Konoha's Swordsman
Chapter Three
AN: Okay here is chapter three, as I am kind of planning to update every now and then through the rest of summer at least, I might continue to write through the school year if I can handle it. Well, here goes my version of the first Team Seven vs. Zabuza fight.
Pulling his hand away from his eye, Kakashi's eyes were now both locked onto Zabuza, his red Sharingan eye spinning as it gazed at Zabuza.
'So he has a Sharingan! He must have had it transplanted somehow, there is no way he is an Uchiha, he had a lot of history as the son of the White Fang, but how would it have been allowed? My father said he never let any member of the Uchiha clan allow an eye to be transplanted in someone else, he must have been very close to a member of the clan.' Sasuke was completely bewildered by the fact that Kakashi had a Sharingan hidden under his headband.
Zabuza grinned, "Ahh now that is more like it Kakashi! I am ready for this fight to get under way!"
And with that, Zabuza seemed to vanish to everyone's eyes, as at the same time, a strange, thick mist seemingly materialized around them. To Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna is was just a thick mist, but Kakashi knew better.
"Everyone protect Tazuna at all costs, Zabuza will try to kill him before having to engage me!" Kakashi hoped with all his heart that his students could hold on until he could find Zabuza and engage him to get him away from Tazuna.
Sasuke quickly pushed chakra into his eyes, a small smirk crossing his face as his Sharingan eyes activated, but where at first he had seen nothing, as his Sharingan activated, he noticed how all of the mist was laced with heavy amounts of chakra.
"So this is the Hidden Mist jutsu, I must say it really doesn't seem as useful as the academy instructors said it is." Sasuke tried looking through the mist, with his Sharingan he could just make out his teammates and Tazuna next to him, but after that he couldn't see. In all honesty he was terrified at being unable to see around him, but hopefully Zabuza wouldn't know that.
"Oh so the Uchiha brat is trying to act all macho, lets see how well you do without your sight!"
With almost no warning, Zabuza seemed to materialize out of the mist, his giant zanbato in a huge overhand slash aimed at Sasuke, but even with how fast Sasuke knew he was moving, he barely seemed to be moving, but he reacted quickly.
Rolling sideways, Sasuke watched the giant sword hit nothing but air where he had been seconds before, then it was gone. 'He is so fast, but he is not faster than my Sharingan!' Sasuke felt so confident, with these eyes, not even an A-class missing nin could hit him.
Zabuza's voice filled the mist, seeming to come from everywhere at once. "So the Uchiha brat has Sharingan too, you know, I bet there is a lot of money people would pay to get their hands on the last Uchiha, with Sharingan already too, he would fetch a high price, maybe I should just take the boy and let you complete your mission huh Kakashi?"
That hit a nerve with Kakashi, "You will not touch the boy Zabuza, or so help me I will hunt you down and kill you!"
"Oh so touch Kakashi has a soft spot for the Uchiha huh? Well what about the Kyuubi Jinchuruki standing so scared behind that little sword of his? I would bet you that all of the Hidden Villages would love to have the kid!"
"Jinchuruki!?" Sasuke and Sakura both spoke at the same time, speechless at that new piece of information.
'Oh Hell, this is not the time for that to be known!' Kakashi was worried about how his other two students would react to that.
Naruto was silent, he said nothing as Zabuza just laughingly gave out his deepest secret to his teammates.
Naruto was beyond mad, how dare this missing nin make fun of his sword, and laughably joke about selling him to some village because of the thrice-damned Kyuubi? When Zabuza's sword swung down at Naruto, he was not even caught a little off guard, feeling power rush through him, Naruto swung his tanto up to meet Kubikiribocho, his little tanto buzzing with red chakra that was now flowing heavily around Naruto.
With a ringing noise, Naruto's tiny tanto, humming full of red chakra stopped the mighty Kubikiribocho, and that more than anything, surprised Zabuza enough that he stopped for a second, to ponder the impossibility that a tiny tanto had stopped one of the swords of the Seven Swordsman.
