The mist clung to the air around them, making it impossible to see more than two feet in front of their faces. An eerie quiet surrounded them, the only sound they could hear was their own breath. There was no telling where Zabuza was going to strike, no telling who might fall first in their duty as ninja. "Eight points." Everyone tensed as the voice came from everywhere. "Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, and heart. Now, which will be my attack points?" Only three of the Konoha ninja's didn't seem to be affected by the words and the killing intent behind them. 'What an intense thirst for blood...One breath or one eye movement could be detected and get me killed...That is the atmosphere I feel...If I stay here for any longer I'll lose my mind! The feeling that my life is in someone else's hand...It's too much to handle!' Sasuke raised a kunai he was holding up a little more, looking like he was ready to stab himself. "Sasuke," The voice of Kakashi was firm, commanding, and left no room for disobedience. "Calm down, don't worry; I'll protect all of you with my life." The low, deep sound of Zabuza's chuckle made him shiver. "Big words Copy-nin, but how can you protect them when you can't even see?"
The mist in-between the Genin cleared some, showing Zabuza, crouched and ready to swing his sword around and chop them all down. The sword started moving, swinging towards Sasuke first, who seemed to be completely frozen. The sound of steel hitting steel startled him from his frozen state. Tenshi had appeared between him and the large sword, his own katana out and holding the sword in place. "You talk way too much, has anyone ever told you that?" Zabuza suddenly had a kunai at his neck, courtesy of one Hatake Kakashi. "Well, so much for the big bad missing-nin." Zabuza let out a very short laugh and pressed forward against the kunai, piercing his throat before turning into a huge puddle of water. Kakashi had all of a second to be shocked before a sword was coming at him, leveled with his neck. Ducking down, he dodged the sword but ended up being kicked in the stomach, flying towards the small lake.
A curse left his lips as he flew above the lake before splashing into it. The sound of steel on steel met him again as he slowly surfaced. 'This water is too heavy to be normal. Did he replace all of it with water mixed with his own chakra?' He had time to take a quick breath of air before he suddenly found himself trapped in a ball of water. "It seems like the copy-nin doesn't live up to the legends." The mist cleared enough that he could see Tenshi battling what seemed to be two water clones, slowly driving them back and away from his team and their charge. "Even the little brat seems to be better then you Hatake." As he said this, one of the clones seemed to leave an opening, its head quickly being cut off before it dissolved into water. Without wasting a bit, the Chūnin, and he was seriously doubting that the boy was a Chūnin, wasted no time, making quick, one handed seals with his free hand and causing the water to turn to ice, which quickly flew into the other clone. "Little brat isn't bad at all. Maybe I should capture him and make him work for me." Kakashi tried his best not to laugh, he really did, but the sound still escaped him. The small twitch he could see above Zabuza's eye let him know the man seemed to be pissed that he found the idea funny. "Oh come on, you got caught on purpose didn't you." They both looked to Tenshi, who was holding his sword lazily. "It's bad enough I had to help with the damn clones, but now I got to get you out of the stupid water prison." The Jōnin sweat dropped and would have rubbed the back of his head if he had been allowed movement inside his prison. "I didn't do it on purpose, and I didn't ask for your help with the clones." The boy mumbled something that sounded like an insult, but he couldn't have been sure.
"I'll help you out under on condition." Kakashi raised an eyebrow, doubting that the boy could see it. "No reading that smutty book in front of the team or myself till after the mission is over with." Kakashi's jaw dropped behind his mask. A chuckle from beside him brought him out of his shock. "The copy-nin reads porn, who would've ever thought that." The glare he directed at Zabuza would have killed any normal man, and made a Genin faint. "Icha-Icha is not porn. It is a well written piece of literature." The evil demon that was the only chance for him to escape from his prison laughed. "You need your head checked, I think you may have taken one too many hits to the head." Poison would be a good way to get rid of him, though apparently the boy had been trained by Anko in poisons, so he may not be able to get away with that. He could always capture the boy and make him watch porn till he became the very thing he seemed to hate. With a resigned sigh, he closed his eyes and basically signed the deal to put him in hell for the next few months. "Alright, fine. Get me out of here and I won't read my books in front of you or the team." The boy smiled at him and the grip on his sword adjusted. "The copy-nin is whipped…Could it be that he's in a relationship with a boy half his age?" "…He just seriously fucked up." The words came from Naruto, who seemed to be trying not to laugh. They all seemed confused by his words, till they felt the kill intent coming off of Tenshi in waves. "I know you did not just insinuate that I'm dating that pervert." The glare being directed at Zabuza would've made any newbie ninja piss his pants, retire and run home to his mommy.
