OK, I HAVE SOME THINGS I NEED TO GO OVER REAL QUICK, IT WAS BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION THAT I DIDN'T ACTUALLY EXPLAIN HOW SASUKE HAD SOLID CLONES OF HIS OWN, AND I WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE TO ANYONE THAT BOTHERED. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO SAY THAT SASUKE DOES NOT HAVE SHADOW CLONES, HE IS USING ANOTHER CLONE JUTSU, LIKE THE WATER CLONE JUTSU EXCEPT THE KONOHA VERSION. OTHER THAN THAT I WOULD JUST LIKE TO THANK ALL MY REVIEWERS FOR YOUR REVIEWS, YOU ALL KEEP ME GOING. WELL I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY.
Kakashi's eye opened the moment he heard Tazuna open the door to the room he had provided for Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto. Kakashi raised his right hand quickly, before Tazuna could say anything to wake up the boys, before eye smiling at the old man "Tazuna-sama, if it would be all right with you I would like to leave Naruto here for the day. The boy had to be practically carried to bed last night so I think it would probably be best if we let him sleep in for the day."
Tazuna smiled and nodded before quietly closing the door and walking to Tsunami's room to wake her and Sakura.
Kakashi got up out of bed and walked over to Sasuke who had woken up when Tazuna had opened the door. Kakashi mentally noted that Sasuke had a good sense for his surroundings which was uncommon for such a young ninja before saying "you heard all that right?"
Sasuke said nothing, but nodded before getting out of bed and getting dressed himself.
Kakashi and Sasuke exited the room quietly, leaving Naruto in his bed hugging his pillow and mumbling something about ramen.
When Kakashi saw Sakura exit her and Tsunami's room he held up his left hand to silence the girl before she could ask "I am letting Naruto sleep in for the day. It seems even he ran out of energy after being up for two days straight while using chakra almost none stop." Kakashi didn't figure pointing out that with the particular bushin Naruto was using the boy had pumped out more chakra than he, Sasuke, and Sakura could have if their lives depended on it. He also made a mental note that the fact that Sasuke had managed to make 25 of the average leaf bushin, even if it only took about a 50th of the chakra a shadow clone would require, was quite impressive. Then again he was pretty sure the only thing holding the boy up at the time was sure annoyance about the fact that Naruto had been able to make 50 the day before.
Sakura was both, happy that Naruto was getting some actual rest and annoyed at the fact that he had pushed himself to such an extent that it was required he sleep in just to recuperate. She decided she would just point out how he was causing everyone problems by acting the way he did later so he would hopefully learn from the experience, then followed Kakashi and Sasuke to the living area to eat breakfast.
After everyone had eaten and Kakashi had asked Tsunami to tell Naruto to stay at the house until they returned unless something came up, Tazuna, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura all left the house and began to walk toward the build site. When they all got there though, none of the men that had been helping with the work were anywhere in site.
Tazuna was confused and quickly turned his head toward Kakashi when he heard him mumble something about hating to always be right.
Kakashi quickly walked in front of Tazuna and put his little orange book away.
Sasuke and Sakura seeing that Kakashi had put away his precious little orange book, suddenly felt their adrenaline spike and quickly followed suit and surrounded Tazuna and fell into defensive stances.
Kakashi waited patiently for who he knew was coming.
Zabuza walked out of the light mist that had formed around them all and chuckled at he came to a stop about 50 feet away from the others.
(BACK WITH NARUTO)
Naruto opened his bleary eyes slowly. He was confused for a moment though when he rolled over and sun light streaked across his face, suddenly Naruto sat up and looked around the room to see both Kakashi and Sasuke were missing. Naruto face contorted in to a mask of annoyance as he realized what had happened before saying to himself "damn it all, they left me here like I was some little kid just because I was wore out last night." Naruto was shook out of his little fit though when he heard Inari. Naruto quietly got out of bed and walked over and placed his ear to the wall. His eyes widened when he heard Inari yell "get away from her you jerk."
Inari was being held down by a large man with a scar across his left cheek who was wearing rough but obviously new looking cloths who had a katana strapped to the back of his pants. While another large man with a scar over the eye socket that used to hold his left eye was walking toward Tsunami with his katana half drawn.
The one eyed goon leered at Tsunami and licked his lips as walked toward the woman "you should just give up and come peacefully."
The man holding Inari down pick the boy up by his hair and held him out for a better view and said while leering at Tsunami "you never know you might like i-."
Inari had kicked the man with the scar on his cheek in the balls and quickly grabbed a small crossbow that his grandfather had helped him make when he was younger so the boy could go hunting with his father, before Gato had the man killed, and ran in front of his mother and pointed the small weapon as the one eyed goon "get away from her you jerk."
The one eyed man looked back at man with a scar on his cheek, who was now standing again but had a look of unbridled rage marring his features, then looked back at Inari with a smile on his face and started walking toward the boy and his mother before saying "and what if I say no."
