Naruto Fan Fiction / Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction / Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Fan Fiction ❯ The False Apocalypse ❯ Battle of the Bridge ( Chapter 18 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

At last, the battle of the bridge has come and blood shall fly as teams seven and eight take on Gato and his army of mercenaries. Zabuza fights Naruto for a bit in an attempt to achieve some revenge while waiting for the traitor to arrive. Little does Gato know that he has stepped into a one way pit to hell.

Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction / Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction / Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Martial Arts / Adventure | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.02.2009 | Pages: 6 | Words: 10.0K | Visits: 216 | Status: Completed

The False Apocalypse

The Shinobi Saga

Chapter 18

Battle of the Bridge

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

The morning was cool and welcoming. It was the day they had all been waiting for, the day they had in part trained for. This was the day team seven would test their abilities, the day they would confront Zabuza once again. For Zabuza this was the day he could get a little payback on the kid that did such an embarrassing number on him, the day he could crush a traitor and begin a new life.

Haku and Zabuza silently made their way to the bridge, as was their way. Silence had always been a part of their life, `The silent kill' their motto. Today's events however, would prove interesting. This would be the first time either of them had ever fought without the full intent to kill. It was… somehow refreshing to anticipate a fight without the chance of being intestinally killed. A sadistic grin was plastered on Zabuza's face thinking of how he would mop the floor with the blond kid. Haku on the other hand didn't know who to fight. She could fight the dark haired one who broke Zabuza's old sword. On the other hand Zabuza wasn't really mad about it after receiving his new blade.

My god did Zabuza love his new blade, and he couldn't wait for it to taste it's first blood, buried deep within Gato's skull. It's name was Suijin (Water god) and it was truly a masterpiece. In length the blade was easily as tall as himself and a foot wide by two inches thick at it's thickest. The blade had a hole through it near the handle end of the blade so it could be spun like a windmill shuriken. The other end of the blade flowed like water into a razor sharp tip. Every inch was adorned with engravings and runes giving it interesting properties which Nazomishi taught to Zabuza. This blade was not only made of a metal which could maximize the efficiency of water type jutsu but it was also layered with a powerful summoning seal, linked to a permanent seal deep underwater somewhere in the ocean. This fact gave Zabuza access to a quite literally limitless supply of water for his jutsu.

The part that made him smirk the most was the low chakra cost method of reproducing Kisame's intense `Suiton: Bakusui Shoha (exploding water shockwave)' Among it's more powerful features was its immense size is compensated for by a light but durable metal and weight adjusting seals to further balance it out. With the weight adjusting seals the blade could be lightened during a strike and rapid movement but multiplied dramatically during a powerful downward strike for enhanced damage. To say he loved it was a remarkable understatement.

When they finally arrived at the bridge Team Seven was just arriving at the other end of the bridge. The workers and shadow clones doing the work on the bridge quickly evacuated to team seven's side of the bridge or poofed away as Zabuza drew his new blade, smashing it into the bridge and letting it drag along crushing everything in its path.

“Alright kid I think it's time for a little payback for what you did to my arm. I don't know where the hell you got that power but this time around you're dead.” Zabuza waved around his massive new blade around his head and finally stuck it in the ground to his side.

“Come now Zabuza didn't anybody tell you that I was holding back. I won't let you touch my team. This time I will finally let loose my true power.” Kakashi boasted while placing his hand on a seal on his left arm preparing to release it. Just as he was about to release the seal Naruto placed his hand over Kakashi's in an attempt to get his attention.

“Don't bother Kakashi if he wants to fight me, he can have me. I've been looking forward to this.” Naruto stepped from Kakashi's side drawing one of his blades from its sheath. He went into a thrusting position as he channeled wind chakra though his left hand and fire though his right into the blade and thrust it forth blasting a massive flamethrower along the length of the bridge. Fire and air mixed and enhanced each other into a raging inferno. The flames spread though the air in an impressive display of raw power as a golden hue took hold of the bridge in the presence of the flame.

