Team 7: A Retelling
By: Tellemicus Sundance
#08: The Bridge of Dreams
Two weeks later…
Forest outside Tazuna's Home
"Alright, we're here, Naruto-san," Kakashi pointed out blandly as he watched his most hyperactive student practically bouncing on his heels as he carefully inspected the small clearing in the mangrove forest for something. "What is it you wanted to show me?"
Turning abruptly to his sensei, Naruto's ever-present grin was as wide as ever as he literally sang out, "I wanna show you this totally super awesome new mountain-destroying jutsu I made, sensei!"
Quirking his eyebrow at the bold yet childish declaration, he said, "Oh? Is that why you've been dragging Sasuke and Sakura out here for the past few days?"
It was true. Ever since they'd gotten back from freeing Tsunami, destroying Gato's stronghold, and accidentally killing the corrupt businessman in the process, Naruto had been literally bursting with even more uncontrolled energy than was normal. He would constantly pull either or both of his teammates off into the forest for several hours and Kakashi would sometimes catch small snippets of conversation between them about chakra control and the different chakra nature elements. He suspected that Naruto had been cooking up some new jutsu, but he hadn't felt the need to pry.
"Hai!" Naruto chirped happily. Turning, he pointed towards a large boulder that looked it had been put there fairly recently. The boulder was covered in numerous scratches, cracks, and was missing chunks out of it. "Watch this, sensei!"
Bringing his hands into the ram seal, Naruto quickly channeled his chakra. In interest, Kakashi watched as the boy began channeling Fuuton chakra. The obvious tell of this was the sudden winds picking up around the boy's body, whipping about and warping around his body, rustling his black shirt and orange pants wildly. That was curious. While Fuuton users were quite rare in comparison to most other types, Kakashi could honestly say that he'd never seen someone use Fuuton chakra quite like that before. It was like Naruto was coating his body with the Fuuton chakra as a type of armor.
Dropping the ram seal as he clenched his fists, the Fuuton chakra quickly gathered around them. Then, dashing forward with a speed that Kakashi knew that Naruto shouldn't have been capable of, the blonde jabbed his fists forward in double straight punches at the aforementioned rock. With a considerable blast and whiplash of wind, the boulder was sent flying backwards into the forestry, bouncing and crashing through the brush before coming to a halt quite a distance away.
Turning back to his sensei with a wide and eager grin, Naruto practically crowed out, "Was that awesome or what?!"
"It was definitely inventive, Naruto-san," Kakashi agreed lightly as he walked over to the boulder to examine the damage, Naruto following in his footsteps. Bending down and rolling the rock over to see the impact point, Kakashi saw that there didn't seem to be any laceration damage, which was unusual.
Fuuton chakra was widely considered to be the perfect combat element since it could be focused into incredibly sharp and narrow blades that could cut through practically anything. Yet what he was seeing here wasn't that. In fact, it looked more like Naruto had turned the winds around his fists into a sledgehammer or battering ram instead of a blade, using overwhelming blunt impact to hit the target and send it flying. The amount of chakra needed to do that must've been considerable. That was another reason why most Fuuton jutsu usually incorporated blades and cutting since (as far as he could understand) it was easier to control and much more chakra-conservative that way.
Sharing this information with Naruto, he smiled lightly at the slightly confused look the blonde gave him in response. "In other words, Naruto, what you have here is probably a one-of-a-kind that very few others can use. A bit more fine-tuning of it and you'll definitely have a formidable jutsu in the future."
Naruto grinned widely at that acknowledgement.
"But in order for that to happen, you're going to have train your chakra control and build up your capacity considerably in the near-future," Kakashi's light smile didn't fade as he saw the boy's instinctive flinch. But it was quickly forgotten as the boy understood that he'd be training his chakra instead of his body, his most favorite type of training.
"Bring it on, sensei!"
Nodding in acknowledgement of his student's declaration, Kakashi held up a hand to calm the boy. "Later, Naruto-san. If I remember correctly, Tsunami-san said that she had a little surprise for the three of you and it'd be a shame for you to miss it, eh?"
"Nanda?" Naruto asked, hurriedly scraping his memory for that. Finally remembering, he let out a squawk of indignant surprise. "She said she'd do that after breakfast! We're late!" Without waiting for his sensei's reply, Naruto turned on his heel and sprinted back to the house with all due haste.
"Heheh," Kakashi chuckled, somewhat bitterly as he followed his student at much more leisurely pace. "This brings back memories."
By the time Naruto got back to the house, he was drenched in sweat and panting rather heavily. Stumbling through the door, Naruto called out, "I'm here, Tsunami-san! What was it you wanted to show me?"
"You're late, Dobe," Sasuke remarked casually from where he was lounging against the wall. "You're not taking punctuality lessons from Kakashi, are you?"
Naruto was actually halfway through forming a very ineloquent response when his brain processed something very…different about the Uchiha. Unable to stop himself, Naruto blurted out, "What are you wearing?"
Indeed, the Uchiha heir had on some very different clothing than what he normally wore. He wore a short sleeved blue shirt with the Uchiha fan on the shoulders, and blue shorts with his weapon pouches on his thigh and belt. He even had a pair of dark gray forearm guards. Over his shirt, he wore a sleeveless white vest with the high collar, opened to reveal his face. And thanks to the slight angle the boy was leaning at, Naruto could also see that there was a large Uchiha symbol on the upper back of the vest as well, just like his usual shirts. Despite himself, Naruto had to silently admit to himself that the young Uchiha looked very, very cool like that.
"They're gifts from Tsunami-san," Sakura spoke up as she entered the room, also wearing completely new clothes. Though, given that her previous set were completely stained with feces and she'd been wearing old hand-me-downs from Tsunami's younger years, her attire change didn't catch Naruto by quite as much surprise.
Sakura now wore a dougi that was such a dark pink that it could've easily been mistaken for red. Yet scattered around her right shoulder and left hip were light pink cherry petal-shaped designs. Underneath the dougi, she wore a black undershirt. She also wore a short pink apron skirt over dark spandex shorts. But for all her changes, she still kept her forearm and shin guards from her previous clothing, not that Naruto could blame her for that. Curiously, she'd also replaced the cloth that her hitai-ate was attached to, changing it from blue to red.
Seeing Naruto's slight gawk at how awesome she looked, Sakura just smiled good-naturedly, giving a playful victory sign. Then, sensing the impending eruption of Mount Naruto, Sakura beckoned him towards the stairs as she said, "Tsunami-san and several other ladies from the village even put together a new outfit for you, Naruto-kun. It's up in the guest room—" She was abruptly cut off by a powerful gust of wind kicked up by the yellow blur that was Naruto as he sprinted up the stairs five at a time.
"SUGOI!" Naruto's loud joyous voice cheered from the room mere seconds later.
"Must've found it," Sakura muttered, torn between annoyance and amusement at her friend's antics.
"I still say we should've ransomed the vest," Sasuke said, frowning slightly at the young Haruno. "Think of what we could've suckered him into doing for it. And you know he'll never take it off now."
"Maybe so," Sakura agreed, nodding to the Uchiha. "But don't forget just how…annoying Naruto can be."
Faced with the same argument as what the girl had countered him with each time he brought it up, the boy gave his usual response; grunting in annoyance and looking away. Sad as it was, he knew just as well as Sakura that Naruto might've resorted to rummaging through their things and found where they'd hidden his vest. If that happened, he'd have been downright unbearable for the next few days as he sulked. And a sulking Naruto was something far more repulsive than a loud, obnoxious Naruto.
Turning, Sasuke glanced at his faint reflection in the window. Despite himself, a small smile spread across his lips as he stared at his new clothing discreetly. He really, really liked these. Tsunami-san and her associates had really outdone themselves with their limited resources. And, as much as he knew he shouldn't take them free of charge because of Nami's dire economic situation, he couldn't help himself! Especially when Tsunami said that the clothing were gifts of appreciation to them from the people of Nami and to help them replace their ruined clothes, to not accept them would've been quite rude.
A loud crash at the staircase quickly drew Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi (who stood in the doorway, having just arrived), and Tsunami's attentions. There, lying in a slightly crumpled heap, was Naruto who quickly bounced back to his feet. The excessive energy that usually defined the blonde was shining in spades as the blonde turned a blinding grin at his audience as he drew himself into a dramatic pose.
"I'm so badass in these!" he boasted shamelessly.
Naruto's new outfit consisted of an orange vest with a large Uzumaki spiral on the back, similar to Sasuke's vest, though Naruto had zipped it all the way up the small collar. Underneath the vest was a black, long-sleeved t-shirt that had three orange stripes around the wrists and the Uzumaki spiral on the shoulders. He'd switched his filthy, old orange pants for a new pair of black shorts which, like his shirt, had three orange stripes around the knees. The only thing out of place on the outfit was his old, blue hitai-ate, which clashed slightly with his changed color scheme.
