The fight between Zabuza and Kakashi was still in full throttle. Zabuza had already discarded stealth and was currently doing a head-on battle against Kakashi. The more those two clashed, the more annoyed Naruto became.
‘Damnit, if I could go and support Kakashi-sensei actively, this would have been over a long time ago. I don’t trust Sasuke enough to leave Tazuna’s protection to him. Or rather, he will probably charge at the moment I make a move and forget everything else. Having the “last Uchiha” die while he is on a mission with me really isn’t a good thing. How did this mission turn from “protect the client” to “don’t let the idiot charge and die”?’
Just when Naruto was about to go into another mental rant, he saw Kakashi being flung away into the water, at the exact position, where Zabuza was already waiting and had his chakra infused into the water.
‘Shit, how the hell did that happen? If Kakashi-sensei gets trapped things will get seriously dangerous.’
Naruto crossed his fingers in front of him.
“[Shadow Clone Jutsu]”
Another two Naruto popped up beside the original one.
‘I don’t think two clones will be much of a shield against Zabuza, but it is better than nothing.’
“Kakashi-sensei is in deep trouble. I am going in to support him. Keep protecting Tazuna.”
Naruto, immediately, started sprinting towards the water, where Kakashi was just about to be trapped inside Zabuza’s jutsu. And, to no one’s surprise, Sasuke was also running after Naruto.
‘Damnit, he really acted like I thought he would. Whatever, no time to think about it now. I need to help Kakashi-sensei.’
Red chakra bubbled out of Naruto and formed a fox like cloak with two tails around him. Instead of walking on two legs, Naruto bend forwards and started to run on his hands and feet, which was made feasible due to the chakra cloak mimicking the form of a fox. His speed, immediately, increased. He quickly reached the water and started running on it like it was no obstacle at all. Considering how much he trained his chakra control, walking on water was an easy matter for him.
[Oh? Are you fine with your two teammates knowing about this?]
‘Yeah, it doesn’t matter. Saving Kakashi-sensei takes priority.”
[Hehe, that’s true, I guess. At least showing off my Chakra made the Uchiha brat stop his reckless charge.]
‘Urgh, please don’t mention him. He will probably pester me every day from now on to find out where I got this power.’
[Why not show him. That should be fun.]
A twinkle of mischief appeared in Naruto’s eyes before his face became serious again.
‘That might be rather interesting, but let’s talk about it later. It is time to get busy.’
Zabuza was just about to gloat at Kakashi for trapping him when a red chakra fist approached his stomach. Although he was surprised, he wasn’t at the jonin level for nothing and managed to block the fist with his sword. Blocking that kind of attack with only one hand and without proper preparations, however, had some consequences.
Despite securing his feet on the water with chakra, he was pushed back a few meters and, as a consequence of that, failed to maintain Kakashi’s water prison. Naruto quickly scanned the area and sighed in relief when he noticed that no hidden clones had appeared to go after Tazuna.
“Sorry Kakashi-sensei, but I had to leave our client almost unprotected to save you.”
Kakashi quickly glanced at his remaining genin team and could only shake his head at what he saw. Sakura was at least still standing next to Tazuna, but Sasuke was standing smack in the middle of nowhere, staring at Naruto like he had grown a second head.
“Don’t worry about it, Naruto. Since you saved me, I can’t exactly complain, can I?”
As soon as Kakashi finished that sentence, Zabuza appeared behind Naruto and swung his huge sword in an attempt to behead him. Naruto, however, already saw the attacking coming. Just like the first attack he blocked, he lifted up two kunai and stopped the attack head-on. This time, though, he didn’t falter and stood his ground. Kakashi moved as well and was already moments away from piercing a Kunai through Zabuza’s shoulder. Zabuza wanted to pull his sword back, but to his surprise, his sword was grabbed by a red hand entirely made out of red bubbling chakra. This slight delay was enough for Kakashi’s attack to hit its target and pierce Zabuza’s shoulder, making one of his arms useless for now.
Zabuza quickly jumped back to get some distance from the duo. He looked at his limp left arm and couldn’t help but frown.
‘This has gotten rather bad. Where in the world does that blond kid get all that power from? After trapping Kakashi, I thought it was game over, but moments later one of my arms became useless and I am suddenly facing another powerful enemy. The brat isn’t at Kakashi’s level but is more than enough to spell my doom if he supports Kakashi. Guess I will have Haku pull me o…’
Before Zabuza could finish his thoughts, a senbon needle came flying and pierced through his neck. While Kakashi was surprised, Naruto really wanted to start cursing himself.
‘Damnit, if nee-san finds out I was too occupied with my enemy to notice someone else approaching, she will surely scold me heavily. Kurama, you better keep quiet about this or I swear I will drag you into this pit together with me.’
[Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about it. My lips are sealed tight.]
Naruto nodded in satisfaction before he put his attention on the person that had just arrived.
“Thank you for helping me take care of Zabuza, I have been hunting him for quite a while now.”
Naruto immediately understood who that masked person was.
‘A hunter-nin, huh? Guess it isn’t surprising that someone like Zabuza would have someone like that following him around. As someone who was once part of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist, his body should have tons of secrets that Kiri would rather not reveal to the outside.’
Kakashi and the hunter-nin talked for a short while and after checking that Zabuza was actually dead, the hunter-nin took his corpse and left. For some reason, Naruto felt that something was off, but couldn’t put his finger on it. He quickly forgot about that, when Kakashi, who was still standing next to him pulled down his headband to cover his Sharingan and then staggered a little.
Naruto, instantly, became worried, but Kakashi only waved him off.
“Don’t worry about that. The Sharingan isn’t exactly chakra efficient when it is used by non-Uchiha.”
Naruto nodded in acknowledgment and deactivated his chakra cloak. This time, it was his turn to falter a little. Although he hasn’t exhausted his chakra as Kakashi did with his Sharingan, Naruto could clearly feel the strain using two tails put on him.
‘How in the world can nee-san already use three tails? Aren’t we doing the same training?’
[I wouldn’t worry about that too much. She has been a monster from day one. Being able to endure two tails worth of my chakra at your age is already quite the achievement.]
Naruto could only chuckle at that.
‘Yeah, I am aware how… peculiar nee-san is.’
Kakashi and Naruto returned to Tazuna and the rest of Team Seven and just when Kakashi was about to start talking, Naruto’s head, yet again, snapped into a certain direction. Kakashi immediately got alerted when he saw that, but after noticing Naruto’s smile, he relaxed a little.
“Seems like our reinforcements have arrived.”
Moments later, two people landed in front of Team Seven. These two were Yuna and Anko. Yuna was the first to speak.
“Yo, you ordered some reinforcements? Here we are.”
“Hehe, what happened to the blond brat and you, Kakashi? Looks like you were put through the wringer.”
Kakashi quickly explained what they had been through so far, but instead of being surprised, Anko and Yuna had a very different reaction. An excited grin appeared on their face as they licked their lips like predators that are in front of an especially juicy piece of meat. While Sakura and Sasuke instinctively trembled in fear, Naruto and Kakashi could only smile wryly. They surprisingly had the same thought at the same time.
‘Somehow, I pity whatever enemy might appear in front of us from now on.’
