Chapter One

DISCLAIMER : Naruto, the Naruto world or Naruto Jutsu's do not belong to me and will not this chapter and any chapters following this

-Warning- This story will involve strong language as well as limited OCCness by certain characters. However, I do my best to keep them IC and this sometimes is not enough. If you have any criticism , I would be happy to hear it as long as it is CONSTRUCTIVE. Flame will not be tolerated. - Triplecross, Thank you for reading.

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The Kidnapping

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The night was stormy and the air saturated with blood. It was but four hours ago when the Kyuubi was on the verge of tearing through the last few defending Konoha ninja and storm the village itself. Even the ANBU Corps Reserve had been called out and within twenty minutes, they were in a rout, having been decimated by Kyuubi's tails and claws. The terror of watching the beast was unspeakable. Every time its nine tails lashed the air, deafening thunder-like booms tore through the air. A step of its paws left a house sized imprint. A single snarl and even the most courageous man shook.

However, the ninja of Konoha were not deterred and many selflessly gave their lives in what seemed like a vain attempt to halt the fox. Members from all clans charged the fox and seconds later, their blood and guts covered the earth.

What had one moment been a fighting comrade was next moment's bloody pulp.

ANBU Cat knew this first hand. She had been fighting near the Northern wall, holding a hopeless hope that the hundreds of pinpricks that Konoha had given the demon would give it halt. Her captain and two comrades had been lost hours ago, at the fringes of the forest surrounding Konoha.

Jumping onto the tip of a pine tree, Cat rattled off a dizzying amount of seals, "Katon : Karyuu Endan!"

A fiery dragon shot out of her mouth, its normally massive bulk looking like an ant compared to the size of the Kyuubi. It splashed harmlessly against Kyuubi's fur, the demon barely feeling a tingle from the jutsu.

The fox's eyes narrowed in annoyance as it looked for the source of the tingle. Demonic eyes scanned through the tree tops before settling on a single ANBU wearing a Cat mask.

As soon has he locked on to his target, an orange tail sprang out. It crashed down on top of Cat's tree, crushing it into splinters. By only a hairsbreadth did Cat escape and even then, she had not escaped unscathed. Her left arm was bloody and small, sharp, pieces of wood were embedded in it. Ignoring the pain, Cat prepared to launch another fire dragon when she noticed a newcomer to the battlefield.

Could it be...?

Yes! It was him! "Hokage-sama!"

The Yondaime in all his glory had arrived. He was standing atop the head of the toad boss, Gamabunta, looking grimmer than death. In his arms was a newborn baby, with a tuft of wispy yellow hair and two brilliant blue eyes.

Holding the child above his head, Yondaime started chanting. A great web of runes appeared in the sky and the air suddenly froze. Cat could see her breath in front of her. The earth started to rumble and the hairs on her neck prickled with electricity. Even the Kyuubi stopped moving now. All around, gales of wind howled and raged as a force of great power arose.

Yondaime was summoning Shinigami himself.

Cat looked up in awe and fear, seeing nothing, "What's Yondaime-sama doing? ...This presence...this power... It feels...cold...almost like death..."

The hands of the Shinigami, giant and immaterial, floated in the sky. It was visible only to the Yondaime and the Kyuubi, who were the parties in this deadly contract. One hand hovered in front of the Yondaime, while the other moved in front of the Kyuubi. Cat's breath hitched in her throat as her body tensed against the wave of cold chakra. What was this?

And then, suddenly the hands lunged, creating a howling gust of wind which tore through the tree tops. The hand in front of the Kyuubi tore out a fiery black-orange orb from the demon's chest while the other extracted a bright blue ball from the Yondaime's chest.

Both the Yondaime and the Kyuubi collapsed as the Shinigami held the Yondaime's soul to his eyes, inspecting it. Giving an almost imperceptible nod, Shingami opened his mouth and with sightless eyes, consumed the the soul.

Closing his mouth again, Shinigami took the Kyuubi's soul in his other hand and he thrusted it forcefully into the stomach of the newborn. Having finished his duty, the Shinigami faded away in a swirl of darkness, taking with him the bodies of the Kyuubi and the Yondaime.

