A Different Scroll Chapter 57: Blood Mist, a naruto fanfic

Opening - Rolling Star by Yui

At fourteen years old, Zabuza Momochi was a thin, lightly built boy with his spiky hair cropped short, less than two inches long. He wore the typical uniform of a Kiri-nin, not counting its lack of sleeves. He hadn't yet taken to wearing bandages over his face, but the legendary greatsword Kubikiri Bouchou hung on his back already.

He was still only learning to use the huge blade, and although he was mastering it quickly, his endurance wasn't yet heightened to the point where he could fight with it for extended periods. When his stamina faltered, he switched to the standard-issue katana sheathed at his left hip.

He was currently walking along a cobblestone road, past an unadorned building of gray brick where he had once slaughtered almost a hundred of his fellow Academy students. The memory was two years old now, but he still thought of that day every time he passed the school.

Weaklings. I might've actually spared a few if I thought they would ever be worth anything as ninjas, but they were soft little brats. I don't think I've ever seen a Genin in this village who actually showed me any-

"You're Zabuza Momochi, right?"

He drew his katana and whirled to face the one who had spoken, a younger boy clad in a loose green shouzoku with a gray flak jacket. He wore his forehead protector at his waist. His tan hair was about twice as long as Zabuza's, long enough to shadow his forehead but not his purple eyes. He seemed unnaturally calm as he inspected the gleaming edge of the katana, before turning his gaze back to Zabuza's.

"You are Zabuza Momochi, aren't you? The boy who killed his entire graduating class two years ago? One of the next Swordsmen of the Blood Mist?"

"What do you want, kid?" Zabuza growled. "And make it good. I already have my sword drawn, after all."

"First, I want to know why you did it. What did you get out of killing all of them? You could've just killed one; it would've saved time."

Zabuza blinked, then laughed and sheathed his sword. "Ha... kid, I did it because I knew I'd be remembered for it. Those brats didn't put up a fight, but for the rest of my life I'll be remembered and feared for putting in a bit of extra effort. The Demon of the Blood Mist, they're calling me. They'll never forget what I was capable of as a brat like you, so they'll shiver at the thought of what I'll be capable of as a grown man."

"I see." the boy hummed thoughtfully. "Did you know that you've shaken the Mizukage's hold on the village? It was two years ago, now, but people are still talking about how dangerous you showed the graduation system to be. The Blood Mist lost a whole graduating class of ninja because of you... and a lot of Jounin have begun to wonder what other systems the Third has in place might be... problematic."

"...Who are you?" Zabuza asked suspiciously. "What's a kid like you doing, talking about serious stuff like this?"

"My name is Yagura," the boy replied calmly. "I'm talking about all of this because I agree with those Jounin... and I thought you did too. I thought you killed those students to force the graduation system to change... because it did." he glanced up at the hilt of the Seversword, then back to Zabuza. "No matter. The real reason I came here was to learn bukijutsu from you. Teach me to wield a weapon of my choice, and I'll teach you high-level Water Release jutsu."

Zabuza chuckled at Yagura's blunt demand. "And why should I believe that you know high-level Water Release jutsu? You look like you just graduated yesterday."

"This morning, actually." Zabuza blinked. "And I know powerful water jutsu because I'm the Three-Tails Jinchuuriki." his eyes went wide, and Yagura held out his hand in a loose fist. "Here, touch your fist to mine and I'll prove it."

Zabuza hesitated before remembering that Yagura wanted to learn his bukijutsu, which meant that whatever was about to happen wouldn't harm him. He raised his fist and bumped it lightly against Yagura's.

His eyes widened again when he found himself instananeously transported to a very different landscape. The road on the outskirts of Kiri was gone, replaced by an endless white beach within which there was only one notable landmark, a huge, blue-green lake with spires of what looked like pale pink coral towering up out of the gently flowing water. The sand under his feet was soft and very slightly damp.

"Is this a genjutsu!?" Zabuza asked, alarmed.

"Not at all. In fact, this isn't any kind of jutsu. What I just used was an ancient form of chakra manipulation called ninshuu." Yagura traced the kanji for 'water' in the sand with his right foot. "I connected my chakra to yours, and invited you into my inner world."

"Ninshuu?" Zabuza considered this. "You... how did you learn to do this?"

"He taught me," Yagura pointed to the lake, where the Three-Tails promptly surfaced violently, throwing a huge geyser of water upward. Zabuza reached for Kubikiri Bouchou, but Yagura laid a hand on his left wrist. "He's harmless."

"Harmless!? That's the fricken Three-Tails!"

"He prefers to be called Isobu Ootsuki. From what I've observed, he has the mentality of a child, despite his intelligence. He prefers to be guarded and guided; he's uncomfortable with acting entirely on his own. I had no trouble convincing him to share his power with me... using it, I'm able to protect myself. As long as my body is safe, Isobu is as well, thus we both get something out of the agreement."

Zabuza shook his head in frustration. "Kid, this is starting to get to me."

"But now you know I was telling the truth. I'm the Three-Tails Jinchuuriki, and if you teach me to wield a weapon of my choice, I'll teach you this jutsu..." he raised his hands in the Snake seal and exhaled a Water Dragon Bullet, "...and this one..." he raised a swirling torrent of water from deep underground, throwing it forward as a huge, spinning hollow spear, "...and this one too, I suppose." The air grew thick with mist, and Zabuza had to squint to see Yagura. Isobu, on the other hand, was completely concealed.

"Do we have a deal, Zabuza-sensei?"

Zabuza sighed, thinking carefully. "...Alright. What's this weapon you want to learn to wield?"

Yagura held out his right hand, and a staff materialized in it. It was as tall as he was, a long, slender shaft of black lacquered wood with a sharp hook on one end. "This weapon doesn't yet exist in the real world. However, I intend to make one. It will be capable of withstanding melee combat, while also allowing me to form jutsu with it in place of hand seals. You will teach me to wield it."

"Jeez, you were a rude little brat, weren't you?" Tenten giggled under her half-mask, looking at Yagura with amusement.

