Kapitel 15: My Own Desire

They went back to Tazuna's house after awhile. Out of a sudden, they are welcomed with a shocking news.

"Gato is dead". Tazuna-san delivered the latest news passed on by a villager onto him some times ago.

"They say he was assassinated by someone...". Tazuna look at Haku and Shou.

Shou felt stunned for awhile. Did Zabuza killed him?

'Serve him right!', Naruto excitedly exclaimed.

Thinking about it, Zabuza did want to kill him because of his disrespectful behaviour at first. And he should know Gato wanted to betray him back then but couldn't. Although... Shou had a feeling he did it for them...

"I see... then, Tazuna-san can build the bridge now". Shou just replied shortly with a smile.

Tazuna too realise this simple fact. Right who's stopping them now? He hurriedly go out and call all the villagers who can work on the bridge to finish it. In 2 weeks it should be done and the whole village can finally see the light of the day!

Shou noticed some nice smell coming from the kitchen. Tsunami-san is cooking is it. Maybe he should help; he did feel bad that he is staying here with Haku making the whole house even more crowded. He went and sees Haku is already helping her.

'Ara ara. Shou-chan. We are still preparing lunch'. Shou just joined and helped with the prep and cooking despite Tsunami-san saying it's no need. The siblings usually make food themselves if they are at home so they are quite skilled at it.

Shou thought for a moment. Given the occasion, maybe they can make some cold dessert? They usually make ice slushies, drizzled with some syrup or variety of fruit jams or mixed them together.

'Tsunami-san. Do you have some fruits'.

"Shou, I picked some wild berries just now. In the basket over there". Haku pointed with his eyes.

There's clusters of blue and red berries. This can do. Crushing them into paste, add some sugar and water and heat it until the sugar mixed with the fruit forms a nice syrup.

He put that aside first since dessert should be served last.

As they help to serve food, Tsunami-san questions where is his father. Tazuna had went ahead to work on the bridge, seemingly forgetting to eat lunch first.

"Eh? He should have waited". Tsunami went to packed it away and asked Inari to send it to his grandpa later.

They had their lunch together. Kakashi is still bedridden so Sakura went to spoon fed him.

Shou noticed Sasuke is quiet and had been looking at Haku here and there. He wonders what's on Sasuke's mind.

The seaweed soup is nice. He suddenly remembered of dried fried seaweed snack he had in previous life. Hmm maybe he can try to make some later.

Since Gato is dead, essentially Naruto's mission is completed. But they would stay with Tazuna until the completion of the bridge.

Seeing everyone is about to finish, he wanted to make the cold dessert.

"Haku, let's make slushies". Haku had his eyes opened a little wider, seemingly fond of the desert. They both went to the kitchen while others were curious what's that.

Shou fetched a large bowl and pour some water in. Okay here comes the hard part. Shou gather his chakra onto his palm and spins the water using it. Now, Haku add ice nature transformation on the chakra. The hard part is to only use little chakra on it otherwise the formed ice may forms large chunks and won't be smooth. Over 5 minutes Shou churned the water, while they slowly turning it into smooth flaky ice-like snow. Midway, they divided it into two bowls. They mixed in the red berry syrup jam and blue berry one of each of it and make nice red and blue slushies. It's done!

"Wa. What's this!? Snow?". Inari is excited the colourful snow.

'Its slushies. Just some dessert'. Is there a term slushie in this world? He's not sure what to call these. Shaved ice aren't really accurate since they didn't shave any ice and make them with chakra.

"Suge! It looks so good!". Naruto had his eyes lit up seeing them. He quickly take a large spoonful of it into his mouth. Inari took quickly put it into his mouth.

"So good!". Naruto felt the sweetness and the smooth flaky snow covers his tongue and whole mouth. But-

Naruto made some ugly face and froze along with Inari at the same time.

"My head!". "Aaaa~". The coldness reaches their brain making them regret it.

'Naruto! Mind your manners!'. Sakura scolded him for being so noisy. Inari is a kid so it's fine so he is excused.

Both Haku and Shou just laughed a little seeing them.

***

"Shou-san, Haku-san, Kakashi-sensei wanted to talk to you two". Sakura went to them.

They just look at each other and nods to her.

'What are your plans after this?'. Kakashi asked directly. He's quite concerned since the two of them are just kids.

