Land of Waves AKA that one Station of Canon everyone does, but it's such a good arc so that's why everybody does it.

This chapter is the end of that arc though, and it honestly feels a little choppier than I'd like, but I wanted to get this out anyway.

Begin Rei 10

Damn it.

Its day seven. The day when Zabuza and Haku attack the bridge. Naruto and Sasuke were on the bridge with Zabuza and Haku. Fuck.

Okay, okay, things worked out in canon, sure, but the butterfly effect existed. Could Sasuke still fight Haku in this world? What if Naruto was fighting him instead? Kakashi could fight Zabuza, but it was close before and-

Alright, can I fight Haku? Well... just to be prepared for it... that fight earlier took about a fourth of my chakra, most of that from substituting with a kunai - the mass discrepancy between me and it being problematic. On my own, there's no way could I beat Haku, but with Sasuke or Naruto, that seemed more plausible.

There it is... the bridge... I can't see anything on the damn bridge though, fucking mist. I jump onto the side of the bridge and run along the side it, hoping to find roughly where Haku is - there you are, mate.

I leapt onto the bridge, finding myself face to face with Haku's Crystal Ice Mirrors. Inside is Sasuke, a red glow visible in his eyes.

"Sasuke," I call quietly. He turns.

"Don't get in here, we need to attack from both-," he explains, before being forced to dodge a storm of needles from Haku.

"Sounds like a plan," I reply, moving over to a specific mirror.

"I was wondering where you were," a feminine voice prompted. Crap.

"Sasuke, now!" I shout.

"Fireball jutsu!"

"Air Cutter!"

Our jutsu impact the same mirror at once - it gave a good fight, but-

Crash!

With a crash, the mirror gave out to our dual assault.

"What?!" Haku calls out, watching Sasuke escape his unescapable technique.

"Alright Sasuke, you ready?" I ask.

"We're going to do that, aren't we?" he replied.

"Oh yeah," I replied.

"Don't think it will be so easy," Haku called out.

"Gust of Wind!"

"Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke added, propelling a firestorm into Haku's Crystal Ice Mirrors. The flames created a roar as they exited every gap in the ice mirrors - with the intense heat causing the mirrors to melt - and Haku to escape his ice mirrors, landing to our right.

"How?" he asked.

"Combination techniques," I replied.

"Is that it, then?" he commented, before throwing more needles toward us. No time to dodge, but I can blo- OW. Sasuke dodged perfectly, closing in toward Haku. I moved in from the other side, intending to give Haku zero breathing room. Sasuke sent a strong kick toward Haku's voice, one that Haku blocked with his arm - opening him up for a Wind Fist. Haku prepared to counter-attack but hesitated.

"What's that noise?" Sasuke asked. I heard... birds?

"Your future, Zabuza, is death!" Kakashi shouted in the distance.

"Sasuke," I called, already doing the hand signs for a jutsu.

"Gust of Wind!" we both called out, knocking Haku away from an ice mirror.

"No!" Haku called out.

A lightning strike accompanied by a sound I couldn't identify... no, it was obvious what it was.

"He's dead," Sasuke stated. The mist was beginning to clear, revealing Kakashi's arm elbow deep in Zabuza's torso, a growing puddle of blood surrounding him.

"No..." Haku stated, before pushing us aside.

"Rei, what's he-," Sasuke began.

"Haku, wait..." Zabuza rasped, the effects of a 6-inch hole in his chest making itself clear.

"Zabuza-sama, you'll-"

"Haku, we both know I'm going to die. That's why I've decided to stop lying to myself... and tell you the truth..."

"Th-the truth?"

"You thought you were just... a tool. I kept telling myself that... that's what you were. Now... I'll tell you the truth. For some time... you've been more than a tool, Haku... you were the son I never had..." Zabuza said, punctuated with a cough.

"Zabuza-sama, you really thought that?"

"Yeah... when I said you were just as strong as me... I was telling the truth... now, my last order, Haku... Take my blade. You're as strong as I am... now surpass me."

"Yes, Zabuza-sama, I will," Haku responded, his voice cracking.

"Heh... I can die... with one less regret... now..." Zabuza spoke his final words.

"The son he never had..." Sasuke whispered.

Kakashi pulled his bloodstained arm out of Zabuza's chest and laid his body down.

"It seems even the Demon of the Mist was human," he remarked.

It was then Haku completely broke down.

