key:
"talking"
'jutsu'
thinking
"flashback"
nonhuman
Team 7 vs Zabuza
The boat ride past the wall of Kirigakure went smoothly and the ninja were able to reach a small dock with no trouble at all. Now the real fun begins, and by fun Sakura meant horrible danger, she was not exactly looking forward to their little fight with Zabuza, the demon of the mist. Kakashi seemed to have the same thought as the her when he slouched and his lips turned downward into a large frown behind his mask, There's bound to be another attack… and next time we'll probably face upper level ninja, he sighed and kept walking. "Hmm…" Naruto grumbled and stared at an certain Uchiha that had ruined his romantic moment with his pink haired teammate. I'm not going to let you hog the spotlight, the blonde pouted and then dramatically threw a shuriken in to some bushes, "Over there!" There was a long silence and everyone just stared at the idiotic boy. "I guess it was only a mouse." Naruto spoke, trying to act cool. Sakura just smacked the boy on the back of his head, "Idiot…" she mumbled. "Please don't play around with your shuriken. They can be just a teensy bit dangerous", Kakashi suggested nervously to his student. "Hey midget! Stop fooling around!" Tazuna shouted angrily at the boy. That did not go how Naruto had planned, Now Sakura thinks I'm a buffoon, he sulked. Sasuke just chuckled at his teammate's stupidity, making Naruto only more angry toward his prodigal raven haired teammate. A small rustling noise caught Kakashi and Sakura's attention and miraculously Naruto now threw a shuriken at that exact spot the noise had come from. "This time, over there!", the blonde boy shouted hoping his second attempt would wield better results from his peers. Kakashi ignored the grinning blonde and made his way through the bushes to where the sound had come from. When his reached the location he saw a snow hare paralyzed by fear with Naruto's throwing star embedded in the tree behind it, just above the animals head. "Just a rabbit…" Tazuna spoke, watching Naruto hug the terrified rabbit to his chest while whispering apologies to the creature. Kakashi wondered about the helpless hare, The fur of the snow hare changes with the seasons, but this particular hare still has it's winter pelt despite it currently being spring. It's obviously a decoy. The silver haired ninja's thoughts were cut off by sudden movement, "Everyone get down!" Kakashi shouted for his team to take cover. Sakura pushed Naruto to the ground under her, while Sasuke forced Tazuna to get down as a giant sword spun swiftly over the travelers heads and embedded itself into a tree across the clearing. The ninja turned toward the weapon only to face the scar free back of a tall man now standing on the handle of the unusually large weapon. "Well, well… if it isn't Zabuza Momochi, a rogue ninja of the land of the mists!" Kakashi spoke, while holding a hand out to block the blonde behind him from unwisely attempting to strike the very dangerous ninja.
"Don't interfere." Kakashi spoken sternly and pushed Naruto back so he was further behind him and even further away from their new enemy. "This will be tough… unless I do this", the silver haired man placed his hand on is headband ready to adjust his hitai-ate. "Kakashi of the sharingan eye, I presume? If it wouldn't be too much trouble… could you surrender the old man?" Zubuza's deep voice spoke only to Kakashi. Sharingan? The word instantly caught Sasukes attention. "Assume the Manji battle formation, protect Mr. Tazuna and stay out of the way." Kakashi ordered his students and then he shifted his attention back to the deadly swordsman. "Now, Zabuza… shall we," then jounin ninja lifted his forehead protector slightly to reveal his left eye, the pattern on his red irises seemed to spin as he stared at the enemy. "Ah, to reveal your legendary mirror eye so early in our battle… This is an honor." The deadly ninja whose face and neck were wrapped in bandages sounded almost gracious. "The imposing sharingan that can discern and duplicate it's opponents greatest skill, paired with your impressive record of copying over a thousand different techniques lead me to believe that you will be a formidable opponent… Kakashi, the legendary Copy Ninja." The genin couldn't help but to stare in awe of their masters amazing reputation. The sharingan eye… is supposed to be unique to only a small number of the Uchiha clan. Sasuke was absorbed in his own thoughts. Could he be…? His thoughts were cut off when Zubuza spoke again, "Enough, I'm on a very tight schedule to polish off the old man…" At the sound of his words the three young genin assumed their positions protectively in front of Tazuna. "But Kakashi… it looks like… I'm going to have to kill you first." Zabuza finished talking. He released his sword from the tree and disappeared only to reappear standing on the surface of the body of water that surrounded the village. 'Ninja technique: Hidden Mist Jutsu' the whole clearing was quickly immersed in a dense fog and Zabuza was no where to be seen.
