Chapter 46 : A Monster Enters Wave(4)

"What are they doing in Nami no Kuni?" Naruto asked the Lord Third. After he took Suzu home and introduced her to Hayate, he had spent the rest of the day with Yugao, just talking about whatever came up. Naruto explained how he was getting along with all of the genin and jonin he was assigned to, and how he enjoyed making bonds with people nearer his age. Yugao now knew who every genin he had bonded with was, and a description of each of their personalities.

Yugao had smiled the whole time, loving the fact that her brother was making new friends. Then Hayate had made dinner, and the three of them ate together, like a family. Naruto loved their family time.

A restless night's sleep with dreams not only of Mei, but Anko as well, had Naruto a little tired, and incredibly embarrassed. Some of his dreams were not the kind you could speak out loud about, and some of them had both Anko and Mei in them at the same time.

Now he was in the Hokage's office, trying to figure out where his next assignment was. Apparently, they were in Nami no Kuni.

"I gave them their very first C-rank mission." Hiruzen said. "They were all very eager to take on higher-ranked tasks."

Naruto nodded in understanding. He had watched Team Ten do plenty of D-rank missions to know that they were not fun. "Alright," he sighed, "I guess I'll make my way there now, then." He made for the door but was stopped by his commander.

"Wait, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen held up his hand. "There's something I'd like you to handle for me while you're there."

Haruno Sakura was having a rough day.

It started out fantastic. Team Seven was finally given a C-rank mission after she and her crush Uchiha Sasuke pleaded for one. She and her teammates were ecstatic to finally be rid of the annoyingly boring D-ranks, and had started their first C-rank with high hopes.

Not an hour in their little trip to the Land of Waves and they were attacked by two crazy Kiri missing-nin. When their sensei, Hatake Kakashi had seemingly been torn to shreds – literally – Sakura had thought she was going to die. Oh, she protected the client, an old drunk of a bridge builder named Tazuna, with her body, but she was still horrified that she was going to be killed.

When Sasuke and their other teammate, a strange and incredibly rude, pale boy named Sai, had taken the two head on, she was surprised. They both looked so cool! She might not like Sai at all, what with him calling her ugly all the time, but inner Sakura thought he was cute.

She was so relieved when Kakashi-sensei had rushed out of nowhere and apprehended the two chunin-ranked shinobi. She wanted to yell at her sensei for almost giving her a heart attack, but when he complimented all of them for what they did, even her, she decided to keep her mouth shut.

After arriving in Nami no Kuni, they were again attacked, this time by a powerful jonin Kiri missing-nin. Momochi Zabuza was apparently the Kirigakure no Kijin (Demon of the Hidden Mist), and one of the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure. The man had almost cut them down by throwing his sword at them. Luckily, Kakashi-sensei had noticed it in time, or she wouldn't still be breathing.

Their sensei had revealed that he had the Sharingan, the dojutsu of Sasuke-kun's clan, and used it to fight the missing-nin. After a brief but no less intense death match, Kakashi-sensei had been trapped in Zabuza's Suiro no Jutsu (Water Prison Technique). Sakura was again terrified, but like with the Oni Kyodai (Demon Brothers), she had stood her ground and protected the client.

After ignoring Kakashi-sensei's order to retreat, Sasuke and Sai managed to free him with clever usage of Sai's Choju Giga (Super Beast Imitation Drawing) and Sasuke's Demon Wind Shuriken. Once free, Kakashi-sensei did something with his Sharingan where he predicted everything Zabuza did, and then used it against him. A couple of Suiton Jutsu later and Kakashi was about to deliver the blow that would end the man's life, but he was beat to it by a Kiri Hunter-nin.

After Kakashi had explained what a Hunter-nin was, he had collapsed. Sakura feared for his life, but was relieved when he told them that it was only exhaustion. They carried their incapacitated sensei to Tazuna's house, where his daughter and grandson also lived.

His daughter, Tsunami, was a beautiful, dark-haired woman who was incredibly polite. When they arrived she had tried to help all that she could with comforting their sensei. After thirty minutes, Kakashi-sensei was situated in one of the rooms on the second floor. Sasuke, Sai and herself had taken it upon themselves to explain the situation they were in, and offered to help out as much as they could for housing them.

That's how she ended up here, helping Tsunami prepare dinner, while Sasuke-kun and Sai sat at the dinner table, waiting to be useful. Tazuna was drinking as usual on the other side of the Konoha genin, and Tsunami's son, Inari, was in his room still. They hadn't met the boy yet. Apparently, he was reclusive.

