Contrary to the title, Zabuza doesn't die... yet.

However, in some ways, this truly is his 'end'.

Seeing the Demon of the Mist rampage over the bridge, Kakashi was silent. Although it was unlikely, a part of him suspected that the swordsman held back, focusing on the banter a whole lot more than actually fighting. The way he moved now, it was completely different from just a few moments ago. It was hardly possible that it was the same man fighting. He darted straight to the closest thug, humoring him by blocking a few attacks, ducking under the last one, only to seamlessly take the man's arm off, sending the dismembered limb rolling on the damp concrete. Before the man could scream, Zabuza was already jumping into the next batch.

"Naruto, " spoke the Konoha jonin, an idea coming to his head "how many clones can you muster up?"

The boy's eyes widened even further, the surprised look quickly giving way to a grin. "Just give me a sec, and I'll flood this bridge with shadow clones, Kakashi-sensei."

The jonin shook his head, crouching down to match the boy's level. "Start with twenty. Their job will be to keep Gato from using this mess to cover his escape."

The blonde boy nodded, adjusting his headband. "He won't get past me, believe it!" As he said so, his arms came up in a cross seal, otherwise known as the clone seal. "Kage Bunshin!"

In a large puff of smoke that surrounded the entirety of Gato's men, two dozen little boys, all clad in orange, started jumping into position, securing the perimeter. If someone came close, they'll be taking a kunai or a shuriken, believe it.

Kakashi managed to recover the body of the boy Haku. To his surprise and relief, the boy was still breathing, if only barely. He had to do something, if only to stop the blood loss. He decided to give his life to protect his comrade, that alone warranted a dignified death, if nothing else. While he never bothered trying to be a medical ninja, Kakashi knew how to perform the mystical palm technique, and his chakra control was on point, as evidenced by the fact that he could shape the much wilder lightning-natured chakra into the fine shape of a blade. Coupling that with his standard jonin knowledge of human anatomy, the copy nin started his struggle to save the boy's life.

The lightning blade was an S-rank ninjutsu for a reason. Not only is it potent enough to make the user quick and strong enough to sever a bolt of lightning, it was the closest thing to an instant-kill ninjutsu that was ever created in the land of fire. No matter where the thing hit, it did serious damage; not only to the afflicted part of the body, but to the victim's entire nervous system, overloading it with electrical impulses. Something like that almost always left permanent damage. Fortunately, the heat generated is enough to cauterize a part of the wound, which meant that healing the injury wasn't completely impossible.

While his attention was completely set on the boy, his safety entrusted to his genin student, Kakashi allowed himself to completely forget about the ongoing battle.

On the far side of the bridge, Sakura's teary eyes widened as she noticed Sasuke's body stir. She feared it was her mind playing tricks on her, so she tried to forget it, but... "S-Sakura?"

"Sasuke!" She all but shouted, "are you alright?" She wiped her tears, holding her teammate's hand. Seeing his body riddled with so many senbon was terrifying, but the logical part of her that she could still hear assured that senbon can't pierce beyond the muscle layer without some kind of boost. Their mass alone prohibited them from reaching the necessary speed.

"The dobe...is he..." Asked the young Uchiha, only half aware of his own consciousness. Maybe it was just the way his mind decided to accept death, accept the fact that he'll never avenge his clan, never kill Itachi.

Sakura smiled, realizing that her beloved Sasuke was going to be alright after all. "Naruto is ok, he's with Kakashi-sensei."

With a slow nod, the Uchiha smiled, closing his eyes once more. He wouldn't die on this day, which meant that he hadn't failed. No doubt the dobe will enjoy every single moment of retelling what happened after he passed out, adding ridiculous details in order to make himself look cooler. He was such a child...

As his world slowly faded back into the comfortable darkness, his ears made out something like a scream. He wondered who could be screaming when everything was so warm and comfortable...

