DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does. I don't own Hikari Aino.

A/C: Constructive criticism is warmly welcomed and appreciated, as well as readers' suggestions/ideas. (Particularly when it comes to Lemons – I really suck at those! :S) Flames and mean comments are not welcome – saying 'no offence' means squat. If you don't like what you're reading don't leave a comment!

WHAT TO DO WHEN ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE?

Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad.
Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.

~Will Smith

~HIKARI P.O.V~

I was concerned for Sasuke, who was standing in the middle of the mirroring ice crystals that circled around him, trapping him there. He was slightly hunched over, and breathing heavily like he had been running for a very long time without a break. He was also badly scratched up and bleeding.

So it was definitely a blessing in disguise when Naruto had arrived - albeit in a very noisy way and rather sloppy. I saw Haku shift his attention away from Sasuke for a moment as he focused on Naruto obviously reliving something.

"Forget about that teme. It's me you wanna fight!" stated Naruto, rather obnoxiously which caused Sasuke to glare at him with annoyance.

Haku simply smiled at Naruto but made no move to comply with Naruto's wishes. I suddenly realised why when Zabuza immediately reached into his weapons pack and extracted some shuriken. My eyes widened with fear.

"Naruto! Look out!" I yelled at my best friend who looked at me for a split second before returning his attention to Zabuza who hurled the shuriken at Naruto.

However, Haku immediately blocked them. Sasuke, Naruto and I frowned in surprise.

"Naruto, while you showing up at the right time is indeed a good thing, the way in which you showed up is not the way a ninja should announce himself." Kakashi-sensei scolded him, just as Zabuza turned to Haku for an explanation.

I was interested as well.

"Haku? What's the meaning of this?"

"I would prefer you to leave Naruto to me, if you don't mind." Haku replied calmly, still eyeing Naruto off.

I watched as Naruto frowned with confusion before standing before Haku, both boys waiting for each other to make the first move. It soon became apparent that Haku was just screwing around with Naruto, just as Zabuza and Kakashi-sensei started bickering like little boys.

"Naruto cannot beat him." I heard Kakashi-sensei whisper.

I only heard him because I happened to be nearby. But I wished I hadn't heard, because it meant that all our training was in vain if we couldn't figure out how to put Haku and Zabuza back in their places. Kakashi-sensei extracted a kunai from his pack and threw it at Haku, but it was easily deflected much to our chagrin.

"We haven't finished yet." Sasuke reminded Haku through gritted teeth as he tried to remind the masked hunter-nin that they were still fighting, despite the fact that Naruto had waded in and started fighting Haku as well.

"I didn't forget you." Haku reassured Sasuke, and then turned to resume the fight he and Sasuke had been doing before Naruto had arrived on the scene.

Although, I was pretty sure that Sasuke probably wishing (but he'd deny it) that Haku wouldn't pelt him with ice shards and kunai again.

"Sasuke!" Sakura, Naruto and I shouted out in both fear and anger.

I gasped in outrage as we watched Haku shift from one mirror to another. It was impossible to tell which one was the real Haku or not, causing Sasuke to snarl in frustration. But it didn't seem to deter him as he readied himself to attack, but just as Sasuke decided to make a move, I watched as Naruto jumps into the fray with Sasuke, ruining Sasuke's chance and probably causing Sasuke to plot Naruto's demise.

At least, I hoped that was the case, as I certainly would be if Naruto ruined my plans to suss out Haku.

"Naruto, you moron!" shrieks Sakura, obviously trying to support Sasuke with his frustration but she is ignored by both my best friends. Sasuke fashions the handsigns for the blazing fireball technique in an attempt to burn the mirrors.

His plan flops.

"Dammit!" snarled Sasuke, who clenched his fists so tightly I could've sworn I saw blood seeping through and dripping to the ground.

Naruto places what he assumed to be a reassuring hand on his teammate's shoulder, causing Sasuke to turn to him with a 'what!?' expression on his frustrated face.

"Lemme try something!" he suggested.

