Naruto 1. Introductions

**Blood of the North**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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A young man sat alone in front of a small alter with a single flickering candle and two small figurines. The youth was geared for battle. He wore a chain mail tunic and a steel breastplate that glittered in the candlelight, his buckskin pants were worn and patched, a cape of wolf skin was draped across his broad shoulders. Belted to do the young man's waist was a sword and dagger. A knock on the doorframe broke the silence and found the youth standing, sword half-drawn, and facing the door.

"So this is where you are you've been hiding. I've been looking for you all morning. You do know our allies from Konohagakure will be here soon for the joint mission to the land of waves, right?" said the figure in the doorway.

"Of course father, this_ is_ the first time I get to lead a battle group." The youth replied.

The older man gave his son a hard look and said. "Then what in the blue blazes are you doing here?"

"Praying for a safe journey."

The young man's father nodded. "That makes sense. It wouldn't do for you to die on the voyage, but you'll be fine. The gods wouldn't deny you your chance at Valhalla."

"That may be but it never hurts to be cautious." He said as he moved to retrieve his shield from where it hung on the wall. Swinging the shield across his back the young warrior joined his father in the hallway and they stepped out of their home together.

On the road five figures were nearing their destination. The leader of the group was a man with silver hair and a headband covered his left eye like a patch. Beside him was an older gentleman. The last three of them and were barely teenagers. They were two boys and a pink haired girl. First boy had dark hair and eyes that shone with arrogance and disdain. The second boy was short with blonde hair and shining blue eyes, he walked ahead of the main group by good a ten feet. The blond wore a luminescent orange jumpsuit. All but the older man carried weapons.

"Kakashi-sensei, where are we going again?" shouted the orange clad boy over his shoulder.

"We're going to the Norse settlement on the coast to meet up with the group that will be joining us on the mission. We're almost there Naruto so just calm down." said the silver haired cyclops.

"Why are we even doing a joint mission? We should be more than enough to protect a bridge builder like Tazuna." The dark haired boy complained.

"Sasuke-kun don't you remember what Hokage-sama said at the briefing? Our team is going to act as personal protection for Tazuna–san, the Norse team will be protecting the bridge and the workers. Right Kakashi-sensei?" The pink haired girl looked over at her teacher.

"That's right Sakura." Kakashi praised the girl. "Either way we are here." The jonin pointed up the road to the settlement.

The three genin were amazed at what was before them. The settlement, if it could be called back, was only a little less than twice the size of Konoha. All around it stood a massive timber wall manned by guards armed to the teeth. The road led straight to one of the gates. At the gate two people stood waiting for the group of shinobi. The first man was huge, easily a half a head taller than Kakashi. A second looked like a younger version of the first man but he was stockier with mahogany colored hair and could only just look to jonin and in the eye. 'What do these people eat and where can I get some?' Was the first thought to pass through Naruto's head. As a group of ninja neared, the older man advanced to meet them.

"You must be Kakashi, I am Wulfgar and this is my son Brom." The younger man nodded. "It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Skapen Tor. I wish you good health and high spirits as long as you are in my city."

Sasuke stared at the man and asked "who are you exactly?" Kakashi turned towards his student to remind him to be more polite but was cut off by Wulfgar's son Brom.

"My father is Wulfgar Ironshield, Jarl of Skapen Tor". The younger warrior's eyes flashed and Naruto noticed their color, they were blue but unlike his which were sky blue, Brom's were the color of ice. "Now I have a question for you. Does your hair look like that naturally or is it planned out?"

Sasuke scowled "What the hell do you mean?"

"Well, your hair looks like a chicken's ass." Sasuke's scowl deepened. Naruto found himself in the predicament of not being able to breathe because he was laughing too hard, he decided that he liked this Brom guy.

"How dare you talk to Sasuke-kun like that you jerk!" Sakura would have attacked him, but not Naruto and Kakashi held her back.

Brom blinked and said "Who is this and why did you bring her along."

"Her name is Sakura and she's part of our team. What do you think we brought her for?" Naruto replied with a confused look on his face.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that your people allow your women to be fighters." Brom scratch the back of his head. " Sorry about that"

"It's a good thing you got here when you did, there's still time before the feast to relax a bit." The older Norseman nodded towards the settlement and started walking. Brom, the ninjas and Tazuna fell into step behind him. 'I wonder if they'll have Ramen.' was the first and only thought to pass through Naruto's head.

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**Thanks for reading this is my first Fan-fic and I will update as often as I can**

**Plz Review it'll make me smile.**


	2. The Feast

Blood of the North

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**I am sorry it took me so long to update I got the game fable 2 and I got addicted. It is all I've been doing for the last week and I finally beat it at 2:40 this morning. So without further ado the next chapter.**

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The feast hall was huge. It contained a few dozen tables that held close to 40 people each. The main table had Wulfgar at it's head, next to him sat Brom and Kakashi. On Brom's side and his friends Martin and Sven, on Kakashi's side included his team and Tazuna. The rest of the table was taken up by the 40 Norse warriors who were going on the mission.

