Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto I would be writing real storys instead of fanfictions. But I'm not, so I don't

Chapter 11: Battle on the Bridge Continues,

Kakashi tried to defend himself from the attack. He whipped out a pair of kunai as fast as his arms could move and crossed them in the path of the blade. His arm muscles shifted in preparation for the insanely powerful sword slash that he could see coming towards him. His Sharingan told him exactly what the sword was about to do, and yet his own personal grief distracted him too much. He knew a moment before it hit that he had failed.

The blade sliced through his shoulder and into his right lung. Kakashi's kunai defence deflected enough of the blade's force to prevented it from killing him instantly, but even if they had a whole team of master healers on their side it was obvious that this was a mortal wound. Hatake Kakashi, the legendary copy-nin of Konoha, was going to die.

Kurenai watched in horror as her teammate fell to the ground, his body half cloven in two. This was no illusion, she would be able to see through any illusion that Kakahshi could conjure up. This was real. Kakashi was beaten. Utterly and totally. She was alone, and she knew that she was no match for this missing-nin. For the first time in a long time she was terrified. Her heart began pounding and her face broke out in a cold sweat. Barring some miracle, she knew that there was only one ending left for her in this fight.

She was going to die next.

Surprisingly, she found herself not afraid for herself. She had always known the dangers that her job entailed. She had always known that at any point she could meet someone strong enough to kill her. She had resigned herself to that fate long ago. And yet still...she feared. She feared for the three children whom had been placed in her care.

She feared for little Hinata, who was not really the right material to be a ninja, who was so generous and kind and pure, who cared for every being that walked on this earth. What would happen to her when her sensei was dead? Would Momochi Zabuza kill her as well or spare her? She didn't deserve to die.

She feared for brash and bold Kiba, who had so much inner strength, who was more loyal then the dogs that he revolved so much around, who would walk through a wall of fire for any of his teammates, or anyone in his village for that matter. Would he make it back to become a great and renowned ninja as was his dream, or would Momochi slaughter him when this was all over?

She feared for quiet and reclusive Shino, who put up a non-caring front, who tried to act as though he cared for nothing but his insects and the mission, who truly felt so strongly for his teammates that his heart would probably give out if anything were to happen to them. Would he ever have the time to open up to his teammates? Would he live longer then a few more hours?

Kurenai surprised herself really, that she had grown to care about them all so much in such a short time. She had never been the type to be overly emotional, and she had only been these children's sensei for a few weeks. She wondered vaguely if this was what it would feel like to be a mother.

She didn't even see the sword hilt come down on her head and smash her unconscious.

Sasuke felt his heart thundering in his chest, desperately attempting to move what blood he had left through his body and into his vital spots. Kiba and Shino were both down. This new technique that their foe had pulled out was far more then they could handle. It reminded him of trying to get the bell from Kakashi back on his first day, the only difference being that here his foe was out to kill him.

"I am curious" He spoke between gasped breaths as he shifted his eyes to every point on the battle field. The hunter had apparently disappeared, "If you had this kind of power all along, why didn't you use it to take us out from the start?" Try to keep the foe talking. The longer he was kept talking, the longer Sasuke would have to think up a counter measure.

"My job is not to kill you Uchiha-san." the ice user spoke from seemingly no-where, "I am only meant to keep you incapacitated until Zabuza-sama can eliminate the target. This ability is dangerous, but unfortunately, you have forced my hand."

Sasuke flicked his eyes from the prone figure to his two fallen teammates and then to Satsu, who was bleeding profusely and barely standing, "Dangerous? Why would you care about that?" Try to keep him talking, that was the key.

"I am not a person who would kill for no reason Uchiha-san." The voice suddenly became harsh, "But you seem to leave me no choice this time." A large new gash appeared as if out of nowhere on Sasuke's chest, splattering more blood onto the ground, "You would have been better off simply staying as weak as you were and allowing me to take you out quickly and painlessly."

Sasuke fell to his knees as more of his blood seeped from his body. His vision was becoming hazy and he knew that he had to find a way to finish this as fast as he possibly could. He needed more time.

He sensed, rather then heard the ice clad figure appear behind him. He could almost see, in his minds eye, the lance of ice shoot down into his shoulder. His eyes opened wide in shock and he coughed up a small fountain of blood. And yet, he could see his chance.

Using the last of his strength, he grabbed onto the bloody lance protruding from his shoulder and heaved it downward. The leverage caused a surprised Haku to be pulled into the air. Sasuke tilted reached into his ninja satchel, pulled out a pair of exploding tags (a small gift from Kakahi, just in case he would need it) and blindly threw them into the air above his head.

His hopes were rewarded as he heard the tags explode above him and saw the smoking, ice clad figure of his enemy fall to the ground in front of him, stunned but not clearly not injured. Sasuke would fix that.

The Uchiha focused his chakra into his eyes, and when he opened them they had changed. They were red, and each eye held a single black tomoe.

