Chapter 3: Boom!
That night, Team 7 listened silently as Pakkun finished recounting what he had heard outside the cabin.
"… And that's all I heard Kakashi. It looks like you all have a fight on your hands tomorrow. Now I better be getting back, it's been a long day out there", the pug put up a paw to wave, "Peace!" With a puff of smoke the little dog disappeared.
Kakashi was the first one to speak up to his students, "well Sakura, it turns out I owe you an apology. I didn't think tracking Haku in the woods would lead to anything valuable but-"
"I don't believe it!" Naruto shouted, cutting Kakashi off.
"Naruto it's not that simple-"
"No Kakashi-sensei! There must be more to the story. The girl I met in the woods would never work for a guy like Zabuza. He must be threating her or holding her hostage or… or… something! We need to head over there and rescue her from him!"
Kakashi sighed letting silence hang in the air for a moment. "Naruto, the ninja world is complicated. Our trade is based on lying and deception as much as it is our physical ninja skills. It's unfortunate that you have been misled by her but you should consider yourself lucky. Many ninja who are deceived end up paying for it with their lives."
Sakura spoke up while bouncing nervously on her heels. "So Sensei, does that mean we have to fight that Zabuza guy tomorrow?"
All the Genin looked at their instructor.
Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Well if we don't intervene, then Zabuza will kill Tazuna. We could tell Tazuna to run, but that would only prolong the inevitable."
"I want to fight" spoke up Sasuke.
Everyone turned and looked at Sasuke.
"The girl, I want to fight her", Sasuke's hand started trembling with anticipation. "She seems skilled. I need to test myself against her." He looked at Kakashi, "I'll take care of her while you fight Zabuza."
"If Sasuke wants to fight, then I'll be there as well" said Sakura while looking at Sasuke.
Naruto looked downcast. "I… I can't believe that Haku is bad person." He closed his fist and gritted his teeth "but I want to be there too. I'll knock some sense into her if that's what it takes!"
"Woah calm down you three" Kakashi spoke. "Hopefully we won't be in a fight at all. In a battle, intel is by far the most dangerous weapon".
"Huh, since when did you get all philosophical? You certainly didn't read that in that smut you carry around" Sakura muttered.
"I'm hurt that one of my cute little Genin would say something so hurtful to their Sensei who has done so much for them."
"Whatever, what's the plan then?" responded Sakura.
"Well since we know where they will be going tomorrow, we can lay a trap for them. It would at least give us an initial advantage in the fight." Kakashi turned towards Naruto, "Naruto, I want you to scatter some clones throughout the forest on the other side of the bridge tomorrow morning. When one of them spots Zabuza and Haku, it'll be able to pass on the knowledge to you, that way we'll know when they're coming."
He turned towards his other two students, "Should Zabuza and Haku get by the trap we set, then Sasuke will fight Haku and Sakura will fight Zabuza."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" screamed Sakura with a high pitch shrill.
Kakashi eye smiled, "Hn, maybe now you'll think twice before you call your dear Sensei's literature smut."
The next morning
Haku leapt from branch to branch following Zabuza. She was grateful that she was wearing a mask, if anything to hide her apprehensions from him. At the end of the day she knew she'd have to kill at least one (if not more) of the leaf Genin. The mere thought of that made her heart tighten due to her passive nature.
But that didn't matter anymore. What mattered was proving herself to the man that had saved her. She would get over her drawbacks and become the tool her needed her to be.
Haku was pulled out of her thoughts when Zabuza came to a sudden stop. He held up his hand signaling her to stop as well. She stopped, perched on a branch a few feet away from him.
He made a motion pointing at his eyes and then pointing down to the forest floor. There, behind a bush was Naruto trying (but failing in the worse way) to hide, orange jacket and all. He wasn't looking at them, rather it appeared that he was looking around at the bushes around him.
Haku watched as Zabuza silently descended from branch to branch towards the forest floor, staying out of view of the boy below. It was times like these that Haku was reminded that her master was one of the best assassins living today.
Zabuza dropped in behind the boy and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. With a yell, Naruto started struggling and cursing, his legs dangling off the ground.
"Well, well, look what I've caught? A snot nosed brat. Didn't Kakashi ever teach you not to go out walking alone? I thought he'd be smarter than that. You never know what sort of dangers you might run into."
"Says you! The last time I saw you, you had just got bitch slapped by my Sensei water jutsu and had to be rescued by Haku!" retorted Naruto.
