Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 36: The End of the Road
"Give him here." Kakashi took Sasuke down from Naruto's shoulder and examined him.
"Is he?... is he?..." Sakura had tears falling across her face.
"He is still alive!" Kakashi said with relief. He could still see his chakra circulating around his body, but his pulse felt very weak.
"He is?" Naruto was also surprised to hear this. He had the feeling that there could be a chance for Sasuke to be alive, but it was a very small one.
As soon as Kakashi pulled the senbons from Sasuke's neck and chest, the boy's skin started to recover its normal color and his chest started to move.
"Stay with him… we still have another problem to take care of." Kakashi glanced back at Zabuza.
The enemy ninja had not taken advantage of this chance to attack them. Instead, he appeared to be looking for something on the bridge.
"If he is looking for the masked boy… he won't find much." Naruto commented.
"Naruto, you…" Kakashi stopped talking when he noticed Naruto's body. Half of his face and torso had been badly burned. Kakashi had many questions at the moment, but this was not the time to ask them.
"Naruto, stay here too. I'll deal with Zabuza."
He went on and approached the Mist Ninja, leaving the three genin and Tazuna behind.
"It seems like I lost my apprentice." Zabuza said, while staring at the burned part of the bridge. He was unable to find any remains. Whatever was left may have fallen into the waters.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Kakashi continued to get closer.
"Don't be… we ninjas are nothing more than tools designed to kill. Your genin did his job… mine didn't." Zabuza glanced in the distance towards the group of genin.
"Must we continue this? You will die too." Kakashi said with confidence.
"Hahaha! If I just quit when a job gets difficult, then no one will hire me in the future." Zabuza pointed his sword at Kakashi. "No… I think I will finish what we started."
The two Jonins continued to fight while the rest watched.
It became obvious very soon that Kakashi had the upper hand. The silver-haired ninja used his summoning technique to bring a group of ninja dogs that restrained Zabuza.
"Lightning?" Naruto was observing Kakashi with rapt attention when this one formed a mass of lightning in his hand. Even without his sensing abilities, he could tell that there was a massive amount of chakra concentrated there.
"It's over…" He said, just a moment before Kakashi pierced Zabuza's chest with his technique, killing him instantly.
Sakura moved her eyes away.
"Don't look away." Naruto told her with a stern tone. "If you can't even watch that… how are you going to kill your own enemies?"
"I am not like you!" She screamed at him. "I am not so… so cold! I can't kill like that."
"Then you better stop being a ninja… it won't end well for you." Naruto told her.
Tazuna opened his mouth to say something. He did not like how Naruto was talking to his teammate, but he thought about what he could say… nothing came up. He did not know much about ninjas, but he at least knew that one could not be too soft on their enemies, otherwise…
Sakura stared at him in disbelief. Even though she kept calling him Naruto, she could not recognize this person anymore. The way he speaks and behaves is just too different. He is so…
"We have company." Naruto turned around.
The mist on the bridge had only become thicker after his fight with Haku. It was difficult to see anything past a few feet. But his hearing was sharp enough to detect the sounds of steps.
"A big group." He then added.
"Could they be my workers?" Tazuna suggested. They had all run away when Zabuza appeared, but perhaps some of them were now trying to help.
But they were soon able to see the figures of the people approaching, and they were definitely not the bridge workers.
A short man in a black suit and dark glasses stood at the front.
Behind him were at least two dozen armed warriors, like the ones Naruto had fought at Tazuna's house.
"I knew I could not trust that damn useless ninja!" The short man shouted. "Good thing I came in person to do the job properly."
"Gato…" Tazuna stared at the man with fear in his eyes.
"That was going to be my first guess…" Naruto said.
"W-what do we do?" Sakura was visibly shaken.
"Stay calm." Kakashi appeared behind her. He covered his Sharingan and glanced over the group that Gato had brought with him.
"All sellswords… a few samurais, some mercenaries… no ninjas there."
"Can you still fight?" Naruto looked at the Jonin.
"Of course! I am still fresh as a lettuce." Kakashi assured him.
"You can barely stand." Naruto added. "I'll fight too." No matter how much he tried to hide it, it was obvious that Kakashi was very exhausted already.
Kakashi's uncovered eye glanced over him. "Your wounds?"
Naruto moved his burned right arm a bit. "The pain has lessened. It won't be a problem." His regeneration was the one thing that he found most astonishing about this new body of his.
He still wasn't sure if this was caused by some dormant bloodline ability he had or a side effect of growing up with that demon fox sealed in his gut.
When he ended his fight with Haku, he could barely contain himself from groaning in pain, but now he was feeling so much better.
"I… I…" Sakura grasped at the kunai in her hand.
"You better stay here." Kakashi told her. "Someone needs to protect the client."
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