Previously:

Before Tazuna could even blink, Sasuke had annihilated all ten water clones, reducing them to harmless puddles.

'You can't fool me!' Sasuke thought, narrowing his eyes, as the real Zabuza and Haku stepped out of the mist to face them.

"Hmm… He saw through the water clones. That brat has grown. It looks like a rival has appeared… eh, Haku?" Zabuza remarked. Things were getting interesting now…

"It does indeed." Haku agreed calmly.

Chapter 22: Two Surprise Attacks!!

"Ah!!" Sakura gasped as her eyes lit up in recognition upon seeing the boy in the mask again.

"It seems my thinking was right on the mark." Kakashi commented calmly. "That masked one… He's obviously Zabuza's comrade, standing right next to him and all…"

"He should stop hiding under that mask and face us!!" Sakura huffed angrily.

"I'll fight him." Sasuke said determinedly, furrowing his brow.

"Huh?" Sakura said.

"Tricking us with that that stupid act… I hate bastards like that the most." He stated darkly.

"You're so cool, Sasuke-kun!!" Sakura cheered, fawning all over him.

'She is way too hung up on him…' Kakashi thought, sweat-dropping. He really wished she would focus a little more on the enemy.

"An impressive young man." Haku remarked, obviously referring to Sasuke. "Even though the water clones only have 1/10th the strength of the original… Still, very impressive."

"But we have gained the first advantage." Zabuza reminded him. "Go!"

"Yes." Haku answered dutifully. He spun himself around with great speed, looking like a small tornado as he advanced upon Sasuke.

'What!?' Sasuke thought surprised, gritting his teeth as he braced himself just in time to be able to deflect Haku's attack.

–∞–

"Wait!" April whispered urgently, holding out a hand to stop Naruto when they came in sight of the house. "Look!"

"What're you—!?" Naruto began to protest until he saw what she was pointing at. Two really shady looking swordsmen were rounding the corner of the house, and they had Tsunami with them.

"Hehe… Looking at that pretty skin makes me want to cut it." The swordsman with tattoos leered at Tsunami.

"Walk faster." The swordsman in the cargo hoodie ordered. Naruto grit his teeth in anger at the way she was being treated.

"They've taken Tsunami-san hostage… We can't move carelessly or we'll put her in more danger." April said, furrowing her brow. "I'd rather get her out of there before we start—"

"Wait!!" Inari shouted as he rounded the corner next, chasing after the thugs who were trying to take his mother away.

"!" April and Naruto said, surprised.

"Huh?" The tattooed swordsmen said as he, his partner, and Tsunami all glanced back at the boy.

"Inari!!" Tsunami yelled.

"It's that kid…" The tattooed swordsman said with a frown. April and Naruto exchanged a brief glance and immediately sprang into action as Inari charged forth at the men holding his mother.

"Get… Get away from my mom!!!" Inari yelled bravely as he ran.

"Geez… Stupid kid…" The tattoo swordsman remarked.

"Cut him down." The swordsman with the cargo hoodie said, drawing his sword.

"Sure." His partner agreed readily, drawing his own.

"!" Tsunami gasped in alarm. "Inari!! If you do that, I'll—"

WHACK.

"Shut up and sleep." The swordsman in the cargo hoodie said coldly as he delivered a blow to the back of her neck with his hand to knock her out.

"UAAA!!!" Inari roared as he continued his charge.

SLICE!

"!" The swordsmen gasped when they realized the thing they had just cut wasn't Inari at all… It was a log! "Substitution Jutsu!?"

"Sorry for being late..." April apologized coolly, holding Inari, as she landed next to Naruto, who was setting Tsunami down a safer distance away from the creeps who had just tried to kidnap her.

"… But a hero usually shows up at the last second." Naruto finished with a smirk.

"Naruto… April…" Inari said, surprised, but immensely relieved to see them.

"Great job, Inari!!" Naruto said as April set him down. "Thanks to you distracting them, I was able to save your mom." He had let April handle saving Inari since she was faster.

"Well, well, if it isn't two of the loser ninjas Tazuna hired." The tattooed swordsmen remarked. April and Naruto stood up and turned to face them as he and his partner suddenly launched themselves at them.

"Are you going to be alright!?" Inari asked worriedly.

"Yeah." Naruto answered confidently while April threw a handful of shurikens at their attackers.

