Review Responses

Hlyarts – Yes he is, and yes it absolutely will

Daniel 29 – At this point, no-one.

Jayswing96 – It definitely won't be. I always enjoy writing, and enjoyed writing on my other stories (which aren't abandoned just slow going) but writing this has been so so much fun. I'm having the time of my life, so its not going anywhere XD

Light Lord Cybergate – It really is overdone haha, but I just feel that the development of Team 7 together is so vital to the storyline. I'm glad you think the way I did it worked, at least on some level.

RebeliousOne – Kakashi was definitely impressed. He was also glad to know that the Third's theory was right… Harry can make them a real team. I have decided on his element, and it probably won't be too long before you know as well. Horcruxes will make an appearance, but Harry won't be treated like a sacrifice.

Randomy – Yeah, I know that they should be in multiples of three. I had to bend canon a little to fit Harry where I wanted him to. Also in the anime, there are 27 graduates followed by a test for their jonin of which only nine can become genin. At least according to the dubbed version I watched on youtube the other day for a refresher. (Don't hate me for watching dubbed, it was the first one that popped up on youtube!)

Dragon-vine33 – Thanks XD I also think its important to keep them together. I'll add that I'm a fan of Haku…

Chapter 3 – The Land of Waves

"Come in" Harry said politely after a few gentle raps sounded at his bedroom door. He didn't turn to see who it was, kneeling on the floor in front of his backpack.

"Got everything?" Hiashi's voice said from the doorway.

He zipped up his bag and got up, turning around to face his father. "Think so" Harry answered.

"I still can't believe you're already going on your first C-rank mission. Most genin squads don't get the opportunity until they've been together at least three months" Hiashi commented.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Well we've been together for two already" he said. "Plus there are four of us instead of three, I guess exceptions are being made."

"True enough" Hiashi said.

"It probably didn't hurt that Naruto got in Lord Hokage's face about being sick of D-rank missions" Harry added.

Hiashi happy exterior dropped at the mention of Naruto's name. He still hadn't grown to like him, though Harry supposed he had his reasons. Still, he clicked his tongue at his father disapprovingly.

"What?" Hiashi said innocently. "I didn't say anything."

Harry shook his head sadly. "You didn't have to" he answered.

Hiashi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know how I feel about that boy" he said sternly.

"Naruto's not the nine tailed fox, father" Harry admonished.

"I know he isn't, it's just… it's hard for me to see him otherwise" Hiashi said weakly. Harry nodded considerately.

Harry supposed he understood why that was. Hiashi had never forgotten the night the nine-tails attacked. The Hyuga clan had lost many fine shinobi, and Hiashi himself had lost a number of friends.

"Anyway" Harry said, changing the subject. "Naruto'll be here any second" he stood up and threw his bag over his shoulders.

He walked out towards the courtyard, Hiashi following behind him. It was still dark, being so early in the morning, she he didn't expect to see Hanabi waiting for him.

"Bye big brother" she smiled. "Have a good mission!"

Harry smiled inwardly. The girl was always so exuberant. He gave her a few pats on the top of the head.

"But don't take too long" She added with a mock glare.

"It's just an escort mission. No trouble expected at all" he smiled. "Besides, the Land of Waves isn't even that far away. I'll be back before you know it" he promised.

Hanabi smiled at him.

"I hope you're not taking this too lightly" Hiashi said sternly. "Just because no trouble is expected doesn't mean that it can't occur."

"I know father. I'll keep my guard up" he assured, before smiling playfully.

"Besides, Team 7 has the best Hyuga in the Leaf, apparently. You know, now that you've gotten old and slow" Harry joked.

Harry had been mocking him relentlessly ever since the day before when he had actually managed to get a light hit on his father during one of their daily sparring sessions. It was the first time Harry had ever been able to get past his tight defences. Hiashi was able to immediately counter and subdue him, of course, but Harry still thought it was an accomplishment worth celebrating.

