Sasuke's fist descended like a hammer.
At the last possible instant, Haku's body materialized between the blow and Zabuza, his back taking the full force of the strike meant for his master.
The impact made a sickening thud, like a mallet striking wet clay.
Blood erupted from Haku's mouth, spraying against the inside of his mask in a crimson starburst. It ran down his chin in thick rivulets as his body folded around Sasuke's fist, then flew backward to crash into Zabuza.
The mask tumbled off, clattering across the wooden planks, leaving Haku's face exposed. Blood painted his delicate features, turning them into something tragic and beautiful at once.
"Zabuza-sama," Haku gasped, each word clearly causing him pain. "I'm sorry. I failed to complete your mission. I'm... I'm really useless..."
His eyes found Zabuza's face—swollen almost beyond recognition, purple bruises blooming across cheeks and jaw, one eye sealed shut by the swelling. Guilt crashed over Haku like a wave.
Zabuza could barely open his eyes enough to see. Through the narrow slits that remained, he looked at Haku lying beside him and felt something twist in his chest. The moment Naruto had appeared, he'd known the mission was over. You didn't fight a monster like that and expect to win. You just hoped to survive.
"Haku." His voice came out rough, distorted by his swollen lips. "I don't blame you. We lost to Konoha monster. There's no shame in that."
The words were flat, matter-of-fact, but they hit Haku like a physical blow.
"Zabuza-sama..." Tears mixed with the blood on Haku's face. "You don't think I'm useless?"
Warmth flooded through Haku's chest, spreading through his battered body like sunlight breaking through clouds. Even after failing so completely, Zabuza didn't condemn him. But that warmth only made the guilt burn hotter.
He didn't deserve such tolerance.
Zabuza didn't particularly want to explain his feelings—he really didn't blame Haku. How could he? The opponents they'd faced were absurdly strong. That blonde kid who'd turned into a ten-meter giant, those fist shadows that had annihilated Haku's ice mirrors like they were made of paper—it was beyond anything Zabuza had prepared for.
That child is invincible, he thought with grim certainty. At least, invincible to us.
He turned his neck with visible effort, his gaze finding Sasuke standing over them. Looking at the Uchiha boy made his face throb with renewed pain.
This brat didn't fight like a ninja at all. Relied entirely on that impossible speed to land hit after hit directly to the face. Kept going until Zabuza's nose had broken, his cheeks had swollen, his eyes had sealed themselves shut.
What kind of ninja has a hobby like that? Zabuza thought bitterly. Meeting someone with such specific interests—I had no choice but to lose.
"So, Naruto." Sasuke looked up eagerly as Naruto approached, completely ignoring the two defeated opponents at his feet. "How was that? Pretty good, right?"
Naruto's eyes went to Haku first, taking in the blood, the way he was curled on his side, the shallow breathing that spoke of internal injuries. One punch from Sasuke, and the hunter-nin had lost all combat capability. He was completely defenseless now.
Sasuke's been training well, Naruto thought with satisfaction. Years of physical conditioning combined with the medicinal treatments I've been giving him. His taijutsu is genuinely impressive now.
"Not bad," Naruto said, his voice carrying genuine approval. "But you still need to work harder."
It was true. He couldn't hold Sasuke to his own standards—that wouldn't be fair. But for where Sasuke was at in his development, this was excellent work. And he'd done it without even fully utilizing his three-tomoe Sharingan, relying primarily on Flying Thunder God and pure physical skill.
Then something caught Naruto's attention. He looked at Zabuza's face—really looked at it—and a sense of déjà vu washed over him. The swelling, the bruises, the particular pattern of damage...
He turned to Sasuke with narrowed eyes. "Hey. Why does his face look like that?"
Sasuke practically glowed under Naruto's praise, standing a little straighter, his chest puffing out. When Naruto asked the question, he responded immediately, eager to explain. "He was a strong enemy. Really strong. I had no choice but to take the fight seriously."
Zabuza's eye twitched. Then he spat out a mouthful of blood, his body shaking with indignation.
"Zabuza-sama!" Haku reached for him, worry etched across his blood-stained face.
The sound of footsteps interrupted them.
