The Way of Heroes
Sorry for the use of hiatus, I just had to get my school stuff together, but I'm good now. I hope to regularly update every week for the foreseeable future.
A2 E2/4 The Oath and the Man
Even with the kunai pressing hard against his neck, Zabuza didn't even flinch, keeping his scowling eyes locked onto Tazuna, who shivered as he felt the cold determination in the assassin's eyes. Kakashi broke the tense silence, "You're finished, Zabuza Momochi," Kakashi declared calmly, and both the Sharingan Ninja's students sighed in relief. Naruto cheered, "Alright!" A juvenline grin spread onto the blonde's face, and he ran around with joy. His cheerful laughes were hushed suddenly as he heard a low rumble of a chuckle. The noise came from the assassin.
"Finished? You really don't get it, do you? Your technique is nothing but a crass imitation, I'll never be defeated by a mere copycat like you." Zabuza growled, his cold eyes still targetting the Bridge Builder's jugular. "You are full of suprises though. You'd already copied my Water Clone Jutsu when you made your little speech," Zabuza said, recalling Kakashi's promise to his students, "I'll protect you with my life," Kakashi had said, "All of you, even Luffy and Sakura. I will not allow my comrades to die." Zabuza explained, "You made your clone say those words to draw my attention while you hid in the Mist, waiting for me to make my move."
A rush of cold skill came at Kakashi from behind, and the ninja 'felt' Zabuza before he heard or saw him. The killer whispered in Kakashi's ear, and a strange almost artificial sense of fear rushed int his brain as the venomous words flooded his mind, "I'm not that easy to fool. Now I am going to kill you, but first the genin under your command, then the Bridge Builder, and I'm going to make you watch." Paralyzed for a second, Kakashi felt a strange power throughout his body, and he could do nothing as the false Zabuza in front of him fell into a puddle of blue water.
As the real Zabuza swung his mighty blade into Kakashi, the jounin barely had time to duck under the massive arc. Still a bit slower than normal, Kakashi was almost groggy as Zabuza's sword slammed into the ground, and the assassin sent Kakashi flying with a kick. "You're stronger than most Kakashi. I knew my powers would only work temporarily on you, but I figured I could kill you before you could recover."
Chasing after his prey, Zabuza ran on the ground after yanking his steel from the dirt, only to stop in his path, noticing the spikes on the ground. "Trying to slow me down Sharingan Kakashi? What a fool." Diving into the pond where he figured Kakashi was, the three men being protected by Kakashi were frozen stiff.
Sasuke and Naruto both shook off the strange power, which had previously paralyzed them with fear. They turned, seeing sweat pour off Tazuna's wrinkled face, and shock glaze his eyes, he looked like he was in a horrible limbo between fainting and a panic attack. However, neither could react fast enough, as both were still groggy from the power of the assassin.
A soaked Kakashi emerged from the water, and to his fear, he realized, This water, it's not normal. Its dense, heavy. And from behind him, he heard Zabuza cackle, "I've got you Kakashi. Water Prison Jutsu!" Making a hand sign, Zabuza remained cold but savage, a huge ball of clear blue water formed around Kakashi, about 7 feet in diameter, and one of Zabuza's hands was in it too, as the assassin's extended arm/hand seemed to be maintaining the trap.
Zabuza's eyes flashed gray, and Kakashi felt the same sinking feeling he had felt a few minutes before. Kakashi could think nothing, feel nothing, he felt inward as his cool head left him, leaving him with a frightened boy that he hadn't seen or been in years. He lost his will, and he felt as cold as a corpse. Fear was the only sensation. This was the power of the Demon. This was a Killer's Power.
The Way of Heroes
Akame licked his lips with a bloody tongue, flashing his crooked fangs at Sakura, who shook off her fear, feeling adrenaline course through her. I have to have a plan. This guy's powers are too odd to handle the regular way. The slasher smile gave Akame's hoots a sadistic look, as he declared, "I'm going to shred you little girl!" Diving towards Sakura, the scarred hitman's pale fingers shown bloody, jagged points on the end, like a deadly broken vase.
