Chapter 7

Kagome let Naruto do the talking and grabbed a scroll from her hip pouch. All eyes were on Naruto and Sasuke who were plotting near where Naruto had been thrown by Zabuza originally and Sakura had taken Kagome's place in front of Tazuna. Everything was perfect. But now it was time for them to forget about Naruto and Sasuke and focus on her. She bit her thumb and unraveled the scroll summoning her katana. Immediately the clone's eyes were on her. She drew the sword slowly letting the light dance off the wickedly sharp, pure silver blade. The demon ninja laughed at what he assumed was an attempted to look menacing.

"So the little girl has a little sword. It won't help you." The Zabuza clone said.

Kagome laughed. "Did you hear earlier when Kakashi-sensei said he wouldn't let his comrades die?" The laughter in her voice vanished. "I won't either. I will admit though of all my skills Kenjutsu is my weakest. I have had to practice with this sword every day for years and the technique still isn't right but it should be enough."

The light caught the edge of the blade as she moved it to the ready and jumped into action. In response Zabuza brought down his cleaver of a sword right down on top of her. She surprised them all by blocking the blow and then deflecting it with a slashing motion that sent the water clone into a tree. Moving with great speed she finished the clone off before it could do anything else. Tazuna stared at her with wide eyes as two more clones appeared and were dispatched in an instant with only a few swipes of her sword. If her kenjutsu was her weakest skill he would hate to see the others and he would hate to see her go one on one with an opponent rather than acting as a distraction.

"Now, let's get wild!" Naruto said drawing Zabuza's attention once more.

As soon as the clone was distracted by Naruto's actions Kagome sliced through the clone. From within the water Kakashi continued to scream at the to run and take Tazuna with them, that they could not win against Zabuza. Naruto looked to Tazuna for permission to continue the fight and the bridge builder shrugged his shoulders in consent. He said that he was the cause of the problem and that he wouldn't stand in their way. The two boys prepared themselves for their attack.

"Hnn…when I was your age, my hands were already stained in blood." Zabuza said.

"The Demon of the Mist." Kagome whispered in partial awe that the stories were true.

"So even you've heard of it. "

Kagome pressed her lips together. The others noticed a fear in her eyes that they'd never seen before and realized that they should probably be afraid too. Luckily Kakashi finished her explanation. "Years ago, the Village Hidden in the Mist was commonly known as Blood Mist Village because of the final obstacle to becoming a ninja was…."

"So you even know about that."

"About what?" Naruto asked looking between the three of them.

"In order to become ninja the student were forced to duel to the death against each other. Friends who had eaten lunch together, trained together, shared dreams, lived their whole lives together…forced to fight until…until one of them lost their life." Naruto looked at his fellow outcast with wide eyes. Her body shook but none of them could make out her facial expression. Killing your friends, it was just despicable.

"Ten years ago the Hidden Mist was forced to change this practice after a demon appeared and without pause or hesitation killed over a hundred students. The boy was not a ninja and he just killed them all."

Without warning a new Zabuza clone appeared and attacked Sasuke. Naruto cursed and immediately summoned a large group of shadow clones to save his friend. Unfortunately they were not enough to combat the strength of the water clone and were easily thrown back. Pulling off his pack and reaching in, he produced some kind of weapon and threw it to Sasuke. Kagome immediately recognized this as their plan with a small smirk. Sasuke opened the giant windmill and threw it at Zabuza who was expecting a direct attack on his water clone. The older ninja easily caught the thing while still keeping Kakashi prisoner but he did not expect the second shuriken to appear from the firsts shadow aimed at his other arm, the one supporting the water prison. He dodged the second as easily as the first. Worry crept into Kagome as she watched. Was this their plan?

Even as Zabuza dodged the second shuriken a clone of Naruto appeared behind him and produced a kunai that he threw once again at Zabuza's outstretched arm this time successfully catching him off guard and releasing his sensei. Zabuza turned to face the real Naruto ready to throw the shuriken back at him. Recognizing the threat Kagome prepared to move but it was Kakashi who stopped the thing form being thrown. The group watched relived as he stood from the water still holding the enemy at bay. Wary eyes slid over his students and the bridge builder. Kagome still had her sword drawn and there was an opened wound on her arm but even she seemed unaware. Save for Sasuke's wounds everyone else looked fine.

"What will you do now?" Kakashi asked.

Sensing the real fight was about to begin Kagome moved back to the group puling Sasuke back with her healing him as she went. She kept her eyes on the fight waiting for Zabuza to make a real move. The speed at which they cast their hand signs made it hard for her to follow. Twin water dragons formed and crashed into each other and causing the excess to break over the small group. Seeing the wave coming Kagome cast a barrier jutsu protecting them. Soon enough Kakashi was messing with Zabuza's mind copying the man's lip movements saying exactly what he did making him think his mind was being read. But she wasn't able to pay attention to the fight for much longer, she had let her guard down and the last remaining clone had surfaced behind her.

His first blow came from the butt of his sword at her cheek. She fell down nearly stabbing herself with her own sword. She pushed herself up only to have Zabuza's clone step on her shoulder pushing her back to the ground. Above her Sakura cried out and Zabuza only laughed as Kagome continued to struggle against him and continued to fail to remove his foot as he put even more of his weight onto her petit form.

