While on the run during what was supposed to be her sixth and seventh year, Harri gained almost a second-sense when it came to things attempting to hit her unawares. Spells were likely to start flying from anywhere at any time, and their little rag-tag group didn't have the means to watch everywhere around them. So Harri grew to sense almost immediately when a flying object came directed at her head.
Or well, not her head, necessarily, mainly because she was invisible to all who didn't believe in her. More likely it was directed at Tazuna or Kakashi. Still, it did come near her head, and Harri instantly tackled Naruto to the ground, her foot swinging out to take out Tazuna as well. The old guy fell onto his back with a loud groan, but he was alive at least.
Sakura and Sasuke also hit the ground, although after Kakashi's yell of warning. At least everyone had survived the first attempt. If the guy was willing to throw his fancy sword at their heads, there wasn't much doubt in Harri's mind that this was a person willing to do anything to get the job done.
The sword was nice though. Harri had wielded the sword of Gryffindor only twice, but had been able to tell that it was a magnificent sword. This new sword maybe wasn't as pretty as Gryffindor's, but it was definitely scary. And very efficient.
It could easily take off someone's head if they weren't paying attention.
There was a flash as the owner appeared standing on the sword. Harri's first impression was cow. That and he looked like he had just crawled out of bed. Plus, cow. Seriously. He looked like he had a vendetta against cattle and had taken their skins to become some odd looking leg and arm warmers. Perhaps Sakura didn't stand out so much if everyone dressed a bit odd. Cow.
Kakashi grunted as he shifted his upper body back up to look at the newcomer.
"Well, well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi, the missing-nin from Kirigakure." Kakashi introduced, standing up and going for casual as he put his hands in his pockets.
"If you're my opponent, then I'll need this." Kakashi stated when nobody moved after his announcement. Harri could tell that he had expected Naruto to rush forward, and Harri felt a flash of pride go through her at Naruto's restraint. Perhaps he really had retained some of her information.
"Kakashi of the Sharingan. Your reputation precedes you. If you hand over the old man now, I will spare you and your team from death." Zabuza offered, turning around fully, lounging on his sword as he stared at the group.
"I want you all to stay back, protect Tazuna. This will get ugly." Kakashi ordered.
Zabuza shrugged, "Just means I have the honour of killing the Copy Ninja." Kakashi didn't reply, but pulled up his hitae-ate, revealing a strange red eye. Harri's eyes narrowed at the sight. She was unpleasantly reminded of Voldemort. It was better to avoid that sort of thinking altogether though.
"What is that?" Naruto asked, his body language tense as he stared at the creepy eye. Harri came and put her hand on his shoulder.
When Naruto looked up at her, Harri spoke without taking her eyes off of Kakashi, "I'm sure that it's normal in some way. Otherwise why would he have been let to have a genin team? Don't freak out just yet."
Naruto nodded and then looked back at his teacher and his self-proclaimed opponent.
But surprisingly, the explanation came not from the two adults (did Harri count in this situation? She thought about that, then dismissed the thought quickly. It was too complicated at the moment) but from Sasuke.
"Sharingan. It is a dojutsu that resides in the eyes. It can instantly analyze an opponent's movements and counter-act it if the person has enough experience. Although there is more to it than that." Sasuke said, looking studiously at the ground and avoiding Kakashi's tense form in front of him. That was the sign of someone who had past experience with it. A bad one.
"There's a more to it than that, but the boy is right. The sharingan can follow along with any ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu and then copy it to its fullest ability. Only two people have it in the world right now. And one is standing in front of me."
Sasuke's head snapped up to stare at Kakashi as something became obvious to only him. Harri watched with wariness.
"I've wasted enough time on talking, if you won't just give the old man up, then you'll all die." On the last words, Zabuza moved, taking his sword with him. Harri was jealous of the shunshin, mainly because she missed apparition.
