"Don't be modest—you all did amazingly. For three genin to push a jōnin to the brink like that is something to brag about." Ayato slurped his broth, then casually tossed the empty bowl aside. He stood, hands in his pockets, and planted a boot on Bai's back, leaning his weight down until cracks spidered across the bridge. Bai's small frame sank into the wood.
"If no meddler had shown up, this would already be over," Ayato added, eyes cold as he glanced down at the pinned youth. "Right, pretty-boy?"
Even with Zabuza still bleeding from Black Coffin's damage, Team 7's performance had been unexpectedly good. Ayato had half assumed Naruto would need to rip open his Nine-Tails veil to force Zabuza to the edge. He'd even prepared contingency plans—tricks and genjutsu to rile Naruto—just in case.
But it turned out they didn't need the fallback.
"I'm still rusty—right now I can only manage one hit," Sakura said modestly, but her eyes glittered with pride. That single punch had been terrifying; she kept thinking about it.
Ayato's praise was rare, and it landed oddly sweet. Sasuke gave a short snort and a corner of his mouth lifted. Naruto puffed his chest out and rubbed at his nose, still thrilled. "Of course! If you hadn't come, I'd have beaten them for sure!"
"Sure, sure," Ayato muttered as he strolled over. "Since your spirits are high, I'll keep pushing you. We'll get to work when we get back, little brats."
Overall? Sasuke had performed best by far. Naruto had… been Naruto. Sakura had surprises. Bai—despite the injuries—managed a bitter smile.
Bai sat pinned, blood at his mouth, yet he didn't cry out. The seal Ayato had placed earlier now activated: Bai couldn't gather chakra or even move a finger. Pain hammered through his bones like fire, but worse was the old hollow of being discarded. Zabuza had told him he was a tool—no feelings, no attachments—and Bai had accepted that role. He wanted to be needed. He chose that path.
"Twisted devotion," Ayato remarked, eyebrow slightly raised.
Zabuza crawled back up, reeking of blood and failure. He reached for a kunai with trembling hands. "No tool is better than Bai. He's mine—throw him off me!"
Ayato idly plucked the kunai between two fingers. He didn't strike—he was wary of killing Zabuza outright. If he accidentally finished the man, the side quest's reward might vanish. The prize mattered.
"Pull your foot off my tool!" Zabuza rasped and staggered forward, weakened but furious. He raised his blade toward Ayato's neck.
Ayato smirked, flicked a finger, and sent Zabuza skidding across the planks as if he'd been flicked with a pebble. "Still breathing?"
"Don't underestimate me!" Zabuza spat, clinging to the rail. The wounds from Black Coffin had never fully healed—today he'd come to finish the job even injured, but it was clear now that the fight had gone sideways.
Ayato sighed in private relief. Zabuza was alive—good. He also didn't want to miss out on the loot.
"You lot—finish it," Ayato said. The three genin answered in unison and moved.
"Bai, get up! We're leaving!" Zabuza barked down at his fallen tool.
Bai's lips trembled. "Forgive me… let me be discarded."
He tried to move but the seal held him fast, folding him into the deck like a stake through the heart of a puppet. He tasted blood, grit, and an old, resigned gladness. He'd been picked up that snowy night and given a purpose. That purpose was what he clung to—even if it was simply to be a tool for Zabuza.
Zabuza's face twisted; something had shifted in him. He had ordered Bai to be a tool, to be burned into shape by utility. But now—Bai's unwillingness to flee, his willingness to die for Zabuza—stirred something like pain in the killer's chest.
"Go—use Chidori," Ayato said with casual command.
"Wouldn't matter if you hadn't told me," Sasuke shot back. He summoned his Sharingan and concentrated, lightning gathering in his palm.
"Remember my name. The one who ends you will be Sasuke of the Uchiha." He stepped forward, chill and composed, eyes burning.
Ayato gave him a thumbs-up. "Nice trash talk. Good before the finish."
