Disclaimer:

Me: Do I really have to say it?

Naruto: 'Fraid so author-san!

Me: (Sighs) Fine, I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 10 – A Lot of Demons in One Day

Last time:

Sakura looked at him with slight awe. 'How could he have grown up to be so cheerful without parents?' She thought to herself. She never asked him out loud about it though and they just carried on walking.

This Chapter:

Team 7, plus Tazuna, had been traveling for about a day and a half at this point. They were nearing the docks were they would take a small row boat across the water into the land of waves. So far there had been no attacks by bandits, robbers, not even a rabid squirrel. The night that they camped out had been uneventful and pretty safe thanks to all of Naruto's shadow clones keeping watch.

Naruto was starting to think there wouldn't be any action at all on this mission. He had all but given up until he spotted the puddle. 'Maybe this won't be as boring as I expected.' He dropped back to talk to Kakashi. "Hey Kakashi-sensei? Do you think there's a storm coming?" Naruto asked in a cryptic manner.

Kakashi instantly picked up on his real meaning, he made an eye smile. "Looks like it Naruto. Don't tell the others though, I want to see what they think we should do." Naruto nodded and went back into formation with Sasuke and Sakura. 'Hm, he really is good. The others didn't notice the puddle and that it hasn't rained in days. Better find out what those ninja want though, I had a feeling Tazuna was keeping something from us.' Kakashi thought as he went through hand signs for the Kawarimi no Jutsu.

Naruto felt them coming, he could feel the chakra and smell the poison on their weapons. By the time every one else heard their attack and turned around to watch Kakashi get sliced to bits, he also saw the Kawarimi that he pulled off.

Sakura looked panicked at how her sensei had just been killed, when she came back to her senses a split-second later she went to protect Tazuna and went through hand signs to summon a protective wall of earth shouting, "Stay behind me Tazuna-san. Doton: Daichi Hei no Jutsu!". It was exactly the same jutsu Naruto had used against Sasuke, the only difference was Sakura's wall was shorter and not as wide but still large enough to cover the two of them.

Naruto dashed at the ninja to his right, bringing up his left hand getting ready to release the blade. The metal on the gauntlet met with the chain in a resounding clang. He quickly released the blade and made an uppercut punch action slicing the chain. He condensed the chakra armor surrounding his right hand and slammed it into the ninja's arm, there was an audible crack and the arm bent out of shape. While the ninja was nursing his arm, Naruto crouched low to the ground and brought his leg up in a violent kick to the ninja's jaw sending him skyward. Using this chance he grabbed something from his pouch and threw them on the ground where he estimated the ninja to land. They were caltrops, to small to actually cause harm but good for hindering people running away from something, that is until Naruto activated his jutsu and the caltrops grew in size creating a death field of spikes. Needless to say the ninja died when he was impaled upon several of the spikes. Naruto looked at the spikes and said in a low voice, "Makibishi Baika no Jutsu." He couldn't help but feel a slight bit of guilt over killing the ninja, he also felt a little queasy at the sight of the blood and guts. Kyuubi had already talked to him about killing enemies and killing in general, how the state of mind during and after the kill determined if you killed for self-defence or because you just felt like it. From what Kyuubi told him, he figured he had killed for the right reasons and from the guilt he was feeling, he would not become a killing machine as he was afraid of becoming but it still didn't feel right. He quickly cancelled the jutsu and let the body fall to the ground, he gathered up the caltrops that weren't covered by the body and turned to see that Sasuke had also dealt with his opponent.

A few seconds earlier;

Sasuke jumped and threw a kunai at what was left of the chain and pinned it to the ground. He landed behind the ninja and threw a back-heel kick to his head with enough force to snap the chain from the gauntlet the ninja was wearing and making him turn 180 degrees. He then followed up with a knee thrust into the ninja's stomach effectively knocking him out.

"Alright Kakashi-sensei come on out!" Sasuke heard someone shout from over his shoulder. It was Naruto he had finished with his opponent.

