"So, you see, the man known as Gato has hired assassins to kill me."

Kakashi sighed, pinching the bridge of his masked nose with his thumb and forefinger. He glanced askance at the three genin in his care. The responses were predicable. Naruto was both furious at the deception and ecstatic at the possibility of fighting powerful assassins. Sasuke had a well-practiced mask of disdain and arrogant boredom. Sakura was the only one who actually seemed to be thinking through the ramifications of their client's deception, though that may just have been anxiety at actually facing an enemy.

Kakashi leveled their client, Tazuna, with a cold glare. "What if we say, as we should, that this is outside our pay grade?"

Tazuna returned the ninja's glare affably, helped by the bottle of sake in his hand. "Oh, not much. You leave, I get killed, my cute ten-year-old grandson cries for days, my daughter grows up alone and hating Leaf nin, and the people of my village stay oppressed by Gato and poor for the rest of their lives. No problem!"

If the man was sober and had any idea the capabilities Kakashi possessed, the scowl Kakashi was giving him would have terrified him. Fortunately for Tazuna, he was neither.

Kakashi sighed heavily. This is a troublesome situation, he thought. He took a moment to contemplate the situation. "Fine. We will protect you until you get to your home village…."

"I knew you would!" the alcoholic chortled.

Kakashi suddenly loomed over the man, thunderclouds seeming to flicker in the distance as he growled into Tazuna's suddenly terrified face, "…at which time we will discuss payment for not only defrauding Leaf nin, but being such a drunken asshole."

Drunk though he may have been, Tazuna knew when to hold his tongue. He nodded, shaking just a bit, as Kakashi went to further explain the situation to his students.

"This mission has just been upgraded to a B-rank mission. Yes, Naruto, I will get it changed in your portfolio. Yes, Sakura, that means that we will have to fight enemy shinobi. No, Sasuke, you must still stay and protect the old man. No matter how he acts, he is our client."

Naruto seethed, crossing his arms. "Even if he lied to us and acts like a jerk?"

"Don't speak that way of our client." Inwardly, Kakashi agreed with every word, but he had to set an example. "In this case, the right thing to do is help the Land of Waves. If that means dealing with a drunken old man, then so be it."

Naruto huffed, unsatisfied. Sakura, however, asked an important question: "Why is Tazuna being targeted, and by whom?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Who wouldn't want to off the man? He'd been with him for only a day or two, and already he was considering it. However, examples must be set…. "A wealthy business owner who controls this land through illicit means named Gato. If our client succeeds in building this bridge, he will be able to bring free commerce into the land. Gato wants to stop this at any cost."

Sasuke leaned forward, a rare spark of interest lighting his face. "What level will these enemy ninja be?"

"Likely high chunin or low jonin level. I would guess that the ones we just fought were low chunin, so they will be sending more powerful opponents to face us."

Naruto nodded, a serious look on his face. Then he grinned widely. "We're gonna fight enemies! Awesome! Let's be on our closest guard!" He began to spin in place, practicing kicks and punches.

Kakashi sighed. Troublesome indeed. Then, I need to lighten up. I'm starting to sound like that Nara kid.

Naruto spun, flinging kunai wildly, and one sailed towards Kakashi's head. He dodged quickly, watching it fly into a bush off the path.

"Watch it, idiot. Those are dangerous!"

"Sorry, sensei. I thought I saw something."

Sasuke snickered. "Don't be so high-strung, loser. We're fine. We just killed the first assassin squad. We should be fine for a while."

Naruto paid him no heed, making a comical show of looking intently in every direction. Suddenly, he spun and flung another kunai into another bush of the other side of the road.

Everyone went into high alert mode. Kakashi pulled out a kunai, Sasuke palmed several shuriken, Sakura dropped into a taijutsu stance, and Tazuna took a casual swig from the bottle in his hand.

The terrifying enemy casually ambled out from behind the bush: a small white rabbit.

Tazuna doubled over with laughter as Sakura pummeled Naruto over the head. Sasuke seemed disappointed as he put away his shuriken.

But Kakashi raised his kunai higher. "Don't let your guard down, students."

All three looked at him curiously. "What do you mean, sensei?" asked Sakura.

"That rabbit is white."

