C&A Productions Presents
A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion
Go! Unashamed Reincarnation Protagonist Sakura
Chapter 4
Weapons of the Gods
Momochi Zabuza was not having a good time. This arrangement with Gato the shipping magnate was getting worse all the time. He stood on the prow of one of Gato's freighters as it chugged along towards the central isle of the Land of Waves. he reached up and stroked the handle of Kubikiribocho.
At first the deal had been simple. Zabuza needed a place to hide where the hunter nin from Kiri would not find him. Gato was a useful pawn. His greed, and the extreme violence he was willing to go through to fulfil that greed, helped conceal the incidental actions of a handful of missing nin. Zabuza got a place to hide, and a way of earning money to rebuild his strength. Gato got ninja to deal with anything his knock off samurai flunkies could not.
But it was getting far past cheap. First, two of his underlings had been captured by a squad of Konoha nin. Two ninja he could hardly afford to lose. Then he'd had the bad luck of running into the infamous Copy Nin, and a squad of extremely lucky brats, putting him in a recovery bed for most of the week.
And, of course, revealing his trump card.
As if summoned by his thoughts he felt more than heard the tread of Haku's sandaled feet on the deck behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and watched as the kid approached him. As usual, he was wearing the hunter nin mask that Zabuza had harvested off the corpse of the last squad of hunters they had escaped.
"Are you ready this?" Zabuza almost wanted to take the words back. He was getting nervous. His nerves were wired. He was going to face a ninja that had almost killed him. True, he had a plan for this time, but on the battlefield there was no such thing as a plan that survived contact with the enemy.
"I have made myself ready," Haku said. Zabuza stared down at the kid. This was going to be the first real battle he had forced Haku into. Until now, Haku had been strictly support. His talent needed to be feed carefully. Haku had helped from the shadows, but it had been up to Zabuza and the demon brothers to do the actual killing.
Zabuza turned back to the shore. He could run faster than this. The boat was crawling along, obviously the pilot was afraid of grounding on hidden reefs in the darkness. But he was in no hurry. Ambushing Kakashi and his brats in the night would gain him very little. He shifted his grip on Kubikiribocho, frowning behind his mask.
He hadn't felt like this since he'd felt this kind of excitement. Not since he'd faced that demon brat, the butcher that called himself Mizukage, had he ever been this close to death. He could almost feel it in his bones. It was like watching the tide draw rapidly away, and knowing the tsunami was coming. By all rights, he should have fled. That was how he had survived his failed attempt to topple the demon, when so many who had believed in him had died.
He snorted under his breath. Who could believe in him? The 'Demon of the Mist' who had slain an entire class of children in his graduating exam. One of the bloodiest ninja to ever be produced by the Land of Water. Yet they had preferred him to the new Mizukage. How much of a monster did you have to be that a man whose claim to fame was butchering children seemed the sane choice?
"Hey, maybe we'll actually get to see him use that big kitchen knife of his this time."
Zabuza glanced over his shoulder. He had heard the arrival of Gato's two third rate samurai wannabes on the deck, but had dismissed them both. They were thugs with pretensions; good for terrorizing civilians and murdering the weak.
"Are you kidding, why would you ever want to see that thing in practice?" the taller thug said.
"Oh?" The shorter one grinned, playing along.
"That's the Kubikiribocho," the tall one said. "I read up on it, once." He stroked the hilt of his katana. "One of those famous swords from the Village of Hidden Water." He grinned mockingly. "But unlike the others, the only special power it has is the ability to repair itself using the blood of its victims." Zabuza turned his face away. He wondered where the moron had heard the story of his sword. It was even almost true. Kubikiribocho did repair itself, but it used the iron in the blood of its victims, not just the blood.
"What use is a sword whose only special quality works when its broken?" The short one laughed.
"You're wrong." Zabuza glanced at Haku, who had turned to face the thugs. "The sword is not Master Zabuza's weapon."
"I suppose he carries it just for the sentimental value," the tall one said with a mocking smile.
"
I am Master Zabuza's weapon," Haku said. "For I am a ninja. And it is our purpose to be a weapon, wielded until it breaks and spilling blood." He tilted his head slightly. "In this way, the blade is a symbol of his status as a ninja. But I am the only weapon he needs."
The two thugs did not seem impressed by Haku's declaration but Zabuza found himself wondering about it. A weapon was to be used until it was broken, huh? The thought pleased him. Yet also left him uneasy.
