Hrrgyrrgh, I suck. Why is this fight so freaking long?

Okay, I lied. Because this fight is so long, and so important, and I'm out of time because I have school tomorrow, I'm going to have to divide this into not two, but three chapters. And hopefully three will be all. Because I wanna get to what I have next after this arc asdfghjkl *throws tantrum*

Sasuke: Hn. While Author-sama is having a temper tantrum, she wants you to know she doesn't own Naruto, or me, or this ridiculously long fight that is taking her a long time to write out.

Suten: But she does own me. Unfortunately.

I heard that! On with the show!

A shuriken whizzed out of nowhere and caught Haku on the mask, knocking him square out of the mirror, where he promptly faceplanted on the ground. It looked as if someone else wasn't okay with me dying yet, either. When a large cloud of smoke erupted nearby, I knew just who the person was. His timing was uncanny, that was for sure. But the flashy entrance really wasn't necessary.

The smoke cleared, revealing the last member of Team Kakashi. "Uzumaki Naruto," he said, flashing a determined grin, "has arrived! Heh- now that I'm here, everything's going to be just fine. The main character of a story usually appears like this and defeats the enemy in a flash!"

Okay… arrogance and idiocy and non-stealthiness aside- Naruto's appearance could still work to our benefit. Somehow.

"All right, let's do this," Naruto cheered, bringing his hands together in his favorite ninja handsign. "Kage Bunshin no-"

Apparently Zabuza had gotten sick of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Without warning he launched four shuriken at the brightly clad boy. Naruto, not expecting his enemy to launch a counter attack while he was doing his special jutsu, stood there and panicked like the idiot he was.

Haku launched senbon at the flying shuriken, stopping them harmlessly in midair and effectively shocking all of us. Including Zabuza.

"Haku… saved Naruto?" I questioned, trying to push myself up so I could see better.

Tazuna didn't seem to get what had just happened. "How lucky," he commented. "The enemy's attacks collided with each other." He was a civilian, so he couldn't be expected to understand: luck hardly existed in the ninja world.

Seeing as the danger was past, the others of our team decided it was time to begin lecturing Naruto on his numerous failures.

"Hey, what are you doing, Naruto?"

"What kind of idiot tries to execute jutsu right in front of the enemy?"

Naruto whined like a scolded puppy as Kakashi tore into him about stealth, seemingly not expecting to get yelled at, either. "I only came here to help, though," he insisted finally, clutching his head in shame.

I ignored Naruto for the moment, focusing in on Haku. What reason did he have to help Naruto? Zabuza wanted to know the answer to this as well. "Haku, what's the meaning of this?" he asked harshly.

Haku rose. "Zabuza-san. Leave him to me. Please let me do this fight my way."

Zabuza considered for a minute. "So you don't want me to interefere, Haku." He looked over at his protégé scornfully. "As usual, you're too easy on the enemy."

Too easy on the enemy? I thought, able to sit back on my heels as Sasuke made it to one knee. Now he said it, Zabuza made a good point. Haku seemed to just be torturing us right now- we should be at least stuck full of needles, if not dead.

So why, I wondered with narrowed eyes, swiping a thumb across my bloody mouth, did he want to take on Naruto? Was he really that much of a sadist? Or was there something else?

"All right then," Naruto said determinedly, his bravado up once more. "I'm going to beat you first."

Kakashi made to step in, but Zabuza blocked him. "Don't think of anything strange now," he warned. "If you move, you know what's going to happen to that geezer, right? Let's observe how the young ones will fight, shall we?"

Sasuke seemed to have gotten his bearings back as well, picking up the kunai knife he had dropped on the ground. Haku and Naruto seemed to be engaged in some kind of standoff, so naturally Sasuke took this as his chance to launch the kunai through the gaps in the ice mirrors, straight at Haku's face.

This time Haku was prepared for surprise attacks and, leaning his head back, dodged it. I frowned at the failure, but noticed Naruto now peering into the gap between the mirrors. He seemed shocked to find Sasuke and I trapped inside, probably wondering what we were doing in there. "Sasuke? Suten?"

