Chapitre 7: Chapter 6: Aftermath
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Chapter Six: Aftermath
"Is something wrong, Asuma-sensei?" Sakura asked, noting the strange puzzled look on the Jounin-sensei's face as he carried Kakashi on his back towards Tazuna's place, following the subtle hints left by Asuma's team.
"Nothing for you to worry about at the moment," the Sandaime's son declared. He wouldn't talk of his worries at the moment. The Genin were still caught up in the adrenaline of the battle. He didn't want to add more on their plate just yet with his suspicions.
As they got to the house, they were virtually assaulted by a hysterical Ino. She was more than a little relieved that they'd all come back alive, but she was more than a little worried that Kakashi, who had seemed so powerful, was knocked out cold.
"What happened?" she exclaimed. She scanned them, looking for any sign of injury.
"I'll explain everything once we get inside, Ino. Just calm down," Asuma declared as he headed in, guided by a pretty black-haired woman, obviously Tazuna's daughter.
After Kakashi was settled and whatever injury he had gained treated, Asuma settled with the Genin and explained what had happened.
"I really don't understand how Zabuza was forced to release the prison," the elder wind user commented. "One minute he was about to kill Naruto, the next he was forced away like something had hit him hard."
'Just another odd thing about Naruto. This guardian angel of his must have been pretty worried if he did something so absolutely blatant,' Shikamaru thought, eyes on Naruto, who wasn't being very forthcoming. The fact that the normally loud-mouthed blonde was being so quiet just made everything more suspicious.
~This is going to be a pain to make excuses for,~ Naruto groaned.
~All you need is a good distraction,~ Minato said sagely.
~We wouldn't be in this mess if it hadn't been for you letting your anger get the better of you. You could have been more subtle,~ Kyuubi declared in a disapproving manner.
~What did you expect me to do? That son of a bitch was trying to kill our son!~ Minato defended himself. He suddenly faltered as he realized what he'd said.
An incredibly smug aura surrounded the demonness as she strutted towards a sweating Minato, after switching to her very attractive human form. She had long red hair and blood red eyes with a body that most women would kill for. She was wearing a tight red dress that only went up to mid-thigh, her nine crimson tails trailing behind her.
~You said our child,~ she purred, running a finger up his chest, a flirtatious gleam in her eyes.
Minato opened and closed his mouth, trying to recover from his little slip up but for once his genius mind seemed to be failing him. The last time something like that had happened was around Kushina.
~N-Naruto's watching…~ he stuttered, trying to dissuade the frisky Queen of the Demons from continuing with her mischief.
~No he's not… he's too busy trying to explain himself to his friends…~ Kyuubi declared, nuzzling the Yondaime Hokage's neck, causing pleasant shivers to run down his back.
~H-He'll n-need our help,~ Minato argued. If he'd been still alive, his heart would have been beating a mile a minute.
~He's a big boy. He can come up with something by himself,~ she protested, hell-bent on teasing the man who had, for most of their twelve years together, the upper hand in their banter.
~Er… Got to go,~ Minato said before vanishing out of the seal, leaving a put out Kyuubi alone.
~Damn… almost had him,~ Kyuubi pouted, snapping a clawed hand.
'There's that chakra again… it almost seems flustered. That virtually confirms my belief that it's sentient,' Shikamaru thought. He glanced around and saw Asuma's eyes glinting with awareness as well.
~It took you long enough to come out,~ Naruto griped, still trying to find a way to explain Minato's interference in the battle with Zabuza.
~Sorry,~ Minato apologized, not wanting to elaborate on what happened in Naruto's inner world. He didn't want to corrupt Naruto's innocent mind.
"Your control of the wind is a little too advanced for a Genin," Asuma told Naruto. "Particularly because it was enough to force Zabuza away."
"I told you I didn't expect that to happen. I just wanted to get him away from me," Naruto shot back. "I lashed out on instinct."
