Chapter 9: The Return of the Demon

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After Naruto struggled and stumbled his way outside, Sasuke had excused himself while Tazuna had went to see if Inari was all right. Outside on the porch, Hinata contemplated all that had happened this day. That boy, Inari, was in a way a small example of what was wrong with the entire community. She wondered just what would happen if the bridge was built. Couldn't it simply be destroyed later? Wouldn't everyone's efforts be in vain? Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door pulled open behind her.

"Kakashi-sensei." Hinata said after she turned her head around.

"It's a nice night out today, isn't it?" Kakashi asked pleasantly as he sat next to her. "So I decided to enjoy it after lying down in bed all day long, if my student will let me share it."

"It certainly is." Hinata responded awkwardly. "Please, sit." An uncomfortable silence began as Kakashi waited for her to say more, but Hinata declined.

"Don't fret. Naruto can take care of himself." Kakashi said to her, deciding to take the initiative.

"I know that, sensei. I believe in Naruto-kun." Hinata answered back. To Kakashi, she sounded like she meant it, and yet she still appeared troubled. "It's just that, well, I can't help but feel bad for this town. Even though our mission is only to protect Tazuna-san until the bridge is finish, I…"

"You want to protect this town? This family? That boy?" Kakashi supplied the words that she did not mutter. "You are troubled because their pain touches you, correct?"

Hinata nodded. "You're right, Kakashi-sensei. I can't help it. But isn't this a bad thing for a ninja? To grow so attached?"

"You think that your empathy will make you weak?" Kakashi prodded. Hinata gave him another small nod, as if just admitting the fact was a failure. "Well, I can't say that you're wrong. Ninja are tools for conflict and war. So in your future, you will see death. You will kill people. So it may cause you much pain in the future."

Hinata didn't say anything, but he could tell that she was devastated. Kakashi put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "But, you know, empathy is very human. And ninja are still human, even though at times it seems easier if we weren't. How should I say this, at some point in your life, you'll have to decide if you want to continue to be a ninja or not. You will do something that you will not like, and then you will have to decide whether this is the life you want to lead. It may very well happen in the next few days." Hinata looked him as if she had never thought of that before.

"Yes, there's more to life than being a ninja, Hinata." Kakashi told her, smiling. "Ultimately, life is about seeking happiness. And what happiness means is something that you should decide, not your family nor outsiders. So don't look at your empathy as something that you have to kill. In fact, it could become very useful right now."

"What? Sorry sensei, but what did you say?" Hinata didn't like sound as if she wasn't paying attention, but Kakashi had given her too much to think about for her to could pay him any attention. To not be a ninja! Unthinkable! It went against everything that she had ever been taught. To be a ninja was the highest honor in the village, and yet here was her sensei was telling her that there was no shame in failure. No shame? What about my family? What about Naruto-kun? And yet at the same time, it had an appeal. All her life, she had been told to be a ninja for the sake of the clan or the village. But if she could be anything…

"I was saying how you could be a big help to our team right now." Kakashi's voice showed no irritation at Hinata's distractedness. "As you've noticed, Naruto and Sasuke don't like each other. Naruto thinks of Sasuke as someone he has to beat, and Sasuke thinks of Naruto as deadweight. But you, neither of them have any problems with you. So, that puts you in a unique position. In short, I want you to be a mediator for the two of them."

"Mediator? You want me make peace between them?" Hinata asked him, coming out of her reverie.

"That's correct." Kakashi said. "As you saw during dinner tonight, the two of them push each other on. That can be useful for growth, but it doesn't do any good for teamwork in the long run. Now, I can't be around everywhere with you three, so I'm trusting you with the responsibility of keeping those two in line."

"Me?" Hinata asked again, caught by surprised by Kakashi's request. She realized that he was right, that she was in the position to mediate between her two teammates, but she had never thought that Kakashi would ever hand her such a responsibility. Even though she had not asked for it, she resolved to make the best of it. "I see. I'll do it. I promise I won't let you down, sensei."

"Good, I know that you're not the type of person who feels confident speaking to others. But I'm confident that you can do this, Hinata." Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "If I'm this team's leader, then I say that I want you to become this team's heart, Hinata. I know I can trust you to do this."

