Haku abruptly sat up, his hand searching for one of his needles. His heart was beating fast, the thrill of battle cursing through his body, screaming at him to aim, throw, dodge, jump... Except that he wasn't in a fight.

Trying to slow down his breathing he looked around. The room he was in had white walls and scarce furniture, only an cupboard and a chest of drawers. He had been resting in a futon at the side of which, on the wooden floor, was a basin with water and a sponge. Looking down he saw a white cloth in his lap that probably fell from his forehead when he sat up.

Haku didn't recognize the place, even if he somehow could tell that this wasn't one of Gato's hideout. The dark haired nin closed his eyes and rested his head on his knees, trying to search through his memories for what had happened.

He remembered he was fighting the two Konoha genins at the bridge, when the orange clad boy he had met in the forest showed up.

Then... nothing. He must have been knocked out. But what happened after that? Was he captured? Then why weren't there any guards? Where was Zabuza? What...?

Haku took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Panicking wouldn't have accomplished anything.

He concentrated his senses to feel other chakra signatures nearby.

There were about ten, no nine, nine signatures that could easily match those of genins or weak chuunin.

And four others that definitely belonged to jonins.

The numbers almost matched the Konoha nins, but there was one more jonin than expected. The ice user focused on those four signatures, when his heart skipped a bit. He knew one of them, it was Zabuza-sama, there was no mistaking it. And he was fine too! But why were they together with the Leaf shinobi?

Haku tried once again to search through his memories, but as soon as the boy he met in the forest joined the fight his memories ended abruptly. Was he defeated by the combined efforts of the three genin?

"Iceboy! You're awake!"

Haku was startled by the yell coming from the doorstep, and turning he saw Naruto looking at him smiling happily. At least he thought he was looking at him, he couldn't really tell with those dark goggles... And what made him think that calling him 'iceboy' was funny?

"Er... Naruto-kun, I'd prefer you not calling me that."

The adopted Senju tilted his head before releasing a sigh and sitting down in front of the other boy.

He smiled at him while taking a glass and two bottles out of... Haku had no idea, but one bottle was filled with water, while the other one had what looked like some kind of syrup.

"Haku, you need to face reality. I know it may be hard, and that you don't want to hear this, but you are a boy.

I can't in good conscience call you icegirl. Besides I need to be honest and find a boy who'll accept you for you."

Zabuza's subordinate gaped at him a couple of times, his face becoming redder and redder with anger.

Although Naruto would later tell it was in embarrassment.

Haku closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Naruto-san" he said, opting to be more formal "I'm very aware that I'm a boy, and I'm happy with that. I really have no desire to be a girl, and as for my sexuality I can assure you that I don't pursuit other boys."

"Sure. Then why are you in the girls room?"

A dark eyebrow twitched. "Since I was unconscious when I was brought here, someone else must have arranged for me to be in this room."

Naruto grinned widely, "Ah...yeah, right." He chuckled lightly. "So how do you feel? That guy with the big sword was worried, even if he insults anyone who asks him."

Haku took a deep breath to calm himself, his lips twitching at the thought of Zabuza swearing as a sign of worry, before he decided to answer, "I'm fine. What happened at the bridge? Why aren't we fighting each other any more?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side while looking at him, "don't you remember?"

Haku shook his head, "the last thing I remember is that you jumped inside my mirrors."

The orange haired genin stared at him for a couple of seconds before pouring some of the syrup and a good amount of water in the glass. He then took out a needle and mixing the two liquids with it. Haku note with a hint of annoyance that the needle was one of his.

"Well, after I came into that dome you made, you took out Sasuke with a senbon in the neck. After that I tried to slow you down with a genjutsu, but somehow it must have accidentally hit you in time with one of Kurenai-sensei's large area illusion, and you were knocked out."

The ice user stared at the boy in front of him dumbfounded. That was it? A lucky hit? It made him feel humiliated and relieved at the same time. Naruto continued to update him on the situation.

