CHAPTER 5: CRIMSON INHERITANCE

Naruto's sandals slapped against Konoha's sun-baked streets, sweat beading on his forehead as he raced toward the village gates. Two weeks of mind-numbing D-rank missions—painting fences, weeding gardens, chasing that demon cat Tora—had left him restless, a caged animal prowling its confines. But today would be different. Today, Team Seven would venture beyond the village walls for the first time.

His pulse quickened at the thought, equal parts excitement and apprehension churning in his gut. Beyond those gates lay a world that didn't know his name, his burden, his history. A world where, perhaps, he could be just another ninja rather than the vessel of destruction everyone feared.

He skidded around a corner and collided with a solid mass of dark fabric and brooding attitude—Sasuke, who barely staggered back from the impact.

"Watch it, dobe," Sasuke muttered, steadying himself with practiced grace.

"Sorry," Naruto mumbled, the apology automatic and unexpected even to himself. In the weeks since their bell test, a fragile sort of truce had formed between them—not friendship, not even close, but something resembling mutual tolerance.

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow, clearly as surprised by the apology as Naruto was. "Whatever. Don't be late. Kakashi-sensei actually showed up on time for once."

They walked together in silence broken only by the bustle of morning commerce around them. Villagers still drew back when Naruto passed, whispers following in his wake, but he'd grown almost numb to it. Almost.

At the gates, Sakura paced nervously, pink hair catching the morning sunlight, while Kakashi leaned against a post reading his ever-present orange book. Beside them stood an old man reeking of cheap sake, his weathered face scrunched in obvious dissatisfaction.

"These are my escorts?" The old man waved his bottle at Team Seven. "A masked slacker and three brats? The pink one looks like she'll snap in a stiff breeze, the dark one's got a chip on his shoulder you could use as a boat anchor, and this one—" He jabbed a gnarled finger at Naruto. "This one's got murder in his eyes."

Naruto froze, the casual accusation landing like a physical blow. Murder in his eyes. If only the old drunk knew how close to the truth he'd stumbled.

"Tazuna-san," Kakashi interjected smoothly, tucking away his book, "I assure you that despite appearances, this team is more than capable of protecting you on your journey home to the Land of Waves."

"Hmph." Tazuna took another swig from his bottle. "If you say so. Let's get moving. I've got a bridge to finish."

They set out, passing through Konoha's massive gates into the wider world beyond. Naruto couldn't help but glance back, watching as the only home he'd ever known—a home that had never truly accepted him—receded into the distance. The weight of the village's stares lifted from his shoulders with each step, leaving him feeling strangely weightless.

"First time outside the village?" Kakashi asked, falling into step beside him.

Naruto nodded, wondering if his transparent emotions were that obvious to everyone or just to the jōnin who'd known his father.

"Take it all in," Kakashi advised, his single visible eye crinkling with what might have been a smile beneath his mask. "The world's a bigger place than it seems from inside those walls."

Bigger, yes, but also more dangerous—a lesson hammered home when two ninja erupted from a puddle on the bone-dry road, razor-sharp chains whipping toward Kakashi with deadly precision.

The chains wrapped around their sensei, tightening with a sickening crunch of meat and bone. Kakashi's eye widened in surprise, blood spraying as his body was torn to shreds.

"One down," hissed one of the attackers, his voice muffled behind a metal mask.

"Four to go," completed his partner, already lunging toward Naruto with clawed gauntlets extended.

Time seemed to slow. Naruto saw the attack coming but couldn't make his body move, shock paralyzing his muscles. Kakashi-sensei. Dead. Just like that.

A blur of dark blue flashed in front of him—Sasuke, moving with liquid grace, deflecting the clawed attack with a kunai gripped in white-knuckled fingers. "Move, dobe!" he snarled over his shoulder.

The command broke Naruto's paralysis. He spun, searching for Sakura, finding her already positioned in front of Tazuna, kunai held in trembling hands but her stance perfect. Their eyes met across the road, shared terror mingling with determination.

The second attacker charged Sasuke from behind. Without thinking, Naruto's hands formed the sign for his favorite technique. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Three perfect duplicates materialized, throwing themselves between Sasuke and the advancing ninja. The clones wouldn't last long against a trained opponent, but they didn't need to. They just needed to buy time.

"Behind you!" Naruto shouted as one of his clones took a poisoned claw to the chest, bursting into smoke.

Sasuke ducked, the deadly gauntlet whistling through the space where his head had been a heartbeat earlier. He pivoted, leg sweeping out in a low kick that connected solidly with the enemy's ankle. The ninja staggered but didn't fall, already countering with a vicious slash of his weapon.

Blood sprayed as the claws carved a shallow groove across Sasuke's forearm. He hissed in pain but didn't retreat, hands flashing through signs Naruto recognized with a jolt of surprise—fire style jutsu, far beyond Academy level.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Flames roared from Sasuke's mouth, a conflagration that forced the attacking ninja to leap back, buying precious seconds.