The food that covered the table was a grand assortment of roasted meats, crusty breads and aromatic cheeses. Sakura looked on in horror at the amount of food the Norse packed away. It was like watching Naruto eat ramen. She looked at the blonde ninja only to see him valiantly attempting to keep up with their hosts. Shortly after they started eating servers with pitchers came and started pouring drinks. When they came to fill the young ninja's cups Kakashi stopped them.

"They're just kids." He said trying to waive away the servers.

"They're warriors right?" Brom interjected after drinking deeply from a stein had been clipped to his belt.

"Yes, why?"

"Because amongst my people anyone who is called a warrior has all the rights that come with it. If they're old enough to kill than they're old enough to drink." He motioned to the servers to continue filling the cups. Suddenly a light flashed and Brom's eyes. "We'll have a contest!" there was a roar of agreement at this.

"What are we doing and how do you win?" Naruto said clearly interested.

"Keep drinking with no brakes and if you puke or pass out you lose." Wulfgar explained. "The winner gets this." He held up an engraved silver drinking horn. Naruto looked around and noticed that the servers had started bringing out a large number of buckets.

Many hours later it came down to Brom and Naruto,the rest of the Norsemen were out and Sasuke was passed out with his head on Sakura's lap. The rest of the hall had gathered round to bet on the outcome. The two combatants had just finished another round when Brom toppled over unconscious.

"Yes!" Naruto punched a fist into the air. "I won, I wo-." He then passed out face first into a giant plate of meat.

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**I'm sorry this is such a short chapter. I'll be working on that in the future.**

**Plz Review it'll make me smile.**


	3. The Voyage

I would like to start with saying I am very sorry for taking so long to update. Finals are coming up for the semester and things are getting hectic so updates will be coming in a more sporadic fashion.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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The next day Naruto found while he may have won the battle he had definitely lost the war. This was due in no small part to this mind shattering hangover he had, and the rocking motion of a ship at sea wasn't making any better. Takashi was sitting on the deck looking pleased with him-self, largely because he had been one of the few people to bet on Naruto during the previous night's activities. Sasuke was off still sulking because Naruto beat him at something. Meanwhile Sakura was practicing throwing to kunai at the ships mast, she was putting extra force behind them since Sasuke was denying everything you said the night before.

**Flashback**

Sasuke just finished his fifth drink during the competition and was looking rather unsteady. He turned to Sakura and started blathering drunkenly, "You know what Sakura-chan –hic- yur totally awesome, I'm just a tool to you as I like to mess with you." He then leaned over to Sakura and in lightly flicked her on the forehead with his index finger and then passed out into her lap.

**End Flashback**

Brom came over to Naruto was leaning over the side of the ship emptying his stomach for the umpteenth time that morning. Brom put a cup in Naruto's hand and said. "Drink this will help you feel better."

"Okay." Naruto said as he chugged down the drink. He began to feel much better. "What was that?"

"Mead." Brom smiled at the blonde shinobi as he fell flat on his face. After Naruto regained his feet Brom tossed him a sword and shield. "We've seen you drink like a Norse lets see if you can learn to fight like one." He turned to Kakashi, "if you don't mind of course"

"I don't mind, so feel free"

Naruto was having trouble handling the sword. "I can't let this."

"Then grow stronger." Brom retorted with a slight grin. He brought his sword out of the sheath and took a lazy swing at Naruto's head. Naruto brought up his sword just in time to stop Brom from removing everything from his headband up, but the force of the blow ripped the blade from his hand sending it sailing through the air. It landed dangerously close to Sasuke's groin. Causing the last Uchiha to faint at the thought of losing his ability to revive his clan.

Naruto walked over to retrieve his weapon. Martin and Sven were also moving in Sasuke's direction with knives drawn. Naruto looked at them and asked, "What are you guys doing?"

Giving Naruto a pair of impish grins they pointed at Sasuke. "Haircut" with all they said.

Naruto was bringing himself when he came back over to Brom to resume their training. They went through several passes and after Naruto lost their grip on his weapon for the third time he decided to change tactics. "Shadow clone jutsu." Another Naruto was standing next to the first. They charged at Brom in unison, the true Naruto coming in low with a horizontal slash at Brom's gut while the clone brought his blade down in a vicious arc that looked like it would split Brom skull and half.

Brom spun around swinging his shield to catch the Naruto slashing at his gut right in the head sending him rolling across the deck as he skewered the other on the end of his sword. That Naruto burst into a cloud of white smoke.

"What was that?" Brom asked with a raised eyebrow. "And what can you do with it?"

"It's called the shadow clone jutsu. It was developed for scouting and assassinations because when dispelled all knowledge gained by the clone is transferred to the user." Kakashi explained.

