Chapter Twelve
A gigantic wave of water swelled in front of them. Sakura gasped as the water grew higher and started its descent.
Sasuke didn't even have time to think. Grabbing Sakura by the waist, he jumped to the side of the bridge. He pushed her against the central anchor of the bridge and wrapped his body around her and the main pier of the bridge. Sakura whimpered as Sasuke pushed her against the structure, pinning both of them to the bridge.
"Hold your breath!" Sasuke ordered. He could hear the men screaming and running away, some even jumping off the bridge in their mad dash to escape the wave.
The water slammed into them, sweeping across the bridge in angry waves. Sasuke dug his fingers into the rock as tightly as he could, fighting the water that was desperately trying to pull him under. He focused his chakra into his fingers to strengthen their hold. He closed his eyes to shut out the water that was pounding in his ears and lapping at his mouth, trying to force its way into his unyielding body.
Sakura's body was rigid and unmoving under him, and Sasuke hoped he wasn't crushing her. Which death would you prefer: suffocation by me or drowning via the water? Sasuke thought morbidly.
As suddenly as it had appeared the wave disappeared. Relaxing his body, Sasuke stepped back and freed Sakura. Sasuke surveyed the damage cursorily as Sakura recovered. Bridge is damaged, but it's not that bad. Tazuna can repair it quickly enough. All the men are gone, of course. And Tazuna –
"Stupid water!" Tazuna muttered loudly. He was pressed against the edge of the bridge, holding on for dear life and cursing the bridge, the water, and everyone present loudly. Sasuke smirked as Sakura helped him stand.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Sasuke tensed at the sound of Zabuza's voice. Sakura shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. "Three little drowned rats, eh? And without their precious Kakashi-sensei to defend them."
Sasuke growled softly. Imperiously he faced his foe. Zabuza stood at the start of the bridge, the miniature hunter nin beside him. Zabuza was as cocky as ever. The boy was harder to read; he seemed rather dispassionate about the entire affair.
"We don't need our sensei to protect us," Sasuke asserted. He scowled in their direction. "Unlike some people."
Sakura drew close to him, obviously terrified. She had never dreamed that her flippant words over breakfast would ever come true. You just had to tempt fate, didn't you?
"Haku," Zabuza addressed the boy beside him. "I hate to insult you like this, but take care of the girl. I want the pleasure of killing the Uchiha."
"Sakura," Sasuke said. "We have to protect Tazuna."
"Right," she answered with a shaky voice. "Tazuna-san," Sakura said softly, dropping behind both Sasuke and Tazuna. Sasuke didn't look behind him, but he knew that Sakura had caught on to his plan. That cloak won't do much, but it's better than nothing. Sakura masked her chakra carefully as she activated the cloak. The heavy fog that had appeared natural was growing thicker, and as Tazuna broke away from them even Sasuke could find him.
Sasuke knew Sakura couldn't defeat Haku. If she tries to run, he'll catch her; she's not fast enough to escape; but if we can give Tazuna a head start, he might be able to get away. For us, there's nothing else to do but stand and fight, even if it means a death sentence for us both.
This was not the kind of battle Sasuke enjoyed. They couldn't win. Sasuke was slightly arrogant and admittedly even over-confident, but he knew that this was not an evenly matched battle by any stretch of the imagination. If it was just Haku, Sakura and I could defeat him. He's powerful, but he's not in Zabuza's league yet. If Haku wasn't here, maybe Sakura and I could stop Zabuza. But Haku and Zabuza together-
"Sasuke?" Sakura's eyes were wide; she understood what was about to happen.
"Get ready," he commanded. Sakura bit her lip and nodded, mustering what courage she could. She stepped away from Sasuke and pulled out two kunai.
No sense waiting for Zabuza to attack, Sasuke decided. "Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke yelled as he formed the necessary hand signs and charged at Zabuza.
The demon nin effortlessly avoided his fireball. "Too slow, too slow," he taunted mercilessly. A fog sprung up suddenly, shrouding Zabuza and Sasuke.
Damn, damn, damn! Sasuke felt for Zabuza's chakra. I can't see him! Where the hell did he go?