"Yes, sensei!" Hinata brightened from Kakashi's warm praise and felt herself confident to face Kakashi's expectations. That surprised her. It wasn't like the sort of expectations that his father had handed her. Kakashi had said it in a way that expected her to fulfill them and yet was gentle and caring at the same time. That feeling stayed with her as she went to sleep and dreamt in peace.

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By the sixth day of their stay at Tazuna's home, things were mostly routine for everybody. After breakfast, the boys would continue the tree climbing exercise. Tazuna would go to work, escorted by Hinata. Kakashi would stay in the house and rest. Each day, Kakashi could feel himself growing stronger and strong and his old strength returning. Tazuna and Hinata ate their packed lunches while the boys headed home and took a lunch break. Everyone would meet again at dinner and afterwards, Naruto would wander off into the woods to train by himself through the night, not returning until dawn. But today, when Naruto failed to show up at breakfast. Hinata was worried.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to start without him." Tazuna said. All of them were gathered around the dining table while Tsunami placed the dishes down. It was well past dawn and still no Naruto.

"Is it really fine for a child to stay outside all night by himself?" Tsunami asked with concern.

"Don't worry about it." Kakashi reassured them. "He's a decent ninja, even though he doesn't look like it."

"I wouldn't say that. Maybe he's really dead from exhaustion." Sasuke interrupted. Then he simply got up and started walking.

"Wait, Sasuke-san. Where are you going?" Hinata asked.

"I'm going for a walk." He simply replied.

"But we're going to eat…" Hinata started to say, but shut up when she saw Sasuke's empty plate. That was fast… The door slammed behind him. She also wanted to go outside, so she could see if Naruto was all right, but she had to escort Tazuna. Still, she had to give it a try. "Kakashi-sensei, could I also go for a walk?"

Kakashi looked at her knowingly. Behind her, Tazuna gave him a small nod. He shrugged. "Well, why not. But come back before it's time for Tazuna-san to go to work. If you stay too long and miss breakfast, it's your fault."

"Thank you, sensei." She thanked him and bolted for the door. Sasuke turned around once as she ran outside and kept walking. She quickly caught up with him.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked bluntly. From someone else, the question would have been insulting, but Hinata had been around Sasuke enough to know that he just didn't care about courtesy much.

"I wanted to come with you and see if Naruto-kun is all right." Hinata answered truthfully.

"Naruto? What makes you think I care about Naruto?" Sasuke asked dubiously. "I told you, I'm taking a walk."

"Yes, you did. But you didn't have to finish breakfast so fast just to take a walk." Hinata pointed out. If she could just get him to admit it to her, it could a first step to building a bridge of respect between her two teammates. "Even if you don't like Naruto-kun, he's still your teammate, right?"

"Yes, we're on the same team, and there's nothing I can do about that." He conceded that much, annoyed at her prodding. "But it would be a pity to lose him, just after he proved himself to useful against Zabuza and wasn't just a loudmouth idiot with no talent."

"Then, you do care what happens to Naruto-kun." Hinata said. Sasuke simply glared at her as a silent warning that his tolerance was nearing an end. "There's nothing wrong with that. As teammates, the three of us should learn to care about one another and maybe even learn to understand each other and become friends."

"Oh?" Sasuke responded. What's with her today? Why is she suddenly so nosy? "And what do you think about Naruto?"

"Me?" Hinata asked, caught off-guard by his question. And it wasn't a question that she was comfortable with answering. "Well, he-he's my teammate, of course. And, well, I guess, I can't say much more than that." She nearly blushed out of embarrassment. Sasuke raised his eyebrow at her awkward and flustered answer.

"Well, perhaps you'll feel more comfortable answering that question from Naruto himself than from me." Sasuke was content to leave it there and let their conversation die.

"No, it's like that. I mean, we…" Hinata tried to protest, but couldn't think of anything to defend herself with. The only good thing that she had to say was the truth, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to share something like that. But didn't Kakashi-sensei trust me to build our teamwork? How can I do that when I don't trust a teammate enough to answer a question? "Have you ever someone as an inspiration? Someone who you wanted to follow as an example?"

Now it was Sasuke's turn to freeze. His eyes narrowed as his mood darkened. "Yes, I did." He told her without a trace of emotion in his voice.

