Chapter 3
Omnipotence
"Tell me Zabuza… who is more of a Demon? He who proclaims it, or he who denies it?"
Kakashi's eyes widened when he saw Naruto's persona. His eyes had changed color from the vibrant, literally glowing, blue, to the crimson red from the Kyuubi's chakra influence. The whisker marks on his cheeks got darker and thicker, his teeth grew as did his nails, all in all he looked more beastly now.
"Naruto…"
Needless to say Sasuke and Sakura were shocked at this transformation. Neither had ever seen this side of him before, this animalistic looking side.
"Naruto… are you… alright?" Sasuke asked uncertain now.
"Just fine Sasuke, just showing what the villagers hate." Naruto responded causing Sasuke's eyes to widen. They had been friends since before the massacre, and Naruto had known about the Kyuubi since before even then. He had told Sasuke when they were young but he always seemed self conscious about it, so for him to be essentially flaunting it now was surprising.
A sickeningly wide smile made its way to Naruto's face, looking as if it was going to split his head from the mouth up. Revealing his teeth in the process as his eyes widened to seem almost like a puppets, all in all he looked insane.
Suddenly his presence let itself be known as it washed over the area. Unlike last time the feeling of jumping into a pool, it felt like you were standing in the middle of a whirlpool with no sense of salvation.
Watching each of the clones closely, Naruto called over to Sasuke. "I have a plan, just flow with it, got it?"
"Alright? What is your plan?" Sasuke asked only to catch a massive collapsible Shuriken. "I see…"
Naruto ran forward and began spinning as he shot flames out of his hands destroying all the clones fairly quickly. As soon as that was done, Sasuke threw the Shuriken at the original Zabuza.
"Stupid brat, as if that could hit me." Zabuza said confidently as he just snatched it out of the air with ease. What he wasn't counting on was another hidden in the shadow of the first. Panicked he hopped over it still keeping contact with the ball of water.
Until he heard an odd 'poof' noise behind him and felt his arm being singed, he let go quickly and dropped underwater in an attempt to douse the flames but was confused when they just continued burning until he used chakra in the water to put it out.
Climbing back on top of the water, Zabuza was met with a ready to fight Kakashi. The lightning storm around them giving the grey Jonin an ominous look, similar to the Genin who was now unconscious on the shore, being tended to by the pink haired girl.
So another round, Monkey boy?" Zabuza questioned.
Instead of a verbal response, Kakashi merely charged, nearly being twice as fast as before. Alarmed Zabuza quickly brought up his sword to block but was thrown back with a loud 'clang' sound. Looking over his sword he could see Kakashi still standing there with an outstretched arm after punching the side of the blade.
"You cant win you Monkey!" the angered Mist nin yelled as he ran through the hand signs for the water dragon, Kakashi mimicking him perfectly.
(the rest will be cannon so I will leave that out and just skip to Tazuna's house because I am lazy and don't need to re tell a story…)
Nearly a week had passed since the battle with Zabuza and learning that he was still alive, the team had been practicing Chakra control exercises. Naruto and Sasuke already knew tree walking and Sakura was a quick learn, so they quickly went to water walking.
Sakura again was first to learn with Sasuke not being far behind. Naruto, for whatever reason, could not get a hang of it. Too little Chakra and he fell in, but too much chakra the water would rapidly evaporate. Sakura, all the while teasing him that he was closer to walking on steam then water. While this was meant to be a joke, it had given Naruto an idea. That idea is what he had been working on since the third day.
Sasuke was working on bettering his Lightning affinity, especially since Kakashi explained to him the reason he was so much faster and stronger during the lightning storm being because he could use the natural lightning to augment his abilities
Sakura was still working on water walking. While she was able to do it without concentration, her reserves were low enough to give her trouble after a few minutes of walking on it. So exhausting herself then resting for a while to try to build up stamina as well as chakra reserve.
All the while they were being watched by a light brown haired man wearing a fedora…
As the second week went by Kakashi had began bringing one of the Genin to the bridge with him while the other two trained.
"So Naruto, what have you been working on?" Kakashi questioned generally curious.
