Naruto: The Chosen Undead-Chapter no.181 Naruto

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Chapter 181 A Monster in Human Skin

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"So this was your hideout?" Naruto asked, stepping through the overgrown brush and onto what remained of the raised wooden platform.

It had once been a sturdy treehouse. Now it stood shattered and torn apart. Thick wooden beams were split like matchsticks, and scorched fragments of kunai-studded walls littered the forest floor. Blood had dried in dark smears across shattered floorboards, and one half of the structure hung limply off a snapped support cable, creaking with every gust of wind.

"This was one of Gato's safehouses," Zabuza said grimly, stepping over a broken plank. "He gave it to me to operate out of during the mission."

The Mist-nin crouched beside a collapsed portion of the wall, running his fingers over a pink crystal shard embedded in the wood.

"The fight ended fast," Zabuza muttered, eyes scanning the ruined hideout. "Too fast. I was still tied up dealing with Guren's lackeys… but from the damage here, I don't think Haku even stood a chance."

It was 2:00 a.m. when the fog began to roll in.

It hugged the coastline like a second skin and slithered through the rocks without a sound. The two guards outside the compound barely paid attention. Mist was common this close to the sea.

Then they heard it.

Thud… drag… thud… drag…

Footsteps. Heavy. Deliberate. A rhythm of something ancient and unrelenting.

Out of the gray emerged a figure, tall and hulking, dragging a monstrous cleaver behind him.

One guard reached for his blade. The other snapped through hand signs, voice cracking: "Ninja Art: Banshee Wail!"

A spiraling screech of chakra-infused sound blasted upward, shattering the stillness. It was a warning flare.

Zabuza didn't slow down; not because it was his usual style, but because Naruto's plan called for noise. Chaos. He was the distraction, and his job was to make damn sure everyone in that compound knew the Demon of the Mist had returned.

The first guard charged, and Zabuza's sword swung from the mist like a whispering guillotine. One clean arc. One body down. The second turned to flee. He didn't make it two steps before Zabuza's boot caught his spine and folded him over like paper.

The bodies hit the ground together.

And then, the real welcome began.

From the walls of the compound, a dozen razor-edged crystal vines burst outward.

Zabuza ducked, dodged, and vanished into the mist. The crystals sliced through air and struck nothing.

"...So you really came back." Guren stepped out. Her expression was unreadable, but her eyes burned with quiet malice. "I expected you'd die in the forest like a wounded dog," she continued. "Alone and out of chakra. Too proud to crawl."

"I didn't come to fight you."

"Of course not," she murmured. "You came for the boy."

She stepped forward once, letting the crystal beneath her grow taller. "Haku was efficient. Loyal. Beautiful in form, even in defeat. It was such a shame you turned him into a failure."

Zabuza's grip on the Kubikiribōchō tightened, but his expression remained still.

"I'm not here to talk," Zabuza replied. "I'm here to take back what's mine."

"Nothing here belongs to you. Not anymore. Not Haku. Not your pride. Not even your name."

Zabuza's voice dropped an octave, low and heavy with intent. "Then I'll take it back by force."

She raised her hand and made a lazy snapping motion.

"Gozu," she said, almost gently. "Break him."

Gozu flickered forward, his body already bulging with twisted muscle. His jutsu was grotesque—it was an unstable mimicry of Akimichi techniques warped through experimentation and forbidden medicine.

Zabuza didn't move.

Crack.

A single arrow tore through the fog like a sniper's shot.

The large arrow struck Gozu with the force of a lightning bolt.

He didn't dodge. He didn't even try.

Arrogant in the power Orochimaru had gifted him, Gozu believed his body could take anything. He'd crushed boulders barehanded. Torn through armor. A single arrow? He scoffed. But the moment it pierced his chest, a shrill whine cut through the air. A vibration, so fast it blurred to the eye, began to ripple through the shaft. The wind chakra embedded in the projectile cut on the molecular level. It destabilized the bonds holding his cells together.

Gozu had time to widen his eyes.

Then his upper half simply… vanished.

Gone in an instant. The arrow tore straight through his torso, atomizing everything from the sternum up in a spiraling burst of force. Chunks of liquefied flesh sprayed into the mist like red vapor.

Smoke still trailed from the gory mist.

Guren stood motionless atop her crystal spire, expression unreadable. For a moment, she didn't speak. Then: "That wasn't you."

Zabuza exhaled slowly, mist coiling tighter around his shoulders like a shroud. "No. That's the part you didn't account for."

