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!)

13. Chapter 13 - Shattered, part 1

Yo!

"Flare Blade, are they still in Namek—I mean, Wave?"

Yup... sorry about the long time this arc took, guys. And especially sorry about this chapter's delay. My PC crashed while I was working on this during an autosave, and I lost quite a bit of content... which was triply bad because it was content done in the only weeks where college was not important enough compared to this story, so rewriting all of that took even more time.

Kinda lost my motivation to write for a few days thanks to that, and then I got sick on top of it... and finally, at the last minute, the new Phoenix Wright game came out and I barely could put it down. You guys were lucky the last time this happened (July, with Zero Escape Time Dilemma) I didn't have college...

Lastly, the very first of those issues ended up messing my schedule, throwing the bulk of the edition process into the weekdays... which slowed down the process considerably once I was finally done writing.

Still, I hope that you have been enjoying the arc so far. Especially the new content, which is the friendship building I've been focusing on.

Or "Social Linking", as I like to call it. Gotta hope Hinata doesn't try to fuse Star Arcana personas for a while and that Naruto doesn't need any Strength Arcana ones, cuz their link's reversed right now. Meanwhile, Sasuke got an exp boost when working with Lovers Arcana persona while Sakura got the same for Fool Arcana ones, haha. (Do any Persona fans out there think those arcana are unfitting/there are better choices?)

There was a mostly even split of plot-advancement and relationship building up to this point (It's been a while, but we have dealt with actual plot for the first three chapters of the arc, remember?), and this chapter will have little to none of the latter to compensate for the plot being mostly frozen during the last three chapters. But no more! (unless you count Inari's parts as relationship building...)

Indeed, this is the first part of this arc's finale, so we will soon be leaving the Land of Waves behind forever (for this book anyways)! Yay! Like the end of the prologue arc, this will be divided into two chapters... but like during the time Zabuza first appeared, those two chapters will have enough content to stand for three different chapters when put together. The big difference is that I won't post both at once.

---

Guest Review answers:

Areving: I really, really, REALLY want to give your review the response it deserves, but I don't want to make this chapter longer than it already is and annoy the other readers... so, for now, I'll just say that your review made me incredibly happy (something you accomplished with some consistency) and I implore you to make an account so that I can give you an actual answer via PM. Seriously, please do it!

Guest that said something about Hinata tripping chapters ago: I'm dumb (sorry) and only really understood what you meant now. Hinata has a small tripping problem (I blame Masahiro Sakurai) but in those circumstances she was the least likely to actually trip over something, what with the mist giving everyone else such a hard time except the one gal that had special eyes.

BR!Guest that was freaking out: Lol. Sadly, BR here as well... glad you liked the fic, though!

Guest that was mad: Haha. I'm glad you liked it, but the reception has been pretty okay IMO. Could be better, yeah, but the series is over, so popularity is starting to decline I suppose. Especially on the NH side of things where it is already canon and stuff (doesn't help that, somehow, The Last has been well received despite how hugely flawed it is #hypocrisy).

---

Okay, grab something to eat (this one is BIG), and let's get started! Hope you guys enjoy it! (I, particularly, am not too fond of this chapter. But hopefully you all will disagree with me.)

---

Land of Waves arc

Chapter 13: Shattered, part 1 (Current Version: 1.0.1)

---

A full week had gone by ever since Tazuna and his escorts had arrived in the Land of Waves...

The ninja had spent most of that time period training, given the circumstances around the assassination attempt that happened right on their first day in the country. Still, none of them felt quite prepared for what was to come.

Kurenai was doing her job as Tazuna's primary bodyguard well, but Zabuza's abilities made illusions useless, leaving the kunoichi to rely skills that she hadn't as much mastery or confidence in. The knowledge that she had only survived against the rogue nin's assault because of Kakashi, who wasn't guarding the bridge with her, only added to the woman's stress levels.

The Copy Ninja himself was still recovering from the toll of almost dying from chakra exhaustion, and though he had secretly spent the last few days of the week exercising his body, Kakashi knew he wasn't at 100% just yet. He honestly hadn't been at his best for quite a long time, given that he relaxed a fair bit on his training regimen after the Hokage made him quit the ANBU. However, with his team in danger, he knew he had to bring out his A-game the next time he and the rogue swordsman crossed blades.

The genin were completely out their league, and even though all of them progressed a fair bit with their respective training exercises, they knew that it was extremely far from "barely enough". Zabuza wouldn't play around with them, and likely neither would whatever underlings he would bring with him.

Shino, however, was satisfied with how he and his fellow genin were progressing. Unlike the others, he had accepted that there was little that would leave them fully prepared for the fights that were to come, and decided to make the most out of the training he could actually do and base his opinions on that alone.

He understood that the other boys were getting frustrated with how long they were taking to master an exercise that Sakura and Hinata managed to complete in a single day, but he also understood how the three had larger reserves and unrefined control when compared to the girls and himself. Kiba and Sasuke were fairly good at fighting if they could use everything they had at disposal, so making sure they could keep the pressure on foes for longer with Passing Fangs and Great Fireballs was a good thing in his mind. The genin would certainly be relying on them, given that they were the strongest fighters among the six.

The much-needed taijutsu training Sasuke goaded Naruto into doing would also be helpful to all of them in the end, and if Kakashi's words were correct, Naruto's endless army of clones might just be a little more durable than before in addition to more skilled. None of those things would really help the three survive against Zabuza, but holding back the fake hunter-nin and whatever other underlings the rogue swordsman might have would be feasible. That, he knew, was a job that would fall to those three, since he and the girls would be unable to perform effectively in the mist.

On that topic, Shino knew that the elemental training he, Sakura and Hinata were doing would be futile. None of them would be mastering their element in time for the fight, even though all three had progressed a lot more than their jonin-sensei had expected. Still, while the three weren't advancing enough to be learning any ninjutsu, the constant sparring that Kurenai had them doing to conserve chakra had been extremely helpful to hone their taijutsu in the Aburame's opinion.

In the end, they were not at all ready for the trials that were to come. But, Shino would argue, they had done the best possible to prepare themselves. And even though none of his fellow genin agreed with him (not that he asked, or had been asked), they all were in a good mood despite knowing Zabuza soon would be fully healed from his wounds.

Well... mostly. Shino didn't mingle as much as his friends, but he observed. People forgot about him, but he never forgets anyone.

Though some people were closer to each other than before, such as Sakura with Sasuke or Kiba with Naruto, he saw that the relationship between the two girls of the group had been somewhat strained after the incident at the previous day's breakfast. Or, as the Inuzuka had put it, they weren't as buddy-buddy as before.

Much to the Aburame's vexing, Kiba seemed to know what exactly went on between Sakura and Hinata, but refused to share, arguing that they would get over it on their own. Of course, Kiba hadn't been the one that dealt with the awkwardness between the two for an entire day...

Luckily for Shino, they mostly got past that during their following day of training, but the same didn't apply to the more worrying case of Naruto and Hinata. Luckily, the two barely ever spent time around each other due to their conflicting schedules, but even during such times, they did their best to avoid each other. It didn't stop either from glancing at the other from time to time, but the few times Shino saw their gazes meeting, the end result was always the same: they broke eye contact immediately, and both seemed to feel guilty about something that was beyond him.

This was a subject Kiba seemed to have incomplete information on, and from the looks he saw the Inuzuka aiming at the Naruto once or twice, his teammate appeared to be debating whether or not to try and force the information out of the Uzumaki. Given that Naruto was one to loudly protest when things didn't go as he wished, Shino was sure that this different behavior the blond had been exhibiting meant Kiba would only make things worse if he tried to interfere. Luckily, said argument was enough to keep the dog-boy on his leash, but for how long Shino wasn't sure.

And from the civilian side of things, Shino could say he was surprised that Tazuna and Tsunami both weren't very outwardly worried as he had expected. His guess was that the two understood that they could do nothing else but trust that Teams 8 and 7 would be able to fulfill their mission, and perhaps in preparation for a worst-case scenario, father and daughter had spent as much time around each other as they could.

Inari, however, was an entirely different story.

If the boy's words during their first meeting (which had been, so far, the only time he had ever spoken to any of the ninja) were true, then Tsunami's son was absolutely certain that they would fail. What the boy hadn't actually mentioned was how that essentially was the same thing as his grandfather dying trying to defy Gatou, much like he had been forced to witness when his father had attempted the same, and given the boy's silence ever since, Shino had the impression that nobody besides himself made that connection upon hearing Kaiza's story.

Shino understood that the experience shattered the boy's faith, that witnessing such cruelty at such a young age could do irreparable damage to a child's psyche... but Inari seemed to be blaming the ninja for the mortal danger Tazuna was exposed to, from Shino's analysis. Of course, the reason behind the hateful glares he sent towards the Konoha teams when he thought nobody was looking was clear: had they declined Tazuna's true mission request, the old bridge builder wouldn't have kept trying to do his job to save the Land of Waves.

What Inari completely failed to realize was that without their assistance, the Demon Brothers would have ambushed a lone Tazuna on his way home and the old man would have died anyways. This ungratefulness was what bothered Shino, but he remained quiet, given that he knew Inari would contribute nothing to their mission and was, as such, an unnecessary concern...

Until what ended up being the last dinner prior to their fight with Zabuza came, that is.

Finally, after over seven days spent doing nothing but climbing trees, the three boys managed to reach the top after going all-out during the evening. None of them could walk straight afterwards, and the blond Uzumaki even needed Sasuke's help to support himself on the way back. The late night training had taken a toll on them, but not one of the boys kept their happiness hidden

The Uchiha just had a content smirk on his face, and the other two were noisily celebrating their success. Naruto was particularly loud, and his glee at finally reaching the treetops with nothing but chakra was more outwardly expressed than Kiba's. This made him the perfect target for Inari's covert glares, but it wasn't until dinner was over that thing began to escalate.

"In just a few more days, the bridge will finally be complete," the bridge builder began while his daughter started to gather everyone's dishes. Even though a few of his workers had given up due to fear, the Land of Fire's shores were already visible from the distance. "And I have you—all nine of you—to thank for this."

At Akamaru's happy bark from being remembered, Shino noted to himself that at least Tazuna wasn't like his grandson.

"Still, you all should remain vigilant," Tsunami said stoically as she went about taking everyone's used plates. "You said that the assassin would likely be taking a week to recover from his wounds... so he could show up at any moment, now."

"Heh, don't worry!" Naruto, who was slumped over the table uncouthly, smirked overconfidently. "Now that I finally got to the top of that stupid tree, I'll be patrolling the bridge starting tomorrow!" the boy spoke, reiterating what Kakashi and Kurenai had said when he and the others finally got home after training for longer than normal that day.

"You weren't the only one, you know..." Kiba muttered under his breath, something Shino only caught because the Inuzuka was right by his side. Though he and Sasuke both were somewhat annoyed from being ignored, neither could compare to Inari and his scowl, Shino noted. Not that Naruto could see any of them, given that his eyes were closed as he rested after eating so many bowls.

Meanwhile, Kakashi chuckled a bit. "Don't forget that I, too, will be at the bridge from now on."

Instead of looking assured by the jonin's comment, Tazuna's expression hardened.

"Look... I've been meaning to ask you two this," he shot a look at both Kakashi and Kurenai, "but I never found the moment to say it. Why did you two agree to continue the mission? Both of you had plenty of reasons to call it quits, but you actually let the brats decide instead of saying something right away."

That, Shino was now sure, was because there was no choice to be made. There were too many oddities in how both jonin behaved for them to not have known the mission's true nature, and from the look he saw Sasuke giving to both adults, Shino knew he wasn't the only one to have reached that conclusion.

"Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage, but under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive."

Shino's eyes widened. 'That's—!'

"That's a quote from the First Hokage, isn't it?" Sakura said before Shino could even open his mouth, leaving the Aburame's eye twitching beneath his sunglasses. And to think, he had thought it was time for him to move from the background and have the spotlight if only for a moment...

And then Shino once again noticed Inari. The boy's arms were trembling, undoubtedly from clenching his fist too strongly under the table, and even though his dark lenses made it hard to see, Shino was sure that the boy's eyes were moistening.

Despite being on the verge of tears, Inari still raised his head to glare at an oblivious Naruto, who had slumped down on the table like the no-mannered troublemaker Shino knew he was.

