Chapter 15
Shattered Hearts: A Desperate Plea!
Kakashi stood frozen in place; his eyes were wide, his hand crackled with lightning as he tried to take in the scene in front of him. His attack had been meant for Zabuza. He had seen him clear as day right in front of him, and then—
Blood splattered onto his face and headband, startling him out of his paralysis and forcing his eyes back into focus. Right in front of him, standing as a shield between him and Zabuza was two blue-haired kunoichi's.
The Amari directly in front of him held his right forearm firmly in both hands—her desperate attempt to push his arm out of the way so it wouldn't harm anyone…but his hand had embedded itself in her shoulder.
Behind her pain stricken and stunned form was the other Amari. Her back braced against the other to keep him from going straight through them. Yet…her misguided attempt ended in agony as the lightning from his hand arced through the front kunoichi and tore through the skin of the back one's left arm, cutting her open through her mesh sleeve from her left shoulder down to her wrist.
"Amari!" he gasped, not being able to ask what she was doing or why.
To his bewilderment, Haku too was standing between him and Zabuza right behind Amari, his face bruised, his chest and left arm covered in dry blood and features contorted in the same paralyzing astonishment they were all under.
Had he just killed his own student? Kakashi blinked and swore he saw a flash of brown hair, brown eyes and purple facial markings—the ghost of a lost comrade—before Amari's tormented face returned. He ended his Lightning Blade as quickly as he could. No words could describe the agony he felt as he watched his student's eyes roll back into her skull and her body begin to collapse.
Please…Not like this, he begged, a hand reaching out to her collapsing body.
Then she was gone in a poof of smoke.
Pained breaths and grunts from the remaining child snapped his attention back to the still very alive and very real Amari standing on quivering legs. Her left arm hung limply at her side with what appeared to be hundreds of slashes of varying sizes ripped through her mesh sleeve and onto her arm. Blood drained from each wound he had dealt her, soaking the black sleeve and her arm in the crimson color of pain.
"Why?" Haku asked, his voice caught between disbelief and tortured sorrow.
It was the question all three shinobi were silently asking themselves. Why had she done this? Why save the very enemy who planned to kill Tazuna and their team? Why would she throw herself in front of certain death for her enemies?
Much to his surprise, Amari choked out what was clearly meant to be a laugh but what came out as a sob. "I- I couldn't…let you die." Haku's eyes widened at the declaration. Blood trickled down her hand and plopped onto the ground. Joining them, Kakashi noticed, were tears. "We shouldn't…be fighting each other. I know…you feel the same way I do."
"I…" Haku's brown eyes fell.
"Our eyes…are the same." That made the boy's eyes return to her in shock. "Eyes full of loneliness, eyes full of loss…and suffering." Kakashi could hear the strain in her voice to not break down any further.
It was a losing battle.
"But you see yourself as only a tool to his ambition. And I…I don't even know what I see in myself. I'm not sure I even know who I am." A choked sob left her. "I don't know if I'll also end up a broken tool to be discarded at someone else's whim."
"Amari!" Sakura's and Naruto's voices sounded off from the distance.
Kakashi couldn't even hear them.
"Amari, why would you do this?" Kakashi questioned, his tone wavering between hurt and anger. This was the second time someone he cared for jumped in front of his attack, and if things got worse she would also be the second person he cared about to die from it.
"Because…you were right, Sensei. I- I'm incapable of killing the kindness in my heart," she struggled to respond. "Because the sacrifice Haku was willing to make was honorable, and to let that sacrifice be wasted for absolutely nothing wasn't something my heart could allow…not when I shared his dream."
The young girl clenched her uninjured hand into a fist. "But…Every chance I have been given to protect the people precious to me has ended in absolute failure. I failed Ryu, I failed Naruto, I failed Sasuke…I failed you. I- I told myself I could protect their dreams and their lives with my own. I promised myself I would protect them and give my life in exchange if it ever came to my life or theirs and I sought power along the way.
