A/N: Hey. Sorry for being gone for so long. I originally had a paragraph of spiel about how I was being so busy with work and exams, but now I think it's pretty damn useless at this point. Thanks for the responses, it's nice to know that people still read this despite my rather long absence.

Also, some of you might have noticed that I deleted Chapter 2. Why? Because I honestly have no idea why I thought that would work. I thought about it long and hard, and I decided that I mostly likely won't be able to make it come into play later on. Hence the deletion. Like I said above, all that you see is totally off the top of my head. I just let the words flow.

Anyways, I've also done a bit of editing on the previous chapters by the way, which helped alleviate a bit of the writer's block I've been having. Keyword: A bit. There were quite a lot of mistakes that I'm surprised no one picked up. That, or they did and didn't bother telling me. But I digress. As I said, we're jumping right in to the Wave Arc now, so please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other concepts/song/whatever that may appear in this fanfiction. They all belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 10: Off To Wave

"Gah!" Naruto shouted as he fell into the chilling water. He was currently in Nami no Kuni(Land of Waves), attempting to master walking on water. Needless to say, so far his attempts were mostly fruitless.

It has been a few weeks after the formation of Team Seven. After Naruto had blacked out, Kakashi dismissed Satsuki and Hinata and took Naruto home, leaving him in Salamander's care. After he woke up, Salamander told him what had transpired after he fell unconscious(and slapped him around a bit too, for being so reckless). After all was said and done, Naruto began doing menial task in the form of D-Rank missions with his team the next day. Needless to say, all three of the genin were disappointed with the standard of missions they were given.

Getting fed up with the D-Ranks, Naruto "politely requested" (read: loudly demanded) for a harder mission. His "request" was answered, and Team Seven met their new client, the bridge builder Tazuna. After a brief argument between Naruto and Tazuna about whether or not Team Seven were capable enough to handle the mission, in which Kakashi reassured the bridge builder that they were indeed able to, Team Seven set off on their first C-Rank mission.

However, not long after leaving Konoha's gates, they were ambushed by two chūnin. They were the infamous Oni Kyōdai(Demon Brothers), Gōzu and Meizu. Both of them had shoulder-length, wild dark-brown hair, dark eyes and a re-breather covered the lower half of their faces. They wielded their trademark clawed, poisonous gauntlets on their right and left hands respectively, which were attached to each other by a long metal chain. They wore matching camouflage suits with bandages around their waists, dark-coloured, knee-length sandals and equally ragged black capes. They both had scratched Kirigakure hitai-ates, signifying their status as nuke-nins. However, Gōzu's hitai-ate had a single horn on it, while Meizu's had two.

They promptly "killed" Kakashi, not realizing that he had replaced himself with a log. They then attacked Naruto, who managed to dodge their attacks. Satsuki then trapped their chains with a shuriken and a kunai forcing them to release the chains from their gauntlets. However, in the time taken to release their gauntlets, Naruto had already gotten in a position to strike.

He swiftly used Raitei Suiryoku, plunging his new katana (which was bestowed upon him by Salamander as a reward for passing Kakashi's test) into Gōzu's chest-who was unprepared for the attack-, killing him. Enraged by the loss of his brother, Meizu swiped wildly at Naruto with his clawed gauntlet. However, Kakashi then stepped in, swiftly incapacitating the furious nuke-nin.

After waking up and interrogating the nuke-nin, Kakashi found out that their target was Tazuna. Kakashi confronted the old bridge builder, who then told them the whole story about how country was being oppressed by the shipping magnate Gatō and about how if he could finish his bridge, it would save his country.

Kakashi, despite wanting to end the mission to prevent his students from being further endangered, asked for the genins' opinions. Touched by Tazuna's story, Naruto wanted to continue the mission. Satsuki and Hinata both agreed with him, not wanting their first mission outside of Konoha end up in failure and not willing to abandon Tazuna in his time of need. Deciding to continue, Kakashi sent a messenger bird explaining their circumstances back to Konoha.