"But why...?"Inari muttered in a low tone, drawing the attention of a few people around him, including Naruto. They all looked to the boy just in time to see him giving up on holding back his tears.

"Huh? What was that?" the blond raised his head, staring at Inari curiously.

Had anyone else been as observant as he was, Shino told himself, no one would have been surprised when the younger boy slammed his hands on the table as he got up.

"All those stupid training exercises you wasted a week on are worthless! Climbing trees? Making blocks of dirt and filling bowls with water? Gatou has an army of mercenaries, and you all almost got wiped out by just one guy!" Inari spat furiously, not caring at all about the tears rolling down his cheeks. "It doesn't matter how much you train or how much you keep saying cool phrases and acting like everything will be alright! It won't! Gatou will defeat and kill all of you! The strong always win, and the weak always lose. Don't you get it already!?"

Shino watched as some of his fellow genin, as well as Tazuna and Tsunami, were taken aback by the outburst. Truly, the mere idea of Gatou bringing his entire mercenary force to the bridge was frightening, but the magnate couldn't do that as long as Zabuza still lived. Breaking one's contract with a missing-nin when you were but a civilian was a bad idea, to say the least. Kakashi and Kurenai both only looked surprised by the boy's tantrum itself rather than the message, as both were confident that an army of non-ninja would do little against them.

Still, Naruto only closed his eyes again in annoyance, slumping on the table once again as he shrugged off Inari's words. "Ha, speak for yourself! With me around, that's not how things are going to end up."

This only enraged the younger boy further. "Why don't you shut up already!? You... just looking at you laughing and joking around like a clown makes me sick! It's an insult to all the pain we have gone through! You don't know anything about our country! You don't know anything about suffering and being treated like trash, you nosy idiot!"

A subtle gasp from Hinata brought Shino's eyes to her for a moment. She was staring at Naruto (which he knew he should have predicted already), and when he followed her line of sight, he saw that Inari's remarks had finally angered the Uzumaki.

"Look at you... crying and whining all the time like a sorry little victim!" Naruto's growl and feral gaze made Inari stop in his tracks, and Shino was forced to admit that the blond looked legitimately threatening. "You know what, that is an insult to what he got through!" he pointed at the incomplete family portrait that hung behind him, and Inari recoiled. "So go on! Keep crying there for as long as you want, you spineless coward!"

"Naruto! You... that's going too far!" Sakura scolded him immediately, but her yell was ignored as Naruto shoved his fists inside his pockets and left to his room. The pinkette faltered as she watched him leaving, especially once Sasuke announced that he was going to take a bath and left as well. Given the Uchiha's past and the look of disgust that he shot at Inari, Shino was sure he shared Naruto's viewpoint, for once.

Inari couldn't handle the accusation and the glare. He broke down on the spot, sobbing loudly... and while his mother instantly moved to hug him and offer some comfort, the boy squeezed out of her grasp.

"I... I-I need some air," he said with a wavering voice between sobs. Too embarrassed and shaken to handle being around other people at the moment, Inari left the house.

"Inari..." Tsunami muttered, eyes glazing over as she held back tears of her own.

"I'm sorry about what happened," Kakashi said, looking at the woman and then at Tazuna.

With sorrow clear on his tired features, Tazuna shook his head. "Don't be... the only one that has to answer for what happened here is Gatou."

Still, Kakashi could let things end just like that. "If you don't mind, I'll talk with Inari. If he understands Naruto's point of view, I think it will give him something to think about."

"Get in the line," Kiba interjected, pointing with his thumb at the empty chair that was beside Shino.

"Uh, I think she beat you to it, sensei," Sakura added sheepishly, as both Kakashi and Kiba heard the sound of a door opening and closing softly.

Kakashi blinked once and looked at Kurenai, who shrugged at him. "Well," he said; the humor on his voice contrasting heavily with the seriousness he had exhibited prior, "I suppose I should be off before that line gets too big... I hate to be kept waiting."

Shino did not understand why Sakura and Kurenai were so angered by the comment.

---

The salt water from the ocean mixed in with Inari's tears as he sat on the edge of the wooden platform the house was built on. He watched the waves rolling through the surface, disturbing the perfectly white reflection of the crescent moon and the starry sky. The image and the soft sound of the water moving always helped to calm him, even though it wasn't working as well this time.

He barely had a moment of peace before he heard quiet footsteps resounding from the wooden surface behind him.

"Inari-kun... can I sit with you?" Hinata asked with an even, gentle tone. It didn't exactly reflect her inner state, but something inside her also refused to be held back by her shyness at that moment.

Inari wanted to not-kindly ask her to go away, but he didn't trust his voice enough. Hoping that the silence would make the Hyuuga take the hint, he didn't say anything.

Hinata understood what he meant, but chose to sit down beside him anyways. Inari didn't acknowledge her present right away, outside a sideways glance that was only enough to catch a glimpse of the girl's sandaled feet that now hovered above the ocean.

They spent a few moments quietly watching the sea, moments that Hinata spent steeling herself and trying to find the right words. She had followed Inari completely out of impulse, but despite her resolve, the right words slipped her mind.

Inari found the lack of conversation unnerving. "...What do you want?" the boy eventually asked, "If... if you want me to apologize, know that I won't," he spat shakily, still facing forward.

Thus, he didn't see Hinata shaking her head. "No... that's not why I came here. Perhaps it is not my place, but I just wanted you to understand from where Naruto-kun comes from."

Inari wanted to snort but didn't find in himself to do so. What could possibly be to understand about that happy-go-lucky clown?

"I know that his words hurt you... and I won't say that Naruto-kun meant well by them," the girl continued. "Even so, I think there's still something that you can learn from him."

This time, Inari didn't hold himself back. "Ha... from an idiot like him? I doubt it. He doesn't know anything."

"...Actually, Tazuna-san told us. About your father... we know."

The comment made Inari angry. Naruto knew, and still dared to say what he said to him? 'Asshole...'

"But... you are not the only one that went through a past of suffering. He knows about that as well... more than any of us, perhaps, even though he never felt the pain of losing anyone."

Inari was just about to roll his eyes and maybe insult Hinata given her last words, but she continued before he could do anything.

"You would never figure it out just by looking at him, but... Naruto-kun grew up completely by himself. No parents, no family... and until this past week, no real friends either."

'He's... an orphan...!?' Shocked, Inari finally turned to face Hinata, and the sorrow on the girl's expression was clear to see... which meant she was likely speaking the truth.

The mere possibility that a goof like Naruto knew at least a little about what is to suffer completely baffled the boy. How could someone that had such a past smile and carefreely spout nonsense as much Naruto does on a daily basis? Inari couldn't understand.

"Wait, you mean to say that... he was completely alone?"

"...For the most part," the girl admitted, not wanting to lie despite knowing the argument became weaker for it. "There were a few people that brought light to his life, and back at the academy he did hang out with a few students sometimes, but... Naruto-kun spent most of his life alone, yes. For the most part, no one wanted even to be near him. The people we studied with... the villagers... other ninja... I don't understand why, but most of them hate him. Many treat him as if he was worth absolutely nothing or completely ignore him."

"But... but why?" Inari could see why people would avoid someone as obnoxious as Naruto but, he thought, hate was going a little too far, wasn't it?

"Like I said, I don't know," Hinata reiterated with a pained voiced. "But even despite all that, Naruto-kun found a dream to live for. He wants to become the Hokage, the leader of our village and the strongest ninja of the leaf. This way, people would respect him, pay attention to him... and love him. That's what he wants, and he never once stopped fighting for that dream."

'He... he just wants them to stop hating him...' Inari realized, for the first time feeling something other than anger or annoyance when thinking about Naruto.

"In the village," the bluenette continued "people called him a demon and refused to deal with him... on the academy, he was deemed a hopeless failure by everybody, one that would never amount to more than a genin if even that. That was his life."

Finally, the girl turned her head to face Inari, this time smiling. "Do you see, Inari-kun? Despite almost everything and everyone being against him... he never let go of his dream. No matter how many times he falls, he always gets back to his feet and keeps going forward. Unlike you... and unlike me, when the world became too harsh, he didn't stop and cry. He didn't give up—he refused to give up, ever. He knows what the word "suffering" mean... but he also knows what "perseverance" means as well. His headband is proof of that."

Though Hinata's pale lavender eyes held no ill will—she couldn't blame the boy for reacting the way he did—Inari couldn't find in himself to keep looking at her as shame bloomed inside him. 'That's why he was so angry at me... he didn't want me to give up.'

Seeing that she was finally getting through the young boy, Hinata let herself smile a bit. "Even though he is just a kid, I think... I think he has a strength that few people will ever have in their lives. Just... l-like your father did."

This time, the words truly stung. Inari refused to admit it to himself... but deep down, the reason Naruto's attitude annoyed him so much was because it reminded the boy of his late father. They had the same defiant spirit... the same inner strength. It was painful just to look at him.

"Naruto-kun never had to deal with the pain of loss, since he never had anyone to begin with..." Hinata repeated, "but even then, I think he understands what you are going through better than anyone else among us. Sorrow, and hopelessness..."

The girl considered that perhaps Sasuke's situation was more similar, but the Uchiha was far too revenge-driven to relate as much. She, too, could be an example to a degree, but Hinata knew she ultimately wasn't the right example, in light of recent events.

The two lapsed into silence once again, and both went back to watching the ocean as Hinata let her words sink in.

"...Is that really true?" he couldn't help but ask. After all, how was he supposed to believe that someone as cheery and carefree as Naruto had led a life of suffering for so long? He still couldn't. Inari knew the bluenette had no reason at all to lie to him, but he struggled to accept her words nonetheless.

"...It is." As much as Hinata wanted to deny it... to say that, no, Naruto had actually grown up with a loving family and surrounded by friends and people that loved him... it simply wasn't true. It wasn't the harsh reality Naruto had gone through.

"But I don't understand..."

"What is it, Inari-kun?"

The boy raised his head to look at her. "If that's the case then... then how can he keep smiling like that? How can he act like he doesn't have a care in the world?"

Hinata gulped. That, was a question she had asked herself many times. Just from where did Naruto's strength come from, when he grew up in an environment of hate rather than love? She had no answer to Inari.

"If I had to guess..."

The two kids were startled as a new voice joined them. Whipping their heads around instantly, they both saw Kakashi as he approached them as nonchalantly as always. The jonin had sensed that the conversation would come to a halt, and decided to intervene.

"Life made Naruto the tough kid that he is now, but it wasn't always like that. As a younger child, I suspect he too faltered and cried when nobody was there to see it."

These "suspicions" were nothing but the truth that Kakashi had personally witnessed. As one of the few ANBU that had been assigned to Naruto's protection detail after an assassination attempt months after the boy's birth, he had seen the boy crying himself to sleep many times when he was smaller... younger than Inari, even.

"Those words he told you during dinner," the jonin continued, "they were harsh, but I suspect that he kept telling them to himself over and over again while he was close to breaking down. They are what kept him going."

Hinata lowered her gaze to the sea. She could picture it perfectly in her mind: the brave boy that had rescued her from bullies on that snowy day, running home so that he could cry while nobody was there to judge him. Crying from the pain his body—now swollen and bruised—had gone through... from his wounded pride after being humiliated yet again... and even from the loss the beautiful red scarf—likely a precious present of some sort—that had been ruined and no longer could protect him from the cold.

"Look at you... crying and whining all the time like a sorry little victim!"

"And one day, he decided to stop crying and do something about it. To prove to everyone else that they were wrong about him. That's why he throws himself at training and gives it his all," Kakashi continued. "You two saw how Naruto skipped dinner these past two days to keep climbing trees on his own at night, didn't you?"

The jonin, having said his piece, went quiet and watched as the two kids processed his words.

Hinata knew that deep down Naruto suffered even if he kept it hidden, but as much as it was obvious in hindsight, she had never truly considered that he had been teetering on the edge of the abyss so many times already. It made the girl feel even guiltier for never being able to muster the courage to befriend the blond.

Inari, for his part, now felt incredibly guilty and worn down from both his emotional outburst at dinner and what he now knew about Naruto's life. He didn't have the energy to keep thinking about those things, however.