*
Zabuza body flickered onto the bridge with Haku beside him. They arrived at the perfect location. The bridge was almost finished, only a few dozen meters of open water kept the end of the bridge from the far shore. The trio of ninja and the bridge builder were near that edge, and Zabuza and Haku were now between them and solid ground. True, it was not an insurmountable distance for trained ninja. Even putting aside that water-walking was an advanced skill most ninja could swim or leap or use some combination of wire and other ninja tools.
He smirked beneath his bandages. There wasn't a chance that any of them would try it. Fleeing from a Kiri trained ninja on the open ocean was the quickest way Zabuza could think of to commit suicide.
He landed just far enough that the enemy could see him, but more than distant enough that he could fade back into the mist his jutsu had summoned could protect him from the hypnotic gaze of the Sharingan.
Still, he was surprised when the water clones he had created to distract his enemies all collapsed into puddles. The ninja brat in the blue shirt had finished them off with a single move, spinning a kunai through the air in a sharp circle. Some sort of wire tied to the kunai's pommel-loop to conceal how he controlled it in mid-air, he supposed.
"I admit, brat, I'm impressed despite myself." Zabuza shrugged theatrically. "You seem to have grown from that quivering faker at the lake."
"Even if the clones are only ten percent as strong as the original, it is an accomplishment to go from a child who could barely out manoeuvre a single clone to defeating five of them in a single blow." Haku's voice was almost eager.
"Don't talk so big," the blue-shirt brat said with a growl. "You think we're going to believe a single word you say after that ham acting back at the lake?" He rubbed a thumb along his chin. "Why don't you come over here and I can show you just how strong I am?"
"It is a remarkable spirit you have," Haku said. "I would hate to kill you. But if you insist." Haku turned his face, still hidden behind his hunter nin mask, towards Zabuza. "If you would allow me?"
Zabuza narrowed his eyes. '
I would hate to kill you...' Did Haku really mean that? Despite everything, he had yet to prove himself with blood. Zabuza turned his attention back to the trio of ninja standing between him and the bridge builder. Kakashi looked to be fully on his guard, one hand holding a kunai and the other formed into a neutral seal in front of his face. The third one... was smiling dreamily at him.
That expression... it was the exact same expression she had worn at the lake. Even when he had unleashed the full strength of his killing intent and his well honed intimidating display, she hadn't lost that dreamy smile. The kind of smile that showed absolute confidence that he was no threat to her.
He couldn't escape the feeling that had been growing ever since he had confronted these Konoha nin at the lake. The feeling he was walking blithely to his own death. He hadn't felt this way since he had confronted the Mizukage and felt that demonic chakra overflowing from the monster's body.
Still... a weapon existed to be broken in service to its master.
"Haku, go."
"Yes!" Haku flashed forward, his entire body spinning like a top. The air whirred as the kunai he was holding slashed the air. The boy in the shirt sprinted forward. A tremendous ring sounded out as their kunai clashed. Haku was jarred to a halt, but didn't so much as stumble.
Zabuza smirked and crossed his arms. For a moment, the two young ninja struggled and shifted, their feet sliding across the water-soaked ground where Zabuza's water clones had been destroyed.
"You should not have picked this fight," Haku told the boy.
The boy only grinned. "Don't flatter yourself. You're fast. But I'm faster." He pushed, the kunai held in his right hand slowly pushing back the kunai held in Haku's right. "And stronger, too."
"Perhaps." Then Haku lifted his right hand up to face level. "Perhaps not." With that, Haku began to fold and flick his fingers through specific forms. The Konoha shinobi's eyes widened.
"Hand seals! With one hand!" The boy flinched back. Even Kakashi seemed nonplussed.
It was a perfect trap. Already the area was soaked with water. The boy's hand was caught holding the bind, which meant he only had one hand to defend himself. With Haku's special bloodline he could do hand seals one handed. Which meant this wasn't a battle of taijutsu but of-
There was a crack and Haku went flying backwards. He skidded across the bridge, rolling on one shoulder. He managed to halt his momentum and used the last of it the kick to his feet. A sliver of ceramic fell from his mask and clattered to the bridge.
The Konoha nin stood, his fist still extended in the arc of his punch. He smirked and spun his kunai in his now free right hand. "I'm sorry, was I supposed to be impressed?" Zabuza narrowed his eyes. He hadn't even seen the boy move.
"My, that was certainly something," Kakashi said. He stepped forward slightly. "I would say, if I hadn't been drilling Sasuke in speed for the last month, that jutsu would have caught him off guard." He glanced at Haku, who was fingering his cracked mask. "I would guess... a kekkei genkai, am I correct?"
