Because I Love You - Chasing After You

by The Flare Blade

Hiruzen knew that Tazuna's request was much more dangerous and important than it first appeared to be. He needed experienced ninja for the mission, but his hands were tied because of politics... until he sees a loophole. Using an educational project as cover, he will send two teams to Wave! A Naruto retelling with Hinata as a main character but with canon teams. (Ch1-5 revised!)

8. Chapter 8 - Of Rabbits and Demons

Hey everyone!

So, uh, forgive me for the one-week delay. But I have a good reason: I got a job basically on the day after I posted chapter 7, and that cut down my free time SIGNIFICANTLY. Of course, that's not considering how I will be going back to college soon... but I think I'll still manage to juggle those two things and this fic.

But I might need to delay the update at four or six points in the coming year, as I will need to study for my tests (which doesn't impact the writing much, but certainly screws with the revision time). Alternatively, this might also result in lower word counts for future chapters (around 10k like Chapters 1 and 3, instead of roughly 14K like the others).

Though not this one. This chapter has over 17000 words, so yeah. I could've ended it at 14/15k, but I'd rather not leave you guys without any Zabuza (yeah, that's the very last part of this thing... sorry). This should compensate for the delay since 14K words per month essentially means 3500 words per week...

And talking about word count... I went through my original draft of this chapter, and it was not only godawful: it was also almost completely useless. I salvaged some of the basic plotlines, but yeah. Since those first drafts have become more and more useless to me, I've changed a small part of my profile so now you all will be able to see the word count of the next chapter as I work on it. I will try to update that as much as possible, but I won't always be writing while having a (reliable) connection to the internet, so yeah.

Lastly, I did my best to research a few things about the setting of the first scenes, but please forgive me if I messed up somewhere...

Anyways, that is all I had to say for now. Enjoy the chapter! (Hopefully)

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Land of Waves arc

Chapter 8 – Of Rabbits and Demons (Current Version: 2.0)

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'This is pointless...'

A frustrated sigh escaped Hinata's lips as she changed positions inside her sleeping bag, accompanied by a frown that allowed even less light to pass through her already closed eyelids. It was not like her sleeping bag was uncomfortable, it was actually quite cozy... but she simply wasn't feeling sleepy. That was only natural, though—the moon wasn't reigning over the sky just yet, and her body wasn't tired enough to stop working on its own.

Her eyes, however, came dangerously close to that point during their journey. Hinata didn't want to comment on how moderate amounts of sunlight eventually became almost blinding or how activating her Byakugan brought her pain... but Kurenai noticed the signs of her struggles and decided to set up camp a good hour earlier than originally planned. Hinata tried to persuade the jonin that she was still able to keep going, but Naruto's clones chose that moment to dispel from a lack of chakra and that convinced Kurenai and Kakashi that they had traveled enough for the day.

Upon finding a good clearing for them to make use of during the night, the group had split up in order to prepare everything they would need for their stay.

Kakashi had decided to introduce the art of hunting to his genin and was currently overseeing Sakura and Naruto's attempts at getting dinner for the group in another part of the forest. Sasuke had volunteered to be the cook of the team and was relieved from such duties. Instead, the Uchiha ended up assisting Kiba and Shino as they went to gather the materials to make a fire, not only to bring light and warmth to everyone during the night, but also to give them the means to cook whatever Kakashi and his genin end up bringing back.

Kurenai's job was to protect Tazuna while everyone was gone. She proceeded to cast a powerful genjutsu around the clearing, making the whole area invisible, as well as making any smells or noises coming from inside being almost undetectable by anyone on the outside, save for people that had been inside the genjutsu's range as it was casted. The illusion was taxing, but it would last for many hours and was a sufficiently strong defense against any assassins that might be sent their way.

The Genjutsu Mistress had another task, one not at all related to her specialty: building the three tents the group would use for the night. The first tent was for Tazuna, and it would also be occupied by Kakashi and Shino. The other three boys would be sleeping in a second tent by themselves while Kurenai would sleep in a third tent alongside Sakura and Hinata. This would effectively split Team 8's genin over the three tents and allow the whole group to better detect and react to threats in the middle of the night, as well as maintaining the best balance of power between the three groups.

Hinata had been given the same primary job as Sasuke: cooking. She, however, did not get any specific tasks while waiting for the other groups to return, and was practically forced by Kurenai to rest in her tent to not strain her eyes any further. Hinata did not go without protesting against it, insisting that she was well enough to help as everyone prepared their camp... but it was only when Kakashi remarked that she wouldn't have to rest if she had told someone about her eyes sooner that she fell silent and accepted her "punishment".

The girl knew that it was ultimately for the better. After all, her Byakugan would be important during their mission, and she knew that cooking near a strong source of light would be downright impossible with her eyes as sensible as they were.

What was truly bothering her was that she felt useless and unreliable. Hinata still remembered when Naruto congratulated her after they worked together to defeat Meizu, and even though she reacted poorly when her crush offered her a high-five, the thought still brought a smile to her face. Kurenai and Kakashi had also given her a few compliments while they were walking, which was a nice bonus for her.

It was enough to keep the girl from focusing too much on her failures... such as how she was holding everyone back by forcing them to stop for the night early, or how she increased the workload for everyone thanks to not being deemed fit to help out during the early process of setting up camp. Not that knowing those things didn't make her feel bad, but she knew that there was a chance of ending her day on a high note.

She was in charge of cooking after all.

'I don't know what Naruto-kun and Sakura-san will bring back, but I shouldn't have many problems with whatever they find,' the girl mused. 'The real problem is going to be Sasuke-san...'

Hinata was rather nervous about how her work with the Uchiha would turn out. She had no idea of how skilled he was with cooking and how cooperative he would be... but what truly concerned the bluenette was that she had a mission to accomplish tonight:

"Look, I'll try to see if I can't do anything to help you while I'm out with Naruto, but try to get something for me when you begin working with Sasuke-kun, ok?"

Those were the words Sakura had whispered to her before winking and leaving to hunt dinner with the blond Uzumaki and their sensei.

'I guess I could try to talk about cooking with him. I mean... I don't really know anything substantial about Sasuke-san, but since he wanted to cook tonight, I... guess he might at least like doing that?' It sounded like a reasonable theory to Hinata, but she couldn't go out there with only a single plan of attack. 'If I don't grab his interest fast enough, he might just ignore me...'

Being honest with herself, Hinata would actually like that. Talking to other people sometimes distracted her from the food... and if there was one thing that managed to make Hinata absolutely furious, it was messing up in the kitchen. She could not afford to let Naruto (or anyone, really) seeing her flying off the handle like that, but most of all, she needed to help Sakura. Hinata knew that her mild success in interacting with Naruto on the previous day was, in part, thanks to Sakura encouraging her to take a step forward. 'I must find a way to return the favor...'

Ultimately, Hinata couldn't choose which was the bigger waste of her time: trying to nap, or trying to find other topics for possible conversations with Sasuke beyond cooking. In the end, both activities only had served to make her even more frustrated and impatient as the minutes passed.

'I hate having nothing to do like this...'

"Hinata, are you asleep in there?" As if he had heard Hinata's silent pleas for someone to rescue her from the boredom, Kiba's voice came from outside of her tent. His volume considerably lower than normal, just in case the girl wasn't awake just yet.

"Y-yes! B-b-but don't come inside!" Hinata blurted out, hurriedly getting out of her sleeping bag.

"Uh, okay...?" Hinata imagined Kiba shrugging at that point. "Anyways, the fire has been going on for a while, and Kakashi-sensei should be coming back soon, so Kurenai-sensei wanted me to wake you up."

"J-just give me a moment!" The Hyuuga replied, searching for the coat that she had discarded in an attempt to make herself more comfortable in the privacy of her tent. After finding her tan coat and putting it on, the girl quickly smoothed out her crumpled pants and messy hair. Once she was done making herself presentable, Hinata made her way to the tent's flap door. Grabbing the zipper slider that was close to the tent's ceiling, she opened it just slightly, allowing her to peek at the outside without being seen by anyone else.

The first thing that she noticed was a good twenty feet or so in front of her tent: a red tent similar to the one she had been using. What truly drew her attention, though, was a bright light coming from her right. Turning towards it, she saw the campfire that the boys (sans Naruto) had built, complete with two big, forked sticks to its side, meant to act as a support for a skewer.

A small distance away from the campfire, further to the right of where she was. Hinata could see the figure of Sasuke Uchiha. Normally, the bluenette would use the opportunity to wonder if she would truly be able to get anything out of the stoic boy... but this time, she was just completely confused.

Sasuke was sitting on a small brown stool, his back turned to a rather large table of the same color, facing the campfire. On its top, Hinata saw some cooking utensils which she recognized as part of the tools sealed in the basic cooking scroll Kurenai gave to her soon after Team 8 was formed. Sasuke had one of his own, since he was Team 7's designated cook, but he had also asked for Hinata's before she went to her tent.

Alongside them, the girl also saw the third wooden stick that they would need to skewer the meat, as well as two significantly smaller sticks that would go through the meat and the skewer to help hold the meat in place whenever it was turned. The Uchiha was currently in the process of peeling the dirty bark from those branches with a knife, which was a necessity since these wooden skewers would come in direct contact with the meat.

Most of what she saw made sense. But there was something wrong with that scene...

"From where did that table and those stools come from...?!" Hinata was absolutely certain that those things weren't included insides the storage scroll... and neither were the packages of salt and rice that the girl could spot behind one of the iron pots that were on the table.

"Kurenai-sensei made those!" Kiba answered, having heard the question despite the girl's low tone of voice.

Hinata's attention was immediately drawn to the leftmost side of the camp, where the rest of her team was. Kurenai, Shino, and Kiba were sitting on a wide brown bench that was situated between the red tent in front of her, and a yellow tent further to the left. Though she couldn't see it at the time, there was also another bench between her tent and the yellow one.

Having been found out already, the girl fully opened the zipper of the tent flap and got out of her temporary home. Walking towards her team, the girl noticed the big yellow tent and another brown bench. The trio of tents and the two benches roughly formed a C-like shape if viewed from above, with the campfire being to the outside of the "C".

'I guess that is Tazuna-san's tent?' Hinata thought she heard a snore-like sound coming from inside that tent, but she wasn't sure if that had been her imagination or perhpas just some noise from the nearby forest.

"Kiba, not so loud! Our client is sleeping!" Kurenai scolded the Inuzuka while pointing to the yellow tent, confirming Hinata's thoughts. The jonin's scowl gave way to a smile as her favorite student approached. "I made those things with a small earth jutsu and some earth chakra manipulation," the Genjutsu Mistress explained.