After crossing the river and entering Nami no Kuni, they were ambushed again, this time by S-Rank nuke-nin Momochi Zabuza, also know as the Kirigakure no Kijin(Demon of the Hidden Mist). After a brief altercation, Kakashi was trapped by Zabuza's Suirō no Jutsu(Water Prison Technique). Naruto and Satsuki quickly devised a plan making use of Naruto's Kage Bunshin no Jutsu as well as the Kage Shuriken no Jutsu(Shadow Shuriken Technique) which forced Zabuza to break his jutsu. Suddenly, Zabuza's neck was pierced by a few senbon, which lead to Zabuza's "death". A Kirigakure Oinin(Hunter-nin) then appeared from the trees and then took away Zabuza's corpse. Team Seven then successfully managed to escort Tazuna to his home, where they were warmly welcomed by Tazuna's daughter Nami. They later came to the conclusion that Zabuza was most likely still alive, due to the circumstances surrounding his supposed death, as well as the fact that the Oinin did not dispose of the body.

They also met Inari, Nami's son and Tazuna's grandson. The child bitterly stated that it was impossible for Team Seven to win against Gatō and that they were on a suicide mission. Later on, Naruto noticed Inari crying in his room. At that moment, Naruto started to understand why the small boy was so bitter.

The next day, after training, Inari stormed off after Naruto asked about a torn photograph hung on the wall. He and the other ninja then learnt about what had happened to Kaiza, Inari's stepfather. Desiring to change Inari's outlook on the world, Naruto went out and continued to train. However, his already-tired body eventually gave out and he fell asleep in the forest.

He was then awakened by a beauty with long black hair, pale skin and large, dark-brown eyes and a slender frame who was garbed in a pink, sleeveless kimono, with pale red edges and decorated with small plum-coloured swirls.

Naruto then helped the girl, who introduced herself as Haku, collect herbs. Then, Haku posed a question to Naruto after he told her why he was sleeping on the ground like he was.

XXXxxxXXX

"Why do you desire strength?" She asked.

"Huh? Well, to tell you the truth, all I wanted at first was simply recognition. I wanted everyone in the village to acknowledge me, to accept that I could be as good as all the previous Hokage. But now, it's...different. I...want to protect those around me. My teammates, my friends, my teachers, Jiji, all of them. So I guess, I want to grow stronger so that I can make sure that they'd be safe. Or at least, that's what I think I should work towards." Naruto replied, a contemplative look on his face.

Haku smiled and nodded in approval. "That's a good reason."

"Ehehe, really? I thought I sounded a bit cheesy there." Naruto bashfully said, rubbing the back of his head in mild embarrassment.

"When a person… has something important they want to protect… that's when they can become truly strong. That's what I believe."

"Something important..."

XXXxxxXXX

Naruto sighed as he laid flat on the ground, taking a break from his training. His conversation with Haku had been swirling around in his head for quite some time as he mulled over her words.

"His words." He amended in his head. Needless to say, Naruto was utterly flabbergasted when he learned that the fair beauty he had encountered was actually a male.

Naruto pushed himself up, as he refocused his attention on his training. Kakashi was busy training Satsuki and Hinata in the Tree Walking exercise, which he had already learnt. Thus, Kakashi had given him a different exercise:Water walking. Due to his rather large reserves, he was struggling to stay above the water for more than a couple of minutes.

Still, as he was able to master tree walking, he was sure that it wouldn't be too hard for him to master water walking as well. After all how hard could it be?

XXXxxxXXX

"ACHOO!" Naruto sneezed as he wrapped the warm blanket tighter against him. "Ugh...Why did the water have to be so cold..."

"Mah mah, you could've stopped when the sun fell you know." Kakashi teased, making Naruto snort.

"And give up? No way! I'll get this dang thing down, you just wai-Achoo!"

Meanwhile, Satsuki and Hinata were helping Tsunami clean the dishes after dinner. Looking at Naruto's antics, Satsuki could only shake her head and sigh.

"Such an idiot." Satsuki muttered. However, Naruto heard her and jumped up.

"Oh yeah? Well, it's not like you've managed to master tree walking! Me and Hinata already have!" Naruto retorted, pointing an accusing finger at the Uchiha.