A fist shot out, aimed for Sasuke's head. He ducked at the last minute, barely avoiding what would have been a jaw-jarring hit. He slashed at the body with a kunai, and the clone instantly dissolved into water.
So, he's back to water clones now. Predictable, but Sasuke wasn't about to complain.
The fog lifted slightly. A ring of water clones surrounded Sasuke, each ready to attack. Sasuke chanced a look over at Sakura. Haku was using some sort of taijutsu to attack her; she was highly on the defensive, not even daring to strike at him, but for now she was holding her own. Good. Keep him off a little bit longer.
The clones in front of Sasuke sunk into fighting stances, preparing to strike. Sasuke smirked. Bring it. Whipping out a fistful of kunai, he charged headlong at the water clones.
Slashing and cutting, he started to mow down the clones. It was an intricate dance; they attacked, he ducked and spun and flew out of the way. Then they receded and it was his turn to take the lead, tearing and hitting and slamming at the clones. His body responded to his commands perfectly, years of training finally being rewarded.
A blade nearly cut into his head, and he bent backwards to avoid the hit. The other clone tried to knock his feet out from under him. He jumped into the air and landed behind the clone, stabbing it in the back.
He felt a small spike in chakra behind him, a spike so small he nearly ignored it at first. Zabuza! There was barely anytime; Zabuza was right behind him, and Sasuke was still grappling with the clone in front of him.
Zabuza's sword cleanly sliced through what would have been Sasuke's abdomen in a fatal blow. The log Sasuke had substituted for himself exploded, knocking Zabuza backwards.
Thank you exploding tags. Itachi had taught him that trick two weeks before he had graduated from the Academy.
He was so excited. His brother had finally ripped himself away from his work long enough to teach him something, and this something involved explosions. It was doubly wonderful, really.
Itachi stood before his brother and pulled out a handful of exploding tags. "You just have to attach exploding tags to your substitution before it appears in your place." Sasuke nodded eagerly, and Itachi grew stern. "You'll have to practice it; if you can't execute it properly, you will be harmed instead of your opponent; but when used properly it is highly effective."
He was right about that, as always. "Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke yelled again. This time it hit Zabuza head on. The already stunned man gave a harsh yell as the flames hit him. He had made one of the gravest mistakes of combat: underestimating one's opponent. Now, for the finishing blow!
"Sasuke-kun!" The sharp scream distracted him, directing his attention back towards Sakura's battle with Haku.
She was surrounded by over two dozen ice mirrors arranged in a dome around her. Haku's image was predominately displayed in each of the mirrors. What kind of jutsu is this? Sasuke had never seen or heard of anything like it.
Sakura was on the ground in the middle, body cut and bleeding in numerous places. Her head was bent low, and her hair hung in front of her face, obscuring Sasuke's view. She was holding her upper body up with her arms, but she was shaking horribly. She's going to fall over! What the hell happened to her?
Haku pulled his hand back. The sun caught his image, and Sasuke could see the glare reflecting off his senbon. He's going to kill her.
Sasuke ran. Zabuza was down on the ground, momentarily stunned; it was the perfect opportunity to finish him. He had been lucky; Zabuza had not been expecting the substitution with the exploding tags, and Sasuke was not likely to get another chance.
It didn't matter. He wasn't about to leave Sakura to die. Hell, he would've even saved Naruto if the blonde boy was in this position.
He flew through an opening in the dome of the mirrors just as Haku released the weapon. He saw the Haku images turned their heads in response. He reached Sakura the moment before the senbon did. Rolling, he landed on the edge of the dome farthest away from the mirror that had nearly killed his teammate.
That was far too close. His heart was pounding, and he laid Sakura down as he tried to calm it. "You need to get up," Sasuke said urgently. His eyes were burning; he hoped that wasn't a part of the jutsu.
She stumbled to her feet, leaning heavily on him. "I don't think I can!" She sank back down to her knees, nearly pulling him down with her. The burning in his eyes intensified, and Sasuke winced.
She's hurt. She's hurt bad. It wasn't an act, and Sakura wasn't giving up. Sasuke could see it in her eyes; she was too injured to fight.