Quiet befell the battlefield at the sight of Kyuubi's defeat. Even Gamabunta stayed silent, being the only one knowing what had happened. Minato had sacrificed his life to seal away the Kyuubi. Moments passed until finally, the great toad boss grunted and with a shake of his head, started plodding back toward the Hokage Tower.

Cat felt overwhelmed. She was so sure that everyone and everything she ever knew was going to be destroyed! And now...she was safe.

As her adrenaline subsided, she and scores of other survivors turned back toward Konoha, slowly straggling through the gates. A Chunnin spotted her bloody arm and pointed her to a medical tent where squads of Med-nin were tending to various patients, most missing limbs.

When she drew near the tent, a harried looking medic walked over and escorted her to her destination, all the while giving her a look over. "Reasonably healthy, yes indeed. Just some splinters in your arm. Hm... Not hard, not hard."

Reaching the tent, the medic ordered Cat to lay down on the ground. The man's hands glowed green as he started extracting the splinters. "Just some anesthesia so you don't feel the pain as badly," he explained when he saw his patient's puzzled look.

"There. That should be all the splinters. Now take off your body armor."

She wore the ANBU standard issue, hard leather reinforced with metal plates underneath. It flexible and strong and could stand up to most projectiles and hand held weapons. She slipped the armor off, leaving a skin tight layer of black latex underneath. It was streamlined for when a ninja had to travel fast and light and had been nicknamed the 'Ninja Suit'. Rolling up the sleeve of the ninja suit, Cat let the med-nin place his hands on top of her wound. Within seconds, the bleeding stopped and the cuts from the splinters were no where to be seen.

"An easy case, that was. Ok then, off you go. All the ANBU are gathering in the parade ground. I've got other patients to see. Much wore off they are."

The medic-nin scurried off toward another wounded ninja, missing the bottom half of his body, leaving Cat alone. 'I suppose I'll go to the parade ground then. Not much else to do."

By the time she got there, the unit captains who were still alive had already started to line up the surviving ANBU. An ANBU captain with a dog mask, known as Sharingan Kakashi, was in command. She stood there for at least half an hour with the group, waiting for any other able ANBUs to join them. Finally, when it was clear that there were no more stragglers, Hatake stepped forward with a piece of paper in his hands.

Taking a quick glance at the paper, he announced, "The Sandaime has told me to tell you that... our Yondaime has managed to do the impossible: bring down the Kyuubi."

Nods all around. Most of the ANBU had witnessed this first hand.

"However, to do this he had to make a deal with the god of death himself. In exchange for the salvation of our village, he sold his soul to the Shinigami."

There was a slight intake of breath here, but it was barely audible. It would take more to shock those who had seen their team mates ripped apart by the damned Nine-tails. Crushed in a flash of orange. Torn apart by claws and fangs. Some of the new recruits were literally scared to death when they had met Kyuubi's eyes. Whole fields had been stained red. Gallons and gallons of blood flowed freely onto the earth as hundreds of men died.

"As for the Kyuubi, the Kyuubi has been sealed inside the stomach of a newborn baby. The Yondaime's last wish was for the village to see this child, not as a monster, but as a hero. May those present now give a moment of silence to honor the sacrifice of Yondaime Hokage."

Kakashi's voice died away and the silence that was left behind seemed... natural in the wake of the demise of such a great man.

All full minute passed before Kakashi spoke again. "Orders from the Sandaime Hokage : ANBU units A1-B5, station yourselves along the walls. ANBU units C1-D3, supervise the festival that the civilians are having right now. Squads D3-E2, take up posts around the Hokage Tower. Lastly, squads E3-E5, come with me to the Hokage."

The numbers of ninja heading to each rally point was much less than the amount of units would suggest. No squad was at full strength and many were literally nonexistent. As part of squad E4, Cat found that besides her there was only one other person following Kakashi. It was Hawk from Squad E5. The members of squad E3 were no where to be found.

They walked over to the Hokage Tower and through the main door. The arrived to see a scene of bureaucratic chaos as damages were being calculated among other things. Ignoring the clerks, Kakashi, Cat and Hawk continued steadfastly into the Hokage's office. They made their way up a spiral stair case before finding a set of double doors in front of them.

Raising his fist, Kakashi rapped on the door. A muffled voice came from inside, "Come in."

