Super happy chapter.
Without further ado, let's do this.
Chapter 7: What Lies Within
The first thing Zabuza felt upon waking up was pain, which was fairly surprising, given his tolerance to the stuff.
He sat up slowly, making an effort to not aggravate the wound on his abdomen.
He failed, of course, he'd never been the most delicate of people, especially not when it came to his own body. Idly, he poked and prodded his bandaged chest, and was rewarded with a dull ache.
Those damned kids.
He'd forgotten, back then, that even a Genin could kill you if you let your guard down. It was one of the first lessons he'd learned, back on the battlefield of the Third Shinobi World War, when his entire squad of Mist Jonin had been wiped out by some prodigy from the leaf village.
And honestly, he shouldn't even have been going easy on them, one of them had used the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and summoned more clones than most Jonin ever could.
And yet, even after seeing that, he just hadn't been able to bring himself to strike them. Because they'd reminded him of Haku.
Haku was a weakness, his weakness.
Despite it all, though, Zabuza just couldn't bring himself to want to be rid of him. Pragmatically, he knew that the boy was holding him back, had been for several years now. they'd been slower in evacuating the Mist village, losing more people in their escape, because of him. They'd had to camp more often, the young boy being quickly exhausted, because of him.
And even now, Zabuza couldn't strike down a couple of easy targets, targets whose lives were worth more than their weight in gold, because of him.
Ostensibly, he kept Haku around to nurture a useful tool. If that tool were only going to get in the way, however, then perhaps he should be rid of it.
The sound of quiet, rhythmic breathing shook him out of his own head, and he turned towards the sound of the noise, unconsciously raising his guard. He wouldn't make the mistake he'd made yesterday again.
But all he found when he looked beside him was the resting form of his pupil, Haku.
The boy was asleep on a small stool that he'd pulled up beside Zabuza's bed, and he was slumped forward, like he'd fallen asleep without meaning to. His eyes widened, and he felt a surge of guilt course through him.
Haku had waited for him. He'd gotten him out of harm's way, carried him all the way back here, bandaged and nursed his injuries, and then stayed awake for as long as he could, hoping that he'd wake up.
And he'd been thinking about whether or not to throw him out.
Without even really thinking about it, Zabuza reached over and lightly shook the boy's shoulder. Haku awoke with a start, gasping lightly. His pupil looked down at him, eyes wide with barely concealed panic, before he saw his face, and sighed in relief.
"Mr. Zabuza, you're awake."
His eyes were rife with bags, and his face looked a bit too pale to be considered healthy. Still, the boy's smile seemed to cut into his own heart, rending him before he could so much as say a word. He'd thought about ridding himself of that smile, of this boy.
He reached over and placed his hand atop Haku's head, lightly ruffling the boy's hair. His student tensed, unused to such a soft gesture. Despite himself, the boy leaned into it slightly, even as Zabuza pulled his hand away, letting it fall back down at his side.
"Thank you, Haku."
He didn't watch at his pupil while he spoke, instead fixating his gaze on a small spot on the ceiling, which he idly noted would probably need repaired soon.
As he looked over his student, though, Zabuza noticed that the boy was blushing intensely, looking down at the floor and unable to meet the assassin's own eyes. Something about the whole scene amused the man, and despite not really meaning to, he ended up laughing uproariously. Haku stared at him oddly, a bit confused, even if he was smiling unknowingly.
As he calmed down, he looked back over at Haku, looking like the world's most confused puppy dog, and barely managed to keep himself from laughing again.
"Gods," Zabuza spoke, still chuckling under his breath, before ruffling the boy's hair one last time. "You're an odd one, Brat."
He hadn't thought it possible, but somehow the boy managed to look even more confused at that.
"Uhm…" The boy spoke like he wasn't quite sure what to say, or even if he truly knew what had been said to him. "Thank you, Zabuza sir?"
The kid peered at him quizzically, and then started to examine his head methodically.
"What're you doing?" The rogue ninja questioned with no small amount of mirth.
"Checking for any head injuries." Haku explained calmly, his face completely serious. "You aren't acting quite like yourself, I just want to make that I didn't miss anything."
The assassin couldn't help his laughter that time, and as the boy continued to grow only more and more concerned, it only got worse. When he finally settled down, it was to see his pupil looking at him with eyes that were both worried and bemused.
"Sir, is… are you alright?"
He was, at this point, already laughed out, and was able to hear the raw concern in the boy's voice.
"I'm fine, Haku," He spoke seriously, with no hint of trickery. "No need to worry so much."
The boy seemed to disagree, but otherwise kept silent. Instead, he pulled his stool closer to the foot of the assassin's bed and seemed content to sit there again while Zabuza rested.
