Sasuke woke up Friday morning to the sound of chirping birds. He propped himself up with a pillow, and glanced at his watch to see the time.

Its only 5:30, Tazuna won't be heading out to the bridge for another 3 hours.

Sasuke looked around the room at his sleeping comrades. Naruto was to his right in his sleeping bag, he was snoring quietly, and some drool leaking out of the side of his mouth.

What an idiot, Sasuke thought with a smirk.

Sasuke then took a look at the two females in the room. Sakura was sleeping soundly in the bed that Sasuke used to occupy, while Riku must've "fallen" out of her bed, with a pillow and blanket, and was sleeping next to Naruto.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the girls antics, but then he got a devilish idea.

This is some prime blackmail material…

Sasuke looked for his phone, but then remembered that they weren't allowed to bring them on missions, so he fished around in his bag for his Playstation Vita and snapped a couple pics of the snoozing couple.

With self satisfied smirk, Sasuke settled back into his sleeping bag, and played through a few missions of Gravity Rush.

A little while later, at 6:15, Riku began to stir. She started to move, but then remembered that she was sleeping next to Naruto. She pivoted so that she was facing the sleeping blonde, and smiled at what she saw.

Naruto was sleeping on his back, and had one arm tucked under his head, and the other resting on his chest. He had slept on the sleeping bag instead of in it, and was he was softly snoring.

Riku reached out with her right hand and lightly ghosted over his cheek. She hastily fled back to her bed when Naruto started to stir.

Unbeknownst to Riku, Sasuke was watching her intently as she climbed back into her bed

Naruto appeared as if he was waking up, but he just rolled over, and continued to softly snore.

Sasuke glanced at his watch and noticed to the time, I should probably get everyone up.

Sakura had already woken up, and was somewhere downstairs.

He got up and exited his sleeping bag, gave Riku a knowledgeable smirk and said, "Good morning Riku."

"Good morning Sasuke."

"How was your sleep last night?" Sasuke aked innocently.

"I slept very well, thank you," Riku countered.

"I bet you did…" Sasuke said cryptically.

Riku slightly blushed and said, "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

Deciding to make the kuniochi suffer, Sasuke whipped out his vita and confidently strode over to the brunette.

He didn't say any words, all he did was show her the pictures.

"Please don't show Naruto!" Riku said rather desperately.

"Please don't show Naruto what?" Naruto asked groggily as he got up from his sleeping bag, while rubbing his eyes.

"I-Its nothing don't worry about it," Riku said nervously.

"Its none of your business, bum," Sasuke said as he slipped his Vita back into his pocket. Naruto grunted and cursed at the Uchiha under his breath, while he began getting ready for the impending mission.

Riku began to silently thank Sasuke but stopped, and became rather nervous when he began to smile sweetly at her.

"I'm not done with you yet," Sasuke said with a sadistically sweet smile.

Before Riku could ask what he meant, Sai entered the room.

"Good to see you are all awake, Hana wants to brief us on the plan of action for today over breakfast, so hurry up and get down stairs."

The three ninjas nodded and got ready for today.

As Naruto slowly started to wake up, he became aware of the quick glances Riku was shooting him. When he finished getting ready, he turned to Sasuke, who had an amused smile on his face, and asked, "you ready for this?"

"Hell yeah, I wanna get back home."

"I hear you, this climate is so damp."

"Good morning," Hana said as the trio arrived downstairs.

"Sup."

"Hi."

"Yo." the teens said as they took a seat at the table. Tazuna was seated at the head of the table and had already downed a whole bottle of sake, and was currently working on his second.

"Dad! You shouldn't drink so much!" Tsunami scolded.

"Tsunami, if I die today, I want to be comforted in the fact that I enjoyed my last drinks as much as possible," Tazuna said firmly.

"I assure you Tazuna-san, you are not going to die today," Cat said resolutely.

"I'll still drink if I wanna though."

"Ok lets get down to business," Hana said as she, Sai, Sakura, and Cat sat down on the table, "last night, me and Cat had a long discussion over the plan of action for today. I was thinking that we could split into two attack teams. No doubt, the biggest threat will be to Tazuna today, but Gato could also be planning an attack on Tsunami and Inari. I was thinking that we could leave two shinobi here to protect them, and the remaining five could protect Tazuna at the bridge."