Tsunami just smiled prettily at Naruto's proud declaration. She'd suspected he'd like his clothes, but it was always nice to hear it. Turning to Kakashi, she blushed slightly in embarrassment as she noticed that he was giving her a peculiar look through his single eye. "Gomennasai, Kakashi-san, but I didn't think it was necessary or appropriate to get you anything. Unlike the kids, you didn't seem too pressed for new clothes."
Kakashi just chuckled slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Your gratitude is more than enough for me, Tsunami-san. Besides, unlike my subordinates, I'm not in a hurry to dance through town in my underwear or less."
"OI!" three outraged voices cried as they dashed forward to visit justified punishment on the Jounin. Kakashi just casually stepped away from the door, tripping Sasuke, and smacking Naruto hard enough to unbalance him and throw him into Sakura. The result was all three getting sent into a jumble of limbs that rolled comically out of the house.
"You've still got a lot to learn, my little genin," Kakashi called cheekily before closing the door and walking away. He gave Tsunami his patented eye-smile as he noticed the woman giggling quietly behind her hand. He really liked how he could push the kids' buttons like that sometimes.
Daimyo's Palace
"You requested my presence, Tazuna-san?" the Nami Daimyo, Naotsuchi Akira, said as he knelt down upon the tatami mat.
Seated in a formal manner, Tazuna kept his head bowed slightly out of respect to the middle-aged man before him. Akira was a rather plain looking man, the only distinguishing feature on him was his full beard and mustache that cut into sharp-looking lines. Despite his high social status, he too was showing the signs of his country's economic depression in that his yukata was rather threadbare in places. In fact, Tazuna could see clear wrinkles in places, suggesting that although it was likely his formal clothing, it saw a lot of usage outside formal functions.
"Hai, Daimyo-sama," Tazuna said levelly. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew a scroll and set it upon the small table before him. The lone servant in the Daimyo's palace came forward and took the offered scroll to the younger man. "I was given this scroll a few days ago by the ninja team I'd hired in Konohagakure to escort and protect me as I finished the bridge. Apparently, they'd confiscated it from Gato's carriage before his…unfortunate passing."
"And why have you brought it before me now?" Akira asked, somewhat exasperated. Was this another piece of 'evidence' about how Gato was ruining his country? Honestly, if he had to power to remove the greedy little parasite from his shores, he would've done so months sooner! Eyeing the untouched scroll before him with slight disdain, he frowned down at it.
"I have spent the past few days reviewing the information it contains," Tazuna said. "I have determined its contents to be surprisingly accurate and as such felt that you would benefit from its knowledge more than anyone else. And you could use the knowledge to best coordinate our country's revival."
"What is it?" Akira demanded, not in the mood for word games and speeches.
"As far as I can tell, Daimyo-sama, it is a survey of Nami no Kuni and its resources in its entirety," Tazuna said, glancing up to see the country's leader's reaction. He was not disappointed by the look of confused surprise. A slight smile crossed Tazuna's face as he continued, "I believe that Gato was planning to harvest our resources once he'd completely monopolized our economy. If my assumptions are correct, then the gross profit that we could earn outlined on that scroll is tremendous."
"How did you come across this information?" Akira demanded as he finally took the scroll and opened it, quickly scanning through its contents.
"As I said before, it was given to me by the ninja I'd hired," Tazuna said. "They discovered the scroll in Gato's personal carriage when they were rescuing my grandson from execution."
"Ah yes, that little fiasco," Akira nodded in remembrance to that particular memory of chaos in the capital. Scrolling through the information, he frowned as he looked over it. Most of it, he couldn't understand since it was mostly just grid chart numbers from a map. But what he could understand were the dates for optimal production and the expected profit turnouts from the crop yields and exotic exports that were unique Nami. Despite his best effort, a slight smile began pulling at his face. "This…might actually work."
Tazuna just smiled at the lord's statement, a feeling of accomplishment welling up inside him. Despite himself, he found himself increasingly grateful he'd gotten saddled with the most obnoxious team of ninja students Konohagakure likely had to offer. Even indirectly, they were reshaping the path of destiny that lay before the people of Nami: turning a land of ruin and depression into one of promise and rising hope.
"Are you sure this is wise, Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked humbly from where he was sparring lightly with Meizu and Gouzu.
Well, technically 'light sparring' was what Haku was doing. The Brothers were giving it their all. Haku had many advantages over the fight-hungry brothers, which he was using to great effect right now. His biggest advantage was his speed and agility, which surpassed even Zabuza's on most days. Another advantage was his small stature that allowed him to weave through the brothers' ruthless attacks with even greater ease. But while Haku was merely doing light exercises in preparation for what was to come, the brothers were working hard to help iron out any minor flaws and inconsistencies that may have developed in their teamwork.
Watching as Haku swatted aside Meizu's angry slash with his gauntlet while simultaneously leaning forward as he kicked backwards to dig his heel into Gouzu's exposed stomach, Zabuza chuckled sardonically at the sight. It had been a long time since he'd had to teach Haku anything and seeing the beautiful boy's graceful fighting style never ceased to amaze, ease, and deepen his pride as a teacher. That boy was truly a diamond of incomparable value and he could never stop thanking the kami both above and below that he found the boy before any other opportunistic ninja did.
"Why are you so worried?" Zabuza asked, his voice almost seemingly casual as he propped his arm onto the Kubikiribocho's handle as he leaned into the weapon beside him. "It's not going to be a fight to the death. It's just going to be a friendly spar between ninja."
"There is no such thing as a 'friendly spar between ninja', Zabuza-sama," Haku pointed out, somewhat bluntly as he quoted one of Zabuza's most fundamental teachings. "Any fight between ninja is about one thing: killing your opponent before he kills you."
"And yet you have yet to kill Meizu and Gouzu," Zabuza pointed out, a half-sneer pulling at his lips hidden under his bandages.
"Because they are teammates," Haku said as he jumped upwards, effortlessly dodging the brothers' shuriken-kusari.
He wasted no time in flipping through several hand seals and launching a pair of water blasts at the older men. The water blasts knocked the men backwards, pulling the chain taut. Somewhat impressively, the brothers didn't allow themselves to lose their footing. But that also allowed Haku to gracefully, almost mockingly, land lightly upon the kusari itself, standing on it like a tight-rope performer in a circus. Despite themselves and the battle-high they were experiencing, the brothers had to stop and gawk slightly at the blatant show of skill and finesse.
Using the pause in the fighting to clap his hands loudly, Zabuza barked out, "That's enough. You two go cool down and rest up. We've got a big day tomorrow. Haku, it's time for the real training to begin."
Hoping to the ground, Haku bowed to his master before submissively approaching him to start the fight. Behind him, Meizu and Gouzu took this time to catch their breaths. As much as they hated it, they could never once best Haku in a fight, not even on the rare days when he was sick with a cold (no pun intended).
Chuckling, Meizu turned to his brother with a large grin visible even under his mask. "I'd pay the next job's salary just to see Haku destroy those boys and that Konoha Yuki girl."
"But then we wouldn't be able to do it ourselves," Gouzu pointed out, though nodding in agreement with his brother.
"Good thing that's what we're gonna do then," Meizu replied, his bloodlust audible in his voice.
The Next Morning…
The bridge was finally finished, according Tazuna. Although there were still cosmetic additions to be added to it later on, the significant parts were all in place and holding strong. The only real 'cosmetic addition' that Tazuna mentioned off-hand was naming the bridge and making a banner for it.
As the team of ninja stood at the base of the long stretch of stonework, they couldn't help but stare in slight wonderment at how quickly it had gotten done after Gato's death and the disintegration of his shipping business. Without the threat of bodily harm via drunken thugs and mercenaries, many people had quickly flocked to the bridge to help in its completion so as to bring their country out of its depression. In one day, Tazuna's crew had grown from a mere seven volunteers to well over a hundred. And the addition of so many willing helpers had given the workload a tremendous boost. Tazuna actually had to place a limit to how many volunteers could work since any more than thirty was detrimental to quality and communication.
Today was the day that Kakashi had decided that their mission to protect Tazuna was officially over. The declaration that they'd successfully completed their first serious mission as ninja outside their village had caused more than just a small rise in the pride of the three youngsters. Naruto, as typical, had been quite boastful about how it was 'only natural that the future Hokage and his super awesome team' would do so. And though they were exasperated by it, neither Sasuke nor Sakura could really argue with him.
Turning around, all four Konoha-nin faced the large crowd of easily fifty or more people. They were well-wishers come to see Team 7 off. Even Inari was there and was practically hanging off of Naruto, both boys futilely trying to fight off tears. In the days since his rescue, Inari had become a far more open-minded and generally happy person, finally starting to return to the boy he used to be as Tsunami had mentioned. Naruto and Inari had especially hit it off well, becoming fast friends within hours of Tsunami's safe return that night.
