"Doton: Iwa Heki (Earth Release: Stone Wall)," Naruto called out the jutsu he used to shield Haku from Kakashi's fatal attack. The blond had used shunshin and followed Haku to where she was going. Upon seeing what she was going to do, he acted quickly to stop Kakashi from unintentionally killing her.
"He stopped Kakashi-sensei's attack to protect that fake hunter nin and Zabuza," Sakura said in disbelief as she and Tazuna looked on in surprise. "But why would Naruto do that?"
The other question in both Kakashi and Sakura's mind was how Naruto knew how to use that earth style jutsu.
"Naruto!" Kakashi asked with a shocked and serious tone. "Why are you protecting them, knowing that they're our enemies?"
"Kakashi-sensei, listen to me," Naruto requested as he was about to give his explanation when suddenly…
"Aaaaaaaaaggggghhhhh!"
Everyone turned to see that both of Zabuza's arms were struck from behind from a surprise attack. The attack wounded his arms and rendered them useless.
"My oh my! You sure are getting beat up, aren't you Zabuza," a short man in expensive clothes said. Behind him from the mainland was an army of ex-samurai and rough-looking mercenaries, all of them armed.
"Gatō…," Zabuza said as he eyed the man and his army of thugs.
"Oh, there's been a little change in plans. You see, I never intended to pay you," Gatō said and laughed.
"What?" Zabuza asked angrily.
"Hiring normal ninjas is expensive, so I hire missing nins like you. Then I dispose of them when they're tired from battle and no longer serve any use for me. No one misses missing nins like you. The Demon of the Hidden Mist, what a joke! You are just a little puppy demon," Gatō said, and his thugs laughed at the joke.
He planned on betraying us the entire time…I should have known, Zabuza realized. "Haku, stand down. Kakashi, I'm sorry, but this fight between us is over. Haku and I have no reason to fight you and your team anymore."
Kakashi nodded as he signaled his dogs to release the Kiri nin.
"You bastard! You'll pay for double-crossing me!" Zabuza growled at Gatō.
"Say what you want, but it doesn't matter. You'll all die here," Gatō said as two of his thugs shot arrows straight at Zabuza. Before Zabuza or Naruto could react, Haku jumped and embraced Zabuza tightly, allowing the arrows to stab her in the back. She screamed as the sharp blades of the arrows tore through her.
"HAKU!" Naruto yelled after seeing the girl's selfless action. Zabuza looked at Haku who smiled at him affectionately, blood trickling down both ends of her mouth.
"Haku…" Zabuza said softly.
"You're my precious person, Zabuza-sama, and like Naruto-kun, I was ready and willing to lay down my life for you," Haku said before slowly sliding down to the ground. The girl lied on the ground, face down, with the arrows still embedded deep into her back as her world faded into the darkness.
"That stupid girl! She should have stayed out of the way and allowed you to die with what dignity you had left!" Gatō sneered with contempt. Zabuza stood in a dead silence as he processed what just happened.
Naruto's eyes closed tightly as a beastly growl escaped his mouth. His facial whiskers grew more feral as his fangs grew longer and sharper. His finger nails grew and turned into razor sharp claws, and a red aura appeared around Naruto's body. The aura itself gave off feelings of malevolence and pure hate.
"This is bad," Kakashi muttered as he saw Kyuubi's influence rising from within Naruto. But suddenly, intricate seal writings appeared and glowed around Naruto's body briefly before disappearing back into his skin. Kakashi and those who saw them didn't know what to make of what those seals were.
"Kakashi-sensei, what's happening to Naruto?" Sakura asked worriedly with a frightened expression. Tazuna was just as scared while Zabuza looked on in wonder. Naruto opened his eyes and gone were the ocean blue eyes everyone was used to seeing. Now in place of them were bloody red eyes with vertical slits for pupils.
"She used herself to save your life, Zabuza. Do you feel anything?" Naruto asked through his growl.
"Haku was a shinobi, an instrument like myself. I used her as much as Gatō used me. That's all it was. I needed and wanted her bloodline limit, not her," Zabuza answered coldly. Naruto looked back at Zabuza with disgust and indignation.
"Do you really mean that?" Naruto asked
"I have no regrets. We're tools of war, Naruto. That's the shinobi way," Zabuza added.
"Haku loved you, Zabuza, more than she should have! You were precious to her, more than her own life! She lived for your dreams without having any of her own! You both have been together for all this time, and all you have to say is that she was a useful instrument? Have you no heart?" Naruto shouted.
"Gaki, stop it!" Zabuza requested.
"Is that all you have to say?" Naruto asked loudly.
"Please…don't say anything further," Zabuza pleaded as a several tears fell from his eyes as he stood over Haku, "It pained her to have to fight you. She fought not only for me, but for you guys too. She was too kind."
Naruto couldn't think of anything to say, but Zabuza continued, "I'm glad I faced you guys in the end. You may be right gaki, a shinobi is still human. We may not be able to become emotionless tools after all. I've lost."
"What a heartwarming soap opera. I could cry, if I cared. I've had enough of this drama! I have a country to dominate and some troublesome ninja to kill!" Gatō said contemptuously.
"Zabuza, lend me your Kubikiribōchō! Now!" Naruto ordered as he went over and took the Kiri nin's large sword before the older man could give him an answer to his request.
Sakura asked with the same scared but worried tone as before, "Naruto, what are you-"
"Just stay with the others, Sakura! I'll handle things from here! Don't any of you argue with me! I'm not in the mood!" Naruto replied darkly with a venomous and murderous tone as bloodlust was pouring out of him in waves. Naruto walked over to Gatō and his army while holding Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō with his right hand. Despite the size and weight of the sword, it was surprising to everyone that Naruto was able to wield the weapon with only one arm. Gatō and his men looked at the possessed-looking Genin, trying to look like they weren't scared by his change of appearance.
"That's a nice trick there boy, but you must be crazy if you think that it'll make me and my men run away from the likes of a child like you," Gatō said as confident as possible.
"Among us ninja, Zabuza is renowned as the "Demon of the Hidden Mist", and yet even he has a heart and a measure of honor. But unlike Zabuza, you're something far worse; you have a dead heart and no honor. Therefore you'll have to be removed!" Naruto declared as he stood where he was and summoned eight kage bunshin, four to his left and four to his right, each holding a copy of Zabuza's giant sword in their hands and looking the exact way Naruto currently looked. All nine of them now started focusing large amounts of wind chakra into the sharp large blades of their Kubikiribōchō. After a couple of moments, Naruto yelled, "Wind Release: Nine Spiraling Guillotines!"
Using powerful wind manipulation with the swords, Naruto and his eight clones simultaneously slashed their swords, sending out nine powerful razor sharp wind guillotines at Gatō and his army. The guillotines tore and shredded through the ground before reaching them. The result was gory and catastrophic as the nine enormous spinning wind blades plowed through them. Gatō's men screamed in agony and dread as the attacks delivered their devastating blows.
"Kakashi-sensei, did you teach Naruto that jutsu," Sakura asked.
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