Opening - Eternal Blaze by Nana Mizuki
Naruto and Hinata lay strectched out in a bed of grass, deep in the forest of the Land of Waves. Their forehead protectors rested over their eyes to blot out the bright noon sunlight. Their heads and shoulders touched gently, and they smiled up at the sky serenely. This, Naruto decided, was the happiest he'd ever been.
It had been only two weeks since their date at the Shiro Kyuuden, but Hinata had already begun to come further out of her shell than ever before. Whenever they trained, she'd removed her hoodie. The t-shirt beneath that bore the Hyuuga emblem was the only thing without short sleeves he'd ever seen her in. At first, she'd been blushing as though she had just stripped to her underwear, but gradually, she'd gotten used to it. The light breeze brushing her bare arms had become something enjoyable.
An hour ago, they'd been developing and practicing a new supplementary ninjutsu, but there were no signs of damage to the ground or the trees. And yet, when it was complete, it would be a fearsome weapon.
The sound of crunching dead leaves was audible with their ears so close to the ground. Both of them realized someone was coming, and the sound didn't fit Kiba or Asuma. Both would either have heavier footfalls, or none at all if they were being stealthy. This was a child their age, small and light on his or her feet.
Hinata whispered, "Byakugan." She saw a slim, pale girl with long black hair enter her field of vision with a wicker basket. A closer inspection revealed a knife in the basket, suitable for cutting the stems of herbs but also with a potential for killing. The girl was giving Naruto and Hinata a look of confusion as she approached.
The girl stopped at the feet of the two shinobi. "...Excuse me, but... what are you two doing out here?"
Naruto sat up, catching his forehead protector as it fell from his eyes. Hinata did the same, but deactivated her Byakugan first. "Just relaxing," Naruto replied.
"But why here?"
Hinata blinked. That voice... I know it from somwehere...
"We were training before this. We're shinobi," Naruto said proudly, not recognizing the missing-nin without a mask. "We could've hurt somebody if we did it near civilians."
"Shinobi..." the girl echoed softly. "But you're so young... no older than me!"
"We're trained from childhood," Hinata answered, "Because we learn best at a young age. Imagine when you learned to speak. It was easy because you were born into it." Where have I heard this voice before?
"My name is Haku," the girl introduced herself.
"I'm Hinata. This is Naruto," she replied courtesously. "So, what brings you out here, Haku?"
"I..." the girl paused. "I have devoted my life to help one who is precious to me. He is... very sick, and I'm here to find the herbs to cure him."
Naruto nodded, and stood. Someone precious to her... I can respect that. "We'll help. What herbs are you looking for?"
Haku took a small, worn book out of the basket, and flipped it open to a marked page. "This is the most important one," she showed him the page.
Hinata stood and looked at it as well. But that's... shinobi use it on poisoned wounds as a substitute for medical ninjutsu. It counterracts paralyzing and weakening toxins, not lethal ones, and not illness.
"Are you sure that's not the wrong herb?" Hinata asked delicately. "What exactly is this man suffering from?" Listen closely! Listen to her voice...
"He... came home one day with a bloody scratch on his neck..."
This time, Hinata got it. "It's you!" She shouted, and stepped back to initiate a Gentle Fist stance. "Zabuza's partner!"
Naruto's eyes widened, and he started making hand seals immediately. Hinata's right, it's her! "Wind Release: Wind Scar!"
"Ice Release: Frost Shield." The missing-nin stopped Naruto's jutsu effortlessly, raising a sheet of ice like glass from the earth. The small blades of wind scattered harmlessly against the shield, which then crumbled. "Please understand, I don't want to kill anyone. Even though Zabuza-sama is far more precious to me, no life is worthless."
Naruto's and Hinata's eyes widened. That power... it's so much like our Snow Release... is it a kekkei genkai?
"Heads up, punk!"
Everyone looked up to a tree branch high above, where Kiba and Akamaru were perched. "Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" He ignited his breath with chakra and blew forth a hundred small fireballs at Haku. The missing-nin deflected and dodged all of them with her Frost Shield and her speed. "Great Fireball Jutsu!" He launched a larger fireball that briefly consumed his opponent in an explosion. Kiba flung himself off the branch, using the Transformation Jutsu as he did to turn into a small rock and land with a thump on the ground.