"Thank you for the help, Sakura-san. I really appreciate it." Tsunami thanked the pink-haired girl. "It's nice having another girl around." she smiled. "Living with two boys is so tiring at times."

Before Sakura could reply, Tazuna shouted, "I'm no boy! I'm a man!" his words were slurred and that made Sakura and Tsunami laugh all the more. Even Sasuke-kun smirked, and Sai… well Sai gave his creepy fake smile.

"As I was saying…" Tsunami continued, ignoring her father's claims of manhood. "It's wonderful having you here, even under such," she paused and looked at her father with worried eyes, "troubling times."

Sakura shook her head. "No need to thank me, Tsunami-san." she gave the woman a bright smile. "I don't mind at all. I actually enjoy cooking, so it's not a bother."

She could see the gratefulness in the woman's eyes. She was thankful for them. Most shinobi would have turned back when they realized that the mission was beyond what they were paid to do. For them to decide to overlook her father's deception and help anyways meant the world to her.

"Even if you don't mind, I'm still very thankful." Tsunami really wanted to make sure they understood her gratitude.

Sakura smiled and opened her mouth as if to say something but was cut off by a knock at the door. The three shinobi tensed, thinking that it might be another attack. 'So soon?' Sakura thought. They faced Zabuza barely an hour ago, another attack so soon was a little unexpected.

Sai stood and took out his scroll and paint brush, ready to protect Tazuna. Sakura brought up a kunai, deciding to stay by Tsunami and protect her. Sasuke also took out a kunai and made his way to the door. When someone knocked again, Sasuke slowly opened it and paused. Sakura had thought that it was out of fear, but when she saw his confused face she let herself calm, but only slightly.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked bluntly. He had a frown on his face, an obvious indication that he was upset for being bothered.

"Jonin Uzumaki Naruto, here to observe Jonin Hatake Kakashi." A voice called out, causing Sakura to calm even more. "May I come in? I haven't seen Kakashi-senpai in a couple of weeks." The voice was polite and cheery, obviously a friendly.

When Sakura saw Sai put his scroll and brush away, she sighed and put her kunai back in her weapons pouch. A blond boy a few years older than the rest of them in a black shirt, his entire right sleeve a burnt orange, a Konoha Flak Jacket and black pants walked in, his hands in his pockets and a small smile on his face.

"So they sent a slightly older runt to help out." Tazuna slurred. "Wonderful. I feel safer already." he deadpanned. After he spoke, he took a giant gulp of his alcohol.

Naruto just smiled at the man. "It's nice to meet you all. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, a jonin from Konohagakure." He then looked up at the roof. "So senpai's injured? What happened?" He directed his question at Sasuke.

"Kakashi became exhausted when he fought Momochi Zabuza. He's fine; he's just low on chakra." Sasuke answered stoically. "He's resting upstairs for now. He should be back to normal in a few days."

Naruto smirked and waved his hand in front of him. "Mah, mah." he made his way for the stairs. "I'll get him up and going right now." Sasuke raised an eyebrow and followed the blond, wanting to see what he'd do. Chakra exhaustion was a serious thing, and even skilled medical-nin couldn't help it. Sakura also followed, she, too, curious about the blond's claim. Sai seemed not to care all that much and decided to stay downstairs.

When the three young shinobi made it to the room Kakashi was in, Naruto immediately smiled. "Oi, Kakashi-nii, get up already!" He said happily as he kneeled down and placed a hand on the silver-haired man's chest.

Sasuke and Sakura couldn't see it, but Naruto had flooded Kakashi's system with his own chakra, energizing him completely. Kakashi's only visible eye shot open, and he quickly sat up, already feeling the effects of having such potent chakra in his body. He felt better than ever, like he just had the greatest sleep in his life.

When he saw Naruto kneeling beside him with a bright smile on his face, he gave the Uzumaki one of his trademark eye smiles. "Ah, Naruto-kun." he began. "It's good to see you. It's been a couple of weeks, otouto." He put his hand on the blond's shoulder, expressing his gratefulness at receiving his chakra.

"I know. We've both been so busy lately." He perked up a little. "Oh, Yugao-nee let me get a puppy." He cheered. "Her name's Suzu, she's as cool as Pakkun, I swear!" Kakashi kept his eye smile the whole time, nodding at the boy's words.

"I don't know about that, Naruto-kun. Pakkun is pretty cool." Kakashi replied.

Naruto shook his head. "Honest! You have to meet her. She's half wolf, and her eyes are really pretty." Kakashi chuckled, and then stood to his feet.

