AN: Sorry it's been a while, but tada: Chapter!


The moment we got to Tazuna's house Sakura took charge and ordered the boys to get a bed for Kakashi. Once Kakashi was laid down she began inspecting him in various ways I didn't understand.

"I didn't know you were studying to be a medic-nin." I mused.

"Yeah, I started reading a few books after you mentioned it before, though I was mostly checking for poisons. It seems he's only chakra-exhausted. It'll be a little while before he wakes up and even longer until he gets all of his motor function back."

"Wow, Sakura-chan." Naruto said in awe. "You're really smart."

"Of course." She replied confidently. It was almost like catching a glimpse of the older version of her, when she wouldn't be so obsessed with Sasuke.

While we waited for Kakashi to wake up we got our own futons set up. While he didn't wake up right after we were done it wasn't long after that. As he woke up Sakura scolded him, "You over did it Sensei. Even if the Sharingan is powerful it puts a lot of strain on your body."

"Ah, sorry."

"But you defeated a powerful ninja!" Tazuna cut in. "So we should be okay for a while."

Sakura nodded, "by the way, who was that boy in the mask?"

I allowed myself to space out while Kakashi explained the hunter-nin to the others and as he came to the conclusion that Zabuza was still alive. It was only when Sakura, Tazuna, and Naruto all shouted at the same time that I focused on what was going on again.

"What does that mean?" Naruto sputtered.

"But you confirmed that he died Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura protested.

"I did confirm it." Kakashi agreed. "But he was most likely in a near-death state. It wouldn't be hard with a Hunter-nin's extensive knowledge of the body."

"Are you sure sensei?" Sakura asked.

"First, he took home the corpse of Zabuza even when it's obvious that the body was heavier than him. Second, he used a weapon that has a low fatality rate. From these two points, the goal of that boy was not to kill Zabuza, but to help him."

"Maybe you're thinking too much." Tazuna suggested.

"No, once a ninja feels that there's something weird he must prepare for it before it's too late." Kakashi explained. "It's one of the ninja's iron rules."

Beside me I saw Naruto with a determined look in his eyes and a smile on his face and remembered how excited he was to have a rematch with Zabuza.

"Sensei, how are we going to prepare for this before it's too late? You can't move for a while…" Sakura asked, and I had to admit, I was curious too. Sasuke and I at least had moved on from tree-walking to water-walking, and I wouldn't be surprised if Sakura had too. I wasn't sure about Naruto because, unfortunately, we hadn't had as many team practices lately.

After Kakashi's quick pep-talk and Inari saying we were all going to die Kakashi took us out to the forest. "What are we doing here?" I asked curiously.

He looked at us, "Well, we have four people so I have a drill in mind." I raised an eyebrow as he blindfolded Sakura and Naruto with their headbands.

"Hey what's the big idea!" Naruto complained. "I can't see!"

"That's the point." Kakashi said. "Zabuza is a master at the silent-killing technique and he blinds you with his mist. You'll have to learn to listen closely and track using senses other than sight." He turned to where Sasuke and I still stood waiting. "I want you two to try and attack them as silently as possible." Almost as a side-note he added, "And try not to hurt them too badly." It was times like these that I remembered that one of the beliefs of a ninja is that if you don't want to get hurt then don't screw up.

Naruto managed to be quiet and at least try to listen for Sasuke, but the moment Sasuke whapped him with his sword Naruto started shouting. I took that opportunity to land a blow on Sakura who couldn't hear my footsteps through Naruto's profanities. Sakura was better than Naruto at predicting where Sasuke or I would show up.

I praised myself for being quieter than Sasuke because while he was sure-footed I had always had more dance-like movements. However Sasuke learned fast and before long he was nearly as silent as I was.

We had gotten into a rhythm after an hour or two, with Sasuke and I switching who was attacking who periodically, when Sensei spoke up again, "Maa, not bad. Now how about you switch roles? Sakura and Naruto can try to land a few blows on you."

By the time we went back for dinner I had quite a few bruises on my face seeing as that seemed to be both Sakura and Naruto's favorite place to hit. Of course Sakura hit me a lot more often than Naruto did because Naruto had a rivalry with Sasuke and Sakura would dare hit the other boy. Had it been Hinata or even Ino I wouldn't have minded but Sakura was strong. It was no wonder she was able to become almost a second Tsunade.

"Sasuke, Sakura, you'll be guarding Tazuna tomorrow."

What? I looked at Kakashi in disbelief. Maybe I wasn't as good as Sasuke, but surely I had been better than Sakura.

I hadn't had a chance to voice my opinion before Naruto did, "How could that teme be better than me!"

"Naruto." Kakashi said sternly. "You're still much too loud when you go in for an attack. Tsume may be quieter than you she's still not as good as the others at sensing an attacker coming. This was the best way to split up the group."

