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The first clue that something was wrong was that the closer they got to the bridge, the thicker the fog became. The second was that when they got to the bridge, there was a pile of unconscious workers. Reacting quickly they all moved into formation around Tazuna, weapons drawn at the ready.
Sasuke took out his twin short katana and getting into a low crouch with his feet spread apart, ready to start his rotation. Hinata checked the straps on her gauntlets while Shino kept his hidden in his sleeve in case of a surprise attack and at the same time sending out his bugs to assess the area. Kurenai took out one of her kunai, having learned in their first encounter with the Demon of the Mist that her Sharp Shooter was not as effective without her genjutsu to support it. Kakashi and Sakura both took a kunai in each hand while Kiba got into his clans stance with Akamaru.
They stayed like this for several minutes, waiting for Zabuza to make his move, the mist swirling around them as they stood as still as statues.
Just when the tension was getting too much for them to take they saw two shadows appear in the mist, calmly walking towards them. The closer they got the clearer they became, until finally they were both fully visible, revealing them to be Zabuza and the Hunter-nin from before, standing together and confirming their suspicions.
The two opposing forces stared at each other for a moment, sizing each other up, until Zabuza stepped forward and locked eyes with Kakashi.
"This can all end now if you just hand over the old man."
The way in which he said this showing that he clearly didn't expect them to comply.
"It could also end now if you both leave."
No one moved throughout the short exchange of words, and they stayed like that for some time. Shaking his head the Demon of the mist turned towards the young hunter-nin standing next to him and gave him orders.
"The blondes not hear, so pick another brat to entertain yourself with while I fight Kakashi."
"I understand."
The reply that came surprised the Konoha nin, not the reply itself, but the fact that it was clearly female, and without another word they both vanished into the mist.
Sasuke, getting inpatient with the games, ran after them in the direction that he had seen both ninja disappear in an attempt to catch them before they could get too far, blocking out the shouts that followed him as he ran, but he was too slow.
He heard the sounds of battle behind him but before he could run back to help the others a senbon needle found itself imbedded into the lower part of his right leg. Gritting his teeth in pain, he pulled out the needle and turned around in an attempt to find the one that had thrown it.
But before he could find them another needle shot into his left forearm, then another into his right, realizing that he was a sitting duck when he stood still, Sasuke started to spin. It wasn't easy, the needles didn't stop and it took him a full minute to build up enough momentum to start countering.
One of the first things Naruto had tort him when he had gotten used to spinning was how to block. It wasn't like most styles, were each time you block a strike you come to a brief standstill, this kind of blocking required you to just skin the opponents weapon in order to redirect where it would hit. The blonde had tort him this by throwing rocks at him until he could block.
For several minutes Sasuke continued to spin and block most of the senbon that were being aimed at him. Then it stopped, just in time because the young Uchiha couldn't spin for much longer without stopping, and the hunter-nin came into view.
"Impressive, I see you have not been idol in the last few weeks. But it will not save you; you are not strong enough to defeat me at your current level. If you surrender now I will spare you."
The calm tone in which the hunter-nin said this infuriated Sasuke, it was the same tone he used.
Sasuke didn't notice that his eyes had flashed red in the moments after what the hunter-nin had said, but Haku did. Taking that as her answer, she shook her head sadly and lifted her hands to perform hand seals.
The speed in which the hunter-nin preformed seals was enough to make Sasuke worried, he could barely see them. But what truly scared him was when the water on the bridge started to rise and formed into a dome of perfect mirrors made out of ice. Her Jutsu complete, Haku stepped back into one of the mirrors and disappeared.
Slowly walking up to the closest one to him, Sasuke reached out his hand to examine one, only to jump back into the middle in surprise when an image of the hunter-nin appeared in the mirror. As quick as he could the raven haired boy rushed through hand seals and shot out a good sized fire ball at the mirror in front of him. Then his eyes widened in shock when the smoke cleared.
There wasn't a scratch on the mirror.
Slowly the image of the hunter-nin appeared in all the mirrors and Sasuke was getting a very bad feeling.
"Theses are a product of my bloodline; I call it 'Demonic Ice Mirrors'. No one has ever escaped. You will be no different."
Before he could reply Sasuke found himself yet again being peppered with senbon. He tried his best to block them but they were faster than the last time and he couldn't get enough momentum built up to effectively block.
When they finally stopped Sasuke slumped to the ground, his legs no longer able to support him. His body was full of needles, hardly any flesh left unscathed.
Then he heard something that made him think that he had lost too much blood. In the distance, but getting closer every moment was a low whistling. He didn't recognise the tune but there was no mistaking that it was getting closer.
And then came out of the mist someone that made Sasuke both happy and caused him to slap himself in the face at the same time, of all the people that could have come to his rescue, why did it have to be him.