Moving in front of the crowd was a middle-aged, bearded man who wore what was likely the most expensive yukata that any of the ninja had seen in the island nation. Kakashi instantly recognized the air of nobility and leadership that the man exuded, it was apparent in the way he carried himself and how the people near him reacted to his presence. Behind this man was an elderly man who was just as obviously the leader's servant.
Stopping just a few meters away from the Konoha-nin, the bearded man bowed his head slightly as he spoke, "I am Naotsuchi Akira, Daimyo of Nami no Kuni. On behalf of my people, my home, and myself, I would like to thank you for the numerous services you've provided since your arrival. I know that many of them were well beyond the stated requirements of your original mission."
"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked gracelessly. "We did what anyone would've done. No need to thank us for that, old man." Naruto's slightly less than respectful tone quickly earned him a backhand to the face, courtesy of Sakura, that sent him to the ground with a pained grunt.
"Please forgive my subordinate, Naotsuchi-dono," Kakashi spoke up, both unsurprised and unmoved by Naruto's comment and following 'disciplinary action' by Sakura. "My team hasn't yet perfected diplomatic relations."
This statement earned an amused grin from the man as he nodded to the Jounin. The Daimyo easily noticed the byplay that took place between the genin, from Naruto's embarrassed glare at the girl who blatantly ignored it and the other boy's annoyed sigh as he glanced to the side. Yet both of them had small smiles that were creeping out around their self-control.
Moving forward to stand in front of all three of the kids, Akira looked down directly into each of their questioning eyes. As he did this, his servant quickly and deftly came forward to the man's side holding several long strips of white cloth.
"Uchiha Sasuke," Akira said. "I have heard that you are as strong and threatening as the thunder, blowing through great numbers of Gato's henchmen." This statement drew a pleased gleam from the Uchiha heir's eyes, clearly enjoying the praise. Looking over to the blonde, Akira continued, "Uzumaki Naruto, you are as unpredictable and unrelenting as the very winds which you can control, smashing Gato's fortress to pieces." A wide if embarrassed grin crossed Naruto's face at the comparison. "Haruno Sakura, you are the graceful rain that calms and nurtures these two headstrong boys, yet quite formidable in your own way." A pleased flush lit up Sakura's cheeks as she glanced bashfully away. "And Hatake Kakashi, the guiding light that is also as deadly and sudden as a strike of lightning." The Jounin just watched the man with a neutral expression on his masked face, wondering what where he was going with this speech.
"Together, you have helped to change this land and its people, likely for the better," Akira continued. Gesturing to his servant and the strips of cloth, he finished, "Please take these gifts as a symbol of our appreciation."
The servant presented each of them with their own individual cloth. Unraveling his, Naruto found that the cloth was actually a sash of some kind. It was mostly a blank white, but near one corner of it was the kanji of 'wind'. Blinking as he remembered the Daimyo's speech, Naruto looked over at his teammates' sashes. Sasuke's had the kanji of thunder, Sakura's was rain, and Kakashi's seemed to be lightning.
"As long as you wear them," Akira said, earning the ninja's attentions again. "The people of Nami will always regard you as friends and you will be granted safe haven within our borders for as long as you require."
As much as they wanted to refute the necessity of such a gift, none of the genin could find the words to properly express themselves. Quickly abandoning their individual stuttering attempts, they turned their gazes to Kakashi for guidance on this issue. All of them sweat-dropped in surprise as they saw the man had already tied the sash around his waist, allowing the kanji to be clearly visible on his right hip. Shaking off their surprise, they followed his lead and quickly tied their own sashes on, mirroring the man's perfectly.
Once they were done, Akira bowed to them formally. "I pray that you will have a safe journey and many well-wishes along the way." With his piece finished, Akira and his servant walked away, allowing the rest of the people to move forward to offer their own farewells.
After several minutes watching the tearful farewells from a safe distance away, Zabuza had to reflexively resist the urge to gag at the sight. Glancing at his three underlings, he saw that the brothers were practically bouncing in eager anticipation and Haku had a faint look of resignation on his face. Forming the necessary handseals, Zabuza's toothy grin turned slightly malicious as he whispered, "Time to go, boys."
The sudden onset of extremely dense mist was missed by no one. The villagers reflexively backed away in fear and confusion while the four Konoha ninja spun around until they were back to back and searching for the source of the chakra they all sensed the fog laden with. Suddenly the sound of rapidly approaching danger reached Kakashi's ears.
"DOWN!" he shouted as he crouched lowly to the ground, the genin following him shortly. Not a split second later, a massive slab of steel went slicing through the air like a buzz-saw, the winds of its passage rustling the ninjas' clothes. Kakashi followed the sword's progress into the mist before he lost view of it. Then a loud bark of snide laughter echoed out of the fog as the scything blade was stopped, followed immediately by the sounds of steel crushing rock.
"I was wondering if you were going to make an appearance," Kakashi called out into the mist.
"Oh, is that so?" Zabuza answered in a snide tone, obliging Kakashi's attempt to locate him. Zabuza remained where he stood, leaning casually against the Kubikiribocho which he'd jabbed into the bridge. Haku remained standing faithfully by his side but the Demon Brothers had moved forward to meet their enemies slightly. Focusing on his Kirigakure no Jutsu, he altered the mist density just enough to allow the fog to clear enough to allow the Konoha team to finally see them. "I hadn't known you were expecting us."
"Ever since you sent those two," Kakashi informed him as he inclined his head ever so slightly towards the brothers. Zabuza could read the man's gaze easily despite his facial mask. It was the way he was softly glaring at the twins; he was a bit disconcerted that the brothers had managed to escape their bonds to the tree and the following Anbu patrols to report back to their superior.
"Hey! Who the hell are you? And what are those two losers doing here?!" Naruto yelled, confused and slightly put-off by seeing the brothers once again.
"Shut up, gaki!" Meizu snapped. "You guys got lucky last time, but that won't happen again!"
Sasuke grunted in slight arrogance. "We took you down once, we can do it again."
"Last time, we were focused on the old man," Gouzu pointed out. "Not on the worthless brats surrounding him."
"That's enough," Kakashi said, holding his hand out to further silence any following remarks from the genin. "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura! Stay on guard and protect the villagers!"
"Hai!" they chorused as they all drew kunai and spread out in evenly across the bridge's width between the rogue Kiri-nin and the innocent bystanders who were watching the confrontation with confusion and fear.
"What do you want, Zabuza?" Kakashi demanded. "I doubt it is revenge for killing Gato. You'd have attacked immediately if that were the case."
"True," Zabuza acknowledged. "The little parasite had fired me before I was ready to attack, he didn't seem happy about me trying to study my opponents first."
"…I see," Kakashi said. He understood now.
He'd only been able to make educated guesses before on why Zabuza hadn't attacked them sooner, both before and after Gato's death. The more prominent theories he had were Zabuza was trying to either find their habits, possible jutsu styles, and a daily schedule or he was trying to coax them into a sense of complacency. But Gato must've gotten impatient (as was common among crime lords, he'd found) and fired him because of his apparent lack of action. No longer bound to the contract to kill Tazuna and needing to find a way around his ninja escorts, Zabuza had no further need to endanger them or himself with unnecessary bloodshed. But that still left one question unanswered.
"You still haven't answered my question," Kakashi pointed out. "What do you want now?"
Zabuza just grinned malevolently under his mask. "Meizu, Gouzu," he called out. "The boys are all yours."
Needing no further prompting, the brothers rushed forward with a deadly gleam in their eyes. Kakashi quickly jumped forward to block them, but found himself having to break off his attack as the massive Kubikiribocho suddenly chopped down into his field of vision. As he was ducking under the blade, Zabuza's foot lashed out. Unable to properly dodge again, Kakashi was forced to lower his arm and take the kick upon his bicep. The strong kick knocked the gray-haired Jounin flying clear off the bridge and out over the sea. Zabuza was quick to follow his prey with eager anticipation.
Haku watched as Sakura quickly brought her hands up to form some handseals. She was watching her teammates as they rushed to meet Meizu and Gouzu. It was a simple rookie mistake to let your attention on your surroundings drop as you focused on what was immediately in front of you. A mistake that, had this been any other situation, he'd have taken full advantage of and either killed or incapacitated the kunoichi.
Jumping between her and her targets, Haku threw a trio of senbon at the pink-haired kunoichi. Sakura, seeing the obvious attack, reacted as he expected and ducked under the needles. But what he didn't expect was for her to finish her handseals, pulling water out of the misty air and instantly hardening it into a pair of long ice blades securely bound to her wrists and forearms.
"That is a very interesting use of the Hyouton, Sakura-san," Haku said, smiling slightly at the surprised girl. He wasn't wearing his old Kiri-Anbu mask (which he only wore these days when he fully intended to kill his opponents or when Zabuza-sama and he were out on a job), so the young girl could clearly see his face. Her eyes widened slightly at the surprise of seeing a somewhat familiar person standing before her, but her surprise didn't last long. Her eyes quickly narrowed into glaring slits as she quickly put the pieces together in her mind.
