I finally finished this after announcing it in Naruto: Nine and Seven so long ago, sorry for those who were waiting. The Rinnegan is my favorite bloodline for Naruto to have. I'll do my best not to make him overpowered.

Right now, I haven't decided on the pairing. I'm thinking of having Naruto x Fu, Younger! Yugito, Temari or Kurotsuchi, at most two if them. I'm leaning towards Fu and Yugito. Please give me your opinions and suggestions on the pairing.

Keep in mind Naruto: Nine and Seven takes priority over this story, so updates will likely be sparse.

On a side note, I'm thinking about having Temari awaken her father's bloodline if she's in the pairing. I'd like to know your opinions on this. If that does happen, it wouldn't be until late in part 2.

Thanks to ShadowStar91 for beta reading.

I don't own Naruto.

Naruto looked up from his place on the ground in disbelief at the sight before him. Sasuke, his teammate and rival… for whom he shared a mutual hatred was riddled with senbon needles, they covered his arms, legs, and torso and five were lodged in his neck. The Uchiha coughed up blood as the life giving fluid flowed from all his wounds. Sasuke felt his body getting colder… weaker… and both boys were absolutely certain he had no chance of survival.

"What's… with that look… loser?" Sasuke asked as he turned his head and looked down at the blond.

"Why?" 'You saved me.' Naruto said/thought as he ran through all the events of the day in his mind. How he had woken up that day in wave to find his team missing, how he saved Inari and his mother from those two thugs. Then when he arrived at the bridge he, even he had to admit this was stupid in retrospect, announced his presence and then entered the dome of ice mirrors Sasuke was fighting the imposter hunter-nin in. Maybe, if he had concealed himself or done something different, Sasuke wouldn't be…

Sasuke thought of all his interactions with Naruto before then. He was an annoying fool, deserving the title of dead last and it was irritating that the blond seemed to think of himself as his rival. But as annoying as he was, he had saved him, likely at the cost of his own life. He didn't know why, it was just instinct. 'Maybe…' he thought to himself, briefly remembering his family. 'It's because I didn't want to lose someone again…' Much as he hated to admit it, Naruto and Sakura were the closest things to friends he had.

"I hated you…" Sasuke said.

"Then… why… why did you save me?" Naruto asked. "I never asked for your help!" the blond yelled, refusing to accept that someone else gave their life for him.

"I don't know." Sasuke admitted. "My body just moved on it's own… idiot."

A moment later, the black haired boy was unable to stand anymore and fell backwards. Naruto caught him and Sasuke began to say what he believed would be his last words.

"That man… my brother… I told myself I wouldn't die until I killed him." Sasuke told the blond, shocking him. "Don't let yourself die too…" the boy's eyes closed and he became still. Naruto's eyes widened and tears began to flow from his eyes.

"He landed a blow on me without flinching… and died protecting you…" Haku said as he got himself off the ground. "To protect a precious person, knowing it was a trap, he was still able to jump in… he is a shinobi that deserves respect." he said on one knee. "Is this the first time you saw a friend die?" he asked, now standing. "This is the way of the shinobi." he said as he entered a nearby mirror.

"Shut up…" Naruto said quietly. 'Sasuke… I hated you too… and yet.' Naruto thought as he felt a stinging sensation in his eyes, far more intense than what would normally accompany tears. 'I won't forgive you!' These were his last thoughts before his mind blanked out.

A few moments later Naruto gently laid the seemingly dead genin on the ground, his eyes hidden by shadows. He stood up and remained stationary, displaying no visible emotion.

Haku's eyes narrowed behind his mask. The boy's demeanor had changed entirely.

"What's wrong? Have you given up?" Haku asked hoping Naruto would give up. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped behind his mask when the boy raised his head and glared, revealing his eyes. His once blue eyes had turned entirely purple, marked with concentric rings centered on his pupil like ripples in a pond. 'Wha-… what? A dojutsu? But… I've never heard of one with this description… and as far as I know, Konoha only has the Sharingan and Byakugan.'

The now purple eyed blond stared at him, his face emotionless and his eyes deathly cold.

