Through his pain and exhaustion, Lu didn't have the energy to sense chakra of anyone that was near, but he heard a few footsteps and familiar voices approach him as he faded from consciousness.
"I'm counting on you three to be able to assist these two and get Lu safe," A gruffy command came from Asuma, who was running full speed into the fight between Kakashi, Naruto, and Zabuza.
"We have no choice but to help them," Shikamaru responded evenly, "...they're our friends," he added with a slight edge of ferocity, but with the command issued, he and his two teammates had no time to be idle.
"Oh, even more help now?"
"Please spare me your theatrics about how futile their help is. Lu's gambit weakened you significantly. Your reserves can't handle another move like that and you know it," Sasuke spat, his eyes glaring a fiery crimson.
Moments later Kurenai's three man squad also appeared on the battlefield. Kiba and Akamaru simultaneously transformed, both into the same animalistic form of Kiba. Following their transformation jutsu, they performed the Passing Fang Jutsu, which quickly turned into a derivative, the Fang Pasing Fang Technique, barreling and twisting around as they pelted Haku, this opened up room for Shino to send his kikaichu at a weakened Haku, who retaliated by forming an ice wall to stop Akamaru and Kiba, unknowingly stopping Shino's secretive assault as well.
"Hinata, what's the condition?" Kiba, who jumped back with Akamaru to gain some distance, called out.
"It seems like the enemy is worn out. It's very likely we can capture him alive if anything.
"Him?" Kiba screamed out in confusion.
"Yes, him, his anatomy and build is very obviously male," Hinata quirked an eyebrow.
"Wouldn't that mean you were peeping into his anatomy?" Sasuke wondered aloud, startling the girl.
Sakura and Sasuke were able to recover their ground during Kiba's onslaught.
"I mean, not exactly? Our target is slender but has musculature of a male, it's not that hard to notice," Sakura defended Hinata.
"Y-yes, that's precisely how I could t-tell," Hinata stumbled over her words, eventually steadying herself and dismissing the implication,"...at any rate, our objective is to slow down the target and to get Lu somewhere safe," she mumbled, looking off into the distance, not facing anyone she was talking to.
Thankfully, her allies could understand her, and even if they couldn't they all shared an objective: to get Lu to safety and stop Haku.
"It's very heartwarming to see you've got something to protect. But I also have something to protect, and as a result, I will not allow you to stop master Zabuza's dream," Haku, before vanishing in a cold mist, uttered.
"Please do not tell me…" Sasuke drawled, casting a fireball at the ground, hoping it could dismiss the oncoming mist.
"From the looks of it, Haku has an upgraded version of Zabuza's technique, plagiarism, if you will," Sakura explained briefly as her green eyes scanned for any movement nearby.
"Ahem," Shikamaru coughed, "...we have a living human boulder," he interjected. As if on cue, Choji molded chakra in his chest and expanded, enlarging himself.
"Akimichi Style: Human Juggernaut," he chanted, before quaking about in an unpredictable boulder that dissipated the icy mist.
"You children are so persistent," Haku growled.
The temperature around the genin dropped significantly. They could feel Haku's intense killing intent fold in on itself as if it was being expanded and getting stronger. Following this a thicker, nearly suffocating mist engulfed everyone in the area.
"Ice Style: Mist Prison Bonding Technique," he chanted, his voice coming from multiple directions.
The genin were not only being slowed and frozen gradually, but there were ice mirrors forming all around them, slowly creating a huge dome that would encase all nine genin and Haku gained not only a speed advantage, but a sense of direction. He could feel the motion in his mist so he didn't need to see unlike his enemies. The two dojutsu users felt like their eyes were being overloaded with the chakra, which hindered their eyes' effectiveness.
"I didn't want to use this. I didn't have to use this. This jutsu is the combination of the Hiding in The Mist Jutsu and the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals. Not only can I travel through my mirrors, but you can't see from where. Considering you're trapped in a dome of my chakra, this also means that the mist won't be easily displaced," he chuckled, "...this could've all been avoided if your friend surrendered peacefully earlier. What I did was a warning," he added, before a barrage of ice senbon rained from every angle, creating a cyclone of ice shards that rained on the genin.
