Land of Waves Arc: Bad to Worse or Not

Haku stumbled out of his mirrors as they cracked and shattered from the sudden force of chakra "what is with Naruto-san. His chakra suddenly changed, and it's so much stronger than before."

Haku didn't get a chance to move back before Naruto was in his face, fist cocked pack ready to strike. Haku saw his eyes were a fierce red with vertical pupils, and the whisker marks on his face had flared out as the red chakra coiled and boiled just above his skin.

Naruto's fist flew forward faster than Haku could register his Oi-nin mask cracked and shattered as he went flying across the bridge. Kakashi watched the exchange with horror as Kyūbi's chakra spilled from his student.

He was going to have to use his Sharingan before it got too far. He stumbled as he tried to move towards Naruto, who was closing in on the limp form of Haku.

Naruto only saw red as he moved in to kill Haku, but he stopped seeing the remains of the mask and the face under it. His senses came flooding back as he stared at the pretty boy from the woods who had talked to him about where he thought true strength came from.

The urge to kill was shoved away as Naruto fought to reclaim his actions. Kakashi watched with relief as the red chakra of the Kyūbi faded, and Naruto stumbled back on his butt and stared at Haku.

Sakura saw the light show of chakra and Naruto fighting Haku, but didn't see Sasuke joining in, and Zabuza was still held down by the ninken that had burst from the ground. Kakashi was standing there talking to a pug he looked winded and like he was nearing collapse.

Tazuna grabbed her shoulder and pointed her towards where the ice mirrors used to be "I think I see your comrade over there."

Her breath caught in her throat as she saw him lying on the ground, not moving. She grabbed Tazuna's wrist and pulled him along "come on, I need to check on him and keep you safe."

Sakura stumbled to a halt at the sight of her teammate. She couldn't tell if he was breathing or not, and he had so many senbon in him. Sakura dropped to her knees and shook him as she tried to keep the panic from overwhelming her. "Sasuke, come on, get up. You gotta be ok. You have to be."

Zabuza threw the ninken off him, and they disappeared running out of the chakra Kakashi had given them. As the missing-nin retrieved his sword, Kakashi was there kunai ready, but the two shinobi didn't get a chance to fight as the sound of people approaching from the unfinished side of the bridge drew their attention.

Kakashi cursed, as a short man in a business suit, walked up with at least twenty men at his back. 'This mission just keeps getting worse. I don't think I can take them all and Zabuza'

"Gato," Zabuza spat, "What the hell are you doing here? I'm in the middle of working."

The short man laughed, "Ha! Not anymore. I would have waited longer, but I don't have the time, and you look tired enough, so I'm just gonna have you and those other shinobi killed now. Then I'll make an example of Tazuna."

He stepped forward and saw Haku on the ground passed out. Gato grinned and stepped on Haku's face "Oh, it looks like there's one less bit of trash to deal with." Gato stepped past Haku, and his men followed.

Naruto gritted his teeth but fell over, trying to get up as a sudden wave of exhaustion washed over him. Gato's men screamed as sudden spikes of ice shot out from the middle of the group. Haku stumbled to his feet after impaling several with his ice. Zabuza laughed and looked at Kakashi "let me get my sword. I don't have to fill my contract anymore, so I'm gonna kill that little prick."

Gato suddenly looked very worried. Kakashi simply walked over and picked up Naruto "go crazy." he took his student over to Sasuke, and his heart ached, seeing Sakura shaking, trying to pull the senbon out and apply bandaging to Sasuke.

Zabuza retrieved his sword and cleaved Gato in half with one swing before he and Haku turned on the rest of his men. Haku showed some restraint in letting them die painlessly.

Zabuza, on the other hand, lived up to his nickname and looked like a demon on a rampage as he tore through men left and right. Meanwhile, Kakashi had laid Naruto down and was helping Sakura patch Sasuke up. His breathing had started to be noticeable when they pulled the senbon out of his neck, so Kakashi figured the kid wouldn't die right away.

Once it was all said and done, a very confused Inari showed up with the townspeople, all ready for a fight that was already over. Sasuke had come around and was trying not to gape at the carnage as Zabuza and Haku walked up still a fair distance away but close enough to talk.

"So, since your employer fired you, what are you going to do now?" Kakashi asked.

Zabuza grinned his bandaging haven come udon during the fight "why don't we continue where we left off Kakashi?"

Haku gently placed a hand on Zabuza's shoulder. "Zabuza-san, I think we've all fought enough for today."