His eyes were burning again. The pain wasn't unbearable, but it was strange – My sharingan. He felt a little thrill of excitement, despite their desperate situation. I have my sharingan. Hopefully that would level the playing field a little.
Sakura was breathing heavily; the pain was affecting her greatly now. That leaves me. Fine. I'll have to handle this myself. Sasuke stepped in front of Sakura deliberately, retrieving a kunai.
Haku cocked his head as he watched the young Uchiha. "That's the first time, isn't it? The first time you've activated your sharingan," he queried in a soft, high-pitched voice.
Sasuke refused to answer. He didn't know what Haku's precise motives were for asking him the question, but he could guess. He didn't want to play any games; it was time to fight.
Zabuza walked towards the dome, stopping approximately a meter away from the perimeter. "You got lucky, Uchiha," Zabuza said. "And that luck will make me enjoy your death even more. There's no sense in missing the fun of watching you die." Zabuza sneered at the genin, enjoying their suffering. The bloodlust in his eyes was as strong as it was blatant.
"Haku, you go ahead and finish off the brats." Zabuza leaned back against the edge of the bridge. "I wouldn't want to steal your fun."
Haku nodded solemnly. Sasuke examined the mirrors. They're infused with chakra…but it's different than anything else I've seen before. The jutsu was entirely abnormal. Sasuke focused further on the mirrors; they were connected somehow. There're networks of chakra between the mirrors. But why?
Suddenly, a senbon sliced his cheek open. Okay, so the other images can throw senbon, like clones. Sasuke whizzed around, facing the image that had hit him.
Two more senbon hit him from behind. One cut harmlessly into his calf. The other nailed a nerve center.
Sasuke's body contorted slightly as he fought the pain. That…hurt. How could a little needle hurt so much? Logically, of course, Sasuke knew exactly why the senbon had hurt; that trivia had been drilled into his mind long before; but it didn't take away the annoyance or the pain.
The senbon kept flying faster. Sasuke moved rapidly, hastily trying to avoid the dozens of projectiles. He evaded some. Most found their mark.
I can't keep this up! Sasuke thought frantically. If I could destroy those mirrors the attacks would slow.
Sasuke took a deep breath, centering his chakra. "Fireball jutsu!" He aimed at the closest mirror so the flames would be as intense as possible.
The flame dissipated. The mirror wasn't even scratched.
"You're going to need a lot more heat than that to melt these mirrors," Haku informed him almost proudly. Sasuke scowled. He should have known. Damn it.
He went back into the dance of fighting again. He could feel his body slowing down, feel the senbon he should have evaded pierce his skin.
The fatigue, the pain, the inexperience, Sakura; any one of those things could have made him miss the attack that came from his right, heading for that spot on the neck that when hit killed. Sakura hadn't been hit again, but Sasuke couldn't protect her much longer.
"Sasuke-kun!" He jerked his head to the side, momentarily distracted. The senbon whizzed by his ear; he could hear the soft hiss of the tiny wind they created as they moved by.
Sakura was standing now, wobbly and uncertain, but standing, standing resolutely. There was a pool of senbon beneath her. She blocked his attack. Sakura smiled weakly as she held her kunai in front of her, summoning what little strength she had left.
Without warning Sakura's body went flying high into the air, pulled off its feet by an unstoppable force. Sasuke watched in horror as her body flipped midair and slammed into the ground, the pounding sound echo across the bridge. Zabuza was standing near the edge of the dome, arm extended in front of him from the aftereffects of the kunai throw. His face was no longer expectant and thirsty but angry and impatient. "Finish him, Haku."
Something deep in Sasuke told him that the sudden mood change was important. It couldn't just be because Sakura had stood. They have all the time in the world, he thought bitterly.
Wait, maybe they don't. If Kakashi-sensei's coming, they'd have to hurry. Sasuke felt a spark of hope. He's got to be coming!
Another volley of senbon flew at him. Sasuke hit the ground, carefully evading all of them.
The change in point of view gave him his answer. The chakra networks between the mirrors- he's traveling by them! He's the one who's been attacking me, not his clones! The network allows him to travel between mirrors!
