Chapter 7
I was just a few miles outside the land of wave. The place where I stood was the battle ground of where Naruto and his team fought Zabuza for the first time. There was no one here and the only reason I was there was to check to see how long ago the battle had happened. I had to make sure that I did not enter the country to soon as not to throw things off course. Judging from the ground and what little chakra was left in the puddles made by Zabuza's water clones I would say the fight ended two days ago. That would mean I only had five days before Zabuza healed from being put in a death state and Kakashi from the chakra over use. Once that was done I made my way to a small clearing not too far from the almost finished bridge and began to plan. Not that it was easy to plan with all the stuff on my mind.
My main goal for the last few years was to keep the story as close to the original as possible. This would allow me to plan ahead of time and deal with must problems beforehand. The problem now was that this would be the last event I could plan for. That as soon as I joined the leaf after this everything would change. The next event was the Chunin exams but I began to wonder if Orochimaru would even show up if he knew I was there and if he did how he would change his plans was the question.
"This is driving me crazy. Ok, focus Haruki, deal with what is in front of you and worry about the other stuff as they come. " I said to myself as tried to focus.
After going over all the facts that I knew I come up with a plan. I would let everything play out as it should until it is time for Haku to talk Naruto. I had a plan in mind on how to save him. I was not going to let him die. I would have to find him after his talk with Naruto before I could make a move. Yama was the wild card in all this. I find it unlikely that he would be in Gato's body because of how weak he was. Who he would take over was one of the things I would how to worry about later. The first thing is to find team seven and Haku. It was time to put my owls to use.
"Ninja art: Kuchiyose No Jutsu."
As soon as the smoke cleared I saw I had called two small Burrowing Owls. Their facial disc is pale brownish with prominent white eyebrows above the bright yellow eyes. The bill is greyish-olive and the cere greyish-brown. There is a distinct whitish throat band. Upperparts are brown, with the forehead and crown having whitish streaks and dots. Elsewhere is irregularly dotted whitish to pale ochre with relatively large, rounded spots. Their names were Athene (for the goddess of wisdom) and Arianrhod (welsh goddess of the moon and stars).
"How may we help you Haruki-sama?" they said in union.
"I need both of you to fly over to the land of wave and keep an eye on some people for me. Athene, I want you find a group of Genin and their teacher. They should be learning how to tree walk about now so they should be easy to find. Be careful not to be seen by their teacher he is an A rank and will be on the lookout for trouble. Your main target is the small one with blonde hair and as soon as he is lone let me know. Arianrhod your target is a boy with long black hair, pale skin and large, dark-brown eyes, a slender frame but don't let his looks fool you he has the skills of a Chunin. He should be somewhere in the forest area. As soon as you spot him follow him back to his base. Once you find it come back to me. I want both of you to dispel if you feel in danger. Good lucky both of you." I said with a nod to both of them.
"Hai, Haruki-sama." they said as they took off into the air.
Once they were gone I made my way to the bridge. See that there was no one working on it at the moment I walked all the way to the end. Gato and his men would be standing around here near the end of the fight between ninjas and would try to take them all out at once when they were too tired to fight back. To keep that from happening I began to lay down a number of trap seals that only I could see that would turn Gato and his men in to ice cubes when I turned them on. The seal could only be turned on by me so I would not have to worry about them going off when I did not want them to. I could take them all down by myself easily but I did not want to waste power when I might need it later. As soon as I was done I put on a henge and made my way to town.
I could tell that the land of wave was once a beautiful place before Gato got his hands on it but thanks to that piece of shit the place had gone to hell. The place was full of run down houses and shops with most of the windows broken. The few people I saw were in ragged clothes with the look of despair on their faces and most of the children looked to be too thin to be healthy. If I did not know that in a few days Naruto would save the country I would have done it myself but that did not stop me from spending the next few days feeding as many people as possible in secret.
Two days later
My owls had come through for me. It was late in the morning when both of them returned to me. Athene appeared to tell me Naruto was asleep in the forest, Arianrhod had found Zabuza base and Haku had just left. Wasting no time I made my way to his base to talk to Zabuza before Haku came back. I had a plans in mind on how to keep both of them alive. Hopefully my plan would work.
As soon as I got close I put on my special cloak and snuck in. Zabuza was lying in bed with the covers up. I slip into the shadows and suppressed chakra and switched my cloak for a gray robe as I do not want the power of my cloak getting out and beside I was the Gray Lord and he should know how much of a badass I was. So I made a small enough noise and waited. In a second a kunai flew at my head which I caught between my fingers.
