Afternoon.....
"Congrats you three." Kakashi congratulated the genin as they were standing on water. He the gave them an eye smile.
"Now run on it until walking on water is second nature to you. "
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The next day, 6:30a.m.
Haku put on her yukata after she finished taking a shower, this time not wearing the chest bindings she had worn to conceal herself with. She looked in the mirror for a moment as she grabbed her brush and began to comb her hair.
'Why am I doing this?' She asked herself. Not going to see Naruto, her mind was clear on that. Zabuza had always told her to 'know thy enemy to allow for an easier victory,' though she was sure he was just quoting from someone else. The man may be a skilled shinobi, but he was nowhere near intelligent enough to come up with a saying like that.
'Why am I getting so dressed up?' Haku wondered. She often took care of her appearance, as evidenced by the clear skin and silky black hair. But she had never before bothered to truly comb her hair other than the necessary times she needed to get knots out.
She also had never worn makeup before. It was something she was now wearing, though it was really just a hint of lipstick that she had found in her bag for the times she had to go somewhere in disguise to gather information for Zabuza when he asked her to.
Realizing that thinking about it wasn't going to help, Haku finished brushing her hair before standing up and leaving her room.
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Naruto was doing upside down situps with his legs on the tree branch. "Naruto!"
Naruto looked at Haku who approached him with a smile on her face. He smiled and stopped channeling chakra to his legs. He did a flip before landing on the ground.
"Hey Haku-chan! How are you doing..." Naruto widened his eyes ad he noticed that Haku's chest was bigger than yesterday. That was expected because Haku wasn't wearing her chest bindings today.
'That's easily C-cup. Almost D too.' He calculated in his mind. Haku noticed where he was looking at and covered her chest with a embarrassed blush on her face.
"Naruto.... It's embarrassing when you look at me like that..." Haku whispered shyly. Naruto immediately slapped himself.
"I'm sorry!!" Naruto bowed deeply at her while he had a completely flustered expression on her face. Haku giggled as her embarrassment faded a little.
"It's ok Naruto, I kinda expected that reaction from you. I usually wear chest bindings to hide them. " Haku replied as Naruto stood up straight. He grinned sheepishly at her.
"So how are you doing?" Naruto asked her. Haku covered her mouth as she giggled at Naruto's strange behavior.
"I'm doing well, thank you. And what about you, did you sleep well?
"Yeah it was great! It was definitely a thousand times better than sleeping outside here, that's for sure!" Naruto replied before taking out a containment scroll. He channeled some chakra to it, there was a small puff of smoke as the contents were unsealed.
Haku saw a container of steaming breakfast, pan cakes, bacon and a pitcher of orange juice, all of it laid out over a blanket.
"Breakfast?" Haku asked him in surprise. She did not expect him to do something this heartwarming. It make her heart beat faster for some odd reason.
Naruto nodded and smiled at her. "Since I asked you out here, it would be proper to make you something to eat." He explained as the Shadow Clones he created set down the blanket and the food on it.
Haku found herself having a small blush on her cheeks. "Thank you." She muttered while smiling as she sat down.
"No problem, Haku-chan!" Naruto grinned at her, handing her a plate as he put some food on it.
Haku accepted the plate and watched as Naruto dished himself some food as well. She looked at the food for a few moments, definitely not ruling out the possibly of the food being poisoned.
There was a great chance that her food was poisoned. However, she did not think Naruto was the kind of person to do that. There was also no way he could know who she was, he seemed far too kind-hearted to use such an underhanded tactic.
'Why the hesitation? It's not poisoned.' Naruto thought, getting suspicious about her behavior. First she has chakra that only jonin could have and now she was staring at his food like it stunk of poison even though it didn't.
"You ok, Haku-chan? Is it bad?" Naruto asked her. He hoped it wasn't bad, but maybe his clones cooking skills hadn't passed over to him.
"Huh? Oh no! I was just thinking about something." She picked up her fork and began eating.