"Well Sakura-Chan gave me the idea that if you could walk up trees, walls and on water, then why not steam then once you got used to that, air? So I am working on being able to walk on air, the Tsuchikage is rumored to be able to fly so it has to be possible." Naruto explained.
"Hmm well just don't go jumping off any cliffs I guess. Shouldn't you master water walking first though?" Kakashi questioned.
"Maybe that would be a good idea…"
A few days later found Kakashi Sakura and Sasuke walking to the bridge with Tazuna due to Kakashi thinking today would be the day to fight. The reason for Naruto not being with them was due to an accident while trying to evaporate the water to walk in the air. Surprisingly enough Naruto had mastered water walking and had actually gotten nearly 40 feet off the ground on the steam before one key factor came into play… steam disperses…
Trying to be creative, he tried shooting fire out of his hands as a rocket like effect, he didn't count on the sudden weight though and his arms got thrown back giving him more momentum to hit the ground with. Needless to say it wasn't this Naruto's brightest moment.
Arriving at the bridge, they saw all the workers laying about wounded or unconscious. Soon the battle began…
(yes skipping again, if you want to know what happens watch the show or read the manga…)
Naruto awoke to the sound of a plate hitting the floor and a scream.
Leaping up and running down stairs he saw two 'samurai' holding Tsume, Tazuna's daughter and moving towards Inari, Tazuna's grandson. As one thug was about to slash his sword at Inari in an overhead strike, Naruto had walked up and grabbed the blade while it was still behind his back.
"Thugs… not the brightest lights of humanity…" Naruto said as he began super heating the blade causing it to become more malleable, then slowly bending it to wrap around the sheath tied to his back effectively preventing him from using the sword anymore.
The second thug drew his sword and advanced on Naruto.
"Well Tsume, looks like your free to go." Naruto said smiling at the surprise on the thugs face now that he realized he let go of the hostage.
Turning quickly to try to reclaim her, he met face first with a frying pan. Now he was dropped unconscious as Naruto knocked the other one out.
"Now I gotta hurry to the bridge…" Naruto said while turning to leave.
"Thank you!" Inari said in a bow, bending at the waste a good 90 degrees while trying not to cry.
"don't mention it?"
Sasuke wasn't having very much fun at the moment. This guy(?) had him trapped in a dome of ice mirrors and was throwing Senbon at him. Definitely not the time of his life he had hoped for…
"Sasuke? You're an Uchiha having trouble with ice?" Naruto asked as he was suddenly behind said Genin.
"Naruto? What are you- never mind, fire doesn't work on these…" Sasuke said looking around waiting for the next barrage.
A stream of fire flooded out of Naruto's open palm to one of the mirrors, quickly melting a hole through it.
"Fire seems fine to me." Naruto said looking back at his clearly irritated friend.
"I think we both know the difference between Dragon flame and regular chakra flame…" Sasuke said while trying to stay calm.
Before Naruto could respond, he felt odd. He couldn't describe it as painful but rather numbing. Looking over he noticed a few Senbon sticking out of his shoulder.
"That's not good." Naruto said slowly lifting his arm. "Well… Hell…"
"Don't get hit stupid!" Sasuke yelled as he dodged around Sharingan active.
Growling Naruto built up a flame, "I will get us out of this, you kick his ass after." He said as he yelled out and shot fire out in every direction, seeming to go through Sasuke and hit all the mirrors melting them too fast for Haku to repair them. "Yeah that pretty much drained me…" He said as he took a knee.
Sasuke didn't hesitate to rush the stunned 'hunter nin' as he ran up and hit him in the side of the head with the ring of his Kunai knocking him out.
"You alright?" Sasuke asked.
"That took pretty much everything I had at the moment… trying to air walk here probably didn't help much with that…" Naruto said humorously.
Kakashi by this time had Zabuza trapped with his dogs, his Rikari charged in hand.
"This is the end." Kakashi said as he charged Zabuza. Stopping short he looked through the clearing mist to see a short man in a suit with an army of thugs behind him. "Is that Gato?" Kakashi asked, Zabuza slowly looked over to where his opponent was indicating.