"My eyes are fogged by this dense chakra," Hinata winced, looking down as some shards came her way.
"Hinata, LOOK OUT!" Kiba called out, getting on all fours with Akamaru to blitz around using the Fang Passing Fang Technique to defend the girl.
"I have an idea," Shikamaru offered, "I can stop Haku if we weaken him enough with a combined effort," he added.
"With your Shadow Possesion Jutsu, you should be able to stop him, even if only for a moment," Sasuke pitched.
"That's where I come in. I could possess him with my Mind Tranfser Jutsu, outside of that Hinata could close his tenketsu and we could bind him with rope afterwards to capture him," Ino supplemented.
"How exactly are we going to catch him in this mist? It's a bit hard to detect him if you haven't guessed," Choji questioned.
"Simple. You, Sakura, and Kiba will distract him. Shino could plant his kikaichu to help us detect him, and when we think the moment is right I'll throw an explosive kunai," Shikamaru replied.
"I've already planted my kikaichu. There are some in your clothes to keep your positions highlighted to me as well, if everything goes smoothly we'll be able to stop him and protect Lu," Shino lowly remarked.
"If that's the case, what should I do?" Sasuke quirked an eyebrow.
"You're a main target, you keep being that way. I doubt that-" Shikamaru was cut off by a kick to his face that seemingly came from Haku diving out of one of the ice mirrors. Haku quickly got into another mirror and began bouncing about, outpacing Kiba and Akamaru.
Choji expanded once more, casting the Human Juggernaut Jutsu once more, barreling in a circle to create a weak airflow, but one strong enough to displace the ice shards. Sakura followed this act by placing terra walls throughout the dome, acting as pads for Akamaru and Kiba to launch off of and increase their speed. Simultaneously, as they bounced off of the small walls made of mud, those hardened walls were destroyed, adding debris into the air that shot haphazardly and stopped a few shards from landing on the genin. Lu finally awoke and was surprised to see some of his old classmates apparently defending him and fighting off an even stronger Haku. He still couldn't move, but he was still able to breathe and that was enough for him. Sasuke ran around and used many shunshin to catch Haku's attention, infuriating the ice user, but still distracting him nonetheless. In the matter of seconds the ice shards stopped flowing and the mist cleared up. The next step of the plan involved Shikamaru casting the Shadow Possession Technique, catching everyone except Ino due to the dome allowing very little light to enter, which allowed her to possess Haku, stopping him once and for all. After this, Sasuke and Hinata dashed at Haku and Sasuke's eyes followed Hinata's movements, only barely mimicking the gentle fist, but it was enough for him to close off eight of Haku's tenketsu.
"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four palms," an ice cold chant came from the Hyuga hier's mouth slowly. Each strike shattered a mirror and her movements became very quick, let fluid, like a torrent at the end of a waterfall, "Eight…Sixteen…Thirty-two…Sixty-four," she called as she barraged the now defenseless Haku," she finished the barrage with a chakra-enchanced palm strike, aimed at his stomach so that her attack wouldn't be fatal but would still immobilize Haku. After this, Shikamaru opened one of his pouches, popping out a sealing scroll that contained binding rope, and he and Ino tied the ice user down, stopping him once and for all.
Zabuza's fight was coming to an end as well. Zabuza could no longer keep up with the techniques of multiple jonin and Naruto's chakra chains only intercepted every attack that nearly landed, leaving Zabuza very little room for error.
"You're really annoying," he grumbled, forming the handisgns for the Water Style: Great Waterfall Jutsu, which was intercepted by Kakashi's personal verson of the very same technique.
Zabuza fell to one knee and Kakashi was blown back slightly but could manage his footing due to two of Naruto's four chains catching the man, stablizing his balance.
"Well, well, well," An unfamiliar, snide voice bellowed, "It seems the great "Demon of The Mist" couldn't get the job done," a short, old man in a suit chuckled.
Naruto recognized the person based off of what he was told by Lu a few weeks ago.
"You're-"
"Gato, I'm in the middle of something here, could you wait a moment," Zabuza growled.
