-1First, I would like to thank all of you who read and reviewed. I got 3 reviews and 2 alerts in the first four hours of that being posted. I know I'm not used to this site, but I am thinking that that's not all that bad. And, as the great reviews are rolling in, I will continue with my story. Just to let you guys know, Naruto is very sarcastic as part of Red Rose. He isn't exactly evil yet, per se, but he isn't too nice of a person. All he cares about is his team first, and succeeding second. However, I shouldn't tell this to you. I should show it through my writing. So, with those words, on with the fic!

Part 2.1

While Itachi held back in the trees, Kisame, Yugito, Gaara and I burst out of the trees, rapidly making our way next to the Konoha forces. They jerked back, kunai in hand. I blocked both of the genin's kunai with my hands, slapping them to the side. Thank god for metal plates underneath bandages. Kisame just sidestepped the silver haired jounin's jab.

"Don't worry; we're here to help." I assured them before they could launch another attack. The black haired boy just glared at me. The pink haired girl backed off. Too trusting. Bad ninja material. Yugito quickly stepped in, "We wanted to pass over the bridge, but your opponents are in the way. We'll help clear them and be on our way." Both of the genin glanced toward their Jounin instructor.

"We're going to the chuunin exams." Kisame explained to the Jounin. "We don't want any trouble with our hosts. Let us help."

The silver haired Jounin paused for a moment before nodding to his genin. "I'm Kakashi. These are my students, Sakura and Sasuke. Those ninja just took out my third student, Junkorin Ichinose. We think he's almost dead. And this is Tazuna, the bridge builder." He motioned towards the grizzled old man next to him. "We don't know who the one in the mask is, but the other one is Zabuza Momoichi, the demon of the bloody mist." Kisame just grinned evilly at this.

"Zabuza, you say?" He said. "Let me take care of him, Kakashi. You and your team should take Ichinose and heal him." The shark-man turned towards us. "Fumetsu, Harijan, Fukahi. Take care of the masked one." We nodded. "Is that okay with you, Konoha squad? I assure you we can eliminate them."

Kakashi looked at Kisame, as if attempting to analyze him with his red eye. "How do I know I can trust you?" He asked, his muscles visibly tensing, which even I saw.

"If I wanted to kill your team, I wouldn't have come in so obviously." Our leader replied nonchalantly "You would only register my attack right before you were hit."

The konoha jounin stood there still unsure.

"And, we're letting you leave." I called out "Even if we didn't have the stealth, we would stay between you and your escape route. We can't remove your teammate and charge from the field for you; I wouldn't even trust another ninja team from my own village to do that unless I knew them pretty well."

"If you don't trust us, leave one of your surviving students here." Kisame told him, trying to sell the deal. "I promise he won't die."

The white haired jounin paused for a moment, then nodded at Kisame "Very well. Sakura! Take Tazuna and Ichinose back to Tazuna's house and secure the premises. I'll follow behind. Sasuke, you stay here. Hold back unless you deem it necessary to fight."

As the Konoha Jounin gave orders to his subordinates to retreat from the battle scene, I looked at the woman in the mask. Before entering combat, one must evaluate their opponent. One of the first lessons we learned. "Any guesses on our opponent's abilities?"

"She wears pretty dainty and formal clothing, even for a kunoichi." Yugito said, analyzing her looks. "Ranged Ninjutsu or genjutsu. Either that, or completely incompetent. Though, that's probably not the case, considering she has a mist tracker mask. I'm guessing low Jounin level."

"The fact that she doesn't have a sword like Kisame means she probably doesn't have too much physical strength." Gaara commented, "She's probably light and fast, relying on evasion to avoid being knocked out."

"That sounds just right." I told my teammates. "The clothing looks heavy, and the sleeves are large. I'm guessing a weapon specialist. They tend to hide their weapons for further edge."

