Author's Note: Welcome back, everyone! This is a long one! I didn't want round 2 of Team 7 vs. Zabuza to be stretched across 2-3 chapters so the Land of Waves arc ends here! Going forward, I'll have to see if the the longer/more complex fight scenes will be merged into one big chapter like I've been doing or it'll make sense to break it into smaller chapters.

Dialogue Legend:

"Unforgivable" – Normal dialogue

'Unforgivable' – character's thoughts/speaking to Inner Demon

"Unforgivable" – Jutsu name

'Unforgivable' – Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being speaking

Review Corner:

God of Wind 200: During their "vacation" Hinata and Sasuke both began to master Yang Release by practicing the Kage Bushin no Jutsu and using it accelerate their other training (within extreme limits compared to Naruto). Hinata mastered how to create Raiton Chakra and learned a few Raiton Jutsu; Sasuke became more proficient with Katon, though his training was more focused on perfecting his control over Jutsu that he already knew than on learning new ones.

Naruto became better with Fuuton, started learning Kenjutsu (sword techniques), and studied up on how being a human/Daiyoukai hybrid will affect him physically and what he can do with his Youki. Naruto knew of the tree-climbing exercise due to his clan vault having books on how to manipulate Chakra outside of Nature Transformations, but he didn't have time implement it into his training before their vacation was over and neither did Hinata or Sasuke.

I'm going to write another fanfic involving Bleach in the future, so I'd rather avoid having any weapons reminiscent of Zanpaktou here. Tenseiga is already very similar to a Zanpaktou. It's meant to kill otherworldly spirits/the living dead, can purify the sins of dead souls (shown during Sesshomaru/Rin/Kohaku's trip to the Netherworld), and has powers comparable to a Zanpaktou's Shikai. Meidou Zangetsuha, back when Tenseiga had it, was a power broken enough to be considered a Bankai.

I'm not too familiar with Is it Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon, but from what I understand the power-ups that Bell's Knife gets scale to his level-ups. If that's true, then it would be hard to implement in a setting that doesn't already have RPG elements. Plus, most of canon-Naruto's "Level-Ups" are derived from external sources of power. Sage Mode, KCM, and Six-Paths Sage Mode are all only achievable because Naruto can draw on power sources beyond his own Chakra reserves. Fundamentally, that's no different than Mario eating a mushroom or Sonic using the power of the Chaos Emeralds. It's not like what happened with Sasuke where his eyes literally ranked up after he went through a ton of emotional trauma.

Chapter 12 – The Bridge of Hope

Zabuza's Hideout

"Let's go, Haku. Gatou-san must be furious with us for delaying this long." The Devil of the Hidden Mist grabbed Kubikiribocho with his left arm. While ambidextrous, he normally wielded the massive blade with his right arm but didn't entirely trust the new limb Kuraokami had provided him. According to the knowledge he had received from the ice deity, the limb had two states of operation: passive and active. In its passive state, his new right arm resembled the original perfectly; with a thought, Zabuza could alter its appearance to match any clothing he was wearing elsewhere on his body so that a bare "arm" did not stick out. Despite being composed entirely of water, the false arm could be moved just like a real arm, and its "muscles" matched the strength of the limb it had replaced.

In its active state, Zabuza's new appendage dropped the façade of being a limb and assumed its true appearance. The construct of near-frigid water can be manipulated in several ways, most of which Zabuza had yet to master. Utilizing the arm in its active state requires Chakra, and the limb would revert to its passive state whenever Zabuza's Chakra reserves became too low to control the arm.

"We must be thankful to Kuraokami-sama, Master, that he ensured that your arm could never drain your Chakra reserves completely." Haku's tone carried great respect, perhaps a little too great for Zabuza's liking, but he let it slide. It was not every day that you learned your clan was founded by a god.

"Hmph, maybe, but did he have to make the thing so damn cold?!" One downside that Zabuza would not be forgiving his new benefactor for anytime soon was the constant sensation of near-freezing temperature radiating from his new arm into the rest of his body. The snow-dragon had made Zabuza's body immune to the harmful effects of cold temperature; his body didn't even shiver anymore but the feeling of being frozen to death still seeped into his body and refused to leave. The feeling was akin to pain, but the effect on his mind was worse since there was nothing he could do to mitigate it.

"With all respect, Master, asking a god of ice and snow to create something that isn't cold seems like an exercise in futility." Haku barely suppressed a laugh. "Regardless, Kuraokami-sama assured us that your body would adapt to the feeling eventually." The Last Yuki clan member's eyes narrowed as her thoughts turned towards their objective.

'It will be far harder for me to destroy my heart for this mission than it has ever been in the past.' Despite her sincerest efforts, Haku could not rid herself of the memories of the night she met Naruto Uzumaki. The sheer warmth of his Chakra had roused emotions within her that she had long thought dead. Feeling that Chakra rejuvenate her had been like basking in the glow of the sun. The sensation was intoxicating, and Haku had enough self-awareness to realize the terrible truth: she was infatuated with an enemy Shinobi.

Most Kunoichi were trained from a young age to deal with such emotions. After all, many female Shinobi were sent on long-term infiltration missions that demanded acts of seduction, but Zabuza had never sent Haku on such a mission. Consequently, she was ill-prepared to deal with her current predicament. Her only recourse was to kill her emotions, as she had countless times before while assassinating Zabuza's enemies.

"At least fighting Kakashi-san again will excite me enough to take my mind off it." Zabuza's declaration shook Haku out of her reverie, and she quickly moved to follow her master as he left their hut.

Tazuna's Bridge

"This bridge is nearly finished; if Zabuza-san is going to attack again, it will be today." Kakashi hoped he was wrong, that Zabuza was either dead or permanently crippled and he was worrying over nothing, but he could feel it in his bones that their mission would not end without another fight. His three students were nearby, keeping an eye out for trouble. In the past few days, Hinata had even started taking advantage of the "free time" to expand her Byakugan's maximum effective range. Thankfully, she always stopped before her Chakra dropped below half.

"I know; that's why I'm sending the boys home the second they're finished with their current tasks." Tazuna addressed Kakashi's concern as he observed his crew. "Once they're done, I can handle the final touches myself. What would you say the odds are of Zabuza and his friend leaving my boys alone?"

"Sadly, Zabuza will likely be ordered by Gatou to kill them next, if he hasn't already been told to do so. The bridge so close to being finished that you're expertise is no longer needed, and Gatou isn't the sort to leave loose ends untied." Kakashi answered.

"Damn it all!" Tazuna swore. Before he could tell his men to go home immediately, a thick mist suddenly appeared.

