Hand Signs [A Deaf Naruto Fanfiction]

Chapter Nine: Demon of the Mist

Being deaf sucked when you had a teacher who never showed his damn mouth.

This was not the first time the thought crossed Naruto’s mind but the way Sasuke and Sakura were listening so intently to whatever the cyclops was saying only reiterated the point. Logically, he knew it was likely about the threat to the old man, since they were under informed, but that didn’t make it any less hard. He wasn’t signing so it was even worse.

Kurama told him that once they become proper partners, something they couldn’t do without the key to the seal, Kurama would be able to hear what was going on and could help him. He wished he knew where to get the key. Unfortunately, Kurama didn’t know where it was either and revealing their bond too soon wouldn’t end well--neither he nor Naruto had any doubts on what would happen if it was. They would think that the fox was influencing hima and the seal would be tightened or added to or something that would prevent them from communicating. Neither wanted that, especially since Kurama was the only thing keeping him grounded being so far away from the family he’d created. After finally knowing what it was like to have support and a loving family, it was hard being away from them--even after only a couple days.

They were traveling from the edge of Fire Country across the water to Wave country on a gondola and visibility was low. It was unsettling when it was his primary sense. A heavy fog rolled along the water making it near impossible to see landforms in the distance.

The bridge, still incomplete, came into view as they drew close enough and it was huge. Bigger than anything Naruto had ever seen other than the Hokage monument. The heavy fog made it difficult to see details but he could already tell that it would be massive in its completion.

As they got closer to Wave Country, Tazuna finally began his story. He couldn’t get every word but it was enough to understand the gist of it. He was being targeted by a man who held a lot of power and money named Gato. He had something to do with shipping but Naruto missed that part. Naruto barely recognized the name but Kakashi-sensei did, even if the blond couldn’t hear his response the look in his eye was enough to speak of his recognition. It turned out the guy was into drug-trafficking and had used shinobi and gangs for it. It wasn’t Naruto’s area of expertise. Politics and economics were really boring when it came down to it. Anyway, Gato forced his way into Wave Country and took control of pretty much everything using his influence and money.

It clicked pretty quickly for the three genin. The chunin from before were hired by Gato to assassinate Tazuna so the completion of the bridge would never happen. The reason for withholding that information to begin with was still in question, though.

Naruto assumed Kakashi-sensei asked because when his thoughts were answered by the drunkard, that was who he was looking at (though he refused to meet his eyes).

It came down to expenses. Tazuna and the entire nation was poor--especially with Gato in control--and he couldn’t afford to pay for the ranking the request required.

The sob story, while it was obviously the truth, was meant to manipulate them into staying to finish it. Naruto would know, it was one of the things he was best at and how he avoided getting into trouble more often than not when he was growing up. It probably would’ve worked on him if he hadn’t laid it on so thick in regard to his imminent death and how his daughter and grandson would cry. He was blatantly trying to guilt trip them into staying to complete the mission and while Naruto would normally back out just to spite him, the blond was determined to see it through to the end. He looked at the bandages wrapped around his hand (Kakashi-sensei insisted so as to not alert his teammates of his...condition). They were a stark reminder of how useless he’d been in the face of the chunin and it was something he didn’t plan on letting happen again. If that meant he also helped save a family grief over the loss of a family member than that would make it even better.

Kakashi-sensei agreed to continue, albeit reluctantly, and the face Tazuna made (despite his attempt to hide it) was smug. Naruto wanted to punch him all over again.

The further they got from the water the better visibility became and his jounin teacher’s concern for the situation, and disappointment in himself for caving, was practically tangible.

When Gato found out the chunin he sent failed, he’d send someone stronger. That much was obvious. But how much stronger? Would three fresh-faced genin and a single elite jounin be enough?

Somehow, someway, Naruto found himself leading the group but it didn’t last before Sasuke sped up his pace to push past him. It was odd to say the least.

At first he thought it was his imagination, a part of him that still felt some kind of rivalry with the Uchiha rearing its ugly head but a talk with his friends confirmed his suspicions. Sasuke had been trying to provoke him into some kind of fight or trying to get him to engage in a rivalry with him again. Shikamaru thought he was upset that Naruto was ignoring him after giving him years of attention but he didn’t get it. Sasuke hated him. He’d told Naruto to give up and told him to leave him alone a plethora of times so why would he be upset that he finally got a clue and listened. People were confusing.

Naruto didn’t try to pass him again, didn’t care enough to maintain the lead he’d taken. Sasuke didn’t respond verbally, he rarely did, but his frustration was clear.

The feeling came back, he could feel eyes burning through him, chakra pulsing in front of them and slightly to the side. He threw a kunai into the brush, at the source of the feeling and it vanished but nothing happened.