"Oh, no." He began, pointing towards the other bed in the room with his left hand. "Go to sleep."
"B-but sir, I'm fine-"
"No, you're not, Brat." Zabuza looked straight at him, trying to make the boy flinch and look away, which he did a second later. "Tell me honestly, how long were you awake waiting for me to wake up?"
The boy knew not to lie to him but had apparently figured out that it still counted as telling him if he mumbled it into his sleeve.
"What was that?"
Haku looked up at him guiltily, twiddling his thumbs.
"T-twenty-six hours…"
The man sighed.
"Sleep, now."
The boy seemed ready to protest, looking up at him with one of the first indignant expressions Zabuza thought he'd ever seen on him.
"Someone needs to keep watch, Zabuza sir!"
"I'll be keeping watch, Brat." At that, his pupil looked to want to complain again, but he cut him off before he could. "And if anyone does come, I'll wake you up."
The boy slumped slightly, and much like a shark that stopped moving for too long, he seemed to lose all of the vigor he'd had a few seconds ago, practically falling into the bed behind him.
"Alright, sir." The boy gave him a tired smile that looked sloppily plastered onto his face. "I trust you."
Zabuza felt a lot like he'd been kicked in the stomach as his student fell asleep mere moments later.
'I trust you.'
He'd actually thought about getting rid of this boy. It hadn't been a serious thought, not one he'd allowed for very long, but he'd certainly considered it for a moment.
The only truly good thing he'd ever found, and he'd thought about throwing him away for… for what? Power? Efficiency? Money?
In that moment, as he sat up in his bed, all alone with his thoughts, he recalled when he'd slaughtered hundreds on innocents in his academy exam. He recalled when he'd murdered comrades for stepping just slightly out of line. He recalled turning on his own Kage and burning the village he'd once thought of as a homeland to make his escape. And yet still, it was almost funny…
He didn't think he'd ever felt quite this disgusted with himself.
He didn't have long to feel sorry for himself, though, as their door was practically broken down a few minutes later. Zabuza made to wake his pupil but found the boy already up and at the ready, looking exhausted but prepared.
Their focus didn't even dull upon seeing who walked in, even if he was their boss at the moment, neither of them had any inclinations of trust towards the man.
Gato didn't exactly inspire loyalty.
"Well, seems you've been getting your ass handed to you." The richest man in the Mist stepped into their small abode, flanked by two armed guards, who Zabuza noted with some amusement seemed to barely qualify as Genin level.
His amusement died an ugly death a second later, as Haku made to rise at the man's baiting, a snarl on his face. It was only his own hand on the boy's shoulder that stopped him, and he gave him a curt shake of the head. It wouldn't do for them to anger the man, not with the state they were in.
Not as if he could have them killed, he could've sent his entire private army after them, and they would've been able to get away. It was more that they couldn't afford to lose this job on something so asinine as barbed words.
They'd already failed once, that much was obvious from their conditions, along with the bridge-builder's continued existence. They needed to be calm, focused, prove they could get the job done.
Didn't mean Zabuza himself didn't growl a little as the small speck of a man sneered in their direction, and when his pathetic henchmen did the same.
"You'd do well to control your pup, Zabuza," He stepped a little closer, dangerously close to Haku, more than close enough for the boy to end the man's life with on no more than a whim, but they all knew he wouldn't. "I don't pay you to fail, but I don't think you'll be paid at all if you're dead."
Perhaps the man truly thought he could have them killed if he desired, and the mirth that thought brought was the only thing that kept him from decapitating the man in front of him with his blade.
Well, that and his current bout of paralysis. Haku's needles had done a grand job of faking his death, but that also meant they made his muscles seize up a bit. He really did need the rest before he could attack Kakashi's crew again.
But Gato couldn't know that, and so he got up, ignoring the sharp pain in his abdomen as he curled into a sitting position, looking the man in the eye with a neutral expression.
"I don't tell you how to handle your men, Gato," He spoke calmly, evenly, in as clear a display of strength as he felt he could muster. "Do not tell me how to handle mine."
Dealing with people like Gato had become something of second nature to Zabuza. He'd been at the mercenary game for a while now, and you didn't get to do that without meeting some unsavory customers, seeking even more unsavory work. Those people wanted to flaunt their power in your face, say without saying that they were the bigger man, and you were a pawn.
But if you wanted respect, you had to stand right up with them. Gato had learned a few things about him in their earliest encounters, but easily the most important lesson he'd been taught was that Zabuza wasn't to be trifled with.
And that was crucial, because now, even when he was at his very weakest, in an easy position for Gato to perhaps sell his location to those leaf ninja, he didn't dare make a move against him. The man knew to fear him, but also knew, via reputation, that the assassin got the job done. He'd give him a second chance, both of them already knew that.
