"Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?"

Tsunami's voice was a soft melody amid the sharp pain that echoed in Naruto's shoulder. He sat on a plush futon, his torso bare, as she finished skillfully dressing his wound.

"I'm great, really!" he answered, though the cold sweat on his forehead told a different story. "I've gotten worse scratches trying to steal food from a bird!"

She laughed softly, the sound filling Tazuna's small, humble home.

"You don't have to pretend to be strong with me, Naruto-kun," she said, cutting the bandage. "My father told us what you did for Sakura-chan. Thank you. For protecting her. It would have been terrible if someone had died defending my father."

At the entrance to the room, Sakura watched the scene with a heavy heart. Beside her, Hinata stood in silence, but her concern was a tangible presence. Farther away, on the porch, Sasuke's silhouette was a statue of resentment cut against the sunset.

"It was nothing!" Naruto insisted, attempting one of his radiant smiles, which came out more like a grimace. "That's what teams are for!"

"A true hero doesn't need to shout it to be one," said a childish, venom-laced voice from the doorway.

Inari, Tazuna's grandson, stared at them all with a scorn that didn't belong to someone his age. His eyes were filled with an old bitterness, the same they had heard about in the story of his father.

"You're no different. You showed up talking about missions and training, but Gato will crush you all. Heroes don't exist. There are only monsters and the fools who die trying to stop them."

"Inari!" Tsunami scolded, her voice sharp for the first time. "Apologize right now. This young man was injured protecting our family."

"And what good is it?" the boy retorted, unfazed. "My dad tried to protect people too, and where is he now? Dead! Gato killed him, and all of you just watched. Now you'll die too, and nothing will change!"

"That's not true!" Sakura's voice exploded, surprising and fierce. She planted herself in front of Inari, her fists clenched. "You have no right to talk to him like that! Naruto didn't get hurt because he's weak, he got hurt protecting me! That's not being a fool, that's being a comrade! Something you, with your heart full of hate, would never understand."

Inari looked at her, surprised by her vehemence, and then at Naruto. For a second, his mask of cynicism cracked, revealing the scared child underneath, but it hardened again. He ran out of the room, his footsteps echoing on the wooden floor.

Tsunami sighed, exhaustion etched on her face.

"I'm so sorry. Ever since what happened to Kaiza… he hasn't been the same."

"Don't worry," Naruto said, his voice strangely mature. "I get it."

As Tsunami went to get more ointment, Naruto lay back on the futon and closed his eyes. The pain was a weight dragging him toward unconsciousness. And it was on that threshold, between exhaustion and sleep, that he saw it. A silent fanfare, a bright blue text window that appeared in his inner vision with a majesty that contrasted with the room's humility.

[CONGRATULATIONS!] [MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: "DEMON SLAYERS"] [Requirement: Defeat a Rank A adversary (or its equivalent in power) with a team composed primarily of Level 1 Believers.] [Reward: Massive Excelia granted to the Host and the Believers involved in the combat! New slots for Development Abilities, Magic, and Skills have been unlocked for all participants!] [Warning: Accumulated Excelia cannot be assimilated and converted into real power until a Status Update is performed.]

"Massive… Excelia…" he whispered to himself, his voice hoarse with fatigue.

The potential for new power was a beacon of hope, but the requirement to assimilate it was a logistical nightmare. They had to do it again. And soon.

Later, when the house had fallen into the silence of the night, Naruto gathered his secret team in the main room. Tazuna was snoring in an adjacent room, and Sasuke had decided to meditate under the moon, his pride keeping him as physically distant as possible. Kakashi was there, leaning against the doorframe, his book put away and his single visible eye watching the scene with total focus.

"Thanks for coming," Naruto began, his voice low and serious. "There's something else you need to know."

Sakura and Hinata sat across from his futon, their faces tense in the light of the single oil lamp.

"Is it about the mission?" Sakura asked.

Naruto nodded.

"It's about Zabuza." He paused, making sure he had their full attention. "Zabuza isn't dead."

The two girls choked back a gasp. The relief they had felt evaporated, replaced by an icy terror.

"What? But we saw the tracker-nin…!" Sakura exclaimed.

"The tracker-nin… his name is Haku," Naruto revealed, each word landing like a stone in a deep well. "He's Zabuza's partner. Those senbon needles he used only put him in a state of temporary death. It's a technique to trick enemies and escape."

Hinata clenched her fists in her lap.

"Are you sure, Naruto-kun?"

"Completely. In my… memories… I saw it. And I saw their story."

Naruto proceeded to tell them what he knew, his voice a murmur heavy with the tragedy of a life he hadn't lived. He told them about the Yuki Clan and their Ice Style Kekkei Genkai, a power so feared in the Land of Water after the war that people hunted down its wielders. He told them how Haku's father, upon discovering that his wife and his own son possessed that ability, had disowned them.

"His father killed his own wife, Haku's mother, with his own hands," Naruto continued. "And he tried to kill Haku. But his son's power awakened to defend him. He created ice spikes and… killed his father and the mob with him."

Sakura brought a hand to her mouth, her eyes filled with horror.