"They are not that comfortable, but it's better than nothing," Kiba shrugged.

"I see... um, well, is everything alright?"

"My bugs haven't detected anything," Shino stated. "Neither the ones surrounding the camp nor the ones I sent to follow Kakashi-sensei and the others."

"We should be fine for tonight, Hinata, don't worry," Kurenai assured her with a smile. "Those assassins were likely to report to Gatou only in the evening, considering how far the Land of Waves is from where they fought you. Sending another person after us would be risky, because Gatou likely isn't aware of when exactly we would be arriving there."

"So if there is another fight, it should be in the Land of Waves, right?" Kiba asked, his voice losing the casual tone it usually had.

"That's correct," Kurenai confirmed. "We won't drop our guard, but staying here for tonight should be safe."

"I... I see." Hinata answered, looking warily into the surrounding woods. 'This mission "should" have been safe, too but... I just hope Naruto-kun and Sakura-san don't take too long.'

The sun had almost gone down but it still brought light into the camp, so the environment wasn't as scary as it would be in a couple hours. Still, Hinata didn't exactly feel safe—especially since she was told to not activate her Byakugan in order to not strain her vision and risk temporary blindness. Her previous train of thought, however, made her remember the one member of Team 7 that was actually present in the camp.

"Uh, I... I will c-check if Sasuke-san doesn't need any help." Hinata announced uncertainly, before turning and making her way to the opposite side of the camp.

"Good luck!" Kiba called out to her (this time keeping his loudness in check), which only made the girl more nervous.

As Hinata hesitantly walked towards him, Sasuke watched her with his peripheral vision, making a conscious effort to not look at the girl and possibly scare her away. He wasn't very experienced in dealing with people, but it didn't take a genius to know that the shy Hyuuga didn't deal very well with being in the spotlight, which led the raven-haired boy to stay concentrated on his work the whole time.

'Come on, Hinata! You can do this! Sakura-san is counting on you!' Determined to not fail her friend, Hinata stopped close to the Uchiha. "Hello, Sasuke-san," she said, offering a small smile and trying to stand as straight as possible.

"What do you want?" the boy said, stopping his work to look at Hinata. Though he intended to sound somewhere between neutral and casual, the way the girl practically recoiled at his words told him he had failed somewhere.

"I... I-I'm sorry to b-bother you but... but I was, um... d-d-do you need any help?" Hinata inquired, her volume dropping considerably as she felt almost all of the courage she had gathered slipping away from her. Her nervous habit of playing with her fingers resurfaced as she broke eye contact with the Uchiha heir.

"The only thing we can do right now is to wait. We need Kakashi to return so that he can give us the water to rinse and cook the rice." The boy then pointed to one of two iron pots that were on the table before going back to peeling the branch. "He left some water in there for us to use if the fire somehow goes out of control, but not any more than that."

"W-well... there's no point in getting the rice ready before the meat, right?" Hinata then focused on the packages of rice and salt that were on the table. "If... If you don't me asking, f-from where did those come from?"

"Tazuna brought quite a bit of non-perishable food with him and let us borrow some," Sasuke explained. "He said that just meat would be boring, and that he didn't want to risk us messing up dinner and leaving him without food, so he asked for us to make some rice. The salt is all that we have to use as seasoning, but I asked Kakashi to see if he can't find some wild onions or other herbs."

'Hmm, that makes sense. Unlike the meat, rice is ridiculously easy to make, even on a campfire,' Hinata thought, eyeing the thick wire that was close to the pots, which would be used to hang them over the coals.

"You sound confident," Sasuke noted, startling the girl. "I'm surprised that the heiress of a clan as traditional as the Hyuuga would have any idea of how to deal with campfire cooking. Or any sort of cooking at all. Don't you have servants to deal with that?" the boy asked, remembering what the academy had taught about the division of the Hyuuga clan into the branch and main families.

Said Hyuuga was also surprised, but at the fact that she had accidentally voiced her thoughts. "Oh, um... y-you are not... exactly wrong, but... I-I wandered into the kitchen, sometimes," Hinata blushed at the many memories she had of herself sneaking into the kitchen in pursuit of some cinnamon rolls and other sweets. "Seeing the cooks working on making dinner or lunch piqued my interest, so I eventually tried it out myself."

"I see," Sasuke said, inspecting the bigger skewer that he was working on before carefully placing it on the desk and removing the two smaller wooden branches from the stool that was beside him and placing them on his lap. This was because he still had to remove the bark from them, but it also happened to free a spot for Hinata to sit beside him. "So you found cooking to be fun and continued from there, correct?" The girl nodded at Sasuke, eyeing the unoccupied stool warily. "I picked up cooking mostly out of necessity, but seeing my mother doing elaborate dinners for our guests when she was alive always had made me curious. I wouldn't exactly say that I love it, but it's a very relaxing job once you know what you are doing."

Feeling more comfortable, Hinata sat beside the Uchiha. "I agree. Even though it was stressing at first, cooking eventually became what I try to do whenever I need to wind down." The Uchiha nodded, and silence fell between the two for a few moments, allowing Hinata to release a subtle sigh of relief. 'It's working! How lucky that I didn't even need to bring up the topic myself... I just need to keep this up!'

Determined, she continued to speak. "About your earlier question... one of the cooks gave me a book about cooking on the wild once I became a genin. She said that I'd have a way to hone my cooking skills even if I didn't have a kitchen nearby," she said with a smile, which fell a bit soon afterwards. 'Why didn't I think of bringing that with me?'

"I guess it will come in handy today, especially since my team will bring something for us." Sasuke made a mental note to ask her for the book once they returned to Konoha. 'If we return, that is...'

"Hopefully. Cooking like this doesn't seem to be too complicated from what I've read... but dealing with meats was never my specialty." Sasuke then shot her an incredulous look, much to Hinata's innocent confusion.

'...Better than his glare, I suppose,' she thought, subconsciously associating what Sasuke had meant to come across as a neutral facial expression with her father's usual disappointed glares.

"What is your specialty, then?" the Uchiha asked, trying to remember if anything on the bento he had eaten for lunch yesterday had stood out as much as the pork.

"Um... I suppose sweet things in general? The best things I can make are cinnamon rolls and red bean soup," the girl confessed with some embarrassment. Not over being good at cooking that kind of food, but at how much she consumed her own cooking. 'I guess the one advantage of being a kunoichi is how much physical exercise I end up doing... I'd end up fatter than an Akimichi otherwise.'

While Hinata cringed at the mental image, Sasuke cringed from the sensory overload that he got from simply thinking about those sweets. "I don't handle sweets very well, to be honest..."

"Oh, that's a shame... but do you specialize in anything? I-I mean, as far as cooking goes?" Hinata frowned slightly and reconsidered her course of action. "M-maybe your favorite kind of food?"

The Uchiha stopped to think for a moment. "I never share my food with anyone, so I can't say for sure, but I think I work better with seafood than with anything else. My favorite food, though, is onigiri with bonito flakes and tomato... but I rarely eat it nowadays." No matter how many times Sasuke had attempted to replicate his mother's cooking, he had never gotten it to taste as good as hers, for some reason.

Sasuke looked away, and then he frowned. 'I can't believe I forgot who I'm dealing with...'

Hinata, however, was smiling. 'Hmm... This recipe is also pretty easy to make. It shouldn't take too long for me to teach Sak—'

"I know Sakura sent you to talk to me for her, but don't share this with her."

"Eh?" Hinata's eyes widened. "H-h-how did—"

"Because unlike Naruto, I actually pay attention to how people act around me. And like I said, don't tell this to Sakura." The Uchiha's face contorted into disgust. "All of the girls in our class—except you—always made chocolates for me on Valentine's Day... but what Sakura gives me every year can't be called chocolate. I'm not even sure it could be classified as food, actually." Just the memory was enough to make him want to puke. Sasuke definitely didn't need to stain the good memories he had of his favorite food with whatever monstrosity Sakura would turn it into.

"I-I see," Hinata replied lamely, trying and failing to find a way of salvaging her mission... while a small part of her wondered if she hadn't underestimated Sakura's cooking ineptitude. 'I guess she wasn't kidding when she said her cooking was 'an absolute disaster', huh...?'

"But you can ask other questions, if you wish." Sasuke said, turning the Hyuuga's worry into pure shock. However, before she was able to recompose herself and question the Uchiha's out-of-character behavior, Sasuke started talking again.

"To be honest, I don't really feel like conversing with you about that... but I have something important to ask of you, so this should make us even."

'Something important...? I wonder wha—No, forget that! Focus!' Hinata scolded herself. Sasuke was giving her the chance to get the information she sought without needing to worry about subtlety, possibly pissing him off or dealing with awkward small talk. This was an opportunity that she couldn't pass up... but then Hinata realized a very small detail that was a little bit important.

'...I don't know what to talk about! I was so worried about actually starting a conversation with him that I didn't plan on anything else...!'

It took her a few moments of fidgeting and thinking, but the girl eventually opened her mouth again. "Um... w-what do you think about Sakura-san?"

'She just had to ask the broadest question possible...' Sasuke sighed with annoyance, giving the Hyuuga beside him the wrong idea until he started talking. "...I don't know how to answer that question. Or rather, I... guess you could say I just don't have enough information."

Now it was Hinata's turn to look incredulously at Sasuke. "W-what? B-but you know each other f-for years!"

"Hn." Ignoring the frustration that his ambiguous "answer" caused to the blunette, Sasuke carefully looked over the small stick he was working with. Finding it to be satisfactorily stripped of its bark, he placed it on the table, grabbed the last stick and started to peel it. "During our years at the academy, she always threw herself at me whenever she had an opportunity, and if someone tried to stand in her way, such as Ino or Naruto, she reacted violently. That was pretty much it."

"...Sasuke-san, I... I understand what you mean, but there is more to her than just that," Hinata retorted, frowning a slightly. The complete lack of shame that the pinkette displayed whenever she tried to woo Sasuke had always bothered her, and Hinata preferred not to think of what she felt whenever the girl lashed out at Naruto each time he tried to compete for her heart with Sasuke... but Sakura had shown a completely new side to her during these past two days, which completely changed her opinion of the girl.

"I realize that," Sasuke said, much to Hinata's surprise. "After what happened yesterday during our training, she seems to be trying to keep her emotions under control when interacting with me and Naruto, at least. It would be unfair of me to judge her for her past when she is trying to become more mature... at least as a person that is."

