Fiat justitia, ruatcaelum

{{A/N; Well shit. A broken chapter backed with a doublepost. Embarrassing!! Ok, it is now fix-ed. Oops… Body art warning. And death. And graphic violence along with lots of name calling. And yes, the fight chapter. Well, most of it. Naruto's closing comment kinda ends the conversation nicely, I think. And I do apologise now, I am gonna work my ass off trying to top this... Three more big battles to go...
And to Kaa-san, you spoil me. Lots of new jutsu, new uses for jutsu, and old favorites.
And, uh… bring a tissue… CD}}

Tempest of the Heart

“This has been too long in coming.” Kakashi channeled a thick cord of chakra into his blade, the White Fang of Konoha blazing brilliantly.
“It has.” Zabuza replied, he reached behind his back, pulling a thick linen scroll from the large pouch, “And it has been on my mind since our last encounter.” Both stopped circling. “I have almost feared it’s coming.”
Kakashi hid his smirk as he clipped his ebony mask into place. “So certain of the outcome?”
The hunter shook his head, “You know me better than that, Kakashi. I’ve worn a hole in death’s doormat.”
“What other reason…? The tanto dipped in inch, the chakra around the blade fading slightly, “The scroll?”
Zabuza lifted the old style linen scroll.
“It only took you twenty five years,” Kakashi renewed the aura around his blade and raised it again, “What finally drove you to complete it?”
The hunter mask looked down at the tool of knowledge, “The memory of the man I once was. The man you have become.” And the gauntleted hand holding it crushed down, the wide wooden core splintering as the bamboo collapsed. Steely gray-black smoke began to pour from the scroll, the linen turning to ash under his hand. The fog rose into the air, growing larger and thicker, stirring from within. “This is my final work. The Tempest of the Heart.”
“A cloud?” Kakashi turned his full attention back to Zabuza, “I’m terrified beyond words.” The flat monotone in a raised voice echoed through the arena.
Two staggered lines of fractured tiles arced like earthen lightning bolts as the shinobi came, two tones of steel striking cried out in near unison.
The pair matched their strength, blade to blade, kunai crossed in the gap over their swords.
Kunai ripped out of the belly of the cloud above, two biting deeply into Zabuza’s back, three more dispelling Kakashi into a cloud of stirred smoke.
The hunter ducked as a second wave of blades shredded the air over his head, one slicing the black cloth of his bandana.
The anbu captain fell from overhead, torso rotating from inverted. His heel blasted through Zabuza as the water clone burst, his foot shattering the thick granite tile.
Eyes widened as a fist wrapped around his ankle, dragging his stunned limb into the floor to the knee.
Zabuza reappeared, pulling the bloody kunai from his back. His arms whipped forward, the air cracking as he released the blades.
Two rings sounded and there was an explosion of dust and rock as the anbu freed himself. The clatter of the deflected projectiles and cries of surprise from the genin were distant to both men.
“I wasn’t expecting an earth style technique. Well executed.”
“Your taijutsu has improved, but your strength still slows you.”
“Constructive criticism?” Kakashi drew a shuriken with his free hand, “Why are you stalling?”
The first weak rumble answered.
Zabuza held his hand out, “Tut. Tut.” Kakashi could feel the proud smirk behind the hunter mask. “Looks like rain.”
Nearly inaudible, the first fat drop struck Kakashi’s mask with a tiny pip. He dabbed a finger against the black mask, feeling the water. “It works. But too slowly.”
A gentle pip replied as another drop landed on the stone.
And another.
And a dozen more.
The single exclamations grew louder as they melded together, the crescendo of the storm rising into a downpour.
And the storm cleared it’s throat, a dragon’s growl that shook the faint of heart.
“A false storm will make no difference in the outcome of our battle, Demon.” Kakashi glared through the thickening sheets of rain, “I will still break your limbs and kill you slowly. Just as I vowed.”
“I shut your beak before, straw man.” The tip of the heavy katana raised, held solid in one sure fist, “You will live to see me do it again.” Black fire ignited across the leading edge of his blade.
The masked shinobi charged again, the water pooling on the tiled floor bursting away where their feet had impacted. Steel rang again. And again, each found his blade locked with the other, the chatter and pop of conflicting chakras sending up an acrid streamer of smoke.
Their eyes hidden and single hands signing in a blur of digits.
The rising water around the men began to stir, inverted whirlpools coming up, great liquid serpents taking form as they lunged, colliding with one and other, their bodies adding to the torrents of rain already falling from the artificial storm.
“Have you ever seen anything like this before…?” Haku was peeking through her fingers at the battle as the water dragons withdrew, reformed and tackled one and other again.
“I’ve never even heard of something like this…” Sango wiped the rain from her face, “They do not have mere fires burning in their spirits, a forest set ablaze is what they hold. And they do not fear to let the strength of those infernos loose in this place.”
“I have seen a battle much like this one before…” Sakura forced herself to blink. “It was the first real battle I can recall having been close enough to see clearly.”
Sasuke didn’t look away from the battle as he spoke. “You do have your surprises.”
The dragons of water roared, growing larger as they drew more of the rains into themselves, their bodies threatening the walls as they struggled liquid tooth and aquatic claw.
“It’s like art…” Hinata whispered. Her eyes were nearly closed, the byukaguran glowing, “The dragons… perfectly formed… the men glowing like two halves of the moon… and the utter chaos of this storm overhead…” She shivered, a simple smile coming to her face, “It’s so beautiful, Sakura…”
“It’s madness… It is insanity with reason, the very spirit of conflict!” Satoshi replied, his glowing eyes wide, his face fearful. “The first to slip in his control will mean the doom of us all…”
The dragons below collapsed, each throwing the other down in a wave of tidal proportions., the water cresting the raised catwalk where the genin stood. Those not clinging to the rail where pressed to the wall.
“The only safety in this,” Cried Miroko, “Is that we can see the end coming for us!”
“Ain’t it great!?” Shouted the woman sand nin.
The rainfall around the warring shinobi was distorting, bending around the chakra in the so thick air as they wove a jutsu in perfect tandem.
Above them, the belly of the summoned hurricane seethed like a pot of oil brought to boiling, serpents of lightning crackling like a nest of ants taken by consuming fire and insanity.
The thunder calling out from the heart of the tempest shook the arena with rising frequency and force.
The static charge in the air unsettling the hair of anyone who was still dry enough to be affected.
“Stay against the wall,” Eboshi began dragging the genin away from the rail, “Mask your chakra.”
“Maybe helping him finish that scroll wasn’t such a good idea…” Naruto mumbled.
*I think I agree, Kit.*

