Naruto: The Weapon Master

Chapter 9: The Incoming Wave

The next day, Naruto woke up from the bed and rubbed his eyes to remove the sleepiness as he greeted Kurama and Chinami within his mindscape.

"Good morning Kura-chan and Chinami-san," thought Naruto.

"Good morning Naruto-kun," said Kurama.

"Good morning Naruto-sama, I sense your team mates are downstairs with your sensei," said Chinami.

"Thanks for letting me know," thought Naruto.

Then he went downstairs to meet up the others as Kakashi was still feeling the effects of chakra exhaustion and so had to remain in bed to recover from it.

When he got downstairs, Naruto saw Hinata and Sakura helping Tsunami at the kitchen, Anko and Kurenai discussing plans at the table, Tazuna secretly drinking sake while making sure Tsunami was not looking his way, Shino sitting silently but one could hear a slight buzzing from him, Sasuke sitting quietly alone and Kiba with his partner Akamaru looking around the house a bit. Naruto also saw a boy looking at them with anger and caught a trace of hopelessness.

When he set eyes on Naruto, Kiba smirked at him "Look who finally decided to wake up, did you faint when you fought against Zabuza, I expect no less from the class clown,"

"Actually Kiba, Naruto was the one who defeated Zabuza and saved Kakashi-sensei," said Shino.

"What?! There's no way that he would be able to go up against one of the seven swordsmen of the mist!"

"I don't expect you to believe it since you were knocked out at the time," said Naruto with a smirk, Kiba was about to reply when he was interrupted by Kurenai.

"That's enough, whether you believe it or not, that's what happened,"

"Since Kakashi is currently recovering from chakra exhaustion, we'll be the ones to train you. So after breakfast, we'll meet up in the clearing,"

"What's the point of training? Gato will just kill all of you," everyone turned to see the boy glaring at them.

"And who might you be?" asked Kiba.

"This is my dear grandson Inari," said Tazuna, Inari merely ignored them and went upstairs, he took a glance at Naruto before continuing on his way.

"Naruto-kun, I sense sorrow from him," said Kurama.

"I know Kura-chan, I'll talk to him later," thought Naruto.

After eating breakfast, Naruto and the others met up in a clearing in the middle of a forest. Naruto, Sakura and Hinata looked calm. Kiba looked excited, Shino was silent and Sasuke was brooding.

"Before we start, could you tell us what Kakashi taught you so that we know what to do?" asked Kurenai.

"So far Kakashi-sensei taught us teamwork exercises, we were taught chakra control at our clan homes" said Shino with Kiba nodding in agreement.

"I learnt it from my clan's scrolls," said Sasuke.

"If that's case, you three will continue to work on your chakra control and I will watch over you, Kurenai and our team will guard Tazuna," said Anko.

Later on, Naruto and the others were at the incomplete bridge, watching Tazuna supervise the workers on the construction.

"This is a pretty impressive bridge, I gotta hand it to ya old man," said Naruto.

"Thanks kid, once this bridge is complete, life will finally return to Wave and we'll be free of Gato's tyranny," said Tazuna.

"I-is it that bad here in Wave?" asked Hinata.

Tazuna shook his head sadly "There's no words to even describe it, you should see it for yourself,"

"I think we'll do just that after we're done here," said Sakura.

Then one of the workers approached Tazuna.

"Tazuna, I need to talk to you," said the man.

"Ginjo, what is it that you want to talk about?" asked Tazuna.

"What I want to say is that I want to back out of this project," said Ginjo, Naruto and the rest were surprised that the man was abandoning the construction.

"What?! But why you quitting when we're so close to finishing the bridge?!" shouted Tazuna as they were good friends since their youth.

"Well thing is that I was all for your idea of building for the sake of the island, but I concerned for the safety of my family when I'm not around to protect them," said Ginjo, Tazuna looked at him for a while before signing in disappointment.

"Very well then, we were breaking for lunch anyway, so you can just pack up and leave,"

As Ginjo turned to leave, he saw the ninja which Tazuna hired for protection give him looks of anger and disappointment as if knowing the true reason for abandoning the project. When he walked by Naruto, he heard the blond ninja mutter out loud for him to hear.