This whole thing, the taunting, the baiting, was just this pathetic man trying to make himself feel a little bigger, make himself feel powerful against someone he would normally never be able to contest. It was just ceremony, so that he could look good in front of his men. Zabuza himself was content to allow it, mostly because the man paid well.
It certainly made it easier to cope with the man practically spitting in his face.
Haku was struggling a bit, though.
"That'd be because my men are well trained." Gato smirked maliciously, walking over to his pupil and standing at his full height, which was probably less than a meter. His men behind him were the only thing that kept him from looking like a joke, and even then it was only just. "They aren't animals I picked up off the street."
Deep breaths, Zabuza had to remind himself. He'll be gone in a minute, and you can do your job.
Still, best to accelerate this little farce, rather than risk his, or Haku's anger, getting to them.
"Why are you here, Gato?" He kept his voice as collected as he could manage, which was difficult as his left hand continued to push Haku back into his bed, preventing him from standing and making a scene. "If you're worried about us leaving the job, don't be, we'll attack again in a day or two."
The man seemed to think as hard as he could, which Zabuza reckoned wasn't particularly hard at all, and concluded that he wasn't being lied to. He harrumphed loudly, probably annoyed that he couldn't feel all big and strong today, and stepped back towards the exit.
"One to two days, correct?" Gato turned one last time, eyes squinted as he looked at the two of them.
"We'll get it done."
The man stepped outside, his guards following him a few seconds later, though not without shooting them one final barb.
"Do not fail me again! I have more than enough resources to bury the both of you!"
Gato's men slammed the door behind them, cracking the frame a bit.
Silence fell upon the two of them, and Zabuza realized a second or two later that he was still pushing his pupil into his bed, trying to keep him from lashing out. He removed his hand, still reeling a bit from how he'd thought about the boy earlier.
"Sir, why do we have to deal with people like that?"
Haku's voice surprised him, and he turned to see the boy gazing at the floor, eyes hard with anger.
"We do it because we need to, Haku." Zabuza said, laying back down, making the pain in his abdomen finally dull. "If we're ever going to kill the Mizukage-"
"Why do we need to do that!?"
His eyes widened as he stared at his student. He'd never heard him shout like that before, nor had he ever heard the boy question his decisions.
"I just…" Haku seemed to come to his senses a second later, and his eyes dulled from their previous state. "I'm sorry, Zabuza sir, I shouldn't be thinking about these things."
"It's fine, Haku, but what-"
"I seem to be feeling faint, sir, my apologies." Haku laid down on his bed, turning away from him, shrouding his face from view.
The boy had never been dismissive before, never acted like this before, and he honestly couldn't see why he would all of a sudden. Still, he was exhausted himself, and dealing with Haku's new mood wasn't helping at all. He resigned to deal with this when the boy woke up.
Upon hearing the boy's breathing become more rhythmic, he sat back into his headboard, not laying down, he didn't trust himself to do that with how tired he was, but simply laying back against it.
He waited a while, fiddling with this and that. Watching for intruders was never a particularly grand thing, unless, of course, you actually got attacked. It was for that reason that it was important, but it still didn't help him now. The only threat he thought they might face had come and gone.
Even still though, as he sat silently, thinking about what Haku had said, and what he was going to do about it, he felt himself grow more and more tired. By the time the boy awoke, he was far too exhausted to bring the boy's outburst back up. He let him take over the watch and laid down.
The only sleep that came was fitful.
/-/
"I'm sorry," Kakashi Sensei seemed, frankly, flabbergasted at what Naruto had just said. "You did what!?"
"I said I used my shadow clones to train with tree climbing!" Naruto looked inordinately proud of himself, smiling brightly. "Sasuke thought that I should be more strategic with my clones, think more about when to use them, and how to use them, so I remembered that when the clones die, I get, like… Sasuke what's the word for-"
"Feedback." The boy sighed out.
"Right, Feedback! Anyways I get feedback when they die, and learn stuff," Naruto looked around at the three of them, checking to make sure they were listening. "And most of the time I just learn what it feels like to get stabbed with a sword or something," all of Team 7 grimaced slightly. "But, it did give me this super cool idea!"
Sakura herself was interested, after all, the boy had been off in the woods doing god-knows-what for 3 or 4 days now, she was curious to find out what that was all about.
"I made like… 30 or 40 shadow clones and had them all practice the tree climbing stuff! It was super weird, and I got really tired after doing it," Naruto spoke into the ground, but then smiled widely, looking back up at all of them with a cocky expression. "But I learned how to climb the trees with my chakra!"
Sakura thought that sounded incredibly useful, and extremely over-powered, but decided not to comment about it. She gazed over at Sasuke and found the boy wearing the same mildly-interested expression she was. On the other hand, their sensei looked like he was about to have a heart attack.
