First of all, thanks for the feedback! Between this and the previous chapter I got like... seven? Yes, seven reviews! That's actually very good.
Guest 1: Although I couldn't understand over half of what you meant to say, you were right about me being a dick in the start note. So I changed it. Thanks!
Guest 2: I'm glad you find my work entertaining! A lot of stories in this fandom gets really predictable really fast, so I set out to write something just a little bit different. I hope you'll keep finding my story worth your time!
Anyways, here it is...
"While I do know just what kind of people they are, I will miss them." Muttered Haku as the two mist assassins watched the Akatsuki duo pass through the port's north gate and disappear behind the walls. Their ship had only recently docked, passengers all too eager to boast of surviving a freakish storm that came out of the open sky.
Zabuza looked down on his student, then back at the direction the two criminals disappeared in. "You can't get attached to everyone we run into, Haku. Sooner or later, we will have to kill again."
True, the last person he had killed was Gato, but the fact still remained that the luck that they've been surviving off of since the bridge would have to run out sooner or later. 'Training' against Kisame had only cemented that fact. In order to become strong enough to bring down the jinchuriki Mizukage, Zabuza needed to spill blood. Yet he had made a vow not to take anymore lives pursuing his ambition.
Damn Kakashi and his cheap way of forcing him into a promise that's nearly impossible to keep. Just reaching the hidden Mist without drawing blood would be nearly impossible... But if he could accomplish such a feat, surely bringing down Yagura wouldn't be too hard?
"Hmph." Grunted the bladesman as he picked up on a familiar feeling. "Hunter ANBU, haven't seen those in a while..."
Haku almost unnoticeably scanned the area around them, and true enough, he picked up on an individual looking at them from across the square they were currently standing in. There were, of course, more of them, but Haku couldn't exactly pinpoint where they were. All he could see were civilians rushing to and fro, trying to get their errands done as quickly as possible until the rain starts.
For a civilian, rain was nothing more than a simple inconvenience, a danger only if it persisted for days on end. For a shinobi, especially if either side wielded Water Style, it was a game changer. Having ambient water to work with without having to spent too much chakra to gather it was a very useful advantage to have, and it only got better when you had Ice Style to lean on as well. Whoever these ANBU are, they are either green enough to think they could bring down Zabuza Momochi in the rain, or they had a plan. Unfortunately, since they were ANBU, the latter was far more likely.
"We proceed as if we didn't notice them. They'll ambush us about 300 meters outside of the port, give or take. Aim to disable, not kill." Spoke the swordsman, slowly turning to the main street and taking off in a subdued pace.
Haku cocked an eyebrow, curiosity getting the better of him. "Aim to disable, Zabuza-sama?"
The swordsman nodded his head, not bothering to turn around. "I gave my word to Kakashi, and I'm not going to break it. A shinobi who can only kill is no shinobi at all. Besides, these fools will be nothing after Kisame..." He spoke, his shoulders slumping down only a bit.
"If I can't do something as simple as keep my goddamn word, what business do I have trying to protect the village? The Mizukage is way more powerful than any foe I'll ever have to face, but I still have to try, and I have to do it without killing." He shrugged, taking notice of the three additional ANBU hiding on top of the rooftops.
"It's just another challenge to get through if I'm to realize my goal." He concluded as the two made their way through the port's eastern gate. A small wooden sign hung there, pointing the way towards Nadeshiko village, the ninja village of kunoichi. The place was chosen as the assassin's next stop, and it would be just short of a two-day trip. Odds are that they'd run into at least two different ANBU squads on the way, not counting the idiots who think they'll get the drop on them in a few minutes.
"I'll help any way I can." Said the boy, closing his eyes for a moment, silently thanking the fates for giving him and Zabuza a second chance. They could have fallen on the bridge, leaving their dreams and ambitions unachieved. They could have been nothing more than a passing story, a minor nuisance to a land too troubled to bother with them anymore. But here they were.
Nadeshiko would give him enough time... The battle between Zabuza and the Mizukage would be on a whole different level, but if Haku could hit one crucial shot... Only one man could handle a Biju alone, and that was the sannin Jiraya, and that's mostly due to his army of toad summons. If Zabuza were to attempt something like that, he would surely need help; help Haku was more than willing to provide.
Some time passed after their conversation, the distance from the port long overshooting what Zabuza had predicted. Still, both master and student were on their guard, just waiting for the moment when their would-be hunters realized that their prey was far more capable than they'd expect.
