rest of the sentence hang there for him to pick up. He did and did so with a gulping sound and with the blood draining from his face.

"H-how long until we do that sort of thing?" Kiba asked, turning to their jounin sensei.

"This is a tracking squad, not a combat squad" was Kurenai's answer, nobody missed the fact that she didn't actually answer the question. "It seems my style of being a ninja isn't working out for you three so when we get back, I'm going to have a good friend of mine give you all a talking to and maybe a lesson" Kurenai added before going back to her tea.

Sakura laughed as Naruto regaled the room with a tale of what happened to a particularly mean shopkeeper that he had pranked a couple years ago. The team had assembled with the client's family over some dinner and most of them were in good spirits, a certain boy however had finally come to the end of his patience.

"Why?" came the quiet question from the boy, drawing the team's attention. "Why are you even still here! Nobody wants you to stick your nose where it doesn't belong!" Inari shouted, accentuating this by slamming his fist against the table "There is nothing for you to do here! The weak can't beat the truly strong no matter what cool things they say!" Inari was screaming at the top of his lungs at this point.

"Shut up . . . we aren't like you" Naruto said calmly, barely even paying a moment to glance in Inari's direction

"SHUT UP!" Inari screamed "You make me sick! You're always laughing, you don't know anything about this land, you don't know anything about suffering! All of you don't! All too busy laughing behind your cosy walls, you haven't had a single thing go wrong in your entire lives!" as Inari finished, he, Tazuna and Tsunami became very aware of the cold look that the Konoha team was giving the boy.

"We aren't like you" Naruto repeated in a voice cold as ice before Sakura cut in.

"We aren't mere faceless civilians who mope around in their daily lives living or dying beneath our notice" She said, her voice the exact same temperature as Naruto's. The three civilians got a cold chill run down their spines.

"How many ninja does Gato have under his command?" Sasuke asked. He waited a few moments and no response came. "How many jutsu does he know? How many forms of Taijutsu and Kenjutsu has he mastered?" he asked and again, no response.

"At the age of six, I was forced to live on the street during winter because it was warmer there than in my own home . . . intruders had smashed all my windows of my apartment on the top floor of my building" Naruto recounted and Tsunami shivered just thinking about it while Inari fell into his chair.

"My clan was wiped out . . . dead . . . every last one of them aside from me killed in the night, their blood running in the streets and through the power of Genjutsu, I was made to watch it happen again and again and again" Sasuke added, neither three of the genin had even blinked in all this time.

"They say you age one year for each life you have taken . . . if that were true, we'd have died of old age months ago" Sakura chimed in, "We have murdered people, taken the lives of those who once held families, daughters perhaps? Sons? Fatherless now" Inari was shaking and then, Naruto bopped Sakura on the head and the heat returned to the room in a sudden flash, the three genin going back to happy smiles, only Kakashi saw that their eyes held the weight of all they had experienced.

"Naruto, are you sure that Zabuza is going to attack today?" Sakura asked as she, Naruto and Kakashi strode towards the bridge at Tazuna's walking pace.

"I'm not one hundred percent but I'm fairly positive" Naruto replied, activating his bloodline now that he was in visual sight of the bridge.

"We should send a clone back to Sasuke and get him here" Sakura said, looking over her shoulder in the direction of where they had come from.

"Gato will most likely send some of his men to grab hostages in case Zabuza failed and leaving clones isn't an option because of the bandits being trained for who know how long" Kakashi said, still looking nonchalant about the deal, both Naruto and Sakura noticed him scanning the area with his one eye instead of reading the bright red book in his hand.

"Do we have exact numbers on Gato's army?" Sakura asked and Naruto shook his head

"Best we got is a couple hundred maybe but I wouldn't trust a civilian to count my tools let alone the enemy's numbers" Naruto replied. The reason for him activating his bloodline was that while the bridge was visible, everything on it wasn't and there wasn't enough fog around it to warrant the poor visibility. "Yep . . . the bridge crew are all knocked out cold . . . personally would have killed them but it's nice the clan killer had the heart to spare the unimportant" Naruto added, a wave of knowledge from a clone squad he had sent ahead coming back to him.

"They are important! You keep going on about how we are nothing to you and yet you are here helping anyway" Tazuna growled, finally losing his patience.

