On the way to Nami
This has been beta’d by Ankaa Sage! Thank-you so much!
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Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna stood at Konoha's gate and they waited for their sensei and last teammate, and as soon as the three hours hit there was a very familiar poof sound signalling Kakashi arrived. He looked and them and asked, "Where's Naruto?"
Sakura looked confused, as did the other two, "What do you mean sensei? You took him with you earlier remember?" the two males behind her nodded, they too had seen the silver-haired jounin take away the blonde teammate.
"I did but over a half hour ago she went somewhere I'm not sure where. Anyone have any ideas?"
Team 7 looked at each other, Sakura still didn't know much about her so Sasuke spoke, "We should try Naka River. Since we're leaving the village he would want to pay his respects before leaving for so long. He tends to forget about time when he's there."
Kakashi nodded as Sakura looked confused, "Tazuna. Would you mind if we all went to collect him?"
He waved his hand, "Lead the way!" he slurred.
As the three of them walked to Naka River Tazuna questioned the importance of the place, Sakura asked where it was and when she realized it was in the near the Uchiha compound, questioned why he was there.
Sasuke gave very brief and vague answers to them and stopped when they saw Naruto sitting against the tree at the edge of Naka River.
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Naruto sat leaning against the tree where Shisui had jumped all those years ago.
She recalled a time when she and Shisui made some food and sat for a picnic on their own, they had asked Sasuke and Itachi but both were busy as the elder promised to train his brother.
"Shisui! Look, look!" said a little Naruto as she pointed to some koi fish in the lake in his back garden.
She was wearing a dress Shisui had bought her and asked her only to wear it around his clan. The dress was light orange with black flowers on the puffy skirt which was rimmed with black lace. Whereas Shisui wore his usual black attire that had the Uchiha fan on it, however the blonde insisted he wear the necklace she had crafted for him.
It was a simple circle that had the Uzumaki swirl on it which she had painted orange that she had crafted from some wood. She bought a sturdy chain and gave it to him on his 15th birthday, much to his delight.
"Hmm… which one of these is your favorite, hime?" he asked as he sat, his legs stretched behind her and himself by her side, arms bracing him from behind.
She thought hard about which one it was so he gently combed his fingers through her hair, which was up to mid back when she wasn't in her henge. "That one!" she said as she pointed to a black and white koi fish.
"And why is your favorite?" he asked as she moved towards him slightly.
"Because it looks like you. It has a funny tail, kinda spikey. Like our hair!" she gave him a large radiant smile which caused him to smile as well.
"Well, how about for your next birthday, you have that koi fish? You've taken great care of the plant we sewed together last year and a fish is no different."
Her smile dimmed slightly causing the Uchiha to sit to and grasp the back of her neck, concern on his face, "The orphanage will never let me have a pet Shisui. Madam doesn't like them." She replied gloomily.
"Hmm… well you'll simply have to move out. There's plenty of room here. You're more than welcome to move in with me, hime." He didn't wait for her reply, instead hoisted her on his back as he made their way back to the picnic blanket that was under the cherry blossom tree. When he reached there, he sat down with his legs stretched, Naruto sitting on his thighs. "What do you wanna eat first?"
Before Naruto was some chicken teriyaki, Temari sushi, yaki udon, omelet crepe, and some dango.
They had decided beforehand that they wouldn't make ramen, that was a daily necessity for Naruto and the picnic was meant to be special, they would get ramen for dinner later.
She took her time deciding, "Can I have chicken teriyaki with an omelet, please."
He chuckled at the manners, "No need to be shy, and of course." He got a plate for her and put a large amount of each, knowing she wouldn't ask for seconds even if she was hungry.
Not long after they had both finished their portions of food and Shisui packed the food in boxes, leaving a small portion for him to eat later and larger ones for Naruto to take with her.
Sakura ran up to her yelling for her not to get away from the edge, where Kakashi shunshined to her and gripped her forearm.
She looked up bleary-eyed as she saw all her team minus Sasuke looked startled, "Um what are you guys doing here?"
"Wh-What are we doing here?! Naruto, even if the villagers are mean you don't have to jump into a river!" yelled Sakura as she looked frightened for the blonde.
"Who's jumping into the river? I was paying my respects to my fiancé who jumped into the river a few days before the massacre." She replied slowly, as if she thought the girl insane slightly, which she kind of was with her split personality.