Sasuke nodded reluctantly - which I assumed was because he finally realised how tired he was getting and because the wounds he had sustained were finally catching up on him, much to his distaste. Naruto summoned a bunch of his shadow clones.

"Search and find the mirror with the real Haku in it!" Naruto orders and the clones nod and spread out, searching each mirror thoroughly.

Unfortunately, Haku appeared to be too fast for Naruto as well. Both of my friends were stuck for solutions. I hated standing on the sidelines, feeling completely useless and unable to lend a hand. But I knew that if I even tried to go in and help them, Kakashi-sensei would stop me.

It was clear that our sensei, despite understanding that we needed to venture out and stand on our own if we were going to survive in the Shinobi world by ourselves one day, he didn't' want to risk loosing any of us, especially both Sakura and I.

I turned to look at Sakura who looked just as frustrated as I felt and we both nodded in silent agreement, before briefly clasping hands and squeezing - sealing a truce between us to set aside our differences and focus on the problem at hand.

"What do we do now? Sasuke and Naruto are getting creamed." I stated, turning to her slightly so we could plan our next attack to help Naruto and Sasuke.

"I really don't know." she replied helplessly, before turning her head and glancing at our sensei, who was still being blocked by that loon Zabuza, who was grinning like a demented Cheshire Cat.

She nudged me and pointed towards Kakashi-sensei.

"But it looks like Kakashi-sensei suspects something."

I frowned. "What gives you that idea?"

"He won't tear his serious expression away from Haku, and we all know that when he's seriously thinking about something he focuses on the topic." She replied.

"Remember when he interrogated Tazuna when he neglected to give us all the facts?" I nodded, then it clicked. But before we could say anything else, Haku's high feminine voice cuts across the area.

"Prepare yourselves boys."

Sakura and I look over at Haku in disbelief as he raises his hands and starts to fashion handsigns.

"Serving my master, is what will help me lose my compassion and become a ninja." He stated.

What sort of rubbish is that?

I thought angrily as Sakura gasped fearfully beside me and nearly crushes my hand in her grip.

~NARUTO P.O.V~

I felt myself being pushed backwards by a strong shove from one of those shadows clones trapped within those ice mirrors, and I landed hard on the ground in a heap with Sasuke beside me. I heard a gasp and both Sasuke and I looked over to see Sakura-chan and Hikari-chan watching us with anxious expressions on their faces. We turned back to Haku who started bragging in a self-righteous fashion which really pisses me off.

"Because of my technique, it appears as though you two are practically standing still." I looked at Sasuke who ignored me completely, instead focusing on Haku - but I could tell that this guy was starting to piss him off as well.

"You see, this is a bloodline technique. Even your sensei cannot copy it."

That sucks…

"I wouldn't hold any grudges. You two can still pursue your dreams as you see fit." Haku reassured us in a sardonic voice.

I could practically feel Sasuke seething beside me and I felt like flinching away. Sasuke is one person you do not piss off, if you want to survive with your dignity in tact that is.

~KAKASHI P.O.V~

I grit my teeth in frustration as I watched both Sasuke and Naruto both watching Haku as he boasted about his bloodline technique and making assumptions that despite the fact that he was going to kill them, that they could still pursue their dreams.

If it weren't for the fact that my vision and path was blocked by that insane Zabuza, I would've at least tried to wade in and save by two very vulnerable students from certain death. I knew for a fact that neither of them had the ability to kill another person - even if they somehow managed to kill Haku at some point.

I saw no other option, I quickly pushed back my forehead protector to make use of my Sharingan.

"Oh no you don't!" snapped Zabuza as he lunged at me, weapon in hand towards my Sharingan eye. I dodged and narrowed my eyes warningly at him.

"I'm warning you, Zabuza. You will not be seeing my Sharingan a third time." I threatened him.

But Zabuza merely laughed, much to my annoyance.

"Even if you defeat me, Kakashi, you and you team will not be able to defeat Haku." Zabuza taunts me and I sigh in annoyance once again.