They weren't getting paid enough to go against this...this thing. That was the first thought that went through the man's head. The one that soon followed was less a thought, and more pure instinct to run away as quick and as far as he possibly could. But the moment he tried pulling back, a knife of some kind lodged itself into the front of his sandal, and his eyes saw a boy clad in orange, yelling something about becoming 'Hokage'. Whatever this 'Hokage' was, he didn't care; he just wanted to get off this god-forsaken bridge. Just as he turned around to do so, his eye caught the glint of steel. It was that ungodly large sword...and it was heading straight for him.

"Hrm." Grunted the swordsman as he pulled the seversword from the belly of some unfortunate man. He saw the fear in his eyes, the desperate need to get away, but he didn't care. None of these bodies mattered. The only thing that mattered was getting to Gato, and he was through playing around with these idiots.

"Out of my way!"

They didn't look very inclined to listen, some still convinced that they could take on an enraged demon in a swordfight. Well, if they didn't heed the warning, it was their own damn fault. Cracking his neck, Zabuza began a mad rush towards where he last saw Gato, feeling each life his great blade took along the way.

One would think that the weight of so many lives would make that great blade impossible to carry, but the path of a swordsman was a bloody one, and few knew that better than Zabuza Momochi. Yet no matter how heavy the kubikiribocho became of the years, he would still carry it, as it was a symbol of his village, just like his skill with it was a symbol of his devotion to that very village. It was a representation of might, prowess, dedication... It was irrefutable proof of the power of a single man.

With this blade, he would set the Village hidden in the Mist free. He would do it honorably, like the first swordsmen in the days of the shodai Mizukage. He'd become a man who could achieve such a feat, and these years away from the village had not weakened his resolve in the least. By way of power, he would take possession of the village in the mist, and he would see it restored to the glory it once had, before the blood had started pouring.

Some insignificant guy tried to stop him with nothing more than his bare hands; He died.

A trio of experienced looking mercenaries with good steel stepped in his way, attacking in almost perfect unison; They died.

The two miserable bastards that stood to each of Gato's sides even back when he and Haku took the job of killing the bridge builder stood in front of the miserable little man, a small pile of shuriken and kunai at their feet. With a wide cleave, they were gone as well.

Standing in front of the puny businessman, Zabuza let his chakra loose, allowing it to take the form of the demon that got him his nickname. As it flared, the chakra seemed to thicken at points, slowly forming itself into the shape of a water demon, the hideous creature commonly used to frighten disobedient children before the wars started scaring them.

Zabuza grinned, his eyes wide from the rush of adrenaline and the killing frenzy he allowed himself to sink into. Yet his hand was still and steady as he gazed upon the one man who he had hated more than the child Mizukage, Gato.

That little man was the embodiment of what was wrong with the world. He had no power, yet he could bring change to the world. Something like that perverted power's true meaning, it's true purpose. Shinobi of the hidden Mist were taught to value power, the ability to complete your mission, above all else. They had gained that power by subjecting themselves to some of the most crushing and merciless training regiments throughout the five great nations. They tempered their bodies until they were as hard and cold as steel, they moved like the water that could punch its way though the hardest of stones, and they killed quickly and efficiently. They were shinobi of the mist, and they were power in its purest form.

This little man used his money and his lies to corrupt that ideal of power, using it to further his own selfish goals. For that alone, he deserved to die; but to kick Haku while he was down, that was what sealed his fate.

But even the worst of men deserve a clean death.

Zabuza brought the executioner's blade high, his eyes flaring as he felt the fear radiate from the small man beneath him. A mad grin appeared on his face, his eyes still as wide and hateful as they were ever since he saw Haku's body. His fingers danced for a moment on the grip of the blade, his back relaxing in preparation of what he was about to do. Then, in only a moment, he changed his mind.

Gripping the man's neck with his free arm, he dragged him to the edge, his presence alone enough to make the blond kid's clones back off and dispel. With a grunt, he held the terrified little man over the deep water below, letting his chakra dissipate. In the man's eyes, he saw fear and disgust. Zabuza was the one who was disgusted, a man must accept death when it comes for him, no matter what, or who, brings it about.