They were gone.

“Naruto-baka! What are you doing?!” Sakura screeched at him and it was the first sentence he’d heard to completion since they got on the boat.

Naruto kept his blue eyes narrowed at the bushes where he had been sure someone was hiding..

“Someone was there.”

Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna voiced their disbelief but Kakashi-sensei remained silent, considering him. If even one person believed him, it was enough.

He tried not to think about how if Shikamaru or Shino or Choji was here, they would believe him without question.

The feeling returned as quickly as it left and his attention focused on it as it bounced from location to location before settling behind another bush off to the side.

“There!”

He whipped another kunai out and threw it where he knew the person’s neck or chest would be.

“Stop it already!” Sakura yelled at him, coming behind him and whacking him harshly on the back of his neck. If he liked her any less, he would’ve gladly hit her back but he decided to be the mature one (since apparently both of his teammates were more petty than he was).

Naruto was about to give her a warning for the abuse when Kakashi-sensei pushed the bushes back to reveal the terrified white rabbit his kunai had missed by millimeters.

Naruto knew that the presence he felt wasn’t a rabbit, especially not a white rabbit in the warm seasons. It didn’t make sense.

Sakura looked ready to hit him again at the sight of the frightened bunny but the blond wasn’t paying enough attention to pick up what she said. He knew something was off about the whole thing and the only reason Kakashi-sensei would bother to check was if he thought the same thing.

He took pity on the bunny anyway, gently cradling it in his arms. It wasn’t injured, no fur was out of place, nothing seemed and there was no blood--which was good since he didn’t want to waste bandages on an animal when they could need them later. He ran his tan fingers through the rabbit’s fur, soothing the fear that shook through the small animal.

The feeling came creeping back, eyes burning into his head and chakra like cool water.

“Get down!”

It was urgent and Naruto, carefully keeping the rabbit safe, dropped to the ground. The blade of the massive sword missed everyone in the group by centimeters and embedded itself in the tree opposite to where it came from. A man jumped onto the handle.

He seemed tall, though the distance made it hard to tell, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt, exposing his almost-grey. Cow print arm warmers left his shoulders bare and high-waisted, grey, pinstripe pants covered to the knees with cow print leg warmers. His face lacked eyebrows and his hitai-ate was on the side of his head and Naruto could just barely make out the symbol for Kirigakure. To Naruto’s dread, the shinobi wore bandages that covered his mouth and nose and blocked them from his view. He wouldn’t be able to understand a word the man said unless he decided to scream or yell.

Kakashi-sensei was kind enough to sign this time, one handed and off to the side. Neither Sakura nor Sasuke were good enough at Shinobi Sign Language to even recognize it for what it was but Iruka-sensei taught Naruto well.

Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist.

The blond felt a thrill in his gut at the title. He was regarded as a demon, though he was well aware he wasn’t one (and neither was Kurama if you wanted to get technical). He found that perspective was important when it came to titles like that. While he knew of Kiri’s Genin Exam--it was in a textbook Shikamaru had lent him when he’d been preparing for a test in the academy--he doubted that was all there was to the man. Even if he was an assassin for hire.

There were moments of nothing and Naruto assumed they were talking before Kakashi-sensei moved to lift his hitai-ate from his left eye. Sasuke was watching him carefully as he did so. In the time they’d been genin, none of the trio had seen their teacher’s face, with the exception of his visible eye. Obviously there was more to his covered one than simply missing an eye.

Doujutsu, his mind supplied. He had a Doujutsu hidden underneath his forehead protector.

Naruto didn’t know much about Doujutsu, just that Hinata and her clan had one and Sasuke’s clan had one that he hadn’t yet developed. From the way Sasuke was looking at Kakashi-sensei, Naruto assumed that whatever Doujutsu was hiding under his hitai-ate wasn’t his own (it was probably the Uchiha’s).

“Don’t involve yourselves in the fight, that’s the teamwork in this situation,” Kakashi-sensei signed one handed while he spoke, never taking his other hand off his forehead protector. “Protect Tazuna.”

Naruto decided he’d only involve himself in the fight if he knew he’d be less of a hindrance, and against a man as built as Zabuza anything could happen. Especially if he needed the money.

The Konoha jounin pulls his hitai-ate up revealing a scar running down the length of his eye and under the mask on his face. His iris is red with what look like black commas surrounding the pupil. Naruto barely remembered seeing a picture of it in a book, it called it the Sharingan.

Within him, Kurama recoiled violently. Whatever the eye was, whatever it did, it was clear Kurama hated it more than he hated Sasuke and if he was right then the fox would only hate him more when he developed it, himself.