Pushing the door open, the trio entered the office to find the Hokage serenely puffing on his pipe. On his desk sat the baby that the Kyuubi had been sealed into.

"Ah. ANBUs Dog, Cat and Hawk. Its good to see you."

The three nodded as Sandaime continued, "As Dog has hopefully told you, this baby is the child which the Kyuubi was sealed in. Emotions still run high from the Kyuubi among both ninja and the citizens and to be honest, I'm afraid that the villagers or even Konoha Shinobi may try and harm the baby in retaliation against the Kyuubi. All the sake going around right now probably isn't helping either."

Sandaime smiled. "This is why I'm giving you three the job of protecting the baby, at least for tonight."

"Of course Hokage-Sama," they said in practiced unison. "It will be done."

"Alright then."

With that, they were dismissed.

Being the only female among the three, Cat was unofficially elected to be the one to hold the baby as the three left the Hokage Tower.

Cat gave a smile under her mask, "Cute, isn't he?"

Kakashi tilted his head and looked at the baby's face. "If you say so. Anybody besides me hungry?"

Hawk nodded affirmative while Cat shook her head. "Its two to one, lets get some food then. The restaurants are all closed so the mess hall is the only place to go."

Wordlessly, Cat and Hawk walked with Kakashi to the ANBU Head Quarters cafeteria. The interior was dark and depressing, with the walls being painted a gloomy gray. Besides them, three other ANBU members were lounging around in a corner. They seemed to be deep conference about something and notably, they kept glancing at the baby in Cat's arms.

Kakashi looked at them suspiciously. 'Why weren't they at the parade ground? Did they desert the fight?'

Shrugging, he took his place at the mess line, Hawk behind him. Cat was indecisive. Should she join them?

After deliberating it for a moment, she decided that yes, she would. After all, a little nip to eat never hurt anyone.

Setting the baby on a cafeteria table, she grabbed a tray and fell in behind Hawk. Hands belonging to an unseen chef spooned fish, rice, and celery onto a paper plate before placing it onto her tray. The next window delivered soup and the last window, chopsticks.

She had just moved to pull some napkins from a dispenser when she heard Dogscream, "SHIT! Kidnapper! Those ANBU just took our kid!"

Cursing madly, Cat whirled around just in time to see three shadows rush out of the lunch room. "What are you waiting for?!" she demanded. "Chase after them!"

They needed no further urging as Hawk and Kakashi charged off, Cat not two step behind.

The three kidnappers rushed around two corners, leaving ANBU headquarters. Jumping over the compound's fence, the three ANBU landed on the roof of a nearby shop and headed for the East gate. Hot on their heels were Hawk and Cat, Kakashi having moved to cut them off.

The kidnappers had reached the last house before the wall when all of a sudden, Kakashi jumped up from a street alley onto the roof. The Dog masked ANBU growled dangerously, "You'll do well to stop right there!"

The three kidnappers paid no heed, brushing past Kakashi. One of them, wearing a Viper mask, muttered, "You won't stop us from getting our vengeance on the Kyuubi now. Bastard."

Hawk grunted, "Well there's their warning."

Cat sighed, "Yep."

Raising her fists, steel claws sprang out from her hand guards while in front of her, Kakashi drew his katana and Hawk took out a pair of metal tonfas.

Hawk cracked his knuckles. "Weapons free. Lets go - Fuuton : Fuku no Jutsu!"

A giant gale of chakra-infused wind swept the three ANBU up from behind and under the guidance of Hawk, hurtled them through the air at speeds no pair of legs could hope to match.

Cat felt like the breath had been ripped out of her body and while gasping for air, manged to squeak, "Warn ... me ... next ... time!"

Hawk had the courtesy to look sheepish but only poured more chakra into the wind, moving them along faster. "Still no sign of those fuckers. They're moving fast."

'Closer and closer to the Mist-Leaf border', Cat thought. Mist was gathering and thickening and the presence of marine plant life increased. Bogs and swamps started to appear, first in dribbles, but then in huge lakes. But still they pursued, airborne. Seconds turned to minutes and there was still no sign of the kidnappers.