"Cheeky brat" Hiashi said, smirking.

"Harry!" A voice called from a distance. Harry turned to see Naruto standing in the large entrance gate to the Hyuga compound.

"I'll see you when you return Harry" His father said.

Harry turned to joined Naruto when he saw his father nod curtly in Naruto's direction before turning around and heading inside. At least, Harry thought he saw him nod; maybe Harry had finally gotten through to him.

"Bye Harry!" Hanabi called out behind him.

"Did your father just nod at me?" Naruto asked, amazed. "I must be growing on him" he said with a smile.

"Like a cancer" Harry teased.

"Hey shutup!" Naruto replied, punching Harry lightly on the shoulder.

"What is he doing here?" a voice sneered from behind them. Harry turned to see Hiashi's father glaring at them from nearby.

"He's my teammate. We're heading on a mission" Harry said simply.

"He is not welcome in this compound" the elderly man said.

"He's here as my guest" Harry argued, his tone strong and defiant. "I'm a Hyuga and as such I can invite whoever I like" he finished.

"You are only named Hyuga because we gave you the name. Don't forget that" he answered, walking away.

Harry growled under his breath and dragged by the arm out of the compound.

"Who was that?" Naruto questioned, shaking free of Harry's angry grip.

"Father's father" Harry answered grumpily.

"That old coot is your grandfather?" Naruto sounded horrified.

"Not to me" Harry said firmly. He fumed in silence for the rest of their walk to the gate to Konoha.

The two of them were the last to arrive, everyone else standing just outside the giant wooden gate with the Leaf symbol above it.

"Did we seriously arrive after Kakashi?" Harry asked upon approach.

Kakashi had a look of pretend offence. "What are you talking about? I'm very punctual" he whined.

"Uh-huh" Harry deadpanned, giving him a blank look.

"Well if you're all done chatting" A gruff voice said, "Can we get a move on?"

It was Tazuna, their client. Harry had met him the previous day when the Hokage had assigned them the mission. They were to escort Tazuna to the Land of Waves, his home, and protect him while he finished construction on his bridge. He had hired standard protection only, so the only trouble they might see would be thieves and highwaymen, and even that was unlikely.

"Right" Kakashi turned serious. "Let's go."

"I can't wait to see some action" Naruto said, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

Harry sighed. "You know theres not likely to actually be any action, right?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend.

"Of course there will be, we're on a real ninja mission now" Naruto claimed positively.

"Naruto you are such an idiot sometimes" Sakura accused. "This is a C-rank mission. It was given to us because theres a very low risk of actually seeing any combat. Did you listen to anything Iruka-sensei taught us?"

Naruto and Sakura started to bicker back and forth, but Harry had stopped listening to them. Tazuna had caught his gaze. The old man wore a guilty expression on his face, and was watching Sakura and Naruto's conversation from the corners of his eyes. Something was definitely off about him.

Just as Harry was about to question him, a loud noise, like metal on metal, had them turning around in shock. Kakashi, who Harry hadn't notice mysteriously lag behind, was surrounded by sharp metal chains.

Harry activated his Byakugan immediately.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cried out worriedly. The chains were connected to two men behind Kakashi, and Harry couldn't miss the cruel grins on their faces.

The chains squeezed, Kakashi's body ripping neatly in two. Sakura screamed.

"Kakashi!" Naruto repeated.

Harry would have been worried himself had he not been able to see the real Kakashi hiding in a nearby tree. Harry supposed he must have had a reason for substituting out and watching from afar though, so protecting the bridge builder now fell on them.

Harry knew he wasn't the leader of the group, even without Kakashi, but he couldn't help but take charge.

"There's two of them" Harry said powerfully. "We have to protect the bridge builder."

"You're next" one of the two men said to Naruto. The blonde looked terrified.

"Naruto move!" Harry tried, but the blonde was frozen in fear while the chains approached him from both sides.