"It does!?" Naruto looked rather bewildered by this.

"You haven't noticed?"

"Naruto make 10 clones and send them at me, every time I dispel one send in another. Keep going until I tell you to stop." Brom shifted into a fighting stance.

As the spying commenced the air is thick with smoke. For the first few hours the area around Brom was a solid mass of white. As the sun began to set the smoke became less frequent. Suddenly a cry of rage was heard.

"Sasuke must've woken up." Martin said chuckling.

"Who did it! I'm gonna kill them!" Sasuke stood screaming is perfectly bald head shining in the sunset. Sven and Martin both pointed at Naruto and Sasuke lunged at him. "You son of a bitch! I'll kill you!" It took both Brom and Kakashi 10 minutes to separate them.

Later that evening after they ate dinner group sat and talked. The Norse warriors were taking bets on who would kill the most bandits over the course of the mission. Martin and Sven placed a large bet on Brom. Brom noticed Sakura was staring at him and he asked her what she wanted.

"What did you mean by that comment about the hidden villages allowing girls to fight." She asked with as much composure she could muster.

"Umm, what do you mean." Brom gave her a bewildered look while he tried to member what the hell she was talking about.

Sakura started getting annoyed. "Don't the women of your village know how to fight?"

"Of course they can fight!" Martin had a huge smile plastered across his face. Peels of laughter came from the warriors. "Good old Sven has the scars to prove it."

What happened?

"Well he's courting a shield maiden back home named Sasha, and one night about a year ago he got a little _fresh_ with her. Show'em the scar." Sven lifted his tunic to show a massive scar tissue that started just below his heart and extended to his navel.

Sakura stared at Sven for a moment and proceeded to give him a piece of her mind. "You should've gotten worse you damn pervert!"

"What Martin failed to mention was that I was drunk off my pants when that happened, I apologized and was done being bedridden." Sven said sulkily with his eyes lowered.

"The fact he was drunk was probably what kept her from cutting his heart out." Martin slapped Sven on the back. "They really like each other, don't you lover boy."

"Shut up you bastard!" Sven grabbed a hold of a mass of Martin's hair and the two began to fight.

"What is a shield maiden?" Naruto asked ignoring the brawl.

"They are willing to train to fight. But unlike in the shinobi nations they'll go out on missions. Their job is to protect the settlement will we are off at war."

"Why don't they go on missions? Wouldn't they make it so you can take more missions?"

Brom looked at number two is if the answer was obvious. "Then who would raise the children and keep the home safe. Everyone who isn't a warrior has a job to do."

"That is so sexist you people are horrible! Sakura was standing with her hands clenched into fists of rage. "I bet you still have arranged marriages!"

Brom's face darkened as he stood up and walked to the other side of the ship. Savanna and Martin stopped fighting, grim expressions on their faces. "Only nobles have arranged marriages these days." Martin stated somberly.

Then Naruto had one of his rare moments of clarity for all the pieces fell into place with an ominous and resounding _click_. "Isn't Brom's father a noble?"

"That's right, he's set to marry the daughter of Jarl Eufgar on her 18th birthday."

"How long does he have?" Sasuke asked.

"Just four years, he'll be 20." Sven said with all the joy of a death sentence.

"Is she pretty at least." Naruto was trying to find a silver lining to the situation.

Martin shrugged. "We don't know, Eufgar lives across the sea in our homeland so Brom has never even met the girl he's supposed to spend his life with. Hells! We don't even know if she took up the shield or not."

Sakura tilted her head to the side and confusion. "What does that mean?"

"It means we don't know if she's a shield maiden or not." Sven fumed.

"Why does that matter? Not everyone can fight, so what."

"Brom's family has been nothing but warriors for as long as anyone can remember. His bloodlines produced some of the greatest warriors are people of ever seen. If she's weak the blood will then and what she does that leave you, sons who are soft and most likely won't survive their first battle. For all we know Eufgar may be grooming her to be that way so Brom's line will be weakened." Sven muttered darkly.

Martin shook his head. "There's more to it than that and you know it Sven. Let's put it this way, could you really connect with someone who wasn't a ninja or had never been in a fight."

Sasuke nodded in understanding. "Not without a lot of effort, even then it would be strained."

"Exactly, that is why warriors tend to marry Shield maidens. They understand what it means to fight and to kill, and what it does to your mind, not to mention the Brom's part berserker."

"What does that mean, is it bad or something?" Naruto turned to look at Brom boosted by the railing.

"Berserkers are men who go crazy during a fight. Some have it worse than others, Brom is able to control it pretty well, but when they lose it stand back. Pain doesn't stop them, you can put a sword right through one and he'll just keep coming. They become strong as it bears too." Sven explained.

"What's the drawback?" Sasuke was listening intently.

"When the fighting is done all their wounds come back to them, and sometimes their hearts just can't take it and give out." Sven looked over at Brom. "They tend to die young."