Zabuza appeared on the water, his sword now across his back as he made a hand sign. The mist around them started getting thicker, and the three genin automatically moved into a protective forward triangle around Tazuna. Harri stood off to the side, one eye on the group and the other looking for a stick that was similar to her old wand's length. She was proficient in wandless magic, but magic always worked better if it had a conduit.
The mist continued to become thicker, and Zabuza disappeared in it. Harri snapped a piece of wood off of a nearby tree before coming back over to the group. Naruto gave her a curious sideways glance, but said nothing, most of his concentration locked on the thick fog that covered the group. Harri raised the stick in response, but since she had never told Naruto the specifics of wands, the importance of the stick was lost on him.
"What is this Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, one hand slightly shaking on her kunai knife even as she tried to appear brave, "And who was that?
"A classic Kirigakure jutsu. It summons a thick mist for people to hide in. That was Zabuza Momochi. He's the ex-leader of Kirigakure's assassination unit. He's a master of the silent killing technique. As the name suggests, it happens in an instant, without sound or warning of any kind. It's so fast you pass from this life to the next without realizing what has happened. Even the sharingan can't fully counter it."
There was a shiver amongst the genin. And then Kakashi had to continue, "Of course, if we fail, we'll only lose our lives."
"Kakashi!" Sakura and Naruto admonished, both of their tones slightly panicky. Harri slapped her hand against her face at Kakashi's remark. Why did Naruto have to be stuck with the dramatic teacher?
"Eight points." The voice came out of nowhere, low and raspy. He was enjoying this, the bastard, "Larynx. Spine. Lungs. Liver. Jugular. Subclavian artery. Kidneys. Heart. Which should be my first point of attack?" Accompanying the words was a sudden burst of killing intent. Sakura became frozen, Naruto furrowed his brows as he felt something wash over him, but remained largely unaffected.
Harri could see Sasuke shaking from where she was standing and then grew alarmed as he slowly raised his kunai to point at his stomach. Hurriedly she stuck her make-shift wand behind her ear as she rushed over to Sasuke, hands stretched out to grab the knife. She would not allow anyone to commit suicide near her. Not again. And especially not someone as young as Sasuke.
As Harri's hands circled the kunai, Kakashi's voice stopped both of them, "Calm down Sasuke. I will never allow my comrades to die. Never." His voice was accompanied by a large wave of chakra, cancelling out Zabuza's.
Harri let out a sigh of relief as Sasuke turned his kunai away from him again, stepping away as she saw the panic in his eyes fade away to be replaced by determination and probably embarrassment.
"How cute. But you can't protect everyone." Zabuza's voice came out of nowhere, and then suddenly he was standing in between Tazuna and the genin.
Perhaps the only one not surprised by Zabuza's sudden reappearance was Kakashi, who simply charged at the swordsman. The genin scattered, but Tazuna remained frozen at the very real threat to his life right now. Harri lunged to the side to avoid being trampled by Kakashi, but quickly got up and made her way next to Naruto.
There was a tense silence as Kakashi and Tazuna remained locked in an impasse with each other. Then the silence was broken as something started dripping to the ground. Harri expected to see blood, but was confused at the sight of water. Who would bleed water? A mermaid?
When Zabuza dissolved into water, Harri raised an eyebrow at the sight. A clone? Wasn't it supposed to only be an illusion? Or was it similar like Naruto's shadow clones where they then poofed away in a big cloud. Perhaps since he was from Kiri though it meant it was made of water? Like how different regions spoke different words meaning the same thing? Except more violently. Harri eventually gave up trying to figure it out. Kakashi would no doubt explain it later. And if he ended up dead Harri would bring him back, regardless of rules about dimensions and Death!
On second thought that was a bit drastic.
The genin and Tazuna were all staring at the sight. None of them were used to seeing a guy dissolve into water. Course, neither was Harri so it wasn't like she had lots of room to talk.
Then another Zabuza showed up, was it the real one this time? And swiped clean through Kakashi with his sword.
