"If fate and rules are meant to be this way, then it must be this world's fault! It's this ninja world that set the wrong rules!!"
"Yes!"
Standing side by side, Naruto and Obito—two boys whose personalities and dreams were uncannily alike—spoke in unison.
If this world is wrong...
"Then once I become Hokage, I'll fix this mistake!"
Everyone stared at them in disbelief.
Zabuza let out a cold snort, took a kunai from Naruto, and clamped it between his teeth. Demonic chakra burst from him at once, and with the kunai held tight in his mouth, he darted through Gatō's bodyguards.
Now that he had embraced death, he moved without hesitation. Every strike was swift and merciless.
Though his body was already covered in wounds, he still succeeded in killing Gatō.
The remaining thugs panicked and fled by jumping into the sea, terrified by Naruto, Kakashi, Minato's shadow clones, and the Land of Wave villagers whom Inari had gathered door-to-door.
Once all outsiders were gone...
Zabuza dragged his battered body toward Haku and lay down beside him.
Snow suddenly began to fall from the sky.
"What is this...?"
Team Minato and Team Kakashi looked up in shock.
"Snow?!!"
They suddenly remembered the tiny print on the mission scroll:
"Triggered Famous Scene—The Great Bridge of the Land of Waves · Pure White Snow."
...
Zabuza stared at Haku's peaceful face, as still as if he were only asleep, a familiar expression softening his features.
"At least... let us stay together like this in the end..."
Otherwise, living alone in this world is far too dull.
Once a person steps out of loneliness, they can never return.
"Hey, you two brats." Zabuza's sudden voice broke the silence.
He was speaking to Obito Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki.
"Remember what you said just now."
Change this flawed ninja world...
Tears blurred Naruto and Obito's eyes at his words.
"Yes! We will." they promised.
A long, quiet moment passed. Snow drifted from the sky like a pure, gentle funeral.
Zabuza looked at Haku's face and spoke to Kakashi Hatake beside him:
"Kill me, Kakashi."
His wounds weren't fatal.
But rather than spend the rest of his life running from the Fourth Mizukage, he would rather rest here with Haku.
The Demon of the Hidden Mist gazed at Haku. Even he might never have believed that someone like him could shed tears… could cry at all.
With trembling fingers, rough with calluses, he reached out and touched Haku's face.
"I wish I could go to the same place as you."
No sorrow.
No shackles of shinobi rules.
Scenes of life with Haku flickered through his mind, like lanterns spinning in the dark:
Haku running toward him, delighted after catching a rabbit.
Haku's disappointment when the rabbit escaped.
Haku beaming with joy when Zabuza helped catch it again...
"..."
The Great Bridge of the Land of Waves was filled with pure white snow and a suffocating heaviness.
Having witnessed the Demon's strength and now hearing his choked sobs, even Naruto and Obito—his enemies—were moved.
Snow landed on Haku's face.
It melted.
Like tears, it slid into Zabuza's palm.
Naruto and Obito cried openly.
Sakura and Rin choked back their sobs.
Young Kakashi and Sasuke watched the pair's final moments, a pained tightness forming in their chests.
Adult Kakashi and Minato Namikaze stepped toward Zabuza and Haku.
Zabuza: "Thank you for your trouble."
Kill me. I have no reason left to stay in this world.
"....."
Zabuza prepared himself to die without hesitation.
But...
Adult Kakashi suddenly showed none of the grief the situation should've called for?! Were he and Minato Namikaze simply too cold-blooded?
No—rather than cold-blooded, Adult Kakashi looked more like a complete slacker, wearing the expression of someone thinking, "Finally done! Time to grab my chicken drumstick and bento and clock out!" What kind of attitude was that?!!
"Yare yare," Kakashi said. "Getting too deep into character isn't a good idea, Zabuza."
That left Zabuza utterly baffled...
Minato, smiling cheerfully, tapped two fingers on Haku's body.
"Fūinjutsu: Release!"
Tears still clinging to his lashes, Haku opened his eyes. His gaze flickered with emotion—embarrassment, guilt, something trembling and soft.
When he saw Zabuza's face wet with tears, the corner of his eye stained, even the ground beneath him damp, Haku couldn't help showing visible shock.
"Zabuza-san..." Haku whispered gently.
"...."
"....."
Zabuza stayed silent for several seconds.
Then the sobbing in his voice transformed into a roar full of thunder. The voice of the Demon of the Hidden Mist shook the sky—
"K-A-K-A-S-H-I!!!"
...
The entire scene froze in peak awkwardness.
Naruto and Obito exchanged glances, blinking as they recognized the same confusion in each other's eyes.
Sakura, Rin, Sasuke, and Young Kakashi looked at the lazy, slacker-like Adult Kakashi—and the apologetic, smiling Minato Namikaze—and instantly understood.
This was a plan only the two teachers knew about!!
Kakashi explained, "When I hit Haku, I used a little genjutsu on him and Zabuza. I didn't actually pierce Haku's heart with Raikiri."
Less than half a foot from Haku, Kakashi had dissipated the Raikiri's power and, taking advantage of both men staring directly at him, cast a Sharingan illusion.
