Disclaimer: I would love to own Naruto, but alas you can't have everything you want in life.
Chapter 7: Satsu's Secrets,
The muscles in Zabuza's arm and shoulder shifted and flexed, preparing to swing his enormous blade downward onto his quarry. He knew that Sharingan Kakashi was too far away to do anything and he had taken down the other Jounin in the mist. The six Gennin surrounded him, but they were too stunned and too slow to possibly do anything about it. Tazuna himself was completely untrained and so his eyes had probably not even registered Zabuza was there yet, and even if he had he would never be able to dodge a ninja's attack. There was nothing to stop him from slicing this man in two and leaving to collect his pay.
The only thing that he didn't expect was for Tazuna to be roughly yanked back by an invisible force that sent him sprawling onto his back. Zabuza blinked in surprise when his blade found only air and stared in confusion at the spot on the ground where the bridge builder had stood a moment ago.
His moment of hesitation was all at took for Kakashi to slam his fist into the swordsman's face, knocking him back toward the lake.
A stunned Tazuna rolled onto his side, revealing a small swarm of at least a hundred insects attached to his back. Although it was impossible to see under his unusual clothes, Aburame Shino was proudly smiling at his triumph.
Zabuza stood atop the water of the lake, staring down his adversary. To his annoyance Kakashi had succeeded in raising his ninja headband, revealing his famed Sharingan eye. But it didn't matter, he was certain that he could beat this Kanoha-nin either way.
The Gennin were in shambles. Hinata had panicked when she saw her sensei laying unconscious at the lake's edge and had ran over to her. Kiba was trying to convince her to come back, telling her that Kurenai would be alright and that the most important thing now was to protect the client. Satsu simply looked amused at the chaos around him and didn't seem very intent on protecting the bridge builder. Sakura was shaking slightly but to her credit she stood her ground. Shino, the only one acting like a true ninja should, was trying his best to protect Tazuna, though he knew that if Zabuza attacked again there would be nothing he could do. The same trick would not work twice against a Jounin. Sasuke had completely forgotten about the mission and was watching the battle between the two ninja with awe.
Sasuke had never thought that he would see another Sharingan, outside of himself and...his adversary, and yet the red eye with the three tomoe was unmistakable. He couldn't help but wonder if Kakashi might have some connection to the Uchiha that he didn't know about. If so, the silver-haired Jounin might be more useful then he had originally thought.
Kakashi's taijutsu skills seemed to have made an enormous leap due to the power of the Sharingan and Zabuza was becoming annoyed. He didn't seem to be able to get a hit in. But it didn't matter, if taijutsu wouldn't work then something different must be tried.
Zabuza jumped backwards a shifted through a few handsigns, "Suiton: Water Boomerang Jutsu!"
A two-foot long blade of water appeared in Zabuza's hand, curved like a crescent moon, which he flung at his opponent.
Kakashi jumped as the blade approached and it passed harmlessly beneath him. Kakashi moved to retaliate when he heard the whistle of a blade behind him, and quickly twisted and sliced through the water blade with one of his kunai. The blade had turned in mid-air just like the boomerang that was its namesake. Zabuza smirked as he jumped into the air above his foe and created more handsigns, "Suiton: 1000 Water Boomerang Jutsu!"
Kakashi's eyes opened wide in shock as hundreds of water blades shot toward him, some flying straight downward, others curving to attack him from the sides or even behind. Kakashi's mind worked in overtime and yet he could think of only one way to dodge these blades. He knew that in doing so he would seal his fate but he had no other choice, and so he cut off the flow of chakra to his feet and sunk beneath the water.
Zabuza wasted no time, flicking through a short list of handsigns and calling out, "Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu!" In less then a moment Kakashi was trapped within an orb of water.
The Gennin, sans Satsu, couldn't help but feel their hearts gripped by fear. Sasuke in particular was disappointed at his teacher's failure. Satsu grinned and shambled up to the lake's edge, clearly unafraid of the powerful being in front of him.
"I gotta say," he shouted out, "I've seen Kakashi fight before and for anyone to stop him so easily...well you must be one strong ninja!"
From inside the dome of water Kakashi spoke, "Satsu, leave here! This man will kill you...all of you! The objective is to protect the bridge builder. Nothing else matters. Now take Kurenai and the client and leave!"
Satsu completely ignored his sensei, continuing to speak to The Demon of the Hidden Mist, "I personally don't have any interest in being taught by pathetic people. After you slit the old K's throat how 'bout you train me instead?"
Zabuza's eyes betrayed a touch of shock at Satsu's words. Kakashi looked astounded. Most of the Gennin had a look of either betrayal or simply anger on their faces. The missing-nin seemed to think for a moment and then his eyes narrowed, "I have no use for students who turn against their sensei the moment they find a better one."
Satsu shrugged and began circling the lake, "But surely there can be no better sensei then you, so what have you to worry about?"