Sasuke jumped back. If I can figure out where he's going, I can stop him!
Sasuke danced around the dome, tracing Haku's movements. I need a good hit on him. I can't waste it! "Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke screamed.
It was so close. The flames flickered at the edge of Haku's clothes, even slightly burning his arm, but it wasn't enough to incapacitate the boy. Sasuke watched Haku's body tense, as though he was for the first time realizing what was going on.
Sasuke felt a small rise in Sakura's chakra level. Sakura wasn't moving, but Sasuke could feel her chakra increasing. She was still fighting.
"Haku! Kill the girl!" Zabuza ordered. No!
There was a short halt in Haku's movements, as though he was hesitating for a moment. That moment quickly disappeared. Haku skirted across the chakra network and fired two senbon at Sakura.
Sasuke saw them too late. He dashed forward, desperate to stop them, to protect her. He yelled her name as he ran, hoping against reality that she would wake up and move. Almost there, almost there, almost there! The one time he needed to be fast he felt so slow. I have to reach her. I have to stop them!
He was centimeters from her body when the senbon hit her. His cursed sharingan eye memorized the path of the senbon, the small involuntary jerk her body made as it hit her, the abrupt halt in her breathe and heartbeat. No!
He fell to his knees beside her still form, shaking from fear and rage. Another line of senbon was thrown at him, too quickly for him to block, at too awkward an angle for him to duck. It was all a trap.
"NOOO!" The scream literately shook the ice dome. Naruto? A whole side of the dome caved in, the mirrors shattering and spewing ice everywhere. Sasuke brought a hand up to save his face as shards cut through the air. A huge chunk of a mirror slammed into Haku's projectiles, effectively protecting the two teammates.
Sasuke let his hand fall, revealing an enraged Naruto. He was crouched on all fours, an animalistic grimace on his face, his whiskers more prominent than Sasuke had ever seen before. The air was pulsating with menacing, alien, unstable chakra, chakra so different from Naruto's own. What the hell?
"I'm going to kill you!" Naruto yelled. "You'll pay for this!"
There was no preamble, no long-winded speech, not even tears over Sakura's death. There was just rage and murder.
A loud thud caught Sasuke's momentary attention. Kakashi was ripping into Zabuza. The weakened demon nin obviously had not recovered from his last bout with Kakashi, and he was losing easily. Kakashi's gaze was like stone; hard and unyielding, but Sasuke could see the cracks and defects that showed what he really felt.
His hand was sticky. Sasuke looked down and saw that it was covered with Sakura's blood. He bit his lip, looking down at her. She was dead. Dead.
In that moment, everything disappeared. Kakashi's battle with Zabuza, Naruto's fight with Haku, and even his own injuries were all gone. He was just looking down at his broken, bleeding, dead teammate.
It wasn't like he hadn't seen death before. He had. He was from a ninja family, after all. But it had never been so close, so real. It had never hit him so hard.
Kakashi knocked Zabuza backwards, and the demon nin skidded across the bridge. Sasuke's anger intensified. Haku had killed her, but Zabuza had instigated the attack. If Zabuza hadn't rushed him, Kakashi would have arrived in time to save her. She wouldn't be dead.
Sasuke rose, face schooled into a careful mask of indifference. He formed the hand signs he had been taught years before. "Dragon Flame Jutsu!" A jet of fire streamed from his mouth, alighting Zabuza in a particularly torrid way.
Kakashi did not rebuke or praise his attack. He merely advanced on Zabuza. Behind him, Sasuke could hear Naruto's unnatural screams as he attacked Haku.
Sasuke hit Zabuza again, using his fireball jutsu. His chakra was running far too low; he would need Kakashi to finish him.
Without any communication Hatake understood the younger ninja. "Rikri!" Kakashi called out as focused his chakra.
Sasuke watched. He watched Kakashi slam his rikri in Zabuza's chest. He watched Haku scramble to protect his sensei, watched him leave his back open to Naruto, watched Naruto hit him harder than ever. He watched, and he didn't even try to stem the satisfaction as he watched Zabuza's body crumple.
