𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 || Naruto Uzumaki ✓

┊008

──────═❀═──────
『 𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐏 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑  𝟖 』
──═❀═──
━『 final moments 』

Sakura screamed at the sight of Kakashi lying there, injured, but I remained silent, all my attention fixed on the battle. Mist continued to weave in and out as Zabuza spoke; his words were riddled with sadistic satisfaction. "You were late to guard, Kakashi," Zabuza sneered. "You've let your desire to save those brats cloud your judgment. Your Sharingan can't help you now; you're predictable."

As Zabuza spoke, my confidence began to build up inside me. "Haku will not defeat my brother, nor will Naruto fall easily," I said with a nod.

"Sasuke won't go down easily against some guy in mask, neither will Naruto!" Sakura echoed.

Kakashi nodded to himself. "I believe in them, and in their strengths." He said with finality. "The wild card that is Naruto, the bloodline of Sasuke, Misaki's.Misaki's." Kakashi stopped for a brief moment before he continued once more. "Misaki is Sasuke sister, and in loyalty and skill she is second to none."

"You don't mean--" Zabuza started, his voice trailing off in disbelief.

"Yeah, that's right," Kakashi confirmed. "Their full names are Misaki and Sasuke Uchiha. They carry within them the lineage of the Uchiha clan, very strong in its Kekkei Genkai.

Assurance from Zabuza as to our lineage was all it took to set the scale of intensity at this moment. "So they are that tragic clan's survivors," he darkly mused. "Sasuke may indeed be the rival Haku deserves. No one's ever penetrated the secret of Haku's techniques until now. No one."

With Zabuza gone into the swirling mist. "He's gone!" I shouted, senses heightened as I scanned our surroundings.

"Sakura, Misaki, stay alert," Kakashi ordered. "Do not move an inch. I will finish this as quickly as I can."

And when Kakashi reassured us, we all stood there, feet rooted in the ground for whatever may happen, never to shrink from danger beneath. Kakashi sprang into mist with a bound and said, "Come out Zabuza!"

My heart started to quicken, be it from adrenaline, it kept my heart pounding. I salivated my lip while I waited for Zabuza to come out of the mist. Feeling the hairs of my back rise as the blade fell down toward Sakura, the surge of energy overtook me. Spinning right around, Zabuza's sword met my kunai only inches above my head; vibrations from that impact resounded in my arms.

"What's this? Awakening Sharingan now?" Zabuza's voice was full of interest and remained cloaked behind his mask. "How interesting."

My heart was galloping in my chest as finally our eyes met. Then, at the exact moment that Kakashi's urgent cry hit my ears, I did the fatal thing and glanced to one side – my focus broke.

"Misaki!" Kakashi's voice cut through the mist, desperation lacing his warning. My heart sank as I realized my mistake-a slip of concentration was now becoming all too real.

My gaze moved, and fresh horror washed over me as another figure waded out from the swirling mist, his blade at ready strike. Time seemed to crawl while I registered how close danger was, my racing mind for some solution, even while my body tensed to absorb any impact.

"Misaki!"

Sakura's yells and then with a sudden impact landed at my waist, and I flew backward with mist everywhere. The force of the blow drove the air from my lungs, and I heard that sickening sound of something snapping inside me as I smashed into something cold.

I lay on the ground, my limbs unresponsive, with pain flaring across my body. Blinking through the haze of agony, I forced my eyes to focus. They came to rest on the chamber of mirrors where Naruto and Sasuke were standing. For a moment, I felt fleeting relief at seeing them both uninjured.

Though they were safe, by then I knew mine was a precarious situation; as I struggled to draw a breath into my battered lungs, a sinking feeling settled into the pit of my stomach. I couldn't move, and I couldn't fight. There I lay, helpless.

his voice resounded across the chamber, trembling. "Misaki. No. Why— No— Not you two! What happened?!"

It was hard to talk with blood filling my throat, but I was somehow able to rasp out an explanation. "Had to. Protect Sakura."

No sooner were the words out of my mouth than Haku's voice cut through, the malice dripping from every word. His cruel comments on Sasuke's sacrifice and my condition filled Naruto with anger. Even his frail body could not conceal the burning in his eyes, nor his will had been deviated from its course even then.

"What? The first time one of your comrades has died? Pft. Such is the path of a ninja," Haku sneered.

Naruto replied, "I won't forgive you.

"Shut up," Naruto's voice shook. "I'm never gonna forgive you for this."

He gently dropped Sasuke down. Then his hand went down my face, gently gazing my cheek

 "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!" Naruto thundered, his eyes blazing red as some otherworldly light, but those whisker marks on his cheeks were proof enough of the rage that came unleashed within him.

That was the last I remembered before my eyes refused to open and my mind refused to cooperate and just went blank.

━

First, I heard those heart-wrenching sobs from a voice unmistakably Sakura's. My eyes fluttered open to find her knelt beside me, her hand pressed against my chest. "Please, shut up," I muttered. The weakness in my voice was highly contrasted with the volume of Sakura's, which seemed to grow louder. Then, before I had time to further react, my body was being wrapped tightly in the circle of her arms.

"Misaki!" Naruto's voice finally reached me

Still dizzy, I sat up, able to do little else but watch Kakashi fighting Zabuza-the battle wasn't over. But even in the intensity of the battle, the attitude was one of supreme confidence, his hands still tucked into his pockets.

"You disappoint me, Zabuza," a new voice echoed again, turning mine to the man who had hired Zabuza. He was wearing black round glasses and donning a suit. Behind him stood some really menacing group of thugs and their shade over this already tense scene was really very dark.

It felt like for some reason my words came out slow and sluggish, fighting to stay awake. "Hey, Sakura," I managed to get out.

Sakura's sobbing stopped for a moment as she replied, "Y-Yeah?"

"I think you're hugging. me too. tight," I muttered, weakening as heavy eyelids called my name once more. 

━━

Two weeks later

━━

It was Sakura's reflecting voice that finally broke the silence as we stood around the graves of Haku and Zabuza. "You know, Kakashi Sensei," she began, her tone contemplative.
Kakashi turned toward her, looking at her expectantly for her to go on. "Hmm?" he urged.

"I wonder if that really is the way of a true Ninja, as these two were saying," Sakura wondered out loud.

Kakashi turned to her question but answered it slowly. "Shinobi shouldn't be looking for the reason of their own existence," he said, quite stern. "What's important is to exist just as a tool to our homeland. And that's just as real for us in Konohagakure as for the Ninja anywhere else."

Naruto, as was expected, spoke his mind without a second thought to it and released a puff of discontent. "I don't like the sound of that!"

Till now, Sasuke had been quiet, but he finally spoke up. "Really, Kakashi Sensei? You really feel this way?" he asked, curious.

Sasuke got a thoughtful gaze from Kakashi. "Well, No," he said finally, his voice serious in thought. "And that's why all we Ninja live our lives with that ideal always bubbling beneath the surface of our minds, disturbing us. Like it did Zabuza and the boy."

"That's it. I've made up my mind!" Naruto announces, "I'm gonna create my own Nindo—my own ninja path, my own destiny!

With Naruto's words hanging in the air, my gaze fell to the setting sun-the colors across the sky painted a serene backdrop to our conversation. "Kakashi Sensei?" I called out.

Kakashi turned his attention towards me. "Yeah?" he replied, curious to know what I needed.

"Is following a dream forbidden to be a ninja in our village?" I asked, my words sort of falling out my mouth not really making any sense. "Like Haku and Zabuza."

Kakashi was silent for a moment, then turned to my question, "It sure is," he tried to reassure. "But we are just tools to be used for missions. Doesn't mean you can't get to where or who you want to be."

My brow furrowed a little at his words. "What if their madness starts just for that dream, loses all sense it once had because of that dream?" I tried again, speaking a lot slower, makign sure every word is heard at the same level.

Kakashi's gaze turned gentle as he met my eyes. "Then that dream would be worth reconsidering."

My eyes were on the graves as my fists clenched tightly at my sides. "But what if you're already crazy and have gone mad?" I asked again this time. "Is your excuse because of that your dream? Can that excuse justify your choices?"

Kakashi's words came slow. "Yes, it does," he finally said. "Because you would drive yourself into madness to achieve that goal." He took another deep breath and started anew. "But. that is why we have comrades around us to prevent that from happening. No one should be alone because things like that happen. The four of you have each other, so that won't happen to any of you."

────────── ❀
. . . . .╭──╯╰──╮. . . . .
𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒
. . . . .╰──╮╭──╯. . . . .
❀ ──────────

(a/n) ── This chapter had some cheeky foreshadowing 🫣its pretty obvious to what it is tho lmao

(❀) ── wc; 1.8k+

────────── ❀
Remember to vote and comment <3
❀ ──────────