Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!!
Last time: The crew meets Inari, who manages to get on Naruto's bad side. That's it really, nothing more than filler.
This time: The entire Chapter is nothing but one big fight scene! Oh, and a plot twist.
All fun and games stopped on the bridge for the moment as the crew took some time off to return home and eat lunch. Team Seven decided to give some much needed business to the sparse restaurant in town and went there with Tazuna in tow, who had no reservations about helping out his village.
Kakashi scowled when they'd returned from lunch. "Something's not right."
"Huh?" Sakura asked him. "Kakashi-sensei?"
Gohan stepped up beside her, his eyes hardening. "Your right. There's something funny going on around here."
"Let's move, but be careful. Watch each other's backs." The masked jounin cautioned. The fighters moved carefully onto the bridge, each one's eyes and head never ceasing the endless watch.
Sasuke was the one who saw it first, "The hell? What happened to the crane?" Everyone looked around and saw what the raven-haired boy was looking at. The yellow piece of construction machinery was twisted and mangled, as if a giant had taken a hammer and decided to pummel the machine into the ground. The latticed girders of the boom were bent back over the cab section and the end looked like it had been twisted off, leaving nothing but mangled steel behind. The cab itself was a mess of broken glass and electronic hardware.
"The…crane." Tazuna stammered, seeing his vision vanish before his very eyes. The crane had been the one piece of hardware that the group who'd decided to work on the bridge had been able to afford. It had taken a lot of ranting and coercion on Tazuna's part to convince the rental company that letting the poor construction workers have the machine at half the usual rent price wouldn't matter once the lifeline to the mainland was finished. The devastated man took a few steps toward the twisted hulk with his hand up, as if trying to ward off a nightmare.
Gohan caught a blur bound out from behind the wrecked crane and lance for Tazuna. He tensed and fazed out of sight, surprising everyone. Next thing Tazuna knew he'd been knocked over when an invisible something hit him hard, shoving him onto his rear end. He caught a glimpse of Gohan, just before the kid ducked faster than anyone had ever seen and an eerie blur passed inches from the top of his head, ruffling his messy jet-black hair.
All of the warriors present snapped into various fighting stances as a heavy, unnatural mist began to roll in out of nowhere. Soon, Gohan and Tazuna were obscured from the rest of the groups view by the thick vapor. Booming laughter rang out all around the shinobi, which seemed to multiply by the second until it surrounded them.
"Get ready," Kakashi said bracingly as he and two of his genins stood back to back, eyes looking out, trying to pierce the soup that surrounded them.
"Yes," a sinister voice answered. "Get ready. To DIE!" Six shapes shot towards them and no one needed to be told who it was.
"Kakashi! I've got this!" Sasuke yelled as he seized a kunai and blurred from sight. All Sakura caught was each Zabuza getting viciously slashed before the Uchiha reappeared and the clones burst into nothing but puddles. Clapping filled the air as the mist let up some, revealing Haku and Zabuza walking towards them, the amusement on Zabuza's face clear, even through the bandages.
"Kakashi!" Gohan reappeared next to the jounin. "What now?"
The masked man sighed, reaching up and baring his Sharingan to the air. "We have no choice. Gohan, let's go. Sasuke, Sakura, stay here and make sure Tazuna stays safe."
On the other side, Zabuza grinned when he heard Kakashi's orders. "Well well, their playing right into our hands Haku. You know what do."
"Yes, Zabuza-san."
The shinobi guarding the bridge-builder gasped as Haku disappeared.
"What?" Sakura gasped.
"Where?" Sasuke asked, only able to see blurs, unable to make out any significant details. 'Where's he coming from?'
Haku watched his prey as he sprinted in random directions, hoping to throw Gohan off guard. It seemed to be working, as the boy made no effort to track Haku's progress.