"Haku-san," she said sharply, instantly recognizing the boy who she'd mistaken as a girl at first acquaintance. "You were that…boy picking herbs and flowers in the forest."
"Hai," Haku said, his small smile remaining on his face. "I told you we would meet again, Sakura-san."
"Why are you attacking us?!" the girl yelled angrily, though whether at herself or Haku was debatable.
"It's not out of spite, I assure you, Sakura-san," Haku said, not seemingly affected by her anger. "But if you can beat me, I promise to tell you exactly what Zabuza-sama's reasons are."
Sakura needed no further prompting to rush forward, swinging her ice blades as fast and powerfully as she could manage. Dodging, ducking, and jumping aside from each swing was painfully easy for Haku, the girl's movements were slow and predictable to his trained eye. Bouncing back from a particularly fierce slash, Haku threw a senbon at her, cutting into a nerve cluster in her right shoulder. Sakura yelped in pain that was more psychological than actual as she backed away from him while holding the small, bleeding cut. Taking her hand away, Sakura glanced briefly down at the blood on her palm before returning her gaze on Haku. Her bright green eyes were every bit as cool and calculating as Haku's had become, her fast mind quickly processing the facts as she knew them.
After that short exchange, Sakura now knew that Haku was quite a bit faster and more agile than her, probably many times more than he was letting on. His posture and movements were superb and smooth, the kind she'd seen Kakashi-sensei use during the few times he'd sparred with his genin, with no wasted or flamboyant movements as he dodged or blocked while counterattacking at the same time. But what really grabbed her attention was the fact that Haku was using senbon as his primary weapon. Senbon were notoriously difficult to use in fast-paced ninja combat, yet she knew that he was very skilled with them. She knew he was so much faster than her, so she could only guess that he was taking it easy on her or was playing a psychological game with her of some kind. Then there was the fact that she guessed he could've easily hit the axillary artery in her shoulder or puncturing her windpipe or throat instead of just cutting into her deltoid shoulder muscle. This told her that he was only aiming to incapacitate her, rather than just killing her.
Letting her ice blades break and crumble off her arms, Sakura brought her hands up and quickly shot through five handseals. Pulling more water from the humid air around them, Sakura angled it around herself, covering her body and clothes in the cool water before freezing it, forming a strong shell of ice armor that left only her face, hands, and the souls of her sandaled feet uncovered. "Hyouton: Aisu Gusoku no Jutsu!"
Haku actually raised an eyebrow at seeing the finished product of her jutsu. He'd been curious what she'd been up to when she released her ice blade jutsu, which was why he hadn't moved to stop her from forming her handseals. While he would admit that he didn't know very much about her fighting style, he could infer quite a bit about her from personality. She was a very strong-willed and caring person, if a bit quick to temper when it came to her teammates about certain obscure things. This was why he wasn't surprised in the least about her brand of Hyouton jutsu turned out to be quite a bit more blatant and confrontational than his own. Yet what he was most surprised about was just how quickly she'd apparently been able to deduce the main points of his fighting style of targeting nerves to slow down and weaken his opponents. He also had to silently acknowledge that her use of Hyouton was quite a bit more creative than he initially gave her credit for. Especially considering that he hadn't even considered the idea of making some armor like what she wearing, which he could already see would effectively block any senbon attack he made while it was on her. But how well did it stand up to other physical attacks?
Crouching forward slightly, he dashed forward towards the girl, cocking an arm back. But rather than punch, he snapped a kick towards her abdomen. Sakura had already brought her arms up in a defensive stance and merely lowered one arm, blocking the kick with relative ease. Haku had to fight back cringing against the expected pain in his shin, that ice was as hard as iron. Sakura's other arm shot forward in an attempt to grab his extended leg, but Haku was fast to pull it back. Yet he was fast enough to fully dodge her sudden lunge, ramming her armored shoulder into his chest with all the strength she could muster. Using the momentum she'd given him, Haku bounced back and threw a few senbon on an instinctive reflex to help put distance between him and his opponent. Sakura merely knocked the needles away with her armored forearm with all the ease of swatting aside as some annoying flies.
'Now that is interesting,' Haku couldn't help but mumble to himself. He knew that Sakura had only average speed, yet her blocks and moves had suddenly gotten a good deal faster. Had she merely been pretending to be slower than she really was or was it something else?
"You are quite inventive and flexible with the Hyouton, Sakura-san," he acknowledged, nodding in approval as he stood back upright. "That ice is too strong for a simple senbon, kunai, or even shuriken to penetrate on its own and it's quite formidable in taijutsu. Though, it probably uses a good amount of chakra to sustain for long periods of time. A last resort defensive ninjutsu of yours, no doubt."
"Heh, just wait and see what else I can do with it," Sakura replied, a slight smile tugging at her lips as her cheeks darkened from a blush at the compliment. Just as she finished speaking, she quickly shot through another chain of handseals before slamming her hands down upon the bridge itself. Instantly, ice began forming along the bridge surrounding them, creating large circular ring around them. "Hyouton: Hyougen no Jutsu!"
Seeing the large ice formation, Haku blinked…and suddenly found a cold fist buried in his gut. The power of the punch actually lifted him clear off the ground as he buckled around it with his breath being forcefully expelled from his lungs. But Sakura wasn't done yet, angling her arm downwards and slamming him into the icy ground with all the strength she could manage. The force of impact was actually so strong that it sent a series of cracks through the ice, Haku's mouth open in a breathless gasp of pain and surprise. Grabbing Haku, Sakura turned and hurled him in one fluid movement across the ice ring.
But even as he was gasping for breath, Haku's reflexes kicked in as he sensed her race up to him at high speeds. Using the slight spin she'd given him when she threw him, Haku lashed out with a kick. He felt his shin impact painfully with her ice-armored forearm. As he was bringing his hands up into a handseal, Sakura grabbed that his outstretched leg, turning and slamming him powerfully down into the ground again. Upon impact, his body was replaced with a large boulder, Haku having escaped via Kawarimi.
Spinning around quickly, Sakura soon found Haku standing upon the bridge railing off to the side, a part of the bridge that she hadn't encased in ice. He was coughing and panting heavily as he cradled his aching stomach, but his eyes never left Sakura as she settled into a defensive stance in the center of her ice rink.
"I see," Haku said once he managed to get his breath back, fighting to ignore his throbbing stomach. "When you created this ice rink, you kept yourself attached to the chakra within it. This has granted you a tremendous boost in speed, agility, and probably strength… And I'm willing to bet that that Aisu Gusoku of yours also helps to increase your abilities as well, even more so than you've already shown."
"You sure know an awful lot about Hyouton jutsu," Sakura said in calm, even tone despite the slight narrowing of her eyes as numerous suspicions began playing through her mind.
Smiling a sad smile, Haku nodded as he stood to his full height. Bringing his hands, he shot through his own complex series of seals as he said, "And with good reason, Sakura-san, as you'll soon see why." That was when a series of ice mirrors began to form in the cold air around the justifiably surprised kunoichi.
Catching the clawed gauntlet on his kunai, Sasuke spun and lashed out at Meizu with a sidekick. The elder ninja reached up to catch the boy's foot with his right hand, but Sasuke pulled back at the last minute. Withdrawing his kunai from Meizu's left hand, Sasuke thrust it up and snagged the skuriken-kusari through one of the chain loops. Pulling back as hard as he could, Sasuke smirked as he yanked the Chuunin off-balance, once again kicking forward and catching the man in the rebreather over his face. The powerful attack knocked Meizu's head back.
Jumping up slightly, Sasuke braced his extended leg against Meizu's chest as he yanked on the chain again, this time breaking the locking mechanism and pulling it forcefully out of the gauntlet. Meizu recovered from the kick to the face faster than he anticipated, his right hand shooting up and catching Sasuke's ankle before he had time to retract it. Catching his footing, Meizu brought his poisoned gauntlet forward in a slash, aiming to maim Sasuke's unprotected torso. But before the blow could land, a loud grunt of pain and a blast of wind were all that warned the battling duo of Gouzu's incoming body as it shot towards Meizu. Sasuke's Sharingan was the only thing that helped him predict the uncontrolled swerve of Meizu's gauntlet that occurred as Gouzu crashed bodily into his brother. As such Sasuke was just barely able to maneuver his leg out of the slackened grasp and away from the poison-laced metal.
Carefully grabbing the discarded shuriken-kusari as he landed back on the ground, Sasuke jumped away from the fast-recovering Demon Brothers. He threw the poisoned chain off over the side of the bridge where it splashed down into the seawater below.
"Che, these guys are tougher than I originally gave them credit for," Sasuke growled to himself. "Good timing with the Kazeken, Naruto."
"Hai," Naruto grunted in response as he came up beside his friend. "These guys are tough to fight together. It's like fighting against my Kage Bunshins, but without them going 'poof' whenever I finally hit the bastards."
