A/N: Battle with Zabuza nyan. So far, Haku is going to live, fall in love with Minato and Zabuza is going to buy the farm. Haku is going back to Konoha with Team 7 and Zabuza's going in a grave. Poll is still open so please vote if you want the tables turned around. Thank you.
blakraven66- Haven't seen you in a while. And I agree completely.
Haku Yuukinari- No, English isn't supposed to be my first language, but my Chinese is so sucky it might as well be.
Lily Umbra- Really? I don't know… I needed a filler but… I guess he doesn't. And I don't want to see Minato hesitate either.
I love grass type Pokémon! Sorry. Just felt like saying that…
Chapter 10: Zabuza Momochi
"Kakashi of the Sharingan. Am I right?" Zabuza rasped. 'Obito…' Minato thought looking downcast. "He's way out of your league! Protect the bridge builder and stay out of this fight!" Kakashi commanded, one hand flying to his lopsided headband. The group, minus Minato stared in anticipation as Kakashi lifted up his headband, uncovering his left eye with a long vertical scar running through it. He opened it, revealing a red eye with three tomoe encircling the centre. "So… I get to see the Sharingan in action so soon. I feel honoured."
Fog began rolling in, obscuring the group's vision and dampening the sounds in the area. "Enough talking. I need to assassinate the old man." Zabuza crouched down on his sword. The team formed a triangle in front of the old man. Zabuza slammed one foot on the trunk of the tree and jumped away, bringing his zanbatou with him. Minato sensed the man landing on the water in the lake not far from them but stayed where he was, fighting to keep his eyes away until Sakura pointed a finger towards the lake, having seen Zabuza.
The latter built up a huge amount of chakra and called out the name of the technique, before the fog engulfed him and he disappeared altogether, leaving only a leaf drifting on the wind. The leaf daintily touched the surface of the water, resting there. Kakashi walked to the front of the group saying "He'll come after me first."
"Sensei, who was that person?" Sakura asked, her eyes wide.
"Zabuza Momochi. He's a master of the silent killing technique. As the name suggests, it happens in an instant, without sound or warning of any kind. Even the Sharingan can't fully counter it, so don't let your guard down." Kakashi proclaimed. "Well, if we fail, we'll only lose our lives," Kakashi shrugged, as if it didn't matter.
The mist thickened, swallowing Kakashi as well, leaving the foursome alone in the mist. They stood around the bridge builder, anticipating an attack. The dampening of their senses only increased their level of fear to the point it was almost tangible. "8 points. Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart. Now, which will be my kill point?" a voice echoed around the clearing, only serving to intimidate the group further. Kakashi unleashed his chakra, generating so much it was visible and flooding the clearing.
Killing intent washed over everyone there and a pained look crossed Sasuke's face. Minato watched as Sasuke brought his other hand up to the grip of his kunai and raised it, wanting to kill himself to end the feeling. Minato looked away, conflicted. His comrade or his secret? Finally, just as he was about to stop Sasuke, a cry rang out "Sasuke!" The brunet jerked his head upwards to look at their sensei, sweat beading his forehead and a look of shock on his face, as if he had just woken up from a nightmare.
"Calm down. I'll protect you with my life. All of you. I will not allow my comrades to die. Trust me." Kakashi said reassuringly, turning around and giving his signature eye-smile. 'You really have changed.' Minato thought, proud of his former student. Sasuke's expression became more schooled, but then the voice rang out again
"I wouldn't be so sure." Minato sensed a Zabuza clone being made and dashing towards them and going between them and the bridge builder. He sorely wanted to intercept it and take Zabuza down, but stayed where he was and feigned surprise. "It's over." The clone voiced, but before it could harm anyone, Kakashi moved towards it and the kunai in his hand soon found a home in the clone's gut. The only thing that set the clone apart from the real one was that the wound was bleeding water and not blood.