"I... I'm going back home," the boy muttered as he got up. "...Thank you for telling me this," he said before entering the house again, intending to sleep and reflect on everything he had heard on the following day.

Hinata and Kakashi watched Inari until he was gone.

"We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow," the silver-haired man cautioned. "You should go to sleep as well."

"R-right," the girl nodded, getting up soon afterwards and offering the older man a bow. "Good night, Kakashi-sensei."

The man nodded at the gesture knowing it was more of a 'thank you" than a show of respect.

Though the girl walked towards the house's door, Kakashi remained still until she was just about to enter.

"But I must say, I'm surprised you knew this much about Naruto," the jonin commented, making Hinata freeze, her back turned to him. "You actually have a fairly good understanding of who he actually is."

Kakashi had seen the signs of a silly childhood crush before, but only now he saw that there was more to it than that. "I don't know what drove a wrench between you two... but Naruto could really use a friend like you in his life."

"..."

Torn, Hinata walked away without being able to give Kakashi a response.

---

"Did you listen, COWARD of the Hidden Mist?! I said to stop licking your wounds and—!"

Taking great pleasure in the act, Zabuza used his boot to crush the transceiver that allowed him to talk to Gatou, cutting off the magnate's rant. He had wanted to put more strength into his stomp, but he had to control himself lest he put a hole into the simple wooden boat he and his favorite "tools" were riding.

The destination? The bridge his target was building, more specifically the unfinished end of the structure.

While Haku was in his usual mission clothes, Haru ditched her kimono for a getup similar to her brother, even including a charka-enhanced mask stolen from the corpse of a hunter-nin. The only thing that had truly set the two apart was that Haku still had his hair bound in a tight bun, whereas his sister chose to let her hair flow freely down her shoulders like she always did.

"With that annoyance dealt with," the swordsman began, "do you two have any questions about our mission?

Haku, who had been busy paddling, raised his hand for a brief second to get Zabuza's attention before resuming his work. "Forgive me Zabuza-sama, but I don't understand why you want to incapacitate the Genjutsu Mistress and fight the stronger opponent, the Copy Ninja. Wouldn't it be safer to do it the other way around?"

"Undoubtedly, it would make our mission easier since Kurenai hasn't the means to fight me without help," the jonin agreed, "but you remember our endgame, don't you?"

"...Yagura," the boy whispered darkly, making his sister frown from behind her mask.

"Kakashi is much weaker than the Mizukage is going to be," Zabuza explained. "I want to test my skills against him in a real fight to see how far I have come ever since we escaped the Bloody Mist." After all, Zabuza reasoned with himself that if he were to be killed by Kakashi, all that meant was that he would have died to the Sanbi Jinchuuriki later anyways. This time Zabuza was prepared, even going as far as to wear a chainmail armor over a simple dark blue sleeveless shirt.

While it excited Zabuza, the thought of the duel for the Mizukage's hat still made Haru feel uneasy. Still, she ignored the feeling and focused on her own question. "Zabuza-sama, I'm afraid I don't see the logic in sparing the genin. I mean, I know they are a waste of effort to kill, but you said you want them alive..."

"I can make a profit out of those children on the black market," he answered, the logic of it being easy to see when his mind wasn't clouded by a genjutsu. "After the time I spent recovering, Gatou isn't going to accept an increase in payment just because of the two enemy jonin, and this will help me hire stronger mercenaries for our forces."

Having recognized the Uchiha clan's symbol on the back of Sasuke's shirt, Zabuza knew the boy's eyes could have the now-rare dojutsu of his clan, though he would need to give the boy some incentive to make it awaken if he didn't have his special eyes yet. He had a contact from his days as a simple jonin that would be delighted to study an Aburame's still living body, and he also knew that the Inuzuka clan's specially trained ninken could be sold for much money, especially with its trainer to keep the dog in a leash, as they tended to become uncontrollable beasts once their owners died.

The girls were both young and seemingly healthy, perfect to be sold to a prostitution house for a high price. Hinata was one he also could make extra profit from, knowing that the Byakugan could be sold to Kumo for an insane price.

"But one of them, no," the man growled remembering the defiant blond that had dared to stand up to him. "One of them I will kill personally."

Haru simply nodded in response, and the three became quiet as Haku continued to direct the boat towards the end of the bridge. The girl had no problems in killing those kids, including the ones that had befriended her. It would be a pity if it came to that, but at least she knew the girl that had helped her heal Zabuza's wounds would still be alive... even though living would be a fate worse than death in that case.

That fact hadn't sunk in for Haru just yet, however.

Eventually, Haku stopped paddling, and Zabuza immediately went to work. Focusing on the chakra present into the ocean waters, Zabuza manipulated it easily thanks to his strong affinity for the Water element, molding the liquid into two simple elemental clones.

As the two water constructs began to climb up the bridge, Zabuza weaved a few hand signs and slowly enveloped a large portion of the bridge's end into his special mist, negating any illusions or bugs the Konoha ninja might have left behind as traps or scouts.

Looking towards the sun while it was still visible, Zabuza could see that if Haku's intel was true, the target would still not be on the bridge yet.

Haru didn't have that knowledge, though. "What do we do now, Zabuza-sama?"

"Now?" he spared the masked girl a glance. "Now we wait..."

---

"Now?" Gatou growled to one of his bodyguards. "Now we move!"

The magnate rose from his comfy sofa, and after calling a servant and ordering her to clean up the mess he made by throwing his transceiver at the wall in a fit of rage, he addressed the two swordsmen under his command again. "Gather the men outside the ship."

Though Gatou had an army of mercenaries, among them only his actual bodyguards ever got to set foot inside the luxurious ship the businessman used as his home and base of operations during his stays on the Land of Waves. "I'll give them their orders myself. With that done, I want you two to find that peasant's house and bring me a hostage. Now!"

Knowing fully well that the peasant in question was Tazuna, the two men nodded to their enraged employer and set off in a hurry.

"I didn't want to do this, bridge builder... but you left me no choice!" the magnate said to himself, still furious. "Just like that stupid fisherman... you will know what happens to those who defy Gatou Corporation!"

---

Hidden behind the black cloth of his mask, Kakashi sighed. "Looks like my hunch was spot on," he muttered. The mist that was covering the bridge's end was visible even from inside the town's main street, which lead to the construction site.

"Dammit," Tazuna cursed. "Some of my men should be there already... looks like you were right after all. You and bug boy both," he said, remembering that Shino had alerted them of the moment he had lost the connection between himself and the kikaichu that were scouting the far end of the bridge.

"Some of my bugs managed to escape the mist," the Aburame stated, turning to his sensei to report. "They should be coming back with whatever intel they were able to gather soon."

Kurenai nodded and then looked at her remaining students.

"Yup. That's the stink of that guy's sword alright," Kiba said grimly. "I can pick up a few new smells but I'm not sure if they are enemies or the workers... it's the first time I've been here after all."

"I-I'm sorry, Tazuna-san... I can't see far enough yet," Hinata apologize, lowering her head. Her range had increased a few meters these past few days, but it wasn't enough to reach the bridge even with when straining her eyes.

"Do not worry," Shino stated, holding a hand so that a small amount of approaching kikaichu could land on it. "...According to my beetles, the workers were attacked but none of them are actually wounded. There are small injuries ranging from—"

"That's nice and all," Sakura cut him off as she drew a kunai, "but we have bigger problems than that."

"The girl is right," Tazuna agreed, facing Kakashi and Kurenai. "You two sure that I should be going in there with you?"

"I know you are afraid of being near what will soon be a battlefield," Kurenai offered sympathetically, "but we cannot risk you being ambushed elsewhere while we deal with Zabuza. You will be safer this way, even if it doesn't look like it."

"Are we going or not?" Sasuke asked impatiently, twirling around a kunai in anticipation of the coming struggle. He made sure to check on his only present teammate's condition, and was pleased to see that she didn't seem to be consumed by fear... at least not yet. 'One less thing to worry about.'

"I suppose keeping them waiting like this wouldn't be polite," Kakashi responded, ignoring the burning glares his two students aimed at him afterwards.

"Form up around Tazuna as we discussed," Kurenai commanded, and wordlessly, the genin moved to their positions while the jonin did the same.

Kiba stood in front of the bridge builder, having been given the position due to his good combat abilities and because his scouting abilities were the strongest inside the mist. His ninken was on the ground next to him, transformed into his master's likeness after a brief jutsu. Making up the rearguard were Hinata and Sasuke, the only other scout of the team and the strongest genin of the group respectively. Completing the star-shaped formation from the sides were Shino and Sakura, with the Aburame being between his two teammates.

Of course, the Inuzuka and his partner weren't the actual vanguard. That job fell to Kurenai and Kakashi, who were walking ahead of the party. Both had already prepared the techniques they would be relying on during the coming fight—Kurenai's fists were already encased in stone, and though it remained closed, the eye that held the man's Sharingan wasn't covered by his headband.

"Now," Kakashi promised, "It's time to end this."

As they marched towards the bridge, Hinata couldn't help being glad that Naruto was supposedly still inside Tazuna's home, remembering how Zabuza had almost killed him during their first encounter.

'I know that you wanted to be here fighting, helping... I can't say the same for the rest of us, but at least I know that you will still be safe.' she thought, more with dread than relief, following the group into what could be their deaths. A more selfish side of the girl still wished for the Uzumaki's presence, however.

Even though there was now a wall between them, and even though he was probably too tired to contribute significantly, she wanted to feel the light that followed Naruto whenever he went. That aura of hope and confidence that he displayed... even if he were to never address her again, just seeing him being so sure of himself made Hinata feel similarly, even if just a little.

The girl then shook her head.

'Stupid! Now it's not the time to be thinking about those things!'

"Are you... alright?" Hinata heard Sasuke ask with some hesitance; practically whispering as to not draw anyone's attention.

"Ah, n-no. I mean, yes! I'm fine," she answered back messily, cheeks reddening from being caught daydreaming during a serious mission. The Uchiha looked unsure, having seen the girl shaking her head seemingly for no reason, but left the issue alone with but a raised eyebrow.

Hinata sighed once the boy's black orbs were no longer trained on her and tried to prepare herself mentally for the coming trials.

---

"Dammit! I hope I'm not too late..." Naruto cursed as he flew through the forest, jumping from branch to branch towards his destination. While Tazuna and the other ninja had taken the road through the town to reach the bridge, Naruto didn't have to worry about an untrained civilian and chose to take a shortcut through the woods that surrounded the area.

His whole expanded team had left without waking him up, supposedly because they believed he would be too tired to help out. Naruto scoffed at the thought when Tsunami had informed him of everything, thinking they were silly and not refusing to dwell on the possibility that they just didn't want him to get in their way.

He, however, was heading the opposite direction and in quite the hurry. It wasn't because he had left as soon as he could and now his stomach was whining due to the lack of food (even though he planned to solve that problem once he got back), but because of what he had just found a couple minutes prior: the carcass of a boar, slashed on multiple areas with singular, deep strokes of what was undoubtedly some sort of sword given the wound's characteristics. No animal is capable of leaving such deep X-shaped bite marks behind.

The destruction around the area gave weight to that theory. Multiple trees and branches were ravaged in a similar manner to the poor boar, and worse of all... it all led directly to Tazuna's house.

An assassin, most likely. Possibly a kidnapper. Maaaaybe a drunk bandit. A bad guy for sure.

The only thing that kept Naruto from fully panicking was that he knew he had a chance to catch up to the supposed villain, but it did little good to the boy's mind once he followed the trail of destruction to its end.

The house barely came into sight when a scream resounded through the clearing. Tsunami's, Naruto realized with dread. The boy's first instinct was to hurry and enter the house, but he stopped himself as memories of Kakashi berating him for this kind of behavior when he fought against Shino.

"You are too predictable and rush into danger without thinking. A ninja needs to work as subtly as they can, using distractions to pull of their jutsu safely... otherwise, you will just fall for traps and become a burden," the older ninja had advised, taking the time to rub in the fact that Naruto had easily fallen to two traps in a row during Team 7's bell test. Naruto knew his words were the truth, because when Shino had started to throw projectiles to stop him from actually creating more clones while setting up an ambush in the forest was when he had lost the fight.

The Aburame had also later commented that he could have ended their duel faster by taking a risk, but decided to hang back and gather information before acting. "Forming the optimal strategy before acting was key to my victory," Naruto distinctively remembered overhearing Shino's comment to Kiba.

