Team Tragedy - Chapter 9

Team Tragedy
A Naruto Fanfiction
Author: Jessica Foltz
Editor and occasional co-author: Erik Stephens (e_Delta88)

Chapter 9
Gato’s Demise




Haku was blasted out of the mirror he was hiding in by the force of the White Gokakyu that had slammed into it. The sudden explosion causing all of the mirrors to the dome to either shatter or melt. Haku skidding across the bridge, past Naruto, and smacking against the side railing of the bridge.

Haku’s vision was becoming blurry. His head was pounding and he was almost positive that his head was bleeding somewhere. A concussion was certainly one of many injuries as even the slightest turn of the head caused him excruciating pain and making him feel extremely dizzy.

Who did that? Haku thought as his blurry gaze scanned around the bridge. How could I have missed--

Suddenly a hail of needles made of ice came flying at Haku. Making his eyes widen when his gaze focused on them. He quickly dove to the left. But because of his concussion giving him a slow reaction time, a few of the ice needles embedded themselves into Haku’s right leg. Causing him to cry out in pain.

That was his Jutsu! How could it have been used against him? Hatake Kakashi was busy dealing with Zabuza-sama and the Uchiha boy hadn’t awoken his Sharingan in time to have been able to copy it. Who could have used the jutsu?!

As Zabuza’s and Kakashi’s fight continued, Kakashi managed to disable one of the rogue nin’s arms with the help of his dog summons. The pain had been uncomfortable as the dogs’ fangs sank into his flesh and tore the muscles and nerves, but he managed to swing his sword with his good arm to make the dogs fly back and dismiss themselves from the fight. It was enough that Kakashi needed. The battle wouldn’t last much longer. It would have been better if the dogs had disabled both of Zabuza’s arms, but Kakashi could manage.

Upon hearing the screams of agony coming from where Naruto and Sasuke were at, Kakashi paused in his fight to glance over towards where his students were. Noticing that it had been the rogue nin who had cried out. Seeing that ice needles were embedded into Haku’s leg. There was no way he was going to survive at the rate things seemed to be going.

Zabuza quickly lunged towards Kakashi as the Leaf Jounin was busy analyzing the situation of the kids. However, Kakashi still managed to shunshin away. Even without looking, it seemed his Sharingan allowed him to remain focused on the fight. Zabuza didn’t seem the least bit concerned about Haku at all.

“Do you really not care about the boy?” Kakashi inquired as he dodged another attack from Zabuza. “He does seem to think quite highly of you, after all.”

“He is nothing more than a tool!” Zabuza growled as he quickly flashed through hand signs. “He understood this when he decided to tag along!”

“How unfortunate…” Kakashi trailed off. Running through hand signs of his own. These hand signs appearing to be different from the set order Zabuza was using. Before he suddenly brought his hand down. Lightning crackling in his hand as if birds were chirping. Zabuza’s eyes widened. “It’s time we end this…”

And with that, Kakashi charged forward towards Zabuza.

Haku noticed Kakashi’s lightning-engulfed hand as it glowed in the mist. His eyes widening in fear, at this point. This was it. Zabuza-sama was going to die. If he didn’t get up right now, Kakashi was going to kill him. He couldn’t allow that. He wouldn’t allow that.

With what little concentration he could muster, Haku quickly shunshined to stand in front of Zabuza. Kakashi-sensei’s hand punching through Haku’s chest. Within an instant, it was over.

When Kakashi’s jutsu subsided, he pulled out his hand from Haku’s bloody chest and the corpse fell lifeless to the ground. His eyes already glazing over as they stared at nothing. Zabuza didn’t even appear to be the least bit upset about it. Causing Naruto to explode.

“Dude! Are you serious?!” Naruto shouted as he glared at Zabuza. His hand clenching into a fist. “That guy that has been fighting for you dies saving your pointy fanged, browless ass and you can’t even show the least bit of sadness for the loss?”

“The boy did as he was supposed to,” Zabuza countered. “Why should I shed a tear for what was merely a tool?”

“He may have been a tool, but he respected you,” Naruto growled. “He looked up to you. He cared about you! And you’re just going to stand there and pretend that his death is meaningless?”

“He knew the risks,” Zabuza shot back. “He knew that he might have to die.”

“He did,” Sasuke said, coldly. “Shinobi aren’t measured by how they live, they are measured by how they die. By disrespecting his sacrifice you invalidate your own worth as a shinobi… how fitting.”

