Chapter Sixteen - Defeat

Events played out as expected after the Demon Brothers were defeated. Tazuna explained why we were attacked by ninja. He continued and explained Gato's involvement and his lack of funds to pay for a mission of proper ranking. As in canon, we decided to continue on the mission anyway, this time sending out a request for backup with Kakashi's summons.

I strongly believe that we'll end up needing another team to resolve the situation. My presence in this world has already changed so much. There's no way of predicting how events could turn out.

Reaching the Land of Waves, I raise my vigilance to the maximum and scan ahead with my full range as often as I can without wasting too much chakra.

Around the half-way point of the journey to Tazuna's village, I finally spot what I'm looking for, and it throws me for a loop, causing me to stop dead in my tracks.

'What the fuck?! Why are there three ninja instead of just Zabuza and Haku? It looks like a second Haku. No... wait. This one is actually female. Maybe a sibling? The butterfly effect is really going wild this time. I can't even begin to think how my presence in a completely unrelated area could have caused this.' I think, as my team notices that I've stopped walking and am just staring off into space.

Before they say anything, I gather my composure and continue forward. Taking a deep breath, I send out telepathically, `There's an ambush up ahead. Two high chunin level chakra signatures and one high jonin signature. Things are already drastically different than what I know, so be prepared for the worst.`

With grim expressions, we continue, prepared for battle.

It's not long before a white-furred rabbit jumps out of the brush in front of us, this time having not been attacked by Naruto, causing the group to pause and investigate.

Capitalizing on this distraction, Zabuza makes his opening move by throwing his massive sword.

"Everyone down!" Kakashi yells as he falls into a prone position, followed by the rest of the group. Other than me that is.

I stare blankly at the sword as it spins towards my neck. Using my impressive mental capabilities, I calculate its trajectory. Reaching up I grab the handle, stopping the blade a centimeter from my neck, the resulting wind blowing my hair.

"This is a damn good sword. I think I'll keep it. I've been wanting to learn kenjutsu." I say as I store Zabuza's sword in my seals.

The silence is deafening. The only thing moving in the vicinity being the rabbit, still jumping around aimlessly. Zabuza and his group just observe us with clear expressions of confusion on their faces.

A few seconds pass before Zabuza seems to understand what just occurred and comes out of hiding to stand blocking the road.

Much more intimidating in real life, he stands at six feet tall, with short, spiky black hair. Wearing no shirt to hide his strong physique. A physique that's littered with scars. Somehow the lack of his seven-foot long sword doesn't detract from the vicious aura he gives off.

With obvious anger in his voice, he says. "Brat. You've got exactly three seconds to return my sword before I kill you in the most painful and brutal way that I'm capable of."

Smiling, I respond, "Nah. I think I'll keep it. It is a pretty nice sword after all."

Zabuza only growls in response. He draws a kunai as I say, "Sensei, do you think you can handle the watered-down swordsman without his sword?"

Cocking an eyebrow while uncovering his Sharingan, Kakashi says. "Yea, pretty sure I can. You guys handle the other two."

Shrugging, I turn towards where the remainder of Zabuza's merry band of missing ninja are hiding and wave with a cheery smile.

Jolting in shock that they've been noticed, they don't react, seeming to hope that I was just waving in a random direction.

Sighing, I throw a kunai at each of them, which they easily deflect before showing themselves.

Haku and his presumed sister, both wear the same hunter ninja mask and clothing that consists of a green haori over a pinstripe outfit. Both have the same pale skin and long black hair, which they currently have tied up. Someone without my ridiculous senses would have a difficult time distinguishing between the two or even noticing that one of them is male.

I call out to Naruto and Kayana, "We'll go with the standard formation. Kayana, guard the old man and provide ranged support. Naruto, you want the chick or the dude?" My question causing the two ninja to twitch, almost imperceptibly.

Moving forward while cracking his knuckles he responds, "I'll take the one on the ri-" He comes to a complete stop, mid-word, as he processes what I just said.

Turning to me, not paying any attention to the enemies before us, he yells. "WHAT?! ONE OF THEM IS A DUDE?!"

Chuckling, I point to the figure to our right. "That one is most certainly a guy."

Staring, mouth agape for a moment, he finally shakes his head and says. "Ugh. Whatever, I'll take the one on the right."

Sighing, shoulders slumped, I answer. "Man. I didn't want to have to beat up a girl for my first real fight."

Naruto just chuckles as the two ninja in front of us draw kunai and get into a stance.

With a mental signal, Naruto and I blast towards our opponents simultaneously.

Coming to a sudden stop, Naruto ducks a stab aimed at his head, summons a clone behind the ninja which kicks him away from his partner.

Focusing on my own fight, I sidestep a similarly aimed stab and send out a kick to my opponent's right knee.

Raising her leg, she attempts to redirect my kick and knock me off balance while slicing down towards me with the kunai that she previously failed to stab me with.

