New Chips Have Been Laid
The days dragged on dreadfully for all. Though the veil of horror and darkness had lifted, the damage had been done. Work resumed to repair the bridge's damage from the several battles and continue its construction. Wrecked buildings torn down, new ones being built and what could be repaired was swiftly done so. Yet nothing prepared them all for the gore, blood and bodies left behind. The bodies of the fallen, villager and criminal, were buried and given proper burial rights by the town's few remaining priests.
Even in final death, the uncountable hordes caused endless issues for the people of the waves. As soon as the sun rose on the day after the battle, the sun began to rot the corpses of mordant, vampire and beast. It kicked up a most unholy smell and brought near darkening clouds of large black flies and maggots. Gato had to provide rapid coverings for both the villagers and his men as removing the bodies equally proved a challenge. Eventually they had to dig large pits to burn the bodies in to begin to get rid of them and remove the gore. Even then, it looked as though that process would be far too slow.
Despite this, positivity began to reign through. They finally were able to take a breather after so long, and with less being required for defense, more could be put to labor. That, unfortunately, meant Naruto was conscripted into the labor category. And his ability to create shadow clones.
"I fight a creepy, half-charred vampire and this is the thanks I get? Becoming a pack mule? If this is heroism, then I don't get the appeal." Naruto grumbled as he helped a dozen of his clones lift a deeply charred beam into a wagon.
"Quit complaining, Naruto. This was our battle too, so we have to help clean up. Do you think this is any less unpleasant for us?" Sakura replied as she tried not to gag while sweeping up severed, rotting body parts.
"Why can't I at least get the fun job like Sasuke? I have a bone to pick with those dragons and Terrorgheists!" Naruto yelled.
"Because you can't use Fire Release jutsu yet, dumbass." Sasuke replied before unleashing a burst of flames to burn more bodies.
"You're welcome for saving your goose neck from becoming a winter dinner!" Naruto shot back.
"Thanks for the save, Naruto…" Sasuke said quietly.
"What did you say?" Naruto asked, curious about what his partner said.
"Nothing. Get back to work, idiot." Sasuke replied, accepting the body parts from Sakura to shovel onto the fire.
The two boys turned away from each other, and when each was sure, they gave a bit of a smile. Seen by Sakura however, this was not very amusing.
Sakura sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm surrounded by idiots…" She muttered as she went back to sweeping.
As this went on, both Tazuna and Gato stood with Kakashi as they began to plan out what still needed to be done. Zori and Waraji stood by observing, and despite having the greatest battle of their lifetimes, Waraji was complaining.
"When's the next ghoul invasion gonna come? That was one hell of a fight." Waraji groaned, his fingers twitching on the hilt of his sword.
Zori rolled his eyes. "Really, Waraji? We barely survived this encounter and you're already itching for more action?" He asked his battle-scarred partner.
"But they don't run away so easily unlike everyone else. It allows you to enjoy them for longer!" Waraji insisted.
"Just keep your one good eye open. If someone else is dumb enough to invade and try anything before the work is done, THEN you can cut them up as much as you want." Zori replied.
"Cut the chatter, you two." Gatō growled as he went back to counting on an abacus.
"Have you ever thought about investing in a calculator, Gatō?" Tazuna asked.
"Call me old fashioned, but I don't trust anything that I can't hear counting. That way, I know if people are messing with the numbers." Gatō sternly answered, "Last time I checked, you're still using a ruler as a level."
Tazuna just shrugged. "Fair enough. After all, there IS something much more satisfying about doing it the old-fashioned way, isn't there?" He responded.
"Indeed, there is. It takes me back to being a young accountant." Gatō sighed, his voice trailing off to long distant days.
Kakashi gave a deadpan look as he watched the two former enemies agree on such a trivial matter. "I don't know how to feel about the fact that Oda-sama got these two on the same page to this extent…" He muttered.