Shortly after this the conversation died down. Sleep soon found the group.

Naruto awoke to the sound of shouting. He jumped up to see Brom, Sven and Martin talking to Kakashi. Soccer and Sasuke had just woken up as well. Naruto could see another ship on the horizon. He walked up to Kakashi and the others and asked what was going on.

Kakashi turned instead. "We're trying to figure out if that ship as a threat or not." Brom was looking through a small spyglass.

"May I take a look? I might be able to recognize it." Tazuna said holding out his hand. Brom past the glass to Tazuna and after looking for a few moments the expression soured. "I recognize the colors, they're Pirates."

Brom took the spyglass and started to walk towards the helm. "I'll inform the captain." When he came back two men followed him. The first was tall and lanky, Ron introduced him as the captain. The second man was bent and old. His upper body was wrapped in a piece of dirty gray cloth that covered his head like a cowl. His hands are skeletal clause with scars crisscrossing his palms. He wore a lion skin kilt with a broad leather belt. On the belt was an ornate knife that looked similar to the one on Brom's belt. Brom and the other Norse regarded the man with a sort of awe.

"Who is he?" Naruto asked Martin in a hushed tone.

"Thomen is this ships rune 's a master rune wielder."

"What are runes."

"They are Odin's gift. Those trained in their use wield great power. Watch and you'll see what I mean." Martin replied reverently.

The old man was now standing facing the direction of the pirate vessel. He whipped off the covering from his torso revealing his bare chest. A tattoo of a fearsome sea serpent coiled around his body, it had sat on his right shoulder with mouth agape showing rows of jagged fangs. Suddenly the priest took his belt knife and paled his left hand. Using the talent like fingernail of his right finger like a quill he dipped it into the wound. Chanting in a language Naruto didn't understand he scribed several symbols on the body of the serpent, the last going on the beast's head. Then the priest whipped his arm out pointing at the ship. A glob of lights sped off followed closely by the serpent which it slithered down his arm and dropped into the water leaving his chest bare.

Suddenly a flesh and blood version of the tattoo burst from the waves, its body was as thick as Brom was tall. It began to wrap itself around the pirate ship. As the beasts tightened its coils around its prey it cracking noise similar to the splintering of bone could be heard. The crew of the doomed vessel began to disappear, eaten by the massive serpent. When the ship had sunken beneath the waves the Sea monster tattoo appeared to slither back into place on the Rune priest's body.

Naruto stood transfixed by the gruesome spectacle that just played out before him. Sakura was covering her head unable to handle the destruction of so many lives in such a short span of time. Sasuke was transfixed as well, but all he saw was a source of power.

"What would it take to get him to teach me how to do that?" Sasuke asked turning to Brom.

"He won't."

"Why the hell not." Sasuke growled.

"You're not Norse." Brom said evenly.

"You're training Naruto, what's the difference?"

Brom grabbed Sasuke by the collar and pulled him so they were face-to-face. "I'm only teaching him the sword. The laws of my people forbid the teaching of runes to those without Norse blood in their veins!" He let Sasuke drop. "The only wait either of you could learn anything of runes would be if you were to take the oaths of brotherhood, but as you are there is none amongst us who accept _your_ oath." Brom walked over to Naruto to continue sword training, leaving Sasuke to his thoughts. That afternoon the coast of the way the country could be seen.

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**Plz Review it makes me smile.**


	4. Landfall

**Sorry about the delay. My computer went belly up over winter break.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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As the ship reached the shore, Brom and Kakashi discussed their plans.

"Once ashore, my team will escort Tanzuna home. You are going to take the supplies for the bridge to the work site and then you'll make camp nearTazuna's house, right?" Kakashi said, as he leaned lazily against the mast  
reading a small book.

"That is correct. The ship will leave after we disembark, so we won't be leaving until the bridge is finished," Brom said, while he and his mendonned their battle gear.

"How long is it gonna take?" asked Naruto, looking over at Tazuna, who gave him a rough estimate of a month.

Brom handed Naruto a broad sword and shield, "You might need these."

Naruto watched the Norse prepare. Sven was starting to resemble a porcupine; he carried a multitude of axes in all different shapes and sizes as well as his sword. Martin had a massive bow slung across his back. His quiver was full of arrows the size of broomsticks. Four other warriors with bows were gathered around Martin. The rest of the warriors were armed with swords and shields and each had a light crossbow clipped to their belts.

Kakashi and his team had been gone for half an hour before all the supplies were unloaded. It took another hour to get the materials to the build site.

Sitting on an "I" beam was a man in a well-made business suit. He had a large briefcase on his lap. As the Norse warriors approached, he got up and walked over to meet them. He stood in front of Brom with an outstretched hand.

Brom's eyes shifted from the offered hand, to the man, to the briefcase, and then back to the man. "Who are you?"

"That's not important. What is important is that my employer has an offer for you."