The pinkette barely slid out of the way, and as she stopped moving, she whipped a shuriken out of her pouch and whipped it towards the suited killer, piercing him hard in the back. With a sound like sand paper scraping glass however, Akame pulled the throwing star out of his back by sliding it up until it reached his shoulder blades, and then pulled it out. A thin red line formed and filled the cut in his blue suit, and he smiled, "You made me bleed girl. I like that..."
Akame took the blue suit off, turning to reveal a horribly scarred torso, so many scars and marks all over it, it looked like a patchwork of injuries. Sakura gasped as she took in the survey of cuts, and in her momentary distraction, Akame psychotically whipped the ninja star at her head, missing by several inches. He screamed, "Damn you! I'll have to return the favor!" Sakura back away, pulling out a kunai with a shaking hand as she stared down the killer.
The Way of Heroes
"This Prison is made of water but it's stronger than steel. It's a powerful technique, but that's not where you are trapped, is it Kakashi? You are trapped in your own body, not just this jutsu. So much for the great Kakashi of the Leaf, this is the true power of a ninja, a killer!" Zabuza pointed angrily at his own chest, and smiled darkly through his bandages as he eyed his victim like a hungry vulture.
Kakashi was a sad sight, all signs of life and love and hope had fled the good humored ninja's eyes, and the Sharingan seemed to have faded as well. On the ground of the large bubble, Kakashi seemed to have given up. On the shore, Naruto screamed, "Get up Kakashi-sensei! Get up!" But the blonde's cries fell on deaf ears.
"First, the annoying pests will die, then the old man, than you for last Kakashi," Zabuza grumbled to his frozen opponent, who stared blankly at the waters beneath him. Using his remaining right hand, Zabuza formed a sign, and called, "Water Clone Jutsu!" Now as his attention turned to the trio on the ground, Kakashi seemed to slowly return to his usual self.
This feels like, Sensei's power... The Third Hokage used this power as well. As long as he's not focused on me, I won't feel it. I lost focus, so he managed to trap me with his power twice now, Sensei taught me how to fight this off, with my Will, my Will of Fire can burn down his 'Haki'. Kakashi thought, angrily staring at the now distracted ninja.
Zabuza now mocked the remaining genin, "You think wearing a headband makes you a ninja? When you've hovered between life and death so many times it doesn't faze you, then you may be called a ninja. When you've become so deadly your profile is in my Bingo Book, then you may have earned the title 'ninja'. But to call upstarts like you ninja is a joke." Fog rolled over the water and enveloped the ninja.
Naruto cried, "He's vanished again!" A kick rocked Naruto, sending him sliding across the dirt, and his headband was sent in the opposite direction. Zabuza stepped on the headband, rubbing it into the dirt. Watching from beside Kakashi, the true Zabuza focused his gaze on his clone. Kakashi called in a tizzy, "Listen! Get the Bridge Builder and run! You can't win this fight. He's using all his power to keep me in this Prison, so he can only attack using his Water Clones, and they can only go so far from his original body. You can run away, once you get far enough, he can't follow. RUN!"
Sasuke sighed, "Run away? That's not an option. That became unthinkable the moment you got caught. No matter how fast we'd run or how far we'd go, he'd track us down. Then wipe us out." Sasuke flinched, recalling dark memories. Trying to account for his enemy's power, Sasuke took a mental note, If we try a half Manji Defense Formation he can get around it, he did with the full Manji anyway. He's too strong to fight one on one, and that wierd gaze of his paralyzes us, and we can't come near his speed. In the end, if we're all on our own, we're finished. "Our only chance of survival is rescuing Kakashi," Sasuke said to Naruto, who had crawled back to be with the brunette, who stood next to Tazuna.
Hearing the old Bridge Builder vomit, Naruto and Sasuke knew that he had stopped being frozen by Zabuza's strange power, or that the Demon stopped using that particular weapon from his arsenal. However both knew that that couldn't have been his only weapon, nor the techniques he had shown thus far were his only ones to show at all.
"Let's do it," Sasuke yelled, rushing towards the Water Clone ferociously. But the Clone nonchalantly pulled his huge blade out from behind his back, deflecting a quartet of shuriken that Sasuke had thrown with a single swipe of his sword. Only for Sasuke to jump, getting ready to land a blow before the Demon's sword could be swung again.
