Chapter 46 - Fights and Schemes

Sitting by Naruto's side, Hinata brought out a bento box, given to her by Raito.

"Raito's not coming?" Naruto looked at the bento box then, asked Hinata.

"Raito-san had something to do. After he finishes it, he will come here directly." Hinata explained. Picking up an eggroll with chopsticks then she pushed it torwards to Naruto.

With a slight blush, Hinata stammered but finally said, "Na-Naruto-kun say 'Ahh'."

"What? Oh um. Ahh." Naruto opened his mouth.

As the two were having their early date, Raito was standing on a plain ground with ten or so men in front of him. His chakra threads were still binding them and hence they were unable to move.

"Don't trouble the bridge builder, otherwise…" Raito threatened them before disappearing.

The ten men looked at each other before walking some distance away. 'Luckily', one of the men was a hunter, good in catching prey and all that, so he looked around.

Sitting together, they discussed and hatred grew as they continued.

"We don't have enough." Said one of the men.

"Are you talking about men? Gatō, that short bastard has enough."

"Don't forget about that ninja he hired."

"Also that masked man."

"But the ninja Tazuna hired are strong and they are from Konoha."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"After we kill that Konoha-nin, we must kill Tazuna and his family."

"Yeah."

As these men gritted their teeth in anger, on the other side of the village, Raito stood in front of another group of ten people.

He grabbed one of the man's neck throwing him forward.

"You lot are far weaker than Zabuza. Such pieces of trash, why are you still alive?"

With that, he left them. The men couldn't help but feel anger swelling inside them.

Of course, they knew, how strong Zabuza was. Even the small masked man beside him was enough to kill tens of them, but due to Raito who had unnatural skills, they were lost in their anger, a seed of hatred burrowed deep inside them.

"What are you doing, Raito?" Kakashi tapped Raito's shoulder from behind.

"Sensei," Raito called dejectedly as he held a leaf in his hand.

Looking at the leaf in his hand Kakashi smiled lightly as he sat beside Raito.

"How's your chakra control?" Kakashi asked as he took a leaf from the pile.

"It's about eighty," Raito answered directly.

"Eh? Eighty?"

"Um. If the total number is a hundred I am at eighty points." Raito explained.

"… That's quite…" Kakashi didn't know what to say about it.

After hesitating for a while, he replied, "When it's a hundred, you can start working on nature transformation."

"This is chakra flow," Raito explained.

The blue chakra died down then a golden brown chakra engulfed the kunai.

"This should also be chakra flow… right?" The brown chakra did nothing more than increase the weight of the kunai.

"Did the weight increase?" Kakashi asked.

"Yup." Raito nodded.

Kakashi nodded and said, "It's a variety of chakra flow."

"A variety?"

"With wind type, it is light, fire is hot, water is colder and heavier both." Kakashi shrugged then continued. "Not many use this technique."

"Oh." Raito looked at the kunai in disappointment.

"Those thugs? I was just letting them go." Raito shrugged his shoulder and answered keeping the kunai in his hip pouch.

"Now?" Kakashi raised his brows.

Raito gave Kakashi a weird look like Hinata had given him and asked, "Yeah, it's not like I can keep them forever, right?"

Kakashi waited for Raito to continue but seeing that he didn't, Kakashi stood up in disappointment. Turning towards the house, he sighed, "You could have brought them to Konoha or you could have even let them go after the bridge building was over."

Raito looked at the vast sky and whistled a tune.

[Defeat Zabuza and Haku] OR [Save the Village]

If I have to save the village, Zabuza and Haku can't die. If Zabuza and Haku are defeated, they will die for sure and I will fail 'Save the village mission'?

"What type of crappy mission this is?"

[Save the Village (48/60)]

"He is so late." Naruto yawned sleeping on the grass.

Hinata stood in front of a tree, with her index, ring and thump finger pinched together. Taking in a deep breath, she readied for her attack and with an exhale several jabs landed on the tree, forming several dents on the tree trunk.

After looking at the tree, she nodded in satisfaction then lowering her center of gravity, she continued with her training.

"You are really good at it, Hinata-chan." Naruto smiled as he looked in awe at Hinata.

Hinata blushed a little, causing her to waver.

At that time a slap came to the back of the smiling Naruto's head, making him fall on the face.

"Don't disturb her, you lazy." Raito's voice came making Hinata stop.

"It didn't," Hinata replied quickly for Naruto.

"Don't worry. Just continue practicing." Raito dragged Naruto towards the other side and started training his Taijutsu.

In close combat, it was about punches, rotating, sweeps, heavy hitting. Both Naruto and Raito continued for a long time. Punches and kicks to face, abdomen, shoulder, whatever the area.

And at the end of it, both of them came out exhausted and sweaty.

Laying on the ground, both of them looked at the trees above, where sunlight passed through the trees.

"You are becoming way stronger, Raito?" Naruto pushed his hand forward and clenched it.

"Same for you, Naruto. Your shadow clones are cheats, you know?"

"Hehe." Naruto laughed.

'I also have a cheat, Naruto.' Raito looked towards the sky and said silently in his heart.

"Hup." Raito jumped to stand. Turning around, he grabbed Naruto and made him stand.

"What?" Naruto asked in a lazy voice.

"We are going fishing." Raito smiled.

In the middle of the river, Naruto stood in the water with only his boxers.

"Cold, cold, cold." His feet were slightly below the water level.

"That bad?" Raito gave Naruto a smirking glance as he placed his hand in the water.

After a while, Raito jerked his hand back. In each of his hands, a thread of chakra was attached which was holding a fish.