"Byakugan!" Hinata immediately activated her Doujutsu; thanks to her training, her enhanced vision could partially see through the mist now. As such, she witnessed the untrained Chakra signatures of Tazuna's crew get wiped out by a much stronger signature.

"Kakashi-sensei, Zabuza just killed Tazuna-san's crew!" Hinata shouted.

"Damn it! Well, at least that means we only have one target to protect now instead of several." Naruto growled as he observed his surroundings. The mist was filtering out most of the daylight, but his night vision more than made up for it. He could see every minute shift in the fog bank surrounding them, so he was more than prepared to counter whatever came out of the mist to assault them. At least, he thought he was, until he smelled the intoxicating combination of pure ice and sakura petals that he had encountered only once before. Momentarily distracted, he barely drew Tenseiga in time to block the four senbon needles that would have surely struck Tazuna in his left jugular vein.

"Shit!" Naruto swore as he channeled a substantial quantity of Chakra into his sword arm and swung Tenseiga with enough force to create a crescent-shaped gale. A second later, he heard several splashes of water and a soft thud.

"Nice shot, dobe!" Sasuke's smirk could almost be heard through the mist.

"Not really, pretty sure I only clipped Zabuza-san's companion just now." Naruto sighed.

"Indeed." Zabuza's assistant confirmed as she walked out of the mist. Since she was wearing a mask, Naruto couldn't definitively say that the fake hunter-nin before them was Haku, but his nose hadn't betrayed him yet.

'Haku, that better not be you under that mask!' Naruto pleaded, not wishing to kill someone who had inspired him so much. Sheathing Tenseiga, Naruto rushed towards his adversary, seeking to tear her mask off.

'Such speed!' Haku marveled barely getting a senbon in place to block Naruto's kunai slash. Sasuke flanked Haku with similar speed, thinking that she wouldn't be able to counter him while locked in place by Naruto.

"Impressive, but not enough! Suiton: Suijinheki!" Haku flashed through a series of one-handed seals and a circular wall of water materialized around her.

"Suiton: Suishouha!" The water wall swirled into a vortex and exploded outwards, forcing Naruto and Sasuke to leap back several yards.

"Hand-seals with just one hand? What the fuck?!" Sasuke was shocked by his opponent's skill.

"Her Chakra control must be through the damn roof to pull shit like that. Sasuke, listen, we need to kill her, so no holding back!" Naruto grimaced.

"No shit, dobe, of course we have to kill her! She's the enemy!" Sasuke yelled.

"Sasuke, you say that now, but there's a good chance you'll freeze when the time comes." Naruto's eyes narrowed. "You've never killed anyone before; the only person you've ever even dreamed of killing is Itachi. As someone who has killed before, trust me when I say that it takes several times before you can numb yourself to the act. It may be for only a second but, if you hesitate on a battlefield like this, you'll be lucky if all you lose is your current advantage."

"Wise words, you should heed them, young man." Haku commented as she emerged from the epicenter of her water shockwave. The water she had created was now swirling around her. "Now, then, I believe you've spoken enough. Let us continue. Hyouton: Hyou Bushin no Jutsu!"

The water surrounding Haku condensed into a humanoid form that highly resembled its creator and froze. The resulting construct resembled an ice sculpture made by a master craftsman. It leaped towards Sasuke, forcing him away from Naruto.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke attempted a quick victory over his new foe by attacking the ice clone with its natural antithesis, but the construct reformed itself after melting and resumed its assault. Upon seeing the apparent futility of using Ninjutsu, Sasuke switched to Taijutsu and nearly broke his hand on the Hyou Bushin's face. Seizing the opportunity, the construct grabbed Sasuke by the throat and its icy fingers began elongating into spikes. With its other hand, the Hyou Bushin grabbed one of Sasuke's arms to prevent his escape.

"Not a chance!" Sasuke quickly drew a kunai with his free hand, superheated it with Katon, and severed the hand digging into his throat. At the same time, he channeled Katon through his other hand and melted Hyou Bushin's remaining hand. The hand that was hindering Sasuke's movement regenerated, but the hand that had sought his life did not.

"Heh, so you can't regenerate any parts that are separated from the main body? That's great to know!" Sasuke threw his superheated kunai at the Hyou Bushin. The ice clone dodged the attack, but Sasuke followed up his first throw with several bomb kunai! While the Hyou Bushin evaded most of these, two found their mark and blasted huge chunks out of ice away from the construct. The ice clone reformed again, but it was now less than half its original size.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke repeated his earlier Jutsu, but, this time, the resulting blast of fire was much more condensed than its predecessor. The concentrated stream of fire almost resembled a laser as it bisected the Hyou Bushin. Sasuke maintained his assault and bisected the ice construct again. Having lost too much water to maintain its existence, the Hyou Bushin dissipated.

While Sasuke fought against Haku's clone, Naruto engaged the original in a dance of death. Twin kunai clashed against dual senbon several times per second. Haku suppressed the urge to grimace for the umpteenth time since their dance had begun. Though she had been trained extensively in direct combat, Haku specialized in assassination. If her prey had detected her, she had already lost her biggest advantage. Due to having devoted so much time to mastering the art of killing an opponent instantly, she lacked the stamina required for prolonged battles.

Furthermore, it was obvious that Naruto was physically superior to her. He was stronger, faster, had more stamina and seemed to shrug off the few hits Haku managed to land. Only Haku's vastly more substantial combat experience was keeping her alive, as she was able to predict many of Naruto's strikes, but the last Yuki's earlier display of Ninjutsu had made Naruto very wary of granting his adversary time to weave hand-seals. His attacks were relentless and granted Haku no quarter to weave even her one-handed seal variants. Even worse, Naruto was steadily adapting to Haku's style. She had been on the defensive for the last twenty seconds, and Naruto had nearly slipped through her guard several times in that interim alone.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!" Naruto yelled with effort as his attacks reached a fever pitch. He took a gamble and sacrificed some degree of precision with his strikes in exchange for dealing blows more rapidly. Haku noticed the Genin's lapse, but she was too hindered by the fusillade of kunai strikes to exploit it. Naruto's gambit allowed him to inflict several shallow, but very painful, cuts on Haku's arms. Already winded by Naruto's constant assault, Haku couldn't force her arms to move through the pain quickly enough and took a devastating right hook to her face. If she had not been wearing a mask reinforced for combat, then her face would have likely been caved in by that punch. Haku flew at least twenty yards through the air before crashing onto the bridge. Naruto and Sasuke approached her cautiously as she rose to her feet. As Haku stood, her mask shattered and fell from her face.

"Fucking hell, I didn't want it to be you!" Naruto swore.

"Wait, you know this bitch?!" Sasuke blanched.