Using those two pieces of advice, Naruto held himself back from breaking into the house via the kitchen's window and just stood below it, listening. He didn't dare to peek inside, however.

"Please, he is just a kid!" Tsunami begged, making Naruto curse under his breath. Inari had become involved somehow, if the boy's barely audible sobbing wasn't evidence enough. Part of Naruto was now feeling guilty for screaming at him during the previous day's dinner, now.

"I... I will do anything," the woman continued, and Naruto kept listening as the two males eventually agreed after some deliberation. Naruto didn't understand why the offer was good enough to keep them from killing Inari, but he was sure glad that the boy wouldn't be a factor now. The fact that he found out there were two enemies instead of one was good as well—spying from the window paid off, in the end.

As the pair of mercenaries began to tie up their hostage, Naruto took the chance to sit on the platform's floor to think.

'Alright. I can ambush them cuz they don't know I'm here, but they have Tsunami-san as a hostage. I need to take them by surprise as fast as I can or else they might threaten her or find me out... I only have one chance to make this work!'

The boy facepalmed, and created a trio of clones. Two slowly dropped from the platform and swam underneath the wooden walkway that connected the house and the mainland, while the remaining one headed to the woods so he could grab a something solid for him to substitute with.

'Idiot,' he chastised himself for such an obvious oversight. Now, with more leeway for error, he thought a little more about how to engage his foes. 'Anyways, these guys probably have swords... I know that we ninja have stronger bodies than civilians because of how much chakra we have but... I don't know if these guys are like that.' Naruto remembered a story about how the samurai of the Land of Iron did not use ninjutsu but still were able to enhance their swordplay with chakra. 'I can't go in with kunai or taijutsu without being sure I can overpower them so... I need to distract them with projectiles,' he decided.

His plan was very simple: the walkway was narrow, only wide enough for three people to pass with comfort. His clones would try to trip the thugs to make them fall into the ocean, while the original Naruto would try to save Tsunami in case she fell with them. The clone with the substitution log was his backup, in case something went wrong.

As the later clone approached with a small log in his arms, both of them went to hide in a nearby bush to wait for the kidnappers to spring up his trap.

The two men soon left the house, both holding up a tied-up Tsunami.

"We need to get to the bridge soon before Gatou and the others arrive," one commented. "Good thing you knew how to dispel genjutsu, or else we'd take days to get out of that maze."

"Yeah... the fat bastard will throw a fit if we are late," the other agreed, and Naruto shared a shocked glance with his clone. The situation had just gotten a lot worse.

Just as the men were about to cross above the submerged clones, a voice stopped them in their tracks.

"I... I won't let you take my mom from me!"

The declaration was shaky and fearful, but the voice's owner was unmistakable.

'Inari!?'

"Inari!?" Tsunami echoed Naruto's thoughts when Gatou's men turned around with her.

"Oh," one of them, the bare-chested one, sneered. "Looks like someone wants to play," he smiled wickedly.

The other one, who wore a hoodie and a baggy jacket, also seemed amused. "What do you plan to do with that little knife, kid? Make us a sandwich?" he provoked.

"Inari, stop! Don't do this!" The boy's mother pleaded, desperation lacing her voice as her only child was in danger and she could do nothing to protect him. "Please! Run!"

"N...no. No! I won't run!" Inari glared at the two men as best as he could, and even if he had an intimidating face in the first place, the tears running down his cheeks would have ruined the effect—either that or the way he was trembling.

"This brat is kinda stupid, eh?" one of the swordsmen commented, and proceeded to knock out Tsunami with a strike to the back of her head when she started to struggle in a foolish attempt to save her child.

"I... Inari..." she muttered pitifully, losing consciousness as she fell.

Naruto and his clones watched/heard the interaction while doing their best to hold themselves back for the moment. It was silly and dangerous to do so, but they felt that Inari needed to have a moment to shine by himself, even if Naruto knew he would need to step in and save the boy soon afterwards.

He needed to soar with his own wings and learn to fly, instead of being caught before he could even jump.

And it was while still shaking violently and crying openly that the young boy made took the plunge.

"I... I-I won't let you hurt her!"

The two mercenaries burst out laughing, though the bare-chested one recovered faster. "Then show us what you can do, hero!" he mocked the boy, releasing his katana from its sheath in unison with his partner.

With the closest thing to a war cry that he could manage, Inari clutched the kitchen knife tightly and dashed recklessly towards the two men.

'Welp,' Naruto smirked. 'That's my cue!'

Getting up from the bushes, he whispered a command to his clone and chakra jumped away. While in midair, he made a few hand signs to create a thin cord of chakra that connected him to the small log his copy had acquired, mentally chastising himself for not having done it sooner.

With perfect timing, Naruto landed right between Inari and the pair of thugs, grabbing the boy a mere second before the men's blades ran him through. Instead of meat and bones, just as Naruto planned, the swords only cut wood.

"Huh? A log!?"

"What the hell!?" the swordsmen cursed in confusion.

Naruto could only imagine their expressions and burst out laughing from the mental image, together with his clone. "Looking for something?"

"...Naruto!?" Inari gasped, only now realizing he was not only still alive and behind the mercenaries, but on Naruto's shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving you, duh!" the blond said playfully as he placed Inari on the ground.

His clone, who had been busy dragging Tsunami to a safer place while the kidnappers were distracted, readily agreed with his boss. "Yup, and at the last second for extra heroism, too!"

"Ah, what have we here," the bare-chested swordsman sneered. "Two of the ninja brats that are protecting Tazuna."

"They are twins...?" his hooded partner muttered in confusion, and Inari caught himself before contradicting the man and giving Naruto's trick away.

"It doesn't matter!" the other shouted, readying his blade. "Let's kill them!"

Naruto smirked, and made a gesture with his hand, shuriken hidden in the other. "Come on, you punks! Let's get this show started!"

---

A few minutes later...

"Well, that was disappointing," Naruto huffed as he watched two completely soaked Shadow Clones as they tied up and gagged the two similarly drenched swordsmen . It had cost him the last pieces of adhesive tape on his kunai pouch (which also held a few smaller tools from his old prankmaster days, as he liked to call them), but Naruto didn't mind the loss. He did want to keep the rope they used on Tsunami, but the sheer irony of bounding them with it made the boy give up on keeping it.

"Yeah... they were kinda pathetic, weren't they?" Inari commented. He had been expecting an epic showdown between a trained ninja and two experienced mercenaries but... it turned out that the men didn't know how to swim, so the confrontation ended terribly fast after the clones Naruto had positioned below the platform tripped them up and dragged them to the ocean, right after the original distracted them with projectiles.

"Meh, not like I'm not strong enough to beat the crap out of them anyways," Naruto shrugged lazily, as if the thought of going against two sword-users in such a tight walkway didn't bother him. "Anyways, great job out there!" he exclaimed, patting Inari on the head. He had been expecting that this would cause the younger boy to smile, but it had the opposite effect.

"How... how can you say that? I didn't do anything. I couldn't do anything," Inari sighed, his gaze falling to the floor. The comment caught Naruto off-guard... and oddly enough he found himself reminded of Hinata as he watched the boy, and it left Naruto with mixed feelings.

He pushed the thought away as Inari continued. "You were the one who did the cool stuff that kinda made you look like a ninja—ow!"

Inari looked up, frowned as he held his nose. "What was that for?!" he demanded, referring to how Naruto flicked his nose, partially to stop Inari's self-depreciating train of thought, but...

"What do you mean "kinda"!? I'm a ninja through and through!" the Uzumaki exclaimed with a scowl. "And a super awesome one, at that. I mean, look at me. Can't you see how ninja-like I am?" he asked, pointing proudly at his headband.

Inari ignored it and gazed flatly at the blond. "I just see a whole lot of really bright orange. That's kinda the problem."

"You know, I almost prefer you being a jerk over all this sass." Naruto's eyes narrowed further as he looked away from the boy. "I honestly don't know what you and your grandpa have against orange. Orange is awesome."

Naruto thought he heard Inari mutter something like "that wasn't the point" but chose to move on to more important things. "So, to actually answer what you asked... you distracted them for me, and thanks to that I could rescue your mom without a hitch!" He then offered the boy a thumbs-up. "That was super important for my plan, you know? Like I said, great job!"

The words of encouragement went by practically unheard this time, however.

"That's right! Mom!" Kicking himself for having almost forgotten about her, Inari hurried to check on his mom. Coming closer, he knelt beside Tsunami and began to shake her. "Mom, wake up! Mom!"

"Hey, wait up!" Naruto grabbed the boy roughly by the shoulder, forcing him away from Tsunami. "Look," he pointed at the woman's chest, which was rising and falling normally. "She is still breathing; she should end up alright, okay? So don't go shaking her like that!"

Once Inari seemed calmer, Naruto let him go. The younger boy crawled up to his mom while Naruto watched uneasily, not knowing what to do. It got a little worse when Inari started to cry as the fact that he almost got killed and almost lost his mother started to sink in.

"She will be fine, right?" the smaller boy sobbed.

"Of course!" Naruto put on his best smile and practically shoved another thumbs up on Inari's face. "Everything will be alright, believe it!"

The younger boy smiled timidly, but it fell as he dried his tears with the back of his hand, only for more to take their place. "D-dammit..."

The curse word surprised Naruto. "Hey... what's up?"

"I-I'm crying again... even, even though I promised myself I wouldn't. Now you're going to yell at me again, aren't you?" Inari asked, rhetorically, from his point of view.

Contrary to his expectations, Naruto ended up ruffling his hair instead.

"Why would I do that?" the blond asked with a smile. "You're crying cuz your mom is fine. It's alright to cry when you are happy, you know?"

The younger boy let out a confused whimper, and Naruto retracted his hand partially to turn away from the boy. "And talking about that... I guess I should apologize for yesterday."

"What?!"

Idly, the blond scratched his head. "I said you were a coward... but today you proved me wrong, kiddo! It takes real courage to do what you did! Your old man would have been proud of you!"

Though his face was still wet, Inari broke out a wide grin that mirrored Naruto's. "Thanks!"

It was an expression that up to that moment Naruto had only seen in the ripped portrait in the kitchen, and he didn't have the heart to ruin it by taking a jab at Inari's practically suicidal recklessness. 'I mean, it turned alright in the end and it's not like he will be fighting people again anytime soon, so...'

"You know, it was all because of you!"

"Huh...?" Now it was Naruto who became surprised at Inari's words.

"When those two started threatening mom, I started to cry. I knew I couldn't do anything to help her, that I was too weak... but then I remembered what you said to me!"

"Look at you... crying and whining all the time like a sorry little victim!"

"You spineless coward!"

"Seriously?" Naruto muttered in disbelief, to which Inari nodded.

"Yeah... and what your sensei and that blue-haired girl told me about your past too. It put a lot of things in perspective." Inari shifted uneasily as Naruto became legitimately shocked at what he heard. "I thought that if you could do it, I could do it too. And also—"

Inari proceeded to mention how Kaiza's words had also inspired him to take a step forward, but Naruto didn't listen, his mind elsewhere. That Kakashi knew a thing or three about his past wasn't terribly surprising; the Hokage probably gave the Copy Ninja a detailed file on his history before forcing him to be their teacher, he theorized.

But Hinata? That was a completely different case.

'We never even spoke to each other all those years at the academy. Just... just what the hell does she know about me that would change Inari's mind? About my past...? What is her deal!?'

"—so, I hope you can forgive me for what I said too..." Naruto caught the end of Inari's apology and once again purged Hinata from his mind to focus on the matter at hand.

"Hey, no worries! We're cool," he assured the younger boy, beaming encouragingly.

The two shared a smile for a couple seconds until Inari spoke again. "So, what do we do now?"

"Crap!" Naruto cursed, panicking slightly as he remembered the how grave the situation was. "Bring your mom to a safe place, okay? I gotta go to the bridge!"

The orange-clad boy dashed off, only to whirl around seconds later. "You will be fine on your own, right?

"I will, believe it!" Inari declared with a wide smile and a thumbs up, making Naruto feel giddy on the inside. It was that same feeling of pride he had felt after he befriended Konohamaru, the Hokage's unruly grandson. Or rather, after he had gained a "follower", so to speak.