Shou look at Haku, while Haku look at Shou.

A few seconds passed with no answer.

"I don't really know...".

"Me neither...".

They each said.

'Can you tell me about your origin? Where is your birthplace?'.

Haku tell Kakashi about their village in the North of Land of Water.

'So you guys weren't academy graduates?'.

"No. We were taught by Zabuza-san".

Kakashi scratched his chins. Basically their identity as a Shinobi wasn't tied to the country technically. And Kirigakure does not have legitimate reason to claim them as their Shinobi if they want to. Not to mention Land of Water does not welcome Kekkei Genkai. So they are technically free to be anywhere.

'You don't have any plans on where to go or stay after this?'.

"Mm... No...". Haku look at Shou, in case Shou had any idea.

Shou had a thought to just be a wandering mercenary ninja or something. But he wishes he could have somewhere he can call home.

Since Kakashi is asking things... Is he welcoming us into Konoha?

Kakashi thought for a moment.

"If you want, how about staying in Konoha for awhile as a visitor? I will put good words for you guys. Don't worry, your identity won't be a problem".

The siblings look at each other. Neither of them think there's a problem with it.

'I would love to visit Konohagakure'. Shou replied. Haku too.

Of course, if you are in Naruto world, Konoha is the first top place to visit! He wants to see the Hokage carved heads most. It's really iconic.

Shou suddenly had a question for Kakashi.

'Kakashi-san. Emm... do we both should wear Kirigakure headband?'.

Kakashi thought for a moment. A forehead protector shows one affiliation to the Shinobi village they are from; also to allows others to recognise you are a certified Shinobi. It's also to show who you are fighting or working for. In the case of Shou and Haku, they don't really care about Land of Water personally and had only been doing things for Zabuza that cares for it. Since they no longer work for Zabuza it does not seem right to just wear a Kiri symbol on your forehead.

'Hmm... Kiri and Konoha are on neutral terms so it's not a problem. But people around would be warry of you. You could choose to just not wear them'.

Kakashi thought for a second.

'There's also wearing the symbol of the clan you are from. It's rare nowadays however. It was common before the founding of the main 5 Shinobi Villages'.

Symbol of the Yuki clan huh... They had seen it in the scroll.

Shou doesn't really feel it's right to have Kiri symbol on his forehead. Kiri indirectly had caused the death of their parents with their inaction towards the fear of kekkei genkai by society and that rubs it wrong to him.

'Thank you Kakashi-san. We will consider it'.

"Shou-chan and Haku-san would come back with us?! Really really?!". Naruto suddenly come out of nowhere.

'Naruto. It's rude to eavesdrop on people'. Kakashi sighed. He already noticed Naruto was hiding behind the walls but just ignore him.

Sasuke is also next to him it seems.

'We would love to see your hometown Naruto-kun'. Haku replied.

Naruto looks happy for them. It's more because he considers them as friends now and he don't have much friends except Sasuke and Sakura.

'Shou-chan, let's train together! I feel like I improved a lot thanks to you!'.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows.

"Naruto, what advice he gave to you?". As his sensei, he wants to make sure whatever training Naruto is doing is beneficial and in the right path. Even if Shou give the right advice, doesn't mean Naruto gets it either and he does not trust Naruto's intelligence.

"Shou-chan is really smart! He said...".

Kakashi is astonished. No one had the idea to use shadow clones to train because it's simply unreasonable for 99% of Shinobi in the whole world. But for Naruto who's an Uzumaki and have 9 tail Kyubi... This training method is a cheat...

But what's surprising is Shou can analyse that Naruto had absurd amount of chakra from their brief battle and come up with this training method for him in such a short time. It's genius.

'I see...There's no problem with it. Thank you for guiding Naruto Shou-san'.

"I am happy to give him some advice. It's nothing". Shou just scratched his cheek.

"Let's go Shou-chan!".

Shou just scratch his cheek again. Naruto is really too excited all the time.

After they left, Sasuke went to approach Haku.

"You. I want to fight you again".

Eh? Haku is a bit startled.

"I have someone I wanted to reach... And, you are my first obstacle to it. Please fight me again. I want to win against you". Sasuke felt weak when was one sidedly beaten by him. He is an Uchiha who have the Sharingan! How can he lose to another Kekkei Genkai? He is confident the result would be slightly different now that he can use complete 2 tomoe Sharingan after the rested.