'It is clear that he cannot see my movements,' the stoic hunter observed quietly as he continued his random patters. 'Now is the time to strike.' The boy hit the ground and rebounded. Now he was speeding straight at the other fighter's back, who made no effort to see where Haku was coming from. The masked shinobi drew back, all his fingers clustered together, ready for an attack on a vital pressure point that would either kill Gohan or render him an invalid.
His fingers flew forward, aiming for the base of Gohan's neck. Time slowed down and Haku watched in shock as the other teen's head swiveled around and a single dark eye glared him. 'No! He can see me!' There was no time to correct his trajectory or withdraw his strike. He was wide open.
Gohan leaned to the side and seized the shinobi's wrist as he sailed past. The saiyan hybrid jerked the limb and Haku felt a jolt in his stomach as his path went from linear to circular as the other warrior began to spin, adding Haku's redirected momentum to his own centripetal force.
The two genin present at the battle watched in awe as their newest friend leaned so fast he seemed to leave afterimages of himself, right before his hand snapped up and seized at thin air. By the time the genin's brains had processed what their eyes had seen, Gohan had spun once…twice…three times before he released his grip on Haku and sent the hunter-nin flying away.
Kakashi and Zabuza were shocked when Haku came flying out of nowhere coming from somewhere behind the Copy-nin. Hatake smiled faintly as he realized just who had done the throwing.
'Looks like Gohan and this hunter-nin haven't wasted any time.' Kakashi thought wryly as Haku shifted his weight in mid-air and landed cat-like, skidding off into the mist. Just then, a force passed the two jounin, moving so fast that even the Sharingan had trouble picking it up, and drilling a tunnel straight through the Kirigakure no Jutsu.
Haku managed to stop his backward progress, screeching to a halt, just feet from the incomplete section of the bridge.
'That was too close. Another few feet and I would have gone over.' His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a rushing noise behind him. 'What?' He managed to turn just in time to catch a glimpse of Gohan, hanging over the water, horizontal, one leg cocked back. The force of the brutal kick made Haku go flying once more into the mist, though this time, he was bouncing the whole way, kicking up debris geysers each time his body hit the unforgiving concrete. The ice-wielding shinobi could barely stand after his painful ride came to a skidding stop. He tried to raise himself up to continue the fight, but it was at a snail's pace.
'I have to turn this around!' The hunter's blood froze solid when he heard slow and deliberate footsteps heading his way. The sound stopped behind him. 'This is it.' Haku realized. 'I'm going to die. I deserved such a fate. He has bested me.'
"I'm going to give you one chance to leave Tazuna alone!" Haku couldn't believe his ears. This warrior, who had thrashed him just as soundly as he'd done to Zabuza-san, was going to show him mercy? Haku smiled, unseen behind his porcelain mask. This could work to his advantage. The hunter's hand, the one not baring most of his weight, began making one-handed seals for his Kekkei Genkai. He could do so much better if he used two hands, but that would tip the enemy off. In the meantime, he needed to stall for time.
"I cannot do that." Gohan was taken off guard by the softness of his opponent's voice. It was soft, almost musical, completely opposite from the harsh tones he'd expected from a partner of Zabuza's.
"Why?" If the young Saiyan could convince this guy to leave peacefully, Gohan wouldn't have to continue to overpower him, which hurt the gentle kid almost as much as it hurt Haku to be on the receiving end.
"I am Zabuza's weapon. I follow his orders to the end, that is why I cannot let the bridge-builder go." Haku's hands continued to flash through one seal after another. It was getting close to completion. Another ten or fifteen seconds at the most. "It cannot be helped. I am a shinobi and shinobi follow orders. I was ordered to kill the bridge-builder and so I shall." The ice-nin's hand landed on the last seal. It was time.
"Just as I was ordered to kill you!" Gohan raised his guard as the temperature of the area he was in dropped dramatically in a matter of seconds. He could tell it was close to freezing, and sure enough, ice began forming. Though, it was forming in sheets floating a few feet off the ground.
