-Wave mission: Sakura-
The customer was rude, sure, but she just hated how he described her as a 'girl'. As if being a 'girl' was a good enough excuse. Hanako was short, so he was useless. Sasuke was a brat, so he was useless. But Sakura? She was useless because she was a girl. (She ignored how she used that exact fact to get things going her way in the past.)
She huffed, resisting the urge to run up and stomp in the puddle in front of them out of anger. She's studied her arse off harder than any other boy. Then she froze, forcing herself to relax as she eyed the water, then at her surroundings.
'A puddle?' She thought warily. 'What's it doing there?'
Inner didn't reply. She didn't when the answer was obvious: enemy ninja.
It was strange though, because C-Ranks weren't meant to- Tazuna had sweated nervously, eyes darting about, and he'd been dramatically upset over getting Genin.
'He's obviously hiding something.' Ino's voice provided. 'Look how suspicious he had been acting, Sakura. You should've paid more attention.'
She skipped up to Kakashi, trying not to falter with her shaking legs. She gripped onto his arm, harder than usual, and smiled up at him. "It's really a nice weather, isn't it, Kakashi-sensei?"
He turned to eye-smile down at her, "Yeah. No rain so we don't have to take shelter, ne?"
'He knew.' She released a breath.
'Of course he did,' Inner scoffed, 'He's a Jonin, arrogant girl.'
'...Yeah.'
Either way, she'd been useless in the following fight.
And the next.
Two Chuunin level Kiri-Nin emerged from a puddle, binding Kakashi with shuriken-laced chains before pulling and ripping him apart. The Genin, shocked, were unable to see through the Kawarimi technique and with Kakashi 'defeated', the two Kiri shinobi turned their attention to Tazuna.
Before they could land an attack, Sasuke and Hanako both intervened but their attacks were not synchronised. Although Tazuna was protected, the two Genin did not work well together. The Chuunin duo then split up, leaving one behind to attack the Genin as the other charged at Tazuna. Sakura, frustrated that she could not fight, had remembered the mission and stepped in front of Tazuna to defend him.
Before anything further could happen, Kakashi appeared and effortlessly defeated the duo, though both Hanako and Sasuke managed to attain small scratches from one of their poisoned weapons.
Kakashi expressed disappointment in the three of them for how poorly they showed teamwork. He mentioned how Sasuke and Hanako were not communicating and never had which caused their attempts to clash and told Sakura that while she did not make matters worse, she did not make them better either. Ultimately though, he gave them an offhanded acknowledgement on how calmly they handled the situation.
Tazuna questioned why Kakashi took so long to help, with the latter explaining that he could have defeated them quickly but needed to know who their target was. Kakashi pointed out that their target was Tazuna and that he had been hunted by ninja; the mission would be a B-Rank or higher, and a different team would have been assigned.
Sakura, overly ambitious, wanted to go on immediately. With a warning glance, Kakashi reminded Sakura that being eager to fight did not equate to becoming a better kunoichi. He then suggested they quit the mission, not only due to the higher difficulty but because of the two Genins' wounds. They are both unwilling to jeopardise the mission, and both unflinchingly removed the poison by using a kunai. Kakashi, seeing how one Genin was eager to an almost bloodthirsty level and the other two Genin weakened but still determined, he decided to continue with the mission.
Elsewhere, Gato, the man who hired the Demon Brothers to eliminate Tazuna, complained about their defeat to Zabuza, the duo's apparent boss. Zabuza raised his Kubikiribocho at Gatō to shut him up, and stated that he will handle it himself. Gatō informed him that they will be expecting another assault and that a high-level ninja was accompanying Tazuna. This doesn't faze Zabuza, who just replied that he was the "Demon of the Hidden Mist".
-Water prison: Kakashi-
Dread pooled in his stomach as he probed at the chakra trapping him. The kids weren't going to leave.
His Genin weren't going to leave.