Sasuke and I had been missing this entire time, and he couldn't have thought the giant structure of ice mirrors was decoration. Where the heck had he thought we were? On second thought, considering it was Naruto, I didn't want to know.

"I didn't forget about you two," Haku informed us nonchalantly, before turning toward us. "I would have liked for you to just lie there quietly, but I guess I can't expect that. Very well. I will finish the match with you first."

I ground my teeth as the rogue nin melted into the ice mirror in front of us, ready for round two of torture whether we were or not. "Nice going, Uchiha," I hissed.

"Urusai," he responded sharply, a hand creeping toward his kunai pouch. He actually thought this was going to work?

"This way."

The voice came from behind, and when I looked back, Haku was in an ice mirror behind us, senbon needles in hand. But- how had he moved?

Suddenly, the rogue nin was everywhere, flickering into being in all the mirrors, all armed. I tensed, covering my face just as the shower of needles and pain began. It wasn't long before screams tore from my throat. Round two- with a vengeance.

This round seemed shorter than the first, and I found myself on my hands and knees, gasping and panting- you people are perverts, that's not even close to what was going on.

How was he doing this? I couldn't tell. Was it just clones in the mirrors, attacking at the same time- but no, why would he need the mirrors then? There had to be some reason they were there. All I knew is that they allowed him to attack us on the inside, and everyone else on the outside. In order to figure out the nature of these mirrors…we'd have to do a dual attack: Sasuke from the inside and Naruto from the outside. That way, we could-

"Hey, I came to help you guys!"

Startled, I saw Naruto crouching in front of us with a wide, I'm-awesome grin on his face. "Are you okay, Sasuke?" he taunted.

My eye twitched. "You…you just…Naruto, what the heck do you think you're doing?" I yelled. All that planning gone down the drain…

"Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke added, looking equally peeved. "You're a ninja, you're supposed to think first! You're not supposed to get in here with us!"

Naruto looked annoyed that his efforts were once again being picked at. "What's with that attitude? I came to help you!"

I facepalmed, and winced. "If this was all it took, why don't you think someone else hasn't had your 'brilliant' plan already? Or better yet- why haven't we broken ourselves out?"

He tilted his head. "Well, I thought with my Kage Bunshin no Jutsu-"

"SCREW YOUR KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" we both screamed at him. Sasuke continued, "There are situations where making copies of yourself isn't helpful! If you come into the mirrors as well…" He looked ready to say something else, but seemingly gave up and turned away, frustrated. "Tch! Forget it, baka."

The failure wasn't through. "Baka? What do you mean, baka?"

"Baka," I answered for Sasuke, who was getting to his feet, "because with one act of rashness and idiocy, you've basically killed us all!"

The Uchiha began whipping through handsigns. "I'll just have to destroy the mirrors, then!" he growled. 'Katon!'

The blonde gawked, confused. "What are you going to do?"

"These are mirrors made of frozen water," Sasuke hinted, before sucking in a deep breath. 'Gokyakku no Jutsu!"

"Big Bad Wolf style," I murmured expectantly.

The giant flaming fireball spewed out of his mouth and into the air, bright oranges and reds reflecting off the bleak ice of the prison. I got ready to run for the exit- but stopped when the blaze died down, revealing the mirrors looking a little wet on the surface, but overall completely intact. My eyebrows furrowed. "Why didn't..?"

"It didn't work at all!" Naruto exclaimed obviously, making me want to punch him.

"It won't melt with that kind of firepower," Haku informed us in his usual ambiguous way. The mirrors glowed bright white suddenly, and we were thrown back harshly, landing hard on our backs. That was going to hurt in the morning…if there was a morning after this. Wasn't it still morning, actually?

Naruto seemed unwilling to quit. "Where is he attacking from?" he demanded, jumping to his feet. I envied his stamina. "Are those clones? Where's the real one?"

"There's no use trying to follow me with your eyes," Haku insisted, sounding almost smug now. "I will never be caught."

