Chapter 11 Part 3
"Arr! Damn fog — can't see a thing, dattebayo!" Naruko shouted, stumbling through the thick haze. She wanted to reach the fight — fast — but instead she was just... running. Somewhere. "Stupid fog! Stupid thugs! Stupid bandaged hag!.."
Cursing everything, she sprinted — just hoping she was going the right way. And apparently — this time — the "just-go-somewhere" tactic paid off.
"Ittai?!" Uzumaki yelped, slamming face-first into something hard and freezing. "Gr! Who left this thing here?!"
Rubbing her sore face, the blonde kicked the white ice wall in fury.
"Hmm? Another one?" A surprised voice came from the other side.
"What the?.." Almost blind, she felt her way along the wall — found a narrow gap — squeezed through. Inside the circle of ice mirrors, the fog was much thinner. She spotted two figures instantly. Both familiar: the masked guy — Auntie Zabuza's sidekick — and Uchiha, on her knees, back to Naruko. "Hey, Stupid Hedgehog! The Great Uzumaki Naruko has come to save yo... you?.."
Her steps slowed. Got shaky. Her voice went quiet — confused. Because the closer she got, the more details hit her. The hated rival for Sakurai's attention wasn't reacting at all. No snappy comeback. No yelling.
Naruko froze for half a heartbeat — then sprinted.
"..." The hunter-nin stepped calmly aside, letting her reach the girl.
"H-hey! Stupid Hedgehog?!" Her body was studded with senbon. Naruko dropped to her knees — grabbed Uchiha's shoulders. That one touch was all it took — whatever invisible rod had been holding Sasuko up vanished. Her body slumped. Her face — thrown back — was empty. "What's going on?... This isn't funny! Hey?! Snap out of it, Hedgehog! HEY?! Open your eyes!! Open them! Come ON?!!!"
Voice shaking — muttering — Naruko shook the limp body, desperate for any reaction.
"Useless." Haku's voice — flat. Watching.
"You?! YOU did this?! What did you DO?!!!" Naruko's head snapped up — demanding.
"Her own fault." The hunter-nin shrugged, barely. "She could've backed off. Survived. How stupid. Let her blame her own stubbornness for her death."
"Bastard!.. You! YOUUU!.." Blue eyes — blazing.
"You're the same, aren't you? But I'd advise you to leave." Haku's voice carried threat. "Stay — and you die to—"
He stopped. Didn't finish. Something scraped across his nerves. Like a knife dragging on wire. Danger — the sense Zabuza's lessons had drilled into him.
He couldn't fully process it — but he felt it: the blonde had changed. Invisibly. Fundamentally. The sensation she radiated now — menacing. Deadly. And growing stronger by the second.
The air around her wavered. Changes — more visible with every heartbeat.
Uzumaki's body poured out malevolent emanations — almost visible now. Her golden hair — trembling like in a heat shimmer — began shifting, flooding with fiery orange. Her features — subtle, wrong — turning sharper. Wilder. Teeth clenched — grinding — the canines visibly lengthening. But the most disturbing changes were in her face: the "whiskers" on her cheeks deepened — darker, sharper. The skin around her eyes darkened too. The eyes themselves flooded crimson — and the trembling, darting pupils began to stretch. Sharpen.
"YOUUUU!!!" Her voice — distorting — a snarl. She glared at the frozen enemy through changed eyes. Nothing left in them but all-consuming fury. A quiet crunching — Haku glanced at her hands: the fingers were longer. Nails — triangular claws. "I'LL KILL YOU!!!!"
A roar that shook the fog itself. The enraged jinchuriki lunged.
***
"What IS this?! Zabuza? No — she can't generate this kind of terror." Akashi lay in wait, senses sharp. "But wait — this feeling?.. THE FOX?!"
Cold sweat. This was the worst-case scenario. No — wait. If the Fox had broken loose, it'd be over already. Something pissed Naruko off so badly she seriously lost control. Not as catastrophic — still extremely bad. Akashi knew the drill — she'd been on the rapid-response teams more than once. "Pacifying" the blonde during her episodes.
Besides... Hokage-sama sent covert teams — they'll help if things go critical. And I didn't drag Nagisa along for nothing, did I? The boy's already proven he can subdue a jinchuriki.
"Just get here before it's too late, Kaoru-kun," the jonin prayed — forcing herself to refocus on her own fight.
***
A crushing blow shattered the ice mirror. Conserved energy — released on impact — rippled outward, tearing up the bridge's wooden railing.