There, stood in all his glory with his usual manic grin on his face, was Naruto.
"Hey duck ass, you look like shit. Why did you let her hit you with so many pointy things, or are you just into that shit?"
Gritting his teeth Sasuke practically yelled.
"Shut the fuck up! Just help me already!"
The blonde brought his index finger to his lips and made a thinking face, then walked up to the still injured Sasuke.
"Ok."
And hit him in the back of the neck, forcing the boy to fall face first on the ground. Picking up the limp boy with one hand by the back of his collar Naruto then proceeded to throw the boy in the direction of the other Konoha nins, hearing a scream when the boy landed near them.
Nodding to himself the still grinning blonde turned back to the hunter-nin that had come out of the mirror to watch the exchange.
"That was a very brave thing you did, getting your friend out of harm's way."
"I told you already Haku-chan, they mean nothing to me, and I just needed him out of the way. Now, are you going to take off that mask so I can see your pretty face or not?"
Haku froze when the blonde used her name, but reached up and removed the mask none the less.
"How did you know?"
Naruto's grin stretched even bigger.
"Your smell, you smell of wild flowers and herbs. I knew you weren't a hunter-nin the first time we met. They always smell of blood."
Haku just nodded her head in satisfaction at his answer.
"So what now, I don't want to fight you, but I will for Zabuza."
Again the blondes grin stretched even bigger across his face.
"We don't need to fight, were about to be on the same side."
Seeing her confused face Naruto laughed.
"Did you really think someone like Gato would pay you? He's leading a small army here now to kill us all after we tire ourselves out fighting each other."
Haku's eyes widened at the boys words. She did have her suspicions about the man but Zabuza needed the money for his dream, so she had kept her mouth shut.
Before anything else could be said between the two the mist suddenly vanished, causing Haku to gasp. Turning to where they could hear the fight between Kakashi and Zabuza, the two were greeted with the sight of a badly hurt Kakashi running at an equally hurt Zabuza, who was being held in place by a pack of dogs, with a lightening charged fist.
Without thinking Haku crossed the distance and was stood in front of Zabuza, shielding him from the lethal blow and closed her eyes waiting for the pain.
It never came.
When nothing happened Haku opened her eyes and gasped at the sight before her. Naruto had followed her, but instead of getting in the way like she had he grabbed Kakashi's arm, stopping it inches from her chest. The lightening was all around him and he must have been in great pain, but he didn't let go. He just stood there, holding the shocked Kakashi's arm and grinning at her.
When the Jutsu finally ran its course the still stunned Kakashi stepped back and stared at Naruto in shock. Who then let out a loud burp, along with a large amount of smoke and laughed.
"That's a spicy meat-a-ball!"
If it was anyone else they would have been worried.
As Haku gently lowered Zabuza to the ground Kakashi turned to Naruto.
"I hope you have a very good reason for this Naruto."
"Gato and a army of thugs are on their way to kill us all after we tire ourselves fighting each other, including no-brow and Haku-chan. They are no longer our enemies."
All but Haku was shocked at his words.
"Are you sure?"
"Yep, saw them with my own eyes. Their either drunk or retarded because they were talking about how it would be so easy to kill us."
It was at this point that Zabuza started to use every swear word ever used.
"That fucking little shit stain! When I get my hands on him I'm going to cut his balls off and make him eat them! How dare he cross me!"
Looking at the still downed Zabuza the blonde boy bent over his head and locked eyes.
"I just told you how, he's bringing an army. You should really learn to listen."
If he wasn't injured Zabuza would have strangled the blonde. But before anything else could be said Sakura let out an ear splitting scream. Turning to see what she was screaming about they were all shocked.
Standing next to Zabuza was Haku, with an arrow sticking out of her back between her shoulder blades. Catching her as she fell to the ground Naruto set her down on her front so as not to make it worse. She was very pale, almost completely white and had started to shake.
They all looked in the direction that the arrow had come from to find a short man with grey hair and sunglasses, stood in front of a small army of thugs. He was wearing what looked like a very expensive suit and the smuggest look on his face any of them had ever seen.
He turned to address the man stood next to him with a bow in hand.
"You missed, I told you to hit the blonde."
Stepping forward a few more feet, but not leaving the safety of his thugs, Gato turned back to face them, or more specifically, Zabuza.
"I knew you couldn't do it, some demon you turned out to be."
Turning his attention to Naruto he grinned.
"So you're the little pest that has been causing so much trouble. You killed my men and let those women go free."
It was then that the short man made the biggest mistake of his life.
"But no matter, I'll just take these three lovely women as compensation. I'm sure my men would enjoy a celebration after this is all over."
The cheers from the men were short lived. The air suddenly grew thicker and was getting harder and harder to breathe. The Konoha ninja backed away from Naruto as his killing intent became visible as a dark aura surrounded him.
