Big Sword

Kurenai was trying her hardest to keep an eye on her surroundings as they didn't know when the enemy Jounin or the other ninja would attack. She really was, but the way Naruto kept grabbing everyone's attention made detecting the presence of an enemy next to impossible. For example, he had just barely begun to sing a song.

"I wear my blue pajamas in the summer when it's hot,

"I wear my flannel nighty in the winter when it's not,

"But sometimes in the springtime

"And sometimes in the fall,

"I slip between the covers with

"Nothing on at all!"

He waggled his eyebrows at Hinata as he sang the sixth line, causing her to faint from embarrassment. Shino was there to catch her while Naruto continued on with the chorus.

"Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!

"Glory, Glory, What's it to ya?"

Shino finally managed to revive Hinata.

"Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!

"WITH NOTHING ON AT ALL!"

Naruto pumped his fist into the air during the last line. Hinata fainted again. Tazuna was amused. Kurenai was annoyed that her concentration had been broken yet again. And it was all Shino could do to avoid laughing out loud, or even chuckling.

Zabuza, who had been hiding in a tree with his sword in the ready position to be thrown, had to pull his face out of the dirt due to the facefault he just experienced. Also, he had dislocated his right shoulder when he hit the ground as it was the only way to prevent accidental suicide with his sword. He had a sneaking suspicion that the blonde already knew of his presence and had done that just to cause injury before the actual fight, but he wasn't sure.

By the time Zabuza had stood up, cleaned off his face, and relocated his shoulder, Shino had revived Hinata again. Zabuza threw his sword with his left arm and used Shunshin to appear in a tree that the sword would arrive at if it missed.

Naruto, Shino, and Hinata dodged easily. Kurenai pushed Tazuna into the dirt as she dove for cover. Naruto said the first thing that came to mind as the sword passed over his head.

"I've heard of compensation but DAAAAAAAAAAMMMNNN!"

Zabuza facefaulted again. With his face in the dirt, he was unable to catch the large weapon and so it imbedded itself into a tree about eight meters away.

Irritated, the nukenin from Kiri quickly stood up and composed himself only to turn and find that Kurenai had finished making hand seals for a jutsu.

"Magen: Kunaigakure!"

She disappeared. Zabuza stood there for a second, before he kicked to his right, hitting Kurenai in the solar plexus and dispelling her genjutsu while she was sent flying. Zabuza made a few seals while he dodged Hinata's shuriken.

"Kirigakure no jutsu!" (Hidden Mist no jutsu)

The area was soon covered in dense fog.

"Foolish of the Jounin to think that she could get to me without my notice. She didn't know that I can detect heartbeats and breaths from up to fifty meters away."

"Your name is Momochi Zabuza, isn't it?" asked Naruto.

"How would you know that, shorty?"

Naruto growled. "My mother used to read me the Bingo Book to put me to sleep when I was younger. I recognize you by the lack of eyebrows."

"Regardless...There are eight targets. Throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidney, heart... so many choices! What vital, vulnerable place shall I choose? Heh heh."

"Blah blah blah! Shino?"

"What?"

"Found him yet?"

"No."

"Hinata?"

"There is chakra in the mist itself. It is difficult to see through."

"Hmm... seems like we need something with a sense of smell. Kuchiyose!"

Suddenly, two separate laughing voices were heard. A pair of jackals stood next to Naruto, one on either side of him. One was wearing armor and the other was large and bulky.

"I welcome you with open arms," began Naruto. "Shinji and Yuki."

"Well-met, young clown!" said Shinji, the armored jackal. His armor was a gleaming black.

"We shall kill and laugh with you!" said Yuki, the larger female jackal.

A short distance away, Kurenai had her hands full with two Mizubunshin of Zabuza. He had obviously recovered his sword as each of the water clones had a sword of their own. It was taking all the knowledge Kurenai had just to keep up with the two clones. She knew that Zabuza was trying to keep her from aiding her students, and she hoped to the kami that they would be okay. She also knew that Zabuza was stronger than her... if only she could use her genjutsu! But all the ones she knew targeted the eyes first!

"I got the brow-less freak," said Naruto. "Protect the old fart, okay Shino? Okay Hinata?"

"Wakatta," replied Shino.

"O-okay," stuttered Hinata.

"Not going to happen," said Zabuza as he appeared in between Tazuna, Shino, and Hinata. Hinata stumbled away from Zabuza and Shino jumped away from the swordsman. Tazuna fell backwards.

