Chapter 8: Onward To Wave!

Naruto and co. escorted Karin and the other Kusa genin back to Kusa, where they were received by the Kusakage with open arms. While he was sad that the male genin had been killed, the Kusakage thanked Team 10 profusely for returning most of the team unharmed.

It took about a week for their original mission to be completed, because the important documents were, in fact, a trade agreement between Kusa and Konoha. The week, for the Kusakage, was spent finalizing the documents.

During that week, Naruto took Anko and Ino on dates around Kusagakure, getting to see the sights and taste the food. He also got know more about Karin, as well as spend some time with her. He found that she was a genin, had been for a year, liked to use poisons and throwing weapons, and could sense people's chakra. He also found out that her hair and eye color were natural.

At the end of the week, the documents had been finalized, and Team 10 were about to set off home. Karin and the remainder of her team had come to see them off, as well as the Kusakage.

Karin shyly asked Naruto, "This was one of the best weeks I've ever had, Naruto-kun. Will I ever see you again?"

Naruto took a small scroll out of his pouch, unrolled it and summoned forth a large, ornate scroll, decorated with several depictions of birds. He unrolled it to show the inside, which was a very complex seal, with several boxes around it, one that was filled with the name, 'Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze'.

Karin gasped. "This…this is a summoning scroll!"

Naruto nodded in affirmation. "Indeed. All you have to do is cut your finger, sign your name in blood, and then make a hand-print in blood as well."

Shocked, Karin just stared at him, before shaking herself. "But…why? Why would you let me sign this? You've only known me for a week!"

Naruto shrugged. "Eh. I trust you. And no offense, but you don't have the chakra capacity for the real big birds. At most you could summon a couple pigeons before getting too tired."

"Oh." Karin blinked. "But, why are you letting me sign?"

He smiled at her. "The pigeons are very good message carriers. This way, we could keep in contact over long distances."

A smile spread across Karin's face, and she hugged Naruto fiercely.

…

Before they left, after Karin had signed the Bird's contract, and giving Naruto a very small, chaste kiss, the jonin of Karin's team and the other genin, hugged the members of Team 10 in thanks. Waving to the Kusakage, Karin and her team, they began to run down the road, towards home.

Before long, Anko heard the cry of a messenger hawk. Stopping and holding out her arm, the hawk flew down and landed. She read the message, gaining an exasperated look as she did. She wrote a reply, attached it to the hawk's leg, and sent it off.

Turning to her team, she sighed. "It looks like Kakashi's team ran into some trouble heading down to Wave. They continued the mission after finding out the client lied about the mission's rank, and after running into two chunin missing-nin. They met a jonin, got into a fight, and survived, but Kakashi is injured and they are now calling for back-up."

"And we are the only team close enough to provide support?" Naruto guessed.

Anko nodded. "Exactly. So, we're heading to Wave."

…

Two days of running, a long boat ride and an hour of searching later, Team 10 found their way to Wave, and the client's house, a man named 'Tazuna'.

When they got there, as Anko raised her hand to knock on the door, they heard a scream come from the inside.

"NO! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NO! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU? I WILL NOT GO OUT WITH YOU!"

They heard some mumbles, then the voice rose again, and Naruto muffled a snicker. He recognized that voice.

"GAH! DEAR GOD, GET AWAY FROM ME! SOMEBODY, HELP! I'M BEING RAPED BY A FANGIRL!"

Anko slid the door open, and came upon a comical sight. Kakashi sat at a round table, reading his porn, Kiba was grooming Akamaru, and Sakura was chasing Sasuke around the room, while an old man drank deeply from a bottle of sake, and a brown-haired woman wearing a pink sweater giggled at the scene, and a boy wearing a bucket-hat scowled at everyone.

"Sakura, stop trying to rape your teammate," Kakashi said lazily. Sasuke muttered, 'Thank you," but Kakashi wasn't finished. "Wait until everyone's asleep, then tie him up and then rape him. Just gag him so we don't hear the crying, hmm?" He flipped a page of his porn nonchalantly, while Sasuke roared, "YOU BASTARD!"

