Land of Waves arc: Not a C Rank Mission

Kakashi cursed as he stood up "Zabuza Momochi S rank missing-nin from Kirigakure. You lot have to stay back, keep Tazuna safe you'll only get in my way." He reached up and grabbed his Hitai-ate. Sasuke and the others surrounded Tazuna kunai at the ready. Sasuke stared intently at Kakashi as he raised his Hitai-ate, revealing his eye, which was red with a pupil surrounded by three tomoe. Sasuke's hand trembled, tightening around his kunai. "Where the hell did you get that?!"

Zabuza laughed "oh, is that little brat an Uchiha? Thought you had killed yourselves off."

Kakashi held up a hand "Don't Sasuke we can talk if over later. For now, stay back. This demon of the mist is mine to fight."

"I'm honored that Copycat Kakashi is going all out for me." in an instant, Zabuza flashed and brought his sword down. Kakashi blocked it with a kunai they struggled locked in that position before Zabuza jumped back and flew through a series of hand signs "Kirigakure no Jutsu." he stepped back into the thickening mist disappearing.

"Tsk damn hiding in the mist. Careful, he's a master of silent killing." The trio lost sight of their sensei. The only sign he was still around was the occasional sound of Zabuza's weapon being blocked by Kakashi or hitting the ground in a dull thud. Kakashi's Sharingan scanned the mist, trying to find Zabuza.

Sakura heard Zabuza laughing as he spoke, "you three brats call yourselves shinobi, but you look like you haven't even killed a man yet. You can't be considered real shinobi in my eyes till you kill."

Sakura stiffened as she felt a breath on the back of her neck. Zabuza whispered, "too bad, you'll all be dead before you get a chance."

Sakura turned in time to retrieve a punch to the gut that sent her flying into a tree. Sasuke shoved Tazuna back as Naruto deflected Zabuza's sword. "Come on, you little fakes!" he spun and smacked Naruto away with his blade's flat. "Kubikiribōchō seems to be getting dull. I'll need some fresh blood to sharpen her up!"

Sasuke threw a volley of kunai to give Naruto time to recover. He looked at Sakura, who still hadn't gotten up. "Naruto, fall back, we need to keep Tazuna safe!"

"Sakura-"

"Fall back, I'll get her! Now protect Tazuna!"

Kakashi flew into the fight taking Zabuza's attention as Sasuke ran over and pulled Sakura over his shoulder before booking it back to the others. Meanwhile, Zabuza grabbed Kakashi and threw him into the lake. Kakashi pulled himself up onto the water's surface, but it clung to him heavy and thick 'shit water prison!'

Zabuza appeared next to him and ran through the hand signs, "Suirō no Jutsu!"

A sphere of water formed around Kakashi immobilizing him. "Damn it!"

Sakura groaned as she came around to see Sasuke standing over here kunai at the ready. He glanced down, "It looks like you're awake. Get up, we've got a problem."

She got up and saw the situation they were in. Kakashi sat in a water prison while Zabuza stood next to him with his hand jammed into the water. "Crap, how are we going to deal with this?"

"You aren't dealing with this, you're going to grab Tazuna and run! That's an order!" Kakashi shouted through the prison.

Sakura looked at the boys who shook their heads "I don't think we can follow those orders sensei. Someone who leaves their comrade behind is worse than scum, and we had a good Sensei who taught us not to be scum."

Naruto grinned, "hell yeah, Sakura! Let's take this guy down!" he pounded his fist together as Sasuke nodded and adjusted his grip on his kunai. Naruto rummaged around in his pack and tossed two Fuma shuriken, one to Sasuke and one to Sakura. "I've got an idea, but it looks like we have company."

Sakura had to rub her eyes to make sure she was seeing a clone and not seeing double because she hit her head. Sasuke grunted, "we'll deal with him and then the real one."

