Below The Beneath

Chapter 18: The Shape of Things to Come

It was dark out, around nine o'clock at night. The smell of salt hung in the air and the fog horns of boats sounded through the night. It was a normal event in Wave country, boats arrived at all hours of the night. Over the months that had passed from when team seven was there, and Zabuza killed everyone of Gato's men and Gato himself, the small island country had become an essential hub in the world of shipping. Every Ryo earned in the village, and all the money from Gato's safes, were put back into the village. Now wave country was known as "A sailors dream" because the offered good hotel rooms for a rather cheap price for anyone who was staying for more than 2 day.

Also, because of its new found fame, it was attracting something other than business, refuges. Mostly from water country, but some from other areas. They had started showing up about a month ago, they would spend about a week and then leave to find new places to live or just stay all together because they enjoyed living there. But it was this night that would change their lives, and it wasn't because of what they did, but because a young boy, cursed by a man he did not know, and a hero, who would return to the place he had saved.

-Fifty ft. Cargo ship, Cargo hold-

"I can't wait to get into one of those hotels they have here! You think I could get my own room?" asked one of the deckhands, he and his friend had been sent down to get any unauthorized persons out of the cargo hold.

"I don't know, this is my first time in wave. Hopefully they got good food, I'm starv-" the deckhand cut himself off. Then rushed to a small figure who was face down in the corner. "Hey, you alright?"

The second deckhand tried to flip him over, but a whisp of purple burnt his hand before he made contact. "Chakra?"

-The next day-

"How is he doing?" asked Kakashi, who was currently sitting in the lobby of the hospital, reading his always trusty book.

"He just woke up, the doctors are running some tests now, but they said he will be alright with some rest" answered Jiraiya, who was watching the television in the corner. Seems that one of the things that survived the invasion were the cameras recording the chunin matches. Right now they were showing the end of Naruto's match vs Neji. "Uzumaki style, Power Bomb!"

"Did you teach him that?" asked Kakashi.

"Nah, he found a bunch of scrolls when we went to whirlpool. Apparently, that was his grandfather's personal technique" answered Zabuza, who had just got back from checking on Haku. She had suffered from mild chakra exhaustion, but would be discharged the next day.

"Should we go see him?" asked Zabuza, curious to see what the kid looked like after fighting and beating a Bijuu

"Hmm, sure. There running this all day, so we don't have to worry about missing it" stated Kakashi, both men sweat dropped that Kakashi was more interested in the fights then in his own students.

Suddenly, An ANBU appeared next to Kakashi "Jiraiya sama, you've been summoned to the council chamber."

"What for?" asked the confused Jiraiya. 'What the hell could those idiots be trying to do know?'

"They've named you the next Hokage, sir." answered the ANBU.

Jiraiya and Kakashi looked to each other. "I'll go get Naruto, can you stall them for a minute or two?" he asked the ANBU, who nodded and disappeared via swirly wind of leafs.