Sculpting Tools

By Daniel Walker

Author's Notes: Momochi Zabuza, Haku, and the Hidden Village of the Mist are not my property.

Chapter 2

"Dangit, I'm late again!" Natose yelled as he ran as fast as his legs would take him towards his team's training area. "Zabuza-sensei's going to kill me!" Given his sensei's reputation, this was only half meant as a figure of speech. Actually, what Zabuza had said was that if Natose showed up late again then he would be sent back to the academy. However, since his family's honor rested upon his success as a ninja, such a fate would be almost as unpleasant as death by zanbatou. As he entered the forest, he took to the treetops so that he could gain a better view of the area. Great, not only am I late, but I'm lost as well. Why do these trees have to all look the same?

"Brat! Over here!" came a booming voice from Natose's left. He stopped and turned. About two hundred feet away there seemed to be a large gap in the foliage. Natose sweatdropped. Do I make that much noise when I travel? Taking in a deep breath, he decided to go and face his fate. He dropped gracefully into the clearing and looked sheepishly up at his sensei. The weird thing was that neither Takeo nor Haku had arrived yet. "So, not only is the brat not late, he's actually early," Zabuza said, his voice a bit less menacing than usual.

"I'm early?" Natose was confused. Didn't Zabuza-sensei tell us to meet at the clearing at 6:30 AM? He checked his watch. It's already...5:45? I could have sworn that was a six.

"Well," Zabuza interrupted his thoughts, "as long as you're here we might as well get some training done. Why don't we start with Mizu Bunshin?"

Natose's eyes went wide. Mizu Bunshin was a jutsu where you created a solid replica of your body out of water. However, the skill was jounin level since the chakra had to be knit in a very complicated pattern so that the clone would remain stable. There was no way a genin like himself would be able to create an adequate clone. "B-but, sensei! I can't do Mizu Bunshin yet! I'm just a genin! Maybe if we started with..." He was cut off as Zabuza leveled a most fearsome gaze at him. He promptly shut up.

"Are you telling me how to teach?" the jounin asked with a surprising amount of calm in his voice that didn't match the fury in his eyes. The young boy shook his head violently. "That's better. Never forget that you are my tool. Does your kunai ever question your choice of target?" Once again, the genin shook his head. "Then do as I say and never question me again. As for Mizu Bunshin, I know full well that you can't do it. You don't even have the chakra level for it. However, you're never too young to work on your chakra control." Zabuza paused his lecture and sighed. "Relax, brat, before you sprain something." Slowly, Natose relaxed his posture. "Now, normally Mizu Bunshin is performed when you're near a body of water such as a lake. When you're an advanced enough jounin, you'll be able to create your own water." Natose's eyes brightened in awe at this. "However, that level is years above you. Even my chakra control is barely sufficient." The boy calmed down again. "Anyway, if you ever need to perform the jutsu in weather like this where all the water is frozen, you'll have to extract the water from the snow. After seeing that little shuriken trick yesterday, I'm sure you'll be able to manage."

A smile came to Natose's face at hearing this. Zabuza-sensei was such an intimidating instructor that it was a very pleasant feeling to hear some sort of respect come from him. "Thank you, sensei."

"Hn. Don't let it go to your head. You've still got a long way to go. Anyway, go ahead and gather your chakra." Natose nodded and closed his eyes. Within a few seconds, his body was surrounded by a blue glow. What amazed Zabuza was that the chakra wasn't waving around like a flame. Instead, it remained calm around his body, almost like a second skin. Very impressive. However, the light show didn't stop. Soon the visible chakra had intensified to the point where actual blue ripples were starting to form at Natose's feet. Absolutely amazing! This kid already has a handle on the basis of jounin-level jutsu. He probably doesn't know it yet, though. "Good. Now hold that for as long as you can." Zabuza walked up behind Natose and placed one hand on his head. "Don't worry. I'm just going to help you concentrate." With his other hand, he made a one-handed seal with his fore and middle fingers extended. "Renzoku Shinen no jutsu." Natose instantly fell asleep, but he remained standing and his chakra was still focused. The Renzoku Shinen was a type of genjutsu that made the victim repeat the same thoughts over and over again until the chakra binding his mind wore off. Zabuza smiled. When he wakes up, he's going to be more tired than he's ever been in his life. But what doesn't kill you...

The real 6:30 rolled around and Takeo and Haku arrived at the training area to find Zabuza and Natose waiting for them. "Good morning, Zabuza-san, Natose-kun," Haku greeted, cheerful as ever. Zabuza nodded to both genin.

"Tomorrow you kids will be going on your first mission as shinobi for this village." Takeo's face changed to an expression of resignation. He's probably expecting a D ranked mission. "Don't worry. It won't be anything boring. As you have probably been told, genin are usually given D ranked missions at the beginning until their skills are honed enough for more 'entertaining' missions. However, there is something you I need to tell you about this team. Strong genin are typically teamed up with weaker students in order to achieve some measure of balance. This is not the case here. You three were chosen to be together because you are the best of your generation. You all made genin at the age of eight. Most kids your age would be just learning how to throw shuriken. Mizukage-sama has placed you under my command in order to train you to become the elite of our village. This means that we will be getting special treatment when it comes to mission assignments. Just don't let me down. This village has high hopes for all of you." But more importantly, I have high hopes for all of you. Zabuza looked around to gauge his students' reactions. Haku still had that innocent smile on his face. Natose's eyes were burning with fire. Even Takeo was getting excited. Let's see how he deals with this. "Now, in order to prepare for tomorrow's mission, I want Takeo to kill Natose."

