Chapter 10: Bind and Release
The meal that evening was a festive one. For Tazuna and his family it was too long since the last time they had the chance to really enjoy a meal and celebrate something. In other households all over the village, families were having similar celebrations as their economy currently could allow. It was agreed that a larger celebration would be held once the necessary means (meaning food and drink) were gathered, which would take a few days.
While the family and Konoha ninja were enjoying themselves, the other guests were having a slightly less enjoyable time. The reason? Zabuza.
Zabuza was on his best behavior, but it did little to assuage the unease that Ronin, Deshio and Reizoku felt. Ronin especially was having a tough time tolerating the missing nin's presence.
Zabuza noticed straight away that his presence was rather unwelcome by almost half the present company. After having his fill of the food, Zabuza looked straight at Ronin, who was all but glaring at the man. Giving a sideways tilt of his head, Zabuza wordlessly stood and left the home. Ronin followed a moment after.
Naruto, who sat apart from the group to eat in peace and to keep his identity secret, had a bad feeling about what he just saw and so chose to follow them, but kept himself at a discreet distance. The darkness of the almost nighttime outdoors availed him in hiding himself.
Ronin approached a stationary Zabuza, his back turned towards him, as if unconcerned by his approach. Frowning in anger, Ronin continued to close the distance. Finally he was a blade's distance away from Zabuza. As in, a gigantic sword's distance.
"I couldn't help but notice that you had something on your mind, Samurai." Zabuza cooly said, not turning to face him. "Something that has to do with me."
"How astute of you." Ronin scoffed. "The only reason I am not presently battling you to the death is the young shinobi who freed me. He made me realize that the true murderer of my lord is Gato. However, I am still not going to let you be blameless."
Chuckling at the fact the masked ninja once again seemed to have eased his troubles, Zabuza asked.
"And why would you want to fight me, now that we're no longer enemies?"
Zabuza, of course, knew why. But decided to act ignorant to rile up the samurai a bit.
"You were part of the organization, under Gato, which murdered my lord and oppressed the people of Wave, my home!" Ronin snarled.
"That's stretching it." Zabuza commented neutrally. "I was hired to kill him once, but you thwarted that attempt." He said, finally turning to face the lordless samurai. "And I have to say that I was impressed back then by your swordsmanship. Few are the men who would be able to hold me at bay, much less push me back. The murder was, instead, done by food poisoning. And that is totally not my style."
Ronin nodded, conceding that point but his glare remained as fierce as before. "True, but you still partook in the oppression of the people. Something I cannot forgive."
"I didn't oppress anyone." Zabuza defended indignantly. "I am a hired ninja swordsman. I do specific jobs, like assassination and the odd protection job, not long term goon work. Besides, I am trying to end oppression elsewhere, why would I do the very thing I hate?"
"I have little reason to believe you, nuke nin." Ronin darkly spoke. Pointing an accusing finger at the mist nin, he continued. "You agreeing to murder Tazuna-san, a harmless and defenseless civilian, on the whim of Gato makes you an accomplice to the terror the villagers of Wave had had to endure for far too long. Not to mention the civilians you harmed on the bridge this very day."
Zabuza inwardly fumed, but didn't refute the accusation. He couldn't, for Ronin had a solid point. He was as much angry with himself for his actions as he was with Ronin for speaking the truth.
"So what now, then?" Zabuza asked, his voice low but hard. "You want to kill me? Gato's all but certain execution, no doubt by your blade, wont be enough to satisfy your need for justice, is that it? I was merely a tool, and I will be a tool again. There are countless tools in the world. Do you intend to hunt them all down like some fanatic in a pursuit of justice or prevention of crime?"
"Do not be absurd, I will not set myself on such a foolish and hopeless quest." Ronin replied with a sneer. "All I want right now, is to bring you to justice for your crimes here in Wave. The rest of the world or what you've done in it previously matters little to me."
"Oh, I see. So my turning on my employer and fighting with the other side, your side, instead of leaving the villagers and those Konoha nin to their devices when I had no reason to help them counts for nothing?"