This is not good…

~HIKARI P.O.V~

While Kakashi-sensei was getting taunted by that asshole Zabuza, Sakura and I watched as Naruto created more shadow clones and attempted to take down Haku once again, despite knowing that he'll just be smacked down like before.

"Naruto… while I admire your spirit, you already tried that technique and it didn't get you anywhere did it?" I muttered loud enough for Sakura to hear, which she did and responded to my valid statement by nodding somewhat solemnly.

Suddenly, she screamed.

"Sasuke!"

I snapped my attention away from Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza who likewise heard Sakura scream out loud and turned towards where she was staring horrified at. Haku had managed effortlessly as before to take out Naruto's shadow clones, only this time used this as an alternative to also attack an unaware Sasuke as well.

Sasuke grunted in pain, which rendered him to his knees but I noticed to my surprise that he had small, triumphant smirk on his face.

What the?

"Quite the little protégée isn't Haku, huh?" brags Zabuza, causing not only me to roll my eyes and also Sakura and Kakashi-sensei too.

I was confident that if both Naruto and Sasuke weren't pre-occupied with what they doing…or should I say fighting, Naruto probably would've scoffed and made some sort of comment along the lines of probably 'he's not so special, I could fight him with one arm tied behind my back' and Sasuke would probably roll his eyes and sniff snottily.

"My 'defeat'-" Zabuza gestured with two fingers per hand and flexed them up and down to emphasise the word.

"-during our last encounter was staged by Haku who backed me up during our battle." He explained with false lightless in his voice, before he melted back into his fog which got thicker and thicker and obstructed any view we had of him and our surroundings.

"Oh c'mon! Not again!" I groaned before Sakura and I instantly shifted so that we were both back to back - a useful technique that one could use to avoid being attacked from behind, which was likely as far as Zabuza was concerned.

~NARUTO P.O.V~

As handy as my shadow bunshin jutsu is, I seriously can't continue doing this. I'm getting weaker by the moment. Although, Sasuke seems to be doing much better than I am, but he is not exactly in fantastic shape either. At least something good came out of this. Sasuke-teme isn't as perfect as he (and Sakura-chan) make him out to be.

Tee hee.

Anyway, Sasuke and I are standing here and next thing I know, Sasuke is attempting to hit Haku by using his Fireball Technique, which surprise surprise, actually manages to knick Haku's foot.

"Good shot." I mutter as the Teme merely 'hn'ed' like it was no big deal.

But I definitely saw the smug bastard smirk in triumph as he nailed that guy. And I have to admit (even if goes against everything I believed in) that it was pretty cool.

~KAKASHI P.O.V~

Knives suddenly flew at me as I quickly sidestepped each one and glared at Zabuza. The bastard even had the nerve to conduct the assault with his goddamned eyes shut as well. That's what I don't miss about being an ANBU black ops member: fighting against cocky, self-confident missing-nins who are so up themselves, it would bring the modest, talented ninjas to disgusted tears.

"I seriously doubt the sheer magnitude of your Sharingan, Kakashi." Zabuza sneered.

I eyed the cretin off.

"It obviously doesn't process the so called ability to see the immediate and distant future." I raised an eyebrow.

"No. What it actually does-"

Oh this should be good, please enlighten me, Zabuza. What exactly does my Sharingan do, since you obviously know so much already?

"-is trick your opponent into thinking that it's possible you can do it." Zabuza stated.

I rolled my eyes.

But apparently, Zabuza hadn't finished ranting.

"Instead of reading my mind…you manipulated my mind in order to implant the words, and then you repeat them yourself." He added…

~SASUKE P.O.V~

I think I've discovered a way of defeat this psychopath. However, I need to get rid of the dobe first so I can undergo it.

"Oi dobe! See if you can get outside of the circle and attack Haku that way!" I ordered him.

Naruto frowns at me in confusion.

"What, you have a plan, Teme?" He questioned me.

I resisted the urge to wring Naruto's neck.