His head was lowered so his hair was shadowing his eyes and the grin on his face looked so wide it must have been painful.
Zabuza was as shocked as everyone else at first, but then he let out a chuckle, and then that chuckle turned into full blown laughter.
"You did it now."
His voice shaking in fear, Gato turned his attention to Zabuza.
"W-w-what the hell are you talking about?"
"You wanted to see a true demon, well you got it!"
As Zabuza said this Naruto through his head towards the sky and let lose a roar. There was nothing human about this roar; it was too deep, too guttural. No human could make a sound like the one Naruto was making. It sent shivers down their spines and several of Gato's thugs turned and ran at the mere sound of it.
His eyes seemed to glow with an eerie blue light and his pupils had become fin slits.
Then, still roaring, he put his hands together into a cross shaped hand seal and with a large burst of smoke the bridge was filled with Naruto's, there were to many to even attempt to count, and one by one they joined their voices together with the original and roared.
And as one they stopped, leaving the bridge in complete silents. No one moved, no one breathed.
The words that left Naruto's mouth scared them all.
"Parade of a Thousand Demons."
He said it in no more then a whisper but they all heard him as clearly as if he had yelled it.
Without another word the Naruto's all started to ripple. They became creatures of all shapes and sizes, big small, fat and skinny. Some didn't even seem to have mouths. The rag doll was there, giggling. There were half animal and half humans as well. Things like tigers and wolves, and for some reason a small rabbit with sharp teeth and glowing red eyes. There was a huge, grey skinned, mammoth of a man that stood at over fithteen feet. Its entire body rippling with so much muscle it had trouble moving. A pink, human shaped thing, it walked on its hands and feet but had no fetchers. No face or definition to its body at all, almost like a blob in a human shape. There were creatures flying in the sky above their heads, some with scales and some with feathers, some that even had both.
They were everywhere, no matter where you looked there was something looking back at you with hungry eyes. And they were all giggling and laughing, as if there was a joke that only they could hear.
And stood at the front of them all, like a general stood at the forefront of his army was something that made all that looked at him shrink away in fear.
It was a young boy, no older then seven, with bright blonde hair and the bluest eyes any of them had ever seen. On each of his cheeks were three black whisker marks. He was wearing a tattered white t-shirt and a pair of equally tattered black shorts. He was the only one that wasn't laughing, he wasn't even giggling. He just stood there, staring at them with eyes that were too old for a boy.
More and more of Gatos men were losing it, but were too afraid of the monsters to run.
Then, as if they heard an unspoken command they all fell silent, no more giggling, no more insane laughter, just absolute silence.
"Ring a round the roses,
A pocket full of posies,
A-tish-yoo, a-tish-yoo,
You. All. Fall. Down."
His voice was as soft as the chiming of bells, pure, innocent. Yet at the same time just as demonic as of the monsters that surrounded them, and at the word down, hell was unleashed.
It was like a dam broke, in one big surge the horde descended onto the thugs with the force of a tidal wave. Those that could fly swooped down and plucked the screaming men and carried them high into the air before dropping them back into the slaughter below.
The red eyed rabbit was sprinting from person to person, ripping the throat out of any it could get its teeth into. The grey skinned hulk was tearing men apart with his huge hands, roaring like a wild animal as the blood fell on it like rain. The pink blob was making quick work of anything that touched it, absorbing them into its body and getting fatter and fatter with each new person that it 'ate'.
Limbs were flying everywhere and blood was falling like a heavy rain. And in the middle of it all was the small boy, walking in a straight line towards Gato, who had been untouched by the creatures that had massacred his men like they were nothing.
By the time the boy stood in front of him they were all dead. All that was left was a few body parts and blood, so much blood.
Kneeling before the boy Gato begged.
"I can give you anything, money, power, women, anything you want!"
The boy cocked his head to the side, as if thinking about the offer.
"Anything?"
Seeing his chance, Gato stood up and moved closer to the boy.
"Anything!"
The boy slowly lifted his hands and put them on the frantic mans head, then leaned in closer so that only Gato could hear.
"I want your head."
All Gato could do was widen his eyes in horror before the boy gave a sharp pull and his head was pulled from his shoulders and as the body fell to its knees a fountain of blood erupted from the neck, spraying the boy and ground surrounding him.
The monsters all disappeared in a burst of smoke, leaving the boy standing alone in the middle of what was left of Gatos army. Turning, with the head of Gato still in his hands, the boy faced the shocked faces of the Konoha nin's and the villagers of wave, who had shown up sometime during the bloodbath.
As he walked toward them his body started to grow, until the original Naruto stood before them, still covered in blood.
He stopped a few feet away and tossed the head at the feet of the villagers.
"Some people need to die. I regret nothing."
And with those words his eyes went blank and he fell, landing between Zabuza and Haku.
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