Seeing the glazed over eyes of Sakura, Sasuke threw up his hands and yelled, "That's it! I'm sleeping outside!"

He turned to storm out of the house, but stopped short when he saw Naruto and Team 10 looking at him, shaking with repressed laughter.

He shook his head and flipped them off. "Screw you guys! I'm going outside!"

Team 10 burst out into laughter, even Shino. They doubled over, gasping for breath, as Kakashi eye-smiled at them. "So, you're our backup?"

Anko wiped a tear from her eye and straightened up. "Yeah. What's the situation?"

Kakashi lost the smile. "We ran into the missing-nin, the Demon Brothers of the Mist, defeated them and tied them up, before we found out about Wave's problems, from Tazuna. Apparently Gato, of Gato Shipping, has a stranglehold on Wave's income and resources, and is choking the life out of this place. The bridge that Tazuna is building will free Wave from Gato. While we were on our way here, we were ambushed by Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist. We fought, and I managed to injure him, but he has an accomplice that saved him from death. That's all."

Naruto perked up at the name Zabuza, his hand going to his pouch.

Anko nodded, and asked, "What are you thinking? You know Zabuza isn't dead, and that he has an accomplice."

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah, we know. I figured with the amount of damage he sustained, Zabuza won't be up for about four more days, so I started the team on tree walking to help build up their reserves and control."

Anko gaped at Kakashi. "You're just now starting them on tree walking? That's a skill most genin learn in the first week!"

The cyclops rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Uhhh, well…their teamwork really needed work…"

Anko smacked the back of his head, muttering, "Lazy, one-eyed jack-ass."

…

The next five days passed by with only one small incident with Inari, Tsunami's son. One night, after a joke that had everyone laughing, he stood up and slammed his hands onto the table loudly, and shouted, "How can you be so happy? Don't you know what's going on? You're all gonna die!"

Naruto replied, "We're being happy because we can. We do know what's going on, but we can't let that get us down, otherwise we'd lose our minds. And trust me, this is not the worst place I've seen. Maybe the top five, but definitely not the first."

Inari scowled and yelled, "How can you say that? You don't even know what misery is!"

The room fell silent. A small amount of killing intent landed on Inari, coming from Sasuke, as well as Naruto. Without a word, Sasuke stood from the table, and walked out of the door.

Naruto shook his head. "Kid, that was possibly the worst thing you could have said to us. When I was your age, I didn't have a family, friends, or anyone to count on. Sasuke? His entire family was killed in front of him by his brother. The village we're from, treated me like an outcast, a pariah. They treated Sasuke like a prince, just because he was the last of his clan." Naruto's eyes hardened. "Every time someone proclaimed him as the last Uchiha, he would remember the faces of his dead family. Every time I was called a monster, a brat, a demon, I remembered that I had no one. Sasuke and I are alike. We don't have anyone to count, to love. The difference is, I'm finding people who care about me, for me, while he only has himself." Naruto stood from the table as well. "I'm going to find Sasuke. No one should be alone, especially angry." He turned to Inari. "Kid, I may not know the 'misery' that you are going through, but you should know…there are always people, who have it worse than you."

He walked to the door, opened it, and paused. "And they just happened to be in the room."

…

Naruto found Sasuke, punching a tree as hard as he could. When Sasuke finally calmed down, Naruto wrapped his hands in bandages, and sat down next to him.

"That kid…" Sasuke muttered.

Naruto just nodded. "He doesn't know what true misery is. Caught up in his little world of brooding and feeling sorry for himself." He nudged Sasuke, a small smile on his face. "Kinda like you used to be, huh?"

Sasuke shook his head and sighed. "Yeah…but I was never that bad."

No comment.

"Screw you, Naruto."

Naruto chuckled. "You never shouted about how bad you had it, but you still pushed people away with your attitude. 'People' being several women who want to get in your pants, you gay bastard."

Sasuke scowled at Naruto. "You know I'm not gay! I just haven't found a girl who likes me for me, not me for being 'the last Uchiha'."