Not the soft padding of ninja feet, but the sharp click of expensive leather shoes on wooden planks. The rhythmic tap of a walking stick keeping time.
A short man emerged from the mist rolling off the water, flanked by what looked like a small army of rough-looking samurai. He wore sunglasses despite the gray morning, his clothes expensive, his entire bearing radiating the particular arrogance of someone used to buying whatever he wanted.
Gato.
His gaze swept over the scene, lingering on Zabuza and Haku's broken forms, and his lip curled with undisguised contempt.
"Hehehehe. The battle's over already? How disappointing, Zabuza." Gato's voice dripped with mockery. "I expected better from the great Demon of the Hidden Mist."
Behind him, his samurai group shifted and murmured. Two stood out immediately: one was sitting cross-legged on the ground, the other crouched in a deep squat. Even while their companions stood at attention, these two maintained their odd positions.
High-ranking warriors, Naruto thought, noting the detail. They have status within Gato's forces.
Everyone's attention snapped to the newcomers.
"Gato?" Zabuza pushed himself up on shaking arms, swaying dangerously. "Why are you here? And what's with all your men?"
"Oh, there's been a slight change of plans." Gato tapped his walking stick against the bridge, the sound sharp and deliberate. "I'm sorry to inform you that I need you to die here, Zabuza."
"What?" Zabuza's eye widened—or tried to, given the swelling. "What did you just say?"
"Hiring proper ninja costs a fortune, you see. That's why I hired rogue ninja like you instead—much more affordable. And when ninja kill each other during a mission, well..." Gato's smile was the smile of a man counting money in his head. "That saves me precious time and money. I don't have to pay anyone at all."
The words hit Zabuza like another punch to the gut. He'd known the target was protected by powerful ninja. He'd pushed through Haku's warnings, through his own fear, through every rational instinct telling him to run. All because he'd thought the mission meant something, thought it could lead to achieving their goals.
And it had all been a setup. A trap designed to get him killed without payment.
Killing intent rolled off Zabuza in waves. His hand moved toward his sword, his muscles tensing despite the pain, but his body betrayed him. His legs wouldn't support his weight properly. He swayed, barely staying upright.
"Not just you, either." Gato's smile widened. "Everyone here dies today. The bridge builder, the ninja, all of you. Can't leave witnesses, after all."
"Hey."
Naruto's voice cut through Gato's speech like a knife through silk.
The crime boss's words died in his throat as he turned toward the source of the interruption. His eyes traveled up, and up, and up, taking in Naruto's height with visible irritation.
So tall, Gato thought, jealousy curdling in his stomach. And handsome too. People like that should be struck by lightning.
"You're saying you want to kill all of us?" Naruto's tone was conversational, almost curious. "My friends, my sensei, the bridge builder—everyone?"
Gato recovered his composure, his smile returning. "That's right, kid. You, Zabuza, that old man—all of you die here today."
Naruto absorbed this, his expression thoughtful. The System had warned him about this. The outside world was dangerous. The path of Ultimate Taijutsu was even more dangerous—kill or be killed, no middle ground.
Now someone wanted to murder him, his friends, his sensei, and the man who might become a future farm employee, all for no reason beyond convenience and greed.
He couldn't tolerate that.
Naruto wasn't a ninja. He didn't have to endure insults and threats with a smile. His path was different—more direct.
"Shorty," Naruto said, his voice taking on a serious quality, "since you want to hurt my friends and my sensei, I'll have to kill you. That's the only way I can protect them."
Silence fell across the bridge.
Then Gato's face turned purple with rage. "Little brat, did you just call me short?!" His voice rose to a shriek. "I hate being called short! Kill him! KILL HIM!"
He jabbed his walking stick toward Naruto like a weapon.
From the group of samurai, the two oddly-positioned warriors stood up. The one who'd been sitting unfolded to his full height. The one who'd been squatting straightened his legs. They looked at each other, some unspoken communication passing between them, then advanced on Naruto with cruel smiles.
Stupid brat, they both thought. Does he know why we have higher status than the others? It's because we never stand at full height in front of Lord Gato. Always sitting or squatting, so we're never taller than him. That's how you earn favor and rise in the ranks.
