The Strength of the Cherry Blossom

by animea-hime

At the ages before five, a young girl learnt the way of her family. After the ages of five, she had no family. Living up to her dead parents’ expectations, the young girl must pass many trials before being forgiven by them. [Complete] Sasusaku

3. 2 Encounter of an old friend

Chapter 2: First Mission, encounter of an old friend.

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Summary: At the ages before five, a young girl learnt the way of her family. After the ages of five, she had no family. Living up to her dead parents' expectations, the young girl must pass many trials before being forgiven by them. Sasusaku.

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'Thoughts'

'Inner selves'

"Talking"

FLASH BACK…

P.O.V

DREAMING SEQUENCE…

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

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Recap:

A circle of leaves began tornado-ing around Kakashi and Naruto, it seemed some what normal. Suddenly horrific images of people in the town dying appeared in the training grounds leaving a shocked Kakashi and Naruto. It was about five minutes after the genjutsu began that Kakashi realized he was caught in the genjutsu and formed the seal of the tiger in his hands to undo the illusion.

"Kai" He shouted.

The genjutsu dispersed to reveal Sasuke and Sakura standing together each with a bell, high-fiving each other in their achievement.

"Well, I see you two got the bells" Kakashi smiled, a few seconds later, the alarm bell for lunch went off. "-And before lunch too, well done" Kakashi congratulated. Sasuke and Sakura nodded, moving over to the stumps and sat down.

A few minutes later, a screaming Naruto could be heard from the middle wood stump.

"Why am I the only one who is tied up?!" Naruto yelled at Kakashi, struggling to get out of his little predicament.

"Because you cheated and besides, you didn't get a bell" Kakashi replied.

FLASH BACK…

Some thing in the near by tree glistened, it was one of the bells.

"Eh Kakashi-sensei dropped one of the bells? Hehehe" Naruto thought cheekily as he ran over and picked up the bells. Suddenly the blonde was pulled up to the tree by his feet; he was caught in a trap.

"Naruto, don't fall such an obvious trap!" Kakashi lectured, who was suddenly attacked by a barrage of kunai and shuriken. Suddenly a 'poof' sound was made to reveal that Kakashi did the kawarimi no jutsu with a log.

Kakashi went in search of Sasuke who had just attacked him. Running through the bushes, Kakashi realized he wasn't going to find him any time soon, so he decided to go and annoy Naruto a bit more.

Back with Naruto…

The blonde boy came across what appeared to be the bento, thinking that the best thing to do was eat lunch now instead of later, when he might not get lunch, Naruto ran over to the lunch and was about to start eating.

"Hehe, Kakashi-sensei didn't say we couldn't eat lunch now" Naruto snickered.

"You know, you really should wait for later" Kakashi commented, above Naruto.

"Eh….eh..he? I didn't mean it Kakashi-sensei" Naruto explained.

…END FLASH BACK

"I didn't cheat! You never said we couldn't eat lunch during the test!" Naruto cried.

'Baka' Sakura and Sasuke smirked.

"One would assume what I meant" Kakashi smirked.

"Hmph!"

"However, Sakura, when you did the Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu, did you forget that Naruto was with me as well? You're supposed to help your team mates not scare them" Kakashi frowned.

"I didn't forget, I just thought Naruto would have more sense to realize the genjutsu, guess I was wrong" Sakura shrugged.

"In any sense, care to explain how you and Sasuke got the bells?" Kakashi asked.

"Your turn Sasuke" Sakura mouthed.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted. Realizing he wasn't going to say anything, Sakura answered.

"Teamwork" Sakura said.

"Good, and how did you use teamwork to help you?" Kakashi asked.

"Well…while Naruto was oh-so-expertly distracting you, I did the genjutsu, while Sasuke got the bells, so we worked together to get the bells, almost if it appeared that Naruto was trying to do it all by his self" Sakura explained.

"So you're saying that Naruto's idiocy was faked?" Kakashi asked dumbfounded.

"No, we just worked with it" Sasuke explained.

"Aah, I see" Kakashi sweatdropped. "Well in any case, you guys pass, well done" Kakashi smiled as Sakura, Sasuke and himself walked off, leaving Naruto on the stump.

"Hey, hey, matte! Untie me damn it! Kuso! I knew they'd do this" Naruto cursed as he watched the three walk off.

End Recap

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"How far away from the target are you?" a voice called from a head phone from a blonde boy, and a black hired boy, both not in the same place of course.

"Five meters from target" the black haired boy replied.

"I'm ready when ever you are, believe it!" the blonde exclaimed.

"Good, ready on my call-" the voice paused for a second. "-Sakura don't you think you should be helping us to?"

"It doesn't take four people to catch the target" a voice mumbled in the background. The distinct crackle of a fire could be heard in the background as well.

"When the hell did you start that fire?" the voice yelled.

"While you were preparing your formation with the Sasuke and Naruto" the female voice answered.

"Why are you getting out raw fish and cooking it?" the male voice asked.

"I'm hungry" she replied.

"Sigh-" the male sighed "Right you two ready?" A yes could be heard from both boys "Attack the target in, five, four, three, two, GO!" the man ordered.

Both boys pounced toward the target, as soon as the blonde was about to catch the target, it seemed to jump up, avoiding capture and ran off.

"It's heading towards you" the black haired boy broadcasted.

"Right" the man's voice replied "Head back to our position and get the target"

"Got it-" the black boy paused and faced the blonde who was cursing about losing the target "-dobe, Kakashi said head back to him"

"Hai (1)" the blonde got up and raced towards Kakashi, following the black haired one.

"How far is the target away from you" the man called Kakashi asked.

"About five metres" the black boy replied.

"Is it still heading towards my position?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes"

"Alright, prepare to capture the target as soon as you reach my position"

"Got it"

"Five seconds away from your position, is the target with you?" The black haired boy asked.

"Err….yes, don't worry about capturing it, we have it already done, well actually Sakura has" Kakashi sighed.

"How?" the black haired boy glared inwardly.

"Fish" Kakashi sweatdropped.

"Fish?" the black haired boy repeated making sure he heard right.

"Yes, fish"

"Why does she have fish Kakashi-sensei (2)??" the blonde asked.

"Because, Naruto, Sasuke, I was going to eat it for my lunch, but I figured it was better bait for the cat" the feminine voice explained.

"EEEKKK!!! Sakura-chan (3) don't do that!" Naruto shrieked.

"Do what?" Sakura asked.

"Just suddenly talk" Naruto exclaimed into the head phone.

"I am connected to this head phone to you know" Sakura sighed "If your going to talk about me, don't do it while I got a head phone connected to yours on"

"Anyway guys, let's head back" Kakashi commanded.

"Hai" all three voices chorused, although one sounded like it was complaining about lunch being lost to a stupid cat.

--

"Well done team 7" a man with a scar across his face congratulated.

"Neko (4)-chan, Neko-chan, daijobou (5)?" I rather large lady in red squealed; strangling the poor cat in her hug.

"Arigato Hokage (6)-sama (7) and your young ninja for getting Neko-chan back for me" she smiled and walked out of the Hokage's office.

"Alright, the next missions for you guys can either be babysitting, grocery shopping or digging up potatoes" Iruka announced.

"Nani? I am not doing those boring missions, I want something exciting!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto! You do what you are given!" Iruka yells.

"I want a more serious mission! All the missions we have done are so boring!" Naruto whines. Kakashi then whacked him over the head, reprimanding him and telling him to shut up.

"But Kakashi-sensei, these missions are so boring!!!" Naruto whineed. The Hokage sighed.

"Naruto jobs of a ninja range from babysitting and grocery shopping to assassinations, "A" rank missions being the most difficult and dangerous, they are left to the Jounin or elite class of ninjas, "B" type missions are in the mid range and are preformed by the Chuunin, "C" type missions can be done by both Chuunin and Genin, "D" type missions are the easiest and there for best suited for genin class ninjas. Each class brings a certain cost to the client and is there for revenue for the village" the Hokage explained, looking up, he found that Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura are no longer paying attention (Sasuke and Sakura not even paying attention to begin with) to his speech and talking about what ramen Naruto had the night before and what ramen he was going to eat tonight.

"Maybe I should try the spicy beef ramen or chicken ramen tonight, with the miso ramen at the Ichiraku ramen shop" Naruto explained with Sasuke and Sakura nodding in agreement, though both could really care less.

"Naruto pay attention!" the Hokage yelled.

"No, every time I am in here you yell at me and tell me what to do, but I am no longer some prankster like I once was, I'm a ninja and I want a real ninja mission!" Naruto turned his back, sat down in crossed legged position and held his breath; Sasuke and Sakura nodding in agreement inwardly both noticing how he looked like a stubborn kid with a temper tantrum problem.

'I'm going to get yelled at for this later on' Kakashi sulked.

Sighing, the Hokage decided to give the team a 'C' ranked mission.

"Alright, I'll give you a 'C' ranked mission; the mission is to escort a person"

"Really? Who is it? A princess? Some one rich?" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke and Sakura seemed excited too.

"Come in" Iruka calls to the man behind the door, in steps an old man with a bottle of sake (9) in his hands, wearing a green sleeveless shirt and grey pants. His shoes were simple sandals and a towel around is neck, his bag was on his back and a woven straw hat on his head.

"A drunk?" Naruto questions, before receiving a thwack on the head from Iruka, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura each.

"My life is being entrusted to a group of midgets?" the man asked. Naruto growled at that statement. "The name is Tazuna, an expert bridge builder, you must protect me on the way back to my home and until my bridge I am building is done"

"Who are you calling midgets?" Naruto yelled at the man.

"All of you, especially the short, goofy looking one" the man mocked.

"Which one is the short one?" Sasuke and Sakura line up against Naruto to reveal that Sakura was the shortest.

"You calling me goofy looking?" Sakura growled, ready to kill the man.

"At least I don't dye my hair pink" Tazuna smirked.

"It's natural!" the cherry blossom yelled, on the verge of actually killing the man, had Sasuke and Naruto not held her back.

"Sakura-chan, don't kill the client!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Your aim is to protect the client, not kill him!" Kakashi sighed. Sakura scoffed before being released from the two boys grip and storming out of the Hokage's office.

"I would have never thought that pink hair could be natural" Tazuna voiced.

"Neither did we" Iruka sighed as Naruto and Sasuke walked out.

"Tazuna is it? Meet us at the North gate in about two hours, I better go find that pink haired genin" Kakashi sulked 'I am definitely going to get yelled about this later'

---

"Sakura, what exactly where you doing in that tree so high up?" Kakashi asked walking towards the North gate.

"Nothing really, just meditating" Sakura shrugged.

"But why so high up?" Naruto asked.

"Because it's more comfortable" Sakura explained, Sasuke scoffed.

"In any sense, why the hell have you only got a small knap sack? And what's with the change of outfit?" Kakashi asked.

"Err, the knap sack, I couldn't find anything bigger, besides, I only brought essentials and the outfit, well, it's much easier to travel in" Sakura shrugged.

That's right the girl changed her outfit from a tank top and shorts (A/N: Since I forgot to put this in the last chapter please see 'Ninja Saku 1' on profile for a reference to her outfit) to something completely different, and if you look from Sasuke and Naruto's positions, looks a hell of a lot better on her. This time, her top only reached to the bottom of her rib cage and was a half a singlet cross over top and was black and a marine green. One strap was thick and the other was thing. Over the top of that shirt, it was thin see through over shirt that rested on her shoulders and went to her elbows, which looked like it had a light green colour to it. Underneath the shirt was a fish net shirt that went all the way to her hip bone. Resting on her hip was her beige knap sack which had many pockets which carried shuriken, maki bishi (sp?), smoke bombs, explosive tags as well as other bits and pieces, women's amenities, bandages, medical gear.

Her bottom half was made up of three parts, a short curved skirt which was marine green and just acted as padding for the knap sack, underneath was a longer skirt which was white and reached mid thigh and had two slits in each side of it and underneath that was a pair of black bike shorts that ended a bit further down than the skirt. On one thigh where her shorts were was her Konoha head band which attached a brown kunai pouch to her. On the other leg was a series of bandages wrapped around acting as another holder for a kunai pouch. Like usual she had her black ninja sandals on, but over the top was a pair of white leg warmers reaching her knee. On her hands were black fingerless gloves. (A/N: See 'Ninja Saku 2' on profile)

"I see" Kakashi nodded. "Hello Tazuna-san (10) if you're ready to go, well head off to the wave country" Kakashi waved. Sakura glared at the man and continued her way out of the village. Suddenly Naruto raced past the girl and started screaming something incomprehensible, jumping up and down.

"Naruto, what the hell?" the girl screamed.

"This is the first time I have been outside the village!" Naruto grinned goofily.

"And you called me the goofy looking one" Sakura scoffed and continued her way to the Wave country.

"I take back what I said to you before" Tazuna muttered "Are you sure I can trust my life with these kids?" he whispered Kakashi.

"Yes, you can trust your life with most of us" Sakura replied from the front.

"How did you-"

"Good hearing" Sakura kept walking followed by the rest, walking in a box formation around Tazuna, with Naruto and Sasuke competing for something at the front and Kakashi and Sakura idly walking behind.

Walking for a few more hours, the group walked through the forest, alert and prepared for anything. Looking down, Sakura noticed a rather large puddle of water. 'I wonder when that person is going to attack'

The group continued walking to the wave country, completely unsuspecting, well most of them anyway.

Suddenly, Kakashi was attacked by two chains from either side, wrapping around him tightly, shredding the jounin (11) to deathbut failed as Kakashi's figure poofed and his place was a log. 'Kawarimi no Jutsu' (12) Naruto, shocked by the sudden attack stood frozen in his spot, neglectied to notice that an enemy ninja was coming straight after him. Closer, closer, claws being brought back, chains ready to kill him- Naruto took no notice of it, he was still frozen from the attack on Kakashi. Sasuke deciding that he better attack and stop Naruto from being killed; pulled out a kunai and shuriken before jumping up and throwing the shuriken into the chain, then throwing the kunai in the hole of the shuriken, holding the mysterious nin in place, though, some how Naruto still managed to get cut on his hand.

