Chapter Six
Part Two
Sakura's nerves were frayed.
One moment she was confident Kakashi would overpower the Kiri-nin and the next she would be sure the Konoha group's death was imminent.
The rapid back and forth exchange of the jonin's blows and vanishing water clones had left her gaping in equal measure horror and respect. They were absolutely lethal. Every time Zabuza managed to get close to the genin and swing his massive blade, Kakashi would suddenly appear and intercept him with a vicious snarl. They appeared evenly matched.
Until a strong kick sent Kakashi cashing into the river.
The first bit of true terror stole over Sakura as she watched Zabuza flash through a series of hand signs and plug his arm into the water.
"Suirō no Jutsu."
Kakashi was lifted out of the river by a swirling vortex as the water formed a sphere, encasing him inside. She could see his limbs trembling from the force of his efforts to escape, but he couldn't move more than a centimeter in any direction.
The swordsman's chuckle sent shivers rolling down her spine.
"This chakra-infused water is stronger than steel. It'll keep you from squirming while I deal with your little friends. Enjoy the view."
Zabuza lifted the hand that was not submerged in the sphere and formed a sign to produce another water clone.
That takes some serious fucking skill. Maintaining two jutsu at once and only using one hand for the clone…
Can you please stop complimenting our opponent?! Sakura growled. We can analyze his skills after! Assuming we don't die!
Water-clone-Zabuza stalked closer and gave each of the remaining members of Team Seven a thorough glance-over. Given that they were frozen in fear and probably looked like a pathetic bunch, Sakura wasn't surprised when his lip curled in disgust.
"You think wearing a headband makes you a ninja? When you've hovered between life and death so many times it doesn't phase you, when you become so deadly your profile is entered in my Bingo Book, then you may have earned the title. But to call upstarts like you 'ninja' is a joke."
With another hand sign he vanished into the mist once more.
Kami-sama! Three jutsu simultaneously?!
What did I just fucking say?! Fight now - admire later!
She was pulled back to the present as his leg shot out of nowhere and sent Naruto flying with a well-placed kick to the gut.
"You're just brats." Zabuza sneered at them.
He's playing with us. Kakashi already said it - he's a master of the silent kill. If he wanted us dead, he could have stayed under the cover of his jutsu and picked us off one by one. It wouldn't take him long. But instead, he's decided to grind our faces into the mud and break our spirits before he oh-so-mercifully slits our throats.
"Grab the bridge builder and run! You guys are no match for him! Zabuza has to stay in contact with the water prison to maintain it and the clone can't go far from his real body!" Came Kakashi's panicked shout.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?! He'll just kill you first and then come after us!" Sasuke yelled back.
Oh good, looks like the Uchiha hasn't completely lost it.
But Sakura's relief quickly turned to dismay as he sprinted towards the Kiri-nin.
Never mind, I spoke too soon. Kid's obviously got a death wish.
Sasuke hurled shuriken and forced Zabuza to use his sword to knock them aside - momentarily blocking his line of sight - and leaped into the air in an attempt to throw off the jonin with an attack from above.
Sakura cursed her teammate's cockiness as Zabuza easily plucked Sasuke from the air by the neck and flung him to the side. He was quick to scramble back to his feet and stumble back into formation, but was trembling from the close call.
"Konoha has always been too soft, but this is truly heartbreaking. In my day, the Kiri academy students fought to the death to earn their hitaiate. Gained us the moniker of 'Bloody Mist' but at least it produced competent genin."
He sighed sadly. "Unfortunately, they decided to revamp the graduation exam about ten years ago." He paused to smile. "I think it made them nervous when I killed off over a hundred of the smug little shits. And I wasn't even officially enrolled yet."
Sakura's blood ran cold and she knew they had to act fast.
"Naruto," she hissed quietly, keeping her eyes firmly on their opponent. "Remember that thing you did with Kakashi during the bell test? I need you to do that again."
His brows furrowed in confusion, but he quickly picked up on what she was hinting at. He nodded confidently.
"You got it, Sakura-chan." He semi-whispered back.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" With a flare of his chakra, over a dozen clones materialized and swarmed Zabuza. As soon as he was engulfed, Sakura grabbed Sasuke, Tazuna, and the original Naruto and hauled them into the bushes.
"Alright, we gotta be quick. That's not going to hold him for long. Time for an actual plan." She hissed with a glare in Sasuke's direction.
