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!)

15. Chapter 15 - Shattered, part 2

Hello, people! I need to say a few important things, so listen up.

Firstly... this is rather embarrassing, but it seems like a rather important section of Chapter 12 was somehow deleted during the edition process. Namely, it is what triggers Naruto's epiphany about Hinata wanting to be his friend. Reviewer Kartikey has brought up this issue to me, and I went back and corrected this mistake (and polished that part a little, since I was already there). It's highly recommended that you guys go back and read that little part again after reading this chapter. Use Ctrl+F and search for "lavender flowers" to get near the changed part.

I'm deeply sorry about this oversight... the edition process is quite long and I tend to wrap it up at 3 AM or so after hours of work. I'm really tired by that time, which is why this happened. Though it has been quite a while since that chapter has posted. Was that part actually reasonable for you guys at first? It felt lacking to me now, but oh well.

The second thing that I wanted to talk about is this chapter. It was originally meant to be a 20K chapter like the last one and wrap up the arc, but many unexpected problems at college have slowed me down considerably these past few weeks, and the action sequences didn't come easily to me. As my beta and a few reviewers pointed out that last chapter was too big, I decided to split this second part. Which was already a split part so... welp.

Initially, I'd just post the 11K word chapter I had, but this decision allowed me to elaborate on a couple events some more to make the chapters have some length (lol), though, so it's not all bad news here. The last part will be coming very, very soonish. There will be far less action which means I won't have as many motivation issues/raw difficulty while working on it, and I'm wrapping up college anyways.

The last this is a timeline issue. This chapter might be a little hard to follow due to the multiple battles occurring at once, but I tried to arrange it to the best of my abilities.

Nonetheless, just in case you guys become confused: Parts 1, 2, and 3 happen in that exact order. One ends, and chronologically the following one is beginning at around that moment. These cover the first section of each of the three on-going fights from last chapter, but the second sections are where it gets tricky because it's not a straight timeline anymore.

Parts 4 and 7+ are of the same individual battle, and their events are happening at the same time Parts 5 and 6 are going on. It sounds complicated but it's actually easy to understand while reading due to a major event that affects everyone. You guys will be able to understand what is happening when, but this was just for you to not assume time is flowing directly forward from scene to scene.

There are a lot of things going on in this chapter and much of it is action-based. I hope you guys like it!

---

Land of Waves arc

Chapter 15: Shattered, part 2 (Current Version: 1.0)

---

"You shouldn't have let me out of your sight, Zabuza."

Kakashi's voice was calm—threateningly so—as he chastised his enemy for his mistake.

Though Zabuza had pumped far more chakra than before into his mist to make it denser, Kakashi's Sharingan was still able to detect movement to a degree. The shuriken that had slashed the swordsman's left bicep to stop his advance on the blissfully ignorant squad of Narutos was a testament to it.

A derisive, angry snort came from a silhouette shrouded in mist, perhaps nine or ten meters apart from the Leaf jonin. "You are right, I shouldn't have bothered going after that obnoxious brat. He might have broken through my other pupil's jutsu, but if he went to rescue the Uchiha then he has basically forfeited his life. They can't beat Haku."

Zabuza's tone was smug. Kakashi knew he was trying to rile him up, to make him worry about his students to become distracted... however, two could play that game. "And yet you still tried to stop Naruto. Worried they might figure something out, Zabuza?"

"Shut up."

As if on cue, the Kubikiribocho cleaved through the space Kakashi had been at, a strong vertical slash followed by a flurry of multi-directional slices as Zabuza bloodthirstily advanced forward. Kakashi did his best to keep up with the swordsman, repelling Zabuza's lightning-fast strikes with a mere pair of kunai, one in each hand. Just as Zabuza was using his superior range to its maximum effect, Kakashi also opted for a patient, defensive fighting style to minimize risk.

With each metallic cling of their frenetic, deadly dance, Kakashi began to identify a pattern. A complex one, but a pattern nonetheless.

Unlike both of their students, Kakashi wasn't innocent enough to believe that patterns were anything else but a trap, and split his focus in two: his body was simply going through the motions as Zabuza wanted; his eyes were scanning all the other directions in expectancy of a feint.

Soon, when a slash towards his torso came, the predicted opposite-direction strike towards his legs didn't.

Zabuza chose the neck as his next target and the thrust as his move. He also missed entirely, and barely saw Kakashi ducking under the blow. That forced the missing-nin to hop backwards, not wanting to give Kakashi a chance to hit him.

But Kakashi had another aim. He shoved his weapons inside the beheading hole carved inside the Kubikirbocho, forcing what was perhaps the most awkward blade lock possible by pushing the Zabuza's blade away from him, almost yanking it off his hands.

Almost. Zabuza recovered his bearings quickly and accompanied the motion, ramming his knee into Kakashi's face as he went. Zabuza smirked, feeling the man's face cave in from the strength behind the attack... until his prey exploded into a small smoke cloud. 'Kage Bunshin!'

Straining his sensitive hearing while preparing a jutsu, he barely detected the slashing sounds from behind and above him.

"Water Release: Dragon Flower Jutsu!"

Zabuza turned and spat a large barrage of water bullets. They intercepted the quartet of steel stars, and a small grunt of pain later, Zabuza bared his teeth in satisfaction as he ran to pursue his prey.

"Really, Kakashi? You think I'm not aware of my technique's limitations?" he taunted. Zabuza had trained his ears, but that did little to help him if the opponent took to the air. Just the same, the Sharingan's pseudo-clairvoyance did little to help the user if they had nowhere to dodge.

A fact Kakashi was painfully reminded of as he was sent to the ground after taking a water bullet to the stomach. His balance was off due to the imperfect landing, not enough to properly defend against the slash he was sure would be coming a second later, but enough to jump out of the way to try again.

This time, Kakashi had a kunai ready to resist the full weight of Zabuza's greatsword as it came upon him. He could barely see the man himself, let alone get his Sharingan to pierce through the thick mist.

"A nice move, though," the Demon of the Hidden Mist complimented. "Distracting me with a clone and using its explosion to track me down on the mist was clever, I'll give you that much!"

"I'm barely getting started," the silver-haired man countered pushing the heavy blade away and hopping backwards to put some space between them.

Zabuza decided to roll with the idea, concealing himself within the mist to hound his prey once more. "Good. I want to savor my vengeance for as long as possible, and then I'll hunt down those brats of yours and make sure they will see your dead carcass before I deal with them."

A small sigh escaped Kakashi's lips. 'It's been a long time since I faced off against someone this tough... I really shouldn't have taken it easy just because I left the ANBU,' he thought with regret.

But he didn't falter. Zabuza's threat was but a reminder of what he was fighting for—the promise he had made in front of the memorial stone, not too soon after he proclaimed that Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had passed his test. A promise made to himself and to those he had already failed before.

"Obito, Rin, Minato-sensei... this time, it will be different. I refuse to let Team 7 fall apart again."

---

"No!"

While the "clangs" that echoed from outside Haku's mirrors hinted of a heated battle with no clear winner, and the loud noises not dissimilar to glass being shattered suggested a change of tides elsewhere... the sound of metal bouncing on the concrete floor of the bridge only spoke tales of defeat and desperation.

At least, that was what Sasuke felt as his weapon was torn away from his hand by expertly aimed needles, one to separate him from the blade and another to launch it a couple meters away from the dome of mirrors. His only consolation was that at least those two hadn't struck his body like the last dozens of senbon, but that did little to improve the boy's mood.

That his opponent—one that Sasuke refused with all his being to admit, but deep down knew was much above his current level—had finally decided to fight seriously and actually disarmed him spoke volumes about where the fight was headed.

He would not have the chance to draw another kunai or execute a technique again.

'...So, this is it?' he asked himself, shoulders slumping. 'This is as far I can go?'

And just when he was about to accept the fact that he lost, hope came from the unlikeliest of places.

"Hang on, Sasuke! Don't you dare give up just yet!"

He recognized that voice.

"No... it can't be," he murmured, incredulously following the voice's direction with his eyes. 'What is he even doing here?!'

Despite the thick mist and his own disbelief, it was impossible not to see a mass of orange approaching the mirrored area. What had been much harder to spot was the gray steel beam the twelve-Naruto squad carried as they rushed at the nearest mirror.

All of Sasuke's hopes were shattered when he realized his friend—friend?—would never make it in time. "No, Naruto! Run!"

His pleas were deafened by the shouts and yells of the orange squad, but the Uchiha has been only barely aware of it. What drew his attention was the sole word that escaped his enemy's lips.

"Foolish."

Sasuke screamed Naruto's name once again as he barely glimpsed a barrage of needles traveling from beyond a mirror to the outside. Instinct alone drove him to race against the rain of senbon, but it was futile. They obliterated the Narutos before he even came close to stepping outside of the mirrors.

A smoke cloud rose in the aftermath of the shadow clones being dispelled, and both Sasuke and Haku were very much surprised to see only the steel beam and needles scattered on the floor, if not stuck on it.

A voice.

"Sasuke, get ready!"

This time the Uzumaki's call came from the other side of the dome of frozen mirrors. Whirling in place, Sasuke now saw Naruto high in the air, and the kunai that Haku had eliminated from the battle flying back towards its rightful owner.

Sasuke was not surprised when, as soon as the kunai passed by the nearest mirror, a hand emerged from the nearest sheet of ice to counter the maneuver with a needle, aimed straight at the blond Uzumaki.

"You have interesting tricks, but if you cannot outspeed me they are useless," Haku stoically informed Naruto right before he caught the thrown kunai and his own needle struck Naruto's body... dispelling him.

