Chapter 20

Begin! Battle of the Bridge!

They had attacked without warning. Killing dozens before anyone could react.

He stared at her, blood leaving from her chest and staining the grass red. Then he looked at the killer. A young boy- close to his age- with his back turned towards him, blade flashing as he cut down more of his comrades. The sounds of the battle faded away. His heart thumped in his chest. The boy turned towards him, revealing a face that was almost fully covered by a mask and a red eye with spinning commas around the pupil.

Zabuza snapped his eyes open and immediately took stock of his surroundings. The room was almost bare if not for the bed he was lying on and a chair next to it, the only other furniture was a table by the wall opposite his bed. His eyes took notice of his sword propped up against the same wall. Good. A trusted weapon to use if he was in hostile territory. He focused inside and reached for his chakra. It heeded as soon as it was called and had no abnormalities or foreign chakra.

Now confident that everything was in order, he relaxed and went over his memories before stopping at a certain point. "I was careless. To be caught by a simple genjutsu" he berated himself. Then, thinking again, he remembered his dream and his loss by the hand of an enemy- which usually gave him a thrill and a reason to improve to beat the enemy- now fanned his flames of hatred and anger. "I never thought I would see him again! That bastard will pay!" He was snapped out his thoughts by the opening of the door.

"Sensei" Fu greeted while holding a tray of tea "you're awake"

Zabuza nodded and raised a non-existent eyebrow, "you don't seem surprised." He mused before schooling his features, "Report"

The mint-haired Jinchuriki set down the tray on the table before turning towards him. "As planned, we interfered under the disguise of hunter-nin once it proved that you had lost. The Leaf shinobi didn't suspect a thing. We didn't engage because even if he was extremely weakened, the copy-nin would still likely have defeated us, especially if we had to defend your body as well."

Zabuza nodded, agreeing with their decision, "what of Naruto and Haku now?"

"Naruto has gone into town to scout and Haku into a forest nearby to collect herbs to speed up your recovery. Both are expected to be back soon." Just then, the door opened again to reveal Naruto and Haku.

"Sensei" they both greeted "you're awake"

Zabuza nodded then paused. "You planned this didn't you?" he deadpanned looking at Fu.

Fu looked at the bed-ridden demon with big innocent eyes "Me? You wound me sensei!" she exclaimed with her hand over her heart.

Naruto and Haku snorted as they tried to hold back their laughter. Even Zabuza couldn't help but let a smile stretch over his face. "Over-dramatic as always Fu."

Fu took a bow, a smile on her own lips "you know what they say, a smile a day keeps the big bad shinobi away" Finally they couldn't hold it back anymore and the whole room descended into laughter. Finally the laughter subsided, with only a few chuckles remaining.

"So, what did you find?" Zabuza asked.

Naruto started, "I went scouting in town for more information and to see if we could launch a quick assassination while the copy-nin is still recovering and came across reinforcements. Another Leaf team. Also 1 jonin, 3 genin. However this jonin doesn't seem to be much of a threat, average build, normal jonin-level chakra reserves, no visible signs of any weaponship and I've never seen her in any of the Bingo books. Her name was Kurenai Yuhi. However I do believe the genin had some potential, maybe better than the copy-nin's team. From what I heard and saw, there was an Aburame, Inuzuka and a Hyuga- unmarked."

Zabuza was surprised. It wasn't often a Hyuga from the main branch was sent on such a mission. "Good. Haku?"

"I scouted the woods not far from here. I found some herbs that would speed up your recovery and the Uchiha. I was unable to dispose of him so instead I tried to gather some intel. The Uchiha is driven by revenge and will be easy to anger. I suspect the Leaf teams, and by proxy the bridge builder are in the area."

"Good work, all of you. Once I am fully healed, our next move will be to attack the bridge builder, head on. I will take on the copy-nin. Naruto, you have the jonin. Haku, you will take on those genin. Now don't give me that look, I know that genin are no match for you but I'm sure you will have a nice stretch with 4 genin and 2 fangirls. Test yourself against 2 of the world's strongest eyes. Fu, you will be on standby. Help who you deem necessary, if no one needs it- have some fun with the other genin. You are more of a support anyways."

