There they all stood in the heavy mist: Tazuna, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, and Zabuza.
Having been forced to disperse, Sakura looked at her gray haired teacher as he continued pointing the knife to Zabuza's throat. "You're done." Kakashi said. For a moment, the small genin felt a bit of weight lift from their shoulders. What a relief. Sakura began to smile.
But then Zabuza began to laugh.
"Done? Is that what you think?" Zabuza retorted. Cockily, he continued, saying, "All you did was use your clones and copying skills -what a cheap trick…!" Zabuza paused for a moment. "But I'm not so easy to fool."
Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, and hurled the blade of his sword in his direction. Kakashi ducked, and the sword shot into the ground. Zabuza gripped the handle and threw his foot into Kakashi's side, and he went blasting through the sky. Yanking his sword out of the ground, Zabuza went sprinting towards Kakashi. He skidded to halt when he suddenly noticed the black spikes on the ground. Zabuza glanced around, searching for Kakashi's familiar frame. Although, Kakashi was still soaring, but quickly found himself roughly splashing into the water of the river.
Shocked, Sakura's mouth fell agape, but she remained silent. On the inside, she thought, how could Kakashi get himself kicked like that? "His physical strength is on par, too…" Sasuke mumbled, but Sakura paid him little attention as she watched Kakashi slowly rise from the water. Zabuza then ran behind Kakashi, and brought his hands together to form quick symbols. "Idiot…" Zabuza said. "Water Prison Jutsu!" Kakashi looked up at Zabuza with widened eyes, and found himself trapped. The jutsu had encased Kakashi with a sphere of water, and Zabuza's hand was inside of it. Zabuza chuckled.
"This may be a prison of water, but it's as strong as steel. You won't be getting out of this. So much for the great copy ninja, Kakashi." Zabuza teased Kakashi, a smirk prevalent beneath his mask of bandages. "I'll deal with you soon enough. First, I'll handle your little friends."
Watching Zabuza's eyes shift over to her and her teammates, Sakura began to feel her knee caps quiver even more. Lord, this guy was scary!
But Sakura's a ninja. She's a kunoichi. Sakura's a fighter, too. She can be useful, she can be. She… she has to be. At least, now more than ever. Sakura glanced to Naruto, and then to Sasuke. What were they going to do? Were they going to fight? Sakura then pursed her lips real tightly. What was she gonna do? Fight? Once more, Sakura began thinking of all the jutsus that she knew. It was mostly just ninjutsu.
Zabuza raised his hand, forming a sign. "Water Clone Jutsu!" Promptly, the water nearby began to rise upon command, awakening from unconsciousness to come together and create a new Zabuza. As this happened, the original Zabuza couldn't help but poke fun at the genin. "You know, nowadays too many kids grow up in a delusion: they think that just because they wear that headband on their heads their full-fledged ninjas. But, after coming into life-and-death situations back-to-back, it doesn't phase you anymore. Perhaps, then, I would call you a ninja. The day any of you get strong enough to find your profiles in my bingo book, perhaps, then, I'd call you ninjas. But to call a bunch of guppies like you ninja? You've got to be joking."
Clone Zabuza disappeared into the mist, and Sakura stiffened. Her breath grew shallow, and her breathing became heavy panting. She twisted her neck to look to the left, then the right. The sound of Naruto's body being shoved into the ground then caught Sakura's eyes, and she and Sasuke stared at Naruto's body laying on the ground, and Zabuza's foot hanging in the air. He kicked him. Stomping his foot onto the ground, Sakura noticed something glinting.
It was the headband.
"Run! A clone can only go so far -If you run far enough, the clone won't be able to get you!" Kakashi yelled. Sakura stared at him, wide-eyed with shifting pupils. Run… run? Run where? Run to whom?
Sakura thought back to her mom and dad. No one would have guessed it, but they'd always been trying to help her, to train her: to help her learn, and grow. But she never listened. She never, ever did. And now, now, it's biting her in the ass. Sakura, you've been in the academy for a few weeks now, surely you've learned how to wield a kunai knife. Let me show you some special tricks, her mom would say, and Sakura would always answer back, no thanks, and find clothes to put together to make a cute outfit. Sakura, I heard you've learned how to make a clone. Come practice with me, and I'll help you learn to maintain the clone, her dad would say, and she'd say, maybe later, and go wash her hair. Sakura, we saw all the great marks you got. You're excelling in all your courses! You know, we could show you more ways to use your chakra, you got your chakra control from us after all, her parents would say, and Sakura would just ignore them, and use products to take care of her face. She never actually practiced unless it was during training with her teacher. Other than that, Sakura wouldn't lift a finger for training. The word itself made her feel annoyed the moment she heard it. But now, when she thinks of the word, she doesn't feel a bubbling, reaching flame, but instead, she feels a heavy, sinking pit. Being drowned in regret, it feels like tar is pouring all over her from above, forcing her back into the reality that she molded. Zabuza's right. About Sakura, at least: she passed up every opportunity to grow as a ninja, so that she could grow as a girl. But… a girl doesn't know what to do in a situation like this! A girl doesn't know how to defend herself in a real fight -she doesn't know how to fight in a real fight! A girl doesn't know how to do such a thing: but a ninja does.
