For a moment Sasuke had thought things were going pretty well, Zabuza had shown up on the bridge with the Oinin and for a bit he'd been able to match the speed of the slightly older ninja. Kakashi had given him the go ahead and he took down even some Mizu Bunshin of Zabuza's, the fact they were only a tenth as strong as the real one was a minor damper on that but he'd still beaten the accomplice of Zabuza in speed.
That went completely downhill when he'd been surrounded by mirrors made of ice, Makyo Hyosho according to the accomplice. Now he was practically a pin cushion, Kakashi couldn't risk helping him either or Zabuza would kill Sakura and Tazuna.
To the credit of the pink haired kunoichi of team seven she attempted to help, but the masked shinobi easily caught the kunai she threw. Sasuke pulled himself to his knees, having collapsed under the hail of senbon leaving cuts along his body.
Then a shuriken came flying from off the bridge and grazed the mask of Sasuke's opponent, catching the attention of everyone. This was followed up by a smoke bomb, "That show off..." the young Uchiha groused, though secretly he was relieved for the assistance.
"Banzai!" Naruto shouted as he charged through the smoke with a grin, holding a katana none of his teammates recognized. His body was held low and leaning forward as he ran, his right hand holding the handle of his weapon close to the guard while his left held it close to the pommel and the blunt back of the blade held up to his right shoulder.
Kakashi couldn't help but smile proudly, although he thought the war cry was a bit distasteful for a shinobi. Zabuza simply recognized the sword as one previously used by one of Gato's thugs, a fact the nukenin found rather interesting.
Naruto swung the sword as soon as he was within reach with a wide grin, but the target dodged away from him and tossed a hail of senbon to intercept him chasing. The young blonde seemed startled when the senbon grazed him, too slow to avoid them leaving cuts on his hands as his forearm guards protecting his arms a bit.
Sasuke frowned since after that Naruto just stood there looking between his new injuries and their opponent in confusion, "What are you doing, Naruto!?" he called out, getting fully to his feet with a wince.
Naruto's smile was gone, replaced by a confused frown as he took in the form of his opponent. The blonde genin felt like something was wrong, "Something is missing..." he muttered, confusing the two who overheard him. Naruto couldn't quite place it, but he recalled Mizuki, the two chunin who had attacked him, and Zabuza, he remembered that oppressive feeling that made his heart race with adrenaline when all of them had turned attention on him.
He had no idea what it was called, but whatever that feeling was this accomplice of Zabuza's didn't have it and that was confusing Naruto. The purple eyed blonde took a step towards the fake Oinin with his right foot and flinched when a senbon struck his shin, pulling the leg back and hopping on his left foot as he pulled the offending weapon out with his left hand.
"Hey!" Naruto called out and pointed his sword at the long haired accomplice of Zabuza, "What gives!?" he asked bluntly, not sure how to word it.
"What is he talking about?" Sakura wondered, confused by the actions of her blonde teammate.
"Are you surprised to be attacked by your opponent? Isn't that naive?" The masked ninja asked in a voice Naruto thought was familiar for reasons he couldn't place.
"That masked enemy," Maemi spoke up from behind Tazuna, startling the bridge builder and Sakura, "he isn't directing any malicious intent or blood lust, so Naruto-sama's enhanced senses are a bit confused." the Muse explained, she was confused by this herself.
Sakura frowned, this was the first she heard of Naruto having enhanced senses and she wondered what the Muse was talking about. She remembered how oppressive the feeling had been from Zabuza, but couldn't understand why a lack of that would confuse Naruto.
Zabuza and Kakashi were close enough to overhear that, the Konoha jonin wondering exactly what kind of heightened senses involved being able to detect killing intent while the nukenin was just surprised that someone could detect a complete lack of killing intent. Killing intent was not a jutsu by any means, it was a simple but subtle phenomena.
"Well," Naruto wondered how he should answer, "when you put it like that it sounds weird." he confessed, frowning as he struggled to find the words, "Something just seems wrong though, you don't feel dangerous." he complained, reaching into his tool pouch with his left hand and withdrawing a small white pill, "I guess I'll figure it out if I focus a bit more, maybe." he pondered, popping the combat drug in his mouth.
