Inari Blessed

The Battle Begins

I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.

Yo, long time no see folks. Im glad I had time to finish this, was in kind of a rush.

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INARI BLESSED

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Naruto and Sasuke stood across from each other. With a silent signal, they began to move through a fluid dance of taijutsu. Sasuke's taijutsu was high genin level at best, while Naruto far exceeded Sasuke even with his gravity and resistance seals on, reaching high chunin level.

The spar lasted for some time, in then end the both of them decided to take a break, though Naruto was far from tired.

"You seem worried, Naru." Sasuke muttered as he gazed at his unusually quiet friend.

"I am."

"Is it because of what Kakashi sensei said?" Sasuke and the other two had already been informed about the conclusions arrived by the jonin.

"Yes.... I knew that there was someone behind the incident seven years ago... but the thought of meeting that man unsettles me. It is not as much fear as it is anxiety. That man did cause a major turn of my life after all..." Naruto said as he silently stared at the flowing water of the stream nearby.

Sasuke nodded in understanding. "I know there is more that you are not telling me. I respect your secrets, so I will not pry. Regardless, I want you to know that as your friend, I will always stand by you..."

Naruto looked at Sasuke with a grin, "Getting sappy with me now, are you Sasu chan!"

Naruto was very much relieved by Sasuke's words.

Sasuke's eyebrows twitched in irritation; "Dobe"

"Teme" Naruto countered with a grin.

"You know that my parents were married before my birth." Sasuke clarified.

"And you know that I am not really a dead last."

"Hn"

With that both of them turned silent. Relishing the comfort in their usual banter. For Naruto, it was an anchor to further convince his mind of who he is and for Sasuke it was confirmation that Naruto still valued him as a friend.

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"So what have you decided?" Kakashi asked the two rouge ninja in front of him. Uzume stood next to the wall silently.

Haku was the one who spoke, "We do not want to fight you."

Uzume and Kakashi nodded.

"And..." Zabuza spoke up, "We want to help you take down Gato."

"And what is your reason for that?" Kakashi asked although he already knew the answer.

"Gato betrayed us and for that, that midget will pay. And it is obvious that you need help from how banged up you are from fighting whoever it was that Gato hired."

"The added muscle will help us." Uzume said, "So welcome to the group then."

Haku and Zabuza was surprised at their sudden acceptance.

"Are you not worried that we might deceive you?" Haku asked honestly confused. What would've they done had this been a trap set by Gato?

Kakashi gave his patented eye smile, "We would've been worried about you deceiving us, if it had been possible."