The trio nodded, though Haku and Fu a bit reluctantly. Of course they would get over it, the team always took turns on fighting whoever was deemed the 'biggest threat' after Zabuza took his pick. They just got the short end of the straw this time. "Dissmissed" And with that command, the room was emptied except for the demon. "I will get you Hatake. Even if I die in the act" Zabuza thought before falling back asleep.

A week later

Zabuza strapped his sword to his back. It's been a week and he had fully recovered. He stretched a bit to ensure he still had full mobility before leaving to meet up with his team. They headed out to the bridge and saw that it was nearly completed. "That's one big bridge" Naruto remarked behind his blank mask. "But I don't think it will host 2 jonin level battles."

Zabuza nodded "yes. That's why I will fight Kakashi at the bottom" he pointed to a spot not far from the bridge. He didn't want the bridge to accidentally collapse and kill his charges after all.

"And those builders?" Haku pointed out, "do we kill them?"

Zabuza shook his head "no, our mission is to kill Tazuna and Tazuna only. Putting them in a false death will do. Besides, after a few drop 'dead' most of the others will run away anyways" Haku was relieved. He didn't want meaningless deaths. It went against his heart.

"Ice style: ice needles" he muttered as he summoned senbon made of ice from the mist. No need to waste weapons after all. He crept behind some crates and took aim before throwing the senbon at the same pressure points he did on Zabuza a week ago. As expected, most of the workers panicked and fled as soon as the body count went to 10 without any sign of stopping.

Just as Haku threw the needles at the last worker, he heard the unmistakable sound of the fangirls. "… I mean, it's not like they would dare attack the bridge with Sasuke here"

Haku groaned as he hid in the mist and made his way back to his team. Those fangirls were still stuck in the illusion of the world being all sunshine and rainbows where the Uchiha will rescue them from trouble. They will never survive long in the real world.

Team 7 and most of team 8 (Kiba was still at Tsunami's house. They wouldn't put it past Gato to use underhand tactics after all) arrived at the bridge. The unnaturally thick mist was their first clue that something was amiss. The second came in the form of the many bodies on the ground. "Everyone. On your guard. He's here." Kakashi commanded. "Genin, protect Tazuna. Kurenai, with me" Everyone fell in place. The slight sense of foreboding was a large motivation to get them moving.

The mist cleared slightly to reveal the fully recovered swordsman and 3 others standing slightly behind him. One was wearing a black shirt and cargo pants of the same color. One was wearing the standard hunter-nin uniform of the Mist and the last one- clearly a girl- was wearing a revealing outfit with a short white top that ended above her belly with a hint of mesh underneath. She also wore a white apron and mesh was poking out from that too. Another distinguishing feature of note was the large cylindrical object strapped to her back. The straps crossing over her chest to further pronounce her assets. The only similarity they held was the blank mask on their faces.

The fangirls stared at the girl's chest before looking back at their own in shame.

"Well, Hatake. Looks like we meet again. And it appears you brought a friend" Zabuza drawled.

"Is it just me or does he seem… angrier? Did his loss anger him that much?" Kakashi wondered. "Zabuza. It appeared that I miscalculated last time. It won't happen again."

Zabuza gave a barking laugh "Ha. Last time you fooled me with that little genjutsu. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Kakashi nodded. It seemed this fight will not be as easy as he hoped. Zabuza glanced at Naruto. "Let's get this party started"

Naruto nodded. "Water clone jutsu" he murmured. The Leaf teams instantly got on guard as 20 clones appeared. Whoever this masked guy was, he had insane reserves, easily over Zabuza's. The jonin could tell that much from the spike of chakra.

Kakashi dashed, trying to take him out quickly. His dash was cut short by a large blade that almost cleaved him in half. Zabuza grinned behind his bandages, "your fight is with me Hatake" he said before spitting the last word out.

Kakashi jumped back out of range of the sword. "Very well." He nodded before dodging a kunai from one of the masked nin's water clone. "But your friend here doesn't seem to agree" he noted before stabbing the clone.

"Naruto, stand down." Zabuza commanded. "Excuse him, let's fight below the bridge. This way there will be no interferences." He offered.

