Disclaimer: See last 20 chapters.
Kakashi was getting fidgety, subtle as his state was. A twiddle here, a false cough there, and a few lost matches of checkers against Sasuke gave that away. Sasuke was amazed he had won to begin with, tense as he was. It wasn't that he cared, he assured himself. For him to become attached to anything was foolishness. Still, thoughts of a thousand horrible fates for his rival flashed through his head. They had been amusing at first; tripping and dropping a henge, being crushed by stacks of paper in Gato's offices, etc. Soon enough, however, they took a darker turn, and the blood flooded out any comfort or balance the Uchiha was used to in his mind.
"Your move, Sasuke." Kakashi broke into his thought patterns yet again with an insanely passive tone. It had seemed to have become even flatter in the past few hours, if that was possible. Sasuke could play at that game. Without thinking at all, the black-haired boy pushed a black piece diagonally to the left.
"Done," the Uchiha announced in a voice that put his teacher's forced monotony to shame.
Kakashi nodded and looked down at the board with an experienced eye.
"You have repeated the same sequence of movements with that piece for eight turns now."
Sasuke smirked, he really couldn't help it. The irony was at hand.
"Yeah, I'm copying your strategy, Sensei."
"Touché."
Back in Konoha, Iruka was filled with an inexplicable irritation at the absent Hatake.
Sakura watched her comrades play their board game for the first five minutes before leaving. On inquiry as to where she was going, she had replied with a very fake smile and excuse. They probably figured that out the moment she said it. If they hadn't, they'd had plenty of time. Girls generally didn't take two hour baths in cold water.
Truth be told, she had bathed for about three minutes before backing out with the sheer frigidity of the water at hand. The day was beautiful, she had reminded herself when she looked out of the window. The day was beautiful and it couldn't last forever. Eventually things would reach a resolution. It was all she could do, she forced herself to realize, to wait.
Sakura was not a patient girl. She wasn't completely rash, of course, but she didn't have the gentle ability to let things come to her. Like her crush on Sasuke, she often had an inherent need to fight for what she wanted. Despite her frustration at Naruto's disappearance and the situation they were all in, the thing that made her the angriest was the fact she didn't know what she wanted at all. For all the past years, it had always been Sasuke, but now…
All things considered, the slipping she did on the bathroom floor at that point was well-deserved. Karma found it fascinating.
Naruto was very quickly united with Haku's senbon to his neck after revealing his true form. His face fell faster than a suicidal woman off a cliff face, but he wasn't afraid anymore. The jinchuuriki was reasonably certain that his life hadn't been severed. Haku's wrath was much gentler than Zabuza's. It wasn't too incredibly incomprehensible that the mist ninja didn't trust him. Had they been in opposite positions, Naruto wouldn't have trusted himself, either. It wasn't easy to put faith in a stranger smiling wickedly.
The demon-container's hands whipped around to yank the needles out of his throat, Kyuubi's chakra filling them in at a steady rate. Haku didn't understand the deal with his new opponent, but while keeping Gato in place, he aimed at the boy yet again.
When the needles flew, Naruto did a spin, allowing them to fall into the desk, where they split or embedded themselves into the polished wood. Any papers remaining on the man's desk were impaled, leaving the man owning them fearing the same fate. Naruto looked into Haku's mask and threw up his hands in a surrender. Unconvinced, Haku nailed him in the neck again, this time keeping the boy down.
"Now, now, boy… let's be reasonable…" Gato stammered. Whether the words were directed to Haku or Naruto was up in the air, but the Uzumaki figured Haku was the more likely recipient, as he held the position of power. That, and Naruto was blacking out. He fought the dulling of his senses despite this.
"Reasonable?" Haku echoed from mirrors in all directions, bemused. "You didn't deny the claim."
"I never acknowledged it, either!" the corrupt businessman retorted, protecting his still-functioning arm. Gato's entire form was trembling, but Zabuza's underling shook his head and tightened his grip on the old man, who resorted to whimpering. His empire would soon fall into ruin.
"There's always been something I didn't like about you, sir." Haku seethed from behind his mask. His dulcet tones were still intoxicatingly gentle as he made a motion. "I'm just happy to know it wasn't unfounded. I will protect Master Zabuza with my life."
Naruto found just enough energy to allow his eyes to widen from his uncomfortable position of the desk. The gentle Haku dispatched Gato ruthlessly before him.
Gato's scream resounded throughout the bungalow like an alarm, causing the remaining men in the building to either investigate the source or to run like a bat out of hell(which bats apparently dislike).
Those who had chosen the path of running into Gato's meeting chamber were swiftly rendered unconscious by blows to the back of the head or needles to pressure points.
Though Haku may have killed Gato in cold blood, he did not want theirs on his hands. He did not know why the miserly old man's employees fought, and didn't wish to chance killing an innocent. With the exception of Gato, all of the men strewn about the ground were either unconscious or simply debilitated. On a similar note, Haku couldn't help but feel conflicted once the area quieted down. Naruto's bright blue eyes had long since rolled into the back of his head, and the boy's blood dripped ever so quietly against the wood the shinobi's catatonic form rested on.
Haku strode over to the Leaf Village's pariah, footsteps gentle and careful to avoid stepping on anyone. White mask still covering his countenance, Haku watched as the boy struggled to breathe.
"…I'm sorry…" Haku whispered gently in the blonde boy's ears as he painfully gasped for the next breath until he could no longer. Within a half a minute, a last rasping exhale exited Naruto's parted lips, and no new air was ushered into his lungs. Upon seeing this, Haku removed his mask.
There was no one to hide from anymore. Explaining things to Zabuza would be a difficult task, but he had faith the former ANBU would understand his actions. That being said, Haku picked up Naruto's lifeless body bridal style and moved through the now-quiet hideout.
The sky outside was colorful with evening, but the beauty of twilight failed to reach Sakura as she waited outside the door of Tazuna's abode. Time was almost up, and she wanted nothing more than to see a familiar streak of orange in the distance. At several points during the sunset, something moved in the distance, lifting her spirits only to crush them when they were revealed to belong to a squirrel, or something similar.
Time passed, and Sakura passed on dinner for reasons that didn't revolve around her vanity, for once. The sky slowly lost its brilliant pinks and purples, exchanging it for shades of deeper blue until there was nothing but an inky dark that penetrated deeply into more than the atmosphere.
She began to get drowsy, but refused to go inside as the stars came out. She would have given anything not to notice the slider door open behind her.
"Sakura, come inside and go to sleep." Kakashi said quietly, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder.
"No, I want to be here to…" she muttered groggily, batting his hand off in a futile effort, as it just resumed it's place after her outburst.
"Sakura… I don't think Naruto's coming back," her teacher replied, preparing himself for any reaction she might give him.
After a moment's silence, she shook her head, not even bothering to face her instructor.
"I'm staying. He'll be here… he promised."
It was with a heavy heart that Kakashi went back into the house. He shut the door behind him and waited. Surely enough, he could hear the sobs wrack Sakura's lithe frame.
Author's Note: Hey guys. I may have left you with a cliffy, but I have an announcement to make. I made a Naruto:the Abridged Series reference. I am jealous of those lucky authors with fanart. oo;