Chapter 24: Battle on the Bridge Part 2

Hello again, the Wave Arc is coming to a rapid close and I'm glad all of you have supported me for all this time; I can only hope that you'll stay with me to the very end.

I hope all of you are looking forward to Naruto's fight with Haku; I hope it will live up to your expectations. Fair warning the Zabuza and Haku are slightly to severely OOC.

Also, my summer classes have started so I may, not saying I will, but I may have to spread the updates out a bit to keep the quality up. I realize that some of you are reading this and thinking, "Quality? What is Infinite Tsukuyomi showing this guy?"

I'm sorry that was bad. Anyway on with the chapter.

'Knock Knock'

"Hold on, I'm coming," Giichi said as he made his way to his front door. He opened the door to see Inari and asked, "Inari, what is it?"

"Giichi-san, we need to get to the bridge. The Konoha ninja are fighting for our country, we should to," Inari said.

"Inari, you're talking crazy. None of us are ninja, we wouldn't stand a chance," Giichi explained.

"Naruto and the others will deal with the ninja Gatō hired, but Gatō is going to be there with an army of thugs. They'll need our help," Inari told him.

"Inari, that's all the more reason not to go. I'm sorry, I don't want anything to happen to your grandfather, but there's nothing I can do," Giichi told the boy as he closed the door.

That didn't discourage Inari though; he just went to the next house. "Everyone, now may be our best chance, it's time to fight!" he shouted.

Giichi could hear every word Inari said and was starting to regret not helping the boy.

"I know that look," Agari, Giichi's wife, said. She then added, "I thought seeing Kaiza executed had broken that boy's spirit but now he's trying to rally the people of Wave to fight Gatō. It's rather inspiring, wouldn't you agree?"

Giichi was unsure of how to respond.

"So Naruto, how are you going to get Zabuza and Haku to listen to you? I don't think Zabuza will believe that you can show people memories that aren't theirs," Kurama said as Naruto was making his way to the bridge.

Right and Haku probably won't stop unless Zabuza tells him to, Naruto responded. Continuing, he thought, With an opponent like Zabuza, one of the last things one should do is drag the fight out, which means Kakashi-sensei will go in for the kill the first chance he gets.

"That's assuming Kakashi will win. Don't forget, Zabuza has proven that he can hold his own against Kakashi and that was when he was unprepared. There's no way of knowing what will happen this time when he's had time to think of a plan," Kurama pointed out.

Great, thanks for that that thought, Naruto responded sarcastically.

I'm not saying Kakshi will lose; just that he will have to step up his game," Kurama said.

Well hopefully we'll get there soon and then it won't matter, Naruto thought hopefully.

I'm sorry Naruto but Zabuza isn't going to wait for you to show up, Kakashi thought as he tried to think of a plan.

"So Kakashi, where is the blonde kid, I hate to leave him with survivor's guilt" Zabuza said.

"Oh you don't have to worry about that," Kakashi responded.

"Don't I? Haku tells me that the boy doesn't want you to kill us," Zabuza said.

"Oh I don't want to kill anyone either, but what I want and what is required of us are often two different things in our line of work, wouldn't you agree?" Kakashi asked.

"A shame you can't make one of your students see that," Zabuza chided. I actually wish the kid had found what he was looking for. I actually don't need this job since Yagura is dead, but I haven't abandoned a mission in my entire career and I'm not going to start now, Zabuza thought as he drew his sword.

I find it refreshing actually, Kakashi thought. "He'll understand, he knew he was hoping for a miracle from the very beginning," Kakashi said.

Their short conversation done, the two seasoned shinobi leapt away to a more spacious battleground.

"Gah!" Sasuke yelled as more senbon pierced him. He could feel his limbs starting to go numb but he forced himself to stay on his feet.

"I must say I'm impressed, I didn't expect you to last this long. I don't know if that makes you strong or just stubborn," Haku said.

"Probably both," Sasuke responded. More than anything though I'm pissed off, I trained as hard as I could and it seems like it hasn't done any good, he thought.