Haku emerged from the fireball as it died down, still unharmed. "Please stop this. I didn't come to fight, I just want the herbs."
Naruto and Hinata briefly faltered at the desperation in Haku's tone, but steeled themselves when the missing-nin reached into her basket and pulled out a pouch, filled not with herbs but with senbon. She charged toward the Konoha shinobi, flinging handfuls of needles. "Wind Release: Erasing Wind!" A blast of wind from Naruto scattered the senbon needles harmlessly.
Kiba's transformation ceased, and he threw himself at Haku, spinning wildly. "Passing Fang!" he roared as he struck, sending Haku flying.
Haku rolled to her feet, with a shield of ice levitating in front of her chest. Kiba threw a kunai at her, which likewise struck the shield harmlessly. He formed a hand seal sequence none of the other three ninja had seen before, and brought his index and middle fingers to his lips. "Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning!" he blew out a steady stream of ash and gunpowder, from which Haku was forced to retreat. Kiba clicked his teeth together, and the cloud of ash ignited into a fireball that momentarily blinded her.
When Haku's vision cleared, three Kibas were sprinting toward her on all fours. The first punched her, but the fist passed straight through her, revealing itself to be a Clone Jutsu.
"Wind Release: Air Bullet!"
Haku turned to deal with the extremely deadly ninjutsu, allowing what she thought was another clone to strike her. Kiba sent her sprawling to the ground, and both of them fell past the Air Bullet. Kiba pulled back his fist to punch her again, but Haku shoved a fistful of senbon into his gut, and he howled in pain. He rolled off of her and tried to pull the cluster of needles from his flesh, while Haku stood to confront the other two Genin. The remaining clone punched her in the face, drawing blood from her lip.
"I'm not prepared to deal with this," Haku contemplated quietly. These herbs don't matter that much. I can resupply some other time, she thought, and called, "Substitution-"
The remaining clone transformed into a white puppy that spun through the air, peeing on her as it did.
"-Jutsu?"
He reappeared at the edge of the forest, in place of a log that had sat against an old, dying tree. "Was that... urine?" he asked himself incredulously.
Meanwhile, Kiba was sitting up, having pulled the senbon out of his belly. Hinata set to work on healing the cluster of tiny wounds, which were together enough to be a danger to the Inuzuka Genin. "That was amazing, Kiba-kun!" she beamed. "To have come so far with the Fire Release after mere weeks of training..."
"Yeah, it was pretty cool, huh?" Kiba smirked, then winced at the pain in his abdomen. "That last jutsu, the Ash Pile Burning... it's strong, but it takes a lot out of me. Asuma-sensei said he made it up himself." He groaned, and Akamaru came to his side, whining in concern. "Not bad for two weeks though, huh? I got that guy pretty good."
"Guy?" Naruto and Hinata questioned in sync.
"The ice dude."
"Haku?!" Naruto shuddered. And I was thinking to myself, 'she' was almost as pretty as Hinata!
"Yeah. He looked like a girl, I know, but nothing can fool an Inuzuka's nose. Guys and girls smell completely different." Kiba winced again at the pain, but then it receded.
"Okay, you're good to go," Hinata declared with a smile. "You're lucky those were senbon and not a kunai. I wouldn't have been able to repair that kind of wound."
"Thanks, Hinata-chan." Kiba stood, and picked up Akamaru, placing the white ninken puppy inside his hoodie. Akamaru barked happily. "I came out here to see how your training was coming along, but then I felt that third chakra signature..."
"...And showed up to save us, which was awesome," Naruto finished, and grinned. "We could've handled... him..." he paused. "...but thanks anyway. It was really cool, believe it."
Kiba nodded. "So, did you guys pick up any new jutsu since we came here?"
"Well, we came up with a few variations of existing jutsu," Hinata admitted. "Naruto, should we show him one?"