"T-that...Well, you had a head-start and Hinata is a Hyuuga! They're meant to have good chakra control!"

"Admit it, I'm just better!" Naruto taunted.

"As if!" Satsuki scoffed.

"N-Naruto-kun, Satsuki-chan, p-please stop a-arguing!" Hinata meekly pleaded.

Kakashi silently chuckled to himself as he watched the scene before him. They were kinda like his old team. Well, if he had been a girl that is. Or if Rin had been much more shyer and meeker. Or if Obito had been a Jinchūriki. On second thought, maybe they weren't really like his old team at all.

"They're pretty lively, huh?" A gruff voice behind him asked. Kakashi turned around to see Tazuna wistfully staring at the three Genin.

"I guess you could say that." Kakashi casually replied.

"Do you think they'll be able to handle them? Zabuza and his accomplice, I mean."

"If I didn't think they could, I wouldn't have allowed them to continue the mission. Besides, they'll only have to concern themselves with that fake hunter-nin and protecting you. I'll deal with Zabuza." Kakashi confidently answered. "My calculations are correct, then I should have at least two weeks to get them up to snuff. Shouldn't be too hard. Their teamwork is more than enough now too, especially after that last encounter with Zabuza." He thought, remembering how Naruto and Satsuki had disobeyed his orders to run away and instead managed to free him.

"Alright, then let's make it a competition!" Naruto suddenly shouted, making Kakashi refocus his attention on his students.

"Haah? What are you going on about?" Satsuki asked.

"It's just like how it sounds like, a competition between you and me! If I master water walking first, I win! If you master tree walking first, then you win!" Naruto declared.

"Hnn? You think you can beat me? Need I remind you who was Rookie of the Year and who was the dead-last?"

"T-that doesn't matter!"

"Yes it does!"

"Does not!"

"...Then again, looks like they've still got a long way to go." Kakashi thought, deadpanning at his two bickering students. He then got an idea.

"Alright you two, settle down. If you're going to make it a competition, you're going to need a reward."

"Eh?/Huh?" Naruto and Satsuki asked respectively.

"I guess I did forget about that..." Naruto mused.

"Hn. Idiot, how could you challenged me without a wager?" Satsuki scolded.

"W-well, you forgot about it too!" countered the blond.

"Ahem!" Kakashi cleared his throat before the two started bickering again. "As I was saying, there needs to be a reward. In which I have the perfect idea for one! Whoever wins this competition of yours, will learn a C-Rank jutsu from me!" The cyclops announced. As expected, the two genins' eyes shined in excitement.

"Of course, I won't leave you out either." Kakashi said, gesturing to Hinata. "While these two compete, I'll be teaching you a jutsu as well."

"What? Why does she get one right off the bat?" protested Naruto, making Kakashi giving him one of his eye-smiles.

"Because she's the most mature one out of all of you. While the two of you were bickering, she was the one trying to break the two of you up."

"Ah c'mon!" Naruto whined.

Days to Zabuza's recovery: 14

Day 1

Naruto: Gah! Not again...

Satsuki: I'm a quite a bit further up than last time.

Hinata: The paper got wet?

Zabuza: Tch, my neck's still feeling stiff.

Day 2

Naruto: Focus...Focus...Ah!

Satsuki: I'm making more progress.

Hinata: How do make the leaf dry?

Kakashi: Eheheheh Mai-chan, how naughty!

Day 3

Naruto: I can finally stand now! ...But Sensei said that I needed to learn how to fight on it too. Hmm... Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!

Satsuki: I only have a few branches left to clear!

Hinata: This is harder than it seems...

Haku: Ah! Zabuza-sama, you shouldn't get up yet!

Day 4

Naruto's eye twitched. So did Satsuki's. The two had been working their hardest to win their little competition, but in the end it was a draw. Naruto and Satsuki had both barged in on Kakashi, who was reading his Icha-Icha(What else?), before noticing each other's presence. Which led to their current argument...

"I got here first!" Naruto loudly declared, pointing at himself.

"Hah, as if! But I guess only an idiot like you can't notice that I was first." Satsuki venomously shot back.

"Why you!" Naruto said before being held back by Kakashi.

