Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
---
"Those who fight."
---
Naruto stretched, subconsciously tugging the wires lightly to loosen them from his body.
'Weird... it beats the futon or the bed any day of the week.' He yawned, looking at the sun.
The blond blinked.
"...THIS LATE?!"
He snapped the wires, jumping down and letting his 'web' unravel, breaking into a run even as he pooled the wire back.
'Crapcracpcrap... I'm SO LATE!'
'Judging by the sun it's around seven... Sakura-chan said they go to the bridge at eight... I can make it!'
Snapping the last two 'free' wires, he grabbed the branch.
---
Huffing and catching the air greedily, Naruto skidded into a stop.
"MADE IT!" he wheezed, catching his breath.
He snapped the wires back, taking a step forward, only to halt.
'Something's... not right...'
Naruto frowned.
The house was silent, but Tsunami's domicile wasn't particularly loud. Still...
Subconsciously, Naruto's steps became lighter and more cautious even as his fingers tapped the two wires stuck by chakra to his glove.
'...what is-"
There was a loud crash.
A female scream.
"INARI!"
Naruto's eyes widened.
---
"The brat?" The shorter samurai looked at his friend.
"We need only one hostage. Cut him."
The man smirked, reaching for his sword.
"Heh. I've been waiting to cut so-" He blinked.
'I swear I heard-'
He didn't even have a chance to scream as a wire coiled around his hands and snapped him back.
There was a loud, cracking sound.
The man fell forward.
The second samurai turned, surprise in his eyes.
Naruto glared.
The man's eyes narrowed as he saw his friend on the ground, arms at an awkward angle - probably broken.
He looked at the blond.
"You're gonna die for that kid." he growled, raising the sword.
Naruto's eyes froze.
Tsunami began to scream as she saw the katana strike at the unmoving shinobi, only for the scream to die in her throat.
The samurai cursed as something thin and impossibly fast coiled around him, striking and binding his arms at the same time.
"You won't KILL ME!" Naruto hissed as his wire gouged the man's face painfully.
He took a step back, the wire coiled around the man's sword hand tightening painfully.
"...I'll kill you for-!"
"SHUT UP!" The blond snapped his arms back and the man fell forward straight at Naruto's knee, hands outstretched.
The crunching sound was heard again and the samurai screamed, staring at his mangled wrists.
"No more swords for you, bastard!" Naruto spat, kicking him in the face.
The man fell down, unconscious.
Tsunami looked at the blond shinobi dumbly.
"You all right?"
She blinked.
"Are you alright?" Naruto repeated, tugging back his wires from the unconscious samurai.
"...I...yes..." she said hesitatingly.
She knew that the three children with the jounin were shinobi. She saw the holsters and fed them after training, talked with them, but...
This level of blunt savagery in a child...
Naruto glared at the two men on the floor. He barely restrained the urge to squeeze the wire around their throats.
'Die. FEH! As if those morons could kill me.'
Still... it made him angry. Attacking a woman like that? Gato was the worst kind of scum.
'That rich bastard is going down.'
He blinked.
'Wait... If he sent his men then... CRAP!'
"Get Inari and get out of here. No saying if Gato has more men that he'll send for you," Naruto said, turning to the door, "If you have some neighbors, go there. I need to help my team."
"...but!"
"If Gato was cocksure enough to send those two morons, then he's attacking the bridge right now. And that means Zabuza will be there. I need to go."
She nodded.
"Just... don't die, okay?" she said softly.
Naruto froze mid-step.
The pools of honey-brown flashed in his mind.
'Just don't die... okay?'
He turned, looking at Tsunami oddly.
The woman fidgeted. Those blue eyes were so... warm. And so hungry as he looked at her...
They made her feel warm all over.
'Oh settle down, for kami's sake! This is a twelve year old boy!'
But for some reason those eyes were eyes of a man looking at a woman. Then the look vanished, leaving just determination.
"Don't worry. I won't. I can't. I still have something I have to do." He grinned and ran out.
Tsunami looked at the empty doorway for a moment before shaking her head.
He was right. She needed to get out of here.
"Inari!"
---
Kakashi. Zabuza.
Sakura and the old man Tazuna.
And... mirrors?
Naruto frowned, only for his eyes to widen as he saw that odd 'hunter nin' coming out of them.
He saw Sakura's charge and...
'FUCK!'
The wires sang.
---
"Yo, bastard."
Naruto smirked at his teammate.
"Having trouble?"
"Feh." the Uchiha snorted, only to jump back as the senbon struck his previous position.
Naruto yelped, barely strafing away.
"Pay attention, idiot!"
"...says the guy who's all beat up." muttered the blond, "Where is that- THERE!'
He swung his wire, only to blink as the metal struck a mirror with a metallic-sounding chime, but nothing more.
"...wow. Those are pretty solid," he muttered, before cursing as the hail of senbon flew at him.
"IDIOT!" Sasuke grabbed his collar, dragging him back. "This is not someone you can defeat! What the hell were you thinking jumping in here?!"
"I was saving your worthless ass, bastard!"
"By being a complete idiot?" Sasuke snapped, "I can handle myself, moron. This guy is too fast for you!" the Uchiha snarled angrily. 'Goddammit... I can't fight with him in the way!'
Naruto's eyes narrowed.
'...something is odd about it...'
"MOVE!" Sasuke screamed as another hail of senbon seemed to come from all sides.
Naruto yelped, instinctively flailing his wires around himself.
The blond winced as some senbon got through, striking his legs and arms.
'FUCK that hurts!'