He simply nodded. "Yes. I like to think that I've learned to speak more tactfully and respectfully since then, but it really isn't my place to decide that."

The team of Konoha-nin and the Kazekage were gathered within Yagura's hideout, a cave he had made underground. It was lined with fuinjutsu to hide the chakra signatures and silhouettes of its inhabitants from any kind of sensory abilities, and the walls of dirt and rock were concealed by thin, tough green reeds that looked similar to bamboo. The floor was hewn of rock, almost certainly smoothed out with the Earth Release. The room was lit by a large oil lantern hanging from the center of the rocky ceiling.

Curled up contently with his head on his front paws, a one-tailed Kurama twitched his ears and smirked. "Isobu was always a bit... timid," he mused. "When we were kids, he admitted to me that he felt nervous when he was alone for more than a minute. One would think a thousand years of isolation might've cured his phobia, but it seems he still likes to have a trusted ally with him at all times."

"So what happened next?" Karin spoke up. "After you two made that deal, what happened?"

"Well, for a little over six years, we trained each other," Zabuza replied. "Yagura helped me master the Water Release, and I taught him to wield that hooked spear. He got pretty damned good with it," he admitted, pulling up his shirt to reveal two scars. The first was a wound from a kunai stabbed into his right hip, courtesy of a twelve-year-old Kiba Inuzuka, but the second was a much longer gash from his right shoulder to left hip.

"Huh." Naruto blinked. "I remember when you first showed up in Konoha, you said that Kiba was the youngest opponent who ever wounded you since Yagura."

"Slick little bastard was only fourteen when he gave me this," Zabuza admitted. "So technically, Kiba was the youngest ninja ever to wound me. Anyway," he rolled his shirt back down, and went on, "We trained together for six years without much changing. I was twenty-two, and Yagura was twenty when he came out of nowhere with..."

"...I'm going to kill the Mizukage."

Zabuza choked on his drink, and spat it out as a fine mist that struck Yagura's flak jacket a moment later. The Jinchuuriki seemed completely unfazed, as usual.

Zabuza had just finished training with Kubikiri Bouchou, using it to cleave through full-grown trees the way lesser swords were used on tatami mats. Choosing an appropriately shaped stump, he had taken up a seat in the forest on the outskirts of Kiri. He had seen Yagura approaching through the grove, just as he pulled down his mask of bandages and reached for his water bottle.

"Pffwhat!?" he choked out disbelievingly.

"I'm going to kill the Mizukage," Yagura repeated emotionlessly. "Thank you for teaching me to wield my staff. I've mastered it, along with the Water Release and my use of Isobu's chakra, so now I'm ready to kill the Third Mizukage and take over Kiri as the Fourth." Zabuza's choking on his water gradually turned into laughter, but Yagura went on, "It would go more smoothly if you were involved in the coup."

"...Oh Kami, you're not joking."

"I don't joke."

Zabuza sighed. "I should really know that by now..."

"Yes, you should."

"Dammit Yagura!" Zabuza wheezed as he started laughing again. "Have... have you lost your fricken mind!?" he pulled himself together with some effort, setting down the bottle which he'd already half-emptied during his fit of laughter. "You can't take the Third on. Not even with my help, and all of the chakra Isobu can give you. I've seen how you fight; you don't stand a chance."

"You haven't seen how I fight," Yagura answered. "From the moment we met, I've been capable of killing you in an instant. Every time we've sparred, I've held back almost the entirety of my abilities. You've never seen me use more than the tiniest shred of Isobu's chakra, and I didn't need even that to give you the most serious wound you've ever suffered."

Zabuza felt the massive scar under his shirt itch on cue. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he stood up. "Okay, Yagura. I'll make you a deal. Kick my ass, right here, right now, and I'll help you fight the Mizukage."

Yagura nodded. "Whenever you're ready, Zabuza-sensei."

With a flicker of movement and a breeze, Zabuza winked out of existence.

Yagura whipped off the hooked staff that he wore on his back, turning around with lightning speed to catch the incoming Seversword on his own weapon. The mass of the blade and Zabuza's momentum shoved Yagura back a solid distance, and his feet scraped into the soft, mossy dirt as he resisted the sword. Sparks flew from his staff and Kubikiri Bouchou, but then an instant later Zabuza was gone again.

"A movement jutsu... you've been holding out on me, Zabuza-sensei. That isn't the Pulse Step."

"The Pulse Step is an unfinished prototype," Zabuza replied from all directions as the air grew heavy with mist. "It'll take Kiri at least another decade before they seriously consider finishing the jutsu. Like I have."

Yagura glanced around warily, holding his staff with both hands. "So you're the only person in the world who knows this jutsu. Have you decided on a name yet?"

"Why bother?" Zabuza chuckled. "Giving it a name won't make it any more..." he appeared before Yagura in a blur, sweeping his weapon down toward Yagura's head. "...Effective!"

Yagura caught the blade in the hook of his staff, pulling his weapon aside to deflect Zabuza's as well. "Well, it is effective; that much is true." He whipped his staff toward Zabuza, who blocked it. "It can be used much more suddenly than a Body Flicker, making it more useful in open combat." He attacked several more times, pushing Zabuza back. "Unlike the Pulse Step, you can move in any direction with it, and it also seems..." Zabuza vanished into the mist again, "...Faster..."

"I thought you said you could kill me in an instant!" Zabuza called, again without revealing his location in the mist. "And you said I've never seen you really put Isobu's chakra to use! So let's see it; do your worst!"

"...How unfortunate," Yagura murmured. "I'm about to make a mess in full view of my village..."

Um, Yagura? Are you about to use my chakra after all?

It looks that way, he replied, distractedly swatting aside another of Zabuza's swings.

"Hey, hold on!"

"Hm?" Yagura looked up at Tenten as she interrupted his story for the second time. "What's wrong?"

"That hooked staff! It's your weapon affinity, isn't it?" She grinned under her half-mask. "Zabuza taught you bukijutsu, so there's no way you'd be able to outmatch him at it so easily! Unless your weapon was abolutely perfectly matched to you, and that also explains why you'd come up with such a unique design."

"True," Yagura admitted, "But I've always felt sure that Kubikiri Bouchou was Zabuza's weapon affinity. Your theory implies that isn't the case."

Tenten glanced at Zabuza, and the weapon on his back. "Huh..."

A gust of red chakra like smoke surged upward around Yagura's ankles, catching his clothes and hair and blowing them upward with an audible fluttering sound. Zabuza's eyes widened, and he leapt backward to safety. Examining his blade for an instant, he noted that the edge was badly damaged, almost as though it had been burned by ludicrously strong acid. He looked back up at Yagura, and flinched.

The younger Kiri-nin's once purple eyes were now shining blood-red, and the stitch mark on his cheek was much thicker and darker. His face was as impassive as ever, but now Zabuza could feel the power pouring off his friend with an intensity he'd never expected.

"You're about to see the second of the three forms I can take with Isobu's chakra. You haven't yet seen the first, and even activating the third would kill you at this distance. I won't kill you, Zabuza-sensei, but you should still brace yourself."

The red smoke stopped rising, and the air was filled only with white mist for a moment.

Then a colossal, solid pillar of red chakra shot upward in its place, consuming Yagura entirely. Zabuza stumbled as the ground cracked and trembled, and a shockwave ripped through the forest. Branches were snapped off of older trees, and younger saplings were simply bent to the ground. Zabuza held his left wrist over his face to ward off the wind.

An uppercut blasted into his gut, lifting him off his feet and throwing him into the air. He roared out what was left of the breath in his lungs, completely disoriented as he spun upward in the misty air. If he had been thinking a bit more clearly, he might've noticed that his entire abdomen was immobilized by a cast of smooth pink coral. Then a spinning kick whipped into his temple, giving his head the same treatment. His world went dark, both from the coral covering his eyes and the blow to his head knocking him out.

Zabuza woke, and groaned loudly. He was stretched out on the sandy floor of a small cave, and the air was warm and humid.

"Where... am I?"

"Still in the Land of Water, but significantly north of Kiri itself," Yagura replied. "I used the Pulse Step to move us quickly... it's been six hours since we fought. I left two clones made of living coral in our place, to fake both our deaths."

"...Why?"

"Our battle didn't go unnoticed, not once I used my Version Two. I knew the Mizukage would want to question and punish both of us if we went back to Kiri, and if we left the village rather than returning, that would be even worse. We'd be branded as missing-nin, and most of the village would be out looking for us as we speak. As it stands, the Mizukage is currently throwing a particularly violent tantrum over the loss of the Three-Tails... my contact claims seven Jounin are already dead."

"No." Zabuza sat up, groaning again. "I mean, why are you... why are we gonna kill the Mizukage?"

"Because he's running the village poorly. This system we use... the Blood Mist is inefficient. I can do better, and I'm sure Kiri will agree once I take power." Yagura was seated in front of a small fire near the entrance of the cave, poking through the ashes and embers. Outside the cave, it was raining quite heavily. "On a more personal note, I don't like him. He's ruthless, which might actually be a redeeming trait if he weren't also stupid and childish, and self-centered and a variety of other unpleasant things. I don't like him at all."

Zabuza laughed, then clutched his left side. "I fractured one of your ribs with my punch. With proper application of Isobu's red chakra, you should recover in time to sleep comfortably tonight. That's quite important, since we're going back to Kiri tomorrow." Yagura paused. "Well, actually we'll be going to the Mizukage's residence which is east of the village, but my point remains the same."

"Alright, fine. How much do we know about the Third's jutsu?"

"I've done quite extensive research on his abilities, since my time in the Academy," Yagura replied, reaching into his pouch to produce several blue ninja scrolls. "Over the years, I've also boiled it down to a concise description of all the most useful information. First and foremost, the Third Mizukage, Ryoutaro Terumi, has a kekkei genkai combining a powerful Water Release with another element I couldn't be certain of until last year. It couldn't be Earth, since that's the Senju Clan kekkei genkai, the Wood Release. It isn't Lightning, since the Storm Release is a Kumo bloodline. Wind was plausible, but the Ice Release seems to have died out with the Yuki Clan..."

Zabuza twitched noticeably, and breathed, "Oh, shit."

"Indeed. That left only one possibility, and I was able to confirm that the Third has the Boil Release bloodline. It'll be tricky to deal with, but-"

"Yagura, you don't get it!" Zabuza snapped. "There's a kid that I've been training. He's eight years old, and he's still in Kiri, damn it! What if the Mizukage goes after Haku, hoping he'll know where I am!?"

"You're not thinking clearly, Zabuza-sensei. The Mizukage has no doubts that you're already dead. Both of us are. He most likely believes I was attacked in your presence by enemy ninja hoping to take the Three-Tails, since that's what I made it look like. The plan went wrong, and both of us were killed. They never got the chance to reseal Isobu into a Jinchuuriki of their own."

Yagura blinked. "Hold on... this boy, Haku... you thought of him because I mentioned the Yuki Clan, didn't you?" Zabuza nodded. "So, he has the Ice Release... that's interesting..."

Zabuza laid back down and sighed. "...Alright, what were you saying about the Boil Release?"

"The name is a bit misleading. The Boil Release doesn't manipulate steam, it manipulates an acid vapor. The Third is skilled enough with it to combine it with basic shape transformation; the records I found last year mentioned a Vapor Dragon Bullet."

"What about his other abilities?"

"Those were easier to learn about, actually. He prefers kenjutsu over taijutsu, as usual for a Kiri-nin. He focuses on power, not speed, and he doesn't have any movement jutsu or genjutsu. The old Bingo Books I could find that he hasn't destroyed also claim that he has the Wind Release. We know he's tall and very heavily built, and that he wears plate armor. However rarely, we have seen him in the village, after all."

"You said he uses kenjutsu. What kind of sword does he use?"

"A nodachi, roughly eight feet long. Because of his strength, he can wield it as easily as a normal katana. It's the same as the way you trained to wield Kubikiri Bouchou."

"Hold up. This is a guy who fights in full, heavy plate armor, and he focuses on physical strength more than speed. But a nodachi isn't even that big by the standards of a shinobi weapon; it's nothing compared to my own sword. Sure, if it's really eight feet then it has the range advantage over Kubikiri Bouchou, but it's probably ten times lighter, and this guy is twice my size, on top of being a Kage-level shinobi. There's no doubt in my mind that he only needs one hand to wield that sword."

"Ah... that was clever of you, Zabuza-sensei," the Jinchuuriki murmured. "Yes, that makes sense. And it leaves his other hand free, possibly for one-handed seals. Those hand seals are rare, but we should expect our opponent to be as powerful as he could conceivably be... which is why our first strike will be intended to kill him from a distance, without him expecting an attack at all."

"What kind of jutsu are you going to use for that?" Zabuza asked, intrigued.

"It's not technically a jutsu; it's a Tailed Beast Skill. The most powerful attack technique known to exist, the Tailed Beast Ball."

"Ah, more of that ninshuu stuff, huh?"

"Not at all. It's impossible to apply ninshuu to combat, because the technique itself is based entirely on the concept of world peace. Its creator intended for ninshuu to connect every single person in this world through their chakra, so that anyone could share a thought directly, and everyone could understand each other completely. However... Tailed Beast Skills are a very different kind of chakra manipulation."

"Dammit Kurama," Naruto sighed. "Now I wanna use a Tailed Beast Ball even more."

"You shouldn't," Kurama replied coolly. "It tends to make a terrible mess that's almost impossible to clean up. In fact, I find it a bit worrying that you show no interest in learning ninshuu. Actually, that's more than a bit worrying..."

"Whoa, I didn't mean it like that!" Naruto waved his hands frantically. "I mean, ninshuu has the potential to save the world and prevent it from ever needing saving again!"

"But the age of ninjutsu isn't quite over yet, hm?" Kurama smirked knowingly. "You want to kick Madara's ass the old-fashioned way." he chuckled at Naruto's lack of a reply. "Oh, I don't blame you. Not at all. And once he's dealt with, which will be so immensely satisfying... then my father's dream can be realized. He won't mind waiting a bit longer, from where he's watching us in the Pure World. In fact, I think he would even enjoy watching our epic final battle."

Ryoutaro Terumi was usually a happy man, if only because he could take what he wanted, when he wanted it, and no one could say otherwise because he was the Mizukage. It showed, of course, since he weighed over four hundred pounds and was half-buried under nineteen scantily clad women, most of whom were half his age.

Strewn around the ludicrously massive bed custom-made to accomodate him and his... escorts, there were countless bottles of sake and other assorted alcoholic drinks from around the world. Most were over half-full, he never finished one bottle before he decided to try the next one. On the wall above his bed, the huge nodachi he wielded effortlessly was resting comfortably on a streamlined stand, with its blade and hilt both lavishly decorated with gold inlays.

Once, he had been clean-shaven, with a scarlet mohawk long enough to tie into a braid being the only hair on his head, but he'd long since allowed a red fuzz to grow back in over his whole scalp, and a matching carpet of thick stubble covered his lower face. When it itched, he scratched it. When the girls asked, he shaved it.

But despite how much he appeared to have let himself go, he was still the Third Mizukage, and he had rather impressive sensory abilities and reflexes. The absurdly heavy mass of familiar chakra approaching his manor from due north woke him up immediately, and although it took him a few seconds to free himself from the women dogpiling him, he snatched up the hilt of his sword and hopped down from the edge of the bed, swearing fluently.

Most of the girls had been woken up by Ryoutaro's movement, and most of them had also noticed the sword in the Mizukage's hand. Several of them looked on worriedly as he strode over to a mannequin where a loosely fitted long coat was hanging, greatly weighed down by the thick, overlapping plates of scarlet-enameled armor on it. The Mizukage pulled up his loose black pants and slid the armor on, snapping it shut over his chest while still swearing.

"Mm..." a particularly sleepy young blonde woke groggily, "Mizukage-sama, why are we up so early...!?" her eyes went wide as she saw him tying a scarlet headband over his forehead and unbraided mohawk, now fully clad in his battle gear.

"Keep your heads down," he told them simply, then resumed swearing under his breath.

All nineteen of the girls were whipped into the air by what felt like an incredibly intense earthquake, and most of them screamed, but Ryoutaro simply stood in place and finally stopped swearing. Through the unbroken windows around them, the world shone white like the inside of the sun, and the girls squeezed their eyes shut to keep out the light.

Then the Tailed Beast Ball's explosion gently tapered off, and the early morning before sunrise became pitch-dark again. The Mizukage calmly opened the glass doors to his marble balcony, sword in hand, and started swearing again, this time mostly insults aimed at Yagura.

He was cut off before he got too far into his rant by the appearance of a sleek four-legged creature wreathed in a deep scarlet chakra cloak. Its three flat, thick tails swished innocently in the air above and behind it. Its eyes glowed pure white; they were wide, round, and devoid of all emotion.

It opened its fanged mouth slightly and hissed out a breath of red steam.

"...Yagura. Two questions. First... what the fuck?" the red creature tilted its head to the side quizzically. "And second... WHAT! THE! FU-"

Yagura blurred forward at the same time Zabuza appeared behind Ryoutaro, with Kubikiri Bouchou drawn back at his right side with both hands, set to cleave the Mizukage in two.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Sakura squealed.

"Hn."

The Mizukage turned to stop Kubikiri Bouchou with his nodachi, while using his free hand to catch and crush Yagura's head like a grape. The demonic-looking water clone splashed apart, and Ryoutaro directed his full attention to Zabuza as the latter began attacking with the Seversword, pushing forward relentlessly as he did.

