The cold fog wrapped around Tazuna and the five ninjas like a blanket. The water of the ocean and the mountains that laid beyond, hiding, looming out at them in their whitened haze at the last minute of images from some half-forgotten dream. Sakura and Naruto were shivering, but Akira was comfortable with the vaporised water surrounding her. She held her hand out in front of her and watched it become partially obscured, smiling when it came back covered with droplets of clear water.
The man guiding the boat across the ocean brought them beside the bridge Tazuna was building. Through the thick fog, Akira could see the immense and partially completed structure. However, her admiration of the bridge was haltered by Naruto, who, somehow, decided it was a fantastic idea to shout whilst travelling under cover of the mist. Kakashi had the good sense to shut him up.
"Mr Tazuna," Kakashi said quietly. "Before we reach the pier, I want to ask you something; the men who are after you—I need to know why. If you don't tell us, I'm afraid I'll have to end this mission when we drop you ashore."
"Well," Tazuna sighed. "I suppose I have no choice but to tell you. Like you said, this is beyond the scope of your original mission. The one who's after me is a very short man that casts a very long and deadly shadow: Gato."
"Huh, Gato? Of Gato Transport?"
"He's a businessman," Akira stated, a little confused. "Everyone knows him. Why does he want you?"
"He's a successful tycoon from a powerful business, that's true," Tazuna conceded. "But under the surface, he uses the same ruthless methods to take over businesses and nations. He sells drugs and contraband using gangs and ninjas. It was one year ago when Gato first set his sights on the Land of Waves. He came to our island and used his wealth to take total control over our transport and shipping. Anyone who tried to stand in his way just... disappeared. In an island nation, a man that controls the sea controls everything: finance, government, our very lives. But there's one thing he fears... that bridge. When it's complete, it will join us to the land and break his control. And I... am the bridge builder."
"So that's it," Sakura said. "Since you're in charge of building the bridge, you're in this gangster's way."
"That means the ninjas we fought on the way," Akira noted, "they were hired by Gato?"
Tazuna nodded.
"I don't understand," Kakashi-sensei said. "If you knew he was dangerous, knew he would send ninja to eliminate you, why did you hide that from us?"
"Because the Land of Waves is a small, impoverished nation. Even our nobles have little money. The people who are building the bridge can't afford to pay for an A or B-Rank mission," Tazuna said. "If you end the mission when you drop me ashore, there will be no bridge: they'll assassinate me before I reach home. But don't feel bad about that! Of course, my sweet little grandson will be upset and cry—cry his little heart out. And my daughter will condemn the ninjas of the Hidden Leaf village, blaming you for abandoning their father, and living the rest of her life in sorrow."
The five ninjas gave the man an aggravated look. They were annoyed and tired, but they all knew that they couldn't just leave a man to his certain death. So, begrudgingly, and against his better judgement, Kakashi agreed to stay on the mission for Tazuna. Sakura and Akira groaned, tossing their heads back in annoyance.
"This is gonna be a pain," Akira muttered.
"You've been spending too much time with Shikamaru," Naruto commented. "Next thing you know, fifty years will pass, and you'll be a lonely old man playing shōgi."
"Ugh, why does that sound like a possible outcome of my future?"
The Land of Waves was a quaint village on the water. Rustic cabins were laid out together, a few feet above the water rushing underneath. Boats were calmly sailing around houses and children running around, jumping from their decks and into the cool water. Akira smiled, and Sasuke frowned at her.
"Why're you so happy all of a sudden?" he asked.
"I don't know," she said honestly. "I just like the water."
"You like water that much?" Sakura asked. "Isn't that weird for, you know, a fire-affinity clan?"
Akira shrugged. If there was one thing missing about Konoha, it would be larger bodies of water. There were lakes, sure, but Akira felt weightless surrounded by the ocean and the mist. She hoped, for a few moments, as she stared up at the clear blue sky, that a storm would hit. Akira could lose herself in a storm by the ocean.
Everyone thanked the boat guide as they stepped onto the pier, and he wished them luck on their mission. They walked on along the wooden dock for a long while, gulls cawing up above and swooping down to cool off in the water. Akira couldn't help but stare at them, her mind blank and peaceful, and it stayed that way until they left the pier and entered a small forest. Only moments after they'd reached the forest, everyone was on edge. There was a strange feeling looming around, and even Naruto could sense it, so he threw a kunai into the bushes.
"Hm, it was just a mouse," he said, looking into the foliage.
"Naruto!" Sakura shouted. "Those kunai are dangerous! What if there was a kid in there, huh?"
"Stop trying to scare me, you little twerp!" Tazuna yelled.
"Hey, is someone hiding over there?" Naruto said, ignoring everyone.
Akira's eyes shifted from Naruto a spot in the bushes nearby. She couldn't see anything, but there was a strange feeling in her gut that something was amiss.
"No, they're over there!"
Suddenly, Naruto threw a kunai in the direction Akira was looking. Even Kakashi didn't tell him off, which was odd.
"That's it, Naruto!" Sakura shouted, smacking him over the head.
"What was that for!? Someone really is following us, I mean it!"
When Kakashi walked over to look through the bushes, all he found was a terrified white rabbit.
"Naruto, look what you did!" Sakura shouted, walking up behind Akira and Kakashi. "You scared a rabbit half to death!"
"A bunny?"
Akira rolled her eyes and returned to the road, casting one last glance at the rabbit as it scurried off. She frowned, glancing around, the uneasy feeling still bubbling inside her stomach. Naruto was making a fuss again, and while Sakura was dealing with him, Akira went over to Kakashi. The look of concern on her face didn't reassure him.
"You all right?" he asked.
