HEY GUYS! WHAT'S UP! Welcome back to the story, I'm glad you guys came. As always, I don't own Naruto. Please review, I'd like to hear feedback about the story, so that I can make it better. As it is, I don't know what you guys like and don't like about the story, and the feedback you guys can give me will help me create a better written, and hopefully better overall, story. You guys are still great, though, so I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Previously:

Jerking myself up to face the noise, I turned to find what I assumed to be a startlingly effeminate boy standing over Naruto, poking him on various parts of his body as Naruto looked quite panicked. The boy was wearing a light blue, paisley patterned, kimono, had long black hair that reached the middle of his back, dark brown eyes, and wore shinobi sandals, which is odd to see on a civilian. The boy smiled benevolently, before saying "You need more vitamin C. Eat this orange. Well, I've got all the herbs I needed. Goodbye." With that, he walked away, disappearing in the denser foliage deeper into the forest.

"What the hell was that?" Sasuke didn't sound nearly as angry as I expected him to be. He was more perplexed than anything, staring into the forest after the boy, his brows furrowed, and his mouth in a slight frown. "I think he was a villager, but he was wearing odd shoes for a civilian. Shinobi sandals don't exactly come cheap, so there's no real reason for a run of the mill civ to have them." Disturbed by the ease with which the boy creeped up on us, even in our sleep, my response came out sounding more tentative than I really felt, causing Naruto to look over at me in concern, easily noting the concern on my face without my mask to hide it. I looked at him, my eyes darting down to the orange he still held onto. "You shouldn't eat that. If my theory is correct, that boy wasn't a civilian, but rather a full-fledged shinobi, and likely a hostile one at that. That orange could be poisoned."

Naruto sniffed the orange carefully, before tossing it off, deep into the forest. "Let's not mention this to Kakashi-sensei." At Sasuke and my confused expressions, Naruto decided to elaborate. "He'll berate us endlessly for, first, working ourselves to exhaustion on a mission, and second, being so tired that we slept too heavily to notice someone sneaking up on us, shinobi or not, especially since this whole country should be treated like a hostile area, with the level of influence Gato seems to have over this country." Seeing the sense behind Naruto's idea, Sasuke and I quickly agreed.

When we walked back to Tazuna's house, however, it was to find everybody in the house already up, including Inari, all staring at us when we walked in the door. Tsunami, Tazuna, and Sakura seemed to be relieved that we were alright, and Inari was his usually sullen self, but Kakashi seemed almost...gleeful? His visible eye held within it a barely contained mirth and mischief. "So, you three are so eager to improve that you'll work until the wee hours of the morn, eh?" Not waiting for a response from any of us, Kakashi continued on. "Well, fine then, you all can do all of your chakra training at night if you wish. Your days, from dusk to dawn, however, will be spent with Tazuna and I at the bridge. You three will do the same amount of work as the adults around you, without chakra to help you, or you will all train yourselves absolutely into the ground, and then train even more, when we get back to Konoha. I will get the Hokage to remove all three of you from active duty, so I can train you all personally. For the record, this will also hurt Sakura, as although she will not have to train with you, she won't be allowed to go on missions without a team or jonin-sensei. So you all better do your work. Hostile areas, or on missions in general, are not the place for intense physical training. Doing anything more taxing than the chakra training you all have been doing recently could leave you incapable of properly defending yourself or your allies. Remember that, for it is how a lot of over-eager genin die, and fast." With that, Kakashi stood up with Tazuna, walking past us out the door. "Get your breakfast, you'll eat on the way. Sakura, you are to stay here, and watch after Tsunami and Inari. Light chakra control exercises at most."

The day that followed was, and likely always be, the most physically taxing day in my life. Naruto, Sasuke, and I spent the day carrying beams of metal that were multiple times heavier than all of us combined, struggling heavily, only able to persevere through spite and the intense training we'd all been subject to before the mission. Naruto seemed to struggle significantly less than Sasuke and I, but I chalked that up to his limitless stamina. About thirty minutes into moving the beams, I released my chakra weights, sealing them into a scroll, which made the work significantly easier, but still only just barely doable. Before I released the weights, my knees would buckle constantly under the weight of the metal.

When the adult workers broke for lunch, we were allowed to rest as well, giving us an hour of reprieve to refuel before we continued to work until, by the end of the day, we were close to collapsing. Even Naruto seemed truly exhausted, something I had previously assumed to be something that couldn't happen. Dinner was consumed at an alarming rate by the three of us, food seeming to disappear the second it touched our plates. Sasuke and I ate at least double what we would normally consume, while Naruto's hunger seemed to exponentially increase, as he easily wolfed down over triple the amount of food I ate. After dinner, despite my desire to train, exhaustion won out in the end, enticing me towards the bed until I gave in, collapsing into it, as my brain drifted off into a world of dreams, or, more accurately, memories.

