5

End of Wave

When the sun finally rose, we immediately packed up everything and set out once more. Kakashi – finally after taking so much shit from me – taught us a couple of basic techniques to erase our presence in the field. They were just simple jutsus like a Doton one for burying trash, and a Futon one for clearing out the air of any lingering scents.

The company of shinobi and one client arrived at the shore where we all got into two boats and set off. As we sailed, the mist became thicker and so did the lump in my throat. Ah, right, I was having a mini panic attack since I knew what was coming. Should I say something? But… What do I even say? Something like 'oh hey guys watch out for an A-rank missing-nin called Zabuza Momochi, yeah?' definitely wouldn't fly.

Maybe I should just let it all play out… Yeah, let's try that. I'll keep my Sharingan on when we arrive on the other side… Which was right about now.

"We're in hostile territory now. Be careful and pay attention to your surroundings," Kakashi said as we stepped off the boat.

As we continued walking, I activated my Sharingan and noticed something weird. "Kakashi, there's chakra in the mist," I said, alerting everyone. From the veins around his eyes, I assume Neji had already found out too but had kept quiet.

"Yes, I felt it too. Good job identifying it," Kakashi replied.

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

"It means that this mist isn't natural and someone created it to act as a smokescreen to ambush us," I explained. "The main thing is that we do not know if it's always this misty with this chakra mist twenty-four-seven, or if it's here specifically to ambush us."

"Hm. Good analysis," Kakashi said.

At that exact moment, Naruto flicked a kunai into the bushes. Oh shit, it's happening! That's the sign that the attack is coming. Everyone was startled a little bit, but none as much as me.

Kakashi noticed that and asked, "Anything wrong, Sasuke?"

I can't say anything. SHIT!

"I have a really, really, bad feeling right now," I said, wary of anything incoming. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at me.

And that was the exact moment that it happened. The whistling noise reached my ears first and I instantly grabbed Naruto and Sakura by their shoulders and pulled them to the ground while yelling "DUCK" as loud as possible.

Kakashi also hit the ground, pulling Tazuna down with him and I assumed Team Gai did the same as I couldn't see them.

A second later a loud 'thunk' sounded, followed by a girly scream and maniacal laughter. I looked up and saw Kakashi had already gotten up with a kunai in his hand and his Sharingan eye open, while on a tree in front of us, Zabuza stood on his sword that was embedded into the tree trunk and from this arm was Tenten being held in the air by the collar.

"Make a move, and she dies," Zabuza said immediately. In the corner of my eye, I could see her kunai holster and weapons pouch lying on the ground.

SHIT! This didn't happen in canon. He probably did this because he was two high-level jonin and thought he needed some leverage to go against us. DAMN IT!

"Let her go now, or you die," I heard an ice-cold voice come from behind me. I knew it was Gai, but I had never heard him like that. I guess because of his eccentric personality, sometimes we just forget that he is also a shinobi on the level of a Kage. Naruto, Sakura, and I slowly began to stand up.

"Give me the old man, and I'll let her go," Zabuza said.

"That's not happening," Kakashi countered.

I've seen hostage situations like these on TV. The only way to resolve this is for a sniper to take the perpetrator out. Obviously, that's not possible right now since I don't have a C14 rifle on me at the moment. And even if Kakashi or Gai had such amazing aim, Zabuza would have Tenten's head divorce her body the moment any of them moved. So now, the only way to clear the situation was to give him Tazuna.

"You have two choices," Zabuza spoke. "Give me the old man, or let this girl die." Kakashi and Gai went silent for a second.

An idea hit me.

I began my acting, looking like I was scared of everything that was going on, and made my way behind Naruto to act like I was hiding behind me. Kakashi started speaking again, and I whispered to Naruto, "when the smoke bomb goes off, make a clone, transform him into Tazuna and immediately use the burying doton jutsu to bury the real Tazuna underground, don't question it. Just nod." Burying Tazuna might kill him, only if we didn't let him breathe for more than four minutes. I think I'll take my chances.

Naruto nodded subtly and I thanked the heavens he didn't try to compete and be defiant this time.

