Don't own Naruto but I'm always sneaking up on people.
"Speech"
'Thought'
CHAPTER 10: BATTLE FOR THE BRIDGE
"How long have we been here Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura.
"I'd have to say about 23 days now," answered Kakashi.
Sakura sighed as she watched the workers move materials around the bridge. Kakashi said it wasn't a good idea to tire themselves out in case the enemies came again.
Watching people work on the bridge may have been interesting at first but after the first week there wasn't anything they that was new anymore. The workers didn't help with the mundane situation of the construction. Aside from Tazuna, the rest of the men working on the bridge were too scared to do anything else but work. They didn't even talk to each other much less them.
The only times that silence didn't envelope the air was whenever Tazuna chewed someone out for messing up and whenever Naruto decided to help out with his shadow clones.
Obviously this meant that Naruto wasn't around right now. They left him to snooze off at the house.
That tedious routine of waking up, watching and sleeping was going to stop today.
Mist was gathering around the area and Kakashi knew what this meant. The meaning was obvious as the two ninjas that just walked into their line of sight.
"Dammit!" cursed Naruto as he rushed to the dining table.
Naruto had just woken up and now Tomoyo was watching him scarf down his now cold breakfast.
"You could choke from eating like that Naruto-san," stated Tomoyo.
And as if he were waiting for her to say that, Naruto started choking.
"GAHGRUKGUUGH!" were the noises that could be heard from the boy.
Tomoyo sighed.
"I told you," said the girl. "Let me help you with that."
Tomoyo stood up and approached Naruto. She then thrust her open palm into Naruto's chest just under the sternum and quickly stepped to her right.
A disgusting mixture of partially digested food and slobber flew out of his mouth and splattered onto the wall he was facing. Naruto grabbed the glass of water that was prepared for him and drank it all down.
"Feel better?" asked Tomoyo.
"Haa… Yeah, much better," replied Naruto just before he went back to scarfing down his food.
It seems he didn't learn from past experience.
Before Tomoyo could say anything about it Naruto finished swallowing down the lump of nutrition he had in his mouth.
"Tell Tsunami-neesan that the food was great for me!" said Naruto as he ran off outside.
Tomoyo could never understand energetic people and Naruto truly deserves to be called energetic.
Tomoyo closed the door and went back to reading her book.
Several minutes passed and Tomoyo heard a knock on the door.
'Who could that be?' wondered Tomoyo as she got up to answer the door as both Tsunami and Inari were upstairs.
Naruto was running along in the woods following the trail to the bridge when an idea struck him. He slowed down to a walk.
"Might as well try it here," he said grinning to himself.
Naruto closed his eyes still walking concentrating on his feet. He tried focusing some chakra out of his feet.
The wind started picking up around his feet.
Naruto opened his eyes as he leaned forward with his right foot in the air.
He landed his right foot just as he let out a burst of wind chakra from it. The chakra lifted his feet of the ground propelled him several meters forward.
He did the same thing as he landed his other foot still leaning forward even more accelerating his already impressive speed.
Naruto grinned. The air brushing against his face was a sure sign of success.
'What should I call it?' pondered Naruto. '… Reppu no Hou. Sounds good enough.'
As Naruto sped up, he could only say one thing.
"WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!"
Tomoyo looked up to the stairs with one hand on the door knob.
"Tsunami-san!" called out Tomoyo. "I'll be heading out to join them."
"Okay! Who was that at the door?" asked Tsunami from upstairs.
"It was Uchiha-san, he came to get me," answered Tomoyo closing the door. "Don't come out of the house, something's going on at the bridge."
Tomoyo turned her back on the door and stared at her current problem.
In front of her lay two dead mercenaries. Both of their heads were facing unnatural directions.
"Now where should I dump these two?" mused Tomoyo.
CLANG
CLANG
CLANG
After clashing with each other's weapon for the third time, both Zabuza and Kakashi landed on opposite edges of the bridge. The battle started as soon as Sasuke spotted them and took the initiative. Haku clad in the same hunter-nin uniform he wore in their first bout managed to deflect the kunais that were thrown at them. Almost immediately after that Sasuke decided that his opponent would be the one deflected his attack leaving Zabuza to Kakashi and Sakura.