"When I arrived Asuma-sensei had already taken care of a weird guy, I didn't see it but sensei said he was another ex-swordsman of the Mist and that he fell from the bridge when his wind attack destroyed the concrete under his feet. Tazuna was throwing a tantrum about it too.''

"Anyway, soon after you lost consciousness Gato arrived and was dealt with, you can ask I-have-a-big-sword-to-show-how-badass-I-am later, but the point is that you were stabbed in the back. Oh, the two chained guys are dead, but don't speak about it, my friend Chouji was the one who gave the death strike and he's still a bit upset." Haku nodded to show he understood everything and to thank him.

The ice-user had now a lot of questions about what Zabuza-sama wished to do now, but he interrupted his thoughts when out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruto staring at him.

"Well... thank you for answering my question, Naruto-kun."

"It was nothing."

For a minute or so silence followed. When it became obvious that Naruto wasn't going to either leave him nor say anything else, Haku resolved to simply ask what he wanted. The orange clad boy grinned like a madman and put the glass in his hands.

"Today I've woken up with a craving for icicles. I've got the water, and I had the syrup in a scroll from home, can you...?"

The dark haired youth didn't know if feeling amused or irritated at the request. He decided that asking why on earth he even had thought of carrying a bottle with syrup wasn't worth it. In the end he simply complied, if nothing else just to shut the other boy up and prevent him from blurting out more nonsense. Naruto closed the door behind him sucking his icicle. Mint flavour.

That had gone smoothly enough. The fake hunter nin didn't remember neither the effect of his illusion nor him hitting Sasuke. That was a thing solved then, and with less problem than expected. Modifying the two mutts' memories had been harder, but since he was the one with the supposedly greater medical knowledge in the group, he just had to say he wanted to check him to take him away from the other and 'play his magic'. Naruto chuckled. He loved saying that.

The only tricky part had been doing that to both Kiba and Akamaru at the same time, but even that wasn't really challenging.

Even convincing the jounin that his weak genjutsu had taken out Haku only because he had been lucky enough to unknowingly cast it in conjunction with Kurenai-sensei's had been pretty easy.

People tended to explain things in ways that assured them the most, and of course having a twelve year old genin beat a jounin-level ninja on his own with an extremely high level illusion would have been too strange...

So they accepted his explanation. It was pretty stupid, they probably wouldn't believe him he were to say the truth, not without proof.

And that would cause a mess Naruto didn't feel like facing. No, he was happy being a simple genin of Konoha, leading a simple quiet life.

The heart of the matter was that they believed him and now there was no more any witness of his so called episode of friendly fire.

Naruto sighed. He should know better than loose his cool like that, what with all the problem that attacking a comrade would cause. It had been a stupid and brash thing to do.

He could say that those mercenaries had upset him, and seeing two Sharingan when Sasuke started to throw a tantrum at him and been the final straw, but those were just excuses.

Luckily he had covered his lapse in self-control. And luckily he sucked enough with needles that he hit a whole inch on the left of where he intended to, causing the Uchiha to feel in a induced sleep without permanent damage.

It was kind of pathetic too, since he had been so close when he threw that senbon. Well, weapons had never been one of his strengths. The only reason he could use shuriken and kunai half-decently was because of all the practice he had had to do at the academy. And even now a part of him despised them.

At close range they were used by those who couldn't fight with their punches, and at long range by those who couldn't use their chakra and jutsu to take down the enemy.

So, in truth, weapons were made by the weaks to compete with the strongers. A useless effort since the stronger ninjas began to use them as well, recreating the balance that existed previously.

It was an endless circle, the weaker trying to free themselves from the rule of the strongest, just to see their hopes being crushed. If things stayed that way humankind will end up destroying itself.

The only way for a real change to happen was if it started from the rulers themselves... but humans are greedy, why would the powerful renounce to their privileges? And why was he so philosophic out of the blue?