Well, they were really screwed. Harri watched dispassionately as Zabuza followed through with his cut. Now everyone was really frozen. The idea that they were now on their own was absolutely terrifying to the genin. None of them were willing to run and leave Tazuna behind, but they also knew that if they stayed they would fail and die.
As Zabuza started to straighten up, a kunai knife appeared near his jugular vein. Alright, this was getting a bit ridiculous. Did anybody ever really die in this stupid world?!
"Times up Zabuza." Kakashi said seriously, kunai held to Zabuza's neck.
The silence this time was elated, although Harri had her doubts because in all honesty, with how many clones were being thrown around, it wouldn't surprise her if another one popped up.
It started out soft, a deep chuckle working its way up Zabuza's throat and everyone's elation quickly died and turned to dread at the sound. Sakura had been about to make a sound, probably to cheer, but her mouth snapped shut instead. Zabuza would have done well as an actor. His deep throaty laugh made him ideal for villainous roles. Harri grimaced at that thought though, she wasn't sure that movies even existed here, better to avoid that route of thinking all together.
"Impressive Kakashi. You truly deserve your title of Copy Ninja. When you made that speech to your genin, that one was a clone. You distracted me with it as the real you hid in the mist." Zabuza chuckled again before continuing, "However, even with the sharingan, your technique can't beat mine. No imitation is as good as the real thing."
"Just gut him already!" Harri yelled as she watched them. That was one of her biggest pet peeves when it came to battles, don't stand there talking, do something! Seriously, monologues were never a good thing!
Kakashi jerked, almost in line with her words, and the kunai dragged across Zabuza's neck. Harri wasn't even fazed to see the Zabuza in front of him turn to water. Kakashi whipped around, in time to block a swing of the sword from Zabuza. Zabuza then used the motion in order to plant his sword in the ground, using the handle to shift his body around into a kick that launched Kakashi into the air.
There was a distant splash and the genin all panicked. Splashes weren't always good, and the fog limited their visibility drastically. When you can't see something the situation instantly gets worse; knowing that you're being stalked is the worst feeling in the world.
"Sensei!" Sakura cried in alarm.
"Ventus!"Harri cried, whipping her arm around in a circle around her. Zabuza was not going to sneak up on their group on her watch. Gradually, the fog started following her arm motion before slowly dissipating into nothing.
Kakashi was just pulling himself out of the water, his hair dripping water into his eye. He looked extremely water-logged, and Harri had the amusing thought that he looked like a drowned cat.
As Kakashi was lifting himself up, Zabuza appeared behind him and started going through hand signs, Kakashi's eyes widened as he recognized the order that Zabuza was going through. Harri could read the slight panic in his eyes as Kakashi tried to pull himself out of the water faster. It didn't work though, and a bubble of water appeared around him as he attempted to launch himself away.
Harri groaned at the seemingly incompetence of Kakashi. If he was famous enough for this Zabuza character to recognize him on sight, then why was he crap at fighting Zabuza?
"Alright, let's go. Kakashi's gone. We need to get Tazuna to safety." Harri finally spoke up, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder in an attempt to steer him away and get the others out of there.
"Now I don't have to worry about you and can take care of the Old Man." Zabuza said to Kakashi in the water prison. Kakashi was breathing somehow, but Harri couldn't tell if it was Kakashi who was using chakra to breath or if the prison itself allowed the prisoner to breath and just kept them trapped.
"I'll finish you off later. But first to deal with your little team. Water Clone Jutsu."
There was a tense and fearful silence as the little group watched as an exact image of Zabuza grew from the water.
"Legilimens." Harri said, pointing her faux-wand at the clone. She waited in tense silence as nothing happened, "Legilimens!" she hissed louder, jabbing at the clone. Nothing happened and Harri felt disquieted. Hoping that it was simply because she was trying at a clone, Harri left Naruto's side to stand in front of the real Zabuza on the shore, "Legilimens!"
