Chapter 12 part 1
"That's enough, Naruko!" I shouted, clinging to the girl's back.
The sudden jolt threw off her aim — her fingers punched through Haku's shoulder instead of slashing his throat.
"Grrhhh!! Rraaarr!" The possessed girl snarled, trying to shake me off.
"And naughty little foxes need to go night-night!!!" With one broad motion, I slapped a paper talisman-seal onto her forehead — and immediately caught claws across my wrist! "Ghhh!.. Expel the evil! KAI!!!"
Naruko screamed — a blast of spiritual force hammered into the rampaging jinchuriki and literally knocked the Fox's aggressive chakra right out of her body. With the chakra gone, the Nine-Tails lost its grip on Uzumaki's mind.
"Well, that's good," I whispered, catching her suddenly limp body. "That's just splendid..."
"Ko..ru.. ch.. n.. ?" Incredibly — after all that stress, the possession, the forced extraction — Naruko was still conscious. "K..ru... Hedge.. Sasu..ko..."
"She's fine! Wounded, but alive. Everything's okay, Naruko." I'd gotten here about halfway through the jinchuriki's rampage. First thing I did was check on Uchiha. To my relief — she was way less hurt than she looked. Senbon are genuinely hard to kill with if you don't want to. And Haku clearly didn't: he'd struck a ton of pain points — should've caused massive pain shock — but the actual injuries were pretty light. Looked gruesome as hell, though!
So once I'd checked Sasuko over and given her first aid — I jumped into the jinchuriki's fight.
"Ghah!.. Wh..y?" The hunter-nin rasped as I laid my hands on the deep wound in his chest and activated the Mystical Palm.
"Call it thanks for Sasuko-chan's life," I answered, honestly.
"I was just... too... soft..." Haku managed, haltingly.
"And that's bad? The heart shouldn't grow cold."
"We're... enemies..."
"Not anymore. Almost." I shake my head.
"Wh—"
"GRAAHH!!" A furious scream of pain cut us off.
***
"Your moves are slowing down. Getting tired, Zabu-chan?" Akashi taunted.
"Gha. I've got more than enough for one half-dead monkey!" Zabuza snarled.
The opponents froze. Couldn't see each other through the fog — but they felt like they were standing face to face. Both fighting to hide the weakness creeping in: the slow war of attrition grinding down Zabuza's still-recovering body, Akashi's chakra system running on fumes. The longer it dragged — the worse it got.
"Can't stretch this out any longer," Akashi thought grimly, pulling the summoning scroll from her vest pocket. "Gotta put everything into one attack. Mmaa... Hope Kaoru-kun won't nag my soul too hard after this..."
She ran a hand over one of her wounds — smeared blood across the scroll. Dispatched the pack. Took stock of herself: after the summoning — barely a sliver of chakra left.
"Cutting it close. But just enough." She lowered her right hand toward the ground.
"What's that now?" Zabuza's senses pricked at a strange crackling — sharp whistling — at the edge of her hearing. Didn't matter. She'd reached her target while the bitch hesitated."Good fight, Akashi. But now — your head..."
"IS MINE!!!" The Kiri shinobi roared, bringing the Beheader down on Akashi — caught off guard. The target barely managed to turn — her eye flew wide — and then— "GHAH?!"
Pain tore through Zabuza. The giant blade bit deep into the ruined bridge — and every trace of surprise vanished from her opponent's eyes.
A trap.
Dogs exploded from the fog — lunged — sank fangs into her limbs. Immobilized her.
"Well — something like that," Akashi said vaguely, watching her opponent. The lightning on her right hand danced faster — coiling into a tight sphere.
"Why, you, b-bitch!" Zabuza howled, straining against the dogs. They held.
"This is the end, Zabuza!" Akashi shouted over the Chidori's shriek — launching herself forward.
"Do! NOT! Underestimate! ME! GRAAHH!!" Momochi screamed, heaving the Beheader overhead with a convulsive jerk — three dogs hanging off her arm and she still swung.
Akashi ignored it. Had to: the technique was already launched — no pulling back now. Exhaustion rising in her chest like a wave of sickness — she charged straight into Zabuza's swing. Zabuza couldn't dodge. So she made the simple, desperate choice: Can't defend — ATTACK!
And in the next instant — everything was decided.
***
The fog was thinning.
At first just hints — but through the white veil, silhouettes started to show. A little longer — and I could make out enough detail to say for sure: the fight was officially a stalemate.
So — the tally:
Akashi draped over a half-broken railing, hand pressed to a chest wound that practically split her in two. Alive — and from the look of it, the cut wasn't deep enough to be fatal — but her ribs were at least seriously damaged. And since she couldn't even stand — she'd pushed herself to the absolute limit. Squeezed out every last drop.
"And I've gotta heal ALL this!" I thought, annoyed, as the relief that she was in one piece and breathing started to fade. I was glad — really — but right now that gladness got shoved aside by the pissed-off medic inside me, ready to bitch endlessly about self-destructive patients: "Enema. I'm definitely prescribing her an enema — maybe it'll clean out her brain while I'm at it! Goddamn shinobi and their goddamn recklessness!"
And Zabuza... First thing you notice: the Beheader buried in the bridge. With a hand still hanging from the hilt! Torn off at the shoulder — swaying slightly in the breeze — fingers still locked around the grip. Zabuza herself was about five meters from her... loss: covered in wounds, on her knees, left hand clamped over a charred crater. Insane willpower.
