Previously:

"!" Kakashi furrowed his brow as a vein throbbed on Zabuza's head. There was a dangerous, bloodthirsty look in the mist ninja's eye as he finished turning to face Naruto, wielding the first shuriken Sasuke had thrown at him.

"!" The others gasped in alarm when they realized Naruto, who was still falling towards the water, had no chance of dodging.

"Damn brat!" Zabuza snarled.

"!!!" Naruto exclaimed.

Chapter 15: Sharingan Resurrected

CLANG!!

"!!!" Zabuza gasped when he saw who was blocking his way. Blood was running down from the cut on the back of Kakashi's hand from where the blade of the shuriken was digging into the back of the hand he had used to stop the attack, mingling with the water dripping off of him from the broken water prison. Kakashi lifted his head, glaring darkly at his enemy as Naruto landed in the water several feet away from them with a splash. Zabuza actually flinched at the dangerous ferocity in the leaf ninja's eyes.

"Kakashi, Sensei!!" Sakura cried out in relief.

"All right, Sensei!! Yeah!!! Mission accomplished!!!" April cheered, punching a triumphant fist in the air, too excited and relieved to care that it hurt. "Way to go, Naruto!! That's my boy!!" She added proudly as her friend resurfaced, gasping for air. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, yeah, you too, Sasuke… Okay, I'm done now." She said, clearing her throat a little awkwardly as she quickly calmed down, getting serious again.

"… Naruto, great 'plan'." Kakashi said. "You guys have grown up."

"Hehe… The aim of the shadow clone jutsu wasn't to defeat Zabuza, but to hide the fact that I had transformed into the fuuma shuriken. I left one of my shadow clones so it could throw the shuriken me to Sasuke. Sasuke noticed that it was me right after he caught it. Then he took out his own shuriken and used the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu. Of course, I didn't think I could beat Zabuza with just that, but I thought if only we could break the water prison, things might turn around… Hnh. We were also able to get rid of the water clone, so it was a success!" Naruto explained with a grin. Zabuza had been so preoccupied with dodging and everything, that he had let the water clone collapse back into a puddle.

"Yeah, that's really great, Naruto… but let's not tell all of our techniques to the enemy, okay?" April said wryly, sweat-dropping. Everyone there had probably already used common sense to figure out what had happened anyway, but still, it was better to keep the enemy guessing as much as possible, right?

'But still, being able to pull off such great teamwork in a situation like this…' Sakura thought, impressed. She never would have thought the boys would be capable of something like this with how much they hated each other's guts, but April had seemed to known that it would end this way all along…

"Heh… I got distracted and released the jutsu…" Zabuza said.

"No. You didn't just release it… You were forced to." Kakashi corrected him knowingly. A vein throbbed on Zabuza's temple. "I'll tell you that I don't fall for the same jutsu twice." Kakashi continued, still glaring at him. "What will you do?"

"Hmph!" Zabuza jumped back to put some distance between them. Kakashi did the same, mimicking his actions, as he closed his black eye and his Sharingan eye widened.

'So fast!!' April thought, amazed as she watched the jōnins create one hand seal after another, moving so fast that their hands were almost a complete blur in the mist.

'Water Dragon Jutsu!!' Zabuza and Kakashi thought as they formed the last hand seal, unleashing their attacks. The water around them shot up into two pillars, taking on the shape of dragons. The two water dragons swirled and crashed into each other canceling themselves out.

"!!" The others cried out in alarm, bracing themselves, as the resulting wave crashed against the shore.

'That many seals, and in seconds… Plus, he copied them all perfectly!!' Sasuke thought as furrowed his brow, impressed, as a spray of water began to rain down on them.

'What? Is that ninjutsu?' Sakura wondered, staring in awe as the explosion of water from the two dragons began to settle again.

'This world really is full of endless possibilities…' April thought with a grin. 'But I wish Naruto would get out of the water already.' She thought, sweat-dropping. 'He's making me nervous!!'

"!!!" Naruto gasped. Amid the chaos of the dissipating attack, Kakashi was blocking Zabuza's huge zanbatō with just a kunai!