Sasuke got ready to help, now that they were both here he could make an escape from the ring of ice mirrors and hopefully overwhelm their opponent despite his injuries. However he was confused by what Naruto was saying, their opponent felt plenty dangerous enough to him and the bleeding cuts all over him were testament to that. Then it clicked, the masked shinobi had the precision to put someone like Zabuza in a near death state in time to save him from Kakashi. Until Naruto arrived Sasuke had been completely at the mercy of his opponent, even if it was only briefly that should have been enough time to disable him but he'd been dealt glancing but painful blows.
The masked accomplice didn't respond, and their body language was clearly measured. However Sasuke noted that they also allowed Naruto to take his pill without interference, he wondered if that was arrogance or something else. Everything could be explained so far by arrogance and sadism, but that didn't seem quite right either.
Naruto charged again, swinging his sword through the air to deflect some senbon but still not fast enough to protect himself entirely. With the drug flowing through him his sense of pain and danger were both dulled, so Naruto went on the offense by attacking aggressively as he tried to figure it out.
Senbon flew through the air as the masked shinobi dodged the sword strikes, the needles originally designed for medical work either slicing cleanly past the layer of skin as they flew by the blonde genin or embedding in non-lethal points designed to cause harm or disable.
Naruto frowned, already respiring harder from the side effects of the combat drug in his system but his mind was clear and far more focused than he could achieve naturally, "You..." he began, pausing as his eyes narrowed, "Hey!" he suddenly seemed more agitated, "You aren't taking me seriously at all!" the blonde genin accused.
Sasuke got out from between the ice mirrors while Naruto distracted the strange enemy, who let the jutsu slip and the ice returned to puddles of water on the ground, "Not taking you seriously? You can't even touch me." the masked ninja shot back.
Naruto scowled and charged, startling the onlookers with his reckless charge as he brought his sword back to swing it forward. Senbon peppered his body, thrown by his opponent, but the blonde ignored them entirely and swung recklessly.
The attack still failed to land and Naruto panted, looking more like a pin cushion than Sasuke now, "I knew it!" he snapped, "You aren't even trying to kill me!" he accused, seeming oddly offended and angry about this, "I let every single senbon hit exactly where you aimed, but I'm not out of the fight! You aren't going to scare me off with a little pain so come on already!"
The rest of team seven were surprised by those declarations, wondering what had gotten into their teammate. Kakashi risked a glance back at Maemi, but the small Daemon was hard to read at the best of times.
"Don't be absurd," The masked shinobi denied the accusations calmly, "you simply don't have the ability that warrants going all out." he tried to explain.
"Don't lie to me!" Naruto snapped back angrily, "You had Sasuke at your mercy just before I got here, didn't you? You could have killed him with that pretty ice thing right?" he asked, gesturing back where the Makyo Hyosho had been with his new sword.
"Has it occurred to you that I was merely tormenting him?" The accomplice asked, "Perhaps I am merely sadistic and was enjoying inflicting pain." they suggested calmly.
"I said don't lie to me!" Naruto snapped, charging again, ignoring the senbon ripping into his flesh as he wildly swung his sword. The blonde had no proper kenjutsu training with a sword of that size, a katana built for an adult looking more like a nodachi in his young hands, "I can't feel any maliciousness at all from you! No intent to kill! No blood lust!" he shouted angrily as he swung his sword wildly, his own killing intent directed at his opponent.
Zabuza scoffed, "Haku! Quit playing with your food you sadist! We have a mission!" he ordered, mostly trying to back up the sadistic theory. However the masked accomplice flinched, they hadn't warned Zabuza not to use his name in front of the blonde, hadn't thought to.
Naruto halted suddenly, still panting, "Haku?" he asked, narrowing his eyes further, "That voice..." he realized as his eyes widened, "Are you serious!?" he shouted, "You get off on emotional manipulation too then?" he asked, gritting his teeth as he huffed deep breaths, the air from his lungs fogging up the air around his face.