Still...
He narrowed his eyes, turning clockwise slowly, following the 'hunter nin's' image that seemed to shift from mirror to mirror.
'Damn he's fast... but... He can't move like that forever. And his senbon will run out. Just...' He winced, pulling out the needle from his arm. 'Yeah. Precise bastard!'
Naruto blinked owlishly.
'...wait. If he's so fast and precise...'
Sasuke scowled.
'I've had enough of that! And if those are ice...' He snapped the hand seals. 'Let's see how he handles THIS!'
Sasuke breathed out, the Housenka striking the mirrors in front of him with angry roar of fire...
...only to die out without any effect?
"...what?" Sasuke muttered with shock.
"Those mirrors aren't so weak, Uchiha-san," the Mist nin said calmly. "Makyo Hyosho won't fall to that level of attack."
"Oh yeah?" Naruto growled, forming a familiar "Eat THIS!"
The Kage Bunshins glared at the mirrors.
"Go and break them to pieces!" Naruto said gleefully.
The clones grinned, charging forward and striking the mirrors.
Haku watched until the clones were just a fraction of a distance away and... moved.
Naruto felt his jaw drop as he saw his precious jutsu torn to puffs of smoke before his very eyes.
"...no way..." he muttered dumbly.
"This jutsu uses reflection to transport me. For me, you two are moving in slow motion," Haku explained calmly.
Naruto scowled.
"Slow motion... as if I give a SHIT!" he sneered, the wires snapping angrily around him. "I don't CARE what kind of fucking jutsu or stupid bloodline you have! I won't be stopped by you!" the blond growled.
Haku gazed at the blond.
'He is...'
'Haku, do you have that feeling? To hold... and never let go?'
"Becoming... a true shinobi is difficult for me. I don't want you to die," Haku said softly, "But if you continue to fight... I will kill my heart and become a true shinobi."
She looked at the blond.
"For my dream... as you do for yours."
Naruto blinked.
There was something oddly and damnably familiar about those words... if only he could-!
"Please... don't hate me. I also have a person I need to protect and hold onto. No matter the cost," Haku said, her voice becoming softer and colder with each word. "And for that... I will kill you."
Sasuke stiffened, feeling the killer intent filling the air.
'This guy is he... no.' His head turned to his blond teammate. '...I don't believe this... How can he...?'
"I won't die." Naruto's mouth twisted into a snarling grimace, "As long as she is waiting... I WILL KILL YOU!" The blond roared, charging the mirrors, wires swinging.
Sasuke's eyes widened.
'...NO!'
And his body... moved.
'...what am I doing...?' He thought dazedly as the needles flashed all around him, too fast to see clearly. 'I can't even...'
And suddenly there was the pain, and clarity.
'..I can see...! I can...!'
His hand moved, grabbing the collar, dragging the blond down.
'...idiot... I can't kill Itachi now... what am I...?'
He stiffened as the needles found their target.
'...idiot... we are both... such... idiots...'
"Sasuke...?" Naruto breathed, "What are you..."
"Moron..." Sasuke smirked through the blood flowing from his mouth. "Why are you... always getting... in the way?"
Naruto's eyes widened.
Sasuke was riddled with senbon. His neck, his arms, his torso...
"...S-Sasuke...?"
"What's that face for... scaredy cat..." Sasuke tried to laugh. "You look... pathetic... like that..."
"...why? Sasuke... I..." Naruto grabbed the Uchiha as he fell back. "I NEVER ASKED FOR YOUR HELP GODDAMMIT!"
"...heh..." Sasuke coughed up blood. "I hated you... you know? And my body... moved on its... own..." Sasuke felt an odd drowsiness taking him slowly. 'So that is how it feels to die? It isn't so bad...' He forced his eyes open a fraction. "That man... I told myself not to die until I killed him... and you have... someone you need to see, right?"
Naruto looked at the blood pooling from Sasuke's wounds dumbly, his own hands and gloves already stained red.
"...do better... and don't... dare to die... until you do that... dead last..." The Uchiha heir whispered, finally closing his eyes.
'Sasuke... you bastard... How could you...?' Naruto thought dazedly. 'You stupid emo bitch... how DARE you die on me?!'
"He died to protect you. He stood and took the blow without flinching to protect you and knock me down. To protect his precious person. This man... is a shinobi worthy of respect." Haku stood up slowly.
The last strike by the Uchiha boy was very impressive. Indeed, for a second there it seemed as if he knew where the senbon were supposed to strike.
Yet he still stood in their path.
"Is this the first time a friend of yours died?" Haku shook her head gently, walking back into the mirror. "This is the shinobi way."
She blinked.
There was a sharp snap and something moved with incredible speed towards her. It was fortunate the mirror was only a step away, but...
She eyed a sleeve of her kimono cut at the edge, as if by a knife.
'...the wires!' she realized with shock. 'But he didn't even move! How is it possible?!'
"...shut up..." Naruto's hands trembled as he let go of Sasuke.
He looked at the blood on his gloves.
Sasuke's blood.
His palms clenched slowly and the blood pooled away, flowing down the wires.
Haku stiffened as she felt an incredible amount of raw, murderous intent fill the air.
A red haze erupted from the blond.
Naruto opened his palms.
The wires, all ten of them, flowed out almost on their own, red chakra flowing around him like a sinister mist.
Haku's eyes widened.
'Red chakra...?'
The blond roared, snapping his arms to the sides. The wires glinted sinisterly, almost shrieking as they cut the air.