'This is one of their jutsu!' Gohan realized, too late, that he'd been caught in a trap. In seconds, the young saiyan was surrounded on all sides by slabs of chakra-enhanced ice.
"What is this?" He shouted, his voice echoing off the hard frozen water.
Haku's answer was just as cold as the solid water surrounding the trapped saiyan. "This is the beginning of your end." He strode forward and touched one of the panels he'd created, entering the ice, becoming one with it. Gohan's eyes widened as the shinobi was swallowed by his own jutsu and didn't reappear in front of him. The Super Saiyan knew that he was in a tight spot, and his suspicions were realized when images of Haku appeared on every slab surrounding him.
"Mirrors," he murmured, now realizing the true purpose of these ice sheets. His voice was too soft for Haku to hear, but the shinobi could still read lips.
"Yes. I can reflect my image on to an mirror I choose." The reflections held up a hand containing senbon needles. "You are fast, but even you cannot keep up with my speed now."
"We'll see about that!" Gohan yelled as he began to sprint for a mirror. If he could just break one down… His eyes went wide as pain seared up his leg, just before the appendage went numb completely and Gohan, without any feeling in his leg, crashed to the ground. He twisted around and let out a shocked gasp when he saw a slim, silver senbon needle sticking out of the middle of his calf. "How?"
"I told you. Your chance of escaping this place…" the Haku reflections held up more needles, "is zero!" The ice shinobi was satisfied when Gohan looked around, apprehension beginning to show in his defiant eyes.
Kakashi ducked as Zabuza's oversized meat cleaver passed through the space the jounin's head had previously been occupying. He retaliated by whipping out a kunai and slashing for the Mist-nin's throat. Zabuza, for his part, showed surprising dexterity as he followed through with his strike, going behind his back before he brought it up and over, forcing Kakashi to withdraw his attack and parry, pulling out a second kunai to brace against the mass of the weapon. Both men grunted, trying to force the other back. The Konoha shinobi was down on one knee, just before he let out a yell and threw off the zanbatou in a shower of sparks and ringing steel. Both men hopped back trying to get some distance from the other, Zabuza so he could get his balance back, and Kakashi, who was trying to buy himself a little breathing room.
Kakashi's mismatched eyes narrowed as the shadowy outline of his adversary faded due to the thickening mist. 'Damn,' he cursed, 'I really hate that jutsu!' His instincts began screaming at him at that moment and he whirled to see Zabuza in the air above him, massive sword already beginning its descent. A plan to end the match began to form in Hatake's mind and he crouched, waiting until the right moment. When it arrived, he shoulder rolled out of the way, allowing Zabuza's sword to embed itself in the bridge. The missing-nin was forced to focus on pulling out his heavy weapon, which gave Kakashi the opening he'd been looking for. He lunged, whipping out another kunai from his pouch, flipping the blade into a reverse grip before he gave an extra spurt of chakra and flashed past, slicing Zabuza's throat wide open.
The mist demon's eyes went wide with surprise as blood poured from his opened neck like water from a hose, and then he slumped forward over the hilt of his sword. Kakashi gave a satisfied snort as he spun the kunai on one finger and returned it to his pouch. He began walking away, but he hadn't gone more than a few steps before the splash of water made him freeze, as if Haku had caught him in an ice mirror.
'Can't be!' the Copy-nin thought, surprised, as he turned around to see the place where Zabuza's corpse was. Nothing was there but a puddle of water. 'How? He was real! My Sharingan can tell the difference between the original and a Mizu Bunshin!' Hatake couldn't figure out how the man could be a clone, but that was before another realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Kawarimi no Jutsu! That was how he did it! Just before Kakashi had cut his throat, Zabuza had switched places with a water clone he'd previously made! Probably just after the mist thickened.
"Nice try Kakashi!"
The son of the White Fang turned and was just able to catch a glimpse of the zanbatou, right before it sliced through him.