Though Zabuza had two ninjas to fight he decided to ignore the pink haired girl in favor of facing off against Kakashi in a one on one duel. This left Sakura the opportunity to get the workers out of there.
Sakura scanned around for anything that might have been one of the workers. Tazuna was with her and he had decided to stay around on the bridge with them. All it took was a brief talk to convince her that he should stay.
"Tazuna-san! Run away!" pleaded Sakura to the old man.
"No way, little lady! My buddies are safer away from me than they are around me," declared Tazuna. "Those two are after me aren't they?! As long as I'm here they won't get hurt!"
"But what about your own life?!" questioned Sakura. "If not for your own sake think about Tsunami-san and Inari-chan's sake! What are they going to do without you?!"
"My daughter's old enough to take care of herself and Inari!" said the stubborn old man. "They don't need me around to get by!"
By this point in the conversation Sakura had given up making him leave. All she could do now was make sure he stayed alive. That's why they had taken to the sidelines and were now watching Sasuke and Kakashi handle the enemy.
'Is Kakashi sensei really going to be okay with just kunai against that monster of a sword?' wondered Sakura. 'Sasuke-kun looks like he needs help against that boy but I can't leave Tazuna-san alone. Where's Naruto when you need him?'
'Damn! This guy's fast!' cursed Sasuke inwardly. 'If only I had my Sharingan.'
When Sasuke thought last part he subconsciously glanced at Kakashi who was currently parrying his opponent's giant blade with a pair of kunais.
Unfortunately for Sasuke, Haku decided to lob a few more needles into his right arm in that moment of misplaced attention.
The last Uchiha of Konoha let out a grunt of pain as he jumped out of harm's way dodging the next volley of needles.
Sasuke made a grab for the shuriken in his weapons pouch but to his surprise he discovered that his right arm was immobilized. Haku stopped his assault to see the shocked expression on Sasuke's face. Apparently those needles of his weren't just there for style.
"What can you do now?" asked Haku. "I have disabled your right arm and just so you know pulling out my needles won't guarantee their use."
Sasuke glared at his opponent.
"I still have my other arm!" shouted Sasuke as he threw several shuriken at Haku with incredible precision and speed with his only usable arm.
Haku tried to dodge them but one of them managed to dig into the masked boy's right forearm just two inches away from his wrist.
"You won't be able to throw those things with that arm again," taunted Sasuke.
Haku looked at his bleeding arm. Sasuke was right. The shuriken cut through the tendon in his forearm and now it was affecting his ability to bend his fingers. Even with healing jutsu, he wouldn't be able to grip anything properly for the rest of the battle.
"Well then, I'll just have step it up a notch," replied Haku.
Sasuke watched in wonder as Haku started performing one handed seals with his left arm. An instant after seeing those one-handed seals Sasuke leaped towards his opponent throwing a kunai at the same time.
The kunai was about to reach its mark when Sasuke noticed something. Ice was forming on the weapon. By the time it made contact with Haku's mask the kunai was fully encased in a block of ice and simply bounced off the intended point of contact.
"What the?" said Sasuke.
"As you can see, I can do something most ninjas can't do," stated Haku.
Sasuke felt air around him become less damp as he watched pieces of ice form and shape themselves into needles around Haku.
"My bloodline limit allows me to manipulate the water around me and use it as a tool," declared Haku. "It even allows me to do this."
Haku lifted up his injured arm and pulled out the shuriken embedded in it. Sasuke watched in fascination as ice formed around the wound and closed its entrance.
"I did not wish to use my bloodline limit for something like this but you forced my hand," said Haku as he proceeded to perform more single handed seals.
Large sheets of ice began forming around the pair.
Sasuke knew that he'd better get out of there if he wanted to win so he made a mad dash towards the closest opening he could find.
Unfortunately for him Haku had anticipated that and brought down the ice sheets towards the ground blocking Sasuke's way.
'Damn!' silently swore Sasuke.
He began somersaulted backwards and let out a giant ball of fire towards Haku.
The blazing ball of heat enveloped Haku in its overwhelming luminescence and collided into the ice sheet behind the boy.
