Everyone looked over at the door as it slid open to reveal an exhausted Adrik carrying an equally exhausted Naruto over his shoulder. Tsunami gave them a smile.
"I went ahead and cooked since I knew you two would be tired from training."
Adrik nodded gratefully and walked over to the table. He carefully moved Naruto off of his shoulder and into one of the two chairs, sitting down next to him shortly afterward. It wasn't long after they sat down to eat that Inari mumbled something.
"Sorry, what was that Inari?"
The kid hopped up in his chair and slammed his hands on the table.
"I said why are they still here?! They should just leave already!"
Tsunami gasped slightly with her hand over her mouth. The ninjas all looked at Inari with confusion.
"You told them what happens to heroes, Grandpa! So why do they still think they can save Wave?!"
If Naruto had any more energy, he would've smacked the kid over the head. Instead, he settled with speaking his mind.
"Listen, brat, we have a mission to do, and we're gonna do it."
"No you won't! Gato will just kill you like he killed all the others! Just go back to your stupid village! We don't need some more 'heroes' to add to the graves!"
Adrik stood up, leaning on the table slightly to keep from falling back into the chair from exhaustion.
"Kid, we can't just leave. We made it so far already. Besides, it shouldn't take your Grandpa too long to finish the bridge-"
"I don't care! You people have it so easy back in your ninja village and you think you can just come over here and act like you can fix every problem we have?! Nobody wants you here! Go away-"
Inari cut himself off when he noticed the temperature of the room grow with a slight pressure weighing him down. He looked up to see Adrik had his head down. His teeth were bared and tiny wisps of black smoke rose from the corners of his mouth.
Adrik tilted his head back up and everyone's eyes widened slightly. Adrik's eyes had changed somewhat. The faint orange ring around his pupils grew much brighter. The embers blinking in and out of his irises froze, making it seem like hundreds of orange and yellow stars were being reflected in his eyes.
"I'm going back out to train more. Nobody follow me."
It seemed Adrik's frustration had finally reached its peak. Nobody had seen him that angry before, not even Naruto. They all watched him leave with baited breath and sighed as the burning pressure weighing them down disappeared. Inari hopped down from his chair and left the room, heading upstairs. Naruto watched him leave with a mix of sympathy and anger at what was said.
"I am so sorry. I'll go talk to him."
Tsunami got up but was surprised when Naruto ran up the stairs after Inari first.
"I think you should leave him. I have a feeling Naruto will know what to do."
Tsunami looked at Kakashi with concern clear in her eyes.
"Are you sure?"
Kakashi simply nodded while trying to hide his own concern.
X
Naruto walked into the room to see Inari crying while holding onto a picture that was of just him and Kaiza.
"Hey, mind if I come in?"
Inari turned around and wiped his eyes.
"It's... a picture of you and your dad, right?"
Inari looked back down at the picture as Naruto sat next to him on the floor.
"He seemed like a pretty good guy. Like someone you'd wanna be like when you grow up."
Inari narrowed his eyes slightly as he sniffled.
"Why are you in here?"
Naruto shrugged.
"Trust me, bein' alone ain't always a good thing. I know that better than a lot of people."
Inari looked up at him with confusion. Naruto sighed as he looked down at the picture in Inari's hands.
"It's not great for everyone in my village. Sure, there's people who have it nice, but it isn't everyone. Hell, I'm probably the leading example. But you know what?"
Naruto smiled.
"I didn't let it get me down. Not forever. Sure, I cried a few times, but I always got back up and smiled whenever I could. It doesn't make anything stop hurtin', and I'm not sayin' it should. But you never know if that smile will help someone, kid. That's somethin' I learned just a few days ago, y'know."
"So you're not gonna get mad at me?"
Naruto looked at Inari with surprise.
"Oh, no, if I had any more energy I'd smack you over the head for sayin' crap like that earlier. I just came here to say I understand why you feel like that."
"Oh..."
Naruto chuckled.
"Ah, don't worry about it. I'm sure Adrik just needs to blow off some steam."
Inari looked up at Naruto again.
"But, why did he get mad, then? He looked pretty tired, too."
Naruto shrugged as he looked up at the ceiling.
"No clue, kid. I barely know anythin' about the guy myself and I've been friends with him for about a month."
X
She came across a large clearing only for the smell of smoke to invade her senses. Looking around, she saw the grass was covered in a layer of ash. Dozens of trees had fallen to the forest floor and were mostly charred. After a few more seconds of scanning the clearing, she saw a teen resting in the grass.
