Chapter 22
ASUMA SARUTOBI
The power from the impact shook the bones of his arms, yet Asuma refused to back away as he blocked off the executioner's blade with his brass knives, as he stared the Demon of the Mist in the eye.
"So you are already here," the Demon of the Mist whispered as Kurenai threw a few kunai towards him, but the man simply pulled away before he swung his massive blade and parried them, as Asuma closed the distance between them.
"Katon: Phoenix Flame!" and immediately he shot a burst of fire blasts towards him, but the presence of the lake meant that Zabuza had the upper hand when it came to ninjutsu.
"Suiton: Water Dragon Bullet!" and a dragon rose from the lake below them and surrounded the Ninja swordsmen, as it swallowed their attacks and began to head for them.
"Asuma!" Kurenai warned, for behind them were his students, which meant that they could not simply dodge the attack, and with a subtle nod, the two of them moved in unison as they each cycled through different sets of hand seals.
"Katon: Grand Fire Ball!"
"Futon: Gale Palm!" and the two jutsus hit one another, and the fireball grew to nearly triple its original size as Asuma's wind style amplified its powers and tanked the massive water dragon.
He should have expected nothing less from the man known as Demon of the Mist. Overwhelming him with ninjutsu was not an option, especially given their current scenario. Asuma had to defeat him in close-range combat, which was not any easier given that he was a master at kenjutsu.
Still, with the air thick with smoke and vapor, he could not see the man as he stood with Kurenai at his back, trying to locate him.
"Any luck?" he asked, and Kurenai frowned. That one ninjutsu and exchange had drained her of what little energy she had managed to recover, hence turning the odds against them even more.
"You Konoha-nin are really predictable," Zabuza's voice tore through the cloud as he began to taunt them.
"Always so eager to help one another. That girl was also so sure that her dear sensei would come to rescue her," and he saw Kurenai grit her teeth at the mention of her student, and it could all be a tactic to rile her up, but Asuma doubted that Zabuza would fall so low as to taunt her using a dead student.
"Why did you kill her?" he asked, as Kurenai's body shook in rage and pain.
"Because she was annoying me," and Kurenai finally sensed his chakra, as she twisted and threw an exploding kunai in one direction.
"You bastard!" and the kunai exploded, yet Asuma felt the air around him shift.
"And now you two are beginning to do the same," and Zabuza was trying to cut her neck, as he blocked the blades with his knives, and the two of them looked each other in the eye.
"You are starting to annoy me," he barked, and Asuma raised a brow.
"You are happy to try to kill me then," and with that, he pushed more chakra into his blades and began to push back his sword.
"Because I am going to do the same to you," and as he pushed back his blade, he swung his arm at his neck, aiming to cut it as the Kirigakure ninja turned to dodge, smiling under those bandages.
"You missed," Asuma smirked as he whispered.
"Hien!" and suddenly, the smirk on that face vanished, as blood spurted out of the Kiri nin's neck, as Asuma spun and kicked him away.
"Support me from behind!" he ordered, and jumped forward as Zabuza cradled his bleeding neck with one hand and began to swing his blade wildly.
"What…." And blood gushed out of his neck, as Asuma rushed towards him in an attempt to end the match.
"Fuiton: Water Bullet!" and he began to shoot bullets from his mouth, and Asuma dodged them all, and a few grazed his cheeks and arms, and legs, leaving behind cuts, but he was inches from his neck, when suddenly the bastard simply chose to throw the massive blade at him.
"Shit!" and he was too late to dodge, and the blade tore through his shoulder, as Asuma grunted in pain.
"AGHHH!" and threw a blade of his own, but the Kiri-nin had long vanished into the cloud of mist by then.
"Not so fast, you don't!" and he began to cycle through a set of handseals, as his reserves dropped to half their original value.
"Ninpo: Burning Ash!" and with that, he spat out mist of his own, as he filled the entire area in front of him with a massive amount of smoke, before he clicked together his teeth.
CLACK!
BOOOOOM! BOOOOM!
And the explosion rocked the entire bridge, as he heard the bastard scream, before the bridge began to give in, and broke under their feet.
"Asuma!" Kurenai yelled, but he stopped her.
"Stay!" he ordered, jumping up as Zabuza Momochi did the same. Both landed in the river at the same time, their eyes locked in a stare.
"I will take care of him," he assured her, for with the way he was bleeding, the man wouldn't last long.
"YOU! YOU!" he eeked out, as he fell to his knees.
"You are done!" Asuma warned, and the water under his feet turned red from the bleeding, as Zabuza's eyes turned towards Kurenai and the rest standing up at the bridge behind him.
"Well, then I won't be going out alone!" he thought, watching as he brought his hands together, refusing to cradle his neck, and gathered a massive amount of chakra, likely depleting all his reserves by his own estimate.
"Forgive me, Haku," he heard a whisper, before
"Suiton: GRAND SHATTERING WAVE!" and Asuma watched as a massive wall of water erupted from behind him, swallowed him up, and then rushed towards the town and his teammates.
"Asuma!" Kurenai's scream came from behind as Asuma knew that he had to stop this, no matter what.
"Katon:…" he whispered, as Kurenai jumped down behind him.
"Futon:…" and their roles were reversed now.
"Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
"Gale Palm!" and despite both of them emptying their reserves, the wall of fire was but half the size of the grand wave heading towards them.
BOOOOOM!
Fire and water collided, and immediately the water evaporated and rushed up into the sky, yet the water style technique was made to crush them, when suddenly another voice came from behind and joined them.
"Katon:…." And he saw the familiar face of Hikari land beside Kurenai as he took in a deep breath and joined the attack as well.
"Majestic Destroyer Flame!" With him joining the attack, they managed to push back. Suddenly, the water exploded, destroying the water ninjutsu, and Asuma fell to his knees.