"Naruto," Kakashi spoke with a feigned sense of calm, holding his hands over his mouth in a reverent gesture. "After you finished, and banished all of your shadow clones… How did you feel?"
Naruto looked inquisitive, scratching the bottom of his chin, before he responded "I don't know."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I kind of passed out afterwards, so I don't really remember."
Their teacher took a deep breath, exhaling forcefully.
"That would be because what you did should have killed you!" Kakashi practically yelled, exasperated as he panted for breath. Sakura felt some of that herself, upon hearing that their friend probably should've died, all from just a small experiment. "How the hell did you even get your hands on the Shadow Clone Jutsu anyways? It's locked away in the Scroll of Sealings."
The two boys in front of her both coughed, their eyes trying desperately to find anything in the room that wasn't their Sensei.
The man simply sighed.
"Alright, I'm going to pretend I didn't ask that question, and move on to the topic at hand." Naruto and Sasuke both sent the man grateful nods, blushing profusely. "Today we'll be officially commencing our continuous mission of guarding Tazuna on the bridge."
That had Sakura's attention, and that of the other two boys as well. They turned towards their teacher, eyes hardening as they thought of what they may face.
"We'll be doing this on a rotating schedule," Kakashi turned to her first. "Sakura, you'll be watching the bridge with me today, then," He turned towards their resident blonde. "Naruto will be with me the next day, finishing off with Sasuke. We'll then repeat this schedule, every day, until the bridge is completed, and trade between the Wave and the Leaf is finalized, or until the ninja threat this country is facing is dealt with."
He looked each one of them in the eye and then, seeming confident in what he saw there, walked towards the doorway, Sakura just a few measures behind him.
"Alright,"
The man stepped outside.
"Let's do this."
/-/
Guarding a bridge was, in Naruto's opinion, the most boring thing in the entire world.
I mean, he'd done a few D-ranked missions that were more boring, like dog-walking and cat-catching, but those were at worst a few hours long.
He'd been watching this bridge for 8 hours now, and according to Kakashi, it was going to be another 3 or 4 before the workers went home.
Perhaps this is what hell is like? Naruto thought, gently stroking his chin, eyes squinting in contemplation.
He had to admit that, as the mist started to roll in, and Kakashi grabbed his shoulder, telling him to be ready for a fight, he was almost glad.
OK, he was extremely glad. Fighting was way more fun than waiting.
Kakashi had filled him and the rest of Team 7 in a few days ago. In the most likely case, Zabuza was alive, and that seeker ninja they'd encountered was helping him. If the two came after the bridge, Naruto was to send a shadow clone to alert the two still at Tsunami's to send 1 person for backup.
He did just that, making the shadow clone sign and summoning a second copy of himself. The other him nodded, and dashed off of the bridge, making his way into the winding streets of the Wave.
As he turned around, ready to face combat, it was to see his teacher already exposing his Sharingan. He didn't want his sensei to put himself at risk with it, but he also knew that, until Kakashi had brought it out, he had struggled against the man they now faced.
Naruto prepared for the battle his own way, summoning 10 shadow clones beside him, and had 3 of them run straight into the oncoming mist.
Ow, okay, so that's what dying via a thousand needles to the face feels like, Naruto thought, wincing. Good to know.
Oh, and death via giant sword again, awesome.
"Yeah, it's them." Naruto spoke glumly, holding up his kunai in front of him, prepared to deflect any projectiles that may be thrown at him.
"That was smart thinking, Naruto." Kakashi spoke, looking at him with a oddly proud expression, like the man hadn't thought he'd think of that.
"Yeah, uhm, thanks." The blonde spoke awkwardly, looking back at the mist rolling in with a small blush on his face.
It felt good to be smart, to think of things no one else did, and to have someone point it out to you. Whenever he managed to pull a trick on Sasuke in one of their spars that had the other boy reeling, he always felt so happy afterwards. Even when he lost, it felt good to come closer and closer.
It still felt frustrating as all hell to lose, but he'd gotten used to that, honestly.
The whining and screaming about it were purely for aesthetic purposes.
A small needle, almost indistinguishable from the mist it emerged from, whizzed towards him, and he realized with terror that he wouldn't be able to block it in time.
Kakashi batted it aside with the back of his glove, eyes never leaving the encroaching fog.
"Focus, Naruto."
"Y-yeah, will do, Sensei."
Their opponents finally showed themselves a second later.
Zabuza looked exactly the same, though his eyes held a certain expression to them that hadn't been there last time, and Naruto honestly wasn't sure what to make of it. It wasn't unfamiliar to him, he'd seen it quite a few times in Sasuke before.
It was doubt.