By that time, the silvered haired jounin and the pink haired genin had left the bridge with their charge and teammate. That left the sulky raven haired boy.

"What's your name?" I asked him. It's always good policy to know the name of the person that you're working with. Well not so much as their name, but something to call them. You want to be able to warn them, after all. Yelling 'Hey, you!' is kind of a liability on the battlefield.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke" He replied, with a hint of arrogance in his voice. Oh, shit.

Part 2.2

This is not good. Not good at all. In fact, this is terrible. Of all the possible genin in Konoha, it had to be Uchiha Sasuke. The only one I'm familiar with. In case you haven't put two and two together, he's the little brother of Itachi. In normal circumstances, that would be good, meeting relatives of your boss. But being a ninja, especially in Akatsuki screws that tradition up pretty badly.

You see, to get into Akatsuki, it was necessary to commit a terrible crime, one that would leave a permanent stain on your name. Sasori killed the third Kazekage and turned him into a puppet. Kisame abandoned the seven swordsmen and killed a feudal lord. However, Itachi beat them all out with his act. He killed his entire family, effectively destroying the sharingan. But he spared one person. His little brother. Uchiha Sasuke. And stuff like that tends to carry emotional baggage. If he figured out I worked with his brother, he would probably try to come at me full force.

"The last Uchiha, eh?" I asked nonchalantly, hoping that my recognition didn't get past my mask of impassiveness. I didn't bother to look at my teammates. I know they were probably stunned as well, but we're professionals. We don't show that kind of stuff. Especially with material as dangerous as this. "Well, Sasuke, while Kisame-sensei takes care of Zabuza, the four of us are going to take out the other one. Do you know anything about her techniques?"

"Well, I met him only once." Sasuke said, putting emphasis on the him. "He used senbon to kill Zabuza, or so we thought."

"A cross dresser?" Gaara asked. "Freaky."

I just nodded at this. So strange. The weirdest part Gaara tended to have a good nature about weird things. He is a jinchukiri, after all. But I guess some of us have our limits of tolerance. But I do have to admit, cross dressers do freak me out a little bit.

"We've deduced that he's fast and light." I told Itachi's little brother. "A few strong hits should knock him out. Are you fast at all?"

"Fastest in the academy's graduating class." He remarked smugly. "And the smartest, and the strongest."

God. Now I understand why Itachi killed the entire clan. I probably would have as well, given the chance. I'm just thankful that Itachi didn't carry this trait of great Hubris. It would have sucked to have such an egotistical boss.

"Okay, then." I told him, trying not to let the disgust seep through. By the look on his face, I succeeded. "We wait for Kisame-sama's signal, then we engage the enemy. Just follow our lead and you should be okay."

Over on the Jounin front, Kisame and Zabuza appeared to be having a fun conversation. The eyebrow less freak looked like he was going to jump his ex-compatriot any second. And then it all happened.

Kisame gave us the nod to spring ourselves into action right as a blinding mist floated over the bridge, encircling the two jounin. Now, I'm not exactly a master on meteorological events, much less in wave, but I was pretty sure that that wasn't natural. Not only was that not natural, it was not good either. It severed communication between Kisame and I. If things got bad, we couldn't call upon each other for backup. I shook my head. All we had to deal with was one crazy cross dresser. How bad could it get for us?

Part 2.3

"Harijan, try to take our opponent out with your Ninjutsu. It probably won't land, but we're looking to make openings. Fukahi, see if you can get a lock on him. Any sort of incapacitating move is welcome." I began, beginning to hand out orders. "Uchiha. Close or long range?"

"Close." He told me, still holding that smirk of superiority. For a second, I began to think about how large that stick must be crammed up his rectal cavity. I mean, how stuck up do you have to be to constantly feel better than anyone around you?