"Don't underestimate Haku," Zabuza said. "He's just getting started." Zabuza forced levity into his voice. "His potential is boundless and no regular ninja, no matter how fast, can hope to defeat him."
"Sasuke," Kakashi said. "There is no need to put yourself in any danger. If this boy really does have a bloodline, your trump card would be useless." He stepped past the boy.
Zabuza snapped his hands into a seal and flashed across the bridge the arrive in front of Kakashi. "No, I don't think so. Your opponent, Kakashi of the Sharingan will be-"
"Excuse me!"
Zabuza slipped backwards, grabbing the handle of his giant sword. Where had she come from? Zabuza had meant to appear between Kakashi and Haku but somehow that dreamy smiled girl had been between them, standing under his guard! She was grinning at him.
"Sensei, sensei!" She raised her hands and bounced on her heels, like an over eager student in middle school. "Oh, oh! Pick me, pick me!"
"Now, Sakura, the adults were talking."
"Ah, but Sasuke gets his own super cool rival fight to the death," Sakura said with a pout. An actual pout. "I want to have a epic ninja fight, too!" She began to bounce back and forth on her heels, her long red cloak flopping around her as she shadowboxed.
Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck. "Sakura, you're embarrassing me in front of my mortal enemy."
The girl turned to face him, clutching her hands beneath her chin as she gazed up at him like an eager puppy. "Please, sensei!" She then smiled slyly. "Besides... I may be a freak among freaks but so far all my freak stuff has been pure theory. I need to know how I stack up against a real ninja." She glanced over her shoulder at Haku and Sasuke, who were approaching each other in a cautious spiral. "And I wouldn't take this fight from Sasuke."
"Enough," Zabuza growled. He flickered behind the girl. Kubikiribocho released from its harness with a snap and he drew it around in a wide arc, all his power behind a one handed blow. He was not about to be mocked by some overconfident brat.
There was a loud clang, the sound of metal on metal. Zabuza's eyes widened. He had expected the sound of blood splattering across concrete, of flesh parting like water. He had even expected the clatter of wood or crack of construction equipment scattering across the bridge as the girl managed a last minute substitution.
What he was not expecting was for her to be holding back his great cleaver with one hand, her thick red cloak wrapped tightly around her fist. She was staring over the line of her arm and his blade, her wide green eyes focused on his. The pupils of her eyes had shrunk to pinpricks. Her lips had pulled back in a rictus grin.
"Wait your fucking turn," she said. Her voice had totally changed character. Rather than the eager student, it was a voice thick with malicious intent. "I don't have sensei's permission to play with you. So back off or they'll let me out and then you'll be in all kinds of shit!"
Zabuza launched himself backward. He spun his great cleaver-shaped sword in front of him in a reflexive defensive move. Was he actually retreating? The Demon of the Hidden Mist was retreating from some candy floss haired brat not even half his size! He began to shake. He, who had once terrorized an entire elemental nation? He, who had come within a hand's breadth of defeating the demon infested Mizukage?
The girl turned her attention back to her sensei. "Well, Kakashi, how about you give me a chance to prove myself to myself?" Her voice was all sweetness and light and airheaded delight again.
Kakashi look at her for a long moment. His eyes trailed over her cloak and then looked at Zabuza's blade. "Very well." He held up one finger. "But if I think anything is going wrong, I'll step in."
Sakura jumped, pumping both fists. "All right!" She turned to face him. "I've waited so long for this you have no idea." She stepped between him and Kakashi, throwing back her cloak and holding out one hand. "And if you're going to have a giant sword..."
"Ars magica: restriccione in contrarium inde absolvisti; schola porta quod corium discuteret." Zabuza shifted his stance as a circle of pink light formed in front of her hand. Some sort of sealing art? He didn't recognize the form at all. Then she reached into the circular mandala and grasped the air. With a crack of displaced air a sword appeared in her hand.
It was huge, easily half again as long as the girl was tall. The handle alone was as long as her forearm. The entire blade was made of some silvery metal, run through with traces of gold etching that formed complex ideograms all up and down the length. It was shaped like an elongated diamond, double edged and perfectly symmetrical. In the centre of the widest part of the blade was what look like a cross between a clock face and a series of gears. They spun in lazy circles. The pummel of the blade was balanced by a orb the size of a fist, an orb so black it seemed to drain the light from the air.
"Ars technica: Interfectis Gladio Dei Victoriae." She bounced the massive blade out of her palm and caught it one handed. "What do you say we slice each other up like a couple of real-life, honest to goodness sword fighters?"
"Brat, don't think you can intimidate me with a sword so big you can't possibly wield it at your size!" Zabuza shouted.