"You had revenge on your mind, nothing so benign as aiding the people. Besides, you barely fought them at all! Who do you think you are trying to fool?" Ronin raised his voice in agitation.
"Yes! Revenge was on my mind, 'cause I was betrayed first!" Zabuza angrily defended. "But I did want to make amends for my actions also. I was not lying when I said that I am trying to end oppression elsewhere, and working for that pukeface Gato sickened me to no end, but I did it anyway for the money. Money I desperately needed to fund my own revolution!"
Ronin was not impressed. "So you intended to end one oppressive rule by aiding another one?" He asked cooly. "It would seem you need to reevaluate your values."
Zabuza had no response to that.
Ronin went on. "I am not swayed by your excuses for your actions, Zabuza. And you have not done enough to absolve yourself of your crimes. I believe you must stand trial alongside Gato."
"Like hell I will, you sanctimonious do-gooder." Zabuza growled threateningly.
"You will, or I will strike you down right here." Ronin said, his hand at the ready on his blade's handle.
"You will try, Ronin. You will try." Zabuza answered, reaching for his own weapon.
"Woah, woah, woah!" Came Ghost's voice as he rushed in between them. "Let's both cool our heads here. There's been enough fighting for a long time, dontcha think?"
"He has to face justice." Ronin said simply, his hand not moving from the handle.
"I wont be held accountable for doing a job that had nothing directly to do with the troubles of Wave." Zabuza said darkly, gripping his weapon tighter.
"Ah, but you were indirectly part of it, and that's enough." Ronin said, reaffirming his own grip.
"Look, guys. We can come to some kind of compromise here, can't we?"
"What possible compromise is there for a situation such as this?" Ronin demanded.
"It does seem rather black and white." Zabuza agreed with a visible smirk, his eyes still promising violence.
"Ronin, you said that Zabuza's turning against Gato and fighting with us wasn't enough to clear himself. How about partly clearing him?"
Ronin still kept his eyes on Zabuza, but asked all the same. "What do you propose?"
Zabuza was likewise intrigued.
"I don't think Zabuza, or Haku and those two brothers, deserve the death penalty for their part in this mess." Ghost said, looking at Zabuza. Then, looking at Ronin, he said further. "But neither should they be completely without some kind of punishment."
Both frowning, they still kept their eyes on one another. "Go on." Ronin demanded.
"How about Zabuza, Haku and the demon brothers pledge some kind of service to Konoha while still keeping their freedom?" Ghost suggested.
Now their eyebrows went up in surprise, and then fixated their gaze on Ghost.
"What kind of a ludicrous suggestion is that?" Ronin demanded. "That benefits Konoha, not Wave!"
Zabuza kept silent for now as he was very curious as to what Ghost's response would be.
"You forget, Ronin-san, that Wave will be absorbed into Fire Country and then be under the Fire Daimyo's rule, the same Daimyo that rules over Konoha. So, whatever helps Konoha, helps Wave."
Understanding lit up in their eyes. Ronin protested on. "I see your reasoning, but Konoha has not suffered from Zabuza's actions, Wave has."
"Not entirely true. Zabuza, Haku and the demon brothers attacked and wounded Konoha ninja, so it would be compensation to Konoha as well."
Relaxing his grip on his massive blade, Zabuza chuckled. "Kid, you have some interesting ways of thinking. Soft and goody-goody, kinda like Haku."
"Considering he's trying to help you, I would be inclined to be grateful were I in your shoes." Ronin pointed out. Zabuza snorted but otherwise kept quiet.
"If Zabuza agrees to it, he and his group would be gathering information from their travels and regularly keep Konoha posted and perhaps even do missions for the village. They would be sworn to it as part of their penance." Ghost explained further.
Ronin was seriously considering it. A part of him did feel like the death sentence might be a bit much since they admittedly were only a minor element in the whole picture, not to mention helped along their downfall, even if it was barely a fact.