Inari pointed the crossbow at the one eyed man's remaining eye and was doing his best to stop his shaking and look brave before saying "you'll lose your only eye, ugly."
The one eyed man sneered at Inari before taking another step "give it your best sh-."
Inari took a step back when the goon stepped forward and accidentally pulled the trigger of the crossbow and due to his shaking and unintentional firing the arrow few at the man's face and sliced across his right cheek.
The one eyed goon's right hand came up and grabbed the side of his face from the pain the arrow had caused when it cut through his cheek. He swung his katana with his free left hand and sliced Inari across his right cheek while roaring "you damned brat."
Suddenly Naruto was in front the one eyed man. Naruto slung his right fist into the man's face, sending the man across the room and into his fellow goon. Naruto glared up at the men with his normally calm ocean blue eyes frozen solid as ice before gritting out "you're going to pay for that.
Tsunami and Inari just watch on in shock as Naruto slowly walked up to the men.
The goon with the scar on his cheek pushed the one eyed man off and swung his katana at Naruto.
Naruto quickly pulled a kuni from his pouch with his left hand and blocked the blade. Naruto looked at the man and then at the katana, he then tossed his kuni into his right hand and grabed the short blade with the fingertips of his left and looked back at the man "you know this is a pretty dull sword, but still…baka's shouldn't have sharp things." Naruto then pulled the blade with enough force to rip the hilt right out of the man's hand before stabbing the katana into the ground beside him. Naruto looked at the man for a moment longer before saying "what if you hurt someone?" Naruto then jumped into the air and kicked the man with the scar on his cheek, on the left side of his face, which sent him flying into the one eyed man and both of them flying out the doorway they left open when they entered the house. Naruto began to wake toward the men again but stopped and looked at Inari and Tsunami "are you two all right?"
Tsunami and Inari just nodded in unison.
Naruto nodded his head and turned back to the goon but raised his right hand and pointed his pointer finger in the air "give me a minute." Naruto dropped his hand and proceeded to walk outside.
Tsunami and Inari just stood there as they heard the goons yell thing like, "wait, no stop, we're sorry, mercy, we won't do it again, we surrender" all the while they could hear a bunch of loud thudding sounds. When the sounds stopped they walked around the corner to see the goons with bruised and swollen faces hogtied and laying on their side unconscious and Naruto just standing their smacking his hands, in and up and down motion, together like he was trying to knock dust off of them after a good days work.
Naruto heard Inari and Tsunami walk toward and around the corner and knew they were probably staring at him so he turned around with a big smile on his face "well, that's done." Naruto paused for a moment and looked at Inari's cheek then reached into his pouch and pulled out the salve he had used before himself and walked up to the boy and his mother and put it in Inari's hands "if you put this over the cut it should keep it from getting infected and scaring." Naruto then looked back at Tsunami "you sure your OK miss Tsunami?"
Both Tsunami and Inari just looked at Naruto and had the same thought 'who the hell is this and why do they look like Naruto?'
Naruto just stood there a second before his eyebrows pushed together in confusion.
Both Tsunami and Inari suddenly hung their heads and thought 'and he he's back to normal now.'
Naruto tilted his head to the side, still confused.
Tsunami looked back at Naruto "yes, I fine."
Naruto nodded his head and said "OK" with a smile on his face again. Then his smile dropped into a serious expression "listen, you two should go back inside and lock the doors…Just to make sure, Tazuna and the others are at the bridge right?"
Both Inari and Tsunami nodded before Inari said "yes."
Naruto looked at the boy again and used his right hand to pat the Inari on his right shoulder "by the way Inari, nice job there. I only saw three things you need to work on. First, aim for their feet so you don't have to worry about the guilt of really hurting them, second, shoot them before they can actually reach you, and third, you need more arrows for that thing."
Inari just stood there with a sheepish smile and scratching the back of his head.
Naruto took a step back "I need to go tell Kakashi and the others that something happened, I'll see you two later." Naruto turned, made a few hand signs, and disappeared.
Inari stood there looking at where Naruto had disappeared from and then turned, ran into the house, grabbed his crossbow and arrow and then ran back out past his mother "I'm going to get the other villagers, we will need to work together if we're going to take our village back from Gato. Just like Naruto-san said." Inari ran before his mother could argue.
(BACK WITH KAKASHI AND THE OTHERS)
Kakashi absolutely hated being right about this but here he was staring at a laughing Zabuza who was now wearing a black sleeveless shirt and back in top form. Kakashi wasn't scared of the man by any means but he also knew the alleged hunter-nin had to be close by as well, and he wasn't sure exactly how strong said hunter-nin was. If there were jonin level this could get bad real fast because even with their improvement, his entire team, of genin, put together couldn't handle a jonin level ninja yet and he would have his hands full with Zabuza. Kakashi knew he would just have to deal with things as they came though and used his left hand to push up his headband and reveal his sharingan before saying "you know Zabuza, I was wondering where your little hunter-nin friend is."
