Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Battle on the Bridge

Sakura swallowed as she stared at the icy dome in the middle of the bridge. She could sense Sasukes chakra inside of it, but it was decreasing rapidly, meaning he was most likely getting hurt and wasting chakra trying to escape.

Kakashi was still occupied with Zabuza, and she didn't know if there was any way for her to break the jutsu herself without hurting Sasuke. There was a strong possibility that if she was to hit the ice with a strong chakra-infused punch it would break, but it was also likely that Sasuke would get hit by alot of shattered ice, and she didn't want to risk it just yet.

Just when she was about to attempt to break it a large amount of white smoke like the one left behind when somebody transported itself appeared, with Naruto in the middle of it.

"Uzumaki Naruto...HAS FINALLY ARRIVED"

...We really need to teach our teammates not to show off and call attention to themselves so much don't we.

Agreed...It's going to get them killed.

"Now that I'm here everything will be fine! The main character usually shows up in these sort of situation and instantly...KICK THE ENEMY'S ASS!"

YOUR NOT A BOOK CHARACTER, BAKA!

Zabuza was obviously annoyed by his loud entrance and sent shuuriken flying towards him. To his surprise, aswell as everyone elses they were knocked out of the air by senbon from...Haku?

"Haku," He growled. "what's the meaning of this?"

"Zabuza-san..these kids, please let me fight them my way."

"...So you don't want me to interfere, Haku? Your still as soft as always."

While Sakura was considering the implications of that statement Naruto entered the area enclosed by the mirrors and told Sasuke he was there to save him. Sakuras' consideration was interupted by an uncharacteristically long rant from Sasuke telling Naruto that he was an idiot, not a proper shinobi and various other insults based around the fact he had entered the mirrors.

After a second of hesitation Sakura started towards the mirrors in order to help them escape.

"Sakura," the girl in question stopped as she looked at Sasuke in confusion due to the tone of his voice. "protect Tazuna, Naruto and I will deal with Haku. You should conserve your chakra in case it's needed later."

"Yeah, yeah, Sakura-chan! Teme and I will do this! I'll show you how cool I am!"

Sakura nearly sweatdropped at Narutos' antics before narrowing her eyes at the two boys. "Fine, but you'd better not die, you two idiots got that! If you do I'll bring you back and kill you myself!"

Naruto grinned and Sasuke smirked weakly. "No need to worry about that." The dark haired boy replied.

"Yeah, you scare us to much for us to die on you Sakura-chan!"

Brat.

As though to prove their point Sasuke did a jutsu that allowed him to create a large fire ball from his mouth that he directed towards one of the mirrors...it would have worked better if it had managed to do anything, but either way Sakura conceded to her teammates wishes and returned to her spot infront of the bridge builder. They were her teammates, and the whole purpose of having a team would be defeated if she didn't believe in them.

Five minutes later the two seperate battles were showing no improvement. Sakura thought that it was likely for Kakashi to win based on what she knew, but the boys were starting to get more than a little bit beat up, and it was rather obvious that they were on the point of exhaustion.

At that point though she was distracted, Zabuza had created a thick mist that made it impossible for people to see, rendering Kakashi's sharingan useless. Sakura was still able to sense chakra, but it was muted due to the chakra in the fog, and suddenly she felt Zabuza's chakra behind her and Tazuna. Kakashi was inbetween them almost instantly, but there wouldn't be enough time for him to react.

Thankfully, having completed most of the jutsu earlier, Sakura only needed to make a single handsign before all three of them were enclosed in a wooden dome. Zabuzas' sword connected with the dome, but was unable to break through it, and the pinkette gave a soft sigh of relief. Quickly she grabbed Kakashis' hand, as he had wounded it earlier and healed it, as well as any other injuries she could find, before stepping back and telling him she could create an opening for him to exit from whenever he wanted.

He glanced towards the wood side, where every few seconds they could hear a thud as Zabuza was trying - and failing - to cut through it, and pointed straight up. Nodding, Sakura opened space at the top and Kakashi jumped out of her protection and back into battle.

Now all that was left for her to do was wait and have faith in her teammates - and of course make sure Tazuna didn't freak out.

Only a few moments later her eyes widened as she felt an almost demonic chakra coming from outside her dome. "Kyuubi" she breathed, recognising the chakra as similar to that of the other tailed beasts she had encountered.

"SAKURA!" She heard her sensei yell, even though she didn't need any prompting.

"Tazuna!" The man in question looked up, startled at being adressed. "I'm going to need to leave you here." Was all she said before creating a gap in the wooden wall and slipping out of it, running at full speed - which for her was almost as fast as regular jounin thanks to her mothers training - towards the now shattered mirrors and Naruto, who was currently surrounded by the Kyuubis' chakra.

Reaching him she grabbed onto his arm before he was able to move and attack Haku again. The boy immediately stiffened at her touch.

"Enough Kyuubi," she said, invoking her bloodline as she did so, "let Naruto be. He is not yours to control."

Slowly the Kyuubis' chakra disppeared from her senses, obviously unwilling to relinquish control, but not wanting to defy the Senju. Naruto himself collapsed onto his knees beside her, confused and disorientated.