"I guess these guys deserve their Chuunin rank after all," Sasuke agreed before a calculated smirk appeared on his face. "But I think it's time we brought out the big guns, Naruto."
"What've you got in mind?" Naruto asked, curious and somewhat eager.
"How about the Okibi?" Sasuke said, his confident quickly being mirrored by Naruto.
Meanwhile, the brothers were also having their own little conference.
"Gah, these brats are worse than I thought they'd be," Meizu heatedly. Though he hadn't anticipated a short, easy fight, he did find it worrying that the two genin could fight him and Gouzu on more or less equal terms. Sure, the brothers had the definite edge in strength, teamwork, and experience. But the boys' unpredictability, surprising speed, and unrelenting attack more than made up the difference between them and their opponents.
"Taijutsu and close combat don't seem to be working against these two," Gouzu said coolly.
He'd been fighting the Uchiha before the blonde jumped in and interrupted his near-fatal attack that would've otherwise landed. Unlike his brother who just attacked with a merciless glee, Gouzu tried to analyze his opponents. The Uchiha was fast and his Sharingan easily gave him all the warning he needed to dodge or block most attacks. But the blonde kid was surprisingly strong in both body and chakra; he'd been using some kind of Fuuton jutsu around his fists that had a disconcerting ability to blow away anything that came into contact with it. That was how he'd broken off Gouzu's portion of the chain.
"I think it's time to take off the kid gloves, Meizu," Gouzu said, wanting to test out just how well the boys could react to the various ninjutsu that the brothers knew.
"My thoughts exactly!" Meizu barked, glaring heatedly at the boys.
Standing level with one another, they began forming eighteen handseals simultaneously, chanting the seals as they did this. Both of them were focusing their chakra into precisely timed and patterned bursts that they'd perfected after many countless hours of practice. It was a secret that they kept largely to themselves and used only on the opponents they felt were most deserving of it.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" Together, they finished the handseals and smirked evilly as the jutsu was unleashed. Rising up on either sides of the bridge beside the brothers were twin geysers of high-powered water that quickly came crashing down towards the boys, merging together to form one giant vortex of pure destruction that was moving at great speeds. But, apparently, not fast enough.
"Fuuton: Tatsumaki no Jutsu!" A powerful tornado sprung to life and slammed into the vortex with all the grace of a bulldozer in a china shop. The mighty vortex was ground to a halt, trying to push past the cycling winds. But the powerful winds were effectively blowing the approaching waters to the sides, away from the two boys. But for as strong as the tornado was, the vortex was stronger and was steadily pushing through. This caused the jutsu to lose a great deal of its former power rather quickly.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Just as quickly, a large orange fireball came rushing forward in the wake of the tornado, causing the scattered water to boil and evaporate within seconds of the passing flames' heat, causing a hot mist to blanket the area.
"Che, this might not be so easy after all," Sasuke grunted to himself as he glared into the mists.
"So I was right," Zabuza taunted from the mists, his nose telling him that he'd succeeded in drawing first blood from the large diagonal slash across Kakashi's chest. "The mighty Sharingan can be bypassed by simply not making eye contact and how unfortunate for you that I just so happen to specialize in the silent killing style."
Kakashi was panting slightly, trying not to cringe too much as he drew in breaths, inflating his injured chest. Zabuza had to advantage right now. If they'd been on land or at least the bridge, Kakashi could've used his Ninken Kuchiyose to attack the Kiri-nin from below. And while his dogs did have the ability to walk on water like ninja, they would be greatly at the disadvantage since the water was Zabuza's domain.
"You're right," Kakashi agreed, trying to stall so that he could think of a way out of this situation. "But tell me something, now that we're away from prying ears. Why did you really come to face us?"
There were a few tense moments of silence, broken only by the lapping of waves. Then, lowly at first, a loud bark of laughter echoed across the water. "You really don't know? Fine, I'll tell you." The mist began to clear enough for Kakashi to finally locate Zabuza standing several meters in front of him. The man kept his eyes closed, though it was obvious that it was only as a precaution.
"I can't have it be known that I willingly let my target and his escorts escape, completely unscathed," Zabuza spoke, a dark humor in his voice as he spoke. "It'd be bad for my reputation, you know."
"A ninja is not supposed to care about his reputation," Kakashi pointed out. "But I guess that self-interest of yours is one of the reasons you betrayed Kirigakure."
"Betrayal only depends on a person's point-of-view," Zabuza barked. "And from my point-of-view, I was only doing what should've been done years ago, but no one else had to skill or interest to do so beforehand."
Despite himself, Kakashi had to agree with that. The sooner the Yondaime Mizukage was taken out of the picture, the better off Kirigakure and the ninja world in general would be. However… "The fact that you'd have likely made yourself the Godaime Mizukage would've just been a nice bonus for your 'much-needed services' then, right?"
"Heheheheh, you catch on quick," Zabuza chuckled. "But my reputation aside, there was another reason I wanted to face you." The man smiled darkly, something that Kakashi could've clearly seen even without Obito's Sharingan. "It's been a long time since I've had to fight full-out against an opponent. You're a lot of fun, but…I'm also quite curious about those kids you brought with you."
There was something in the man's tone as he said this that caught Kakashi's attention. It took only a few moments of contemplation before he realized the obvious. "You deliberately didn't attack after the Demon Brothers returned because they told you about Sakura's Hyouton!"
Zabuza chuckled loudly again. "Don't get the wrong idea, Kakashi. I personally don't give a shit about that little girl, but she does hold the same Kekkei Genkai as my own little tool. I thought it might be fun to test my weapon against yours."
Kakashi quickly glanced over towards the bridge. With the Sharingan, he could see the six auras of chakra that were dancing around the bridge in erractic movements both graceful and clumsily as an occasional jutsu shot forth. But the pair that grabbed his attention was two that were surrounded by large blimps of cold chakra. If ever there was a time he wished he had the Byakugan instead of a Sharingan, it was right now, so that he could actually see the progress of Sakura's fight against Zabuza's henchman.
"Don't worry," a dark voice behind whispered into his ear. "She'll live."
It was pure reflex that had Kakashi spinning around on his heel, kunai flashing up and through the silhouette that had snuck up on him. Like a water balloon, the Mizu Bunshin erupted into a spray of water. Finishing his spin, Kakashi quickly focused his Sharingan back on Zabuza, who hadn't budged from his earlier position.
"What do you mean?" he growled out, angry with himself for letting himself take his eyes off his opponent.
"Ever since he was a kid," the Kiri-nin spoke, pride obvious in his voice. "I have taught Haku many ninja skills. He has faced many strong enemies and adversities through the years and has the greatest strength of all. He can kill his heart and focus his fear to become a true, nearly-unstoppable killing machine known as a shinobi."
Kakashi didn't like the sound of that at all, though he kept his opinions to himself. But, he was reluctant to admit, if Zabuza spoke the truth and the boy could focus himself into such a cold killing machine, it was very, very impressive feat for one so young. However, the future repercussions such cold, methodical teachings and practices could and likely would have dire consequences on both the boy and those around him. This was the reason why so few ninja in Konohagakure practiced taking the shinobi arts to such extremes, and also why Kirigakure had become so engulfed with civil unrest and had the greatest amount of rogue, psychotic killers.
"But that boy has one weakness," Zabuza continued, this time his voice laced with annoyance. Strangely (or perhaps not), the annoyance sounded more forced than genuine to Kakashi's experienced ear. "It's that he holds far too tightly onto those who he considers his 'precious people,' which is why your girl will likely not be killed after he finishes with her."
"You mean because of her Hyouton?" Kakashi asked, it's what made the most sense to him.
"That's enough talk for now," Zabuza barked. "Let's continue our little match! I want to have some more fun!" He disappeared back into the mists within seconds, everything once again going unnaturally silent on their aquatic battlefield.
The icy structure that stood prominently in the center of the bridge was beautiful and elegant, yet also very scary. Dozens of mirrors portraying the same image of Haku, who was bouncing between them at such incredible speeds that very few could've caught more than a swift blurs of movement as he passed them by. Sakura only knew this because of her use of the Hyougen.
By keeping her feet anchored to the ice she'd created on the bridge's ground, she received a tremendous boost in speed and agility. Nowhere even close to what Haku attained as he traversed between the mirrors, but she was more than agile enough to keep him in her sights and dodge or block most of his attacks. But that was also why she quickly activated her Hyouton: Fubuki no Jutsu, creating a localized blizzard with razor-sharp snowflakes surrounding her. Avoiding these small but dangerous blades was very difficult for even Haku, slowing him down immensely. Despite his best efforts, Haku's clothes were covered in tears and his skin was scratched and bleeding slightly in places.