"Yes, dobe. Now move it!" I snap, already making the handsigns.

I watch as Naruto moves to get out of firing range before I attack Haku with my jutsu. Unfortunately, by some insane stroke of luck, Haku manages to dodge the attack and retaliates by aiming a kunai at me, which meets its marker.

Motherf-

I tugged the kunai from where it embedded itself into my shoulder, gritting my teeth from the pain, just Naruto sails out from out of nowhere back into the circle. Damn, apparently, it's impossible to breach the circle once you're inside it.

I'm extremely confident that I can detect Haku's movements easily now. It's just a matter of being able to choose the right technique to finally stop the fucker in his tracks. He's gotta run out of chakra sometime…

Kami, I hope so…

~HIKARI P.O.V~

Everywhere I look, all I can see is a thick, blanket of Fog.

And the only reason, I can tell that I'm not alone is that I can sense the chakra of my teammates beside and in front of me, as well as the chakra of Zabuza, and three sets of chakra dead ahead, two sets of chakra that I recognise as Naruto and Sasuke waning fast.

Shit! Don't you dare give in Naruto! Sasuke…

Beside me, Sakura and I are standing protectively in front of our terrified client who is watching our battle with an almost despairing expression on his face, trying to shield him from Zabuza while Kakashi-sensei is stuck fighting against Zabuza, who seems content enough to just verbally spar (or taunt) him.

Zabuza seizes the opportunity to attack Tazuna, but is blocked by Kakashi-sensei. The attack is so fast and unexpected, that both Sakura and I scream out of survival instincts, despite knowing that our sensei would be there to help us protect our charge.

~NARUTO P.O.V~

Screams pierce the air, causing both Sasuke and I to snap our heads towards the sound. We look at each other in horror as we recognise the sounds belonging to both Hikari-chan and Sakura-chan.

"Oh shit!" I swore and Sasuke nodded in agreement before turning his attention back towards Haku, who was waiting patiently for our next move.

Arrogant bastard.

I struggled to my feet, which apparently inspired Sasuke to follow suit and continue fighting. Summoning my chakra, I charged towards the mirrors and start running along them, but each time I connected with a mirror, Haku manages to land one of me.

I crumple to the ground struggling to get to my feet again.

"Naruto, get up and keep moving!" orders Sasuke, angrily.

I scowl at him in frustration. What the hell does he think I'm trying to do? Take a nap? Not that one wouldn't be so bad right now. But thinking back to the screams we had heard only minutes ago, I decided against the idea and followed Sasuke's 'advice'.

As I repeated my previous actions, I watched out of the corner of my eye as Sasuke summoned all his chakra and strength and dodged every attack Haku threw at him, using every trick in his book as well as, trying to cover my ass. I watched with a sense of triumph as Haku frowned, presumably realising something about Sasuke.

As I watched the bastard, I felt my eyes widen in shock as his normally black eyes suddenly bled red…

~SASUKE P.O.V~

I need to keep this up as much as I can so that we can finally defeat him. I watched as Naruto increased his speed, trying to find a loop hole in Haku's technique, while I covered his ass.

At one point, I saw Naruto looking at me in shock and I frowned questioningly before realising that everything I was looking at was now coated in an unfamiliar shade of blood red.

Suddenly, I looked into one of the mirrors for only a second and realised that I had finally achieved my family's bloodline trait…

~KAKASHI P.O.V~

Zabuza's blade slices through my skin and I bit down on my lip to stifle my pained cry. I'm getting really tired of listening to Zabuza bitching about the Sharingan, and he doesn't even have one.

So why the hell should he know all about them?

"Zabuza, let me tell you a little secret about one of my students." I said, coaxing him in to get him to listen.

Zabuza falls for the bait.

"One of my students, Sasuke, is from the Uchiha clan." I felt a sense of smug triumph when I saw Zabuza's eyes widen at this information.

"He is a survivor of the Uchiha massacre that had occurred several years ago. Thus, the Sharingan is in fact his family's bloodline trait, and it is where I attained this eye. From one of his kin, my teammate, Obito."

