Chapter 172
Zabuza was sweating bullets . After living a life devoid of running, he chose to live amongst ordinary people . Each day he and Haku worked hard to make a living for themselves, but it was quite peaceful since they no longer needed to do dirty work . After assuming new identities, Zabuza and Haku felt the warmth of interacting with people while no longer fearing or having the need to put up a guard for any encounters .
The peaceful time made the duo lower their guards and accept the people for who they were . Zabuza was also finally able to give up on his personal mission to recruit rebels to assassinate the daimyō since he was no longer concerned with his homeland .
Another factor that contributed to the peace was that Gatō's remaining forces were eliminated with the help of Naruto and his teammates in the one month that they spent guarding Tazuna and the others to complete the bridge . As such Zabuza and Haku no longer instinctively felt a need to put up a guard against any forces that would try to lay hands on the bridge .
Feeling grateful to Naruto and the time-reversal incident, Zabuza and Haku wanted to see how the team would perform in the Chūnin exams, especially after helping the team become stronger by having Sasuke spar against Haku and himself .
Thanks to the Chūnin Exam stadium being attacked Zabuza and Haku's dull senses were restored to their prime allowing the duo to have steady minds even though they were staring at the face of what could be their possible deaths .
"Zabuza, don't think of leaving alive today!" One of the tracker nins stepped forward .
"Hmph,"
"I never expected mercy either way," Zabuza said following which he turned around .
"Let's go,"
(Whoosh!)
Zabuza and Haku quickly fled the scene .
"CAPTURE THEM!" The head tracking nin commanded .
(Whoosh!)
The team of missing nins immediately gave chase .
"Hehe," Gozaburo smirked seeing that the duo were doomed to a life of running once again .
"Boss…" one of Gozaburo's underlings approached him .
"What?" Gozaburo stared at his underling only to see him lift up a broken arm .
"That bitch broke my arm," The man said with a dejected tone .
"How can you be blind to the point that you can't figure out his gender?" Gozaburo asked .
"I… uh…"
"Enough,"
"The Hidden Mist is bound to pay us the bounty for ratting them out,"
"You can ask them for compensation then, now back to guarding duty," Gozaburo commanded .
"Yes!" The man and the other three subordinates fled the scene .
Gozaburo stared at the direction the missing nins went for a few seconds following which he turned back to head towards his base of operations .
However, what he didn't know was under the very same bridge that they guarded were a few figures on a boat .
"Never thought we would have to rely on this ratty old boat again…"
"Me too," the boatman replied as he looked up to the figures next to him .
There were three in total on the boat .
"Giichi, are you sure you want to join me,"
"The last time this happened, you gave up," The man said .
"Tazuna, How could you say that,"
"After all this town has been through in the past few months, How could I give up hope on the bridge we built?" Giichi asked .
"…" Tazuna stared at Giichi, thinking back to what had happened on the bridge .
——FlashBack——
"Got a minute, Tazuna" a man walked over to where Tazuna stood .
"What is it, Giichi?" Tazuna asked .
"ugh…regarding the building of this bridge, um… will you let me quit?"
"Why so, suddenly? Not you too?! . . " Tazuna interrupted in fear of losing his workforce .
"If we continue working on this bridge, Gatō will set his sights on us, too… . . "
"And if you get killed, everything would be lost… . " Giichi then approached closer, and he asked
"Why don't you just stop building the bridge?"
"Not a chance," Tazuna replied stubbornly .
"This is our bridge, a bridge that everyone is this town has built, believing that it would generate distribution and transportation for this land that has few resources . "
"But… . if it goes so far as to take our lives… . . " Giichi hesitated .
"Its already Afternoon, Let's call it a day!" Tazuna said as he started to leave .
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"Tazuna!" Giichi called out to which Tazuna turned back as he said, "Giichi… . You don't have to come back tomorrow . "
—-End of Flashback-—
"We have come a long way from that…" Tazuna sighed, thinking back to Inari, showing up with everyone else on the bridge .
"Inari told me, us folks gotta fight together,"
"Sure we cannot defeat them one on one, but if we don't give up hope, we'll definitely find a way to turn this around," Giichi shined with enthusiasm .
"You're right,"
"But you'd better be prepared, this trip to the leaf will take a while," Tazuna said .
"I just hope Arata and Hajime can survive until we get help,"
"That Hajime is a good kid, the children love him," Giichi said .