However, just as the Mizukage found an opening in Zabuza's defense, the younger swordsman vanished in a blur of movement and a breeze. Ryoutaro snarled in frustration, searching in all directions for Zabuza. However, it was Yagura who appeared on the edge of the roof overlooking the balcony, with a pulsing, compressed Tailed Beast Ball floating in front of his mouth, about the size of a small apple.

He swallowed it.

"...Fuck."

Yagura opened his mouth again, firing a scarlet beam of chakra at least twenty feet across that obliterated the entire balcony and consumed the Mizukage as well. The beam continued to ignite the air, lasting for several more seconds before it finally died down.

Zabuza appeared next to Yagura atop the roof, gazing into the haze of red smoke and brown dust that filled the air. Yagura's chakra cloak sizzled as he stood up next to Zabuza, and murmured, "That was the most powerful version of the Tailed Beast Ball I could use at such close range... If we were farther away, I might've considered firing it without compressing and swallowing it..."

"Don't worry about it," Zabuza chuckled as he peered into the dark mist. "I think you got him."

"Unfortunately, I have to disagree." Zabuza's eyes went wide. "He's alive in there... even though you can't, I can sense him easily through my own chakra. He's alive." Yagura turned to Zabuza as his chakra cloak evaporated. "You can't help me any further here... this fight is about to escalate far beyond what you can handle. If you want to help, head west and intercept any Kiri-nin who try to get involved with this battle."

"Yagura..."

"If you stay here, you'll die. It's quite plausible that I'll be the one to kill you by accident. Go."

Zabuza considered this carefully, then nodded. "I guess you're right. If you're going to be throwing around jutsu like that," he gestured to where the balcony and Ryoutaro had been, "I'm really not going to be of much use." he turned and prepared to use his movement jutsu, then added, "Yagura, you're the only friend I have. Don't die."

He didn't wait for a reply, partly because Yagura's chakra was already building again. He vanished with the yet-unnamed Empty Wind, as Yagura calmly listened to several quick, loud cracking sounds within the red and brown mist.

Said mist was finally starting to settle, revealing that the Tailed Beast Ball had torn a huge tunnel diagonally downward into the earth. That tunnel was now partially occupied by a leaning tower of spiky blue ice, the source of the cracking sounds.

"The Ice Release... that's problematic..." Yagura peered down through the darkness of the early morning, watching the ice slowly falling apart to reveal an unharmed, if furious, Ryoutaro Terumi. "So we were right about the one-handed seals... but you have two kekkei genkai?"

"Terumi Clan ninja are born with the Boil Release and an equally strong third affinity," the Mizukage replied. "All of us can mix that affinity with half of the Boil Release, water in my case, for a second bloodline element. Mine was Wind, so I have the Boil Release and Ice Release." he glanced to Yagura's right. "Hey, where the fuck did Zabuza go!? Is he gonna try to jumpscare me again?"

"Zabuza left for his own safety. And now that I know the truth about your bloodline, I'm free to show you why."

Ryoutaro's eyes went wide as another swirling plume of chakra exploded away from Yagura in all directions, this one a pale sea-green. It completely dwarfed the red one, and was easily comparable in size to the mansion Yagura was perched on. It obscured the Mizukage's view of the Jinchuuriki for several seconds, and when it withered away into clear air, he had completely taken the form of the Three-Tails.

"Now come out here, Isobu."

Roaring amid a flash of shimmering purple chakra, a second gigantic three-tailed turtle emerged from the open air before the first, riding a white-crested wave of water where there had been none a moment before. Yagura moved forward to stand at Isobu's left, glaring down at the Mizukage just as the real Three-Tails did.

"You fuckin' unsealed him!?" the Third roared up at both of them, paying no heed to the water splashing past him. "How the fuck...?" he shook his head. "Whatever; I'm just gonna fuckin' kill you anyway. Vapor Dragon Bullets!"

The Mizukage breathed out two identical streams of white mist which took the form of snarling serpentine dragons. One shot forward to attack each Three-Tails, leaving Ryoutaro behind to watch with the faintest hint of a smirk. The dragons arced through the air and circled both Bijuu, while Ryoutaro blurred his left hand through an additional set of seals. "Ice Release: Infinite Spear." frost crackled slowly up the blade of his nodachi, covering it in a white glaze.

The dragons hissed and bit down on the backs of Yagura's and Isobu's necks, prompting both monsters to snarl at the touch of the caustic vapors. They bucked and threw off the dragons, and Yagura caught one in his right foreclaws while Isobu turned a quickly formed ball of chakra on his attacker. "Bijuu Dama!" the small orb shot forward and eradicated the dragon with its comparatively puny explosion, while glistening pink coral grew out of Yagura's grip to encase his dragon completely.

"Heh," Ryoutaro's smirk was gradually becoming more obvious. "Okay, maybe the dragon bullets were a waste of time against you two... so try this!" he lanced forward with his nodachi, aiming the tip of the frosted weapon at Yagura's eye. The coating of fine ice extended forward with lightning speed, multiplying the length of the weapon by at least a hundred times. Isobu's eye went wide at the sight of the incoming blade, and he moved out of the way with agility that no one would expect from a giant turtle.

In less than a quarter of a second, the ice blade crumbled into bits of frost that drifted gently on the breeze. Ryoutaro aimed his nodachi at Isobu this time, but the real Three-Tails simply turned its armored head to the side, allowing the blade to strike home and shatter.

He swore again, but halfheartedly this time. He even chuckled as the two demons began forming Tailed Beast Balls, tossing aside his nodachi. The weapon rang loudly as it struck the hard earth and a single rock half-buried in it, while the Mizukage began making two-handed seals with an open grin. "Thanks for reminding me how much I enjoyed fighting like this, motherfuckers... Ice Release: Frost Armor."

His body and armor were glazed over immediately with the same frost as his discarded blade, which he then picked up. The blade crackled with ice again, and this time a much thicker blade of more solid ice shot from its tip to the same length as the frost blade. After that, white mist began to pour from the ice, hissing softly. "Boil Release: Chillrend," he named it, and tightly gripped the enormous sword with both hands.