Zabuza seemed just a little frightened as he looked upon the sheer intensity of the flames. The fright lasted only for an instant before breaking into a smirk as he whipped his Suijin in front of the flames poring chakra into a seal on its side. A raging vortex of water exploded from the hole in the thick blade. The watery vortex blasted out with such force that Zabuza was forced to hold his ground by pumping chakra into his feet. The freshly laid stone shifted from its original position under the intense pressure of the colliding attacks. The two powers clashed with amazing force, as steam took hold over the area scorching the wood and cracking stones in various places around the bridge. It took nearly half a minute of clashing between the two forces before they finally died down. As the steam began to clear it became evident to everyone present that the clash was more intense than they had originally thought. The heat and pressure of the clash had beveled out a melted path of stone into the bridge centering around a molten crater still golden from the heat of the onslaught.

“Zansatsu teach you that one? It's quite good, but fire won't work against Suijin”. In his mind Zabuza was absolutely loosing his mind at the power of his blade. To summon water from nowhere with little to no chakra was the ultimate weapon against fire. Still the boy's ability was amazing to still be standing after pulling an attack like that. It was a short but sobering moment when Zabuza realized the devastation the fire wreaked on the bridge. If that fire had been much hotter it likely would have turned his own water against him, turning even it to fuel for its remarkable rampage. That was one hell of an attack.

“You forget one thing Zabuza.” Naruto smirked and said “I am the future Hokage!” Naruto charged a Chidori and plunged his fist into the remaining water, which still soaked the ground from Zabuza's attack sending the electrical current across the bridge in Zabuza's direction. A sadistic grin adorned Zabuza's face as Haku created a massive ice mirror, creating a barrier between the combatants, completely separating the sides of the bridge. The electricity dissipated immediately as it hit the icy barrier.

Naruto quickly noticed that the chidori wouldn't work and released the technique to avoid wasting chakra. “Impressive wall, but it won't hold Sakura back.” He turned to his teammate and nodded for her to do her thing.

Sakura made her move leaping over Naruto while charging her fist full of chakra. The resulting power punch shook the bridge with its sheer destructive force as shockwave after shockwave rang out from within the icy barrier. In moments the ice began to shatter and disintegrate. The reminisce of the wall rapidly shattered into snow which fell all over the bridge. Haku soon smirked as the beautiful snowfall quickly turned to a hail of ice senbon, raining assured death upon the bridge.

Sasuke was quick to counter by connecting his twin blades at the hilt and spinning them like a bo staff, engulfing his blade in flames which shot out in a controlled tornado to melt the senbon into a harmless rain. The teamwork Sasuke and Naruto had learned under the third made for a truly devastating combination. Furthermore, it was plainly evident to Kakashi how much they had progressed in their training with the Zate. They hadn't been given a significantly increased arsenal. What they had been given was a targeted set of skills necessary for their upcoming battles along with the energy levels necessary to utilize those new skills.

“Several fire users eh? How expected of Konoha Shinobi. Now that the theatrics are over, let's decide this by the sword shall we?” Zabuza was dead set on fighting Naruto after suffering that attack from before. The combination attacking and defending for their team was defiantly one to be reckoned with. As much as Zabuza was enjoying this what he truly wanted was a one on one with the blond. Naruto sheathed his single blade and moved into his Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu: Battojutsu position. Unknown to those without the ability to see chakra, Naruto was channeling wind chakra into his blade preparing an enhanced Battojutsu with a wind jutsu. It was a wind variation of the Sora Wari (Sky cutter) which Nazomishi and Kenshin were so fond of.

Zabuza stood his ground thinking where the kid would strike first. `That stance, Zansatsu used it, he would attack the blade knowing his blade could cut the opponent's, that would be foolish facing a blade made by the same man, so… I'll just do this.'