"How do you think I feel?" An eerily familiar growlish voice said as Zabuza walked up, covered in gore. "I cleared the big stuff from the main road for the stone shipments. Once Haku is done tending to the big man today, he'll get to work clearing the large amounts of ice."
"Thank you, Zabuza." Gatō said as he, Tazuna, Kakashi, and the rōnin tried desperately not to gag or puke at the rank stank of death that permeated from the demon's gore-soaked clothing.
"I'd better be getting paid extra for this…" Zabuza muttered as he went back to work.
"Don't worry, Zabuza. You'll be getting paid a lot more extra for all this work if it means you take a bath after we're done for the day." Gatō reassured him as the five all held their noses.
"I thought demons loved gore Zabuza. That's not very demonly of you." Kakashi said as he held his nose.
"Shut it, scarecrow. Demons love getting covered in FRESH gore, not ROTTING gore." Zabuza snarked back as he went back to help clear out all of the dead bodies.
"Well even demons eat flies if they're desperate." Kakashi said simply.
"You're thinking of tsuchigumo, dumbass." He replied as he continued moving a pile of bodies into a burn pit.
"They're still demons." Kakashi cheekily said, a smirk piercing his mask ever so slightly as Zabuza grumbled.
Eventually, the noon whistle blared, and everyone gently and diligently laid down their tools. After freshening up in makeshift showers, they all made for the food lines set up by the wives and children of the village. Naruto impatiently waited till he finally got to his point in the line, he saw Tsunami and Inari before him, and they each gave him a big, warm smile.
"Hello Naruto-san. I hope you weren't waiting too long." Tsunami said as she served up his noodle soup. "Inari, don't take too long with the rolls."
"Got it, mom!" Inari replied as he served up Naruto's rolls, making sure to give him some of the bigger ones.
"You guys don't have to give me those…" Naruto said to try and deny any special treatment in front of everyone.
"Just accept the stupid rolls, Naruto. You're the reason why Oda came up with that plan to take out Targos that won us the battle." Sasuke told his teammate with a smirk.
"Did you just actually compliment me?" Naruto asked, a hint of surprise.
"Don't get used to it, knucklehead. Just because you had one good idea doesn't make you any less of a loser." Sasuke replied with that same smirk.
"Asshole." Naruto said.
"Dumbass." Sasuke shot back.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Can't you two just complement each other and be nice like normal friends?" She asked them.
"Making a LOT of assumptions right now." The two replied to their kunoichi teammate.
Taking his food to avoid holding up the line, Naruto walked over and sat down under a tree to eat. Despite the masses of people, he still sat alone. It reminded his teammates of the times they saw him after school, sitting alone under the tree in the courtyard. The two, once they got their own food, sat down next to their teammate. However, it didn't take long for the two's feelings from the previous day to kick in.
"Naruto…?" Sasuke asked, trying to figure out the best way to ask this.
"What is it that I did now? You want to call me a dumbass for?" Naruto asked, his mouth half full of one of the dinner rolls.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "First of all, don't talk with your mouth full. Second… How did you beat that Strigoi yesterday? I've never felt power like that before, even from Kakashi." He replied, becoming a bit nervous as he asked the question that was on both his and Sakura's minds.
"I don't know. I just followed Oda's advice, and it worked." Naruto answered, trying to cover up his own confusion on what happened the previous day.
"Well, that's good. That power seemed kind of scary, but I'm glad you at least seem to be able to control it for now." Sakura replied with a smile.
"Why wouldn't I be able to control it? It's my power." Naruto said, engaging in his trademark tactic of bluff and bravado in the face of uncertainty.
Sasuke and Sakura, however, noticed the change in Naruto's demeanor. Rather than continue pressing and make Naruto even more uncomfortable, they decided to drop the subject. With how Naruto was, he'd tell them when he was ready. This didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi, who sighed in relief and smiled at not having to get involved.
"What's the matter, scarecrow? Happy that your runts are slowly growing up?" Zabuza asked with a smirk beneath his bandages.
"They're doing it better than my team did." Kakashi answered as he was forced to take his mask off to eat.
"Huh… so that's what you look like under that thing." Zabuza commented before shrugging and going back to his own food.
"Easier to deal with the looks than having to go around with a dirty mask all day." Kakashi answered as he began to eat in kind.
"Fair enough. By the way… you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I kind of understand things not going how you want with a team." Zabuza replied, sounding almost sympathetic.
"You too, huh?" Kakashi asked simply before sipping on his tea.
"The Fourth Mizukage and the rest of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. I may not have been the closest with all of them, but, before Haku, they were all the closest things I had to friends. Then… well… you know how that turned out." Zabuza explained a little, sounding a bit somber.
"I understand your pain in kind, Zabuza." Was the last thing Kakashi said for the rest of lunch.
Meanwhile at Tazuna's House
Haku sighed as he sat down for a short lunch break of his own. Inari rushed to deliver him his soup, rolls and tea, and he got there so fast it was still warm. He was able to stabilize Oda over the past two days, being helped by the titan's immense healing abilities. He had seen impressive healing abilities before, Naruto's in particular was fascinating to him. But Oda's physiology and the runes of great power that covered his body were beyond anything he had ever thought was possible. The venom was the truly tricky part to deal with, as he had no anti-venom, or was going to be able to synthesize one with the limited and hasty resources on hand. For now, he simply had to slowly, torturously drain it from him using his chakra healing and his needles.
Yet, he didn't have long to eat as he sensed something coming from Oda's bed. He got up, rushing in expecting some straggler ghoul or half-burnt vampire to gain some final revenge. To his utter shock, however, was Oda waking up and even slowly sitting up. After only two days of care, and still for many lethal amounts of toxins in his body, he was now sitting up groggily.
"Gods above, I do not miss Strigoi venom at all…" Oda groaned, putting a hand on his head to stop the intense pain and feeling of swimming up there.
"O-Oda-sama…?" Haku asked in disbelief.
"Please… not so loud… head hurts…" Oda groaned, putting his other hand up to protest.
"O-Oh. My apologies. I'll go inform the others." Haku apologetically and quietly replied, leaving to go tell the others about Oda's awakening.
"Didn't even let me ask how long I was down for…" Oda muttered as he began to use a bit of magic to try and calm his pain a bit.
With the rest of the crew
As everyone slowly began to clean up after lunch and head off to do more work, it was stopped by Haku's sudden appearance. The fact he was even panting a bit sold that this was serious.
"Haku? What's wrong?" Kakashi asked, confused by the mercenary shinobi's sudden appearance.
"O… Oda-sama… awake…" Haku panted out to the shock of everyone present.
"... You can't be serious…" Zabuza said, breaking the stunned silence that hung over the crowd.
Haku shook his head. "H… He really is…" He panted in reply to his mentor.
"Kakashi… is that possible?" Tazuna asked, turning to the white-haired veteran.
"When it comes to that man, I wouldn't call anything impossible anymore." Kakashi replied simply.
"Well, what are we waiting for!" Naruto yelled, rushing off.
"Naruto! Be careful, you idiot! He's recovering from a battle!" Sakura yelled out to her dense teammate, rushing after him to prevent him from doing something stupid.
Sasuke simply sighed and followed behind his two brightly colored teammates. The rest of the shinobi rushed off as well, as the rest of the crowd followed at a more strictly human pace. Oda sighed in singular agony as he waited for Haku to return. However, first through the door to his room wasn't the mercenary doctor.
"Old man Oda!" Naruto called out in relief, slamming into the injured king with the force of a missile as he tackle-hugged him.
"Fuck me in all the hells!" Oda exclaimed in sudden shock and pain as the blow sent shockwaves of pain and wrath through him, hitting his strained nervous system like a tsunami and a typhoon at once.
Naruto pulled away sheepishly as he realized his mistake. "Sorry…" He replied, feeling bad for causing the older man pain.