"Look kid," Zabuza said, shaking his head. "why are you doing this? In fact why have you done all that you have done? I just don't get why? A ninja only does jobs to profit from it. There's no profit in this."
"Are you really going to feed me that bull again after what I heard you say about making amends? There's no profit in making amends, if you don't count your own conscience."
Taken aback by that statement, Zabuza was hard pressed to argue the point.
"Anyway, what do you say, Ronin-san?"
"I am not sure what is the right decision in this case." He admitted.
Ghost thought for a while as well. Then an idea came to him. "How about we let Tazuna and Tsunami decide whether they feel they should be punished your way or my way?"
"Err... kid?" Zabuza uttered, not feeling very secure that he and his group would get the more agreeable verdict.
"Agreed." Ronin immediately said.
They went inside. As he followed the two, Zabuza couldn't understand why he was going along with this thing. He was the "demon of the mist", slaughterer of men and menace to his enemies. Now he was going along with the foolish notion of a masked brat that would decide his fate in the next few moments, when he could just as easily just give the signal to his underlings and they would run for the woods.
But it was clear why, Zabuza just was not willing to admit it. His conscience wouldn't allow him to. Damn it! Why did his conscience start to rear its nagging head so strongly now of all times. For all his brave talk and claims of cold-heartedness, even he was a human being after all.
Damn that kid for being right.
Inside, the others had continued their pleasant conversations, though no one was unaware of the trio's departure and what might occur soon. The Konoha ninja had no reason to interfere and Tazuna and his family had no reason to either, not that they particularly wanted to or had the ability to do anything even if they were so inclined. Asuma and his team trusted Naruto to stay out of unnecessary trouble (if only they knew).
Now, though, when the three previously departed individuals returned without scratches on them, they were honestly surprised to see that they were such, given the obvious looks of animosity between them as they left before.
"Minna. (A/N: Everyone.)" Naruto began. "We have a little situation we need your help with. Ronin-san?"
Nodding in acknowledgment, Ronin took over. "We left before to discuss... matters of import. Namely Zabuza and his team's guilt in their part of the oppression of Wave and their subsequent punishment."
Haku and the brothers looked at each other nervously, and also a bit guiltily, before looking at Zabuza. He returned their look with a hard one of his own. Haku, however, knew him better. Zabuza's look may have been hard, but there was also conflict within them.
'He's actually considering facing punishment.' Haku realized with a shocked face (now unmasked, naturally.)
"Zabuza-sama..." Meizu started as he rose.
"Stay where you are." Zabuza ordered sternly. Meizu complied, reluctantly. Ronin had to inwardly give Zabuza and his underlings credit for going through with this.
"Well..." Tazuna began, uncertainly. "What can we do to help with that, then?"
"I was given an option of an alternate punishment to the death sentence for them. However, I am torn between the two choices. Therefore I feel it to be appropriate to ask you, Tazuna-san, Tsunami-san, Deshio-san and Reizoku-san, to give your voice to the matter."
"What was the alternative?" Tsunami asked, mildly apprehensive at this development.
"To pledge service to Konoha as information gatherers and possibly take on missions while still retaining their freedom." Ronin replied.
Asuma was stunned to hear that, as well as the rest of the Konoha group. Haku and the brothers looked at one another again, uncertain what to think of that. But they quickly decided that dying was a much worse option so went with it.
"Hold on!" Asuma said, standing up. "Who came up with this idea?" He demanded, though he was pretty sure it was Naruto, and he let him know with a knowing, and not very approving, glance.
"Ghost-san did." Ronin answered simply.
'Figured as much.' Asuma groaned in his mind. "Aside from the problem that this whole idea has not been run by me, nor the Hokage, what reason do we have to believe they will actually fulfill their end of the deal?"
Zabuza was not offended, he would have asked the same thing in Asuma's shoes. "I could give my word and swear on my bearded aunt's grave all day and you wouldn't be anymore assured of our sincerity than before I wasted my breath. So I propose some kind of seal to be placed on us, if you're able to, to ensure that we will keep our word."