"I'll stay here," Naruto volunteered.

"Ok, do we have a second vol-."

"I'll stay here too," Riku said hastily while blushing, cutting across Sasuke who was about to volunteer.

"Alright, I would prefer it if you stayed inside of the house while we're gone, who knows what Gato might send… If Gato does send a hitman for Tsunami and Inari, I don't think he would spend that much resources against them when he could use them on the bridge. If someone does come," Hana said as she looked Naruto and Riku in the eye, "After you defeat them, run to the bridge, do I make myself clear?"

"Hai," they both chorused, while taking notice of the sterner tone of voice Hana had.

"The rest of you," Hana said addressing everyone else, "Sai and Sakura, you two will protect Tazuna at all times unless other wise stated, Sasuke, you will engage the hunter-nin if he comes, if he doesn't show up, protect Tazuna?"

"Hai."

"After breakfast we'll head out," Hana finished.

Breakfast was a rather solemn affair. Most people were nervous or tense. Sakura (who had made sure to sit next to Sasuke) was extremely nervous because Sasuke actually looked nervous.

Lets get this over with, Sasuke said as he stared at his plate. He looked around the table and studied everyone's facial expressions: Hana looked slightly tense, but it was more from the prospect of losing a comrade, Cat and Sai looked as normal as they usually did, but Sai was a little paler that usual, Sakura looked like she was ready to crap herself, Naruto stared into his plate, but otherwise had a blank expression, and Riku looked nervous but she appeared rather confident in her abilities.

Eager to get to the bridge, those that were going to the bridge ate their meals quickly, and readied themselves for the day.

When everyone was ready to go, Hana turned to everyone else that was staying and said, "well, we're off, good luck, and hopefully we'll see you guys later on." She then exited the house, followed by Tazuna, Cat, and Sai. Sakura gave Riku a quick hug, then also exited the house. Sasuke and Naruto bumped fist, then Naruto said, "go kick some grass."

Sasuke gave a small laugh, and said with a smirk, "Good bye Riku."

"Good bye Sasuke," Riku said as she glared at him

"We'll talk when I get back," Sasuke said while he walked out the door.

"What was that all about?" Naruto asked as he shut the door.

"Oh, it was nothing." Riku said as she walked through the living room.

"Ok, So what are we going to do? Sit around and wait to be attacked?" Naruto asked semi-sarcastically. Tsunami was in the living room reading a book, while inari was in his room brooding.

"You should send out some shadow clones and create a defensive perimeter around the house," Riku suggested as the duo sat down at the dinning room table.

"Good idea," Naruto praised, Riku blushed at his comment, Naruto got up from his seat and did the familiar hand signs. When the smoke cleared from the jutsu, the room was filled with ten more identical Naruto's.

"Sup boss," one of the clones said to the real Naruto, "What do you need us to do?"

"I need you guys to create a defensive perimeter, in the trees around the house, got it?"

"Hai!"

One by one, the clones filed out of the front door, once they were outside, they all jumped into the trees, and took up defensive positions.

"If someone does try to attack, they'll have to dispell the clones before they can get to the house," Naruto stated.

"Sweet."

The duo sat back down at the table, across from each other, just as Inari came downstairs. The little boy and Naruto had a small glaring match ( which was won by Naruto).

"What are you still doing here?" Inari sneered.

"What do you think," Naruto snapped back at him, as he pulled out his Vita and a pair of headphones.

"You're in way over your heads, you should get out of here before you get seriously hurt."

"Kid, I've already been seriously hurt on this mission, a couple more injuries won't kill me," Naruto said confidently, "Besides, we've got two medical-nin that are also on this mission."

Inari scoffed at Naruto's comments, "You think your invincible, don't you? Just cuz you heal quickly, and your eyes are a weird color doesn't make you special. Gato doesn't discriminate when it comes to killing people."

"I know I'm not special, but there are certain circumstances that have caused those thing that you mentioned, I highly doubt that anyone of Gato's thugs could honestly go toe-to-toe with us except for Zabuza," Naruto said calmly.