Naruto patted his back. "Don't worry, man. I'm sure that you'll find someone, someday. Just don't wait to long, alright?"

He nodded. "Yeah…someday."

"Hey, don't sound so down!" Naruto said, "I'll be there to help you find the right one. Because, without my help, you end up marrying the first woman you meet who isn't interested in you."

Sasuke gave Naruto a questioning look. "Why do you want to help me, Naruto?"

Naruto shook his head. "Let's just say that your ambition and mine are a lot alike. I too want to kill a certain man. His interference led to my sensei's death. And I want revenge."

Sasuke thought for a moment, before cutting his palm with a kunai and sticking it out to Naruto. "Naruto, what about this: I'll help you kill that man, and you help me kill my brother. We swear on our blood as future clan heads, to an alliance between the Uchiha, and your clan."

Naruto looked at the blood dripping from Sasuke's palm, and thought. Then, he pulled his glove off, and cut his palm as well. They shook hands, sealing the deal.

"Who'd think, the Uchiha and the Namikaze, making an alliance?" Naruto said jokingly. Sasuke smiled, and they bumped fists as a sign of respect.

Tired from the day, they leaned their backs against one another, and fell asleep.

…

The next morning, Sasuke and Naruto made their way back to the house, only to find that the rest of the genin and jonin had gone to the bridge earlier. Tsunami made them some breakfast, and as they ate, they heard knocking on the door.

Gesturing for Tsunami to stay down, they stealthily crept to the door. Sasuke took up the flanking position, and Naruto drew a dagger. He reached a hand out to slide the door open, when all of a sudden, it was kicked open by a man with no shirt and a katana. He looked surprised to see Naruto standing there, and he was even more surprised when a Cestus-covered fist smashed into his throat.

The man clutched his throat and gasped, falling to his knees. Naruto grabbed him by the head and kneed him in the face, then dodged back to avoid a swipe from a man with an eye patch.

He lured the man inside, dodging his swings all the time, until he was inside the door, with his back turned to Sasuke. Sasuke, seeing his chance, jumped forward and struck the man in the back of the head with the ring of his kunai, knocking him out.

They dragged the unconscious men outside and tied them to a tree with ninja wire. Inari, who had come downstairs after hearing the commotion, watched in shock as two of Gato's top thugs were defeated easily.

Naruto and Sasuke interrogated the two swordsmen in an embarrassing fashion. The one with the eye-patch nearly cried when Naruto attempted to break his rusty sword, and began to babble about the bridge, and how Gato was heading there to catch Zabuza when he was weak, and kill Tazuna, and how Tsunami was supposed to be insurance.

Naruto knocked both men out again, untied them, and then disappeared into the forest. When he came back, he came back alone.

Tsunami, in tears, asked them to go to the bridge and save her father. Naruto gave her a reassuring hug, and promised that they would save her father. Inari watched as they sped off, feeling determination for the first time in a long time. He ran away from his mother, calling out that if they were facing Gato, they would need help.

…

Naruto and Sasuke arrived at the bridge, to find it covered in mist, with a dome of ice mirrors covering part of it.

Naruto motioned for Sasuke to stay back, and walked forward slightly to the beginning of the bridge, and calling out, "Zabuza Momochi! I have a message to deliver to you from the Mizukage of Kirigakure!"

The sounds of metal clashing faded, and Zabuza appeared out of the mist in front of them, Kubikiri Hocho set across his shoulders, a frown easily seen through the bandages covering his face.

"The Mizukage? What does that old bastard want with me now?" He said gruffly.

Naruto pulled a scroll from his pocket, and tossed it to Zabuza. "I don't think my fiancé would like you calling her an old hag. In fact, she'd probably melt your balls off."

Confusion appeared in Zabuza's eyes, and he unrolled the scroll. As he read, the mist faded, and Kakashi and Anko appeared stumbled out, covered in small cuts.

Zabuza looked up in surprise. "This says that the rebels killed Yagura! And the leader of the rebels was made the Godaime Mizukage!"