One day, though... one day it would be the entire village of Konoha that would be there, recognizing his strength and ideals. But for now, he thought with a smile, he could settle for just a few brats.

"Alright, I'm going!" Naruto chakra jumped away, feeling his reserves replenish as his clones dispelled.

'Time for a heroic entrance! ... Oh.'

His grin fell as the memories of a dispelled clone entered his mind. Memories of a clone that all but forced Naruto to backtrack to Tazuna's kitchen, where the clone had ended its own existence.

After all, it would be rude to let all the effort the bunshin had put into that delicious cereal bowl to waste, especially since the poor copy had done its best to resist eating it all himself.

"I just hope I won't be too late to the party..."

---

Unbeknownst to Naruto, the "party" was just getting started.

"So, finally gathered the courage to show your face?" Zabuza's taunt came from within the mist, a hint of annoyance from being kept waiting. He had tossed the other bridge workers outside the area covered by the mist so that they wouldn't be in the way, but the Konoha ninja still took the time to move the men away to a safer place.

It was only when they were done with that task that Kakashi ordered his team enter the foggier end of the bridge, and even though the situation was serious enough to warrant him to use his Sharingan, the man still had a carefree smile behind his mask. "Sorry. I got lost on the road of life."

"Not the time, Kakashi," Kurenai hissed from his right, while Sasuke shook his head in disappointment and Sakura rolled her eyes. None of them were surprised that somehow even Kakashi's enemies became prey of his chronic lateness, even if well justified for once.

"I see that you brought your brats and the bridge builder with you," Zabuza commented as he approached the group. As he did so, he manipulated the mist to hide a couple of key tools, while keeping the mist between himself and the enemies only thick enough to negate Kurenai's Yin Release techniques and hopefully hinder Kakashi's. "I wonder if that was a smart plan..."

"And you brought your little helper as well," the Genjutsu Mistress noted, eyeing the masked Haku warily as he walked alongside his master.

"Ah yes, Haku told me how all of you were tricked by his farce. It was quite amusing, to see the fabled Sharingan and an illusion specialist fall for such a parlor trick," the swordsman sneered. "Besides, I suspected you'd bring those kids along. While we adults talk business, they can have someone to play with. But before that..."

The group started as almost two dozen of Zabuzas jumped from the bridge's sides, surrounding the genin and Tazuna.

"Shit!" Kiba cursed reflexively, recognizing the smell of the enemy. "These are water clones!"

"Let's see if you two did anything to help them become less pathetic than the last time we met," Zabuza finished as his clones began to advance on the genin. The two jonin-sensei were aware of the interlopers that appeared between themselves and their students, but turning to help them would leave them vulnerable to Zabuza.

That didn't stop Kurenai from giving them a little hint. "Water clones are only around 10% as strong as the original! You can handle them!"

This helped most of the genin to feel more confident, but since she was the only one fully aware of the number of enemies, Hinata didn't feel very relieved. 'They might be weaker, but the numeric advantage is significant...' she thought to herself, frowning as her Byakugan's impaired vision still let her view enough to catch all the clones.

She didn't have the time to think anything else as a clone came upon her, with another not too far behind.

The water construct tried to use its huge blade to decapitate Hinata, who ducked under the slash and closed the distance between them just in time to land a palm thrust on "Zabuza's" chest and inject chakra into him. This made the clone destabilize, leaving only a puddle on the floor where it once stood.

'He... wasn't fast,' she realized with some surprise. Despite Kurenai's warning, it was hard to make her brain believe these men were weak copies of the demon that had ambushed them a week prior. 'I think I can do this!'

The second clone was a bit smarter than its companion, aiming its wide swing for the girl's mid-section to limit her options in dodging. Hinata hopped backwards, just short of barreling into Tazuna, before rushing at her foe with a bundle of shuriken in hand.

The steel stars flew towards the clone's head, only to bounce harmlessly off the fake Kubikiribocho when he used the flat of the blade to protect himself. The weapon had been solid enough to withstand the attack, but the collision upset the chakra within and made the sword splash on the clone's face.

The slight distraction was just enough for Hinata to close the gap between and end their fight with another Gentle Fist strike. Her vision caught a trio of clones approaching her from all sides, but a shadow blitzed through them, ending their existence before Hinata could even realize what was going on.

"Hey! Sasuke, stop stealing our kills!" she heard Kiba complaining, giving Hinata the answers she sought.

"Idiot, this isn't a game!" Sakura scolded the Inuzuka in return, bringing Hinata's focus back to her friends. Much to her relief, there were no enemies in sight and none of them were hurt. Sakura and Kiba both looked upset with their situation for different reasons, and though Shino still held his stoicism, what caught Hinata off-guard was how Sasuke seemed to be enjoying himself.

The raven was wet, the "blood" of his enemies staining his entire upper body while a pleased smirk rested on his face as he examined his wet kunai. 'I'm getting stronger,' he thought with awe, gripping the weapon tightly.

"Ah, the Uchiha has gotten even faster..." Zabuza commented aloud, clearly interested. "The other brats didn't do too badly either," he now said in a much lower tone, meant only for Haku's ears.

"Indeed," the boy nodded, only now realizing why his master had attacked the children despite his earlier orders.

"Kakashi, Kurenai," Zabuza began, "why don't we make things a little more interesting?"

"What do you have in mind?" Kurenai all but hissed, making the swordsman chuckle to himself.

"A duel. Your star genin versus my strongest tool, Haku. If your kid wins, I'll let all of the genin go free, but if he loses..."

"And makes you think we will trust your word?" Kakashi inquired, noticing through his enhanced vision how Haku held a thin, rapier-sized weapon in his hand. Someone with normal eyesight might have missed it, but Kakashi's Sharingan easily pinpointed the bright glow of chakra. Still, the color of said glow mystified the jonin. 'I've never seen chakra glowing white before... what could this mean?'

"I know how you Leaf folk love going about the bonds between teammates, friendship, love, and all that teeth-rotting silliness that makes me want to vomit," Zabuza frowned. "As long as those brats are in the way, I can't get a proper rematch." Of course, that was a lie. The genin would be hunted down after their teachers fell if they escaped, but...

"I accept," Sasuke announced, confidently leaving his comrades behind as he approached the frontline.

Silently, Haku used the Body Flicker Jutsu to close the distance between then, reappearing in a gust of leaves a dozen meters away. 'Good, he is still near the water,' the Yuki observed.

"Sasuke, no!" Kakashi moved to intercept the masked ninja, but a few words laced with killing intent stopped him.

"Try to protect your student and the bridge builder dies." A heterochromatic glare was the only answer Kakashi had for Zabuza, as Tazuna and the other genin began to feel even more fear than before. Kakashi, himself, had a bad feeling about the situation.

"This goes for you as well, Kurenai," Zabuza addressed the owner of the pair of furious red eyes that were trying to burn a hole through him and the mist, as he watched his pupil's reappearance. "Unless you are in that much of a hurry to die like the walking target you are," he laughed at the woman, who internally was cursing the swordsman and his mist quite eloquently.

Once Haku opponent got closer enough to be more than just a faint green blur in the mist, Sasuke scowled. "I've heard about you, fake hunter-nin."

"So have I, Uchiha-san," Haku responded stoically, his mask hiding a sigh at the meaningless violence that would soon issue. "My master seems impressed by your agility... but are you fast enough to keep up with me?"

Sasuke then smirked, twirling his kunai once in response. "That's my line."

Their fight began immediately afterwards.

Being both speed-based fighters, Haku and Sasuke ran at each other as fast as they could, intent on doing some damage with their weapons.

Sasuke's kunai met resistance as he entered a blade lock with Haku, if you could call it that. 'An... icicle? Where did that come from?' the Uchiha wondered. He applied more power to his blocked attack, but disengaged upon seeing that he wouldn't get Haku to budge.

The two continued to poke each other's defenses, assessing their strength and speed as best as they could. Sasuke also had another objective, which was to test the sturdiness of Haku's thin icy weapon.

'It doesn't matter how much strength I put into my blows, it won't break,' the Uchiha concluded grimly. He had tried striking both with the sharp tip of the kunai and the blunter area in the middle that was perfect for breaking solid structures, but the only reaction he got out of Haku's weapon was an almost metallic cling each time they met.

'Ice can't be that strong... what is wrong with that thing?' Sasuke continued to think, parrying blows and retaliating with his own as he and Haku moved across the wet surface of the bridge. The genin's frustration only grew as their fight continued.

Throughout the exchange of blows, it became clear to both boys that they were evenly matched in strength and speed, with Haku having a slight advantage in reach. The fight would come down to their stamina if they kept fighting as they were, but with their level of speed they couldn't count on ninjutsu or projectiles. They would be left vulnerable for far too long.

It was clear to Sasuke that a change of tactics was in order.

'I can't force an opening... so I will need to have him drop his guard on his own. But how? ...Oh.' his onyx eyes widened, and the Uchiha had to suppress the smirk that was threatening to appear on his face. 'Of course!'

Purposefully keeping the annoyance on his features, Sasuke advanced more recklessly towards Haku. His swings were wider, his thrusts deeper, and there was more power put into his slashes. The tactic failed to break through Haku's defenses, but it got the desired effect out of the masked ninja.

'He is becoming desperate,' the Ice user observed with relief. Finally, Haku thought, the fight could end. Sasuke's furious blows had more power put on them, which meant the Uchiha took more time to recover from his own exertion. In a fight where their speed was equal, this was a huge mistake.

Haku had been making an effort to meet his enemy's attacks head on until then, but this time he allowed Sasuke's swing to cut through the misty air and went for the finishing blow once the genin had left an opening.

Or so he thought.

"Gnnh..." Haku groaned, not expecting to be forced into another blade lock at that moment. It was then that he realized that the wide swings he had been hoping to exploit were a trap all along.

And while beneath the boy's mask there was a frown, Kakashi was smiling behind his own. 'It looks like those late night spars didn't help only Naruto,' the jonin realized.

Catching an attack was nothing special, but Sasuke had struck just his enemy went for a thrust. The end result was that the Yuki had been caught in a bad position to withstand Sasuke bringing his kunai down on him. The thin icicle could handle the stress for a long time, but Haku's wrist wouldn't.

Haku became calm once again after the surprise faded. He knew that Sasuke's smirk of superiority was just evidence of the younger boy's ignorance.

"We only want the bridge builder, not you or your friends," the masked boy spoke in a hushed tone meant only for his enemy. "If you retreat now you can still escape unharmed."

It was going against Zabuza's orders, but after hearing what his master planned to do with the children, Haku hoped that there was a way for them to avoid such a fate.

"Shut up," Sasuke shot him down, still grinning with excitement. "Asking for mercy when things don't go your way? How pathetic."

"You believe you have the advantage. At a first glance, you'd be correct, but I have two key advantages over you," Haku informed, prompting Sasuke to snort.

"Oh yeah?" His smirk widened once he noticed how much Haku's hand was trembling. "And what would they be?" he dared to ask, calling Haku's bluff... supposedly.

"Firstly, we are surrounded by water." Though his tone had indicated confidence, Sasuke's eyes darted around to confirm his enemy's claim nonetheless. "But more importantly, I have one of your hands immobilized. You cannot use ninjutsu right now."

"The same goes for you. Water hardly means anything when I have your hand locked," Sasuke countered.

"The same goes for me? I wonder..."

Sasuke felt a chill going down his spine as his opponent began to weave seals with the one hand he still had free to move. 'Impossible!'

"Hand signs with a single hand...!" Kurenai whispered in awe, disbelief and fear all at once.

"I've never seen anything like this before!" Kakashi commented in a similar state of shock

Both jonin were unaffected by the laughter that their words caused on Zabuza, but the younger ninja couldn't say the same.

"Guys, I think Sasuke is in trouble. Big trouble," Kiba spoke through gritted teeth, relaying what he had heard from the jonin-sensei. From where they were, protecting Tazuna, Sasuke's duel couldn't be seen with full clarity, and the words they spoke could go by unheard at times unless you had sensitive hearing.

His companions didn't react to the statement outwardly. Sakura was trying to calm down, telling herself that Sasuke would be alright, whereas Shino was struggling to observe and learn what he could in case the Uchiha failed.