Naruto drew a Flying Thunder God kunai, poked the air in front of himself, then dropped it. Hinata blinked once, then deciphered the hidden message and nodded. She drew her own kunai and threw it at a tree. She used a Substitution on her own kunai mid-flight, and maintained its momentum, punching the air between herself and the tree to show the offensive potential of the jutsu. Naruto then drew a second kunai, poked toward himself, and let it drop, hitting the first with a clinking sound. Hinata nodded again, and he threw a kunai at a tree to her side, but she used a Substitution to switch places with it. The kunai slammed into the tree while she reappeared past it.
Kiba whistled. "Not bad," he observed. "You actually took the time to weaponize the Substitution Jutsu..."
"It takes the enhanced vision of a Byakugan to do it consistently, but yes," Hinata admitted. "I can use it to close in on an opponent and use my Gentle Fist, or seemingly pass through enemy weaponry unharmed."
"Ice Release: Sealing Ice Dome."
Everyone's eyes widened, and each of them tried to react, but it was too late. A sheet of ice grew up out of the ground, surrounding them from all directions and completing a dome around them in a matter of seconds. Haku's voice echoed inside the dome. "I'm sorry, but Zabuza-sama must complete his mission unhindered by you. This dome will maintain itself until the air inside is depleted of oxygen past survivable levels. You will not die, but Tazuna will, and your sensei will likely join him. Please, forgive me."
"Teme..." Naruto growled. "You think this thing can hold us?"
"If you break free, I will be forced to kill you. Think about that for a moment; no one wants that." Haku fell silent, and Naruto concluded that the missing-nin had left.
"Wind Scar!" Naruto roared, and slapped his hands down on the ground. Blades of wind lashed out at the section of the dome in front of him, but they only chipped the surface. "Damn it!"
"Naruto-kun, wait!" Hinata cried, as he was about to form an Air Bullet. "This dome is made of ice, maybe Kiba can melt it with the Fire Release."
"I can try..."
"Hold on! That's it!" Naruto cried triumphantly. "Kiba, you can use a fire jutsu to use up the air in here, while we hide in a Water Encampment from Hinata. The dome is set to come down once there's not enough oxygen to breathe!"
Kiba nodded. "I know a jutsu that'll work. Hinata, get ready."
"But..." Hinata paused. "What if it's set to a specific time, not to measure the oxygen level in here? We'd kill ourselves!"
"Maybe..." Naruto looked down at his hands, and made a few seals. "Wind Release: Erasing Wind." A blast of fresh air swept past her from Naruto, and she noticed that it didn't have a scent at all, unlike the air already in the dome which smelled of grass and ice. "We can create our own fresh air inside the Water Encampment, and the dome shouldn't be able to detect it."
"Alright, let's do it!" Kiba replied. "Asuma-sensei and Tazuna-san are counting on us to save their lives. We can't waste time like this. They can't handle Zabuza and that ice guy without us!" He made a short sequence of hand seals. "Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" he breathed out a plume of shimmering fire, which struck the wall of the dome and smoldered there.
Naruto fanned the flames by shouting, "Wind Release: Air Bullet!"
"That's enough," Hinata called. "We can't risk burning ourselves to death in here... Water Release: Water Encampment Jutsu."
A small, thin dome of water sprang up around her feet, growing to consume her, Naruto, and Kiba with Akamaru. It didn't need to be thick to hold in the air, which made it easier for her. The Second Hokage had been able to create a full Water Wall without an existing source of water, but she wasn't the Hokage. She was a Genin, and to conserve her chakra she made use of the water in the ground.
The flames spread over the grass, and smoke began to fill the dome. Hinata kept her hands clasped together in a seal to maintain the smaller dome of water around the Genin. The ice dome remained unharmed, despite the chakra-fuelled flames growing to fill it with smoke and heat. "Wind Release: Erasing Wind."
The gust of wind was indeed fresh, breathable air, but it tore through Hinata's wall of water. She whimpered with pain and exertion, trying to reform the bubble of water, but it wasn't meant for this purpose, and it collapsed. The three Genin took in a breath of smoke, and fell.
"Kiba..." Naruto wheezed, "Kill the flames!"