Catching a strong kick on her left bicep, Sakura spun around and swung her free arm, trying to bash her fist into Haku. But the older teen instantly pushed off her and shot up into one of the higher mirrors in the air, Sakura's punch completely missed his body and only hit the winds of his passing. As she was turning her attention upwards, she caught a blur of movement heading behind her. Without even stopping to check, she lunged to the left, crouching slightly to lower her profile. Haku's form shot over her shoulder, cleanly missing her, and he stumbled upon landing on the ice.
He clearly had some training in walking and fighting on ice since he didn't lose his balance or footing, but he couldn't skate along its surface with chakra as Sakura had learned how to. Sakura made this realization upon watching him go sliding slightly ahead of her without turning to face her. This revelation was also deepened upon her remembering him always attacking her by jumping through the air and retreating back into his mirrors, all without touching down on the ice below. A smirk shot across her face, this was her chance!
Shooting forward, she was upon his faltering form within seconds, landing a vicious elbow into his lower back. The blow knocked his feet clear out from under him as he fell face first downward with a cry. Swerving around in front of the falling boy, Sakura crouched down and quickly shot up, slamming a double uppercut into his face. As she was doing this, Haku's hands shot forward and grabbed tightly onto her ice-encased arms, keeping himself from being knocked back uncontrollably. Spreading her arms in an effort to break his hold, Sakura saw his knee lashing up to hit her in the face. She bent down to meet the kneecap midway, slamming the joint onto her ice-armored forehead. Due to the close proximity, she easily heard an unpleasant sounding crunching sound from the joint from the impact.
As she was recoiling from the surprisingly strong blow to the head, Haku's other leg shot forward. But rather than attack, he braced himself off her shoulder and jumped upwards, quickly escaping into one of his higher ice mirrors. The jump also caused her to slip on her own ice and fall onto her back, looking upwards at the mirror that Haku had vanished into.
"You're really strong, Haku-san," Sakura said, panting heavily. They had been at this for nearly ten minutes now and she was starting to tire out very quickly now. Keeping her ice armor, small blizzard, and ice rink all active at the same time was very, very draining on her chakra reserves, even more so over an extended time period, and especially in high-speed combat like this. She'd be lucky to keep them going for another five minutes at this rate!
"And you are surprisingly skilled for such a young and inexperienced kunoichi, Sakura-san," Haku replied, nodding down towards with a slight smile. "I don't normally find this kind of thing enjoyable, but I must confess to having a great time sparring with you."
"Sparring, eh?" Sakura muttered as she sat up but made no move to stand back up and reengage the fight. Though she did let the Fubuki go, the blizzard quickly clearing away as her chakra feeding it vanished. "Is that what you think we're doing here?"
"What do you think we're doing?" Haku asked, his face neutral despite the warm glow in his eyes.
"Well…" Sakura said contemplatively. "It definitely isn't a death match. Thank you for that, I still have so much left to do." She glanced pointedly over towards where a fiery tornado had suddenly sprung to life, the hot winds washing away the mists with relative ease. She couldn't help but to grumble out, "Can't say that those guys aren't having a death match, though."
Haku hummed in agreement as he too watched the fiery tornado quickly die away as a large wave of seawater shot up and splashed onto the bridge further down, dousing the flames. "I apologize about those two. Meizu and Gouzu took being beaten by two genin rather…personally."
Sakura couldn't help but chuckle at that. With a sigh, she stood back to her feet as she finally relented and let the constant chakra feed to her jutsu to fade away. Her Aisu Gusoku crumbled off her body and quickly melted, along with her Hyougen. "I'm done, Haku-san. You win."
Dropping out of his mirror, Haku landed tenderly on his good leg, trying not to jolt his injured knee too badly. Once he was safely on the ground, his mirrors crumbled and melted as well. Standing back up, he smiled kindly towards the exhausted girl. "If it makes you feel any better, I couldn't have continued that level fighting anymore because of my knee. And I'm almost out of chakra as well."
Sakura looked away, not wanting her opponent to see the relieved smile on her face. In her mind, they had essentially tied in their little 'sparring match', though Haku had held the upper hand for the majority of it. "You know, it's kinda poetic that we met again…on a bridge like this."
Haku glanced at her for a moment before nodding in agreement. "This bridge is where our dreams are tied together. The place where we fought: me, for my dreams; you, for your dreams. I hope that we both will walk away with new ideas…and a friendship."
Turning back to Haku with slightly wide eyes, Sakura stared at him. Then, slowly, as the mists began fading away and rays of sunlight began pouring through the clouds overhead, a smile blossomed across her face. "Friends? I'd like that, Haku-san, very much."
Springing apart as scything blades of high-speed water shot forward, tearing gouges out of the bridge as they passed, Naruto and Sasuke hurled kunai and shuriken towards the brothers. As the weapons approached, one brother threw his own shuriken to intercept. The other brother flipped through some handseals and launched two more streams of water scythes.
"Haha!" Naruto laughed as he easily dodged the water again. "It's a good thing these boys ain't lumberjacks!"
"No joke!" Sasuke agreed as he unfurled a fuuma shuriken and hurled it at the Chuunin. "The only things safe in the woods—" he crouched under yet another scythe before dashing forward. "—would be the trees!"
This joke apparently ticked off the Demon Brothers. They abandoned their systematic defense/offense rotation and rushed forward to maim the boys with their gauntlets again. The two genin smirked at this. Naruto quickly formed a dozen clones, two of which grabbed each other's crossed arms and threw Sasuke's leaping form high into the air. The other ten Narutos shot through the Tatsumaki handseals and quickly launched numerous tornados in a staggered formation, not simultaneously since the winds would've clashed and destroy each other.
Up in the air, Sasuke inhaled deeply as he channeled the chakra for a large-scale Goukakyuu. Unleashing the jutsu, a massive wave of flames erupted out of his mouth, moving in a slight arc as he aimed them towards the tornados. Fueled by the strong wind chakra, the flames of the Goukakyuu quickly shot up the tornados, creating numerous columns of spinning fire that were rapidly approaching the unprepared Demon Brothers.
All that Meizu and Gouzu could do was cross their arms in a basic defense over their torsos and cry out in pain as the scorching flames washed over them, sending them flying off the bridge in opposite directions and impacting into the sea below.
Landing heavily, Sasuke nearly collapsed from sudden onset of chakra depletion that occurred from the use of the Goukakyuu. 'Dammit, I guess I'm still not quite strong enough to handle that jutsu on that level yet.' "Heh, I'd called the Okibi a resounding success, Naruto."
"Hell, yeah!" Naruto cheered, bouncing energetically into the air as he pumped his fists in triumph. "We totally kicked their asses' big time this time! Haha!"
Sasuke just smirked in agreement, envying his teammate's seemingly limitless endurance.
"Don't get too cocky, gaki!" a dark voice growled from nearby. Moving back to back and falling into automatic defensive stances, the boys instantly sought the source of the voice. They found it to be Zabuza, standing upon the bridge's railing with an exhausted, visibly wounded, and barely conscious Kakashi lying crouched on the bridge at his feet. "This fight isn't over yet."
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cried out, clearly distressed at the sight of their seemingly-unstoppable and all-powerful Jounin instructor being reduced to such a state. It was a sentiment that Sasuke found himself easily agreeing with. Still, it was clear that the gray-haired Jounin hadn't gone down without a fight. Zabuza was covered in sweat, bruises, and cuts, his mask of bandages had loosened and were cascading down his neck limply. There was even an especially bad stab wound in his left shoulder which was bleeding pretty badly, probably from a kunai of Kakashi's. Approaching footsteps quickly distracted him from his unease.
"What's going—Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled as she too caught sight of Zabuza, coming up next to the boys. They gave her a quick glance, seeing that she wasn't badly injured, just exhausted with only a small amount of chakra left. Wobbling behind her was another figure that they could see but the thick mists made it hard to discern the person's identity from a distance. "You two okay?"
"We're fine," Sasuke grunted, quickly returning his attention to Zabuza, his Sharingan glaring angrily at the man. "But not for much longer, I bet."
"Heh, your teacher was a lot of fun," Zabuza said, sneering at the kids in front of him as he gestured towards the man below him. "Let's see you three can entertain me as much as he did."
Then, with speed that didn't seem possible for his injuries and obvious exhaustion, he leapt high into the air, swinging his large sword broadly with his good arm as he descended upon them. The three genin leapt apart in different directions. Sasuke hastily unfurled and threw his second (and last) fuuma shuriken, the Kazeken sprung to life around Naruto's fists, and Sakura drew a pair of kunai and held them defensively. Zabuza merely batted the large shuriken away with extreme ease, knocking it towards Naruto, and then lunging towards Sakura.
With his Kazeken, Naruto blew the ricocheting weapon aside, back towards Sasuke. Sakura quickly hurled both her kunai at Zabuza before shooting through some handseals. Sliding under the approaching weapons, Zabuza swung his Kubikiribocho in a horizontal slash at the girl, with considerably less power or speed than he could've if he'd been so inclined to actually kill her. Still, he found himself surprised when the girl was able to actually stop the large sword's swing. She stopped it by using a large blocky shield of ice that had formed with considerable speed, anchored slightly on the ground to help support it and the girl's efforts.
