AURA
by Random Writer 46

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Alright! I'm good to go!

Thanks to everybody who replied! Most authors like longer reviews, but all are welcome, you know? I particularly like reviews that tell me what exactly they like about my story, and parts of my story that they're confused about. I've been recovering from both a cold and writer's block, and it was only with the reading of several good Naruto fics (not telling ya which ones) that helped me to get back to writing this story! Now for a few issues that you guys brought up...

Numbah 1: I definitely know Haku is a guy. I just wanted to show you guys that Naruto didn't know about him yet though. And Kiba just likes to exaggerate.

Number 2: Naruto's Bloodline... It's not a very powerful Bloodline, that's for sure. It's only good use is out of battle scenarios and against other Bloodlines. So he's the genius-killer, and a person who really relies on Lee could defeat him easier than somebody who relies on their Bloodlines.

Number 3: Me, myself? I don't really like angsty fics. So Naruto won't be angsty, or if he will, it'll only be shortly.

Number 4: About Inari... Nah, I'll let you guys figure it out for yourselves! (Oh, and the Jinchuriki idea? I'll leave that all up to you...)

Number 5: Umm... there's gonna be no yaoi. I'm a straight guy, so I can't really relate... Not that there's anything wrong with it, of course.

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Chapter 11: Bridge of Dreams Return to Innocence

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"Scatter!" Kakashi cried, and avoided the flying blade by rolling into a crouch sideways. The blade streaked through the concrete ground and flew back where it had come from and landed in the hand of a certain missing-nin.

His hair was covered by a Mist headband, and his body and face were both covered in bandages and clothing. At his side was a smaller figure, who wore a mask and held a few senbon in his hand. By the time that Kakashi had finished rolling and landed, Kiba, Shino, Tazuna, and Hinata were all gone.

"Ahh... Just what I had expected from Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-cat Nin," said the figure in the lead with a gruff-sounding voice. "You are an S-class nin, highly dangerous, listed in the Bingo Book as one of the more powerful shinobi, aren't you?"

Kakashi perked up.

"Ara, ara. So you know me." The gray-haired nin said. He was stalling for time, waiting for Hinata to get Tazuna to somewhere safe before coming back to help fight. "To whom may I owe this pleasure?"

"My name is Momochi Zabuza... But first." The Mist-nin said, wielding his gigantic meat cleaver with ease. He motioned to the still boy beside him. "Haku, chase them down before they run too far. Try to take them down one by one."

"Hai, Zabuza-san," said the boy curtly, before flickering away in a splash of water.

Kakashi cursed, this was exactly what he didn't want them to do. Just as he was prepared to go after them himself however, he was stopped in his tracks by the gigantic sword that had just buried itself where he had been standing a few seconds ago.

"I don't think so, Kakashi!"

Zabuza appeared in front of him, grabbing the gigantic weapon by its handle and swinging again.

"Your opponent... IS ME!"

Kakashi dodged the second swing as it passed by over his head, but not without clipping several strands of his own silver hair. Taking the chance as Zabuza regathered his balance after swinging the sword, he slammed his knee into the other jounin's gut, and gave him a brutal taijutsu bash that sent him flying.

"You're really persistent." Kakashi said. "Momochi Zabuza of the Mist, who was exiled after attempting a coup to overthrow the Mizukage himself several years ago. Many of us thought that you had died after the hunter-nin started coming after you, commanded by the son of the Mizukage himself."

Zabuza righted himself, and even through the bandaged mask, it was easy to see that he was frowning.

"Haha... So you do know about me. Well, the son of the Mizukage was a damn fool. He never saw it coming," spat the exiled Mist-nin. "As for the persistent part... Well, even missing-nin have to uphold their reputation you know. Otherwise nobody would hire us. So far I've had a 100 completion rate, and I'm not letting you ruin it for me!"

He raised his sword again, and charged forwards. Kakashi met him head on with a kunai of his own.

The clash of the titans had begun.

---

"What's wrong, girl?" Tazuna asked Hinata as they came to a stop in the middle of the bridge. They weren't too far off from where Sasuke and friends had been duking it out with the demonic brothers of the Mist, but they didn't know that.

Hinata had been carrying the older man when they had been running from the arena of the soon-to-be battle, but now she knew it was useless. There was somebody else arriving... Somebody who's speed way surpassed her's. She could feel his presence, and suddenly, there he was.

A splash of water signalled his arrival, and the toss of senbon punctuated it. Hinata instinctively deflected the flying needles with her Jyuuken, gazing at the new arrival nervously.