"What did I say little girl? You're too weak to stand a chance against me." Zabuza laughed.

Kagome growled. All of the sudden she began to push herself up, grabbing Zabuza's leg. It dawned on Sasuke that Kagome was afraid of being too weak to defend her friends that's why she had reacted to being called weak so violently back in the village. Kagome needed her strength, her power not for herself but for those she cared about. He watched as Kagome twisted beneath his foot, throwing him off of her and as she stood bringing her sword to the ready. Almost immediately Zabuza was back at her, swinging his cleaver like sword at her. For a moment Sasuke was afraid her smaller sword might snap in half under the force of the blow. Taking one hand away from the blade she cast a series of hand signs as she continued to hold Zabuza off with the sword in the other hand.

"Katon: Karyu Endan." A large blast of fire spewed from her mouth destroying the clone and distracting the real Zabuza.

Caught off guard Zabuza didn't notice Kakashi's next move until the blast of water threw him into the air and sending him, rather ungracefully, in to a nearby tree. "It's over." Kakashi stated.

Zabuza didn't get the chance to respond when three needles embedded themselves into his throat. The group spun around looking for the culprit. Naruto noticed the ninja first and drew everyone's attention in the ninja's direction. They wore a mask signifying that they were from the Mist but otherwise there was nothing unique about them. There was no doubt in Kagome's mind that despite the disguise the ninja was not truly there to kill Zabuza, it was more likely that the masked ninja worked for the Demon of the Mist. Kakashi appeared next to the body and checked for a pulse conforming that he was indeed dead.

"Thank you very much. I've been waiting for an opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time." The boy behind the mask said.

"You're a hunter-nin, from the Mist, aren't you?" Kakashi asked.

"Very perceptive, I am indeed."

"A hunter-nin?" Naruto asked.

"He's an elite tracker assigned to track down missing-nin and kill them. When a ninja leaves his village he is branded a traitor and must be killed in order to keep the villages secrets from enemy villages or rogue groups." Kagome explained. "You look no older than us." This guy is extremely dangerous, if he is working for Zabuza…it could be bad.

"What the hell? Who the hell are you?" Naruto yelled.

Kagome immediately clamped her hand over his mouth. "Naruto." The blonde looked at his sensei. "He is not the enemy, don't worry about it."

Naruto escaped her grasp. "That's not what I'm saying! Zabuza was strong and that kid just illed him like it was nothing. He's not much different from any of us. We look stupid! How am I supposed to understand that?!"

"I know how you feel but the simple truth is that there are kids younger than you who are stronger than me." And I think there might be one like that right here on our team. He eyed Kagome wearily.

"Your battle is now over. I will dispose of the body. Farewell."

"We should get Tazu-" Kakashi collapsed and the two dark haired genin each took a side and walked him to the bridge builder's house. Neither was in great shape but they managed to hold each other up. The petal haired female doted on the raven haired male, constantly worrying him and trying to get him to let someone else carry the load but he brushed her off. Silently Tazuna walked beside the other girl listening to her heavy breathing and the dragging of her feet as she walked. Whenever Sakura would open her mouth Kagome would roll her eyes. A couple of times she would open her mouth as if to ask Sakura to carry her side but in the end she didn't.

"I could carry him if you'd like." Tazuna offered.

"I'm fine." She said.

They reached the house without any disturbances from the Mist ninjas. Kagome was weary though. The hunter nin didn't sit well with her for some reason and in her current state she was in no position to try and find out why. Tazuna's daughter let them into the house making sure the two could carry Kakashi safely through. They laid Kakashi out on a palate on the first floor of the house. Kagome sat on the opposite side of the door to the room with her eyes closed, using her powers to heal herself. Eventually, Tazuna's daughter left to prepare dinner and the others unpacked supplies and bandaged wounds. No one truly spoke besides Sakura or Tazuna and his daughter when the later needed to know something.

There was a shifting noise in front of Kagome but she was practically asleep. Finally, something warm touched the place on her lip where it had busted from Zabuza's blow. The touch woke her up and without realizing it, she grabbed the wrist of Tazuna's daughter. Said woman was shocked at the swift reaction from the girl. Suddenly alert to her surrounding Kagome let go and leaned back still keeping eye contact with the startled woman.

"I'm s-sorry, did I-?" Tazuna's daughter asked.

"No, it's alright. I was just startled." The gentleness in her voice surprised everyone. Everyone watched the short exchange. The other three genin had never seen Kagome accept someone's help so easily.

Kagome's heart clenched as the woman cleaned her wounds gently. It brought back memories of her surrogate mother. When she was still fresh out of the hospital her mother had tended her wounds with similar gentleness. Since her death Kagome hadn't let anyone come close enough to take care of any of her wounds even though some had been serious enough to warrant a return to Konoha's hospital. Yet somehow this woman was able to get close and brave her cold exterior. When the woman was done she left without a word and returned to the kitchen.

"Thank you." Kagome whispered. Just then Kakashi began to make some sound and all attention turned to him.