"Well, I guess you could say that Naruto-kun is an inspiration to me." Hinata admitted truthfully. "The way he never gives up no matter what, the way that he fails but can accept it, that's what I want to be. I really have no idea how he thinks of me."

Sasuke didn't say anything back. He looked lost in thought. "I don't feel like talking anymore." He finally said.

Did I say something wrong? That wasn't the reaction she had hoped for. She thought that she would have encouraged him to say something, but instead Sasuke closed up completely. Their conversation at an end, Hinata had no choice but to follow Sasuke in silence. Soon, they left the town behind them and walked beyond the edge that separated the town from the wilderness. As they passed through the forest, they saw a young girl carrying a basket walking towards them.

"Excuse me, but did you see a boy in orange?" Hinata called out to her as they neared each other. The girl stopped in surprise.

"Who are you people?" She asked cautiously.

"We're ninja looking for our teammate." Hinata responded. "Please, we're very worried about him."

"It's all right." She responded kindly. "The boy you're looking for is not far away. I just passed him. He's all right."

"Really? Thank you." Hinata thanked her, relieved that Naruto wasn't dead or injured.

"It's nothing. I'm glad to help you. It's good that you care about your comrades. In this world, sometimes those people are the only ones who you have to care about. Nobody else matters." The girl looked down, deep in thought with a sad smile. Then she brightened and walked away. "Goodbye. Let us meet again someday."

I didn't even get a chance to ask for her name. Hinata berated herself for that lack of courtesy but kept walking forward in the direction that the unknown girl had came from. Sure enough, the two of them found Naruto sitting in a clearing in the woods.

"Oy! Hinata! Sasuke!" Naruto shouted at them when he saw them.

"Naruto-kun! Are you all right?" Hinata shouted back. "A girl told us that you were here."

"What? You think there's anything here that could kill me?" Naruto boasted. "You know me better than that! All right! It's time to get back to training!"

Before Naruto could get up and start running up trees, Sasuke calmly smacked him across the head. "Idiot, did you forget that when breakfast time was?"

"Hey, hey! I was just sleeping after training all night." Naruto defended himself indignantly. "Unlike a certain someone."

"What did you just say?" Sasuke said threateningly. "Are you trying to pick a fight?"

"Bring it on!" Naruto shouted back.

"Now wait just a minute." Hinata protested. "Teammates shouldn't fight each other. We're comrades." The two of them just looked at her, like they just saw her for the first time. She shrank a little from their gaze. "Please?"

"Anyway, it's time to start training." Sasuke said.

"I definitely won't lose to you!" Naruto shouted as a challenge. Sasuke just grunted once. Watching them, Hinata felt pleased. Looks like it worked.

"I have to go now. Good luck, you two!" Hinata said her goodbyes and headed back. "Maybe I'll meet that girl on the way back and ask her name?"

"Girl?" Naruto said. "That girl's really a boy."

Hinata nearly tripped herself. What?!

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After leaving the two of them alone, Hinata guarded Tazuna through the workday and returned home as usual. The sun set, but neither of the two boys came back for dinner. It wasn't until the sky was black with stars that Sasuke came through the door, carrying Naruto with him. Both of looked dirty and tired, but they both had the unmistakable grin of winners. Kakashi congratulated the both of them for finishing the exercise at last.

As they sat down to eat, all the misdirected rage that boiled inside of Inari exploded, and he lashed out Naruto and the others for their wasted efforts. Naruto shouted right back at him, and left the table in disgust. Later Kakashi went and consoled the crying boy, and eventually everyone went to bed. Nobody fell asleep in a good mood that night.

The next morning, Hinata awoke and ate breakfast with the others, except Naruto, who was still asleep. Kakashi decided to allow Naruto to rest for all his hard work. Today would be the first day that she would have Sasuke and Kakashi at her side since Kakashi started them on the training exercise. With the two of them beside her, Hinata felt much more confident of their chances of protecting Tazuna from harm. They passed through the town with no trouble, but when they reached the construction site, a scene of chaos greeted them.

"What happened here?" Tazuna managed to blurt out. On the bridge, all his fellow workers lay unconscious or moaning in pain. Someone had come and beaten them all. The three ninja were on alert, looking for a threat.