"I suppose it doesn't really matter. I ask that you not think ill of me but I am afraid that I must end this," Haku said getting more needles ready.

"And I'm afraid that I can't let you do that," a familiar voice said calmly as a loud humming noise started. An ethereal blade came flying and hit Haku in the back knocking him a good distance away.

"It's about fucking time you showed up dobe," Sasuke said.

"Yeah I wish I had gotten here before you started to look like a pincushion," Naruto warned.

"Just help me get these senbon out," Sasuke replied.

"I have a bunshin do it, I need to go talk to Haku," Naruto said as he made a few kage bunshin and had them take Sasuke over to where Sakura and Tazuna were watching.

"Sasuke-kun, what happened?" Sakura shrieked when Naruto's bunshins brought Sasuke over.

"I got used as target practice, what do you think happened? And why did you leave the senbon in dobe?" Sasuke asked the bunshin. He didn't mean to be short with his team but by this point he was too angry to care.

"Haku wasn't likely to let us just take them out," a bunshin answered.

"Do you even still have feeling in your arms and legs?" another bunshin asked.

"Yes, now please get these damn senbon out of me," Sasuke said, indignant that one of Naruto's bunshin implied that he would be in the way.

"Alright, Sakura, Tazuna-san, could you both help?" a bunshin asked. When the two nodded the small group of bunshins turned Sasuke around and grabbed a senbon in each hand.

"Wait is this how you're supposed to take them out?" Sasuke asked.

"Probably not," a bunshin answered as the bunshins, Sakura and Tazuna quickly pulled out two senbon each.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Sasuke screamed. Some of those needles were in quite deep.

"Oh shut up, I know it hurts," a bunshin said.

"Did you find the information you were looking for Naruto-san?" Haku asked as he got to his feet. Before he could prepare himself Naruto rushed through him and Haku saw all that Naruto had learned.

"Will that do?" Naruto asked.

"If it were up to me it would, but remember that isn't my decision," Haku answered as he started to go through hand signs. What was left of Haku's mirrors started to dissapear and new ice mirrors began to form around Naruto. "I must apologize Naruto-san, I know this is important to you but I cannot stop until Zabuza-sama gives the order or I can no longer fight," Haku said as he seemed to merge with one of his mirrors.

"Yeah, I know," Naruto sighed as he summoned Interdiction and prepared to fight.

Haku started things off by throwing senbon at Naruto and dashing from mirror to mirror, he knew that he could not lose control of this fight. Naruto was ready with his Mu Barriers to block the senbon, but with Haku's constant barrage there was not much else he could do.

"I hope you have some kind of plan," Kurama said.

I plan to learn how to do the Hiraishin no Jutsu after we get home, as the Yondaime's son I can't lose to anyone in terms of speed, Naruto responded.

"So you don't have a plan," Kurama deadpanned.

Well I was thinking that this would work, Naruto thought as he thrust out his hands pushing his barriers away and knocking Haku off course and back into one of the mirrors.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, he has shown that he can move those things, Kurama thought.

Okay, by my count there are 21 mirrors, hopefully I don't have 147 years of bad luck after this, Naruto thought as he set up the dome of ethereal blades.

Somehow I don't think it's possible for you to have bad luck, Kurama thought.

Naruto crossed his arms and dove into his shadow as the ethereal blades began to speed toward Haku's mirrors. Haku, who was still reeling from the impact of Naruto's barrier, could only watch as the ethereal blades sped towards him.

I guess he wasn't joking when he said he'd shatter these mirrors, Haku thought before he was struck by several ethereal blades. Thankfully, when they shattered his mirrors the blades slowed down, Haku would be suffering from lower back pain for a while but his life was in no danger.

"It's over Haku, you can't beat me," Naruto declared.

"No, I suppose not," Haku admitted.

"I hope everything went well with Sensei and Zabuza," Naruto said.

"Wait, you didn't see them first," Haku said sounding worried.

"My teammate was in trouble so I came to save him. Don't worry, I had a bunshin relay the information in the usual way," Naruto explained.

"I don't think Zabuza-sama will be convinced though, he may think it is a genjutsu," Haku countered.

