Chapter Seven:

Recap:

'He's…'"Momochi Zabuza, exiled ninja from the Hidden Village of the Mist." Kakashi said, addressing the enemy nin.

End Recap:

'Exiled ninja? Who cares, I need to…On your mark, go!' Naruto charged forwards, but Kakashi's hand stopped him. Kakashi didn't even look at Naruto, but kept looking at where Zabuza was. Zabuza had grey-ish skin with a leather strap that wrapped around his neck and attached to one side of his pants. He also wore black, grey and white arm warmers and blue striped cargo pants. His face was covered with bandages, his hitai-ate tied on one side of his head.

"You're in the way. Get back." Kakashi said, his tone harsh.

"Why?!" Naruto asked, incredulous and a little bit mad.

"He's way different than the guys we met before. If he's our enemy…I can't win like this." Kakashi raised his hand and touched his hitai-ate, his hand in a position so it would be easy to pull his hitai-ate up.

"I'm guessing you are Kakashi, the Sharingan user." Zabuza droned, looking and studying the group over his shoulder. Sasuke visibly stiffened and peered at Kakashi suspiciously when he heard the word Sharingan. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to hand over the geezer."

"Everyone, swastika formation. Protect Tazuna-san." Kakashi said, his hand still resting on his hitai-ate (for those that don't already know this, hitai-ate means forehead protector). "Don't join the battle."

"What?" Sakura asked, uncertain of what to do.

"To not interfere with the battle is teamwork." As he said, this, he started to pull up his hitai-ate. "Fight me…" There were gasps heard all around as Kakashi pulled up his hitai-ate, and opened his eyes, revealing a red eye with three tomoe (those comma-like things) surrounding the black pupil.

'What's up with that eye?' Naruto asked himself, thoroughly freaked out.

"I'm honoured that I can see the famous Sharingan I've heard so much about." Zabuza said in mock awe and humility.

"You guys keep saying Sharingan, but what is it?" Naruto asked/yelled.

"Sharingan….the eye creates it and it is the power the pupil generates." Sasuke started to explain. "It is said that doujutsu (eye technique users) can see through all genjutsu, taijutsu and ninjutsu and also cancel their effects. Sharingan is one of the various types of eyes that doujutsu users possess. But that's not the only ability the Sharingan possesses."

"Correct." Zabuza said, from his perch on his sword. "That isn't all. The scary part is that the Sharingan can understand how an opponent's technique works, and copy it." When he finished speaking, everyone noticed that there was suddenly a heavy mist in the air. "When I was in the Hidden Village of the Mist's assassination squad, your information was listed in the bingo book I carried asking for your capture. It also said that you were the man who copied more than 1000 techniques, Kakashi the copy ninja.

Everyone was pretty much doubting that Kakashi could be that strong.

'What? Kakashi-sensei was that great of a ninja?'

"Wow!" Naruto yelled, amazed at the new information.

'I don't understand…Sharingan is a special trait that only appears in a limited amount of people in the Uchiha clan. Could he be…?!' Sasuke thought, confused.

"Let's cut the chit-chat." Zabuza said, crouching down on his sword. "I have to kill that geezer immediately." Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto and Kagome raced toward Tazuna, forming a protective circle around him. "But Kakashi, it looks like I have to defeat you first." With that, he pulled his sword out of the gouge in the tree and landed on the surface of the water in the nearby lake, one hand in the air, and one in front of his face.

"Mist Concealment." And with that, he disappeared, seeming to vanish into the mist itself.

"Sensei!"

"Momochi Zabuza, was in the ANBU known for his 'silent killing' techniques. AS the name implies, it's a killing technique that is executed in a flash and carried out in absolute silence. It's possible that you may be dead before you realize it. I can't use my Sharingan to its fullest potential, so don't let your guard down." Naruto and Sakura were freaked out, while Sasuke had a thoughtful look on his face. Kagome kept her face blank, already knowing where Zabuza was and preparing for his attack.

A creepy voice came from the mist, echoing so that it was impossible to pinpoint where it had originated from. "8 points. Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney, heart. Now, which organ do you want struck at?" Everyone now put up their guard even more, not wanting to die on their first serious mission. Kakashi put his hands together to form a seal and suddenly his chakra blew away the mist surrounding them by 2 metres, so that they could at least see each other.

Sasuke started to shake, feeling an intense thirst for blood. 'One breathing motion, or one eyes movement will be detected and it'll get me killed…That is the atmosphere I feel…' Sasuke thought, his eyes wide, his body shaking even more. 'If I stay here for an hour, I'll lose my mind. The murderous intent of two Jounins clashing…the feeling that my life is in somebody else's hands…No! I would rather kill myself to escape this feeling…' Sasuke put both hands on his kunai and got ready to plunge it into his own heart.

Suddenly a small hand wrapped around his wrist and he felt a hand on his forehead, sending him a wave of warmth and snapping him out of his trance. He turned and saw Kagome staring at him with determined eyes, the hands on his forehead and his wrist glowing purple. They sent a warm feeling through him, until he didn't feel the killer intent and he relaxed. She let go of him and resumed her position as rear guard.

"Sasuke." Sasuke snapped his head around to look at Kakashi. "Don't worry. I'll protect all of you with my life. I won't let anyone on my team die." he said, looking at Sasuke and smiling. Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura looked at him with wide eyes, but felt a bit more reassured. Suddenly Kagome tensed and Zabuza appeared in behind Sasuke.

"Oh? Is that so, Kakashi?" he said in a mocking tone.