In the moment of unplanned desperation, Naruto only knew one thing to do.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A group of orange clad ninjas sprang into being, leaping at the mirrors with fists raised. "Then I'll destroy all the mirrors and see which one is real!"

Naruto's attempt at destroying the mirrors was about as successful as Sasuke's, but this time Haku actually had to put forth effort. The images…clones…whatever they were burst out of the mirrors, almost bouncing from surface to surface as they made short work of the clones- and the real Naruto, I noted, as the blonde came crashing back to earth. "It didn't work at all," I informed Naruto in my best imitation of his whiny voice. He growled, evidently frustrated.

Haku began to talk, and immediately I listened in. When an enemy felt confident, he could give away key hints as to how to beat him. I'd learned that in the Academy on one of the days I'd paid attention. "This is a traveling technique," the rogue nin informed us, "that utilizes mirror reflections that only reflect me. From my speed, you three look like you're standing still."

I heard Kakashi gasp from outside the prison. "That must be a kekkei genkai," he breathed in shock. Ooh, more information. It was also good to gain information from senior ninja who'd been around, so to speak. "It's the same kind of thing as my Sharingan. They are techniques that are passed down through deep blood relations and through the genealogy of those with superior body structures. Even I can't copy this technique. And there is no way to get past this technique."

What? But there had to be… My fists clenched tightly, but there was no point. "I was hoping for something a little better than 'There's no way to escape'," I murmured, trying to sound lighthearted.

"Well, so what?" Naruto gritted his teeth, not hearing me and still not willing to accept defeat. "I can't die here…I still have a dream I need to achieve…" He lifted his head to glare at Haku, quivering with what looked like rage. "The dream to make the villagers recognize me, and become the Hokage!"

The ice rogue stared at Naruto, and it was then that I realized that was the only Haku I could see right now. "It is," he said finally, in a softer voice, "difficult for me, to become a pure ninja. If possible, I do not want to kill you, and I do not want you to kill me. However, if you are going to fight me," his feminine voice hardened, "I will kill my compassion with a blade and become a ninja. This bridge is a battleground that leads to the dreams of many people. I will fight for my dream, and you will fight for your dream. Please do not hold any grudges. I want to protect an important person. I want to work for him, fight for him, and make his dreams come true."

Was he talking about…Zabuza? Okay, Haku had to be a girl now…or at least an unnaturally effeminate boy, as everyone seemed to think.

"That is my dream," Haku said firmly. "In order to make it come true, I will become a ninja." A senbon needle appeared in his…her…Haku's fingers, and instinctively I tensed. "I will kill you!"

Without really knowing why, I forced myself to get to my feet, not at all surprised when Sasuke and Naruto joined me. If this was going to be my last hour alive, and there was no way out, and I wasn't going to die fighting like I planned, but trapped like a dog…now I'd just depressed myself even more and forgotten what positive thing I was going to say.

"Just because I screwed up the first time," Naruto insisted, grim determination in his gaze, "doesn't mean I'm going to quit. I'll try as many times as I need to!" He began whipping through handsigns, driven now by sheer stubbornness and unwilling to admit defeat. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

I wanted to yell at him to stop, like Sasuke did, or maybe that he'd only waste his chakra- but for some reason I didn't. I just stood by and watched the brightly clad army soar into action, only to be again taken down one by one by the Hakus jumping in and out of the mirrors. While the rogue nin was occupied, I turned to ask Sasuke if he had any ideas- but he was staring almost intently at the spectacle above us, as if confining it to memory… or trying to track the movements. But that was impossible- Haku's speed here was ridiculous. He was moving so fast it looked like he'd cloned himself- trying to track his movements would be like trying to track a hummingbird's wings- a hummingbird on sugar rush.