~NARUTO P.O.V~

"Naruto, for once in your life can you make yourself useful?" I heard Sasuke degrading me and I felt the familiar urge to go and rip that bastard a new one.

Can't he just lay off me for once while we're fighting against the enemy?

Haku once again beats me down and I sprawl helplessly on the ground. He smirks maliciously and fashions his hands for the same jutsu he had been using against Sasuke and I and I feel my eyes widen. I'm almost completely out of chakra - there is absolutely no way I can dodge that now.

However, just as Haku finishes his handsigns, I'm pushed out of range and I hear pained grunts and whimpers from a person standing protectively in front of me.

I froze… How?

Why would he do that?

He despises me. So why would he do this?

Sasuke stands before me completely covered from head to toe in sharp, pin-like needles, having intercepted the attack meant for me.

"No…" I whispered fearfully.

Sasuke collapses into my arms and I hold him, staring down into his face in complete disbelief.

"Why, bastard?" I murmured brokenly. Sasuke winces painfully before replying.

"How should I know, dobe? My body moved on its own…" He trails off, breathing shallowly.

My eyes widen.

No!

"I don't want to die…until I've killed my brother…" Sasuke slurs. Then his eyes roll back into his head and close. Sasuke stops moving…

Sasuke… No, you can't be… Don't you dare leave me here, you bastard…

I can't breathe...

This isn't happening...

The Teme can't be dead. I have too much to prove to him, he can't die yet until I've proven myself to him and gotten his acknowledgement and respect. He has to see me fulfill my dream of being Hokage.

He can't go… he's not allowed to…

"SASUKE!"

~HIKARI P.O.V~

I suddenly feel a cold shiver rush down my spine and I staggered slightly, alarming both Sakura and Tazuna who catches me.

"Hikari? What's wrong?" Sakura asks me worriedly.

"Sasuke…" I whispered, then cringe when I suddenly sense an overwhelming chakra serge coming directly from where Naruto and Sasuke were currently fighting Haku. My worst fears are confirmed when both Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza suddenly jerk their heads towards the end of bridge as well.

"Hikari?" Sakura prods persistently, obviously realising something bad was going on.

"Something bad has happened over where Naruto and Sasuke are fighting." I explained, feeling dread filling me up like water in a glass.

Sakura's eyes widen in horror.

"What do you mean? Something's happened to Sasuke-kun?" she shrieks.

I didn't even bother to roll my eyes at the obvious dismissal of Naruto - I was too scared to care.

"I dunno. But can't you feel that?" I demanded Sakura.

She frowns at me in confusion before finally sensing the enormous chakra serge coming from where our teammates were fighting Haku.

"Oh Kami!" she whispered.

~KAKASHI P.O.V~

Sakura, Hikari and I rushed forward with Tazuna, flanked by Zabuza who apparently knew what had happened due to a smug smirk on his face.

I feared the worst, because if Naruto's chakra was going haywire something bad must have happened to Sasuke. The four of us got to the end of the bridge and met a horrifying sight.

Sasuke, who was covered from head to toe with sharp senbon needles was lying motionless on the ground in a heap, while not too faraway from him was Naruto surrounded by a wafting red chakra that made me shudder.

"Sasuke-kun!" shrieked Sakura.

"NO!" cried out Hikari as both girls rushed forwards to Sasuke's side, but Tazuna manages to grab a hold of the horrified girls' shoulders before they could rush into the fray.

Thankful for Tazuna's quick thinking, I turned back towards Naruto and knew that Haku was in for a world of pain, considering what dwelled within Naruto.

My student was shaking with what appeared to be uncontrollable rage and he had his eyes held squarely on Haku who didn't appear to be perturbed by what had happened to Sasuke, and what was currently happening to Naruto.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" roared Naruto as he got down on all fours like an animal and started running at Haku at an impossible speed.