Kakashi was getting worried. 'If this keeps up, they'll make it inside Mist borders and we won't be able to do a thing about it. Not legally anyway...but oh the paper work that'll result! Still the client is most important, even if it is a demon infested baby.'

The jutsu powered wind stopped abruptly. Cat landed on her rear while both Kakashi and Hawk elegantly touched down. Hawk put a finger to his lips. "Shh! They're just a slight up a head."

Nods all around. With practiced efficiency, the three triangulated around the target area. They could feel each others presence, even through the thick mist and trees. The synchronized attack - one of the most infamous skills of Konoha's ANBU.

In their hearts they felt a faint beating, a tempo from their hearts. "Five - Four - Three -..."

Just a few meters a way, a man wearing a ferret mask was holding up a dagger while another with a raven mask held the babe in place.

With an evil leer, Ferret smiled. "Good bye Fox. Forever! Thats what you get for killing my wife you bastard fox!"

The dagger shot downward.

"-One!"

Shuriken erupted from all sides of the trees as the ambushers attacked. Three of the metal stars hit the arcing dagger, whipping it from Ferret's hand and off into the undergrowth. Ferret screamed, "Fuck! ANBU?! You followed us this far?!"

There was no answer from Cat, Hawk or Dog. The time for talk was over. All that was left was lethal business.

Ferret looked at Raven and Viper and the three nodded. 'Raven and Viper, you hold them up. I'll kill the Fox.'

Raven and Viper each drew their katana and with an air-splitting yell, charged at their assailants. Hawk grunted as Raven knocked him against a tree and retaliated by taking one of his tonfas and bashing it against the side of Raven's head. The two split a part and then charged at each other again.

Meanwhile, both Cat and Dog managed to avoid Viper's attack. Taking out a scroll, Dog bit his thumb, drawing blood. He unfurled it, letting it flap wildly, before smearing his blood down the scroll. A giant burst of smoke appeared from nowhere. When it cleared, a squad of ninken had appeared and with a curt order from Kakashi, started running after Ferret.

Cat and Hatake made to follow, but Viper was not easily deterred."Doku Fukibari!"

A rain of poisonous needles shot out at the pair through Viper's mask. Whirling around, Cat easily deflected all of them with her metal claws. "Go ahead Dog, I'll take care of this idiot."

Not sparing another glance, Kakashi shot off into the foliage, after his ninken.

Tonfa clashed against katana as the two pushed against each other. Feeling the strength of the other overwhelming him, Hawk leaped backwards, landing lightly on his feet. "So you are stronger than me. But this is not where I fight. Let me add a new dimension to this conflict!"

He made the Tori seal before jumping up.

Raven followed him a second later, with both simply hovering in the air. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Hawk tilted his head. "Aato no Hiyu. The Art of Flight. How did you know it?"

Raven smirked. "I have my ways." From the empty hollows that were the eyeholes of his mask, two red orbs appeared.

Hawk grimaced. "The Sharingan."

"The one and only."

However, Hawk smiled. "Interesting. But you are nothing a copy-cat. Let me show you true mastery of this art!"

Hawk rocketed upwards, before executing a 360 degree flip and shooting down-left at the still form of Raven. Whirling his tonfas, he closed in - two hundred meters - one hundred - fifty - Yes!

One vicious tonfa strike after another was blocked by Raven's katana. Six tomoes, three for each eye, spun madly, tracking the arcs and swings of the dual tonfas. "Whatever art you might be referring to is nothing compared to my mastery of the Sharingan," Raven sneered.

Hawk disengaged panting. "Not bad. But I've fought the Sharingan before...Let's see how fast you can react to the true nature of Aato no Hiyu!"

With that, he blurred away. Raven's eyes widened. 'Shit! He's knows it! Even though I can still track his movements with my Sharingan, theres no way I can keep up with his speed!'

Smudges of black appeared around Raven, moving from place to place so quickly that the after-images suggested there were eight Hawks.

Above! Below! To the side?

Raven' turned this way and that, never quite managing to keep Hawk in his sights. "In front!"

His head whipped around just in time to feel the blows from dual tonfas on his face. His mask quickly disintegrated under the force of the tonfas and Raven dropped toward the ground. Hawk raced after the falling body, giving it an axe kick to help it on its journey down.

