Chapter 18: Turning allegiances *Wave part 7*
"So you're a ninja?" she asked. "Yeah, I am. Was it the headband that gave it away?" he asked "Maybe a little. That and the clone you made," Haku said with a smile. "So why did you decide to be a shinobi?" Naruto took a moment to think as he grabbed a herb, he shook his head and pulled it out. "I became a shinobi so I could avenge my parents and show Konoha that I am to be respected!" he said enthusiastically, "I plan on becoming the strongest ninja to ever grace the elemental nations!"
Haku raised an eyebrow as Naruto put his hand over his stomach. "I see…that's quite a grand dream," Haku paused for a second before plunging on. "So what's a ninja doing out this early in the morning?" "Erm…" Naruto blushed a bit as he remembered his Disney princess session with flowers blooming around him, "Training!" He answered. Can that really be counted as training though?
Haku noticed the lie but let it slide, "So why are you training?"
"To become stronger," Naruto said with a grin that stretched across his face and closed his eyes, making him look like a fox. Haku looked the redhead up and down, noticing the tightly packed muscles underneath Naruto's clothes, "You seem plenty strong now." Naruto shook his head, "Maybe, but I'm not strong enough. I have to become stronger."
"To fulfill your dream?" asked Haku. Naruto nodded, "Exactly." "Are you doing this for someone else? Or yourself?" asked Haku.
Sitting back down Naruto looked at her curiously. "Er…huh I don't know. I know who killed my parents and I will avenge them so I guess myself?" was his rather unintelligent reply as he scratched the back of his head. Haku noticed the look and covered a hand to her mouth as she released a giggle. "Oi..." Naruto growled, a blush adorning his face at the sound of Haku's giggle, "What's so funny!"
"Nothing," Haku replied with a smile, "So do you…have someone who is important to you?"
"Someone…important," Naruto repeated as a smile graced his face "Yes, I do, and they mean the world to me. He spoke with a smile.
Haku nodded, remembering the day Zabuza had come and given her a purpose. "When a person has something important to protect, that's when they become truly strong."
Naruto paused in his herb picking as he looked up at Haku. Listening to those words, Naruto remembered Iruka-sensei protecting him from Mizuki and allowing him to graduate afterward.
His mind flashed to Hokage-Ojisan who had been with him ever since he had been kicked out of the orphanage. And he remembered the Ichiraku family, who owned the only restaurant (AKA food stand) that did not kick him out, though not his memories, they, in a way were a part of him. Now that he was here, in this body, in this world. All these memories were so much more impactful than through a screen.
More images played through his head. They were all people who he had grown close to. He would easily fight to protect them. "I know exactly what you mean," Naruto said solemnly, his cool demeanor diminished.
"You'll get strong," Haku said, seeing the understanding light enter Naruto's eyes. Standing up Haku looked at Naruto. "By the way…I'm a boy."
Naruto froze as he remembered his words waking up, hell, he had even forgotten Haku was a guy!
Oh no! Oh No oh no oh no! If I called a boy angel I'm gonna- he paused mid-rant as Haku began to walk away and his nose caught a scent, 'this is... Unexpected' he thought as he called out. "You're lying," Causing Haku to freeze and look back at him. Grinning Naruto stood up and walked over to her, "I almost believed you, but there is no way you can be a guy."
Haku kept calm and merely raised an eyebrow, "Oh? What makes you say that?" "Well, the first thing is you have no Adam's apple" Naruto knew basic human anatomy after all. The other differences are… he shook his head, Mind out of the gutter Naruto. Looking back at Haku he continued. "Second, you're far too pretty to be a man," He grinned as Haku blushed.
He shook his head again, shaking off the blush. "And finally, no self-respecting male would ever wear perfume." "I…see," was all Haku said, too surprised that someone had called her out to actually say anything, though a part of her mind was trying to come up with an excuse for posing as a boy. "I'm guessing you're posing as a male because of Gato's reign of tyranny over the island?" Naruto presented an olive branch to her.
Haku felt herself relax as the teen unwittingly provided a cover story. "Yes, Gato's men have been known to do things that were…less than savory to women that they catch alone." Naruto nodded playing along, "Yeah, I wouldn't want to imagine what these scum do to people." He suddenly got a good idea from his bullshiting, If I can follow her to where Zabuza is, I can convert their allegiance before they fight us! "I know! Why don't I escort you home? That way if any of Gato's goons even try to touch, I'll beat the shit out of them."
Haku giggled but grew worried as she tried to find a way out of this situation, "That's ok, I don't want to interrupt your training. I have already taken too much of your time."
Naruto simply said "No, no, I insist," "Please do not concern yourself with me, I have been evading Gato's men in the morning ever since he came here."
"At least allow me to take you half of the way," Naruto said in a somewhat dejected voice. Something inside of Haku snapped looking at his face, "Alright, but only half way..." She said with a blush of her own this time. Naruto smiled triumphantly as the two began walking through the forest. However, Naruto could tell Haku was leading him in the wrong direction since she seemed to be looking around more than someone that knew the way. About 10 minutes of walking and chatting, Haku stopped and said to Naruto "This is far enough, I can make the rest of the way on my own." Naruto just smiled and said his farewell as he began walking back. He silently spoke to himself "Follow her and find out where they are hiding, no fighting." A grunt was heard from his shadow as Zed emerged and began jumping from shadow to shadow after Haku.