"What are you talking about Dobe? Kakashi-sensei was killed by these two." Sasuke stated rather coldly.

"Do you really have such little faith in your sensei, Sasuke? Maybe I should stop teaching you if you believe I would die that easily." Kakashi said as he appeared behind Sasuke.

Sakura lowered her earth wall and was surprised to see her sensei still alive. "Kakashi-sensei!" She had a slight gloss to her forehead, she'd been sweating from the stress of keeping the wall up.

"Yo! Good work Sakura, you went straight in to defend Tazuna. That was pretty interesting jutsu as well, did Naruto teach it to you?" Kakashi asked in a chipper tone.

Sakura wiped her brow quickly and nodded her head with a 'mh-hm'. "He said it's good for blocking wide ranged attacks as well as direct attacks so I thought it would be best against the chain those two had." Sakura gasped as her eyes fell on the body of Naruto's opponent. She had to look away quickly and covered her mouth to try and keep her breakfast down.

"Good choice. If you need to throw up don't be ashamed a lot of people can't handle that kind of thing." Kakashi turned to Sasuke. "Good work taking down your opponent, very smooth Sasuke." Kakashi finally turned to Naruto and his kill. "Congratulations Naruto, your first kill. I have to say that was an interesting combo. You better seal that blade back as well you won't be needing for now." Kakashi told Naruto.

Naruto looked down to his left arm and noticed he still had the blade out, he quickly resealed it. "What do we do with the body, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked in a grim tone.

Kakashi walked to the body, took out a scroll and opened it on the floor next to the body. He quickly sealed the body. "We'll be sending the body back to Konoha so they can examine it and see if there's anything useful like antidotes we've never seen before. It will also be a requirement to confirm your kill." Kakashi stood up, turned to face Naruto and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't feel guilty Naruto, you killed him out of self defence and to ensure a successful mission."

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto replied with a nod. Kakashi saying that out loud had actually helped Naruto, the feeling of killing the nin being wrong went away slightly at hearing Kakashi's words.

"Now I better tie the other guy up and send a message back to Konoha so the ANBU can pick him up. Oh, and Tazuna once I'm done with that, your gonna tell me everything." Kakashi said eyeing the old man.

In a few minutes the ninja was tied to a tree and the leaf nins were looking expectantly at Tazuna. "Well Tazuna you can tell us willingly or I can force it out of you. Make your choice quickly."

Tazuna waved his hands out in front of him in defeat. "Alright I'll tell you! There's a crooked business man in the land of waves. You've probably heard of him he's pretty well known already. His name's Gatoh."

Kakashi spoke up. "Yes I've heard of him, he's a business tycoon. Likes to handle marine transport, he's also head of The Gatoh Company. He's currently one of the richest men in the world."

"Yes, well marine transport is only the front for his real work. He smuggles drugs and all kinds of contraband, he takes over companies and runs many illegal business' as well. In truth he's more of a mobster than a business man." Tazuna explained. "When he came to the Land of Waves he used violence and money to completely take over our sea traffic and marine transport, hiring ninja's and thugs to do his dirty work. In a country like the Land of Waves our economy depends on marine transport for import and export. When Gatoh took that over he started charging everyone ridiculous prices and our economy suffered. Now he wants to stop me from finishing the bridge."

"Because if you finish that bridge Gatoh will no longer be in control. You'll be able to accept goods from any traveling merchants and sell your wares to travelers, eventually your economy would do better." Kakashi put in.

"Right. That's also why I didn't mention the chance of a ninja attack, we simply cannot afford anuthing above a C-Rank mission." Tazuna finished with a grim look on his face.

"Well since this mission is ranked too high for my team we'll head back to Konoha with the ANBU when they get here." Kakashi stated in a monotone. "You're welcome to join us or head on back to your home. Your choice."

"Kakashi-sensei! We can't leave this Gatoh guy to keep doing what he's doing. It's just not right! For me, this mission is still on!" Naruto announced with his usual confidence.