Itachi heard the restless fury within the storm jutsu. And every few moments, his eyes track ed a bolt of lightning as it arced from the cloud to any random place around the arena. But the crash of thunder never seemed to reach his ears. And yet, with each false premonition, the storm only grew more potent.
“Setting that jutsu off untested was a bad, bad idea, Zabuza…” He muttered.
“I don’t think letting such a thing loose indoors was terribly bright at all, tested or not.” Tsunade snapped at him, “And standing in a pool of water waving around a lightning rod seems a little haphazard as well.”
Jiriaya held a bottle in each hand, chasing one shot with the other, “Perhaps personal safety has slipped down the priority list several pegs. Down there underneath ‘avoid fatal blow’ and ‘spill that bastard’s blood’.”

The air had grown so thick with chakra it was difficult to breathe. The two had woven and canceled enough jutsu to have destroyed the stronghold, the vented energy collecting around them like oil fumes, just begging for the spark that would ignite it.
The rain had stopped falling on them, arcing away over the dense bubble of wasted potential.
And once more, the two shinobi cast the same jutsu in perfect unison.

Lee felt his heart racing, and yet his mind was calm. They casual drift of the rain falling was more like snow in his eyes. And he watched as the vipers reared their heads from the clouds, both racing for their quarry, yet becoming one seamlessly as they impacted mere inches from the heads of the shinobi.
The viper bit the crossed of the weapons, channeling itself down through the steel and burrowing into the floor.
Steam billowed from the deepening water, stone exploded as the viper returned back to the clouds above, energy spent.
Both men were cast back by the distortion of wind, superheated by the viper of lightning and the expanding flash of steam that engulfed them both. The stone bits pelted the armor of both, cracking their masks with the shards and the blades, fused into a single warped goober of ‘x’ shaped steel, fell.
Lee saw them both flying limply, the shock of their flight not yet upon their faces
*If only I were still in the prime of my youth, I could strike Hitake a dozen times before he could blink!*
The anbu leaned back, one hand reaching down to drag the surface of the water. His feet came down, sprays of water lifting gracefully into the air as he slid to a stop.
Zabuza hit the floor on his back, as limp as a corpse, riding along the surface of the water until he hit the wall and sunk, the crack was loud and after three beats, Lee heard the intake of breath.
“But the skull of Momoshi is far thicker than you all must surely suspect, for it is the wall behind the man that has shattered and see as even now he rises again!!”
Lee knew he was shouting, and that he spoke quickly, excitedly. But it still took far too long for his liking to express this thought, his mouth moving so slowly.
Zabuza rolled to his hands and knees, rising to them and holding. The mask fell from his face in pieces, his bandana falling with it.
One foot slipped under him and the hands gripped the armor plate, tearing the leather harness it was fixed to away. Then the bracers. And the greaves, along with the lower half of each pant leg. The remains were simply dropped as junk. Zabuza was on his feet, the last article he wore were his tattered pants turned shorts. Along one his chest, winding around his shoulders, a pale gray tattoo, a dragon, it’s head open as it’s jaws closed around the nape of his neck, claws matched up perfectly to faded scars on his chest and back. As if the portrayed creature had been burned into his skin, fighting to kill him. And none of his other scars, some certainly more recent than the body art, had seemed to disrupt the ink creature.

“No…” Haku covered her eyes. “Not again…”

“The girl tells half truth.” Zabuza’s voice carried like the thunder above, humming with a dual tone, but never echoing from the walls. He lifted his head, eyes closed, four long fangs flashing in his moth as he spoke, “We can rest, but that which is immortal cannot die.”
The eyes opened slowly, their gaze fixed on the anbu, “We slumber with infinite patience.” The sapphire eyes sparkled from within, looking downward across a lifted chin.
“Zabuza the Demon.” Kakashi drew a damp talisman from his armor, drawing a fresh katana from within, discarding the sheath into the water, “Welcome back.”
Zabuza stepped lightly upon the surface of the water, ripples other than those of his feet spreading along the surface as he moved. His posture seemed taller than the man had been, his shoulders back, arms lifted slightly, rolling like waves as his torso countered the sway of his hips with each step.

“Check out that stance…” Tsunade was scribbling furiously in her little memo book, “You see it?”
Both the other sannin nodded, then glanced to one and other.
“What are we seeing?” The Kazekage asked, his hand on the Mizukage’s shoulder, silencing her.
“Aside from the nicest ass I’ve ever beheld,” Tsunade continued to scribble, her eyes never leaving Zabuza, “That down there is the fusion of mind, body, and spirit. With enough resolve alone, the will to continue the fight, the stubbornness to not give up, “He could take on all three of us and walk away laughing.”
“And if we knew how to master that,” Orochimaru spoke as the Mizukage opened her mouth, “We still wouldn’t tell you.”

