Zabuza's S.Adventures 8 (Patreon)

Still commissioned by Kejmur! So thank him, yall. 

-VB-

Zabuza’s S.Adventures
Chapter 8

-VB-

It was morning in Training Ground 15, one of the rarer barren plain training grounds.

“All three of you want to see the Chunin Exam Finals?” 

Zabuza’s new three genin nodded their heads rapidly. 

He hummed. It’s been a week since he took over their training, and they had all grown familiar, if not closer, with each other. And if they were asking permission to skip training, then he supposed that they had grown familiar enough to ask. 

Besides, he too was curious about the current Konoha’s chunin-hopeful roster. Who knows, maybe Kushina might throw some of them at him to get them up to speed on a few things before and after they make the promotion.

Or not. 

He did have his hand already full with the three genin in front of him.

“Sure.”

The two heirs cheered before they realized that the other had as well. They quickly turned sullen and pouty. Eri, on the other hand, just nodded with a small smile. 

“But that doesn’t mean we’re going to be slacking on training right now.”

That quickly brought down their jubilant mood into something more tangible: fear.

While he had the Kubikiribucho, he used regular shinai to train these brats. 

“Which means that we will be doing another defensive training. Hidden Mist Technique.” Seconds later, he was gone in the thick mist that covered the entire training ground. 

“Aw shit,” Eri muttered.

‘Aw shit is right,’ Zabuza thought darkly before he lashed out from behind Tsuyo, earning himself a scream from his unprepared genin when his shinai found the top of her head. One thwack later, he was back in the mist. 

Keito, the tallest of his genin and the most muscular of them all, tried in vain to clear the mist with his only Wind technique, Gale Palm. Wind erupted from his position, but his chakra-heavy mist stayed in place, easily resisting the genin’s attempt.

Eri, on the other hand, focused on the environment itself. She held kunais in her hands, and both of them were tied to the same thin wire. 

Zabuza intentionally stepped on a leaf to her left, two meters away. She lashed out instantly, holding onto one kunai while throwing the other out. He dodged it easily, of course, but he appreciated how she drew the kunai back by the string and held it up again, ready to react on the spot.

Tsuyo, on the other hand, recovered from his strike and was on her feet. She panicked a little. This kind of situation, Zabuza had learned, was Tsuyo’s worst encounter. She was a ninjustsu-focused genin just like Keito, but unlike the muscular boy, she was a water specialist.

And against Momoichi Zabuza himself, only S-rank water specialists stood a chance.

Despite this, she was a quick thinker-.

“Keito, Gale Palm to my left!” 

The boy looked uncertain about the command but did so anyway. 

Just as the whirlwind was about to pass by her, she went through four hand signs, starting with the tiger seal. “Fire Release: Flame Bullet!” And just as the flames completely left her immediate vicinity, the whirlwind caught it.

And in a cone of firestorm, blew away a whole section of his mist with its violent devastation.

“Run for it!” Tsuyo shouted.

As he said, she was smart.

But she forgot to tell them to watch their backs.

Three shunsins, three thwacks, and three thuds later, he stood victorious over the teenagers. 

“Now, what did you do wrong?” he asked when they stopped moaning in pain.

“... We didn’t cover our rears,” Eri grumbled as she sat up.

“No, you did not,” he snorted in reply. “Since I was using the Hidden Mist Technique, what could you have done to cover your back as you fled?”

“... Against you, nothing.”

“Assume your average Kiri-nin capable of the technique.”

“We don’t know.”

“Assume chunin.”

Keito spoke up with a grumble. “Probably lit a fire. Explosive. Something.”

“Yes, those would have worked to distract your enemy. Now, get up. You can’t stay down just because all of you got hit in the neck like that. It wasn’t even a strong one. So, up, the lot of you. None of you are going home until at least one of you hits m-”

Eri lashed out abruptly, her kunai flying straight towards him.

He batted it away casually. “Good! You’re thinking properly at least,” he praised Eri before lashing out himself. Keito, the closest of the three, jumped away on all his four limbs. He lashed out twice in quick strikes, and Tsuyo dodged. 

Eri, on the other hand, focused too much on drawing her weapon back to her that she didn’t notice the attack until it was too late. She took a hit to the sternum and rolled away like a ragdoll. She trembled as she got up, glaring at him. 

He just cackled. 

“That’s the spirit!”

And then he was after them again. By noon when they had lunch, he broke two shinais (he got weak ones on purpose). Even though his genins were bruised and bleeding, he kept up the training.