Naruto opened his mouth; he hesitated, glancing between Bai and Zabuza. He looked like he might say something—then clenched his jaw.
Sasuke's hand surged with Chidori and he lunged, the lightning a shrill, piercing note.
Before he could finish, Bai erupted. The sealed youth broke free with a single, furious burst of chakra and flashed between the two attackers—straight into Sasuke's path. He took the strike like a shield and exploded into a bloom of light.
Sasuke's Chidori pierced Bai's chest. For a heartbeat everything slowed: Bai's hand pressed to his lips, a soft smile of strange, peaceful joy. "Thank you… for picking me up that snowy night." The sentence was almost gentle as his eyes dimmed.
Time fractured. Zabuza staggered wildly, stunned to the bone. The idea of a tool dying for his master—how could a killer's cold logic reconcile that?
Naruto's shout filled the air. "No—!"
Bai collapsed. The world narrowed to the edge of a blade and then blurred into falling snow. Zabuza's face crumpled in a way that made something like grief pour out of him for the first time, and it split him open. He dropped the mirrored blade he'd used; his hands trembled.
Sasuke stood there, palms smoking with spent electricity. He'd used two Chidori that day—his chakra was nearly empty. The motion when he drove the blade home had no malice in it; it was the culmination of a terrible, necessary choice.
Zabuza knelt, trembling. He had trained Bai to kill and to be killed—it was the utilitarian heart of his philosophy. And now that desire had returned to him as loss. He had meant to use Bai, but not to feel the ache of losing him.
"Thank you," Bai had said in his last breath, smiling faintly even as life fled him. He had been a tool who found meaning in being needed.
Snow began to fall—fat, clean flakes that melted into blood on Zabuza's face. He watched, numb. "I…" he whispered, and for the first time his voice broke.
Naruto snarled through tears. "That's not fair! He did everything for you—did you even care?!" His anger shook him, pure and helpless.
Sakura pressed a trembling hand to her mouth. "He wanted to be with you… even if it meant dying."
Zabuza's chest heaved. He staggered, picked up his ice blade, and in a terrible, clumsy motion struck at Sasuke in a last, chaotic attempt to end them both. He did not have the strength or focus. His grief had dulled his skill.
Sasuke easily evaded and then, with a single, decisive motion, thrust the blade into Zabuza's chest. The movement was clean, precise—a finishing stroke rather than a vengeful murder. Zabuza's eyes widened in disbelief; then, his knees buckled and he fell forward. He used his last breath to murmur Bai's name and then stilled.
The bridge was so quiet you could hear silence wrap itself around them. Snow collected on fallen hair, on fists, on collars. It looked almost like a funeral.
Ayato sighed and produced a black sack. He dropped Bai and Zabuza into it with a shrug. "Send them back to the Mist. A-rogue brings a hefty reward."
He zipped the bag closed with a small smile. Compassion, he thought, deserved respect—but money paid for ramen and indulgences.
A pale status line blinked across his eyes.
[Side Quest Complete — Lottery Pack Awarded]
Naruto stared numbly at the motionless figures of Bai and Zabuza, then looked up at Ayato, furious and lost. "You… you were eating ramen while they died!"
Ayato raised a noodle to his lips. "I eat, therefore I live," he said, as if that explained everything.
Sakura wept loudly; Sasuke looked away, a stone inside his chest. The lesson had been brutal: shinobi are tools for a mission—sometimes the world forced cruel choices. But that didn't make them right.
Ayato slung the sack over his shoulder and grinned at the three survivors. "Come on. We're done here. Let's go get your reward, and then some ramen. You earned it."
They trudged off the bridge beneath falling snow—battered, changed, and a little more dangerous than before. The world felt colder, but also clearer: a course had been set. They would grow stronger. They would carry the weight of this day with them. And Ayato, as always, would make sure everyone kept getting what they wanted—be it power, pride, or a decent bowl of tonkotsu.
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