The snow was falling heavily, the pure whiteness of the snow was consuming the village hidden in the mist. The shops were closing early, due to the heavy snow fall and shop owners just wanting to be home already. You would expect there to be silence, since the moon was already high up in the sky and the stars were twinkling through it all. In a dirty alley way, where not even the poorest would strive to be, lied a boy with grayish skin and blood dripping down his face. The rags he would call clothes were already soaked with slush, from the snow, mud and blood from his own wounds.
But despite him being a little boy at the age of nine, and the only clothes he had for warmth. He was being beaten and treated like a criminal.
"You dirty--!" The man kicked the boy repeadtly, trying to pry the boy's arms apart as well. "Give back what you stole from me!" The fat man squealed, as if he was pig, demanding something that he already had. The boy just hugged the item closer and let out a snarl, as if he was a rapid animal. Finally, the man stopped and and growled. Stomping upon the boy's face before leaving the area.
"Keep the damn thing." The man spat out as he waddled down the alley way. "You'll be dead soon and no one will miss you. No one misses worthless animals either way--" As the man spoke those words, he turned around and a fist smashed against his face. It caused a great impact that it knocked the man down as well as the boy. The boy was boiling with rage, his teeth were grit together as he was seething with anger.
"An animal?" He growled out and let out a small chuckle. He traced his tongue against the sharp, shark like teeth that he had. "I'll show you an animal." The boy chomped on to the man's arm, threatening to rip a piece off. He kept tearing, and tearing, and the man just kept screaming and screaming. Until the anbu has came and took the young boy off the now bleeding man. The boy spat out the piece of meat, muscles and blood that he tore out of the bakery shop man.
"I-I want that boy thrown in jail!" The man demanded, holding on to his now missing chunk of his arm. "A Demon like him should just be executed! No one needs him, he-"
"Now, now." The man who grabbed the young boy placed him behind him. "You don't have to be so harsh Mr. Tanaki. He's just a boy who's hungry after all." The man shrugged, smiling.
"I don't give a damn if he's a kid, hes a brat! That's why his mother died giving birth to him! She couldn't bare to look at the son of her rapist--" The man stopped his outburst when the young Anbu caught his tongue.
"Now, now. Tanaki. You better bite your tongue." He said, beginning to pull it out. He placed his mask up, placing it upon his head and smiled. But this smile was courrpted and evil, it was nothing like before. He grabbed a kunai and allowed it to dance around his finger tips, before grabbing it and holding on to it with a tighten grip. "Or I'll cut it off for ya." The young Anbu taunted before shoving the man back into the cold snow. The man suddenly glared and reached out to the loaf of bread that the young boy has stolen from him.
"Ah, ah, ah." The young Anbu said, moving his finger back and forth as if it was a clock stuck between only two numbers. "For bringing up his poor mother and harassing this poor boy. Give one loaf of bread to Zabuza." The Anbu said, but it was more of a demand. The man made a worried yet angered look, he grumbled and willingly place one loaf on to 'Zabuza's' hands. He flinched his hand back, afraid of the young demon already.
"Can I leave now?" He grumbled before the Anbu shook his head and extended his arm out as well.
"Well. Since you wasted our break time, we'll like to take that piece of loaf off your hands." He smiled gently as he snatched the bread away from the man. "And also--" He extended his hand and made a grabbing motion, clenching and unclenching his fingers. "A payment for your freedom." The Anbu's face darken while his smirked turned into an ear to ear smile. The baker's breath hitched, his breathing was becoming uneven, his heart was beating out of his chest. He felt like there was a monster, choking him to death. Their arms were slowly squeezing the life out of him and won't stop until he gave it up.
Because that's what happened. Corruption, greed, hunger, selfishness, gluttony. All of these things controlled and strived the ninja's of the Hidden Mist. They might tell you something different, but these are all true fact about the world Zabuza grew up in. The bakery man handed his money and quickly ran off to his store. What was left of him was just his foot prints, his bread, the blood dripping off of Zabuza's chin and the piece of flesh that was now being buried by the snow.
