Zabuza felt the pack of dogs chomp down on his limbs, biting down onto his arms and legs with their fangs and preventing him from moving at all. The giant hound that had bitten deeply into his right shoulder pretty much ensured that he could no use Kubikiribocho well for the rest of the battle. Provided he could even still use it at all.
Damn it. He hadn't expected this.
Kakashi's plan to catch Zabuza in the thick mist without the use of his Sharingan was to allow Zabuza to attack him before the grey haired Jonin summoned his Ninken (Ninja Hounds) to track the scent of his own blood down. And it worked perfectly.
Now with a chirping handful of crackling electrical energy, Kakashi lined himself up with Zabuza, preparing to impale the man with his hand. Sharingan locking onto Zabuza, there would be no missing of his target.
"Raiki—"
"KAKASHI-SENSEI! STOP!" Naruko screamed hoarsely, causing all eyes, including Kakashi's hounds, to look glance to the ledge of the bridge where the crimson haired girl stood. The Raikiri that Kakashi had in his hands slowly died out and the man stood up, tired from the battle. In her arms, Haku appeared to slumber silently, his eyes shut and his mouth agape slightly.
Kiba, who was still somewhat conscious couldn't help but stare at the broken body of Haku Naruko carried in her arms.
Zabuza closed his eyes briefly when he saw his student, obviously dead, in her arms. Jumping down, Naruko slowly walked towards Zabuza and laid Haku out in front of him.
"He died... He died wanting to protect you."
"HAHAHAHAHA! Looks like one of them is already dead!" Gato and his men marched out from the mist, "Too bad for you boys. There's one less shinobi to kill." The large group of rowdy thugs behind Gato began to groan, but stopped soon after at the sight of the injured Kakashi and Zabuza.
"Naruko!" Kakashi called the girl as Gato appeared, "Get back!" Naruko returned to Kakashi's side, walking past Zabuza before glaring at Gato.
Zabuza narrowed his eyes at Gato's appearance as well as the large group of bandits behind him. Each holding onto a different weapon, they shook it around threateningly and grinned at the shinobi.
"What is the meaning of this, Gato?" The bandage-mask wearing shinobi asked, still being held down by the pack of dogs.
"Can't you see? I employed them to get rid of you! I was just waiting for you to kill each other off, but it seems that you can't even do that right!"
"Hmphm. I knew this would happen..." Looking over his shoulder, he directed his gaze towards the kneeling Jonin. "Kakashi, it seems my battle is no longer with you." The Jonin nodded and he recalled his dogs, all of whom popped into smoke and vanished, returning back to their homes. Without anything to hold him, Zabuza staggered for a moment and nearly fell, but caught himself before he could.
Gato laughed loudly before he kicked Haku in the head.
"What can you even do? Your arms are damaged and you can't even fight back."
Naruko felt her blood boil again at the sight of Haku's body being desecrated by that living subhuman scum. "Gato! Don't you fucking touch him!" She snarled at the stout man before charging at him. Kakashi grabbed her shoulders, holding her back.
"Hey, Naruko! Stop." She ignored her teacher and continued to struggle for a moment before she snapped her head towards Haku's master, "What about you, Zabuza? Are you just gonna let him do that to Haku?! He was your student!"
Zabuza stared at Gato, eyes as cold as Haku's ice.
"Shut up kid, Haku's already dead… What does it matter?"
"YOU FUCKER!" Naruko snapped, her eyes "The two of you were together for YEARS! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!"
"As I was used by Gato, I used Haku. That's it. I've said it already. In the world of shinobi, there are only those who use and those whom are used. We shinobi are simply tools… Now it's over. His usefulness is at an end. Loss of his strength and skill, yes that means something to me. But the boy? Nothing." Naruko stopped struggling and scowled. Kakashi released her once he was certain that she wasn't going to do anything foolish.
"If you mean that... You're an even bigger rat than I thought."
Kakashi clasped a hand on Naruko's shoulder, "Okay, that's enough, Naruko. Calm down, he's not the enemy. Not right now." That wasn't enough for his student, who pulled her arm away from him with a grunt. It was a miracle that she was still standing. She could barely even feel her arms and legs.
"Shut up! As far as I'm fucking concerned he's enemy number one!" She pointed a finger right at him, and Zabuza glanced backwards. "Why you... You ungrateful bastard! After everything he's done for you. HAKU LIVED FOR YOU! YOU WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD TO HIM." She recalled his words to her while they had been fighting.
"For me, Zabuza-sama is the only person that matters and my one purpose is to protect and serve him. And that purpose is what gives me my strength."
"AND HE MEANT NOTHING TO YOU?! AT ALL?! He was sacrificing everything for you and you never felt anything at all for him?!"
"I will do anything to see that his dream is fulfilled."
"He threw his life away... And for WHAT?! For you and your fucking dream?!" Naruko shook her head, gnashing her teeth angrily. "You never let him have a dream of his own, but he didn't care."