"I won't be doing anything. You see- I never intended to pay you. I readied hundreds of men to kill you in this very moment as you were weak so I could take this land over without having to give a pitiful mercenary such as yourself any money," the mob boss cooed.
"You-"
"YOU," Naruto snarled, his chakra flaring. The last time he'd felt this sensation was yesterday as he sparred against Shino and Choji. It was the Kyuubi. "You have caused so much pain in this village, and from the sounds of it, it's all for money? For land?" Naruto mumbled, his rage increasing. His chakra chains increased in number, from four, to six, to eventually nine sharp chakra chains, covered slightly in a scarlet hue with bubbles steaming out of the cloak. "If anyone is to die today, it'll be you," he added his eyes turning red, gaining slits in them. His chakra chains waved about, some slamming into the ground once or twice as he walked towards Gato and his men. "I've heard what your men do to women, what you do to women. I've seen the effects of what you've done in this country," he grit his teeth, his chains now pointed at Gato.
"Yeah? And what about it? You gonna throw a fit, kid? Tell ya what, if you run away right now, I'll let you li-"
His face from his nose up was swiped away by one of Naruto's chains, killing the man instantly. Out of outrage and ignorant fear, Gato's men swarmed Naruto. Zabuza, Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi were all stunned by the sudden killing inent pooling toward the men from boy who was excitable and cheery moments ago.
"Kakashi I think we should stop him," Asuma grunted.
"I've got a hunch that he's got that under control," Zabuza interjected,pointing at the blonde child before him.
"How can you say that? You were just fighting the boy moments ago," Kurenai chastised.
"Yeah, but if he was some demon or anything of that nature, he wouldn't be mad at Gato for what he's doing at all. If he was heartless and yearned for blood for zero reason, the kid would've killed all of us some time ago if he's been harboring that power the entire time," Zabuza rebuked the woman's question.
"I hate to say it, but Zabuza's right. And it seems like he won't be a threat to us now. He's too weak and was supposed to be paid for this, even if he did kill us he'd gain nothing but more infamy," Kakashi analyzed.
"You people are nothing but heartless scum, drawn by your greed and lust for battle. Have you ever thought for one second that the very man you work for would do the same thing you're attempting to do to Zabuza, to you?!" Naruto seethed, his bloodlust leaking in every word he spoke. "It's as if you're too dumb to see what would happen to if he or any one of yourselves decided to betray one another," he added, grabbing seven men by their legs and slamming them into the water with his chakra chains. The boy's shadow looked like a bear-sized shadow of the Kyuubi, his tails flailing about as Naruto's chains thrashed Gato's former men. "You don't deserve to live, but you also don't deserve a quick death. So you won't be dying by my hands. You lot will be rotting in a cell for all of eternity for all I care," the blonde's rough hair swayed as he continued attacking the men, who were now trying to escape his wrath.
"He's calming down," Kakashi pointed out before actually pointing at the boy's form and the severely dampened killing intent along with the dissapating scarlet chakra.
Lu, Sasuke, and Sakura were frozen as they felt bloodlust. Their fear turned to worry as they noticed whose bloodlust they felt from the other side of the bridge.
"That's Naruto," Lu mumbled.
"It's definitely the dobe, but it doesn't feel like him," Sasuke tacked, implying that Naruto was probably taken over by the Kyuubi.
Moments later that very same bloodlust wore off.
Zabuza, Kurenai, Tazuna, and Asuma were all astounded at what they'd saw. Not only did Naruto singlehandedly take out Gato's men, but he did it completely without coming withing two feet of them, allowing his chakra chains to catch them and defeat each man without killing every mercenary in sight. Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma were especially surprised that Naruto didn't kill all of the men and simply thrashed them, showing an unusual amount of control over the strongest Bijuu's power.
The genin approached the area they felt the immense bloodlust and saw a bunch of bodies layered on top of eachother and a heavily breathing Naruto, who was looking at they ground, his fists balled up tightly. Hinata ran to Naruto, placing a hand on his face and was surprised when he swatted her away. He then turned away from her.
"Sorry, Hinata," he whispered as he shunshinned away and threw down a smoke bomb.
