Suddenly the mist ninja split into two. Then four. The masked person kept on dividing so fast it was making Naruto's head spin and his stomach twist. A sudden twinge of pain ripped through the right side of his head and he instinctively reached up and grasped his temple, completely missing the senbon that Haku threw at him. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he began to pitch forward, right as the needle pierced his stomach.
Naruto hit the ground with a thud and didn't move…
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In less than a second, Anko was at her son's side, checking him over and calling his name. Sasuke was able to refrain from attacking only because he was frozen with dread. He was unable to help his family again.
“Sasuke, he'll be fine, he's still breathing and his heart rate is a bit high, but it's still strong. I'm more worried about the acid in his stomach, damaging his muscles and other organs right now.” Anko said through clenched teeth. “But since I'm worthless when it comes to being a medic-nin, I think I'll take out my frustrations on a certain mask-wearing kid!”
With that declaration of pain, Anko and Sasuke engaged the mist ninja. Kakashi placed himself between Zabuza and Tazuna along with Sakura. Suddenly, a thick mist began to roll through the area. As if it were some unseen signal, both Zabuza and Kakashi disappeared into the fog.
“Sakura, you need to protect Tazuna and Naruto. I'd suggest you use your new skills now, but keep some chakra left, incase it is needed.” Kakashi's disembodied voice rang out through the fog, before the sounds of battle replaced it.
Sakura only nodded and gave a silent `good luck' to all of the Konoha shinobi, before she moved over to Naruto's body and dragged him back towards Tazuna. Once she was done with that, she bit her thumb, and drew blood. Quickly performing seals, she quietly muttered “Kuchiyose no Jutsu!” (Summoning technique) With an audible `poof', two dogs appeared and stood guard over Tazuna and Naruto. One was an adult Golden Retriever; he was about three feet long and 2 feet tall. He weighed almost sixty pounds and had a small Konoha leaf embroidered onto a handkerchief around his neck. The second dog was an adult Bearded Collie. She wasn't as tall as the golden retriever, but weighed almost as much. She was only two feet long and a foot high, but was much more energetic. In the week that she had been practicing the technique, her chakra reserves had grown rapidly. Since the summoning took a lot of chakra to do, it drained her quickly, and she was then forced to practice controlling what little chakra she still had. The two dogs in question didn't take much chakra to summon; it was about the equivalent of making four bunshins…five times…each. So for Sakura, that was a lot of chakra.
“Koumyaku (Streak) Onchou (Grace), I need you to guard Tazuna-san, while I check on Naruto.” Sakura ordered. The two dogs quickly padded over to the old man and tensed as they monitored the battle around them. Well, Koumyaku did, the golden retriever was more battle hardened than his compatriot, Onchou simply stood there and wagged her tail in anticipation. Sakura quickly worked to diagnose her fallen teammate. His breathing was indeed very labored, his heartbeat was becoming weaker and weaker, and he was beginning to sweat, despite the coolness of the fog, indicating a fever. His body was trying to burn out some invader.
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While Naruto was unconscious, the Kyuubi was working overtime. Something in the DNA of that hunter nin was not agreeing with Naruto's DNA. The demon knew that he could stop the process of absorption any time he wanted, the seal did allow him to heal his vessel, but he chose to wait. `Just a little more time kid, just wait a little more.'
In just a few minutes, his vessel's bloodline would finish copying over the important code for the new bloodline, Mastery of Water and Ice, and he could stop the process. If only the brat could hold on for another minute or two…
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Sakura was becoming worried. Naruto's symptoms had become more severe as new ones continued to appear. His breathing was becoming very shallow and slow. She felt the once steady beat of his heart slow down under her hands and it didn't show any signs of strengthening. The weird part of this was that his chakra was becoming more and more focused, like it had some purpose. A sudden burst of chakra from the area of Sasuke drew her attention, but just as soon as she looked up, she felt Naruto's heart beat once, and then stop…
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The fight between the faux hunter nin and an enraged mother and adopted son was…interesting. This hunter nin, Haku, was pretty good, at least mid to high chuunin level. Of course Anko was a Tokubetsu Jounin so it wasn't too difficult to find the winner of the match. Or so you would have thought. After a few minutes of Haku getting beaten into the ground, the mist ninja performed a series of one-handed seals, catching the two Konoha shinobi off guard.
“Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishou!” (Secret Technique: Flying Water Needles). Water that was strewn about the field of battle suddenly rose into the air and formed into large icicles that resembled Senbon needles. The deadly popsicles suddenly flew towards the duo and they were forced to jump into the air at the last minute by adding chakra to their legs to gain more height.
