(A/N) Can you tell I know nothing about Interrogation or am I good enough at bluffing to hide it.

Sakura spotted the puddle first, and she nudged Naruto, bringing his attention to it. "We have some company."

"Oh no," Naruto said loudly, heading straight for the puddle. "A terrible thing here, a puddle when it hasn't rained in weeks! What could it be!"

"A duck?" Sasuke asked boredly. "They're everywhere you know."

"We aren't ducks!" The two enemy shinobi squawked as they leaped out of their puddle, only to be caught in a crossfire from Sakura and Sasuke.

"Tie em up Naruto," Sakura said, tossing him some ninja wire. "I'm sure Tenzo-sensei will be happy to see his interrogation lesson put to good use!" First lesson? Play to your strengths. As all of them were teens, nothing along the romantic route was going to work until they were 18, or at least had filled out somewhat. Because of his Uchiha heritage and resting unimpressed face, Sasuke did best with an 'I know more then you do' air of superiority method. Intimidation was key. Naruto could manage intimidation if he was borrowing Kyuubi's chakra or using Mokuton, both of which were terrifying to normal people. Sakura herself worked bast with a sort of 'I'm an innocent little girl, you can tell me anything' air. That, or 'I may look like a cute little girl, but oh hey look, I know all these ways to kill you slowly and painfully'. The dichotomy of that one was often enough to get the prisoner to spill.

Naruto tied up the enemy shinobi, and while the boys did that, Sakura checked a bingo book for the two.

"Demon brothers from Kiri," she read off quickly. "C-rank at best, chuunin level technically. Not a great bounty, but not too bad for C-rank idiots from Kiri that think they can get away with puddles when it hasn't rained in weeks."

"There aren't even any clouds," Naruto said, sighing mournfully. "Eh, Sakura, dead or alive?"

Sakura checked. "Alive, dead is worth less."

"We are not carting those two to the nearest bounty station," Kakashi sighed. "Dead will have to do. I have body scrolls."

"Alright," Sakura agreed easily. "Dead it is then."

"My turn," Sasuke said immediately, dispatching the demon brothers in two quick movements.

"What did you get from them?" Sakura asked briskly, starting to move everyone along the road.

"Well, they're hired by Gato, head of Gato Industries, and from their stuttered and terrified descriptions, I'm pretty sure we'll be facing the Demon of the Mist, Zabuza Momochi, pretty soon. It was mentioned that they saw a second person with him, although they're not quite sure what this person was." Naruto shrugged, delicately stepping away from the spreading pool of blood.

"Or who," Sasuke agreed. "They seemed cautious of the person though, so we may want to look out for them."

Sakura nodded. "Should Zabuza pop up, we'll have to be on the look out for a second person."

Kakashi idly turned a page in his book. "Should Zabuza appear, you are to leave him to me and not jump in. That would be an order."

Naruto looked hesitant, but nodded quickly.

Sakura frowned at the man, but nodded slowly anyway. Sasuke just grunted.


Zabuza attacked while they were traveling through wave itself. A giant sword flew over their heads, embedding into a tree, Zabuza Momochi standing on top of it a moment later.

"Zabuza Momochi, we've been expecting you," Kakashi said ominously, standing up.

"I presume the Demon Brothers spilled like the weaklings they are?" Zabuza scoffed, eyeing Sakura and her teammates.

Kakashi stepped in front of them. "They're long dead by now."

"Good riddance," Zabuza said, flicking a hand. "Turning 'em in for a bounty?"

"What else would we do with their heads," Sasuke asked snarkily.

"Oh I like you," Zabuza said, grinning. "Maybe I'll spare you and keep you."

"Fight me," Sasuke replied, sticking his tongue out. "My teammates wouldn't let you. And if we got back in any condition other then just fine, Shino will flip."

Sakura chuckled despite herself. Shino really would flip if they turned up missing a teammate or two.

"Hiding in the Mist jutsu," Zabuza barked, the area beginning to fill quickly with a thick mist.

They gathered around Tazuna while Kakashi went after Zabuza.

"Sasuke, can you see through this mist?" Sakura asked, staring into the mist futilely.