Just before Zabuza could do anything, Shinji bit his head off, revealing it to simply be a water clone. Suddenly, Zabuza was there with his sword sticking into Shinji's back through a small slit in between his armor plates. Another Shinji was suddenly there and it bit into Zabuza, dispelling yet another water clone. The first Shinji fell apart to reveal empty armor.

"Yoroibunshin no jutsu," stated the real Shinji smugly. (Armor Clone no jutsu)

Yuki then howled. The air in the area got colder and snow began to fall, slowly at first but with increasing speed. Soon, the ground was covered in snow. Oddly enough, the fog still permeated the area.

"Yuki: Tsuiga no jutsu!" called out the female jackal. (Snow: Tracking Fang no jutsu)

Yuki sank into the snow as if she were a rock dropped in a pond. As she began searching for Zabuza, Shinji and Naruto were busy blocking projectiles that were coming at Tazuna and/or Hinata. Shino had gone off to find Kurenai.

Suddenly, Yuki found Zabuza standing on top of a nearby pond which had somehow not frozen yet. She leapt out of the snow as if she were leaping out from behind a bush and nearly tackled the swordsman. However, Zabuza anticipated the attack and moved out of the way at the last second.

"Suirou no jutsu," said Zabuza calmly, trapping the female jackal in a sphere of water. (Water Prison no jutsu)

Yuki laughed. Zabuza's eyes widened as he realized the implications of her giving away her position. Before he could do anything else, he was tackled by no less than forty of Naruto's shadow clones. Since his concentration was broken, he lost control of his Suirou and his water clones.

The nukenin from Kiri quickly dispelled the clones on top of him with a quick swing of his sword just in time to get clocked by the real Naruto (who landed back on the shoreline afterwards). As Zabuza attempted to regain his balance, Yuki came at him again, charging across the top of the water. Just before she was able to attack, Zabuza managed to slash her jugular. Fearing for her life, she returned to the world of the summons, taking her snow with her.

"Congratulations," said Shinji. "You managed to scare my older sister away."

"Shinji," began Naruto. "He's my kill." He turned to Zabuza. "I'm going to take your sword from your dead hands, okay?" The young Uzumaki was grinning like a maniac.

Zabuza simply began making hand seals to perform a jutsu. To his surprise, Naruto mimicked his movements exactly except the boy was still grinning.

"I'm going to wipe that smug grin off of your face! Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu!" (Water Release: Water Dragon Blast no jutsu)

Acting on instinct and what little knowledge Naruto had of chakra, he suddenly released his own version by adding the monkey seal at the end of the seals. "Suiton: )Caustic( Ryudan no jutsu!" (Water Release: Caustic Dragon Blast no jutsu)

A dragon made of water rose from the pond to attack Naruto only to be intercepted by a near-identical dragon made of a sickly green liquid. The two attacks cancelled each other out. Shino and Kurenai had returned to the group just in time to witness Naruto copy Zabuza's attack.

"How do you like them apples!"

"Why you little monkey!"

As Zabuza charged Naruto, the blonde quickly went through three seals: snake, boar, and monkey. Realizing what was going on, Shinji threw Tazuna and Hinata onto his back while Shino and Kurenai dove for cover. The jackal followed them. Naruto put his palm in the air and spun around once. ")Caustic Barrier( no jutsu!"

The green liquid surrounded the young clown creating a barrier. Zabuza's sword came down in a vertical slash only to be stopped by the barrier. The metal of the sword was beginning to wear away as it remained in contact with the barrier. Realizing that he was just wasting a good sword, Zabuza backed off.

")Caustic Barrier Conversion: Caustic Bomb( no jutsu!"

Zabuza didn't have time to react and was hit by the blast of acid. Not only were his clothes ruined and his skin badly burned, but he was thrown backwards into a tree. Naruto landed on the branch above him and drew a kunai as Kurenai, Tazuna, Shino, Hinata, and Shinji exited from the brush.

"I'm going to stab your face off now," he said cheerfully.

Suddenly, two senbon needles flew from off to the side into Zabuza's neck, apparently killing him. As the man's body fell to the ground, a Kirinin caught it before it hit. The Kirinin was wearing a Kiri ANBU mask.

"Thank you for stopping him long enough for me to catch him," said the masked person. "We of Kiri have been hunting this one for a long time."