'Our existence is mutable and incorporeal as the morning dew or flash of lightning...'
Haku snapped her seals and the icy needles rose from the moisture.
The wires circled and swung madly and the needles broke, never reaching their target.
The chakra swirled around the blond and Haku could swear the blue eyes turned red.
The marks on Naruto's face thickened, the nails turned into claws.
A deep growl welled in his chest.
---
Kakashi's eyes widened.
'...THAT CHAKRA...!'
He gritted his teeth.
'Did the seal break?'
He blinked.
'...what is that odd feeling...?'
There was something oddly... familiar about it. And it wasn't Kyuubi's terror. There was something sharp, something rapid, something...
He looked at Zabuza grimly, grabbing his summoning contract.
'It seems I must end it quickly now.'
---
The red haze around Naruto thickened. Coiled. The red lightning flashed through his body to light up the wires.
Haku's eyes widened as errant flashes of lightning started to scorch the stone of the bridge.
The wild movement stopped for the briefest of seconds.
Then... the cyclone of wire came.
There was no wind. There didn't need to be.
The wires whirled in a mad dance directed by their master, a dervish of death with eyes of blazing red. The lightning coiled around his hands, feeding the hungry wires that shrieked and crackled with glee as they spun with murderous power.
The red met ice. Chakra met chakra, and the ice wasn't broken but shattered. Melted. Crushed with wild abandon, far too fast for Haku to even follow.
Where the wire touched one of the mirrors for a briefest of moments, the mirror shattered to pieces with wild abandon.
"I WILL KILL YOU!" Naruto snarled.
Haku tried to jump away, but the wires were too fast as they coiled around her.
Her body exploded with pain as the raw power touched her body.
She fell with a scream...
...and the mask broke.
Naruto snarled wires slashing downward...
...only to strike the stone as the ceramic mask broke into pieces.
"...Haku...?"
---
'Sometimes sharing a problem makes the load lighter.'
'There is a person... that is very precious to me.'
'I hope you will find the person you are looking for, Naruto.'
---
"...what... happened?"
Her dazed eyes looked up, her body smoking with the residue of power.
"...you... can't kill me like that... Naruto..." she whispered painfully.
"...Haku... I... I don't...!"
"Pity... Naruto?" She smiled, despite the pain. "But unless you can kill me... can you go forward? To find your... most precious person?" she coughed painfully.
The red power... she had no idea what it was. It was like lightning, but the actual electricity seemed... weak. But there was power. Power that burned. Power that hurt.
"...Your precious person... Zabuza?" Naruto's eyes widened with understanding.
"... We are so alike, aren't we?" She moved her arm, scraping the stone ever so slowly, trying to hoist herself up... only to fall. "...so weak..." she whispered brokenly, an odd smile on her face, "Naruto... Why did you stop?"
"...I... Haku... What the hell?!" He stood, staring, torn in two.
On one hand she just killed Sasuke but...
...they were so alike. So... she was his friend! She was like HIM!
How could he...?
"You took my reason for existence, Naruto," she smiled, "Zabuza-sama has no need for weak tools..." She closed her eyes. "Not being needed by anyone... not having a dream to follow... isn't that worse than death? Being unwanted in this world...?"
Naruto flinched.
"I..."
"Please... kill me," she whispered.
"...you... how can you... for HIM? For HIM?!" Naruto spat, "How can you...! I don't get it! I don't get it at all!"
"...would that matter to you if she was like that...?" Naruto slumped, feeling the strength leaving him.
"...no"
If she was a monster... a person like Zabuza, or ever worse than Gato.
It was like that.
A sound of hundred screeching birds filled the air.
Haku's eyes widened.
"Zabuza-sama!" She clawed the stone desperately, trying to get up like a person possessed, ignoring the burning muscles, the body filled with pain...
Naruto's head snapped to the left, following her gaze.
Kakashi's lightning-covered hand sunk into Zabuza's chest.
Haku's scream died on her lips.
"Zabuza...sama...?" she whispered with disbelief.
Naruto watched as Zabuza's lifeless body slid off Kakashi's arm.
The jounin sighed, tiredly lowering his hitai-ate over the sharingan.
"This looks to be-" He stiffened.
The cane touched Zabuza's lifeless body, poking it.
"The Devil of the Bloody Mist... Well, looks nothing more than dead trash now." The obese, short man in an expensive suit kicked Zabuza's lifeless head with disgust. "At least I don't have to pay you now. Not that I intended to from the start!" The man started to cackle.
Kakashi's eye narrowed as he saw the man and a large group of swordsmen at his back, all in oddly high spirits.
"Gato," Kakashi said looking at the man suspiciously. "It seems your shinobi has failed."
"I would have to kill him sooner or later," the businessman shrugged, "You just saved me the trouble."
He looked to the side at Haku, who was crawling slowly to Zabuza's dead body.
"Oh, and here you are," he said gleefully, smirking as he saw the ripped kimono. "And you ARE a girl... That's good. That's good! Such a pretty thing... I will enjoy having you after I teach you some better manners, eh?" he sneered.
Haku looked up, despite the pain. Her hands trembled, her whole body shook, but the hate and revulsion was unmistakable.
"I... will... KILL YOU...!" She snarled, trying to reach for the senbon.
"Little bitch! You will learn to appreciate me." he snorted, throwing his half-burned cigar at her only to blink as it was cut in two suddenly.
"Touch her and die."
Naruto's voice was barely above a whisper, but it was enough to make the mercenaries reach for their swords.