The water ran over the floor and pooled while the real one materialised behind Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei! Behind you!" Minato called out, deciding to put his comrades before his secret since this mission was clearly very dangerous. The thing was, this Kakashi was a water clone, so Minato made no move to save it, instead watching as it was returned to its liquid form. Zabuza's eyes widened, clearly not anticipating his own technique to be copied and used against him. A kunai appeared by Zabuza's throat, the hand holding it connected to Kakashi's body.
Before they could celebrate, however, another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi. Minato whipped out a kunai and launched it at Zabuza under cover of mist. Zabuza sensed it at the last moment and dodged, but was not able to avoid it completely. The blade sliced above his eye, causing a trail of blood to trickle into his eye, forcing him to close it. Minato unsealed his tanto as Zabuza turned to him, but he just grunted and swung his giant cleaver towards Kakashi, letting the momentum build up and enhance his attack. Kakashi ducked under the blade at the last moment and the blade swung harmlessly over his head.
The zanbatou completed another revolution and was driven into the ground. Zabuza's hand left the hilt of the cleaver before gripping the tip and twisting around, using the sword as a medium to increase his attack strength and sent Kakashi flying through the air via a kick. Zabuza jerked the zanbatou downwards to loosen it and pulled it out of the ground causing dirt clods to fly. He ran at high speeds before stopping in his tracks, seeing spikes laid out on the ground. He sneered at the feeble attempt at slowing him down before diving into the water after Kakashi.
"He has great physical skill too." Sasuke breathed.
Sakura just looked on wide eyed, tightening her grip around her kunai. Kakashi surfaced and lifted a hand out of the water as Zabuza surfaced too and landed on the water behind him, running through hand seals. Suddenly, an orb of water formed around Kakashi, trapping him inside with one of Zabuza's hands inside the water ball with him. He raised his spare hand and created another water clone. "You think just having a head band makes you a ninja. Only when death doesn't faze you anymore, then can you call yourself a ninja. When you've become so deadly you're entered in a bingo book, then you may have earned the title of ninja. But to call upstarts like you ninja, is a joke." Zabuza rasped. Minato could sense Zabuza closing the distance between them with each passing second but forced himself to close his eyes as he awaited the attack. His headband loosened and flew off his neck, and Minato himself was sent back a few yards. The headband fell to the floor, finding itself with Zabuza's foot on top. "You're just brats." He spat, venom dripping from his words.
"Listen! Get the bridge builder and run! You can't win this fight! He's using all his power to keep me in this prison so he can only fight you with his water clone, but the clone can't stray too far from his real body so he can't follow you. Run!" Kakashi ordered them from the water prison. Sasuke smirked, weighing their options and coming to the conclusion that their only chance was to free their sensei. He then ran at Zabuza, releasing 5 shuriken but they were deflected by a single swing of the zanbatou. Sasuke launched himself upward, intending to peg him with an aerial attack. As Sasuke came down, Zabuza reached out with his hand to grab Sasuke. Minato dashed towards the two, landing on Zabuza's arm, Sasuke in his embrace, before propelling himself back to the bridge builder's side.
"Why did you stop me? Our only chance is to destroy the clone and free sensei! Now let go of me!" Sasuke shouted, his face contorted in fury.
"I know, but we need a plan. You can't just rush him, he's much stronger than us. We have to outwit him." Minato said, not wanting to make eye contact with his livid team mate.
"What do you propose we do then?" Sasuke asked, calming down.
"I'll take care of the clone so it can't go after Sasuke. Sasuke, throw this. Make sure it can get near Zabuza." Minato said, handing him a windmill shuriken with inscriptions on the blade. Sasuke nodded grimly.
"Sakura, you stay here and protect Tazuna. You're our last chance if we die." Minato said, looking Sakura in the eye.
"Don't say that! We will all come out of this alive. Now go get him." Sakura said, trying to boost their morale.