Suddenly another nin came out and started attacking Sasuke. 'My turn' Sakura thought as she pushed Tazuna behind a tree and kicked the nin in the face with a jumping turning kick and sent him to the tree opposite the one Tazuna was behind. The girl charged towards the nin and stabbed him in the heart with a kunai, getting slashed in the arm by the man's claws in the process. She yanked out her kunai before stabbing the man again and killing him. 'Didn't I tell them once before never to attack me again?'

"That's enough Sakura" Kakashi's voice called out breaking her out of her reverie. Noticing her kunai was still lodged in the man yanked it out forcefully, from the side, giving the dead body more pain. Not minding the fact that she was half covered in blood.

"You didn't need to kill them" Kakashi frowned.

"I only killed one" Sakura scowled "Besides, I was only protecting our client" Sakura pointed over to the man who was still against the tree.

"You were supposed to protect him, not push him into a tree and kill another" Kakashi frowned.

"I still protected him none the less" Sakura stated.

"But now that you have killed one, were going to have to trouble getting the other to tell us why he attacked" Kakashi frowned.

"He's after him" Sakura pointed to their client.

"How would you know?" Sasuke scoffed.

"It's kind of obvious, I mean, why else would a rouge ninja come up to us and attack blindly, yet powerfully, in the aim to kill Kakashi, since, unless you two have something of value, we have nothing worth killing to steal" Sakura explained.

"Aa"

"Well is this true?" Kakashi asked the capture mysterious. The man refused to answer as he looked from person to person. Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, Tazuna, Sakura; the man looked at all of them, but stared at Sakura, taking in her image, then suddenly his eyes widened and he shook violently, as if scared of her. She glared at him before he opened his mouth and spoke.

"Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-yesss-s-s-s" he stuttered, Kakashi taking notice of the sudden change in the man's attitude after looking at the bored girl.

"So Sakura-chan was right" Naruto smiled.

"Yes, it seems that way. In any case, Sakura, Naruto if you don't get that poison out of you, you will die" Naruto went wide eyed.

"Kakashi-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, I don't want to die so early, help me, help me!" the blonde boy wailed moving around crazily.

"Naruto, stop moving around, the poison will absorb faster in your blood stream if you keep moving" Sakura reprimanded standing still.

"But I don't want to die" Naruto wailed. Sakura sighed.

"Come here then and give me your hand" Sakura took a hold of the boys hand, grabbed her kunai, and dug out the poison for his blood.

"Sakura-chan, no need to be so violent" Naruto cried.

"You wanted it out didn't you?" Naruto nodded, "Its out" Sakura shuffled through one of her pockets on her bag and tossed Naruto a roll of bandages "Here, wrap your hand with them, before you die of blood loss" Sakura explained, before debating with her self on how to get so much poison out of her own body. Naruto hastily wrapped the bandages around his hand before tossing the roll back to Sakura, who was still in thought, and almost got hit by the roll, had she not caught it in time.

"Were going to have to go back, Sakura's gash is far too deep" Kakashi explained.

"No it's alright" Sakura grabbed her kunai before running it along her arm and cutting out the poison and wrapped her arm in bandages, knowing it would heal soon. Scaring the hell out of her team.

"Most girls shriek at the sight of a tiny drop of blood" Kakashi exclaimed.

"Aa" Sakura shrugged and continued walking.

"Tazuna, I'd like to have a talk with you" Kakashi called out.

"Yea what is it?" Tazuna asked.

"Why are ninja after you, in your report you said only thieves and common robbers were after you, these are full fledged ninja, at least on chuunin (13) level, the next encounter will definitely be jounin, this mission has now been moved up to a B-ranked mission, we may have to go back" Kakashi frowned.

"What Kakashi-sensei! No need to go back!" Naruto shrieked "We can handle it. Believe it!"

"But the level-" "Don't worry, we'll be fine" Sakura called out.

'Sakura-chan killed the man and teme fought the ninja while I just stood there like an idiot. Kuso!' Naruto thought grudgingly.

"Come on dobe, we haven't got all day" Sasuke called breaking Naruto from his thought "Hurry up scaredy-cat" the Uchiha mocked.

"TEME!!!" Naruto yelled running after the Uchiha. Sensing trouble coming from the two boys, Sakura slowed down and stood in between the boys, preventing any chaos from erupting for now.

--

A week later…

The group continues to travel to the wave country; as a matter of fact they are almost there; only a short day's travel and they should technically be there. After getting off the boat, which Naruto did very loudly, the group continued there way.

"What exactly is going here Tazuna?" Kakashi asked.

Tazuna retold his story to them about a rich business man, named Gatou, who wants to control the Country of the Waves and stop the flow of free trade; since then he has hired a bunch of rouge ninjas to get the job done. Tazuna then explains that he lied because they were too poor to afford a B rank mission and he begs the group to please help him. Kakashi decides, indifferently, that they will help Tazuna and the Country of the Wave. At about midday they were almost there. Walking in silence, well, except Naruto who was wandering if there was any ramen stands at the wave country, the group lay unsuspecting to a pair of eyes watching their every movement. Suddenly a rush from the bushes could be heard, the sound of leaves moving against another startled the group and caused Naruto to yell and draw out his kunai.

"Naruto! Don't!" Sakura shushed.

"But Sakura-chan some thing is there!" Naruto explained is action. Suddenly another rustle of leaves could be heard, and Naruto threw his kunai in the direction of the sound, hitting a near by tree.

"Naruto! I said don't" Sakura smacked Naruto across the head. Naruto ran over to the bush followed by the other two genin. To inspect what exactly was there. Sakura sighed, it was only a rabbit.

"Gomen nasai (14) Usagi-chan (15)" Naruto cried as the rabbit ran off.

'Usa-chan? What is she doing here? Wait if she's here-' Sakura turned her head and searched for something. Suddenly an evil cackle could be heard from above. 'Found you. Zabuza Momochi'

The group faced the man. He was shirtless, wearing bandages around his mouth, and his head band lopsided on his head. His pants were khaki grey and on his back was a large sword, covered in bandages. Suddenly the sword was released from its scabbard and swung from the man towards the group.

"DUCK!!!" Kakashi yelled as the group complies quickly, the sword missing them barely and lodging itself into a near by tree. From the dirt, the group looked up to the mysterious man, who is now on the handle of his sword.

Slowly, the group stands and faces the mysterious man.

"Aahh, Momochi Zabuza of the Hidden Mist, master of the silent kill, once an ANBU of the Hidden Mist, but now just a mere missing nin" Kakashi gave the introduction of the mysterious man. "Guys stay back on this one" Kakashi orders his genin team

"And you, Hatake Kakashi of the Hidden Leaves, man who has copied over 1000 jutsus, sharingan user, the copy nin" 'Sharingan? I thought that was a technique that only Uchiha's could use' Sasuke glanced at Kakashi.

"Protect Tazuna" Kakashi ordered, complying with the orders the three genin jumped towards Tazuna so that Sakura was on his left, Sasuke in front and Naruto to his right.

"You think that petty formation will stop me from getting him?" Zabuza mocked. "And you call yourselves ninja" he scoffed.

"We are ninja!" Naruto retorted.

"You are nothing like it, you are just playing ninja, and until you have the intent to kill you are never truly a ninja" Zabuza explained.

"Like you?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, like me" the missing nin answered.

"So basically kill senselessly, mercilessly" Sakura translated.

"You pretty smart for a ninja wannabe" Zabuza half complimented.

"Aa" Suddenly Zabuza disappeared and reappeared between the three genin and their charge.

"Told you I could get pass that pathetic formation" Zabuza seemed to smirk. Sakura, as if in instinct, stabbed Zabuza in the gut before pushing their client away and telling Naruto and Sasuke to guard him.

"Is that what you mean by the intention to kill? Attack on instinct?" Sakura asked.

"Exactly" Zabuza smiled evilly touching the wound Sakura gave him; as mist started creeping into the battle field giving the entire scene an eerie feel. Suddenly Kakashi attacked Zabuza to reveal that he was just a water clone, he used the Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (16). Sasuke and Naruto realizing the intention to kill in this fight, start shaking madly. 'This is a real jounin versus jounin fight, if something doesn't happen soon, I think I will crack!' they both thought in unison.

"Oi, you two" A feminine voice broke them from their reverie "Snap out of it, protect Tazuna-san, that's our job! Kakashi's a jounin and I am sure he doesn't want comrades to die in battle" Sakura broke them from their trance.

"Sly, Kakashi, very sly, but not sly enough" Zabuza appeared again, this time from behind the copy nin, slicing the man in two right down the centre. Suddenly, just as the thought that of a dead sensei crossed the genin's minds, a loud 'poof' sound was heard as the man disintegrated into water. Kakashi reappeared behind Zabuza with a kunai at his throat.

"So in that short exchange when the young girl was talking you copied my Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu?" Zabuza questioned, even if he knew the answer.

In what seemed like an agonizing amount of hours, was in fact only a mere couple of seconds as a second Zabuza appeared, reacting on instinct, Kakashi attacked the first Zabuza, before turning his attention to the second, who in an instant, caught the man in a water prison. 'Suiro no Jutsu? (17) Get something more original Zabuza' Sakura scoffed. 'Haku, if you're going to stay up in that tree, hide your chakra too!' Sakura glared at a branch above the scene where Kakashi was trapped by Zabuza. Sakura deciding it was time that she had a little talk with the boy called Haku, made a copy of her self and disappeared to the bushes.

--

"Well, well, Haku, long time no see" Sakura smiled.

"Yes it has been" A soft, some what feminine, male voice said from behind an ANBU hunter mask.

"Can I at least see an old friend's face before any real fighting may begin?" Sakura asked. It seemed as if the boy smiled to the girl's question before taking the red and white ANBU mask off, revealing a boy with a kind looked to his face, he had brown eyes, with long brown hair. He was wearing a green and yellow over shirt and dark yellow to orange pants, with white socks and sandals.

"Well your face may have changed a little, but I could still spot you out from the crowd" Sakura smiled.

"And you? Your pink hair? It stands out more than mine" the boy smiled.

"Not like I have a choice in the matter, this hair came to me, not the other way around" Sakura scoffed.

"But it's what makes you special" Haku smiled.

"I missed you, you know that? It's been what three years since we last saw each other?" Sakura smiled sadly.

"Four years" Haku corrected.

"Aa" Sakura sighed.

"Why'd you bring Usa-chan?" Sakura asked.

"To warn you we were coming"

Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"The men who attacked your group before, Zabuza hired them so he wouldn't have to 'get his hands dirty'. But then when only one showed up and without your charge, Zabuza threatened his life-" Sakura chuckled at that "-and he said that you were the one he was attacking, so I figured that since we were going to be attacking you, well since Zabuza is anyway, it'd bring her and give off a little warning" Haku explained.

"You had better get going" Haku sighed.

"Aa, next time we meet, I can guarantee will be at the bridge, and then, I will treat you as my enemy, you have been the closest I have had as family in a long time, but that won't stop me from killing you, after all that is the ninja way" Sakura hugged the boy and let go before jumping off "Oh, and next time you sneak in the bushes, hide your chakra" Her voice echoed slightly before totally disappearing.

"But I wanted you to find me though" Haku whispered.

By the time Sakura got back, not much had changed, maybe Sasuke and Naruto changing stances, but that was about it. Zabuza created another water clone and sent it to attack the three genin and their charge.

"Okay guys, you and I both know that we are not leaving with out Kakashi" she whispered to them. You two think of a plan, while I distract, got it?" Sakura ordered. Both boys nodded in unison, Zabuza still neglecting to realize that Sakura had said anything, or for that matter, everyone neglected to notice that Sakura did a little disappearing act on them five minutes ago.

"You better have a plan" Sakura muttered. The clone kicked Naruto which sent him flying back and his forehead protector ripping itself off his forehead. Kakashi barked an order to retreat, however Sasuke feeling ashamed to just run, chose to mimic Naruto and charged towards the clone with a flurry of shurikens in the hopes of killing the clone, through the storm of shuriken Sasuke lunged down with a kunai only to be plucked out of the air and tossed away to the side. Witnessing the fall of Sasuke, Naruto began to slightly shake.

Reminded by what happened when the first group of enemy ninjas attacked, Naruto charged at the water clone, only to be kicked away yet again. The blonde boy once again stood up but this time in his hands was the Konoha head band; the one he tried so hard to attain in his whole life. Amazed by his crazy action, Sakura smiled slightly as she looked at the blonde as he placed the symbol upon his head.

"Teme, I got a plan" Naruto announces. 'How could he possibly have a plan in this hopeless situation?' Sasuke questioned in jealousy.
"Remember your first priority as a ninja is the safety of the charge, the safety of Tazuna" Kakashi reminded them. The three genin look at the older man.

"Kakashi, even if we were to run with the charge and get him to safety, it would only be a matter of time until Zabuza caught up, captured us and killed the client" Sakura replied. "If I recall you did once say ninjas need to think beyond the normal, in the world of ninjas, those who break the rules are called scum, but those who don't take care of their friends are even worse scum"

"This is different! You must protect the charge!" Kakashi argued. "This man, Zabuza-"

"Is a cold blooded killer, by our age, he had killed 100 other students and he wasn't even part of the mist academy at the time" Sakura finished.

"It seems you know a lot about me young one" Zabuza commented.

"Of course, you are in the bingo books after all" Sakura smirked.

Swiftly the cold blooded killer charge and attacked Sasuke with three fierce blows. The Zabuza clone drew his sword high, aiming to kill the young boy however just as he was about to, Naruto formed a series of hand seals and did a Kage Bunshin no Jutsu creating multiple copies of himself, and with a kunai drawn the mass of Narutos' jumped onto the water clone but almost as soon as they attacked the assassin clone they were tossed off him and sent in all directions. 'Poof', 'poof', 'poof' one by one the clones disappeared, as if they weren't even there. In the cloud of smoke and dust made by the clones, Naruto dug through his bag and pulled out what looked like a giant hooked kunai and threw it at Sasuke, getting a quick look at the weapon the Uchiha understood what Naruto's plan was and moved into a straight up fighting stance after doing a quick spin, where he switched the weapons around to bring out his own and putting away the one Naruto tossed at him he undid the weapon, revealing a large shuriken, the Fuuma Shuriken. Jumping up into the air, Sasuke spun and released the shuriken.