"Not bad for a man stuck in bed but if you want to hurt me you have to try harder than that." I said as I stepped out of the shadows with the kunai in my hand.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Zabuza asked as he tried to get up.
"Don't bother trying to get up I can tell you have chakra exhaustion (I know it was being in a death state but he doesn't need to know that. Best for me to let him think I was wrong) and if I wanted you dead I would have killed you before you knew I was even here. My name is Haruki but I am also known as the Gray Lord and I am here to talk to you. I want to hire you for a job. It will be by far the easiest and most high paying job you will ever have." I said I used the kunai to clean my nails without a care in the world to let him know that I did not fear him at all.
"What kind of job?" Zabuza asked as he sat up in bed. He never took his eyes off me. He had turned pale for a second when I told him my name but covered for that with a strong voice.
"That shit stain you're working for Gato is part of a crime organization that had most of its hands in high level crimes throughout the elemental nations. Their crimes were kidnapping, slave rings, drug running and murder just to name a few. Because I destroyed most of their plans they have been sending high level assassins after my ass as pay back. In order to make it stop I have been spending the last few years killing all the heads of the organization and I am down to one. The bastard who hired you is the last one. So I want your help in killing him." I said. (It wasn't a lie. This is what I did in my spare time in between missions and training. All of them were nothing but evil assholes anyway.)
"I am a ninja and I am honor bound not to betray my client as long as he pays me no matter how much I want to kill that midget myself. I always keep my word." Zabuza said with his arms crossed.
"He is not going to pay you. He is most likely going to wait for you to do whatever mission you have and kill you so he does not have to pay. I have seen this happen before and if you don't believe I can prove it." I said.
"How will you do that?" Zabuza asked.
"Simple. Tell me what your mission is and everything that happened so far and I will tell you when it will happen and for the record if you lie to me things won't end well for you. So just tell me the truth." I said in a cold voice to let him know I was not kidding.
Zabuza gave me a hard glare before answering.
"My job was to kill the man building a bridge to the main land. The bridge builder went to the leaf to hire so body guards and I sent the Demon Brothers to deal him but they never come back, so they were most likely killed off. The truth of who killed them became known as soon as I saw who the body guards were. It was kakashi hatake of the sharingan eye also known as the copy ninja and his team of genin. I fought the copy ninja and almost won if his team had not gotten in the way. His team was better than I though and they got the drop on me. Before I could be killed I was saved by in ally and once I am back to full strength my ally and I will go to the bridge and kill them all." Zabuza said.
I stood still for a minute to let him think I was going over everything in my head.
"Gato will turn on you as soon as the fight with Kakashi and his team is over. If the first fight with him was hard the second will be even harder. Kakashi knows who you are now and will have a plan in mind on how to deal with you. Even if you somehow win you will be too tired to fight off Gato's thugs and the same goings for the copy ninja. I have a plan in mind where we all get what we want. You get payed, the bridge builder lives and I get my hand on that ugly midget. It a won, won for us all." I said with a smile.
"Why do you even care? I have heard how powerful you are. Why don't you just kill us all and be done with it? Someone on your level should be able to pull it off easily." Zabuza asked with curiosity.
"The time it would take me to fight you, your ally, Gato's thugs, and finally kill the man himself would take too much time and would bring the ninja hunters running. Then I would have to fight my way out of the country. The fact that your ally is a family member of my makes it harder to fight you and yes I know who he is. I don't mind him staying with you as long as you treat him well and if you don't I will kick your ass. The fact is that I pissed off so many hidden villages that most would see this as the best time to capture or kill me. So I want to end this as fast as possible before anybody knows what happened." I answer.
"It's not like you did not have this coming. I heard what you did to the Anbu and ninja hunters that came after you. You sent all of them back in defeat and in their underwear. You even put all the Kunoichi in thongs with writing on their backs that say they liked to be spanked. There is a rumor going around that the women want you deader than the men." Zabuza said with amusement.
"I wasn't in the mood to kill them. So I just beat them down and made them my bitches and as the for the underwear thing that was just a prank but I have to say some of those Kunoichi had some sweet butts. The only thing is some of them need to pick up a razor. I don't mind a little fur but I swear I would get lost in the jungle with most of them if you get my meaning." I said with a straight face.
We stared at one other for a second and burst out laughing.
