Ahhh! Gomen nasai, gomen nasai! I'm sorry, I haven't updated in such a long time... I really wanted this chapter to be extra long, with the whole bridge fight in it, but I couldn't write it without making all of you wait for another few weeks. It's the longest chapter I've written yet, though. So... you'd better enjoy it!
Recap: Minato's crystal ball breaks, much to his annoyance... meaning he can't hear or watch the rest of the interrogation. Kakashi - prepared to kill - asks Sasuke who he is, when Naruto and Sakura enter. They ask what is happening, and Kakashi replies lightly that it has something to do with an S-ranked secret. Naruto and Sakura ask what it is immediately, but Sasuke manages to stop their questions. The next day, those two go for a little tree climbing while Kakashi reevaluates Sasuke in a spar. Kakashi wins, of course, but not before Sasuke manages to impress the Jounin. Back with the other two Genin, Naruto has still not suceeded in the tree climbing...
Disclaimer: I do not own.
"Here you go," Tsunami smiled gently and placed a bowl of rice and a variety of vegetables in front of Sasuke. "I know it's not much, but please enjoy anyway."
"It doesn't matter," he shrugged, picking up his chopsticks. The bowl of food wasn't much, but he was used to hunger. Besides, after waking up from unconciousness after a fight with a Jounin, anything would be fine. He nibbled at the rice experimentally, then began to hungrily shove food into his mouth.
Kakashi watched him with mild amusement, though he supposed the boy deserved it. After all, he had held his ground in their spar. The Jounin's eyes narrowed. He would have to keep a closer eye on his student...
The door swung open with a bang, revealing a battered Naruto and exhausted Sakura. The pink-haired girl was leaning on the blond, much to his discomfort. Both of them trudged to the table, sitting down in the only two empty chairs left.
Sasuke stared at Naruto impassively, and the blond stared back just as impassively. A smirk crept up the Uchiha's face. Sakura and Kakashi watched the two boys carefully, unsure as to if they should act or not.
Suddenly, both boys took up their chopsticks and began to hungrily shove food into their mouths. Sakura was disgusted, while Kakashi was amused. Boys, they both thought.
Abrubtly the two boys stopped eating, each turning a shade of pale green. Both of them leaned over the side and emptied the contents of their stomach out.
Some things never change, Sasuke thought dryly as he vomited.
As soon as Sasuke stepped foot onto the unfinished bridge, he knew - and was fairly sure Kakashi-sensei knew as well - that something was wrong. It was a sort of sixth sense among experienced shinobi: the ability to more or less be able to tell if something was wrong. And at the moment, he could almost imagine red lights blaring all over the place.
He sniffed the air; what was that smell? It was familiar, definitely. In fact, it reminded him of Orochimaru's lab, but that room had held only strange liquids, various metal instruments, and dead bodies.
Sasuke froze. Dead bodies?
That was right. It fit in with his list of "Wave Country memories." Last time, he, Sakura, and Kakashi-sensei (he noted mentally how addressing the Jounin as that seemed oddly fitting, but shrugged it off as an influence from the Naruto-ish Sasuke) had arrived to see Tazuna's workers dead. After that, the fight against Zabuza and - Heiko? Hako? What was the boy's name again?
He frowned. That boy - whatever his name was - had beaten him, no doubt. Sasuke had awakened the Sharingan, yes, but other than that, he had been utterly humiliated; the dobe had beaten the boy instead.
It was not one of his proudest memories.
But this time he could change it, because he knew what was going to happen.
The oh-so familiar mist began shrouding the bridge and the dead workers. Tazuna gave an exclamation of terror, immediately cowering behind his hired shinobi. Kakashi stood boldly, staring into the mist. Sakura seemed unsure of herself; she had had only a little time to sharpen her kunoichi skills. Naruto was still at Tazuna's house; they had not been able to wake him up, so they had left him.
Now Sasuke had begun to regret leaving him.
He gritted his teeth; this tense silence was beginning to get on his nerves. Kakashi-sensei was doing nothing but standing there, and Sakura was shivering with fright and cold.
"So, the Second White Fang has arrived... Shall we play, Kakashi?" Zabuza's voice rang out from every direction.
Sakura froze, and glanced at her teacher, who seemed calm at the voice. I thought the man was dead! What - why -
"Indeed," Kakashi's eyes flashed with the prospect of a challenge. He unsheathed his chakra blade.
As soon as he had done that, eight Zabuza clones had appeared and surrounded the group. Tazuna shrieked, terrified, but Kakashi looked unfazed. The Jounin's eye flashed. "Sasuke," he said, addressing the boy. He spoke only one command: "Go wild."