Sasuke'd shot him an incredulous scoff, Hanako'd loudly declared him a hypocrite and Sakura'd wordlessly stared at him. No matter how bratty and emo the Uchiha boy was and how frustratingly the girl struggled, no matter how much he wanted to sneer at Hanako for replicating Minato's son's each and every move and how boisterous and friendly and hypocritical and foolish and selfish and arrogant and familiar he was...
He'd watched them do D-Ranks.
He'd watched Hanako trip and accidentally dump paint all over Sasuke. He'd watched the Uchiha boy freeze and hiss at his colourful clothes. He'd watched Sakura rub at her temples and holler commands. The roll of Sasuke's black eyes, the crinkle of Hanako's eyes, the small smile that Sakura tried to hide.
"Leave. Please." He whispered, so low that even Zabuza hadn't sneered at his soft-hearted words. 'Don't die.'
"Sanzengarasu no Jutsu! " Hanako's face was screwed up, red in concentration.
'Scattering Thousand Crows Technique?' Kakashi's eyes widened in realisation- Aoba's Jutsu. That took up too much chakra!
"Heh." A water clone melded off to stalk towards them, batting away the birds into plumes of smoke. "What are these pests? You Konoha brats can only do so much, eh?"
In the remnants of the smoke, Kakashi closed his Sharingan eye, realising that the area was so saturated with chakra that it was impossible to see what was happening anyway.
He stiffened as he felt a clang of metal- "What? Another one?" The rogue nin exclaimed in surprise.
A fuma shuriken burst out of the smoke, headed straight for Zabuza.
'It's not enough.' The Hatake thought grimly, gritting his teeth when he simply jumped over it. Then Kakashi felt the twang of chakra and-
"No, Sakura!" He yelled, hand scraping against the water prison. That idiot, idiot girl! "That's dangerous!"
Sakura was the top kunoichi. Even though her physical evaluations proved her to be weak and hesitant to hurt, her forms were perfect, her aim was beautiful, her Academy Three...
Nigh better than Genin.
"...And you, Sakura, you flee too much." Kakashi frowned, watching the three children in front of him. "I know you're more intellectual than physically strong, but fleeing doesn't help if you can't create plans while doing so. Stalling time doesn't help if there isn't an intention. I daresay Kawarimi is now your specialty."
And her Kawarimi? Impeccable.
She always awed at how simple but powerful that Academy level Jutsu could be. Stretching out a tendril of chakra, latching on, pulling, before... letting go. Like yanking on a rubber band before letting it snap. It took a toll on her body, sure, but she could feel, for a single moment, the snapping of the wind and the whistle as the air tore apart around her.
She loved Kawarimi and knew all about it.
That's why no one questioned her quick and messily explained plan. It seemed simple: a distraction, two red herrings, and an attack.
The Yamashiro crow technique to distract and give a smoke screen, Sasuke's precision in throwing not one, but two fuma shuriken, and then Sakura, being the smallest and the lightest, latching onto that fuma shuriken and switching with it before throwing a kunai at Zabuza to free their Sensei.
They didn't know each principle behind that Jutsu, so only she, and Kakashi, knew that it was a stupid, reckless move.
'I'm not fleeing anymore.' Sakura whispered to herself.
The muddled and panicked minds of the other two Genin failed to remember that Kawarimi didn't mean teleportation- it meant high speed travel; so it was theoretically impossible to switch with an object if there was something...
Gripping her kunai handle tighter, she almost heard the snap of her chakra as her surroundings blurred. Her eyes were squeezed shut, muscles locked. It came to an abrupt halt as she was stopped by a solid wall of muscle and flesh. Her joints ached as she slammed right into him, her kunai's sharp edge digging into his abdomen.
...If there was something blocking her.
She barrelled straight into Momochi Zabuza.
Her knuckles were white around her weapon and she didn't see, but felt the Nuke-Nin's skin splitting under her blade, a burst of warm liquid under her hands. Terror ran like ice in her veins and a splash sounded distantly in her head-
She was yanked up violently by her hair and she felt the crick in her neck crack. She peered through blurry vision up at cold, cold, cold monster, demon, murderer eyes before-
Pain erupted in her stomach and she flew again, staring, almost in slow motion, as Zabuza lowered his leg down. Her eyes widened as something awfully dark and red burst from her mouth.
