Naruto Uzumaki and the Assassin of the Mist Chapter 10: Crystal Ice Mirrors, a Harry Potter + Naruto Crossover fanfic

"Blah": Talking

'Blah': Demon speaking/Inner Sakura/Giant Zabuza

'Blah': Naruto's thoughts/other people's thoughts

'Blah': Harry talking to Naruto

Hello readers. I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long. I have a new project I'm working in my writing class, and its been taking up all my free time to finish. But on the brighter side of things, I've been writing some of the other books in the NIU series and finished the first three chapters of the Legendary Sannin, Book 4!

So far, it's good, but I had to bash Kakashi a number of times and I didn't enjoy that much. But I cannot deny that some of the stuff I wrote about him was hilarious. I also wrote out some of the future chapters of Book 2 here and I have to say that it's some of the most detailed work I've done, which is needed, given the circumstances.

In other news, I have at last watched The Thing prequel on DVD and I thought it was… not good, but it could've been much, much worse (what was up with the 3D-Tetris game on the spaceship?) I also watched the Hunger Games film this week and I enjoyed it. It wasn't as good as the book, but it did a nice job as far as adaptations go. The shaky cameras of the Cornucopia Bloodbath were genius; I had shivers running down my spine during that scene. But I still wish I could've seen a little bit more.

In other-other news, Azeroth44 is off doing another project and he couldn't come up with another of our strange commentaries. So I will not be joined with Naruto or Deadpool this time.

Naruto: We're not on this time?

Kvsyaoran: Not now, man.

Anyway, here is the new chapter and I hope that it's good!

Be sure to leave behind a review if you like it!

Reviews are welcome and wanted!

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling and Warner Bros

Chapter 10: Crystal Ice Mirrors

Silence had fallen on the bridge after Naruto Uzumaki deceived Haku and forced her out of the ice dome to rescue his teammate.

The others saw him arrive in his signature orange and blue tracksuit before he turned white and blended into the smoke cover he created. His teammate Sakura smiled when she recognized those familiar colors and even blushed a little bit when her teammate started acting like a real shinobi in front of her. Sakura balled her hands into fists and held them close to her face while she gasped his name under her breath and smiled at him. Tazuna looked surprised but he remained quite after the blonde preteen had vanished into the void. He feared that if he pointed him out then he would have given him away, so he remained quiet but still looked to the foolish child with a little bit more respect than he had given him.

Back with Kakashi and Zabuza, the assassin looked over his shoulder and frowned under his mask when he looked at the irritating blonde child and saw him vanish like he would under a cover of denser mist. He watched his assistant Haku recovering over the rail and then looked back to where he last saw the blonde shinobi.

"So," he growled with an irritated voice, "the number one unpredictable, hyperactive, knuckle-headed ninja joins the fight…"

Kakashi could not believe that one of his most clueless and maladroit students could ever be so clever. But then he shook his head when he remembered the incident with the milkshake bucket and the times he had been surprised or tricked during the bell test. It would seem that Naruto had the art of deception mastered to a level where it could help him in this situation. He was quick to catch up, as would be expected with the arrangement of the teams. Kakashi had to admit that he was impressed now that Naruto was using his natural talents to his advantage, especially when he created a cover of smoke to mask his movements. The smoke mixed with the mist and started obscuring Naruto from view of the others while he sensed his location close to the ice dome. Kakashi still remained vigilant and kept an eye on Zabuza while he trusted his student to be clever enough to work together with Sasuke like he did in the previous confrontation.

'Work together you two… Don't forget about teamwork…'

Naruto snuck towards the mirrors with caution and had his invisible companion take a look over the structure for him. From what could be gathered, Haku had the ability to manipulate water to her will and form it into shapes that could aid her advanced ninjutsu. She could freeze and melt water with her chakra and formed these incredible mirrors. Naruto tapped his fingers against the back of the closest mirror and was surprised at how it felt against his skin. It didn't feel like normal ice, where it would be wet upon physical contact. The mirrors were cold to the touch but no water melted off of the surface and wet his fingers. It meant that she must have put an incredible amount of chakra into the water in order to freeze it use it to her advantage. He took a kunai and tried to damage the mirror, but not even a scratch tarnished the perfect smooth surface when it was restored seconds upon the damage was inflicted. Naruto looked around the structure and through the smoke and mist and caught sight of his dark-haired teammate seething at the center of the dome.

Sasuke studied the subtle wounds scattered across his arms, 'These wounds she inflicted… None of them are serious. Absolutely none of them have cut me that deep… it's like this wench isn't even trying to kill me… Is she trying to humiliate me?'

The Uchiha seethed at the girl he could not see and grit his teeth while Naruto managed to lower the volume of his voice so that it wouldn't be heard through the cover. He had to signal his teammate and get him out of the dome before Haku or Zabuza could arrive. He covered his mouth from the direction of the rest of the team and the enemies to make sure that his voice only carried out to his partner.

"Sasuke," he called with a whisper, "Over here. C'mon."

But the black-haired genin was too furious to hear him, 'That little bitch! She's mocking me!'

Naruto became concerned and exasperated when the Uchiha did not acknowledge his existence. So he tried to call him once more with a less quiet voice. His companion also became bothered when he could see through the thick cover and could read Sasuke's emotions written all over his face. He was distracted and infuriated with Haku, lost in a train of thought concerning his damaged stature.

"Sasuke," Naruto tried for a third time, "Move it."

The Uchiha heir still did not listen to his concerned teammate as he reached for one of his weapons. He was intent upon attacking Haku once he could see her masked face, but was so focused on her that he didn't hear Naruto raise his voice to him for the fourth time. He swallowed some saliva and gripped his kunai while he stretched out his senses and searched for the location of the kunoichi he was now so determined to hunt down. He wanted to find her and use one of his fire jutsu to teach her a lesson about mocking a member of his clan.

'That stupid woman… This is what she gets when she messes with the Uchiha-'

Sasuke was silenced when he heard a loud voice boom from behind him, "MOVE YOUR STUPID ARSE, YOU STUPID TEME!"

Naruto's face had turned red as a tomato and his veins popped out all over his face when his voice boomed and echoed across the entire bridge. Both of his teammates had twitched at the sudden shout and the two masked men on the other side of the white cloud looked towards the direction towards the second-closest mirror when the voice boomed. Kakashi looked concerned and intense when he now knew his student's exact location through his sensitive sense of sound.

'Naruto can't keep his voice down…' he cursed through his thoughts, 'Wait, if I know where he is through the smoke then that means-'

Zabuza's frown turned into a smirk and he withdrew five shuriken from his pouch. The assassin looked towards the location of the ice dome and then smiled with delight when he could hear the child's heartbeat, "So the blonde moron thinks a cover of white smoke can hide him from me…"

"What?" the silver-haired teacher flinched, "No!"

