Haku Is a "Girl"

Silence was a heavier echo than any shout.

After Naruto's words fell, the entire bridgehead sank into an eerie dead silence.

The twelve villagers who had only just learned how to grip bamboo spears stood there dumbfounded, their expressions shifting from fear, to confusion, and then to indescribable bewilderment.

They had thought they were lambs being led to slaughter, only to be told that they were treasures meant to be protected.

Sasuke clenched his fists at his sides, his nails digging deeply into his palms.

A burning sense of shame, mixed with strange admiration, crashed violently through his chest.

He had always seen Naruto as a cold chess player, while he himself was merely a piece being precisely controlled.

But now he realized that what the chess player cared about was never winning or losing a single game.

What he wanted was the future of the entire chessboard.

That kind of vision, that posture of calculating everything while adhering to some mad principle, made Sasuke's heart, once filled with the flames of revenge, waver for the first time.

Sakura covered her mouth, tears swirling in her eyes without falling.

She stared blankly at Naruto's back, at the dead last she had once despised and loathed.

"Everyone, listen to my orders."

Naruto broke the silence.

"Mr. Tazuna, immediately lead all the villagers away. Bring enough food and water for three days and retreat deep into the forest at the southern end of the bridge. There is an abandoned mountain god shrine on higher ground there. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack."

"Until you receive my signal, no one is allowed to leave."

Tazuna's lips trembled as he stepped forward.

"We... we can help! We can..."

"Your mission is to survive."

Naruto cut him off.

"Then finish this bridge. This country needs hope, and you are hope itself."

There was not the slightest warmth in his words, yet Tazuna's tears burst forth at once.

The young fisherman named Kaikai finally lost the numbness from his face. He tightened his grip on the bamboo spear in his hand and shouted.

"Let us stay! We can fight too!"

"That's right! We're not cowards!"

The rest of the militia began to stir as well.

"Follow orders."

Naruto's voice suddenly turned cold, like an ice pick driving into everyone's ears.

"This is part of war too. Now, execute."

That unquestionable authority instantly crushed the courage that had just begun to rise.

The villagers said nothing more. Under Tazuna's organization, they silently began to withdraw.

Kaikai walked at the very end. He turned back and gave Naruto a long, deep look, then nodded hard before turning and disappearing into the forest.

Soon, only the four members of Team 7 remained at the bridgehead.

Kakashi walked over to Naruto, his expression complicated.

"I take back every doubt I had about you."

He spoke, his voice somewhat dry.

"I thought you would treat them as expendable assets."

"Sensei."

Naruto looked in the direction where the villagers had vanished.

"After training, these villagers possess basic self-defense capabilities, but they are still far from capable of fighting ninjas."

"Letting them join the battle would only result in meaningless sacrifice."

"A qualified commander does not waste the life of a single soldier."

Kakashi fell silent.

He looked at his student. That golden hair, beneath the faint morning light, looked so much like a figure deep in his memories, one who had always worn a warm smile.

"You really are... very much like that man."

Kakashi's voice was soft, like a sigh.

Naruto did not respond.

He turned around and began laying out the real battle plan.

"Zabuza and his companion will probably appear before noon in two days. Their targets are the bridge and Tazuna, so this is our battlefield."

"Sakura, take the middle section of the bridge. Set up a medical station and backup traps around that tallest bridge pier. Your task is support and rear security."

"Yes!"

Sakura's response was crisp and decisive.

"Sasuke, take the bridge entrance. You are responsible for the first wave of assault and reconnaissance. The Sharingan is our advantage. Do not waste it."

"Mm."

Sasuke responded.

"I will remain at the center of the battlefield as the mobile force and command core."

Naruto finally looked at Kakashi.

"Sensei, Zabuza is yours. Leave the ninja who uses Senbon to me."

Still in the tone of an order, Kakashi scratched his head. For the first time, he felt that being thoroughly arranged by his own student was not so bad.

"Understood, Naruto-sensei. Student Kakashi understands."

He replied lazily.

The team dispersed to make their preparations.

Sasuke wiped down his Kunai, yet he could not calm himself.

He walked over to Naruto, who was checking Explosive Tags, and stood there silently.

Naruto did not look up, as though he had not noticed him.

After a long while.

Sasuke finally spoke, his voice hoarse, as though every word had been forced from his throat.

"Can you... help me get revenge?"