Kakashi and Zabuza continued their own battle. Despite his words that he believed in his students, which were largely true, the copy ninja couldn't deny that he was worried. The two were fresh out of the academy and while they both had a lot of raw talent, the imposter hunter ninja had obviously received training for many years from a ninja of the same caliber as him and he knew little of the boy's bloodline. Even if Sasuke awakened his own bloodline, it would be at its lowest level and at best allow him to follow his opponent's movements.

These thoughts in mind, he decided it was time to put his plan into action. He quickly pulled out a scroll, flipped it into the air, ran one of his thumbs across a wound on his chest and in one fluid motion, unrolled the scroll and ran his bloody thumb across it. "Zabuza… can you hear me? Neither of us has time to waste." Kakashi said as he whipped the scroll around him. "This might not suit your style, but let's end the fun…" The Sharingan wielder threw the scroll into the air, caught it and made hand sign. "And finish this now!"

"Hmph, Sounds interesting… show me what you can do, Kakashi!" Zabuza said, his voice echoing from every direction in the mist.

Meanwhile in the dome of ice mirrors, the now purple eyed boy glared at Haku.

"You've become cold and focused… you have the look of a true shinobi in your eyes." Haku said, he waited but received no response. "Are you going to try to avenge him? I do not wish to harm you anymore." Again, he received no response. He raised his defenses when he saw the boy tense.

'Here he comes.' Haku thought, his eyes narrowed as the boy charged forward, moving with greater speed than before. Haku leapt from the mirror, moving at speeds invisible to the naked eye and throwing his several needles as he moved forward. He was shocked when the blond vanished from sight, the needles flying harmlessly through the air where he had been a moment before.

Suddenly, his eyes bulged as he found the wind knocked out of him. Naruto, his face still displaying no emotion, punched Haku in the stomach, sending the androgynous teen flying through the air. He landed on in a crouch and promptly jumped out of the way when the blond appeared above him and attempted to grab him by the head.

'What is this?' Haku thought in shock. 'He's entirely different from before!' Haku held placed his arms in a cross formation, senbon appearing between his fingers and began rapidly throwing a hail of the needles at the blond.

Naruto simply held out his left hand, his palm facing the teen. Haku's eyes widened once more when he saw the needles hit some form of invisible barrier, bouncing off of it and clattering on the ground. 'A barrier? What kind of jutsu is this? What is this boy?'

Haku jumped back, making sure not to take his eyes off the blond as he attempted to reach one of the mirrors. Suddenly, he found himself being pulled on by an irresistible force and propelled through the air towards the blond, barely able to move. 'Impossible!'

The blond pulled back his right hand, balled it into a fist and punched Haku in the face as he approached, the force of the impact creating a deep crack in the mask. He was sent flying into the air, cracking one of his mirrors upon collision. Before he could fall to the ground, another invisible wave of power slammed into him, sending him flying through the mirror and the air before bouncing off the ground and skidding to a stop, the crack in his mask growing larger by the moment. As he began to stand, the dome of ice mirrors shattered, falling to the ground in countless pieces. He looked up to see the blond, who stood unmoving in the center of the rain of shards.

'Zabuza…' He thought as his mask began to fall apart. The blond suddenly charged forward to end it. 'I cannot defeat this boy… I am…'

As Naruto reached the teen, he reached out to grab him by the face when he stopped, his clawed hand mere inches from the boy's face. Looking at the blonde's eyes, he saw him blink, emotion returning to his expression in the form of surprise.

"You… you're the guy from…" Naruto said as he snapped out of whatever trance he had entered. Everything that had just happened had been a blur to the boy. The boy noticed how his view of the world had changed. Though he could still recognize the older boy he'd met in the forest, he now saw the world as black with white outlines and he could see the chakra coursing through his body.

"Why did you stop?" Haku asked. "I killed one of your precious friends, why can't you kill me?"

