7. so knives out, catch the mouse

The forest was peaceful, but not quiet; a warm breeze blew in random gusts, rattling branches against each other and rustling through the leaves, and birds sang to claim possession of their trees. Sasuke couldn't spot any signs of other people nearby, and he relaxed a little before jumping to the next tree.

It was the second day since the fight with Zabuza, and Sasuke was already anxious to leave. Yesterday he'd been stuck practicing chakra control with Naruto while Kakashi sent Sakura out scouting; besides the frustration of being almost as bad as Naruto at something, Sasuke hated being held up on their actual mission, but Kakashi had been adamant. "Zabuza may be out of commission for a week," he'd said, "but that still leaves his allies. It's too dangerous for you three to travel to Iwa alone, and I've got another day or so before I can go with you - and it's not as if you don't need the training."

That had burned - especially when Sakura had done the exercises so easily and earned the chance to be the first scout - but it had been too true to deny. At least today was Sasuke's turn to look for signs of Zabuza and his gang; Sakura had returned yesterday with a handful of bloody bandages she'd found in a clearing, but she hadn't been able to track Zabuza and the hunter any further. So far Sasuke hadn't found anything at all, but he was sure he would. That hunter couldn't have taken Zabuza too far from the clearing...

He jumped through a few more trees, then paused again to check for signs of people and saw someone in a little open space to his left; he ducked down behind a clump of leaves, just in case, but when he looked around them it didn't seem like the person had noticed him. They had their back to him, so all he could really see was that they had long, dark hair and were wearing a pale pink robe.

It was suspicious that someone was so far out in the forest alone, but Sasuke didn't sense any danger from them, and they might know something about Zabuza's hideout; he started to jump down to ask them, but his foot caught on a knot in the branch and he fell, his left ankle twisting as he landed in an awkward heap.

The other person - a girl, Sasuke thought - turned immediately at the noise, and for an instant Sasuke felt a threatening aura; it vanished before he could do more than register it, and she came over and asked, "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine," Sasuke said, trying to get up, but pain shot through his ankle and he sat back down. Damnit, how humiliating...

"Here, let me look at it," the girl said, "I know a little medicine."

Sasuke grudgingly stuck his leg out for her and said, "What are you doing out here, anyway? It's dangerous."

"I came to get some herbs to help my friend," said the girl. She ran her fingers lightly over Sasuke's ankle, pushing down in a couple of spots, and Sasuke bit his lip. "I think it's just strained, not broken - I can wrap it up for you. Why are you out here on your own?"

"No, I'll do it," Sasuke said, pulling his leg back and reaching for his first-aid kit. It was embarrassing enough to have hurt himself on a mission, he didn't need a civilian patching him up, too. He started wrapping his ankle and thought about her question; he decided to take a chance and said, "I'm looking for some people who might be hiding out around here. Do you know any places they could be staying? It's a tall guy from Kiri and a boy who wears a mask, and maybe some other shinobi, too."

He looked up just in time to see her expression flicker, but he couldn't read it; all she said was, "No - I'm sorry. I know the people you mean, but I don't know of any places like that. I only come here for the herbs."

"Hm," Sasuke said; it was disappointing, but he hadn't really thought that Zabuza and his allies would be so obvious that other people would find them. He tucked the ends of the bandages in and tried standing again, and this time he managed it. "Thanks anyway." It wasn't his style, but the girl had been nice to him even though he had his forehead protector on, so he added, "Hope your friend gets better soon."

The girl smiled and said, "Thank you. He's very important to me, so I want to do everything I can for him... Do you have anyone like that?"

Naruto flashed briefly across Sasuke's mind, but he squashed that thought right away; Naruto was his friend, kind of, as well as his ally, but he couldn't be that important, not like family, and Sasuke said, "No. All my important people are dead."

The girl was quiet for a moment, and then she said, "I'm sorry," sounding more sincere than anyone who'd ever said it in Konoha besides Naruto. "It's a terrible feeling, isn't it..." She smiled again, a little more sadly, and said, "I should go, but - I hope that one day, you'll find other people who can be important to you."

Sasuke couldn't look at that smile for some reason and glanced away. "Thanks," he said, unable to think of anything else, and he jumped back up into the trees to keep searching.


Between Sasuke's ankle and the remnants of Kakashi's chakra exhaustion, it took Team Seven three more days to reach Iwa, which turned out to be a disappointment; the office where they were supposed to drop off the mailbag was right inside the gates, and as soon as the team had turned it over Kakashi hurried them out of the village. "Aww, c'mon, couldn't we stay for just a little while?" Naruto said, looking longingly back through the gates at a ramen stand. "It's not like Iwa's an enemy village, yanno?"