Naruto nodded. "And it's all true. I was there. I've had that scroll for years now. It's a pardon letter from Mei Terumi, the Mizukage, for any of the Seven Swordsmen that I meet."

Zabuza called out, "Haku!" and the dome of mirrors shattered, as a person wearing a Kiri hunter-nin mask and a battle kimono appeared by Zabuza's side.

"Yes, Zabuza-sama?"

Zabuza tossed the scroll to Haku, and happily said, "We can go home! That bloodline-hunting bastard is dead!"

Remembering something, Zabuza turned a confused glance onto Naruto. "Wait! When I called the Mizukage an old bastard, you said that she was your fiancée!"

Naruto looked around sheepishly as Anko, Ino and the rest of the teams stared at him. "It's kinda a long story…" He pointed behind Zabuza, "And we're kinda short on time, as it were."

A midget in a suit, with a cane and sunglasses sneered at the gathered ninja. "So, it seems like the 'Demon of the Mist' is really just a baby demon after all! I knew I should have hired some other missing-nin. Oh well. At least I'll still get the bounties on your head!" He laughed uproariously, the thugs behind him joining in.

Naruto turned to Zabuza. "Well, since we are no longer enemies, how about we have a little contest?"

Zabuza loosened his zanbatou in preparation. "What kind of contest?"

"Let's see who can get the most kills with their sword, eh?" Naruto grinned ferally, unsheathing Altair's blade from his side. Zabuza's eyes fell on the hilt, and he gasped. "You're…?"

Naruto sprinted forward. "You're losing time!"

Freeing several smoke pellets from his pouch, he hurled them into the crowd of thugs as Gato retreated, and Zabuza ran behind him, shouting, "No fair!"

A cloud of smoke engulfed the bridge and the thugs, and Naruto disappeared into it, as did Zabuza. Screaming and the sounds of flesh being cut rent the air, and the other ninja watched in trepidation, unsure of what to do.

A breeze blew the smoke away, revealing several dead bodies scattered around the bridge ("My beautiful bridge!" Tazuna cried), with the smarter thugs circling around Naruto and Zabuza, who were back-to-back. Respective weapons held out in front of them.

"Let me show you what brute force can do!" Zabuza roared, dashing forward and slashing through three of the thugs in one swipe.

Naruto turned to him and grinned saying, "Brute force is fine, but what about finesse?"

Taking advantage of the fact that he was not looking, one of them hopped forward and thrust his sword forward. Without even looking, Naruto deflected the blade to the side and spun, driving his sword into the thug's chest up to the hilt, then ripping it free. The others around him backed off, their eyes darting around.

Last mistake they ever made. Naruto jumped forward and slashed through one of the thug's throat, hopped and jabbed his sword through another's eye, lodged his sword into the collarbone of another, stabbed another in the stomach and then laid his hand on top of his head, and with a thunder-crack, blew his brains across the stones of the bridge.

Another thug tried to slash Naruto, who got under his guard and stabbed him in the stomach then threw him off his blade; he stabbed another in the heart, cut through another's throat with a wide slash; kicked one down and drove his blade through the skull, deflected a blade away with his bracer, slashed the thug up, across the chest and down the back, and shot him in the back of the head.

Naruto smacked the blade out another's hands, stabbed him through the face, and threw the hilt. The thugs head did a full rotation on his neck, and Naruto pulled the blade from his face. He sheathed the sword as three spear-wielding thugs surrounded him. He caught the haft of a spear jabbed at him, twisted, kicked the thug in the shin and pulled the spear from his grasp. He knocked the back of his knees, spun, and jammed the spear through the thug's head, the tip actually sticking out of the thug's backside. Naruto grabbed the spear from one of the others, stabbing him in the chest and pulling up, the thug grasping his chest as the blade was yanked out. The last one came in with a wide slash, which was knocked away, followed by Naruto sending the spear into his eye with a throw.

He pulled three small, round objects from his pouch, bit the wicks and tossed the sparking objects into a group of thugs. With a thundering Boom! They were turned into red mist and body parts.