That little pause, was enough for Kakashi to dash in, a Raikiri flashing brightly as Kakashi tried to catch Zabuza off guard. Zabuza of course, simply back flipped backwards, as the energy of the Raikiri faded away.
Red chakra still flowed around Naruto as his rage hit an all-time high, and with a loud yell, he ran after Zabuza, his tanto raised in an over hand blow. With no effort, Zabuza raised Kubikiribocho up to block the blow, but was shocked by the force that hit his sword, as with a loud "clang," Naruto's tanto left a large dent in Zabuza's sword.
'What the Hell is this? There is no way that little sword is doing that much damage! But wait, is the Kyuubi's chakra flowing out this kid flowing through the sword? Even an untrained 12 year old with some Biju chakra can kick my ass apparently!'
Naruto was purely on the offensive, his strength, speed and power enhanced by the Kyuubi's chakra, coupled by Zabuza being caught off guard was putting Zabuza on the ropes for the time being.
Swinging his sword wildly, with little coordination, Naruto was backing Zabuza through the clearing, but within three seconds, Naruto's rage began to ebb away, and Zabuza saw him start to slow down, and with a large side swipe, knocked the tanto out of Naruto's hands, and was preparing a death blow when Kakashi was once again backing Zabuza off.
Shocked by Naruto's Kyuubi enhanced abilities, it took him a second to move after him and Zabuza, but it was a good thing he did, as Naruto's rage faded, the chakra to faded away, and as Zabuza knocked away Naruto's sword, he was there, a second Raikiri flashing in his hand as he again tried to catch Zabuza before the fight developed further.
Totally caught off guard by Naruto's strength and speed, and having to deal with him, he did not see Kakashi's Raikiri until he was a split second away, but reacting quickly, he brought Kubikiribocho to block the Raikiri with its broadside.
Seeing the broadside of the mighty sword, Kakashi knew he would have to hope the Raikiri cut through it, or it would be his end if Zabuza went on the offensive, but as he was inches away, Kakashi saw something in the sword, and quickly went to hit it.
Knowing there was no way even the powerful Raikiri could break his sword, Zabuza was caught completely off guard, when it actually did break. Because right there on that side of the sword, had been the diagonal dent left by Naruto's Tanto, going half an inch into the sword, it was all that Kakashi's Raikiri needed to cut through the great Kubikiribocho, even if the Raikiri faded out soon afterwards.
With his sword broken, Zabuza lept back, his hands flashing through hand signs, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
But as the gaint water dragon bore down on Kakashi and Naruto, Naruto and Kakashi both knew that Naruto was not going to be able to move out of the way in time, and the jutsu would surely kill him. But here it was that Sasuke showed his worth, using his Sharingan for the first time, he had copied Zabuza's hand signs on instinct, and pushing all of the chakra he had into the jutsu, he launched his own water dragon at Zabuza's.
Though weaker than Zabuza's own, the water dragons collided, two great forces that fought each other for a few brief seconds, enough for Naruto to move quickly out of the way, and for Kakashi to flash through his own hand signs, as he yelled, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
As the third dragon his Zabuza's that was equal in strength, the two combined water dragons pushed through, and hit Zabuza with two huge masses of water, pushing him back through several trees before the dragons gave out.
And there, lying unconscious was Zabuza, nearly thirty feet back from where he had been, and having gone through at least two dozen trees, his body was battered, and he was surely half drowned and near death.
Sakura and Tazuna were both kneeling around Sasuke, using all of his chakra like that had left him nearly deprived of chakra, and he was unconscious from chakra exhaustion. Kakashi moved slowly forward towards Zabuza.
Naruto was silent now, trying to process what had happened, he had used the Kyuubi's chakra, and he had felt so powerful. He was holding Zabuza's broken sword pieces, looking at awe at the once great sword.
As Kakashi moved towards Zabuza, he felt sore as he pulled his headband back down to cover his eye, feeling the dull ache from having to use it, as well the amount of chakra he had used so quickly in the fight, it was not often anymore that he used such a large scale jutsu after using two Raikiri back to back like that, and he felt the strain.