Naruto sighed. He had better things to do than reflecting on the destiny of the world, like looking for the storage scroll with his lemons. He had brought them along knowing that he wouldn't find any in a country with the same weather as Wave. He wanted a lemon flavoured icicle.

Rummaging in his backpack he found what he was looking for, a scroll with the tag "lemons".

He opened it and smeared a bit of blood on the seal while pouring a bit of chakra to activate it. When the puff of smoke disappeared, the orange haired boy finally saw... three Icha Icha book?

"Oooops, wrong kind of lemons, eh eh." He paused. "Man, with there's no one around when things like this happen?" Naruto resealed Kakashi-sensei's 'gifts' before taking the right scroll.

With that out of the way he went to join the others. The only thing he had to take care of now, were the questions the jounin senseis were likely to do about the two mercenary that came for Tsunami and her son.

He could allow that bit of info get out in the open, mostly because he wanted to hear what they had to say to him about killing.

Still munching his mint icicle, and carrying his lemon scroll, Naruto made his way to the ground floor. Asuma was nervous.

It had nothing to do with the previous day fight with Raiga, one of the seven swordsman of the Mist, who he basically threw over the bridge not really knowing if that man would survive or not. Nor had it anything with the nuke-nin's backpack that, only as the man fell on the waters, Asuma realized was a boy.

It had nothing to do with the other swordsman, Zabuza, who was currently with them at Tazuna's house, and would stay until his apprentice recovered.

It had something to do with the spots of burnt grass just outside said house that, together with Tsunami's tale, had lead him and his colleagues to the conclusion that Naruto, his student, had killed two men. As his sensei he'll have to talk with him about his first kills.

But the real reason was that at the end of the day Asuma was just a man who hadn't had a chance to smoke in a month and now was feeling the effects of that loss.

The fact that Kakashi snickered every now and then at his misfortune and that Kurenai had a slightly smug look didn't help. Although he found that that smile kind of suited her. And she was much more kinder than usual, especially when the others weren't around.

That didn't mean he'd like nothing more than strangle that lazy smart-ass of Naruto for taking his smoke.

And he'd probably would have done it if not for the fact that Tsunade's less than understanding nature and violent disposition was legendary, especially towards those who attacked her family.

His father, who had been the Sannin's sensei, had once told him about the medic's retaliation to the poor souls who killed her brother and her lover before she left the village. Asuma had had trouble sleeping for weeks, and he was a newly nominated chuunin at the time.

The bearded jounin was shaken out of his thoughts when his evil smoke-stealer student joined them all in the admittedly crowded living room.

It seemed that his first kill didn't affect him at all, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Of course it could be that he had had a really good preparation, but doing the real thing should have elicited some kind of reaction. It wasn't good to suppress whatever he was feeling right now.

"Naruto, come with me." Asuma gestured to follow him outside.

The orange haired boy shrugged, created four kage bunshin, and went after his team leader.

They walked a bit further from the house, Asuma deliberately leading his young charge to the very same place were he killed the two mercenaries, marked by two spaces of burnt grass.

When the genin's only reaction was to arch an eyebrow an tilt his head Asuma sighed. Damn, he wanted to smoke.

He wondered why the hell he didn't send him to Kurenai when she was talking with Chouji and Hinata, or to Kakashi when he was doing the same with Shino. In the chaos of their first battle those three didn't even know who effectively gave the lethal strike to either of the demon brothers.

"So..." Asuma began "It seems you had encountered some problems before joining us on the bridge."

Naruto shrugged. "Couple of mercs. Displayed unhealthy intentions towards Tsunami-san. Made a very unhealthy comment about mom."

"Unhealthy...?" Asuma was paying close attention at his student's body language. He seemed a bit too detached for his liking, like some older ninja became sometimes.

But if he looked closer he could still see a carefully hidden and suppressed emotion... anger. 'Well, better than nothing at all.'

"They died because of those, so I'd say they were pretty unhealthy."

The third hokage's son had an idea of what he was talking about having already heard the story from Tsunami's point of view. What he didn't know was what katon jutsu Naruto used, and the boy's mental state after the whole ordeal.