Kakashi paused. On one hand, that would remove their number advantage and he wouldn't have to watch his back every two seconds, but on the other, that would leave him more vulnerable to Zabuza's water jutsu. Finally he decided that the need not to watch his back outweighed the advantage of Zabuza's element. Distractions were very costly, especially in a jonin battle.

"Very well" he said before jumping off the bridge.

Zabuza grinned "phase 1, success. Now it's up to you Naruto, Haku, Fu." He thought before jumping off himself.

Naruto watched as the two jonin jumped off the bridge before focusing his full attention on the remaining jonin. Kurenai raised an eyebrow at the 20 masks that turned to her. "Sorry kid, but you're a little too young for me" she said.

Naruto just grinned behind his mask, "We'll see" he said before the clones attacked.

Haku waited until he deemed that Naruto had taken the other jonin far and occupied enough for her to not be able to interfere before making his way to the bridge builder. Fu, seeing that sitting around would do her no good and that both Naruto and Zabuza were doing just fine, followed him. They walked at a steady pace towards the tense genin before Sasuke- being the arrogant Uchiha he was- decided that he was strong enough to challenge them both.

He charged towards the two masked-nin with his kunai out. Fu scoffed as Haku dashed in front and met him halfway with his own. She continued her walk uninterrupted while the two battled it out. She stopped in front of the small group that now consisted of a bridge builder, 2 fangirls, a Hyuga and an Aburame.

The group watched the masked-nin. The fangirls were still confident that their precious Sasuke would come and save them. The Hyuga… was unreadable. Fu blinked. She didn't think she would meet an opponent she couldn't read, not this young anyways. Finally she turned to the Aburame who looked conflicted.

She sighed. The Hyuga was a no-go because she was Haku's opponent, the fangirls weren't even worth the effort to challenge and the Aburame looked like he was frozen. With a raised eyebrow she deduced that it must have been because of his bugs. Even in her seal, the seven-tails was still a being to be feared and it was probably woven into the instincts of the insects to never challenge it.

She gave a pitying look to the Aburame behind her mask. He must have a huge headache from all the warnings the insects were giving off. Just as she was about to turn around and head back to the crates, Fu sensed another presence approaching. "Good, this won't be a waste of time" she thought, turning to where the new arrival would land. "Sorry we're late, we got held up" the new arrival said.

"Yeah right looser! You were just sleeping"

"Yeah Kiba! Stop trying to act cool like Sasuke"

Fu rolled her eyes. Stupid fangirls didn't even see that he showed signs of just coming out of battle.

"Kiba Inuzuka, correct?" Fu asked.

Kiba blinked, "Yeah, that's me" he replied before looking back at the group, "Hey! Who's the hot chick in the mask?" he shouted.

"She's the enemy you idiot!" the pink-haired fangirl shouted.

"Enemy! You mean I have to fight her?" he asked incredulously but still slipped into a stance and reached into his hood to pull out… a dog.

Fu resisted the urge to face-palm. That looked like something he picked up from a circus. "My name is Fu." She introduced before slipping into a stance of her own.

"This is Akamaru" he said pointing at the dog he pulled out, "he's my partner."

Fu nodded "nice to meet you Akamaru"

Kiba wore a grin. Hot and she acknowledged Akamaru. It couldn't get better than this. "What do you say we go on a date after this?" he asked

Fu cocked her head to the side. "Should you really ask that with your partner next to you?"

"T-that's not what I meant!" Kiba stammered, waving his hands defensively.

Fu shrugged while hiding her grin behind her mask "if you say so" she said in a sing-song voice before dashing towards him.

AN: yeah the fights are underway. Kakashi vs Zabuza. Naruto vs Kurenai. Haku vs Sasuke and Fu vs Kiba. Next chapter we will see how everything will play out!

Just reminding everyone that the naming challenge is still on. If you have a better name for the story or chapter and it will be taken into consideration.

Besides that, happy new year! Just wondering, did anyone fall for the hoax of Chuck Norris on Friday?

Reviews:

Hikari Nova: thank you for pointing that out. It has been fixed.

My 2 guys: here's another

Thor94: thanks, I'll tell Jman too.

BlackDragonShinigami: alright. Yup a little NaruXFu fluff for Christmas.

MiseryWolf97: that's right. And I'll tell Jman too.

Noahendless: keeping it up!