"I'd be remembering who lied about their mission request rather fast if I were you Tazuna, we only stayed and stuck with the mission because of the payout" Sakura snapped back.

"What payout? I can't afford to give you more than a C-rank mission" Tazuna replied, suddenly worried he might be trading one tyrant for another. The reply he got didn't make him feel any better as his only response was Sakura turning and smiling sweetly at him, it sent shivers up his spine.

Finally catching up with the clone squad, the team and Tazuna first noticed the bodies lying around with only Naruto's word that they were alright.

"Well, look who finally decided to join us" Came the disembodied voice of Zabuza as suddenly ten water clones appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the group. "Last chance to hand over the old man" Zabuza offered.

"I'm not sure what Kiri's mission policy was back in your day Zabuza but Konoha's has and always will be victory or death" Kakashi casually stated, he wasn't being entirely truthful because there had been several missions where the team had returned but had failed, this was all moot though and Zabuza just laughed. "Naruto" Kakashi commanded and suddenly ten shadow clones appeared out of the fog, swords raised and swinging, taking all ten of the Zabuza clones out in one strike before dispersing back into the fog.

"Well well well, we got a quick one don't we Haku" Zabuza praised, nobody missed Naruto stiffening or the clipped response of Haku

"Hai" was all the now revealed masked hunter-nin said as she and Zabuza merged out of the fog. "Allow me to take the two genin master" came the smooth but emotionless voice of Haku. for his part Zabuza looked down at the girl and noticed that her eyes were solely on Naruto.

"I can handle Kakashi and the girl, you take the blond brat, he's a Yadokawa . . . don't let him get time to stop and make seals" Zabuza ordered and Haku merely nodded before zooming off in a flash of speed only to be met by Naruto's kunai in mid air. A clacking sound was heard as kunai met senbon and the two shinobi broke apart before landing opposite each other

"Stand aside Naruto . . . I do not wish to kill you" Haku said, drawing the attention of the other three by the hunter's use of Naruto's name.

"You know what has to happen Haku . . . I must avenge my fallen clansman" Naruto replied and the two just stared at each other for a bit before moving simultaneously at full pace speed at each other, meeting each other in the middle, kunai to senbon again. While they did this, Sakura and Kakashi had moved on to engage Zabuza but Naruto's attention was on Haku and hers was on him.

"Please Naruto . . . they are dead but you are still alive, don't make me kill you" Haku asked and Naruto could definitely hear her struggling not to let emotion colour her voice.

"I don't want to kill you either, but I'm not stupid enough to think you'd betray Zabuza for me . . . still . . . let me do this Haku . . . let me end this and neither of us have to die" Naruto replied, further talk was halted as the two made another dash for each other before breaking apart again.

"I can't Naruto . . . Zabuza is everything to me" she said and dashed forward, letting Naruto's kunai stop her senbon from plunging into his neck and holding her there, if he moved, she would strike and if she moved he would strike, they were seemingly at an impasse. "I have two advantages over you" Haku said "First is that I have prepared the field before hand" Naruto was keenly aware of all the puddles those water clones had made, he blamed the poor drainage on the bridge. "Two is that I have disabled one of your hands" she continued and before Naruto could get a word in, she began making one handed signs, in just a second, a group of ice senbon were hovering over his head in a position to strike him. The needles launched and slammed into Naruto's body who hadn't moved, each one hitting a non-lethal point with pinpoint accuracy however, Naruto burst into smoke.

"I'm sorry but I have also prepared the field and it takes a lot more than that to disable me" Naruto retorted as the two then began another high paced duel, kunai to senbon only disrupted by the occasional burst of ice needles being blasted out of the way by a burst of wind or a clone being dispersed by an attack that should have hit Naruto.

Haku and Naruto stood opposite each other again, they were in their own little corner of the battlefield, locked away by the fog that had increased since they had broken off.

"Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei are more than enough to deal with Zabuza . . . you must know this" Naruto stated in the hopes of getting through to the girl by pointing out that she had let herself be cut off from Zabuza and was making no move to reconnect.

