Chapter 7: Mission in the Wave Part 3
AN: Sorry it took so long. End of the college year, and then I had to start job searching. Not fun at all. Not been having a lot of free time, but whenever I have I've been working on this little by little. Since then it has been crazy. I've not have time, and still have not found a job. I've given up on that, but oh well. Going to school next month so not much time.
Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews. This is the last chapter covering the Wave mission.
Sorry before hand for being so short.
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The mist started to creep in around the bridge. Team 7 had an idea of the reason for the mist, and looked to Kakashi. Kakashi confirmed their suspicions with a nod, and all four Genin went on the alert. The team took positions to guard Tazuna. Their two opponents, Zabuza and the Hunter-nin, appeared at the end of the bridge. Zabuza said something to the Hunter-nin, Haku, that the others couldn't overhear and Haku nodded. Haku moved forward slightly. Team 7 looked at each other for a moment, and then the three boys moved in front of Tazuna and Sakura.
(AN: the fight between Kakashi and Zabuza is the same, this will focus on the fight between the younger generation. Yes I'm lazy I know but I do not do fighting scenes that well. Let's skip to where the boys are trapped in the ice mirrors. Same thing up to that point).
Naruto, instead of standing on the outside of the mirrors and attacking from there, decided to join the party inside. Both Haru and Sasuke stared at him in exasperation.
"You should have stayed on the outside, Dobe!" Sasuke hissed at him.
Naruto glared for a moment, and then paused. Rubbing the back of his head nervously, he looked around. "Oh yeah….well don't flip out so much Teme!"
Haru rolled his eyes. Granted Naruto was getting better, but he still had his moments. Looking around, he quickly judged current conditions. Damn these mirrors! His sword could do nothing except block the Senbon, and nothing else. There wasn't enough space to use it, or he would cut the others up to ribbons. Judging from the results of the fire jutsu that Sasuke had shot off, fire would do nothing. There was not enough room to set off some paper bombs, or even to use his fire powder. He couldn't get the powder on Haku since he was continually moving between the mirrors. Darn it! What to do? Dancing to the side, barely avoiding a Senbon, he yelled.
"GET YOUR FREAKING MINDS ON THE BATTLE, IDIOTS! ARGUE LATER!" The two guiltily looked at him and nodded.
"Any ideas?" He asked, dancing to the side again to avoid the flying needles.
"Fire jutsu?" Naruto asked, looking around. "It should melt it."
Haru shook his head. "No. Not hot enough. Sasuke already tried that. Almost fried us along with them, too. Sword won't do, not enough space. No space for explosions either unless you're suddenly suicidal."
"Don't get hit." Naruto suggested.
The other two nodded in agreement. They did not want to get hit at all, thank you very much. Haru had never really been a fan of Senbon, anyway. They had really just looked like over sized needles to him. They weren't really real weapons, being designed for all sorts of medical practices. But they could be used, just like Haku had used them earlier to make it appear that Zabuza was dead; so he could spirit him away.
Flash
Naruto grunted in slight pain as he was unable to avoid one Senbon. It buried itself in his right shoulder, numbing instantly.
Flash
Haku seemed to make up his mind about something, nodding to himself. He slipped into another mirror, and got ready. Soon unleashing a barrage of Senbon and shards of ice (ice blades basically) hidden among them. The three boys below weren't able to avoid the all. They were pretty good at avoiding the ice blades, but not the Senbon. Needle points stuck out from all over, making them look like porcupines.
Haru gasped in pain, hand going to his shoulder. A piece of ice, hidden among the Senbon needles, had pierced through his shoulder. Now, he didn't doubt Haku's words. He was now willing to kill them, not like before.
Flash
Haru, seeing his cousin fall, desperately tried to get to Sasuke's side but Naruto got there first. Haru got there a second later. Sasuke, who felt increasingly weaker and weaker, looked at his cousin. "Haru….keep….pay….attention to….him…don't worry…about….me."
"Just hang on Sasuke. You'll be alright." Haru said desperately. He wasn't going to lose the only family he had left. Itachi had taken away the rest of his family, and he won't let Haku take away what he had left. But the reality of the situation was daunting. It was serious and something in the back of his mind was telling him that Sasuke might not make it. He refused to listen to it, he just refused to. "Sasuke stay awake."
"Can't….don't let guard…down." Then he was still. Haru was aware of Naruto by his side and the build up of chakra; but he didn't pay attention to it for now.
"NO…SASUKE….WAKE UP!"
He watched as the red chakra formed loomed above Naruto in the shape of a fox head. Something dinged in the back of his clouded mind, but he didn't pay attention to it
Flash
Naruto let out a scream of rage, and a strange red chakra started to flow out of his body.