Naruto ran as fast as his legs could carry him (pretty fast if he did say so himself) towards the bridge. He desperately hoped that he could make it before anything irreversible happened.

He didn't know, nor did he particularly care, what the little boy Inari would do when he calmed down a bit. He hoped that he could rally the villagers. Not that Naruto couldn't take down half of Gato's army himself without breaking a sweat, but to truly save this village they would need to learn to take up their own mantle and fight for themselves.

He ducked and weaved through the branches, faster then a cheetah, and more agile then a monkey. He had to get there in time. He had to make sure that Tazuna lived, that the Konoha ninja lived, that his most important two people in the world lived, and most importantly of all, he absolutely needed to see Gato die.

He reached the end of the forest and began running on foot. The bridge was in sight, shrouded by a thick mist that made it impossible to see what was going on, but he could feel two spikes of powerful chakra. One was familiar and made him cringe. Haku had broken out his ice armor, which meant that he was in danger. The armor was powerful, but the longer Haku used it, the more damage his body would take. It was a double edged sword.

The other spike was unfamiliar to him, though he knew instantly whom it had to be. It was not exactly the same, but he had felt a very similar power when Hatake Kakashi had impaled his clone with his fist. It had to be the Uchiha.

He reached the bridge, hoping desperately that he wasn't too late, sucked in a deep breath, and prepared to shout.

A few minutes ago...

Sasuke flicked through a set of hand signs. Focusing what little chakra he had left into the palms of his hands. He had promised Kakashi that he would not use this technique unless he had no other choice, and he had a clear shot. Well he couldn't imagine a better shot then right now, or a time when he would be more desperate.

He finished his hand signs and grinned triumphantly, "CHIDORI!" he yelled at the top of his lungs and charged. He knew that he wasn't as fast as he should be, that the jutsu wouldn't work at it's full potential, but hopefully it would be enough. It would have to be. If this failed, they had nothing to fall back on.

His eyes could see the armored hunter-nin stand to his feet as though it were happening in slow motion. He was half-way there. His foe twisted around to face him. He was three quarters of the way there. The ice user pulled his lance up in an attempt to counter his attack.

Sasuke was the faster.

Haku opened his eyes wide in shock as Sasuke's lightning encased hand sliced into his shoulder. He had been able to shift himself just enough so that the blade missed his heart, but he had still been badly wounded and his armor had been partially broken. He shifted his foe's hand out of his shoulder and gently pushed him to the ground.

The Uchiha was depleted of nearly all of his chakra, and his body was so badly torn apart that, if he didn't get medical attention immediately, he would surely die. Haku hated to kill an innocent boy, but this child was dead anyways. He would ease the Uchiha's passing. Haku lifted his ice lance and shoved it downward into the his foe's prone body.

It never reached it's intended target.

Haku twisted his head a fraction of an inch to see the pink haired girl from the forest with a look of determination on her face. She had deflected the ice lance with her bare hand. Haku opened his eyes wide as she smirked and then disintegrated into mist.

He felt a weak chakra source behind him and twisted around to see the real Sakura standing with a smug look on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. She looked determined. Haku chuckled slightly as he realised what had happened. Naruto really was going to have some explaining to do when this was all over. For now however Haku was slightly more interested in what was happening currently. Naruto would have to wait.

"Haruno Sakura," he spoke softly, "You seem to have learned a few new tricks since I found you in that clearing. Have you found something worth protecting yet?"

If Sakura was surprised by Haku's words she didn't show it, she simply smiled and nodded, "I think I have. I won't let you hurt Sasuke-kun." Sakura made a single hand sign and spoke, "Kiri Bunshin no Jutsu!"

An exact copy of Sakura appeared out of the mist from behind Haku and swung her fist at the back of the ice user's head. Haku tilted his head to the side and felt the gust of air left in the wake of the girl's punch. The clone dissipated almost immediately.

Mist clones. Not the same as simple water clones, both more useful and less depending on what your purpose is. They could only be created in a thick mist like the kind created by Zabuza's Kirigakure no Jutsu, and they only lasted for a moment, just enough to get off a single punch or kick. Their advantage was that they took only a negligible amount of chakra to summon up, and much more importantly, so long as you had the mist, they could be brought into existence at any place, no matter how far it was from the creator. Meaning that Sakura could create a clone from 200 miles away if she wished, so long as she had the mist from which to make it. So simple, yet so useful in the right hands.

But against Haku, it might has well have been nothing. The ice user dashed in a small arc, faster then any human should be able to move, and slashed at Sakura's shoulder with his ice lance. The pink-haired girl was barely able to dodge the attack. She dashed as far away as possible and placed her hands together, focusing her chakra and creating a mist clone directly at Haku's left flank. The clone didn't even have time to get off it's one attack before it was cut down.

Sakura continued to generate clones as fast as she could, and proceeded to watch them all be cut down faster then they appeared. Haku was still approaching faster then any human had the right to move. The pattern continued, with Sakura barely dodging the attacks and Haku effortlessly deflecting her numerous clones.

