Konoha's Wild Warriors
"Spoken"
'Thought'
"Summons/Demon speaking"
'Summon/Demon thought'
A/N: Hello everyone! This chapter we end the wave mission. Also I do plan on having Doku get over his fear of water from a very unlikely source. Well lets do this! HUH!
There was an air of finality over the dinner table that night. Team 7 and Tazuna's family all knew that tomorrow they would be fighting Zabuza and Haku. They were going over what would and could happen. Yoku was currently outlying the best plan.
"Right, as we know Zabuza will attack us tomorrow, most likely on the bridge," Yoku stated giving everyone a hard stare, " What will happen is the following, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, Naruto and myself will escort Tazuna and face off with Zabuza and his accomplice while Doku will defend Inari and Tsunami from any thugs that Gato may send so that he may have insurance against us," Yoku glanced at Doku and noticed the relief in his brother's eyes. The bridge may have been big but Doku was still scared of setting foot on the thing. "After the thugs have been beaten off I want Doku, Inari and Tsunami to gather a lynch mob so that we have some extra firepower to finally drive Gato and his thugs out of the town," Yoku gave Doku a hard stare, "Understand Doku?"
"Got it Yoku, I'll bring the mob to the bridge since you seem to believe that's where Gato will appear with his thugs," Doku said with a serious tone, though there was a hint of doubt in his eyes.
"How do you even know Gato and his goons will appear on the bridge?" Sasuke demanded. This was the part of the plan that had everyone confused. Yoku had told them that he was positive Gato would appear on the bridge with the majority of his hired goons.
Yoku sighed at this 'Can they really not see the reason?' he thought with some annoyance. "The reason that Gato will appear on the bridge with his goons is simple," Yoku said slowly "A man like Gato will more than likely try to eliminate the biggest threat in one fell swoop while simultaneously save himself from having to pay the expensive prices that a missing-nin charges," here Yoku paused to see that Sasuke still doubted him, "Gato is greedy and will more than likely try to kill Zabuza and his subordinate at the bridge when we will all be too tired from our previous fight to effectively defeat Gato and his army," Yoku stated putting emphasis on his words.
Sasuke just grunted and waved him to continue his plan. Yoku closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Kakashi noticed this and quickly took over, "Anyway once we reach the bridge, Sakura you will defend Tazuna since you are the only one with a defensive jutsu while Yoku supports you and the rest of us from long range and using his wind jutsu to deflect projectiles from you and Tazuna as well as dispersing Zabuza's mist," stated the masked man. Sakura nodded in confirmation, inwardly relieved she wouldn't be put in the direct line of combat.
"Sasuke, you will fight the hunter-nin because you are the fastest of the group besides Doku without his weights and Yoku, plus you are the only one who has a taijutsu that can effectively counter your enemies speed," Kakashi said. Sasuke smirked at this, feeling very superior. Yoku grimaced at this but knew that Sasuke's taijutsu style relied on speed and effectively countering an opponent's attacks. While his own style was fast, it relied to heavily on hitting exact locations, so his attacks would be useless against her since more than likely Haku's and Yoku's styles would be similar. Doku could be as fast but his fear of water wouldn't allow him to step on the bridge, plus while Doku was fast, he had no real taijutsu style except for the academy one.
Put simply, Doku had no real taijutsu style so he would be effectively beaten with a few well-placed punches. Yoku had the tools but lacked the strength to do lasting damage should she block and the fact that she would more than likely know what he was going to do. Sasuke however had the taijutsu, speed, and strength to effectively go against Haku and more than likely win in a fight of hand-to-hand combat. Sasuke was the best bet to fight against Haku.
"I will be fighting Zabuza while Naruto provides Sasuke support in any way possible," Kakashi finished. Naruto nodded and gave Yoku a big grin. Sasuke on the other hand once again spoke up.
"I don't need any help and even if I did what would the dobe be able to do?" Sasuke sneered. Naruto growled at the last Uchiha while Doku restrained himself from smashing the black haired boy into the dirt. Sakura gave him a sidelong glance. She had started to see that Sasuke was very arrogant but was still fighting with her fan-girl tendencies.