It was too late and Zabuza unleashed his weapons towards the source of the sudden noise. Kakashi was forced to watch as the weapons zoomed into the smoke cloud and then vanished. Back at the ice dome, Harry had sensed the attack and turned his head to his left and Naruto did the exact same movement. The blonde genin heard the voice of his sensei and then he heard the sound of whistles.

"What was that?" he asked.

He heard Kakashi call out, "Naruto! MOVE!"

The blonde preteen turned toward the direction of the weapons but did not see them through the smoke cover. But he still did as his teacher commanded and moved several feet to the right. The shuriken then burst through the smoke cover and one of them sliced into Naruto's left arm. The sleeve of his jacket was shredded out and the curved prongs of the metal stars sliced through the muscle and tissue of his arm. A stream of blood burst out upon contact of the weapon and stained the shredded sleeve of the tracksuit.

"ARGH!" he screamed out before he fell inside of the ice dome.

Kakashi flinched when he heard his student scream in pain and he almost made a break for the ice dome, "No!"

But Zabuza anticipated the masked jounin and blocked his path before he could rescue both of his students. He then looked up when the wind picked up a bit and noticed as the ice dome almost became visible again. When he looked hard enough, Kakashi could see both of his students inside of the dome. He then grunted in aggravation when he looked back at his dark-skinned opponent. For a second the two of them could almost read each other's minds when Kakashi stared at Zabuza angrily and the assassin smirked right through the white bandages of his mask. Kakashi knew that he couldn't rescue Sasuke and Naruto before Haku returned to the battle without risking the life of their old client. If he decided to make one or more shadow clones to be at two places at once, then Zabuza would counter him with water clones. There was enough water still around them to create any number of clones for Zabuza to counteract his rival.

"Just sit back and enjoy the show, Kakashi…" the assassin snickered as he turned toward the ice dome.

Naruto placed a palm over the wound and waited as his companion worked with the demonic energies to accelerate the healing process.

'Your wound is not that bad, Little one. But let's not stick around for more of them. Grab the Uchiha prat and get out of there fast.'

The blonde-haired shinobi stood up and ran towards Sasuke as fast as he could run. He then reached out and clenched at the back of his teammate's bloodstained blue t-shirt and forced him back on his feet. Naruto frowned down at him like a furious parent and forced the older teen to follow him.

"RUN!"

Sasuke let his blonde teammate lead him out of the dome, ignoring the pain that pulsed in his arm when the skin was stretched where he had been sliced over and over. The blood almost made his arm as smooth as polished glass, but Naruto managed to keep his grip when he applied his chakra to his hands and pulled his partner toward the exit. Sasuke watched as Naruto approached the gap in between the mirrors but then he forced his teammate to stop when he caught something in his sight.

"STOP!"

Naruto almost slipped through the mirrors when he saw these clear spears of ice erupt out of the edges of the mirrors and trap the two genin inside. The blonde-haired wizard did not dare to touch the spears or even attempt to break them with his kunai. Sasuke pulled him back from the exit and showed him the other gaps inside of the dome and both watched as all the exits were sealed with more ice spears. Naruto looked to the side opposite them and saw Haku through the ice. The mirrors were much thinner than before to compensate the sealed escape routes but looked as strong as ever. Naruto and Sasuke could see right through them, but the wizard inside the mindscape doubted that this would help their alternative means of escape.

"This does not look good," said the blonde shinobi.

Sasuke did not avert his gaze from Haku as he said to his partner, "We're both stuck in here…"

"Those mirrors are made of ice. But I couldn't break them from the outside. Not even a kunai can make a scratch," he answered back.

The Uchiha then retorted with a sharp tongue, "What a shinobi you turned out to be, dobe."

"Me? What are you mad at me for, teme?" the blonde retorted, "I was the one that tried to get you out of this place! What were you doing? Brooding over a couple of needle wounds, I bet!"

Sasuke shouted, "Shut up, Naruto! You should have attacked from the outside!"

"How would that be possible?" he argued back with a shout, "I threw that hunter-nin out of those mirrors so that I can give you enough time to escape! You didn't take the chance and sat there on the floor like some lard-arse emo-kid!"

He shouted back in an almost comic fashion, "I AM NOT AN EMO-KID!"

But before either one of them could continue with their argument, Haku returned. She had approached the dome from the outside and had pressed her hand onto the surface of one of her mirrors. She waited for Naruto to fall into the dome and then used her chakra to manipulate the form of her mirrors. Haku caused the ice in the mirrors to connect and encase the two shinobi inside the dome with the spears. Meanwhile, the two oblivious genin started arguing with each other, their sensei could hear them through the dome and slammed his palm into his face. He had thought that the two of them had started to get along and that this constant battle for dominance over each other was done with. But it would seem that the flames of their rivalry were reignited with a mistake made too soon on Sasuke's part.

Kakashi let out an exasperated sigh, 'It looks like some things never change… But still, we're in trouble… If I intervene to help Naruto and Sasuke, Tazuna and Sakura will become exposed to Zabuza… But if I countered with a shadow clone, then Zabuza would make a water clone to combat that… It wouldn't matter how many clones I make with what chakra I have, he would still match me and we would both be stuck where we are now…'

Back at the ice dome, Haku slipped her hand deep into the mirror like she did minutes ago and slid inside as if she dove into a swimming pool. She reappeared on the other side of the ice and the two genin she trapped inside turned around and faced her. Sasuke reached for one of his weapons and stared at the kunoichi with the intention to kill her. He blinked but then he heard her voice echo from behind him.

"I'm over here, gentlemen…"

The Uchiha and Naruto looked over their shoulders and spotted Haku behind them inside the opposite mirror. The blonde-haired genin looked back at the mirror she entered and she was gone. Sasuke snapped back at the mirror his teammate was fixated on and clenched his teeth in frustration. He then flipped through a familiar set of handsigns and gathered chakra into his lungs. Naruto looked to his teammate and panicked when his companion's voice echoed in his mind with some bad news.

'THAT FOOL! This is an enclosed space! If he uses a fire technique, he'll burn us alive! You have to stop him now!'

"Sasuke! Hold on a second!" the blonde shinobi reached out, "The ice won't melt-"

But the Uchiha retorted, "SHUT UP, DOBE! If the mirrors are made of ice then it can melt!"

"It won't work," he tried to reason with him, "I couldn't scratch the outside with a kunai!"

Sasuke still did not listen to his teammate and let his frustration take control. He finished with the last handsign when he clasped his hands together and unleashed his heated breath.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

"NO!"