"Yeah that's him… doesn't look like he was wanting to pay me after all."
"What happened to the Demon?" Gato questioned humorously.
Kakashi let his attack fade and his dogs leave once he started to feel light headed. Covering his Sharingan he looked into the group.
"Well look at this, you all are tired I'm guessing?" Gato said laughing, turning around walking through the group he only said one more thing. "Kill them all."
The group charged but paused when they saw a man appear between them. A ring of dirt blowing out all around him as if he fell from a great height.
The man was wearing a pair of black pants, a white dress shirt left un tucked, a black blazer, a pair of nice shoes, and a fedora tilted more to the right so it was hiding his right eye from view. You could see his left eye, a vibrant green glowing in a similar way to Naruto's.
With his left hand he was holding an obsidian colored sheath with a black wrapped hilt sticking out.
"That's odd…" the man said, his voice deep and smooth. Looking into the group of thugs blankly, raising his right hand he pointed at the group, "I don't recognize any of you." he said as if surprised, his eye somewhat widening to emphasize his surprise, the group behind him faltering slightly.
Turning around he saw Kakashi, Zabuza, Sasuke, Naruto, Tazuna, and finally Sakura.
"Ah! Kakashi, Sakura! Been so long, wow Sakura you have gotten… well never mind your still a runt… But Kakashi! You got old!" the man laughed out walking up to the exhausted ninja.
"Trez?" he questioned, Sakura perking up a bit when she heard that name.
"Wait, you mean the Black Death? This is him?" Zabuza questioned clearly familiar with the other swordsman.
"Yo" was the simple response, "Trez Haruno at your service!" he said happily.
"What are you waiting for? I said kill them all!" the short man yelled at his group.
"Hmm?" Trez said while turning in confusion. "Your trying to hurt Kaka-Sempai and Sakura-nii?" he questioned as his right hand found the hilt of his Katana.
Slowly drawing it they saw it was a bit odd, the odd thing about it, besides the blade being a blood crimson color but seeming to absorb all light around it, was the fact it was serrated. "We couldn't have that now could we? I suggest that you all stand down." The tall man stated watching them closely for any indication of what they might do.
"Its just one man standing in our way of being rich! Kill him!" one gutsy gangster said, this began what could only be described as an uncoordinated bum rush.
"Nan No Mai" Trez sighed as what could only be described as a void appeared around his sword, slowly growing up his arm and encompassing his body. Once he was completely covered, the 'void' vanished, him along with it. Next thing that happened the Genin would never have guessed…
He was just suddenly back, standing near the pink haired girl as if sizing her up, sword back in its sheath.
"Wha-" Sasuke began noticing the army of thugs weren't moving at all. Gato seemed to notice this as well.
"Why are you all just standing there? Kill them already!" the short man yelled.
"You aren't taking this seriously are you Sakura-Nee? I mean just look at these muscles, your stamina must be horrible… weren't you training in the academy at all?" Trez said in a scolding tone.
"Ano I…" was all Sakura got out before her eyes widened in horror. Behind Trez the army of hoodlums suddenly seemed to explode in a shower of blood, after the spray stopped it looked like each one had been sliced cleanly through with a sword multiple times.
"Right right, back to business…" Trez said a little somberly. "We will catch up later, yeah?" he questioned as he turned around.
"You must be Gato, am I right?" the fedora wearing man questioned.
"I-I am." He responded shaken by the sudden defeat.
"Come here." Trez commanded in a tone leaving no room for argument, as he said this his eyes shined brighter, then dimmed to their original glow once he finished talking.
Gato slowly walked over to the man as if trying to fight it, but soon was standing in front of the new comer seeing how tall he was. Abnormal for ninja, if that's what he was, he was standing at about six foot four inches, not much could be seen about his body type with the way he was dressed however, but it was obvious he was fairly slender with an angular face, what looked like a 5:00 shadow dusting his jaw line up onto his cheeks and chin.