"Zabuza Momochi is a famous master of the art of the silent killing. Letting your guard down buys you a one way ticket to heaven. I haven't necessarily mastered every aspect of the sharingan eye… so all of you stay on your toes!" Kakashi's voice was grim and Naruto gulped. "There are eight targets: kidney, heart, throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, the jugular vein, and the subclavian artery… so many choices. What vital, vulnerable place shall I choose? Heh-heh." The dark inhuman voice seemed to come from no direction and every direction at once cause those trapped in the eery fog to shake with terror. Kakashi quickly readied himself causing his other teammates to flinch. Sakura didn't let their dire situation faze the determination that burned in her eyes, Sasuke however was about to emotionally breakdown from the suspense. "Sasuke, calm down. Even if he gets me, I'll still protect you." The jounin sensei reassured the boy, and the spoke again, "I will never let my comrades die!"
"I wouldn't bet on that…" The voice that couldn't belong to any sane being spoke once more. Instantly, the rogue ninja reappeared in the middle of the genin's formation "Game Over." He shocked everyone, but a certain pink haired kunoichi who was ready from the man's attack. She moved away slightly and in a flash dug a kunai into the thigh of a very surprised enemy swordsman. "Wha-" the man was cut off by Kakashi who had buried his own weapon into the man's chest while knocking his other teammates away from the enemy. Zabuza appeared behind the silver haired shinobi just as his stabbed clone bursted into water. Zabuza swung his giant sword through the midsection of the surprised jounin, slicing the man in half only to realize that the Konohagakure shinobi was only another water clone. Before the swordsman could react he found a kunai steadily poised at his throat. "Game Over." He looked back at the copy ninja that had repeated his very words. "Wow!" Naruto cheered at his teacher's victory, only to stop at the sound of Zabuza's laughter. "Kakashi sensei! It's another water clone!", Sakura promptly warned her teacher and the Zabuza clone's eyes widen at the girl. The real Zabuza has behind the teacher and in seconds swung his sword horizontally only to miss the jounin shinobi who had ducked in the nick of time. However that didn't discourage Zabuza who use his sword's fierce momentum to turn and kick Kakashi right in the gut. The force of the sudden blow knocked the air right out of the copy ninja's lungs and sent him soaring into the water behind them.
Why is this water so heavy? Kakashi realized his dire situation too late. 'Water Prison Jutsu' the water he was seated in quickly wrapped around the helpless man forming a water sphere that the shinobi could not escape. "Heh-heh, that prison is inescapable. You're trapped." Zabuza look down at the ensnared powerless copy ninja, who could do nothing but glare at his captor. "You running around makes it hard for me to do my job." The assassin spoke calmly to his prisoner and turned his head toward the younger ninja, "I'll finish you later… after I've dealt with the others." He did a hand sign with his one free hand and the grinned behind his bandages as a doppelganger manifested from one of the puddles near the vulnerable genin. The doppelganger laughed and spoke dangerously, "Heh-heh, wearing a forehead protector and playing ninjas… a true ninja is someone who has survived many brushes with death. Basically, once your good enough to be listed in the bingo books then you can call yourself ninja. We don't call your kind 'ninja' we call them…" The fake Zabuza disappear and then revealed himself in front of scared Naruto, who he swiftly kicked across the field. The force knocked the hitai-ate right off the poor boy head and the water clone stomped down of the headband. "…Brats." the real Zabuza finished his clone's previous sentence with a sneer. "Everyone listen! This is a fight you can't win! If he wants to hold me in this water prison, he can't leave this place. Get out of here!" Kakashi shouted for his team to retreat. Naruto was scared and about to fall back when he saw his forehead protector under the foot of Zabuza's clone, the hitai-ate that was especially given to him by his father figure and the forehead protector's previous owner, Iruka sensei. "We're not leaving you sensei!" Surprising, the person who spoke was Sakura and Kakashi was stunned that his brightest student would be so unwise. Zabuza smiled at the girl and was taken slightly off guard when the blonde boy race toward him, though he didn't hesitate to beat the boy across the clearing once more. He was surprised to realize that the boy had only confronted him to retrieve the headband that he'd been stepping on. "I got a new listing for your bingo book right here! A guy who is going to be the next lord hokage of Konohagakure village!" Naruto shouted with pride as he tightly secured his hitai-ate on his forehead, "Naruto Uzimaki, believe it!"
"Sasuke listen up I have a plan!" the blonde spoke with authority toward his rival. "Hmf… So, it's time for teamwork?" Sasuke asked cooly. Gee, thanks for leaving me out guys, Sakura rolled her eyes at the two boys. "Let's rock and roll!" Naruto grinned. "Heh, you really think you stand a chance against me?" Zabuza questioned the blonde fool. Darn it! Kakashi was starting to get really ticked off by his uncooperative students, "What's the matter with you guys! I told you to run. It was over the second he caught me! You have a duty to protect Mr. Tazuna!" Kakashi yelled from is bubble prison. "Gramps…?" Naruto looked over to the bridge builder with concerned eyes. "You guys go ahead… give this fight everything you've got." The old drunk grinned widely at the kids and they smiled back at him."…So that's it!" Sasuke let a cocky grin spread across his face. "Are you ready for this?" Naruto asked his team. "Yeah!" Sasuke and Sakura spoke in unison.