"Hey," Naruto said, looking down at his empty hands with a frown. "You all have weapons. That's really unfair. I didn't bring any weapons at all. This is going to be an unbalanced fight..."
He'd always believed in fairness. Like when he'd fought Kiba—Kiba had Akamaru, so Naruto had brought Nine-Tails along. That was proper balance.
"Naruto." Zabuza's rough voice interrupted his thoughts. The missing-nin was looking at him with something that might have been respect. "You can borrow my blade if you want."
Naruto's eyes lit up. "No need. I just thought of the perfect weapon to use."
The two samurai were close now, murder clear in their expressions.
"Little brat," the standing samurai said, pulling a massive cleaver from his back, "since Lord Gato wants you dead, we'll have to ask you to die now."
The squatting samurai rose fully, hefting an iron club the size of a tree branch. "Nothing personal, kid."
They rushed forward together, weapons raised.
"In that case..."
Naruto's whisper was so quiet it might have been the wind.
The samurai closed the distance, their weapons descending toward Naruto's shoulders—the cleaver aimed for his left, the club swinging toward his right. They could already hear the sounds: blade parting flesh like silk, wood cracking bone.
Their cruel smiles widened.
Then faltered.
Their weapons passed through empty air, meeting no resistance. The Naruto in front of them began to blur, like a reflection on disturbed water.
"An afterimage?"
The realization came too late.
A whisper emerged behind them, so close they could feel breath on their necks.
"Hey. My fist is my best weapon."
The words carried the certainty of absolute truth. Both samurai felt ice flood their spines, pure instinct screaming danger, but their bodies were already moving in the wrong direction, their weapons committed to strikes that had missed.
They tried to turn.
Naruto's fists were already in motion.
Two punches, delivered with surgical precision to the lower back, just above the kidneys. The impact points were perfect—exactly where the spine was most vulnerable, where the force would propagate through the skeletal structure with maximum effect.
CRACK.
The sound was crisp, final. Both spines snapped like dry branches.
The samurai's bodies folded backward at the waist, their torsos bending a full one hundred eighty degrees in the wrong direction. They flew through the air like grotesque carnival toys, hit the bridge surface, and spun several times like bottles in a game before coming to rest.
Neither moved again.
Naruto looked down at his fists, flexing his fingers. "Yeah. I definitely prefer using my fists."
No matter what complications arose, one punch could break through them all. That was his style.
The entire exchange had taken perhaps three seconds.
Sakura's face went green. She turned and vomited over the side of the bridge, her body heaving. The way those men had died—it was too much, too graphic, too real.
Tazuna stood frozen, his face the color of old milk. The violence hadn't been directed at him, but his legs felt like water anyway.
"What domineering taijutsu," Kakashi murmured, his visible eye wide. He'd known Naruto was strong, had suspected the boy held back even in training, but to kill two grown men with such casual brutality...
He didn't even hesitate, Kakashi thought. No uncertainty, no remorse. Just identified the threat and eliminated it.
Zabuza felt profound relief wash through his battered body. Thank the gods he'd never been truly hostile to Kakashi's team. He'd only wanted to kill Tazuna—the mission target. Now that Gato had betrayed him, the mission was void. There was no conflict between his position and Naruto's.
Which means I might actually survive this.
Haku's pupils had contracted to pinpoints. This sunny, handsome boy who'd offered friendship, who'd shown mercy—he had this side too. The contrast was staggering, almost impossible to reconcile.
"Your name is Gato, right?" Naruto's voice carried across the bridge as he started walking forward, his footsteps measured and deliberate. "You actually want to kill my friends. In that case, I have no choice but to kill you."
He cracked his knuckles, the sound sharp in the sudden silence. Each step brought him closer to the crime boss.
The rhythm of those footsteps was like a countdown to execution. With every meter Naruto closed, Gato could feel death approaching. Sweat poured down his face, soaking his expensive collar. His mind, usually so sharp when calculating profits and losses, seized up completely under the weight of his fear.
Naruto's tall frame cast a long shadow, and that shadow swallowed Gato like a living thing.