"Yeah, I just... I have a weird feeling about this place," Akira said, glancing around. "It's not anything particular, it's just—it feels wrong, somehow."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes.
"Try something for me," he said in a whisper. "Pretend to fix your sandal, and touch the ground with your hand—concentrate on your chakra, and all the other chakra you can feel."
While Tazuna and Naruto were still arguing about the rabbit, Akira crouched down and tugged at her sandal for a moment before carefully sliding her fingers onto the warm soil. With the uneasy feeling in her stomach, Akira took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to focus on her own chakra, and before she knew it, all she could hear was the sound of her own chakra flickering like flames. A nearby flickering, similar to her own, reached her ears after a few more moments, and the longer she spent concentrating on all the chakra around her, the easier it became to distinguish her teammates. But, to her left, there was something she didn't recognise at all, and the unsettling feeling in her stomach grew the longer she focused on it.
When Akira's eyes opened again, she was still crouching on the ground. Naruto, Tazuna, Sakura and Sasuke hadn't gone that much further, almost as if time had slowed itself. Akira was momentarily disoriented, and she focused on bringing down the nausea before standing up.
"There's something on our left," she whispered.
Just as Akira had spoken, Kakashi yelled for everyone to get down. A giant broadsword came flying at them, narrowly missing Naruto's head, and embedded itself in a nearby tree. Moments later, a very tall and noticeably muscular man dropped down from the tree. His glare made Naruto and Sakura shrink back, and the crossed-out Hidden Mist symbol on his bandana unsettled Akira.
"Well, well," Kakashi said airily. "If it isn't Zabuza Momochi."
Akira took a deep breath to calm herself. Zabuza Momochi was famous, hailed as the Demon of the Hidden Mist, and it was said that he could literally smell fear. Akira wasn't sure how accurate those claims were, but she made damn sure not to give away any fear in his presence regardless.
"Get back," Kakashi said, pushing his team and Tazuna back.
"But why?" Naruto whined. "We can take him!"
"He's not like those other ninjas, Naruto. This guy's in a whole other league of his own. And if he's going to be our opponent, I might need this." Kakashi's hand went up to his bandana, preparing himself to uncover the eye he always kept hidden. "This could be treacherous."
"Kakashi of the Sharingan eye," Zabuza said lowly, his voice almost like a growl.
Sasuke turned to Kakashi immediately, wide-eyed. Zabuza couldn't be lying. So, how was it that someone outside the clan had a Sharingan? Akira however, looked to Kakashi as if trying really hard to remember something.
Kakashi and Zabuza stared at each other for a long while, and Akira tried to keep her mind focused on the enemy ahead. Each moment seemed to grow tenser and tenser, but no one dared to move—if any of them did, Akira was sure Zabuza would attack without mercy. And if Zabuza moved, it was inevitable that Kakashi would attack as well.
"Now—Manji formation!" Kakashi shouted. "Protect the bridge builder, and stay out of this fight!"
Sasuke, Akira, Sakura and Naruto all got into position around the bridge builder and looked to their sensei with concern. Not only was this mission beyond their scope, but it was growing increasingly in danger the more time they spent trying to accomplish it. But a small glimmer of hope rose inside Akira as Kakashi rose his banana to reveal his left eye. A large scar ran across it, but right where one would expect to find a matching grey eye, a fully-developed Sharingan gleamed in its place.
"Well, well—guess I get to see the Sharingan in action," Zabuza said. "This is an honour."
"Sharingan, Sharingan," Naruto whined. "Everyone keeps saying it, but what the hell is a Sharingan!?"
"It's a rare power," Sasuke said, his voice strained. Akira looked worriedly at him. "It resides in the eyes. The user of this jutsu can instantly see and comprehend any genjutsu, taijutsu or ninjutsu, and reflect the attack back on the attacker. The Sharingan is a rare, special form of jutsu—a dōjutsu. However, there's more to the Sharingan than that... a lot more."
Sasuke glanced at his sister, who looked away from her brother and back at Zabuza out of nervousness.
"You got it right, boy," Zabuza said. "But you only scratched the surface. The Sharingan can analyse the opponent's technique and then... copy it to the smallest detail."
Slowly, a mist began forming around Zabuza and Squad Seven. Akira unsheathed her knives and flicked them open, then backed up closer to Tazuna and her teammates. This mist wasn't typical. It was thick, almost physically heavy, and laden with chakra that Akira had no hope to see through.
"As for you, Jōnin, in the assassination unit of the Hidden Mist, we had a standing order to destroy you on sight," Zabuza said, slowly disappearing into the mist. "Your profile was in our bingo book. It called you the man who had copied a thousand jutsu: Kakashi the Copy Ninja."
"Now, enough talking. I need to exterminate the old man."
"You're the one who was talking the most," Akira muttered under her breath. "Drama queen."
Akira pointed her left sword to the side, ready to swipe, and the other towards the sky, ready to slash down on an incoming Zabuza. Kakashi took a few steps back, stopping a few feet from the Genin as the last barrier between Zabuza and the bridge builder.
Out from the mist, Akira saw Zabuza snatch his broadsword and vanish once again. She tightened her grip on her swords, eyes darting around for any sign of movement. A swirl of mist began to form over a small lake to her left, and Zabuza emerged from it, brandishing his sword. If she wasn't under the threat of immediate execution, Akira would have admired the man's jutsu. Despite his brutishness, the water flowed smoothly, and his hand seals were impeccably timed.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"
Suddenly, Zabuza disappeared into the thick mist once again. Akira focused on the mist again, watching Kakashi edge closer to the water out of the corner of her eye. Sakura protested, urging Kakashi to be more careful, but he didn't listen. He cautiously moved forward until the mist grew thicker, and just like that, Kakashi had vanished as well.