"Yes," Haku lied in a flat tone, "think of me like a cat with canary, and you and your teammate are the canary. If you keep fighting so recklessly you won't be able to defeat me." he warned calmly.
Naruto huffed and puffed angrily, "You want to act like a sadist?" he asked dangerously, "I'll show you sadism." he decided, turning his attention on Zabuza and charging that man instead.
"Naruto! No!" Kakashi tried to order but the blonde wasn't listening. Haku leaped between the genin and the target of his charge, Naruto swung the katana in his hands and his masked opponent blocked it with a senbon, showing impressive strength and skill to do such but clearly straining against the heavier weapon.
"I knew it," Naruto said with a smirk, "you're just a big softy!" he accused, pressing his weight into the sword as he tried to push his opponent back, "If you were such a sadist you'd have gone for far more crippling attacks!" the unnaturally focused genin pointed out, "I don't know why you're working with someone like Zabuza, or for an asshole like Gato, but I got a dream to fulfill and I won't let you stop me no matter how cute you are under that mask!"
Kakashi sighed at that, exasperated by his students obsession with attractive things. Although much like Zabuza he wondered when the blonde had seen under the mask of his opponent.
Sasuke dashed around the side of the fight, tossing shuriken at Haku. To his surprise they were knocked out of the air by the katana in Naruto's hand, "See! I protected you and left myself wide open!" the blonde continued to rant, "If you're so sadistic then prove it or get out of my way!" he demanded.
Maemi realized with some surprise that Naruto was actually trying to make Haku surrender and decided to help her master, "No matter how much you lie you can't fool Naruto-sama or I," she called out suddenly, attracting attention to herself, "those who are pledged wholly to Slaanesh-sama are granted sensory abilities normally unavailable to humans." she explained, "I thought something was strange when I watched you talk with Naruto-sama in the woods that morning without even lying to him, you don't have a malicious thought in your pretty little head." she revealed, letting everyone else know that the two had met at some point while Naruto had been training.
Naruto heard that none of Haku's words had been lies and considered them, "Huh, so you really do think I'm manly?" he asked with a pleased smirk.
"Haku!" Zabuza snapped, "Enough messing around, this is an order, disable those two brats so we can hurry up and kill the bridge builder!" he ordered, ever the professional hired killer. However his choice of words revealed that the masked ninja indeed did not have the heart to kill.
"Stay out of this!" Naruto snapped back as Haku shuddered, "I'll deal with you next-" he began to say but was cut off by a pair of senbon lodging themselves in his throat.
"Naruto!" Sakura cried out in concern as the blonde stumbled, reaching for his throat with his left hand shakily.
"Shit!" Sasuke exclaimed, rushing at Haku as he palmed a kunai. The Uchiha thrust the blade at his opponent, cursing his blonde teammate for being so naive. Maemi was surprised, that was the same placement that had been used on Zabuza.
Haku stepped back to evade the thrust but everyone was surprised when the thrust was parried again by the blade of a katana, "Stay out of this," Naruto repeated in a rasp as he stumbled, clutching at the senbon in his throat and yanking them out roughly, "all of you." he demanded before hacking up some blood. His vision was swirling, his sense of space spinning as he took a shaky step forward.
"If you yank those out like that, you might actually die." Haku warned, preparing more senbon.
"Then unless you want to kill me, don't do it again." Naruto shot back with a smirk as he continued towards his opponent.
"Haku!" Zabuza called out, his tone demanding and angry. The masked boy winced, shivering as he took an involuntary step back.
"You aren't going to beat me without killing me," Naruto rasped breathlessly, "so unless you can muster up the blood lust required for that you should just-" he tried to continue, his steps shaky, his vision going black at the edges, "fuck..." he mumbled, stumbling forward as his leg refused to step forward and catch his weight.
Haku flinched, so full of senbon as the blonde was if he hit the ground like that he might die. Sasuke moved to catch the blonde but, to the surprise of almost everyone, Haku was closer and stopped the purple eyed genin from hitting the ground. His reward for saving the blonde was having his mask knocked off with a desperate left hook from the falling blonde, revealing his face to the others.