"His sword has too great of a reach, we won't be able to get in close, and if we did manage, he'll just beat us into a bloody pulp." Sasuke quietly snarled.
"Okay, so a long-range attack. Do either of you have anything on you that could help? I've got my senbon, but my aim isn't good enough to take him down."
Naruto shook his head, but Sasuke swung around his bag and pulled out a fūma shuriken. Sakura blinked in surprise, but nodded.
"That'll do."
She turned to the bridge builder who had so far been watching them with a look of trepidation.
"We need to keep you out of sight. I'm going to throw an illusion over you. So long as you stay still and silent, he won't be able to find you over the sounds of battle."
At his nod, Sakura flashed through four hand signs and focused her chakra. With a small breath out, she folded the genjutsu around Tazuna and he melted into the bushes around them.
All that study time is starting to pay off.
She could already feel the jutsu draining away at her chakra, but she pushed onward. The popping sounds of vanishing clones meant their time was running out. She turned back to the boys and blanched at their matching savage grins.
"Don't worry Sakura-chan, we've already got it worked out. If you can take the water clone, we'll free Kakashi-sensei."
Sasuke nodded in agreement with Naruto's statement.
Sakura eyed them doubtfully, but armed herself with two handfuls of senbon and dashed out of their cover before she could talk herself out of it. The Zabuza clone narrowed his eyes at her - he had apparently been expecting one of her male teammates.
Sexist pig.
She threw her weapons, aiming for the soft part of his inner wrists and hoping to at least hinder his ability to swing his sword. He dodged, but she was already pulling out kunai and shuriken for another volley. Sakura couldn't risk getting in close, but she sure as hell could keep him busy with projectiles.
Sakura kept up the steady stream as she danced just out of his reach. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Sasuke and Naruto rush out of the bushes, but lost sight of them as the clone attempted to detach her head.
They better hustle, we aren't gonna survive for long!
She pushed her arms and legs to move faster and increased the speed of her throws. Sakura's muscles screamed in protest, but if she slowed for even a second, she'd be done for. Just when she thought her body could take no more, the clone's eyes widened and he collapsed into a liquid puddle at her feet. The kunai that had struck him clattered to the ground and she whipped around.
Huh, I guess they actually did it.
Kakashi was free of his water prison and she felt a small flash of bitter sympathy for Zabuza when she glimpsed the look of pure rage on her sensei's face. Sasuke was smirking in victory a short distance from the river and Naruto's blond head was bobbing just above the surface as he swam around Kakashi to reach the shore.
The two jonin faced each other with equal expressions of hatred. Zabuza leapt back and his hands blurred as he flashed through an extended set of hand signs. Kakashi put his sharingan to good use and copied the string of movement.
Forty-four hand signs?!
"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu"
On the final seal - Bird - the water at their feet swirled and two dragons reared up out of the river - they were identical in size and strength and tore into each other. The force of their collision swept up a wave and the genin struggled to keep their footing as it chased into them. By the time Sakura had steadied herself and glanced back up, Kakashi was holding off Zabuza's sword with a kunai as the dragon remains rained down around them. The Kiri-nin had an expression of confusion on his face as they sprang apart once more.
She realized that he was thrown off by Kakashi's ability to copy all of his physical movements and not just the hand signs he had used. When Zabuza went to form his next jutsu and hesitated at the last moment before channeling his chakra, the Copy Nin took the opening.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu"
A massive horizontal tornado of water slammed into Zabuza and tore through the clearing. Sakura crouched and covered her face as she tried to avoid the debris the powerful vortex was generating. Squinting through her fingers, she saw him smash into the large trunk of a tree and be battered by the continuous flood of water. When the cyclone finally started to weaken, he shouted in pain as Kakashi threw a handful of kunai to pin him to the tree.
Crouching on the branch above Zabuza, he snarled. "It's over!"
Sakura swallowed thickly at the realization she was about to see her sensei kill for the first time, but at the last second, a pair of senbon flew through the air and buried themselves into the swordsman's neck. The Konoha group swung around to face the newcomer.
The androgynous form of a masked Kiri shinobi was standing in a tree a few meters away, long hair swaying in the breeze. The pattern on the mask reminded Sakura of the way mist swirled off the surface of the ocean as dawn broke.
"I apologize for the trouble he's caused, but I thank you for distracting him for me." The voice that emanated from behind the mask made Sakura assume he was male, but the slight frame screamed femininity. Either he was a she with a deep voice, or he was very young. Not much older than she was. Sakura shuddered.