She glanced at the blade. "You're right. This thing is too light for my strength." She smirked. "Anima Invictus, please increase to two gees." The cement at her feet suddenly cracked.
Her smirk became a vicious grin and then she moved. He heard the bridge cracking in sequence with her footsteps, so quickly the sound almost dissolved into a single long roar. Her face was suddenly right in front of him and that monster blade came down in a one handed overhead.
Blood scattered everywhere. There was a curl of smoke and a popping sound. Blood became cement. Pieces of shattered body became the remain of a mixer, flying in all directions as if torn apart by a grenade. The bridge beneath the sword cratered.
Zabuza landed on one of the safety rails, his hands unclenching from the substitution seal. Sakura turned her face towards him, twisting her neck almost unnaturally. Her cloak floated around her almost lazily. "Hey there!" she called out. "You're fast."
"What the hell, brat," Zabuza snarled. "Did you think such a straightforward attack would actually work?"
Sakura stood up, balancing the haft of her sword on one shoulder. "Nah. At least not without cheating even more." She held up her free hand. "Ready for round two?"
Zabuza didn't give her a chance to act. He flung Kubikiribocho so fast it hissed through the air. She twisted sideways to avoid the spinning blade. Zabuza flickered behind her and caught the sword in mid-air, twisting with its momentum. He brought the blade up and around at the gap in her legs. Cement and rebar geysered up as Kubikiribocho tore apart the bridge in its arc.
The blade slammed to a bone jarring halt. "What-" Zabuza gasped. The girl had brought her free arm down. A hexagon of light had sprung up from some sort of jewel on her wrist, stopping the giant cleaver cold.
"Oy, Sakura, we're being paid to help
build a bridge, not destroy it." Kakashi sounded flippant.
"Right," Sakura grinned at him. "Let's take this somewhere else. Ai, full combat mode, please."
Zabuza leapt back, wondering what fresh insanity was happening now. As the girl straightened her cloak
liquified as if it was melting. The material stretched and folded around her body in a flash, before hardening into a skintight bodysuit. Pieces of ceramic that she had been wearing under the cloak pushed through her and there. There was a hiss of escaping steam as nearly imperceptible hinges irised open revealing more of those jewels all over her body. The air around her briefly flared with visible light before it faded.
"Let's take this fight away from the bridge so we can really cut loose, eh?" she grinned. "Ai, tau shield, level 2."
Sakura blurred. Zabuza's eyes widened. No time for kaminari! His sword came up to his side, held across his shoulder. The shock travelled through his arms and shoulders with stunning force. It took him a moment to realize he was in free fall.
He spun in midair, his body cutting through the mist. The ocean approached from below. He landed in a crouch, not even sinking so much as a millimetre into the water. The girl came after him. And she was running
on the mist.
No... small circles of pink light bloomed with each step beneath her heel. It was like she was charging down a steep ramp straight at him. "You bitch! You think you can beat me on the open ocean!" He spat and brought up his hands in a seal. "Come to your death!"
He cycled chakra through his feet and skated backwards, barely fast enough to avoid having his head removed by the sword. She stepped onto the water and began to chase after him. Her grip reversed as she improved her aerodynamic profile. Great splashes of water were thrown up behind her with every step. Zabuza stayed just outside her reach, his fingers flashing through hand seals with desperate speed.
"Water release: Water dragon missile!"
"Ai, Tau Four!"
His jutsu released a massive dragon shaped water spout, slamming through the air in front of him. The girl did not just blur. She vanished. His eyes widened. Behind him!
Nearly wrenching his shoulder out of the socket he managed to grab Kubikiribocho with both hands and place it between them. He felt the ringing impact of a dozen blows across the blade. He couldn't believe his eyes. It was like there were multiple clones of the girl, but they were all overlapping and striking at the same time. No clone technique could do that!
With a series of cracks and pops Kubikiribocho disintegrated under the onslaught. Jagged pieces of the sword flew in all directions. Blood began to leak from multiple shallow cuts across his body. Zabuza staggered back, one foot sinking up to his knee in the water. Great waves rippled across the ocean surface behind him, sending foam into the air. He clutched the hilt of his broken sword in one hand, barely able to hold it up.
"What kind of monster-" Zabuza cried.
"You don't have to die here, Momochi Zabuza," Sakura said, pointing the tip of her blade at him. The fragments of his sword had bounced off her body, tiny hexagons briefly flashing into existence each time.
"Lord Zabuza!" There was a soft splash. Sakura jerked her head to the side as icy needles flashed past her ears. She skipped backward to avoid another hail of projectiles. Haku was charging across the water.