Another "poof" and Sasuke fought to suppress laughter as he broke into a mad dash. 'This guy is unbelievable!'

There was nothing that Sasuke wanted more than to see the complete surprise in his masked foe's face after the kunai burst into a cloud of smoke, a mere instant before Naruto grabbed the Hyoton-user by his sleeves and threw the older boy towards Sasuke.

"Catch!" Naruto had a broad grin of excitement, and Sasuke was fully sure there was one just like it plastered across his own face.

"Gladly!"

That was the last thing Haku heard before Sasuke's sandaled foot met his masked head once again, almost sending him right back at Naruto with a broken neck.

The blond dove to the ground to launch the strongest punch he could muster and caught the masked ninja's back as they fell, leaving Haku to crash against the bridge's surface—right at the very center of their arena.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Haku scrambled to roll out of the blaze's path, which came diagonally from the air, and barely managed to rise to his knees in time to block Naruto's incoming fist. The Uzumaki's reaction was to lash out with his legs, but Haku was faster and caught the opposite limb, tripping the orange-clad boy.

Naruto was still able to toss a few shuriken at the masked Ice-user even as he fell on his butt, but Haku had also been able to draw a trio of senbon to defend himself with. Three needles for three throwing stars, and he left himself defenseless as Sasuke entered the fray with his own projectiles: a pair of kunai.

Slippery, Zabuza's pupil still managed to weave between those, only sporting minor gashes and burns on his clothes as the daggers passed by harmlessly.

They collided against one of the mirrors on the edges of the area. He heard sharp noise from the impact against the ice, as well as three soft explosions a foot away from himself—more clones.

Haku molded his chakra and used the Body Flicker Jutsu and practically teleported away from the Narutos, reappearing right beside a mirror far from the two genin.

"No! Stop him!" Haku heard Sasuke's voice, distorting partway through as he entered the ice just like the similar-sounding voices he heard afterwards.

"I'm trying! I'm trying!"

"Eat this!"

"Shut up and let me work, Sasuke!"

"Man, that was so creepy..."

Haku fully melted into his Ice Mirror a single second before dozens of projectiles pelted the reflective surface, bouncing uselessly against the chunk of frozen water and falling to the ground alongside the last two Sasuke had thrown. They exploded, being no more than chakra constructs.

"...I stand corrected." To the genin's surprise, Haku began to applaud them. "While I'm clearly faster, you two almost defeated me with but tactics and teamwork. I'm impressed!"

Despite no longer being in an advantageous position, Naruto and Sasuke's eyes met after they heard their opponent's honest opinion. The Uchiha offered his teammate a small nod and a look of approval and gratitude (with some reluctance—Sasuke figured it wouldn't kill him), prompting Naruto to give him on the widest grins he had ever seen from the boy.

"Not a half-bad plan, idiot," came the backhanded compliment, with the usual smirk.

"Shut up. Next time you need someone to save your ass I'll send Sakura-chan instead," Naruto rebutted with a playful edge, still smiling... especially when Sasuke's eyebrow twitched at the thought. The blond sadly didn't have more than a couple second to enjoy being acknowledged by his strongest rival, as three new memories appeared in his mind, together with a trio of small puffs.

"And yet, your plan has failed," Haku coldly continued, reminding the two boys that they were still on a battlefield. "You caught me off-guard once and I commend you for it, but that won't happen again."

Both Sasuke and Naruto's expressions tightened at the words. They glanced at the sole reflection in the dome and then shared another look.

"Naruto, he's right," the Uchiha muttered in concession. "Now that he got inside his mirror again... we're back to square one."

"You got that wrong, Sasuke," Naruto grinned, pointing at himself. "Now we have the numbers going for us."

"One more person won't make much of a difference," Sasuke countered immediately, but he saw the mistake in his mindset after a second of thought.

"Maybe not one... but how about one hundred?!"

Naruto moved his pointer and middle fingers to a cross-like formation: the seal associated with his favorite jutsu.

Sasuke was just about to yell at Naruto for using a technique so openly, but stopped himself. They were lucky that, despite Haku's insane speed, he still needed to "split" his reflection between the mirrors, which took a few, precious seconds.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Sasuke suddenly found himself in the middle of one of his worst nightmares. No matter which direction he looked at, there were dozens and dozens of Narutos all around him, almost as if he were drowning in a sea of orange.

Luckily, they were on his side instead of against him unlike that one dream...

"Come on, let's leave this dump!" the one who Sasuke knew was the original yelled at him, making himself be heard amidst his clones own screams as the copies advanced. Some tried to escape, while others chose to attack the mirrors.

"Interesting."

The furious shouts and battle cries soon became pained groans.

Almost as fast as they popped into existence, the chakra constructs were reduced to nothing but mere smoke, making the battlefield even hazier than it was before. Needles littered the area inside the cage of ice, and Sasuke was quick to notice that there were far fewer needles than there had been clones.

"Argh," Naruto angrily tore a needle that struck shoulder and tossed it aside. "That's ridiculous! I didn't see anything! How does he do that?!"

"That's the problem... he's too fast," Sasuke snarled, clutching his newly drawn kunai tightly. He wanted to ask if Naruto had a better plan, but his pride kept him from admitting he was lost—not in front of Naruto of all people.

"Exactly," Haku agreed with the genin, still hoping they might stop insisting in a hopeless fight. "You can continue to struggle, but it will be useless."

"Shut up! I'll show you...!" Angered, Naruto tried the exact same trick again.

That Haku allowed him also angered Sasuke once again, who once again thought he was underestimating them... but in truth, Haku just realized that Naruto had just used a very taxing technique and let the rowdy genin wear himself out. The Ice-user just took it all as a training exercise to hone his skills (he had actually barely managed to destroy every clone before some escaped), all while racking his mind for new theories on how to awaken his enemy's dojutsu.

'Now that his teammate—Naruto, I believe—entered the fray... I wonder if I can't use this to accomplish my mission somehow...'

And while Haku flashed between the mirrors, destroying multiple clones as he tossed needles everywhere, Sasuke observed, deep in thought.

'Naruto is not directly helping but with so many clones around... maybe I'll be able to glean something from watching this. He does a good job at being the bait... hm.'

Sasuke filed this realization for later use, and immediately scowled. There wouldn't be a "later" unless they defeated Haku, and Naruto's technique had been proving as useful as it had before. At best, it had just slightly tired out their opponent.

'If only my eyes were fast enough to track him...!'

In his fury, Sasuke did the only thing that could help him. It was a long shot, but he was aware that focusing chakra in a part of the body made that specific area stronger and more resilient. For sensorial organs such as the tongue or skin, however, the senses were sharpened at the expense of a bigger chakra cost, and thus, Sasuke sent chakra towards his eyes.

He wasn't expecting anything to happen. It was a well-known fact that trying to enhance your eyesight with chakra only made you see slightly farther and slightly clearer, and neither of those boosts would actually help with anything... but he did it anyways, out of desperation. A last resort he was sure wouldn't amount to anything, even though he had never tried to do it before.

And that was when the tides began to change.

---

'This is going nowhere!'

Hinata had to hand it to her opponent. While not a single one of the abilities the green-robed masked girl had displayed was particularly threatening on their own, when all of them were put together the masked girl became a particularly annoying opponent to face. Feeling that mid-battle was a first for Hinata, who tended to respond to fights with completely different negative emotions, such as fear or hesitation.

The frozen and liquid water that covered the surface of the battlefield still was bothersome, keeping Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru away from the fight for far too long each time Haru landed a stronger blow and forced them to slide away. That was exactly the fate that had befallen the blue-haired Hyuuga at that moment, leaving her out of the fight for far, far too much time in her opinion.

Luckily—despite how that brought some concerns on its own right—Naruto's timely and surprising intervention got rid of the blockade that made circling around the Ice-user all but impossible. That, at least, made her staff far easier to handle... but in place of the bigger barrier the Uzumaki broke through, the masked girl now shot smaller barriers that repelled Hinata and Kiba's projectiles while serving as another attack to be dodged. Given that they traveled quickly through the air and were just as big as the mirrors Sasuke was dealing with, only significantly thinner, that was easier said than done.

Hinata had made the mistake of trying to strike one such "mini-barrier", as she dubbed it in her mind, but destroying it came at the cost of her entire hand being encased in ice. It was only a thin layer covering the skin of the hand, but Hinata could see it sapping her of her chakra and becoming thicker before she got rid of it.

Thus, the trio was forced to avoid the projectiles entirely or waste time crashing their kunai into it to break through safely, giving Haru even more openings to knock them away.

Which is exactly how Hinata found herself in her current position.

And that wasn't even the worst part: each time one of the three actually managed to land a blow, it turned out the armor-like coat of ice the girl wore beneath her robes protected her from being harmed by it. Kiba was sure his drilling techniques could get through but had yet to find an opening to execute the attack now that Haru was taking them more seriously. Hinata's Gentle Fist strikes were proving completely useless, however.

'What use is being able to hit her when nothing damages her?! At this rate...' she gulped, watching Kiba and Akamaru's fast-paced struggle to break through the enemy's defenses. Claws were avoided, slashes were parried, openings were scarce... and those didn't lead to anywhere, even when they did land a hit

It wasn't just annoying to Hinata. It was worrisome.

Her partners were much faster with the Four Legs Technique, but they couldn't have it active forever. It was draining them, while as far as the Byakugan could perceive only the girl's eventual mini-mirrors actually put a dent on her modest chakra reserves. Haru had almost completed an unknown jutsu on two occasions, and Hinata didn't want to find out what technique she had in mind for them.