"Of course not," said Kakashi, but he kept an eye on their surroundings. "We need to get back to Konoha as soon as possible, that's all."

That was all he would say about it, and eventually Naruto gave up whining.

They could move a little faster on the return trip, and it only took a couple of days to get to Kawano. Sasuke figured they would just pass through, since Kakashi was in such a hurry, but as the team detoured around the outskirts of the town, Sakura said, "Sensei, would it be okay if I went to see Yumi-san and Saeko-san? I - um - I wanted to thank them again for helping us..."

Sasuke rolled his eyes; Sakura had gotten over her "isn't that weird" feelings about the couple fast and spent all her spare time hanging around them before the team had left, which had at least kept her from hanging all over him or harassing Naruto. He expected Kakashi to deny her request because it'd slow them down, but instead Kakashi said, "Sure, that's a good idea. Why don't we meet up with you at - hm - the other side of the first bridge past the town. Be careful and don't take too long, all right?"

"Right - thank you, Sensei!" Sakura said, and she took off into town.

As they approached the bridge - it was only a short walk from Kawano, and according to the map it went over the same small river as the bridge where they'd fought Zabuza the first time - Sasuke started feeling edgy. It had rained the night before, so the pools of water in the road and the shreds of mist lingering among the trees weren't unusual, but it seemed like a bad sign, and he couldn't help thinking that it had been about a week since that fight. He even paused when he stepped onto the bridge, half-expecting a giant sword to come spinning out of the forest, but nothing happened; feeling silly, he crossed the bridge and leaned against one of the posts on the other side to wait for Sakura.

Naruto didn't seem worried, but it was hard to tell with Naruto. He could goof off even when he was nervous or scared; it was annoying, but Sasuke sort of admired that bravado. Currently Naruto was begging Kakashi to teach him some kind of spectacular technique now that he'd gotten the hang of tree-climbing. "Something really cool," he said, waving his arms around, "like that giant water dragon thing! Yeah, I wanna learn that! C'mon, Kakashi-sensei -"

Silver flashed past his shoulder and a needle was suddenly quivering in the bridge-post where Sasuke's neck had been a moment ago.

"If you wish to learn a technique," said a cold, familiar young voice, "you shouldn't ask the one who only copied it."

"Yeah - I'd teach you," another voice growled, "but there's no point teaching brats I'm just going to kill," and Zabuza stepped out of the thickening mist onto the bridge.


Sasuke had dodged and turned so that he could cover Naruto's back, while Kakashi covered them both; now he looked around for the needle's source and saw the hunter from before with his mask, perched in a tree with more needles in his hands and effectively blocking the road to Konoha. Fine - Sasuke hadn't been planning on running away. He was burning to fight, to prove and test himself in a real battle against someone strong, and he drew a kunai and shifted his stance.

"Haku, why don't you keep the brats occupied?" Zabuza said. "I've got a score to settle with the Copy Ninja, here."

Sasuke heard Kakashi mutter what sounded like "Well, he'll kill me once he hears about the first fight anyway," which didn't make any sense, and then he said more clearly, "Naruto, Sasuke, take care of that kid - don't worry about Zabuza, just be careful and stay focused."

Zabuza laughed and said, "You've got that much faith in a couple of half-trained children who don't even know how to kill? You're only going to be disappointed, Kakashi. I've trained Haku myself, and he's the finest weapon you'll ever see - not that I'm planning to let you see much before I take your head." He sounded unbearably smug, but Sasuke kept his eyes focused on the fake hunter - Haku - who hadn't made a move yet.

"Well, you might be surprised yourself," Kakashi said. "But there's nothing more boring than a man bragging about his kids, so let's -"

Sasuke heard metal slice through the air and started to turn, but Naruto charged at Haku like an idiot and Sasuke ran after him. Kakashi would just have to fight on his own.

Spikes of ice shot up from the puddles on the road and Naruto jumped them easily enough, then skidded on a patch of ice at their base, arms flailing. Sasuke stuck his feet to the ice with chakra as he landed - that training had been useful, after all - and grabbed Naruto's arm to keep him upright, deflecting a flurry of needles with his kunai. He missed one and it sliced across his shoulder, stinging but not serious.

Naruto steadied himself and looked into the trees. "Crap, he's gone!"

"Not quite," the false hunter said from above, and Sasuke looked up and saw him balanced on top of an ice-spire.

"Hey, hey!" Naruto shouted. "Why are you working with that Zabuza guy, anyway? He's totally creepy!"

Sasuke had to agree, though he kept silent. Kakashi had told them some of the stories about Zabuza on the way to Iwa, and he sounded like a monster almost as bad as Itachi. Sasuke couldn't understand how he had gotten any allies in the first place.