Sasuke expected the fireball to break through the sheet of ice but his expectations were not fulfilled as the ice sheet remained as cold and solid as ever.
Sasuke quickly went over the possible reasons for his failed attempt at breaking the ice and he came up with one likely explanation. His opponent was still alive. What he heard next confirmed that fact.
"You won't be able to break them with just that," rang out Haku's voice.
Sasuke twisted around to find where the masked boy could be and found that he was now trapped in a dome of ice.
"What you see before you are called Demonic Ice Mirrors," explained Haku. "So long as they surround you, it will be impossible for you to defeat me."
Sasuke concentrated on his next task.
"We'll see about that…" challenged Sasuke. 'I'll have to use that man's jutsu but this is my only option.'
Sasuke started forming handseals albeit clumsy due to the difficulty he found in moving his right arm.
"Whatever you are attempting will be futile against my mirrors," declared Haku's disembodied voice.
Sasuke stopped on the Tora handseal and felt all the chakra he mustered up rush towards his feet.
Sasuke dropped down to the floor in a low stance and became a blur as he dash towards the ice mirror that he hit with his Goukakyuu a few moments before.
Sasuke leapt into the air and aimed his mark towards the centre of the mirror.
'What does he intend to do?' wondered Haku as Sasuke began spinning in the air pulling his legs in.
To Haku's mild surprise Sasuke's footwear suddenly enveloped themselves in a small inferno.
The flames began to spin themselves around Sasuke and a fiery tornado of heat and light had replaced Sasuke.
The flame vortex crashed into the ice mirror and upon making contact the fire grew exponentially and filled up the icy arena.
'What on earth have they been teaching their genin?!' questioned Haku as he reinforced the ice mirrors as best as he could. He could feel the ice mirrors starting to melt.
Three seconds passed both boys by until the flames subsided and Sasuke emerged out of the dying flames and fell to the now scorched bridge.
Panting, Sasuke tuned out the pain in his feet as he noted that his ninja sandals were incinerated during his attack. Various parts of his clothing were now charred in some places but otherwise they were still fine.
Sasuke looked up towards the ice mirror he had intended to break but to his displeasure it still stood there despite the fact that he managed to vaporized some of the ice into steam.
"Impressive," sounded Haku's voice. "I've never seen an attack like that. What do you call it?"
"Hmph," grunted the Uchiha. He wasn't in the mood to answer his opponent's query. He probably shouldn't seeing as that would have used up the small amount of energy he left in him.
"Looks like you're too tired to tell me," stated Haku.
Sasuke glared at the masked boy who had finally decided to show himself. Despite the exhaustion and frustration he felt, Sasuke had to wonder how he did that.
"You can tell me later after your nap," said Haku as lobbed several volleys of needles from different directions towards his opponent.
It was at that moment time seemingly stood still for Sasuke.
'Why are they so slow?' thought Sasuke.
The needles seemed to be approaching Sasuke at less than a fourth of their normal speed.
'Whatever. I need to get out of the way,' Sasuke declared in his mind.
Feeling somewhat lighter than he had been an instant ago, Sasuke quickly kicked off the ground towards an opening in Haku's offensive effort.
As Sasuke ducked under the volley of needles flying over his head he noticed something in the ice mirrors in front of him.
Despite the fact that the mirrors distorted their reflections, Sasuke could still see the change in his eye color.
Instead of the usual cold black he was accustomed to, he now saw two red dots on his reflection's face.
His Sharingan had awakened.
Sasuke quickly forced down the joy and pride he felt to back of his mind and concentrated on his evasion efforts.
"Hm? You still have some energy to move?" questioned Haku. "You'll run of that energy soon enough."
Haku continued to launch volley after volley of needles at Sasuke.
And Sasuke continued to dodge the needles that were being thrown at him.
He was doing a real good job at that until he started to get a headache.
'Damn!' cursed Sasuke internally. 'I can't keep this up for much longer. Sharingan is using up my remaining chakra.'
Sasuke dodged the next volley of needles but the pain in his head was becoming too much for him to stand so he crashed to the ground holding his head.
"Guh," groaned Sasuke as he made to stand up. The red in his eyes faded away as he did so. Unfortunately for him, his headache did not.