"Impressive strength, girl," he growled, acknowledging that he'd underestimated her strength and jutsu capacity. Lashing out with a strong kick, he knocked the ice sculpture loose and sent the girl tumbling backwards. "But not good enough."
"Leave her alone!" a furious scream erupted behind him. Turning and angling the Kubikiribocho, he caught the angry blonde's wild wind-encased punch on the broad side of his blade, anchoring himself to the bridge with chakra so as to not be blown away.
"You got spirit, blondie," Zabuza complimented, nodding slightly in recognition. With a mighty heave of his arm, Zabuza lashed out with the Kubikiribocho and sent the boy flying back the way he came, coincidentally over towards the pink-haired girl. "But you're lacking a bit of intelligence."
Sasuke was running forward with all the speed his tired body could muster, which wasn't much. Seeing Naruto's approaching body, he ducked under while reaching up and nudging Naruto just hard to help him regain some of his balance in flight. "Soyokaze!" he barked to Naruto.
"Fuuton: Tatsumaki no Jutsu!" Naruto's tornado quickly sprung to life behind Sasuke, its winds helping to give him a good boost in speed, substituting his dwindling endurance.
Using the added speed to his fullest advantage, Sasuke rushed Zabuza with a kunai in hand, his Sharingan keeping careful track of the man. The man sent a fast slash with his monster sword, something that Sasuke easily saw and ducked under well in advance. What he didn't see until it was too late was Zabuza's knee. He barely even had time to register its approach before the knee smashed into his face, breaking his nose and completely shattering his concentration. Zabuza idly shifted his weight before kicking the stunned Uchiha in the chest and knocking him back towards his teammates.
"And you're too reckless for your own good, Uchiha," Zabuza barked, shaking his head in disapproval. Sitting up painfully from where they all lie, crumpled, exhausted, bleeding, and panting, Team 7 glared at the man in anger. "You kids have got good combat potential, I admit. But what you're lacking is something that could determine whether or not you could make yourself into great ninja or not."
"And why do you care?!" Naruto yelled as Sasuke realigned his broken nose and wiped away some of the dripping blood.
"Because any student of Sharingan no Kakashi could one day become very great ninja," Zabuza said, almost reverently despite the sinister sneer still on his face. "And you kids might one day entertain me as much as he has today. I merely want to help ensure that."
"You're…training us?" Sakura sputtered, unable to believe what she was hearing. "So that you can fight us again in the future?"
Zabuza's sneer just widened in reply.
"You said we were lacking something," Sasuke pointed out, his glare deepening. In the back of his mind, he could feel strange…buildup occurring somewhere inside him. It was strange to describe, but it was happening. But he didn't pay this strange sensation too much attention, not with Zabuza standing before them. "What is it?"
"Well, actually, you lack two things," Zabuza corrected himself, a frown replacing his sneer as he turned a glare upon them. "You lack bloodlust, an unrelenting desire to cut, rip, and slaughter your enemies," There was a sickly passion for the aforementioned acts quite noticeable in his voice. "You gain bloodlust mostly through battle, developing a killing instinct through experience. The victor of a ninja battle is usually determined before the first kunai is even drawn, the opponents' bloodlust ultimately determining who possesses the greatest desire to kill their enemies and walk away the survivor."
They had heard speeches and lectures similar to this one in both the Academy for years and an occasional one from Kakashi, but this one painted a far more vivid picture in their minds. A bloody picture that the injured and tired but still-undeniably dangerous Zabuza only helped drive home, especially considering he'd already beaten Kakashi. And the overwhelming fear it instilled in each of them quickly caused all three to start trembling uncontrollably as they stared at the bloody Kijin.
"But as useful as bloodlust is, you must first learn and conquer a far more common, simpler, but much more deadly enemy within yourselves before you can develop it." Now Zabuza's glare turned positively murderous as he began channeling his remaining chakra into a very specific manner. When he spoke again, his deep voice sounded even more foreboding and far more terrifying. "Learn now what it is."
Killing intent washed over the three genin like an uncontrollable tidal surge. It was the worst sensation any of them had ever felt. Not even Itachi's Tsukuyomi came close to the panic-inducing aura that was suddenly consuming the genins' consciences. Itachi had merely wanted to mentally torture the young Sasuke. What Zabuza was doing was far more potent. Images of bloody death, horrific torture, and never-ending agony shot through their minds wildly, incapacitating them as they dropped down onto their knees, shaking uncontrollably.
But despite the overwhelming abundance of fear that was flooding his system, Sasuke's mind still functioned. 'Genjutsu?' he tried to puzzle out, fighting to regain control of his fear and move functions of his body as he analyzed what was happening to them. 'No…This is just fear. He's…channeling his chakra…into psycho…logical waves directed at…us… Hard to…think… Scared… I'm scared…' And he honestly was. Glancing down, he saw his hands shaking wildly.
Sakura wasn't fairing much better. Intellectually, she knew and understood what was happening to her just as clearly as Sasuke did. But, like Sasuke, the high levels of fear had overridden her conscious control of her body. It gave way to her human's subconscious reflex of freezing and quieting down as something that truly terrified her approached, hoping against hope that her nonresponsive body what cause the source of her fear to lose interest and leave. 'I'm scared…I'm scared…I'm scared!' was the mantra can kept whimpering pathetically through her mind.
"Fear is not evil," Zabuza said, his voice strangely seeming disembodied as it carried over the three trembling kids. "It is to know your own weakness. And if you know your own weakness, you can work to overcome it. You can grow stronger. And you will finally attain that which marks you as a true shinobi: the will to continue fighting, even when all hope of victory seems lost."
"Heh," Naruto grunted, unintentionally drawing his teammates' and Zabuza's attentions. The blonde's head was lowered, his hair casting shadows over his face, hiding his expression. Despite all the fear and panic that was washing over and through him, Naruto's grunt turned into a low chuckle as he clenched his fists. "Fear? Why should I feel fear? I've got my friends right here, beside me."
That statement truly drew Sasuke and Sakura's interests, a faint glimmer of hope beginning to emerge within their faltering eyes. Pushing himself slowly off his knees, Naruto continued, "We know our weakness… Alone, we are weak. But, together, we can fight…and win. We always have before and we always will again! Because, together, we are unbeatable!" Powerful winds erupted to life around his fists, as though in response to his own growing determination.
Zabuza said nothing to this. He merely watched as slowly, despite his continued killing intent, Sasuke and Sakura also slowly began picking themselves off the ground, his face carefully unreadable.
"That's right," Sakura said lowly, raising her arms as water and moisture began collecting around her and formed into long ice blades. "Alone, we are weak."
"But we aren't alone," Sasuke said, glaring heatedly at Zabuza. He could feel it this time. His eyes began burn softly, his Sharingan vision improving and sharpening as the last dregs of fear and uncertainty were wiped out of his mind. His Sharingan had finally evolved to the second stage. "And that's why we can still win this!"
Zabuza stared at the three of them for a moment, clearly gauging them. Then, just before they could launch themselves at him in what probably would've been a suicidal assault, he threw back and laughed, very loudly.
"BWAHAHAHAHA!" his laughter caught the genin by surprise, breaking their focus and causing them to falter and stare at him, unable to quite understand what he found so amusing. "I take it back, Kakashi. These kids of yours are very interesting!"
"Are you really that surprised, Zabuza-san?" Kakashi said as he appeared through the mists, walking up behind his surprised students. "I passed them for a reason after all."
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto and Sakura cried in surprise before all three turned to where they'd last seen him lying in a dying heap. They watched just in time to see the body over disappear in a poof of smoke, marking it a Kage Bunshin. Turning back to their sensei as their respective jutsu faded or died away in their confusion as their second winds vanished, Naruto blurted out, "What's going on, sensei?!"
Kakashi just eye-smiled at his confused students. "Just teaching you another lesson about the fundamentals of being a ninja, for which Zabuza-san was kind enough to offer his services."
As realization dawned, all of the genin glared heatedly at their sensei for tricking them. If they'd had the energy, they probably would've tried to lash out at him.
Meanwhile, Haku wobbled as quickly over to Zabuza as he could with his injured leg as he reached into his equipment pouch for some first aid creams and bandages. The rogue Jounin eyed his underling sharply, instantly spotting many small bleeding scratches on his formerly flawless skin and dozens of small tears in his clothes.
"You're pretty beat up," he observed, trying not to sound too surprised or concerned. "Was she really that much of a challenge for you?"
"Sakura-san lacks combat experience," Haku said calmly, wiping away the blood around Zabuza's shoulder stab wound and applying some disinfectant cream to it, ignoring the man's pained hiss. "But her ingenuity in the application of the Hyouton is truly impressive. I can't wait to practice a few of the ninjutsu she's shown me later."