Harry managed to get in front of him with a body flicker technique and began to spin. "Rotation!" he pronounced, pushing the chakra out of all the tenketsu in his body. The chains bounced off his spinning chakra dome harmlessly, flying into the air.

Sasuke took the advantage, jumping high into the air and forcing the chains into a nearby tree with a shuriken. He locked them in place with a well-aimed kunai.

The enemy wasn't yet finished though, detaching the chains from their strange metal gauntlets.

"Don't let them touch you with those!" Harry ordered. "They're covered with poison!"

One of the shinobi charged at Harry, poison laced claws poised for the strike. The other launched himself at the bridge builder, with Sakura jumping in front of him in defense.

"Stay behind me" she ordered, looking more determined than Harry had ever seen her.

But Harry had to focus on his attacker. He let the claw almost reach him before putting up his ultimate defense again. "Rotation" he said again, the claw bouncing backwards. As soon as the attack had been repelled, Harry let the chakra go. While still spinning, Harry took advantage of his disoriented opponent, striking at the pressure points in both shoulders, making it much harder for him to move his arms. Using the momentum he had gained from spinning he collected his opponent by the tunic and threw him upwards into the air.

Being in midair and unable to use his arms effectively, he made an easy target for the approaching Kakashi, who smashed him into the ground with a downward kick. There was no way he was getting up after that.

His partner however, was proving more difficult. Sasuke had managed to defend the bridge builder and knock him back, but now he was nearing Naruto, who simply watched in silent terror.

Before any of them could act, Kakashi was there, using a solid arm to take the enemy by the neck, knocking him unconscious easily.

"Hi" Kakashi said casually.

"But you were-" Naruto cut off, looking to where Kakashi had 'died', and seeing only a group of logs.

"Sorry I didn't defend you right away Naruto" Kakashi said. "I just didn't think you'd freeze up like that."

Naruto growled in frustration and punched the ground, hard.

"Harry, Sasuke, excellent work. You too Sakura" Kakashi complimented.

"I don't get it sensei" Sakura said. "You must have known they were there to substitute out like that… Why didn't you just take them right away?"

"I could have, but then I wouldn't have learned anything. I needed to know if they were after us, or the bridge builder" he answered, turning to Tazuna. "When you put in a request for a mission, you asked for standard protection in case of thieves and highwaymen. You didn't say anything about needing protection for shinobi" he accused.

Tazuna paled, but Kakashi didn't relent. "If you had been honest, the Leaf would have put higher level shinobi on as your protection. Instead you got a rookie genin team. If it was a jonin level ninja that was sent to kill you, instead of these two chunin, you might have gotten all four of them, and yourself, killed."

"I'm sorry" Tazuna rasped.

"We're beyond the scope of this mission. As it stands right now, this should have been a B-rank. Why did you lie? If you don't tell us, I'll have to end this mission right now" Kakashi said, taking on a tone far more serious than his usual.

"I would have told the truth, but the village where I live is poor and impoverished. All the money we could gather could only afford to pay for a C-rank mission" Tazuna answered sadly.

"Who wants you dead so badly?" Kakashi asked.

Tazuna dropped his head, his large hat casting a shadow over his face.

"You know him, or at least you've heard of him... His name is Gato" Tazuna said darkly.

Harry's eyes widened. "The business mogul? He's one of the wealthiest and most successful men in the world" he exclaimed.

"That's him. But he's more than just a businessman. Under the surface he's a mob boss. He runs a huge corporation of criminals, selling drugs and contraband. About a year ago he took control of all of the transport and shipping for the land of waves" Tazuna replied.

Kakashi sighed loudly.

"I don't get it. What's the big deal about shipping?" Naruto asked.

"For an island nation like the land of waves, shipping is everything. Having control over it means that Gato controls their entire economy. Tazuna here is a bridge builder. Having a bridge connected to the mainland would rob Gato of his control. You've already started construction haven't you?" Kakashi asked.