"So?"

"Rabbits change their coloring with the season based on the duration of the sun during the day. It's nearly summer, so that rabbit should be dark brown. Someone has kept it in a cage for use in a substitution justu. Therefore, we are under attack."

Spine-chilling laughter echoed around them. "Quite right," echoed a gravelly voice.

A low, crawling mist began to creep around their feet and the sun's light became muted and washed out.

Kakashi's visible eye widened suddenly. "DOWN!" he bellowed, dropping to the ground.

All his students imitated him (Sakura pulling Tazuna down forcibly) as a massive sword went flying over their heads and struck a tree.

They looked up to see a tall, lean, and muscled man crouching coolly on the hilt of the six-foot sword. His eyes were sunken, bandages covering the lower half of his face. Though he was shirtless, he wore bandages over his forearms and over the shins on his pants. In the muted light and the creeping fog, the man looked truly demonic.

He tilted his head with a blasé air. "Sharingan no Kakashi: The copycat of Konoha."

Kakashi looked up with body tense but voice casual. "Momichi Zabuza. The 'Demon of the Mist'."

A long silence dragged on as Zabuza leaned forward. Finally, he said, "I have been contracted to kill the old man. But I will make a point to kill you as well. It would be a fine test of my skill, to kill one as powerful as you." He stood, the mist spilling over his feet and dripping towards the ground.

Naruto prepared to charge Zabuza, but Kakashi stopped him with a hand. "This guy…is out of your league. He is an extremely powerful missing-nin specializing in assassination."

Naruto snorted in disbelief. "I can take him!"

Zabuza looked down with a hint of a sadistic smile in his eyes. "A demonstration of my power, then? Yes, I think that would be excellent."

Suddenly, both the missing-nin and his monstrous sword vanished in a flicker of movement. The genin heard his voice echo: "Kakashi, I believe you know this jutsu: Concealing Mist Technique!"

The mist which had been clawing at their feet now rose and thickened substantially. The world disappeared in a haze, thick blue-grey fog obscuring everything.

The three genin looked to Kakashi, who raised his hand to the headband he wore over his left eye. The copy-nin grasped it firmly and began to raise it up, keeping his eye closed underneath.

"This will be somewhat difficult…unless I use this…"

Naruto was, predictably, the first one to ask: "What is it?"

"A unique eye called the Sharingan." Kakashi opened his left eye to reveal an eye with red iris and three black circles spaced inside the red.

Zabuza's voice echoed out from the thick mist. "Ah, using it so early? I am truly honored by your willingness to go all-out with this fight. I will make it worthy of such an opponent."

Sakura looked from Naruto's slightly nervous face to Sasuke's bewildered expression. She was just confused. "What's so special?"

Zabuza's voice replied for Kakashi: "It allows faster perception and greater detail and clarity. But more terrifyingly, it allows the user to memorize any technique he sees. Unfortunately, he won't be seeing much with this mist…."

Kakashi glanced back at his genin charges. "Stay back to back and guard Tazuna. He'll come for me first, but Zabuza is a master of the Silent Killing technique."

"That's right, Kakashi. It's nice to have an opponent aware of my strengths. I could be anywhere, striking anytime…. Which shall I go for? Lungs, heart? Eyes, brain? Kidney, stomach? Spine, veins?"

Naruto shivered. The man was insane. The singsong voice was obviously enjoying the psychological torture he was putting them through. He stood next to Sasuke and Sakura, trying in vain to see through the mist.

Kakashi seemed to sense the genins' fear. He spoke over his shoulder: "Don't worry, Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura. I'll protect you guys even if it kills me." He turned and smiled with his eyes. "I don't let comrades die."

"We'll see about that." Zabuza's voice no longer echoed. It could be easily pinpointed: directly inside the circle the genin had made around Tazuna.

The genin screamed and stumbled back, Sasuke throwing a handful of shuriken haphazardly. Zabuza blocked them effortlessly with his massive sword and proclaimed, "It's over."

He began to swing the sword towards Tazuna, but Kakashi blurred into existence behind the missing-nin.

"Yes," he said, "It is." He jammed a kunai under Zabuza's armpit, right into his heart.