As Naruto unsheathed his blade with it's signature streak of light. A great wind burst forth from the blade forcing both Zabuza and Haku to cover their faces to keep their sight under the intense pressure of the strike. Both opponents began sliding backwards away from the bridge until Zabuza reacted with a skill of his own. He slammed his blade into the ground channeling a reverse waterfall from the ground utilizing water from his blade to form a protective barrier from the attack. Much to his surprise the attack wasn't the Battojutsu nor was it the initial blast of air pressure that had originally forced him to create the barrier. It was a wave which struck with such force it shattered the barrier like a building against a nuke. The water was dispelled instantly into billions of droplets and Zabuza blown from the center to the edge of the bridge. Zabuza flew through the air finally regaining a grip on the ground by slamming his blade into the road at the edge of the bridge.

“…SHIT how much chakra does this kid have!” `He's throwing around massive jutsu like they're nothing!' As the wind died down and the demon of the mist regained his foothold he took notice of the numerous flesh wounds adorning his body along with his now severely shredded clothing. The attack clearly wasn't as deadly or devastating as the great breakthrough suna nins were known for using but that clearly wasn't the purpose. The purpose of this technique was obviously to demoralize opponents and act as crowd control delivering minor to moderate damage to a wide range of opponents. Or was it?! Zabuza instantly realized that the attack had left Naruto with plenty of time to prepare a strike to work in succession with a distraction.

“MORE THAN YOU!” Naruto screamed as he fallowed up the attack by continuing the path of the blade into a rotation and finally a second slash of the same devastating attack.

“Fine…” Zabuza stated coldly as the second attack came and he himself pored chakra into his next swing raising the weight of his blade dramatically to enhance the force of his counter. The blade of wind collided with Suijin and clashed with it momentarily before finally succumbing to Zabuza's raw strength.

Unfortunately for Naruto that attack ate up about twice as much chakra as a Raikiri, and even with his current chakra levels that was a lot. A High A-rank attack with major chakra needs this attack was designed to overwhelm an opponent by surprise and take them out before they had a chance to get up their defenses. How was this not working?

`Damn, no wonder Kakashi had so much trouble with this guy, ok so that sword's from Nazo but to stop that attack with strength alone is insane! …”Naruto's attention was temporarily drawn to Sakura and Sasuke taking off to fight Haku. By the looks of things they were fairing rather well. Sakura was making good use of a defensive chakra skin technique related to the chakra scalpel to deflect an almost constant stream of senbon. Sasuke on the other hand was hacking away with such intense speed that the senbon seemed like a flurry of toothpicks. Still they were both trapped in a dome of mirrors unable for the life of them to come up with a way to destroy the invincible mirrors.

“Looks like your friends are fairing well against Haku. I'd expect no less after training under that man.” The two combatants stood opposite of each other both panting, short of breath after that last attack as Kakashi had seemingly vanished taking a back seat to watch his students in their struggle to see their newfound powers.

Their standoff lasted for nearly a minute, both Naruto and Zabuza waiting for an opening in the other's defense. Zabuza was soon surprised when Naruto faded into a flurry of leafs. His senses kicked in alerting himself to an attack from behind. Zabuza pivoted on his blade as it rested against the ground, using the man over to propel his resting blade into Naruto's strike. Four successive strikes occurred in an instant which Zabuza defended against skillfully. The demon of the mist utilized the force of each movement to propel the next movement forward so as to make the massive blade more efficient. It worked quite well.

The blades struck into a stalemate once again. “I'll admit one thing kid. Your raw strength is amazing for your age.” Zabuza pushed against Naruto's blade gaining a few inches of ground before continuing. “But I'm stronger!” Zabuza's muscles grew dramatically in size if only for a moment. In that instant the demon gained more than enough power to throw Naruto hurling towards Haku's battle. The blond used his blade to direct his movement towards the ground like a skilled bird with a tail feather. He skid to a stop as Zabuza threw his left arm forward having finished a quick set of one handed seals. A powerful blast of water burst from Zabuza's palm aiming strait for Naruto's stomach. Luckily for Naruto he had hastened his landing just enough to notice the oncoming attack and utilized the instant speed burst of a shunshin to blur out of the path of the projectile.

Naruto held out his left hand and began forming a Rasengan when surprisingly Zabuza rested his sword against the ground, using his left hand to point behindthe blond. He felt a presence there and turned to face it.It stood nearly twenty feet from the bridge behind Haku's battle.

“Heywhat do we have here, the great Zabuza in a stalemate against a kid? Pathetic…”Gato mocked believing he had the upper hand. In truth this was a good thing. The demon being in a stalemate of a fight meant he would be weaker than one where he was winning. It meant both sides would be weakened and he was in position just as Nazomishi had said.

“So you'reGato.”Sakura stated while cracking her knuckles and looking to Sasuke who smirked back at her and turned to the greedy bastard.

“I'm impressed even a worm knows my name. Now I'm fealin generous today so let me tell youse what I'm gona do. Any of you who surrender now can work under me as my personal body guards. Sound good?”`They can fight for me to kill Zabuza then tomorrow all I have to do is poison them and boom, dead rookies'.

“No it doesn't.” A familiar voice was heard from over behind the numerous mercenaries and bandits.

“Hey who said that, I'll teach youse to interrupt me!”

“I said it.” Four black robed figures (back in the org XIII robes minus one with Sephy robes with straw hat) walked out from a nearby forest and stood behind the numerous mercs calmly with no real show of emotion.

“Yea and what youwant!”

“You Gato, we want you. We the Zate have found you guilty of greed, theft, disruption the peace of a peaceful town, racketeering, starving its people, and slavery. For this your sentence is death.” The tone of the voice was low and emotionless. It was as if the grim reaper himself were reading the fate of a damned soul. A merc nearby lunged at the speaking man with a katana, aiming for the heart. The others looked on in horror as he was shredded into pieces in what seemed like an explosion of blood. There was no apparent movement from the four, simply a torrent of blood as the man's body became unrecognizable as a former human being.The only evidence that any of them had actually moved was the fact that the one in the straw hat now held a Nodachi in one hand, swinging it around and finding a resting place on his shoulder.

The hooded figures removed their hoods revealingthemselves to be team thirteen while Nazomishi's straw hat simply vanished in a flash of light. Hayatesoonspoke up to give them their sentence under Konoha jurisdiction. “You are also guilty of holding ransom an allied city of Konoha. By order of Sandaime Hokage, all who continue to follow the path of Gato will be put to death in accordance with Konoha lawat the request of the people of this village.

“Wait, wait I hired you! You can't do this! This is treason!”

Aoshi, Rei, and Hayate drew theirblades while using them to point to the red spot on the ground. The betrayal quickly became evident to Gato as fear gripped his mind. Helooked around for a path to escape, clearly not wanting to be around for the coming massacre. Yes he had an army of mercs, but even he knew they were useless against this many Shinobi. The only escape route was strait through the freshly appearing Kakashi with his father's blade in hand, Zabuza with Suijin ready to taste blood, Naruto with both his blade's drawn and enveloped with wind, Sasuke and his enveloped in electricity and a frightening Sakura cracking her knuckles.

An ice Senbon lodged itself into Gato's left shoulder hitting a spot which froze him in place. The mercs were starting to panic wondering where to go, what to do. They were in dire straits and had to make a decision fast. Would they run or would they fight.

“Anyone who gets me out of here! I'll pay you double no five times!” The shinobi frowned at the feeble attempt to get away while the mercs smirked at the chance for bonus pay. Or at least some of them, the frightened ones simply decided to take their chances with the water over the side of the bridge.

One merc with a mace whipped it around and around swinging it at Rei's head. Rei simply raised her hand, enveloping it in fire and melted her way through the mace before grabbing onto the man's head and setting him aflame. She gripped his head like a basketball and threw the lifeless carcass over the side. “Not wise to mess with a pyro eh Nazo kun?”

“Definitely not Rei chan.” Both bore smirks large enough to make Vegeta jealous as they turned to Aoshi who had just raised his arms into the air.