The clone, expecting the boy to aim it at him, awaited the impact but the shuriken at the last second changed course and headed towards the real Zabuza. Seeing this, Zabuza didn't faze and he easily caught the weapon in his free hand, had he removed his hand from the hydro prison, the jutsu would have been released and Kakashi would escape thus wasting his energy for when the copy nin was caught. Just as missing nin was about to mock the two for such a pathetic attack he looked up to see another shuriken coming strait for him. 'Another shuriken in the shadow of the first?'

With confidence in him, the missing nin jumped above, hoping over the large shuriken. Sasuke noticing the missing nin's clone's action smirked in a hidden victory, as the shuriken poofed and revealed Naruto who had a kunai in his hands, quickly aiming the weapon at Zabuza's hand, the blonde released the weapon with confidence bubbling inside him that it would hit the man.

And…….it……is caught! Zabuza pulled his hand away from the water prison thus releasing Kakashi from the hydro imprisonment and setting him free. Kakashi and Zabuza stood still, starring at each other in the eyes waiting for the other to make the first move, and then in a second both split off in different directions landing opposite each other ready to fight. Suddenly Zabuza started chanting and moved his hands in the blink of an eye into a series of hand seals, in unison Kakashi copied Zabuza's actions; every word and movement that the assassin of the mist did, he did. Suddenly two giant water dragons appeared, intertwining with each other another, attacking each other in the process.

As the attacks clash a great explosion of water is tossed up rapidly. Silence covered the battle arena as Zabuza tries to figure out how Kakashi was able to copy the attacks, a deadlock of the two jounins ensures as each glares into the others eyes. Quietly a lone masked figure appeared unnoticed above on a tree branch. He had a white and red mask on with the Hidden Mist insigner on it. The deadlock of silence is broken as the two attack each other, repeating the same motions as before. Kakashi repeated his chanting, seemingly without the help of Zabuza, sending the missing nin into a disillusion of the events.

In the mind of Zabuza, a copy of himself appeared in the place of Kakashi, Zabuza stares incredulously. Thousands of answers to what is happening pass through Zabuza's mind, yet none seemed to fit the current situation. Kakashi suddenly attacked the missing nin head on, Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu to attack repeatedly sending Zabuza up against a tree, giving Kakashi the chance to kill the man. Drawing out his kunai, Kakashi aims the dagger at Zabuza and prepares to attack. Disappearing and reappearing in front of Zabuza, Kakashi prepares to attack drawing his hand back, but just as he was about to kill Zabuza effortlessly, two senbon needles fly to Zabuza's neck, sending the man to the ground; dead.
Jumping back, Kakashi looks at Zabuza's neck to try and find the source of the needles; one from the right and one from above.

Looking up, the group of ninjas spots a young boy with his face covered by a red and white mask. Averting their gaze to the right, there is no one. Looking back at the genins and their charge, Kakashi finds that all of them are there still. Looking back at the young boy with a mask, Kakashi stares in shock as the boy jumps down from the branch and in front of Zabuza.

'He can't be any older than Sasuke, Naruto or Sakura and yet he is a Hunter nin!' Kakashi thought with a little jealously.
Faced with the death of this fierce opponent, Naruto draws his kunai and charges forward to attack the masked ninja; noticing his actions Sakura charges before the Hunter nin, as if protecting him. 'You owe me one Haku AND Zabuza!'

"Stop you baka (18)" Sakura growled with her kunai drawn at Naruto.

"Sakura-chan! Move! He just killed this missing man, this crazily strong man and you defend him?!" Naruto yells at the pink haired girl.

"I am defending him because he was merely doing his job!" Sakura growled.

"How can you defend some one who killed mercilessly?" Sasuke questioned.

"Because he is a hunter nin! Hunter nins, if you recall what Iruka-sensei once said in class, a hunter nins job to hunt down the Missing-nin. They must make sure to leave no trace of their prey and completely dispose of the body in order to maintain the secrets of the Hidden Village that might remain in the body of the Missing-nin" Sakura retorted.

"But he is no older than any of us and killed so mercilessly! Zabuza was our target not his!" Naruto shouted.

"Did you not listen to anything I just SAID?!" Sakura shouted back "This boy if you will, is a hunter nin, hunter nins hunt missing nins. Zabuza is a fucking missing nin!"

"But Sakura-chan-" Naruto sulked slightly.

"She's right Naruto, it was his job to kill Zabuza, not ours, Zabuza just happened to be in our way at the time" Kakashi sighed as he checked the pulse of the dead body to make sure Zabuza was dead. Naruto sighed as he put away his kunai, Sakura copying his action.

"Zabuza is dead" Kakashi sighed as he stood and the Hunter nin took the body, disappearing in a ray of leaves.

"I still don't get why you stopped me Sakura-chan" Naruto cried.

"I am NOT explaining my reasons again!" Sakura grumbled.

"But he was no older than us!" Naruto retorted.

"Naruto, you have to understand, there are people in this world; who are granted with immense power at young ages, people who are stronger than I" Kakashi explained trying to comfort the confidence lost stricken boy "You are just going to have to try harder next time ne?"

"You bet! Believe it Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. 'Mood swings much?' Sakura shook her head in dismay.

"Anyway, let's keep going!" Tazuna exclaimed trying to lighten the mood.

"Of course" Kakashi smiled as he put his head band back over his eye and continued walking in the direction they were going before the attack. It was no more than five steps before Kakashi's body stopped and fell to the ground, scarring the people around him.

"Kakashi-sensei? OMG Kakashi-sensei is dead!" Naruto shrieked.

"Shut up baka! Kakashi just fainted from chakra exhaustion" Sakura sighed "Sasuke, Naruto, you two carry him" Sakura ordered "Tazuna, how much longer till your village and house?" Sakura asked.

"Not long" Tazuna replied.

"Good, you two think you can carry Kakashi?" Sakura asked

"Hn"

"Believe it!"

Both boys walked over to the passed out Kakashi and picked him up, each carrying half.

"Do you guys want me to carry your back packs?" Sakura asked. Suddenly both boys dropped their back packs and picked Kakashi up again, indicating that she was going to have to carry their back packs. Sighing, Sakura picked up Sasuke's back pack and heaved it onto her back before carrying Naruto's in her hands.

"Now remember guys, without Kakashi, even as strong as we are right now, it's not the best time to be attacked by anyone, so keep alert" Sakura advised.

'What is she, team captain?' Sasuke glared at the girl.

--

Some where off in a separate part of the forest…

"I'll just take the needles out carefully" the masked nin muttered. Slowly his hand advanced towards the neck of the 'deceased' body and just as he was about to pull out the first needle a hand shot up grabbing the boy's hand. The dead man awoke and glared momentarily at the boy.

"Did you have to go for the neck Haku?" the man grumbled.

"The neck is the easiest place to target Zabuza, besides you'd be angry if I injured your body" Haku smiled.

"But did you have to use two?" Zabuza grumbled as he yanked out both senbon needles.

"I didn't, I only used one, some one else threw the other senbon needle" Haku defended.

"Impossible-"

"Not impossible, one of the ninja you were fighting was Sakura" Haku frowned.

"The pink haired girl?" Zabuza asked.

"I am surprised you don't remember her, after all, she was once your student" Haku smiled.

"What are you talking about?" Zabuza retorted.

"Think back to about four years ago, you had me as a student and another" Haku encouraged. Zabuza sat for a moment and thought about what Haku just said.

"Oh, I remember her now" Zabuza chuckled "She was the one out of the two of you who mastered my technique as if she was the one to come up with it"

"Correct"

"That would explain why you brought that blasted rabbit, and why only one of the two we sent out before came back and was so scared" Zabuza analysed.

"Your age if affecting you Zabuza, anyway you really shouldn't be moving for about three weeks, but knowing you, you'll probably be up and around in a week" Haku smiled.

"Such a deadly killer and yet still holds innocence, that's what I like about you Haku" Zabuza muttered.

"What do you expect, I am still a kid after all" Haku smiled.

--

A few hours later the group arrived at Tazuna's house, which was in the middle of water basically. The only thing connecting the house to land was a small wooden bridge; Kakashi woken up from his unconsciousness; giving boy young boys a break from carrying the man.

"Inari-chan, oji-san (19) is home" A feminine voice called out from the house.

"Really?" a young boy's voice asked. Suddenly a young boy, no older than seven came running out of the house and glomped team seven's charge, passing by Sakura in the process and pushing her into the water.

"Woah!" Sakura fell into the water with a loud splash, alerting her team and sending their gaze to where the girl had fallen in.

"Waaaahhhhh!!! Gomen! (20) Gomen! Gomen!" the young boy cried.

SAKURA'S POV

'What the hell? You just got pushed off the board walk by a little kid? You are getting weaker!'

'Oh you're back. Well the kid came out of no where, you'd be the same too'

'Pft! Yea right, anyway, get back up to the surface'

'This is so not good, the weights on my legs are dragging me down!'

'Use chakra you baka!'

'Yea, yea'

'It's not good that you aren't the best of swimmers either'

'Shut up!'

I focused my chakra into my legs as I kicked harder and harder to reach the surface before I ran out of oxygen. Slowly I reached the surface where a hand was waiting to pull me up and out of the water. Since the arm was covered by white arm warmers, I assumed it was Sasuke's arm that was going to pull me up. Getting closer to the surface I lifted my arm so that it was higher than me and grabbed onto Sasuke's arm. In response the arm lifted me out of the water and onto the board walked.

END POV

"Daijobou Sakura?" Kakashi asked.

"Huff…huff…huff…huff…yea, just fine, I wanted to go for a swim anyway" Sakura answered sarcastically; her clothes sticking to her revealing a rather curvaceous body for a girl her age, lying on the boardwalk tiredly.

"You did?" Naruto exclaimed

"I…huff….was being…..huff…..sarcastic baka" Sakura breathed.

"Oh" Naruto sweatdropped.

"What took you so long to get out of the water?" Sasuke asked. Sakura pointed to her legs, to be more specific, her lower legs.

"Can't swim?" Sasuke raised a curious eyebrow.

"No, cramping" Sakura lied.

"Oh" Sasuke nodded as Sakura slowly got her self up and the group continued her way into the house.

"Gomen nasai" the young boy cried. Sakura smiled and bent down to the boy small boy.

"It's ok ne?" Sakura smiled "Anyway, Kakashi sensei, you should probably rest after all, your body seems to be still tired from the battle with Zabuza" 'Who by the way is still alive' Sakura added inwardly.

"I'll be fine" Kakashi insisted.

"Konnichiwa minna-san" a woman greeted.

"Konnichiwa Tsunami-chan" Tazuna greeted "Team 7, I would like you to meet my daughter, Tsunami and my grandson, Inari"

"Hello" Kakashi and Naruto smiled, while Sasuke and Sakura stayed in the background and nodded. Suddenly Kakashi's body gave in again and the man collapsed before them, some how landing on Sakura in the process.

"Narrghf!!!" Sakura grunted as the man fell on top of her "Oi, some one get Kakashi off me! Don't just stand there" Sakura barked as Sasuke and Tazuna sweatdropped, Naruto running to Sakura's aid.

"Pft! Fine my ass!" Sakura growled as Kakashi was heaved off her by Sasuke and Naruto.

"Tsunami-san, is there a room where Kakashi can rest for a while?" Sakura asked standing back up again.

"Sure" Tsunami nodded and guided the three genin and their unconscious teacher to a separate room where a mattress was laid out in the middle. After Naruto and Sasuke put Kakashi down, the four exited the room.

"By the way, I'm Sakura, he's Sasuke and the blonde is Naruto, and now I am going out for a walk" Sakura introduced before walking out of the house, still soaking wet.

"Nani? Sakura-chan chotto matte! (21)" Naruto called out as he ran after the pink haired girl with Sasuke on their trail.

--

"Okay, you two, come out of your hiding places and tell me why the hell you have been following me for the past two hours!" Sakura demanded. Slowly the two other genins of teams seven came out from the bushes and walked up to Sakura who was on the beach.

"Hn I was bored" Sasuke answered.

"I wanted to know where you were going" Naruto cried.

"I said I was going for a walk" Sakura sighed as she looked out to the sea.

"Wow! So pretty" Naruto admired.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"The beach" Naruto replied.

"Haven't you ever-" Sakura thought about it for a moment "Actually never mind" Sakura sighed as she walked away from the beach and back to the water side house.

"Come on you two, unless you want to stay out here, Kakashi should be waking up soon"

--

Two hours later the sun was starting to set and Kakashi had awoken twenty minutes before and was now still resting in bed and explaining how a hunter nin works, even though Sakura had already explained it twice.

"Okay, so like Sakura had already said twice, a hunter nin's mission is to seek out the missing nins of their village and take them down, leaving no trace of their remains so that no one can collect the remains and any secrets that maybe in the missing nins body and as you saw before hunter nins can be as young as you guys, heck there are even missing nins that are your age or a little older" Kakashi explained. At the last statement it seemed that Sasuke and Sakura both had their moods dampen and went into a foul mood.

"Usually, however a hunter nin will dispose of the body at the sight the nin was killed, yet the hunter nin took the body away from the sight" Kakashi contemplated.

"Maybe he needed evidence of the body" Naruto reasoned.

"If they needed evidence they would just bring back the head" Kakashi sighed.

"But then why would he take away the body?" Sasuke asked.

"Think guys, what was the weapon he used to kill Zabuza" Kakashi ordered. Quiet covered the room as each nin thought about the death. 'No way!' Sasuke exclaimed.

"He used senbon needles, that shouldn't have killed Zabuza" Sasuke voiced.

"Exactly, unless the needles were to hit a vital organ, Zabuza shouldn't be dead" Kakashi said.

"But you checked his pulse Kakashi sensei! You yourself said he was dead!" Naruto whined.

"But that was probably a momentary death-" Sighing irritably, Sakura spoke up "Don't you guys get it? They used the hunter nin as a disguise to get away!" Sakura stood up and stalked out of the door irritably, mumbling something along the lines of 'it was so obvious from the start, why didn't any one else figure it out? Jounin? Elite? Pft!'

Looking at the door where Sakura just exited from, the three males sighed.

"Kakashi-sensei; if Sakura figured it out so long ago why did she defend the hunter nin?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know Naruto, but it might have something to do with the fact Sakura disappeared half way through the battle with Zabuza" Kakashi replied.