"Senji. I didn't need your help." Zabuza growled, gripping on to the piece of bread and crushing it underneath his finger tips. The Anbu shrugged, seemed like his name was Senji.
"Look like it to me, kid. You know what will happen if another Anbu or even a sensei caught you doing something like this." Senji breathed out, clearly annoyed and irritated. Zabuza didn't replied as he flopped himself against a cold cement step. He didn't bother to wipe of the step, since it was just going to be cold like ice anyhow.
"Yeah, yeah. You tell me this everytime. And frankly I don't care." Zabuza stated, wiping off the blood from his mouth and chin. The growled and huffed when he heard Senji chuckle.
"You really are a strong willed person Zabuza. Why not join the academy and become an Anbu like me?" Zabuza scoffed at the answer.
"Me? A ninja or an Anbu?" Zabuza chuckled as he got up, leaving Senji to sit alone. "As if I want to stoop that low. I want to be a mercenary." Senji smiled softly.
"And what's so bad about being a ninja?" He asked, tilting his head.
"What's bad about being a ninja?" Zabuza chuckled and turned towards him. "It's either you're an obedient dog for the village, or you're just a rapid, power craze dog who's talks big but wouldn't dare to do a thing." Zabuza said simply, throwing the loaf of bread behind him as he headed out of the alley way. Leaving his foot prints burn into the snow. Senji smiled creepily.
"And what would you like to do?" He asked, letting out a hot and heavy breath.
"I'll be a mercenary. I'll work for myself and only me and when I become stronger, I'll kill everyone who stands against me. And i don't need your charity Senji." He murmured, burning his foot steps in the snow as he walked away. Senji chuckled evily, watching the boy walk away.
Heading home, Zabuza was still starving for food. Maybe the young shark shouldn't have thrown the loaf somewhere else. His stomach felt like it was going to collapse at anytime. Clenching his stomach in pain, and feeling the stink of the snow smack him across the face with a sudden gust of wind, he looked forward and noticed a full garbage bin, full of random, broken object. But what lied on top was a loaf of bread, half eaten away and molded. Zabuza stared at the bread piece, his stomach tighten more and growled for the boy to reach out and devour the loaf of bread already. Without paying any mind Zabuza devoured the piece of bread, he ate and ate without realizing that he began to rip and chew on the flesh of his own hands. But the thing that did stop him was a whack on the head with something metal. Zabuza stopped consuming himself and only turned his eyes to see what caused him to stumble forward a bit.
"Hey demon! Remember me?!" A pudgie boy stood there with a group of boys and girls surrounding him. Zabuza growled at them before letting out his voice.
"No. So fuck off." Zabuza answered, looking back towards his bloody hands as he growled and threw his hands to his side and began to leave. Unfortunately, the group surrounded around Zabuza, each one of them holding a stick of some sort.
"You thought you could get away that easily?!" The ring leader growled, swinging at the back of Zabuza's knee. This swing cause Zabuza to lose his balance for a bit and bend his knees.
"Ew look! He killed something and ate it!" One of the girls cried, hiding behind a young man, who was probably half way through the ninja academy. The group began to whisper as Zabuza turned around to show his own blood stain against his mouth and teeth. The ring leader flinched back a bit. Seeing Zabuza like this terrified him, and he started to doubt that he was gonna be able to beat Zabuza, even with the odds in his favor.
Zabuza noticed this, and smirked as he launched himself forward, tackling the ringleader down into the snow and began to punch him repeatedly in the face. The ringleader tried his best to push Zabuza off, but the demon refused to get off his prey and started to try to bite him. But with a good whack on the back of the head by three others, the ringleader was able to push Zabuza off, who was now holding his bloodied and wounded head. He growled and snarled like a wild animals as he watched them come after him at once.