"you're too cocky for your own good," Inari started, "I may be only twelve, but I've seen my fair share of blood shed. I had many friends that said they would be the ones to take down Gato, and do you know what happened to all of them, they were all killed!"

"Yah, but the difference between me and them is that I'm a ninja, I can take care of myself," Naruto said coldly.

"You're not a very good ninja," Inari said in a equally cold tone.

"And you're a whiny piece of dung," Naruto snapped at him.

"Guys, settle down," Riku said, taking control of the situation.

"I was done talking to him anyway," Inari said as he turned his back on the duo, and exited the room. Riku was about to turn and talk to Naruto, but was disappointed to find that he also had risen and was exiting the room.

"Where are you going, Naruto?" Riku asked.

"I'm going upstairs," Naruto answered.

Riku looked on as her crush ascended the stairs and entered the bedroom.

Naruto entered the room, and sat down on the floor. He crossed his legs in a meditative pose, closed his eyes.

Yo, where are you?

In your head, idiot.

What's was all that? I usually have better control over myself than that?

I don't think it had all that much to do with me. Honestly most of that was actually you, but you may be slightly affected by my chakra, but if you ask me, you have every right to be angry.

I can't keep almost losing my temper, and nearly blowing up; what do you think I should do.

Just meditate more, and you should be fine.

Alright.

Naruto cut off the mental connection between he and the fox, and was about to start to meditate, when the door to the room swung open.

"I think we need to have a chat."

Sasuke Uchiha was bored out of his mind. Hana wouldn't let hm play his Vita, so he was forced to "listen" to Sakura jabber on incessantly.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, and thought, I should have beaten Riku to the punch.

"Riku, I'm trying to meditate," Naruto said annoyed.

"Well you obviously need it. Whats wrong with you anyway? You're not normally like this, this is the second time you've nearly lost your composure on this mission alone."

"I am well aware of that fact," Naruto said.

"Well, what are you going to do about your temper and emotions," Riku asked sternly. As much as she liked Naruto, above all else, Riku was a ninja. Incompetence in any form greatly aggravated her, and lack of self-control irked her to no end.

"I was trying to meditate before you came in, but other than that I should be fine," Naruto stated as he started down at his hand.

"Please don't tell the Hokage about me and Inari though," Naruto asked.

"Why not?" Riku asked, rather surprised at his request.

"Me and him don't see eye-to-eye when it comes to the Kyuubi, and the last thing that I want him thinking is that the demon is trying to take over or some other crap."

"So does this involve the Kyuubi?"

"No, just other things going on," Naruto lied.

"Please, I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell him," Naruto said as he looked her in the eyes.

As much as she would've liked to say no, Riku made the fatal of looking into Naruto;s eyes.

"A-alright, but I will tell Sasuke though, maybe he could help you out," Riku concluded.

"Thanks."

"No prob, just remember that you owe me though."

"I'll make it up to you when- OH CRAP!"

Sasuke was officially on the brink. He had been at the bridge for over two hours, and their had been no action.

Damn you Riku.

"-then I was like, 'you shouldn't be so mean to Shikamaru,' but Ino-pig said-

Come on Zabuza, show your self.

Completely ignoring Sakura, except for a few grunts of recognition, Sasuke surveyed the bridge: a lot of the workers hadn't come to the bridge today, it was understandable, and Sasuke didn't blame them.

I sure as hell wouldn't be on this bridge if I didn't have ninja training.

Sai and Cat lounged on a stack of 2x4's speaking amongst themselves in low voices, while Hana basically shadowed Tazuna in case someone tried a ranged attack.

Where's the action! Where's the violence! Sasuke mentally yelled. What was starting to really get to him was the stress of the situation. He had basically been sitting in the same spot for two hours waiting to be attacked.

That wasn't good for one's psyche.

I should create a genjutsu that covers me playing me PSV…

Sasuke raised his hands to start the genjutsu, but stopped when he noticed the mist starting to envelope the bridge.

The Uchiha smirked and thought- finally!

"What's wrong!" Riku said nervously.

"They're coming!" Naruto yelled as he rushed out of the room with Riku right behind him.

The two ninja ran down the stairs at full tilt, and when they arrived on the first floor, they saw Tsunami talking to Inari.