Zabuza turned his head to follow Satsu's movement, "Even if that were true it wouldn't be the point," he replied, "You clearly can't be trusted, and I don't teach people who have no respect or loyalty. Besides that you aren't good enough to be my student."
Satsu grinned, "And how do you know that? Maybe I'm better then that blonde nerd that you sent after us before."
Zabuza glared, "You are stalling for time, it won't work."
Satsu chuckled, "I'm not stalling for time...I'm looking for this!" With surprising speed, Satsu dashed out onto the lake, a kunai in either hand. Zabuza was shocked, a Gennin this new shouldn't be able to walk on water yet, what were this boy's secrets? Satsu jumped just before he reached the swordsman and swung his kunai down, only to have it effortlessly deflected by a one-handed swing from Zabuza's sword. The force of the blow sent Satsu flying into the air, but grinning, he dropped his kunai to reveal a pair of shuriken concealed beneath them. "JERKS!" He yelled out while simultaneously throwing his weapons downward, "ATTACK NOW!"
Sasuke and Shino, realized what Satsu was doing immediately and each pulled a pair of kunai and threw them at the enemy, Sakura and Kiba quickly caught on and followed suit.
Zabuza turned his head to register each of the approaching blades. Two from above and four from the side, followed immediately by four more from the side. Suddenly he realized why the Gennin brat had been circling the lake, the angle that his blades now came from made it impossible to deflect both his shuriken and the other Gennin's kunai with only one hand. He couldn't help but be impressed with the Gennin's resourcefulness. But it wouldn't be enough.
Zabuza jumped, creating a perfect arc over the water dome, and landed on the other side. Each of the blades passed harmlessly where he had been a moment before. Satsu cursed terribly as he landed. Zabuza dashed with insane speed in a circle around the water dome and slammed his fist into the partially landed Gennin's stomach. Satsu flew across the lake and vanished in a puff of smoke. A moment later one of his discarded kunai that had floated on the surface of the water shimmered and grew, transforming into the Gennin who slashed with his own, real kunai at Zabuza's arm.
But it was for naught. Faster then Satsu's eyes could see, Zabuza's foot leashed out and slammed the real Satsu across the lake.
Zabuza chuckled, "That wasn't a bad plan kid, but you don't really think that I wouldn't notice that floating kunai? Metal doesn't usually float like that."
Satsu just grinned as he gingerly raised himself from the ground, "Well gee, I guess you outsmarted me huh?"
Suddenly an explosion tore out from Zabuza's feet, forcing the Jounin to jump backwards and release his hold on Kakashi's water prison.
Satsu grinned as he replayed his entire plan in his mind. After being rejected (no one had to know that his offer was a legitimate one), he had circled the lake until he was at the optimum angle so that Zabuza wouldn't be able to block all the attacks at once and dashed at him across the water, one of the many aces that he had up his sleeve that even the Kanoha instructors didn't know about. He had attacked in a way that would cause Zabuza to push him into the air and then discarded his kunai and tossed his remaining shuriken blades at Zabuza, calling for his teammates to do the same. While Zabuza's eyes were turned for a split second to register the blades coming from the Gennin on the land he created a bunshin and henged himself into a kunai, pretending to be one of the ones that he had discarded into the lake. When Zabuza predictably dodged the blades and turned back to attack the bunshin Satsu released his henge and attacked Zabuza's arm. Zabuza had of course seen through his ruse and quickly attacked the Gennin, but in his speed he hadn't seen Satsu's true purpose. The exploding tag that he had attached to his stomach and that had transferred to the bottom of Zabuza's foot when he kicked the Gennin. It had all worked perfectly and now the Jounin Kakashi was free.
Kakashi smiled as he locked one of his kunai blades with Zabuza's sword. "That was a remarkable plan for a Gennin Satsu," he said, "I admit I was worried when you requested Zabuza to be your sensei. But when this is over we are going to have a long talk about where exactly you learned water-walking."
Satsu rolled his eyes, "Sure, whatever you say K man." he replied before running back to the rest of the Gennin.
Sasuke smirked at him, "That was pretty impressive Rokujou, maybe you aren't completely useless after all."
Satsu smirked right back, "I'll tell you a secret Uchiha, I threw the final exams to make sure that I was the lowest score in class. I wanted to be paired with the rookie of the year so that I wouldn't have such useless teammates." he seemed to think for a moment and then added, "Oh, and also because I knew that your angsty butt would be rookie of the year and you are just so stinkin' fun to torment." His smirk morphed into a sadistic grin.
Sakura glared at him, "You jerk, don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that."
Satsu turned his eyes to her and glared. A surprising amount of killing intent was released for only half a moment before Satsu composed himself. But Sakura had felt it and it sent a shiver up her spine. "Don't forget banshee," he replied, "You aren't as valuable to me. Be careful you don't one day wake up to find a knife at your little throat. Cuz I sure as heck ain't gonna save your fat tush."
