The warm sun pierced the sky and kissed Akira's face as she looked up at it. The sky was as blue as it had ever been, no trace of the storm she'd created the previous night. The trees were a vibrant green and Akira listened to the birds chirp somewhere off in the distance. The sweet fragrance of the wisteria and irises reached Akira's nose and she couldn't resist plucking an iris and placing it behind her ear, the pale purple of the flower bringing out the blue in her dark eyes. The stream flowed peacefully under their feet as they crossed a short bridge, and the dirt pathway through the trees was completely dry except for one puddle.

Akira's eyebrow's furrowed. A puddle? Why was there a puddle in the middle of a warm, dry path? Akira looked over at Kakashi - he'd glanced at it too. And if Kakashi-sensei thought it was odd, then something was surely afoot. No one else seemed to notice, however, so maybe it wasn't that big of a deal. Sakura was especially unconcerned as she was taking pictures of herself and trying to take pictures of the rest of the team on her first mission. When Sasuke insisted she shoved her camera down her throat, Sakura put it away and decided to ask Kakashi-sensei some questions.

"Mr. Tazuna's country is the land of waves, right? Are there ninja there too?"

"No, there are no ninja in the Land of Waves," he replied, deadpan as usual. "But in other countries, there are hidden villages each with their own customs and cultures where ninja reside." Akira looked at her sensei and listened as well. "To the people of this continent, the existence of shinobi villages means strength - military strength. In other words, that's how they protect themselves and maintain the balance of power with neighbouring countries. The ninja villages are not controlled by any government, they're independent and have equal status. Now, a small island like the Land of Waves has a natural protection from the sea - the fog - so, there's no need for a ninja village. The five ancient lands that possess shinobi villages are the lands of Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind and Earth."

"Like the five nature types of jutsu," Akira commented.

"Correct," Kakashi said. "They each occupy vast territories and together, they form the Five Great Shinobi Nations. The Land of Fire has the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the Land of Waves has the Village Hidden in the Mist, the Land of Lightning - the Village Hidden in the clouds, the Land of Wind - the Village Hidden in the Sand, and the Land of Earth has the Village Hidden in the Stones. Only the leaders of these villages are permitted the name 'Kage', which means Shadow: Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage, Tsuchikage. These are the leaders, the five shadows that reign over thousands of ninja."

'He's the strongest in the Land of Fire?' Akira thought. 'But he just sits there and does paperwork all day...'

"Hey!"

Akira snapped out of her thoughts, suddenly nervous about doubting the Hokage.

"You all just doubted Lord Hokage, didn't you?" Kakashi said.

Akira, Naruto and Sakura began shaking their heads, Naruto was also laughing nervously. Kakashi gently put his hand on Akira's head; she looked up at him.

"Well, anyway - there are no ninja battles in a C-rank mission, so you can relax," he said.

"Then we're not going to run into any foreign enemy ninja?" Akira asked. Kakashi chuckled and smiled at her.

"Not likely."

When Akira turned back to the front, Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura were glaring at her.

"Hey, why are you all glaring at me?"

Sakura's eyes flickered upward to Kakashi's hand on Akira's head. He removed it almost instantaneously.

"It's a hand. On my head. Get over yourselves."

"Not anymore," Sakura taunted.

"Not anymore," Akira said in a mocking tone of voice. "Please, can you even hear yourself?"

Sakura became red-faced and turned back to the front, continuing to walk as if nothing had happened. Akira frowned. What was wrong with Kakashi patting her head? It's not like he hadn't done it before. She couldn't see their faces at the time however, maybe they were glaring then, too? But why would they do that? Jealousy? No, it couldn't be. Just then, Akira and everyone else heard a movement behind them and suddenly, Kakashi-sensei pushed Akira forward. She stumbled a bit but recovered quickly and turned around just in time to see her sensei get wrapped in extremely sharp chains. There were two men attached together with said chain and they'd managed to get Kakashi caught. If he hadn't pushed her, Akira would have been in there too. Suddenly, the two men pulled on their chains and squeezed Kakashi-sensei until the sharp blades crushed the silver-haired ninja and whatever fell to the ground was a heap of bloody Kakashi chunks.