From the air, Sasuke screamed, "NOW!" But Zabuza shook his head, "Too easy... You pathetic worms are nowhere near ninja. You will never reach my level if you're this weak for much longer, of course you won't have to worry; you won't be living for much longer." Having caught the Last Uchiha in a one handed chokehold, Sasuke growled and clawed against the vice that was Zabuza's strong grip. Tossing Sasuke like a ragdoll, Zabuza spat, "Now you die!"
As Naruto watched his raven haired comrade fly through the air, he gasped, "NO! He got Sasuke!" Zabuza's clone appeared before Naruto, who was still on the ground from his last attack. So this is what a jounin looks like, an enemy ninja. A true elite power. I've - I've gotta get away! If I don't, seriously, he'll annihilate me. Naruto turned, ready to book it, only to feel the familiar sting of his stab wound beneath his bandages.
He remembered something, making the connection of the pain in his hand to an oath he'd taken. "Upon this wound, I make this pledge. Believe it! I will never back down again, and let someone else rescue me. I will never run away." And when Sasuke made fun of me, "You're not hurt are ya? Scaredy cat!" I will not lose to Sasuke, never again! Not after that...
The Way of Heroes
8 Years Ago
A pale woman with beautifully long and thick black hair smiled sweetly at a small boy with matching dark hair, but shy black eyes hid behind her gray robe's leg. The woman patted the boy on the head, who must've been quite young, barely out of toddler age range, she coaxed, "This is Naruto, Sasuke. I was good friends with his mother, and I think you two can be the best of friends." Nervously looking around the tall woman's leg, Sasuke peeked to see a spiky haired blonde the same age as him, whose thumb was in his mouth. Locking eyes with the young Uchiha, Naruto grinned and whipped his thumb out of his mouth, waving excitedly, he cheered, "I always wanted a best friend! Are we gonna be best friends Sasuke?"
2 Years Later
Naruto practiced his lines as he waved good bye to the other kids at the orphanage, he recited to himself, "Sasuke... I know what happened to your family and everything, but I was hoping we could hang out and train and spar together again. It's been a few weeks since we did. No, that one isn't gonna work. Hey Sasuke! Buddy, when are we going to spar again, it's always fun when we do, I'm sorry about your parents - UGH - Why is this so hard? Maybe I should treat him the same as I always do?" A slightly taller, shaggier Naruto pondered the different ways he could talk to his best friend. Maybe I should just avoid his family all together... No!
And all the while he walked towards the Uchiha Compound, the small haven on the very edge of the Village, separate from the citizens and most of the ninja, while still barely outside of the forest. It took him several minutes to make the journey, and by the time he had gotten to the Main Branch's House in the Uchiha Compound, Naruto still hadn't decided.
Not knocking on the door, Naruto paced in the entryway, debating how he should talk to his friend. However, it was a few seconds of self-arguing that ended with the door swining open impatiently. A sullen Sasuke stared coldly at Naruto, who was surprised by the apathetic look in his best friend's eyes. Sasuke rolled said eyes, and barked, "What is it? I'm trying to train Naruto."
"Well - uh - that's the thing Sasuke - I - uh -" As nothing but noise came out of Naruto, Sasuke scowled, growling, "I don't have time to waste talking to you Naruto, I have to train!" Naruto finally found his words, "That's just it Sasuke, I wanted to know when you would want to spar again? It's been a while since we've trained together buddy." "I don't want to waste my time training with someone as weak as you Naruto."
"Hey, I know that you've beaten me the last couple times but I'm not weak!"
"You are weak Naruto. I am an Uchiha, and I am a proud ninja that should not be seen with the likes of an urchin like you."
"But, I thought we were friends Sasuke..."
"I don't have time for friends, I have to train."
Slamming the door, Naruto quickly planted his foot in the doorway, blocking it from being shut with his foot. Sasuke whirled at Naruto, "Just go you stupid - UGH!" "We're going to fight, right now Sasuke!"
The Way of Heroes
Naruto breathed heavily, watching as the Water Clone bent down, now crouching on his haunches, still stepping on the headwear of the Leaf ninja. He flinched, remembering the pain he'd suffered in earning that headband, and when he and the rest of Team 7 had earned their marks as Genin, and when he'd argued with the Hokage for a real mission. I'm a ninja now. BELIEVE IT! I swore, an oath of pain, that I will never run away.