"What do you mean she disappeared through the battle?" Naruto asked.

"About half way through, she made a copy of her self and disappeared for about ten minutes" Kakashi answered.

"But if it was a clone then we would have sensed the chakra difference" Sasuke retorted.

"The chakra levels of the clone were so close to Sakura's it would be impossible to tell unless you were a jounin or a chakra specialist" Kakashi sighed.

"But then what are we going to do about Zabuza being alive?" Tazuna asked.

"I don't know, I am in no shape to fight right now, and I am guessing neither is Zabuza" Kakashi mumbled.

"But then Kakashi-sensei, if you could barely hold up a battle with Zabuza, how will we fair off against him?" Naruto cried.

"I am going to train you first" Kakashi answered "Sasuke, could you go find Sakura, it's probably best that she train with us as well"

"Hn" Sasuke got up form his place and walked out of the house to find the pink haired girl.

SAKURA'S POV

'How the hell can they be so stupid to not notice that Zabuza was still alive?'

'Especially Kakashi, I thought he was one of the best ninja in our village!'

'You would have thought it'd be obvious after I defended Haku'

'You gave reasons to why you defended him though'

'True, I reckon this will turn out really ugly sooner or later'

'And we'll be at the receiving end of it as well, I guarantee it!'

'For some reason so do I'

'Wanna train for a bit?'

'Yea, I have been getting lazy lately'

'I'll say'

'Quiet you'

I stalked my way to a near by forest to train for a while, let off my anger at my team. I just can't believe no one noticed. Walking through the forest, I found a rather large tree in the middle, perfect to meditate under for a while. It seemed so quiet for a while, so peaceful. A slight breeze passing through making the leaves rusting against each other and the sounds of the occasional bird or rabbit bustling through were the only sounds coming from the forest as I continued to mediate, relieving myself of any stress that seemed to have built up over the past few months. Slowly, my mind and body became separated as I slowly drifted into a light slumber, leaving my body leaning against the tree trunk behind me.

DREAM SEQUENCE…

There was a party. A young girl the age of officially five walked around thanking people for such beautiful gifts, even if she didn't actually like any of them; smiling, she was happy and she never wanted the day to end.

Soon night fell to the Haruno district and a pack of rouge ninjas stormed the family district and kidnapped everyone, forcing them into a main house room where the family party was to be held that night.

One by one, heads, arms, legs were slaughtered off people. People she didn't even recognize yet knew they were family. Blood splattered; each member was slaughtered, heads chopped off, arms sawed off, legs pulled off. floors, walls, ceilings were caked in the thick, sticky, red substance.

Two people, one male one female, unrecognizable to the young girl were stripped of their clothes, and hands bound behind their backs. These two blind folded human beings were whipped, slashed, bashed, kicked, stabbed; they were tortured; the women was kicked down and raped, the male was beaten more. Blood poured over the rich floors, splattered onto the decorative walls, leaked into the tiniest of crevices; it was every where.

"Sakura, you; you are a disgrace to this family, you are a failure" the man hollered.

At that final note from her parents the girl watched as her parents lives were ended with a stab to the heart and then a slice off a head. More blood was spilt, staining the young cherry blossom, splattering more family blood over the main house room. The bodies, like the others, fell limp and crashed onto the ground below. Both heads, rolled towards Sakura, both looking up to her, as if to say, "You were always a failure"

The scene of the massacre kept repeating and repeating, each time it seemed as if more blood was split, as if each time the people who were murdered seemed to fade each time harder and harder to make out.

"Sakura" some called.

"Sakura" the voice repeated as if calling her to wake up, yet for the life of her, she could wake from the night mare; the memory.

"Sakura" the voice was male it wanted her to wake up.

More heads rolled, more arms were sawn off, more legs pulled off. The never ending pile of limbs seemed to grow and grow. The ever present sea of red seemed to drown the girl.

"SAKURA!!" There was that voice again.

"SAKURA WAKE UP!!" who ever it was, they did want to wake her up, yet this dream wanted to keep her right here.

"WAKE UP!!"

...END DREAM SEQUENCE

Slowly I woke up from the constant shaking of my body and some one yelling my name, yet my eyes weren't open yet. My eyes slowly blinked opening up a little. It was dark, yet bright. Something was covering my view, sending a shadow over me. Looking up I find Kakashi over my head. Slowly blinking myself awake I sat up and found my team mates looking at me worried, well actually it was more like Naruto worried and Sasuke bored looking and Kakashi in between worried and bored. Sasuke eyes seemed to have looked concerned for a moment, but that was probably something with the light.

"Ugh! Where am I?" I ask as I put a hand on my forehead sitting up slowly.

"You're back in Tazuna's house, Sasuke-teme brought you back here after he found you in the forest" Naruto replied loudly.

"Naruto don't be so loud!" I mutter rubbing my temples before flopping back down on my back.

"What happened Sakura?" Kakashi asked.

"I walked out for a bit, and I mediated in a forest then the next thing I know I am here" I replied. "I must have fallen asleep"

'So much for training!'

'Shut up would you?'

'Never!'

'Go back into that little jar please? You're giving me a headache'

'And Naruto doesn't?'

'Be gone please. I don't need two annoying beings around me right now'

'Fine, but I'll be back!'

"Do you realize how dangerous it is for just wandering off Sakura?" Kakashi reprimanded.

"I am perfectly capable of defending myself" I frowned sitting up again.

"You fell asleep" Sasuke scoffed.

"Shut up Chicken-ass" I snap.

"Anyway, tomorrow, since it is already night, we will begin our training" Kakashi announced.

"Joy!" I mutter sarcastically before lying back down.

"I don't get why you guys are training! You guys are just going to die! There's no way you can defeat Gatou!" Inari screams before running out of the room. 'I despise little kids'

END POV

--

The next day in the middle of a forest…

"Okay listen up team, today we are going to work on chakra" Kakashi announced.

"Hmm? Oh yea, catra wasn't it or something along those lines" Naruto asked scratching his head.

"Sakura" Kakashi sighed.

"Hmm? Oh right" Sakura nodded "Alright listen up you two because I am only saying this once; chakra is the energy a shinobi needs when performing a jutsu. This energy has two parts: the body energy in each cell and the spiritual energy gained through training and other experiences. To perform a jutsu, a ninja must release these two energies equally or in just the right amounts to perform jutsus this is called releasing chakra and is done by performing a seal with the hand, each amount of course varying from ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu and Kinjutsu (22)"

"Well at least we know Iruka had at least one good student" Kakashi complimented, annoying the two boys slightly.

"But Kakashi-sensei we already know how to perform jutsus" Naruto whined.

"Yes, you may be able to perform jutsus but you aren't using you're chakra efficiently unless you can control chakra properly it will be of no use to you and can wear you out so easily in a battle" Kakashi explained.

"So then how are we going to perfect our chakra?" Sasuke asked.

"Simple, tree climbing" Kakashi smiled in response Sasuke and Naruto sweatdropped falling on their backs while Sakura looked bored, and stopped paying attention to Kakashi after she explained what chakra was.

"But Kakashi-sensei, how is tree climbing going to help us with chakra control?" Naruto asked "We can all climb trees"

"You're going to climb the trees without your hands" Kakashi explained.

"Is that even possible?" Naruto asked.

"Of course it is!" Kakashi insisted as he hobbled over to a tree "Watch" Kakashi put one of his hands into the seal of the tiger and when he was ready, slowly but surely, he was climbing the tree without any hands.

"How'd you do that Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto exclaimed.

"By channeling my chakra into my feet" Kakashi answered "It is said that channeling chakra into your feet is the hardest place to channel it, so if you can do this you should be able to do any jutsu, well theoretically any way"

"This will be easy!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You may have improved the most since we first met Naruto, but, do your actions speak as loud as your words?" Kakashi asked.

"You bet! I am going to be Hokage one day! I can't let a little thing like this get in the way! Believe it!" Naruto shouted scarring off a few birds.

"Well then, let's see you try" Kakashi motioned before he shot three kunai at the genin. "Grab a kunai and pick a tree and begin by focusing your chakra into your feet before running up to the tree"

"Hai" Sasuke and Naruto chorused, and one by one each picked up a kunai and a tree before putting their hands into the seal of the tiger to gather chakra. Suddenly all three shot their eyes open and the raced up the trees. Shouting his battle cry, Naruto ran towards the tree and up it only to be bounded back after two steps and landed smack bang on his head making him cry out in pain. Sasuke like Naruto ran up the tree, but unlike Naruto he made it up half way before he put to much chakra in his feet thus forcing him to bounce off the trunk and landed perfectly, unlike Naruto, on his feet, before falling he marked his position with the kunai.

'Too little chakra and you end up like Naruto, too much chakra and it breaks the tree trunk' Sasuke calculated.

"Well it would seem that Sasuke is the better one out of the two of you" Kakashi voiced "But who is the best out of all three?" Kakashi questioned as he looked over to where Sakura had chosen a tree, looking up the tree Sakura was no where to be found, nor was she around the tree.

"Kakashi-sensei where is Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Errr-"

"Ano! (23) Is this high enough Kakashi?" a female voice asked from above.

"Eh? Sakura-chan? Where are you?" Naruto asked.

"Up here" Sakura answered.

"How high up are you?" Kakashi asked.

"At least two hundred meters" Sakura yelled back.

"That's high enough" Kakashi smiled "Well it would seem as if Sakura has the best chakra control out of you three, maybe she will be the next Hokage, and as for the Uchiha clan, well I can't say so much" Kakashi smirked sending the two boys angry and making Sakura sweat drop.

"Don't stand around my tree please, I am coming down" Sakura shouted from above before a loud rustling sound was heard advancing from above. "PLONK!!!" Sakura landed perfectly still on her feet just in front of the tree she was climbing with a small crater around her.

"SAKURA-CHAN!! DON'T DO THAT!!!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Always so loud" Sakura complained "I am still in one piece aren't I?"

"But that was 200 meters up!" Naruto screeched.

"No harm done so I don't see what the problem is" Sakura shrugged and walked back up the tree.

By night fall Naruto and Sasuke admittedly had gotten higher and higher each time but they were no where as close to the height Sakura had achieved in her first attempt, with them anyway. Again Naruto seemed to land on his head after falling off the tree, which was about five or six metres up. Muttering incoherent curses Naruto stood back up huffing and puffing from exhaustion, like Sasuke, he was tired, though neither would admit it. Sakura on the other hand was perfectly fine and just sitting against a tree branch waiting for the other two to give up and go back to Tazuna's house; Kakashi leaving a while ago.

Glaring at the tree, Sasuke gathered is chakra to his feet and ran towards the tree and up it reaching ten metres at least before his body gave way and he was forced to rebound off the tree, marking it at the ten metre mark.

'Why don't they just take a break?' Sakura wondered idly 'It's like they are constantly competing against each other in an imaginary game'

"Sakura-chan" Naruto whispered in front of the blossom "How do you get up so high? Oh and don't tell teme about this"

"Huh?" Sakura cocked her head idly.

"KAWAII (24)" Naruto squealed scaring both Sakura and Sasuke "How did you get so high up?"

"Oh" Sakura sighed before standing up "Okay Sasuke, you may as well listen to this while I'm at it" Sasuke glared at the girl.

"Alright, you two are so concerned about how the other is doing, that it clouds your minds and in doing so clouding your judgment, you have to remain calm, focused, don't worry about how the other is doing. When channeling your chakra you should be calm not hasty, that will end in you using your chakra pointlessly and runs it out faster" Sakura explained "Well, ja, I'm bored here" Sakura waved, leaving the boys in the forest.

--

A few hours later both boys emerged from the forest, still not victorious but exhausted. Slowly the two hobbled their way back to the waterside home. Walking into the house the two boys were confronted by a bustling Tsunami over a stove, a Sakura mediating in the corner and Kakashi and Tazuna conversing with each other about the recent events.

"Glad to see you two could make it for dinner" Kakashi smiled. Sasuke and Naruto smirked slightly before sitting down at the table where Kakashi and Tazuna were. Eventually Inari came out of his room after Tsunami called him and sat at the table as well while Tsunami herself was placing the plates of food on the table.

"Sakura-san, dinners ready" Tsunami called.

"Hai" The pink girl opened her eyes and raised her self to the table and sat.

"So how are you two going in your training?" Kakashi asked.

"Getting better thanks to Sakura-chan!" Naruto smiled.

"Aa" Sasuke grunted.

"Itadakimasu" the people at the table shouted in unison.

"Good to hear, Sakura, since you have already gone so high, you will be accompanying Tazuna tomorrow" Kakashi ordered.

"Hai" Sakura mumbled as she bit into her fish.

Through out the dinner Sasuke and Naruto continued stuffing themselves with food. Piling it in continuously, as if they hadn't eaten in years, or even decades. 'Their eating as if they hadn't eaten in ages! I can't believe that they are in competition with food!' Sakura scrunched her nose in disgust.

"More please!" Sasuke and Naruto shouted in unison as they rose their bowls before spewing all their food back out.

"That's disgusting you two! If you are going to eat so much keep it in you!" Sakura growled.

"I need to get stronger, that's why I am eating!" Sasuke wiped his mouth.

"And I need to get stronger than teme!" Naruto grumbled before wiping his mouth.

"That's all good and well, but if you guys keep throwing up the food it will be of no use to you" Kakashi sighed.

"Seriously, don't eat any more! It will become dangerous for you health, my health and the floor you are spewing on's health!" Sakura exclaimed.

"But I need to get stronger Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined.

"You won't get stronger if you keep eating like that then spew it all up, you will just be bulimic!" Sakura grumbled before standing up to put her bowls in the sink to wash them. "Gochisou sama deshita" Sakura smiled.

"Sakura-san, there's no need to wash them" Tsunami insisted.

"No, it's alright" Sakura smiled as she quickly scrubbed her bowl and chopsticks with soapy water before putting them aside. Looking up, the girl noticed a torn photo.

"Ano, Inari, you kept staring at this picture during dinner, any reason why the picture is torn? It looks like it was deliberately torn" Sakura analyzed at this the family seemed to all stop and go quiet.

"You don't have to explain if you don't want to" Sakura said warily.