And while he didn't need to worry about the former having decided to put his team training on hold until the end of the mission, the latter needed to be dealt with as soon as possible, hence their walk.

"Sensei?"

"Hn?"

"How should I feel about those two?" Naruto asked gesturing toward the two burnt spots.

Asuma scratched his chin, a nervous tick he was picking up from the lack of smoke. 'So that's it. He's still a bit shocked and doesn't know how to react to his actions, that's why he seemed so detached and indifferent to his first kills. He hasn't come to terms with what happened yet.'

Satisfied with his reasoning, Asuma nodded to himself before looking at his student and trying to help him with this issue.

"Well, the truth is that as ninja we'll be requested to do things that aren't always pleasant, Naruto. As much as I myself dislike killing, it is necessary." He paused thinking of a way to make what he was trying to say easier for the genin.

"Think of it as a play of shogi. In order to protect the king you need to take out your opponent's pieces from the board, as well as to sacrifice some of your own when necessary. As a ninja you'll have to do the same, and although it pains me to say it, it's sure that you'll not only have to kill more, but one day you'll see your comrades dieing too, if you don't precede them to the grave. But in order to protect the king, we can't back down, we have a duty, and we must fulfil it."

The boy's eyes were glued to the dark haired jounin for the entirety of the short speech.

"Just like shogi..."

"Well, I'll let think about it. If you ever have questions, doubts, or simply need to talk, come to me, ok?" Asuma then ruffled his hair and went back in the house.

Naruto watched his sensei going back to the house while placidly sucking his icicle. That talk seemed logic enough, and it did help him... although not in the way Asuma-sensei thought.

He turned towards the forest, the scent of the trees which surrounded Tsunami's residence mixing with the iodine's one from the ocean that surrounded the whole island. It gave him a sense of peace and freedom that made him smile happily.

A movement from one of the brushes caught his eyes. He waited patiently for a couple of seconds for the little flurry fox cub to come out.

The kit was looking at him curiously and with a bit of awe, although Naruto was probably the only one who could make out those expression for what they were.

He crouched down and took out a bone-shaped cookie from a pocket and offered it to the young fox. "Come on, take it. I've snatched it from the dog, but it's quite tasty if a bit.. mh... coarse?" The puppy sniffed it from his hand before yapping back at him.

"Yeah, I know: it's nothing compared to a nice rabbit, but I couldn't take that from the kitchen. Besides you have to earn a rabbit capturing him by hunting, otherwise it loses half the taste." The kit tilted his head to the side while staring at him.

"Ah... you youngsters should really show more respect for the wisdom of your elders. Anyway, wanna try my mint icicle?"

"..."

"Fine, be that way. It's your loss. Now scram before someone decides you were killing their chickens or whatever."

The fox cub finally took the offered cookie between his teeth, turned on his paws, and fled back in the security of the forest.

When Asuma entered the house he blinked in surprise. He had almost forgot the four kage bunshin Naruto had left behind before following him. The ex-fire guard couldn't really make out how that lazy-ass had the stamina to use the forbidden technique with such nonchalance, nor why his student felt the need to create those four.

Well, he understood why one was helping Tsunami, the poor woman definitely needed an hand and the boy seemed to have taken a liking to her. The clone that was playing with Shikamaru while reading was almost expected, although it reminded the bearded man that he still needed to have Naruto take an I.Q. test. He could even close an eye to the copy that was squeezing lemons in the kitchen.

But that one shadow clone snoring on the couch clearly asleep cemented his opinion that the red-eyed youth was a tad bit insane. He considered asking what made him think that creating a clone only to have him sleep was a good idea, but decided he didn't need an headache right now, and instead joined his two colleagues.

"How's your brat doing? And where is he?"

The question was asked by Kakashi who had momentarily averted his eye from his Icha Icha book to control if Naruto was coming near them, but not seeing him come back with Asuma he relaxed a bit more.

