(Later That Evening)
In the living room of the house sat the two teams in their entirety. Kakashi had just told them everything that Naruto and Menma had gotten from their mission infiltrating Gato' s mansion.
"So..." Ino started once all of the cards had been lain out for everyone to take note of, "You got within arm's reach of Zabuza's hunter-ninja and you guys ended up getting captured?" She asked to Naruto who looked away with his arms crossed.
Naruto let out an indignant snort, "It was late, we didn't know Zabuza was there." He grabbed at his hair and messed it all up, "What do you want from me? Kami, my head is spinning. I'm starting to hate my clones. The feedback is starting to piss me off." Naruto calmed himself and pulled his goggles down over his eyes so that he didn't have to directly meet anyone else's.
Kakashi chose to step in at this point, "Right... well now we know to be ready for tomorrow, and what have we learned from Gato's man?"
Menma spoke up after being more or less prompted to by Kakashi, "Gato's going to wait until after we're done fighting and then he's going to bring all of his manpower to finish off whoever wins. We know where he is though. It's not like he's really even hiding. He has a mansion that he's been constructing about 20 miles outside of town for the last year or so."
Sasuke thought for a moment, "So it's not even complete... That means that no matter how many men there are guarding the place inside or out there's going to be a way in."
Shikamaru then groaned slightly, "Is anyone here other than one of the jounin really good enough to get in and out without having the entire place try to tear them apart?"
The only person that raised their hands were Naruto and Menma, albeit slowly. Sakura looked at them both with a strange stare, "And why do you two think you can do that and get away?"
Menma and Naruto looked at each other before shrugging and answering simultaneously, "Meisaigakure no Jutsu/Because I'm awesome."
Ino looked over at Naruto and shook her head, "Of course you'd say that wouldn't you?"
Sakura let out a huff at Naruto's seemingly arrogant remark about himself, "And what exactly makes you so 'awesome' Naruto. I could accept Menma's reason, but other than raising an army of clones to fight them how would you get in and out unseen?"
"Aw come on Sakura-chan." Naruto said, "I'm not bad. I painted the Hokage Monument didn't I?"
Shikamaru scratched his head as he worked out his explanation, "And, well you just said it. Naruto can make a ton of Kage Bunshin to directly attack the place, and while that's happening the real Naruto and Menma under meisaigakure can easily capture some guy they wind up getting a hold of then Menma could probably use transformation jutsu move under the guise of saying that he caught him outside and brought him to Gato for interrogation."
Sakura's eyes widened, "That's... actually not bad at all. But don't they just go away after one hit or something?"
Naruto nodded, "Well yeah, but that doesn't mean that they can't raise enough hell to come off as a threat at least." He then looked down, "But I'm more worried about the whole thing with Zabuza. We know where he is. What are we going to do about that?"
Asuma looked over at his male blonde student, "Send a clone and tell them about what Gato is going to do. Hopefully they won't destroy it and they'll give you a chance to explain." He sighed, "If they destroy it or don't believe us then it won't matter anyway."
A shake of the head from Naruto was his reply, "No... I think that if I'm going to go I should go myself. If I don't go then they definitely won't trust us once the clone gets dispelled."
"That's really not a good idea Naruto." Shikamaru interjected, "Going all by yourself would just get you killed."
"If I don't go alone then they'll be suspicious and attack us before we get close enough to explain." Naruto tried to defend, "I've got to at least try to get them to trust me."
Asuma patted him on the shoulder, "If you go alone then that would make them more suspicious since they know that we would operate in a group. Zabuza would be the one to pick you off for sure then, not the Haku girl, and you would be wiped out in a second by someone of Zabuza's caliber. If you think you have to go then Menma, Shikamaru, and Ino will go with you."
Kakashi looked over at his fellow jounin, "Are you sure about this Asuma? This is a very unnecessary risk to be taking the night before the attack is supposed to happen."
A nod and a grin came from Asuma, "I trust my kids. If Naruto says we can stop this without fighting then I believe him. Besides, we'd have to fight anyway even if he was wrong. Why not get it out of the way?"