"Sasuke, we don't know what kind of ninjutsu the other ninja may have except they may be water based. Naruto can effectively use his chakra as a shield from her senbon and his taijutsu is perfect for avoiding attacks and landing hits, no matter how fast the opponent is," Yoku said in a hard voice. "Also Naruto is also the second best choice in fighting her and has the best chakra control out of all of us except maybe Sakura," finished the grey eyed boy in an annoyed voice. Sasuke just grunted at him, not really caring.
"Whatever, just don't get in my way dobe," Sasuke said getting up and heading to bed.
Kakashi sighed at this. 'That boy really needs to realize he isn't the best of the best, though with how the council treats him that's not going to happen anytime soon' thought the Hatake. "Well team, why don't you all head to bed, tomorrow's a big day," he stated with an eye smile. Everyone gave a murmur of agreement and headed off to bed.
Next day
Team 7 minus Doku had arrived at the bridge at around ten in the morning to a scene that had everyone on edge. The mist that usually hung around at this time in the day was thicker than it should be and there was the sense of killing intent laced within it. Slowly the group walked onto the bridge with Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke in the lead shortly followed by Sakura and Yoku with Tazuna bringing up the rear. After some time Sasuke nearly tripped and when he looked to see what it was, he beheld the body of one of the workers sprawled on the ground in a motionless heap.
Yoku quickly went up to the body and checked the man's pulse. "He's fine, just unconscious," the grey-eyed boy declared softly. Running through some hand signs, Yoku did a small Great Breakthrough to clear some of the surrounding mist. When he did, everyone was shocked to find more unconscious workers.
"Yoku, Sakura, defensive positions!" Kakashi barked. Immediately Sakura and Yoku took up defensive positions in front of the bridge builder. Yoku had his bow drawn while Sakura had a kunai drawn and was holding it in front of her.
"Well, well, look who finally showed up," stated an eerily familiar voice. Slowly the mist thinned to reveal Zabuza and Haku with her mask on. "Heh, look, that one is still shaking," Zabuza said in a mocking voice.
Sure enough Sasuke was shaking, only this time there was a smirk on his face. "I'm shaking with excitement," he stated in a confident voice. Immediately the Uchiha leapt into action and destroyed several water clones that had been trying to sneak up on them. There was the sound of the clones exploding and in less than half a minute, Sasuke reappeared, his ever present smirk on his face.
"Seems like you have a competitor in speed Haku," stated Zabuza in an amused tone.
"So it seems," Haku said in an emotionless voice. She brought her fist up, a senbon firmly grasped in her hand. The eye slits of her mask stared at Sasuke, sizing him up. Sasuke just smirked and brought up a kunai in a reverse grip. On some unspoken command, both ninja rushed at each other with speeds that only Kakashi, Yoku and Zabuza could actually follow with their eyes. Naruto could hear and smell their positions but otherwise all he saw was blurs and sparks as the two clashed.
Suddenly both ninja appeared, Sasuke's kunai locked with Haku's senbon. Both were trying to overpower the other with one hand but it proved to be a stalemate. Sasuke smirked at the masked nin, "Hn. Seems I've got you now," the Uchiha said with a smug expression.
"Not quite," Haku replied. Immediately the female started making one-handed seals, much to the amazement of everyone except for Zabuza who just smirked underneath his bandages.
Haku finished her seals and slammed her foot on the ground making water fly into the air all around them, "1000 needles of Death," Haku announced while jumping away. Immediately the water turned into needles of ice and flew at the surprised rookie of the year. Thinking quickly, Sasuke pumped chakra to his legs and jumped out of the way, barely avoiding the needles.
"What the hell? How in the name of Kami did you find a Kekkai Genkai user?" Naruto shouted at Zabuza. Kakashi seemed to be more on edge than ever and Yoku was gritting his teeth in frustration. Confused, Sakura sent a glance to her grey-eyed teammate.