Walking back to his 'flower bed'. Naruto continued his exercises for about 30 minutes before Zed suddenly appeared in front of him. "I found it, and its heavily trapped, but I've already found a way in. I'm assuming you want to go?" He said. Naruto wasn't sure why Zed hadn't de-summoned himself, but he assumed it had to do with learning new techniques. "Yes, lead me to it," Naruto said. Zed just chuckled and said "No need." as he wrapped shadows around Naruto and they then reappeared in front of a giant treehouse. "Naruto turned to Zed inside of the shadow and asked, "Can you restrain them without hurting them?" Zed merely chuckled and disappeared, kicking Naruto out of the shadow, a few seconds later he heard two screams and Zabuza yelling "ITS YOU! YOU BASTARD ILL KILL YOU!" Naruto just shook his head as he walked up to the door, before walking in. The two missing-nin looked at him and Haku looked on in shock "You- why? how?" she mumbled in shock. "Now, now, Haku-chan I come in peace." The two nin just drilled holes in him with their stares.
"Let me explain." Said Naruto. "I would not call myself an important person, but I do have a lot of sway. I want to turn the two of your allegiances and recruit you," he said simply. "I'd rather die than become a dog to the peace lovers in Konoha," Zabuza growled out like a feral dog. "I'm not trying to recruit you into Konoha," Naruto said earning a raised eyebrow. "I'm trying to recruit you into my own faction. I have the nine tailed fox inside of me, I'm the son of the Yondaime Hokage, and I have the ability to summon people from different worlds." He finished off pointing at zed who sarcastically waved at the two. "I can guarantee your safety as well as money, but in return, I require your loyalty. I know you have a hate for being controlled, Zabuza. But I don't want to control you, I wish for your loyalty and will treat you with equality. Same for you Haku. I wish to be prepared for the war to come, the next great shinobi war, and you two are impossible to ignore in terms of skill and pure ability and strength."
He finished his speech and surprisingly it looked as if Zabuza was actually considering it, the Kiri missing-nin looked up at Naruto and asked. "How do I know you are telling the truth and we won't just be arrested by the ANBU in Konoha and interrogated for Kiri secrets?" Naruto chuckled and said simply. "I am not loyal to Konoha, and they fear me, they fear the Kyuubi sealed inside me. As well as the fact the Hokage sees himself as a grandfather figure and if I can convince them that you are 100% loyal, though you really aren't, then he will most likely agree. If that fails, all I have to do is threaten to leave or threaten to commit suicide, since that would release the twin tails." Zabuza thought about his options, either agree to join the kid in front of him with a ton of backing, an ability to summon people that are leagues stronger than him, and is even a jinchuriki, or die. Obviously, it's the former, he is just a mercenary after all. Permanent work is better.
"Alright, I agree. So can you have the fuckin shadow bastard stop with the shadow tentacle things?" Zabuza said annoyed. Naruto nodded and Zed removed the tendrils as he retreated into Naruto's shadow. "Alright, Now what," Zabuza said. "Now, we go meet my sensei, which is just as hurt as you. Good fight, by the way, I was impressed." Naruto said. "Flattered...." Was all Zabuza said as he stood up and grabbed a pair of crutches and hobbled over to the redhead. Haku started running around the building and grabbed all the important things and shoving them into a storage scroll before meeting up with Naruto and Zabuza who were talking at the door. "All done?" Naruto asked the girl. "Done." was all she said. "Then let's go."
----Inside tazuna's house, around the kitchen table----
The atmosphere at the current moment was tense, to say the least, and murderous to say it truthfully. Tazuna, Sakura, Tsunami and the kid, whose name I have forgotten, all had looks of fear. While Sasuke and Kakashi started daggers at the group of two. Naruto was sitting in between the two groups as he said "Maa, maa, let's calm down, they are on our side now. here let me explain what happened." Naruto told how he and Zed, who they now knew the name of the shadow man who was following him around, broke into Zabuza's base, incapacitated them and then managed to convince them to join Konoha. Kakashi was about to cry, Naruto, the twelve-year-old genin had gone alone, into an enemy base, and manage to convince them to join his side! This goes against all logic! Kakashi just put his head on the table "Forget it, I'm done, do whatever you want. Just don't bring me down with you." He then shunshin'd to his bedroll and laid down in it and went to sleep.
Naruto coughed to regain the attention of the others from Kakashi's antics, who was no doubt overwhelmed from all the shit Naruto had pulled the last couple of days. "Haku and Zabuza will now be helping us train and once Sensei and Zabuza are healed, we will go wipe Gato and his cronies of the face of the planet. Then we will all return to Konoha." He said simply. The rest of his team just looked at him as if he was crazy. "Naruto. Do you honestly expect the Hokage to agree to let two missing-nin from Kiri join Konoha?" Sasuke asked. Naruto just shrugged and said "I'll handle it, and even if it backfires it's my head, not yours. So just let me handle it." Sakura and Sasuke just grunted and went back to doing what they were doing. "Alright, I'm going to go to sleep. Haku, Zabuza, I'll get you two bedrolls and you can sleep somewhere in the room I'm staying in. and we can all talk tomorrow once we have all calmed down." With this, he got up and walked off towards his room with Zabuza and Haku following behind him.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
TheMostAbstract
TheMostAbstract I thought about killing off Zabuza, but I couldn't think of a way without haiku hating him, I also couldn't think of a way to save him from Kakashi without it being boring. So I decided to go the diplomatic route to stir up some drama.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone