A/N: Sorry it's been so long! We were getting ready to move when my grandma died and we went on a 15 hour car trip to go to the funeral and spent longer than we thought we would there. Hopefully this chapter is up to par and I'll get working on the next chapter right away.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
We continued down the path until we reached the shore where we met a boater who would take us into the land of waves. A mist settled upon us along with deafening silence that was left unbroken until the bridge came into view.
"It's huge!" Naruto shouted only to be shushed by the boater.
Before we got off the boat Kakashi sensei interrogated Tazuna and he told us about Gato. From there we could have chosen again to abandon the mission, but Tazuna attempted to guilt us into staying by talking about his daughter and grandson. We did stay but him trying to guilt us didn't make me like the old man any more than I did before.
As soon as we were in the forest of the Wave Country Naruto tried to show off throwing his kunai into a bush that I know for a fact was perfectly empty. However the next place he threw a kunai I had smelled something. Kogane ran into the bush after the kunai and began to bark at the terrified white rabbit. The instant Naruto saw what he hurt he hugged the rabbit and began to apologize.
I could still smell someone in the trees so as soon as I sensed them moved I jumped down to protect Kogane and a sword flew directly over my head lodging itself in a tree. "Momochi Zabuza, missing-nin from the Mist." I heard Kakashi sensei say the name clearly and assumed he was talking about the guy standing on top of the sword.
Naruto dashed forward but was halted by a hand from sensei. Unsurprisingly because Kogane was already hiding in my jacket from fear of Zabuza's chakra. "Stay back." Sensei ordered.
"Why!?" Naruto demanded.
"He isn't like the ones from before." Sensei told him and began reaching up to his headband.
"You're Kakashi of the Sharingan." Zabuza stated. "Sorry, but you'll have to hand over the geezer. I moved my unsteady feet toward Tazuna and pulled out a kunai for defense.
"Everyone, manji formation. Stay out of this fight!" Kakashi order but neither Sasuke nor Naruto moved as sensei moved his headband to uncover his other eye. I was behind sensei so I couldn't see the eye but Naruto seemed pretty freaked out.
"I'm honored to see the sharingan I've heard so much about." I heard Zabuza but I still didn't know what the sharingan was.
"Everyone keeps saying Sharingan." Naruto burst out, "what is it?"
"Sharingan." Sasuke began to explain, "Is a dojutsu that allows the user to see through all gen, tai, and ninjutsu. But that's not the only ability the sharingan possesses."
"You're right." Zabuza drawled, "That isn't all. The scary part of the sharingan is that it can understand how an opponent's jutsu works and copy it." After a pause Zabuza began to crouch on his sword, "Let's cut the chatter; I have to kill that old geezer now." That was when Naruto and Sasuke finally moved into position. "So I'll have to beat Kakashi first, huh." He disappeared, his sword with him, only to reappear standing on the water. His hands were in a handsign and the fog around us thickened. I could smell the chakra laced in the fog, but I could also smell Zabuza's unpleasant smell.
The fog became so thick that we could barely see Kakashi in front of us and I was grateful for my sense of smell. It was nerve-racking, however, to feel Kogane shivering against my chest. "He'll go after me first, but…" I looked up from Kogane at sensei's voice and asked the question that was running through my brain the moment Kogane hid in my jacket.
"Who exactly is Zabuza?"
"Momochi Zabuza was part of the Hidden Mist's ANBU and was known for his 'silent killing' techniques."
"S-silent?" Fear crept into Naruto's voice.
"As the name implies, it is executed in a flash and is carried out in complete silence. It is possible to be dead before you even realize it. And I can't use my sharingan to its fullest potential, so don't let your guard down." He let that sink in a little before adding, "Maa, if you fail you're only going to die."
I increased my chakra flow to my nose and the scent of everything around me became crystal clear. It was strange though. I could smell two senseis and three Zabuzas. As the mist thickened I lost sight of the strange smelling sensei in front of us, but I could still smell him. For a second I wondered why he smelled weird but assumed it was the chakra in the mist messing with my senses.
"Eight points." I jumped for a second when I heard Zabuza's voice. "Larynx. Spine. Lungs. Liver. Jugular. Subclavian artery. Kidneys. Heart. Now which will be my attack point?"
The silence was restored for a few seconds before sensei let out a burst of chakra dispelling the mist around us. The mist now gone waves of killer intent took its place. I could smell the sweat on Naruto and Sasuke and I could feel Kogane shivering against me. I could feel my knees begin to quake slightly beneath me as I tracked all three Zabuzas with my nose assuming one of them had to be real.
"Sasuke." I looked at sensei again. "Don't worry, I'll protect the three of you with my life. I won't let my teammates die." He turned to smile at us and I felt my fear lessen.
"I don't know about that." I could smell him before I turned around to see Zabuza with his sword ready to slice us all in half. I grabbed Tazuna and with speed comparable to Zabuza's I dashed away. I watched from a distance as Kakashi stabbed Zabuza but neither one of them smelled right. The smell of their chakra seemed to completely over-power their physical smell which was strange because normally I had a hard time smelling the chakra through all of the physical smells around me.
Zabuza's strange smell was explained first when water began to pour from his wound instead of blood and Kakashi's smell made sense right afterwards when Zabuza attempted to slice through him but only water was there to resist his sword. The real sensei got behind Zabuza and held a kunai to his throat, but I immediately spoke my mind, "It's wrong!"
"What are you talking about Imouto?" Naruto asked. "Sensei's got him!"
"No, he smells… like chakra. It's wrong."
Sensei must've understood my gibberish because he dashed away from Zabuza and into the water just before the Zabuza he was threatening sank dissolved into water as well. The real Zabuza finally appeared and ran after him but skidded to a stop before turning and flipping into the water. I watched the water carefully for who would emerge first and heaved a sigh of relief when silver hair bobbed up. My relief vanished when Zabuza emerged and went through several handsigns and trapped Kakashi sensei in a prison of water.
Zabuza chuckled darkly, "You won't be able to escape this prison. I'll finish you off later, but for now I'll take care of them." He turned to us and held his free hand up in a sign. "Water clone jutsu!" He chuckled again as another Zabuza formed from the water, "You're wearing headbands like you think you're ninja but a real ninja is someone who has gone through life and death situations so much that it doesn't faze them. In other words, you can call yourselves ninja once you're in my bingo book."
He used his jutsu to increase the fog again but I smelled him going after Naruto. I forced my legs to move and jumped between his foot and Naruto getting pushed aside instead. "Imouto!" I heard Naruto call for me as my headband slipped from my forehead.
"Guys! Get Tazuna and run!" Sensei ordered while I was picking myself up from the ground. "You can't win against him! As long as I'm in his water prison he can't go far! Just take the bridge-builder and run!"
All of us stood still mulling over sensei's words until Sasuke shouted, "We have to do it!" Sasuke ran in throwing kunai that Zabuza easily blocked with his sword. Taking advantage of his enemy being blind Sasuke jumped and attempted to stab Zabuza with a kunai, but he didn't get anywhere close because Zabuza caught him by the throat and tossed him aside like a ragdoll.
I rushed toward Sasuke to check on his injuries. To my relief he only seemed to have bruises so I turned back to Zabuza. I saw Naruto attempting to crawl away from him, "Naruto, what are you doing!?"
"He's too strong, imouto! We have to get out of here."
I felt a pain in my heart. All Inuzuka's are fiercely loyal; there was no way we would ever abandon a comrade in battle, or anywhere else for that matter. So it hurt that Naruto would so easily run. "Naruto, we need you! I thought you weren't going to run away!"
"Imouto…" He mumbled it before standing up straight and looking back at me and Sasuke. "Is he alright, imouto?"
"Yes, he'll be fine."
"Good, cuz I have a plan."
"No!" Kakashi sensei complained. "Your mission is to protect the bridge-builder!"
"Bridge-builder?" Naruto turned with questioning eyes.
"Well, I suppose it was my will to live that got you into this mess so go. Save your sensei."
Naruto grinned. "Imouto! Sasuke! You ready?"
I smiled a little while Sasuke nodded and grunted, "hn."
Naruto created a bunch of shadow clones and while most of them were covering Zabuza one whispered my part of the plan in my ear. I pulled smokebombs from my pouch. I made sure to always have them because my clan was able to fight blind so it gave us an edge. I was worried about Naruto and Sasuke though; they didn't have the same talent I did, and obviously Zabuza did. Plus I was attempting something I never tried before. Naruto wanted the smoke to go off above the water, but smokebombs were meant to go off when they hit the ground. The only thing I could think to do was wrap a paperbomb around and hope it would explode the smokebomb when it exploded.
While I worked my way through this Zabuza threw all of the Naruto clones off of him and Naruto had tossed Sasuke a fuuma Shuriken. I knew as Sasuke spun around it was my cue so I threw the smokebomb and placed my hands in one of the simplest handsigns. As soon as my explosion ball reached Zabuza I made it explode and he was surrounded by purple smoke.
