Hinata and Ino are always on their guard and ready for any kind of ambush. Tazuna rowed the boat through the river.
Naruto sits at the back with his hand behind his head and whistles. Kurenai sighs every time she looks at Naruto. Even as a teacher and Jonin she still doesn't know what he thinks.
Naruto suddenly looked at Kurenai thoughtfully. Kurenai also noticed this. She feels like he will ask something embarrassing again.
Just when Naruto was about to ask, Kurenai said first "don't". Naruto acted sadly and disheartened as he looked down. Kurenai looks at him from the corner of her eyes and then looks at the front.
They reached the shore of the opposite side of the river. Tazuna gets down First followed by Hinata, Ino, Kurenai and finally Naruto.
Naruto seeing that his acting isn't working he looked at Kurenai and said "I will ask anyway." Kurenai Sigh as she knew this would happen.
"Sensei, isn't it hard for you with those bandages, if you needed to go to the toilet urgently?" Naruto asks confusedly.
Ino looks at Naruto and praises him in his heart 'you really have Guts, Naruto." Hinata almost tripped when she heard Naruto's question. The old man prays for Naruto's journey in the afterlife.
Kurenai was about to beat him in blue when She and Naruto said at the same time "everyone gets down"
Nobody waits and follows the order. Ino pulls Tazuna down with her.
A sword passed their head and hit the tree behind. And someone stands on top of the sword. Surprisingly he is also using bandages as clothes and also doesn't have any eyebrows.
Kurenai looked at the man standing on the sword with serious eyes. She stands in front of all of her students to protect them.
Naruto looked at the man thankfully. He just saved his ass from getting kicked. 'For this great favour, I will give you an easy death.'
"Zabuza Momochi of the mist"
"Kurenai Yuhi, the Genjutsu specialists"
Hinata and Ino protect Tazuna. Naruto also stands at their side and looks at the sword and its greedy eyes.
"Is he your brother, Sensei?"
"Just because we use bandages, doesn't make us related," Kurenai replied speechlessly.
Kurenai then shook her head and said while looking at the man "don't engage in this fight, protect the old man."
She then looks at Zabuza and asks "why did you block our way?"
Zabuza looked at the old man and said "I need that old man. You can leave without him."
Even though he said that he is completely guarded against her Genjutsu. It's easy to fight hand in hand combat for him, but battling against a Genjutsu user is not in his favour.
So he decided to do his job faster and kill the old man and face the Jonin from Konoha later. He made a clone and attacked Kurenai, while he personally went after the old man.
But Naruto, Hinata and Ino block his path. Kurenai is busy with the clone. She can't use Genjutsu on clones. She also made a clone to face Zabuza and help her students.
Zabuza sneers and releases his killing intent on Naruto and others. Hinata and Ino freeze. Their bodies start to shake unconsciously as their whole being is covered with sweat.
They feel like they will die if they move. Zabuza quickly ran towards them and sneered "you guys didn't even complete the blood ritual and want to stop me?"
Naruto starts acting. He acts like even though he is affected by the killing intent, he still tries hard to move and protect Tazuna. This gives Hinata and Ino a wake-up call but it is still not enough for them.
Naruto knew this. He secretly uses telekinesis and makes an invisible rope, Zabuza steps on it and he loses his balance but quickly holds himself. But it was enough for Kurenai to come and face Zabuza.
"Tch, so annoying," Zabuza said and faced Kurenai. Hinata and Ino give in and fall to the ground.
Kurenai sighs in relief, for a sec she was really worried for her students. She then concentrated on Zabuza and faced him with her full strength.
For Tazuna it was just a few seconds but for Ninjas, it was like a few minutes.
Naruto quickly runs towards Hinata and Ino and asks "are you guys okay?" They look at Naruto as they feel dry throats. They couldn't say anything.
Naruto uses chakra to calm them down. He also secretly uses telekinesis on Zabuza and restrains his movement.
Though Kurenai isn't weak, Zabuza is still on a different level. Don't forget he is one of the seven Ninja swordsmen.
Because of the restraint on his body, Zabuza couldn't fight in full force. He thought it was one of Kurenai's Genjutsu. But Kurenai didn't use her Genjutsu yet.
They fought for a minute. During the fight, Kurenai got hurt here and there. But it's not serious injuries as Naruto won't let that happen.
After exchanging so many moves, Kurenai made a few hand signs and attacked with Genjutsu.
Though Zabuza was guarded, he still got affected by it. It's not enough to restrain him completely but enough for Kurenai to give a lethal attack.
But before she could do anything, two sharp needles shot toward Zabuza's neck.
Kurenai Thought Zabuza has a partner so she jumps back and looked toward where the attack came from. She is ready for the ambush.
But she saw a man wearing a mask standing on a tree. Based on his body shape he should be the same age as Naruto and others.
"Thank you very much. I have been searching for an opportunity to kill him."
"That musk, you are a hidden mist hunter nin..?"
"Yes, you are correct."
Kurenai walks toward Zabuza and cheeks his pulse. She relaxes seeing that he is really dead.
The Hunter nin jumped down and walked towards the corpse of Zabuza and said "I will take his body."
Kurenai nodded her head. The masked man jumped down from the tree and took the body of Zabuza with him and vanished from there.
Just as they left, Kurenai fell to her knees. She is really tired and injured. Naruto quickly runs towards her and checks her injuries.
Kurenai looks at her worried students and feels a little touch. Hinata and Ino stand up and look at Naruto and Kurenai. They didn't say anything.
Naruto carries Kurenai in his arms. "I can walk." Naruto shook his head and said "don't, I will carry you. You take some rest."
Naruto looked at the old man and said "show us the way to your house." The old man quickly nodded and took them to his house.
Hinata and Ino are completely silent on their way. They didn't say a single word. They finally get to see the terror of Ninja world.
Naruto didn't say anything either. All this is his plan. If he wanted he could obliterate Zabuza with a single punch.
But Hinata and Ino both need to face this. They are still like blooming flowers in a dangerous world like Shinobi.
...
Naruto meets Tazuna's daughter. She is really a beautiful woman. He now doesn't mind another adopted son if he gets the chance.
Naruto takes Kurenai to one of the rooms. He lays her on a mattress and starts to heal her with medical ninjutsu. He already learned everything from Tsunade herself.
With his previous knowledge and the new one from Tsunade, he has now surpassed Tsunade herself.
Kurenai looks at Naruto shockingly. She didn't know Naruto is a medical-nin too. She also feels sweet watching him healing her with so much concentration.
'Really a good student. A little bit perverted but at least care for his team dearly' Kurenai thought.
After healing her completely Naruto looks at inattentive Hinata and Ino. He calls them "Hinata, Ino"
They look at Naruto. Naruto smiled and said "can you help sensei with the clean of her clothes? I will go out and check other things."
Hinata and Ino nodded their heads. Kurenai already noticed their worries. She sighed and decided to talk with her students.
Naruto gets up and leaves the room.