"You coward," hearing this made his heart clench with guilt.

Naruto left Tora with Hinata and walked up to Tazuna who looked depressed. "Hey old man, how many constructors like him had abandoned the project?"

"It seems like when I was out of the island, six had called it quits and now we're seriously understaffed, at this rate, we'll never get the bridge done," said Tazuna.

"Then all we need to do is get more hands in on the work, I can help you with that issue," Tazuna looked confused while Kurenai, Sakura and Hinata knew what he intends to do.

"And where can you get that kind of help?" Naruto simply smirked and formed the cross sign, then in a puff of white smoke dozens of clones appeared much to the man's surprise. "These are my shadow clones, they are solid so they can interact with anything so you can tell then what to do,"

"Thanks for the workforce kid, I really appreciate it. Now we can really get some work done," with that Tazuna started giving orders to the clones who responded with earnest.

Later that day, Naruto escorted Sakura and Hinata to the market to buy food for dinner after offering to do so for Tsunami. They were shocked to see that there was barely anything worth buying from the stalls. On their way back, a man was passing by them and tried to pickpocket by Sakura put a stop to that by kicking him in the gut, making him fall to the floor in pain.

"I can't believe things are so bad around here," said Sakura.

"The poverty will destroy this island if the bridge isn't complete, we have to make sure Gato doesn't succeed," Naruto while gritting his teeth in anger, Tora popped out of his hood and meowed in agreement.

Naruto felt a hand grab his jacket and turned to attack, only to stop when he saw a girl standing before him dressed in rags.

"Could you spare me some food for me and my friends at the orphanage?" asked the girl, Naruto felt sad looking at the girl before rubbing her head and smiled, Hinata and Sakura looked just as sad.

"Of course, could you show us the way to your friends?" the girl nodded happily and walked off with Naruto and the others following close behind. Soon they reached their location and Naruto could see how run down the building is. They could see that some of the children haven't eaten for and others looked ill.

"We have to help them somehow, even if it is for a while," said Sakura, Naruto and Hinata nodded in agreement.

"I-I have some medicine in my pouch, i-it might help with some of t-their illness," said Hinata, bringing out a packet from her pouch.

"I've got some food rations here in my storage scroll and a med kit," said Naruto, holding out a scroll.

"Great, I'll use the med kit to tend to them," the group proceeded to care for the children till they felt better for the meantime. Naruto could see that some of the children still looked depressed and tried to think of a way to cheer them up. After thinking deeply for a bit, his eyes widened and smiled mischievously.

"Hey girls, give me a moment, I know of a way to put some smiles on these kids," said Naruto walking to another room.

"Naruto what are you up to?" asked Sakura, Naruto didn't answer and entered the room. After a while he came out and to everyone's surprise was wearing a yellow banana suit and holding a pair of maracas, then he started to sing.

Buckwheat Boyz: Peanut Butter Jelly Time

It's peanut butter jelly time,

peanut butter jelly time,

peanut butter jelly time

(Chorus:)

Where he at 4x

There he go 4x

Peanut butter jelly 4x

Do the peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly,

Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat 2x

(Chorus)

Now, break it down and freeze 4x

(Chorus)

Now tic tac toe (uh-huh)

Tic tac toe (let's go)

Tic tac toe (you got it)

Tic tac toe (let's ride)

(Chorus)

Now, freestyle, freestyle, freestyle, freestyle, freestyle, your style 2x

Where he at 4x

There he go 4x

As he sang, many of the kids along with Sakura and Hinata started to laugh and some even joined in with the silly dance. After a while of singing and dancing, it was time for them to go which saddened many of the children.

"Will we see you again?" asked the little girl sadly.

"We'll be here for a while as we the ones protecting Tazuna while he's building the bridge," said Naruto, the children waved happily as the ninjas left for Tazuna's house.

When they were eating at the dinner table, Sakura noticed that a piece of the family picture had been torn.