The missing-nin stiffened…then disintegrated into water. Kakashi realized what had happened immediately. He had been tricked by a water clone. He backflipped away, jumping onto a small lake just off of the road. He stood on the water with chakra, analyzing the situation. Where was the real Zabuza?

"Sensei, behind you!"

It was too late.

Zabuza burst from the water behind Kakashi, hands flying through some hand signs. A wave of water swept over Kakashi and solidified into a spherical prison. Kakashi tried to cut his way out with a kunai, but had no effect.

Zabuza looked up at the students to gloat. "I now have your sensei. And if I defeated him so easily, how easily will I kill you?" Though his right hand had to maintain the water prison holding Kakashi, he made a sign with his left and created another water clone. He let the mist fade away so he could watch more easily.

"You kids are pitiful. Only when you are good enough to be listed in my bingo book will I call you ninjas. A true ninja is one who has survived numerous encounters with death. Unfortunately for you, my sword only cuts once."

The water clone leapt at the three genin, hacking and slashing with his long black sword. Sakura fell back to protect Tazuna as Sasuke and Naruto tried to land a hit. They threw kunai and shuriken, but the water clone blocked all of them contemptuously with his sword. "See?" The real Zabuza looked down at Kakashi arrogantly. "Just brats."

The water clone ducked under Naruto's clumsy swipe with a kunai and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying. As he landed, Naruto shook with fear. Here was a foe beyond anything he was ready for. He was going to die.

Kakashi sensed this, too. "Get out of here! You can't beat him, but he can't move while he holds me in this prison! Just run!"

Naruto was tempted for a moment. Just a moment. How could he be Hokage if he died here, against Zabuza? Then he realized; how could he be called Hokage if he ran from a foe and left his teammates to die?

He stood shakily, watching Sasuke try vainly to wound the water clone. Even as he watched, the clone hit Sasuke with a backhanded slap strong enough to send Sasuke flying over to land by Sakura.

Naruto scowled. "Hey, you eyebrowless freak!" he yelled at Zabuza. "Use my name: Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage!" He turned to Sasuke. "We can't beat him alone. Remember what sensei told us during training?"

"This is teamwork coming from you, loser?"

"Come on, Sasuke. We have to do this." He turned to Zabuza's water clone with a serious grin on his face. "Let's get wild."

He turned to the Demon of the Mist, crossing his hands in a T shape. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Dozens of shadow clones of Naruto appeared around Zabuza. They grinned and jumped as one towards him, flinging kunai and throwing punches.

Not one connected.

The missing-nin's clone twirled and spun elegantly, batting kunai out of the air and bisecting several clones with each strike. He leapt over some and sliced through them midair, then landed on top of another and impaled him on his sword. It was a deadly, beautiful show of violence.

The real Naruto wasn't watching, however. He pulled a giant shuriken out of his pack and threw it to Sasuke.

Sasuke grinned, eyes narrowing. So that's his plan, eh?

He slung it at the water clone, which sliced it out of the air. But the missing-nin's eyes widened as he saw a second shuriken come flying towards him, concealed in the blind spot the first one had created. The oversized shuriken cut through the water clone and spun at the real Zabuza, who jumped straight up, letting the shuriken fly beneath him without releasing Kakashi from the water prison technique.

Zabuza snorted beneath his mask of bandages, but faltered when he saw Sasuke grinning triumphantly and noticed Naruto was nowhere to be found. He hastily looked over his shoulder to see the second shuriken transform into Naruto, who threw a kunai with pinpoint accuracy, right into Zabuza's right shoulder.

Zabuza screamed and fell to one knee, releasing the water prison around Kakashi. The leaf-nin was instantly at his neck, panting and holding a kunai to the missing-nin's throat. Kakashi's silver hair was soaked and hung down over his eyes. He looked absolutely furious, but absolutely in control.

Zabuza giggled through his pain. "I got distracted and released the jutsu around you."

"Wrong," Kakashi said, pressing the tip harder against Zabuza's throat. "You didn't release it, you were forced to release it. And I'll tell you something: I don't fall for the same tricks twice."

In one swift motion, Zabuza knocked the kunai away and backflipped over the lake, his hands blurring through a complicated motion of hand seals. Kakashi's Sharingan eye seemed to glow red, and he started flying through hand seals as well. They both finished at the same time, and in unison shouted: "Suiton: Water Dragon Bullet technique!"