The chakra was converted into flames in an instant and then expelled out of Sasuke's mouth with a temperature of over two hundred degrees fahrenheit. The ice dome was heated until the flames almost burned the skin on Naruto and Sasuke's faces. The intense flames of the technique blasted onto the surface of the mirror in front of them and the fires licked the edges of the surrounding mirrors until those structures were obscured with orange and scarlet flames. Naruto had to shield his face with the sleeve of his arm and could feel the orange and blue cloth of his tracksuit singe until it was a shade darker. The dome encased the two shinobi inside of an oven until the flames died down and Sasuke used up his enormous explosion of chakra. Harry furrowed his brow at the Uchiha for his foolishness while the genin observed the results of the jutsu and both their shoulders fell. The ice was not even touched. The surface of the mirrors were just as perfect and untouched as they were upon their creation. Sasuke could not believe that his jutsu failed while Naruto panicked when he looked up and saw Haku begin to appear in almost all of the mirrors around them. The kunoichi behind them removed a senbon from her weapons pouch and struck a pose before the two genin froze and were thrown off their feet. Naruto looked down at his arms and clothes and was horrified to see he was decorated with needle wounds and ruined clothes. Their twin screams echoed against the walls of the dome and managed to escape out and echo across the bridge to their sensei and female teammate. Tazuna and the other two looked towards the dome and flinched at the sound of their screams.

Sasuke moaned with pain while Naruto braved his injuries as best he could and darted his head in all directions. He saw Haku appear inside all of the mirrors all at once as if she had created multiple clones. Naruto decided to test something and threw a series of shuriken at the mirrors and watched as all of them were deflected and fell back down to earth. He sat up and tried to assist Sasuke with getting him to sit up as well. But soon, the clones vanished and Naruto was struck in the shoulder with one of his own shuriken that caused him to hit his back against the ground.

"ARGH!"

Haku looked down at Naruto and Sasuke and spoke to them in a toneless but amused voice, "It's incredible… it's like this jutsu can teleport me across all these mirrors at speeds too fast for either of you to see me… It's like the two of you are moving in slow-motion…"

The kunoichi's voice echoed out of the dome and reached the ears of the others within seconds. Kakashi heard that last detail and his eyes turned wide in surprise but then lowered and intensified when he made an unfortunate realization.

"I knew it… I should have seen that coming…" he said, "If she was able to use a technique to freeze water and control needles made of ice without touching them, then it means she has a kekkei genkai…"

Zabuza smirked under his mask again while Sakura and Tazuna looked perplexed at this news, Sakura then asked, "What does that mean?"

"I thought this girl was supposed to be the sharpest mind," commented Zabuza, "But she doesn't even know what a kekkei genkai is…"

Kakashi answered her for exposition sake, "It's a lot like the Sharingan. You cannot learn it. It has to be inherited in the blood, inside your genetic code, passed down through generation to generation within a clan. I could never copy the same jutsu that kunoichi over there is using with the Sharingan… It would be almost impossible to stop her with that kind of power at her disposal…"

Back inside the dome, Naruto removed the shuriken from his shoulder and tossed it aside. He looked over to Sasuke, who was struggling to keep on his hands and knees. He had more injuries than his teammate and he slipped on the floor once or twice from the fresh blood that oozed out of his wounds. Naruto had never seen so much blood since the incident with the Scroll of Sealing. He smelled salt and iron fresh in the air and almost lost focus for reasons he was unable to understand. But soon, he shook his head and looked down at his own wounds and his own blood before he looked back at his teammate and urged him to stand on his feet.

He placed a firm hand on his rival's shoulder and spoke to him with a stern but comforting voice, "Sasuke… You need to get a grip and stand up… You are not this weak… I need you to stand up and help me…"

"Naruto…" his teammate looked to him.

The blonde shinobi gave him a stern look and told him, "We're not going to lose to her… After all, we both have our dreams and our futures ahead of us… I'm going to be Hokage, so I'm not going to die here… and neither are you…"

Sasuke didn't know what it was in his teammate's words that motivated him to stand. But his words were almost like magic and helped him ignore the wounds that decorated his skin and stand up enough to intimidate the masked kunoichi that looked down at them. Naruto's whispered words were carried into the mirrors and Haku heard him. Her eyes traveled down towards the floor of her crystalline ice world while she reminisced about her past. She remembered the first time she had seen Zabuza and how he motivated her to come with him and find her own dream. She then looked back up at the two shinobi that could now stand tall, as if their wounds were never there.

She said out loud, "Master… He had the same eyes as me when we met…"

Naruto and Sasuke looked at Haku with a curious gaze, but it was Naruto that had some idea what she was talking about. She spoke to the boys with a sad but serious tone while her facial expression was unreadable if it weren't for her porcelain mask.

"I didn't want to become a shinobi… Believe me, it's difficult to be one… I don't want to have to kill either one of you… But if either of you advances to attack me or escape to stop Zabuza, then I will have to do what I must and kill the kindness in my heart and become a true shinobi. To strike without mercy or hesitation…"

Haku's words traveled out of the dome and flowed across the bridge like a sound wave and reached the ears of the others in the mist.

"This bridge will be the battlefield where our dreams and futures collide… Now I must fight for my dream as you fight for yours…I want to protect someone that is precious to me… To work for that person… To fight for that person… To make that man's dreams come true… That is what I want and what I will die for… If I want to become a true shinobi and fulfill that wish, then I will kill both of you…"

Naruto gave her a saddened frown when he thought about the girl from the forest he talked to, while his teammate smirked at her with the same intentions he had before. Back outside the dome, Zabuza had frozen in place when he heard his assistant's words, but soon threw off what he felt for one second and faced Kakashi like he did minutes ago. Sakura looked nervous and darted her eyes between the dome and her instructor. She trembled at those words that were carried across the bridge before it all piled on and she cupped her hands around to mouth the increase the volume of her voice.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto-baka!" she shouted, "Don't lose to her! You can win this!"

Kakashi snapped at his female student, "Sakura! Keep quiet!"

"What? But it will help motivate them," she argued, "I thought teamwork would help them here!"

The jounin told her back, "Even if the two of them are able to penetrate the dome, it could be impossible to defeat that kunoichi."

"What?" she outraged.

Kakashi explained to her, "Sasuke and Naruto don't have the strength to kill their hearts and take a human life… Zabuza trained that girl himself and she knows what it takes to be a shinobi…"

"Bahahahahahaha! True shinobi cannot live in peace like in Konohagakure," the assassin mocked, "Your rookies do not live the same as we did in Kirigakure… None of them learn how to kill their own hearts and strike down their opponents and kill them without mercy or emotional regret… Those students back there are weak and will die without the true intention to kill…"

Sakura felt a chill run down her spine and could feel Zabuza unleash a wave of his own chakra, "Kakashi-sensei! What can we do?"

The masked instructor remained frozen while he ran a hundred scenarios through his head at once. He couldn't make a break for it and save Naruto and Sasuke without leaving Tazuna out in the open. Sakura was incapable of even standing a chance against one of the Demon Brothers, let alone Zabuza. She served more as a spectator or another person to protect along with their client. So Kakashi was left with no other choice but to end his battle with Zabuza in the most convenient method possible. His left hand twitched and then shot to his headband. His other hand was crossed with his left in a defensive position while he spoke to his kunoichi student with a calm and sure voice.