"Good" I told him, sighing inwardly. "You're with me. Stay out of Fukahi and Harijan's ways, and try to hit him with everything you've got. If you can't hit him, just try to get him vulnerable." The genin just charged forward as soon as I paused. He was probably going to die here. "Remember," I called after him weakly, "Teamwork is key!" After nodding to Gaara and Yugito, I jumped along into the fray with our Konoha counterpart.

The last Uchiha wasn't doing too bad actually. He had locked up one kunai against the three senbon that the creepy tracker ninja held in his hand. But that didn't last for long. All I saw was the nin making a sign with his hand before blasting Sasuke away with a jet of water from his hand.

"You're pretty good!" I called out, trying to draw his attention. Maybe Gaara and Yugito could hit him if I kept him in one spot. "One handed seals! Even I can't do that reliably. And was that Water Bullet no Jutsu-" I cut my banter mid-sentence. Gaara had thrown a nasty fireball at the cross dresser, which he escaped with ease.

"You are going to need more than distractions to take me down." A light voice floated from under the mask. Creepy. If I didn't take the Uchiha's word, I would be convinced that behind that hunter's mask would be the face of a beautiful woman. But the raven haired nut job didn't seem like one to lie. It was probably beneath him. I gathered chakra into my hands and tensed my legs. I saw that the cross dresser noticed, but maybe I would get lucky.

"Okay, then how about this?" I asked, jumping towards him, releasing the chakra from my hands. Forceful winds capable of knocking strong men over galed out. Just like I expected, the boy dodged. But what he did next took me completely by surprise.

Part 2.4

In the world of ninja, you are expected to see strange things every day. Controlling lightning, fire, water, you name it. Sasori turned himself into a puppet, even. However, I do believe that this cross dresser took the cake for crazy moves.

He took the water from the ocean, the air, and even puddles on the ground, and formed them into a sphere of floating mirrors around me. I had no idea what he was going to do with these strange constructs, but I knew that it wouldn't be good.

Then the next moment, to my surprise, it was raining senbon from every degree. I normally wouldn't have bothered to dodge, since I usually am unkillable. But now with my powers blocked by a temporary seal, I had to block with a shield of bunshin. This was going to get very painful very fast. Without the very efficient energy of the Kyuubi fueling all of my moves, even a bunshin shield was going to waste a lot of energy. Within three or four more assaults like that, I would have to rely on speed to continue the fight.

"Impressive move you've got there," I called out, not really caring whether my opponent heard me. "What's the trick? Genjutsu multiplying senbon through mirrors? Harijan!, Fukahi!" I rose my voice, to make sure that they heard me. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to go all out on this fight. Try to crack the mirrors. They seem to be part of the problem." I started the process to return the power to beat this hunter nin to a pulp.

But then things just got worse. In bound Sasuke, panting, with that smirk still plastered on his face. "I came to save you, Fumetsu-teme. Let's take this guy out. " I shook my head. Didn't anyone just take him down a notch once in a while, even if just for his own good.

"It would have been easier to do if you stayed on the outside, you know." I told him, as if it was obvious. He just looked away at this. Score! One notch knocked down! "But let's get to work. We need to keep him busy until Harijan and Fukahi can break down this jutsu. Dodge his assaults, and try to make it outside."

"You can't escape" The boy's voice echoed from each of the mirrors. An image of him appeared in each of them. "I travel from mirror to mirror with this kekkei genkai, which builds upon my natural speed. I move at near the speed of light. No attempts to escape will be successful."

Damn. I didn't know whether he was bluffing or not, but those words still were a swift kick in the pants. I had to keep Sasuke's ego up, or he would become a liability. Not to mention, I needed to burn time until the power got back into my system. "What's your name, cross dressing freak? I don't want to have to know you as cross dressing freak after I kill you." There. The mixture of defiance with rudeness should unsettle him.

However, it didn't work. "My name is Haku. I have already gathered that you are known as Fumetsu. Your name claims that you cannot die. Shall we find out?" Senbon appeared in Haku's hands. "I will start out with one, just like the first time. Each successive time, I will increase the number by one. Eventually, it will be impossible to avoid, and we will have to truly test your name." He said impassively, as if giving a lecture.