Charging at the Clone with a juvenile howl, Naruto readied a kunai in his right hand. Kakashi ordered, "NO! Naruto get out of here! Take the Bridge Builder and leave this place before Zabuza kills you!" "Fool," Zabuza chuckled, watching intently as Naruto rushed his clone.
Blood shot out of Naruto's mouth as a wicked punch knocked him onto the ground and slid him back to Sasuke and Tazuna's feet. Naruto shakily got back onto his hands and knees, looking at his shocked comrade clutching his black headband in his hand, locking eyes with the brunette. "Sasuke, I may not have been a real ninja back then, but I've trained and trained, even graduated. I earned this headband, and I'm not going to give it up. I will become Hokage! Believe it! I will become strong enough to get your respect again!" Sasuke glanced down at Naruto's hand, which seemed to have scarred knuckles and a few that had been badly broken several years before.
Sasuke smiled slightly, but it never reached his angry eyes, "Words prove nothing, Naruto." He spat his teammate's name out like one would an unpleasant tasting ramen noodle, and he looked beyond Naruto, looking right at Zabuza, "We'll have to live through this first." Naruto shook with frustration and pain in equal amounts, getting onto his feet and crouching on his haunches.
He unsteadily brought himself up, and turned his back on Sasuke, head down and mouth bleeding, Naruto shouted, "Hey you! The freak with no eye brows, put this in your Bingo Book: the ninja that will become Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the one who will defeat Sasuke, the man that will be the greatest ninja the world has ever seen, is NARUTO UZUMAKI! And I'll never back down!"
The Way of Heroes
Sakura held up Luffy, whose legs were wobbling and scraped, and his chin and chest were all kinds of cut up. Luffy's red vest had several tears in it, while Sakura's own crimson clothing was slightly better off, and she herself only had a small cut on her cheek. Luffy wobbled forward, with Sakura's assistance, preparing to mount an assault on the killer.
Luffy readied his arm, and spat blood, "Gum Gum - PISTOL!" Letting loose his signature attack, his rubber arm extended at extremely high speeds, slamming into Akame's chest like a knuckled freight train. The sound that his hand made as it crunched into the odd Glass-skin was something akin to a hammer smashing a window. As he was sent flying into a tree behind him, Akame howled in pain as his skin crunched and broke from the impact of both the Rubberman and the tree. Retracting his stretched arm, Luffy howled in pain, "That stupid Brace Face hurt my hand Sakura!"
Waving his hand in pain, Luffy ran around in circles like a child stung by a bee. Sakura nervously looked at Akame, who seemed to be out for the count. She grabbed Luffy's hand in an attempt to examine it, but the Straw Hat kept running in pain, but with a firm grip like Sakura's his arm quickly stretched to cartoonish levels, and the elastic energy caused Sakura to fly with Luffy's arm back into it's normal propotions, causing Sakura to crash into Luffy. Luffy cried, "HEY! What was that for Sakura?"
Sakura punched the boy in the head angrily shouting, "I was trying to get the glass out of your hand idiot!" "Oh, okay," Luffy said, calm again. Sakura rolled her eyes, "You're just like a child," She chastised, and Luffy grinned, "Yeah but I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" As Sakura pulled the bloodied shards out of the Rubberman's fingers, Luffy winced and flinched, yowling in pain as the glass was removed.
The Way of Heroes
"Alright Sasuke, listen up. Can you hear me?" Naruto asked grinning determinedly, and the Uchiha answered, "Yeah I hear ya." "I've got a plan." Naruto expanded, and Sasuke rolled his eyes, Now he's got a plan? But he kept his interest for his comrade. "So, you want to fight with me? You think we can be on a team together?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto smiled, "I've always been on your team Sasuke."
The Way of Heroes
4 Years Ago
In the empty and ghost-like streets of the Uchiha Compound, the dark buildings reflected the determined mood of the fighters. Naruto eyed Sasuke, sizing him up like all the times before, but somehow, the preteen failed to notice that this fight was not like the rest that the two had had. This one would not end on the same note as all the others had. This fight couldn't, and it wasn't meant to. This fight would determine the power of friendship.