"You-!" Naruto rasped, his eyelids heavy, "You big wuss," he mocked the person who saved him, "too soft..." he murmured, slumping into the arms of his opponent. Maemi frowned for a moment, she knew the blonde wasn't dead since she was still here but she could feel that he'd finally slipped into a similar trance to the one Zabuza had been placed in.
"I..." Haku began hesitantly, trying to keep his expression neutral now that his mask was gone "I find it difficult to embrace the full shinobi philosophy." he confessed sadly, "I would prefer not to kill, however for the sake of the dreams of the person I hold most dear-" he began to lie.
"Oh cut it out." Maemi interrupted, "If Naruto-sama was dead I wouldn't still be here, I'm bound to him." she explained.
Zabuza scowled under his bandages, "How did that brat even manage to stay conscious after taking those senbon?" he wondered.
Hearing that Naruto was still alive was a relief to Sasuke, "That idiot is too dense, you could probably actually kill him and he'd take a minute to realize he's supposed to be dead." the Uchiha said bluntly, noticing that even in a death like trance his teammate still had a grip on his sword with his right hand.
Haku began to gently place Naruto down, "Regardless of what you all think, I have disabled one of you." he pointed out, "If you keep pushing me, perhaps I really will kill my heart in order to kill you for real." he pondered, "All I really need to do is disable you though, Zabuza-san can handle the rest." he pointed out.
Maemi could feel the sorrow behind those words, but more importantly that it wasn't a bluff. However the Muse had noticed something far more interesting and stared at Naruto, through their bond she could feel his chakra starting to move.
"You talk tough, but Naruto really shook you up there." Sasuke accused, taking a defensive stance, "I won't be caught by those mirrors again." he warned, his expression hardening as he stared down his would be opponent.
Zabuza scoffed, "Whether his heart is in it or not, none of you stand a chance against Haku." he warned, still staring down Kakashi, "His ability is the result of a Kekkei Genkai, and I've training him since he was a toddler." the man explained, "A place like Konohagakure will never produce the kind of shinobi that can match what I've turned Haku into." he bragged confidently.
Kakashi had already deduced that the ice must be the result of a Kekkei Genkai, and he'd been worried the entire fight. Naruto had been far too reckless, and had refused help from his teammate worst of all. Things seemed to have gone from bad to worse, "I suppose I'll have to take you down then, Zabuza, so I can protect my students." he responded calmly, "You think Konohagakure is too soft to kill? I was in the Anbu, I've killed plenty in my time." he pointed out as he reached up for his hitai-ate.
"Sharingan again?" Zabuza asked with a mocking tone, smirking under his bandages. The nukenin had been waiting for this, preparing for it even. He was confident he could defeat it this time.
"Gi'ichi-san!" Inari cried out as he banged on a door to the house of the person he called for, "Open up! Please!" he called through the door, "I need your help! If we all work together we can beat Gato and his thugs!" the boy declared, inspired by Naruto.
A voice from inside, already sounding defeated, responded, "I'm sorry, we're not fighting back anymore." Gi'ichi responded sadly without opening his door, "Kaiza-san was a hero, but he's gone now." the despondent man said, "If we fight, many will surely die, and we've already lost so much. No one wants any more sorrow or regret."
"I don't want regrets either." Inari responded, "Which is why I have to get Gato out of this place, with or without your help!" he called through the door, "I'm sick of despairing and crying instead of fighting!" he continued angrily.
"Inari-kun," Gi'ichi said after a moment, "I understand you're upset, and angry, everyone is, but-" he tried to reason through the closed door.
"I'm not doing this because I'm angry at Gato!" Inari snapped, interrupting the man who had once helped work on Tazuna's bridge, "Despair and wrath, those things need to be abandoned! I'm doing this so I can smile and laugh with everyone again!" he declared, "Even if I have to do it alone!" he finished, turning to leave.
Gi'ichi sighed within his house, feeling ashamed of himself that a child was more willing to fight for his home than he was.
