The Wave Siege, Part 2
A/N: I mistakenly uploaded the wrong document for this chapter a couple days ago. It was missing about 400 words. This is the right version and should run up to the end of the Zabuza/Haku fight. Also, sorry about how short these chapters are. I'm in my final semester at school, so I'm busy as hell right now.
Anko and Naruto escorted Tazuna to the bridge. In stark contrast to their friendly, gregarious attitude over the previous week, both were silent and focused as they scanned for any sign of the enemy in the shadowed depths of the forest and the shallows of the murky water gently lapping the shoreline. The spiral seals on Naruto's forehead flickered with gilt brilliance, barely hidden under the concealing bangs of his long yellow hair as he buzzed with energy next to his taller companion. Anko had left her overcoat behind, substituting with a simple copy of standard ANBU gear, dull armor bound with grey cloth to suppress clinks and glints.
Tazuna seemed unnerved by the abrupt change in attitude, casting nervous glances in her direction and taking frequent gulps from his flask. Anko thought it was understandable; civilians and non-Leaf ninja rarely understood Konoha's need for compartmentalization. When in a safe environment, Leaf ninja gave themselves reasons to fight by building close bonds with their allies and friends…but in combat, Leaf ninja could be (and were) as ruthless and cutthroat as those of any other village.
Wisps of slowly thickening mist licked around the pylons and beams of the unfinished bridge as they arrived. Naruto moved back to stand near Tazuna, sealing-sticks finding their way into his hands as he charged them with chakra and embedded them in the surface of the bridge, the seemingly haphazard preparation an inversion of his careful, orderly precision back at the house.
Anko stepped forward, steps careful and deliberate, until the mist cleared for a moment to reveal the prone forms of Tazuna's workers, some purpled with massive bruises, others pierced by needles and trickling blood from their wounds. Drawing a kunai, she drew on her chakra, using one of her former master's signature techniques to taste the air with a forked tongue.
Zabuza's dark, rasping chuckle echoed from the void, seemingly both everywhere and nowhere. "Haha…I thought the Blue Beast would have stuck around. How…disappointing. Do you think you can handle a Demon, little snake? What's your specialty, girl? Seduction? Infiltration? Hardly enough to handle a master of silent killing, a frontline combat specialist!"
Anko said nothing; she simply drew a second kunai and settled into a tense crouch.
"Not going to play? Well, I suppose it's only to be expected of someone who hasn't bloodied their way into my Bingo Book."
Anko remained silent, then blinked. She cocked her head to listen carefully for her opponent.
—CLANG! Zabuza found himself unexpectedly matching strength with his opponent, his Head-Cleaver caught in the intersection of Anko's kunai. They locked eyes for a moment, then the slight Konoha jounin flipped over his sword and kicked it against the ground, slashing at his face with one wickedly keen blade as he jerked back, trying to regain control of his monstrous sword. She barely drew blood, a single droplet running down from the tip of her blade and leaving a thin red line across the Mist Demon's cheek. He countered with a lightning-fast horizontal strike she barely ducked under, losing the tips of her hair as it trailed behind her quicksilver movement to stab at his feet with her other blade before she flickered away to regain distance.
Eyes on her opponent, she pocketed one kunai and started making hand-seals as her opponent charged. As she dodged, a cloud of smoke obscured her form and where there was one jounin, there were now two. Continuing to mirror each other's movement, they faded into shadow, flickering into the mist.
Anko's voice echoed just as Zabuza's had only moments before. "Poor demon, stumbling around trying to catch a quick little snake. Too bad she's not in your little Bingo Book; some people don't feel the need to show off as much as you do. Care for a hint?"
Zabuza huffed and leaned on his sword, surprised at the toll the exertion of their skirmish had taken on his body; weakened as it was by a week of paralysis and years of life as a missing-nin, he'd expected to do better. As his strength failed to return after several moments, he let out a hoarse, despairing gurgle that could almost pass for a laugh. "Ha. I know who you are, little snake. No photo, but there's no questioning the effects of this poison. The Kiss of Death; courtesy of the Leaf's Midnight Viper. The top-killing member of the Faceless. At least I fell to a real ninj—" and here he coughed weakly and grasped at his throat before collapsing.