"Barely, she was gathering herbs in a flowerbed on one of the nights I was training my ass off. She asked me a very good question, and thinking of the answer gave me the inspiration I needed to complete that training as quickly as I did." Naruto clarified.

"Though we are on opposing sides of the battlefield, I cannot help but be pleased that you took my advice to heart, Naruto-san. You have grown strong, very strong." Haku spoke as one warrior to another, acknowledging a bond that transcended allegiances.

"Tell me one thing: why have you chosen Zabuza-san as your 'important person'? Kakashi-sensei told us that he led a coup'd'état against his own Kage. The rebellion was suppressed, but Zabuza-san escaped. That's why he's working for scum like Gatou, isn't it? He needs money and connections to make another move against the Mizukage." Naruto made his request in the same spirit as Haku's acknowledgment.

"My master's motives are not something I can reveal without betraying his confidence." Haku replied. "As for why I serve him, he saw value in me when no one else, not even my own father, did."

"What?!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Kirigakure has experienced numerous civil wars since its inception. Due to their immense power, clans with Kekkei Genkai have been used as ultimate weapons in these wars and are frequently ostracized in times of peace. The current Mizukage has legalized purges on clans with Kekkai Genkai. My clan is all but gone; my mother was the only survivor of the most recent purge. She hid herself well, but she felt obligated to continue the bloodline. Thus, she married and bore a child. The power of Hyouton flows strongly in my veins. Control was difficult as a child, and mistakes were made. We were discovered; my father killed my mother, and I killed him. Moments later, Zabuza-sama appeared and took me in. I had nothing to live for, so I swore to become his tool. I owe him everything! He gave me purpose, he gave me value!" Haku was crying by the end of her tale.

"Holy shit, guess you're not the only one who's had a shit childhood, Naruto." Sasuke grimaced.

"Your developmental years weren't exactly all sunshine and rainbows either, Sasuke, but, yeah, Haku and I had it rougher." Naruto replied.

"You have been ostracized due to fear as well?" While Haku knew that this conversation was only an excuse for all three combatants to recuperate, she was genuinely curious about Naruto's circumstances.

"Yes, the main difference is that not everyone believed the lies told about me. It was very hard, but I gained friends, found allies in high places, and survived long enough to massacre those who wronged me. Under different circumstances, I'd like to think that you'd have been one of those friends." Naruto sighed as he readied himself to resume combat.

"Perhaps, but dwelling on hypotheticals in an exercise in futility. You oppose my master's goals, and I exist solely to erase all obstacles standing in Zabuza-sama's path!" Haku's tears froze and disintegrated into ice crystals too small to be seen.

"Break time's over then, I doubt you'll fare any better in round two, ice-bitch!" Sasuke smirked as he activated his Sharingan.

Haku's only response was to weave a series of hand-seals. "Kinjutsu: Makyou Hyoushou!" Haku invoked the ultimate Jutsu of her clan, and her opponents were surrounded by numerous mirrors forged of pure ice.

"Hinata-chan, protect Tazuna-san!" Kakashi ordered as Zabuza emerged from the mist. The Ex-Anbu Commander was shocked to see that his enemy had both of his arms.

"Surprised, Kakashi-san? I don't blame you. I had to go through quite a bit of hell to get my new arm, but killing you will make it all worthwhile!" Zabuza cackled.

"Kakashi-sensei, something's wrong! His right arm doesn't have any Tenketsu!" Hinata shouted.

"Is that so? Then, Zabuza-san, you haven't regrown your arm; instead, you've somehow created a fake one to replace it." Kakashi exposed his Sharingan as he denounced Zabuza's new limb.

"The Sharingan again? Tsk! That eye didn't help you much in our last fight, and it will be of even less use to you now!" Zabuza snarled as he drew Kubikiribocho with his left hand and rushed Kakashi. Kakashi drew two kunai and held them in an x-pattern to block the blade. "Impressive, Kakashi-san; not many can block one of my swings without breaking a bone or two."

"Most Jonin wouldn't be able to unless they specialized in Taijutsu, but those chosen to lead the Anbu are a cut above the rest." Kakashi responded as he looked into Zabuza's eyes and struggled to break the sword-lock.

"So it seems," Zabuza allowed, "but you're still no match for me!" The Devil of the Hidden Mist switched his right arm into its active state. The limb became a thick tendril of water that rapidly solidified into an ice spike aimed straight at Kakashi's heart! Kakashi escaped by performing a Shunshin without hand seals.

"Ha-ha-ha! That was good, Kakashi-san!" Zabuza cackled as he retreated into the mist. "Please, keep struggling! This arm has so many features for me to test!" The mist thickened to block out the sun completely and reduced visibility to zero.

"Zero-visibility mist? You won't be able to see me either, Zabuza-san." Kakashi observed. Before he could plan his next move, a barrage of ice spikes was fired from within the mist. Kakashi blocked them with a kunai but had no time to counterattack before another hail of ice spikes assaulted him from a different angle.

"Come now, Kakashi, I'm the Devil of the Hidden Mist! I can discern your location by sound alone!" Two tendrils of water shot out from the mist. Kakashi managed to dodge one, but the other wrapped around his arm.

'Damn, not being able to see delays my reaction time!' Kakashi cursed before screaming in pain. The tendril was flash-freezing his arm! Kakashi tried to channel Chakra into his arm to break free, but he was too late. His arm was already completely frozen and the rest of his body was quickly following suit. In mere seconds, Kakashi resembled a human-shaped icicle.

"What a buzz-kill, I had more tricks I wanted to try!" Zabuza swore as he smashed Kakashi's frozen body with several more tendrils. "Any last words, Hyuuga brat?" Zabuza looked towards where Hinata had been guarding Tazuna, only to find that she was gone!

'Impossible, no Genin can move soundlessly, especially not while caught in my Kirigakure no Jutsu!" Zabuza stretched his hearing to the limit, but he couldn't detect Hinata's presence anywhere!

"Damn it, what's going on?!" Zabuza's right arm pulsed as he invoked another of its many features. The arm was highly sensitive to distortions in nearby water, including the displacement of water vapor in the air. It could function like sonar, detecting distortions in the water and relaying that information to Zabuza. This sensory ability required Zabuza's full concentration. Consequently, while he was able to detect Hinata's position, he could not react quickly enough to evade her assault! The Hyuuga heiress struck several Tenketsu on the right side of Zabuza's neck and his right shoulder blade. His right arm was forced into its passive state as Zabuza lost the ability to channel Chakra into it. Before Zabuza could retaliate with Kubikiribocho, Hinata leaped back into the mist.