Akira's breath hitched in her throat at the sight and she thought she was about to throw up. Memories of her dead clan began to resurface and panic began to set in. Akira hadn't been in this state outside of her bedroom in years. She'd only ever experienced this kind of fear from her nightmares about her family. Her family. Kakashi might have only been her sensei for a few months, but he was such a big part of her life. And her team... She was panicking because her new family was threatened. She couldn't stop it last time... but maybe she could this time.

Still panicking, Akira looked over at her brother and they both nodded at each other. Just as the men's chain was heading towards Naruto, who'd frozen in place, Sasuke pulled out a shuriken and threw it at the chain, pinning it against a tree and then he threw a kunai in the center of his shuriken to secure it. Meanwhile, Akira dashed at the two men and jumped, her feet landing quite stable on their pinned arms. She then grabbed their arms and, with her feet, kicked the two men in the face, ripping the chains of their arm pieces.

The two men circled back - one towards Naruto, the other towards Tazuna. These men were relentless! Sakura planted herself in front of Tazuna, pointing a kunai and the charging man, but then Sasuke stood in front of Sakura to protect her. Akira unsheathed a knife from her arm band and flicked it outwards, dashing at the man heading towards Naruto. She was just about to slash down on him when, out of nowhere, Kakashi-sensei appeared and grabbed both men by the neck with ease. Akira froze on the spot, too surprised to even care that that seemed too easy for her sensei. He was alive; that was all she could think of - all the fear was erased.

"Hi," he said simply.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Akira said happily, grinning from ear to ear.

"Huh? But he was- " Naruto turned back to was used to be a pile of Kakashi bits, but were now small logs. "You used a substitution jutsu!?"

"Naruto, sorry I didn't help you right away. I didn't mean for you to get hurt. I just didn't think you'd... freeze up like that," Kakashi said, walking towards Akira, Sasuke and Sakura. " Good job, Akira, Sasuke - very smooth. You too, Sakura."

Akira grinned at her sensei, completely ignoring everything else. That until Kakashi mentioned the word 'poison'. The men's claws were poisoned and Naruto had been hit on the hand with them. The poison was slowly moving through his blood, but it would barely move if Naruto stayed still. Kakashi tied up the two men to a nearby tree, then he turned to Tazuna.

"Mr. Tazuna."

"Y-Yeah, what?"

"We need to talk." Kakashi crossed his arms. "They're Chūnin from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Their specialty is 'relentless attack' - they keep fighting no matter what the sacrifice."

"How did you know about our ambush?" one of them asked.

"A puddle - on a clear day when everything is dried up?"

"So that's why the puddle was there. You were hiding in it until it was time to strike!" Akira noted.

"In that case, why did you leave the fighting up to the Genin?" Tazuna asked.

"I could have taken them out quickly, but then I'd have learned nothing. I had to know who their target was," Kakashi said condescendingly, glaring at Tazuna.

"Hm? What are you getting at?" he asked.

"This: I wanted to know if they were after us, ninja attacking ninja, or if they were after you, the master bridge maker," sensei said, turning towards the man he was speaking to. "When you put in your request, you asked for standard protection from robbers and highwaymen. You didn't say there were ninja looking for you, hunting you down. If we knew this, it would be a B-rank mission or higher. Our job was simply to get to home and protect you while you finished building your bridge."

Kakashi's voice was getting dangerously low, starting to make Akira realize just how scary he could be. Even Naruto and Sakura seemed to look uneasy.

"If we knew there were ninja after you we would have staffed differently and charged for the cost of a B-rank mission. Apparently you have your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this mission."

"We're Genin," Sakura said. "This is too advanced for our level of training. We should go back."

"But we've gotten this far!" Akira said, disappointed.

"We should go back, get Naruto's wound to a doctor."

"Naruto's hand could become a problem," Kakashi said, almost bored. "I guess we should go back to the village."

Akira sighed and glared at Sakura who smiled innocently at her. What was she up to? Naruto could remove the poison himself by cutting open his wound a little bit to let the blood drain - so why did they have to go back to the village? They didn't need a doctor! Besides, if they ended up going back, the Hokage would most likely end up sending someone else on the mission. Akira knew it was dangerous, but she wanted to complete it, and she was sure that her brother as well as Naruto wanted the same thing. Suddenly, as if he'd been reading her mind, Naruto took a kunai and plunged it into his hand, the blood draining from it as well as the poison.