Or at least it tried to. Kakashi's eyes widened when he saw orange. Close to fifteen Kage Bunshins had stopped the sword cold. He had just enough time to think 'No way!' and hear a soft curse from Zabuza, just before the area was enveloped in a massive explosion of shinobi smoke. A loud voice burst from the cloud.
"Have no fear, Uzumaki Naruto is here!"
"You have got to be kidding me!" Zabuza shouted. His fatal attack on Hatake had been thwarted by a loud genin!? "Just who the hell is that kid?"
Kakashi sighed as the smoke cleared, revealing Naruto, dressed and ready for battle, apparently showing no signs of fatigue from his harsh training the night before. "He's Konoha's Number One-Hyperactive-Knucklehead-Ninja," He answered in a tired voice, though, he had to hand it to the loudmouth, the kid had actually saved his life.
"Hey, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto close to shouted as he approached the shinobi with a shit-eating grin on his face and his arms folded behind his head, "did I do good?"
The lazy jounin sighed again. "Yes Naruto," he said in a bored and tired voice. "You did fine." His gaze sharpened and he glared over his shoulder at Zabuza, who stiffened at the sharp gaze of the Sharingan. "Now as for you…" The jounin trailed off as he dropped without warning, planting one hand on the ground to help balance himself as he swung one foot in a wide arc, catching the sadist shinobi in the temple with his heel, sending him skidding away.
"Wow," Naruto commented as Kakashi straightened. "Smooth moves Kakashi-sensei!"
"Thanks. Now go help Sasuke and Sakura with Tazuna." Naruto's reaction was predictable.
"Awww! Why? I wanna help you!" he whined. Why was he always being shoved off into the background?
"No. You'll just get in the way." The jounin put a hand on Naruto's head when the boy looked downcast. "Naruto, you saved my life and I'm grateful for it, but you'll just be in the way. The others need you more right now." The blonde's blue eyes looked mutinous as he brushed off his instructor's hand, but he turned and ran off nonetheless. The jounin sighed, knowing the kid would be the death of him someday. He reached casually into his pouch, once again producing a kunai. "Now Zabuza, where were we?" he asked calmly as the other jounin strode out of the mist, his zanbatou still somehow in his hand. The Konoha-nin knew he would need to deprive him of it somehow if he wanted to win the battle.
Sakura and Sasuke were nervous to say the least. They knew that two brutal battles were going on out there, even if they couldn't see them. The mist had thickened greatly a little while ago and they could hear the sounds of battle not to far away from them. It had been quiet for a bit then both genin had heard Naruto's loud declaration.
"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, wondering how the dobe could be here when the last the Uchiha had seen of the flamboyant kid, he had been sleeping, dead to the world.
Sakura's voice held equal confusion. "What's he doing here? I thought he would be out for the rest of the day at least!" Sasuke didn't answer but that was because footsteps had both genin raising weapons in preparation for an attack. Grumbling met their ears and Sakura caught phrases like "who the hell does he think he is," and "I saved his ass, he could at least be grateful!" They relaxed their guards a little, but still kept the kunai up, just in case it was Zabuza using a Henge.
"N-Naruto?" Sakura called nervously. The mist parted and the orange-clad genin meandered into their line of vision, arms behind his head and a squinty pout on his face.
"Hey Sakura-chan, Sasuke-bastard." He muttered sulkily.
"Hn. What the hell are you doing here dobe?" Sasuke demanded rudely. Naruto's face contorted into an angry scowl.
"Hey! You guys are the jerks who left without waking me up!" He retorted loudly.
"But we though that you would be out for a day!" Sakura protested, coming to Sasuke's defense.
"Heh! You think I'm that pathetic?" The blond demanded, not believing that his team had so little faith in him.
"Yes." Sasuke said simply. Naruto brandished a fist at him but before he did anything, Sakura, trying to be a voice of reason, cut him off.