Naruto was so shocked that he was pointing at Raito, his mouth moved but no words came out. Slowly sinking in the sea, Naruto struggled for a while, before he finally got out.

Naruto quickly walked, joining head to head with Raito and asked loudly, "How the heck did ya do that?" Not noticing that he was easily walking on water.

"Congratulations." Raito pushed Naruto then pointed at his feet.

"Wah?" Naruto's eye widened as he looked at his feet. Then he jumped in joy, as a result, dropping directly into the water.

Raito smiled then slightly dipped his feet, slightly curving it. "Propulsion." Chakra came out from his feet, forcing Raito forward, quickly a dozen a meter.

"Oi, teach me that." Naruto cried from behind trying to catch up to Raito.

It was nine and children were sitting in front of the building with half an apples on their hands and a bowl of spring water.

"Itadakimasu." They ate happily with smiles on their faces.

Hanging the fishes on a long stick, Raito walked with Hinata and Naruto to the building.

After the children had finished eating, they cleaned the bowls and then they started reading books that Raito had given them. While girls had started reading, the boys wore robes, holding bottles filled with water, walking towards the village center.

A small smile crept on Raito face as he saw them.

Raito walked stealthily, easily reaching the underground cave. Naruto's years of sneaking around made his stealth techniques way better. Years of stalking a sneaker made Hinata's stealth technique even better.

"Let's start." Naruto started peeling and cutting the vegetables.

Hinata started playing with the dough, making it ready for the bread.

Raito squatted then used the 'Ikejime' method to kill the fishes. (Haha, I want people to Google search this.)

"Naruto, don't make noise." Naruto had to be reminded from time to time, otherwise, his chopping would be too loud.

Sniff… sniff.

"Ne, Rumi, you smell that." One of the girls looked around

"Un." Rumi's eye looked away from the picture cooked then looked at the underground cave.

"Fish. That's fish." One of the girls stood up immediately.

"Sit down! Raito-nii-sama said that we must study at this hour." A girl stood up catching the little girl's hand.

"That's bread, I smell bread." Several heads turned after that and the reading atmosphere was gone.

"Ah!" one of the girls couldn't stand anymore. She jumped off her feet then ran towards the underground cave.

"Big brother, big sister." Her eyes were instantly drawn to Raito and Hinata. Then she looked at Naruto who had a big smile on his face. "Weird big brother."

On the little girl's comment, Naruto stepped forward with a knife in his hand. Hinata who saw that immediately dashed grabbing the knife in Naruto's hand, hiding it behind her back.

"Eh? Hinata-chan." Naruto turned back.

Hinata glared at Naruto surprisingly.

Raito sighed as he greeted the children. He then brought them inside letting them near the foods that were being cooked.

The girl who had learned cooking from Raito came forward then under Raito's instruction and began helping him.

"Big sis Hinata. That bread smells so good." One girl grabbed the pants of Hinata and said happily.

The little girls also surrounded Naruto pointing at him.

"Weird big brother has whiskers."

"Weird big brother is so warm."

"Weird big brother looks stupid."

"Ora," Naruto shouted.

"My name is Naruto and I am not weird. I am gonna be the strongest ninja ever. The best of the best, Hokage of Konohagakure." Naruto introduced himself with his loud voice and infectious smile.

The little girls stood looking at Naruto with their mouth slightly opened. After hearing him introduce himself, they quickly started clapping making Naruto blush hard.

Tak, tak, tak

A series of footsteps were heard as the boys walked in with small smiles on their faces.

"Raito-nii-san."

"Raito-nii."

The group of children crowded around him telling him news.

"So many people have gone fishing"

"Gatō's men were nowhere in the village."

"People were smiling."

Only after a long time did the trio left and reached Tazuna's house.

Kiba sat in front of the house patting Akamaru on his l.a.p. Kiba looked at the three with his toothy smile.

"You three are finally here," Kiba shouted with Akamaru barking.

"Hey Kiba, how's your training going?" Naruto asked.

"Already finished," Kiba replied with a huff, seemingly dissatisfied.

"So where is everyone?" Raito asked interrupting them.

"… Shino and Kurenai-sensei are training. Sasuke went to train water walk. And lastly, Kakashi-sensei went to the bridge." Kiba answered

"Oh." Raito opened the door to walk in the house but was stopped by Kiba's questioning. "So where were you guys last night?"

"…" Hinata looked at Raito, not revealing their deeds.

Naruto who was going to speak was pinched by Hinata on the waist, telling him not to speak.

Raito locked gaze with Kiba, blinking his eye for a long time, he finally answered with a nod, "That place."

"Oi, what place," Kiba shouted but the Raito completely ignored him.

As soon as Raito walked past the door, he brought out a stick full of fishes.

"Oh my, you three are finally here." Tsunami who was sewing, saw three coming in. She stood up ready to go to the kitchen.

"Tsunami-san, we have already eaten." Hinata intervened hurriedly.

"Oh." She stopped her steps looking at the three.

"We ate out while training and brought a few back home." Raito gave a lie directly, placing the fish on the kitchen table.

Raito looked back at Naruto and Hinata then said, "I'll go to the bridge."

Naruto and Hinata nodded in agreement, which meant that they will be staying in the house.

"Here" Raito gave Hinata a collection of paper.

"What's this Raito-san?" She went through a few papers and asked.

"That's what I know about healing jutsu."

"Hey, that's not fair. Give me something too." Naruto pulled Raito.

"Err…" Raito looked through his inventory, eyeing Naruto he asked. "How about Genjutsu? No? Then how about… sword techniques? Oh, right we haven't brought you a sword or did we…"

Raito gave a few suggestions but with each suggestion, Naruto's face went black.