"Hey!" Zabuza roared and pointed a kunai at me and Naruto. "What the hell are you two doing!?"

Ah, perfect chance.

"N-Nothing!" I exclaimed, stuttering intentionally. "I-I was just saying that a K-Konoha ninja is worth more than a client!" I said timidly.

Zabuza looked at me suspiciously. "Sasuke," Kakashi said, warning me to not do anything further.

"What?" I asked defiantly. "You told us to never leave comrades behind! Tenten is worth more than a client!" I said. I turned to Tazuna – who looked ready to shit himself – and apologized, "sorry Tazuna-san. No offence."

"Quiet, Sasuke!" Kakashi said angrily.

"No!" I yelled and moved towards Kakashi, which was in the same direction as Tazuna thankfully. "You wanna go!?" I yelled again and pulled a kunai out of my pouch while simultaneously, 'accidentally' dropping a smoke bomb.

"Oh shit!" I yelled as loud as possible and ran out of the smoke in the direction of Zabuza while violently coughing so that he could see me. Hopefully, him seeing me would reassure him that I wasn't doing anything fishy, and seeing me coughing would make him think that I'm just a stupid genin who made a mistake.

Instantly after I came out, Kakashi also followed me out of the smoke with Tazuna. "This is not the time for your mischief, Sasuke!" Kakashi said, but not with as much force. That was the cue that he understood the plan.

"Tch, whatever," I said in annoyance and looked to Zabuza who was keenly observing us.

"Zabuza. Let. The girl. GO!" Kakashi commanded.

"Give me the old man," Zabuza replied calmly.

"I-I'll go. No need to waste a young life for this old man," Tazuna, who was actually Naruto's clone, said.

"Tazuna-san!" Kakashi yelled.

"It's okay, Kakashi-san. I thank you for protecting me all this way, even if you didn't have to," Tauzna said and started walking forwards.

Zabuza jumped off his sword and fell, ripping the huge cleaver out of the tree on his way down.

"Augh!" Tenten yelled as she fell with him and hit the ground with Zabuza.

"Let Tenten go now," Gai said.

"I will," Zabuza said, "as soon as he reaches me."

"Tazuna-san, stop!" Kakashi yelled, and 'Tazuna' stopped. "Zabuza, let her go or you're not getting him."

The Kiri nin looked at us for a second before cocking his arm back and throwing Tenten into the air towards me. As if by instinct, I channelled chakra to my legs and jumped, catching Tenten from the air and being thrown back with her because of the incredible momentum. "OOF!" I said unintentionally as we both crashed, with Tenten's entire weight on me.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she got off me.

Before I could answer, a loud explosion rocked us.

It seemed that at the same time that Zabuza had thrown Tenten, he had also moved forward and cut Tazuna across the chest with his sword and the clone had blown up. I didn't know Naruto knew that jutsu! Or maybe it was Kakashi that made the clone?

I stood up and saw that Naruto had already pulled the real Tazuna out of the ground and Sakura was helping him get his breathing under control while Kakashi and Gai were battling it out with Zabuza. It was visible how overwhelmed he was, trying to fight off two of the strongest Konoha jonins at once. Naruto, Neji, and Lee had formed a perimeter around Sakura and Tazuna and Tenten and I made our way to them also.

The fight continued for about ten seconds before a monstrous kick from Gai sent Zabuza flying. The Kiri nin hit a tree and fell. The sound of a thousand birds filled the clearing as Kakashi instantly fired up his Raikiri.

Before anyone could make a move though, two senbon came flying and hit Zabuza in the neck, making him drop lifelessly. A short ninja dressed in a yukata and donning a Kiri hunter nin mask blurred beside Zabuza's body.

Ah, here comes Haku.

"Thank you, shinobi-san," he said with a small bow. "I apologize for taking your kill, but I have been hunting for Zabuza Momochi for a while. I couldn't help but jump at the chance to finally end him."

Kakashi and Gai tensed a little bit. "You are?" Kakashi asked.

"I am a shinobi of the hunter crops of Kirigakure," Haku answered without a waver in his.

The two Konoha jonin looked at each other before Kakashi nodded. "You wouldn't mind if we checked his pulse, would you?" he asked.

Haku nodded and gestured with his hand. "Please, go ahead."

"Kakashi! Can I also join you? I also want to see something on him that bothered me!" I exclaimed urgently. This might be my only chance to get close to Zabuza. I need to finish him off while possible.

"Hm?" Kakashi said, turning his head and looking at me warily. "Sure." He turned and started walking towards the 'dead' body.

I ran and caught up to him, kunai still in my hand. Kakashi kneeled beside Zabuza and held two fingers to his neck. Feeling no pulse, he nodded. I also held two of my fingers to his neck while subtly activating my Sharingan. This was it. I had to create a small diversion.

"So," I began, "when he was on that tree," I said a bit louder, pointing dramatically at the tree that Zabuza had stuck his sword on. Thankfully, the tree was behind Haku and my loud voice, coupled with my dramatic, enthusiastic pointing distracted Haku just barely enough that he inclined his head a little to the side.

In a split second, my other hand moved, and in a swift motion cut deeply into Zabuza's neck. It was deep enough to have severed both the carotid and the jugular arteries. And instantly, after without any waste of movement, I stuck the kunai deep into Zabuza's eye, far enough that I was pretty sure it hit his brain.

"NOOO!" Haku screamed like the world was ending and jumped at me. So fast that even if I could see him with my Sharingan active, my body just wasn't fast enough to react. I could see in almost slow motion the senbon that his hand was clutching, approaching my open eye.

I guess I was going to lose my right eye today, huh? This was definitely going to hurt.

But before that could happen, Kakashi's kunai deflected the path just enough that the senbon grazed my cheek and Gai was on top of Haku right away.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU! LEMME GO! I'LL HAVE YOU FUCKING BURN IN HELL!" Haku screamed, glaring daggers at me. The killing intent he was releasing was leagues higher than what Kakashi had ever tried on me – of course, no that it really worked on me. But it showed the sheer fury that Haku was feeling.

"Sasuke, what the hell!?" Kakashi also yelled at me, helping Gai restrain the fake hunter nin.

"What? Zabuza wasn't really dead. This guy isn't a real hunter nin. You can tell by how hurt he looks just because I killed Zabuza," I said, standing up on shaky knees. I was trying to act tough, but that was only because I nearly pissed myself.

"Damn it," Kakashi sighed and took off Haku's mask. "Gai, we'll have to restrain her and bring her with us," he said and Gai nodded. I decided not to correct them. He'll tell us soon enough.

...

Tazuna knocked on the door to his home. "Coming!" came a melodious voice from inside. The door opened and a beautiful face coupled with a stunning figure came into view. "Ah, father!" exclaimed the older woman and hugged Tazuna, glad to see him alive and well. She turned her attention toward us next. "Who are these people, father?" she asked.

"They're the shinobi who protected and escorted me." He turned to us. "This is my daughter, Tsunami," he said, introducing us.

Tsunami and Tazuna welcomed us into the home and cooked up a nice filling meal which was mainly rice because of the shortage of food in the country. Conversations went swimmingly until finally, it was time to turn in for the night. Tsunami profusely apologized for only having a couple of rooms to spare, but we waved her concerns off. Gai, Neji, and Lee took one of the rooms on the top, and Sakura and Tenten took the other one while Kakashi, Naruto, and I laid out our sleeping bags in the living room. It was decided that Neji would stand guard for the first night.

The next day began bright and early, with Neji, Lee, and Tenten having to guard Tazuna while he worked and Kakashi taking Team Seven into the forest to train. Gai stayed behind and watched over our prisoner – Haku.

"Alright, team," Kakashi began, making sure we were all paying attention. "Today I'll be teaching you a very basic skill all shinobi have."

I hope he doesn't say tree walking.

"I'll be teaching you how to climb trees." Goddammit.