"No it's alright; the man who was in that photo was Inari's father, maybe not by blood, but a father none the less, the two were inseparable."

"He was known as a hero in this country; three years ago he just appeared out of no where"

FLASH BACK…

Inari was being tormented by some local kids who were trying to take his dog, Pochi, away. The head boy got mad at Inari after Inari demanded Pochi back and threw the dog into the river.

"If you care so much about the animal, you would dive in and save him" the boy said before he pushed the younger Inari into the water below and unfortunately for Inari, he couldn't swim, Pochi, on the other hand, learned the dog paddle right then and swam to shore.

When he awoke, a man had saved him. He seemed to understand Inari and told him to choose a live of no regrets. No matter how tough, he must try, even if he loses his life. The man's name was Kaiza and he had come to town to fulfill his dream. Soon, Kaiza became part of the family. One day, there was a terrible storm and it looked like part of the city would be flooded. Kaiza volunteered to jump in the river and tie the rope to save the village. From that day forth, he became a town hero. Gatou was not happy with him and his outrageous actions, and decided to martyr him as an example right in front of the people in the town. He sent his men to capture and crucify Kaiza in the center of town as a warning to anyone who opposed him. He told the people that this man had been conducting terrorist activities against the Gatou Corporation and as punishment, publicly executed him. The little boy watched as his father figure was killed before his eyes.

…END FLASH BACK

"And that basically is what happened" Tazuna explained. 'So he lost some one important to him, that's why he is always crying' Sakura thought back to when she first met the boy and found him in his room staring out at the sea with a picture of a man in his little hands.

"I don't get why you guys are always training! It will do you no good! Heroes don't exist! They're just made up!" Inari shouted before storming out of the room.

"Otou-san you know never to talk about that when Inari is around" Tsunami yelled before running after the boy.

"I'm going to show him!" Naruto pronounced.

"Show him what?" Kakashi asked.

"That training is all worth it! That there really are heroes!" Naruto exclaimed before running out of the house.

--

Morning came to the wave country as a girl in a pink yukata walked into the forest collecting herbs. Looking around, the girl noticed a blonde boy, Naruto, lying on the ground, sleeping. Walking over to the blonde boy the girl instantly recognized him. It was the boy who yelled at him for 'killing' Zabuza. 'It's that boy' the 'girl' thought as she reached over to his neck ready strangle him. But stopped and gently shook him to wake the blonde up.

Slowly the blonde boy woke up to find the 'girl' smiling down on him.

"Huh? Where am I?" Naruto asked the girl.

"Your in the middle of a forest, you were sleeping so I thought to wake you up" the girl smiled.

"Arigato (28)" Naruto thanked as he sat up. 'She sure is pretty'

"What are you doing in the middle of a forest? Are you a ninja?" the girl asked.

"Huh? You bet! I am training to be the greatest ninja of all time" Naruto exclaimed.

"Why are you training to be the greatest ninja?" the girl asked.

"Because I have a dream, so that no one will look down on me ever again!" Naruto proclaimed.

"I see, but are you fighting for some one special?" the girl questioned as she collected more herbs, Naruto helping her in the process.

"I don't get what you mean lady" Naruto frowned.

"When you fight for some one special and protect them with your life, that's the only time that you'll be truly strong" the girl smiled "So do you have some special you fight for?"

"Yea I guess" Naruto shrugged.

"I see, well anyway, I must be going, thank you for helping me pick herbs" the girl smiled "Oh, and by the way, I am a boy" the boy walked off.

"Wha? She's a boy? He's even prettier than Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.

"What are you doing dobe?" a voice from above asked.

"Eh? Sasuke-teme? I am not a dobe!" Naruto yelled as he runs up the tree.

Eventually, two other figures appeared on the scene; Sakura and Kakashi.

"Oi, Chicken-Ass where's the dobe?" Sakura asked. Sasuke glared at the girl before pointing up.

"Sakura-chan I am not a dobe" Naruto whined "Look Kakashi-sensei! I made it up this high" Naruto smiled. Suddenly Naruto started to fall off the high branch, scaring Kakashi. But it ended up with him alright as his feet stuck to the bottom of the branch.

"Naruto don't do that, you'll give Kakashi-oji-san a heart attack" Sakura sighed.

"I'm not that old" Kakashi coughed.

"Explain the grey hair" Sakura smirked.

"It's silver! Get it right!" Kakashi retorted. Suddenly Naruto's legs gave way and he started falling towards the ground. In an instant Sasuke caught the boy by his foot from the branch above. 'I may end up older than need be after this team is through with me!' Kakashi sighed.

"Well done Naruto, I'll leave you to your own devices now to get higher" Kakashi smiled before he poofed away.

"Nice catch Sasuke" Sakura smirked before turning around "I had better get going to; after all, I have already made it up to the top; ja (29)"

'Such an annoying girl!' Sasuke glared.

--

The pink haired girl was now in the middle of the city standing idly on a bridge, supposedly guarding Tazuna.

"Why aren't you with the others?" Tazuna asked.

"Because I had already finished training while the other two slowly make their progress" Sakura answered "But if you don't want me to save your ass if it gets attacked then I'll go then" Sakura started walking away.

"No, no, you can stay" Tazuna put his hand on the shoulder of the girl.

"You sure?" the girl smirked.

"Yea, yea" Tazuna sighed.

"Oi, Tazuna" a man calls out to him. He was wearing a yellow construction helmet with a brown t-shirt and black three quarter pants with simple black runners.

"Ohayou, is there something you want?"

"Yea, this whole bridge building thing, I fear my life after the recent attacks, I am quitting" the man said.

"Fine, don't come back after lunch, and consider our friendship broken" Tazuna replied sourly.

"Tazuna, don't be like that! These attacks on us, the damage is not worth the final product! Think of the others!" the man begged.

"I am! This bridge, it will give us work! Something this town needs" Tazuna rebutted.

"It won't give us work if we end up dead!" the man retorted.

"What would giving up do? Show Gatou that he wins?" Sakura glared.

"Don't interrupt in a grown up conversation little girl!" the man scoffed.

"If I am the little girl you are the child in this situation! This bridge is giving the town hope, hope that if this bridge is made freedom will be restored! Yet you are so negative about such a thing" Sakura argued.

"Don't put yourself into conversations that don't concern you!" the man shouted.

"I became concerned when my team and I were hired to protect Tazuna-san until this bridge was built!" Sakura rebutted. The man coughed and turned around.

"I'm sorry our friendship had to end this way Tazuna" the man sighed as he took his leave.

"Look we got to go grocery shopping now anyway" Tazuna smiled as he guided the young girl around the town. Soon the pair walked into what appeared to be a grocery stall, and yet there were little to no groceries in there, and if they were it was more than likely they were slightly old and shriveled.

"It's empty" Sakura mouthed mournfully.

"It's been like this since Gatou came here" Tazuna explained. Quietly a man walked into the shop and stared at Sakura's lower half with lustful eyes. Slowly the man's hand crept closer and closer to Sakura's bottom, but just before he grabbed anything, Sakura turned around with deadly eyes ready to kill the man.

"No wait-" the man started, but before he knew what was happening he was getting beaten up by the pink haired girl screaming 'hentai! (30)'. Who would have known he was only going for the girl's bag?

A few minutes down the track, Tazuna was staring amazed at the pink haired girl who was walking next to him. Looking around Sakura noticed many people with signs in their hands saying 'Will work for food' and bowls in their hands begging for money or food.

"I can't believe you did that to him" Tazuna thought aloud.

"A girl has to defend her self, no matter where she is" Sakura huffed. Suddenly another hand pulled on the girl's skirt.

"I thought I said-" the girl began to growl, but then realized that the man wasn't there, and instead was a little girl.

"Nee-chan, daijobou?" the small girl asked, in her little hand was an old decrepit doll that looked really worn out, like her clothes, which was a simple dirty dress.

"Hai, nani?" Sakura asked the girl, as an answer the girl raised her hands as if begging for something.

"Eh? Oh hold on" Sakura nodded as she searched her bag for something to give the poor girl. Slowly Sakura pulled out a grey jumper and a wallet, searching through the wallet Sakura rummaged for a few coins to give the girl as well as some candy. Putting the jumper on the girl, she gave the girl the coins and a little bit of candy before smiling and standing up again.

"There, use it wisely" Sakura smiled motherly.

"Arigato nee-chama (31)" the girl smiled before running off in a separate direction. 'Sasuke, Naruto we have GOT to help these people!' Sakura cried in thought.

--

By night both boys had made it to the top of the trees, exhausted, but smiling in victory.

"I guess we should head back now ne?" Sasuke chuckled.

Slowly the boys came back into the water side house, thrusting the door open before flopping onto the floor in front of the people in the small house. Again Tsunami was hastily moving around the kitchen preparing dinner as Kakashi and Tazuna conversed and Sakura sat at the table with her eyes closed.

"Kakashi-san, why did you continue to help us even when I had lied to you about this whole thing?" Tazuna asked.

"To abandon one's duty is not courageous, and below courageous there is nothing. Those are the first Hokage's words" Kakashi answered.

Quietly Inari is sitting on his chair when he has a small flash back of his father.

FLASHBACK…

A man, a young man is with a younger Inari. The town are having fun with each other when Inari asks why Kaiza is so nice to him.

"Why not?" the man smiles before attacking the boy by tickling; the two erupt into a loud laughter.

"If you want to protect something, protect. You must try your hardest to protect the things important to you" Kaiza explains

…END FLASH BACK

"Why are you all trying to hard to fight against Gatou? It's so pointless" Inari cries.

"Shut up kid!" Naruto spat "I'm not like you!" Sakura and Sasuke holding the blonde back just in case he started attacking the boy.

"You're too carefree, how can you possibly understand any of this? About me? About this country? You are just barging in where you don't belong!" Inari shouted.

"We may not understand this, for that matter understand anything about what's happening, but we are here to help" Sakura replied softly.

"You stupid girl! What the hell would you know about losing some one important to you and not doing anything about it? I watched my father die before my eyes, and here you guys are so carefree interrupting something that doesn't want to be interrupted" Inari shouted which seemed to make Sakura stiffen before she ran out of the house.

"You stupid kid, you're just this little kid who continues crying, playing this tragic character, people like you should just continue crying" Naruto glared before chasing after the pink haired girl.

"We maybe slightly carefree, but that doesn't mean we don't know what's going around here" Sasuke muttered before chasing after Naruto.

'My team has serious issues about this' Kakashi sighed as Inari ran out of the house.

--

"Can I talk to you?" Kakashi asked the boy below him, staring out at the water from the board walk. The young boy doesn't answer.

"Look, sorry about my team, you know, in a way Naruto is kind of like you" Kakashi chuckled making Inari stare at him in shock.

"Like you, Naruto also grew up without a father; for that matter he grew up with out either of his parents or a single friend. Yet he doesn't complain or cry; he does his best to get people to acknowledge him" Kakashi explained. Inari seemed to nod in response.

"What he said to you earlier, he has probably told himself the same thing over and over again" Kakashi sighed as he got up and walked back inside.

--

"Sakura-chan where are you?" Naruto yelled out trying to find the pink haired girl. Who would have thought that pink hair was so hard to find during night?

"Sakura-chan please come out!" Naruto pleaded.

"Dobe, not so loud!" Sasuke growled "She probably doesn't want to be found, give her time, she'll appear tomorrow morning" 'At least I hope she does'

"How can you say that teme? Sakura-chan just walked off in a rage and you tell me to leave her alone!" Naruto yelled.

"Yes, you and I both got angered by what that kid said, what makes you think that something that kid said did anger her as well?" Sasuke asked.

"But-"

"Leave her dobe, she'll be fine, she's a ninja for a reason" Sasuke comforted.

"Fine" Naruto grumbled as he walked back to the house with Sasuke.

--

"Didn't find her?" Kakashi asked bewildered.

"Who would have thought pink hair would be so hard to spot during the night?" Sasuke shrugged.

"And here I was expecting all three of you to come back" Kakashi sighed.

"Teme said to stop looking for her!" Naruto accused.

"Because she obviously doesn't want to be found, and I think it'd be best to leave it like that" Sasuke defended.

"But she is all alone in the forest" Naruto cried.

"She's a ninja in training, I am sure she can take care of herself" Kakashi reassured.

"How can you both say that when your team mate is out there?!" Naruto shouted pointing to the door. Suddenly the door opened revealing the pink haired girl standing there, her mind some where else.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto raced towards her in a big hug choking her to death.

"Ack! Naruto let go of me!" Sakura demanded.

"No way! You'd leave again!" Naruto cried, turning Sakura slightly blue.

"Please…let….go….can't…" Sakura fainted.

"Eh? Sakura-chan? OMG Sakura-chan wake up wake up wake up!" Naruto wailed as he shook her body fierily.

"Naruto stop!" Kakashi demanded "You're going to kill her!"

"Dobe she maybe a ninja, but you practically killed her from your hug, remember she is shorter than you" Sasuke sighed as he took Sakura from the boy.

"Give me back Sakura-chan!" Naruto growled.

"Dobe, I am putting her on her bed so she can rest" Sasuke sighed as he carried the girl bridal style to the opposite room.

"Be careful of your strength Naruto" Kakashi reprimanded "Like Sasuke said, she is shorter than you"

"Hai sensei" Naruto sulked before walking to the room where the beds were to sleep where Sakura was on her bed, and oddly Sasuke had also fallen asleep.

"Night Kakashi-sensei" Naruto sighed before falling to sleep himself.

"Aa"

--

DREAM SEQUENCE…

Smiles….laughter….screaming…slaughter…arms….legs...blood...heads…one by one each image repeated itself. The people being killed, they weren't familiar. The words said were incoherent; the only sound was the beating of a heart and the snickering of people around her...

Rape…murder…they images never seemed to cease…

Dark men, only the outlines of them could be made out as the advanced slowly…

One drew back a weapon; it looked like a katana…

And in a second the weapon was thrust down killing a girl…

In mere seconds the young girl of five was dead as blood splattered over walls, floors and the ceiling…

…END DREAM SEQUENCE

The pink haired girl awoke with a start thrusting herself into a sitting position, she was sweating terribly, her breathing was uneven, her body shook slightly in fright; it was plain and simple that dream, no nightmare, had scared the crap out of the girl. It was still night, or early morning, and the rest of her team was still asleep.