These papers were filled with theoretical knowledge when he had learned a new skill, meaning it was just basics.

"How about 'Body Flicker', don't you two wanna learn it?" Raito pushed the papers towards Naruto then ran out using 'Body Flicker'.

Leaving the house, Raito reached to the bridge where the men were working. Walking on the bridge, Raito came across many men who secretly gave him small smiles and thumbs up.

Raito quickly reached where Tazuna and Kakashi were standing.

"You came?" Kakashi looked back at Raito.

"Raito-boy, bring out the concrete." Tazuna from behind shouted.

Raito didn't dare delay as he brought out everything and placed them on a pile.

"How can you be so late? Because of you, we are late-" Tazuna's ranting was immediately stopped by Raito's glaring.

"Cough*… It's fine, it's fine. For a super bridge builder like me, this kind of…" Tazuna started but Raito ignored him looking back at Kakashi.

Kakashi sat on the side of the bridge not answering to Raito's look.

Raito sighed heavily. These days were troublesome. The next few days were going to be extremely dangerous. So, he wanted to go to a dungeon to train but Kakashi immediately denied his freedom trip.

"If you use a clone to replace from now on, I will be forced to give you a penalty. Be good and stay here."

"Zabuza and that hunter-nin with ice bloodline may come anytime soon. Their target is… Tazuna and his family."

Raito listened to Kakashi then turned around and left.

Kakashi looked at the retreating figure then he looked down at his hand, the lightning dancing on his fingers.

"With Kurenai and myself, Zabuza can be easily stopped."

Raito walked to the end of the bridge where he took out a stack of square paper he used for seals. For a moment he didn't know what to do, then he remembered the day on academy when Mari had given him chakra paper.

Raito remembered that as he passed chakra to the paper, the paper changed into the dirt which broke down easily.

Raito tried forcing the paper to turn into the dirt but as the chakra passed through his hand to the paper, the chakra only covered it.

Seeing nothing happening, Raito used the earth elemental chakra but it also went covering the paper increasing the weight by a quarter of its total weight of paper.

After trying multiple times, Raito threw the papers and shouted in disappointment, "I give up!"

Gatō's building at the outskirts of the village.

"You lot are finally here." Sitting on his sofa, Gatō looked at his men with irritation.

"You not only failed to kill Tazuna and his accomplice, you even have guts to come back with disappointment." Gatō tapped his cigar on the cigarette ashtray.

"Boss!" One of the men immediately kneeled followed by the whole bunch of thugs kneeling in the room except Gatō's two bodyguards.

"Boss if it's Tazuna and his men, we can kill all of them. If you want, we can even raze the whole damned village. But it's those ninjas… they are way too strong."

"We are no match for them."

"Yeah, boss."

Gatō heard the voice of complaint. He was so angry that he snapped his cigar. "Why am I hiring you a lot for!?" His c.h.e.s.t rising high.

"Boss, don't be angry. Isn't there Zabuza, that demon and also that masked man?"

"Boss." From Gatō's right Waraji spoke up. "Ninjas for ninjas and mercenary for rest."

"Ninjas practices mysterious techniques that make them so much stronger." Waraji sighed with his sword clutched tighter.

From Gatō's left, Zōri also spoke up but his voice, even low. "Boss that Zabuza has retrieved close to fifteen million Ryo in these past three months from the station too."

"My money!" Gatō slammed on the desk.

"We need to change this useless demon."

"Boss." Zōri called out but didn't say anything.

Gatō couldn't help but shout in anger, seeing Zōri hesitating.

"Boss, how about we make those ninjas fight and when they are exhausted, we…" Zōri whispered.

"Kill ninjas?" Gatō mumbled. Killing ninja was a troublesome thing. More so, for ninjas of Konoha, once they find out, it would be a bloodbath.

"Boss, we make them kill each other on the bridge then kill all the bridge builders. No witness, no problem-" a young man raised his fist high, voicing his thoughts. But he was immediately stopped.

"Shut up, who told you to speak?" one of the men immediately slapped the young man, his blow so hard that the young man fell face-first on the floor.

Gatō had an evil smile coming to his face. "Why not? I will just hire some other missing-nin. They are as numerous as flies."

Nobody noticed the black mark fading from the back of the young man's neck.

Several kilometers away, Raito smiled at the scene playing out.

[Save the village 58/60]

[Keep Zabuza, Haku, and Tazuna alive till the end of mission.]

[Make sure 100 of the villagers are fed.]

"Last two." Raito finally sighed

It was now three and Raito had some plans for the mission.

"Sensei, I am so bored. How about I play around a bit?" Raito pleaded.

"Fine, fine." Kakashi waved his hand, making Raito happy. Kakashi watched as Raito disappeared then looked at the various food items in his hand. "I haven't tried this one."

In the center of the village, Raito cleaned one of the destroyed and abandoned buildings with Naruto.

"What are we doing here?" Naruto asked as he made a stone pile.

"Charity." Raito covered the pile with chakra then it disappeared. Soon the collapsed build looked way cleaner.

Placing a table in front of the building, Raito started making a small makeshift stall. People looked at the stall before walking past by, but some people stayed as they saw Naruto coming out. Naruto had Konoha forehead protector shown in front, which made some of the villagers stop.

Raito even brought out two of the children, the oldest ones to work. Although a small face mask covered their mouths, they had a small smile on their face.

Raito went out and found a general store, which was closed. Forcing the shop to open by walking the owner and convincing the man to sell him, made Raito wasted a lot of time.