Kakashi's reasoning made sense I suppose, but I was still annoyed. I grew up sparring with Sasuke, and while I may not have been as strong as him I thought that I was at least better than someone who didn't work hard until after he left.

As frustrating as it was I knew better than to voice my feelings. I practiced with Naruto like Kakashi wanted me to, but I don't know how much good it did me. It had taken long enough for him not to roar out a battle-cry with each of his attacks, and even after hours of practice he still reminded me of an elephant. Naruto was a ninja in the loosest sense of the word; he battles like a brawler. It was a relief to finally go back for dinner.

As we sat down I noticed Sasuke give Sakura a strange look and he took a seat further away from her; it made me wonder what happened while they were at the bridge. Neither one of them said anything though. Dinner probably would have been a quieter affair if Naruto wasn't eager to share how training went and how often he hit me.

After dinner Sakura asked about the picture Inari was looking at just like in a canon and we got the canon story. Naruto immediately declared he would prove to Inari that heroes did exist and began toward the door.

"Where are you going Naruto?" Sakura asked, "If you're going to run the drill you need a partner."

Naruto grinned, "Genma-sensei's been teaching how to walk on water. I have to train that, too!"

I nodded. I wasn't surprised that Naruto hadn't mastered it yet. I had started long before anyone else and Sakura and Sasuke had better chakra control than either of us, though I was still better than Naruto.

The week passed fairly simply, with Naruto and I training together during the day and him doing water-walking by himself at night. He was exhausted by the end of the week so the rest of us left to the bridge without him knowing he could catch up later. Despite knowing that they would be there I acted as shocked as everybody else to see the bodies littering the bridge. This time we didn't need Kakashi to say anything to get into a position to protect Tazuna.

"Long time no see Kakashi." After training my ears for a week Zabuza's voice seemed loud. "I see you still have those brats with you. That one's still shaking." I didn't have to look to know it was Sasuke.

I resisted the urge to flinch when half a dozen Zabuzas appeared around us. "I'm shaking – with excitement." Sasuke said and I could hear his smirk in the tone.

"Do it, Sasuke." He moved on Kakashi's orders with speed that was, to my frustration, a match for my own. I don't know when he was training, though I wouldn't be surprised if he had snuck out to train with Naruto.

"He saw through the water clones. The brat has grown." The real Zabuza made himself known with a masked Haku standing beside him. "Looks like you've got a rival Haku."

"Indeed."

"Maa, it appears my prediction was right." Kakashi drawled. "The masked guy's just standing there next to him. They're allied no matter how you look at it."

"I thought so, too." Sasuke said.

"Who does he think he is, trying to trick us like that?" Sakura demanded.

"I hate conceited brats like that." Kakashi agreed.

"I'll fight him." Sasuke announced. "I hate bastards like that the most."

"You're so cool Sasuke-kun." Sakura cooed.

"Sasuke." I caught his attention. "Don't forget this guy knows a lot about the body. Don't expose your vital points."

"Hn."

When Haku came spiraling toward us with incredible speed Sasuke intercepted him with ease. Despite Sasuke's sword having a longer reach Haku was skilled enough with his senbon to keep the blade away from his body. I bit my lip when Haku used his ice needle jutsu. Without the training fresh in his mind I wasn't sure if Sasuke would think to use his chakra to get away. I needn't have worried really. Sasuke was top of his class, he didn't forget things that he learned.

Sasuke used shuriken and kunai to force Haku back and then appeared behind him and started another bout with sword and senbon. This time, however, he quickly outmatched the masked boy and sent him flying with a kick to the face.

"You can't make fun of our team just because we have kids." Kakashi boasted. "Sasuke is the village's top rookie. Sakura is the village's shrewdest child. Tsume is a skilled leader. And finally the number one hyper-active knucklehead ninja is Naruto Uzumaki."

I looked at Kakashi in surprised. I knew he would praise the other three, but this is the first I heard that he acknowledged my leadership skills. I beamed at the praise.

Of course, as soon as Haku began preparing his ice mirrors I focused my attention back on the fight. Kakashi tried to go help Sasuke, but was stopped by Zabuza. Seeing that Kakashi was stopped Sakura took one of the kunai's that Sasuke had used earlier and tried to throw it to Saskue, but instead Haku caught it instead. It ended up working in our favor when a shuriken hit Haku and pushed him out of the mirror and onto the ground. I groaned as Naruto announced his presence as always, and was relieved when Haku's soft-heartedness saved him from Zabuza's shuriken.

As the fog thickened I leaned over to Sakura to whisper in her ear. "With a fog this thick Zabuza will have to rely entirely on hearing us. Tazuna won't be able to quiet his breathing like we can so I'm going to run in as many puddles as I can to distract him."

