Hello again True Believers! Now, when we last left our heroes, Naruto had arrived to help even the odds against their foes. However, things are about to take a turn for the worst, as Team 7's most powerful members are caught in their own battles for survival. Can anyone make it out on top? Let's find out now... On with the fanfic!


Chapter 9: In Winter's Grasp; The Demon Awakes!

"You know how it goes," Naruto grinned as both his team and adversaries stood stunned by his somewhat flashy arrival. "Just when things start to look bleak, the hero appears and then POW! It's adios bad guys!"

'Exasperating little,' fumed Kakashi in irritation as his student spoke. 'What we needed was an ambush and instead, he paints a target on himself!'

'Big talker,' Sasuke glowered. Just before could think anything else on the subject, he felt a hand clamp tightly over his mouth and was then forcefully yanked backwards. He was about to bite down on the hand when he heard an all too familiar voice shush him in a hushed tone.

"Cool it teme, it's me Naruto," whispered the blonde quietly. "You really didn't think I'd be so stupid as to blindly jump into the fight like that, did you?" In all honesty, he actually did believe it for a second. But, as Sasuke took a closer look at the other Naruto on the outside of the mirrors, he saw that this one behaved differently than the genuine article behind him did. It acted like it was supposed to be a distraction, while doing its best not to deviate from the original's true personality. "Now, I'm gonna try and teleport us out of here so- Arrggh!" Suddenly, the young X-Man fell heavily to one knee in obvious pain, a bloody senbon of ice jutting from his calf.

"That was a good plan, distracting me with that Kage Bushinn like you did," Haku admitted as said bushinn vanished in a puff of smoke. "However, the space inside those mirrors is like my own personal dimension. Nothing goes on within them that I cannot discern."

'Typical, Naruto tries to help and ends up only making things worse!' Kakashi sighed as he watched his student painfully remove the senbon from his leg and through it to the ground. As second later, the gaping hole it had made in his X.S.E. Uniform closed up, it's coating of Unstable Molocules returning to their original shape. Beneath the fabric, Kakashi somehow knew that his wound was reaction similarly, as Naruto's healing factor went to work on it.

The same as before, Haku stepped forward and melded into the mirror that he had been knocked out of a moment ago, the ice around him rippling as if he was stepping into a pool of water. Just before his head entered the icy panel, he turned to face his sword-wielding mentor. "Zabuza-sama, please allow me to take care of this one as well. I wish to defeat him in my own way."

After a moment of consideration, Zabuza turned his attention back to Haku and gave his ultimatum. "So... you want me to keep my hands off him, eh?" the nuke-nin growled. "How charmingly naive as usual."

'Him, naive? Yeah right!' Sasuke scoffed as he and Naruto rose painfully to their feet. 'It's like I'm being cut to ribbons by thousands of needles; but, these cuts are all superficial. He's killing me by inches... saving my vitals and the deathblow for later. I can't seem to counter this technique of his, even after absorbing his abilities. That and I can feel what little power I've absorbed ebbing slowly away. If we want to get out of here, only chance is to try and take out these mirrors, seeing as they seem to be the key behind this whole thing.'

Naruto glanced at his teammate for a moment and recognized the familiar look in his eye: the Uchiha had a plan. It was then that he also noticed the abnormal glow in Sasuke's eyes that seemed to pulsate and change in brilliance every few seconds. "Heh, you too Sasuke-teme?"

"What'd you mean, 'me too'?" the dark-haired teen questioned in annoyed confusion.

"You've got mutant powers too, right?" Naruto said with his trademark foxy grin.

Upon hearing that, Sasuke froze for a moment. '...Is that what that was?' He wondered in faint shock. 'I'm... a mutant?' So, that was what had ignited that bizarre feeling of power within him, and had given him the ability to absorb Haku's powers like he had. It all made sense now! And, if he understood what Sakura had done a moment ago, that meant she had powers like him as well.