When the smoke cleared, the boy was nowhere to be found.
"That must've been hard for him," Kurenai held a hand to her chest, approaching her student.
"He killed multiple men. Even if he did restrict himself towards the end, he did immediately kill Gato, and a good portion of these men won't survive these injuries," Asuma grunted.
"That much is noticeable. I believe he also knew this," Kakashi added.
"I think the worst part is that you didn't immediately comfort him," Sakura chastised her teacher.
Sasuke nodded in agreement with what the girl had just said. Lu was regaining his ability to move and casted a few chakra bubbles at the pile of unconscious men, replenishing his reserves enough for him to recover some energy and move freely.
"Even if I did, his reaction might've been the same," Kakashi sighed, a deep regret coming into his voice.
Zabuza was stunned and was broken from his stupor when he saw a battered Haku, who was now awakening from the fight he'd recently lost.
"Lord… Zabuza… I- I failed you," Haku murmured through heavy breaths.
After what Zabuza had seen, he felt no more malice, no more hatred in his heart, only a deep, heart stabbing pain.
"No Haku, you did well," Zabuza comforted his companion.
Five years ago, within the borders of Kirigakure, there were two parents and a child within a small hut.
"Haku, we want you to hide," A soft voice called from the boy's mother.
Moments later, Haku could hear the sounds of blades clashing and the sound of metal piercing skin. He'd stepped out from the closet he was hidden in to see a man with a huge blade, covered in his parent's blood.
"Mom….Dad…?" the young boy called out. There was no response.
The man who'd just slain his parents saw the glint in the boy's eyes, before a large crystal of ice erpupted from the boys feet, piercing the man in his back, injuring him slightly.
"Kid, your parents are dead. I killed them," he grunted, turning to face the young boy.
"But…but…why?" Haku cried out.
"Orders from the Mizuakge, Yondaime Yagura Karatachi," The man grunted, punching the pillars and destroying them.
"Zabuza, was the job finished?" a man called.
"Yeah, this couple is the last of this clan," the man with a huge blade, like a guillotine mumbled, leading to the other man leaving and going in another direction.
"I've saved your life, you should live it. I don't plan on-"
"Drop your blade, traitor," a woman called out to Zabuza, grimacing at what she had to do next.
"And if I refuse?" Zabuza tested.
"You die," She glared.
"Surely you can let this one go," Zabuza joked.
"You know we can't do that," She sneered.
"Well… You'll have to kill me to get to this kid," he snapped, drawing his heavy blade once more and engaging in combat with the woman.
Zabuza's fight with the woman alerted theother forces nearby, sending a hole through a wall in Haku's hut.
"Crap, kid,we've gotta go," he said, grabbing the boy by his hand, casting a thin mist, and hiding his trail as he went off into the woods.
A week later all of the men that were pursuing him were defeated and new reinforcements were being redirected at extinguishing families that had kekkei genkai.
"Why…" Haku mumbled.
"Why? Because I needed a weapon, that's all," Zabuza dismissed, waving his hand in the air.
"I'm sorry I never told you why all those years ago," Zabuza sniffled, snapping Haku from his daydream, "I felt like it was my fault your parents had died, my fault that you were going to die, and I decided at that moment that I would have no more needless blood on my hands. That's why I took you in. It's why I trained you to be a mercenary so that you were fit to defend yourself on your one without my aid, but I got so caught up in-"
"It's okay, master," Haku coughed, some blood trickling down his mouth.
"He's not in a stable nor vital condition," Hinata offered, he just needs rest and maybe some remedy could fix his condition within a week.
"It's not really our business, but considering you did get betrayed and thus gave up on your mission to kill us, you may leave without incident," Kakashi told the Swordsman of The Mist.
"Hold it," Asuma raised his voice,"...that's not your choice to make, Kakashi," he firmly denied. "He's a wanted criminal and I doubt that my father would allow something like this to fly," he added.
"If that's the case, we'll have to take them both into custody for the Torture And Investigation Force to handle, that way we can prove their lack of hostility towards konoha and either free them or arrest them," Shikamaru suggested.