Of course, Sasuke knew that the Sakura that annoyed him so much was still there. The stunt she tried to pull right after he thanked her for her assistance during their fight with the Demon Brothers proved to the Uchiha that she still could act stupidly when it comes to him, and the girl could only restrain herself for so long before Naruto's foolishness prompted her to react. But he couldn't deny that there was an improvement in her behavior. 'Though now she doesn't seem to know how to react to me for the most part... I wonder if seeing my true self during that genjutsu shattered the idealized image she had of me.'

While Sasuke was busy trying to rationalize Sakura's newfound hesitant behavior, Hinata was mentally going through what he had just said, committing everything to memory in order to report to her friend at a later point. "Hmm... a-and what do you mean by that?" she asked, referring to his last words.

"The academy isn't the best way of gauging our skill, but it doesn't change the fact that Sakura managed to become the best kunoichi of our class without even having a clan to back her up." Sasuke realized a little too late that his comment might have upset Hinata, but glancing at the girl and seeing her looking at the ground stoically made him think that she wasn't offended by what he said, so he continued. "Even so, she focused most of her determination to win the heart of someone she didn't even know. But she became satisfied with where she was as a ninja and didn't strive to improve once she got past a certain point." He shook his head in disappointment. "That complete lack of ambition... I just can't accept that kind of thinking."

That, Sasuke thought, was the biggest difference between Sakura and her teammates. Naruto wanted to be Hokage, whereas Sasuke wanted to defeat his brother... both of them worked hard so that they could one day accomplish their dreams, but Sakura's priorities didn't seem to be anywhere even remotely relevant to her profession.

Hinata was lost in somewhat similar thoughts, but while the Uchiha felt disapproval and disappointment towards Sakura... at that moment, Hinata felt only envy. She knew it was silly, now that her Byakugan and Gentle Fist increased her abilities exponentially when compared to what she was stuck with at the academy and especially after she had defeated Sakura in an earlier spar, but it didn't erase all the effort she had put into her studies and the mediocre results she got for it. Considering what was expected of her, given her position as the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, she might as well have been the dead last. 'I guess that is the difference between someone that has talent and someone that doesn't...'

"Now that she's actually taking her job seriously, I don't have any problems with her as a kunoichi," Sasuke continued, snapping Hinata out of her musings. "She might not be strong right now, but... today's fight proved to me that there's nothing wrong with that," he concluded, remembering their earlier battle against the Mist chunin.

Sasuke would've been lying if he said that he wasn't disappointed by how he ended up being more of a support than a heavy-hitter during their fight, but given how both of their spars in the previous day went, he knew the pink-haired girl wouldn't have lasted a second if he wasn't there to keep Gouzu busy. Their original plan was to have Sakura work as a distraction to create openings for him, but he had underestimated the chunin's abilities and failed to land a finishing blow on the older ninja when he had the chance to end their fight. The Uchiha's attacks, however, proved to Gouzu that he was the bigger threat between the two... but by focusing on Sasuke, he had left himself vulnerable to be picked off by a much weaker foe, culminating in his defeat.

"I see... thank you for answering my questions," Hinata said, smiling shyly at Sasuke. 'That wasn't as bad as I thought... and I got much more information than I expected, too. Sakura-san will be happy to hear this!' the girl thought excitedly.

"If you truly want to thank me, then return the favor and answer my questions," Sasuke replied curtly.

"Ah! Um... s-sure! W-what do you want to know?" she asked, watching as the Uchiha inspected the small stick he had just transformed into a skewer. 'He could have just used chopsticks...'

Finding it to be just as good as the other two he had made, the boy placed it on the desk and wiped the bark powder from his once-clean white shorts, before turning to face Hinata. "I need to know somet—"

"Hey, we're back everyone!"

Looking in the direction from where they heard Sakura's voice, Sasuke and Hinata saw the remaining members of Team 7 entering the camp. The two genin looked a tad bit dirtier than they had been before leaving, but Kakashi looked no worse for wear. The silver-haired jonin was holding two decently sized rabbits on his hands, both of them no longer alive.

"Yo, welcome back," Kiba greeted the trio with a friendly smirk that disappeared as soon as he took a good look at Naruto. "Why is the most energetic person that I know of walking around like a zombie?" he asked, observing the Uzumaki's hunched over posture and exhausted expression.

The question was enough to make Sakura frown and shoot an angry look at the blond. "Because this idiot finally learned that his "awesome" jutsu is not the right answer for all of his problems," she growled, making Naruto shrink under her gaze.

"Naruto almost passed out from using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu too much today," Kakashi clarified as he passed the pair of dead rabbits to Sasuke, who placed them on the two wooden cutting boards that were on the table. "We also managed to find some wild onions and wild garlic," he added, grabbing a small scroll from his flak jacket's pocket. "I didn't really have anything to put them on, so I sealed them in here.

"...That's fine. But I need more water," Sasuke said, grabbing the scroll from Kakashi. "Can you fill some of these pots for me?"

"I still don't get it," Naruto whined tiredly, yawning as he watched Kakashi fill the second iron pot with a simple water jutsu before moving to do the same with the plastic ones scattered across the table. "There are times when I make many more clones than today and I never get this tired..."

"That's because the jutsu evenly splits the chakra between you and the clones," Kurenai explained. "After a clone pops, the chakra gets sent back to the user and any of the clones that are nearby. But since you had your clones walking for a long time—and under a transformation, no less—barely any of your chakra returned because the clones consumed it throughout their lifetime..." The jonin thought a bit and then scowled. "How many clones did you try to make?"

"Uh, about ten?"

"In that case, I am surprised that you are even alive," Shino interjected, visibly frowning from beneath his sunglasses. "If the jutsu works as Kurenai-sensei explained, you likely had about 20% of your chakra when the Demon Brothers attacked us, and about 3% when we decided to find a place to camp... trying to create ten clones would have brought you to 0,3% of your chakra," Shino concluded. 'Just how much chakra do you have, Naruto?' he wondered, remembering how his bugs had actually gotten full from draining chakra out of the blond during their previous spar, with Naruto seemingly not even noticing the drop in his reserves.

"He got lucky that Kakashi-sensei knew that and dispelled the clones, but all of that managed to scare away the rabbits we had found." Sakura huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. 'Almost gave me a heart attack, too. Reckless idiot...'

"Whatever, whatever..." Naruto grumbled. "I'm going to take a nap till dinner is ready," the boy said dismissively, marching towards the red tent that he would later share with Sasuke and Kiba. Unknowingly to him, Hinata was closely observing his movements. The girl had a worried expression on her face as she watched Naruto enter his tent while grumbling something about stupid rabbits. Hinata thought about asking if he was okay, but she knew that he would say he was fine—even if he wasn't.

Right before she redirected her focus to said stupid rabbits, Hinata caught a glimpse of Sakura, who was looking at her. The pinkette smiled and then glanced at Sasuke and back at her. Hinata smiled back as an answer to the unspoken question, prompting Sakura's smile to grow even wider. Nodding in appreciation, Sakura then went to follow Kakashi and sat on a bench near the other members of Team 8 to chat while they waited for dinner.

"Do you think these two rabbits will be enough for everyone?" Sasuke spoke up, eyeing the rabbits skeptically. "We might need to cook a bit more of rice to compensate for this," he said, pointing at the pair of dead animals.

'Hmm... no, they are just big enough to be sufficient for everyone. There might even be a bit of meat remaining,' Hinata concluded, analyzing the rabbits much like Sasuke had done beforehand. Then, an idea came to her. "You are right; we might need to cook some extra rice."

"Got it... before I start with the rice, do you need any help with those rabbits?" he offered, seeing the girl grab a knife from the nearby cutlery box.

"Don't worry about me, Sasuke-san. I can handle this," the girl assured him, smiling. "Oh, do you mind if I answer your questions during dinner?" she asked, hoped to avoid any distractions while she was working.

"...No, not at all," he nodded understandingly, leaving Hinata alone so that both of them could focus on their respective jobs.

'Now, let's see if I remember everything correctly...' the girl thought as she prepared herself to skin one of the rabbits.

---

Night had already fallen when the two genin finally finished preparing the group's dinner, and both Hinata and Sasuke were busy, serving everyone.

"Here, Tazuna-san. I hope you will enjoy it," Hinata said, offering a plate with rice a generous piece of rabbit meat to the old bridge builder, who was sitting on one of the rock benches Kurenai had built. The girl smiled proudly, confident that she and Sasuke had done a good job despite the lack of certain conveniences they were used to have at their kitchens, such as free access to running water, or a place to dispose of the garbage that wasn't a hole dug by Akamaru.

"Heh, thanks girlie." The man returned her smile with a grin of his own. "If the smell is anything to go by, you can bet I'm gonna like this! Anyways, like I was saying," he turned to face the other members of the group, "you kids don't need to worry about any bandits. Pretty sure all of them hightailed from here once Gatou took control of our ports, if they haven't been hired by the bastard himself to become mercenaries in the first place."

"And Gatou should only be figuring out that the Demon Brothers failed by now," Kakashi piped in as he nodded appreciatively at Sasuke, who had brought his food to him. "If we are going to run into any trouble, it will be after we land. But why don't we drop this morbid subject and discuss something else? How about telling us more of your country's culture, Tazuna-san?"

While the group listened to Tazuna's tales, Hinata and Sasuke continued to serve the others. As the blue-haired girl passed a plate of food to Sakura, the pinkette motioned for the girl to come closer.

"Come on, I'm dying to know what you found out," Sakura whispered, excitement barely contained in her hushed tone. "Can you sit with me so that we can talk a little?"

"I-I'm sorry, Sakura-san," Hinata shook her head. "Sasuke-san needs to talk to me and... and I-I'll be eating there with him," the bluenette elaborated, turning to point at the desk where she and the Uchiha had prepared their food. Sasuke was already there, re-sealing the items that were still in the way.

"Oh! I see... well, go on, then!" Sakura said, offering a strained smile to her friend. "We can talk before sleeping... but what does he want to talk about?"

"I... I don't know. S-Sorry," Hinata mumbled, lowering her head slightly. This made Sakura frown at her.

"Sheesh, stop apologizing! Go see what he wants before your food gets cold, ok?" she suggested right before tasting a piece of the roasted rabbit meat. "Hmm! You definitely should eat it while it's still hot. This is really good! And I don't even like garlic..."

"Wild garlic is a bit different than the one you usually eat, but thank you!" Hinata smiled and turned around to join Sasuke, who was already eating his own food.

'Figures... the one girl that never paid attention to Sasuke-kun is the one he ends up inviting for dinner,' she thought bitterly, not at all considering the possibility that it was Hinata who made the offer, given the girl's shy personality.

Blissfully unaware of the envious look Sakura was aiming at her—but very much aware of how a certain blond was happily wolfing down the contents of his plate—the Hyuuga made her way to the other side of the camp, where Sasuke was waiting for her.

