AN: Fucking.. this chapter man. Yeesh. I hate writing fight scenes. But I'll let you be the judge of it. Anyways's FINALLY! I've been trying to get to this chapter for ages. As always though, it's un-beta'd. But thank you to all you commentators and those who have left kudos, you guys are the real super starts here! Enjoy!
Edit: Beta'd as of 8/13
That morning, the men of Team 7 left Sakura, Tsunami, and Inari behind while they escorted Tazuna to the bridge. They had laid out a plan last night, detailing it and going over it so many times; Naruto felt as though he'd just studied for one of Iruka-sensei's exams all over again. But Sakura had insisted they have it down, ignoring Naruto's complaints. The rest of the night had been filled with fitful sleep, nerves keeping all of them (except Sasuke) up. Hopefully, it wouldn't affect them in battle.
"You two seem awfully tense," Kakashi-sensei noted from behind them. Naruto only managed to give a stiff, half-hearted shrug.
"It's been a week," he said simply. "You said that's how long it would take for Zabuza to recover." The implication of the rogue ninja preparing to attack them was clear.
"Ah, I see," was their sensei's somber response. "Well, let's be on our guard then." The two boys nodded absently in assent.
Not long after, they came upon the bridge.
And the bloodbath it had become.
"Tazuna, get behind me," Kakashi-sensei snapped, immediately taking up a defensive position. "Naruto, Sasuke," he ordered, shooting them a commanding look. Without having to hear any spoken order, the two jumped to flank Tazuna, kunai drawn and ready to use.
A low chuckle reverberated through the air around them, mist slowly encroaching on their small group.
"Zabuza," Kakashi-sensei hissed. Naruto shared a hard look with Sasuke, to which the boy gave a nod. Their plan was a go.
The Kiri ninja appeared a few feet away, stepping out of the mist amongst the bloodbath. Kubikiribōchō was resting easily on his shoulder, dripping red from its victims.
"Good God," Tazuna breathed, taking in the sight. Naruto couldn't help but agree, it was gruesome. But he didn't have time to think about that right now. He had to focus on Zabuza, and Haku, wherever he was.
"I'll ask only once, Kakashi," Zabuza snarled. "Hand over the bridge builder, and your little kiddies don't die."
Naruto noticed his sensei's slight change in stance at the mention of his genin, fist clenching tightening around his kunai, feet spread just a tad further apart. If he had to jump to protect one of them, he'd be ready. "Your battle is with me, Zabuza," he growled back. The Kiri ninja scoffed, but hefted his sword off his shoulder anyway, shifting into an attack stance.
"Hmph, as you wish." With that, he rushed forward, sword held up at the ready. Kakashi-sensei immediately ran forward to greet him, kunai up and sharingan exposed. They met in the middle in a clash of steel and sparks.
Not a moment later, Naruto felt a presence behind him and shouted, "Sasuke!" Sasuke turned and threw his kunai, just barely missing Haku as he tried to kill Tazuna himself.
"Naruto, now!" He cried, rushing forward himself to fight the boy. Naruto summoned up five clones, all of them taking up defensive positions around Tazuna as the original ran off to help Sasuke. They'd agreed that even alone, Sasuke might not beat Haku, as the boy could summon his ice mirrors at will. Perhaps having two of them be on offense might prevent that.
Naruto jumped into the battle when Sasuke aimed a kick at Haku's head. The boy dodged, ducking under it only to head straight into Naruto's oncoming punch. He jolted back from the impact, doubling over in shock. Sasuke took the opportunity to hit him with a basic lightning jutsu, paralyzing him and frying his nervous system. Haku dropped to the ground in a heap-
Only to melt into a puddle. It had been a water clone.
"Damn it!" Naruto cursed, turning around only to get hit with a round of senbon in the arm.
"I do not want to kill you, shinobi-san," Haku said evenly, jumping out of the way of Sasuke's attack. "But I will if I have to."
"You won't be killing anyone today," Sasuke growled darkly, eyes glowing sharingan red. His hands flashed through signs quickly before he exhaled a giant fireball towards the boy. Haku somehow jumped out of the way quick enough, landing a good few meters away.
"Naruto!" Sasuke cried.
"On it!" Naruto shouted back, tying ninja wire to some weapons before throwing them straight at their adversary. The shuriken went straight for the boy while the kunai went wide, encircling the area while the invisible wire formed into a net. Predictably, Haku jumped away out of the shurikens path but was caught by the ninja wire from the kunai.