Still, Hinata had to face reality.

'I... I can't contribute much here. My techniques aren't working and I can barely keep up with their speed...'

That old and well-known feeling of failure was just as haunting as ever, but she could avoid it if only she could think of a plan to tip the scales to their side.

'No technique is perfect,' she tried to calm herself down and push the self-depreciation away. 'I just need to figure out a weakness. Where can I start?'

"Ice Release: Ice Flow Spear!"

"She managed to do a jutsu?" Hinata hurriedly focused again into watching the fight. She looked back just as a thick arrow of solid ice sprouted from the wet surface of the bridge, right in front of Haru's feet, and flew towards one of her friends. She had no idea if it was Kiba or the disguised Akamaru who was targeted until the almost-skewered boy cursed loudly.

"Dammit... so you know offensive jutsu after all," he growled, eyes narrowed.

"Of course I do," she scoffed. "Ice is a primarily defensive element, but as you can see..."

'Wait, what was that?' Hinata felt as if something of importance was said. 'Ice... element? Elements. Elements...!'

Her mind replayed a memory of almost five days before, of when she had asked a question about the First Hokage's Wood Release in the middle of Kakashi's lesson about elements.

"...But elements such as those are very much like your Byakugan: bloodline limits. The basic elements can be learned by anyone that puts in enough time and hard work, but there are other elements that combine two kinds of elemental chakra..."

'That's it! Kakashi-sensei spoke about each element's weaknesses and strengths... maybe there's something that can help me. Okay.' She took a deep breath to calm her mind, hoping that Haru didn't notice she was up to no good. Hinata just knew she was on to something.

'Ice isn't one of the basic five elements, which means it's some kind of fusion between two other elements. But which ones?'

Another few seconds spent thinking. 'Part of it must be Water, obviously. I know Water and Earth somehow results in Wood,' she remembered having asked that question to Kakashi midway through their training session. 'Fire and Lighting produce heat so they probably aren't the answer. That just leaves Wind.'

Could that be the answer?

'Wind... there's some logic to it, what with wind being able to cool things. So let's go with that theory. Wind is weak to Fire, but Water is strong against it and it's not like Sasuke is here anyways. But... Water's weaknesses are Lighting and Earth and we have nobody that can use any of those!' she finished her thoughts with rising panic and irritation, almost groaning in defeat.

Then the girl blinked and thought about it a little more. Though Kurenai and Kakashi weren't available, was it really true that they had no one that could use Earth Release?

"Kiba-kun, I'll be right ba—aie!"

"What?" both the Inuzuka and the enemy ninja exclaimed, startled by the high-pitched yelp, but Hinata was already too far away to be seen within the mist.

...A good thing for the girl's tarnished honor, as she knew no one saw her slipping on a puddle and crashing face-first into the bridge's frozen floor. Blushing, the girl scrambled to get up, almost fell again, but managed to run towards her destination.

"Sakura-san, Shino-kun!"

"Hinata...?" The pinkette blinked until her friend's silhouette became clearer. "Hey, look! It's Hinata!"

"You alright, girlie?" Tazuna asked warily, eyeing the bleeding wound on the girl's head and noting how the blood was tangling up her blue locks, near her left temple.

"I-I'm managing," she said, slightly out of breath. Her nose, head and chest were still throbbing dully and she had a few other scratches, but nothing life threatening.

"Do you require any assistance, Hinata?" Shino inquired, as stoic as ever. There was no other logical reason for the girl to return alone, after all, and her wellbeing had already been assessed.

She nodded. "I-I do, as a matter of fact."

The Hyuuga then explained the fight's circumstances and her own theory as briefly and with as much composure as she could.

Shino and Sakura shared an unsure look, and the Aburame faced his teammate. "That was an interesting theory. It does make sense, but I frankly do not see how we can be of help."

"Hinata... we didn't complete our training," Sakura added, unsure. "You know this. Even if we go out there to fight..."

"You two don't need to go out there and fight." Surprisingly, it was Tazuna who decided to add his two cents. "Maybe a dagger might be what they need to cut that armor she was talkin' about. You two can do that much, can't you? I mean, your teacher did benches out of earth back at the forest, remember?"

Again, Sakura and Shino shared a look, and the pinkette spoke up. "I think we can make something small like a kunai..."

"Absolutely." Immediately, the Aburame crouched and started to focus his chakra into the bridge, prompting Sakura to do the same. Hinata saw Tazuna looking at how Shino began to mold the Earth from concrete with interest, and she too focused on it with her Byakugan.

'...It really isn't that different from my own training,' she eventually concluded. As far as her eyes could tell, the only major difference was that Shino needed to form a specific shape before moving what he was manipulating. That was much easier said than done, given that she knew he had superior chakra control to herself and yet his chakra struggled to go through the floor of the bridge the way the Aburame wanted.

"Achoo! Aw, dam—achoo!"

Hinata deactivated her dojutsu and turned to Sakura "Bless y—oh."

"Thanks... huh?" Sakura stared at Hinata inquisitively. The Hyuuga's face was almost as red as a tomato, and she was looking towards Sakura's lap. The pinkette soon followed her friend's eyes and...

"Oh."

Sakura was very sure her face wasn't far from the shade of her own dress, or Hinata's face for that matter.

The two sneezes had broken her concentration while manipulating the Earth Chakra, and the result... was quickly tossed away by Sakura, disappearing into the mist and—the girls desperately hoped—eventually sinking into the ocean surrounding the bridge, never to be seen again.

"I-I-I'm sorry, Hinata! I didn't mean to make—"

"I-I know!"

"...What's wrong with you two?" Tazuna inquired as he turned around, gazing at them with suspicion.

"Nope! Nothing at all! I swear I'm not some kind of pervert!"

"Sakura-san!"

"Er... I mean—!"

"Forget I asked. I don't want to know."

The old bridge builder turned away from the girls just in time to see Shino examining a jagged, slightly bent dagger made of the Earth chakra from the concrete, while Sakura was silently contemplating suicide behind Hinata.

"Perhaps we should've tried a small hammer, or a pick axe...?" the bug-user wondered idly.

"N-no!" Hinata quickly took the kunai from Shino; she was a little too rattled to remember her manners. "This will do!"

Or at least, it was her hope.

"Um... I'll try making one again," Sakura spoke up timidly from behind them. "Can you do another yourself, Shino? This way there will be three weapons for three people... er, two and a dog; whatever!"

Not waiting for an answer, the flustered girl crouched to try again, and Shino silently did as he was asked to.

Soon, Hinata had in her hands three weapons made of stone. The one Sakura made resembled a kunai's shape more than Shino's, but the "blade" was a little thinner than a normal kunai. The second one Shino had made wasn't too different from the first, except the center of the weapon was a somewhat thicker.

"Do you require us to go with you?" Shino queried once he was done, using a finger to push his sunglasses back to their place.

Hinata didn't want to endanger her friends, however. "No... please stay here guarding Tazuna-san. I-I think we can manage from here."

"You sure?" Sakura looked for confirmation and got it when Hinata nodded.

"Uh... I need to go back now," the bluenette awkwardly reminded them.

"Then please, be careful. And pass this reminder to Kiba as well, if you are able."

Those were Shino's parting words to her, and Hinata took off soon afterwards, until her friends and client could no longer see her from within the mist.

Hinata was smarter this time around—she didn't run as fast as she could, both to conserve energy and to minimize the risk of tripping. As such, she wasn't out of breath or with her face on the floor when she arrived at the lightly frozen portion of the bridge.

Byakugan flaring, she immediately noticed that abandoning her teammate almost brought a disaster. Akamaru was on the floor away from where Kiba and Haru were dueling, no longer in his transformed human state but in his original canine form, knocked out. His owner was valiantly standing his ground between his wounded partner and the enemy, who now had switched back to the greatsword-like grip she had initially started with.

As she moved, Hinata used her vision to briefly examine the puppy and to her relief, he didn't appear to be wounded... but patches of his fur were glowing slightly, hinting at the Ice Barrier that had rendered the dog unconscious.

His master, though, only was fine on the outside. You wouldn't know just by looking at him, but his cracked ribs could not hide from Hinata's eyes, and while she could have been mistaken, his left shoulder looked misaligned. 'Could that have been from being disarmed?' the Byakugan-user wondered, noting his lack of kunai in hand.

Despite Kiba having his back partially turned towards her, Hinata couldn't hide from his nose either.

"It's about time you showed up, Hinata!" A pause, as he weaved by a two-handed swing from Haru. "What took you so long?!" he managed to ask through gritted teeth.

"S-sorry, Kiba-kun! I-I got help!"

Hinata's words made Haru shift her focus to the Hyuuga, a mistake that earned her a hard kick to the stomach. The layer of ice over her skin stove off some of the damage, but momentum still had her sliding a little along the floor.

"Here!"

The Yuki girl caught a glimpse of something brown being tossed from one genin to the other, but she didn't wait to see what it was. Quickly regaining her balance, she swung her staff at Kiba's hand, hoping to possibly knock away the unknown object.

The Inuzuka's reaction was good enough that their weapons clashed against each other, making both ninja recoil from the impact. Instead of the sharp sounds kunai and ice had been making for quite some time already, this time the sound resembled broken glass.

"No... no, not again!"

Haru paled, watching as bits of frozen water flaked off the cracked, broken tip of her staff.

"Ohohoho... a new toy! I like it! Hinata, where did you get this?" Kiba asked with mirth, eyes still trained on his opponent.