Yagura vanished in a blur, taking his now colossal Tailed Beast Ball with him. Ryoutaro nearly toppled over as a mighty wind struck him, but he realized because of this that Yagura had Pulse Stepped past him. He bared his teeth hungrily, whipping his ice sword along as he did, hoping to catch Yagura at some point along the blade's length. He had no such luck, but unlike before he took this disappointment gracefully.

Yagura turned back around to face Ryoutaro, and fired his attack in time with Isobu.

"Tailed Beast Ball!"

"Bijuu Dama!"

The two spheres were launched toward each other, and they met directly above the Mizukage with a tremendous explosion that easily outmatched the initial strike that had completely engulfed his manor. Yagura let the shockwave wash over him, then reverted back to his human form as quickly as he possibly could. He drew his hooked staff from his back and waved it through the air, conducting a massive torrent of water from the ground beneath his feet. The water swirled and circled around the shrinking red-white explosion of chakra, forming a smooth dome of water over it that muffled its roar.

Yagura stabbed the other end of his staff into the earth, making a fist with his free left hand. The huge dome shrank down with alarming speed, crushing the similarly shaped explosion down into a ball roughly as tall as the Mizukage. He flicked his fist open and to the left, and the water evaporated away with a hiss, leaving a vaguely humanoid figure slumped at the center of the crater where the Tailed Beast Balls had exploded.

He lunged with a Pulse Step, raising his staff. At the heart of the crater, the Mizukage stood shakily with soot covering his armor in place of frost. He raised his nodachi with a roar, bringing it down to meet Yagura's incoming staff.

Their weapons smashed against each other several times in rapid succession, and Yagura listened to the nodachi's tang rattling in its handle. The blade was also chipped and warped to the left and right slightly, to say nothing of the state of Ryoutaro's armored coat. Many plates of armor were gone, the fabric itself was torn open in various places, and what remained was wet with the Mizukage's blood. His Frost Armor had clearly been a formidable defense, but it just couldn't hold off two Tailed Beast Balls.

Yagura blocked another of Ryoutaro's strikes and pounced on an unexpected opening. He shoved his staff forward and upward, knocking the Mizukage's sword up over its wielder's head. He then moved as fast as he could, lashing out at the blade with the hook of his staff as it towered over him. He pulled both weapons to the right, and finally the nodachi gave out. The tang tore out of place in the handle, and the tsuba thumped into the dirt softly.

The rest of the world was silent for a moment, but then the blade rang as it struck a rock, and Yagura's hooked staff tore out Ryoutaro's throat. It was a remarkable testament to the older man's willpower that he still tried to swear one last time, but without a throat he couldn't make a sound.

Yagura vanished past him again, and this time past Isobu as well. The Three-Tails then fired the fifth Tailed Beast Ball of the evening, completely wiping the Third Mizukage from existence.

"On that night, seven years ago, I became the Fourth Mizukage."

Fuu whistled, and Hinata spoke up, "So what happened then? And how did Zabuza end up trying to kill you six years ago?"

"The answer to both questions is simple," Yagura began.

"Madara," Zabuza finished.

Kurama snorted. "Why am I not surprised?"

Naruto chuckled, and Yagura went on, "For almost a year, I remained in charge of Kiri. I began to undo the damage to our reputation and our power that the Third had done. My end goal was for the 'Blood Mist' to completely escape its infamy, and become a respected and admired ninja village once again. But before that could happen, Madara Uchiha arrived in Kiri."

"Technically he wasn't the real Madara, but it's hard to think of him as anyone else... anyway, he took control of Yagura with Sharingan genjutsu, and things were worse than ever after that," Zabuza continued. "Yagura became even more of a recluse and a tyrant than the Third. At first I thought I'd been misjudging him all along; I thought he had been planning to rule like this since before we met. I considered trying to kill him, but I didn't think I'd succeed."

"What changed?" Kimimaro asked.

"I found out the truth," Zabuza answered. "Yagura came back into the village one night with a squad of masked ninja, and I tried talking to him. I got just close enough to see that his eyes weren't red because of Isobu's chakra."

"Ah..." Kurama sighed in realization. "The tomoe."

"Exactly. They were just visible on the edges of Yagura's irises. Once I knew that; once I realized that he was under genjutsu, stopping him... stopping Madara... felt much more possible. I knew I'd never be strong enough to kill Yagura, but if I could move fast enough to get to him and break the genjutsu with a chakra pulse... That much I could do."

The rain poured down over the Land of Water so heavily that a civilian or a Genin would possibly have difficulty standing upright, with the water pounding down onto their head and shoulders.

Standing in the rain on the outskirts of Kiri, there was a nine-year-old boy with long, straight black hair that reached easily to his shoulder blades. He was lightly built, almost frail-looking, such that the heavy rain should have already brought him down.

But his clothes were dry and his shoulders were squared, because there was a thin dome of ice floating over his head much like an umbrella. The rainwater cascaded off the ice in alarming amounts, soaking into the ground. The boy noted with a hint of dismay that the land would soon begin to flood, and at this rate it would be flooded horribly. But he could walk on water, so he was in no danger.

"Haku, what are you thinking right now?"

Haku looked up sharply, not at Zabuza but at the manor on the horizon. The fog filling the air and the rain pouring through it both limited the range of his sight, but he could make out the shape of the building in the darkness. The sun was probably still setting, but with this weather it was as dark as night.

"It will be impossible to attack through the walls of the building, as you know, Zabuza-sama." Haku paused thoughtfully. "We only need a momentary opening for you to close in and use a chakra pulse on Yagura, but with the walls of the manor reinforced enough to withstand multiple Tailed Beast Balls, it would be impossible to attack before actually setting foot inside. But..."

"Go on."

"If we used the Hidden Mist Jutsu, we could approach the manor without being attacked from a distance ourselves. Although they would sense our approach because of the chakra in the air, the Hidden Mist combined with the natural fog and rain would make it impossible for them to tell which direction we're coming from."

