Chapitre 63: Chapter 062
(Ten Days Earlier; In Iwagakure No Sato)
The Tsuchikage was in his office doing his share of paperwork and like any other Kage, it was their natural and yet to be beaten enemy. The pile of paperwork and forms just kept on coming. Moments later, a young female Iwa Jounin entered his office. She was a dark brown-haired female no older than fifteen with her long sleek hair going down and reaching her backside. The girl was dressed in the standard Iwagakure Jounin uniform and wore a tan brown vest over her Jounin vest that had black kanji written on the back of the vest, which read "Shining Stone." She stood in attention before her Kage.
"Tsuchikage-sama," she greeted as she bowed in respects to him. The Tsuchikage nodded to her and said, "What's your report?"
"From what I've been gathering," the girl began speaking, "The target shares similar characteristics and features to our once most hated enemy. However I've yet to confirm anything besides the fact that he lives in Konoha with his mother the Godaime Hokage and boldly dresses up as 'him'."
The young girl was careful not to speak 'his' name before the Tsuchikage, knowing that the mere mention of 'his' name is expressly taboo in Iwagakure.
"Regardless," Tsuchikage said, "I want as much information on this Genin as you can get. I suspect that this supposed Genin is who I believe him to be."
"But sir," the girl spoke, "How can such a thing be possible? That 'man' has been dead for over twelve years."
"From what my earlier spies reported years ago, no one has ever found his body or whatever was left of him on the battlefield after his battle with Kyuubi No Yoko," Tsuchikage replied.
"Do you suppose an S-rank forbidden rebirth jutsu was used," the young Jounin asked.
"I don't know but I'm not taking any chances," said the Tsuchikage, "Find and retrieve the boy, alive if possible. This is an A-rank mission."
"The kid is a mere Genin fresh out of the academy," the girl remarked, "He shouldn't be that big a problem."
"The boy may be a Genin," the Tsuchikage remarked, "But I trust that you won't underestimate him. There have been several rumors about this particular Genin; though I do question their authenticity."
"…," the girl remained silent.
"You're the one Jounin available for this mission, Shining Stone," the Tsuchikage said, "Plus I trust that you'll see this mission through. Dismissed."
The girl nodded before turning and leaving the office to perform her assignment. While on her way out of the Kage building, she thought smugly, This Genin can't be anywhere near my league! I'll have this mission done in no time! I'm not the Shining Stone for nothing!
(Present Day; At Zabuza's Hideout)
In a cone shaped house in the middle of the forest, Zabuza was laying and resting in his bed with a blanket over him. He did not like the fact that he had lost to Kakashi. Moments later, a short man dressed in a business suit and a two samurais entered the room and went over to where Zabuza was.
"So the mighty 'Demon of the Bloody Mist' is crippled after facing a few kids and some ninja. I'm starting to believe that I'm not getting my money's worth when it comes to paying you Zabuza. Perhaps I should just have you killed immediately and spare myself the pain of losing my money," said the short man with sunglasses with a cane in hand whose name was Gatō.
Gatō walked over to the masked ninja reaching out to strangle Zabuza where he was when a figure came out of nowhere and stood before the short man as tightly held his arms before twisting it hard.
"You will not harm Zabuza. I won't permit it," said the young female hunter nin who was no longer masked. Much to the older man's surprise, it was a young girl. The girl had a pretty face, dark brown eyes, dark hair that was tied up in a bun on top of her head, except two bangs hanging down and framing her face. She wore a green shirt with brown pants and a long, brown belt.
"Get your hands off of our boss," as one the two samurai bodyguards as they were about to do something when she grabbed a dagger from her pocket and threw it at them. Seeing that the samurai were momentarily distracted as they dodged the dagger that hit the wall, she reached for two of her needles and threw each one at one their arms and hitting a pressure point. This in effect rendered their struck arms numb and unmovable.