"I just…I just wanted to become stronger and I pushed myself to do it so I could protect their dreams, yet no matter how much stronger I get, nothing changes." Her fist tightened. "I haven't changed and it's so damn frustrating! My friends are falling down beside me and all I can do is watch and live on with this pain that follows me! Does gaining the power I seek mean I have to lose everything and everyone I have left to love? Or am I really just that much of a pathetic failure?"
Amari pulled her ninja headband off using her uninjured hand and stared down into the metal reflection. "Will I have to sacrifice my heart in the end? Is that what it means to be a shinobi? Abandoning our feelings and emotions to become tools to be worn down and broken? Chasing ambitions and forsaking the feelings we have for those most precious to us to reach them? Is that all there is to being a ninja?
"Why are we even fighting, Sensei? Why is killing each other or the bridge builder the only end this can have when Gatō's going to betray them anyways? They may kill him and live, but then what? All this pointless death and pain for nothing? What purpose does that even serve? This can't be the way of the shinobi…I can't follow that kind of path."
No one could answer her questions, not when her words were striking deep into all those listening. Kakashi specifically was having a rough time witnessing his student finally coming to grips with the hardest question all ninja faced.
"And what path are you going to follow? One where you throw your life away for your enemies?" Zabuza asked.
The laugh that escaped Amari was forced and full of pain. "I- I wish I could hate you, Zabuza. It would make everything so much easier if I could just bring myself to hate you, to despise you so much that my soft heart wouldn't stop me from killing you." She shook her head. "Yet even as we fought, all I could see when I looked at you was this caring boy, and then my stupid heart would stop me from letting go.
"Even though I know all you have done is caused his heart pain, you are the sole person in this world who has ever given him something to live for. This boy…he only ever wanted to feel useful, to be valued by another even if it meant only being valued as a tool…Do you have any idea what that feeling is like? To feel unneeded? Unwanted? To want so desperately for someone to care you exist?"
Haku's falling features revealed the pinpoint accuracy of her words. "How…how do you know all of this?"
"Heh, arggh!" Amari's short chuckle turned into pain as she winced and hunched over. She placed her uninjured hand and the headband clutched in it against her limp arm. Despite their status as enemies, Haku instinctually reached forward to prevent her from toppling over.
"Don't touch her," Kakashi warned the boy as he stepped forward to help his student.
Haku retracted his movements immediately with a small frown on his face. Amari glanced back at Kakashi—both of her dōjutsu's deactivated—and shook her head with tears streaming down her face to signal how she didn't want him intervening in this conversation, no matter how much pain it caused her or him to see her in such a state.
In their brief moment of eye contact he could see her walls shattering around her. She, and her walls, would soon collapse, but until then she didn't want any help. Kakashi wanted to ignore her silent plea, but this moment between her and Haku was one he could not interfere with. Her shattering heart was attempting to sift through all of her pain and reach out to this boy to end this fight peacefully because of what she saw in him.
"I…I guess all I can do is say I'm sorry we had to meet under these circumstances. I have a feeling you and I…We probably share some commonalities. Before we continue…is there any way you can see this ending without us killing each other besides us giving you the bridge builder? I need to know if we…if you and I can put aside our blades here and now and end this peacefully."
"That would be the only way. It means something that you sought to seek a peaceful resolution, but I'm afraid one is not possible. You are right, though. I believe you and I share the same interests. I apologize for what I must do."
Their previous words had confused him at the time. He couldn't understand what Amari saw or felt when first arriving on the bridge. But now, here when all the masks and walls were shattered and hearts were unguarded, he was coming to understand where these two were at.
It's not only Amari seeing a reflection of herself and how she could have turned out. This boy is seeing the same thing. Their battle and now finally staring each other in the eyes has led them to connecting through the shared pain of what their lives are and what they could have been.