"We were about a month from completion date when I heard a rumor that Gato had hired ninja to assassinate me. I left for the Leaf village the same day" Tazuna explained.

Kakashi sighed again. "With someone as powerful as Gato pulling the strings, this is an A-rank mission. My team isn't equipped-" he began, but was cut off by Naruto.

"I don't care who this Gato is. We are gonna finish this mission" Naruto said determinately.

"Erm, Naruto? No offence, but you froze up fighting against low ranked chunin. Theres every chance we could end up fighting jonin, maybe as strong as I am" Kakashi explained.

"I don't care!" Naruto exclaimed, shaking his head wildly. "I will never back down again. I will never run away." Naruto faced Tazuna directly. "I swear I will protect you until that bridge is finished!" he promised.

Again, Kakashi sighed. "I guess we should vote on it then."

"We should finish the mission" Sasuke said coolly, as if even talking about it was a waste of time.

It only took Sasuke's acceptance to convince Sakura. "Let's do it" she said.

The entire group turned to Harry. Logically, the best move was to return to the village. It wasn't out of fear, but if they came across multiple jonin? Still, Harry couldn't help his decision.

"Let's finish the mission" he said.

Kakashi gave him a strange look. "I thought you'd vote against it. You're normally more rational than this" he said.

"Remember what I said I dislike? I do not like bullies" Harry said simply.

"Well then" Kakashi said. "Tazuna, we will finish this mission."

"I can't believe I had to be rescued" Naruto growled. He'd been going on like this for hours.

"Naruto" Harry groaned. "Give it a rest."

"Well I'm not going to let you and Sasuke beat me this time!" Naruto said running forward a few steps and throwing a kunai into the trees. Harry stood back with the rest of the group, mouth open.

"Naruto you idiot!" Sakura yelled after a few moments.

"It was just a mouse" Naruto said confidently.

"Stupid little dwarf! Stop trying to scare me" Tazuna yelled at Naruto hoarsely.

Harry merely dropped his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Harry looked up when he saw Kakashi pass him, looking into the trees.

'He must be able to sense something' Harry realized.

He activated his Byakugan. He almost gasped out loud when he saw a ninja, mask on his face and a massive sword on his back watching from the trees behind them.

'Got to stay calm' Harry thought, approaching Kakashi.

"You see him?" Kakashi asked quietly when he got near.

"In the tree. Seven oclo-" Harry stopped. "DOWN!" he yelled.

Harry dropped flat onto his stomach, the massive sword whirling over his head and slamming into a tree.

Thankfully, the others, including Tazuna, got the message and had ducked underneath the blade. The enemy body flickered from his position in the tree to stand on the hilt of his sword, wedged into the tree trunk in front of them.

"Well well" Kakashi announced slowly upon getting to his feet. "Zabuza Momochi, rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist."

"I see my reputation precedes me" Zabuza replied in a gruff voice.

Naruto started to run forward, clearly intending to attack before Kakashi stuck a hand out to stop him. "No Naruto. This enemy is beyond you. Stay out of it and protect the bridge builder" he ordered.

On his order, the four members of Squad 7 surrounded Tazuna on every side.

"If you're my opponent" Kakashi said, reaching up and revealing his other eye. "I'll need this."

Zabuza laughed. "This is going to be fun" he said, a cruel smile on his face. "Kakashi of the Sharingan. Your reputation precedes you as well, copy ninja."

'Sharingan? But Kakashi isn't an Uchiha' Harry looked at Sasuke, who had a strange bewildered expression on his face.

"Sasuke how can he-" Harry began.

"I don't know" Sasuke ground out before he could finish.

Zabuza jumped over to the nearby water, performing several fast hand signs. "Hidden mist Jutsu!" he said, his body evaporating into the thick mist that was forming.

Once again, Harry thanked his Byakugan. Harry knew the others couldn't see where Zabuza was, but with the Byakugan, Harry could see him perfectly, circling around Kakashi and towards Tazuna.