The other shinobi didn't answer; his hands moved faster than Sasuke could see, and the ice under his and Naruto's feet reached up to grab their legs. Sasuke jumped just in time and struck at Haku with the kunai, but Haku blocked with one of his damn needles and Sasuke had to jump away, landing on another of the ice spikes. It promptly turned back to water beneath him and dumped him back on the ground.

Sasuke landed on his feet and brought the kunai up against Haku's needle with a jarring thunk, keeping one of the hunter's hands occupied so he couldn't make seals. It meant that Sasuke couldn't form them either, but Naruto...

A crowd of yelling shadow clones descended on Haku. Sasuke began to smile - he hadn't even had to signal Naruto; they made a good team - but it froze as he saw Haku bring his free hand up and start to form seals one-handed. In an instant the ice around them burst into water and re-formed as needles, shooting through the clones.

Haku disappeared in the cloud of smoke and the original Naruto landed on his ass in front of Sasuke, a little scratched up but not seriously hurt. "Crap!" he said. "I almost had him, yanno!"

"Good try, anyway," Sasuke said, hauling him up and looking around for the hunter. "If he couldn't do one-handed seals, it would've worked. He's fast, we have to be careful."

"If he'd quit whooshing around and just fight -"

"This is the way shinobi fight, Naruto-kun," Haku said from somewhere in the mist, and Sasuke and Naruto's hands went to their shuriken pouches. "And Zabuza-san only told me to keep you occupied; I would rather not kill either of you, if I am not forced to."

Sasuke said, "Hmf - like we're just going to let you play around with us."

"Yeah!" said Naruto, with a sweeping gesture. "We're awesome ninja, you better take us seriously!"

"So you want to fight seriously," Haku said. "That's too bad," and even as Sasuke turned to throw shuriken the water on the ground rose up into flat sheets of ice, completely surrounding Sasuke and Naruto. The shuriken vanished uselessly through one of the narrow spaces between the panes of ice.

"What the heck is this?" Naruto said, poking the nearest sheet. "Hey, it's just ice - what's it supposed to do?"

"I don't know yet, shut up and let me figure it out," Sasuke said. The ice wasn't doing anything yet; maybe it was just meant to keep them in so they couldn't fight? But there were big enough gaps for them to escape through, if they didn't mind squeezing and getting scrapes, and the ice would probably melt anyway under a strong enough fire jutsu...

He heard a strange oozing sound and felt Naruto jump back against him. "Holy crap - uh, Sasuke? I think I figured out what these're for."

"Yeah, then what -"

Every pane of ice began to fill with the image of Haku in his mask; each image held needles in its hand, ready to strike.

"Um, for that," Naruto said.


The needles came from every direction, impossible to dodge. They struck Sasuke's arms, legs, shoulders, back, everywhere; he heard Naruto yelling in pain and there was nothing he could do but try to keep from screaming, too.

He didn't feel it when the needles stopped; he was crouched on the ground, panting and bleeding from a hundred thin cuts. Distantly he heard Naruto saying, "Sasuke - hey, Sasuke, c'mon," and he pushed himself up and took control of his breathing. He wasn't that badly hurt; it seemed like the needles hadn't hit anywhere vital, just painful, and he'd dropped his kunai. Naruto looked shaky, but not any worse off than Sasuke. Now that Sasuke was up he said, "This is bad," which was probably the understatement of the year. "What're we gonna do? Maybe if I made a bunch of clones we could break out or sneak away..."

Sasuke shook his head and said, "He'd just destroy them before we could get out. It's okay, we'll think of something - we've got too much to do to be stopped here, right?"

"That's right!" said Naruto, and he grinned so widely that Sasuke had to smile back a tiny bit. "We got dreams, there's no way we'll lose!"

Haku said, "Dreams?" from somewhere among the ice mirrors; Sasuke couldn't pinpoint which one the voice came from.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "Sasuke's gotta get revenge on someone, and I'm gonna be the best ninja in Konoha and become the Hokage and protect everyone! So there's no way you're gonna beat us, got it?"

"I see," the masked boy said, and more needles appeared in his hands. "Then you and I will have to fight for our dreams; I can't lose before I help Zabuza-san achieve his ambition."

"So quit talking and bring it on," Sasuke said, bracing himself.

This time he was prepared for the barrage of needles; they hurt, enough to make him bite his lip to keep from crying out, but they still weren't hitting anywhere deadly, and the instant they stopped again he was ready. He sucked in all the air he could, made the seals with half-numb hands, and sent a ball of blazing white fire at the nearest mirror.