"For a second… I thought I saw the light…" Oda groaned, back now to the bed and staring blankly at the ceiling as the others rushed in.
"Can you blame me? You've been out for two days!" Naruto told him in concern.
"No, but I can blame you for obliterating my spine." Oda groaned back.
"What did you do, Naruto-dono?" Haku asked in concern.
"He broke my spine!" Oda yelled in agony.
"I'm pretty sure it wasn't all that good to begin with after what old Fangs-and-Claws did to you." Zabuza butted in.
"Not now, Zabuza." Oda groaned. "Wait… Naruto, did you say two days?"
"Um… yeah. Why?" Naruto replied worriedly.
"To be honest… after all that… I honestly didn't think I was going to make it. I had made peace with my death back there… one could have called it poetic." Oda said as Haku began to heal him and ease his pain.
"I'm not gonna lie… that's pretty dark…" Sakura answered in concern.
"If you stare into the abyss, it might just stare back at you. I haven't stared into the abyss for nearly as long as my father, indeed I question how the man stayed sane, but I suppose it depends on whether or not you blink." Oda explained solemnly, the pain melting away enough to think somewhat straight.
"He's definitely okay now." Sasuke said in response to Oda being so cryptic.
"I deeply apologize for worrying you all and putting the mess I made on your shoulders to clean up." Oda said, bowing his head.
"Don't worry about it. We're all just happy that you're okay." Tazuna replied with a smile.
"Do you all have anything to eat? I am famished… and some sake couldn't hurt either. I'll take clouded sake at this point." Oda asked.
"Tsunami, go get the man some victuals!" Tazuna told his daughter.
"On it, father!" Tsunami rushed off to go get food.
"I've always found that word weird…" Inari muttered.
"Well, at least I wasn't out for a thousand years this time…" Oda muttered in kind.
"How exactly is that supposed to happen?" Naruto asked.
"Careful, Naruto. You might get an answer." Oda answered cryptically as Naruto fell silent in response.
Several weeks later: At the completion of the bridge
After weeks of hard toil and work, the mighty bridge had finally, miraculously been completed. Gato's ships plied the waters underneath its heightened supports as trade began to flow over it. The cleanup and reconstruction efforts went faster with labor, money, and material coming in from the mainland, and this change began to affect the normally sullen people. Now, it was not uncommon to see someone give a smile or say hi, as the burdens and shackles of oppression and poverty were finally lifted. As Team 7, the mercenary shinobi and Oda walked along the bridge, plaques and etchings into the side rails showed events important to the construction of it.
"I didn't know that the old builder was an artist." Naruto said out loud finally, looking at a chiseled image of him standing his ground to the Terrorgheist.
"He definitely has good attention to detail." Sasuke replied, looking at an image of he and his teammate's battle against that mad Strigoi.
"It takes great inspiration to achieve great art. And it's an honor to be the ones to have provided it." Oda said with a small smile, observing an etching of him making peace between the two leaders.
"Come back again someday, everyone!" Inari's voice called out from the other end of the bridge as they were leaving.
"Don't worry Inari, I will be back! Believe it!" Naruto yelled back at the boy.
"Well, my friends. This may be a goodbye, but that doesn't mean forever." Oda said, bowing to Team 7 in respect, with Haku and a reluctant Zabuza in kind.
"We couldn't have done all of this without any of you. Thank you for your help." Kakashi replied as he and his team bowed in kind.
"Take care of those runts of yours, Kakashi. If they survive long enough in this shinobi world, they're all going to turn out to be a force to be reckoned with." Zabuza told the cycloptic Hidden Leaf shinobi.
"You and Haku take care as well and do try not to cause too much trouble for Oda-sama." Kakashi answered in kind.
Zabuza smirked a bit. "No promises, cyclops." The Demon of the Hidden Mist replied with a somewhat playful tone.