Not taking his eyes off of Haku, Yoku explained in a calm voice, "A Kekkai Genkai is a special trait passed from generation to generation, a good example is the Sharingan or Byakugan, a doujutsu found only in the Uchiha and Hyuuga clans," narrowing his eyes he continued, "however there are bloodline users that can change their forms like Naruto into a fox or the Kaguya clan's Shikotsu Myaku or create different elements like the first hokage's wood jutsus," Yoku paused for a second and had a deep frown on his face "Basically Sakura, there are those who can use different elements by combining two base elements, those who can physically manipulate their bodies and so on because of a mutation in their genetics that's passed from parent to offspring," Finished Yoku, though he still looked incredibly confused and frustrated.
"So? Why do you sound so confused then?" asked Sakura, worried out of her mind.
"The problem is that any bloodlines in Water Country were said to have been wiped out during the civil war," Yoku said in an icy tone. "So how is it that Zabuza, a shinobi rarely seen out of water country, even after becoming a missing nin, has a bloodline user?"
Zabuza looked at Yoku in surprise, as did Kakashi and Tazuna. Sakura looked horrified and Naruto had a scowl on his face while Haku seemed a bit depressed. "Smart kid you got there, Kakashi," Zabuza stated while looking at Yoku in a new light. 'How does this kid know all this? The news about the civil war was only released recently and even then no one outside of water country should know about the purge! How the hell does some genin know about it?' "As for Haku, I found her a while back and turned her into the greatest ninja tool, she has no emotions and is completely loyal to me and has the ability to kill without batting an eyelash," Zabuza stated.
Naruto started growling at this. He knew for a fact that the council had wanted to turn him into exactly what Zabuza said Haku was. Naruto did not wish that on anyone and he knew for a fact that Haku was dismayed by this fact. "What the hell? How in the name of Kami can you just use someone like that?" Naruto shouted at the jounin.
Surprisingly it was Haku who answered, "Zabuza-sama gave my life purpose and for that I will gladly do whatever he asks," she said in a dead tone, hiding the sadness in her voice.
"Enough talk! Lets fight!" Sasuke shouted, completely fed up with the talking. With that Sasuke charged towards Haku. Naruto gave a curse before chasing after his teammate, mentally berating the Uchiha for not waiting to make a plan.
Knowing the danger, Kakashi tried to follow after but was intercepted by Zabuza. "Let the kids have their fun, I'm your opponent this time Kakashi!" stated the demon of the mist and with that he disappeared into the mist. Kakashi slowly reached for his headband and revealed his sharingan. The battle for the bridge had begun.
Tazuna's house
Doku stood in front of the bridge builder's home and was absent-mindedly picking his nails, wondering where the hell Gato's thugs were. The boy had told both Inari and Tsunami to stay inside until he gave the all clear, but it was starting to look like that was unnecessary as Doku had yet to see a single person who seemed even remotely threatening. He was about ready to leave when he heard footsteps. Deciding to stay where he was, Doku waited for whoever it was to appear.
After some time Doku finally spotted two men with swords and he allowed a smirk to grace his features. The one on the left had an eye patch and was shirtless, with some strange tattoo on his shoulder and some scars on his body and was wearing a black kimono bottom with simple sandals.. The other one was wearing a black skullcap, pale blue sweatshirt and grey shorts with the same sandals. Each one had a smug expression on their face and Doku was going to enjoy beating them.
"What took you guys so long? I've been waiting for about an hour!" Doku called out to the two. Confused the two mercs stopped and stared at the kid in front of them, hands on their swords just in case.
"You know this guy Zouri?" asked the man with the eye patch to his companion.
Zouri shook his head and said "Never seen him before in my life Waraji,"
"Well? You two gonna keep talking or are you gonna fight cause I'm getting impatient," stated the red-eyed boy while tapping his foot in annoyance. Mentally he started to count down.
"Heh, like you could do anything to stop us!" stated the eye-patch wearing swordsman. "Come on Zouri lets-" started the man before he was interrupted by Doku saying "DING! Pain is ready!" followed by a bone shattering punch to his stomach that caused him to pass out.