"Yes it is. And I won't let you kill anyone on my team either." Kagome said in a low tone, her katana to his neck. She merely made a little cut on his neck before it turned to water. Zabuza appeared behind her, ready to cut her in half, but she had already disappeared, reappearing a couple metres away (what I mean is that she ran so fast that it looked like she disappeared, sort of how Lee is whenever he's fighting). Charging at him, she summoned her power of the elements and suddenly the entire blade of the katana was engulfed in flames. She ran it through Zabuza, but it was another water clone.

As soon as her katana touched the water clone, the water started to evaporate from the intense heat before it completely disappeared. She turned to see that he had engaged Kakashi in a fight, and started toward them but was stopped.

"Don't! Our mission is to protect Tazuna. I'll deal with Zabuza and you stay there in case more clones come. Got it?" Kakashi yelled. Kagome hesitated a moment before nodding and running to once again protect Tazuna's back. She watched as Kakashi got tricked and pretended to get kicked into the water so he could to refuge in it for a moment. Bad idea.

"Get out of there, sensei! It's an imprisonment technique!" Kagome yelled as soon as she recognized it. Kakashi's eyes widened and he tried to get out, but it was too late. Kagome quickly ran towards him, but was deterred by yet another clone. By then, Zabuza had already trapped their teacher in a ball of water. Kagome got rid of the water clone, and ran towards Zabuza, but was kicked backwards. In front of her stood a clone, yet this one was at least half, if not more of his strength. 'Oh shit.' was all she could think of, since Zabuza had sent yet ANOTHER water clone towards the rest of her group, who probably couldn't handle it.

"You guys! Take Tazuna-san and run away! You have no chance against him! As long as he's keeping me trapped in this water prison, he can't move! The water clone shouldn't be able to go very far from his real body. Run away now!"

'Run away? Don't be ridiculous. That choice disappeared the moment you got caught. Even if we escape without you, we'll sooner or later be found and annihilated by Zabuza. For us to survive, we have to save you!' was what Sasuke thought, but he had no ideas on how to do it.

Zabuza suddenly disappeared into the mist and reappeared in front of Naruto, who was kicked away by Zabuza, stepping on his hitai-ate. Naruto charged once again, but was kicked away.

"What were you thinking?! Even Sasuke couldn't do anything!" Sakura yelled, but she shut up after she saw that had had charged towards Zabuza in order to retrieve his hitai-ate.

"Guys!" Kagome yelled, her teammates focusing on her as she battled. "Calm down! Think of a plan! Do not under any circumstances lose your cool and do anything rash that may endanger Tazuna-san, your teammates or yourself!" They stared at her for a second before a grin spread across Naruto's face. Kagome let a small smirk cross her features before it vanished. 'I know what that grin means…It means Naruto's got a plan.' Kagome returned her attention to her battle, once again setting her katana ablaze.

"Hey, you eyebrow less freak. Add this to your bingo book. The man who will one day become Konoha's Hokage…Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto yelled at Zabuza. "Hey, Sasuke. Lend me your ear for a sec."

"What is it?"

"I have a plan."

'A plan in this situation? He is…' Sasuke laughed. "Teamwork, from you?"

"What are you guys doing? Our mission is to protect Tazuna-san! This fight was over the moment I got caught! Run away!" They looked at Tazuna, who chuckled.

"What?" he said. "I planted this seed myself. Sorry guys. Fight as much as you want."

"You hear that?" Sasuke said, smirking.

"Are you ready?" Naruto shouted at Zabuza.

Zabuza laughed maniacally. "When I was your age, my hands were already dyed red with blood."

"Devil…Zabuza…" Kagome said from where she was battling.

"Oh? So you've heard a little about it." he said, chuckling.

"Long ago," Kakashi started, "in the Hidden Mist Village, often called Blood Mist Village, there was a final obstacle to becoming ninja…"

"Hm. So you even know about the graduation exam." Zabuza said, looking at him.

"Hey, what's this graduation exam thing?!" Naruto asked, a bit scared and freaked out at Zabuza's laugh.

"As a final test, there were fights to the deaths between students." Kagome said quietly. Everyone except Zabuza and Kakashi gasped.

"That's right. Friends who had trained and eaten at the same table were pitted against each other until one of them lost their life." Zabuza said.

"Horrible…" Sakura whispered.

"Ten years ago the Hidden Mist Village was forced to change this exam, the change happening after the previous year when an evil appeared."

"Change? What did this evil do?" Sakura asked, her eyes wide.

"Without pause or hesitation, a young boy who was not even a ninja killed over a hundred of that year's students."

"That sure was fun." Zabuza said, sighing. He suddenly appeared and stomped on Sasuke, who was on the ground. Naruto used his Shadow Clone Jutsu (Kage Bunshin no Jutsu) to make many copies and attack Zabuza. After being thrown off, Naruto rummaged in his pack and threw a large, collapsible shuriken to Sasuke who caught it and spun around, opening it.

"Evil Wind Shuriken: Shadow Windmill!" Sasuke threw it and to Zabuza's surprise, it curved around his clone and headed straight for him. He caught it with his free hand and laughed.

"Naive!" he shouted towards them. Sasuke only smirked.

Then Zabuza spotted a second shuriken that had been hiding in the shadow of the first one. For a moment, it looked like Zabuza was about to be hit, but at the very last second, he jumped over it.

"Smart, but still not enough." he said. The second shuriken turned into Naruto in a puff of smoke and he threw a kunai at Zabuza.

"Right there!" Naruto shouted, as the kunai traveled closer and closer to Zabuza.

(AN- Sorry, I know that this was a slow chapter, but it was necessary because it had so much information in it. I promise the next chapter will be more exciting…or at least it'll have more Kagome in it….maybe….)