Naruto moved instinctively to Sasuke's side, kunai drawn, facing the second attacker who had dispatched his remaining clones with ruthless efficiency. They stood back to back, academy rivals now unified in the desperate dance of real combat.

"The bridge builder," Sasuke muttered, blood dripping from his injured arm. "They're after him. We need to—"

A blur of motion cut him off as Kakashi reappeared, seemingly from nowhere, efficiently dispatching both attackers with precise strikes to pressure points that left them crumpled and unconscious on the dusty road.

"Sensei!" Sakura's voice cracked with relief. "But we saw you—"

"Substitution jutsu," Kakashi explained, nodding toward a pile of shattered logs where his "body" had been. "I wanted to see who they were targeting." His gaze shifted to Tazuna, who suddenly found the ground fascinating. "Interesting that they bypassed you three to attack our client."

"You used us as bait?" Naruto's voice came out sharper than intended, the adrenaline of combat still surging through his veins.

Kakashi's eye narrowed slightly. "I would have stepped in before any of you were seriously injured. Though it seems I underestimated your capabilities." His gaze swept over them, lingering on Sasuke's bleeding arm. "Especially working together."

Within minutes, the attacking ninja—the infamous Demon Brothers, missing-nin from the Hidden Mist—were bound securely to a tree. Kakashi cleaned and bandaged Sasuke's wound with practiced efficiency, explaining that the claws had been tipped with poison designed to kill slowly and painfully.

"Will he be okay?" Naruto found himself asking, surprising everyone including himself with the genuine concern in his voice.

"I'll live," Sasuke answered before Kakashi could, his tone dry but lacking its usual edge. Their eyes met briefly, something unspoken passing between them—acknowledgment, perhaps, of how quickly they'd moved from rivals to allies when survival demanded it.

Tazuna's deception unraveled under Kakashi's pointed questioning. This was no simple C-rank escort mission. A crime lord named Gato had seized control of the Wave Country, bleeding it dry through brutal taxation and control of shipping. Tazuna's bridge represented hope—a direct connection to the mainland that would break Gato's stranglehold on the island nation.

"He'll do anything to stop its completion," Tazuna admitted, "including hiring ninja to kill me. But my people couldn't afford the cost of a B-rank mission, let alone an A-rank with jōnin protection."

"This mission is beyond the scope of what genin should face," Kakashi stated flatly. "We should return to Konoha immediately."

"No!" The word burst from Naruto, startling everyone. "We can't just abandon him. His people are suffering."

Kakashi's gaze settled on him with that unnerving intensity that always made Naruto feel transparent. "This isn't a game, Naruto. The next ninja Gato sends won't be chunin-level like the Demon Brothers. They'll be jōnin. Killers. You three aren't ready for that."

"When will we be ready?" Naruto challenged, something fierce and unfamiliar rising in his chest—not the corrosive anger he was accustomed to, but something cleaner, sharper. "These people need help now."

"I agree with the dobe," Sasuke said quietly, flexing his bandaged arm. "We handled ourselves against those two. We can do this."

Sakura hesitated, glancing between her teammates, then set her jaw with newfound determination. "Three against one, sensei."

Something like pride flickered in Kakashi's visible eye. "Fine," he sighed, though Naruto sensed his capitulation had been a foregone conclusion. "But from now on, we stay alert. The real fight is just beginning."

Mist clung to the surface of the water like a burial shroud, tendrils curling around the small boat as they glided silently toward the shadowy outline of the Wave Country. Naruto trailed his fingers through the cold water, watching ripples spread and vanish into the dense fog. The ferryman had doused his lantern miles back, relying on memory and instinct to navigate the treacherous passage.

"There it is," Tazuna whispered, pointing ahead.

A colossal concrete structure materialized from the mist—Tazuna's bridge, half-completed but already magnificent in its scale and ambition. Naruto stared up at it, overwhelmed by the audacity of the project. One man's vision, defying a tyrant, offering hope to an entire nation.

"You built this?" he asked, unable to keep the awe from his voice.

Pride straightened Tazuna's shoulders. "With these hands and the sweat of every willing man in our village. It will change everything when it's finished."

"If it's finished," the ferryman muttered, fear evident in the nervous dart of his eyes. "Gato watches the water. If his men catch us..."

They fell silent, the gravity of their situation hanging heavy in the damp air. Naruto's gaze drifted to his teammates—Sakura vigilant but calm, Sasuke coiled with the tension of anticipation, Kakashi eerily still, like a predator scenting the wind.

The boat bumped gently against a dilapidated pier, mist swirling around weathered pilings crusted with barnacles and memory. They disembarked silently, the ferryman pushing off immediately, eager to disappear back into the concealing fog.

"My house isn't far," Tazuna murmured, pointing to a narrow path winding into dense forest. "If we can reach it without being spotted—"

Kakashi's hand shot up, silencing him mid-sentence. "Get down!"