“Don't forget ICE!” His pitch increased as he raised his arms and froze the water which covereda great portion of the bridge inthousands of gigantic icy spikes crisscrossing all over the place leaving no room for escape. As the ice melted the bridge became covered in a red pool of bloodstaining meltingspikes, permanently staining the mortar in that section of the bridge. A few more highly trained mercs took to running up the icy pillars into a leaping attack at the `traitors.' Much to Gato's dismay they fell to the ground in pieces after a few effortless swings of Nazomishi's blade flung a sharp vortex through the air, slicing them and all offending pillars in itspath.Not many mercs had escaped the impossible slaughter of Aoshi's technique. The few were revealed as Aoshi formed another set of seals to remove the ice leaving the remnants of the attack to flood the bridge in water and blood.

The four moved as soon as the ice had melted and the shock of the moment was beginning to wear off of the remaining mercs. Their blades did not simply maim their targets. They tore their way through in a handful of dance like movements that efficiently slew every remaining merc.

In only a matter of seconds these fourhad succeeded in slaughtering nearly two hundred mercs leaving only Gato standing in a pool of blood and lifeless bodies. The sight had Sakura on her knees making a feeble attempt not to throw up while Naruto was on the verge of freaking out at the sheer amount of blood. Both of them were on the verge of shock at the horrific seen. Sasuke on the other hand was simply stunned and reminded of the night where he relived the death of his entire clan … over… and over… and over.

`How…how can they do that?'Naruto thought having witnessed such horror for the first time.

`They…they just? But they were so kind, how could they do this so effortlessly?'The fear that had gripped the mercs had entered Sakura. At this moment she was truly afraid of them. True they had been so nice even with their harsh training, but to kill this many people so effortlessly, without remorse…What the hell were they?

`Oh kami…no NO Not again!'The sight instantly brought back memories ofthatnight. The sight of his fallen family members flooded his mind as he fell to his knees in horror. Sasuke gripped his head praying the memories would leave but whenever he would open his eyes and behold the horrific scene the memories flooded back once again.It was truly their first exposure to such suffering.

“Impressive, you three are the Hitokiri you claimed to be.” This cleared any doubts in Zabuza's mind that they were who they said they were. It made him glad, with men capable of such things his dream could finally be accomplished. Zabuza in his thought looked back to Gato and a wonderful smirk adorned his face. “Oh look, you even left me a party favor.” He ripped off his face mask revealing the face he wanted to be stuck in Gato's mind through all his eternity in hell.

He strode back and forth,blade in hand as Gato was frozen in complete terror. His mind had entered complete overload after the previous bloody scene. Suijin's first taste of blood was taken in with a deep amount of satisfaction which sickened the shinobi watching. Nazomishi simply sighed and shook his head knowing it was but one of a great many habits Zabuza would have to be cured of.

Team thirteen bowed for a few moments offering a silent prayer for the dead, hoping they could find repentance in the next life.

“Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura…get a hold of yourselves, this is the life of a shinobi and you will see far worse in the days to come.Or did you forget there's a war comeing?” In his life Nazomishi had seen so much of it he momentarily forgot that these were just kids. Granted they were shinobi but they were still kids. And yet he knew they had to be introduced to it sooner or later. This was unfortunately for the best. It's not like the Jedi did any different. Ok, so killing wasn't exactly encouraged in the Jedi but it was at least similar.

“Worse…WORSE! what the hell do you mean worse! Sure there's a war coming but you didn't need to kill ALL OF THEM!”

“…I delivered judgment that's all there is to it. They were greedy murderers and would have killed their own mothers,given enough money. The ones who jumped over the bridge made the right choice. They gave up, they survived.They saw that money wasn't

worth it.”

“What gives you the right huh? HUH?”Naruto shouter boisterously.

“Trust me, when you have seen the bloodshed we have, you know. That is exactly what we'rehere to stop.People like that could kill half a dozen people easy before ever getting caught.If each one of them killed two people each that would leave 400 innocents dead. Which is more valuable 400 innocents or 200 murderers?”

“I…”Naruto wanted to answer. He wanted to give this bastard a lecture to end all of hell…but nothing came. Why couldn't he find an answer, a reply, anything?