"It seems that you are at your limit," observed Haku. He prepared another volley of needles. "It's a shame to see such power go to waste but I must end it here."
Sasuke felt what could be described as being bitten by a thousand ants at the same the same as he tried to avoid the needles that Haku threw at him.
Sasuke crashed into one of the mirrors as one of the needles wedged itself into Sasuke's left ankle rendering him incapable of balancing himself. The pain was made worse when some of the needles were pushed back into his body as he hit the ground.
"Goodbye, ninja of the leaf," said Haku as he threw one last volley of needles at Sasuke.
Closing his eyes, Sasuke braced himself for the upcoming pain.
But surprisingly what he felt was not pain but an irresistible urge to give in to the darkness of sleep.
As he fell into unconsciousness he heard an incredibly loud din. It seems as if something incredibly big had just been broken. The last thing he heard before slipping into slumber was someone calling out his name.
"SASUKEEEE!"
Apparently Sasuke wasn't the only one to hear it.
"Looks like you've lost one of your kids, copycat," taunted Zabuza as he broke off from another clash of weapons with Kakashi.
Kakashi looked towards his seemingly dead student's direction. Zabuza could guess what he was thinking.
"Stop grieving your student's death or else someone will be grieving yours," declared Zabuza as he went in for the kill once more.
Zabuza would be caught off guard as Kakashi suddenly displayed an amazing feat of superhuman strength as he blocked Zabuza's strike with a single kunai in his left hand.
Kakashi quickly followed up this block with strong hard kick in Zabuza's guts closely followed a surge of electricity crackling its way through his weapon.
Zabuza quickly let go of the Kubikiri Houcho as he leaped away from Kakashi. To his surprise the Kubikiri Houcho did not fall to the ground but remained suspended in the air. It seemed that Kakashi had only been successful in his block because the giant sword had embedded it self into the kunai Kakashi was running his lightning chakra through.
"Nice try, copycat," growled Zabuza. "But that won't be as effective next time."
Kakashi looked away from Zabuza towards the ice dome.
"Didn't I say not to worry your dead brat?" taunted Zabuza as he rushed towards Kakashi once more.
It seemed as if Kakashi couldn't hear him as he didn't even turn back towards Zabuza.
Just an instant away from reaching his target, Zabuza was sure he won the battle.
He might have but the sudden sensation of pain he felt told him otherwise.
Zabuza's mind could only focus on the pain he felt in his stomach and did not even realize that he was flying through the air until he landed back onto the ground several seconds later.
Zabuza grunted in pain as he saw what hit him.
Tomoyo had come to Kakashi's aid.
"You're the girl from that time!" growled Zabuza.
Tomoyo ignored Zabuza and continued to explain something to Kakashi. Judging from the seemingly relieved expression forming behind that mask of his, Kakashi had just heard something good.
"Sasuke-kun, please wake up!" pleaded Sakura as she treated Sasuke's wound. Tazuna was handing her the materials she needed from the first aid kit.
The Uchiha was still breathing but that didn't mean that his life wasn't in danger.
The healing jutsu she was using on his puncture wounds did manage to stop the bleeding but there were still a lot more needles to pull out.
She looked towards the ice dome where Naruto was now fighting the masked boy and towards Kakashi.
After dropping off Sasuke with her, Tomoyo decided to go help Kakashi with Zabuza.
Sakura prayed for their safety as she continued to tend to Sasuke's wounds.
"Now that woman is gone, shall we get on with the fight?" asked Haku as he reformed the ice wall sealing off the two boys from the outside world.
Naruto glared at his soon to be opponent. The amount of killing intent radiating of the blonde was impressive to say the least.
"You hurt Sasuke," stated Naruto.
Haku felt the air become much tenser than it had been a second ago. The killing intent in the air seemed to intensify as Naruto bowed his head down.
"I'LL…"
Startled, Haku started looking around for the person who had just spoken in that guttural voice.
"…HURT…"
It was after the second time he had heard it that Haku realized that the voice had come from Naruto.
'It's coming from him?!' shouted Haku in his mind. He started bracing himself for the worst.
"…YOU!!"