Now standing over Zabuza, he slowly pulled a kunai out of a pouch, it always felt like a cowardly way to kill someone, after they had gone unconscious, but he couldn't risk leaving Zabuza alive to come back after Tazuna, he wouldn't be caught off guard by any of their tricks next time, and the next fight would be much harder if he was left alive.
About to kneel down to cut Zabuza's throat, Kakashi's senses heard something, so reacting quickly he blocked two senbon, which he noticed were headed towards Zabuza's throat.
A masked nin, with a mask matching the Hunter Nin of Kirigakure appeared next to Kakashi, "Excuse me, Kakashi Hatake, I am a Kirigakure Hunter Nin, and I apologize for not arriving soon enough to aid in your fight against this missing nin, but it is my mission to see Zabuza dead, and his body returned to Kirigakure as evidence."
Kakashi nodded, "Well I am sure just his head would suffice as evidence, right?" Kakashi noticed the "Hunter-nin" tense as he mentioned beheading Zabuza.
"That would be unnecessary, if you would just allow me-" Whatever the fake hunter-nin was about to say was cut off as Kakashi had another Raikiri in his hand, moving as fast as he could to stab the fake hunter-nin, but Kakashi was tired, and he not fast enough after using all the chakra he had already used.
The fake Hunter-nin quickly moved back, senbon appearing in their hand as they lashed out, stabbing the senbon into Kakashi's neck, then Kakashi's world was black.
Naruto had seen the Hunter-nin appear next to Kakashi, but he could not hear their conversation. As he noticed Kakashi tense, he began to move towards them, then as Kakashi used Chidori, he began to sprint, but he was too late to help as Kakashi fell to the ground, and the Hunter-nin disappeared with Zabuza.
Naruto was next to Kakashi in an instant, pulling the senbon out as quick as he could, creating several shadow clones to carry Kakashi, as he started yelling, "Sakura! Kakashi is hurt, we have to get him somewhere that he can get help! Tazuna-san how far is to your house, we need to get there quickly!"
Seeing Sasuke unconscious, Naruto created several clones to carry him as well, as Sakura seemed very shaken that Sasuke and Kakashi were now both unconscious. Tazuna sensed their urgency, and he started to lead the way to his house.
Naruto stayed back for a second, grabbing the two pieces of Zabuza's sword as well as his own, still intact tanto, before heading off after Tazuna.
After reaching Tazuna's house they met Tsunami and Inari, Tazuna's daughter and grandson. Tsunami had Sasuke and Kakashi laid down on a bed, knowing Sasuke just needed rest, but she did not know exactly what the senbon could have done to Kakashi.
To her own limited knowledge, all she could tell was that the senbon had hit a cluster of nerves, leaving Kakashi in a near death state, while he seemed dead; it was likely he would awake within a few days, while he would be very weak once he did awake.
Within a day, Sasuke had woken up, good as new, and a few hours after Sasuke woke up, Kakashi had woken up too, though he was fairly weak. Kakashi had mildly severe chakra exhaustion, and it was made worse by how much being put into the near death state had weakened his body.
Two days later, Kakashi was walking, albeit with a crutch, so he took his students out behind Tazuna's house, for a chakra training exercise.
Kakashi slowly lowered himself onto a chair, leaning back comfortably. "Okay guys, this is how it is going to work. You are all going to climb trees, without using your hands."
Naruto was confused by that, "But how can we do that Sensei?"
Kakashi chuckled, "It is simple really, all you have to do is channel chakra to your feet, and it will stick to the tree. Too much and your foot won't be able to touch the tree, and too little and your foot won't stick. Go ahead, try. Just don't get discouraged if you can't do it at first, it may take a while."
Naruto was eager to start, so he quickly walked over to a tree, channeling chakra to his foot, but trying to limit how much he used as he remembered Kakashi say that if he used too much it wouldn't work. Bringing his foot up against the tree, Naruto could not even bring his foot within an inch of the tree, he was using way too much chakra.