"He'll be fine, I left him alone to give him some time to think. If you don't mind me asking, would you tell me why you're always so skittish with him? Is it because of your books?"

Kurenai looked up at that and glared at the copy-nin who discretely kicked Asuma under the table. The last thing he needed was the woman finding out how he had been trapped into sharing his collection with the brat, and then her reporting it to Tsunade...

"This is all Rin's fault! She corrupted him!" The silver haired jounin blurted out.

"I doubt it, Hatake." The only kunoichi replied with a frosty tone.

"You're wrong, this is her doing. Some time ago she manipulated his poor, young, innocent soul into stealing my precious work of art. I bet she even made him destroy it! She has effectively killed his spirit and the little inner pervert every young man should have.

If he'll never be able to enjoy the pleasure of life it will be all because of her immature act of revenge, which strangely reminds me of how Kaori treated Tetsuo in volume three before she came clear and admitted she wanted him to take her and..."

His mumbling where interrupted by the same frosty tone, only this time accompanied by a feeble killing intent.

"I'll remember to tell her you theory, Hatake."

'Oh shit. Bad move, I just had to go and say that. Note to self: next time you're saying something about a girl, make sure her best friend isn't the person you're talking with.' Asuma choose that they needed to change the subject so he spoke up.

"What's up with your genin, Kakashi? The young Uchiha seems broodier than normal."

"Oh that. Don't mind him, I've got it under control."

Sasuke was glaring at the solid clones of his orange haired ex-classmate. That jutsu... it was really useful, and Kakashi did say it was a forbidden technique that should be available only to jounin. However the orange moron managed to learn it out of sheer luck.

The last Uchiha grinded his teeth at the thought of such a powerful jutsu Naruto's hands. Of course, he knew that he was stronger than him, even in the academy Naruto was always behind him, but the fact that he managed to be a close second irritated him to no end, especially because he appeared to behave like a retarded the few times he wasn't just sleeping.

At the time he didn't think much of it, but lately he thought that if Naruto had actually applied himself and trained more, there was the feeble possibility that he would have beaten him. And that wasn't acceptable. Sasuke closed his eyes.

It didn't really mattered anymore, though.

Now that he had awakened the Sharingan there was nothing that idiot could do, on the contrary, he could actually be useful. Since Kakashi had refused to teach it to him, claiming that he wan't ready for it yet, all he need to do was watch the idiot perform the kage bunshin no jutsu one time to have a new technique in his arsenal. He was ready dammit, he'll show the cyclope!

'Damn, I should have thought about this sooner, if I had activated my Sharingan a minute ago I'd have already copied it...'

The dark haired genin continued to sulk in his seat not noticing, or more likely just ignoring, two of his greater admirers bickering about who he'd go out with after the mission.

Kurenai, on the other hand, alternated between sending the two girls a disappointed glance and a accusingly stare at her fellow jounin instructors.

It was their job to teach Ino and Sakura what being a ninja was after all, but as far as she could see, Hinata was the only one who could work properly in the presence of her crush, even if he had absolutely no shame and the Hyuuga heiress was definitely the shyest of the girls. Said crush choose that moment to rejoin them.

Naruto had come back mainly because he had finished his icicle, and was now sucking just the needle in his mouth, not unlike that Genma guy he had once seen in the hokage tower carrying stacks of paper when his team went to pick a mission. Luckily his clone had finished squeezing lemons for his next icicle.

"Hey brat, did you finish your damned sulking? I want to know when Haku will be ready to go, we've got things to do. That fucking bastard of Gato has made us waste enough time with his backstabbing shit." Naruto looked at Zabuza with a raised eyebrow and seemed to think about his words for a while before answering.

"You should show better manners. After all, even if you described the situation really well, I doubt Tsunami-san appreciate that kind of language in her house, and I remind you you're her guest here." He deadpanned.

Unseen by everyone, said host stared at him, or better the clone that was helping her in the kitchen, in surprise before smiling and silently mouthing a 'thank you'. Zabuza rolled his eyes, "Yeah, sure, sorry. So how much before Haku can leave?"