Burning red chakra burst forth from Naruto's small body in immensely heavy waves making the already intense killing intent in the air explode with rage. The once rigid walls of the icy arena began cracking under the immense pressure of the sheer power radiating off the boy. His now bestial appearance was only adding to the sheer terror pouring off the boy.
'Is this really the same boy that fell on me?' wondered Haku as he reinforced his ice mirrors to hold in the immense chakra spilling out of Naruto.
Zabuza kicked Kakashi away forcing the scarecrow like man to relinquish his hold on the behemoth of a sword called the Kubikiri Houcho. He quickly reached out for the sword hoping to regain its usage in battle.
Tomoyo swiped away at Zabuza's neck with the gray dagger in her barely missing it by a centimeter. She quickly followed up this failed attack with a swift and terrifyingly powerful side kick only to have her shin meet the metallic surface of the giant blade's broadside braced against Zabuza's free arm.
Zabuza brought his weapon over his head in an instant and just as instantaneously brought it down over Tomoyo.
The gray haired beauty reacted by rolling away to the side ending up in a crouching position facing Zabuza. She noted that the monstrous sword's edge had finally sliced through what had previously been a kunai as both pieces of the iron throwing weapon.
Zabuza took that moment to quickly tilt the blade towards her direction and swung it in arc hoping to do justice to the sword's name.
Tomoyo being the clever girl that she was quickly brought her legs into the air and twisted her body in such a way that her body had maneuvered itself over Zabuza sweeping attack and landed her in on the opposite side of Zabuza's weapon.
Tomoyo swiftly kneed Zabuza in the stomach and launched him into the air with an incredibly powerful kick in the chest forcing him to drop his weapon. Luckily for Zabuza the kick had launched him so high in the air that Tomoyo wouldn't be able to folloew up that one kick with several more.
Zabuza made to perform some handseals in the air but his efforts were all for naught as he felt something cold and wet slam into his backside.
Kakashi had launched a water jutsu that had taken on the form of a terribly intimidating dragon and directed it at the defenseless man still soaring through the air.
The water dragon engulfed him in its immense body of water and carried him upwards towards the sky before making a U-turn allowing it to slam its captive into the hard stone bridge below.
Water from the aquatic dragon quickly flooded the bridge before receding away revealing the injured missing-nin's body lying on the floor facing the grey skies above.
"Nowhere to hide, Zabuza," declared Kakashi. This statement of his was punctuated by the fact that all the mist the missing-nin had produced earlier had now cleared away due Kakashi's massive usage of water.
"I'll be taking this," said Tomoyo as she picked up the Kubikiri Houcho of the ground. "I'll make sure that the Mist gets this."
Zabuza tried to make a move to reclaim his sword but found that he was pinned down by several beasts. These beasts were the ninja dogs that Kakashi had summoned whilst Zabuza was still trapped in the water dragon.
Kakashi let out a relieved sigh knowing that Zabuza wouldn't be able to pull anything on them.
'Then why do I have this feeling that something bad is going to happen?' wondered Kakashi.
He got his answer when he felt a terrifying amount of killing intent wash over him much like a tidal wave would. Kakashi looked towards the source of this vile sensation and saw that the once adamant ice prison was threatening to shatter apart.
"This is… coming from those kids?" questioned Tomoyo. 'Is this what he wanted me to see?'
"What is this? Who's doing this?" questioned Zabuza. "Haku is nowhere near powerful enough to do something like this."
Kakashi knew what was causing this. He still remembered the first time he felt this feeling. The anguish, fear and despair that just rushed into the heart. The foreboding sense of dread that just vibrated throughout his very existence. He once hoped that would never have to feel this sensation ever again. Because re-encountering that sensation meant only one thing to him.
The Kyuubi was out.
Sakura clenched her jaw as she fought off the waves of terror that washed over her. It felt as if her heart was about to explode. She began to remember the worst memories that she been trying to keep locked up in her head.
"Are you alright?" asked Tazuna. While he wasn't a ninja he could still feel that something was wrong with air around them. He didn't realize how lucky he was not being able to feel the full brunt of the sensation.
Sakura faced Tazuna. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she put up a forced smile.
"I'm fine," assured Sakura. She cut Tazuna off before he could accuse her of otherwise. "I'll be fine. I've gone through this once before and I can go through it again."