Hinata's Byakugan, however, let her watch far more than her teammates could. She saw how the masked enemy's chakra seeped into the water that surrounded Sasuke and himself, focusing on hundreds of random points on the surface. The thin strands of chakra connecting Haku and the water, almost like a web of chakra, became all the more visible as the Yuki raised his hand and the water with it, forcing more energy down the invisible lines as their ends moved in midair, surrounding Sasuke from all sides.

The mist blocked her vision from discerning that the water had solidified, turning what were once harmless drops into thin needles of ice. However, she still was able to see Sasuke sending a steady stream of chakra down his legs.

"Hyoton: Thousand Needles of Death," Haku announced, ending the sequence of signs. Making use of his natural speed in addition to a body flicker, Haku easily avoided his own attack, evading the frozen bullets in less than the one second they needed to converge on Sasuke

They came with enough force to destroy the concrete surface of the bridge, leaving a deformed crater on their landing point that was hidden from view by the cloud of dust, stone, and water that rose from the impact.

When the smokescreen disappeared, Haku saw that so did Sasuke. The sound of metal piercing the air was the only clue as to where the genin had gone.

Haku hopped backwards to dodge the shuriken incoming from the sky and struggled to maintain his balance as more came, forcing him to retreat even further until he saw that the last two incoming shuriken would miss him completely.

As the steel stars passed by his sides harmlessly, the ice-user made use of his enemy's mistake to stand up... only to feel a strong pull on his ankles as Sasuke manipulated the wires connected to these last two stars.

The unexpected pull sent him to the ground, his weapon almost slid out of his hands. Scowling, Haku quickly slashed at the strings, freeing his legs... but it was only when he found himself flying across the bridge after Sasuke's foot crashed into his mask that he realized he hadn't been fast enough.

"Now it's time for my counterattack!" Sasuke declared, blurring through the seals his father had taught him. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Zabuza shook his head as he watched his fallen pupil being forced to sink into the water puddle to dodge the enemy's flames, his dagger-like icicle left to melt a couple feet away from where it landed after the kick.

"That was so cool! Did you guy see that?" Sakura squealed from afar, wisely keeping her tone just low enough as to not be overheard by the jonin. "Isn't Sasuke-kun the best!?"

Tazuna and the genin from Team 8 watched the pinkette warily.

"Um... I can see where you are coming from, but..." Hinata mumbled to her friend, reacting without putting much thought into her words or her tone of roundabout disagreement

"Oy, you two! Now is really not the time for this stuff!" Kiba rolled his eyes exasperatedly, while his only remaining teammate sighed. "Leave the girl talk to when we are safer. Or at least when I'm not near. Please."

"I must concur." Shino offered lamely, equally annoyed. "Focus on the mission."

Tazuna just shook his head. 'Ah... not the best time to remember when my girl was that age,' he lamented, noting how "pinky" had only partially accepted the criticism and kept the fangirling to herself, whereas the other girl's cheeks flared up in shame as she tried to get a better look at the fight.

Sasuke and Haku once again were fighting in close quarters, but Sasuke had the decisive advantage due to being the only armed combatant between them. The Ice-user was slippery, weaving through gaps in the Uchiha's attacks to remain safe while lashing out with his legs or arms in an attempt to create enough space to safely draw another weapon, but raw taijutsu wasn't his specialty.

Not having the same worries himself, Sasuke maintained an aggressive approach that made use of the sharp, longer reach his kunai provided. He still avoided his enemy's blows, but found himself growing frustrated with the lack of results despite how the fight seemed to be in his favor. Armed or not, Haku still was fast.

The uneven circumstances between them finally favored the genin, as an attempt to duck under the more dangerous slashing attacks from Sasuke made Haku vulnerable to another kick to the head. It sent Haku flying a couple meters, almost to the lateral edges of the bridge where he lay on the ground, unmoving. The chakra-enhanced mask that protected his face even from Hinata's all-seeing eyes, however still remained whole and unscathed.

Pointing his kunai at the fallen Haku, Sasuke relaxed his posture slightly. If he had chosen to throw his kunai, it would have killed its target. 'I won,' he smiled to himself, reveling in the surge of emotions that emerged from his victory.

"So you thought you were faster, huh?" he taunted his downed opponent, feeding his ego just a little more. "Maybe you were right. But in the end you lost anyways" he continued, ignoring the quite audible whine from Kiba, who claimed he could be faster than both.

"Great work, Sasuke," Kakashi congratulated him from afar, still keeping Zabuza in his sights.

"Looks like investing in an "imported tool" from the Land of Snow didn't pay off," Kurenai provoked the Mist jonin.

"Don't compare Haku to those losers," Zabuza spat in disgust. "Their farce of an Ice Release is nothing more than frozen Water techniques. They don't have the affinities for Wind and Water mixed in their veins like Haku does."

"A kekkei genkai... makes sense," Kakashi muttered, realizing why his Sharingan failed to copy the boy's technique. The Land of Snow's Ice Release users could only freeze water, but the bloodline limit of the Yuki clan allowed them to create ice from nothing, in addition to solidifying liquids.

On the opposite side of the bridge, Zabuza couldn't keep himself from shaking his head. He knew that his best tool had been groomed as a mid-range assassin rather than a close-quarter assault ninja, but Haku's performance still disappointed. "It seems we still have more to work with," he muttered in disgust. He had been hoping to teach the boy swordplay after this mission, in preparation to futurely presenting him with the Nuibari needle-sword after conquering Kirigakure, but clearly, Haku was far from ready.

Zabuza could understand testing an opponent, but if there was one thing that all Swordsmen of the Mist had in common in their fighting style, is that they didn't hold back. "Haku, stop playing around," Zabuza chastised his pupil, who struggled to get up. "Show them what true Hyoton looks like"

"Very well," the masked boy conceded stoically, making Sasuke reassume his fighting stance once he realized the fight was far from over.

Hinata couldn't hide her gasp when she saw the great amount of chakra the boy began to gather. His previous technique had barely used his chakra since it froze real water, but to prepare enough for his technique Haku needed to create huge amounts of ice from nothing. Of course, the mist still messed with her Byakugan's eyesight, but when Haku focused well over half of total reserves, the boy started to shine brightly through the mist, almost like a torch.

The glow suddenly was gone as thick plates of pure chakra-made ice started forming all around Sasuke, and the distribution of chakra no longer allowed Hinata to gather any information on him. The Uchiha, wary, choose to watch rather than run lest he triggered a trap... not knowing that staying inside was the worst mistake he could possibly make in that situation.

Kakashi recognized the danger—or rather, felt it. He didn't know what the mysterious boy's kekkei genkai was capable of, but his hunches were never wrong. 'I need to do something, and fast,' the silver-haired man resolved.

Behind them, Sakura began to shiver from the cold air that was mixed with mist. "Guys," she called out to the genin of Team 8, "is is just me or is it freezing over here?" she asked in a shaky voice as her confidence in Sasuke's skills wavered.

"Nope," Kiba confirmed grimly. He and his actual teammates were all coincidentally well dressed for a colder climate despite the season, and even them felt the cold. "That guy is doing something."

"No... i-it's not just him!" Hinata called out in fear, and before she could explain what her dojutsu allowed her to see, Kakashi made his move.

Or at least that was the man's intention, until Zabuza materialized in front of him to block his advance. "My, Kakashi. I thought we had an agreement?" the Kiri shinobi bared his fangs in an unseen grin behind his mask of bandages, drawing his massive sword from his back.

"What are you up to, Zabuza?" the Copy Ninja almost growled at the enemy, flicking his right wrist to release the kunai hidden beneath the sleeve.

"Well, you're in luck; I've grown tired of waiting," Zabuza continued, ignoring Kakashi's question as an extremely wide, thin sheet of ice suddenly sprouted from the ground, cleanly separating the bridge into two sections. Kakashi barely had the time to register that fact as a giant blade came upon him.

While the thick plates of ice still hadn't fully formed around Sasuke and Haku, the significantly thinner wall of ice that was now separating Sasuke and the jonin from Tazuna and the other genin rose almost instantly. The ice construct was not only wide enough to stop one from walking to the other side, but it was also tall enough that even an experienced jonin would be hard pressed to vault over it with a chakra jump.

Knowing that they could not expect any backup from their strongest companions set the genin surrounding Tazuna in a state of shock and panic.

"Wait, what!?" Kiba blurted out. "That masked guy locked us out of the fight...!"

"But why!?" Sakura questioned, worried and just as confused.

Before someone could try to give her an answer, the usually quiet Hinata surprised everyone by screaming as high as she could. "Sensei! Watch out!"

The girl's Byakugan allowed her to see how the air surrounding Kurenai began glowing strongly. Though the mist blurred her vision, it was only a dim glow, unlike the brightness that she could now see floating around her teacher.

Alarmed, Kurenai's gaze darted around the environment just as she was moving to strike at Zabuza with a kunai, but she saw nothing that signified the danger her student spoke of. The only thing out of the ordinary was the sharp drop in the temperature, but she had thought it came from Haku's technique affecting the surrounding area.

Sparing a glance to said masked nin, she managed to catch a glimpse of Sasuke attempting to attack him while the jutsu had yet to be completed, but the boy's ability to form hand seals without both hands allowed him to intersect Sasuke's kunai and shuriken with senbon while continuing to mold chakra, much to the Uchiha's growing frustration.

"Dammit," she barely made out the genin cursing.

Silently, her focus shifted back to Kakashi and Zabuza's fight, and seeing that her ally was keeping the enemy busy, Kurenai even turned around to scout for a potential danger before she could safely move to help Sasuke. For the most part the mist was just strong enough to mess with the casting of illusions, but her sight wasn't as impaired as it had been during the first encounter with the Demon of the Hidden Mist.

Still, in the instants it took her to scan her surroundings, she saw nothing.

"Hinata! What did... huh?" The question died on her lips as Kurenai watched her own breath, visible due to how cold the environment became after Zabuza's student formed his latest jutsu.

The problem? She hadn't seen the same happening with Sasuke.

"So you finally noticed?" Kurenai heard a muffled feminine laugh, coming from somewhere beyond the thicker parts of the mist that she only then realized were there to begin with—the distance and blurred vision fooling her senses.

"Show yourself!" the Genjutsu Mistress demanded, on guard. 'That he'd bring only one person as a backup... it was too good to be true.'

"Kurenai, get out of there!" Kakashi shouted, spotting the amalgamation of chakra Hinata had seen by mere luck as he and Zabuza traded blows across the bridge.

"Too late," the swordsman sneered, not stopping his assault to let his fellow masked jonin to see what would become of his partner.

"Hyoton: Ice Prison!"

Responding to those words, the Ice chakra gathered around Kurenai exploded, freezing everything in its blast radius. The stone ground, the air... and Kurenai herself, all perfectly encased in a dome of solid ice.

"You sure took your sweet time executing that jutsu, sister," Haku teased as a figure emerged from the mist.

"Like you can say anything! Your jutsu isn't even done yet," the girl countered, the annoyed frown on her face evident in her voice despite the mask that covered it. "And you know that making so much ice without water isn't exactly easy for me."

Just as she was done speaking, the final mirror of ice formed directly above Sasuke, blocking the one escape route that had allowed him to avoid Haku's first technique. "In that case, why don't you move beyond the Ice Barrier? My opponent provided plenty of water for you to use... and for your information, my Demonic Ice Mirrors are finally complete, despite the distractions."

The comment made Sasuke grit his teeth and tighten his hold on his kunai. He looked around and saw that despite his attempts to rush at Haku, the boy's knowledge of the Shunshin no Jutsu and his high skill with needles allowed him to escape and avoid him until the technique could be fully executed.

For the most part, he was just annoyed at the Ice-user. It was only when Haku turned away from him that Sasuke felt another thing: shock.

'He's turning his back on me!?' he thought incredulously, instantly preparing a kunai to throw... when Haku touched the mirror and started to enter inside it. "What the hell is this...!?"

His fellow genin weren't able to witness that, but between seeing Kurenai becoming completely frozen and another masked ninja showing up, only to phase through the wall of ice as if it were water... they couldn't help but be shocked as well.

"So another enemy has appeared," Shino spoke up, recovering faster than the others. "Which of us shall engage her?"

The question was aimed at Kiba—the team's appointed leader—but a drawn out growl from the disguised Akamaru distracted him. "What was that, boy?"