"Then I shall just have to deal with you quickly and rejoin him" Haku announced before making a series of hand signs and suddenly mirrors of ice formed out of the water on the bridge and created a dome of reflections around Naruto. "I'm sorry but this is where it must end, if I have to, I will kill my own heart and become a true ninja" Haku announced before stepping back into a mirror and merging with it, suddenly all the mirrors had reflections of Haku in them. The fact that Haku had basically called him her heart wasn't lost on Naruto but he was aware of the situation and focused on his bloodline, using it to sense where the next attack would come from.

Naruto spun around just in time to block a cluster of senbon, deflecting all of them with precision before spinning on his heel and deflecting another cluster.

"Please Naruto . . . please just stand down and let Zabuza accomplish his mission" this time Haku wasn't able to keep the emotion from her voice and her pleas sounded desperate.

"You know I can't do that" Naruto replied, his eyes closed not that it worsened his combat ability since he was using his bloodline but it added to the effect. Before Haku could get another cluster of senbon off, Naruto threw a kunai at a mirror, halfway there, the kunai released another twelve kunai each with a paper tag trailing after them and they slammed into the mirror, detonating on impact and blasting the mirror out and partially melting the surrounding mirrors. The reflection of Haku changed to one with a partially burnt battle kimono, the bottom edges torn from narrowly avoiding the explosion while the destroyed and melted mirrors reformed themselves. "You aren't the only one with hidden abilities" Naruto casually mentioned and the battle continued, with Haku's senbon flying in massive barrages and her narrowly avoiding swarms of explosive kunai that constantly lit the dome up with a constant stream of detonations.

"Naruto" Haku called out as she gracefully walked into the nice green clearing. Naruto was leaning against a tree on ground level and had a smile on his face

"Haku, welcome back" he said as she entered the clearing, her basket empty and ready for another batch of herbs . . . she had stopped needing them after the first visit but she needed an excuse in order to return. Naruto, walked forward and summoned a short table that he and Haku sat around, bringing out a pot of tea and a heating tag to boil it with.

"Why do you boil tea with Fuinjutsu?" Haku asked, it had bothered her the other times as well because as she understood it, good fuinjutsu tags were extraordinarily rare and customised ones were almost impossible to come across.

"Because the tag itself isn't exactly hard to make and the payoff is well worth it" as Naruto finished explaining, the tea finished boiling and he poured two cups out. "I also have tags that are designed to keep you comfortably warm while you are sleeping outside in the elements so you don't need a tent or a blanket which could obstruct your movement" Naruto added, taking a breath before sipping his tea "Want one?" he asked casually before sliding a couple over to the girl.

That night she had slipped on in down her sleeping kimono and activated it and had suddenly been engulfed in comforting warmth, it had been so good that she had fallen into a blissful sleep almost instantly.

Haku was engulfed in warmth as she narrowly dodged yet another swarm of explosive kunai, she was stinging from several places where she hadn't been fast enough and had gotten burnt but Naruto also had a few senbon sticking out of him in non-vital places to indicate his own wounds he had sustained. Haku was well aware that she didn't have the chakra to keep reforming the mirrors as Naruto destroyed them but he couldn't have the strength to keep tanking senbon like he was. She was also aware in the back of her mind that he was consciously choosing to stay in the dome with her, she was very well aware of the fact he still had an unknowable number of clones outside the dome and he hadn't used a single one inside the dome.

Haku was engulfed in warmth yet again as she dodged another wave of explosives, a single tear ran down her cheek, hidden to the world by her mask.

"Hey Haku-chan!" Naruto called out cheerfully, table and tea waiting for her as she entered the clearing. For her part, the girl smiled fondly and then the reality of what was to come at the end of the week hit her hard and she slumped to the ground "Haku?" Naruto called out, the question in his voice readily apparent.

"You know how this will end Naruto" she said softly and Naruto sighed before getting up. He walked over to her and slumped to the ground behind her, resting against a tree before wrapping her up in his arms and dragging her into him. She noticed his hands stray to her chest and apply pressure for a half second but didn't mention anything, he moved them again almost as soon as he finished, it was pretty clear he was just making sure of her gender.