Walking over to the teen, she saw it was the genin that helped Kakashi. She reached her hand out towards his neck as if to choke him in his sleep but switched up at the last second and gently shook his shoulder.
"Hey, wake up."
Her eyes widened when she was suddenly on her back with the teen wide eyed and awake with an ash coated hand centimeters from her face. She noticed, however, that the teen's strange eyes were filled with fear. The two stayed like that for another second before the teen moved off of her and stepped back. She got up and dusted off her pink dress. She sighed as ashes now stained her clothes.
"Sorry..."
She looked up at him.
"Oh, no, I should be apologizing. I didn't mean to startle you."
The teen scratched the back of his head.
"I meant that for the dress as well."
She looked down at herself and let out a soft chuckle.
"Well, you can make it up to me by helping me look for herbs. I doubt this area has any, though. What happened here?"
Both her and the teen looked around at the destroyed area of the forest. He sighed and tilted his head down.
"That was me."
She looked at him with surprise.
"Really? Does that mean you're a ninja?"
The teen nodded.
"Adrik."
She nodded and smiled back at Adrik.
"I'm Haku. It's nice to meet you. Now, I believe you owe me some herbs."
Adrik sighed again.
"Right, right. Lead the way."
Haku nodded and walked off, Adrik tailing behind her. They walked until they got to the undamaged part of the forest. Haku crouched down and picked up one of the herbs she was looking for.
"We're looking for these. Get as many as you can find."
Adrik nodded as he moved to look for the herbs.
"So, what do you need these for?"
Haku responded as she moved over to pick another herb.
"They are for my father. He got hurt in an accident and I'm gathering these to help his recovery."
Adrik nodded.
"Can't say I remember the last time I did something like this for anyone. He must be pretty proud."
"I hope so..."
Adrik looked over at Haku.
"What was that?"
She looked up with fake confusion.
"Hm? Nothing."
Adrik shrugged and went back to picking herbs.
X
Adrik dropped the last few herbs into Haku's basket. The girl smiled at him.
"Thank you for helping me with this. I'd say this is a good enough apology for staining my dress."
Adrik nodded.
"Well that's good. I'll probably have to do something bigger for the next one, though."
Adrik's expression dropped and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Haku tilted her head and frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Adrik shook his head and took a step closer to Haku. She tried to take a step back in surprise only to realize she couldn't move her legs. Looking down, she saw black ropes tied around her legs with the ropes then being linked to the ground.
"Why is Zabuza working for Gato?"
Haku's eyes widened.
"Wh-What-"
"Why is Zabuza working for Gato? It's a simple question."
Haku stared at him for a second before her eyes went cold. She brought her arm up that wasn't carrying the basket and tried to hit Adrik. She was stopped when more black ropes shot up and tied her arms to her sides. Adrik sighed before he spoke.
"I'm not in the mood to argue, alright? I recognize your chakra signals from when you rescued Zabuza. Why is he working for Gato?"
Haku grit her teeth as she tried to free herself of the restraints.
"Can you just answer the question?"
She stopped and stared at him coldly.
"He needs the money."
Adrik nodded slowly.
"...Is that it?"
Haku nodded after a second. Adrik sighed and turned around. Haku was surprised when the restraints faded, leaving her free to go. In her confusion, however, she didn't move.
"You didn't try to kill me when I was asleep. Why?"
Haku wanted to head off back to Zabuza's hideout, but couldn't help herself in answering another question.
"It didn't seem worth it."
Adrik stayed silent for a few seconds. With his back still turned to her, Haku couldn't read his expression to see what he was thinking. She was further surprised when Adrik put his hands in his pockets and started walking away.
"Is that it? You are just going to leave your enemy here with your back turned?"
Adrik shrugged.
"I didn't see you holding a weapon, so you're no enemy of mine."
Unseen to Adrik, his words seemed to have an effect on Haku. She stared as he made his way to the edge of the tree line.
"Hey..."
Adrik turned around when he heard Haku call out to him.
"I forgot to tell you this, but I'm a boy."
Adrik raised an eyebrow as he stared at Haku. The teen in the dress seemed confused at his disbelieving expression.
"Is... something wrong?"
"...No, you're not."
Haku was slightly taken aback by the claim. Seeing this, Adrik felt inclined to explain.
"I saw the chest bindings. Besides, my sensory skills are better than you think."
With that, Adrik walked away. He didn't see as Haku's face lit up red. She stayed there for a few more moments before finally calming down and walking away. For the rest of the day, she would be unable to help but think about what the teen had said to her. There was something about him that she couldn't help but find strange.