Sasuke's onyx eyes flashed red, with three tomoes spinning wildly. He grinned maniacally, and in a split second, all of the Zabuza mizu clones had collapsed into water. Sakura gaped openly; it seemed as if Sasuke had not moved at all. She took a quick glance at the supposed "dead last" and was shocked to see that he did not look tired at all. Just who is Sasuke, anyway? she wondered, confused.
Impressive, thought Zabuza, but he will never be a match for Haku. "Haku."
So that was the boy's name, Sasuke remembered. It seemed to fit with his other bridge memories.
"Hai, Zabuza-san?" A masked boy appeared next to his master.
Through the mist, Sakura and the others could see a faint outline of Zabuza and the hunter-nin who had appeared at their last encounter. Her eyes widened. "Isn't that the shinobi who was supposed to kill Zabuza?"
It was not Kakashi but Sasuke who answered. "The hunter-nin has been on Zabuza's side the whole time."
Sakura turned towards her teacher, a silent doubt in her eyes, but he answered, "Sasuke's right, Sakura. The masked boy has always been on Zabuza's side."
She turned back to Zabuza and the other shinobi - whatever his name was - with her eyes slightly widened. It would be her first real fight, and quite honestly, she wasn't particularly eager to engage in battle. Sakura gulped, a feeling of great dread in her stomach.
Sasuke smirked.
Sakura glared at her teammate. How could he be so calm at a time like this? Two missing-nin were facing them, one infamous in the shinobi world and the other a hunter-nin! And he was smirking?!
Sasuke ignored his pink-haired teammate, his Sharingan eyes instead focused on Haku. The masked boy made no implication that he had noticed the Uchiha, but with the mask on it was impossible to tell. His voice was young, though hollow. "Zabuza-san... I will be quick with this one."
Immediately Sasuke and Haku rushed forward, engaging in a battle of quick taijutsu. It was hardly a real battle; the two opponents were only gaging their enemy's skill. Neither seemed to be getting the advantage.
Suddenly, Haku thrust his hand forward, and the puddle they were fighting on began to quiver. Sasuke jumped back, his feet no longer touching the puddle - he remembered the other's kekkei genkai, ice manipulation.
A split second after Sasuke had retreated, icy spikes flew out of the water, aimed for him, but he dodged easily. They don't seem as fast as I remember, he thought, but then again, one of his trademark smirks came over his face, I'm not as slow as I was.
He expertly caught the three senbon Haku threw in between his fingers, twisting his hand around and then tossing them aside. Neither of them attacked for the next few moments. Sasuke gritted his teeth, thinking, I wish I had had more time to branch out on opponents at the Hebi's. There are little to no ice-type shinobi in Sound. I can only rely on my memory, and yet I can't, because things may be different here -
His thoughts were cut off by a cascade of more senbon, but this time aimed for his feet to lower his speed. Sasuke jumped back, and the needles landed in perfect symmetry at his feet, lined up neatly in a long row. He ignored the queasy feeling in his stomach, and ran towards Haku with all of his speed. The masked boy seemed surprised, by his movements - or lack thereof. It seemed as if the hunter-nin had not expected the Uchiha to resort to close-range attacks.
Sasuke slammed his foot into Haku's stomach, and the shocked boy stumbled back a few feet. Giving him no time to recover, the Uchiha appeared behind Haku and kicked again, this time at the upper back. Haku crumpled to the ground as a result of the combination of attacks. That taijutsu... he thought. It was stronger than usual. Those blows... had chakra in them?
Forgive me, Zabuza-san... I will have to use that jutsu early.
"Hijutsu: Makyou Hyoushou!"
Sakura watched in horror as a ring of large, reflective ice mirrors formed around Sasuke. She was not particularly close to the boy, but he was her teammate, and she could only feel the fear that was edging in on her. "Sasuke! Get out of there!" she yelled, but both of the Genin knew it was hopeless. The mirrors had already surrounded Sasuke completely, leaving no room for escape.
Sakura could only stare in horror.
Sasuke gritted his teeth. How could he have forgotten about Haku's Demonic Ice Mirrors? That was the central part of the fight! He shouldn't have let that boy get the chance to perform this move.
Now, the chances of him winning were lessening with each passing moment.
"I am sorry, but I will kill my heart if I must." Haku's voice echoed, seeming less human than before.