Guren's lips parted slightly but only to exhale as she twisted midair, narrowly dodging an arrow whistling straight for her head. She landed in a crouch, one hand slamming against the earth.

Earth Style: Seismic Sense.

The chakra pulsed outward through the ground like sonar. Guren's senses lit up. Every footstep, every breath, every subtle shift in weight around her transmitted through stone and soil. She smiled coldly.

"This is your plan?" she called, voice echoing through the mist. "You and two genin? I was expecting the full Konoha circus. Not this. What did you do, Zabuza? Kidnap them? Threaten them?"

Zabuza didn't respond.

He moved.

A few minutes earlier, Naruto and Hinata landed silently in the shadows of the stone corridor.

The air was cold, the walls damp. Flickering lanterns cast long shadows across the floor.

Hinata's eyes pulsed as her Byakugan flared to life, veins rising around her temples. "Ten chakra signatures," she whispered, scanning the area. "Haku's in the third room to the left… but he's covered in heavy suppression seals. He's not moving."

In the next room, Haku hung limp from thick chains embedded into stone. His body was a roadmap of violence. Bruises bloomed across his skin like dark flowers, and dried blood caked his mouth and chest. Dozens of talismans clung to his bare torso, pulsing faintly with sealing chakra.

Still, his one visible eye cracked open, bloodshot and glassy.

"...Na...ru...to...?"

Naruto stepped forward, slow and steady, eyes softening despite the gore still wet on his boots. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

"You look like shit."

"Naruto-kun," Hinata interrupted quickly, her Byakugan already scanning the trapwork. "There's a hidden network of fūinjutsu. If we just pull them out, he'll detonate. I can disarm it, but I'll need a minute."

Naruto nodded. "It's all you."

As Hinata knelt, placing her fingertips carefully near the seals, Naruto crouched beside Haku. The boy's chest rose in shallow breaths.

"Why?" Haku rasped. "Why… are you… here?"

Naruto shrugged,"You'll have to ask your boss. No-Brows came limping into our camp like a kicked dog. Practically begged us to help you."

Haku blinked, confused.

One of the tags shimmered under Hinata's hand, then hissed as it disintegrated into ash. She worked methodically, disabling each seal one by one. The room stayed quiet except for the soft burn of chakra unraveling.

Once the last tag was gone, Naruto gripped the chains and snapped them like wet twine.

Haku dropped forward, but Naruto caught him with one arm, gently easing him to the floor.

"Still breathing. That's a good start."

He pulled out a talisman, slapped it to Haku's chest, and activated a Heal miracle. Warm golden light spread across Haku's body. Cuts sealed. Bones reset. Bruises vanished. By the time the glow faded, Haku looked untouched, but wide-eyed and trembling. He raised a hand to his chest in disbelief. "...This shouldn't be possible."

Naruto smiled.

Then bonked him lightly on the head.

"Naruto!" Hinata gasped.

"What?" he said, shaking his hand out. "I healed him before the punch. That makes it fair."

Haku blinked. "That was for...?"

"For tricking me into thinking you were a pretty girl."

Haku blinked again. "You thought I was pretty?"

"You thought he was pretty?" Hinata snapped at the same time.

"Irrelevant," Naruto said quickly, flustered. "So why'd you trick me?"

Haku chuckled, voice hoarse but playful. "I like seeing people's reactions."

Naruto gave a slow nod of respect. "As a fellow prankster... you have my respect."

"Thank you," Haku said with a bright, almost unfairly beautiful smile.

"Hey, fool me once, shame on you... wait, no..." Naruto paused, face screwing up as he realized he'd just admitted it again.

Hinata sweatdropped. "This conversation is ridiculous."

But the lightheartedness died the instant all three of them felt an enormous surge of chakra from outside, thick and oppressive.

"Zabuza," Naruto muttered, his expression sharpening. "He's fighting Guren. And she just went all out."

He reached into his inventory and pulled out a spare rapier. He tossed it to Haku.

"That'll serve you better than acupuncture needles."

Haku caught it smoothly, spinning it once in his palm. "I'll make it work."

The three turned toward the exit, moving with purpose now, their steps steady and silent.

Their mission had changed.

It was no longer just a rescue.

It was time to end this.

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[ Personal Note: First off, thanks a ton to all of you for sticking with this story. Seriously, you guys are awesome. Now, if you're interested in supporting me on P@treon, let me just say that over there, I post these massive 5k-word chapters. But heads up, if you're jumping to P@treon, you'll need to start from Chapter 86, since that's where this chapter lines up with the content there.

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