"A Kiri Hunter Nin. Your timing is very fortunate." Kakashi said.
"A Hunter Nin?" asked Naruto, bristling for another fight.
"Someone who specializes in tracking down and assassinating missing-nin to keep village secrets concealed. He's not here to challenge us, only to collect his target." Sasuke answered. "Please, for the love of Kami-sama, take a refresher course when we get back to the village. That's something that's taught in the academy."
Kakashi dropped down from his perch and crouched by Zabuza's fallen form to check for a pulse. After a few moments, he rose and sighed. "Yep, he's definitely dead."
The masked-nin bowed shortly and - with a swirl of leaves - appeared next to the body. "I'll just be taking this corpse back to the village. Thank you again for your assistance." Another hand sign and more swirling leaves and he and Zabuza disappeared.
"What the hell?!" Naruto yelled. "After all the work and that guy just swoops in - and, just - ahhh!" The grinding of his teeth was audible and Sakura winced.
Kakashi sighed and ruffled Naruto's hair. "That's how it is sometimes. What matters is that you guys are alright." He glanced around the clearing and frowned. "Where is Tazuna?"
At his question, Sakura swayed and Sasuke reached out to support her suddenly weak form. She quickly cut off the flow of chakra to her genjutsu to stop it's drain on her already-rock-bottom reserves. Kakashi's eye widened as Naruto explained.
"Sakura-chan put him under a really cool illusion! He's probably still in those bushes over there, let me go grab 'em real quick."
Kakashi settled a gentle hand on her and Sasuke's heads. "Good job, I'm proud of you. And Sakura-chan is that a genjutsu you used? That's a new."
She nodded tiredly. "Yeah, I started researching and experimenting after the day you gave us the bell test. But I can't maintain it for long."
He hummed thoughtfully. "I've got some exercises that may help you with that." He glanced up at Naruto's approaching form, Tazuna in tow. "But first we need to get the bridge builder home safely. Alright kiddies, I know you've had a tiring day, but it's only a few more miles until we reach Tazuna's house and then you are free to crash, m'kay?"
He received a drained chorus of sounds of agreement. Kakashi chuckled.
Sakura let out a frustrated groan when they only made it a handful of steps and he was the one to collapse face-first into the mud in an unconscious pile.
I guess we're dragging him the rest of the way.
Word Count: 2,293
Total Word Count - Part One & Two: 3,613
Sorry guys, I know I missed my Saturday posting deadline, but at least only by a little over half an hour! ^_^"
Please remember to follow, favorite, and/or review! The emails popping up in my inbox every time FF .net sends me a notification feeds my fickle muse. :3
Much love,
Mistress-Kakashi
Dobbyhasnomastr - Shikamaru and Sakura will be playing more shogi in the future, for absolute sure! The Wave mission may not go exactly as you think it will! *evil cackle* Thank you for the review!
Zela Night - Please see the pre-note in regards to my feelings on labeling this "AU". I mean absolutely no offense, but it's a pet-peeve of mine that the term seems to be so over-used in FF .net. Yes! Sakura had some truly bad-ass moments in the very beginning of Shippuden, but then she just went right back to being a weak, boring character. *sigh* But then again, I guess that's where fanfic comes in. ^_^ Kakashi had such potential to be an awesome sensei and I'm happy to expand upon that. I will neither confirm nor deny any pairings yet, but stay tuned! Thank you so much for the review!
Alexiessan - I'm glad you found it, LOL! Better late than never! Prodigy-Sakura is my fav. ^_^ Thank you! I still consider myself to be a novice, so I'm so happy to hear people are liking the way this story is coming together! Good-Sensei-Kakashi is the best and I'm so very disappointed the cannon never explored his ability to be an effective mentor. Genma is so much fun to write, so it's nice to know he's appreciated! The ShikaSaku bit may or may not be expanded upon in the future, so stay tuned! Thank you so much for the review!
OnceUponABlueMoonDream - I'm so glad you found this story and I'm happy to drag you down the rabbit hole! XD Guy and Lee are awesome and I love that their endless enthusiasm really motivates Sakura to push herself. Genma is lots of fun! Itachi and Shisui are an amazing pair and we'll be seeing more of them in future chapters. And I agree that non-massacre stories are so much more fun - so many interesting characters to play with! The Water mystery is will be answered soon, so stay tuned! ^_^ An interesting guess about the Uzumaki heritage, but I won't confirm anything. THANK YOU! "Canon divergence" was the term I was desperately searching for and couldn't think of! I hope you like this chapter as much as the previous ones. Thank you so much for the review!
