Naruto's charging fist stopped just short of Haku's face.
"You're the kid I met yesterday."
"Why did you stop? I murdered your comrade, your beloved friend, and you still spare me?"
Naruto looked back at the prone figure of his fallen comrade before landing his punch with an expletive. While Haku coughed up blood from the punch, it wasn't the killing blow he prepared for.
"All the power you had before, where is it? Often people have it wrong, mistakenly believing that showing mercy is a kindness. They spare the foe whose life is in their hands. But don't you see? It's an empty existence to go on living alone and unloved, when defeat already cost you your dream."
Haku smiled bitterly at Naruto.
"Master Zabuza has no use for a weak shinobi. You have taken away my reason for living."

Such a concept was unbelievable to Naruto, who couldn't contain his confusion.
"Why waste all that devotion on such a creep?"
Haku just looked at the shorter shinobi, seeing his opportunity to share his truth with another person before his life was over.
"Once I was precious. I belonged to my parents. I was born in a snowy, little village in the Land of Mist. And I was happy. My parents were good, kind people. But just as I was old enough to really notice the world around me, something happened."
Haku wiped the blood from his mouth, looking at his stained fingers.
"Blood. My blood. My father killed my mother and tried to kill me. The Land of Mist has been the scene of generations of non-stop war. Among its people, those who possess the Kekkei Genkai – skills that come from our genetic inheritance – are loathed as abominations. Inherited skills that were exploited, and twisted, used to cause horrible slaughter. Until we ceased to be looked on as warriors or even weapons but were condemned as harbingers of doom. After the wars, we were hunted, only able to survive by hiding the existence of our skills and bloodlines."
He looked towards Sasuke, thinking of his sharingan eye that had just opened.
"The boy I killed must have grown up knowing the pain of which I speak. We are special. We are powerful. And we are feared. The most painful thing-"
Haku stuttered, his breath ragged from exertion.
"Accepting I was alone in the world. Unwanted. Shunned."
Naruto could relate, his time living in the village had been littered with people who ignored him, shunned him. Adults who forbid their children from play with him. The loneliness grabbed his chest with a deep heaviness.
"Master Zabuza adopted me, knowing I came from a Kekkei Genkai Bloodline. He cherished it. He wanted it. I was so happy."
Tears slipped from his eyes and carved a path down the boy's face as he mentally begged Zabuza for forgiveness for his failure.
"Naruto. Please. Take my life."

"You say my future is death? I've had enough of your bluffs."
"Who's bluffing now? There's no way out. Face it. You're going to die."
The two men stared at each other.
"Kakashi sensei, let me help." Kakashi looked over his shoulder to see the hard smile of Nishira, eyes devoid of the gentleness she held, Kakashi squinted as a ring of black circled outside her irises, glinting in the little light. Her recovered ninjato held deftly in both hands.
"I'm ready!" Chakra started to pour out of her pores, a deep red, like the spurt of fresh harvested blood. The bloodlust was palpable. Kakashi stared at his student with renewed interest, but the person who stood in front of him tilted her head at an odd angle and stared at Zabuza, waiting for the word, it reminded him of the first day they met.
"Nishira, stand down."
He cast her one last glance, as she pouted like a spoiled child but abided by his order, before turning back to Zabuza.
"Zabuza, you've had your fun. You schemed your schemes. The day you deserted the Land of the Mist and became a turncoat and renegade, your name and your actions were reported to us at Konoha Village. We know all about the failed coup you and your followers staged, and about the attempt to assassinate Mizukage, the water shadow, leader of your people. You've been trying to raise funds for a second attempt, and barely staying a jump ahead of the shinobi hunters, which is what brought you here. It's why you'd stoop to work for a parasite like Gato."

Kakashi formed his hands into signs and generated a ball of chakra in his hand, visible to the naked eye. His fingers curled as though cradling a ball. The furious energy made a thundering chirping noise that filled the air with static, its brilliant light stung the eyes the longer you stared at it, casting Kakashi into a white ghost of desecration.
Chidori!
"You're a loose cannon, Zabuza. The man you're trying to kill, Mr. Tazuna, is the heart and spirit of this place. And the bridge you're trying to prevent him from completing is the land's hope. You're willing to sacrifice this place and everyone in it, just to advance your own ambitions. That's not what a true shinobi does."
"Spare me the civics lesson and philosophy. I'm fighting for my own ideals. And I'm not about to stop."
"I'll say this just once more. Give up… Your future is death."

