EPISODE NINE: A Battle in the Mists!
Daybreak had not brought any warmth to the area of Kokawa, nor even really much light. Thick mists had risen from the river and blanketed the land, making the morning seem even colder than it actually was. Still, Naruto sweated as he attacked a thick stump with fists, feet, and weapons. His jacket and undershirt had already been discarded and were hanging from a nearby branch, yet his nearly continuous assault on the stump had already covered him in a sheen of moisture.
Of course, Naruto barely noticed the sweat now, focused as he was on the stump, on his katas. He moved through the forms rapidly, though he was being sloppy and inefficient. However, he welcomed each error as something to keep his mind occupied and dedicated to his task. Tinkering with his stances took up too much mental energy for him to think about where he had been less than an hour before, how he had felt.
Having shared a bed for several days, Naruto hadn't really been surprised to wake up next to Sasuke, but the exact nature of their position had been a bit of a shock. They'd been too stupid and exhausted to pull the blankets up over themselves before falling asleep, and in the cold night they'd sought out the only available source of warmth—each other. And so Naruto had awakened cheek to cheek with his teammate, arms and legs entwined.
Embarrassing as that was, it was even worse for Naruto to feel his morning erection throb each time Sasuke's hot breath washed over his ear. It had been well over a year since Naruto had been that entangled with someone else, but his body apparently still remembered where it could lead. And matters had grown even more complicated when Sasuke shifted against him and the stiff lump in the paler boy's groin had pressed against Naruto's side.
Fortunately, Sasuke had rolled away a few moments later and Naruto had been able to make an escape without waking him. But even though Sasuke would never know how intimately they'd embraced that night, Naruto was having a hard time forgetting—and so was his cock.
His muscles screaming from overwork, Naruto stopped whaling away on the stump and took a breather. To his considerable relief, the erection had finally subsided. Not taking any chances that it might return, Naruto closed his eyes and sat down with his back against the stump, concentrating on mentally cataloging the errors he'd made in his katas so that he could ask Kakashi to help him with them.
"It seems I only run into you when you're asleep," a warm voice said, and Naruto opened his eyes to see Haku standing in front of him holding a covered wicker basket.
"Oh, I wasn't asleep," Naruto said, "I was just... um... meditating." He jumped to his feet, realizing as he did so that his erection had returned. Hoping to keep Haku's attention away from his crotch and its embarrassing condition, Naruto asked, "Whatcha doin'?"
"Just getting some things from town," Haku said, adjusting his yukata.
"Geez, you gotta be cold in that thing," Naruto said, eyeing the flimsy fabric and trying not to think about the lithe body beneath it. "Here, lemme lend you my coat."
Before the other boy could protest, Naruto had fetched his favorite orange jacket from its tree branch and was helping Haku into it. Because the older boy was so slender, it fit fine in the shoulders, though the sleeves were far too short.
"Well, it's not a good fit, but it should do," Naruto said.
"Won't you be cold?" Haku asked.
"Nah," Naruto replied. "Besides, I'm a ninja! I should get used to being cold! I might have a cold mission someday!"
Haku smiled, "You certainly are dedicated."
"That's 'cause it's my dream to be the Hokage! The best ninja in my village! Then, everyone will acknowledge me!"
"Well, Mr. Future Hokage, would you be so kind as to carry my basket for me?"
"Sure!" Naruto agreed, fervently telling his penis to soften up. It did not obey. He took the basket and started walking next to Haku along a path away from the village.
"So how much longer will you be staying here, Naruto-kun?" Haku asked.
"We leave tomorrow," Naruto said, "and we're going straight to Wave Country, then back to Konoha."
A strange expression passed over Haku's face at the mention of Wave Country, but it was quickly replaced with a wistful smile. "That's too bad," the long-haired boy said, "I might not get to see you again."
"Oh, don't worry!" Naruto said, "I'll come back here someday."
"I'm sure you will," Haku said, smiling.
