10 Meeting Naruto
Because of overusing Sharingan, Kakashi fainted moments later. He had to take 1 week break.
Upon waking up, he realised something is off...
"What's wrong, Sensei?". Naruto sees he's distraugted.
Kakashi explained how body erasing teams usually would get rid of the person they killed right then and there. But the boy did not and carried Zabuza's body away.
And thats why... its most likely, Zabuza is alive!
Gasp! Everyone in the room are shocked from this revelation. He added how the weapon used have low killing power and its likely its used to hit acupuncture points to fake his death.
Not to mention, even if Zabuza is dead, Gato may hire more shinobi for Tazuna so they can't let their guard down.
Naruto is shaking, but not out of fear but excitement as he can face Zabuza again. Kakashi decides they need to prepare before its too late.
It means, training! Sakura questions what little training are going to do at this time. He convinced them that they are useful since they allowed him to escape before. And the training is really just to make up the time until he can recover fully.
As for Zabuza attacking out of nowhere, he explained to everyone how anyone put into a momentary state of death would take awhile before their body return to normal so its fine.
"So we train until then!! Sounds like a lot of fun!". Naruto is enthusiastic as always.
'That's not fun...'. A little kid suddenly interjected his excitement.
"Who the hell are you?!!". Naruto is pissed off.
"Ohh! Inari! Where were you!?".
'Welcome back, granpa'. Inari take off his shoes and meet his grandpa.
"Inari, say hello to these people. They are ninjas who protected granpa".
Inari went quiet. Then he looked at his mom.
'Mom, they are going to die...'.
"What did you say, you little brat?!!". Naruto screamed in anger.
Inari does not believe they can win against Gato. Naruto is mad and ask him to listen, because, he is the hero who will someday become the Hokage!
"I don't know this Gato guy he's nothing against me!!". Naruto exclaimed his resolve.
Pft. Inari thought its so stupid.
'What are you, stupid? Hero does not exist!'.
"NANDATO?!!?". Naruto once again is mad. Thankfully Sakura stopped him. Inari simply leaves the room to look at the ocean, to reminisce.
Tazuna had to apologies for his grandson behavior. Naruto went upstair to see where that brat go. But as he reached out to the door, he heard sobbing.
Crying...?
Inari held the picture of his late father. He let out tears while hearing the call of the ocean.
Otosan... Wuuuwuu... TT
Hearing the cry, Naruto felt his sadness. He realized something about that kid; guessing his experience. He simply leaves him alone after.
They went to train with Kakashi. Kakashi explained the training is for them to properly use chakra. It's important because even if you can release high amount of chakra it will be weakened if you can't control it properly.
This will cause waste of energy, won't be able to last fight longer, and would add weakness. Therefore, they need to learn control.
Which is to do tree climbing!
It's not as simply as it sounds. A ninja need to use just the right amount of chakra on their feet to stick onto the surface of a tree. Too much or too little would not work.
Not to mention the feet are the hardest spot to gather chakra with and therefore practicing tree climbing is the standard way for chakra control training. Kakashi showed them how he can even stand upside down from a tree branch.
After explanation, everyone starts to train. However Naruto fell immediately while Sasuke poured too much chakra and cracked the tree. Sakura, on the other hand manage to climb up easily!
"Wow! You are so great Sakura! That's the girl I put my confidence in!!". Although I am a little pissed off...
Naruto cheered for Sakura. But Sakura does not appreciate it and felt down since Sasuke don't even care. Kakashi downgrade everyone except Sakura to motivate them to train. It works.
Izuna watched from afar, thinking how useless it is.
...
Zabuza's Mercenary Base-
Haku is tending Zabuza who's bedridden due to the side effect of momentary death. Shou is standing guard as usual and had sensed the three people coming in.
"So even you have come back defeated. It looks like the Mist country ninjas are pretty pathetic". Gato spoke in disdain.
"You can't even avenge your men? And you call yourself a demon? Don't make me laugh".
Gato move closer to Zabuza along with his guards Waraji and Zouri. Zabuza can hear them but his body can't move.
Shou and Haku sees both of the guards had their hands on their handles. As if...
Are they fools? Shou is ready to move at any second.
"Hold on for a second...". Gato stopped his guards and walked even closer to Zabuza.
"There's no need to stay silent... How about-". Gato had the audacity to reach out his dirty hand towards Zabuza.
Haku is rage immediately grabbed his little arm, almost breaking it.
"Y-You!".
Gato's guards are about to sheath off their swords to defend their master-
But suddenly-
!!!
Shou had flickered and directly take their swords off their handle, even placing them against their necks.
"Foolish... all of you". Shou is also pissed off. Who do they think they are?
Gulp. They are startled and afraid. When did he move? With sweat pouring down his face, Gato act like he's something.
"One more time!! If you fail one more time... You won't be welcome here anymore. Remember that!!". Gato and his gang immediately leave afterwards.
"Haku, you didn't have to...".
'I know...'. Haku knows Zabuza is holding a kunai in his arm. He is ready to kill Gato right then.
'But it's too early to kill him. If we cause a commotion here, they will be after us again... We must be patient'.
Hearing Haku's word, he agreed.
"Yeah... you are right".
Zabuza closed his eyes again to keep recuperating after Gato left. Hmm? He opened his eyes again and sees Shou is looking at him.
"What is it?".
Shou had been contemplating whether to tell him about Kakashi's technique, his ninja-dogs. It's just that, he can't let Kakashi die either. Who knows what will happen. Perhaps Kaguya will really be resurrected and Naruto and Sasuke in the future would die and everyone would be trapped in Infinite Tsukiyomi and become white zetsu in the future.