"Mah, mah, calm down both of you." Kakashi calmly said. "To be honest, I guess I should've expected this huh?"

"Now then, why don't the two of you follow me?"

"Eh?/Huh?" Naruto and Satsuki asked in tandem.

XXXxxxXXX

Short Side Story(SSS): Immature

As we walked to wherever the hell our crazy teacher was leading us to, I took a moment to mull over my actions these past few days.

Why was I being so immature? I thought to myself.

Getting into a race? Making bets? That wasn't something a heiress should be doing! This is unbecoming of an Uchiha! I should be calm and cool! My only objective should've been trying to get stronger so that I can beat Nii-I stopped myself. There was no way I was ever calling that traitor my brother ever again. That aside, I should be trying to quickly improve myself so that I could beat him down and get some answers.

And yet, here I was, getting into petty squabbles and fights. How ridiculous.

Uzumaki Naruto...It's all his fault dammit! Just what is it about him that makes me so...so...

So...Free? Why is it that when I'm with him, I just forget to be cold to others?

XXXxxxXXX

Hinata sighed as she finally completed the first part of her training. When she found out that her Chakra Nature was mostly Water instead of Earth, she was shocked to say the least, as her family was known to predominantly to have Earth affinities. Sure, there were a few cases of her clansmen having different Chakra Natures, but with her being the heiress, she thought that she would have been at least have a strong Earth affinity. Instead, she had a strong Water affinity with only a minor Earth affinity.

"Otou-sama might be displeased when he finds out..." Hinata mused.

"Find out what?" A voice next to her asked, breaking her from her train of thought.

"E-eep! W-when did y-you get h-here?" The dark-haired girl squeaked in surprise, not noticing her crush's presence.

"Not too long ago." Naruto casually replied. "Anyways, what were you talking about to yourself?"

"E-eh? A-ah, it's nothing!" She frantically said, waving her arms.

"Really? You seemed really troubled though..." Naruto asked, a concerned look on his face.

"R-really, it's n-nothing!" She squeaked.

"Oi dobe, there's no need to keep asking her if she insists that she's alright." Satsuki said, annoyed for reasons she couldn't explain.

"Hmm...Well, if you say so Hinata." Naruto said before turning to Kakashi. "So why did you want us to come here Sensei?" He asked, drawing the other genins attention as well.

"Well, seeing as you both got to me at the same time, I guess I have no choice but to teach you both a jutsu huh?" Kakashi casually said, causing Naruto to grin and Satsuki to smirk.

"Alright!" Naruto cheered. He was then handed a slip of paper by Kakashi. A glance to the side told him that Satsuki got one as well.

"Sensei, what are these?" Naruto asked as he looked at the piece of paper in his hand.

"Those slips of paper I just gave the two of you are chakra paper. By channeling your chakra into the paper, it can tell what elemental affinities you have." Kakashi explained. "Now then, go ahead and channel some chakra into it."

The two genin did as instructed, channeling chakra into the slips of paper. Almost instantly, the papers reacted. Satsuki's started to wrinkle, with a corner igniting into a flame that quickly spread to other parts of the paper. Meanwhile, Naruto's was promptly cut in half, with both halves bursting into flames. Kakashi quirked an eyebrow in interest as he regarded the reactions of the now burnt away chakra papers.

"Lightning...Unusual for an Uchiha. Fire was to be expected though." He thought. "Naruto on the other hand...Wind AND Fire. Quite a volatile combination."

"It looks like the two of you have something in common!" Kakashi teased. "Both of you have a Fire affinity. Satsuki has a Lightning affinity while Naruto has Wind. You're lucky Naruto, Fire and Wind can work well together!" Naruto cheered at the news while Satsuki was lost in thought.

"Alright then, I'm going to start teaching the two of you the basics first." Kakashi started as he picked two leaves from a nearby tree. "Satsuki, you already know the basics for Fire, so I'll start you off on Lightning. You will need channel your chakra into the leaf and make it wilt. If done correctly, you should see an effect similar to what happened to that chakra paper just now. The challenge for you here it that you must ensure that the leaf does not catch fire, for if it does, that means that you're doing Fire instead of Lightning." He instructed, handing a leaf to the black-haired genin.