They dropped as one, a massive blade whirring through the space where their heads had been a heartbeat earlier. The sword embedded itself in the trunk of a tree with a meaty thunk, and a figure materialized atop it—a man, bare-chested despite the chill, lower face wrapped in bandages, eyes cold and calculating as he surveyed his prey.

"Momochi Zabuza," Kakashi's voice was flat, recognition and warning wrapped in those two words. "Demon of the Hidden Mist."

"Kakashi of the Sharingan," Zabuza's voice rasped like steel on stone. "No wonder the Demon Brothers failed. The Copy Ninja himself... I'm honored."

Sharingan? Naruto glanced at Kakashi, confusion evident on his face. The Sharingan was the bloodline limit of the Uchiha clan—Sasuke's clan. How could Kakashi possess it?

As if in answer, Kakashi reached up and lifted his slanted headband, revealing a vertical scar bisecting his left eye. The eye itself opened, blood-red with three swirling tomoe—the fully matured Sharingan, identical to the descriptions Naruto had read in Academy textbooks.

Beside him, Sasuke stiffened, shock and something darker flashing across his features.

"Protect Tazuna," Kakashi ordered, never taking his eyes off Zabuza. "Stay out of this fight."

"Against the Copy Ninja? I'm flattered by your caution." Zabuza's chuckle held no humor. "But unnecessary. Before I kill the bridge builder, let's see how you handle my specialty."

The mist thickened unnaturally, swallowing Zabuza's form, his disembodied voice floating around them from all directions. "Eight choices... liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart... which one should I go after first?"

An oppressive killing intent saturated the air, so thick it seemed to solidify the mist itself. Naruto found it suddenly hard to breathe, each inhale an effort against the crushing weight of Zabuza's bloodlust. Beside him, Sasuke trembled, kunai rising almost unconsciously toward his own throat.

"Sasuke." Kakashi's voice cut through the paralyzing fear. "I'll protect you with my life. All of you. I don't let my comrades die."

The simple declaration eased something in Naruto's chest, allowing him to draw a full breath. He shifted closer to Tazuna, kunai gripped in white-knuckled fingers, fighting to control the tremor in his hands.

"So touching," Zabuza's voice whispered—directly behind them, between the genin and Tazuna. "Too bad it's a lie."

Time slowed. Naruto turned, seeing Zabuza's massive sword already in motion, arcing toward Tazuna's unprotected back. Too far. He was too far to intercept, too slow to save the old man who had lied to them yet still deserved to live, to complete his bridge, to save his people—

Something burst inside Naruto, a dam breaking. Crimson chakra flooded his system, scorching his veins, burning away fear and hesitation. He moved, faster than thought, body flickering across the space separating him from Tazuna. His hand caught Zabuza's blade, blood spraying as steel bit into flesh, but he felt no pain—only a savage, feral power surging through him.

"What the—" Zabuza's eyes widened, genuine shock replacing his habitual coldness as he stared at the small, blood-soaked hand gripping his massive sword. "What are you?"

Naruto raised his head, meeting Zabuza's gaze. He knew what the missing-nin saw—slitted pupils in irises bleeding from blue to red, whisker marks deepening on his cheeks, canines lengthening to fangs. The Nine-Tails' chakra, responding to his desperate need, to his primal urge to protect.

For the first time in his life, Naruto didn't fight it. He channeled it.

With a guttural roar, he shoved the sword back, sending Zabuza stumbling. The moment of distraction was all Kakashi needed. The jōnin appeared in a blur of motion, kunai slashing across Zabuza's chest, drawing a thin line of crimson.

"Not so fast, Copy Ninja." Zabuza dissolved into water—a clone—as the real Zabuza materialized behind Kakashi, sword already whistling through the air.

What followed was a deadly dance between two master shinobi—water clones shattering like glass, jutsu countered with identical jutsu courtesy of Kakashi's Sharingan, the very landscape reshaped by their combat. Naruto watched, the Nine-Tails' chakra still thrumming through him, ready to intervene if Kakashi faltered.

But the legendary Copy Ninja needed no assistance. The battle culminated in a massive water vortex that slammed Zabuza into a tree trunk with bone-cracking force. Kakashi approached the downed missing-nin, kunai raised for the killing blow—

Senbon needles flashed through the air, embedding themselves in Zabuza's neck with surgical precision. The massive man went limp instantly, eyes glazing over.

A slender figure in a porcelain mask materialized on a nearby branch. "Thank you for your assistance," the newcomer said, voice soft and androgynous behind the mask. "I've been tracking Zabuza for weeks. Now I can finally take him back to the Hidden Mist for justice."

"A hunter-nin," Kakashi confirmed, studying the masked figure with undisguised suspicion. "Rather young, aren't you?"

"Age and ability rarely correlate in our profession," came the serene reply as the hunter-nin lifted Zabuza's massive body with surprising ease. "If you'll excuse me, I must dispose of the remains immediately. Numerous secrets are housed within this body."

