Previously:

"!!" Tazuna exclaimed in fear, gasping when Kakashi suddenly threw himself protectively in between them and Zabuza.

"Too late!!" Zabuza growled as he swung his sword, aiming to cut right through the copy ninja.

"KYAAA!!" Sakura screamed.

Chapter 25: Awaken

The crease in April's brow deepened when she heard the scream, but she kept going, reminding herself how important it was to stay calm and focus on the task at hand. Panicking hadn't saved her parents. She wasn't going to make that mistake again!

"!!" Sasuke gasped on the other side of the mirrors, startled. 'That was Sakura's voice!!' He thought. 'What happened!? What's Kakashi doing!!?' He glanced at Naruto, who was lying flat on the ground, panting. His whole body looked like a giant pincushion. Sasuke wasn't much better off himself. 'Damn it… This is bad. I have to do something…' He thought, gritting his teeth as he forced himself to get back up. He didn't have to look to know that April was still doing her best to chip away at the ice from the outside. He could still hear the cracking sounds as she continued her nonstop assault on the mirrors… but they couldn't afford to wait any longer! Besides… His eyes were finally starting to get used it, Haku's movements.

'I'm aiming for critical areas yet he keeps dodging… He seems to be slowly learning to follow my movements… This boy can see something…' Haku thought as he stared into Sasuke's dark, determined eyes. 'Dodging all of my attacks at the last second… spectacular movement.' Naruto grunted as he struggled to get up too, pushing himself onto his knees. "You… move well." Haku told Sasuke. "But this time, I'll stop you." Haku's grip tightened on the needles in his hands.

'He's coming!!' Sasuke thought, furrowing his brow as he braced himself. 'Calm down… Concentrate… And see through it!!!' The instant Haku began to move, Sasuke grabbed Naruto and jumped to the side.

"!!" Naruto and Haku both gasped in surprise as the needles missed their intended targets.

'He saw it!! No way!!' Haku thought, taken aback. He gasped in alarm when Sasuke looked back up, glaring at him with scarlet eyes that each had two black tomoe around the pupils. 'Those eyes…!! It can't be…!! Sharingan!!?' "You are…!! I see… You also possess a kekkei genkai…" Haku said aloud, stunned. 'What a kid… It's not complete, but to awaken that ability during battle…'

"Just a little bit… but I can see!!' Sasuke thought, determined to win.

"Then I can't fight for much longer…" Haku said. "My jutsu uses up a lot of chakra. There's a limit on how long I can keep up this speed." Between keeping this jutsu open and the constant repairs from April's attack, he was beginning to run dangerously low on chakra. "Most likely, the longer this fight goes on… the better you will be able to read my movements. If your eyes are starting to catch me, then…" 'Attacking him head on would be dangerous…' Haku thought. His eyes landed on Naruto, who was still struggling to pick himself up. 'I'll use that kid to bring him to me.' "This is the end!!" Haku shouted, launching into another attack.

'What? At Naruto!?' Sasuke thought, alarmed. 'Damn!!' He grit his teeth as he forced his aching body to move. 'Please make it in time!!'

"Ugh…" Kakashi groaned, clutching the bleeding wound Zabuza had just given him on his abdomen with one hand as several drops of blood fell to the ground at his feet.

"!!" Tazuna gasped in alarm.

"Kakashi-sensei!!" Sakura yelled.

"You were too slow… Kakashi… Did your desire to save those brats cloud your mind and further fog up that Sharingan of yours?" Zabuza asked mockingly. "Even with that impressive eye, your ability to read my movements is dimming… Hehehe… Let me enjoy this more, Kakashi… I want to have more fun while I return the favor. Don't worry about the brats, Haku has probably killed them by now. Plus, I'm about to send you to the same place as them." He added as he lifted his sword, preparing to strike again. "You can apologize to them in the next world for lacking the strength to protect them. HeheHAHAHA!"

"…" Tazuna sweated nervously while Kakashi furrowed his brow.

"S-Sasuke-kun won't be defeated by a guy like that so easily!!! Naruto and April-chan, too!!" Sakura shouted anxiously. 'Hell yeah, damn it!!' Inner Sakura roared in agreement.

"Exactly." Kakashi agreed out loud, surprising everyone with how calm he sounded. "I believe in their strength. April's resourcefulness… Naruto's determination… And Sasuke is from Konoha's most outstanding clan." Zabuza's eyes widened.

"… You mean…!!"

"Yeah. His name is Sasuke Uchiha. A genius ninja… with the advanced blood of the Uchiha clan flowing through his veins."

"A survivor of that tragic clan…" Zabuza said thoughtfully, narrowing his eyes slightly. 'No wonder he's improved so quickly…' He thought. "But that's the same for Haku. No body has ever defeated that special jutsu." He countered. "I guess I should end this fight, too…" With that, he slipped back into the mist.

"He disappeared again!!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Sakura, stay here." Kakashi ordered firmly.

"What? Oh… Okay!!" She said, tightening her grip on her kunai as Kakashi leapt into the thick mist after Zabuza. That's right… Sensei was counting on her to protect Tazuna-san!

"Can you hear me, Zabuza?" Kakashi asked. He was ready to put an end to this as well. "You seem to think I survived in this world with only the Sharingan. I am a former member of the Anbu. What kind of ninja I used to be… Not just copying… I'll show you my own jutsu." He stated determinedly.

"…!!" April grit her teeth as she spun around, using her momentum to increase the power behind her blow as she swung the outside of her fist at the mirror in front of her, releasing the immense amount of chakra she had been building up while pretending to slow down in the hopes that Haku would feel less threatened and stop paying so much attention to what she was doing, and slammed the blade of the kunai she was clutching into the back of the mirror, driving it as deep into the slab of ice as possible.