A fog rolled in, likely a jutsu from Kiri, and Zabuza vanished into it, reappearing over the water.

Naruto could feel the large amount of chakra he was building from where he stood guarding Tazuna.

The mist thickened and the little visibility they had was gone for a moment, when it lightened again, Zabuza was gone.

Sakura asked a question he couldn’t hear and Kakashi-sensei signed as he responded, no facing his genin.

“An ex-Anbu from Kirigakure and an expert in the Silent Killing technique. As the name suggests, it’s done in an instant in silence,” The man, the Demon of the Mist, was someone to be feared for sure. Naruto wondered how much of that was a choice. “I haven’t totally mastered the use of my Sharingan, so don’t lower your guards.”

The mist got thicker.

Kakashi-sensei vanished and Naruto was left almost completely reliant on the sensory ability he’d been working on with Kurama if it came down to a fight.

He could barely hear a muffled whisper of words he couldn’t understand but the fear on his teammates’ and their charge’s faces said enough about what was being said. A threat, likely a morbid one. They were in the way of this man getting paid, and to him, just collateral damage.

A large burst of chakra blew the fog away and with it came killing intent so potent he could taste its acidity. It was intense and though he knew it wasn’t aimed at him, Naruto couldn’t help but be reminded of the several instances it had been. Sasuke’s pale skin became paler and he and Sakura shook, neither used to such a large amount of blood lust. It felt like he was about to die but it wasn’t the first time. The only time he’d ever felt the intent to kill stronger was an instance when he was young and Hokage-jiji’s blood lust was so intense he fell to his knees and shook even harder than he already had been. That hadn’t been aimed at him either but it was a similar feeling, where he felt as though he could see his life flash before him.

Naruto didn’t let the effect show.

Sasuke looked like he was ready to drive his kunai into his gut to escape it. Naruto didn’t know what stopped him, but he was glad it did--whether or not he liked the older boy, they were teammates and he did care about their lives.

Naruto felt what happened next before he saw it. The cool, water-like pulse of Zabuza’s chakra before he was within the barrier they’d created to protect Tazuna. Kakashi-sensei was there in an instant, the blade of the Nukenin’s sword driven into his body.

The wound bled water.

A clone. An elemental clone.

Then Zabuza was behind the Leaf jounin. His sword cut through the silver haired nin like butter and before the horror of it could sink in, it became clear that the image of their teacher was a water clone too.

Zabuza seemed more shocked than Naruto and his teammates. In hindsight, the blond really shouldn’t have been all that surprised at all. From what he could remember, the Sharingan showed the future, in some obscure way he’d never understand without having it himself. It allowed the user to see what someone was going to do before they did it, allowed you to copy it impeccably and keep it in your arsenal. He was beginning to think Zabuza didn’t stand much of a chance… or wouldn’t if Kakashi-sensei didn’t have to worry about keeping three genin and a civilian safe.

Before Zabuza could blink, Kakashi-sensei had a kunai to his throat.

They were frozen, in a deadlock with the advantage going to the Konoha shinobi. It was obvious, it wouldn’t last. Things were never this easy in real life.

Another Zabuza was behind him and it would be so much easier to follow what was happening if he could hear.

Naruto could almost pinpoint the second his teacher saw the blade coming and dodged milliseconds before would’ves sliced him in two. He failed to dodge the kick Zabuza dealt him next and if it weren’t for the Makibishi Spikes that coated the ground, he would’ve succeeded in his second attempt to kill him with his sword.

Kakashi-sensei landed in the water with a large splash he could barely hear and Zabuza leapt away.

It was clear that Zabuza was no push over, even in the face of a Ninja as good as their teacher. He was smart and fast, excellent with his sword and skilled in both Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. It made for a deadly combination and Naruto didn’t want to know how genin would fare against a man of his caliber without help.

Kakashi-sensei surfaced and in an instant the Demon of the Mist was behind him.

“Water Prison Jutsu!”

A sphere of water trapped the silver haired jounin before he had the chance to get away.

They shared words and a clone rose from the water, the blond could see the bandages over his jaw twitch as he said words too muffled for him to understand before disappearing into the mist.

Naruto barely had a second to even try to sense him before the kick to his chest did it for him. His head band flew off from the impact and Zabuza stepped on the Leaf symbol engraved into the metal.

“---ingo--ook----id!” Even feet away, his voice was muffled from the bandages and his own defective ears.

Kakashi said something, even signed it but Naruto could barely see past Zabuza’s much larger body.

For being the top students, even after more than a month of Kakashi-sensei signing along with nearly everything he said, Sasuke and Sakura never bothered to pick up the same habit. Whatever Sasuke said in response, Naruto didn’t hear but he could see, even through the mist, that he was more serious than he’d ever been.

