Chapter 17: "A Tyrant’s World"

The Ash-World – Land of Waves

The air reeked of sulfur and despair. Naruto gagged as he staggered to his feet, ash clinging to his clothes like funeral shroud. Above, the sky bled gray, the sun smothered by clouds of soot. The Great Naruto Bridge—or what remained of it—loomed in the distance, its skeletal frame branded with Zabuza's twisted spiral symbol.

"This… isn't possible," Sakura whispered, clutching her head. "We were just on the bridge—!"

"Quiet." Alternate Sakura materialized from the haze, her ice claw glinting. "Zabuza's scouts patrol these ruins. You want to live? Follow me."

Sasuke's Sharingan flickered. "Why help us?"

"Because he," she jabbed her claw at Naruto, "is the only one who can kill Zabuza. And I want that bastard dead."

The Rebel's Path

The trek to the hideout was a gauntlet of horrors. Villages lay in ruins, their streets littered with spiral-marked corpses. Children with hollow eyes scavenged rotten food, flinching at the sound of Naruto's footsteps.

"Zabuza calls this 'purification,'" alternate Sakura spat. "Anyone who resists gets the Chain." She pointed to a corpse's branded chest, the spiral oozing black fluid. "It seals their chakra. Turns them into puppets."

Naruto's scar throbbed in sync with the symbols. "That mark… it's like mine."

"But yours is a key," she said coldly. "His is a lock. Now move."

The Ice Queen's Sanctuary

The rebel hideout was a cavern beneath the bridge, its walls scarred with cracked spirals—defaced by knife strokes and blood. Dozens of survivors huddled in the shadows, their eyes widening at the sight of Naruto.

"Demon…!" a child whimpered.

"Ignore them," alternate Sakura snapped, leading the team to a frost-covered chamber. "You're here to work, not cry."

She yanked off her cloak, revealing a torso crisscrossed with scars. Her missing arm wasn't just severed—it looked gnawed. "Haku's welcome gift," she said, noting their stares. "He prefers his victims alive when he takes pieces."

Kakashi's eye narrowed. "Haku serves Zabuza?"

"Serve?" She laughed bitterly. "He's Zabuza's blade. His pet."

The Trial of Ice

A scream echoed from above. Alternate Sakura stiffened. "Another trial. Come. See what your world could become."

She led them to a crack in the cavern roof. Above, in the town square, Haku stood atop a glacier of ice, his gentle features replaced by a predator's grin. A bound man knelt before him, sobbing.

"Disloyalty," Haku sang, trailing an ice senbon across the man's cheek. "A cancer. And how do we treat cancer?"

The crowd chanted, "Purge it!"

Haku's senbon plunged into the man's chest. Ice spread from the wound, encasing him mid-scream. With a snap of Haku's fingers, the statue shattered.

"Clean," Haku purred. "Just as Lord Zabuza wills."

Naruto vomited.

The Weight of Guilt

"That's… not Haku," Sakura whispered, trembling. "He's a monster."

"He wasn't always." Alternate Sakura's voice softened. "Zabuza found him as a child. Broke him. Rewrote him. Now he breaks others."

Naruto stared at his translucent hands. "Can we save him?"

"Save yourself first," she snapped, shoving him toward a map of Zabuza's tower. "That's where he drains chakra from the rifts. Destroy it, and maybe your world escapes this fate."

Sasuke lingered at the cavern entrance, the ice shard from the bridge glowing in his palm. The micro-scrolls writhed: "Key and lock… blood opens the path."

Zabuza's Whisper

As the team planned their assault, Naruto slipped into the tunnels. The scar's pull led him to a frozen lake, its surface etched with spirals.

"Little bridge." Zabuza's voice oozed from the ice. "You feel it, don't you? The hunger. The power."

Naruto's reflection twisted—gold-eyed, fanged. "I'm not like you!"

"Aren't you?" The ice shattered, and Zabuza's spectral hand gripped Naruto's throat. "You'll raze worlds to save your own. That makes you worse."

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Kakashi found Naruto hours later, curled beneath the bridge, his hands fully translucent. "What happened?"

Naruto didn't answer. Above them, the spiral symbol pulsed, its light piercing the ash-clouded sky.

Zabuza's laughter echoed through the void: "The feast begins."

________________________________________________________________________________________HI, TheSigmaWriter here

I just wanted to tell you is to Repent for your sin, i'm telling you this is because Jesus is Coming if you don't pray forgive your sin you will go to hell and that a warning.