Only the first knuckle of a few fingers actually touched Haku's chest, and without Lightning Release, the injury was negligible.
Seeing the large stain of blood on Haku's chest—
Zabuza's voice trembled like a dying man. "Then that blood on Haku's chest..."
"Ah? That?~"
Kakashi scratched his head with an apologetic smile. "It's Konoha's standard emergency blood plasma. I got it from Rin earlier. Hahaha."
Because of the Sharingan's genjutsu, Haku truly believed he was dying. Combined with the sealing technique Minato had prepared, Haku was immobilized, his breathing slowed to a crawl—barely distinguishable from death.
Thus, Haku's feigned death fooled everyone perfectly.
"So that means..."
Zabuza looked like a weathered stone on the verge of crumbling at the slightest breeze.
Minato, smiling like a black lily blooming with malice, finally delivered the killing blow to Zabuza's dignity.
"Mhm. Everything you did and said after Haku 'died'? He heard it all loud and clear."
...The most terrifying moment is when the air suddenly goes silent.
"MINATO NAMIKAZE!!! KAKASHI HATAKE!!!!!"
Zabuza leapt up like a carp, springing straight to his feet.
Where's my sword?! Where is it?!
He was going to slice open the stomachs of these two backstabbers who tricked Haku!!!
The original sorrow turned into farce. The bridge workers gathered at the entrance calmly sipped tea and cracked sunflower seeds.
The snow stopped.
A rainbow stretched across the bridge.
The civilians of the Land of Waves—summoned door-to-door by Inari—finally regained their courage and confidence. The nearly completed bridge overflowed with hope and new life.
Haku did his best to soothe Zabuza's utterly shattered pride, while Kakashi lazily just wanted to wrap up and go home to rest...
Rin and Sakura came over, using Medical Ninjutsu to treat Kakashi's injuries.
Naruto stood there alone, unsure of what to do. When the Nine-Tails had taken over his mind, that damned fox projected its hatred for the Fourth Hokage onto him, clouding his thoughts with extremism. He even resented the fact that the Fourth had turned him into the demon fox vessel despised by the entire village.
Minato ruffled his golden hair. "What's wrong?"
Naruto apologized for attacking him earlier.
"You don't need to apologize," Minato said. "Though it was my counterpart in this parallel world who sealed the Nine-Tails within you, I still feel that if apologies are due, it should be me apologizing to you on his behalf—not you apologizing to me."
For not giving you a happy childhood. For failing to protect Kushina. For making you shoulder the burden and pain of being a Jinchūriki from the moment you were born…
Minato spoke these words only in his heart. In the end, he could never replace this world's Kushina or Minato Namikaze and give Naruto the happiness he deserved.
Naruto looked past the Fourth Hokage toward Sasuke and Sakura. His eyes carried a worry that didn't match his usual sun-like brightness.
"What's with that look? You bottom-of-the-class loser."
Sasuke spoke.
"Come here."
His natural tone put Naruto at ease, and Naruto shot back, calling Sasuke an idiot. "You suddenly rushed in front of me just now, took all those hits for me, and nearly died! I mean, you don't actually hate me at all, do you?~"
Classic case of forgetting the pain once the wound heals—getting the advantage and still acting smug.
Sasuke, flustered and furious, snapped, "Shut up! Don't mention that again!!!"
"Okay, okay, tsundere Sasuke-chan."
"!!!"
An awkward blush spread across Sasuke's pale face. "Where did you even learn that word!!!"
"From Kakashi-sensei's book? Didn't you hear them reading it last time?"
"..."
Wait...
Both Adult Kakashi and Young Kakashi froze instantly.
Sakura said, "Idiot Naruto! 'Tsundere' is a word that book uses to describe girls!"
Inner Sakura: Though Sasuke-kun really IS tsundere! Fan service!
"It's fine, it's fine," Obito said easily. "Most of us Uchiha—except me—tend to act all elite and high-class. Sasuke acting like this is totally normal."
"And you dare say that?!"
Sasuke was so embarrassed and angry he wanted to hit someone.
But the ones he wanted to hit even more...
Without question, it was the Adult Kakashi and Young Kakashi—forced by the mission scroll to publicly read an erotic novel.
"You two!!!!"
Their tones were different, but both Kakashis shouted in perfect sync.
"Didn't I tell you to plug your ears?!!!!"
Damn it!
They'd even tested it last time to make sure they wouldn't hear a single word of what he was reading!!!
"What's the big deal, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said carelessly, hands behind his head.
"You've read that book who knows how many times. What's the harm in reading it out loud for us?"
Kakashi x2: "..."
Too annoyed to speak.
Zabuza, who had just suffered extreme social humiliation thanks to Kakashi, glared at Naruto. "What book? What could make that Kakashi react so strongly?"
Naruto: "An erotic book. Seems pretty famous. Called Icha Icha Paradise."
"Oh ho~"
Zabuza, already pushed to the brink of existential crisis, let out a whistle. His mocking expression clearly said: Kakashi, never thought you were that kind of guy. I look down on you.
Kakashi: "....."
Truly, good and evil always come full circle. Heaven's wheel turns, and no one escapes. Look up and see—no one is spared.