Zabuza didn't even notice and started speaking, "You think wearing a hitae-ate makes you a shinobi. When you've faced life and death so many times that it doesn't faze you, then you may be called a shinobi." Harri kept trying, although an uncomfortable feeling started to spread through her as nothing happened, "When you've become so deadly that your profile has been entered into my bingo book, you may be called shinobi. But to call little upstarts like you shinobi, is a joke." On the final word, the clone disappeared.
A strangled cry made Harri whip around, "Crud." She said as she saw Naruto fly through the air. Figuring out why Legilimency hadn't worked would have to wait until a less nerve-wracking time.
Sasuke and Sakura both whipped around to watch Naruto land and Sakura let out a cry, "Naruto!"
The clone of Zabuza stood on a familiar piece of cloth and Naruto was getting up from the ground, not in too much pain from the kick.
"You're just brats. Pretending to be bigger than you could possibly be." Zabuza sneered from where he stood on Naruto's hitae-ate. Naruto looked up at Zabuza, fear and determination mixing together in his wide-eyed look.
"Take the bridge-builder and get out of here! This fight is too big for you. He's using all his power to keep me in here, so he has to rely on his water clone. But because it's made of water it can't go very far. So get Tazuna and run! He won't be able to follow you long!" Kakashi ordered, although desperation also mixed into his orders.
Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who made the first move. Towards Zabuza. Harri wanted to smack him for his stupidity, but instead concentrated on getting to Naruto instead. One of Sasuke's thrown kunai's made Harri hit the ground hard enough to make her bite her lip, but ignored the sharp taste of blood. The witch spared Sasuke only a sparing glance before concentrating on Naruto. She got up and took the last few steps towards her Summoner before kneeling next to him.
"Naruto? Come on, get up, we have to get out of here." She urged, a hand on his shoulder.
Naruto stayed still a moment, then started to stand up before freezing and grasping at his injured hand.
"Naruto? Naruto, come on. Let's go." Harri urged, tugging at his shoulder. She wasn't about to let him die, especially not on a mission that was supposed to be relatively easy.
Naruto shoved her hand off his shoulder as he stood up, and Harri watched with concern as he straightened before charging straight at Zabuza.
"No…" whispered Harri in disbelief as she watched Naruto charge at the missing-nin.
"What are you doing? Get out of here!" Kakashi echoed her disbelief from his prison. Harri stood up, raising her pseudo-wand in preparation for ripping Zabuza apart if he hurt Naruto, when Zabuza again kicked Naruto away, causing him to roll along the ground, knocking Harri off her feet.
Harri landed with a grunt on her back before pushing herself up, "You knucklehead! What was that for! You could have been killed!" she hissed at him.
Naruto lay still for a moment before he started to stand up and a flash of metal briefly blinded Harri. With a start she realized it was his hitae-ate.
A whispered, "Shut up Harri." As he stood up straight. Harri was taken aback. Naruto had never shown anger at anybody, not real anger at least. What had she said?
"Hey you, freak with no eyebrows." Zabuza twitched slightly as Harri muttered that he did have eyebrows, they were just small.
Naruto's face was shadowed as he spoke, "Put this in your precious bingo book. The shinobi who will become Hokage of Konoha." As he spoke, Naruto raised his hitae-ate back up to his forehead. As he finished tying it, Naruto looked up, "He never gives up. And he never backs down. My name is Naruto Uzumaki."
Zabuza started twitching and Harri caught a whisper of something from the missing-nin, but it was gone before she could really hear it.
"Sasuke, I have a plan." Naruto stated as he wiped a bit of blood leading from his mouth. Silently, Harri got up and backed away from the middle of the potential battlefield.
"Now you're thinking about teamwork?" Sasuke questioned with a smirk. But he didn't openly challenge Naruto either, so that was progress at least.
Kakashi spoke up, yelling at them, "What are you doing? I told you to get out of here! This fight was over the minute I got captured! Get going before you're all killed!" Naruto and Sasuke hesitated at this, and Harri opened her mouth to agree with Kakashi, but Naruto didn't even look at her as he turned behind him to question Tazuna.