The pair walked along in companionable silence for a while, but eventually Haku drew to a halt. "I live just a little further this way," he said, "but my... my father hates visitors, so we'll have to say goodbye here." He slid out of Naruto's jacket and pulled it onto the blonde, but did not zip it up. "Thank you for all your help," he said quietly, his hands still resting on the jacket's thick collar. Then he bent down and kissed Naruto gently on the lips.
Naruto's heart was thumping so loud he was sure Haku could hear it as the older boy's hands left the jacket collar and started tracing their way down the blonde's chest. Feeling something press at his lips, Naruto parted them without really thinking about it, and suddenly Haku's tongue entered, coiling over the contours of his mouth.
Naruto's erection became almost painful in its intensity.
Haku pulled away momentarily and Naruto whimpered, but the taller boy began to kiss his way down Naruto's body. First his chin, his cheek, his neck, and then down his exposed torso, along the line of his developing pecs, to his soft stomach, his belly button, and then the thin strip of skin just above the waistline of his pants.
Naruto whimpered again, and his hips involuntarily jerked forward. Haku kissed him one more time, then raised up and put his lips next to Naruto's ear. "Next time you see my face," he whispered, "I'll kiss all of you." Then he stood, trailing one hand across Naruto's crotch. The delicate fingers traced the outline of the blonde's rigid cock through the thick pants, then encircled it and very lightly squeezed.
Naruto came with a quiet wail, collapsing against the taller boy as the near-constant arousal of the morning came to its inevitable conclusion. He clung desperately to Haku's slender body as his cock pumped semen into his undershorts. The older boy soothingly stroked the blonde's back as the aftershocks of the orgasm faded. He waited until Naruto could stand steadily again, then leaned forward and kissed him on the lips one last time. "Remember," he whispered, "next time." And then he was gone.
Naruto leaned heavily against a tree, suddenly certain of three things. First, he would definitely be coming back here someday. Second, he definitely had to talk with Iruka-sensei about all this.
Third, he definitely needed to change his underwear.
A thud and the unmistakable scent of preservatives informed Shikamaru that Chouji had arrived. Saying hello seemed too troublesome, though, so he just continued to stare up at the clouds drifting by overhead. Chouji, as always, took no offense, and sat next to him in companionable silence for several moments before opening a new bag of chips.
"You did real good today," Chouji said as he crunched through his second mouthful. "I didn't think we'd ever get that kid down."
"It wasn't that hard," Shikamaru demurred, but in truth he'd been stumped at first, too. The four-year old kid had been hoping to impress his father (an ANBU soldier currently away on a mission) by learning to climb up a tall bamboo tree. With such a slight weight, the tree hadn't even bent, but once up at the top, the boy had realized the ground was too far away and he'd frozen. Even worse, when the mother tried to fetch him herself, the tree had cracked, meaning that none of them could risk climbing up after him.
Of course, after a few minutes, Shikamaru had seized on the obvious solution. Using his shadow jutsu, he'd frozen the boy in place until Ino could take over his mind. She'd made the boy jump off the tree onto Chouji's multi-sized belly, and the kid had bounced from there safely into Asuma's arms. All told, it had taken five minutes to get the kid down to his relieved mother and earn their D-class pay.
"I wouldn't have come up with that idea, though," Chouji said. "We're lucky to have you on our team."
Shikamaru smiled slightly and stretched. "It wouldn't have worked without you, though," he countered, "Without your multi-size ability the drop would have been too far."
"And Ino too, huh?"
Shikamaru snorted, but conceded, "Yeah, Ino too."
"I guess it's best that the swap didn't go through, then," Chouji said. "Though it would have been kinda fun to have Naruto on the team."
"Probably," Shikamaru replied. He still felt somewhat torn over the incident. On the one hand, his own team had functioned much better since the swap fell through; the entire drama had made Ino realize how much trouble her attitude had been causing. She had subsequently mellowed, though she could get pretty sharp-tongued towards the end of the day.