"Good. But that doesn't account for Madara's Sharingan. Also, because Yagura's eyes are also Sharingan now, he might be able to see chakra the way an Uchiha can. We can't be sure."

"Hm... but Zabuza-sama, the Hidden Mist fills the air with chakra. That should be enough to blind the Sharingan; they won't be able to see our silhouettes..."

"...Until we get close enough," Zabuza corrected. "At a certain point, the chakra in our bodies outshines the chakra in the air enough for a doujutsu user to make out a silhouette. At greater distances, there's more mist between us and Madara, and that means there's more chakra between us as well. Until we get close enough, we'll be invisible." seeing Haku's puzzled look, he explained, "I talked to a guy who stole a Byakugan from Konoha. He knows a lot about how doujutsu work."

Haku nodded in understanding. "Did he tell you whether a doujutsu can tell the difference between real shinobi and clones?"

Zabuza nodded back. "His Byakugan can tell people from elemental and genjutsu clones, but shadow clones are impossible to tell from the original. Also, he can't tell the difference between elemental and genjutsu clones unless he really focuses on them. The flow of chakra inside the two kinds has the same vague pattern; he can only tell by measuring how much chakra is in them."

"I see... and that would mean that shadow clones have a proper chakra network like a real shinobi, which is why he can't tell the clone from the real thing?"

"That's it."

"In that case, our plan is to create elemental clones. Yours will use the Hidden Mist Jutsu, and the two of them will go in together ahead of us, while we approach from another side at a slower pace. The clones will prompt the enemy to come out of the manor and confront them, and that's when we'll strike from another, unexpected direction."

"Very good, Haku. I trained you well. Using shadow clones would be even better, but I use water clones instead, and you don't have enough chakra to make one even if you knew the jutsu. We'll just have to hope that the chakra glow in the mist will be enough to stop Madara or anyone else with a doujutsu from recognizing our clones."

"I understand, Zabuza-sama. So when do we put this plan into action?"

"Now."

Haku's eyes widened, and he glanced up at Zabuza's. His father figure's expression spoke of a cold... no, boiling hot determination that the young ice wielder had never seen before. Could it be possible that Zabuza-sama... cares for certain people after all? It's too much for me to assume that he cares about his tools such as myself, but... "Zabuza-sama... why is it so important to save Mizukage-sama?"

"Because he's one of only two people in this world that I've ever cared about. The snotty little brother I never had."

"And who was or is the other?" Haku asked before he could stop himself. He all but clapped a hand over his mouth after he spoke.

"Don't concern yourself with that, Haku." Zabuza turned his attention fully back to the manor in the distance. "It's time; make a water clone."

"...R-Right." Haku made a short set of one-handed seals. "Water Clone Jutsu." the deepening murky water between their feet and the ground groggily rose up into Haku's own shape, quivering once just after it formed. I still have trouble with this one, but I won't let Zabuza-sama down. Never. The water clone turned toward Haku and nodded, as if to confirm the original's thoughts.

"Hidden Mist Jutsu." The air grew thicker than before, much thicker and even harder to see through. The mist crept across the open land between Zabuza and the manor, hissing very softly as it spread. "Water Clone Jutsu." A copy of Zabuza was quickly and effortlessly formed from a raised mass of murky rainwater, and upon taking Zabuza's appearance it drew its copy of Kubikiri Bouchou.

"Remember this, Haku. You only have one mission; to buy me enough time to lay a hand on Yagura and break the genjutsu. That's all. Maybe you can do that by fighting, or running so that they chase you, or staying protected in a structure of ice. But I'm not telling you to die tonight."

"...Zabuza-sama..."

"That would be too much of a waste. I can't have one of my most useful tools allowing itself to be destroyed."

"I... ah." Haku nodded solemnly. "I understand perfectly, Zabuza-sama. I won't fail this mission, and I also won't die."

Zabuza looked up at the clones then, gazing first at his own. "My speed with the Pulse Step is greater than Haku's, so you'll have to intentionally slow yourself down so he can keep up. Now go; approach the manor from the west. Haku, I'll pace myself with you the same way, and we'll attack from due north."

"Yes."

First the clones blurred away, shortly followed seconds later by the real Zabuza and Haku, leaving that section of a miserable, wet night empty.

For a few moments that felt more like several minutes, they approached the manor from two sides without interruption. After that, however, a blur of black, red and blue shot into the real Zabuza's path. He drew Kubikiri Bouchou forth and let the attacker slam into his blade, bouncing off with the agility of a seasoned ninja.

Kisame Hoshigaki, clad in a soaked black robe with a red cloud emblem, held his own sword Samehada lightly with one hand, pointing the tip of the weapon at Zabuza from a short distance. The blade's white bandage wrapping was gone, baring the countless razor-sharp teeth to glisten darkly and hungrily.

"...Kisame," Zabuza growled. "So you're involved with this too."

"That's right, I'm knowingly following Madara-sama's orders, not just Yagura's." Kisame grinned a bit broader than he had been already. "To be honest, I know that your kenjutsu is better than mine... but once you factor in that I'm stronger, have far more chakra, and a much greater mastery of Water Release than you, this fight starts to feel a bit one-sided."

Behind his white half-mask, Zabuza's expression was a stern frown. "You know, I never liked you, and even if I did I'd have no problem with killing you." Kisame gave a brief but genuinely amused chuckle. "You see, you forgot to factor in one other thing. Strength isn't what decides a battle between swords. If you lay a blade against skin and push as hard as you can, that flesh will be cut, but if you swing it properly..."

Zabuza vanished and appeared again in front of Kisame, almost in the exact same instant, and brought his sword down. Wide-eyed, Kisame raised Samehada to deflect it, but before the attack touched his defense, Zabuza vanished again and appeared behind him. Kisame tried to dodge to the right, but Kubikiri Bouchou slashed his left wrist as he leapt.