Raven crashed onto the ground with a dull Tumphh, his fall cushioned by moss and swamp muck. Hawk landed gracefully and knelt down beside Raven. Placing his index and his middle fingers of Raven's neck, he felt for a pulse. There was one.

'Damn. Only unconscious. I suppose it'll be better this way'

Taking a spool of steel wire from his pocket, he tied Raven up against a tree. The wire would punish any attempt to move with extreme pain and a biting cut. With his prisoner securely bound, Eagle went off to search for his team-mates.

Cat flowed like water around the continued needle barrages from Viper's mouth. "Is that the best you can do?!" she called mockingly.

Viper cackled, "Not even close. Let's stop playing around now!"

Dropping his katana, Viper's hands turned a sickly green as two pick-axes appeared in his hands - shaped as if they were a Viper's fangs. "Don't underestimate me - I'm part of Konoha's Hunter-nin division. Assassination is my specialty!"

Viper suddenly disappeared.

Cat looked around warily. 'Where'd he go? I can't sense him at all! Shoot!'

A voice interrupted her thoughts, "Behind you..."

She turned around and saw nothing. "Gullible little girl, aren't you?"

She felt the wind shift behind her and raised her claws just in time to block a downward blow to her skull. However, the metal the claw was made of was not nearly strong enough to resist the force of Viper's attack. Viper gave his assault a slight extra push and clllckkkash!

Cat's wolverine gauntlets fell away, each claw broken into three pieces. Viper smiled evilly, "You're dead now, girl!"

Just as he was about to attack again, a thick mist surrounded him, obstructing his view of his victim. In fact, Viper realized, he couldn't see anything at all. 'What is this?"

Could this be a... Genjutsu?

Suddenly he noticed he had his back against a tree. That tree wasn't there before... Right?

Viper's breath was suddenly squeezed out of him when the limbs of started constricting his abdomen while the tree's roots started tying up his legs. "Oh fuck! This is that Magen: Jubaku Satsu I've heard about!"

"That's right."

He looked to his right. There that bitch was! He couldn't see her face with that Cat mask on, but somehow, he could still tell she was grinning something evil.

She was translucent, letting only the upper half of her body stick out through the tree. However, the kunai she was holding looked strangely solid. As the kunai came up in between his eyes, Viper started to struggle violently.

But it was to no avail.

The whole thing was over in less than a second.

Kakashi ran after his ninken, following the trail of paw prints into the marshes. Three minutes in, he skidded to a stop. 'I can sense him. That guy is just a bit ahead.'

Ferret called out to him, unseen in the trees, "About time Dog-san. Your little pets were quite persistant. I was forced to take care of them. And it seems, you as well!"

Ferret's voice rang out again. "Ready? Aim! Fire!"

A hail of chakra bullets came from every direction, trailing a line of blazing white light behind them.

Kakashi stood there as the bullet closed in at blinding speed. Looking as if he not a care in the world, Kakashi adjusted his mask slightly and suddenly tossed, turned, twisted every which way. Not a single bullet touched him.

"Hm, I didn't expect that. You might be better than I thought Dog-san. But even then, this engagement is already finished!"

"..."

Kakashi stayed silent as a red orb appeared in his mask's right eye hole. Another wielder of the deadly Sharingan.

The eye was a formidable weapon and was capable of reversing Genjutsu, copying other ninja's Ninjutsu and at high levels, was able to 'foresee' movements of both ninja and projectiles. This made it one of the most dangerous and respected Dojutsu's Konoha had.

Kakashi's Sharingan darted this way and that as he muttered to himself, "Five Kage Bushin around me. He seems to be a projectile specialist."

"Where's the real one though... ?

"Ah! There!"

"Sixty meters, fifteen degrees, East of my position."

"And he still carries the baby with him. I can't risk using the Rakiri or anything dangerous while he holds the baby..."

Even as the words left his mouth, he saw Ferret discard the baby, freeing his hands to form seals. 'There's my chance!'

Bending down, he placed his right hand between his ankles. His left hand clutched his right wrist, steadying it as he concentrated lightning elemental chakra into his right hand.

The chakra became a visible electric blue as the sound of birds chirping filled the air.

