This very well might be the longest chapter I have written for this story; I hope you all enjoy it. It maybe a little confusing... but I'll explain more as the story progresses.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter Five: Zabuza Momochi

"Sakura," Kakashi frowned. "It's okay. Why didn't you go to your Mizukage?"

"He ordered the hit, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said with light tears stinging her eyes. "My Mizukage killed my family."

The group of five had finally entered the wave country; they were all currently sitting in a boat, trying to avoid detection from whoever wouldn't want them there.

"We should be there soon," the operator of the boat said. He was Tazuna's friend, and a fellow member of the bridge building crew.

"Thank you," Tazuna said with a small frown. "Once we get to the country, we should take the trail next to the vegetation... It will be safer that way."

Kakashi nodded his head, but his thoughts were else where. 'How could the Mizukage order a hit on Sakura's family?' Kakashi thought idly to himself. 'Sakura couldn't explain why... she just kept breaking down.'

Kakashi glanced over to where Sakura sat. Nothing seemed to be wrong with her on the outside, but Kakashi knew she was inwardly struggling. He'd have to fix the problem after the mission.

The group stepped onto a dock, and waved good bye to the driver. "Thanks," Tazuna said again.

"Be safe," the driver told back to him.

The group began walking, Sakura and Sasuke on both sides of Tazuna, Kakashi in the rear, and Naruto leading the front.

"I won't lose to Sasuke," Naruto muttered under his breath. Bringing his hand to his pocket, Naruto grabbed several kunai, and flung them, seemingly randomly, into the forest. "I SAW A SHADOW!"

Sakura was immediately in front of Naruto, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "No one was there, Naruto," Sakura said with a small frown. Closing her eyes, she too brought out a kunai. She flung it ten meters away from where Naruto had thrown his kunai. "They were over here."

A rattling noise was heard in the bushes, and then a distinct popping sound. "Replacement jutsu," Sasuke muttered under his breath, as the three genin surrounded Tazuna.

"Very good," a voice said. Sasuke, being the one in the front of the group looked up into a tree. He watched as Sakura's kunai was ripped out of the man's forearm. "But I'll be taking the bridge builder now."

"Zabuza Momochi," Kakashi said while placing his hand on his forehead protector. "The Demon missing-nin from Mist."

"Yes," Zabuza let out a light chuckle as he dropped Sakura's kunai to the ground. "And Kakashi Hatake, the famous Copycat nin. No wonder my nin couldn't get the bridge builder last time."

"I'm afraid I didn't do anything to stop them," Kakashi said while lifting his forehead protector above his eye. This eye contrasted with his other eye, a smoky gray next to a crimson red. "It was my team that did so."

"Ah," Zabuza spoke. In a blink of an eye, Zabuza's sword was flung toward the group of five.

"Everyone!" Kakashi's voice was heard by all. "Get down."

Sasuke and Naruto both ducked down right away, it was Sakura who pulled Tazuna just in time. Some of her long pink hair was cut by the sword. Pink strains of hair could be seen falling in the air.

"Pink hair, huh?" Zabuza said with a light chuckle. "Now I know why my nin didn't stand a chance. That doesn't happen to be Sakura Haruno, does it?"

Silence was his answer... until Naruto spoke up. "How do you know Sakura-Chan?"

Zabuza laughed maliciously. "So I will get to kill two birds with one stone, eh?" Zabuza said as his sword appeared in his arms again. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

Kakashi was the first one to his feet, his sharingan was swirling rapidly in his eye socket. "Protect Tazuna," Kakashi said. "This will be a fight between Zabuza, and myself."

The group of three nodded, and surrounded Tazuna once again. Zabuza smirked, and leaped from the tree to a lake of water in front of them.

Zabuza appeared above the water, his hands making rapid seals. "Hidden mist jutsu."

The surrounding area began to get extremely foggy. "Be on your best guard," Kakashi said as he closed his gray eye. "I'll protect you all, even if it kills me."