The Inuzuka did this with a simple wave of his hand, but the smoke and depleted air remained. "Smoke rises," he coughed. "Heads to the-" he coughed again. "-dirt!"
Naruto and Hinata dove to the ground shortly after he did. Akamaru leapt out of his hoodie so his partner could lay down without crushing him. "Wind Release: Erasing Wind!"
The three of them savored the fresh air, clearing their lungs of as much smoke as possible. "That... sucked," Kiba observed, panting. Akamaru whined, apparently agreeing.
"We can still do this." Hinata stood, and added, "Byakugan." At once, her pale doujutsu eyes scanned the entirety of the dome, searching for a weak point in the structure. Her first guess had already been proven right: the dome was laced with Haku's chakra. Now, look for the point where there's the least chakra in the structure... There! She memorized the spot, turned to face it, and turned off her Byakugan to conserve chakra.
"Hinata, what'd you see?" Naruto noticed her rapidly making hand seals with no sign of slowing down, and he began to recognize the pattern. His eyes widened as he realized what her new plan was.
"Naruto, Kiba, Akamaru... hold your breath," she ordered, and clasped her hands together in the final bird hand seal. "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
Hinata opened her mouth, and out of it exploded a torrent of water that took the form of an angry-looking dragon. She'd only used this jutsu once before, and the chakra drain had left her unconscious for nearly an hour. That had, however, been a year ago, and she prayed that she was strong enough, even as she felt her chakra levels plummet. She watched the dragon ram facefirst into the weak spot on the dome, which she assumed had been the farthest point from Haku when he cast it.
Water began to fill the dome, as the dragon was destroyed by each impact it delivered. It roared and reformed from the water each time, while Hinata continued to expel more from her mouth. She was faltering. Sweat dripped down her face along with the splashes of water, and she was getting lightheaded. Finally she stopped generating water, and gasped in a deep breath. Pink and purple stars obscured her vision, and she distantly felt herself fall forward with a splash into two feet of water.
"Hinata!"
It took her a moment to recognize the voice as Naruto's, despite how loud he was screaming. That voice, coupled with the basic reaction to drowning, forced her to flail into a sitting position and cough up the water she had swallowed. She looked at where her Dragon Bullet had struck, and smiled. It was cracked badly. I can finish this! She stood, but the weight of her soaked clothes forced her down again.
Naruto locked eyes with her, and nodded to answer the question she hadn't asked. He turned to face the crack in the ice, forming hand seals. "Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!" He punched forward, sending a blast of faintly white-glowing wind forward, and it spiralled as it flew.
His favorite attack, created by Shukaku the One-Tailed Raccoon according to legend, slammed into the weakened section of the dome, finishing what Hinata had started and opening a hole in the dome big enough for the three Genin. Naruto didn't hesitate; he made his way as quickly as possible to Hinata, shortly followed by Kiba. Together, two Genin carried the third between them, and exited the dome along with the water of Hinata's finished attack.
"And I thought I was so awesome 'cause I learned the Grand Fireball," Kiba said with disbelief. "That's gotta be the strongest jutsu I've ever seen. Way to go, Hinata."
"The last time she used it," Naruto spoke with concern, "might have killed her." Hinata promptly passed out in their arms. "She's strong, and so am I, but there are some jutsu a twelve-year-old Genin just can't handle. This kind of chakra exhaustion..." he shook his head. "She'll be out of it for a while."
Naruto and Kiba set her down on the wet grass. "What do we do now?" Kiba asked. "Do we go on without her? Stay here until she recovers?"
"I don't know..." Naruto ran a hand through his spiky hair, worried and frustrated. "Or, I do know, but I don't want to do it." She picked her up again, bridal-style, and set her gently in a sitting position at the base of a tree. "Hinata-chan..." He took off his father's haori, and draped it around her to keep her warm, then turned to Kiba. "Let's go."
Kiba nodded, and they took to the treetops in pursuit of Haku. Naruto had already drawn one of his father's kunai, and was now holding it between his bared teeth as he sprinted through the treetops on all fours.
