08 Bridge Scene I
5/27/2008 -- 3162 words
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (Rowlings) or Naruto (Kishimoto).
AN: You remember that hint I gave you a couple chapters back? -laughs evilly-
Warnings: Minor swearing, bastardization of canon, use of Japanese suffixes and one or two different words. Fight scenes. Urgh...
6/15/2008 -- I finally got around to cleaning up the Haku he/she thing. Yes it is intentional but some of my placements were incorrect. PS: Haku is MALE! Period, end of story. There is a reason behind the madness here though - Haku, Harry, and Zabuza know, the Leafs don't. I'm just playing on their ignorance.
As Harry said, a few days later he disappeared during the night. Neither of the jounin noticed him leaving much less the genin. Shino kept quiet about his midnight conversation with the strange man. Something, maybe the blind man's stark earnestness, caused him to trust Harri-san's words enough not speak. Although, the almost too perceptive glances his new…friend?... sent his way that morning over breakfast suggested he had some inkling of Shino's deception. However, Naruto never said anything to him and continued on his daily routine with no obvious changes. Well, if one ignored how he started wearing his jacket inside out after the late night with Shino. Sakura nearly caved his skull in when she found out the hideous orange jacket was reversible.
--two days later--
Harry sat cross-legged on the underside of the incomplete bridge. He had to give the old man credit, Tazuna was a master at his craft and truly charismatic when he was not eyeball deep in cheap sake. Even without the old man huffing and puffing at their backs a good half dozen men had shown up to work on the bridge. 'Too bad for them this is one day they really should've stayed home.'
Grunts and thuds followed on the heels of his thought as tendrils of thick, clingy mist slowly crawled over the sides of the bridge. Harry sighed softly to himself, scarf tails fluttering below him in a gentle breeze off the river before they stopped suddenly, the breeze unnaturally stilled.
'So the stage is set and Act One is begun. The little Leaves should be showing up within the hour and Act Two shall start then. Simultaneously, Gatou's spineless worms will be headed off to the daughter's house in Act Two, Scene Two. The script stops there though, and from then on we will be ad libing. For our sakes, I hope we are skilled enough actors that none shall know until the final curtain falls.'
In the back of his head he could feel/hear/taste the malicious rolling of thunder that symbolized Shichibi's laughter. Dread crawled along Harry's skin.
'Please be careful Chibi-kun, Bug boy. I don't want to find your deaths written into the script.'
--
Fate was an interesting entity. Something neither male nor female yet so huge and all encompassing that none could escape its grasp. Think of a huge computer program. Subject One has specific variables entered in about him or her and the program runs, crunches all the numbers, analyzes all the possibilities based on the provided information, and spits out an end result. The end result could be one of thousands where just one variable was the difference between getting an end result of 13 or one of 49.
A highway system could be used as well. Subject 1 starts at point A, chooses his direction, and drives. Small towns, big cities, perfect little suburbs, all scattered along the highway system, all possible ending points for Subject 1. The make of car, amount of money, quantity of gas, personality, and the land mass were the variables that decided in the end where Subject 1 would stop. Change one and the possible endings changed with it.
But with both, although the endings could vary wildly, there were points reaching the ending where a large number of lines crossed in a nexus point. Each option available to Subject 1 contains a nexus point at some point that would occur. No ifs, no ands, no buts.
In Naruto's case, he still suffered mild chakra exhaustion the night before the attack on the bridge and Kakashi Hatake still left him behind to sleep it off. Gatou still sent his two blood thirsty mindless goons, Tsunami was attacked, Inari found his courage and fought back, Naruto came to the rescue easily defeating the goons, and Inari had his faith restored in heroes of all makes and models.
As Naruto raced frantically towards the bridge where his comrades were certainly under attack he exited the nexus point none the wiser. Fate merely took the information provided by the nexus and continued plotting out possibilities.
--
One variable changed the scene that was expected to take place at the bridge and it went by the name of Harry James Potter. The presence of his snakes when the Demon Brothers attacked tilted Kakashi Hatake's paranoia enough to make him send back a request for backup. His direct interference prevented the follow up attack by the Demon of the Mist and his protégé which directly prevented Kakashi Hatake from exhausting both Zabuza and himself. Harry taught six little Leaves how to both tree and water walk and did all but beat basic survival instincts into the Kyuubi container.