As the pair landed they noticed the small flair of chakra that gave away the annoyance in the mist ninja.
“Hijutsu: Makyou Hyoushou.” (Secret Technique: Demonic Ice Mirrors) Once more, water rose up from the bridge and solidified, this time into thick sheets of ice that created a cage of glistening mirrors. Haku slowly walked into the mirrors and suddenly the missing ninja appeared in every one of the mirrors. Moving faster than normal eyes could follow; senbon flew from every direction and hit precise points on Anko's arms, immobilizing them. Sasuke quickly activated his sharingan and rushed to his mother's side. He quickly removed three of the five needles that were holding her arms hostage, but was forced to move out of the way by another volley of the thin metal needles.
“Damn, this is going to get difficult…” He thought before launching into another attack.
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Sakura was panicking. Her teammate was technically dead at her knees and she didn't know what to do. The first aide covered in the academy was very basic and didn't involve reviving a dead person. She just froze as time slipped by. The sounds of battle didn't distract her and she continued to stare at Naruto. His face was pale and his lips were becoming blue. As she knelt next to his body, tears began to form in her eyes and she cried. She cried at her own inadequacies, she cried at her teammate's unfinished goals, and she cried that a brother and mother would have to deal with this reality. She closed her eyes and wept.
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While Anko and Sasuke were engaged in their own battle and Sakura was dealing with her dead comrade, Kakashi was fighting Zabuza. The mist ninja was proving to be a worthy challenge and with the addition of the unnatural mist floating through the area, his sharingan was next to worthless. The first two strikes went to the nuke nin from Kiri, but they weren't as bad as they looked. A slight cut to the side was more or a hindrance in terms of mobility than a hindrance to his life, and a bruise was forming on his other side from a vicious kick, but all in all things couldn't be going better. His plan was going well, Anko and Sasuke were mopping the floor with Zabuza's accomplice, and Sakura was guarding Tazuna and Naruto. He could finish this fight in one move. Or he could have…until he heard Sakura start bawling. It was that slight noise that caught the ears of Zabuza, who was a master of silent killing. He knew that the blonde was lying motionless if not dead and his pink haired teammate was crying over him, leaving the bridge builder defender less. It was the perfect time to strike.
Moving silently, Zabuza made his way towards Tazuna and once he spotted his target through the mist he charged the man. Kakashi was too far away, and that wound to his side was limiting his speed enough so that the copy ninja couldn't protect the old man. Zabuza swung his large sword at the bridge builder's head, only for the old man to be tackled by a large golden dog. The mist ninja was even more surprised when a second dog, this one white and black, attacked him. Onchou had spotted the new man and quickly attacked the man. The nin-dog rose up on her hind legs and brought her clawed paws down…onto Zabuza's crotch. The mist ninja cried out in pain and doubled over, only to be tackled by the battle hardened Koumyaku. He hit the unfinished bridge on his back, and felt the breath being knocked out of him. In a flash Onchou was back in the fight…licking his face, while Koumyaku was biting his right arm. With a wave of his left arm, Zabuza was able to dismiss the two summons, but was still in pain. He was able to regain his footing, but before he could do anything about his own pain, a large surge of chakra seemed to explode over the bridge. Sakura actually fainted from the sheer amount of killing intent being released. What she didn't realize before passing out; was that the chakra wasn't coming from the jounins. It was coming from her seemingly dead teammate.
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When Naruto's heart had stopped beating, the Kyuubi was worried. The human body can only survive for a short amount of time without air, and if the DNA absorption didn't finish soon, both he and the kid would die. Almost a minute after Naruto had taken his last breath of air; the process was complete enough for Kyuubi to halt the process. Scanning over the remaining code, the monster fox was able to isolate the problem that Naruto was having.
`Ah, yes that would cause his reaction. Won't the baka be surprised to find this out?'
He mused as he sat back and watched as normal functions returned to his container.
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Naruto felt the chakra of the Kyuubi flowing through his system, where as before he felt…nothing. It was like this was the first thing he had ever felt. It felt…right. Like it belonged. He heard the muffled sound of Sakura fainting behind him and he shakily stood up to inspect the fighting going on around him. What he saw threw him into a rage, the likes of which had never been seen before. On the ground, lay his adopted brother, senbon piercing his body like a pincushion. His mother had a fair number of needles in her as well, although she was able to dodge most of the thin projectiles. They were trapped in a crumbling cage of mirrors that seemed to glisten in the weak sunlight. He quickly activated the sharingan and saw the residual chakra in the mirrors. It wasn't an extraordinary amount, so why was his brother and mother injured so? With a pulse, the chakra of the demon fox, flooded through him and the reasons ceased to be important. Someone had harmed his precious people, and that someone would die.