'Shit! Why couldn't I hear her coming?' Zabuza reflected on the fight and stopped when he remembered looking into Kakashi's eyes. 'No! The Sharingan doesn't just copy movements and Jutsu; it has hypnotic capabilities as well! I'm trapped in a Genjutsu that's disrupting my senses! Release!' Zabuza attempted to purge the foreign Chakra in his body, but his efforts were in vain.

"So, you've figured it out; unfortunately for you, the Sharingan's hypnosis is quite a bit harder to dispel than other Genjutsu. Kakashi's voice echoed through the mist. "Excellent work, Hinata-chan; even with your new training, I didn't expect you to be able to see through this mist."

"It was hard, Kakashi-sensei, but his right arm is radiating something I've never seen. It looks similar to Chakra, but it seems to be, somehow, purer than anything I've observed with the Byakugan before." Hinata made a mental note to ask her father about this later.

"Tsk, damn it all!" Zabuza thinned his mist and hoped only his hearing had been disrupted by Kakashi's Genjutsu.

"Surrender, Zabuza-san!" Kakashi ordered. "Your senses are at my command and, with the flow of Chakra to your right arm now severed, you cannot weave hand seals!"

"Heh, HA-HA-HA! If you, had control of all my senses, Kakashi-san, then there'd be no need to order me to submit! Your Genjutsu has only affected my hearing, and I won't need that for what's coming next!" Zabuza flashed through a one-handed variant of the hand seals for his next Jutsu.

"Shit, this looks bad, dobe!" Sasuke cursed as dozens of ice mirrors surrounded him and Naruto in a cage-like formation. Haku leaped backwards towards one of the mirrors and vanished inside of it! In the next instant, Haku emerged from the mirror at a speed Naruto and Sasuke could barely follow and launched a volley of senbon towards them. Only their new training allowed the duo to evade them all, and Naruto noticed that the senbon tips were now slightly discolored and smelled of moon lilies.

"Sasuke, her senbon are poisoned! We have to assume that even a scratch will be enough to kill us!" Naruto tried throwing kunai and shuriken at Haku, but she was moving far too swiftly between the mirrors for that to work. Haku's senbon weren't traveling through the air as quickly as she was, so Naruto hypothesized that Haku's Jutsu was either a form of teleportation or could only amplify her speed if she moved in a specific way. Naruto tested his theory by creating a dozen Kage Bushin sturdy enough to withstand several senbon needles. His clones leaped towards the upper circle of ice mirrors. They used Chakra to stick to the mirrors and launched more kunai and shuriken at Haku. The tactic worked, and Haku barely managed to avoid the fusillade by twisting in midair. She managed to dive towards one of the lower mirrors and vanished inside of it.

"Thank Kami that worked!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Naruto, what happened just now?" Sasuke was inspecting himself for wounds to ensure he had dodged or blocked all of Haku's senbon.

"Ever since she made these mirrors, Haku's been moving much faster than before, right? Well, mirrors work by reflecting light, so I figured that Haku's speed boost was related to that principle." Naruto explained. "If she's somehow reflecting herself off the surface of her mirrors, then the vectors of her movements are limited. Most likely, she can only move to or from a mirror that she can see. Luckily, the mirrors are just tall enough for my Kage Bushin to cover them up completely."

"Heh, that almost sounds like a Teleportation Jutsu! Jutsu that complicated eat up a ton of Chakra, so there's no way Haku can maintain this much longer!" Sasuke chuckled as he realized the end was in sight.

"Very astute, both of you; however, knowing how my Jutsu works won't be enough to save you! Hyouton: Hyouyari!" Ice spears emerged from each of the twelve mirrors covered by Naruto's Kage Bushin and impaled them. Haku then emerged from her mirrors once again, moving twice as fast as before, and bombarded Naruto and Sasuke with Senbon. Even with the increased mastery of his Sharingan and newly enhanced physique, Sasuke couldn't evade the barrage entirely. Naruto was forced to intercept several senbon meant for Sasuke and was saved only by his Namikaze armor. The suit was made entirely from Youkai body parts, so even the components of the armor not made of metal were sturdy enough to keep Haku's senbon from piercing his flesh. Only Naruto's head and neck were exposed, and his superhuman senses allowed him to protect those areas with relative ease.

"Sasuke, smoke bomb!" Naruto whispered.

"Done!" Sasuke replied and threw the requested item. Haku was forced to halt her onslaught until the smoke cleared. She was running out of senbon. Dozens of Kage Bushin leapt from the smoke and landed on every mirror.

"Foolish!" Haku sneered as she repeated her earlier Jutsu to free her mirrors of clones. As she reflected herself to make another pass at the two Konoha Genin, she was electrocuted and fell to the ground! During her descent, she noticed several Raiton tags were glued to her mirrors.

"I knew throwing out the tags I dodged at the end of my training would be a waste; some of them have a proximity function and would activate whenever I got close to them! From bitter experience, I know you're in a lot of pain right now, Haku, but it's only going to get worse!" Naruto formed another set of Kage Bushin that jumped into position on all of Haku's mirrors. "There's nowhere to run now, Haku! Fuuton: Fuurou no Jutsu!"

Naruto's Kage Bushin weaved the hand-seals for the technique in tandem with the original, and Haku was locked in place on the ground as the pressure of the air surrounding her was drastically amplified. While his Kage Bushin maintained the current pressure differential, Naruto raised his hand in the air and Haku's body mimicked his motion as if it were a marionette. Once she was suspended in the desired spot, the air pressure halting Haku's movements was replaced by a spherical vortex of wind.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" Sasuke expended two-thirds of his remaining Chakra and formed a draconic fire blast that was only slightly less condensed than the laser-like blast he had used against Haku's Hyou Bushin. The flame dragon streaked towards Haku and broke upon Naruto's wind cage like a fiery tsunami. The resulting tornado-like explosion was barely contained by Haku's mirrors.

"Think she survived?" Sasuke asked as he removed the fire-sealing tags that had been covering his body.

"I know she did." Naruto grunted in response while he unraveled a much smaller amount of fire-sealing tags that had been wrapped around his head. As the smoke cleared, he heard coughing fits from the epicenter of the blast. Sasuke and Naruto both noticed a half-melted chunk of ice that was roughly a third of the size of Naruto's wind cage.

"Fucking shit," Sasuke swore, "she had enough time to make a Kami-damned ice wall before my Jutsu hit?!"

"Looks that way," Naruto sighed, "she probably used the water vapor trapped in the wind cage to convert her prison into an ice sphere. Just as we used her mirrors against her, Haku used my Jutsu against us." Naruto praised his adversary's creativity under extreme duress.

"Hmph, well it shouldn't matter now. Sounds like she still took quite a bit of damage." Sasuke observed after hearing Haku's latest coughing fit. "Not to mention, her Chakra must be almost gone. I'm surprised she still has enough to maintain these damned mirrors!"