Finally allowing herself to look around Sakura saw Sasuke lying on the ground with multiple senbon sticking out of him, barely breathing. From what she could see he would be alright even without her medical-jutsu, but she would definately check him over as soon as she could.

Turning she looked at Haku and winced at what she saw. His mask was broken, his clothes were ripped and bloody, and his eyes looked to be completely lifeless. He may be her enemy at the moment, but all of her medic-nin insticts were crying out for her to help him.

"I apologise for what just happened, we were not expecting the seal to weaken. If we had known it is unlikely we would have either made sure it wouldn't have happened or not allow Naruto to fight in the first place."

"Why did you stop him? I killed your precious friend but you can't let me be killed?"

"Firstly, Sasuke isn't dead yet, and he isn't going to be any time soon. And secondly, there is no point in killing you, and I'm not a fan of needless death."

Haku smiled slightly, although it was a bittersweet smile. "I would at this point prefer death. Zabuza-san has no need for weak shinobi. He has taken away my reason for existing."

Sakura couldn't help it, she gave an increadulous laugh. "Don't flatter yourself. You never stood any chance of being on par with the Kyuubi, if even a Kage can't subdue it without losing their life you certainly couldn't. The only reason I can do so is because I'm a Senju."

At that point Naruto seemed to come back to his senses. "Why! For a guy like that! .. HE'S A BAD GUY WHO TAKES MONEY FROM CRIMINALS! WHY IS THAT EYE-BROWLESS FREAK THE ONLY IMPORTANT PERSON TO YOU!"

Haku answered him by explaining pretty much his entire life. It was obvious that Naruto was stunned by what had occured with his parents, and also the fact that like him Haku had thought himself to be an unwanted person. Sakura was also shocked, but she had expected someting of the sort when she realised Haku had a bloodline trait.

"...Naruto-kun...please...kill me."

At the same time Haku said that statement Sakura felt and heard Kakashi manage to trap Zabuza using his dog summons.

"Please hurry up and kill me. Why are you hesitating?"

"I don't understand! Is being strong the only reason for you to be alive! Something other than fighting...You could have been acknowledged for something else!"

"The day I met you in the forest, I thought you were like me. You should be able to understand...I'm sorry you will have to stain your hands."

"Is this...is this the only way?"

"Yes...Please fufill your own dreams."

Sakura watched as Naruto started to run at Haku, a kunai in his hand. The fog was starting to clear.

Haku's eyes went wide as he realised what was happening. He grabbed Narutos wrist and redirected the kunai away from him.

"Sorry Naruto-kun. I can't die yet."

Understanding what Haku was about to do Sakura froze. It was one of those moments when you know what is about to happen, know that it won't end well, but are powerless to move, knowing there was nothing you can do to stop it. In a mixture of shock and horror the pinkette stared at the scene in front of her, seeing Haku plant himself in the middle of Kakashi and Zabuza, taking a chidori in the chest.

Sakura had seen alot of terrible things in her short life; the bodies of her fathers and his family, bandits after her mother was through with them, the results of her mothers drunken rage to name only a few. Despite that though she had never actually seen someone die infront of her. Her mother and Shizune had always sheltered her as much as they could, preventing her from dealing with the worst of life.

Intellectually she knew about death, that even if Haku hadn't intercepted the hit they would likely have had to kill him, but the reality of it was just...it didn't seem right for someone, anyone, to die infront of her when all of her medic training was for saving lives.

In a dazed sort of state Sakura stared at his body, barely registering Gatou appeared with a mob of mercenaries, Zabuza killing so, so many of them including Gatou, being killed himself, Sasuke waking up, Inari appearing with a mob of villagers, Naruto and Kakashi making shadow clones, the survivers of the mercenaries fleeing. Feeling a hand on her shoulder the pinkette finally snapped out of it, looking up at Kakashi who seemed to smile at her, though it was hard to tell with the mask.

"I think Sasuke might need your help."

More than anything else that pulled her out of her thoughts. She was a medic. No medical ninja shall ever stop treatment until the lives of their party members have come to an end. That came before all else. Turning to her teammate she began healing.

Two weeks later the bridge was complete and everyone was back to full health. Zabuza and Haku had both been buried with honor just outside the village. Team 7 was standing infront of the bridge saying goodbye to Tazuna and his family. Sakura was currently giggling at Naruto and Inari - if she didn't know better she would have thought they were related.

"Inari, your sad right? It's alright to cry!"

"I'm not going to cry! But you can Naruto!"

"Fine." The blond spun around and started walking. "Later." As soon as they were no longer facing eachother both boys started to silently silently sob, streams of tears falling down their faces.

Casting one last look back at the bridge builder and his family Sakura followed her teammates.

"Lets get home fast so I can have Iruka-sensei buy me some ramen! Oh, and I have to tell Konohamaru about my amazing feats!"

"Dobe."

"What did you say Teme!"

An orange book appeared out of nowhere in their senseis' hand.

"Do you have hearing problems Dobe?"

"EHH! Sakura-chan Sasuke's being a Teme again!"

"As if she's going to take your side Dobe."

**perverted giggle**

"Of course she will! Right Sakura-chan!"

They had finished their first C-rank turned A-rank. Supposedly this would mature those involved, marking some sort of important life-altering event. Sakura should have known nothing would have changed.