"Just a dream" she told herself as she lay back down and closed her eyes. In the mere second that the girl shut her eyes they were thrust right back open as images of her nightmare bombarded her, starring at her ninja sandals for a moment the girl sat up again, hand on forehead as she breathed deeply.

"Sakura you alright?" a male voice asked. It was Kakashi.

"Hai, bad dream is all" Sakura sighed "I'm going to get some air ok Kakashi?"

"Yea, sure, just be back soon" Kakashi nodded as he feel back asleep. Slipping on her ninja sandals Sakura snuck out of the water side home and walked towards the beach, staring at it for a while.

Two hours had passed since the cherry blossom woke up and went for a walk; slowly the sun rose from the sea greeting a new day.

"I guess I better head back now" Sakura chuckled to herself as she headed back to the little house.

"Sakura, I said be back soon!" Kakashi growled.

"I am back I have only been gone for two hours" Sakura muttered.

"Right, anyway, if you are ready we'll be heading out" Kakashi announced.

"What about Naruto and Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"They seemed really tired this morning so I didn't wake them up, we'll leave and guard Tazuna then the other two can join us" Kakashi said.

"I don't think either will be happy if we left without them" Sakura frowned.

"Well we can't exactly wait for them" Kakashi sighed.

"Then you go with Tazuna and I'll wait for the other two, I bet they don't even know where the bridge is anyway" Sakura offered.

"Fine by me, but please get there soon, and when I say soon, I don't mean two hours later I reckon Zabuza may appear today" Kakashi nodded before he and Tazuna walked out of the house and towards the bridge.

--

Slowly a blonde boy with a sleeping cap on his head awoke. Looking around the boy realized that he was the only one in the room; all the other beds were packed up.

"Eh? I can't believe they left without me!" Naruto exclaimed as he raced around the room to pack up his gear and get changed.

--

"I wonder what is taking Naruto so long" Sakura wondered idly as Sasuke and herself waited outside on the boardwalk.

"Hn"

Suddenly screaming could be heard from inside the house.

"What the?" Sasuke and Sakura raced into the house to find that Naruto was running around mad to get changed.

"I can't believe they left me! I can't believe they left me!" Naruto repeated running around the room scaring Tsunami and Inari.

"Dobe" Sasuke began making Naruto freeze in his steps and look to the side where Sasuke and Sakura were standing looking at him weirdly.

"We haven't gone yet" Sakura sighed as the three walked out of the house and towards the bridge.

"Come on, let's go" The three ninjas jumped up into the tree tops and started jumping from tree to tree getting closer and closer to the bridge. Passing through the trees Sakura noticed a sliced up boar on the ground; coming to a halt the girl retraced her steps, and going back to the little waterside home. Startled by their teammate's sudden actions, the two boys turned around as well and chased after the girl.

"Sakura-chan, come back!" Naruto called out.

"You two go to the bridge, it's in the heart of the town on the water's edges, it's hard to miss, and I'll meet you guys there!" Sakura yelled back as she ran faster towards the house.

"Girls sure are weird" Naruto thought aloud as Sasuke and he came to a stop before going the way they came and towards the bridge.

"I think it's just her" Sasuke muttered.

--

Just as the pink tresses girl arrived back at the house an ear piercing scream erupted from the house, making Sakura run faster and faster to find Tsunami and Inari.

--

"Take me, just leave my son" Tsunami begged as they advanced towards the boy.

"No okaa-san!" Inari cried. In an instant both were captured by two mysterious men and dragged out of the house by ropes.

"Let me go!" Inari demanded as he struggled to get out of the ropes.

"Stop moving squirt! We are just following orders!" one of the men chuckled. Out of no where two shuriken flew out and sliced the binds on the young child before disappearing again. Looking around the men couldn't find the source of the shuriken. Facing the child the men got out more ropes and prepared to tie the boy up. Again out of no where two shuriken flew stopping the men from grabbing the boy and slicing up the ropes.

"Who ever you are you better come out!" one of the man demanded the response being more shuriken flew from obscured angles distracting the men.

"I said COME OUT!!!" the man yelled, again a shuriken flew from all directions, but this time there was also a few kunai which hit the men in the gut.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! Didn't your mother ever teach you people not to attack women and children?" Sakura scoffed.

"Listen little girl, move out of the way and you won't get hurt" the second man threatened.

"Why does everyone assume that just because I am a girl I can't do anything?" Sakura growled before snapping her fingers to reveal that she had Tsunami and Inari and all they had was a log.

"And you call yourselves swordsmen? Pft! I have seen so much better" Sakura scoffed as she chased the men tying the men up with chakra strings before they could get anywhere.

"You guys should be safe now ne?" Sakura smiled to Inari "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a bridge to go to"

"Remember, there are such things as heroes" Sakura smiled again before running off towards the bridge.

--

Sasuke and Naruto hastily made their way to the bridge Sakura spoke of jumping from tree to tree and soon roof to roof.

"Why do you think Sakura-chan went back?" Naruto asked the black haired boy.

"I don't know, come on" Sasuke motioned as he quickened his pace.

Soon the two boys arrived at the bridge to find Kakashi and Tazuna standing around with wide eyes. Looking around both boys eyes widen as well, there before them were several dead or critically injured workers. Soon a blanket of mist covers the bridge.

"Sasuke, Naruto, defence formation!" Kakashi ordered. In an instant the three ninja surrounded Tazuna, preparing them selves for any attack that may come.

"Where's Sakura?" Kakashi asked below his breathe.

"She was with us for a moment, but then ran back to Tazuna's house" Sasuke replied.

"I see" Kakashi nodded "Be prepared for anything, this is Zabuza's Kiri Gakure no Jutsu(32)"

Suddenly an eerie maniacal laughter erupted from all directions. In seconds clones of Zabuza had surrounded the four continuing to laugh evilly.

"I see you still have those midgets with you" Zabuza laughed "But it seems you are missing one of them, it would seem that one is still shaking" Pointing out Sasuke who was holding onto his kunai with his hand shaking violently, making it 'cling' against his kunai pouch. Suddenly all eight of the Zabuza clones advance forward ready to attack.

"I'm shaking with excitement" Sasuke smirked

"Go ahead Sasuke" Kakashi smiled before Sasuke attacking each water clone, sending them into puddles of water. 'I can see them' Sasuke noticed as he looked at the remainder of what were clones.

"It would seem that you have gotten better" Zabuza complimented as he and the 'hunter-nin' appeared in front of the four "Looks like a rival for you in speed Haku"

"It would seem that way" Haku nodded.

"I want a piece of him" Sasuke muttered "For pulling that little trick on us earlier"

"I do to!" Naruto agreed.

"May I?" Haku asked.

"Go ahead" Zabuza sighed as Haku span into a tornado racing over to the black haired boy to attack him.

"Kakashi" Sasuke barked.

"Fine, but Naruto you must stay and protect Tazuna!" Kakashi ordered, in that second Sasuke ran forward, preparing himself to attack Haku. The two boys clash in a series of close combat moves before Haku had one of Sasuke's hands blocked by his own.

"I have two advantages over you right now; the first being the water on the ground, the second being that I have one of your hands occupied, and one hand is all I will need" Haku claimed, suddenly with his spare hand, Haku performed a jutsu.

'Performing a jutsu with only one hand?!' Kakashi stared in awe and shock.

"Sensatsu Suisho (33)" Haku shouted as he stompeds into a near by puddle sending water upwards, the splashed water turning into needles, ready to kill Sasuke.

Slowly, Sasuke remembered his training with chakra. 'I must concentrate, gather my chakra into my feet and move!' Sasuke willed his body to move, dodging the water needles attack and appearing behind Haku.

"Now it's my turn" Sasuke commented as he and Haku began another round of close combat fighting. In the most unexpected moment of the battle, Sasuke got in a swift kick, sending Haku to the ground.

"It would seem that I have won in speed" Sasuke remarked from behind Haku. Slowly the mist seemed to increase as the air got colder around Sasuke. Slowly Haku rose from his position on the ground and began performing another jutsu.

--

"How?" Zabuza stared in shock as Kakashi's student beat his own in speed.

"Don't you recognize the symbol on the back of his shirt?" Kakashi mocked. As an instinct Zabuza turned his head to the back of the boy before widening his eyes.

"That's right, he's an Uchiha" Kakashi smirked.

"I had heard there was a survivor, it would seem he is it" Zabuza nodded.

--

"Makyo Hyosh (34)" Haku shouted, slowly several ice mirrors appeared around Sasuke, trapping him inside as Haku entered one of the mirrors and reappeared in every single mirror.

"What are you going to do now?" Haku mocked.

--

Scared of what may happen to the young boy Kakashi raced forward to help Sasuke only to be stopped by Zabuza.

"I am your opponent. If you go help the young boy, then you leave the other wide open" Zabuza snickered. 'He's right! KUSO!' Kakashi glared at the missing nin.

"Don't fret Kakashi, let's enjoy the show" Zabuza smirked. With no choice, Kakashi stayed back and watched as Sasuke defended himself in the demonic ice prison.

--

As thousands of needles rained upon Sasuke, the boy was defenseless to the jutsu as each needle hits its mark, sending the Uchiha to the ground.

'I need to help teme' Naruto growled "Excuse me for a moment Tazuna" Tazuna nodded as Naruto ran forth drawing out a kunai.

"Oi, teme, catch!" Naruto threw the kunai, intending for Sasuke to catch. Raising his hand slowly, Sasuke expected to catch, only to have his expectations lost by the boy in the mirrors who caught the kunai before he could even catch it.

"KUSO!!!" Naruto exclaimed. Suddenly two shuriken fly out of no where, attacking Haku and sending him out of the ice mirrors, if only for a second. The people in the battle scene turn to the right where the shuriken came from, yet no one was there.

Soon another onslaught of needles attacks the Uchiha, sending him back to the ground. 'I need to attack from the inside while the dobe attacks from the outside' Sasuke analyzed.

"Oi, teme, I have a plan to get you out of the mirrors" Naruto whispered to Sasuke; the black haired boy blinked for a moment before jumping back in surprise. 'Dobe, he has just stuffed everything up' Sasuke glared.

"Dobe, why are you in here?" Sasuke growled.

"I am in here to help you teme!" Naruto whispered back.

"You would have been a better help on the outside" Sasuke sighed as he stood up again.

"What are you doing teme?" Naruto asked as he saw Sasuke perform a series of hand seals.

"What do you think dobe? These mirrors are ice and what melts ice?" Sasuke quizzed the blonde.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (35)" Sasuke shouted as a burst of flames blew out of his mouth and towards the mirrors in hope that the fire would melt the mirrors, but to his dismay the mirrors didn't melt at all.

In response to the fire, Haku attacked both the boys with needles, which just frustrated Naruto even more; resulting in the blonde to Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (36), creating multiple copies of him self and sent them and him self to individually attack the mirrors.

"This jutsu is basically a traveling technique, in my eyes, you are moving like you are in slow motion" Haku explained as he destroyed all the shadow clones "I am only using the mirrors to reflect my image"

--

"I knew it" Kakashi exclaimed "This technique, it can't be destroyed by mere attacks; it's a kekkei genkai (37). This is a bloodline trait, so I couldn't even copy it with my sharingan!"

"What you serious?" Naruto shouted "Well that won't stop me! I still have a dream!" Naruto pronounced performing another clone jutsu to attack the mirrors only to be kicked back as another barrage of needles were thrown at the two boys.

Haku, if only for a second had a small flash back of when he was on a bridge where Zabuza befriended them. "I don't want to kill you two, but if you two are going to continue fighting me I must!" Haku announces "This bridge it's a battle ground for many people's dreams, and I am to fore fill Zabuza's, even at the cost of my life!"

Suddenly three shuriken hit the masked boy out of the ice mirrors before two kunai lodged themselves in the boy's arms. Looking around for the source of the weapons Haku found no one, along with everyone else.

"Who the hell keeps throwing those weapons?" Naruto screams aloud.

"Shut up dobe" Sasuke ordered from the ground.

"No teme!" Naruto shouted "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"Don't!" Sasuke shouted while the Naruto clones attack the mirrors again to come out failing.

"I can't believe you deceived us into thinking you were a hunter nin!" Naruto shouted.

"As a ninja, you should know that the duty of a ninja is to deceive and find an unguarded spot" Haku explained "I found the unguarded spot by deceiving" Soon more needles flew towards the boys making them recoil in pain.

Angry at Haku's reply, Naruto created another show of clones and attacked the mirrors once again. This time, however, Sasuke's eyes followed Haku's movements.

"Oi dobe, do you think you can do that again?" Sasuke asked, as if mocking him in a way.

"Believe it!" Naruto shouted and replicated again as Sasuke kicked up the puddle of water in hopes of tracking Haku. Again, the attempt is futile. 'Maybe if I use something other than water, maybe I can see him better' Sasuke looked up, revealing in his eyes the sharingan 'Maybe fire'

"Oi dobe how about trying that one more time?" Sasuke asked.

"You better believe it!" Naruto proclaimed performing another Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. 'Perfect' Performing the appropriate hand seals Sasuke performed his Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu as Haku went after Naruto; being caught in the cross fire of the jutsu, Haku became slightly wounded forcing him to recoil and return to one of the mirrors.

--

"I confess, I wasn't just getting beat up like an idiot in our last encounter" Zabuza snickered "In the background, I had Haku watching the entire battle. You see, Haku is truly an amazing kid; after just watching a jutsu once he can come up with a way of defeating the jutsu" Zabuza smirked "So don't think you can defeat me with the same jutsus this time" Zabuza performed his Kiri Gakure no Jutsu once again so the mist thickened even more than it was before and disappears. Suddenly the missing nin attacked Kakashi, only to have the attack blocked.

"You rely way too much on sight Kakashi, the only reason to why you defeated my at the river was because of the Sharingan" Zabuza announced "Your sharingan; it allowed you to give the impression that you were copying my attacks, once I was confused, you used a hypnotic genjutsu so that you gave the illusion that you finished the jutsu before me. The secret to the sharingan, I know it, and I now know how to defeat it"

"And how would that be?" Kakashi glared into the mist as he lifted his forehead protector to reveal his sharingan eye.