"This bridge is where you die, Gato," spoke the swordsman, his voice as calm and still as it was the day the two men met, back in that rat's nest, his sword hovering ready to the side, "save me a spot."

Throwing one last glance to the endless blue below them, Zabuza grinned. Then he let go.

Gato, hadn't really made that many mistakes in life. In fact, he only ever made two that actually mattered. For all his years in business, both clean and dirty, he never once messed up. The authorities never caught on to him, and the ninja villages could never trace their losses back to him. He walked a thin road between two chasms, and he did it grinning.

His first big mistake was meeting the woman of his life. Whatever happiness she and his son brought to his life, it paled compared to the pain of their loss. He had shaped his dream for them, only to have them simply disappear, just like that. It was an error on his part.

The second, and final big mistake of his life was being petty enough to kick the boy's body when he was already down. It meant nothing, and it had riled up the rogue shinobi enough to start butchering his employees without ever sparing them a second glance.

Actually, Gato's second mistake was sticking his head into the world of shinobi. He should've known that the tip of a blade was waiting on the other side. Though he had never expected the blade to be this large, or this close.

It was all their damn fault. Those pathetic shinobi and their incompetence to listen to proper orders. If they weren't so damn helpless, his wife and son would never disappear. He would be sitting somewhere in the Land of Games, smiling at a small boy. He would be around eleven about now.

But the man who was nearing him was no shinobi. Shinobi were weak, fools only meant to be used for their ability to so blatantly spit in the face of all that's considered ordinary. They were nothing but measly pawns to be offed as soon as they outlived their usefulness. Seeing the massive purple creature snarl at him from above, Gato could only come to one conclusion: this was no man...this was, like his nickname implied, a demon.

He couldn't run, not anymore. He was supposed to look this man in the eye and face the fact that he fucked up. He was supposed to accept the fact that every mistake is punished.

He didn't.

As his lungs expanded, desperately inhaling the air he was denied by the demon's iron grip, he felt himself fall for only the briefest of moments. As he saw the gleam of the giant blade that was about to strike him mid-air, Gato mused on the fact that in a world of cutthroats, he'll end up getting slashed instead.

The pain was there only for the moment when the massive blade kubikiribocho hit his side. After that, there was nothing.

As for Zabuza, he was already running down the bridge with Haku's dying body in his arms; he didn't even hear the man's body hit the water.

There are very, very few wounds in the shinobi world that you can recognize the origin of on sight. Off the top of her head, Amane Aizawa, a mercenary medic-nin, knew about three. She knew the spiral marking of a Rasengan, the single charred point of a hell spear, and she knew the jagged cut from Samehada. Once Zabuza came back with a dying boy in his arms, she remembered another one - the clean hole punched in by a lightning blade.

What the hell was Kakashi Hatake, of all people, doing in the land of waves was none of her business. In fact, the whole reason Zabuza hired her in the first place was none of her business. She was supposed to patch up the bumps and bruises a ninja of the demon's caliber would gather in a fight, and go on her merry way. That all changed when she saw the boy. There were three things that stuck out immediately:

First, the boy had surprisingly effeminate lines, which no doubt came in handy when it came to infiltration. Judging from the fact that the boy was apparently travelling with Zabuza, a jonin and swordsman of Kirigakure, she quickly came to the conclusion that the boy was a Yuki.

Second, there was a goddamn lightning blade-induced wound just inches away from where the boy's heart is. Why the hell would the copy-nin attack a child with such a move?

Third, the wound was partially patched up. This was what surprised her the most. It wasn't the best of patch jobs, but it probably kept the boy alive as long as he was. Despite it not being a kill shot, the lightning blade did manage to burn through several ribs and half a lung.

Finally, she realized she'd need a lot more room than this little living room would provide.

Setting the boy on the balcony floor, she knelt down and began working her mystical palm technique, getting a feel for the damage, as well as the attempt at repairing it. It's going to be tricky, but she'll save him. After all, it's what she was paid for.