“Konoha is about to go to war and the decision won'tbe this kind, it will be your life or theirs. That is why we manipulated eventsto our advantage. With spies in every village major and small we have manipulated these events so we will only be fighting our enemies. We have taken every possible step to reduce or eliminate innocent casualties.”

“War…spies…what are you talking about, were going to war?” Sakura spoke up frightened at the aspect of war. Was it going to be another battle like the great wars? Who were their opponents? Why?Why was this happening now? What the hell was going on?

“Rei, you didn't tell her?” Nazomishi rubbed his head, feeling a headache coming on.

“Sorry, I kinda forgot.”Rei gave a recoiled grin when she saw the stern stair of Nazomishi.

“Grand…Sakura, how should I put this.”Nazomishi trailed off attempting to think of how to put it when Aoshi chimed in.

“We have a friend in the sound village, he alerted us to their plans to attack with an alliance with Suna. He plans on leaving sound during the battle, and until then is gathering traitorsin their ranks to join us in battle. Your training was to prepare you for the battles to come during the chuunin exams. Understand?”Aoshi filled in the information Nazomishi wanted to get across.

“…” `Why do things like this always have to happen to me! My dad barely made it through the last war, how am I supposedto as a Genin?”

“Aoshi, I received word from Hiko the other day that the Yondaime Kazekage was killed by the leader of sound a little undera month ago and has since then been impersonating him, driving the entire alliance.” Kakashi's visible eye went wide open in shock that a Kage could be taken down so easily even if it was by the leader of another nation.Sure they had told him about the future event of it happening but the Zate had prepared for that.

“So you weren'table to save him.” Kakashi added sadly, knowing the Zate had made some effort to prevent this.”

“I'm afraid so, Orochimaru is simply too powerful and manipulative. Accordingto Hiko the snake handled matters personally.I sent word to Sarutobiyesterday. We are to return ASAP and act as the Hokage'spersonal spiesduringthe exams;we are under S-Class secrecy and an A-rank mission to kill any spies we find in the exams. That includes all Oto nin.Not even the council is permitted to know.”

“…The Hokage wants us to kill? But…but were just…”Sakura tried to reason that they were simply genin but that wasn't an argument that was going to go anywhere.

“This is a time of war, what you are is irrelevant.”

“This is bull shit Nazo, and you know it. The old man would never order us to do such a thing!”

“NARUTO!”Nazomishi's face was harsh and stern showing how serious he was. To all the others looking on it was actually a rather frightening situation.

“Oh what are you going to say now. It's for the village. It's good to kill. I don't want to hear your shit!” Nazomishi shrugged and turned around about to walk away when an epiphany downed in his mind.

“Naruto…What is your dream.”Nazomishi asked more calmly.

“Oh now what does that have to do with anything.”

“NARUTO!”

“Alright, alright fine…To be Hokage.” `I still don't get what that has to do with anything.'

“And what does that mean?”

“Where are you…”These questions seemed pointless. What the hell did his dream have to do with anything?

“Just answer him.”Aoshi pushed having an idea of where Nazomishiwas going with this.

“Fine…It means to be the strongest.”

“And why do they need to be the strongest?”

“So they can protect the village.”

“There's an old saying I know, it's from a story I knew long, long ago. It says `With great power comes great responsibility.'Naruto we have power, we have greatpower. Not only do we have great power but with that comes the responsibility to, like the Hokage, protect those who cannot defend themselves. It is the Hokage's duty as a man with the power to do so, to do anything within his power to protect those who cannot defend themselves. To protect the innocent from those who would do them harm. And if that means killing a murderer then so be it! It's hard to admit but your dream is the same as all of ours, to protect those who are precious to us. But with that dream comes the harsh reality that we must kill. If you don't like it then strive to create a world where it is not necessary. If you cannot do that then accept it and do everything in your power to minimize the toll.Reality is harsh and we cannot be blinded by feeble philosophy. We have to work towards philosophy not fallow them.”