There was a blue flicker and the boy, Sasuke, dropped in front of his rescue. "I think you forgot that I am your opponent."
There was another flash of pseudo motion and Kakashi appeared on the water. His arms were crossed and his Sharingan was uncovered. "I think I forgot to warn you that you're biting off more than you can chew." Haku tried to unleash another hail of ice needles but Sasuke seemed to flow in and around them, impossibly finding a gap that allowed him to close and thrust a palm into the other boy's stomach. Haku staggered back and then Sasuke was behind him, a kunai held at Haku's throat and one arm detly wrapping ninja wire around both Haku's wrists.
"First off, allow me to introduce, Uchiha Sasuke. The genius number one student of this year's academy class and last of the prestigious Uchiha clan."
Zabuza starred as the boy looked up from around Haku's shoulder. Both his eyes had turned blood red, with small magatama spinning in their irises. "The Uchiha clan," Zabuza hissed.
"Yes. The clan famous for being born with the Sharingan that I inherited." Kakashi nodded towards the girl with her oversized greatsword. "And you've also met Haruno Sakura, this years most brilliant ninja. Who has developed her own special ninja tools." Sakura wiggled her fingers at him.
Zabuza chuckled. "So I was walking to my death after all..." He threw his head back and laughed. "What a joke, did we ever stand a chance?" He dropped his head. "But even if you kill me, Kakashi, you still lose."
"Oh?" Kakashi seemed willing to hear him out.
"Gato is not the kind of man who puts all his hopes in one plan." Zabuza grinned viciously. "Even now, his men have fanned out across the island. Ever man who worked on this bridge will be dead, and their families with them. Starting with the bridge builders own!"
"Really now?" Kakashi seemed unperturbed.
"And you left your charge all alone..." Zabuza hissed.
Up on the bridge, which was now in plain sight since the mist from Zabuza's Hidden Mist technique had faded away he could see the bridge builder leaning on the safety railing, watching them with interest. Behind the man, the last water clone Zabuza had formed and kept in reserve appeared-
And broke apart into a cloud of vapour. The bridge builder held his fist up where he had casually backhanded the clone away. He grinned and with a cloud of smoke and a soft pop was replaced with the orange ninja kid that had outsmarted him at the lake.
"A transformation jutsu?" Zabuza said more to himself.
"And last but certainly not least, this years most unpredictable knuckle-headed ninja, Uzumaki Naruto." Kakashi turned to the boy on the bridge. "Hey, Naruto," he shouted. "Are you all finished?"
"You better believe it, sensei!" Naruto shouted through his cupped hands. "My kage bushin report that every single one of Gato's thugs have been rounded up and dealt with." He dropped onto the water, landing slightly unsteadily but walking with confidence.
"Though next time one of your gets to scour the entire island for the small fry and I get to have the epic ninja duel!" Naruto's voice was whining.
"Did you find Gato himself?"
"Oh yeah." Naruto nodded. "He and like this whole army of guys were on a boat just around the cape. I snuck out all ninja stealth with my awesome water walking and was like bam-" he punched "-crash-" he kicked "-Uzumaki style ultimate beatdown."
Who was this brat? Not even Zabuza could send his water clones more than a few dozen meters away from his real body and they expected him to believe he could summon enough shadow clones to blanket the entire island? Just his luck, a team of absolute monsters.
"Lord Zabuza..." Zabuza turned his attention to Haku, who had his face turned towards Naruto. "I'm sorry, Lord Zabuza. I can no longer serve you."
"Oh man," Naruto said with a groan. "It's really all over? I didn't get to fight a single ninja."
"You fought to protect the people of this island," Haku said to him. "Was it just for the money? Or are they precious to you?"
Naruto gave the bound ninja an odd look, almost as if he had heard the question before. "I had the most important job of all," Naruto said. "Saving this nation from bullies. Because even if we just met, they trusted me to help them, so I had to do it. That's my ninja way."
"I see." Haku ducked his head. "Lord Zabuza,
the purpose of a weapon is to be broken in service to its master."
Sakura's head snapped up. "Sasuke, watch out!"
But it was too late. Red sprayed across the water as Haku threw himself forward. Sasuke's kunai sliced cleanly through his throat. Sasuke gasped and lost his grip. The wire holding Haku's wrists loosened.
Even as the boy was sinking into the water, seeming to float in slow motion to Zabuza's eyes, his hands flashed into a series of seal. Sakura was running past Zabuza sprinting at Haku. Her sword dropped from her hand, vanishing into a mandala of light. She was chanting at high speed, her hands flashing through the air and creating a geometric pattern of pink light as she reached out one hand for Haku's throat.