The mist began to get even heavier; Kakashi couldn't see his teammates that were only several meters behind him.

A loud malicious laugh was heard. "Where should I attack.... there are six spots," it was Zabuza's voice. "Liver, lungs, kidney, heart, brain, or my personal favorite, the spine?"

"I won't let my comrades die," Kakashi said while looking back to where his team stood.

"We'll see about that!" Zabuza said when he appeared in front of Tazuna. "It's over."

Zabuza said as he started to chop his sword toward Tazuna. Sakura appeared directly in front of Tazuna; she was holding the blade of his sword with her hand.

Zabuza smirked as he applied more pressure to the blade. "We'll see how the Haruno princess likes this," Zabuza said evilly. Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza then. He slammed a kunai hard at the base of Zabuza's back. Zabuza's body turned into a puddle of water.

"Behind you, sensei!" Naruto got out as Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi; his sword raised. Zabuza chopped his sword through Kakashi's neck, but Kakashi too turned into a puddle of water.

"He was able to copy my jutsu even in the mist?" Zabuza asked as he frantically searched for the gray haired jonin. He didn't have to search for long, as Kakashi placed two kunai against the base of Zabuza's neck.

"It's over," Kakashi said.

"For you it is," Zabuza said as another clone appeared behind Kakashi. "You put up a great fight... but I will win this one, Copy Ninja."

Zabuza connected a foot with Kakashi's back; Kakashi was sent flying into the lake. Zabuza followed immediately, and was behind Kakashi as, Kakashi tried to pull himself up from the water.

"Water prison jutsu," Zabuza said as he placed a hand toward Kakashi. The water soon engulfed Kakashi, and he was forced into a circular water prison. Zabuza's hand stayed in the water as be brought Kakashi up, and held him there.

Using his other hand, Zabuza brought it up into the Tiger seal. "Water clone," Zabuza muttered as two water clones appeared in front of the three genin and Tazuna. "I will kill each teammate you have sworn to protect, Kakashi Hatake. Except the pink one... Mist has other business to attend to with her."

A kunai flew passed one of the clone's faces. It missed merely by centimeters, and only did miss because Zabuza's clone moved at the last second. The clone turned to the offender, and smirked.

"Naruto, guard Tazuna," Sakura said as she placed a pair of fighting gloves on. "I need you and Sasuke to come up with a plan; I'm going after one of the clones."

"What a brave ninja you are," Zabuza's clone chuckled as he swung his sword in front of his body. "Come at me then."

Sakura raced toward the first clone, her fists were raised. She smirked as she placed some blue chakra into her fists, and swung at the clone. The clone's eyes widened an extra fraction, but before it could do anything, Sakura's fist had connected with it's body, and the clone dispersed into water.

"Not bad," The real Zabuza said with a smirk.

Sakura flipped backward, until she landed in front of Sasuke, Naruto, and Tazuna. She held her hand tightly as it bleed a little more. "I'll guard Tazuna," Sakura said grabbing a kunai, and wincing as she held it in her wounded hand.

Sasuke and Naruto nodded toward each other with a smirk. Naruto brought his hands together and yelled, "Shadow clone jutsu!"

Fifty Naruto's appeared surrounding the Zabuza clone; the clone smirked. "Shadow clones, eh?" The group of shadow clones pounced at Zabuza, but were all blown away within under a minute.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he threw his bag to the young Uchiha. Sasuke smirked and grabbed the bag. Reaching inside he pulled out a windmill shuriken.

Sasuke leaped into the air. "Evil wind shuriken," Sasuke called as he flung the large shuriken at the Zabuza clone.

The clone snorted. "That won't work on me," It said. But as the shuriken flew passed him, the real Zabuza froze.

"That won't work against me either," Zabuza said as he grabbed the shuriken. He was barely able to dodge the second one that was in the shadow of the first one. "Still not enough."

Sasuke's smirk Zabuza to panic lightly. A poof was heard causing the whole group to look behind Zabuza. There was Naruto; he had transferred into the second wind shuriken.