This reply, however, caused Sakura, Kakashi and Tazuna to blink a few times before all releasing breaths, holding onto their chests where their hearts lay, "Maa, don't scare us like that." Kakashi said as he ruffled her hair causing her to smack it away and glare with a small pout on her lips. "You were late for meeting up with us at the gate so Sasuke suggested you were here. When we saw you near the edge, we assumed the worst." Kakashi gave her a completely fake eye smile which in turn gained an irritated look from the usually joyful teammate.
After gathering her things, Team 7 and Tazuna headed out for Nami, waving goodbye to Izumo and Kotetsu who were cooing at the fact it was the genins first time out of the village, which in turn caused Sasuke and Sakura to look at Naruto who gestured for them not to say anything. Their cooing, however, caused Naruto to hit them with a small and harmless water jutsu and walk out the gates huffing and mumbling about gate guards.
As they left Sakura gave in to her curiosity, "So Naruto why do the gate guards think it's your first time out of the village? We know you've been to the valley of end and that's outside the village."
Pausing for a moment, Naruto contemplated how to answer her question before replying, "I teleport there and back, so I don't have to go through the gates either. I do leave a note with sensei saying I've left but that's it really."
Nodding her head, Sakura gave Naruto a small smile and asked Kakashi, "Sensei, where is Nami?"
"Hmm, its east of Konoha, past a river so we have to get a boat to get there, right Tazuna?"
Before he could reply Naruto spoke up, "Oh look, a puddle. Isn't nice to see a puddle on the road, especially if it's not rained for a week?" She then proceeded to splash in said puddle causing the person under it to groan.
Her action and statement arose some questions but for Kakashi, it meant he had to be on high alert.
"If it's not rained in a week, how is there a puddle?" asked Tazuna.
Simultaneously Sasuke asked, "Naruto you okay? Why are you jumping in a puddle?"
She grinned at Sasuke and said to Tazuna as she stopped jumping in the puddle, "Oh, well it could be ninjutsu. I hear the demon brothers use puddles and then rise from them to attack unsuspecting passer byes or targets. But we shouldn't have to worry about the two now would we?"
Tazuna became anxious at her statement whereas the preteens became even more confused but didn't get a chance to voice their questions as Kakashi was hit by chains and poofed, yet everyone besides Naruto thought he had been killed.
Sakura let out a scream before Naruto told her to guard Tazuna as she and Sasuke handle the demon brothers. Sasuke attacked with kunai as did Naruto, however Naruto went up to them and stabbed the one who had poisoned her last time in the back of the neck, an instant kill. She turned to see Sasuke about to be stabbed so she threw a kunai at the other brothers' skull, splattering some blood on Sasuke's shirt.
Once they were dead Kakashi reappeared and congratulated them all on working together to protect Tazuna. And like last time he questioned why he had lied about the rank of the mission, however his reply was different, "At Nami, we are oppressed by a man called Gato of Gato company. He has isolated our land from the other nations so I need to build this bridge so he can't starve of us money."
"Sasuke is the last of his clan and he has no heir. Try another excuse." Said Naruto, team 7 could hear the teasing in her voice but Tazuna did not.
"I have a daughter and grandson that are liable to swear vengeance if I'm hurt."
"Done. One person swore to vengeance is already one too many." Sasuke gave her a glare and a small barely their pout.
The four of them got made their way to Nami and they continued the conversation they were having before the demon brothers interrupted, talking about Nami, how it was a rich country when Uzushigakure and her people were still alive.
Once they made it to Nami Naruto noted the massive difference the bridge had done for them. It looked like a poor and deprived, just as she remembered it had so many years ago.
It was uneventful journey till Naruto threw a kunai at the white rabbit and out came Zabuza.
"Oh look sensei! It's Zabuza of the seven ninja swordsman of the mist!" said Naruto cheerily gaining looks from the other three, who looked at her as if she were insane.
"Ah, so the Demon of the Mist is here, any reason in particular?"
"You know, I still don't get why he's called a demon. The Mists jinchuriki is Yagura, the Mizukage. I know for a fact Isobu, the sanbi, was not consulted when Zabuza was named the demon. I mean, I don't see claws, evil chakra or tails. Tails are important for you to be a demon, dattebayo."