"Haku? Where is he?" Naruto looked around for his opponent who had been begging to die only moments ago. Naruto was about to oblige, but at the last moment, Haku had caught his fist and apologized before disappearing. The mist continued to fade around him, and Naruto saw figures in the distance. He ran to investigate and was shocked by the vision in front of him. Kakashi's hand was through the right side of Haku's chest, who had gotten in between them. Haku's hands gripped Kakashi's forearm. Sakura and Tazuna stood in the background.

Around them, the blood coated every surface and pooled at their feet. The chirping from Kakashi's hands drowned out anything else out, but there was a heavy silence as the raw lethal energy that had been weaponized against its opponent. Zabuza chuckled, having escaped another one of Kakashi's killing blows.
"That was brilliant, Haku."
Kakashi looked up at the child he had just ripped through and saw in Haku's brown eyes, now glazed over and staring blankly back at him, that he was already dead. Zabuza unlatched his sword and went to cleave them both in half.
"I really did find a treasure in that gutter, to think that he'd grant me this marvelous chance in the end!"
Kakashi grabbed Haku's body and leapt out of the way. Nishira jumped into action, her ninjato sliced across his ribs, before bending backwards to avoid the backswing, the wind from the blade tickled her bare skin of her midriff and pulled at tendrils of her hair. She placed her hand on his side and seemed to grab at the skin. Zabuza cried out with pain as Nishira's hand appeared to rip away the skin where her hand grazed, and it stained with the new blood. The sword made another swing and she flipped out of reach. Zabuza looked at her as her tongue licked at her candy apple red fingers, some of it left on her lip. Zabuza turned back to Kakashi, who held Haku. The guttural sound of him pulling his hand out of Haku echoed in the otherwise quiet.
"You were able to get away because poor Haku was already dead."
Naruto gnashed his teeth, Nishira readied her weapon to have another go. Kakashi looked side to side at both of them.
"Naruto. Nishira. Stay out of it!"
Kakashi looked back at the child's body he held. Gently he lowered his hand and closed Haku's eyes. Grieving for the loss of such a young life, but this had been Haku's choice. He honoured that sacrifice and grieved the loss all the same.
"This is my fight!"
Sakura saw Naruto as the mist fully dissipated.
"Naruto! You're alive! What about Sasuke! Where's Sasuke?"
Naruto looked down, unable to deliver the news to the girl he cared about, the girl that loved his teammate. His silence drew Kakashi's attention.
"FOCUS KAKASHI! Don't let yourself be distracted!" Zabuza rushed forward. Kakashi stopped his forceful approach with his foot to Zabuza's gut.

Beside Tazuna, Sakura trembled. Torn between wanting to make sure Sasuke was alright so desperately, but also not wanting to disobey Kakashi sensei's orders. Tazuna softened.
"I'll stay with you so that you won't be disobeying your sensei's orders."
He gripped her hand and let her lead them, running past Naruto, who kept his gaze down as she passed. Sakura approached and gazed upon Sasuke's body, the needles marring his body. Tazuna looked away after seeing all color drain from Sakura's face. She fell harshly to her knees. Her hand hesitantly reached for his face; she was shocked by the chill that came from his pale skin.
"He's so cold. This isn't an illusion, is it?" her voice wavered.
"Don't hold back for my sake. There are times when it's right to give in and shed some good honest tears."
They welled up in honesty, as Sakura brushed her hand gently in his soft hair, caressing his still face.
"I… always got perfect scores on all my tests in school. I memorized each and every one of the one hundred rules of conduct for ninja and shinobi. I used to write them out with pride. We had a test one day. And the question was 'what is the 25th rule of shinobi conduct?' Just like always, I wrote it down." She took a shuddering breath as more tears followed the first ones in a stream
"'No matter what happens, true shinobi must never ever show their emotions! Th-the mission is the only priority. Carry that in your heart. And never, never, sh-shed a tear'."
Tried as much as she could, tears stubbornly continued seeping from her eyes, hot and salty, stinging her eyes. They dripped onto the concrete, and some landed on Sasuke's face. Soon Sakura gave way to the sobs that welled in her chest, throwing herself onto Sasuke's chest, crying his name. Tazuna looked on at the girl, barely reached puberty, a child, and thought about her words.
So this… this is what a shinobi is… it's unbearable.
Naruto clutched his chest, Sakura's wretched sobs tore him from the inside, but the dark power didn't come back.