A kunai appeared in Naruto's hand, and he flung it at Zabuza. Zabuza leaped away from the water cage, effectively freeing Kakashi. The kunai had left a cut across Zabuza's face.

"Brat!" Zabuza yelled as he grabbed onto the shuriken still in his hand. He moved to fling it at Naruto, but Kakashi's hand prevented him from doing so.

"I will not fall for the same damn trick twice," Kakashi spoke, his voice was deep and threatening.

The two jonin jumped away from each other, and started to form several hand signs in quick succession of each other; they were performing the same hand signs.

"Water Dragon Blast jutsu," Zabuza and Kakashi called at the same time. A large water dragon appeared behind both shinobi. The two dragons clashed, and water was forced every where.

The two began doing hand signs again; Kakashi's appeared to be going faster than Zabuza's, and a Zabuza clone immediately appeared behind Kakashi.

"What is this?" Zabuza asked himself out loud. "This is genjutsu! It has to be!"

Kakashi finished his hand signs. "Water explosion jutsu," Kakashi muttered as a large wave of water exploded toward Zabuza.

As the water hit Zabuza, he flew back into several trees. He was left leaning against one, as Kakashi threw four kunai into his body.

"Can you see... can you see the future?" Zabuza asked.

"Yeah," Kakashi said as he took out one final kunai. "And your death is near."

Four senbon flew out of the forest and embedded themselves into Zabuza's neck. A figure flew out of the forest; they were wearing a white Mist mask.

"You are right," the figure said as they leaned down to take out the senbon needles. "He is dead."

Kakashi appeared down next to the tracker nin, and placed his hand near Zabuza's throat. "No vital signs," Kakashi muttered.

Sakura quietly slid behind Naruto to try and have him block her from the hunter nin's view. "That's not a hunter nin," Sakura quietly whispered into Naruto's ear.

"What are you talking about, Sakura-Chan?" Naruto asked questioningly.

"His attire," Sakura spoke quietly again. "It's all wrong... the hunter nin wear all black... even his mask is out of date... Hunter nin also work in pairs, Naruto... this nin doesn't have a partner."

"I thank you for giving me an opportunity to kill Zabuza..." the hunter nin spoke as he grabbed Zabuza's arm, and wrapped it around his shoulder. "I must dispose of his body now... there are many secrets."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled before the nin could move away. "Sakura said that this guy isn't a real hunter nin!"

"Sakura?" The hunter nin questioned quietly. The nin then glanced back toward where Sakura stood to see a mop of pink hair. "I'm sorry, I must go."

The hunter nin disappeared.

"God damn it!" Naruto yelled as he raced toward the spot the nin and Zabuza once stood. "They got away!"

"I think you're just being paranoid," Sasuke said while glancing over to Sakura. "Take a deep breath and chill, Sakura."

"Maybe not, Sasuke," Kakashi said as he stood. "We'll be on the look out just in case. Are you alright, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded, but winced once she squeezed her wounded hand. "I just have a cut on my hand from Zabuza's sword... It's nothing I can't fix once we get to the village."

Kakashi sighed, and walked toward Sakura. He ripped a piece of material off from his black undershirt, and wrapped it around Sakura's hand. "You need to be more careful," he chided her softly. "Next time I won't be surprised if you lose a hand."

"Tazuna-san was left unprotected," Sakura said once Kakashi finished wrapping her wound. "If I hadn't done anything, would you have gotten there in time?"

Kakashi sighed, but shook his head. "It would have been close," he said. He stood up, and wobbled a little bit. Taking a deep breath, Kakashi tried to take a step, but found he could not. "Shit."

Kakashi fell to the ground. "What's wrong with Sensei?" Naruto practically screamed as he ran over to him.

"Kakashi-sensei exhausted his chakra network," Sakura said while taking one of Kakashi's hand and flinging him over her shoulder. "I don't think he'll be able to move around very well for a while."