Chapter 4! Yay! Thank you all for the reviews and stuff. Next chapter wraps up the-admittedly short-Wave Arc and gives the second teeny tiny hint of KaMione! WooHoo! Aren't you guys excited? I am :)

Disclaimer: (Valid for Ch3 too, since I forgot it) I own nothing, yadda yadda yadda, JK Rowling, blah blah blah, Masashi Kishimoto, bibbidi bobbidi boo.

Very telling, my disclaimer, ne?


Chapter 4: Battle Magic

Hermione was worried. Contrary to what she had told Naruto, the charm she'd given him heated up whenever he used chakra, unless she deactivated it (like when she knew he'd be training). She was concerned when the charm heated up not two days after they'd departed. Had they gotten into trouble so quick? She almost dropped everything she was doing and apparated to his location, but she had to trust he'd know when he needed her help. And she didn't want to embarrass him in front of his team and whoever else the Hokage had sent on this mission. So she sat in her stool, and waited patiently for the signal for help. When it didn't come and his chakra settled down (as opposed to being cut off abruptly, which would tell her the boy was unconscious), she figured they'd handled whatever it was and went back to her brewing.

But her feeling of worry didn't go away and it nagged at the back of her mind like a persistent flea might bug the Inuzuka's dogs.


~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~


Kakashi was resting in Tazuma's home. His fight with Zabuza had exhausted him. Using the Sharingan like that for so long, had nearly made him faint and had rendered him unable to move for the last leg of the journey. Not even Kurenai's presence had done much to help against the blood-crazed missing nin. Speaking of… he'd need to teach Kurenai how to enlarge the box of potions Hermione-san had given him. It was of no use to anyone if he couldn't enlarge it because he couldn't channel his chakra. He could only think wistfully about that Pepper-up potion Hermione-san had mentioned and wish he had had the foresight to carry at least one dose in his pouch, or given it to Kurenai or one of the genin. Well, no use crying over spilled milk. Meanwhile, outside Kurenai was teaching his team how to Tree Walk. After making it abundantly clear to his team that he'd tolerate absolutely no disrespect towards her from any of them, he had given them over to her until he recovered. Her team was currently practicing Water Walking while guarding Tazuna at his bridge, with the standing instruction of taking Tazuna and high tailing it back to the house at the least sign of trouble. Since by their reckoning they'd have at least a week Zabuza-free, she let them go on their own.

Kurenai had been surprised that his team still didn't know this exercise, but after he'd told her he'd been, unsuccessfully, trying to bolster their teamwork, she understood. Having seen the disaster that was that first fight, she understood why he'd wanted them to learn how to work as a team first, even if their fight against Zabuza had been way better. That trick with the Kage Bunshins and the shadow shuriken had impressed her. But still, she thanked every Deity she knew the name of, and many she didn't, that she hadn't been saddled with this team. Sasuke's arrogance, Sakura's fan girl personality, and Naruto's boisterousness were grating on her nerves. And Kakashi had told her Naruto had been even worse at the beginning! Apparently, she had Mahou-sama to thank for that change.

Kakashi was unsurprised to see Sakura was the first one to get the exercise. She had, by what he could appreciate, very precise chakra control. She had to, since her reserves were well below the average shinobi. He'd have to engineer some kind of exercise to help her expand her reserves. Chakra control meant nothing if she'd run out of chakra halfway through a fight anyways. As for Naruto, he'd have to teach him chakra control. Maybe he could use the boy's Kage Bunshins for that… yes, that'd work nicely.

The week went by swiftly. Kakashi had been able to move and channel enough chakra to enlarge Hermione-san's box of goodies by the evening of the second day. Kurenai had been shocked by his quick recovery after he'd drunk one of the vials in the box. After a quick explanation and about an hour of teaching, she was able to enlarge and shrink the box herself. They wouldn't be caught unawares again.

Kakashi had taken over his team's training, while Kurenai went over to supervise her own team at the bridge. After three days, they had all gotten the basic grasp of the exercise and had joined her team at the bridge. Sasuke and Naruto would continue to practice on whatever vertical surface available, sans the bridge. Even if by now they knew enough not to blow whatever surface they were practicing on to smithereens, no one wanted an accident that would lengthen the mission even more.

