Zabuza awoke with a groan, a terrible ache working its way up his back to his neck. He quickly realised whey when he tried to move his arms only to find them bound behind him. He strained but whatever was keeping his arms together was tough and didn't yield to his muscles; it wasn't like he had much leverage anyway. More alarmingly was when he tried to access his Chakra, searching for that familiar warmth inside of him, only to come up dry. He felt cold, and weak and most annoyingly of all, helpless. He could only imagine how Ha-
"Haku!" His eyes widened in alarm as he looked about the small, relatively unadorned bedroom he was in. The blinds were shut so not a lot of light got in but he was able to make out the dim outline of things around him like the bed and the small chest of drawers. However his young apprentice was nowhere in sight. In a few moments after his call though there was a shuffling sound from outside and a few seconds later the door was opened, making Zabuza wince from the sudden light.
"Zabuza-sama?" Luckily the person who entered was just Haku, now wearing just his underclothing he normally wore beneath his battle-kimono. It just consisted of a thin set of black leggings and a mesh shirt; it was obviously so he couldn't hide senbon on him. His mask was also conspicuously absent, and now that Zabuza realised it, so was the rest of his own gear, Kubikiribochou included.
"Haku you're okay." The boy nodded once somberly in affirmation before sitting at the foot of the bed. "Where are we?" Zabuza had other questions but that seemed the most pertinent.
"At the bridge-builders house, under the watch of Namikaze-san." Zabuza scowled, so they'd finally been caught after all this time and it wasn't even my hunter-nin, it was by a random Konoha Jounin and his brats.
"And they didn't restrain you?" Haku simply pulled down his mesh shirt slightly, showing a seal imprinted on his collarbone that pulsed faintly at his touch.
"They have suppressed my Chakra; Namikaze-san doesn't seem to find me a threat enough to restrain me." Zabuza scowled again; so that was why he felt so drained. He likely had a seal on him somewhere as well.
"And me?" Haku smiled lightly; he was always one to try and make the best of a bad situation.
"Namikaze-san said that even without your Chakra you are a dangerous man." Zabuza grunted; he supposed that was true enough, although his arms were beginning to grow slightly sore.
"And they're just leaving us unsupervised?" At that moment another presence made itself known at the door as a young purple-haired girl timidly poked her head around the frame.
"Ah, not quite; I'm the one watching over you while the others are at the bridge." Ami stepped further into the room, feeling highly uncomfortable under Zabuza's intense gaze. Finally the man just grunted before scooting back on the bed and leaning against the wall as comfortably as he was able.
"Great; I've been reduced to being babysat by a fresh genin barely out of diapers." His eyes narrowed as a cruel sneer spread across his features, quickly directing another gaze at the rather fidgety girl. "You know, at your age they called me the demon of the mist already; do you want to know why?" Ami certainly didn't look like she wanted to know; in fact she looked like she desperately wanted to leave the room. However she had to show strength here; she couldn't be scared by her prisoners, so she tentatively nodded.
"It's because in Kirigakure our graduation exam is a little different to Konoha's." At this point Haku was looking down and away from the conversation, his eyes slightly downcast. "We have to really prove our mettle as Shinobi so at the end of our education, at the age of ten years old, we're all paired up and forced to fight to the death." Ami blanched, feeling a little bile rise up in her stomach at the horrific thing she had just heard. Comrades; students that had grown up together, learned together, trained together and ate together were pitted against one another just like that? However Zabuza just shrugged, leaning back more and looking up with that same cruel grin.
"I guess that would be bad enough right? Except I took it a little further; when I graduated the academy I was the only one of my generation…" He finally directed his gaze back down at the girl, his eyes seeming to have gained a chilling edge. "…because I slaughtered every last one of my classmates." Ami's eyes widened in surprise as she took a subconscious step back. "There's a reason we're called the bloody mist girly." Just as Ami was about to turn and leave the room, to escape the monster in front of her, a comforting presence gripped her shoulder.
"Please don't try and spook my Genin Momochi-san." Zabuza just grunted out a chuckle as Naruto stepped into the room, hand on Ami's shoulder.
