It appears someone has used a phoenix down on me. Now to celebrate my new birthday how's about a new chapter. I know I haven't updated in forever. But hey, things happen. Sometimes life can be annoying, and there also so many distractions. Like a new Wii. Like always, I don't have a Beta. So I'd like anybody who spots any little things I may have missed in terms of grammer or spelling errors just let me know and I'll be quick to fix them up. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the right belongs to mister Kishimoto.

Naruto of the Steel

Chapter 10: The Storm

It was early in the morning, the sun was shining bright and all the creatures had begun to stir. Haku was kneeling down in a small clearing picking several different types of plants that had medicinal uses. Even though her medical training was for the purpose of making her a more effective killer, it still had it's other uses. Like treating any wounds the she or Zabuza get.

She got up and looked at the sky, she had to use her hand from the sun. She smiled and moved on, but soon after in another clearing close by she saw something that didn't belong. It looked like a black lump with bits or orange mixed in. She moved closer because she felt like she's seen this lump before. As she got closer she saw that it was a person with blonde hair and some whisker-like marks on his cheeks, but what stood out the most was the head hand he was wearing. It had the leaf symbol on it.

'This was one of the ninja that was guarding Tazuna.', Haku thought to herself.

She knelt down slowly beside him. It looked like he had quite the night, there were bumps, bruises and scrapes all over. He was only sleeping. She brought her hand out going for his neck slowly, but just as she got close enough she pulled back and started shaking him instead.

"Hey wake up.", she said.

Naruto opened his eyes, it was early and the sun was shining bright.

"Ugh, five more minutes.", he said.

Naruto heard a giggle as he said this.

This opened up his eyes and looked up. The was a very pretty girl sitting beside him. He shot up, his back as straight as a board.

"Um, hello.", was all Naruto could could say.

"Hello to you too.", she replied with a smile.

A few moments of silence passed between them. Naruto was waiting for something weird to happen, since he thought it was a dream. He could hear birds chirping and small animals in the bushes, but nothing out of the ordinary. It was starting to get a little awkward.

"Why were you sleeping out here? You could catch a cold if your not careful.", the girl said.

"I was training.", he said simply as he gave one of his signature grins.

"Training? What for?, she asked.

"To be the greatest ninja ever!", Naruto shouted and threw his hand up into the air.

"I thought that headband looked familiar. But you look plenty strong already, why do you want to be the strongest?", she asked.

Naruto never actually thought about it, nobody had ever asked him "why". People usually either just ignored him or believed him, no one ever questioned why. He folded up his arms and scrunched his face up trying to come up with an answer.

"Umm, I'm not really sure.", Naruto said scratching his cheek.

She just giggled.

"I've met quite a few ninja, all of them had their reasons for doing what they did, but there was one that stood out. He gave me the most unique answer I've ever heard. Would you like to know his answer?", the girl asked.

"Would I!", Naruto shouted, making several of the animals nearby scatter.

Naruto was looking her intently. She was quiet for awhile, she had this glazed look in her eye. Almost as if she was remembering something of great importance. It stayed like that for quite awhile, so quiet that some of the animals that ran away at Naruto's earlier outburst had returned.

"Love."

"Huh?"

"He said he wanted to be the strongest because of love. To protect those precious to him. He said that it gave him strength. That the key to true strength are the people you love and care for. People you'd give anything to protect, including your life. When you fight for them, that is when you are at your strongest. Do you have anyone like that?", she asked.

Naruto brought his hand up to his chin and brought himself into what looked like a thinking pose.

'Hmm, do I have anyone I would give my life for? Actually I think there was someone I almost did. Iruka-sensei, if it wasn't for him I don't think I could've won the fight with Mizuki. I would also give my life for my new teammates, every single one of them, maybe even Sasuke-teme...though I suppose I could be just a little late for him.', Naruto thought to himself.

Naruto grinned and said, "Yeah, now that I think about it there are. A lot of them actually."

"That's great to hear.", she smiled.

There was silence once again. Honestly, Naruto had no idea what to say. He was sleeping when one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen had woken him up. She had shiny black hair, beautiful brown eye's, and skin as white as snow. He was blushing a little.

"Hey, what's your name?", she asked.

"It's Naruto. What's yours?", he replied.

"Haku."

She had a sad look on her. It made Naruto think he did something wrong, he was thinking what to do to make it right again.

"Well Naruto, would you mind adding me to that list of precious people?", she said with a smile.

"What!?!", Naruto yelled, face red as an apple.

"You seem strong, so it'd be reassuring if you would protect me."

Naruto was at a loss for words. From what she said, this meant that she wants to be someone he'd care for.

'Wait. Maybe she just wants to be friends? Yeah! Why else would she ask to be one a precious person of mine?', Naruto reasoned with himself.

He gave one of his signature grins, gave her a thumbs up and said, "Sure thing! Anytime you want to be saved just call my name and I'll be there before you know it.".

She grinned back.

A few moments of silence fell between them. After a while she got up and said, "I should get going, there's someone that needs to be taken care of. Bye Naruto."