"You are correct, Sasuke-san, this battle is over." Haku said hoarsely as she stood up. Her clothing was in tatters, several second-degree burns covered her exposed skin, and blood was streaming down the side of her throat from the left side of her mouth.

'The concussive force of the blast must have damaged her lungs. Given how she's favoring her right side, I'd say she's also got some fractured ribs' Naruto mused.

"Damn right this battle's over, with us as the . . ." Sasuke collapsed on the ground before he could finish his victory declaration.

"SASUKE!" Naruto screamed as he ran to his best friend's side. He found no puncture wounds from Haku's senbon and he knew Chakra exhaustion couldn't be a factor since Sasuke had too much left in the tank for that. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Naruto demanded of the last Yuki.

"Makyou Hyoushou, this cage of ice mirrors, is a forbidden Jutsu within my clan for a very good reason." Haku said in response. "The demonic mirrors surrounding us serve not only to reflect my physical form but also to drain the very souls of any who gaze upon their reflection. During this conflict, how often did you and Sasuke-san look into the mirrors?"

"That's, that's – " Naruto blanched as he struggled to find the words to express his horror.

"Evil, terrifying, cruel beyond all rational measure?" Haku supplied. "This is why my clan has been all but destroyed. No countermeasure exists; once the process has begun, it cannot be stopped." Haku swooned, falling to one knee, before continuing her explanation. "The only way to avoid it is to have an exceptionally high amount of Chakra. Chakra is composed partially of spiritual energy; high Chakra reserves are indicative of a powerful soul. There are limits to what the Makyou Hyoushou can contain. Conversely, expending one's Chakra temporarily weakens their soul. If your reserves fall too low, if your soul becomes too weak, then you are doomed." Haku fell, too drained, - both physically and spiritually – to move.

"NO! I WON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!" Naruto roared as he shifted into his Daiyoukai form and projected a Youki barrier around himself and Sasuke. In his rage, he failed to notice that his barrier had also covered Haku. The ice mirrors gleamed far brighter than before as Naruto's barrier was visibly distorted. Dozens of green tendrils emerged from the barrier as the Kinjutsu of the Yuki Clan drank the potent spiritual energy that had just manifested within it.

"YOU WANT MY YOUKI?! THEN I HOPE YOU'RE FUCKING HUNGRY!" Naruto glared at the ice-mirror cage and poured all of his Youki into his barrier. Makyou Hyoushou drank greedily and exceeded its maximum capacity in an instant. The ice cage shattered, and the two souls it had drained were returned in full to their owners. Naruto vomited as he reverted to his human form. He had never exerted such an immense amount of Youki that quickly before.

"Why did you protect me? I am your enemy!" Haku asked as she regained consciousness.

"I didn't know my barrier reached your position, but I'm glad it did! Dying by getting your soul drained should be reserved for monsters among men!" Naruto spat, clearing his mouth of vomit while he answered Haku.

"You don't view me as a monster, even with such a horrendous Jutsu?" Haku's shock was evident in her voice.

"No, I don't; a Jutsu is a tool, and the morality of its user is determined by the manner of its use. You used your Jutsu in service to a master that saved you when no one else would. Others may disagree, but I don't think that's an evil thing." Naruto replied as he got ready to finish things. His Youki was depleted, but he still had plenty of Chakra and his enemy was on her last legs.

"I see; thank you, Naruto Uzumaki-san. Hearing that gives me more joy than you'll ever know. If I had been born in Konoha, I deeply believe we could have been the best of friends." Haku said her last as she performed a Shunshin; her master required one final act of service.

"Suiton: Naraku no Suiryuu!" Zabuza's solution to his current predicament was crude, but the simplest methods often have the best results. His infamous mist was rendered useless by Hinata's capacity to see his right arm through it, and his hearing was unreliable, at best, thanks to Kakashi's Sharingan. Trying to finish this death match using conventional methods would necessitate looking at Kakashi, which would give him the opportunity to cast another Genjutsu that would be even more debilitating than the first. Unfortunately for Kakashi and Hinata, their movements were limited since they had to protect Tazuna, and they were currently fighting on a bridge that connected an island nation to the mainland. In other words, they were surrounded by the sea.

At the same time that Sasuke's fire dragon was rampaging within Haku's ice cage, three water dragons erupted from the water beneath the bridge. In tandem, they struck at Tazuna and Kakashi had to carry him to safety. He barely managed to dodge the first series of attacks as the trio of water dragons swept through the air to make another pass. Hinata was spared, so she took the opportunity to observe the dragons with her Byakugan. She noticed a strange resonance between the Chakra animating the sea water and Tazuna's Tenketsu. Her eyes widened into saucers as she realized the implication. "Kakashi-sensei, Zabuza-san isn't controlling these water dragons; they've somehow locked onto Tazuna-san's Chakra signature and are attacking him of their own volition!"

"HA-HA-HA! That's right! Water is a necessity for life, and this Jutsu weaponizes that necessity!" Zabuza cackled. "Suiton can be used to quantify the potency of a target's life force. Water dragons can double as bloodhounds to track down life force sources of a specified potency! Usually, this Jutsu is worthless since Water Dragon bloodhounds need a constant source of either water or Suiton Chakra to pursue their target, but we're standing just above the ocean. In this terrain, Water Dragon bloodhounds are unstoppable!" Zabuza closed his eyes to prevent getting caught in another Genjutsu and adopted a pose meant for standing meditation techniques.

"Hinata-chan, just like our last battle, Zabuza-san is diverting most of his effort towards killing me. Kakashi had managed to create a Kage Bushin while weaving around the trio of serpentine hounds to relay orders to the Hyuuga heiress. "While Zabuza-san is targeting me, you have to defeat him. I know you can do it; remember your training!" The Kage Bushin dissipated as its creator made his last stand.

"Doton: Doryuuheki!" Kakashi's Jutsu flooded the bridge in his immediate vicinity with Chakra and reshaped its structure into a dome. As the barrier formed around Kakashi and Tazuna, residual Chakra coated the exterior to fortify it against the three water dragons. They crashed into the dome over and over again, but the barricade held strong.

"Looks like Kakashi's Genjutsu is wearing off; I can hear you, brat! Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" Zabuza conjured a fourth water dragon as Hinata approached. Rather than attacking, this final aquatic beast wrapped itself around its master to shield him from harm.

"Once again, Zabuza-san, we are locked in a war of attrition. Your four water dragons are rapidly depleting your Chakra reserves. The same holds true for Kakashi-sensei's earth wall. However, you are alone, while my Sensei has me!" Hinata flashed through several hand seals; when she was done, her fingers arced with electricity.

"Raiton Jutsu again? You're a poor learner, girl." Zabuza scoffed.