Kakashi halted reaching for his hitai-ate as Zabuza halted pulling out a strange kunai, the two turning in unison towards the sound of metal scraping on concrete. The sound got the attention of Haku and Sasuke as well, both turning in surprise to the source of the sound.
"Naruto?" Sakura was stunned the blonde was getting up again, using the katana he'd taken to leverage himself back up to his feet. The blonde coughed and hacked up more blood, spitting it onto the ground beneath him as he panted breathlessly.
Tazuna stared at the bloodied young boy in shock, wondering how someone could withstand moving in a state like that. Maemi frowned as she watched her master stand, recognizing that the drugs in Naruto's system had almost run their course.
Naruto's purple eyes were wide as he swayed, he could hear his own heartbeat reverberating in his skull as his head throbbed.
"This is ridiculous!" A new voice called out, attracting attention to the speaker. Gato stood there, the short shipping magnate flanked by a small army of thugs armed with various weapons, "You call yourself a Kijin, Zabuza?" the man asked, dressed in a black business suit with a purple tie and a yellow shirt, small circular black glasses covering his eyes. He had shaggy brown hair with a receding hairline, a cane in his hands, and a cast on his left arm, "So much for your reputation, unable to kill even one of these brats?" he mocked.
Sasuke couldn't help but smirk, "Naruto is just built different." he said, remembering Maemi's words earlier that morning. Despite his outward attitude he was still confused, wondering how Naruto was up.
Naruto looked unfocused, meaning the drugs had likely worn off. The blonde seemed distracted by something, looking around as if trying to find something. Unknown to the rest of them, the young boy was certain he could hear something. It took him a moment to realize the ambient sounds of the water below the bridge, the wind in the air, and something he couldn't identify combined with his own rhythmic heartbeat in his ears was giving him the impression that he could hear music.
"Gato..." Zabuza greeted coldly, "What are you doing here? Why bring all them with you?" he questioned.
"Hiring shinobi associated with a village is such a pain," Gato answered, "so much simpler to just hire nukenin. There's far less objections when I remove the loose ends, some villages even pay me for their corpses." the cruel man said with a grin, "Efficient and inexpensive." he praised himself, "My mistake was hiring you, calling yourself the Kirigakure no Kijin is just false advertisement."
"Wrong," Zabuza retorted, "your real biggest mistake was showing your hand this soon. You should have let us fight it out longer." he pointed out, baffled by the arrogance of the man.
"With these numbers you don't stand a chance." Gato bragged simply before turning on Naruto, recognizing the sword the boy was using to hold himself up, "Hey, you, blonde brat." he said, ignoring Zabuza, "What did you do with Zori?" he asked.
Naruto didn't seem to even register the question at first, he was still looking around with a dreamy expression on his face as he tried to catch his breath. Maemi could tell what was going through Naruto's head due to their bond and was surprised but allowed a wide grin to stretch across her face, "Oh this is going to be good..." she murmured with a giggle.
"I'm talking to you!" Gato snapped and all eyes were on the bloodied genin who finally seemed to register he was being spoken to.
"Did you say something?" Naruto asked, genuinely confused, "I can't even hear myself think," he continued, frowning as he brought his left hand up to rub his temple, "does anyone else hear that?" he wondered out loud.
"I asked where you got that sword!" Gato snapped, not entirely true but it was what he was leading up to.
"Huh?" Naruto still seemed completely out of it and looked at the sword in his right hand, "This?" he asked, swaying as he lifted it, his footwork stumbling a little before he caught his balance, "I took it." he answered, swinging it through the air and enjoying the sound of it cutting through the air, the way the sound seemed to harmonize with the sounds he was hearing.
Everyone noticed the blonde was acting strangely, although only Maemi could tell the true reason and the small Daemon kept it to herself for now. The Muse wanted to see if Naruto could actually make use of what he was hearing, if he could then he'd be one step closer to achieving his dreams.