Whatever that was about, however, Naruto didn't know. He couldn't tell if that'd be good or bad for them. The man could all of a sudden be doubting whether or not he should just kill them this time, instead of dancing around them for 20 minutes. If that was the case, then he hoped the man in front of them resolved his issues in a timely manner.
"Kakashi." Zabuza spoke loudly and confidently, almost snarling the name out as he gripped his sword and brought it down upon the bridge below them, cracking it apart at his feet. "I'll offer one last time, give up that man, and you'll all get to leave here alive."
His teacher gave a small chuckle, drawing a small scroll from within his vest and bringing it forth, eyes hardening as he took a battle-ready stance.
"I'm afraid that won't be possible."
The assassin in front of them merely nodded, having already accepted this outcome before he arrived. He pulled his sword up onto his shoulder, gave a quick command to the mask guy, and charged at them.
A second later, the masked man was on him, and Naruto had to deflect the guy's initial assault with his Kunai, letting the momentum of the hit knock him backwards. He spun to a stop a meter or so back, eyeing the man in front of him.
OK, Sasuke says step one is to analyze my oppone-
A senbon licked the side of his face, cutting a small incision into his cheek. He paled slightly, just managing to dodge the second one on instinct, before taking a third directly into his shoulder.
Compared to a shuriken, which he'd taken a few of to the chest in his spars with Sasuke, it wasn't anything to mention, but that was like saying a Jonin was nothing in the face of a Kage.
Technically true, but missing the point, it hurt like hell.
Still, he didn't scream or cry, he merely hissed in pain. Now that he was fully focused on the fight, he was able to dodge the next few needles with ease, and even match the man's own kunai with one of his own, knocking both out of the air.
It would have been generous to call it a stalemate, though. He had been losing ground the entire fight so far, and if Sasuke's words were true, which they tended to be, then first impressions in a fight were generally correct, unless the other party had something to shake it up.
Naruto did have something to shake things up, though.
He brought out his hands, forming his signature Shadow clone sign, and grinned as 20 or so copies of himself burst into existence beside him. They charged at the masked man in front of him with reckless abandon, Kunai at the ready.
His plan encountered problems almost immediately.
As it turned out, clones that vanished upon being struck were fairly susceptible to needles, which, while not doing very much damage, were very good at causing slight amounts of pain. The masked man in front of him threw a single senbon for each of his charging clones, killing all of them, and barely breaking a sweat.
That would, normally, have been a problem, and a large one at that.
But Naruto couldn't help the relieved smile that blossomed onto his face, and the man in front of him must've seen it, because he hesitated.
The man didn't notice it, and really, he couldn't be blamed for that.
Couldn't be blamed for the kunai now sticking out of his back, either.
Sasuke landed beside him with a roll, smiling up at him.
"Took you long enough." Naruto spoke with a smirk.
"Hey, you're the one who took so long, that clone was barely trying!" Sasuke tried to sound mad, but seemed unable to manage it, instead focusing in on the opponent in front of them, now wounded.
The masked man laughed.
Which, to Naruto at least, meant that something was about to make their situation considerably worse.
It came in the form of several, meter or so tall ice mirrors, which began to form around them in a dome-like shape. Sasuke made to attack the man in front of them and stop them from forming, but he dove backwards, literally sinking into the reflective surface.
"Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals." The man's reflection walked forwards, though never quite stepping out of the mirror in front of him.
Naruto had a vague sense that he'd heard the voice before but dismissed it. It wouldn't do to dwell on meaningless thoughts during a battle.
Not when their enemy was pelting them with senbon, all from nearly complete safety.
I'd like to retract my previous statement, Naruto thought, yelping in pain as a hundred or more needles stuck into his flesh. These hurt way more than a shuriken.
"He's aiming for pressure points, Naruto." Sasuke hissed out between grit teeth, himself bearing several needles. He seemed to be better at batting the needles out of the sky, though, because the floor in front of the boy was littered with the things. "Cover your face with your arms, but if you can, deflect them."
He wanted to make some comment about that, but honestly couldn't find the energy. It turned out that feeling pain all over your body, extreme, lingering pain, kind of killed one's ability to make jokes.
"Fire style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Sasuke's flames lit up the fog surrounding them, glowing brightly as it burned against the series of mirrors in front of them. Unfortunately, while he sat and channeled it, several senbon embedded themselves into his back. The boy stumbled slightly, but didn't relent in his attack, continuing to blast away at the ice sheets that blocked their escape.
When the flames faded, there wasn't a single nick on the ice.
"W-what!?" Naruto breathed out, disbelief, panic, and hopelessness filling his voice. "What the hell do we do, Sasuke!?"
"Calm down!" Sasuke yelled, looking over at him and wincing from the movement, as several of the kunai in his back popped out. Naruto caught him as he staggered slightly, looking around for Zabuza's partner.