By the time the sixth day in Wave rolled around, though, it seemed as if their mission would be much longer than expected. Most of the workers of the bridge had opted to resign, and construction was nearly at a standstill. The genins resolved to work in two shifts, alternating between protecting Tazuna and building the bridge. Team 7's shifts were the most productive, as Naruto would create a number of clones which helped in the construction.

After a very tense dinner, in which the story of Inari's stepfather had come to light, they settled themselves to a fitful night of sleep. The next morning saw them all, sans Naruto who had finally exhausted himself using his clones the day before, arrive at the bridge to see the motionless bodies of the few workers who had agreed to continue building the bridge.

Time seemed to slow down and speed up all at once. Zabuza and the hunter nin who had rescued him before appeared on the bridge and engaged them in battle. In less than a minute Sasuke was trapped by the mirrors, while Sakura and Team Kurenai formed a protective diamond around Tazuna. Kakashi sensei was bleeding and even with his Sharingan and Kurenai's support, it was a hard fight. Kurenai's genjutsu was nullified by Zabuza's mist, as was Kakashi's Sharingan. Sasuke's screams of pain unnerved the genin protecting Tazuna. Even Hinata's Byakugan was unable to penetrate more than a few paces in the thick mist. Still, a few paces were enough and she was able to shout a warning when Zabuza approached them from behind. Shino was there and he instantly deployed some of his kikaichu, but Zabuza formed a water clone which drowned the poor bugs. The senseis got there soon after.

They heard a yell. Naruto had joined them. The mist soon lifted a bit and they heard Naruto brag about how he was there to save the day. Then he went inside Haku's Demonic Ice Mirrors. Kakashi, Kurenai and Zabuza were still engaged in battle. Then the mist lifted a bit more, and what they saw, chilled their blood to the core.

Sasuke was lying on the floor, pierced by several long needles, unmoving. And Naruto… Naruto was crouching and an evil aura surrounded him. Hinata's Byakugan indicated that it was both foreign and yet a part of him, and it seemed to radiate from his stomach. She saw Naruto destroy the Demonic Ice Mirrors and jump at Haku, downing him in one hit. She was about to jump in to try and disable him with her Gentle Fist style, but at her first two steps, both Kurenai and Kakashi yelled at her to stay put and to not put herself in Naruto's line of sight.

Kakashi noticed that Zabuza was floored, staring at Haku's still body and used a summoning jutsu to immobilize Zabuza. He called on a jutsu of his design, the Lightning Cutter and impaled Zabuza through the chest. The battle seemed won and with a sigh he allowed himself to feel the exhaustion.

Bad move.

Clap. Clap. "Bravo. I should commend you in your zeal, shinobi. And thank you for saving me the trouble of disposing of those two. Now you are weakened and my people will take care of you easily." Kurenai was bleeding from many wounds, Kakashi could barely stand. Naruto was no longer consumed by the evil aura and he was heaving. It would be the two hundred or so thugs against the severely weakened jounin and the genin. They'd be able to take care of what… seventy? Eighty? Before they were overwhelmed? Their future seemed bleak.

Naruto tried to take a step forward, put himself between Gatou's men and his sensei, but he couldn't. He was just too tired. He sank to his knees and the amulet Mahou-sama had given him swung free of his clothes. In a second, he knew what to do. He gathered his chakra and sent the distress signal, hoping she'd be able to help. And hoping she wouldn't kill him for not calling her sooner. "Don't worry, sensei, I'm calling for back-up." He repeated the signal, praying Mahou-sama would be able to find him soon.

Hermione was ready when she got the distress signal. She'd been worried for quite a while now, especially when the charm on her bracelet had heated up so much it had heated the bracelet she kept it hanging from and had burnt her skin. This had been her first clue. She surmised that was the demon Naruto had sealed inside of him. Still, she had confidence he'd call her when she was needed. It never occurred to her that he might forget he had the medallion at all. Still, when she got the signal, closely followed by a repeat, she focused on her magic, and Disapparated with an almost inaudible pop.