Only one word that could describe the Inuzuka's expression perfectly: predatory.

"I asked Shino-kun and Sakura-san to make them for me," she displayed her own stone kunai. Kiba didn't see it, but he got the hint.

While Haru was still in too much shock and disbelief to move, Kiba took a chance to relax. "Hinata, you're an angel! You said you liked cinnamon rolls, didn't you?"

"Uh, yes?" Hinata was mildly confused but her stomach was liking where this was going.

"When we get back home, I'm buying you as much as you can eat! Look forward to it!" he laughed carefreely. Having the advantage, for once, was a nice feeling indeed.

'Oh, Kiba-kun...' the meek, gentle Hyuuga girl smiled with an edge of smugness that rarely, if ever, crossed her features. 'You have no idea how much you are going to regret those words.'

---

With a couple of Itachi-related exceptions aside... Sasuke had never felt so much fury in his heart. The mere idea was outrageous! It made him sick with anger.

He still didn't remember anything about the event itself outside of the death of his parents—which wasn't even a fully accurate memory thanks to his brother's genjutsu—but he should've known! It was so ridiculously obvious!

If the Sharingan was to be unlocked by a traumatic event... what could possibly be more traumatic than what he had gone through on that fateful night? Of course his clan's massacre by the hands of his own brother would have triggered it! If that was not enough, nothing else would be.

So much time wasted.

There was simply no other explanation for what happened to his vision after he tried to enhance his eyes. Sasuke now, effortlessly, could track down Haku's movements. Be it how he transferred from mirror to mirror or how the Yuki's motions now gave away the exact path his needles would travel... almost as if time itself had slowed down just for his sake, the black-haired boy now could finally keep up with his opponent's movements.

All because of his clan's dojutsu: the Sharingan. Black gave way to a deep red, and the only remains of Sasuke's natural eye color were in the tomoe that surrounded his pupil. One on the left eye and two on the right, with a thin circle of a darker shade of red that passed through each swirl-like shape.

That he now could finally use that which made the Uchiha a superior breed among other ninja was excellent... but nothing ever goes perfectly.

"Come on, you idiot! Get up already!" He yelled at the fallen Naruto, who was curled up on the ground and full of needles and scratches everywhere. The blond only didn't have more of them because the attacks had driven him to unconsciousness earlier.

It forced Sasuke to work on blocking some needles that he could have otherwise dodged if that didn't mean they would hit Naruto instead. All that exercise, as well as his use of the Sharingan, was taking a toll on Sasuke. He wouldn't be able to keep up for long, especially with Naruto down.

"Don't faint on me again! I can't keep protecting you like this...!"

"Gnh... and who asked you to?!" The Uzumaki grumbled, also angry as he slowly tried to rise. With the fight going as badly as it was, emotions ran high, and both genin defaulted to the usual array of negative emotions they felt towards each other when not purposefully trying to bond for the team's sake. That idea had been thrown out of the window alongside those needles a while ago already.

It didn't help Naruto's mood that, suddenly, the genius genin found a way to fight back against their enemy while he had accomplished nothing. His ambush had failed, and he couldn't handle Haku's velocity no matter how many clones he created to patch up said weakness. While Sasuke wasn't exactly unscathed, he at least hadn't been hit on important, debilitating pressure points. Naruto could barely move without his body vehemently protesting against it.

But Sasuke could fight. Somehow, he could keep up... and once again, Naruto saw the Uchiha heir walking ahead, leaving him to eat his dust.

Would he ever catch up? Was he somehow destined to forever be such a loser?

...And while the Leaf boys were trying to deal with their emotions mid-fight, Haku also found himself with problems of his own.

'I can't hit him!'

No matter how fast he went, Sasuke's scarlet eyes followed his every movement. His every attack.

Ever since the boy had actually understood that his opponent had activated his Sharingan—Haku still had no idea how that happened—they found themselves in a stalemate. The only way out would be for Haku to resort to his more dangerous techniques. Those that were meant for murdering, instead of incapacitation.

'No... no, not yet. Not until I'm certain there's no other option! There must be another way...'

Initially, Haku was just trying to circle around the battlefield, to strike at Sasuke's blind spots... but the warning Zabuza had given to him before they left their hideout had proven to be true.

"Once, or if, you manage to awaken the boy's dojutsu, finish the fight as soon as you can. He WILL find out the secret behind your technique before long, and there is a chance he could beat you if he does."

Haku had arrogantly dismissed his master's wisdom, especially after seeing how helpless the boy became after he got trapped inside his dome of mirrors. His level of raw speed when inside his mirrors was not something the average genin or chunin could hope to match.

Alas, that dismissal could bring his downfall, he now realized.

Contrary to Naruto's self-depreciative thoughts, Haku was becoming tired. His jutsu took a toll on his reserves, and his stamina wasn't truly up to the task of keeping the offensive up for so long and against so many clones... not to mention he was running out of needles. Taking multiple clones out with a single shot was a game at first but it soon became a necessity for the masked boy.

And now the situation had changed so drastically, that it was he the one that couldn't get past his enemy's guard.

Hearing more of that sharp sound his needles made every time they uselessly bounced off Sasuke's kunai, Haku racked his brain for a solution, until his gaze fell on Naruto. 'Yes... that could work.'

Reading more needles, Haku let them fly from within the mirror, before following them himself while drawing some more.

From the instant the senbon left the Ice structure, Sasuke knew they never were aimed at him. His brain quickly interpreted the trajectory his eyes were now able to detect, and what he saw scared him to his very core.

"Naruto!"

"Huh?" Hearing his name, the Uzumaki tensed and by sheer coincidence, he saw the glint of light reflecting off the metal needles aimed straight at him. Just when he understood exactly what would happen in the following second, his eyes widened and then immediately closed.

He heard a scuffle. The familiar sound of needles piercing air—it was a different noise than that of kunai and shuriken, he now noticed—and some grunts. A particularly impactful noise caught his attention, given that a pained moan that was not Sasuke's came at the same moment as something fell to the floor. Then silence.

It could only have meant one thing.

Naruto opened his eyes. His sight was at ground level and he immediately noticed the fallen form of the masked boy. There was a distinctive "scar" on the mask he wore, and he wasn't moving.

"No way... you actually did it!" A smile bloomed on Naruto's face. "You won, Sasuke! How did... you..."

All the happiness the Uzumaki felt when he was assured of victory was gone as he paid attention to his friend, who had his back turned away from him, facing Haku.

Sasuke had been right beside him, and peripherally Naruto had been aware of it. But it was only when he paid more attention to the red-and-white fan, surrounded by blue, that the saw many, many red dots in places where they didn't belong. That's not how his teammate's back usually looked like.

"Heh... that's right. I won..." Sasuke partially turned, to glance at Naruto. It was horribly out of place, but he couldn't help but chuckle. "You should see the look on your face..."

Naruto normally would have insulted him right back, if not for the many, many needles he saw jutting out of Sasuke's torso. His arms, his legs, his stomach... his chest...!

"You look... dumb," his Sharingan flickered out, "d-dumber than usual...!"

"You bastard, this isn't funny!" Sasuke started wobbling, and Naruto forced himself up to catch him.

Sasuke had this dazed look on his face that worried Naruto beyond what words could describe.

He tried to shake the Uchiha, but he didn't seem to be getting any better.

"Heh... to think, I'd go out like this... protecting you."

Something inside Naruto was starting to snap, just as his tears were starting to fall. His teammate's words were the harsh reality that he was doing everything in his power to deny.

Sasuke was dying.

"Why did you do that...?! I didn't... I didn't ask you to help! T-to do this..."

The words "for me" were lost in a choke. Naruto's throat locked up and refused to budge... and at the same time, a few meters away, Haku began to awaken.

While the Yuki started to regain his bearings, Sasuke found himself without a true answer to give to his friend.

'...Friend, is it?'

"Hey, come on! If you close your eyes I swear I'll—!"

"You know... I... used to hate you," Sasuke coughed a confession. And blood, falling as a thick red stream from the boy's mouth, just as there were two clear, colorless one cascading from Naruto's eyes.

The memories they shared replayed on the Uchiha's mind. From a couple chance meetings before they even began to attend the academy, years ago... to when both began to argue over who had completed the Tree Climbing exercise first just 24 hours prior.

To Sasuke, it all was starting to make sense. To Naruto, it was all becoming even more of a mess.

"Then why?! Why did you do it?!"

"Because... you p-promised..."

It took a moment for Naruto to grasp what Sasuke was talking about, but soon, he remembered. The day before the mission, in the usual training grounds...

"It will take a while for me to catch up to you, but I will be there when you finally get the chance to avenge your clan!"

"You never go back on your word... huh? T-then... then I can't let you break that promise."

It was silly, they both knew it. The promise would indirectly be broken anyways by Sasuke's absence... but what else could he even say to Naruto? His body had simply moved on its own, driven by pure instinct instead of cold logic.

And just like instinct and logic both were failing him now, Sasuke's legs gave out and Naruto almost fell with him, only barely managing to kneel and steady his teammate.

It was becoming harder to breathe, the Uchiha noticed. And he also couldn't help but note the irony, of how acquiring enhanced eyesight ultimately led to his eyes failing him. He could not even spot his reflection on the top-most mirror of Haku's dome. Just a blur.

Whatever it actually was, his mind completed the hazy image, turning it into a mirage of his brother. It and the fully matured pair of Sharingan he wore glared at him. The mirage was quickly disappearing... but Sasuke still tried to reach out to him with his needle-struck arm. He wouldn't be able to grasp it, just as he would never be able to achieve his dreams.