Zabuza stopped laughing but nonchalantly shrugged "who knows, they could be anywhere." Zabuza paused for a moment to access Kakashi and his team again "I see one of your little friends is missing too, you wouldn't be willing to tell me where he is, would you?"
Kakasi eye smiled at Zabuza "sorry, but I asked my question first."
Zabuza chuckled a little "well, that's fair enough I suppose. Just means I will have to hunt him down later." Zabuza started to laugh loudly again after he finished his statement but manage to get out "it looks like the other one there is trembling though." Suddenly Zabuza was right on top of all of them ready to attack with 4 other water clones there to help him surround his victims.
Sasuke smirked and looked right into the eyes of the clone in front of him "I'm trembling with excitement."
Kakashi just eye smiled and turned his head to look at Sasuke before saying "he all yours Sasuke."
All the Zabuza's swung their swords but before they could cause any harm Sasuke cut them all down and landed back where he started.
The mist around everyone got just a little thicker as Zabuza and Haku walked into view.
Zabuza smiled behind his mask "well it looks like the boys gotten better, you might actually have someone worth playing with there, Haku. Even if those clones where only about a 10th as strong as usual"
Haku just stood there beside Zabuza "so it seems."
Kakashi just eye smiled at Zabuza and haku and said "ah, there you are" while Sasuke walked up to stand beside him.
Zabuza just stood there and said "well Haku, I believe it's time to get started, so go."
Haku suddenly charged.
Sasuke charged as well and blocked Haku's senbon with a kuni in his left hand.
Haku pressed against Sasukes kuni with her senbon "you know, you should just leave, we only want the bridge builder. I don't want to have to kill you."
Sasuke smirked "not going to happen, sorry about that."
Haku keeped pressing with her senbon "I already have two advantages against you."
Sasuke just smirked a little bigger "and those are?"
Haku lifted her left hand "one, we are surrounded by water, and the second is you now only have one hand to defend yourself with" Haku suddenly started making hand signs with one hand.
Kakashi's eyes widened as he though 'not good.'
Haku's left hand finished the jutsu "secret jutsu, a thousand needles of death."
Suddenly the water around Haku and Sasuke flew up into the air and created a thousand ice needles, which then shot toward them both. Haku jumped back to escape any damage.
Sasuke remembered his training though and shot chakra to his feet and jumped into the air quickly to dodge the needles before suddenly appearing behind Haku "you're not the only fast one here."
Haku blocked Sasuke kuni and then had to dodge the one Sasuke threw with his free left hand. That however put her right where Sasuke wanted her to receive a kick to the face, which sent her flying till she sled to a stop in front of Zabuza.
Kakashi just eye smiled at Zabuza "you shouldn't take these young ninja to lightly. Sasuke there is our best young fighter in the village and Sakura here is our sharpest mind, and last but not least the young man you said you were going to hunt down earlier is our number one hyperactive, knucklehead ninja, Naruto Uzumaki."
(BACK WITH NARUTO)
Naruto was running toward the bridge build site when Kyubi suddenly piped in "GREAT!"
Naruto suddenly came to a stop and thought to Kyubi 'what's wrong?'
Kyubi sighed "that ninja with a sword from before is at the bridge site."
It took a moment for Naruto's brain to translate what Kyubi had just said before he suddenly yelled "Zabuza is at the bridge site?"
Kyubi rolled his eyes "I just said that."
Naruto suddenly took off at full speed but it would still take him a couple more minutes to get to the site.
Kyubi cleared his throat, when he remembered, and said "oh, and I should probably mention that the girl you meet yesterday was the hunter-nin that took the sword ninja's body before."
Naruto's mind took another moment to translate before he suddenly stopped in his tracks and yelled "WHAT!" Naruto suddenly realizing he said that out loud this time to took a quick look around to make sure no one saw him suddenly yell like he was crazy.
Kyubi of course had to chime in with "aren't you ninja supposed to be the quite type?" Naruto looked like he was about to say something else but Kyubi decided to point out "and don't you need to hurry to where the others are now?"
Naruto nodded and said "RIGHT" before taking off again at full speed.
(BACK AT THE BRIDGE BUILD SITE)
Zabuza stared at Kakashi and the others thinking 'no one is faster than Haku' before he glanced down at an already standing back up Haku "Haku you need to get serious or we are going to become the victims here."
Haku finished standing before saying "I understand"
Kakashi had a bad feeling about this "Sakura, protect Tazuna and stay close to me."
Sasuke could feel the air temperature drop suddenly but still took a few more steps toward Haku with a smirk on his face, which put him over 20 feet away from the others.
Haku placed her hands together to form a hand sign "secret jutsu."
Suddenly ice started forming behind Sasuke, cutting him off from the others.
As the ice formed into tall mirrors of ice Haku said "crystal ice mirrors."
Sasuke could now see that he was completely surrounded by mirrors made of ice and watched as Haku stepped forward and started to disappear into one "what?"
Haku finished stepping into the mirrors and suddenly Sasuke was surrounded by several mirror images of her before she said "I'm sorry it came to this, but I'm about to show you what real speed looks like."