Her body was flung back as a series of ice mirrors suddenly formed a circle around Haku and Zabuza. Zabuza landed in a crouch, catching the boy in his lap. Haku coughed, blood leaking from under his mask and flowing freely from his neck.
There was a crash. Zabuza looked up. Sakura had punched a fist through one of the mirrors, but even as she drew her fist out to strike again the damage healed itself. "No!" she cried. Her fist smashed another hole but smaller this time. Even as Haku's life was fading, his chakra was growing stronger.
"That chakra... the Gate of Release?" Kakashi sounded surprised and horrified. "Where did you learn that? Why did you teach..."
Zabuza stared down at the boy in his lap. He gently removed the mask, revealing Haku's face. He was gazing with adoration up at Zabuza, unmindful of the pain.
"That... that girl!" Naruto gasped.
"Dammit no!" Sakura slammed her fist into the ice mirrors again but they didn't even crack. "Let me in! LET ME IN! I can
save him! I can still heal him!" She began to punctuate each word with a blow of her fist. "He. Doesn't. Deserve. To die!"
"It's her... him? That kid, from before we started the training..." Naruto muttered.
"Kakashi, I have to get inside! I can
fix this! I just need to get inside before he dies!"
"Sasuke!" Kakashi ran around opposite the blue-shirted boy. "Snap out of it, Sasuke! It's time to use that jutsu!"
Sasuke was staring at the bloody kunai in his hand. He seemed to snap to attention and dropped the knife as if burned. He jumped back a half dozen paces. "Ruh-right!"
"We'll have to time this perfectly," Kakashi said. "Our only hope to overwhelm his chakra is to hit from opposite direction at the exact same time!"
Like perfect mirrors the two began to make hand seals at the same time. Then both dropped their right hand and clutched their forearm with the other. A buzzing sound like a thousand birds taking flight at once filled the air and the chakra in their hands became so intense he could see it with his naked eyes.
"...zabuza..." Zabuza looked at Haku's face. "...use my body... my blood..."
"Don't do it!" Sakura roared and began to smash her fists into the mirrors so hard that the water around her was sent flying backward by the shockwaves. "AI! TAU EIGHT!" Her body became a kaleidoscope, a chimera with a hundred fists. Slowly the mirror began to crack under her attack.
Zabuza looked at the handle of Kubikiribocho. The beheading blade, that regenerate from the blood of its enemies. His eyes narrowed. Yes. Even if he had lost, been outmanoeuvred at every step, he could still have his revenge.
He drove the broken shaft of the sword into Haku's body. It was time for him to remember the demon who had slaughtered a hundred children in a single hour. He began to make hand seals above the hilt of the blade. He could see the mirrors weakening as Haku's life force drained away. The Uchiha and Kakashi began to sprint towards the mirrors, those deadly glowing palms held behind and to their sides.
"Bloody Mist; Iron Whirlpool."
He released his jutsu just as the two ninjas shattered through the mirrors. The entire complex disintegrated into mist. Zabuza gripped the handle of Kubikiribocho and swung it in a long arc. The human body was sixty percent water, and most of that was blood!
Haku's body floated up like a puppet, the centre of a maelstrom that expanded in all directions. Long lines of blood flashed in all directions, twisting into a vortex. Zabuza slashed his sword through it; the blade didn't so much repair as reform almost instantly. His blow nearly caught the Uchiha, who only barely managed to dodge to the side. He struck with his glowing palm. The blow cracked Kubikiribocho in two.
It hardly mattered, the blade reformed again instantly. With a flex of his free hand the sheared off section of blade twisted through the vortex and came at the boy from behind. A red and pink blur grabbed him by his popped collar and dragged him out of the maelstrom. Kakashi aimed at Zabuza's heart, but only struck the reformed blade. It, too, shattered into a dozen pieces. But it reformed just as quickly and Kakashi throw himself out of the vortex as Zabuza just barely failed to chop his legs off with the reformed Kubikiribocho. Even so, he was still tagged three times by the swirling remnants of the blade as his chakra pulled them around.
It would do him no good. Kakashi gasped and fell to his knees. Blood was streaming from his wounds into the vortex, draw across the distance between them with an awful gravity.
"Kakashi," Sakura shouted and appeared at his side. Her hands gestured frantically and a mandala of light formed as she rapidly chanted and touched his wounds. They sealed in burst of rainbow light and Kakashi staggered back.