Naruto yelled, running at Sasuke and hoping to take him down fast with a wild arching roundhouse punch, which was deftly dodged by the skilled Uchiha, only for the brunette to capitilize on the blonde's lack of skill with a kick to the ribs, knocking down Naruto. With Naruto on the ground, Sasuke shook his head, "This fight was over the moment it started."
Angry, Naruto screamed, "No! I was just warming up!" And he got back up, getting into an angry stance, but he failed to notice the sloppiness of it. The Uchiha didn't bother, as he boredly held up a hand, motioning for Naruto to come to him. The energetic boy obliged furiously, running at his former friend. Throwing another quick but flawed punch, Naruto's arm was swung around and he was thrown into the dirt.
"Naruto, I cannot become stronger by training with weak people. You aren't strong enough to be worth my time," Sasuke said coldly, turning to leave the quarrel. But Naruto stirred, nose bleeding and he slowly, shakily got up saying, "We're friends Sasuke. I can't leave you alone like this. I'm not weak, we can be strong if we stick together..." Naruto pleaded, but Sasuke whirled around, eyes filled with hate, but somehow Naruto felt that it wasn't directed to him.
"I don't need a weakling like you, you would only slow me down. I have to be strong, you will never be strong. You wouldn't even be strong enough if you were Hokage," Sasuke said, and Naruto jabbed, "Like you weren't strong enough to save your family Sasuke?" Sasuke charged his sparring partner, and punched him in the eye, knocking him down.
"Sasuke, I won't let you fight this alone, I'll fight with you." Naruto said, but Sasuke was enraged. "You think you can fight with me, you think you can hurt me with these weak hands?!" Sasuke said, putting his foot on Naruto's right hand. Naruto shrieked in fear, "No Sasuke! Don't do this! We can still be friends, we can go train together, we can forget what I said! I can be strong enough to fight with you Sasuke! I can become Hokage! Believe it!"
"'Words don't prove things, actions do'." Sasuke stamped on Naruto's hand, busting it harshly. The crack that broke his fingers, soundly broke their friendship. Sasuke severed their ties with Naruto's screams of agony, and he left his sobbing and broken friend in the street, while Sasuke slammed his now emptied home shut.
The Way of Heroes
Both ninja stared at their enemy with the light of the sky on their backs, and Naruto grinned, "Okay, ready? Let's bring this guy down." Zabuza chuckled at his opposition's courage, "Such bravado from a little man like you." Kakashi gasped, "What are you doing? I told you to run! This fight was over the moment I got caught! Now take off! Your mission is not to prove how brave you are. You've already shown that to me here today. You must follow the mission, and save the Bridge Builder. Stay on mission! Those are the rules of a shinobi!"
Naruto remembered the objective, and turned towards their precious cargo, asking, "Bridge Builder?" "Well, I - I guess this all happened because of me, because of my desire to live. But I won't let that stand in your way now. Forget about me, do what you have to do. Go ahead and fight to save your Sensei!" Tazuna declared, and Naruto reminded, "Ninja who break the rules are scum, but ninja that abandon their friends are worse than scum." Sasuke gasped, as if something clicked in his mind.
"Believe it!" Naruto declared, and Zabuza laughed, "You really haven't learned anything have you? Still playing your little game... Pretending to be ninja, when I was your age this hand had already crushed many opponents, and watched as the life drained from their eyes, as their breath was choked off and drowned by their own blood." With a sinister glint in his eye, the Zabuza Clone smiled at his hand, as if gleefully remembering every single life that he had taken.
Kakashi gasped, "Zabuza, the Demon." The original Zabuza nodded, "Oh, so I was in your book too." Kakashi explained to his students, "Long ago, in the Village Hidden in the Mist, also known as Blood Mist Village, before I student could become a ninja, there was one final test." Zabuza craned his neck slightly in wonder, "You know about the Graduation Exam Kakashi?"
Naruto curiously questioned, "What Graduation Exam? We had a Graduation test too, it was no big deal." Zabuza laughed at his victim's understanding, asking with a mocking tongue, "Did you have to kill the other students to pass? Because of that bastard Mizukage, young ninja like you eating together, training together, and then comes the final exam, only they change the rules, kill or be killed! You can't stop while your opponent still breathed. He was your friend, he shared your dreams now it's him or you." Naruto shook with fear, and Tazuna gasped, "How cruel..."