Kakashi stepped back and surveyed the situation. Haku was motionless on the bridge; however, Sasuke could see that he was still breathing. He knew they were supposed to kill him now as well. He knew it…but something felt so dishonorable about killing an incapacitated man.
"Bravo," a hoarse, sarcastic voice cut across the bridge, interrupting the violent little scene. "Well done. You've defeated two of my strongest men."
Gato stood at one end of the bridge, a crowd of able-bodied men behind him. "Unfortunately, you still have far too many left to ever possibly defeat. Surrender the bridge builder now, and we'll let you live."
Let us live? Sasuke snarled. One of us is already dead, you imbecile! "Do you really think," he seethed, "that your puny little men can defeat us?"
The men in the crowd seemed uncertain. The gang was loosely grouped together, and Sasuke could see the same fear he had seen in the workmen earlier.
"We'll see, won't we?" Gato returned with a sinister smile, far too overconfident. "Attack them!"
There was silence. No man moved. No man even breathed.
"What are you waiting for? Attack them!"
"Are you kidding?" One of the men broke away from the main group, raising his hands in defeat. Fear ruled his face, and he kept glancing nervously at Naruto and his team. Sasuke could just imagine how they looked. Kakashi's clothes were blood-stained, and his masked face even more intimidating than usual. Naruto looked unstable, furious, and ready to strike out again. Sasuke couldn't see his face, but he knew that if he was emanating one ounce of the menace he felt he looked positively terrifying."There's no way in hell I'm fighting that psycho blonde kid!"
A few more men joined him. They were slow and uncertain, but they were still moving, moving away from Gato. "Gato, the worst you can do is not half as bad as what he can do!" Their spokesperson added as they slinked away, fading into the mist, eager to escape the wrath of the unfolding seen.
More men started breaking away from the main group, keeping their eyes focused on the ninja. Sasuke would have sneered and at least commented sarcastically if Sakura wasn't lying beside him in a pool of her own blood.
He knelt again beside her, and a slightly calmer Naruto joined him. Gato was screaming at his men, ordering them to charge, ordering them to fight, spit frothing at the corners of his mouth as he tried to regain control.
They weren't listening, and Sasuke knew they wouldn't. Once you let your fear overwhelm you, you lose all control. They couldn't obey you even if they wanted to.
Haku, who minutes ago had been as motionless as Sakura, was now standing. The fractured team watched him warily. Naruto growled, the whiskers started to grow in prominence again. Sasuke merely tensed; he didn't relish the thought of causing another death, but it was the ninja way, his stubborn conscience be damned. Kakashi lifted an eyebrow in a questioning manner, as though to say "Do you really want this now?"
Haku didn't even look their way. In the blink of an eye, he was beside his sensei.
The two teams were parallels, both mourning over the loss of a comrade. As much as Sasuke hated him, hated them, what they were, what they did, his stupid mind couldn't not see the parallels between them, the fact that they were exactly the same, just minus one person.
Haku closed Zabuza's eyes, oblivious to the loud commotion Gato was causing. "May I have him?" Haku's question was quiet, respectful, sincere; Sasuke hated him for his control.
Kakashi looked to them. Naruto was barely grazing Sakura's arm, as though afraid his touch even in death would harm her. In the same way, Sasuke was maintaining a buffer zone between his body and Sakura's.
He had no objections. The urge to fight, the maddening, overpowering rage, had left him for now. His drained chakra added to his perceived apathy.
"You may," Kakashi answered. Haku left, not waiting for any further response. Sasuke tracked him with his sharingan eye. He wasn't surprised when Gato's men failed to protect him. He wasn't surprised when the evil man fell, or when Haku decimated the rest of the crowd.
He turned his attention back to Sakura. His knees were starting to ache from the cold stone; her body had to be –
No. She was dead. She didn't feel. That startled him, the sudden realization. Of course she can't feel, idiot. He felt…he couldn't feel either, now. It's shock, isn't it?
Kakashi cleared his throat to say something, to break the unbearable silence, but he never actually uttered whatever he had chosen to say. Before he could speak, Sakura groaned.
"What?" Naruto gasped loudly. Sasuke was entirely speechless and thoughtless; he couldn't even conjure up a sarcastic remark. "Sakura-chan!"