She allowed her clone to fade into view and approach the fallen missing-nin. It crouched, as if to check his pulse.
CRACK!
An icy needle evaporated from the cracked concrete as Anko's clone shimmered and disappeared around the steaming hole ripped through its chest. Hidden in the slowly fading fog, she sprinted back toward Naruto.
More needles followed her out as she burst from the fog, trailing wisps of vapor as she vaulted, twisting to dodge a second volley, then a third. As she sketched a serpentine path toward Naruto and Tazuna, she glanced back to see an androgynous figure, eyes shining coldly through the holes of a hunter-nin mask and arm outstretched, icy mist creeping around sandaled feet as another volley of needles crystallized in the surrounding air.
Tearing her gaze from the unknown enemy, Anko put on a last burst of speed before she skidded to a stop within the bounds of Naruto's seal.
"Barrier now, brat!" she growled.
Naruto nodded. "Aye aye, sensei."
He clapped his palms together in a hand seal, then clawed the air with his open hand. Light traced the path his fingers traveled, seeping from the air itself like blood from a wound. Slowly, it began to circle the trio, swirling around the seal-sticks in a web of red, gold, and black threads entwined in a slowly rising cage of pure chakra. As it rose into a patchwork dome, Naruto crouched, palms out to either side, shone with power, and pushed. The threads abruptly thickened, bleeding into one another to form a solid barrier of translucent energy.
Outside the barrier, their enemy watched impassively and an ever-growing field of needles materialized from the last remnants of Zabuza's mist technique and the first hints of drizzling rain.
Abruptly, the needles surrounding the mysterious hunter-nin dissolved into thin air, even as the icy mist swirling around the cold-eyed figure's feet thickened. Slowly and precisely, delicate fingers clasped and twisted in the seals of an unknown technique. Frost began to crystallize, spreading along the bridge in a fractal pattern centered on the glowing orb of Naruto's barrier, filaments creeping up along the surface to nip at the eddies and whorls, hissing into steam as they made contact. Probing for weakness and finding none, they began to expand into a second shell around the barrier, coalescing into a pale, pristine globe.
The hunter-nin paused for a moment, ice-cold eyes softening with brief hesitation, before hardening with renewed resolve. Hands twisted viciously into a final hand-seal, holding it for a moment before surging forward as if casting fistfuls of dust, reaching towards the bleached sphere with morbid purpose.
Inside the barrier, Anko and Naruto took a moment to notice the subtle result of the technique, as Tazuna began to shiver. The air inside the barrier cooled rapidly until the bridge-builder shook ever more violently and even the two ninja had to warm themselves, spending more and more chakra as the temperature fell below freezing, then continued to drop.
"We can't keep this up, sensei," Naruto finally said.
Anko retorted, irked. "Well, I don't s—"
"He is correct," the hunter-nin interrupted, having drawn close to the barrier. "You will perish for the crime of ending Zabuza-sama. He was precious to me, and you have destroyed him."
"How is that fair?! He was going to kill Tazuna, and he tried to kill Anko!" Naruto snapped.
"Then they should have felt privileged to fall for the sake of Zabuza-sama's worthy dream." The hunter-nin formed a hand-seal, and the temperature stopped dropping for a moment. "…There is still time, you know. You did not touch my master, child of the Leaf; you and your team may go, if you wish. You will have to leave the bridge-builder and your sensei behind, however. I will not allow Zabuza-sama's dream to die here, and I will not leave the crime of your teacher unpunished."
Naruto twitched for a moment with incredulous rage. "Hell no! Anko, Sasuke, and the rest of my team…even Tazuna…they are all precious to me, and I will protect them from you!"
"In that case… I will freeze my heart…and yours as well." Another hand-seal, and the temperature resumed its steady fall even faster than before.
The temperature within the barrier continued to fall. Tazuna's breathing slowed, then stopped. It was followed shortly by Anko's, and then finally, after nearly five minutes, by Naruto's. As he lost consciousness, the fiery barrier collapsed.
With the last remnants of his fading vision, he saw the white orb crumble as the clack of the hunter-nin's approaching sandals rang in his ears.