"Keep close to Tazuna and stay out of the way…."

Zabuza smirked underneath his mask and said, "You're no fun… The same cheap Sharingan trick as before…"

"The Sharingan," gasped Sakura, "He'll win for sure!"

But then she frowned and Kakashi flinched when Zabuza made his move and pulled out a kunai that was curved inward on one side. He moved at speeds too fast for Sakura or Tazuna to see and when he was in clear sight again, Kakashi had blocked the attack using the palm of his right hand. Zabuza intended to stab his opponent in the face, but the blade went no further than the flesh and bone of Kakashi right hand and middle finger. The jounin's expression turned livid and fearsome while he willed the pain out of his system and focused on the battle. The tip of the blade poked out of the back of his hand and exposed muscle and bone that would have made another man sick to their stomach. But Kakashi vented out the intense pain through his strained voice when he spoke to Zabuza with a voice that made the others shiver in fear.

"If it's such a cheap trick, then why did you try to stop me?" he asked with an intense voice.

Zabuza smiled and narrowed his eyes, "You're ultimate fail-safe… it's not something you should have to show your opponent over and over… Otherwise, he and his assistant can do some research and learn to use it against you…"

"You should feel honored, Zabuza… You're the only man alive that has seen my Sharingan twice… But there won't be a third time…"

The assassin chuckled in amusement and then started to sing his own praises, "Even if you could defeat me, you wouldn't stand a chance against Haku… When I found her, she was a penniless toddler without a home or food in her stomach. But I took her in and trained her in the most advanced and merciless methods possible. And she never disappointed me. Even in the face of the unthinkable, she was calm and emerged victorious… She has lost all regard for her own life and was transformed into the ultimate killing machine… A true shinobi, whose skills now surpass even my own… Not to mention she has that impressive and unbeatable bloodline trait at her disposal… In the end, I have developed the most perfect weapon capable of the ultimate destruction… What do you think, Kakashi?"

"I think you should shut the hell up," he answered while Zabuza removed the kunai and he revealed his Sharingan, "Because I'm falling asleep… Let's finish this!"

Back inside the ice dome, Naruto and Sasuke were standing up with blood running down their limbs and cheeks. The two of them looked up at the masked kunoichi before her reflection appeared inside all of the mirrors and the two of them were bombarded with another painful wave of metal needles. Naruto was thrown off his feet while Sasuke levitated several inches from the earth before he fell into a heap. Naruto joined him on the floor before he pressed his hands together and formed his signature handsign.

"Believe it or not, but I have an idea!" he grumbled before he focused his chakra, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Sasuke shouted back, "No! DON'T!"

At least ten shadow clones appeared with individual clouds of white smoke. But instead of attacking the mirrors as Sasuke expected Naruto to do with his clones, the multiple copies formed a dome around him and his real teammate. Haku was confused at the sudden move and waited for an attack. The other copies of her vanished and left her alone while she waited with untold patience. With the clones keeping the two shinobi protected, Naruto huddled close to Sasuke and spoke to him with a quieted voice.

"It's a shield! Just stick close to me!"

Sasuke had to admit that this new move on his teammate's part impressed him. From his knowledge, Naruto was clever when it came to pranks and tricks, but did not have the talent to use his natural gifts as weapons at a shinobi's disposal. He still nodded to his teammate and sat up so that the two of them could work together and come up with a plan. While Sasuke mulled over the possibilities, Naruto focused inward and let his eyes turned a dull shade of blue to show that he was communicating to his companion.

'I'd love to hear what you've got to say, Nii-san. We need to find a way out of this place but we're trapped.'

'I noticed this earlier when that idiot Uchiha almost incinerated the inside of the dome. The heat of that jutsu should have burned us to a crisp. That means that most of the heat was either absorbed or it escaped… But it didn't look like the mirrors can absorb blows, like when you scratched the outside. It might have drawn the mist around the environment to restore itself… Then that would mean that the heat escaped the dome through… There! Up above you!'

Naruto looked through his shadow clones and looked up towards to the top of the dome to see the last mirror suspended up in the air without ice spread out to entrap him and Sasuke. He felt his older brother focus energies into his eyes so that he could see the details around the mirror. He observed that the ice around the top mirror and discovered that the ice was unable to reach the top and left the gap. Naruto needed to test to see if the ice was unable to seal the dome and commanded one of his clones to withdraw a shuriken to force Haku or the ice to react.

"Take this!"

The shadow clone tossed the shuriken and the others watched as the metal star zoomed through the cold air and out into the summer atmosphere and into the sea. Harry made a couple of more close observations and could see the ice draw in more moisture from the mist and form more ice to complete the dome. He was able to deduce that it would take a while to complete the technique, more than enough time for Naruto and Sasuke to make a successful escape. The blonde shinobi tapped his teammate's shoulder and pointed up at the ceiling of the dome.

"Sasuke, look," he whispered while he still maintained his foolish mask, "There's one more exit! Right above us! I don't think she can spread the ice up there."

The Uchiha looked up and through the shadow clones to make his own observation and looked rejuvenated. He studied the details of the ice mirrors and observed the ice that sealed them into the solid structure.

He then thought with determination, 'Naruto is right! She doesn't have enough ice to encase us in a perfect dome without the risk of weakening the mirrors! If we can avoid the oncoming attacks, then the two of us can escape! We just need to find a way to move around her speed and get up there.'

"Listen to me, dobe," he said with a whispered voice, "How talented are you with the Henge no Jutsu?"

Naruto answered his teammate; "Iruka-sensei said that I was one of the best in our class once. It's one of the best techniques I can do."

"That's good enough for me," he said back, "Now listen up."

Haku watched as the two shinobi remained hidden underneath the cover of shadow clones. She was tempted to attack them and remove the shadow clones, but it wasn't in her nature to attack unless provoked or when Zabuza told her to attack. She wanted to wait and watch what Naruto had intended with these clones. She still readied her weapons and remained as still as a statue until she noticed a shuffle inside the pile of clones. The pile increased in size from the inside and the clone-shield exploded into dense white smoke.

"LET'S GO!"