"Bridge-builder?" Naruto questioned. Harri fumed silently as Naruto seemed to become like a stubborn bull in his attempt to get this fight. It was as though he wanted to die!
Tazuna bowed his head as he thought. The old man raised his head and said determinedly, "This is all my fault. My fault for wanting to live. So forget about me and save your sensei!" Harri slammed a palm against her forehead in exasperation as everyone fell to Naruto's pleas. This was out of their league!
Shaking her head and scowling, Harri lifted her pseudo-wand and pointed it at Zabuza, "Imperio!" the yellow-ish light raced towards Zabuza as the two boys conversed with Sakura keeping watch. Harri watched anxiously as the light seemed to dance around Zabuza's head for a moment before simply fading away into nothingness.
Scowling at the sight, because the victim's eyes were supposed to flash a yellow gleam to signify that the curse had taken hold, Harri tried again with more force and magic this time, "Imperio!" the yellow-ish light was bigger and brighter this time. It danced around Zabuza's head for longer, making him narrow his eyes and shake his head minutely as though trying to be rid of an irritating fly, but the light ultimately faded away into nothing.
That wasn't supposed to happen! No one could just resist the Imperius Curse without any tries, or without it even settling in! What was going on here?
Before Harri could try again, Zabuza started laughing un-expectantly. Was this because she had tried the Imperius curse on him?
"Still playing around, acting like you're shinobi." Zabuza raised his right arm, looking at it with an amused expression on his face, "When I was your age, I had already slaughtered many with this hand."
The genin looked slightly disturbed, but not too much considering all they had seen from the man.
Kakashi looked up at Zabuza, "Zabuza. The Demon."
"Oh, so I was in your bingo book too? You've heard the story?" Zabuza only sounded faintly amused as he looked down at Kakashi trapped in the water.
They all heard Kakashi groan, and then continue on, "In Kiri, a while ago, there used to be a very specific graduation test, required for all hopeful shinobi."
"You've heard of the graduation exam? That's impressive, I hadn't known it would become so famous. Go on, tell the story." Zabuza said, sounding faintly eager as he gave the go-ahead for Kakashi.
"Graduation exam? What's the big deal?" Naruto asked, and Zabuza started chuckling, Naruto continued, "We had to take graduation exams too!"
Zabuza just kept laughing before he asked, "Did you have to kill the people who you had trained with, eaten with, shared your dreams with? People you had known for years?"
There was a horrified silence among the genin as they realized what that had entailed. Sakura let out a quiet, "That's so cruel." Harri stood shocked at the idea that a village would do that to their own recruits. That process usually led to unrest eventually.
Kakashi sighed as he continued, "Nineteen years ago, the graduation exam changed. The year before, a dark evil had filled the school with terror. Without pause or hesitation, a kid who wasn't even a shinobi approached the class and took down over a hundred other students." Kakashi finished grimly. Harri could read the silent plea behind the story and added her own to it, hoping that Naruto would somehow receive it.
"It felt… so good." At the last word, the water clone, which had just been standing there, moved and rammed an elbow into Sasuke's stomach, sending him flying backwards. Sasuke landed on his back with a cry, and in a flash, Zabuza was there, driving his elbow again into Sasuke's stomach. The dark-haired boy cried out in pain as the clone started stepping on his stomach again and again. A hand started to reach up to his sword.
"Hey! Cut it out!" Naruto called out before he put his hands into a familiar sign, "Multi-shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto's signature jutsu fluttered into existence one-by-one.
"Oh, shadow clones? I suppose that's to be admired in a student so young." The real Zabuza spoke off-handedly. Sasuke took advantage of Naruto's provided distraction to slip away from the clone's foot. He struggled to pull himself up. Harri let out a small groan as the Naruto's started to converge on the clone without moving Sasuke first and so darted in and hauled Sasuke out. She ignored his quiet panic and used a clone to hide herself before shoving the dark-haired boy away.
Harri then returned to her position away from the dog pile, watching with interest as more Naruto's piled on.
