Sword of God -- A Naruto Fanfiction

| 9 | Lives at Stake

"How could you have, Naruto?" Sakura wails as she stares at the downed shinobi. "They were innocent, just doing their job!"

Naruto stares at her intensely before dissolving into a round of giggles.

He laughs maniacally, almost crazed and frenzied as he looks up at her, before bursting back into a fit of twisted laughter.

Kakashi sighs with an imaginary raincloud pouring over his head, reflecting his mood.

Naruto brushes off the fictitious dust as he rights himself, before replying to the banshee with a straight face, a melancholy edge to his voice as he tells it as it is.

"Sakura, this is the life of a shinobi. There is no mercy, and if I hadn't killed them, they would've killed one of us, provided that Kakashi didn't step in. You would sacrifice one of us?"

"Heck yeah! You, idiot!" She exclaims, not even bothering to grasp his words and comprehend it.

"You are scum," Naruto mutters with an angry fervour before turning back to the road, strolling ahead of them with each stomp seeming like it could uproot entire civilisations, the weight and stress getting to him.

~~~

"Tazuna-San? Why did you hire Konoha shinobi? Doesn't Wave Country have a Hidden Village?"

"Quiet, young woman! Gato's thugs could appear anywhere!"

An irritable fellow, and not exactly the most pleasant to travel with. He had been ultra-sensitive to the thought of being penalised for treason against Gato.

"Sorry," Sakura 'whispered', meaning that she spoke in a tone typical for any conversation.

"To answer your question, Sakura, Wave has no shinobi."

Sakura nodded. "Thanks, Tazuna-San."

"No problem."

"Didn't I say to shut up?!" The rower quietly exclaimed, with aggressive undertones carrying it into the ears of the recipients.

Why is there such an abundance in the mist? No regular mist can waft for miles on end!

They set foot on land, and the limited sight they had accumulated through adaptation to it during the long boat ride is immediately hampered.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

The thickened mist clears, hence affording them clear sight for as far as the eye can see.

"Good thinking, Naruto," Kakashi compliments as he scans the surroundings, the team reforming the Diamond Formation.

He freezes. "Zabuza Momochi; what's the Demon of the Hidden Mist doing here?"

This draws the attention of the genin, as they blink. Suddenly, silhouette phases into existence, before its colours, taking the form of a man.

With spiky hair and bandages wrapped around his body, he looks like a mummy, and well could be if not for the clothes covering the majority of them.

In his hand is a massive sword, akin to that of a gargantuan cleaver attached to a sword handle.

The Decapitating Carving Knife. A blade that my clan has fought against for centuries! This is one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist! My clan's pride rides on this encounter! I must defeat him.

"Kakashi Hatake; what's the Copycat Ninja doing here?" The now named Zabuza counters mockingly. "Spare me the theatrics. Step aside and you'll be spared," he offers to the trembling genin.