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The demonic ice mirrors had turned the tide of the fight. Or actually, the needles that were preventing Anko from using her arms were. If she could move her arms, she could summon a snake or use a fire jutsu, but no, there were needles in her arms that prevented her from doing anything other than dodge. Luckily the three needles that Sasuke had removed were helping restore some movement, and soon she would be able to move her arms enough to remove the final two. She just hoped that Sasuke could hang on for a while longer.
Sasuke was holding his own, his sharingan was able to anticipate the movements of his opponent, but dodging the needles that were thrown at him was more difficult. If he could destroy the mirrors, than maybe he could buy enough time for Anko to escape or remove the needles. He was beginning to feel the strain on his chakra reserves, but he could hold on for a while longer. While the Mist ninja was preoccupied with a scorch mark on the pants of his or her battle kimono, Sasuke quickly ran through some hand seals, before inhaling a deep breath.
“Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu” (Fire type: Grand fireball)
A large ball of flame shot from Sasuke's mouth and impacted the three closest ice mirrors. A large cloud of steam issued forth, and when it cleared, the Uchiha was astounded to find that his attack had little effect.
“My mirrors cannot be broken by your attack.” The mysterious shinobi said, returning his or her attention to Sasuke.
The Uchiha glared back at his opponent and tried the Grand Fireball, this time with a twist. Using the new knowledge from his ancestors, Sasuke narrowed the stream of fire coming from his mouth, so that it was only a few inches in diameter. It had the same amount of fire as the normal attack, but this one was focused. It impacted a sole mirror, which held its shape for a second, before subliming into steam.
Although he didn't realize it, Sasuke had just taken the first step towards learning Katon: Karyu Endan (Fire type: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet) a very advanced Katon technique.
`Now to get rid of more of those damn mirrors!' He thought and once more flew through the familiar hand seals. After destroying more than half of the almost twenty ice mirrors, Sasuke ran out of chakra to perform the modified technique. The amount of chakra it used was high, and the Mist ninja was still throwing senbon at him.
Anko had finally gotten enough feeling in her arms to shed the final two needles. The steel needles hit the concrete bridge and in the blink of an eye, she was back in the fight.
“Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!” (Fire type: Dragon Fire technique)
A large burst of flame finished off many of the remaining mirrors, but before the last one was destroyed, Haku threw three final senbon at the jounin. But instead of hitting the intended target, Sasuke threw himself in front of his mother and took the needles to the chest. Anko was able to catch him as he fell to the ground, but noticed to her horror that all of the needles had pierced through his right lung. That was what Naruto saw as he awoken. His brother in his mother's arms.
`This is bad; I only have enough chakra for Makyou Hyoushou once more.' Haku thought as the boy who was releasing an insane amount of chakra approached. Running through the hand seals once more, the hunter nin was shocked when Naruto entered the mirrors as well.
“There is nowhere you can hide from my wrath. For harming my family, my precious people, you will die!” The boy's voice was colder than the mirrors that formed the battleground.
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Both Zabuza and Kakashi felt the exponential increase in chakra. Both were shocked by the output that was coming from a scrawny kid.
`What is this kid?' Zabuza thought, taking his eyes off Kakashi for a crucial instant.
`Has the Kyuubi broken free? No, the seal is still intact. I must finish this now!'
Kakashi then reached into his flak jacket and removed a small scroll. He unrolled it and using some blood from a previous wound, smeared a thin line across the black ink of the scroll. He refurled the paper using some acrobatic tosses and slammed it into the ground.
A crack in the bridge formed and ran from the scroll towards Zabuza. Suddenly, several large dogs burst from the ground and used Zabuza as a chew toy.
“Give up now?” Kakashi calmly stated. “If you don't, your future is death.”
“Damn you!” Zabuza growled at the silver haired man, but it was a show of false bravado. He couldn't move his arms even an inch.
Kakashi began to make hand seals and then proceeded to grab his wrist. Chakra gathered in the palm of his hand and began to crackle like lightning. The sound this attack made was unbelievable. It sounded like a flock of birds were chirping…no, laughing, at the prone form before the copy ninja.
“I'll give you one more chance. If you don't surrender, you will die.”