"Tsunami, you and Inari need to get upstairs NOW!" Naruto said anxiously.

"Why?" Inari asked.

"Just do it," Riku snapped.

Deciding it was best to do what the ninja said, Tsunami, and Inari went upstairs, and barricaded themselves in the master bedroom.

Good luck kid.

I'm gonna need it…

Naruto went to the front door, and blocked it by propping one of the dining room chairs up under the door handle , he then drew a kunai, and looked over at Riku.

Riku had her ninja-to draw and ready.

"How many do you think there are?" Riku whispered.

"I don't know, but all my clones were dispelled at the same time," Naruto whispered back.

Naruto sneaked around to the kitchen, and hid behind the counter, he had a view of the front door, and the counter offered good cover. He drew a kunai, and slipped a low explosive note onto it.

Seeing where Naruto went, Riku quietly joined him in taking cover, and waiting.

Nothing happened for a about a minute, then another, then another, and then another.

Naruto was about to send a shadow clone to look out the window to see what was happening outside, when he noticed the door knob starting to turn as someone tried to open it.

The door however was blocked by the chair, and as a result, the person trying to open it was unsuccessful.

Naruto and Riku waited with held breath to see what would happen. Nothing happened for a second, till Riku and Naruto heard the distinct sound of a wakizashi being drawn.

The front door was cut to ribbons by two massive strokes with the sword, and a humongous man pushed through the reminants of the door.

The man was wearing a lose fitting combat kimono, and had the wakizashi held firmly in his hand. he was easily six foot six inches, and roughly 275 pounds of muscles.

He looked around the room, but didn't see Riku and Naruto hiding, "Yuhihara, it's clear."

A scrawny looking man that also had a wakizashi, ambled into the house, and looked over the surrounding.

"Looks like no one's home," the scrawny man remarked.

"they're here, I can feel him," the burly man said.

Naruto looked at Riku and silently mouthed, three, two one!

The two ninja burst from the cover at the same time, Naruto flipped over the counter, and in the process of the flip, he flung his kunai at the burly man.

The man deftly blocked the kunai with his sword, but was unprepared when Naruto detonated it in his face, the kunai blew out on of the walls of the house, and the burly man was blown outside.

Naruto gave Riku a look, before he jumped outside to face his opponent.

I can do this- Riku assured herself as she faced off against the man named Yuhihara.

Time to kick some

Naruto jumped outside, onto the front yard just in time to see the huge man hoist himself up off the ground. The side of his face was severely burned, and from the look of his right eye, he had lost the ability to see out of it anymore.

"You little s!" the man yelled at Naruto, "prepare to die!" the man shouted as he rushed Naruto.

It was to close to get off a jutsu so Naruto was forced to dodge the attacks the man sent his way. The huge man was very good with the sword, he was very accurate and precise in his blade, but he couldn't catch up to the swift footed youth.

Naruto jumped over a slash by his attacker, and while he was in mid-air, he gave a bone crushing kick to the man's face. The man was knocked back several feet by the kick, but the he picked himself up, cracked his neck, and resumed his battle stance.

"Bring it!" the man taunted as he tried to goad Naruto into making a mistake.

Oh, I'll bring it alright!

Naruto put his hands together, and produced five kage bushins.

"Lets get him!" Naruto roared as he charged at the man.

The big man smirked as he saw the kid charging in openly. He started to rotate with his blade held horizontally as he span quickly.

To dodge the blade, Naruto and his clones were forced to jump into the air. As soon as the six ninja's jumped into the air, the big man stopped spinning his sword, and shifted it so that it was now spinning above his head.

Naruto saw the predicament he was in, in the blink of an eye, the Namikaze heir's situation went from really good, to very bad.

If he continued to fall, he would get shredded by the man's wakizashi.

Thinking quickly, Naruto grabbed on of the clones legs, and despite its protests, he flung it at the man below. The poor clone dispelled with a puff of smoke, but the force with which Naruto flung it, knocked the man off of his feet.

While he was still falling, Naruto drew out a bunch of shuriken and kunai, and threw them at the man below. The big man was hard pressed to dodge all of the shuriken, but he managed to deflect or dodge all except for one.

One of the kunai found its way to his right foot, and hit with such force that it pinned his foot to the floor.