'... I understand'. Haku nods in understanding and just spar with him. He sees Sasuke's determination in his eyes, that he had a dream, or a goal that requires strength to reach. Haku is glad to help him with it.

***

Haa... Haa...

Haku wanted to pluck the needles off Sasuke. Sasuke refused his help and pull them out himself.

Damn it... I still can't react to his speed. How could this be... He has the Sharingan, the strongest kekkei genkai in the world. Why can't I see him.

If Haku is serious and used a fatal weapon, he would have been dead many times already.

He felt really discouraged and felt really weak.

Haku can see his frustration and is not sure how to help. Sasuke asked him to not hold back so he did and its like he's making him feel worse.

"Sasuke-kun. You are plenty strong for your age. You are a genius and even faster than me without my jutsu". Haku give his honest opinion.

Sasuke wanted to retort. Sure he is faster if Haku didn't use that Jutsu. But he has his own kekkei genkai. And yet his Sharingan lost to Haku kekkei genkai, how could he accept this?

In Shou's opinion, Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystal Technique is strong against most ninja. But it has plenty of weakness.

Well, most direct way to counter it is to destroy all mirrors all at once. Neji rotation can easily do this. Or Nagato's Shinra Tensei. Mei terumi acidic mist. Susanoo can be used to destroy all the mirrors while they are protected by susanoo. Surrounds the area with AOE jutsu works. Or use big summons.

But in case they were not trapped inside the dome shaped structure, then they could use a run-and-attack tactic. It consumes chakra to make a mirror over and over again one by one as opponent run away. And when they are using only one mirror at a time, the direction of attack are predictable.

The same is true for most fights technically but that's just how it is.

Haku had beaten Sasuke badly just like before. Sasuke realised his 2 tomoe Sharingan cannot keep up with Haku's speed when he's at his peak. The only reason he could 'see' something before was because Haku was already low on chakra. Sasuke ask him to go again but Haku had to convince Sasuke to rest; also his own chakra is already low. Although he didn't hit his vitals, the needles still hurt and damage his body.

Kakashi sees Sasuke is putting some ointment on himself for all the needles pricking him earlier. Sakura wanted to help with some hidden intention but Sasuke refuses her as usual. Its visible from his face he felt frustrated from his weakness. Kakashi sighed. He understands he must felt weak. It's actually a good sign because it means he would only keep training to become stronger.

Meanwhile, Naruto went to fight with Shou's ice clones with his shadow clones.

"Naruto-kun, if you want to practice taijutsu it's better to fight Kakashi-san. He's the best among everyone".

'Ah ha! Alright I will ask him to fight later!'. Kakashi felt shiver down his spine for so suddenly. What is that?

Naruto wouldn't pester him with hundred of clones right? Even Kakashi would be drained and get tired from it, Shou thought.

'Also, you can throw your shadow clones to an enemy to figure out their strength or attack patterns. You can understand the enemy quickly that way'.

Naruto eyes lit up again. He had been doing that already technically but he never realised it did help him to react to his opponent afterwards.

"Shou-chan you are so smart!".

'Haha... Kakashi-san would tell you later for sure. It's nothing'.

***

2 weeks passed, and the bridge is completed. Shou and Haku stopped by their mercenary base to fetch their things. It seems empty. Zabuza and others had moved somewhere else already. Perhaps, he is going through with the rebellion now? The info he gave him would accelerates everything after all. Shou felt a little sad that Zabuza leave them.

But thinking about it now... Should he return to Land of Water and help him with it anyways?

Because, even if he is no longer Zabuza's tools, he wants to help him because he is important to him - that it is his own desire to help him.

"Haku, do you want to, help Zabuza achieve his dream?". Haku looked at Shou with a frown.

"I know Zabuza has left us... But... we can help him because it's what we wanted. Zabuza would refuse us for sure, but hey... it's up to us to help him regardless. What do you think Haku?".

'I... I want to help him achieve his dream as well'. Haku admitted it.

Few seconds passed while Shou is making this big decision.

"Then, let's do it". Shou said with firmed heart. Although he had a thought that he's not needed, he wants to be there.

Haku nods with a resolve in his eyes.

"Haku, the Mizukage is actually under a genjutsu...". Shou decides to tell Haku of the situation.