X
Hinata woke, shivering under Naruto's haori. She gasped as she realized where she was, and remembered what had happened. I tried to either break the dome or fill it with water... She grasped the haori tightly. "I h-have enough ch-chakra," she thought aloud, stuttering and shivering, "t-to f-fight again..." she stood, and winced at the cold as the haori fell. She picked it up and put it on over her drenched hoodie.
"Byakugan." She scanned the area for signs of Naruto's chakra, then started using the telescopic range of the Hyuuga's doujutsu to search Tazuna's house. It was empty, but there were no signs of a battle and no blood. She guided her vision along the road leading from Tazuna's house to the bridge, and saw Tsunami and Inari with two of Gatou's thugs knocked unconscious at their feet. She moved her vision to the bridge, and found Naruto, Asuma, and Kiba up against Zabuza and the masked shinobi she now knew to be Haku.
She deactivated her Byakugan and headed to their rescue. More than once, she stumbled on a tree limb, still weak from using all her chakra for a Water Dragon Bullet, but pressed on. I won't let this be, Naruto-kun. I won't let you fight this battle alone, not so long as I can stand!
She broke through to the edge of the forest, not breaking stride at all. She leapt to the nearest road, and kept running. She blew past a startled Inari and Tsunami, pouring chakra into her legs for maximum speed. "So that's the power of a ninja," Inari breathed. "And we have four of them on our side! We can't lose now, mom, not even against Gatou." He flashed a toothy grin. "I'm gonna go, and get the villagers to help them!" Just wait, Kiba-sensei, I'll be an alpha wolf after all!
Hinata panted as she approached the bridge, and when it came into the sight of her deactivated Byakugan, she gasped.
Asuma was unconscious in a pool of blood, Kiba was fighting Zabuza alone, and Naruto was trapped in a dome of floating ice plates. Every inch of his body had been peppered with senbon needles. "Naruto-kun!" she screamed, and he turned to face her, eyes wide. She dashed closer to Haku's Ice Release, and when she was within a relatively close range, she cried, "Substitution Jutsu!"
Naruto appeared twenty feet outside the dome, and she took his place in the middle of Haku's ultimate jutsu.
"Hinata," the masked missing-nin greeted softly from within all twenty-one ice mirrors. "Naruto told me you were incapacitated."
"I can still fight!" she replied angrily. "Byakugan!"
"I'm sorry to hear that, Hinata. Does that mean you will force me to kill you?" Haku threw a senbon at her right hip, but she saw it coming with her Byakugan and dodged. "I will tell you what I told Naruto. Remain still, and allow Zabuza-sama to kill Tazuna. Do this, and I will not kill you."
"Did he accept that deal?"
"No..."
"Then I won't."
Haku sighed, and removed his mask. She could see that the missing-nin had tears in his eyes. "All these years of serving Zabuza-sama, and I have not yet taken a life. Please, don't make me do this." He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and shook his head. "This is the last thing I'd want to-"
Hinata saw her chance, and seized it. "Water Release: Water Bu-"
Haku's eyes snapped open, wide with fury, and she felt herself getting stabbed in twenty-one different places, one for each mirror-Haku. They were too fast... My Byakugan couln't even see them...
"Hinata!" Naruto roared, and his desperation renewed his strength. He sprinted through a gap between two mirrors, and dove to her side as she crumpled to her hands and knees. Haku threw one more senbon, aimed at Naruto's heart.
Time seemed to slow down for Hinata. Unlike before, she could clearly see this needle, and she managed to move fast enough to intercept it, even though she had been on her knees. She coughed as it struck her in the center of her chest.
For a brief moment, she could hear nothing. No one spoke, no one even breathed, and oddly, she couldn't hear the heartbeat that had been pounding in her ears beforehand. Then she sighed, and fell.
Naruto screamed.
His eyes suddenly felt like they were on fire, and a voice, unlike any he'd ever heard before, thundered in his mind, What would you do to save her? To erase this moment as though it had never happened to her?
An aura of horrifying, visible red chakra consumed him, and the whisker marks on his cheeks thickened.
