Mm, the original plan had been to operate a bit more discreetly, but... given how things stood, a few cracks in the cover were inevitable. After all, a reef or two popping up might not attract attention at first, but once they multiplied to the point where previously safe shipping lanes began swallowing vessels one after another, it was only natural that people would start investigating.
Eyes lightly closed, Hinata savored the novelty of the situation. This was, after all, her first time encountering a "world-specific event" in the Naruto universe. She'd made good use of Kakuzu's Earth Release to manufacture artificial reefs and blockade the sea lanes, but her inexperience had led to a miscalculation.
In the real world, nobody went around fabricating reefs on an ocean floor, which meant there was no prior playbook for anticipating the chain of consequences. So this time...
Chalk it up to a learning experience. If there was ever a next time, she'd need to factor in the likelihood of ship groundings exposing the operation prematurely.
Lifting her head, Hinata's white eyes gleamed with an unusual intensity. She slung her pack over her shoulder and slipped lightly out of her room.
Her week-long mission in the Land of Waves was up. The time had come to leave.
"Um... Hinata-san, are you really leaving today?"
Tazuna's daughter, who had been helping Hinata adjust her clothing, watched the pale-eyed girl's departure with evident reluctance. Hinata offered her a cryptic smile. "Relax. After today, I don't think that fool Gatō will be troubling you anymore. Your husband's death will likely be avenged very soon."
"Eh?"
The woman blinked, clearly unable to parse the meaning behind those words, but Hinata had no inclination to wait for her to catch up. She descended the staircase to regroup with her teammates.
"Today is the last day of bridge construction. If Gatō's going to make his move, it'll be today."
Tazuna's expression was drawn. If Gatō came, it almost certainly meant his own death. Even knowing he had Konoha's shinobi at his side, the truth was that Kakashi and company had already gone far beyond the scope of his original commission. He'd only paid for an escort back to his homeland, and yet this team had not only overlooked his deliberate misreporting of the mission's difficulty—they'd protected him for an entire week. That was more than he had any right to ask for.
"Which means if Zabuza is going to show up, it'll be today as well."
Kakashi's nerves were wound tight. As a jōnin, he could sense the atmosphere building around them—an intangible pressure, like the moment before an Explosive Tag detonated.
"The sea routes are shut down. If we want to leave, the bridge is our only option, right?"
Sasuke shared Kakashi's tension. His instincts weren't yet honed to the silver-haired Jōnin's level, but something was gnawing at him—an impression stranger and harder to articulate than mere unease.
His gaze drifted across the surroundings and snagged on something. On a branch not far away, a black, red-eyed crow sat perfectly still, watching him. Sasuke felt a strange, indescribable emotion stir inside his chest.
"Ahh~ come to think of it, we really have been gone a while, huh~ I kinda miss the taste of Ichiraku Ramen~ Mm mm~"
In stark contrast to Kakashi and Sasuke, Naruto was by far the most relaxed of the group. Neither of the other two felt inclined to scold him for it—after all, even the tensest atmosphere occasionally required a clueless idiot to lighten the mood.
"Right then. Per our agreement, we'll accompany you to the bridge. Once you've finished the final section, it'll be time for us to part ways."
Tying the laces on her ninja sandals, Hinata rose and tapped her toes against the floor to settle them. Her state of mind was evidently different from both Kakashi's and Naruto's. For her, this particular moment was more like... time to reap the harvest?
"Thank you. At least let this bridge survive for the sake of the Land of Waves. I still don't know where those reefs came from, but with things as they are, Gatō shouldn't dare destroy it anymore."
Tazuna exhaled deeply and steadied himself. As far as he was concerned, his remaining life existed solely for the sake of this bridge. If the bridge was completed, then so was his self-appointed mission.
"Heh..."
A quiet, dry snort. Hinata didn't bother engaging with Tazuna's sentiment. The group set out for the bridge at once. According to the construction timeline, the delays caused by building-material shipments running aground on reefs had slowed progress somewhat—yet ironically, because the severed sea routes had instilled a sense of urgency in the local workers, a number of them had voluntarily donated surplus materials from their own homes, actually pushing the schedule slightly ahead.
The bridge Tazuna and his crew had been building for several years was already of substantial scale—a single-span structure designed to cross a strait—so its structural integrity went without saying. But when the group arrived at the bridge's entrance, every nerve in their bodies drew taut.