Without a warning, a shower of more shadow clones erupted out of the smoke and shot out in all directions. Multiple copies of both Naruto and Sasuke came shooting out like bullets and bounced off of the surface of the ice mirrors. The Naruto-clones were wielding kunai while the Sasuke-clones drew out shuriken. The weapon-wielding shadow clones attacked the mirrors in combination of leaping off their surfaces and provided mid-air platforms for other shadow clones to use them to soar higher into the air. The multiple copies of Naruto and Sasuke rose up towards the ceiling in a spiral pattern to avoid being struck with more needles. Meanwhile, the real Naruto and Sasuke coupled with the clones to blend in and soared up towards the exit. Haku darted her masked faced at all of the clones and couldn't distinguish the real enemies from the fakes. She was tricked with a simple but elaborate plan and frowned while she observed the movements of the clones in slow-motion vision. She took the time to notice that most of the clones of Sasuke moved and contracted their muscles in the same fashion that Naruto did. The kunoichi searched and studied the clones until she caught a difference in their movements and came upon one of the Sasuke-clones that moved and flexed his muscles in his own unique pattern. That was the real Sasuke Uchiha and the others were disguised shadow clones that stemmed from Naruto. The real Sasuke and the real Naruto were close to the top of the dome and the two of them smiled when the fresh smell of the outside world reached their nostrils. But then Haku's reflection appeared inside all of the mirrors and the two genin frowned seconds after the two of them bounced off of another two clones. Naruto looked down at his legs and turned white when he saw seven metal needles pierced inside of them until all of the senbon were buried several inches into his skin. His teammate looked down as well and noticed a fraction of a dark blur move around the inside of the dome. But then he gasped when all of the shadow clones exploded into white smoke and felt the cold metal needles become imbedded into his arms, legs, and back. The two shinobi let out their own individual shouts of pain before their bodies fell down and collapsed onto the unforgiving concrete.

Sasuke let out a roar of pain when he looked down at his shins and felt the bone and muscle that was stabbed scrape against the metal needles. He tried to pull out the weapons, but he couldn't remove more than the first five and let alone the needles in his arms and back. He looked over at his teammate and he looked even worse than he felt. Haku had used more needles on him and scratches decorated his skin until he looked like he was half-dipped in a pool of his own blood. Naruto was able to move around while Harry worked hard to ease the intense pain with some surfaced magical power. Sasuke panted and looked up at the mirror above him. Haku was there with a frown hidden under her mask and struck another pose with the clean ends of her bloodstained needles in between her fingers.

"This is but the beginning of our battle…"

Back with Kakashi and Zabuza, the two men were in conversation about how the latter was tricked with the illusion the former created at the lake. Zabuza relished and boasted about how he and Haku worked together and learned to move around Kakashi's secret weapon while he focused more and more chakra to radiate out of him in waves. The silver-haired man watched as Zabuza raised two of his fingers close to his face and let his chakra flow. The mist around them intensified and the railings of the bridge and the dome of ice disappeared into a massive cloud of dense fog that covered the entire structure.

"Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu…" he whispered and then he vanished out of thin air.

Sakura twitched and panicked when her teacher was almost invisible. Kakashi couldn't believe the amount of mist there was all around them. It was like Zabuza wanted to become lost inside his own technique. Sakura reached out towards her teacher and then broke the silence with a call, "Sensei!"

"Keep close to Tazuna!" the instructor ordered his student before he dashed into the mist, "I'll be back!"

The pink-haired rookie clenched her fist and ran over towards their client with a kunai held tight in her hand. She looked back towards where she saw the ice dome and thought about her crush without a second turbulent thought, 'I just have to keep faith in Sasuke-kun and it will be alright!'

"Follow me, Tazuna-san!" she said, "I'll do whatever I have to in order to protect you!"

The bridge builder admitted, "I'll be honest, that doesn't make me feel better…"

"Well who asked if it did?" she screamed back at him, "You stupid old man! Trust me!"

Kakashi stormed through the mist but made sure he didn't steer far from where Tazuna and Sakura were located. He looked up at the skies and couldn't believe how dense this mist was. It was too thick for even Zabuza to navigate through. He looked down at his wounded hand and watched as more droplets of crimson blood dribbled down and splattered onto the concrete. Kakashi took one second to tend to his hand and wrapped it with some white bandages from his weapons pouch. He looked over his shoulders and checked the area around him in case Zabuza tried to attack him. Knowing people like him throughout his career, Kakashi expected him to attack soon, for gruesome fun. Once he tightened the wrappings around his palm, Kakashi withdrew a kunai when he heard the sound of whistles. He took his kunai and slashed it through the air at speeds so fast and swift that his arm blurred into a dark mass and over twelve sparks and clangs erupted in the air when he deflected the shuriken bombardment.

"Nice reflexes… As would be expected from Kakashi Hatake…"

The masked jounin flinched at the sound of the menace's voice behind him and turned around at once. There was Zabuza, but he did not attack him. He appeared as if he were made of stone and his eyes were closed in concentration. The assassin appeared to be focused and prepared to attack Kakashi right there on the spot but he chose not to and remained where he was.

'What is he doing?' the confused shinobi asked, 'He cannot see…'

Zabuza chuckled with a sinister voice, "This is a sneak peak… But the next time you see me will be the last…"

The assassin blended back into the void, but his voice still echoed around the Konoha shinobi, "You've overestimated the Sharingan…"

Kakashi twitched at that statement and Zabuza continued, "After the battle on the lake, Haku and I went to work and figured out a flaw in the design of the Sharingan… We now know that it got inside my mind and made me believe that you could anticipate my actions, thoughts, and even see into the future… It's a complete joke… All you did was hypnotize me down to the point where you almost controlled me… Once I had enough time to make a plan, I created the perfect scenario and waited until you and this pathetic entourage arrived here and trapped you inside the perfect environment where your Sharingan is rendered useless…"

Kakashi tried to see through the mist and wait for an attack, but was taken aback when a foot came out of the void. The masked shinobi used his forearm to block the blow and was pushed back fifteen feet. He slid down the concrete, thrust his kunai into the ground to slow his speed, and then screeched to a halt. Zabuza was waiting for him to get close and made a horizontal slice at him. But Kakashi managed to push off from the floor and made an incredible acrobatic flip that would have caused Naruto to squeal and make a connection to one of his comic books. Kakashi readied his kunai and clashed with Zabuza one more time before the two of them pushed back and disappeared from sight. Kakashi waited for another attack and he received a few more cuts and blows to the chest and back when Zabuza decided to mess with him and his blindness in the mist.

"Damn… This mist is too thick… But it's curious that you closed your eyes..."

"It's worth it… Your Sharingan cannot penetrate the mist and with my eyes shut it cannot hypnotize me like last time…"

"That's a brilliant plan! Except the part where you're just as blind as me!"

"You're forgetting who I am, Kakashi… I've been trained in the art of the silent-kill… I can assassinate whoever I want with the sense of sound alone…"

Kakashi flinched at the fact and tried to remain calm. It had been a while ever since he had to battle in these harsh conditions. He tried to remain calm and closed both his eyes in order to concentrate. He couldn't help but think back to Naruto and Sasuke, but he had no choice but to set his worries aside and think about what Zabuza would do if he were in his place. Kakashi assessed the situation and reminisced about his own time when he was a member of the ANBU. Back then he would have lured his own opponent into a trap like this and then use the time he had to forget about his opponent for a while and then finish the job he was tasked with while the opposing shinobi was lost in the trap. He applied this method to Zabuza and tried to figure out whom he would target next.

The masked shinobi opened his eyes and looked back towards his original location and then panicked, "NO!"