Not too soon after she sat down on the unoccupied stool and started eating, the girl's curiosity won over her. "So, um, what did you want t-to ask me?

"It's about Naruto. I know you have been watching him constantly, even outside the academy, so—"

He stopped once Hinata began choking. "Y-you... know about that...?!" she asked in a shaky voice as she tried to breathe normally, blushing fiercely.

"Everyone knows about it. Besides Naruto, I suppose." Sasuke shrugged.

"...Awesome," she mumbled in a voice that was far too low for the Uchiha to hear. 'And I thought I was doing so well in hiding myself, too... just how many people know about this?'

"Anyways... you know about how my brother single-handedly wiped out basically the entire Uchiha clan, correct?" Hinata nodded as Sasuke used the pause to eat a bit more. She clearly remembered that quite a few Hyuuga were bragging about how they were now the strongest clan of Konoha in the days following the massacre. The thought of being that happy because of so many deaths made her sick.

"Ever since I've recovered from the coma Itachi left me in," Sasuke continued, "I've been devoting my entire life—every single moment—to become strong enough so that I could one day kill that bastard and avenge my clan. I've lost count of how many times I've relived the events of that night in my nightmares... and my hate for him only grew stronger each time."

"I... I see," was what Hinata managed to say as an answer. Now, she finally knew how to describe the fire she saw in Sasuke's eyes whenever she happened to look at him while they were still at the academy. Even now, she could still clearly see the hate burning within the Uchiha's black orbs, but it was more subdued than usual.

And yet, that had nothing to do with Naruto. "But... why are you telling me this?"

"Because yesterday, Kurenai told me and Sakura that Naruto has demons just as big as Itachi is for me. Do you know what she might be talking about?" The idea that a happy-go-lucky fool like Naruto Uzumaki was being tormented by something on the same level of the Uchiha massacre was simply unbelievable to Sasuke... but the way Naruto had refused to even look at him or Sakura when Kurenai had said that made him believe that there was, indeed, truth to the Genjutsu Mistress's words.

Hinata stopped eating altogether and turned to face the Uchiha. "...Did sensei use those words, exactly?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow upon seeing how the girl suddenly adopted the same serious mask her clansmen were famous for wearing. "Yes, but how is that relevant?"

"I... I have heard people using the word "demon" when talking about Naruto-kun before. Only the adults. A few times, I even saw some villagers calling him that to his face... but he didn't seem to understand why they were yelling at him like that." The girl looked back at the blond, who was listening to Tazuna attentively. She couldn't help but note the contrast between his smile and the hurt, confused expression he wore one day, years beforehand, when he had tried to play with some kids in the park, only for their parents to hurriedly "rescue" them from the "demon". 'He looked so lost... and lonely.'

The Uchiha analyzed her words carefully. "So I take it that you don't know it either?"

Hinata shook her head morosely, to which Sasuke sighed. "I-I've tried to ask around before but... everyone refuses to answer me. They just tell me to not get near him, or that he is... dangerous."

Before they could continue to talk, though, the subject of their conversation stood up and approached them, practically forcing Hinata and Sasuke to stay silent and focus on their food.

"Hey, where can I leave this?" the blond questioned, holding up the plate he had used during dinner.

"Just seal it on this scroll," Sasuke replied, pointing to one of the small sealing scrolls that were on the table. It contained a few of the dirty items that had been used during cooking, and they would be unsealed and washed again after the group arrived at Tazuna's house.

"H-hold it!" Hinata called Naruto just before he touched the scroll. Her mind went blank for a moment when the boy's blue eyes became focused on her, and she scrambled to think of something to say. "Uh... F-food! D-do you want it? There's more!" she blurted out quickly, before cringing.

"Uh... what?" Naruto frowned. The girl had spoken so fast that he failed to understand a single word of what she had said.

"Tsk. What she means to say is that we made a little too much food, and that you could eat more if you wish to," Sasuke clarified. The boy wondered where the confidence the girl had been displaying while they were cooking went.

"I-I-I thought that y-you'd be hungry... after... after w-what happened while you were hunting... a-and there's still some meat left," Hinata added, this time much more slowly thanks to her wise decision of not staring at Naruto's eyes, despite how much his blue orbs fascinated her. The effort cost her; however, as she couldn't keep the worry from seeping into her tone like she had wanted to.

"I thought that was for Akamaru," Naruto remarked, unsure. He had been eyeing the remains of the bunny for a while now, but he was sure that neither Sasuke nor Hinata saw him, since they were focused on each other.

"I've seen Kakashi-sensei sneaking him quite a few bits of his food," Sasuke said. "He won't need that."

"Oh... alright then!" Naruto happily exclaimed, approaching the pot of rice with a foxy grin on his face. "I'm always up for more food, especially if it's this good!"

"Sasuke-kun's cooking was delicious, wasn't it?" Sakura asked as she approached her blond teammate. She then grabbed the scroll Sasuke had previously pointed at and opened it in an unoccupied corner of the table. The girl sealed the plate she used inside, a process that Naruto watched intently from the corner of his vision, happy that he didn't have to ask how to do it and embarrass himself. He knew that Sakura would scold him for not paying attention to what they were taught at the academy, and he wasn't in the mood to hear that same speech yet again.

"But I also really liked the rabbit! The taste was wonderful," Sakura continued, reflecting the smile that had blossomed on Hinata's face upon being complimented. "Don't you agree with me, Naruto?"

"Mmmn," he mumbled, mouth already full with rice. "Thed rhabish whash dilichwosh!"

"Naruto! Swallow your food before talking! Geez..." Sakura scolded him and trotted back to her seat as she repressed the urge to insult the blond.

"Uh, thanks for the food," Naruto quickly said before following after Sakura, wondering if Hinata had blushed because of his bad behavior. Meanwhile, Sasuke was silently giving a disapproving glare to both of them. While he was indeed bothered by his teammate's rudeness, his lack of etiquette was one of the few things Sasuke didn't have the heart to complain about, considering the blond's circumstances.

He also had seen Sakura subtly mouthing "good job" to Hinata right before leaving.

'She has been planning for this moment all along...' he realized, glancing at Hinata. The girl's cheeks were rosy, and she had a small smile on her face as she watched her crush. There was a familiar, dreamy look in her eyes that he had seen aimed at himself countless of times. 'She did seem to be genuinely worried about him but... she might be just as dangerous as Sakura.'

After eating more of the meat she had cooked, Hinata addressed Sasuke again. "If... if you don't mind me asking, why did you want to know that?" The girl also wondered why he had been looking at her as if she were some sort of threat, but didn't say anything about it.

"Yesterday... Naruto promised me that he would one day help me exact my revenge. I... If he was willing to do this much for me, I am honor-bound to return the favor in the future."

Hinata tilted her head to the side slightly. "But... why not ask him yourself?"

"From what Kurenai implied, he'd need to trust me first," The Uchiha answered, shaking his head. "Not just as a teammate, but as a friend. I... and I really don't have a clue of how to become his friend. It has been years since I last considered forming that kind of bond with anyone," he confessed, lowering his head. The words that "Itachi" had said to him the day before were still ringing in his mind.

"...It's scary, isn't it?" Sasuke looked up, only to see Hinata gazing fondly at her own teammates on the other side of the camp. Kiba was gesticulating wildly as he questioned Tazuna, in stark contrast to how Shino stoically listened as he ate his food. The former's loud, boisterous nature and the latter's silent, cold behavior made the prospect of being in Team 8 downright intimidating.

She then turned to him, smiling empathetically. "Our situations might differ a little but... my teammates were my first friends, too. At first, I... I really didn't know how to even interact with them. I thought that they would've thought I was too stupid or too weak and that they would hate me... and yet, it didn't take long for us to become friends. It... just happened."

Hinata had to admit that she had been lucky, though. Both the Inuzuka and the Aburame clans were known to be very group-oriented, and despite their differences, both Kiba and Shino had shown interest in forming a bond with her and each other. Lonely as she was, Hinata had clung very quickly to them, and even though she still felt awkward around them at times, she was happy that everything worked out between them.

The black-haired boy paused to reflect on her words. "So you are saying that I should just give it time?"

"Um... something like that." Hinata wasn't completely sure of what she had been trying to say, either. "But there's another issue... Naruto-kun sees you as a rival."

Sasuke smirked. Naruto had never, ever, been a threat to him... but he had never given up on trying to defeat his rival. As much as he would never be caught saying that to him, he admired the blond's willpower. Despite never lasting more than 10 seconds in their fights, Naruto repeatedly challenged him throughout their years at the academy.

'But why would that be a problem?' he thought, before voicing the question aloud to Hinata.

"I... I could be wrong," Hinata warned, frowning a little, "but I don't think he will ever see you as a friend while he's trying to compete against you." The girl then focused back on Naruto, who was laughing in the midst of a conversation with the other three genin while the adults quietly chatted among themselves.

"I might not know what this demon the adults talk about is, but I believe that what truly haunts him is... loneliness."

'...Loneliness, huh?'

Sasuke was no stranger to that feeling. But in his case, it was corrupted by the hatred he felt for the one that took his family away from him. Naruto, though, never had those bonds in the first place. 'And yet, he doesn't really seem bothered about it,' Sasuke noted curiously.

Looking over to Hinata, he saw the pained expression the girl wore as she watched the young Uzumaki. "If you truly want to help him... then be there for him when you see him struggling," Hinata continued, oblivious to how Sasuke was watching her. Finding herself unable to continue talking, the girl silently worked on finishing her dinner.

'Is she just that empathetic... or is there something troubling her, too?' Sasuke wondered, as he too decided to eat what was still on his plate. Thankfully for the duo, their food was still warm enough for them to eat comfortably, despite the tense silence that formed between them.

---

Not too long after dinner, the genin and Tazuna went to sleep while the two jonin decided to take turns watching the camp. Despite knowing that the chances of an ambush were small, and that Kurenai's strong genjutsu and Shino's kikaichu were working as defense mechanisms—in addition to a fake camp that Sakura and Kakashi had set up far into the woods while Naruto still had been recovering from using too much chakra—the two jonin decided to be extra careful.

If nothing else, it would at least ensure that the genin would feel safe enough to have a good night of sleep.

Kurenai had the first watch, but Kakashi was accompanying her for the time being due to being too tense to sleep just yet. This had the bonus of giving Sakura and Hinata the privacy they needed to discuss each other's findings, too. Without Kurenai or anyone else around, they were free to talk as much as they wanted, as long as they weren't too loud.