Zabuza grinned behind his bandages. He could feel the wounds opened earlier in the fight burning. The technique was indiscriminate. Every wound opened by Kubikiribocho was effected, even his own. He had less than a minute left before his technique drained him like a vampire. Before then, he would take at least one of these arrogant Konoha ninja with him!
"You... you bastard!" Naruto roared.
"Naruto, no! Stay away from him!" Kakashi tried to stand but slumped to one knee. Sakura grabbed his shoulder and leapt back with him.
"Stand still," she said with a hiss and began to chant, forming another of her mandalas behind his back.
Then Zabuza snapped his gaze back to the boy. He was hunched forward, snarling. A pressure exploded from him. "You... fucking.... bastard!" Naruto snapped his eyes open and the pupils had turned to slits. "He was your comrade! He was your friend!"
The whisker marks on the boy's cheeks grew more defined, furrowing into his face. His canines extended and his fingers curled like claws. Zabuza could only laugh. Oh, yes, he recognized this pressure. He knew this awful chakra.
He had faced it once before.
"What... what is this?" Sasuke cried.
"Damnit," Kakashi said. "All that training we did, constantly pushing him to the edge in that place; it weakened the seal!"
"You killed him! You killed him because he wanted to help you!" Naruto snapped his hand up and something began to swirl in his palm. "He only wanted to save you, and you killed him!"
"Of course I did, runt," Zabuza said. He felt like spitting in the face of death. "That is what ninja are for. To be used up and thrown away. Just like you will be, one day."
"RAAAAHHH!" Naruto leapt into the maelstrom. Zabuza swung Kubikiribocho to meet him but he snapped his palm forward and a swirling orb connected with the blade. The weapon was instantly torn to shreds. But in the bloody vortex, it reformed in an instant. Still, the orb pressed forward, tearing the giant clever into shreds again and again and again.
The swirling currents filled with hundreds of shards of razor sharp steel. The boys body began to jerk and twitch as they tore into him. Steam rose from the wounds as they closed almost as they opened, but still they ripped out more and more of his blood. Zabuza smirked as the boy fell towards him, the swirling force in his palm ripping his blade apart faster than it could reform.
It was fitting, that he would escape one demon only to die at the hands of another. He watched his death approach-
Only or the boy to suddenly fly backwards, pulled out of the bloody storm. Sasuke spun, ninja wire extended from his fingers and wrapped around all of Naruto's limbs. Shuriken were hooked together keeping the net in place.
"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted. "Quick!"
Sakura snapped her hand onto Kakashi's back and the older ninja seemed to jerk. Rainbow light seemed to pour out of his body for a moment as he stood up straight. Then Sakura was flying across the water towards Naruto. The boy seemed to stagger drunkenly, his features returning to normal.
"Sasuke..." The name came out slurred. "I don't feel..." He groaned and collapsed. Sasuke caught him under the arms, his face pale.
Sakura reached him as her mandala formed some impossibly complex shape. Zabuza stepped forward, only to pause as Kakashi appeared between the children and him. Zabuza smiled as he looked into that Sharingan eye.
"Damn..." Zabuza coughed. He collapsed to one knee. "Not even one of you? How pathetic is that?"
"You're almost out of chakra to maintain that jutsu," Kakashi said.
"You're right, I can't even move." He looked down but Haku's body had sunk beneath the waves. The Iron Whirlpool had used him up and cast him aside.
"You're dying," Kakashi said. "That technique, it's a flawed opening of the Gates. Just like the boy used. It burned out your ability to regulate your chakra and now its feeding on itself."
Zabuza smirked. "The man who owned Kubikiribocho before me, he was killed by a Konoha nin using those Gates. I developed my own version, but it wasn't perfect." He coughed and collapsed onto his hands, his fingers sinking through the water. "I guess I couldn't fulfil my dream, after all. I could only live my nightmare."
"Why do this to yourself?"
"I don't envy you, Kakashi." He reached up and pulled away his bandages from his face, revealing his sharpened teeth. "You have three monsters. Ninja. And the use of ninja is to be broken and thrown awa-"
*
It was dark when Kakashi finally sought out Sakura. The squad was going to be leaving tomorrow. As he expected, he found her at the small grave she had insisted on building for the fallen ninja. The hilt of Zabuza's giant cleaver-sword thrust into a small cairn, with Haku's mask hanging from it.
There were no bodies under that cairn. For some reason Sakura had insisted that the bodies be entirely destroyed, burned to ashes and the ashes scattered to the winds. Neither Sasuke or Naruto had been able to understand why she built a grave for Zabuza.
