Chapter 37 - Land of Waves [6]

As Naruto appeared in the bridge, he saw that there was a huge dome made of Ice, Sasuke was inside it while Sakura was helping Kakashi deal with the three attackers - Zabuza and two unknown men, apparently twins, the only difference being that one had pure black-colored hair and the other dark grey-colored hair.

Sakura was making good use of the Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique), she had basic control of it, even if her speed was lacking due to it being only the basics of it, she was still able to support Kakashi, she had some wounds made by blades.

'She didn't back down in the face of danger and injuries, eh? It seems she's not so weak-willed as I thought.' Naruto thought, Sakura was surprising him more and more, however, he still shook his head slightly 'There were some openings against the weaker one, she could've dealt heavy injuries but she hesitated, fear of killing, maybe?'

The blonde teenager kept in silence while observing Haku, that was attacking Sasuke, the black-haired boy was able to barely keep up with the false ANBU speed 'When he activates the Sharingan, he'll be able to counter-attack, his body can keep up but his eyes can't, I wonder why he's not activating it yet, thirst for battle? That must be it.' he thought.

''Maybe the Rasengan can break that Dome?'' Naruto thought out loud before raising his right hand slightly, a sphere made of pure Chakra appeared just above it, the Chakra inside it rotated violently but was kept under control, approaching the dome, he pushed his hand slowly as the Rasengan hit it.

*CRASH*

As the Rasengan hit it, tiny web-like cracks started to appear on it before the Ice ''dome'' broke apart, revealing a panting Haku, seeing his friend, Sasuke smirked ''You're late, Naruto. Sigh, you could've left me to fight more, that was exciting, I was about to activate the Sharingan!'' the black-haired teenager said, his eyes slowly turned into a Sharingan with two tomoes on each eye, thirsting for battle.

The false ANBU was panting while looking at Naruto warily, the blonde teenager, however, had a carefree expression, Haku wasn't a threat to him, after all.

Drawing his sword out, Naruto looked over Haku ''You tricked us last time but this time, neither you nor Zabuza will escape, I'll start by killing you, then, I'll go to kill the bandage creep. Sasuke, can you go to support Nii-san and Sakura? Help her deal with the weakest one of the three, the one with dark grey-colored hair.''

He said as Sasuke nodded, his instincts telling him that he would have a better fight against that so-called weakest one.

Ice started to gather around Haku as the false ANBU did hand signs with a single hand 'Oh, hand signs with only one hand? Impressive but not enough!' Naruto thought while preparing for the incoming attack.

Finishing his hand signs, Haku muttered as the Ice took the shape of a Dragon-like creature ''Hyoton: Hiryu! (Ice Release: Ice Dragon!)"

As the Ice Dragon went towards Naruto with full strength, the blonde teenager infused Chakra on his Sword of Whirlwinds as Wind started to fly and Lightning started to flicker around the blade, akin to a small storm, then, Naruto said inwardly 'Yang Release: Arashi no Mai! (Yang Release: Dance of the Storm!)'

However, Haku wasn't done as he said in a calm manner ''Hyoton: Sen Hari (Ice Release: Thousand Needles)''

The Ice Dragon that fell to the ground suddenly changed as it became uncountable Ice Needles, then, they shot towards Naruto, that danced around with his Sword of Whirlwinds, avoiding all of the Needles, he ran towards Haku, that didn't expect the teenager in front of him to dodge.

A bit far from them, Zabuza saw Naruto advancing towards Haku and his heart seemed to crack slightly, he had grown way too attached to the boy he called nothing but a tool 'Even after all those years, you're still so gentle, you weren't meant to be a Ninja at all, Haku...' he thought before ignoring all attacks from Kakashi.

As Naruto stabbed at Haku direction, whose eyes had seemed to give up, Zabuza appeared in front of the false ANBU, the Sword of Whirlwinds piercing his heart, the bandaged man fell to the ground and gave one last look to the so-called tool, his eyes gentle as water and warm as the sun.

''Haku, even if I called you a tool, it isn't true. I have grown attached to you and before I knew, you became family so please, from now on, live happily, I want you to... be.... happy...'' Zabuza said his last words as unknowingly, his consciousness vanished from the world.

Haku looked to Zabuza now dead body for a few seconds before falling down to his knees, tears storming down his face, however, he didn't blame Naruto for doing so 'Zabuza... I thought that man was a cold-hearted bastard but he gave up his life to protect that false ANBU?' the blonde teenager thought, for the third time of his entire life, he was shocked.

''I have no purpose in living anymore... Please... kill me.'' Haku said while looking towards Naruto as tears were still dripping down his cheeks, however, the blonde teenager shook his head, now that the false ANBU was like that, he had a solution - In that brief moment, he had understood their personality.

Even though Zabuza was indeed cold-hearted, he cared deeply for Haku and Haku only lived for the purpose of being a tool for Zabuza, now that Zabuza died, Naruto only needed to give him another one ''Don't take your life lightly, if you think you have no purpose in life, you can follow me till you have one, think of serving me your temporary purpose.'' he said.

Nodding, Haku wiped his tears 'I... I was crying?' he thought before looking towards the sky 'Zabuza-sama, I know that you'll be watching me from wherever you are... I'll follow your wishes and try to live happily from now on.'

Meanwhile, the twins were on the losing end when suddenly, one of them said ''Time to retreat, Zabuza lost, if we continue on this, we'll be killed, let's retreat and get more accustomed to our powers.''

The other nodded as the one that said it suddenly raised his hands and said ''True Dark Release: Kurai Kiri! (True Dark Release: Dark Fog!)''

Out of his hands, a dark mist started to be poured and after a while, it covered the entire bridge, even after Naruto tried to use his Kagura's Mind Eye, he just couldn't feel anyone anymore, when the Fog disappeared, the twins had disappeared.

Kakashi looked around before sighing ''They disappeared, damn...'' he cursed while blaming himself, his strength had grown just too much and even though they were winning, he was lenient because he wanted Sakura and Sasuke to grow with that fight, because of that, they escaped.

''Don't worry about that too much, Nii-san.'' Naruto said towards the white-haired man before looking over Sasuke and Sakura, both of them had many injuries over their body 'Even if the weakest was, well... weaker, it wasn't something they could deal, eh? At least not with such mentality.' he thought.

Holding the two unconscious bandits, Naruto said, his voice reverberating through the entire bridge, Haku just stood at his side silently ''Sasuke, Sakura, come here, I need you both to do something!''

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