"As for you Naruto, you will need to cut this leaf in half using your chakra. It should be completely bisected if you're doing it right." The jōnin instructed, handing Naruto a leaf as well.

"Now then, I'll leave the two of you to figure out how to do it by yourselves! As for Hinata, time to move on to the second stage."

And so, the genin set off to train.

Days left to Zabuza's recovery:10

Remainder of Day 4

Naruto: How in the world am I supposed to cut a leaf with chakra?! Dammit, Kakashi-sensei get back here and do your job!

Satsuki: Tch, it's on fire again...

Hinata: Making water hit hard is more difficult than it seems...

Day 5

Naruto: Grr! This is starting to get irritating!

Satsuki: It's starting to wilt a bit. I think.

Hinata: I can't shoot it far enough yet...But I think I'm close!

Day 6

Naruto: I finally managed to convince Kakashi-sensei to tell me the trick to this...Time to cut this accursed leaf!

Satsuki: I did it! But Sensei said that I needed to do this on at least a hundred leaves...Tch.

Hinata: I missed again...

Haku: How dare they talk about Zabuza-sama like that! I should have killed Gatō's lackeys where they stood.

Day 7

Naruto sighed as walked along the streets of the village, taking in it's dilapidated state. Everywhere he looked, he saw the same scene: Dirty, rundown buildings and evidently malnourished people, be they children or adults. Even the shop he just went to barely had any food to sell. In an alleyway, more than a few men with parched lips gasped in pain as they laid in suffering. Villagers walking down the streets kept their heads down, avoiding eye contact with one another.

"Um...I'm sorry for making you help me out like this." Tsunami apologized, causing Naruto to refocus his attention.

"Ah no, it's no problem at all! I just wish I could do something about all this..." He replied as he continued to walk alongside the older woman, carrying a bag containing what little groceries then managed to find.

"But you're already helping by defending my father, are you not?"

"Well...Yeah." Naruto conceded uncertainly. "But I want to be able to do more! Seeing everyone like this...It's just sad."

This caused Tsunami to smile tenderly, touched by the amount of concern Naruto had. "He doesn't even know us, yet he cares so much."

"You're a really kind boy huh?" She praised, causing Naruto to stumble and blush.

"H-huh? A-anyway, why are there so many people who look like they haven't drank for days?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

"That's because of Gatō's actions." Tsunami's face fell.

"Gatō's actions?"

"Yes. Not only is he preventing our men from being able to fish in their usual fishing spots, but he also prevents us from getting drinkable water. The nearby river has been struck with a sudden influx of pollution. We were lucky have noticed it in time to contain the damage to just this village, but because of that, our people have to venture out further into the woods in order to fetch water. And with Gatō's goons on the prowl, we have to worry about more than just wild animals. Some of our men still haven't returned. Whether they were captured or killed, we don't know."

"That's horrible!"

"It is, isn't it? But we are powerless to stop it. That's why Father is making this bridge. If he and his team can complete it, then we might be able stand a chance of surviving this ordeal."

"Don't worry, we'll make sure that Tazuna-ossan will be safe, so he can work on the bridge with no worries. That's a promise!" Naruto said, pounding his chest once with his fist. This made Tsunami giggle at the blond genin's antics, causing Naruto to grin. Suddenly, a boy wearing a dirty singlet rushed up to the two, panic evident in his eyes.

"T-Tsunami-san! Oh no, oh no, what should I do?" The boy frantically said.

"C-calm down, Kaito! Take a deep breath." Tsunami instructed, surprised by the boy's panic. The boy, Kaito, did as she said, visibly calming down.

"Good. Now tell me, what's the matter?" She asked in a calm voice.

"Oh, it's all my fault! A couple of days ago, I dared Kouta to go into the cave near the south end of the village." Kaito admitted, causing Tsunami to widen her eyes in shock.

"You mean that cave? The one where some people have went in and never returned?" She asked, her voice turning from calm to grave, the sudden change surprising Naruto.