"I'm not a seal expert." Asuma admitted. "No one here is."
"Not entirely true, Asuma-san." Naruto said. "I'm not an expert either, yet, but I think I got just the thing, if the verdict goes that way."
"[Sigh] You know what to do then, I suppose." Asuma said, the double meaning of letting the Hokage in on the deal was obvious to Naruto. "Then all that's left is for the jury to do their thing."
The four decided to go into the next room to deliberate among themselves. It took a good half-hour for them to come back out again.
Tazuna was the first to speak, since he was the target of Zabuza's assassination attempts.
"While I initially wanted to give you the death penalty, my daughter pointed out that he was nothing more than a tool wielded by Gato, who is now behind bars already. Destroying the tool wont do anyone any good. And the world wont be cured of evil by executing hired blades who had no personal animosity towards their target. Besides, you had a relatively unimportant part in the actual suffering of Wave. I vote you, Zabuza and team, to pay through service."
Tsunami took over. "My vote is, as you might imagine, the same as my father's. I may hold no love for you and yours, Zabuza, but neither do I hold a grudge against you. You did enough to warrant this chance by turning on Gato."
Deshio was next. "I have had no interaction nor personal pain caused by this man or his team, and I understand their part in this was minimal and ultimately did help turn things around in the end. I vote for the service punishment."
Reizoku finished, saying, "I have had one or two instances of meeting this man and his team, and none of them were pleasant. They seemed like bloodthirsty men to me, only interested in money and fighting. But I am the first to admit that my view on things are obscured by ignorance. I would have personally preferred a punishment of service in helping to restore my lord's beloved village they helped to ruin. But I understand the practicality of this as well. Our village will heal and the main villain will get his punishment, your inclusion in that punishment would not serve any meaningful purpose. I therefore vote for the service punishment as well."
Ronin nodded and turned to Zabuza. "Then by unanimous vote, I hereby sentence you, Zabuza and team, to service to our future hidden village of Konoha for as long as they see fit to have you."
Zabuza nodded in acceptance, his team letting out inaudible sighs of relief.
"I gotta go setup things for the seal, I'll be back in a while." Naruto said as he headed upstairs.
Zabuza was about to tag along, since it involved him, when Tenten approached him. "Hi." She greeted a tad shyly.
"What?" Zabuza demanded, slightly irritated by the interruption.
"Is that sword as heavy as it looks?"
Meanwhile with Naruto
Naruto entered his given room, shared with the male members of the Konoha team. He took a seat by the table in the room before focusing on his communication seal.
'Ghost Stalker to HQ, come in.'
After a while, Yokai responded. 'HQ here, report!.'
Naruto did as much, leaving nothing out from his mentor and father figure.
'… I am unsure what to think, Ghost. We'll have to discuss at length what has transpired. As for your request to apply a communication seal onto Zabuza, I find it to be insufficient assurance for Zabuza to keep his word. And I'm not about to allow what amounts to enslavement of anyone via a seal. That's what the Hyuuga do, and that's one atrocity too many already.' Yokai answered.
'I know, sensei. But isn't it what you always say? That trust has to start somewhere? That the trip to world peace starts with one step?'
'Not precisely what I said, but I understand what you're saying. I'll have to run this by the Hokage and get back to you. Shouldn't be more than hour. HQ out.'
Meanwhile downstairs
"Look girl!" Zabuza exclaimed, at the end of his ropes. "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times; No you can't hold my sword!
"But it's such a work of art!" Tenten pleaded with a star-struck look fixated on the blade.
"Yeah, it sure is. And it is only meant for a true artist to wield. Not some amateur girl barely out of her diapers."
'Hoo-boy. Here we go.' Asuma thought, knowing Tenten enough from Maito Gai's ramblings of his team's "youthfulness".