This time, the dog in human form barked, and Kiba sniffed the air in response. 'Huh... she does smell familiar. Not just because the masked guy smells similarly but... have we met before?' he wondered, as Haru slowly approached the group.

"Hey, Kiba," Sakura's voice drew his attention. "Are you even listening?"

"Uh... sure!" he lied shamelessly. "I'm fine. What were you guys saying...?"

"What a great leader you're turning out to be," he heard Sakura scoff and was just about to snap at the girl when Tazuna chose to intercede.

"Sunglasses asked you which kids will fight and which will stay with me."

80% of that question was easy to answer, almost obviously so.

With their limited combat abilities, Shino and Sakura would serve better protecting Tazuna than by getting into a fight due to how the mist restricted them. Kiba and his ninken, however, weren't impaired by the mist and could fight with some efficiency inside of it, which meant they would be at the frontlines for sure. The one thing that left him pondering was whether to take his one female teammate with him or not. 'Hinata should be able to fight without too many problems, but if I take her away from Tazuna and there's a fourth enemy hidden somewhere around here...'

"Kiba-kun, take me with you."

Turning around, he saw that said Hyuuga was staring at him with determination. Not wholly, given that her legs were shaking to a degree... but the girl seemed resolved to fight.

"Hinata, are you sure?" he asked anyways, unable to stop his tone from showing worry. Tazuna aside, he didn't want to needlessly endanger his teammate's life.

"I... I know it will not be much, but please let me help!" she insisted.

Unsure, Kiba's gaze fell to Shino. "It is unlikely that another enemy will appear," the bug-user supplied.

"We can handle things out here," Sakura said supportively, motioning towards the Aburame. Like the bluenette, she knew what needed to be done, even though neither were fully confident in their ability to do their jobs.

"...Alright, let's go Hinata, Akamaru!"

With a short-lived smile, the Hyuuga nodded and followed her teammate as he dashed off towards their newest foe, both of them drawing a kunai as they moved.

Getting closer, Hinata was able to see that their enemy's skin was covered in a faint amount of chakra, almost as if it were a skin-tight armor. Additionally, she could also spot a thin trail of chakra connecting the girl to the ice structure that was trapping Kurenai, right through the barrier that separated them. Worried, she reported her findings to Kiba while she still could.

Meanwhile, a few feet away from the Ice Barrier she had created, Haru sighed. 'Looks like I'll be fighting one of them.'

Even tough Haru had told herself that she'd have no problems fighting one of the kids she had met a few days prior, now that she knew that would be sentencing the girl to afate worse than death —blindness and prostitution— instead of just killing her, she felt conflicted about engaging the shy Hyuuga and being directly responsible for her fate.

'Still, Zabuza-sama saved my life. As his tool, I can't spit on his benevolence by going against his orders,' she reminded herself, taking a small amount of her chakra to form a simple ice staff in her hands.

The staff was two meters long and a bit thicker than the girl's arm. The weapon also had been given more attention in the molding process than her brother's, appearing to be an actual structure carved out of ice rather than a random, jagged icicle.

"So you're the one that froze Kurenai-sensei, right?" Kiba growled when he deemed to be close enough to the enemy, skipping the pleasantries to get to the heart of the matter.

"Exactly, and if you wish to free the Genjutsu Mistress, you will have to go through me," she posed the challenge, eager to fight despite what would come afterwards.

"Funny, we were going to kick your butt anyways," the Inuzuka smirked at her, before glancing at his partners. "Akamaru, Hinata, you two ready?" he asked in a lower tone.

The ninken barked in agreement instantly, but Hinata took a moment to swallow her own fears and insecurities before answering with a silent nod and moving into the Jyuuken's favored fighting stance.

'Kiba-kun is counting on me, even if he doesn't think too much of my fighting ability,' she thought, mistaking the Inuzuka's earlier protective instincts for a lack of trust. 'There's no room for failure this time, Hinata,' the bluenette lectured herself, almost giving her father's tone to her mental voice.

"It seems all three of you are ready," Haru observed, entering into a battle stance of her own. Kiba and Hinata couldn't help but note that it resembled the form Zabuza took right before his duel with Kakashi began. "Fine; come!"

Unable to say no to the invitation, Kiba, Hinata, and Akamaru charged at their opponent.

---

"Aaarrghh...!"

The sounds of needles piercing the air and the scream that followed once they struck Sasuke were the only things that could be heard inside of the dome of mirrors Haku had conjured.

'This guy... is impossibly fast!' Sasuke remarked in his mind, almost curling up on the ground from both pain and a feeble attempt to dodge part of the rain of steel that was falling on him.

"Now, I'll show you the true meaning of speed," the Uchiha remembered the masked ninja promising from within one of his mirrors, right before his reflection began to "spread" to the other mirrors. Which one held the real Haku he wasn't sure, given that every single one of them had the same reflection on their surface.

Sasuke barely comprehended how the attack started. All he saw was the faint blurs from the needles and the green-clothed ninja that was throwing them. Whether it was pure speed or some trick, Sasuke felt as if the enemy was everywhere at the same time.

'Which one is real? Or... are all of them real!?' he had questioned himself then, and he was no closer to finding out than he had been before.

Once the volley of needles ceased, Sasuke took the brief respite to scan his surroundings while the pain wasn't messing with his ability to think too badly. 'No... while clones would be possible, he wouldn't need the mirrors if that was the trick. It can't be genjutsu either, because of the mist. One of them—and only one—is real. But how do I find him?'

"No matter how much you look, you won't figure out the secret," Haku commented, and Sasuke took note the voice could only come from the mirror facing him, almost as if tauntingly, knowing that he was safe from harm and could talk as much as he wanted.

It didn't take a genius to know Haku wasn't fighting seriously. With the speed he had exhibited, striking in a lethal spot wouldn't be hard for the masked boy... and even leaving that aside, it was clear to Sasuke that running away or attacking at range would only work if Haku allowed him to.

It made his blood boil with anger.

'This bastard is just toying with me! None of his attacks were killing strikes... but why!?'

On one of the edges of the frozen cage-like structure, Haku was mulling over the very same fact. 'I was ordered to spare him if I could as Zabuza-sama wanted me to drag out the fight as long as possible in hopes of making him awaken the Sharingan... but we don't know the condition for that to happen,' he lamented. The secrets of Konoha didn't find their way into Kiri's information network often, and as missing-nin, Zabuza and his pupils were even less able to gather intel on the Uchiha clan's fabled dojutsu. 'I suppose I will have to slow down slightly to see if his eyes can't get used to my speed—perhaps forcing them to their limits is the key here. But before that... hm?'

With mild curiosity, Haku noted the fury in Sasuke's eyes. Though not in the way Zabuza had wanted, the Uchiha was definitely seeing red. Throwing caution to the wind, the genin recklessly started to blaze through the hand seals his father had taught him as fire began to gather in his lungs.

Haku recognized the jutsu and the futility of the attempt, but unnoticed by Sasuke, his true body quickly flashed between the ice mirrors to appear behind the younger boy. This was mostly out of caution, because the flames that Sasuke breathed barely even melted the mirror as Haku predicted.

"Common sense would dictate that fire is effective against ice, yes... but this is no normal ice," Haku gave his enemy a hint. His bloodline's Ice Release didn't have a particular weakness or strength against Katon jutsu such as Sasuke's, unlike the Wind and Water chakra affinities that composed it, respectively.

"Fire could actually melt my mirrors," he continued, "but you'd need to have flames much stronger than those."

Sasuke took the tip as an insult, feeling even more humiliated than before as he turned around to glare at the mirror directly behind him. "Damn you..."

Ignoring the snarled offense, Haku addressed him evenly. "As I am sure you are now aware, you cannot defeat me. I am significantly faster than you, and you cannot force me out of my mirrors. However, we do not need to keep fighting. Like I said before, we want the bridge builder, not you. Give up now and you may yet keep your life."

Though it went against Zabuza's plans, Haku's loyalty to the man only went so far. Unlike his sister, he wasn't a true follower of the Demon of the Hidden Mist, and while he indeed feel indebted to the man, Haku saw Zabuza mostly as a way to grow stronger to protect his sister and free Kirigakure from Yagura's rule.

The swordsman's plans for Sasuke and his eyes didn't sit well with someone that abhorred violence as much as Haku.

It disgusted him.

However, Zabuza was currently stuck fighting Kakashi and couldn't pay attention to what was happening between the Demonic Ice Mirrors. It wouldn't be hard for Haku to lie to the swordsman and make him believe that he had been forced to kill Sasuke in their battle, even though the Uchiha would be just left in a near-death state, albeit one less intense than what he had put Zabuza through.

"Heh..." Sasuke chuckled, despite not really being in a position to. "You think... that after all of this, I'm giving up? There's no way in hell I'm stopping before I defeat you." Whether it was his wounded pride that was speaking louder than reason or simply that he had spent more time listening to Naruto than it was healthy to, Sasuke couldn't stop himself from turning away Haku's offer.

'This is just like that Itachi genjutsu... he didn't kill me straight away, so he has a purpose. As long as he isn't fighting seriously then I still should have a chance to win,' the Uchiha thought. 'And losing is not an option. The others are alone with another masked ninja and they might need my help,' he noted with displeasure, having witnessed what had happened to Kurenai before the first wave of needles came.

The feeling only intensified when he reminded himself of the big problem he was facing. 'If only I could see him... if only I could use the Sharingan...!'

Meanwhile, Haku sighed. Seeing the resolution on Sasuke's eyes—but no Sharingan—he resigned himself to the fate his opponent had chosen and gathered a fistful of needles from a pouch on the inside of his robes. When he next spoke, his voice was as frigid and emotionless as the element that his chakra was naturally attuned to.

"Very well, Uchiha-san. Then so be it."

---

"Crud..." Kiba cursed, cradling his aching rib as he realized how much of a strategic mistake rushing at the enemy had been. In his mind, forcing the fight to happen away from the bridge builder would have been the best choice, but the situation changed as Haru revealed her weapon.

Though she handled the thing mostly as if it were a greatsword rather than a staff, it allowed Haru to fend off multiple opponents at once, and with the battle happening so close to the Ice Barrier that had split the bridge in two, getting behind the girl to attack from her blind spot seemed all but impossible to the Konoha genin.

'If only these guys weren't trained to fight on this blasted mist... then I could have used a smoke ball here, but that's not going to do anything,' he thought, unaware that his foe would indeed have been impaired by a smokescreen.

Having been launched by a thrust to the gut, Kiba had crashed into the wet and slippery surface of the bridge and slid away from the fight. Luckily, his chainmail and thick coat prevented him from being outright impaled by the blunt staff, but it still made him unable to do anything but watch as both Hinata and Akamaru got repelled by a single wide swing.

On the good side, the hit that had caught Akamaru's side hadn't been strong enough to dispel his transformation... but it also had left Hinata momentarily unconscious when the frozen weapon struck her left temple, leaving the girl sprawled on the ground and bleeding from the resulting gash.

"Honestly, I was expecting a little more from this fight..." Haru lamented earnestly, having been hoping to test the skills she had fought so hard to learn. Zabuza still was reluctant at times to bring her to combat-heavy missions, and she was looking at this mission as a chance to prove herself capable of handling them.

To Kiba, it all came across as a taunt, given that the masked girl refused to move from her spot a couple meters in front of the Ice Barrier. She had, of course, no need to throw away the advantageous position, but he growled at her nonetheless.

"Unh..." Hinata moaned, recovering her senses with some difficulty, as the throbbing pain in her head made her thought process hazy. She still had enough in her to try to get up, and in doing so noticed how the water on the ground was making the process hard.

"Come on, you three. I don't have all day to waste on you!" Haru now legitimately provoked them, seeing no need to resort to actual ninjutsu just yet. Her chakra reserves, considering the amount of chakra saved by the water surrounding the battlefield, were barely even drained after her two techniques... but she had a plan to conserve chakra as the battle went on, just in case.

Her idleness gave Hinata the free opportunity to reactivate her Byakugan, and what she saw made her gasp, only loud enough to be detected by the sensitive hearing of her teammate and his dog. "She's moving the water from the clones closer to us and freezing the floor," she whispered, to which Kiba replied with a small nod and a flash of his fangs to the enemy as he realized exactly why she was managing to send them so far away after her attacks.

