Chakra Thirst

"Kid, give me your kunai."

Zabuza looked at Haku's corpse as he prepared for his own final journey. Maybe he couldn't go where Haku went, he didn't deserve it, but that didn't stop him from sending the coward who hired and betrayed them to hell with him.

A tearful Naruto, along with a battered Kakashi, handed him the requested kunai and watched as Zabuza finished off several people as various weapons ended up buried in his back.

Too bad he couldn't finish them all.

The mercenaries, seeing that their boss was dead, decided to go and loot the village to recover the money owed, but ended up being intimidated when the villagers showed up with tools ready to defend their homes.

That, coupled with the fact that Naruto and Kakashi used clones to make them believe they still had the strength to fight.

"Kakashi, I have to ask you for a favor," the dying Zabuza murmured weakly.

"What is it?" Kakashi put his protector over his eye as he usually did while looking at what was until recently his enemy.

"I want to... see his face," Zabuza asked.

"Okay," Kakashi tore Zabuza's weapons away and moved him next to Haku's corpse.

Strangely, at that moment it began to snow despite the time of year they were in.

"Haku, are you crying?" Zabuza thought as he felt the snowflakes on his increasingly cold skin.

After thanking Kakashi for fulfilling his request, he kept his gaze fixed on Haku's expression.

"We've been together all this time..." he whispered as his strength began to leave him and he tried to move his hand towards Haku, "so I'll die with you."

The scene became even more touching when at the moment of his death, they were bathed in a ray of light.

"Well, I can't believe my luck," a voice broke the illusion of the moment and pulled everyone out of the atmosphere that had been built, "Two renegades from Kirigakure ready to be handed over to the bounty office, I'll accept them reluctantly!"

No one knows when, but a person wrapped in a mask appeared next to Zabuza and Haku's bodies.

"A ninja from Sunagakure?" Kakashi recognized Takara's headband as he moved in front of Naruto, trying to understand why he didn't notice before.

Also, was it just him or did he not seem to be touching the ground?

"Oh! You must be the renowned Kakashi, the ninja of a thousand copies," Takara turned his head to look at him for a moment, "I thought you'd be taller. You don't have to worry about your greenhouses, I have no intention of wasting my time fighting a jonin of your level nor do I have any reason to do so," he paused as he added with a pleased voice, "And it seems you're not in any condition to fight either, so we can all go our separate ways happily."

"You, what do you want with Haku and Zabuza?" Naruto almost rushed towards Takara if it weren't for Kakashi holding him by the neck.

The last thing he wanted in his condition was to deal with a new hostile variable.

"It seems one of yours is deaf, what a more severe deficiency for a ninja," Takara paid no apparent attention to Naruto as his sharp tongue insulted him naturally, "But before anything... Ram! Rem!"

"Hai, Takara-sama. x2"

Everyone turned and looked puzzled as two identical girls dressed as maids and only distinguishable from each other by their hair color, walked past Sakura and Sasuke while carrying Zabuza's sword, the Kubikiribocho, between the two of them carefully and easily.

"Interesting," Takara ran his hand along the blade of the sword, "Too bad it's not made of chakra metal, but at least I'll be able to get some money by returning it to the village."

"Do you think it's right to take someone else's loot?" Kakashi expressed his displeasure.

"Mmm?" Takara glanced at his wounds before returning to study the sword in front of him, "Please, the way things were going it even seemed like you were going to give them a proper burial in the middle of the excitement. Am I wrong?"

Kakashi remained silent, because in fact, that was his plan.

He usually appropriated the bodies to return them to the village and hand them over to be studied, but his genin were going through an intense experience and he wanted to soften their memories so they could move forward with renewed determination.

"That's what I thought," Takara nodded at the lack of response, which was already a response in itself, "As it happens, I'm a distant relative of this boy," he said pointing at Haku, "So his funeral should be entrusted to my hands. And since he cares so much for the Mist Demon, as family, I would feel bad separating them..."

Kakashi couldn't help but roll his eyes at Sunagakure's ninja's declaration.

Is the Yuki clan of Kirigakure related to you, do you expect me to believe that seriously?

Kakashi didn't know that Takara was being honest, as his father was indeed someone from the Yuki clan, a detail he discovered at the age of eight.

It turns out Pakura had a tendency for femboys, and with the appearance of that clan...

It was also one of the main reasons why he used bandages as Nox, the blood feud between a lineage with Burning Release and another with Ice Release caused him a lot of pain until he was able to grow enough.

And the mask was of great help to avoid having the same problem that Haku faced constantly.

"Oh!" Naruto shouted as he realized what had happened, "Kakashi-sensei, he's getting away!"

Kakashi hit Naruto on the head to make him shut up.

Did he think it was a good idea to face him for a couple of corpses in his condition and with civilians nearby?

His priority was to keep his genin safe and then safeguard the bridge.

"Kakashi-sensei," to his surprise, he heard Sakura speak this time with a concerned tone as she approached carrying a Sasuke full of senbons in his body, "What do you think he meant by 'see you soon'?"

"I'll explain it to you later, how are you Sasuke?"

"Hurt and angry," the Uchiha boy responded as he shook with each of Sakura's movements as she moved him.

"Perfect."