Zabuza still felt a small shiver go down his spine at that glare being directed at him. "Like I said, he just seriously fucked up." The small redhead crouched, causing Zabuza to tense in anticipation. A small cloud of dust was kicked up on the ground as the boy disappeared, Zabuza's eyes widening at the display of speed. He ducked as a blade cut off some of his hair, but was late in blocking the blow delivered to his mid section which sent him flying across the lake. "He's so lucky that he's facing you right now, or I'd cut him into pieces." Kakashi couldn't help but agree that a pissed off Tenshi could definitely cut Zabuza into pieces. Tenshi offered a hand to him and he grasped it, pulling himself out of the water and standing. "Thanks for the help." A snort made him look at the boy. "You could've gotten out of it yourself, we know that. You just remember the deal we made." Kakashi rolled his eyes, the sharingan one looking extremely weird as it was spinning. "You don't have to remind me." Tenshi mumbled something but Kakashi was more focused on Zabuza, who was pulling himself up out of the water.
"Ya know. He insulted you, then me. Next thing you know, he'll insult our client and end up with a sake bottle lodged up his ass." Kakashi couldn't help the laugh that escaped him at the mental image of Zabuza running away from the irate Tazuna. "I don't think Tazuna-san would waste such good sake on the little missing-nin. They could feel Zabuza trying to kill them with his eyes because of their banter. Dodging the water dragon that was quickly sent their way, Kakashi squared off with Zabuza while Tenshi jumped back onto solid ground, standing in front of the team. "Don't take too long, I'm not carrying your ass back if you pass out with no chakra." 'Thankfully, we have three little Genin that can carry me if need be.' Zabuza started making hand seals and Kakashi quickly copied them, two water dragons meeting in the space between them. They moved quickly, meeting in the downpour of the water from the dragons, kunai clashing with sword before putting space between them again. Zabuza started to do his hidden mist jutsu when he saw Kakashi doing the same thing. He quickly changed tactics, but the man easily copied him. 'My movements…He's completely-' "-Reading them." His eyes widened as Kakashi finished his inner thought. 'How did he...Is he-' "-Reading my mind?"
He growled and started seals again. 'That freaky eye is-' "-Pissing me off!" "All you're doing is copying me! -You can't beat me you monkey bastard!" "-You can't beat me you monkey bastard!" He growled louder and switched to one of his more powerful jutsu. "Damn you! I'll make it so you can't ever open that mouth again!" Furiously running through the seals he stumbled as he saw a figure standing behind Kakashi. 'Is that…Me?' That little stumble was all it took for Kakashi to finish before Zabuza. "Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!" 'What?' the jutsu collided with him, forcing the air out of his lungs as he was tossed off the lake and straight into a tree. "How did you…? Can you see the future?" The copy-nin was right in front of him, getting closer and closer, kunai in hand. "Yes…And your future…Is death." His eyes widened and he suddenly fell to the ground on his side, unmoving. Kakashi quickly turned towards his left, eyes narrowing as he spotted someone with a mask similar to that of hunter-nin. "You were right about one thing, his future was death." He bent down and checked Zabuza's pulse, noting that there was none. Senbon were certainly a weird choice of weapon to use for a hunter-nin though. "If you were after him, why did you not help us fight him?" He turned all of his attention back to the hunter-nin, waiting on an answer. "You didn't seem to need my help, and why waste my energy when you can take him down for me?" He heard growling from the direction of his team and just knew it was Tenshi. The hunter-nin jumped from the tree, landing near him. "Now if you don't mind, I'm anxious to get home." Kakashi stepped back from the body, still tensed and ready for a fight if need be. "Thank you." He watched as the hunter knelt down beside Zabuza, and they both vanished. 'Well…I guess we'll be seeing them again.'
He felt someone grab his Hitai-ate and grabbed their wrist, relaxing some when he noticed it was Tenshi, though he raised an eyebrow at the boy. "I just wanted to pull it down so you didn't die of chakra exhaustion. But if you want to, be my guest." He sweat dropped and pulled it down, covering the sharingan. "So did you notice something wrong?" The boy nodded and used some ANBU hand signs, Kakashi barely managed to hide his shock at Tenshi's knowledge of it. He nodded and turned towards his team, swaying slightly. "…Are you okay?" He smiled, though the only way you could tell was that his eye curved. "Ma, I'm fine…I've fought harder battles than that." He saw the boy roll his eyes and fought the urge to stick his tongue out at him, especially considering he would have ended up with lint in his mouth from his mask. "Well if you're sure you're okay. We can take the bridge builder to his house and I can send a report to Hokage-sama about what's happened." He could order the boy not to send a report, to wait till they were safely back in Konoha, but he just knew Tenshi wouldn't listen to him. "I'll also have to include how a lowly Chūnin had to save a big bad Jounins butt. Maybe the test for Jounin should be harder?" He glared at the boy when the world spun and he felt himself falling. 'Seems I did go a little overboard with my chakra usage' The last thing Kakashi saw before he passed out was his team rushing toward him and a hand trying to grab him before he hit the ground.
A/N: And that would be that, took over a year to update, but there it is. Enjoy. If the fighting sucks, well…I never said I could actually WRITE fighting scenes.