Or giggle as much as they wanted, which was what Sakura was currently doing. "Thank you so much! I'm glad to know Sasuke-kun's opinion of me is improving!" Smiling brightly, Sakura pulled her hair into a low ponytail, effectively avoiding a nasty case of bed hair once she woke up; she wouldn't have time to wrestle with her long tresses in the morning after all. "My dedication is starting to pay off already...!"

'...I wonder why Sakura-san acted liked that. She seems to be aware that he doesn't like it, but I don't get it,' Hinata thought, as both herself and her pink-haired friend got inside their respective sleeping bags.

"But that's quite a lot of stuff you found out," Sakura commented as she tried to make herself comfortable in her sleeping bag. She looked over to the side where she could hear something being zipped down and some ruffling sounds. There was barely light inside the tent, however, so she couldn't say for sure what the noise was.

"Y-yeah... I'm surprised Sasuke-san was willing to talk so much," Hinata confessed, struggling a little to fold her tan coat in the darkness. She didn't want to remove it outside, where people could see her, even though the task would've been much easier.

"Well, Sasuke-kun's not very fond of people, but I'm not that surprised. You are pretty easy to talk to, you know?"

'Not really. I wish it was the other way around, though,' Hinata thought with annoyance, remembering her earlier failure to speak with Naruto after their battle.

"And you said he had some questions earlier. What was that all about?"

Hinata then proceeded to give the second part of her "report", this time not omitting any information from it (she deemed it unwise to mention what Sasuke had said about her chocolates).

"...That's it?" Sakura couldn't contain the disappointment from seeping into her voice. "So he... he only wanted to help Naruto? But... well, whatever." The girl sighed. 'No point in whining about how he didn't say anything about me when he only talked to Hinata because she stalks Naruto. And then again, he knows what the best way of repaying me for helping against Itachi would be. He just doesn't want to do it. Not yet, anyways. Besides, I did say that I was going to focus on training, so I can't be running after him all the time even if I knew what to do. And Naruto seems to have his own problems too... I need to give him some attention now and then, or else he will never open up to me. If this "demon" is really something as bad as Sasuke-kun's brother, then we need to deal with it as soon as possible.'

The silence made Hinata start fidgeting."Um... Sakura-san? Are you asleep?"

"Huh...? Oh, Hinata! Sorry, I just got lost in thought. Anyways, on the topic of Naruto, I, uh, wasn't as successful as you were," she confessed, playing with one of her bangs. "We didn't really have any time to talk without someone else being there... but I think you need to interact with him some more before I can hope to get anything significant out of him. Something beyond just giving him food or fighting with him, perhaps?" she suggested playfully.

"B-but... it's so difficult! W-whenever he is around I-I-I can't find the right words to say and, and I start stuttering and—"

"Whoa there, calm down!" Sakura whispered, and a short, frustrated sigh was the only thing she got as an answer. She wasn't expecting Hinata to react like that. "Look, I understand that it is hard, but you need to take the initiative! If you can't get out of your comfort zone, you will never get to be anything more than a friend to him!" She blinked twice, and then sighed. 'Man, I guess I need to follow my own advice...'

Sakura's last sentence rang on her head, and Hinata felt the need to kick herself. Sakura was trying to help her make Naruto fall in love with her, but a friendship is as far as Hinata could take her relationship with him. 'I should've realized I was misleading her sooner... I'm such an idiot!'

The girl curled up inside her sleeping bag. "M-maybe... I-I think... I sh-shouldn't try to be anything more than... just a friend to him. T-that would be enough for me, actually..."

"...What?" It took Sakura a moment before she could properly understand what the Hyuuga had just mumbled. "Wait, what?! Are you kidding me?!"

"P-please, not so loud...!" Sakura froze as she realized that her little outburst might've drawn attention to themselves. She hadn't even been that loud, actually, but considering how silent everything around them was, the volume had been loud enough to potentially draw attention to themselves.

They came to the unspoken decision to stay silent for a minute in case one of the jonin came to check on them, and both girls used the time to think of how to continue their conversation, but Sakura went first.

"Why are saying this now, Hinata? This doesn't make sense! Especially not considering how you tried to bait him with your cooking earlier. Twice, even!"

"L-look, t-this... this is just a crush." Hinata swallowed. "I mean, w-we are so young and, and... h-he barely even knows I exist, s-so t-there is no point in trying to... I-I-I'll p-probably get over this in a few months."

"You can't seriously—"

"I'll be going to sleep now," the shy Hyuuga interrupted, audibly faking a yawn and turning around, which effectively ended the conversation right there.

"Hinata?" Met with silence, Sakura called for her friend again, and receiving no answer, the pinkette huffed indignantly and also turned away. The fact that Hinata didn't explain herself, though, left Sakura to form her own conclusions about the subject.

'Man... her shyness surely is worse than mine when I was younger. But I won't let a little lack of courage keep her from trying! Sure, if she wants to become friends with Naruto, I'll help her out. Nothing stops me from playing matchmaker while I'm at it, hehe.'

Smiling to herself, Sakura had a feeling that, unlike in the previous day, she would have a good night of sleep. Hinata, however, wasn't so sure about her own situation.

'I'm sorry Sakura-san... but you wouldn't understand,' Hinata thought, remembering what had happened to her when she returned home the day before.

Namely, how her father had decided to delay her duel with her sister once again, all because of the C-rank mission she was assigned to. Considering how worn out the girl was when she came home, Hiashi had told her that resting and preparing for the mission was more important, since not only the results of the duel wouldn't be fair, but it would not let her rest properly to endure a full day of traveling.

As much as the elders disliked the decision, they all agreed that it was better than possibly shaming the Hyuuga clan via a poor performance during the mission, and allowed the duel to be rescheduled to one day after her return.

But Hinata knew it was just borrowed time. The duel's result wasn't going to change—her sister would inevitably win and become the heiress, while Hinata would be stripped of her birthright and would likely be married to a noble as soon as she was of age. Of course, her future husband would be handpicked by her clan, and unless he had something significant to offer to the clan, they would never be considered. The actual heiress of the clan wouldn't have as many restrictions... but since that wasn't going to be the case for Hinata, making Naruto fall for her would possibly be the worst thing she could ever do to him.

The Hyuuga clan's traditions were often obtuse, and Hinata knew she wouldn't have been able to explain it properly to her friend. That and her own shame of admitting that her seven-year-old sister was stronger than her—even though she had never sparred seriously against Hanabi—was enough to keep the shy bluenette tight-lipped about the subject.

'Besides, I'm not worthy of being loved by Naruto-kun. If that ever happened,' she thought as tears started to form in her eyes. Not out of sadness... but out of guilt. The same guilt that stole her voice at the end of her conversation with Sasuke. 'I knew that Naruto-kun suffered because he's always been alone... I knew, for years and I did nothing. I never had the courage to befriend him... I'm such a coward.'

Unbeknownst to either girl, Sakura's loud reaction to Hinata's words didn't go by unheard. Kakashi's sharp ears had detected a sound coming from near the girl's tent, and the man stealthily approached it to see if anything was wrong.

In the end, he happened to overhear the last part of the conversation between the two young kunoichi, and even though he didn't get to hear the beginning, it had been enough for him to fill in the holes and shake his head. It worked both as a signal to Kurenai that he had found nothing wrong... and as a gesture to himself, one that conveyed the disappointment he felt; even though he knew that people don't change that easily.

'It seems the little Hyuuga still has a ways to go before she learns to trust in others. I wonder if this is related to why she decided to give up on passing my test yesterday...' Kakashi thought, walking back to where Kurenai was waiting for him.

"Kakashi," the woman began, "I understand that you don't feel like it, but go to sleep. You know that tomorrow we will most likely be attacked by a jonin."

The Copy Ninja sighed. "I suppose you are right... I guess I'll need all the energy I can muster for tomorrow." It had been quite a while since he had last been involved in a dangerous battle, after all.

And he knew that their next opponent wouldn't be as easy as the Demon Brothers were...

---

It was not too long after breaking camp in the early morning that the group met Tazuna's friend, Kaji, who had helped Tazuna to arrive in the Land of Fire and now would be taking all of them to the Land of Waves with his trusty boat. The ride wasn't exactly comfortable; there was hardly any free space with ten people aboard, but it was their only option.

"We are almost there," the middle-aged man eventually commented as he continued to paddle. "the bridge should be close by now." He couldn't say for sure, since the thick mist that surrounded the boat left him unable to see more than a few feet in front of him, but even though the time passed extremely slowly for everyone, Kaji had a good grasp on how much time they had spent traveling the ocean.

Soon enough, the massive, unfinished structure of steel and concrete started to become visible.

"Wow...! It's gigantic!" Naruto exclaimed, amazed. The biggest bridges he had seen back in Konoha weren't much longer than 60 feet, but even though it wasn't complete, Tazuna's put them all to shame. He had never seen a crane before, either, so the big yellow machines that could be spotted through the bridge were news to him as well.

"Keep it down, boy!" Kaji scolded him. "We can't risk being seen. I already told you this when I turned off the motor, didn't I?

"Yeah, shut up," Kiba agreed. "I can't concentrate with you yapping like this."

Pouting, Naruto turned away and kept quiet. As much as he wanted to talk back to the Inuzuka, he knew that the boy had an important role to play. With the use of a jutsu, he could detect smells and sound much farther than Hinata could see with her Byakugan, but he wasn't skilled enough to maintain the technique while moving. The boat ride, however, took care of that problem, leaving the young Inuzuka to be the group's scout for the time being.

"Guys... I hear something. A... boat, I think. Doesn't seem to be too big," he concluded, sniffing the air. He detected traces of wood alongside the salt water from the ocean.

Kiba's announcement made Kaji stop paddling immediately. "Are we in danger?"

"No, they are going southwest... they just entered my range for an instant, I guess," the boy finished, shrugging. The noise from the boat's motor had been faint, and now it could no longer be heard.

"Sounds like they just came from the main island's port," Tazuna spoke. "Likely headed to one of the Land of Fire's own ports, if I had to guess"

"Could it have been one of Gatou's men?" Sakura inquired, looking around warily as their boat started to move once again.

"There's no one else it could have been," the bridge builder spat disdainfully. "I told you this before: he bought all of the ports in the Land of Waves. It's almost impossible to enter the sea without being found out by Gatou's punks, unless you are part of their gang to begin with. He controls the sea... and considering how the Land of Waves isn't much more than a bunch of small islands, it means he controls everything. This bridge is the only way to free our country from this tyrant's control," the old man said, staring glumly at his unfinished masterpiece as their boat passed beside it.

Eventually, the bridge disappeared as the group entered in a dark tunnel...