"Y-yeah." Kaito timidly replied. "I got angry when he called me a chicken 'cause I didn't want to explore the cave with him. So I dared him to go in by himself. I thought that he would be able to handle himself cause he's the bravest one of us all. But it's already been a couple of days and his mother said that he's still not back. Oh no, what should I do? I should've went with him! If only I wasn't such a coward..." He lamented, looking down in shame.

Kaito suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up and see Naruto.

"Hey, er...Kaito, was it? Can you lead me to where that cave is?" He asked, causing Tsunami and Kaito to widen their eyes in shock.

"W-wait, you mean?" The younger boy asked, a glimmer of hope appearing in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'll get your friend back! That's a promise! And I never break my promises." Naruto declared.

"Alright, I'll take you there!"

"Tsunami-san, I hope you don't mind if I let you go by yourself from here." Naruto sheepishly said.

"N-no, it's okay. Our house isn't too far from here. Just...be careful alright? We don't know what's in that cave that caused all those disappearances." Tsunami cautioned.

"You got it! Lead the way Kaito!"

XXXxxxXXX

"So this is the place?" Naruto asked, looking around. The cave was only a few hundred metres(1 metre=About 3 feet) away south from the village.

"Yeah. Kouta went in there, but never came out...I hope he's okay..."

"Hey, don't worry alright? I promise I'll get your friend back. You should go back to the village first." Naruto reassured, before turning away and heading into the cave. There were a few holes on the roof of the cave, allowing light to filter through. The smooth walls seemed to be never-ending as Naruto went deeper and deeper into the cave.

"Oi! Is anyone here? If you're Kouta, your friend Kaito asked me to find you!"

After a few minutes of walking and shouting, to no avail, Naruto stopped at an intersection. There were three paths leading left, right and forward respectively. Deciding to quicken his search, Naruto created a few dozen clones, separating them into three groups. Two went east and west, while Naruto followed the group going forward.

"If you find the kid, bring him back home okay?" Naruto ordered, which was met with a resounding "Yes, boss!" from the clones.

(Meanwhile...)

Kakashi raised an eyebrow when he saw Tsunami return alone. When asked as to where Naruto had gone, she told him about the whole debacle with Kaito and how he was currently in a cave searching for Kaito's friend.

"I guess I should've expected that from him. He's far too kind for his own good, though I suppose that's one of his good traits." Kakashi said, sighing.

"Um...Are you going to search for him?" Tsunami asked.

"Hmm...Nah, he can take care of himself. Besides, he's only exploring a cave. What harm could it be?"

XXXxxxXXX

"Whew, that was close. Good thing I thought of sending a couple of clones to make some torches." Naruto said, as he held a newly received torch from one of his Kage Bunshin.

He then continued forward, and he was met with another intersection. Without breaking stride, he let some of his clones split up further as he continued to move forward, shouting in hopes of a response.

"HELLO? ANYONE HERE?!" Naruto shouted for the umpteenth time, receiving no response.

"-eave."

"H-huh?" Naruto intelligently asked, looking around him. Deciding that it was only his imagination, he went further in. At this point, he was separated from all of his clones, all of them going on their own paths. Some have already dispelled themselves when they were met with a dead end, allowing him to know where not to go to.

Suddenly, while he was continuing down the path, Naruto's foot was caught by a rock, making him wobble. He quickly shot a hand out to a nearby wall to steady himself, causing his hand to meet the wall with a resounding thud.

...

...

...

"A thud?" That doesn't sound right..." Naruto thought, turning his attention to the wall. He then started to rap on the wall with his knuckles, and sure enough, he heard more thuds.

"Hmm...Maybe...Lemme try something." He thought out loud as he channeled chakra to his fist, reinforcing it. He then lashed out at the wall, easily breaking through.

"Knew it! There was something here!" He cheered, before focusing on what lied beyond the now-broken hollow wall. He walked down the newly opened path, which was gently sloping downward, and soon he noticed a change in his environment.

He was undoubtedly still within the cave, but there was now a unearthly, luminescent glow coming from further down the cave. The glow caused the cave to take on a weird, greenish-blue glow. He then heard a peculiar, but familiar noise.