"Tazuna-san, whose part of the picture has been torn?" Tazuna seemed depressed while Tsunami looked ready to cry.

"That was Kaiza, Tsunami's husband and Inari's father," Then Tazuna proceeded to tell them of how he was seen as a hero of the island by everyone, but when he tried to go up against Gato, he was killed in front of the crowd so as to serve as an example. Everyone was silent until Naruto got up with Tora jumping into his hood and walked towards the door with everyone watching him.

"Naruto, where are you going?" asked Kurenai, Naruto didn't turn but he replied.

"I'm going to get some fresh air," the girls got up to follow him but were stopped by Kakashi.

"Why did you stop us Kakashi-sensei?" asked Hinata, not stuttering for once.

"It's because I can tell that he wants to be alone," at those words, the girls sat back at the table while Kakashi went back to reading his book much to the annoyance of the females in the kitchen.

"That Gato is going to pay for all this, for what he did to Inari and his family," thought Naruto with his tenants agreeing with him.

"Indeed, he was the reason why Inari is so bitter. The trauma of seeing his father being killed in front of him destroyed his belief in hope," said Kurama.

"I know Kura-chan, but so far all we know is Gato is a business tycoon and the cause of the poverty in the island," thought Naruto.

"May I suggest we gather information about him then Naruto-sama," said Chinami.

"That's a good idea, and I know just how to do it," Naruto took to the rooftops. After jumping from roof to roof, Naruto saw a guy walking along the street while dressed roguishly and carrying a sword. "With the way he's dressed and body language, he must be one of Gato's underlings,"

"Maybe following him might lead us to where Gato's located," said Kurama.

"My thoughts exactly, let's see where he leads us to," murmured Naruto with Tora popping out if his hood and nodding.

Naruto had Tora sit on his shoulder as he pulled the hood over his head, then he focused on the bracelet and called out "Honor among thieves!" in a flash of light, he was holding the cooper cane in his hand. Seeing that he was all prepped up, Naruto took to the treetops as he kept a close eye on his target.

"Whoa, that little rat sure knows how to live large," Naruto had been trailing the bandit for a while until he reached his intended destination only to be surprised upon seeing the building. It was a mansion built behind a big wall which prevents anyone from looking inside, he could also see several bandits acting as sentries in the courtyard and two more were stationed at the entrance where a torch was lit.

"I need to find a way to get around the guards, they'll be able to spot me when near the torch so I'll need to draw them away from it," Naruto thought deeply before snapping his fingers upon having an idea and grinned with Tora tilting her head in confusion.

The guards were looking around for anything out of the ordinary when they heard a croak and turned to see a small frog sitting in front of them. Before they could say anything, the frog brought out a top hat and a cane before starting to sing and dance (Any of you who watched Looney Tunes will get the idea). Wanting to get a better view, the guards went closer to the dancing frog, they were unaware of someone sneaking past them with a foxy grin.

"Shadow clone plus Transformation plus cartoons equals great distraction, I really owe it to Deadpool-sensei for introducing me to them, they really crack me up as well as give me ideas" thought Naruto.

"That's true, but sometimes I question that guy's sanity," said Kurama.

When he got in, Naruto was using the bushes to avoid getting detected by the guards patrolling until he finally reached the manor. Naruto looked around for an entry point until he saw a small open window, he was about to move when a guard turned around a corner forcing him back into the bushes. Naruto grabbed a pebble and threw it in the opposite direction which made the guard move towards the sound, then he climbed through the window and ended up in a storeroom.

Cautiously peeking through the door, Naruto snuck through the hallways and silently climbed into the air vents so as to get around more easily with Tora walking beside him. Soon Naruto heard voices and crawl towards the sound until he reached an opening where he looked to see a man talking to a much shorter man sitting behind an office table.

"I guess that must be Gato, I wonder which part of the family that he inherited the ugliness from? I sure that was a face even his mother didn't love," Naruto smirked when he heard Kurama and Chinami giggle at his joke before listening in on their conversation.