"It's good." She said before she continued eating. Naruto grinned happily at her words. The started talking with each other. Somehow someway, they started talking about what food is the best in the world.
Naruto of course said that ramen was the best. He made the argument that it was the food of the gods. Ramen is the gift that Kami has bestowed upon man, in order to grant us unworthy mortals a small taste of heaven before we die.
"Eh, sushi's better." Haku replied with a shrug. Naruto gasped at her.
"Blasphemy! You think that rotten fish is better than the gift Kami gave us?!"
Haku glared at him. "Sushi is not rotten Naruto! And it is definitely far better than those disgusting and unhealthy noodles you eat! It also doesn't make me short!" Haku smirked at him.
" Hey! I'm not short! I'm considered tall for my age!!" Naruto shouted at her, making her giggle before she outright laughed out loud.
Naruto scowled a bit as Haku lay on her back and held her stomach, trying to regain her breath.
"It's not funny." Naruto grumbled as he pulled Haku back up. Haku giggled some more, struggling to gain control of her emotions.
"I-I'm s-sorry. But you have to admit, it was funny." Haku smiled at him. Naruto smiled a little.
"I guess it was."
They continued eating for a while in silence before Haku decided to start talking again. "So this Ichiraku Ramen you mentioned, are the people there important to you? " She asked him.
" Yep! They're the first three people who became precious to me." Naruto frowned a little.
" I'm not well liked in my village. For some reason, people hate me for no reason. They were some of the first people to look at me like I wasn't some kind of monster. They gave me free food when I didn't have enough money to buy them." Naruto whispered, deciding to not tell her of the Kyuubi being sealed in him. Haku's ears perked up when she heard that, as well as catching the hurt in his tone.
Haku looked at the blond next to her wide-eyed. The tone of his voice, the way it sounded so helpless. It was the exact same tone she herself had before Zabuza found her. It was then she realized why this boy had reminded her so much of herself.
She should've realized it sooner which was why she was currently berating herself for not doing so. She looked into his eyes and saw the same pain she herself had felt before she was given a purpose.
The pain of loneliness, the feeling of having people hate you for something beyond your control. The blond had the same eyes that she had.
That was when Haku told him everything about her past. Haku was born in a small, snowy village in the Land of Water, a land that had suffered from war not long before. In this war, different sides battled each other using ninja, some of whom possessed kekkei genkai.
After the war ended, memories of the horrific battles still lingered in the minds of the people. Those with kekkei genkai quickly became feared and hated for their abilities, out of concern that their existence would only bring about more war.
Haku's father and mother were simple farmers, and they lived a peaceful life. They loved each other, and were kind to their child. Unfortunately, this would all change.
Haku's mother was a wielder of a kekkei genkai: Ice Release. She hid this fact from her husband, hoping that the love and peace that was shared in their small family would last forever.
One day, Haku discovered the ability to manipulate water. Amazed by this, Haku proudly showed this to her mother, who was horrified by what she saw.
She harshly scolded and slapped Haku for displaying her ability, though she tearfully apologised to her immediately afterwards. Unbeknownst to them, Haku's father had seen everything from the shadows. When Haku's father discovered that his wife and child possessed a kekkei genkai, he assembled a small mob of villagers. With tears flowing down his eyes, he killed his wife.
"After that he had tried to kill me and I…I was forced to kill my own father and the rest of the mob that was with him. In my panic I had accidently activated my kekkei genkai and used it to kill them."
" After that I ran…I ended up living on the street, scavenging for food from the trash cans…everyday coming a little closer to death until I wanted to die…I…" Haku had became a sobbing mess as she hugged Naruto tightly, not wanting to let go of him.
For several minutes Naruto was too shocked to do anything other than lay there, his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. He did not expect all of that coming from such a gentle girl like her.
One thing is for certain, Naruto is 100% sure that Haku is Zabuza's partner.
To be continued...