Naruto jumped up out of his chair, "Yeah, absolutely this can work. They have to know that Gato is a total snake, they should know that he might have pulled something like this. It's not farfetched enough that they won't even think about it." He gave a grin to everyone sitting there, "I can promise that at least they'll hear it out."
"Well in that case." Asuma said, "You, Menma, Shikamaru, and Ino should set out, take what you think you're going to need, and Naruto's going to be leading the way. Him and Menma are only the ones who knows where the hideout is. I won't go on this mission with you guys because it will less suspicious if it's only a couple of genin and not a jonin."
________________________________________________________________________________
(Hours Later)
The only thing barely illuminating the forest that Naruto, Shikamaru, Menma and Ino were walking through at the moment was the faint wisps of light that would poke through the leaves and hit the ground. They had to say, it was a great hideout. There was a very little chance of light slipping through at all and that meant very bad things for anyone trying to navigate the area without previous knowledge of where it was.
"Are you sure you know where you're going Naruto?" Ino asked him in a hushed tone as they continued moving carefully through the woods, "I mean, shouldn't we be waiting for tomorrow when we know the attack is going to happen, or going after Gato himself to end the whole thing?"
Shikamaru had his eyes sharp and at attention in case of some sort of trap on the way, "Why wait to fight when we could possibly stop it now before it ever even happens. Either way we'd have to fight, at least this way we might not have to, or at least we can give them something to think about." Shikamaru nudged Naruto with his elbow, "You're going to want to start making those Kage Bunshin and have them start surrounding us for when they realize we're here."
Naruto shook his head with a determined look on his face, "No. That'll just spook them won't it? They'll definitely try to fight once they see that. I don't want to fight them at all."
"And you think I do?" Shikamaru said, "But if we don't and they attack anyway then my best plan isn't going to be worth a damn. You're tying my hands here Naruto."
"Sorry." Naruto said to him, not changing his tone, "But since I've been a ninja all I've seen the whole job being about is a lot of backstabbing, power plays at others expenses... I haven't seen anything honest or good about it yet." He shook his head, "I don't want to be one of those guys that are all about nothing but the mission. People are important too. More important."
'Damn it...' Shikamaru thought to himself with an audible sigh, 'This kid's going to get us all killed here... I should have just stayed home from that first mission to Kusa, what a troublesome mission.'
Naruto forced everyone to a stop when he recalled the area that his clone had stopped at, and nearby lay a fallen tree, evidence of Zabuza's attempt to get himself back up to speed. Taking a deep breath, Naruto took a few steps forward and inhaled deeply, "Haku!" He yelled, "Haku come out here! I know you're here and I know who you are! I just want to talk!" He walked a few more steps forward and kept yelling.
'Come on Naruto...' Ino thought to herself, her eyes firmly on their surroundings, mostly out in front of them, 'Get back into formation. Don't make me have to go and get you.'
A mist began to settle over the area, something putting everyone on edge as they had all been told about how Zabuza fights. Naruto almost began to step back into line with everyone else before he found enough courage to stay out there, something that a chuckling voice found amusing, "That's very brave of you brat. Not very smart by any stretch of the imagination, but still very brave.
Most of the group felt the sensation of choking from the oppressive aura that had set over them. However, Menma was itching at a second chance to fight the rogue jonin. Ino couldn't even reach for a kunai in case they were attacked. Shikamaru wasn't that better off, but he at least was still thinking in overdrive, 'Come on Naruto, get back over here. This guy's going to cut you in half if you don't.'
Naruto bit on his tongue to keep himself from moving from his spot and to keep from shaking, "I came here to tell you something."
"Tell me something?" Zabuza said tauntingly, "Sorry kid, but I'm not the kind of guy that follows anyone's last words, wishes, requests, or anything like that. And you know what I'm kinda pissed off from that explosive clone that burned me a little from the other day."
"It's about you!" Naruto yelled, "It's about you and whatever it is that you have with Gato!" Naruto recomposed himself and started speaking to the open air again, "Look, I know you're going to attack tomorrow, or you were until we came here, but that's the thing. Gato's not going to pay you after you beat us and kill old man Tazuna, he's going to use a bunch of his own men to come in and finish off whoever's left, us or you. Go and confront him about it."