He charged forward, throwing a number of shuriken at the Kiri nin, all easily blocked by the massive sword. Sasuke launched himself into the air while Zabuza’s vision was obstructed by the blade and attempted an aerial attack. Zabuza saw through it easily and caught him by the throat before his kunai could make contact. He threw him to the ground roughly. Sasuke didn’t get up right away.

“Sasuke-kun!” Sakura yelped.

Naruto looked down at his hitai-ate, crushed carelessly under the foot of the Demon of the Mist. He remembered what it meant for Iruka-sensei to give it to him, how it had been his and how he swore to cherish it. He remembered the words Kakashi-sensei told them the day of their Bell Test. He remembered the promises he made to Iruka-sensei and his friends.

Every memory only stood to strengthen his resolve. His shaking stopped and his fear faded as he felt his comrades with him, felt Kurama’s pride as he listened in. He could do this. The Water Prison Technique was a C-rank jutsu that required the user to be within close range and keep their chakra focused. It was why Zabuza created a water clone.

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. They didn’t need to beat Momochi Zabuza, they just needed to distract him long enough to force him to drop the jutsu.

Before that, though, there was something he needed. As dumb as it may be, it was too important.

He charged forward and Zabuza easily knocked him back, the blade of his sword cutting him--not enough to kill him, but as a warning--but not before he was able to grab it.

Sakura and Sasuke stared at him.

“Naruto, you idiot! Even Sasuke-kun’s no match for him! Don’t just go charging--” She cut herself off as her eyes fell to his hand, Sasuke’s eyes followed not long after.

Safely away from Zabuza’s foot, clutched tightly in his hand, was his hitai-ate.

Naruto stood up shakily, the blow he’d taken to get his forehead protector back was painful and his body ached horribly but Kurama had already healed the cut and he was ready.

Shadows covered his eyes as he re-tied his headband even tighter than before.

“Put this in your Bingo Book: I’m the man who will be acknowledged by Konohagakure and then everywhere else! I’m Uzumaki Naruto!”

He could feel everyone’s eyes on him and he wondered if it was the good kind of stare or the bad kind. He didn’t care. He grinned widely.

“Sasuke! Lend me your ear!” Naruto wondered if he’d ever see the irony of that sentence.

He heard a muffled response he assumed was Sasuke asking why.

“I have a plan!” His grin turned sinister and became more of a smirk than a smile. Anyone who knew him properly would probably be terrified but Zabuza had no idea.

Kakashi-sensei shouted something, and Naruto hesitated briefly before the words he’d signed and spoken flashed in his mind.

“Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash!”

He wasn’t going to abandon Kakashi-sensei.

Tazuna seemed to agree.

“---uch--ou--ant.”

Sasuke’s face settled into a smirk at whatever he said.

“--ou hear--at?” No, actually. He didn’t. It was okay though.

Zabuza shook with laughter and from the look on his teammates’ faces, started his life story (apparently this was an ongoing theme for the mission).

Naruto didn’t need Zabuza or Kakashi-sensei to explain Kiri’s customs since it had been placed under the rule of their current Mizukage. Yagura. Kurama had said, when he read the name, that it sounded familiar but he couldn’t place it and from there he found that since Kiri had been under his command it had been referred to as the Bloody Mist. The graduation exam was to set the students against each other in a battle to the death.

He could guess where the man earned his fearsome title of Demon of the Mist. There was a reason the exam no longer involved murder, Shikamaru hadn’t known much about it and the books didn’t give many details but it was clear now just who the demon was.

The water clone charged Sasuke, forcing his elbow into his chest to force him back before driving it back down. Blood spurted from his mouth.

“Sasuke-kun!”

Zabuza ground his foot into Sasuke’s chest and prepared to draw his sword once again.

“Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!”

Within a moment there were dozens of physical copies of Naruto surrounding Zabuza on all sides. Alone they were enough of a distraction to get the jounin’s foot off of Sasuke. The clones and the original all drew kunai and leapt into the air, easily covering him with their numbers.

Zabuza brushed them back easily.

It was too easy.

As he slid across the dirt and grass, Naruto dug through his pack and tossed his last resort into the air.

“Sasuke!”

He caught the blades easily and when he realized what they were, he smirked.

A Fūma Shuriken. A Shadow Windmill.

Zabuza said something but it didn’t perturb Sasuke and he carried the weapon expertly. He leapt into the air and threw it.

The weapon blazed past the clone and his eyes widened as he caught on.

He caught it. Naruto expected it.

Another one came flying toward him and Zabuza was left with no real choices. He could release the Water Prison to catch it or dodge it. Either way he would be forced to free Kakashi-sensei.