On the other hand, Naruto's team had taken a turn for the worse, if that was possible. The blonde himself hadn't reported much trouble, but on the occasions that Shikamaru had been able to observe Team Seven, he could tell that there was a great divide there. Sakura and Sasuke were obviously close, and seemed to be trying to put up some unified front against Naruto. If the going got rough, Shikamaru thought, they wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice Naruto to save their own skins. Though Ino's nagging was a bother, with her at least the bad feelings were always out in the open. On Team Seven, the negative emotions were hidden, festering quietly until they could destroy its members.
"He's sure been gone a long time," Chouji noted, almost as if he shared Shikamaru's worries. "You don't think anything's happened to him?"
"If his team had been killed, there would have been an alert by now," Shikamaru said, trying to reassure himself as much as Chouji, "and there's no reason for anyone to take him as a hostage." Yet even as he said that, he remembered Naruto's grinning face, the golden sunlight glowing on his tan thighs, and the unexpected softness of his heated skin as they'd touched on that day. Suddenly, Shikamaru could imagine a number of reasons to take Naruto hostage.
Not that he wanted that for himself, of course not. But if someone did want that sort of thing, well then Naruto might be exactly what they wanted. Them.
"Yeah, you're right," Chouji said, crumpling up his empty bag of chips and tossing it into a nearby litter bin. "Besides, if anyone kidnapped him he'd probably annoy them so much they'd pay us to take him back." Shikamaru smiled again, tilting his head to see a full grin on Chouji's plump face. "I can hear it now," the plump boy continued, "'You better let me go right now, bastards, or else I'm gonna come back and kick your asses when I become Hokage!'"
Alone, the words weren't that funny, but paired with Chouji's hideous rendition of Naruto's voice, they were absolutely hilarious. For a moment, the boys just stared at each other, and then burst out laughing. Shikamaru's worries evaporated—of course Naruto would be fine. He was absolutely indestructible.
And for the thousandth time, Shikamaru wondered how Chouji always knew exactly the right thing to say.
The scraggly bushes and shallow ditch provided scant cover, but in the drifting mists Zabuza-sama had summoned, the Leaf ninjas and their small company passed less than a yard away without seeing the ambush. Any sound of breathing the small party of former Mist-nins might have made was drowned out by the murmur of the river on the opposite side of the road. Haku therefore focused on keeping his chakra suppressed as the group's jounin walked by. Zabuza-sama's eyes widened in apparent recognition, but Haku couldn't remember reading anything about a white-haired Leaf-nin with an eyepatch back when he was in Hidden-in-the-Mists. It seemed a one-eyed ninja wouldn't be very threatening, though. Then again, ninjas knew better than to expect anything from appearances other than deception.
Plodding footsteps indicated the passing of the old man and boy... Haku had thought they looked familiar when he'd spied on them in the village, but hadn't been able to positively place them. Lighter steps coming by at the same time undoubtedly belonged to the girl—a non-factor, by Haku's estimation—and the target of the operation, the Uchiha.
Then a strong chakra passed, inducing the skin-crawling sensation Haku always got in the presence of Cloud Ninjas. This was the visitor, and the biggest question mark in the operation. If he had the same attitude as most of his countrymen, he'd at least stand by as the Leaf Ninjas were killed, and maybe even join in. But if he chose the opposite route, then the ambush would have two jounin to deal with, rather than just one.
Finally, a loud thumping from the path indicated that Naruto was coming. Haku glanced at Zabuza-sama, who nodded sharply. Haku nodded in reply, then slid the comforting mask over his face. Moving as quickly as he could, he leaped out of the ditch and over the bushes, delivering a sharp punch to a pressure point on Naruto's skull. The blonde dropped like a rock, completely unconscious.
Zabuza-sama and the Demon Brothers silently emerged from the mist. The ex-jounin signaled for a brief conference, then leaned forward. "We must change our plans," he explained, "I will take the Jounin. You two take care of the girl and incapacitate the Cloud Nin. Kill the girl if you have to, but not the Cloud Nin. Haku, you have the honor of killing the Uchiha for me."
Haku could barely contain the exclamation of joy that threatened to burst from his lungs at this command. To be honored by Zabuza-sama in this way was more than he had ever hoped. Desperately happy, Haku reached out and squeezed his mentor's hand, knowing that no greater display of emotion was acceptable, under the circumstances.