"Now!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke wasted no time picking up a length of connected wire and running a short lightning jutsu down it, watching with a sadistic smirk as Haku writhed in pain as the current of electricity ran through him. Naruto bolted forward in the hopes of securing him once he'd finished flailing. Hopefully, it wouldn't be hard now that he was actually paralyzed.
He slid to a stop next to the boy, sandals slipping on the blood-slickened ground. His hands were on the boy's shoulders when he saw his opponents hands struggling to move. The shock of seeing someone being able to move at all after a jutsu like that stopped him from recognizing just what jutsu the boy was about to perform.
"Secret jutsu," he breathed out, voice strained but determined. "Crystal ice mirrors."
Dread sank in Naruto's stomach like a stone. No, was all he managed to think before Haku disappeared from in front of him into the surrounding mist. Immediately, water was pulled from the air, and Naruto suddenly found himself trapped in a dome of mirrors, all of them with Haku standing to face him.
"Oh no," he breathed.
Before anyone could say another word, a flash flew through the air and a storm of senbon rained down on the two boys. Sasuke successfully dodged it with his sharingan, but Naruto still received the brunt of the attack.
Wincing, he fell back onto the ground, left side covered in needles like a pincushion.
"Dammit," Sasuke growled, straightening up. "Now we have to deal with this. This was exactly what we were trying to avoid!"
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto grumbled, plucking senbon out of his arm as he stood up.
"Let's just fix this before anything worse happens," the Uchiha ground out, pressing his back to Naruto's, leaving no blind spots for them.
"My fire jutsus won't be enough to melt these," Sasuke commented, looking around the reflective dome. "And lightning might blow our cover if I'm not careful."
"Good thing I have a wind affinity then," Naruto replied. Sasuke shot him an inquisitive look over his shoulder as if tempted to ask what he was planning, but ultimately decided against it.
"Whatever your planning," he hissed back. "Do it quickly."
Smiling to himself, Naruto bunched up his sleeves and started gathering chakra in his belly, pressing it down and building up the pressure. He ran through the hand signs he'd memorized over the last week, then shouted, "Wind Style: Air Bullets!"
Condensed wind chakra shot out of his mouth at the ice mirrors. They hit, and large cracks spiderwebbed across the surface instantly, reflections disappearing from inside the ones he'd hit.
But they didn't shatter.
"Damn it," he cursed, jumping out of the way of another hail of senbon. The mirror was already mending itself, and Haku's reflection had returned to its surface.
"We need another tactic," Naruto called. "And preferably one that doesn't use your Mangekyō."
"Well if I used chidori…" Sasuke growled darkly. Naruto clenched his jaw hard to keep from biting back. Now wasn't the time for arguing.
"I could use my clones," he offered. "If all of them focus a wind jutsu on one mirror, it should crack," he pointed out. "You saw what only one of me did! And you could use your sharingan to make sure he doesn't hit me before I do it."
"But what after, genius?" The Uchiha shot back, throwing a kunai to deflect more senbon. "He's too fast; if we try to leave he'll stop us. If you used one of your wind jutsu on my fire jutsu, he won't be able to get us.
"Yeah, and he'll be dead because of it!" Naruto argued, trying to duck another blow from a lightning-quick Haku. He felt something sharp cut into his side anyway and hissed out a silent curse.
"How 'bout we just try it my way, 'kay?" When he received no reply from Sasuke, he took it as permission. Forming the hand sign, Naruto summoned five shadow clones, wasting no time to jump into the wind jutsu after. All six Naruto's aimed at one of the mirrors, readying the jutsu.
They all struck, compressed chakra hitting one mirror and shattering it with a loud crash. The pieces fell to the ground, bursting into small silvery shards at the impact. They'd done it!
Before he could take a step forward, he heard a sharp gasp behind him. Whirling around, he saw Sasuke with one of his own kunai stabbed into his shoulder, Haku standing behind him. He had somehow managed to sneak up from behind him!
"Move and your friend dies," Haku threatened, tone dark and serious.
The split second it took for Naruto to remember Sasuke was in no real danger and could have easily gotten away, only letting it happen because of shock, was a split second too long. Haku took advantage of this, and immediately Naruto found himself with senbon sticking out of all his major nerve endings. The pain was incredible, and even worse was the numbness that ran through his body right after. He dropped to his knees, legs no longer able to hold him up, and his hands scraped themselves on the rough stone when he tried to stop his fall.