Because of the presence of Harry James Potter it was not one under equipped team of genin taking on one ex-ANBU and his unofficially jounin level fake hunter-nin apprentice. Instead, Kurenai, who had only been promoted to jounin two months before taking on a genin team, Hinata Hyuuga, a girl with huge potential under stress but extreme self-esteem issues, and Sakura, a civilian daughter turned ninja who was slowly realizing what being a shinobi was all about, stood guarding Tazuna and the unconscious workmen.
Kakashi still squared off against the Demon of the Mist as the only Leaf able to fight him on equal footing. However, because of Harry preventing their first attack, Zabuza was still mildly apprehensive about the abilities the Sharingan gave his opponent – sans the potential to see far into the future. Zabuza had mistakenly let his misgiving slip in the presence of his second apprentice who laughingly explained that nothing could predict the future but, years of honed instinct and an abnormally sharp eye could pick up the minute signals a body gave off to accurately guess a man's future movements. Harry had been left running himself ragged for laughing at the Demon of the Mist but he was, privately to never be admitted even under torture, that he was grateful for the little gaki's information.
Kiba had charged head long at Haku and engaged herin taijutsu. When a short, solid kick to the sternum sent Kiba flying back, Sasuke leapt in to fill the void not giving the fake hunter-nin time to rest. Shino, not strong in taijutsu, directed his kikai to harry the two enemy nin. He only had a few colonies worth of kikaichu though so the damage he could inflict was limited.
Akamaru, the little white puppy familiar to Kiba, attacked the ice-nin's legs. The enemy was faster than his partner or the other boys but if he could damage or sever the tendon in the heel or the ligaments connecting the knee to the leg the ice-nin would no longer be able to stand. Unfortunately, he and Kiba had not been able to complete learning the Beast Mimicry jutsu before being sent on this mission.
He yelped sharply when the ice-nin kicked him in the ribs hard, sending him flying into the bridge railing opposite the bug-nin on his partner's team. Stunned from the blow, he almost did not smell the dry, dusty scent of snake before a massive body start curling around him. He managed to let off one sharp warning bark before the squeezing became too much and he fainted.
"Shit! Shino, Uchiha watch out! There are snakes here, one just got Akamaru!" Kiba yelled, infuriated that he couldn't protect his partner. His nails raked across the porcelain mask of the false hunter-nin leaving scratch marks in his wake. A kunai flew past his shoulder but the enemy easily knocked it away with a senbon. Haku simultaneously hit both Leaves with a palm thrust to the chest, shoving them back. Her hands flew through seals before thin slivers of ice started forming from the scattered puddles, caused by previous attacks, and rose into the air, poised like a thousand razor thin swords of Damocles.
--
Shino saw the thousand ice senbon rise into the air and immediately directed his kikai to abandon the two nin to instead drain the chakra from the senbon before they could be launched against his comrades. He never got the chance.
A steel band, someone's arm, wrapped itself around his neck and pulled, cutting off his air supply. Before he could command his kikai to defend something thin and silky wrapped around his wrists stopping the flow of his chakra. His assailant wrenched his leg out from under him and he fell to his knees, the chakra sealing band moving onto his ankles, effectively binding him in place. The seal slipped under his jacket and wrapped itself once, twice around his waist. Not only were his extremities now prevented from molding chakra but his core was prevented from generating more than what was necessary for basic life support of himself and his kikai.
"Ah, ah, ah Buggy. I wouldn't do that if I were you. You see, if you send your kikai outside your body right now they'll have to cross the suppression barrier. For bugs that are chakra voids, if they cross the line the tiny amount that give your kikai life will be suppressed out of them and bye-bye buggies. And, as an Aburame, you can't survive for more than forty eight hours if eighty percent or more of your kikai population dies." A smooth voice, achingly familiar, whispered next to his ear.
"Who are you?" Shino asked.
He jerked backwards, startled, from a pair of large, luminous green eyes. The pupils had contracted to pin prick proportions from suddenly removing his scarf from around his eyes. For that was who it had to be, the blind man Harii, if the beaded braids hanging by his face was anything to go by.