"What about this one?" one of the Demon Brothers asked, "He's still alive."
"He'll be a pet for Haku," Zabuza-sama said, "we'll worry about him later."
"And if he wakes during the attack?"
"Then kill him. Unlike the girl, he's actually got enough skill to put the other Leaf ninjas on our trail. We have to protect ourselves." Zabuza-sama looked carefully at Haku as he said this, and the boy understood what was meant.
"Of course," Haku said. It would be a pity if he couldn't keep Naruto, but if it came down to a choice between the blonde or Zabuza-sama's safety, then the answer was obvious.
"Then go," Zabuza-sama said, picking up Naruto with one arm and hefting his sword with the other. "I think we might make a little extra use of this one," he murmured, and drew his arm back as the Demon Brothers melted into the haze. He stared ahead for a minute, his eyes straining to pierce the fog despite the enhancements all Mist ninjas knew. Then, with a grunt, he heaved the boy through the air. "A little chaos will help our cause," he explained to Haku.
As the first exclamations of terror came from the group ahead, Zabuza-sama whispered, "Haku, if I die facing that jounin, do not worry about completing my revenge. Flee. Make your way to Hidden Rain or Hidden Waterfall. That man is too much for you."
"Yes," Haku lied as his mentor vanished into the fog. As if I could run away from your killer, he thought, charging forward towards his target, as if I could do anything but avenge you, or die trying.
Then he was upon the Uchiha, and he had no time to think of anything other than combat.
Sasuke's kunai was in his hand before he'd even identified the orange object that flew past him and thudded heavily into the ground. The moment he recognized the shape of the body and its blonde hair, he grabbed hold of Inari and shoved him into the underbrush around a nearby stand of trees. Sakura, having realized that the limp form belonged to her teammate, stupidly chose to scream. Deciding she wouldn't be any help, Sasuke grabbed the old man and shoved him into the bushes, too.
Kakashi and Kazuki were already alert, weapons out and at the ready. Sasuke scanned the narrow area of the road, his view stymied for the most part by the thick fog that had followed them all morning. Sharply signaling for Sakura to be silent, Kakashi began inching over towards the spot where Naruto had fallen. The girl clamped her hands over her mouth, apparently realizing how clearly she'd revealed their position.
Between the sudden quiet and his near-blindness, Sasuke felt his hearing sharpen. Sounds that just moments ago had been subliminal were now in the forefront—the ragged breathing of the clients, the creaking of tree branches, the crunch of dirt beneath Kakashi's sandals. A faint rushing noise came from the river, and there was a strange whirring sound getting louder...
Before he quite reached Naruto, Kakashi did a sudden backflip, and a huge object flashed through the spot where he'd been just an instant before. Trailing the whirring sound behind it, the object twisted up in its trajectory and crashed into a tree. Once it stopped, Sasuke had only a moment to realize that it was a sword before his attention was drawn to the man who had materialized standing on the flat of the blade.
"Sharingan Kakashi," the man stated calmly. "It seems I must kill you."
"Momochi Zabuza," Kakashi replied, "formerly of Hidden Mist. This might be a little tough, but..." He reached up to the protector he kept draped over his eye and lifted it up to reveal a scarred eyelid. Then the seemingly ruined lid opened to reveal a fully mastered Sharingan eye. "you're still going to die."
Whatever Zabuza said in reply to this, Sasuke never heard it. Something flickered at the edge of his field of vision and he instinctively ducked into a roll, coming to his feet just as a trio of needles buried themselves in a tree right behind the spot where he had been standing.
"You're fast," a voice said, one that sounded vaguely familiar, but muffled. Before Sasuke had a chance to figure out where it had come from, someone wearing a Hidden Mist hunter-nin mask appeared in front of him. "But you're not as fast as me," the masked figure concluded.
"Heh," Sasuke growled, "We'll see about that. No matter what, you're not going to get the old man and the kid."
"I don't give a damn about your clients," the masked ninja said. "It's you I've come to kill, Uchiha."