Zabuza jerked his shoulder away but didn't continue to try and fight. "We need to get moving; there's work to be done elsewhere."

"And where is that? I wanna know the places to avoid taking my team for a while."

Haku smiled "It seems that Zabuza-san's attempted rebellion sparked a larger one though he won't admit it. I think he is eager to join them and return home."

Kakashi didn't react; he just nodded and looked over at Zabuza, who was checking the corpses. Haku bowed to Team Seven. "I'm sorry we met the way we did, but I am glad none of you died. I hope we won't have to kill each other next time we meet."

The two missing-nin ran off without another word leaving a bruised and battered Team Seven to clean up. The days blurred together Kakashi was basically out due to almost exhausting himself. Sasuke was healing from all his injuries but could still keep watch, and strangely enough, Naruto was unscathed.

Kakashi was quick to change the subject and go off on a tangent. Though Sakura didn't show it, she felt supremely useless during this mission. They went up against high-level enemies, and what did she do? Throw one Fuma shuriken and stand between the enemy and their drunk target. She clenched her fist and decided to train harder than before and find something she can do to better help the team. She wouldn't freeze and panic the next time she saw a teammate hurt; she would know what to do.

It took another two weeks to finish the bridge, and once it was done, they stayed one extra night to celebrate with Tazuna and his family before saying goodbye. Naruto tried his best to look tough, but he cried while talking to Inari. Team Seven was the first to cross the Great Naruto Bridge from the Land of Waves to the Land of Fire.

As they walked, Kakashi handed Sakura a slip of paper "I put this list together while I was recovering. You have some of the best control I've seen in a while. There's a lot you can do with that, so this has few to look into to get you started when we get back."

Sakura took the list and smiled, "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei, I will make sure to get stronger and help the team."

Three days by shinobi speed later, they shuffled through the gates and up to the check-in desk. "Team Seven reporting back from our... C rank escort mission." Kakashi said as he handed over his ninja id.

Once everyone was checked in, Kakashi waved, "be sure to fill out your reports and turn them in today, we meet up at the training field tomorrow same time as always."

"Oh man, I'm gonna go get some Ramen before I do anything else!" Naruto shouted as he started to head towards Ichiraku's.

Sakura looked at Sasuke "wanna go with him? I could use something to eat, as well."

Sasuke seemed to debate the idea for a moment in his head, but he nodded, "Sure might as well."

They ran and caught up to Naruto, who was delighted his teammates were coming with him to eat the best food ever. As they ate, Konohamaru showed up and asked Naruto to play ninja with him and his friends. Naruto smiled and agreed, Sakura reminded him to write his report, and he decided to do it before spending time with Konohmaru.

As they finished eating, Sasuke stood "uh... thanks for lunch. I'll see you two tomorrow."

Naruto looked at Sakura surprised after Sasuke left, "did he actually thank us for time spent together?"

Sakura laughed as they walked with Konohamaru and his two friends. "Yes, I believe he did. Maybe we're getting through that shell of his. Who knows, maybe one day he'll even ask us if we want to do something with him."

"Onii-san stop standing around talking to your girlfriend, we won't have time to do anything otherwise."

"Wha- Konohamaru come on; it's not like that." Naruto tried to say.

"I don't know what you like about her anyways she's got that huge forehead-" Naruto clamped a hand over the younger boy's mouth looking mortified as he slowly turned to look at Sakura.

She took several deep breaths before looking at Naruto "take him and run if you want, it won't make a difference."

Naruto and co bolted as Sakura gave chase. "Way to go, Konohamaru, you had to go and mention the one thing she hates."

"What? It's not my fault she has a big-" Naruto smacked him upside the head.

"Quiet idiot, you don't want her madder."

Naruto pushed Konohmaru along, and the young boy rounded the corner while looking over his shoulder, so he didn't see who he bumped into.

By the time Sakura rounded the corner, Naruto was standing defensively between Mogi, Udon, and two strangers, one of which was holding up Konohamaru by his scarf. "Oi, you weird face paint guy put him down now!"

The guy in question looked at Naruto "the hell did you just call me? This little brat ran into me I think he deserves some kind of punishment for being rude and so do you ya orange freak."

The girl next to him rolled her eyes "Kankaro, do you really have time for this we need to get going."

"Yeah, I know it's not like we'll be late if I just take a minute to teach these stupid brats a lesson."

Sakura stepped up while steeling herself and mustering whatever courage she could. This guy was giving off a dangerous vibe, but maybe she could spook him.