"Amateur! Diapers!" Tenten cried out in righteous indignation. "I'll have you know, mister overcompensator," Zabuza's hairless brow twitching wildly. "that I am known as the weapon mistress of Konoha, or at the very least of my generation! I have yet to miss a bullseye, even with a bunch of weapons thrown at the same time! Even if launched from my scrolls! I can also fight with blades and blunted weapons in melee and keep up with the best of them!"
'Stretching the truth a bit there, Tenten.' Asuma thought, highly amused at the spectacle. Hinata was blushing in embarrassment still from the "overcompensator" part and trying desperately to get it under control. Chouji stopped eating for a moment to prevent choking from silent laughter. Shikamaru mumbled "Troublesome" as he put his fingers in his ears to shut out the unwanted noise.
"I don't care if you claim to be the Red-Hot Habanero herself, you're not touching my weapon. And I'LL have YOU know, you little hell-kitten, that this" Zabuza indicated the blade. "isn't over compensating, this... is representation."
Tsunami was blushing mad as well now and decidedly went into another room to do some housework away from the bickering duo. Tazuna was finding the scene hilarious and stifled his chuckling as best he could. Ronin seemed unfazed as he listened, though Asuma could have sworn that his eyes had a smidgen of laughter in them.
Hinata had fainted from sheer embarrassment. Reizoku left with Tsunami to assist with whatever she intended to do, his refined personality not able to cope with such rough talk. Deshio merely giggled at their antics. Inari had gone to bed a while before, so he was spared the mature references.
Tenten blushed a bit but fired back without missing a beat. "Representation, my buns! If anything, you haven't got the balls to be without it because you are nothing without it!"
Zabuza was seething mad. "I can think of hundreds of ways to end someone with my bare hands, or jutsus. I don't need my sword to do what I do, I sure as hell can be without it."
"Yeah? Prove it! Let me have it for a little while." Tenten challenged, holding out her hands.
"Nice try, iron maiden. You're not tricking me that easily." Zabuza chuckled condescendingly.
"Don't call me that!" Tenten bristled.
"What? Iron maiden? You don't like it, little maiden? Such IRONy, since it suits your fighting style." Zabuza teased.
"Oooh!" Tenten hissed and stomped her foot in boiling anger before turning and heading out to cool off.
Seating himself, Zabuza muttered. "Kids these days, no respect for their elders, nor for their weapons."
Ronin, sitting beside him, grunted and nodded in response. They suddenly realized what just happened, looked at each other before turning the other way and grunted in irritation of the other.
Outside
Naruto was taking a stroll in the cool, young night air. He had decided to leap out the window and take a walk while waiting for the call from his sensei with the Hokage's answer. But he had barely begun his planned walk when he heard the door to the home slam shut, rather forcefully. Turning around, he spotted an irate Tenten stomping away. Deciding to see if he could help her to calm down, since he had nothing better to do at the moment, he jogged after her.
Catching up to her, he greeted. "Hey! Tenten, right? We didn't get to talk before, really."
Turning around, her angry mood, while far from gone, diminished enough to hold a civil conversation. "Hey. Yeah, I'm Tenten. I was the reinforcement the Hokage decided to send to assist Asuma-sensei and his team."
"You must be good if you're all he sent." Naruto observed.
"Heh, I'm a rather experienced and skilled genin, if I do say so myself. Hokage-sama must have thought so too." She replied, proud of her skills.
"Sorry I missed the show, I would have liked to see you in action." Naruto commented, honestly.
"Oh well, maybe some other... Oh, right, we may not see each other again, what with you not being from Konoha." Tenten said.
"Oh, I dunno. Anything can happen in the future." Naruto said, knowingly.
"Hmm, I suppose." She agreed, though she sounded unconvinced or uncaring, Naruto couldn't tell.
"What had you so worked up by the way?"
"Oh, that Zabuza was being a huge jerk, is all."
"What did he do?"
"He didn't let me hold his blade for a moment, and was rude about it too. What an overcompensating asshole!" She cried out lightly in frustration.
'I have a feeling the rudeness was not a one-way street.' Naruto thought with a sweat drop.