"What's the offer?" Brom was starting to show signs of irritation.

The man opened the case to show coins lined up like poker chips, "Mr. Gato offers you the one-million gold in this case if you will simply leave." He closed the briefcase and held it out to Brom. Some of the warriors were  
laughing.

"What is so funny?" he demanded.

Instead of a reply, Brom cracked the man upside the head with the case. The blow sent him reeling. "We'll be keeping this as an apology."

"For what?" the man gasped, his head swirling.

"First, for insinuating that we are dishonorable enough to switch sides in the middle of a contract, and second, that your employer doesn't even have the courtesy to come make the offer himself," Brom snarled, "Tell Gato his days are numbered." Brom motioned to a couple of the warriors, and they grabbed the man and tossed him over the side of the bridge.

After setting up a guard rotation, the Norse war-band headed off towards Tazuna's home.

When they arrived, Naruto was standing guard outside the house. His shield had a large chunk removed from it, and Naruto himself was looking a little worse for the wear.

Brom walked up and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Looks like you've seen battle. Good thing we brought extra shields."

Naruto looked at the shield and traced the damage with his free hand, "I guess you could say that. Kakashi-sensei is waiting inside; he can explain the situation better than I can."

While Martin and Sven organized the camp, Brom went into the house to find out what was going on. Kakashi was propped up against the wall while sitting in bed.

"Looks like you got your ass handed to you," Brom was genuinely interested to know who or what was able to leave a Jonin in such a condition.

"Kind of. We met a Rogue Ninja working for Gato. His name is Zabuza. He's from the village hidden in the mist."

Brom cocked his head to one side, "Is? Not was? You left him alive?"

Kakashi's vision was swimming; using his Sharingan had drained him more than he'd realized. He put a hand on the floor to steady himself and said, "He escaped with the help of an accomplice. But he was injured enough to where we won't see him for at least a week."

"And you?"

"I'll be up and about tomorrow, and ready to fight the day after."

"Will you be able to beat this Zabuza guy again even with this accomplice along for the ride?" Brom asked incredulously.

"I'll need to train my team some more, but we should be able to handle it."

Brom looked out the window to check on the progress of the camp. "Would you mind if I trained with Naruto some more, he's really taken to the Norse fighting style."

Kakashi shrugged, "It shouldn't be a problem, except that Sasuke will want to be trained as well."

"Why the sudden interest?"

"In the fight against Zabuza, Naruto was able to almost go up sword-to-sword with him, and Sasuke is a little jealous."

Brom let out a burst of laughter, "It seems like all that one wants is to gather strength."

Kakashi shrugged and slumped against the wall, "That certainly seems to be the case. But the real question is, does it matter to you why he wants to be strong?"

"Not really, just strikes me as odd," Brom shrugged and headed over to the door, opening it so he could leave Kakashi to his rest. "Tell them training begins at dawn."

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**So, Buttons.**


	5. Training

**Vaklu: Yay a quick little chapy! I love quickies, wait a sec I think that came out wrong.**

**Jiraiya: Sounded fine to me.**

**V: That's it I'm doomed.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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Naruto sat alone in the woods, reflecting on the outrageous week he had just experienced. It all started when Kakashi-sensei had told him and Sasuke that they would begin training at dawn. Both he and Sasuke were so used to Kakashi's training methods that they thought dawn meant right after breakfast. They found out their mistake the hard way.

Brom came in and dragged them outside in their bedclothes. Then, they were trained in using sword and shield without stopping until lunch. After lunch they trained with Kakashi, learning how to climb trees without using their hands.

The next day, neither Naruto nor Sasuke had intention of repeating Brom's lesson on timeliness, and were awake in ample time and even managed to get some food.

The rest of the week passed in much the same way, learning the North's way of war from Brom in the morning and ninja training in the afternoon with Kakashi. Today, it had been grueling, but rewarding.

Brom had drilled unit tactics, and because of the shadow clone jutsu and his ability to form a shield wall on his own, Sasuke worked with a group of Norse warriors who weren't on guard duty.

Naruto found himself being crushed by the need to sleep. He just mastered the tree climbing exercise. Realizing he was going to pass out soon, Naruto made himself comfortable, rather than try to rush back to Tazuna's house. After arranging himself in a suitable manner, Naruto drifted into a deep sleep.

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Naruto found himself sitting on a filthy mattress on a rusty bed. The room around him was made of concrete. The walls were blackened by mold and water damage. The space was small and had only one exit, a small opening that once held the door. Naruto could hear water dripping in the background, but couldn't quite place the direction it came from.

As he exited the room into a long hallway, a plaque by the door caught his eye, it said Warden. Further down, the hall split off into directions each with a small sign. The first was marked main cell block and the second was maximum-security. Naruto was sure he could hear the noise coming from the maximum-security wing.

The further he went, the worse conditions became. Finally, he stood before the doors of the giant cell. Inside was a huge nine-tailed fox.