"You idiot!" Sasuke shouted, he yanked the kunai out of his shoulder and went to stab Haku, but he'd already disappeared into the mirrors. "Fuck!"
Another hail of senbon came down, which just barely missed Sasuke. The next time Haku went flying to other mirrors, Sasuke shot blistering hot fire jutsus at him. But even with his Mangekyō he never managed to get in a good shot. This continued for nearly a minute before finally, he let out a ferocious growl.
"Fuck this," he shouted before running through a series of hands signs Naruto knew by heart.
He was planning using Chidori.
"No!" He cried, just as the sound of chirping birds filled the air. Lightning chakra wreathed Sasuke's hand in a deadly, deafening, current. The killing intent radiating from him was enough to make the breath freeze in Naruto's throat.
"Sasuke, no!" He cried from the ground. Sasuke ignored him and rushed towards the mirrors, Chidori chirping madly in his hand. At this point it didn't matter how fast Haku was, with Sasuke's sharingan, he wasn't going to miss his target no matter what. He was going to kill Haku!
Then saw something out of the corner of his eye that froze all the blood in his body.
Kakashi-sensei was on the ground, Zabuza Momochi standing above him, sword raised for a finishing blow. He could see sensei's hair was streaked with red from an obvious blow to his head. He didn't look to be able to move out of the way of the swordsman's blow. He was going to die!
Kakashi-sensei was going to die.
Haku was going to die.
No, no, no. He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let anyone die!
He had to do something. But he couldn't, he couldn't move at all! What could he do? What could he do!
Suddenly, something strong and powerful rushed through him. He threw his head back and screamed. Light burst from him, shooting out every which way and into the mist. He heard mirrors shatter and stone crack. Someone cried out in alarm. Then, all sounds of battle disappeared, and he was left with the sound of his own ragged breath to fill his ears.
What had just happened?
Wearily, he blinked his eyes open and was stunned at what he saw.
Chains of glowing golden light were protruding from his torso and back, sinking into the ground or shooting into the air. In front of him, they had wrapped themselves around both Haku and Sasuke, freezing them where they stood. Sasuke's hand, no longer sparkling with Chidori, was held just over Haku's heart, inches away from finishing him off. But he'd been stopped at the last second by the chains.
Off to the side, they had caught Zabuza's descending sword, links wrapped tightly around the blade held over the man's head. Other chains had sprouted up from the ground and were holding onto the ninja's feet and arms, completely immobilizing him.
Naruto had… done that?
"Argh!" The shout rang across the bridge. It was followed by the Kiri ninja squirming and fighting with his restraints while Naruto's sensei watched on in shock. "What are these?" Zabuza cried out in frustration.
Naruto couldn't even answer that.
"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, dragging his attention away. The boy had craned his neck to glare at him with livid eyes. "Let go of me! Let me kill him!"
Lightning sparked across his arm, killing intent spilling across the battlefield.
Without his consent, Naruto felt the chains holding Sasuke back weaken, and fear gripped him at the thought of them breaking.
"No!" The shout came from a new voice, and suddenly his vision was filled with pink and red as Sakura burst in front of him. Without pausing, she sent her first sailing right into Sasuke's head, the resounding crack echoing across the bridge. The boy slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Not wasting a second, Sakura drew back again and jabbed something at Haku, too fast for Naruto to see. Blood spurted from his neck, and he fell down in a heap.
"NO!" Naruto cried. Haku's mask cracked upon his impact, splitting in two and falling to the ground. His face was bared for the world to see, lifeless eyes staring ahead into nothing. Dead.
Naruto couldn't believe his eyes. Sakura had just killed Haku. Sakura!
Turning her head ever so slightly, Sakura met his eyes and- winked? Wait, why? Frowned, Naruto's eyes trailed down her arm and stopped when he saw what was clutched in her hand. An empty vial of blood and a syringe. A syringe she had filled with a sedative this morning.
Naruto's eyes widened in realization. Haku was alive!
Out of the corner of his eye, however, he saw Zabuza staring at the sight with wide, bewildered eyes, not recognizing the scene for what it really was.
Recognizing the moment as the perfect distraction, Kakashi-sensei kicked out hard at Zabuza's legs, forcing them to buckle under him. The Kiri ninja dropped his sword from the shock of it, and quickly Kakashi-sensei was standing above him with his head in a headlock, right hand flashing with lightning which was pressed against his neck.
"Try to get up," Kakashi-sensei growled under his breath, Chidori held against his throat. "See what happens."