"I spent... my whole life trying to become stronger. So that I could kill my brother to... to avenge my clan. I... failed."

His arm dropped, and his head turned to face Naruto. Sasuke had never, ever imagined he'd be dying in Naruto's arms, let alone that he'd end up giving his own life to save the most annoying person he had ever had the displeasure of interacting with.

"Dammit, d-don't say stuff like that!"

He had thought it impossible that Naruto would be crying for him as he died... if that was Naruto's reaction, how badly would Sakura take it? The only thing Sasuke could do was hope that they'd be able to survive.

The urge to close his eyes was getting stronger and stronger.

Sasuke could not deny it any longer.

"Na... Naruto. Don't let your dreams... fade away."

His eyes closed.

"Hey, Sasuke! Dammit, Sasuke!"

"..."

"Sasuke, this isn't funny!" Naruto started to shake his friend more violently. "Wake up!"

Naruto was screaming his name as loud he could, but even that felt so far away. A seas of black numbed all of Sasuke's senses.

'Mother... Father... I'm sorry. I couldn't stop him. Please... forgive me.'

The darkness drowned him.

---

The sounds of metal on metal were becoming louder and louder.

Zabuza held a lot of pride in being part of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, but he saw no other option but to give up on using his gigantic blade, and swapped it for a curve-pointed kunai. His duel with Kakashi was meant to help him measure his own strength for the sake of an eventual fight against Yagura... but the Mizukage wasn't a close-combat specialist. He could certainly give trouble to many jonin with his staff alone, but he'd ultimately fall back on ninjutsu.

Kakashi was different. He was much better at using plain weapons than Yagura, and Zabuza felt that his sword's weight was becoming a burden in this specific fight. The kunai was much lighter, allowing him to swing faster and without compromising his position as much.

It did mean he had to come closer to his enemy, but the fight was becoming more and more to his favor, as Kakashi could attest to.

More vicious slashes came at Kakashi, and his Sharingan barely allowed him to block the blows at the last instant. 'He truly is a demon...! He is not as fast as Guy when we spar, and definitely nowhere as fast as Sensei was... but this mist! I almost can't react to his attacks because of this blasted thing!'

Kakashi was considering a plan that involved allowing Zabuza to hit him, but not only the chakra cost made him wary of going through with it, the level of strength the rogue jonin displayed made him unwilling to risk himself by giving such a free opening. He had been struggling to handle the weight of the Kubikiribocho before, but the extra speed Zabuza was pumping into his strikes more than made up the difference.

So much that the choice was eventually taken out of Kakashi's hands.

"Well, well... would you look at this?" The Demon's laugh echoed throughout the mist. "As they say, if it bleeds, it can be killed. But congratulations, Kakashi! I can count on a single hand the number of people I've actually needed more than one strike to kill."

The silver-haired jonin just narrowed his eyes. The heavy layer of protection his flak jacket offered had been of little use to protect his shoulder, but at least it allowed him to recover fast enough to kick Zabuza away.

"Is that so? I made you bleed before as well, if you'd remember... and this time, you won't have someone to help you."

"Hmph... I won't need my tools this time," the assassin growled. But just as Zabuza was about to move and make true to that promise, a wave of killing intent of the likes he had never felt before made itself known to him. It was almost... inhuman.

'What... what is this?! Is this Kakashi's doing?' Even he, an accomplished and experienced jonin, started to feel anxious.

'This aura... it's not just the will to kill someone. No, it can't be Kakashi. I can feel... hatred? And... it's coming from where Haku is,' he realized with a scowl. He was far from a sensor-type ninja, but if even a "normal" ninja could pinpoint with precision from where that twisted radiance was coming from... it made him wonder just what kind of mess his pupil had gotten himself into.

'The last time I felt this kind of abominable chakra was... Yagura!'

But while Zabuza had only an inkling of an idea of what was happening, Kakashi understood it immediately. He had felt this same wave of pure, raw hatred before. It was much duller, "lighter" in a way, than what he had felt during that incident from over a decade before, but how could he forget it?

And even he had somehow forgotten... the bright orange glow that Obito's eye detected was unmistakable.

'The Kyuubi... this is the Kyuubi's chakra!' The mere thought almost drove him to a state of panic. 'Something is happening to Naruto! Argh... could this incident become any more complicated?!'

Nonetheless, despite the traumatic memories he associated with that oppressive chakra, he managed to focus. 'Zabuza has to be distracted right now... I need to think of something and fast! ...Huh?'

The Sharingan's ability to perceive the flow of chakra was something he rarely made use of, but this time...

'...I see. The Kyuubi's chakra is pushing away the chakra-based mist from the area Naruto is, and that is making the mist move around.' It was subtle, and the normal eye would be unable to catch it, but Kakashi could clearly see the mist shifting to accommodate the dense chakra Naruto was leaking.

It made Kakashi finally realize the true weakness of Zabuza's jutsu. He didn't even get angry at himself for not realizing sooner as a more hot-blooded person would: he simply acted, going through the seals of a jutsu that had an eerily appropriate name for the situation he was in.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

"What...?! No!" Cursing eloquently at both his opponent and himself, Zabuza scrambled to dodge the sharp wind blast. He managed to come out of it unharmed, but the floor of the bridge became littered with cuts from the sharp Wind chakra.

That he was able to see the damage, however, was cause for concern.

"You bastard..." he turned to glare daggers at Kakashi, taking care to not actually look into the Leaf jonin's left eye now that the mist had dispersed. "You know Fuuton?!"

"Well, I am famous for knowing over a thousand jutsu... but you still seem rather surprised, Zabuza," the Copy Ninja noted jovially, mostly to annoy his opponent. 'Could it be that not even he knew of this weakness? Hmm... Zabuza is not the type to get into real fights, and with the element being rather rare...'

His thoughts were halted by a bark of laughter.

"I guess in the end this is a good thing," Zabuza smirked beneath his mask as the mist around them both began to dissipate. He only kept enough around them to hinder others from interfering. "I can go all out without any fears!"

Contrary to his words, the swordsman's first action was to throw his kunai at Kakashi, who blocked it without any effort, but that was just something to keep the silver-haired man busy so that

Zabuza could grab the Kubikirbocho again.

Kakashi was just barely able to see the process that Hinata had failed to witness the first time around because of the mob of Narutos that at the time had surrounded the Mist jonin.

Though the Sharingan did not see Zabuza sending a large portion of his chakra into his blade, it did perceive a seal on the flat of the blade activating. The seal flooded the sword with chakra, which was sent right back to Zabuza in an explosion of purple, raw energy and killing intent that engulfed the man completely, taking the form of what Kakashi could only describe as a demon.

'...A shroud technique, of all things.' He now understood what Hinata's confusing report after their first battle had been about. 'Could this day get any worse?'

Jutsu that covered the user's body with a thick layer of raw chakra were commonly referred to as shrouds. These techniques always gave the person some sort of protective enhancement, and some like the Lighting Chakra Armor that Kumo's Raikage were famous for even went as far as increasing power and speed of the user. The complex execution and the raw amount of chakra needed to sustain such techniques made shrouds extremely rare in the ninja world.

Kakashi didn't know how much it increased Zabuza's abilities, but he wasn't looking forward to finding it out. 'At least it's going to be much easier to track him down,' he figured. Though dwarfed by the Kyuubi's, the demonic shroud seemed to intensify the killing intent Zabuza was leaking, which clashed with the stealthy nature of the Kirigakure no Jutsu.

"Most ninja think that my sword's only special ability is to recompose itself when in contact with the chakra of a person's blood," Zabuza began. "But the truth is, few have ever pushed its wielders into releasing its true powers. You should feel honored, Kakashi. You are only the third person to have ever faced me like this."

Momentarily, the assassin was reminded of the two people that had ever wiped out the floor with him in combat even after he was forced to use his blade's powers. Kisame Hoshikage, fellow member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist... and Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage. Of course, there were also some of the Konoha genin he fought, but that incident hardly counted to him.

Meanwhile, upon a second of thought, Kakashi quickly realized one of the shroud's functions. 'This chaotic layer of chakra disrupts genjutsu... he wouldn't have dispelled the mist otherwise. It looks dangerous to touch as well... I suppose it's a good thing I didn't go through with my plan of summoning dogs to hunt him down.'

Zabuza then re-entered his fighting stance. "This kind of brute-power combat is not my style, but just as you showed me why you are called the Copy Ninja, Kakashi of the Sharingan... so allow me demonstrate why I earned my name as the Demon of the Hidden Mist!"

---

Hinata could feel that the end of her fight was coming.

Both she and Kiba had begun to press their newfound advantage and, finally, their foe was on the defensive. Not because of a stalling tactic, but because she couldn't go on the offensive.

The masked girl's weapons broke easily as did her barrier-projectiles. Hinata didn't understand what exactly happened when they clashed with the Earth daggers that made them succeed where raw metal failed, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth... while she still had the energy to, anyways.

'Is my stamina really this low,' she wondered as she broke through another small Ice mirror,panting, 'or are those two just that much better than me in that area?'

Despite Haru's frequent use of jutsu or raw nature manipulation and Kiba's constantly activated Four-Legs Technique, they were nowhere as drained as Hinata was. Or at least that was the impression Hinata had of the two.

In spite of that and her own distaste for it, the Hyuuga girl was feeling an odd satisfaction from the fight. With the enemy's defenses no longer working as well as they were, she was able to actually press the masked girl into the defensive, while taking an offensive behavior instead. It made her feel like she was progressing, even though she knew Kiba's help had been necessary for that.