"**So the Warden has finally come to see me. What an honor!"** The Fox left on hidden venom.

"So, you're Kyuubi, the demon the fourth sealed in me, hn. I thought you'd be a tad more impressive than this. By the way, where in hell are we?" Naruto sat down on a small chair, staring at the Fox through the cage bars.

"**You little shit! How dare you mock me! I'll filet your soul when I get out of this!"** The Kyuubi reached for Naruto, while slamming against the bar and causing the room to shake.

Naruto fought to stay calm, "Back to my question, where are we?"

The fox demon sneered at the boy, **"Your mind, isn't it just lovely?"** Naruto suddenly felt a tugging at the back of his mind. "**Time to go back to the real world, Kit, someone needs you awake.**"

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"Naruto, Naruto wake up. Naruto, wake up or I'll be forced to kick you, hard!" Naruto awoke to see a very anxious Martin standing over him. "Good, you woke up without the kicking. We need to get moving. The bridge is under attack!"

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**So, My next update may be awhile because I want the fight done right.**

**Reviews, they're amazing. Give me more ******


	6. Battle

**Vaklu: Finally I finished this damn chapter took me a month but I did it.**

**Brom: yes, yes we're very proud.**

**V: Shut up, ignoring the naysayer. This is the first time I've tried a serious battle and I want to you all tell me what you think, the good, the bad, and the ugly. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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Naruto scrambled to his feet, grabbing his sword and shield. "What's going on exactly?"

"That rogue ninja you fought is at the bridge fighting your team, and he brought a friend along. Gato has also taken the field; he and his hired thugs are making their way to the bridge as we speak," Martin said, while knocking one of his massive arrows.

"How many thugs did Gato bring with him?"

"Two or three hundred, but that's just a rough guess. Either way it's no big deal, just a bunch of idiots who think they know how to swing a weapon. They'll break against a good shield wall like waves against the cliff," Martin replied with all the confidence of proclaiming that the sky is blue. "Brom sent me to let you know what is going on. So unless there's anything else, I need to get back to my group."

Naruto nodded and shot off into the trees in the direction of the bridge. Martin shook his head, marveling at the speed and stealth the young ninja possessed. 'If only me and my scouts could train in a ninja village for a year or two,' Martin thought, 'I'd be the greatest scout commander in my People's history. Heh, come on, Martin, back on task.' He started running through the woods to meet up with the other scouts, before joining the rest of the war band.

Brom paced back and forth while he waited for Martin to return. He could feel the tension building; the smell of battle was getting stronger. The hairs on the back of his neck began to rise. He could hardly contain the urge to charge off and bring the fight to the enemy. But he had to have more information or he might lose men needlessly. His restlessness started to infect the rest of the war band. The Warriors began to fidget, sharpening their swords or checking crossbow strings.

"Brom," Martin and the scouts came out of the woods. Brom spun on his heel and moved to meet his friend. People jumped out of his way. His men decided quickly to avoid the unpleasant experience of being tossed the other way.

"What are their numbers? Is Gato with them? Did you find Naruto?" Brom bombarded Martin with questions right away.

"There's about two hundred, and they've split up. Two groups of sixty-five mercs moving to flank us, and one group of seventy coming straight for us. The main group has an angry little man in a very sharp business suit wearing little round sunglasses. All the thugs are walking on eggshells around this guy," Martin paused to crack his neck, "So he might be the guy, but as for Naruto, he's on his way to the bridge as we speak."

"Where was he?"

"Found him sleeping against a tree in the middle of the forest. It looked like he'd been training all night."

Brom shook his head, laughing softly. "That sounds about right. So here's the plan. You and Sven will each take half the Warriors and take on one of the flanking groups."

"And what about the main force, O' fearless leader, plan on killing a lot of them all by your lonesome?" Sven punched Brom's shoulder playfully.

"That's exactly what I was planning. I fully intend to send Gato to the next world by my own hands," Brom retorted without mirth.

"What are we supposed to do if you get your ass shish-kebabed?" Martin argued.

"Load me onto my shield, and carry me back home, same as anyone else. Did you really need to ask?" Brom pulled back his sleeves, revealing a tattoo of a running wolf on each forearm. "It's not like I'll be completely alone. Besides they're a bunch of weaklings, it'll take a lot more than seventy of those kind to beat me."

"You're going to get yourself killed pulling stunts like this!" Martin growled.

"And you are bashing your head against a brick wall trying to dissuade this iron willed fool," Sven said as he walked up and put a hand on each of his friends' shoulders. "So let's get moving. Just so you know, anyone the wolves kill doesn't count towards your total."

Brom burst out laughing at his friends comment, "Of course, looks like you're a shoe-in for most kills then." Brom started walking in the direction of Gato's men. "You know the plan so get moving."

