Chapter THIRTY SEVEN

Their numbers are clearly an advantage, and Sasuke forces himself to reign in his annoyance when Sakura charges off after Haku and her brother automatically follows. He sees the two older Genin by his side move after them and stops them.

"Our job is to protect the bridge builder," he says. "We cannot all go after them."

Tenten and Lee glance at each other and remain rooted to their spots. "Right."

They are uneasy, though, and Sasuke understands.

"Will they be fine?" Tenten asks. "I mean, that masked kid is hanging around someone like Momochi Zabuza, right? He's got to be skilled."

Sasuke glances over at the girl and nods. "Sakura fought him before," he says. "She was fine then, and she has her brother with her this time."

Lee nods enthusiastically. "We must trust in our teammates, Tenten," he says.

Tenten chews on her lower lip, then nods firmly. "You're right."

Sasuke looks up again. The fight had moved away from them and the mist obscures his vision but he can make out the swift movements of the three fighting. The Hunter-nin's advantage clearly lay in his speed, but Sakura was fast and Neji was just as swift. He turns away from them and looks towards Kakashi and Gai's fight. Their opponents had clearly not been expecting reinforcements, though he is unsure why exactly that was, seeing as Zabuza was an S-rank criminal, most definitely not opponents a fresh team of Genin could face.

That is a good thing for them, though, so he does not complain.

And not to mention, he cannot risk lowering his guard. It is not Zabuza that is after Tazuna, it is a rich businessman who had ordered him after the bridge builder, and he can never be too sure that a man like that would not resort to sending more people after them.

Sakura feels no doubt she and Neji can win their fight.

Even though the Hunter-nin's unique one-handed hand sign surprises her and the ice walls that appear around them is not something she had ever seen before, she had already known that their matchup had been in her favor and when she realizes what exactly the mirrors are meant to do, she knows for sure that they had almost every advantage they could have asked for.

The Byakugan allows her to see where exactly the Hunter-nin was in the mirrors, and though his movement from mirror to mirror was less hindered by his own physical limitations, she could see where he was, and that was enough for them to dodge away from any attacks. Not to mention their almost three sixty degrees vision and the fact that Neji had her back. The vacuum palm technique was a good way to simply deflect the senbon and their clan inherited abilities to push chakra through things was a perfect means to destroy the mirrors. Sakura knows that all they need is one good blast into a mirror with the Hunter-nin inside it to get him.

And it was then when she saw it. From the way Neji tensed, he had seen it too.

Sakura shifts her focus from her immediate surroundings to the edge of her chakra vision, confirming with a grimace that indeed, that was a large group of men, most likely mercenaries, heading in their direction.

"Not shinobi," she murmurs. "But there are many of them."

Neji narrows his eyes. Judging from the distance, no one else would have noticed. They would be here soon, though, and Sakura could see that Zabuza was putting up a very good fight despite it being a two versus one. Sasuke, Tenten, and Lee were good, from what she had seen, but she had no way to tell if they would be able to properly defend themselves if they were attacked while they were unaware.

"One of us, at least, will have to go," Neji says. "Tenten is a weapon based fighter and Lee's focus lies in Taijutsu. Neither of them will be a good matchup against the Hunter-nin."

"Sasuke-san does not have access to his Sharingan," Sakura replies. "But he can perform fire techniques. From the way these mirrors contain chakra, though, I'm not sure how effective they'll be."

Sakura then sees something else. "Naruto-san is approaching." They had been unable to wake him up after he had returned late the previous night and so, they had left him to sleep in.

Neji scoffs. "Do you believe he will be a match?"

Sakura scowls a little at her brother's tone even as she smashes her palm into another mirror. She feels the Hunter-nin slip away into another even before she had fully channeled her chakra and has to admit he is by no means slow. "Naruto-san and Sasuke-san work surprisingly well," she says.

"I meant no offense," Neji immediately replies.

They are saved from having to make a choice, though, when they hear a familiar shout and seconds later, they are joined within the ice dome by a grinning blond.

Sakura's immediate reaction is to reprimand him, though a thought suddenly hits her. Sasuke is right outside the dome, no doubt having tried to stop the blond.

"Naruto-san, may I leave this fight to you and Sasuke-san?" She asks.

The rain of senbon had momentarily stopped and Sakura can tell that the Hunter-nin is merely observing them. She thinks back to their fight and once again wonders why exactly he was not taking this chance to try and kill them.

Naruto looks confused, but he then nods. "Of course, Sakura-chan," he says. "But Sasuke-teme is outside-"

In response, Sakura grabs her brother's arm and focuses on Sasuke's chakra.

Kawarimi no jutsu.

A moment later, the two of them are outside, having taken Sasuke's place, while the Uchiha was inside, where they had been previously standing.

"I know you've been itching to fight, Sasuke-san," she calls. "I believe this is what you call a baton pass."

She hears Sasuke's voice questioning their actions but decides to ignore him.

"Will they be okay?" Neji asks, and Sakura smiles a little.

"I'm sure they will be just fine," she replies. "They are far more reliable than they might appear."

Hanakotoba:

Floss flower:

Trust / Ease

Here's chapter thirty six

Darque: Update!

Raven: Yes.

Darque: More stuff to come.

Raven: Indeed.

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