Morning. Original Uzumaki Naruto's POV
Stretching, satisfied and actually rested for once, I walked into the big kitchen, where everyone but me had already gathered.
Sitting down at the table, I greeted everyone, thanked them for the food, and dug in.
Last night I'd managed to shove a small wad of cash into Tsunami's hands so our whole pack could actually be fed properly. On top of that, I'd slipped some money to a local merchant so he'd drag some pre-marinated meat over here by morning. So breakfast turned out pretty damn good. Could've been even better if the woman hadn't fought off my offer to help with the cooking so fiercely—but it was still very good.
See, I "wasn't supposed" to be doing any of that—paying for groceries and all—since she's the one running the house, I'm the guest, plus a couple other excuses. In the end, the only help she couldn't refuse was my clone doing an evening run through the market, since I wasn't sleeping anyway. As for her trying to talk me into sleeping in a bit longer in the morning—fine, I gave in.
And it was worth it. Even though I'd farmed the work out to my clones so everything would go smoothly, I still had to stay up late. But six hours of sleep was more than enough for my body.
Not everyone at the table was in a good mood, though. Sakura sure as hell wasn't. After grilling Tazuna and Tsunami and really diving into what life is like for people under a crime cartel's heel, she wasn't exactly feeling upbeat. She'd been pretty down yesterday when she gave me her report.
It was actually important overall; it helped me tweak my strategy for manipulating the cartel, and gave me a few key details for manipulating Gato himself—stuff that came out of his personality and the people around him. He was especially scared of the pirates from the Land of Noodles—who really do exist out here, even if the reports don't show it, since they haven't made direct contact yet. That made it easier and safer for me to push him into making sure what's about to happen… happens.
As for Sakura herself, well, she couldn't sleep last night. I really am sorry I let her see how brutal the world can be. But on the other hand, that's what'll make her stronger.
Breakfast wrapped up soon enough. My team and Tazuna were just about to head to the bridge when one of the few guards from the construction-materials warehouse came running up.
"Tazuna-sama!"
The old man was almost bowled over by a kid of about fifteen, right as we were heading out from the living room.
"The Demon Swordsman! He's on the bridge, ha—" The guy bent over, unable to get it all out in one breath. "He said… if the shinobi don't hand you over, he'll start slaughtering civilians."
Tazuna went pale.
Tsunami, walking behind us, brought her hands to her face in fear.
I turned my head toward Kakashi, who'd been acting all indifferent till now. My face was screaming "I told you so" so loud they could've heard it back in the Leaf.
Yeah, I set this up. But all I really did was speed things up. They'd have reacted to us anyway. And with Gato's personality, things could easily have played out almost the same.
We quickly questioned the kid, and from his description our silver-haired sensei guessed, based on the weapon and appearance, that this might be a certain Momochi Zabuza, one of the former Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
Hatake's expression darkened.
"This just got very serious," he said.
"Yeah, who could've seen that coming," I said, slightly sarcastic. "Alright. We've 'waited' long enough. Let's go to the bridge."
Two clones popped out of me right away, one of them immediately taking on Tazuna's appearance.
"Old man, hide in the house with your family. My clone'll protect you." Then I turned to the kid who looked older than me. "You wait here too. We'll be back."
Leaving the extras somewhere safe, our little group headed for the bridge.
Sasuke looked as gloomy as always. Sakura looked similar, but also tired, and there was a clear flicker of anxiety on her face.
We moved at a brisk pace so the "ordinary person" in the form of "Tazuna" could still keep up.
"Remember our deal, Kakashi?"
"What are you talking about?"
"That you're the one who goes in first. Mister Wait-and-See."
He grimaced.
"Yeah. I'll do that."
As we approached the bridge, we noticed the surroundings getting more and more choked with mist.
"The Hidden Mist's signature technique. Their shinobi can navigate this fog just fine; it's saturated with their chakra," Kakashi warned us.
I nodded to confirm it.
Soon we were out on the bridge itself, stretching out for dozens of meters ahead and wide enough that forty people could walk side by side without bumping into each other.
The mist thickened until visibility dropped to maybe seven meters.
Farther off, we saw the silhouette of a massive sword, close to two meters long, stuck into the bridge. Perched in a crouch on its guard was the silhouette of a big man, the tails of his headband slowly fluttering behind his head.
"The Kubikiribōchō," Kakashi immediately recognized one of the Legendary Swords of the Mist as we stopped. "Momochi Zabuza, I presume?"
"So it is you," a rough voice came, and the figure jumped down. With a smooth motion he grabbed the long hilt, ripped the sword out of the bridge, and slung it over his shoulder. "The Copy Ninja, Hatake Kakashi."