Zabuza glared down his enemy, somewhat shaken by the Gennin's success but unharmed and ready to fight. Kakashi seemed unaffected by his glare, his Sharingan simply staring right back into Zabuza's eyes.
After a moment of locked blades the two ninja pushed back against each other and flew back, landing only a few feet away from each other on the water. Both quickly started making handsigns. It took a moment for Zabuza to realize that Kakashi's handsigns were identical to his own but when he did his eyes narrowed in angered suspiscion. After a moment they each, in perfect synchronization, called out, "Suiryuudan no jutsu!"
Two large snakelike water dragons rose out of the lake, circling each other for a moment before striking at each other, each latching onto the other's neck. Zabuza's face betrayed no emotion but he couldn't help but be shocked at the speed of the Sharingan. He could have sworn that their handsigns were coming at the same time. How could Kakashi have copied his movements fast enough to use the technique at the exact same moment that he himself had?
Suddenly and without warning, the dragons were no longer equal. Kakashi's creation grew to an extreme size, easily dwarfing the apposing dragon. Totally shocked, Zabuza lost his concentration on his own dragon and the water creature dissolved, allowing the larger dragon to strike at him. The water slammed into him and sent him flying into the trees near the lake.
Zabuza slowly shook his head to clear his mind from it's recent pounding and then felt a burning pain in his arms and side. Four kunai pinned him to the tree that he had rested against. Immediately Kakashi and Kurenai appeared on the branches above, the female Jounin clutching her head as though she had some sort of migrain.
Suddenly it was all clear and Zabuza began to laugh. The water dragon growing was only a Genjutsu. He had been tricked. "Well, well...that was some impressive Sharingan manipulation Kakashi, I assume you had hypnotized me to use an attack that you had already copied some time ago in an attempt to scare me?"
Kakashi shrugged, "Did it work?" he asked lazily.
Zabuza laughed in response, "You might say that, alright I admit defeat this time, but I warn you, that bridge builder WILL die. If not by my hind then by the hands of my stude-huh!"
Kakashi blinked in shock as two needles appeared in Zabuza's neck, causing the Jounin to keel over, his eyes still open but unmoving. The two Kanoha Jounin turned to a new figure in a white mask, who was looking over the prone figure of the ex mist-ninja with an aura of contempt. After a moment of stunned silence Kakashi jumped down from his perch and placed his fingers to Zabuza's neck.
"He's dead..." announced the silver-haired Jounin.
The new figure nodded, "Yes, and I thank you for distracting him long enough to give me an opening to do that. I am a hunter ninja that has been sent from the village hidden in the mist to capture this fugative."
Kakashi nodded in understanding, "I see, and I suppose now you are going to destroy the body so as to prevent the secrets of your village from getting out?"
The hunter nodded, "Yes, I need to take the body away now to dispose of it safely."
Kakashi turned to the dead Jounin and shook his head. His eyes held a slight glimpse of suspiscion "Dispose of it here," he replied, "I would like for my students to see this. It will be a good experience for their training."
From behind the mask Haku began to sweat, trying to think of a reason as to why he couldn't do his supposed job right here and now. Thankfully Haku had always been a quick thinker, "Unfortunately no," he replied cooly, "My methods are in and of themselves a village secret. I can not have any of you witness it."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, his suspiscion deepening. However he could think of no way that he could question the hunter further without accusing him of treachery and if he were mistaken that could lead to complications with the mist village. For now he had to let the hunter go. "Very well...take him away if you must, we will continue to escort our charge to his intended destination."
Haku nodded and grabbed onto Zabuza before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
TUI: Naruto will be the main focus of the next chapter, and Sasuke's Sharingan is overrated...well maybe not but if it couldn't help against Rock Lee when he was stronger then he was now, then I doubt it would help against Zabuza.
Arch Zell: Still? I thought that I had mostly gotten rid of those!...darn.
Fury Cutter: Thanks for the review and I will take your suggestions into consideration :) I like them.
RobotPirateNinja: To a point yes. Naruto's body is very much advanced compared to most anyone elses his age, but if you take into consideration the most recent chapters (with the toads) it implies that your chakra control also affects your speed and strength. Naruto's reflexes are way higher then they should be compared to the rest of him.
narusakufan36: Good things come to those who wait. It will begin happening before the Wave arc is over.
jstrife: Naruto will compete in the Chunnin exams, and he will eventually become a Kanoha ninja, but he will not become a Kanoha ninja for the Chunnin exams. It will happen much later, probably after the time-skip. Garra and Jiraiya will both be central to the plot of the story (Garra especially will have a much more important part then in the actual story), and the Sakura/Naruto will start soon (though it will be a somewhat drawn out thing).