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto there's no shame in backing down from a mission that's too difficult for your level. You three aren't ready for a mission of this difficulty yet. The next time they attack Tazuna it will probably be with more chunin or even a few jounin. I can't protect you three and Tazuna from that many ninja."

"But we just took on two chunin level nins with next to no trouble, Kakashi-sensei! If we're not ready now when will we be ready? The life of a shinobi is always full of danger if we don't face it now we'll just be more nervous next time. I say we carry on the mission." Naruto said with confidence.

"But Naruto we're not even getting full pay for this mission." Kakashi argued.

"Is it always about the money? We don't need a reason to help these people, Kakashi-sensei. They need help and we can provide it, so why don't we?" Naruto looked at Kakashi in a questioning manner.

Sakura looked at Naruto with even more awe if that was at all possible. Sasuke just looked indifferent he would follow his sensei either way. Kakashi looked at his three charges and then at Tazuna. From the looks he was getting he just couldn't drop this mission. He sighed heavily, "Okay, we'll carry on with the mission. Remember though I can't guarantee your safety if we come across a lot of ninja. Seeing as we're going, Naruto leave some clones to watch over this guy." He pointed at the unconscious ninja. "I'll also leave the scroll with your kill with one of your clones so you can give it to an ANBU. Get ready to move out I have feeling we're gonna have a lot of trouble."

Naruto created four earth clones to watch the nin and had one carry the scroll with his kill. The group then set off toward their destination. Just as a precaution, Naruto created some shadow clones and henged them to look like wild animals. He ordered them to keep watch around them as they traveled.

Elsewhere, a small pudgy man was standing in a doorway and yelling at a much taller man. "They failed! And against a couple of brats no less? From the amount of money I'm paying you, you should've had no problem taking out the old man!"

"Hn. The demon brothers seemed to be overrated. Don't worry I'll take care of this myself." The taller man stated as he picked an enormous sword like it was a feather and placed it on his back.

"Just don't fail again or I'm not paying you!" The small man replied.

The taller just shimmered away with one thought on his mind, 'Annoying shrimp.'During the boat trip he created some water clones under water and had them keep watch from there while his shadow clones walked across the water.

When they got ashore he cancelled the water clones and found that nothing suspicious had been seen so far. It should have made him feel better but it made him feel worse, it felt like the calm before the storm. From what he could feel, it would be a hell of a storm.

They carried on walking towards Tazuna's home and everything seemed fine until Naruto suddenly got the memories of a clone that had dispelled itself. The clone had apparently seen a rogue nin with a huge sword and a face covered in bandages standing in a tree a few hundred yards ahead.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei! We got trouble up ahead!" Naruto told Kakashi as he waved everyone to stop.

"How do you know Dobe?" Sasuke asked.

"Because I've had some shadow clones disguised as animals checking out our surrounding area since I found out there would be more ninja on this mission. One of them just dispelled itself and from what I could see there's a rouge nin a few hundred yards ahead, he has a huge sword on him and I'm sure he knows how to use it." Naruto explained.

"Alright, good work Naruto. I want you three to stay protecting Tazuna when we go against this guy, I'll take him on." Kakashi ordered.

"But, Kakashi-sensei, why don't we just go around him and avoid a fight completely?" Sakura asked.

"Because if we do that Sakura the enemy will just come back later. It's better to take care of him now and get it over with." Naruto explained. "Right, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi nodded, "Exactly Naruto."

They set off and after a few more minutes of walking came to a very dense mist.

'So Kakashi of the Sharingan was on their team. I guess I can't blame the Demon brothers for losing against them. This should be an interesting fight!' The man with the huge sword thought as he moved in on the unsuspecting leaf nins.

They could barely see a few feet in front of them when Kakashi and Naruto screamed, "GET DOWN, NOW!" at the same time.