Two huge waves of water shaped themselves into dragons and flew at each other, colliding in a massive plume of water that rained down and obscured everything, washing away the last vestiges of the mist.

Zabuza stood astonished. "I knew you were a genius, Kakashi, but to copy my Water Dragon Bullet technique as I used it? You are a prodigy indeed."

Kakashi merely grinned mirthlessly through his mask.

The two ninja leapt at each other, Zabuza slicing with his massive sword, Kakashi blocking with a kunai. They mirrored each other exactly, kick for kick, slice for slice for slice.

Zabuza grew more and more enraged. Kakashi was copying his every movement, deliberately mocking him with his imitation. Finally he disengaged from the swordfight (at the exact same time Kakashi did) and leapt backwards to launch his most powerful water jutsu. He put his sword onto his back and raised his right hand straight up, making the seal of the tiger with his left.

When he looked up, he couldn't believe what he saw. Kakashi stood in the exact same position, eyes triumphant.

Zabuza couldn't take it anymore. "What the hell is this!? Is this an genjutsu of yours?!"

Kakashi laughed, his Sharingan glowing bright red. "This is no illusion. This eye of mine can see everything, past or future. And right now? With this eye of mine, I see your death."

Zabuza gaped, terrified.

"WATER EXPLOSION NO JUTSU!" yelled Kakashi. An immense wave of water barreled into Zabuza, spinning like a horizontal tornado.

Zabuza was caught up in the wave, pummeled and disoriented by the water. He was thrown out and landed forcefully in a tree, his massive blade spinning away. Kakashi gave the assassin no quarter to recover, immediately standing above him, kunai raised like a guillotine.

"Goodbye, Demon of the Mists."

"No; I refuse to die like this!" Zabuza flickered and vanished, reappearing several yards away, directly before Tazuna. A glimmer of shock managed to penetrate the drunkard's face as he stumbled away, tripping and crawling.

"I will complete my assignment," spat Zabuza, "at any cost!" He took his massive blade in both hands, swinging it with all his might.

Tazuna shied away from the blow, cowering beneath the blade.

Sakura looked on helplessly, paralyzed with fear.

Sasuke threw a kunai as he ran forward, knowing he was too far away.

Kakashi leapt towards Zabuza, electricity crackling in his palm in a desperate attempt to kill the assassin.

Naruto astonished all five of them. Moving with incredible speed, he grabbed Tazuna and flung him from the path of the massive sword. Zabuza's eyes bulged.

"Impossible…. Zabuza muttered before arching his back and stiffening. Kakashi's hand protruded from the center of Zabuza's chest, still brimming with residual electricity. He was heaving with exertion, but his eyes were blazing with pride at his student's quick action.

"My eye doesn't lie." Kakashi pulled his hand from Zabuza's chest with a wet sound, leaving the lifeless assassin to fall to the ground.

The four leaf ninjas were silent for a moment, trying to absorb the victory. Sakura ran to Tazuna, trying to help the man to his feet. He slapped her hand away, rubbing the back of his head.

"That was a damn fine move you pulled, kid. How'd you go that fast?" Tazuna slapped the shoulder of Naruto, who was still kneeling on the ground, covered in blood.

"Indeed. Well done, Naruto. That was a close—hmm?" Kakashi's still-uncovered Sharingan narrowed. One of the lesser-known abilities of the Sharingan was to see chakra—and Zabuza's massive sword was splattered with the energy. It was like no chakra he had ever seen: a dark red as opposed to the usual light blue, and seemed to be concentrated in the blood smeared across the blade. In fact, as he looked, he noticed more and more of the strange chakra. He followed the main trail of it across the ground and right up to the stomach of the orange-clad ninja still kneeling on the ground, uncharacteristically silent.

"Naruto? Are you okay?" asked Sakura, showing concern for her teammate for the first time.

Naruto's only response was a barely audible groan as he dropped to a second knee, then fell sideways. The cause of his silence was now apparent: a long, thin cut bisected him from his belly button leftwards. Blood and the strange chakra dripped out in equal measure, pooling on the long sword.