Naruto watched her walk away. Wondering what he did to meet such a beautiful person. Then suddenly she stopped.

She looked back and said, "By the way, I'm a boy.", and kept on walking.

"Shes a boy huh?.....A BOY!", Naruto said to himself.

Haku heard this, giggled and thought to herself, 'I love doing that.'

"There's no way he's a boy, he's even prettier than Sakura!", he said to himself and he rubbed his head trying to make sense of the situation.

He didn't notice Sasuke walking up to him.

"Dobe, it's time for breakfast.", Sasuke said.

Naruto just sighed and started towards the house, still confused about what just went on.

---Later that evening---

Naruto was exhausted, he had several bumps and bruises and had just enough chakra to live. But it was worth it. He had made it to the top of one the biggest trees in the forest. He had to hang on to the tree to keep from falling off, it looked a bit silly but he didn't care. Naruto looked to his side and there was Sasuke. He had finished at the same time as he did, but instead of holding on like he was he stood on the tip of the tree.

"You're a show off, you know that Sasuke.", he laughed.

"You're just jealous.", Sasuke smirked.

---Outside Tazuna's house---

Naruto was too exhausted to get back to Tazuna's by himself. He had to use Sasuke for support, though the smirk on Sasuke's face was really annoying him.

They were at the front door. They opened and it was actually quiet, much to their surprise. Everybody was real quiet. Then Sakura saw Sasuke. That was when things became a little less quiet.

"Sasuke!", Sakura shouted and got up and ran towards Sasuke to give him a hug.

Sasuke had a look on his face that said, 'I'm uncomfortable.'

Naruto was about to giggle, until he saw a flash of red and was caught in a headlock.

"What's up with you staying out all night! You could get sick like that!", Ai yelled.

It was a strange way to show someone you're worried by putting them in a headlock. Suddenly Naruto would rather the hug.

After everything had settled down they had breakfast. It was a sight that they were all getting used to seeing. Naruto and Sasuke were trying to see who could eat the most, the adults were talking about whatever, like usual Hideyo was nowhere to be found, Ai and Sakura talked about girl things and Inari kept to himself.

At one point Tazuna asked, "So do you think Zabuza is still alive?".

The talking had stopped immediately, nobody said anything until Kakashi peeked out from behind his book, "Well it's not like it matters, if he's still alive then he'd be in as bad shape as I am. So we can assume that he'll take about as long to heal and you should have finished the bridge by then. At that point they would have no reason to assassinate you, since they were hired to kill you before the bridge was complete. Making their contract with Gato void.".

This put everyone at ease.

"Well even if they do show up, I'll put both Zabuza and Gato in their places!", Naruto laughed.

This got the usual smile from everyone but one.

"Why...?", Inari asked at the opposite end of the table.

"Did you say something Inari?", Naruto asked.

Inari stood up and looked Naruto straight in the eye and said, "Why do all try so hard!? It won't get you anywhere! Gato and his men will just come and kill you! There's no point in even trying!".

After Inari finished no one spoke. Naruto just returned the stare.

This went on for a couple of moments until Naruto said, "If you don't even try then you already fail. Then if that happens I fail the people that are important to me. And there's no way I'd EVER let that happen."

If you looked at Naruto after he said this you could tell he meant every single word. If you looked at his eyes, it was like looking at the ocean during a storm.

"I'm going for a walk.", Naruto said as he left the room.

Nobody said anything as he left the room and eventually the house. It was complete silence. After what everyone thought was minutes, when really it was only 30 seconds, Inari left without a word and went to his room. It was easy to hear him slam his door with it being extremely quiet.

Kakashi signed as he stood up and said, "Sakura, do you mind going to find out where Naruto went? If it's something stupid, stop him and bring him back. If it's not something stupid, bring him back anyway. We're all going to guard Tazuna tomorrow.".

"Yes Sensei.", Sakura replied and got up to follow after Naruto.

"How come I can't go?", Ai asked in a whiny voice.

"Because your on guard duty right now.", Kakashi replied as he left the room, presumably to go after Inari.

Ai just had a defeated look on her face and played with her food.

---Forest---

"Stupid Naruto, had to go and ruin a perfectly peaceful dinner! And how dare he yell at an employers family like that! Sure we aren't getting paid what we're supposed to, but it's a still a job!", Sakura thought to herself as walked down the path to Naruto's temporary training grounds.

It was no secret that Naruto snuck out in the middle of the night to go training in the forest. Sure he was decent in combat, but when it came to everything else, like stealth, he stunk. Though nobody knew where the training ground was, since nobody bothered to follow him. The only person who might know was Ai, since she pretty much clung to him.

Sakura had no clue what was with that girl. Around Naruto she's all sweet and innocent. Shes like that most of the time too, except when something is in her way. Then she's ruthless about getting what she wants. It still amazed her how Ai had managed to sneak up on her, knock her out, tie her up so that she couldn't move and placed some sort f sound barrier on the closet. It still sent chills down her spine since there might have been a mouse in there with her. And she had poor taste in guys, Naruto was loud and annoying. He was nothing compared to Sasuke.

