The pain in Kurenai's side was a sharp pang that stole her breath with every step. She leaned heavily on Naruto, and he bore her weight without a complaint, though his own body screamed with exhaustion. The sound of their footsteps splashing in the mud and their ragged breaths was the only thing that broke the forest's silence. Every yard was a struggle.
Suddenly, Naruto stopped and tensed.
"Wait," he hissed.
Kurenai leaned against a tree, her hand instinctively going to her remaining kunai as she strained to listen. She heard it too. Footsteps. Fast. Approaching at full speed. More than one person.
"Enemies?" Naruto whispered, taking a defensive stance in front of her.
"I don't know. Get ready," Kurenai answered, her red eyes fixed in the direction of the sound.
The figures burst through the undergrowth. Naruto prepared to attack, but a familiar voice shouted his name.
"Naruto! Kurenai-sensei!"
From the woods emerged Hinata, Kiba, and Shino. They stopped short upon seeing them, their faces a mixture of relief and alarm.
"Kurenai-sensei!" Kiba exclaimed, his eyes wide as he saw his teacher's blood-soaked bandage and pale face. "You're hurt! What happened?"
"I'm fine," Kurenai lied, her voice tense and sharp. "Long story. What happened in the town? Where are Tsunami and Inari?"
"The thugs ran off. The town is safe, Sensei," Hinata reported, her breathing ragged as her eyes shifted from Kurenai's wound to Naruto's exhausted face. "Inari is fine. They stayed behind with the villagers."
Naruto, however, didn't look relieved. His gaze swept past Team 8, his blue eyes fixed on the path leading to the bridge. Panic crept into his voice.
"There's no time for this! Sakura-chan...! We have to get to the bridge now."
Kiba nodded grimly, the celebration for their victory in the town completely forgotten. Shino adjusted his glasses, his silence a form of agreement.
Kurenai straightened up, ignoring the protest from her muscles.
"Naruto's right. Let's go."
The group launched into a final run toward the bridge, exhausted but united by desperation.
They reached the edge of the structure and stopped dead. The scene unfolding before them was silent and desolate. The shards of Haku's ice mirrors glittered faintly on the wood. The mist swirled, thinner now, allowing them to see from one end to the other. They saw Kakashi, trapped in the water prison, helpless. They saw Zabuza, standing by the sphere, watching him with his enormous sword on his back. They saw Gatō and his last dozen thugs in the background, watching with the distance of spectators.
And in the center, they saw the tragedy.
Sakura stood trembling, her face streaked with dried tears and wearing an expression of pure hatred. Across from her was Haku, unmasked, his face stained with dirt and exhaustion. And between them, on the ground, lay Sasuke's lifeless body.
Kurenai choked back a cry. Kiba cursed under his breath. Hinata brought her hands to her mouth, her eyes filled with horror.
Sakura was about to break. Her body tensed, her fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white. She opened her mouth to scream, to charge, to unleash all her pain and fury on Haku in one final, suicidal attack.
"STOP!"
Naruto's voice echoed across the bridge. It wasn't a cry of rage, but a roar of desperate authority. It was so unexpected, so filled with absolute certainty, that everyone froze.
Sakura stopped, the scream caught in her throat. Haku turned, surprised. Zabuza narrowed his eyes. Even Gatō seemed baffled.
Naruto took a step forward, Kurenai still leaning on him. His gaze locked directly onto Haku.
"Don't fight her!" Naruto yelled, his voice resonating in the silence. "She's not your enemy right now! Your real enemy isn't us! He's behind you, laughing!"
Naruto's free arm rose and pointed, his finger trembling but firm, straight at Gatō.
The tycoon let out a sharp, nervous laugh.
"Me? Hahaha! What nonsense is this brat spouting? Don't listen to him, kid, and finish your job! There's a lot of money waiting for you!"
But Naruto paid him no attention. His gaze shifted to the most imposing figure on the bridge.
"Zabuza!" he shouted, and the Demon of the Mist tensed at hearing his name from the boy. "He's using you! He hired you to do the dirty work, and now he plans to kill you so he doesn't have to pay! His plan is to wait until we're all injured and exhausted, then order his men to kill all of us—including you two. That way he gets the country, the bridge, and all the money!"
The accusation hung in the cold air. Zabuza didn't answer, but his eyes narrowed dangerously.
Kiba stepped forward, planting himself beside Naruto.
"It's true! He's not lying!" he declared, his voice strong and confident. "His main force attacked us in the town, and we beat them! We interrogated one of his men before he ran off. He told us the whole plan!"
