Chapter 35, time for the final battle with Zabuza! You guys ready? I've been working hard to make sure this is a good fight, so it should at least be decent. The only thing that was really hard was making sure that Jiraiya didn't kick the crap out of him immediately. I think I've figured out a way though. Thanks for reading and please review.

Jiraiya and Anko were very happy with their students progress. All of them had completed the water walking exercise, rather impressive since it had only been a week. Unfortunately, that meant they had finished just in time for the big fight. Zabuza was due to be fighting ready tomorrow, which meant that they would everyone at the bridge to protect Tazuna tomorrow.

Anko walked over to them, "Alright people, it's gonna be us versus Zabuza and who ever else Gato hired to take him out tomorrow. Jiraiya and I will be needed to handle any big fish which means you'll need to see to it that Tazuna is okay. I'm assuming you guys can beat any normal thugs they send at you?"

Sasuke smirked, "You think some thugs could take us out? Naruto's a one man army with toads to summon, Kakashi's really smart and can summon snakes, Mito can heal us and summon slugs, Hinata can see through any traps they might set, Sai's got his ink stuff, and I've a ton of fire jutsu to use with the toad's oil. Those lously thugs are nothing compared to us."

Jiraiya was glad to see that his students were confident. Winning in you head was the half the battle, "Good, can't have you guys too nervous. However, there's something we need to talk to you about."

Hinata didn't like how serious that sounded, "What is sensei?"

Jiraiya sighed, "Odds are, you'll all have to make your first kills tomorrow. I need you guys to be ready for that."

Sasuke had heard his brother talk having to kill people before. He had been too young remember Itachi's first kill, but he knew that Itachi never liked killing people, "My brother said that you never notice it when you're fighting, but the moment you stop you start to realize what you did. He said you never really get over, you just kinda learn to live with it. It's about protecting those who are important to you."

Jiraiya nodded, "More or less, yeah. You can't harp on it too much or it'll destroy. You've got to remember that you're doing it so other people don't have to. I've got faith that you guys will be okay. When it's all said and done we'll be here to talk you through it. Now go get some sleep, you've got a hard day ahead of you guys."

They all headed off to bed while their sensei began to plan for tomorrow. It was up to them to make sure that this village would be free from Gato's wrath. There was no way in hell they were gonna lose.

Everyone had been getting ready for the bridge for the past hour, everyone except for Kakashi that is. He had stayed up all night after Shiromaru had gotten out of his cage forcing Kakashi to track him down. Kakashi got back much later and was not ready to start fighting right now. Jiraiya decided to let him sleep, "Tsunami, can you tell Kakashi to come meet us at the bridge when he wakes up?"

Tsunami nodded, "Of course, I can't imagine he'll sleep much longe. You guys just head out and protect my father."

Jiraiya turned to the others and motioned to the door, "Alright folks, time to head out. This the last big day of the mission, so we'd better not screw it up."

Everyone headed out with Kakashi still passed out on the couch. Shiromaru had actually fallen asleep on his head as well, something that was utterly hilarious.

They got to the bridge to find corpses everywhere. Tazuna ran up to the one man who was still alive, "What happened, who did this?"

The man only said one word, "Demon…"

Jiraiya didn't need to hear anymore, "Surround Tazuna, Zabuza's already here!"

They did as they were told. Looks like the fight would be sooner than the expected.

Kakashi woke up to the sound of screaming, "Let my mom go!"

Kakashi opened his eyes and took Shiromaru off his head to find a thug with blade to Tsunami's throat with another standing next to him. Inari ran up and kicked the man in the shin, "I said let her go!"

The thug cursed and kicked Inari away. He pulled out a knife to finish the boy but before he could react he found a snake biting his wrist. He let go of Tsunami's neck and Kakashi took the opportunity to throw a kunai right into his neck. Kakashi's snake was already biting the other one while Kakashi stabbed him in the heart with a kunai.

Kakashi looked down in awe. He actually did, he killed someone. It felt weird, but he didn't have time to think about that, his friends weren't here and he need to know why, "Inari, where are Kakashi's friends?"

Inari pointed out the door, "They're at the bridge...sorry I forced you to kill those guys."

Kakashi shook his head, "Kakashi did what he had to. You were very brave Inari, it was thanks to you Kakashi was able to save your mom."

Inari smiled and was about to say thanks, but Kakashi was already on his way to the bridge.

A thick Mist had settled on the bridge, making it very hard to see. Zabuza was already putting his plan into motion, "Just give me the old man and there'll be no trouble."

Naruto scoffed, "Yeah right! You're going down asshole!"

Zabuza chuckled, "Have it your way. Haku, separate the students from their teachers. I can't have the whiskered one blowing my mist away!"

Naruto went wided eyed, "Haku…"

They were shocked at what they saw next. It was the hunter-nin from that had saved Zabuza last week. Hinata couldn't believe, "Haku, you're his partner?"