"You're a dead man if those women ever get their hands on you." Zabuza said as soon as he got himself under control.
"Oh, I know but we all die someday so I am going to have a much fun as possible before I go. So do you want to hear what the deal is?" I ask.
"Sure, it's not like I'm going anywhere." Zabuza said.
I pulled out a storage scroll from my pocket and threw it at him. He snatched it out of the air and gave me a look.
"Five million ryo now as a down payment for the mission you will do for me." I said pointing to the scroll. "A other five after it's over also I will send a letter to the new mizukage Mei Terumi to let you and Haku back into the mist for helping me. As a war hero my word has a lot of pull. What I want both of you to do is attack the bridge builder like you were going to do before but drag the battle out. The longer the battle is the more Gato will think you're worn out. The battle has to look as real as possible so give it your best. As soon as he appears and shows his true colors I want you and Haku to pull back to the beginning of the bridge where I will be waiting. Remember I need the leaf ninja a live to help. They will most likely join our side if you're no longer after their client. When everything is over I will pay you the rest of the money and wait for Mei to send a reply before I leave." I explained
"That is a lot of money just to kill one man." Zabuza said.
"I hate people like him the most. Guys who use their money and power to trample on people rights are the lowest form of scum. Most of the people I have killed in my life have been dirt bags like Gato. So are you in or out?" I ask.
"I will drag the battle out and wait. If he does what you say he will then I will fight with you. If he doesn't than I will take the down payment and flee the land of wave with Haku so you can fight Gato yourself without me in the way. That is the best offer I can make for the money you are giving me." Zabuza said.
"Fine, you can keep the money if he does not come but if you turn on me I will end you in a heartbeat. Haku I will spare since he is family." I said with a little bit of killing intent.
"I won't." Zabuza said while sweating.
"I should hope not." I said as I pulled a water bottle with a clear liquid inside from my other pocket and handed it to him.
"What is this? Zabuza asked.
"Scent eraser. The copy ninja is known to use summon dogs. So even if you use the hidden mist jutsu they can still find you. Bear that in mind when you fight him. I will be waiting near the bridge when the time comes. Remember I want the leaf ninja live." I warn one last time before leaving. Hoping he would take my threat seriously.
Before going back to town I hide in a tree and waited for Haku to come back. As soon as he was close enough I put him in a genjutsu. He would think he was still walking to the base while standing still. While he was under I put a small seal on his chest. The seal was a small barrier that would stop Kakashi's lightning blade just in case. I freed him from the Jutsu after the seal disappeared and I was hidden from his sight. After being released he walked back to the base without knowing he had been stopped. Once he was inside I made my way back to town in a henge.
I spent what little time I had left helping people. The night before of the event I sent ten shadow clone to stake out the bridge and store national energy as soon as the fight started with Naruto's team before turning in for the night. I planned as best as I could it would all come down to what Yama did to change things.
Event: The battle at the bridge.
I had arrived near the beginning of the bridge an hour early. I hide in the forest nearby. I spent the time checking on my clones, looking over my weapons as well as putting medical seal on my body just in case. I don't know why but I get the feeling that this event would be different then all the other ones so far. That train of thought went off the rails the moment I saw the bridge covered in mist. The fight had started.
Using my cloak and a genjutsu to camouflage my presence I watched the battle unfold. It played out just the same as the manga but what so differences. Zabuza was fighting Kakashi but by the look of things Zabuza wasn't aiming for anything vital while swing his sword. Haku had Naruto and Sasuke in his ice dome. They both looked worse of wear but so far none of them looked like a pin cushion. Sakura was watching over Tazuna. Zabuza and Haku were drawing out the fight just as I asked but something was wrong my necklace wasn't glowing at all. Where the hell was Yama? There was no way he would miss this. This was one of the biggest turning points in Naruto life. The sound of clapping caught my attention. Gato and his men were here.
"The title demon of the mist is wasted on someone like you. I would think you would have finished the job already." Gato said with his arms crossed.
"Gato, What are you doing here?" Zabuza asked while keeping Gato and Kakashi in his eye sight.
"I have been thinking it over for some time but you're just too expensive for my taste so I am cancelling the agreement we had. My new hired help will deal with you and the leaf team all in one go. Once your all dead no one will ever get in my way again." Gato said with an evil smile.