"On the contrary, I had the second-highest written exam scores in my graduating class." Hinata retorted. "During our last conflict, Naruto explained why I couldn't electrocute you using Raiton. In the interim between that battle and our current one, he educated me on a most fascinating physical phenomenon." The electrical arcing between Hinata's fingers ceased, and a distinctive sound reminiscent of one thousand chirping birds manifested as ten highly condensed spheres of electricity appeared just above each of Hinata's fingers.

"Insulators function by absorbing electricity, but even the most resilient of insulators can be overloaded if they are subjected to a sufficiently potent electric charge. When that happens, the insulator in question becomes a conductor; this process is known as 'electrical breakdown'. Raiton: Mijinhenkan!" Hinata formed a claw with her right hand and thrust all five fingers into Zabuza's draconic barricade. It might have been just her imagination but she would later swear to Kami that she heard the pure-water dragon scream as its atomic structure was altered to conduct electricity instead of absorb it. She definitely heard Zabuza scream as he was partially paralyzed by the residual electricity surging out of the water dragon as it dissipated. The Hyuuga heiress was relieved as the three water dragons assaulting Kakashi and Tazuna ceased to exist.

"Well played, Shinobi of Konoha!" Zabuza applauded Hinata as she approached him with her left hand stretched out. Before she could claim the life of her foe, Haku appeared and intercepted the attack! The five spheres of electric death slammed into Haku's heart and obliterated it. Hinata had concentrated most of the voltage for her Jutsu into her right hand to deal with Zabuza's water dragon, so the damage to Haku's body was minuscule in comparison; only the organ directly struck by Hinata's Jutsu was annihilated. The remainder of Haku's body bore only the results of her fight with Naruto and Sasuke.

"Heh, such a valuable tool; thank you for serving me to the very end, Haku!" Zabuza drew Kubikiribocho and moved to slice Hinata into mincemeat. She couldn't move due to Haku holding her arm in a death grip and was out of Chakra. She saw, seemingly in slow motion, the massive blade come down upon her. She looked directly at the man behind it and accepted her fate.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!" A blast of wind impacted Zabuza with the force of a wrecking ball, knocking him away from Hinata and Haku. "Are you FUCKING SERIOUS!?" Naruto roared. "How DARE you use her body like that!" Team 7 converged on Zabuza's position.

"What are you talking about brat? She was nothing more than a tool for my ambition! It's a shame she's dead, though, as I'll likely never find a tool as effective as her." Zabuza snarled. The scathing retort Naruto had in mind was interrupted by a sinister laugh.

"HA-HA-HA! So this is all you and your bitch are capable of in the end, 'Devil'?" Gatou cackled as he emerged from the depths of his army of thugs. "As you surely must have suspected, I never intended to pay you. Missing-nin like yourselves are so easy to manipulate; all I need to do is offer a bit of money and you all flock like sheep to me. Most of your ilk are barely good enough to fulfill your duties, but I'll admit that you're all a great source of free labor." Gatou stalked towards Haku's corpse. "As for you, whore, you owe me two well-trained bodyguards! Maybe I'll clean your body up and sell you to one of my more perverted business partners!" Gatou's eyes gleamed with fury as he stomped on Haku's neck, crushing her windpipe and causing a gurgle of blood to flow down her cheeks.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER I'LL KI – " Naruto's righteous rage died as he felt a small drop of water hit his shoulder. He turned his head and beheld Zabuza. The Devil of the Hidden Mist's eyes were barely visible behind two torrents of tears. "Young man, calm yourself. That bastard defiled my tool, my weapon! His life is mine! Kakashi-san, I've no more reason to go after Tazuna. As such, there's no need for us to keep fighting."

"Agreed; Hinata-chan, would you be kind enough to reopen the Tenketsu that funnel Chakra to Zabuza's right arm?"

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei!" Hinata complied, reversing her work in a matter of seconds.

"Thanks; what's your name, girl?" Zabuza grunted.

"Hinata Hyuuga"

"Hinata-chan, thanks for letting me use my arm again." Zabuza said before turning his head towards Naruto. "Naruto-kun, Haku told me of your encounter in the woods. She received from you something that I could never give her. Now, please excuse me while I join my precious comrade in the afterlife!" Zabuza willed his right arm into its active state. At present, he only had enough Chakra to maintain it for a few seconds before it reverted to its passive form again, but that would be plenty of time. Zabuza morphed his arm into a massive ice hook that he slammed into the bridge. In the next instant, the hook melted while retaining its shape but its size rapidly diminished. Zabuza was catapulted through the air his body caught was retracted to the point of the hook.

As he flung himself into Gatou's army, his split into several tendrils of serrated ice that impaled a dozen thugs each. The arm was forced into its passive state as Zabuza landed, but he simply substituted Kubikiribocho for it and continued his rampage. He abandoned every semblance of technique in his pursuit of Gatou's life. None of the crime lord's thugs were spared, but Zabuza's back was decorated with the handles of ten weapons by the time he severed Gatou's head from his shoulders. With the deed done, Zabuza limped back to Haku "Enjoy your spot in heaven, Haku, I'll be looking up at you from Hell!" With that final rattle, the Devil of the Hidden Mist breathed his last.

"Doton: Retsudo Tenshou!" Team 7 barely had time to breathe after Zabuza's death before an entire regiment of Iwa Shinobi led by Onoki's elite guard dispelled their concealment Jutsu and weaponized the bridge's superstructure. Huge clumps of concrete and steel were torn free of the bridge's surface and condensed into basketball-sized spheres of death. The Iwa hit-squad pooled their Chakra reserves to keep constant pressure on Team 7. Exhausted from their previous fights, the Konoha Shinobi were hard-pressed just to evade the onslaught; counterattacking was out of the question. Before the Iwa ambush could have fatal consequences, eight gigantic tentacles emerged from the sea and swatted the death-balls away!

"A ten-outta-ten show from the Namikaze heir, but striking the man's team while they're down and out, that's ain't fair!" The tentacles vanished, and a Shinobi wearing a Kumo headband appeared in their place.

"Boulder-sama, that man, those tentacles, surely that's not – "

"It is," Boulder growled, "Killer Bee, Jinchurki of the Hachibi, and the younger brother of the Raikage! Given his statement just now, Kumo is clearly aware of Naruto-san's existence and seeks to protect him!"

"Right on, Anbu of Stone, but you an ya-boys won't live long enough to call home!" Bee's smile didn't meet his eyes as he produced a sealed scroll covered in writing that bore no resemblance to Kanji. "Cowards like you ain't worth my seven hooks. A whack apiece from great-granddaddy's hammer is plenty for you crooks!" Bee bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood and smeared some of the precious liquid onto the scroll. The scroll appeared to drink the blood as it unraveled itself. As the scroll unfurled, more of the strange writing became visible and the sky darkened with cumulonimbus clouds.