For just a moment, Sasuke lost focus as the surprise of this revelation washed over him. He barely recovered in time to block the needle that his opponent stabbed at him. As his kunai ground against the senbon, Sasuke reached into his pouch for a second weapon. Simultaneously, his attacker began forming a series of seals with his own free hand.
The thick mist suddenly cleared to reveal a huge array of ice needles hovering in the air. "Now die," the masked one said, and the spikes shot towards Sasuke.
But the training with Naruto had sharpened Sasuke's control immensely. Almost without thinking about it, he forced his chakra into his legs and used it to enhance his strength and speed. At the last possible moment, he leaped upwards, using the shattering explosion as the needles clashed as cover. Grabbing a set of shuriken instead of a kunai, he flung them at the masked mist nin, who was hard-pressed to dodge them. Grabbing a branch from a nearby tree, Sasuke used it as leverage to jump to a tree behind his enemy. Sticking his feet to the new branch, he hung upside down and stabbed at his foe, finally drawing the desired kunai from his pouch.
The masked ninja avoided the attack at the last moment, blocking Sasuke's forearm with his elbow. Adjusting his intent, Sasuke threw the kunai rather than stabbing with it. The attacker was forced to step back in order to dodge, and Sasuke used the opportunity to launch himself off the branch and kick his enemy in the chest.
The masked ninja flew backwards and flopped over awkwardly. "It seems you might even be faster than me," the ninja admitted as he jumped to his feet. "But it won't save you." Glowing with chakra, he formed a single seal, and suddenly Sasuke was surrounded by a dome of rectangular panels of ice, their glassy surfaces forming a set of perfect mirrors.
Before Sasuke could move, he saw an image of the attacker appear in each of the mirrors, holding three senbon. "Now," the false hunter-nin said, "I'll show you my real speed."
Seeing the strange ice mirrors form around Sasuke, Sakura's first impulse was to rush to his aid. She found her way blocked, however, by two menacing ninjas equipped with giant metal claws.
"Where are you going, pretty thing?" one of them asked, his voice distorted by the scuba mask covering his mouth.
"Stay and play with us a while, little girl," the other urged, leering at her, "we promise not to hurt you..."
"Don't you two think you're a bit old to be making advances on a twelve-year-old girl?" Kazuki interjected, and suddenly the albino was standing between Sakura and the two Mist nins, his naked sword resting lightly on one shoulder.
"You should stay out of this," one of the attackers warned. "We only care about the Leaf ninjas. If you keep quiet, and stay out of the way, you won't get hurt."
"Oh, that's quite impossible," Kazuki replied. "Leaving a young girl to face full-grown men would be most ungentlemanly of me, and I would feel awful about leaving one of my kind hosts in danger. No, I think we shall have to fight." Sakura would have protested against being called a 'young girl', but at the moment she could feel nothing but relief that she would not have to fight such terrifying opponents alone.
"Then we shall bury you in a shallow grave."
"You think so?" Kazuki asked, twirling his sword in his hand and sinking into a ready stance. "This is Ka-Kiba," he said, brandishing the narrow, straight blade, "it shall bring death to you both, and I will leave your corpses to rot in the sunlight, and be picked over by carrion beasts."
The demonic-looking twins only laughed, a guttural, evil sound, and then charged, their claws at the ready. Sakura saw immediately that a razor-edged chain stretched between them, and they raised it so as to ensnare and mutilate the albino.
Kazuki released a disdainful snort and jumped into the air, stabbing Ka-Kiba through one of the links in the chain, pressing it into the ground. Keeping one hand on the sword's pommel, Kazuki twisted around in the air, landing a kick on each demon brother's head, causing them to stagger apart and disengage from their chain. As part of the same motion he brought his feet together and curled up, then kicked out, using the weight of his legs to pull the sword free of the ground and his body into the air. After a brief spiral through the fog, he landed several paces behind the stunned Mist ninjas.