"Damn!" Haku cursed, dodging. "Gh!!"
Blood sprayed. He retreated into a mirror — hand clamped on his right shoulder. Claws had left a shallow furrow there.
"RRRraaaarrrh!"
"Sensatsu Suisho!!" The hunter-nin cried — ice rain falling on the raging girl.
"Grraaaaahhhhhh!" Uzumaki roared — a chakra shockwave blasting outward — sweeping away every projectile.
"What terrifying chakra." Haku felt it clearly now — the might. The savage power and fury pouring off his opponent. "Wild... Like an animal. No tactics. No thought. Like she's lost her mind — nothing left but reflexes and killer instinct!"
He slipped away from another blow — sacrificing a few more mirrors.
"Too dangerous. Gotta finish her — she's too dangerous!" He moved to counterattack. "Doesn't matter how strong you are — if you can't use it, it's worthless. You're just like that Uchiha."
His read was right: the moment those words registered — the berserker took the bait. He lured her into position. Water clone exploded into spray — she faltered for half a second. More than enough.
"Gghhaaaaaaahrrhh!" The girl screamed — fury and pain — as senbon buried themselves in her back. Her body hit the ground.
"I hit your special points — you're paralyzed. Don't bother trying to move." The real Haku — landing on the bridge from beyond its edge. "Lost your ability to think — you lost. Now... die!"
He stood over her — curved kunai aimed at her throat — as she snarled up at him.
"GGHHHAAAAAAAAAAARRR!!!" The roar that tore from her throat wasn't human. Couldn't be. The force of it — the bridge beneath them CRACKED — burst into a fountain of splinters. The shockwave hurled Haku backward. The metal needles in her back were forced OUT of her body.
"This... is really... BAD!" Haku's ears rang from that scream. "I... I can't beat her..."
He barely dodged the next wild swing — then suddenly felt a grip on his leg. Claws sinking into flesh.
"DAMN!!" — all he had time to think before brute force slammed him into the bridge. Then yanked him up — and slammed him down AGAIN!
Naruko beat Haku against the ground like a ragdoll — then hurled him through the air.
"Gkhhh!" He hit — bloody coughing wracking his lungs. Several ribs broken. At least.
"Arrrr!" Uzumaki landed on him — adding a few more fractures.
"She... this horror..."
A fist — air blasted from his lungs.
"She... she's a MONSTER!" Realization through fogged consciousness. A wild blow shattered his mask — ceramic shards cutting his face. "Zabuza-sama... forgive me."
Yuki's brown eyes stared blankly into the mist — like seeing the sky beyond.
"I... I'm a worthless instrument." Bloody coughing — lungs in a fiery vice. "Unworthy. Because I..."
His bloodied face — indifferent — even as the girl's twisted, snarling visage loomed over him. Growling like a beast — wreathed in orange chakra — she slowly raised her clawed hand. Uzumaki's pupils narrowed to thin vertical slits.
She froze.
***
"Prove? Why prove anything to anyone?" A girl with long dark hair and brown eyes tilted her head, puzzled. "Or do you want to prove something to yourself?"
"Huh? That's so simple!! Of course!!.." Naruko started — then froze, mouth open. That "of course" suddenly felt really vague. Even to her. She thought hard. "Umm..."
"Think Koru-chan asked something like that too: 'Why prove anything — and to who, exactly?'.." But the pondering vanished when she noticed her new acquaintance giggling at her.
"Hey — what's so funny?!" The blonde flared up, blushing.
"Sorry — your face just looked really funny." The girl covered her mouth with her sleeve, polite. "Tell me — do you have someone precious to you?"
"Precious???"
"Yes. Someone very precious. Understand?.. Only when a person has something important — something they want to protect with everything they've got — only then can they become Truly Strong."
"YES!" Iruka. Sakurai-kun. Koru-chan. Even Stupid Hedgehog and Bakashi-sensei. Naruko smiled — bright. "I get what you're saying!!!"
***
"Ghh..." Naruko groaned, clutching her head. For one instant — the crimson pools in her eyes gave way to sky blue. It lasted a heartbeat. The Nine-Tails' fury was too strong. "RRRRRAAAaaaarrrhhh!!!"
"Forgive me, Zabuza-sama... I dared... to..." Haku's eyes slowly closed — his last glimpse the clawed hand hurtling toward his face.
"Zabu...za... sama..." His disobedient lips soundlessly shaped the name of the person most precious to him.
Blood sprayed.