Zabuza's clone charged them, kicking Naruto, who puffed into a cloud of smoke. The Zabuza clone looked around, trying to find the real one. He fell back as Sasuke threw a volley of shuriken, and five Narutos rushed from different directions. Sakura put herself between Zabuza and Tazuna, who was hiding behind a tree. Sasuke deflected swings with Zabuza's sword as the naruto squad swarmed him, but Zabuza's water clone just kept coming. Sakura looked at her Fuma then the real Zabuza. "Sasuke! Throw the fuma!"

He looked over as she started to unfurl the fuma. His eye followed hers, and he smirked, "got ya. Dead Last, keep the clone busy."

Naruto nodded and poofed more clones into existence to try and swarm the Zabuza clone.

"Alright, Sakura, do it!" Sasuke shouted as he threw his fuma.

She did the same; the two shurikens flew in tandem one above the other. Zabuza jumped and turned himself parallel to the surface of the water as the shuriken flew past him. "Heh, good try kids-"

The two fuma poofed into Naruto's who grinned and threw kunai, one embedded into Zabuza's back, making him pull himself free of the prison. It popped, and Kakashi landed on the water. The other kunai hit the clone, dispelling it. Zabuza cursed as he started to run through another set of hand signs. Team Seven looked on in awe as their sensei Kakashi began to run through the same hand signs, eventually saying at the same time "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!"

Two massive dragons made of water rose from the water and fought, but Kakashi overpowered Zabuzas and threw the missing-nin in a flood of water against the tree. Kakashi was running going in for the kill when he stopped in his track as senbon sprouted from Zabuza's neck, making him fall to his knees gasping before he keeled over. "Thank you for your hard work, Konoha shinobi, but I'll be taking this kill."

A shinobi wearing a white mask with red waves on it and the Kirigakure symbol on it landed a few feet from Zabuza's corpse as Kakashi checked its pulse. "An Oi-nin from Kirigakure, what a coincidence." He held a hand up to keep his team back as they approached.

"Not a coincidence Shinobi-san. I have been tracking Zabuza for months looking for a good chance to take him out, and you lot came along and helped me with my job." they bowed, "thank you."

Sasuke held Naruto back, and they let the Oi-nin pick up Zabuza's corpse and disappear with it. Sakura looked at their sensei, "is something wrong, Sensei?"

Kakashi pulled his Hitat-ate down over his Sharingan. "Hunters would never leave the place where the missing-nin died before disposing of the body. The fact that he took Zabuza's corpse is concerning. I suspect we aren't out of the woods yet keep on guard all of you-" he took several steps before collapsing onto the ground. His team ran over, and Sakura checked his pulse.

"It's ok he's breathing and still has a pulse he's probably just chakra exhausted. Sasuke-Kun, Naruto-Kun, can you carry him?"

The two boys nodded and picked up Kakashi as Tazuna came out from behind a tree. "You can all stay at my place and let him rest up. It's the least I can do for you."

The genin nodded and followed Tazuna to his house and thankfully ran into no issues. Once Kakashi was in bed, Naruto and several clones went to keep watch outside, and Tazuna was talking to his daughter in the kitchen. Sakura sat next to Sasuke as they looked at Kakashi, "pretty intense for our first C rank mission, huh?"

Sasuke nodded, "yeah, and it turns out our Sensei has my family's kekkei genkai in his left eye."

Sakura looked at Sasuke and his dark eyes, "so can you do that with your eye too?"

He shook his head, "mine hasn't awakened yet, but I'll have it in both eyes when they do. Kakashi-sensei definitely isn't part of my family, so I have to assume he got it hopefully because someone in the family gave it to him and not because he took it."

"Any ideas on who would have given him one of their eyes?"

Sasuke shook his head, "no. Before- before I lost my family, we weren't on the best terms with the village. I was only a little kid, but I could tell everyone was worried about the village, not liking them. I can't think of any relatives who would give up an eye to an outsider."

Sakura hesitated but eventually put a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be alright I'm sure once Kakashi-sensei is up he'll explain everything to you."