Kakashi pulled his mask away, the crack of light over his sharingan disrupting his vision.
“Momoshi wants us to tell you,” One clawed finger reached out, pointing at Kakashi, “We will sacrifice this flesh long before you lay an unkind hand upon his daughters and sons.”
Kakashi forced a smirk, “And your wishes, Demon?”
“I wasn’t going to say anything. We were just going to leak your blood.” Zabuza’s fanged grin remained wide, “But should we fall, I simply return to the elements from where I came. We are eternal and shall never be slain.”
Zabuza tipped his head down, the superior smirk turning malevolent. And he stepped. His foot sinking under the surface.
The captain smirked, half a dozen doppelgangers fanning out behind him.
The next step carried the Demon down further. The third submerged him to the knee in the ankle deep water. The next step swallowed the man to his waist.
All seven of Kakashi rushed forward, their swords slicing water and hitting stone beneath as Zabuza ducked under the surface.
The anbu and his clones began jumping about, dashing across the surface and leaping, some landing upon the shoulders of another for a moment before taking off again.
“Yyaahhh!” One screamed as it was ripped under the surface, burbles of smoke escaping.
The remainder closed in a tight knot, shifting about quickly, sword tips aimed low.
“Well, aren’t we feeling clever?” Zabuza stood, the discarded sheath in hand, leaned against the wall, above the surface.
Kakashi stilled his doppelgangers, “Where are all these new tricks you promised me, Demon?”
“I have a few left.” Zabuza grinned.
A dozen hands broke the surface of the water, grasping ankles and dragging every Kakashi under, smoke going up from each of the watery graves.
“I didn’t forget who owned the waters.” Kakashi called from his place, also on the wall. “I saw that coming long ago.”
Zabuza fell to the water’s surface, “But have you seen this?” The open end of the sheath dipped into the water.
Kakashi leapt as arms erupted from the stone wall, sailing through the air, kunai flying back at the earth jutsu attack. The knife stuck into stone and Kakashi turned to land, a frozen pad connected to the sheath he had cast away.
Spikes of ice erupted upward as he fell, a shuriken painted bright red left his hand and Hitake turned his armored back tot eh ice, an explosion scattering the spikes to the four corners of the arena.
The anbu flipped back, landing hard, but on the surface. He looked up and screamed.
Hitake held his gaze, crimson tears running down his face. Four of Zabuza stood before him, each holding his arms straight out. Each hand flexing jutsu signs independently.
“What’s wrong Copycat? You can’t mimic eight jutsu at once?” Zabuza’s eyes glared down, “Yield. We do not wish to spill all of your blood today.”
Kakashi collapsed, one hand clutching his eye, “Never!” Red shuriken rained from the clouds above, the water clones of Zabuza shredded by the blasts.
Kakashi stood, even the eye of his doppelganger bled, and they readied their swords.
Zabuza picked himself up, grasping the hilt as he did so, “That was interesting, Kakashi.”
He drew the hilt out of the ice, a pillar of water following the wood. Excess ran away, a massive blade of liquid coursing with cobalt chakra leveled at the leaf nin. “So is this.” He turned the blade, plunging it into the water again.
Kakashi leapt, the blade springing from the surface under his feet, chasing him upward.
And Zabuza crossed before him, his zanbato cleaving the clone in two before it could dispel and halving the katana Kakashi held as he tried to block. The long blade impacted his shoulder, the pop of bone loud in his ear and the strength of the blow sending him down on his back. Six inches of water was enough to splash, but too little to cushion the stone floor, bone and tile breaking as he stopped suddenly at the bottom.
“Withdraw, Kakashi!” Zabuza shouted as he landed, “We both know your state! To continue this is foolish and deadly.”
“Play with me all you like, Momoshi…” Kakashi climbed to his feet, “I will fight you until both feet are in the grave!”
The anbu took his stance, feet wide apart and hands down between his knees.
“That is the worst of ideas.” Zabuza lifted his blade.
Kakashi grinned, “Which of us can see the future?” The chidori came to life, the screech of the jutsu deafening instantly, and still the cry of birds was sonically enshrouded by the roar of dragons.
A thick blot of lightning came out of the cloud overhead, the viper’s eyes fixed on the lightning jutsu as it flew toward the man with the conduit of chakra charged water in his hands.