Zabuza wisely remained to stay still.
A silence permeated the air on the bridge for a long moment, tense and stifling. In that time, Zabuza's eyes were trained solely on Haku's body, unwavering in their intensity. The four of them left standing were breathing hard, Naruto most of all. The chakra chains he'd created still clung to Zabuza and the now unconscious Sasuke, a golden glow emanating from them. It was almost beautiful if the scene before them all wasn't so horrific.
Finally, unable to sustain the strain of them, the chains released, thus breaking the silence around them. They unraveled themselves from Zabuza and Sasuke's forms and zipped back into his body, sinking into his flesh as they'd never been there in the first place. Gasping, Naruto fell onto his hands as a sudden wave of exhaustion came over him. Immediately Sakura rushes over to him, grabbing him by the arms and helping him up. He was numb and tired and bone weary but didn't have long to focus on it as a new presence had made itself known.
"Zabuza Momochi," someone sneered. "How pathetic are you, being beaten some teacher and his brats." Naruto looked up to see Gatō standing near the end of the bridge, an amassing of criminals behind him, all holding some type of weapon. They all looked ready for a fight.
"I knew it was a good idea not to pay you," Gatō continued, a devilish smirk on his face. "Would have been a waste if I had."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Zabuza asked darkly. Gatō let out a loud laugh in response.
"As if I would have actually paid you. You, a rogue ninja. I never planned on giving you a cent!"
Naruto could see from where he was leaning against Sakura the dark look that passed over Zabuza's face. He knew that look. It meant someone was going to die.
"Kakashi," Zabuza said in a light tone. "It seems my contract is at an end. You are no longer my enemy."
Slowly, Kakashi-sensei released his hold on the rogue ninja, chidori fizzling out. "It would seem so," he agreed.
"My sword, please," Zabuza drawled. Eyeing him for a long moment, Kakashi-sensei ever so reluctantly handed it over. Gatō's face fell when he realized what was happening.
"You're going to regret that, dick-head," Zabuza growled. His fist tightened around the hilt of Kubikiribōchō the same moment the crime lord gulped in fear.
Gatō stepped back behind his hired thugs, fear creeping into his voice, and said, "Kill them all."
His men let out a war cry and rushed forwards across the bridge, weapons held high in a manner that was supposedly threatening. Under his wrappings, Zabuza with a bloodthirsty grin took off to meet them.
The first few to meet him were the first to die.
Kubikiribōchō swung in a wide arc, slicing through the whole first wave. Screams of pain were followed by blood and guts spilling onto the bridge. Weapons were dropped on the ground, followed by bodies. More came after.
Very quickly, startlingly quickly, almost all the thugs were down, butchered, bashed, or some other variation of being sliced open. Now only Gatō was left.
Realizing his chances of surviving, Gatō turned and bolted for the end of the bridge, desperate to get away from the bloodthirsty rogue ninja.
"Ah, ah, not so fast," Zabuza rasped, shooting after him. He flickered away only to reappear before Gatō. The man didn't even get a chance to scream before Zabuza lifted his leg and kicked the man in the chest, sending him sprawling. He landed on his ass with a heavy thump. Hefted his sword, Zabuza gave the man one final glare before he brought it down. It sliced cleanly through his neck, decapitating him instantly.
Then it was silent.
The smell of blood permeated the air with it's sickening, warm scent. There were at least thirty bodies now littering the ground, adding to the already dead builders that came before. Both the smell and sight would have made a younger Naruto gag, but as it was, he was almost used to it. Next, to him, Sakura was keeping her composure cool and collected. The sight of a body or the smell of blood was nothing new to her. She didn't even blink.
Zabuza stood over the body of Gatō with Kubikiribōchō resting between the crime lord head and his neck. Blood was pooling out of the body, slowly forming a thick red puddle at the rogue ninja's feet. It was a gruesome sight to behold.
"It seems your reign of terror is at an end," he growled in his low, raspy voice. Gatō's body remained motionless. "I guess you won't be needing your money now."
"Zabuza," Kakashi-sensei called out from across the bridge. "You're not going to take all of it for yourself, are you."
Zabuza turned to give him a sneer, eyes narrowed in thinly veiled detest. "What does it matter to you," he replied.
"These people are living in poverty because of the money Gatō took from them. Surely you can leave some for them," his sensei continued, keeping his voice lighter for diplomacy
"My kill, my cash," was all Zabuza said, picking his sword up from the ground before turning away. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some money to collect."