When the man came closer, we could finally see him clearly: short black buzz cut, tall and heavily muscled. Blue pants with vertical blue stripes, camo-print arm guards, bare torso, and bandages covering half his face.
"Go on, hero," I patted Kakashi on the shoulder and pointed at the swordsman.
Zabuza focused his gaze on the trembling "Tazuna." The clone was playing the role perfectly, even matching his chakra to Tazuna's. The identical face went without saying.
"I don't know what you let your genin pull," Zabuza said, getting straight to the point as he threw me a look. "But I need the bridge builder. Hand him over and we can all walk away."
Kakashi also shot me a very unhappy look, then stepped forward and answered:
"Unfortunately, we'll have to fight."
"Hmph, really?" Zabuza rumbled from his chest, lifting his head and looking, as if from above, past Kakashi at the rest of us. "You'd rather drag them down with you?"
"Protect the client," Kakashi ordered instead of replying, and drew a kunai.
The swordsman's face twisted into a crazed grin under the bandages.
"So be it," Zabuza said—and a powerful violet aura erupted from him.
I felt my teammates flinch. The clone collapsed to the ground, still acting his part.
The air filled with killing intent.
"Watch closely, you slugs. I'm about to tear your commander apart. Then I'll start on you."
With that, the swordsman lunged forward. Kakashi mirrored him.
Sasuke and Sakura stared, spellbound, as two shinobi of elite jōnin strength clashed.
Which is why they didn't react when ice senbon nearly reached their necks.
One quick movement, and a spray of shuriken from my hands knocked down more than a dozen senbon aimed at them, me, and "Tazuna."
"Hey. Don't listen to the enemy," I said after the ring of metal on metal, my words finally snapping my teammates out of it. "Enemy at nine o'clock."
Seeing my shuriken lying near him, Sasuke moved the way I'd pointed.
"He's mine."
"Wait, Sasuke-kun… We're a team," Sakura cut in, having come back to her senses.
The Uchiha was about to snap something back, but I cut him off:
"You'd better listen to Sakura."
His teeth ground.
She's faster than you and smarter about movement. You're better in a straight-up clash. Use your strengths instead of measuring your egos. Otherwise you'll both die, my voice sounded in their heads.
Sasuke's face darkened, but he still nodded.
A silhouette appeared in the mist: a slim figure in a Mist Hunter-nin mask and a green haori. His name was Haku.
"I don't want to kill you," came a soft, almost musical voice. "But you're not getting past here."
"We'll see," Sasuke growled, and, not waiting for any order, rushed in, sending a fan of shuriken flying.
Sakura, come in from the right! I ordered mentally.
To her credit, Haruno had a great sense of space. She could dive deep into the fog and pop out exactly where she needed to.
While the two of them were starting their own fight, the main bout was already in full swing. Kakashi had clashed with Zabuza in a vicious melee. The air rang with steel—Kakashi's kunai against the enormous Kubikiribōchō. Their movements were so fast Sasuke and Sakura probably couldn't follow them at all.
Kakashi, to my surprise, was being pretty damn cocky—no Sharingan, and he was sticking to close combat. Only from time to time did he and Momochi trade Water Style techniques.
Zabuza was strong—a veteran of the Mist's blood-soaked wars, a master of silent killing. And he handled that giant sword expertly. Both of them hit hard. The bridge under their feet cracked from the force of the blows.
At one point, after batting Hatake away with a swing of his sword, Zabuza formed hand seals.
"Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu!"
His exact copy rose out of a puddle beside him. Kakashi frowned, bracing to fight two at once. Both Zabuzas rushed in from different sides. The fight got even nastier. Kakashi had to give it everything just to parry attacks from both of them.
From the very start Hatake hadn't activated his Sharingan and never took the free advantage. Now they weren't just keeping him from getting that edge—they were starting to dominate him.
Finally, Kakashi spotted an opening in one of the Zabuzas' defenses. Throwing a feint, he slipped past the sword swing and drove his kunai into "Zabuza."
The clone burst into water. It was a trap.
"Idiot," the real Zabuza's voice came from right behind him.
Kakashi didn't have time to turn. Strong arms grabbed him, and a dense sphere of water snapped into place around him—the Water Prison Technique.
Standing next to "Tazuna," I just rolled my eyes.
What the hell, man?
"Got you, Copy Ninja," Zabuza sneered, holding Kakashi in the prison with one hand. "Your famous Sharingan didn't save you. And you're pathetic as hell if you fall for such a basic textbook trick."
Not true. To be fair to Hatake, that's far from the simplest trick. But yeah, yeah, keep talking, blowhard…
I turned my head toward Kakashi, and when our eyes met, my own flared with chakra. My genjutsu. Through it I told Kakashi I was handing this fight over to Sasuke and Sakura so they'd grow more as shinobi. That I'd pull them out if things crossed into lethal territory. That he needed to listen to me and follow my orders on intel work and tactics. That I could handle Zabuza. And, last of all, that sitting in this bubble was his punishment—so he could sit there and think about what he'd done.