"He was left an orphan, hated and feared for the very power that made him special. He wandered the streets, alone, believing his existence was unnecessary, until Zabuza found him. Zabuza saw his power not as a curse, but as a tool. He gave him a purpose, a reason to live, even if it was to be his weapon. That's why Haku is so loyal. Because Zabuza was the first person in the world who needed him."

The silence that followed the story was heavy, filled with a new understanding. The enemy they would face wasn't a simple monster; he was a walking tragedy, a boy who only knew loyalty to the person who had saved him from nothingness.

Sakura, processing the information, slowly turned to Kakashi, her analytical mind connecting the dots.

"Sensei… did you know this?"

Kakashi nodded slowly, his gaze never leaving Naruto.

"Yes. Naruto warned me before the battle with Zabuza."

The revelation hit Sakura and Hinata like a wave. Their sensei had gone into the fight knowing the truth about Haku and Zabuza, knowing the demon's death was a deception.

"But why?" Hinata asked, her voice barely a whisper. "Why did you let it happen? Why did you let yourself get caught?"

Kakashi finally pushed himself off the doorframe and stepped into the room, his presence filling the small space.

"Because Naruto's warning proved two things to me," he explained, his voice calm and measured. "First, that his knowledge is a double-edged sword. And second, that I can no longer trust him."

"What?! Sensei!" Sakura exclaimed, outraged.

"I don't mean I can't trust his loyalty," Kakashi clarified. "I mean I can no longer trust the future he 'remembers.' His actions are already changing it. Hinata's presence on this mission, the way you defeated the Demon Brothers, the way Sakura figured out the weakness of my water prison… all of that is new. It's uncharted territory." He crouched to be at eye level with the genin, his gaze shifting from one to the next. "If I get ahead of every event Naruto 'remembers,' we'll never know if our current strength is enough to face the future we are creating for ourselves. I had to see you in action. I had to know if you were capable of surviving a Zabuza clone without my help. Letting Zabuza's plan play out was a gamble. A gamble on you. I'll let his plan run its course, and we'll be ready for the unexpected outcome. It was the only way to measure our true strength."

The logic of his strategy was as brilliant as it was dangerous. He had used them as bait, but with a purpose: to evaluate the new, unknown soldiers under his command. The air in the room seemed to grow thick with tension, with only the sound of Naruto's breathing breaking the silence.

***

Meanwhile, in a dark, damp hideout somewhere deep in the forest, moonlight filtered through cracks in the rotting wooden roof. It illuminated the figure of Zabuza, lying motionless on a bed of dry leaves. Beside him, Haku, no longer wearing his tracker-nin mask, leaned over him with absolute concentration.

"Almost there, Zabuza-sama," he whispered, his breath visible in the cold air.

With a surgeon's delicacy, he carefully removed the last of the senbon needles from his master's neck. The needle, as thin as a hair, had been lodged precisely in a pressure point that simulated death, stopping his chakra flow and pulse to a nearly undetectable level.

Zabuza coughed, a hoarse, wet sound that echoed in the small hut. His eyes snapped open, not with the confusion of someone waking up, but with the renewed fury of an interrupted predator.

"Your skill with those needles is as flawless as ever, Haku," he said, his voice a deep gravel as he slowly sat up, rubbing his neck. "I felt more dead than most of the men I've killed."

"It was the only way, Zabuza-sama," Haku replied, his voice soft but without a hint of doubt. "Kakashi is cunning. If there had been the slightest sign of life, he wouldn't have let us go."

Zabuza stood up, stretching his powerful muscles. The defeat hadn't weakened him; it had enraged him, sharpened the edge of his hatred.

"Kakashi… and his brats," he growled, picking up his Kubikiribōchō from the ground. "That Hyuga girl… she moves too fast. And the pink-haired one… how did she know my technique's weakness? That's not normal. Next time, I won't underestimate them. Next time, there will be no games."

***

Back at Tazuna's house, Kakashi's explanation had left Sakura and Hinata pale, but with a new, fierce determination burning in their eyes. The need to become stronger wasn't a desire, it was an absolute certainty.

Zabuza and Haku would be back. And the next time, the battle would be to the death.

Naruto looked at them both, seeing that resolve. It was now or never. He gave them the prearranged signal: a discreet movement of his uninjured hand.

Sakura jumped to her feet, her performance flawless.

"Kakashi-sensei, Naruto needs to stretch his muscles so they don't get stiff from the injury," she announced with a falsely casual voice. "And I need to supervise his chakra control to make sure he doesn't overdo it. We're going out into the woods for a bit."

Hinata also stood up, her face a mask of serene concern.

"I'll go with them to watch the perimeter. With enemies nearby, we can't be too careful."

Kakashi watched them, his single eye curving into a smile that revealed he understood much more than he let on. He knew they were up to something, but he also knew that the trust Naruto had placed in him was a vow he had to respect. He would give them the rope they needed.

"Good idea," he said simply. "Don't go too far."

Naruto, with Sakura's help, got to his feet, limping dramatically. The three of them left the house and disappeared into the darkness of the forest, leaving behind a thoughtful Kakashi and a Sasuke who, from the porch, watched them go with a look of deep suspicion and a bitter sense of exclusion.