Kakashi released a sigh and reluctantly refrained from interfering. His student stabilized herself and stood up straighter with weighed down shoulders. Her breathing was a lot heavier as she tried to continue.
"I…want to say it's your eyes…but even behind that mask I could understand you…Ever since we met on this bridge I have felt that we were two sides of the same coin. I didn't know why at first, but the longer my clone and you fought, the more we traded blows, the more I was able to understand everything you felt.
"The more I understood, the more I realized I felt the same way you did. All I've ever wanted was a family…a stable place of people I loved and who loved me to come home to. But it was taken from me twice, and each time I was left with the feeling of uselessness…like I wasn't good enough to be loved or know happiness."
Amari dropped her uninjured hand from her bloody arm and shook her head. "Had I never been found, had I never known this team or the woman who adopted me…I would have pledged my service to Zabuza too if only to be given some sort of purpose in this vast world so I wasn't alone, existing without reason." Hearing those words tore at Kakashi's heart. "Luck is the only reason I'm on this side of the battlefield today, but in another life I'm exactly where you are, and you are where I am."
"I…know," Haku stated softly, almost hesitantly. "I feel the same as you, as if you and I truly are two sides of the same coin. But I would never change which sides we stand on."
"Why?"
"Because it has spared you from living the same life I have."
Amari's head fell. Her fist and the headband clutched within it began to shake in mixture of emotions Kakashi would place as fury and overwhelming sorrow. "Why…did this world punish someone so kind?" A grunt left the child as her legs nearly gave out on her. "And yet despite all you have given this man, he doesn't even thank you for it. Your own heart tears in half every time you are sent to fight and kill someone and he doesn't even give a damn. All he considers you is a tool."
Tears began to plop down at a faster rate. Haku's features became more sullen as he witnessed the heartbreak of his enemy to the pain he had withstood through the years. "You would have given your own life willingly to save a heartless wretch like him for a dream you were given by him." Her head shot up and her eyes locked onto the Swordsman. "Haku lives for you, you heartless bastard!" Surprisingly, Zabuza flinched at her cry. "Have you ever even considered his feelings?! Or how much pain you've caused him?!
She pointed with her good hand at Haku. "This boy has sacrificed everything for you! Everything! His life, his dreams, they belong to you! Would it kill you to let him know he matters?!" Her voice broke into a sob. "That his existence is more important than your stupid ambition?! That if he died, someone in this vast world would miss him? Is that so hard to do? To let him know someone cares about his life." Amari dropped her head, sniffles and sobs beginning to rock her body. "It's so wrong, so damn wrong it makes my heart ache."
Zabuza didn't move to answer, instead choosing to look away and grunt dismissively. When Amari spoke next, her voice was quiet but heavy with her pain. "If this is all there is to being a shinobi…if all I ever do is going to lead me into becoming a heartless killer who cares nothing for the people who care for them, or a tool who cares for someone so much that they give up their own happiness and receive no care in return…or a backstabber who chooses power over their friends, then you can take this life and my own."
Her body finally gave way and she collapsed to her knees. Amari dropped her headband and brought her uninjured hand to her eyes, covering them and trying in vain to stop the tears from falling as her entire body shook from her sobs. "I- I can't do it, Cousin! I can't find my strength or the will to go on anymore! Every- every step I take brings more pain! I don't- I don't know what to do! Please, I beg you, make this pain stop! I just…I just want it all to stop hurting so much! Please!"
Kakashi felt his gut twist seeing Amari cry out to her cousin's memory. He hoped whatever the memory was could strengthen her heart, but he knew there was little that would do it.
Wordlessly, Kakashi knelt down and picked her up without sparing a second glance to the single tear that left Haku or the conflicted features on Zabuza's face.
Amari…you pushed so hard to become stronger. You built up walls around your heart to protect it; you inherited the Will of Fire, too. I heard you find your fierce warrior against Zabuza today.
He could still hear her declaration playing through his head, and the pride he had felt in hearing them still remained.