Too late I saw the incoming needles in my peripheral vision, and Sasuke and I were treated to another light shower of needles and pain, courtesy of Haku. I landed hard on my shoulder afterwards, dusted with a new layer of painful slices and sticky blood. "Ow," I forced out, trying to get up and wincing as my shoulder throbbed. "That didn't-"

My words were effectively cut off by the aforementioned 90-something pounds of jumpsuited moron- except this time he was using me to break his fall. Intense, white-hot pain shot up through my shoulder, and I couldn't help the scream that escaped my teeth.

"A-AAH! NARUTO..!"

Naruto got off me as quickly as he could, and I could feel him watching me as I struggled to push myself up to a sitting position, fingers digging into the skin of my agonized joint. Through the haze of pain, I saw Sasuke staring at me in shock. His fists clenched, and he turned back to the ice mirrors with teeth clenched, apparently trying to think and getting frustrated. He didn't still think he could track the movements, could he? Even then, what good would it do now?

"One more time," Naruto insisted, glancing back at me to make sure he didn't crash into me again. This time Sasuke didn't try to stop him. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Instead of watching Naruto fail once more, I kept my eyes on Sasuke as he ran forward and kicked a spray of water into the air. His face contorted into an expression of utmost concentration, as if he honestly believed he could see like Haku did. I had an idea of what he was trying to do- some of the water droplets would disappear before others as our enemy went through them- but surely he didn't think..?

I winced at not only Naruto, but Sasuke's screams as Haku tore into them midair- he seemed to have gotten tired of allowing Sasuke to experiment. At first I thought Haku no longer saw me as a priority and was sparing me for now- but an extra torrent of senbon let me know he still planned on beating me up with the others. How nice of him to think of me.

Both boys slammed into the ground on their backs, and luckily, not on me. But this time it was Sasuke who got right back up, from the look on his face still thinking hard. Since he seemed to be the only one forming some sort of strategy(cloning and attacking over and over wasn't really strategic, after all), I would have given anything to know what he had in mind. "Ne," I began, my voice tight due to the amount of pain I was in. "Uchiha…"

"Don't move," he told me, not taking his eyes off the reflections. Then he added, in a lower voice, "The next time he attacks is when I'll make my move."

What? He actually did have something figured out? Interested, I shifted into a better sitting position, watching closely as Naruto burst into clones and charged the mirrors yet again. Just as I saw the first blur appear from the mirrors- a stream of bright flame shot forth from Sasuke's mouth.

Haku changed direction. Even I could see that. He had to move to dodge the fire! But… had it been luck?, I wondered as the clone assassination continued as normal. Or had Sasuke actually tracked it? I realized that only two Narutos were left now, and this time I paid even more attention as Haku dove for the blonde, and Sasuke shot another burst of fire. This time he had to swerve even more- but when Naruto crashed to the ground once again, and Haku returned to being mere reflections in the ice… there was an unmistakable burn mark on the rogue's pants. Sasuke had actually grazed him. Stunned, I turned to look at Sasuke, who had his old confident smirk back on his face.

If Sasuke could hit Haku dead on while he was busy after Naruto's clones…we might still have a chance to live. The thought cheered me up considerably.

The Uchiha turned to his brightly colored teammate, who was lamenting about how he had been 'so close'. "Naruto. Can you still move?"

The mere thought that he could be so weak seemed to almost insult Naruto. "Of course! I'm still okay!" he insisted, though looking visibly drained.

Haku's mirrors began to glow white again, and Sasuke began whipping through handsigns for his Big Bad Wolf no Jutsu- er, that is, his fire style. "Naruto, run!" he demanded. "Get out of here and attack from the outside!"

It seemed to click in Naruto's little brain that Sasuke actually had a plan, and he immediately headed for the nearest gap between the mirrors. When had the world outside this prison turned to mist? The mirrors flashed, and he was thrown back- but undeterred, he got back up and kept going. "I'm not going to lose!"

Haku burst out of an ice mirror to deal with the orange genin before he got too far, and Sasuke saw his chance. 'Katon: Gokyakku no Jutsu!'

