A/N: I honestly meant to post this last week. But, well, I was kinda busy, and it slipped my mind. So now, I welcome you to the next scene in 'Laying the Smackethdown', entitled 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'.

This one was made by... well, me. You guys have a good time with it.

In the Naruto Continuity, this takes place during the Wave Arc. And I was planning on posting this before I started getting reviews asking for this character.

"He was a true warrior, who was worthy of respect. Honor his sacrifice as you live your last few moments." Haku said, her voice a smooth monotone. After all, she hadn't technically made the Uchiha jump in the way, nor had she even made those two fight her in the first place.

As she prepared to fade back into her mirror, she looked over at Naruto. The blonde was still frozen in place, looking at his seemingly dead comrade. But even as she watched, darkness seemed to enshroud him and his friend. Quickly, Haku finished jumping back into her mirror. After all, if she couldn't see him, who knows what he could be doing?

After a few quick jumps to try and confuse him, she looked back at the battlefield, only to see that the blonde was no longer there, nor was his comrade's body or the dark shroud that had enveloped them both. Instead, two small girls in pretty sundresses were standing, seemingly playing rock-paper-scissors.

"Are you scared?" One asked, as she looked directly at Haku's mirror.

The other one walked over to the mirror before bending over, as if whispering something in Haku's ear. "He's Here."

A strange chant began to echo over the bridge. Haku's head whipped around to the outside of her mirrors where the noise was coming from. Quickly, she counted the men standing there in dark cloaks. There were at least ten of them, all holding torches and chanting in a disturbing fashion.

But that was nothing compared to what was next.

A bit of the mist cleared, showing another cloaked man holding a mallet, standing next to a giant gong.

He smashed the gong, and all hell broke loose.

--

A chill crept up Kakashi's spine. A loud gong tone rang throughout the bridge. 'What is that… that feeling?! Is it the Kyuubi breaking free? No… it's far too sinister for that. I've got to end this quickly.'

"Hey, Zabuza!" he yelled. "We've got to wrap this up!"

--

The gong rang out again.

The chanting continued.

The little girls were telling some sort of nursery rhyme. With a tone that was frightening in its intensity, they cried "We all fall down!"

And then they vanished.

The cloaked men vanished, leaving their torches burning outside the mirrors.

The gong ringer vanished, though the gong itself continued its dark tones.

And he appeared.

His orange jumpsuit was gone, replaced by black. Lots of black. All black. A black shirt, black pants, a black trench coat, and black fingerless gloves, all topped of by a wide-brimmed black hat.

Then Haku stopped paying attention to his clothes and noticed his eyes.

They showed no pupils.

With a roar, Naruto raised his hands, and thunder answered his call.

Lightning struck the bridge, splintering the concrete with its force.

A voice rang out over the darkness and fog that moved to envelop the mist nin.

"So, you think you can take my life. You think you can take the lives of my friends. But you see, son, I can do much more then take your life. I can take it, sure, but why stop there? I can take your heart. I can take your pride. I can take your very being. But most importantly, I can take your soul."

"Now, may the gods have mercy on you, for I certainly will not. Now… Rest… In… Peace…"

A hand shot out, directly into the mirror, grabbing Haku by the throat. Panicking, she whipped out a needle and moved to stab him with it. But the hardened steel of the senbon just bounced off of his trench coat, which began emitting a soft light.

'Chakra reinforced… but how?" she thought.

With a heave, she was pulled out of her mirror, which dissolved as she left it. Now near hysterics, she reached into her robe pockets and began throwing everything she could at him. Herbs, senbon, fluff, kunai… anything at all, anything to keep this monster that had been a boy away from her!

In her panic, her mask began wobbling.

"I can smell it. Your fear… is like a fine wine. But smelling it is not enough. Hearing it is not enough. I want to see it. I want my eyes to feast upon your fear!"

His other hand shout out like a viper, knocking her mask right off of her face.

There was a pause as he saw her face, remembering the kind girl that he had helped gather herbs for. Then, any hesitation he had had was once again absorbed by determination.

But that instant was enough to distract her from her paralyzing fear, and allowed her to hear a chirping sound heading towards the location she knew Zabuza to be at.

Freezing Naruto's hand, she began to move towards the attack, maybe to intercept, maybe to help him dodge, no one would know for certain.

Especially because Naruto's hand shot out and grabber her by the hair.

"You think you can freeze me? My blood runs cold already!"

With quick movement, he was holding her with her head pointing directly towards the ground. With a kneeling motion, her head smashed into the concrete, with the concrete winning. Haku lay motionless, blood trickling down from her temple. But she was merely unconscious, not dead.

A muffled gasp caught Naruto's attention, and he whipped his head over to look at the location where it came from. Sakura stood there, hands covering her mouth in horrified shock.

Then the gong rang out again, and he vanished, as if he'd never been there.

A/N: Another quick note: this is Fem!Haku. Usually it wouldn't be important, but she'll probably show up again in at least one more snip.

Look for another scene next week. I have tentativly scheduled one by Ant'Dog to be the main attraction, and it shall be called 'To Be The Man'