"But even Kakashi-sensei would've been out after using that much chakra! It's not like you can just bounce back after only one night's rest!"
"But I did, Sakura-chan, and I even saved Inari and Tsunami from some evil bandit guys."
"What!" Tazuna interrupted, panic in his voice. "My family's in danger!?"
"Hey! Didn't I just say I saved them!?" Naruto yelled. "Clean out your ears old man!" That degenerated into an argument between Tazuna, who in his protective panic for his family wanted to run back to his hut, and Naruto who kept yelling they were okay. The other two just shrugged and sighed, knowing it was useless to try and stop them.
Gohan grunted as another burst of needles from the mirrors around him struck his body. The situation with Haku had turned from bad to worse in a heartbeat. The shinobi had lived up to his statement that Gohan wouldn't be able to keep up with him. His enemy's speed had increased to the point of being invisible to even Saiyan eyes.
A faint whistling behind him made the half-blood warrior lunge forward and roll, just managing to dodge the senbon that lodged in the pavement behind him.
'Damn!' he raged, losing his composure in a brief bout of cursing. 'If this keeps up, I'll run out of energy before he does!" The Z fighter winced as a line of senbon drew a neat line down his upper right arm. The warrior lost no time in pulling the offending weapons out of himself, letting them fall among the hundreds already littering the ground.
He knew that shattering a mirror wouldn't work. Gohan had tried that already. He'd been surprised at his fortune and sprinted for the exit, but a hail of senbon from the mirror above it had rebuffed him, forcing him to dodge. After he'd managed to get his footing, the gap had already closed with a new mirror, sealing him in this funhouse once again. The saiyan supposed he should count himself fortunate that these needles weren't as thick as the kunai everyone else seemed to favor. If they had, he would be dead, as much as his pride wouldn't allow him to admit it.
Haku watched the young teen below him. The ice warrior was currently hiding in the topmost mirror of his jutsu, the one that looked straight down, allowing him to see the whole area his technique occupied. The shinobi had to hand it to this strange fighter. He'd done something no one else had. He'd actually made a way out of the jutsu. Thankfully, the hunter-nin had been able to repel him and reseal the exit. Now Haku was being extra careful not to allow the kid near another mirror. He'd been timing and placing his attacks in such a way that kept Gohan in the relative middle of the Kekkei Genkai.
Zabuza's best weapon was making progress. This kid had fantastic stamina, endurance, power, and pain tolerance. But Haku had managed to surpass him in speed thanks to this jutsu and now was taking full advantage of that gap in order to chip away at the rest of Gohan's strengths. Haku was also sure that the boy was unused to situations involving complex strategy. Whoever had trained him had done a decent job with strategy to be sure, but had focused more on the physical aspects of battle, and that would be this powerhouse's downfall.
Gohan looked at all the blanked mirrors ringing him on all sides. Well, he couldn't sense Haku, probably something in these crazy mirrors, Haku was obviously faster than he was by a wide enough margin, and it was impossible to predict what mirror he would attack from next as the other boy seemed to have the ability to teleport between one mirror to the next without leaving them.
Ki blasts would shatter these mirrors he knew, that was how he'd managed to make the opening the first time. Theoretically, Gohan could put up a barrage that would shatter every ice mirror, but that taxed his ki to the limit, and Haku would probably reemerge just to kill off a worn out Gohan, so that option was out, as was just breaking one and going for it, as the previous attempt had shown him. Oh yeah, the son of Goku was in a very tight spot.
"I have no choice. I didn't want to transform, but this guy's left me no option." Gohan's legs spread wide, his fists clenching at his sides, putting the fighter in the basic stance known as kiba-dache, or horse riding stance. It was the first stance he'd ever learned and all of Piccolo's basic hand and foot movements had been taught to him here before he moved on to more advanced stances and techniques.