Said Inuzuka, though also pleased with the fight mostly because he loved fighting, was finding it hard to keep his head in the game. The flow of combat drove the trio to take their fight away from Akamaru, so without the dog's safety in mind he ended up noticing an interesting tidbit about their enemy.

He has felt her scent before. It was slightly different because of the lack of Ice coating her skin, but her smell was one he knew. From where, though, was the question that eluded him, coming close to distracting him but not quite.

Haru, for her part, was starting to panic. The layer of chakra-enhanced frozen water on her skin was cracked everywhere and in many parts broken, leaving the dull purple of bruises or the dark crimson of cuts in their places. All of her techniques either were easily countered by the stone weapons her foes carried, or took far too long to execute. She had barely managed to use her Ice Flow Spear Jutsu at two points, but missed entirely due to hastiness. At least, the Yuki thought, she was still able to bring water from nearby to coat the battlefield in Ice...

And while she still could create staves fast enough to retain some sort of range, they were far too easily destroyed during clashes. A single good hit wasn't enough to fully break the weapon, but it didn't amount to much afterwards. But she couldn't let those two through, and with her master's words resounding on her mind, she kept on fighting

"Your job will be to stop the other genin from interfering. The Inuzuka has the speed and the techniques to overpower your brother's jutsu, and I'd rather not find out if the Hyuuga's taijutsu can destabilize his mirrors or kill if he is inside. The other two are of no consequence but keep them away just the same."

Unlike herself, Haku had never managed to produce the chakra-draining effects of the Hyoton—Zabuza had a theory about his chakra being more attuned to Wind than Water if she remembered right—so Haru had to keep the two away from her brother, especially the Inuzuka. As Zabuza desired the two genin for his own purposes, she had also to keep them alive.

Not that she could kill them, as things were. Her only plan had been to use the dog as a hostage and work from there, but the fallen Akamaru was around the middle of the bridge. If Haru's memory was right, their fight was taking place near the lateral edges of the bridge, and her lack of a plan was making the Yuki girl nervous...

Nervous enough to actually stumble on her own slippery ice, after avoiding a low sweep by Kiba, which Hinata noticed. Haru managed to regain equilibrium before falling, leaving the Hyuuga envious... but the Jyuuken strikes that followed had nothing to do with that.

Haru gritted her teeth and did her best to weave between the blows and blocking with her staff. A few she let strike her, knowing they'd hit patches of her armor... but it was where there wasn't any protection anymore that Hinata was aiming for, like her stomach. It stung, she noticed.

Hinata had sheathed her stone kunai, ignoring it entirely in order to try for more debilitating blows this time, but ceased her attempt and hopped back as Kiba rejoined the fray. Hinata liked her teammates quite a bit for the amount of time they spent together, but as a squad of ninjas, their skills still left a lot to be desired. They couldn't synchronize their attacks in a real battle without getting in each other's way like an experienced combat unit.

With another Ice staff in hands, Haru tried to defend herself as Kiba's stone kunai came down upon her. The Inuzuka this time had hoped for his weapon to go completely the staff to damage its wielder and applied much more strength than in his previous blows.

It almost did, but got stuck deep in the Ice. Haru saw her chance and took it.

"Mmph!"

The girl's knee forced enough air out of Kiba's lungs that he wasn't even able to scream in pain when she snapped her cracked weapon in two and shoved the smaller part into his shoulder, piercing it to the bone. The thrust was strong enough to knock him down, leaving a red trail of blood on the wet ice as he slid away from the girls.

The smell of cheap iron was getting stronger, and though the pain was making it hard to think, Kiba knew he was now dangerously close to the railings of the bridge.

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata cried out, turning her head backwards instinctively as Kiba slid past her. Even with the Byakugan on, the distraction had been enough that Hinata didn't have enough time to react as Haru switched targets.

The Hyuuga still tried to get the stone kunai from her pouch, but she felt a cold, hard thing lashing out against her ankle and fell, dropping the weapon Shino had made for her in the process. It fell out of her reach with a dull clang, her head painfully doing a similar noise as it, too, hit the floor. Her Byakugan almost wavered from the pain, as her head had not recovered from the previous bash it had suffered.

"It only takes a single mistake for one to lose, even when they have the upper hand," the masked Yuki lectured, looming over Hinata with a newly crafted staff pointed at her. "It's over!"

Hinata desperately tried to search for a way out, but her eyes saw nothing. Kiba was on the floor, trying to recover. Everyone else was too far away, and with the ice and water coating the floor getting up in time would be impossible. Her opponent was only two meters away from her feet—around the length of the long staff that had caught her ankle. Hinata's own head was pounding from pain, and her entire body was tired.

'...What can I do now?!'

Haru began to talk to her, something about not holding it against her, about Zabuza... Hinata honestly didn't care enough to hear; her mind was too preoccupied with the buildup of cold air around her fallen form and the mass of chakra surrounding her, connected to Haru by a thin, almost invisible strand.

Time was running out. It had only taken some seconds for the explosion that froze Team 8's leader to happen again, Hinata knew.

'I'm not close enough for Gentle Fist to work, there is nothing to use Kawarimi with, clones won't do anything,' she hastily tried to go over every ability and item she had in her arsenal, frantically hunting for an escape route. 'The stone kunai is too far away, I'm not fast enough to grab and throw the other one or normal weapons before she reacts, I can't do any offensive ninju—'

Her masked foe was coming closer, weaving hand seals as she stepped into a small puddle.

"Sorry about this," Haru apologized with some regret. Hinata had only helped her prior to that day, and now she was about to ruin her life... "Hyoton!"

A soft, wet splash. Followed by another. Hinata's fear spiked and receded almost immediately with an epiphany. She acted.

Haru extended her hand, and the Ice chakra responded to it. Hinata closed hers and pulled.

"Ice Pris—"

Haru's concentration slipped at the last moment... because she actually slipped with it, backwards. The puddle Haru was standing on reacted to the Hyuuga's pull, moving forcefully towards her closed fist and tripping the masked girl in the process, almost as if Hinata had pulled a rug from underneath the Yuki's feet.

Hinata didn't even bother to check if her plan had worked—if it hadn't, she'd be frozen anyways. But the unrecognizable mix of Water and Wind chakra around her dispersed as she sprang forward, palm outstretched and body crouched as low as she could.

Haru still tried to swing her weapon but it was futile. The weapon went too high and barely brushed the girl's hair...

It missed. Hinata did not.

The burning pain that spread inside the masked girl's stomach didn't even allow her to enjoy helplessly sliding away during the fight as her opponents had for the entirety of their battle. And it was not only pain: she felt as if something had been ripped out of her body, somehow.

Hinata had wanted to capitalize on the opening, but she barely managed to stand. The Byakugan's sight wasn't affected by something as mundane as dizziness from hitting one's head on a frozen concrete floor but her brain wasn't as lucky, something she only realized while trying to get up.

"Hey, you okay?" She could still see Kiba running after her, after finally getting up himself. His shoulder was bleeding, but he soldiered on.

Keeping her focus on her downed opponent, she turned her head and smiled a bit. "I'm still kicking."

The dog-user snorted playfully. "A Hyuuga, kicking?"

Hinata almost retorted that kicks had their place in the Gentle Fist, but the words died in her mouth. It hung wide open, just like her lavender eyes.

"Hinata? Hinata, what happened?" Kiba asked with rising panic, focusing on where his senses told him the enemy remained. He could barely see the girl's silhouette, but she was clearly still down, recovering from the gentle fist strike to the gut. 'If it's not that masked girl what...'

Hinata didn't even need to answer.

Before Kiba had questioned her, the Byakugan had suddenly picked up a small, orange-colored star of chakra shining brightly inside the mist, at the edge of her vision. It was dense and barely visible since it was surrounded from all sides by the blue chakra of the mist.

Then it blew up, consuming most of its surroundings and forcing the mist to give space, giving it no choice in the matter.

Kiba couldn't see chakra, but the explosion of raw killing intent was impossible to ignore. Haru, who was trying to rise, almost fell again from sheer surprise.

All three of them knew what Zabuza's strongest form of killing intent felt like, even if Kiba had only been exposed to it briefly. To say that it paled in comparison would be an understatement.

"W-what the hell is going on?!" Kiba blurted out between stutters when he finally found the courage to voice anything.

"...I-I don't... I can't...!" Hinata couldn't speak, and soon gave up on the concept entirely. She, however, still tried to focus on that cloud of bloodlust. The more a Byakugan-user zoomed into something, the less they could focus on the world around them, because focusing on one area made the others blurred... and when you consider that the chakra-laced mist was still on the battlefield...

"Hinata!"

The bluenette suddenly felt Kiba grabbing her by the waist from behind before he tried to jump away with her. Startled, the girl gave out a weak, high-pitched squeak and barely managed to zoom out to her default vision range.

She saw something approaching them only an instant before it was about to crash against her. It was a thin wall of Ice easily three times as big and wide as the ones their enemy had been launching at them, and violently fast.

Faster than Kiba had been.

The Ice construct slid along the ground, barreling both genin in midair and forcefully bringing them along its path until they met resistance.

"Gah!"

Kiba's head struck the upper guardrail violently, and he blacked out before he even felt the lower ones squeezing all the oxygen out of his lungs from the impact an instant later.

Meanwhile, Hinata felt the cold wall of Ice pressing against her whole frontal body and started to freeze it and drain the chakra of wherever it touched unprotected skin. Mainly her face. It didn't help that even this far out the floor was frozen and wet, making an act as simple as standing up not that simple.