The thrown chidori was batted upward, taking a large chunk of Zabuza’s blade and the water dragon that met the viper swallowed it whole, serpent guiding serpent into the stone floor, steam filling the room from the blast that withered the liquid zanbato.
The flutter of cloth in the air caught Zabuza’s ear and he grabbed Kakashi’s leading wrist, using the man’s flight as momentum and whipped him around toward the wall.
Kakashi hit he wall and burst, his water clone leaving a fresh wet mark on the wall.
Arms ripped out of the water’s surface, some connected to torsos and hands latched onto everything they could touch.
The half formed doppelgangers were all clearly water and they held him immobile.
And in a flash, the aquatic assailants turned crystalline, freezing solid.
A dark laugh filled the air, “Thank you, Momoshi. I never though you could actually come up with a move that would impress me, but you have.”
Kakashi hit the floor, folding to one knee and his good arm as he landed.
Zabuza smirked at him, “I should have seen this one coming back at me. The thrown chidori was clever.”
Kakashi glared down, his mirth gone, “No more. We shall not stall this any longer with ploys planned as we banter.” A kunai came from the pouch on his thigh, “Our final combat has come to its eventual outcome.”
The ring of the kunai pommel hit the bone of Zabuza’s trapped arm, the snap echoed around the room.
Then a second snap as Kakashi hammered the other arm.
The razor edge trailing running blood across the exposed chest. “Your pulse is still so calm. Was your death so inevitable to you as well?”
Zabuza knelt in his prison of ice.
“Anything is better than stoic silence the moment before your death.” The anbu stated coldly, backhanding the hunter.
“You forget who was playing with who.” Zabuza growled. His sapphire eyes shimmering.
“And you forget who has who at his mercy now.” Kakashi pricked the kunai over Zabuza’s beating heart, “Or lack thereof.”
“Must have been the monologue. I always hated the monologue.”
The kunai came back slowly, “Then I shall spare you the next one.”
“NO!!” Two voices rang in unison.
“HAKU!” “FATHER!”
Itachi leaned on the rail, eyes watching the girl as she tipped downward and leapt, flying at Kakashi, handfuls of senbon rending the air in a near stream.
The captain gave ground, stepping away from Zabuza as he dodged needles and swatted them with the arm that still moved.
He winced as he hit a sheet of ice.
Naruto was already over the rail and Sakura had two feet on the wall.
“Wait! Look out!” Hinata reached for both of them, missing by feet.
Haku hit the surface and charged Kakashi, dusking into a slid along the surface as his kunai sliced through her trailing hair.
She came to her hands, springing up and into the last mirror as it formed, trapping Kakashi within.
Kakashi peered at the trap around him. “Amusing…”
Naruto folded, legs collapsing midair. Sakura stopped dead a few inches higher, her shoulders impacting the barrier of air between them and the battle below.
“There’s a shield down there!” Hinata came to the rail.
Naruto picked himself up to kneeling, “Found it, thanks!” He turned glaring through the thick air currents as they distorted the view of the floor.
The rain was beginning to slacken, pooling in the low places where the shield connected to the walls.
“Sorry kids, “Jiriaya held his hands out, his fingers working the air, “I can’t allow you down there.”
Sakura came to her feet, “Call it off! Tell Hitake to stand down! As soon as Zabuza is released, he will withdraw!”
“Kyu kuku,” The Hokage shrugged, “She challenged him. I say we let them fight.”
“We know what will happen, you sadistic scaly assed bastard!” Sakura roared, her run across the shield had slowed and intensified, her footfalls sending shocks of pink energy through the air.
Eyes widened.
“You dare presume to give me an order?” Orochimaru folded his arms, “Your cellmate should have been wiser than to attack him at any rate. And to attack while he is wounded…”
“You cannot allow him to murder a visiting ninja!” She could feel her chakra stirring, heatedly. Rising to the surface, infusing her limbs without command.
“Honestly, it seems more like suicide and self defense at this point.” The Mizukage chimed, stepping forward.
One finger leveled at the woman beside the Hokage, “Shut your trap and buzz off, hag.”
“Well I never…!” Sakura shifted her glare from Orochimaru, piercing the woman and sending her back a step, the color running from her face.
“Call off your war hound, Orochimaru,” Sakura hand returned to a clenched fist, rolling around to show her knuckles as pink chakra flared across them, “Or you will find out why you feared Hanuro Sakura.”