There was silence, then a quite roar as Zabuza swung his sword in a large arc, dispelling most of the clones in one go. Naruto skidded backwards as he dug through his pack, he pulled something out before yelling at Sasuke, "Sasuke, catch!"
His hand snatched the thing out of the air before he twisted around, revealing a packed demon wind shuriken. Sasuke opened it and called out, "Demon Wind Shuriken: Windmill of Shadows."
Harri heard Sakura make a delighted noise, but watched Sasuke with interest instead. Something was going on here. She looked over at Naruto who just gave her a wink and a small smile.
Definitely odd.
Sasuke leaped into the air before throwing the shuriken. Harri watched and could see the curve in the path before it went around the clone and straight towards the real Zabuza. Harri raised an eyebrow at the genius of it, getting what had happened before Zabuza.
"Idiots. Shuriken can't touch me." He stated as he caught the shuriken out of the air. There was a dismayed noise from Tazuna, but Sakura seemed to get it also because she didn't make a sound either.
And…there it was, the second shuriken. It headed straight towards the real Zabuza, but he simply jumped over it like in the Olympics. Harri felt a brief stab of disappointment before she heard the tell-tale poof of a shadow clone and turned to see the Naruto that had thrown the shuriken to Sasuke disappear. Harri felt a smirk appear on her face as she turned back to see the second shuriken transform back into the real Naruto, a kunai held in his hand.
"Take this!" he shouted, throwing the kunai at Zabuza's head.
"What? No!" he snarled, staring at the kunai aimed at his head, the possibilities running through. At the last possible moment, Zabuza pulled his hand from the prison.
"You little brat!" Zabuza yelled, twisting around to face Naruto, the shuriken he held in his hands beginning to whirl around. Harri felt the panic well up inside her, there was no way Naruto could dodge that, not at the rate he was falling towards the water. The panic on Naruto's face conveyed his panic as well.
As Zabuza started to bring the shuriken around to throw, it was stopped suddenly with a loud clang. And Naruto fell safely into the water. Harri let out a sigh of relief at Kakashi's timing.
"Not my student you bastard." Kakashi uttered as Zabuza increased the pressure on the shuriken on Kakashi's hand. There was a brief struggle of power before Kakashi knocked it away and out of Zabuza's grasp. As it went flying away, Harri watched it to ensure it wouldn't come back to hit one of them.
Once she was sure that it was no longer a danger, she looked back at the two jonin standing across from each other.
Zabuza started going through hand signs, muttering the name under his breath, and after a moment, Kakashi started to follow after him. At the end, Zabuza inexplicitly stopped as he stared at Kakashi.
"…copying you?" Kakashi suddenly spoke, and Harri could see the psychological warfare that was happening from Kakashi's side. Zabuza was getting more and more spooked as Kakashi started following every move that the missing-nin made.
"Stop copying me!" he finally yelled, speeding through hand signs once again. Kakashi repeated him, and then finished before Zabuza, causing a vortex of water to collide with Zabuza, washing the shinobi away. It filled the lake even more with water before heading to land and colliding with several trees. Harri ducked as pieces of tree started to fly everywhere and then started to look for Naruto. She finally spotted him clinging onto a branch. As the water started to recede back into the lake, Harri rushed over to Naruto as he started to climb out of the water. She offered a hand to him, and Naruto took it, allowing Harri to haul him up faster. Perhaps all had been forgiven?
The two then turned to see Zabuza against a tree a bit away from the group, a kunai in each limb.
"How…? Do you see the future?" Zabuza croaked as he looked up at Kakashi on the branch above him. Zabuza's eyes were bloodshot, both from the force of the water and the panic he had, and was still having, concerning the sharingan.
"Yes." Kakashi said mildly after a moment, "This will be your last battle. Ever." As Kakashi readied a kunai to end Zabuza's life permanently, Harri was startled to see two small silver objects fly out of the air to land in Zabuza's neck, a bit of blood flying into the air.