He jumped and Sakura gasped but Sasuke smirked. The second Shuriken disappeared in a puff of smoke and became Naruto.

Still moving with the force of the throw, Naruto released a kunai at Zabuza’s face. He now had a choice. Die and release the jutsu or live and release the jutsu.

Either way they got what they wanted.

Zabuza chose life and removed his hand from the sphere of water that imprisoned their teacher to avoid the hit.

The kunai scratched his eye.

~~~~

Sasuke was many things, first and foremost though, he was an Uchiha.

Learning that someone who was decidedly not an Uchiha wielded his clan Doujutsu that he didn’t know about had been a shock--he wasn’t sure he liked it. It was obvious, with the knowledge, why Kakashi had been chosen to be his teacher.

Getting cornered by an opponent so much stronger than them, so skilled and so ready to kill, was not what expected out of what they all thought would be a boring C-rank of escorting some drunk home. He especially hadn’t expected Naruto to be right about it.

Sasuke had assumed that when Naruto had been flinging kunai it was a cry for attention, a fit of jealousy because he’d been almost useless in the fight against the two chunin. He should’ve known better. Naruto, for months now, had been different. He carried himself differently, behaved differently, everything was just different.

He started getting good grades in class and hanging out with Shikamaru and Choji--and eventually Shino--he seemed to have a close bond with their teacher. It was hugely different from the boy who’d made a name for himself being a talentless loser who was always alone. Even his Taijutsu improved, though he never got a chance to fight him after that. He was smart in a way he’d never seen from him before.

He didn’t even care to pick fights with him and his ridiculous crush on Sakura was gone as though it were never there.

None of it made sense.

What changed? Why did it change? Why did he hate it so much when he should be glad that he didn’t have to deal with Naruto on top of the rabid fangirls?

He assumed it was a fluke, cheating off one of his new friends or something of the like. The blond hadn’t even passed the graduation test! Sasuke honestly didn’t have a clue how he managed to fail and still become a ninja, though he did remember hearing about an incident that happened the night after their test.

The only thing to support that it wasn’t a fluke was that Naruto was extremely proficient in Shinobi Sign Language. He had no idea why the blond enjoyed it so much or how he got so good so quickly but he bested everyone with the exception of Iruka-sensei (who didn’t count since he was their teacher). He even used it regularly.

Despite the changes, despite all of it, Sasuke still believed Naruto was a fluke, a talentless idiot who got lucky a few times.

Got lucky on tests, on in-class questions, on graduating and becoming a shinobi, when he got that stupid cat, when he sensed someone following them.

This proved false when a plan that actually made sense and worked against an opponent like the Demon of the Mist was thought up in its entirety by Uzumaki Naruto. Sasuke was being forced to consider the possibility that the younger boy really wasn’t what he’d always thought he was.

Despite that, there was something off about him. He didn’t startle at loud noises, had a tendency to completely ignore people if he wasn’t looking directly at them and rarely made eye contact. It didn’t add up.

Before this mission was over, after Kakashi finished off Zabuza, Sasuke was going to figure out what was up with the blond.

Naruto actually managed to force Zabuza’s hand. Kakashi was proud. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in his student, he did and Naruto was very skilled (not that he’d had many opportunities to show it). Against an opponent like one of the Legendary Swordsmen of the Mist, he’d wanted them all to run. No genin could ever match him in strength (not unless you were someone like Maito Dai) and especially not genin who were practically fresh out of the academy.

Naruto never ceased to surprise him with the number of clones he could produce and control and it had been a good attempt to take down the clone but his true plan had been better than anything he could’ve expected.

He knew the three of them couldn’t win against Zabuza but he also knew that they didn’t have to. In forcing him to release Kakashi, the Demon of the Mist would have to worry about the Copy Nin again and the genin could protect Tazuna like they were supposed to. It was clear that the words his best friend had said to him that day, the words he repeated to his genin, struck a chord with him.

When Zabuza, in anger over being bested by a tiny blond genin he didn’t even consider to be a true ninja, geared up the Fūma Shuriken to throw at Naruto he acted fast. Blood sprayed as the blade of the shuriken made contact with his hand and Naruto fell into the water before Zabuza could attempt to attack him some other way.

The glare he sent at the other jounin was fierce. It had been years since he was as pissed off as he felt in that moment. He’d been forced to watch his genin, who he’d begrudgingly began to care for (though he knew it would be inevitable the moment he passed them), be mercilessly attacked, toyed with, by a man twice their size and easily five or more times their strength.

Zabuza’s eyes widened at the sight.