Zabuza saw how easily Washi was decimating the forces against him, and roared, joining the fray, cutting through swords, armor, flesh and bones with wide slashes.

Naruto and Zabuza slaughtered the remaining thugs, until only Gato was left, shivering in a puddle of his own urine. As they stepped forward, he scrambled back in fear. Naruto stepped forward and stomped on his leg, breaking it and making Gato scream in pain. He bent down and hauled Gato up to his face, and spat, "If you tell me where you keep all your cash, maybe I'll let you live!"

The ninja on the other side of the bridge just stared at the carnage decorating the bridge, the water beneath it stained red as the blood ran off in small streams. They shook themselves out of their shock at Naruto's proclamation.

"Wait, what? What's he doing?" Tazuna asked in surprise.

Kakashi frowned for a second, then it clicked, and he laid a hand on Tazuna's shoulder. "He's trying to find out where the money Gato took from Wave is kept, so he can give it back. Also, notice that he never said Zabuza wouldn't kill him."

Gato scribbled down where his base was located, and the codes to the safes where the money was kept. Naruto took the slip of paper and scanned it. He smiled evilly at Gato, and set him on his feet, brushing his suit off. "Well, thank you for the info, Mister Gato. I think you'll find that I can be very pleasant when I'm not killing people, so, here's an apology. I'm sorry for killing your thugs, and destroying your base. Okay?"

Gato shook nervously. "O-okay?"

Naruto's grin was extremely cheerful, considering the fact that he was covered with blood splatters, it was quite the horrifying site. "Good! And now, I am going to duck."

Before Gato could say, "Wha?" Naruto ducked, and his head was taken off by Zabuza's cleaver. Naruto grabbed the headless corpse by the shoulders and tossed it over the side of the bridge, where it sank like a stone in the dark waters underneath the bridge.

Zabuza and Naruto turned to each other, looked over the bridge covered in dead and dying thugs, and simultaneously began flipping through handsigns, calling out "Suiton: Suiryuudan Jutsu!" Two large dragons made out of water swept across the bridge, pulling the bodies, blood and dismembered limbs off the bridge and into the water, while having the fun side effect of drowning the remaining survivors.

Zabuza panted from the chakra expenditure, and looked over at Naruto, who was not. "How can you do that jutsu without getting tired?" He asked incredulously. Naruto shrugged.

"Meh, I've always been able to throw out jutsu without repercussions. It takes a lot to wind me, and even more to exhaust me."

Zabuza thought back to the fight, specifically the weird device that blew the brains out of several thugs. "Yo, Washi, what was that thing you used to kill those guys?"

Naruto gave him a dead-panned face, and an equal voice, "It's called a sword, Zabuza. You should know, you use one too."

Zabuza attempted to smack him playfully, and said, "No, I meant that thing in your wrist that made some of those guys' heads explode."

Naruto went, "Oh. It's a gun. It shoots small metal balls at high velocity. It could take out a chunin in one shot, and maybe a lower-level jonin."

"Then why don't you use it all the time?" Zabuza wondered.

Naruto shrugged. "It's a long-range weapon, it takes time to reload, and I prefer a more personal touch with my targets, y'know."

Zabuza laughed and held out a fist, which Naruto bumped with his own. "I can respect that!"

They made their way across the bridge, cutting an imposing figure to the villagers who had shown up in time to watch the slaughter. Covered in blood splatters, with Zabuza carrying Kubikiri across his shoulders, and Naruto with his hood hiding his face; they seemed like twin specters of death.

They stopped in front of the shell-shocked crowd, smiling cheerily.

"Boo!" the crowd jumped back as Zabuza shouted, then doubled over laughing. "Oh, man! You should have seen your faces!"

After Zabuza had quieted down, Naruto held up the slip of paper and shouted, "People of Wave! I have here the directions to Gato's hideout! Come with me, and reclaim your property!"

The people of Wave gave a massive cheer as they stampeded after Naruto, as he led them to their freedom.