Damn it. Only one a mirror? But it felt like so many. It couldn't possibly be worse. Just a few more seconds, and I would have all that energy at my fingertips, enough to obliterate him. I could hear Gaara and Yugito hammering away at the mirrors with all the Ninjutsu they could use without opening their seal. They probably wouldn't release theirs, because of the common trademarks of their bijuu. But it was to no avail.. Not a single mirror even cracked under their assault. It was up to me to save the day.

But then the senbon rained down again. Once more, I summoned my bunshin shield to block. If I was going to be able to be completely recharged in a second, it really didn't matter if I blew it on a shield. Pain was annoying, and definitely worth avoiding. Oh, and I think Sasuke made through the assault. I saw a few sticking out of him, but he didn't have the chakra for a proper bunshin shield.

But even with my bunshin shield, one got through, right in the shoulder. I couldn't even move my arm. It didn't matter. In a few seconds, the energy would rush back to the rest of my body, completely healing any wounds. Yep. Any second now.

But the power didn't come. The sealers couldn't have screwed up. They were loyal to Akatsuki and Red Rose, as well as being very talented in the ancient form of seals. So that left one thing. The senbon had somehow blocked my chakra flow. Crap. This day was getting worse and worse, and we haven't even started our mission yet.

Chapter 2.5

"Senbon are precision weapons." The cross dresser commented, his words echoing around the sphere. "They can hit pressure points. For example, Fumetsu-san, I just hit you in the shoulder. Now it is impossible for you to move your arm. " He said all this with no malice or hate in his voice towards his opponent. How innocent and naive.

But I had to be careful. This Haku, no matter how childlike he was, he was very dangerous. He already stopped me from freeing my powers. This was bad. However, I was probably better off than the last Uchiha. I looked over to Sasuke. And it wasn't exactly a pretty sight.

Honestly, he looked like a porcupine with all the needles sticking out of him. It was amazing that he was still standing. But then I looked closer, and I saw that his eyes were red. Hoo boy. He really was an Uchiha. Just in case I had any doubts about who he was, those red eyes clinched it.

"I finally caught up to his speed." Sasuke told me, grinning. Apparently he saw me looking at him. "The sharingan increases my perception beyond anything I could imagine. Now I think I can take him down."

"Ready or not, here I come." Haku said, two senbon in each hand. Oh, great. One more in each hand. I barely could handle a single one in each hand. Just doubling it is going to be troublesome.

Once again they rained down. I blocked again with my bunshin shield. And with that, I used up all of my chakra. Any more attacks and I was in big trouble. I needed to try to get out of here.

"You're running low on energy." Haku said. "One more attack, and you will be dispatched. After that I can help Zabuza-san with his opponent." Three senbon in each hand this time. And this time I couldn't just block my problems away. I had to get out now, while I could still walk.

I began to run as fast as I could out of the ring. But that didn't work. When someone is able to move near the speed of light, they tend to be able to react pretty quickly. Before I even made it within a few feet of the outer ring, the hunter nin burst out of the nearest mirror and punched me in the face, throwing me back to the center.

"As I told you earlier, you cannot escape." The masked nin told me again. "Now, I am increasing it to four senbon. I don't think either of you will survive it." God, this place was getting annoying.

This time, the senbon didn't rain down. They came at us like a wall. There was no escaping it. I had to grab one of the senbon just to block them. Most of them just bounced off my armor, but a couple more lodged themselves in my useless arm. That didn't matter, because I didn't call it my useless arm for no reason. I made it through that assault not much worse off than before. However, Sasuke didn't hold out so well. In fact, I was pretty sure he was dead.

