SailorStar9: Chapter 10 goes up, this is Chapter 11. Read and review.

Disclaimers: I do not own both the animes. However, I do own the pairing, I hope.

Chapter 11: Zabuza Disperses Into the Snow


On the bridge...

"Gatoh, why are you here?" Zabuza demanded. "And what's with those subordinates?"

"We had a little change in plans." Gatoh replied. "I'm sorry, Zabuza, but you're going to die here."

"What?" Zabuza growled.

"If I rent official ninja, it would cost me a lot of money." Gatoh explained. "So, I rented an exiled ninja like you. If you ninja had just killed each other, it would have saved me trouble and money. And you call yourself the Demon of the Village of the Hidden Mist? You're just a cute devil if you ask me."

Who are they? Naruto wondered. They're so many of them.

"I'm not going to say 'I told you so'." Keena remarked.

"I know." Zabuza snorted.

"Kakashi, I'm sorry, but the battle ends here." he told the Jonin. "Since I don't have the reason to kill Tazuna, I have lost the reason to fight you."

"Yeah, you're right." Kakashi agreed.

"Oh yes, I own this guy a favor." Gatoh approached Haku's body. "For gripping my hand until it broke."

"He's already dead." he noted, after giving Haku's body a kick.

"Bastard!" Naruto hollered. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Stop." Kakashi stopped the outraged blond. "Don't move so carelessly."

"Why don't you say something too!" Naruto barked at Zabuza. "He was on your side, right?"

"Shut up, kid." Zabuza snapped. "Haku is already dead."

"You really don't feel anything about what he did?" Naruto fumed. "You were with him a long time, right?"

"Like like how Gatoh used me, I was just using Haku." Zabuza replied. "I said this before, we ninjas are just tools. I wanted his abilities, not him. I have no regrets."

"Do you really mean that?" Naruto asked.

"Stop it, Naruto." Kakashi chided. "We don't have to fight him anymore. Besides..."

"Shut up!" Naruto fumed, shaking off Kakashi's hand. "He's still my enemy! He... he really liked you! He really, really liked you! And you really don't think anything about him? Do you really... really not think anything of him? When a person becomes as strong as you, do they start to think like that? He... he sacrificed his life for you! He couldn't even see his own dream. Dying as a tool... is just... just... too painful..."

"Kid..." Zabuza started, his tears dripping on the ground. "Don't say any more... Haku... not only did he hurt his heart to fight foe me, he hurt his heart for you guys. I know. He was too kind. I'm glad we were able to fight you as our final opponent."

"Oh yes kid, it was just like you said." he looked over at Naruto after tearing his mouth bandages off. "Ninja are human too. They might not be able to become a tool without emotions. I lose."

"Kid, give me your knife." he requested.

Naruto nodded and tossed the missing nin his kunai.

Grabbing the knife with his mouth, Zabuza charged.

"Hey! Kill those guys!" Gatoh ordered.

"Yeah!" the assembled samurais chorused. "Idiot, do you think you can beat so many of us on your own?"

Without replying, Zabuza slashed through the the samurais. Fighting his way through the samurais and ignoring the weapons stuck on his back, he headed straight for Gatoh.

"A demon!" Gatoh was stunned, before Zabuza drove the kunai into his chest.

"If you want to go where your friend is that badly, go by yourself." he cursed after Zabuza was backstabbed by several more spears on his back.

"Unfortunately, I don't intend to go to the same place as Haku." Zabuza replied.

"What did you say?" Gatoh demanded. "Don't act so tough!"

"You are going to hell with me!" Zabuza swore "It's no big deal, though. The Demon of the Hidden Village of the Mist can become a real demon if he dies and goes to hell. Look forward to it. I'll let you see if I'm really a cute demon or not in hell."

That said, he continued slashing Gatoh until the overlord fell overboard into the water.

Glaring at the samurais which parted like the Red Sea at his killing intent (aka KI from now on), Zabuza dropped the kunai and made his way towards Haku's body.

"Haku..." the swordsman muttered. "It's time to say goodbye, Haku. Thank you for everything. I'm sorry... Guard Mercury-sama for me."

"Don't look away." Kakashi told Naruto who had turned away after Zabuza died. "It's the end of a man who lived desperately."

"Okay..." Naruto sniffled.


Meanwhile...

Did I die? Sasuke wondered, peering open his eyes when he heard Sakura's sobs. Sakura... I... I...

"Sakura, you're heavy." he remarked.

"Sasuke-kun...?" Sakura blinked. " Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun!"

"Sakura, that hurts." Sasuke muttered as the overwhelmed girl hugged him.

You must be happy, Sakura. Tazuna smiled.

"No, don't move." Sakura chided as Sasuke pushed himself up.

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked. "And what happened to that masked guy?"

"Naruto is safe." Sakura replied. "And that masked boy... died."

"Died?" Sasuke echoed. "Did Naruto kill him?"

"No... I don't know the details, but it seems he protected Zabuza, and..." Sakura shook her head. "I believed in you. You must have dodged the attacks to avoid serious damage."