"AHHHH!" the man yelled out in pain. He was vaguely aware that Naruto, and the four remaining clones had landed. The man took a deep breath, and pulled the kunai out of his foot.

He took too long however. When he turned to face Naruto, he was met head on by a fully matured rasengan.

"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled as the ball of chakra shredded its way into the man's chest.

Remembering what Sasuke did with overloading the chakra, Naruto decided to do the same, but to a lesser degree. He pushed more chakra than was necessary into the blue ball, and the result was a contained explosion that blew out the big mans chest, and sent his body rocketing into a mass of trees.

He's not getting up- Kyuubi mused.

Naruto stood in and looked down at himself: he was relatively unscathed from the battle, but was covered in the mans blood. The blonde teen didn't move from where he stood for a second, but was snapped out of his reverie when he heard something crash in the house.

Riku!- Naruto thought as he rushed into the house.

He arrived just in time to see Riku give her opponent a finishing blow. Riku slashed the man across his chest, and followed it up by running him through .

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked as he entered the remnants of the living room.

"Hai, we should get Tsunami and Inari and get them out of here," Riku commented as she cleaned off her blade on the dead mans coat.

"I'll go get them, see if you can get rid of that body," Riku said as she started for the stairs.

Naruto watched her run upstairs, and summoned a clone and sent it to get rid of the two bodies.

When Inari and Tsunami came downstairs, Tsunami covered the little boys eyes so he didn't have to see all of the blood. The mother started to cry when she saw the destruction of the house.

"Do you have any friends you could stay at when we go to the bridge?" Naruto asked morosely.

Tsunami just nodded her head yes. "Go to them, and stay there till one of us comes to get you," Naruto ordered, to escort them, Naruto produced to clones and told them to protect Inari and Tsunami till they reached the destination.

"Thank you," Tsunami said as the clones ushered her out the door.

"We should hurry up and get to the bridge," Riku commented when Tsunami and the clones had left.

"Alright, lets go."

The mist slowly started to envelope the bridge, and all the ninja. Sasuke couldn't help but smile when Sakura realized what was happening, and shut up.

Finally! Some action.

"Get into your positions!" Hana yelled out to the genin. The genin didn't have to be told twice, Sakura and Sai practically appeared next to Tazuna, while Sasuke almost shunshined into his position. He stood alittle bit in front of Sakura and Sai, the Uchiha looked behind over his should, and gave Sai a wink.

There's the signal- the pale boy thought. Sai dropped down to one knee, took out a drawing scroll, and started pumping out ink rats. He and Sasuke thought up the idea last night, if they couldn't see through the mist then the only way to find them would be to find them. They naturally wouldn't be able to go into the fog, and hope for a good outcome, so Sai proposed that he could use his ink rats to find them.

The rats scurried forward, and were looking for any sort of chakra signatures to be drawn to.

"I must give it to you, you all've got balls," a deep voice said from inside of the mist, "I thought you all would've run away like most Konoha-nin."

"Clearly you've underestimated us," Cat responded as he drew out a kunai.

"When you've been in this business as long as I have, you never under estimate anyone," Zabuza stated.

"Why don't you show yourself, and get this over with?" Cat asked, he was trying to buy time for the boys and he was aware of the plan.

"And spoil all of the fun? Nah, I like to see the little genin squirm before I end them."

*cough cough*

Two coughs by Sai- Sasuke, and Cat thought simultaneously.

Sasuke started to do the handsigns for a jutsu, while he waited for Sai to give him the directions.

Sai blinked his right eye three times, and coughed twice, .

Eleven o'clock, far!

Sasuke ran through the handsigns, and shouted: katon-grand fireball jutsu! The fireball erupted from his mouth, and barreled through the mist causing it to evaporate from the intense heat.

Zabuza felt something big coming towards he and Haku, and immediately knew something was up.

How did they know where we were?- Zabuza thought as he cut through the fireball with his huge sword.

His enhanced ninja senses warned him that something else was coming his way. The mist-nin jumped back from where he previously stood, just as several kunai and shuriken blanketed the area.

"SOB!" the mist-nin roared, "Haku, lets finish this."