CRRRACKKK…

Large fractures immediately formed in the ice, spreading out from the kunai. 'One more…!!' April thought, drawing her fist back as she braced herself before rotating forward as she thrust her hand forth again in an open palm strike with the next breath, pushing out whatever energy was left, as the heel of her palm came in contact with the kunai. She thought she felt something snap in her wrist, but she just grit her teeth and kept pushing, driving the blade even deeper into the ice as the mirror finally shattered in its entirety.

CRRRAAASHHHHH!!

"Naruto!! Sasu…" The big triumphant grin on April's face died as her brain registered what her eyes were telling her about the scene in front of her. Haku was on the ground. Sasuke was standing in front of an unconscious Naruto. His body had been pierced with needles from head to toe. He looked like death warmed over.

"You're… late…" Sasuke said as she stared at him in shock, somehow managing to talk despite all the needles in his neck. Somehow… he had managed to make it just in time.

'No way…' April thought, starting to tremble slightly. He didn't have long… She could see it in his face. Her body suddenly felt heavy and numb. 'Not again…' She struggled to stay upright, feeling as though she was about to collapse from exhaustion and shock. "Sasuke…" She breathed quietly as Naruto began to stir.

"Uhh…!!" Naruto groaned groggily, gasping in surprise when he saw that Haku was on the ground and realized he could see April standing where there had once been a mirror.

"Geez… All you ever do is get in the way…" Sasuke told him, coughing.

"Sasuke!! You…!!" Naruto started to say excitedly as he finally raised his head to look up at the other boy. His face immediately fell when he saw the condition Sasuke was in. Sasuke… had just coughed up blood…

"What's… with those faces… you idiots…" Sasuke asked weakly as his teammates continued to stare at him in shock and horror.

"… Why?" Naruto asked with a trembling voice. Sasuke had clearly saved him.

"… How should… I… know…" Sasuke answered as his life started to flash before his eyes. "Heh…" For some reason, most of his memories seemed to include that moron's stupid face. "I… hated you…"

"But… But…" Naruto said, stunned. "Why…? Why me? I never asked for your help!!!" He yelled. He never wanted this!!

"I don't know… My body just moved on its own… Idiot…" Sasuke said as his body finally gave out.

"!" Naruto and April gasped as he started to fall backwards.

"Sasuke!!" April shouted, running into the semi-circle of remaining mirrors.

"!" Naruto said as Sasuke fell on him, catching him.

"That man…" Sasuke said weakly as April dropped to her knees beside them. "My brother… I told myself that I wouldn't die until I killed him… Don't you two… die…" He told them as his eyes closed and his breathing stopped.

"…" Tears began to form in Naruto's and April's eyes as they stared down at his lifeless body in shock. As their denial began to swell into anger, Haku finally picked himself up off the ground.

"He landed a blow on me, and without flinching… died to protect you. To protect a precious person, knowing it was a trap, he was still able to jump in. He is a shinobi that deserves respect." Haku stated solemnly.

"We… don't need you to tell us that." April said as she made herself stand up and turn to face him with tear-stained cheeks. She may have managed to break one of the mirrors, but this place was still dangerous. And she could tell from the ache in her right wrist that she had most likely fractured it during that last thrust, when she exerted too much force without holding any chakra back to protect it... It's a good thing she was ambidextrous. She gripped a kunai in her left hand. They needed to get out of there. She wasn't going to lose Naruto, too…!!

"Is this your first time experiencing the death of a friend?" Haku asked Naruto. He could tell from the look in April's eyes that she had seen the death of a loved one before. This girl was the most dangerous at the moment. She had also earned his respect, for being the first to have ever succeeded in shattering one of his demon ice mirrors… But she and Naruto were clearly exhausted, and he could tell had injured her right wrist from the way she held it. This fight would be over very soon. "This is the way of the shinobi…" He said sadly, phasing back into the mirror before April could stop him.

'Damn!!' She thought, furrowing her brow. After losing so much energy, her reaction time was pathetic! She was about to turn and attempt to snap Naruto out of it, when he finally spoke.

"… Shut up…" Naruto growled at Haku. 'I hated you, too…' He silently told Sasuke as he set his friend's body down. "I won't forgive you!!! I'll kill you!!!" He roared furiously, oozing murderous intent, as his pupils became slits and his canines elongated into fangs.

"!!" April and Haku both gasped in alarm when they felt a sudden shift in the nature of his chakra as it spiraled out from him in a violent surge, carving up the ground.

'Wha-What's with this chakra…!?' April wondered as she shielded herself from the bits of debris caught in the gusts of wind. She'd never seen Naruto do this before! 'This isn't right... It doesn't feel like Naruto anymore!!'

'It's impossible for chakra to change like this!!! And such an evil aura…!!' Haku thought in the safety of his mirror, alarmed. The two of them gasped again upon looking closer at his hands as he stood up. 'The cuts on his hand…!! They're healing… What is this boy…!?" Haku wondered.

'I see… That's it!!' April thought, surprised, as she remembered how Naruto's hand had healed abnormally fast after he cut himself to remove some poison from their fight with the chūnins Gatō had sent after them. When she had asked Kakashi about it later, he had told her it was because of the nine-tailed fox inside him. 'This chakra… belongs to the nine-tails!!!' She realized, startled when Naruto glanced over his shoulder at Haku with a beastly glare, and she saw how his face had begun to transform. No way… Was the seal… breaking!?