Kakashi looked up, his Sharingan glowing brightly, at his opposition. To his surprise, Ferret now looked to be holding a shoulder mounted cannon. He wondered what it would fire, but realized he didn't really care. What ever it was, the Raikiri would be able to cut right through it.

"Chakra Kanouhou!"

"Raikiri"

Kakashi charged, his lightning infused hand in front.

Meanwhile, Ferret was knocked back slightly from recoil as his gigantic cannon fired. The ammunition for the cannon was pure chakra amplified one hundred times. Nobody - nobody, had ever been able to with stand it. Most of the time, the person was literally burnt away from the face of the earth. The lucky ones were merely reduced to ashes.

The gigantic white beam, easily as tall as two trees and as wide as a house, crashed through the swamp, tearing through everything in its way. Until it met Kakashi.

Kakashi grimaced as he cut through the beam, his Raikiri slicing a way through. However, the beam was putting up tremendous resistance and moving forward was slow going. Kakashi noticed that his chakra reserves were starting to feel strained from maintaining the Raikiri, but he shrug off the feeling. He could not afford to lose the lightning blade and let himself be vaporized by the cannon.

Dozens of seconds passed and he groaned, feeling the Raikiri fizzle several times. Kakashi knew his chakra reserves were starting to scrape the bottom.

And then no!

He was out, done, and completely spent. Every drop of his chakra had been thrown into keeping the Rakiri alive and now he was finally out of chakra! He braced himself as the beam slammed into him.

Ferret was on his knees panting as his beam died away. He had no idea if the Dog ANBU was still alive, but looking at the desolation left by his Chakra Kanouhou, it was seriously doubtful.

And with the defeat of that relentless Dog ANBU, he finally was clear to kill off the cursed baby!

But as insurance he may as well run a bit further away. He wasn't sure whether or not Viper and Raven had managed to subdue their enemies and with his chakra badly drained from the jutsu, he had no doubt any encounter with Dog's team mates would leave him dead.

After all, after running this far from Konoha, what were another few kilometers?

Cat was sitting on the forest floor, resting, when suddenly Hawk stepped out in front of her. "Eep!"

Hawk looked down at Cat severely, "What are you waiting for!? We have to help Kakashi catch Ferret and secure the child!"

Cat looked down, embarrassed. "Oops. I forgot."

Hawk nearly smacked himself in the face. "Sonova... It doesn't matter. Get up, we have to catch up to Kakashi."

Cat nodded, and with Hawk beside her, followed the mass of paw prints Kakashi had followed earlier.

They had barely gone a few meters in when they noticed a huge gouge in the ground, as if a giant laser had touched the earth.

Following it, the pair found a prone and unconscious Kakashi at the very end of the ditch. Though he did not know it, Kakashi had been unbelievably lucky. His Raikiri had given out just as the beam was ending so the amount of chakra that actually hit him was was relatively small. It was still powerful enough to knock him out but not powerful enough to vaporize him.

Hawk shook him as Cat slipped a soldier pill into his mouth. A few seconds later, Kakashi's eyelids fluttered as he came too. Clutching his head, Kakashi murmured, "Fuck. He's gone isn't he?"

Shaking his head a few times, Kakashi continued, "At this point... I suspect that our kidnapper has already made it inside Mist borders."

Hawk looked quizically at the ANBU captain. "When has that mattered?"

Kakashi answered, "To be honest, it doesn't. However, the baby is most likely dead with his body incinerated, and the kidnapper long gone. Not only is the chance of finding the baby next to nothing, we may cause an international incident if we continue."

Hawk nodded. "I see. In that case, we should pull back and report to the Hokage."

Kakashi covered his Sharingan again. "Yes. We'll report to the Hokage."

In a flash, the little clearing was empty, each one of the three ANBU speeding back to Konoha to give the Hokage their report:

The Kyuubi baby... was dead.

Haku was annoyed. She was usually quite pleasant, but right now she was just plain annoyed. Her sensei, Zabuza, had just let her precious rabbit escape from his arms on purpose and now she had to find it again!

He called it a 'tracking excercise'. She thought it was just plain mean.

