A/N: I do not own Naruto.
Two figures were seen standing in a hallway. They were leaning on each side of the wall respectively. Their chests were moving up and down, drawing in as much breath as possible.
"This was all a trap!" The one with a hare design mask spoke out.
"The timing was too accurate to be a coincidence." The other with a rat mask agreed. Soon after, the sound of feet flapping against the floor was heard, indicating their enemies were approaching.
"Go! I'll stay and hold them off." She pushed her body off the wall and stood straight.
"What are you talking about?! We leave together!" Nezu exclaimed, unconsciously took a step toward Usagi. That was one of the few times that Nezu were flabbergasted by anything, let alone such respond.
"No! We all know there is no way we can escape here without a scratch." Usagi retorted, moving up close to Nezu's face as well, not willing to back down from her decision.
"Then, I'll stay with you!" Nezu yelled back. His voice was frantic as if he was panicking.
The female went rigid for a second before saying, "I won't let you do that. My mind is set."
"I'm your captain, so you will listen to my command!"
"I'm sorry, captain, but I will have to disobey you this time." Her tone turned gentle and low-keyed but unfaltering.
Before Nezu was able to give his retort, Usagi cut him off by jumping up to him who was taller than her by a few inches, and wrapping her arms around her stunned captain. She faintly whispered into his left ear, "You have saved my life so many times. Now I want to return the favor."
She suddenly shoved him forward and proceeded to take out the remaining explosive tags she had left, sticking them on the concrete wall. Finished with her set-up, Usagi raised her right hand up to her face and peeled her mask off.
Nezu landed on the floor, skidding back a couple feet, but that was none of his concern right now. What mattered was that the last of his team had just done something stupid. He was in shell shock. His widened eyes locked onto her face. All he could make out was her lips moving, constructing a sound of words. However, he heard nothing. Then, he saw her last smile. It was so serene even with the tears rolling down her cheeks that he had thought maybe she was happy with what she had done.
It all abruptly ended when a wall of mud rose up from the ground, separating him from her, then a deafening explosion occurred.
Nezu unceremoniously opened his eyes. Such a light sleeper that he was, Nezu was awoken by a sudden movement down below. His prisoner apparently had escaped out of her binding, and seemed to be moving discreetly toward the doppelganger of the ANBU.
Reaching her target, Haku looped her arms around 'Nezu's head and fiercely twisted his neck. However, instead of hearing the pop of his cervical vertebrae, she was met with an explosion of a shroud of cloud.
"Now that would have been too easy, wouldn't you think?" Nezu's voice from above a tree alarmed her at her failure to murder him. As Haku tried to quickly run away, she soon found herself immobilized once again by a mud binding this time.
"Why didn't you kill me?" Haku asked, glaring at her capturer.
"Why would I?" Nezu simply answered with a subtle shrug of his shoulders. "I can extract a lot of crucial information about the mist from you. Isn't that why the Hunter-nin corps was created, to prevent any spoil of intelligence by captured missing-nin?"
Haku spit at the ground though her spiteful expression was unbefitting of her gentle facial beauty. "You won't get anything from me!"
Oh~fiesty "But would you still keep your mouth sealed if your master's life was in my hand?" Nezu replied. Of course, Zabuza was kept in the same situation, just at a different location. Wouldn't want those two near each other and risk their escaping now.
Haku was shocked as she heard that, but schooled her expression afterward. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her breaking. "Zabuza-sama would still want me to not tell you anything! I'd rather die!" Haku said valiantly, albeit sounding more like trying to convince herself that she was right.
Nezu internally sighed. This method would not work; plus, he didn't feel like using violence again after slaughtering so many lives last night. The nightmare would last long enough, that much he was sure.
The master-disciple duo wouldn't be going anywhere either, not under his watch; hence, Nezu resorted to subtle interrogation, asking for their background story. Maybe there could be something that he could use.
He had stayed silent for a few minutes to let the tension lower a bit before he changed the pace of the conversation. "What did the infamous devil of the mist do to make you so loyal to him?" The ANBU captain asked, changing his tune to a more gentle sound.
Of course, the no-reply reply… "You must have been so young when you met him, huh?" Nezu continued. He saw a slight twitch of her body, no matter how subtle it was.
"Ah… I bet he had saved your life. Hook~ 'Never knew the devil had a soft side for young girls. Line~ 'Heard that he had slaughtered all his classmates while he was a genin and dare to-"
"He was not like what you think!" Haku hastily retorted back.
And sinker!~
"Why not? Everyone knows that he is a traitor to his village. He even tried to assassinate the Yondaime Mizukage. Wouldn't that define him as an evil man?" Nezu continued his taunt at Haku. It was going accordingly to what he wanted to hear.
Without even knowing, Haku fiercely defended Zabuza from the accusation. "The Yondaime was a monster! Zabuza-sama tried to save his village from the chaos!"
"But that still wouldn't-" Once again, Nezu was cut off, though he wouldn't mind.
"He wanted to end the meaningless war!"
"You were so young at the time. What would you know?"
"What would you know?! He had saved several survivors, young ones from the Bloodline Massacre! The loyalist had chased us out of our home and killed our parents. Zabuza-sama had saved our lives!"
"Hmm… true that." Nezu somehow seemed to accept her rebuttal, actually satisfied that he had gotten that much from her.
By the end of the bout of words, Haku was panting and glaring at her capturer, cursing at herself and Nezu. She could not believe that he had made her a fool, managing to extract so much information from her. Nezu had cleverly made use of her state of being such an emotional wreck which were stemmed from the frustration that, such a loyal disciple that she was, Haku had failed to protect her master, which led to their current dilemma.
"Now that you've gotten what you want, are you going to kill me?" Haku asked with such venomous contention.
Nezu shook his head at the spiteful remark by the gentle looking lady. "Actually, you kinda remind me of someone I know. Gentle soul, strong will. Naïve~ I'll let you live for a little bit longer."
He then stood up before continuing, "Thanks for the talk. And don't waste your breath trying to escape 'cuz I won't be as nice next time." With that, Nezu summoned another clone to keep watch before he shunshined away.
A/N: I hope this chapter shows you a small glimpse of Naruto's past. I apologize that this one is a bit too short, but I haven't got much time to write, with so much stuff going on and exams. Yes, the bane of every students. Anyway, have a good day!