Haku didn't want to do this, but there wasn't any other options. Pulling some senbon needles out, Haku got in a fighting stance, "It's nothing personal, but it's something I have to do. If things had been different, we might have been able to be friends."

Naruto frowned, "Yeah, maybe. We can't let you have the bridge builder, our mission is to protect him. If you come after him, we will kill you."

Haku charged at them, "We'll see."

Jiraiya and Anko were now up against Zabuza who was hiding himself in the mist. Anko's snakes could sense heat, so they had at least had some kind of warning before Zabuza could strike. The only real problem was that the kids had to handle the fake hunter-nin, so it was up to them to keep Tazuna safe. In the mist, Zabuza's territory, that wasn't easy even for them.

Zabuza made another run for Tazuna, only to be forced to dodge Jiraiya's hair senbon. he never thought he could hate hair that much. Jiraiya laughed at him, "Even in this mist, you're no match for us. There's no way you or your friend are getting anywhere near Tazuna."

It was Zabuza's turn to laugh, "I may not be a match for you, but your students are no match for Haku. That kid's got one of the mists most powerful bloodlines, Ice Realse. Haku's my personal weapon, so those kids are as good as dead."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. He was gonna have to end this quick so that he could go help his daughter and the others.

The kids were starting to have trouble with Haku, the Ice Realse was absolutely ridiculous. Haku was able to create weapons out of ice and send them flying at the genin. It was starting to get real bad, that's when they heard a voice coming towards them, "Never fear, Kakashi is here!"

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, "Never thought I'd be that happy to hear his voice."

Kakashi jumped on the bridge and looked around, "Who's the guy at the end of the bridge?"

Hinata frowned, "I thought she was girl."

Mito nodded, "Looks like a girl to me."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "Really, I think it's a boy."

Naruto shook his head, "That doesn't matter. Haku over there has the ability to make ice from thin air and make weapons from it."

Kakashi thought it over, this was a tough one, "Naruto, make as many clones as you can and Kakashi and Sasuke will charge behind them. Sasuke and Kakashi will sandwhich him in a fireball while Hinata keeps an eye on things. Sai will hang back and make sure Haku doesn't escape and Mito will stick with him and help. Plus she can heal us when it's all over."

Naruto couldn't believe it, less than five minutes and Kakashi had already made a plan that sounded perfect. Naruto made over a hundred clones and charged at Haku, followed by Kakashi and Sasuke getting into position. Haku looked around and could see there were no more options. When Sasuke and Kakashi got near, that's when the trap was sprung. A dome of ice began to form around them. They could see it was like a dome of mirrors, and they could see Haku in all of them.

Haku said three simple word, "Please forgive me."

Jiraiya and Anko were kicking the ever living crap out of Zabuza. Even with his mist, he couldn't get even remotely close to Tazuna. The moment Zabuza or one of his clones got anywhere near him, there's be some nasty little trick waiting. Zabuza was about to try and retreat, but there was a small problem. He couldn't leave without Haku, who was busy with the genin right now.

Zabuza was about to call over to Haku when he saw the ice dome, "Aw shit!"

Jiraiya followed his eyes and becoming very scared, "What the hell is that thing?"

Zabuza sighed, "Haku's best attack. Hate to tell you this, but whoever's in that dome is dead is as good as dead."

Jiraiya and Anko both went pale. Kakashi and Sasuke were nowhere to be seen.

Kakashi and Sasuke saw needles coming from them every direction. They could only dodge some of them, but the vast majority ended up in their bodies.

The ice cleared from the dome, all they saw where two bodies filled with ice senbons. Mito ran over to them, both of their eyes were barely open. Mito noticed something about them, "They look like Uncle Obito's. Is that the Sharingan?"

Haku hated doing that, "So they have bloodlines as well. Shame what had to happen to them."

They all sensed something new on the bridge, and could hear Naruto literally growling, "Nothing had to happen! You killed my friends!"

Jiraiya could hear a dark edge to his voice. He looked over and saw that his fear were confirmed. A powerful red chakra was pouring out of Naruto, "Naruto, calm down. You're starting to lose control!"

Naruto wasn't listening, "I'm in control. I know exactly what I'm doing!"

Jiraiya wasn't so sure, "Come on kid, this isn't you! Don't let the Kyuubi influence you!"

Naruto was about to take a step a forward when he heard a small voice, "Naruto-kun, please!"

Naruto could faintly hear Hinata's voice and he finally felt the Kyuubi's power dying down. Mito was able to tell as a medic-nin, "Guys, Kakashi and Sasuke will be just fine. It's just a near death state like what Haku did to Zabuza. Must have been what activated their Sharingan."

Jiraiya walked up to Naruto, "It's okay, she spared them."

Gato chuckled at the end of the bridge with an army of bandits behind him, "You two really are pathetic. Can't even bring yourself to kill. Take them all out, whoever kills the masked one get a bonus."

Zabuza turned to Jiraiya, "I think my contract just ran out. Feel like helping me to finish them off?"

Jiraiya nodded, "It'll be my pleasure."

We'll finish this up tomorrow. See ya then!