"Hey~ everyone~!"
Tazuna's voice shook. Dense white mist clung to the bridge entrance like layer upon layer of cobwebs, and several of the construction workers lay scattered on the ground. They were alive, from the looks of it, but certainly not comfortable.
"So they won't let us leave quietly after all. Zabuza. Come out."
Kakashi pushed up his forehead protector to reveal his left eye, and a cold laugh drifted out of the fog. "I didn't want it to come to this either. But now that this bridge is the only way in or out, there's no reason I should let you have it. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Huh? It's that bandage guy again! Hey! You take your road and we'll take ours—why do you have to block the way?"
Recognizing Zabuza's voice, Naruto clenched his fists and barked out his displeasure. The Mist swordsman answered with a derisive snort. "Heh, spoken like a kid fresh out of the Academy. Let me ask you something: when two hostile parties meet on the same bridge, how do you guarantee that the one who crosses first won't double back to attack the group still on it? There's only one answer..."
"You kill the group that might attack you. Strike first and strike hard, brat!!"
With those words, the fog around them thickened explosively, swallowing the entire area in a blanket of white so dense you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
"Hmph, parlor tricks!"
Hinata gave a sharp, contemptuous snort. Veins bulged at the corners of her smooth white eyes as the Byakugan activated. Peering effortlessly through the wall of mist, she located the hidden swordsman at once. "His real body is roughly twenty meters dead ahead. Five—no, seven Water Clones around him. And one more figure is... Hm?"
"Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"
A clear, ringing voice cut through the fog. Directly above Hinata, a plume of icy mist materialized out of thin air and solidified in an instant into a crystalline mirror. A figure emerged from its surface as though stepping out of a reflection, and dozens of razor-sharp senbon flew from the mirror in a lethal downpour aimed squarely at her.
Tch! So the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals Kekkei Genkai isn't limited to creating blocks of ice after all!
Hinata grasped the enemy's strategy in a heartbeat. She leaped backward, abandoning the formation—and in the split second she'd dodged the Ice Senbon barrage, plumes of icy mist erupted around her on all sides, rapidly coalescing into a closed ring of ice mirrors!!
"Hinata!"
Seeing her trapped, Naruto's head went hot and he lunged forward, but Sasuke's hand shot out and hauled him back. "Idiot! At least look at what's around us first!!"
As if to punctuate the dark-haired boy's words, several of Zabuza's Water Clones seized the opening and rushed in. Naruto snarled in frustration. "Fine!! You annoying bastards!!"
"All right, Kakashi. The kids are occupied for the time being. About time you showed me what you're really made of, wouldn't you say?"
Zabuza's sinister voice drew a sharp breath from Kakashi. Having Naruto and Sasuke handle the Water Clones while he confronted Zabuza directly was the most logical allocation of forces. But with Hinata trapped inside that ice-mirror barrier, he'd need to end this fast.
Inside the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, Hinata's Byakugan flickered as she assessed the prison. The barrier was unmistakably formed from chakra-crystallized ice, yet she could detect virtually no weak points in its structure. The chakra distribution throughout the lattice was exquisitely balanced—finding a spot to breach was going to be extremely difficult.
"I see... so this is the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai? Not only the power to freeze water into ice, but also some very interesting mirror tricks?"
Hinata's surprise was well-founded. When she'd first engaged the Byakugan, she'd clearly registered Haku's position several dozen meters behind her. But the instant the overhead ice mirror formed, the girl who had been dozens of meters away appeared at point-blank range—teleporting through the mirror's surface as though stepping from one reflection to another. Considering Haku's performance in the original work, the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals very likely possessed some form of mirror-surface teleportation akin to instantaneous movement.
"This is my Ice Release. It's nothing worth praising, but as a tool, it serves well enough."
Haku's silhouette drifted into view within one of the mirrors, her tone carrying no particular hostility toward the pale-eyed girl. "Your Fire Release ninjutsu is certainly formidable. But it is absolutely no match for my Ice Release."
"Is that so? You don't seem to have any special intentions here, but allow me a similarly non-targeted remark of my own..."
Hinata raised her right hand, one finger leveled at the figure before her, and let a thin, predatory smile carve across her lips.
"I! Very much! Want!"
"You!!"
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