"Is that...running water?" He thought out loud. He noticed the path ended with a exit not to far from him, and he took note that the glow seemed to be emanating from the exit.

He then heard giggles, which were distinctly feminine, resound throughout the cave. Realizing that he was not alone, Naruto slowed down and placed a hand on his katana, readying himself for a possible encounter. He then started to approach the entrance, and he was met with a sight he would have never had expected.

The exit had led to a huge cavern, with a large lake in the middle. A small waterfall cascaded into the lake, and the lake further streamed down into another passage. But that wasn't what shocked him the most. No, it was what was in the lake.

Or rather, who.

Four women frolicked in the lake's water. Or at least they seemed like women, for there was only a resemblance in their body shapes. Where there would usually be flesh, there was a coloured gelatinous substance in its stead. They weren't all of the same colour though, Naruto observed. When the women laughed, their bodies jiggled, further accentuating the fact that they were not made out of human flesh.

"W-what in the world?!" Naruto exclaimed, unable to contain his surprise. "Who are these strange women? Why are their bodies so...inhuman? What is going on here?!"

His impromptu shout had attracted the attention of the four women(?), causing them to stop giggling and instead turned to face him.

"Hmm? Ara, another human?" A mature-looking purple woman(?) asked, jiggling on the spot in what seemed to be excitement.

"Yay~ Another human to play with!" A red woman(?) exclaimed, jiggling as well.

"But how did he find us?" A smaller, blue woman(?) quietly asked.

"Ah! I'll go tell Eru-sama!" A green woman(?) announced, moving to go deeper into the cavern.

"W-wait, you shouldn't! Don't you remember what she did to the last one who came here?!" The red one exclaimed, stopping the green woman(?) and catching Naruto's attention.

"Ah...You're right. Eheheheheh..." She chuckled sheepishly.

"Wait wait wait! Just what is going on here?! Who are you? Why are you all so...jiggly? And what happened to the last guy who came here? Where is he?" Naruto blurted out, his confusion causing him to ask the most prominent questions on his mind.

XXXxxxXXXX

Satsuki sighed in relief as she finally crumpled her hundredth leaf with her chakra. It had taken longer than she had expected to finish such a simple exercise, even though she already knew how to do an elemental jutsu.

"I suppose it's because I'm too used to using fire rather than lightning..." She mused as she stood up.

"Looks like you've finally managed to do it, huh?" Kakashi's voice suddenly said from behind her, startling the Uchiha.

"Hn." She grunted after regaining her composure, "As an Uchiha, such a simple task is nothing."

"Even though you took about three days?" Kakashi pointed out, causing the Uchiha heiress to mildly blush.

"W-well, that was-" She tried to reply, flustered.

"Mah, mah, enough about that for now. Now that you've finally cleared that step, we can move on." Kakashi said, causing Satsuki to smirk in excitement.

XXXxxxXXX

"Wait, lemme get this straight." Naruto started, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You're a species known as Slimes and you've been living in this place for years?!"

"Yup! We didn't always live inside this cavern though. We used to live on the surface and only came here to play." The red slime (Who had introduced herself as Akane.) chirped.

"Really? Then what happened?" Naruto asked, causing the slimes to lose their cheerful expressions.

"Well...You see-"

"You humans came and built your factories, polluting our homes." A cold voice quietly said, cutting the slime girl off. Naruto turned to see another slime girl emerging from deeper within the cavern. The slime girl had blue skin, or whatever was considered as skin for slimes. Naruto was honestly starting to get a headache just from learning about these strange beings, let alone about what their skin is called. She also had red, rune-like markings all over her body. Her face was set in a cold, emotionless expression and her piercing red eyes seem to glow as their glare balefully at the blond Uzumaki.

"Erubetie-sama!" Akane exclaimed in shock.

"Wha-? What do you mean?!" Naruto asked.

"It matters not. You, human, are polluting our waters." She coldly accused.

"W-wait a second! I'm not here to pollute the water or anything!" Naruto exclaimed, trying to defend himself.

"I care not about what you came here for. Leave our home. Now."