**x-X-x-X-x-X**

Today was going to be a great day. Gato was sure of it. He gathered a rather sizable chunk of scum from the earth around him. It should be more than enough to teach those villages, and their hired help, a lesson. "Who the hell do these Norse idiots think they are?! They show up ten years ago and build a settlement, and then they hire themselves out as mercenaries. They can't be as tough as they act, no one ever is," he ranted.

One the thugs upfront spoke out, "What have we here? Just one guy to stop us. It is a joke?" Gato looked to see a huge man, standing in the middle of the road. He had shoulder length hair, but Gato couldn't make out the color. The man was wearing heavy armor and furs, the way that he heard the Norse dressed. His sleeves had been rolled up, revealing a pair of tattoos. A sword was planted in the ground next to him. One of the thugs charged forward, swinging a naginata. The Norse warrior calmly caught the blade with his left hand, and with his right he grabbed the sword and jerked upwards, cleaving the leading twain from growing the crown. The warrior proceeded to use the blood from his injured palm to write something on his tattoos. Two wolves the size of draft horses sprang forth from his arms.

Gato decided that this was an excellent time to get the hell out of there. "Get out of my way," he started to shove, and then he heard the Norse warrior speaking a language Gato couldn't comprehend. Then the screaming started, the challenges and battle cries quickly turned into pleas for mercy and incoherent gibbering. At this point, Gato ran for everything he was worth. It wasn't until the screaming stopped, and he felt a sharp tug at his collar, did Gato fully understand that he was going to die. The warrior turned Gato around to face him. It was like something out of a B-rated horror film. The man that was going to end his life was covered in blood, everything from his hair and face to the armor and fur was caked in varying states of dried gore. The only thing without a red coating was the last thing Gato would see, a pair of eyes the color of ice.

**x-X-x-X-x-X**

The undergrowth was a brown and green blur as Naruto ran towards the bridge. As he drew closer to his destination, he could hear the sounds of fighting. When our tour arrived at the bridge, he paused to assess the situation. He could see Kakashi and Zabuza duking it out, whilst Sasuke was trapped in a dome of ice, squaring off with the false hunter ninja that had saved Zabuza earlier.

'Kakashi-sensei can handle himself. Sasuke might be in a little bit over his head, though,' Naruto though as he snuck into the dome. He could see that Sasuke's shield was almost completely covered by senbon needles.

The masked ninja had just thrown another volley of needles, making Sasuke jump out of the way. "How many of these damn things does this bastard have?" he muttered.

Naruto came up with the simplest answer, "Way too freaking many, obviously." Sasuke jumped in surprise.

"What in the world are you doing?" Sasuke shouted.

"Saving your butt, of course," Naruto answered flatly.

Sasuke's jaw dropped for a moment. After regaining his composure, he proceeded to chew Naruto out. "You would have been more useful attacking from the outside." Naruto just gave him a "too late now" shrug.

"We'll just have to make do," Naruto nodded as more senbon came flying at the two of them. Both were able to block most of the incoming needles with their shields, but Naruto ended up with two needles sticking into his leg. He gritted his teeth as he pulled up the senbon. He could feel the wounds beginning to close already.

Sasuke and Naruto both began to run in opposite directions. Naruto used the shadow clone jutsu, flooding his side of the dome with copies of himself. The hunter ninja sped out of one of the ice mirrors that made up the dome. As he cut a swath through the hoard of Narutos, Sasuke built up his chakra to perform a fireball jutsu. The fireball wiped out what was left of the clones and barely grazed the enemy ninja, but it still hit. He gave Naruto the signal to do it again. They repeated the tactic several times, and Sasuke wished that his opponent was slowing down. He was sure that he could finish him off with his next attack.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto's continuous use of shadow clones was starting to take its toll, "Why are your eyes all red?" Sasuke almost lost the question in Naruto's heavy breathing. It all made sense, if his sharingan had finally activated, he'd be able to track his enemy's movements. He was sure they could win now.

"The two of you are becoming extremely problematic. I can't let you interfere with Zabuza-sama's plans," the hunter ninja announced in a stiff monotone. A blizzard of needles was launched at the leaf ninjas. Sasuke could see that Naruto was in no condition to dodge. Before he knew it, he was moving to push Naruto out of the way. At the same moment as he knocked Naruto clear, Sasuke felt several senbon pierce the back of his neck, and then the world went dark.

Naruto staggered back to his feet, turning to find Sasuke's unmoving form. 'No, he can't be dead. He was my rival, it's my job to kick his ass, but he was still my comrade. I'll kill this bastard,' Naruto thought.

**'Let me do it.'** Naruto heard deep rumble of the Kyuubi echoing through his head.

'Why should I trust you? Better yet why do you care?'

**'Because it's boring being locked up in here. I have 12 years of pent-up energy and frustration, and you have someone I can take it out on. It's a win-win kind of deal,'** the demon replied, smooth as silk.