"So the blonde brat killed Zori before he got here," Zabuza guessed, "I notice Waraji isn't with you either." he continued, turning his attention back on Gato, "You really shouldn't underestimate ninja." he said dangerously, "Although I admit I didn't take these Konoha brats for having it in them to kill or take from the dead."
"Huh?" Naruto blinked owlishly, "Oh, the owner was alive when I took it," he revealed, "but unless Tsunami-chan took pity on him he's definitely bled out by now." the blonde continued, seeming far more interested in the sound of the blade he held cutting through the air in time with a song only he could hear.
"Wait, weren't Zori-san and Waraji-san actually pretty good with their swords?" One of Gato's thugs muttered, the strange attitude of the bloody child unnerving them.
"They were his personal enforcers for a reason..." Another pointed out, equally concerned.
Gato scowled, "Enough of this nonsense! All of you ninja are dying today, Tazuna as well. This bridge nonsense is over!" he snapped angrily, "Kill them all, and whoever brings me the head of that pretty boy who broke my arm gets double!" he ordered.
That got Naruto's attention, "Haku-chan?" the blonde asked suddenly, turning his attention on Gato, "Are you talking about Haku-chan?" he clarified. Those who had been there from the start wondered how the blonde could have such an affectionate term for the one who had put him in a near death state.
"What?" Gato asked, confused himself, "You two friends or something? Were you going to betray me from the start as well Zabuza? I guess that's smart." he guessed, giving begrudging praise to the nukenin.
"I'm not some thug without honor like you or your lapdogs, Gato." Zabuza answered, "Truth be told, I'm as confused as you are." he confessed.
"Naruto, get back." Kakashi ordered, dropping the honorifics to show he was serious, "Our fight with Zabuza and Haku is over, but you're far too injured to deal with those thugs." he warned, "Even if they are a bunch of weaklings." he added with the intent of angering them, an angry opponent was more predictable and made mistakes.
Naruto started taking shaky steps towards Gato and his thugs, "I don't want to," he refused the order, "that Gato guy, he's the one who needs to die." he decided, his steps becoming more certain as he walked, alarming the others with his unnaturally swift recovery.
"Is all that blood loss messing with your brain!" Gato snapped, "You lot are completely outnumbered!" he pointed out, still confident that was all that mattered.
"Yeah, I can feel them," Naruto responded calmly, "their malicious intent is singing to me." he realized idly, "Their intent to kill, their blood lust," he continued before his lips spread into a wide grin, "it's making me so excited!" he finished as his stride lengthened and he swiped his sword out to the side.
"Naruto-sama," Maemi said as she got behind Naruto, "you should challenge your opponent to a duel." she whispered loud enough for the blonde to hear, Kakashi and Zabuza picking up the words as well, "When a champion wins a duel, they're blessed, even if someone else fills in for the target of the challenge." she explained, leaving out the fact that a leader refusing a challenge tended to be a hit to morale as she expected with someone like Gato that part wouldn't apply.
"Hey, Gato!" Naruto called out, "I challenge you!" he declared, still grinning madly, "No one interfere! I'll cut through whatever bodyguards or champions you have to kill you!" he called out as he pointed the blade of his katana threateningly.
"You damn brat!" Gato shot back angrily, "You want to die so badly then you can die first!" he decided, "New deal gentlemen, two specific targets, whoever kills the blonde brat or that girly faced shit who broke my arm gets to take the newly vacant positions left by Zori and Waraji!" he declared.
Kakashi frowned, ready to assist his student, but was surprised by Maemi's hand on his leg, the Muse looked excited, "Just watch." she insisted quietly. Zabuza was curious now, wondering what was going to happen.
A group of the thugs, the ones at the front, charged with eager smirks. As far as they were concerned this was going to be an easy payday, and they didn't even need to fight the scariest ninja there, just some exhausted and wounded brat.
The first one to get close was using a kanabo and he swung at the head of the young genin, to his shock the young boy swayed around the attack and smoothly put the tip of the katana in his hand into the throat of the thug. With a swift motion Naruto followed up by swinging his right arm to his left, ripping the blade out of his first victims throat to parry another katana one handed.