The scene that greeted her was bleak. Four genin were surrounding an old man. Naruto was on his knees, covered in blood, but seemed to have no wounds himself. There was another young shinobi knocked out cold on the ground. Sasuke was impaled by several long needles. A tendril of magic in his direction showed he was still alive. He'd hold on, for now. A female shinobi was supporting Kakashi who seemed barely able to stand. All conscious ones were looking at her in surprise. And in front of her… Almost two hundred men with various weapons, who apparently were ready to attack the ragtag group of Leaf Ninja. And the ground… the ground was covered in blood. Blood of children, however much they were considered adults in Konoha, in her mind they were still children.

She saw red.

But now she was here and it was time to embrace the old Hermione. The Hermione she had buried with Voldemort's defeat. The warrior. The avenger. The one who struck fear in her opponent's heart. "Leave." Her voice was cold. Commanding.

The man in the middle, who was wearing a suit, snorted. "Who do you think you are? We'll bury you along with the shinobi! Attack!"

"Have it your way." With a determined frown, she whipped out her wand, and began.

First, she called a strong wind, so strong it pounded against the first line of men, making them cover their faces. A few standing further back tried sending arrows her way, but the wind blew them away. Then, she swept her wand in an arc in front of her, charming every piece of debris, every discarded weapon to fly at her opponents. Half the front line fell, struck by rocks, nigh unbreakable ice and the odd kunai.

The men pressed on, fighting against her wall of wind. The first one to reach her swung a spear at her, but she backstepped and threw a ball of fire at him which caught him in the gut, sending him flying back. Three more overcame her barrier and jumped at her, but a swish of her wand and a cutting curse disabled them, showering her with their blood. Enraged, more and more mercenaries managed to pass her spell, but she cut them down mercilessly. Lightning and fire flew from her hands, but they kept coming at her. Worried, for she really didn't want to use one of the big spells taught to her by the Unspeakables, she kept at it.

Two men, their faces snarling in bloodlust, jumped at her from opposite sides and she thought she might take a hit when suddenly a tree seemed to grow out of the bridge and immobilize them. Two kunais flew from behind her, burying themselves deeply into the men who had almost gotten her. She couldn't spare a look, but she thought she heard a female voice shout "Team 8, engage!" behind her. The tide stemmed a little as she saw flashes of other people fighting with her. A little girl, short hair blue as the night sky leaped in front of her, landing precariously on the spear aimed at her side, making it fall harmlessly to the ground, thrust her hands in a straight, open palmed strike that disabled her target's arms. Another push of her small legs and she was back by her comrades, two boys, one using a dog and the other using… were those bugs?

To each their own, I suppose, was the stray thought on Hermione's mind as she turned to her left, sending a Bludgeoning curse to the thug that thought to attack her. Blood matted her hair and sweat made it stick to her forehead, but she persevered.

The man with the suit was harassing his henchmen into attacking back. She took a leaf out of Dumbledore's book (quite literally, since that's where she'd learned the spell) and a whip of fire appeared on the tip of her wand. She swung it towards him, and in his arrogance, thinking she wouldn't reach him, he didn't move. That was a mistake, as the whip suddenly grew and wrapped around his neck. A sharp tug back and his severed head bounced in front of his body. The thugs started to disperse, but some still fought. She swung her whip and severed a few legs while with her off hand she conjured more lightning balls which she sent at the men that insisted on coming at her. Of the nearly two hundred men, around fifteen were smarter than the average pigeon and threw down their weapons.

The rest perished.

She lowered her arms and took a deep breath. She hadn't had to use so much magic since the war. She was tired, but her resolve drove her to check on Naruto. As she was approaching him, she heard a yell from the group of men that had surrendered. "Die, you bitch!" She barely had time to look back and raise her wand, when a kunai breezed through the air, burying itself deeply in the man who held a crossbow in his hands. She looked around to see Kakashi with his arm extended, still half supported by the female jounin. With a nod of thanks and a wave of her wand that summoned all discarded weapons and put them outside the range of the surrendered thugs, she aimed her wand at Naruto and after making sure he had no wounds, made her way to Sasuke, who was closer. She noticed Sakura had dragged the old man with them and they were holding back tears as they looked at their fallen comrade. The other three genin, each sporting their own injuries, though thankfully none seemed too serious, approached them slowly. She heard Sakura's voice quote a shinobi saying to the old man.