Everyone quickly dropped to the ground only for a large sword to come flying overhead. The leaf nins quickly got back up and Sakura helped Tazuna to his feet. Naruto and Kakashi however were looking at where the sword had landed, for now a nin had appeared standing on the blades hilt.

"I see, you're Momochi Zabuza, also known as the Demon of the Mist, an exiled ninja of Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in the Mist. So you're the one we have to protect Tazuna-san from, I was hoping for an easy day. I guess I'll have to make do with this." Kakashi said in his monotone.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan. There was a profile on you in our bingo book back in Kirigakure, we had an order to kill you on sight. You were also listed as the man who had copied over a thousand jutsu, giving you the second nickname of the copycat nin. I'm guessing you won't just hand over the old man?" Zabuza asked Kakashi.

'Kakashi of the Sharingan! Only some members of the Uchiha clan had a Sharingan, why would Kakashi-sensei have it?' Sasuke thought looking at his teacher.

"Afraid not. I'm gonna need to use this to fight you by the looks of things." Kakashi said as he reached up and uncovered his left eye revealing the Sharingan.

"I'm honored you feel that you must fight at your fullest to take me down. I'm afraid you won't have time to use it though." Zabuza disappeared as soon as the final word left his mouth. Not only that but the mist started to thicken.

"Protect Tazuna! Don't drop you're guard for a second! Zabuza is a master of the silent killing technique, he could kill you in an instant and you never know until you were dead. His first target will probably be me." Kakashi informed the three genin.

After a few more seconds of waiting, the mist thickened enough to make Kakashi invisible to his team and client who were only a few feet away. Naruto was about to call out to his sensei when Zabuza's voice pierced through the mist. "Eight points; Larynx, Spine, Lungs, Liver, Jugular, Sub-clavian Artery, Kidneys, Heart. Which one shall be my kill point?"

Naruto looked around trying to pinpoint where the voice came from. He finally gave up and expelled a lot of his chakra through his tenketsu, effectively clearing the mist close to them and allowing them to see Kakashi again. Kakashi turned to look at Naruto. "Thanks for that. I would have done that myself but you did it first, that saved me some chakra."

What that burst of chakra managed to cover up was Naruto's Kawarimi no Jutsu. He had used it quickly to swap places with one of the clones still in the area. He ended up in a tree a few hundred yards from the rest of the team. He looked over the area, trying to find where their enemy was.

Kakashi looked over to Sasuke, he was shaking and gripping his kunai tightly. What happened next annoyed the jounin slightly, Sasuke had started drawing his kunai up to his throat. 'The chance of being killed at any second without even realizing it. The air feels heavy like it's trying to suffocate me. I'd rather just-' The thought was cut off.

"SASUKE! Snap out of it! You have your team here, we're here to watch your back. Don't worry you're not dying on my watch." Kakashi shouted over to the Uchiha.

Sasuke visibly relaxed after Kakashi's lecture. He instantly tensed up again though, at the next thing he saw though. Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi and swung his huge sword diagonally through Kakashi's right shoulder. Sasuke had expected a spray of blood or at least some sound of pain, he did not expect his sensei to suddenly turn into water. "Sorry, Zabuza, you're gonna have to try harder than that!" Came Kakashi's voice from behind the demon of the mist.

"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu? I see you'd already copied it. Very skillful making your clone say that speech so as to draw my attention." Zabuza stated in a cold voice.

Kakashi dug a kunai into Zabuza's back, instead of dying though Zabuza burst into water. "And you've created more than one." Kakashi stated in a monotone.

"Of course." Came Zabuza's voice, again, behind Kakashi. He brought his sword down in the same movement as his clone only to have it blocked by Kakashi's kunai. "Good. If you'd used another clone I'd be annoyed." Zabuza quickly stepped back and brought his sword down in the opposite direction causing Kakashi to duck. The sword flew over Kakashi's head and dug into the ground. Zabuza quickly shifted his grip on the hilt and used the leverage to bring up a powerful kick sending Kakashi crashing into a body of water.