The ice cracked, its edges dripping, and Sasuke snatched his dropped kunai off the ground and started to make a break for it before Naruto grabbed him. "It didn't work!"

"Of course it -" Sasuke said, and then he saw the mirror's surface reforming, the cracks vanishing as if the fireball had never hit it. Damn.

"A fire jutsu is useless against this ice," said Haku, and his image reappeared in the mirror, completely unharmed. "Melting only strengthens -"

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled, and threw the kunai at the mirror; Haku's hand reached out of the ice and caught it before it connected.

The needles hit harder and faster this time. Sasuke staggered under the attack, saw Naruto collapsing under it too, but damnit, he couldn't do anything when he couldn't even see where the needles were coming from; if he didn't do something they were going to die, but he needed to see... He turned his head to follow a flash of color and instinctively brought his arm up.

Three needles thudded into it instead of his neck.

He saw the flash again, streaking towards another mirror, and twisted aside as more needles whistled by him; movement to a different mirror, and Sasuke dodged again, the needles tearing his shirt without touching him.

He could see what Haku was doing, and his breath caught at the realization. Haku was reflecting himself between the ice mirrors - some kind of bloodline limit, it had to be - and striking as he went, too fast for people to see. Except now Sasuke could see, he could dodge or block the needles, and that meant...

The attack stopped - Haku must have figured out it was useless - and Naruto grabbed him again, this time for support; he hadn't been able to dodge at all. "Hey, Sasuke," he said, panting, "your eyes - they're -"

"Sharingan," Sasuke said, and as bad as the situation was he couldn't help smiling. Sharingan at last - he was one step closer to Itachi, if they could make it through this battle.

He drew another kunai and shifted to a better stance, but a flurry of shuriken struck the outside of the ice-dome across from him and Naruto. Haku darted to the mirrors there, and Sasuke heard a familiar whisper from a bush just outside the mirrors: "Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Are you all right?"

"Sakura-chan, you made it!" Naruto said, grinning hugely.

"You're late," Sasuke said, but without any real anger; with the team together again and his sharingan, there was no way they could lose.

"Sorry, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, "but there were two ninja after Yumi-san and Saeko-san - I caught them for the town to deal with but it took a while, and then I had to sneak by Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza... I made a clone to distract that hunter, but it won't last long."

"Wow, Sakura-chan's pretty great," said Naruto, and elbowed Sasuke. "Told you we're lucky she's on our team!"

Sasuke glanced over and saw that Haku was still occupied on the other side; he said, "We need to find a way to break this technique so we can all fight. Sakura, you're still outside it, work on that and I'll keep Haku busy. Fire jutsu probably won't -"

Needles sliced across his cheek and he cursed, flinching back.

"It seems I really can't go easy on you," came Haku's soft voice, and Sasuke tensed up, anticipating a deadlier attack. As long as he stayed focused he could avoid the worst of it, and then he could catch Haku going between the mirrors and get a little payback.

He saw the flash of Haku's movement and heard the hiss of flying needles, turned to dodge and pull Haku down, but Naruto was in the way for some reason. He reached out to make Naruto move.

Naruto staggered back, his body riddled with needles.

Sasuke caught him before he could fall over. "What -" he said, and he could barely speak through the shock choking his throat. Naruto must have blocked Haku's attack, even though Sasuke could've dodged it. "What did you do that for, you dumbass?"

"Dunno," Naruto said; Sasuke froze at the blood that leaked from his mouth as he smiled. "But you gotta get revenge - can't die here like a loser, yanno? You gotta -"

His eyes slipped shut.

Sasuke shook him; the needles cut into his hands and he didn't care. "What about you, idiot?" he yelled, but Naruto's eyes didn't open. "Didn't you say you were going to help me? Aren't you going to become Hokage? You can't just throw your life away here, either! Dumbass!" It couldn't be real, this couldn't be happening to him again, he couldn't lose Naruto... "Naruto, quit playing around! Naruto!" You can't leave me alone with Itachi, you can't, don't leave me...

"So he was important to you, after all," said Haku, and Sasuke's hand closed around one of the needles in Naruto's shoulder; his ears were buzzing but his hand was steady, his mind focused. The next time Haku attacked, Sasuke would kill him. That was all.

But he would have to let go of Naruto to attack and he couldn't.

Then Sakura was there, sliding her hands under Naruto's back to lower him to the ground. "Sasuke-kun, I'll look after him," she said, and her voice didn't crack at all despite the tears in her eyes. "You should - should -" Her shoulders were shaking, and Sasuke distantly realized that this must be the first time she'd seen death. "Sasuke-kun, you have to -"

Naruto's eyes snapped open. They were red.