The resulting ball of fire surged forth to combat Haku, and I held my breath, waiting for it to hit- but Haku made an about face to avoid it. Not only that, but he shot a senbon needle into Sasuke's shoulder to prevent any further attempts. I swore under my breath as Naruto came crashing back to us. Was the rogue just too fast?

I winced at the shick sound as Sasuke pulled the senbon out of his arm. "That was good," he murmured, not sounding discouraged at all. In fact, he only looked more determined now. "Let's try it again."

Naruto went running, and Sasuke headed off in another direction, apparently hoping that one of them would make it outside. But this time Haku didn't intend to let Sasuke get any closer to catching him. "I won't let it happen the way you expect," he said firmly, coming partway out of the mirror. "First, I will stop you!"

A senbon needle caught Sasuke in the calf, arresting his movement. Before he could even move to pull it out, more needles sank into the rest of his limbs, probably in pressure points so he would have difficulty moving. Naruto stopped running upon hearing Sasuke's screams, but that only allowed Haku to land a line of senbon in his jumpsuited back. This was not good; this was not good at all. I moved to push myself to my feet, hoping to remove the needles so the two could continue with their plan- but Haku shot my thighs and arm as well. At least he had the dignity not to touch my bad shoulder- probably because he didn't need to incapacitate me there, but still. I tried to make my way to Sasuke- but froze upon hearing an unusually high, girlish scream.

Sakura? What was going on out there?

Naruto twitched on the ground, trying to force his body up. "Sa…kura…chan," he whimpered, struggling to respond to her damsel in distress call. it was like watching a half-dead puppy try to save its master from drowning: adorable and depressing.

"What now?" I whispered, without knowing who I was talking to. "Do we just..?"

"Hehehe…"

When I looked again, Naruto had somehow managed to drag himself up on shaky arms and legs. "I'll do something about this…" He was getting to his feet. I looked to see if the senbon had disappeared somehow, but they were still stuck in his back. How was he moving?

Bright blue ribbons of what I now knew as chakra spiraled around the genin of seemingly endless stamina. He tore for a gap between the mirrors without warning. Haku appeared in the mirrors to stop him, but Naruto backflipped- and backflipping was my thing- and started heading for another exit, Haku trailing close behind.

"Naruto! Behind you!"

Maybe it would have been better if Sasuke hadn't given that warning. The second Naruto turned to face the oncoming threat, he was greeted with a volley of senbon needles to the chest: needles that, if they had managed to pierce his heart or lungs, could easily have proven fatal.

"It's impossible to get out of here," Haku informed us as Naruto crashed to the ground. "I can assure you of that."

Both Sasuke and I ignored him, making our way towards the injured blonde, some(me) slower than others(Sasuke). "Can you stand, Naruto?" our current leader asked, kneeling beside the boy as he spoke. Naruto groaned in response. "Don't waste your chakra like that anymore," Sasuke cautioned, as I arrived and began picking carefully at the more dangerous senbon on his chest. "That's what he wants us to do."

Naruto lifted his head wearily. "I…know," he forced out, and collapsed. Although he'd basically undone what little I'd achieved, at least the motion hadn't killed him. And what was more, it didn't look as if he was going to be making any miraculous recoveries. I held up the one senbon I'd managed to get out with a frown.

Sasuke got back to his feet, and I couldn't help watching to see what he would possibly do now. His inexhaustible resource was exhausted, and I, the other skill and intelligence, was down one arm, among other things. It was basically just him now.

Haku sensed the aura of 'all hope is lost' and decided to make his move. "I will put an end to this now." He appeared the mirror in front of us- just that mirror, he didn't even need to attack from all directions.

"Takashi." Sasuke's hand was in front of my face suddenly, and I stared at it uncomprehendingly. What, did he want to hold my hand again as we died?

Suddenly I wanted to facepalm. No. He wanted the senbon. Geez, what was I, Sakura? A little disgusted with myself, I placed it in his hand just as Haku launched the first wave of needles.