Kazuki lunged forward, Ka-Kiba leading the way. One of his opponents managed to get up a claw in defense, but Kazuki merely spun around him, running him through just under the arm. Using the dying ninja as a fulcrum, Kazuki kicked the other in the head with both feet. As the Mist ninja reeled back, Kazuki landed, drew his blade from the body in which it had been sheathed, and thrust it up through the other's chin and into his brain.
The whole skirmish had taken less than six seconds. Seeing the dead men lying on the ground, one of them still twitching as his nervous system went haywire, Sakura felt woozy and somewhat nauseous. Both of the deceased were still staring emptily at her.
"Not much of a challenge after all," Kazuki muttered, withdrawing his sword from the dead ninja's head. "I suppose they're worth a taste nonetheless," he continued, and then drew his tongue along the red blade, blood sliding off the metal and into his mouth. Then, with a shudder of pleasure, he swallowed, just as Sasuke screamed from within the mirror prison.
Sakura fainted.
Inari's heart palpitated as he heard Sasuke scream again, and a ball of ice seemed to grow in his stomach. It was happening again, just like he'd known it would. Despite his best efforts, he'd started to kind of like the kids who were looking after him, and now they were going to be killed—just like his mother had been. Killed by ninjas.
Another scream, and Inari cried out in sympathy. Only a minute before, Sasuke had been strong and alive. Inari could still hear his promise to defend them at all costs ringing in his ears. But the stronger ninja had created some kind of trap, and now Sasuke was dying.
Sure, he hadn't been the nicest of them—he hadn't tried to play games with Inari, like Sakura had, or been funny like Naruto. But of the three young ones, Sasuke had been best at making Inari feel safe, like anything that happened could be handled. He was like Kakashi in that respect; he radiated cool competence. And yet, he was helpless now, helpless and dying.
Yet another scream echoed along the road, and Inari tried to cover his ears to shut them out. He lowered his head to the ground, tears beginning to pour down his cheeks. Yet as he did so, he caught sight of something gleaming—the kunai Sasuke had thrown at the enemy ninja earlier. He almost turned away from it, not wanting to be reminded of the dark-haired ninja. But then he remembered a conversation he'd had with the old ninja, Kakashi.
"Your grandfather told me why you frown," the white-haired ninja said, sitting down next to Inari, "and I understand why you don't like Naruto very much."
"That's right," Inari said, "he can't understand because he's never lost someone precious to him."
"Indeed," Kakashi said, "He's never had anyone precious at all."
"What?"
"Naruto never had any parents. And because of something beyond his control, almost everyone in our village hates him. He's never had anyone that loves him, so of course he can't understand your kind of pain. And yet... he never lets any of it stop him, stop his dream. You can learn something from him."
"What can I learn from that moron?"
"That there are two ways to respond when bad things happen. You can give up, like you have, or you can do whatever you can to overcome those bad things. That's what Naruto does. That's what your grandfather is doing. And you could do it too, if you tried."
I can't fight that ninja, Inari thought, but I can at least give Sasuke his weapon back, so he has a chance. Almost before the thought was complete, he was moving, stumbling through the bush to grab the knife. His fingers closed around the cold steel, and somewhat unsteadily he clambered to his feet and tossed it towards the strange ice mirrors that were hanging in midair.
To Inari's horror, a hand reached out of one of the mirrors to grab the knife, and it was followed in its emergence by an arm, a torso, and then the head, protected by that ominous mask. "Don't interfere, boy," the masked ninja said, still hanging half out of the mirror, "or else I might have to come out and deal with you."
Inari felt transfixed by the empty stare of the featureless mask, unable to move except for the shaking of fear. If he hadn't gone just an hour earlier, he probably would have wet himself. Yet, before the evil ninja could do anything more, an orange blur slammed into him and knocked him out of the mirror entirely.
"Fight someone yer own size, jerk," Naruto shouted as he stood over the woozy ninja, "leave Inari alone!"
Despite his confident assertions, Kakashi had to admit that he had been off balance from the beginning of the fight. The obvious attack on Naruto, though unfortunate, had been easy to recover from. If Sakura hadn't screamed and thus pinpointed their position, it wouldn't have had any effect at all. But Kakashi was aware now that he'd misjudged the aim of Zabuza's attack. He'd let himself get fooled into accepting the obvious explanation, and adopted a bad strategy as a result.