Tazuna found that hard to believe. And yet, he just went along with her words as he knowing something was wrong.
Sakura looked back at the ice dome.
'Naruto…'
The waves of killing intent didn't just stay at the bridge. Their reach extended much further than that. They went far enough for two particular men to feel.
"Feel that?" asked the one with the toothy grin plastered on his face.
The other man responded with a tilt of his straw hat. That tilt implied a nod.
"Looks like my old pal is in for a fun time."
"I think I'll pop over for a visit. Wanna come?"
"Too many acquaintances."
"You're no fun, you know that?"
With that, the noisier of the two left for the bridge.
Haku was panicking. The chakra he was feeling was not only unnatural, it was downright demonic. He knew that it'd be futile to fight against this but he knew that even if he surrendered, he wouldn't be able to get out of this in one piece.
The masked boy considered the amount of damage that this chakra would do if it were invested in a jutsu. It was a frightening concept.
'But there's no way he'd do it,' reasoned Haku. 'He'll destroy the bridge if he tries something.'
It seemed as though Naruto was thinking along the same lines. He hadn't even moved an inch.
And yet Haku could tell he was up to something. The red chakra was spilling out of the boy even faster and dark sensation in the air was becoming even more sinister. He had to do something.
Haku lobbed several volleys of ice needles at Naruto but those didn't even reach their mark as they had vaporized as soon as they left his hands.
Haku began focusing his attacks in a more concentrated formed. An icicle began shaping itself into a spear right in front of the boy.
Unfortunately for him, Naruto had finally decided it was time to attack.
In the blink of an eye, Naruto had grabbed hold of the ice spear and crushed it in his bare hand. Haku barely moved in time to avoid the tremendously strong punch that Naruto smashed the mirror the masked boy was just in.
Not stopping there, Naruto proceeded to follow Haku where ever he tried running not forgetting to smash any mirrors along the way.
The growls that were coming out of Naruto's mouth were growing more and more bestial with each second.
Haku leaped out towards the centre of the arena avoiding the blow that Naruto sent smashing the last viable mirror.
Haku stared at Naruto who was glaring back at him hanging onto the now broken mirror with his arm wedged in the mirror.
Naruto crimson red eyes watched the masked boy with incomparable rage. And yet, a demonicly sinister smile made its way to the boy's features. Naruto was enjoying this little game of theirs.
Naruto bounded off the mirror and landed right in front of Haku before launching himself upwards once more tackling Haku in the process sending both boys crashing through the roof of the dome.
The icy arena finally shattered into a million pieces as Naruto ploughed Haku through the very same walls of ice that he created.
Shards of ice embedded themselves into Haku drawing blood from the boy's battered body. Naruto leaped off the shattering structure and landed a few a feet away from it still holding Haku by his neck.
Naruto lifted Haku up in the air by his neck.
Haku looked down at Naruto weakly. He could feel blood trickling down his forehead. He must have fractured his head despite the fact that his mask was still intact. Naruto was grinning wickedly back at him.
Naruto let out a huge wave of chakra from his body causing Haku to flinch.
Naruto roared as he slammed his fist into Haku's mask shattering it and sending the now unmasked boy flying away into the foggy waters below.
"Naruto…" whispered Kakashi as he watched the demonized boy send his opponent into the water. He couldn't do anything so long as Zabuza struggled to break free of the dogs that bound him. But it seemed like he wouldn't have to worry about that. 'That boy must have been important to him.'
'Haku… lost?' thought Zabuza. Needless to say, Zabuza was the one most affected by his apprentice's defeat.
"Is that really him?" questioned Tomoyo as she wrapped Sasuke's wounds with bandages.
"Yes… but not the one we know," answered Sakura. She was trembling from the terror that threatened to overwhelm her. "That's the other him."
"The other him?" Tazuna asked.
"I've seen him become like this only once before," explained Sakura despite her shaky voice. "Me and Sasuke-kun didn't know what to do but when he was done, Naruto fell asleep."
Kakashi knew what happened. He was briefed upon their 'experience' when they were assigned to him. But Naruto was releasing far more power than what was described in the report.
