Another path

The demon and the copy cat

< Still not the one owning Naruto (really, why ??) >

After Tazuna's explanation, it seemed obvious they weren't meant to be performing such a mission. However :

" - That doesn't mean we're not cut for this ! Look, if we go back to the village now, Tazuna-san will get killed because he can't afford an A-rank. We can't let that happen. What we can do though, is calling for emergency back-up so if it gets out of hand, we won't be on our own.

- Naru, you can't be serious ! I-i mean-

- Let's do this.

- S-sasuke-kun too ?! Mooh...

- I think it's decided then."

The bridge builder smiled upon hearing that and thanked them warmly. Kakashi summoned one of his dogs, Pakkun, and handed them a scroll describing the situation for the Sandaime.
They then resumed their walk, quickly reaching a shore where a boat was waiting for them.

They soon reached their destination and walked through foggy woods. Naru suddenly heard a rustle on her left and threw a kunai there. She looked behind the bushes, only to find a traumatised white rabbit. She pet the rabbit while sniffing the air and soon noticed someone a bit ahead of their group. All of a sudden, Kakashi shouted :"Duck !" and they all fell flat on the floor as a huge sword flew above their heads, sinking into the trunk of a nearby tree.
A man with cow-pattern pants, no shirt and bandages on the lower part of his face landed on the sword.

" - Momochi Zabuza, the demon of the Mist.

- Kakashi of the Sharingan. It's an honor to meet you."

" - Kit, that one is very dangerous. He was but a kid when I last heard about him, but I know he has killed his entire class when graduating from the Academy.

- Wasn't it a tradition of sorts for Kiri ?

- They indeed used to have students graduate by fighting death matches but this one episode proved how it could backfire so they quit with this method.

- Obviously... Do you think I should use the Magatama ?

- Only as back-up energy supply.

- Then let's go !"

The three genin had gotten into formation while Naru was discussing with her mother. Zabuza had tried to scare them then get rid of all of them but Kakashi had interfered in the nick of time. However, their relief didn't last long as the Mist rogue nin kicked their sensei in the water, only to imprison him in some sort of dense water bubble. A water clone of Zabuza rose from the ground, ready to kill the four remaining people in the woods.

Naru turned toward Sasuke. He looked at her and nodded, before rushing to Zabuza while the blond readied kunai and gathered chakra into her left hand. Sasuke had engaged the Zabuza clone in a taijutsu battle. Just as the clone was about to punch him, he grabbed its hand and spun around with it. The clone didn't even have the time to react as Naru's kunai embedded themselves into the flesh of its back, falling on the floor into a large puddle.
Sasuke was about to lunge forward again or so it seemed but suddenly he grabbed his backpack and took a fuma shuriken out of it. He threw it toward Zabuza who easily swatted it away with his own kunai. What the demon of the Mist had not expected though, was for a second shuriken to fly toward him. Still, he was a jounin and he effortlessly jumped above it. The shuriken kept flying behind him when a small 'puff' was heard and a blond blur rotated in the air so her head would face the water's surface. She then slammed her hand on the water, huge ripples seething with chakra hurling both jônin away.

When Zabuza came back to his senses, he realised two things. The first one : Kakashi was somehow put of his prison and much more stable than he himself was.
The second one was that the chakra of that little girl was familiar, and he knew why.

" - What's your name, girl ?

- ... Uzumaki Naru.

- That makes sense. You should go to Uzushio, you'll find things there.

- Why would you tell me this ?...

- Just repaying a debt. - he turned to face a confused Kakashi - Let's do this, Hatake !"

Naru ran away from the water, still getting caught in the huge waves created by the colliding water dragons her sensei and his opponent just made. All the people on the shore watched in awe how Kakashi outperformed Zabuza, sending him back on the shore and pining him to a tree with kunai. Just as the silver-haired shinobi was about to kill the missing nin, needles punctured Zabuza's neck, swiftly ending his life.

A masked shinobi landed on a tree branch near them and thanked them for helping with Zabuza's capture. He then leaves with the corpse in a swirl of leaves.
Naru remained silent. Something felt off about this, but she didn't know what. And Kurama was oddly silent too. Kakashi, having apparently recovered from his battle, told his team to get moving before falling to the ground.

" - What happened ? Screamed a panicked Sakura.

- He passed out. Probably from chakra exhaustion.

- Leave it to me, I'll carry him."

Sasuke took Kakashi from Naru's arms and settled him on his back.
Tazuna led the way to his home, the walk being a very silent one. Once they arrived, a woman in her mid-thirties opened the door and politely greeted before she noticed the unconscious man and hurried them inside.
Tsunami - that was her name - settled Kakashi on a futon and got a wet towel she put on his forehead.
She then invited everyone to go eat dinner.

" - Sorry, obā-san, but I'd rather stay here a bit longer. Is it ok ?

- Of course, don't worry."

She closed the door and Naru waited until she couldn't hear her footsteps anymore before concentrating on her mindscape.

" - So, now that we're alone, what is it that you wanted to tell me about ?

- Something isn't right with that Kiri shinobi. I need to speak with Kakashi.

- Something bad is about to happen ?

- It depends on what you call bad. Would Zabuza still being alive fit the criteria ?"

_______

< I should write about the time they spent training and Inari and all. I probably won't though...>