'Wind chakra is the hardest of all of the elemental affinities to control. It sounds absurd that Naruto would be able to use it with just simple instinct guiding him. Then again… Kakashi did say that Naruto was the number one most surprising shinobi in all of Konoha,' Asuma assessed. 'It doesn't look like Naruto's willing to tell us anything and I don't want to press him, especially when we're in front of the other Genin.'
'How does the dobe of all people have power like this? Kakashi-sensei said people rarely find out their elemental affinities until they reach Chuunin level,' Sasuke thought jealously. Sure he already knew his elemental affinities because they were same among all Uchiha but the fact that the no-clan, two-bit loser was steadily becoming equal to him in elemental control just didn't sit well with him.
~I know this mission was more trouble than it was worth,~ Minato muttered, noticing how much attention Naruto was beginning to get. The fact that he was hiding something was becoming increasingly clear and the only one who could take the blame for that was Minato himself. He'd felt as if he'd had no choice, however. If he hadn't got in the way, Zabuza would have killed Naruto for sure.
As it was, he wasn't about to tell Naruto to abandon this mission when he was so determined to help the oppressed inhabitants of Nami-no-Kuni. It went against both of their beliefs. They would help the country get out of Gatou's control no matter what the risk.
"Moving on, there's something bothering me about that hunter nin," Asuma said, finally addressing the other problem he'd found.
"What about him, sensei?" Ino queried, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
"Hunter-nins usually deal with the bodies of nuke-nins right on the site," Shikamaru inserted, surprising his teammate with his knowledge. "It's odd that this hunter-nin didn't."
"I figured you'd be the one to catch on," Asuma said, nodding his head in approval.
"What does that mean?" Tazuna asked, feeling a sense of foreboding.
"It means that Zabuza is still alive," Kakashi stated, surprising everyone.
~I thought so,~ Minato sighed. ~Things just got more complicated.~
~Zabuza saw you, didn't he? That means that we'll have to be even more careful around him as to not expose ourselves,~ Naruto said.
~Agreed… that means your training is going to have to intensify… so that my help won't be needed…~ Minato realized.
"You're finally awake," Sakura said, sounding relieved. "Are you alright?"
"I've handled worse," Kakashi admitted.
"What did you mean that Zabuza is still alive?" Ino asked. "Asuma-sense said that you checked him yourself and saw that he was dead."
"The hunter-nin used senbon and those don't have much ability when it comes to dealing fatal wounds. They can, however, leave someone in a state resembling death," Kakashi explained.
"Then Zabuza will come after us again?" Chouji asked, swallowing in fear. "How can we go against him if he left you like this?"
"Don't worry," Kakashi said, eye crinkling as he smiled. "He won't be ready for battle until at least a week… around the same that it ought to take me to get back to full strength. You'll have Asuma-sensei to help out. Not only that, but we will be training you to make you stronger." Asuma nodded his agreement.
~Looks like Kakashi's finally taking his role as your teacher seriously,~ Minato said, nodding his approval. ~However, knowing him, he'll start you out on tree climbing.~
~But I already know that exercise… and water-walking too,~ Naruto pointed out.
~That's where I come in,~ a smug looking Minato stated. ~We're going to be upping your training, Naruto… and I'm thinking that it's time to start you on gravity seals and get you off those weights. Today was the second time you nearly drowned because of them. They take too much time to get off, gravity seals will be much easier to handle.~
~Sounds like a plan,~ Naruto agreed.
Kakashi stared at Naruto with a puzzled frown. Knowing the boy, he would have expected that the boy would be super excited that he still had a chance to go up against Zabuza.
'You're a lot more different than what your file says about you, otouto…' Kakashi realized.
"Training sounds like a lot of fun," Naruto said enthusiastically.
"That's not fun at all," a dull voice said from the entrance of the room and everyone looked to see a brooding boy, no older than 10, standing there. He wore a white shirt with green overalls over it and a fisherman's hat on his head.
"Who's this kid?" Chouji wondered, raising an eyebrow.
"Ohh! Inari, where were you?!" Tazuna asked loudly, standing up to greet the young boy.
"Welcome back, grandpa," Inari stated without much emotion as he made his way over to embrace his grandfather.