'Strange… What's going on?' Zabuza wondered. 'He…' Both jōnin jumped back simultaneously, and Zabuza immediately ran counterclockwise to close the gap and attack from the side, the moment he moved, Kakashi did the same, maintaining the set distance between them without giving an inch. Both jōnin suddenly stopped and formed a seal with each hand, holding one close to their chests, while raising the other over their heads. "!!!" Zabuza gasped and a vein pulsed on his forehead. 'My movements… He's completely…'

"Reading them." Kakashi finished out loud.

"!!!" Zabuza flinched in shock. 'What? Did he read my mind?' He wondered, staring at Kakashi's crimson Sharingan. 'Damn!!' He formed another hand seal. 'That…'

"… Freaky eye is really pissing me off!! Right?" Kakashi said, once again finishing his thoughts for him as he copied the hand seal.

"!!!"

'Amazing… It looks like Sensei's using what we've learned about his personality in such a short time to psych him out…' April thought, impressed.

"Heh. All you're doing is copying me." Zabuza sneered as the vein on his forehead threatened to pop.

"You can't beat me, you monkey bastard!!!" He and Kakashi yelled at the same time.

"!!!" Zabuza's eyes widened as he flinched again, gritting his teeth in anger.

"!" April said, surprised. Not only were the phrases getting more complicated and specific, but the timing on that last one… rather than psychology, could it be Kakashi-sensei was…?

"Damn you!! I'll make it so… you can never open that mouth again!!" Zabuza shouted furiously as he began forming more hand seals. "!!!" He gasped, suddenly freezing when he saw a shadow forming in the mist behind Kakashi. 'That… That is… me? That's… not possible!!' He thought when the image became clearer. 'Is this one of his genjutsu?' While Zabuza was distracted, he quickly formed more hand seals.

'Water Explosion Jutsu!!' Kakashi thought. The three black tomoe in his Sharingan began spinning around his pupil like pinwheel.

"What!? Impossible!!" Zabuza shouted incredulously as the huge vortex of water created by Kakashi's Water Explosion Jutsu came crashing towards him and swallowed him up. 'I'm the one doing the jutsu… yet I can't keep up!!!'

"!!!" April gapsed. The wave coming off of the side of this attack was even bigger than the last one!

"Gu!!" Sasuke grit his teeth and raised his arms to shield himself as the water crashed into them.

"Whoa!!" Tazuna exclaimed as he was almost knocked over, but Sakura and April managed to give him enough support to keep him steady.

"Ugh!!" Zabuza grunted as his body slammed into a tree. "Gu!!!" Before he could react, several kunai had already been thrown into his arms and legs, pinning him to it.

"It's over." Kakashi told him, perched on one of the branches about.

"How…?" Zabuza asked as the torrent of water receded. "Can you see the future?"

"Yeah…" Kakashi said, gripping another kunai in his hand. "You're going to die."

SWISHH!

"!!!" Zabuza's eyes widened, and he grunted in pain as two thick needles suddenly pierced his neck.

"!!" Kakashi and the others gasped. He narrowed his eyes as he glanced in the direction the needles had come from. Zabuza's body when limp and collapsed to the ground as the masked boy in the tree across from him let out a soft laugh. Kakashi noticed the Hidden Mist's symbol was carved into the forehead of the mask.

"Hehe… You're right. He's dead." The boy said.

'This guy…!! I had no idea he was there until he threw the needles!' April thought warily. 'How long as he been watching us…?'

"!" Naruto grit his teeth as he finally climbed back out of the water. Kakashi jumped out of the tree and landed beside Zabuza's body. He reached out and felt for a pulse on the neck.

"…" Kakashi waited, but there was nothing. '… He really is dead…' He thought, glancing guardedly at the boy in the mask.

"Thank you very much." The boy said politely with a bow. "I have been searching for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time."

"That mask… you're a Hidden Mist hunter-nin." Kakashi said.

"… Impressive." The boy said. "You are correct."

"Hunter-nin?" Naruto asked dubiously as he rushed over to stand with his fellow genin and Tazuna.

