Descent of the Dragon ~ A Naruto Fanfic (On Hold)

Chapter 8

Shiro's words had the same effect as a bomb going off.

Naruto jerked like he'd been electrocuted, his jaw dropping wide open. Sakura and Tazuna both looked panic, as if worried Kai and Shiro would suddenly attack them. Sasuke tried to act like he didn't care, but his hand inched closer to his weapons pouch.

Kai laughed to himself as he saw Sasuke's reaction. The Uchiha'd need more than a kunai to stop him and Shiro.

The only one Kai couldn't get a read on was Kakashi. The Jonin's gaze gave nothing away. "So you knew that Shinobi Hunter was Zabuza's ally all along."

"Yep." Kai grinned, not sorry in the slightest. "Part of the reason Shiro and I didn't help fight Zabuza was to keep an eye out for him. Those two are strong enough separately, but there's no way you could've fought both with three genin holding you back."

Naruto looked like he wanted to say something, but Shiro silenced him with a glare.

Kakashi folded his arms as he thought, his expression was still unreadable. "So you hung back to act as a deterrent. That Shinobi Hunter knows what you're capable of, so he couldn't ambush us without exposing his back to you."

It was annoying that Kai and Shiro had done all this without saying anything, but Kakashi had to admit it was a good plan. They'd been looking out for the others in their own way. But still...

Sakura tilted her head, confused. "Wouldn't it have been easier if you just fought with us from the beginning?"

Kai averted his eyes, slightly embarrassed. "Maybe, but--"

"We owe them a lot." Shiro crossed her arms. "Not helping you kill them was our way of repaying that debt."

"That's what I don't understand." Kakashi looked at the two of them, trying to gauge how many more questions they'd be willing to answer. "How did you get involved with someone like Zabuza?"

"Oh? The old man didn't fill you in?" Kai voice dripped with sarcasm as he glared at the Jonin, but Kakashi's eye gave nothing away. Eventually Kai sighed. Shiro sat in the corner, her arms still crossed as she closed her eyes. 

Naruto and the others leaned forward as Kai began his story. "Most of you already know, but Shiro and I only came to the Leaf Village a year ago. Before that we'd been wandering around aimlessly, and that's when we happened to run into Zabuza...."

~Descent of the Dragon~

1 ½ Years Ago...

A scorched grassland, bathed in the bloody remains of battle. Dark clouds of smoke lingered in the air, but hundreds of bodies could still be seen littering the ground. It was unclear which side had won, but many lives had been lost.

Even though the fighting should've ended, the sound of clashing metal hadn't stopped. Two battles raged among the smoke, though shockingly none of the fighters seemed to have any relation to the corpses around them. 

On one side a black-haired boy fought against a man twice his size, scavenging weapons from nearby corpses to ward off the man's oversized sword. The already damaged weapons would break after only a few exchanges, but the boy just calmly discarded them and grabbed a replacement.

A few meters away, a white haired girl with cat ears faced off against a masked figure about the same height. Theirs was a strange duel—knives vs senbon—but captivating nonetheless.

They all seemed evenly matched for the moment, but it was a delicate balance that could change in an instant.

Eventually the young boy—Kai—managed to grab a pair of kodachi and deflect Zabuza's blade to the side. He rushed in, trying to stab Zabuza in the small opening he'd created, but before he could the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. On instinct Kai slid to the side, his body almost parallel to the ground as the Executioner's Blade passed millimeters above his face.