"What?" both boys screamed.

Zabuza smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile. It was the smile of a sadist. "Years ago, when I became a genin, there was an extra test for academy graduates." The two gulped. They had both heard the stories. "That's right. Kids would fight other kids to the death. Do you know the reason why the test was created?"

Takeo managed to contain his terror enough to speak. "T-they wanted to overcome the fear of death?"

"Good answer, but wrong. That just happens to be a pleasant side effect of the test. No, the real purpose was obedience. If a child will kill his friend at your command, then he will do anything you say. I personally believe that the test was a great idea. However, some weak, idealistic fools thought that it was inhuman. They failed to remember that we are not human. We are shinobi. We are tools. Takeo, you said that you wanted to become a shinobi worthy enough to serve your village." The boy nodded hesitantly. "That is what I am testing you on right now." Zabuza's eyes narrowed. "And you are failing. Kill Natose."

"N-no! This is w-wrong, Zabuza-sensei," Takeo stammered. He looked over at Natose. The boy was absolutely frozen in terror. Takeo turned back to Zabuza. Gathering up all his courage, he glared at the jounin, his yellow eyes flashing with determination. "I will not attack a fellow shinobi of the Mist."

"No? You refuse to obey me? Then you have no place on my team." With that, Zabuza drew his zanbatou and swung it at Takeo. Instinctively, the genin flipped backward, narrowly avoiding being cut in two.

"Zabuza-sensei, stop it!" Natose cried. He threw himself at Zabuza, trying to restrain the older ninja's arm. It did him little good, as Zabuza effortlessly tossed him aside. The genin's head smacked painfully against the trunk of a tree, rending him unconscious.

Zabuza snarled at Takeo. "Kill him, boy, or so help me I will kill the both of you as painfully as I can imagine." He quickly moved his weapon in front of his face, blocking the volley of shuriken that the boy had thrown his way. His face lit up with rage. "Attacking your sensei, you worthless sack of vomit? Treason is definitely not the way of a true shinobi." Zabuza closed the distance between him and his student in the blink of an eye. Lifting him up by his neck, he flung the boy toward Natose. "Now get over there and follow orders!"

Takeo picked himself up slowly. He looked to Haku for help, but Zabuza's pet still had that irritatingly serene smile on his face. Turning his gaze to Zabuza, he looked for some sort of hint as to what was going on. This had to be just another test. There was no way that his teacher would ask him to do something so horrible. However, Zabuza gave no hints whatsoever. Sighing in defeat, Takeo opened his hip pouch and pulled out a kunai. He'll just grab my hand at the last second. At least, I hope he will. He has to. Taking a deep breath, he brought the blade down hard on his teammate. However, there was no Zabuza to stop him. The weapon penetrated flesh with a sickening squishing sound. Takeo froze in gut-wrenching terror as reality hit him. He had just killed someone; a boy his age no less. What have I... His thoughts were interrupted as Natose's body dissolved suddenly into a pool of water. It took a few seconds for Takeo to figure out what had just happened. "What? A mizu bunshin?" He whirled around to face Zabuza, his face full of confusion.

The jounin began to clap, a smile back on his face once again. "Well done, kid. I have to admit that I didn't think you were going to go through with it." He turned his gaze upward to the trees. "You can come down now." There was a rustling of leaves before Natose landed on the ground in front of Takeo. The landing was a bit sloppy, but he was still tired from the chakra "training" that Zabuza had given him.

Takeo stared at Natose dumbly. "Wait, that was a mizu bunshin the entire time?"

Natose turned around and grinned. "Yeah, it was Zabuza-sensei's idea. I had accidentally gotten here early and it gave him an idea. Although, I'm a little hurt that you were really going to kill me." At this, he faked a wounded look. Takeo, overcome with guilt, was about to say something before Natose's grin came back. "I'm just kidding. You were only doing what Zabuza-sensei told you to." He extended his hand and pulled Takeo to his feet.

Zabuza walked over to them and, in a rare display of compassion, placed his hands on the two boys' shoulders. "Natose is correct. That is the lesson that I want you kids to learn today. I am a jounin not only because of my skill. My rank is also due to my extensive experience. I have been in many battles and killed many people. If we are to function as a team, you will have to follow my orders without hesitation. If I tell you to do something that sounds wrong to you, you will just have to take it on faith that I know what I'm doing. Everything I do has a reason behind it. If you can learn that and remember it at all times, then you will have taken another step towards being a worthy ninja."

Takeo bowed his head. "Forgive me, sensei. I will never doubt you again."

"Good boy. I will hold you to that."

Later that night, Takeo sat on his bed, pondering the day's events. Since his chakra levels were down to virtually nothing, Zabuza-sensei had sent Natose home early. They had spent the rest of the training working on honing their combat abilities. Takeo would run off into the forest and use his genjutsu to try and hide from Haku. Both of them had made a lot of progress. Near the end of the day, Haku had been fooled by a very convincing bunshin and Takeo was able to sneak up behind him and place a kunai around his soft neck. That had been the best part of the day, now that he thought about it. It was so satisfying to show the little teacher's pet a thing or two about stealth. The boy had infuriated him earlier. Obviously, he had known the whole time that Takeo was being tested. He had just stood there with that stupid grin on his face, watching Takeo squirm. Takeo silently vowed that he would never show weakness or hesitation in front of Haku, or anyone else, ever again. He would show the butt-kissing runt what it meant to be ninja.