He was only vaguely aware of Sakura’s happy cheer behind him.

Naruto resurfaced and grinned up at him and even through his rage he felt the proud feeling return.

“Naruto… Your strategy was outstanding,” He signed with his free hand, not bothering to say it out loud.

“The purpose of the shadow clones wasn’t to take down Zabuza but to hide my transformation into the Fūma Shuriken,” Naruto didn’t sign, too preoccupied with treading water, and spoke loud enough for Sakura and Sasuke to hear. “I left a clone behind then transformed into the Fūma Shuriken. The clone threw the real me, disguised, towards Sasuke. He must have realized who I was right away because he took out his own shuriken… And that’s the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!

“I hid in the shadow of the real Fūma Shuriken and aimed for Zabuza. I didn’t think I could defeat him, but I knew I could destroy the Water Prison. There was no choice, either he’d die and the prison would be released or he could dodge and still be forced to release it. Defeating the water clone was a bonus.”

Sasuke was smirking.

“That was a fluke,” It held no heat and Kakashi didn’t think he was being sincere, not that Naruto heard him anyway.

“A fluke, huh?!” He couldn’t tell if he was agreeing with Sasuke or not.

Kakashi could tell it wasn’t a fluke. He’d had many discussions with Iruka about Naruto’s progress in class. Apparently when he was given the extra help he needed to hear the lessons his grades had easily rivaled Sasuke’s. If it weren’t for his average over all being so low and being unable to perform the Bunshin he could’ve easily been a competitor for the spot of Rookie of the Year. He also knew that Naruto was well versed with traps, he’d been a prankster from a young age and was known among jounin and chunin for being difficult to catch. The plan was too well put together to simply be written off as a fluke.

Sasuke’s ability to recognize at least a portion of it enough to put it all together was also great. When the two of them worked together they were capable of some amazing feats and Kakashi was greatly impressed with both of their performances.

“Hmph! I got distracted and broke the jutsu.”

It was weak, a poor attempt at trying to salvage his pride.

“You didn’t break the jutsu, they forced you to break it,” A vein pulsed on Zabuza’s forehead in anger. “I’ll tell you now, the same jutsu won’t work on me twice. So, what will you do?”

Sakura and Sasuke stood guard on Tazuna and Naruto remained in the water. If he got out now Zabuza might target him as revenge so it was probably for the best.

The Demon of the Mist glared at him and closed the shuriken so all the blades were putting pressure on his hand and Kakashi’s eyes widened in pain. He easily took back control and flung the shuriken away and into the mist.

Both jounin leapt off into the air and Zabuza began forming hand signs. Kakashi’s sharingan eye focused intently on his hands, barely listening to the voices of his genin as they watched.

Ox. Money. Hare. Rat. Boar. Bird. Ox. Horse. Bird. Rat. Tiger. Dog. Tiger. Snake. Ox. Ram. Snake. Boar. Ram. Rat.

Both kept going in sync, Kakashi’s sharingan providing him with the next hand sign and there were a lot of them.

“Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!”

Twin dragons rose from the water, attacking one another and showering water down onto them. The rush of water hit the shore and with it, Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna. The power of the waves pushed Naruto under water but he easily resurfaced as it calmed. The water dragons rained down on them as Kakashi and Zabuza collided again, kunai against the Kubikiribocho.

They leapt apart and circled each other.

Kakashi copied him move for move in perfect sync and Zabuza's eyes widened.

“You won’t be able to beat me!”

“You won’t be able to beat me!”

“You!”

“You!”

Zabuza performed more hand signs before stopping, staring wide eyed past Kakashi.

“Suiton: Great Waterfall Jutsu!”

Water swirled in front of Kakashi, growing larger and larger before it flew toward Zabuza, washing him away just before he was able to do the same to the Copy Nin. The jutsu’s current destroyed many trees in its path before it finally slowed down, pushing Naruto toward a tree just before doing so.

Zabuza’s back hit a tree and kunai pierced his biceps on either arm.

“It’s over.”

The jutsu receded.

“Why?” Zabuza’s voice was shaking, dripping with fear and shock. “Are you able to see into the future?”

“Yeah,” Kakashi raised his kunai, glaring down at the Demon of the Mist from his place on the branch. “I see your death.”

Senbon flew from seemingly out of nowhere and pierced Zabuza’s neck and blood spurted from the wounds. The Water Style user hit the ground hard.

In a tree opposite to him stood a masked figure, clearly young and wearing a white mask with red swirls and Kiri’s symbol on the forehead. The androgynous figure had long, dark hair that was tied up in the back and wore a green kimono top. There was no clear indicator of who the person was besides possibly being a Hunter Nin from Kiri and most probably being a young boy. He probably wasn’t much older than Kakashi’s genin.

“You were right. He died.”

Zabuza’s face was frozen, eyes wide and bloodshot, brow creased with fear.

Kakashi checked his pulse.

There was none.

“He’s dead.”

The masked figure bowed.