Zabuza fell silent, his face suddenly blank.

Suddenly, an orb of water came out of nowhere and smacked into Zabuza. Hitting him like a brick as he went stumbling back a few feet. Sasuke and Naruto stared at Zabuza in surprise while Kakashi used Zabuza’s stumble to his advantage and lunged at the rogue nin. Stabbing two kunai into Zabuza’s shoulder. Disabling his remaining good arm. The other having been mangled by his dog summons a moment before.

“It’s over,” Kakashi growled.

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” a new voice rang out. Causing Kakashi and the others to look over to see Gato and a battalion of men standing behind him. “You see, you still have to go through me.”

“So, the infamous Gato finally makes an appearance,” Kakashi mumbled. “You know, I imagined you to be a lot... taller.”

Gato glared up at Kakashi. His face turning a deep shade of red in absolute fury over Kakashi’s words.

“Oh...did I strike a nerve?” Kakashi inquired in a mild sarcastic tone.

“Gato...what are you doing here?” Zabuza demanded. Glaring at the short old man who had hired him.

“What does it look like I’m doing, Zabuza?” Gato shot back with a venomous smirk. “I’m here to finish what you couldn’t. You honestly think I’m going to pay you, now, after your failure?”

Zabuza continued to glare at Gato. “Someone, give me a kunai,” he ordered with a growl.

“What for?” Sasuke demanded.

“Because I’m going to tear this guy to shreds,” Zabuza told the raven-haired boy.

“But you can’t use your arms,” Naruto informed him. “How do you plan to use a kunai.”

“I don’t need my arms,” Zabuza replied as he chewed through the bandages he had been wearing over his mouth before he turned his attention to Kakashi. “So, how bout that knife, eh Copy Cat?”

Kakashi stared at the rogue nin for a long moment before he tossed up a kunai to him, which Zabuza caught by the hilt with his teeth. “Die well, Momochi.”

Zabuza then began to charge toward Gato and the battalion of men behind him. Cutting through each of Gato’s men as they came charging at him. As they watched the fight ensue, Sasuke glanced over at Kakashi.

“Hey, sensei,” Sasuke began, “wouldn’t you say we’ve already structurally compromised the end of the bridge?”

Kakashi looked over to his student. “Yes...why?”

Sasuke then turned to Naruto, “Encyclopedia Ninja had a section of village bi-laws and missions contracts right?”

“Yeah, why?” Naruto replied, scrunching up his face as the screams of the maimed and dying filled the air at the end up the bridge.

“Wasn’t there some kind of allowance or something for damages caused by ninja in the course of doing their job?”

“Insurance actually,” Naruto answered, finally understanding where Sasuke was going with this. “It’s worked into the cost of our missions. So long as the damages were incurred for or in the process of, completing our mission the village’s policy covers the materials  and labor costs to complete the repair.”

“So if we were to just… explode the rest of the mercenaries when Zabuza finishes. Tazuna would be compensated for the damage, then he and all of his workers would get paid to fix it,” Sasuke clarified.

“Yup~” Naruto chirped as he started drawing out… far too many explosives to be legal.

“Sorry Tazuna but it appears that we are going to be making a little more work for you,” Sasuke sighed dramatically.

“Somehow I think I’ll survive,” Tazuna drawled. They were replacing the damaged materials and everyone was getting paid for once? He could deal with that.

After a while of fighting, Zabuza stumbled his way back over to where Haku’s dead body was at before he managed to collapse. A fairly decent chunk of the mercenaries having been killed without Zabuza even having to lift a finger. One of his hands landing just a few inches away from Haku’s face.

Naruto chuckled evilly as he watched the remaining mercenaries and Gato before sudden explosions took out the end of the bridge they were standing on. Sending all of them plummeting into the ocean. If they survived the fall into the water, they wouldn’t survive the thousands of pounds of debris falling on top of them. Gato and his band of thugs were finished.

Naruto and Sasuke, finally finding the time to relax from their exhausting fight, slumped down. Naruto flopping onto his back while Sasuke knelt there. Both of them panting with their eyes closed. Kakashi walked over to them and gave them what they now knew was him smiling. His closed eyes practically dripping with the glee that his mask hid on his face.

“Excellent job, you two,” Kakashi praised. “None of us died, today.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes before he turned his gaze to Naruto to say something, however Kakashi seemed to beat him to the punch. “Len, you can come out, now.”

