The Psychic, The Swordsman, and The Sorcerer
Chapter 10
Sorry this chapter's late. I don't own Naruto (Masashi Kishimoto), Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling), X-Men (Marvel Comics), or Zorro (public domain, despite what Zorro Production Inc. likes to claim). Next chapter has the scene with Naruto and Haku, as that scene still needs quite a bit of tweaking to make it as good as I can make it. Fun Fact: The proper name of the first Harry Potter book is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, a title that definitely makes more sense, given that the Philosopher's Stone was an actual item searched for by pretty much every single alchemist in the world, including the real life Nicholas Flamel.
"Alright, boys, here we are," Sakura said to the only two teammates she actually cared about, entering the bridge builder's house before Tazuna could even reach the door.
"Who are you?" a woman asked as everyone except Zorro entered the building.
"We're the team he hired to protect him," Kakashi responded as his student who was still outside handed the reins of his horse to a clone, who left to tie it off somewhere, "I'm Kakashi Hatake, and these are my subordinates. The pink-haired colorful girl is Sakura Haruno. The one in the dress with the piece of wood is Sasuke Uchiha, and the one in black is Zorro."
"Are you ninjas?" she asked curiously, looking at the group, "I didn't know that ninjas had family members on their teams."
"Yes I am," Kakashi said, "I'm not sure what the other three are. Sakura calls herself a Phoenix, Sasuke calls himself a Wizard, and Zorro... Well, actually, I think he could actually be called a ninja, come to think of it. Anyway, what did you mean about family members on teams?"
"Well, you and your son are part of the same team..." she remarked, looking between Kakashi and his student.
"Why do people keep thinking he's my son?" he thought aloud.
"Well, you do both wear masks..." she responded, "Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter. My son Inari is around here somewhere, but he probably won't be very friendly with you."
Shaking his head to prevent himself from thinking on people's bizarre way of forming theories about him, despite evidence to the contrary, he followed his team to the guest room.
When they entered, Sakura pointed at the door, which promptly shut while Zorro drew the curtains closed and Sasuke held up his wand and said, "Muffliato. Okay, now we can talk freely. What did you need to talk about, Professor Kakashi?"
"Zabuza's alive," he responded quickly, "You're going to need severe training if we're going to beat him and his accomplice, who was the fake hunter nin."
"We know that already, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said as if talking to a child, "Is there anything else?"
"You can't just do whatever you did to paralyze me in a combat situation!" he said harshly.
"Fair enough," Sasuke said, pointing his wand at the jounin, "Petrificus Totalus. If you need us, we're going to train. We need to be ready in case the snake-man comes. You're going to stay there until you calm down. Or until supper."
"Given how we fought, Zabuza will be somewhat fatigued, and he need to use medicinal salves in order to heal, as, intelligent as they are, the Swordsmen of Kiri were not the type to prevent scars from forming," Zorro remarked, "It will be a day at least before he recovers full strength."
"Don't worry about teaching us, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said with a grin, "I've just memorized your instructions on Water and Tree Walking, and so that's what we'll start with."
After Sasuke and Sakura left, Zorro, who Kakashi was starting to have to remind himself was really Naruto, created three shadow clones and placed Kakashi on a bed before heading out.
When the trio returned and Sasuke unbound Kakashi in time for dinner, the jounin found himself strangely without anger. Perhaps it was because of the nap he'd taken, or maybe it was the moment of peace that he hadn't had ever since he took them on as a team, but he found himself feeling better than he had in some time.
As a result, he was enjoying himself at dinner despite the young boy glaring at both him and his students. The slowly-heating kettle that was the boy's temper finally boiled over when Sasuke said that they'd progressed well with Tree Walking and were going to train in Water Walking the next day.
"Why do you guys bother to try so hard?" the boy shouted, looking at the team seated at the table, "No matter how hard you train, you're still no match for Gato's men! No matter what glorious claims you make or how hard you work, the weak will only end up getting killed! None of you understand what it's like here."
Every last member of Team Seven stiffened, each silently recalling their own misfortunes. Kakashi had put down his book. Sasuke had started staring at the boy. Zorro sat completely still. Sakura, meanwhile, began to chuckle darkly.
"You think we will fall?" she said, a flaming aura forming around her as she began to radiate Killing Intent, "Sasuke can perform miracles with a wave of a wand, Kakashi has a library of ways to kill armies in his head, and Zorro is an army of swordsmen in and of himself. Finishing my list of the powerful members of this team is me. If I so desired, little boy, I, the Dark Phoenix could burn this little village to the ground and sink the island to the bottom of the sea with just a thought. We will defeat this Gato, and when we do, the Phoenix shall decide whether or not to show mercy to your pitiful island."
"Aguamenti," Sasuke said calmly, blasting Sakura in the face with water, causing her to sputter and spit as her flaming aura dispersed and the Killing Intent vanished.
"Was that really necessary, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked trying to play the innocent victim.
"You were about to go Dark Phoenix on us," Sasuke replied as she used the edge of Zorro's cape to dry off her face. Fortunately, the tension eased at the moment.
Trying to bring a jovial mood back to the table, Zorro said, "Do you both remember Copycat Kakashi's reaction to when I had accidentally strapped Tora to his head the second time we went to capture the poor creature?"
"Of course I do," Sasuke said, "If I recall correctly, his words were 'Oh no! Not again!'"
"Actually," Sakura remarked as Kakashi slid down his seat to avoid embarrassment, "what he said was, 'Eek! Not again! Not in the face, not in the face!'"
The entire table, save Kakashi were very amused by the story, with even Inari cracking a smile. Kakashi, meanwhile, was reading his book again as his genin team continued with anecdotes of the horrors that had already visited him. He was certain that the next day would be less eventful and nothing terrible could happen to him that hadn't already happened.