"You're a jerk, you know that?" replied Naruto angrily. "He was my kill!"

"Sorry about that but it was my mission to kill him. I'm going to go dispose of the body now." With that, the young ANBU left the area.

"YOU STUPID JERK! YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST LEFT HIS SWORD BEHIND!" shouted Naruto as he raised his fists into the air. Suddenly, Naruto didn't feel so good. He realized that he was pretty much out of chakra. He blacked out and fell towards the ground.

"Naruto!" called out both Kurenai and Hinata, but before the boy hit the ground Shinji caught him.

"Well, that was fun," chuckled the jackal as he set Naruto down on the ground. "Do tell him to call again, okay?" With that, Shinji returned to the world of summons.

"Naruto's probably okay," mused Shino. "More than likely he simply used up all of his chakra." He looked at Kurenai. "How long has that kunai been in your leg?"

"One of the Mizubunshin must have had a real kunai," replied Kurenai.

She then passed out from the blood loss and sudden lack of adrenaline. Shino was there to catch her. He pulled the offending stabbity object out of her leg and administered first aid.

"Tazuna? Help me carry Kurenai-sensei. Hinata? Go carry Naruto."

"O-okay!" she replied nervously.

They arrived at Tazuna's home about thirty minutes later and laid both Kurenai and Naruto out on mats. Just as Hinata was about to place a blanket over Naruto's body, his eyes shot open.

"I didn't think Heaven would be this beautiful!" he said, acting as though he was still half-asleep.

Hinata fainted and fell forwards. Naruto caught her and gently laid her down where he was on the mat before. He placed the blanket on her and stood up. He turned to see Shino shaking his head at him, obviously (to Naruto anyway) amused.

"So, where are we?"

"Tazuna's house."

"How long was I out?"

"About thirty to thirty-five minutes."

"Wow. I was tired. Anyone else live here?"

"Just Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, and her son, Inari."

"What happened to Kurenai-sensei?"

"Apparently, one of the water clones had stabbed her with a real kunai. We didn't notice until you had passed out."

Naruto laughed at that.

"Anyway," began the blonde. "What did you think of that hunter-nin?"

"I seriously doubt that our masked 'friend' had killed Zabuza, else the body would have been disposed of on the spot."

"I agree with Shino," said Kurenai weakly as she began to sit up. "More than likely, the 'hunter-nin' was Zabuza's accomplice; a fail-safe against him getting defeated. We will have to face the both of them when the time comes." She looked over at Hinata. "I see you've been flirting with her again, Naruto."

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about," replied Naruto sarcastically.

Tazuna and Tsunami entered the room, smiles on their faces.

"We'd like to thank you for defending me against Zabuza," said the old man.

"He's not dead," replied Naruto. "He was only mostly dead."

Kurenai explained her theory to Tazuna.

"Are you sure you're not just being paranoid?" asked the old man.

"I'm sure," replied Kurenai.

"Hinata's awake," stated Shino.

"Oh, good!" replied Tsunami. "Dinner will be ready in about half an hour."

"Wanna know what I just realized?" Naruto asked to no one in particular. "I have another chance to take that sword!"

"You really want that thing, don't you?" asked Tazuna.

"Sure do! It's the perfect thing to give you a very close shave with!" Everyone else sweatdropped.

"Perhaps we'll get to kill this Gatou person as well," mused Shino.

"You'll die," said a young boy's voice. It was Inari, and he was standing at the door to the room.

"How do you know?" asked Naruto, curious as to whether the boy was a prophet or not.

"All who stand against Gatou die. There is no point in even making the effort to resist like Grandpa is doing. You'll all die."

"You make a very compelling argument; allow me a rebuttal," said Naruto. "BOOT TO DA HEAD!"

Inari was sent across the room and hit the wall. He slumped down like a rag doll.

"INARI!" exclaimed both Tazuna and Tsunami.

"Oh don't worry," said the blonde ninja in an annoyed tone. "He'll live. I made sure." There was a short pause, and then Naruto snapped his fingers. "That's what I forgot!"

Both the old man and his daughter assumed that Naruto really did kill the boy. Hinata's mind had gone blank. Kurenai was exasperated. Shino suspected a joke was on the way.

"I didn't bring any of my instant ramen packets with me!"

Facefaults across the board!

"Naruto," began Kurenai. "What made you remember that just now?"

"I smell dinner."