Sasuke was suddenly assaulted with senbon from what seemed like everywhere and when he dropped his kuni a senbon even knocked it out of the jutsu area to land beside Kakashi and a few feet infront of Sakura.
Kakashi knew Sasuke needed help and started toward him but stopped when Zabuza appeared in front of him.
Zabuza just smiled behind his mask "if you want to join in Copy Ninja, you will be fighting me. You might as well give up on that runt back there, he has no chance against Haku."
Kakashi was worried now, because he knew what Zabuza was really saying. That even if Kakashi could get past him and tried to help Sasuke. Zabuza would not waste his chance to kill Sakura and Tazuna.
Sakura watched in horror as Sasuke was being cut up by the senbon before saying "I'm sorry…I can't protect you."
Tazuna looked at the young pink haired girl and knew it must be tearing her apart inside to just watch as Sasuke got hurt and do nothing "I understand, go Sakura."
Sakura suddenly took off and grabbed Sasuke kuni before jumping into the air and throwing the kuni at the ground beside Sasuke and yelling "take this!" Before Kakashi could stop her.
Haku however came partially outside the back of a mirror and caught the kuni, but before she could do anything else a shuriken flew by slashing the middle of her mask and pulled her the rest of the way out of the mirror.
Suddenly Naruto came running across the bridge past the others and straight up to Haku. Naruto grabbed the chest area of her cloths and pulled her masked face right up to his "what the hell are you doing Haku!"
Haku gave an almost too low to hear scream of anger before she punched Naruto so hard in the stomach that he was actually lifted into the air before Haku jumped up and kicked him in the face and into the jutsu area beside Sasuke. Haku then quickly entered the mirrors again.
Sasuke just stared at Naruto, who at the moment was still clutching his stomach and head. Thoughts raced through Sasuke mind and he remembered that Naruto had had the other ninja by the shirt and instead of killing them or knocking them out like anyone with common sense would do the dope yelled at the person. Sasuke snapped for a second and suddenly his cuts no longer hurt as he got up and punched Naruto across the back of the head "what the hell is wrong with you, you had him."
Naruto, who was now angry, shot up and pointed at Sasuke with his right hand "what the hell Sasuke?" and then threw in, as sort of a side thought, and pointed at the mirror Haku went into earlier with his left hand "and Haku is a girl." Suddenly 4 senbon stabbed into each of Naruto's hands. Naruto looked at his hand in shock and pain then started to pull the senbon out and looked up at one of the mirrors "what the hell Haku?"
There was an image of Haku in the mirror with her right hand holding up 3 more senbon ready to throw and her left forearm placed protectively over her chest, her face was red with rage which somehow manage to appear on her mask and yelled "you groped me you BASTARD!" Haku threw the three senbon which landed in a straight line, the last one landing dangerously close to Naruto crotch.
Naruto looked down and quickly crawled backwards until his back hit the mirror behind him before he put up his now senbon free and magically healed hands in a placating matter "wait, no, I didn't mean to" was all Naruto got out before Haku appeared in the mirror behind him and kicked him in the back of the head again.
Haku suddenly had three more senbon in her right hand again "and you apparently even knew it was me! WHAT THE HELL NARUTO?!"
Zabuza's shaved right eyebrow was twitching as he was standing there in front of Kakashi and he only had one thought 'REALLY, Haku?! You're supposed to be a ninja!'
Kakashi's right eyebrow was twitching as well as he was thinking 'why does this not surprise me?'
Tazuna, Sakura, and Sasuke's eyes where now wide with shock as they watched the scene between Haku and Naruto unfolded.
Naruto pushed himself back up off the ground but keep his head down "sorry, I was mad and I wasn't thinking, and I just kinda snapped."
The fact that the eye slits in Haku's mask were glowing with an ominous light left little hope for the idea that Haku would accept statements like "I wasn't thinking and I just kinda snapped" as a valid excuse for Naruto's transgressions. However, when Zabuza cleared his throat, Haku returned to her stoic self.
Naruto knew that Haku's change in attitude meant he and Sasuke were going to have to fight their way out of this now but still had to speak his mind "so you were with Zabuza this whole time, huh?"
Haku just stayed in the mirror and said nothing.
So, Naruto, after receiving no answer, decided to press further "so why didn't you just try to kill me in the woods when you saw me? I mean don't you think it is weird to help someone you intend to kill the next day."
Haku still didn't move but said "if you and your friends would just back down and leave, we wouldn't have to kill you. We only want the bridge builder.
Naruto's eyes tightened "you know where not going to do that. You told me before you have someone important to you and I told you I would do anything for the people who are important to me. Since you're with Zabuza, I am guessing he is the man who raised you that you told me about before, so I understand that you want to help him. If you really want to help him though, you two should back down because I have a dream. I am going to become Hokage and be respected and protect the people who are important to me along with everyone else in my village. So I can't afford to be beaten here, because if I can't even protect old man Tazuna, how can I protect my whole village."