"Yeah... I guess I do," he finally managed to say, still a great deal confused. "When I fought that guy a while ago, he caught one of my punches and I somehow absorbed his power to create ice. The thing is I was close to finally activating my Sharingan when it happened." What he said was true; he had been focusing on trying to force his Sharingan to activate when his new power had so abruptly manifested. "But that's not important right now. I can feel myself losing the power I took from him and on top of that, thanks to your 'plan', now we're both stuck in here!"

"Hey, at least I thought about saving your sorry ass!" the blonde shot back in annoyance, a small vein pulsing on is brow. "But like you said yourself, it's not important now. Right now we've gotta deal with getting outta here."

"Right," agreed Sasuke as he quickly went through a series of hand seals. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" With the same powerful technique he'd used against Kakashi in the Bell Test, Sasuke spat out a massive ball of fire at the closest set of mirrors, the intensity of its heat rippling through the air. Following his lead, Naruto leveled his hands in the opposite direction and launched his Gatling Claw at the opposing mirrors, the glowing claws showering the ice like rain over and over. When all was said and done, however, the effect was the same as when Sakura had attempted to use her powers against the mirrors: not a single one was destroyed. Before they could try again, they were viciously assaulted by another of Haku's senbon attacks.

"As I told your friend, it will take more than that to destroy my mirrors," Haku and his images said in cold unison after they'd reappeared and had finished their attack. "Your pitiful flames won't even touch them."

"Maybe, but let's see how they react to brute force," Naruto growled as he launched his next attack, forming a seal with his still clawed hands. "Kage Bushinn no Jutsu!" A burst of smoke enveloped him, and from it leapt twenty bushinn, one for each of mirrors with their claws carving neon arcs through the air. Just as they came inches from hitting the mirrors, they were simultaneously attacked and dispelled in a massive burst of smoke. A moment later, Sasuke and Naruto were dealt a similar blow.

"The technique I'm using is that of Shunshin (God Speed or Teleportation), and the only tool I require to perform it is the mirrors that hold my image," Haku explained as Naruto and Sasuke were sent flying backwards onto the pavement. "I move so fast that the two of you might as well be standing still."

"I've had just about enough'a this crap," Naruto proclaimed as he rose to his feet, ignoring the pain of the senbon still imbedded in his arms and shoulders. "I refuse to have it end like this! I have a dream to fulfill and you're not gonna stop me!" Haku was silent for a moment at that, remembering his talk with Naruto in the forest a few days ago. Was this his true path, destruction and murder? Could he really bring himself to do this?

"I... find it difficult to follow the philosophy of the shinobi," he finally admitted after a moment of awkward silence. "I can't help but prefer the two of you not force me to kill you. However, if you do come at me, I shall be forced to kill my own heart with my blade- just at the word 'shinobi' once meant 'heart' and 'blade'-and act as a true shinobi would. This bridge is a nexus of our destines, and everything we hold dear is balanced on the edge of a knife. We each have our own dreams, so please do not resent me for my willingness to do whatever it takes to protect the dreams of the one I care about the most. Doing so is my dream, and to that end, I will become a true shinobi and kill you both!"

After giving what Haku had said to them a moment to sink in, both Naruto and Sasuke nodded in recognition and attempted another assault, Naruto with his claws and bushinn, with Sasuke adding to the fray of flames with his fireballs. They understood what was at stake by doing this, yet they didn't care one bit. They were fighting for their dreams too, and they weren't about to give up on them without a fight.


"Heh, what do you say we let them sort this out amongst themselves, eh, Kakashi?" Zabuza sneered as he willed the surrounding mist to envelop him once more. As he did so, the mist moved over the spot were Naruto and Sasuke where battling Haku, obscuring Team 7's view of their trapped comrades. Kakashi scanned the mists warily as the nuke-nin's taunting laughter echoed throughout the area. "It's just you and me now."