This was bad, bad, bad. Before, Haku had been dividing his attacks between Sasuke and me. Now, there wasn't a second person to distract him. I had to let out his full chakra now, no matter how hard it would be. I took all the energy I had, and pushed it into my useless arm, hoping that the chakra pressure would be able to push the senbon out. Haku had five senbon in each hand now. It was either do or die.

Chapter 2.6

Well, I guess you could say I did it, rather than dying. The power came rushing through my body. First, it popped out all of the senbon in my arm. Next, my skin turned to a pulsating orange, from the pure amount of chakra. Next, I think my ears turned into those of the nine tailed fox, but I'm not all that sure. I don't normally look like that; I guess it just happens when a lot of youki gets built up and suddenly released into my body. It felt good to have the power back.

First, I poured energy into a shunshin no jutsu, violently body checking one of the mirrors. I think that I even broke some of my ribs, and some internal organs too. But in a second, they were perfectly fine, and the mirror was smashed. Haku tried to attack again, but this time I was ready.

With the power of the fox behind me, I am a heck of a lot faster than without. I could spot his movements. They were a little faster than me, but getting slower by the second. He was getting tired. One good hit would probably take him out. I used shunshin no jutsu again, ramming into Haku's gut with my shoulder. I smiled when I heard his gasp of surprise as he was thrown through one of his own mirrors. It's always more fun if you hurt your opponent with their own jutsu. All of the mirrors shattered and hit the floor. Careful not to damage my sandals on the ice shards, I headed over to my opponent.

I walked over and stood over the prone cross dresser. Several of his internal organs were probably ruptured, by the fact that he didn't even get up. His mask was cracked, and it fell off his face soon after I got to his body. Inside was a very feminine face. He did look a lot like a girl. "Want to surrender?" I asked. He wasn't half bad. Maybe I could recruit him to lead a team for Red Rose, even if he was really creepy. "I might have a job in it for you, if you do."

"I will never surrender," Haku said. "Not while Zabuza-san still needs my help. I am content to give my life for him."

"Why are you so loyal to him?" I asked. I knew that Ninja had a sense of honor, but even the most honorable ninja would consider an offer like that. The least he could do is hear him out.

"He took me in when I needed help" he explained cryptically. Typical of ninja. "I reciprocate by serving his every wish. All that matters is the one who is important to me. Do you have anyone important to you, immortal one?"

"Yes I do." I replied. This conversation was so strange. It was surreal, like this wasn't how life was supposed to be. You don't get to talk to dying cross dressers about philosophy every day, you know. "My teammates. They're the closest thing to family I have. I would do anything for them."

"Would you give your life for them?" Haku asked. "I know you claim you can't die, but if your life was yours to give, would you give it up to save them? I know I would with Zabuza-san."

"Without a second thought, I would." I replied. Just those words made me feel warm on the inside. I already knew this stuff, but declaring it to stranger really solidified it in my mind. "Not like it matters. Kisame-sensei will probably have ripped your master to pieces by now."

With the little energy he had left, he looked over at the fight. I gazed over there. Kisame was putting the final blow on Zabuza. What timing. I turned back towards Haku. But he wasn't there. What was left was a mirror. But where could he have gone? He was dying. But then I remembered his words, and looked back at Kisame's fight. My opponent had interposed himself between Zabuza and Kisame. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised. He did talk about giving his life for this Zabuza character.

But that wasn't what surprised me so much. While we had been fighting, a large mob led by a extremely overweight man had appeared at the land side of the bridge. I'm guessing that that man was Gato. Kisame and Zabuza even noticed, with the pause in their fight from Haku's sacrifice.

Chapter 2.7

"Gato, what are you doing here?" Zabuza asked, evidently surprised. I guess they weren't backup for him. "And what's with all your flunkies?" Apparently, the two didn't get along so well.

"Well, Zabuza-san, there has been a change in plans," Gato replied. You could hear the smirk from here. He made Sasuke look like a humble monk. "I'm sorry Zabuza, but you're going to die here."