'Internal bleeding.' Inner said blandly, her energy dimming to a simmer in her mind. 'Ah. We're screwed.'
A cacophony of screams, the whistle of the wind and the sound of her heartbeat roaring in her ears-
Then... darkness.
-Sasuke-
Below the stifling (smothering, strangling ) sense of numbness, he could recognise... terror, helplessness, fury, hatred...
He wouldn't say he necessarily liked his Team- actually, it'd be more accurate to say that he despised them.
Kakashi, who didn't teach them anything and instead decided that they'd train by pulling weeds and walking dogs. Sakura, who acted so depressed, mighty and all-knowing after simply getting out of her fangirl phase. Hanako, who was the despicable replica of Naruto except the disdain towards the loud boy was more... genuine, more visceral.
They annoyed him, each and every action of theirs.
Yet they dropped (like the flies they were) in front of him. Hanaka from mild chakra exhaustion. Sakura from a wound. Kakashi from a mixture of both.
(Terror, helplessness, as the gaps in Sakura's plan were exposed, the red- dark, dark, ugly red pools beneath the two, faces the shade of death, whirling Sharingan that's a familiar, horrible, a hatehatehate type of red and the Sharingan speaks: foolish little brothe- bursts from her mouth and Sasuke realises how utterly stick thin she was. How easily her spine could've snapped as she slid down, unconscious, onto the ground.
The battle of Ninjutsu remains grey in his eyes. The Hunter-Nin his age flicked his wrist and killed then vanished. Just like that.
And so: fury and hatred, indescribable hatred towards his Team, towards the Nuke-Nin, towards the Hunter-Nin, and mostly, to himself for being weak like Itachi called him. For being pathetic, helpless, shameful, unsightly, pitiful. Like what Itachi saw as he stared down at him. 'Foolish little brother', he hears and it echoes during each and every second of those tedious weeks of D-Ranks and those wasted hours-days-weeks build up and rise like a tsunami and he just doesn't know when it'd all... crash-)
"Erm, kid-" The bridge builder started and there's hate-
A pale hand is shaking as he fisted it into the man's collar, yanking him down so that he could glare into the man's terrified eyes.
"Your bridge better be worth it." He hissed with an acidic tone, the only words he'd said in the entire trip. He released his hand and gave himself a moment to grimace before he looked at the three unconscious bodies.
The bridge builder shifted his pack to try and manoeuvre Kakashi onto his back and Sasuke moved to wake Hanako up, forcing the boy to choke down a chakra pill.
Kakashi is brought to Tazuna's house to recover from overuse of his Sharingan. Sakura's condition is steadily worsening due to the walk back and Hanako's exertion had caused his injuries to start bleeding again. Sasuke is injured and exhausted both mentally and physically. This is the setting Kakashi awakes to a day later and his news on Zabuza's potential survival further sours the mood.
Elsewhere, Haku revives Zabuza who promises to crush Kakashi when they meet again. After giving first aid treatment to Sakura and stabilising her condition using the basics of Iryo Ninjutsu he knows, Kakashi debated on whether or not to summon his Ninken to get backup but ultimately decides that it would not work as he had little to no chakra to spare and the backup would be unlikely to arrive on time.
Both Kakashi and Zabuza need to rest for at least a week to recover from their battle.
To prepare for Zabuza's likely return, Kakashi takes Team 7 to the nearby woods for training, where they learn the tree climbing chakra control exercise. Sakura, who'd heatedly insisted that a 'little chakra control exercise won't make her worse', performs perfectly the first time and Hanako already received tuition from his Clan. Sasuke requires extra training and it intensifies his negative feelings.
Kakashi recognises Sasuke's worsening mindset but decides it was not the time to confront it.
A worker of Tazuna named Giichi quits, and tries to convince Tazuna to give up building the bridge.
Later, Hanako asks why Inari often stares at the family photo on the wall, which is torn so that a person's face and upper body are gone. Angered suddenly, the boy leaves the table, making his mother, Tsunami, chase after him. Tazuna then explains that the man torn from the picture, named Kaiza, was once a hero in the Land of Waves and Inari's stepfather.