The remaining thugs moved to surround Naruto as he stepped towards the man holding the sword he'd parried and swinging his arm back to the right, decapitating the man in one smooth cut. A modified scythe with the blade positioned for combat by facing forward came at the back of his blonde head, but Naruto ducked without looking at it and twisted his body to twirl around in order to come back up with his sword already swinging.
The third thug to be mortally wounded dropped his modified scythe and reached up for the deep gash in his throat, gurgling blood in shock as his polearm clattered to the ground. The remaining thugs took a nervous step back and Naruto frowned, continuing to walk towards them as the nervously backed up.
Zabuza was surprised, the blonde hadn't been fighting like that before. A moment ago the young genin had been swinging the sword wildly, now his footwork and the way he cut was actually graceful.
Sasuke and Sakura watched their teammate cut down three men easily with surprise, wondering why he wasn't just using his Kuchiyose no Jutsu to even out the numbers. Kakashi frowned under his mask in concern, sensing something decidedly wrong had happened.
"Hey, Gato," Maemi called out, still grinning, "you said you wanted a Kijin?" she asked rhetorically, "Be careful what you wish for, fool!" she mocked cheerfully.
"What is this beautiful song?" Naruto wondered out loud as he stepped past the shuddering thugs around him, continuing his walk towards Gato. One of them steeled his nerves, thrusting a yari at the exposed back of the blonde genin.
Once again Naruto reacted to an attack he had no way of seeing, twisting to the side and knocking the haft of the offending weapon away with his right elbow before lifting his shoulder and straightening his arm with a swaying motion towards his attacker. The fourth thug to die fell back with a stunned expression, clutching his slit throat with surprise as Naruto swayed back to his original position.
"Stop attacking one at a time you idiots!" Gato snapped fearfully, "It's just one brat! Kill him!" the man demanded, his tone giving away how terrified he was becoming.
Naruto started humming to himself as he continued with a bounce in his step, the manic grin on his face combined with the blood giving the appearance that he really was some kind of monster. Another two thugs charged, one swinging a smaller scythe and the other thrusting with a naginata. Naruto cut them both down as if they were nothing, grinning the entire time.
Haku watched with a stunned expression, he hadn't expected this display from the blonde at all. He recognized that the strange small humanoid near Kakashi seemed to know what was going on, "What is this?" he asked, unable to figure out what was happening just by watching.
Maemi grinned, "I should thank you," she answered, surprising the pretty boy, "you surrendered mentally against Naruto-sama even though you beat him." she explained, surprising the other shinobi listening, "Slaanesh-sama's eye is always watching, you can't fool something like Kami no Me." she continued, "So of course when you felt like you'd lost to Naruto-sama, he was granted this blessing. You should be honored really, none of those thugs he's killed were considered worthy."
The explanation just confused the listening shinobi more, "The blessing of a god?" Zabuza questioned, "I've never heard of this kind of thing before, sounds like a folk tale." he said bluntly, wanting further explanation.
"Naruto-sama has been blessed with senses even I don't have now," Maemi continued, "he can now hear clearly music no living creature has ever heard fully, Tatakainouta!" she explained proudly, "He can hear every attack coming at him, he just needs to dance to the tune and none of those weaklings have the skill or power to touch him thanks to it."
Zabuza frowned, that sounded impressive but he could also understand what went unsaid. Naruto still needed to actually dance to the tune, it was impressive the blonde had the stamina to do so but it only made him untouchable to enemies he would likely have defeated anyway.
Kakashi frowned for a different reason, it almost sounded to him like the Daemon was implying this god she shared with Naruto was capable of blessing him with abilities akin to Kekkei Genkai. Sasuke meanwhile was swiftly realizing that the bluster about the god they were talking about was not mere bluster, it was something with real power if the Familiar was telling the truth.
Naruto continued to carve a path to his target, a few thugs backing away nervously as any who tried to attack him or stand in his path were cut down. Gato began to sweat nervously, even he could feel the killing intent directed at him and the contrast between that malevolent feeling coming from the grinning blonde whose face expressed only joy filled him with terror.