"Don't yell, Naruto!" Sakura fired back harshly, eyes still screwed shut and voice hoarse. "I've got a killer headache," she mumbled.
"Sakura-chan, you're alive!" Naruto screeched, grabbing the girl with both arms. "You're alive, you're alive!" Naruto chanted. He didn't kill her! Sasuke felt the most overwhelming sensation of relief he had ever felt. Involuntarily his hand came up to touch her back, to assure himself that this wasn't some crazy hallucination.
"Ow, ow, ow ow! Naruto, that hurts! Stop! Unless you want to kill me!"
"Sorry, sorry!" Naruto apologized hastily. "Teme, she's fine!"
Sakura locked eyes with Sasuke sadly. "Yeah, I am." She looked at him carefully, and worry crept into her eyes. "I'm sorry I wasn't much help in the fight!"
He wanted to smack her. He truly did. Did you really think I'm pissed at you for almost dying? Maybe later, when he'd recovered from the shock of failure, he would muster up enough indignation to be angry at her. "Don't worry. You'll be helpful next time." I'll make you stronger. This isn't happening again.
She seemed puzzled, but she smiled anyway. He noticed her scoot a little closer to him, and he decided that he didn't mind; he wasn't about to begrudge her such a small comfort when she was in obvious pain.
"Well, Sakura, I must admit," Kakashi inserted. "It took you longer to regain consciousness than I had originally estimated."
There was absolute silence for a few very long seconds before Naruto erupted.
"YOU KNEW?" Naruto demanded, bright red. Sasuke echoed him with a much more pissed and much more contained "You Knew?"
Kakashi pretended to be offended. "Of course I knew." Did you really? Or are you just saying that? Sasuke knew he would never know.
"You should have said something!" Naruto chastised him, furious.
"Ninja read underneath the underneath, Naruto. You and Sasuke should have realized-"
"But Kakashi-sensei, why didn't you say anything?" Sakura seemed to be slowly recognizing just how shaken the boys had been by her death. She kept stealing glances at her two male team members. Sasuke knew he was doing a atrocious job of hiding his relief. "You should have told them!"
Kakashi smiled under his mask. "I didn't want to ruin your dramatic re-entrance into the world, Sakura."
Sasuke sighed contentedly. They were finally on the road to home.
Well, he thought, cursorily studying his surroundings. The bridge to home, at least, but it's close enough.
Sakura and Naruto were bickering again, but it was welcome relief after the saccharine scene that had occurred as they were leaving the village.
Sasuke supposed it could have been worse, but between Naruto breaking down and Sakura returning to her former pattern of swooning over him (though, fortunately, not quite as severely as she had before) and Kakashi burying himself in his porn, Sasuke was more than ready to return home. Far more had happened during the mission than he had ever thought, and he wanted to be able to work on his deficiencies that had surfaced. He couldn't silence the nagging suspicion that Naruto had outperformed him during the fight, and he had been far too open when Sakura was injured.
That, and I have some digging to do, he added mentally. The chakra Naruto had used was certainly not normal. Sasuke didn't know what it was or how the boy had accessed it, but something was unusual about it. He needed to find out more.
"Gah! Naruto, you're so annoying!" Sakura yelled, walking faster to eclipse her blond teammate. She walked beside Sasuke, arms crossed over her chest and face irate. Sasuke smirked at her obvious frustration.
Kakashi sighed. "Just when I thought you were all getting along together so well."
Sasuke snorted. You ever thought that? And I thought Naruto was the idiot.
A/N: YAY! We finally finished the Land of Waves Arc!
Sorry about that! I actually like this arc; however, I have big plans for the Chunin exams, and I can't wait to get to them! Be excited, be very excited :) Thanks again to all my readers/reviewers/favoriters (yeah, I know that's not a word). You guys are awesome!
So, how's about we make it to 100 reviews this chapter? That would be so EPIC! (and it might inspire an early update :) :)
OH, and about the cloak: I'm referring to the cloak of invisibility, a ninja tool that uses an E-rank level jutsu to help camouflage the wearer. It's a real jutsu. I promise.