Chapter 22
Sensei's pride.
xxxx
Everyone still conscious looked at the midget who was surrounded by bandits holding various weapons.
"Gato" Zabuza replied "I have completed what you asked, now where's the money?"
"It's right here. 50,000,000 Ryo. As promised." Gato replied, pointing to a bandit bolding a briefcase.
Zabuza started forward.
"Be careful sensei. It's likely he will try pull something." Naruto said, "I have a bad feeling about this"
The Demon nodded. "Of course. Then I'll just cleave him in half."
He continued his way forward. The bandits parted to make way for him to go through.
xxxx
Naruto tensed, the feeling in his gut growing stronger. He looked carefully at every single bandit, none of them seemed to show any hostile intentions.
Then
"There!" Naruto thought. One of the bandits' appearance seemed to waver for a second as Zabuza passed him and reached Gato. The new appearance clearly showed a shinobi, his hand about to draw a sword.
"SENSEI!" he shouted in warning.
Xxx
Zabuza held his hand out and received the money. "Nice doing the business with you." He said.
Gato closed his eyes behind his glasses. "You know, nobody threatens me and gets away." He said, referring to when they first met.
Before he could ponder the meaning of those words, he heard Naruto's shout. He turned around just in time to see Naruto running towards him and another shinobi who thrusted his sword at him.
Xxxxx
Naruto dashed forward, even though he knew that he wouldn't make it in time. As the sword was about to reach Zabuza, the world snapped to perfect clarity. He could see each individual scratch and carves on the sword and each arc of lightning that went off it. Time seemed to slow down and Naruto could only watch in slow motion as the sword entered through Zabuza and out the other side.
Xxxx
Pain wasn't anything new to Zabuza. But the lighting sword through the lung was.
He glared down at his attacker. Aoi Rokusho, missing nin from the Leaf. What a coincidence. He grabbed his sword off his back and swung it down as hard has he could in his weakened state. Aoi jumped away, pulling the sword with him. The sword hit the concrete. As did Aoi's other arm.
Both missing nin let out a loud cry. Aoi of pain, and Zabuza, a war cry.
Zabuza heaved his blade up and once more swung it down. Aoi barely had time to bring his own sword up to block.
The two blades collided and time stopped for a moment before lightning raced up the conductive metal of Zabuza's blade and electrocuted him.
Finally the injuries he had sustained that day caught up to him and he dropped his sword before stumbling a few steps and falling himself.
Gato smirked, "looks like your bark is worse than your bite "demon". Kill him"
Aoi got up, even though he blocked it, the momentum of Zabuza's sword still knocked him to the ground. He lifted the Sword of the Thunder God and was about to swing it when he heard a shout and his arm detached from his body. He stumbled back in shock, the handle of the blade clutched in his hand lying on the bridge, the sword itself deactivated.
Aoi stared into the blue eyes, each with a single tome around the center. As a former Leaf nin, he knew. That was the sharingan. Only, it wasn't blue.
Xxxxx
Naruto had reached the first bandit. He unsealed his sword and swung it, decapitating him, only when he had killed the 4th one, did they notice him. Still he continued to carve out a path to Zabuza. He was only faintly aware that Haku and Fu had joined him. Each swing of his sword took off a head or a limb. Each retaliation was seen and avoided. It was almost as if he could see what they would do before they did it.
Then there was a flash of light, Naruto looked just in time to see Zabuza drop. That moment of distraction almost costed him. Another bandit had snuck up on him and swung his sword. The sword headed for his head, but he noticed just in time that the sword only nicked him. Before the bandit could take advantage of him being off balance, he was dead. He dropped to reveal that he had an ice senbon stuck at the back of his head, and the area around it was freezing over.
Naruto nodded his thanks to Haku, ignoring the iced face. He had only ever seen that side of Haku once before, and he had never wanted to again. This was the Haku that was just as, if not more, ruthless as Zabuza. The one that killed without regard for his actions.
Naruto looked back to where Zabuza was. He saw Aoi raise his sword and in a burst of speed, executed the first move he learned under Mifune. "one-slash"
He landed in front of Zabuza and glared at the now armless Aoi.
Haku and Fu arrived a second later. The three was now standing protectively around Zabuza's body. Haku took a chakra pill, he wasn't like Fu or Naruto, and he had a fight with an Aburame so most of his chakra was gone.
His chakra replenished, he looked around. They were surrounded. He weaved a few hand signs "coming of winter" he said, though in his angered state, he released a little more chakra than usual. Within moments, all the bandits were frozen ice sculptures. He had made sure that the ice didn't reach Team Zabuza, Aoi or Gato.