'Wait there's something about this water, it's denser, heavier than it should be. Not a good idea to be in the water right now!' Kakashi thought as his head broke the surface.

Zabuza appeared behind the gray-haired jounin, he sped through hand seals and shouted out his jutsu. "Suiro no Jutsu!" Kakashi was enveloped in the water and quickly trapped in a sphere that was held by Zabuza's right hand. "Now to get rid of your little brats, Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!"

'He's more skilled than I anticipated! The others can't handle this!' Kakashi looked to his students and shouted out his order. "Take the bridge builder and run, this guy is on a whole other level, you can't win this!"

'Yeah, right! Retreat was out of the question as soon as you were caught. Our only chance is to get you out of the prison.' Sasuke thought without conviction. He quickly broke into a dash, followed a second later by who he thought was the real Naruto, going straight for the water clone. He quickly threw a few shuriken at the clone and leapt into the air.

The Zabuza clone swiped his sword at the shuriken knocking them all away. The clone was now met with the sight of a short blonde dashing at him on the ground and a kid with dark hair falling from the sky. 'Easy.' Thought the clone.

Sasuke reached the Zabuza clone first, trying to dispel it with a flying kick. He was stopped short of his target though when the clone brought an arm up and caught him by the throat. He was also held up high enough to see 'Naruto' get a swift kick from the Zabuza clone only to disappear with a puff of smoke. 'He was using a shadow clone to attack this guy! Wait if that was a shadow clone then where's the real one? I knew it, he's a coward! He left a shadow clone and high tailed it to somewhere safe!' Sasuke thought, his anger growing at the blonde despite the crushing pain at his throat.

Naruto was looking on with fear, not of losing his life to Zabuza but to losing his teammate. He quickly formed a plan and summoned several more shadow clones in various places, one being right next to him. He quickly henged himself into a kunai and set his plan in motion.

Sakura was looking on with horror at what was happening in front of her. 'Where's Naruto I'm sure he wouldn't abandon us like this. Maybe I should do what Kakashi sensei said and run with the bridge builder. NO! I can't leave Sasuke like that! I've got to do something.' She thought and was about to charge the clone herself when three kunai where launched at the Zabuza clone from several spots in the woods . 'It's Naruto! I knew he wouldn't just run away like that.' She watched on as the clone brought up his sword to block the kunai. What happened next shocked and awed her and the Zabuza clone as the three kunai turned into three Narutos, one latched itself onto the arm holding Sasuke and slashed at it with his blade unsealed on one of the gauntlets. Sasuke was immediately dropped as the water clone was dispelled. A second Naruto caught the falling Sasuke and dashed into the forest for cover. The third Naruto just stood facing the real Zabuza in the middle of the lake. Sakura had hoped to see more only to feel the tug of the Kawarimi no Jutsu and find herself sitting on the floor next to Tazuna with several more Narutos standing near the two. "Naruto, I knew you wouldn't just leave us to fight like that!" She squealed silently at one of the blondes.

"Shhhh, Sakura! We're only clones, we were ordered to help you protect Tazuna-san from the cover of the forest, incase there are any more ninja on Zabuza's side. We were told to follow your command since we're only clones though." A clone quickly explained.

Sakura nodded and with haste told each clone to take up a look out spot in the trees while she stayed by Tazuna's side, kunai in one hand and the other ready to form any hand-seals she may need, in short, she was ready for damn near anything. She looked at the aged bridge builder and offered a smile. "Don't worry Tazuna-san. Naruto and Sasuke will help us get out of this I know they will." The truth was, she believed every word that came out of her mouth. She believed they would get the whole team out of this trouble.

Naruto just stood in the clearing defiantly, simply watching as Zabuza created another water clone. "More shadow clones huh? Guess I'll just have to make you go poof to." Zabuza announced with a slight viciousness in his voice.

"Actually you'll find that I'm the real deal. I'm hear to teach you the lesson of never hurting my teammates like you did to Sasuke back there." Naruto announced. He reached back into one of his utility pouches.

