章 201: Chapter 201

NARUTO

"Sorry, Haku…" Naruto starts, staring at the now-vacant space the Demon of Hidden Mist disappeared from. "But Zabuza-jiji is such a dick!"

In the apartment above Ten Out of Ten, as Karin notes with certainty, "he's not far; probably watching us from… forty-five meters away," Haku just smiles with acceptance of his special person before asking, "would you like to leave now?"

"We have to take Tenten's dad to the hospital first," Naruto says turning to the bleeding weapon's merchant.

"We can't," Tenten tells him. "Zabuza stuck one of out exploding notes on his back—the type only Zabuza's chakra can disarm—and told us if we stepped out of the shop, he'd die."

"That monster is going to kill me anyway," Dānyī voices from the floor.

"I believe it, old friend," Ōyashiro consoles with a slow nod of his head.

"You're no friend of mine," Dānyī retorts. "You, who'd sell your own mother for an exotic animal."

"You always throw that in my face," Ōyashiro huffs with outstretched palms that highlight his long skinny fingers. "I bought her back," the dealer whines.

"Karin-chan is correct," Haku tells Naruto. "Zabuza-sama will be watching us. As it's your decision, what would you like to do?"

"If I may," Ōyashiro directs at Naruto gaining everyone's attention. "I'd be very eager to witness your match and promise to stay well out of the way."

Looking oddly at the man, Naruto consents with a nod before turning to his cousin. "Karin-chan, you stay here with Tenten-chan and her dad-"

"I want to come too," Tenten quickly states, regretting how unnecessarily meek her tone was.

Cautiously, Naruto asks the bun-haired girl, "don't you want to stay with your dad?"

"I do…" Tenten expresses, looking from her angry father to Naruto. However, the questions she has about this blond are burning inside her. She needs to know why Zabuza treats him differently and proclaims, "but I need to see this."

"I'll make certain she remains safe," Haku offers.

"Fine," Naruto agrees. "Let's go."

Walking down to the store's steps to the weapon's inventory, Naruto notices the very weapon he's been saving his ryo for. Though he still can't afford the pair, he turns to the frazzled brunette and asks her, "hey, Tenten-chan, you mind if I buy one of them? I promise to give you the ryo for it tomorrow. Ah, and I'll eventually buy the other one."

"Here you are," Ōyashiro states dropping a roll of Ryo on the counter before taking and handing Naruto both of the lightweight, black, knuckle blades. The young blond knew he loved the weapons the moment Asuma let him use his. They were so ideal, he hardly felt them, but like an extension of his body, he simply knew they were there.

"I can front you the money, no interest," Ōyashiro continues, adding, "if you would but grant me an audience after your match."

"You don't have to," Naruto responds, finding the man a bit weird. "I can pay… for one."

"Consider it a bet, if you will, on future events," Ōyashiro replies. "Ryo is of little concern when one has more than half the country, however, where people place their value has always been a great source of enjoyment. I'd be very interested in witnessing this second miracle Momochi-dono spoke of."

Naruto hands him one of the chakra blades back, informing the arms merchant, "I don't mind talking after, but I can only afford one right now, so I'll give you the money for it later."

"Very well, Uzumaki-dono," Ōyashiro says with a smile and a slight bow before denoting, "I'll hold on to this one, in the meantime."

"Gimme," Tenten demands, extending her hand to Naruto, who is confused. Answering his confusion, she explains, "if you're going to use a weapon, I can get you something better than that. That's a chakra blade. It's not fully sharpened, and on top of that, you need to be able to manipulate the nature of your chakra to use it properly."

"I know," he confirms. Having continued his Futon chakra control even after he learned the Rasenshuriken, and practiced with Asuma's chakra blades, Naruto effortlessly creates a long blue blade out of his wind-natured chakra, very much to her dumbfounded surprise.

Wide-eyed shock clear on her face, Tenten can't help but immediately ask, "are you ANBU or something?"

FOREST OF DEATH

After his smirk, the group exit Ten Out of Ten and together with Ōyashiro's blond bodyguard, who the merchant vouched for, they sprint the tops of buildings and scale walls for forty minutes before hopping over the tall fence of the Forest of Death.

Naruto glumly mouths, "of course he'd want to fight here. How's he even know about 44?"

"I told him you were taking a test in the forest of death," Haku mentions. "He seemed to like the sound of the training ground. He has a surprising flair for the dramatic."

"I'll wait here," Ōyashiro states as his pretty and quiet bodyguard sets the man down. She has sharp blue eyes that Naruto can't help but appreciate; very observant, which he notes must be a good trait to have for a bodyguard. Also, his brain likes the fact that his father, Ino-chan, and himself all have blue eyes and blond hair.

Sensing a palpable danger heighten deep in the thick forest vegetation, many in the group can even feel animals moving away from the monstrous predator as Naruto tells Tenten, "I think everyone should wait here too."

As if to answer that proper precaution, the forest begins filling with a thick mist, slowly swallowing every moss infested tree, bush, and stone. Without preamble, and to Tenten's surprise, Naruto simply rushes into the thicket of mist. His eyesight becomes a varying degree of gray and white and little else.

Naruto puts his fingers together and calls, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." A duplicate of himself pops into existence before calling, "henge," and the clone transforms into a Fuma Shuriken. Gripped firmly by Naruto, he hops on the nearest tree fog-covered and sprints to the very top.

Fortunately, Kubikiribōchō is large and heavy, and though Zabuza can use it silently, it's that very silence Haku had explained gives it away. So when Naruto's trained ears suddenly detect a slight dip in the ambient noise of the Forest of Death, he knew Kubikiribōchō—in the hands of the silent killer—was cutting through the molecules in the forest air before it's edge finds tree bark where Naruto's neck was previously.

The blond couldn't even detect Zabuza strike or disappear, hindering Naruto's ability to counter, and though Naruto dodged Zabuza's first strike, the genin can tell the veteran shinobi was only testing him; not that counter-attacking mattered. Continuing his mad sprint up the fog-shrouded tree, Naruto knows he can't fight in this fog and Kakashi-sensei always tells him the terrain in a battle often determines victory or defeat, which Kurenai later translated plainly to, 'make the battle-field more comfortable for you to fight in.'