Immortal Phoenix

Author: The Phoenix is Immortal

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor am I making any profit from this work.

Chapter 20: The Hunter and the Hunted

Now that the Kakashi human was trapped, what were we to do?

Then Zabuza human was speaking. "A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death." As he said this, another water clone appeared.

Numerous brushes with death? Then that would count Naruto. After all, I had nearly burned down his apartment several times. But, that was probably not what the Zabuza human was talking about.

Then the enemy water clone disappeared. Where did it go? Oh, in front.

I simply spat a fireball at the incoming water clone and watched it dodge. Naruto, at this point, had not undergone enough training in order to match that speed. Note to self: start lighting Kakashi human's hair on fire due to improper training of Naruto. And I decided that I would have to help Naruto increase his speed.

"Hmph. Brats!" That had come from the real Zabuza human. I took offense at that. Did I look like a human brat?

Then Kakashi human told us to run. He could talk in the water sphere? That was not the main concern though.

What should I do? Listen to the human? I was probably stronger than the Zabuza human, but Naruto and the rest of his team were certainly not.

As it was, I did not have to decide. Naruto refused to leave his teacher. But there was still the matter of the clone.

We would have to destroy the clone. And then there was the real Zabuza who held Kakashi human in the water sphere. I would certainly have to back them up. The enemy was clearly out of their league. Maybe if they could free Kakashi human?

"Akarui, Sasuke, and Sakura. Listen. I have a plan." A plan? Naruto had a plan? Well then, let us hear it.

Kakashi human tried to prevent this, reminding us of the bridge builder. I turned to the builder. The bridge builder told us to go ahead with the plan.

Then Zabuza told us about his own graduation exams. How disgusting. Humans would never cease to amaze me. How different they were from each other.

Then the Zabuza human attacked. No time for Naruto to tell us the plan. Great.

Naruto did see this attack though. Probably because it was not aimed at him, but at the Sasuke human.

As the Sasuke human went flying, before anymore harm could be done, Naruto substituted him. With me.

I expected that. Smart human. One plan of ours was to substitute me in order for me to get in an attack. My reaction time was fast. I would be able to recover from the substitution faster than a human would.

As the targets changed, the clone still continued attacking. I would have to destroy it. I completely lit my feathers on fire. Anything that touched me would burn.

And that included the clone. As it went closer to me, it turned to steam. It was a water clone after all. Water clone, destroyed.

As I had been doing that, Naruto had been preparing his own attack also. Except his attack was on the real Zabuza human. He had made clones of himself again. And they all held kunai and I could see them scatter.

Kakashi human had told us that Zabuza human could not move while holding the prison jutsu active. That meant that he was susceptible to attacks.

Naruto, Sasuke human, and even Sakura human could now see the opening that there was now that there was no water clone to defend the original.

Many sets of kunai were thrown at the Zabuza human. The kunai had all been thrown at a different angle from each other. And in the case that the kunai missed, I had a sneaking suspicion that many of them were actually clones in disguise.

Had Naruto planned all that? There was no way that the human could dodge all of those without letting go of the water prison. And even Sasuke human and Sakura human had noticed Naruto's plan. They had thrown some kunai, and blocked all the angles that Naruto and his clones had missed.

That had been their original goal, I realized. Smart humans. They had realized that there was no way that they could defeat their opponent. So instead they settled for freeing the Kakashi human by forcing the Zabuza human to dodge.

Perhaps I should help out these humans less? They were growing on their own. Of course, I would help if I had to. But they were doing well. Even without me they would have done well.

And now that the Kakashi human had been freed, it was time for the rest of the team to recuperate.

After a short conversation, the battle began again. Why do the ninjas always have a conversation before the battle? Was it really necessary?

Both ninja began a series of hand signs. Both yelled, "Water Dragon Blast Jutsu" at the exact same time.

The Kakashi human was perfectly mirroring the other human's movements. So that was what the Sharingan could do. Impressive.

For some reason, the Zabuza human froze in the middle of a jutsu. He never finished. Kakashi human finished for him.

Because of a great blast of water, Zabuza human crashed into a tree. "How? Can you see the future?"

Kakashi human looked at him. "Yeah. You're going to die."

And then I saw another human on a tree at the side. That human threw something.

And the "somethings" hit the Zabuza human in the neck. Senbon needles.

"You're right. He's dead now." Those were the first words that the new human spoke. The human had on a mask of some sort. "Thank you very much. I have been searching for an opportunity to kill Zabuza."