"Tomorrow he'd be as good as new. Well, he could leave today, but it'd be better if you let him rest. Like my mother says, 'recovery needs time and rushing things just worsens their condition'."

"So your mother is a medic-nin? I thought it was strange for a boy so young to choose that speciality." Naruto grinned at the swordsman, "Yup, my mom is the best medic in the world!"

"Oh really?" Zabuza said with sarcasm, intent on getting a little revenge for being scolded by this brat about his language.

"Yes, Tsunade of the sannin, the mother of modern medicine!" he paused a second before muttering "which makes modern medicine like my sister..." Asuma's face impacted with the table.

The demon of the Mist blinked once. Twice. Then looked at Kakashi, who didn't react at the kid's proclamation about who is mother was. Finally he exploded.

"What. The. HELL? Hatake, you knew this and didn't say anything? Where is your fucking honor? What would have happened if I hurt him, huh?"

"Language, Zabuza-san." Naruto chided placidly.

"I mean, do you think I'm suicidal or something? Do you know what that woman can do? Or do you think I don't know that she basically went as far as leaving her village after her family was killed in the war? For a ninja of her status to do that was madness!"

It took several minutes for him to calm down. Since then he refrained himself from swearing any further, the fear he had displayed at the thought of having a pissed Tsunade hunting him down somewhat making him less hostile and more friendly, something that caused Haku to look at him in surprise and smile when he joined them soon after.

As for the hyouton user himself he didn't know what was worse, the Inuzuka and the Uchiha boys glaring at him, or the orange haired boy who was hanging from his neck and kept asking him to freeze icicle for him while making off comments about his sexual preferences and his supposed desire to become a girl.

"I mean you don't have to worry, I'm sure my mom could do the operation with minimal risks if you want. You wouldn't even need to rearrange your features 'cause they're already feminine enough."

After three hours of that Haku was seriously considering killing the boy or committing suicide, anything to be able to make it stop. Not even the feral brown haired boy's remark had made Naruto stop.

"You know Naruto, you hanging from a gay guy's neck like that makes me wonder about your own preferences..."

The young Senju had paused a moment to take his lemon flavoured icicle out of his mouth before answering, "I just don't think it right to discriminate Haku-chan for his sexual tendencies, besides I'm confident enough in my own... straightness, that I know hanging from his neck won't change it. And for your information, usually those who feel the need to yell their denial are the ones who hide something."

Three minutes later, when Kiba understood what Naruto was insinuating, Shikamaru had to take control his shadow to prevent him from attacking his teammate.

The following morning Zabuza and Haku left. They had refused to join Konoha even after Kakashi offered them to, something that Sakura had been shocked about. Kakashi had to explain her that, while it was true that Zabuza was a nuke-nin, he was a Kiri nuke-nin, meaning he had betrayed Kirigakure, a village that not only wasn't allied to Konoha but had also displayed hostile behaviour towards the leaf.

Most missing-nin were capable ninja with no alliance, green ninja usually didn't realize what that meant: unless a nuke-nin is from your village he's a potential ally. Of course you had to be wary of fake missing-nin whose betrayal was orchestrated by they own village so that they could infiltrate and operate as spies.

But in Zabuza's case it was painfully obvious that wasn't the case, and not just because he refused.

Since he didn't want to join though, they let him go. He wasn't their problem after all, if the Mist wanted him than it was its hunter-nin duty, certainly not random Konoha ninja's.

Two days after that 'The Hero's bridge' was finished and it was time for the three teams to go back.

Tazuna thanked them all and assured the jounin about the commercial agreement his country now had with the Leaf. Inari reluctantly thanked them too, a bit embarrassed by how he had behaved at first.

Tsunami, however, was taking more time as every time she said goodbye to one of them Naruto came back to hug her. Only after Asuma made a offhanded comment about telling Tsunade-hime her son had found a new mother did he let go of her, and could they start their journey back.