Yuki. A word which can mean many things. It can mean snow, or happiness. Or hope. Or courage. This day it meant all of those things, and still held meaning for those who dared to believe. Gato stood on the bridge with his thugs. Haku narrowed his eyes at them, "what is this?" he asked. "Oh look, it's the girly boy!" Gato cried in mock fear, getting those who stood behind him to laugh. "Well the truth is theirs been a slight change in plan- according to the new plan, you and Zabuza die right here on this bridge" The Ice user tensed, "you're too expensive, so I've decided to take you and your boss off the payroll- of course, even these thugs I brought with me cost something, so I was hoping that Zabuza could have slaughtered a few of them for me before they took him down, but it looks like he's not even awake right now!"
Naruto glared at Gato. Hearing the stories is one thing, but seeing it was something else entirely. How could a person like this, with such little regard for human life even exist at all. "Well, well, it would seem we no longer need to fight with you Naruto-Kun" Haku said, keeping his eyes on their enemies. The blonds eyes widened, "what! Haku, you can't seriously be thinking of fighting all of them by yourself!?" he demanded, "both Zabuza and Kakashi-Sensei are still out of it, even if he was awake Zabuza's hurt too much to do anything against all of these guys without getting killed, Sasuke's still in a Death State, and you don't look like you have much Chakra left! They'll kill you!" he yelped.
"I have to protect Zabuza-Sama, that is still my purpose, besides," here Haku paused and turned to look at the Uzumaki, "you haven't killed yet, and I don't want your first to be so many" he explained. Naruto shook his head, "Sasuke told me soon after we graduated that I should only feel guilty about killing people if they deserve that guilt, like if I really had killed you, I defiantly would have felt guilty about that, so even if I kill all these bastards and Gato, there would be nothing to feel guilty about" he replied. "Hey Naruto, if you're so intent on making sure the little girly-boy survives, why don't you give him some of my Chakra?" Kurama asked. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, 'I don't know how to do that, and why would you offer?' he wondered.
"Well I'm still bored, and if you're not going to kill all these useless idiots, at least you could give me the pleasure of being able to watch the Ice user kill all these useless idiots, and as for allowing that kid to use some of my Chakra, it'll make me feel more like I'm killing all of them!" he growled excitedly, and Naruto could almost see his tenants bloodthirsty grin. The Uzumaki sighed, "alright fine, but if you make him explode or boil him from the inside or something I will find a way to make your existence inside me miserable, got that?' he asked. "Yeah, yeah, if I killed the brat, he couldn't kill everyone else now could he?" Kurama asked. 'Okay, so how do we do this?' Naruto wondered. "Just take his hand, I'll do the rest, oh, and you might want to stop making so many faces to yourself if you don't want your new 'friend' to think you're insane" the Biju replied.
The blond-haired Ninja blanched, 'what! I've been doing that this whole time! Why didn't you say anything!?' he demanded indignantly. "Because it's funny to watch you make a fool of yourself" Kurama replied. Naruto sweat-dropped, "damn bastard" he muttered to himself. "Is something wrong Naruto-Kun? You've been making weird faces for a while now?" Haku asked curiously. The Uzumaki shook his head, "don't worry about it, I'll explain later," he held out his hand, "here, take my hand, I'll give you something to help" he said. Haku stared at him, only seeing genuine honesty in the other boy's gaze. He nodded his head, then reached out and held the hand of the boy he was tentatively coming to call 'friend'. Suddenly he felt a rush of Chakra enter him and his body was engulfed in an red glow. 'Um, Kurama, what's happening?' he asked warily. The fox scoffed, "it's our first time doing this brat, and we haven't even synced our Chakra, what did you expect to happen?" he replied.
'Just tell me we didn't make a mistake and Haku is about to explode' Naruto asked. "Do you think I have such little control of my own Chakra brat? I am Chakra! I have absolute control of every bit of it! if that boy were going to explode from Chakra overload it would have happed the instant my Chakra entered his system" Kurama explained. Naruto sighed with relief, "good, it worked" he said out loud. Haku stared at himself, shocked at the sudden massive amount of energy he could feel within himself. It was different from his own normal Chakra which was a constant numbing cold most times when he wasn't using it. This Chakra was warm, nearly hot in intensity and felt almost wild. But it wasn't hurting him in any way, and forming a few hand signs, multiple frozen icicles formed from the water on the bridge, so his Hyton Chakra wasn't affected.