"Zabuza." Trez said looking at the other swordsman, getting the message the ex mist nin slowly walked over to the two well dressed men. "I think you have some… business disagreements you need to work out. As you are no longer a threat to my family I will not target you." Trez said with an aloof tone similar to Kakashi's, "However," he began again putting Zabuza on edge, "If you ever threaten any of my precious people again, not even Kami could save you." he finished with a dangerous tone.
They stared at one another for a moment, one clearly uncomfortable the other showing nothing but seriousness, before he smiled slightly and walked away.
"So this is the mysterious and infamous Uzumaki Naruto." Trez said with a smirk and slight curiosity.
"Hai?" was the blonds response.
"Where is your sword? Did you lose it out here or something?" the taller man questioned looking around.
"I don't use a sword, I am a ninja I use Jutsu and Kunai…"
"You have no interest in becoming a swordsman?"
"I never said that."
"Well this is odd. Came here to train you and Sakura-Nee how to use a sword." He said as Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "Just as your mom taught me I shall teach you, then you Uchiha, as I taught your mother, I will show you. Finally, little Haruno as your father instructed me… you have no choice, your learning." This caught all three Genin's curiosity as well as their Sensei's.
"You trained with Mikoto and Shigure as well?" Kakashi questioned, Sasuke focused now completely on the conversation hearing his mother's name, same with Sakura hearing her father's.
"Kakashi? Ah your still here! I thought you left with you being so quiet." Trez said laughing, you couldn't quite tell if he was joking or not. "Yes, Kushina-Sensei, Mikoto-San, and Shigure-Tou-San all requested that I pass their teachings onto their children. Not like I was going to die before I got the chance right?"
"Right…" Kakashi said looking towards Naruto as if trying to signal Trez, following his line of sight his eyes finally met the blonds.
"Well I'll be damned." He said getting in the blonds face, noses almost touching. "Boy, have you ever noticed your eyes are glowing?"
"Your one to talk old man…"
"Old? Haha yes I suppose I am." The man said rubbing his chin as if just noticing his facial hair.
"If your older, why do you keep referring to Sakura as an older sibling?" Sasuke questioned, trying to keep a conversation going in an attempt to ignore what Zabuza was doing.
"It's the same reason we have the same last name."
Naruto looked back at Sakura for a moment, noticing that she hadn't asked any questions but rather been standing silently watching him.
"You two look nothing alike, I can even see you have brown hair under your hat." Sasuke said as if accusing him of lying.
"Do you even know how silly a man would look with pink hair? Like Minato-Sensei that week we played a prank on him, eh Kakashi?" Trez said smiling like a fool.
"As I remember you're the one that pulled the prank, I had nothing to do with it." Kakashi said lamely.
"Well you still got in trouble with me so I will give you some credit for it."
"Sakura-Chan, are you okay? Your being really quiet." Naruto said getting her attention.
"Gomen, just trying to remember…" Sakura said with a slight blush.
"Sakura-Chan eh?" Trez questioned slyly lowering down to their level. "and little Sakura doesn't even remember me…" the man said feigning sadness.
"Kakashi, it looks like this was just a waste of our time. Return Haku to me and we will be on our way." Zabuza said as he approached the group.
"Hmm no. I think it would be better for you to come back to Konoha with us." Trez said looking over to the battered man.
"What? Are you after the reward too?" Zabuza questioned as he reached for his sword.
"Reward? Why would someone like Me care about money? All I was saying was you look like hell so we are all going back to Konoha, you Will receive medical attention, then we can decide what you want to do from there. You can even join the Shinobi ranks if you want." The Katana wielder stated.
"Don't you need the Hokage's permission for that?" Naruto questioned curiously.
"We will see…"
After a few days, and a few dozen new helping hands, the bridge was finally completed and the team of now seven began their trip across.
The walk was silent as Haku got a strange intimidating feeling from the newest arrival, and Zabuza just had nothing to say to them. Kakashi had his book, Sakura was still trying to remember this man, Naruto and Sasuke just naturally being silent.
"So your trying to learn how to walk on air?" Trez broke the silence as they neared the gates of Konoha.
"Yes I am, laugh all you want I don't care, I will make it happen." Naruto said with his eyes closed clearly irritated about the subject being brought up.