“I thank you. I have been waiting for the chance to kill Zabuza.”

“By the looks of that mask, you’re a Hunter Nin from Kirigakure.”

“Impressive. You’re very knowledgeable.”

Naruto pulled himself out of the water and watched the Hunter Nin silently, glaring at him suspiciously. He probably couldn’t hear a word he was saying and couldn’t read his lips because of the mask.

The boy jumped down from the tree he was perched in and lifted Zabuza’s body over his shoulder.

“Your battle is over for now. I must get rid of the corpse because of the secrets it contains. Please excuse me.” The young shinobi made a single handed sign and vanished with Zabuza’s corpse in a swirl of leaves.

“Now, it’s time to take Tazuna-san home.” Kakashi covered his Sharingan with his hitai-ate once again.

The old man laughed, adrenaline still coursing through his veins from the battle.

“So sorry for the trouble. You guys can rest at my house!”

They began walking.

A wave of exhaustion washed over the Copy Nin and his legs shook, visible eye widening as he fell to the ground. Naruto was barely able to catch him, the weight of the older man taking the smallest member of Team 7 down with the momentum of his fall.

He was only vaguely aware of the concerned voices before everything went black.

~()~

He woke up on a futon, body aching and head pounding.

“It seems I’ve overused my Sharingan…” He sighed to himself.

A woman he’d never seen before entered the room.

“Are you alright, sensei?”

Kakashi sat up slowly, his body rejecting every movement of his muscles as he did so.

“Not really… It will be hard to just move for about a week.”

She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked down at him.

“You probably shouldn’t move for a while.”

Kakashi was inclined to listen to her. Civilian women could be some of the scariest out there and he’d like to avoid incurring her wrath. He laid back down and brought the duvet to his chin.

His genin poured into the room not seconds later with Tazuna behind them.

“Kakashi-sensei’s awake!”

Sakura kneeled beside his futon.

“Your sharingan is amazing but if it puts this much strain on your body it may not be worth it!” She chided him, a worried look on her face.

Naruto looked similar and Sasuke, while he hid it much better, looked concerned too. He gave them a half hearted apology. He was never meant to have the Doujutsu and his body hated the overuse of it. A proper Uchiha would experience similar symptoms after prolonged use but their bodies were designed for it, its very code was etched into their DNA.

Sakura asked about the Hunter Nin and as he explained (out loud and in sign) their purpose, to rid the world of all traces of a shinobi after death, something about it felt wrong. There was still a nagging feeling of unease and no matter what he did, he couldn’t will himself to relax. Instincts like that were rarely wrong but he couldn’t eliminate something truly being wrong as the cause for it. While it could just be paranoia after a traumatic event, it was more likely that it wasn’t over yet.

“...They take care of the bodies immediately and on the spot--!” Kakashi cut himself off abruptly as he finally realized what he was missing--he didn’t miss the widening of Naruto’s blue eyes as well.

Hunter Nin take care of the bodies on the spot, immediately. They don’t bring the body elsewhere. The fact that this one did meant one of two things: he wasn’t following proper protocol or Zabuza was still alive.

As much as he wanted to believe the first option was the truth, the second had a significantly higher probability.

“He took him away…” Kakashi wasn’t even sure Naruto knew he was speaking out loud.

The blond’s eyes were glazed and he was deep in thought, but regardless he was right.

When his eyes cleared he spoke again, much louder and more pointedly.

“The kid with the mask. He didn’t take care of his body on site, he took it away…”

Kakashi nodded.

“And the weapon he used…”

Sasuke’s dark eyes widened in realization as he too caught on.

“Impossible…”

“What are you guys clamoring on about over there?” Tazuna grew impatient with their talking in circles.

“Zabuza’s probably alive.” Both Kakashi and Naruto said at the same time.

Who knew how much time they had to prepare for the next attack?

Their mission was far from over.

Naruto couldn’t take all the credit for his realization. Kurama had helped him reach the conclusion, even if he hadn’t said anything out right. If not for him he probably would’ve been one of the last to figure it out, only to feel like an idiot for not seeing it sooner.

Kakashi-sensei explained the whole thing, reiterating what the fox sealed within him already told him. That the senbon used by the fake Hunter Nin only put Zabuza into a death-like state that was purely temporary. His pulse was lowered enough to convince someone checking that he was dead.

In a few days, maybe a week tops, they’d need to be ready to face him all over again and potentially his help too.

A kid who looked younger than Konohamaru tumbled into the room, falling into Tazuna’s lap and mumbling something too quiet for him to hear. His mother called after him, scolding for something Naruto wasn’t paying attention to.