"No matter what the situation, a shinobi must kill their emotions and forfeit all feelings. You must make the mission your first priority and you must possess a heart that never shows tears." The other genin were nodding.

Hermione's heart clenched when she heard that. It was a hard way of life. Too hard. And wrong. You didn't get strength from not feeling. You got strength, true strength, from love. The love for your friends, your family, your comrades in arms. Love of your country, of your village. Shinobi were not tools, they were human. And no matter how much you tried, a human could not bury their emotions indefinitely. She told the girl so before kneeling in front of Sasuke and Vanishing the multiple senbon that pierced him. Another spell to stop the blood loss and a diagnostic charm to see how much damage she could repair. She was shocked to see no vital points had been touched, but there was something wrong with his eyes… some kind of curse. She'd have to look into that later. She settled for sending an Ennervate his way and he opened his eyes. Sakura wasted no time in tackling him with a hug. Hermione frowned when he didn't return it.

She made her way to the other shinobi who was unconscious. Seeing nothing more than a rather nasty blow to the head, she made to wake him up but Kakashi warned her not to. Apparently he was the enemy, and the man he had killed was his partner. There was no saying how he would react.

She turned to Kakashi, but when she raised her wand at him, she saw the other woman tense, one of her hands moving towards her weapons. She was stopped by Kakashi. "It's alright, Kurenai. This is Granger-san, we talked about her. She's on our side." Thankfully.

With a nod, she took her hand away from her weapons. Speaking of, she'd have to talk to her genin team about not reacting when someone who could do what they had seen the woman do.

"Let me get a look at you, Hatake-san." With a curt nod he disentangled himself from Kurenai and sat on the ground. A few minutes later, Hermione had closed most of his minor wounds, and started the healing on his bigger ones. She'd have him drink a muscle regeneration potion later. Just as she was finished, she heard a commotion at the back of the bridge, towards the town. She raised her wand but stopped when she saw what appeared to be builders and farmers led by a kid. Real kid, not genin-kid. One look at their faces, especially the kid's disappointed stare, had her laughing like a madwoman.

After she calmed down, she wearily stood up and addressed the jounin. "Let's go someplace you can rest. Where have you been staying?"

"Tazuna-san's house, Mahou-sama," came the response from the red-eyed jounin.

"Alright. We'll go there, then. I'll take a closer look at all of your injuries there." With a nod, Kurenai took one of Kakashi's arms and swung it over her shoulders. Her genin team led the way back while the townspeople dealt with the bodies and the group of thugs who had surrendered. She heard Kakashi asking for one of the bodies to be held apart until they could turn him over to his partner, who incidentally, was floating behind her, guided by her magic.

After dinner that evening Hermione had just finished tending to Kurenai's injuries when Naruto couldn't hold himself quiet any longer and exploded. "That was awesome Mahou-sama! Can you teach me how to do that? Please? Pleaaaaase? And how'd you get here so fast! It wasn't a shunshin, it's too far away, but I want to learn, please, please, teach me, teach me, teachmeteachmeteachmeteachme!" She cringed at his enthusiasm.

"I'd like to know that, too. How'd you know we needed help and how did you get here. You didn't follow us from the beginning, did you?" Kakashi doubted that was it, or she most likely would've made an appearance before this.

She snorted lightly. "No. I gave Naruto an amulet linked to a charm on my bracelet for him to call me if he needed help. As for how I got here, it's a technique called Apparition. I can probably teach you two, if you'd like," she said, nodding at the two jounin. The genin looked disappointed.

"And this technique can transport you anywhere?"

"Pretty much. You must be familiar with the place you're aiming at, though the term 'familiar' is used really loosely, or have some kind of beacon to lead you. In this case, the amulet was also a beacon. It led me to Naruto. As for the other stuff I did, it takes a lot of time and practice to get to that level. We'll talk about it more when you're back in Konoha. Now, I must be going. You still have your mission to finish."