"Say," Tenten said, suddenly shifting moods. "don't I know you from somewhere?"
"Eh?" Naruto grunted in surprise.
"It's just, there's something about you that seems familiar."
"... I'm clothed in an all black ninja suit with only my eyes showing." Naruto pointed out with yet another sweat drop.
"Well, yeah, but..." Tenten trailed off as she tilted her head back and forth as she examined as much of Naruto, or Ghost-san as she knew him as, as she could.
"Maybe I just have one of those faces?" Naruto joked.
"Oh, haha." Tenten dryly laughed, but smiled all the same. "But I can't help but be curious," she said, leaning closer to him with a frown. "even suspicious about your motives."
'Now what?' Naruto groaned in his mind. "Motives for what? Talking to you?"
"Well, now that you mention it, yeah. But I was mainly curious why you went above and beyond your mission to help these people. Don't get me wrong, I approve of the results, but what were your reasons for doing it?"
"Don't tell me you're like Zabuza and look at everything cynically, or like a stereotypical ninja bad-ass." Naruto returned.
"I'm nothing like that jerk!" Tenten defended. "You've got to know that there's practically no one that does anything out of charity or the goodness of their heart these days, or ever for that matter."
"Look, even if I did have an ulterior motive, do you really expect me to spill them to you?" Naruto pointed out irritably.
Tenten opened her mouth to answer when she realized he was right. "Tell me at least if you had one or not." She asked in the end.
"My mission was to investigate and, if necessary, get rid of Gato. And it was necessary. And along the way to completing the mission, I decided to help where I could. End of story."
Tenten regarded him, looking for any lies in his eyes. To her amazement, she found nothing but honesty. Ok, she wasn't an expert in detecting lies, but she was convinced of his honesty.
"Ok, I believe you."
"I'm so relieved." Naruto said sarcastically.
"Hey, I just don't want any more pain to come to this village."
"How would any ulterior motive on my part end up in that?"
"I don't know, alright?" Tenten admitted.
Suddenly, Naruto's eyes took on an amused look. "What?" Tenten demanded.
"It would seem I'm not alone in having a good heart and charitable attitude."
It took a second for Tenten to realize he was referring to herself. Blushing a bit at the praise, she said, "Oh, shut up. I didn't do anything outside of my job."
"But you wanted to..."
"..."
"Let me tell you something. If helping people doesn't go directly against your missions, why not go the extra mile to help out? I was taught that by my sensei, and frankly, I think it should be taught everywhere. Maybe we'd see a lot less war and death if more adopted this nindo.
Tenten considered that for a moment and, seeing nothing wrong with it, nodded in agreement with a smile.
"You're an interesting guy, Ghost-san. I hope to see you around after we're done here." Tenten said amicably before going back to the house.
'I'm sure you will.' Though Naruto knowingly.
Just then, Yokai contacted him again. 'HQ to Ghost, come in Ghost!'
'Ghost here, I read you. What's the word?'
'Hokage-sama gave the green light for the sealing. He said to apply the seal with a multi-ended function so that Asuma can be the initial Konoha ninja Zabuza is connected with, with the Hokage and myself being able to connect to the seal later, once you guys get back to Konoha. That way, your cover can be kept intact. Can you do that?'
'I think so. It will take a little bit of careful brushing, but yeah.' Naruto replied. 'I better get started, I'll be in touch once it's done. Ghost out.'
'Understood. HQ out!'
Naruto went back inside the same way he came out, through the window. Once back inside, he immediately went to work creating the seal and the related seals that Asuma, and later the Sandaime and Yokai, would use to keep Zabuza in service to Konoha. It wasn't strictly speaking a slave seal. It was, however, a communication and tracking seal combined. The tracking part of the seal would be used to track Zabuza through a third seal that a tracking squad would use, if Zabuza would try to defy his sentence. The communication seal was similar in most respects to Naruto's own, but it wasn't primarily connected to the HQ.
While Naruto was working, a knock was heard from the door to the room.
