Previously:

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.

Chapter 23: For the Sake of Dreams

"Now that I'm here, everything will be fine!!" Naruto declared grandly. "The main character of a story usually shows up in these types of situations and instantly… kicks the enemy's ass!!"

"Naruto!!" Sakura said excitedly as she and Tazuna lit up, pleasantly surprised by the arrival of reinforcements.

'Hmph… That brat…' Zabuza thought, narrowing his eyes.

'He talks too much…' Sasuke thought, chagrined.

'Geez… That idiot!!' Kakashi thought, sweat-dropping. 'What kind of loud entrance is that? And he calls himself a ninja? … Where the heck is April?'

"…" Haku stared at Naruto, remembering their encounter in the forest a couple of days ago. So it was him… "!?" He gasped, startled when he was suddenly hit by a powerful blow, even though none of the others had even so much as twitched. His eyes widened behind the mask when he found himself staring into a pair of determined blue eyes as the heels of the purple-haired girl who had just emerged from the mist dug into his gut. The moment April had him, she glued her feet to him by concentrating her chakra in her soles for a moment as she curled herself in to grab him by the front of his kimono and head-butted Haku, sending him crashing towards the ground. The impact from her forehead protector made a deep dent and small crack in his mask. Haku was stunned for a moment, but managed used his momentum to roll over and throw April off, flinging her at the railing of the bridge. April grabbed the railing and swung herself back around, delivering another powerful kick, to send him flying.

'Ah, there she is! That's our girl!' Kakashi thought with a smile. At least one of them knew the value of a surprise attack. She had taken advantage of the moment everyone was surprised by Naruto's sudden appearance to launch another attack and separate Haku even further from Sasuke and the ice mirrors.

"!!" Zabuza furrowed his brow as April sprinted alongside the falling Haku, pulling in front to strike again before he could land. April skidded to a halt and made a fist, preparing to meet Haku with a punch hard enough to finish splitting that mask in two. But before she could land a hit, Zabuza targeted her with handful of shuriken from behind. April sensed the attack and immediately countered by pulling herself down into a crouch as she spun around and threw a handful of her own shuriken to counter his, while Haku simultaneously threw some needles while her back was turned.

"April!!" Kakashi yelled, furrowing his brow.

"!" April's eyes widened as she watched the first of the needles sail past her cheek and quickly dropped, flattening herself out on her stomach, in case there were more headed her way.

"!?" Everyone gasped as all three attacks collided and canceled each other out completely.

"…" April furrowed her brow in confusion for a second, but quickly rolled back onto her feet as she carefully maneuvered herself into a defensive position while keeping her eyes on the enemies. She had managed to avoid taking any damage, but it had given Haku enough time to regain control of himself and throw the rhythm of her attacks off. She wouldn't be able to get the drop on him again so easily… The bridge was silent as everyone stared at April and Haku in astonishment.

'Wha… What just happened…?' Sakura wondered, dumbfounded. It had all happened so fast… The two young shinobi had packed so much action into the space of a couple of seconds that the only ones able to keep up had been Kakashi and Zabuza.

'Now that's how you make an entrance…' Sasuke thought.

'I see… So this one is… the fastest and the most adaptable…' Haku thought. The fact that she could keep up with him at his real speed was impressive…

"Hey!!" Naruto shouted. "What took you so long, April!? I thought we were going in together!! He totally almost got you there for a moment!!"

'We were until you started with the crazy pyrotechnics…' April thought, sweat-dropping. "Hey, can we talk about this later?" She asked. "We've got bigger fish to—"

"Haku, what is this?" Zabuza demanded, cutting her off. Why did he help that girl block his attack?

"Zabuza-san… these kids… please let me fight them my way." Haku said calmly, using the opportunity to shift himself closer to the mirrors again.

"… So, you don't want me to interfere, huh, Haku?" Zabuza asked. "You're as soft as always…"

'Soft?' April thought, frowning slightly. 'He's right… even if I hadn't dodged, none of those needles would have hit me… He didn't know if I would make it in time, so he threw those to help me…' She glanced sideways at Sasuke out the corner of her eye. She could see him through the gap between the mirrors. 'And Sasuke's wounds… none of them look life-threatening…' Judging by the look on his face, she knew Sasuke had also come to this realization. 'But what is that jutsu he's caught in…? It looks like it'll be difficult to defeat from the inside alone, but if one of us provides support from the outside, then maybe…' She glanced back at Kakashi and the others. 'Sensei looks like he has his hands full with Zabuza, so the only protecting Tazuna right now was Sakura-chan… Naruto's stronger than me, so he'd probably be able to do more for Sasuke against those mirrors…' "Sensei… Where should I…?" April started to ask, wondering where she would be most effective, when she heard something that almost made her face-fault.

"Hey!! I came to save you!!" She heard Naruto's voice say from inside the dome of ice mirrors.

"!!!" Sasuke exclaimed, flinching when he was jolted out of his own thought about strategizing and saw that the idiot was sitting right in front of him. "You total moron!! If you're a shinobi, then use your head!! Why did you come inside the mirrors!!? Damn it!! I don't care anymore!! You're an idiot!!" Sasuke yelled, tearing him a new one.

"What did you say!!? I come to help you and this is what I get!!?" Naruto shouted incredulously.

"…" Kakashi and April both sweat-dropped.

'That's Naruto… He comes to help, yet makes things worse…' Kakashi thought, chagrined. 'If I go to them, Tazuna-san will be in danger… but I can't just leave them… If I use a shadow clone, he'll just stop me with his water clone. I'll just waste chakra.'

"Umm, Sensei… Should I…?" April asked tentatively as she pointed over at the boys trapped in the mirrors. The fact that Haku was already slipping back inside one of the mirrors really worried her.

