The Red Flash

Visions of Home

Naruto

When Naruto awoke the following day, he was greeted with a sight he hadn't expected to see. A beautiful female ninja was strolling across the field toward him.

He knew she was a ninja from the fact that she was making almost no sound as she walked; ninja had a habit of doing that wherever they went, civilians, not so much. And her having High Chunin Chakra Level.

Tensing when she saw him open his eyes, she flicked a senbon into her hand.

"I know you're a shinobi," Naruto said, "but I don't want to fight you."

"How can I trust you," her sweet voice drifted over to him.

"From the looks of it, you could have killed me from a distance with that senbon while I slept. You didn't, so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Now that I'm awake, however, you'd be hard-pressed actually to kill me anyway. What's your name, because I'm Uzumaki Naruto," He had a sheepish grin on his face and yawned, his hand rubbing the back of his head.

Naruto didn't need to mention that he could have killed her if she did try to harm him.

Haku was unsure of what to do. She could have killed him while he slept, but that just hadn't felt right. He had looked so peaceful from where she was standing. He didn't seem threatening now that he was awake, so she guessed she could go along with it, as long as she got these supplies back to Zabuza, "I'm Haku."

"So, what are you out here gathering herbs for Haku?" Naruto inquired innocently, trying to lighten the mood.

"They are for someone very close to me; they were injured, and these are going to help them get better."

"Well, do you want a hand gathering them? I could make your job a lot easier," Several clones appeared before Haku could object and began searching through the woods and clearing for the herbs that Haku needed, "Now sit down, my godmother taught me medically," Naruto said with a smile.

"But I-"

"No buts, come on and sit down; my clones will still get the herbs you need, don't worry."

"Okay," she said, sitting down opposite from him, still wary of what he was doing.

For a while, they explained pleasantries, with Naruto explaining that he was here because of a mission, then out of nowhere, he asked a rather unexpected question.

"So, Haku, is Zabuza recovering well enough?"

She flinched, not knowing how the boy who was only just younger than she was had figured it out.

"Calm down; as I said, I don't want to fight," Naruto tried to defuse the situation before she could take any action against him.

"I could tell you were a ninja from the way you walked, you said you needed to help someone close to you, you use senbon, and you have the same build as a hunter-nin that carried away one supposedly dead Zabuza, your facial twitch just then confirmed my suspicions. Don't worry; as I said, I don't want to cause you any harm. We both have our missions; it just so happens that they oppose each other. I'll hold no grudge against you for it, but I do hope we can get through this with as little bloodshed as possible."

All Haku could do was nod in response. She didn't know what it was about this kid she liked, but she knew that he wasn't going to hurt her while she sat there with him. He was too sincere.

As Naruto's clones walked back over each with a pile of herbs, he got up.

"Well, here are your herbs Haku, I have to get back to my team; I just want you to know that even if I don't want bloodshed, I'll still protect my team with everything that I have."