Sakura and Tazuna were looking in the direction of the ice dome while the two of them tried to keep a look out for the man with the sword. The old man sweat out torrents while the pink-haired kunoichi tried to look brave and in control of the situation. But behind the pair of them, Zabuza materialized out of thin air and didn't make a sound while he seemed to zoom towards them like a solid ghost. It wasn't until his foot hit the ground and his right arm reached back and grasped the handle of his massive blade did the two of them hear him approach. Sakura was the first to pick up the noise and looked back with a loud and frightful gasp. Tazuna joined her and his face flushed when he met the eyes of the man he had been afraid of for over a week. What happened next was too fast for Sakura and Tazuna to see and it wouldn't be until blood was splattered onto the concrete would either one of them realize what had happened. Kakashi had come out of nowhere and stood in front of their client with his arms spread out like wings when Zabuza grasped his sword with both his hands and made a diagonal slash into a wall of solid flesh, which was then followed with a high-pitched scream.

"TOO LATE!"

"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The two male shinobi that were still trapped inside the ice dome struggled with the minutes that followed their earlier defeat. Haku struck them with more senbon whenever either one of them moved. When Naruto tried to place his hands together and form the seal that enabled him to create more shadow clones, a needle came out of one of the mirrors and pierced his arm. He felt the bones in his arms become stabbed and the pain that came with it was some of the worst. He had never broken an arm, but he couldn't imagine how it could be much worse than this. Sasuke tried to reach for his weapons pouch, but soon Haku launched it off of his person and threw more weapons in between him and the pouch to send him a message.

"DAMN!" he shouted.

When she did that, Naruto made an attempt to create another clone-shield when he rolled on his side and placed his hands together while he faced the concrete.

He screamed out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The clones that popped into existence stood around the real Naruto and even Sasuke to give them some time to communicate and formulate another plan to escape. The two of them didn't have enough time when Haku attacked them with another massive attack and sent them both up into the air for a few seconds of intense pain and then let them down with a cease-fire. Naruto tried the same technique one more time but Haku managed to shoot a senbon into his shoulder before the shadow clones could take the blow instead and exploded when Naruto was stabbed with the needle. Sasuke was given enough time to stand up and looked around the dome when Haku attacked his teammate. He could have sworn that he saw the same dark blur like he did before when the two of them fell down from the top of the dome. He could feel a strange strain on his eyes when he focused on that blur, but the more he did it, the more clear the blur turned out to be and looked more like Haku. Meanwhile, the environment around him seemed to turn a shade darker, as if the sun had fallen down and made his vision more clear and focused.

He looked down at his fallen teammate and shouted when he took a step forward, "Naruto! I think she's reaching her limit with this technique! I think I can see her now! I need-"

Sasuke never finished his sentence when Haku came out of nowhere and threw a senbon at him. The needle flew right through the back of his leg and burst out of his left kneecap. He froze in mid-air and fell down onto the bloodied floor and clenched his knee before he let out a terrible scream when he looked down at his knee.

"OHHH! AHHH!"

Naruto looked over at his teammate and looked back at Haku with a frustrated look on his scratched-up cheeks. He tried to stand up and attack the mirrors out of blind frustration but the kunoichi came out of the mirrors and attacked him behind. She threw a dozen senbon into his back but none of them went in too deep, but it was more than enough to cause him to collapse and let out another shout of pain that echoed through the dome and caused his ears to start ringing.

"ARGH!"

Sasuke tried to move despite his kneecap being pierced through before he slumped back down due to a loss of balance and concentration. His partner looked to him and then looked back Haku in the mirror in front of him and focused magic into his arm to charge a charm he felt could give him some time. He felt the warm energies surge through his arm and then heat up the tips of his fingers until it hurt. He saw Haku strike another attack-pose and then used the one spell he felt could help protect him and his teammate while his forehead was rested on the bloodstained floor.

He cried out, "Protego!"

Haku launched the senbon and Naruto unleashed a wave of plasma-like energies and watched as the needle impacted the shield. He and the kunoichi froze when the needle traveled through the shield and stretched it out like it was an elastic rubber band. But just as Naruto was about to relax for a fraction of a second, the needle burst through the shield and struck Naruto in the shoulder. He let out another scream and his back hit the ground before he pulled out the needle and tossed it against the closest mirror.

"This is impossible," he panted, "I… can't… move…"

Naruto closed his eyes while Haku stared at him with a look of surprise hidden underneath a porcelain shell. She had seen the charm and couldn't recognize or associate it with a form of ninjutsu that her master taught her.

She thought, 'What was that? It looked like some kind of plasma. Could he have a kekkei genkai, too?'

But as she took the time to stare at the male she took such an interest in, Sasuke looked over at her with a determined look that so few people ever witnessed. He followed Haku and observed all of her movements inside the ice. She noticed that she was followed and looked back at Sasuke before she switched positions. To her amazement, her attention was driven from the boy she had dreamed of for days to the one that was able to follow her movements. Sasuke's pupils dilated for one second and then adjusted a fraction of a second later.

'No… He couldn't be… There's no human alive that can read my movements… It must be a coincidence…'

Sasuke continued to follow Haku when she switched from one mirror to the next one. He was slow, but he could still pick up where she would be next and be one second late. She was confused and worried whether or not the Uchiha could pick her up on his own, or if she was tired and had depleted chakra. Haku didn't feel tired at all but she didn't like the idea that the one with the black hair was standing and that he followed her like a natural predator. She appeared through all the mirrors at once and attacked. But the second before she threw a needle to strike Sasuke's chest, he dodged the attack and took Naruto with him. The needle grazed his chest and tore his shirt to turn it into a v-neck. When he recovered and glared at the kunoichi, she gasped out loud and discovered that Sasuke had activated his Sharingan at last. His eyes were now a shade of deep crimson and two pitch-black tomoe encircled his right pupil while one tomoe swirled around his left pupil.

'It can't be!' she panicked, 'Those are Sharingan… He must have a bloodline trait like me… But he awakened it in the heat of battle… He might have a bad attitude, but his abilities are incredible in combination with this bloodline trait… But that aside I have to end this before he can use the Sharingan to aid him in the battle… I have to end him!'

Naruto looked up at his teammate and froze when he saw the change and witnessed his Sharingan awaken. He was amazed and meant to make a comment but then the pain of his injuries hit him and he fell back down onto the concrete while his teammate looked up at Haku and looked into a world unlike the one he could see with his normal vision. The whole world around him seemed to turn dark and his vision made it so that he could see Haku and Naruto as if the world decided to slow down a little to take in their movements. He could track down the kunoichi without trouble and looked to the next mirror she was about to zoom into. Sasuke followed her with his perfect vision and was amazed with what he could see and anticipate. It wasn't a complete set of Sharingan and the lack of tomoe swirling around his pupils made a difference in what he could see but what he had at the moment was enough to turn the tide in the battle.