"Simple, first, the mist around you your self need to see me to copy the move, and with mist as thick as this around, you can't copy anything. Second, I keep my eyes closed and maintain a distance; therefore I won't be hypnotized" Zabuza explaineds as he once again disappears into the mist.

"But you must see too, to be able to attack!" Kakashi shouts.

"You forget Kakashi, I am Momochi Zabuza, master of the silent kill" Zabuza's voice echoes through the mist "I have the advantage"

--

"Dobe! Can you run?" Sasuke askeds.

"Yea" Naruto answered, obviously tired. 'He's tired but he won't admit it'

"Then run out of these mirrors and attack from the outside!" Sasuke ordered.

"Hai" Naruto nodded as he ran towards the mirrors. As Haku flies to attack Naruto and prevent him from escaping, Sasuke threw a fire attack. Again it hits Haku slightly, but not enough as Haku knocked the blonde haired boy back, making is attempt a failure.

Sasuke glanced around and begun the fire jutsu again, but this time Haku aimed to attack him first. Just as Haku was about to attack the boy; two more shuriken pass by, missing Haku by an inch as four senbon needles are sewed into him. Smoke erupts from the mirror prison making it impossible to see anything. As the smoke cleared several mytserious figures appeared around the mirrors. The figures seemed to circle the mirror prison throwing senbon at each mirror, going straight through the centre of each mirror.

--

'Blast, I can't see what's happening!' Kakashi cursed 'Alright calm down. If I were Zabuza, what would I do' Kakashi thinks for a moment before he realized what Zabuza was going to do 'Kuso! Tazuna! And he's unguarded!'

Kakashi prepared to race towards Tazuna but just as he was about to, two loud thumps could be heard below his feet and then the sound of a sword coming down as then blood started to spill towards him.

"Kuso!" Kakashi cursed.

--

Slowly the smoke cleared to reveal that there was no one there, and yet senbon needles were in the mirrors. Looking down at his prey, Haku found the two boys missing. They're gone, and now outside of the mirrors next to Kakashi.

"Daijobou?" Kakashi asked the two boys.

"Hai" They both muttered as they stood up. Looking towards were Tazuna was the mist seemed to also clear reveal a shock stricken Zabuza and an unharmed Tazuna on the ground, who was also in shock. In the place of Tazuna there was no one, and yet there was blood.

'What the?' Kakashi wondered as he looked around for any other signs of blood. Drips, small drips, could be seen going to the side of the bridge before they disappeared off the edge.

"Sasuke, Naruto!" Kakashi barked as the three raced towards Tazuna before Zabuza could attack their charge again. Angry that his prey escaped Haku threw kunai at the boys, surprising them and hitting both in the thigh.

"Don't think you can just escape so easily" Haku glared as he charged towards the boys, dispelling his mirrors. Seeing their opponent come after them the two boys race forwards before clashing with Haku; each boy fighting their hardest against their enemy. In a flash Haku had caught Naruto with a kunai to the neck and some how Sasuke with a kunai to Haku's neck.

"It would seem we are in a predicament" Haku voiced.

"It would seem so" Sasuke nodded as he moved the kunai closer to Haku's neck.

"However, even with that weapon to my neck, you have no intent to kill me" Haku started "So therefore I have advantage"

Sasuke's kunai pushed harder before drawing blood, as if saying that he is capable of killing.

"You think that scares me?" Haku questioned before he disappeared from his position stabbing Sasuke in the gut before getting around the boy and putting the bloody kunai against his neck. Widening his eyes in pain and shock Sasuke stared in disbelief at this boy who had caught him in this pathetic position. Suddenly Haku and Sasuke were separated by three shuriken that whizzed by; startling Haku and forcing him to jump back away from his opponents. Looking to the side again there was no one to claim the shuriken as theirs.

Standing up, Sasuke glared at Haku prepared for anything that he might throw at them; Naruto still standing with his back turned to their opponent; growing tired, eyes widened in shock that he could have been almost killed. Haku again brought out three senbon needles preparing to throw them at Sasuke.

'I'm running out of chakra, but to have put that jutsu up for that long, it would have cost him a lot of chakra as well, which means he is also tired. I have to figure out where he is going to attack next' Sasuke thought to himself. Checking his surroundings, Sasuke widened his eyes as Haku aimed the senbon needles and threw them. Running towards the shock stricken Naruto; Sasuke pushed the boy out of the way only to get the needles into himself.

"Wha?!" Naruto exclaims as he realized what had just happened. Sasuke; he had just saved his butt, but now was paying the price with his life. Sasuke was exhausted and the final blow sent him to the ground.

"Why did you do that?" Naruto whispered kneeling down to the collapsed Sasuke.

"I have no idea, my body just moved by it self" Sasuke coughed.

"Baka! You still have a dream to achieve" Naruto cried.

"I guess I won't be able to achieve it now" Sasuke chuckled.

"But you have to achieve it!" Naruto sniffled.

"I guess I can't now" Sasuke slowly closed his eyes as he let himself succumb to darkness with Naruto still holding him.

"Your team mate; he was definitely a shinobi worth respect" Haku sighed. Slowly Naruto put Sasuke down and stood up; suddenly Naruto's chakra levels began to rise as a feeling of blood lust spread through him. The feeling of death heading towards Haku was evident as Naruto raced towards him with unimaginable speed and unimaginable chakra levels.

--

"What, what is this chakra?" Zabuza questioned "The levels are going crazy!"

'It can't be Sasuke, and I don't think it's the other boy. It must be Naruto!' Kakashi turned his head towards the two boys as red chakra started spilling around the two. Suddenly a sword swung down before Kakashi, missing him barely.

"It would seem you have forgotten; you're my opponent" Zabuza growled before swinging his sword again. He disappeared into the mist as Kakashi was left to defend him self and Tazuna blindly.

"Let's finish this fight" Kakashi motioned.

--

Naruto charged towards Haku, assaulting the boy with unimaginable power and strength. The assault on Haku continued as he the 'hunter nin' slowly began to lose the fight. 'How did his chakra rise so high so suddenly?' Haku thought with a little envy as he retailed with senbon needles only to have them deflected constantly.

Naruto's power seemed to increase as he knocked Haku towards the battle of Zabuza and Kakashi; as Naruto is about to finish Haku off, three kunai whizzed pass Haku digging them selves into the ground before Naruto, forcing him to stop. Looking towards Haku, Naruto found his pink haired team mate gripping onto her bloody arm in front of Haku as if defending him.

"Enough Naruto" Sakura ordered.

"Hmm…two shuriken, one kunai and at least eight senbon needles, were you really worth all that?" Sakura chuckled.

"Why did you stop me Sakura-chan?" Naruto growled, slowly the mask of Haku cracked and fell revealing the face of the boy Naruto met in the forest.

"You! You're that boy from the forest!" Naruto shouted.

"Yes I am Naruto-kun" Haku smiled.

"How can you still defend this guy after he has deceived us all?" Naruto shouted.

"He deceived you, not me. I knew who he was all along" Sakura sighed helping Haku up from his position on the ground.

"So you defended him even if you knew he wasn't a hunter nin? How pathetic! You are helping an enemy no less!" Naruto shouted.

"Sakura-chan, don't" Haku pleaded pushing away from the girl "I'm a dead weapon anyway"

Looking slightly upset at Haku's pleads; Sakura moved herself away from the boy and faced him with venom.

"Last time we met we were at the forest and that time I saved both your and Zabuza's ass, however this time, I will kill you, like I also promised" Sakura glared.

"I am sorry it had to end this way Sakura-chan" Haku pulled out a kunai preparing for battle "But, like you, I aim to kill you as well!"

"Oi you, you have no right to call her Sakura-chan!" Naruto growled ready to step into the fight.

"He has more fucking right than you do!" Sakura shouted to Naruto, in her eyes telling to not interrupt.

"But Sakura-chan-"

"No Naruto. I have known him far longer than you know. This is one battle I am asking you not to interfere in" Sakura pleaded.

"No way! Sakura-chan whether you like it or not, I am apart of this too" Naruto growled evilly.

"No, this time, it's my battle" Sakura answered before knocking him to the side and away from her and Haku. Slowly the blonde rose from his place on the ground.

"How the hell can you still defend him? You may know him but he is still the enemy!" Naruto shouted.

"Who said anything about me defending him any more? I am here to kill him, and if Kakashi isn't finished with Zabuza, I am interrupting them too, they both owe me a fight" Sakura answered before launching herself at Haku who was also preparing for a battle.

"I want you to take me seriously here Haku, you maybe weaker now, but you had better take me seriously or once I kill you I will revive you some how just to kill you again!" Sakura orders as she and Haku clash with weapons.

--

As the scenario with the young ninja's continued, Kakashi performed a Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu(38)

"It would seem that you are trapped in my jutsu, whatever you just performed it won't work with me" Zabuza taunted;suddenly, several nin dogs attack from the ground holding him in place.

"The Jutsu was to track the scent of my own blood that now covers your weapons" Kakashi explained "It would seem that the mist is clearing and you are in a hell of a lot of trouble"

"You went too far you know that Zabuza. You attempted to assassinate the Mizukage (39) but when your troop failed you abandoned the water country only to go to Gatou for money, to get revenge. Give up now" Kakashi glared "Or die!"

"Don't think your petty dogs can stop me" Zabuza laughed evilly.

"They might not, but I can. Now time to show you one of my own jutsus" Kakashi performed some hand seals before shouting "Raikiri! (40)" Slowly chakra energy began to build up and started glowing around his hand with a loud crackling, electrifying sound.

'The chakra, it can be seen out of his hand!' Zabuza screamed.

Kakashi advance towards Zabuza ready to kill them still man.

--

Water jutsu. Weapon clash. Dodge, block, hit, miss, kick, punch, strike. Kunai, maki bishi thrown, shuriken flung around, and senbon shot. It was intense battle. Explosive tags exploding. More water jutsus from both sides. Turning kick, back side sick, axe kick, block, body punch, throat strike, neck strike, block, block, side kick, front kick; it seemed that both had the intent to kill each other, and it was even more evident in their eyes. Just as both were about to clash once again Haku stopped Sakura's kunai from hitting his own and disappearing into the mist.

An intense feeling of powerful chakra spread through Sakura towards the direction Haku seemed to have gone. Thrusting her self forward, the blossom sped towards the scene of Kakashi and Zabuza.

--

Kakashi rushed forward almost of second away from killing the infamous nin. The copy nin drew his hand back up and thrust it back down expecting to kill the man. Blood splattered every where. Kakashi stared in shock as his hand lowered from the blow he had made. It wasn't Zabuza's blood that had spilt, it was Haku's. The boy Zabuza had trained had just defended him paying the ultimate price. The rapid sound of sandals on pavement advanced forward as pink came from the mist before stopping dead in its tracks. From the pink came Sakura, who was staring in complete shock.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto slowly walked up to the girl who had just slumped down, bangs covering her eyes.

"You...why…baka!" Sakura muttered to herself before standing up and stalking over to the dead body which both jounins had parted from and had started fighting again. Plonking down beside the dead body of Haku, Sakura gently stroked the face before chuckling.

"Now were you really worth those eight kunai, ten shuriken and at least twenty senbon needles, among other weapons?" the blossom whispered knowing she wasn't going to get an answer.

"Sakura MOVE!!" Kakashi shouted as three kunai whizzed pass by the girl, dodging the weapons with ease. Standing up, Sakura shut the boys eyes before glaring at his teacher; her teacher. Kakashi striked again, with Zabuza in his grasp, only to have it countered by the missing nin himself.

"Baka!" Sakura shouted as she threw a kunai at Zabuza.

"Are you really worth a life?" Sakura stalked towards the man with three senbon needles in hand.

"Was his-" Suddenly laughing could be heard from the unfinished edge of the bridge. Gatou showed up on the bridge with an army of men and dismissed Zabuza of his ninja responsibilities.

"Gomen Kakashi, but you are no longer my opponent" Zabuza said.

"Aa"

"As for Haku, Sakura, he knew what was expected of him when he came into this battle field, he is no more than a useless weapon now-"

"Baka! He was not just a weapon and you know it!" Sakura shouted "He was your only companion. Without him, you wouldn't be alive right now. I can pinpoint at least five instances that you should be dead right now!"

"And I thank him for that, but I just used him, as Gatou used me" Zabuza rebutted.

"How can you act so coldly towards a teammate's death?" Sakura cried, yet still no tears falling from her eyes.

"Because that is the way of the shinobi, to be used until you can't be used no more. I am pretty sure I remember teaching you that" Zabuza chuckled as Sakura's eyes widen in realization dropping the senbon needles.

"I see" Sakura turned her body to face Gatou, glaring at the man with an army of millions.

"Boy, toss me your kunai" Zabuza ordered. Shocked by the response, Naruto did the only thing he could do and toss, the once enemy, his kunai. With the kunai in his teeth, he charged into the army of swords and spears, whipping his head to and fro until he reached Gatou. With a couple of swings, Zabuza stabbed Gatou only to come out standing with several swords sticking out of his body, not actually succeeding in killing the evil mini man, before being attacked by numerous amounts of spears barraging on him again; falling to the cement of the bridge in the middle of the men.

" Hahahahah! This is the great Momochi Zabuza? Master of the silent kill? Pathetic!" Gatou remarked laughing at the almost dead man's body.

"Tell me, Gatou is it? Do you know what Zabuza was most known for?" Sakura asked with bangs covering her eyes.

"Of course! Why do you think I hired him in the first place?" Gatou shouts.

"Well then, you'll be familiar with this technique" Sakura slowly bent her body down, each hand holding a kunai as well as one in her mouth. Her body soon started to sway from side to side as if she were drunk. Suddenly her body disappeared and the sound of screams and bones and bodies breaking could be heard from Gatou's army. One by one each person of the army fell in a line getting closer and closer to Gatou. The final blow was struck as Gatou was tossed from side to side, getting stabbed numerous times before being tossed over the edge of the unfinished bridge sending him to the depth of the ocean below; finishing the life of the evil man.

At that moment, Sasuke slowly began to regain consciousness. Shocked that the Uchiha was still alive, Naruto ran over to the boy as he slowly sat up.

"Teme! Teme! You're alive!" Naruto shouts.