"I already told you, I have something within me that is far more powerful than your physical strength! And you should know what it is because you've seen it within Haku. And that's the will to protect those precious to me!
"And the will of those I cherish live within me, so when I run out of strength they'll willingly give me theirs to keep fighting! That's the single mistake you made in training Haku! You focused him on your selfish ambition and made him into a tool, but you forgot that tools can be worn down and broken!
"What my friends give me, their bonds, even in death, they will never let my fire die! They'll keep pushing me to fight! And that's why even if you beat me or kill me in this fight, you'll still lose! Because my body may be broken or destroyed, but you'll never break our wills, and our spirits will keep supporting each other no matter what!
"That's what it means to be a Leaf Shinobi! That's what the Will of Fire means to me! And that's why I refuse to let you and Gatō win!"
Looking at her sobbing form, he realized that none of the physical blows, verbal taunts or even his Lightning Blade had ever hurt her as much as fighting Haku had. The internal conflicts they experienced as they traded attacks, it must have been like they were inflicting pain on themselves every time.
Meeting someone with the same goal as her and seeing how they were contorted into being nothing but a tool was the real blade to strike her down.
Ever since losing Ryu her only purpose in life had been to become stronger to protect her friends and one day stop Kasai. She had never dreamed of anything else. Back when she made her introduction at their first team meeting he saw her pause in contemplation at what her dream for the future was. Facts were she didn't have a real dream. She wasn't like Naruto who aimed for the seat of Hokage and had something to work towards. She just had the dying wish of a friend and a goal stemmed from it to keep those in her life from succumbing to the same fate as Ryu.
Kakashi understood that burden more than she realized.
"And I…I don't even know what I see in myself. I'm not sure I even know who I am. I don't know if I'll also end up a broken tool to be discarded at someone else's whim."
Those words were such a contrast to the declaration she made against Zabuza.
"My name is Amaririsu Yūhi, I'm a Leaf Village kunoichi, a member of Team Seven and child of the Uchiha and Nara Clans! Don't you dare underestimate me!"
But he didn't blame her for it. He couldn't. No matter how strong Amari was, no matter what pain she already experienced, she was still a twelve year old child who hadn't rendered her heart barren of its emotions as he had long ago. She hadn't shut it off to others, or maybe she couldn't bring herself to when she knew it would only lead to the loneliness she and Haku both felt.
Naruto met him on his walk to move Amari off the battlefield, tears running down his face as he could only bear witness to another glimpse of the pain residing within his first real friend. "Naruto, please take care of her," he said, his voice soft and gentle.
The boy nodded through his tears and took her off his hands, allowing her to bury her face into his orange jacket. "I've got you, Amari…I- I won't let you fall down a path like that. I promise."
Sakura's own sobs filled the air soon after. Dread sewed itself into his heart as he looked over to see her crying into the chest of Sasuke's immobile form.
I failed them.
Anger for both Zabuza and Haku rose in Kakashi. They were the ones responsible for all of this pain. They were the disease that continued to infect others without a single care for who was caught in the crosshairs.
"Naruto, did she bring her bandages?" Kakashi asked far more calm than he felt. He nodded silently. "Okay, use those bandages to stop the bleeding on her arm."
"Haku—"
"Don't, Zabuza," Haku cut off Zabuza in a soft yet stern voice. "…Please, do not ask me to hurt her any more than I already have. If that means I am useless to you, I understand. But nothing you do will cut me as deep as her words have."
"Haku…"
"That's because her words came from her heart," Kakashi spat at them. He looked over his shoulder at the two, his cold gaze penetrating through them as if they were made of glass. Haku didn't meet his eyes. His gaze remained on the pool of blood below him and the headband lying within it, stained by the crimson color and the tears of sorrow left behind by Amari.
Even though he didn't meet his eyes, Kakashi could see how deeply his student's words affected Haku by two streams of tears on his face.