"I'm a ninja Haku" Naruto said calmly, as if this explained everything. "I'm not sure exactly what Zabuza has taught you but . . . one of our greatest heroes and strongest person in our village . . . the Yondaime" Naruto began, stopping for a moment to collect himself "He was married shortly after becoming Hokage . . . in secret of course so his enemies wouldn't find out" Naruto continued, taking another pause "They had a happy marriage for exactly one year" Haku finally got where naruto was going "And both died in battle at the tender age of their mid twenties . . . probably younger . . . strongest shinobi in our village . . . both of them" Naruto said softly, resting his chin on Haku's head, she snuggled into him. "We are nowhere near their level, a week is a long time in comparison" he finished and Haku made an affirmative noise.

"Naruto" Haku said softly, the boy in question made a noise to confirm her was listening "There is one thing I want to do before the end" she explained, one hand already moving to the obi holding her pink kimono together. Haku rolled over and took a long look into Naruto's eyes while he did the same to her. Her obi came loose and her kimono opened up. Naruto sighed before wrapping Haku up in his arms and pressing his lips into hers. They melted into each other's embrace.

Haku stood still as she panted, her mask lying broken on the ground and blood dripping from the corner of her mouth but a radiant smile was on her face as she stood opposite from Naruto who was also panting, multiple senbon sticking out of his body in various places.

"You want me to kill you?" Naruto asked, seeking confirmation for Haku's request that she had just made.

"Yes Naruto . . . please, I'm of no use to Zabuza anymore" the girl said, tears forming in her eyes. Naruto watched as they gathered and then fell down her soft pale cheeks, the memory of the day before firmly in his mind. It had been three days into their daily dalliance that he and Haku and gone that extra step and slept with each other. The day before their fateful fight, he had spent it with her, morning turned into afternoon and then night as the two refused to move from each other's arms, knowing the end was coming. With a kiss on the head, Naruto pried himself out of Haku's arms and she had begged him not to go in tears, saying how if neither of them went, it wouldn't be their problem. Naruto had turned around and asked if she was really okay with that and Haku stopped begging, she merely sobbed and looked down, Naruto left the clearing but not before saying 'goodbye, and thank you for loving me'

"If you are of no use to Zabuza, then you can be of use to me" Naruto replied calmly, Haku merely gave him a fond smile.

"I can't, I'm a broken tool . . . I am no use to anyone" she said in that soft voice of hers. Naruto screwed his eyes shut, he knew she had practically no chakra left and even to use her mirrors would probably kill her at this stage. He opened his eyes and a faint click was heard as he flicked his thumb against the guard of his sword. Haku looked at it, the tears flowing freely as Naruto grasped the hilt of his sword.

"Please Haku . . . Tools can be reforged, remade, repaired" Naruto desperately appealed to her, hoping to counter her own analogy.

"I don't want to choose anymore" that simply statement caused Naruto to droop slightly, the choice between him and Zabuza had weighed heavily on her. "I almost said yes" she added and he knew she was referring to last night when he had asked her if she was okay with not being here. "I wish I had said yes" she said, her voice choked with the grief she was feeling. "Please Naruto . . . please" she begged him and with tears rolling down his own cheek, his arm moved forward, the soft sound of leather rubbing against metal was heard as his sword was slid from its sheath.

"Please . . . one last chance" Naruto asked, barely louder than a whisper, his sword stuck, still just slightly in its sheath and his hand trembling. Haku whimpered, the only sound she made was a whimper and then she spoke, her voice higher pitched than normal.

"I can't" she said "I can't let go" her voice was little more than a high pitched whimper, her smile still on her face and the utter desolation in her eyes as she held back from out right sobbing, she failed and a sob escaped her, "I can't let go no matter how much I want to take your offer I can't" Naruto closed his eyes, dislodging more tears which now ran freely down his face and, with a steady hand, his blade moved the last of the way out of his sheath, Haku sobbed in response, Naruto didn't even bother opening his eyes, he was still using his bloodline and thus could make out every rise and fall of Haku's chest, every beat of her heart, every tear that streamed down her face. He walked forward, his blade almost hanging loosely beside him in his death grip. He raised his sword, there was no going back, his sword was already drawn, he couldn't change his mind anymore, if she said she finally could take his offer, he'd cry and kill himself but she won't. He brought his sword down and, quick as a flash, Haku's hand dashed up with her only remaining senbon, catching his blade as her attention turned to her right where the mist had cleared and Kakashi was about to finish off Zabuza.

