Naruko: Chapter 009

Chapter 9.
(Follows chapter  15, 16 & 17 of the manga)

The area had seemed to calm from the last actions of the genin, but it was more a few moments of relief, brought on by the return of their sensei, now free from Zabuza's water-prison.
Everyone was happen, especially Sakura, who was happy to have their sensei back in action, rather than her two genin team-mates She had feared for their lives, but if Naruko and Sasuke could handle him, even just a little, then things were looking up.

"Naruko... excellent work. You've grown... all of you have." Kakashi said, as he stood there next to Zabuza, the blade still  embedded in his fist.
"Well, I never intended to take down Zabuza, but distract him so we could release you." she explained, as she started treading water. "I guess he never learned to see the hidden meanings in the hidden meanings... right sensei?" she giggled.
Kakashi smiled at that, but that just made Zabuza frown even more.
"So... you got me in to such a rage I unravelled my spell that was holding the water prison together." Zabuza said, making it sound that Naruko had less of an effect on him than making him panic in a moment and accidentally releasing it.
"No... you didn't drop the spell." Kakashi frowned, Naruko deserved this credit "She broke it."
Zabuza didn't like it when he said that, annoyed that the implication was some mere child forced him to something, like they were stronger.
A moment later the tension built, and the two elite ninja separated fast, landing, still on the water, as they both began to perform a flurry of hands signs, Kakashi copying Zabuza's every move until they created the same jutsu.
"WATER STYLE! WATER DRAGON MISSILE!" They both cried out, as the waters of the lake swirled and surged, like they were in a storm, tossing Naruko around in the water as she wondered what was going to happen.
Two streams of water funnelled upwards one behind each of the elite ninja, until the head of a dragon began to mold and come in to shape, before attacking each other and exploding, as if cancelling the other out.

The lake water surged out, and hit the shore,  as it hit the group still standing there, as if caught in a small tidal wave.
As it all cleared and everyone looked back on the fight, they saw Kakashi and Zabuza next to each other, Kakashi holding back Zabuza's sword with a kunai, before they leapt back and away.

Zabuza looked concerned, something felt wrong. Was it just that Kakashi was copying his every move? Or was it something else?
No matter how he moved, left or right, Kakashi mirrored him, so they would circle each other, A jutsu would follow, and whatever action his body would do, Kakashi would copy, and this just made Zabuza feel more worried, as he looked in to Kakashi's eyes, a sickeningly evil look in his eye, that remained focused no matter what.

"A sickeningly evil look in my eye... right?" Kakashi then said, shocking Zabuza. Was he reading his mind?
"Feh... you're a pale imitation..." he began.
"I'm the genuine article. No mere copycat stands a chance against me." Kakashi continued, finishing Zabuza's sentence before he could.
Zabuza flinched, 'impossible!' he thought as he began to perform his next jutsu as fast as he could, like a dare to Kakashi to try and follow him, but just before he could use it, something else caught his eye. Stood behind Kakashi... a ghostly image... no... it was him... how? An illusion? how was it possible?
As Zabuza felt himself begin to fall in to confusion and panic, Kakashi completed the jutsu.
"WATER STYLE! GIANT WATERFALL!" he cried.

Zabuza was shocked, how? How could he copy the jutsu before him, this wasn't possible! It was absurd!
But whatever it was, Zabuza still found himself caught, and getting thrown around by a tremendous surge of water that crashed him in to the tree's of the nearby shore.
Zabuza stood there, leant against the tree, half pulled from it's roots.
"Can you... foresee the future?" he asked, breathlessly.
"I foresee your death." Kakashi said as he ran at him with a kunai in hand.
But before he could reach his target, two thick needles came whistling through the tree's, and cut right through Zabuza's neck.
Everyone was shocked to see it, as Zabuza dropped to the ground.
"Your prediction came true." came the voice of someone young.
They all looked, and saw someone, that must have been their age stood in the tree, wearing a mask with the mist symbol etched in to the forehead.

Naruko was crawling out of the water, soaked, and looked at the new arrival, who was this person?
Everyone was thinking the same thing. Whoever it was, had also taken out Zabuza fast.
"Dead." Kakashi said, as he checked Zabuza's pulse.
"Thank you for your help." the person said. They even sounded young. "But I hope you don't mind my interfering, I wanted the satisfaction of ending his life myself."
"The mask is familiar, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you a shinobi hunter of the hidden mist village?" Kakashi asked.
"Well... aren't you a smart one?" the hunter said.
Kakashi could tell by the voice that this hunter must have been a boy of similar age to his team, yet already a hunter of the mist village.
Naruko thought was more confused, she too could tell, and how was it possible that he could take out Zabuza so easily.
She was getting frustrated with the fact, she hated the fact that someone else her age was better than her, and Kakashi could see her fury rising.
"Calm down Naruko." he said walking over to her.
"But he took out Zabuza... who wasn't a pushover... and he's my age!!" she cried out, "What? Do we suck or something?"
"You have my sympathy, I can see where a thing like than can be hard to accept." Kakashi said, "but it' a fact you'll have to live with." he added as he gently patted the top of the blondes head, like a 'well done', and an 'it's OK'. "This probably won't be the last time you meet someone who's younger than you, and stronger... than me."
Naruko's eyes widened, and then she pouted, almost hurting in the fact.
Sasuke just scowled, having heard that too, hating the fact that that was possible.