"What if I told you I knew the secret to Onoki's ability to fly?" He replied as the group froze, except for Naruto who had his eyes closed.
"I'd say you were probably lying.." Naruto said opening his eyes to see Trez seeming to levitate.
"Alright, I will keep it to my self for now then." He replied as he continued to the village, lowering to the ground as he did so.
Stupefied Naruto and the rest of the team just followed.
"Hokage-Sama, we are back with a report of the mission." Kakashi said formally.
"Proceed." Sarutobi commanded.
"The mission was a success, bridge completed and client alive. During our mission, Zabuza and Haku here confronted us as Nin hired by Gato, who seemed to double cross them. After words Trez-San arrived to help us with the army of bandits that attacked us when we were all weakened." Kakashi recounted briefly.
"Trez-Sensei?" Sarutobi questioned in awe, "I thought you wanted to wash your hands of The Balance?"
"Don't mistake my intentions Hiruzen-Kun, I am simply here to bring these three children up to par with sword skills and help Kakashi bring them to where I want them to be." Trez said now completely serious.
"Trez-Sensei? Just how old are you?" Sasuke questioned.
"One should never ask a gentleman his age."
"Nobody knows. But he has let slip that we is related to the Rikkudo Sennin, and even worked with him on his path to spread Ninjutsu across the land." Kakashi said, holding his book up.
"Kakashi… I told you that in confidence, you make me feel so old." Trez joked.
"Wait, the Sennin was rumored to be the founder of the Uchiha and Hyuuga, how would you be a Haruno?" Naruto questioned.
"Every one hundred years or so I essentially begin a new, I lose all my powers during that time I become weaker for nearly a year. During one of those moments, Shigure brought me into his home and basically adopted me. Since then I have used the last name as my own and claimed my allegiance to the Haruno line. But again yes I am still basically the oldest surviving member of the Uchiha, Hyuuga, and Uzumaki." Trez finished.
"Wait, my clan was part of this all too?" Naruto questioned is disbelief.
"My original name was Trez Uzumaki, my… relative would obviously have the same last name. The Rin'Negan that made him so famous is the Kekkei Genkai of the Uzumaki and Uchiha clans, although few unlock it. The Uchiha normally develop the Sharingan and are typically happy with that."
"Have you?" Sasuke questioned in surprise.
"Well, yes. My eyes are the final level of the Rin'Negan. Hence the glow. Also the final stage of the Sharingan the Uchiha line has isn't the Mangekyo, its just a deformity of the first stage of the Rin'Negan."
"But wait, Naruto's eyes glow too, does that mean he has unlocked that power?" Sakura asked pointing out.
"No and yes. He is closer to unlocking it then anyone I have ever seen so young. We will discuss that later though. Hiruzen, these two Shinobi will be joining your Ninja corps and I will be listed as a reserve figure for now in case of a war. So for now I will maintain The Balance." Trez said seriously.
"You turn your back on this village for nearly a decade, then you come back and try to tell me who to allow into my village and my trusted Shinobi?" Sarutobi growled dangerously letting his KI flare a little at the man standing in front of him.
"I mean no disrespect, but we both know it would be a boon. Haku here seems to use Ice, that means…" he paused looking over to the youngster he was talking about, "she has a good affinity for both water and wind and a Kekkei Genkai."
"Sorry Trez-San, I'm a boy." Haku said smiling softly.
"I am the last person you ever want to lie to young lady." Trez said scolding, "Back on track, Zabuza is an intermediate swordsman, with the right training he could actually become a decent ninja." With that Zabuza began to grow irritated.
"Intermediate? I was one of the Seven Legendary Swordsman!" Zabuza yelled at the man.
"And I was the one who integrated sword usage into the Ninja life, I also trained Yagura and Kisame how to use a sword, now don't raise your voice at me again, little boy, least you're prepared to raise that sword of yours as well." Trez said sternly not even turning to face the enraged former mist nin. "You know my reasoning for leaving, old man, which is not one that even you can argue."
That statement alone put the old Kage on edge, it was the first time in years Kakashi had ever seen the Professor tense so much. Locked in a staring contest as if having an internal conversation, neither Trez nor Sarutobi blinked. Silence washed over the office, only to be broken by a slightly shaky voice of Sarutobi.