Time seemed to slow down as their metaphorical giant started to fall down. Naruto especially seemed to be in disbelief at the idea that Zabuza was dead just like that.
"I must thank you. I have been tracking Zabuza for days." A soft sounding voice made everyone look even further into the trees. A figure stood there, wearing a sort of dress thing with a mask covering their entire face. Harri listened closely as the figure continued to speak, "I apologize for intruding on you, but thank you."
Naruto was shaking in anger next to Harri, and before she could stop him, had run over closer to the fallen Zabuza, "Who are you? And what did you do?" he yelled angrily.
"Naruto," Sakura hissed at him, "That's a hunter-nin. You missed the lesson from that day, as usual."
Kakashi ignored all of them and addressed the hunter-nin, "By your mask, I would say you are from Kiri."
"You are correct. I have been tracking Zabuza for a while now. But I must be going now. His body holds many secrets that cannot be allowed to see the light of day. By your leave." The hunter-nin bowed to them all before appearing next to Zabuza.
Naruto was about to blow up at the mysterious figure, but Harri placed a hand on his shoulder, when he paused, still shaking slightly, Harri said, "Hold your anger until the next fight. He doesn't deserve it."
Naruto took several deep breaths, but said nothing as the hunter gather Zabuza on his shoulder before shunshining away.
There was a relived silence as everyone took in the fact that it was over. Finally. Although it really hadn't been that long, Harri thought as she looked over their little group. No one had gotten hurt either besides some minor bruising.
"Come on, let's get going and get Tazuna to his bridge." Kakashi said tiredly as he stood up and surveyed his students. Naruto was barely holding back his anger, but at least he was holding back. Harri observed him proudly at that.
"Well, you all can stay at my house, no worries!" Tazuna spoke up with a slight laugh, reaching up to scratch at his head. Kakashi looked at him a moment before nodding his head slightly.
"Alright team, let's move out." But Kakashi had only taken a step or two before he faltered, and then collapsed to the ground.
"Kakashi-sensei!" everyone cried out in worry. Harri only let her head fall back as she looked at the clear sky, cursing their bad luck. Of course Kakashi had to fall unconscious. And she couldn't even use magic to just levitate him to Tazuna's house. Curses.
A/N:: Well, that was a long time coming, I'm so sorry you guys! I meant to finish this like two weeks ago, but obviously it didn't happen. Curse you college life! But I really am sorry about taking so freaking long. But hey, the chapter is really long! Isn't that exciting? Hint, hint, wink, wink.
But anyways! Plot hole spotters, I'm sorry. I wasn't quite thinking in earlier chapters. But as of right now, I'm not going to go back and change it. Otherwise this will never get done. Sorry!
And for all those who start freaking out at Harri not being able to affect Zabuza, no worries, all will be explained. Just not right now, nor in reply to reviews, sorry!
I'm going to address this now: if you are reading this story to see Sakura-bashing, move on. I'm not going to bash her, frankly I don't like writing bashing. I think she does act immature, but at the same time, I've always thought she wasn't entirely aware of what a shinobi life entailed because she grew up in a civilians home. It is one thing to read it and another thing to actually experience it (like my attempts at parkour).
This story is so close to hitting a thousand followers! Eek, that's exciting! So the stats for the last chapter were 136 reviews, 517 favorite, and 783 followers. Right now they are at 153 reviews, 584 favorites, and 903 followers! All of you guys are amazing and thank you everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed! That's amazing! Speaking of a thousand, I suppose the person who is the thousandth person can get a prize of some sort. Internet cookies? A sneak peek? I dunno, I'll think about it.
If you spot any sort of mistakes, let me know. I'm working on incorporating more Japanese terms, but at the same time I'm guessing, so polite corrections are appreciated!
Next chapter will hopefully be the end of Wave, but I'm not entirely sure yet. Pray it doesn't take me so long next time.
A/N2:: The changes come soon, probably the next chapter. Just be a bit patient please.