All he got was a nod from the girl, before she disappeared into the mist. Zabuza then ran head long into the mist at a break neck speed.

Sasuke looked into the mist, nothing had happened for a couple minutes, he was actually hopeful that they had somehow injured them. Luck was not on his side however, as a flurry of ice javelins sped towards him.

"Crap!" Sasuke yelled as he dodge the ice blades, but they just kept coming. He dodged the first five, but the sixth one grazed his right calf, which cause his to grimace in pain. He kept the dance up however, and when the last one sped towards him, he shifted his legs, grabbed the ice spike, and flung it back in the direction that the others had come from.

Haku smirked behind her mask, as she saw the ice heading her way. She calmly held out her hand, and stopped the chakra flow that was going into the javelin. The ice melted in mid air just before it hit her.

"You'll have to do better than that," Haku said emotionlessly.

"I plan on it."

Katon: grand fireball jutsu!

A huge ball of flame erupted from Sasuke's mouth, a barreled towards Haku speedily.

Ice style (?) :ice wall!

A wall of ice burst from the ground, and held its ground as the ball of fire crashed into it. Haku decided it was time to take the offensive. She overloaded the chakra holding up the ice wall, which caused it to blowup sending chunks of ice in all sorts of directions.

Several of the pieces barreled towards Sasuke, but the Uchiha nimbly evaded all of them.

Haku wasn't finished however, she jumped into the air, into the mist, out of Sasuke's line of sight.

While she was still flying higher into the air, Haku ran through some more hand signs.

Ice stye: a thousand senbon jutsu!

A thousand senbon needles flanked her on both sides, and with a flick of her hand, she and the needles fell from the sky towards Sasuke.

Sasuke saw her fly up into the clouds, and immediately knew something was up. He didn't have to wait too long to find out.

Sasuke couldn't see the senbon needles because of the mist, but he could feel them speeding towards him.

The Uchiha brought his hands together, and shushined away, just as the area was blanketed in senbon. Sasuke only shushined roughly ten feet from where he previously stood.

As soon as Haku hit the ground, Sasuke was all over her. He sent a flurry of punches her way. Haku blocked some, and countered on the others. She was caught off guard though, when Sasuke feigned a leg sweep, and followed it up with a swift kick too Haku's midsection.

The ice user flew back from the kick, and slid a few feet on the ground. She picked herself up, and sped through some hand signs.

Demonic ice mirror jutsu!

An octagon of mirrors appeared around the Uchiha, and in each one stood Haku.

Crap!

"You might as well give up now," Haku said emotionlessly.

Sasuke's answer was a fireball to one of the mirrors that harmlessly hit one of the mirrors, and burned itself out. Sasuke's eyes widened with fear.

That did nothing!

"It is futile to resist," Haku said as she began raining senbon needles down at the Uchiha.

Hana and Cat were handling Zabuza, they stayed on there toes, and had caused him to use a lot of his chakra. Hana had summoned the Haimaru brothers, and was flashing thourgh some handsigns. She had already flipped a pill to each of the dogs, and when she finished Hana yelled out: Quadruple fang over fang.

Hana and the three dogs, span in a cyclone-drill sort of movement, and sped towards Zabuza.

The mist-nin, dodged the first two, kick Hana away, but was unable to get away from the last brother. The dog hit him head on, and cut several deep gashes in his chest.

He was launched away from the duo, but calmly lifted himself back up, and sped through some handsigns.

Suton: Kamikaze wave!

Naruto and Riku had caught up to Sakura, Sai, and Tazuna.

"Are you guys alright?" Riku asked as she ran up to check on them.

"Yah, we're fine," Sakura stated nervously, "but Sasuke-kun, Hana-senpai, and Cat- san are fighting the other ninja."

"I'll help Sasuke, you should go check on Hana and Cat," Naruto said as he drew out a kunai.

Riku nodded, and the duo took off in separate directions into the mist.

Naruto ran as fast as he could into the mist in search of his friend. As luck would have it, Naruto arrived just in time to see Sasuke take another senbon needle to the chest.

Sasuke grunted in pain as he fell to one knee. He spat out some blood, and defiantly glared at one of the mirrors.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he ran towards the mirrors.

"Naruto! Don't come in the mirrors!" Sasuke warned.