Naruto could only stare in wonder as the visage of the Land of Waves appeared right before his eyes once the tunnel ended. Without any mist clouding his vision, he could see wide wooden houses built on platforms around the edges of the ocean, and almost all of them were built far from each other, separated by large bodies of water or forested areas; if not both, considering that quite a few plants were seemingly growing on the water, some of them having their roots visible above the water's surface.

It was a stark contrast to the Leaf Village, known for having multiple houses packed together, to the point where many were stacked one above the other. The woodland of Konoha had been, for the most part, artificially made by the Shodaime Hokage's Wood Release and rarely occupied the same space as the villager's houses. A single river was the only body of water that crossed the village, and hardly on the level that the ocean divided the small town they were in.

"Heh, you seem impressed," Tazuna remarked, feeling equal amounts of pride and surprise from seeing the blond's awed expression. The Land of Waves was a poor country, but it had a rustic beauty of its own, too. "Never been outside your village, boy?"

"Yeah... it's a far cry from Konoha, that's for sure," he commented, before becoming extremely confused. 'Wait, are those plants growing in salt water...? Is this actually a lake? But didn't we come from the ocean?'

Not too long after entering the village where Tazuna resided, the boat stopped a dock and the eight shinobi dropped off, alongside their client.

"Kaji, thank you. I know that you took a big risk in helping me."

"It's not much, but I'm glad I could still help. I'm sorry that I can't take you closer to your home, but it's too dangerous in here," the man said, noting that Sakura had already drawn a kunai as if expecting an attack. Wishing Tazuna good luck, the man turned on the motor of his boat and sped off to his own house, on the other side of the island.

From there, Naruto, Shino, and Hinata once again used their abilities to ensure they wouldn't be ambushed as they continued to travel through the village. They didn't spend more than a few minutes in there, as they had to pass through a forested area in order to arrive in the neighborhood where Tazuna's home was.

'There's another difference,' Naruto mused. 'Everything is connected by streets in Konoha... I wonder if the central part of the village is like this,' he thought, remembering that they were just on the outskirts of the village.

While Naruto was still comparing what he saw to his own hometown, Shino was quietly taking note of the wildlife his bugs could sense all around their path. 'If we had to camp in the forest, there would be a good variety of animals to choose for dinner. Or we could always eat rabbit again,' he reasoned, having encountered one hiding in a bush far ahead of the group's location.

Much to his confusion, the rabbit remained hidden. Shino's bugs told him that there were no natural predators around it, and the animal wasn't even looking for food or shelter... but before he could try to make sense of the creature's odd behavior, the few bugs he had sent to scan the treetop areas further ahead found something else.

"I detect a shinobi with jonin-level reserves hiding in the treetops further ahead, facing away from the water's edge," he reported, pointing at the large body of water that was just to the side of the road. "The clones should be arriving at where he is in a few minutes, but that part of the road is on a wide clearing and they could be attacked at any moment."

As soon a few of his bugs detected that the unknown enemy was, the Aburame then ordered all of them to stop draining the supposed assassin's chakra and scout his surroundings. The Demon Brothers had been too furious to think straight upon realizing that they were tricked, but Shino was sure that a jonin would be more attentive to their own reserves. Furthermore, forcing their enemy to flee before they could get any information on them would be less than desirable, and there was a chance that the assassin might have a partner hidden somewhere... but the kikaichu found no trace of another person nearby.

After listening to Shino, Kurenai used one of Naruto's kage bunshin to deliver the order to stay put, whereas Kakashi chose to address the group as a whole. "Now listen carefully everyone: this enemy is practically guaranteed to be a jonin. You performed well against the Demon Brothers, but this time, let us take care of the enemy. Focus solely on protecting Tazuna, and we will protect all of you in turn."

"But... what if you two get defeated, sensei?" Sakura asked in a calm tone. Her features were firm, and anyone that didn't look at how her hands and legs were trembling would be fooled by her facade.

"...If that happens, you all should abort the mission immediately and try to find someone willing to take you back to Konoha. You won't stand a chance against someone good enough to kill both myself and Kurenai, but they shouldn't pursue you if you stop protecting Tazuna."

Sasuke grimaced. "So we are to leave Tazuna to die? Just like that?"

The Uchiha's question made the old man scowl. "Don't be stupid, kid. If your sensei dies then there's no way I won't follow next. I'd rather not see youngsters like you lose their lives protecting a walking corpse."

There was a finality in Tazuna's words, as if the fact that he could be killed at any moment didn't bother him anymore. It made all of the genin realize that, despite being told about the dangers of being a ninja multiple times in the past, none of them were psychologically ready to face a situation of certain death just yet.

They all also realized that it would be difficult to escape anyone good enough to kill Kurenai and Kakashi, even if they abandoned Tazuna to his death. The enemy could kill them for fun, or "punish" them for their cowardice.

"Kakashi," Kurenai started talking, "It's unlikely that our enemy will be as stupid as those chunin that our students defeated. Should we still try to operate in the same way as before? They might flee once they discover that their target was fake."

"You may be right," Kakashi conceded, "but we should at least gather some intel on them while we have the chance. Tazuna-san, if the enemy can't be defeated now, we might need to send your daughter and grandson to live with someone else until the mission is complete. Our job will be much easier if we only have to worry about your safety."

The old bridge builder nodded. "Fair enough. That can be arranged."

"Sensei, if I may?" Both Kakashi and Kurenai nodded to Shino. "The enemy is positioned in such a way that he can't be easily ambushed. He is perched on a tall tree in front of a clearing, and my bugs haven't found a position from where we could spy on him with Hinata's Byakugan without being found out first. Furthermore, his back is positioned in a way that makes approaching him from his blind spot unoptimal, as it would require going through the lake... and my bugs have just reported that a great amount of the water is contaminated by chakra. I don't know what exactly this jutsu does, however."

"Hmm... I think I know what he did..." Kakashi mumbled, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Going into the water is a death sentence, but it should be safe for us to walk over it. And this suggests that our foe is a suiton specialist, likely from the Mist, too."

"...Well, what do you think we should do, then?" Kurenai asked Kakashi, deferring the leadership to the more experienced shinobi. She was a jonin, but her promotion had been quite recent... especially when compared to someone that became a jonin at an age younger than his own genin currently were.

The silver-haired man sighed. The lack of intel on the enemy ninja would be detrimental to any plans they might make, but something needed to be done. "If they flee, we need to get to Tazuna-san's house as fast as possible to set up our defenses to protect the house—and by extension, our client. But if the enemy kills the clones without being seen, then they might go ahead and try to ambush us again. In that case, here's what we will do..."

---

As Shino had described, there was someone hidden in the upper part of a tall tree, patiently waiting for Tazuna and his escorts while under the covers of the tree's thick foliage.

A man named Zabuza Momochi.

Soon, the decoy squad passed near his hiding spot. 'Hmph... of course the demon brothers would have failed. Even I would have trouble going toe-to-toe against Kakashi, the Copy Ninja,' Zabuza mused, remembering the extensive entry the son of the White Fang had on the bingo book. The bingo book was where one could find information on shinobi wanted by hidden villages which includes missing ninja AND active ninja from all villages (though it goes without saying that bringing the body of an active ninja to their own village won't do you any good). It was an essential tool for any jonin, and especially vital to bounty hunters and mercenaries like him.

Zabuza himself could be found in that book, too. Being the ex-leader of Kirigakure's assassination squad, as well as a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, his track record was nothing to scoff at. Though he wasn't pleased that the picture they had of him in the book still showed him wearing the Mist's jonin uniform—an outfit he no longer had any pride in after his village took a turn for the worse under Yagura's rule. His headband, though, he still wore with pride. It proved that even as a missing-nin, he was loyal to Kirigakure itself instead of just being one of the Mizukage's toy soldiers.

Some details about his looks didn't change, however: his brown hair was still spiky and short, and he still wore bandages in order to hide most of his face. But instead of a jonin uniform, Zabuza only significant articles of clothing were baggy cyan pants. Over his chest, he only had the leather straps that he used to hold his gigantic sword: the Kubikiribocho. After all, when you can consistently kill your enemies with a single strike, and without taking any damage... who needs armor?

Though Zabuza considered that an opponent of Kakashi's caliber might have made wearing chainmail a worthwhile investment, the jonin's attitude made him rethink that. 'They are all somewhat tense, but not even Kakashi is making any effort to watch out for enemies. Heh, it almost looks like he doesn't care at all.'

Behind the bandages covering most of his face, Zabuza grinned. His job would be much easier—not that it would've been hard to begin with, he thought—if his foes weren't actively looking out for him. Still, Kakashi's behavior intrigued him. Even if Konohagakure's standards were lower than Kiri's, a jonin wouldn't be acting like that.

Then a thought came to him: 'Maybe... he really doesn't care. Could it be that one of those brats is a sensor-type?' As much as he knew that those kids hardly could be considering ninja, support-type abilities could make bringing an inexperienced novice into an S-ranked mission worthwhile. It would certainly explain why Kakashi didn't seem to feel threatened. It's a good thing I always suppress my chakra while waiting to ambush people. But this complicates things... I don't know which of the brats is the sensor. I guess I only have one option, then.' he realized.

Zabuza's plan was simple enough: he'd toss his sword at the group and kill all five of them in a single maneuver. It was definitely a risky move, but he couldn't target the kids individually with kunai and shuriken: any jonin worth their salt would easily recognize the noise of the projectiles coming and react accordingly. Using jutsu would not do him any good if he wished to not risk having his cover blown by the sensor, and of course, approaching them head-on would make said sensor detect him easily despite his suppressed chakra signature.

And thus, he threw his blade. Naruto's clones never saw Zabuza's massive broadsword spinning towards them.

But then again, Zabuza could have never imagined that his targets were only shadow clones, either...

---

"All of my clones died... and I have no idea of how it happened. Sorry..." Naruto reported, sighing. When he looked up at Kurenai, he expected her to scold him for not being able to give her any good information, but to his shock, the woman was smiling at him.

"Thank you, Naruto." The moment was brief, however, as she turned to Shino right afterwards.

The Aburame was aware of her movement, but remained silent as he sent his bugs back to where the enemy was. "They haven't moved," he constated after a few moments.

"I'll be going, then."

With those words, Kurenai ran towards the assassin's hiding spot, going through a few hand signs as she did so. After the last one, her body sank into the ground, leaving no trace of the woman's presence.

That is, unless you had senses as sharp as Kiba did. "That's the same jutsu you used on me and Hinata yesterday, right?" he asked, looking at Kakashi.