Before any of them could object, the hunter-nin vanished in a swirl of leaves, taking Zabuza's body with them.

Kakashi stared at the empty space for a long moment before tugging his headband back down over his Sharingan. "Something's not right," he murmured, swaying slightly from chakra exhaustion. "Hunter-nin dispose of bodies on the spot, they don't—"

His knees buckled, cutting off whatever insight he'd been about to share. Naruto lunged forward, catching his sensei before he hit the ground, the Nine-Tails' chakra still lending him unnatural strength and speed.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura rushed to their side, medical training from the Academy kicking in as she checked his pulse. "He's alive, just exhausted. The Sharingan must drain his chakra severely."

"We need to get him somewhere safe," Sasuke said, scanning the misty surroundings with wary eyes. "Tazuna, how much farther to your house?"

As they limped through the forest supporting their unconscious sensei between them, Naruto felt the Nine-Tails' chakra slowly recede, leaving him drained but strangely elated. For the first time, he had used the fox's power consciously, directed it toward protection rather than destruction. The revelation left him dizzy with possibilities.

"That chakra," Sasuke murmured, keeping his voice low so Sakura and Tazuna wouldn't hear. "What was that?"

Naruto tensed, waiting for the fear, the disgust, the rejection that always followed any manifestation of the Nine-Tails' power. Instead, Sasuke's eyes held only intense curiosity.

"It's complicated," Naruto answered finally.

Sasuke studied him for a long moment. "You stopped his sword with your bare hand. That kind of power..." He trailed off, something like envy flickering across his features before being ruthlessly suppressed. "We should train together. When Kakashi recovers."

It wasn't quite friendship being offered, but it was something Naruto had never expected from the proud Uchiha—acknowledgment. Recognition of strength. The beginnings of respect.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, something warm unfurling in his chest. "We should."

Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, welcomed them with warm hospitality that couldn't quite mask the bone-deep weariness etched into her features. Her son, Inari, proved less accommodating, declaring their efforts futile and their deaths inevitable before storming up to his room.

"Please forgive him," Tsunami sighed, setting out a simple but nourishing meal. "Since his father was killed by Gato's men... he's lost all hope."

"Hope is dangerous in Wave Country these days," Tazuna added grimly, sake cup clutched in weathered hands. "Gato makes sure of that."

They settled Kakashi in a spare room, Tsunami providing extra blankets against the perpetual dampness that clung to everything in the coastal village. When their sensei finally regained consciousness hours later, his first words confirmed what they'd all begun to suspect.

"Zabuza is still alive."

The pronouncement landed like a stone in a still pond, ripples of tension spreading outward. Sakura, predictably, protested first. "But we saw him die! Those needles—"

"Were precisely placed to simulate death," Kakashi explained, struggling to sit up despite his exhaustion. "Hunter-nin are trained to know human anatomy intimately. Those needles can be used to kill—or to temporarily shut down the body's systems without causing permanent damage."

"So the hunter-nin was working with Zabuza," Sasuke concluded, fingers steepled beneath his chin. "How long until they return?"

"A week, perhaps less. Putting someone in a near-death state takes a toll. Zabuza will need time to recover." Kakashi's eye settled on each of them in turn, assessing. "Which means we have exactly that long to prepare you three for the rematch."

Despite his weakened state, Kakashi insisted on beginning their training immediately. The next morning found them in a clearing within the dense forest surrounding Tazuna's house, mist curling between ancient trees that soared overhead like silent sentinels.

"Today, you learn to climb trees," Kakashi announced, leaning heavily on a makeshift crutch.

Naruto exchanged skeptical glances with his teammates. "We already know how to climb trees, sensei."

In answer, Kakashi formed a single hand sign, then walked vertically up the nearest trunk, defying gravity until he hung upside down from a branch, seemingly held there by nothing more than the soles of his feet.

"Without using your hands," he elaborated, eye crinkling with amusement at their slack-jawed expressions. "You must focus chakra to the bottoms of your feet—too little, and you'll slip off; too much, and you'll damage the tree and be repelled."

Sasuke mastered the concept first, making it halfway up his designated tree before losing control and marking his position with a kunai slash. Sakura, to everyone's surprise including her own, reached the top on her first attempt, her perfect chakra control compensating for her smaller reserves.

Naruto struggled the most, repeatedly blasting himself off the trunk with too much chakra, his body collecting an impressive array of bruises as the day wore on. But he refused to quit, attacking the exercise with grim determination until sweat plastered his blonde hair to his forehead and his legs trembled with exhaustion.

"You're trying too hard," Sasuke observed during a water break, watching as Naruto prepared for yet another attempt. "Your chakra's too wild. You need to calm it, direct it with precision, not force."

"Easy for you to say," Naruto grumbled, though the usual bite was missing from his retort. "Your chakra doesn't have a mind of its own."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Is that what it's like? Your... special chakra?"

Naruto hesitated, unused to discussing the Nine-Tails with anyone. "It's like... having an ocean inside you, but only being allowed to use a cupful at a time. If I take too much..."