…

They arrived at the empty hideout, and raided the place, and as the people reclaimed their possessions and money, Naruto and Team 7 and 10, along with Zabuza and Haku, made their way into Gato's office.

Naruto, using the slip of paper, opened the safe behind Gato's former desk, pulling large suitcases full of money from it. He handed the suitcases out to Tazuna, before opening one and counting the money inside. He then sealed a third of it into a scroll, and handed it to Anko, saying, "The amount this mission would cost, as an A-Rank." Then he took the other third and gave it to Zabuza, along with the other third in the suitcase.

"What's this for?" Zabuza asked.

Naruto shrugged. "Well that's the amount you were promised by Gato, right? The other half of that is for Kiri." He smirked. "Call it a wedding present to my fiancé in Kiri."

Zabuza nodded, but asked, "You never told me how you know Mei, let alone got engaged to her."

Anko and Ino nodded. "Yeah! How did you get engaged?" Anko asked.

Naruto shrugged. "During my travels with my sensei, we ended up in Kiri during the Civil War. We helped out for few months, assassinating important generals and soldiers in Yagura's army, until we finally killed him in open combat. It took, me, Mei, and sensei three hours of fighting to put the bastard down for good." Naruto pulled off one of his Cestus, showing the silver ring with what looked like a band of lava flowing through it. "She found out that I was an Uzumaki, and apparently the Terumi's and Uzumaki's have had a long line of alliances in the past, when Uzugakure was still around. In thanks for helping defeat Yagura, she offered to make a solid alliance with me, by taking her hand in marriage." He shrugged again. "I accepted, of course. It helps that she is a very sweet girl, and only older than me by a few years."

He put his glove back on, and looked around at the shocked faces of his team, and everyone else. Tazuna just kept happily counting the money that they liberated from Gato.

"What's so shocking about that?" Naruto asked.

Zabuza blinked rapidly. "You know that Yagura was a jinchuriki, right?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, and as I said before, he was a real bitch to kill. But, we did it anyways."

Kakashi just shook his head. "I have a feeling that you will keep surprising us, Naruto. I can feel it in my Icha, Icha."

…

The next week, after the bridge was finished, Naruto and co. stood at the end, in front of a cheering crowd.

Tazuna held his hands up, silencing the crowd. "As a voice for the people of Wave, we thank you, ninja! We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, for saving us and ending Gato's tyranny! And as a people, we would like to welcome you to Wave, anytime!"

The crowd cheered. Tsunami and Inari walked among the shinobi, giving hugs in thanks. When she reached Sasuke, Tsunami gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, making the Uchiha blush. Naruto laughed at Sasuke, until Tsunami came up to him and kissed him on the mouth, effectively silencing him.

She blushed, but smiled at them both. "Thank you guys for being there for me when those thugs showed up. If it hadn't been for you, I don't know what would have happened."

Inari was crying, but trying to wipe the tears away fiercely. Naruto knelt next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay to cry when you are happy, Inari. That was a brave thing you did, rallying the villagers to fight Gato." He muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "Even though we killed all of them before you got here." He smiled at Inari, and bumped fists with the little man. "Keep being brave, get strong, and you'll make your mother proud."

Inari gave him a hug, and backed away, smiling at his mother.

The shinobi waved at the crowd one more time, and rode their cheers out onto the bridge.

A random civilian turned to Tazuna. "What are we going to call the bridge?"

Tazuna thought for a second, than announced, "I!...don't know, really."

Inari tugged Tazuna's pants, and said, "Hey, grandpa, what about, 'Flying Eagle Bridge'? Named after the guy who freed us from Gato?"

The crowd roared in agreement. Tazuna smiled and clapped his hands. "Then it's settled! The Flying Eagle Bridge it is! May it lead us into good times!"

…

A/N: I forgot to say this last chapter, but…

Yo, Rixxel? I heard you like Karin, so I put Karin in my fic, so enjoy, mo'fucker!

Also, REVIEW! Really, if you can favorite or alert, you can take the minute and review!