Haru scrambled backward, more than slightly scared of the evil feeling red chakra coming off Naruto. He wasn't able to move far, due to his own injuries and the fact that he still held on to his cousin's still body. His attempts to get away were stopped by the ice mirrors. Once realizing he wouldn't be able to get past the mirrors, he stopped. This was the first time he had felt fear of Naruto, or whatever it was that was making the red chakra. The red chakra felt strange, evil.
Flash
Haku was knocked back, out of the mirrors. He went flying backwards; just in time since the red chakra surrounding the blond Genin shattered the Demon Ice Mirrors. Haru, who was still in the dome at the time, moved to protect himself from the ice shards; he crouched over his cousin's body, shielding it as much as he can, while focusing as much chakra as he could into making a 'shield' around him. He just hoped it worked; he had read about it in several of the scrolls left around the Uchiha Compound. He was unable to make it in time to keep all shards out. A dozen or so shards made it through but surprisingly only two large shards buried themselves in his arm and shoulder. Gasping, Haru focused on keeping the shield up. When all the ice had settled on the ground, he let it go. Gasping he clutched at his wounds with a hand, trying to stop the blood that was flowing out. Now he wished he knew some medical jutsu, just to stop the bleeding at least. He tried to ignore it the best he could, which wasn't that much. Hopefully Sakura had learned enough medic jutsu to be able to help him, even though he was reluctant to go to her for help. She didn't need more fuel for her obsession, so to speak.
He needed to move, and help Naruto. Even though at the moment it didn't look like Naruto needed help, he needed to be ready for when he did. Slowly, he set the still body of his cousin down. Wiping at his eyes, he promised that Haku wouldn't get away with this. Standing up and taking out his sword, he walked painfully to where Haku had been knocked out of the mirrors. His mask had cracked and shattered, showing his face. Whatever it was made Naruto stop his charge.
Flash
"Kill me." Haku spoke to the Genin in front of him. He wasn't looking at Naruto as he spoke, but was looking at Haru. "Kill me, Uchiha. Avenge your dead cousin."
"…what would killing you achieve? Are you that eager to die? What happened to killing us?" Haru spoke, after a moment of stunned silence. Whatever he had been expecting, that had not been it. He expected Haku to continue fighting, not to just…give up. Haru felt a stab of pain go through him, as more blood started to flow from the wound in his shoulder. He only half paid attention as Haku spoke of his past, even though he was directing his words at him.
Haru was ready to kill Haku, just like he wished. Hesitating, he didn't want to. He could see that Naruto didn't want Haku to die either. They had faced similar things; Naruto knew the pain that Haku had gone through. Their life circumstances weren't the same, but both were a tragedy that both didn't deserve. He thought of Sasuke, and he was more resolved to do this. Sasuke was dead, and it was Haku's fault. His feelings threatened to overtake him, but he squashed those down with all his might. He couldn't think of what he really wanted to do to Haku. He wanted to hurt him, and something inside of him wanted to do it. But he couldn't, because then he wouldn't be better than Itachi. Itachi was a murderer, and he didn't want to become one either. He was willing to do his duty as a Shinobi, but he wouldn't go farther than that. Killing Haku now would be his duty as a Shinobi, protecting his teammates. Resolved now, he lifted his sword. Haku stood there, looking at him. An emotionless look was on his face. He was ready for his death. Drawing his sword he pushed down his emotions. He lifted, and then thrust the blade forward…
But then something caught Haku's attention. In the distance, a faint noise carried over to them from where Kakashi and Zabuza were fighting. Haku turned his body, at the last moment making the point avoid his heart. The blade sunk into his shoulder with a sickening noise. Haru and Naruto were frozen, unsure. Haku stood up, clutching the wound in his shoulder blade. Blood began to trinkle down, soaking into his shirt. He looked at the two boys in front of him. Naruto stood to Haru's left and a little behind. He wished he could let Haru do what he had asked but he was needed. "Sorry, but not this time Haru Uchiha."
With that said, he vanished….
Just in time to appear right in front of Kakashi as he prepared to drive his Chidori into Zabuza, who was held down by his nin-dogs. Kakashi, eyes wide, turned his hand a little bit. In result, he hit the same shoulder that Haru had just stabbed. Quickly drawing his hand back, he caught Haku as he slid into unconsciousness. Leaping away, he cradled Haku and gently put him down.
Before anything else could happen…
"What kind of ninja are you? Not being able to take care of a group of brats." This came from the far end of the bridge. All the Shinobi, the conscious ones, looked up. Gato, the midget who had started this whole mess, was standing there with a whole mass of his goons behind him.
"What are you doing here Gato?" Zabuza, with both arms paralyzed, spat out at his former employer. He had an idea, after all things like this had happened to him before. But it was different this time because they were in more dire straights this time. Haku was unconscious and bleeding pretty heavily. He himself had both arms paralyzed, and numerous wounds.