Kakashi's eyes widened and started shouting out orders again. "Naruto I told you guys to get out of here!"

"'Fraid I can't do that sensei. As soon as you were caught our top priority became your release. Don't worry about Tazuna-san, he's safe." Naruto brought his hand back out of his pouch. Each of his finger tips now had a ball bearing the size of a molar stuck to it. "You on the other hand Zabuza are gonna be witnessing one of my techniques first-hand." Naruto brought the hand with the ball bearings out in front of him holding his wrist with the opposite hand.

"And what exactly do you plan on doing with those insignificant specks? Gonna try and shoot me with them or something? Hah! I'd like to see that!" Zabuza jeered.

"Actually, yeah!" Naruto shot the ball bearing on his pinky straight at the water clone and it dissolved into a puddle of water. He followed that up by firing the remaining three at Zabuza. Who quickly caught one headed for his eye with his free hand while one landed in his chest and the last hit the bicep of the arm holding the water prison. Naruto thought back to when he created this attack.

Flashback

Naruto was in the middle of the ninjutsu training area, he was currently facing off a single clone. He had already gotten used to spinning his chakra for a short and sharp attack, currently he was training on long drawn out attacks. He was doing it by having the clone try and drive a kunai through his chest while he kept the chakra spinning. It was taking quite a lot of concentration. After about ten minutes of keeping the kunai at bay it started to glow a dull red colour and the point started to flatten against spinning chakra.

Kyuubi had chosen that moment to take interest in what Naruto was doing. "Huh. That's interesting. It seems your chakra is spinning fast enough to heat the metal until it's malleable, with nothing more than friction, that's pretty impressive."

Naruto called off the clone and turned to face Kyuubi. "So my chakra is dense enough to do that huh? Hey Kyu-sensei, if I can use the armor to keep things away from my skin do you think I could use it to keep something close to my skin as long as I spin the chakra?"

Kyuubi thought for a second. "I suppose, theoretically, yes. If you place something between your skin and the layer of chakra and spin your chakra you would be able to hold it there. But as you just saw anything touching the spinning chakra will heat up from the friction."

Naruto let a grin break on to his face. "That's what I'm counting on. Kyu-sensei, I know you said I wasn't allowed to learn any of the explosive seals 'till I was chunin but could you maybe let me learn a small one?"

"How small exactly?" Kyuubi asked raising an eyebrow.

"Small enough to fit on a ball bearing about the diameter of my fingernail, which brings me to my next question do we have any ball bearings that big anywhere?" Naruto, still with a grin on his face suddenly had a twinkle in his eye and Kyuubi, of course noticed this and broke into his own grin.

"Have I ever told you how impressed I am with that deviant little mind of yours, Kit?" Kyuubi replied.

Flashback end

"Huh. And here I thought that was actually gonna be an intere- HRK! WHAT THE-!" Zabuza failed to get the full sentence out as the three ball bearings started searing into his flesh and embedding themselves into his skin. When the burning feeling finally cooled and the balls seemed to stop he turned back to the blonde, a wave of killing intent was sent straight at him. "I'll admit that caught me off guard brat but it did nothing more than piss me off! Now I'll be sure to make your death slow and painful."

Naruto quickly employed his foxy grin at Zabuza's threat. "Hey give me a second the attack isn't even over yet!" Naruto brought his hand into seal and yelled, "KAI!" A split-second later all three ball bearings blew up, not huge explosions, but enough to cause some gaping wounds. Zabuza gave a loud growl of pain but kept his hold on the sphere of water. "Damn! I was hoping you'd drop the prison from that attack. Guess you've got a really strong will to keep on holding it with a wound like that."

Zabuza glared at the kid with open hatred. He was feeling a lot of pain and knew he was lucky to still have a hand in the sphere. "CONGRATULATIONS GAKI! You just made your death sixty percent more painful!" Zabuza growled. He created three water clones and gave them a single order, "GET THE BRAT!"