"Please, Mahou-sama, at least stay the night. What you did today must have been very tiring and we would not want you to get hurt if you use too much chakra going back home." That was Kurenai. Hermione thought about it and then nodded. She didn't actually need that much rest, since Apparition didn't use all that much magic, but she wanted to check on all of their injuries, so graciously accepted. "Great, I can lend you something to use to sleep in, if you'd like."

"Don't worry. I can conjure or transfigure a nightgown for tonight. But thank you, Kurenai-san, for your concern."

"Very well." With a smile, she ushered the genin to their beds, the boys in the same room as Kakashi, and the girls with herself and Hermione. Their unwilling guest was sleeping in the same room as the boys under a sleeping potion. He wouldn't wake up until much later the next day. Kurenai bit back a gasp when Hermione waved her wand and a beautiful nightgown appeared in front of her. She pointed her to the bathroom where she could change.

Hours later, Kurenai awoke when she heard Hermione getting out of her futon. Her heart bled for the woman. What they had done today had been hard. Killing that many men… and they hadn't even stood a chance! Even she, with her shinobi training in managing her emotions, was somewhat troubled by the day's events. Mahou-sama for all that she was a warrior, was not a killer at heart, and the deaths would weigh heavily on her conscience. She almost stood up to follow her, when she heard another voice from outside. She settled herself back and tried not to eavesdrop. Not too much, at least.

"That was a brave thing you did today, Granger-san," Kakashi's voice startled her. She hugged herself, her hands digging into her arms, her conjured nightgown doing nothing to stop the cold night air.

"I did what I had to do. It wasn't brave. It wasn't even necessary. But those men were so full of hatred and greed… they'd have killed you all and not looked back."

"It was necessary. You saved all our lives. I was at the end of my rope. Sasuke was down, and Naruto was exhausted." He didn't mention the Kyuubi. Who knew what the demon fox would've done if Naruto was close to dying. "Kurenai, her team and Sakura, would've been able to take down maybe half of them before being overwhelmed. And the hands of children would've been stained in blood before dying. So I thank you for what you did. For what you sacrificed."

"They were muggles!" At his look of confusion, she corrected herself. "Civilians. Defenceless against one such as you or me. It was wrong—"

"Do you think that Hinata being a girl would've stopped them? Sakura? They were thugs. Warriors with no honour. You saved them. You saved all of us. Make no mistake, they would've slaughtered us all and not lost a wink of sleep over it. That is if they hadn't decided to pass Sakura or Hinata around for a bit of fun. Kurenai, they'd have killed, she's a jounin and they would never have been able to beat her down enough for something like that… but the girls? Make no mistake, you did the right thing. Greed and bloodlust warped those men until they had no morals to speak of. They would've killed us all." He repeated.

She nodded brusquely at him, trying to stem the tears that came from the soul wound caused by the deaths of so many by her hand. She tensed when she felt his arms come around her and draw her in for a hug. The quiet, comforting sounds he was making finally broke through her self-control and she settled for sobbing into his shoulder. They stayed like that long after she ran out of tears. When the sun's rays first touched the forest canopy, she pushed out from his embrace, quietly thanked him and made her way back to her room. Kakashi watched the sun rise and when he first heard someone stirring from inside the house, made his way back to his own futon.

He had no idea what had possessed him to follow the woman outside when he sensed her walking through the house, or what had come over him that had made him offer comfort when he saw she was suffering, but he was glad he had. They—he owed her much, and this was only a small way to repay her.


A/N: The end of another chapter. This one was a toughie to write, I do not do well with battle scenes. My original battle scene was 1 paragraph, 10 lines long. It was a pain to make it to where I was satisfied with it. Not to mention the original version might as well have replaced Hermione's first name with Mary. Hope you liked that little tidbit of KaMione at the end, I certainly loved writing it.

On another note, I think Saturdays will be my (tentative) upload day. So enjoy, and see you in one week!

Reviews are food for the soul (and the creative juices!)

Cheers,

C.