"The ocean drowns you," Sasuke finished, understanding dawning in his dark eyes. "So for this exercise—"

"I need less than a drop," Naruto nodded. "Precision, not power."

With renewed focus, Naruto approached his tree again, closing his eyes to better visualize the tiny trickle of chakra needed. As he placed his foot against the bark, he felt the familiar pressure of the Nine-Tails stirring inside him, pushing against his control. But this time, instead of fighting it, he acknowledged it—then firmly directed it, bending the corrosive energy to his will.

One step. Two. Three. Each footfall sure and steady as he ascended the massive trunk, higher than he'd managed all day. When he finally opened his eyes, he was nearly at the top, Sakura cheering him on from her perch in the uppermost branches.

"I did it!" he shouted, triumph surging through him as he carved a mark with his kunai, higher even than Sasuke's latest attempt.

From below, Kakashi watched with undisguised interest, noting how the boy had finally managed to channel his chakra—both his natural reserves and the toxic power of the Nine-Tails—with something approaching control. Progress, certainly. But enough to face what was coming?

Days blurred together in a grueling rhythm of training and guard duty, escorting Tazuna to the bridge each morning and back each evening, always alert for Gato's men or, worse, Zabuza's return. Naruto pushed himself beyond exhaustion, often training long into the night after the others had retired, driving himself with single-minded determination to master not just tree climbing but his own volatile chakra.

On the fifth morning, drained from yet another midnight training session, Naruto slept through Kakashi's departure with the others. He woke to stillness and silence, the house empty save for Tsunami working in the kitchen below. Groggily, he dressed and made his way downstairs, apologizing for oversleeping.

"Kakashi-san said to let you rest," Tsunami assured him, setting a simple breakfast before him. "You've been pushing yourself too hard."

Naruto wolfed down the food, eager to catch up with his team at the bridge, but something made him pause before leaving—a photograph on the family altar, conspicuously damaged. A man's face had been torn from the image, leaving a jagged absence.

"That's Kaiza," Tsunami said, noticing his interest. "Inari's stepfather. He was... a hero to this village. Until Gato made an example of him."

The story she shared struck something deep in Naruto's chest—a man who had come to Wave Country as an outsider, who had earned the people's love through courage and kindness, who had stood against tyranny even knowing it would cost him his life. A hero who had given Inari something to believe in, only for that belief to be brutally shattered by Gato's public execution of his stepfather.

"That's why Inari doesn't believe in heroes anymore," Tsunami concluded, grief evident in the tight line of her mouth. "Gato broke something in him that day. In all of us."

Naruto thought of the sullen boy who had sneered at their efforts, who had declared all resistance futile, all sacrifice meaningless. For the first time, he felt not irritation but understanding. Hadn't he also known what it was to have hope crushed, to be told that his very existence was a mistake, a tragedy, a curse?

His contemplation was interrupted by a crash from outside, followed by Tsunami's scream. Two of Gato's thugs burst into the kitchen, swords drawn, leering at the terrified woman.

"You're coming with us, lady," one grunted, grabbing Tsunami's arm. "Boss wants insurance the bridge builder will behave."

"Let her go." Naruto's voice was quiet but carried an edge that made both men turn.

"Look at this," the second thug snickered, eyeing Naruto's small frame with contempt. "A wannabe ninja. Scram, kid, before we gut you."

Naruto's hands formed the sign for Shadow Clone Jutsu, and suddenly the kitchen was filled with identical blonde boys, each wearing the same expression of cold determination. "I said, let her go."

What followed was brief and brutal. The thugs had size and reach, but Naruto had numbers and the element of surprise. Within moments, both men lay unconscious on the kitchen floor, their weapons appropriated by Naruto's clones.

"Are you hurt?" he asked Tsunami, who shook her head, wide-eyed with shock.

"Inari," she gasped. "He's upstairs—"

A childish shout from above sent Naruto racing up the stairs, heart hammering against his ribs. He burst into Inari's room to find the boy backed against the wall, a third thug advancing on him with drawn sword. Without hesitation, Naruto launched himself between them, kunai deflecting the downward slash meant for Inari.

"Run!" he shouted over his shoulder, already counterattacking with a vicious kick that sent the assailant stumbling back.

But Inari didn't run. To Naruto's astonishment, the boy grabbed a makeshift weapon—a heavy wooden plank—and swung it with all his might at the thug's knees. The man howled in pain, providing the opening Naruto needed to deliver a knockout blow.

In the sudden silence that followed, Naruto stared at Inari with newfound respect. "That was brave."

Inari's eyes welled with tears. "But I was scared the whole time!"

"That's what courage is," Naruto told him, thinking of Kaiza, of the father figure who had taught Inari about bravery before Gato stole him away. "Being afraid but doing the right thing anyway."

As he bound the unconscious thugs, a chilling realization dawned. If Gato had sent men here, to secure hostages... "The bridge," he muttered. "It's happening now."