Right. The dogs that materialized out of nowhere next to Akashi made it clear — she'd summoned them to pin Zabuza down, then tried to finish her with the Chidori. But the Mistswoman wasn't about to die easy — probably struck back and tried to dodge at the same time. Clipped Akashi — not fatal. And the jonin, instead of punching through her chest (I'm almost sure that's where she aimed), tore her arm off.
A real "exchange." Now both fighters are running on fumes — still drilling holes into each other with nothing but sheer stubbornness.
"Zabuz-z-z-sama!" Haku jerked — immediately got slapped quiet by my clone, the one I'd made while patching up Sasuko.
"Hush, you walking concussion," he grumbled. "I've barely, barely stopped the bleeding. Your Zabuza's alive."
"Watch things here," I tossed at the clone, already running. Caught his affirmative grunt — halfway to Akashi.
"Oh, Kaoru-kun!" She tried to sound cheerful. The sweat beading on her face and the trembling wracking her body would've fooled exactly no one. Ignoring her completely — ignoring Zabuza panting off to the side — I started running chakra-glowing hands along her body.
Okay, what've we got... Wounds, wounds, wounds... Oh — fracture here. Crack, crack... another fracture. Internal bleeding... Aaaand here's the main event — a magnificent vertical furrow across practically the whole ribcage! Almost perfectly straight: right down the middle. Almost symmetrical! Mma — sternum's sliced at least halfway through. Beautiful. This'll take a while... seal it, heal it. And the wound itself? That's gonna need stitches!
Irresponsible shinobi!
While I explored Akashi's inner world and sized up the job ahead — the outside world kept throwing new things at us:
"Ha-ha-ha, Zabuza — looks like you've screwed up. Again! All that fame — nothing but an overblown soap bubble." A short, heavyset, balding man in a black three-piece suit and round glasses. Right hand wrapped in bandages. Behind him — a ragged wall of thirty, forty thugs, playing with their weapons like they were in a bad theater production.
The fog was lifting further — and I could make out a ship moored right at the end of the unfinished bridge.
"Gato? Why're you here?!.." Zabuza stared, recognizing her employer. "And what's with these freaks?!"
"Change of plans. Heh-heh..." Feeling like the master of the situation, Gato spread his arms wide. "See — I thought it over. No point in big expenses. Zabuza..."
"What?!"
"You're practically a corpse." Gato snorted, waddling toward the nukenin. His rabble shuffled after him. "See — hiring shinobi's just too expensive. Gotta cut costs."
"Gh?!!" Momochi — too wrecked by the battle and her wounds — could only twitch sideways. Didn't help. A rasping cough — she collapsed. "Gghhato!!.. B-bastard!"
"!!!" Everyone watching flinched as one of the crowd lunged forward and buried a short knife in the nukenin's back.
"'Demon of the Bloody Mist' Zabuza? Heh — don't make me laugh!" Gato's face twisted into a gloating sneer. "All I see's a half-dead mongrel. Here's a little secret: nobody was ever gonna pay you. You and your little whelp already cost me way too much."
He kicked her. She snarled in pain.
"I'll kill yooou!!" Zabuza rasped — got another kick for it. The mob behind their master howled with laughter.
"Mongrel barks — but can't bite!" Gato gloated, still working over the helpless Momochi. "So where's your little bastard? I still owe him for my broken fingers."
"Honorless bastard," Akashi spat, watching. I silently agreed. First time in my life — I genuinely, truly wanted to kill someone. Not just kill — hurt first.
"Now, now — it's just business." The fat man smirked, glancing our way. "Khah — shame the mutt couldn't even finish one simple job. Ah well — my boys can handle that."
"I'll kill him." The thought flashed. Akashi'd already gotten first aid — her life wasn't in danger — so I could move more freely. The dogs were right there — they'd fight too. And even if they didn't — didn't matter. I just really, really wanted to end this petty, vile little creature.
But before I could move — before I could even give my water spirits the command — the hair on my head nearly stood on end from the sheer terror that stabbed through me.
"Kami — AGAIN?!" I prayed, exhausted, feeling the searing hatred ignite behind me.
"Urrrrrrrrrrrgh!!" Uzumaki's voice — through clenched teeth. Her body wracked — contorting — blazing orange chakra-halo visible to anyone with eyes. "She's your ally! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH HER?! YOUUU!! BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!!"
"E-eek!" Gato's hair literally stood on end. He squealed — dove behind his men. "Wh-what're you standing around for?! KILL THEM!!"
And then — in a single heartbeat — everything happened at once: Naruko leaped — the shockwave alone sending Haku and my clone flying. In a blink — she was behind the fleeing Gato.
And the businessman... came apart.
Yeah. Exactly that.
She just swung backhanded — and her arm sawed him in two. Upper half. Lower half.
The world froze. Everyone stared as the two pieces — formerly a reasonably influential man — slowly, with a wet, disgusting sound, hit the bridge.
One second of absolute silence.
Then everything exploded.
One word for what followed: slaughter. The jinchuriki — lost in pure rage — tore through the bandits with her bare hands. Ripped off limbs. Punched through bodies. No one could stop her. People panicked — tried to run — bought themselves an extra second. Maybe less. Some dove into the water. The ones clustered at the ship's gangway just... burst. Blood spray.
Watching the carnage, I closed my eyes for just a moment — gathering strength. Gonna have to put the Fox back in its cage. Again.
"This time's gonna be harder..." I murmured, readying my beads.
Definitely harder...