"I missed your vital points on purpose," she warned, "So don't test me."
"You brat! I expect both you and Zabuza to finish the job you started. I will not accept failure! Get the job over and done, or suffer the consequences," said an angry Gatō who now exited the room with his bodyguards while rubbing his injured arm.
"Haku you know you didn't have to do that for me. I could have taken care of it myself if worse came to worse," said Zabuza as he held on to a kunai under the bed sheet ready to use and kill the man if it came to it.
"I was aware of that, but as your instrument I must always protect my master in spite of your circumstance," Haku said with a smile. Zabuza sighed, "…I will be better soon. When I'm back to full strength I'll see to it that Kakashi suffers for putting me in this condition. Not only that, but I'll kill his students one by one."
"The blonde one among them looked more dangerous than the others," Haku said, "He was ready to finish you off had I not taken you away from there."
"That blonde kid is Naruto."
"Really," Haku said with interest, "So he's the one that we've heard about from the rumors."
"Haku," Zabuza warned, "Be cautious against Naruto. He's not like the other Genins if he was able to take out and kill the two demon brothers without any trouble."
The girl simply nodded.
(Two Days Later)
It's been three days since Naruto and Team 7 arrived at Nami No Kuni. Kakashi was beginning to feel better after his depletion of chakra and his Genins were still training. A day earlier, Naruto learned that Sakura punched out a man she wrongly took for a pervert trying to grope her butt, when in actuality he was trying to steal her purse. Sai added his two cents by saying how the man most likely mistaken her butt for her face when he went to take a further look. This of course earned the paled skin Genin a busted lip and bruised cheek, both of which Naruto healed. It was after spending the day in the village did the Genins fully understanding the seriousness of the situation Nami No Kuni was in because of Gatō.
During the three days, Naruto was with Tazuna, helping him with the bridge project like the other workers who were brave enough to work on the bridge. Naruto chose to work for free acknowledging that the other men were more in need of money than he was. During this time, he also used kage bushins to help with the bridge project though Tazuna was reluctant to allow Naruto to use his clones at first. But seeing the situation with the few workers he had left after a couple of them quit out of fear, Tazuna allowed Naruto's clones to help out and speed up the process in constructing the bridge.
(Later That Evening)
Sasuke and Sai returned an hour later completely exhausted with the exception of Sakura, since she had almost near perfect chakra control. During that time she was sent to watch over the house while being on guard and watching over Tsunami and Inari, who would every once in while be seen sitting alone by the dock or strolling around with depressed expression.
When Naruto, Kakashi and the other Genins returned home they were welcomed to the smell of warm home cooking.
"You're all back," said a happy Tsunami as she put the food on the table, "How did your ninja training go?"
"It went rather well," Sai responded, "Though I must confess that practicing tree walking requires very good chakra control."
"Dobe," Sasuke said as he turned to Naruto, "How was your day guarding Tazuna? I'm sure it was frustrating getting weaker being unable to train."
"Actually it was quite productive really," Naruto said as he took a seat by the table, "You see Emo-Sasuke I have the capacity to do what many Jounins can't do and not tire out from chakra exhaustion. To elaborate, earlier today I summoned a small army of kage bushins and assigned them their jobs from guarding and protecting Tazuna and the workers constructing the bridge. I even had some work alongside the workers to help speed up the bridge building project. To perform that kind of jutsu requires a great deal of chakra control and chakra which many don't possess. Therefore, my day wasn't a waste at all, in fact performing and practicing that jutsu made me stronger."
Sasuke scowled at the blonde who simply ignored him in return. Kakashi pretended not to pay attention to the tension between two boys. He knew from the start that Sasuke, though it's clearly one-sided, had always regarded Naruto as his rival and someone he strongly desires to prove superior to.
Moments later, almost as if on cue, Inari entered with a bitter look on his face as he looked up slightly up to see the tired out Genins and their sensei eating their dinner.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone