The morning mist hadn't cleared quite completely yet. It made a good advantage for the two who were trying to reach the large bridge in the water by boat, undetected. While the sounds of concrete groaning and cracking from construction hadn't begun, the two could already hear the beginnings of it. Men shouting orders at their comrades in machines, grinding gears as cranes began to wake up, the sounds of tools being picked up.
Tetsuya looked up. His hidden eye could see quite clearly through the solid stone, and so far, they were still ahead of the their targets. Everybody moved like ignorant civilians, and none of them had that sort of extra springy paranoid step a ninja walked with, so that he would always be prepared for anything. So the samurai continued to move the boat forward with the long rowing staff, while Zabuza sat in the front. They didn't speak until they reached the uncompleted side of the bridge, where metal piling and framework stood out from the stone flesh of the bridge.
It was immense to say, in the least, now that the two were right under it. Both of them mostly likely have seen larger, perhaps like the ones in the Hidden Village of Stone, but this was certainly one to be amazed by in comparison to those meager stream-crossers.
"We're here. Let's get rid of those workers before they arrive." The missing-nin quickly ordered as he stood up, ready to leap the entire way up to the top of the bridge.
"Zabuza, wait." Tetsuya placed an arm onto Zabuza's shoulder, forcing him to switch his attention back to the samurai.
"What?" Came the reply, something between frustration and irritation. Obviously, the Silent Killer was raring to go kill some workers, or something like that.
"I know we had a difference in the past that was unsolved. You're still upset that I took Haku, aren't you?"
"Tch. I'm more upset I got defeated by a samurai. Haku would still have done better in my tutelage, though."
"Eitherway, we had our differences. But we're stuck in this together now, so I'm still going to have to look out for you as my partner for now. You going to do the same for me right, Zabuza?"
There was a pause before the bandaged face twisted into a sort of snorting position, "I'm a ninja, not a samurai. We're expected to perform to our very best despite our differences. Heh, don't worry, I'll be there to save your pansy ass when those genin beat you up."
With that Zabuza leapt up towards the bridge, leaving behind Tetsuya's responses.
"Hey you! Bastard! Don't forget I left you alive seven years back so we can finish our match! Don't give me that bull-shit!" With that, the Super Shiny Spinny Samurai chased after Zabuza in a similar jump.
The two of them landed in front of a very startled crowd, who all backed away in a few frightened steps from the two crouching powerful men with swords.
"Who-who are you two?"
Tetsuya stood up and stared at them all with his one glazed, bored eye. Professionalism took root. "Whom you will call… Tetsuya-sama."
He reached for his sword.
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Evil: We are Ninja-Killers.
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Naruto sat up in the bed and yawned in a yowling sort of manner, arms outstretched in both the act of stretching out the tiredness of his muscles and greeting the rising of the sun outside the window. Still clothed in plain white sleeping clothes, the boy samurai proceeded to daily morning rituals.
It was certainly odd though. For a guy like Zabuza, who practically lived alone in this giant structure, there certainly were a lot of places for people to live in, with bathrooms and all. Crazy ninjas.
Naruto exited his momentary bedroom, dressed as he always was, sword over orange over black. Thereupon he found Haku passing through, traversing with something that looked like some sort of ration bar being chewed up in her mouth.
"Hey! Hey, Haku! Where'd you get that?"
Haku, being polite as she was, had to wait to swallow before continuing, "I found some sort of storeroom down there earlier this morning." She said, pointing down the hall.
"Cool. So I won't starve to death in this place. Did you see sensei any where around here?"
"No. I didn't see him when I woke up. He might have left early for some reason. He was always the most adept at waking up, even if he doesn't show it."
Naruto shrugged here, "Ah well, I suppose it's better this way. You are coming, right?"
"I promised, don't worry."
"O-kay, that's cool."
Since ration bars for breakfast meant they could walk and eat, the two of them took the elevator down immediately after finding more food. At the bottom, Naruto and Haku, with oatmeal looking blocks sticking out of their mouths, stepped down the front step to find a scrap of paper attached to one of the closest trees to Zabuza's 'mansion'.
Haku, Naruto-
Yo. Out to shop. I heard the ninja guard the old man when he's building the bridge, so don't bring attention, and stay away from there, 'kay?
Nehways… outside of that don't be stupid.
-Inukage Tetsuya-sama-sensei-god.
"…Shop? What sort of crap is that?" Naruto frowned at the note.
"It doesn't matter. If this gives us a chance to see these people of yours without Tetsuya's knowledge, we should take that chance."
"Eh, fine."
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"I'm shaking… from excitement!" Sasuke sneered.
The water-clones in Zabuza's image didn't have a chance, and water sprayed everywhere in a clone mass murder. Sasuke's training in the control of his chakra showed its immediate effects. Chakra pushed to his legs allowed him to slide around each fake-opponent with ease before they could realize the mistake they made in underestimating Uchiha Sasuke.
"Ah! You're so strong, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed in blatancy. Sasuke kept a snort inward. The woman seemed only say the obvious at times.
The fog made by the ninja magic, Kirigakure no Jutsu, cleared further up the bridge so that Saskue, Sakura, Kakashi, and their charge, Tazuna could see two men.
One of them was Zabuza again, seemingly recovered and changed from his earlier clothing. This time, he actually wore a shirt, and his cowhide patterns of his arm warmers and boots were replaced with simpler designs. The bandaging and the sword still remained. He stood with his arms limps with an unemotional and gauging visage.
The second man none of them recognized, though. He was crouched on his toes, so that his crème cloak spilled past his legs and onto the ground. An arm had reached through the single sleeve and was propped up on one of the man's knees, while the hand supported a cheeky face. While one eye, through the long unkempt hair, remained under an eyepatch, the other was nearly closed in a cheery upraised position, like the whole spectacle was more a game than a battle.
The eye-patched man whistled. "Wow. That was better than I expected, eh Zabuza?"
"The kid seemed to have improved while I was gone."
Kakashi recognized the new face. The Bingo Book said… "You are…" the jounin began.
With that, the cloaked man stood up and pumped a fist into his chest with a grim and serious face, "Ultimate God of Swords, Steel Rain…" After that, the man seemed to realize what he said, "Wait… if I'm Steel Rain… that would make this…"
A snap of the fingers, "I got it!" He pointed to Zabuza first, "That'd make you Black Knight, Astral!" He pointed at Tazuna, "That would mean he's Fisherman of Time." He pointed at Kakashi, "He would be Retired Warrior, Gray Ranger. This bridge then would be the passageway to Ursula's castle, and that make those two…"
He looked at the genin. He face darkened. "…Red Ranger and Pink Ranger… agh! I hated volume197! Pink Ranger should be with Orange Ranger…"
Zabuza sighed, "Idiot. He wanted your real name…"
"I already know that name." Kakashi called back. His eyes were serious. "You're Inukage Tetsuya, aren't you."
'Tetsuya' grinned, "Oh? So I do have some popularity, after all…"
"Where's Naruto?"
Tetsuya's gave a frosty glare at Kakashi, "Not in Konoha, that's for sure."
Sakura, who was beside Kakashi, turned to her teacher with a confused look, "Naruto? Sensei, what does Naruto have to do with this man?"
Kakashi kept his eyes level with Tetsuya's as he calmly spoke. "Inukage Tetsuya. A dangerous A-Ranked criminal, for the crimes of the attempted theft of one of Konoha's most valuable documents, and for the kidnapping of… Uzumaki Naruto."
"What! B-but…I mean…I thought…How…" Sakura tried to begin, realizing she had met a child's ghost story face to face. Tetsuya groaned out.
"For the love of god, woman! Yes! That Naruto was that Naruto!"
"What are you planning with Naruto?" Kakashi asked. We both know what he contains…
"Oh, I wouldn't know. So far I've been training him to be a good samurai, like me."
"Naruto belongs to Konoha."
"Where the Anbu want to kill him, along with everybody else? Sorry, kids like him deserve a safer place."
"So, you're the one who's been training Naruto be a samurai?" Sasuke responded in a guarded tone. Tetsuya snickered with his hands in pockets and sauntered a step forward.
"So, you must be the red ranger that picked a fight with my student. How unfortunate. I suppose I'll take some revenge on the side."
Sasuke didn't hold back a sneer there, "Even if you're his master, you samurai are outdated. This should be easy."
"For which one of us, eh?" Tetsuya turned to his partner. "Hey, Zabuza. You finish that fight with Kakashi. You have more reason than me to exact revenge. I… will see how good those rookie genin are, compared to my students. Keep the old man between us. You'll see what I mean."
"Fine."
Tetsuya walked forward then at a brisk pace towards Sasuke. His arm slowly rose as he prepared to move for his sword, while Sasuke tensed and gave a grim look with those dark eyes. In a moment, the two dashed towards each other, Sasuke's hand reaching for a thick kunai while Tetsuya pulled out his sword. Sasuke moved first, slashing with his short blade which was held in a backwards grip. Tetsuya drew the handle close to his body and stabbed forward, catching the blades perpendicular with each other intercepted the attack.
Tetsuya grinned and pushed forward. Sasuke stifled a noise of surprise in his throat as he watched his enemy force his screeching and ringing blade upwards towards his face. The genin managed to jerk his neck back and avoid the blow, but Tetusya still continued until the kunai caught in the hand guard, whereupon the samurai launched his arm forward from its previous close position with the body forcing a surprised Sasuke through the air in an incredible show of strength. Somewhere Sakura was shouted 'Sasuke-kun!' while Kakashi called for her to look after Tazuna.
Sasuke threw the kunai in his hand at Tetsuya, who merely moved out of the way before charging down the bridge after the flying Sasuke. As he righted himself in the air to land on his feet, the Uchiha noted their positions. So this was what the samurai meant by 'keeping the old man between them'. With both of them on opposite sides of Tazuna, Kakashi couldn't go and help him, or he would leave himself and Tazuna open for attack. In the same way, Sasuke would have to find a way to keep Tetsuya occupied with him, since the samurai was between him and Tazuna, and could easily turn tail and go after Tazuna.
Sakura at best would only delay them from their target.
"Ora, ora, ora!" Tetsuya screamed out as he dashed towards Sasuke. The genin still couldn't help but smirk.
But in the end, there was no way Sasuke was going to let himself lose to a dinosaur like this guy.
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A young hand rapped upon the word door. A 'coming!' sounded within, and the locked door opened, revealing Tsunami to Haku and Naruto, and vice versa.
"Oh, Naruto! How nice to see you so soon!"
"Nice to see you, too, Tsunami!" Naruto grinned, hands behind his head. "I brought a friend of mine over to say hi too!"
"Greeting, Ms. Tsunami." Haku gracefully bowed.
"Oh? And who is this?"
"My friend! Practically my sister! We're both training under the same sensei, you know!"
"Mentioning my name could also help…" Haku muttered with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh yeah! Tsunami, this is Haku!"
"I see. Well, you're both welcome to come in."
Tsunami led the way in, followed by the pair, side by side. "Inari! Naruto's back, so be sure to say hi to him and his friend!" She shouted out as she walked into the kitchen, leaving the two inside the living room.
Haku looked at Naruto, "Inari?"
"Tsunami's kid."
"Really…"
A young child, much younger than even Naruto, walked by the doorway of the living room and kitchen that connected to hall and gave a grim look to the guests. This Inari, dressed in green overalls and a hat that attempted to swamp his head, looked them over once, muttered something halfway between "Hi" and "Die", and disappeared down the hall in his continued path.
"He's not a very pleasant person, is he?" Haku noted.
"He's like that."
Tsunami returned from the cooking alcove with a small tray with tea that tasted more like flavored water than watery tea, along with the proper cups, "I'm sorry the house is not as lively as yesterday, but nearly everybody is out at work. So, what brings you two over here?"
Haku gave a look to Naruto to answer. He just shuffled his feet. Apparently, it was embarrassing for him to get to the point. At that the female samurai frowned and turned Tsunami to get it over with, "Naruto asked me to come over so I could hear the story about Kaiza."
Tsunami was quite visibly shocked. "Oh! Oh… I see… why?"
Naruto spoke up, "Well, I figured I could do something about it! I just need to get Haku's help first, so I want her to listen so she'd get what's happening!"
"Well, if you want. But… you'd better sit down first."
Seated around the long table, tea was poured out along with the story of a man trapped between being a martyr, a hero, and an idiot…
Kaiza…he was a fisherman of the village. No, beyond fisherman, he was the hero of the village. Inari always looked up to him as a sort of a father he never had, a sort of idol. Kaiza was a good man, true. He always had a determination that seemed to allow the impossible to be accomplished. If there was one thing he always believed in, was that he had those two arms given to him to help everybody. It seemed like that hero could never fail.
Gatoh unfortunately, seemed to also be gifted with that unique talent of allowing the impossible to be accomplished.
If Kaiza had his arms, Gatoh did the same with his money. The CEO came in force, taking over the country. The poor fisherman hero seemed to be the only one who would stand up, despite everything. The lone hero against the crooked businessman's army. The next day the whole village would see the ruined form tied to a cross, missing both his arms.
"This will be a lesson to anybody who dare thinks he can go against Gatoh-sama!"
Kaiza smiled before his chest was cleaved in two. Inari was there to see it himself. Even if Kaiza knew he did what he could, everybody else took Gatoh's warning to heart. If even the idolized hero of the village couldn't stand up to him, who else could possibly be safe, much less win?
Everybody has changed since then. Everyone thinks there's no hope of winning. At this rate Gatoh will destroy the country, with no one to object. There's only Tazuna left. He's the only one who can finish that bridge.
That bridge that will connect the people with their hope again…
"Well… that's the story." Tsunami concluded quietly.
"I see…" Haku hummed.
"See? Gatoh's an ass! This isn't just about some transport feuding, it's the entire hope of Wave Country now!"
"Hmmm… You're right Naruto."
Naruto brightened up, "Really?"
"…It's like you said, it's just more of the same." Haku abruptly stood up from her seat, "I'm sorry Naruto, but it's still not reason enough. What Gatoh does in his spare time isn't suppose to concern us… I'm sorry for taking up your time, Ms. Tsunami."
"B-but, Haku! We can't just leave them like this!" Naruto chased after.
"Hope and people come and go Naruto-" Haku had just reached the door when she suddenly felt something wrong. The raised an arm to pause Naruto, who also noticed it just then.
Both of the samurai's faces darkened. Naruto slung the blade off his back and held the whole device in his left hand, ready to draw with his right, while Haku pulled the moisture out of the air, calling a dense frozen weapon into her relaxed hand.
"Naruto, how many do you feel?"
"Two…three…no, just two."
"I thought so… I recognize that obsessive taste for blood…" Haku coldly muttered.
"It's those two." Naruto growled
"What are you two talking about…?" Tsunami whispered, suddenly fearing the change in atmosphere.
The door fell apart in several cleanly sliced pieces then, revealing behind it Gatoh's two favorite bodyguards, the Iaido swordsmen. Familiarly, one was wearing a kimono that was pulled down to the belt holding it, revealing the tanned chest and scars and an eye patch to complete the whole veteran look. The second being the one Tetsuya fought before, wearing a giant floppy coat and wollen hat, despite the warm temperature.
"Well, what do we have here?" The floppy one sneered.
The one with the eye patch, who was also sheathing his sword from cutting down the door looked with some minor surprise and amusement, "The old man's lady… and those two kids that came with that Inukage fellow! What the hell are they doing here?"
"I could ask the same for suddenly intruding on us with such display of force." Haku called back.
"Yeah! What the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be bodyguards, right?" Naruto followed after.
"Don't be stupid. We were ordered by Gatoh to get Tazuna's girl."
"What? How come we don't know?" Naruto scrunched up his face.
"Idiot, it's just your job to take care of the ninja. But, if you want, you can help us. We can put a good word in for Gatoh…" The pale floppy one suggested.
"Naruto, what does he mean by that? Are you actually…" Tsunami left the sentence unfinished, a she backed away from the group of four.
"Well… yeah. We were hired by Gatoh to handle the ninja." Naruto sheepishly said as he scratched his head.
"You lied to us-"
"How about it?" The half naked one cut in, "You wanna get her for us?"
"No!"
"…what?"
"I'm not working for Gatoh anymore! He's a sick bastard, and that means I'm making sure the two of you aren't getting Tsunami either!" Naruto shouted, grabbing the handle of his sword, ready at any moment.
"What the hell kid? You think you can just run in and out of jobs as you please? Don't be stupid, kid, that means you'll be taking on Gatoh! Plus, what will your buddies think about this?"
"Shut up! I at least know what's the right thing to do right now!"
The bronzed Iaijutsu warrior snorted in disgust, "Fuck you, kid. I'll just kill you all and get the bitch after. Besides, you guys are still too expensive for Gatoh's tastes. We might as well off you now, while you're away from your teacher."
"Good, good… I was hoping to get back at that Tetsuya…" Floppy one said, shivering in delight as the two of them reached for their blades.
"So… Haku. If you're not going to help for the villagers, can you help because Gatoh's the enemy now?" Naruto asked, looking out of the corner of his eye to his friend.
Haku sighed before grabbing her weapon with both hands, "You seem to have a way with dragging us into things, don't you Naruto?"
Naruto smiled.
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He's fast! Sasuke jerked his body to the side to avoid a stab to his right side. Tetsuya had been keeping a poker face throughout the battle, even up to now.
Tetsuya seemed to be more of a dodger. Every return by the Uchiha survivor seemed to have the samurai twist out of the way in similar manners to a ninja, without even trying to block any of them with his sword.
The samurai sliced upwards again at Sasuke's face, making his back up again. This time Tetsuya continued the motion, twisting around on one foot so that his entire body swiveled, so that in a fluttering of cloth an unexpected leg struck out in the same direction, catching Sasuke off guard and slamming the sole right under his jaw, knocking him back.
Sasuke dropped back to his feet in time to raise his kuani again to stop a downward chop. Tetsuya remained emotionless.
"I thought Pink Ranger said you were the number one rookie. Is this all you got? Just having the basics down? God damn, I memorized the basics before you even probably even knew how to piss in a bowel."
How much did Naruto tell him?
"If this is the best Leaf genin can do… I am disappointed!" Tetsuya suddenly broke the deadlock and swirled away, the cloak moving in confusing patterns in front of Sasuke's eyes as he lost track of where his enemy's body went.
He's behind me! Sasuke gritted his teeth as he felt the presence behind him. As Sasuke tried to turn away, the presence behind him followed move for move, keeping behind Sasuke's back at every move. With a leaping roll forward, the ninja managed to avoid the blade that shot out of the back of Tetsuya's mantle, only managing to slice an opening into the back of the genin's dark blue shirt. In a moment, the sword was already out of the cloak and flashing around in Tetsuya's hand chasing hungrily after Sasuke, who dodged away every time, still escaping with only light gashes that appeared under corresponding rips in his clothing that suddenly appeared. A final leap away avoided Sasuke's foot from being pinned into the concrete ground as the sword stabbed deep. Several more feet back the Uchiha placed himself, while Tetsuya simple released the grip on his sword, leaving it impaled in the ground while hand moved to his hips in an arrogant fashion.
This guy is too fast for me. He could easily be considered a Taijutsu expert if he were a ninja. I can't keep up with him at this range…
"And so you think, 'what can I do to get him at long range?'" Tetsuya finished for the number-one rookie. As such, Sasuke couldn't help give a look of shocked surprise.
"How do I know? Tch, idiot boy. That's all you are. A new brat out of the academy who suddenly thinks he can take on the world," The samurai pointed at Sasuke, "Just because you got that stupid piece of metal on your forehead. Idiot. I may be a samurai, but I've fought far longer than you have. I fought all kinds of ninja, and most of them realize the first thing, they can't keep up with me in close combat. You're nothing special, genin."
Sasuke growled inwardly, feeling a parallel to what he said to Naruto a while back, while hearing the words Tetsuya said.
He's right. He probably can anticipate my moves. Still… he's an evasive type… "In that case, I'm not holding back!" Sasuke shouted back, and from behind his back, a large bladed item slid into his grip. A snap of his hand, and the single blade split apart around the central ring, transforming into a sword-bladed shuriken.
"…The shadow windmill… Fuuma Shuriken." Sasuke announced, a smirk hitched in that voice. Tetsuya snorted.
"What the hell? You just going to use shuriken? You're insulting me, boy!"
Sasuke leapt high into the air, before winding up and throwing down the giant spinning blade down at Tetsuya. The samurai grinned expectantly at this current attempt to injure him, before sliding forward slightly to pull his katana out of the ground. Thrusting forward his sword, Tetsuya's timing was impeccable as the katana slid right into the center ring of the Fuuma shuriken, stopping it right in front of his face. Immeaditly after, without even looking, Tetsuya brought one of his legs straight up before bringing his foot straight down on another similar designed shuriken that was headed for his ankles. The weapon crashed into the ground under the samurai's foot.
Sasuke, again shocked at the dinosaur samurai out pacing the modern ninja.
Tetsuya sneered at Sasuke's face. Holding out the katana holding the shuriken with one arm, he jerked his weapon slightly causing the central ring of the shuriken to slide down the sword and hang from Tetsuya's arm. Kicking up the second one from the ground, Tetsuya began.
"Don't feel too bad. It was a good trick for someone of your level. Expecting me to duck backwards under the first one headed for my chest, so I wouldn't see the one hidden in its shadow head for my legs. However, just because I don't want to batter my sword around, doesn't mean I'll make use of it sometimes. This is also my special ability."
"Special ability?" Sasuke frowned.
"I See a mile away all the tricks you can do. It was so obvious the movement you made to hide the second shuriken." Tetsuya shrugged. "So you can't beat me in close combat, I dodge all your thrown attacks, and I can see through all the tricks. That leaves you with just ninjutsu. But that won't help either, believe me."
Sasuke pulled two more kunai for each hand while Tetsuya fiddled with one of the shuriken, finally finding out how to snap it into a single blade. The lone eye twinkled with a menacing delight as he spoke "Now 'scuse me, but I'm going show you how to correctly use these sweet puppies…" The samurai passed the katana in his hand towards his mouth, where the handle was gripped firmly between bared teeth. Sliding the second shuriken into the free hand, that was also slid into its single blade position. Tetsuya posed a battle stance with his three swords. At that, the Uchiha raised his own weapons.
Tetsuya surged forwards. Sasuke could only back away in defense while his own captured Fuuma Shuriken and Tetsuya's mouthed Katana continually blocked and pushed each of his kunai away, making room for the third weapon to attack. As Sasuke jumped away from one downward blow with one of the shuriken, the cement gave way in a small explosion.
He's pushing chakra into the swords?
Another blur of motion and Sasuke managed to raise his weapons to his side in time to feel three swords slam into his somewhat protected side with enough force that he flew down the bridge in the direction of Sakura and Tazuna were. While he didn't land in front of them, he still arrived a lot closer than before.
Sasuke stood up and watched the silhouetted of the cloaked samurai become larger through the mist.
Damnit. I'm between him and the others, but he's too fast for me to pick up his movements until it's too late. At this rate he could easily plow through me and get to the others before I can do anything.
Wait… Kakashi's training…is it possible to concentrate chakra to the eyes…then maybe…
Sasuke didn't have time for 'maybe's. He'd either do the same stupid thing again, or see if chakra in the eyes could allow him to catch the movements, perhaps even…
Moving through the mist, Tetsuya stopped himself as he saw Sasuke deep in meditation, hands stuck in a particular hand seal used for concentration.
What is he doing? Tetsuya couldn't help but wonder in the pause in combat.
I don't like this. His chakra's moving in a weird way. He might actually have a trump card. Fine, let's end this! Tetsuya grinned wildly to himself before throwing his arms wide, and splaying out the Fuuma Shuriken into a throwing arrangement again. Throwing both of his arms forward towards each other, the two spinning tops of death flew forwards, along with several more kunai that slipped silently out of Tetsuya's sleeve and cloak.
…
…
…
…I can see…
Almost imperceptibly, he could feel his senses almost slow down the movement of the fuuma shuriken, even if for just a second.
I can see.
I can see!
"I can see it now!" The ninja's arms shot forward, catching both of the large blades in a similar fashion, before quickly spinning them around their central rings like a shield, knocking all of the dangerously directed smaller blades out of the way.
Tetsuya's eye widened. Sasuke's eyes snapped.
"I can see!" Red eyes and an angry cry, and Sasuke returned his own weapon one more time. Tetsuya smirked, for him to have been afraid of that yell a moment ago. He raised his hand in an effortless show of catching the Fuuma Shuriken. That would be enough to put the brat in his-
"Blarrrghgh!" Tetsuya coughed out his sword, while Sasuke was already ducked low in front of the samurai, fist rammed deep into his side. Sasuke was already moving up on the ante, a foot kicked up into Tetsuya's gut, before a swirling roundhouse into the side of his face knocked him to the ground before he could finish reacting to the first blow.
"What the fuck-" Tetsuya only got off the ground in time to push away Sasuke's foot that was headed towards his chest while he was on the ground. With that the samurai, momentarily without his main weapon, placed both his palms onto the ground and kicked off, spinning around with his legs flying around as he spun from the base of his arms. Sasuke, his vision suddenly improved, merely blocked the blow with a firm leg in place before kicking Tetsuya away. With that, the growling swearing samurai rolled across the ground for a few moments further before stopping on one knee.
I want my sword back. "Come on! Bring it!" Tetsuya charged in a mad manner towards Sasuke, before launching out a foot, which the genin caught easily in both his hands. Tetsuya from there use that hold as a base to flip over Sasuke, rolling back over back before landing behind the boy and leaping for his sword that lay on the ground, whereupon he grabbed it hastily and spun around, both hands holding his sword in a careful stance. Sasuke smirked.
"Red eyes… A leaf ninja with red eyes. I know that…"
"I have to thank you for giving me these eye, samurai. It's the end of the game for you, now."
"I see… You got Uchiha blood in you. One of those who fan the flames of war. Tch, I should have recognized that symbol. So you achieved Sharingan, eh?"
"Hmph."
"I see… But those eyes aren't too much advantage here. I don't have too much that you can copy."
"That's not all the Sharingan can do."
"…oh?"
"I can see those fast movements of yours even better now. You slow-poke."
"Tch. I see… no wonder…" Tetsuya sighed before sheathing his sword, "If you can keep up with my movements, then I have to do something myself. Man… I hear all you Uchihas got wiped out a couple years back. Doesn't that make you a dinosaur too? Fighting for survival…"
"Shut up."
"Fine, fine. But I'm going to use one of my trump cards now… allow me…" Tetsuya brought his hands together in a familiar movement that shocked the newly christened Sharingan user.
Hand Seals? Wait…I know that pattern…Kawarimi no justu?
Tetsuya snickered as he stopped at the final position. "Allow me to show you the true power of Replacement, in the hands of a samurai. I assure you, when this battle is over, I will be known as the one who made the Uchiha clan truly extinct."
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The battle quickly moved to the out of the house. Generally, it was always smarter to fight in a place where your sword didn't get stuck against random walls that seem to be always in the way of your strike. Naruto had so far rushed towards the two Iaido users, waving his open sword and scabbard everywhere in front of him, and pushing the two men out of the door. The moment they exited, Naruto gasped and ducked out of the way, before the empty door way also received a wide line of a cleaving blow in each post.
Naruto turned back to his partner quickly, "Haku, I'm going first!"
"Be careful. They're waiting for the moment you run out of patience."
"Right!" Naruto charged through the entranceway, while Haku turned to look back at the frazzled Tsunami.
"I'd advise you to find a safe place to hide while Naruto and I protect you." Haku already was gone without bothering to hear any reply.
Outside Naruto was holding himself admirably. The cramped bridge that spanned the lake between the shore and the house, plus the much larger frame of the half-naked swordsman who was in front let the Kyuubi incarnate handle one opponent at a time, with furious slashes with both his weapons directed at his enemy. The Iaijustsu user continually defended with his sheathed sword before finding an opportunity. Backing away from Naruto as he attacked, the boy slammed down onto the ground in his missed strike. But he was already rolling out of the way while the wood under him exploded from an immensely powerful blow. The samurai's years of training paid off once more, as while the boy rolled onto the water, chakra control kept him buoyant above the surface of the water before he stood atop it. Naruto took offense again from the opposite side of the railing. Haku was already running across the bridge low to the ground, sword at her side to intercept the one wearing the heavy winter jacket, who had moved to past his partner to intercept.
It became, like the stories always described, a dance between the two. For the two students, unlike their master, they seemed to have no qualm about their blades clashing against the defending wood sheaths, while each waited patiently for the golden moment.
The half-naked one fighting Naruto, and the much more berserk than the other, became annoyed too soon. He mistook his lack of good opponents for having good skill, and when finally seeing a good opponent, instead saw a lucky brat. His temper over taking him, the bare chest Iaijustu user grabbed for the bandage wrapped handle to draw for an attack. Wrong move in Naruto's lessons-
Tetsuya stopped his student's draw by catching his palm in the point where the hand and the sword handle made a corner. The sword remained trapped halfway out and its owner at the mercy at the un-amused mentoring face.
"Naruto… how many times do I have to tell you…"
"B-but sensei, I'm doing exactly what you did!"
"Idiot! I'm a friggin single FOOT in front of you! What's the reason the sword is so long?"
"Because-"
"Because it's made that way so you can cut the person while being FAR AWAY from the guy! If you're going to get the guy up close, then quite using this sword and buy a knife or a gauntlet or something! Being close with something this long is clumsy. Drawing at this range makes you suicidal and clumsy! No matter what school of sword art!"
No matter what school, huh.
Naruto's scabbard smashed into the end of the bodyguard's handle, bringing the draw to a halt. At the same moment, Naruto plunged his sharper of the two weapons into his opponent's chest, right between the lungs. The cry of pain was cut short as blood began to make its escape journey up the Iaijutsu swordsman's throart, bubbling out and pouring out the corner's of the mouth. Just as the Kyuubi samurai was about pull out his rust-red sword, the tanned and obviously much more muscled and stronger hand crushed its grip over the 12-year-old one that was holding the sword. The second hand shot forward and made its vice grip around Naruto's throat, cutting off his own surprised gasp.
"Damn…kid… kill you!" Was the gurgled death-throe, and the larger frame forced himself through the wooden railing between them, and fell on top of Naruto, with intents of bringing them both down by drowning. The water geysered up momentarily as the large combined body of mass plunged through the surface.
While Haku tried her best to keep her steady head, even with the sight of Naruto falling through the and the images of him only returning as a bloated corpse, her enemy, the floppy coated yojimbo jerked his head back momentarily in shock and anger to see his buddy pass away. He turned back with a snarl.
"Fucking bitch!" Was the shout, along with an aggressive slash from him, which caught the woman off guard, never expecting such a defensive player to switch so suddenly. A flash of light, and Haku was blown back. Collasping onto her butt, the force made her cough up blood as she realize that the slash actually made it past her defence, and had cut a sizable gash across her collar. But she was so sure it at least wouldn't make it through… wasn't her sword raised then?
She then finally noticed that most of her frosted sword was missing. The attack actually cut through her ice. Eyes widened.
"Damnit! That's it for you! Die!" The jacketed man, wild with revenge, didn't bother re-sheathing for a second elementary strike. He simply grabbed his sword with both hands and raised it over his head.
Haku's eyes went from surprised shocked to shocked at what was about to happen. Without her sword she was running out of options. She couldn't escape in time, and at this point, it would take too long for the moisture to condense in time to make a second blade.
Ohgodohfuckohshitohmygodohmygodohmygod-
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Tetsuya brought his sword down on Sasuke, who dodged the attack easily now. The explosion of the cement in his last position however, gave a very good clue at the amount of chakra that was being force into that blade.
Shit, I can't let myself get hit by that even once! In the air, the genin immediately let his hands move to his favored combination of hand seals as he attacked.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Bringing encircled fingers to his mouth, he momentarily let chakra run down to his chest before he spat it out in flames that was wide enough to cover the entire width of the bridge his enemy was on.
Tetsuya merely jumped out of the flames, practically unaffected by the flames before rising to be level with the ninja, whereupon kunai flew out of his cloak. Sasuke stopped burning the ground as he was forced to twist his body out of the way of each thrown article as the two of them landed. Tetsuya again rushed towards him, sword in mouth, hands blurring in shapes for the same damn jutsu over and over. Sasuke merely spat out more flames again, but the samurai that was swamped up by the river of burning death immediately exploded into ninja smoke and charring wood, while the replaced appeared right above his switched position, from which he used the remaining wood to kick off from and leap above the fire, hands again in the same sequence.
This was becoming a waste of chakra at the rate Sasuke was going. If he used the same jutsu again at the aerial swordsman, he would just kawarimi again and kick off from the replaced wood to shoot toward the ground and bypass the remaining flames. If Sasuke used kunai or shuriken, he would merely absorb the blows and reappear behind the replacement wood and use it as a shield. At least he was able to keep track of his movements now with his Sharingan. Unstoppable before, Tetsuya had now become stalled, and the whole process irritating for the two of them.
Kunai still sung regardless, but it kept on only contacting timber. The samurai was now zigzagging across the bridge to ensure at least he was approaching the still ninja in small strides before he disappeared in smoke.
Clash. The last Tetsuya exploded again in ninja smoke while the newly arisen one leaped out at Sasuke, sword flashing. The two of them again stopped each other in a dead lock of weapons.
Somewhere off the distance, the unexpected barking of dogs caught both their attention.
"What the-"
Sasuke capitalized first. He shoved the samurai's blade out of the way and stabbed his weapon into Tetsuya's shoulder and left it there to make room for empty fists. A short flurry of well placed punches rocked the single eyed face all over before one more kick to the stomach to stagger him back before launching a high angled one back at the face again, throwing him onto his back.
Tetsuya didn't care; he was too busy looking through the fog to see where the barking came from. His more special eye moved his vision through the fog to find his trusted partner being pinned down by Kakashi, who was using ninja dogs that burst out of the ground (even if it was a bridge) and were using their jaws to hold Zabuza in place. Not only that-
What the hell? Chakra in his hand? Is that chakra in his hand? Geez he's going to stab him!
That was the last straw. If this was the most exciting the job was going to offer him, playing a stall mating game with some punk kid and getting kicked around and helping a ninja awaken his special ability for no charge at all and now the guy he was supposed to look after is about to die and he's on the wrong end of the bridge and Naruto and Haku were probably out having a stroll in the sunny afternoon while he books were rotting and everybody about to die and-
"I've fucking had enough!" Tetsuya bellowed. He stood up and raised the sword above his head. He was going to bring a clean slate to this bridge in one blow. Fucking blow every damn ninja and person off this bridge-
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What disgusting business it was. Naruto wasn't one to be desperate, but he really needed air, plus the guy was dead anyways. Using his free hand, he tucked his sheath away and pulled out a kunai, and drew them to the dead yojimbo's fingers.
A few eternities later, compressed into the span of a minute, Naruto kicked off the waterlogged corpse that was now bereft of any fingers. Pushing through the water, he hacked and coughed a bit to see Haku walking heavily down the bridge towards the yellow buoy that emerged from the water, one arm clutching a bloody chest, the other helping her lean against the railing.
"Haku! Haku, are you okay?" Naruto called from the water.
"F-fine…"
Naruto turned to look down the bridge. The other yojimbo was dead on his feet. Protruding from one side and out the other was an icicle of an ugly green sap color that emanated from the railings and wood itself.
Pulling himself back onto the wood span, the two were crouched in front of each other as they coughed and recovered.
Splutter, "Hey… Haku… How'd you do that…?"
Cough, weak wheeze, "I found out at last minute that… wood still contained some water in it…"
"Lucky… you…you alright…?"
"I'll be fine… fast enough…"
The two of them walked back to the house, where Tsunami awaited them.
Haku, moderately recovered sighed, "I though I told you to hide."
"We'll discuss that later, we have to fix that wound."
"We don't have time for that ourselves. We need to find our teacher before Gatoh's men get him too." Haku said, refusing.
"But our country is so big!" Tsunami objected.
"Hey, Haku. Was Zabuza at the house when we woke up?"
"No, neither was Tetsuya-sensei… no…"
"Oh crap. Tetsuya warned us to not go near the bridge. Plus he said he was out 'shopping'. You don't think that…"
"I think they are at the bridge."
"Then we'd better go! We can stop the whole thing right there if we're lucky!"
The two began to run down the remainders of the bridge before a boy's voice stopped them.
"Wait!"
The two looked back at the boy, Inari who stepped out from behind his mother.
"Why are you doing this… aren't you guys supposed to be with Gatoh?"
Naruto grinned, and couldn't help but rub his nose. "Not any more! Haku and I both decided he's an ass if he's going to do this. We're going to stop this."
"You're being stupid! You can't win like this! It's just the two of you against Gatoh and his entire army! You'll die!"
"So what? Samurai like us shouldn't expect to live forever. I'd rather be dying trying to help, than let this whole issue sit around. If there's something Sensei taught me, is doing something about something you don't like. At least I'll now I tried to do something. Kaiza died trying to do that, what are you doing, sitting around acting depressed like this is stupid tragedy?"
Naruto ran off first, leaving Haku to look quietly at the two, "He's right. Tragedies may have unhappy endings, and comedies their happy endings. But there's no set ending here. There's always going to be tomorrow. Gatoh's only going to be here as long as you want him to."
Haku followed after, leaving the home silent. But perhaps more ambitious.
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Dust and cement fly up into the air as a straight line of force rushed down the center of the bridge, throwing the entire bridge into disarray. Tazuna, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, even Zabuza and the dogs attached to him, they were all tossed about and back onto the ground while Tetsuya grunted and wheezed in effort, his sword still stuck in the ground.
Fuck this all. I'm fucking stabbing the old man right here and now! Tetsuya hissed in his head as he began to march down the bridge. Even through the dust and slowly dissipating fog, he could still easily See the location of his quarry. Pink Ranger was still with him, though.
It was sort of funny, seeing them cough a little, then notice his outline, before the fear of their eyes alighted upon the realization that this was the "Oh shit I'm dead" man. Pink Ranger prolly thought Red Ranger was dead or something. She still acted pretty smart though. Professionalism managed to beat out Sasuke-kun.
The kunoichi stood up, fear in her holding up her breath, and held a single kunai in both hands backwards. A basic stance. "Tazuna! Run!" Blind instinct told the older man to run away from the showdown, even if it meant towards two ninja and the unfinished side of the bridge. A single calculative eye easily saw a trajectory, held the very end of his sword in his palm like a javelin, and threw it past Pink Ranger's reach. The weapon dug itself into the back of Tazuna's leg, dropping him with a shriek.
"Tazuna!" Pink Ranger looked back in shock. Tetsuya quickly marched forwards, a kunai falling through the sleeve into his hand. The sudden approach put the kunoichi off. She freaked and charged forwards, trying to get a first hit in. Tetsuya easily caught her right wrist that was armed, and lifted a foot to stomp into her belly, before pulling her up with the same arm to kick a few more times, make sure she's fucked up enough so she won't hassle anything any more.
Tetsuya sensed a presence flying from behind and merely hoisted Sakura up through the air like a makeshift club to slam Sasuke out of the way, while letting go of his weapon so that she would fly away. Hopefully off the bridge, where'd she either drown or get saved by Sasuke and thus put two ninja out of commission and maybe they'd both drown. Whatever.
As he approached, Tazuna raised an arm to stop him. "Don't do this!
Tetsuya merely disregarded it and raised his kunai, just as "Sensei!" was shouted to him.
"Euh?" Tetsuya turned to look down the bridge, where an orange form and a blue form raced over to stop beside him.
"Sensei! Don't do this!"
"Naruto, Haku, what are you doing here?"
"Tetsuya-sensei. We have to quit this job!"