"So you are the one that they assigned to defend the bridge-builder?" The boy with the hunter-nin mask asked. "A Hyuuga, eh. It looks like they're pulling out all the stops. But where are your companions? Have they abandoned you? Well, it doesn't matter. Once I'm done with you, I'll kill the bridge-builder. Then Zabuza-san's mission will be complete."

Hinata barely had any time to react before the boy approached her at insane speeds and kicked her to the side.

"...Or maybe, I should just take care of you now." The boy said, staring at Tazuna, who was trembling and frozen in fear. "Yes, that seems like a better choice."

Hinata knew that was the moment she had been waiting for.

"Now! Kiba-kun! Shino-kun!" She cried.

Two spinning cyclones suddenly came charging towards Haku. The boy turned around, looking at the incoming tornadoes of fang and fury, before quickly jumping into the air to dodge. However, he didn't notice the swarm of kikkai bugs that were coming up from behind him.

He suddenly felt them travelling up his arms, and hit the ground. Quickly flipping through a few seals, he drenched himself in water, effectively washing off each and every single one of the kikkai bugs.

"So, you weren't the only one here... A decoy technique." Haku observed.

Kiba grinned, both him and a morphed Akamaru standing, already finished from their Gatsuuga.

"That's right! No proper Leaf-nin would ever leave one of their comrades behind! Of course, no missing-nin would ever understand that, traitors of the Mist!"

Shino stood beside them, the kikkai bugs already returning to him. He was silent, yet there was an obvious tinge of something around him. He was uneasy.

The Mist-nin shook his head.

"Don't think it'll be that easy. Ikuzou!"

A shower of senbon suddenly sprouted from his arms, too fast to see. Kiba and Akamaru hit the floor and ducked, and Shino managed to use his bugs to deflect the senbon. Hinata had done what she had before, and also deflected the senbon with her Jyuuken.

And then suddenly, they realized. The boy was gone.

---

"Why did you do it?" Kakashi asked as they engaged in battle. They were currently in a deadlock, kunai against giant sword. "Why did you decide to try and throw the Mizukage from his proper position? You knew there was no chance of something like that happening, so why?"

Zabuza spat as he broke the standstill and retrived his sword, making Kakashi lose his balance slightly. He swung horizontally, which Kakashi dodged by hopping backwards slightly.

"The Mizukage was being weak. Even you should know about the horrifying entry exams that students had to take before becoming Genin! I was one of them, and that was how I managed to attain my name of Demon of the Mist. However, in recent years, the more horrifying parts of the ninja life was downplayed..." Zabuza roared. "I wanted to take the village by its reigns and return it to its roots!"

Kakashi dodged another swing from the large cleaver that was Zabuza's weapon.

"Hmph, you're a tough one." The gray-haired said. "Times change and so do people. The ninja villages nowadays are not the same kind that existed five hundred years ago. Shinobi are not the ruthless killing machines that you make them out to be, and that's why your village has its name of the Bloody Mist. Let me show you..."

With that, he pulled his headband upwards, showing off his red eye.

"...Ahh... The Sharingan. What a honour it is to be confronted like this." Zabuza said. "And so early too... It looks like it's going to be a good day for me!"

With that, he swung his sword at Kakashi again, and started making a series of seals.

"KAGE SHURIKEN NO JUTSU!" He cried, and the one cleaver became many, all dashing towards Kakashi with the wrath of demons. "Let's see how many of my swords you can block before the rest chop you to pieces!"

Kakashi jumped, and suddenly charged into the maelstrom of blades, landing on the other side unscathed.

"You... underestimate the power of the Sharingan eye." Kakashi noted duly.

"Not as much as you'd like to think." Zabuza said, and made a hand motion. The sound of whirring blades returned, and Kakashi looked back. The many blades that he had just passed by had suddenly came back, and they were on a direct course with him.

Kakashi looked at the barrage unafraid, and flipped through a series of seals.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He cried, and launched a large fireball at the storm of blades, engulfing the bunch. Only one came out, and of course, that was the original. Suddenly, he felt something smash into the back of his head, and just realized it was Zabuza's elbow. He crashed into the ground, dropping the sword.

"You underestimate me! Copycat Nin!"

Kakashi felt through his mask where his chin would be, and took a look at his fingers. Crimson liquid was dripping down his hand.

---

"Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishou!"

The hail of miniature icicles definitely would've penetrated Kiba had Akamaru not pulled him away in time, still in his human form. The dog boy gasped, feeling the pain where several senbon had penetrated his skin and dug deep into his leg.