"Thanks, Sakura, and uh good throw earlier, you've gotten a lot better."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Well, with you and Naruto as my teammates, I've got to keep on top of my game, or else you'll probably leave me behind."

Sasuke grunted and awkwardly patted her shoulder "I'm sure you'll be great... uh, just keep it up."

She sighed and shook her head, "I know." She stood up and said, "I'm gonna go check on Tazuna to see if he or his daughter needs anything."

Sasuke nodded, "I'll keep an eye on our sensei."

Sakura went downstairs to find the two sitting in the kitchen. She bowed, "thank you again for letting us stay here, Tsunami-san. Is there anything you need help with?"

Tsunami was about to dismiss the idea, but she stopped "Hm actually I haven't been able to go recently due to Gato and now these shinobi it might not be safe. There are herbs out in the woods I usually collect and sell. Would you be able to go out tomorrow and collect some for me? I'll show you what they look like before you go."

Sakura nodded, "I'd be glad to. What are the herbs for?"

"Mainly medicinal most everyone in the village knows how to use them, but no one wants to go wandering into the woods to find them."

Sakura looked over the herbs with Tsunami and asked questions about what they helped with and how to apply them. A few hours later, she decided she needed fresh air and made sure Naruto wasn't slacking off and was actually keeping watch. She found him on the roof, sitting facing the woods. On her climb up, she saw several in pair's near the docks. "Yo, Naruto, how goes lookout?"

Naruto jumped before seeing who it was and rubbed the back of his head "o-oh, hey Sakura-chan, it's all quiet I have clones walking around nearby."

She nodded as she sat, "you know you don't have to say chan. We're all friends, right?"

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, "yeah yeah, we are! I just uh didn't wanna be rude ya know. Most people don't like me."

Sakura smiled, "yeah, but you know everyone from our class cares about you, right? You may be loud, obnoxious, and kind of annoying at times, but I don't think any of us would want you to be any different."

Naruto grinned and blushed hard. "Y-yeah, thanks, Sakura-ch I mean Sakura-" Naruto's head snapped over to the woods "two of my clones got dispelled."

"How can you tell?" The two got to their feet as they scanned the woods.

Naruto put a hand on his chin "hm, it's hard to explain. I'm not a sensor, but when I make a clone, I can kinda tell where he is compared to me."

"Do you get anything else from them?"

He shrugged, "I don't know I can tell where they are and when they get dispelled."

He crossed his fingers and made two more clones and sent them to check it out. They came back a few minutes later, grumbling to each other, "just a boar boss those two were idiots."

The other punched the first, "Oi don't call them idiots idiot they're the same as us."

Naruto dispelled them as one was about to punch the other "Sometimes I end up fighting with myself, so I just get rid of them before they can start arguing."

Sakura laughed, "They do say you are your own worst enemy."

The next day Kakashi woke up feeling like he had been thrown into a tree several times. He looked around the unfamiliar room and spotted one of his genin sitting against the wall slumped over asleep. Sasuke stirred as Kakashi tried to sit up. "Best to stay in bed, Sensei, you've got chakra exhaustion, and besides, you have some explaining to do."

Kakashi settled into his futon and grunted, "alright. What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

Kakashi nodded and started to tell him about his mission and how he gained his Sharingan. Meanwhile, Sakura and Naruto headed into the woods to look for herbs "alright, Naruto, you head that way, and I'll check over here. You remember what it looks like, right?"

He nodded, "yep, I know what to look for, we'll meet up here once we've filled these baskets."

The two went separate ways from there and began looking. After some time, Naruto laid down; he had filled his basket, but it was a lovely day, so why should he go back right away. Instead, he'd just lay in the sun for a minute and soak up the warmth. He fell asleep quickly in the sunlight with a peaceful look on his face.

Sakura stood at the meeting point, tapping her foot, looking around, "where the hell is that boy. I swear if he's gotten distracted by something, I'm gonna punch him."