Sakura needed to get to Sasuke. She needed to bring him out of the way so that he could try to stay alive long enough for them to give him medical attention. Haku wasn't making that very easy. She barely had a moment's let up every time she created a clone. She knew that without them, she would most likely already be down. She certainly didn't have enough time to grab Sasuke and carry him out of the way.

Somehow, that ice armor was making him faster. Unnaturally faster. But it only went as far as his feet. Thankfully his arms still seemed to still be moving at a normal speed, though that speed was still faster then she would be able to handle without her new ninjutsu. She needed to figure out the secret of that armor, or else this fight was as good as lost.

"Sakura" her breath caught in her chest as she heard the ragged and torn voice of her downed teammate. Her head turned automatically toward Sasuke and she nearly lost her head because of it. Thankfully a clone that she had created only a moment ago had used it's one second lifespan to jump in the way of Haku's lance.

"Sakura," Sasuke continued, "don't look at me, keep your focus on your enemy, just listen to what I have to say." Sakura nodded without looking at him, "In the brief moment when I had my Sharingan working, I saw how his ability works." Haku actually stopped his assault and turned his head to focus on Sasuke as well. He looked interested. "What you are seeing is only an illusion Sakura."

"You mean like a Genjutsu?" The girl asked, confused. She had been hoping that it was a Genjutsu from the beginning but nothing had happened when she had tried to dispel it.

"No," Sasuke continued, "It is technically a ninjutsu, but it does function as a genjutsu. When he moves, his armor leaves in it's path thousands of microscopic shards of ice that floats in the air. These shards bend the light, distorting your vision." He coughed violently, "He is actually moving slower then he was before he put on the armor, but like a fun-house mirror, he can make it look like he has moved a great distance when he has really only moved a few feet."

Sasuke lost consciousness. The effort of talking was obviously more then he could handle.

Haku began chuckling, "Very impressive Uchiha-san. I suppose I should have expected this from the famous Sharingan." he turned back to Sakura and fell back into a fighting stance.

For a moment, Sakura wondered why Haku had simply stood aside and let Sasuke explain away his secret as he had. Then her blood ran cold as she realised the reason. Because it didn't matter. Haku was still going to win, probably without expending too much effort.

Sakura thought hard about what Sasuke had told her. Not really fast...in fact slower then normal. At the moment Haku looked like he was around 20 yards away, but if he wanted to look like he was moving toward her at a highly advanced speed he would have to actually be much closer. It was a long shot, but...

Sakura took a step forward and swung her fist in the direction that her foe was in. To her surprise and delight, her arm extended at a blinding speed until it appeared to be nearly 50 feet long, just short of where Haku was standing. Although it was impossible to see behind his mask, she suspected that Haku was smirking.

He swiftly twirled his lance and cut into Sakura's hand. She yanked it back, and grabbed it with her other hand. The injury was small, but it would prevent her from using her right hand. She jumped forward, now on the offensive, and the fight was back on.

With her new knowledge of how Haku's jutsu worked, Sakura felt encouraged. She kept mostly on the defensive, but moved around as much as possible, trying to learn to correct her movements for this fun-house illusion. As time went by, her attacks became more precise. She was learning, and her clones were coming closer and closer to landing a hit as they realised how slowly Haku was moving in actuallity.

Sakura grinned in excitement as she felt her fist brush against the side of Haku's armor. Her victory was short lived however as she felt a freezing cold blade slice her back open. She fell to the ground.

Haku sighed, "I am so sorry Sakura-chan. I didn't want to have to truly harm you but you really did impress me. Naruto must have taught you well in these last few days. I was hoping to just keep you busy until Zabuza could complete the mission or Naruto returned, but now I am afraid I must finish this quickly."

Sakura cursed under her breath. Haku had just been toying with her the whole time then. "So are you going to kill me then?" she asked scornfully.

"No."

Sakura was surprised, "Why not? You were going to kill Sasuke-kun."

"I was going to end his pain. Your Sasuke-kun is injured to the point where only immediate medical attention could have a hope of saving him, and even that is unlikely. For him to continue being in pain is just unnecessary cruelty."

Sakura glared at her enemy, "I thought that you were a killer?"

Haku tilted his head slightly to the side, "I am." he replied, "But that does not mean that I kill indiscriminately." Sakura looked confused. Haku sighed, "Have you ever heard the story of Muramasa and Masamune?"...

heartlessgroom: Not God-like. That is exactly what I was going for. Thanks.

jayenator2.0: Oh don't worry, Gato will die.

jstrife: Why should he? They didn't do anything to him personally, and even if they did, Naruto didn't hold any resentment for when they kicked him out of the village. This is nothing compared to that.

TheUnrealInsomniac: Don't worry, Gato's death is just around the corner.

AzureSwordsman101: Wow...thanks a bunch man. For getting you back into fanfiction...that is really something. That has to be the greatest praise I have ever gotten.

Everyone else: Again, thanks ever so much for reviewing my humble little story. You guys mean the world to me.