He must have done it on purpose in the beginning. Sasuke realized.

"Naruto!" Sakura called.

Sakura... Naruto turned.

"Sasuke-kun is okay!" Sakura beamed as Sasuke stood up. "He's alive!"

"What?" Naruto gaped.

I see, so he... he mused, realizing what Haku had missed Sasuke's vital points on purpose.

I see, so Sasuke's safe, too. Kakashi noted. I'm glad.

"You guys are too safe." the surviving samurais cut off the peaceful moment. "Damn ninja, you killed our source of revenue! Now we have to attack the town and steal all the valuables."

"This isn't good." Kakashi remarked.

"Kakashi-sensei, don't you have a technique that can just beat them all at once?" Naruto asked.

"No, I've used up too much charka." Kakashi replied.

"Let's go!" the samurais declared.

"Anyone who gets any closer to this island will die facing the forces of this island!" Giichi declared after the samurais were stopped by Inari's arrow.

"Inari!" Naruto beamed.

"Heroes are supposed to come late." Inari grinned.

"Inari... all of you..." Tazuna muttered.

"Haku." Keena summoned her ice sprite. In a flash, a yukata-dressed Haku manifested beside his new mistress, with two flaming ice wings on his back and looking more like a female than a male.

"Tsurara Mai!" the ice Guardian called. At that, Haku's senbon needles turned into icicles surrounding the samurais, the pricks nicking the arms and legs of the ronins as they converged onto the group.

"We definitely have to work on your aim on that one." Keena looked at the ice sprite.

Their resolve weakening, the samurais stumbled back to the boat and fled.

"Yeah!" Inari whooped.

"Looks like it's over." Zabuza remarked as Kakashi approached him.

"Yeah." Keena replied.

"Kakashi, I have a favor to ask." Zabuza started.

"What is it?" the one-eyes Jonin asked.

"I want to see his face." Zabuza replied.

"Sure." Kakashi remarked. Lifting the fatally wounded swordsman, he took him over to Haku as snow fell onto the bridge.

"It's snow." Tazuna noted. "Snow at this time of the season?"

Haku, are you crying? Zabuza wondered.

"Thanks , Kakashi." he added.

"We've been together all this time..." he mused as Kakashi left him alone. "So, I die next to you. If possible, I want to go to the same place as you're going to and guard Mercury-sama..."

"He was born in a village where a lot of snow fell." Naruto sobbed.

"Is that a fact?" Kakashi wondered. "He was pure white like the snow. "You can go there, Zabuza, together."


Later...

"I was wondering, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura voiced after they buried the two. "Does a ninja really have to be the way they said a ninja should be?"

"Ninja are not supposed to seek their reason to exist." Kakashi replied. "It's important that they exist as a tool. That idea exists in Konoha, too."

"Does becoming a real ninja really mean that?" Naruto added his two cents. "I... kind of... don't like that."

"Do you think so, too?" Sasuke remarked.

"Well, no." Kakashi relented. "That's why, ninja unconsciously suffer from that idea. Like Zabuza and that boy."

"All right!" Naruto declared. "I've decided! I'm going to follow my own 'way of the ninja'. I'm going to run straight down the path where I'm not going to regret anything!"

As the kit says,he never ceases to amaze. Keena mused on a tree branch.


Sometime later...

"We've completed the bridge, thanks to you, but we're going to miss you." Tazuna remarked as the whole village saw Team 7 off.

"Be well." Tsunami added.

"Thank you for everything." Kakashi noted.

"Now, now, old man Tazuna, we'll visit you again one day." Naruto promised.

"Promise?" Inari sniffled.

"Inari... you're going to get lonely, aren't you?" Naruto realized. "You can cry, you know. Cry..."

"I'm not going to cry!" Inari swore. "You can cry too, Naruto!"

"Is that so..." Naruto held back his tears.

"See you!" he called, turning away to hiding his tears.

You stubborn guy. Sakura deathpanned.

"That boy changed Inari's heart." Tazuna looked at the departing Team 7. "And Inari changed the hearts of the villagers. That boy created a bridge, known as courage, which led to hope."

"Bridge eh?" Giichi echoed. "Oh yeah... we need to name this bridge too."

"I forgot." Tazuna replied. "But I have a perfect name for this bridge."

"What is it?" Giichi inquired.

"How about, the Naruto Big Bridge?" Tazuna supplied.

"That's a good name." Tsunami chuckled.

"What? Are you sure about that name?" Giichi was skeptical.

"I named it that because I hope it will never crumble." Tazuna replied. "And one day, I hope the bridge will become famous and known worldwide."


Meanwhile...

"All right!" Naruto beamed. "Once I get home, I'm going to have Iruka-sensei treat me to ramen to celebrate the completion of this mission. Also, I'm going to make Konohamaru listen to my tale of bravery."

"Then, I'll..." Sakura started. "Hey, Sasuke-kun, do you want to go on a date once we return to the village?"

"No, I decline." Sasuke replied.

"Oh, no..." Sakura wailed.


SailorStar9: Wow, now that's done, read and review.