"Inari, say hello to everyone. These are the brave shinobi that saved your grandfather," Tazuna exclaimed, placing a hand on Inari's head affectionately.
Inari gave the group a sullen look before turning to Tsunami and pointing. "They're all going to die, Kaa-san," he said in a matter-of-fact voice.
"What did you say?!" Ino yelled, eyes sparking in anger.
~Talk about being pessimistic,~ Naruto grumbled, not impressed by the boy.
"There's no way you can win against Gatou," Inari said with conviction.
"Just watch us," Naruto shot back with equal conviction.
"Quit acting like such a hero," Inari snorted, eyeing Naruto with disdain. "There's no such thing as one."
"You're wrong," Naruto bit out. "Our village was saved by one of the greatest heroes of all time, the Yondaime Hokage. He went up against the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune and won!"
~Great way to make me out to be the villain…~ Kyuubi grumbled under her breath.
"Did he survive?" Inari asked Naruto, causing him to falter.
"Well, no…" he began, eyes dulling at the fact that even though his father was always with him, it wasn't quite the same as him being there in flesh and blood. He didn't like thinking about the incident that had lost him his father and made him the village pariah.
"Then your point is useless," Inari shot back. "There's no such thing as a hero, just fools who die trying to be one."
"Take that back!" Naruto cried out, anger bubbling beneath the surface. Ino and Sakura had to hold him back. 'How dare that stupid brat insult Tou-san.'
"Calm down, Naruto," Kakashi said, placing a placating hand on the blonde's shoulder. He too felt the sting of Inari's words as he spoke against his former sensei, but he couldn't let a broken-hearted boy's angry cry get the better of him. "He's just a child."
"That doesn't give him any right to say that about To- the Yondaime," Naruto said, stammering over the title. He'd almost said Tou-san in his anger. Realizing his temper was threatening the safety of one of his most well-kept secrets, Naruto went limp and chose to ignore Inari instead.
'Note to self… don't insult the Yondaime in front of Naruto. He gets nasty,' was a common thought throughout all of the Genin's heads.
Inari snorted before he turned to leave. "If you don't want to die, then you better go away from here," he stated.
"Where are you going, Inari?" Tsunami queried.
"I'm going to look out at the ocean from my window," was the boy's simple response and he left a bunch of stunned shinobi and his troubled family members behind.
'I'm still going to give him a piece of my mind,' Naruto thought with determination before standing to follow the boy.
However, when he got to the boy's room to speak with him, he heard the sobbing.
~He's crying?~ Naruto thought with a small, puzzled frown. Sneaking a peek into the room, he saw Inari hunched over a picture frame.
~He may have spoken harshly, Naruto, but overall, he's just a child trying to overcome his grief. Don't think badly of him,~ Minato reasoned with his son.
"I guess so…" he whispered quietly as he moved away from the room.
"Who's he talking to?" Ino whispered to Sakura as she and the other Genin spied on the strange orange-clad boy.
"How should I know? He's always talking to himself…" Sakura murmured. Shikamaru logged that bit of information in the back of his mind for later investigation.
'Who knew Uzumaki Naruto was such an enigma?' he thought to himself.
"There's something weird about the blonde brat," Zabuza informed Haku as he lay in bed. "When I was about to kill him, something protected him… or rather… someone."
"But there was no one there," Haku said. "Other than you, the boy and the imprisoned Jounin."
"That's the odd thing. A second before I was forced away, I could have sworn I saw the Yondaime Hokage…" the swordsman stated.
"But that's impossible… the Yondaime Hokage died twelve years ago," Haku frowned.
"I know that, Haku," Zabuza scowled. "Nevertheless, I saw him. There's a connection between the boy and this apparition. It would explain how the blonde brat got his hand on one of the Yondaime's Hiraishin kunais."
"What do you wish for me to do, Zabuza-sama?" Haku inquired.
"Figure out what makes this boy tick. Learn his strengths and weaknesses and most of all, try to figure out how he's able to use the Yondaime Hokage like a weapon," Zabuza ordered.
"As you wish," his companion agreed.
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