"Shadow Clone jutsu!" Hikari's clones came to support him and Kurenai, helping them jump up the bridge. The boy followed suit, and Asuma nodded in approval of his student.
"You are back," he asked, and he nodded, and if the state of his clothes was anything to go by, he had been in a battle of his own, and as he looked up, he saw Ino standing there with reddened eyes and cheeks, and his heart sank in realization.
"Sakura…" and he shook his head.
"She was dead by the time we reached her," he answered dejectedly, and he saw Kurenai's eyes widen as the realization set in that Zabuza had not been lying.
"No," she gasped as she fell to the ground, and Asuma could not help but pity her as he saw the rest of her students pale in shock at the news, as Ino began to cry once again.
"What about the masked nin?" he asked.
"I killed him," and then Hikari eyed the river.
"Zabuza," and the swordsmen's body had been swallowed up by the river, and no trace of him was left except for his blade, which sat there on the bridge, coated in his blood.
"I don't think we will find his body," Asuma whispered, when suddenly he saw a crowd approach the bridge, as a strong voice came to taunt them.
"AND NOW WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE!" he looked up and saw a man dressed in a suit standing at the head of the group of bandits and vagabonds as he eyed them all.
"TO THINK THAT HE WOULD BE DEFEATED SO EASILY AFTER HE BOASTED SO MUCH ABOUT HIS POWER!" and Asuma forced himself back to his feet, as he realised who exactly they were staring at.
"Gato," he gritted out.
"He is Gato," Hikari added, and he saw those fists ball up.
"And it was his man who killed Sakura," and those words shook the entire bridge, as all eyes turned towards him.
"So, you know about that!"
"What!" Kiba grunted as Kurenai asked again.
"What?" and Hikari nodded.
"Zabuza may have taken the blame, but he was serious about making the exchange, but it was one of his henchmen who killed her in the end," Hikari told them, as the man's mood soured.
"So, you know," he clicked his tongue.
"And here I was about to offer you a deal," he shrugged.
"No matter. I will make quick work of you," and with that, he laughed, as Inuzuka boy grunted as tears dripped down his face.
"I WILL KILL YOU ALLL!" he raged, and Choji Akimichi joined him, and two genin began to walk towards the group, with a menacing look, when suddenly their feet stopped.
"Shadow Possession!" and he saw Shikamaru jump onto the bridge behind them, as he stopped the two of them from rushing forward.
"What are you doing, Shikamaru!" the Akimichi boy asked, and he had never seen his face like that as he answered coldly.
"You two are injured," Shikamaru argued as the group began to rush towards them, and then suddenly Hikari appeared beside him, as the two gave each other a nod, and he had never seen the Nara's eye look like that, dark and menacing, with not even a hint of mercy.
Shikamaru wanted blood. He wanted revenge, and in the short term, he had decided that Hikari was the best instrument for that purpose, for unlike Kiba and Choji, he was an ANBU-certified killer.
And Shikamaru Nara had chosen death for Gato and his men.
"Let us take care of this," and with that, he cycled through a set of handseals, as Hikari reached and took out a pair of kunai from his pocket and began to rush towards the crowd of bandits.
"Ninpo: Grand Shadow Possession," and suddenly all of them came to a halt, and a second later blood began to fly as Hikari tore into the group, with menacing speed, and he could see the strain the jutsu was taking on Shikamaru, but he knew better than to get in the way of a motivated and angry Nara and in but half a minute, the entire bridge was littered with several dozen dead bodies, and the water in the river down below now flew a scarlet red, as Shikamaru stood above a trembling and quivering Gato.
"Please! I beg you! Spare me! I did not know! I have money! I will make you ric…."
"You should have known better than to mess with a Konoha nin…."
0000
KAKASHI HATAKE
Kakashi Hatake had a reputation for tardiness. Often lost in thought and regret, he would find himself late to most things in life.
Meetings. Reports. Everything.
But one thing he was never ever late to was a funeral, and so here, he stood with one of his few friends, as nearly all of the young genin and the top brass of the village gathered in front of the grave of a young kunoichi.
Kakashi did not know much about the pink-haired girl, for she was one of Kurenai's students. Yet he knew this much that this was going to change everything for the genin in front of him.
Some like the Yamanaka girl, and his own blonde brat cried. Others like Hinata and the Inuzuka boy wept reluctantly, while a few watched on with narrowed eyes and heaving chests, as they saw for themselves the reality of the world they had entered into.
Sasuke was amongst the latter. Joined by the Nara boy and the Hyuga exile.
"This will change things," Kakashi whispered, his voice lost amidst the titter and tatter of the rain, as the Hokage led the final prayers as the girl's parents cried behind her, as Kurenai stood beside them, pale and grief-stricken, with her eyes rooted to the ground.
"Yeah," Asuma agreed.
And the town of waves had apologized profusely for their actions, and had named their newly built bridge after the fallen girl, calling it the Sakura Bridge. Yet that was no compensation for the loss that they had caused, for these young genin.
These were times of peace, and he knew that the Hokage-sama had hoped to protect them from the harshness and cruel realities of this world, for as long as he could. Yet, now his plans had faltered, and this one death would propagate another era of hate and violence.
"How is she?" he asked of Kurenai, and she had been kind to him over the years, and it pained him to see her wallowing in grief like this.
"Not good," Asuma answered, and of course, he knew that after all, their affair was a secret to no one except them.
"It is hard to lose a student," and he knew that, for he had seen his own sensei suffer through the same fate, had seen Kushina-san cry at the graves of Rin and Obito, as he hung back in silence.
"Yeah," and then the mood turned, as the Hokage-sama turned away from the grave and began to speak.
"Today, we mourn the loss of one of our own…."
0000
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