Haku's heart skipped a beat. 'How does he know!'
Zabuza scowled. "How do you know that?"
Naruto smiled, "Doesn't matter, we'll see you around!" Then the boy disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Zabuza stared at his empty hand for a few seconds before ascending back up into the trees. He jumped up onto the branch next to Haku in a crouching position. He slowly stood up, standing ominously over her. "What the hell was that?!"
"Master I-"
"How in the hell does that brat know who you are?! Did you tell him in the woods while you were collecting herbs?!"
"No! I swear I revealed nothing! I don't know how he knows!"
Zabuza closed his eyes and let out low growl. "Damn that Kakashi. Well it doesn't matter now, they know we are coming. Let's not keep them waiting"
Sakura and Sasuke were busy getting some traps into place at the end of the bridge.
'Yes I finally get to spend some alone time with Sasuke!'
'Ya suck it Ino-pig!'
Sakura made a sideways glance at her crush. He was hiding some kunai behind a bridge support beam, readying them to be launched with a taunt string. She reached into her pouch and grabbed a handful of kunai and walked over to him.
"Hey Sasuke, I have some more kunai we could use!"
"Hn, sure" he responded without looking at her.
She started to slide more kunai onto the trap string, getting as close to him as possible. "I hope this trap works out well. Are you nervous if we're going to have to fight them or not?"
"No" he responded.
"I didn't think you would be. You're strong enough that-"
She was cut off as he reached his hand over and placed it on hers. A fierce blush painted her cheeks. 'This is it! This is moment that I've been waiting for when we-'
"You're doing it wrong."
"W-what?"
"The kunai. You need to space them out differently on the string." He moved her hand so the kunai she was holding slide further out on the string. "You're keeping the exact same distance between each kunai on the string. That will create predictable gaps when the trap throws them. Make sure the space between each kunai is different so the enemy will have a harder time dodging." With that he let go of her hand and went back to focusing on his part of the trap.
Sakura looked downcast as she heard inner Sakura shout in her brain 'DAMN!'
Naruto stopped as a thought popped into his head.
"Kakashi-sensei! He just found one of my clones. They are coming!"
Kakashi finished tying a taunt string to a nearby crate on the middle of the unfinished bridge. He quickly stood and looked at the end of the bridge towards his other students who were busy finishing their part of the trap. "Hey you two, hurry and finish what you're doing and get back over here by me and Naruto."
After a few more last minute knots and covering some string, Sasuke and Sakura made their way to towards the middle of the bridge where Kakashi and Naruto were stationed.
"I want you three to stay behind me and let me do the talking." Kakashi looked at Naruto. "That especially means you Naruto."
"What?"
"You know what."
"But I-"
"Like to shout stuff before thinking it through?"
"No! I wasn't planning on saying anything!" shouted Naruto.
"Hn, like you could plan anything" remarked Sasuke.
"Hey! You watch it or I'll put my foot in your ass! Believe-"
"ANYWAYS!" cut in Kakashi. "I want you three to follow my lead. Now just stand there and wait. This might be a good chance to make sure your gear is ready." Kakashi turned and watched the tree line. "Oh and my last bit of advice in case we have to fight, teamwork will always be your greatest tool in a battle. Look out for each other and take care of each other."
Sakura thought for a moment. "But Sensei, I thought you said intel was a ninja's most dangerous weapon in battle?"
Kakashi sighed.
Minutes seem to pass by like hours as Team 7 awaited for the approaching enemy.
Finally, two figures broke the tree line and approached the end of the bridge where they stopped. Zabuza stood there at the end of the bridge, the large seversword in hand. Next to him stood Haku, wearing a green haori with a brown sash, face hidden by her hunter-nin mask.
Kakashi raised his hand. "Yo Zabuza I-"
He was cut off as Naruto stepped forward and pointed a finger at Haku "HEY! What the heck do you think you're doing?! Why are you hanging out with him?!" Naruto glared at Zabuza. "He's the bad guy don't you know?!" Haku visibly winced at the last statement.
Kakashi shook his head 'figures'. "Zabuza, there's no need for us to fight. Go on your way and leave Tazuna alone."
Zabuza chuckled, "You know that can't happen. I need this money to help fund a revolt against the current Kiri leadership." He pointed his sword at Kakashi. "and if I get to collect the bounty on the Copy-nin's head… well all the better."