"Zabuza-sama, why didn't you..." was all I could make out. I moved to talk to him but-

"No, it wouldn't be right," Sasuke said, his hand maintaining a grip on my arm, "not after what we did."

...Oh fuck.

"Hey Haku!" Naruto shouted, prompting the crying ninja to look up, "are you just going to give up now?"

"But, without Zabuza-"

"Zabuza wants you to keep going, he thinks you can become a stronger ninja than him, why else would he trust his sword to you?"

"I..."

"You know him more than anyone else; you should know that he wants you to succeed! There has to be some fond memories of him for you to remember! You can't forget about Zabuza now, he'll keep on living in your heart as long as you keep on living!"

"I... I'm sorry, you're right, Naruto. Zabuza believes- believed in me. I have to live up to those expectations."

"That's the spirit, Haku!"

Thanks Naruto.

"Sasuke, you can let go now," I mention. He wordlessly agreed. Sasuke and I saved Haku... but Zabuza directly died because of it. Will Haku hold that against me? Does Haku even hold grudges? I sighed and walked over to Kakashi-sensei, still surrounded by dogs.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, sorry about the plan kind've exploding," I explained. To that, he sighed... Kakashi-sensei looked like he'd been through hell - Jesus Christ is that a hole in his hand?!

"Don't worry, it'll heal," Kakashi-sensei mentioned. Must've caught me staring at the hole in his hand. Goddamn.

"'ey boss, we've got company," Kakashi's pug pointed out.

"And here I thought missing-nin were supposed to be tough. Fat lot of good he did," Gato gloated. God, what a prick.

"Gato," Haku said and oh, that's actual malice in his voice.

"Change of plans, you and Zabuza die now," he declared, chuckling, "of course, it seems most of my work is already done, so all that's left is you. Besides, you nearly broke my arm back then, so I'll make sure to pay you back!"

"Are you sure about that?" Haku replied, projecting his anger toward Gato's thugs, who were instantly demoralized by this.

"Come on, it's one against fifty, it can't be that tough!"

"Haku," Kakashi-sensei started, "since your previous client is now our enemy, this gives us a common enemy."

"Indeed it does," Haku responded.

So, we have Kakashi, Haku, me and my teammates, and all of Kakashi's dogs. Gato would have to be-

"W-well, this is-," Gato began, but was interrupted by a senbon needle to the neck. The businessman fell over, apparently dead.

Well that was anti-climactic. There was a lot of murmuring among the mercenaries, but then they seemed to reach some sort of consensus.

"If Gato's dead, then we're not getting paid," one thug blurted out.

"Hey, there's all those ninja there, you saw what happened...," another replied.

"Gato promised us all that money, if he ain't gonna pay us now, we should just steal it from him!"

"Yeah!"

With that, the mercenaries retreated, apparently to loot Gato's lair.

"We did it guys!" Naruto proclaimed.

"Quiet down Naruto," Sasuke replied, his voice sounding like he'd eaten sandpaper.

"Sasuke, what's with your voice?" Naruto asked. I can explain.

"It's a side-effect of wind-style techniques," I explained, "without chakra protection; it can hurt your throat."

"The same as a fire jutsu then," Sasuke interjected.

"Similar more likely, the specifics are probably different," I replied. Sasuke's sharingan would've only caught the Gust of Wind I did earlier. The chakra protection for my throat isn't part of the jutsu and wouldn't have been copied. Technically, it's not even a jutsu at all, just chakra control - but that's another topic. Sasuke must've had some sort of equivalent exercise for fire jutsu, but obviously it's not the same as with wind jutsu.

"Hey Rei, we're here!" Inari called out. He'd arrived with a whole mob of people, armed with a variety of weapons, including pitchforks, mining picks, shovels, and at least one guy with a pair of nunchuks.

"Alright my genin, why don't you take Tazuna home," Kakashi suggested.

Zabuza's funeral was a quick affair. He hadn't gotten much more than a hole in the ground with a roughly made cross (and where had THAT symbol come from?) to denote his grave. Haku had talked at length about how Zabuza had taken him in when there was no one else for him.

"Zabuza said that ninja were just tools Kakashi-sensei, is that true?" Naruto asked, to which Kakashi had just sighed.

"A shinobi isn't supposed to pursue his own ideals. They're merely tools of their country. Even in the Leaf Village it's the same way,"

"If it's like that then something's wrong," Naruto declared.