"You really calling these two stupid? Do you even know who you're holding up? He's a member of the Sarutobi clan. You know the clan our current Hokage is part of. Though I guess since you're just sand ninja, we can forgive your ignorance on the topic."

Kankaro tightened his grip on Konohamaru's scarf, making the young boy squirm. "What did you bitch? Just sand ninja? The hell do you mean by that, huh? You want to get a beating that bad?"

Sakura bit her inner lip, trying not to shake. This guy was giving off a murderous vibe nothing like Zabuzas but still enough to set her on edge.

"You heard me. I have to assume you're genin like us, that means you're just sand ninja, and it would be a worse idea to hurt either of us", she motioned to Naruto and herself.

"Our sensei wouldn't take it well if his squad got attacked in our own village and who knows what Kakashi-sensei would do to you when he found you."

Sakura decided Tamari was the smarter of the two sand shinobi as she actually looked like she recognized their sensei's name. She went to grab Kankaro's shoulder as a rock flew and pelted his hand, making him drop Konohamaru, who quickly scrambled to behind Naruto.

Everyone looked up to see Sasuke sitting in a tree above them with a rock in his hand and violence in his eyes. "You really want to fuck with my teammates? Kakashi-sensei won't get a chance with you because I'll kill you first."

Naruto and Sakura gulped in unison at their teammates' bloodthirsty look. Kankaro was slinging something off his shoulder, an insult on his lips that died when a voice next to Sasuke spoke, "Kanakaro stop. You're an embarrassment; if you don't shape up, I'll have to kill you."

Sasuke looked surprised that someone had gotten right next to him. A boy in typical Suna clothes with a shock of red hair and a large gourd on his back standing upside down on a tree branch.

Sakura glanced at Kankaro and saw he was shaking slightly "Ah Gaara sorry about that we were just-"

Gaara seemed to dissolve into a small sand storm and reappear in front of Kankaro. "I don't care. We are going to be late."

"Wait!" Sakura kicked herself mentally. Why was she stopping them? "You need passports to be walking around Konoha like this, may I see them?"

Temari rolled her eyes but produced her pass, and Sakura nodded "Thank you. Why are you here, anyway?'

Temari spoke since it seemed like Gaara couldn't be bothered, and Kankaor was still shaking. "Chunin Exams are happening in a week we're participating. Can we go now?'

Sakura nodded and nearly collapsed onto the ground when they were gone. Sasuke patted her shoulder awkwardly "that was a stupid and risky thing to do, Sakura."

She nodded, "kept a fight from happening, so I'll call it a success."

Sakura had to explain the Chunin exams to Konohamaru and his friends. She was actually surprised Naruto knew what it was. After all the excitement was over, they all went their separate ways intending to ask their sensei about the chunin exams tomorrow.

On her way home, Sakura stopped at the shinobi general library, where she looked for the things her sensei had suggested. She hoped it was something actually available to a genin.

She found the books one on more advanced chakra control exercises, an introductory book on medical ninjutsu, one book that went into more detail about first aid that wasn't covered at the academy, and finally a scroll on manipulating hair with chakra. Once she had permission and signed them out in her name, she headed home to start going over the new material. Though if her parents were home, she probably won't have time to look over anything.

"Sakura? You're back?" She looked over to see Ino running up, smiling.

Sakura smiled, "yep, we got back earlier today. I just finished eating lunch with Sasuke and Naruto. I was gonna go home and look over this stuff you wanna walk with me?"

Ino grinned as they started to walk "Naruto and Sasuke, huh? So informal, what happened on that mission?"

Sakura groaned, "I'll tell you, but don't go blabbing it to everyone, ok. I haven't written my official report yet. That mission was supposed to be a C rank escort nothing more threatening than a hired thug was all we were expecting."

Concern immediately bloomed onto her friend's face "what happened?"

Sakura told Ino about her mission on the way home. She wrapped up her story with the depressing realization that while on paper, she was a good shinobi in real life, she had a lot of work to do before she could stand equal to her teammates.

"That's horrifying I'm glad you guys all came back alive. Though I am going to have to ask Naruto-Kun about this Haku guy. He really told him he was prettier than you?"

Sakura nodded as she entered her house "He sounded so enthusiastic about it too. I don't know if I should be annoyed or not." She slipped her shoes off, "I'm home!"

When no one answered, Sakura glanced around the living room and saw a note in its usual spot that told her they were off on a mission and when they would be back. "Guess I'm home alone for a while."

