"Help!"
"Cough, cough, help..."
In the dark of night, the river water shimmered under the moonlight. Inari thrashed in the water, desperately calling for help. Because his voice wasn't loud, he didn't attract anyone's attention.
Kusuo stood on the bridge, watching him coldly, feeling neither joy nor sadness. He took no pleasure in tormenting a brat. For him, this was just a casual action, something he did on a whim. For some people, the cost of reasoning with them was far higher than just teaching them a lesson.
It wasn't until Inari was about to drown, the whites of his eyes showing, that Kusuo used his sword to fish him out. Then, he grabbed him by the neck and brought him back to the town.
Inside the house, Tazuna and his daughter Tsunami were still sighing, worried about Inari's safety, while Hinata and Naruto were trying to comfort them.
Just then, the door opened. A soaking wet figure was casually tossed inside.
"Inari!" Tsunami and Tazuna gasped in surprise, then immediately rushed to pick him up, bringing over a stove to warm him. Looking at her weak grandson, Tsunami asked with concern, "What happened, Inari? Why are you like this?"
Inari was too exhausted to open his eyes, weakly trying to speak.
Kusuo said, "He accidentally fell into the water. I just happened to be passing by and pulled him out."
"Is that so?" Tsunami looked at Inari. The boy glanced at Kusuo's expressionless face, shivered, and then nodded frantically.
Seeing the family reunited, Kusuo turned to go back to his own room.
"Kusuo!" Hinata followed behind him.
"What's wrong?" Kusuo turned back.
"Um... Tsunami-san said there might not be any hot water in the house. I was thinking of helping you heat up a tub for a bath." By the end of her sentence, Hinata was blushing to her neck, her voice barely audible.
"Alright," Kusuo agreed without refusing, letting Hinata follow him back to his room.
Asuma, who had been eavesdropping with his ears perked up, took a drag from his cigarette. "Heh, this kid is even better than I was back in the day."
Naruto suddenly poked his head over, his eyes wide with innocence. "Asuma-sensei, who's better than you were back in the day? Why? Is it Kusuo?"
"Er..." Asuma was so startled by Naruto's face that he almost choked on his smoke. He waved his hand. "This is adult business. You're still a kid, you don't understand. Shoo, shoo." He tried to push Naruto away.
As he was being pushed, Naruto asked curiously, "Why? Isn't Kusuo the same age as me? Why do you say it's adult business, sensei?"
"..." Asuma was at a loss for words. That's right. Why have I started to treat him as a peer?
His strength! Yes, it must be his strength. Asuma would never admit that he was just being charitable because he admired Kusuo as a fellow "man of culture."
...
"Dammit!"
"You're all useless! You can't even catch one little villager! What do I spend so much money feeding you for? I might as well feed you to the dogs!"
In a luxurious villa in the Land of Waves, Gato smashed a wine glass and cursed loudly.
"Woof, woof!" The dog chained up beside him barked on cue.
The row of samurai and ninja standing below all lowered their heads in shame.
"Where's Zabuza? Isn't he supposed to be the 'Demon'? He bragged to my face that he killed over a hundred of his own comrades as a teenager, but he can't even kill one civilian."
"Where is he? Tell him to get his ass out here and see me!" Gato roared. The people around him didn't dare to breathe.
Swoosh!
A kunai shot through the air, hitting the vase right next to Gato's head. The vase shattered on impact, porcelain shards scattering across the floor. Gato was instantly silenced. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead.
"M-Mr. Zabuza... is, is that you?" he asked cautiously, his eyes darting around.
With a swish, a figure appeared on the rafters above, crouching and facing Gato. A white mask covered the area from his mouth to his neck. His wounds were all healed, by what means, no one knew.
"The intel you gave me was wrong. There wasn't just one jonin. There was also a little brat who was even more troublesome than a jonin," Zabuza said calmly, as if he hadn't heard Gato's earlier offense, simply stating the reason for his failure.
"O-oh, I see. I was wondering how a powerful figure like you, Mr. Zabuza, could possibly fail. So it was because the enemy was so strong. Haha... hahaha," Gato stammered, feeling the pressure of Zabuza's aura. The feeling of death made him stutter.
"Next time... next time I will kill Asuma and that brat with my own hands," Zabuza said, as if making a promise, but also as if talking to himself. With that, he vanished again with a swish, leaving the room full of people who didn't dare to breathe, their bodies covered in cold sweat.
CRASH!
Soon, Gato's venomous curses and roars, along with the sound of various objects being smashed, echoed through the room again.
...
Back in the small town, in the room Tazuna had prepared for him, Kusuo had already taken off his upper garment, revealing his lean, muscular physique. The lines of his powerful body were smooth and graceful, a combination of beauty and violence.
"What's wrong? Didn't you say you were going to help me heat up the water for my bath?" he asked, a little surprised, looking at Hinata, who was staring at him in a daze, so shy she was on the verge of fainting.
-------
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