"Yes. My duty is to hunt down missing-nins. I'm a member of the Hidden Mist's hunter-nin team." The masked boy explained.

'From his voice and height, he's probably not much older than Naruto… around April's age. Yet he's a hunter-nin…' Kakashi thought. 'He's not a normal kid…' Naruto ran forward and glanced between the masked boy and Zabuza's body.

"?" The boy said when Naruto looked back up at him with a glare.

"What the hell!!? Who are you!!?" Naruto demanded incredulously, pointing up at the hunter-nin.

"!" The others said, surprised by his outburst. April let out a sigh. She had a feeling with would happen the moment they realized Zabuza had been taken out by a stranger.

"Don't worry, Naruto." Kakashi said as he stood up. "He's not an enemy."

"I'm not asking that!!!" Naruto shouted. "That Zabuza… That Zabuza was killed!! A guy that strong… A guy that strong was killed by a kid…!! By a kid not that much different from me!! We look stupid!! How can I accept something like that!!?"

'Well, I'm pretty sure we wore him down for him…' April thought, though she understood how Naruto felt. It was frustrating to have someone else come in and steal the show after how hard they had fought…

"Well, I know how you feel…" Kakashi said as he walked over to Naruto. "But this is the truth." He placed a hand on top of Naruto's head. "In this world, there exists kids younger than you… yet stronger than me." He stated seriously.

"…" Sasuke said, furrowing his brow.

'Fantastic.' April thought, deadpanning. Well, that was actually one of the least surprising things she had learned so far. Even in her original world, there were some children who were capable of defeating adults.

"…" Naruto grimaced as he looked away. He still didn't want to accept it... In a whirl of leaves and wind, the masked boy moved from the branch he was standing on the ground beside Zabuza's body.

"Your battle is now over…" The hunter-nin said. "And now, I must dispose of this body. Since it seems to be a body with many secrets… Farwell." And with that, the masked boy disappeared with Zabuza's body in another whirl of wind and leaves.

"He disappeared!!" Naruto exclaimed. Kakashi let out a sigh as he moved his forehead protector to cover his Sharingan again.

"Now, we have to get Tazuna-san back to his home. Let's go!!" He told his students.

"Hahaha!!! Super thanks, guys!!" Tazuna laughed, super relieved that everything had turned out all right in the end. "Come over to my house and relax for a while!!"

'Sounds good to me.' April thought, tired from the fight and all the tension. "Hey, Sensei, I have a—Kakashi-sensei!!?' She cried out in alarm as he started to fall.

"Huh!!? What's wrong!!?" Sakura asked, wondering why their teacher had suddenly collapsed to the ground.

"Ka-Kashi-sensei!!" Naruto yelled, concerned.

'My body… won't move. I used the Sharingan… too much…' Kakashi thought, a little embarrassed, as he passed out.

"Don't worry. I think it's just exhaustion." April said as she knelt down to check on him. She removed took out some bandages and wrapped the cut on his hand. "How far away is your house, Tazuna-san?" She asked, taking charge of the situation.

"Uh… about twenty yards, I think..." Tazuna said, taking a moment to think it over.

"All right. Sasuke, you take point, follow Tazuna-san's directions. Sakura and Naruto, I want you to guard from the sides. I'll follow from behind with Sensei." April instructed them, carefully but quickly hoisting Kakashi up and over her shoulders in a fireman's carry. "Let's go!!" She said with a determined gleam in her eye.

'This girl… is super manly.' Tazuna thought as he and Sakura sweat-dropped. Personally, Naruto thought it was cool.

"Hey, should you be carrying him like that with your wound?" Sasuke asked skeptically.

"I'll be fine." April said reassuringly. "When Zabuza kicked me, I focused my chakra in my torso to protect my organs. That blood I coughed up was from when I accidentally bit the tip of my tongue as I hit the ground… Sorry if it freaked you out." She apologized a bit sheepishly. There would probably be some bruising, but nothing too serious. The others all sweat-dropped. So they had been worried about her this whole time for nothing? Suddenly, they were perfectly okay with the idea of making her carry 67.5 kg of dead weight the rest of the way.