He bit, kicked, and threw every punch he had in his body. He took beating of metal rods, wooden planks, even punches back from multiple foes but refused to let them trample over him. Soon enough, some of them started to retreat, scared of what the known demon could do, since they witness a beating from him in the past. What was left of the group was two girls, one who was timid from before, another one who did not hold a weapon against Zabuza and three boys. One was the ringleader who was stumbling around, after Zabuza slammed his head against the hard ice a couple of times, twice on purpose and the rest by accident for that fact that he ran him over. The other two was from the ninja academy, tired and sluggish from Zabuza punching their faces in, as well as the ringleader, and he ripped off some of their arm flesh.
Zabuza stood there, his back hunched a bit, his panting was increasing from fighting most of them off. His knees quivered from all the beatings they took, his head drenched in his own blood, as it kept pouring out.
"W-What a monster!" The timid girl screeched. The other girl sighed heavily and looked at Zabuza for a couple of more seconds before dragging the timid girl away from the scene.
"Marco! We should head home soon, the weather is becoming terrible and we'll miss our alarms for the academy." One of the grown teenagers said, not wanting to admit that they were terrfied of Zabuza. The other man nodded as they headed off. But they weren't lying about the weather. The snow was coming down quickly and the wind was so strong it sounded like a pack of wolves howling to each other, to get ready to pounce and devour their prey they've been hunting.
"C-Crowds!" The ring leader screeched, holding on to the metal pipe tightly. He knew if he would've let the pipe go, he would've had no chance on fighting Zabuza himself. He was too focused on the four people who ran off, that he didn't noticed that he lost sight of Zabuza in the heavy snow storm. When he did noticed, he felt his blood run cold, he nervously spun around to every creek he heard, every crunch of the snow, but all he really could hear was the wind's howl, and he didn't hear Zabuza's mumble,
"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu." (Water clone technique). The snow blew on, becoming louder and heavier with each pasting breath. The ring leader turned around quickly to be face with Zabuza who bit his arm, trying to rip a peace of flesh out. The ring leader screeched in pain, in his mind he was hoping that someone would hear him and come to his aid. But no one did, the lights around were off, and he was now left to Zabuza's mercy. He grabbed the pipe with his left arm and swung down on to Zabuza's head, destroying the clone and causing it to fade away. The boy gulped and looked around nervously, another Zabuza came out, snarling as it tore at his ankle before being cracked against the side with the pipe and also disappearing. Two flesh wounds were on the child who believed he was able to be the child he hated. But he knew his fate was sealed, because when he looked around him, all he could see were blood red eyes, like a demon of some sort, peering from the heavy fog of the snow, completely surronding him, snarling and growling like wild animals that not even the charka mother herself could not tame without killing them.
The boy's vision became blurry as he felt a warm liquid run down his pants, his legs were shaking together, buckled tightly to try to keep their warmth in. He shook violently, afraid of either freezing to death or being completely devoured by a demon. But he rather be frozen solid then be ripped apart. But lady Charka was not on her side as the real Zabuza finally appeared in front of the boy. The other Zabuzas closing in as well around him.
"Get away!" The boy screamed, swinging his metal pipe randomly laughing and crying hysterically. The pipe was caught by Zabuza and forcefully taken away by him. Zabuza shoved the boy on to the floor as he began to walk away.
"Let him have it boys." Zabuza commanded and the clones did as they were told and pounced on their prey, ripping him up to shreds.
Zabuza panted heavily, feeling the lack of blood in his body beginning to run out. Zabuza panted heavily, feeling himself starting to stumble and slip amongst the cold snow and ice. The slip knocked the wind out of Zabuza's chest as he panted heavily, feeling the snow began to bury his body within it's layers.
"..i-it's so cold..." Zabuza mumbled to himself, feeling his body being completely buried in his grave site. "... I hate this village." And with that said, Zabuza passed out with his blood splattered around him and the frost bite that was creepying on to him.