After dinner, Kurenai outlined a plan for them all to train as it would take some time for Zabuza to recover enough to come after Tazuna again. She outlined that all three of the Genin needed some chakra control training, so they would be learning how to climb trees without the use of their arms.

The next morning they set out for training. Hinata did surprisingly well, and she was able to reach the top of her tree by noon. Kurenai sent her off to guard Tazuna while he worked on the bridge. Naruto and Shino weren't doing so well, and the blonde was doing a lot worse than his bespectacled friend. By dinner, the bug user had managed to reach the top whereas Naruto was only eight feet off of the ground.

Hinata and Tazuna returned home from the bridge and Kurenai, Shino, and Naruto returned from training. Naruto and Inari had another argument that ended with the smaller boy getting a black eye. Tazuna tried to pacify Naruto by telling him the story of Inari's stepfather, Kaiza.

"So all he does about it is cry?" asked Naruto.

"Um... I guess so."

Naruto gave the old man a look that screamed "your grandson is an idiot!" Before anyone could stop him, Naruto ran up the stairs to Inari's room and broke down the door.

"You IDIOT! You think crying is going to bring him back! Boy, do I have news for you! Kaiza would never want to see a frown on your face, so crack a smile! That won't bring him back, but it WILL piss Gatou off! And I can swear to you that Gatou will die soon!"

Naruto marched down the stairs with a smile on his face.

"I feel better now."

Inari was still in his room, a shocked expression on his face. Well, he looked as shocked as anyone could with the filling for a coconut creme pie covering his face (yes, it was a regular pie). Sometime during all the shouting, he had dropped the picture of Kaiza he had been holding. It lay there on the ground, the glass cracked. The boy wasn't able to bring himself to cry.

The next morning, Naruto set out to get the training done as soon as he could. His chakra control was still not very good, and he spent much of the day trying to run up a tree. Kurenai returned several times to check on his progress and make sure he ate. She'd leave a meal for him and return to find it had been eaten, but she never saw him cease in his training.

He continued on into the night, constantly trying to use his chakra to latch onto the tree and make it to the top. Every so often, the blonde's rants about how gravity was an idiotic jerk could be heard.

Eventually, morning found Naruto exhausted on the ground near the tree he had been using for training. However, the blonde was not alone. A feminine boy of the age of fourteen was searching for certain medicinal herbs when he found the young ninja asleep on the ground.

The feminine boy reached for the blonde as if to strangle him, but he hesitated as if he was deciding what to do. Finally, he decided to shake the blonde awake.

As soon as he touched Naruto, the blonde clown was instantly awake. He immediately sat up and had a kunai to the feminine boy's neck.

Blink.

"Don't ever touch a sleeping ninja," said the blonde.

"I'll have to remember that," replied the older boy.

Naruto put his kunai back in his weapons pouch. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Who are you?"

"My name is Haku."

"What are you doing out here?"

"I am collecting medicinal herbs. And I'm sorry if you're too poor to be able to sleep inside a building but..."

"Who said I was poor? I was training all night last night. I fell asleep only a few hours ago."

"Training?"

"To become stronger, naturally."

"For what reason?"

"So that I can spread smiles and laughter across the world!"

"... I'm afraid that doesn't make any sense."

"To you it doesn't."

"Don't you have any precious people you'd like to protect?"

"Maybe."

"That is a much better reason to become stronger, and you'll become stronger faster that way as well."

"I'll take your anonymous suggestion into consideration."

"How is that an anonymous suggestion? I gave it to you in person and you know my name."

"... Why don't you have a sense of humor?"

"What?"

"Never mind. Well, I ought to be going, Ma'am."

"Me too. And I'm actually a boy."

"Already knew that, Ma'am. You simply look like a girl, blah blah blah. Unless you cut your hair, I'm going to call you Ma'am."

"... Whatever. I'll see you later."

"Maybe. Just maybe."

The day progressed much like the day before: Naruto trained, Kurenai fed him, Hinata and Shino guarded Tazuna at the bridge, and Zabuza recovered some more.

That night saw Zabuza fully recovered and ready to attack the next day. It also saw Naruto reach the top of the stupid tree. He returned to Tazuna's house, exhausted. He slept like a rock all through the night.

Morning found Kurenai, Shino, Hinata, and Tazuna heading for the bridge. They decided to let Naruto sleep in, against Shino's suggestion that they wake him.

Additionally, Haku and Zabuza were also heading for the bridge.