"What!?" Zabuza exclaimed. Oh, I'm guessing that he wasn't expecting that to happen either.

"If I rented an official ninja, it would cost a lot of money" The crime boss explained. "So, I rented an exiled ninja like you. If you ninja had just killed each other, it would have saved me a lot of time and money. And you call yourself the Demon of the Village Hidden in the Mist? You're just a baby demon if you ask me!" The entire mob laughed at that lame joke. Damn, I wish I had flunkies who I could make laugh on command.

This whole time, Gato made his way toward the corps of Haku. "Oh, yeah, I owe this guy a favor." He said, rubbing his arm in the cast. "For crushing the bones in my arm until they broke." If Haku broke his arm, I'm pretty sure he deserved it. He didn't seem all that savory of a character.

Than the crime boss stabbed my opponent in the face with his staff. The body didn't even move. "He's already dead. What a pity."

"Kisame, I'm sorry, but the battle ends here." Zabuza said. "My sword is yours. Just grant me the final wish of letting me kill Gato"

And immediately, the swordsman of the mist charged, cleaving the mob boss in two before his subordinates could even do anything. Then he pulled out two kunai and threw the sword to Kisame.

"You are the better swordsman, Kisame-teme." Zabuza said. "And where I'm going, I don't need my sword. Take it and let me choose my own death here." Kisame just grinned and stood there. Strange. Kisame was never the mercy kind of guy. He was more likely to mutilate someone rather than knock them out. But they shared a history of being swordsmen of the mist together. He probably did it as one last favor. And he did get a cool sword out of the deal.

Zabuza took the kunai and charged the mob. They swung their weapons, but were unable to hit him as he dodged and weaved, cutting open their throats when he saw an opportunity. It was inspiring to see such reckless abandon. However, it didn't last long, because with those numbers, someone was bound to get him eventually. And fall he did. I couldn't see who took him out, but I knew that he took many of his opponents with him to the other side. But even with Zabuza's help, there was a massive horde of thugs, angry with us. Fun.

Chapter 2.8

But we got lucky. Yugito and Gaara weren't too badly tired from trying to beat Haku's dome to conjure up some nasty sweeping Ninjutsu. Eventually, we pushed the entire horde off of the bridge and into the ocean. Those who didn't drown would probably be beaten up by villagers. Without Gato to de facto legalize them, and their numbers to keep anyone from defying them, they had no hold.

But that still left the matter of Itachi's brother. He had been killed by Haku. Or so we thought. When we came to pick up the body, he was moving. Apparently, Haku hadn't used any kill points. So, we headed down the road to meet the Konoha Jounin, Kakashi, I think. We handed Sasuke over to him, and explained what had happened on the bridge. His charge seemed particularly relieved that Gato had been killed. Apparently, he had been hassling his efforts to create a bridge between the country and the mainland, as Gato controlled all shipping into the country.

After taking care of loose ends, we headed out. As we left, we saw them putting up an ornate sign on the bridge. It read "Great Uchiha Bridge". I just can't wait until I tell Itachi about this one.

A.N. Okay, thank you for all the support. This is going to be more like what the length of chapters is going to be. However, it will fluctuate depending on chapter. A single fight might take up an entire chapter, like her, or it could be like the entire second exam. Still debating on that one. So It'll normally be around 5000 words a chapter, but don't always count on that. As for the next chapter, I don't know when I will have it ready, but I will post it as soon as completed.

If anyone is interested in editing this fic, I am open to offers. Just pm me and I will get back to you. I have a few criteria though. If I give you a chapter, I need it back and edited in 72 hours or less. That way I can keep up on chapters with good speed. Editors are allowed to change the chapter's plot, but have to send me the idea ASAP. Suggestions are welcome, but I make the final cut. Also, editors are allowed to add their own notes to the end along with my Author's Notes.

And remember, the more reviews I get, the quicker I will write the new chapter!