He closed his eyes, still screaming in the real world, but inside, a numbing, frightening calm had washed over him. The answer was obvious. Anything. I'd fight, kill, and die. I'd do anything for her.
Then you are worthy. Save her.
The red chakra vanished, and Naruto opened his eyes. The mirrors, and their projections of Haku, seemed to move away from him in fear.
When he looked down at Hinata, saw the chakra reserves in her body badly depleted, and what little remained was fading from the world completely. He pulled the fatal senbon out of her heart, then looked up at Haku with his Rinnegan.
"I'm sorry..." Haku began.
Naruto dropped the senbon and held out his hand, wet with Hinata's blood and his own. "Deva Path: Shinra Tensei."
The mirror shattered, and its pieces were blown backward by an invisible force that clearly wasn't Wind Release.
The real Haku jumped free of another mirror, and retreated away from Naruto, who didn't follow. Instead he knelt next to Hinata, and formed a sequence of hand seals, none of which Haku had ever seen before. He laid a hand on her belly, and whispered words Haku was too far away to hear: "Outer Path: Rinne Tensei."
At the same time a spike of Naruto's hair at the edge of his forehead turned white, Hinata gasped. Haku's eyes widened. That's... completely impossible! My senbon pierced her heart, she died!
Naruto nodded to himself in satisfaction and stood, watching the other twenty-one needles being forced out of Hinata's healing wounds. She breathed heavily, her lavender eyes wide with disbelief and staring up at the sky through Haku's ice mirrors. "N-Naruto-kun?" she gasped.
"Hinata!" Naruto fell to his knees at her side. "Are you all right?" he called desperately.
She gasped again as he came into the line of sight of her deactivated Byakugan eyes. "Y-your eyes..."
"...they hurt," Naruto admitted. "What's wrong with them? Am I injured?"
"R-Rinnegan," she breathed.
His eyes, solid purple with a pattern of black, concentric circles, widened. Shinra Tensei... Rinne Tensei... I don't know where those names came from, but... were they really a kekkei genkai? How did I get...?
Haku saw his chance, and he created a new mirror, leaping into it and guiding it into place where the destroyed one had been. He's powerful, but I must not let it stop me. Zabuza-sama is counting on me.
"Ice Release: Hailstone."
The twenty-one mirrors of ice grew together, into a solid ice dome like the one they had been trapped in before. A giant projection of Haku spoke: "This time, I must kill you. I'm sorry, but there's no way for you and Zabuza-sama to both live."
The walls began to thicken, growing inward toward Naruto and Hinata. The latter tried to sit up, but she was completely drained of chakra, so much so that she couldn't move. "Naruto-kun..."
"I'll stop him." he smiled down at her, and even with the shock of seeing those otherworldly eyes set in Naruto's face, she smiled weakly back. He clasped his hands together, and breathed in deeply.
This jutsu will drain all that remains of your chakra, said the strange voice from before. You are not the Sage of Six Paths. Such an exertion, coupled with that of your previous jutsu, may well kill you.
But Hinata won't die, even if I do. If I had to pick one of us to die, I'd pick me.
"Shinra Tensei!" Naruto roared, and shoved both of his hands forward. The ice dome completely shattered on one side, sending the missing-nin inside it flying along with chunks of ice three feet thick.
Naruto collapsed next to Hinata, and his head landed in her lap.
"Naruto-kun!"
X
Kiba, meanwhile, was fighting Zabuza, which wasn't going well. He'd tried all of his Inuzuka Clan jutsu, and his Fire Release was near useless against Zabuza, who specialized in Water Release. He'd managed to watch out of the corner of his eye the battle between Naruto and Hinata and Haku. He'd come within an inch of death, both when Hinata died and when Naruto resurrected her. Now, though, all four of his allies including Akamaru in his hoodie were incapacitated, and Zabuza turned his back to face Naruto and Hinata.
"Hey!" he shouted in a panic. "Don't turn your back on your opponent!"
"Shut up, kid. You're prey, nothing more, and I'll be back to finish you."
Kiba had an idea. An idea horrifyingly similar to what Naruto might have come up with in this situation. I can't believe I'm really gonna do this. "Transformation Jutsu!"