She forced more chakra through her eyes to keep the Byakugan from wavering, and just as she felt Kiba's arms going limp around her waist... just as she felt that her dojutsu would recede completely as the Ice spread over her face...

The guardrails broke.

Somehow, she managed not to scream when the barrier shoved them out of the bridge before destroying itself against the broken iron bars, leaving her at gravity's mercy.

Meters away from them, Haru sighed from behind their mask.

The mist barely allowed her to see the broken guardrails, and there was no signal of her two opponents.

'I hope Zabuza-sama can forgive me for killing them when he wanted them alive, but... I can't afford to waste time any longer.'

There was no way the two would survive the ocean below. She didn't know the name of the technique, but Zabuza had used a jutsu that made the water extremely heavy, thick... hard to swim through. Ninja could handle high falls to a degree and could even touch bodies of water without sinking... but doing the two at the same time was almost impossible, especially for genin. The two would certainly drown.

It was a clash between her two objectives: the one Zabuza gave to her... and the one she took on her own ever since she started going on missions.

She knew that whatever the cause of the big burst of wicked chakra had been, it wasn't friendly. Ensuring Haku and Zabuza's safety took priority over whatever her master wanted her to do.

Worse still, she also needed to check on the Ice Prison that held Kurenai. The Jyuuken blow she had suffered affected her chakra control and got rid of the connection between herself and the dome, so the Genjutsu Mistress might have had a chance to escape.

Thus, not even sparing the broken guardrails another glance, Haru ran towards the surge of malevolent chakra she could feel from the area her brother and master were fighting.

Perhaps, if the mist hadn't been in play, she'd have spotted four pale fingers clinging to the bridge's frozen edge...

Hinata wondered which of her hands would fail her first: the one gripping the bridge, whose slippery surface wasn't doing her any favors... or the one trying to support her unconscious teammate's weight.

---

Haku struggled to get up.

"Dammit, d-don't say stuff like that!"

Through the thin holes in his mask, he watched as Naruto tears fell on his gravely wounded teammate. Witnessing his suffering made the Ice-user feel horrible, especially because he hadn't meant to let it happen.

He hadn't wanted to kill anyone.

The Sharingan had been a pain to deal with at range, but when he dove in to ambush Naruto in a feint to hit Sasuke, Haku understood that the dojutsu's passive abilities were much more effective at close range. He hadn't been able to perfectly calculate where each of his needles were going. Haku just fought to save his life, and got a debilitating beatdown for his efforts.

And now, looking at Sasuke, he wondered if those haphazardly-thrown needles would bring about the Uchiha's death.

Some of his needles had hit "harmless" points, others got through extremely dangerous areas of the boy's body. He didn't know whether or not Sasuke was just passing out or was actually perishing, but the chances of him surviving from where Haku was able to discern weren't high.

And to make everything worse...

"I spent... my whole life trying to become stronger. So that I could kill my brother to... to avenge my clan. I... failed."

Haku hadn't given it much thought when Zabuza said the Uchiha boy was the last of his clan... but that he was fighting to avenge his fallen clansmen? His family? That they shared a goal in their revenge?

The shock of knowing he had robbed Sasuke—a kindred spirit—of the same dream he himself had dedicated so much of his life to pursue was the only thing that kept his hands at bay. Otherwise Naruto would have been turned into pincushion as soon as Haku had been able to move again.

The only thing he managed was to re-enter one of his mirrors as he saw the Uchiha whispering something to his friend before succumbing to his wounds.

"Sasuke, this isn't funny! Wake up!"

Haku closed his eyes. He couldn't cry just yet. 'What have I done...?'

Death wasn't foreign to him. Haku had killed many before while fighting under Zabuza, but... with the exception of his very first kill, none had made him feel like he was a monster as much as this one. Seeing Naruto suffering because of his dead teammate brought him back to the reality of what he had been doing all this time, the same reality he tried to run away from by hiding behind a mask.

'I'm not fit to be a shinobi at all...' he remarked to himself, not for the first time. But he had to keep going. The world wasn't safe for his sister to live a peaceful life just yet. Until then... he had to endure.

But he wasn't going to spill more blood that day. Resolved, he addressed the only other breathing human around him.

"Naruto-san, wasn't it?"

Naruto's shoulders stopped shaking, and Haku believed he had the boy's attention.

"Your friend... sacrificed himself to keep you alive. As it is, I cannot let you roam about to ruin Zabuza's plans, but you don't need to die today."

When Naruto spoke next, Haku discovered he hadn't been paying attention to his words at all.

"Sasuke... I hated you too," Naruto confessed as he gently lowered the corpse to the floor.

Sasuke Uchiha had always been a stuck-up smartass. An arrogant jerk. An insufferable genius. An unbeatable rival. But Naruto now understood that somewhere along the way, he also became his friend.

A friend that was murdered right in front of him.

Naruto's body trembled at the thought, and so did his voice. "But still..."

And the person responsible for that... was right behind him.

"He's going to pay...!"

Meanwhile, in a place where the flow of time meant almost nothing...

"Stop it...! Stupid girl..."

A drowsy, deep growl, followed by a snore.

"How many times I have to tell you... I'm not your teddy bear..."

Many creatures would find it amusing the kind of things that spewed out of the mighty Kyuubi's mouth when the bijuu was asleep, tossing and turning as he relieved memories and fantasies, through dreams and nightmares.

It had been almost a decade since the tailed beast had last woken up, and finally, a sensation similar to that of a mosquito sucking a person's blood woke him up.

The gigantic form of the fox-shaped chakra construct slowly awakened. His red, slitted eyes opened lethargically and soon the Kyuubi found himself awake.

A dank, dark and cold sewer was the fox's current lair. And most importantly, there was a cage keeping him from exploring the confines of the sewer and heavily limiting his own space behind the bars. There was barely any room for turning around, and if the cage was blocking the path on one side, walls of steel blocked the others.

The giant creature yawned lazily, but his mind was already sharp. He felt no meaningful emotions as it remembered his situation.

The Kyuubi—or Kurama, as the Sage had named him—had come to terms with his fate within the first year of his new imprisonment, and had fallen into a deep slumber ever since then, waiting for an opportunity.

It felt like a small bug was trying to drain bits of its chakra, which could only mean the chance it had been waiting for years had finally arrived:

His new host was vulnerable.

Kurama tried to make contact with him, but the seal was still too strong for that to be done freely. It was also too strong for him to forcibly pump power into his jinchuuriki, and it also blocked him from exploring the memories of his host.

Realizing his uselessness, Kurama was just about to give up and go back to sleep until he could finally meet his host, when his senses detected something.

"This... is hatred." He scowled. "Strong, concentrated hatred... but there is something wrong with this emotion. What is the meaning of this?"

Hatred was perhaps the emotion Kurama was the most well acquainted with, but his sharp sensory abilities did nothing to help him understand the anomaly in his host's emotions.

"I suppose this will have to wait until I get to see him for the second time." Sighing, he laid down to try to find dreamland once again. "Will this one, of all people, prove to be a worthless host...?"

Kurama shook his head, ignoring the small itch that his host was causing him to feel.

He had already failed once, that night. He refused to fail again.

---

An explosion of chakra. That was the only expression Haku could feasible use to describe what happened inside his dome of Ice Mirrors.

And in the center of it all was Naruto, leaking a mixture of spiritual and physical energy that was so strong, so dense, that even a person without a dojutsu was able to see it taking shape around the blond genin.

A dark orange that brought with a light that was almost blinding, and a boiling, chaotic energy that clashed with the cold air that was floating inside the Ice dome, turning it to steam. The Mirrors themselves were being destabilized by the influx of evil chakra and Haku was struggling to hold them in place. The floor of the bridge, though, had cracks all over the place as it succumbed to the genin's unnaturally overpowering aura, with shards of concrete floating with the steam.

The release of chakra had an effect on the young Uzumaki as well. The cuts he had suffered by errant needles were instantly mended, and the needles that did strike him were launched away by the blast of chakra as the skin and the little internal damage Naruto suffered were healed as well.

Haku noticed none of those things, because Naruto turned in his direction as soon as Sasuke's body was out of reach, knocked away by the blast.

His whisker-like markings became thicker and the blue eyes the boy had now were stained crimson similar to his friend's Sharingan. Naruto's pupils were slits instead of the normal circular shape humans were known for, and when Haku made eye contact, he understood a simple fact that Naruto still took the time to spell it out for him:

"I will kill you!"

Naruto continued to growl, loudly and unintelligibly as he lowered himself down to all fours. His body was spasming slightly as it seemed to be undergoing some sort of transformation, and Haku could see that the boy's teeth and nails became long and sharp as the red chakra in the air receded, until just a slight crimson glow could be seen in the boy's skin if you looked hard enough.

He was glaring at Haku the entire time. Red eyes, brimming with hatred and desire for blood.

'This feral blood thirst... he's no longer human! He can't be!'

That thought got his body back to a working state again, and Haku drew more needles as the wild Naruto rushed in. Aiming for his vital spots, Haku let the senbon fly... only for the boy to roar and knock them away just with the force of his chakra.

Naruto kept running, and Haku was barely able to move to a distant mirror in time, leaving the wild boy confused, looking around the dome in search of his prey, when suddenly all the mirrors held a reflection of the masked ninja in them.

They all shot their needles at him.

Naruto stumbled for a moment and roared, with the accompanying burst of chakra disposing of all the needles and wounds. The blast had been strong enough to disrupt the connection Haku had to his mirrors, and the reflections within all but the one that held the real one faded.