'Listen, Fox, if we do this, then when I say stop, I get control back, no argument. We clear?' Naruto said mentally.

**'As good sake,'** the Fox answered excitedly, **'Shall we get started?'**

'Fine.' Naruto surrendered control to the demon slowly, one limb at a time, ending with his head. He still felt his body move, but it was rather surreal. The Kyuubi let its chakra flow freely. It was so powerful that the ice mirrors making up the dome began to crack.

"Wha-what the hell are you?" The ninja with the fake hunter mask squeaked.

The demon looked at his host body. The fingernails had morphed into claws, and Naruto's teeth became fangs. Kyuubi started performing a little dance and said in a little singsong rhyme, **"Quake with fear, he let me out. Now I'll rip your insides out!"** With that, the killer intent and demonic chakra became overwhelming, and the ice dome shattered under the pressure.

Brom was making his way to the bridge just as he saw a pillar of red light engulf the center of it. He hoisted a burlap sack he was carrying up onto his shoulder, as he started to run. As he stepped onto the bridge, Brom was hit by a massive wave of killer intent. It made him shiver with anticipation. 'I hope I haven't missed all the fun,' he thought. Kakashi and Zabuza were still fighting, but both seemed distracted by the red chakra that had consumed part of the bridge. Sakura and Tazuna had passed out from the crushing killer intent.

"Seems I got here just in time," Brom said with a lopsided grin, "I've got something you guys will just love."

Zabuza turned slightly to regard the newcomer, "Who are you?" After he got a better look at the Norse warrior, he was a little surprised. "Aren't those Gato's sunglasses?"

"If dead men could own things, yes," Brom tossed the contents of his burlap sack at Zabuza's feet. Gato's head hit the asphalt with a damp thud. "But they can't, so they're mine now. Regardless it looks like your mission is over; you have no reason to keep fighting these leaf ninjas."

"I'm not leaving without Haku," Zabuza stated matter-of-factly and turned to stare at the red chakra.

Brom slowly walked up behind Zabuza. "You misunderstood me." He deftly grabbed Zabuza's head and with a swift jerking motion snapped his neck, "I never said I'd let you leave here alive." He took the rogue ninja's headband and tied it to his belt. Switching gears, Brom looked over at Kakashi and pointed at the red chakra and asked, "What's causing that?"

"Naruto," Kakashi replied in a troubled tone.

Brom thought about this for a moment or two, "How?"

"You'll have to ask him, but we need to be ready for anything." They stood there for about three minutes before anything happened. Suddenly, the red chakra was all drawn back into Naruto. His appearance was ghastly, along with his demonic features he was almost as covered in gore as Brom. "Naruto what have you done?" Kakashi shouted.

Naruto look at the Jonin for a moment before answering**, "I'm sorry. Naruto has stepped out for a bit. I'll be done in just a minute, as soon as I fix up the Uchiha brat I'm sure he'll be just giddy to talk to you." ** He bent down and carefully pulled the needles out of Sasuke's neck. Sasuke began coughing, but soon settled into a regular breathing pattern.

'He was fine all along!' Naruto shouted inside his head.

**'Yes.'**

'You knew!'

**'Of course I did,'** the demon said coolly.

'Why didn't you tell me, you bastard!' Naruto was livid.

**'Firstly, last I checked, between the two of us, you are the only one who doesn't know who his sire is. Secondly, would you let me out if you didn't need to get revenge?'**

'Probably not,' Naruto admitted ruefully. He then realized that both Brom and Kakashi were staring at him. "I guess I have some explaining to do," Naruto said sheepishly.

Kakashi gave him a blank stare for a few more seconds, "That's putting it lightly, at best, but we need to clean this place up first."

**x-X-x-X-x-X**

(AN: the dance Kyuubi does is similar to Jiraiya's when he first shows up in the anime)

**Brom: hey boss didn't you have something you wanted to do at the end of this chapter.**

**Vaklu: Oh shit, yes there was. I was reading one of my many, many, many alerted stories and I saw that one of my favorite author/reviewers had a birthday this month. So I sent out one of my minions to collect his gift.**

**Brom: who did you send for the gift?**

**Vaklu: Jiraiya.**

**Brom: oh no, he just got a minute ago.**

**Vaklu: Goodie! Jiraiya I assume you were successful.**

**Jiraiya: of course who do you think I am, AND HERE IT IS, TA-DA.**

**Cloth is removed to reveal Tayuya tied up.**

**Brom: what the hell are they going to do with a tied up Tayuya?**

**Vaklu: that's none of my gods damned business.**

**Jiraiya: exactly.**

**Brom: you know there are laws on kidnapping.**

**Vaklu: not for anime characters.**

**Brom: you're gona go to jail someday**

**Vaklu: not for this. Either way happy B-day Leaf Ranger**

**Oh yah the whole review thing. Think Nike, just do it.**


End file.

Naruto, Adventure, Humor