"Why am I so different?" he growled, turning around.

"Naruto!" Sakura called. "What are you doing!?"

"He's bleeding out the poison, Sakura, that's what," Akira said with a smirk. "We won't have to go back to the village after all."

"I worked so hard to get here - pushing myself until it hurt, training alone for hours," Naruto shouted, "anything to get stronger - to reach my dreams. I will never back down again and let someone else rescue me! I will never run away. I will not lose to anyone. Upon this wound, I make this pledge: bridge builder, I'll complete this mission and protect you with this kunai!" Naruto turned around, staring at Tazuna with determination. Akira smiled. "Don't worry I'll be fine."

"Um, Naruto?" Akira said, walking over to him with bandages. "That was cool and all, how you removed the poison, but you're gonna bleed to death if you lose any more blood."

Naruto's face drained of colour. Kakashi walked over as well.

"Good idea to stop the bleeding now," he said in a sing-song voice.

"Ah! No, no, no! I'm too young for it to all end like this! No, no, no!"

"Show me your hand, Naruto. Akira, get ready to bandage."

"Right, sensei!" Akira said, unrolling the medical fabric.

"Naruto, you've got a self-abusive personality!" Sakura said sternly. "It's called masochism!"

Kakashi held Naruto's hand in place, but as Akira was about to put a bandage on his wound, she noticed that his cut was fusing back together with a flicker of orange light. She didn't need to look at him to know that Kakashi was looking at it too. He was already starting to heal? How could that be?

"Uh, guys? You have really serious looks on your faces, you're scaring me... Am I going to be okay?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, you should be fine. Akira?"

"Right."

Akira wrapped his hand in bandages after wiping all the blood off, her mind racing. He was healing up already - it looked like a fire was sealing the wound shut. Fire. Suddenly she remembered stories from her family. She looked up at Kakashi-sensei and wondered, as they kept walking to the Land of Waves, if he was thinking the same thing too... Could it be the Nine-Tailed Fox? The cold fog wrapped around Tazuna and the five ninja like a blanket, the water of the ocean and the mountains that laid beyond, hiding, looming out at them in their whitened haze at the last minute of images from some half forgotten dream. Sakura and Naruto were shivering, But Akira was content with the vapourized water surrouding her. She held her hand out in front of her and watched it become partially obscured. She imagined herself learning a jutsu like this then dissipating it with a simple wave of her hand, eyes twinkling.

Soon, the man guiding the boat across the ocean brought them right beside the bridge Tazuna was building. Akira's eyes widened: through the thick fog, she could see it was immense, almost as tall as the walls that protected Konoha. Her admiration of the bridge was halted by Naruto however, who decided it was a great idea to shout while they were traveling through dense fog to avoid getting jumped. Akira nearly jumped on top of him and covered his mouth with her hand, shushing him instantly.

"Shut it, Naruto," she warned in a low voice. "We're traveling under the cover of the mist, with the boat motor off for a reason."

Naruto visibly shrunk and Akira huffed, seating herself back down next to Kakashi.

"Mr. Tazuna," sensei said. "Before we reach the pier, I want to ask you something... The men who are after you, I need to know why. If you don't tell us, I'm afraid I'll have to end this mission when we drop you ashore."

Everyone was looking at him expectantly.

"It appears I have no choice but to tell you," Tazuna said. "Now, like you said, this is beyond the scope of our original mission. The one who seeks my life is a very short man who casts a long and deadly shadow... Gato."

"Huh? Gato - of Gato Transport?" Kakashi asked.

"He's a business man, everyone knows him," Akira said, confused. "Why does he want you?"

"He's a successful tycoon from a powerful business, that's true," Tazuna said. "But under the surface, he uses the same ruthless methods to take over businesses and nations. He sells drugs and contraband using gangs and ninja. It was one year ago when Gato first set his sight on the Land of Waves. He came to our island and used his wealth to take total control over our transport and shipping. Anyone who tried to stand in his way simply... disappeared." Akira's eyes widened. "In an island nation, a man that controls the sea, controls everything: finance, government, our very lives. But there's one thing he fears... The bridge. When it is complete, it will join us to the land and break his control." Tazuna looked up at the bridge. "I am the bridge builder."