Naruto looked back at Sasuke's unmoving form, the chakra filled mist obscuring the boy, before finishing his motion and punching Haku, though his strength had returned to normal and it merely knocked his back to the ground. Haku coughed up blood as he raised himself up on his arms and began to get up again. "What happened to that power? You can't kill me like that." he said as he wiped away the blood on his mouth. "To show mercy to those who stand against your master is a betrayal to your life's purpose. What use are you to anyone then? Your life has no meaning. "

"Well, speak for yourself." Naruto said.

"I am speaking of myself. I am no longer of any use of Zabuza." Haku said.

"Why would you devote your life to someone like that? Someone who works for scum like Gato has no honor!" Naruto shouted, unable to understand why Haku would give his life for someone like Zabuza.

"There were once others who mattered to me. My father and my mother." Haku began. "I was born in the Land of Water, in a small village heavy with snow. My parents were farmers and very poor, our life was hard but we were happy, but then everything changed. Because of something that happened long before I was even born."

"What do you mean? What happened?" Naruto asked.

"It is in the blood."

"Blood?"

"My father killed my mother and almost killed me." Haku said to Naruto's shock. "After years of suffering civil wars, the people of my land came to fear and hate anyone who carried a Kekkei Genkai."

"Kekkei Genkai?"

"It's special powers or jutsu passed on through certain clans, passed down from generation to generation. The clans were exploited for all sorts of battles because of their powers and were much feared. Once the wars were over, it was feared their presence would only bring more war. So after the wars were over, they hid their abilities, knowing that discovery would mean death. If you were to search the memories of that boy or your clan, you would probably find this to."

"My clan?" Naruto asked.

"Have you noticed a change in your vision? You seem to have a dojutsu, like that boy's." Haku said and Naruto's purple eyes widened, now understanding the change in his sight. Haku then went on to explain how his mother had hidden her bloodline and married a farmer, but because of him they were discovered. His father then killed his mother, before he instinctually defended himself, killing his father and those who were helping him in the process. How he had lost his purpose and that no one wanted his. That Zabuza was the first to acknowledge him.

"I'm no longer useful as a tool to Zabuza. Naruto… I want you… to kill me."

Kakashi made hand signs and slammed the scroll he was holding into the ground.

"Ninja Art: Summoning! Earth Style: Fanged Pursuit Jutsu!" Kakashi called out and the kanji in the scroll took on a life of its own and traveled into the ground.

"Hmph, whatever you do, it's useless. You can't find me, but I can find you." Zabuza said with his eyes closed. "Kakashi, you are completely in my hands." Zabuza said before a rumbling sound caught his attention. Suddenly a dog ripped itself out of the ground and bit at his left foot which he lifted out of the way, but another came up and bit into his right foot. Suddenly, all of Kakashi's remaining ninja hounds erupt from the ground and bit into him, completely immobilizing him.

"I realized if I couldn't see you, I'd have to smell you. My ninja hounds can follow a scent anywhere. I let you through my guard. I wanted you to cut me so the scent of my blood could lead them to you. Ah, the mist is clearing. Know what I see? Your death."

"Do you intend to talk me to death?" Zabuza growled.

"In a way, yes. With a single command, my ninja hounds will tear you apart. See where your ambitions got you? After your assassination of the Mizukage and coup failed, you were forced to flee with your remaining followers and became a missing-nin. You needed money to strike back and hide from the hunter-nin, that's why you're working for Gato." Kakashi said, "Alright Zabuza, now, I'll show you my own jutsu." Kakashi made three hand signs, held up his right hand and grabbed his wrist. Lightning and chakra gathered in his palm. "Raikiri!"

'His chakra's so strong it's visible!' Zabuza thought in awe of the jutsu.

"I won't let you kill Tazuna. He is the symbol of courage in this land. This bridge is the hope of this land. You're ambitions will sacrifice countless lives. That isn't the way of the shinobi."

"Who cares? These useless people and their petty dreams. I have dreams of my own."

"But to have a dream you need to have a future, and yours is all used up."

Haku stood before Naruto, waiting for the boy to deliver the final blow.

"Go on; kill me, why do you hesitate." Haku said, his voice devoid of emotion.

Naruto shook his head in frustration, clenching his fists as he tried to comprehend why Haku wanted this. "How can you care about someone who uses you like a tool?"