"It's not like they're the primary target. The goal of the mission was to protect Tazuna and a sidegoal was to foil Gato's plans for good," Sasuke mentioned.
"Then it's settled. We'll oversee the rebuilding of this bridge, find Naruto, and hand over Zabuza and the kid," Kakashi eye smiled, shunshinning elsewhere leaving swirling leaves in his place.
In the forest, Naruto was punching a tree, gashing it and scraping his fists in the process, which bruised them and caused his hands to bleed slightly. Each time a wound appeared on his hands, it was quickly covered back up with new, fresh tissue, which only infuriated the boy more.
"Why. Won't. You. Just," Naruto grunted in between strikes,"DISAPPEAR!" He bellowed, his last strike stopping before it came into contact with the now fist-sized hole in the tree.
"And then what?" Kakashi tested.
"Then, maybe, just maybe, I won't harm anyone," Naruto mumbled, gritting his teeth.
"What part of your actions were wrong? Sure you may have killed or crippled a few men, but they were all aiming to do the same to you, only to further their lust or greed without interruption," Kakashi pointed out. "Maybe it's what you did to Hinata, swatting her hand away, but even then I'm sure she'd understan-" The man was cut off by a chain of chakra swatting at him, forcing him to let go of Naruto.
"I know that. I know she'd forgive me. It's just… The fear in their eyes," Naruto looked away from the man, a tear falling from his face. "They looked like they were pleading for mercy, but nonetheless, I continued to attack them," Naruto added, sniffling and rubbing one of his eyes,"..what respectable hokage would attack a defenseless "enemy"? Did the fourth ever do that? Did Lord First ever do that? What about gramps?" He sobbed lowly, clear disdain directed at himself leaving his mouth.
"It's not a matter of how strong an opponent is. Whether or not you defeat them, the methods you use, how you feel with such methods. Those are what makes you a shinobi. If you had neverending bloodlust, you would've destroyed them much like the Kyuubi did during it's attack, needlessly destroying everything in Konoha," Kakashi offered,"...but you didn't. You controlled yourself and you clearly didn't have unwarranted violence in mind. Those men clearly intended to kill you and what you did only aligns with your duty as a shinobi of Konoha," Kakashi added. "You did your job, and a damn good on you did, Naruto," Kakashi finished, eye smiling at the boy in front of him. The boy's reaction mirrored his late friend, Obito's during the war where he died. His expression looked like a reflection of Minato's disdain after Rin and Obito had passed, and as the man thought of this, he was surprised when his student hugged him.
"Thank you, Kakashi sensei," he whispered before loosening his grip and sitting down in the forest clearing.
The silver haired man looked in surprise as the boy somewhat stablized himself and seemed to be meditating. In reality, he was still in the works of calming himself down.
"Jeez, kid," a deep voice chuckled.
Naruto jumped up, startled by the sudden presence and readied himself to fight, but this action only confused Kakashi who was watching the boy intently.
"You idiot, there's nobody out there. You're safe, mostly," the deep voice snarled, from what Naruto could tell, it was not very amused.
"You've used my chakra multiple times and you still can't piece together what's happening?" the voice tested.
"You're," Naruto began.
"Yes. I'm the Kyuubi. That was a splendid showing you gave there," the voice, now revealed to be the demon fox, declared.
"But…"
"But you don't like what you did. Sure, I can understand, you're a very puny child and so killing isn't really the first thing on your agenda," The fox interrupted,"..in any case, you're still my vessel. As my vessel I can't tolerate you dying or really getting harmed at all, but that's just about as much as I'll do for you. One warning, though. I hate humans. That will hardly ever change," the fox bellowed once more.
"So is that why you attacked the village?" Naruto called. He got no response.
The season jonin's eyes widened at the implications of what Naruto just randomly said.
"Are you talking with the Kyuubi?" the man asked, a sense of urgency creeping into his voice.
'I can't let that demon corrupt him,' he internally grimaced.
"I mean… I was. I doubt it's here now. The bastard basically teased me and commended me for what I did on the bridge. The violent parts, anywho. It also warned me that it 'hates humans,' but that much was obvious. After that it just…well…vanished," the boy rambled, shrugging as he finished explaining what just happened.