She marched off into the direction Naruto had gone. She found him a few minutes later and stopped hiding behind a tree. He was there with someone, and if they weren't friendly, she didn't want to stumble into a fight. She glanced at the stranger. They were pretty with long dark hair and brown eyes. Naruto seemed to be talking rather excitedly to them. Sakura scoffed a bit as Naruto said they looked prettier than Sakura. Once the stranger bowed and left, Sakura slipped into the clearing "Naruto there you are. Who was that?"

Naruto grinned and started to tell Sakura about the stranger he met on their way back to the house. He scrambled when Sakura pressed him on, saying that guy was prettier than her. Once they were back and Tsunami had the herbs, they went upstairs and found Kakashi and Sasuke finishing a conversation. Naruto ran over and hugged Kakashi. "Oh, you're alive and awake now, Senpai I was so worried!"

Kakashi grunted, and Sakura pulled Naruto off "come on, give our Sensei some space he's still recovering."

The three genin sat and updated Kakashi on what he missed while he was out, which wasn't much of anything. He sighed, "You lot disobeyed my orders to run. I should be mad, but I'm proud of you all for your diligence. Keep it up while I get back to full strength."

"Yes, sensei!" they all choired.

"Alright, until I'm back up and combat-ready, I want rotating guards on Tazuna. Two of you will stay with him while he's at the bridge working, and the last will stay here, and I'll run you through some kind of training to make sure we're all ready for whatever is probably coming."

With their new orders, Team Seven set up their rotation, sending Naruto and Sasuke out to watch over Tazuna first. Sakura sighed, "So let me guess, Sensei, I need to work on taijutsu?"

Kakashi shook his head, "no point in doing that right now, I don't need you physically exhausted while on a mission. I want you to do chakra control practices for now."

Sakura nodded and went outside to grab some leaves to use for practice. The days rolled by at some point, Naruto had gotten into an argument with Inari Tsunami's son about whether or not it was worth it to fight against a force you knew you couldn't beat. Kakashi had instructed Sakura and Sasuke to stay out of it and let Naruto figure out how to get his point across so the kid would understand.

Once Kakashi was back on his feet and mostly recovered, the whole team went with Tazuna to keep him safe. That's when they came upon the scene of Zabuza standing amongst the unconscious bridge workers. "Look who's finally here. I was getting bored. I thought I might have to start killing these civilians to entertain myself till you get here."

Sakura and the others immediately went into formation around Tazuna as Kakashi cursed and pulled out a kunai. "I'll keep him busy. Sasuke Naruto, you two grab the civilians and get them off the bridge, and Sakura keep Tazuna safe."

"Yes, Sensei!" the three shouted as he took off to engage Zabuza. Naruto crossed his fingers and made four shadow clones to help them move the people to safety. Sakura fidgeted as the mist started to roll in. She felt useless just standing here while the other three did something, but she knew keeping the client safe was a priority.

As Kakashi and Zabuza clashed, Sasuke saw a third figure enter the mist and run toward Naruto, dispelling his clones. "Naruto enemy at twelve o'clock in the mist!"

Naruto looked up in time to see the Oi-nin that had taken Zabuza away burst out of the mist senbon in hand, ready to throw. Sasuke threw a brace of shuriken, which the Oi-nin dodge easily and threw their senbon in retaliation. Sasuke pursued him with a kunai at the ready as Naruto grabbed the last civilian and ran to get them to safety.

Kakashi looked over his shoulder. "So I was right that Oi-nin is a fake. He works with you? Bails you out when you get in over your head?"

Zabuza growled and swung Kubikiribōchō in a wide arc "Haku is just a tool for me to use as I see fit. He's quite proficient at his job, so I keep him around." He looked over to the Oi-nin fake and shouted, "Haku kill those kids! And make it quick!"

Haku nodded as he held Sasuke back, "Yes, Zabuza-san!" He delivered a quick kick to Sasuke's stomach that sent him skidding back, giving Haku enough time to run through hand seals and shout "Sensatsu Suishō!"