It is the fourth night and Sasuke spends the night training as he is restless about his own weakness. Haku stumbles upon him lying on the floor and staring up at the sky. He initiates an innocent conversation before the topic of 'precious people' is brought up.
After moments of hesitation, Sasuke, for a reason he doesn't understand, is willing to confide in the kind stranger. He talks about the Uchiha Massacre as he understands it was well-known anyway. Haku realises that Sasuke needed a prompt and so, he provides his own story, describing himself as a refugee from Kiri. He talks about how his father killed his mother and how he was chased out.
Astonished by the sorrow and similarity between them two, Sasuke chooses not to pry and tells Haku how the person he held most precious killed all his kin and wanted him to kill him. By speaking of it aloud, Sasuke comes to realise that there was more depth to his feelings of hatred towards Itachi than he initially thought. Haku cannot but help get attached to Sasuke, and to both their surprises, tears up on behalf of him.
After Haku's departure, Sasuke succeeded in the chakra control exercise. Haku needs to come back for the herbs for a daily dose of medicine but after the meeting, he decides to hide his presence and go earlier in the morning next time so that he wouldn't meet another shinobi by accident.
Upon returning to Tazuna's home, Inari shows his disturbance and expresses his thoughts on how it is a futile struggle against Gato, bringing up Sakura's injured state. He thinks of Kaiza and tearfully tells them that they only think they can win because they have not suffered as Inari has. Still vulnerable from his talk with Haku, Sasuke glares and shows a deep loathing towards Inari's cowardice. Hanako similarly lashes out at his words upon remembering his Clan's sacrifices.
Later that night, Kakashi tells a despondent Inari that no one had meant to hurt him. He continues to explain how the life of a ninja meant constant death and those two boys both had to endure many deaths of who they had considered heroic as well. He concludes by impassively saying that many have suffered more than Inari assumes and that lots of people understood Inari's pain.
-The next day: Haku-
A blonde boy.
The burnt orange haori was large on him, especially with how he curled into a foetal position, but Haku spied on the minute details his body provided. His skin appeared to be unscarred and soft, there was a distinct lack of starvation and scars on him and he appeared to be fully healthy. A civilian then? But what sort of civilian here looked to be in such a great condition? There hadn't been any travellers recently, sans the Konoha Genin team, so did he walk here?
'He was suspicious,' Haku determined as he let chakra seep through his limbs. 'Was he a part of Gato's company?'
He reached out his hand... and shook the boy awake.
"You'll catch a cold if you sleep here." Haku said softly, watching as the boy jolted awake, sitting up with his eyes still barely open. His jaw cracked open in a yawn and in two swift hip twisting movements, his back gave an audible 'click'.
Rubbing at an eye, dark purple eyes stared back at him. His hair was... a duller shade of yellow than Haku'd originally seen. Maybe it'd been a trick of light.
"Wh-Who're you?" The boy asked, drawing the haori tighter around himself.
-Naruto-
He was freaking out. He hadn't noticed that he'd been approached until that shift of chakra. If it wasn't for Tsunade's tireless training, he wouldn't have been able to feign his sleep or draw upon a Henge so well.
The girl- boy (anatomy books and analysing his Oiroke no Jutsu had given him a... vast understanding of the differences in sex), or girl if he- she- they- they intended to be, smiled at him.
"My name is Haku, and you?"
"U-Uh..." He stammered, flustered and panicked. This bo- gir- (damnit, their name didn't reveal much either) person was a shinobi. And one most likely better than him. He could sense it in the flowing movements, flickering eyes, wiry limbs and the silent footsteps.
But at that, he relaxed (inwardly, of course). If this person was a shinobi, but still forgot to purposefully make his footsteps loud to avoid suspicion, then he obviously wasn't well-versed in manipulation tactics.
Naruto'd already hesitated for too long and bringing up a name now would be suspicious, so he decided to pull out the distrust and nervousness from within him- an easy task- and feign caution.