"Genin? You can't call these Gaki Genin Namikaze; not like we were." Zabuza grinned a toothy smile, showing each of his teeth had been filed down to an almost shark-like point. It was a trait all the swordsmen of the mist shared, an initiation ritual of sorts. "After all, you had a few nicknames of your own at their age if I remember right." Naruto just smirked back at him with ease, completely unconcerned by the man's unsettling aura.
"Hmm, I think there was 'The Second Red Death'…" Ami looked up at her Sensei in surprise, not expecting him to have such a brutal-sounding name "… oh and 'The Crimson Flicker' was one of my favourites. I never could get something cool like 'Shunshin Shisui' though." He spoke like he was talking about the weather; after all they were just silly titles that he never really accepted or acknowledged. Although it did amuse him that Itachi never got a nickname… but then, he was Itachi; he really didn't need one.
"That's not what they call you now though… is it?" The amused hint to Zabuza's gruff voice wasn't missed by anyone and for a moment Naruto's grip on Ami's shoulder tightened just slightly.
"Come on Ami, I think Tsunami-san has dinner ready; we can bring Haku and Zabuza's up afterwards." The redhead quickly directed his Genin out of the doorway and towards the stairs only to pause at Zabuza's voice.
"I'll see you later then, Bloody Flash." Naruto only amused for a moment before walking again, just Zabuza's brief chuckle following him down the stairs.
Dinner was a rather quiet, awkward affair; Naruto chose to stick to his own thoughts while Ami seemed perturbed by what she had heard. Sasuke seemed content to brood on his own, only idly picking through his meal and due to the quiet nature of the rest of her team Sakura stayed silent as well. It didn't help matters that occasionally the young boy that lived in the house, Inari, would occasionally send a glare at the group of the Shinobi for an unknown reason. It was only when Inari had finished his meal and stalked off without a word that Ami finally spoke up, shattering the brittle silence.
"Sensei; why do they call you the Bloody Flash?" Naruto nearly choked on the food in his mouth as he blinked in surprise at the young Kenjutsu practitioner. Likewise the rest of the table suddenly had their sights on Naruto as the teen choked down the rest of his food with a gasp before looking at Ami incredulously.
"Ah Ami, that's not really a conversation for dinner." However now his other two Genin were intrigued as Sasuke stared intently at his Sensei.
"What does she mean; is that what they call you?" Even Sakura was looking at him, her wide green eyes staring as though they were trying to puzzle a difficult problem out.
"Wait, who calls you that?" At the other end of the table Tazuna and Tsunami seemed slightly uncomfortable, uncertain what to do as the three kids all ganged up on their teacher.
"Ah this seems like a sensitive topic." Quickly but gracefully Tsunami put her chopsticks down and excused herself from the table, even as Naruto stared hopelessly after her.
"Wait Tsunami-san I wasn't going to-" However she was already gone, leaving the redhead to simply trail off uselessly, only to look back down and find four sets of eyes staring at him intently. "Even you Tazuna-san?" The man simply took a swig of his drink with a large sigh of contentment before grinning at the teen.
"I don't know, sounds like a good tale." Naruto grimaced at that; in what possible way did any nickname involving the word 'bloody' sound like a good story? Finally though, as his Genin's eyes continued to bore into him, he let out a brief sigh, already regretting this. Quickly, as if his hand hadn't moved at all, a strange kunai appeared in his palm and he quickly placed it on the table. The Genin recognised it as one of the ones they had seen at the battleground between Naruto and Zabuza, if it could be called that.
"Well, you know my father was the Yondaime Hokage." Tazuna's eyes widened at that; he certainly didn't know that but even as far out as Wave the blonde Hokage was famous. "He was mostly famous for refining and mastering the Nidaime's Jutsu the Hiraishin which allowed him to instantaneously transport himself to any marked location. Through it he gained the nickname the Yellow Flash." He had done a lot more than that for Konoha in his brief tenure but Naruto didn't want to talk about his father too much right now.