"Foolish shinobi." Gato grumbled, "And here I wanted to pay you for a job well done. Hmm? What do you say? Just give me the girl and kill the old man - I will triple whatever he's paying you."
Kakashi looked at Gato without a word.
"...Ah. Whatever." the businessman muttered, kicking the dead nin's body.
"Worthless scum! If you were half as good as you claimed to be...!" he spat, kicking Zabuza again for good measure.
"...he was your ninja... he worked for you. He bled for you... and that's how you treat him?"
Gato turned to the source of the voice, finding to his surprise the blond Konoha brat who threatened him before.
"My ninja?" he said condescendingly. "He didn't fight for me. He fought for the money I gave him."
"HE BLED for you! He DIED for you!" Naruto snarled. "And you do THAT?!"
The businessman shrugged.
"Hey, boss." One of the samurai pointed at Zabuza's corpse. "Can we get his head? I mean, Mist will pay a pretty penny for it..."
"Actually... that might not be a bad idea," Gato nodded, "And get that little bitch as well. She is probably worth something. And if not..." He smiled. "It has been some time since I had such a cute one to break, eh?"
He laughed.
"G-Gato..." Haku tried to get up, hate almost rolling off her in waves.
The businessman didn't pay any attention, walking away calmly.
She closed her eyes desperately.
'Only a little bit strength... please, Kami... Zabuza-sama... please┘ PLEASE...!'
Haku reached for her senbon only for it to fall from her numb fingers.
"Please... only a tiny bit of strength... Kami... please... I will do anything... PLEASE!" Haku whispered, her vision dizzy. "Just a little bit... to KILL that MAN!" Hot tears welled in her eyes, tears of pain, of rage and hate as she looked at Gato's back.
Kakashi might have killed Zabuza-sama... but they were shinobi. Tools. The real culprit... was that man. That vile, wretched shell of a man who DARED to...!
Her eyes widened as she saw something glint in the air, followed by a golden and black blur.
"...NARUTO!" Kakashi called, only to curse as he felt his wounds spike with pain.
True, mercenaries were no match for shinobi but there were a lot of them, and they were all tired save Sakura who wasn't exactly capable in battle. Especially not against this many opponents.
It was a dangerous situation and Naruto was only making it worse, goddamn him!
The samurai screamed a warning but he was too late. The last thing he saw were enraged red eyes and pair of wires that crushed his windpipe.
"Gato...!" Naruto howled. "...GATO!"
The businessman took a step backwards, two samurai from his personal guard drawing their swords.Naruto snarled, grabbing one in the wire and tugged him forward, straight at his kunai.
The second one tried to attack only find his legs entangled in wire. Naruto tightened it, snapping his hand back.
The man's scream cut off rapidly as he fell on his own sword.
"Gato...!" The tycoon paled, turning to run, only to fall as the wire slashed at his legs.
Naruto looked at the man for the moment, then turned and walked away.
Gato looked at the ninja's back incredulously, before sighing in relief.
He blinked, seeing at the large shadow that was growing even larger, and looked up only to scream as the falling Kubikiri Houcho guided by the wire tied to it, cleaved him in half.
"Don't you fucking dare to look down on people's dreams, you bastard." Naruto said softly.
---
Sakura's eyes teared up.
In the lull of the fight... She saw.
Sasuke... was dead.
It was like she said to Tazuna-san... shinobi are not supposed to feel emotions.
That's the mantra she tried to repeat in her mind.
She angrily wiped the tears away, unmindful of the new ones that fell.
'Sasuke-kun... I will be strong... I promise, I...'
She heard the distinctive poof of Kage Bunshin.
---
The mercenaries looked at their dead meal ticket's remains with disbelief. The bolder ones reached for their sword, roaring in defiance.
Naruto, his eyes now blue but no less furious snapped his hands and the wires coiled around him like hungry snakes.
Kakashi sighed, making the seal.
Suddenly, over twenty Kage Bunshins covered the bridge. The original smiled under his mask faintly, grabbing a kunai and twirling it in his hands lazily.
"Tazuna-san..." Sakura said, oddly detached.
"I understand," replied the old bridge builder, "So... do what you have to."
"Thank you." The pink haired girl drew her kunai.
She was numb but her hand tied an explosive tag over it firmly, like in training.
"Two brats and one wounded and exhausted man! Come on!" one of the swordsmen finally snarled, "We gonna let them leave like that?"
The men roared.
Amazingly enough, Sakura was the first one to tag an enemy with her thrown kunai.
Then the tag attached to it sizzled. And exploded.
With an odd, almost clinical detachment Sakura noted that it killed three samurai and ripped the hand off of another one.
Normally she'd be sick but...
It was just one shock too many.
Her teammate was dead. Her crush was dead. Uchiha Sasuke... Part of Team Seven, HER team... was dead. And they wanted to kill them. Her. Team. Kakashi-sensei. Naruto.
Her team.
They wanted to. Kill. Her. Team.
'Shinobi rule number twenty two: The team is to provide mutual protection, tactical advantage, and attack power in order to maximize the chances of achieving the mission objectives.'
The delicate hand drew her kunai.
'Shinobi rule number six: The safety of the ninja is secondary to the mission objective.'
Haruno Sakura raised her kunai.
'Team Seven rule: Those who abandon comrades are lower than trash.'
---
Kakashi blinked, sparing a second to look at his pink haired student.
She had two more kunai in her hands and she looked at the approaching mass of men with odd detachment, which indicated obvious shock. But she still held her ground.