"HIYAA!"

The sudden shout from Naruto brought Sakura back from her musings. The sounds she heard were only a little further up ahead. Curiosity got the better of her and she decided to spy on him a little bit. She moved slowly forward and found a little clearing. The was a makeshift dummy off to the side that looks a little worn, a target painted into a tree that looked like kunai were thrown at and pulled out several hundred times and rocks with ropes tied around them, presumably for weight training.

Though this was obviously the training ground Naruto was nowhere to be seen. Just as Sakura was about to give up and go back she heard rustling in the trees above her. She looked up and saw a spot of yellow among the green leaves. She looked closer and saw Naruto was standing on one of the branches with his eyes closed. He had both his hands on his swords at his sides. He lifted up one of his feet and then stomped on the branch he was standing on. It caused the leaves on the branch to rustle a bit more and a single leaf fell down. As the leaf made it halfway down the tree Naruto had planted his feet on the tree and started running down the trunk. He had his eyes focused on the single leaf. As they were both about to hit the ground Naruto jumped of the tree and pulled out his swords and swung them at the leaf. The leaf was airborne for only a second afterward. As soon as it hit the ground it separated into four different pieces.

"So cool.", Sakura thought to herself.

Off to the side Naruto had crashed into the training dummy and was now a mess at it's foot.

"Or not."

"Hey Naruto!", she shouted as she came out from hiding.

"Ugh.", was all Naruto said.

"I'm pretty sure that could've went better.", Sakura giggled.

"Don't remind me. By the way, what are you doing out here anyway?", Naruto asked as he brushed himself off.

"Oh, I was asked by Kakashi-sensei to make you didn't you anything stupid.", Sakura replied as she found a seat on a nearby stump.

"You guys don't have to worry about me. Sure I was angry when I left, but I got a good enough handle on my emotions not to do something that'd I'd regret later. That's what I came here for, to blow off some steam.", Naruto said as he stretched.

"You could've fooled me. I thought you the type of guy to get angry easily and do something idiotic.", Sakura teased.

"Give me some credit Sakura. I am a ninja, soon to be Hokage.", Naruto grinned.

Sakura saw something in Naruto that day that she had never seen before. She had seen him smile that big stupid grin he always had, but tonight was different. He had one of the most genuine smiles she had ever seen, no over-abundance of teeth. It just seemed so natural. It made her wonder why he didn't smile like this all the time. She was pretty confident that he would have more than one girl swooning over him, she even felt her face heat up a little.

"Sakura are you alright? You're face is a little red, do you have a fever?", Naruto said as he reached for her forehead.

"No! I'm fine!", she said in a panicked voice, and she grabbed his wrist.

Then she remembered why she went out there in the first place.

"Kakashi-sensei also wanted me to bring you back, we're all going to go and guard Tazuna tomorrow.", she said as she walked off.

"Really? Finally! I hope some bad guy ninjas come so I can kick all there butts!", Naruto said, as he returned to his usual attitude.

"I don't think you should say stuff like that...", Sakura replied in an annoyed tone.

They both kept walking. Though either they didn't notice or didn't care, Sakura was still holding Naruto's wrist as they walked.

---Tazuna's House---

"Are we all ready to go?", Kakashi asked the others in front of the house.

"No, Naruto's still sleeping.", Ai replied.

"Hmm, that's a bit of a hindrance. Oh well, we'll let him sleep for today. We need to keep an eye on Tazuna and he's late to the bridge. Let's go.", he said, and they all started walking.

---The Bridge---

"What happened here!", Tazuna said, shocked at the scene before him.

All of the workers were all laying on the ground unconscious. Thankfully it seemed that none of them were dead. It was then that a thick fog had rolled in.

"Sensei, is this...", Sakura said.

"Yes, it's him.", Kakashi said in a grim tone.

"It's about time you guys got here, we were starting to get bored.", a voice that from the fog.

The group all turned towards the source of the voice. The fog got slightly clearly and they all could see two figures. One was tall and had something large on his back and the other one was smaller and was wearing strange robes. It was Zabuza and Haku. They both stared each other down not saying anything.

---Elsewhere---

"Ugh, what time is it?", Naruto asked himself, as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

Now a surprise for those who actually read this bit, and have been reading since before the release of the last chapter. If you didn't know, I was bored one day and decided to change a few things here and there. Like the fight scene between Kakashi and Naruto in Chp. 4. I won't tell you what else I changed, mainly because I can't remember. So have have fun rereading XP

Something funny I found out awhile ago. Ai Shimizu is actually a person. She's a singer in Japan and also does some voice acting work, an example of her work would be "Road Kamelot" from the anime "-man". It's funny because I named Ai after "Aiko", a mascot of a local anime convention. Shimizu is just a common last name in Japan that I picked from a list. Yay for random "making of" facts!

Until next time! (which hopefully is soon...)