Zabuza turned a calculating look over towards the kunoichi, who had dropped somewhat gracelessly back to the ground as her exhaustion got the better of her. If she was able to garner such high praise from Haku, then she would definitely be a ninja worth watching for in the future. Returning his attention to Haku, who was now wrapping a bandage around his shoulder, he said, "Where're Gouzu and Meizu?"
"I believe the boys were able to beat them again," Haku answered, stating the obvious with a slight smile.
Zabuza couldn't help the slight sneer that crossed his exposed face as that revelation made itself known to him. He'd have so much fun teasing the Brothers in future because of this, no matter how much he may have come to actually respect the genin's aspiring skills.
With a heavy sigh, he finally released his control of the Kirigakure no Jutsu that he'd maintained over the course of the battle. The fog quickly cleared, revealing the bridge, mid-morning sun, blue-gray sea below, and the large crowd of Nami citizens who had stuck around to try and witness the battle. Upon finally seeing all four familiar silhouettes of the Konoha-nin and noticeably fewer enemy ninja standing against them, the crowd soon let loose loud and wild cheers for Team 7's apparent victory.
"Che, we're leaving," Zabuza growled, annoyed at the instant praise that the Konoha-nin were receiving. Haku nodded as he moved away, having finished with the bandage.
"Just one moment, Zabuza-sama," Haku said, walking over towards the Konoha-nin.
"Hey, it's you!" Naruto cried upon recognizing the girly boy, pointing his finger accusingly at Haku. "You're that girl from before!"
"I'm a boy, Naruto-san," Haku corrected, torn between amused and annoyed. Looking down at Sakura, he smiled sadly and softly at her, "I'm afraid this is where we part ways, Sakura-san."
Pushing herself back to her despite her obvious injuries, fatigue, and emerging sores, she said, "Maybe, but we'll meet again one day. I'm sure of it. And when we do, I'm gonna win next time for sure."
"I'll be looking forward to it," Haku said, nodding deeply. Looking the boys, Haku's smile grew slightly. "You are all extremely lucky to have such a good friend like Sakura-san. Please, protect her for me?"
"Of course!" Naruto agreed, giving Haku a thumb's up with a confident grin.
"Not that we'll need to," Sasuke said. "She can take care of herself, on top of this idiot." He jabbed his thumb over towards Naruto pointedly.
"Who are you calling an idiot, bastard?!" Naruto barked instantly. "You're the only idiot around here!"
Chuckling slightly at the good-natured ribbing the boys were giving each other, Haku bowed lowly, "Sayonara, everyone."
"Sayonara, Haku-kun," Sakura said in reply, smiling at the surprised look on his face at the unexpected suffix. But he and Zabuza soon vanished entirely from the bridge, nothing but slight sprays of water to mark their departure.
(Author's Note) Wow, now that was one monster of a chapter. Sorry about the late update, but I've been quite busy since my previous one. I got transferred to a new factory in Montana, finding a new place to live and get settled in at home and work, and working furiously to replace my lost finances to pay for the move out. Let's just say that I hadn't been all that inclined to start writing until just recently.
To answer the last chapter's trivia:
1) the apartment fight in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the first movie), though I understand why no one caught this one
2) the dungeon scene of Turtles in Time (TMNT 3), I have always loved that one!
Anyway, I had a considerable number of inspirations for this chapter. Chiefly among them are a few quotes, one from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the first movie), some conversation and ideas from Fairy Tail and Bleach. Let's see who can spot them. Quite a few of you I'm sure since some of them are quite blatant in their use.
If there's one thing that I've seen time and time again in nearly ALL Naruto fanfiction, it is the Demon Brothers one and only fight against Team 7, always ending with them getting their asses handed to them by either Team 7 (whether individually or working together) or Kakashi, and then having the Brothers either be killed or just simply cease to exist for the remainder of the story. It is a sadly reoccurring legacy of the 'Demon Brothers' that I'd felt the need to break, they're CHUUNIN for a reason after all! Hence why they were able to escape Kakashi tying them to a tree and to report back to Zabuza. I hope that I did them justice and gave you guys an exciting fight overall.
Also, I must do a major shout-out to Fiori75 for brainstorming potential fight scenarios and ideas to make the battles more realistic and elaborate. And thank you, FictionReader98, for helping me with the early scenes of the chapter.
And finally, if anyone is interested in viewing pictures of Team 7's new outfits, you'll find the pictures in my DeviantART homepage and I'll be posting links to them on my homepage here. I personally quite like them!
*Team 7*
Okibi/Blazing Fire—This is a special ninjutsu that Sasuke and Naruto created together during their training in Nami no Kuni. It combines Naruto's Fuuton: Tatsumaki (Wind Style: Tornado) with one of Sasuke's Katon jutsu (usually the Goukakyuu). Sasuke's fire feeds off of Naruto's winds, creating a fiery tornado. This jutsu, though visually impressive, is actually quite weak. But what it lacks in power, it more than makes up for in being a very good distraction and causing the user's opponents to scatter and flee. C-Class Ninjutsu (Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto)
Soyokaze/Breath of Air—This is an attack strategy that Naruto concocted. It merely is Naruto launching his Tatsumaki towards his teammate(s) back to give them a boost of speed and potentially catch their opponent(s) off-guard by the increase. C-Class Strategy (Team 7)
*Haruno Sakura*
Hyouton: Aisu Gusoku/Ice Style: Ice Armor—Sakura coats her body with varying amounts of ice to protect herself from taijutsu and/or weapon attacks. But another ability of the Aisu Gusoku is that, depending on the ice quantity and density covering her, Sakura can even increase the power of her attacks or her agility. Though the chakra cost of this jutsu isn't all that high, it can wear her down over extensive periods of time, making the armor only useful in small battles where endurance doesn't matter. There are three basic versions of her Aisu Gusoku: Attack, Defense, and High-Speed (which she used to fight Haku with). C-Class Ninjutsu (Haruno Sakura)
Hyouton: Fubuki/Ice Style: Snow Storm—Summoning the humidity out of the air and freezing the water into razor-sharp snowflakes, this gives Sakura an offensive defense. If there's enough humidity in the air or water nearby, she can effectively create near blizzard-like white-outs, completely blinding her opponents as to where she's hiding. C-Class Ninjutsu (Haruno Sakura)
Hyouton: Hyougen/Ice Style: Snow Field—Sakura summons water to the surface of the ground and freezes it into a skating rink. As long as she keeps herself glued to this ice with her own chakra, Sakura is granted a considerable boost in speed and agility. Plus, unlike many ninja, this jutsu also gives Sakura the unmistakable edge of increasing the likelihood of her opponents losing their footing or balance since snow and ice are rather rare in the Elemental Nations (excluding the northern and southern countries), thus comparatively few ninja have actually received training on how to fight on either. D-Class Ninjutsu (Haruno Sakura)
Hyouton: Kodate/Ice Style: Shield—A very simple ninjutsu that creates a shield of ice. The strength and size of this shield are highly dependent on how much chakra Sakura applies to the jutsu, how much moisture/water she has available to her, and just what she intends to use the shield for. This ice shield jutsu is a highly-effective defense against basic ninjutsu and weaponry that hasn't been enhanced or strengthened by chakra. D-Class Ninjutsu (Haruno Sakura)
*Uzumaki Naruto*
Kazeken/Wind Fist—Channeling Fuuton chakra around his fists, feet, or body, the user can effectively increase the power of his attacks with the Fuuton chakra being able to blast whatever it touches away with relative ease. However, the amount of chakra needed to use this jutsu is quite considerable, limiting its combat usage to those who have high chakra reserves. Luckily for Naruto, his chakra is so high that he can spam this jutsu just as easily as the Kage Bunshin. However, because of its high chakra demand, not even he cannot use it simultaneously with too many Kage Bunshin. B-Class Ninjutsu. (Uzumaki Naruto)
*Team Zabuza*
Suiton: Daibakufu/Water Style: Great Waterfall—This technique extends water over a large scale, surges and rises up to several dozen meters high. Then it streams down to the ground in one big cascade, much like a gigantic waterfall. In doing so, it resembles a huge wave, with tremendous power that can hollow out the ground. What remains after that technique's utilization is reminiscent of no less than the aftermath of a natural disaster. This is a considerably advanced ninjutsu and activating this technique requires a fair amount of chakra. However, since the Demon Brothers merge their chakra together, it actually requires less of their individual reserves than it normally would. A-Class Ninjutsu (Gouzu, Meizu)
Suiton: Mizu Yaiba/Water Style: Water Blades—This ninjutsu launches highly-compressed water towards the opponent at extreme high-speeds, turning the water into a devastating blade capable of cutting through most physical objects in its path. This is a ninjutsu that has seen more than its share of mutilation and murder in ancient and recent times and is one of the ninjutsu that the Bloody Mist-era Kirigakure is most famous for. C-Class Ninjutsu (Gouzu, Meizu)