Haku watched as his enemy sank into a basic stance and closed his eyes, concentrating. Curiosity took hold of the ice user as he wondered just what the heck the kid was up to. Using such a basic footing wouldn't give him any more advantage over Haku. In fact, it would only slow him down, the horse riding stance being a very immobile way to distribute weight. He was obviously up to something, but for the life of him, Haku couldn't figure out what.
"HRAAAAA!!" Gohan let out a cry that split the heavens and, just like at the lake, the ground beneath him cracked and splintered, only this time the fragments began to float, held up by nothing other than the force of Gohan's ki. Hurricane winds blasted up, blowing Kirigakure no Jutsu away in a flash, and exposing the battlefield for all to see.
Kakashi and Zabuza were locked in a clash when the mist was blown away so fast, the Copy-nin wondered if it had been evaporated. Gohan's yell reached him next followed closely by winds. Both jounin were blown off their feet and the force of the transforming Saiyan's ki crashed down on them an instant after the winds. Kakashi felt the wind knocked from him just from the force of the power the fourth teen was emitting.
"What the hell's going on here!" Zabuza yelled, to which Hatake had no answer.
'Zabuza's got a point,' he thought in amazement. 'Gohan, just what in the seven hells are you?!'
Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Tazuna were all blown off their feet by the explosion of power.
"What the hell?!" Naruto shouted over the roaring wind, which seemed to becoming from that freaky ice dome near them.
"I think it's Gohan-kun!" Sakura shouted back, shielding her face from all the bits of shattered concrete, dust, and other stuff in the wind.
Sasuke had no answer either as he imitated the kunoichi on the team, protecting his eyes from the brutal forces raging around him.
Inside the dome, Haku's unseen eyes widened as his mirrors began cracking from the forces that assailed them. 'He's doing this with chakra alone? Just what is he!?' Below, Gohan tensed up, curling in on himself, as if he was trying to get into the fetal position while still on his feet. His yell, having died off and been replaced by sporadic grunts, returned in full force as he uncurled, forcing his power to even greater heights. A gold aura blasted into existence, further increasing the chaos raging around everyone at the bridge.
Over the lake, close to two miles away, at the Tazuna house, Tsunami hummed as she washed dishes in the roughly hewn, but smooth, sink. She was so happy. Somehow, Naruto-san had managed to get Inari's light to return and… The woman was knocked off her feet as a huge earthquake hit, slamming her to the floor. Tazuna's daughter landed so hard that she thought her ears were filled with a rushing noise. Then it dawned on her that the rushing noise wasn't her, but the ocean outside her house.
"MOM, MOM, YOU GOTTA COME QUICK!!" Inari's panicked yells had her crawling to the wooden door and when she opened it, her first thought was that the apocalypse had come.
The ocean was writhing in swells never seen in Wave Country, even during hurricane season. Winds stronger than any gale were ripping shingles off her roof and planks off the pier like they were feathers. Inari was sitting down a little ways past the door, probably knocked there by the earthquake, and he was staring, white as a sheet, in the direction of the bridge. He looked at his mother with terrified eyes.
"S-S-Something's happening at the bridge!" He cried, his gaze returning to the bridge, whatever was happening over there was so riveting that he couldn't tear his eyes off of it for more than a couple of seconds.
"What, Inari?"
"I-I don't know!" A bright light, as gold as the rising sun, spilled over them now, and Tsunami looked over at her father's creation. What she saw made her body shake like a leaf and her mind go blank from panic.
A star.
A star had settled itself near the end section of the bridge and it shone brighter than anything Tsunami had ever seen! Both mother and son could only watch the spectacle in horrified awe as the thing's light seemed to increase in intensity.
Gohan's yells had reached a crescendo, deafening everyone within earshot. As Haku looked on, wondering how he was going to deal with this latest development, lightning began flaring off of the saiyan's chest, flying up into the air in a double helix that shattered the mirror the hunter-nin had been occupying a moment earlier.