Shit…

Finally, Haku had the smarts to be afraid and started throwing kunai at Naruto, each missing him every time. Naruto smashed one of the mirrors holding an image of Haku within it with his chakra empowered fist, managing to snare Haku's wrist before he could have a chance to escape into an adjoining mirror.

Narrowing my Sharingan eye at the rampaging Naruto, I scanned him to see if the seal holding the demon within him had been well and truly broken.

Oh thank Kami! It's not completely broken…

I sighed in relief, but it was short lived, because while the seal hadn't completely broken - there was every chance that it could be at any second. I needed to get in there and try to calm Naruto down - just how I was going to do that was a problem in its self, since I wasn't exactly thrilled about the prospect of being severely hurt.

And I'd like to keep my limbs, if it's all the same to you lot.

Naruto continued breaking mirrors, and making sure that Haku didn't escape into one before managing to successfully belt Haku in the face.

The former hunter-nin flew backwards from the blow and landed hard, breaking his mask in the process. As we looked on, we watched as Haku got to his feet drunkenly and faced a still enraged Naruto who was advancing on to him. Suddenly, Naruto freezes the moment he claps eyes on Haku's now revealed face.

He gasps in astonishment.

"You?!"

~NARUTO P.O.V~

I felt the heat of my rage fade away as I narrowed my eyes at the familiar person in front of me. 'Haku' was the same person Hikari-chan and I had met back when I had fell asleep back in the woods after training too hard.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded.

Haku looked down at his feet, looking shamefaced and looked back up at me with tears in his eyes. I frowned curiously.

"When I was younger, my father tried to kill both my mother and I, because the bloodline limit I possess is hated among the people of my Village." He admitted, finally letting the tears fall down his face.

He breathed in before continuing his tale.

"The villagers feared anyone with this particular bloodline limit, because they believed that it would bring disaster to the town." I gulped, not liking how similar this story sounded to my own unhappy childhood back in Konoha.

"To save myself, I had to kill my own father." Haku stopped talking for a moment to reflect on what he just said, while my stomach erupted in unwelcome butterflies.

It was freaky how much Haku and I were alike. Both unwanted and feared in this cruel, unforgiving world. Haku dried his eyes before continuing.

"That was when I met, Zabuza. He took me in and took care of me and trained me to become a Ninja. He became like a father-figure for me and he cherished me for the abilities I had that everyone else despised me for."

I didn't know what to say, I mean what do you say to somebody whose had such a shit life?

"All I am asking of you now, is for you to kill me…"

My eyes widened in shock.

Hold on, back up… What the hell did he just say? KILL him? I admit that he definitely did something completely unforgivable just before, but why the fuck did he want me to kill him?

~KAKASHI P.O.V~

Okay… time to wrap this up.

Immediately, I used a summoning jutsu to request the assistance of some ninja dogs to round up Zabuza and hold him there stationary.

When Zabuza had been busy taunting me and distracting me from going and assisting Naruto and Sasuke, I allowed him to hit me once or twice. Because then, it left traces of my scent on Zabuza, thus making easier for my ninja dogs to locate him.

I heard some struggling and uncouth cursing and grunts from Zabuza who had obviously been found by my dogs and I summoned all my electricity to my hand.

I advanced onto Zabuza who looked at me and my crackling hand in horror.

"The Lightning Edge. A technique of my own creation…" I explained to Zabuza, whose defiant expression never left mine. I smirked triumphantly at the missing-nin, showing no mercy.

"One that you'll be getting fairly well acquainted with shortly." I promised him.

~NARUTO P.O.V~

I shook my head frantically at Haku.

I know I said that I wanted to kill him before, but that was because I pissed that Sasuke had been harmed. But I'm no killer unless I have to be…

"No way. Are you insane?" I shouted frantically.

Haku shook his head, indicating that he was deadly serious. Something that did not comfort me at all.

"Far from it, I'm afraid. I know for a fact that once this is over, Zabuza will have no use for me anymore."

All the blood drained from my face.

"Now, I request from you one more time. Please… kill me."