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Haku was worried. Almost drained of chakra, there was little chance that the blonde could be defeated, especially since Makyou Hyoushou was worthless. The blonde and black haired ninja was attacking ruthlessly and with no opening for counter attacks. It would only be a matter of time before he landed the decisive hit, for with Haku nearly drained of chakra; there was no way to retaliate. Firing more senbon, and a stray kunai at the enraged boy, Haku was surprised by the tactic that was subsequently employed.
“Suiton Suijinheki.” (Water type: Water Barrier) The projectiles were swallowed by a wall of water at least four feet thick. Suddenly, the water barrier began to spin like a top, and the missiles changed course. As water flew off of the barrier from the high velocity spin, it froze into elongated shards of ice. “Mateki Sandansha!” (Shards of winter) The new spin on the Sensatsu Suishou took Haku by surprise. The ice shards hit home and threw the Mist ninja to the ground, as well as dislodging the mask. Haku was rendered unconscious by the force of the fall and didn't see the enraged boy approaching.
Naruto stopped to stare at his opponent. He was expecting either a girl or a very effeminate man, but this was…different. Even without the mask on he still couldn't tell what the gender was. It was rather infuriating, actually, and it was at this time that the Kyuubi's chakra quit flowing through him and the events of the past few minutes caught back up. He felt tired, more so than he had on the rare occasion that he suffered from chakra exhaustion. There was also a dull pain that throbbed through his body, and an itch was slowly spreading from his right arm towards his chest. He suddenly fainted next to a defeated Haku due to exhaustion.
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Kakashi was cursing his luck. He had charged Zabuza with the intent to finish the man off, but suddenly his summons were dismissed and Zabuza was free to flee back into the mist. Looking at the scroll, Kakashi noticed some senbon and ice fragments stuck into the scroll, destroying it. Without the Tracking fang, Kakashi was forced to resort to a different tactic. He had been able to immobilize both of the sword user's arms and was once more charging chakra for his sole original jutsu, the Raikiri. (Lightning Edge) Once his arms were useless, the mist Zabuza had created disappeared and Kakashi was able to see the damage the various fights had done. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and the Mist ninja, Haku, were unconscious, and Anko was helping the wounded. She was working on reviving a fainted Sakura when she sensed a foreign presence on the bridge.
The thump of a cane echoed across the bridge. Looking behind Zabuza everyone who was conscious noticed a short man with grayish brown hair and a moustache.
“Hm, some `demon' you turned out to be, you can't even kill a bunch of kids. Luckily, for me at least, I've determined to terminate your contract early.” It wasn't until the figure made his threat that those present noticed the mob of people behind the diminutive figure.
“Gato!” Zabuza growled. “Kakashi, it seems that I no longer have a reason to fight you. I do have one last request though; would you lend me a kunai?” Using his teeth, Zabuza unraveled the bandages that his mouth from view and caught the kunai that was lazily tossed to him by the copy ninja. Dashing forward, the demon of the mist madly hacked his way through the throng of bodies surrounding his former employer, taking many slashes and stab wounds from various weapons in the process. Finally reaching his target, Zabuza cut Gato's thought cleanly and watched as the life slowly ebbed from the fat man. He then collapsed from the wounds he had received earlier. None of the thugs dared to approach the man, for fear of their lives. They did, however, find the courage to threaten the Konoha shinobi.
“You just killed our meal ticket!” One yelled.
“We'll kill you to make some dough!” Another supplied.
`Damn it, I'm running low on chakra. I might be able to bluff them away.' Kakashi thought. Making a cross shaped seal he imitated the seals for Kage bunshin, but he really created twenty bunshins. The thugs were weary, but began to charge at them anyway, until a large water dragon washed them away.
“Suiton Suiryuudan no Jutsu.” (Water type: Water Dragon technique) The weak voice of Sasuke came from behind the copy ninja.
Anko returned to her injured son's side and helped him over towards where Sakura and Naruto were laying. Haku lay a bit away from the group. Covering his sharingan, Kakashi made his way towards the only other body on the bridge, Zabuza. The mist ninja was still alive, but was fading due to a lack of blood.
“K-Kakashi-i…I-I have one more favor t-to ask you.” Zabuza's voice was weak and nearly inaudible. “I want you to b-burry me here. It's kinda nice.” Those were the last words spoken by Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Bloody Mist.
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Once all of the surviving shinobi, including Haku were transported back to Tazuna's house, Anko used a messenger scroll to contact Tsunade for Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura was awake again and helping to nurse the various patients.
Luck was on their side, since Tsunade happened to be only two days away from the Wave Country, and was going to be there in less time than that. Haku was being kept under a genjutsu that kept him or her asleep. Although there was little fear of the kid killing anyone, the risk they ran if he or she attacked anyone was higher. Naruto was still asleep and Sasuke was simply suffering from chakra depletion, but those holes in his lungs could be a problem. All the Konoha shinobi could do was wait.