"Normally he would use these kunai to do so as they were already marked; I managed to learn the technique when I was around fourteen." He paused for a moment and just stared at the innocuous kunai for a moment, a frown flickering across his brow. "I was still a relatively young ANBU captain at the time and I didn't know the limits of the technique myself, never having used it much in combat." He sighed, leaning an elbow on the table as his Genin scooted slightly closer on their chairs, excited to actually be learning something about their rather enigmatic Sensei.
"We were out on a mission in Kaminari no Kuni; it was a fairly normal exchange, just information." He sighed again, poking the kunai once lamely. "I don't know who set of the explosives, whether it was one of us with a grudge, or one of them with an ulterior mission but in moments everything went to hell. I did my best to get all my teammates out of there but in no time we were swarmed by reinforcements. At that point I still thought we had a hope of getting out; we were pretty close to the border and we just needed to get across." He sighed again, a long withdrawn sound, as he quickly composed himself.
"It could have been anyone, a lucky shot really, but one of my squad mates went down in a volley of Kunai. I had never lost a teammate on a mission before and… I lost it." He looked up and the Genin nearly sat back at the dark look in their normally flippant and happy Sensei's eye; it was gone in a moment though. "It was over in a few seconds; I threw all the Kunai I had and in next to no time all the enemy were dead and I was standing alone in a barren field, surrounded by blood." Both Sakura and Ami's eyes widened as the former paled slightly. Sasuke on the other hand was leaning even further forward, an unusual glint in his onyx eyes. "Apparently it's because of my hair that they call me the bloody flash, but I'm sure Kumogakure tell a different side to it."
Sakura looked down at her food, suddenly having lost her appetite; likewise Ami was oddly quiet, just staring at the table. Sasuke was once again in his thoughts, processing this information while Tazuna just grimaced, a little more worldly than the kids. However after a moment of pensive silence Naruto chuckled half-heartedly, his usualy cocky smile returning, if not to its fullest.
"Now that was pretty dreary huh? Come on, we may be on a mission but that doesn't excuse you from training tomorrow so go get some rest; alright?" And with that Naruto pushed back his chair and quickly walked from the room. A moment later and Sasuke walked out as well, quickly followed by Sakura and Tazuna. Ami walked the other way, feeling like she needed some air; however as she walked out of the kitchen she found Haku leaning against the wall, his head down and an indecipherable expression on his face.
"It's the harsh truth of the Shinobi world, but eventually we are forced to face the fact we are killers, tools for a higher power." Ami wasn't sure if it was the generally gloomy attitude of the boy or some of the frustration at herself bubbling up but at that moment the girl reached across and slapped the young Yuki.
"What do you know huh?! You don't know Naruto-Sensei! He may have killed but it was to protect his friends, his comrades! He's not a tool! He's a human being, one of the nicest people I've ever known!" She stormed off, slamming the front door as she left leaving Haku standing in the hallway, eyes wide as he rubbed his stinging cheek.
"Right well, I did say I'd teach you guys a new technique when we got our first C-rank didn't I?" Naruto and his Genin were outside, a short distance from the house; it was still early so Tazuna hadn't set out to the bridge yet. This way Naruto could teach them the basics of the technique and then supervise them as they went about their mission. Before him each of his students had a different look; Sasuke was staring ahead with a cool smirk, excited at the chance at learning a new Jutsu. Ami, oddly enough, seemed to have a flame lit behind her eyes and her stance was confident and determined. Sakura seemed the most withdrawn of the three which made a change but she still appeared excited.
"Okay, this Jutsu is a difficult one to learn, but its uses are innumerable; that's why it's taught to every new ANBU recruit." Naruto flashed through hand seals before sinking right into the ground, much to his Genin's amazement. A moment later and he slipped back up from the earth behind them as if it were water and he were just swimming through it. "It's called Earth release: Subterranean voyage. As you can see, its uses include escapes, infiltration, trap laying and surprise attacks; to name just a few." He grinned at the shocked but enthusiastic expressions on his students faces before sobering his expression and pointing a warning finger at them.