For some reason, he felt an odd surge of pride that it was Sakura's kunai that reached the men first. Not the powerful, if rash, jinchuuriki. Not the offspring of a genius clan.
Sakura.
He smiled.
'I have a good team.'
The Copycat looked at the crowd of approaching samurai.
He couldn't use the sharingan and he wasn't exactly fresh...
The ninja smiled, his clones twirling their kunai in an identical, lazy manner before one of the clones simply ducked under a sword swing and opened the swordsman's gut with its kunai.
But that didn't mean he was helpless.
---
The first of the mercenaries that charged Naruto found his windpipe crushed by two wires out of nowhere.
The second one felt only a brief stab of panic as his sword was yanked from his hands only to sink in his gut a second later.
Another charged, katana held high as he saw both of Naruto's hands spread out controlling the wires, only to fly back with a broken neck as the genin's kick found his head.
Four other samurai didn't have even a chance to scream as a wire coiled around the one in the center and the last of Naruto's explosive tags blew them to pieces.
With a wet squishing sound Kubikiri Houcho rose from Gato's corpse, wires around it akin to wings as Naruto spun on his axis.
The zanbato cut the air with a howl, before decapitating two mercenaries in a row.
His eyes crimson, red power visible and rising from him in an odd mix of haze and occasional sparks as if it couldn't decide which shape to take, Uzumaki Naruto... raged.
Death followed.
---
It was odd.
Like the eye of a hurricane.
Sometime in the middle of throwing, cutting, killing, and fighting for her life Sakura found herself back to back with her teacher.
And as her hand gripped the kunai, as the blade found another weak spot...
"Tighter. Conserve the energy." Kakashi's voice was calm and lazy as always, even in the middle of the fight. She hated that apathetic tone before, but now she found it soothing. Calming. Eye of a storm. "Don't use swings. Disable. Kill. Straight." His hand lashed out opening a throat of yet another mercenary with a thrust.
Sakura took a step, her own hand moving slower with a mimicked precision.
The target gurgled, falling with a blade in his throat.
"Too deep. But good," Kakashi nodded with approval, "Here." He flicked Sakura another kunai. "Again."
She nodded, twisting to the side as the mercenary charged her.
She patiently waited for the man to complete his swing, so he could be exposed enough.
Her kunai flashed.
The man fell down with an almost comical look of surprise on his face as the red liquid oozed from his throat.
Offhandedly, Kakashi threw a shuriken behind Sakura, the weapon sinking into the eyes of the samurai who creeped behind her.
Sakura turned and her other kunai slashed open the man's gut.
"Good. Be aware and conserve energy. There are many enemies."
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura nodded and twisted around her axis, her hand swinging and Kakashi blinked as the mercenary behind him fell, shuriken in his throat, before smiling under his mask.
With two fast steps, Sakura was once again at his back.
Kakashi cocked his head to the side.
It was an odd feeling.
Instinctively, he sank a kunai into another attacker's gut paying no attention to the man on the left.
Sakura's kunai ended the man's charge a second later. Neatly. Cleanly.
And for some odd reason as he fought back-to-back with his student, he felt as if the jounin vest was tighter, almost mimicking the familiar feeling of his old ANBU armor. He felt as if he had his old chakra sword on his back and the cloth mask felt oddly solid, like the ceramic mask he had carried for so many years.
'Sword on my back, hmm?'
He chuckled soundlessly as Sakura's unwavering kunai found yet another target.
'That just might be true...'
The wolf smirked under the mask and stepped into the carnage.
The pink cub followed his steps like a red shadow.
---
Tazuna stood, eyes wide.
He wanted to run but he just couldn't. He was frozen to the spot by the battle.
'No... that's not a battle. It's a slaughter...' he thought dumbly.
The mercenaries who had enough brains broke ranks and fled in terror. The mercenaries who dared to stay and fight...
He swallowed heavily.
The bodies littered the bridge, bleeding and covering the stone with a macabre painting of red. He looked forward, barely registering the snarling blond who stood near Gato's cleaved body, corpses of the mercenaries he killed all around him. He was covered in cuts and nicks and blood.
Tazuna knew most of it wasn't his own.
But the boy was... dangerous. He was capable, like that Uchiha boy. Tazuna saw him fight before and he knew that. Their teacher was also capable. Legendary even, from what he had gleaned.
But the girl...
Sakura guarded him for days. She talked with him, laughed with him, went shopping with Tsunami and gushed over makeup and dresses with her. He even caught them giggling in that particular manner that females did when they talked about things men would never understand.
She was... just a girl. A pretty, delicate teenage girl in a cute red dress with a smile on her face and crush on her teammate that was visible even without the blush she wore when she looked at him.
She was just... normal. Just a girl. He found it difficult to believe she was an actual shinobi, really. She just seemed so... so girlish, as stupid as it sounded. Perfectly ordinary.
The woman in a torn, blood splattered red dress... the woman, breathing heavily as her hands clutched the bloodied kunai, her exotic, luscious hair matted with sweat and blood, now shorter after some overeager mercenary tried to decapitate her...
There was nothing ordinary about her.
Nothing soft. Nothing girlish.
The blond was a bona fide berserker. Sunny and smiling, but dangerous. The teacher was terrifyingly efficient. The black haired boy was like a smaller version of their teacher, only aloof and somewhat arrogant instead of apathetic.
Those were scary people. He knew that. Those were shinobi. Killers. Assassins. Warriors.
But when the pink haired teenager raised her head and looked at him with those oddly detached, emerald eyes...
He was afraid. No, he was terrified.