Returning, Raito found that the small stall was covered by a lot of people. Many of them restrained themselves because of the presence of Naruto but some didn't care and attacked.

Of course, Naruto attacked back, kicking those men down but then people started forming groups, ready to loot. Especially the men who were too hungry and their d.e.s.i.r.e had overcome reasoning.

Just as they were about to take down Naruto and go for the food being cooked by the two kids, they felt that they couldn't move their bodies at all.

Raito walked past them standing in front of the stall, taking out disposable plates, chopsticks, and cups. Looking back at the children, Raito brought out a large piece of paper then wrote. "80 Ryo for 1 combo meal" then taking out another paper he wrote '1 meal combo has half-plate rice, half-plate vegetable and fish and lastly a cup of water.'

Many of the people mouthed out 'Cheap' and started crowding around.

"Make a line, dattebayo." Naruto's shouting alerted everyone as they started making three lines.

Raito sighed at the people in front. They thought that only one person is needed in the kitchen.

Looking at the people, Raito knew that they were really hungry. Gatō had opened a few shops to sell groceries and a limited amount of meat but the prices were too high. Some dared to barge in and loot but they were badly injured by the mercenaries.

"Let's buy and eat, before Gatō's men come."

"Yeah."

People hurriedly bought the food then ate at the surrounding place. When they finished they immediately left the area fearing that Gatō's men will come.

"I don't think I have seen any Gatō's men today."

"I didn't see them either."

"It must be ninjas doing."

"Ninjas from Konoha are indeed strong."

"Tazuna's still building that bridge, huh?"

"That bridge."

After receiving the payment, the children and Naruto started handing out plates of food to the people. People hurriedly wolfed down the meat, which was hardly seen in the village. Even though the village had port and boats, it was monopolized by Gatō.

Men talked, women, gossiped. In this aspect, women are stronger in spreading rumors. Soon the number of people increased.

Seeing that the cooking time cannot reach the demand, Raito brought out various fruits, vegetables, and fishes to sell.

Some men who saw that wanted to talk but Raito ignored them completely.

After selling everything, Raito grabbed the three with chakra threads then immediately disappeared. But just before he disappeared, Raito said softly, "Only if these people had a little courage."

Giving people to think about something Raito went to the abandoned building then to the bridge.

People who heard that had various reactions. Some snorted and walked away with food on their hand whereas some stood in one place thinking.

Later Tazuna was bombarded by a couple of dozen people to join in the evening, making him sweat. He shouted at them for a time before letting them in.

When they saw Kakashi who was practicing his chakra control, they immediately gave him a small bow and left.

Kakashi looked at the distance then smiled slightly before going back to his practice.

Tazuna was so happy that he drank till vomit. Raito had to use his 'Heal' skill to remove the hangover.

While Raito was helping Tazuna, Sasuke at the table announced, "I will go to the bridge tomorrow." He looked at Kakashi and Kurenai, who only nodded.

"Akamaru and I just learned an awesome jutsu. Wanna try Naruto?" Kiba giving his toothy smile looked at Naruto and shouted.

But what made Kiba depressed was that Naruto was not giving him any attention. He sat holding paper and eating with another hand. His hair in a mess and eyes squinting.

Kurenai grabbed the paper and closed it. She looked at him with a glare making Naruto shrink. "But that's mine."

Kurenai gave the papers to Hinata.

"I will go with Sasuke to the bridge tomorrow." Kakashi looked at Kurenai and said.

"… Then I'll be here." Kurenai replied casually with a small smile.

"I wanna go too." Raito walked in with Tazuna.

"It's decided, Raito and Sasuke will go to the bridge."

Raito regretted his decision. "Ah! Can I not go?"

"No." Kakashi quickly left the room after finishing his dinner.

Raito walked out of the house regretting his decision. Running through the forest, Raito couldn't help but sigh deeply.

Reaching the village center, he could see all kinds of people working on their stalls in the middle of the night.

"Money, I will make lots of money tomorrow."

"Hey, brother, what are you selling?"

"Me, just some tomatoes. What about you?"

"Haha, I dared to go to the sea with a little boat with my friends. We managed to catch quite a few."

"… Brother what about Gatō's men? Were they not there?"

"They weren't. I even saw some boats destroyed by the shore."

"I even heard some died."

"Yeah, they drowned."

"Haha. Good. That's karma."

Many of the people cheered when they heard good news.

Although many were making stalls, some people stood guard, looking out for Gatō's men. Knife, sickle and various kinds of household weapons were on their side, ready to be used.

Raito sat on the rooftop, hiding in the Genjutsu. Using 'Chakra Sense' to look at everything. He found that things were going according to his prediction.

"If it was not for the mission, then I wouldn't care about you two." Raito ignored Haku and Zabuza who were sleeping.

Raito didn't know but Zabuza immediately woke up looking left and right. Only after surveying, he went back to sleep.

"Preparing for death." Raito snorted as he looked at Gatō standing on the balcony of the house, looking down at the men who were working on their weapon. His two bodyguards were also preparing for the fight.

After understanding a lot of things, Raito wanted to personally kill Gatō. The evil deeds he had done were more numerous than a thug.

'A person who does the deed and who orders the deed to be done are different.' (I wanted to make it kind of wise saying or like but…)

"What the heck are you doing?" a figure appeared from behind looking at the place Raito was hiding.

"Why do care?" Raito looked at the figure then ignored him.

"This is not our mission. We just have to guard Tazuna until he finishes the bridge."

"What if he cannot finish the bridge?" Raito asked calmly.

"…"

"Yeah, we will fail our mission."

"But Tazuna falsified information."

"SO?"

"It shouldn't be our problem-"

"Was your head kicked by a chicken?"