Naruto halted, and stated spinning his hands a forming a rasengan.

"Hang on Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he plunged the rasengan into the nearest mirror.

The ball of chakra grounded its way through the mirror, and blasted it into a million little shards. Haku had to jump from the mirror, and into another one, but the damage was already done.

Sasuke watched as a blur jumped from the mirror. While the blur was in the air, the Uchiha noticed as it came more and more into focus. It got to a point where he saw her perfectly, it wasn't in slow motion per say, it was like real time.

Deciding to take action, Sasuke flashed through the first set of handsigns he had ever learned.

Katon: Fireball Jutsu!

He aimed it approximately where Haku was going to be.

His aim was spot on.

Haku was blown out of mid air, and smashed into the side of the bridge. She landed with a solid thud, and nearly passed out from the pain. The thing that she noticed, and kept her conscious, was the mist thinning out and evaporating right before her eyes.

Zabuza-sama.

..

..

..

Naruto looked over at his friend with a surprised expression. He was about to ask, 'how did you do that' but stopped when he saw the state that Sasuke was in. Sasuke had fallen onto all fours, and was bleeding profusely. From the looks of both of his legs, they had been rendered immobile from the senbon. Naruto rushed over to help him.

By the time he got to Sasuke, it was too late. The Uchiha passed out in his own pile of blood.

"HELP! SOMEBODY, HELP!" Naruto cried out as he arrived at Sasuke's side. He was on the verge of tears, but was relieved to find that he still had a pulse all though it was weak. Sakura, Sai, Tazuna arrived a second later, and Sai started giving him first aid.

All of the sadness that had built up in Naruto's heart at the prospective death of his best friend, quickly turned to rage. He got up from next to Sasuke, and ran over to where Haku was sprawled out next to the side of the bridge. He grabbed her by the collar, and punched her straight in the face.

The mask that she wore was shattered, and fell away from Haku's face.

"H-Haku?" Naruto said as he continued to hold her up.

"I'm sorry Naruto, you and your friend defeated me. I'm no longer useful, please kill me," Haku said with tears streaming down her eyes.

"What? No!," Naruto said as he threw her roughly down to the ground.

He turned his back on her, and looked over across the bridge at Hana, Cat, Riku and Zabuza.

Even at the distance, Naruto could tell that Cat and Zabuza were seriously injured. Hana was pretty banged up, but was otherwise ok. Naruto wasn't sure if Cat was still alive, but he could tell that Zabuza was by the way Riku held her blade over his neck.

Naruto looked back down at Haku and was surprised to see her ready to plunge a spike of ice through here chest.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled as he wrestled the spike from her hand.

"Wtf is your problem!"

"I'm no longer useful."

"BS!" Naruto yelled as he picked her up, and slung her over his shoulder. He started walking over towards the others.

"Please kill me!" Haku pleaded as they neared the others. The last thing she wanted to see was Zabuza's disappointed face.

"No, I won't kill you unless I'm ordered to," Naruto snapped back, "Besides, why the hell would you want to die?"

"I failed Zabuza-sam," Haku said simply.

"I can understand why you would be sad, but that's no reason to kill yourself," Naruto concluded.

"It is a very good reason to kill myself," Haku retorted.

"I don't follow your logic," Naruto answered back.

Haku then told him the abbreviated version of her past, and how she now lived to serve Zabuza.

"That's still no reason to kill yourself, you can't defeat everybody, and if Zabuza wanted you to kill yourself after a simple failure, then he's a real bastard," Naruto said vehemently.

"Don't insult him," Haku snapped at him.

"Fine," Naruto said as he dumped on the ground next to Zabuza.

"How's Sasuke?" Hana asked Naruto after he put Haku on the ground.

"He'll be fine, how is Cat?" Naruto asked as he looked over at the ANBU.

"Cat didn't make it," Hana said quietly.

"Oh," Naruto said shocked. He never expected that the only one of them to be killed on the mission would be Cat.

"He died doing his duty," Hana concluded.

"What are we going to do about them?" Riku asked as she gestured towards Zabuza, and Haku.

"I don't know, but we-"

Hana never got to finish her sentence. An explosive kunai landed right in the middle of the group and detonated.