"So that's it," Sakura said. "Since you're in charge of building the bridge, you're in this gangster's way!"

"Sasuke, that means those men we fought in the forest!" Akira gasped.

"They were hired by Gato," Sasuke finished.

All four Genin shared a meaningful look. For the first time, they were all on the same page. While personally, none of them fit together, Akira was glad to know that they came well together on a mission. Maybe this the team could work after all?

"I don't understand," Kakashi-sensei said. "If you knew he was dangerous, knew he would send ninja to eliminate you, why did yo hide that from us?"

"Because the Land of Waves is a small, impoverished nation. Even our nobles have little money. The people who are building the bridge can't afford to pay for an A or B-rank mission," Tazuna said. "If you end the mission when you drop me ashore, there will be no bridge: they'll assassinate me before I reach home."

Akira, Sakura and Naruto looked down, saddened.

"But, don't feel bad about that! Of course my sweet little grandson will be upset and cry - cry his little heart out!"

Their saddened looks changed to a deadpan look and looked at him, unimpressed. Was he really guilt-tripping them? This man was unbelievable...

"Oh, and my daughter with condemn the ninja of the Hidden Leaf, announcing you for blaming and abandoning her father and living her life in sorrow," Tazuna added, which made the Genin glare at him. "Oh, well. It's not your fault. Forget it."

All the ninja looked between each other aggravated, annoyed and tired, but they all knew they couldn't condemn a man to his death. Kakashi sighed and pinched the bridge of his mask-covered nose.

"Well, I guess we have no other choice," he said, shrugging a little. "We're going to keep guarding you."

"Oh! I'm very grateful!

Akira huffed and crossed her arms. Maybe this mission was going to be a pain, after all. Not to mention dangerous. They were D-rank Genin on an A or B-rank mission. This wasn't going to turn out all right... Akira could see it. She sighed and rubbed her eyes with her thumb and index finger. Something was definitely amiss.

The Land of Waves was a quaint village on the water. Rustic cabins were laid out together, a few feet above the water rushing underneath. There were boats calmly sailing around houses and children running around, jumping from their decks and into the cool water. Akira smiled without even noticing. Being surrounded by this much water would be, to some, a terrifying thing - especially if you didn't know how to swim. But the only thing that she didn't miss about Konoha right now, was the lack of large bodies of water. She loved rain, storms, large expanses of water she could lose herself in. They comforted her in some odd way... She didn't know why.

Akira and the rest of the group got out of the boat once they'd reached the pier. Tazuna thanked the boat driver who left, wishing them all good luck. They walked along the wooden pier for quite some time, as they escorted Tazuna home. There were gulls cawing up above and swooping down to cool off in the water and Akira couldn't help but stare around, mind blank but peaceful. However, that peace was crushed when she glanced at Kakashi's tense face. Even through his mask you could see he was worried. That put Akira on high alert for the rest of the walk.

As they reached a forest and had been walking through it for a while, Akira suddenly sensed something behind her. She turned around abruptly and scanned the area. Kakashi-sensei placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a meaningful look. Had he sensed something too? They continued walking until Naruto kept randomly throwing kunai at trees.

"Hm, it was just a mouse," Naruto said coolly.

"Naruto!" Akira and Sakura shouted.

"Naruto, those are kunai - they're dangerous!" Kakashi-sensei scolded.

"Stop trying to scare me, you little twerp!" Tazuna yelled.

"Hey, is someone hiding over there?" Naruto said, ignoring everyone. "No, they're over there!"

Suddenly, both Kakashi and Akira sensed something to their left, and at the same time, Naruto threw a kunai in that same direction.

"That's it, Naruto!" Sakura shouted, smacking him over the head.

"W-Why did you do that? Someone really is following us, I mean it!"