"Huh?"

"Hokage-sama has already listed this mission as an A-Rank mission. You lot had chance to cancel the mission, but now?" Raito snorted

"…"

"That's why there are two Jōnin and two teams of Genin. Stupid!" Raito jumped and disappeared, not wanting to talk with a block of wood.

Early morning Raito woke up inside the room. Opposite to him was Sasuke who was glaring at him.

"What?" the yawning Raito was immediately choked, looking at the ugly face of Sasuke.

Ignoring Sasuke, he rolled up his bed then walked out.

On the ground floor, Tazuna and Kakashi were eating breakfast. Kurenai, Shino, and Hinata having left for the abandoned building. Sasuke and Raito towards the bridge, leaving Naruto and Kiba at the house.

At the forest not far away, Sasuke and Raito were holding one another's fist by their free hand. They punched each other and simultaneously grabbed the fist.

"You have lost a lot of times now, Sasuke." Raito smiled.

"This time is different." Sasuke pushed harder.

"Ohh." Raito not caring for Sasuke, Raito pushed back till Sasuke's back hit the tree.

Raito also took a step back. Sasuke loosened his grip and his hand fell.

"Why are you stronger than me … Why?" Sasuke asked gritting his teeth.

"Don't you already know the answer?"

"…"

"Kakashi-sensei and Tazuna have left. We should go too." Raito started walking but looked back to see Sasuke, looking down at the ground.

"… How about this? Why don't you come to train with us?" Seeing him not responding Raito finally left.

While Raito was on the abandoned building, checking on the children, he found that a thick mist filled with chakra was covering the bridge causing his 'Chakra Sense' to be blocked at that area.

Raito immediately stood up, his back straight and his head pointing towards the direction of the bridge. The children around looked at Raito with some hesitation.

Raito looked down with gentleness and told the children to stay and read some more. After finding out Shino and Hinata were not there, he used the clone from the book to look for them.

Raito casually walked out of the abandoned building area. But, as soon as he walked out, he disappeared in a blur.

At the bridge.

Tazuna face darkened as he shook one of his men. Going to a few, looking if they were alive.

"They are alive but…" Tazuna grabbed one of his old buddies and shook him.

Kakashi also looked at the few lying down then his gaze turned to the fog covering at the bridge.

Kakashi went for his forehead protector, pulling it up, exposing his left eye. The red eye of Sharingan spun siphoning Kakashi's chakra.

"Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist." Kakashi's calm voice sounded loud in the quiet bridge, only Tazuna's voice and the sound of waves could be heard.

"Kakashi of Sharingan!" Zabuza walked out of the fog with his broadsword on the back. His right shoulder and right side of the face had deep scar marks, making him look much more dangerous.

"Everyone knows you, Kakashi."

"And not many know you are here in the 'Wave', Zabuza." Kakashi replied looking forward but gave Sasuke hand signals.

Tink, Tink, Tink.

Just as Sasuke moved to guard Tazuna he was ambushed by the hail of senbon. Sasuke who was ambushed no less than a hundred times quickly pulled out his kunai and deflected all of them.

After deflecting the senbons, Sasuke threw one kunai towards the direction of senbon and ran towards Tazuna's direction.

But a block of ice suddenly emerged out of nowhere beside Tazuna. The masked man, Haku came out like a picture coming into reality with senbons in his hand, ready to strike Tazuna.

"Damn." Sasuke cursed as he reached out his hand to possibly stop Haku.

Kakashi who wanted to help was blocked by Zabuza.

Tazuna who saw the needles coming for him was shaking. Maybe it was because of the coldness due to ice or the senbon, ready to make extra holes in his body.

Tazuna closed his eyes in despair. 'Sorry Inari, sorry Tsunami.' Tears welled in his eyes. He had accepted the decision of fate. Neither the ninjas can protect him nor Gatō's men will leave him be.

A feeling of despair appeared in his heart, he felt a heavy sensation pressing on him, covering him.

Haku was just a millimeter away from Tazuna's neck. Sasuke gritted his teeth as he looked at the scene.

"Sorry." Haku's small voice was heard by Tazuna as he tried opening his eye but all he could see was darkness.

Sasuke stood there shocked as he looked at the scene. Far away Zabuza looked back as he rested his broad sword. Kakashi stepped a few steps back as he sighed softly.

"Oi, and here I thought that you will have consciences." A magnetic voice attracted everyone's attention.

"…" Haku looked at the figure on top of the bridge then took some steps back. Zabuza also grunted a little, looking sideways.

"Raito, where is Tazuna?" Kakashi asked then looking at the side he added, "Where are other builders?"

"Safe." Raito smiled.

"Give us Tazuna and we will leave," Zabuza said in a low voice.

Raito's smile dimmed as he looked at Zabuza. "You want to kill the village?"

Zabuza didn't speak for a while. Slightly raising his broad sword he said, "Nothing will happen to the village if one man disappears."

Raito was angry so he also rebutted. "Then nothing will happen if you disappear from this world."

The faces in the bridge immediately turned as they heard Raito's stupid words.

"Bigmouth." Zabuza was raging as he pulled back his sword.

"If Tazuna disappears, nothing will happen, right? Then if you disappear, will something happen?" Raito words seemed to echo in Zabuza's and Haku's ear.

Raito smiled as he continued, "You wanna say, you did it just for money, right? So where is all that money? Aren't you satisfied now?"

Whoosh!

Haku couldn't stand it anymore. He jumped, disappearing into the mist and before Sasuke could prepare, senbon rained down on him and Raito.

Sasuke got hit by a dozen, thankfully it was all on non-vital areas.

