Max could recognize the kid that is in front of him, but didn't know his name. At least he remember that he should be the granson of one of the elders of the village.
Inari, was surprised seen that Max had taken the initiate to talk to him since it was weird seen him talk or even interact with others. But, he quickly remembered what he was doind and recovered.
"Trash Devil, I heard that you are supposed to be strong. Can you go and help Naruto and the others at the bridge? Gato and his men are trying to stop grandpa from building the bridge!" Inari summarized what was happening to Max.
Max didn't bother with anything that happened in the village since he needed to train, but he could understand that there are some enemies at the bridge which motivated him to go there.
"Tell this Devil who Naruto and the others are? Knowing who are friends and foe before getting there should help this Devil know who to slash first." Max said as he try to hide is excitement from Inari, as he could tell that things are serious at the moment.
Inari quickly described Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi to Max. "You go ahead to the bridge. I need to gather the others to help fight Gato."
Inari quickly ran towards the next house. Max saw him try to convince another villager to help with the fight and fail. Still, Inari didn't give up and went to the next house.
"Fighting for real should help me understand that technique better. Thankfully, there are people for me to practice with." Max grinded and dashed towards the bridge.
****
As Max got closer and closer to the bridge, he noticed that some weird fog was obstructing his view. He knew that fog is something seen everyday in the land of waves, but there was something weird with the fog on front.
'Fog shouldn't be so thick this time of the year.' Max said as he slowed down to try to acclimate himself with the fog.
*WOOSH*
Just after finishing doing it, a sudden sense of danger assaulted him. Max had taken every precaution as he approached the bridge to get the jump on the enemies, so he was very surprised when he felt danger out of nowhere.
'No, this pressure is not directed at me, it just that its so intense that it is assaulting everithing close to it.' Max came to the realization.
With precaution, he made his way towards the origin of the pressure that he feels, but as he started to see the silhouette of two people the pressure banished. Max relased a little when the pressure was gone and focused on the two kids that he could now see.
'One of the kids should be Naruto by the description. So that means that the other one...'
As Max was thinking, Naruto punched the other kid. The kid spat a mouthfull of blood but still got back to his feet.
Max had moved closer to both of them to now hear what they where speaking.
"If that is all the strenght that you can put into it you'll never defeat me like you vowed to do." The kid said as he cleaned the blood from his mouth. "Perhaps he didn't mean that much to you."
Naruto was taken back by what the guy said. Max also noticed that not that far behind Naruto, there was a body filled with needles.
'That should be Sasuke. It seems that we had a casualty on our side already.' Max didn't know how many enemies were on the bridge and only knew the number of allies. So loosing one before he got here was something that he didn't like.
"To allow the enemies of the one inmportant to you live and not strike them down is not compasion. It's a betrayal of your life's purpuse. That makes your existense meaningless, which means that you are living just for the sake of it. Just to exist. Making all your struggles and pains mean nothing in the end."
Max was possitioning himself to ambush the kid since Naruto didn't seem to be able to kill him, when he heard what the kid said which made him stop.
"Why would you follow Zabuza. That guy is a monster that kills for money and dosen't even know the meaning of honor. Why would a person like that be the most important person in your life?" Naruto said back.
Then, the other kid started to talk about his past. About how happy he was whit his family, but when he showed that he had his abilities all fell apart.
How his father killed his mother because of the ability that ran in her blood and that he was just about to do the same with him before his abilities reacted and killed his father.
"After that, I knew that I had lost something fundamental that day. I lost my purpuse, the need for my existance in this world."
Naruto was shaken when he heard him said that, but apart from him Max could be also seen been shaken.
'You are a Burden'
Max felt a sudden pain in his chest when he remembered what the note that was left by his father said. The hollowness he felt after that and the thoughts that ran by his mind during those days.
As he continued to heard Haku talk, the memories started to come back to him, but when he finished hearing how life takes meaning through the eyes of others, Max was force to negate it.
"No!"
Haku and Naruto was taken back when they heard a voice close to them. Max was now walking towards them while he gritted his teeth.
"Other will give purpuse to one life? Bullsh*. The struggles and effort that one makes by oneself is not meaningles. Every step, Every thought and Every breath has its worth. Even solitud should have its worth. There should be something ahead, you just gave up trying to look for it!"