The puddles of water on the bridge rose into the air and formed shards of ice that shot towards Sasuke, one of which caught the genin in the leg, leaving a shallow gash across his thigh. Kakashi looked surprised by the jutsu before he had to refocus on Zabuza. "He's got a Kekkei Genkai!" Kakashi shouted as he deflected Zabuza's sword again.

Sasuke wasn't given any time to recover as Haku threw several volleys of senbon. Sasuke tried to deflect them all but several embedded in his shoulder, and he cursed, feeling his arm go limp.

Sasuke felt a little relief as Naruto ran up next to him, "what happened to your arm?!"

Sasuke grunted as he pulled the senbon out of his arm "he's got good aim. I don't think I'll be able to use my arm for a bit even after taking these out. Think you can take some of the pressure of this fight Dead Last?"

Naruto cracked his knuckles "I can take this guy on with no problem just you watch."

He crossed his fingers, and four clones exploded into existence he rushed Haku. At the same time, Sasuke pulled the last of the senbon out of his arm and felt the pinpricks of sensation starting to come back though he knew it wouldn't be usable in a fight until later. He pulled out some shuriken and relegated himself to long-range.

The Naruto gang was struggling to survive very long against Haku and his senbon. Haku dispersed the clones and dodged Sasuke's shurikens, sometimes using a Naruto clone as a human shield. Eventually, he grabbed the real Naruto and threw him hard into Sasuke. As the two tried to untangle themselves, Haku spoke, "Makyō Hyōshō!"

Mirrors of ice quickly formed around the two, while Haku melted into the first one to form. He appeared in each one as they finished being created. "You two can't win if you stop struggling, you won't have to die. I promise."

Naruto gritted his teeth "like hell we will! We have a mission to protect Tazuna-san so he can finish this bridge. We won't let anyone stop us! Right, Sasuke?!"

Sasuke nodded flexing his left arm "What Dead Last said. We have a mission, and we intend to complete it."

Haku seemed to deflate a little "That's a shame. That means I'll have to carry out my mission then."

Naruto and Sasuke flinched, covering their eyes as the mirrors became blinding to look at. They nearly screamed as the senbon started flying from all directions, neither of them could dodge that many at once. Even as the light faded, Haku was moving too fast for them to see much less counter. Naruto tried making clones and rushing the mirrors, but they were cut down before they could even get close.

Sakura barely had time to register Zabuza coming in for the kill behind her and Tazuna before Kakashi was already there attempting to deflect the swing. Though it wasn't good enough and the sword cut down his chest, leaving a nasty gash. Zabuza was forced back as Kakashi attempted to kick him in the chest. "Kakashi-sensei, are you ok?!" Sakura said, looking at his bleeding chest.

He grunted and straightened his posture. "I'll be fine; just make sure Tazuna-san is safe." Kakashi quickly disappeared into the mist to pursue Zabuza while pulling a small scroll from one of his Jonin vest pockets.

"Zabuza, why did you run? I heard about your attempted coup d'etat in Kirigakure. How your coconspirators bailed on you and left you to die. Did you run because you were scared of what they'd do to you for killing the Kage?"

Zabuza growled and ran in to attack with a wild swing leaving himself open. Kakashi took advantage of that planting two kunai into the missing-nins shoulder before quickly retreating and opening the scroll in his hand. At the same time, the other dragged along the edge of his wound, and he used chakra to gather enough blood onto his thumb. Kakashi spread the blood across the scroll before snapping it shut and slamming it into the ground "Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu!"

The bridge rumbled around Zabuza's feet as half a dozen dogs burst from the ground and sunk their teeth into his legs and arms, immobilizing him. "You just stay put with my dogs for a moment."

Sasuke was tackled to the ground by Naruto, whose back was quickly filled with senbon. Naruto stumbled to the side, "Come on Sasuke, you're too slow."

Haku didn't give them a chance to recover before the next volley started, and Sasuke had to grab Naruto to pull him out of the way while catching some senbon into the back of his leg. "Gah Damn it, Naruto, don't pass out on me. We gotta figure out how to beat this asshole."