"Because he gave me a purpose and a reason to live. Naruto, for both of our sakes, do it."

"… there's no other way?"

"No." Haku said with a smile.

Reluctantly, Naruto drew a kunai. He paused for a moment, thinking about what he was about to do. "I feel like… if we had met differently… we could have been friends." Naruto said as he closed his eyes before he drew a kunai and charged forward.

At that moment, Kakashi charged at Zabuza, intent on ending it. Haku sensed his master was in danger.

Naruto had almost reached Haku when he reached up to and caught Naruto's hand. The blond had seen the move but wasn't fast enough to react. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he struggled to move his hand.

"Forgive me, Naruto." Haku said before looking to Zabuza and Kakashi's battle. Naruto caught this and followed his gaze, his eyes widened when he saw through the thinning mist Kakashi and Zabuza, his eyes showing him their chakra too. He saw Kakashi charging towards Zabuza holding a mass of chakra in his hand, intent on impaling him. "I can't die yet." Haku said before disappearing in a body flicker.

Naruto's new eyes allowed him to follow Haku's movements somewhat and see the other's chakra in the mist. He saw Haku appear between Kakashi and Zabuza, intent on taking the blow for his master. What Naruto didn't see was Haku throwing senbon at Kakashi's summon scroll, which lay where he left it. As he ran towards them, something clicked inside Naruto. On instinct, he held out his hand just as Kakashi was about to reach Zabuza and Haku.

"Stop!" Naruto yelled and with that, a wave of pure gravity, not that those there knew what it was, all they could tell was that it was an unstoppable force, was unleashed at the battle. Kakashi, Zabuza and Haku were all knocked off their feet and driven into the bridge hard enough to crack the stone, Kakashi's attack disrupted by the force and his hounds dispelled as they flew through the air as Haku had pierced the summon scroll with his senbon. Naruto's eyes widened, wondering if he had done that and if so, how.

"Uh… what the hell?" Zabuza asked as he began to get up. He looked up and saw Haku before him, picking himself off of the ground. The masked ninja's eyes widened as he realized the boy almost sacrificed himself for him before he shook himself out of it.

"Well, well, look at what we have here." A voice rang out from behind Tazuna and Sakura. The ninja and Tazuna turned to see a diminutive figure in the fading mist. Their eyes widen as the mist clears enough to see that the figure is in fact Gato, and behind him stood a massive hoard of thugs, all wielding weapons. "I pay for a top quality ninja, and he gets laid out like this? You're a real disappointment, Zabuza." Zabuza's eyes narrowed as he glared at his employer.

"What is the meaning of this Gato? And who are these thugs."

"Well, I just had a change of plans. New plan, you die right here. "

"What?" Zabuza asked and Haku's eyes narrowed.

"You're too expensive, so I decided to take you off the payroll, of course, even these guys cost something, so do me a favor and kill some of them. Think you can handle that, demon ninja of the mist? Look at you; you look about as demonic as a wet kitten." The thugs behind him began to laugh with cruel smirks on their faces, unaware they were basically about to commit suicide by ninja.

"Well, Kakashi, it would seem our fight is at an end." Zabuza said.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Kakashi replied in a crouch. He noticed Naruto's eyes but said nothing. At first, he thought they may have been an affect of the Kyuubi's chakra, but he quickly dismissed that thought. He decided it would be best to talk about that later.

"Naruto." Sakura said as she and Tazuna wisely decided to run to the other side of the pair of jonin now that Gato and his thugs were over there. "Where's Sasuke?"

"… Sakura." Naruto began sadly.

"He's fine." Haku said, getting their attention. "In order to remove him from the battle, I placed him in a death like state as I did for Zabuza earlier. He'll wake up in a few minutes."

"What?" Naruto asked as all the leaf ninja and Tazuna's eyes widened. "Why didn't you tell me? You let me think he was dead."

"I wanted you to kill me after I lost. Had I told you, you wouldn't have done as I asked." Haku replied.

"Hmph… you're still too kind hearted Haku, I've told you countless times you should always finish off your opponents… though I suppose that for once it's paid off…" Zabuza said.