"Ah, mou! Would it kill you to just listen to me?! Anyway, I ain't leaving until I find what I'm searching for! I made a promise, and I keep my promises!" Naruto said resolutely, hand already on the hilt of his katana.

"Very well then. Whomever disturbs our home...No matter who it is, I'll melt them..." Erubetie declared, shooting forward swiftly as tendrils with pointed edges started to emerge from her back and her hands.

(Insert OST: The Four Heavenly Knights)

"Guh!" Naruto rolled to the side, drawing his blade to repel a few tendrils. Surprisingly, the steel of the katana was unable to cut through the gelatinous substance.

Naruto swiftly lunged forward, forgoing attacking the tendrils, and instead slashed at the slime woman, creating a large gash on her body. To his surprise however, Erubetie continued to stare coldly as the wound suddenly began to rapidly close.

"Now that's just not fair..." Naruto thought bitterly as he jumped back to dodge more of the tendrils, which crashed down on the rocky ground, creating a small crater. Naruto audibly gulped as he looked at the damage the seemingly harmless substance had done to the ground. He made a mental note to NOT get hit by the slime woman's attacks.

"Your efforts are futile. You cannot injure me, especially not with a sword. Now give up, and I shall end you swiftly." Erubetie coldly stated. She raised her arm yet again to launch a few tendrils at the young blond, this time increasing the size of each slimy appendage.

"As if! I'm not planning on dying anytime soon, so there!" Naruto shot back as he raised his katana. "Raitei Suiryoku!"

The attack dug into the woman's flesh, creating a large puncture wound. Not letting up, Naruto immediately followed with a slash to chest before having to roll to the side to dodge her strike. Again, the wounds he inflicted her with rapidly closed, leaving no indication that there was any wound in the first place. However, Naruto noticed something about her regeneration.

"It didn't heal as fast?" Naruto observed, eyeing the now non-existent wound. Indeed, from what he could recall from before, the wound he had inflicted her with at first had healed almost instantly, whereas the new ones took a bit of time before closing up. Deciding to test something, Naruto rushed forward once more.

"Akki Zanshu!" He yelled. The decapitating technique hit its mark, slicing the slime woman's head off. He then continued to slash at her body, scoring blow after blow before jumping back to avoid her attack once again. Observing the damage, Naruto saw Erubetie's head reattach itself to the rest of her body, while the slash wounds closed themselves up, albeit much slower than before. Realizing this, Naruto smirked.

"Looks like you aren't so invulnerable after all, huh?" Naruto taunted as the slime woman's body finished regenerating.

"..." Erubetie coldly stared at Naruto, unnerving the blond.

"W-what?" Naruto asked, perturbed.

"...I dislike humans. Do you know why us of the slime race live here?" Erubetie asked. "Humans pollute the water and steal away the environment for their own usage."

"Th...that's..." Naruto tried to argue, but found that he couldn't. After all, what right did he have? He had no idea of what they went through. "But humans are suffering as a result of this pollution as well! We have no idea what caused the pollution!"

"Silence. Your words do nothing to change my opinion." Erubetie cut Naruto off. "You polluted this spring with your presence...I'll need to give you your reward for that." Slime from her body began to swirl and spread out around the slime woman, causing Naruto to widen his eyes in shock and jump back to avoid the slime.

"I'll melt you away...Feel the anger and sorrow of our race as you dissolve into nothing."

The slime rose and formed into a massive tsunami, rising up as high as the cavern's roof. The tsunami then flew towards him, threatening to consume the blond.

"Well, shit."

Eeeyup. Slime Girls. I went there.

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WELCOME TO FREAKYLAND, PEOPLE!

Ahem. Well, at least no one can accuse me of not using more of the source material.

I know I skimmed over a good portion of the Wave Arc, but that was partly because I wanted to get to the more vital parts quickly. If you didn't like that, I apologize.

Anyways, lemme know what you think about this chapter. Liked it? Hated it? Want to eviscerate me for taking so goddamn long? What did you think about SSS? (I might try and make that a regular thing so that I can delve into the psyche of the characters more.) Then go ahead and leave a review!

...I have no idea when Chapter 11 is coming.

Sul~