Naruto hammered at the barrier with his fist, charging his arm and hand with more and more chakra, stopping only when the crack of knuckles breaking rendered his fist limp and misshapen.
*Kit, you are well aware of the rule of engagement, and those of this arena as well. I can feel what you’re trying to do, and it violates the vows we made for the safety of ourself and those around us!*
Naruto focused more chakra into his fist, ramming it down again, leaning his body weight into it.
“Gods Be DAMNED!” he shook his broken hand before pressing the bones back into place, waiting for them to heal. “Sannin are tough old bastards…”
*Why do you fail to heed me, Kit?*
“I’m not letting her die! Not by his hand!” Naruto shouted, channeling his focus and chakra, forcing his hand to mend faster.
*We have so much choice in the…* Kyuubi sighed as he felt Naruto’s response in emotion rise. *Have your way, Kit. Take what you need if the attempt will satisfy you.*

Kakashi yawned, dropping three more steel needles to the ground.
He tracked the ripple of the surface chakra on the mirror and his eye caught the ripple of her target mirror.
His hand snapped into the path as she took flight and she flew into his fist before her eyes could open in shock.
Rooted to the stone floor beneath the water, Kakashi absorbed the shock of her light mass and sheer speed. And his hand around her slim neck stayed as the body swung forward.
He smiled as he felt the vertebrae separate to the tune of an arthritic man’s back.
The captain held the pose as the ice mirrors quickly degraded, falling apart under their own weight.
Using his victim to knock aside the remains of the mirrors in his path Kakashi stepped back to Zabuza. He scanned the sky over the barrier he hadn’t noticed.
“Seems your Tempest of the Heart has run out of stream, Momoshi.”
“Hitake… Put her down…”
“What? Oh, this!” He held her out, shifting his fingers that the bones would grind like stones. The sound stirred even his stomach and made his teeth float. He couldn’t quite feel his hand still, but it was worth the effect it had on the broken Demon. His face had faded to a pallor even the dead girl had yet to attain.
“I think I’ll keep it. Put it on display in a coffee table, I think. But whatever I do, it will be done nude certainly.”
Zabuza sagged within the ice trap. A tear seeping from his eye to the sheen of water, sweat, and blood on his body. “Please… Let her lie…”
“Oh. Oh, ho ho. Oh, I can’t believe I never saw this weakness before just now!” Kakashi gestured, ignoring the pain in his left arm and the girl in his right. “Al the bravado, all the show, all the strength. All for the benefit of some forgotten orphan left behind to starve until a washed up shinobi with nothing left pulled her out of the garbage can! The root of your power all along has been something so frail!”
“I said ‘please’…”
“I like hearing grown men beg.” Kakashi gloated, “Say it again. Hehehahahaha!”
“You’ve expended the final shred of my mercy.”
The captain cackled harder, louder.
“They called me a demon…”
Kakashi stopped laughing as the feral undertone finally caught his ear.
“Out of fear…” The dark fragment of sentence was punctuated by the crack of ice under pressure.
“Never out of loathing.” The ice cried out again, the whimper of residual snaps showing in the surface.
“I fought to protect.” A chunk of ice leapt out and Zabuza rose into the freedom it gave him. “And I held back because even those I protected feared me.”
Blue chakra coursed over Zabuza’s flesh and the ice burst as Zabuza stood, his broken arms dangling at his sides.
“But you break the chains that bind me,” Blue eyes shimmered and glowed as brightly as any Hyuuga. His fangs grew long and Kakashi stepped back, feeling his heart quiver.
“See my demon, Hitake Kakashi. For you are the last.”