The next moment, the hunter was next to Zabuza, picking up his lifeless body.
"Excuse me, but I must dispose of this body, lest it reveal it's secrets to our enemies." he said "I must be off."
And without a second thought, he was gone with their enemy.

Everyone was now able to finally breath freely, and take a moment to relax. But not before Kakashi gave his next order.
"Alright... now all we have to do is escort Mr Tazuna the rest of the way home." he said, "So best foot forward."
But as they all went to move, Kakashi fell down, exhausted from the fight, and having used the sharingan too much.
His students rushed to his side concerned, but he was already  down.

A short while later, team seven found themselves at Tazuna's house, under the care of Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter.
"Are you alright?" she asked Kakashi stood frowning a little, more at the inconvenience of having so many guests so suddenly, and a patient.
"No... but I will be... in about a week." Kakashi replied.
"The sharingan is incredible." Sakura said, as she sat nearby him. Naruko was sat next to her as they both looked to their sensei.
"But if the result is this... then do you really think it's worth it?" Tsunami asked.
"Well, at least we can relax for  a while at least." Tazuna said.
"You know... I can't get my mind off of that masked kid." Sakura said, thinking on their encounter.
"The mask is worn by special elite ninja called 'shinobi hunters'." Kakashi said as he began to explain the role of the hunters in the shinobi world. That it there charge to seek out and kill the rogue ninja from their village, and to dispose of the body as thoroughly as they can so that no one can take a part of the body and extract any skills or powers that the ninja used or knew.
He explained, that even after death a body of a ninja can still hold the experience that it mastered in it's life, and even possibly duplicate it.
"A ninjas body tells too many tales." he said "So it's a hunters job to make sure those secrets are wiped from the world."
"So... Zabuza's body will be... dis... dismembered and destroyed?" Sakura said.
Naruko was next to her, and both looked a little green.
"That's so... creepy." they both said.

Elsewhere though, something else was happening.
The hunter had  not yet removed the senbon from Zabuza's neck, but before he could do anything, Zabuza's eyes opened, startling the masked boy.
"Awake already?!" he said sounding surprised.
"You have all the finesse of a butcher." he said as he pulled the senbon from his neck.
"Please... be careful, Zabuza, sir, pulling them out like that, you could really kill yourself." The boy said.
"Ugh... how long are you going to wear that ghoulish mask... Take it off." he said, ignoring the boys concerns.
"It was useful for my monkey pantomime." He said as he began to remove it, revealing a feminine face. Was this really a girl?!
"You needn't have targeted my neck to put me in a deathlike trance." he groaned. "But I shouldn't be surprised... you sadistic little brat, Haku."
"Thank you... But Zabuza, sir, I didn't want to mar your perfect body." Haku cutely smiled. "Besides... the neck is so much less muscular, and easier to target the vulnerable points. To make it look like you were dead for a week."
Zabuza sat up and looked at his companion, as he wrapped a bandage around the wounds.
"But of course, someone like you will recover much more quickly." Haku added.
Zabuza gave her a glare, as if to say it was obvious.
"You're so innocent and so guileless... that must be why I keep you." he said.
"Well... I AM only a child." Haku smiled sweetly, giving off a childlike innocence.
Zabuza just grunted as he began to think on his encounter against Kakashi, and made a vow to himself, that next time,  he would break the sharingan's spell.

Back at Tazuna's house a while later, Kakashi was asleep, and two young girls were looking down at him, nervously as they slowly reached out.
The needed to know... it had been bugging them for so long... what was underneath it? Underneath the mask?

But before Naruko's hand could touch the rim, Kakashi's eye's flung open making the two girls scream out like a corpse had risen from the dead.
Tsunami came rushing in to the room to find out what the screams were about, to see Kakashi was awake as he sat up.
Naruko had fallen on to her back, and was lay down as Sakura frowned at her, blaming her for not being careful and waking up their sensei when they were so close.
But Kakashi had other things on his mind... something was very wrong.
Naruko noticed  he was distracted, "Master?! Is something wrong." she asked.