"Enough of this. Take them down." Gato said as Sakura ran to the immobile Sasuke. She held back tears upon seeing Sasuke's condition, remembering Haku's words but still worrying about the Uchiha.

With Gato's command, the thugs charged. What followed was not even worthy of being called a battle. Naruto created five shadow clones, much to the thugs shock. Though that fear was quickly relieved when the clones began to act confused, as if they couldn't get their bearings and soon, they dispelled, leaving a slightly dazed Naruto. The confidence this spectacle gave them didn't last long as, seconds later, an image of a demon appeared behind Zabuza. Naruto, Kakashi, Zabuza and Haku sped forward to meet them. The thug weren't even skilled enough to compete with Naruto, especially with his eyes enhancing his performance. His eyes not only saw in greater detail, they also easily followed their movements, though they couldn't predict or memorize them like the Sharingan. Still, this allowed him to read their movements and the thugs' skill couldn't compare to that of a ninja, even a fairly poor one like Naruto was now. He knocked out his opponents while the others simply killed them. Haku may have had a problem killing some kids, but not thugs like these. Soon, the remaining mercenaries were abandoning their employer and Gato was cornered by the famed demon ninja.

"Wa- wait a minute!" The tyrant said fearfully.

"What was it you said? I look as demonic as a wet kitten?" Zabuza growled as he approached the man. The midget backed way, holding his hands in front of his body in a vain effort to protect himself, his eyes wide with terror. He briefly looked backwards when he felt the back of his foot touch the air and saw it was halfway off the bridge. There was no where left to run.

"Ha- hang on. Let's be reasonable. I underestimated you, you're more than worth your payment, i-in fact, I'll pay you triple! I'll give you anything you want just name it, please don't kill me!" said Gato as he continued to beg for his life.

"No deal, Gato. I should have guessed you'd pull something like this. Look at you, even now, you refuse to die with dignity. Begging for your life like the coward you are." Zabuza sneered as Gato whimpered, cowering in fear from the demon of the mist. "See you in hell!" Zabuza swung his sword and cut the midget's head off.

'Hn… what… did I die…?' Sasuke asked himself before he heard Sakura calling his name. 'Wait… Sakura? Am I…?' Sasuke's eyes slowly opened and Sakura looked into his eyes, her own widening as she saw him look at her. "Sakura?"

"…" tears welled up in Sakura's eyes, even after Haku told them he was just in a death like state, when she saw him, she had feared he was truly dead. Sakura wrapped her arms around the boy and cried in joy.

"Sakura… that hurts…" Sasuke said.

"So-sorry." Sakura said as she got up and composed herself.

"What about Naruto… and that masked kid?" Sasuke asked as tried to stand.

"Don't move, you're not fully recovered yet. Anyway, don't worry. He switched sides… so did Zabuza." Sakura said, trying to put him at ease.

Sasuke turned to her with a quizzical expression. "What?" He asked in confusion.

"Apparently, Gato decided they cost too much and hired a bunch of thugs to take us all out." Tazuna said. "Bastard learned the hard way street thugs don't match up to ninja."

Sasuke's brow furrowed as he processed this information. "… Did Naruto… defeat the masked guy?"

"I don't know… I couldn't see through the mist and there's a lot I don't know, but… there's something up with his eyes. I think he has a dojutsu like your clan's, Sasuke."

"What? Naruto has…"

"Hey, guys look!" Sakura called out. "Sasuke's up!" Kakashi, Haku, Zabuza and Naruto turned to them. Sasuke was surprised when he saw Naruto's eyes. For some reason, he found them vaguely familiar, but couldn't place where he had seen or heard of them before.

"Hey guys!" a voice called out. They all turned to see Inari standing there with all the villagers.

"This is…" Tazuna began in shock. Pride welling up inside him at seeing his entire village had been inspired to stand up to Gato.

"Sorry, looks like we were a little late." Inari said.

"Don't worry about it, it was nothing we couldn't handle." Naruto replied.

"What shall we do now, Zabuza?" Haku asked his master.