"You'll forgive me, if I put an end to this?" Kakashi responded, lifting up his hitai-ite to reveal his Sharingan.

"Falling back on Sharingan again?" Zabuza taunted, goading him from within the mist. "What a vulgar ploy, so obvious and lacking in finesse!" Suddenly, the nuke-nin flew out of the mist and slashed at one of Kakashi's hands with a wickedly curved kunai. Though the blade drew blood, Kakashi's injury was only skin deep, and therefore minor. "Heh, a ninja's secret weapon should be employed judiciously, not displayed at random to every foe you face."

"Is there anything more dull than listening to someone drone on and on like an old woman?" Kakashi shot back. "Let's finish this!"

"Heh, by all means, defeat me if you can," mocked Zabuza arrogantly. "You still won't have what it takes to defeat Haku!"

'What? Could that boy be so powerful that even Kakashi-sensei can't defeat him?' worried Sakura silently as she stood by Tazuna, her beta energy still encompassing her hands. Whatever Zabuza had planned, she would be ready for him!

"Since he was young," explained Zabuza nonchalantly, "I've beaten his fighting skills into him! Even in the face of extreme adversity, Haku has always prevailed. He's lost all regard for his own life and become a relentless killing machine, a true shinobi! Not only that, but he bears with him the formidable legacy of a powerful Kekkei Genkai."

'So, I was right,' Kakashi realized as he continued to stare down the nuke-nin. 'That power Sasuke was able to duplicate somehow was a Kekkei Genkai.'

"As for myself," continued Zabuza, "having seen it once already, I now have a thorough understanding of the workings of your Sharingan eye. You see, there was far more to our last encounter than that humiliating defeat you handed me: Haku was hiding nearby, taking in every aspect of the battle and deducing the nature of that eye of yours. For him, to see a technique is to analyze it and develop counter-measures based on his understanding." Seemingly finished with his bragging, the nuke-nin formed another seal and once more vanished into the mist.

"Sakura!" warned Kakashi as he scanned the mist, which began to get even thicker. "Stick close to Tazuna and don't let your guard down even for a second!"

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei!" she replied, the growing curtain of mist masking all but the outline of her form and that of Tazuna. A second later, those too vanished as well.

'This fog is way too thick for his Kiri Gakure no Jutsu, even Zabuza won't be able to see through it,' Kakashi reasoned as he mentally prepared himself for his adversary's next move. With the fog as thick as it was, it was anyone's game at this point. Suddenly, the Copy-nin sensed a spike of chakra off to his left and was immediately assaulted by a series of bladed strikes, all of which he managed to parry with his kunai. If not for his Sharingan enhancing his reaction time and reflexes, those attacks would've perforated him completely!

"You repelled those quite nicely," came Zabuza's chilling voice from behind him. Turning around as slowly as possible, Kakashi saw that the nuke-nin was indeed standing behind him, but something had changed from his previous attack: he had his eyes closed! "However, the next time you see me it will still be the end. You've overestimated the value of your Sharingan."

"What?!"

"Heh, heh, heh," chuckled the nuke-nin maliciously as he vanished once more into the surrounding mist. "You pretend that it enables you to penetrate all, yet you've turned out to be a false prophet after all, Kakashi. In other words, your Sharingan is nothing but an elaborate hoax, a confidence trick you play on your opponents! More precisely, it combines clarity of perception and insight on your own part with your ability to hypnotize those around you. When used in concert, you create your illusions through sheer mimicry of your opponent, all the while chipping away at their insecurities and paranoia. Knowing this, it simple to choose a counter-measure to your abilities."

Just as Kakashi thought Zabuza had finished his little monologue, the nuke-nin swung at him with a powerful left-hook. Unable to see to defend himself, he took the blow right across the jaw and was sent skidding back a ways. 'Argh! It's hard to block what I can't see, especially in this mist!'