What followed was- not that I was fangirling over him or anything, but- one of the coolest things I had ever seen Uchiha Sasuke do. As the needle rain came for him, he began fighting them all off, armed with his wits and that single senbon needle. Startled, Haku stopped the attack, and Sasuke dropped to one knee, showing just how taxing the feat had been for him. "Get up!" he snapped at Naruto, all sympathy apparently gone out the window. "Usuratonkachi!"

Naruto twitched, then forced himself to sit up. "I know…stop being so annoying…" At any other time I would have snickered at how Sasuke he sounded at that moment. But considering we were fighting to stay alive right that second, I didn't think it was appropriate.

I picked up my own senbon as the reflections of the rogue nin appeared in the rest of the mirrors, forcing myself to stand. Haku was getting frustrated. I probably wouldn't be able to do this as well as Sasuke, especially with my shoulder complaining at every move I made, but heck if I wasn't going to try.

"You're insane," Sasuke warned, realizing what I planned to do. "Just get behind me or something. Your shoulder…"

"What, this little thing?" I raised the senbon, gritting my teeth. "And no way am I hiding behind you, Uchiha."

The storm of senbon came down, preventing us from talking any further, and we both dove into action, dodging and weaving through what we could and fighting off the rest. It was kind of irritating, because I felt like I was getting nowhere fast, and Sasuke was keeping me from getting myself killed. And, of course, keeping the still shaky Naruto from being impaled. At one point he even had to elbow the blonde out of the way to keep him from meeting a grisly end with a row of senbon needles.

Haku stopped momentarily to study us again, and I gritted my teeth, keeping an eye on him. It looked as if I hadn't dodged all the needles. There were a couple of new ones sticking out of me now. At this rate we would all resemble human porcupines. Or acupuncture patients.

Without warning the rogue nin flickered out of sight- not to another mirror, but gone completely. "Where did he go?" Sasuke demanded to no one, reminding me of that fateful day with the bell test as he looked around frantically. I found myself sinking to my knees as he continued to yell. "Naruto, you better not pass out! I can't cover for you much longer!"

"I don't need your help," Naruto insisted weakly…and then he proceeded to pass out.

"Looks like that boy can't move any longer."

The voice came from above, and I looked up with Sasuke to see Haku on the topmost mirror. "And that girl has reached her limit, as well," he noted, then chuckled a little. As if others' weakness was funny- maybe he was a sadist, after all.

Irritated, Sasuke threw the senbon at him, but Haku disappeared from that mirror as well. "Wonderful," he continued, as Sasuke began trying to figure out where he was now. "You move very brilliantly." What was he talking about now?

"Heads up," I alerted upon spotting the elusive nin in another mirror, and Sasuke moved just in time to avoid a row of needles.

"You move a lot," Haku commented, before appearing in the mirror directly in front of Sasuke. "But I will stop you with the next shot." He began to flicker in and out of the different mirrors as he spoke. "Movement, reflexes, and situation analyzation ability. All that should be worn out!"

The concentrated look appeared on Sasuke's face again. Without warning he picked Naruto up and grabbed me by the fabric of my vest, pulling me roughly away. My shoulder throbbed at the sudden movement, but that didn't matter anymore when I saw the cluster of senbon where we had just been standing. How the heck had he known those were coming? He couldn't have seen where Haku was, could he? I turned to ask him those questions and more, but the moment I looked up at him, my questions died in my throat.

Instead of the coal black his eyes usually were, the iris was crimson red. There was only one comma shaped mark instead of three, and it was in both eyes, but there was no mistaking it.

Sasuke…had Sharingan?

Ahh, Part 2 of 3 is done! And OMG, Sasuke got his Sharingan, yay! It's like a baby getting his first tooth! Or a bird coming out of its egg! Or...any other analogy you guys can think of, because I don't know.

Yeah, I need to go to sleep. But I do need ideas for things to put in here, soooo-

-Anything you want to see from Suten? Family history, childhood...

-How do we get Sasuke and Suten to get on the path to romance? I'm sorry, that was bold- but still!

-Anything else you wanna see!

I want to hear it from you! Questions! Comments! Concerns! Please review!