Naruto watched with abhorrence as Zabuza walked away, right past Haku's body and the rest of the assembled group. He didn't even spare a glance at his apprentice. It was sickening.
"You can't be that heartless!" Naruto suddenly cried out. Zabuza stopped in his tracks before turning, the jōnin leveling him with a hard look.
"What was that, brat?"
"You're just going to take all that money from these poor people?" He continued, anger at the injustice coursing through him. It sent energy coursing through him that he didn't even know he still had. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up off the ground onto his legs, still numb from Haku's senbon. Sakura let out a squeak of protest, but he waved her off, facing off with the Kiri ninja instead. "You're just gonna let these people suffer? And leave Haku? He's your apprentice and you're just gonna leave him!"
"Shut up brat," Zabuza growled. "You don't know anything."
"Yes, I do!" He shouted, fists clenched at his sides. "No one's cold enough to do that. No one's that cruel! Haku cared about you, fought for you, and you're just gonna leave him here?"
"Shut up, brat," Zabuza snarled from afar. "He's dead. In the Shinobi world, that means useless. And I have no use for useless things."
"You can't mean that," Sakura gasped. "He would have given his life for you!" And he had, in another time.
"Yeah, you ungrateful dick!" Naruto shouted.
"You don't get to lecture me about my own tool!"
"But he's not your tool!" Naruto shot back. "He looked up to you, he protected you, he admired you! You were his precious person, his reason for living. He was willing to die for you!"
"Shut up, brat!" Zabuza shot back in a hoarse voice.
"No! You were his whole world and you don't even care that he's dead!"
"I said shut up!"
The wave of killing intent that followed his words left Naruto stunned into silence. But what was even stunning were the tears streaming down Zabuza's face.
"I know, kid," he said, softer this time. "So shut up."Naruto blinked, taken aback.
"Shinobi are trained to be tools," Zabuza continued hoarsely, eyes now focused solely on Haku's body. "We're trained not to feel. Not to care. Only to complete the mission." Naruto disagreed, but he kept that to himself.
"You say I don't feel anything," the Kiri ninja said, now addressing Naruto. "That's a lie. Despite what we're told, shinobi are still human. You can bury those feelings as deep as you want, but they're still there." A pause. Then, Zabuza's eyes shot over to his own and he held his gaze for a long moment. "So don't dare tell me I'm heartless," he said. "No one's truly heartless."
Unbidden tears were pricking at both Naruto's and Sakura's eyes.
Then, just out of sight, someone behind them shifted and let out a low moan. Startled, Naruto and Sakura turned around to find-
"Haku!" Naruto gasped.
"How," Zabuza breathed.
And indeed, there was Haku, very much alive thanks to Sakura's deception, pushing himself up onto his elbows. Sasuke still lay unconscious next to him, but it didn't seem to be a problem. Blinking in confusion, Haku's eyes roamed around the battlefield before settling on Zabuza and widened in surprise.
"Zabuza," he gasped. "I- I have failed you."
"You're alive," was all Zabuza could reply with.
Haku blinked. "I am." He blinked again, clearly confused. Turning his gaze to Naruto and Sakura, he stared at them before asking, "Why am I alive? You should have killed me. That was your mission."
"Our mission was to keep the bridge builder alive," Naruto replied, still somehow standing. "But we can do that without having to kill anyone."
"But now I've lost my purpose," Haku argued, struggling to his feet. He was still weak from the sedative Sakura injected him with, and thus only made it into a kneeling stance. "I have failed my master, Zabuza. You should have killed me!"
"Hey," Naruto shouted. "You heard it yourself, my dream is to save all my friends! I can't do that if one of them wants to die."
Haku blinked in startlement, taken aback by his words. Even Zabuza was startled into silence.
"You said you hoped I would achieve my dreams," Naruto continued. "Well help me do that by staying alive, y'know!"
Haku could only stare on in bewilderment.
"Friends?" He managed, brown eyes blown wide.
Naruto let out a short, slightly pained laugh. Now that all the excitement was over, fatigue was starting to creep up on him. His numb legs were shaking from the effort of trying to keep him up, reminding him of all the needles sticking painfully out of his body.
"Yeah, friends, y'know?"
It was all he managed to get out before his vision swam and suddenly turned to black. The next thing he knew he was pitching towards the ground.
AN: Go check out my AO3 version of this fic for this chapters amazing art! You can find it under the same username Dragonpyre. Thanks for reading!