Kakashi's and Zabuza's fight was slowing down. Zabuza's breath came out in ragged breaths. His last clash ended with two kunai rammed into the bicep of his left arm. His anger and fatigue made his movements erratic, as he desperately clutched at the sword in his right hand, and Kakashi evaded them easily, barely making an effort.
"I'll split you in half!"
Zabuza swung his sword wildly, Kakashi simply reappeared behind him, placing a hand on Zabuza's neck.
"Now there's no way you can beat me. It's over. You just don't know it yet."

At the end of the bridge, a new contender appeared with a cane, dancing it between his hands eagerly.
"I wonder how the fight's going!"

Kakashi pulled out two kunai in his hand, twirling them on separate fingers, he gripped them and prepared for his next move.
"This is goodbye, 'demon'!"
Zabuza's last ditch effort to save himself was to whip his sword at his opponent. Kakashi ducked, stabbing the kunai into arm that held the sword, rendering it useless. The sword fell from his hand, the momentum made Kakashi duck, a fleck of blood landing on his cheek.
"Now you can't use either arm. No hand signs, no chakra."
A voice called out from the end of the bridge announcing his arrival. It was full of smug glibness.
"Well, he's certainly made a fine mess out of you! What a pity, Zabuza."

Standing there was the man named Gato, his eyes obscured by his signature small black round sunglasses, a custom-tailored suit, designed to make him look as tall as possible despite his short stature. Behind him, an army of leering and jeering mercenaries, armed to the nines, licking their lips hungrily.

"Gato, what are you… doing here? And… why… did you bring all of them?"
Zabuza's breathing was laboured. The shinobi's sorry state delighted Gato.
"There's been a slight change of plan, Zabuza. Or of your plans, anyway. This is what I had in mind all along. You're going to die, 'demon'. Here and now. You must have guessed. I never intended to pay you."
Zabuza glared at the gangster. Nishira looked guiltily at the ground. The other face in the bingo book had been Zabuza's. She'd wanted to believe it was an insurance policy, so he'd do the job, but the man's declaration had made it crystal clear that he never intended to pay him.
"It's such a bother hiring skilled shinobi affiliated with one of the top villages. It's expensive and they tend to have friends who object when I betray and kill them. It's so much simpler to hire nuke-nin – renegades – like yourself. No one cares what I do to your kind once the job is done. All of you ninja are so eager to fight each other. Once you've worn each other down, common thugs can finish off the rest. It's a great business plan – efficient and inexpensive. Now even these thugs I brought with me cost something, so if you can slaughter some of them when they take you down, I would appreciate it. My only mistake was hiring you in the first place. Calling yourself the 'Demon of Kirigakure' is just plain false advertising. You're no demon, more like a baby demon, if that."
The enormous group mercenaries heckled them, showing their eagerness to take out the worn ninja. Zabuza turned to the squad leader.
"Forgive me, Kakashi, our fight is over. I no longer have any reason to want to assassinate Tazuna, which settles our differences."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

Gato approached Haku's body.
"That reminds me. I still have a score to settle."
Using his shoe and cane, he jabbed at the corpse.
"You… crushed my arm until you almost broke the bones! Hah! Dead meat. Carrion."
He delivered a boot to Haku's face, triggering Naruto into a rage.
"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING, YOU CREEP?!"
Naruto took off to charge them, collared only by Kakashi.
"Stop. Think. There's a lot of them, don't act so reckless."
Naruto turned his rage to Zabuza.
"HEY, WHY DON'T YOU DO SOMETHING?! HE WORKED FOR YOU! HE WAS PRACTICALLY YOUR SLAVE!"
Zabuza didn't turn to face Naruto's belligerent yelling.
"Like what? Haku is dead, what does it matter?"
Naruto jabbed his finger at him.
"BUT YOU SHOULD CARE! THAT FAT SCUMBAG IS DESECRATING HIM! HE WAS YOUR COMRADE, YOUR PARTNER. HE WORKED FOR YOU FOR YEARS!"
"Gato has been using me and I used Haku. Weren't you listening? It's a shinobi's lot. All of us are either users, or tools, or both. I didn't value Haku for himself, but for the taint his blood carried and for what his talents could do for me. I apologize for nothing."
Naruto's brow furrowed even further, his tone reducing to a lower and harsher tone, outrage poisoning every word.
"You- Do you really mean that?"
Kakashi tried to calm his student, but it proved fruitless on Naruto.
"SHUT UP – HE'S STILL MY ENEMY!"