Harry threw several shuriken towards him, trying to stop him from moving closer. Zabuza blocked them with his giant sword.

"How?" He asked, disbelief lining his tone.

"Kakashi, ten meters, three o'clock!" he called out.

Kakashi launched himself at Zabuza, following Harry's directions perfectly.

"It's a water clone!" Harry called out. "Six o'clock."

Kakashi stabbed the water clone and turned, blocking a blow from Zabuza's sword with his kunai.

"How is that brat able to see through my jutsu?" he demanded.

"Harry is one of the Leaf's most capable young ninja" Kakashi explained simply.

Zabuza growled and kicked out at Kakashi, landing a blow to his chest. Kakashi was sent soaring through the air.

"Don't go into the water!" Harry called out. He wasn't sure what Zabuza had done to it, but the water was flowing with his chakra.

"Too late" Zabuza smiled maliciously.

Kakashi landed in the water with a splash. In an instant, Zabuza was on him, standing on the water's surface and performing hand signs. Kakashi was struggling in the fluid, as if it were glue rather than regular water.

"Water prison jutsu!" he outstretched a hand. A dome of water surrounded Kakashi, trapping him inside.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried.

"Get out of here! Take the bridge builder and run!" Kakashi ordered desperately.

None of them moved. Even if they did run, Harry understood, they would get barely anywhere before a ninja as skilled as Zabuza was able to track them down. The only option they had was to fight.

Zabuza created another water clone, the real Zabuza holding Kakashi in his prison with one hand.

"Well I guess this jutsu is useless" clone Zabuza said, dispelling the mist. "And why is that?" He queried casually.

His eyes locked onto Harry's. "Ahh I see" he smiled, all teeth. "Byakugan."

The clone Zabuza charged at Harry, too fast for Harry to block with taijutsu. "Rotation!" he said, spinning.

Zabuza stopped in front of the chakra shield.

"Well if I can't have you. I'll just take one of your friends!" Zabuza laughed, turning to the others.

"No" Harry cried. He stopped spinning. In that instant Zabuza was on him. He swept his feet from under him, and planted a foot on Harry's chest.

"Harry!" There were numerous yells from his teammates and Kakashi.

Zabuza stomped on his chest. Harry groaned and coughed. Just before the foot had landed Harry managed to release some chakra in front of it. It wasn't enough to stop the blow, just lessen its impact."Those eyes of yours are a pain in my ass, boy" he said, stomping on him a second time. He heard a crack in his chest and coughed up some blood, choking and gurgling.

"They shouldn't be" Harry growled. "Who in their right mind would look at your skinny misshapen ass."

Zabuza laughed malevolently before stomping on Harry's chest a third time. "I'll give you this kid, you've got guts."

Sasuke and Naruto both attacked the clone Zabuza, trying to free Harry. He didn't even have to take his foot off Harry to send them flying back along the ground.

"Don't save me! Save Kakashi!" Harry said desperately. Zabuza lifted his foot from Harry's chest to his neck and pressed down, silencing him.

Harry closed his eyes and dropped his head back onto the grass. The situation was bad. Zabuza's skills vastly outstripped their own. They needed to find some way to free Kakashi, but how they would accomplish it, especially with him where he was, was a mystery.

Naruto and Sasuke must have had ideas though. "Sasuke!" Naruto called out, throwing a fuma shuriken to him. Harry looked closer. Did it have chakra running through it?

'It's Naruto!' Harry realized.

With a spin, Sasuke launched the shuriken at the real Zabuza.

Harry watched in awe as he saw the Naruto transformed Shuriken follow in the path of one that Sasuke had thrown. The Shadow Shuriken jutsu. It was a brilliant plan, especially since it had come from Naruto.

Harry couldn't believe how seamless it was. There were no words that needed to be spoken between them at all. Despite their differences, Naruto and Sasuke clearly had a fairly deep understanding of one another.