Haku was silent for a moment, then she sighed "then this will be a battle for our own dreams, because my dream is to help Zabuza reach his. So I can't afford to be beaten ether…even if I have to kill you both.
Naruto smiled before placing his hands in the familiar hand sign "all right then…shadow clone jutsu!"
Sasuke yelled "don't Naruto" as Naruto clones, one for each mirror, tried to attack every mirror.
Haku quickly destroyed all the clones before slicing both Naruto and Sasuke up with more senbon.
Sasuke had barely been able to see the trail of Haku's movement but hadn't been able to actually see Haku yet. So instead of wasting more chakra like Naruto did he decided to try and melt the mirrors. Sasuke performed a few hand signs and then brought his hand up to his mouth before saying "fireball jutsu."
Haku just let Sasuke try because she knew he would need a lot more heat than that to break or melt her mirrors.
Naruto could see that Sasuke attempt to break the mirrors had failed as well so he figured he would give it another shot, so he formed the hand sign again "shadow clones jutsu", Naruto was suddenly covered in smoke before his clones tried to attack the mirrors again, this time with kuni. The Naruto clones all through their kuni at the mirrors only to have them blocked by Haku and for him and Sasuke to receive more cuts from the senbon.
Haku pulled out more senbon "that is not going to work, I am just too fast for you to beat with these mirrors."
Naruto sat back up with a smile on his face "oh really?" Suddenly all the kuni that the Naruto clones had thrown puffed into smoke to become more Naruto clones but this time they were all much closer to the mirrors.
Haku still destroyed them all but one manage to make it to a mirror if only to break his own hand when he hit the mirror and puffed into smoke.
This time however Sasuke got a good look at the trails Haku made when he moved and had seen some water that was kicked up with Naruto's attack get deflected which showed that Haku wasn't teleporting but jumping from mirror to mirror. Sasuke looked at Naruto "can you do it again?"
Naruto looked at Sasuke like he had just been insulted "off course I can, I'm busy, be quite."
Sasuke smacked Naruto across the back of the head "then do it."
Naruto knew Sasuke probably had a plan so he figured 'why not?' Naruto formed the hand sign "shadow clone jutsu!" Several Naruto clones once again tried to attack the mirrors.
Haku began destroying the clones again but this time she was in for a surprise when a fireball jutsu came right at her. Haku dodged and threw a senbon into Sasuke's left shoulder before destroying the last clone.
Sasuke pulled out the senbon and smiled when he saw Haku's burnt pant leg before saying "again."
Suddenly Naruto had Sasuke by the collar of his shirt "are you crazy! Fireball jutsu are dangerous, what if you kill her?!"
Sasuke was in too much shock to even try to hide the fact that he was shocked "what's wrong with you! She is trying to kill us!"
Naruto glared at the other boy "she's not trying to kill us, she is trying to make us give up and surrender!"
Suddenly both Sasuke and Naruto were peppered with senbon.
Kakashi was getting really worried now because Haku was obviously using a Kekkei Genkai and unlike Sasuke and Naruto was probably very used to killing.
Zabuza could practically see what Kakashi was thinking in his eyes but when Kakashi looked back at him, Zabuza made sure not to look into Kakashi's sharingan eye before saying "oh Kakashi, you still don't get it. Haku there is my ultimate weapon. I found her when she was just a pathetic little street urchin who was going to die before the end of winter. I took her in and trained her, practically taught her everything I know. She developed quickly and when she wasn't learning from me she was mastering her own special talents. In the end, she even surpassed me in absolutely everything but Kenjutsu and she has got plenty the talent there too. Plus I made sure to teach her what you and your village were to lax to teach your brats, how to shut down her emotions and kill without remorse."
Kakashi glared at Zabuza "by special talents you mean her Kekkei Genkai, or at least that what I would bet on. Also if you're done bragging, you're in my way." Kakashi took a step toward Zabuza.
Zabuza took a step back but laughed a little "ah Kakashi, you don't really think the same trick will work on me twice do you. I do have one more thing to brag about, when we fought, Haku was there analyzing your every move. She can see a jutsu once and figure out a perfect and deadly countermeasure for it, yet another of her special skills." Zabuza then put up his right hand up and made a hand sign "hidden mist jutsu."
The mist began to thicken to the point of zero visibility.
Kakashi looked over to Sakura "Sakura stay with Tazuna."
Sakura had already started running toward Tazuna to protect him before saying "OK, Kakashi-sensei!"
Kakashi stood there a moment and went over the current situation. He couldn't see or hear Zabuza because of the mist but Zabuza couldn't see him ether, so he needed to figure out where Zabuza would attack. Suddenly it dawned on Kakashi 'Tazuna!'
Zabuza appeared behind Sakura and Tazuna and started to move toward them.
Sakura caught sight of Zabuza out of the corner of her eye and turned ready to try to protect Tazuma.
Kakashi suddenly appeared between Tazuna and Zabuza.