Zabuza's voice echoed out in laugher, "You certainly know more about ninja life than just the fighting part. That's a good little bit of deception kid. Trying to use me to find Gato's base itself and take out your problem at the head right there."
Naruto wanted to pull his hair out, "We already know where he is, we just don't want to fight you over this! He's not going to pay you so there's no reason for us to be enemies! I don't want to fight you." Naruto then hopped back as the ground in front of him took a deep gash from some huge weapon.
"You're damn right you don't want to fight me, but this isn't about me is it? This is about Haku."
"Fine..." Naruto said, trying to get his heart rate back down after almost potentially losing his legs, "You're right. I don't care about you, not really. I'm here because of Haku. Even if everything she said and did was because she didn't know how to kill me in the best and easiest way, I want to believe that she's actually that kind all the time. And someone like that doesn't need to get betrayed by some loser like Gato."
"Haku?" Zabuza called out, "Haku is my weapon brat. If I told her to right now she'd put you down without a second thought. She may be kind, but she can kill her heart just like any good shinobi can and she can get the job done. It doesn't matter if she was kind to you or not."
Naruto looked down, fists shaking, "Still... that shouldn't matter. This is the right thing to do. I told you what I had to say, if you want to try and kill us now go ahead. All I have to say is that you're really stupid if you're going to fight us after all of this." He then pointed his finger in a direction roughly at his 3 o'clock into the mist and trees, "I know you're there, you've been moving around the entire time." He then shifted to his 9 o'clock and pointed up in a tree, "I know you're there too Haku."
Menma looked at the laziest genin after hearing the positions of Zabuza and Haku, "You hear that Shikamaru?"
Shikamaru nodded silently, 'My shadow can only stretch to reach one, it can't branch off far enough to get them both yet. Ino's jutsu might be able to get the Haku person, but if she realizes it's coming and what it is she can move and we're out one of our side until Ino recovers. I swear Naruto, you're a logistical nightmare.'
Zabuza's voice sounded relatively displeased at being discovered, "Hmm, I didn't know the kid was a sensor. He's pretty good too even if I wasn't really trying."
"I don't even care anymore." Naruto said as he turned back and started walking towards his squad, "I told you what I knew, if you believe me or not I don't care. Fight us now or fight us tomorrow. I'm done with this." He said in an angry tone. His eyes flickered towards the tree that his sensory jutsu located Haku's silhouette for a moment before he let out another burst to reveal that she was still there, 'You could have at least come out and said something yourself.'
Menma waited for Naruto to get back over to them before he grabbed him by the shoulder as they were walking away, "Don't ever do anything like that ever again. I know you could find him, but even if he had attacked could you have stopped him?" Naruto frowned at his brother's stern tone and shook his head, "That means that I would have had to move in to keep you in one piece and that would have left us exposed to the other one in hiding. That could have gotten us all killed."
Shikamaru and Ino were shocked, never in their life would they have thought that Menma would scold Naruto on any of the things he did.
"I'm sorry Menma." Naruto said apologetically, "It's just-..." He stopped trying to reason it out and just kept walking in silence.
Ino kept looking behind them at the area where they were confronted, "So did it work? Did Naruto get through to them?"
"I don't know." Menma admitted, "But they haven't attacked us yet. That has to count for something."
XxX
(Hours Later)
By now the sun had begun to rise as Naruto led them back through the forest to return to Tazuna's house. As an afterthought and because of the habit he had developed while they were moving about he let out a pulse of his jutsu and narrowed his eyes in anger, "Guys... we're being followed. It's Zabuza and Haku-ch... Haku." He could feel himself getting angrier, "I'm sorry, my plan was so stupid."
Menma let out a sigh, "You stood up for what you thought was the right thing to do. I can't be mad at you for that, and we were going to fight them today anyway. It's better we do it here than near Tazuna." They continued to walk for a moment until Menma brought out three of his swords two in each hand and one in his mouth.
Menma thought for a moment, 'I can fight Zabuza, but he's going to use his mist. With Naruto I would be able to find him no sweat, but I can't just break up the team with this Haku with him. Man I wish Asuma-sensei and Kakashi were here.'