"There are drawbacks though; the technique can only last as long as you can hold your breath, so while you're training and until you can perform it effortlessly, do not allow your heads to pass underground. I'll be here to supervise of course, but be careful all the same." After thre quick nods from the keen students he slowly showed the hand seals, watching them to make sure they got them right. "The trick is to imagine your body simply slipping through the earth, just passing through the small gaps like a sieve." And just like that he sat back in a tree and watched as they went at it.
Rather unsurprisingly, with his prior Ninjutsu knowledge, Sasuke was the first to make some progress, forcing his foot into the ground a few inches. However once Sakura seemed to get the hang of it she began wading around up to her knees in the earth, an amused and happy expression on her face at progressing so fast. Upon seeing the pinkette get so far Sasuke seemed to double his efforts; his learning curve really was something else. On the other hand Ami seemed to be really struggling, just barely getting the bottom half of her foot into the ground.
After a few hours, moving between the bridge and various clearings and occasionally switching out with clones to scout around a bit, Naruto dropped down and approached the highly frustrated girl. For the last minute she had simply been stomping the ground trying to force her foot in; she stopped though when Naruto placed a hand on her head.
"You need to calm down; getting frustrated will only ruin your concentration." Ami just looked down, her face filled with disappointment; it quickly turned to irritation though as Naruto playfully ruffled her hair. "It's okay if you're struggling, you don't need to get it in a day." Ami simply huffed, her arms crossing over her chest in an adorably pouty manner; Naruto just couldn't take his cute little students seriously.
"But Sasuke and Sakura are getting it so easily!" Naruto grinned with a slight shrug.
"Some things come easier to others; it may just be that you have a water affinity. In which case Earth Ninjutsu will always be much harder to learn; Sasuke likely has a fire nature from his lineage and from her ease I suspect Sakura may have an earth affinity." Ami huffed again before allowing her arms to flop by her side uselessly, suddenly lacking the energy to be irritated.
"You're right, like always Sensei." Naruto chuckled and rubbed the top of her head again before she could react.
"Trust me Ami, it's not always something I like." Ami smiled her own small smile at that as Naruto began to walk off with a flippant wave.
"Don't worry Naruto-Sensei, I'll practise all night if I have to until I get it down." The redhead just grinned back at her as he returned to his spot in a nearby tree.
"That's the spirit." He looked ready to return to the scroll he was reading before adding, almost as an afterthought, one last thing. "Oh, and thanks for sticking up for me last night; those were some powerful words." Ami, about to return to practising, immediately flamed up with a blush so bright it nearly turned the roots of her hair red. However she didn't dignify her Sensei with response, knowing he would only get more amusement from it.
Although it took an annoyingly long time for the blood to leave her cheeks; why did her Sensei have to be so embarrassing?!
After dinner that night, which involved a rather exuberant if not depressing outburst from the household's youngest Inari, Ami immediately excused herself and moved to leave the house. She thought she could still get some training in despite her tired body and depleted Chakra. However as she walked out onto the porch she once again passed the quiet Yuki, who simply looked up at her once before turning away to hide his features from her. Likewise she averted her eyes, some red tinging her cheeks as she remembered how she slapped him last night.
Now that she had calmed down, frustration and confusion not clouding her judgement, she felt incredibly embarrassed by what she had done. After all at the time the young boy seemed to be mostly talking to herself and hadn't said anything advertently rude. If anything he seemed more saddened by his own words than she was; that was why as she walked by, a few moments of tense silence passed before he looked up and she turned around at the same moment.
"I wanted to apolo-"
"Sorry about yester-"
Both paused, realising they were trying to talk over one another, before Ami broke out into a small fit of giggles and Haku gave a tiny sheepish, smile.
"Ah sorry, about slapping you and everything." Haku simply nodded slowly as he slowly re-set his features to his normal melancholic expression. Really, Ami didn't believe eyes those large and doe-like belonged on a boy; it made him a hard person to stay angry at.
"And I would like to apologise about what I said; I was only voicing my thoughts and meant no offense." Ami let her lips quirk up as she nodded, letting him know it was okay; it would have ended there if Ami hadn't paused before leaving, her feature twisting into a frown.
"Do you really believe that? That Shinobi are just tools?" Haku's smile turned downwards as he stared at the ground, neither looking particularly happy nor sad.