"Please do…" Kakashi said with a sigh, resisting the overwhelming urge to face-palm.

"Roger!" April said, immediately springing into action to aid Naruto and Sasuke, but she was too late. Before her fingertips could even brush against the edge of his kimono, Haku had already finished entering the mirror. 'Damn!!' She thought, pushing against the mirror from the outside. It was completely solid. How was he doing that?

"Ok, so there's the real one." Sasuke thought, keeping his eyes on the mirror Haku had just entered while April circled around the outside, looking for a weakness on her end.

"Over here." Haku's voice rang behind him.

'He moved…!?' Sasuke thought, whipping his head around.

"What's going on here!?" Naruto asked, confused. How could he be in two places at once?

'Then I'll just bust these mirrors!!' Sasuke thought, forming a hand seal.

'That seal…!' April thought. 'I see… He's going to try to melt the mirrors!!' She quickly jumped back as he released his chakra.

'Grand Fireball Jutsu!!' Sasuke thought as he unleashed a huge jet of flames from his mouth.

"!" The three genin gasped when the flames dissipated without doing any damage.

"It didn't do anything!!" Naruto shouted incredulously. What kind of ice was this!?

"You can't melt this ice with that level of fire." Haku said calmly.

"Damn!" Sasuke cursed.

'I guess this means the ice made with that guy's chakra is stronger than Sasuke's chakra molded into fire…' April thought, furrowing her brow. 'Wait a minute… could it be that we're overthinking this…?' "Run for the gap!!" She shouted as Haku raised his hand to attack again, pulling out some kunai as she ran around to cover them from behind.

"!" Sasuke's eyes widened. Of course!! If Naruto could get in like that, they should be able to get back out! Both boys tried to make a run for it, but before they could take more than a step, they were hit by a spray of needles.

"WAAA!!"

"GUAAH!!"

"!!" April gasped in alarm as they cried out in pain before she could do anything to block the next attack. 'He's too fast!! Entering those mirrors increased his speed exponentially!!!' Getting out wasn't going to be that simple after all…

"Damn it!! Where is he attacking from!? Are those clones!?" Naruto asked starting to get frustrated. "Where's the real one!!?"

"Trying to follow with your eyes is impossible." Haku stated calmly. "You will never be able to catch me."

"Che!! Shadow Clone Jutsu!!" Naruto shouted, forming the hand seal.

"Don't…!!" Sasuke shouted, but it was too late.

"Then I'll destroy all of them and see which one is real!!" Naruto shouted as he and his clones leaped into action, each going after one mirror. Before they could even get close enough to put a scratch on them, Haku launched his counter attack, moving so fast the only thing they could see was a second of color flashing all around them.

"UWAA!!" Naruto cried as all of his clones disappeared, and he fell back to the ground with fresh injuries.

"This jutsu uses the mirror's reflection to transport me." Haku stated calmly. "From my point of view, you seem to be moving in slow-motion."

'I knew it…!!' Kakashi thought, furrowing his brow. "For that kid to master a jutsu like that… It must be a kekkei genkai technique!!"

"Heheh…" Zabuza laughed sinisterly.

"Kekkei genkai?" Sakura asked.

"Techniques that are only passed down through deep blood relations and through the genealogy of those with superior body structures…" Kakashi explained.

"Then…!" Sakura exclaimed nervously.

"Yeah, you could compare it to my Sharingan. Even I couldn't copy it. It's impossible to defeat."

"…" Sasuke grit his teeth in frustration.

"Damn it!!" Naruto cursed, clenching his fist. "So what!!!" He shouted. "I can't die here… I have a dream I must fulfill…" Naruto stated determinedly.

"!" Haku said, remembering how Naruto had told him about his dream to become the best ninja in his village. 'A dream…' He thought, thinking back on his own past.

"That's exactly right, Naruto… You're not going to die here… Because if there's one thing I've learned about this world, it's that nothing is impossible." April stated resolutely. "Thanks for the explanation, Haku-san. I get it now." She said, reaching into the pouch at the back of her waist. "Naruto, Sasuke… They're all real! He's just moving so fast, it only looks like there's more than one of him, because he's moving between mirrors at the speed of light!! So, you have to block as if he's attacking from all sides at once! You have to work together!!" She shouted urgently. "Try standing back to back, and react the moment you detect even the slightest twitch of movement, because with the speed he's moving at, it'll impossible to figure out where he'll actually strike from until it's too late! Just focus on protecting yourselves. I'll do something about the mirrors from the outside."

"Something… What 'something'!?" Sasuke asked, furrowing his brow, while Naruto tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"Like Naruto said, we need to try to limit the places he can go… so he can't surround you anymore…" April answered, pulling out some bandages to tape up her hands up with. She flexed her wrapped hands and formed them into fists around kunais with the blades pointing out, focusing her chakra and her arms. "I'm going to crush them." April stated determinedly. She was getting them out. Even if she ended up breaking every bone in both hands, she was getting them out!!

"… Becoming a true shinobi is difficult for me." Haku said solemnly. "If possible, I don't want to have to kill you. Nor do I want you to have to kill me. But if you come at me… I can destroy my kind heart with a blade and become a true shinobi. This bridge is the place where we will fight… to connect to our dreams. Me, for my dream. And you, for your dreams. Please don't hate me. I want to protect someone precious to me. To work for that person. To fight for that person. To make that person's dreams come true. That is my dream. For that, I can become a true shinobi. I can kill you." He finished with grave determination. Naruto and Sasuke smiled, looking pleased with their opponent's resolve.

"… Me, too. My personal death doesn't scare me, but if you try going after those boys for real… I'll kill you." April stated seriously as she raised her fists, taking up an offensive stance.