Leaving a clone to protect Tsunami and Inari, Naruto raced toward the bridge, dread coiling in his gut. Three thugs here almost certainly meant a larger force at the construction site—and perhaps, Zabuza.

Mist blanketed the bridge, thick and unnatural, obscuring everything beyond a few feet. Naruto approached cautiously, the sounds of combat reaching him before he could see anything—the clash of metal on metal, grunts of exertion, the distinctive whoosh of fire jutsu that could only be Sasuke.

He crept forward until shapes materialized from the fog—bodies scattered across the concrete, Tazuna's workers incapacitated or worse. At the center of the bridge, two battles raged simultaneously: Kakashi versus Zabuza, both moving so quickly they blurred to the naked eye, and Sasuke trapped within a prison of ice mirrors, facing the masked hunter-nin they now knew was Zabuza's accomplice.

Sakura stood protectively before Tazuna, kunai raised, eyes darting between the two conflicts with barely contained panic.

Naruto assessed the situation in an instant. Kakashi could handle Zabuza—but Sasuke was in trouble, his movements slowing as senbon needles accumulated in his flesh, the hunter-nin attacking from all directions with impossible speed.

Decision made, Naruto created a squad of shadow clones and sent them to reinforce Sakura, then sprinted toward the ice prison. A gap between mirrors presented itself momentarily, and he hurled himself through it, landing in a crouch beside his battered teammate.

"Reinforcements arrive," the hunter-nin observed, voice still eerily calm despite the escalating combat. "How futile."

Sasuke's head snapped toward Naruto, surprise and something that might have been relief flickering across his bloodied face. "Idiot," he grunted. "Now we're both trapped."

"You looked like you could use the help," Naruto retorted, quickly assessing Sasuke's injuries—numerous but none immediately life-threatening.

"His speed is inhuman," Sasuke muttered, eyes never leaving the mirrors where their opponent's image was reflected a dozen times over. "And he can move between those ice mirrors instantly. I can barely track him, even with—" He broke off, something like embarrassment crossing his features.

"Even with what?" Naruto pressed, sensing Sasuke was withholding crucial information.

In answer, Sasuke turned to face him fully, revealing eyes that had changed from their usual onyx to a brilliant crimson, a single tomoe spinning in each iris.

"The Sharingan," Naruto breathed, understanding dawning. "You awakened it during this fight."

"It's not fully matured," Sasuke admitted, frustration evident in the tight line of his mouth. "I can see his movements, but I'm not fast enough to counter."

"Then we'll just have to be faster." Naruto closed his eyes, drawing on the power he'd spent the past week learning to harness. The Nine-Tails' chakra responded immediately, a crimson aura enveloping him as his features sharpened, became more feral. "Together."

Sasuke's eyes widened at the transformation, but he didn't recoil, didn't reject what he was seeing. Instead, he nodded once, decisive, the fragile trust between them solidifying in the crucible of shared danger.

They moved as one, Sasuke's newly awakened Sharingan tracking the hunter-nin's movements while Naruto's enhanced speed and strength attempted to intercept. For the first time, they landed blows, cracking one mirror, then another, forcing their opponent to expend more chakra maintaining the jutsu.

"Interesting," the hunter-nin murmured, materializing briefly between strikes. "You two have remarkable teamwork for those who clearly despised each other until recently."

"Shut up and fight," Sasuke growled, hands flashing through the signs for his fireball jutsu. The massive conflagration engulfed three mirrors at once, steam hissing as fire met ice.

When the steam cleared, the mirrors remained intact, but hairline cracks had begun to form—evidence their opponent's chakra was finally flagging. Naruto pressed the advantage, creating more clones to attack from all angles simultaneously, forcing the hunter-nin to divide his attention.

In that split second of distraction, Sasuke lunged for the smallest mirror, the one showing the most damage. His kunai struck true, and the mirror shattered with a musical chime—

—only for senbon to erupt from the falling shards, too many to dodge, all aimed at Sasuke's vital points.

Time slowed to a crawl. Naruto saw it all with preternatural clarity—the needles' trajectory, Sasuke's widening eyes as he realized he couldn't evade, the certainty of death hurtling toward his teammate.

No.

The word wasn't a thought but a command, an absolute refusal that resonated through Naruto's entire being. The Nine-Tails' chakra exploded around him, no longer a mere aura but a visible manifestation, a crimson shroud that propelled him across the space separating him from Sasuke with impossible speed.

Impact drove the breath from his lungs as dozens of senbon found their target—not Sasuke's flesh, but Naruto's, as he interposed himself between his teammate and certain death. Pain blossomed everywhere, sharp and immediate, but curiously distant, as if happening to someone else.

"Why?" Sasuke's voice seemed to come from very far away, his face swimming in Naruto's dimming vision. "Why would you—"

"I don't know," Naruto managed, tasting copper as blood filled his mouth. "My body just... moved on its own."