Things seemed to have gone well at first. Recognizing the mist as a distraction and a means of allowing Zabuza to employ some of his best jutsus, Kakashi had burned out the air in his immediate area with a fire jutsu. The four mist replicas that had been closing in on him had suffered destruction as a result, and additionally, Kakashi had caught sight of the real Zabuza.
That was the point at which Kakashi had made his fatal error. Thinking that Zabuza's target was the old man and boy, Kakashi had taken to the river, hoping to use it as a screen for his movements as he worked upstream to the clients. The moment he'd come up, though, he'd realized something was wrong—the water felt unusually heavy, and his motions were sluggish. Then the river had seemed to wrap itself in a sphere around him, and Zabuza had appeared at his side.
"This water prison should hold you," the former Mist-nin had said, "long enough for my apprentice to kill that Uchiha brat. Then we can finish the rest of you off at our leisure."
Simply put, it was a disaster. From his prison, Kakashi could see a strange set of hovering mirrors and hear Sasuke screaming from within. There was no sign of Sakura or Naruto, and Kazuki was similarly invisible, not that Kakashi had ever counted on him to be of any help. With Sasuke apparently outclassed, and himself caught, things looked pretty hopeless.
And yet, for some reason Kakashi couldn't understand, the fake hunter-nin that was apparently Zabuza's apprentice had emerged from the ice mirrors, and Naruto, somehow revived, had gotten in a good hit. There was a chance, then, that his subordinates could escape, though Kakashi held out little hope for himself.
But now even that hope was dashed. Burning an extravagant amount of chakra, Zabuza created another mist replica using a single-handed seal and sent it towards Naruto, who was still standing over the fake hunter-nin.
Though he didn't quite know the limits of the water prison, Kakashi decided to gamble that it could not be used to kill him directly. Though quiet speech was his habit, he shouted, "Naruto! A replica is coming to attack you!"
The blonde turned, his eyes widening as he saw Kakashi's situation. He almost didn't dodge the cleaver-chop of the replica's sword, instead rolling awkwardly off to the side. Fear showed in his face as the power of their opponents became clear to him, and for a moment, Kakashi despaired. He's going to run, he thought.
"Go ahead, kid," the replica taunted, as if reading Kakashi's thoughts, "Run away. You're not my target, after all... the only one of you who really has to die is the Uchiha. I might have to kill your teacher—after all, I can't have him following me—but you can go. Run away and live."
Kakashi cocked his head to one side, puzzled. Towards the end, the replica's tone had turned almost pleading, as if Zabuza really didn't want to kill Naruto. If the missing-nin had intended to convince the blonde, though, he thoroughly failed. Instead, Naruto jumped to his feet again, shouting, "Never! Sasuke may be a jerk, but if you try to hurt him or my other friends, then I'll kill you!". Then his hands crossed in the main seal as he added, "Shadow Replica Jutsu!"
Kakashi let out a low whistle. Though he respected Naruto's potential, he hadn't really believed Iruka when he said the blonde had created a thousand shadow replicas. Ten or twenty, Kakashi had always believed, would be the kid's limit.
And yet here Naruto had just gone and created 100.
Kazuki's eyes widened as he watched the roadway fill with copies of Naruto. Though he didn't use the shadow replication technique himself, he'd been briefed on it by an expert, and knew that creating more than ten replicas and holding them for any significant length of time was quite difficult. For a genin to produce dozens of the replicas and hold them for even a moment was beyond impressive—not just in terms of stamina, either. And Naruto wasn't even using his special gift.
Too bad his chakra reserves aren't a bloodline skill, Kazuki thought, readying his sword. Naruto's replicas were charging Zabuza's mist clone, but Kazuki doubted they'd be able to kill it. If Naruto had limited the number he'd produced, they would have been able to attack in concert, and possibly destroy the false Zabuza. With 100, however, there was no chance of coordinating attack. That meant Kazuki would have to step in. Of course, he could choose to sit the battle out at this point—surely nobody in Hidden Cloud would blame him for doing so. But Kazuki had plans that nobody in Hidden Cloud knew about, and antagonizing Hidden Leaf right now would not serve those designs. Indeed, if he saved these Leaf ninjas today—particularly Sasuke—the good deed might pay fantastic dividends down the line.
