Chapter 8
"Ne… Sakura-chan, are you alright?"
Sakura turned to meet concerned blue eyes. She tried to smile back reassuringly, but it felt forced. It seemed to have the opposite effect, as her teammate grimaced at her attempt.
Naruto always seemed to reflect the sunshine, sporting a warm tan complimented with golden hair and aquamarine eyes that glowed with positivity. He seemed to battle his loneliness and history of ridicule with endless determination and encouragement - inspirational, but impossible to match. Though his presence kept her from insanity, she found herself unable to mirror his relaxed positivity.
Naruto lived in the moment, relying on his stamina and athletic reflexes. Sakura, on the other hand, structured herself carefully off of planning and speculation. Surprises definitely did not suit her the way it did her teammate.
"Gomen, Naruto. It's just that we have no vision right now, so I'm a little tense."
Her teammates seemed to share a similar sentiment, Naruto taking place at the very front like a guard dog. He squinted, trying to make out any shapes in the distance.
They were sailing through a thick fog - even the water below them was barely visible. From this vantage, even if Sakura might be able to barely save herself, there was no way she could maneuver in a fight on a rocking surface amongst nin that seem to live within the water.
"When we reach the side of the bridge, we'll be in the Land of the Waves," the boatman announced, pausing mid-row.
They slowly ambled forward, the bridge coming into view as they floated forward. Shapes began to come into view, machines of construction littering the top of the bridge.
Sakura's mouth opened slightly in awe at the large pillars that held up the massive structure.
Naruto didn't hesitate to voice his awe, "SUGEI! It's huge!"
His voice echoed in the silence, causing the kunoichi to wince at the sudden noise. She turned sharply to slap a hand over his mouth.
The baotman returned her sentiment, looking around in concern. "I took this boat out under the cover of fog, even rowing so that we won't have engine sounds. We'll be in deep trouble if they spot us."
Sakura lowered her hand with a glare as Naruto put his own hands over his mouth, eyes wide.
The assailants from before flashed through their minds, reminding them that the attackers had hidden within water, which they were currently surrounded by.
Kakashi turned a stern gaze over to the bridge builder. "Tazuna-san, I want to ask you something before we arrive at the pier."
Ever since they were assigned to the team, the silver-haired jounin had been surprisingly serious the entire time. Considering that he read porn in broad daylight, Sakura was genuinely taken aback when she recognized his leadership regarding this mission.
Maybe he does take things seriously… occasionally.
Those riding the boat turned their bodies to watch Tazuna as he began to describe the man targeting him, Gato. Gato was the chief executive of a shipping company and one of the richest men in the five regions. This man was known for his ruthless business tactics, using his money and power to aggressively take over nations and enterprises - including the Land of the Waves.
"Taking control of the Land of the Waves means having control of finance, the government, the people… everything," Tazuna explained. "The completion of the bridge is a hinderance to him, but its construction has gone on for a while now..."
"The Land of the Waves is a very poor nation, and even feudal lords have no money, much less ordinary citizens like me. We can't afford to request B rank missions, or higher."
Sakura bit her lip, distraught at the circumstances. "But if we pull out of the mission, you'll be killed."
"But there's no need for concern!" Tazuna laughed knowingly. "Should I die, my cute grandchild who will turn eight will only cry his heart out! And my daughter will blame hidden leaf ninja for the rest of her life and grieve in solitude!"
Sakura's eye twitched, knowing the implications of his threat. She glanced at her sensei, who scratched his head awkwardly. "I... guess we have no choice but to continue as his bodyguards."
The rest of Team 7 exchanged exasperated glances as the bridge keeper snickered to himself. Even if they had called reinforcements, Gato would have already cleaned his hands of the bridge builder and ongoing construction.
Regardless, Sakura had been deprived of action until this mission, and the battle before allowed her to finally stretch her muscles from the chores of before. Being a bodyguard gave her a chance to practice protecting someone, and might hone her skills for when she'll need to protect the ones she loved in the future.
An image of her mom flashed through her head, strengthening her resolve. If she died during the mission, then it meant she had failed to protect those she aspired to protect anyway.
Though they had been forced to carry on, she could tell her teammates had no intention of half-assing this assignment either.
Her tension melted, replaced with anticipation. "Don't worry, Tazuna-sama. We'll make sure you safely complete this damn bridge."
Tazuna smirked, adjusting his hat as his village came to view. "You better, you little squirts!"
"Mou, Naruto! You scared me out of my skin!" Sakura pinched at the bridge of her nose as she found her patience quickly dropping for the blonde.
The idiot had thrown a kunai toward the bushes, implying nearby threat. Her heart had stilled, dashing in front of Tazuna with her kunai in defense. She had yet to sense danger, but perhaps Naruto had felt something she hadn't.