Hinata looked at her teammate worriedly, and that moment was all that Haku needed. The boy from the Mist darted forwards and planted a leg into Hinata's gut, sending her flying back. It was only through Shino that she landed, unharmed, ontop a swarm of kikkai bugs.

But Shino was not without damages of his own. His left arm was frozen, and his bugs were trying to fix that as fast as they could. The boy that was fighting them was quite a handful, and seemed to possess an ability that allowed him to control ice. His proficiency with one-handed seals was also something to take note of, being a specialty of the Mist.

Suddenly, the white-masked boy put on a burst of speed, and grabbed Kiba by the collar, kicking Akamaru away from him.

"Well... I better finish off you off then so I can get back to accomplishing my mission." Haku said coldly, and Kiba just growled at him. "And to keep you two from hindering me... I'll take you out of commission first."

And with that, he threw several senbon. But his throwing technique was completely different. The senbon attained suddenly impossible speeds, and penetrated both Shino and Hinata's skin. The Hyuuga heiress stared at the points where the silvery needles sank into her flesh, and stared back at the Mist-nin. Then suddenly, she hit the floor with a thump. Shino did the same.

"Shino! Hinata!" Kiba cried, turning back to the masked bastard. "What the hell did you do to my teammates, you freak!"

Haku held out a senbon. With a few seals, ice suddenly started growing on the needle, enlarging it until it was around the size of a katana. Making a few practice motions, he sliced a few lines across the floor of the bridge. Kiba struggled even more as he saw the large slash marks that the nukenin boy had effortlessly made against the hard concrete.

"Nothing you need to worry about," replied the masked boy coldly. "There's no point in telling something to somebody who's already dead."

Haku raised the ice sword above his head, and swung downwards.

KA-BOOM.

Suddenly, the battlefield was alight with fire.

---

'Dammit!' Kakashi thought to himself angrily as Zabuza made several seals. A large water dragon erupted out of the water underneath the brudge and charged up the supports, swinging itself onto the battlefield and charging at the gray-haired jounin. 'I don't know how he did it... But he's found out the weaknesses of the Sharingan already! Where...? I never even used it during this mission!'

Zabuza noticed the expression on Kakashi's face.

"My tool... The one that I sent after your subordinates. He's a wily one." Zabuza said, grinning fiercely. "There's nothing that he does better than information gathering, other than combat and assassinations. When I heard from the Baka Kyoudai (idiotic brothers) that Sharingan Kakashi had been sent on this mission, I immediately told Haku to gather information about that repugnant Bloodline. What he did wasn't just gather information about it, he also managed to find information about how to counter it!"

Suddenly, Zabuza charged towards Kakashi straight alongside his large aquatic dragon.

"You'll realize...! That never once since the start of the battle... did I look into your eyes!"

Kakashi's eyes widened in realization, before suddenly getting bisected by Zabuza's sword. The remnants of his body puffed into smoke, and the large water dragon that Zabuza had summoned up began charging towards the underside of the bridge. There was a loud crash, and Kakashi suddenly appeared back ontop of the bridge, hunched over and with a kunai in his hand.

Kakashi cursed, silently, and flew in, once again.

This time, there would be no running. By the end, there would only be one of them left alive.

Suddenly, a shockwave went through the bridge.

---

Haku raised his arm and covered his eyes as the explosion broke. However, that had been a mistake. The moment that he had raised his hand, a figure had dashed by and snatched his target away from him.

As the explosion finished and the smoke cleared, he lowered his arm, looking towards the figure who had snatched his kill away from him. The stranger was wearing bright orange, and was laying the dog boy in his arms beside his stunned companions. The little dog had morphed back into its rightful shape, and was barking at the injured body of his master.

Kiba spoke hesitantly and softly, as if he was in pain.

"Hey... You-- you finally got here, eh?" He said, and groaned in pain as Akamaru accidently nudged one of the needles lodged in his body. "Can-- can you take care of him without our help?"

The figure who he was talking to, the one with his back to Haku himself, nodded, and from what he could see, smiled. The dog boy on the floor smiled in reply, and then suddenly he was out cold, unable to hold against the powerful paralyzing condition that Haku had put him in.

"Who are you?" Haku asked, preparing his senbon.

The figure turned around, and Haku's eyes opened a bit wider behind the mask. It was the orange-wearing shinobi tha the had met on the grassy field that morning. The shinobi looked at him with equal parts anger and equal parts hate, a direct contrast from the way that he had treated his friend.

Suddenly, his gaze focused, he calmed.

Looking upwards, he enunciated, loud and clear.

"Your worst nightmare."

Uzumaki Naruto had pronounced the sentence, and now it was time to carry it out.