"Boss, are you really going to pay Zabuza for the job?" asked the man.

"Of course not, when Zabuza kills the bridge builder and those ninjas, he'll be worn out we can use that opportunity to kill him with no trouble, besides ninjas like him are too expensive anyway," Naruto gritted his teeth in anger at how much a scum this midget is, Kurama was growling while Chinami simply scowled. "By the way, what about the girl that we captured?"

"So far she is stubbornly resisting, but no one can reach her since I have the keys," said the man.

"We'll just have to deal with her after killing Zabuza, I heading to my room to rest for the night," Gato got and left with the man following him.

Naruto dropped from the vent and turned to Tora "Tora I need you to check for anything important while I follow that guy to where the girl is kept prisoner," Tora meowed in affirmation as Naruto snuck after the man. As Naruto trailed the man, he saw the set of keys sticking out of his pocket.

"I'd better take a key just in case," Naruto skillfully used the cane to pickpocket the keys before silently placing it back after taking one, then he jumped to the ceiling and used his chakra to stick there just as the man turned to look around before walking away. Naruto stayed on the man until he entered the basement and stood before a cell.

"I don't know why we should wait when I could tame you right now," the man grinned lustfully as he was about to reach for the keys to open the cell when he felt a hand clamp his mouth and two fingers pinch a certain point of his neck lulling him to sleep.

"Ssssshhhhh, be vewy vewy quiet, I'm sneaking awound *Elmer Fudd Laughter*," smirked Naruto while his tenants sweatdropped at his antics.

After placing the man on a stool and placing an empty sake bottle to make it look like he had a hangover, Naruto took inside the cell to see a girl sitting in the corner of the prison. She has caramel colored skin and lime green hair which Naruto found beautiful.

"W-who are you? One of Gato's men?" asked the girl.

"Nope just one of your friendly neighborhood ninja of Konoha, Naruto Uzumaki at you service, what's your name?" said Naruto.

The girl looked at his eyes for any sign of deceit, upon finding none she replied "My name is Fu, I used to be a ninja of the Hidden Waterfall village until they banished me and then I got captured by Gato,"

Naruto was about to ask he reason for banishment when he heard Kurama speak to him "Naruto-kun, I can sense Chomei the seven tailed beetle in her, she must be a jinkurriki,"

At that same time, Fu heard a feminine voice from within her "Fu-chan, I can sense Kurama-neechan inside the boy, he also a jinkurriki like you too!"

"I guess by the look on your face, you must know who I contain and I know who you contain," seeing Fu nod he continued "I will get you out of here, but it will be after I deal with Gato so can you wait for just a little while longer?"

"Okay, but please come back soon," said Fu looking at the blond ninja pleadingly.

"Of course I will and that's a promise!" Naruto gave Fu a foxy grin which made her blush before leaving.

Along the way, Naruto met up with Tora who was holding a small brown envelop in her mouth. He quickly sealed it in a scroll and continued on his way out, when he reached the entrance, he saw the guards still watching the frog dance and shook his head at their studity.

"Those guys must be the dumbest ever, I guess Gato I more for quantity instead of quality," thought Naruto as he moved on.

When he got to Tazuna's house, he called to his sensei the next day and reported what happened yesterday, to say that they were surprised was an understatement.

"Wait, so you mean to tell me that you snuck into Gato's mansion to collect information and came back out without being seen?" said Kurenai who was finding it hard to believe but Kakashi and Anko simply smiled.

"I wouldn't be surprised, Naruto was able to sneak into ANBU headquarters to switch the ANBU masks with clown masks," said Kakashi.

"And they couldn't figure out how he was able to sneak in and out without being detected," said Anko laughing at the memory while Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"But now we have to plan when Gato and his goons show up on the bridge and save Fu-chan afterwards," said Naruto.

"That's correct we'll tell the others after dinner tonight," said Kakashi.

Later that night, everyone was eating peacefully, but Inari was glaring at the Naruto who was eating calmly before finally bursting out.

"Why are you acting so calm?! Don't you that if you keep staying here, Gato will just kill you with no effort?!" shouted Inari.