"No, this one is the Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu. You could say it is a "cousin" jutsu to the Headhunter," the man clarified. "You can't drag someone with you, but it is more subtle and faster to move around with. Now, let's follow after her, just in case she ends up needing backup." Kakashi said, walking alongside the road once again.

Part of this subtlety that Kakashi referred to was related to how much noise it made. Kiba noted that while he had managed to hear Kakashi burrowing underground with ease until he had fully sunken in, Kurenai's technique was almost completely silent; though he considered that expanding his senses would've allowed him to track her down.

This held true even when the woman emerged from right behind the tree where Zabuza was hiding himself, and thanks to that, she went by undetected by him.

But one look at the man's enormous weapon, and she paled. 'Zabuza Momochi?! This isn't good... he is probably the worst enemy we could've had the luck of facing in this mission.'

Seconds later, the mist assassin groaned and fell to the ground, knocked unconscious by one of Kurenai's strongest genjutsu. Walking towards him, she slit his throat, wetting her hand in the liquid that leaked out of the wound.

It was then that the corpse exploded in a cloud of smoke and water, which splashed all over Kurenai.

Expecting an attack coming from her blind spot, Kurenai turned immediately and tossed a few shuriken, only to see a silhouette standing above the water, as mist started to gather around the entire area. The sound of steel striking steel told her that the shuriken were blocked.

"How disappointing... I was expecting to fight Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan, you know? People like you, who rely only on cheap illusions, don't make for terribly exciting fights. But I commend you for the smart use of the Transformation and Shadow Clone Techniques. I just hope you don't mind me taking inspiration from that, Genjutsu Mistress."

Kurenai gritted her teeth. She didn't even need the Byakugan to know the man was smirking underneath his bandages. 'Fuck, I've gotta go back to Kakashi! This is not someone I can take by myself, not like this!'

As she once again used the Moguragakure no Jutsu, Zabuza started laughing as the mist around him got thicker and thicker...

The hunt was just beginning.

---

"What is the meaning of this...?"

Shino was only mumbling to himself, but Hinata had been close enough to hear it. The palpable confusion on her usually self-assured teammate's voice was enough to make the girl start worrying. "I-Is something wrong, Shino-kun?"

"I... believe so. I lost connection with almost all of the kikai I have sent to scout our surroundings. Only the ones that are scouting the area directly behinds us are still under my command.

Kakashi scowled deeply, but remained calm. "Hinata and Kiba, tell me what you can find out."

Hearing the jonin's command, Hinata activated her Byakugan while Kiba focused to expand his senses.

Once her range of vision got larger, Hinata immediately paled. "A-A large area in f-front of us is shining brightly, l-like chakra! M-m-my vision gets b-blurred if I try to see through it!"

Afterwards, Kiba gave his own report. "Kurenai-sensei is going back to us, from underground. She should be here in a few seconds." After sharing what he could find out by listening to his surroundings, he gulped. "I... can also smell something that reeks strongly of dried blood up ahead and... I-it's coming our way! We have two minutes at most!"

"Hey, hey, what is going on?! What do you mean?!" Naruto asked, looking over the genin of Team 8, as well as Akamaru, who was beside Kiba and watched the forest ahead of them warily. Their vagueness was both irritating and scary, but the panic written over their faces, perhaps, was even more terrifying. His teammates didn't have particularly happy expressions, either.

"We've got trouble," Kurenai said, popping out of the ground like a mole and startling the blond. "It's Zabuza Momochi. He used a shadow clone to trick me, and his Kirigakure no Jutsu is already affecting the area up ahead."

"Dammit," Kakashi cursed, noting that the area surrounding them was quickly becoming obscured by a white mist. He then turned to speak with the six genin. "Listen, Kurenai and I will be fighting this enemy. You all are going to sneak through the forest and go back to the docks by yourselves, and until we return," he pointed at Kiba, "you are in charge of leading the team."

"...What?! Me?!" the boy pointed to himself incredulously. "But why?! W-what about Shino or Hinata?"

"Usually they would be better fit to direct you around the forest, yes," Kurenai agreed, a grim look on her face. "But the chakra-based mist of the Kirigakure no Jutsu makes communicating with kikaichu almost impossible for most Aburame, and only very advanced Byakugan-users can see through it without being blinded by the chakra. Sadly, this also gets in the way of casting all but the strongest genjutsu."

This news made Sakura clutch her kunai even more tightly. She would be back to square one as long as this mist was in play... and worse, that also meant Kurenai would be severely handicapped during the fight that would soon begin.

Kakashi then continued. "But the mist shouldn't block your senses from working, so you are the best choice to lead them. Understood?" Kiba hesitated, but after an encouraging bark from his partner, he snapped out of it and nodded firmly to Kakashi.

"Regardless of who wins this battle, the mist should lift up when it ends, so Shino's bugs will be able to tell you who it is. If we win, you are to return to where we are as fast as possible. If we die—even if we take Zabuza with us—you know what to do." With his orders issued, Kakashi lifted his headband, revealing the three-tomoe Sharingan that was underneath it. Before a completely and utterly shocked Sasuke was even able to process that information, the man gave them one last order as he drew a kunai. "Now get out of here!"

"Come on, let's go everyone! He's almost here!" Kiba warned, before he and Akamaru dashed in the direction of the forest. Tazuna and the remaining genin followed him as best as they could, taking care to not get lost in the mist.

But just before they all entered the forest, Kiba's nose was suddenly assaulted by the stench of dried blood that he detected earlier, coming from right in front of him instead of a few hundred meters in the direction Kurenai had gone to.

"You won't be going anywhere!"

The Inuzuka realized right then, that the stench came from the sword wielded by Zabuza... a massive sword that was just about to decapitate him and a good portion of his fellow genin in a gigantic swing, until a blur appeared in front of them and a dull clang could be heard.

"Ah, so you know more than just genjutsu, eh? Maybe you won't be such a boring opponent after all, Kurenai Yuhi," the swordsman taunted, noticing that his sword was blocked by Kurenai's hands. The blade hadn't hit skin, though, being instead held at bay by a pair of big, rock-like gauntlets that the kunoichi now wore.

Though shocked by the sudden appearance of the two jonin and disoriented by Kubikiribocho's strong smell, Kiba only needed a couple seconds to gather his bearings before dashing towards the foggy woods again, steering away from where the Mist jonin was. "Guys, follow me! Be careful so you don't get lost!"

As the genin and Tazuna hurried to escape, Zabuza overpowered Kurenai's block by pushing the spine of his sword with his right hand, forcing the kunoichi to jump away to avoid being bisected. He didn't have time to rest, though, as Kakashi appeared right next to him. Not at all impaired by his sword's massive size and weight, Zabuza swung it quickly enough to stop the kunai that was coming down on him.

"Heh, so you were here after all," Zabuza remarked as he tried to force his way through Kakashi's defenses. "Good. I was looking forward to this fight." Despite his boisterous words, Zabuza realized right away that things just had gotten significantly more complicated. 'The bingo book says he has the dog summoning contract... if I run away or try to go after the bridge builder, he can track me down even in the mist. I need to trick them both or kill Kakashi right here, but can that eye of his see through my mist? It's bad enough already that I can't use most ninjutsu without him detecting it...'

"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spear!"

Hearing Kurenai's voice, Zabuza chakra-jumped back into the mist, narrowly avoiding the thin stalagmites that almost pierced his torso. 'Dammit, Gatou said that there would only be one jonin!' he cursed, all while manipulating the chakra from the nearby lake's water to speed up the creation of a basic water clone.

"I'm sorry," Kurenai said as she appeared behind Kakashi, standing back to back with him. "I didn't think he would be able to track me down."

"Hahahaha!" Zabuza's mocking laughter could be heard from within the mist. "I was trained to kill people without even needing to see them! The Moguragakure no Jutsu is useless against me." The swordsman usually didn't share his secrets; he wasn't stupid... but discouraging Kurenai from playing hide and seek while he had to face Kakashi was worth it. He knew that the jutsu would've allowed her to track him down given how it lets the user detect their surroundings via magnetic waves.

"Don't worry, I don't blame you," Kakashi answered to Kurenai, ignoring Zabuza's words but speaking loud enough for the assassin to hear him. Making use of the fact that his mask didn't let Zabuza see his mouth moving, Kakashi continued to speak, though his next words were barely more than a whisper. "He's still more-or-less in front of me, and there's a water clone circling us to attack you."

Said clone tried to strike almost immediately afterwards, but Kurenai parried the slash with her rock gauntlets, and after briefly stopping the flow of earth chakra on her right hand for the gauntlet to fall apart, she quickly grabbed a kunai and shot it at the water construct's neck with enough force to pierce it completely, dispelling the clone. A single hand seal later, and the gauntlet had reformed completely.

The next two minutes were spent with Zabuza testing the two jonin, by creating a few more water clones and having them attack in various patterns. He was aware of the Sharingan's ability to perceive chakra and increase reaction time, but he needed to test how far it could go before making the decision to stay or flee. The latter option would only be possible with a body flicker or a Water Release: Shadow Clone Jutsu, and both of them would be easy for Kakashi to spot unless he was sufficiently busy.

Using normal suiton techniques would require molding his chakra right in front of him, giving his position away even with the mist acting as a curtain and with him suppressing his chakra to remain hard to detect. However, thanks to having a nearby water source and enough skill with Water chakra manipulation, the Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu could be executed in a subtle way if only one or two clones were to be made, and would not require the user to mold any of their own chakra.

His intentions weren't lost on the two Konoha jonin, but they couldn't go on the offensive right away since they would leave big openings while Zabuza was out of sight. Nonetheless, the more time the assassin wasted on them, the easier it would be for their students to escape safely... but they also couldn't allow the swordsman to go after the kids or win the fight by attrition.

As Zabuza circled the pair and created more clones to fight them, he noticed that Kakashi and kurenai were constantly shifting their positions so that Kakashi was always facing him, and that Kurenai's reaction time was too good for someone who supposedly wasn't aware that an attack would come. 'He can see that I'm creating clones and he's warning her of when they are going to move...' he realized. 'Dammit. Thanks to that blasted dojutsu, I would need Haku's help to separate them... but that's not an option right now.'

Letting out a sigh, and smirking slightly when he heard an interesting noise from one of the bushes behind him, he strapped his sword to his back and made one last clone. He was now with his back to the forest, but it was too far away from the water for him create more mizu bunshin with chakra that wasn't his own. 'It's gonna take a good chunk of my reserves, but I'll have to slow them down with a strong ninjutsu and go after my true target.'

Unbeknownst to Zabuza, there actually was a way for him to keep creating clones to make his escape, which was by using the water of the clones that had fallen in combat to the two Leaf jonin. This was a fact that didn't escape Kakashi. 'Good, there's finally enough water for both of us to create a water clone without using a hand seal.'