Naruto stopped what he was doing.

He raised his head, his blue eyes calm and still.

"Revenge is an inefficient tactical objective polluted by emotion."

"It will cause you to make wrong judgments and waste unnecessary resources."

Sasuke's body tightened.

"However."

Naruto changed course.

"If the target of your revenge is defined as 'an enemy of Konoha,' then the operation to eliminate him can be incorporated into higher-level strategic planning."

Sasuke did not understand those complicated terms.

But he understood what they meant.

"As long as you listen to me."

Naruto stood and met Sasuke's gaze.

"Obey my every command. Make your strength the sharpest link in my plan."

"I will create for you the most efficient path to victory."

Sasuke looked at him.

There was no sympathy in those eyes, no understanding, only absolute rationality that regarded everything as a component.

Handing his hatred over to someone like that to control.

That was itself a humiliation.

But Sasuke had no other choice.

Because he had witnessed with his own eyes just how powerful that rationality was.

"Fine." He forced the word through gritted teeth.

The following morning, in the forests of the Land of Waves.

Naruto entered deep into the woods alone.

The militia's training had been intense, and their muscle strains and fatigue needed treatment.

He remembered that in the Warhammer World, the apothecaries in the lower levels of hive cities used certain common plants to make recovery salves with decent effects.

The plants of this world contained something called "natural energy," so their effects would only be better.

He pushed aside a patch of damp ferns and spotted a cluster of purple herbs.

This was it.

Just as he reached out to pick them, faint footsteps came from another direction.

Naruto did not turn around.

His senses had long since detected that lifeform.

There was no killing intent, no hostility. Its presence was as peaceful as the forest itself.

A petite figure in pink casual clothes appeared not far away.

She was a "girl" who looked slightly older than him, with long hair cascading over her shoulders, delicate features, and a herb-gathering basket in her hand.

"Y-you, hello."

The "girl" seemed surprised to see Naruto, but she still greeted him politely.

"Are you here to gather herbs too?"

Naruto stood up, the purple herb in his hand.

"Mm."

He answered blandly.

The "girl" walked over and curiously examined the herb in his hand.

"This is Nightshade. It can clear heat and detoxify, but you cannot use it carelessly. If you take too much, it will make you dizzy."

Her voice was clear and carried an innocence untouched by the world.

Naruto looked at her.

His senses, tempered countless times by psychic power, pierced through the Chakra disguise and saw something deeper.

Within that petite body, he saw a will as cold and fierce as a glacier.

And behind that will, he saw an incomparably pure "loyalty" wrapped around it.

A soul willing to give everything without hesitation to protect someone.

"Is that so?"

Naruto placed the herb into his ninja tool pouch.

"Thank you for the warning."

He turned, preparing to leave.

"Wait!"

Haku called out to him.

"Your shoulder... is it injured?"

She pointed to a nearly imperceptible trace of blood seeping through Naruto's clothes.

"I have some excellent wound medicine here. I made it myself, and it is very useful for healing injuries."

As she spoke, she took a small porcelain bottle from her basket and offered it to him, her face filled with pure goodwill.

Naruto stopped and looked back at the hand extended before him and the porcelain bottle brimming with kindness.

He was silent for a moment.

Then he accepted it.

"Thank you."

The "girl" gave him a gentle smile.

"You do not look much like a ninja."

Her words were soft, yet they were like a probe.

"You are more like... a general. Like the generals from storybooks set in the Warring States Era. Very serious, but always looking as though you are thinking."

Naruto held the cool porcelain bottle.

General.

Commissar.

Soldier.

They were all merely different roles played in pursuit of the final goal of "human survival."

The terms themselves had no meaning.

Their value depended on the function they could serve.

His heart remained utterly still.

"I hope we meet again."

The "girl" smiled, turned, and walked into the forest. Her figure quickly vanished into the damp mist.

Naruto remained where he was, unmoving.

He opened the stopper of the porcelain bottle, and a clear medicinal fragrance drifted out.

The ingredients were clear, the proportions precise. It was superior wound medicine.

The enemy had already begun conducting close-range reconnaissance.

This meant that their efforts to organize the militia had already drawn the other side's vigilance and unease.

The enemy was assessing the threat level of their team.

The time for the decisive battle was drawing near.

He replaced the stopper, stored away this unexpected "spoils of war," and headed back toward the village.