A twelve year old girl... A child. A spunky, intelligent, and vibrant girl whom he'd be happy to have as his granddaughter...
He shuddered.
Because as the emerald eyes gazed at him with almost offhand curiosity, he had a feeling they calmly calculated how to stab his throat or how to cut his gut open with the least amount of effort.
Shinobi.
Killer.
'This is...' He felt his gut clench. 'Those are... those aren't children... good Kami... we treated them like children... we treated that like a child?'
Everybody knew shinobi started young. But Tazuna never paid any attention to it. Not really.
But now...
Sakura told him that she started the Ninja Academy at seven.
He listened to her curiously. It wasn't every day one heard about shinobi education first hand. But to him it seemed well... like a school.
Lessons five days of the week, spring breaks, lunch breaks, and math and...
...and teaching seven year-old children how to throw a projectile with enough accuracy to kill a grown man. How to sneak and backstab. How to use explosives.
How to kill.
For the first time in his life Tazuna was glad that Wave country didn't have a ninja village.
---
Sakura took a slow step forward.
The kunai in her hand dripped blood and she felt the very same, warm liquid slowly seeping down on her face through her mangled hair.
Automatically, she swept it away.
'Can't let it block my vision,' she thought absently.
She looked around, her eyes taking in the carnage with odd detachment. She stiffened briefly as she felt Kakashi's hand resting on her arm.
"That's enough, Sakura," he said gently.
"Sensei?" She looked at him with an empty gaze.
"That's enough." he repeated softly, "You did well."
She nodded dumbly, looking past her teacher.
'Sasuke's... body. Dead... body. Corpse.' she thought dazedly, kunai falling from her hands.
She took a wavering step.
Then another.
And then fell to her knees beside her dead crush like a puppet whose strings were cut.
Sakura looked at her dead teammate blankly for a long moment, not even raising her head as Kakashi walked next to her.
'Such a waste...' he thought mournfully, 'The last loyal Uchiha... Seems that history repeats itself, doesn't it, Obito?'
"...Sensei... Kakashi-sensei..."
He looked at his blood-splattered student.
"...I can't... cry... Sensei..." The girl looked at him, her eyes empty and blank. "Sensei... why... can't I cry?" she said, looking so lost that Kakashi winced.
For once in his life he didn't retreat into apathy, as he laid a hand on Sakura's arm in a gesture of comfort.
"You will, Sakura. When it is time... you will."
"Oh." she nodded dumbly. "I see."
Her eyes traveled over the dead Uchiha's body, taking in the senbon that were in it.
"...it... shouldn't be like that..." she whispered, her head grasping the weapon, "...it shouldn't... it shouldn't..." She yanked the senbon out and grasped another one. "┘it shouldn't... it shouldn't..." Kakashi tried to stop her but she just shook off his grip, pulling out the senbon like a woman possessed.
The final needle clattered on the stone.
"...It shouldn't... why... why it is like that... Sensei?" She looked at him.
Kakashi closed his eyes for a moment.
"Because we are shinobi, Sakura," he finally said, "Because we are shinobi."
The girl looked at him blankly, only to freeze.
Slowly, she turned her head down.
Sasuke groaned.
Sakura's eyes widened.
"Sasu...ke...?" she whispered.
The Uchiha heir opened his eyes dazedly, feeling pain all over his body, only to see Sakura's blood-splattered face over him.
'I'm... alive...?'
"Sakura...?" he crowed out, his eyes wide, "...What the hell... happened to your hair...?"
Still and frozen, Sakura stayed there until she felt hot tears welling in her eyes.
"SASUKE!" she screamed, crying as she grasped the young Uchiha tightly.
Sasuke's eyes bugged out.
"Ow... Dammit that... HURTS!" he gritted out.
Sakura didn't hear him as she kept on crying and laughing hysterically at the same time.
Under his mask, Kakashi smiled.
'Now... you can cry again.' he thought with a bittersweet feeling. 'The history... It seems that even an ugly fate like that can be changed, Obito.'
Looking at his pink haired student embracing the Uchiha, Kakashi nodded slowly.
Indeed. It could be changed. And he would do his damned best to change it.
---
Haku crawled painfully.
She was weak, so weak... But the odd burning feeling passed. She could move now. Slowly and with spikes of pain accompanying every move, but she could.
She took a step forward, almost falling down again, only for a pair of strong arms to grab her.
The lunoichi looked at Naruto, who nodded slowly.
With his help, she walked to Zabuza's body.
"...Zabuza-sama. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry..." She fell to her knees. "...I failed... I'm useless... I'm so sorry..."
She kneeled there for a long moment before she looked at Naruto, her eyes awash with tears.
"Naruto... Could you... Kubikiri Houcho...?"
Naruto nodded slowly and walked to the weapon. He could have used the wires as it wasn't that far away, but it felt wrong to do that. The young ninja grasped the oversized zanbato, pulling it out of the corpse.
He frowned, looking at the blade for a minute and then wiped the blood away as much as he could before walking back to Haku, who just seemed to wait patiently, her eyes on the weapon.
"Thank you," she whispered, looking at the zanbato.
Naruto extended it to her, hilt first, but she shook her head.
"Naruto... can I ask you something?" she said, looking up at him.
The blond nodded.
"Zabuza-sama... Forbade me from taking my own life. Unless it is on his order... I... I can't die." She touched Zabuza's hand lightly. "But without Zabuza-sama I have no more reason to live. Please. Could you... send me away? With this Kubikiri Houcho... could you take my worthless life?"
Naruto froze.