"So be it." Zabuza smiled a wide psychotic grin at the fresh meat that could have struck fear in the strongest shinobi's heart. He vanished only to reappear again elbowing a stunned Uchiha in the gut and then burying the boy in the ground with his fist causing the raven haired boy to cough up blood. He sped past a shaking Naruto while unsheathing his large sword in order to confront a pink haired ninja that had surprised him earlier. "Show me what you've got, girlie!" He chuckled darkly. "Sakura!" All three male ninja shouted in horror when they saw Zabuza slice through their female teammate and Tazuno both with ease. Zabuza and her teammates were taken completely by surprise when Sakura and Tazuna both bursted into water. "What?" Zabuza had underestimated the girl, so when she appeared behind him and gave him a strong kick in the head, he was completely flabbergasted. Zabuza recovered from the kick and was unexpectedly pleased when turned around to see Sakura's fiery stare. "I like that look in your eyes!" He spoke while looking down at the girl with a greedy stare that made her shiver. Naruto was about to run to help the girl when her voice stopped him, "Not another step Naruto! Take care of the real Zabuza, I'll keep this one busy. You said you had a plan didn't you?" Naruto could only nod at the girl and Zabuza's water clone just laughed maniacally at her words, "You've got guts, I hope you don't mind if I splatter them?" He spoke, clearly insane. By this time Naruto had throw his windmill shuriken to Sasuke and the fake Zabuza had stepped closer so he was only inches away from the girl. "Not backing down, huh?" He sneered down at the girl and Sasuke threw the large shuriken at Zabuza's real body. The clone placed his large sword on the girl's shoulder so that the blade just cut her neck, she didn't flinch away like he had expected in fact he was amazed that the girl's determined stare never faded from her bright emerald eyes. The sight of young girl, unfazed by the thought of death brought a large smile to the rogue ninja's lips, "I like you, girl. You have fire." But his attention was brought back to his true body when the first thrown windmill shuriken revealed another shuriken in it's shadow and he race away from the kunoichi to confront the Uchiha who had thrown the weapon and now had his back turn. The real Zabuza jumped just in time and the second shuriken zoomed passed him without causing so much as a scratch and his water clone was about to bring down his large butcher's knife down on an unsuspecting Sasuke's head. "Sasuke!" Kakashi shouted frantically hoping the warning would reach the boy in time. Sasuke turned around just in time to see a giant sword stopped just a centimeter in front of his own forehead, but what really caught his attention was the person who stopped the attack.
Sakura made it to Sasuke just in time, unfortunately since her weak body was unable to fully stop Zabuza's sword with just the strength of her hands, the blade cut about an inch and a half into her left shoulder. Thank kami for collar bones, Sakura was glad the blow had not come close to reaching her heart. In seconds the water clone and weapon became regular water once more because Naruto had been successful in completely breaking Zabuza's concentration by disguising his real body as the second windmill shuriken and throwing a kunai at the man. Now Zabuza was in big trouble as he turned to face a very wet, very pissed off copy ninja. Kakashi easily defeated Zabuza, but of course before he could administer the final blow, the bastard was saved by Haku. The hunter ninja imposter, with great accuracy and skill managed to penetrate Zabuza's neck with two senbon needles. Sakura said nothing to her team about her knowledge of Haku because she could tell no one was in any condition to fight the young hunter ninja over Zabuza's body. Haku quickly disappeared with Zabuza's no-so-dead body leaving behind a very tired Team 7. Sakura was startled when a certain silver haired shinobi walked up to her and proceeded to rip her shirt open to check her wound. Kakashi instantly felt relieved when he saw that the wound on his pinked haired student wasn't deep enough to be fatal, but that didn't stop him from lightly slapping the girl. If the man ripping open her clothes made her surprised, then the man slapping her in the face made her completely bewildered. She was about to protest the assault when her sensei spoke, "Please stop getting yourself into trouble, you're going to give me a heart attack one day." He ruffled the cute girl's bubble gum hair and watched as she look up and pouted at him. Then, out of no where the jounin just collapsed unable to move anymore after using his sharingon for such an extensive amount of time. "I'm exhausted", the collapsed man quickly explained. "Ha hah ha, don't worry you guys can lick your wounds at my house!" Tazuna bellowed loudly.
Author's Note:
This is my longest chapter yet, and also the last update for a few weeks, sorry. Don't think bad of me for being busy cause I promise there will be more chapters. Also thanks for all the reviews, everyone! Your comments are the only things that keep me continuing the story so don't stop, in fact you guys should comment more! Thanks for your support! ;D