-In Dream-

"The boy should've died. Would've saved us all a hell of a lot of trouble." "He's only going to bring the Mizukage's wrath upon us. He's not worth it." "Too bad that bastard medic nin father of his was only good at saving lives, not taking them." These sentiments, and many others much like them, were muttered under people's breath, or whispered quietly to the person next to them. The glares and the suspicious glances often accompanied them, though some just seemed to be resigned, as though they had given up. No one would directly address me, except Takashi-san, but I think that he only talks to me because he feels obligated to. See, a couple years back, Takashi-san got really sick, and my father nursed him to convalescence, charging nothing for it. It was likely for this reason that Takashi-san allowed me to stay in his house while he helped me get better as fast as possible, and it is how I found myself standing in front of his door, fist poised to knock, and everything that I wanted to keep from my home inside of the bag on my back.

However, the door swung open inwards, revealing Takashi-san's stern face, with it's emotionlessly intelligent gray eyes, sharp bone structure, short black beard, and long black hair pulled into a low ponytail. At his towering 6'8" height, it was a struggle for me to make eye contact with the large blacksmith. He crossed his large arms over his barrel chest, grunting as he looked down at me. "So, it's finally that day, huh?" At my silence, he grunted again. "Look, kid, I know you're not popular here, but the option to be my apprentice still stands. I know it used to hinge on you making a full recovery, but that is obviously not a problem anymore. You don't have to go to Konoha." I shook my head vigorously, dispelling any thoughts of staying somewhere where I was hated so vehemently for something my father did. "No, I can't stay. I'm a burden to you and everyone else here. I'm useless. I promise that I will come back one day, hopefully soon, but I cannot, in good conscience, overstay a welcome, which unfortunately has already happened. Konoha is simply the best and first possible place to go to that will be large enough that I can hopefully find my path while I'm there. This is not goodbye, but rather see you soon, because I will, alright?" I finally looked up at Takashi, tears welling up in my eyes, at the thought of leaving behind the only person who had been kind to me recently. I nodded slowly, before hugging him forcefully, before quickly stepping away, turning my back to him. "Thank you so much. I will never be able to properly thank you for what you've done for me. I will return someday."

With that, and without looking back, I walked away, wiping my eyes as I walked through the village, ignoring the looks the other villagers were giving me. When I finally reached the edge of the village, I turned around one last time, my fists clenched, and my head bowed. I looked down the main road of the village one last time, before I turned my back on my village, holding onto the straps of my backpack, and took, step by step, the road to what I hoped would be a world full of new and promising opportunities.

I was ripped from my slumber by Kakashi standing over, shaking me hard enough to rock my head about. When he saw that I was awake, he stepped back for a moment, "Come with me, Naruto and Sasuke are waiting for us outside. You slept late, and missed breakfast. Now It's time to get to work." I shot out of my bed, pulling on my clothes, and sliding my mask down onto my face. I grabbed my sealing scroll which held all my equipment, like my shuriken, smoke bombs, and kunai, before I slid my katana into it's baldric so the hilt stuck up over my right shoulder as I ran out the door.

Tazuna joined us mere moments after I joined the other Konoha nin outside, and we set off to the bridge. The day seemed even darker and sadder than it had been for several days. The clouds above us that previously had been various darkening shades of gray over the last few days, were now a much darker color, most were just about black, while other seemed to be a very dark purple, all of which were threatening to burst, to release what was sure to be a torrential downpour upon us. As we started to get close to the bridge, lightning began to occasionally arc across the sky, illuminating the dark day for a brief moment.

I almost didn't notice the shift in the wind, as it was barely stronger than a soft wisp, but I did notice when Naruto started to sniff the air, with a puzzled look on his face, and when Kakashi's eye widened in surprise as he too sniffed the air. I looked over to Sasuke to see if he knew what was going on, but he just shrugged his shoulders slightly, pursing his lips from annoyance at being kept out of the loop. Kakashi motioned for us to quicken our pace, as he picked up Tazuna, and we all shot forward at full speed. We landed on the bridge to a scene of utter carnage.

There were puddles of blood seeping out from under various different piles of bodies. From the faces that I could see, the bodies in the piles belonged to the men who worked on the bridge, none of whom were still all in one piece, almost all of whom had lost at least several limbs, and many of whom had senbon sticking into them in various places all over their bodies.

I stopped for a very long second, only to watch as the other three shinobi continued, as if this was not the first times any of them had seen something on this level. Kakashi I understood, since he fought in a war, but Naruto and Sasuke just confused me. Team Seven and I stopped, immediately dropping into taijutsu stances as mist started to seep down the bridge towards us, as Killing Intent permeated the air, weighing down on us like a thick blanket.

Sakura dropped out of the mist next to Tazuna, causing him to jump slightly in fright. "There were some mercenaries that tried to attack Tsunami's house, but I drove them off." At Kakashi's nod, she pulled out a kunai and took up a defensive position in front Tazuna, guiding him to a safe hovel under some fallen steel beams.