Ino looked at the letter "well, not really. Because I'm staying over at least for tonight."

Sakura rolled her eyes at how her friend would just declare things instead of asking her. "Alright, but you have to help me cook dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow."

Ino laughed, "alright, fine, so you're gonna go over those books. I want to check them out as well."

Sakura sat on her couch after depositing the books on the coffee table, "alright. It'll probably make it easier with two of us looking at it."

The two kunoichis went over the medical stuff for a few hours before making dinner and talking about what Sakura missed while she was gone. They stayed up, and Ino lounged around while Sakura wrote up her report and made a mental note to stop by the mission desk before going to the training grounds. After some conniving, Sakura got Ino to agree to go to sleep at a reasonable hour, so neither would be late for training.

The next morning Sakura all but kicked Ino awake, and the two made breakfast. "I'll see you around. You want me to come over tonight as well?"

Sakura shrugged, "If you want, just don't use me as an excuse to ditch your clan responsibilities."

Ino feigned shock, "I would never use my best friend being all alone in her house as a reason to avoid going home and doing something terribly boring."

Sakura gave her a flat look "I'll see you around Ino."

"Bye-bye!"

The two went their separate ways. Sakura said hello to Iruka-sensei as she turned in her mission report and then headed to the training grounds to meet up with her team.

As she walked up and waved to the two boys, Sasuke said, "You're later than usual."

She shrugged, "I had to drop off my report, and Ino stayed over since my parents are off on a mission."

Sasuke made his signature hm sound. Naruto grinned. "You think if we ask Kakashi-sensei about the exams, he'll let us take them?"

"Do you think we're ready?" Sakura asked, sitting against one of the training posts.

Naruto shrugged, "I could so beat whatever they throw at me. Though I don't know about some of our team." he not so subtly looked at Sasuke, whose eyebrow twitched.

"Oh, you want to go Dead Last? Do I need to beat you in another sparring match to show you who's the best?"

Sakura sighed as the two made the seal of confrontation and started fighting. She pulled out her notes she wrote based on the intro to medical ninjutsu and the advanced first aid. She started doing her chakra control exercises while reading over the material, the sound of her teammates fighting in the background oddly relaxing.

Once the boys had fought to their satisfaction, they made the seal of reconciliation and started talking about the match. Sakura noticed that while he struggled to articulate things, Naruto actually understood more than someone might think just by hearing him speak.

She almost jumped out of her skin when Kakashi spoke from directly above her "Iruka-sensei would be so proud of you little genin you're actually civil with each other after a sparring match.

Once her shock was over, she looked up and glared, "how long have you been sitting above me, sensei?"

He just shrugged and made no move to leave his spot, so she got up and joined the others in front of him. "Oi Sensei, can we take the Chunin Exams? We met some rude Sunagakure shinobi, and we want to teach em a lesson!" Naruto said.

Kakashi sighed and shook his head. "You lot like getting into trouble, don't you? Well, I suppose you two feel the same as Naruto does about wanting to take them?"

Sasuke nodded immediately, and Sakura bit her cheek. She knows it won't be easy but... but she needed to do it. She needed to start pushing herself more, so she nodded an affirmative, "yes, Sensei."

Kakashi shrugged, "good to hear. We have a week to prepare, so here's how we'll be training till then. Naruto, and Sasuke, you'll spend a few hours working on your chakra control. Sakura taijutsu with me while they do that. After that, we'll run a scenario then break for lunch. After lunch, we'll check your affinities, and I'll find some jutsu for you, and we'll start training ninjutsu. Brush up on anything else you can think of on your own time. Understood?"

The three nodded, "Yes, Sensei!"

Kakashi made Sakura teach the chakra control exercise to the boys who started right away in their usual way by making it a competition. While they were doing that, Kakashi and Sakura sparred while he read his book, he commented on her form, speed, and power.

Sakura, feeling more agitated by the nonchalant way he critiqued her moves, may have infused a bit more chakra into her limbs than usual, and though her attack missed the dented tree at least startled Kakashi. She had to take a beak as the recoil from the punch had left splinters in her fist and forearm aching.

"Hm, that's a pretty hard punch. though if you can't dampen the recoil, it'll only cause you issues moving forward." Kakashi said, slipping his book into his pocket.

Sakura shook her arm in an attempt to shake the stinging pain away. "I don't think I would be able to figure it out and get good with it before the exams."

Kakashi nodded, "nope. Alrighty, that's enough lollygagging back to the sparring."