"I don't, um, I don't think I should tell you, Nee-chan..." He murmured quietly, tacking on the 'Nee-chan' because any civilian would assume so with the pink clothing, femininely styled features and long hair. Hell, Naruto would have thought they were a girl if it wasn't for his sudden boom of knowledge- they were prettier than Sak-
"And why is that?" Haku replied without missing a beat.
"Uh..." He paused, "Because, um, Baachan told me that- that um. Stranger danger!" He yelped, remembering the rhymes those dumb civilian kids chanted. "Right. Because Neechan is a stranger, so... Uh, but Baachan's super protective, so I guess I'm allowed to say, datteba-"
He internally smacked himself at his tic. It just... slipped out when he was agitated.
"I mean, I can tell you-tteb- ttebane!" He decided not to question whatever the heck just came out and rolled with it; it sounded familiar to him anyway. "Because Neechan seems nice, so uh, so- so uh... not stranger danger." He nodded, clearing his throat and feeling his face burn from embarrassment. "I'm Namito and uh, nice to meet you-tteba-ne."
'Wave plus Naruto-' He inwardly patted himself on the back. '-Equals Namito.'
They gave a light chuckle, an aborted, unfamiliar sound that sounded neither natural nor insincere. "What are you doing here, may I ask?"
"Oh," He scratched the back of his head, crinkling his eyes into a smile. "I was just stretching cuz we walked a long time to get here." He laughed sheepishly, "But then I fell asleep- Baachan and Shizu-nee will have my head!"
"You look quite..." Haku's eyes flicked up and down once, an action disguised as interest yet held a suspicious gleam. "...fit for your age."
He outwardly gave a beam, pushing up his chest in childish pride but inwardly panicked- he'd huddled in his slightly oversized haori for a reason! How did Haku tell? He'd usually be somewhat flattered, especially since he'd been a stick skinny kid who'd scraped it by in BMI because of his Uzumaki vitality, but now he was just plain freaked. Was it his chakra? His face? His- His what?
"Hehe, yeah! Shizu-nee taught me some cool moves, so I'm super strong, ya know! She told me that this world was uh- dangerous... and that I should protect myself." He felt a warmth of gratitude and plain adoration flood through him again. But hey, at least he could hold back the happy tears this time.
"Is she... Your 'Baachan' and your 'Shizu-nee'... Are they precious to you?"
He tilted his head to the side in confusion though the answer was obvious: "Of course."
They gave him a subtly appraising look, weighing him on a scale of some spectrum he didn't know.
Looking into those speculative eyes, Naruto added lowly- "I would die to protect them."
Haku's face was arranged perfectly blank, a myriad of emotions- or memories?- flashing through their eyes.
What did it matter to this shinobi that Naruto cared for others? Were they looking for people to potentially capture? No, Naruto wasn't a registered shinobi and even if this person managed to find out he was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, they wouldn't recognise him.
Not that he necessarily wholly trusted his Henge skills- Naruto remembered being kept away from the larger populations when he was younger and he'd never gone out of the Village before he met Tsunade. He'd been steered away from certain areas and he'd hardly ever seen travellers- even the occasional merchants.
Apart from the civilians who simply recognise his whiskered cheeks, hardly anyone knew what the 'Kyuubi brat' looked like.
If not after his Bijuu, then Haku was a mercenary or something.
This person was young- a bit older than him, perhaps?- and had signs of malnourishment. Their skin was pale- a mixture of malnutrition and low melanin. So they weren't from Konoha, Suna, or Kumo. Smaller countries hardly had motive or power to go against Konoha, Iwa was too far away and Wave was too close to Konoha, so that left Kiri.
And Kiri? Danger.
The only things that left that 'hellhole', as dubbed by Tsunade, were corpses and Nuke-Nin.
A brilliant smile spread over Haku's face and he thought: 'Surely anyone who smiled like that wouldn't be...'
"The Mizukage is heartless and cruel." Shizune shuddered, eyes flicking once from the Kiri history book title and then to him. "Any poor soul there is either equally malicious, an emotionless puppet, or a dead body. No one's born evil- but in Kiri, they're made evil."