"No, too laced with chakra and stuff," Sasuke replied, glancing at her with eyes red from the Sharingan. "I'm not sure that even a Hyuuga would be able to see him in the mist."

Naruto growled quietly, glaring into the mist. "I don't like it, we can't see where they are, or any attacks that might be coming in." Ah, there was ROOT's training coming into play again. He did this in most battles, strategizing and plotting. He was good at it.

"It looks like the mist might be clearing," Sakura said, glancing around. "I found Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza."

"He's doing the weird copy thing," Sasuke agreed. "Predicting Zabuza's movements before he makes them and copying.

"I mean, it is pretty intimidating to have someone copying your every move precisely." Sakura pointed out. "Tenzo-sensei said this was Kakashi-sensei's favorite intimidation tactic."

"When did he say that?" Sasuke asked, wrinkling his nose.

"During the lesson, a sort of blink and you'll miss it thing. You and Naruto were temporarily distracted by a random flower at the time."

"Your spatial awareness amazes me," Sasuke muttered.

Sakura blocked a stray kunai with one of her own. "Good for you."

Naruto moved next to them, glaring out at the water with red slitted eyes. "What are those the signs to?"

"Some big water jutsu I think," Sasuke said, eyes similarly red, although with three comma marks. "Uh, the water dragon I think, by the number of seals alone. They're at 35 already. If they reach 44 and a water dragon comes up, we have our answer."

"That's a lot of seals," Sakura noted quietly. "Can it be cut down?"

"I think the record is 11, and that was Tobirama Senju, the best water user in the Land of Fire," Sasuke said, squinting. "And that's 44."

"He was one of the best in the Elemental Nations," Naruto muttered, watching Kakashi be trapped in a bubble. "Can't help him, ordered not to."

"We have to," Sakura said. "Wait, he said we couldn't, but he never said anything about shadow clones. I'll need a couple to explain the idea to."

Naruto grinned, all sharp teeth and canines. A sign later and there were four shadow clones ready for action.

Sakura quickly lined them up. "Each of you pick a person, then sneak away. I need it to seem like we're leaving and shadow clones are staying to fight. Naruto can you just pop a bunch to make a smoke screen when I signal you to?"

Naruto nodded, a bunch of clones popping into existence.

"Alright, ready you four? Now!"

Sakura watched as the smoke cloud from the clones popping gave them just enough cover to transform.

"Go," She hissed to the nearest one. "Get going."

So the shadow clones snuck away while the real ones remained in place.

"Send one looking like Kakashi off too," Sakura whispered to Naruto quickly. "As soon as things go down hill, tell your clones to substitute with us in five minutes. If we aren't by then, we'll be fine."

Naruto nodded, and soon a Kakashi was slinking off into the hills.

Sakura smirked, pulling out a few kunai and shuriken. "Sasuke, keep the water clone occupied, I'm going for the main body. Naruto, send support when you can, alright?"

The boys nodded, Sasuke drawing a tanto he was working on learning, and Sakura lunging forward with a water jutsu already on her tongue. "Water Lance!" She spit out several lances, aiming for Zabuza and his wrist in particular. If she could get to Kakashi, she could get him out and the two could continue their battle. Or not, Kakashi looked pretty tired. Looked like they'd have to either try pulling out Naruto's mokuton to win this, or die.

If Kakashi passed out or something, Mokuton was next on the list.

She hurled a couple more water lances, feeling the drain it took from her reserves. She had to be careful to not reach anything anywhere near chakra exhaustion. She was not leaving the boys alone while she recovered. Apparently Kakashi had other ideas.


(A/N) Random interlude for commenter! I couldn't reach it this chapter, so this'll appear again, so count this as a sneak peek for the next chapter.

Sakura eyed Kakashi and his crutches. "Teach us something useful for when Zabuza comes back or I look up how to switch jounin sensei and swap you out for Tenzo-sensei."

"She'll do it," Sasuke offered.

"And succeed," Naruto agreed.

Kakashi eyed them all cautiously. "Fine. Lets go learn something.

(A/N) With that taken care of, I have a poll up, ends next week, please go vote. Have a good existence!