Chapter 116: The Economics of Betrayal & A Fiery Counter
The scene on the Great Naruto Bridge was one of unnatural stillness. Dozens of workers lay strewn across the cold, wet concrete, unconscious or wisely playing dead. The only sounds were the distant cry of gulls and Tazuna's panicked, useless shouting.
"What happened?! What's going on here?!"
"Shut up," Ren snapped, his voice a low whip-crack that silenced the old man instantly. "Or I'll gag you with your own scarf. They're alive. This is a message, not a massacre."
As he spoke, the final few ice flowers—Haku's beautiful, chilling calling card—drifted to the ground. Where they touched, frost spiderwebbed out with alarming speed, sheathing the entire bridge deck in a crackling layer of ice. A moment later, a thick, milky-white fog began to boil up from the water below, rolling across the bridge to swallow everything in a sightless, damp haze.
[Pure Land Live Stream – Chat Log]
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: Atmospheric manipulation. The Ice Release user is establishing a home-field advantage. The mist is a classic Kirigakure tactic. Host, your situational awareness is about to be reduced to zero.
[VIP1: Uchiha Izuna]: Obviously he's here! The bridge is an ice rink! He's not hiding in your teapot, Tobirama!
[VIP1: Minato Namikaze]: This level of Hidden Mist Technique… Zabuza might be here too. He wouldn't let his apprentice take the lead alone after that injury.
[Regular: Yūhi Maku]: How can he move? Wasn't his leg pulp after Ren's little gift?
[Regular: Sakumo Hatake]: In the black ops world, there are stimulants. Special soldier pills, chakra-point overdrive. They let you ignore pain, even catastrophic injury, for a short burst. Lets you complete the mission or take your enemy with you.
[VIP1: Uchiha Izuna]: So the demon's back, and he's pumped full of drugs. Kid, don't end up like a certain someone who got taken out by two juiced-up jōnin.
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: I WILL MUTE YOU FOR A WEEK, IZUNA!
The voice that echoed through the fog then was layered, directionless, and thick with promised violence. "Konoha brat… you have nerve. Coming here alone. Kakashi isn't here to save you today. Your life… I, Zabuza, take it!"
Tazuna whimpered, his knees audibly knocking together. Ren, however, just tilted his head as if listening to a mildly interesting proposal.
"Zabuza," he called out, his tone conversational. "Let's make a deal."
A pause. Then a scoff that seemed to come from everywhere. "A deal? Begging already? Too late."
"Who's begging?" Ren laughed, a short, sharp sound. "I'm offering a trade. I hand over the old man. You tell me exactly where Gato is holed up. Simple."
The silence this time was profound, broken only by Tazuna's choked sputter. "Y-you… I'm your client! You can't!"
"Relax," Ren said, patting Tazuna's shoulder with a force that was more of a warning. "It's just a negotiation tactic. Unless he says yes, you're safe." Physically, at least, he didn't add. The old man looked ready to faint from terror.
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: Host! That is your mission employer! This is a catastrophic breach of shinobi-client ethics!
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: Ethics don't pay the bills. Gato's treasury does.
[Regular: Hyūga Hizashi]: Ren, think of Konoha's reputation! If you betray a client, no one will ever hire us again!
[VIP1: Minato Namikaze]: He's… he's just trying to get information, Hizashi. A ruse!
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: Wrong again, Fourth. I'm trying to get paid. If someone offered me enough to bomb Konoha, I'd start drawing up schematics.
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: Now THAT'S a sentiment I can get behind! I'll sponsor you!
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: Put your Mangekyō where your mouth is, Fugaku. Donation accepted.
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: …Forget I said anything.
Zabuza's voice returned, a low growl laced with something almost like amusement. "Interesting. If you hadn't crippled me… I might have liked you. But it's too late for deals."
The air changed. The murderous intent spiked, condensing into a palpable chill. One moment, the fog was empty. The next, four Zabuza clones materialized from the mist in a perfect diamond formation around Ren and Tazuna, each hefting the massive Executioner's Blade. Their eyes were pits of cold fury.
SWISH—THUD!
The blades fell in a synchronized, inescapable cross-chop, aiming to turn Ren into a bloody asterisk on the bridge deck.
Ren's reaction was pure, unthinking instinct. He didn't try to dodge out. He went up. His hand shot out, grabbing the back of Tazuna's coat, and with a grunt of effort fueled by Uzumaki-enhanced strength, he hurled the old man straight up into the air like a sack of potatoes.
The swords cleaved through the space he'd occupied a millisecond before, smashing a crater into the reinforced ice and concrete.
Where is he? The real Zabuza, watching from the mist, narrowed his eyes. His clones had covered every angle. Then he looked up.
His blood ran cold. Ren was standing on the still-ascending Tazuna, using the old man as a stepping stone in mid-air, perfectly balanced as if on solid ground.
"Impossible…" Zabuza breathed.
Ren didn't pause. Even as he reached the apex of Tazuna's clumsy flight, his hands were already flying through a sequence of seals—Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation. He drew a deep breath, his chakra blazing to life.
Then, from his perch on the human projectile, he exhaled hell.
A tsunami of orange-white fire, wide enough to engulf the entire bridge section below, roared down from the sky. It wasn't a jet or a ball; it was a collapsing wall of pure incineration. The heat was so intense it vaporized the mist in an instant, creating a temporary, shimmering dome of clear, scorching air.
The four water clones didn't even have time to liquefy. They were blasted into steaming nothingness.
The chapter ended with Ren beginning his descent, the colossal firestorm roaring beneath him, and Tazuna—now screaming—starting his plummet back toward the inferno. On the bridge's edge, partially shielded by a remaining ice pillar, Haku watched with wide, shocked eyes, while from the mist-shrouded waters, Zabuza's real form gritted his teeth against the wave of heat, his plan already in ruins. The fight for the bridge had begun not with stealth, but with a sun falling from the sky.
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