"Harii-san?"
The green eyes danced merrily as the face dipped in a nod. Calloused fingers gently brushed the bug-nin's face and pushed the sunglasses back to their original perch then drew away.
"I apologize for this Shino-kun but I can't let you interfere with Haku-chan right now. The play has only just begun and our main villain has yet to arrive on stage. I don't want any of you little Leaves as casualties in this little grudge match though. Now, I can either gag you or you can agree to be a cooperative little hostage and stay quiet. Oh!" The last was a startled exclamation as Harii-san turned to face away from him and towards the jounin fight. Shino could feel his skin crawl at the sudden bestial growl that erupted from Harii-san's chest. "Damn that scarecrow!"
Hands flashed through a short chain of seals. "Hidden Technique: Clinging Mist Tendrils!"
"My duty, besides keeping you little Leaves alive, is to maintain the Hiding Mist technique and protect my comrades," Harry explained in an aside to Shino as he concentrated on his technique. With a quick twist and stab of his hand the mist surrounding the battling jounins twisted and speared down between the combat locked forms forcing them apart.
--
Cold grey mist became clingy, sticking and curling around Hatake's ankles slowing him down. Zabuza smirked at his opponent when the Copy-nin stumbled from the clinging mist. Kubikiri Houcho swung from shoulder to hip and crimson sprayed in its wake. Hatake gasped and stumbled backwards, clutching the wound crossing his chest. Zabuza laughed maliciously as he stepped backwards into the mist, disappearing.
--
A feminine grunt jerked Harry's head to the left where Haku was fighting the two little Leaves. Evidently Kiba and Sasuke had gotten a combo through Haku's defenses. Harry snickered behind his hand. "Haku-chan is pissed," he sing-songed. Next to him Shino twitched.
"Ice Style: Demonic Ice Mirrors!"
As a dome of rectangular ice mirrors formed around and above the two Leaf genin Harry grinned. "Mah, those two won't be coming out unscathed. Not to worry though, I can feel Naruto-kun approaching so our play nearing the Third Act."
"You are not behaving in the same manner as before," Shino observed softly. "Most nin would not explain their actions to their enemies."
"Ah, but Shino-kun, who said I was an enemy? Not all is what it seems bug-boy. You children are just a means to an end for us and we want you to survive the experience. As for the attitude, well…I always get excited in battle," he breathed hotly against Shino's ear. The Aburame squirmed uncomfortably from the foreign sensation.
--
Kiba's eyes widened in surprise as the ice-nin backed into one of the mirrors as if it was liquid. His kunai bounced off the solid block of ice that the nin was standing inside.
"What the hell?!" he shouted. He was feeling off center without Akamaru by his side but for his partner's sake he just fought harder. The Uchiha was keeping up well, while their moves and personalities clashed they still managed to mesh their attacks enough to force their opponent to use such a powerful technique.
"Uchiha, it's ice. Can your fire melt it?" he barked the order.
Sasuke scowled at the mutt before facing the ice mirror containing Haku and held his hands to his mouth. "Fire Style: Grand Fireball!"
The fireball hit, curled around the mirror for a few moments then dispersed with nothing to show for the effort. He bit back a curse as the woman in the mirror laughed and then the laughter multiplied. Both genin stood back to back as they were surrounded by the senbon happy female.
"Anymore bright ideas Inuzuka?" Sasuke snarled. Kiba growled, ready to retort, when a barrage of senbon rained on them from all sides. Both boys ducked and weaved but with senbon flying from point blank range in every direction they were still struck in multiple places.
With a pained grunt Kiba dropped to his knee as his senbon studded left leg gave out. Sasuke wasn't in much better shape with senbon sticking out of his back and arms like an obscene pin cushion. Haku sighed audibly, disappointment thick in the exhalation. "I was expecting something better for genin from the Leaf Village."
The false hunter-nin partially emerged from the mirror directly behind the two injured genin, ready to end the battle. Haku backpedaled swiftly as a kunai passed before his mask and he grabbed it out of the air before it passed too far.
"Sasuke! Kiba! You two okay?" a rough voice yelled in concern.
--
"Naruto," Shino exclaimed, as much as an Aburame could.
