"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
With a massive gust of wind, the mist was instantly blown away, revealing the bridge and the battle still taking place on it.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Haku were the closest to us, and they were all caught off guard by the sudden gust of wind.
Naruto and Sasuke were thrown off balance, while Haku, who was more prepared, managed to stay on his feet.
Zabuza and Kakashi, who were fighting further away, were also affected, but they were able to maintain their footing.
The entire battle instantly ground to a halt as all the combatants looked toward us.
"Kaguya-hime!" Sasuke gasped in shock as he locked onto me.
"Eh? You know them, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, clearly confused about what was going on.
However, he was also the only one confused, as both Zabuza and Kakashi knew who Kakuzu and I were, and they wasted no time in getting between the kids and us.
Even Zabuza, who normally treated Haku as a tool, stepped protectively in front of him.
"She has the biggest bounty in the entire Bingo Book, worth more than all Five Kage combined," Sasuke explained, but I could see that underneath that, he was hiding something else.
I suspected that he was aware that I was responsible for the survival of the rest of the Uchiha clan, which left him unable to figure out what he should think about me.
At his words, I couldn't resist looking over at Kakuzu, the very reason I had such a high bounty in the first place.
His revealing my strength after our first encounter had made every village desperate to have me captured and turned into a breeding tool.
They already paid huge sums for shinobi with a single Kekkei Genkai, but for someone who had mastered almost every Kekkei Genkai known to man?
Yeah, if I hadn't already joined the Akatsuki, I was sure they would be hunting me down relentlessly to get that payday.
"Kaguya-hime, Kakuzu of the Black Market," Kakashi whispered, but we all heard it clearly. "Why are you here?" he asked loudly this time.
I looked over at him and could see the tense muscles under that lazy facade of his.
My Byakugan, still hidden under a blindfold, locked onto the Sharingan. I didn't fear any genjutsu, so even if I hadn't worn a blindfold, I wouldn't have hesitated.
That was, after all, Obito's eye.
A legendary eye that could play a huge part in the story to come, though precisely because I knew this, I was also tempted to do something about it.
But in the end, I held myself back. After all, if I stole it or destroyed it, Obito would find out about it.
And I had no desire to become enemies with him just yet.
He was still a useful tool; there was no need to ruin that before he had outlived his usefulness.
"We are here for Gatō," I said, explaining our purpose.
"Gatō?" Zabuza asked, clearly not happy that his employer was being targeted, not while the midget still owed him money. "What do you want with him?"
"Why should we answer you?" Karin stepped forward, arms crossed over her chest.
She had grown more confident and assertive over the last few years, especially around Kakuzu. While she wasn't quite at the level where she could challenge him, she was no longer the timid, scared girl she had been when we first met.
But her attitude clearly annoyed Zabuza. "Girl, you really want me to kill you, huh?"
"You? Kill me? In your dreams!" Karin snorted, and without moving, a huge glowing chain shot out from her back, crossing the distance between her and Zabuza in an instant.
The chain then slammed into Zabuza. He was fast enough to bring up his sword and block it, but he was still pushed back by the force of the attack.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains! You are from the Uzumaki clan!" Kakashi shouted as he recognized the ninjutsu.
"Uzumaki?" Naruto asked, clearly confused.
While everyone was still surprised, Karin pulled the chain back, really yanking it, and ripped Kubikiribōchō out of Zabuza's hand, disarming him.
"Here, 25 million," she said, offering Kakuzu the blade.
"Smart girl," Kakuzu praised her with a nod, before he quickly took the sword, not wanting to potentially lose such a valuable object.
"Damn it!" Zabuza cursed, as he saw his blade, which he had wielded for years, get taken away so easily.
But before he could do anything else, Haku stepped in front of him, a handful of senbon between his fingers, ready to fight.
"Don't underestimate us," Haku said, his voice calm and steady, despite the dire situation.
"Please, we aren't underestimating you. That would mean we estimated you in the first place, and you think you are even worthy of that?" Karin said, clearly delighting in mocking them.
I couldn't help but sigh slightly. She was really picking up the worst habits of the Akatsuki now that she wasn't traveling with her mother all the time.
Zabuza, who was already on edge because of the appearance of two S-rank missing-nin, was now even more angered by the girl's taunts, but he knew better than to rush into a fight blindly.
Instead, he turned to Kakashi. "They are after Gatō. That means our interests are aligned for now. How about a temporary truce? We deal with them, and then we can finish our fight."
Even Haku looked toward Kakashi, hoping he would agree. He knew that they stood no chance against the two S-rank missing-nin on their own.
Kakashi, however, didn't even hesitate. "There will be no truce. You tried to kill me and my students. You are my enemy. Nothing will change that."
Kakashi wasn't foolish enough to think he could take on two S-ranked missing-nin, even with Zabuza, and more so, he had no reason to do that. His mission had nothing to do with Gatō.
In fact, he might only be happy if we dealt with him, as that would solve his own mission's problems.
Zabuza clearly wasn't pleased that he hadn't managed to pull Kakashi into it, but he also knew that he had no chance of winning this fight, even less now that he had lost his sword.
"I guess you aren't going to return my sword if I ask nicely?" he said with a sneer, directed at Kakuzu, who was now holding the massive Executioner's Blade.