Minato smiled reassuringly at Sakura and stood up, getting ready to put his plan into motion. Sakura stood before Tazuna, gripping her kunai tightly, trying desperately not to shake. Sasuke made a beeline towards the real Zabuza but 'Naruto' stayed. She was about to tell her blond team mate to move when 'Naruto' just disappeared and reappeared next to the clone, which reverted back to water, splashing across the ground. She rubbed her eyes furiously and saw that she had not imagined it. Then she saw him running up to Sasuke, who was about to release the windmill shuriken. Sasuke then flipped it open and threw it, aiming the large weapon as best he could at Zabuza.
'Naruto' then intercepted the shuriken and hopped onto the ring, but he wasn't spinning like the shuriken was so she could only assume that the blades were spinning in a groove in the ring. Surprisingly, the shuriken didn't drop to the ground. That surprised her because she couldn't find an explanation for it. Minato shuriken-surfed towards Zabuza and his sensei, using his wind manipulation to negate his weight. He crouched down on the ring, keeping his body close to the rotating shuriken blades.
Minato put a hand on the ring and when he reached Zabuza, the latter tilted backwards, dodging the blades of the shuriken as it passed millimetres above his face. Unfortunately for Minato, it didn't even slice off his nose. Minato then stopped the blades of the shuriken and hopped off while keeping the blades from slicing himself before bringing the closed weapon down on the Demon of the Mist's arm. The one that kept his sensei trapped inside the water ball. His movements were so fast that Zabuza had absolutely no time to react. The weapon connected with his arm, producing a sickening crunch.
Kakashi stared wide-eyed at the display, the only thought running through his mind was 'Sensei'. No one could move that fast, save for Gai and his mini-me. The water prison collapsed, releasing him, leaving him on all fours on the water's surface, soaked to the bone. He looked over to where his blond student was supposed to be, but saw that he was gone. He glanced over at Sakura and the group and saw him standing there, a grin on his face. 'Must have been a shadow clone.' Kakashi shrugged, groaning as he righted himself.
Zabuza had recovered as well, gripping his arm. The absence of a lump in his fore arm indicated that it had not broken under the force of the Windmill Shuriken. Minato grinned from his position near the bridge builder. His plan had gone like clockwork, though it relied on his speed a lot, no one seemed any the wiser about his identity, and he had kept his comrades from getting too badly beaten up. He watched as the two Jounin stood atop the lake, ready to do battle. "Your technique worked on me once, but it won't work again. So, what's it gonna be"
The two jumped away from each other, Zabuza starting a long string of hand seals, Kakashi using his sharingan and followed at almost exactly the same time. They finally finished with a "Tori!" The water swirled and reared, rising in an arc and writhed as if trying to break free from their watery bond that was the lake. Eventually, they broke free and took the shape of dragons. "Water Dragon Jutsu!" They shouted as the dragons spiralled and circled each other before taking to the air. The two attacks ducked and dodged, continuing their interlocking dance before reaching the peak and cancelling each other out, raining down on the two Jounin and creating tidal waves.
The tidal wave washed onto the shore and swept Minato and the group as the dragons reformed and battled each other, biting and clashing as they both battled for dominance. Inside the dome of spouting water, the two Jounin clashed in the middle, Zabuza pushing the back of his sword with his left hand, Kakashi countering with a kunai. They, too, struggled for dominance, mirroring the battling dragons above. Zabuza's eyes narrowed and Minato felt a presence approach once again. This one was more feminine and it made no move to attack.
Minato kept his eyes on the two Jounin, observing the battle. Zabuza's arm right arm faltered as the injury took its toll it. He jumped away from Kakashi and the latter did the same at the exact same moment. They both landed at the same time, opposing each other, and circled each other like their dragons once did. They stopped, Kakashi mirroring Zabuza's movements flawlessly. Minato tuned out the conversation going on by his ear, giving his attention to the battle. "It's as if… it's as if he knows what-" Zabuza began.
"I'm about to do." Kakashi finished without missing a beat.
Sweat broke out across Zabuza's brow, clearly freaked by Kakashi's performance. "It makes you furious doesn't it?" Kakashi taunted.