Upon further inspection, his kunai embedded itself above a snow rabbit, scaring both it and the blonde's teammates half to death.
"Unagi-chan!" Naruto gasped, picking up the poor creature in his arms in an apologetic embrace. "I didn't mean to scare you unagi-chan, gomen-nasai!"
"Don't do shit like that!" Tazuna growled, furious at the false alarm. "You're just trying to show off!"
Sakura was about to smack the blonde, when the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood up. She froze, sliding her gaze to her sensei, who had similarly turned his gaze upward at the trees.
There.
"Get down!"
She tackled Tazuna to the ground as she registered a large sword careening in their direction, flying over their heads and embedding itself into a tree overhead. As they cautiously raised their heads, a masked figure appeared on top of the sword, surveying the group with cold grey eyes.
He has a headband like the other nin, Sakura observed, gritting her teeth as she pushed herself back up. They really waste no time with assassinations, huh.
Kakashi approached the nin with hands in his pockets, seeming to recognize the attacker this time. "Well well well… if it isn't the Rogue Ninja of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi!"
From the corner of her eye, Sakura noticed Naruto's legs tense, ready to jump in. She whipped her hand out to grab his backpack, the blonde letting out an "Ack!" as she jerked him back.
Angrily, he opened his mouth to protest. "W-What! Sakura-cha-"
"She's right, Naruto. He's on a totally different level from the guys the other day," Kakashi warned, his hand moving to cup his headband. "Him being our opponent… means I'm going to have to use this."
Zabuza's eye narrowed, rolling his shoulders back. "I'm assuming you're Kakashi… the Sharingan user."
Jade eyes watched as Sasuke visibly tensed, his eyes widening at the mention of his clan's kekkai genkai. A million questions raced through her head, but she forced them down to focus on the situation at hand. No matter how Kakashi possessed the trait, it would be useful to have two Sharingan users in this fight.
"Get in Manji position," Kakashi ordered, pulling his forehead protector up to reveal a large scar spanning his left eye. "Don't involve yourself in this fight."
Standing slightly to the side, Sakura could only make out a glint of red from his side profile, but she could imagine. Multiple textbooks had given her diagrams of the famous kekkai genkai, characterized by red eyes and two adjacent black tomoes.
So that's what his headband had been hiding.
After Hasao's short tutelage, Sakura had grown up always believing there was something she could do. He had taught her to think outside the box, follow the enemy's train of thought, improvise if needed. Anything and everything can be used in combat, and the chances of winning raises with the awareness of that information.
However, Sakura felt at a complete loss at her sensei's instructions, commanding the team to relinquish all ideas of involvement. Indignation welled at the pit of her stomach of leaving a single person to carry the rest, especially at the stakes they faced in the present moment.
Any of them could perish during this battle, and Kakashi was not only placing sole responsibility on himself for defeating the nin, but also expected to protect the rest of his teammates as well as the bridge builder. In fact, in this scenario the genin were no more useful than the bridge builder.
She knew that the ambush had prevented them from further planning and intervention would only distract the jounin from performing at his best, but her gut wanted to argue with her sensei and insist that there existed a way for them all to participate in the protection and completion of this mission.
Those thoughts swirled through her head as they watched Zabuza disappear through the thickness of the fog. When he reappeared behind her, smack in the middle of their formation, her mind stilled and her body reacted.
She crouched her body to keep herself a small target, spun around and pierced his stomach with a kunai. As she jumped back to create space, the figure dissolved into a puddle of water.
A water clone?
She turned to see the real one appear behind the silver haired jounin, and heard Naruto shout out the name of their sensei in warning before the two engaged into hand to hand combat. Distracted by the events surrounding the water clone, Kakashi only had time to duck the swing of the large sword before he was kicked.
Panicking, he escaped into the lake - a grave mistake, as he soon found himself trapped within a water prison by his assailant.
Sakura cursed, returning to her position by the bridge builder.
If she hadn't intervened… if she had just trusted their sensei, perhaps his control of the situation would have prevented this outcome.
She watched in horror as the bandages around Zabuza's mouth morphed to indicate a smirk underneath, having trapped his prey… and then turned his murderous eyes toward the remaining four. His free hand created the tiger seal, forming another water clone that appeared on land.
Though Zabuza's clone only possessed a portion of the actual reserves, Sakura knew the threat was far from diminished. Kakashi's presence had provided a sense of reassurance and safety, and suddenly the man who had promised everything had been contained within a matter of minutes.
She had asked the universe to give her a chance to prove herself… and oh did it answer.
A/N: Let me now how ya'll feel about this chapter! Lots of love xx