"...Haku..." He shook his head. ⌠What are you...? I can't...!"
"Please." She smiled painfully at him. "We are alike are we not? Wouldn't you want to be reunited with your precious person as well? Even in death? Please, Naruto... to be killed by Kubikiri Houcho, wielded by one like myself... Please." she begged him.
Slowly, after a long moment, the blond shinobi nodded, hefting the weapon up. "...thank you..." she whispered, closing her eyes.
She heard a familiar howl of cut air as the weapon was swung and felt a slight breeze.
'Zabuza-sama... I'm coming...'
There was a loud crack and groan of cut stone.
Her eyes fluttered open.
The large zanbato was inches from her face, edge facing sideways.
She looked up, only to see Naruto's cerulean eyes and a snarl on his face.
"You think that death will bring you closer to Zabuza?" he growled, "You are wrong! Death... Death is DEATH! It is the END!" The blond snarled into her face. "You think Zabuza would want you to do that? EH?! This guy... he was ruthless... cruel... but you think he'd want to see his tool WASTED like that?! YOU FUCKING DISGRACE!"
Haku flinched, as if slapped.
"Zabuza died. Yeah. But he left something behind. He left his dreams, his teachings, everything that made him shinobi... in you." The young shinobi looked at her, his eyes furious. "And you want to waste it like that? What are you, some fucking samurai?! Death is death! Death is EASY! When you're dead you can't do ANYTHING anymore! LIVING is hard!"
"...I can't do anything... anyway..." she said slowly, "I...am just one more useless... thing without Zabuza-sama."
"No you FUCKING AREN'T!" Naruto exploded. "So Zabuza died and you're fucking folding like that?! Just like that?! That guy... he said you are STRONGER than him! PROVE IT! LIVE! Don't you fucking DARE to DIE! You are not some fucking trash, you are shinobi! So LIVE!"
"...Without Zabuza-sama... I don't have anything to live for..." she said brokenly. "How can I...?"
"You don't have anything to live for? No dreams?" Naruto growled, "Then I will fucking GIVE you something to live for!"
He straightened up, letting go of Kubikiri Houcho's hilt.
"You said you wanted me to meet her? Then help me!"
Haku looked at the enraged blond, her eyes wide and shocked.
"So stand the FUCK UP!" Naruto hissed, "Stand up and don't disgrace your precious person's memory any longer!"
She blinked, her gaze slowly traveling over the zanbato until she stared at its hilt.
Wincing, feeling the pain spike inside her body each time she even so much as breathed deeply, she grabbed the hilt.
With a moan of pain she hefted herself up, using the sword like a giant crutch.
Naruto kept on watching, his eyes furious.
Haku looked at him and then, with a groan of steel and her own pained hiss, she pulled out the sword.
She looked at the blade for a long time before nodding.
Unmindful of her pain, she slowly knelt in front of Naruto, until her forehead touched the blood stained stone.
"As you command, Naruto-sama. From this day on, to find your precious person... I will be forever your weapon. Command me as you will."
---
It was a somber affair and no victory feast.
Tsunami shook her head sadly as she looked at Sasuke's bandaged form. Kakashi wasn't any better and she had to help bandage his torso, though he was as apathetic as ever. He even dared to... to read that thing as she dressed his wounds!
Tsunami scowled, before smiling despite herself. 'That man...!'
The children, however...
'Can they even be called children anymore?' she thought, 'Could they ever?'
Her father was oddly tight lipped, but she could see sadness mixed with something akin to fear in his eyes whenever she caught him looking at the trio of young shinobi. The oddest was the fact that each time he looked at Sakura he almost flinched.
Tsunami sighed, shaking her head.
The girl's luscious, exotic hair was a mess. The blood was bad enough but the cut of the sword mangled them and she bemoaned the fact.
Sakura had such pretty hair...
The very moment she stopped dressing the wounds of the trio, she grabbed Sakura and dragged her to the bath, scissors and comb in hand.
Now the girl's hair looked somewhat presentable, but still a far cry from her previous cut.
Since most of the hair was a write-off anyway Tsunami cut it off, saving as much as she could. Sakura now sported something that looked oddly like a mix between Naruto's hairstyle, only without the spikes, and a pageboy cut. It looked a little bit odd since the hair fared better on the front and Tsunami left two rather nice looking bangs on the sides of Sakura's face.
It didn't look bad, actually. A little short, comparing to what she had before, but it looked good. Quite exotic.
Her pretty red dress was a complete write-off, what with the blood stains and cuts all over, so Tsunami lent her a white shirt and olive shorts of the same material that Naruto's pants were made that she had grown out of a long time ago. She also gave the girl her old, slightly fatigued jacket. It was a little long, but altering the sleeves was easy though it still looked more like a coat than an actual jacket. Sakura didn't mind.
'Though I doubt she is in a state to mind anything...' Tsunami thought sadly.
When she came back Sakura watched Sasuke like a hawk until his wounds were dressed, then she simply fainted and slept for twelve hours straight.
After she woke up, she walked out to the roof and kept on sitting there, staring into space blankly.
Which brought a slight problem.
Tsunami frowned, staring at the bowl with the food she had made for Sakura.
How was she supposed to-
Kakashi lazily grabbed the bowl.
"I'll take care of it."
She nodded as she saw the jounin 'walk' up the wall to the roof.
---
Kakashi looked at his student.
Sakura sat on the roof, her knees held to her chest, her usually vibrant eyes oddly dull as she kept on staring forward.