"I was happy…"
"An-And you just tossed him aside like he was nothing." Tears openly rolled down her whiskered cheeks as the loss of today caught up with her. With the death of a sister and a sudden friend, Naruko openly shed her tears. "A broken tool... Man... That's so fucking wrong."
Zabuza finally spoke, having kept his silence and allowing Naruko to speak freely.
"You talk too much."A tear hit the floor, then another, then another and Naruko watched with wide, wet eyes as the emotionless demon she had been pitted against for the past week began to cry for his fallen apprentice. "Your words cut deep... Deeper than any blade. You don't need to say any more… I didn't even have to be there to tell that it pained him to have to fight you… He was too kind. Too kind to have been in this bussiness. I'm glad I got to face you in the end. You may be right… a shinobi is still a human… we may not be able to become emotionless tools…"
Gato began to sniffle loudly and he wiped away an invisible tear, over exaggerating his movements greatly. "Oh boo-hoo! How sad!" He frowned and mocked the two. Kiba growled lowly at Gato but stayed next to the sleeping Sasuke. Not like he could really move much regardless of how much fight he had left in him. "Don't worry so much about it. Soon, you'll be joining your little apprentice, Zabuza. In fact, you'll allbe joining the little shit!" Zabuza inhaled and sucked his bandages into his mouth before he bit on them and began chewing hard. Once he managed to tear right through it, he spat them out and grinned, showing off two rows of finely sharpened teeth.
"Hey. Brat." Zabuza nodded to Naruko, "Throw me a kunai, would you?"
Naruko thought about it for a moment before she reached down to her thigh and pulled out the kunai that was sheathed, throwing it casually to Zabuza. The kunai flipped through the air and spun, but Zabuza paid it no heed.
All he could see was images of his student, his son, in front of him, growing up from that child he had found in the abandoned building to the ice wielder that he had been.
Then he bit down and his teeth gripped the handle of the kunai tightly before dashing towards Gato and his men, murder clear in his eyes. Understandably, Gato panicked and began to run away from the approaching Demon of the Mist, pushing his thugs out of the way as he tried to create distance between him and Zabuza.
"What the...!? Ki-Kill him now! Get rid of him!"
Despite having a kunai in his mouth, Zabuza spoke loud and clearly. "You were wrong! I won't be joining Haku. Where he's gone I cannot follow... We wouldn't be welcome where Haku's gone to. Hell's where we're going, Gato!"
Naruko, Kiba and Kakashi watched as Zabuza tore through the men with some difficulty, slashing and kicking anyone who got between him and Gato. Eventually, he scared and killed so many people that they practically opened up a path for him to pass right through, and right at the end of it was Gato.
All his screaming and crying did him no good as Zabuza sliced his stomach open and tore an obscene gouge in Gato's neck. Gurgling and clutching aimlessly at the air, the man fell backwards and died. It was nothing over-the-top and nothing grand, just a death suited for a horrible man like him.
Zabuza turned away from Gato's corpse and began to slowly make his way back to the corpse of his fallen son, stumbling and nearly falling half way through. But he was caught by Kakashi and his shoulder was thrown over Kakashi's neck.
"Kakashi..."
"Don't worry. I'll take you to him." Kakashi carried Zabuza to Haku and laid him down right next to him before backing off and allowing Zabuza his last moments with Haku.
The thugs, realising that Gato could no longer pay up as well as the fact that a dying shinobi managed to take out so many of them turned tailed and run, right as Gai, Lee and Neji finally arrived, walking slowly towards them looking fine save for singed hair and slightly damaged clothing. Raiga had put up a decent fight before Haruto had interrupted their battle.
Naruko decided to leave to check on Ruby's body. Snow began to fall from the dark sky and Naruko paused for a moment, looking up high to the grey clouds. Holding a hand out, she felt snowflakes drift and fall into her palm, melting in her warm hands.
"Are you crying, Haku? You shouldn't. Now... Now you can be with Zabuza all you want." She laughed quietly to herself, the exhaustion from pushing her body over it's limits and tapping slightly into the Kyuubi's chakra settling it. Delirium was beginning to set in her mind and her emotions were getting fumbled and mixed up.
Her physical body was also finally taking it's toll on being abused so much. Every step caused her entire body to ache and the muscles all over convulsed every so often, twitching and tightening rapidly and randomly. But she didn't even seem to register it any more. Her body was running completely on fumes.
Naruko's legs suddenly gave out from under her and she tripped and landed onto her side. Pressed up against the cool, hard floor, Naruko began to blink rapidly as confusion set in her visage.
"Huh?... I can't move... Odd... I feel fine... Maybe I'm just a little..." Pushing herself up, she only got as far as one knee before her eyelids fell over her eyes and she keeled over again, this time completely blacking out under the snowing sky.