"Heh, like that will work against us!" The one in the hoodie laughed haughtily as they deflected her attack with ease.

"Idiot!!" Naruto said with a grin. He and April smirked as his two shadow clones closed in on the men from behind, taking them out with some well-placed kicks to the head. Both swordsmen were out cold before they hit the ground.

"How did you know those samurai were coming here?" Inari asked Naruto while April tied the two swordsmen up nice and tight so they wouldn't be able to cause anymore trouble.

"Hn? There was a cut up boar in the forest." Naruto explained. "There were also a bunch of trees and stuff that had sword marks on them. They seemed to be heading towards your house, so we got worried. Anyway, enough about that…" He said. "Inari… sorry about yesterday…" He apologized.

"Huh?" Inari said, surprised.

"Hehe, sorry for calling you a sissy…" Naruto said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Forget it." He reached out and placed a hand on top of Inari's head. "You're strong!!" He told him with a bright smile.

"…" Inari stared at Naruto in amazement. Tears began to form in his eyes. He sniffed, trying to hold them in, but they wouldn't stop. "Damn it! I decided I wasn't going to cry anymore… You're going to make fun of me and call me a crybaby…"

"… What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"Eh?" Inari said.

"It's alright to cry… when you're happy!!" Naruto told him with a big grin, crossing his arms behind his head.

'Naruto…' Inari thought, extremely touched. April smiled as she watched them.

"Well…" She said as she straightened up, brushing her hands off. "We should probably get going, Naruto. If they attacked here, the bridge could also be in danger."

"Yeah. We can count on you here, right, Inari?" Naruto asked.

"Yup…" Inari said, sniffing, as he wiped his eyes. They could leave taking care of his mom to him. April and Naruto smiled at how strong he was becoming.

"Alright, let's go!" April said as she and Naruto took off.

"Man, it sure is tough being a hero!!" Naruto said with grin.

"It sure is!!" Inari said with a smile, cheering them on.

–∞–

KLANG!

Haku's senbon needles collided with Sasuke's kunai as he successfully blocked yet another attack.

'Ah… He can keep up with that speed…' Zabuza thought, narrowing his eyes slightly.

'Hmm…' Kakashi thought. At this rate… "Sakura! Step in front of Tazuna-san and don't leave my side." He ordered as he moved back to protect their client. "We'll let Sasuke handle him."

"Yeah!!" Sakura agreed, doing as he said.

"I don't want to have to kill you… but you won't stand down, will you?" Haku asked Sasuke calmly.

"Don't be foolish." Sasuke told him with a smirk. As if he was just going to back down…

"I see…" Haku said. That was regrettable. "But you won't be able to keep up with my speed the next time. Plus, I've already gained two advantages."

"Two advantages?" Sasuke asked.

"The first is the water on the ground. And the second is that have occupied one of you arms." Haku explained, raising his free hand. "From now on, you will only be able to run from my attacks."

"!" Sasuke and Kakashi's eyes widened when he began using it performing multiple hand seals.

'What!? With one hand!?' Sasuke thought, shocked.

'With one hand? I've never seen that before…' Kakashi thought, completely astonished. That kid was really dangerous…!

'Special Justu: Flying Water Needles.' Haku thought, launching his attack.

"!" Sasuke gasped as thousands of water needles suddenly formed from the water at that feet and rose up to surround him.

'Doesn't want to kill… Is that true…?' Zabuza wondered as he watched.

"Sasuke-kun!!" Sakura yelled.

"!" Kakashi said worriedly, wondering if he should intervene. Sasuke raised one hand and closed his eyes.

'Remember the training…' He told himself. 'Concentrate my chakra… to the legs!!' He thought as the needles closed in on him.

KRRSSHHHAA!!

The needles collided in a fierce explosion of water as Sasuke shot up into the air just in the nick of time, using the chakra in his legs to jump five times higher than normal.

"!" Haku said as he jumped back out of the way of the explosion. "He's gone!!" He realized as the water settled. "!" Haku was forced to jump back again when several shuriken came flaying at him.

"You're pretty slow…" Sasuke remarked as he appeared right behind him. Compared to April, this guy looked like he was standing still. "From now on… you will only be able to run from my attacks." He said smartly, throwing Haku's words back at him. Haku spun around to block as he attacked again.