"There is one last thing I must do . . . I'm sorry Naruto" she said before spawning a mirror, and fading into it. Naruto's eyes snapped opened wide.

"NO!" he cried out as he turned on his heel, pumped chakra into his legs and fired himself off in the direction of the fight in a desperate bid to get there in time and stop Haku from dying. He arrived in time to see the blood splatter from Haku hit Zabuza, whatever jutsu Kakashi had been using dispelling after he had run his hand through Haku's chest, the serene smile on her face at complete odds with the situation. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" was Naruto's scream, his hand trembling as he held his drawn sword. Kakashi turned his attention to him after that scream and noticed Naruto's blade, his eye widened in horror.

"What a good tool Haku was" Zabuza laughed as he shook off the dogs and made to rush Kakashi but before he could get there, Naruto was in his way.

"You're mine clan killer" Naruto said and an oppressive feeling suddenly washed over the bridge. Zabuza's eyes widened and he laughed again as his sword slammed into Naruto's.

"It seems you have a whole squad of demons Kakashi" Zabuza said as he looked into the crimson eyes of Naruto and saw his own death played out several times over, the boy had even taken on a more feral appearance with sharpened teeth.

"Naruto you idiot, he's out of your league, fall back and act as support" Sakura called out from behind Kakashi.

"Let them go Sakura, I'm not interfering" Kakashi said as he took a step back, Sakura was about to start yelling at Kakashi when he continued "It's either one of them die or both of them do . . . which would you prefer?" he asked and Sakura quietened down while Kakashi laid Haku on the ground and pried his hand out of her death grip.

Naruto kicked Zabuza in the stomach, using it as a springboard to launch himself backwards before rushing in at a blur and slamming his blade into Zabuza's, knocking the missing-nin back several paces from the force of the hit. Then Zabuza came in for a quick slash with his blade, attempting to chop Naruto in half when he felt a pain in his arm and notice Naruto's blade cleanly slicing through the muscle of his one good arm, the other having been mangled by one of the dogs that Kakashi had used to hold him in place. The Kubikiribocho clattered to the ground while Zabuza's arm limply fell to his side and Naruto prepared to cut his throat.

"Well well well" came a condescending voice from the rapidly thinning fog. "Looks like the Demon of the Mist is nothing more than a joke, beaten by a little kid" a round of laughter followed the statement as a man shorter than Sakura stood as tall as a tiny man could. It wasn't even that he was a dwarf, his body was perfectly proportioned to his size, he just hadn't grown from when he was eleven years old

"What's the meaning of this Gato?" Zabuza asked, turning to face the short man who stood at the head of a small army of soldiers, each one wore different things but they all wore tatami armor and had a spear with a wakizashi belted to their waists.

"Well, you see, it's rather simple . . . missing-nin are always way too expensive and unlike village-nin, nobody will miss 'em when they are gone . . . in fact, people tend to pay me for getting rid of 'em" Gato explained "And put simply, hiring you is just food out of the mouths of these err . . . gentlemen" he added and a wave of laughter followed. "Mmm, that girl looks like she might have a tight body, the man that brings me Zabuza's head gets to find out" Gato said, looking directly at Sakura.

"Yo, sorry I'm late, ran into trouble in the village" Sasuke said as he dropped down beside Sakura, his sword in his hand.

"No problem, just getting ready to take out the trash" Sakura replied, hefting her own sword up "Same song and dance as usual" she added "Naruto, throw Zabuza a kunai, Zabuza . . . have fun" she ordered "Sasuke, Kakashi, fireball the flanks, join us in the middle" Kakashi gave her an amused look before jumping to the right flank and running through the hand signs for a fireball jutsu while Sasuke did the same on the left. Zabuza charged Gato and Naruto and Sakura waited a few ticks for him to get embedded in the enemy's ranks.

Screams of "kill it, kill the demon" rose out of the crowd as Zabuza chopped his way through, eventually gutting Gato with his knife before collapsing, meanwhile, two fireballs blasted either side of the formation and more screams were heard as several dozen men burnt to death in a matter of seconds. With that done, Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi hefted their weapons and charged, cutting through the mass of soldiers like the ninja they were, body piles forming as the seconds turned into minutes and at the half hour mark, the soldiers were all in those body piles while the team were standing at the other end of the bridge panting from having cut through several hundred trained soldiers. Business as usual.