Nishira stood, unmoving, her gaze fixed on Gato, ignoring the thought that this could be the end of all of them. The worst she had feared had arrived. The notorious gangster stood ready to destroy them all, but a newfound bravery welled from some unknown source. Nishira wasn't going to go down without a fight.

From down the bridge, Gato wondered who the loudmouth was. Naruto, the loudmouth in question, jabbed his finger in Haku's way.
"HE REALLY CARED FOR YOU! HE WAS DEVOTED TO YOU!"
Zabuza didn't reply.
"BUT YOU THINK THAT'S JUST NOTHING, THAT HE WAS NOTHING! YOU DON'T FEEL A THING! ARE YOU REALLY THAT HEARTLESS?"
Despite his rage, tears welled up in Naruto's eyes, for the boy who he had dueled and asked for death only moments ago, who sacrificed himself for his master.
"IS THAT HOW YOU GET WHEN YOUR POWERS ARE AS STRONG AS YOURS ARE? HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR YOU!"
The tears threatened to overwhelm Naruto, his voice quieted even more.
"He died… without any of his dreams ever coming true. To die as his tool, that's too much, too cruel."
Zabuza finally turned to Naruto, with his own tears seeping down his face.
"Kid… not… another word. What Haku did was not just for me. While we fought, he broke his heart over you and your friends. That's the truth. He was too kind, too gentle"

Zabuza used his mouth of jagged teeth to tear the bandages that covered his face. His arms useless at his sides.
"I'm glad my last battle was against you, boy. You're right, you know. Say what we will, do what we will. In the end, we shinobi are still just people after all, with feelings all-too-human. And I've lost… everything. Would you lend me your kunai knife?"
Naruto agreed and threw it towards Zabuza, who caught it in his unnatural jaw with a ferocious glare towards Gato. Zabuza took off at breakneck speed towards his former boss and the horde of mercenaries. Gato stumbled back making a path through the mercenaries he hired to protect him. At his word, the mercenaries were eager to advance and kill the lone man. But as Zabuza raced towards them, his chakra flared off his back and created the faint image of a demonic face trailing behind him. Zabuza collided with the front line of mercenaries and sliced his way through, armed only with Naruto's kunai knife. Gato gulped as Zabuza closed in nearer and nearer, his eyes only for Gato.

As Gato's frenzied stare watched the man who only had eyes for his. The aura around Zabuza looked to Gato as though the demon that possessed him enveloped his body and spurned him further to seal his fate. Zabuza honed in and stabbed the kunai under Gato's chin, and stabbed it again into his chest. Some of the mercenaries nearby plunged their blades into Zabuza's back, who refused to let go of his prize.
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE? If you're in such a hurry to be reunited with your little friend, go alone!"
"I have no intention of going to the same place as Haku. I'm taking you with me… to hell! Even an ogre in name only, a washout from the Kirigakure village can become a real demon in how he meets his death."
Zabuza took the kunai from his chest and reared up for his final attack.
"Once we're in hell, I can take my time and show you over and over who is or is not a 'baby demon'!"
With a skilled move, Zabuza used the kunai to sweep Gato's head right off his shoulders, sending it flying through the troop of mercenaries. Zabuza stood, the swords and knives sticking out from his back resembling a broken set of wings, blood decorated his front dripping onto the ground. Zabuza raised his gaze to the mercenaries glaring at them with a terrifying stare that struck sent fear through trembling through them. But instead of charging them, he stumbled. His mind thought of the sweet innocent boy that had stayed by his side for years, as he fell to the ground. His last thoughts were of farewells and apologies to Haku.