Keeping his eyes directed towards the end of the bridge, Kakashi started belting out orders to the three of us left behind him on the bridge. "With Sakura protecting Tazuna, I want Naruto and Sasuke to occupy Zabuza's accomplice. We don't know how strong he is, but the longer you can fight him for, the more time Jeremiah and I get to try to take down the Demon himself. GO!"

With that said, Kakashi and I dashed into the mist as he pulled up his forehead protector to unveil his Sharingan. As we left, I heard Sasuke and Naruto cry out in anger, assumedly because they had found their enemy. Kakashi and I finally found Zabuza waiting for us at the very end of the bridge, in a slight gap in the mist. Zabuza flashed through handsigns, Kakashi matching him, as they both yelled out "SUITON: SUIDAN NO JUTSU!" They both shot out a torrent of water out of their mouths, perfectly matching each other, until Zabuza burst into water, revealing that he was only a Mizubunshin the whole time.

"You really thought that would get me? You thought it would be that easy?" Zabuza's voice rang out through the mist, seemingly from everywhere all at once. "Well, one can hope, can't they?" At Kakashi's response, Zabuza's quiet chuckle echoed around us. Kakashi started to sniff the air subtly again, his head snapping to the left of him. "He's there. The mist can hide his voice, and his form, but the increased moisture in the air can only help my sense of smell." (A/N That's some real science for ya, fools. Humans smell better in humid weather than dry weather. And Kakashi already has an increased olfactory system that is better than some Inuzuka's, soooo, yeah, Science, Bitches!) With Kakashi guiding me as we ran through the mist, we shunshined forward, as I pulled out my katana, to block the Kubikirihocho being swung with the intent to take my head off. Using my katana, I directed the huge blade up as I slid under Zabuza's strike on my knees, before I spun around and dashed towards his back as Kakashi ran towards him from his front with a kunai. Zabuza stabbed his sword into the bridge, before jumping up to perform a handstand on the hilt of his sword, dodging our attacks.

Zabuza pulled his sword out of the bridge, effortlessly swinging his sword horizontally as he spun around, forcing Kakashi and I to jump back away from him as he disappeared into the mist again. Kakashi took a quick moment to relocate Zabuza in the mist as he started talking again, taunting us about how we would never be able to beat him in his own element. Kakashi and I dashing towards Zabuza as fast as we could, Kakashi running at top speed, as I disappeared and reappeared in a flash of lightning next to Zabuza.

Kakashi and I tried again to hit Zabuza repeatedly as he continually dodged or blocked our attacks for a few moments before disappearing again back into the mist. This continued for a long few minutes before Kakashi got fed up with the game of cat and mouse that Zabuza was clearly using to stall until his accomplice overcame the odds and defeated Naruto and Sasuke. A large spike of chakra flooded across the bridge, which Kakashi evidently recognized and worried him. Kakashi flew through some handsigns before biting his thumb and slapping the ground with his palm. With a cry of "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!", and a puff of smoke, a pack of dogs appeared in front of Kakashi wearing different levels of ninja paraphernalia. "Attack the second closest scent, it's slightly muted, but it should be easy to locate." The dogs dashed off into the mist, growling menacingly deep in their throat.

Kakashi and I followed them into the mist, bursting into another gap in the mist, where Zabuza was trying to fend off the pack of dogs. I shunshined forward in a burst of lightning, sliding along the ground, taking Zabuza's ankles out from under him as he was distracted with the dogs. The dogs, both literally and figuratively, pounced on the opportunity, two dogs biting each of Zabuza's limbs, forcing him into a kneeling position. Kakashi ran through some hand signs before his right hand illuminated with lightning chakra shaped into a blade around his hand.

Kakashi and I ran towards Zabuza at the same time from different directions, him with his jutsu, and me with my katana, poised to stab him in the back of the head. Mere steps away from Zabuza, he tilted his head to the side as I stabbed forward with my katana, causing the bladed edge to just barely nick his ear. As my blade slid past him, a figure appeared in front of Zabuza, only to have Kakashi's hand puncture right through the right side of their chest, and for my katana to slide in from behind them, slipping between ribs to come out clean on the other side.

Out of shock and confusion, Kakashi and I withdrew quickly pulling out of the figure. As katana and hand were removed from their chest cavity, the figure collapsed to the side with a slight spray of blood from their two wounds, finally landing on their back as Zabuza's hold over the mist slipped, leaving us all stunned, unmoving, as the mist disappeared, and the clouds above us broke, with first a slight drizzle that quickly turned into a torrential downpour, as Zabuza's accomplice, the hunter nin, the boy from the forest those few days ago, lay dying on the bridge in a pool of his own blood.

RIP Haku, we will hopefully never forget you. I really like his character, and I was seriously debating letting him live, because he's a pretty cool character, and would be fun to write, but Haku is integral to both the character development of team seven, and also the reveal of Zabuza's hidden nature. Sooooooooo, he dead. Sorry this took a while, guys, life's a bitch sometimes, and I've got lacrosse starting up in earnest this upcoming week, so I don't know how frequently I'll be able to update. Please review, and I hope you guys enjoyed. Anonymous Jonin out, PEACE!