Haku disappeared as she had done countless times and threw a senbon at the Uchiha. But he focused chakra into his feet and was able to dodge in time and focus back on Haku when she vanished one more time and appeared in the mirror to his left. He glared at her and she looked at him through the slits of her porcelain mask, she removed a bundle of more senbon and placed them in between her pale and cold fingers. She was determined to end the battle now that Sasuke had obtained his Sharingan.

'If I let this fight continue, he'll keep anticipating my movements and I'll be worn down while this jutsu is still maintained… I have to end this before his Sharingan can improve and prevent me from leaving the ice… It would be foolish if I attacked him directly…' she stopped and looked over at Naruto and thought, 'But if I use Naruto-kun as bait… then I can strike down the one with those hateful Sharingan eyes… There's something about him… it just feels wrong… I have to put an end to this now, while there's still time…'

The masked kunoichi struck one more elegant pose and then burst out of the mirror with so much force and speed that the mirror she escaped form seemed to burst as if the ice had melted and was converted back into water for a short amount of time. Sasuke prepared for the attack he expected, but then his shoulders dropped when she flew out towards his teammate that was over seven feet away from him.

"IT'S TIME TO BRING THIS TO AN END!" she shouted.

Sasuke's crimson Sharingan widened when she zoomed at his teammate and his heart almost skipped a beat inside his chest. He felt a force inside him give him the drive to move at impossible speeds and blurred towards his defenseless partner.

He thought in his surprise, 'She's going to attack Naruto?'

Sasuke Uchiha turned into a dark blur of blue, black, and white while he adopted a wild and desperate expression on his bloodied pale-skinned face. His teeth were bared and clenched together while his legs pumped acid through his torn and used-up muscles. The pain to be the first one to reach the oblivious blonde preteen was intense. But it would be nothing compared to what would happen once he reached him and intercepted Haku when she reeled her arms back and prepared to slice and stab with her indestructible senbon needles.

"NO! I HAVE TO GET THERE FIRST!"

Blood splattered across the surface of the concrete while Kakashi heaved for a second and clenched his chest with one hand while he held a kunai in the other. Zabuza had slashed him across the chest with his Kubikiribōchō and left behind a deep cut that ran through his sculpted washboard muscles and almost scratched several of his ribs. The masked man braved the pain, but the noises he made to ease the intense burning caused Tazuna and Sakura to pale in addition to the sight of his blood dripping down from his front.

"Kakashi-sensei!" he heard Sakura shout from behind him.

Zabuza smiled and furrowed his hairless eyebrows, "That's a little too slow, Kakashi. You're desire to protect those two brats in the ice chamber has clouded you more than the mist that hinders the Sharingan… You're eyes are sharp, but not sharp enough to read my movements… But c'mon! Crack a smile! I want this to be fun while it lasts… But back to the worthless genin back there, the two of them should be at their last breath…. I'm sure you'll be able to weep out an apology to those idiots when you see them in the afterlife…"

Kakashi breathed as calmly as he could and snarled at the assassin underneath his mask, meanwhile Sakura and Tazuna remained frozen. Zabuza soon started to mock Kakashi and laughed like a maniacal menace while he blended back into his natural environment. Sakura seemed to turn another shade paler when she looked back to the direction of Sasuke and Naruto as a couple of tears began to well up in her eyes. She balled her hands into fists and held them close to her face while she tried her best to ignore Zabuza's mad blood-boiling cackle.

"No! I won't believe that!" she shouted like a scared child, "Sasuke-kun won't be defeated by that tramp! Neither will that baka Naruto!"

The jounin in front of her replied and earned her and Tazuna's attention, "You're right… I… I believe in their abilities… I have faith in them… Naruto Uzumaki is the most unpredictable shinobi that I have ever met… And Sasuke is the heir to the most illustrious clan in Konohagakure…."

"Wait a minute…" the assassin stopped moving around, "That doesn't mean that he's…"

Kakashi interrupted him, "His full name is Sasuke Uchiha of the Uchiha clan…"

"So… that's how he was able to develop in such a short amount of time… He's the survivor the massacre I heard about… I knew that one person survived the incident… but I wouldn't have guessed that it was Sasuke… For all I know, he could be an equal to Haku… but that title won't help his chances with her… No one has ever been able to penetrate her ultimate technique… Not even me…"

With that said, he vanished back into the mist. Kakashi was now determined to finish this monster and will the pain out of his severe slash to the chest. He evened his breath and did not turn his head when he spoke to his remaining student behind him.

"Sakura, don't move an inch," he ordered roughly, "I'll finish this as fast as I can."

Naruto felt the pain pulse all over him from the wounds that decorated his skin. But soon his invisible companion focused his magic to heal his skin and the pain began to fade. He soon found the strength to use his hands and push off from the earth to look up. His vision was still as blurred as ever, but he could still see to a degree where he noticed Haku was in a heap and his teammate was standing tall in front of him. Naruto smiled at the new sight and almost laughed when it seemed that Haku was unconscious.

He soon listened as he heard Sasuke speak to him, "You always get in the way, dobe…"

"Sasuke!" he started to cheer, "You-"

But then he stopped when he looked up and examined his teammate. The blonde shinobi watched as a massive amount of blood dropped down from his teammate's mouth and then splattered onto the floor like vomit. Small droplets of crimson touched Naruto's face and left him speechless while he froze like a statue. He watched in unspeakable horror when he realized his teammate had stood in the path of an attack intended for him and Harry. Sasuke had over sixteen senbon lodged into his chest, neck, arms, and legs. Blood oozed out of his torso in torrents and dripped onto the concrete to form a puddle around his feet and stain the bottoms of his sandals. The Uchiha looked back at his teammate in an attempt to smirk at him but failed when he almost couldn't turn his head from the senbon stuck in his neck. Naruto shook his head in denial and his face turned pale while the world around him seemed to turn cold, like he had dove into the ocean. Sasuke tried to speak again, but this time his voice sounded like it had been drowned with his own blood.

"What's... with… the look on your stupid face, dobe…?" he asked, "It looks so stupid…"

The blonde shinobi shook his head and tried to wake up from this nightmare while he asked, "Why did you do that?"

Sasuke looked back at the mirror above him and saw the mixed look on his teammate's face. He felt he must have hallucinated at this point, because he could have sworn that he could see all of the times he and Naruto had been on the same team in the crystal ice reflections. He looked up and could see back into his past to reflect upon the time the two of them had spent with each other whilst the two of them were either fighting or even having fun during their races and training. The heir to the Uchiha clan looked back at the times he and his odd teammate set aside their differences and almost acted like friends. It had been a short amount of time, but it enough to make this moment all the more difficult for the both of them.

"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO THAT?" he heard his teammate scream.

Sasuke soon snapped out of his flashbacks and admitted in defeat, "I used to hate you back then…"

"H-how could you be so stupid and do this?" his teammate asked in much calmer voice.