"Sensei," Sakura said when he joined her on the shoreline. She was gazing out at the water. In the distance, the bridge was barely visible. "How are Naruto and Sasuke?"
"Sasuke is fine, just a little exhausted." Kakashi found a large stone and sat down. "Even with all that extra training, he wasn't fully prepared to use the Chidori like that. I've forbidden him to use it again until we have a chance to properly build up his chakra."
Sakura nodded thoughtfully.
"As for Naruto..." Kakashi looked down. "He's okay. Physically, at least. Psychologically? Who knows." He looked out at the water with her. "This is the first time he has seen death with his own eyes."
"...and I did nothing to stop it," she said bitterly.
"You wanted to save them?" He gave a pointed look to the dual grave. "Both of them."
"I didn't see the harm in letting them live," she said mostly to herself. "I mean, how could they have endangered-" She cut off and looked at him. "They would have been no danger to us, to Tazuna or the Land of Waves or to Konoha. With Gato taken down, there was no reason for us to fight anymore."
"And yet you fought him anyway." Kakashi rubbed a hand through his hair. "You came up with the plan of ambusing Gato while his ninja were distracted at the bridge. We could have just stalled until Naruto was finished and then parted peacefully, if that was your intention."
She clenched her fists, her eyes locked on the grave. "I fucked up. Again." She blinked, her eyes shining. "My own stupid pride. I wanted to play ninja for real." She looked at him, tears dribbling down her cheeks. "I said to myself 'What did this mission matter in the big picture?' I told myself that no one would notice if I finally got a chance to let loose." She stared down at her hands. "Over a hundred subjective years of preparing. Training endlessly, day after day after day. I gave up sleep and food and pleasure. Rewired my own brain to
enjoy it. So I wouldn't skip a single hour. All to make the math work. To maximize return on investment. I became a freakshow so I could do anything but stand on the sidelines and cheer..."
Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Fucking useless pride." She rubbed her fists into her eyes. "Haku didn't deserve this. But I took away that choice. I
knew what could happen and I fucking choose to show off anyway!" She was shaking under his hand. "This isn't a game. I have to keep telling myself that. It's not a game but I keep goddamn
playing."
Eventually she cried herself out. Kakashi rubbed the small of her back as she sat hunched on the shoreline. Some of the blood had stained the sand here. Sakura stared at it, then gestured sharply and tossed a ball of fire onto the beach, burning away the blood.
"Sakura," Kakashi said, catching her attention. "Just like I have forbidden Sasuke to use the chidori until he has more training, I'm also forbidding you from using your time stop jutsu." She looked into his eyes. "I think... I think something about that place outside time is not good for everyone in it." He stood up.
"You're talking about what happened with Naruto, aren't you."
Kakashi hated himself but he could not answer. He couldn't. They deserved to know, but he couldn't answer. He looked away.
"Sasuke saw it all with his Sharingan and I'm a certified genius, sensei." She smiled sadly. "We can put things together on our own."
"Nevertheless, I don't want any of us to be in that timeless space again until i understand why it had the effect it had on Naruto." He paused. "Or Sasuke for that matter. His chakra didn't grow nearly as much as it should have from nearly a month of subjective training."
"I agree," Sakura said. "I honestly didn't know it interacted with chakra that way. I suppose I should have guessed being cut off from the natural chakra cycle would be harmful in
some way." She rose to her feet.
"Which I suppose leaves only one question, sensei."
"Oh?"
"Now that you know more of the truth... who are you going to share that with?"
Kakashi gave her a long look. "This power of yours, Sakura. It's dangerous and unknown. The Hokage should know."
"If you tell, that's your choice." She nodded. "I can only say I had good reasons not to tell the Hokage." She looked away. "There is a way that everything the Hokage knows seems to spread to other people." She looked at him. "And I did the research. Have you ever wondered why the village has never produced a clanless genius?"
"Clanless genius?" Kakashi frowned at her.
"All of the most brilliant ninja in the village come from clans, who zealously guard their progeny. If you believe the standard line, its because the clans have better resources and skills to produce truly exceptional ninja." Sakura looked him straight in the eye. "But talent doesn't work like that. It's as much nurture as nature. So why is a village so unusual or its focus on teamwork and cooperation one of the ones with the least number of clanless geniuses that rise up through the ranks." She stepped away from him. "It's almost like the truly exceptional ones... just vanish before they can even reach the academy."
Kakashi watched her leave, his feelings uncertain.
"You have three monsters. Ninja. And the use of ninja is to be broken and thrown awa-"