"We need to think," His best friend looked up at him, analyzing the situation. "Can you use your shadow clones, and get a few of them out of this… try and break it from the outside?"
"Tried already, the needles get rid of them instantly."
As if on cue, another round of the senbon's rained down on them, and Naruto shielded his friend from them, even as a few hundred of the things impacted his back. It was his turn to nearly fall, and be held up by his friend, who had recovered enough to stand solidly.
"These things don't do much damage, but they wear us down." The boy looked around, eyeing for anything that would get them out of their predicament. "I-I… Naruto do you have any ideas?"
"N-no!"
He was panicking now, he knew that. It was hard not to, honestly. He spawned as many shadow clones as he felt he could muster and had each and every one of them charge towards the icy walls, trying to hit them.
Every single one of them was cut down.
Another round of senbon, more wounds on his body. He wasn't all there, anymore. He could tell, because he was honestly considering just screaming and falling into a ball on the ground. Really, what damage would that do. None, right? Maybe it was just better to give up.
A second later, something big whizzed by them, and Naruto felt the first extreme pain of the fight so far. He yelled loudly as something tore a chunk out of his shoulder.
"What the hell was that!?" Naruto screamed out, looking all around for whatever had just struck them.
"That boy!" Sasuke shouted, eyes moving a mile a minute as he scanned their surroundings, desperately searching for the masked man they were fighting. His answer came a second later, however, as Naruto vaguely made out a human-like shape blur past his friend and shouted the boy's name as blood pooled onto his shoulder.
A kunai was embedded into it.
"I-I…" Sasuke coughed, looking around, before, to Naruto's immense surprise, he smiled. "I could see him."
"What?"
"I could follow him, with my eyes." His friend was panting, but there was no denying the rush of hope they both felt. If they could track the masked man, then maybe they could start fighting back against him.
"I have a plan, Naruto, but it's not a great one."
"I'll take anything at this point."
"I'm going to hit him with a kunai at the exact moment he emerges."
Naruto felt like that was, perhaps, a pretty terrible plan, but couldn't bring himself to say it.
"Alright, what do you need me to do?"
"Look for any patterns." Sasuke spoke, voice becoming calculating, eyes scanning for anything and everything. "How often does he charge at us, how many mirrors does he cross before he charges us, can he move freely between mirrors without penalty, does he always move at the same speed, stuff like that, just little things. It's small but-"
"I got it." Naruto spoke, nodding to the boy in front of him. "You can count on me."
Sasuke gave him a small smile, then placed his back to Naruto's, so that the two of them faced opposite sides of the icy wall.
"He's coming!" Sasuke shouted, and that was the only warning Naruto got before a sharp pain impacted the back of his left shoulder, just a scant few inches from his neck.
Analyze. Think. It took him two seconds for-
The masked man charged, and Naruto just barely managed to deflect the kunai in his hand, but he couldn't stop the man from sailing away, back into a mirror opposite them.
Wait…
That could be something.
"I think I have something!"
"Really!?"
"Yeah, try not to sound so shocked!" Naruto shouted, but he couldn't help more hope resurfacing. "I've gotta' be sure, first, though, gimme' one more run!"
"Got you!"
As the man came in for another blow, Naruto anticipated the man's movements.
He was rewarded by a sharp gasp, as he drew a faint line on the masked man's arm. It wasn't a particularly large cut, perhaps slightly deeper than one would get from a piece of paper.
To him, in that moment, it might as well have been the killing blow.
"I've got it! He can only attack in a straight line, and only from his right side! Dodge to the left, and then slash, you'll hit him every time!"
"That was awesome, Narut-"
It was such a small sound, really. It was a whistling noise, that started small, yet in an instant seemed to blot out all the sound in the world.
The man was coming again. Naruto could see it. Sasuke had turned towards him, eyes filled with joy and mirth and hope and pride and a million other little things. He'd looked away from his opponent, just for a second, and now he was going to pay.
He couldn't tell where the Kunai was aimed, but he didn't have the time to figure it out, either. Naruto knew there could be no hesitation, no interim moment if he was going to save his friend.
Without really thinking, he moved.
Blood dribbled down his chin.
The kunai in their opponents hands shook, though the weapon didn't move. It rattled, sure, but it was too deep in to come loose so easily.
Too deep into his own left breast.
Cutting into Naruto's heart.
"Sasuke!" He shouted with every bit of energy he still had, every last fiber of his being as he grabbed the masked man's hand, holding him in place, even as he struggled to break free. Naruto felt that, normally, the man would've been able to pull away with ease. He seemed so much stronger than him.
Perhaps it was ironic, that now of all times, he felt truly strong.
"NOW!"