It was true. There had been no conscious decision, no weighing of his life against Sasuke's. Only the bone-deep certainty that he could not, would not, watch another person die—especially not someone who had begun, against all odds, to see him as something other than a monster.

Darkness crept in from the edges of his vision. The last thing Naruto saw was Sasuke's face contorted with an emotion he'd never witnessed there before—anguish.

Consciousness returned in stages—first, the sensation of hard concrete beneath his back; then, the taste of salt in the air; finally, voices arguing nearby, one familiar and female, the other unfamiliar and masculine.

"...just a kid, like us," Sakura was saying, her tone uncharacteristically fierce. "You don't have to do this. Gato is the enemy, not us."

"Gato pays my salary," came the calm reply—the hunter-nin, Naruto realized, though without the mask distorting his voice. "My purpose is to be Zabuza's weapon. Nothing more."

Naruto forced his eyes open, blinking against harsh sunlight. The mist had cleared completely, revealing a scene of chaos. Sakura stood protectively over him, facing down the hunter-nin, whose porcelain mask lay shattered at his feet, revealing a face of androgynous beauty. Nearby, Kakashi and Zabuza continued their deadly dance, though both showed signs of severe fatigue.

And Sasuke—Sasuke knelt beside Naruto, dark eyes blazing with the matured Sharingan, two tomoe now spinning in each iris. When he saw Naruto stir, naked relief flashed across his features before being quickly suppressed.

"Back from the dead, dobe?" he muttered, the insult lacking any real heat.

"Not... that easy to kill," Naruto managed, struggling to sit up despite the dozens of senbon still embedded in his flesh. The Nine-Tails' chakra had already begun healing his wounds, pushing out foreign objects, knitting torn muscle and skin with unnatural speed.

The hunter-nin—Haku, Naruto heard Sakura call him—watched this process with clinical fascination. "Remarkable regenerative abilities," he observed. "Is that why you were willing to sacrifice yourself? Knowing you would survive?"

"I didn't know anything," Naruto admitted, wincing as he pulled a senbon from his shoulder. "I just couldn't let my teammate die."

Something shifted in Haku's expression—recognition, perhaps, or kinship. "To have someone precious to protect... that is true strength."

Before Naruto could respond, the atmosphere on the bridge changed abruptly. Slow, mocking applause echoed across the concrete expanse as a small army of mercenaries materialized at the far end, led by a diminutive man in an expensive suit.

"Touching, really," Gato sneered, leaning on an ornate cane. "But ultimately pointless. Zabuza, you disappoint me. I expected the Demon of the Hidden Mist to dispose of these pests more efficiently."

Zabuza straightened from his combat stance, blood dripping from numerous wounds as he faced his employer with narrowed eyes. "What is this, Gato?"

"Insurance," the crime lord replied with an oily smile, gesturing to the thugs surrounding him. "You ninja are so expensive, and frankly, unreliable. I've decided a more direct approach is warranted."

"You never intended to pay us," Zabuza concluded, killing intent rolling off him in palpable waves. "This was your plan all along."

Gato's smile widened. "Business, nothing personal. Kill them all," he ordered his men. "Except the women. They might be... useful."

The threat hung in the air, explicit and vile. Sakura went pale but didn't retreat, kunai raised as the mercenaries began to advance. Kakashi moved to stand beside her, clearly reaching the end of his stamina but unbowed.

"Seems our conflict is concluded, Copy Ninja," Zabuza growled, hefting his massive sword despite his injuries. "Gato is now my target, not the bridge builder."

"Agreed," Kakashi replied simply, understanding passing between the former enemies.

What followed was a slaughter. Zabuza became the demon of his moniker, carving through Gato's forces with savage efficiency despite his wounds. Kakashi matched him kill for kill, the two elite shinobi forming an impromptu alliance against a common foe. Even Haku joined the fray, senbon finding throats and eyes with lethal precision.

Naruto struggled to his feet, ignoring Sasuke's grunt of protest. The Nine-Tails' chakra had receded, leaving him drained but functional. He formed the sign for his signature jutsu, and twenty shadow clones materialized, joining the battle with fierce determination.

Gato, realizing his advantage had evaporated, turned to flee—only to find his escape cut off by a most unexpected sight. The entire village had arrived, led by Inari brandishing a crossbow, every man, woman, and child armed with whatever implements they could find—kitchen knives, fishing spears, farming tools, makeshift clubs.

"This is our home," Inari declared, voice steady despite his youth. "And we're taking it back."

Caught between ninja and villagers, Gato's mercenaries lost heart, many throwing down their weapons and surrendering on the spot. Others fought on, only to fall to Zabuza's blade or Kakashi's precise strikes.

Gato himself made a desperate last stand, drawing a concealed blade from his cane and lunging at the nearest target—Naruto, still weakened from his injuries. The boy saw the attack coming but knew he couldn't dodge in time, his body sluggish from chakra exhaustion.