"Yes, we are merely devices to carry out the dreams and ambitions of others, either out of loyalty or force it doesn't matter." Ami's frown only deepened as she rounded on the boy, her arms feeling strangely useless as they dangled by her side.
"But, we're people too; I have dreams as well!" Haku's simply gave her that same sad smile and briefly she couldn't tear her gaze away from his large brown eyes.
"Then you should pursue them with everything you have." Ami's frown only became more confused before she finally relented, waving her arms at the boy.
"Why is everything you say so confusing?" Haku chuckled lightly, brushing one of his long black bangs away from his face.
"I don't mean it to be." He looked down, his smile growing ever so slightly. "You're going out to train aren't you?" Ami nodded cautiously. "Why?" The violette blinked once.
"To become stronger?" See, now the boy even had her doubting her own words; however Haku still just gave her that same look.
"But for what reason? Why do you need strength?" Ami was about to answer so that she could become a better Shinobi but she felt the conversation would simply loop if she did. Briefly her swaying arm brushed the sheath of the sword resting horizontally across her back and she thought of her Sensei, her sister, even her teammates.
"I-I suppose I fight because of the people who put faith in me, who helped me be the person I am." At that Haku's smile grew another millimetre and he nodded slowly.
"Then you understand." And with that the boy simply walked into the house, no doubt back to Zabuza's side. Ami was left on the porch blinking and confused, her mouth opening and closing like a beached fish for a moment.
"What?" She groaned lightly; why did she have to have the weird deep moment with the odd Shinobi boy on their messed up mission? She decided to try and forget about it by going out to train, not noticing Sasuke watching from the corner of the house, a pensive and thoughtful look on his face. Eventually though it simply twisted into his usual disgruntled expression and he walked off too; however neither could really shake off the strange, effeminate boy's words.
The next few days passed remarkably quick for team seven; between training their new Jutsu, guarding Tazuna at the bridge and watching over Zabuza and Haku they found their days quite busy. Normally while it would be a deviation from the mission to wait out hunter-nin for a bounty, their mission wasn't technically over until the bridge was built so as long as the Kiri ANBU caught up to Zabuza before then they were able to keep them around. Right now the three Genin were on their way back from the bridge, the sun beginning to set in the sky.
However as they passed through the woods on their way back to Tazuna's house they heard the sounds of kunai impacting with trees so quickly moved to investigate. What they found was Naruto amidst a sea of Hiraishin Kunai, spread out around a moderately-sized clearing. He had a look of intense concentration on his face, a bunch of simple paper tags in his hand and he was looking a lot more tired than his Genin had ever seen him. There was even a light sheen of sweat on his forehead and he had removed his standard issue flak jacket.
Then, like some almighty being had blinked, he was gone; only the very faintest of red after-images marked the fact he had moved. In what had to be less than a second though he was back in place like nothing had happened, although it was apparent that was not true. Suddenly, next to every single kunai in the clearing, a paper tag was slapped down on the surface beside it. All three of the Genin were in shock, trying to figure out just how fast their Sensei must have moved just then. However he surprised them even more when he finally allowed his body to relax only to frown in annoyance.
"Damn, still not good enough." Sasuke, usually the last to speak up in any situation save where his own pride rested in the balance couldn't accept that.
"What are you talking about?" Naruto turned, his expression not changing as if he had known they were there all along; knowing him he probably had. Instead of answering though he simply waved to the clearing, pointing out a few tags that were only half-placed, their edges flapping in the breeze.
"It isn't controlled enough." Sasuke frowned; if they had been kunai, and the trees enemies, it wouldn't have mattered all that much if they were just a few inches off; not with that kind of overwhelming speed.
"Why are you even practising when you have already learned the Jutsu?" Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the boy before sighing into his hand. Typical Uchiha, all about quantity and never quality; then again Kakashi was a bit like that… maybe it was the eyes?
"It can always be better." He said it like it was obvious to anybody only to notice Sasuke was still staring about the clearing, a gleam in his eye.
"But who could possibly stand up to such an overwhelming Jutsu, even as it is?" Naruto just chuckled, suddenly appearing by Sasuke's side and laying a hand on his shoulder.