"Fighting you both reminded her of the one question she had forgotten, the one we all struggle to understand."
Zabuza grunted again dismissively but made no move to continue the fight. His eyes drifted between looking off in the distance in an internal deep conflict and falling onto the back of Haku.
Shinobi liked to attempt to forget it but one day they were all reminded that they were still human even when they were used as a tool. Shinobi sometimes found themselves asking if that's all they were, and because of that struggle some would go rogue because they didn't want to be used anymore. At the end of the day, though, each ninja had to find their own meaning in what they did and how their life was. Amari had believed her goals would hold her over, but seeing what was possible for her to become proved how not even goals could keep someone safe.
He glanced back over to Naruto and saw him in the process of cutting Amari's sleeve off so he could bandage up the silent girl. Her sobs had stopped, but the tears continued to run like an endless waterfall. The look in her eyes revealed how worn down she was emotionally and physically. What was worse was that she looked like she wanted to give up.
They each have a large burden to bear as kids in a shinobi world. From here on out it will only get tougher.
Sometimes he forgot that even the toughest of students were still only kids under all their training. Even Sasuke and all his hate was still a kid underneath. He could be cold but all it would take would be one push and he would come crashing down just like Amari did.
"Her cousin…" Haku stopped himself.
"He's dead, undoubtedly killed in the Uchiha Massacre along with the rest of her real family." Kakashi felt a familiar coldness coming back to him. "The only purpose she has ever had was given to her; she's like you in that aspect. She never allowed herself to have a dream of her own, all in an effort to take on the pain of all her friends so they'd never have to hurt like she had...and still does."
Kakashi held Zabuza under his intense Sharingan eye, hoping to catch his eyes and put him under a powerful genjutsu. Hoping that for a moment he could make the two feel all the pain inside his young student and then amplify it with his Lightning Blade.
"She saved your worthless lives," he stated coldly.
Kakashi hated that she had done it.
He hated that he had been the one to harm her.
He hated that he felt that he shouldn't kill them and make the injury she sustained pointless. He would kill them if they attacked first, he wouldn't let them leave alive if they tried attacking him, his team or the bridge builder. But for her…for his student's sacrifice, he would wait to see what their next move was.
A firm tapping of metal on concrete broke all the ninjas from their thoughts to the large group of thugs standing at the unfinished side of the bridge. "Heh, looks like they did quite a job on you, Zabuza. I must say I am…disappointed," a short man said, a vicious sneer on his lips.
He wore a cast on his left hand, a suit and held a cane with both hands. Behind him was a large group of gangsters holding various weapons; every single one of them were grinning with bloodlust at the worn down shinobi standing between them and their goal.
This must be Gatō and his thugs. Kakashi frowned under his mask. This is not good.
A very confused looking Naruto bracing a still injured and bloodshot eyed Amari appeared at his side, both looking ready for a fight despite their exhausted chakra and injury in the case of the kunoichi.
"Gatō? Why are you here, and who are these thugs you brought with you?" Zabuza questioned pointedly, but it was clear by his shifting body language he didn't need a verbal answer.
"Let's just say I'm terminating your contract—permanently."
They had come at an inopportune time. None of the shinobi currently standing, excluding probably Naruto, were in any shape for the kind of battle Gatō wanted. The Sharingan and the Lightning Blade drained Kakashi's chakra significantly. Zabuza' Hidden Mist had done the same to him, and then there were the wounds his ninken gave him. Haku bore his own set of wounds and his chakra was drained significantly from his Ice Mirror Jutsu. And Amari…
She's masking her pain and lack of chakra.
While Kakashi would have found the strength he needed to take down Zabuza and the kid, looking at all the thugs who were at full strength compared to all of them didn't bolster his already shaken confidence.
"Hmph, I see." Zabuza glanced over to him. "Kakashi, our fight is over. Since we are no longer in Gatō's employ, Tazuna is safe. We have no quarrel."
It was a strange sentiment considering they were about to kill one another a minute ago, but not one he was against for several reasons. If they were going to take these thugs on he didn't mind the extra help.
After this fight was over they would see where things landed.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"I can barely move my left arm… but if need be I can create some Shadow Clones to hopefully take some of them out. I won't leave you guys to fight these thugs on your own," Amari spoke softly to her team.
This was certainly a change of events, but at least for now they could take down the head of the snake.
"Don't waste what little chakra you have left yet," Kakashi told her.
She nodded silently. Her tears may have stopped, but she could still hear her heart crying inside. Everything hurt. Her arm, her heart, everything. Even though a memory of her cousin tried to comfort her, it only added onto her breakdown. She wanted him here with her, wanted to hold onto him and ask him if he knew if this pain would ever go away.
But she couldn't…he was gone and that made her feel alone even when surrounded by people she cared about.
Amari wasn't sure what to do now. She couldn't abandon her team and friends, but the path she was following and her goals felt broken beyond fixing. How could she even continue to follow that path if it was just going to steal away her loved ones and leave her worn down and broken?
That wasn't a path she wanted to follow, and she knew Ryu wouldn't want her to follow that path either.
"Make your own path then, Haya. One that you can live by without regrets and one that makes you whole inside. You've got to find a nindo and stick to it."
A nindo? Amari questioned her cousin's memory. She could faintly remember the word and this conversation they had…and she could feel his hand resting on her shoulder. The fingers of her right arm twitched in the struggle to not reach up and touch the hand she wished was real.
"Right, a nindo. Your Ninja Way. It's sort of like an empowering code you choose to live by, like never backing down or fighting to preserve the bonds you hold with your friends and their bonds with their family no matter what. Each one of us has to find our own Ninja Way, it's how we change ourselves from being tools to being people. But understand that the path you follow may not be easy. It may come with a lot of struggle and uphill battles…but as long as it is the path you chose then no one can take that from you and you'll never lose your strength."
Maybe once this fight was over…maybe then she'd have time to think about the kind of path she wanted to follow. Maybe that would help her find her way.
"Girl." Zabuza's voice startled Amari and made her eyes raise from the bridge to the serious features of their…temporary ally? What were they to them now anyways? "You don't have the heart to kill indiscriminately, not even to kill Gatō."
She felt her heart sink further down into her chest as she began to repress herself from the world.
He was right, of course. All of her talk about killing Haku, Mizuki, Gatō and even Zabuza himself was just big talk with nothing to back it up. Killing wasn't something she knew or was capable of doing right now.
"Don't mistake what you can do when lost in your emotions for what you're capable of doing when you're in control of yourself. Don't assume because you have lost people you loved that you know what it means to take a life. You're not ready."
Kakashi's words rang truer than she realized at that time. She thought because she lost Ryu and Kasai, because she knew pain, because she wanted to end the one who took her best friends away from her with all of her being that she could actually kill anyone if push came to shove…but she couldn't. She didn't know what it was like to take a life. She didn't know if she could even handle taking a life…Yet she talked a big game and fell under her own illusion that she had already become a real shinobi.
"Yeah. I know," she muttered dejectedly, her eyes falling and her shoulders slumping further at his statement.
"If you want his taint extinguished permanently then use what little chakra you have left to grab him and bring him to me. I'll finish him off."
Amari wasn't sure what to make of his offer. Surely it wasn't an olive branch or a favor for her. This was likely about vengeance for betraying him, and Zabuza was probably hoping to kill the spirit of his thugs to avoid a drawn out fight. Tactically it was wise…but could she even get there and drag the scum back with her without tripping…And if she could, didn't handing him over to the Demon make her an accessory to his kill?
Uncertain on what to do, she looked to Kakashi for his opinion. He was far more aware of her limitations as a shinobi and a person than she was. He'd know if she could actually handle what Zabuza was asking of her.
He gave her a small nod of approval.
I'm…not sure I can do this…but…Amari shut his eyes and began channeling the last scraps of her chakra throughout her body. If she was to pull this off, she'd have to be too fast for the normal human eye to see her. Remember the pain he has caused this land. Remember what he did to Inari's father. Remember every bit of pain that lies within your own heart and let it consume you.
No other motivation was needed. Without another word, she disappeared in a blur of speed no one except Kakashi could track. She reappeared right behind Gatō, her pain filled eyes gleaming with what hatred she was able to scrape up from the bottom of her emotionally haggard body.
He didn't even realize she was there until her good hand gripped him at his broken arm. She heard him gasp before she once again disappeared with him in tow. Not…enough…chakra. Amari reappeared before she intended, close enough to her team not to warrant fear but farther away than she meant to be. Lacking the chakra to close the distance, she tossed Gatō down to the ground in front of her and let her body begin to collapse.
"Hello Gatō," Zabuza greeted sadistically.
The last the world heard from Gatō was a frightened scream.
Before Amari could become reacquainted with the bridge, someone gently braced her and began walking them back over to the others. The long black hair and metal cuffs containing ponytails were enough to figure out who saved her from an embarrassing face plant.
"Haku," she spoke up in a quiet voice. His beaten down and tired eyes met hers at the call of his name. She wasn't really sure why she spoke up or what she wanted to say, but she let her heart take the reins and guide her mouth. "I know you see yourself as a tool, and I told you that you'd share the same fate as one…I don't know if I could ever change your mind on how you look at yourself, but even a tool, like a person, can be repaired. Nothing is ever permanently broken."
"…Thank you," he said softly.
She wasn't sure if those words were enough to do anything, but she hoped.
They reached her team, who were all looking back at Sakura, who was bracing very alive Sasuke. He lifted his hand in an exhausted wave.
"Let me fight them my own way."
Haku's past words hit her like a rampaging bull. "You…you were never trying to kill us."
Haku gave an apologetic smile. "But then, neither were you," he said.
"I…" The kunoichi glanced to his bloodied chest and her words died.
Noticing where her eyes trailed to, her former enemy smiled kindly at her. "You could have slit my throat in that moment, and in several other moments you could have burned me with your Fire Style Jutsu, but you didn't. You held back."
True, her clone hesitated and couldn't bring herself to kill Haku. Believing Sasuke died because of her was one of the main causes of her explosion of anger.
"…I didn't want to hurt you any more than I had to," she admitted.
"Neither did I."
"Wonders never cease," Kakashi said, his tone thoroughly satisfied at how things were turning out.
Once again they all halted at the sound of yet another metal object being tapped on the ground. Turning to the sound, they were faced with unpaid thugs wanting to reap any reward they could now that their boss was dead.
"Haku, I'm going to be a burden to you if you hold me up," Amari stated analytically. "Against these numbers, the others will need your help. I simply don't have enough chakra to be of any use."
Now she really was a burden to them all.
To her surprise, Haku didn't even move to let go of her. "I won't leave you unguarded. If someone gets past one of us you won't be able to defend yourself."
He was right, unfortunately. The only reason she was even upright was because of him holding her up. Without someone to brace her she'd be stuck on the ground, and with her wounds and lack of chakra she'd be screwed if even a single thug got through their fighters.
"This is such a drag," Amari groaned.
"Come on Kakashi-sensei, you must have a jutsu to take on these thugs!" Naruto said, hope clear in his voice.
"I wish I did, but I used too much of my chakra."
"Zabuza?" Haku queried.
The rogue ninja shook his head. "I'm in the same boat as Kakashi."
This was really not good, and the thugs weren't wasting anytime in charging their weakened enemies.
"If this is the end…Haku." The boy perked up as Zabuza looked to him. For the first time since they had met Amari saw his features soften and a genuine smile form under the bandages. "Thank you for everything you've done."