Zabuza sliced down with his sword and sliced Kakashi deep enough to draw blood.
Sakura screamed.
(BACK WITH NARUTO AND SASUKE)
Sasuke was on a knee while Naruto was laying on the ground, both of them had several senbon imbedded in their bodies now but both boys heard Sakura's scream.
Sasuke stayed where he was, trying to figure a way to get past the mirrors so they could defeat Haku and help Sakura and the others.
Naruto turned his head toward Sasuke "OK, so maybe she is trying to kill us."
Sasuke yanked one of the senbon out of Naruto's back and said calmly and in a sarcastic voice "no kidding?"
Naruto winced in pain "OK, maybe I deserved that, but I still don't think we have to kill her. We just got to beat her quick and go save the others." Naruto barely managed to stand.
Sasuke stood as well while paying close attention to the mirrors so he could try to see what was coming.
Haku knew she would have to disable both of them now, she hoped that if neither could move Zabuza might just leave them, but she couldn't let ether boy know that or they would start blocking everywhere except for what would kill them, so she went back on the offensive. She threw several senbon at both boys.
Sasuke saw the senbon coming but also saw that Naruto had passed out standing. Sasuke quickly shoved Naruto to the side and down and blocked at many of the senbon as he could but still got a few in his left leg and arm.
Haku could see that Naruto could no longer fight and knew that Sasuke was trying to protect him so she threw more senbon at Sasuke to tire him out.
This time Sasuke quickly bent down picked up one of the senbon Haku had thrown at them and blocked them all.
Haku's eyes widened with surprise when she saw Sasuke's eyes where now red with one toma in his left eye and two in his right. She instantly knew what this meant, Sasuke was an Uchiha and his sharingan had been unleashed during the last attack. She knew that this could go on for a while now but she couldn't chance leaving Zabuza out there fighting Kakashi alone so she had to come up with a trap. She quickly looked at Naruto and thought 'that will work.' Haku suddenly threw several senbon and lunged toward Naruto.
Sasuke knew what was happening, Haku was going to kill Naruto and if Sasuke tried to interfere he would just die instead, it was a trap. Sasuke's body was already moving though even as the thoughts raced through his mind.
(BACK WITH KAKASHI AND THE OTHERS)
Sakura stared on in horror as Kakashi was bleeding on the ground. She started to reach for her kuni pouch, but stopped when Kakashi held out his right hand.
Zabuza laughed as he slowly faded into the mist until he couldn't be seen anymore "you were late Kakashi. At least try to make this interesting for me."
Kakashi stood back up and looked in the direction that Zabuza disappeared into "Sakura, stay with Tazuna no matter what you hear me?"
Sakura nodded numbly before saying "yes, Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi then ran off into the mist thinking 'oh it's going to get interesting all right.' Kakashi ran until he was about 20 feet away from Sakura which meant he was 40 feet away from the Sasuke and Naruto and maybe 40 feet from the end of the bridge. He reached up to his vest and pulled out a scroll and then quickly laid it on the ground and opened it before placing his thumb into the cut across his stomach and smearing a line of blood down the scroll before he rolled the scroll back up. Kakashi then lifted his right hand in the air and slammed it down on the scroll "ninja art, summoning, fanged persuit jutsu." Kakashi then took a few steps forward before yelling out "hey Zabuza, what do you say we finish this? Since we're both busy people."
Suddenly Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi and swung his sword down as he said "couldn't agree more Kakashi."
Kakashi pulled out a kuni with his right hand and parried Zabuza slash to the left as he stepped to the right, placing Zabuza between him and his team. Suddenly a small dog that looked to be wearing ninja gear flew out of the ground and ripped out Zabuza's throat revealing that the Zabuza that had attacked Kakashi was a water clone.
Zabuza appeared again behind Kakashi again, this time with his sword in his left hand already swinging diagonally from his lower right side to his upper left "sloppy Kakashi, you really think a summon is going to save you?"
Suddenly the ground around Zabuza erupted to reveal five more dogs, each a different breed, who attacked Zabuza. One dog bit down on each of Zabuza's limbs as the fifth and largest bit down on his left shoulder, when the dog that took his left arm bit down it performed an acrobatic like twist that broke Zabuza's arm forcing him to drop his sword on the ground in front of him.
Kakashi left the scroll on the ground and jumped forward a few feet to make sure he didn't get hit by a sword flying in a random direction before he stood up straight and sighed "who said anything about only using one summon, beside Zabuza, why do you think I let you cut me. If I couldn't see you or hear you I would have to smell you out, and my blood…lead my ninja hounds right to you."
Zabuza just stood there rooted to the ground and unable to move as he glared at Kakashi.
Kakashi glared back at Zabuza "you're like a disease Zabuza, you try to kill Tazuna which would in turn hurt everyone else in this land. All because you're actually crazy enough to try and assassinate the Mizukage again just because you want to have a codetta so you can control the land of Water. You failed the first time and can no longer go home but you need money to attack a ninja village, so you're working for a piece of garbage like Gato."