Raito pushed his hand forward and the stone bead in his hand turned into a large shield blocking all the ice senbon.

"I also know some elemental manipulation." Raito pushed the large shield which turned into a senbon like structure, all attacking into one direction.

Haku who was in the mist, sidestepped, disappearing into ice.

Zabuza stood in one place, looked at Haku then said, "Raito, right? Since you gave Haku a healing medicine I will listen to what you have to say."

"Don't talk all those nonsense and just say what you have to say."

"… Gatō is planning to wait till we all fight and are on verge of dying. Then he will come with his mercenaries and some missing-nin and kill all of us."

"Is that it?"

"Yup."

"Then be ready to die." Zabuza swung his sword going for a beheading strike towards Kakashi.

Kakashi who was always on guard, dodged the strike, easily. Zabuza after missing a killing strike, disappeared in the mist.

It was as if both Zabuza and Haku ignored Raito.

Looking at the side, Haku used long-distance attacks to kill Sasuke.

"Then… I'll be here, waiting." Raito waved his hand, not interested in fighting.

He looked back and 'saw' Gatō and his men on a boat. They were lurking nearby, looking for a chance.

"I want to kill you myself but… Konoha is…"

"Raito! Help!" Sasuke looked like a porcupine with numerous senbon in his body. If it wasn't because he was losing conscious he would never call Raito.

"Okay!" Raito stood up exhaling a breath

Raito glared at Haku as he opened the inventory.

"Go, go, go. Sasuke. You can do it." Taking a red banner, Raito waved it fiercely.

"What's with him?" Zabuza cleaved one more of the Kakashi's kunai.

Kakashi was satisfied with maintaining this status quo but seeing that he was getting suppressed, he shifted his hand to one of the scrolls.

Whoosh!

Shuriken and kunai raided on Haku and Zabuza.

Haku guarded using ice block and Zabuza blocked with his broad sword.

"Number games, huh?" Zabuza chuckled as water clones appeared beside him inside the mist.

"Genjutsu users." Zabuza laughed and the mist thickened.

It was unknown when Raito had switched with Sasuke. Raito stood in front of Haku with a kunai in his hand.

"You don't believe me?" Raito asked.

"…" Haku didn't answer.

"Zabuza-sama's orders are absolute." Mirrors of ice appeared covering Raito and Haku both.

"What's this?" Raito didn't dare to look away from Haku.

"This is my jutsu. 'Crystal Ice Mirrors'." Mirrors of ice stacked one upon another, creating a dome.

Haku silently stepped back, looking cautiously at Raito.

Raito clapped his hands and activated his chakra, ready for any sudden attacks. He tried to make a dome inside the dome of ice mirror but felt that it was pretty useless.

Stone beads rolled from Raito's legs to the ground, surrounding Raito.

"For Zabuza-sama, I will do anything." Haku finally disappeared in the mirror then appeared on all the mirrors.

"For that, you need to die." In front of each mirror, a handful of ice senbon condensed.

"Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death" The senbon moved, aiming for Raito.

But Raito was very calm. He looked at the senbons coming for him, then activated his chakra. The stone bead exploded, more earth coming out of it. It turned into a bell shaped dome, covering him.

Tink, Tink, Tink.

Some of the senbon broke when in contact but some embedded in the rock, making Raito lose control over that part.

Raito frowned as he found that, that part of the earth was no longer under his control.

"ID Create." Raito immediately disappeared into a dungeon.

Finding himself a nice spot he concealed his chakra and waited for the show.

"ID Escape."

At the bridge, Haku used more and more ice senbon continuously on the bell-shaped earthen structure. Lastly, the bell looked like a pincushion.

Hinata stood with Shino, healing Sasuke.

"Raito-san is not there," Hinata said to no one but Shino's bugs calmed down a little.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata who was healing Sasuke suddenly stood up then looked at the sky. Canceling the jutsu in middle, made Sasuke groan in pain.

An orange ball out of nowhere from the sky dropped rolling. As it got near to the ice mirror dome, a long orange rod came out of the ball and hit the top of the dome.

"Uzumaki Kick."

"Naruto! You cheater." Kiba came running with Akamaru.

Hinata looked back at Kiba then a horrifying thought came to her mind. She dashed towards Kiba and asked, "What happened to Tsunami-san and Inari?"

Kiba looked in shock at Hinata who had grabbed him.

"Calm down, Hinata-san." Shino tapped Hinata's shoulder.

"Sheesh!" Kiba picked himself up and said, "We had some trouble coming. Gatō's men came to kidnap Tsunami-san and Inari."

"Then?"

"Of course we beat their a.s.s." Akamaru barked making everyone look at the bridge.

At the bridge, Naruto looked at the Raito-less bell-shaped earthen dome then shouted. Looking at Haku, which he still didn't know who that was, he laughed, pointing at him and said, "Hah! So stupid. You didn't even know that Raito wasn't in there."

At first, Haku was only using one hand to make seals but now he used both of his hands to form seals. After 21 hand seals, Haku activated his chakra.

Raito who was at the top of the bridge saw that the CP was dropping dangerously fast. So, he immediately dropped down reaching to Naruto way before Hinata, who was only half a distance away.

"Certain kill: Ice Spear." Sharp ice spears grew from the ground, quickly filling the dome of ice crystal mirrors and even went beyond it.

Raito who had quickly taken Naruto to a dungeon, brought him out a distance away.

"Oi, you are going to kill?" Raito glare was burning through Haku, looking beyond the ice.

"He is that person?" Hinata came in front of Raito and Naruto.

"Yeah," Raito replied solemnly.