"When he woke up, Naruto didn't remember what happened no matter how much I tried to get him to remember," continued Sakura. "That's why we called it the other Naruto. Naruto would never do something like this on purpose."
"So… you call that, Naruto?" asked someone. "Weird name for a Jinchuriki."
Everyone was startled by it. Except for one of them, the voice that had asked that did not belong to anyone they knew.
"You!" shouted Tomoyo as she glared at the newcomer.
Zabuza craned his neck to look at the new arrival and one glance was all he needed to confirm his suspicion.
With that blue skin of his, there was no way Zabuza could not recognize him.
Resting his giant blade on his shoulder, the newcomer greeted Zabuza with his patented shark like grin.
"Long time no see, eh Zabuza," said the one and only Hoshigaki Kisame.
Their shock at the renegade ninja's sudden appearance was further enforced by the giant mountains of ice that enclosed them on both sides of the bridge.
Haku was weaving in and out of unconsciousness as he floated in the river's water. His blood was mixing with the river water and yet he didn't acknowledge the pain that came from his wounds.
'Is this it for me?' questioned Haku. 'I can't move…'
Closing his eyes, Haku let the hopelessness of the situation sink in.
The blackness greeted him and he welcomed it.
However, he could not simply accept his death. Someone didn't want that.
"Hey kid!"
Haku could see whoever it was that said that but that voice rang out clearly through his head.
"Do you really want to go like this?"
'I can't even if I wanted to…'
"I can give you the power for one last fight."
'I won't win…'
"I want to see you fight."
'I don't want to fight anymore.'
"All you have to do is take this."
Haku felt something hard fall into his hand.
"Just take it and you'll live for just a while longer."
Haku felt a strange energy fill him. He could feel his pain coming back. Oddly enough, he could also feel his pain fading.
"Take it, and you can save your mentor."
'Zabuza-sama? He's still alive?'
"If you want to save him,"
Haku's fingers started twitching
"Grab my sword and…"
His fingers began wrapping themselves around the object.
"FIGHT!"
Haku grabbed hold of it and immediately felt cool unbridled power rush into him.
Naruto glared at the glaciers that surrounded him.
"Naruto-san," called out a familiar voice. Naruto immediately recognized it.
"HAKU?" questioned Naruto still releasing demonic chakra from his body.
"Let's have a rematch," declared the voice of Haku. It sounded as if Haku was right behind him.
Surprised by the challenge, Naruto turned around to face him. Seeing Haku only increased that surprise.
Haku was staring down at him from the atop the peak of the glacier on his right with an ice blue and snow white short sword in his right hand.
But it wasn't finding out that Haku was the boy he was fighting that surprised Naruto the most. It was seeing the boy being almost entirely covered in ice.
Only half of Haku's face could be seen unmarked by ice.
"A person will only be at their strongest when they are fighting for their precious persons," declared Haku as he raised his sword. The glacier seemed to shake with the sword.
He pointed the tip of his sword at Naruto. An icy wind began to fill the new arena.
"And for my precious person, I shall eliminate you and the rest of your team."
Naruto snapped out of his shock and his demonic aura flared back to life with it.
Naruto displayed a menacing grin not unlike the Kyuubi's.
"THIS TIME, I'LL MAKE SURE YOU WON'T EVER GET UP AGAIN!"
With that Naruto leaped high into the air.
Haku brought the sword towards himself in a guard position.
The battle commenced once more
Bet you didn't see this coming. How many of you actually considered me bringing Kisame into this? Try predicting what will happen from here on. The next chapter will be called divergence point. That should be a good clue to think about.
I hinted a bit more at what happened to Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto in the academy. I think the changes I made to the battle scenes are reasonable. Their strengths have to be adjusted so I can speed up their growth.
Reppuu no Hou means the "Way of Violent Winds". It's the fundamental technique for the fighting style I have planned for Naruto. You won't ever see him use Hiashi no Michi as that requires fire elemental chakra which Itachi has but Naruto doesn't.
The spinning fire kick technique that Sasuke did this chapter was something that was invented by Itachi. It's not Hiashi no Michi.
Sakura will be more involved in the next chapter but I'm not sure to what extent.
I won't include a side story here as this is already long enough.