Once again everyone, including Zabuza and a hidden Haku, looked at Naruto as if she had nine heads and was insane.
"You dare mention that bastards name in front of me?!" yelled Zabuza.
Shrugging she continued, "You're the one that planned the coup. Only you can be blamed for being hunted." She said in a sing-song voice, pissing Zabuza off more.
There was a long pause as everyone waited for Zabuza to calm down when no one attacked Naruto shrugged her shoulders and hit Zabuza with the Chidori senbon making him fall right off his sword, face first into the ground. She then proceeded to hit Haku with it as well, and he also fell down, however more gracefully than the older male.
Zabuza got up and jumped up to get his executioners blade, swinging it at Kakashi and the two of them fought whilst Haku attacked the others, or would have had it not been for Naruto's incredible speed to which she used to chomp him at the back of his neck, causing him to pass out.
Naruto turned around to see Kakashi had opened his Sharingan eye, much to Sasuke's internal outrage, "How does he have the Sharingan?!"
"What is a Sharingan?" asked Tazuna.
"The kekkei genkai, or bloodline limit, that belongs to the Uchiha clan. A doujutsu that allows them to easily cast a genjutsu and copy any jutsu their sharingan eyes can see. It can only be activated if one goes through an emotional distress. Kakashi sensei has one such eye he was given it as a gift during the last war. That is all I'm going to say." She gave Sasuke a pointed look to not give the man the third degree and he gave a nod to her in acknowledgement.
Zabuza looked and saw that Haku was down so he got a water clone to collect him when no one was looking and they fled, but not before saying that they hadn't seen the last of the two of them. (Cliché right?)
They made it back to Tazunas house where his daughter Tsunami answered, and hugged her father, happy he had made it back safely with help. She then ushered in the others and showed them their rooms, and not long later, dinner was prepared.
Inari joined them half way through dinner and made the same speech he had the last time Naruto had come, and so she replied in a similar fashion as she had last time. When Inari left the room, Tazuna and Tsunami apologised for the boy ad explained why he thought what he did. Sakura left once she had heard the story, much to everyone's confusion.
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Sakura walked up to where she thought the boy had run off to and saw he was crying. Softly she approached the boy but did announce her presence. "Inari your mum and grandpa explained to us what happened. Please don't be upset with Naruto he hasn't had the best life himself. He was orphaned the night he was born and something happened that made everyone hate him. Even I hated him till recently, He's kind, brave and loyal. I wish I hadn't been so mean to him and just taken the time to get to know him."
"Why do you do it? Why be a ninja if you're just going to die?"
She gave him a small smile and replied, "Everyone dies one day, why not die having done something good? Do you want to do for no good reason? After living an average life and making no difference? To be easily forgotten?"
"N-no… I guess not…"
"Then please, don't judge people just because you don't understand them. Naruto feels the need to prove himself to our people, so why don't we help do that, eh?" Inari nodded vigorously and the two of them made their way back inside to finish dinner only to see dinner had been put away.
Shrugging, Inari gave a brief apology to the blonde to which she smiled at and gave him a tummy tickle, telling him he ought to go to bed.
Team 7 sat in the boy's room as they discussed what they would do next, "Okay, you all know how to tree walk, and are halfway through water walking. However, by two days' time I want that perfected. As it stands, Naruto is closest to having it mastered, despite the fact the two of you have less chakra than he does. We will do that where Tazuna is building the bridge since it will be easier to protect him that way.
"Once you have finished water walking, we will work on increasing your speed, though Naruto's speed is already past my level so we will work on that jutsu I have been teaching you. Sasuke, once your speed is correct, I will also be teaching you this jutsu. Sakura, I would teach you it also, if it did not require too much chakra that you don't currently have, so we will work on increasing those reserves and since you're good at chakra control, we will work on a few jutsu's to better defend yourself and some medical ninjutsu. Do any of you not like the plan?" when he received three no's he dismissed Sakura to go sleep and eyed Naruto wearily once she had left.
"Right boys. I'm gonna place a locking seal on the door and window so no one can get in and I'm gonna change back, kay?" though posed as a question, it was said in the form of a statement so they simply nodded, looking away as she got changed in what Kakashi knew was his shirt and some baggy trousers, much to Sasuke's confusion.