Her attempt doesn't succeed as she severely underestimates my strength. Instead of my kick being deflected or blocked, it simply continues its path unimpeded, resulting in a sharp, pained gasp as she's knocked ass over tea kettle.

Landing on her head, she disappears in a puff of smoke substituting with the rabbit from earlier.

Checking my senses, I find her between Naruto and me. Haku standing next to her with the two of them going through a series of hand signs.

'Shit. They better not be doing some kind of combined version of the mirror jutsu.' I think to myself as I speed through my own set of signs.

Our enemies complete their jutsu before I do and a massive dome of ice mirrors appear around us. The mirrors are larger and much more numerous than what was portrayed in canon.

I lose my target before I can complete my jutsu as the two slide into the ground, disappearing from even my senses.

'SHIT! There are mirrors on the ground. And I'm somehow being blocked from escaping with the Flying Thunder God.' I think as I redirect the fire jutsu I was preparing to break Naruto out of an ice trap that Haku used to get away from him.

"Naruto. Be on high alert. They can attack from inside the mirrors and can move between them incredibly quickly." I finish saying this right as the two move into different mirrors and their reflections show up side by side in each mirror.

Instead of flitting between the mirrors and throwing senbon at us from every angle, they use a jutsu, causing icicles to be launched from every mirror at the same time.

Naruto creates a circle of clones around us that deflect the wave of icicles with little difficulty.

Moving at speeds the Raikage would struggle to keep up with, the two jump between mirrors, taking out every clone in their path. The icicles strike again at an even greater intensity with Naruto creating more clones in turn.

While we're contending with a third wave of icicles, Zabuza speaks. "Hahaha. Kakashi of the Sharingan, are you sure you have time to be fighting me? When those two work together, boosting the power of their jutsu, even I would die nine out of ten times. Your little students won't last long."

Without even glancing in our direction, Kakashi responds confidently. "I have nothing to worry about. If those two wanted to kill me, I'd die ten out of ten times. It's you who should be concerned."

Grinning madly at Kakashi's confidence in us, I turn to an equally grinning Naruto. "How long do you need for a Naruto Special?"

Without missing a beat he responds. "Thirty seconds."

Taking a deep breath, I say. "Do it."

Not even bothering to respond, Naruto crouches down, pulling out a brush from his seals.

It's a situation similar to the fight between Rock Lee and Sasuke when these two jump from mirror to mirror. This boosted jutsu allows them to move much faster than my body is capable of reacting to.

With a flare of my chakra, I use a technique that I recently learned. I remove the subconscious limiter that my mind puts on my perception of time. While my perception of time is usually only slightly lower than normal, to preserve my sanity, I can go a step further slowing my sense of time to a crawl with an application of chakra.

One of the ninja jumps out of a mirror behind Naruto, kunai extended, in an attempt to run him through. Even with my perception of time slowed down so drastically, he still manages to cross half the distance before I appear in a flash of red, standing on top of the kunai.

The sudden addition of my body weight causes the kunai to fly from his grip as he collides with me. Both of us tumble past Naruto before he's sucked into a mirror.

The other ninja strikes at Naruto before I'm able to completely regain my footing. Stuck in a kneeling position, I do as any loyal ninja of Konoha would do.

In a flash of red, I appear before her while still going through the motions of standing up, causing her to make direct ass to mouth contact.

I collide with the enemy a dozen more times, blocking them using any and all methods at my disposal before Naruto yells out.

"ALRIGHT BITCHES, TIME FOR A TASTE OF TODAY'S NARUTO SPECIAL!"

I appear next to Naruto and crumble into a pained heap, no longer able to maintain my boosted perception of time.

Seals quickly begin forming a circle around us, spreading out from Naruto.

As soon as the circle is complete, a small dome barrier appears around us as a massive explosion goes off at the same time.

The world around us is nothing but flames.

Several seconds later, the flames abruptly go out, revealing a steaming crater.

I groan as I see the mirrors still standing, though severely cracked.

Managing to push myself to my feet. I take stock of my situation.

'Several fractured bones. Broken wrist. Bruising everywhere. Headache and severe mental fatigue from boosting my perception of time. Chakra reserves having barely a tenth left… It's official. We're fucked. Their ability to boost the jutsu to such a degree is beyond broken. Absolutely ridiculous.'

Before I can start working on a plan of action, I notice that a mirror has formed directly underneath us. Directly underneath me to be exact. Mental fatigue caused me to miss it until after I was stabbed in the back.

Coughing out a mouthful of blood, I fall to the ground, consciousness fading fast.

"AYO! NO!" I hear Kayana's pained scream as I manage to look at Naruto, who's standing wide-eyed and frozen, looking at me.

I manage to smile up at him and hack out. "Don't… worry… I'll be… okay... "

The last thing that I see before my world fades to black is a malevolent, red chakra that explodes out from Naruto's body.