Shikamaru and Ino moved towards their third and fourth genin partner with the female of the team speaking to her fellow blonde, "This is going to be our first actual battle against another ninja. How are you feeling Naruto?" She asked apprehensively to the boy that seemed to be shaking slightly.
"Pissed." He replied, clinching his fists, "More pissed than scared. I'm not even that scared. I got you all into this, and now we're fighting the people I tried to warn."
Hearing the anger in his voice took the fear out of Ino's body. Naruto wasn't even flinching once he saw the mist begin creeping over them. This got her own confidence to increase, and looking at Shikamaru she could see that he wasn't about to waver either, "Then we'll just have to show them what a bad choice they made when we kick their asses."
"Kick whose ass little girl?"
Menma wheeled around and blocked a slash from Zabuza's large sword with all three of his swords, "Guys get back. I'll handle this! Worry about the other one drifting around somewhere."
"I know where she is!" Naruto yelled, running off in that direction, his teammates trailing behind, "Follow me, we'll be done soon!"
Menma smirked, "I'm sure you will Bro." He then focused on Zabuza, "So you're willing to be stupid about this? Naruto told you what you needed to know and you're still going through with the job."
"I can just complete the mission now and find Gato after I'm done." Zabuza said off-handedly, "If he's really going to not pay me then Haku and I will get rid of him, simple as that. Until then, I'm still under contract so to speak, and I'm not hedging my bets on some bleeding heart genin. This mission is more important than you know."
"You're damn right it is." Menma growled back, "This bridge is the only way that these people can be free from Gato. We're not just fighting because it's our mission, this is the right thing to do." He pushed back and squared off against Zabuza, "Besides, my comrades won't lose to your fake hunter-ninja."
Zabuza laughed as he faded back into the mist, "Haku is far from a 'fake'. She's more than enough for your little team of baby ninja, just like me against you would be overkill. At least when I fought Kakashi I knew him from sight. I don't even know who you are."
Menma chuckled, "Heh, I wouldn't expect you to know after all I'm still a genin....but trust me when I say this you will regret the day you met me I've been itching for this fight since before I even came to konoha." He made a set of hand-seals and kept the last one intact, "Raiton: Kuropansa! (Lightning Release: Black Panther)!" From Menma came a rather powerful black lightning from his body, the blast of lightning blew all of the mist away, leaving him in the far more visible early morning forest, "That's much better. It's going to be a beautiful day isn't it?"
Zabuza grumbled to himself lowly from his hiding place as he began to pull out his Kubikiribōchō, "Yeah, beautiful. It'll be the last sunrise you'll ever see."
XxX
(With Team 10)
Naruto stopped with Ino and Shikamaru bringing up the rear, all prepared to fight. Naruto growled angrily at not only being deceived, but at being ignored and then taken advantage of as well, "Haku get out here!" Naruto and the others waited for a moment before he yelled again, "I know exactly where you are! Get out here!" Again, he got no response, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu)!"
A mess of Naruto clones went into the woods, before long the sound of multiple faint pops came from the foliage. Shikamaru hunched down, ready to move, "Here we go."
From the woods in a blur flew Haku, right at Shikamaru and Ino before Naruto jumped in between her and them and took a swing at her with a kick that missed when Haku jumped away, "Naruto..." She said as she stared down Naruto, backed by his team, "I really don't wish to fight you, but you're in the way of us and the bridge-builder."
"I already told you everything you had to know about your mission Haku." Naruto said to her coldly, "I told you that the guy paying you was going to stab you in the back once you completed it, I told you what was going to happen today once you tried attacking the bridge. You chose to do this anyway."
"There was nothing I could do." She said, her face obscured by a mask and her clothing a type that was what probably fooled Team 7 into believing that she was a hunter-ninja. That seemed to be what Haku was good at, deceiving people, people like him, "Zabuza-sama thought you were attempting to deceive him, and he had to take advantage of finding where Tazuna was without having to wait for him to get to the bridge."
Naruto's usually exuberant blue eyes didn't hold any speck of their usual kindness in them, "I don't have anything else to say to you Haku. We're going to beat you and you're going to fail. Then you'll see firsthand that you were wrong."