A blur of motion, the sound of steel piercing flesh—but it wasn't Naruto who fell. Zabuza had intercepted the strike, Gato's blade buried to the hilt in his abdomen even as the missing-nin's own sword separated the crime lord's head from his shoulders.

"Zabuza!" Haku's anguished cry cut through the sudden silence as the massive ninja staggered, blood pouring from the mortal wound.

"Always... protecting me," Zabuza rasped, collapsing to his knees. His bandages had come loose in the fighting, revealing a face that might once have been handsome before life and hardship carved it into something harsher. "Your kindness... was always... your weakness, Haku."

"And your strength," Haku replied, catching his master as he fell, cradling the dying man with tender care that belied their relationship as weapon and wielder.

Naruto watched, transfixed, as Zabuza's hand rose to touch Haku's face, leaving a crimson smear across the younger ninja's pale cheek. "I recognized it, you know," he whispered, voice fading. "In the blonde kid. The same look in his eyes... when everyone calls you monster... for so long... you start to believe it." His gaze found Naruto across the bridge. "Don't... believe it, kid. Choose... your own path..."

With those words, the Demon of the Hidden Mist exhaled his final breath, leaving Haku clutching his body amid the carnage of the battle, silent tears tracking through the blood on his face.

They buried Zabuza and the fallen villagers the next day, marking each grave with care. To Naruto's surprise, Haku requested that Zabuza's massive sword serve as his marker, the blade gleaming in the sunlight as they patted down the last of the earth.

"What will you do now?" Naruto asked the surviving ninja, who looked lost without his master, adrift in a world that had only ever valued him as a tool.

Haku's smile was small but genuine. "I don't know. For the first time, the choice is mine to make." He studied Naruto with open curiosity. "Zabuza saw something in you, at the end. Something familiar."

"We were both called monsters," Naruto said quietly, the admission easier with someone who might understand. "Him for what he chose to become. Me for what was forced upon me."

"The difference being choice," Haku nodded. "As Zabuza said, you can choose your own path. The village may see you as a killer, but that doesn't make it true."

The words struck Naruto with unexpected force. All his life, he'd been defined by others' perceptions—demon, murderer, pariah—and had begun, in his darkest moments, to believe them. But here was someone who had seen the Nine-Tails' power and still recognized the human wielding it.

"Thanks," he said simply, unable to articulate the weight lifting from his shoulders.

Haku inclined his head, then reached into his sleeve and withdrew a small scroll, offering it to Naruto. "Zabuza collected information on many things. Including the tailed beasts and their hosts. This may help you understand what you carry."

Naruto accepted the scroll with trembling fingers, the potential knowledge it contained both terrifying and desperately needed. "Why give this to me?"

"Because Zabuza was right about one thing—kindness can be strength, not weakness." Haku's gaze drifted to the sword marking his master's grave. "Perhaps if someone had shown him that earlier, his story might have ended differently."

They parted ways the next morning, Haku disappearing into the mist with no destination in mind, a free agent for the first time in his life. Team Seven remained for another week, helping complete the bridge and ensuring Gato's organization was truly dismantled.

On their final day, Tazuna led them to the completed structure with undisguised pride. "We've decided to name it," he announced, gesturing to a plaque being installed at the entryway. "The Great Naruto Bridge. For the boy who gave our people something we'd lost—courage."

Embarrassment heated Naruto's cheeks as Inari grinned up at him, the boy transformed from their first meeting—hope rekindled where despair had reigned. "I didn't do anything special," he protested.

"You showed us that heroes still exist," Tsunami said softly. "That standing up to evil isn't futile. That's a gift beyond price."

As they crossed the bridge toward home, Naruto touched the scroll tucked securely in his weapons pouch, determination solidifying within him. The Land of Waves had changed him, shown him that the power he carried—the legacy that had made him a pariah—could be channeled toward protection rather than destruction.

"You're quiet," Sasuke observed, falling into step beside him as Konoha's distant gates came into view. "Thinking about the hunter-nin's gift?"

Naruto glanced at him sharply. "How did you—"

"I saw him give you something." Sasuke shrugged, affecting nonchalance. "Information about your... condition?"

"Maybe." Naruto hesitated, unused to discussing the Nine-Tails so openly. "And maybe about my parents, too."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "The Fourth Hokage sealed the fox in you. It stands to reason he chose you specifically." He left the obvious question unspoken—why would the Hokage choose a random orphan for such a burden?

"Yeah." Naruto's hand drifted to the scroll again. "That's what I intend to find out."

Ahead of them, Konoha's massive gates loomed larger, the village that had shunned him waiting behind them. But for the first time, Naruto returned not with dread but with purpose. He had protected others with the very power that had made him feared. He had turned his curse into a blessing, if only briefly.

And he would do it again. Not to earn the village's approval, but because it was right. Because it was the path he chose.

Behind them, the Great Naruto Bridge stretched across the water, connecting an isolated island to the mainland—a monument not to what he was born as, but to what he could become.