Surprised Zouri drew his blade but was easily taken down by an uppercut to the jaw courtesy of Doku's right fist. Sighing Doku shook his head in disappointment, he had honestly hoped the two would be more of a challenge, but they had easily been thrashed by his superior strength and speed.
"Not even worth my time," muttered the warlike Tsuuro as he turned to the house, "Inari! Tsunami! The coast is clear, come on out!" Doku shouted with a smirk. Soon both family members appeared and Inari ran over to see how Doku was.
"Doku nii-san! Are you ok?" asked the small boy to his surrogate older brother. The two had made up after that night and Inari saw the Tsuuros as family.
Doku laughed, "Come on Inari, I'm a hell of a lot tougher than two wannabe samurais!"
"Doku! Watch your language!" Tsunami scolded the young man who smiled sheepishly.
Suddenly Doku's posture changed so that he was standing ramrod straight and staring towards the bridge. Something was wrong at the bridge, and the Tsuuro had a gut feeling that if he didn't get over there, something bad would happen. "Tsunami, Inari, you guys get the mob, I'm heading to the bride," ordered the genin.
"Whats wrong Doku?" Tsunami asked worriedly.
"I'm not sure, but I need to get to the bridge NOW," Doku replied while rushing off. The red-eyed boy just hoped he wasn't too late.
The bridge
Yoku was, for lack of a better word, dismayed at their current predicament. Tazuna was safe but that's not what Yoku's problem was. Haku had created some kind of ice dome around Sasuke and Naruto and he couldn't do a thing to get rid of it for any time he tried to get close, Zabuza would attack him before being fought off by a quickly tiring Kakashi. Also it was apparent that no matter how many times Yoku would disperse the mist, it would almost immediately just reappear. He was only thankful that Zabuza was too busy fighting his sensei that he couldn't make any attempts to attack the bridge builder. Besides even if he made it to the ice dome he doubted he could do anything to help besides providing a quick escape for his friends via a substitution.
Meanwhile, Kakashi was fighting for his life against Zabuza and he had nearly been killed several times already by the nuke-nin's oversized meat cleaver. The silver haired nin cursed the fact that he couldn't use his sharingan, but he had an idea on how to beat Zabuza but he would need a distraction.
Once again, Kakashi ducked the blade and kicked back at his attacker. Grunting, Zabuza leapt back only to come again with a downward swing. Thinking quickly Kakashi used the metal on the back of his glove to guard against the blade. Soon the two were struggling to overpower the other. Suddenly Zabuza kicked at the other masked jounin causing him to fall on his back. Looking up Kakashi saw the blade coming down on him, too quickly for him to dodge Kakashi shut his eyes and braced himself for the incoming pain. However instead of the pain of death he heard the sound of… grunting?
Slowly opening his eyes he saw the most surprising thing ever. Zabuza Mamochi, demon of the bloody mist and one of the seven swordsmen, was being held back by none other than Doku Tsuuro, genin of Konoha and what was even more surprising was that Doku was using nothing but a spear of rock to hold off the blade that was said to go though human bodies like nothing!
"Hey sensei, you all right?" Doku asked without taking his eyes off of Zabuza. Zabuza was shocked at the kid in front of him, not only was the kid holding him off but he didn't even seemed fazed and those red eyes were telling the former Kiri nin that this kid meant business. 'What the hell? Where did Kakashi get these guys?' thought an amazed Zabuza.
"I'm fine Doku, but you need to go help Naruto and Sasuke," Kakashi informed the boy. Kakashi marveled at the strength the boy seemed to have, and even considered having Doku fight off Zabuza long enough for him to get his jutsu ready.
"Got it, I'm gonna assume they're in the ice dome?" Doku asked while throwing off Zabuza, much to the nuke-nin's surprise. Kakashi gave him an affirmative and the boy grinned before he left in a burst of speed.
Zabuza made to go after the boy but was distracted by a kunai nearly imbedding itself in his neck. He turned to see Kakashi pulling out a scroll and glaring at him. "Your fight is with me Mamochi," Zabuza grunted and just vanished into the mist once more.