"Come in!" Naruto called to the person knocking.
In came the man the seal was all about, Zabuza.
"Hey, kid. I knocked before but you didn't answer."
"I was out doing something quick before sitting down to work on this." Naruto said vaguely yet truthfully.
Grunting in answer, Zabuza sat down on a chair elsewhere in the room.
"So how does this seal work, then?" Zabuza inquired.
Naruto explained the seals' functions and how they would work together to make a makeshift penance seal.
"Simple, yet effective." Zabuza commented.
"Not so simple to make, though." Naruto pointed out.
"Perhaps not. You a seal maker ninja?"
"I'm a ninja that can make some simpler seals. But I am learning new stuff now and then." Naruto replied vaguely yet again. "It's funny and ironic. Funny that seals are so useful and powerful in the right situations and because of that it's ironic that not more ninja are schooled in this art."
"For most ninja, they seem like little more than fancy squiggles and doodles." Zabuza pointed out.
"Yeah, but most people don't know how the stuff in a simple radio works but they may learn how and where they are supposed to be put together in order to work."
Nodding in agreement with the explanation, Zabuza let Naruto work.
After a while of careful brushing and double checking everything he was doing or had already done, Naruto picked up the finished seals.
"All done, let's head downstairs."
Asuma and the team were lounging in the living room with Tazuna and Tsunami and their other guests when the two came down.
"How's it looking, Ghost-san?" Asuma asked.
"Looking good, Asuma-san. The seals are finished and ready to be applied. All we need is the Konoha ninja that will initially be responsible for Zabuza's penance until the Hokage will assume the role."
"That would be me." Asuma said, getting up. "How do we do this?"
"Simply form the rabbit sign and apply some juice to this seal I will put on Zabuza, then some again in this seal." Naruto said, indicating the seal Zabuza would have and the seal Asuma would have in turn. "And once you're back in Konoha, give this seal," he said, showing another paper slip with the same seal Asuma got, "to the Hokage. He will decide who will be the person chiefly responsible for handling Zabuza's penance." Naruto explained.
"Most likely himself." Asuma said idly. Naruto shrugged uncaringly.
The seals were applied without problems. All the while, Hinata was looking at Naruto with pride and admiration.
'He's so kind and skilled.' She thought.
She then recalled the horrible situation when she saw Naruto was mortally wounded. She felt as if a big part of herself died as she beheld Naruto's disappearing form. So many thoughts had gone through her mind, as it happened in horrifying slow motion. Thoughts of how much she loved him. How much she wished for his success in wanting to become Hokage. How much she wanted to be there with him when he accomplished his dreams. How much she wanted him with her as she work towards and accomplished her own dreams. How one dream was to start a family with him. But the most chilling thought was how all that seemingly came crashing down when Naruto disappeared into the depth beneath the bridge.
Had he actually died, would she had even wanted to live any longer? She knew that Naruto would have disapproved of such a thought, but that may have been the one thing regarding Naruto she would not listen to. Had he died, she would have too, no matter what anyone says, even Naruto himself.
The sealing process was barely completed before a frantic knocking on Tazuna's front door was heard.
"Tazuna! Are you there!?" Came the voice of a villager. Tazuna stood up and answered the door, letting the team know that he knew the man behind the door.
He opened the door to reveal his closest neighbor. "Where's the fire, Yaru?"
"It's Gato! He's escaped, he's gone!"
The whole group was shocked and dismayed at that news.
"WHAT?!" Came the simultaneous voices of Tazuna, Ronin and Zabuza.
"Somebody sneaked in to the place we were holding him and got him out. There was no damage to the lock or anything. The guards we had watching him and his men were knocked out. Luckily his men are still behind bars."
Asuma rubbed his bearded chin in thought. 'That sounds either like an inside job or the work of another ninja. The former is unlikely, borderline impossible. So that leaves the work of another ninja. Everyone here were present and accounted for the the whole time. Who could have done this?'
That question would not be answered for a long time.