"You believe it too?" Sasuke asked.

"Every ninja has to live with that issue. It's a question without an answer, one we have to deal with all our lives."

Naruto hmmed, before giving his proclamation, "Alright, I'll create my own ninja way, one where I don't have to live with regrets!"

"I hope you find that path, Naruto," Haku stated then.

Kakashi gave a customary eye-smile. I knew Naruto would create that ninja way, and I knew that a peaceful world was possible. Hopefully Naruto would succeed.

The following day, Kakashi told us that he'd handle guarding the bridge on his own, leaving us to our own devices. Naturally, this lead to us sparring with each other.

"Alright Sasuke, you ready?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

We settled into our stances - him in the Uchiha stance, mine in something resembling the academy standard. He charged forward, aiming a kick toward the side of my face. I raised my left arm, blocking his kick. He raised his fist, forcing me to duck under his attack.

With one arm blocking his leg, I used my other arm to force his leg away, giving myself some breathing room. I prepared a Wind Fist, throwing it Sasuke's direction.

Of course he dodged it. I knew he'd do that. Right or left...

Right!

I blocked his fist, grabbing hold of it in my hand. His body then twisted, lifting off the ground to go for an overhead attack with his leg. I let go of his fist and rolled out of the way, going for a sweeping kick once he'd landed and - a log.

Well he's acting more defensive than usual...

"Fireball jutsu!" I heard, a few moments earlier than Sasuke had expected. I jumped completely out of the way, but the fact that I saw his eyes looking my direction when I landed...

"Wind style: Wind Fist!" he called out. Oh that'll -

10 feet later, that hurts. What's the feeling? Oh, right, Salt.

My left - "Air Cutter!" I call out, putting Sasuke back on the defensive. Jeez, I'm running out of options.

I continue my assault with a kick toward the stomach - one that Sasuke easily dodges. I see a flicker of red and then-

"Checkmate," Sasuke's voice declares, an arm around my chest.

"You got me," I sighed. Sasuke let go.

"You've gotten better."

"Have I?" I asked, before turning around. Red eyes. Well, maybe I have.

"That last jutsu of yours was a close call."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I stated, before realizing something, "guess you got that problem out of the way with wind jutsu."

"Of course."

"I'm not sure how to feel about the fact I got bludgeoned with my own jutsu earlier," I muttered.

"An interesting feeling, isn't it?" I heard Haku state. He must've noticed how I froze, "my apologies, you're still uncomfortable around me, aren't you? I apologize for what happened on the bridge, I wish we could have concluded things more peacefully."

"Yeah," was all I could respond with.

"What are you doing here, though?" Sasuke asked.

"I'll be going to Konoha," Haku delivered, "I don't know what to do with my life now, but Konoha might give me the answers I seek."

"I see," I answered, "you're not mad at us, are you?"

"No... you did what you thought was right then... I don't believe Zabuza-sama would want me to seek revenge, not after entrusting me with his will."

"Right," I said. I should say more, but words are failing me.

"I should get going, Kakashi-san will likely wish to speak with me," he said, disappearing just as fast as he had arrived.

"Hey Sasuke!" I heard Naruto shout, "Let's spar!"

"Fine...," Sasuke replied.

It wasn't a long spar. Not as long as my own had been, but Naruto was getting better. He was getting smarter with his techniques and jutsu use, with much help (and consternation) from Kakashi-sensei, and his Shadow Clones gave him a large edge over Sasuke.

I have to convince Naruto to teach me that at some point.

After Sasuke had beaten Naruto, it was my turn.

We settled into our poses, my derivative of the academy standard against Naruto's mangling of such. Once again, I waited for Naruto to make the first move, and like Sasuke, he charged forward. His first attack was predictable - I dodged to the right, leaving Naruto unable to compensate. A sweeping kick was all it took to... burst his shadow clone.

When had he-?

A distant shouting filled my ears. I turned around and suddenly there were roughly 20 Narutos charging at me. Smart.

While they were charging at me, I could pick them off one by one.

"Wind style: Wind Fist!" I called, striking one of Naruto's clones. I had time to fire four more before the Narutos were too close. Now we were getting dangerous.

The Narutos were all bad at Taijutsu, but the fact there were 15 of him was a hell of a way to make up for that. At the very least, I wasn't surrounded. Each time the Narutos got too close for comfort, I could fall back and give myself a bit of distance. Unfortunately, they caught on by the time there were eight of them left.