"They must be very precious to you then." Haku looked down and to the side- towards the medicinal herbs, before they stared back into his eyes. There was an insistency in his tone- the need for acknowledgement and understanding. ("And when I become Hokage, everyone will-" But no one had listened back then.)
This was... something important to Haku then.
Naruto didn't think he was the right person to have a heart to heart with a potential Kiri Nuke-Nin and he could already hear the words taking shape in the back of his mind- 'Don't trust. Don't trust. Don't trust.'- but he matched Haku's eyes with his own level ones.
"When a person has something... important to protect," Haku said, mouthing the words like he'd whispered them over and over but had never actually voiced aloud. "-that is when they can truly become strong."
Naruto doesn't avert his gaze but lets his mind wander to think just when he'd realised he'd follow Tsunade.
"But that's... impressive." "You may not- nay the entire Village may not, but I care for his opinion."
Was it her first words? The only person who looked at him without a forcefully neutral expression or an ugly mix between a sneer and a grimace? Was it when she accepted him, acknowledged his skill, and took him as her disciple? Was it when she'd eyed him challengingly even after the Chuunin'd revealed that he'd failed his exam twice before? When she batted away Haruno's arm? When she switched from 'boy' to 'Naruto' or even a fond scoff of 'brat'?
"Jeez, I leave you alone for a little bit and you stir up all this mess."
Tsunade'd told him he'd fall in love with everyone if his standards were that low. She'd told him- drilled into him, over and over- "You need to readjust who and what you consider your 'norm'."
But Tsunade couldn't be his new 'norm' because he couldn't possibly find-know-befriend someone he'd respect more than her.
"That is what happens when you mess with my student."
Naruto had probably decided that he'd die to protect them since the first day. And everyday after that just strengthened that bond.
"Yeah." He offered a smaller, but no less sincere, smile, "I get what you mean."
"Also, I'm a boy."
Ok, so that answered his question.
"E-Eh?" He gasped aloud, blinking rapidly and bringing two hands to slap against his cheeks.
-Shizune-
Jogging lightly past a young woman, surreptitiously scanning her for malicious intent, Shizune caught sight of Naruto... in a Henge, picking at the medicinal herbs.
"Mou!" She jutted both hands against her hips. "It's been a while now- did you fall asleep here?"
"Hehe..." He chuckled, hurriedly giving her a bouquet of herbs.
"Don't think this will make me forgive you!" She warned, "What if you caught a cold?"
After two minutes more of idle chat and civilian paced walking to their new temporary inn, she stretched her senses and let her posture relax. "She's gone."
"He." Naruto corrected reflexively.
"Who was he?" She narrowed her eyes, "Ninja?"
"I think so..." He scratched his cheek, "Pretty skilled as well but a little... I dunno... inexperienced? He looked pretty young... might be a survivor of the bloodline purge..."
Tsunade opened the door before they knocked, promptly dragging them in and pulling up a privacy seal. "I've got bad news."
"Me too." Naruto piped in, "I think."
"Oh great." She pinched her nose. "I'll go first: the bridge builder is targeted by Gato, a rich bastard, who hired Kiri Nuke-Nin to kill him. Konoha sent a team of Genin to protect him and by my senses, that's Hatake Kakashi a few ways down this street, recovering from chakra exhaustion."
"A team of what? " Shizune hissed. "Who fucked up, Hokage-sama or the bridge builder?"
Naruto winced at her profanity, "U-Uh... Baachan said that he was injured, so maybe he didn't have a choice? I don't think that Jonin dude would willingly continue with a dangerous mission-"
"-Unless the consequences of turning back outweigh the dangers..." Tsunade hummed.
"Yeah." He nodded. "In the first place, isn't that fraud? Genin wouldn't get a B-Rank plus mission, so the bridge builder lied. That's fraud."
"You're right. The textbook answer is to detain the bridge builder before returning to Konoha." Shizune gave him an approving nod. "Politics don't really matter when there are rookies on the field."