"Hey what are you two talking about?" Naruto looked at Hinata and Raito quizzically.

"Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death" Haku again activated his chakra and with the surrounding moisture, hundreds of senbon whistled through the air reaching the trio.

'Ram'. Hinata repositioned her hands, one up and another down.

"Water Release – Water Guard."

(Okay name is kind of 'that' type. Forgive me.)

Two balls of water rotated in a circle, in front of Hinata, making a big screen of water which was still rotating. The spinning force was so great that the ice senbons were immediately destroyed.

"Hahaha, Try this. 'Rock Fist Bullet Combo'."

Rocks as hard as steel and the size of a baby's fist rained down on Haku like a Gatling gun. Destroying the shards of ice that surrounded him.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu."

"Right." Under Raito's help, Naruto quickly surrounded Haku from all directions. Then all the clones simultaneously started making hand seals.

"Multi Gale Palm."

Haku escaping from the sharp wind, started making hand seals. Jumping to area which had lots of moisture, Haku activated his chakra, just as he was about to get hit with Gale Palm.

"Ice Release: Ice Rock Dome of Magnificent Nothingness"

A solid block of ice defense covered him as he fell on the ground.

Bam!

The sphere of ice was so strong and heavy that cracks started appearing under him.

Pushing the ground with both of his hands, Haku finally stood up with his mask cracked.

"Wah?" Naruto pointed at Haku and after shuttering for a while, said, "Haku?"

"…Naruto, it's me." Haku touched his mask and grasped the ch.i.p.s of the broken mask.

"Why? Just why?"

Haku stood up removing the mask, "… Because for me the most precious person is Zabuza-sama."

"Even so, you want to take away all the hope from these villagers?"

"It doesn't matter, Naruto. This village is already doomed."

"What doomed? Nothing is doomed." Naruto shouted.

The two water dragons collided behind Haku destroying themselves.

Looking back, Haku saw Zabuza. "…We are ninjas, Naruto… We are just weapons. That's all there is to. Today we are weapon meant to kill you." Haku raised his hand then the water on the ground started freezing turning into a great arrow-like structure.

"DO you really believe that, Haku!?"

"It doesn't matter." Haku waved his hand and the massive ice structure started moving towards Raito and the group.

"Tunneling fang." Kiba made a suicide dive, drilling through one of the ice structure. There was resistance at first but he cracked the shell then all the way through.

"GO." Shino raised his arm and hundreds or thousands of bugs came out, easily pushing the ice structure into water. "I just made my kikaichū take the chakra in the environment, letting them develop some resistance to your jutsu."

While Shino's explanation was ignored by everyone. Raito had appeared behind Haku and grabbed the back of his neck. "I was just waiting for this time."

[Yuki Haku]

[CP 40/3,400]

"I am only good with this one seal."

"Fuinjutsu – Paralyzing Seal."

A black line circled Haku's neck with a red dot at the back of his neck. He fell on the ground as soon as the seal was complete.

The thick ice sphere around Haku disappeared entirely and the mist also lessened.

Zabuza who was on the side fighting also saw Haku collapsing. "Haku is alive. His c.h.e.s.t is rising."

Zabuza was a bit fiercer as he managed to make more cuts on Kurenai and Kakashi. Especially Kurenai who had a large wound on her leg.

Zabuza also got hit after Haku's fall as the mist lessened. He was getting caught on Genjutsu multiple times and now it was hard to tell what was real and what was fake.

Also, Haku, who was surrounded by enemies didn't give a good picture to Zabuza.

Hinata had already reached Kurenai's side healing her.

Raito looked at Zabuza then crouched down. Moving his hand slowly to Haku, he again gave Zabuza a look.

Whenever Raito moved towards Haku, Zabuza would give a glance back, nothing more. But what Raito saw was different.

[Zabuza] – Anxious

"Hehe." Raito grabbed Haku and put him in the inventory.

"Hey! Raito, bring Haku out. We need to have a man to man talk." Naruto huffed as he walked towards Raito.

'Damn.' Raito looked at Kurenai who was still preparing.

Zabuza made a huge slash, making a cut in Kakashi's c.h.e.s.t.

"Hmph! I will just kill him." Zabuza started to walk towards Raito, his murderous intent in full display.

"I'll kill you." Zabuza raised his broad sword and descending, it went to cleave Raito in half.

The murderous intent was heavy. At a point, even heavier than Hiruzen's, Raito had experienced a few months back. The reason must be Haku.

"Wait! Haku is fine." Raito raised his hand in surrender.

"Die!" the broadsword didn't land on Raito but hit the ground to his side.

The reason was simple. Zabuza had released his sword letting it fall on the ground. Looking down, Zabuza saw a hand coming out of his c.h.e.s.t, the hand clad in blue lightning.

"Kaka-shi."

Kakashi pulled his hand back, letting Zabuza fall on the ground. Kakashi swayed for a bit before falling on the ground too.

Kurenai coughed out more blood. Hinata who was healing her got even more worried, she poured even more chakra into the jutsu.

"Boss, this is perfect. There are only kids left." One of the thugs gave Gatō the telescope but Gatō looked back at the man at the back of the boat.

"Let's go." The man nodded with a wide smile on his face. The man lifted his umbrella and looked at the bridge. "Zabuza, Kakashi, and Kurenai. Kukuku."

Everyone was panicked seeing Kakashi and Kurenai in bad shape. But their worries grew more as Gatō and his men walked from the unfinished part of the bridge.

"Tut, tut, tut. Zabuza who knew you would fall. Well, I knew. A B-Rank going against A-Rank." Gatō ignored the Genins who were dragging Kakashi and Kurenai back.