"I most definitely want to meet this Suzu. I need to see if she is as amazing as you say she is." He then noticed his genin's strange looks. "Ah, that's right." he turned to Naruto again. "Naruto, these are two of my cute little students, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke."

He knew Naruto knew who Sasuke was, but decided to play along with Naruto's wishes to act like he didn't for the time being. "Guy's, this is my little brother, Uzumaki Naruto. He's been a jonin for…" he paused for a second, bringing his hand to his chin in a thinking pose. "Four weeks now, I think." he looked at Naruto for confirmation. When the blond nodded, he continued. "Yeah, four weeks now." He saw that their faces still looked confused. "What is it?"

"How are you better, sensei? I thought you'd be out for at least a day or two." Sakura said what was on both genin's minds.

"Ah, that." the scarecrow said lazily. "Naruto-kun here can transfer chakra. He just gave me some of his just now." That was a bit of an understatement. Naruto had flooded his system with two times more than he had before he left Konoha. If he gave him anymore it would have burst his tenketsu.

"I've never heard of someone being able to do that before." Sasuke muttered. Naruto gave the Uchiha a smile.

"I'm a little special, Sasuke-san. I can do a lot of things you've never heard of before." Naruto said as he moved to stand by Kakashi.

"You don't look all that special to me." Sasuke retorted, not even bothering to look the blond in the face. "You only just became a jonin; don't let it go to your head." Naruto chuckled a little at that one.

"Mah, you shouldn't speak about things you don't know, Sasuke." Kakashi suddenly said. "Naruto-kun might have just become a jonin, but that doesn't mean he isn't special. My otouto joined the ranks of jonin after just recently leaving the ANBU." Both Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened. "He was with the Black Ops for eight years, and has accomplished more than even I have." He gave another eye smile. "You're in the presence of the Kamikage." His eye smile then turned into a smirk. "Show a little respect."

At their shocked expressions and minds, Naruto smiled and shook his head. "It's fine, senpai." He held his hand in front of the two. "I'd like it if we could just be friends, if that's okay with you." Sakura broke out of her shock induced stupor and grabbed the blond's hand.

"Yeah, nice to meet you, too." she said excitedly. "I'll gladly be your friend." Naruto smiled at the girl's attitude. And her larger than average forehead strengthened his deduction that this was Ino's rival. The way her emotions were towards the Uchiha made it clear.

"Hn." Was all Sasuke 'said', but Naruto knew his answer. The raven-haired boy was glad to have met him.

"Umm, sensei…" she turned to Naruto. "No offense, Naruto-san," she then turned back to Kakashi, "but why is he here?" She asked, very curious as to why someone so incredibly famous came to their rescue when they hadn't even asked for help.

Naruto had thought that Team Seven would know about his assignment by now, but apparently none of the teams conversed. Kakashi started to walk out of the room while he answered.

"Naruto-kohai has been assigned a special teaching mission. He has to observe some of the jonin with genin teams so that he can take on his own squad one day. He's already been attached to two others." He turned to Naruto. "That reminds me, how was your time with Gai and Asuma?"

Naruto smiled at his captain. "It was educational, but most of all, fun." He chuckled. "Gai is a real piece of work." Kakashi nodded in understanding.

"That he is." he said before reaching the bottom of the stairs. "And Asuma?" he asked, wanting to know how the Sarutobi treated his brother.

Naruto smiled again. "It took him a couple of days, but he warmed up to me quick enough."

"Good." Kakashi replied softly. He really didn't want to lose a friend because said friend treated his kohai badly.

When they reached the kitchen, Tsunami gasped. "K-Kakashi-san, you shouldn't be up!"

The silver-haired man patted Naruto on the back. "No worries, Tsunami-san. My kohai here made it all better."

Tsunami looked at the blond and smiled, if a bit apprehensive. "Well, just take it easy." she said politely.

Kakashi nodded. "Of course." Sasuke sat back down and Sakura continued to help the woman with dinner. "At least now we can rest easy." The Copy-nin sighed. "Even if Zabuza isn't dead yet, it won't matter now since the Bringer of Hope has joined us."

At those words, everyone froze, for several different reasons.

"Zabuza's alive?!" Sakura shouted.

"Bringer of Hope?!" Tsunami asked in amazement.

"That crazy demon's still breathing? Wonderful…" Tazuna slurred, taking another gulp from his bottle. This day just kept getting better and better.

Naruto chuckled and Kakashi sighed. It looked like he had a lot of explaining to do.

__________________________________

there is 10 chapters ahead of the public release in p atreon for only 5$

my p atreon is :

https://www.p atreon.com/Huvnn

or search my name : Huvnn

________________________