2.20

2.20

“I’m here to sa—”

Zabuza reacted faster than Haku or even Kakashi. His arm blurred, the man threw a handful of shuriken at Naruto, cutting off the brat hollering.

Kakashi-sensei hadn’t been in a position to stop Zabuza. Nor did I think Naruto could evade the attack. But I had been watching. Like Kakashi asked. I didn’t miss the man drawing the weapons from the hidden pockets of his clothing. I done the same. My own shuriken intercepting Zabuza’s mid flight.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com

Zabuza turned his stare at me. Naruto looked confused as always.

“Good job, Hinata-chan.” Sensei praised. I huffed, those praise wouldn't work on me, but please praise me more!

Naruto, unfortunately, instead of attacking the still stunned Haku, walked inside the mirror prison. “Yo, Sasuke! I’m here to rescue you.”

I couldn’t pay attention to the unfolding drama and idiocy over the ice prison. The mist thickened, blocking my vision. I couldn’t even see in front of me.

“I’ve seen through your tricks, Sharingan Kakashi. You can’t copy what you can’t see. You can’t use a genjutsu on me if I keep my eyes closed.”

Kakashi growled. “But you can’t see anything either, why?”

“Hehe, you’ll never know. Farewell, Sharingan Kakashi.”

I listened to that byplay between the two experienced Ninjas. All the while, Zabuza crept closer to me. It was deception after deception. The man was still taking me for a fool. He was trying to bait me again, because he knew I could sense chakra. A clone formed behind Tazuna, the swooshing sound of that big sword cutting air.

A second bundle of chakra flickered in front of me. This one bigger. The real Zabuza. Kakashi’s chakra had also started moving. He wouldn’t get here on time, or he would put himself at risk to do it. While all these thoughts passed through my mind, the world seemed to have slowed down. I learned my lesson: No holding back on chakra anymore, not on a fight. I hadn’t know that flooding my head with chakra helped me think faster.

Without seals or sounds, out popped a shadow clone. Clone-chan flickered. She tackled the water copy out of the way, and left a kunai plunged in its sides.

I also flickered. I was behind Zabuza, who had started his swing. The man noticed. Of course he noticed. Don’t know what I expected. I aborted my attack, flickered back toward Tazuna. Clone-chan moved back as well, and the two of us faced the mist, ready for any other attack.

Zabuza moved deeper into the mists, Kakashi-sensei hot in pursuit. Zabuza’s plan had been a good one. With no jutsu to copy, Kakashi held no advantage over the missing-nin, and Zabuza was clearly more adept at silent assassination.

The stalemate broke with Naruto agonized yell. “I’m gonna kill you!!”

Dense, evil, violent, and angry chakra like I’ve never felt before pushed against me. It felt like I was inside a volcano and it intent hadn’t even been directed at me. Wind billowed, the mist moved. There was a sound of breaking glass.

I did the same with Haku. I tied them down. Haku was insensate, didn’t even put a fight. Naruto started crying, happy his boy friend was alive? Zabuza didn’t stay unconscious for long. After waking up, the man glared at me from the place Kakashi kept him tied up.

“It’s over Zabuza. There’s no way you can beat me now.”

The missing-nin looked at the scene, all the blood, his torn out arm lying nearby, Haku subdued and tied up.

Before he could say anything, another voice broke the silence. “I wonder how the fight is going.”

There on the bridge, stood a short man with spiky hair and black sunglasses, dressed in black formal clothes. Huh, I knew my own ninja uniform wasn’t that strange.

“Well, he’s certainly made a fine mess out of you. What a pity Zabuza.” The midget said.

“What are you doing here, and why did you bring all of them?” Zabuza growled.

The midget laughed. “This was the plan all along, I never intended to pay you, Demon.” Gato said the word demon like an insult. “All those insults and trouble. I’ll kill you all, and solve all my problems myself.”

Zabuza glared at Gato, and his fifty-something gang thugs.

Yeah, that did it. Kakashi sensei thought the same. He walked to Zabuza. “Do we still have a reason to fight?”

“No.”

Kakashi-sensei nodded. Untied the missing-nin. Helped the man up.

Haku stirred under me. Their eyes regaining a bit of their focus. I kept them pinned and tied. I didn’t think Haku was in any condition to join Zabuza. I hadn’t gone through all this stress to let them die at the end. No, Haku could stay put. There were no ninjas among the crowd.

“We’re tools, and we die as tools.” The missing-nin said. He picked up his sword, let if fall against his shoulder. With one hand seal, mist billowed out again. “But even tools have their pride.” Chad Zabuza didn’t even seen to notice his missing arm. Trippy.

I always thought Zabuza hadn’t fight us with real intent to kill. That moment I realized how right I was. It was a massacre.