Zabuza crossed his arms, considering his options. He had known it was a mistake to trust Gato, but they'd needed the money. "… I suppose we need to find a new employer…"

"The two of you are welcome to stay at our place for a few days." Tazuna said.

"After we tried to kill you?" Zabuza raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"Well, you seem pretty down on you luck… and you did take out Gato." Tazuna replied.

"Well… since I'm not really in a condition to go anywhere tonight, I suppose we'll take you up on that. Don't regret this later."

"Naruto." Kakashi said, getting his student's attention. They were too far away from their teammates for them to hear what they were saying. "What exactly happened in that dome?" Naruto explained what had happened during the fight with Haku. "So, you just blacked out and when you came too, Haku had already been beaten and had given up?"

"Yeah, everything between when it looked like Sasuke died and Haku's mask breaking was a blur." Naruto said, his brow furrowed as he tried to recall what had happened.

"I see…" Kakashi said. 'He fought and defeated Haku without being conscious, fighting purely on instinct… was it the Kyuubi? …No… We all would have felt its chakra and its power wouldn't have simply receded like this. The only other explanation would be that he was overcome by the genetic memory of this bloodline he's unlocked. But, I've never heard of such a thing happening before, or at least not in the Uchiha or Hyuuga clans. And where did it come from? Neither sensei nor Kushina had a dojutsu… or a bloodline for that matter, unless you count the Uzumaki's longevity…'

"Do you know what they are, Kakashi-sensei? What do they look like, anyway?"

"They're purple with four rings centered on your pupil. And no, I don't recognize this dojutsu."

"Seriously? That sounds pretty freaky, though I guess it's cooler than those Sharingan eyes." Naruto grinned. "Though it does make everything look kind of weird. I'm seeing everything as black with white outlines, and I think I can see your chakra. Does the Sharingan make everything look like this, sensei?" he said, looking around before raising his hand and staring at it.

"No, though I can see traces of chakra. Naruto… you should know dojutsu are coveted by the villages… it would be bad if word got out about those eyes."

"What's to worry about? I'm sure we can handle it." Naruto said confidently.

"Yes, well, just in case, deactivate those eyes for now. I'd like to keep this under wraps."

Naruto looked at the copy ninja curiously. "Ok… how do I do that?"

"You should be channeling chakra into your eyes to keep them activated."

"Really? Doesn't feel like I'm using any chakra."

"Try to cut the flow of chakra to you eyes anyway, just humor me." Naruto closed his eyes and tried to do as he was told. He closed his eyes and focused on cutting the flow of chakra to his eyes. When he opened them, he saw his vision was back to normal. He looked at his hands, seeing them in normal color and without chakra once more before speaking.

"Alright, back to normal." The blond said with a grin.

Kakashi deadpanned at him. "Actually, they still look the same."

"What? Really? But everything looks normal again." Naruto asked in shock. Kakashi sighed.

With a sigh, the Sharingan wielder stated. "I get the feeling that's the best we're going to get." He then turned and began walking towards the others, gesturing for the blond to follow. "Come on, we'll have to figure out something later."

After the celebrations were over, the shinobi all stayed at Tazuna's house. Zabuza was standing outside the building, looking up at the sky deep in thought. This wasn't the first time they had been double crossed by an employer, though they did build a reputation of killing everyone who did so, that didn't stop some arrogant power hungry fools like Gato from thinking they could pull it off. Truth was, his ambitions had long since become impossible, and he knew it.

"Hey, you." He turned to see the now purple eyed blond walking out of the house giving him a hard look, though it was hard to tell with the sunglasses he was wearing. After trying to turn off the dojutsu for a while longer, Kakashi eventually gave up and decided that either Naruto had too much chakra and not enough control, or they were like the Byakugan and their presence would be obvious even when inactive. After this, Kakashi got him the sunglasses to hide his new eyes.

"Huh? What do you want kid?"

"Do you care about Haku at all?" Naruto asked angrily.

"Hmph, is that what's been bothering you all day? Kid, you're naïve, that's how the ninja world works. Haku's nothing but a tool to me."

"You say that even after he was ready to give his life for you?" Naruto almost yelled. "After he lost, he asked me to kill him… all because he thought his loss meant he was of no further use to you… he respects and cares about you that much and you don't care at all?"