"You'll never hit me with a shuriken" Zabuza said, catching the first with his index finger, spinning it around threateningly.

"What?" he exclaimed in surprise as the Naruto shuriken flew at him. He cursed and managed to jump over it with a laugh. 'Overconfident' Harry smirked.

"Surprise!" Naruto yelled, transforming back into himself and throwing a kunai. Zabuza had no hands left to defend himself. Instinctively, he let go of the water prison to catch the kunai in his hand. The water prison jutsu fell away.

'Now's my chance!' Harry thought, looking up at the Zabuza clone who was distracted by the commotion.

Harry started with where he could reach. "Two palms!" he said, jabbing his fingers into the tenketsu on the water clone's legs. The water clone hopped back and off Harry, who quickly rose to his feet. "Four palms!" he said, striking the more vital tenketsu on its main body. "Eight palms… Sixteen Palms… Thirty-Two Palms!" he finished, the clone dissolving back into water.

Harry dropped back to his knees. Sakura started towards him.

"No!" Harry called out, holding up a hand. "Stay with Tazuna."

Kakashi stopped the spinning fuma Shuriken on Zabuza's hand with his own. "Harry. You okay?" he called out.

Harry gave him a half-hearted thumbs up. "I'll be fine" he coughed.

"You got me with that trick once" Kakashi said angrily. "It won't work a second time. I'm going to make you pay for hurting a comrade of mine."

Harry watched with widened eyes as both Kakashi and Zabuza jumped backwards, both performing the same hand signs at exactly the same time.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" they both called out. The water dragons rose from the water, meeting in the middle and cancelling each other out.

Zabuza looked concerned. Logically, Zabuza might know what the Sharingan is capable of, but meeting it in battle must be another thing entirely.

Again, both began to use the same hand seals. Zabuza however, seemed more hesitant and slow. Kakashi was playing mind games with him, panicking his opponent.

"Water Style: Water Vortex Jutsu!" Kakashi managed to finish first. A massive torrent of water rushed towards Zabuza, sending him flying back into a tree back on land. Kakashi threw a number of kunai that embedded themselves through the enemy ninja's body and stuck him to the trunk.

Harry had been so fascinated and focused on watching their battle that he hadn't even realized the second ninja that had approached from behind.

"Kakashi!" Harry managed to yell out with a cough, pointing to the second ninja's location.

Before the jonin had a chance to do anything but look, the entering ninja flung several senbon through the air.

Harry's brows drew together as the senbon stabbed through Zabuza's neck.

The ninja dropped to the ground behind Harry.

"Thank-you" he said with a small bow. "I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time."

He walked straight past Harry and towards Zabuza, whose chakra flow had slowed to a stop. There was only one reason that would be.

Kakashi put a hand on Zabuza's neck, checking for a pulse.

"No vitals" he stated.

Naruto climbed out of the water and ran up to the newcomer. "Who do you think you are!" he yelled, pointing at him.

"We've been struggling against him and then you come and kill him with a few needles?" he said angrily.

The ninja said nothing.

"Enough Naruto. He isn't our enemy" Kakashi said. "You're a hidden mist tracking ninja, am I right?"

The boy nodded. "I've been tracking him for a long time" he claimed. He couldn't have been any older than Harry himself, but was a member of the ANBU?

Harry slowly got to his feet and walked over to them.

"Harry!" Kakashi exclaimed. "You shouldn't be standing." He wrapped an arm around Harry's waist, supporting his weight.

"I must dispose of the remains" The hidden mist ninja said. With a hand sign, he was body flickering away, leaving Team 7 staring blankly after him.

Notes

Hey! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I was trying to make the fight as close to what canon would be as possible had Harry actually been there… not sure if I actually succeeded or not but oh well.

You might have noticed that two months have passed since the last chapter. I figured that a fair time period would have passed before they were given the land of waves mission, so yeah.

As Always, feel free to ask me any questions, and please let me know if you spot any errors.