He laughed cruelly, "Did you think that would stop me? I always fight blind!"
The clone poised ready to continue to fight us, "And did you forget about me?" Sasuke smirked threw the fuuma shuriken. The clone's eyes widened when the shuriken went past him and to the real Zabuza, but even blinded by smoke he caught it with ease. And laughed again. I could only imagine his face when the second shuriken nearly chopped his legs off before he jumped at the last second. And just when he thought he was finally in the clear the shuriken behind him popped and transformed into Naruto with a kunai. He threw it at the arm holding Kakashi and with no other ways to dodge or stop the kunai Zabuza let go of Kakashi and freed him.
From there Kakashi took over and it was a sight to behold. Jutsus far beyond our level clashed and I watched in awe. It was a dance with two equal partners before Kakashi sped up and Zabuza couldn't keep up. Before I knew it Kakashi held a kunai to Zabuza's throat, "I see: Your Death!"
Before Kakashi sensei could claim his kill needles pierced Zabuza's neck and he fell motionless. We all looked to the trees to see a boy in a mask. Somewhere in the back of my mind I made the connection that I could smell him faintly from the moment our battle with Zabuza began.
The boy giggled, "It was true. He did die." His voice showed no remorse but while Kogane was telling me the boy had power I didn't fear him. Kakashi crouched beside Zabuza and checked for a pulse.
"So is he…?" My voice came out in a whisper.
Sensei nodded, "He really is dead." But I wasn't sure how much he was telling himself rather than me.
Kakashi looked back and the boy bowed, "Thank you very much. I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza."
"The mask. You are hunter-nin from the Village Hidden in the Mist?"
"You are very well informed."
Naruto rushed in front of us and I blinked, not realizing he had dragged himself out of the water. "Hunter-nin! ?
"Um," I tried to remember what I learnt in class about them and recalled vague memories on a day I hadn't skipped. "Hunter-nins are assassins that kill skilled ninja that, for whatever reason, betray their village. It's so they can conceal their village's secrets."
"You're right. I am a hunter-nin that was pursuing Zabuza." The boy confessed.
Naruto rushed toward the boy but didn't climb the tree. Instead, he glanced back and force between the boy and Zabuza's body. "Who the hell are you! ?" He asked pointing. When he didn't receive an answer he called again, "Who the hell are you! ?"
"Calm down Naruto." Sensei scolded. "He's not an enemy."
"That's not what I was asking!" Naruto screamed in response. "Zabuza was killed! He was so strong yet he was killed by a kid not much different from me! We…" He struggled to find the right words. "We look like idiots. I can't accept this!"
As Kakashi began to speak I held Kogane tight to my chest and attempted to snuggle into my jacket. I wasn't afraid or offended but the emotions. Naruto felt so strongly and it made me sad, too. "I understand how you don't believe it but…" He leaned toward Naruto, "This is real." As Kakashi ruffled his hair Naruto suddenly looked so small. "In this world there are kids younger than you but stronger than me." Whether it was a trick of the light or my imagination I could have sworn Kakashi looked straight as Sasuke.
The hunter-nin came down from the trees. "You're battle ends here for now. I must go dispose of this body full of secrets. If you'll excuse me."
The boy was surrounded by wind for a second before entirely disappearing and Kakashi finally put his headband over his sharingan eye.
Even after the boy left Naruto was still frustrated to the point of repeatedly punching the ground, only stopping when Kakashi grabbed his arm.
Right as we were about to leave Kakashi collapsed and the three of us rushed to his side. I did a quick once-over and sighed in relief, "It's only chakra exhaustion." Sasuke grunted and moved to sling Kakashi over his shoulder. He continued to carry him most of the trip while Naruto was lost in his thoughts until I took over and got him the rest of the way there.
The minute we arrived Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, fussed over us and helped me put sensei to bed. We had a simple dinner before sleeping ourselves dreaming of our first taste of battle.
A/N: I'm not really sure if an Inuzuka could technically smell through a clone, but I think that a water clone would smell different purely because it is just water held together by chakra and changed slightly, but technically it's still water so I think it would smell different. Also, I think Inuzuka's can technically smell chakra but not as well as their canine companions. I'm chalking this up to the fact that dogs act more an instinct and simply have better noses.
Anyways, reviews are awesome and I'd love to know what you guys did or didn't like so I can improve.