He felt an ache in his chest as he thought about what was waiting for him back in Konoha. Iruka-sensei, Konohamaru (and Moegi and Udon), Shikamaru, Shino, Choji, Lee, Hokage-jiji, Gai-sensei... The people who became the family he never had but always wanted and now, seeing the boy and his family, it only served as a reminder of how long they could be waiting until they went home. Naruto remembered a time he’d been excited to get out of the village, being jealous of those who were able to go on the field trips he never could but now, being in Wave Country, he couldn’t wait to be back in the gates of Konoha. It was something he’d have to get used to as a shinobi but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

The boy, Inari (as his mother had said), turned out of his grandfather’s grip and looked at his mother after glancing at Naruto and his team.

Naruto had no choice but to read the kids lips as he spoke.

“Mom, these guys are going to die. There’s no way they can oppose Gato and win.”

Naruto was tempted to believe otherwise. If his knowledge was correct then Gato himself was a civilian with no experience as a shinobi. The problem lied with the hired help. That didn’t mean he was going to let Zabuza or any other shinobi kill him before he was acknowledged by his village. He refused to die until he saw his dream through to the end.

Something about the kid got under his skin but he refused to let his irritation with the boy rule his actions. He was better than this now, in control of his emotions--trauma aside.

He kept his mouth shut.

No one said a word and Inari turned tail and left.

Naruto followed close behind, quietly. He found the young boy sitting on a desk opposite the door, looking out a window. His shoulders were shaking and he was clutching what looked like a picture frame tightly to his chest. The blond knew enough without being able to hear to figure out he was crying.

He left Inari in peace. There was no way a stranger would be able to provide the comfort of family.

~()~

“Now the training begins!” Kakashi-sensei looked a bit too cheerful for a man on crutches. “You need to learn to control your chakra with your body. It’s difficult training that requires you to put your life on the line to master!”

Something about that seemed highly exaggerated to Naruto but he didn’t comment. He had poor chakra control--something that he and Kurama had been working on before the trip started--mostly due to his abnormally large stores. He had more chakra than most jounin if Shikamaru was to be believed and if Nara Shikaku’s shocked face meant anything when he heard them talking about his shadow clones, then it was understandable. That didn’t mean it could keep going. If he wanted to be any kind of decent ninja, he had to have the best control he could. Any suggestion was more than welcome if it would help even a little.

Sakura said something, probably to ask just what the training entailed and Kakashi-sensei signed and spoke his response.

“Climbing trees.”

“Climbing trees?!” The three genin erupted.

“Yes, but not normal climbing. You will climb the tree without using your hands!”

Naruto and his teammates looked skeptical.

Images of Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza standing on water flashed in his mind.

Maybe it wasn’t so impossible after all.

“Just watch!”

Kakashi-sensei hobbled over to a tree on his crutches and walked up it as though the laws of gravity and physics didn’t apply to him. It was just like what they did on the water. He continued to walk until he was upside down on a branch.

He used his armpits to hold his crutches tight as he began to sign again.

“It’s kinda like this: focus your chakra into the soles of your feet to make them stick to the trunk of the tree. If you use your chakra well, you can do things like this.”

“Wait a minute!” Sakura yelled. “How’s something like that supposed to make you strong?!”

It was a stupid question. Without proper chakra control, certain techniques were impossible. Lee’s teammate Tenten was a good example. She had wanted to be a medic nin but lacked the chakra control she needed to effectively perform the techniques. Of course, she much preferred her seals and weapons to medical Ninjutsu but that was beside the point.

“The aim of this training is to accumulate the required amount of chakra to the required spot. It’s surprisingly difficult, even for expert shinobi. The amount of chakra used is very subtle and the bottoms of your feet are the most difficult place to gather chakra. Anyway! In other words, if you master that control, it would theoretically be possible to learn any jutsu!”

It was blatant manipulation but it worked. The possibility of being able to perform any jutsu was too good for him to pass up and he could tell Sasuke was thinking the same.

“The second aim is to maintain that chakra. Ninja use the most chakra during battles. Under those kinds of stress, control and maintenance with chakra becomes the most difficult. Nothing’s really gonna happen with me saying this and that… You’ll need to learn it with your bodies.”

Kakashi-sensei threw kunai down to their feet.

“Use those to mark your progress,” He was still standing upside down on the tree branch. “Each time, strive to get further up the tree and place a higher mark. You aren’t good enough to walk up from the start, so run and use your momentum. Got it?”

The three genin took a moment to gather their chakra with the Ram sign before making attempts at climbing the tree.

Naruto blew himself off the tree the second his foot made contact.

Apparently it was going to be harder than he thought.