Fu slowly walked towards Aoi, leaking off Killing intent in waves.
"S-s-stay back!" Aoi cried, feeling true fear for the first time in a long time.
Fu looked at Zabuza, then at the hand that held the Sword of the Thunder God at her feet. She picked it up. "Hidden Mist jutsu" she whispered. The mist that had been evaporated by the battle and sun came back thicker than ever. The last Aoi saw of her were her eyes. Those eyes that bore hatred more than he had ever felt.
"Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys and heart. Each will kill you within moments" Fu's voice echoed.
Aoi's eyes darted around, hoping to find a clue to where she was.
"But that is enough time for me" Fu's voice snapped into perfect clarity before he felt the sword pierce his liver. The lightning numbed the pain for a moment before the lungs were pierced, first the right, then the left.
Before long, he dropped to the ground, dead. Fu staring at his body without emotion as the mist faded away.
The group snapped their heads to where they heard feet moving. Gato was trying to run away.
Haku took out two senbon and threw them. The senbon flew straight and true, hitting their marks.
Gato stumbled and fell as the tendons in his legs were cut. "w-wait! I'll give you anything! Land! Power! Money! I'll pay you double what I was going to! Triple!" he cried, waving his hands around.
Haku looked at him before remembering Zabuza's earlier words.
""Be careful sensei. It's likely he will try pull something." Naruto said, "I have a bad feeling about this"
The Demon nodded. "Of course. Then I'll just cleave him in half.""
Haku grabbed Zabuza's sword and in an impressive show of strength, pulled it out the ground in one moment. He dragged the sword across the bridge, the sword making a horrendous screeching noise and leaving a long scratch across the bridge as it was dragged.
"How about…" Haku started.
"Yes, yes! Anything!" Gato cried, seeing a way to negotiate his way out of it.
"…your death" Haku shouted, heaving the blade and slamming it down.
Gato barely had time to look up in fear before the butcher blade came down and cleaved him down the middle.
The conscious Leaf nin could now see. They had no chance to win since the beginning. The genin trembled in fear, they could have died without even touching any of them. Somehow that made their loss a little easier to accept. A loss was better than death after all.
Haku quickly ran back to where Zabuza's body was and checked for a pulse. He found it, but it was faint and judging by the amount of blood he lost, not to mention his wounds, he would be dead in minutes.
He lifted his head and looked his teammates in their eyes before slowly shaking his head. "he won't make it" he whispered.
All three of them knelt and let out silent tears for their fallen teacher.
A slight wheeze brought their attention back to him. "You did well." He said.
"Sensei!" the trio cried "don't talk, save your strength!"
Zabuza gave a small smile "no need. Even I know I'm not going to make it" he coughed "take the scroll in my left pants pocket. Inside is the rendezvous point with the Mist rebels. Go to Ryu and show him the scroll. He knows where it is. Be there at midday exactly a week from now." he coughed again. "Fu, take the Sword of the Thunder God. It will be useful." Fu nodded and tightened her hold on it. "Haku, my first student, I trust Kubikiribocho to you. You were always complaining that you were the only one who didn't use swords" he chuckled "take care of it. It will serve you well, maybe you can do what I failed with it and awaken it."
"I will" Haku promised.
"Finally Naruto, I admit, I didn't expect you to have the sharingan, but now that you do, remember it is only a tool. Don't rely on it too much or it will be your downfall." Naruto nodded, although surprised, he didn't even realize he had it even though it had been activated since Zabuza was stabbed. "I know you want to know about you parents, once you meet the rebels, ask for Mangetsu Hozuki, if he wasn't the one to meet you, I've told him everything in case something like this happens. He will answer all you questions." He coughed again, "there's not much more I can say, you have all exceeded my expectations. You are no longer my students, you are my children, my…equals. Stay true… to… each… other" and with that the Demon of the Mist took his last breath.
"Rest in peace, father, we will do you proud" Haku whispered while Naruto and Fu nodded in agreement as they picked him up. "We will cremate him. Nobody will disturb his rest." Haku said with finality and grabbed the sword. "Let's go"
And so the trio, along with Zabuza's body disappeared in a puff of smoke.
xxxxx
Kakashi lowered his head in respect for Zabuza. They may have been enemies, but he still held respect for him.