Don't tell me it's him again… Kakashi feared the worst. And sure enough, a thick cloud of mist suddenly came out of nowhere and blanketed the entire bridge, making it impossible to see far ahead. This mist… "Sasuke, Hinata, he's coming!" The three of them formed up around Tazuna, waiting for the enemy to emerge. My predictions were right. Zabuza's alive.

"This is the same jutsu as before, right? Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked just to be sure.

Zabuza is alive and he's here. Sasuke shook with anticipation.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Kakashi." A voice called out from somewhere in the thick, white soup all around them. "Looks like you're still carrying those brats with you."

"Hinata, where is he?" Kakashi asked urgently.

"I understand!" Hinata answered sharply and the veins around her eyes bulged as she saw through the mist. But they soon found that her byakugan was unnecessary as several identical copies of Zabuza surrounded them.

"Look at that one, trembling from fear." one of them taunted, looking at Sasuke. "How pitiful."

Sasuke just grinned at him nastily. "I'm trembling from excitement." He corrected the clone.

"Sasuke, go for it." Kakashi told him, but Sasuke needed no encouragement as the clone who taunted him charged forward quickly with a roar. But from the training, Sasuke had learned how to use chakra from his feet to make himself faster and rushed forward to meet the copy of Zabuza. Seconds later, he touched down on exactly the spot where he had jumped from. All the Zabuza clones erupted, leaving a circle of water around them.

"Oh? He can defeat the Mizu Buushin now." The real Zabuza stepped into view, and as Kakshi suspected, the masked boy was by his side. "That brat's gotten stronger. Looks like you have a rival, Haku."

"Seem like it," the boy, Haku casually replied.

"Well, it looks like my predictions were right on the money," Kakashi commented, equally casually. "About that masked boy."

"So being a Mist hunter-nin was a big lie?" Tazuna asked.

"He's obviously with Zabuza, standing next to him and all." Kakashi responded.

"I'll fight him." Sasuke stated, leaving no room in his voice for debate. "To trick us with an act, I hate people like that the most."

"An impressive young man." Haku said to Zabuza as he sized Sasuke up. "Even though Mizu Buushin only have one-tenth the power of the original, he destroyed them all."

"But we've gained the first advantage. Go." Zabuza ordered him.

"Right." Haku obeyed and charged forward, spinning around so fast that he looked like a whirlwind. Sasuke was momentarily surprised by the unexpected charge. Smiling grimly with a kunai in both hands, he braced himself for the strike to come. Haku closed in on him, his body like an unreadable blur. But Sasuke stood his ground, watching with concentration, eyes intently searching for any clue as to where the strike would come from. Finally, they were close enough and there was a clang as steel hit steel. Haku's right hand held firmly a long needle, parried by the kunai in Sasuke's left hand.

Both of them broke the deadlock and clashed again, twice. But the result was the same as before. "I don't want to kill you." Haku told Sasuke as the two of them tried to push each other's weapon away into the other's face. "But you won't just give up, will you?"

"Don't be stupid." Sasuke retorted.

"I didn't think so." Haku responded. "But you won't be able to keep up with my speed next time. Plus, I've already gained two advantages."

"Two advantages?" Sasuke asked, not understanding. As far as he could tell, both of them were in a deadlock.

"The first is the water on the ground. And the second is that only one of hands is free." Haku calmly explained to him. "From now on, all you can do is run from my attacks." Then the masked boy started doing something incredible as he formed jutsu hand seals with only his left hand.

One-handed? I've never seen that before. Kakashi watched in surprise. Haku finished the seals and stamped the ground. The water around him levitated off the ground and began taking form. "Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishou."

Circling above Sasuke, the water shaped itself into a ring of slender needles, all pointed down at him. Sasuke was surprised as any of them, but he didn't panic. Remember the training, he told himself. Concentrate my chakra to my legs!

On cue, all the needles crashed down as if thrown by an invisible hand. Haku leapt back just in time and saw as the needles hit the ground with explosive force before dissolving back into formless water. He saw the geyser of water engulf the other boy, but saw nothing when the water settled down. He's gone!

There was motion from above, high above him and Haku, taken by surprise, barely avoided the shuriken thrown at him. Two more followed in quick secession, forcing him to leap back. He landed and looked up again, but Sasuke was gone.

"You're pretty slow." A voice taunted from behind him. "From now on, all you can do is run from my attacks."

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To be Continued