Haku pulled out a senbon, putting the rest of the team on edge, "I can't lose here. Zabuza-sama's ambition is resting on us obtaining the money that we need from this mission. Losing her would mean the end of his dream and I cannot allow that to happen. I'll kill you all if I have to, all to help Zabuza-sama with his dream. That is my job as his tool. For what it's worth Naruto I hope you can forgive me for this, for what I did and what I'm about to do."
Shikamaru had his eyes locked firmly on Haku, "Naruto I need you to slow her down. She moves faster than my shadow can go. Ino won't be able to pick her off either if she stays moving at this same speed. Can you do it?"
Naruto punched his palm, "For sure. I know I can do it, just be ready, and if she gets past me before you can get her get ready to fight." Naruto took a breath and rushed at Haku, making a contingent of 4 clones to head in with him.
The senbon in Haku's hand found itself deposited through one of the clones, dispelling it, but with three clones and the original Naruto remaining she found herself in hot retreat to avoid Naruto and his clones who were actually pretty fast, 'He's not just sudden with his subtle movements like I saw yesterday morning, he's actually very fleet-footed!'
Shikamaru watched Naruto and his clones pursue Haku as he remained at the ready to engage with his jutsu, 'Naruto knew right off the bat when we were put on this team that he and Menma were the muscle, in every sense of the word too bad Menma is preoccupied at the moment. At first Ino and I were around their speed but they just rocketed past us on that front. Memma is the fastest in our group but in terms of physical strength Naruto is the strongest of us, and with those clones he can prepare in advance I have tons of soldiers to work with, but now's not the time for a plan like that. There's no way to set it up and no way for all of those numbers to aptly take on a single opponent.'
Ino watched Naruto fight as well as another two of his clones found themselves vanquished by Haku's ranged attack, 'Naruto's really not nervous at all about fighting an enemy shinobi. Is he really that angry that he isn't scared at all? Well if he's not going to be scared then I won't be either. I just have to be ready to back him up. Shikamaru and I are no good in a close-up fight, and throwing any kind of weapon from here wouldn't help him at all.'
'I can't fucking get a hold on her.' Naruto thought to himself as he found Haku always just out of his reach. All he needed was a mere tap. Just his fingers brushing something on her would be all that he needed to slow her down enough to grab her and unleash hell on her up close, but she had clearly picked up something from the way he fought when they first met, because she knew that if he got a good hold on her it was game over, 'I need to cut her off, or corral her. Shikamaru can stop her and Ino can finish her, all I have to do is slow her down!'
"There's lots of moisture in the air for me to work with against you." Haku said to Naruto as she continued to stay just out of his reach, knowing that if he laid a hand on her he would quickly overpower her. She was also slowly leading him away from his team, but he was tougher to coerce away from them than she figured he would be. He would always jump back and force her to come towards him to continue engaging, "It's too bad Naruto-kun, but you and your team cannot defeat me if you're the only direct fighter that you have. Once I get rid of you they'll both fall easily enough."
Naruto and his last remaining clone were lunging at Haku with everything that they had in their arsenal to get close, but with Haku in a strict mode of backpedaling there was only so much that he could do. She was leading him, but where? His team was close by enough to keep her from trying to fight him directly, but she was still staying active. He slowly found himself catching up to her as he could swear that his fist almost hit her mask one time, 'Come on, a little closer and I can grab her.'
Haku could have gotten away from Naruto any time she wanted. He was fast, very fast for a new genin, very fast for any genin period, but the name of her game was speed all the way, and she had just been baiting him the entire time. She let him think he had been close to hitting her the entire time so that he wouldn't know where she was leading him. The day they met hadn't been the only day that week she had been in these woods, and on one of her excursions out that way she found a little something useful.
"That's close enough Naruto." Haku said as she kicked it into second gear and got a good distance away from him before coming to a stop, "Now... Sensatsu Suishou (Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death)!"
Naruto looked around and saw that he and his clone were now standing at the edge of a lake that Haku herself was standing atop, 'I chased her to a lake? And she even got me to stop short before I realized it!' An uncountable number of needles rose from the lake all pointing at him and his clone on all sides. Naruto's clone quickly grabbed Naruto and threw him into the air just as the needles came to bear and impaled the Kage Bunshin, ending its existence in a puff of smoke.