Twisted Musalih - Yay! Thank you for the review!
Wake Up Steampunk - I'm glad to see you pop back up and always appreciate the feedback, whenever you have a chance! As I'm going along in the writing I find it's becoming easier and easier to format the chapters. I have spent literal hours going back over some of my favorite stories and making notes on the bits and pieces that the authors use to craft really intense scenes, but it's still a struggle putting it into practice myself. ^_^" I'm sure if I go back and read Chapter #1 at the end of this fic that I'll cringe the whole time, LOL. I've been trying to use the triple asterisk to break up the chapters, but I know the changes in perspective still probably gives people whiplash. Hopefully that will even out as I get better with the transitions.
I find my own inner voice is incredibly snarky and have been - intentionally or not is hard to say - leaking bits of that into Sakura's character. And YES! I'm so happy you agree with the intelligence line that I'm trying to cultivate. I feel like a lot of people forget that even though Sasuke was the top rookie, he wasn't the top student when it came to the non-physical curriculum. And that Sakura essentially completed a doctorate in three years while maintaining a grueling physical training schedule. It's going to be a challenge to keep the balance of professional shinobi and hormonal teenager, but I'm sure our favorite pink-haired genin will manage somehow! Now it's just up to me not to screw up the writing. XD
The Sasuke/Naruto and Sakura/Sasuke teamwork will be getting more screen time soon! Egos will be set aside in an effort to stay alive, LOL! Not to worry, our favorite older Uchihas will be back soon as well. I enjoy playing with their characters - hence the non-massacre. Also, I feel it's extremely unrealistic that a thirteen year old, no matter how good he is, could take out so many experience shinobi within the course of one night. Even accounting for Tobi/Obito's help, it still never sat right with me. Good-Sensei-Kakashi is something I have found to be a bit lacking in terms of the fan-fics I've read. Sakura and the boys almost always get other mentors in the process of developing their skills and I feel like Kakashi is a bit too much of a creature of habit to let them go after finally bonding. Badass baby ninja are on the way! All pairing will be kept PG for this fic, but I will eventually be tying some in to the plot. Thank you so much for the lovely review! ^_^
Cruisegirl86 - LOL, I think Sakura sees it less like a spotlight and more as a little red tracking dot indicating her imminent demise. XD I'm glad I continue to make you smile! We're getting a little angsty with the Wave arch, so hopefully I can keep the balance. Thank you so much for another lovely review! ^_^
Suzululu4moe - Sakura has developed a rather pessimistic, but also perhaps realistic, opinion that Interesting = Getting Noticed = Losing Life or Limbs. She's smart enough to realize that publicly beating the Nara heir at a game of shogi will get her labeled as 'Interesting' very quickly. And yes, Shikamaru is probably bashing his head into a wall and lamenting why he didn't invite our favorite pink-haired ninja to play with him earlier. I don't think Shikaku and/or Inochi will be too hard on their kids, as they themselves (or at least Inoichi with her being so close to Ino at one point) missed it as well. Sakura wasn't really someone worth paying attention to until she decided to focus on her skills and then the damn kind of burst and everyone is going "oh shit, we totally missed this". Thank you so much for another lovely review! ^_^
lyndyloowho - Yep! I feel like the anime and manga make it seem like the characters are incredibly isolated and don't pick up on things, which I get is probably to create opportunities to explain things to the reader, but it makes them seem really ignorant. It would be my understanding that it's common knowledge that Itachi is a genius and was the youngest ANBU captain ever. Kakashi's history may be a little bit out of their awareness, but only because his ridiculously-early promotions were before they were ever born. And Sakura is trying to walk a very fine line of showing people she a bad-ass and not loosing her head to an opponent she was forced to face too early because someone noticed her impressive skills. We'll see how well she accomplishes that. ^_^ Not to worry, the water nature will be addressed soon! I'll trying not to keep you waiting too long! Thank you for the review!
Guest Reviewer #1 - She's still a work in progress, but I like her tons more than cannon Sakura too. XD And yes, Kakashi is actually being a good sensei, I'm absolutely thrilled to discover what little monsters he cultivates! I won't make any comment on any future/possible pairings, as I don't want to commit to something and then randomly change my mind in a later chapter, but they sure are cute, aren't they? ^_^ Any romances will be kept PG for this fic and they will be expand upon in future works. Thank you for the review!