NARUTO


    After talking with Kurama, Naruto had been waiting for Haku to show up all morning. Unsure why his friend iste, Naruto leaves a clone just in case he shows up and returns to Tazuna''s residence to find a crying Tsunami on arge brown-haired man''sp being fondled over her clothes.


    Try as she might to resist the man with a tattoo on his left shoulder and bicep groping her, she''s clearly more concerned with her son who''s on the floor being kicked by another man with bluish-white hair and ck eyes. They''re bothughing until Naruto enters.


    The bigger of the two is reaching for his sword while the smaller had drawn it, but neither is faster than Naruto''s rage-filled speed, slicing the neck of the one beating on Inari before throwing that same kunai at therger one''s head, killing them both.


    Helping both Tsunami and Inari while his clones drag out the corpses, Naruto asks, "what happened? Where''s Sasuke and Kakashi?"


    "They- They said my father''s already dead," Tsunami wails. "And that Inari would be next if I- if I didn''t-"


    "It''s okay," Naruto states, putting his hand on her shoulders. "They won''t hurt you again."


    "Please you have to save my father," Tsunami calls.


    "I''ll leave a few clones," Naruto tells them before rushing out of their home.


    When he gets to the bridge, he finds Sasuke fighting Haku with his mask on while Kakashi and Zabuza fight it out some distance away. Sakura is fighting several of Gat''s mercenaries by herself, effectively keeping them from killing Tazuna.


    Sakura needs his help, he wants to make sure Haku is alright and he can''t let Kakashi kill Zabuza. Naruto simply wants them all to stop. Then he spots Gat at the end of the nearlyplete bridge,ughing as he watches on from the safety of a group ofrge and imposing men.


    For one man to cause so much chaos, to hurt so many lives andugh all the while? Naruto was sure this is why he works so hard to be strong; to stop men like this; to stop men threatening the lives of innocent people, in the present and in the future.


    "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Thirty puffs of white smoke reveal thirty angry clones of Naruto. It''s more than he uses for training but as he knows they won''t exist for too long, he''s positive they won''t be too draining.


    Naruto sends fifteen to aid Sakura, confident she''ll manage his clones to perfection since he always has the hardest time when she leads them in their sparring sessions. Ten attack Gat''s men from the front while the other five jump over the bridge to travel under it.


    Wondering if the dome is the same one Naru-nii described, Naruto jumps inside the cage made of ice-mirrors and finds Sasuke''s cut up and bleeding but noting no severe injuries as his raven-haired teammate yells, "you idiot! Why would you jump inside?! What kind of shinobi are you!?"


    Irked at being yelled at for trying to help, Naruto throws back, "wha- one who can water-walk! Which is a hell of a lot more than I can say about you!"


    "Tch," Sasuke coughs, before turning to the ice mirrors and yelling, "Katon: Gkaky no Jutsu!" Sasuke''s fireball may berge but it doesn''t damage the mirrors, to which Haku notes, "they won''t melt with that level of firepower."


    "He''s right, that''s pretty weak," Naruto points out.


    "Shut up!" Sasuke yells back.


    "You shouldn''t havee here," the hunter-nin tells Naruto before all the mirrors light up and fire senbon after senbon at the pair of Konoha ninjas. They prick and cut all over but the attacks are shallow and non-lethal, and thanks to Naru-nii, Naruto knows why. Haku doesn''t want to kill.


    Haku''s not a killer. It hurts Haku to do this, and from what Naru-nii said, Zabuza knows this as well.


    When the onught of long needles finally subsides, both Naruto and Sasuke are thrown roughly on their backs. Though he feels like he''s got a thousand little cuts aching all over his body Naruto stands, calling out to the mirrors, "I had toe Hunter-nin! Zabuza owes me his stupid sword!"


    Though Zabuza and Kakashi only focus on each other, Zabuza responds amused, "Oh, theedian is back."


    "Uzumaki Naruto, the ninja who beat you!" Naruto yells proudly, muzzling most of the action on the bridge. "Get it right!"


    "Whine all you like, boy, but you beat nothing," Zabuza ims. "A pathetic brat like you could never take Kubikiribch from me. You''ll die right where you are."


    "We''ll see about that," Naruto calls before turning to the masked Haku.


    "Ne, Hunter-nin, you''ll learn soon enough, but I won''t die until I be the greatest Hokage ever!" Snapping his fingers together, Naruto cries from the pit of his stomach, building not only his vocal outcry but his profuse reserve of chakra.


    Like the second stage of RasenganpowerNaruto increases the volume and output of his spirit energy, forcing his abundant reserves to the precipice of hisrge tenketsus and holding the buildup there until the pain cascades throughout his entire muscle system.


    If he could see himself, he''d know, like the others watching him, how awash he is with blue luminescent power shrouding his crouched form.


    Through the painful ripping, he howls, "Tajuu, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"


    A mountain''s worth of white smoke puffs before the entire mirror dome fills with Narutos. While some escape and break the mirrors from the outside, some attack from the inside, smashing one mirror after another until Haku flies out of his Ice jutsu.


    Though reeling from the burst of energy, Naruto rushes the much faster boy. The speed of Haku''s fist snap against Naruto''s face, stomach or any opening the Hunter-nin could easilynd, but Naruto is relentless.


    Despite losing in taijutsu, sharp pain is no reason to stop or slow. He takes as much pain as Haku can dish, battling to absurd ends for this brte boy and his future counterpart.


    Naruto''s clones disperse one at a time, causing constant smoke as both boys trade blow for blow, converting a loss of footing into a strike at distance, parrying one punch into an effortless counter, and though it appears one-sided, Naruto doesn''t relent, putting his all into more into feeling more truth.


    Naruto is learning who he is fighting a newly found friend and he won''t stop; not until Haku gives him a reason too.


    Despitecking in skill, the more Naruto fights on, the more his body adapts and the more he sees. Then, as sudden as the next sharp inhale, Naruto moves faster than he''s ever felt, stopping and evading more than he had beforecountering and deflecting moreuntil Naruto finally feels it.


    That hesitation. The physical conversation between them, tells Naruto that Haku doesn''t want to do this. Naruto can somehow feel that Haku''s fists ache to hit him, and they don''t want to anymore.


    It''s all Naruto needed to clearly see the oing strike, palm it in his strong grip, keeping a huffing Haku in ce while Naruto rears back his own fist, drawing energy not just from the rotation of his entire body, but with the strength of his convictions of what this means to win.


    .


    You can visit my store to read up to 300 chapters in (PDF)


    /ckGoku222