Naruto landed back on the ground glaring at Haku who was calmly standing on the surface of the water. The boy didn't say a word, he simply reached inside of his open orange vest and pulled out a fuuma shuriken that he quickly unfolded to its full point before hefting it across the water.
Haku had her eyes beaded on it all the way through and jumped out of its path only for the shuriken to burst into smoke and out from it rushed Naruto. Before Haku's foot touched the surface of the water to land from her dodge, Naruto had grabbed a firm hold of her loose sleeve with a victorious smirk on her face, "Isn't this familiar? Only I'm not letting go this time!" A sharp yank on the sleeve pulled Haku towards him where he hit her in the body with a hard knee strike.
Haku doubled over his knee and let out a pained grunt, 'His raw physical strength is greater than mine. He's smaller than me but his frame packs a lot of muscle.' She thought to herself before she found herself jerked upright by the collar of her battle kimono with both of Naruto's hands. A hard headbutt was what met her that she could feel through the mask. Having had enough of getting beaten up, Haku freed herself from his grasp by ripping the collar of the kimono, revealing the dark-green turtle-neck sweater underneath.
She quickly got herself away from Naruto and looked down at the surface of the water where a line of shadow was trailing away from him.
XxX
In the bushes surrounding the lake, Shikamaru cursed to himself, "Damn it. I was too slow. Naruto had her for a good long time and I couldn't finish."
Ino was hidden along with him watching Naruto and Haku square off again, "Do you think he can get her again? That trick with him switching with a clone and transforming into the shuriken was one of his best ones that I've seen him practice."
Shikamaru grit his teeth, "He can do it Ino. Naruto isn't the kind of guy that's all tapped out of surprises at a time like this. He'll pull something off." Inside his head though was a different story, 'All by himself out there... this is seriously troublesome. He's the only one out of us that can fight directly like this though and I can't walk on the water even if I could. I just need to keep waiting and looking for an opening. Come on Naruto, just keep yourself out of trouble and reel her in again. I won't miss twice.'
Ino was barely able to keep herself hidden as she watched. She could walk on water just like Naruto could, but in a battle like this she knew she had next to no chance. Haku would have gotten her with the water needle technique she saw Naruto's clone help him avoid earlier, "What do we do Shikamaru? What do we do? How can we help him?"
Almost beginning to hyperventilate, Shikamaru calmed himself down and put his fingers together in a circle. He shut his eyes and began taking deep breaths, "I don't know. Give me a second. I'll come up with something." 'Come on. I'm no good to anyone if I panic. If my damn brain is all I'm good for to this team right now then I'd better get to using it.'
XxX
Haku's eyes watched the shadow on the surface of the water trail back to the foliage at the edge of the lake, "I can see that your team is trying to help you. I was right in assuming that you were the only direct combat type on your team. Along with being the sensor of the squad, that's a lot of responsibility Naruto-kun, you must be some shinobi."
Naruto chuckled humorlessly, "Top of my class actually. I'm nothing but a glorified human shield for those guys. If they kick the bucket they have people that care about them. People will be sad if they die. Me on the other hand, I don't have anybody besides Menma." He grinned but the way his face looked as he closed his eyes showed that his heart wasn't into it, "Sure... maybe three or four people would be sad for a little while if I died, but they'd get over it quick, they have lives and loved ones. That's why I don't have any problems with my role on the team, it is what it is. And I'll protect them if I have to."
"I'm glad to hear that." Haku said, "True strength comes from protecting those that you hold dear. But I have someone to protect too, and his dream as well, and I cannot allow you to win here. After I finish you I will have to dispose of your teammates as well."
Naruto narrowed his eyes and formed his signature hand-seal, twenty Narutos popping up around him with the same looks on their faces, "Over my dead body Haku." He said determinedly.
Haku sighed and averted her eyes slightly, although Naruto couldn't see her face behind the mask, "I was afraid that you would say that Naruto-kun." She said reluctantly before making hand-seals and putting Naruto on guard. Quickly, a large dome of mirrors formed from the water and froze over, trapping Naruto and his clones inside, "Makyou Hyoushou (Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors)." Haku entered one of the mirrors and her masked appearance appeared in all twenty-one of them, "Now I'll show you just how fast I really am."