Chapter 119: A Demon's Welcome & A Bridge in Peril
The Pure Land chat was still reeling from the revelation of Kakashi's "training regimen."
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: A dangerous but logically sound hypothesis. The repetitive, fine-motor practice would indeed develop extraordinary dexterity. The application is… unorthodox.
[VIP1: Uchiha Izuna]: Rough words, but undeniable logic! I saw his hand speed last night during his… 'solo training.' It was inhuman!
[Regular: Sakumo Hatake]: …(Spectral face in hands)
[VIP2: Third Raikage]: Regret. I allowed earthly pleasures to distract from true cultivation. Women are indeed a hindrance to the path!
[VIP1: Uchiha Madara]: I retract my earlier commendation. This is not prowess born of battle, but of… depravity.
[Regular: Senju Hashirama]: But Madara, your hand seals are also very—
[VIP1: Uchiha Madara]: DO NOT FINISH THAT SENTENCE, HASHIRAMA!
[VIP1: Minato Namikaze]: As his teacher… I have failed.
[Regular: Dan Katō]: Unorthodox methods aside, the results are undeniable. His speed surpasses even my brother's.
[Regular: Hyūga Hizashi]: Your brother?
[Regular: Dan Katō]: The one they called 'Flicker-Finger' Taka. Died in the Second War.
[Regular: Hyūga Hizashi]: The Cheat Code! I remember him! His one-handed seals were legendary! To think you're his brother…
[Regular: Yūhi Maku]: That man… many kunoichi fell to those fast hands. A tragic loss.
On the village lane, reality was less philosophical. Kakashi finished his seals, the piercing screech of a thousand birds erupting around his fist. He lunged, a streak of blue-white lightning.
Zabuza, finally snapping out of his genjutsu theory at the sound of imminent, electrified death, spun. His eyes widened in dawning horror. This… is real.
It was too late. The Chidori, driven by Kakashi's shame-fueled, porn-honed speed, punched through his guard and into his chest with a wet, crackling thump.
"Wha…?" Zabuza looked down at the smoking, fist-sized hole over his heart. The pain was a distant, secondary thing to the overwhelming shock. Not an illusion. The bridge… the boy… the teleportation… "That brat… knows the Flying Thunder God?"
His vision tunneled, the world fading to grey. As the last spark of consciousness guttered out, a strange, glowing prompt appeared in the center of his dying sight.
[The Host (Ren Arakawa) of the Undead Live Stream invites you to join. Accept? Y/N]
Undead… Live Stream? The afterlife? With the last ghost of a thought, Zabuza mentally prodded 'Y'.
Darkness was replaced by light. Not the blinding light of heaven or the fires of hell, but the soft glow of a massive viewing screen. On it, he saw the very village lane where his body was now slumping to the ground, Kakashi standing over him with a bewildered look on his face.
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: Welcome, Demon of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi, to the audience! Give our newest viewer a warm welcome!
A colorful, intrusive comment scrolled across the screen.
Zabuza Momochi: ???
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: Took you long enough to connect.
[VIP1: Uchiha Izuna]: What kind of fight was that? You just stood there and took it! Pathetic!
[VIP2: Yagura Karatachi]: Zabuza. Welcome.
Zabuza Momochi: Fourth Mizukage? You're here?
[VIP2: Yagura Karatachi]: I'm dead. We all are. This isn't the Pure Land. It's a… streaming service. For the deceased. You can watch the living world. You can ask the host for favors. There are VIP tiers. Donations. Do NOT cross the host. He is a precocious, amoral, system-cheating gremlin who will ruin you for sport. Consider this your orientation.
Yagura, falling easily into his new role as community manager, rapidly info-dumped the rules and dangers of the stream.
Zabuza Momochi: Host? What host?
[VIP2: Yagura Karatachi]: The kid who just teleported you into a Chidori.
Zabuza Momochi: …
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: Good work, Yagura. Keep onboarding the new blood. I'm bumping you to VIP3.
[VIP2->VIP3: Yagura Karatachi]: Thank you, Host-sama!
[Regular: Jūzō Biwa]: Oh, you suck-up.
[VIP3: Yagura Karatachi]: Shush! It's called career advancement!
Other familiar names began popping up in the chat.
[Regular: Hōzuki Mangetsu]: Knew the Seven Swordsmen roster would fill out here eventually.
[Regular: Ameyuri Ringo]: Tch.
[Regular: Fuguki Suikazan]: Welcome to the club, Zabuza.
Zabuza Momochi: You're all… here?
As the ghosts of Kirigakure's most infamous blades began a morbid reunion, the living world continued. Kakashi stared at Zabuza's corpse, then at his own lightning-faded hand, utterly perplexed. He'd gone out for a quiet moment of literary enrichment and had somehow scored a free kill on an S-rank missing-nin who'd just… stood there.
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: Zabuza. Explanation. Why the stationary defense? Were you attempting suicide by Copy-Ninja?
[VIP1: Uchiha Izuna]: Even for trash, that was exceptionally trashy performance.
[VIP1: Uchiha Madara]: Worthless.
Zabuza Momochi: I… I thought it was a genjutsu. A very persistent one. I was trying to break it. I didn't realize…
Before the post-mortem analysis could continue, the main screen of the Live Stream flickered and changed. The view zoomed away from the village, flying over treetops and shoreline at impossible speed, before settling once more on the mist-enshrouded Great Naruto Bridge.
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: Ah. The host's chakra has recovered. Perspective shift.
[VIP1: Uchiha Izuna]: Let's see if the old man is an ice sculpture yet!
[VIP3: Yagura Karatachi]: Poor Tazuna. He never stood a chance.
Zabuza Momochi: The… cross-dressing master? Haku?
[VIP3: Yagura Karatachi]: Your former apprentice is currently the only living combatant on that bridge with your client. So, yes. Probably.
The view on the bridge was tense. The mist was thicker than ever, a solid wall of white. Through the haze, they could see the vague, trembling outline of Tazuna, still clutching his frostbitten foot, backed against a railing. And surrounding him, glinting in the faint light, were dozens of floating, perfectly formed ice mirrors. In each one, the serene, deadly image of Haku was reflected, his hands raised, countless senbon glimmering into existence around him.
Haku's voice, gentle and final, echoed through the frozen arena. "I am sorry, bridge-builder. But for Zabuza-sama's dream, and for my purpose, you must die here. Please… do not suffer."
Tazuna closed his eyes, waiting for the end.
The chapter ended with Haku about to unleash his devastating Ice Mirror assault on a defenseless old man, and the Pure Land stream watching with morbid anticipation. Ren's perspective was back on the bridge, his chakra restored. But was he in time? And more importantly, with Zabuza dead and watching from the afterlife, what would Haku do when he found out? The calculus of the mission had just undergone another violent, unpredictable shift.
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