Gohan himself felt the power of the ultimate form a Saiyan could attain surge through him, energizing every cell, awakening him like no adrenalin rush or energy drink could. As much as he didn't like admitting it, the young warrior loved this feeling. It made him feel as if he could do anything!
Without warning, his rocketing ki slammed into a glass ceiling and rebounded, turning the Z fighter's cries of focus into screams of pain. The lightning that had been spiraling into the air reversed direction, revealing, just for an instant, the kanji for the number one shining through Gohan's gi before it attacked him.
The teen felt as if he was on fire from the inside out. Why was he reacting this way!? It was like all the ki he'd built up just now was being forced into a massive backlash that blew him off his feet in a pulse of white light. The protector of earth slammed into one of Haku's already cracked mirrors, damaging it even further. When he slid away from the ice, a spider web pattern of fractures could be seen, a testament to just how hard the kid had been thrown by his own ki.
Gohan slumped, unconscious, and all the phenomena caused by his attempt at a Super Saiyan transformation vanished as if they'd never happened.
Kakashi looked around, startled at the sudden cut off in the chaos of the world ending. He managed to spot Gohan's limp form, slumped up against the mirror he'd crashed into by the backlash of his own ki.
"Gohan!"
When the kid gave no response, the masked man tried to get to him, but Zabuza sliding to a halt in front of him stopped him.
"Just where do you think you're going?" He asked, amusement at Kakashi's desperation clear in he voice. "We're not done here!" The missing-nin forced the Copy-nin away with a swing of his huge sword and proceeded to press the attack, taking advantage of Hatake's distraction.
'Damn!' The Konoha-nin raged, 'Gohan's in trouble and I can't to anything with tall dark and ugly here! Guess there's no choice.' He swore again, regretting the decision he was about to make, but knowing that there was no way out of it.
Zabuza stopped to brace for another attack and readjust his zanbatou. Kakashi knew that now was his chance. "Naruto! Sasuke! Help Gohan!" Any further order was cut off when the Demon of the Mist renewed his attack.
Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other. Despite hating each other's guts, both boys could tell that the other was scared shitless at the idea of taking on someone who'd managed to put Gohan down for the count.
Sasuke smirked. "Try not to get in my way, Dobe." Naruto reacted by shaking a fist in the stoic genin's direction.
"Screw you Sasuke-bastard! I'm the one who's gonna rescue Gohan, so you stay the hell outta my way!" The rival's argument suddenly dissolved into the past and both shinobi nodded seriously before sprinting toward the dome of ice mirrors.
"Aren't you gonna go with them?" Sakura turned and looked at the bridge builder, who was watching her with curious eyes. The kunoichi shook her head.
"Nope. I wasn't ordered to and besides, even if Naruto and Sasuke don't get along, you'll never find two people who can work together like they can." The girl's emerald eyes became downcast as she continued. "Besides, I'm just not strong enough. I'll just get in the way." She watched both genin reach the dome and jump through without hesitation.
'Sasuke-kun, Naruto, Gohan-kun, come back alive.'
Alright! Well, this chapter's done, so let us now examine what's happened. Kakashi's being pressed by Zabuza, Gohan's transformation has somehow backfired, that'll be explained either next chapter or the one after, and Sasuke and Naruto are on the way to help him out. Never fear though! Both Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan Two will be making an appearance in the story, though not 'till much later.
Yes, the battle with Sasuke, Naruto, and Haku will probably be very close to canon. I'm sorry for that, but I liked the way it brings out Kyuubi. Anyway, Glossary!
Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Technique/Skill): The jutsu that Zabuza uses to make the thick mist that gives Kakashi and the others so much trouble.
Hijutsu: Makyou Hyoushou (Secret Justu: Demonic Ice Mirrors): Haku's bloodline. It creates a prison made of ice mirrors and allows the user to reflect themselves into one or all of them, and the user can also teleport between them at high speeds. Yes, I believe this speed to be superior to Gohan's normal state, which is why he was forced to transform.