'I-It's nothing Zabuza-san...'. Shou hurriedly left to take fresh air outside. Zabuza wonders what is he thinking. Obviously he had something going on in his mind. It's quite annoying to not know.
Shou prepares himself again mentally. It's up to him to change their future, without altering the future. Old man... I will have to take your life.
...
The training goes on for a week while Kakashi and Zabuza recuperate. Meanwhile on the bridge, there are some unrest because some workers are afraid Gato would soon come to kill them. But Tazuna is firm. The bridge is their only hope.
Sakura was brought alongside Tazuna to walk around the village. Sakura sees how poor it is. The shop have hardly anything to buy. A thief tried to snatch her purity- she meant her purse and punched the pervert thief away. Tazuna explained how the depressing condition is because many adult lose hope. Gato monopoly of the sea-trade causes them to lack even food.
Hearing that, Sakura put her hope on Sasuke and Naruto who's training hard at the moment.
...
At the dinner table, Sakura noticed the torned off picture on the wall. Tazuna explained its the hero of the city, Inari's father. Hearing his grandpa mentioned his father, he rushed out of the house.
"Father! I told you not to talk about him in front of Inari!".
Sakura asked what's going on and so, Tazuna explained their relationship. Inari was not a blood-related son but their relationship can only be described as one. He finally talks about the incident that changed Inari into the shitty kid he is.
Kaiza, his dad, is publicly executed by Gato. He claimed he is a terrorist who is against Gato Company. And thus he is put into a death sentence in public. Since then, Inari changed.
Naruto heard the story with solemn. He remembers hearing the kid cried in his room and it touched him. Naruto strengthen his resolve and rushed out to go train.
Kakashi tried to stop him but Naruto simply replied,
"I am going to prove that, heroes do exist!".
...
6th morning of training.
Naruto is so exhausted he slept on the ground in the forest after training the whole day.
Haku untie his hair, letting them flow free. Feeling the fresh air and morning sun, he felt its nice to go out and pick up some medicinal herbs.
"Haku, I want to come with you". Shou took off his mask and changed into a casual grey yukata.
'Hmm? You don't even even know which herbs which...'. Haku just let out a smile.
"I know some of it...". Shou just interjects. If he remembers correctly, Haku would meet Naruto and so... he wants to meet him too.
As they walked deeper into the forest, they suddenly see the yellow-haired boy.
"Naruto...".
'Hmm? You know his name?'.
"Oh... I hear Kakashi called out to his name". It's a fact they love to scream out each others name so much anyone would know if they just listen.
Haku went closer and wake him up.
"You will catch a cold sleeping in a place like this".
Naruto wake up, stunned seeing a cute girl waking him up. There's also another cute little girl next to her. She seems like his age too.
Naruto is really friendly with them. After introducing each other, Naruto also went to help them gather medicinal herbs.
Shou wonders. Naruto is really a bright and friendly person. He really wants friends doesn't he.
"Ne ne. Shou-chan, how old are you".
'Umm... I am 12 this year'. Shou replied to Naruto. He felt quite sheepish around Naruto out of people. This is the protagonist!!! The future Hokage! The Hero of the World!
"Ah ha! We are the same age! Let's be friends!". Naruto is excited more than usual.
'Ah..? Mmm... okay...'. Shou can only scratch his cheeks. But... when he think about it... he's sorry for Naruto.
Because, his first real mission as a ninja would fail. He had to kill Tazuna. I am sorry, Naruto-kun. He sighed in his heart.
"Why are you training so hard?". Haku asked out of curiosity.
'Because I want to become stronger!'.
"Hmm... But you already looks quite strong...".
"No! I want to be even stronger!".
'Why is that...?'.
"So I can become the best ninja in my village! I am going to become Hokage, and make everyone acknowledge my strength! And right now I need to prove something to someone too".
'Is that for someone else? Or for yourself?'.
"Ha?". Naruto doesn't understand. Haku just laugh seeing the idiot face.
'Do you have someone important to you?'.
? Naruto is still clueless.
'When a person has something important to protect, that's when they can truly become strong'. Haku looked at Shou for a moment. He is someone he wanted to protect along with Zabuza.
Haku's words finally resonated in Naruto. He remembered Iruka sensei and Kakashi sensei who he respected and appreciated.
"Yeah! I understand that very well!". Naruto exclaimed.
'Naruto-kun'. Shou felt like cheering him up.
'You will definitely become strong. Really strong. I know you can do it. You will be a Hokage for sure...'. Shou spoke earnestly. He just felt like motivating him a little.
Shou look at Naruto with his blank face again.
???
Naruto?? He waved his hands onto his face.
"You really think so?".
'Yeah. I know your future you see. hihi'. Shou makes a little laugh seeing Naruto's disbelief.
Naruto's eyes glimmered.
"Really!?!".
'100%'. Shou laughed a little more.
"Shou-chan! You are really nice!". Naruto felt touched. He can sense Shou is truly honest and felt, validated. Haku also laughed a little.
'...'.
'Naruto-kun... I am not, a nice person'. Shou had to look away. He wonders if Naruto would hate him soon.
Huh? Naruto sees Shou's change of expression. He doesn't get it.
"Naruto-kun, please excuse us. We are going back now. Let's meet again somewhere". Haku also sees Shou's change of mood. It's time to go back. Not to mention, they would meet as enemies soon.
"Ah? Sure!".
They went their way right after. Haku looked at Shou, wondering what's on his mind.
'Shou, what's the matter'.
"Nothing...".
Haku can only dismiss it since Shou won't tell him. They returned to their base. Haku went to make some medicinal tonic for Zabuza in the meantime.
In the evening, Zabuza felt like he's close to his peak already. Crushing an apple with his bare hand, his body can exert strength as usual.
"We should go soon, Shou, Haku".
"Yes". They both replied. It's time.