Walking back, Naruto noticed that Zabuza had yet to pass into the void.

"Put . . ." Zabuza stopped to cough up some blood "Put me . . . next to her" he requested and Naruto nodded, hefting up the man across his back and then depositing next to where Haku was. "She was like a daughter to me" Zabuza said as he looked at the girl, so peaceful in death, Naruto said nothing, tears running down his cheeks at the sight of Haku. "I regret what happened with your clan" Zabuza said, Naruto turned his attention back to the Kiri-nin. "That night . . . I was there, I arrived at the time when Minori and her sister were escaping" Naruto's eyes widened. "At the time, Yagura told me they were plotting against us . . . the fact that Minori had been pulled from the academy along with a couple other of their shinobi seemed to prove it" he explained "So I joined . . . the attack" this wasn't necessary but he said it anyway "Nanami . . . I loved her . . . I cried after I cut her head off . . . I cried while doing it . . . she stayed to make sure her beloved sister would escape" Zabuza continued and Naruto closed his eyes "The worst part was, I did what she couldn't . . . the scar on my chest was her refusing to kill me at the last moment . . . she smiled even as I used that hesitation against her" he finished. "Take my blade, don't let it go back to those who would kill their own beloved . . . take it . . . to the place . . . where noone . . . gets . . . left . . . behind" Zabuza passed into the void.

Naruto dropped to his knees next to Haku and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm not sure if I loved you but thank you for loving me" he said to her before getting up, he felt almost empty inside as he walked over to Kubikiribocho, picked it up and sealed it into a scroll, he knew exactly what he was going to do with it.

"You okay Naruto?" asked Sakura as she walked up and put her hand on his arm tenderly. He nodded.

"It will take some time but it will pass" he said. They buried Haku and Zabuza in grave next to each other before the sun had even gone down.

"Goodbye!" called out a cheerful Inari, after the village had been freed from Gato's reign of terror, he had opened up dramatically, in fact, he had even managed to gather a village militia which was good because it turned out that there had been a few hundred more soldiers in Gato's stronghold and team seven was running on fumes by then so the added help was a plus.

"The bridge still needs a name" Tsunami mentioned and several heads turned from watching the team of konoha shinobi fade into the distance.

"I think there is really only one name for this bridge" Tazuna declared and everyone looked at him with bated breath "The Great Tazuna Bridge!" he announced and received a punch in the arm from Tsunami. "Okay okay, how about The Bridge of Stalwart Resolve!" he announced and everyone looked at each other, it wasn't a bad option but surely there were better names.

"How about The Great Konoha Bridge . . . to commemorate the group that fought hundreds of soldiers so that we'd have our freedom?" one person asked, another good option but still.

"The Great Kaiza Bridge for our one true hero" everyone turned to look at Inari who turned around and looked back, there were several nods before everyone turned back to Tazuna.

"The Great Kaiza Bridge . . . long may it stand" Tazuna declared and merely forgot to mention he had cut a lot of costs by building the bridge mostly out of wood with only a few bits of metal and stone for support.

"Gato Gato Gato" said a smooth male voice as he walked through the thoroughly cleaned out stronghold that Gato used to own. "Couldn't do anything right . . . could you" he said again as he examined a rather empty vault. "I see the game is afoot dear Minori-chan . . . the game is afoot"

well . . . we come to the end of another chapter . . . funny story with writing this, i almost cried as i wrote the scene with Naruto and Haku . . . and then when editing the format to allow for better reading . . . i read the section again and couldn't hold the tears back . . . it might be because it's 04:23 right now and i haven't had a lot of sleep . . . or the scene was genuinely emotional who knows.

in any case, next up we will be considering the "Chunin Exam Arc" maybe . . . or i'll have some filler . . . i feel like i need an episode of filler . . . er i mean a chapter or filler, it's probably gonna be semi-important stuff but who knows, i'll let you know if it's skippable when the chapter comes out.

in any case

please tell me what you liked, disliked, what you thought could use improvement and what you'd like to see more of. take care.