He turned back to Sakura and Ami, "the mission is a failure, go wake the others. We will rest and head back to the Leaf when we are all rested for travel." He commanded
The copy nin turned his attention away from the girls and to the bridge builder. He looked over him for the cause of his death, he had a report to write up after all. "No swelling, no visible cuts" he checked, then he saw the neck "slightly dripping with water and bits of blood. The sneaky kid must have disobeyed Zabuza's orders and only made it seem like he died. And because he didn't use the normal senbon, anyone else would have most likely never thought of the use of false death." Kakashi deduced and bent down to shake the bridge builder. "Wake up." He said.
Tazuna groaned and slowly opened his eyes, "am I dead?" he asked.
Kakashi gave a tired smile "no, count yourself lucky"
AN: pretty eventful chapter, Haku, Fu and Naruto show their sadistic side, Zabuza died, Fu and Haku gets a new sword, Naruto awakens his sharingan and Tazuna is alive (as most of you guessed) but as for whether Zabuza wanted that or not… well that's up for you to decide, it's open anyways- nothing points to whether he planned it or not.
Thanks for all your reviews last chapter, it had a bigger turnout than usual.
Reviews:
Zeus501: yeah… Tazuna ain't dead… you ain't gonna find that scenario here ^.^ll. I'LL JUST PUT A HUGE TON OF CATNIP IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT STOCKPILE! YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO EVEN REACH FOR ONE! MUAHAHAHA.
Oneoddtodd: thanks
Lostxinxthexdarkness: thanks and well… this happened next LOL
AnbuDragon90: yeah I admit it could have been a bit clearer there
Thor94: yeah… Kurenai was a genjutsu specialist, about average in everything else. So if you take away her genjutsu, she ain't got much and since Naruto is at least high Chunin and got numbers on his side, there wasn't much she could have done- well that's what I think anyways.
Talonsen: well that's a bit dark… I couldn't kill Tazuna because of the repercussions, for example, Wave is crippled, the only reason it could be going would be Gato, and that is only short term. Once it has become unlivable, then the residents would leave, and once that happens, Wave- which is an important trading port in the shinobi world- would collapse and cause a domino effect of affecting a lot of stuff that I can't keep track of and I would then have to write about surviving that which would completely throw me off my original plan… am I sounding a little like Omoi here?
ViktornoveMk2: well Gato ain't exactly the most trustworthy guy around ya know…
BlackDragonShinigami: can't argue with ya there. \U,U/
RinneTaicho: thank you for your constructive criticism, I am always looking for ways to improve my writing so your suggestions do matter and have been thought about.
That being said, I am aware that my chapters aren't very long (2-4k words is honestly nothing, I admit), but I am slowly increasing the length. However, If I do combine 3-4 chapters into one, then A) I would only be able to post 1 chap (2 max) per month and that wouldn't go well with the readers as they might lose interest (not to mention that there is a possibility that I could be forcing dialogue and/or plot in each chapter and decreasing the quality of the overall story).
I, myself do enjoy a long chapter but I've also seen authors that make a chapter too long and losing my attention and I don't want the same to happen to my readers.
I also have a collection of long books (heroes of Olympus and Magnus Chase if you're interested) that have many words per chapter and many chapters per book. Now I'm not entirely sure about the length of each chapter but I suspect it is between above average and long so I have an idea of just how short my chapters are. Of course, yes they have been carefully edited by possibly many people, but the majority of the words are still that of the author.
As for paying attention to the in's and out's, I'm probably not good at that :P most of my work is just me sitting here and typing what I want to happen and often asking "how would this work" or "how would he react" and putting it down, so that doesn't leave me paying much attention to them.
But as I said, your suggestions have been noted and I will try to use them. Feel free to continue to give suggestions
Noahendess: ehehehe ^.^ll well now you know :P
Jackvmage12: well, for the fights, keep in mind that Team Zabuza are at least high chunin- each. And they were fighting fresh genins (Except for Naruto) so there wasn't any need for clever or flashy techniques. For my reasoning on Naruto's fight look at my response to thor94.
Tazuna aint dead (as you guessed). And let's admit it, canon OP'd the rookie 12 too much. I mean, look at the Sasuke retrieval arc, Choji and Neji took down a Sound 4 member- by themselves. The entire sound 4 took down a squad of Jonin. That leads to each at least Jonin level themselves. It's basically saying that those rookie 12 members were jonin level at that time already.
And yes I have taken RinneTaicho's words into consideration. My explanation is in my response to him. (lol I'm too lazy to even copy and paste it here).
AndiDuel: thank you
Aurora Lopez: I did and like I said, Saturday or Sunday! =D