That was the key. It wasn't just the word of a loud-mouthed kid; it was an intelligence report from a secondary battlefield. The news that his "main force" had been defeated caused Gatō's face to go visibly pale. Sweat began to bead on his forehead.
And Zabuza saw it.
For Zabuza Momochi, time seemed to slow as he processed the new information. He looked at Gatō and saw the sweaty little man, now without his army, with only a dozen trembling thugs at his back. He saw the lie and the panic in his eyes. A weak and treacherous client.
He looked at Haku. He saw his apprentice, exhausted to the limit, vulnerable, but standing loyal.
He looked at Kakashi. His great rival, trapped and helpless by his own hand.
And then he looked at the group that had just arrived. The injured jōnin, the insect boy, the Hyūga girl, and the dog boy who had just confirmed the story. And the blond kid who had shouted the truth. They were hurt, tired, and dirty, but they were standing. Together.
Kiba's information fit. Betrayal, coming from Gatō, wasn't just possible; it was logical. Gatō was a civilian who had made the fatal mistake of thinking he could deceive a true demon.
"It's lies! Kid's stuff!" Gatō shrieked, his voice sharp with desperation. "Zabuza, I'll pay you double! Triple! You just have to kill them, it's easy! Look, they're exhausted! Come on, do it! I'll make you richer than you ever dreamed!"
His pathetic plea was the final confirmation.
A slow, terrifying smile began to form on the visible part of Zabuza's face. He turned slowly until his gaze met the single visible eye of his prisoner.
"Kakashi…" he said, his voice a low, amused rumble. "It seems our rivalry will have to wait. I have a contract to terminate."
With an almost casual movement, he removed his hand from the sphere of water.
The Water Prison dissolved with a loud splash. Kakashi dropped to one knee, soaked and gasping, but free. He rose slowly, his Sharingan spinning as he assessed the new situation.
Zabuza ignored the Konoha ninja and began to walk, slowly and deliberately, toward Gatō.
"Stop him! Kill him! I'll pay you anything!" Gatō screamed at his men.
The remaining thugs raised their weapons but hesitated. They saw Zabuza approaching. They saw Kakashi, now free. Panic seized them.
"They taught me one thing when I was a kid in the Blood Mist, Gatō," Zabuza said, his voice calm, almost conversational, as he continued walking. "A shinobi is a tool. You use it until it breaks. But even a tool has honor. And you should never trust your back to someone who doesn't have it."
Zabuza moved.
The execution was swift and brutal. The few thugs who stood in his way were dispatched with precise cuts from a kunai. He didn't bother to use his great sword. They weren't worthy of it. He reached Gatō, who had stumbled backward and fallen to the ground. The little man shrieked and begged. Zabuza looked at him with absolute contempt and silenced him forever.
The rest of the thugs threw down their weapons and fled in terror.
The bridge, at last, fell silent. Zabuza stood over Gatō's body for a moment, his breathing slightly heavy. Then, he turned and walked back toward Haku. With an unexpected gentleness, he helped his young companion to his feet.
Zabuza's gaze met Kakashi's. There were no words of thanks, only the grim understanding between two warriors who knew that, on another day, they would still be enemies.
Kakashi nodded once. Zabuza returned the gesture.
Before they could leave, Haku gently freed himself from Zabuza's grip and walked toward where Sakura was watching over Sasuke.
"Wait, Sakura," Kakashi said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she tensed.
Haku stopped a few feet away, his tired gaze fixed on the motionless boy.
"Your friends…" Haku said, his voice soft, addressing Team 8. "They thwarted Gatō's ambush in the town. If not for that, his army would have killed us from behind while we fought here." He looked at Naruto. "Your words stopped a needless fight. Consider this a payment for that debt."
Haku knelt beside Sasuke. Sakura held her breath. A pale blue light emanated from Haku's hands as he hovered them over Sasuke's chest. It wasn't a full healing jutsu; he didn't have the chakra for that. But with his knowledge of anatomy and his mastery of ice, he did something else. He cooled the internal wounds, slowing the bleeding, and used his chakra to temporarily seal the critical points, putting Sasuke's body into a state of protective stasis.
"With this..." Haku said, his voice barely a whisper from the effort, "he should survive the journey back to your village. But he will need urgent medical attention."
He stood with difficulty and rejoined Zabuza.
Without a final word, the two renegade ninja disappeared into the mist that was beginning to lift.
***
In this version, I made Zabuza slightly more compassionate, just letting you know in case his attitude seems strange.
I also took Aaron Schwartz's suggestion into account, so I've reduced Shino's dialogue to make him sound less analytical.