The Bridge of Heroes was gradually swallowed by fog. Even the warm, golden sunlight was kept outside, blocked by the mist, unable to advance or retreat.
Waves rolled and slammed against the reefs. White foam and spray burst up more than two meters high, and when the wind blew, it carried a stinging, salty bitterness that filled the nose.
On the way back, the one leading the group changed.
Sasuke, with a katana strapped to his back, strode in front without hesitation. Kakashi and Konome Taketori walked in the middle, long-legged and unhurried, as if they were out for a casual stroll.
Naruto, usually the most energetic, trailed at the very back. He was hunched over, head drooping, and every so often he turned to look toward the Land of Waves, unwillingness written all over his face.
"Naruto, even if the mission's been canceled, an A-rank job pays a big deposit," Kakashi said softly, trying to console him. "We made tens of thousands just for taking a walk and beating up some small fry. Plus Tazuna's compensation. We didn't lose out."
Kakashi had to do this. Their team was nothing like the usual genin squads. The only girl in the class wasn't lively at all, and she certainly wasn't going to lighten the mood, so the responsibility fell on him.
"I know," Naruto muttered, "I'm just worried about Tazuna."
As he spoke, Naruto glanced back again at the bridge that had already vanished into the fog. He didn't care about the mission or the money. He knew Tazuna might be walking straight into death. He just hoped the old man would come to his senses while they weren't too far away.
And it was precisely because of that kindness that Naruto noticed the anomaly creeping closer first.
It was a mass of fog that was hard to describe, thick to the point of feeling wrong. At its center, the haze even turned a pale, ashen gray.
Now it was contracting, slowly sketching out a human shape, racing straight toward them.
"Enemy attack!"
Naruto suddenly roared. In an instant he was fired up again. He snapped his knuckle-dusters onto both fists, fingers cracking as a shrill whine of Wind Release chakra wrapped around the metal.
This was a Wind Release taijutsu style he'd developed by imitating Konome's Lightning Release Chakra Mode. He'd named it Wind Release Chakra Mode.
Of course, that name was more wishful thinking than reality. Lightning Release Chakra Mode was the Nightless Clan's signature secret in Kumogakure. It wasn't something you could just copy with a little effort.
Wind Release shredded the body far more brutally than Lightning Release. Naruto still couldn't bear that razor-edge wind with his flesh alone, so he had to use a weapon to channel it. The result was naturally nowhere near as powerful as true Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
The moment Naruto raised the alarm, Sasuke and Kakashi also locked onto the human-shaped fog. Three Sharingan spun, tomoe rotating rapidly, but they could only see chakra flaring inside the haze.
They couldn't pierce the mist at all.
Konome didn't bother with the pointless effort.
If even her Byakugan couldn't see through it, the Sharingan wasn't going to be some exception.
As the group watched tensely, the fog contracted again, as if whatever was inside was inhaling it. Then the mist scattered completely, revealing a tall, broad-shouldered man carrying a massive blade on his back.
His skin was pale. His brow was bare, no eyebrows at all. A slashed forehead protector marked him as a missing-nin. The lower half of his face was wrapped in bandages, oddly similar to Kakashi's.
Konome recognized him at a glance.
Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist.
"I have no hostile intentions," Zabuza said quickly, raising both hands. His eyes were fixed on the silver-haired blind girl in the group, and dead memories began clawing at his mind. "I just need to talk to that girl."
"Relax," Konome said, stopping the others as they shifted into battle stances. She stepped out from the group. "He's Zabuza. The one Tazuna mentioned."
The moment Naruto heard the name, his eyes lit up with pure admiration.
This was the hero shinobi who had protected an entire country.
"What do you want?" Konome asked flatly.
Up close, Zabuza was even more certain. This was the same monster he'd met in the Land of Water, the one whose body had mutated, bone hands sprouting from her like something inhuman.
"You're from Konoha?" he asked.
"You chased us from under the bridge all the way here just to ask that?" Konome's voice was calm, but her gaze was sharp. Their first meeting hadn't exactly been friendly. He'd slashed at her and even fired senbon at her eyes. She hadn't been hurt, but she hadn't forgotten.
Kakashi's expression turned faintly stiff.
The enemy had been tailing them since the bridge, and he hadn't sensed a thing. The foggy weather played a role, sure, but that level of infiltration and tracking suited the title Demon of the Mist perfectly.