"Yeah…" Tazuna sighed, thinking back to the time he told Giichi and a few important figures in the village about Zabuza's and Haku's identity .
Their window to exit underneath the bridge was by making use of Gozaburo's groups focus on Zabuza and Haku .
Soon they reached the land where they had to get off .
"Be careful on your way back," Tazuna warned the boatman .
"Will do," The boatman saluted and was on his way off .
"Let's go," Tazuna said, following which, Tazuna and Giichi were on their way to the Hidden Leaf .
———————————
Back in the Hidden Leaf…
Minato stared at Berserk Naruto, who was in front of him .
("You'll have to use your chakra to pull out Naruto's chakra away from him,") Kurama said .
"Grr!!!" Naruto growled at Minato .
*Sh!*
Minato sent a chakra appendage over to Naruto which stuck onto Naruto's chakra .
"Pull!" Kurama gave the signal .
"Hngh!" Minato grunted, trying to separate Kurama's chakra away from Naruto .
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"Grh?" Naruto stared at the chakra based appendage that was stuck onto him .
Minato was shocked .
"It doesn't budge a bit," Minato commented .
"Gah!" Naruto sent a chakra arm towards Minato .
(Whoosh!) Minato teleported away along with the chakra appendage that extended from him .
(Bang!) Naruto's attack struck the ground missing Minato entirely .
At this moment a man in ANBU mask appeared .
"Tenzō" Hashirama called out as his body was still recovering its blasted pieces .
"Yes," Tenzō responded immediately by bringing his hands together .
CRK!
Wood emerged from the ground in the form of extremely thick tree roots/trunks and suddenly wrapped around Naruto .
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The berserk Naruto growled in rebellion which only served to increase its chakra output, which also increased the rate at which the wood grew around it since the wood reacted to Kurama's natural energy .
"Good Job!" Hashirama shouted out in approval as his body recovered finally to the point he was able to move .
"Brother, do not come any closer," Tobirama shouted out in concern .
"I know," Hashirama responded .
Minato looked at Naruto who was stuck in the wood, He felt sorry, but at the same time he knew he couldn't let this go on for any longer .
"Here I go," Minato extended a chakra appendage that stuck onto Naruto just like before .
"GAHHHH!!!!!!" Berserk Naruto was angered further by this action, which Minato ignored and once again tugged at his chakra that was latched onto Naruto's .
"Let me help," Hashirama arrived behind Minato and extended a hand towards Minato's back .
"Heave-ho" Hashirama pulled back Minato who was pulling Naruto's chakra . Minato's gaze shifted towards Naruto on the other end only to see that some of his chakra was peeling away .
"It's working," Minato conveyed .
"Brother," Tobirama called out .
Hashirama looked towards Tobirama only to see him extend a hand .
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"HM!" Hashirama extended out a wooden root towards Tobirama to help him pull Minato .
"Ha…" Tobirama also pulled Minato along with Hashirama .
"ARRRGGHHHH!!!!!" Berserk Naruto growled in anger following which he spat out a shockwave .
(Bang!)
The wood around Minato was obliterated, leaving the chakra cloak to fend off the remaining energy . Meanwhile, the shockwave made Tobirama and Hashirama to lose their balance .
"Once again!" Hashirama shouted, following which he created some wood to hold on to Minato and a handle for Tobirama to pull Minato .
"Lord Hokages!" Shikaku and Inoichi appeared on the scene .
"We are here to support," Inoichi announced .
"Inoichi-san," Minato called out .
Inoichi saw what was going on and instantly understood .
"Hold on!" Inoichi said as he formed a hand seal and aimed towards Naruto .
Shikaku, on the other hand, readied a hand seal as well .
< Yin Release - Shadow possession! >
*Shadow shriek*
Shikaku's shadow connected with Naruto's .
"Now!" Shikaku gave the command .
"Wait!" Minato ordered Inoichi to stop .
"What is it?" Shikaku asked .
"What Naruto is suffering from, is a curse from the main clan . There is a high chance that the curse would corrupt Inoichi-san's mind," Minato informed .
"A curse from the main clan?" Inoichi and Shikaku asked at the same time .
"Indeed," Tobirama nodded .
"What do we do?" Inoichi turned towards Shikaku . The other Hokages were also expectant of a good solution from the master strategist of the Hidden Leaf .
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