X
Everyone couldn't help but notice as Inari started talking much more than he did when the ninja first arrived. Along with that, he was smiling more and more as the week progressed. It was safe to say that Tsunami and Tazuna were as happy as they could be, even with the threat of Gato still looming over their heads.
Now, the seven days Kakashi had expected for Zabuza to take to recover were coming to an end. The genin and the one jonin couldn't help but feel nervous. Starting the next morning, they would all come to the bridge with Tazuna to make sure they were all present if and when Zabuza attacked.
Upon seeing Naruto and Adrik enter the house, both not nearly as exhausted as they could've been, Kakashi stood up.
"Alright. Now that everyone's here, we need to discuss a plan."
The four genin nodded as they say down at the table and listened to Kakashi. The bridge builder and his family were in the other room enjoying their time together.
"First of all, it is likely that Zabuza will not be alone. From Adrik's senses, his accomplice is around a mid to high chunin level, at least in terms of chakra levels. I need at least two of you to take on that masked chunin, and I need one of you to guard the bridge builder."
Naruto and Sasuke immediately shot up from their chairs and spoke in unison.
"I'll fight, Sensei."
The two teens looked at each other before looking away. Kakashi nodded.
"Well then, that leaves Sakura guarding the bridge builder."
Kakashi then pointed to Adrik.
"I need you to assist however you can with protecting the bridge builder and fighting the masked chunin."
Adrik thought for a second before shaking his head, much to Kakashi's surprise.
"What about you? Last time, we were barely able to fend off Zabuza, and that was with some help from Sasuke and Naruto."
Kakashi shrugged.
"We're much more prepared this time, Adrik. The same tactics and techniques won't work."
Adrik nodded.
"And that goes both ways. That's why I'm gonna help you fight."
Kakashi shook his head.
"Adrik, I'm fighting a jonin who easily matches me, even when I'm using the Sharingan. I'm sorry, but I'm not risking letting you fight alongside me."
"Well, that's too bad. I'm helping you whether you like it or not. Everyone else can handle themselves just fine."
Kakashi had much more to say but sighed upon seeing Adrik wouldn't back down.
"Fine. But I want you to stay back and provide support only."
Adrik nodded knowing full well he'd do a little more than just provide support.
"I think that's as well as we can prepare for now."
They all nodded to Kakashi. Naruto got up as it was about time for him to fix dinner, something he had been too tired to do for most of the week.
X
Naruto woke up to the sounds of Tsunami yelling from downstairs. Rushing to see what was wrong, he saw Inari get punched by one of the two bandits that invaded his home after trying to make them let go of Tsunami. Naruto's eyes narrowed and he made a single hand seal.
The two bandits turned around at the same time only to be knocked out by a single hit from two of Naruto's Shadow Clones. Inari's eyes widened in surprise as he saw this. He turned around and smiled as Naruto walked up to him.
"You did good, Inari. I'm guessing everyone else is already at the bridge, huh?"
Inari nodded. Naruto patted the boy's head before going over to check on Tsunami.
"Are you alright?"
Tsunami nodded gratefully.
"Then I need you and Inari to go some place safe. They need me at the bridge."
Tsunami nodded again and grabbed Inari as he ran up to her.
"Inari, make sure you keep your mom safe, alright?"
Inari nodded back to Naruto with a small smile. Naruto waved over his shoulder as he left the house and headed for the bridge as fast as he could.
X
Sasuke looked over as Naruto entered the dome of ice mirrors.
"You idiot, now we're both trapped in here!"
Naruto looked up with surprise before the image of the masked chunin appeared in all of the mirrors.
"Indeed. Now, there is nobody to help you."
"Just you wait and see! We'll find a way to beat you and save this country from Gato!"
The masked chunin shook their head.
"You have big dreams. It is a shame they all must come to an end."
X
Zabuza ducked under a spinning kunai and shot out a bullet of water towards Adrik. The teen stomped on the ground, forming a small wall of solid ash that protected him from the projectile.
Kakashi jumped out from behind the small wall and threw two kunai that Zabuza deflected with his sword. The enemy jonin jumped backwards, heading back into the mist that surrounded the bridge.
"That's a neat trick, little genin. You won't get far if that's all you can do, though."
Adrik turned around with both of his arms coated in a layer of dense ash. He grit his teeth as Zabuza brought his massive blade down onto his guard. The blade managed to slash through the ashes, drawing a little blood from the teen's forearms. Kakashi kicked Zabuza away before he could do any more damage.