Kakashi continued to think "Of course..." he said, suddenly realising.
"What is it?" Sakura asked.
"Shinobi hunters are supposed to dispose of the corpse right away." he said, "As in, on the spot. What did the one we meet do to Zabuza."
"How should we know, he took the..." Sakura replied before she realised.
"Yes he did." Kakashi nodded. "And all he needed as proof of the kill was the head. But there's more... the method of death, the senbon needles."
Sasuke was the first one to get it, "No way." he said in surprise.
Sakura and Naruko though didn't understand.
"What does all this mean?" Tazuna asked, even more confused.
"It means that Zabuza may still be alive." he answered, which made Sakura, Naruko and Tazuna a little freaked out.
"B-but you checked him... he was dead!"  Sakura then said.
"There are techniques out there, where the use of senbon, or acupuncture needles, can create the illusion of death." Kakashi explained.
"So that hunter... she faked Zabuza's death?!" Naruko said.
"You got it." Kakashi nodded, a little surprised she worked it out so quick. Maybe she was maturing quicker than he had so far given her credit for.
"So he could rescue Zabuza, because they're actually working together, right?" Sakura then pointed out, almost trying to make sure Naruko wasn't the only one who could figure things out.
She didn't know why, but she didn't want to let Naruko impress anyone if she could help it.
"But... aren't shinobi hunters supposed to kill rogue shinobi. Maybe you're just overcomplicating things." Tazuna said, not wanting to think about it.
"U~sually." Kakashi said. "But whether Zabuza is dead or alive, the fact is, we still have a bigger problem, Gato may have other powerful shinobi under his employ, and being caught unprepared is not an option. Preparation is a shinobi's most important skill."
The three genin all listened, and Kakashi noticed that she was a little excited at the possibility that Zabuza was alive.
He could see she had gotten over her initial nerves and was prepared to fight. He just hoped she wouldn't get over confident and therefore reckless.

"Master you said, 'preparation is a shinobi's most important skill'." Sakura asked, "But you can barely move, so what can you do?"
Kakashi just chuckled a little, "I'm going to increase your training schedule." He said
"What?!" Sakura said, worried, "What can a little extra training do to help us with what we're up against?! Even you, with the sharingan, were almost defeated!!"
"Yes, but I was unprepared. And who was it that came to my rescue?" he smiled. "You three... you're all growing and maturing at great speed, your powers growing exponentially." Kakashi then turned to Naruko. "Especially you Naruko. You've grown the most in such a short time."
Naruko blinked, surprised, and smiled with a blush, a little embarrassed, but happy at his compliment.
Sakura though, was a little put out, Naruko was getting better which meant she could more easily impress Sasuke.
Kakashi could see Sakura's glare, and so continued, trying to avoid any problems for now, "But that being said... The skills I teach you now, will only be an interim thing only, to tide us over until I recover."
"But master... how will we know when Zabuza will return?" Sakura asked.
"Good question, but a near-death trance has a a side-effect, it takes some time to recover, and return to it's previous health."
"So..." Naruko then said, with an excited and adamant look in her eye. "We'll train until he does return. This is going to be fun."
"it won't be fun for you." came a new voice.
They all turned to see a young boy in a hat that cover the top half of his head.
"Inari!" Tazuna said happily. "Where have you been?"
"Welcome home grandpa." He said, as he moved over to Tazuna to hug him.
"Inari... greet our guests properly." Tsunami said, strictly.
"But they're all gonna die, no one can beat Gato." he pointed out, matter-of-factly, as if he didn't care.
"HEY!!!" Naruko said, getting annoyed by him. Sakura grabbed her though and held her back. "Listen up kid, I'm going to be the next Hokage one day, I'll be a hero, and this Gato won't stand a chance. You can believe that."
"Hero?!" he scoffed. "That's dumb... there's no such thing."
"WHAT!!!" Naruko blinked, shocked at his statement. What kid doesn't believe in heroes. Her anger dropped.
"If you don't want to die... go home." Inari said as he turned to leave.
"Where are you going Inari?" Tazuna asked.
"I'm going to go watch the ocean from my room." he replied before he disappeared, leaving the room quiet.
"Please... forgive him." Tazuna asked, looking sad. There was more to this than they had said.
Only a few minutes had passed before Naruko snuck away to go find Inari, she was curious, but also still a little annoyed with the kid. She could see the sadness in his eyes, a loneliness, like she herself had had growing up.
As she approached his room, she heard a noise. Tears. She looked down sadly, so there was something more. And the more she listened, the more crying she heard, and the sadder she felt.
So Naruko simply turned and left the way she came, thinking, perhaps if she could save him more tears.

To Be Continued...