"First, I conceal myself in this mist and neutralize your visual acuity," explained Zabuza proudly from within the mist. "And, by shutting my eyes, I eliminate the possibility of hypnosis when at close proximity with you."

"Heh, but while I can't use my eyes, neither can you!" stated the silver-haired Jounin as he warily searched the mist for any sign of movement. His statement was met with an amused and evil laugh.

"You forget Kakashi," taunted the nuke-nin haughtily. "I'm Momochi Zabuza, Master of the Silent Kill! I don't need to see you when I can hunt you down by sound alone!"

'... Damn it!' Kakashi swore silently, still vigilant to the world around him. 'I've been so distracted by Sasuke and Naruto's predicament that I haven't considered how long it's been since I've had to fight under these conditions!' Deciding to keep a cool head, he relaxed for a moment and took a deep breath, opening his mind and centering his thoughts on the task at hand. He would need every last ounce of focus if he wanted to succeed. 'Now, who will he target...? NO!'

At that moment, Zabuza appeared behind Tazuna and Sakura like a figure of death from within the mist. Silent as only a shinobi could be, he took hold of his Kubikiri Hocho and rushed forward as he readied himself to swing.It was then that Sakura sensed his chakra and turned to face the nuke-nin, who bore down on her with incredible, almost inhuman speed. Just before he could deliver the finishing blow, Kakashi flickered into existence in front of the assassin's blade to protect his student and their charge. A second later, he brought down the massive sword. "Too late!" bellowed Zabuza victoriously.


Back inside the dome of ice mirrors, Sasuke and Naruto were just getting to their feet after experiencing another punishing salvo of senbon. They had put everything they had into their last attacks, and still the mirrors remained standing. However, they weren't about to give up yet, not as long as they could still draw breath. The both of them had to win, for the sake of their dreams if nothing else. As Sasuke mulled this over in his mind once more, Sakura's frightened scream cut through the air like a knife. That single, solitary sound was enough to make his blood run as cold as the air around him had become.

'Sakura-chan! What's going on out there?!' he wondered in a concerned panic as he got to his feet, this mind racing a mile a minute. 'If this keeps up, we'll all be in serious trouble! I've got to focus... see through the illusion!'

'I've been targeting the vital spots that cause mortal injuries, yet it isn't working on either of them,' Haku analyzed as he looked down on Naruto and Sasuke. 'The blonde one just takes everything I throw at him and keeps coming, but that boy, Sasuke... he's been able to avoid all of my fatal blows. And while he's dividing focus between fighting me and helping his friend, he's beginning to gain speed that matches up with my techniques.'

"You move well," complimented the masked boy honestly. "However, my next attack will finish you!" With that, he loosed another, tightly focused barrage of icy senbon at Naruto and Sasuke. Much to his surprise though, Sasuke managed tackle Naruto hard and they both flew out of the path of the deadly needles. The moment his head hit the ground, however, stars flashed across Naruto's field of vision, causing him to temporarily blackout.

'He wasn't fooled, or even confused... impossible!' marveled Haku from within his mirror. It was then, as Sasuke staggered to his feet that he finally saw the source of the mutant boy's speed: a pair of black tome situated on either side of his eyes' pupils. The boy had a Sharingan, the same as his sensei! "You're...!! I see, you too share the legacy of a Kekkei Genkai."

"Heh, amongst other things," Sasuke grinned as he glared at his ice-wielding opponent. 'It was only for a moment, but I was able to see it!'

"...I cannot allow this to continue," said Haku after a moment of silent awe and respect. "My own art requires that I expend a considerable amount of chakra, so there is a limit. Also, if this does continue, I am certain that your ability to perceive my movements will become greater." As he skillfully contemplated his course of action, Haku couldn't help but feel uneasy about advancing on the Uchiha before him. Someone who could match his skills was truly a prodigy, not to be taken lightly. 'It would be foolish to attempt a direct attack,' he considered silently. It was then that his analytical eyes fell on Naruto, who was groggily getting to his knees and attempting to shake the cobwebs out of his brain. 'Maybe if I use the boy.'