"Kid calm down, there's no need for you to act that, I've trained for things like this," said Naruto.

"Shut up! Seeing that look on your makes me sick, I bet you never had to suffer in your whole life!"

Then was snap and everyone turned to see that Naruto's hair covered his eyes and the chopsticks were broken in his hand. Kakashi, Anko, Kurenai, Sakura and Hinata glared at Inari who looked confused even Tora hissed at him, then they heard Naruto speak.

"I don't know about suffering? Don't make me laugh! At least you have a family and knew your father for a while, I had no idea who my parents were and if they even loved me until recently and I found out that they're dead! I always had to look over my shoulder just to make that there's no one aiming for my life. People look at me as if asking why I even exist and try to erase my existence. So until you've experienced what I had, don't stand in front of my face and say you've suffered more than anyone else! You know what?! I'm getting out of here before I do anything I'll regret!" the whole place was silent until Tsunami spoke up.

"Did he really mean what he said?"

"If anything, what Naruto said was the sugarcoated version of his story," said Kakashi. Everyone was stunned by what they had witnessed as they had seen Naruto act like nothing could ever faze him.

Inari ran out of the house in tears and went sit at the pier and look at the moon, hearing footsteps, he turned to see Naruto walking up to him.

"What do you want? Here to yell at me again?" asked Inari.

"Actually, I'm here to apologize," Inari looked surprised but remain silent for Naruto to continue "When you said those things, it reminded me of what happened in the past which made me blow up on you,"

"But how? How were you able to be what you are today?" asked Inari.

"The thing is that I got tired of crying and sulking as I felt it was a waste of time, so I decided to do something more with my life and I also had people around to support me," Inari looked at Naruto in wonder.

"I-I'm sorry for what I said before, I shouldn't have said those things," Naruto patted Inari in the head while smiling, Kurama and Chinami smiled at the scene.

"I had already forgiven for you, I'm not one for bearing grudges and I promise to you that Gato is going to pay for what he did," said Naruto, Inari hugged the blond ninja as he could feel that he could keep that promise. "Now get back to bed, I'll stay outside for a little while longer" Inari went back while Naruto walked into the forest.

The next morning, Naruto felt someone approach him and quickly got up and shifted to a fighting stance. He saw a girl wearing a pink kimono with flower designs on it and holding a basket of herbs.

"Sorry about that, I thought you were an enemy," Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"It's okay, I was about to wake you since you could have caught a cold. I was here to gather herbs," said the girl "He looks quite cute, especially with those whisker marks, it makes me want to rub it,"

"Then let me help you, my name is Naruto Uzumaki,"

"And my name is Haku, thank you for the help," Naruto was helping her pick the herbs but noticed something strange about them.

"These are herbs which one would use for healing injuries, could she be the fake hunter nin?" thought Naruto.

"You're right Naruto-sama, her aura is the same as that day you fought with Zabuza," said Chinami. Naruto's thoughts were interrupted when he heard Haku speak to him.

"Do you have someone who is precious to you?" asked Haku.

"Yes I do, they gave me a reason to keep going," said Naruto, happily thinking of everyone who loved and cared for him.

"That's good, I believe that you truly become strong when you have something to protect," said Haku, Naruto stared at her for a while before smiling and nodding in understanding. Haku got up to leave but stopped when Naruto called out.

"I hope to see you again," said Naruto.

"I hope so too," said Haku trying to hide her sadness at having to fight him in the near future "Oh and by the way, I'm a boy," but Naruto looked unfazed.

"Please, I know that you're a girl," thought Naruto as he watched Haku leave.

"I truly don't want to fight you Naruto-kun, wait since when do I like him that? I'm nothing but a tool for Zabuza," thought Haku although her heart was beating in protest.

Weapon/Gear appearance

Cooper cane = Sly Cooper

This is Hussbek online with another chapter, the next chapter is the big battle on the bridge and I have a surprise for Gato and his underlings, look forward to it. Stay tuned for the next chapter, PM and Review as always.

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out.