The next day, Tsunade arrived around dinnertime and set to work immediately. Her assistant Shizune was currently checking on Haku, and her report was due shortly. Sasuke was patched up with little problem, the senbon attack to his lung looked worse than it was, but it would have escalated had he not received proper treatment. Naruto was a bit of a mystery. Tsunade had a list of his symptoms, but couldn't come up with an explanation for his illness. All of his ailments were common to allergies, but thanks to the Kyuubi, Naruto had never been sick a day in his life, or had allergies. Even the fainting was consistent, if an allergic reaction is left untreated, it may escalate to anaphylaxis, which if untreated could turn fatal. Tsunade was once again using a basic diagnostic technique on the Kyuubi container, when Shizune entered the room and whispered in her ear. Tsunade's brow wrinkled, before a look of comprehension dawned. She nodded to Anko, and the jounin motioned for Sakura to leave the room. She did so with a look of frustration on her face. Her team didn't trust her to be in their conversation.
“It would appear,” The blonde sannin began “That Naruto absorbed another bloodline. I noticed the change in his blood, but without the equipment necessary to perform extensive test, I didn't know what occurred. You said that he showed the same abilities as Haku, right? Due to his bloodline…and his `guest', Naruto has never had any problems with absorbing anything, but this time he did. All of his prior symptoms are consistent with an allergy, but I didn't know the source until now. It would appear that Haku transferred some of her DNA into Naruto. All of the DNA up until this point was male, but I believe that the female DNA caused an allergic reaction. I think we just have to wait for the Kyuubi to eliminate the excess DNA in his system and he will be as good as new.”
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True to her word, Naruto was up and about in a days time, after the explanation of what happened he was more than happy to train with his new blood line. He would disappear into the woods for hours at time. Sasuke was less fortunate; Sakura continued to hang onto him wherever he would go. The only place he was able to get some peace was around Haku. For whatever reason, Sakura was afraid of the mist kunoichi, probably because Haku would kill Sakura in no time. It was while Naruto was off training and Sasuke was able to avoid Sakura enough for Haku to ask the Uchiha a question.
“Uchiah-san, your mother…she told me that your past and mine were similar. Do you know what she means?” The brunette asked.
Sasuke thought about it. He didn't know that much about Haku. “No I don't.” He answered. “But maybe we should talk and find out what Anko-kaa-san meant.”
“I'll go first.” Haku said. “I was born in Kirigakure, well actually it was a small outlying town, but that's like splitting hairs. My mother was the one with the bloodline, the Mastery of Water and Ice, but she hid it. In Kiri, bloodlines like mine were feared and those with them were hunted down and killed. When my father found out that my mother had one…he killed her, and then he tried to kill me. I don't remember what happened, but somehow, somehow I was able to kill my father and all of the members of the mob he had gathered. Then I ran. I ran as far and as fast as I could. I lived on my own for a few years before I met Zabuza-sama. He trained me to be a shinobi and took the place of my father. Eventually Zabuza lead a failed coup and we had to flee form the Mist village. We took jobs as nuke nin for various individuals until we were contacted for this assignment. What about you?”
Sasuke was amazed by the similarities in their lives. Granted he hadn't killed his father, but they were both the last of their bloodline, not including Naruto, and had adopted new families.
“I was born into the Uchiha clan; we were famous for our sharingan and made up the entirety of the police force. But then my brother killed off the entire clan. He used a genjutsu on me and made me relive the slaughter of my family for three straight days. When I awoke I was in the hospital and depressed. It wasn't until Hokage-sama took me to see Naruto and Kaa-san that my life changed. Anko has become my mom and Naruto is the only one I will ever call brother again.”
This time it was Haku who was in awe of the similarities of the two. They continued to compare their lives for a long time. It wasn't until dinner that the two returned, earning a death glare from Sakura and two mischievous looks from Anko and Naruto. In fact after dinner, Haku approached Kakashi and Anko about returning to Konoha with them, to live life as a civilian. She said it was what Zabuza would have wanted, but deep down Sasuke knew it was because of the same history the two shared, and for once, he didn't mind a girl following him.
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(A/N: Well, I liked how it turned out. Any who, next chapter will begin chunnin exams, where I take more liberties with the plot than ever before. Thanks for the reviews, and keep`em coming.)
To answer an FAQ, yes Sasuke copied some of Zabuza's jutsu from before, but Naruto did not, although he will probably learn them later. Until next time.)