It was time to put his plan into action, the Sharingan-user decided. "Use the water around you to make a clone at your eight; I have one twenty meters away from me in the same direction," he whispered to Kurenai, and after waiting one second, he substituted himself with the clone. Kurenai deactivated her gauntlets and followed almost immediately afterwards.

With Zabuza trying to flee from the scene, and both Kakashi and Kurenai trying to reappear close by to ambush him, it came as a surprise to all three of them when they were suddenly face-to-face with each other after trying to execute their respective plans.

Reacting first, Kurenai tossed three shuriken at the bare-chested man before going through the seals to reactivate the Fist Rock Jutsu. Not having the time to draw his heavy broadsword again, Zabuza grunted and used a mere kunai to block the projectiles, before focusing on defending himself from Kakashi's own kunai, ultimately locking blades with the silver-haired man.

"Going somewhere, Demon of the Hidden Mist?" Kakashi taunted, staring straight into Zabuza's brown eyes. Refusing to grace that with an answer, the swordsman tried to knee him, only for Kakashi to counter with the exact same movement. Zabuza barely had time to feel shocked, as he was forced to hop backwards to dodge a slow punch from Kurenai, which was followed up by a significantly faster kick that ended up striking Zabuza's abdomen. The swordsman stumbled backwards a few, but not before tossing his kunai at the woman, which she simply punched away.

"I've had enough of this!" Zabuza roared, once again grabbing his greatsword and rushing at the two Konoha jonin. Believing that Zabuza had simply lost his patience, they simply waited for the assassin to strike again. One block and one counterattack is all they would need to kill Zabuza.

Neither could really believe it when they realized that Zabuza had thrown the Kubikiribocho at them, and were almost too late in scrambling to dodge the massive projectile that the spinning blade became. Zabuza smirked when he saw that Kurenai had jumped to the left but Kakashi had jumped to the right, just as the angle he had thrown the sword had been designed to do. 'Looks like I won't need Haku's help after all,' he commented to himself, pleased that his gambit paid off. Running away could wait.

He immediately pursued the Genjutsu Mistress, going through a few seals as he did so.

Though there was no better way to dodge Zabuza's unexpected attack, jumping into an area which couldn't be seen had risks of its own. Unfortunately for Kurenai, she only realized that her flight path would have her head colliding with the thick branch of a tree after the sharp pain on her skull made itself present. It was enough to leave her off-balance and ruin her landing, leaving the kunoichi sprawled near the roots of the tree.

"Water Release: Water Bomb Jutsu!"

Not wasting any time, Kurenai made good use of her previous misfortune and slammed her hand into the ground and shouted as loud as she could: "Earth Release: Mud Wall!"

As earth techniques are resistant to water techniques, Zabuza's attack was completely stopped. Using that window of time, Kurenai burrowed underground and located where Zabuza was, but instead of trying to surprise him, she simply reemerged behind her mud wall. The fact that she didn't go anywhere made Zabuza frown as he kept running towards the wall, but he had little time to dwell on that as Kurenai vaulted over the mud construct and tried to match him using a kunai.

Being used to swinging a much heavier weapon, Zabuza's strikes were significantly faster and stronger than the usual jonin's, and it took only two strikes to disarm Kurenai, and another to pierce her through the chest. "You idiot."

He felt a cool, metallic blade on his neck at the same time that he realized that water was dripping out of Kurenai's wound instead of blood. "Looks like I'm about to cut your throat again, Zabuza."

"Looks like you are about to be fooled by a shadow clone again, Kurenai," Zabuza whispered in her ear, pressing his kunai against her jugular as the clone Kurenai was threatening popped in a cloud of smoke, this time without a drop of water involved. "And not another step, Kakashi, or I'll kill her," he threatened, turning around with Kurenai still made hostage. Kakashi wasn't even ten meters away from him.

'So this is the real Zabuza...' the Copy Ninja concluded, observing with his Sharingan as a decent amount of chakra traveled from the smoke cloud into Zabuza's body.

"Place your kunai back in your pouch and throw the whole thing away. And dispel that stupid water clone that is trying to sneak up on me." Kakashi hesitated but did as Zabuza ordered.

The silence was broken by a splash, followed by Zabuza's laughter. "Did you really think you'd get the upper hand on me with my own technique? A cheap copy? Please."

'Why do my enemies never consider that I might have copied techniques from someone else already? Does he seriously think that this is the first time I ever saw water clones despite being a jonin for over a decade?' Kakashi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He didn't need to make his job any harder after all. "You talk as if you were planning to spare her."

"Heh, listen, I was hired to kill the bridge builder and possibly the one jonin that would be accompanying him. Fighting two jonin isn't on my contract, and there is no way my employer will compensate me for my troubles." He then made a shallow cut on Kurenai's neck, "You are only alive right now because of the Sharingan. If not for that, I would have completed my mission with no problems."

"What is your point?" Kakashi asked, scowling. 'Almost there...'

"Let me offer you a deal: destroy your left eye, and I promise to not harm you or any of the Leaf shinobi that came with you... that is, as long as none of you try to get between me and my target," he scoffed, "but without your eye, I'm sure that you won't be stupid enough to keep this going. So what do you say, Kakashi of the Sharingan?"

"...Alright."

'Well, that was quick,' Zabuza though, as he watched Kakashi rip out the eye that made him so famous. 'I knew these people from Konoha are stupid enough to value things like friends and family above themselves, but... really?'

"Are you sure you want me to destroy it?" the jonin asked, staring at his bloody hand with the only working eye he had left. "This would make you a fortune on the black market."

Zabuza laughed, this time without a mocking undertone. 'This is priceless', he though, shaking his head in disbelief and answering Kakashi's question with the same motion. "After I grab my money from Gatou, I won't need anymore." If his plan worked, he would gather an army of mercenaries, crush the Mizukage and get the hat for himself... so it's not like he wouldn't end up rich anyways. 'Besides, I can't risk meeting whoever gets the eye in the battlefield one day.'

"So aren't you going to release me, Zabuza?" The question was met with silence. She was neither threatened nor freed. Zabuza was completely still.

"It should be safe now," Kakashi said

Kurenai then disentangled herself from Zabuza's grasp, careful to not disturb the illusion he was trapped in by stepping on his toes or causing him pain in any other way. As she walked, the world around her started to spin, but even though she was wobbling, Kurenai managed to reach Kakashi.

"You alright?" he asked while preparing a jutsu. The woman merely hovered her hand above her wound, a green aura indicating that she was using the Mystic Palm.

"I think there was poison on that kunai, but I'm taking care of it. And you?"

"I lost almost one fourth of my chakra because of the Sharingan, but I'm fine." he answered. The sound of chirping birds could be heard as a mass of lightning started to form on Kakashi's hands. The man then started to run towards the dazed Zabuza, intent on piercing him through the chest with his unique jutsu: the Chidori.

His Sharingan picked up Zabuza's chakra flaring when he was but a second away from the swordsman... but Kakashi didn't think that breaking out of the genjutsu would have made any good for Zabuza. He was going too fast for the man to dodge, and there was no way he would be able to use a substitution with anything.

When his hand blasted through what once had been a beautiful, white-furred snow rabbit, he realized how wrong he was.

---

"Bastard... I can't believe that the Sharingan's genjutsu can generate enough Yin chakra to work inside my mist," Zabuza commented to himself, panting slightly.

He had reappeared over a bush, beside the tree where his sword had lodged itself. He had left that rabbit close by, behind his ambush spot just in case he needed an emergency substitution, and had trained the animal to stay still even if sensing danger nearby. It proved to be a worthwhile investment, as the little animal remained hidden even though the Kubikiribocho had violently struck a tree that was only a couple feet away from him.

Dislodging his sword from the trunk it had been lodged on, he quickly strapped it to his back and concentrated. Hearing Kakashi and Kurenai's voice in the distance, he body flickered deeper into the woods and made a sequence of seals.

"Let's see if they can survive this! Water Release: Giant Vortex Jutsu!"

Though it consumed almost all of Zabuza's usable chakra, his technique formed a gigantic twister of water, ripping apart the forest's floor with ease as it traveled towards where Kakashi and Kurenai had been heard. "This will send them straight into the lake, so if the uprooted trees and boulders don't kill them, they will drown instead. And even if they try to go underground, the water current is too strong for that to work. It will push them out of the ground and they will die anyways"

Turning his back to the destroyed remains of his previous battlefield, he lifted the mist straight ahead of him and started to make his way towards his next targets.

"They can't survive. Now... time to show to those brats what a real shinobi is supposed to be."

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A/N:

Wow. This chapter was a massive struggle to pull off.

I dunno if it's just me being tired from my new job, but not a single part of the chapter was easy to write. Especially troublesome was the fight scene, but I wrote that scene at home so I can't blame my job for it, lol.

Anyways... I apologize for leaving you all with this cliffhanger, but as I'm sure you noticed, this chapter is a little big, and I would delay it all even more if I wanted to conclude the day's events in one go. Also, unlike this chapter, the storyline of the original chapter 9 is very much reusable, but I can't stretch it long enough to make it into a bigger chapter (I think), so this guarantees that it won't be a short update since the second part of this scene will happen there.

I hope the scenes prior to the battle were satisfactory... and that the fight scene wasn't too crappy. My beta seemed to have liked it, but I don't feel very confident about it.

Also, I should be going back to college in a few days, and thanks to that, I will have very little free time on weekdays. I do hope that I will be able to manage everything well, but chapters might end up being a little shorter from now on, or I might have to delay it a little bit... I'm sorry if it comes to that.

So, from now on, you will see a status update in my profile just in case the four weeks pass and there's no new chapter posted, as a whole new topic in the table of contents. And like I said before, there's also a word count for the next chapter in the profile too.

Lastly, special thanks to reviewers Perentie Fan, Vallavarayan and Meow382 for giving me a few ideas that I used in this chapter! And apologies to the latter, since I talked about a certain SakuHina interaction that was supposed to happen chapter 7, but it got cut... and despite me having the opportunity, it also didn't happen in chapter 8. It will show up in chapter 10, though.

And I probably should stop being a jerk and remember to publicly thank SimplePotato, who does the beta work for me. I already thank him a lot IRL, but yeah.

I guess that was pretty much it. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter, and will be looking forward to the next one! Thank you for your support! looking forward to see what you guys think will happen next!

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Changelog

1.0 to 2.0 (07/17/16)

Polished the entire chapter, from adding some details to fixing typos and grammar. Usual stuff to those that read this bit.