While Kakashi and Zabuza were fighting, Naruto and Sasuke were experiencing hell in the form of needles flying from every single direction. Sasuke's sharingan had activated during the fight but even then the two had only been able to singe Haku's robe. Thankfully neither boy was too beat up due to Naruto forming a blue chakra cloak around the majority of his body and Sasuke using his speed and sharingan to avoid the deadly projectiles, but that didn't mean that Haku hadn't landed some pretty good hits. Both boys had senbon sticking out of their backs, torsos, arms and legs. It was a miracle that they hadn't been hit in the neck or head, though Naruto suspected Haku didn't really want to kill.
"Dammit we need to get out of here," Naruto panted, his reserves running low from creating so many shadow clones to find an opening and the constant need to have his chakra defend his body.
"What was your first clue?" Sasuke snorted, he too was nearly out of chakra but he wasn't about to let it show. That's when the boy noticed movement outside of the dome.
"I think its time I ended this," Haku declared in a monotone, with that she flung a hail of senbon at Naruto, all aimed for his neck and other vital spots. Seeing this Sasuke dashed over to Naruto's position, doing hand seals as he went while the foxy blonde summoned up the last of his chakra to defend himself and closed his eyes, braced for the incoming pain. The next thing Naruto heard was a pained grunt and no pain. Slowly, he opened his eyes but they snapped open immediately when he saw who it was.
Standing there, his back riddled with so much senbon that he looked like a porcupine, with a devil may care grin on his face was Doku Tsuuro. Naruto could only gape as Doku gave a painful chuckle; some blood coming out of the corner of his mouth, signifying he had been hit in numerous vital spots. "Hey, you ok?" asked the boy as his eyes started to cloud over.
Naruto nodded as some tears started to form in the corners of his eyes. 'Doku? How? Why?' were the only thoughts going through the blonde's head.
"Good, now do me a favor," Doku said, his legs shaking from the effort of standing up. Naruto could only shake his head, trying to deny what was happening in front of him, some tears escaping his eyes. "Don't come see me for a damn long time and take care of Yoku and Sakura," Doku ordered weakly as he finally started to sway then fell to his knees as his body hit the ground face first, his grin still on his face but the life gone from his red eyes.
The tears finally broke free as they raced down Naruto's cheeks as he silently wept for his brother. The blonde fell to his hands and knees, the tears hitting the concrete with faint splashes. Slowly something started to stir within Naruto as he subconsciously began to draw upon his demonic youki.
"Is this the first time you've seen a comrade fall in battle?" asked Haku with pity in her voice. She had seen the whole thing and knew for a fact that Sasuke had used a substitution to replace himself with the boy now on the ground. "It is what we do as shinobi, it is our fate to be used as tools and for our lives to be given up for the sake of the mission," stated the masked girl.
"Shut up," Naruto whispered as his body started to become enveloped in steam as his wounds healed and senbon were slowly pushed out of his body. Haku could only watch in amazement as red chakra started to envelop the boy. Slowly Naruto started to stand, his finger and toenails becoming more claw like while his already defined whisker marks became darker. "I'm going to KILL YOU!" Naruto roared as he snapped his head up and glared at Haku, his now red eyes and completely slit black pupils boring into her with untold hatred and fury. He bared his teeth at her, his fangs glistening as the red chakra started to swirl around him violently, ripping up the concrete beneath him.
With a roar, Naruto jumped at the mirrors and punched straight through the ice, knocking Haku out of the mirror as he did. In fear, Haku started to throw senbon at the demon possessed child, all to no avail due to Naruto's now red chakra cloak. Slowly Naruto approached, his eyes burning, demanding his bloodlust be satisfied. Without knowing what else to do Haku screamed.
Hearing the scream, Zabuza turned towards the spot where he had felt the influx of power and saw the most terrifying sight he had seen to date. Haku was about to be killed by a boy who looked like a demon! Completely forgetting Kakashi, Zabuza dashed off to save the girl he considered a daughter, with two others closely following him.