Naruto nodded slowly, "y-yeah, we're going to. Because I never go back on my word." Naruto stumbled a bit as he tried to make more clones, but Haku wasn't going to let him and released another volley of senbon. Sasuke swore and tried to grab Naruto, but the senbon was aimed at both of them, and he felt the needles entering into his left leg and arm, making him faceplant as Naruto took a few to his forearms.

Naruto fell over onto his back, panting softly as Sasuke struggled to stand up his head whipped to Naruto as several senbon shot from the top of the mirror dome and hit Naruto in the chest.

Sasuke felt the change in himself but didn't register what it meant right away until he saw Haku move and knew where he was going. Sasuke threw the last of his shuriken then saw his reflection in the mirror he was aiming at. Red eyes with two tomoe in his left eye and one in the right. He had awakened his Sharingan.

Haku was surprised by the shuriken but deflected most, but one got through and left a shallow cut in his arm.

As Hakur retreated into the mirror, Sasuke used his Sharingan to look at Naruto and saw a faint rise and fall of his chest. 'Good, the idiots still breathing.'

He turned his attention back to the fight 'with this I can win. I can beat this asshole.'

With Naruto effectively out of the fight, Haku turned all his attention onto Sasuke and his newly awakened Sharingan. "You know, Uchiha-san, we aren't very different. Both the owners of powerful Kekkei Genkai. both the last of our clans."

Sasuke growled as he pulled his last kunai out. "I'm not the last, at least not yet. I plan on living through this and killing the one who made it just him and I. I won't- I can't stop yet. I won't let you stop me."

"The path of vengeance is not an easy one to walk in Uchiha-san. I wonder if you can beat me, will you be able to follow the path to its end?"

Sasuke started making hand signs, "why don't we find out. Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

He placed a hand in front of his mouth as fire spat from it into a large ball that broke against the mirror Haku was currently in. The mirror barely cracked and was quickly repaired. "That level of Katon won't be enough Uchiha-san."

Sasuke did his best to deflect the senbon sent his way as Haku jumped to another mirror. With his Sharingan, he was able to effectively dodge or deflect more of them than before. The attacks were relentless and swift, leaving Sasuke barely any time to recover or take stock of his mounting minor injuries. For a moment, there was nothing, and Haku disappeared from the mirror before quickly returning. "It seems I can't just wear you down and take you out like Naruto-san."

Sasuke saw the senbon coming in two sets. He could doge one and not even go near the- Naruto was lying unconscious right in the path.

He twisted channeling chakra into his feet to grip the ground so he could change direction. Sasuke slid into place, looking down on his idiot teammate as the volley of senbon embedded themselves in his back, and at least one went into his neck. As he fell to his knee Naruto's eyes opened slowly and focused on him.

Naruto's breath caught seeing his teammate above him bleeding, "wh-what the hell happened, Sasuke?"

"Idiot, you fell asleep on the job an-and I had to protect your sorry ass. Now get up we-we got work to do-" Naruto barely caught Sasuke as he fell and laid him down. He couldn't see Sasuke's chest rise or fall with breathing.

His thoughts drifted to the boy he had met in the woods and their talk on precious people and true strength. Even with how annoying Sasuke was sometimes Naruto didn't hesitate to recognize everyone on his team as people precious to him, and now one of them was lying in front of him, not breathing.

"Kill him." A voice like gravel full of anger and spite spoke deep in his head. It was the last thing Naruto heard before everything went black.

Kakashi was panting as a little pug walked up "hey boss. You look terrible and might want to close that left eye of yours."

Kakashi waved him off, "Can't do it yet Pakkun. I just need to mold a bit of chakra and take Zabuza out for good."

The pug looked past him and sniffed "Hm might want to put a hold on that boss-"

Kakashi's head snapped over as the mist was blown away entirely, and he saw the red glow pouring from the ice mirror dome. 'Shit not good.'