The Psychic, The Swordsman and The Sorcerer

Chapter 25

I don't own Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto, X-Men by Marvel comics in association with 20th Century Fox, Zorro, who is public domain despite what Zorro Production Inc. likes to claim, or Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling in association with Warner Bros. Studio. Fun Fact: The reason Harry's scar is off-center in the films is because Rowling told them to put it there. The idea of the scar being in the center was assumed because of the covers of the books, but the books never actually state precisely where it is.

The trio were making their way towards the tower in the center of the Forest when Sakura caught the minds of three Sound genin who were waiting to ambush them in a poorly conceived plan. They were, of course, acting on Orochimaru's orders, but he hadn't told them how to go about following his command. Intent on seeing just how amusing the situation would become once the genin realized they'd ambushed the worst possible team to try to surprise, Sakura refrained from informing her comrades about the situation. When they were about a yard away from the trio, however, Zorro suddenly paused, cocking his head to the side as if to listen to something. Pulling his cape back, he drew his whip and suddenly cracked it into the tree that Sakura knew that the one called Zaku was in. When the boy fell from the tree, clutching at his eyes, Zorro quickly drew his sword, batting aside a set of senbon that Kin threw at him as she and Dosu made their appearance.

Once the pair were in sight, Sasuke quickly drew his wand and pointed it at Dosu as he called, "Petrificus Totalus!"

In the same instant that Sasuke cast the spell, Zorro had quickly pulled a coil of rope out of, and then, using Kawarimi, got right behind Zaku as the Sound genin knelt on the ground clutching at his eyes. Moving quicker than the eye could see, Zorro managed to bind the boy's arms behind his back, fastening the rope as tightly as he could. Before Zaku's vision even cleared, his arms were rendered immobile, with the palms of his hands pressed against his upper arms.

Meanwhile, Kin was certain that, despite her teammates' failures, she was doing well against her own opponent. While the pink-haired girl was simply floating away from her attacks, Kin was completely sure that her suppressive attacks were keeping her from fighting. Why the girl's teammates weren't bothering to aid her was a mystery to Kin, but, she could deal with them afterwards.

Idly avoiding the Sound kunoichi's attacks as she picked up on Teams Nine and Ten observing them, Sakura turned her attention to Ino and mentally said, 'I think you'll enjoy hearing what happened this time. Incidentally, it caused an interesting variable that should make things quite interesting.'

'I look forward to talking about it,' Ino remarked, 'But I'm sure you noticed that Lee is intending on leaping to your aid.'

'It would be a shame if I made it seem like I was too weak to fight this battle, myself,' Sakura acknowledged, directing her attention towards the Sound kunoichi as she told her fellow psychic, 'We'll talk more later.'

To Kin, it seemed as if things suddenly took an unexpected turn for the worse. As she threw an entire barrage of senbon at the girl, intent on taking her out before turning her attention to the still uninterested boys on her team, the weapons suddenly froze in midair before an unholy flame melted them all down to a pool of molten steel. Immediately afterwards, the senbon that the girl had dodged rose from the ground and turned to face Kin as a menacing smile formed on Sakura's face. This alone would have caused Kin to become concerned, but adding to the menace was the fact that the Konoha kunoichi's teammates had a look of concern on their faces that made Kin genuinely feel fear for her life.

Fortunately for Kin, she felt a stinging on her shins before she found herself being pulled down to the ground by her legs as Sasuke shouted, "Aguamenti!"

"Sorry," Sakura said halfheartedly as Zorro tossed her a handkerchief to wipe off her face, "Dark Phoenix took over right after the senbon melted."

"Considering that we're in the middle of a forest, why don't you try to keep from having any repeat performances," Sasuke remarked dryly, "Still, no one important was hurt, so no harm, no foul."

"You might wish to cut your friend loose," Zorro said to Kin, as he uncoiled her from his whip with a flick of the wrist, "The giant spiders make their nests in this forest."

Still too stunned by what she'd just witnessed and experienced, Kin picked herself up into a seated position, trying to regain her senses. As Team Seven headed off, Sasuke canceled the spell he'd cast on Dosu before they all walked away, leaving two surprised teams and one amused team as they continued on their path to the Tower.

Back at the Uzumaki Manor, Zabuza smiled contentedly behind his bandages. Haku was off training, Naruto was out taking the Chuunin Exams as Zorro, and the boy who seemed to answer to the names Sai and Bernardo interchangeably was off with his chatty girlfriend doing whatever it was they did when left to their own devices. He was alone in the house, with no one to bother him, and he intended to capitalize on that and take a long-overdue nap.

Elsewhere, Haku was once again training. The bun-haired assassin was involved in the Chuunin Exams and would be unable to bother her this time. Haku was twenty-nine thrown senbon into her practice when she began feeling bored. She occasionally found herself in such a state ever since she and her mentor had abandoned their adventurous lives as missing nin in favor of their more comfortable lives as citizens of Konoha, but such thoughts were usually cut off by the appearance of the bun-haired assassin, which usually heralded some manner of adventure or surprise.

Striking the thirtieth bulls-eye in as many throws, Haku decided to gather her weapons and take a walk around the village. She hadn't ever had a casual stroll in the village, and she wasn't sure when she'd get the opportunity to do so again, due to the bun-haired assassin's tendency to find her and make things more interesting. At the very least, it promised to be a peaceful, yet interesting walk, which would let her see what her new village was like when she wasn't being chased around the market.