"Ha! All you're doing is copying me like a monkey." Zabuza countered. "You can't beat me with cheap tricks! I'll crush you!" they shouted at exactly the same time. "When I'm finished with you, you'll never open that monkey mouth again!" Zabuza growled, making hand signs and narrowing his eyes as Kakashi began making the exact same hand signs without fault. It was as if Kakashi had become Zabuza. "Water style: Giant Water Vortex!" Kakashi shouted, a wave of water spiralling to life and exploding outwards.
The maelstrom of water pulled Zabuza in, buffeting him in the currents. The vortex ripped through the lake and onto land, where it uprooted several trees, taking them and debris with it. This made Zabuza's situation worse as he was swirled around with the stray rocks and branches. Finally, the attack broke apart, leaving Zabuza leaning against a tree, panting doggedly and heavily injured. It was clear he was exhausted. He coughed water out of his lungs and his body jerked with the force of it. Minato sensed the same feminine presence nearby, but this time, his/ her aura was more hostile. Four kunai found purchase in Zabuza's body and he roared in pain. Kakashi appeared on the branch above Zabuza, watching the water recede.
Zabuza forced his eyes upwards, straining to form words "How… Can you see into the future?"
"Yes, and I foresee your death!" Kakashi said, emphasising his point by taking out a kunai.
Senbon struck Zabuza in the neck before Kakashi could do anything, causing the former's body to fall limp, his head sagging into his chest. Everyone stared in shock, Kakashi being the first to snap out of it and turning towards the feminine presence Minato had sensed, his visible eye wide and his body shaking. There on the branch, was someone wearing an Oi-nin mask. "You were right. He did die." The hunter said in a lilting female voice.
Kakashi moved over to Zabuza's side and put two fingers at his neck, checking the limp body for a pulse. "No vital signs." Kakashi breathed. The hunter dipped his/ her head and thanked them for the assistance, if unwitting. Minato crossed to the front of the hunter, or tracker if you will, and felt conflicted once again. The hunter had used senbon, which were not commonly used by real hunters since they do not inflict fatal blows unless they strike an important organ like the heart. Other than that, it was used for stuff like paralysing the enemy. It was highly likely that Zabuza was still alive.
The mission came before his secret, but revealing himself would probably shock his student into a coma in his current state. Kakashi was exhausted and they couldn't risk pursuing Zabuza and his lackey without him being in his original body, so he closed one eye and let them leave, determined to eliminate them the next time he saw them. "I must deal with the remains. There are many secrets in this body. They must not fall into the wrong hands. Please excuse me. Farewell." The hunter said calmly, and disappeared with the wind.
Kakashi pulled down his head band and said "He's gone Naruto. Let it go." Minato gazed at the spot where Zabuza had inhabited until a while ago, and walked towards the group. "Our mission's not over yet. We still have to get the bridge builder to his bridge." Kakashi made an attempt at lightening the mood. "Sorry I caused all this trouble for you, but you can crash at my house when we reach the village." Tazuna said sheepishly. "Alright, let's get a move on." Kakashi commanded as he turned towards the direction of the village.
He had only walked a few steps before what Minato had been fearing came true. Kakashi seized up, his eye wide and unseeing, his body shaking. Then he pitched forward. Minato ran to his former student and caught him before he could hit the ground. "Chakra exhaustion." Minato diagnosed. "Tazuna, is your house far from here?" Minato asked urgently. "Not really, it's just-" Tazuna began. "Alright! Lead us there and try your best to keep up." Minato barked, slinging Kakashi over his shoulder. They dashed off towards Tazuna's house, Zabuza temporarily leaving their minds, though not for long.
A/N: Um… This chapter is not very well done because I was depressed when doing it. My parents and sister started off on the topic I most abhor. Grades. Anyway, you know how chakra is connected to their (ninja's) life force, well… I think that if that's the case, chakra exhaustion must be near fatal if left for too long. In fact, I think they did say that chakra exhaustion could be fatal. Oh well Please review and correct my mistakes as well. Thank you.