"Haku, there was no need for you to intervene. I could have taken care of matters myself," said Zabuza, holding on to a kunai under the bed sheet.
"I was aware of that, but as your instrument I must always protect you, no matter the circumstance," Haku said with a smile.
Zabuza sighed, and said, "I will recover soon. After I get back to full strength, I'll make sure Kakashi suffers for putting me in this condition. I'll kill his little brats, too."
"The blond one among them looked more dangerous than the others," Haku said, then continued, "He was ready to finish you off had I not taken you away from there."
"That blond kid's name is Naruto."
"Really?" Haku said with interest. "So that's his name."
"Haku," Zabuza warned. "Be as cautious against Naruto as you would be with Kakashi."
The girl simply nodded.
(Later That Night)
Naruto decided to take the first watch and summoned thirty-five kage bunshin to survey and patrol the house and the surrounding landscape and beach. Some of the clones also hid themselves among the trees, while others transformed into the nocturnal animals roaming about the forest. As for Naruto himself, he was standing guard while sitting on the roof of the house, with the full moon shining ever brightly over him. The blond was still bothered by what he felt earlier after he saw that red-haired woman. The experience he felt was not only foreign, but it felt good, as though he instinctively knew she was a kindred spirit.
Who was that woman, and why did my mind and body react that way when I got closer to her? Naruto wondered, knowing that his body's unexplainable reaction to the woman wasn't anything perverted, to his surprise. Tazuna said that he doesn't know of any gorgeous woman in Nami No Kuni with long red hair. She even looked a little bit like my mother!
Naruto sighed and relaxed. "…Everything's so peaceful out here."
After another hour, a clone from each sector dispelled, giving Naruto their complete detailed report about their patrol with visuals. He took a moment to close his eyes to absorb the memories of his clones and understand what each of them sent to him. After a couple of minutes, he opened his eyes again, now having all of the memories his clones gave him. Naturally, before dispelling, the clones had made more clones, so the spots weren't unoccupied. Some of them were even sent to spy on the town, and from what Naruto saw from his clones' memories, the situation was bad. The horrendous living conditions of the people and the marketplaces were even worse than he'd pictured after hearing Tazuna's story. Without a doubt, something had to be done.
Naruto had organized his disguised kage bunshin to be his eyes and ears. He was going to use them as part of the new spy network he started forming a month ago. The idea came to him one night after a dream he had about some informants that came to meet up with him at an undisclosed location. He then thought about what Hiruzen told him about Jiraiya's spy network, and how it needs lots of funding to keep it going, thus Icha-Icha Paradise.
"Perhaps I ought to start writing my own book series so I can fund my own spy network. I wonder what I should call it," Naruto said to himself as the gears in his head started turning. As that happened, Hinata and Hanabi's faces came to mind.
"Now why did those two come to mind," Naruto asked himself, and then bam! It hit him! "That's it! I'll call it, The Moon's Eye Above the Fireworks: A Lone Ninja's Tale. It's perfect! I just need to come up with a series of captivating storylines involving drama, romance, suspense, adventure, action, shocking plot twists, and let's not forget the hot explicit love scenes."
Pulling out a pen and pad from inside his jacket, Naruto started writing down everything that started coming to mind, and ideas started flooding his mind. There was one lead male protagonist, two lead female protagonists, a few antagonists, and a couple of other main and side characters. He just needed to come up with a couple of names for his characters for his new book series.
Besides serving as surveillance, his clones were also on the lookout for that mysterious red-haired woman, whom they had yet to find.
(The Following Morning)
Kakashi was up early and walking around with crutches. Though he was weakened, he was still able to perform his assigned duties. He made his way downstairs and found Naruto there waiting for him.
"Naruto," Kakashi greeted. "I take it you had a peaceful night?"
"It gave me much time to think without any distractions. And seeing as you're awake now with no one else around, I can talk to you in private," Naruto said.
"What do you wish to discuss with me?" Kakashi implored. Naruto gestured for him to follow him outside. Kakashi shrugged and went outside with Naruto. They walked several yards away from the house until they were out of hearing range. Taking a breath and exhaling, Naruto turned to face Kakashi. The expression Kakashi saw in Naruto's eyes was not the same the boy usually exuded. This look showed an entirely different person Kakashi was not familiar with.
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