Zabuza turned back to face him, amused. "A Transformation? This should be fun."
When the smoke of the jutsu cleared, there was no immediate sign of Kiba, until Zabuza heard the voice of a beautiful woman purr into his ear, "Come on, Zabuza-sama... let's have a little more fun before you go, hm?"
Zabuza laughed. "This is just pathetic. You're really scraping the bottom of the barrel, aren't you, punk?"
The missing-nin aimed his sword at the red markings on the woman's cheeks that marked her as an Inuzuka, and he bared his teeth under his mask as the hit connected... and passed right through.
A kunai stabbed into his right hip, and he turned to face Kiba with his eyes wide. "A simple, Genin-level Clone Jutsu, coupled with me transforming into a rock. Not bad, huh?"
"You devious little brat..."
"Shut up and die," Kiba growled, "So I can go save my friends."
Zabuza backhanded him, sending him flying. The kunai twisted in his flesh as Kiba let it go, and Zabuza gritted his teeth in agony. "This is a flesh wound, kid. It won't even slow me down."
"Damn it..." Kiba snarled, and reached for another kunai. If I can just buy Naruto some time...
Zabuza turned, and lowered his sword. Kiba followed his line of sight, and his eyes widened. At Wave's end of the unfinished bridge stood Gatou, along with maybe a hundred mercenaries armed to the teeth. "I expected these four to wear you down, Zabuza," Gatou began with a smirk, "But this is pathetic! Look at you. The high and mighty Demon of the Hidden Mist, so weak by now that we ordinary folk here," he gestured to the mercenaries, "Can just walk up to you and put you down." He snapped his fingers, and the mercenaries stepped forward, grinning.
"Kid... what did you say your name was?"
"Kiba Inuzuka."
"Right... Kiba, go grab your teammates and scram. I'll deal with these idiots, and we don't have a reason to fight any more."
"Then, shouldn't I help you?"
"No. Leave it to me, it should be fun." he hefted Kubikiri Bouchou. "You'd only be in my way."
Kiba nodded, and turned away as he saw Zabuza begin to sprint toward the mercenaries, laughing maniacally. Kiba stepped into the half-dome of cracked white ice, and nudged Naruto, then Hinata.
"Guys, get up. We gotta get out of here!"
"Kiba-kun... I can't get up. I can't move at all..." Hinata whispered weakly. "And Naruto-kun is..." she looked down to his head in her lap. "He hasn't moved since he fell."
"All right, we can handle this..." Kiba reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a soldier pill. Hinata opened her mouth, and he popped it in. She chewed it with a crunching sound, and sat up with a groan. Kiba picked Naruto up and slung the unconscious Genin over his shoulders. "You go get Asuma-sensei. I'll take Tazuna and Naruto back to Tazuna's house-" he turned to look at the mercenaries, and found to his shock that most of them were dead, attacked from one side by Zabuza and the other by the entirety of Wave, led by a boy holding a crossbow. "What the hell!?"
He recognized the boy as Inari, who had just finished cutting through the ranks of hardened mercenaries to reach his grandfather. Well, damn. Kid might make a half-decent wolf after all. As he thought this, he felt Hinata gently slide Naruto off his shoulders. "You can take Asuma-sensei instead, but I need to get Naruto to somewhere I can heal him. His chakra network is way too drained."
"S-sure," Kiba replied, and made his way to Asuma, who was next to Inari and Tazuna.
Hinata carried Naruto through the battlefield of Gatou's making, carefully dodging every blow near her with efficiency. The effects of the soldier pill would eventually wear off, leaving her even more drained, and would likely leave her unconscious for an extended period, so she had to make good use of the little energy the pill had given her.
Just when Tazuna's house was in sight, Naruto groaned weakly. "Hinata-chan?"
"It's all right, Naruto. We won."
"And we're alive?"
She smiled up at him softly. "Yes. We're alive."
"What about Asuma-sensei and Kiba?"
"Both fine. Gatou arrived, and Zabuza's probably killed him by now."
"Zabuza?"
"That's what I saw."
"Weird..." he observed, and passed out again.
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