Just as Naruto was about to strike, he was stopped as a giant blade nearly took off his arm. Snarling, the blonde leapt back and was surprised at what he saw. There was Zabuza defending Haku, but what really surprised him was that both Yoku AND Kakashi were defending the girl as well.
"Naruto control yourself!" Yoku barked, his bow ready to fire. "Now is not the time or the place to lose yourself,"
"Move out of the way Yoku! She must pay!" Naruto growled.
"It doesn't matter right now, Naruto. If you keep this up you'll unleash the Kyuubi on everyone," Kakashi warned. At this Zabuza looked surprised and Haku looked even more terrified.
"She killed Doku!" Naruto roared. At this a shocked look came over Yoku.
"NO! I didn't kill him!" screamed Haku. Too terrified to stop herself from admitting she was too weak to kill someone. "I only put him in a death like state! I was aiming to do that to the black haired boy but he substituted himself with the other one!" she yelled, desperate to keep herself from being ripped apart by this demonic child.
Everyone looked surprised at this and Naruto's youki seemed to recede a bit before it came back again, "SASUKE!" roared the blonde as his chakra once again spiked dispelling the mist completely and revealing everyone on the bridge. Naruto started to search for the Uchiha but was stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Turning he saw Yoku who was wincing from the pain in his hand caused by Naruto's corrosive chakra. "Naruto, search for Sasuke later we need to help Doku, besides none of this would have happened if not for Gato, so take your anger out on him when he arrives," Yoku stated firmly while giving his surrogate brother a hard but caring look.
Slowly, the youki around Naruto began to recede. After some time Naruto nodded and dashed off to grab Doku. Yoku meanwhile turned to Haku and Zabuza, "Our fight is over, you have several options now," Yoku stated in a calm voice. "You can either continue to fight us and be killed, or you can help us fight off Gato," offered the boy.
Surprised, Zabuza and Haku looked to each other and weighed their options. There was no way they could keep fighting, especially with the now revealed and newly healed Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, besides if that spike was anything to go by, they would be nothing more than stains on the bridge if Naruto decided to get serious and go all out. Besides that, there was still the fact that they were outnumbered and down on chakra. On the other hand, they could run away, but then what? Go work for another scumbag like Gato? Besides that they had hunter-nin on their tails so sooner or later they'd have to find someplace to hide. Turning back to Yoku, Zabuza gave the boy a nod and said, "We'll help you fight off Gato on one condition,"
Kakashi quirked an eyebrow and asked, "What condition?"
"You take us back to Konoha so we can become shinobi," stated Zabuza. Kakashi's eye bugged out a bit but Yoku nodded.
"I'll see what I can do, but first we might want to take care of THAT," Yoku stated as he pointed behind Zabuza. Turning quickly, they beheld the sight of a short man wearing sunglasses, a pin stripe suit and wielding a cane with an army of mercenaries armed to the teeth behind him.
"Heh, demon of the mist my ass, looks like the great Zabuza is nothing more than a chibi devil," Gato taunted as his mercs guffawed at the statement.
"What are doing here Gato?" Zabuza growled.
"What do you think? I'm here to kill you of course, along with the other shinobi here. Can't have anyone interfering with my business now can I? Besides you cost too much, I was going to kill you anyway and this is as perfect a time as any," Gato declared smugly as Naruto reappeared supporting a tired Doku.
"Alright boys, get to work, but try not to kill the girls, they seem like they'd be some fun," Gato declared with a grin. "Now go an-," he never finished his sentence as an arrow suddenly protruded from the small man's throat as well as a spear made of solid rock came tearing through Gato's head. Surpised the mercs turned to see Yoku with another arrow notched in his hand, a look cold fury in his grey eyes, while Doku now sat astride a red snarling fox the size of a horse, a barbaric fury in his red eyes.
"You little bastards just killed our meal ticket!" shouted a mercenary angrily. The mob made to charge when they stopped once again, a crossbow bolt buried in the ground in front of them. The mist cleared and there stood Inari, a crossbow in hand and backed by the entire village of wave, all of who were armed with whatever they could get their hands on, ranging from farming tools to kitchen knives and led pipes. The mob hesitated for a second, unsure whether to charge or flee.