Zabuza didn't notice this quick information dump, or the way Kakashi suddenly really wanted to tell me to go to hell but couldn't. The swordsman threw me a meaningful look instead, his widening grin still clearly visible through the bandages, then turned away.
"Haku!" he shouted toward the second fight. "Quit playing with those runts! I want you to show them what happens when you cross Momochi Zabuza! Take them out!"
Right then, the fight between Sasuke and Sakura shifted. Hearing the order, Haku stopped holding back.
He didn't hesitate—he immediately attacked with a hail of senbon. Sasuke, already used to the rhythm of the fight, knocked them aside with his kunai, while Sakura used Shunshin to dart away and swing around the flank again.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" Sasuke yelled, exhaling a huge ball of flame to light up the mist and box Haku in.
Haku, moving a bit faster than before, slipped out of the line of fire. At that moment, Sakura came in from the side with a chakra-charged kick. Haku caught it on his arm at an angle, parried it, but still had to retreat a few steps.
A short clash followed, during which Sakura quickly switched places with Sasuke, forcing Haku even farther back.
They worked in sync, making him constantly move. But it still wasn't enough.
"Time to stop playing," Haku's voice went cold as he formed special one-handed seals. "Ice Style: Demonic Ice Mirrors!"
Around Sasuke, massive ice mirrors instantly formed from the moisture in the air, growing into a deadly cage around him.
Sakura, left on the outside, ran straight up and started hammering on the ice in desperation.
"Sasuke-kun!"
From inside came the ring of steel and Sasuke's cries of pain.
Haku's image appeared in every mirror at once. He began to move rapidly between them, driving senbon into the Uchiha from all angles. Sasuke was too slow to dodge them all. The storm of senbon from Haku, flickering between mirrors, tore into him mercilessly.
"Sakura! Break them from outside!" Sasuke shouted, dodging another attack.
Haruno stopped. She drew back her right fist, while her left hand formed a concentration seal, packing more chakra into her right arm.
She struck, and with a burst of Sakura's chakra the mirror webbed with cracks.
Haku, noticing, appeared in one of the mirrors near the girl, ready to throw needles at her.
Sasuke saw it. This was his chance.
"Stay out of it, Sakura!" he shouted.
To the side! my voice sounded in the girl's head at that same moment.
She hesitated, hit by two different orders at once, trying to grasp what exactly the Uchiha wanted from her.
Holy shit… Instead of warning Haruno about the attack, Sasuke had just distracted her with some vague command. Then he calmly focused chakra inside himself for a technique, as long as the needles weren't flying at him.
So what, he decided to use her as bait? Or is he just an idiot? You don't pull that crap in the middle of a fight…
While Haku was aiming at Sakura, Sasuke exhaled a powerful Fire Dragon Flame Jutsu straight at that mirror.
Haku was forced to shift position, but his attack had already been released. A dozen senbon shot straight toward Sakura, frozen in place by the Uchiha's yell.
She didn't react in time. The needles slammed into her body, and she crumpled to the bridge without a sound. Her last look—full of shock and betrayal—was fixed on the ice prison holding Sasuke.
Yeah… Maybe I should've just teleported her after all. But the senbon trajectories shouldn't have hit anything vital… And this is their fight. Better she learns the important lessons while I'm right here and it's still safe.
"SAKURA!"
Seeing her fall and realizing what he'd just done, Sasuke roared with rage and guilt. Crimson light flared in his eyes, and two tomoe in each eye spun in a sinister dance. The Sharingan had awakened, and now the Uchiha could track Haku's movements. Rage gave him strength; Sasuke started batting the needles away, and his speed spiked.
But it was just the lead‑up to his loss. His attacks lost all strategy and turned into pure blind fury. Haku, perfectly calm, just waited. The ice ninja let Sasuke burn himself out, drain his last reserves. When the Uchiha finally slowed for a moment, panting hard, Haku struck. A series of precise senbon hits—and Sasuke, like Sakura before him, went stiff and collapsed, unconscious.
Silence. Haku stepped out of the mirrors, which were already starting to melt away before our eyes, and looked down at the two defeated genin. The fight was over.
I traded a look with Zabuza.
Kakashi was already out cold inside the water prison.
"You're next," the swordsman said, almost savoring it.
Only a tired sigh came out of me as Haku moved toward me.
Three clones burst out of me at once, sprinting off along three different paths—two curving around toward my teammates, one heading straight for Zabuza.
Head snapping back and forth, still closing in on me, Haku tried to keep track of me and the copies. I didn't even bother turning his way.