His best friend didn't waste his chance, digging a kunai out of his shoulder, and stabbing it directly into the masked man's chest.
Their opponent screamed, finally managing to break free of Naruto's hold as he pulled away, inadvertently taking Naruto with him. He felt his body falling forward, unable to hold himself up.
Sasuke's arms caught him. They felt so warm against him; and Naruto felt himself lean into the boy without meaning to.
"N-Naruto?"
He looked up at his friend, wondering what he wanted.
A hot, salty droplet impacted his cheek a second later, rolling it's way down his face. Sasuke was crying openly, his face a complete mess of blood and tears. The boy looked so foreign to him. He had never seen him in so terrible a state.
Idly, he pulled a senbon out of his shoulder, just to see what would happen.
He didn't even feel it.
He thought he vaguely remembered Iruka Sensei telling them that that was a bad sign.
Oh. Naruto realized, eyes glazing over as he looked straight into the sky.
I'm going to die.
"Naruto, c'mon man!" Sasuke was crying, trying to haul him to his feet, but the boy was just too weak from the fight. "You've gotta'- you've gotta' get up."
He felt weak himself. He tried to follow his friend's commands, tried to move a muscle, but found his own body unresponsive. It was so odd to feel like you didn't belong in your own body, like you weren't even really in it at all.
A million and a half thoughts crossed his mind. He saw his life in the village, the children he used to play with, their parents taking them away. The shopping district, being chided, bullied, beaten, screaming about becoming the Hokage, a fox, and meeting Sasuke. He saw Sakura, and Ino, and Iruka. He saw dumb pranks and even dumber kids, just trying to have as much fun as they could. He looked at himself, laughing and messing around with Sasuke as he finished painting the mustache onto the Fourth Hokage's Monument.
"What… What about becoming Hokage, huh?" Sasuke's tears were falling down onto his face, trickling down his own chin. "You need to get up if you want to be Hokage, Naruto, so come on!"
Damn, Naruto thought, smiling bitterly, I feel like an idiot.
He'd never amount to anything in his life. He'd known that from the very beginning, since it all started. Everyone in the entire village had told him that, time and time again. Perhaps, somewhere along the line, he'd grown to believe them.
"I-I… I was never going to… to be Hokage."
If it was possible for Sasuke's face to grow more shocked, more devastated, than it did. The boy's eyes widened, and his eyebrow's drew even higher. He felt bad, he wanted to take back the words he'd said.
Gods, I want to do so many things differently.
"H-hey Sasuke?" He noted idly that his voice was weaker than he'd meant it to be, coming out as barely a whisper. "C-can you promise me… something?"
"Anything!"
He smiled, and the weight on his shoulders seemed to disappear. He noted, with some semblance of surprise, that the wound on his chest didn't hurt quite so much, but he'd chalk that up to his nerves shutting down.
"I-I want you to… to make your dream come true." He grasped the boy's hand in his own, vaguely surprised at how feeble his own grip felt compared to his friends. "Grow… stronger than your brother… beat him."
"B-but… your dream, being Hokage!"
His vision was filling with black. Sasuke resided in a small portrait, just in the center of it all. Naruto noted with some idle curiosity that the boy's eyes were a sparkling red, with three small, black dots swirling within them.
His Sharingan matched Kakashi's perfectly.
"C-can't do that… Now."
He felt all the pain fade, felt his vision go black.
He was dying.
"Maybe… you… could…"
And with one final breath, Naruto Uzumaki expired in the cold.
/-/
"Oi, wake up."
Or, Naruto remarked, as he gasped and sat up, finding strength in his arms and legs more than capable of keeping him upright, Perhaps not.
Upright in… a few inches of water?
Where the hell…
"Look over here, you idiot, you don't have long."
He did as was asked of him and found-
Naruto screamed, and quite loudly at that.
A giant, reddish-brown fox laid behind giant, rusted steel bars. The beast had red, slitted eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness of the room, and nine tails, that flowed behind him like a river. The whole thing seemed far too big to be conceivably created, and yet Naruto could feel that he wasn't dreaming. He honestly wasn't sure how he knew, it would've made far more sense if this was a dream, some kind of near death hallucination.
But it wasn't. Something in his stomach, the black swirl he'd seen only a few times in his life, told him it wasn't.
He screamed again, just for good measure.
"Shut up!"
He did as commanded, feeling like he could be forgiven for listening to a giant, nine-tailed fox demon.
Wait a second…
"You're the fox from my nightmares!"
"Really!? That's what you focus on!?" The fox actually shook his head, which seemed an oddly human thing to do, before he looked back at him. "Ugh, never mind. Listen, boy," The fox placed his head upon the floor of the room, creating a small wave of water that rose about halfway to Naruto's knees. "You're dying."