'The thousand yard stare... and on her first C-class mission, to boot.' he sighed, putting the bowl next to her.
She didn't even turn her head as Kakashi sat by her.
He tapped the bowl.
Sakura didn't even flinch.
The jounin put out the chopsticks, twirling them before he grabbed a morsel out of the bowl, then calmly poked Sakura sharply in her side.
She yelped, opening her lips. Kakashi put the food into her mouth.
Sakura looked at him, the piece of meat hanging from her mouth.
"Close mouth. Chew. Swallow." He smiled at her, his eye making the usual inverse 'u'. "It is a special shinobi skill. Called 'eating no jutsu.' Very vital it is." he said seriously.
Sakura just kept staring.
But she closed her mouth. Then chewed. And swallowed.
"First try... success!" Kakashi said opening his Icha Icha and pointing at the bowl. "Now, practice."
Sakura looked at him oddly.
"I'm still your superior, Sakura."
Hesitantly, she grabbed the chopstick and slowly grabbed a morsel. She chewed through it and blinked as she felt her stomach growl.
Kakashi looked at her over his book.
Sakura grabbed another piece of meat. Then another. Then another. She was starving! The girl kept on tearing into meat like a woman possessed until only one bite was left. She grabbed it, only to stiffen.
Kakashi frowned.
The last piece was undercooked and looked positively raw and Sakura's hands shook as she hyperventilated.
Kakashi calmly snagged the morsel from her chopstick and ate it.
It was a testament to Sakura's shock that she didn't even look as he briefly lifted his mask.
"...sensei..." she said. "I...we..." She shuddered.
Kakashi closed his Icha Icha and looked at his student as she lowered her head.
The girl shook, clenching her hands into fists so tightly her knuckles were white.
"...is it... always like that...?" she whispered.
Kakashi sighed.
"Not always," he said after a moment. "But... as shinobi... it is unavoidable."
"I see..." Sakura said softly.
Kakashi looked at her with an odd mix of pity and understanding.
"We... killed... a lot of people, Kakashi-sensei..."
"That we did," he said calmly, "But they attacked trained shinobi. That was stupid and reckless. They were our enemies."
"...but they were still... people, Kakashi-sensei..." The pink haired girl swallowed heavily, bile rising in her throat.
"Yes, He nodded slowly, "But they were our opponents, and they would have killed us."
"...is it always like that? Kill or be killed?"
Kakashi cocked his head to the side thoughtfully.
He could have told her a lot of things. He could have given her the sermon about the 'Will of Fire,' about duty, about the honor of the shinobi... but that would be bullshit and he knew it.
"Yes, Sakura. Kill or be killed. Outwitting your enemy before he can do the same to you. Overpowering before he can overpower you. And killing him any way you can before he can kill you." The ninja said honeslty. "That is how shinobi live.. and how shinobi die."
The girl lowered her head even further, bangs covering her eyes.
"But..." Kakashi leaned back. "It is not about death, Sakura."
The pink haired girl blinked, looking up at her teacher.
"A wise man told me once... 'It is not about death, but life.'" He looked at her. "They say shinobi must be ready to die at any second. That is true. But the shinobi that has something to LIVE for... is truly strong."
Sakura blinked owlishly.
"Those were the words told to me by my teacher, Namikaze Minato." Sakura's eyes widened. "Though he was better known as the Yellow Flash... and as he was the strongest shinobi in history, I have no reason to disbelieve them."
"Yondaime... sama?" Sakura breathed.
"Yes." Kakashi's eye made that odd 'smile' again. "Minato-sensei was my team commander ever since I made genin."
"Oh," Sakura said.
'I... Minato-sensei... Did I too...?' He blinked, feeling an unpleasant realization creep upon him.
"So see, Sakura... Death is an integral part of life. Everybody dies. But don't be dragged down by death." he said slowly, recalling his teacher's words. He thought he understood them then but... it seems it was not something he really learned then, like some many other things. "Death... the ones you deal... and the ones you experience... taint you. But as long as you have that understanding... then you live. Not as a tool. But as a person."
Sakura looked at her teacher with wide eyes.
This was a side of Kakashi she had never seen.
'Is that... is sensei...?' she thought with sudden flash of insight, 'It is like he... knows...'
"I... see..." she muttered.
"That's... good." He nodded, patting her back awkwardly as he got up. He was about to jump down, before Sakura's words stopped him.
"...Sensei... when you feel that it... drags you down..." Sakura's hands clenched as she looked at Kakashi. "Life... how can you... make yourself remember...?"
Kakashi stood silently for a long moment.
Then he pulled out one of the volumes of Icha Icha he had with him. Slowly, almost ceremonially, he gave it to Sakura.
"Remembering life in its best form, how else?" he said cheerfully, before jumping down.
Sakura stared at the... book.
'It is...'
She read the words incredulously.
'Icha Icha Volume One... this... he gave me... PORN?'
The girl clenched her fists, eyebrow twitching.
'Why that...' She slumped. She couldn't be angry at her teacher. Not when he looked so damn earnest.
She looked at the book, before opening it hesitantly, almost against her better judgment.
'...I always was curious what was about those books anyway...' she thought absently, reading the first pages.
A moment later a large blush erupted on her face.
'...oh my...' she thought dazedly, 'oh...oh...my...'
It was raunchy. It was pornographic and explicit as hell. It was pure PORN. Perverted. No matter how well written. But...
A minute later a small, embarrassed giggle could be heard from the roof.
Sitting on the veranda directly under the roof Kakashi smiled, opening his own book.
---
TBC...
---