The Hyuuga could see, to an extent, how the water that was far back to where Tazuna and the others were was for the most part mixed with chakra... while the wet area that could be considered their battlefield was glowing in a different intensity, just the same as the Hyoton techniques both masked ninja had used thus far.

'And that layer of chakra on her skin is also worrying. Could that be Ice, too?' she mused, unsure of what to do next but attack head-on—a strategy that had been proven to be subpar at best.

Almost as in response to her thoughts, her eyes widened slightly when she spotted Kiba quickly scratching the stone floor with his kunai. 'That's what Shino-kun did on the bell test!'

Between the usually bad calligraphy of the Inuzuka and the urgency the situation required, the writing hasn't been as polished as Kiba would have liked, but Hinata could read "dodge, go for the wall" as clear as day by her teammate's feet. 'Ah, I see! If I focus on dodging, I might be able to get past her and destabilize the barrier with Jyuuken! Then we can surround her from all sides!'

"Okay, let's all attack again!" Kiba rallied his partners after hearing a mumbled affirmative from Hinata.

Haru, who had been watching them all warily from her safe spot, became even more suspicious of the Inuzuka's actions once he began executing hand signs and focused her sights on him as the group advance up until the moment he fell to all fours and remained there. Despite her mild curiosity, she was forced to give attention to the transformed Akamaru.

The dog-in-human-form lunged to do a low slash at his enemy's leg, forcing Haru to respond with a wide downward sweep before the attack could be fully executed, grazing Akamaru's ribs mid-jump. Hinata approached an instant later and was just about to thrust her palm at the masked girl when her ambush was reacted to.

Converting her motion into another attack, Haru shifted the momentum of the swing to try and catch Hinata on the head once again, but this time, instead of being caught off-guard, she made use of the icy floor and threw herself into a skid, bending her entire body just enough to avoid the blow, passing behind Haru unharmed.

Once again, the masked girl hardly acknowledged the maneuver as Kiba pounced on her, moving and attacking at speeds the genin hadn't shown during the first few minutes of the fight. Instead of clawing his way through like he usually preferred to do when under the effects of the Four Legs Technique, now the Inuzuka held a kunai in his right hand to aid him in making up for the reach disadvantage.

Gritting her teeth beneath the mask, Haru did her best to fend off the strikes while trying to switch her grip on the staff, forgoing Zabuza's teachings for her self-taught bojutsu ones. It lowered her range, but allowed her to fend off Kiba's slices more quickly while sneaking in some of her own in the brief duel.

A duel that she got the upper hand on when Kiba faltered thanks to his teammate's exclamation.

"I-I can't break this!" Hinata called out in distress. Though she could infuse chakra within the extra-thin plate of ice, hey Byakugan told her the chakra was somehow absorbed into the ice. The Ice Barrier even became slightly thicker in the areas she did try striking with the Gentle Fist. "It's similar what the books said about the Shodaime's Wood Release... this drains chakra!"

The draining power of Hyoton wasn't a match to the Mokuton that Hashirama Senju had been famous for, but it was more than enough to completely absorb something that used as little chakra as a Jyuuken strike.

Upon closer inspection, she noticed another problem. "And freezes on contact as well!" she panicked, seeing the tips of her pointed and middle fingers lightly encased in frost. To her relief, a burst of expelled charka quickly got rid of the problem, but that was a luxury Hinata knew would only be available to herself.

"Dammit!"

Whether Kiba cursed because of the new information or because of the kick Haru landed on his already wounded ribs, Hinata didn't know. She was too busy realizing that, by failing to break the Ice Barrier, she didn't have the room needed to deal with the masked enemy.

Kiba and Akamaru had both been tossed to the ground and Hinata herself was in a bad position... but the truly dangerous element was that Haru had finished bringing most of the water to what was effectively their battlefield.

Straining her vision, Hinata could see more parts of the floor had actually been frozen. 'We are sliding on the floor each time she managed to hit us, so we can't approach her. Her abilities are all geared towards defense, in some manner or another...'

Her luck was still going strong, however, as Haru didn't see Hinata as enough of a threat to press her advantage while she could. The masked girl merely turned her head to glance at the Hyuuga while keeping the other two in her field of vision.

"I don't know what exactly you were aiming to do by breaking the ice," she stated with some amusement, "but that's not going to work. Neither you nor your doggish teammate will be able to pass with the level of strength Zabuza-same said you two have."

"That's what we are going to see!" Kiba challenged, moving towards Akamaru as the dog did the same. "Hinata, keep her busy for a minute!"

"Y-yes!" the blunette answered, not at all confident she would be able to cover for Kiba if he had truly meant one minute as the full sixty seconds let alone just a couple, but she moved to strike Haru nonetheless.

Frowning beneath her mask, the Hyoton-user whirled around in time to block a couple of shuriken and sidestep a kunai thrust. As Hinata had overextended herself, Haru immediately went to bring her staff on the back of the younger girl's head, but the Byakugan showed the move coming and allowed Hinata to duck beneath the blow before even recovering from her own attack.

Still, Hinata didn't recover fast enough to keep the offensive up, and after another exchange of blows, the tides turned and Hinata found herself doing more dodging than attacking. She did manage to move enough around Haru so that she no longer had her back to the wall, though; now being the sole thing between her teammates and the enemy... and during a blocked finger poke, she confirmed that the ice staff Haru held didn't have the same freezing/draining properties that the mirror-like Ice Barrier had.

In the end, Hinata accomplished her task.

"Alright, Akamaru! Let's destroy this wall!"

That was the only warning Haru had before she saw Kiba and his partner execute their signature drill-like technique, the Gatsuuga, straight towards herself and Hinata.

Knowing that Zabuza wanted the Hyuuga alive, but forgetting that the girl's Byakugan would warn her of Kiba's attack ahead of time, Haru pressed an opening shoved both of her hands forward to push the smaller girl out of the drill's path before chakra-jumping away.

The central section of the frozen staff had collided strongly against Hinata's chest, throwing her to the ground. It hadn't been a complete loss given that she had managed to strike the masked girl's left hand during the two-handed thrust, and but once again, there was more to be discovered about Haru's techniques.

'I hit her, but my hand slid off her skin... could it be that she really has a layer of Ice covering her, like some sort of armor?' Hinata wondered, watching her opponent as she landed. The shy Hyuuga knew that while her attack had missed the mark slightly, it managed to connect with two joints on the enemy's hand. By all means, her grip on the staff should have been affected by the Jyuuken strike, but Haru still held on her weapon tightly as if nothing had happened

'That must have the same properties as the barrier, then,' she concluded, getting up from the wet, ice-coated floor with some difficulty, from both the terrain and the pain on her left breast and ribs.

Shifting her attention to said barrier, she saw Kiba and Akamaru connecting against it. The two did manage to start drilling through the barrier, but their spin began to slow down considerably once they made contact, until the Fang over Fang almost couldn't sustain itself anymore.

Both Inuzuka and ninken bounced away before that point, and looked up to see that the barrier was heavily scratched where their attack hit for all but one moment—the ice soon began to reform until no evidence of the attempt was left behind.

"What the hell is this thing...!?" Kiba swore indignantly. The Inuzuka clan were specialists in breaking down defensive jutsu, which made this failure to sting even harder.

"As long as you attack has chakra, it won't get past it," Haru said with a smile, pleased with her technique's performance and Kiba's bafflement. The smile soon went away as the boy started to sniff around with a surprised expression on his face, leaving the masked girl confused until a new voice boomed throughout the area.

Not just a new voice... multiple voices. Familiar voices!

"Then how about something that doesn't have chakra, then!?"

Following the sound, Haru witnessed a mass of orange running towards her barrier, multiple hands holding a steel beam as if it were a battering ram. Her widened once her brain made the comparison. 'I can't let those clones get near!'

Dropping her staff, the Yuki frantically started to go through hand seals (with both hands—she wasn't as good as her brother just yet), but she was forced to drop her jutsu once she heard metal cutting air. By sheer instinct, she formed a small and thin sheet of ice on her palm, using it as a shield to deflect the kunai and shuriken Kiba and Hinata respectively tossed at her.

"Go Naruto!" Kiba called out to him, openly cheering the Uzumaki in contrast to the silent, pleased smile that Hinata wore as both watched the steel beam colliding against the barrier, breaking a hole into it and leaving Naruto to pass through unimpeded.

The cracks into the barrier began to spread in all directions, until it could no longer sustain itself and fell apart completely, sending shards of ice in random directions. For better or for worse, nobody got hurt by them.

"Gnhh... the barrier's one weakness..." Haru mumbled in disgust. Strong physical attacks could shatter it, but Zabuza had assured her none of the genin were capable of such a feat. Obviously, the swordsman hadn't taken the battlefield in consideration when affirming such a thing.

"Heh, take that! You guys thank Sakura-chan and Shino for the idea later!" One of the Narutos said while waving at them, completely unaware that Kakashi only barely stopped Zabuza from going after him. Of course, since the two jonin began their duel the fog had deepened, so it was not like Naruto would have seen them anyways.

"Sure, go help Sasuke! We can handle things from here!" Kiba answered with a thumbs-up, and the Naruto squad ran into the deep mist that covered the previously-inaccessible section of the bridge.

"You just sent your friend away to his death," Haru commented stoically. The blond didn't have the means to fight back against Haku, she knew... and unlike the Uchiha her sibling had no reason to spare the loud Uzumaki. "He isn't capable of defeating my brother."

"He will find a way," Hinata countered with absolute certainty.

"That idiot is crafty; he will be okay," Kiba agreed, still smirking. "But forget him; it's time for round 2! Right, Hinata?"

"Mnn!"

Haru shook her head at her opponents, scowling at them from behind her emotionless mask. "You want to continue? Fine! I'm tired of going easy on you three!"

"Oh yeah? You'll regret not going all-out from the start!"

With Kiba's promise hanging in the air, the battle began anew.

---

A/N

Yeah... I'm not very happy with this chapter. I think what Naruto said in the aftermath of his off-screen fight sums this up pretty well. ("Well, that was disappointing," if you forgot.)

But maybe it is the whole "lost content, had to redo a lotta stuff" thing that has gotten to me, since my beta loved it. Or maybe it is the battle scenes and the difficulty I had in doing them. Eh. I was also kind of planning on Naruto using a crane in that last scene too, but then I realized the obvious: it wouldn't have the speed required to make breaking through Haru's Ice Barrier believable.

Next chapter should wrap everything up. We will see what's up with Kakashi and Zabuza first and foremost, the two "genin vs masked person" fights, Gatou's interference... up until the return to Konoha. I'll explain what Naruto had been up to before showing up on the bridge, too.

So the chapter will be of the "bigger than 14K" variety that takes more than 4 weeks to write, too. I will also have tests in the beginning of October but I actually think I will do well enough for them to not detract too much from this (Mostly because the classes have been pretty weak), so I think a chapter at the very end of the month is feasible—but not certain.

Will be a little later than the 1-year anniversary, tho. Time sure flies.

...I've been a bit disappointed with the lack of response on the last chapter, especially given what went on in the middle... but then again, that's probably karma for the Arc Fatigue this fic probably fell into. And the delay. I'm sure the update going live in the middle of the week didn't help anyone, either. Not going to do that again.

And hey, if anyone is reading this on October 9th, give me a review for a birthday present! I will appreciate it!

Thanks to SimplePotato again for the beta work! All mistakes in this chapter, no matter the size, shape and form, are exclusively and 100% his fault, even those from parts I wrote after he sent the chapter beta'd to me. Especially those—I mean, sure, he wasn't involved, but that's not a valid excuse. He's still the guilty party!

Kidding. Though he does have part in the very last of the delays... it wasn't really his fault (his college screwed him over out of nowhere), but aim your torches and pitchforks at him nonetheless. Roast that Potato!

PS: This fic now has over 200k words, with just 15,5 chapters (8, 9 and 13 count as 1,5 chapter to me). Gods, how did this happen? And will I get over 200 reviews, too? ...Unlikely, but I'd love to see you guys prove me wrong!

---

Changelog:

1.0 to 1.0.1

Corrected three instances where Haru's Ice Barrier was wrongly referred to as a fence. Remains of the chapter's beta version that got through, those.