Kakashi human looked at the new masked human. "That mask…you are a hunter-nin of Kirigakure."

"You are correct. My duty is to hunt down and kill those ninja that defect from my village."

I looked at Naruto. He was disturbed. After all, the hunter-nin could not have been much older than him. Yet the hunter-nin had taken down an opponent that Naruto could not yet even dream of defeating.

So what he did next surprised me. "Thank you for helping us to take down Zabuza. But next time, I will defeat all the enemies! Believe it!"

I believe that seeing a hunter-nin not much older than him had inspired him. That was good for him.

I had once told him to thank those that help him out, but I did not think that he had actually listened. I was impressed.

The hunter-nin nodded. And then he disappeared and reappeared next to Zabuza human's body. "Farewell. I must dispose of this body." With that, the hunter-nin disappeared, along with the body of our former enemy.

The battle was now over. What a tense mission.

Now we just had to head to the bridge builder's home. But then the Kakashi human fell over and onto the ground. What had happened?

He had exhausted himself, apparently from using the Sharingan.

I turned to the team. "So, who is going to carry him? We still have some miles to go."

All the humans looked at each other. Then an argument ensued.

"You do it!" Naruto did not want to carry him.

"I refuse." Sasuke human did not want to.

"No way!" Sakura human did not want to either.

"I'm the client." The bridge builder did not want to.

"And I am a bird." And I certainly did not want to.

And now Kakashi human had on strange expression. "Somebody just do it."

In the end, it was I who relented. All the other humans out-argued me. And I was a bird! Why me? Unfortunately, Naruto knew that I could change my size. He pointed that out. Too smart of a human.

So I had to enlarge myself enough so that I could carry the Kakashi human. I was now at a larger size than I had been in years. It was actually a little nice to be at this size. It was nowhere near my true size, but it was still larger than the other sizes I had used in the past years.

And so the Kakashi human would receive a ride to the bridge builder's house. Then Naruto wanted a ride also!

"No." I would not give him one.

"Why not? It seems fun. You're giving Kakashi-sensei one!" The whole reason he wanted a ride was because it seemed fun?

"Well, he is not in a condition to walk. You, on the other hand, can."

"Fine…" He looked dejected. Now I felt bad.

"…Maybe later." What a stupid human. Maybe that was why I was so fond of him.

After we reached the bridge builder's house, we met his daughter and his grandson. Tsunami human and Inari human, respectively.

I dropped the Kakashi human on one of those mats that are actually beds of some sort.

And after a while passed, Naruto came up with something to do.

"Hey Sakura, Sasuke, Akarui! Let's see what's under Kakashi-sensei's mask!"

Well, I actually was a little curious. I had never seen what was under the human's mask. And so were the other two. Even if the Sasuke human tried to pretend otherwise.

And so Sakura and Naruto went up to the Kakashi human, who was sleeping. I decided to help.

I had decided that after this mission was the time that I should tell wrinkly human about my human form. I wanted to surprise him. Phoenixes were known to have a human form, though, so the wrinkly human might actually expected it. Perhaps the wrinkly human could help me out with the form. I was not confident that I could fight in my human form. I still felt too unsteady.

And so I told Naruto and Sakura to wait. After I had told them that, I entered another room. It was there that I assumed my human form. The rest of Naruto's team would be surprised.

And so I reentered the room. Sakura human was definitely surprised. She was sputtering. "Who are you?"

Sasuke human was surprised to. He did not show it as openly, but I had seen his eyes widen and then narrow again.

Naruto just jumped and yelled. "Akarui!"

"Naruto, do not wake up the Kakashi human. Otherwise, we will not be able to see what is under his mask."

"Oh, sorry! Oh, and Sakura and Sasuke, this is Akarui! This is his human form."

Sakura just looked at me. For some reason, she looked just a little more red than usual. Humans were strange. Sasuke just replied with his customary "hn."

"Now, shall we see what is under the Kakashi human's mask?" I wanted to know.

And so Naruto, Sakura, and I crept closer to Kakashi human's mask.

Just as we got fairly close, the targe-I mean Kakashi human shot up from the bed. We were so close!

And then he spoke. "Something's not right." And then his gaze fell on me. "And who are you?"

Author's note: So sorry for the bad battle scenes. I am not good at those…if someone could help, it would be nice.

Sorry for the little-bit-longer than usual wait. I got sort of sick from the cursed allergens in the air. And by the way, if you have read The Wrath of Kyuubi and do not know yet, it will be continued.

So thanks to my reviewers! Of course. And to all who read this, please, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns, review.