Hearing this sentence caused both Sasuke and Naruto to blink before they looked toward where Kakashi was staring and watched as Len materialized from the mist. Her navy blue eyes drifting from her squad to the deceased Zabuza and Haku just two feet from them.

“Don’t do it, fledging,” the voice in her head told her. “As much as they had redeemed themselves there at the end, it would cause more trouble for you if you do it. Remember, they are mercenaries, themselves.”

Len closed her eyes before she turned her attention back to her team. Naruto and Sasuke still looking at her with astonishment. Causing her to look at them with confusion.

“What?” she demanded as she looked at them.

“How did--?” Naruto started but couldn’t seem to finish. “When did--?”

Len rolled her eyes. “I told your clone not to pop, yet, as I knew it would ruin the surprise that I had gained,” she informed the boys before she turned her attention to Kakashi. “Gato had sent some men to the house. Naruto’s clones knocked out the first one before one of them popped to inform Naruto that there had been an attack at the house. The remaining clone and I finished them off. Inari and Tsunami are on their way here, I’m assuming. They were going to gather the villagers and drive out Gato and his thugs.

“I rushed on ahead while the Naruto clone followed after Inari and Tsunami,” she went on. “Providing cover for Naruto and Sasuke while concealed in the mist. And, well, you know the rest, uncle Kakashi-sensei.”

Kakashi nodded as he looked at his niece before he placed a hand on her shoulder. “That was good work, Len,” he praised. “You have excellent shinobi instincts.”

“I am a Hatake,” Len said with a smirk. “That and I have you for an uncle.”

Kakashi again gave Len what looked like to be a smile that his eyes reflected from what his mask hid.

“Well, it looks like we’ll be stuck here for a while,” Kakashi informed them. “Mr. Tazuna has to fix the bridge.”

Sasuke gave Kakashi a droll stare. “Why don’t we just leave the way we came?” he demanded.

“Where’s the fun in always doing the same thing over and over?” Kakashi shot back as he fixed his headband back over his implanted eye. “Besides, do you really want to get back to the village that much sooner so we go back to doing those D-rank missions you hate so much, or are you going to want to stay here and drag out one of the only times you’ll possibly be leaving the village gates as much as possible? I’d personally choose the latter.”

Naruto quickly rose back to his feet as he threw a fist in the air. “We’re definitely staying! Believe it!” He quickly turned his attention to Tazuna. “Bridge builder, take as long as you need to fix the bridge. We are in no rush to get home.”

Tazuna gave Naruto a droll stare. “I’m so pleased to have your approval,” he grumbled sarcastically.

“I’ll take care of the bodies,” Kakashi informed them. “You three go back to Tazuna’s house. I’d say you all deserve to relax and enjoy yourselves as we wait patiently for Tazuna to finish the bridge.”

Naruto, Len, and Sasuke all nodded before they turned and began to make their way back to Tazuna’s house. Naruto practically skipping on ahead while Len and Sasuke lingered behind. After a few minutes of walking, Len glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye as she smirked devilishly. Sasuke, feeling her gaze on him, knew that something was going to happen. He just knew it.

After a few minutes of walking, they both stopped as Len seemed to have blocked Sasuke’s path back to Tazuna’s house. The platinum blonde walking slowly in circles around the raven-haired boy.

“Someone’s been naughty~” Len cooed, an evil grin playing on her lips as she circled Sasuke like a shark.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sasuke replied, refusing to meet Len’s gaze.

“You can’t fool me, Uchiha!” she laughed. “You’ve been reading Icha Icha!”

“What?! No I--”

“Don’t try to lie to me! I heard what you said to Zabuza on the bridge, Sa-su-ke-kun,” she said, far too sweetly. “You paraphrased a bit but that was a quote straight out of the summary of Icha Icha: Violence!”

“...And so what if I did pick it up? I was curious, and you suggested it, so I skimmed through it to see what was so… Nevermind, why am I even telling you? I don’t have to justify this to anyone!”

“Ah-HA! So you’re a closet pervert!”

“I’m a teenage boy.” Sasuke deadpanned. “There’s a difference”

“So you weren’t just skimming it? You were reading it for your… needs?”

“What? That’s not-- I didn’t mean--”

“Sasuke’s a hentai~ Sasuke’s a hentai~” Len sang, dancing out of Sasuke’s reach as he went to grab her.

“Shut up!” Sasuke hissed. “Someone might hear you!”

“You know, most boys would be proud that they could make a girl--”

“Shut. Up!”