"The kidneys, the heart, the liver..." Zabuza began listing, amusement glistening in his eyes, "The spine, the clavical vein, the neck vein, the brain..." He trailed off, noticing that the ANBU counted exactly half a dozen, and were close enough for him to pick up on their chakra, no matter how suppressed it was.
"8 points that bring instant death. And I'm not allowed to go for any one of them... Well, I guess there's no helping it." He looked up into the treetop, locking eyes with a slightly surprised hunter ANBU.
"I know you're there!"
Haku backed away, getting into stance regardless. The ANBU dropped down, surrounding them. Their masks were plain white designs with the occasional red detail, the standard uniform for Kiri's hunter ANBU. International agreements were made that requested any capable shinobi on missions below A-Rank to drop their current mission and help out Kiri's hunter ninja should they request the help. Due to the unlikelihood of something like that ever happening, most of the other nations signed, save for Kumo.
The six shinobi descended quickly from their hiding spots, four of them already working though a series of hand signs. Zabuza drew his blade...
The two Akatsuki had picked up on the Kiri ANBU presence the moment they stepped off of the docks, but wisely kept the information to themselves. It wasn't like those ANBU even knew of the Akatsuki's existence. After a few relatively quiet hours of walking north with the goal of getting a boat to the Land of Lightning, Kisame had reached his fill of the silence, and naturally began trying to strike up conversation with his decidedly quiet partner.
"So, Itachi, did you ever hear the story of master Zabuza's rebellion?" Offered the shark man, feeling somewhat better now that the silence has been broken.
"No." Replied the Uchiha, keeping short and simple as he usually did.
"Well, I'll tell you. Never know when details like that will save your life."
Itachi would roll his eyes, but figured that the gesture would be unnecessary and distracting, so he instead opted to just keep walking as if nothing had happened.
"Alright. I guess the story should start with the Third Mizukage," began the swordsman, "after legends like the First and Second, the Third was hard-pressed to keep the village functioning as good as it did in the time of his predecessors."
"Thing was, the first two Mizukage were born leaders. Charisma, power, skill... those men had it all. The Third was essentially the most capable ninja in line after the Second went and committed double suicide with the second Tsuchikage."
Itachi's response was a barely noticeable twitch of the brow. Kisame proceeded without skipping a beat. "Anyways, in order to keep the village in top shape, Sandaime starts cracking down on everyone who doesn't meet the village's standard. It was fairly harmless at first, the usual bureaucratic shit like upping the academy requirements and whatnot. The problem started when nothing changed after a couple of years."
He paused briefly, trying to remember the exact order of events. The tricky thing about the Mist's history was the fact that it was rewritten so many times, not even the Mizukage knew how to tell fact from fabrication. Of course, Kisame went with the version he personally thought fit best.
"Soon enough, the old man starts executing people who fail their missions. For a while, most of the clans were alright with it, since none of their shinobi had failed their missions. Of course, it wasn't long until the first clansman managed to fuck up," Kisame smiled for some reason, turning slightly towards Itachi, "thing is, the guy in question was next in line to become clan head for one of the clans. I don't remember their names, but corrosion style was their main selling point."
Itachi gave no indication that the direction Kisame's story was taking had surprised him, in fact, he gave no indication that he was listening at all.
"So there starts our very first civil war. Lots of people got melted, some people got frozen, some got boned...so to speak." He finished, giving a very intentional grin.
Yet again, the Uchiha gave no response. He had long since learned to deal with his partner's enthusiasm, and would often simply stay quiet until the swordsman exhausted every possible topic he could come up with. Once that point was reached, he'd spare a single sentence to express his opinion on his partner's story.
While Kisame knew very well Itachi did it on purpose, he didn't really mind. To him, this was the good life, and the man who massacred his own clan was as good company as any other S-Ranked criminal. Besides, it was fun trying to discern emotions from the young man's face.
"Anyway, old man Mizukage survives the first war, then puts the entire clan to death. Lo and behold, not a day after that's done, there's another war. The pattern kept repeating for a while, the infamous graduation exam becoming standard somewhere along the line."
"After a while, the third war starts. The old man gets a kunai in the gut one night, leaving the spot to be filled by the council while Yagura cleans up on the battlefields. With no one better to stick in the chair, the council unanimously decides to give the boy the hat, even if he's barely sixteen at the time."
At that point, Kisame's eyes took a faraway look, something not all that common for the man. The only time he'd look like that was when he was recalling some of his more interesting missions. He stayed like that for a few moments before snapping back to attention.