Kakashi added, "Ten years ago, in the Village Hidden in the Mist, the Graduation Exam changed, one year before, a dark evil had filled the school with terror." "What are you talking about Kakashi?" Tazuna asked, and the Sharingan Ninja continued, "Without pause or hesitation, a young boy who was not even a ninja, approached the class, and took down over a hundred of the students, before the homeroom bell was called." "It - it felt so good!" Zabuza's clone declared, remembering and seeming to enjoy the death he had dealt those years ago.
Sasuke and Naruto could do nothing but watch as the clone's eyes flashed, and it rushed towards them as they were again frozen with fear, all ambition replaced with pure terror. A quick elbow sent Sasuke soaring through the air, and an elbow drop to the gut sent blood shooting out of the brunette's mouth, and his head hit the ground hard after bouncing off. Zabuza readied his blade, and planted a hard foot into the Uchiha's ribs before holding him down with the same foot. His eyes flashed, and Sasuke forgot everything.
He forgot where he was, he forgot all anger and sadness and emotion that he had been feeling up to this point. All that he was, was replaced by horror. The fear of death, the fear of pain, torturing his soul like a cat toying with a dying mouse until the end. Sasuke had only felt this feeling once before, once to this potency, and the person who caused this pain also orphaned him. Remembering the murderer, Sasuke gasped for air, ready to fight for his survival again and he clawed at Zabuza's foot.
"You're nothing." Zabuza prodded, and Naruto called, "Shut up! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Now with a dozen identical Narutos at his disposal, the forces converged onto the Demon, who took in the scene almost eagerly, Oh, Shadow Clones, and there's quite a few of them. This should be interesting.
With the swordsman surrounded, the Shadow Clones all growled at Zabuza in unison, who still held his foot on Sasuke. The Clones readied themselves, "Here we go." All jumping into the air, the troop bombarded the Demon with shuriken and kunai, only to dog pile onto Zabuza as they hit the ground. The swordsman cleaved his way through the pile, slamming his limbs and head into the quickly dwindling group with gusto. Soon all but one was left, and the original Naruto flew across the ground, and he cried, "I'm not giving up, I've still got this! Sasuke!"
Rummaging quickly through his blue bag in mid-air, he tossed some gray metallic thing to his dark haired friend. His compatriot caught the weapon, and nodded, So that was your plan. Not bad Naruto. Smiling as his plan came together, Naruto watched Zabuza's eyes widen in curiousity.
Sasuke quickly folded the huge weapon, unveiling a huge fuma shuriken, nearly as tall as he was, and in a calm voice, he shouted, "Demon Wind Shuriken - Windmill of Shadows!" Tazuna gasped in surprise, I've heard of that technique, back when I was a marine one of that Shiki's crew used that... These kids are impressive.
Zabuza shot down the plan immediately, "Shuriken? You can't touch me with that, worm." Sasuke ignored the doubt, and jumped into the air and sent the huge weapon flying towards the clone, who didn't move, only realizing that the projectile wasn't aimed at him. Zabuza nodded his approval, "So, you passed the Clone and aimed for my real body, smart. But, not smart enough!" Now the Demon caught the star with his free hand, now both his arms were occupied.
Grinning at his own prowess, Zabuza grunted when he looked to see another equally large shuriken sailing towards him fast and furiously, A second in the shadow of the first. These kids are smart... The Shadow Shuriken Jutsu. The spinning weapon came at Zabuza fast, only for the Demon to jump over it. With his back turned to it, the ninja tool vanished while he was still in the air, only to be revealed to be Naruto, who threw a sharp kunai knife toward Zabuza.
The Demon saw this, and he watched in horror as the weapon flew at him, realizing that he had been beaten for now.
Haha there's the latest chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. I really wanted to add some One Piece stuff in there, since this chapter was mostly about promises and Naruto and Sasuke's friendship.
Thanks so much for the view, and a special shout-out to my followers and favoriters, all feedback is appreciated. Also a special thanks goes to jjcoop95 for the latest review, thanks so much jj, and as always...
Please remember to read, review, and get your game on!