"What the hell? After all my hard work, of all times NOW? Look here! He's right here!"
"Gatoh sent men to take hostages, and along the way mentioned that we were on the death list, because we were still to expensive."
"Wh-wha…WHAT!" Tetsuya shrieked. "This is so stupid!"
Meanwhile, Sasuke (for Sakura had not fallen off the bridge) slowly eased his way to the rear of the three. He still had enough chakra left for one more, and they were too distracted to make seals for kawarimi in time.
…Horse, Tiger… "Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
The three samurai turned around just in time to see flames envelop them all. Given the flames were already burning for a full five seconds without any samurai bursting out of it, or ninja smoke, Sasuke decided he could breath a sigh of relief.
The breath was choked on as the fireball disintegrated, with Naruto cleaving the flames apart in a single stroke. None of them burned, none of them amused.
Naruto glared, "Hey, ninja. We're discussing whether we should let you live or not. You got a death wish?"
Is this the same Naruto as yesterday? Sasuke heard in the back of his head. He just cut through his technique…
"Tetsuya! Tetsuya! Get your damn samurai ass here now!" Zabuza's hoarse cry came over.
The three of them looked down the direction of the bridge the voice came from. The fog by then was cleared up enough to see something not very pleasant.
Gatoh… along with easily over a hundred raggedy men carrying weapons of all kinds, crossing the channel to the bridge by the large armored boat. The samurai quickly stood next to their momentary ninja partner, while grimacing out of the corner of their eyes, Kakashi.
"Looks like we've been betrayed, Kakashi…" Zabuza mumbled out, seeing the army before him. The whole matter would have been easily solved in seconds if both his arms weren't pierced to uselessness by kunai.
"Zabuza… you idiot… you didn't listen to me about the point of your sword being so long those year back, didn't you…" Tetsuya deadpanned. Of all the times for the ninja to have no arms…
"Shut up…"
"How unfortunate. Looks like none of you guys actually killed each other." Gatoh sneered, still pleased nonetheless that all the fighters were worse for wear in the end.
"That's why I said we should have quit this job, Tetsuya-sensei." Haku noted.
Tetsuya raised a fist and a voice full of expletives.
"Oi, Kakashi." Naruto looked up at the Leaf Ninja, "You actually still want to fight us at this point?"
"There's no more need kid" Zabuza interjected, "Gatoh broke the contract with us first. We're all freelance as of this moment. It's not Kakashi's job to defeat us as missing-nin… or criminals.
"He's right. At this point I'm more concerned about my students and the safety of Wave Country." Kakashi shrugged.
"It can't be helped then…" Tetsuya shrugged before walking forward slightly, then turning to his comrades. "Well, at this point, I haven't actually killed anyone on your team, Kakashi. Just messed with them a bit, and that's because your student insulted mine first. Same for Zabuza. He hasn't actually killed anyone on your team… just decided to…train them a little…"
"Oh?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow. He had a feeling where this was going.
"At this point of time, all four of us aren't really related to you in this situation. So, you were just an eyewitness to a feud between a criminal mastermind and some of his dissenters while you guys were on a mission, cool? Right Zabuza?"
The demon snorted, "Might as well have some backup while you're here."
"Right! And so we all disappear… and everything goes back to normal, right Kakashi? Let us handle Gatoh, and leave us Naruto and the rest of us alone."
"…I guess it can't be helped. It is the four of you against one of me. I'm low on chakra, and have yet to find the situation of Sasuke and Sakura."
"Right then! Somebody get Zabuza here a Kunai. At least he won't misjudge range with that."
Zabuza growled something intelligible while a kunai was stuffed into his bandaged mouth. The four thus proceeded towards the army.
Gatoh was slightly taken aback, but did his best to handle the situation, "What's this? You guys actually believe you can take all of us on?"
Naruto sneered back, "What's this? You guys actually believe you can take all of us on?"
"Like I said before, that's the thing you should be more worried about." Tetsuya grinned.
"Tch… kill them all!"
The army charged forwards.
A little while later, several bodies and body parts would be falling into the river below the bridge. One of them was Gatoh's head.
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"Inari! You did do something after all!" Naruto cheered past Kakashi. Inari, despite Naruto's blood stained form, couldn't help but act a little cheeky.
In the end, Inari was the first to get out of the scare of Gatoh, and quickly a small rag-tag force of the people of Wave Country came to fight. They chased the remaining stragglers away from the bridge, and onto the boat. They were still amazed by the carnage all over the bridge. So far Kakashi, and whatever Sakura and Sasuke could do, were all helping cordon off the Samurai and single lone missing-nin from the rest of the populace. Some agreed they were dangerous, others felt they were hero as much as the rest of the ninja.
Wave Country, in a word, was free.
Tetsuya just shrugged, "Eh, we better get going. We'll leave the festivities to the Leaf guys."
"B-but Sensei! We came here to get away from ninja!"
"I change my mind. This place already got more excitement than I need. We're going someplace else."
Haku sighed somewhere, but agreed.
"Oi, Zabuza. You wanna have us drop you off at your place before we keep going?"
"Get my sword."
"Naruto, get his sword."
"What? I can't pick this up!"
"Then drag it. It's what you both deserve. Zabuza for not listening, and Naruto for quitting at the worst time possible."
"Hey! It was the best time possible! If it weren't for me, then Gatoh…"
Kakashi sighed as he watched the group of ex-Gatoh fighters jump off the uncompleted bridge, back into the road of life.
There will be other times when we will get Naruto back to Leaf…
Next Chapter: Oh the joys and perils of being a bandit! Evil Arc ends, Luv! Arc begins. Perhaps a relationship between ninja and samurai is borne here. But is it the sort of relationship we expect?
A/N: I wrote prematurely before sticking this at the end, so that I can apologize if the Inari bit was a bit forced. As usual, comment away.