"Kuchiyose: Mjollnir!" Bee shouted, and the heavens responded with over a hundred simultaneous lightning strikes, one for each member of the Iwa hit-squad. The would-be assassins were vaporized by Thor's wrath, and the effects of all Jutsu cast upon them and their equipment were nullified as they were destroyed. The foreign writing vanished from the scroll as it closed itself.

"A Jutsu used once every three years is best spent in defense of your peers!" Bee bellowed as he approached Team 7. "Red-eye-san, my bro the Raikage has a message for the Pro: twelve years gone by since Kumo made a racket, if Konoha's willing, we'd like to bury the hatchet!" His mission complete, Bee vanished in a Shunshin and the thunderclouds disappeared with him.

"Well, now, that's absolutely fascinating! We learned a valuable piece of intel regarding Kumo's military assets, and we discovered that they want to make amends. Hokage-sama is going to love this." Kakashi grumbled and covered his Sharingan before turning to Tazuna.

"My precious bridge! What are we going to do now?!" Tazuna was sobbing. The day's events had ravaged the bridge he had sacrificed everything to build. Most of the damage was superficial, but the sheer amount of it would require considerable resources and labor to repair. Even worse, some of the damage was extensive enough to warrant major repairs.

"All of the spare money in the Land of Waves went into this bridge! We have nothing left, and all this damage is enough to make it unusable!" Tazuna cried.

Naruto gazed sharply at his left hand, and the Namikaze mansion's master key appeared with a crimson flash. "Vault E, two random scrolls from Compartment 7-A." With another flash, the master key vanished and the two requested scrolls appeared in Naruto's hand. The Namikaze Lord channeled a small bit of Chakra into one of the scrolls and threw it at Tazuna's feet. Seconds later, the scroll unsealed itself and emitted a small plume of smoke that quickly cleared to reveal a miniature mountain of Ryou. Dozens of precious gemstones were visible between gaps in the pile of gold coins.

"WHAT IS THIS!?" Tazuna yelled in shock.

"A fraction of a fraction of a very small fraction of my clan's fortune; this scroll contains an identical amount of money and jewels." Naruto handed Tazuna the second scroll and channeled Chakra into the first to recall its contents. "Chakra is not required to open or close these; a drop of blood spilled anywhere on the scroll will suffice." Naruto instructed.

Tazuna looked upon the young Daiyoukai with awe. "Young man, you have restored the hope of my nation. I vow to repay your generosity, even if it takes the rest of my life!"

"Rather than reimbursement, I would prefer if you establish a trade agreement with the Hyuuga Clan once the Land of Waves is back on its feet. You have my word as Lord of the Uzumaki Clan and Namikaze Clan that any contract made between your nation and the Hyuuga will be, at the very least, fair. More likely, the terms will be generous."

"As the daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga, Lord of the Hyuuga, I guarantee the validity of Lord Naruto's statement. Furthermore, I am willing to act as a temporary emissary from the Hyuuga to the Land of Waves until more formal arrangements can be agreed upon." Hinata affirmed. Tazuna fainted from sheer joy. After examining him to ensure that he was in good health. Naruto drew Tenseiga and approached the corpses of Haku and Zabuza.

"Naruto-kun, what are you doing?" Kakashi's good eye narrowed.

"Please, Kakashi-sensei, be quiet for a moment." Naruto focused the minuscule amount Youki he had regained since his battle with Haku into his eyes and looked at the two fallen Shinobi.

'Haku-san, you showed me the path to true strength. Zabuza-san, I don't know why you tried to murder your own Kage, but anyone with as much love for their comrades as you must have had a good reason.' Naruto steeled himself as the pallbearers of the afterlife became visible to him. "Both of you were dealt shit hands in life; you deserve a second chance!" Tenseiga's blade traced an arc of azure light through the air just above Zabuza and Haku's heads as Naruto decapitated the apparitions only he could see.

Kuraokami's Domain

"You cheeky brat! Why didn't to tell me that the price of my right arm was 1,000 years of service to your god?!" Zabuza berated Haku.

"In fairness, said service was contingent upon your deaths in the recent battle. Haku-chan did not wish to burden you with knowledge pertaining to a possible outcome of our accord. Furthermore, I must take issue with your assessment of my relationship with Haku-chan; she is my descendant, yet she does not worship me. Thus, it is inaccurate to refer to me as her god." Kuraokami clarified.

"What difference does it make when you own us for the next 1,000 years?" Zabuza grumbled.

Before Kuraokami could respond, a vertical streak of jade-green light appeared behind Zabuza and Haku. The streak was bisected vertically and the two halves moved away from each other as a black rift manifested between them.

"Tenseiga, a Youkai blade that makes a mockery of death." Kuraokami said impassively as the rift widened. "It is within my power to reject Tenseiga's will. Your souls are mine, pledged to my service, and we are at the heart of my domain. Here, my will is supreme."

"But you won't," Zabuza realized, "Why?!"

"I agree with Naruto-san; for the majority of your lives, the two of you experienced only the worst that life in your world has to offer. Before your final judgment, an opportunity to forge a different destiny for yourselves is most appealing; I do not wish to see the savior of my last mortal offspring rot in Hell." The ice deity explained his reasoning while the black rift was replaced by a vision of Tazuna's bridge.

"Tenseiga's power of resurrection affects its target on an existential level; to restore one to life, the 'heavenly' blade severs the concept of death from the recipient's very being. In the eyes of Fate, it shall be as if you and Haku-chan never died. All oaths dependent on your deaths are invalidated. Thus, your servitude to me is ended; per my accord with Haku-chan, a price contingent on the two of you surviving your most recent conflict must be now exacted in exchange for your arm. You shall both accept Naruto-san's proposal. The vision zoomed in on Zabuza and Haku's bodies, and their minds went white.

Great Naruto Bridge

Zabuza and Haku rose slowly and winced in pain as the injuries they suffered in life were flawlessly healed.

'A masterful resurrection, Lord Naruto!' Tenseiga praised her master but transmitted her message to everyone present. Additionally, she informed Kakashi, Zabuza, and Haku of her powers and limitations.

"Thank you, Tenseiga-san. For a moment there, I was genuinely afraid that the Tajuu Kage Bushin no Jutsu wasn't the only forbidden technique Naruto-kun learned from the Scroll of Seals. Now, then, what do I do about the two of you?" Kakashi turned his gaze towards Zabuza and Haku. "We're no longer enemies, but, given that Kiri and Konoha are in a quasi-alliance at the moment, I'm afraid that I can't let you go free."