They still wouldn’t go home until it was dusk. 

At least he paid their hospital visit to have all of the surface wounds healed. 

(It was so he could push them to the limit again tomorrow.)

-VB-

“I’m home,” he said loudly as he entered his house. 

Haku popped her out of the kitchen, and smiled beatifically. “Welcome home, honey.”

“I’ll be right out after a bath. Have to scrub myself of all of the sweat and grime.”

“Hmm,” Haku replied as she went back into the kitchen. “Dinner won’t be ready for another half an hour, so take your time.”

“Thanks.”

Bath went by fast enough. He didn’t want to keep Haku waiting, so he just used cold water and soap to wash everything away. When he came out and walked into the kitchen, Haku had dinner waiting for them.

“Smells good,” he commented as he sat down. 

“You know I’m good at anything I put my mind to,” she replied with an easy smile.

He snorted. “You and your housewife role. You realize that you can do more than this, right?” It honestly irked him a little that Haku would satisfy herself with only being a housewife when she was clearly strong and smart enough to beat most Konoha chunin. 

“But it’s what I want.”

Ah well, it was what she wanted. He knew that there was a reason behind it. She’s said it once and didn’t like to repeat herself on that. 

“Because I never got to have a good childhood. I’d like that for our children.”

He didn’t think her desire to be stupid, merely at odds with reality of their world. 

Even in places like Konohagakure, orphans made up more than half of the underage population, which was defined by Konohgakure as being under sixteen years old. It was the unfortunate reality that being a ninja resulted in such an affair, although Zabuza didn’t mind; if Konohagaure’s orphan rate was high, then it was horrendous in other hidden villages, especially the smaller villages. 

Zabuza wanted to rest, so he wouldn’t be taking any ridiculous missions any time soon unless a war broke out. So he was safe. Haku wasn’t on the active roster of ninjas, so she would be safe.

So why did she worry so much? That’s what her desire appeared to him as: needless worry.

Dinner was wonderful. He would confess time and time again that a meal like this was one worth bleeding for. Everything was just heavenly compared to the on-the-run lifestyle and quick and dirty meals on the road. 

He wondered if this was one of the reasons why clans in the Warring Clans Era formed villages: to have somewhere where all of them could relax and enjoy a hot meal and safe place to sleep. 

That and not having to wander the lands to find a woman/man and hope that said person wasn’t a spy, sociopath, psychopath, or plain crazy. 

After dinner was over, he helped Haku with the dishes, and they turned in for the night. He had the energy, but he wasn’t in the mood for sex, not when Haku was starting to show the first signs of her pregnancy.

He wanted to cuddle her under the bedsheets in a warm bed in a safe place (not that he would admit it outloud).

He fell asleep spooning Haku and absentmindedly caressing her one-month pregnancy belly. 

-VB-

Zabuza glared at the piece of shit paper in front of him.

“Orochimaru is planning an attack?” he growled angrily as did others around him in this jounin meeting. 

Godaime Hokage Kushina, not the feisty and loud friend with benefit Kushina he’d come to know more, sat with the Jounin Commander Nara Shikaku and someone else at the head of the meeting room, looking mightily angered. 

“Yes. There have been attacks by him and his subordinates during the second portion of the Chunin Exam,” Kushina said coldly. “Because of this, many of you will be stationed within Konoha itself until the end of the Chunin Exam and a little bit afterwards. We suspect that they will try to attack when our guards are down or at the weakest, which we suspect would be during the tournament finals of the Chunin Exam.”

The Jounin Commander took over from there. “To that end, we will be increasing the number of guards of jounins while chunins will be sent out to complete missions. A-rank missions will still be handled by you jounins, but unless they are of critical nature as determined by us or related to the national security of Konohagakure or Land of Fire, we will put less emphasis on them.”

Zabuza grunted. He didn’t mind, because he still needed to -.

…

He frowned as he thought about the implication of Orochimaru attacking. The bastard was a cunning one, and one that didn’t take risks unless he had sufficient firepower or … reinforcement. 

He looked to Kushina, and she met his gaze with her eyes.  

She nodded.

So it was going to be serious.

… His “heir” brats will be in danger as well. He had, realistically, less than a month to train to survive whatever Orochimaru might throw at them.

Oi… That’s going to be a workout, even for him.

---

A/N: a bit of more words, a bit of plot, a bit of character interaction, but no smut/lemon this chapter.