The blonde genin laughed suddenly, an almost musical noise, "Don't despair so much, Gato!" he instructed, "You're going to die, so come and face it with a smile!" he demanded, his pace speeding up as he tore through the body guards.
"G-get the hell away from me!" Gato demanded fearfully, backing up to hide behind his thugs, "Bakemono! Kijin! Yokai!" he accused with terror in his voice, "Whatever you are I can give you money!" he tried to bargain.
Naruto just laughed again as he danced his bloody dance, "Money sounds nice, but I just want your life!" he declared, "I'm a champion of Slaanesh-kaasama, if I want something from you I'll just take it from you!" he continued as he thrust his blade through the chest of a thug he stepped up beside and followed through to throw the dead man towards Gato, the corpse soaring through the air as it left his blade before hitting the ground as the shipping magnate stumbled and fell backwards.
"Wait-!" Gato continued to try to plead but the blonde didn't care and stepped over the most recent corpse he made to bring his katana down with both hands, reversing his grip on the weapon to stab down through the throat of the man who had brought despair to Nami no Kuni. The remaining thugs spread out away from Naruto, alarmed by how easily someone so young had managed that.
Naruto stopped suddenly, watching Gato die for a moment as he cocked his head to the side, "Is that it?" he asked, looking around at the remaining thugs who flinched under his gaze. Then the blonde snapped his attention towards the other end of the bridge, an instant later a crossbow bolt hit the ground.
"Sorry we're late!" Inari called out only to stop and stare in shock at the state of the bridge. A number of villagers from Nami no Kuni flanking the small child armed with farming equipment and improvised weapons staring in surprise as well.
"Screw this! I'm not dying for a paycheck that isn't coming!" One of the remaining thugs decided, turning and running to get on the boat Gato had used to bring them to that end of the bridge. At that the other remaining thugs all routed, already on the verge of doing so from Naruto's display.
"What a bunch of babies..." Naruto mumbled, frowning as he looked around, "The music stopped..." he noticed, his heartbeat returning to normal. Without the adrenaline in his system the blonde felt suddenly more exhausted than he'd ever felt and started to fall.
Haku caught the blonde, surprising himself with the action, "Well, no hard feelings then, Tazuna-san?" Zabuza asked idly and the bridge builder flinched away from the man as Sakura took a defensive stance, "Relax, my mission is forfeit, it ended the moment that corpse betrayed us." he continued.
Kakashi felt a bit more at ease but was still worried about Naruto, "It's okay, Sakura-chan." he assured, he was still able to fight if he needed to, but he'd rather not risk it right now, "Seems our two boys are quite fond of each other." he pointed out to the nukenin, noticing Haku pulling the remaining senbon carefully from the blonde but from where he was he couldn't see their expressions or hear if they were talking.
Sasuke and Sakura were both still clearly on edge, "Kakashi-sensei, are you sure we can trust him? He betrayed his home village, and he worked for a creep like Gato!" she pointed out as the other villagers watched cautiously, unsure for certain if the fighting was really over.
"Watch your tongue, brat." Zabuza told the girl bluntly, causing her to flinch away, "Don't go running your mouth about what you don't understand." he snapped.
"You can hardly blame her," Kakashi defended his genin calmly, "although she likely doesn't know it, news of your attempted coup reached even us in Konohagakure." he pointed out, "I'm guessing you've been desperately trying to fund another attempt while on the run from Oinin?"
"Observant bastard." Zabuza grumbled, confirming it, "I don't need to justify myself to you." he added with a glare.
Sasuke frowned, "Think about it, Sakura," he spoke up, "he said he trained Haku since that guy was a toddler." he pointed out as if that explained everything.
"So what?" Sakura asked, she didn't want to argue with Sasuke, but she was confused, and also she was still really scared of the nukenin with the massive sword.
"If he's such a bad guy, why is that same Haku being so tender with our blonde idiot?" Sasuke asked, gesturing to the pair of shinobi. Sakura could only frown as she realized what the Uchiha was getting at.
Translation: Tatakainouta - Song of Battle