"Regarding that, Kakashi-sensei, I would like to adopt Zabuza-san and Haku-san into the Namikaze Clan." Naruto offered.

"That could work; there are several historical precedents for Missing-Nin seeking asylum in other nations." Hinata agreed. "Naturally, they will need to be interrogated to confirm their allegiance to Konoha, and they will be closely monitored for, at least, one year by Anbu agents to guarantee that their loyalty is sincere. So long as Konoha's Intelligence Division detects no falsehood, Zabuza-san's and Haku-san's immigration to Konoha should be relatively seamless." Hinata made her case to Kakashi.

"Zabuza-sama, Naruto-san has proven himself to be a man of honor, and I see no reason to doubt the word of his teammate." Haku and Zabuza had no choice, but Team 7 didn't need to know that.

"True enough, Kakashi's order to restore Chakra flow to my right arm was very helpful. Looks like we're joining the tree-huggers!" Zabuza grunted.

"Hey! That's an Iwa insult; only they get to call us that!" Sasuke laughed.

Kakashi sighed, "Hokage-sama is going to have my Sharingan on a spear once he realizes that I've single-handedly doubled his paperwork for the foreseeable future. Well, best to rip off the bandage as soon as possible. Team 7, Zabuza-san, Haku-chan; let's go home!"

Chapter End

Oh, boy, lots to unpack here! Canon-Haku holding back for entire time he was fighting Naruto/Sasuke always struck me as a manifestation of plot armor and/or lazy writing. Team 7 is Zabuza's enemy, so Haku's unwillingness to kill them is a direct contradiction to his mentality of being Zabuza's tool; Zabuza said he conditioned Haku to be a killing machine, so either he's lying (which would make no sense) or Kishimoto lost the plot.

Haku barely knew Naruto/Sasuke, and if Kishimoto wanted to portray Haku as someone conflicted with killing children and/or people he can relate to, a much better way to write the fight would have been to have Haku struggle to kill them but progressively get closer and closer to "killing his heart" and hitting a lethal spot. That way, he could still have Sasuke go down and appear to be dead, which would give Naruto the necessary rage-fuel to tap into Kurama's Chakra.

Speaking of whom, there's a scene a bit later in this story that's far more fitting for Kurama's debut given what's already been established.

In Chapter 10, Kakashi didn't put Zabuza under the Sharingan's Genjutsu, so Haku couldn't develop any countermeasures for it. Zabuza still using zero-visibility mist makes sense since he doesn't need to see them to hit them, but closing his eyes to counter the Sharingan is not something he or Haku would deem necessary without the canon context for it.

Since the Hyuuga are direct descendents of Kaguya in this story, and Kaguya is an actual goddess here (a very powerful one, at that) the Byakugan has the ability to detect divine energy in addition to its normal abilities. I'll admit, I was tempted to give Hinata the Chidori here, but not only is that Sasuke's Jutsu, it's status as a Rasengan-derivative makes it far too advanced a Jutsu for Hinata to even begin learning right now.

Given their unique blend of Raiton and Taijutsu, there was no way I could resist having Ay and Bee be Thor's Great x a lot grandchildren (yeah Bee dropped more than a few of those to make that bar work.)

Yes, Naruto has fuck you^80th power levels of money. The Namikaze are a Daiyoukai clan that has existed for thousands of years and the Uzumaki Clan likely had a huge percentage of their assets secured in territories controlled by Konoha given how closely allied they were with Konoha before they were wiped out.

In a world where gods both exist and have at least some interest in mortal affairs, I imagine said gods would take issue if something like Tenseiga was used to bring their faithful back to life and tear them away from whatever final fate was in store for them. Since Inuyasha did not have that problem, we have no way of knowing if Tenseiga could resurrect someone against the wishes of a higher power; it's only canon-limitation is being restricted to resurrecting someone once (or not at all if they've already been revived) to maintain universal balance.

So I implemented a limitation somewhat similar to Edo Tensei's need to have the target's soul reside in the afterlife: Souls not pledged to a higher power's service after death can be revived by Tenseiga with no problem as long as their body is mostly intact. Souls that are pledged to a higher power can only be revived if the higher being allows them to be resurrected.

The next chapter or two will likely have some worldbuilding/character development before we get into the start of the Chuunin Exams.

Thank you for reading!

Fuuton: Fuurou no Jutsu: Wind Release: Wind Prison Technique (B-Rank) – Fuuton variant of the canon Water Prison Jutsu. It can be used to either amplify the air pressure exerted on a target, effectively paralyzing them, or trap them in a spherical wind vortex. The two applications of the Jutsu can be used interchangeably while the Jutsu is in effect.

Hyouton: Hyou Bushin no Jutsu: Ice Release: Ice Clone Technique (B-Rank) – a mass of water is solidified into a construct resembling the user. The clone's durability and resilience are proportional to the amount of water used to create it. The clone can repair itself by manipulating the water it was created from, but only if said water remains near the clone. The clone can also manipulate its structure for offensive purposes.

Kuchiyose: Mjollnir: Summoning: Mjollnir: (S-Rank) – a Jutsu only usable by descendants of Thor. A sealed scroll containing incantations written in Old Nordic is exposed to the user's blood to activate Jutsu. Once the blood comes into contact with the scroll, it vanishes and the scroll unravels itself. As the scroll unfurls, cumulonimbus clouds dominate the sky. A simultaneous barrage of lightning strikes equal in number to the amount of targets mentally designated by the user is generated. While the upper limit of the Jutsu's potency is unknown, it is at least powerful enough to annihilate a regiment of over 100 Jonin. The bodies of anyone killed by the Jutsu are vaporized, and all magic applied to the targets and their equipment is permanently dispelled. Once Mjollnir has been summoned, exactly three years (down to the second that the blood came into contact with the scroll) must pass before the Jutsu can be used again.

Raiton: Mijinhenkan: Lightning Release: Atomic Conversion (C-Rank) – the user generates electric spheres above their fingers to overload the electrical resistance of an insulator, converting it into a conductor. If the spheres have any remaining voltage once the conversion is complete it is conducted through the targeted substance.

Suiton: Naraku no Suiryuu: Water Release: Water Dragon Hell (A-Rank) – an offensive application of Suiton's natural tendency to resonate with the life force of other beings in the user's vicinity. At least one water dragon is created to ceaselessly pursue and attack a life-force signature with a pre-determined resonance. Typically, the Jutsu is extremely impractical since it requires either an immense quantity of Suiton Chakra or a massive amount of natural water to sustain the dragon(s) created. However, if the user is near a large body of water, the Jutsu becomes mostly self-sustaining and requires only a moderate amount of Chakra from the user.