"Uhm…" What was he supposed to say to that? "I know?"
"I will save you."
Four words, four very simple words, and yet they carried with them a strange power. With them, Naruto felt hope blossom up into his chest, and some of the lingering pain he felt seemed to disappear.
"Why would you do that?"
"Because you and I, boy, are connected. You go, I go." The fox pointed to each of them in turn, his smile becoming sinister. "Well, I'd reform after a while, but honestly, that sounds like such a trifle. So, I'm cutting you a good deal, you get to live."
That did sound like a good deal.
Sasuke's advice came back to him, that if a deal seemed to good, that was often because it was.
"What's in it for you?"
The Fox actually laughed.
"You seem to think you have a choice in the matter."
Naruto felt power, overwhelming amounts of it, course through him, as the water below him became a faint orange in color, and the surface began to bubble ominously.
"Luckily for me, you're close enough to death that your bodies' natural desire to live is overwriting any will you might have had. I can pour in as much chakra as your body needs to live before it stops taking it."
"So!?"
"So…" The fox remarked ominously, poking his claw out of the cage, and bringing it to a stop just before Naruto's forehead. Up close, the beast's claw was massive, perhaps the size of him on it's own. "I get to… let's say… accelerate my plan a bit."
Oh good, Naruto thought, feeling fear course through him, I was worried you just helped me to be nice.
"So, get back out there, kid." The Fox turned one last time, and laid down in his cage, his massive red eye seeming to pierce through Naruto's very soul as it shut slowly. "Oh, and…"
"Do be careful out there."
/-/
Sasuke was still losing, and the thought filled him with a vitriol hate.
His eyes were runny with horrid, messy tears. Even as his vision seemed to get better and better with each passing second, he felt his eyes blur as well. He couldn't focus, not with what had happened.
Naruto was dead, and it was his fault.
He'd lost focus, looked towards the boy out of pride. He'd watched the look on the boy's face go from happy, to shocked, to determined. He had been completely sure of himself. He'd just thrown his life away, at the drop of a hat, and for what!?
For him!?
He just wanted to scream, he wanted to kill everything in his way right now. He watched in slow motion as the man popped out of the mirror, nursing his abdomen where Sasuke himself had stabbed him, and threw a few senbon at him.
He deflected them, easily, effortlessly. His eyes were too good. They didn't even linger on the needles, seeming to almost target them for his hand to follow up. It felt like they'd been locked onto.
The boy himself, however, was just a bit more agile. Even as Sasuke followed Naruto's advice, dodging to the left and slashing out at the mask on his face, scoring a deep line, he found himself unable to go further as a small, icy dagger nearly cut his arm clean off.
He dodged at the last second, feeling rage fill him. He felt his eyes heighten again, see even slower. He felt like he could see each individual piece of ice that fell off the mirrors around him. He had nearly an eternity to himself before the boy attacked again, even if it was only 4 seconds later. He noted that there were exactly 476 senbon on the ground, and 53 still in his body.
He noted Naruto's body move.
He noted Naruto's body move.
He noted Naruto's body move.
It was subtle, really, just a small shaking in the boy's right hand, but it was still movement. Movement that was impossible.
Should've been impossible.
Unless Naruto was alive, of course.
Joy and hope surged through him. If he could beat the ninja in front of him, could defeat him and make it to Kakashi, then maybe he could still save his-
A roaring sound, a noise that Sasuke didn't think could've been created by anything human, seemed to rip the air apart.
The masked assailant, who had been about to attack him once more, stopped in his tracks.
No, he hadn't stopped. He'd been blown backwards from the force of the roar itself. It had had substance to it, pushing the very fog around them away. It had buffeted him back a few inches, even with his stance.
Naruto rose.
Sasuke nearly wept again, rushing over to his friend, completely forgetting about the battle before them.
And then Naruto fell onto all fours, his mouth curling into a snarl.
The thing looked up at him, it's eyed red with hatred, unnatural slits running down the middles, the chakra around it bubbling to the surface in an orange layer that seemed to surround Naruto's whole body, coalescing into a single, orange tail that flowed behind him.
It's gaze pierced him, staring into his very core.
Sasuke saw no recognition in its eyes.
"N-Naruto?"
The creature charged.
End Chapter 7
Just want to say straight out that no, Sasuke did not awaken the Mangekyou. He did however obtain a three tomoe Sharingan, which may have some slight affect on the plot, I don't know.
And yes, this is one-tail, Valley of the End Naruto.
The AU of this story truly begins now, after 6 chapters of setup. Good to be here, the rest of this story is going to be pretty weird.
We aren't going to suddenly jump off canon, though. Events will still happen in a general order, the one in the show.
At least for now, anyways.
Anyways, see you next week.