"And Kakashi of Sharingan. What a p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e meeting you."

"Hah, boss, look at him. He looks like he will die at any time now." Zōri unsheathed his sword aiming straight at Kakashi.

Naruto immediately jumped forward throwing shuriken at the group. "Who the hell are you?"

Zōri and Waraji easily blocked the shuriken, standing in front of the group.

"Brat, your all have been causing us trouble all this time. So, be ready to pay for it." One of the thugs stepped forward and the men with him, charged with weapons.

"Shadow Clone technique."

Naruto clones ran trading blow for blow with the thugs. But he was no match for the experienced and weapon equipped thugs. Even though he traded blow for blow more than half of the clones had been destroyed.

"Tunneling Fang." Kiba passed through several thugs, instantly disabling them.

Bzzz! Bzzz!

Colonies of insects surrounded a few of the thugs, throwing them in the water.

Gatō looked at the scene. His men were being handled by a few kids. Gatō slammed his stick then look back.

The man wearing a big straw hat smiled and walked forward. Taking off his straw hat, he revealed himself.

He was a fairly young man with green hair and purplish-blue eyes. He had a big belt across his c.h.e.s.t and at the back a few umbrellas. He also had a sword belt but it didn't have a sword, just a handle of sword.

"It's Kakashi-senpai and Kurenai-senpai." His gaze was haughty and his eyes full of ridicule.

The man drew the handle of the bladeless sword and waved in the air. Chakra exploded out and two spears of yellow lightning exploded immediately piercing Kakashi and Kurenai.

"Sensei!" the group shouted in worry. Hinata and Raito who were healing them were also shocked by the remnants.

"Tunneling Fang." Kiba drilled through the air, quickly reaching the man.

"No, Kiba stop." One hand sent out bugs to envelop Kiba and drag him.

"Inuzuka and Aburame clans, Hahaha." The man laughed crazily and waved his sword once again. Yellow lightning quickly struck Kiba and Shino's bugs.

"I am just being merciful." The man touched his face and a creepy smile appeared on his face.

Shino hurriedly went to check Kiba while being careful. That man looked with a smile while Shino dragged Kiba back.

Shino moved Kiba in front of Raito who was healing Kakashi.

Looking at the man, Shino whispered, "Only Capital and few of the villages in the fire country know about us, Aburame. Not even other hidden villages know much about us."

Hinata who was healing Kurenai looked back and commented, "He called Kakashi-sensei and Kurenai-sensei… senpai."

"He was from Konoha," Raito answered to the group then looked at the forehead protector he was wearing now.

As Shino looked at the man, his bugs came out, surrounding him.

"I'm Aoi Rokushō. Remember me in hell." Aoi pushed out the thunder sword, releasing waves of thunder.

"Quick." Raito shouted.

"No, you don't," Aoi shouted, throwing his three umbrellas high in the air. The three umbrellas kept spinning, releasing hundreds or even thousands of senbons piercing everyone on the enemy side.

Even trying to guard against it was no use as the senbon easily pierced through the defenses.

"Hm?" Aoi looked at the scene in doubt but when the senbon plunged into the skin, he revealed a maniacal smile.

Aoi turned back to Gatō and said, "Mr. Gatō, they are poisoned by my special poison. Your men can handle the rest." As he pushed his hand upward, he caught hold of his umbrella.

"Do it, boys," Gatō commanded as he walked towards the fallen body of Zabuza.

Lightly kicking Zabuza, Gatō moved to his head. Looking down at Zabuza's, Gatō smiled a little creepily, "When you took my money, did you think it was a wise decision? You not only failed to kill those ninjas, you even failed to kill a mere bridge builder."

Letting out a sneer, he added, "I had not even thought of giving you any money. 15 million? Did you think I didn't know? Those people in the boat were all my men. The money didn't go to rebellion forces, they went to the central hidden village, on my name, Gatō!"

Looking at Kakashi's body, he returned his gaze to Zabuza. "If not for those ninjas from Konoha, I was going to call ninjas from Kiri to handle you, as a show of support from them."

Clutching the walking stick between his armpits, Gatō lit a cigar, after blowing a puff, he said, "I have also found few others who were delivering money and weapons to those rebellions. Don't you want to know what I did?"

"I just informed several people about those channels."

"Kill them," Zōri ordered as he and Waraji walked and soon reached beside Raito who was laying on the ground paralyzed.

"You have been troubling our guys for quite a time now." Waraji spat.

Looking at him, Zōri stepped on Raito's face, grinding on it. Grabbing Raito's hair, Zōri made him stand up. "Stand up, you Konoha bastard."

Raito swayed at first but was soon able to stand.

"When you go to meet Shinigami, tell him that you offended us." Saying that Zōri and Waraji plunged their sword deep into his c.h.e.s.t. The sword entered from the side, pierced the heart then exited from the back.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! What the heck is this?" An angry voice came out of nowhere as Gatō and his men looked at each other.

"My…my." He moved his mouth but no words came out. A feeling of suffocation attacked him and moving was uncomfortable. Looking down at the source of discomfort, the Amegakure Aoi Rokushō Jōnin found swords sticking out of his c.h.e.s.t. Aoi then looked at the two bodyguards, wanting to wave his sword and take them with him to hell but found his hands empty. He looked to his hand then at the people standing opposite at the bridge. "I-" Before he could say anything more, 24 year old, former Chūnin of Konoha, Jōnin of Amegakure, died under the Genjutsu of the Genjutsu mistress of Konoha, Yuhi Kurenai.

"Demonic Art: Weaving Dreams." "Collapse"