Sasuke watched as Haku gathered another handful of gleaming senbon, all of which he assumed were meant for him and readied himself for an attack, the needles imbedded in his legs paining him greatly as he did so. He had only a small amount of the masked ninja's strange power remaining, and if he could, he planned to use it to end this fight here and now. Just then, Haku leapt from one of the mirrors and shot past him with blinding speed, headed on a direct collision course with... Naruto! 'He's going after Naruto now?! No, I have to reach him before he does!'

'Ugh,' Naruto groaned both mentally and audibly as he rose to a sitting position. 'Damn, my head feels like Marko just used it for a punching bag. What the hell hit me? Was it Sasuke? No, that's crazy, he's got to worry about-' It was then that his thoughts were interrupted by a number of frightening sounds. The sound of soft flesh being penetrated by a series of sharp objects; a grunt of mortal pain; ice splintering and cracking; and finally the heavy thud of something hitting the ground hard. Shaking the last of the multicolored spots from his vision, Naruto turned and saw something that made his heart leap into his throat.

Sasuke was lying on the ground in front of him, a ring of icy senbon protruding from his neck and in a line along his spinal column, as well as his wrists, his chest, and his palms. The Uchiha heir's right hand was encased in a thick layer of ice, slightly cracked and splintered from where he had hit Haku across his mask. Haku himself was splayed out spread-eagle on the ground a few feet from where Sasuke lay, painfully rubbing his jaw where the Uchiha had struck him. However, the masked ninja was not Naruto's main priority at the time. "Sasuke!" he cried out as he rushed to his comrade's side.

"Heh, get that lame expression off your face, you screw up," Sasuke managed to sputter, coughing up a fair amount of blood as he did so. "... I used to hate you, you know."

"Sasuke, why?!" Naruto stammered as he knelt by his friend's side and held up his head. "Why did you save me like that? You should've worried about yourself, you know my healing factor would've been able to take those hits."

"(Cough) how should I know, fool," the Uchiha said, his voice beginning to die down to a raspy-like whisper. "My body just moved on its own." He coughed twice more and turned to look at his blonde comrade. If he was gonna die here, Naruto at least deserved to know the truth about him, the whole truth. "... I, I swore that I wouldn't die until I killed him, my older brother. Thought the oath would save me... But don't you dare die too..." And with that, Sasuke fell silent, his eyes shut in a peaceful and eternal slumber.

As he laid his friend back down on the concrete, Naruto felt an inhuman rage begin to build within him, one that felt as hot as the pits of Hell itself. He felt enormous quantities of hatred and anger envelope his thoughts, fueled by an all-consuming thirst for vengeance. He would make Sasuke's killer pay for what he had done!

"Is this the first time you've had to watch a comrade die like this?" asked Haku sincerely as he got to his feet and dusted himself off. "He was a true shinobi of the utmost respect, sacrificing himself to protect someone he cared for by throwing himself headlong into what he knew was most likely a trap." As he spoke, Haku walked into one of his mirrors and turned to face Naruto once more, his images appearing again as he did so. "It was a fitting end for an honorable shinobi such as he."

"Shut up!" Naruto snapped maliciously, tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes.

Suddenly a thick cloud of steam began to rise from the boy's body, and as Haku looked on in awe, he could see that he was changing. The wounds on his body began to close up, his senbon popping out of the spots where they had lodged themselves into his flesh and falling uselessly to the ground. Without warning, Naruto's plasma claws ignited violently from his bloodstained hands, doubling in size until they resembled great, glowing butcher knives. Then his body began to shake and convulse as the physical changes began to take place. The tips of his ears lengthened and became pointed, his teary, cerulean blue eyes turning as red as freshly spilled blood, their irises becoming slitted like those of a wild beast. The faint whisker-like marks on his cheeks became thicker and darker, his canine teeth erupting from his gums as they became sharper and more pronounced. It was a terrible sight to behold, and to hear as well, as Haku could hear Naruto snarling in pain and anguish as the changes took hold.