Zabuza sneered behind the bandages he used for a mask "you know nothing!"
Kakashi just stood there for a second like he had notice something and now seemed to be in a hurry, before saying "It doesn't really matter what I know because I am going to end this. Not with the sharingan, an imitation of some other ninja's tricks. I'm think it's time I introduce you to my own jutsu." Suddenly Kakashi made a few hand signs and griped his right wrist with his left hand, chakra swirled out from around his feet and then electricity started to shoot from Kakashi's right hand to the ground.
Zabuza was shocked to see chakra so strong it could actually be seen and knew he was in trouble.
Kakashi bent over slightly and lowered his right hand a little as he pumped out more chakra making the jutsu extra powerful as he said "lightning blade!" Kakashi stood up straight again and look hard at Zabuza "it's time to die Zabuza."
(BACK WITH NARUTO AND SASUKE A FEW MINUTES EARLIER)
Naruto woke up to see Sasuke standing in front of him and said "what's going on" before he saw the blood dripping out the left side of Sasuke's mouth.
Sasuke knowing that Naruto was awake now smiled a little "you're such a dope."
Naruto quickly got up and looked at Sasuke. He could tell from the way Sasuke looked and the way he was standing in front of him earlier that Sasuke must have taken what could be a death blow protecting him. Naruto looked at Sasuke with shock in his eye "you…you protected me. Why…why did you do it?"
Sasuke's knees buckled slightly but he was still standing "don't know…didn't have time to think…my body just moved." Sasuke lost his balance and fell backwards.
Naruto ran up and caught the other boy before he could hit the ground. Naruto could feel the panic build up inside of him "hey…hey, you OK?"
Sasuke closed his eyes and could feel himself fading, he could only think of one thing to say "he's still out there."
Naruto was really worried now "what?"
Sasuke barely managed to open his eyes "my brother…I swore to myself, that I would stay alive until I killed him, but now I've." Sasuke looked at Naruto and started to raise his right arm before saying "Naruto, you know…I hated you, but…don't let your dream die." Sasuke arm fell limply to the ground as he stopped breathing."
Naruto's eyes widened in horror and he slowly placed Sasuke's body on the ground before he started to stand and thought to Kyubi 'give me chakra NOW! FOX!'
Kyubi sighned before saying "calm down and think of what you should do kit, my chakra will harm you, besides it's not like that brats dead."
Naruto was standing up with his left side to Haku and his right to Sasuke when his eyes infinitesimally widened before they glazed over. Naruto was suddenly in Kyubi's cage room and ran up to the golden bars and looked Kyubi dead in the face "Sasuke's alive?!"
Kyubi could hear the desperation in Naruto's voice and was annoyed with the fact that the kid was showing so much emotion when he should be thinking about what to do next, so Kyubi snapped at Naruto "YES! HE'S ALIVE! NOW THINK ABOUT HOW TO GET OUT OF THIS! NOW!"
Naruto was taken about by Kyubi's sudden outburst, but was soon smiling big as he mumbled to himself "Sasuke's alive…he's alive."
Naruto started to laugh a little but instantly stopped when Kyubi slammed his face into the bars and yelled "THINK!"
Naruto took another step back and cleared his throat before saying "yeah, right, sorry about that. I'm on it."
Back in reality Haku could see that Naruto's eyes were wide with shock and had a good idea of what the boy was probably thinking "This is the first time you have seen a friend die in battle isn't it?"
Naruto was drawn back to reality when Haku spoke and looked at her image in the mirror "I know Sasuke's alive, so you should drop the whole piss me off so I'll make a mistake plan…I got a question for you Haku. Why are you with Zabuza? Even if he did save your life and raise you, he doesn't know a thing about honor. It's weird that someone as kind as you would do what you're willing to do for him."
Haku didn't show any physical movement to signal that she was angry but her words came out cold "you don't know anything about Zabuza. He gave me a purpose after my own father had murdered my mother and tried to murder me for having a Kekkei Genkai, I was born in the land of water where people fear people like me and don't want us to exist, so we have to hide who we are. Zabuza found me sitting on a bridge and gave me a purpose…a reason to live. He raised me and trained me to be a powerful ninja…and even if I don't like being a ninja, how could I not do so if he asked me too? You say he doesn't know anything about honor, but you're wrong. He tried to cause a codetta by trying kill the Mizukage Yagura because the Mizukage was being controlled by some organization who was making everyone in the village suffer and was making the village destroy itself. We only failed because we were betrayed by a comrade of Zabuza's…another of the Hidden Mist's seven ninja swordsmen. If we hadn't been betrayed, Zabuza would be a hero, but no. He gets branded a traitor for trying to serve his village. Now that there is a new Mizukage all we can do is try to find the traitor and avenge out comrades, but in order to do that we need information…so we need money. We wouldn't be helping Gato otherwise. It's all Zabuza has…no we have left. So don't insult him, Naruto!"