A loud crashing sound from the road brought Kazuki's thoughts back to the matter at hand. As he'd predicted, Zabuza's replica had easily repelled the Narutos that had dogpiled on him. The shadow clones were tumbling through the air, bursting into puffs of smoke as they hit branches, the ground, or the water. One of them crashed through the brush and landed beside Kazuki, but to his surprise this one did not vanish—it was the actual Naruto.
"Hey Nomuchi-san," the real blonde said. "Looks like I couldn't take him."
"You should have used fewer," Kazuki said. "Don't worry, I'll fight him off."
Naruto briefly dug in his satchel, retrieving a sheaf of shuriken. "Here," he said, "use these against the real Zabuza."
Raising an eyebrow, Kazuki accepted the weapons, and started to tuck them into his shirt. He froze, however, when he felt his fingers tingling... a talent he'd picked up from a young boy in Hidden Rain allowed him to sense chakra in items, and these were fairly bristling with it. As the realization dawned on him, Kazuki smiled and said "You never meant to destroy the clone at all, did you?"
Naruto only grinned and leaned back against a tree, brow furrowed in concentration. Kazuki nodded, finished tucking away the shuriken, and jumped into the road just as Zabuza's replica started to hunt around for Naruto.
"Try fighting me instead," Kazuki instructed, bringing his sword into a ready position.
"Taking me on with a toothpick?" the clone said, "I'm insulted."
"It's not a toothpick," Kazuki replied, smiling, "It's a fang." Summoning chakra to his legs, he charged, dodging the replica's heavy sword and aiming a thrust just over its shoulder. The mist clone staggered back to avoid Ka-Kiba, and Kazuki used the opportunity to lunge inside the arc of his opponents arms. Now that the giant sword was neutralized, Kazuki calmly stabbed the replica through the foot, causing it to collapse into water. With Ka-Kiba planted in the dirt, Kazuki flipped over its pommel, withdrawing the shuriken and throwing them wildly in Zabuza's general direction.
The missing-nin was already molding chakra to form another mist replica—not an unexpected eventuality. You knew that you might defeat one replica, but not several, Kazuki thought as Zabuza, seeing the threat, released the seal before the replica was complete. Aware that you could not defeat Zabuza alone, you distracted him with your clones and prepared your strategy, he continued musing as the missing-nin jumped and twisted to avoid the two shuriken that actually had a chance of hitting him. I'm impressed, Uzumaki.
The four shuriken suddenly transformed into four Narutos, each holding several kunai. With a shout, each Naruto threw his weapons towards the missing-nin. Zabuza had no choice. With kunai screaming through the air around him, he withdrew his hand from the water prison and ducked just as the water around him exploded with the impact of the weapons.
A moment later the missing-nin rose from the water, blood streaming from a few light scratches. "You'll have to do better than that to kill me, Leaf brat," he said.
"I think he did fine," Kakashi interjected, already on his feet again. "From now on, you'll have to worry about me, and I'll warn you I never fall for the same jutsu twice." Nonchalantly inclining his head towards the riverbank, Kakashi said, "Naruto-kun, Nomuchi-san, please check on the others. I'll deal with this one."
Kazuki nodded, then retreated into the brush, where Naruto was standing and brushing himself off. "You go to Sasuke," Kazuki said, "Sakura's already safe... I'll take your clients to her."
Naruto nodded energetically and disappeared into the mist, which had begun to thicken again. Kazuki shook his head and turned to make his way towards the clients. If only that power lay in his blood, Kazuki mused, rather than sealed in his belly, what a feast I would make of him.
Then, thinking of the plans his partners had already laid for the boy, Kazuki grinned, adding, Nevertheless, I'll still have my chance.