'What is this, this chakra I feel?' Haku wondered as the bizarre metamorphosis continued. It was then that a spiral of blood-red chakra leapt from Naruto's body, traced circles around him for a moment, then climbed skyward in the form of a DNA helix, remaining within the dome's confines all the while. The formation continued to loop violently around the blonde's body and, at the height of its apex, a sinister-looking shape began to take form. After a moment, it was visible: the massive, snarling head of what looked to be a fox! 'What?! Chakra cannot be seen, and yet it's clearly visible. It's something ghastly; I can practically feel the wrath, the bloodlust, like evil itself!' Suddenly, a deep, ominous voice scrapped across his mind, like nails on a blackboard.

'Who dares to spill the blood of the innocent?!' it raged loudly, almost demanding an answer from him. The voice sounded ancient, feral, and angry... very angry.

'Wha-What is this?!' Haku panicked mentally. Just as he thought the voice would answer, the chakra spiral and face condensed into a column of red energy and struck Naruto, absorbing itself into his teenage frame. Then, as he stood, the red chakra began to seep from every pore of his skin like sap would from a tree, beginning to form around him in a cloak of sorts. It completely encased him from head to toe, almost like a personal shield that bubbled and shifted with each passing second. At the crown of his head, the crimson energy formed what looked to be a pair of lupine ears, and at the base of his spine, a single, solitary tail took shape. The strange new appendage swished back and forth in anger and irritation. 'This boy…what on earth is he?!'

"I should've warned you before… Haku," Naruto snarled, his voice becoming deeper and huskier than before, virtually dripping with malice and hatred as he practically spat out his name. "Don't make me mad."He whipped his head around to glare at the frightened ninja over his shoulder. What could be seen of his face was contorted in a gruesome mask of inhuman rage and anger, his eyes burning in intense hatred and distain. "You won't like me when I'm mad!"

"Stay back!" Haku panicked, showering senbon down upon the inhuman boy in an attempt to defend himself from whatever the child had planned for him.

The needles came inches from the chakra cloak, turned white-hot, then melted on contact, vaporizing to atoms in mere seconds. Naruto animalistically dropped down on all-fours, threw his head back in a low, bloodcurdling howl and flickered out of sight. A second later, five of Haku's ice mirrors suddenly shattered in a rain of ice and snow. Bewildered, Haku looked around for the demonic boy only to catch a fleeting glimpse of him as he literally flew past his mirror. His eyes were wild, enraged, and teaming with bloodlust, his claws carving bright, neon streaks through the air. The killer intent behind them was almost nauseating. Another of Haku's mirrors promptly fell apart a milisecond later.

'His chakra grows stronger with every second; I have to end this now!' Haku reasoned, using the remainder of his images to attempt another attack once Naruto reappeared. Again, the senbon melted as soon as they struck the crimson cloak, causing small wisps of steam to rise from its ever shifting surface. They tried again, but this time the cloak's tail lashed out and knocked them from the air as if they were spitballs. Naruto looked up at the images and snarled angrily like a wild animal, eyes shrouded in blind fury. He vanished once more, then suddenly materializing in the ice dome's center, spreading his hands wide like an orchestra conductor from Hell, and flashing a wicked smile as he did so. Then, without warning, he forcefully slammed them together before him in a great, thunderous clap, creating a miniature sonic-boom that shattered the remaining mirrors in seconds. Immediately, Haku realized that this boy was too much for him to handle.

'I have to try and stop him; I refuse to let it end this way!' From the shard of a broken mirror, Haku leapt at Naruto with a gleaming senbon clutched tightly in his hand in a futile attempt to stab him. Sensing him, Naruto flicked out his hand and caught Haku by the forearm, tightening his grip enough to force him to drop the needle. A second later, the masked ninja cried out in pain as his wrist was broken with little effort. The other hand Naruto drew back and made into a fist, the demonic chakra flowing around it wildly.