That voice. Those words. It was as if they had come out of his dreams, or memories. Sasuke didn't remember exactly, but - somehow, they seemed familiar. He ignored the growing butterflies in his stomach, surprising Haku with one of his trademark smirks. "That's okay, it won't matter either way."
Haku smiled behind his mask. This one... he is strong. "I will regret killing you."
Sasuke's confident smirk did not falter. "That is, if you can."
The masked boy did not reply, but instead took one step backwards into a large ice mirror. Now, he was simply an image in a mirror. He stared at the other, who showed no change in expression. Strange...
Sasuke closed his eyes, then opened them, revealing the crimson red Sharingan.
So... he is of that clan, Haku thought. He began to leap from mirror to mirror, in hopes that this would confuse his opponent - though he knew it was a vain attempt at trying to confuse a Sharingan user with speed.
Sasuke's smirk disappeared as he focused in on the blur that was Haku. It wasn't as difficult as some of the opponents he had fought, that was for sure. But he needed to defeat Haku in a way that seemed accidental, just in case Kakashi was watching. After all... I don't need him on my trail, do I?
Suddenly, Sasuke felt a sharp pain in his right forearm. It had been struck with a few senbon. Immediately he felt stupid, and mentally berated himself for not paying attention.
He swore. Those senbon were so annoying.
"Where are the others?" Naruto asked Tsunami, who was washing some dishes. She stopped humming.
"Oh, they left for the bridge already." she replied with a smile. "Kakashi-san wanted you to have some rest today; after all, you were training very hard yesterday."
Naruto scowled. It was always him. Always the one left out, always the one idolized but never known, always known as his son. It must have been Kakashi's and that Sasuke's work. They were always scheming. "So, they're on the bridge."
"Mm-hm." Tsunami nodded in assent.
He walked out the door. "I'll be back later." As soon as he had exited the house, he began to sprint as fast as he could towards the bridge.
That dobe's not going to get all of the glory!
Kakashi frowned as large ice mirrors rose out of the water and surrounded his student. He was worried; that jutsu was very dangerous, by what he could tell, and would be too difficult for a Genin to defeat. But, he smiled to himself, Sasuke is no ordinary Genin, by what he did against me in our little spar.
He turned to Zabuza, who was also watching his subordinate fight.
The silver-haired Jounin wanted to attack his opponent right away, without warning, but that would be so ungentlemanly, a voice tried to convince him.
Screw consciences.
He drew his sword and lunged at Zabuza, who seemed to not have taken notice of this action. Kakashi was getting closer, and closer -
Until a large zanbatou obscured his view of Zabuza. The two blades clashed and Kakashi and Zabuza faced off in a battle of strengths: who could keep their blade from losing ground?
"I see. You're not going to make it easy for me to kill you, are you?" Zabuza tried to keep his voice even so as not to display weakness, but was surprised to find that it was harder than he had anticipated.
"I am not a fool, Zabuza," Kakashi replied just as evenly.
Zabuza smirked, and at the same moment, both of them jumped back. The two surveyed their opponents; it would be an interesting fight, they both surmised.
And, suddenly, both of them lunged at each other in the most furious of attacks. It was mostly blade-to-blade attacks, though with an occasional chakra thrust here and there. Kakashi held his chakra blade in one hand and used the chakra scalpel in the other, while Zabuza held his zanbatou with two hands, putting his full weight behind his attacks.
Zabuza was beginning to become very frustrated; Kakashi was not defending himself from the huge blade but was instead dodging it. On the whole, Zabuza was using far more energy than Kakashi was, not to mention the loss of balance.
Hmph, he thought, this fight is already pointless by kenjutsu. He jumped back and raised one hand in the air, and put another hand to the bandages on his face.
"Kirigakure no Jutsu!"
Kakashi had a sinking feeling as his vision suddenly became obscured by mist.
Naruto was jumping though the trees as fast as he could when he saw something strange. He stopped abruptly, and landed in a small clearing.
There was a boar on the ground, mercilessly slaughtered. It was obvious this had been done not by an animal but by a swordsman.
But why...
Naruto saw a few more slashes on the trees, each leading closer and closer to -
Oh.
Tazuna's house.
Naruto blinked for a few moments, then disappeared in a flash, traveling the way he had just come.
Geez, they'd better have some pretty skilled enemies. Or it'd be just a waste, coming all this way and turning back...
OK... well... stay tuned until next time. (Geez, I sound like a TV commercial...) The continuation of the bridge fight! And, the answer to the question: will Sasuke save Zabuza and Haku, or leave them to their original fates?
Alolha123