Just as Sakura thought this, Sasuke grabbed a kunai knife, and ran at Zabuza. "We've got to do it!" He said. At first, Sakura didn't know what he meant, but when she saw him hurl a knife, and then another, and then a ninja star, and then another, and then another knife at Zabuza, it became clear what he meant.
Fight. They had to fight.
Leaping into the air as Zabuza slapped away the small weapons with his sword, Sasuke grabbed another knife from his utility bag. "Now!" He screamed. But Zabuza had his eyes fixed on Sasuke ever since. Mumbling something underneath his breath, his hand snapped itself around Sasuke's neck like a snake. Naruto and Sakura watched in horror as Sasuke flailed about in Zabuza's grasp. He was thrown to the side, falling into the ground. Now approaching Naruto, Sakura watched as Naruto began to shuffle around, Naruto turning to crawl away. Quick, Sakura thought, quick, Sakura, how are you gonna defend yourself?!
Sakura quickly sifted through her mind, thinking of something she could do. She reached in her back and grabbed her most basic tools: her kunai knife, and a ninja star. As she did this, suddenly Naruto ran at Zabuza, hollering like a madman, and Sakura couldn't help finding herself doing the same as she feared what would inevitably come. Right as Naruto got close enough to Zabuza, his leg shot up into Naruto's stomach, knocking the wind out of his lungs and sending him flying back over to Sakura and Sasuke. "Naruto, what was that?! If Sasuke couldn't do it, why'd you think you could?" Sakura saw a familiar glint again. It was the headband. Is that what he was really after?
"Listen…" Naruto began, slowly standing from the ground. As he tied the headband over his head, he then began to say, "Put this in your little bingo book. The one who'll rule the Land of Fire, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, never gives in." He looked Zabuza straight into the eye. "He's Naruto. Uzumaki, Naruto." Naruto then turned to Sasuke. "Hey, I've got an idea!" He said. "So now you have ideas?" Sasuke grumbled, but nonetheless, he listened closely to what Naruto was about to say to him. Sakura stared in awe at what she was seeing, who she was seeing. "Naruto…" She mumbled mindlessly. In this moment, at this time… Naruto was… different -or, was he? He wasn't like this… or did she just not notice? Sakura had always thought that she was well aware of everything, but… then again…
"Your mission is to protect the builder, protect him!" Kakashi argued. But at the attention briefly went to Tazuna, the builder himself decided to state where he stood. "It's my fault we're here right now… I'm the reason these genin are stuck in this position, and the reason their teacher has been caught… I'll put my desire to live aside so that you all may save you sensei -so do what you have to do!" Tazuna decided. After saying that, Zabuza began to laugh, but he didn't seem so amused. "So, you little kids still wanna play ninja? When I was your age, I'd already crushed skulls in the palms of my hand. I was…"
"Zabuza… the Demon." Kakashi said.
"That's right… for the final exam, in my village, I had to kill my other classmates." Zabuza said. Sakura gulped. "What… what do you mean?"
"Ten years ago… the Village of the Mist was filled with fear at one of their ninja academies… for there was one student that was in fact a demon. To them, at least. A boy, who wasn't even a student, approached the class, and killed every single one of them. Without hesitation, and without care…" Kakashi explained. Zabuza huffed. "That's right," He said, "And it felt good!"
Zabuza thrusted his elbow into Sasuke's stomach, and he went flying into the sky again. Swinging his arm around, Zabuza then reeled Sasuke back into the ground. His foot shot up and then collapsed onto Sasuke's stomach, the added weight from the rest of Zabuza's body pressing into Sasuke relentlessly. Sasuke even sunk into the soil a little. "I've got you, Sasuke!" Naruto made a sign with his hand, saying, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Multiple clones of Naruto appeared, and Sakura gaped in surprise. It wasn't just one, or two, or even five. It was at least twenty five of them! Since when could he do this? Still -all the Narutos pushed up against Zabuza with kunai knives in hand, until they piled on top of him. Somehow, Zabuza managed to blast them off of him all at once, and Sakura gasped again. But then, she tightened her lips once more, and maybe even tighter than before. She knew what they were going to do. She heard the plan. For some reason, they didn't bother to include her… but maybe, maybe she could still help.