Naruto's eyes met Haku's once again. With the promise of a painful death in those crimson orbs, he crossed more than half the length of the dome in a single leap as he rocketed towards the mirror, completely destroying it with a single punch. His jump took him further into the mist, leaving the genin lost outside the cage of Ice.

Haku had once again appeared in the farthest mirror he could manage to reach, mouth agape at the damage Naruto had dealt.

"Wow!" Startled by the new voice, Haku whirled around inside the mirror only to find his sister nearing the dome. "He got through with just a punch...! How is that possible?!"

"What are you doing here?"

Haku somehow knew the girl was rolling her eyes behind her mask. "I came to check up on you, of course."

He then realized the surge of killing intent must have drawn her attention, but filed that thought away. "What about your own battle?"

"I fought the Inuzuka and the Hyuuga. I threw them off the bridge, so I came to help you," she answered simply, barely bothered by the fact she had just killed two children barely two years younger than herself. In fact, the cracks around her Ice Prison worried the girl more than the thought of killing ever had, but even that wasn't that bad. From her calculations, the Prison would keep Kurenai out of battle long enough.

"...I see," her brother replied, sighing inaudibly.

Haku had never understood how his little sister managed to simply not care about the lives she ended, and the fact that she couldn't worried him much more than the roars in the distance and the killing intent in the air. Haku could see that the mist was dissipating where Naruto landed, and soon the genin set his red, furious eyes on the only mirror with a green reflection again.

"Looks like you'll need the help after all!" Haru went to create a staff, but her brother's voice stopped her.

"Listen, run away." Haku stressed every word. "This boy is too much for you. I'll handle him."

"Are you crazy?" The girl made a staff anyways, but this one had a sharp point. "He's fast and strong! You can't take him alone!"

Haku scowled. 'Damn.'

Naruto started to chase his target again, but more worryingly, Haku recognized his sister's tone. It was that stubborn tone; the one she used after recognizing a threat to either Zabuza or himself.

She would not be retreating.

"Haru-nii, get ready!" The girl jumped away, melting into a nearby mirror as Naruto drew closer, faster than he had ever been when his teammate was still standing.

Clutching his last needles with one hand, and channeling chakra in the other, Haku stood still and concentrated.

"Rraaugh...!"

Naruto managed to bring his arms up just in time to protect his face, but that human instinct clashed with how he was using all four limbs to move, and he fell on his butt from the recoil.

'Now!' Haru came down from the top-most mirror, staff poised to impale her target. She crashed violently against the ground, leaving a small crater on her landing site.

To her surprise, Naruto had managed to dodge, as if he could sense her somehow. The boy roared at the new target, once again freeing himself of the needles stuck in his body with a blast of chakra, and pounced at the masked girl.

With a scream, Haru was sent flying towards a mirror, but her brother emerged from it and caught the girl. An instant later, he dropped her outside a mirror behind Naruto.

"Thanks," she wheezed, keeping her voice down. "Can you keep him still for me? Needles won't work, as I'm sure you noticed..."

Haku frowned. He was going to break his promise to the dead if he didn't want to become one himself, apparently. "I suppose I have no other choice."

Ice formed around his hands as he sunk back into the mirror. He now held various kunai made of Ice chakra. Weapons meant to kill, not debilitate.

Flashing between his mirrors, Haku let a rain of Ice kunai fall... but even that was doing little against the orange genin. They pierced his body but soon destroyed themselves in the process, almost as if the crimson chakra was rejecting and deconstructing the daggers when they made contact.

Wounds were healed almost immediately, but Naruto still felt pain. With pitiful, distorted cries, the boy hunched over and covered his head while Haku kept assaulting him, trembling all the while.

The boy's senses started to buzz when the hailstorm stopped for a brief second.

"Ice Release: Ice Prison!"

Haru breathed a sigh of relief, but the sensation was short-lived as Haku landed next to her.

"We need to kill him right now, Haku-nii! This won't hold him for long...!" she spoke with a spike of fear. The globe-like construct was shaking violently from the sheer power of Naruto's monstrous chakra.

Haku spared Sasuke's corpse a glance. Muttering an apology, he nodded to his sister. "We'll be doing that technique," he told her. "Anything else will not suffice here."

"Right," she returned the nod.

Focusing his chakra Haku held his hands to the sky and formed a massive, pillar-like chunk of Ice. He struggled to hold on to it, but his sister helped him by manipulating the structure, turning it into a gigantic sword of frozen water and reducing the weapon's weight by sharpening the edges and eroding the lower section until just a thin handle remained

The blade was big enough that it would make Zabuza's Kubikirbocho feel very insecure, if it had feelings.

"Ready?"

"Ready, sister!" Haku leaped as high as he could with a heavy sword in hand, and came crashing down onto the Prison while Haru jumped away.

As soon as the massive sword connected with the Prison, it exploded in loud a storm of clear ice shards and blinding crimson energy.

"GRAAAAH!"

"Gnngh!"

Haku crashed against one of his upper mirrors and dropped to the floor, leaving the mirror with a cracked surface.

"Haku!"

Knowing her brother was in danger, Haru rushed to his side while forming hand seals. Naruto took off not much later, but just when he was about to reach his defenseless prey the masked girl slammed her hands on the ground.

"I won't let you hurt him!" A wide Ice Barrier rose from to block the genin's path. Naruto crashed into the wall and bounced backwards from the impact.

The girl sighed from relief and tiredness. A huge portion of her chakra had been used to make that Barrier, but she quickly worked through the exertion to help Haku stand. "Are you alright?"

At first, he nodded. By luck, none of the shards from the explosion actually pierced his body.

Had there been no masks between the two, Haru would have seen panic flashing across her brother's face right afterwards. As it was, she only gasped as he grabbed and tossed her to the ground just as Naruto rampaged through the frozen blockade like an angry bull and unleashed the strongest punch he could manage at his enemy.

Haku took the punch in the back and was sent flying as if a warhammer had launched him, straight between two mirrors. The masked boy rocketed away from the dome with a muffled scream of pain, fast enough that he had become just a green blur to his sister's eyes

"No! Haku-nii!" A loud noise that she was growing tired of hearing was the only thing that responded to her: ice breaking.

Fueled by anger, she felt Ice taking shape in her hands. With a furious yell she leaped at Naruto, and the Uzumaki only managed to whirl around before a spear of Ice pierced his gut, and then the mirror directly behind him as the girl drove her weapon forward with him impaled on it.

Naruto howled from the pain. While he tried to remove the spear, Haru took off in a hurry to search for her brother.

Once outside, she followed the sound she had heard until she saw a mess of broken chunks of Ice and smaller shards. Blood coated some of them, and there was a pool of mud right in the center.

"Im... Impossible!" Haru recognized the place: it was where she had imprisoned the Genjutsu Mistress. "That was a mud clone? But how? When?!"

The masked girl frantically looked around, but the only thing of note she found was a small trail of blood, right in front of her. She followed them until the end.

There, she found the broken half of Haku's mask, only centimeters away from the edge of the bridge.

As Haru heard a roar from behind her and the deafening crash from her brother's technique and her world falling apart without him to sustain them, she fell to her knees, mute.

Her logical side coldly processed what had happened:

Haku almost certainly got launched into the Ice Prison that once held Kurenai, breaking it and cutting himself in the process. But Naruto's punch had been strong enough that the Ice-user didn't stop there, and he continued going forward from the sheer momentum of the blow, bouncing on the floor and rolling away until he slipped between the guardrails of the bridge and fell into the ocean. His mask likely cracked from the impact with the floor and fell apart, half with Haku and half still on the bridge.

The emotional side was unsure.

"Listen, run away. This boy is too much for you. I'll handle him."

Haru could either laugh at how her stupid stubbornness had gotten her brother killed in the same way she had killed the other two Konoha genin, or scream.

...She chose the latter.

---

A/N:

...

So, like I said up above, the last part will not have a whole lot of action, so it should be here relatively soon. It's probably going to be of the same size as this one, or a bit smaller. (at least from my perspective, since line breaks somehow count as a LOT of words from what I understand).

Anyways, I hope you guys liked the battles. I wasn't very satisfied with the 11K part I had after deciding to split the chapter in two, so I polished it a little... mostly with non-action parts, like exploring Sasuke's death further. Line breaks also help the word count a lot for some reason.

Just a little thing about this delay and my decision to split the chapter to release it now... well. My "test week" begins monday so I wanted to get this out of the way before that. After that week ends, assuming I don't need to do too many final exams, I'll be devoting myself to the fic. With no college I should get the chapter up and running rather quickly. I'm aiming for three weeks at the very most.

Besides all of that, I just wanted to say I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter's little short story! At least if something happens you guys know it would have ended with a happy ending. So, anyways, let me get to the Guest Review Answers now. Everyone else, dismissed! See ya next chapter!

(This feels awful, but I think should remind you all that it might be worth re-reading that section of chapter 12... sorry.)

---

Guest Review Answers

Pro-Naruhina Guest: Ah, I see. Faulty internet connection is awful. I write the hugest wall of texts on Gamefaqs sometimes but I only realize the internet is gone when I click "post". Nothing makes me angrier than that. Anyways, I'm glad you had a wonderful time, as you put it!

Also, Himawari is not evil... just very, very vengeful. Mess with her and there WILL be payback! At least its the impression I had of her from "The day Naruto became Hokage", and as you can imagine, Boruto tends to get the shorter end of the stick most of the time. Thanks for the Review!

Tykronos: I hope I was able to deliver at least a little bit. Thanks for the review!