"Well, we'll know soon enough the mist is clearing," Naruto said.

As soon as the mist had cleared Naruto and Haku were treated to a terrible sight: Tazuna, Team 7 and Zabuza were dead. The wounds on Tazuna, Sakura, and Sasuke indicated that they had died instantly from Zabuza's sword. Kakashi had not been so lucky, he had gashes and cuts all over his body, but he had lived long enough to somehow put his hand through Zabuza's heart.

"Zabuza-sama, no," Haku said as he started to shake, in sorrow or in rage, Naruto couldn't tell.

Naruto, however, put a hand on Haku's shoulder and hung his head; he mumbled something and then sounded like he was choking back tears.

"Well, I wasn't expecting this," a voice called out from the other end of the bridge. Haku immediately recognized the voice as Gatō. "This turned out better then I could have dreamed: Zabuza, the Bridge Builder, and most of those other ninja are dead," Gatō said before he started to laugh.

The choked sobbing noises that Naruto had been making started to turn to laughter. Haku soon followed suit leaving Gatō confused.

"Ha ha, what are you two laughing about?" Gatō asked finally getting his laughter under control.

"Wait for it," was all Naruto said.

"Gah!"

"What the- ahh!"

"Boss, what going- ugh!"

"What the hell is going on!?" Gatō asked as he saw his men killed one after another.

"Gatō, what you must understand is that, with shinobi, when you strike us down we become more powerful than you can possibly imagine," Zabuza's voice echoed as more bodies began to pile up.

Gatō started to back away from his quickly shrinking mob as quickly as he could, but soon ran into something. Turning around slowly Gatō saw that he ran into a person, looking up he saw that the person was Zabuza.

"Yeah, I was just fuckin' with you," Zabuza said as he raised his newly repaired sword.

"Wait, wait, I'll give you whatever you want just don't kill me," Gatō begged.

"Interesting, here's my counter offer," Zabuza said as brought his sword down, bisecting Gatō.

"Nice edge on that thing, Zabuza-san," Naruto said.

"You're still on my shit list for last time kid," was all Zabuza said.

So glad I sent Mu bunshin to relay those memories, Naruto thought.

"Thanks for not mourning for us dobe, nice to know you care," Sasuke said as Kakashi released the genjutsu that created the gruesome scene.

"None of you were dead and I knew that. Sensor type, remember?" Naruto countered.

"Hey Gatō's dead, whose gonna pay us?" one of the mercenaries said.

"Screw that, all the ninja are still alive, we need to get out of here," another said.

"There's more of us, let's just kill them and raid the village, there has to be something valuable in this Country," the first said.

'Twang' 'Thunk' An arrow lodged itself in the bridge directly in front of the remaining mercenaries. Following the path the arrow took the mercenaries, ninja, and Tazuna saw the people of Wave, armed and ready, with Inari at the front.

"Yeah, no you aren't gonna do that," Inari said.

"We, we can still take them," one mercenary said.

In response to that Naruto made a hand sign and created a large group of Kage bunshins, had them each summon Interdiction, and then asked, "Still think so?"

"I think they still need convincing," Kakashi said as he made a Kage bunshin of his own.

Not willing to push their luck that much the mercenaries were climbing over themselves trying to jump into the sea and escape.

"Zabuza-sama, I'm glad you're alright," Haku said once things had calmed down.

"You didn't honestly think I was dead did you Haku? I know I trained you better than that," Zabuza said.

"I did until Naruto-san told me to play along," Haku admitted. He then asked, "What happened after you started fighting Kakashi-san?"

"Well…" Zabuza started.

"Are you sure you can fight with that broken sword?" Kakashi asked.

"I was hoping to start repairing it with the blonde kid's blood, but yours will do just fine," Zabuza shot back.

"Assuming you can get close enough," Kakashi said as he lifted his hitai-ate to uncover his Sharingan eye.

"That won't work this time Kakashi. I'm on to your little game," Zabuza stated.

"Oh?" Kakashi asked.