The two formed a giant shuriken, and hurled it at Zabuza's clone. It went past him, and aimed at the true Zabuza. He reached with his free hand and snatched the shuriken with ease. It was useless. But then, emerging from the shadow of the first shuriken, it shot at the clone, and the clone jumped so that it skidded beneath him -
And behold, Naruto appeared from the shuriken in a puff of smoke with a kunai knife in hand.
"Take this!" Naruto yelled.
As impressive of a movie it was, all it managed to do was scratch Zabuza. Pissed, Zabuza sprinted at Naruto with the shuriken, and by the grace of God, Kakashi abruptly appeared in just enough time to block the attack. Well, so much for helping. Sakura was completely cut out of their plan, they made essentially no room for her to interfere…
Sakura glanced at Tazuna, who stared at the scene intensely. Then again, while Zabuza definitely seemed distracted, Tazuna is still the ultimate goal in this mission. He needs to be protected still. Sakura continued to stand guard in front of Tazuna, and Sasuke joined. She'll just need to wait for another moment to play an active role.
Kakashi and Zabuza stood head to toe. Kakashi's one eye began to glow red, showing the burning sharingan. Perfectly, Kakashi copies Zabuza as he made signs and chanted. "Water Style! Water Dragon Jutsu!" Two identical dragons of water flew into the air, wriggling about as they butted heads, struggling to find dominance despite fighting with absolute equal power. Puzzled, Zabuza began to signs and the chants again, and again, Kakashi copied without fail nor error.
Unbeknownst to others, some one else had entered the scene…
Kakashi continued copying Zabuza exactly, even down to the very way Zabuza walked. "How annoying… it's like a game of copycat that's gone off the deep-end…" Zabuza muttered. But Kakashi wasn't wanting to linger on small talk, and neither was Zabuza. Although, as if he were some sort of psychic, Kakashi made symbols. "Water Style! Giant Vortex Jutsu!" The water beneath the two spun into a vortex, and Zabuza swiftly got swept away into the unruly wave. Consequently, the genin and Tazuna did, too. The moment Zabuza was backed against a tree, kunai knives were thrown into his body, effectively pinning him to the tree.
Then, out of the blue, two needles were shot into Zabuza's neck. Blood squirted out, and he fell onto the now wet grass, seemingly unconscious. The mysterious figure quietly brought themselves out into the open. They giggled. "It would seem that this battle was indefinitely his last." They wore a mask, but was dressed in simple clothes. Any hint of their face being shown beyond the mask was nonexistent, for they had long dark hair, and a lot of it was used to cover the sides of the mask. Kakashi wasted no time in checking for any heartbeat in Zabuza's corpse. Nothing. The mysterious figure bowed. "Thank you," They said. "I've been meaning to take him down. I've been tracking him for a while, now." Kakashi hummed. "I see. I can tell by your mask: you're a tracker ninja, of the Mist…" The person nodded in confirmation. Naruto tensed up again, grumbling, "It's a tracker! Be ready for anything!" Sakura scoffed. She truly wasn't the best at the offensive, for now that is, but trivia is what she's all about! She knows very much about things like this. "Trackers carry special information. I know you wouldn't know, because you weren't there for that lesson. When a ninja goes rogue, they carry the secrets of their people. A tracker is sent after them, and their job is to take these rogues down so that inevitably, the secrets that was taken with them go into the grave with them, too." Sakura explained. The mysterious figure nodded. "That would be correct. You seem to know a lot. Good job." Sakura nodded, but couldn't help frowning a little. This person… they sound and look just like them: just like her.
But then, Naruto began to growl. He started yelling, bickering at the stranger, and then he said, "How is it that this kid, who's no different than Sakura, no different than Sasuke, no different than ME, could somehow take down someone like Zabuza? That doesn't make sense!" Calmly, Kakashi laid a hand upon Naruto's head, and the mysterious figure quickly pulled Zabuza's body away. Meanwhile, Kakashi thought of something to say. "Well, Naruto, the thing is…" He worded his sentence as carefully and yet effectively as possible. "There are kids in this world that are younger than you, and yet stronger than me." Naruto stared up at him, and so did Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura shivered a little. A kid, just like them, being as strong - and yet stronger -than Kakashi? Amazing. Scary, but intriguing…
The builder chuckled dryly. "I'll let you all rest up a bit at my house once we get there." The group began to continue their journey, but then, a thud resounded. Glancing back, the genin were startled.
Kakashi laid face flat on the ground, completely unconscious.