While Gato was giving his little speech I was watching him like a hawk. The way he was moving and his posture were not that of a civilian. His eyes were moving around the area as if he were searching for something. It was only after he was done talking and I saw his arms that I knew what was going on. I cursed a fucking blue streak as I put on my robe and turned off the genjutsu. Zabuza and Haku jump over to me as soon as I appeared. The leaf team put up their guard when they saw me. Gato just smiled wider.
"It was just as you said. He did turn on us." Zabuza said
"If only things were as they appear you would be right." I said as I locked eyes with Gato.
"What do you mean?" Haku asked.
"Quick question for you did you break Gato's arm not too long ago? I ask.
"Yes, he tried to put his hands on Zabuza. So I broke it. What does that have to do with anything? Haku asked.
"You're going to find out in a second little cousin. So keep your guard up as things are about to get loud." I said as I walked forward with a small smile at Haku surprised face.
"So the fabled Gray Lord has finally come for me just as you did for all the other bosses of the organization. Don't think I am going to go down like all the others." Gato said with a smug look. Kakashi had a shocked look on his face when my name was said.
"How long are you going to play act? I know you're not the real Gato. The question is are you a stand in or is the real one dead?" I asked the fake Gato.
The question shocks everyone even the bandits. They all turn their eyes to the fake Gato as he begins to laugh. He locked eyes with me after he stopped laughing.
"What give me away? The fake Gato asked.
"You have the balance and posture of someone who has been trained to fight. The way you scanned the area looking for threats is not the way a normal person acts. The last clue was that one of your arms is not broken. Haku broke the real Gato arm not that long ago and he does not seem the type to keep a medial ninja on hand. Now who are you and where is the real Gato?" I asked
"I killed that midget as soon as he got back to his base after he was done talking to Zabzua the last time. I most have missed the fact that he had a broken arm when I killed him. As for his body I chopped it up and feed it to fish in the sea. I worked for him in the henge of a bandit for a few weeks waiting for this moment and just as I was promised a group of high level prey appears before me. As for whom I am. Why don't you see for yourself?" fake Gato said as he dropped the henge.
The moment I saw his face I knew who he was.
"Gouki, the beast of the frost wanted as an S rank criminal in the bingo book for killing a high number of ninja in his own village also known as the ninja hunter. You only go after A rank ninja or higher but you don't do it for money or fame it all a sport for you and you collet the headband as a trophy. What the hell are you doing here? " I asked as I got into a fighting stance.
Gouki was a rather large man with a short crop of purple hair and dark eyes. He wore the standard uniform of the land of frost which consisted of a blue and white outfit. He had a large halberd on his back.
"I'm here on a mission. A few weeks again a man with black eyes showed up with a job for me at first I wasn't going to take it but the man who hired me told me that I would find good prey if I came here. I asked him what the mission was and he told me it was to deliver a message to a high level ninja who was after Gato life. That I would have to protect Gato until a certain time came .That I was to take his place when he was going to make a move against someone himself. I spent weeks studying Gato so I could fool his men when the time came. The message I have is for the strongest prey was what the man said to me before he left. I guess that means you Gray lord." Gouki said.
My heart sank as I could guess what it was.
"What was the message?" I ask.
"I know that you have been getting in my way. That you are here is proof that I am right. Foolish man thinking that I would not figure out something was wrong after my first two failures. The man before you delivering this message is proof that I do not have to fight this battle myself and that I can use others to do my biding from now on. Even if you survive this fight this is far from over. That from this moment on I will focus on killing you before I fulfill my goal. So prepare yourself for hell. End of message." Gouki said with an evil smile.
It make since to me now why Kami wanted me to join the leaf after the wave mission. She must have known that Yama would get wise to me after this and I would need the leaf to watch my back.
"Give up, Gouki. You're good I will give you that but there no way you can beat all of us by yourself. Without Gato money these bandits won't fight for you." I said stating a fact.
"That would be true if most of them were normal bandits but you see a few days before I took Gato place I called in a few favors that people in the underworld owed him. So I had them send some of their best assassins to even things out. The bounty on all your heads should be more than enough to pay them and once your all dead the bandits in our group can pillage the town for all it worth. So any last words before you die?" Gouki asked as he and his men got ready to attack. See this everybody on my side pulled out their weapons.
There was one sentence that all my clones know means that all hell as broken loose and it was time to take down all of our enemies with extreme prejudice.
"Bring the fucking noise!" I yelled as the fight started and I turned on my trap seals.
(See you next time reader. Reviews needed.)