"And you're still loud!" Sasuke grumbled as Naruto chuckled and he enveloped the boy in a brotherly hug. (A/N: Just for those who don't like yaoi, it can be a brotherly hug, but for the others…well…imagine something else like I am in your mind)

"What's happening?" Sasuke asked.

"It's all over I reckon" Naruto replied.

"How? What about that boy?" Sasuke asked.

"I am not entirely sure, but Sakura-chan seemed to be there all long to save our sorry hides and the boy, he's dead" Naruto replied glumly.

"What?" Sasuke stared in surprise.

"We want revenge for killing Gatou!" Gatou's army roared as they rushed towards team seven and Tazuna only to be stopped by an arrow fired at them, turning around they are greeted by Inari and all the townsmen, who have stepped up to defend their town.

"This time, we are defending our town!" Inari proclaims.

"The hero always shows up at the last minute right Naruto?" Inari chuckled.

"Hai" Naruto chuckled.

"I think, I have just enough chakra to do a small clone jutsu" Kakashi muttered as he puts his hand into the required hand seals "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he shouted as millions of Kakashi copies appear by his side ready to fight.

"I suggest you go back on that boat you came on; unless you want your life to end like Gatou's" Sakura glared from behind them. Fearing their lives, the group of men rushed towards the boat and steered away from the Wave country.

Walking over to the body of Zabuza, Sakura kneeled down to the body to find that he was still conscious, but on the verge of death.

"My last wish, Sakura-chan, is to see Haku's face. I owe him at least that; to be by him during death, since he was always beside me during life" Zabuza breathed.

"Sure Zabuza-sensei" Sakura smiled before pulling out the spears and other weapons out of Zabuza's back.

"You were always a good student, Sakura-chan, you truly are a powerful person" Zabuza muttered before closing his eyes, succumbing to the world of death.

"Kakashi, can you carry Zabuza to Haku? They deserve to be together when they die" Sakura stood up "As his final request, I'd really appreciate it if it was carried out"

"Hmm? Of course" Kakashi nodded as he walked towards the missing nin's body and picked up the dead man and placing down next to the younger boy's body.

"When I said you two owe me. This wasn't exactly what I meant" Sakura chuckled to herself before walking towards Sasuke and Naruto.

"You know, you're lucky you were against Haku, if you were against Zabuza you would have actually been dead and you wouldn't have been able to complete that ambition of yours" Sakura smiled before walking off again towards the city.

"Nani? Sakura-chan what do you mean?" Naruto shouted.

"Hmm? Zabuza, he didn't care when he killed but Haku, he really didn't want to kill you, those hits from Haku; they were merely scratches" Sakura smiled waiting for the rest of her team to come.

--

The Konoha ninjas on the top of a hill stare out at the sunset after they buried Zabuza's and Haku's body with Zabuza's sword as a grave stone.

"Kakashi-sensei, is that really the way of the ninja? To be used as a tool?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm? Well, essentially, yes" Kakashi started "We are merely tools used to protect a village"

"Then I shall not follow that way. It is wrong and in that way, I will follow my own ninja way" Naruto vowed as the group headed back to Tazuna's house with the exception of one cherry blossom, her hair blowing in the wind before following her team.

"Kakashi-sensei how did Sakura-chan learn Zabuza's jutsu?" Naruto asked.

"Because, Naruto, Zabuza was once my sensei and I was once his apprentice" Sakura answers from behind him.

"How? When?" Naruto asked shocked.

"At one stage he was in Suna, and at that time I was there too and I asked to become his apprentice, then after a year he just disappeared with Haku" Sakura answered, eyes closed.

"Is that why you defended that boy when we were in the forest and on the bridge?" Sasuke asked.

"Hai, old relations make it hard to do something against another, especially when killing them" Sakura answered "Even if I swore I was going to kill both, it ended up as Kakashi and a mob of people killing them"

--

The bridge was finally finished. It is a bright and sunny day as the ninjas prepared to depart from the country of the waves and head back home; the people of the waves are with them, watching the ninjas leave their village; Inari, Tsunami and Tazuna at the front of the crowd.

"Thank you for everything team 7" Tazuna shook the hand of Kakashi.

"You're welcome" Kakashi smiles with the genins in the background nodding, well Sasuke and Sakura anyway.

"You're welcome" Naruto exclaimed as he ran up to Inari who was crying like him and hugged the boy and at that, team seven left the country of the waves.

--

"Sakura-chan, how did you know it was them in the forest? I mean you seemed to know who it was before Zabuza appeared" Naruto asked.

"Remember the rabbit? That was my rabbit, by the way Naruto, if you killed that rabbit I would have had your hide" Sakura answered before walking off.

--

Notes: -Well there you have another chapter. I hope you like. Sorry it took so long to post here (sweatdrops) Anyway, RxR and no flaming, constructive criticism is appreciated though.

-Do you guys reckon with the translations that I do, I just do the new ones that appear though out the story, not ones that I have already put in the story before, because I can guarantee that I have at least put in a quarter of these words before (sweatdrops) Or would you just prefer it the way it is now?

-Is this err…chapter too long? Can you tell me anything wrong with it? Spelling? Grammar? Too detailed? Too little detail?

-Another thing I should put as a little side note, the whole base story line on how they go to the wave country, and stuff, I remembered off the top of my head so, I am really sorry if some of the names, locations, times, etc. are slightly off or totally off.

-And if you don't like the whole Sakura as the basic main character instead of Naruto then don't review with a bad review please (sweat drops) I was just sick that people kept bashing Sakura because she does hardly anything in the anime/manga/both. I mean, I guess she is my favourite character after all (sweat drops)

--

Translations:

1) Hai- Can mean yes as in agreement but can also be used just to indicate a person is paying attention. This can lead to misunderstandings by Westerners of what Japanese are believing in a conversation. They may think a Japanese person is agreeing with them when the person is just indicating that they are paying attention.

2) Sensei- teacher

3) Chan- Calling someone using their name and the suffix -chan is often heard in anime. This is generally used for young girls but can also be used for some girl a person is very close to.

4) Neko- cat

5) Daijobou- Are you alright/Yes I am alright/

6) Hokage- Leader of the village hidden in the leaves. Kage is the highest rank a Shinobi can hope to obtain in their lifetime, there can only be 5 Kages at any one time. The five Kages are the leaders of the most powerful hidden ninja villages in Naruto. They are some of the strongest ninjas in the world, Kages are also great leaders who dedicate their own lives to protect their village.

7) Sama- Ending used for indicating great respect towards someone

8) Nani- what?

9) Sake- Popular alcoholic drink brewed from rice

10) San- term used indicating politeness
11) Jounin- This is a high Ninja rank, the Jounins are very strong intelligent Ninjas that complete A-Rank missions. They also teach younger Ninjas important things about being a Ninja. Being a Jounin is hard work and can be very dangerous, it takes a dedicated Ninja to gain the rank of Jounin.

12) Kawarimi no Jutsu- literally "Change of Body Technique"

Type: E-rank, Supplementary
The user quickly replaces themselves with another object, such as a plant or an animal (usually a section of log). This usually confuses the attacker and leaves them open to a counter-attack. A fairly common Jutsu, it is one of the basic Jutsu a Ninja must learn before graduating to the Genin level. It is not limited strictly to the Naruto series, and is sometimes called Utsusemi no Jutsu.

13) Chuunin- Chuunins are Ninjas who have proven their worth, they are qualified to lead a group of genins and complete B-C rank missions.

14) Gomen Nasai- Sorry

15) Usagi- Rabbit

16) Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu- literally "Water Clone Technique"

Type: C-rank, Supplementary
Creates one or more identical copies of the user out of water. More similar to Kage Bunshin than to a normal Bunshin, these clones are capable of attacking, except each clone's strength is only one-tenth that of the user. Also, the clones can only be controlled within a certain radius of the user.

17) Suiro no Jutsu- literally "Water Prison Technique"

Type: C-rank, Supplementary, Short range (0-5m)
A move used to trap the victim inside a virtually inescapable prison of water. The only downside to this technique is that the user must keep one arm inside the bubble at all times in order for the victim to remain imprisoned. This Jutsu cannot be performed without a sufficiently large body of water to supply the water for it. Kisame has been seen using water clones' arms instead of his own arm for this technique; this raises the issue of what exactly must be held inside the bubble to maintain it. Hyūga Neji used his ability to release chakra from all his tenketsu to disrupt the chakra inside the Suirō and so break free.

18) Baka- Technically this means fool or idiot, and is definitely an insult when used against someone you are not personally familiar with. With close friends, however, the term actually meant to be a term of endearment or mild chastisement.

19) Oji-san- grand father

20) Gomen- sorry

21) Chotto matte- please wait a minute

22) Kinjutsu- There is technically another category called Kinjutsu (Forbidden Techniques), but it refers not to the type of the jutsu but to the fact that it is forbidden to learn or perform it. A technique can be categorized as kinjutsu if it either causes great harm to the user if overused.

23) Ano- hey (getting attention)

24) Kawaii- cute

25) Itadakimasu- what is said just as one is starting to eat, sort of thanking everyone and everything involved in making the meal

26) Gochisou Sama deshita- said after finishing a meal, it means something like "thank you, it was a feast"

27) Otou-san- father

28) Arigato- thank you

29) Ja- See ya

30) Hentai- Basically means a pervert.

31) Chama- combination of chan and sama, endearment but also respect.

32) Kiri Gakure no Jutsu- literally "Hiding Mist Technique"
Type: D-rank, Supplementary
This jutsu envelops the surrounding area in a dense mist, causing anyone within to lose the advantage of sight.

33) Sensatsu Suisho- literally "Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death"
Type: B-rank, Offensive, Short to mid-range (0-10m)
This jutsu freezes water into the shape of sharp needles, which then home in on the opponent, crushing them in a sphere of points and ripping their body to shreds. To perform this Jutsu, the user must be near a body of water.

34) Makyo Hyosho- literally "Demonic Mirror Ice Crystals

Type: No rank, Offensive, Short to mid-range (0-10m)
This jutsu uses ice to create mirrors surrounding the opponent. These mirrors are as hard as steel, and almost impossible to break through or melt. The jutsu user can travel almost instantaneously between these mirrors and attack while in transit, making it almost impossible to defend from his attacks or to attack him.
Haku's Makyo Hyosho had never been defeated before his fight with Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, when Naruto used the Kyūbi's chakra to break through the mirrors.

35) Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu- Name literally "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique"; Type: C-rank, Offensive, Close range (0-5m)
Utilising a high amount of chakra, the user creates a large ball of flame. When an Uchiha clan member masters this technique he/she is recognized as an adult.

36) Kage Bunshin no Jutsu- literally "Shadow Clone Technique"

Type: B-rank, Supplementary
Unlike the normal Bunshin no Jutsu (Art of the Doppelganger), this jutsu creates not just an illusion, but real bodies of the ninja. The user's chakra is evenly distributed among the user and every clone. This could be very dangerous if the user is low on chakra or makes many clones, something Naruto doesn't have to worry about, since his chakra supply is very high thanks to the Kyūbi. Kage Bunshin can't be detected by Byakugan. This is because the clones are real bodies with real chakra systems, identical to the user. It can be detected by Sharingan. Because the clones are real they can do real damage and can take some damage themself, being even able to bleed, although they'll still disappear when enough damage has been done, which is usually after one hit.

37) Kekkei Genkai- These are not really jutsu, but special, genetically inherited abilities like the ability to copy other jutsu or to merge your body with other bodies. Kekkei genkai abilities that work via the user's eye are called Dojutsu (Pupil Techniques). Some jutsu are based on Kekkei Genkai, like Tsukuyomi.

38) Kuchiyose: Daton: Tsuiga no Jutsu- literally "Summoning: Earth Release: Tracking Fang Technique"
Type: B-rank, Offensive, All ranges
Summons a variety of Ninja Dogs (忍犬, Ninken), including Pakkun, that burst from the ground and take hold of the opponent's body. The opponent becomes unable to move, and is then open for larger scale jutsu. These dogs can be summoned one at a time, and used for tracking purposes, such as was Pakkun.

39) Mizukage- Leader of the Village hidden in the Mist. Kage is the highest rank a Shinobi can hope to obtain in their lifetime, there can only be 5 Kages at any one time. The five Kages are the leaders of the most powerful hidden ninja villages in Naruto. They are some of the strongest ninjas in the world, Kages are also great leaders who dedicate their own lives to protect their village.

40) Raikiri- literally "Lightning Cut",

Type: S-rank, Offensive, Short range (0-5m)
Lightning Blade is a technique developed by Hatake Kakashi that allows him to cut through any foe. It is essentially the same attack as Chidori; in fact, Chidori is the "true" name of the attack, it was given the nickname "Raikiri" or "Lightning Blade" after Kakashi used the technique to cut a lightning bolt in two. However, Lightning Blade is used in respect to Kakashi and given the designation S-rank whereas Sasuke's Chidori is an A-rank since Kakashi's attack is more powerful than Sasuke's. Lightning Blade is used for assassination purposes. Activating the body to focus chakra to the hand, Kakashi's hand becomes enveloped by an electrical looking force. After concentrating all the chakra into his arm, Kakashi uses his quickness and the power of the thrust from the chakra to pierce any object with his extended forearm. Due to the high speed at which Kakashi moves, the force emits a sound like a thousand birds chirping, which is where Chidori originally got its name. Because of the great amount of chakra needed to utilize the technique, Kakashi can only use it four times in one day.

Side note: Seems that I forgot to add some in here that I probably have put in here (sweatdrops)

Hunter-Nin-

Each Hidden Village in the shinobi world has a special team of hunters known as Hunter-nin, it is their job to hunt down the Missing-nin. They must make sure to leave no trace of their prey and completely dispose of the body in order to maintain the secrets of the Hidden Village that might remain in the body of the Missing-nin. Other names for them include "Body Erasers" and "Chasing Ninja"

Missing-nin-

Missing-nins are considered traitors in their specific Hidden Village so they abandon it and go on the run. The village sends special shinobi known as Hunter-nins to track them down and bring the ninja to justice or to stop the secrets that they may hold about the vilage from getting out. They are also known as "Nukenin"

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Chapter 3: Chuunin Exams? Peace of Cake! Right?

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