Akira stared at Naruto then at the place he'd thrown the kunai. Nothing seemed to be moving. If someone was there they had either moved or they were immobile. Kakashi walked over and Akira followed, curious, while Naruto and Sakura kept arguing - as usual. But behind the bushes, all there was was a terrified white rabbit.

"Naruto, look what you did!" Sakura shouted, walking up behind Akira and Kakashi-sensei.

"A-A bunny?" Naruto gasped. He went over and cradled it, apologizing. "Oh, I'm sorry little rabbit."

Akira rolled her eyes and went back to the road where Kakashi, Sasuke and Tazuna were. As usual, Sasuke rolled his eyes at Sakura and Naruto and he turned away to stand near Tazuna. Kakashi still seemed to be thinking.

"What're you thinking sensei?"

"That rabbit..." he said quietly.

"What about it? It's just a rabbit," Akira said, equally as quiet. Though she wondered why Kakashi was whispering. "If Naruto had a better aim it would have been a kebab but... that's not what you're thinking about."

"It's a snow rabbit."

Akira frowned. Snow rabbits were only white when there was less sun, like in the winter of fall.

"But it's white."

"Which means," Kakashi said quietly, testing his student.

"Uh... it was brought up inside?" Akira guessed. She gasped. "For a replacement technique!"

"They're already here."

"I knew I sensed something back there!"

"You do seem to have an affinity for sensory, Akira," Kakashi said. "Try something for me: pretend to adjust your sandal and touch your hand to the ground - concentrate your mind on any form of chakra nearby."

Akira nodded, determined, as Tazuna was complaining about the stupid rabbit. The girl hoped that the commotion next to them drowned out their voices, disguising whatever they were saying from the ninja that was hidden somewhere near. Akira crouched down and pretended to fiddle with her sandal, but placed the palm of her other hand on the ground. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Soon, Akira could hear nothing but the sound of her own breathing. When she opened her eyes, everything was black except for the glowing blue veins of chakra of the people surrounding her. She stood up and looked up. Akira was standing in front of Kakashi and she could see the pale yellow chakra running through him. However, where his covered eye would be, his chakra was a bright red. Akira frowned, but then she shook her head. There was no time for this. She looked around and spotted Naruto's pale blue chakra, Sasuke's purple chakra, even Sakura's pale green energy. Tazuna's chakra signature was faint and white since he wasn't a shinobi, but there was bright white chakra in the three above where the rabbit once was.

Akira snapped out of it and when her eyes opened again, she was still crouching on the ground. Momentarily confused about her out of body experience, she stayed down, calming her breathing. Eventually, she stood up and looked at Kakashi, lingering on his covered eye for a split second.

"In the tree above the rabbit," Akira whispered.

"Everyone get down!" Kakashi-sensei yelled.

Just as everyone dropped to the ground a giant broadsword came flying at them, narrowly missing Naruto's head. It embedded itself in a nearby tree and seconds later, a very tall and noticeably muscular man was standing on it's handle. He was pale and had short and spiky black hair, and as he turned around to glare at all of them, Akira noticed his piercing brown eyes and the bandages covering the lower half of his face. Sideways on his forehead, was the bandanna for the Village Hidden in the Mist. For some reason he was shirtless, wearing vertically striped pants and matching arm and leg warmers. Akira glared at him as she stood back up. Just looking at him she could tell he was an Elite ninja, a Jōnin like Kakashi-sensei.

"Well, well," Kakashi said, taking a step forward. "If it isn't Zabuza Momochi, rogue ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist."

Akira gulped and almost took a step back, but that showed fear. He could smell fear. Zabuza Momochi was famous.

"The Demon of the Hidden Mist," Akira whispered, voice shaky.

Naruto took a few steps forward, fully intending on fighting the man, but Kakashi jabbed his hand in front of him, barring his passage.

"You're in the way. Get back," he said sternly.

"But why!?" Naruto complained.

"He's not like those other ninja. He's in a whole other league. If he's our opponent, I'll need this." Kakashi's hand went up to his bandanna and he was preparing to reveal his eye. Akira didn't look away from him, beyond curious what could shown red chakra like that. "This could be treacherous."

"Kakashi of the Sharingan eye..." Zabuza said lowly, his voice almost like a growl.

