Naruto: God of Shinobi

Chapter 18: Enemies Revealed

The hideout was dark and damp and smelled of salt and blood and the particular decay that came from buildings built too close to water that did not want them there. Wooden walls. Wooden floors. A single lamp in the corner that cast more shadows than light. The mist pressed against the windows like something alive, something curious, something that wanted to come inside and see what all the noise was about.

Zabuza sat against the far wall with his sword across his lap and his eyes closed and his breathing slow and even. His clothes were still wet from the river. His skin was pale from blood loss. The Water Dragon had done more damage than he wanted to admit, three massive serpents of chakra and current that had slammed into him with the force of a collapsing building. His ribs ached. His head throbbed. His arms felt heavy and wrong.

He did not show any of this.

He was the Demon of the Hidden Mist. He did not show weakness. He did not admit pain. He endured, the way he had always endured, the way he had learned to endure in the blood prison of Kirigakure's graduation exam, where children killed children to prove they were worthy of wearing the forehead protector.

The twins sat across from him, backs against the wall, shoulders touching. Zuro and Juro. Identical in every way that mattered. Same face. Same height. Same scar above the left eyebrow, earned in the same fight, against the same enemy, when they were seven years old and already killers. Their masks were off now, cracked and broken from the battle. Their faces were pale and sharp and young. Too young for the things they had done. Too young for the things they would do.

Haku moved between them, silent and graceful, his hands glowing with the soft green light of healing chakra. He touched Zuro's shoulder. The bruise there faded. He touched Juro's ribs. The crack beneath the skin knitted itself back together. He worked without hurry, without words, without any expression at all. His face was beautiful, too beautiful for a boy, too beautiful for a killer, with skin like porcelain and hair like dark silk and eyes that held nothing and everything at the same time.

Zabuza watched him. He trusted Haku more than anyone in the world. More than any comrade. More than any friend. More than any person he had ever met in a life full of people who had tried to kill him and people he had tried to kill in return. Haku had been nothing. A orphan on the streets. A nobody. Zabuza had seen something in him, something sharp and cold and utterly without fear, and had pulled him out of the gutter and shaped him into a weapon.

The best weapon he had ever made.

"The bridge builder," Zabuza said. His voice was rough. Quiet. "He is still alive."

Haku did not look up from his work. "Yes."

"Kakashi is still alive."

"Yes."

"The genin are still alive."

A pause. Haku's hands stopped moving. He looked at Zabuza with those empty eyes. "Yes."

Zabuza was silent for a moment. Then he laughed. The sound was low and rough and without humor. "They are stronger than I expected. The boy with the clones. The one with the dark hair. Even the girl, though she did nothing but fall down and wake up after it was over."

He shifted his weight. His ribs complained. He ignored them.

"The plan has not changed. Gatō is a snake, but he is a useful snake. He has money. He has ships. He has control of the water. When I kill him, I will take all of it. The ports. The trade routes. The fear that he built. It will become mine."

He looked around the room. At the twins. At Haku. At the shadows in the corners where the light did not reach.

"I am going to build a village here. A hidden village. The Village Hidden in the Waves. I am going to be its Kage. And every rogue ninja, every missing nin, every killer who has nowhere else to go, they will come to me. They will fight for me. And I will build an army that even the Five Great Nations cannot ignore."

Haku nodded. His expression did not change. He had heard this speech before. He would hear it again. He believed it because Zabuza believed it, and Haku believed in Zabuza the way a blade believed in the hand that wielded it.

Zuro and Juro looked at each other. They did not speak. They did not need to. They thought the same thoughts, felt the same feelings, moved through the world as two halves of the same broken thing. They had followed Zabuza for years. They would follow him until they died. They had almost died today. That did not matter. What mattered was the mission. What mattered was the plan. What mattered was Zabuza.

The door opened.

Kasumi Uchinote stepped into the room.

She was young, looked to be sixteen or seventeen but in actuality shew as only thirteen, with hair the color of autumn leaves and eyes the color of honey and skin that was pale and smooth and seemed to glow in the dim light of the single lamp. Her figure was curved in ways that made men look twice, her bust still developing but already full, her hips already wide, her waist already narrow. She wore fitted clothing that emphasized every line of her body, not because she was trying to seduce anyone but because she liked the way it made her feel. Confident. Powerful. Seen.

She smiled. It was a dangerous smile, the smile of someone who knew exactly how attractive she was and was not afraid to use it as a weapon.

"Rough day?" she asked.

Zabuza did not smile back. "You were slow."

"I was careful. There is a difference." She walked across the room and knelt beside him. Her hands glowed with the same green light that Haku's had glowed with. She placed them on his chest, over his ribs, where the worst of the damage was. "You are getting old, Zabuza. Three dragons and you could not even dodge."

"I was distracted."

"By what?"

"A boy who created two hundred shadow clones."

Kasumi's hands paused. Her eyes narrowed. "Two hundred?"

"Maybe…. Al I know is that it was a sea of yellow firey hair."

She looked at Haku. Haku looked at her. Something passed between them, some understanding that did not need words.

"That is not normal," she said.

"Damn right it ain’t," Zabuza agreed.

She resumed healing. The green light pulsed. The cracks in his ribs began to close. The bruises began to fade. She worked quickly, efficiently, the way someone worked when they had been healing people for years and had learned exactly how much pressure to apply and exactly how long to hold it.

Zuro and Juro watched her. They did not trust her. She was new. She had only been with them for a few months. She had appeared one day in the mist, asking for work, offering her skills in exchange for protection and purpose. Zabuza had tested her. Had sent her on missions that should have killed her. She had survived. Had thrived. Had proven herself useful enough to keep alive.

But the twins did not trust her. She was too confident. Too flirtatious. Too comfortable in a room full of killers.

"Done." Kasumi stood up. She stretched her arms above her head, arching her back, showing off the lines of her body in a way that was either unconscious or completely deliberate. "Try not to get hit by any more dragons. Healing you is exhausting."

Zabuza grunted. He stood up. His ribs still ached, but the ache was dull now, manageable. He could fight. He would fight. Soon.

Kasumi walked to the window. She looked out at the mist. Her expression changed. The flirtation dropped away. Something else took its place. Curiosity. Interest. Hunger.

"What is it?" Haku asked.

Kasumi did not answer immediately. She placed her hand on the glass. The mist pressed against the other side.

"Chakra," she said. "I have been feeling it all day. Warm. Familiar. Like something I should recognize but do not."

She turned to face the others. Her eyes were bright. Her smile was back, but it was different now. Sharper.

"Whoever that boy is, whatever he is, he is not ordinary. And I want to know more about him."

The lamp flickered. The shadows on the walls danced. The mist pressed against the windows, patient and hungry and full of secrets.

Kasumi Uchinote was curious.

That was dangerous.

For everyone.

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Next Time: Is That a Boy or a Girl?

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