Momochi himself didn't utter a single word since he came back, only staring with half-conscious eyes at the boy's small body. The dark rings around his eyes and lack of color in the skin meant he was critically low on chakra, and it'd be a matter of seconds before he'd pass out. She informed him of that.

The swordsman only nodded, kept starting, then collapsed face first onto the floor. She didn't have time to pick him up, and besides, he wasn't in any immediate danger so long as Kakashi doesn't come back to finish the job.

There was a familiar gust of wind, and suddenly there was a presence to her left. Sparing the moment to look to her side, Amane noticed the copy-nin himself, eye-smiling at her.

"Will he make it?" Asked the silver-haired jonin, looking almost completely relaxed, despite the situation. Being a shadow clone, he really didn't have to worry about anything, especially with Zabuza floored like he was, but part of him felt guilty over being unable to stop his jutsu in time to avoid hitting the boy.

"You patched him up?" Asked the dark-haired kunoichi, not taking her eyes off her work anymore.

"Why yes. Did I do a good enough job?" The jonin answered, adding a question of his own.

"I'd do a better job stitching him up with that," she said, nudging her head towards the kubikiribocho, "but it did save his life."

The jonin nodded, still watching the procedure. "You didn't answer me."

"I won't know until I'm done. Now be quiet or leave."

Not needing to be told twice, the copy-nin indeed quieted down. He just hung around there, half-crouched, balancing on the balcony railing, strands of his wild silver hair fluttering in the soft breeze.

Replacing the lung and bones was a pain in the neck. Not only did she have to extract enough cells to stimulate renewed growth, she had to forge chakra substitutes for the destroyed part of both the skeleton and the organ. Fortunately, she was roughly the third best medic in the world, so it wasn't impossible. With the amount of chakra she pumped out into them, the framework should hold together long enough to have the body's original cells start replacing the missing bits.

Still, no matter which way you cut it, this boy won't be able to lead a shinobi's life ever again. Not even Tsunade of the sannin could fix up this kind of damage. S-rank jutsu were goddamn S-rank for a reason...

And this whole business with Zabuza was turning out to be a pain. Not only is she patching up whoever this poor kid is, but she's probably going to have to stay around for a while until he recovers. And she doubted that the swordsman was good company for the long run.

"Don't you have anything better to do? I'm working here," Spoke the Kunoichi, her voice slightly annoyed.

"No, not really. My darling genin are safe, and the bridge will take a while to clean up. The mission is officially complete for all intents and purposes, but that still leaves having to deal with this particular couple of loose ends." Answered the Konoha shinobi, giving another pleasant eye-smile.

"Right...at least pick this one up from the ground, he looks pathetic."

Amane Aizawa was an Amegakure kunoichi. Making genin at the height of Hanzo's power, she devoted her life to medical jutsu, inspired by the tales of the legendary sannin ,Tsunade. However, when the regime of the one people referred to as 'god' started, injuries became much less common, as times were peaceful; it didn't offer much chances for a medic-nin to improve. Getting proper permission, she decided to wander the world, gathering knowledge about the medical aspect of the ninja arts, and offering her services for affordable prices to anyone who recognized or needed her skillset.

The only difference between her travelling outfit and her work outfit was the dark green rag she used to tie her usually long and wavy hair into a somewhat controlled ponytail for work. Otherwise, everything from the tight-fitting navy kimono to the saltwood sandals was always completely identical. Even when travelling colder regions, she'd just change her footwear and wrap a cloak around herself.

How she came to the land of waves, and how she knew the demon of the mist, were stories for another time.

Right now, she was worried about the annoying knocking. She'd stabilized the boy, and left Zabuza in his unconscious state on the other bed, crashing on the couch herself. She had no idea who was knocking, but she figured no one who wanted to kill her knew she was in this land. If they were after Momochi, they could have him.