"You have two choices now," Yoku called in voice of icy steel, "Run to live another day, or stay and be killed like livestock led to the slaughter," he declared, his steel grey eyes never blinking.
"Ha! Come on boys lets take this town, they're just a bunch of brats!" roared a mercenary. With that the mercenaries charged forward. Without hesitation Doku gave a roar and leveled his spear at the oncoming force while Naruto dashed forward with a vicious snarl, the villagers close behind them.
"I'll eat your heart!" Doku roared as he plunged his spear into the head of a merc from his position on Naruto's back. Naruto himself was ripping peoples throats out with his teeth and mauling them with one sweep of his claws. More fell to the arrows and senbon of both Haku and Yoku, their deadly aim felling the oncoming enemies in mere seconds, while Zabuza's sword cleaved through multiple bodies at once, the demon of the mist giving a sadistic laugh as he went along. Kakashi picked off the stragglers one by one with jutsu after jutsu as the horde of villagers chased Gato's goon out, mercilessly terminating any merc too slow to outrun the angry mob.
The battle was short, but it was extremely bloody. On the side of the shinobi and villagers, there was no casualties, but plenty had been wounded heavily enough that they wouldn't be doing anything for weeks. On the mercenary side however, hardly any of them had survived. The bodies and limbs covered the area, the bridge painted crimson with blood while the metallic stench of blood hung in the air like a heavy mist. Sakura stared in horror at the aftermath while Sasuke just looked on with an apathetic gaze.
Panting heavily, Zabuza looked on in awe at the three boys that had done most of the damage. Doku was covered head to tow in blood, his shirt nothing more than tatters and his hair in spiky clumps from the dried blood. With his bloody spear in hand, the red-eyed Tsuuro stood tall and proud, his face set in a deep frown with eyes blazing. To Zabuza, he looked like some barbaric god of war.
Turning his head, the demon looked upon the form of Yoku. The grey-eyed boy didn't have a mark on him but his quiver was empty as held the bow in his right hand and a kunai, shuriken and senbon clutched in his left fist, poised to throw. He stood rigigd, tense and ready to strike at a moments notice, his face a carefully blank mask while his calculating grey eyes searched for another target. Again, an image invade Zabuza's mind, but this one was of a master assassin, one who didn't waste a single movement, who took every opening it could get and left nothing to chance.
Finally, his gaze rested upon Naruto, the blonde's hair streaked with red as his eyes roved around the area, his ears twitching ever so slightly and his nose sniffing the air. The blonde had several bloodstains on his body but for the most part the blood was concentrated around his hands, some of it still dripping from his nails while his canines that were poking out of his upper lip were coated in a red hue His body was tense and he was semi-crouched, making Zabuza think that he resembled a fox ready to pounce or run.
"All right everyone lets clean up this mess, we have a lot of work to do before wave is truly free!" Tazuna shouted. He was met with a loud cheer of agreement.
"Right then, Sasuke, use a fire jutsu to help me burn these bodies away, Yoku, take Haku and Sakura and start healing the wounded," Kakashi ordered, "Zabuza, use a water jutsu to help clean the blood off the bridge, Doku and Naruto, help the workers clean up some of the debris and bodies," everyone gave a loud hai and set off to do their respective jobs.
"Hey grandpa," Inari said catching the attention of the old bridge builder, "What are we going to name the bridge?" questioned the boy.
Tazuna rubbed his beard in thought for a moment, his eyes wandering, taking in the sights of the shinobi helping his people a slow smile started to form on the old man's face. "How about the Great Shinobi Bridge?" Tazuna suggested.
Inari grinned at that and enthusiastically agreed with his grandfather. Getting back to work, a sense of peace filled the air as the sun shone brightly in the sky. Wave was now well on the road to recovery and the future promised to be bright and glorious.
A/N: Finished, sorry this took so long but well, laziness struck and I was busy with some other stories. Anyway, be sure to R&R. until next time my friends!