Steam without heat, fog as thick as Olympian clouds, rose from the water, obscuring all but the glow of chakra around Zabuza.
A glow that advanced.
And the Demon came at him, balls of raw chakra glowing on his feet and propelling him forward, mouth open.
Kakashi countered, putting the girl between them and felt long teeth sink into his wrist.
The glow looked up the arm as blood ran from his jaws and the demon ripped the hand away.
A man of water rose up, cradling the girl, his legs never properly formed as pillars sloshed along, carrying doppelganger and girl into the fog.
Zabuza spit out the hand and came without word.
The kick rose, catching Kakashi in the jaw and sending him upward before he saw it coming.

Sakura felt the power surge beneath her. And the crash as something heavy impacted nearby. She looked under her feet, the swirling blue gray darkness was opaque.
The storm overhead rumbled anew. The sound chilled her bones. A single flake of snow fell, coming to rest on the air shield.

Kakashi hi the floor. “If all you have is taijutsu, this could be a long fight yet, Momoshi.” Kakashi saw him coming and blocked the leg sweep, pushing away the pain from the broken bones jarring. “Your speed is great, but you lack power.”
“But you know better.” Zabuza leaned forward, kicking at the surface, senbon of ice spraying in a wide arc.
Kakashi ducked under them, each jutsu sign sent a jolt of pain through his arm, but the Blaze of Glory ignited.
Zabuza stood as the plume of fire washed over him and the roar of rushing water answered.
The boiling dragon broke through the tide of flames, diving into the anbu’s crest, bearing him to the ground.
Pulling a windmill shuriken from his bag, Kakashi snapped out the six inch blades and hurled the projectile.
It skirted the water and Zabuza stomped it with one foot, like crushing a bug.
The counterweight on the end of the razor thin wire came whipping around, skipping off the surface and wrapping around Zabuza’s legs.
Kakashi hit the end of the short tether he still held in his fist, stopping short in his flight.
Both men hit the water.
The anbu captain stood, looking down at his bleeding hand. The wire had taken the two outside fingers and the end of his thumb.
Zabuza lay, the water turning red around him. The wire had done the same to His legs as it had to Kakashi’s hand.
“Why couldn’t you have fallen on your face?” Kakashi growled, his hand missing fingers clutching the wrist shy a hand. “You have no honor to salvage after this.”
“I wanted to show you one last trick. It is pretty basic, though.” Zabuza chuckled weakly.
“I can wait for you to bleed out. Let’s see it.”
Zabuza spit and Kakashi fell, his hand going halfway to his eye before clamping back down on his wrist.
The eyelid over the sharingan was pinched down on a small, flat metal bar. A rough hash cut into one side and short burs jagging along one edge.
“He..he… told ya it was pretty basic…”
“Y..ye..you…will pay for this…Zabuza…”
“Hehe… Follow me, Kakashi. I know the way…” Zabuza smiled, “…I’ve been to Hell before… There are some old friends waiting for us both… I fancy…”
“I’m not dead yet… fool.”
Zabuza picked up his head as Kakashi coughed, a thick gob of blood half congealed hanging from his mouth. “Yeah you are… Just that your heart still beats in denial…”
Zabuza rolled to his knees. Pushed himself up. And he shuffled around.
It took seven paces on his knees to cross the short distance.
Zabuza nudged Kakashi, pushing him over. “If you can’t die on your feet, at least fall on your back.”
The anbu hit the water weakly, glaring up with one eye. “Spare me… the lecture…”
Zabuza put his shin to Kakashi’s throat and leaned down. The subtle pop of the cartilage was enough and the Captain of the Black ANBU Squads stopped bleeding.

