The furrowed clouds in the sky slowly shifted, allowing a ray of sunlight to spill down upon the bodies of Haku and Zabuza.
Naruto stared with wide eyes at Haku, whose face was still beautiful, yet now filled with sorrow. Having taken a fatal blow from Kusuo's sword, he was not far from death.
"Zabuza-sama..." Haku murmured softly, his voice seemingly full of memories.
The flames still coiling around Kusuo's sword vanished with a gentle wave. He drew back his blade and sheathed it. The entire sequence of movements was a single, fluid motion.
The sword aura unleashed when he released all restrictions on his breathing, concentrating all his energy into his lungs and the sword in his hand, was terrifyingly powerful. As for whether it could injure a Kage-level opponent, he himself didn't know yet. But against a jonin, it was basically one slash, one kill.
Haku's emotions were stable; he showed no great change. He used the last of his strength to move closer to Zabuza's body, holding it in his arms before looking up at the sky. This complex, deep bond had now reached the end of its life.
Kusuo watched them without a word.
A group of people had appeared by the bridge. The man in the lead was short, somewhat bald, and wore sunglasses. It was Gato.
"That Zabuza fellow is actually dead? And in such a miserable state? Tch, all that big talk, turns out he was just a coward. A complete waste of my bounty money," Gato said, startled at first by the sight of Zabuza's body in Haku's arms. After lowering his sunglasses and confirming it was a corpse, he began to mock him, rolling his eyes, though the wide-eyed stare of the dead Zabuza still gave him a considerable amount of pressure. But what could a dead man do?
"Hey! What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and surround them for me! Tie them up!" Gato waved his hand, ordering his men to surround Kusuo and Naruto.
Looking at the large group of samurai and thugs wielding various swords, spears, and clubs, to be honest, the formation was quite intimidating.
"Kusuo, these guys..." Naruto came to his side.
Kusuo gave them a casual glance and said coldly, "Just kill them. They're nothing but a bunch of stinking fish and rotten shrimp."
The light words drifted into Gato's ears, making him freeze for a moment, then burst into loud laughter. He pointed a finger at Kusuo, laughing so hard he couldn't stand up straight.
"Did you all hear what this little brat just said? He said we're stinking fish and rotten shrimp, and that he's going to wipe us out? Hahahaha! Hahahaha!"
"I've never heard anything so funny in my entire life! Can any piece of trash just come out and spout nonsense these days? Get them! I don't want them alive, I just want their corpses!"
"Charge!"
"Kill those two brats!"
"Kill them!"
With a single command, the entire group of thugs and samurai rushed forward with their weapons raised. Cruel looks filled their eyes, as if they could already see the two boys being chopped into meat paste.
Seeing so many people, Naruto was about to use his Shadow Clone Jutsu, but Kusuo signaled for him not to rush.
Finally, when the entire group was close—
Hand up.
Blade down.
It was like chopping melons and vegetables.
SWISH!
SWISH!
SWISH!
This inferior group of thugs, gathered together by bounty money and not even real ninja, were all slaughtered in less than three breaths. The scene was a brutal massacre. Fresh blood stained the earth, and the metallic scent filled the air.
Kusuo's face was cold, his red clothes immaculate. The blade in his hand was drenched in blood, which dripped down drop by drop. He looked like a human Asura.
"Dead... they're all dead."
"Th-this... My lord, spare me! Lord Ninja, please spare my life! I was just joking earlier, please don't take it to heart!" Gato was dumbfounded, stunned by the scene before him. He began to beg for his life frantically, kneeling and kowtowing, all traces of his previous arrogance gone. In just a few breaths, the entire force he had worked so hard to gather had been wiped out. The boy before him was a demon.
After finishing off the small fry, Kusuo turned to look at him, his gaze clear and cold. Being stared at by Kusuo's expressionless eyes, Gato felt as if he were being targeted by a prehistoric beast; his heart went cold. The more arrogant he had been before, the more pathetic he was now. He managed to squeeze out an ugly smile to cover his wretched state.
But... Schlick!
Kusuo didn't give him the chance. A casual slash.
Gato's head fell to the ground.
Gently wiping his blade with a piece of cloth, Kusuo didn't even give the body a second glance.
Naruto was completely stunned. He felt that everything had happened too suddenly, and too cruelly. So suddenly that it was all over before he could even react. So cruelly that it was the first time he had seen the gentle-as-jade Kusuo have such a ruthless and decisive side. It was a decisiveness that didn't seem to belong to a boy in his early teens.
"Kusuo! Naruto!"
At that moment, another group of people rushed onto the bridge. They were the villagers of the Land of Waves, led by Tazuna, coming to help with hoes and other farm tools. But...
Hinata ran and stumbled into Kusuo's arms, terrified by the bloody scene on the bridge. She hadn't expected the place to turn into this in the short time she was away with Asuma-sensei.
"Kusuo, what on earth happened?" Asuma also walked up and asked in a deep voice.
Kusuo briefly described the battle, without any adjectives or embellishments.
"You're saying... you killed Zabuza and all these men?" Asuma stared at him, his voice full of shock. How is that possible? A single boy killed a famous jonin and so many samurai and thugs all by himself? Does he have three heads and six arms? But he knew Naruto's strength all too well. Besides these two, there was no one else it could have been.
Hah~
Letting out a long breath, Asuma clapped Kusuo heavily on the shoulder. "Good job."
He didn't know what else to say. Such a feat at this age... outside of wartime, it had definitely set a new record in the entire history of Konoha. Unprecedented.
On the other side, the villagers recognized Gato's corpse, and the entire crowd erupted in cheers. Led by Tazuna, they quickly figured out who their helper was. When they learned that it was all the work of a boy in his early teens, they all took a sharp breath in. They looked with a degree of reverence at the boy in red clothes with a high ponytail. They heard from Tazuna that the boy's name was Hatake Kusuo.
Hatake Kusuo. A name destined to be remembered by the entire Land of Waves.
...
Afterward, when the villagers were cleaning up the battlefield, they specifically buried Haku and Zabuza together, as per Kusuo's request. Hearing this news, Asuma and Hinata didn't feel much. Naruto was a little dazed. Kusuo, however, sighed with a bit of emotion. Sometimes, people choose their own fate and must be responsible for their own words and actions.
The group packed their luggage and finally embarked on the road back to the village. Midway, Kusuo suddenly froze on the spot. Hinata and the others looked at him with confusion.
Oh, crap! he thought. Is the Great Naruto Bridge now going to be named the Great Kusuo Bridge?!
-------
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