Hmm... maybe I could go up?

I pushed my chakra to my legs and jumped into the air, throwing a Wind Fist into the ground, popping three Narutos at once.

...I didn't think about this beyond 'go into the air'. I landed a little aways from where I had launched from and found myself surrounded by Narutos.

"Well, I surrender," I said.

"Huh?" Naruto wondered.

"There's no way I'd be able to fight my way against five of you," I stated, "besides, you're getting pretty good at this."

"I still can't beat Sasuke though."

"He's just that good," I mentioned, "it annoys me too, but he can't be on top forever."

"I can hear you," Sasuke interjected.

"I know."

The last three days of the mission were spent guarding the bridge. Kakashi-sensei had decided that with Zabuza gone and Gato dealt with, we could take things easy. Thus, for the last three days of the mission, we had put a hold on training for water-walking.

Of course, this wasn't a complete break from training. We still kept up a normal training, but Kakashi-sensei must've decided to reward us with a break from water-walking (while noting that that would be finished when we returned to Konoha).

"We could never have finished the bridge without you," Tazuna said, "I can't tell you how much we're going to miss you."

"Be careful," Tsunami added.

"Thank you for everything," Kakashi-sensei responded. Without Tazuna and Tsunami's hospitality, we'd never have gotten anywhere.

"Hey, don't get all choked up, we'll come back and visit real soon!" Naruto added with a smile.

"R-really?" Inari asked.

"Yeah, we'll be back, believe it!"

"Trust us kid, we'll be back," I said, offering a wave as my team began to walk away.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, what's going to happen with Haku?" Naruto asked.

"I sent a shadow clone to report about the situation, they'll know ahead of time," Sensei responded.

"Alright!"

"Hold on Naruto, that doesn't mean Haku's guaranteed a place in Konoha, it just means the Hokage is aware of the situation."

"Oh, right," Naruto responded, his hands behind his head.

"Hey guys," I suggested, "I don't think I've introduced you guys to Shinji, have I?"

"Shinji?" Naruto asked. Sasuke's head turned toward us a little.

"My second-cousin, he's a pretty cool guy. I think he'll like you guys."

"Alright!"

"Well, if my genin are going, I might as well come along," Kakashi-sensei added. Well... that'll probably work out actually; I imagine Kakashi-sensei and Shinji would get along.

Actually, what about Anko? I think Kakashi and Anko got along in canon? I don't remember them not getting along; though for all I know they never interacted.

Oh well, Kakashi's a pretty understanding guy, so I'm sure things will go well.

End Rei 10

RIP Zabuza-sama. Zabuza and Haku are such good characters with lots of potential, it's almost a shame they're beginning arc villains. At least fanfics involving the two of them surviving are fairly common.

So, there we have it, Land of Waves is over. So, unlike the manga, where Zabuza and Haku's funerals were held 2 weeks after they died, here Zabuza's funeral happens on the same day. Without Naruto's Kyuubi surge, the bridge has a fair bit less damage, leading to Team 7 coming home earlier than in canon.

So, fun little thing of world lore that was never expanded on: Zabuza and Haku both have crosses for their graves. Cross grave markers are a very particularly Christian thing, so does Christianity exist in Naruto? If so, what does the fact that ninja can casually cross water mean? I know 'Jesus was a ninja' was a Naruto Abridged Series joke, but that might be an actual theory in-universe.

Well, it would be if the Sage wasn't already established as essentially ninja Jesus, so...

Actually, religion as a whole is barely expanded upon, and doesn't really have a good showing in Naruto. There's the monks, who have what appears to be a Shaolin Monastery, along with mostly unspecified beliefs. And of course, there's Hidan, who worships Jashinism, which is a literal death cult with very few apparent worshippers. Presumably they all died trying to do Hidan's techniques or something.

Anyway, the next arc? Not the Chunin exams. While the anime seems to imply they came right after Land of Waves, that can't be the case, especially since Cat Fortress was retroactively put in that gap. The Manga just shows that there was some sort of timespan between the two arcs. Seelentau's Naruto Timeline (probably my favorite attempt to piece everything together) places a little less than three months between Land of Waves and Chunin Exams, so that's how I'm going about it. Of course, even before looking at that timeline, I'd already planned to put some stuff in between the two arcs.

Anyway, next chapter is a shift to a different POV because it's been a while since I did one of those.