“Damn that kid…” Jiriaya let the air loose before Naruto could strike another blow and the blaze of crimson chakra that began at his shoulder evaporated as he fell through the melting shield.
The Hanuro girl dropped gracefully, vanishing into the fog.
The cloud above snowed heavily now, the gentle wind it generated stirring the fog away.
Itachi was over the rail as well, the soft splash as he hit he water was echoed as he ran through the mist.
And suddenly, the view was clear.
Kakashi lay dead. His flesh was torn in places, armor abused. One hand floated more than a dozen yards away in the still waters.
And Zabuza knelt beside the body of Haku, his broken arms trailed back behind him.
The way his body shook, slumped…
Two grievous wounds on his back bled weakly and his legs were expanding a cloud of bright red into the water.
Sakura and Itachi slowly approached the war torn shinobi.
But between they and the three sannin stood the Exile, eyes blazing like fire, red chakra laying over his shoulders like a mantle.

Sakura charged her hands, Laying them upon Zabuza’s back.
“No… Haku first…” He shook her off with the force he could muster.
“…I…”
“We cannot heal the dead, sempai…” Itachi knelt in the water. Silent as Zabuza turned away.
“Just…” Zabuza’s voice broke, choked.
Tiny ripples spread on the water beneath his hanging head.
The Uchiha crossed to the far side, his hands sliding beneath the pale Momoshi as she lay.
Lifted to sitting, Zabuza leaned forward, pressing his shoulders over his daughter, a single sigh of sorrow rushing from his lips before he snatched half of it back.
He rolled his shoulder, only to have the limb swing uselessly.
The old mist nin sobbed aloud. “…Haku…”
Itachi silently shifted the arm to hold around the fallen kunoichi.
Sakura looked up at the genin. She felt one tear roll down her cheek. Most of the genin were looking away.
The mist nin had gathered into a circle on the floor, all standing upon the surface, hands raised and touching fingertips as the faced inward.
“In the Old Way…” The girl that looked to be the oldest sang out.
Zabuza’s sobs quieted.
The mist nin called musically, the form of A tall man with a great sword slowly rising out of the water. And beside him rose a young woman. The melody they sang was slow and they began to slowly revolve, though none shuffled a single foot. Sakura couldn’t understand the language they sang, but it pierced her heart.
“…Forgive me, dear Haku…” Zabuza sighed, kissing her brow, “…My heart has failed us both…”
He pulled back, tugging his arm fro Itachi’s grasp, heedless of the broken bones as they pierced the skin.
Zabuza fell into the water, staring at the ceiling, closing his eyes. The blue flakes of snow that lit upon his chest stayed, the beat of his heart growing slower.
“…Itachi…tell them not to pray for me…”
Red eyes spinning, the Uchiha was over both bodies and kneeling beside Zabuza, “No one prays for the living. Sa…”
“No.” Zabuza sighed, “No amount of prayer would absolve me. My sins are many and great…”
Itachi shook the shoulders, “You die, and I’ll come down there after you!”
“This world doesn’t need me any more.” Zabuza sighed. “The time for my kind has gone, been, and passed. And so too have I.”
“You aren’t dead yet, Zabuza! You’re still talking!”
“I am… Damned heart just keeps… on… beating…”
“Sakura!” Itachi looked down. His eyes saw the motionlessness. His chest didn’t rise. Eyes didn’t move. Even the heavy pulse of his heart had faded away.
Itachi straightened the arms, pulling a single kunai from his thigh sheath and wrapping Zabuza’s cold fist around it. “It has stopped, sempai…” A single drop joined the snow, “May you be well received…”
“Look out Itachi…” Sakura struggled against his arm. “Out of the way!”
“Tell them to stop praying for him, Sakura…” Itachi spoke quietly. “He asked them to stop…”
Sakura stopped her press forward.
Suddenly aware again of the slow dirge.
A single cold spot lit upon her neck, turning wet, running down her back.