"Fine" Kakashi sighed. With that Kakashi drew and flicked a kunai to his side. The kunai cut through a string.
A sling shot "thwap" was heard as kunai rained down all around the missing-nin from all sides. Instantly, both missing-nin ran through a series of the exact same hand signs and stretched out an arm towards one another.
"Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu!" both shouted simultaneously.
Water raised through the cracks in the bridge and converged as both ninja became trapped in each other's water prison. The two spheres were imperfect, since they slightly connected to one another on the edge where the two ninja's arms stretched towards one another.
Kunai slapped into the surface of the water and almost instantly came to a stop. The density of the water prison was high enough that no kunai could pass through. After a few seconds of flying weapons and ricochets, everything seemed to calm down. The two bubbles of water holding the two ninja had kunai floating all around.
Kakashi's eyebrows raised. "Huh, well that was unexpected."
The two missing-nin lowered their hands and the water prisons fell apart around them. With multiple "clangs", the floating kunai hit the floor.
With a chuckle Zabuza stepped forward "Really? We found the boy's clone in the forest. We had a pretty good guess that you all would have something set up for us."
Kakashi eye smiled "say Zabuza, have you ever heard of the phrase 'look beneath the beneath'? "
Zabuza stopped and raised an eyebrow "ya… why…?"
Kakashi threw up a hand sign.
Zabuza heard a fizzle and looked down to see some burning explosive tags in-between the wood planks of the bridge.
"Well Fuc-"
Boom.
Extra:
Shortly after the 3rd ninja war
Zakaza dipped his pen in ink and continued to write as his Master talked.
"… we extend a hand of fellowship to your village's circumstances. We understand that many are in need of charity during this time of pain and woe in the world. In an effort to heal the wounds that have been inflicted on the minor nations, we humble offer to take on any orphans from your village that have resulted from the terrible ninja war. We have the facilities and compassionate populace to give them the love and attention they so desperately need in their lives right now."
Zakaza stopped writing. "Master, it might not be my place to ask, but why are we recruiting orphans? Don't you think the villages will be a little skeptic about sending children off to some strangers in an unknown place?"
"Perhaps if it was one of the 5 main villages yes", the Master responded, "But the minor villages? No. They don't have the resources to take on all the orphans left over from the war. Most likely if we let things continue as they are, a lot of the children will end up dying of sickness or starvation. The minor villages will see our letter as the perfect out and will justify in their own minds that it's ok to send their problem children away."
The Master turned and looked at Zakaza "there's a lesson to be learned. Humans are selfless only when it's convenient. When times are tough, humans almost always become selfish. Exploit people when the times are tough in a way that allows them to be selfish, and you'll always succeed."
"Ok but still, what use will we have of children?" inquired Zakaza.
"Oh Zakaza. You need to see past the here and now. Right now they are weak children. Children that need love, shelter, food, and the basic necessities of life. We fill that gap and we win their loyalty for life."
The Master smiled "The greatest motivator for the human soul is love. Many ninja employed by their villages are loyal because they were born there and they get paid to do their job. That type of loyalty is frail, which is why there are a significant number of missing-nin in the world. These children we take in will be loyal to us because we were there to provide for and nurture them when they needed it most. They will be loyal because they want to be loyal, not because of money or some misplaced sense of self identity with where they were born."
"I will use that loyalty to produce the most dangerous ninja army the nations have ever seen or will ever see. But first, we need those children." The master motioned towards Zakaza's pen. "Now let's resume writing.
Zakaza dipped his pen and continued to write.
Author's Notes:
A question was raised in the reviews regarding the planned pairings. Most (but not all) of the pairings will be different than the original story. For now, I want to keep some of the pairings a secret till later on in the story. Here is what I will tell you though:
1- There will be no harems. This doesn't stop a character from hooking up with someone and then ending up with someone else later on in the story. That happens all the time in real life. I'm just saying that a character will not be in multiple accepted romantic relationships at the same time.
2- Sakura will not be paired with Naruto or Sasuke.
3- Naruto will not be paired with Hinata.
4- No Yaoi will be in this story.
5- You can see from the story description that I marked "Ino" as one of the main characters. She will start playing a role in this story later on, once the characters return to Konoha. Time will tell who she ends up being paired with; whether it be Sasuke, Naruto, or someone else.
Question:
This question comes inspired from our favorite character who has that no quit attitude. Who wins in a fight, Bruce Lee or The Rock?