"Have you gained more control of it now?" the aged leader questioned.
"Hai, its difficult at times, but I can at least move when it triggers now. There is no danger anymore, if something begins going south I will teleport to the ocean or something." Trez responded placing his hand on his stomach and looking down at it almost, regretfully.
"Fine, I will accept for now. Zabuza-Kun and Haku-Chan will be listed as Genin under the care and tutelage of Trez Haruno, who will be listed as an active Jonin-Sensei." Sarutobi said as he wrote the document, signed, and stamped it.
"Wait, I am at least Jonin rank." Zabuza tried to protest.
"Sadly you spoke up too late, I have already stamped the document, you are officially demoted to the rank of Genin. On the bright side though, you are now under the protection of Konoha." Zabuza stood flabbergasted for a moment before nodding and turning to walk out of the office.
"One more thing, you and Haku will need to find a place to stay. I believe a few apartments are available in Naruto-Kun's complex." Hiruzen continued.
"Wait, why isn't Naruto living in his old clan housing?" Trez questioned.
"He will gain all rights to his parentage and inheritance once he either gains the rank of Chunin or becomes the age of 18." Sarutobi said looking down to his desk ashamed.
"And who set that up?" Trez asked slowly.
"Deemed by the council…"
"I see. Call for a council meeting tonight, we need to discuss me being back in the village after all now don't we.? Trez said almost too sweetly, turning to leaved he paused, slowly lifting his hand to point at Kakashi, "Ah Kakashi I forgot you were here, you really need to speak up every now and then!" this caused everyone to falter. Sarutobi choked on the smoke of his newly lit pipe, Zabuza stumbled, Kakashi's book almost fell, Sakura just laughed, Naruto and Sasuke just sighed, and Haku remained impassive.
"Sayuki! Ah its been a long time hasn't it?" Trez questioned as he hugged the confused Haruno mother.
"Tr-Trez? You haven't aged at all?" she said as if a question.
"Nah, cant go getting old just yet. Promised Shigure I would teach Sakura-Nii his sword style." He said with a smile as he took a step back.
"Your not staying here are you?" Sakura questioned looking disgruntled with all these new changes brought on by just one man.
"Nah, I can get my own place now. Besides, Naruto might let me move in with him after the meeting tonight." When he said her team mates name, Sakura noticed a look of recognition pass over her mother's face.
"What exactly is this meeting tonight about?" Sayuki questioned sternly.
"Ah just welcoming me back." Trez said but he noticed he was still being leveled under a glare, "And maybe making a few changes to certain laws…" he said almost sheepishly, seeming to also shrink under her mother's glare. It was almost comical seeing this man who had just earlier been going against the Hokage be intimidated by her civilian mother.
Eventually her gaze softened, "So be it, but if you are going to be living with that child you will have at least one good meal beforehand." Sayuki said walking into the kitchen, "Sakura-Chan, you will be keeping an eye on your brother now wont you?"
"Nani?" Sakura said indignantly looking at the only other person in their house.
"Make sure when he is living with your team mate, they both have plenty of vegetables and they aren't spending all their money on Ramen."
"But Naruto lives in a one bedroom apartment, how would they both live there?" Sakura protested.
"You will see after the meeting, patience is a virtue you will want to work on for not only the sword style you will learn, but for life overall." Trez said wisely nodding his head as if agreeing with himself, not noticing Sakura's irritated look to his sagely advice.
"SHARANOO!" Sakura yelled as she punched him in the side sending him flying out the door. Only one thought in both adults mind.
'Sharanoo? Just like her father…'
So there enters the OC I mentioned in the summery Trez.
As far as Trez goes he is from a story I am writing that has nothing to do with Naruto. It was called The Immortal Sword or something stupid like that, I began it as a Ruroni Kenshin fanfic as Kenshin's deciple and building from there. I might post that story later.
Hope you enjoy, it stays a bit mundane in the next chapter as Naruto's heritage in reviled and he begins training.
Review.
TTR/TAK\XIII