Shock pulled onto Haku's features at the genuine gratitude he had never been shown before by his mentor. The shock fell for a soft smile. "Thank you for giving me purpose."
"Girl, your genjutsu…I witnessed Haku's death right before my eyes. And in that moment I felt compassion and sadness like some sort of rookie Genin. Your words, they cut deeper than any blade."
Amari remained silent not sure if she should apologize or say 'you're welcome.'
He chuckled to himself at her silence. "What? Surprised that I'm human enough to feel those emotions? No matter how hard we ninja try, we can never escape our humanity. It's something you've come to grips with early. The fact you had the compassion to save Haku's life and my own proves how different you are from what I am. You now have a choice. You can either give up this life or become stronger because of it."
"I know…Giving up has never been something I've enjoyed, so if this is the end." She planted both feet on the ground firmly. "I am not going out without a fight."
Zabuza smirked at her. "Good."
An arrow suddenly landed right in front of the thugs, stopping them and causing the ninjas to look back in the direction it had come.
Behind them was what appeared to be the entire village holding weapons like shovels, pitchforks and boat paddles, all ready to fight for their land for the first time ever. At the front of the group was little Inari holding a small crossbow with a helmet on his head.
"Just one thing you're forgetting! Before you set one foot in our village, you'll have to go through all of us!" one of the men yelled.
A thunderous cheer came from the group of villagers. He rounded up the entire village to help us. A happy smile made its way to Amari's face. Inari, you have inherited your father's will.
"Inari!" Naruto shouted in excitement.
"Haha! Heroes usually show up at the last minute, you know!"
A giggle escaped Amari at his proud statement and giant smile.
In that case. "Haku, may I take some of your chakra? I promise I won't take too much." He nodded and a blue hue surrounded Amari's right hand, which was over Haku's shoulder and resting on his chest. A moment later the hue disappeared and the chakra she had gained was just enough to help here. "Can you help my left arm up?"
She had tried to lift it up but the muscles in her arm hurt too much for her to move them on her own. If he lifted her hand up gently and quick enough she could create her clones and be done before the pain really set in.
At least that was the theory, in practice the pain was sharp and excruciating enough to draw blood from biting her lip. "Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Two of her clones appeared next to her. She was not alone in creating clones, however, with Naruto creating four around him as well. "Heh, it's about time someone knocked you thugs down a peg, right Amari!" Naruto said.
"Your reign of tyranny is at an end, you scum. When we're done with you, you'll be begging for mercy." Amari did her best to sound as sadistic as she could through the enormous amount of pain shooting through her arm.
Panic began to set into their enemies at seeing six clones and an entire village ready to kick them around.
"Eh Kakashi, we can't let the two Genin have all the fun." He moved his head side to side, stretching out his neck to be dramatic. "Now that I think about it, I think I have just enough chakra to help out here." Zabuza brought up his clone handseal. "Water Clone Jutsu."
Kakashi let out a sigh and brought up the clone seal as well "I may have enough to help. Shadow Clone Jutsu." Suddenly a large group of Kakashi's and Zabuza's appeared among the young shinobi. A chuckle escaped both Amari and Haku as they watched the thugs begin to scream in fear. "Kakashi style. Okay. Still want a fight?" the Kakashi's asked.
The thugs tucked tail and began running and trying to climb down to the boat next to the bridge all the while screaming 'no's' in hopes they didn't send their clones in to finish them off.
When they were finally all off the bridge the silence was broken by cheers started by a triumphant yell from none other than Inari. "Victory!"
With the coast clear the clone users dispelled their clones and promptly fell onto their butts in exhaustion.
It had been an extremely long day.
Review Response to Guest: Glad you loved the last chapter! Don't want to spoil anything for the relationship between her and Sasuke in the future, but the evolution of bonds between Team Seven and their character development are definitely on the horizon. This chapter was but one change to the original story I have planned. More shall come.