"Seems you couldn't live up to your title, Zabuza? You couldn't even take care of a bunch of brats, why should I pay you? I wasn't planning to anyway. Well, at least this way I got rid of one of you. Just one to go." Gato looked at the bloody form of the unconscious Haku. He kicked Haku hard in the side. He seemed to think that Haku was dead, which he appeared to be but for those trained he clearly wasn't. "That was for earlier. Boys, take care of him."
In sudden burning rage, Haru didn't even think about his actions. Blindly, he took one of the kunai littering the ground from his previous efforts in the battle with Haku. In less than a second, he flung it point blank at his target. It struck home, burying itself deep in the man's chest with a sickly sounding thump. Gato stared in shock and pain for just a moment, and then his eyes rolled backwards in his head. There was no sound as he fell. His goons stared for just a moment, shocked about the sudden end of their employer. One of them shook himself out of his shock enough to shout in outrage.
"Hey you killed our meal ticket. You'll pay for that." That was all it took for the rest to shake themselves out of their shock, and start forward. Their intent for revenge was stopped suddenly as they saw the large crowd behind the tired ninjas. Inari and the other villagers, armed with an assortment of weapons, stood ready. It ended pretty quickly after that. The wounded Zabuza and Kakashi took care of those that did not flee. Very few of them ended their career this way, since most of the hired goons took the easy way out to save their lives. The waters around the bridge were full of desperate men, trying to get away as fast as possible. In actuality, very few of them was good enough at swimming to reach the shore. As sad as that fact was, being so close to water. Those that did reach the shore rushed to gather their belongings and leave. Those that were caught by the angry villagers in the coming weeks wished they weren't.
Haru stared in shock at the body lying some distance away. He had killed a man. No matter that it was a twisted man who had destroyed the lives of many people in his greed, but he had stilled killed him. He had just been so angry at the kick at the unconscious Haku that he had just acted by reflex. He stared at the bloody body lying on the ground. His sensei, noticing his state, came up to him.
Kakashi looked solemnly at his students. One of his students had made his first kill (Haru), his other student had been put into a death like state fooling everyone until he had woken up (Sasuke), his third student had used his tenant's chakra for the first time (Naruto), and….Sakura had to watch everything and not being able to help. The mission had been trying for all of them. For a mission that started out as a simple C-rank mission and then had turned into at least an A rank, the mission had tested everyone involved. His team was not the only one affected. Their former enemies Zabuza and Haku had also been affected. Zabuza had finally realized how much his student meant to him.
Haku was unconscious at the moment, after waking up momentarily not that long ago. His wounds had been bandaged; the sword wound Haru had caused wasn't that deep. Zabuza had come to realize how close he had come to losing Haku. If Gato had arrived a little bit later, things may of not ended as nicely. Kakashi had come very close to ramming his Chidori into Haku's heart, who had rushed to take the hit for Zabuza. It had been only at the last moment that Kakashi had been able to redirect his attack, after sensing the approaching forms of Gato and his goons.
Flash
It was the middle of the night. The exhausted, both mentally and physically, Shinobi were taking advantage of their chance to have rest. Zabuza had wanted to go rest in Gato's empty hideout, but Tsunami (who had arrived shortly afterwards on the bridge) wouldn't hear of him carrying his wounded student that far. So, with an additional two Shinobi in the small house, the guests' living arrangements were a bit crowded. Sakura shared Tsunami's room, the other Genin (Sasuke, Naruto, and Haru) shared a room, and Kakashi shared a room with Tazuna. Zabuza and Haku had been given a room all by their selves. Haku was still unconscious, but this time it was only sleep and not the result of battle. Most in the house were asleep, except for one.
Haru sat next to the shore, looking out at the water. He couldn't sleep. When he did, he would dream of what had happened that day and then the other nightmare was back. For years he had had the nightmare of green light and a cruel laugh. After the ordeal of the massacre and the confrontation with Itachi afterwards, the dream had been replaced by nightmares of the massacre. Those, after a couple of months, eventually would only bother him about once or twice a week. He usually wouldn't remember the nightmares the next day, either. But now, they were back. The dreams had been a mix of the massacre and the end of the battle at the bridge, and then would switch to the green light dream. He couldn't sleep, not now. His teammates were all asleep, and he had left the room so not to disturb their sleep. He could use the extra time to train, but he didn't really feel like it. Besides, he needed to rest from using chakra for a little bit; at least until his reserves recovered. He looked up at the stars, thinking of what he had done that day. The stars just stared back, not giving him the comfort he needed.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
*The Flashes were like the switching between scenes, like in a battle. I will go back and write the battle out properly but not today. I'm terrible at writing battle scenes.
**Hope this was half good and not too short. Sorry for not updating for a long time. Next update will be out soon.