Akira gasped. The Sharingan? How could Kakashi have a Sharingan eye? It wasn't possible. Even Sasuke looked surprised.

"It's too bad, but you'll have to hand over the old man," Zabuza continued.

Kakashi and Zabuza stared at each other for a long time, each second that passed getting more and more tense. But no one dared to move. If any of them moved, Zabuza would attack. And if Zabuza moved, then Kakashi would strike.

"Now, quick! Manji formation!" Kakashi shouted. "Protect the bridge builder, and stay out of this fight!"

"Sensei?" Akira said, worried.

"I thought you teamwork, now it's time to use it."

Akira watched Kakashi-sensei as he lifted up his bandanna to reveal his closed left eye, a giant scar vertically crossing it. Her eyes widened, and she gasped when he eye opened. Zabuza was right: right where you would expect a dark grey eye to be, there was a fully developed Sharingan, three tomoe visible.

"Well, guess I get to see the Sharingan in action," Zabuza said. "This is an honour."

"Sharingan, Sharingan!" Naruto complained. "Everyone keeps saying, but what the hell is it?"

"Sharingan..." Sasuke said, voice strained. "A rare power. It resides in the eyes. The user of this visual jutsu, or dōjutsu, can instantly see and comprehend any genjutsu, taijutsu or ninjutsu, and reflect the attack back on the attacker. The Sharingan is a rare, special form of dōjutsu. However, there's more to the Sharingan than that... a lot more."

Sasuke glanced at his sister who, out of fear or nervousness, looked away from her brother and back at Zabuza.

"You got it right, boy," Zabuza said. "But you only scratched the surface. The Sharingan can analyze the opponent's technique and then... copy it to the smallest detail."

Suddenly, a mist began to form around them and Akira rapidly unsheathed her swords, backing up so that she was in her position for the Manji formation Kakashi ordered.

"As for you, Jōnin, in the assassination unit of the Hidden Mist, we had a standing order to destroy you on sight," Zabuza said, slowly disappearing into the mist. "Your profile was in our bingo book. It called you the man who had copied a thousand jutsu: Kakashi the Copy Ninja."

'What?' Akira thought. 'The Sharingan is a rare trait that only appears in a few members of the Uchiha clan. My clan. Could Kakashi-sensei really be...'

Akira was brought out of her thoughts when Zabuza spoke again.

"Now, enough talking. I need to exterminate the old man."

As Zabuza said this, the Genin got into position. Akira bent her knees and pointed one of her swords forward with a jab so that it unfolded into one of her tachi. The other sword was pointed upward with a swing so it unfolded, ready to strike down. Kakashi-sensei was in front of them, a last barrier between Zabuza and Tazuna.

"So, I'll have to eliminate you first, Kakashi... So be it," Zabuza said.

He suddenly jumped and grabbed his sword, but before he could touch the ground he was gone. Akira tightened the grip on her sword and, out of the corner of her eye, she saw him reappear much further, over the water and surrounded by a swirling mist. Akira couldn't help but be fascinated by his control over water, but that just showed how dangerous he must be. One of his hands pointed the sky, two fingers pointed, and his other hand was in the same position over his face.

"He's building up a huge amount of chakra," Kakashi clarified for his students.

"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Zabuza said.

Suddenly, Zabuza disappeared into the thick mist, invisible to Akira. 'I don't like this, not one bit,' she thought.

"He's gone?" Akira said, surprised.

Kakashi went closer to the water.

"Sensei!" Sakura warned.

"He'll come after me first," Kakashi-sensei, said.

"But, who is he?"

"Zabuza Momochi. The ex-leader of the Hidden Mist's assassination unit. He's a master of the silent killing technique."

"S-Silent?" Naruto said, weary.

"As the name suggests, it happens in an instant, without sound or warning of any kind," Kakashi explained. "It's so fast you pass from this life without realising what has happened. The Sharingan cannot fully neutralize it, so don't lower your guard. Well, if we fail, all we lose is our lives..."

"Sensei!" Akira groaned.

"Guys, the mist is getting thicker!" Naruto shouted.

Indeed it was. And as if things couldn't get any worse, the mist began enveloping Kakashi-sensei until, much to everyone's displeasure, he vanished into it as well...