"All the while the swordsmen and their apprentices were going to and fro, killing people. Come wartime, they'd always unanimously support the Mikzukage. Half the reason the Sandaime lasted that long was because all seven swordsmen were fiercely loyal to him..." He trailed off, narrowing his eyes in an attempt to further recall his village's history.
"Ah! Of course, they didn't expect the kid to get the three-tails sealed into him four months after taking the hat. Until that point, they could have easily removed him if he became a problem. After...well, the sanbi gives its' jinchuriki longevity and a resistance to physical harm. Thus started another civil war."
"For some reason, the Kaguya clan decided to stage an all-out attack on the village. Each and every one of the idiots got killed that night."
"Why?" Itachi couldn't help but ask.
"Dunno. Some nonsense about honor. Guess they thought it was a good reason to kill off their bloodline..." He paused, realizing that he's once again lost track of his story.
"Kaguya clan...oh right. That war changed the Yondaime. Those four months in office, the kid was getting ready to bring some serious reforms to the village. But as soon as that war was over, he completely changed his mind, instead enforcing the ideals of his predecessor."
The two men casually stepped off the road, continuing their journey over the surface of a lake. They were in a slightly behind schedule, so moving from point A to point B was the quickest way of making up for that time.
"By that time, people were really starting to get fed up with the regime. Most of the swordsmen were still loyal, but three of them kept taking long-term missions in order to stay away from the village. Zabuza and Mangetsu in particular come to mind. Anyway, after a while, the Demon of the Mist decides that enough's enough, and tries killing the Mizukage in a coup d'état. It doesn't turn out well."
"He runs from the village, picking up the Yuki kid somewhere along the way. Not long after, Raiga follows suit, up and disappearing one day. Dozens of ANBU get sent to their deaths chasing after both, until the kid Mizukage finally realized he wouldn't be getting those swords back if he didn't go get them himself. Don't know why he didn't bother trying..."
Kisame looked around, giving off a loud yawn. They've been walking for a while now, and the opposing shore didn't seem to get any closer.
"Sometime after that, Fuguki fucks up. I stab him, take Samehada, and move onto one of the islands. Yagura sends a couple of unfortunate jonin to me, I send a couple of corpses back. The works. We kept at it for a couple of weeks until leader-sama showed up and gave me the offer of joining Akatsuki."
"And the rest, as they say, is history." Finished the Uchiha.
"Heh, I wanted to say that." Replied the swordsman.
Zabuza stood, breathing heavily. Around his feet were the bodies of the hunter-nin that intended to ambush him. Knocking them out rather than killing them made the whole thing take a bit longer, but at least he could send a message this way - he's coming back. After tying the group around a tree in the middle of east bumblefuck forest, Zabuza left his carefully written note with one of the ninja, a man wearing a mask with a diagonal red pattern.
After taking a minute to recuperate, the two assassins were back on the road, Haku feeling surprisingly good. He had managed to keep his distance, flash freezing random limbs and being a general nuisance. The moment one of the hunters would shift his attention to him was the moment Zabuza got an opening to knock said hunter out. He didn't miss a single opening.
"I am glad you decided to spare their lives, Zabuza." Offered the boy, the strange feeling of content somewhat foreign to him.
"I'm just keeping my word... And like I said, these guys were pushovers." Replied the swordsman.
"Still, if you were to continue going on like this, surely it will help once we finally reach the Land of Water."
Zabuza said nothing, just looking into the distance with a tired look on his face. While that was the truth, it was also way more taxing trying to subdue rather than kill. If he did intend to kill Yagura and take the name of Mizukage, would behaving like this become second nature to him? Would the stories about the Demon of the hidden Mist slowly give way to a tale of a savior? Or would it all end along with his life, having failed to defeat the boy?
He was not made to be Mizukage, of that much Zabuza was sure. Yet he knew that, to save his village, he would need to put on the hat, if only for a short time. He needed to find someone strong enough for the title of Kage, yet 'pure' enough to lead the village into a less bloody future. Zabuza silently regretted the fact he forgot to interrogate the hunters for information on the goings-on in the village. While the men could hold their tongues for a good while, he was trained to be a swordsman of the mist. Torture and interrogation was only one of the many skills he had had to master in order to earn his blade.
Zabuza let out a sigh, something the man very rarely did. The next month will be the hardest of his life, and that was keeping in mind that he was not only a swordsman of the mist, but a fugitive as well. Then again, if his dream was easy to achieve, it wouldn't be worth pursuing in the first place.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Feel free to drop a review or a PM, I still need OC teams for book 3 ;)