"!" Haku gasped as Sasuke instantly followed through by slinging the kunai in his other hand at his head, dodging it by a hair. "!" He gasped again when he realized Sasuke's foot was already speeding towards him. 'He's fast…!!' Haku thought as he was sent flying from the force of the kick, unable to dodge or block in time.

'What…!? Haku lost in speed!?' Zabuza thought, shocked.

"Gu…!!" Haku grunted as he hit the ground, skidding to a stop at Zabuza's feet.

"Looks like I have the advantage in speed." Sasuke said loftily.

"I can't have you underestimating my team by calling them 'brats'. Sasuke is the village of Konoha's #1 rookie." Kakashi informed Zabuza. "Sakura is the brightest in the village."

"Eheh." Sakura laughed softly, making a cute face. 'Cha!! Damn straight!' Inner Sakura boasted proudly.

"April is the fastest and the most adaptable." Kakashi continued. "And the other one is… the show-off, hyperactive, #1 loudest ninja in the village." He finished, referring to the one and only Naruto.

"Hehehe." Zabuza laughed.

"?" Sasuke said, furrowing his brow.

"Haku, do you realize? At this rate, we'll be driven back." Zabuza stated calmly.

"Yeah. We can't have that…" Haku said, picking himself up.

'What's this chill…?' Sasuke wondered with a frown when he felt a sudden drop in the air temperature. Haku made a strange hand seal. "!" Sasuke gasped in alarm as the water on the ground quickly rose up and formed several large, rectangular panels of ice, surrounding him on all sides like a room of mirrors. "!!"

'Special Jutsu: Demonic Ice Mirrors!!' Haku thought.

'What is that jutsu?' Kakashi wondered, furrowing his brow with concern. Sakura gasped when Haku stepped into the back of one of the ice mirrors and entered it.

"Huh?" She said, confused as a what appeared to be an image of Haku's reflection appeared in the front of it. Was he in the mirror? But the ice looked like it was only a couple of inches thick…!

"!" Sasuke said when Haku's image spread to appear in every mirror at once, surrounding him on all sides.

"Damn it!!" Kakashi cursed, rushing to help Sasuke. "!" He stopped short when Zabuza cut off his path, intercepting him before he could reach them.

"Hey, your opponent… is me." Zabuza reminded him. "Against that jutsu, he's finished." Kakashi furrowed his brow.

"Well, shall I begin?" Haku's reflections asked Sasuke.

'What… What are these mirrors?' Sasuke thought, wondering what he was up to.

"I'll show you my real speed." Haku told him, holding up a senbon needle.

"!" Sasuke winced as he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. 'Ow!' He thought. Something just… "AHH!!" Sasuke yelled in pain as suddenly found himself in caught in an onslaught of attacks that were too fast for his eyes to even register before the pain hit his body.

"Sasuke!!" Kakashi yelled urgently.

"GUAAH!!" Sasuke screamed.

"If you get by me, I'll kill those." Zabuza told Kakashi, referring to Sakura and Tazuna.

"Damn!!" Kakashi cursed with a fierce glare.

"Sasuke-kun!!" Sakura yelled anxiously as he cried out in pain again.

"AWWW!!"

"… Tazuna-san… I'm sorry…" Sakura said. "I'm going to leave you for a moment."

"Yeah…" Tazuna said. He understood. "Go!!" Sakura took off running, pulling out another kunai as she jumped.

"Sasuke-kun!!!" She shouted, throwing the kunai at one of the reflections. "!!" She gasped, shocked when another reflection leaned forward out of its mirror and caught it. 'He stopped it!?'

SHNNG!

"!!" Haku grunted in surprise when a shuriken came flying from out of the mist from the opposite side, hitting his mask with enough force to knock him out of the mirror. "Uh!!" He groaned as he hit the ground, sliding out side of his dome of demonic ice mirrors.

"!" Kakashi and Zabuza said, surprised.

"Who?" Sakura asked, blinking in surprise.

POOF!

Whoever it was unleashed a huge puff of smoke for a dramatic entrance.

'That idiot… show off…' Sasuke thought with wry smirk as he lay on the ground, furrowing his brow. He only knew one person who was stupid enough to make an entrance like that in this situation…

'The hyperactive, #1 loudest ninja…!?' Haku thought. His eyes widened in surprise beneath his mask.

"Naruto Uzumaki!! Has finally arrived!!" Naruto proclaimed, striking a pose as the smoke cleared.