"Also," Tsunade pointed out. "Shinobi strong enough to injure Kakashi or pose as a threat would cause him to back off to protect his Genin."
"So either the Nuke-Nin is extremely powerful and potentially poses as a threat to Konoha or this bridge is extremely important." Naruto concluded.
"Or," The Sannin added grimly, "Kakashi got an inflated head and thought it would go smoothly with an 'Elite' like him. ...And it backfired. I can't really tell who the Genin are because I've only really bothered to memorise the heirs' presences in case of political issues down the line, but one of them is the Uchiha boy. He isn't hurt though. What about you?"
"Met a super pretty boy a little older than me-" At Tsunade's interested look, Naruto snapped, flushed- "Not that! He looks incredibly feminine, so you might get confused if you don't look carefully. I think he's one of the Kiri Nuke-Nin. He's definitely a shinobi, and it lines up with your story. The only thing is... he didn't look like someone bad..."
Tsunade pressed her lips together.
"No, like, for real." Naruto insisted. "Haku literally asked if there was someone precious to me and told me that people were the strongest when they had someone to protect or something."
"Awfully deep for a kid." The Sannin mused. "Maybe he's an apprentice of the Nuke-Nin that attacked Kakashi."
"Probably." Shizune added, "He had a basket full of medicinal herbs. Naruto suggested that he might also be a survivor of the bloodline massacre when considering his age and what you confirmed."
"Ah, right. So Konoha." Tsunade nodded then directed a pointed stare towards him: 'Help or not?'
"We help them." Naruto immediately said. Resolve hardened on his face. "That's obvious."
They both nodded, unsurprised before pausing and turning to face him in synch. "Why do you still have a Henge on?"
"Oh. Oops." Naruto grinned, "I've got an idea! I told Haku that this is Namito and-" With an almost silent poof of smoke, a female counterpart with a lack of whiskers, lighter ash blonde hair and dark violet-blue eyes appeared. "This can be Namiko. Boom. Secret identity!"
Shizune absolutely did not miss how the hair colour was shades away from Tsunade's and judging by the fond shake of her head, nor did she.
"I've told you about Kushina but you've never seen a photo before." Tsunade placed a hand on his- or her, she supposes- head. "But you've got the eye colour right on the head. If I accidentally call you by the wrong name," She laughed haltingly. "Then you'll know." Naruto's face went blank as his lips curled into an absentminded smile.
"Also," Shizune interrupted with an exasperate tone. "Wave-boy and wave-child? Could you not come up with better names?"
-A literal minute later-
"What are you doing here?" A harrowed looking Kakashi asked as he ushered Shizune in. "And where is Tsunade-sama and-"
"That's what I should be asking you." She shot back, ignoring the second question. She slipped into the room Sakura was resting in, Kakashi on her heels. "I won't pry about your reasons now, but the blunt trauma Haruno has experienced will take a few minutes to fix. You'll need to provide an excuse for the other boys. By the way, even though I'm not in disguise- too plain for that- call me Shizuka just in case."
"That's easy enough." He agreed before complying to her assessing look. "My exhaustion is almost fully fixed, and Hanako and Sasuke may have traces of poison in them." At that, he was given a sharp glance. "Also our opponents consist of a teen with the skill set of a Kiri Hunter-Nin and Momochi Zabuza-"
"What the fuck." She groaned.
"-Also I didn't exactly kill the Demon Brothers so possibl-"
"J-Just shut up. Shut up."
"...Ok."
With the entire Team fully healed by Kakashi's mysterious acquaintance, Sakura and Sasuke were chosen to guard Tazuna along with Kakashi. Sakura, because she was itching to get out of the house, and Sasuke, because he was more affected by Inari's words than Hanako was.
Zabuza and Kakashi both assumed that they healed earlier than the other and so the battle on the bridge was unexpected. Sakura was tasked to guard Tazuna, much to her annoyance, and Sasuke went up against Haku, not knowing his true identity. Hanako remained bored at Tazuna's house, unsuspecting of the following ambush.
Naruto, Tsunade, and Shizune are in their inn, unknowing that the fated battle was happening at present.