"…"

"… I can't stand the thought that someone as kind and loyal as Haku… would give his life for someone who wouldn't care about it…"

"… Kid… stop talking." Naruto glared until he noticed the look in his eyes. "… We shinobi are still human. It's not easy to become an emotionless tool. It may be impossible." The masked nin said. "Go back inside, I'm done talking."

The next morning, it was the day they would set out. They were all eating breakfast at a table, except for Zabuza, who was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. Sasuke seemed to occasionally glare at Naruto, but hadn't said anything. The Uchiha was intrigued by Naruto's dojutsu, but was also slightly upset about the outcome of the fight. He could still hardly believe that Naruto, the class clown, had managed to defeat an opponent that he couldn't, even if it was due to the blond's bloodline. Naruto noticed Sasuke's glare and seemed annoyed but also didn't comment. Sakura was alternating between acting normal and swooning over Sasuke as usual, while Zabuza and Haku stayed silent.

"Hey, Zabuza?" Naruto spoke up.

"What is it?" The missing ninja asked, glancing at the blond.

"Why'd you betray your village anyway? Were you really just that greedy, or was it something else?"

"… If you must know, I was trying to save my country." Zabuza said with a glare. He decided to indulge the brat due to the epiphany he helped him to the other night, but he really didn't like talking about this subject.

"You tried to save your village by taking it over… that seems like twisted logic, Zabuza." Kakashi replied, not believing it.

"Have you ever heard of the bloodline purges, Kakashi?" This caused his eye to widen in realization while Sasuke's and Sakura's widened in shock. Naruto had heard of this already from Haku.

"Wait, bloodline purges? What's he talking about Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi paused a moment before answering. "… Kiri has a long history of civil wars… because of the power they possess, those who hold Kekkei Genkai like Haku's ice techniques, the Sharingan or Naruto's dojutsu were used as living weapons… to a far greater degree than other ninja, to destroy their enemies and inspire fear. The previous Mizukage, and many of the people of the Land of Water, came to see them as demons that brought war and suffering to them. After the wars were over, in an effort to prevent further tragedies, they slaughtered all those known to hold bloodlines." Kakashi explained and all eyes, aside of course from those who already knew of this, widened in shock.

"… My father… murdered my mother… and tried to kill me because he discovered we held a Kekkei Genkai." Haku said, shocking them further, especially Sasuke. He had always been told being an Uchiha, having the Sharingan in his blood, made him special… to hear now that it would have demonized him in another country was an almost terrifying thought to the young Uchiha.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Kakashi said.

"It is fine; you had nothing to do with it."

"That's awful… does that kind of thing happen often in the ninja world?" Tsunami asked.

"No… but assassinations and kidnappings of those who hold Kekkei Genkai are common. They're powerful assets and dangerous enemies." Kakashi said. "I trust you'll keep quiet about Naruto's dojutsu?" The civilians nodded.

"Hm… I wanted to stop the Fourth Mizukage's madness… anyway, that doesn't matter now. There was a rebellion and they won. There's a new Mizukage and I hear whoever it is even has a Kekkei Genkai themselves." Zabuza said. "Of course, I can't go back now. We were working with Gato to get the money to survive, not to try to take over the village again."

"Why don't you join another village?" Kakashi asked.

"What village would take in someone who tried to kill their Kage?"

"I could put in a good word for you with the old man." Naruto said.

"Old man?" Haku asked.

"He has a kind of bond with the Hokage… kind of like a grandson to him from what I've seen…" Kakashi said.

"… Are you kidding me? This kid?" Zabuza asked skeptically.

"I'm serious… he's also wise and tries to avoid bloodshed whenever possible. Also, Konoha's feelings on Kekkei Genkai are pretty much opposite Kiri's…" Kakashi replied.

"… Haku… what do you think?" Zabuza said

"… I'd like to believe it… but…"

"… Fine… at this point, we don't really have much to lose." Zabuza finally said.

Kakashi sighed. "… I know I'm going to hear about this later…"

There's chapter one, hope you liked it.