"Ay bossman," I called out. Kakashi threw an exasperated glance at me. I merely turned around and stepped onto the nearest tree. Instead of explaining everything, I decided to just get to the point. Channelling chakra into my feet, legs, and core, I looked at Kakashi and put my other foot on the tree and started walking up.

Kakashi smiled and said, "May I ask where you learned this from?"

"Konoha Shinobi Library and Archives," I answered. That was a lie. I didn't go to the shinobi library. I was from pure memory combined with trial and error.

"I see. That's good, I guess," he said. "You can teach Naruto and Sakura how to do that."

"Umm… sensei," Sakura said with a nervous laugh. "We know it too." Naruto nodded along.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Can you please demonstrate?" he asked as he unveiled his Sharingan, most likely to check how we were controlling our chakra flow, and I did the same, activating my own dojutsu. In a matter of seconds, Sakura and Naruto were also on a tree of their own. Kakashi turned his head to look at me as if to say 'seriously?'.

I shrugged as I let the minor chakra flow to my eyes stop. "Someone had to train them properly. This is what we were doing when we trained during our personal time." Yeah, I knew I was being a brat but I won't stop until he takes his duties seriously, dammit!

Kakashi shook his head while sighing as he covered his Sharingan. "Alright, I guess I'll get you guys started on water walking," he said and looked at me expectantly. Smartass.

"I got us all started but we're not finished yet," I said.

Kakashi nodded and led us back to Tazuna's house to practice on the water beside it. "You can also guard the house while practicing," he had said, and I can't lie, that did seem like a good idea.

When we got there, we immediately started practicing, helping each other out when needed. Kakashi watched us for a while before he too left us to our own devices and went into the house, probably to interrogate Haku with Gai. I waited for five minutes after he was gone and also stepped into the house. Kakashi and Gai probably realized, but hopefully, they think I'm just here to get a cup of water or something.

I walked over to my bag and pulled out a balloon which I then filled with water from the kitchen's faucet. It was time to try to learn the Rasengan on my own. Just because it was Naruto's special move, didn't mean I couldn't learn it too. And since I already know all the tricks, it really shouldn't take me that long to learn it. At least, I hoped so. Also, if I learn it before the Chunin Exam, I could get Naruto and Sakura started on it also. I'm not going to keep powerful moves secret from the people I'll probably be calling family in the future.

...

The rest of the days quickly passed by in a blur of activities and training. After the three of us mastered water walking, Naruto trained on improving his chakra control – after a three-hour-long lecture from me and Sakura about why that's important (Kakashi gave up in five minutes) – and Sakura trained on improving her strength and endurance after me telling her "I like girls who are stronger than me". I, on the other hand, somehow convinced Kakashi to teach me some genjutsu. In the end, instead of actually teaching, he just wrote down a jutsu – Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu – and how to do it on a scroll and handed it to me.

Gai and his team had decided to survey the situation and had come back in three days with Gato as a prisoner. Officially, he was charged with unlawful manufacturing and distribution of narcotics, human trafficking, racketeering, and a couple more charges under the United Anti-Narcotics Act. Kakashi had used his dog summons to contact the Hokage and a team of ANBU had appeared in a day to take away Gato and Haku with them.

Lastly, my water balloon practice was coming to an end. Jiraiya's advice that I remembered from the anime truly helped a lot. "Make the chakra spin in different directions," I remembered him saying. I don't know if Kakashi hadn't discovered me using the water balloon, or if he just didn't care enough to approach me about it. Either way, that was good for me since I needed as much practice as possible.

On our second last day in Wave country, I had finally succeeded in popping the balloon with only one hand. When it had popped in my hand and the cool water splashed on my hand and arm, I had realized exactly why Naruto loved to train so hard. The feeling of accomplishment was euphoric. Knowing that my efforts paid off provided me with even greater motivation and I started practicing the genjutsu in earnest.

I apologize if this chapter feels rushed. I just wanted to get over with Wave. On god, this is always the most annoying part to write.

The question I'm stuck on now is whether I should let Sasuke go to Oro-pedo or nah. LMK what you think in the reviews. Or PM. Either way works.