'If you see anyone in black robes with red clouds patterns on it, retreat immediately. Also if you meet anyone with a mask and have Sharingan, try to retreat as well'.

Shou knows the threat of Akatsuki and he won't be playing around with them. One wrong step and you are dead. They are all S-rank ninjas and in case they happens to be there he don't want Haku to be endangered.

Haku is confused at first why Shou know of these threats but he still listened and take a mental note of it.

It should be unlikely to meet Akatsuki though, but just in case butterfly effect kicks in its better to be extra careful.

They had to change plan and refuse going to Konoha. Maybe after everything is over they could visit as some sort of vacation.

"Kakashi-san. We decide to go to the Land of Water to help Zabuza-san. I know he, casted us aside but... We still want to help him achieve his dream".

'I see. Then, I wish you succeed'. Kakashi just nods. He only suggested them to visit because they seemed to have no place to go. Now that they had a goal in mind, he just let them be.

They had to part ways from then on. Shou and Haku went East to the dock to cross the border to Land of Water while Naruto and his team went back to Konoha. Naruto felt sad that they won't be coming with them. But Shou promised he would definitely come to visit someday so Naruto looks forward to meeting him again. He is someone he already considered a good friend and one of the few that understands him.

While they were on the way back home, Sakura had to ask Kakashi-sensei if what Zabuza said about Shinobi being a tool is right.

"A Shinobi isn't supposed to pursue his own goals. Becoming the country's tool are the most important. The same goes for Konoha".

'Is that what a Shinobi is?! I don't get it'. Naruto chimed in his own thoughts.

A Shinobi trained by the country (or other groups) is ultimately soldiers who work for the them. That's just how it is.

Kakashi thought about Shou and Haku. These two are tools raised by Zabuza to fight for him; when they no longer can't, they can't become his weapon anymore. Well, they still went ahead to fight for him, because it's their own desire to do that and not as his tools anymore.

"Well, every ninja has to live with facing that issue. Just like Zabuza and those two".

'Then I will become a ninja in my own way!'. Naruto proudly said.

Kakashi is surprised at his words and just smiles at him.

Naruto can't wait to get home fast so he can get Iruka-sensei to get him ramen. He wished he could treat Shou to some ramen as well. Err, have Iruka-sensei treat him to ramen as well he meant.

Sakura hearing Naruto words thought about what she wants to do when she gets back home.

"Then... Sasuke-kun, how about a date-".

'No'. Sasuke didn't even look at Sakura.

She immediately get depressed.

"Then then what about me!?". Naruto pointed at himself while eagerly looking at Sakura-chan, his first crush.

'No! Shut up!'. Sakura gets angry at stupid Naruto.

Naruto felt depressed. Why can't Sakura be nice like Shou and Haku? Thinking about it, he had a little change in heart. Shou-chan is really nice compared to Sakura-chan, cuter too...

Shou sneezed a little. It's like someone is thinking about him. Did he forgot something? He's not sure.

Meanwhile, Haku and Shou had boarded a big sail boat that's owned by Gato company after confirming Zabuza really did go back to the Land of Water. Anyways, someone must have took over Gato company after his death for the business to still be running.

"It's dangerous for two girls like you. Are you sure you want to go to Land of Water? That country isn't really a good place".

'Its fine ossan. And we already paid you to board us'. Shou replied quickly. The middle aged man just sighed thinking it's on them if anything happens.

Hmm... Both of them are always misunderstood as girls at first sight that most of the times they simply never bothered to correct them anymore. It's quite annoying to constantly correct them; saying 'I am a boy' to every single person they meet for years is just tiring so at some point so they just ignore it. That also becomes one of the reason they wore masks when they met clients and doing missions.

Wait. Did Naruto knows they are boys? He don't remember Haku correcting him like in the anime. He shrugs it off since it's not important.

Zabuza-san, we are still coming to help you to achieve your dream. Don't be too surprised. Shou said in his heart while looking forward to it.

After the bridge is completed Tazuna is still contemplating the right name for it. Seeing Inari regained his spirit from Naruto's encouragement, he comes up with a great idea.

"Let's call it... The Great Naruto Bridge!". Hehe. That's a good name, he thought. Naruto's spirit changed Inari and give him courage. So the bridge symbolises that courage to reach ones dreams.