Sasuke, while not as eager as Naruto, was excited to learn something new, so after approaching a tree of his own, he channeled chakra to his foot and brought it up to the tree. But to his dissatisfaction, he could not bring his foot within half of an inch to the tree, so he slowly lowered the amount of chakra he used, until his foot hit the tree, and he felt it stick. Leaning back, he brought his other foot up, concentrating on matching the amount of chakra he used on his first step, as the second. But ads he focused on the second step, he lost focus on his first foot, and with a thump, he fell to the ground.
Kakashi laughed, "Don't forget to divide your concentration on both of your feet once you get on to the tree, you have to keep the chakra flow steady as you go, or you will fall right away."
Seeing both the boys fail at their first try, Sakura felt a little nervous to try, but then she thought about how impressed Sasuke might be if she could beat him to the top of the tree. Focusing, she put her foot against the tree, pushing more chakra until she actually felt it stick, leaning back she got her second foot against the tree, and slowly her third.
Going slowly, Sakura was surprised at how easy it was to go up the tree, surely Sasuke couldn't have too much trouble with it if she could do it easily? Before Sakura knew it, she has a dozen steps up the tree, before she felt her chakra flow begin to weaken, so she gracefully back flipped off of the tree, landing back on her feet on the ground with a successful cheer.
Naruto was ecstatic for Sakura, "Wooooohhhhh! Way to go Sakura! You are easily going to beat me and Sasuke at this!"
Sasuke however, was not so happy for his teammate, 'If Sakura can do it so easily, why can I not do it just as easy?'
Kakashi could sense Sasuke's displeasure, "Don't be too discouraged by her doing so well guys, the less chakra you have, the easier it is control it. The more you have, the harder it is to control, which is why Sakura can do it easily, she has less chakra, and the both of you are having trouble, you both have more chakra."
"Though Sakura can do it easily, she won't be able to do it for as long as you and Naruto will once you both get the hang of it, so the more that you do it, your control will get better, and the more Sakura does it, the bigger her chakra reserves will get. It is an easy win-win for all of you."
Kakashi stopped talking after that, pulling out his signature Icha-Icha book out of his back pocket as he read quietly, keeping track of his student's progress with a few glances every once in a while.
Sasuke and Naruto nodded, resuming their efforts, both trying twice as hard as before as they tried their hardest. It would be hours before Naruto got more than a few steps up the tree, while Sasuke had gotten nearly a dozen steps up. Sakura however had tired herself out after getting all the way to the top of the tree several times.
When the four of them were called in for dinner several hours after that, Naruto vowed to stay out until he got all the way to the top of the tree, Sasuke nodding along with him, so the two of them stayed out while Sakura and Kakashi headed in.
Naruto was gritting his teeth with effort, he was a little over half the way up the tree, farther than he had made it before. Sasuke was trying just as hard as he was, but he was several steps ahead of him, just that much closer to reaching the top first.
As they both gave out and jumped back down, Naruto had a thought, "Hey Sasuke, how about a bit of a race huh? Whoever reaches the top first gets half of the others dinner?"
Naruto grinned over at Sasuke, and Sasuke even grinned back, "Alright, if you feel like losing half of your dinner!" The two of them ran back up the tree, that much more in a hurry as they were now racing each other.
Now that they were competing, they both tried just that much harder to beat the other, as Naruto started to catch up to Sasuke, and as they both neared the top of the tree, he even got ahead of Sasuke by a step, both concentrating as much as they could, as they got neck to neck.
Six steps away from the top, then five, four, three, two, one, then as they both reached the top, they started yelling at each other. Naruto was loudest, "I totally just won that Sasuke! You know that I did!"
"No way Naruto, you know I won, but you just won't admit it!" Naruto and Sasuke both jumped down, arguing the whole way back to the house about who won.
AN: Okay, decent enough size for a chapter. I have been on vacation up at Ocean Shores, Washington for the five days, so expect updates coming soon!