"The question isn't if you're going to ask nicely, but if you can pay for it," Kakuzu said, as he examined the sword, a greedy glint in his eyes. "And I doubt you have that kind of money."
Zabuza's face darkened, but he didn't say anything. He knew that Kakuzu was right. He was broke, and he had no way of getting that kind of money.
"Let's go, Haku," he said, as he turned to leave, not wanting to waste any more time.
"Wait," I said, my voice calm but firm. "You're not going anywhere."
Zabuza and Haku turned to look at me, their expressions wary.
"What do you want?" Zabuza asked, his hand inching toward a hidden kunai.
"You two are coming with us," I said, my tone leaving no room for argument.
"And if we refuse?" Haku asked, his voice still calm, but with a hint of steel.
"I'd rather you did, so I don't have to drag you along and make a mess on the bridge," I replied with a shrug, my words making Kakashi and his Genin tense up, clearly worried about whether or not they were included in that.
Naruto, who was still struggling to understand what was going on, finally couldn't hold it in any longer. "Hey, what did you mean when you called her an Uzumaki?" he asked, pointing at Karin.
The question hung in the tense air, an odd, fragile bubble of curiosity amidst the brewing violence. Even Kakashi and Zabuza paused, their focus momentarily shifting.
Karin, who had been basking in her moment of power, looked over at Naruto, a flicker of annoyance in her red eyes. "What does it matter to you?" she snapped.
"Because my name is Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!" he declared, puffing out his chest, a familiar, defiant grin spreading across his face.
The name landed like a physical blow. Kakashi's visible eye widened in genuine shock. Zabuza's sneer faltered, replaced by a flicker of disbelief. Even Haku, the stoic apprentice, showed a hint of surprise.
And I... I simply watched, a faint, knowing smile hidden beneath my blindfold. After all, Naruto's attitude was just... so uniquely innocent, even in a situation like this.
Karin stared at him, her jaw hanging slightly open. "Uzumaki? But... your hair is blond!" she said, clearly not believing that someone with blond hair could be an Uzumaki.
And for good reason. Naruto's hair color was no less miraculous than the fact that he and Sasuke somehow managed to beat me in the original story.
Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion. "So what? I'm still an Uzumaki!"
"He is, Karin," I said, my voice cutting through their bickering. "He just somehow inherited the hair color of his father, Minato Namikaze."
The revelation seemed to suck all the air out of the space. No one was more shocked than Naruto, who hadn't expected to hear his father's name all of a sudden.
"Wait, you know who my father is?" he asked, a desperate hope in his eyes.
"Wait, he is the son of Minato Namikaze?" Karin asked, looking between Naruto and me.
"Huh? Is that name famous or something?" Naruto asked, clearly confused as he looked around while everyone else stared back at him, their faces clearly saying the same thing.
Are you an idiot?
"Idiot," Sasuke muttered under his breath.
He honestly couldn't believe that Naruto, someone who constantly talked about wanting to become the next Hokage, wouldn't even know the name of the Fourth Hokage.
"Son of the Fourth, huh? Too bad we can't take him, would no doubt be worth a lot of money," Kakuzu sounded disappointed as he commented on the situation.
"Anyway, enough fooling around, you two," he said, pointing at Zabuza and Haku. "You are coming with us, either on your own two feet, or Karin here will drag you along with her chains." He added this as he patted Karin's head.
Zabuza gritted his teeth, his muscles tensing as he weighed his options. He could fight, but it would be a suicide mission. He could run, but they would just chase him down.
He looked over at Haku, who gave him a subtle, almost imperceptible nod.
"Alright," Zabuza said, his voice low and filled with resignation. "We'll go with you."
Haku, who had been silent this whole time, finally spoke. "Can you at least tell me why you want us?" he asked, his eyes fixed on me.
"Simple," I said. "We are bounty hunters, and you two are worth a lot of money. Be glad you are worth far more alive than you are dead," I explained, not really seeing a reason not to be straight with them.
Even if they tried to escape later, it wouldn't matter, as they would still not get far.
At least, not against Kakuzu and me.
"Money," Haku said, a sad, almost pitying look in his eyes. "Is that all that matters to you?"
"It's a living," Kakuzu said with a shrug.
Haku looked at Zabuza, a question in his eyes.
Zabuza just shook his head. "Don't look at me like that, Haku. This is the world we live in. A world where the strong prey on the weak, and the weak have no choice but to serve the strong."
"Is that why you're working for Gatō?" Naruto asked, unable to hold his tongue. "Because he's strong?"
Zabuza let out a bitter laugh. "Gatō? Strong? He's nothing but a greedy little midget with too much money. He's not strong, he's just rich."
"Then why work for him?" Naruto persisted.
"Because I need the money," Zabuza said, his voice filled with weary resignation. "Anyway, you said you were here for Gatō as well. Don't tell me he paid you to capture us?" he asked, clearly not believing that.
"Someone like Gatō wouldn't dare hire someone like us; he is a coward. We are here simply because he is rich, and we want his money," I said with a shrug. "Anyway, he is here already."
"Gatō? Here? Why would he be here?" Zabuza asked, not understanding why a businessman would appear at a place he knew two high-level shinobi would be fighting.
(End of chapter)
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