In fact it felt stronger. Looking up at Gato's thugs who were staring at him warily, and the worthless man himself who was looking terrified, Haku got ready to attack, "normally I would feel remorse at being forced to kill so many people, but none of you are worth anything, so I'll just dispose of you all as quickly as possible" he said. Suddenly he shot off from the ground, cracking it from the sheer power he'd accidently put into it. Naruto closed his eyes, not wanting to watch so many people die, even if they had deserved it. Meanwhile, Haku was tearing through the men who were attempting to stop him. Key word, attempting. Every one of them fell instantly as the black-haired boy slashed them apart. While controlled enough not to kill him, the Chakra that Naruto had given him seemed as powerful as it felt.
As he punched a man away from him, a hole was blown through his stomach instead. When his enemies tried to stab or pulverise or hit him, every attack just hit the Chakra around him and did nothing but break their weapons instead. He was a red flame of destruction and death, tearing through the poor souls who had come here today. Eventually the last of the mercenaries were dead and Haku slowly walked towards the cowering form of his 'employer'. However and hand on his shoulder stopped him. The long-haired boy turned to look at the person who had stopped him, finding it to be Naruto, "that's enough Haku, he should be trialled for his crimes properly by the people of this land. They deserve that much" he explained. Haku nodded, sighing as the red Chakra let his body and was sucked back into Naruto's. Naruto turned towards Gato with an emotionless look on his face.
Suddenly he disappeared and reappeared behind the man, knocking him out with a precise chop to back of his neck. It was as he was tying the scumbag up, that he heard footsteps coming along the bridge. Turing back towards the sound in unconscious synchronicity with Sakura, they saw Sasuke slowly walking towards them, his eyes scanning the surroundings. When his eyes locked with Naruto, he gave a tiny smile and raised his hand in greeting. Naruto basically lit up from within, "Sasuke!" he cried, getting up and racing over to his younger brother. He wrapped his arms around the Uchiha, crying tears of relief into his shirt, "Otouto! Thank god! Oh Sasuke!" he sobbed, clutching the boy in his arms without ever wanting to let go again. Sasuke's grip was weak, but still warm and comforting as always. "Anija" he said softly, rubbing light but comforting circles into his older brother's back. As his legs still seemed very weak, Naruto supported both of them, "my brother, I'm so glad you're alright" he whispered, voice shaking from relief.
By now, Sakura had noticed the Uchiha boy and gasped happily, "Sasuke-Kun, you're okay!" she cried, racing over to them with Tazuna in tow. Sasuke was too drained to dodge, so he just stood there when Sakura embraced him. Soon they heard the sound of many feet echoing through the air. Everyone conscious looked up as the last of the mist cleared to show everyone from the village. They were all holding anything they could use as weapons. Kitchen utensils, garden tools, anything and everything. But they all stopped upon seeing what was going on. Naruto reluctantly pulled himself away from Sasuke and walked over to the unconscious Gato, "hey, anyone have some rope to tie this piñata I just found up? I think there's going to be lot's of turns before this one ends up bursting!" he called, hefting the bastard up for everyone to see.
A great cheer went up among the people as it began to snow. Naruto looked up at the sky. 'Heh, that's so appropriate right now, given all the meanings of the word yuki'. Haku looked up at the sky as well, breathing in the cold of natural snowfall for the first time in years. The last time it had snowed had been the day he had met Zabuza for the first time. And now it seemed like the current snowfall was heralding a new beginning. Maybe they could take Naruto's offer of returning to Konoha with him and his team. Yes they would have to subjected to questioning, but if they became Shinobi of Konoha, they could finally get those Hunter Ninja off their back. Deciding to ask Naruto, he turned to the boy- only to find him sound asleep in his younger brother's arms. Oh well, they could talk later.
Looking up at the Uchiha's face, he found him to be glaring at him. Oh, right, he didn't know about everything that had happened since their battle. Well, now was as good a time as any to begin explaining everything.
To Be Continued