"I'm sorry!" The words burst from Gato's mouth, desperate and high-pitched. "I didn't mean it! I was just talking—I don't actually want to kill your friends!"
His legs trembled. It took every ounce of willpower to stay standing, to not collapse to his knees right there.
"Heh." Naruto's laugh was devoid of humor. "You want to lie to me now? You just said everyone here was going to die. That includes Sasuke—" he gestured toward his teammate, "—and that's Sakura. They're my friends. I have an obligation to protect my friends."
He took another step closer. The shadow deepened.
"And that's my sensei. I have an obligation to protect my sensei too."
Another step. Gato could smell his own fear-sweat, acrid and shameful.
"But you want to kill my sensei and my friends."
Naruto's face was directly above Gato now, looking down with those impossibly blue eyes.
"So for the safety of my sensei and my friends, I'm going to have to ask you to die."
The final word fell like a death sentence.
"Kill him!" Gato's voice cracked with panic. Self-preservation overrode everything else. "All of you—KILL HIM!"
The samurai group didn't need to be told twice. They'd seen worse than Naruto's display. They'd done worse themselves under Gato's orders. Fear of their employer overrode fear of the enemy.
They charged as one, weapons raised, voices lifted in battle cries.
"Thousand Buddhas Ascend to Heaven."
Naruto's words were soft, almost gentle.
His left fist clenched, drew back, then thrust forward in a single fluid motion.
The air itself seemed to tear apart.
Hundreds of fist-shadows burst from that single punch, each one a perfect replica moving at impossible speeds. They spread outward like a tsunami, an unstoppable wave of force.
The charging samurai hit that wave and simply ceased to exist.
No blood. No screams. No bodies left behind.
One moment there was a small army of armed men. The next moment there was only empty bridge and settling dust.
Complete silence.
Everyone stared at the empty space where dozens of people had been standing seconds before.
"Where..." Sakura's voice was tiny. "Where did they go?"
They ascended to heaven, Naruto thought, the answer coming automatically. That's what Thousand Buddhas Ascend to Heaven means.
He looked at the empty bridge and felt no discomfort, no guilt. These men had been killers themselves, their hands stained with innocent blood. Under Gato's orders, they'd terrorized the Land of Waves for years, crushing anyone who resisted.
They were exactly the kind of people who deserved death.
The System had told him long ago: the ultimate goal of Ultimate Taijutsu was eternal immortality. To achieve that, he'd have to fight for it. The path would be soaked in blood—his enemies' and possibly his own.
Every great warrior in history had walked over mountains of corpses to reach their throne. If Naruto flinched now, over something this small, then he didn't deserve to step beyond the ninja world. He didn't deserve to walk the path through the heavens, fighting for eternity.
He'd be nothing but a bully in a small pond.
That would disappoint the System. Worse, it would mean he could never resurrect his parents. Only by achieving true immortality could he bring them back.
This was the path he'd chosen. Even if he had to crawl, he'd see it through to the end.
"Gato." Naruto stepped over the place where the samurai had stood. "Your turn."
"Forgive me! Please forgive me!"
The Thousand Buddhas technique had been the final straw. Gato's legs gave out completely. He collapsed to his knees with a wet thud, his expensive pants soaking through as his bladder released.
The smell of urine spread across the bridge.
He'd wet himself like a child.
"You wanted to kill me," Naruto said, his voice almost conversational now. "I want to kill you. It's a simple truth, Gato. Why don't you understand?"
He crouched down, bringing his face level with Gato's. Up close, he could see the tears mixing with sweat on the crime boss's face, see the way his mouth worked soundlessly, trying to find words that might save him.
"Fortunately," Naruto continued, "Ultimate Taijutsu doesn't require reasoning with people. That would take too long, and you probably still wouldn't understand."
His hand rose, settling gently on top of Gato's head.
"With this path, fists are the truth."
Naruto's hand vibrated—a single pulse of controlled force that rippled through Gato's skull.
The crime boss's eyes went blank. His body swayed for a moment, then toppled sideways, landing with a dull thump on the wooden planks.
He didn't move again.
Silence blanketed the bridge like fresh snow.