"...What I'm saying is that I only need one advantage to kill you with this sword," Zabuza went on. "And my speed is much, much greater than yours." Kisame gritted his teeth in pain. "And now you're down an arm, so there goes your strength advantage. I don't think you'll find it easy to use jutsu when you can't make two-handed seals... so what was that about a one-sided fight?"

"Heh." Kisame tuned out the pain in his wound with practiced ease, raising Samehada again with only his right hand. "I only need one arm to shave you to bits, Zabuza. And now that I know your movement jutsu trick, don't expect to take away my good arm too!"

Kisame lunged forward with his huge weapon raised, and Zabuza mirrored his actions without hesitation. They met and struck against each other viciously, and their weapons became a spinning blender of steel, sound and sparks.

Haku watched with wide eyes as the two fought the highest-level kenjutsu match he had ever seen, looking for a glimpse of an opening but finding none. These were two of the greatest sword wielders in the world, and they had been trained together. They didn't know every single one of each other's moves, but they had seen a vast majority of them. They were also very evenly matched; although Kisame still had a strength advantage, Zabuza was able to attack from absolutely any direction without warning through his unique Pulse Step.

One moment, he was attacking Kisame directly from the front; the next he was diagonally behind the shark and to his left, swinging his massive Seversword horizontally while still in midair. Kisame heard the whistling 'sword-wind' sound of the blade slicing the air and falling rain, and he spun on the balls of his feet to block the strike with Samehada just in time. Zabuza's feet touched the ground, and he vanished again in an instant.

Kisame glanced around, checking behind himself first. He gripped Samehada's handle tightly, and perhaps nervously. He could almost hear the air being pushed aside by Zabuza as he continued to blur around him, likely circling the blue shinobi ironically like a shark.

However, when Zabuza reappeared he did so directly in front of Kisame, the one place his foe expected the least. He still managed to block Kubikiri Bouchou's menacing blade, but this time his feet slid backward and splashed up a bit of earth-tinged water as the huge sword's momentum continued to push him. Zabuza pulled back his weapon only to bring it down on Kisame's defense again, and again, and again.

Kisame gritted his teeth and weathered the storm of blows, and without thinking he tried to move his left hand to better brace Samehada against Zabuza's attacks. He bared his teeth and snarled in pain, faltering for the briefest of moments. It was long enough for Zabuza to take full advantage and smash Kisame's defense wide open with a horizontal slash from right to left. He raised the greatsword over his head, preparing to bring it down with a roar and vertically cut Kisame in two.

However, his blow never struck home. He was interrupted by a black spiralling vortex that appeared before Kisame, warping the air and spitting out a masked, similarly black-robed man from the space behind space. This man calmly laid a hand on Kisame, who then vanished into another spiral, leaving Kubikiri Bouchou to cut through only this masked man.

Tobi failed to meet Zabuza's expectation of splitting in half with a shower of blood and gore. Instead, he simply glared at the swordsman with a spinning red and black eye to conjure another spiral portal, and this one placed Yagura in the air before Zabuza.

Yagura swung his hooked staff at Zabuza's throat without hesitation, but the black weapon was stopped soundly and harmlessly by a small, circular panel of floating ice.

"Ice Release: Demonic Ice Mirrors."

Twenty-one much larger, rectangular prisms of ice rose up from the still deepening water that flooded the land. They surrounded Yagura and Tobi, and the latter disappeared into a portal without a word. Yagura glanced around with scarlet eyes at twenty-one images of the same young Yuki Clan boy, each holding a senbon lightly.

Haku threw the needles all at once, but Yagura spun with incredible speed and swept all of them from the air with his staff. Haku then threw another volley only from the side of the formation away from Zabuza, again watching coolly as the Mizukage deflected each attack with ease. Whether this was because of his natural skill, or the Sharingan pattern in his eyes being functional after all, Haku couldn't tell. However, he didn't have to.

"Now, Zabuza-sama!"

The Demon of the Mist poured out his chakra into a Pulse Step, holding Kubikiri Bouchou out harmlessly at his side while reaching for Yagura's back with his left hand. Time slowed to a crawl for him even as he flitted on with an unnamed Empty Wind, praying to whatever Kami would bother to listen to a 'demon.' He reached, closer and closer as Yagura began to turn, then finally his fingers touched Yagura's back.

The chakra pulse exploded out of Zabuza with enough force to push Yagura away slightly, and the younger man blinked a few times. Unseen by both Zabuza and Haku, they turned purple for only the briefest of moments before reverting to a red glow.

"And this brings us to the point where Zabuza-sensei's knowledge of the story differs from mine," Yagura spoke up solemnly. "Even to this day, he almost certainly believes that his attempt to free me from Madara's genjutsu was a failure. It wasn't." Zabuza's eyes went wide. "He saved me exactly as he intended to. I merely tapped into Isobu's chakra to turn my eyes red again, and hide that fact from Madara. This also entailed continuing to attack Zabuza-sensei in case we were being watched."

"...Why!?" most of the room exploded, but among them Zabuza was one of the ones who remained silent.

"Simply put, I felt my chances of escape were more solid if I fled from Kiri at a more oppurtune time. If at all possible, I would try to leave when Madara was asleep or at least a solid distance away. The longer it took for news of my escape to reach him, the better my chances were of getting away before he could find me with his space-time ninjutsu."

Yagura paused, then reconsidered. "Also, I felt certain that if I did flee with Zabuza-sensei then, and I was captured again in his presence, Madara would kill both Zabuza-sensei and Haku. So I kept fighting and defeated Zabuza-sensei. Thinking that his strongest chakra pulse wasn't able to break the Sharingan genjutsu, he concluded that there was nothing more he could do, and he fled with Haku in tow. The next day, I 'went missing,' which Zabuza-sensei likely concluded meant I was dead."

Zabuza nodded. "And you guys know the story from there. For three years after that, Haku and I wandered the continent as missing-nin, until eventually we ended up taking a job in the Land of Waves to kill some civilian architect. A team of three snot-nosed Genin brats and their Jounin sensei showed up, kicked our asses, and the rest is history. Taking that job was the best mistake I ever made."

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