Naruto just stood there stunned for a second, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, but why would Haku lie at this point. However he still didn't like the way Zabuza did things, the ends did not justify the means as far as Naruto was concerned. So Naruto decided to tell her so and maybe try to talk some since into both of them before saying "That doesn't mean you two should." Naruto stopped when he felt Kakashi's chakra spike and noticed that the mist was clearing up enough for him to barely make out Kakashi and Zabuza through it.
Haku could also feel the chakra spike and looked back as her eyes widened in horror, she snapped her head back to Naruto "Naruto, change of plans." Haku jumped out of the mirror to the outside and made a few hand signs, a water clone of her appeared behind her and jumped into the mirror as the real Haku made more hand signs and disappeared.
Naruto saw her make the clone and the dots connected, quickly for once, in his head. Haku was going to ether kill Kakashi or become a human shield for Zabuza. Naruto started to run forward and as the Haku clone threw the senbon at him time seemed to slow down as adrenaline pumped through his vains "Chakra NOW!"
Kyubi protested "Kit, I told you."
Naruto cut Kyubi off though "NOW! I DON'T HAVE TIME!"
Suddenly Kyubi appeared in his vessel beside Naruto and yell "FINE!"
Naruto could definitely feel Kyubi's chakra pump into and through his body, it felt like he was being burned alive from the inside out but he could also feel the power that came with it. Naruto dodged with the slightest possible movement to get past the senbon, some clipped through his hair and blonde strands fell to the ground. Naruto closed in on the mirror and punched it, the water had just enough time to jump out of back of the mirror as the other mirrors exploded from the force of the chakra but could only watch as Naruto ran past it before Kyubi ripped its face off as he went by.
Haku had created two more ice crystal mirrors and threw senbon needles into the scroll on the ground a few feet away from Kakashi and Zabuza, jumped into one mirror and instantly jumped to the next in less than a second to appear in front of Zabuza to take Kakashi's attack.
Naruto watched in horror as he knew he wouldn't make it in time "Kyubi, I need to be faster!"
Kyubi wasn't about to give Naruto anymore chakra because it would kill the boy but since the whole idea of the current seal was to work together he decided he would help in another way "JUMP!"
Naruto didn't know what Kyubi had planned, but he couldn't just do nothing and watch Haku get kill so he immediately did what Kyubi said. Naruto could feel the pressure of Kyubi's tails on his feet like a spring board and knew what was about to happen.
When Naruto jumped Kyubi did as well but turned in the air and smashed his tails into the bottoms of Naruto's sandals, it had the desired effect of sending Naruto flying.
Naruto flew past Sakura and Tazuna to right between Haku and Kakashi, he had to stop himself to make sure he could actually push Haku away without killing her so he held out his left leg stiff as a board and drove it into the ground. Naruto was too panicked to even notice the pain in his shatter left leg and swung his right arm pushing Haku away. He knew it hurt Haku when he heard her scream and could feel her left arm break from the pressure but that all faded to the back of his mind as he felt intense pain in his right side and snapped his head to see Kakashi's eyes wide with horror.
Kakashi was in a hurry because he felt the Kyubi's chakra and thought that Naruto and Sasuke were in some real trouble, and he was shocked when Haku appeared between him and Zabuza, but when Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him he thought he was going to go insane. Kakashi did everything in his power to stop, but knew he couldn't stop in time. He could feel his hand slide into Naruto's side and cut straight into the boy's right lung like a hot knife through butter.
(SAKURA POV FROM RIGHT BEFORE)
Sakura could see that the mist was clearing and could not make out Kakashi and Zabuza. She saw one of the figures charge the other but jerked when something red and blonde flew past her at a speed that blew the remaining mist away. She recognized Naruto immediately, only taking minor note of the fact that when he stopped the wood that made up the part of the bridge opposite of them cracked and shatter for almost ten feet, her eyes widen in horror as she saw Kakashi's hand stab into Naruto and blood erupt from the boys side before screaming "NARUTO!" Suddenly her mind began to race 'why was Naruto there? How was he there? were is Sasuke?' Sakura jerked her eyes to the right to see what looked to be a lifeless Sasuke laying on the ground and yelling "SASUKE!" Her legs gave way as something red ran by her at speeds faster than she could follow. Her mind felt like it was falling apart as the thoughts 'Naruto is going to die and Sasuke is dead' repeated over and over in her mind. Somehow her face had turned to see what that red thing could be, only to show her yet another Nightmare. Sakura mumbled to herself "Kyubi no Yoko."
WELL THERE IT IS. I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED AND I WOULD AGAIN LIKE TO SAY THAT ALL REVIEWS ARE WELCOME AND APPRECIATED. I AM STILL LOOKING FOR A BETA READER BUT HAVEN'T FOUND ONE YET, HOPEFULLY SOMEONE CAN HELP ME OUT WITH THAT SOON. WELL, I WILL HAVE THE NEXT CHAPTER UP BY NEXT WEEK AT THE LATEST. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.