"This Jutsu has been around since the Nidaime's time; you don't think people have been coming up with possible ways to stop or defeat it?" He shook his head quickly, flashing back to the center of the clearing to better look at all his pupils. "No, every technique can be improved, even if it as simple as removing the hand seals." At that Sakura finally piped up, confusion on her face.
"What do you mean Sensei; don't all Jutsu need seals?" Naruto quickly shook his head, a little too tired to be his usual irritatingly amused self.
"No, hand seals simply help us mould the Chakra inside of us in a specific way; once you have performed a Jutsu enough times the moulding of the Chakra becomes almost instinctual and you can use it with progressively less and less hand seals until you use none at all. Usually the first Jutsu a Shinobi does this with is the substitution; it's saved more than a few lives over the years." He chuckled, a Hiraishin Kunai appearing in his hand in a flash.
"My father could use the Hiraishin seallessly, but he always found it quicker to use the ram seal, even if only for a millisecond. It is a complicated mix of Fuinjutsu and Ninjutsu and the moulding of the Chakra is just too complex to be effective without seals; at least so far." Ami nodded in understanding from the back of the group.
"So your goal is to make it more efficient without using any seals." Sakura and Sasuke's eyes widened at the implications of that; then the Hiraishin really would be instantaneous travel. It would literally be movement at the speed of thought; Naruto smiled at the girl.
"Something like that; Chakra isn't a substance in the traditional sense, it's an energy and can move as fast as its likes. With enough training I hope to be able to mould it faster than I would be able to form any hand seals; although that's just the first step." He mumbled the last part under his breath but his Genin heard it all the same, gulping a little at how serious their Sensei was all of a sudden.
"Y-You want to take it even further?" Sakura's shocked voice forced Naruto to look up and the redhead quickly disarmed her with a warm smile.
"A conversation for another time; if I remember right none of you have even got the Jutsu I gave you down, never mind seallessly." When his Genin simply stood there staring at him for another few moments he quickly shooed them like one might a stray cat. "Come on, get!" The three immediately rushed off making the redhead smirk at the sway he had over them. However it slipped off his face as he looked back down at the kunai in hand.
'I may not have caught up just yet Tou-san, but I will, and then I'll surpass you like I promised.' His fingers curled around the seal-inscribed handle until his knuckles turned white.
'Just you wait.'
The days continued to pass with pace until finally almost a week had gone by and Team seven found themselves lazing about on the bridge. It was a hot day despite the early morning mist and none of them really felt like moving. Save of course for Naruto who was helping out the construction workers by moving massive crates of construction materials for them almost instantaneously. He had also offered to inscribe seals across the bridge to improve its durability so it really would be a monument to last through the ages.
However the redhead's ears twitched as he heard a rather large group of footsteps he didn't recognise. He turned to spot a rather bored-looking woman with blue hair stride out of the fog, hand on hip; she looked to be alone but he could feel the group of around twenty she had brought with her hiding further back in the mist. She caught sight of him quickly enough as he set down a large steel girder and smirked his way, her dark eyes meeting his violet ones.
"You're the nuisance we were asked to deal with? I'm actually a little disappointed. I had expected someone I would at least recognise from the bingo books." She sighed as brushed her nails disinterestedly; however Naruto saw through the pretense. The woman had a startlingly large Chakra capacity that Naruto could feel even without being a sensor; she was dangerous. The group she brought with her seemed to be around Chuunin level each, but there were a few of them.
"It's rude to so casually start a conversation without introducing yourself you know?" He tried to keep her busy for a moment as he subtly signaled for Ami to go and get Haku from the house and tell him that he would let Zabuza go if he helped. He would get the Kiri Jounin too but he didn't trust the man not to simply cut and run the moment he was free.
"Oh, I suppose you're right; although there's no need to tell me yours; it won't matter in a few minutes." Naruto smirked back at her challenge as he spun a kunai into his hand. "Gatou hired us to remove a bug infestation on this bridge; that would make you guys the bugs. I'm your exterminator for today; you can call me Guren."