"You started with that 'Monkey See, Monkey Do' crap and then used that eye of yours to set up a genjutsu. You used it to plant suggestions in my mind and I started copying you. Unfortunately for you, that won't work this time," Zabuza explained.

"And why not?" Kakashi asked.

"I would imagine that you need to make eye contact with me for it to work. The thing is: I can fight blind. Anyone who knows the Kirigakure no Jutsu has to learn how to fight blind in the beginning," Zabuza explained.

"I'd actually like to see that," Kakashi said.

"Alright then," Zabuza said as he and Kakashi charged each other. True to his word, Zabuza kept his eyes shut and still managed to keep up with Kakashi. The two were so focused on fighting each other that they didn't notice something headed right at them. The object in question passed through them, and both of them saw images of Gatō and his men.

"What the hell?" Zabuza asked as he opened his eyes.

"I guess Naruto found what he was looking for," Kakashi said as he looked around for his student.

"Kakashi what the hell was that?" Zabuza asked.

"One of my students, Naruto, can look through people's memories and he can show those memories to other people. He was adamant about proving Gatō wasn't going to pay you. He should probably explain this but I don't see him or his chakra signature anywhere," Kakashi explained.

"Haku might have mentioned something about that," Zabuza said, recovering from the head rush.

"So what are you going to do?" Kakashi asked.

"Well I don't need money to stage coup anymore, I just don't want to leave a mission unfinished. So I guess I'm open for suggestions," Zabuza said

"Well here's what we're going to do…" Kakashi said.

"Yeah, I was kicking his ass," Zabuza said.

"No you weren't," Kakashi corrected.

"So what's next for the two of you?" Naruto asked the missing-nin.

"I don't know, Yagura might be dead but I don't know if we can go back to Kiri," Zabuza said.

"You could come back to Konoha and Sandaime-sama could contact the Mizukage if you want," Naruto suggested.

"Maybe we'll do that," Zabuza said, still worried about what going back to Kiri would mean.

"How about we finish the bridge first?" Tazuna asked.

"Oh, right," Naruto said sheepishly.

With Gatō gone all of Tazuna's former workers returned and the bridge was completed in a few days. All too soon the people of Wave had to bid their new heroes farewell.

"Thank you for everything," Tazuna said to Team 7.

"We were happy to help Tazuna-san," Kakashi responded

When you weren't lying to us, Naruto mentally added. Naruto then noticed that Inari seemed to want to say something. "What's up Inari?" Naruto asked.

"I just wanted to thank you for everything and 'hic' I'm sorry I can't even say good-bye without crying," Inari sobbed.

"Don't worry about it, and it's not 'good-bye', it's 'see you later' I'm sure we'll see each other again someday," Naruto said, trying to sound cool even though he had tears in his eyes too.

"Yeah, you're right," Inari agreed, no longer crying.

"Well we should be going now," Kakashi said as he, Team 7, Zabuza, and Haku turned to leave.

"Good-bye everyone!"

"Come back anytime!"

"Come see us when Wave is back on it's feet!"

"We'll miss you!"

After hearing the people of Wave, Naruto thought, It was a pain in the ass sometimes but I'm glad we helped the Wave Country.

Once the ninja were out of sight a man from town turned to Tazuna and asked, "Tazuna-san, what should we name the bridge?"

"That's a good question," Tazuna said. It was then that he remembered the night he took Naruto to Kaiza's grave and asked the crowd, "How does 'The Great Naruto Bridge' strike you?"

"I like it Oji-san," Inari said.

"Me too, a name that honors the hero who brought hope back to Wave," Tsunami added.

"I like it."

"That's a good name."

"Yeah."

"Then it's settled, 'The Great Naruto Bridge' it is," Tazuna declared. At that the crowd erupted into cheers.

And that's chapter. I don't think this chapter was as good as it could be but I still think it was good. I was happier with the middle than the beginning and the end.

I apologize for how long it took to update, I wanted it up sooner but I had a bad case of writer's block.

So for those of you keeping up with the manga, which is most if not all of you: Is Naruto getting weird or is it just me? If you have already read the most recent chapter then you know what I'm talking about.

Read and review and I'll try to update soon.