When the distance was perfect for a senbon throw and his arm had already come up, it was a huge shock to Haku how fast the previously-shaking old man suddenly moved at him. He barely managed to twitch aside before a brutal blow to the head shattered his mask to bits. The frail little body slammed into the bridge, sending tiny cracks out through the concrete.
The clone, having used the scraps of chakra left in the original Tazuna's reserves, just dissolved into the air.
At the same time, the two clones who hadn't yet reached their targets skidded to a stop. The enemy was down, the distraction had worked, and they could drop the extra caution.
They just teleported hundreds of kilometers away—to Konoha's hospital—while a second later, a stream of blue chakra appeared straight from the sky above my teammates. The mist pulled back a few meters from two points at once.
A flash—and in place of Sakura and Sasuke, two clones appeared. One immediately dispersed into the air, this time dumping its remaining chakra back into me, the original. The second teleported away to the hospital—he had people to look after.
At the same time, the last clone, now in close with the swordsman, slipped in on Zabuza's flank. Zabuza had already whipped the water sphere with Kakashi around in front of himself as a shield.
He was forced to drop the prison immediately and bring up the Kubikiribōchō to block the tanto.
The tanto's blade flared with chakra, transferring a sealing formula onto the other blade. In a suicidal attack, the clone reached out and touched Momochi, leaving another seal script on him before dispersing—so I wouldn't feel the pain of Zabuza's kunai, which had nearly gutted him.
Another clone stepped out of me, right in front of me.
A flash—and Kakashi's body was suddenly in my arms, while the clone that appeared next to Zabuza drove a heavy blow into his chest.
Momochi spun through the air, flying several meters before he managed to slow himself, digging his huge sword into the bridge. I lowered Kakashi and sent him sliding along the wet bridge deck a good ten meters back behind me.
"…What the hell is this?!" a wild‑haired Zabuza roared. In all his experience, he'd never been in a fight like this.
"Preparation," I said coldly. "And it's finished."
Another clone stepped out in front of me.
A flash—and Zabuza's sword vanished right out of his hands, while the newly appeared clone beside him struck again, knocking him back.
I grabbed the hilt of the Kubikiribōchō that had appeared by me. Looking over the hilt—where most of the sealwork was layered—I snorted.
My hands slid up to the base of the blade.
Tension.
Already getting back to his feet, Momochi stared in shock as I snapped the blade in my bare hands.
Crack.
"Don't need this," I said, lazily tossing the heavy chunk of metal aside. It hit the bridge with a loud clang. With my other hand I brought the remaining part of the sword up to my bracer and sealed it away.
"Who the hell are you…?"
Disarmed, Zabuza tensed up.
Yin and Yang ground together, and a powerful blue wave of chakra burst out of me, blowing the mist back for dozens of meters.
The air vibrated, filled with a low hum. The wind that had been blowing across the bridge shifted direction—now it only blew from me.
Zabuza's tension cranked up even more.
"Still can't guess?" I raised my hand, and the pressure spiked.
The bridge shuddered, and the water beneath it rippled.
Momochi started to say something, but the humming in the air suddenly cut off.
Instead of the hum, a high note bored into the ears and rolled out across the world—like the echo of a quiet moan from a thousand doomed throats.
Then the world turned red.
The spreading seeds of terror were reflected in the swordsman's eyes… This was the strongest killing intent he had ever felt.
"No…" I turned my head away. The world's colors snapped back to normal. The rush of wind filled my ears again. "There's too much I can squeeze out of you. So you're staying alive."
Zabuza hunched over and let out a sharp, shaky breath.
My raised hand closed around my tanto's hilt.
"You… You're just like Him."
"The Mizukage? I think I'm worse."
The swordsman only had time to blink before he saw a clone step out of me. He didn't even get to brace for the next strike—because in the flash, it turned out he was the one who'd been moved.
Held horizontal, the blade rammed into Momochi's back and out through his gut, and then I lifted his body like it weighed nothing.
Seventy‑two kilos? That's it? Don't make me laugh.
Chakra rushed down the blade without delay. An instant later, lightning wrapped the swordsman's entire body.
"A‑A‑A‑A‑A‑A‑A‑A‑A‑A!!!" A scream of agony tore across the bridge.
The all‑encompassing torture went on for about twenty seconds before Zabuza finally went limp and passed out.
Lowering the blade, I watched without much interest as the charred body slid off it and hit the bridge.
"Didn't even have to go all out. Again," I sighed. "That's what happens when you play to your strengths."
I pressed my chakra back down and noted how the hum around me faded.
Still… this is only the first act of the play.
I looked around.
They're dragging their feet… Guess I'll start patching Zabuza up. He's not gonna bleed out from the burns, but his body definitely isn't feeling great right now.
After that, I'll deal with the ones who are just getting here.
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