Harry smiled happily. "And so our hero has joined the cast. Now to introduce him to the main conflict." Joy absolutely dripped from the last statement as Harry's hands flew through a familiar set of seals.
"Hidden Technique: Clinging Mist Tendrils!"
Shino closed his eyes behind his sunglasses, pained that he had been taken down so easily and could no longer help his comrades. Five kikai rested on the ground under him, scouts sent to test the blind man's words. He'd been right, as soon as the kikaichu crossed the barrier line the minor amount of chakra inside their bodies had been readily suppressed to the point of their deaths.
Harry twisted his hand in different way than before, a scooping and thrusting motion.
--
Naruto flew through the gap between two mirrors and landed in a heap next to Sasuke and Kiba.
"Dobe, what are you doing? We could have gotten out if you had stayed on the other side," Sasuke snarled at his dazed teammate. Naruto stood up and glared at the Uchiha.
"It wasn't my damn fault! The mist threw me inside!"
Kiba glanced up. "The mist? It must be another jutsu. Someone else is here, not just this chic and Zabuza. Whoever they are got Shino and Akamaru as well."
"I thought a snake had gotten the mutt."
Kiba growled at Sasuke. "A snake caught Akamaru but it wasn't an accident that those things were here now when we're under attack. Someone is controlling them."
Naruto and Sasuke shared a shocked look over Kiba's head. "Harii-san," they realized simultaneously. The genin were forced to move from a sudden hail of senbon. Kiba shouted once in pain before his form slumped, dead or unconscious with a pair of needles sticking out of his neck.
Naruto turned to check on the Inuzuka but another senbon barrage forced him back. While his clones kept the other boys busy Haku darted out of his mirror nearest the downed dog-nin and picked him up, dropping him outside his -Haku's- mirror dome. Mission accomplished, Haku slipped back inside his mirrors. He watched for a moment from the outer side of his mirror as a thick rope of mist curled around the Leaf-nin and drew the limp body back into the encompassing fog.
--
"Hmm, good job Haku-chan," the braided man murmured as his mist presented him with the Inuzuka. Harry reached inside his jacket and pulled out a handful of ofuda. One was wrapped around each extremity while a fifth was placed against Kiba's abdomen. Applying his chakra the boy's ankles were bound together as were his wrists. Only after the Inuzuka was bound did Harry unseal the tool roll necessary to remove the senbon safely from the child's neck.
Shino flinched back from the pliers Harii pulled out. "Don't worry Shino-kun. I'm just removing his death state before it becomes permanent."
--
It was rare for two nexus points to exist immediately next to one another. If Naruto had chosen to flee between Tazuna's home and the bridge the nexus point could have easily been avoided but he didn't. Immediately after being pushed inside the ice mirrors and the scion of the Inuzuka's was removed the nexus point was reached.
No matter what variable was entered now, Sasuke would be rendered either dead or death-like and the seal would weaken under Naruto's unleashed emotions, summoning forth his tenant's power. Haku would eventually be lamed by his kind heart and Naruto would be driven to kill him by Haku's gentle pleading.
--
As the red faded from Naruto's eyes and his mind cleared of Kyuubi's influence, his grip firming on the kunai, he ran forward for the final strike on a person he could have easily been friends with.
Screaming like a thousand raucous birds ripped through the air over the bridge and Haku, begging soft forgiveness, fled towards his master. Harry, watching over the captured genin, vanished in a clap of thunder.
Kakashi's shocked gasp heralded the dispersion of the unnatural fog…
-laughs- Do you hate me yet? My muses are up and working so expect the next chapter soon-ish.
Leave a review, you know I listen. Plus, tell me what you think about the feel of the chapter. Does it feel like a proper fight scene? 6/15/2008 - some hate it and some love it. I got to constructive criticisms going both ways. I'll try to keep the next chapter consistent!
Hidden Technique: Clinging Mist Tendrils: A complementary technique to the technique Zabuza uses to generate his fog (dubbed Hiding Mist technique by me). The user saturates the fog with their chakra and then molds the mist into ropes or vines to bind their opponents. If the chakra isn't molded, just left to saturate the mist, then the mist becomes clingy, slowing down the users opponent(s).