'This is madness!' Haku realized. 'I can't withstand this chakra any more!' Roaring with all his might, Naruto struck Haku in the center of his mask with inhuman strength, the force of the great blow splintering his mask and sending him soaring through the air like an out-of-control NASA rocket.


The very second the Kyuubi's chakra escaped from Naruto, both Kakashi and Zabuza felt the influx of power that seemed to hang in the air as it remained. It was menacing and dark, as if evil itself had descended upon them from the blackest pits of Yomi (the Japanese Underworld in Shinto mythology). Although Zabuza had no clue as to what it was, Kakashi knew that dark chakra all too well. He'd felt that same chakra on that fateful night thirteen years ago, but then it was much stronger then than this was now.

'Has the seal been broken?!' Kakashi worried as he looked in the direction the power was coming from, though he couldn't see a thing through the damnable fog that enveloped them. 'No, it's just been loosened. Either way, I've got to end this quickly.' Reaching for a compartment on his vest, he unclipped it and removed a small scroll from its confines. He then wiped his thumb across the wound he'd received when he'd prevented Zabuza from killing Tazuna and Sakura a moment ago, and spread the blood along the scroll's unfurled print.

"Zabuza!" he called out as he dramatically spun the scroll in a few lazy arcs around his body. "We're both busy men you and I, so what do you say we wrap this up right here and now?!"

"Heh, sounds tempting, Kakashi; but I have no intention of letting this end so early in the game," rebutted Zabuza from within the mist's confines. "Besides, just as I said before, you're nothing without your Sharingan! You can't defeat me no matter what you try with that eye of yours!"

"Do you really think I made it into the ANBU Black Ops on just my Sharingan and a prayer?!" The Copy-nin shot back in annoyance as he retracted the scroll and formed a ram seal before his mouth. After he had formed the seal, he quickly slammed the scroll on the ground and instantly, a series of complex ninjutsu formulas encompassed it in a tight circle. "Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu! (Earth Style Summoning: Tracking Fang Jutsu)!"

"Posturing won't get you anywhere Kakashi," Zabuza taunted maliciously. "We both know you won't be able to find me no matter what you try, while I can find you where ever it is you may hide! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" However, Zabuza had laughed sooner than he should've, for as he did so, a series of fissures and cracks began to appear beneath his feet. His laughter died in his throat a moment later, as a pack of hitai-ite wearing dogs erupted from the concrete floor and bit down on him, effectively paralyzing him. "What?! No!!"

"'When your eyes and ears fail you, always follow your nose'," Kakashi quoted with a smile as a portion of the fog rolled away to reveal the captive Zabuza. Although his time in Konohagakure had been brief, Wolverine had left him with some valuable advice. "When you cut me earlier, you neglected to wipe my blood from you sword. The technique I used allowed me to call forth my ninken (Ninja Hounds), who were able to zero in on the scent of my blood and 'restrain' you." He approached the now immobilized nuke-nin and stopped a yard or so away from him. As Zabuza looked on in confusion, Kakashi went through a series seals at blinding speed then ceased to drop his right arm to his side, bracing it with his left as an electric-blue glow began to envelope his open palm. "Now, I believe I've said this once before...Your future is death!"


Holy Smokes True Believers! Naruto's gone full One-Tail against Haku in retaliation to Sasuke's death! Can't say I blame him though, he finally starts to become friends with the moody kid, then he up and dies. Don't tune out just yet gang, cause the next chapter is where everything changes! Up to this point, things have kinda been sticking to the original a bit, but no more! Get ready for chilling surprises, mind-blowing fight sequences, and best of all, the revelation of our mystery guest! Stay tuned as things get awesome, and remember to R&R!