As the three closed on him he performed a kawarimi mid-dodge and gave a silent order for the two disguised as Sakura and Tazuna to transform back and join the fight. He then found himself next to Sasuke.

In a tree, across the body of water, a ninja wearing a mask watched the fight unfold. He had almost jumped into the fight when the explosions happened. He held back, though, because his mentor was not yet in a life threatening situation. He went back to silently watching the fight.

"Alright Sasuke you think you can distract him long enough with your special shuriken?" Naruto asked the Uchiha, a sense of urgency in his voice.

"Yeah, Dobe! Though I still don't understand why I am the one used for a distraction, again!" Sasuke spat back, obviously not liking his role in the plan.

"Because, long-range attacks only seem to distract him. To get Kakashi out of that sphere someone has to get up close and use their chakra to disrupt the sphere long enough for him to escape. And unlike you I have the perfect attack to disrupt the sphere. Now get going!" Naruto reasoned with the Uchiha. Sasuke glared at him quickly and went off to get closer to the fight to make his entrance and attack.

Back with Zabuza and the clones. The water clones had taken care of the shadow clones although now there was only one water clone left after the fight. It looked around, trying to find more enemies. It was eventually rewarded with the sight of a dark haired genin leaping, out of the bushes in front of him, high into the air.

When Sasuke finally reached the peak of his jump, he flicked his wrist slightly and what he was carrying unfolded. When each appendage had clicked into place, finally showing the item to be a large shuriken. Each blade with only one side sharpened giving the shuriken a slightly vicious look. Sasuke cocked his arm back and shouted out, "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!" He hurled the shuriken at Zabuza.

Zabuza just stared at the incoming projectile. "A shuriken? Show some originality, at least that other kid was able catch me off guard with his weird attack." Zabuza jeered the Uchiha. Once the shuriken got close enough he used his bloodied left hand to grab it by the center ring and fold it back up in mid flight. He then noticed the second shuriken that had been flying in the first's shadow and used the first to deflect it. "I'll admit that wasn't bad, using the first shuriken's shadow to hide a second and hope to catch me off guard. Wasn't a bad idea but I was little more cautious after that first kid. I'm not taking any chances around you brats anymore."

What Zabuza didn't see and Kakashi did though was a blade that seemed to be made entirely of chakra rising silently out of the water. 'I really hope it's Naruto or Sakura under the water or I'm dead.' Thought the gray haired jounin.

Under the water was a very frustrated Naruto. He had activated the fox eye jutsu so he could see the chakra and manipulate it easier. What frustrated him, was having to keep himself in place under the water by waving his free hand. It was making controlling the chakra blade pretty difficult but he managed. 'Come on, just a little closer and I can cut that sphere wide open.' Naruto stretched his blade a little more, the tip just reaching the sphere. 'Alright, NOW!' He pushed up quickly, being sure to move the blade away from the sphere as soon as it pierced it, careful not to hurt his sensei.

Zabuza felt the sudden movement in the water below him. He also saw the glowing blue blade that was cutting it's way through the water prison. Finally he felt the relief in his arm from letting go of the weight it was forced to carry even when it was damaged. Noticing the danger of the situation he brought the folded shuriken down on where Kakashi's head was only to have it blocked by one of the gray haired jounins plated gloves.

"Sorry for getting caught so easily guys. Good job at getting me out of the prison by the way. I'll take care of Zabuza now. Naruto, you better get out of the water now." Kakashi said looking at the blond haired genin in the water.

"Don't worry Kakashi-sensei he's already gone, he used a kawarimi to swap places with me." Replied the clone before poofing out of existence.

"Good." Kakashi looked back into Zabuza's eyes and his own eyes hardened. "Now then, that technique won't work on me again. So, what's it gonna be?" Kakashi asked lazily.

Damn that chapter just did not want to end. Oh, and if you don't get what happened with the ball bearings even after the flashback thing then you're morons. (Kidding)

Aw well hope you enjoyed the chapter.