"You three take care now. And Naruto-dono… do try to keep yourself in better health. I, unfortunately, will not be there to heal you from now on." Haku said.
"Can you please stop giving me confusing feelings!?" Naruto yelled out.
"For once, I agree with the idiot." Sasuke replied.
"Forgive these two, Haku-san. For they… yeah, they're too dumb to pin you down." Sakura explained.
Haku broke and snickered for a second, shocking the three. "Thank you, Sakura-dono. I will have to remember that one."
"Sasuke… did Sakura just make Haku laugh?" Naruto whispered in shock.
"I think she did…" Sasuke whispered back in disbelief.
"Kakashi, take care. And know that you and your village are always welcome visitors to my kingdom. And you four, especially, are my honored guests. Do please give your king my regards." Oda said with a smile.
Kakashi smiled under his mask. "I'll be sure to give Hokage-sama your regards, Oda-sama." He replied.
"Hey, Blondie." Zabuza said to the orange-clad shinobi.
"Yes, meat cleaver?" Naruto asked back.
Zabuza turned away as they prepared to leave. "You're gonna make a hell of a Hokage someday." He replied to the boy, shocking the others.
"First Iruka, then a giant demon butcher. Thanks, Zabuza. I'm not gonna let you down!" Naruto answered chipperly.
"I know you won't, brat." Zabuza replied with a tone that made you feel the smirk under his bandages.
"Right, it's time to be off. Can't keep my people waiting." Oda said as an azure blue aura wreathed his hands.
Waving them in ways that looked positively insane, in wide arcs, sweeping jabs, and weird hand symbols, the space before them on the end of the bridge began to distort. Slowly it began to swirl like a whirlpool, before finally they began to see something on the other side. The base of a great peak became clearer and clearer. They even saw distant silhouettes of people working.
"Alright. Hop on through you two." Oda said.
Zabuza wordlessly walked through, having said all he needed to say. Haku, however, looked back at his new friends for a moment. Giving them a smile, he waved to them before donning his mask and stepping through himself. Oda walked forward a bit, turned around the face them, and gave the four a final deep bow, before entering into the portal himself. As soon as he stepped through, it dissipated into the ether as if it was never there.
"... I wasn't the only one that saw that right…?" Naruto asked, stunned.
"... For once, no…" Sasuke replied in shock.
"Alright, you three. Let's move out. Lord Third is going to want to know what took us so long to get back." Kakashi ordered, and the three followed suit.
Right before Naruto was about to follow, however, he noticed something at the start of the mainland side of the bridge. On it was a great polished bronze plaque that read, "You are now crossing the Great Naruto Bridge. In honor of the great hero who helped save this land from evil."
"Great Naruto Bridge, huh? That has a nice ring to it." Naruto said with a smile before turning to go follow his team.
All of them could have said something about that, but the three kept quiet. Partially because they all were exhausted and needed some rest time. But it was also that, unanimously, they believed Naruto earned it. And there was no harm in letting him have his moment in the sun.
With one adventure ending, the seeds of new ones are planted. It's the cycle of life, a beautiful thing. Our heroes have separated, but as we all know, that never lasts. For the news to both parties will likely cause some waves of their own. Before I wrap this up for the night, I'll give the floor to my honorable and invaluable co-writer.
Uzumaki Ricky: And there we go, people! A new chapter is in the history books! And, for once, we actually got it out on the day we're supposed to! Sorry we haven't been doing that more. Things have been hectic. Hopefully they start getting better now.
Indeed. Let's hope. Again, I thank all of you who read this and continue on this journey with us. Weird stories like this one I love writing, and I admit I worry people might never read them. A journey isn't the same without companions. And for everyone who reads this, reviews, favorites, follows, and enjoys this story, I thank you all greatly.
Next time, Kakashi has to report to Hiruzen about this, and the potential ramifications of what they have experienced and Oda's warnings upon the Shinobi world. Tune in next time for, "Report to Old Man Third".