The three-year old girl was on her knees, searching some bushes when she heard a rustling noise. It came from the edge of the marshes just a few meters away. She looked curiously, wondering if it was her rabbit. A second later, a shadow came out, but Haku immediately knew it wasn't her rabbit because it didn't look like one. In fact, it looked like a human. A human wearing a funny Ferret mask who looked like a Konoha ANBU.

She frowned. This was Mist territory! Konoha ANBU shouldn't be here! Turning around, she quickly ran back to Zabuza to tell him what she saw.

Zabuza looked up when he heard the sound of little feet running toward him. Haku was back already? There was no way she could've found the rabbit so soon...

"Zabuza-sensei! I saw an ANBU over there!" Haku shouted, pointing vigorously behind her.

Zabuza snorted. "Oh really Haku? What did he look like?"

"He had a ferret mask. And oh! It looked like he was carrying a baby!"

Zabuza sighed as he thought, 'ANBU do wear animal masks... though they don't usually carry babies.'

Looking at the little girl beside him, Zabuza growled, "You better not be lying Haku."

"I'm not!" Haku cried.

Grumbling Zabuza muttered, "Fine, I'll go check."

Zabuza lifted his zanbatou from his back and started walking toward the bushes Haku had been shuffling through a moment ago. Behind him, Haku followed eagerly.

Peering through the bushes, Zabuza laid eyes on Ferret. "Well fuck me sideways. It really is an ANBU."

Then he smiled evilly. "And trespassing eh!? Interesting. It looks like my sword won't stay dry today after all."

He made to go out from cover and execute the ANBU when he noticed the ANBU was talking, apparently to himself.

He controlled his urge to slaughter the foolish ANBU as he listened to the idiot rant.

"Yes! Finally you mother fucking baby. I'll kill you. And finally avenge my family. Yes! Your death will be slow and painful! Oh yes... I will skin you first perhaps! Maybe tear out your eyes...?"

Zabuza almost smirked when he heard the ANBU. It was like listening to himself talk. Excellent words indeed. And yet, this ANBU was clearly insane, his words punctuated by hysteric laughter. And of course, he was on Mist territory. A good reason as any to die.

He sped into murderous action, swinging his zanbatou.

Ferret looked up as he sensed the newcomer speeding toward him. 'Could it be one of that ANBU's teammates?'

He raised a kunai, looking to block whatever blow was being sent at him, only to reel back in shock as his kunai was shorn in half. "Who the hell are you?!"

The man didn't reply, but instead took another swing at him with his gigantic sword. Ferret drew his katana, barely blocking a blow that would've taken off his head. He sighed in relief, before stiffening. Even as his katana held the zabatou at bay, another zanbatou had been run through his back, completely liquefying his chest. "H-how...?"

A gravally voice whispered to him from behind: "Mizubunshin. Idiot."

The swordsman in front fell away into a puddle of water as Ferret slumped over, still impaled on Zabuza's zanbatou. A quick check of his pulse indicated him dead.

Zabuza flung the corpse off his sword with a flick of his wrist and a grunt of disgust at the guts now staining his sword before glancing at the baby.

Amazingly, the baby wasn't crying from the bloodshed around him, but instead looked at Zabuza curiously. Zabuza was considering dispatching the baby too. It had intruded on Mist soil just as much as the ANBU had. But something compelled him, instead of raising his zanbatou, to look into the boy's eyes.

The boy's electric blue eyes sparkled and just gazing into the child's eyes, Zabuza felt something in the air. It was chakra. But not his chakra nor the ANBU's chakra, it was the boy's.

He radiated potential. Even so young, he seemed to promise power. This boy, he knew, would grow up into an extremely strong shinobi, given the right training. A tool. A magnificent tool. And he could train the boy!

And yet... he glanced toward the bushes. Haku was watching him, now with a struggling rabbit in her arms.

He already had Haku to mentor...

But the boy was powerful and leaving him here would be a waste of talent. Perhaps one of the other seven swordsmen would be interested in an appretice...

It's not like somebody with so much sheer promise showed up every day.

"Yes." Zabuza nodded to himself. That would best.

With that settled, Zabuza lifted the baby into his arms. Walking back to Haku, he barked, "Come Haku, we're returning to the compound."

Haku nodded and with a hop, toddled after Zabuza.

--

Looking for a beta!