"Good morning! How are the boys?" Asked an overly friendly Konoha jonin, three kids trailing behind him, two of them looking pretty roughed-up.

"Seriously? Ah, whatever, come in." Without bothering to argue, the kunoichi invited the squad of guests in.

This, however, seemed to surprise the jonin. "Wow, you'd just let us in? Here I thought we'd have to bribe you with the delicious breakfast we made."

Shooting a glance at the basket that was in the lone girl's hands, the medic-nin nodded her head, fixing her eyes on Kakashi. "Ration bars are hardly breakfast. And they're anything but delicious."

Raising his arms in mock defense, the jonin side-stepped her, taking a seat at the dining room table. "You caught me." And he didn't bother going further than that.

The three kids walked in as well, each doing something vastly different. The blonde rushed in, a worried look on his face as he sat down on the floor next to Haku's bed; the girl timidly sat down next to her sensei, nibbling on a cherry-colored ration bar; the dark-haired boy stepped into the bedroom, nodded, and then crashed on the couch. She should have expected something like that from Hatake's team...

"Is Haku going to be okay, miss medic?" Questioned the little blonde as soon as he noticed her reentering the room. The worry in his eyes was honest, even though she was pretty certain the two groups were facing off against each other before Zabuza came running back, carrying a kid with a hole in his chest.

She smiled before answering, "He will, don't worry." It was a lie, but telling the genin that Haku's life as a shinobi was over would hardly help her current situation. She was essentially caught between two very dangerous jonin, her conscience keeping her from just bolting from the Land of Waves altogether.

"Kakashi-sensei, did you really mean it when you said we'd be spending the next few days here?"

"Yes Sakura, I did. While they might have been our enemies before, I'm sure Zabuza and Haku won't mind us crashing at their place until the bridge is complete."

The girl seemed relieved, but a new voice popped up with a question, "That's still a week's time of work, what are we going to do when these guys wake up?" asked the boy from the couch.

"You let me worry about that Sasuke. What you should worry about is the super special one week only training regiment I got cooked up for you three," answered the jonin.

"Training? When?"It was Naruto, peeking his head in at the mention of his third favorite activity.

"Well, you can start tomorrow. All three of you, to be exact."

While she was amused with the team dynamics of the konoha squad, the medic had a job to do, so after wolfing down a surprisingly tasteless ration-bar, she went back to the bedroom, shooing away both of Kakashi's boys before closing the door.

This was just swell, having to play house with Zabuza Momochi and Hatake Kakashi of all people...

Sometimes, she wondered if foul luck came with being a good medic.

Waking up three days after the events on the bridge, Zabuza woke up to see the eye-smiling face of Kakashi Hatake, holding a kunai to his neck. Considering the fact that he woke up in worst scenarios and survived, he wasn't all that bothered.

"Good morning, Zabuza."

"Kakashi, get that thing out of my face."

Surprisingly, the jonin did so, leaning back against the wall. Pulling himself into a seated position, Zabuza checked to see the still unconscious Haku, breathing a sigh of relief.

"You're here because I'm a loose end, aren't you?"

All he got was a nod. For all his joviality, the copy-nin was a threat, as evidenced by the way he managed to get the upper hand during their confrontation on the bridge. However, that wasn't important right now; right now, all that mattered was seeing Haku recover.

"I don't go back on my word, Kakashi. I couldn't care less about this land, or the Land of Fire."

"You're a wanted criminal, Zabuza, why should I believe you?"

This annoyed the swordsman, but he was in no shape or position to argue. "It's been decades since you've been in Kirigakure, you know nothing of the Mizukage's oppression. My only goal is to bring stability back to my village. By force if necessary."

The copy-nin gave no reaction, only staring wordlessly. After a few moments, he spun the kunai 'round his finger, tucking it back into its spot in his pocket. "We'll see about that. I'll leave you two alone for now."

With that, Sharingan Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke.

That pretty much closes the book on Gato. He played the game, and he messed it up.

Amane is OC of convenience, won't be back until book 9.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!