"I like I would know," he answered with an almost-lie, "I didn't move on my own… It was the Sharingan… dobe…"

The Uchiha felt his legs give out and he started to fall down on his back. But Naruto was there when he caught in time and held him in his arms. He was wet with blood and water and his skin turned as cold as ice. It almost seemed like all the blood inside him was leaked out into the mess that was made the floor. Naruto held him close and tried to keep him warm while he watched the life in his obsidian eyes fade a little more as time slipped through their fingers. He knew he did not have the resources he needed to help him in the weapons pouch, and that the Wiggenweld potion was in his beaded backpack back at the house. Sasuke would be dead in a number of moments and so his partner did whatever instinct told him to do and kept the deformed form of his teammate close until it was over. Naruto's heart tore to shreds when Sasuke made a noise he never thought he would hear. He started to let out small gurgling noises as one or two tears ran down his cheeks to clean the blood from his face. The blonde shinobi had never seen him look so vulnerable. The sight alone caused him to tear up and he almost cried when Sasuke spoke to him with a much softer voice.

"I've never felt so cold before..." he choked.

Naruto tried to convince them both that he would be fine, "Sasuke… Cut it out…You're fine…"

"He's still out there…" he interrupted while Naruto looked down at him and the blood that stream out the corners of his mouth, "Itachi is still out there and I swore I would never die until I killed him…"

The blonde shinobi tried it again, "Please, don't…"

"Naruto…" the Uchiha then said with some of his last breaths of his life, "Don't die here… Don't let your dream die…"

Silence had fallen once again as Sasuke Uchiha collapsed in Naruto Uzumaki's arms and remained still as stone. His breath had stopped and his heartbeat was now non-existent. His skin was like ice and the blood stopped flowing through his veins and out into the puddle that surround them both. The blonde wizard could not stop looking down at his deceased comrade as he felt tears run down his face and the wounds on his cheeks healed at speeds faster than normal. Naruto reached out and ran his trembling hand down on his teammate's eyes to close them and make it seem as if he were asleep. He never thought he would have to go through a loss so soon into his shinobi career. It almost felt as bad as when he found out how his mother had died. But this time it was more potent and the negative emotions that swirled inside his broken heart made it so unbearable to the point where he felt like his chest was set on fire.

While Naruto mourned the loss of his teammate, Haku regained consciousness and stood up to realize what had happened. She frowned underneath her porcelain mask when she heard the blonde preteen let out subtle sobs as he laid his teammate to rest and placed his bloodless arms down at his sides. Haku took a few silent steps back towards one of the mirrors and watched, as Naruto was convinced that his teammate was dead.

Once she was safe inside the mirror, she spoke to the preteen with a mournful voice.

"Naruto-kun…" she started slow, "You're teammate struck one blow at me even while he knew it was a trap and he sacrificed himself to save you… At least that's what I believe… He was a true shinobi to have made such an honorable sacrifice… I bet this is the first time you've seen a friend die in battle… I apologize… but this is a part of what it means to be a shinobi…"

The blonde wizard remained still, but then he spoke out to the kunoichi with one word that sent chills down her spine, "Shut up..."

She watched the preteen let his head fall down and he stopped the tears that had flown down his cheeks. The air around him felt different one second later as he looked down at Sasuke and a new emotion started to take him over. Back in the mindscape, Harry had frozen when he sat on his bed and turned his head to the left when he heard a noise that almost drained him of his skin color. He heard the sound of a creature stir and then he heard that same creature let out a terrible rumble. The mindscape shivered and quaked as books, instruments, and old statues fell down onto the carpeted floors. Harry stood up at once and ran out into the old corridor. Once he reached the decorated hall lined with the stone torches and tapestries, he looked toward the direction of the Kyuubi's chamber. The torches down the corridor went out one at a time with a wind that pushed the wizard back and then the corridor was dark and ominous. He looked out into the darkness and his green eyes widened when a red-orange light burst into the corridor and flooded the hall like molten rock.

"Oh dear God…"

Back in the real world, an ominous amount of steam came seeping out of Naruto's tracksuit and the senbon needles that were stuck inside him were pushed out as his muscles convulsed. The wounds that decorated his skin and face were healed in an instant, in fact, it was so fast, that the wounds hissed and released an unusual amount of steam that gathered inside the ice dome. The air seemed to become warm and dense as Naruto looked down at his teammate and the fire in his chest drove him into an emotional state that he could not explain or control. He breathed through his nose and stood up on his feet as the needles fell onto the concrete and clattered. He still looked down at Sasuke and spoke to him as if he were still there with him.

"I hated you since the first time we met... and sometimes I wished you would just disappear, because you were so mean to me... but I never meant it like this... I never wanted you to die...not like this..."

Back in the mindscape, Harry withdrew his wand from his robes and held it in front of him. He shouted out the names of some of the most complex and powerful spells he knew and thrust his arm forth. His spells caused the wall of flames to part, but exerted a force upon him that would have broken his legs like toothpicks if he were human. He let out an inhuman roar while he could feel the emotions that his little brother felt now. He had never been more scared, never been more terrified than he felt at this moment when he recognized the emotion that took over Naruto.

Rage.

Back inside the epicenter of the ice dome, the blonde shinobi closed his eyes while the steam that billowed around him turned into an orange fire and evaporated all of the mist within the sealed dome. The fire encircled him and caused the cement beneath his feet to start cracking as if he weighed over two hundred thousand pounds. When the masked girl saw his face, she gasped in fright when his cheeks were decorated with whisker marks that were as black as ink and made his face more furious and rough. She observed his eyes and trembled in fear when they were no longer a wonderful shade of sapphire-blue. The brilliant orbs she had become captivated with were now a shade of incredible crimson with pupils converted into black slits. The whites around his irises were bloodshot with tears still streaming down his face without control. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows like an animal while his new whisker marks on his cheeks stretched across his cheeks, and he turned into a feral beast.

Haku couldn't even speak, as the power of the fire started to take effect on both her and the mirrors she had created. The ice began to sweat at the intense heat while Naruto turned around to face her and revealed that his canines had been sharpened until he resembled a demonic fox placed into human form. He stretched out his hands and flexed his fingers when the burning red chakra flowed through his veins like an unbearable poison. His fingernails had grown in an instant and turned into a set of indestructible claws that were itching to slice through the warm flesh of a certain kunoichi. Naruto spoke to ice princess with a voice that was not his own; it was deep, raw, blood-drenched, and inhuman.

"Do me a favor and keep still..." he said with a demonic voice,"Because I'm going to kill you... "

To Be Continued…

There we are folks! The Kyuubi arrives at last! It took me forever to write out this scene, and I can only hope that I managed to deliver. I'll try to work to get the next chapter finished soon, but I'm not sure how long it will take. But in the meantime, please be sure to leave behind a review if you liked it!

Laters!