“But why cant we…”

“Just dismember them, make them so they cannot hurt people anymore? There three kinds of criminal in this world. Those who commit crimes for gain, those who do it because they can and those who simply have no other choice. Over the years I have learned a difficult truth;those whorepeatedlykill for gain will do it again and again regardless of punishmentuntil the cost is greater than the punishment.For many the only punishment real enough to affect them is death.Once they get in deep there's only two ways to get them out. Put them through something so traumatic or so life changing that they can't help but change, or shatter their mind to such a point that they no longer have the urge. It's sad but manyare in too deep to change their minds, it becomes hard wired into their being, most of the time it would take a miracle to change them. For those who kill because they can…there's no hope for them, you either kill them or shatter their minds into a pile of mush. So long as they can think they will eventually return to that sickening bloodlust they hunger after. Then if they can't do it themselves they will hire people do to it for them.”

“And what do you do with the ones who have no choice? Kill them too?”

“That is why we fight to save them. That is why we saved Zabuza. To give him a second chance. He lived his life forced to kill from day one. With us we are offering him a new chance at life. I can see his mind and despite the cold exterior of a battle hardened murderer. At a fundamental but buried level he cares for people, he hates what the Mizukage has put his people through. He hates what he was taught, he hates that he was commanded to kill in order to become a Genin, hates that he went too far.The decisions are hard and always will be, but you can't sit by and do nothing, not when you have the power to do something about it.There are always exceptions and because of that we must be virulent. We cannot afford to be complacent.”

“…” `How can he be so adamant about this. He's no older than me and it's like he's killed a thousand people already. Rrrrauaa…this is bull shit. Stupid war. Stupid Sannin!'By Sannin Naruto was referring to Orochimaru who he saw as the source of this entire predicament.

“Let'sgo Nazo I think they have enough to think about already.”Rei said with concern in her voice.She could feel the pain Naruto was feeling, the pain team seven was feeling. This was and always had been the worst part of their job. Rationalizing what they did. In a lot of ways they acted like the Sith with Jedi principles. It was confusing and complicated and difficult to explain to others. Somehow though, they knew they had to be right. If they weren't, then what was it all for?

“Yea…You right Rei. Let'sgive them a little space.” Nazomishi sighed and motioned for Hayate and Aoshi to fallow them. It would seem they had a few matters to discuss amongst themselves.

Just on the other side of the bridge the villagers stood there in shock. For the longest time they had stood there, watching, virtually the entire fight between Naruto, Zabuza, silently rooting him on. It came as a pleasant surprise to them that Zabuza turned out to be on their side. It took a few moments of silence and contemplating but the villagers began to assist in the burying of the dead.

With Gato's life over the shinobi sheathed their blades and removed their cloaks with a minimal number of hand seals, sealing them within seals tattooed wherever they chose the clothingseal to be placed. The next few hours were spent burring the dead, cleaning the bridge and the Jounin helping team seven adjust to the reality of life as a shinobi. When Zabuza asked why they were burying their enemies Nazomishi responded with something similar to what Kenshin once said.

“Good or evil all lives hold value, killing is a sad but necessary part of what we do in the protection of the innocent. Praying for and burying the dead is just our way of showing their souls that despite everything in the past, everything has value, that they in death still have a chance to learn and move on and repent of their past ways. God is merciful and I believe with all my heart that he rejoices every time a soul find's it's way back to him…”

The concept that someone who could kill so easily could also hold God, could hold life in general in such high regard. In every conceivable aspect of the word he knew his life just became a lot more interesting. Zabuza couldn't help but smile knowing he had found someone to help him sort out his feelings towards killing. Someone to help answer questions which have plagued him since childhood. Silently he bent down and began helping with the bodies.

The trip back to Konoha was a somber one with team thirteen letting team seven work things out in their minds. It was a sad realization but it had to be done. They had to be introduced to the real life of a warrior. Otherwise…there was no way they would survive the battles to come. In the minds of the Zate…it was all inevitable. The coming bloodshed would make or break their presence in this world. For better or worse it would be the most bloodshed they had been involved in since “The Great Rebellion of the Republic.”