“Please clear the floor for the next match.” Orochimaru leaned against the rail, watching them.
Naruto simply glared, immobile.
“Clear the floor, or you shall be removed. Unless someone wants to challenge you personally.” The snake sannin looked to the genin who still stood on the catwalk.
Shikamaru leapt over the edge. Hitting the water with a splash. “I want to fight him.”
“You have one chance to get you ass back up there…” Naruto growled, his lips curled, fangs where his eyeteeth had been, “…and then I make you.”
“I like the light show, Uzumaki.” Shika approached slowly, “Can you teach me that one?”
“One.”
Shika still approached, coming wide around the fallen.
“Two.” The chakra flared along Naruto’s shoulders, trailing down his harms and legs.
“Two already?” Shika looked over his shoulder, “Can we start yet, Sergeant?”
Naruto turned slowly, eyes leading out of the corner, his right arm trailing, closing into a hard fist.
“Three.” Shikamaru chided, drawing a kunai.
The jinchuuriki took three steps, coming to a full run, chakra raging down his arm as he hit, the roll of his body focused through his arm, taking the leaf nin from is feet and crushing him into the ground.
The hand opened, grabbed a fistful of the metal chest plate and lifted.
Hefting back, Naruto roared as his arm came forward, Nara becoming a human javelin, aimed for the Sergeant.
The boy hit the anbu, knocking him into the wall.
“The next fool gets thrown to your kage!!” Naruto roared, he pulled the kunai Shika had used to guard with from his hand, casting it away, “Ask if they would catch you.”
The cloud overhead began to stir once more. The discontent rumble echoing heavily around the room.
“And you!!” Naruto turned back to the observation room, his claw tipped finger sweeping over them, “All of you empty bastards disgust me!”
He pointed back to Zabuza, “I don’t know why they fought, I can’t even guess! But they did it out in the open! Like shinobi! Not hiding behind some moth eaten hat and looking down on the rest of us like we’re pawns to be cast away! You let all three of them die! Look down at your hands!! ALL OF YOU!!! LOOK DOWN AND SEE THE BLOOD UPON THEM!!”
Tsunade dropped from the wall, hitting the floor stiff legged, water spraying from her feet as she hit the surface. “Hey, brat!” She strode to him, arms wide to her sides, hands open, “If you think I wanted this for even one second, go ahead and take a shot! Put your all behind it!”
Her eyes met with the crimson irises and their slit pupils, “The old men had an old fight brewing in them. They were going to clear the street one day anyhow. It just happened to be this one. This day.”
“And Haku? Did she deserve to go down in the crossfire?” Naruto raged at the woman, looking her dead in the eye from mere inches.
“No.” Tsunade held his glare in a soft gaze, “Haku should have lived…”
Naruto’s chakra died down, flaring out. His pale blue eyes met Tsunade’s, “You’re alright, ole hag. Not like the hypocrite in the Back ROW!!” He raised his voice, glaring up around the lady sannin.
“Hey, runt.” He turned his gaze back to her, “Call me Tsun. Let me give you guys a lift home.”
“Sasuke, Ino, Hinata…” Itachi called, drawing Sakura up with him as he stood, “It’s time to go.”
The snowfall was beginning to lose momentum, the clouds themselves thinning. And in the eyes of Orochimaru, a dark fire burned.
For one moment… they exchanged a black vow. Sakura knew only one of them would stand when the dust settled.
“Yeah! Keep staring!!” The blonde jinchuuriki’s voice echoed around the room, “Hide behind your empty titles!!” His hand raised in a tight fist, extended at arm’s full length. And his middle finger slowly rose, completing the ancient gesture of defiance and rage.
“FUCK!! YOU!!!”
And in the vacuum of silence that followed, nine bodies teleported away, the smoke fading quickly.
Jiriaya had vanished as well, leaving only a pile of empty bottles.

{{A/N; I'll admit, I cried. And I just want it to be known, I am not a hard ass Kakashi hater... I just needed a villian. Thanks. CD}}