Zabuza wasn't surprised that Konome had noticed him. He'd already experienced her terrifying perception. He kept his eyes on her youthful face and spoke slowly.
"Ever since you left Konoha, I've been following. I just… didn't expect the last orphan of the Hidden Mist's Kaguya Clan to end up in Konoha."
"Kaguya of the Hidden Mist?"
Kakashi stared at Konome in shock. According to the Hatake family's internal records, the Kaguya Clan had been a major power in the Warring States era, a name that carried weight. In Kirigakure, their status had rivaled the Hyūga Clan's in Konoha.
"You mean the clan that stood alongside the Hyūga, the Uchiha, and the Senju in the Warring States era?" Kakashi blurted.
Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, stunned. They'd never heard that surname before, but Senju and Uchiha were thunderous names. An Uchiha survivor was literally standing here with them.
No wonder Konome's talent was monstrous.
Suddenly, it all felt… explainable.
"What are you trying to say?" Konome's voice turned colder than ice. She stared Zabuza down, and a faint red barrier shimmered around her as an uncontrollable, oppressive aura began spilling outward.
"I…"
It was like frost clamped around Zabuza's throat. His muscles tightened without his permission. His instincts screamed danger, and a primal terror made him tremble.
For a moment, he couldn't even speak.
She's stronger than she was five years ago.
"I… I'm only a Mist Clone," Zabuza forced out at last, swallowing down the urge to flee. "I had no malicious intent when I revealed who you are. I just want to make a deal."
Konome said nothing. She simply stared into his eyes.
Fear rolled outward in waves.
Even the insects along the roadside went silent.
After a long stretch of suffocating pressure
Haa.
The faint red barrier finally stopped trembling. The invisible weight of terror eased, and Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke all exhaled at once, as if they'd been holding their breath for far too long.
They had felt that nameless fear too, but standing behind Konome meant they weren't taking the full force head-on. And it wasn't their first time experiencing it, so they'd developed a little resistance.
"What deal?" Konome asked.
Mentioning the Kaguya Clan's extermination had soured her mood. Even her Hidden Consciousness Gate Formation couldn't fully suppress the violent agitation rising within her.
"Raiga Kurosuki isn't a good man," Zabuza said, voice steadying as his heart calmed. "He'll kill anyone who dares oppose him. Tazuna's family will be buried by his hands. I want you to kill him."
"Benefits," Konome said flatly.
To the Land of Waves, Raiga was a calamity. To her, he was a minor nuisance she could handle with shadow clones.
She only cared what Zabuza could offer.
"You're looking for Haku," Zabuza said cautiously. There was fear in his eyes, but also something else, something hard to name.
Konome's brow furrowed. So he really had been tailing them. He even knew exactly what had happened during the interrogation.
No wonder Tazuna had managed to reach Konoha safely. Zabuza must have been helping from the shadows.
Years had passed. Whether his combat power had improved was unclear, but his ability to hide had skyrocketed.
One word: cautious.
"Haku is the last survivor of the Yuki Clan," Zabuza added quickly, raising the price. "After Kirigakure captured them for experiments, the Ice Release bloodline all but disappeared. She might be the only one left who's awakened Ice Release."
Experiments?
That single detail made something in Konome's mind click.
She'd always wondered where that strange Ice Release chakra had come from when she devoured the Three-Tails' flesh.
Rōshi and the Four-Tails could learn Lava Release.
Gaara and the One-Tails could use Magnet Release.
If the Three-Tails had Ice Release, then Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage and Three-Tails' jinchūriki, should have been able to use Ice Release too.
But he hadn't, not once.
And after Konome absorbed Nine-Tails chakra, she inherited many of Kurama's abilities, aside from Tailed Beast Bomb.
Yet the Ice Release within the Three-Tails' flesh hadn't transferred to her at all.
Not even a trace.
Even her Wind Release had been learned through training, nowhere near as natural as her control over Water Release.
That didn't make sense.
Zabuza's words, however, lit a lantern in the dark.
That brutally intense Ice Release chakra might not have belonged to the Three-Tails.
It could have been residue from a Yuki Clan test subject.
Or worse…
Konome's thoughts stumbled into a place she didn't want to enter, and she forced them back.
The Three-Tails had been sealed inside Yagura for years, and Obito's control had followed. Taking chakra samples was one thing. Cutting flesh for experiments was another, far less likely.
Still…
Maybe she shouldn't eat random things in the future.
Zabuza kept his face calm, but the flickering emotion-lights rising above his head betrayed his growing anxiety.