"Wha – "

I clasped my hand over her mouth, "Trust me." I took out into a full out run into the fog and before long I couldn't see where anyone was. To be honest the real reason I did it was because I couldn't bear to stand uselessly on the sidelines. It wasn't hard to find some puddles to splash around in. To add to the distraction I started yelling, "Zabuza! Come and get me, coward!" To be honest I wasn't expecting him to actually come, but before I knew it I had to block his sword with my much smaller one.

As I pushed off his sword and backed away from him he chuckled, "who's going to save you now, brat?" I glowered at him, but then seeing his closed eyes I threw a scroll from my pack into a puddle to catch his attention before trying to strike at him. Before my attack could hit somebody grabbed my arm and threw me the opposite direction.

"Tsume." Kakashi growled, "You should be with Tazuna."

I scowled. "Did you notice who also isn'twith Tazuna."

I didn't have to clarify for Kakashi to know I was talking about Zabuza. "He's my responsibility. Now get back to the bridge-builder."

My scowl remained, but I listened to Kakashi. I tried my best to keep cat-like stealth to keep Zabuza from following me to Tazuna. I stayed close to Sakura and Tazuna listening closely for any signs Zabuza coming toward us, but my senses were cut off from both battles taking place on the bridge until a feeling of pure malice washed over me. I knew it was the nine-tails, but it was terrifying that the only thing I could think was how could Naruto remain so pure with something like that living inside him?

Thankfully the feeling didn't last long and the fog began to clear up enough that we could see the figures of Kakashi and Zabuza. We could see one of them start to move but the fog didn't clear up enough to see who was who until Kakashi's hand was through Haku's chest. We watched dumb-founded as Zabuza tried to slice through Haku to get to Kakashi but sensei flipped out of the way with Haku's body in hand. Past the two jounin I we saw Naruto so Sakura waved and called over to him. Upon asking about Sasuke, Naruto looked away so both of us rushed over with Tazuna to check on him.

It was surreal, seeing the needles poking through nearly every inch of his body. He really looked dead. Sakura looked ready to cry so I said, "Sakura, help me take the needles out."

She nodded, and I think she was thankful for a distraction from what looked like the reality. Both of us worked slowly. Sakura did because she was still so detached and I did because I knew it would be safer for Sasuke. "Tsume," I glanced at Sakura. "Do you remember the ninja principles?"

"Mn." I confirmed.

"I memorized them all you know." She said and I could hear the tears beginning. "Number 25: A shinobi must never show emotion no matter what the circumstance. A shinobi must put the mission first and possess a heart that will never show tears." As she finished the tears were already running down her face.

I vaguely registered that Gato had appeared with an army of bandits, but I ignored them in favor of staying by Sakura's side as she cried on the now needle-free Sasuke. I could hear Naruto shouting, but I didn't want to look in that direction. People were really dead over there. I wanted to pretend they weren't. So I sat beside Sakura and waited for Sasuke to wake up.

When Sakura finally let him up Sasuke began asking questions, "What happened to that masked kid?"

"He's dead." Sakura told him.

"Dead?" Sasuke questioned. "Did Naruto kill him."

I snorted, "As if. It was Kakashi-sensei." It wasn't that I didn't like Naruto and I know that he had done the majority of the work. I only said it because if Sasuke thought Naruto had managed to defeat Haku when he couldn't we could say goodbye to the teamwork that we were finally getting right.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted. "Of course."

Sakura stood up and shouted over to Naruto, "It's all right! Sasuke's alive!"

Our joyful reunion was cut short by the bandit army still at the edge of the bridge. "Hey, are you forgetting about us? You damn ninjas took our food ticket so we're gonna kill you then raid the town." They began to rush forward to attack but were stopped by an arrow. We turned behind us to see the villagers gathered behind Inari.

"If you come any further the citizens of the country will attack with all our might!" Some of them shouted together.

"Inari!" Naruto shouted.

Inari grinned, "A hero always shows up at the last second, right?"

Suddenly inspired, Naruto created some shadow clones. Kakashi followed his example except at a much larger scale. I knew it didn't matter, but I created some of my own clones. They were only illusions but I didn't think bandits would be able to tell the difference. It wasn't like I had used any chakra the entire fight. We didn't even have to do anything after that. The bandits fled the bridge on the boat Gato had used to arrive and left.

After that we had a meager funeral for Zabuza and Haku and stayed while Tazuna finished the bridge. There was a teary farewell between Naruto and Inari, and then we were on our way back to the village


AN: Thank goodness this chapter is finally over. The Wave Arc is super important but I hate writing about it. Anyway, I hope you liked it :)

Please review :D Leave me a smiley, tell me what you thought of the drill I came up with, or anything else you can think of. Anything makes my day :)