The missing nin landed and jumped back into the mist. Kakashi sidestepped as Zabuza swung his sword down. He backhanded the blade hard, making the enemy jonin stumble slightly as he tried to hold on to his sword. This made for an opening that Kakashi took full advantage of by slashing his opponent's chest with his kunai. Unfortunately, Zabuza managed to move back into the cover of the mist before it could do much more than draw blood.
"Adrik. That thing you were telling me about this morning. Do you think it will work?"
Adrik turned his head slightly.
"I don't know how effective it'll be, but yeah."
Kakashi nodded.
"Do it."
Adrik nodded and sat down with his legs crossed and eyes closed in a meditative position. Kakashi stepped closer to Adrik to better protect him.
Zabuza was surprised when the mist turned black as it was replaced by dense, black, ember-filled smoke. He grew annoyed as he couldn't sense nearly as well as he should be able to with his mist gone. He hefted his sword onto his shoulder as he readied another attack, still being able to vaguely sense the direction Kakashi was in.
Kakashi looked around and waited. He stepped back and got closer to Adrik.
"Anything, yet?"
Adrik's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"Give me a second. It isn't a big area, so he has to get closer... Five o'clock!"
Kakashi turned and intercepted a sword swing aiming at Adrik perfectly, much to his and Zabuza's surprise. The enemy jonin retreated further away at the edge of the cloud of dense smoke. He circled the area a bit before he stuck his hand into the smoke. His eyes widened as he narrowly avoided a kunai that would've hit the center of his chest. Zabuza grit his teeth and narrowed his eyes as he understood what was going on.
"One o'clock!"
Kakashi kicked Zabuza's sword away and managed to get a clean cut on the missing nin's right shoulder with his kunai. Adrik couldn't help but smirk to himself as Zabuza stepped back out of his range.
"I stand corrected. This is better than I hoped it would be."
Kakashi nodded slightly.
"Yes, but now we have to chip away at him. I can't land a clean hit in this smoke."
"Hey, I'm doing my best here- eight o'clock!"
Kakashi threw another kunai that sliced Zabuza's left leg slightly.
"It's just a matter of time until he gets tired of this, you know."
Adrik nodded as he frowned slightly.
"I'll try to keep it up as best as I can. I didn't realize how much this would take out of me until now."
Kakashi glanced back and saw Adrik seemed to be struggling somewhat as he maintained his concentration.
X
Naruto watched as the mirror melted slightly from the heat of Sasuke's fireball only to return back to its previous pristine form within moments.
"Dammit. I even put more chakra into that than I usually do."
Naruto deflected as many senbon as he could as another volley was thrown at him. He stepped back next to Sasuke as they tried to keep their eyes on the masked chunin.
"I'll try to distract 'em. Think you can come up with somethin' to get us outta here?"
Sasuke looked back with a challenging smirk.
"I'm sure I'll come up with something a lot better than whatever you would've been able to put together."
While annoyed, Naruto couldn't help but return the gesture with a smirk of his own. He put his hands up in his signature cross shaped seal and shouted his jutsu name.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
In the blink of an eye, the icy dome became filled by a giant puff of white smoke. It dissipated to reveal dozens upon dozens of Shadow Clones of Naruto.
"Let's go, guys!"
They all nodded and charged at the mirrors at the same time. The masked chunin was surprised by the sheer amount of clones, only moving to dispell them after they had gotten close to the mirrors. The chunin released volley after volley of senbon into the clones. The metal senbon were eventually replaced by ones made of ice as the chunin ran out. Both of the genin in the dome noticed and Naruto smirked slightly.
More and more clones began dispelling only to be replaced by even more clones. Sasuke watched the chunin jump from mirror to mirror and waited for an opening.
"Keep it up for as long as you can, Naruto."
Naruto nodded with a smile.
"I've got more than enough chakra, so don't you worry!"
Sasuke nodded. A few seconds passed and Sasuke began drowning out the sounds of clones being formed and dispelled. He focused as hard as he could until he finally saw an opening. He made a few hand seals and spat out a handful of fire balls. To his surprise, they hit their target exactly as intended.
The masked chunin was surprised when they were hit by fireballs the moment they tried to jump to another mirror. The impact sent them back slightly and Naruto stopped the mass production of Shadow Clones. He turned his head back towards his teammate.
"Alright! Nice one... Sasuke...?"
Naruto became a little confused when he noticed Sasuke's eyes had changed. They had become a bright red like Kakashi's Sharingan. The only difference was that Sasuke had one tomoe in his left eye and two in his right eye. Sasuke saw his reflection in one of the ice mirrors and smirked with pride.
"So that's how I did it... I finally unlocked it. My Sharingan."