Konome's gaze caught on them. She steadied herself, pushing aside the messy thoughts.
If her suspicion was right, then the Three-Tails wasn't the answer.
Haku was.
And the only person who might know where Haku was… really was Zabuza.
"Where is she?" Konome asked directly, not bothering to hide her intent.
"If you kill Raiga Kurosuki, I'll tell you where Haku is," Zabuza said. His eyes carried a complicated heaviness as if he'd pictured a stubborn silhouette too many times.
"Why don't you do it yourself?" Konome asked.
Zabuza's expression sharpened. "Because a terrifying enemy is hunting me. If I reveal myself and draw them here, the entire country will be destroyed."
"Enemy?" Kakashi's eyes tightened.
"So you disappeared on purpose because you were being hunted?" he asked, thinking of what Tazuna had said.
Zabuza's sudden disappearance had left the Land of Waves without its guardian, forcing Tazuna to travel all the way to Konoha to post the mission.
Moton and the others, seeing Zabuza "run," had assumed Raiga was unbeatable and surrendered into the Kurosuki gang.
So there really had been hidden circumstances.
"Yes." Zabuza's gaze was cold, but he couldn't hide his wariness. "I stayed here too long. My trail leaked. When I sensed that chakra… I fled the Land of Waves overnight."
Konome narrowed her eyes.
Even if Zabuza wasn't at his peak, he was still an elite jōnin. To force him into hiding, to make him afraid to show his face, the hunters had to be at least multiple elite jōnin.
Or Kage-level.
Her main body hadn't stepped into that beyond-Kage realm yet. This was only a shadow clone.
If she ran into a Kage-class opponent, it could turn into a brutal fight.
This Land of Waves mission might be far more troublesome than she'd expected.
Konome turned to the three still processing the situation.
Originally, the Land of Waves arc rose from a C-rank to a B-rank. Now it was going from A-rank and threatening to climb toward S-rank.
Team 7 really did feel cursed.
"Tazuna's in danger. Let's go save him!" Naruto's eyes sparkled, completely unaware of the danger beneath the surface.
Sasuke's hand brushed the hilt of his katana, eager.
Only Kakashi fully grasped the warning hidden in Zabuza's words, his face grim.
"Your mission is already complete," Konome said after a brief pause. "Return to Konoha as soon as possible. This is my personal business. You don't need to risk your lives with me."
She decided to handle it alone.
She was a shadow clone. Death meant nothing.
Naruto had Kurama. He wasn't easy to kill.
But Sasuke and Kakashi were fragile in comparison. One mistake and they could end up dying in the Land of Waves.
Naruto and Sasuke's eyes dimmed instantly.
They knew that once Konome decided something, it was almost impossible to change her mind.
Which meant the mission really was ending here.
"No," Kakashi said suddenly, after thinking for a long time. "Konome, we have to go with you."
Konome frowned. "You'll be in danger."
She didn't understand why Kakashi, normally cautious and lazy, would insist on dragging two genin into risk.
Kakashi's tone was firm.
"It's embarrassing to say as your jōnin instructor, but the strongest person in this squad is you. If we split up and head back separately, and we run into a strong enemy on the road, the danger might actually be greater."
"Yeah!" Naruto immediately seized on the logic, relief and excitement flooding back into him. "Konome, we'll go together!"
Sasuke nodded so hard it looked like his neck might snap.
Kakashi wasn't wrong. Naruto and Sasuke were both much stronger than they should have been. They wouldn't just die from stray shockwaves. And the people hunting Zabuza might not even return to the Land of Waves.
Best case scenario, they only had to deal with Kurosuki Raiga.
After weighing it, Konome finally sighed and nodded under their hopeful stares.
"Fine. Let's discuss a plan."
"Yes!" Naruto leapt up, practically bouncing off the air.
They gathered in a circle to plan how to save the Land of Waves. Zabuza sat down with them as well, explaining the abilities of the Thunder Sword: Kiba.
Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Zabuza argued loudly about how to save the country.
Konome stared at the scene, and for a moment she truly felt like she'd been caught inside the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
She lifted her head and looked toward the sky.
The morning fog slowly peeled away to both sides. Clouds parted. Sunlight stabbed down in blinding gold, painting the Bridge of Heroes in brilliance and turning the sea into molten reflections.
The dark shape that had been hidden inside the mist finally revealed its outline.
The Land of Waves was lit up.
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