Fade Into The Mist
"Hn. I got distracted and lost my grip of the water prison" said Zabuza shrugging it off grumpily.
"Don't flatter yourself, you weren't distracted, you were FORCED to let go" said Kakashi coldly. "Your technique worked on me once but it wont happen again, so what's it gonna be?" Sasuke glanced at us, I noticed he was now calm and focused, his anxiety and fear having completely disappeared. A small smile slid onto my face, glad he was all right now.
"Kari, Sakura you know what to do" he said. We both nodded and the three of us stood protectively in front of Tazuna. I coughed violently and that horrible metallic taste filled my mouth a gain as liquid dribbled down my chin. Sasuke and Sakura looked at me concerned. I smiled to show I was fine even though I wasn't.
"Kari, you should rest, you—" Sakura began her mint green eyes glazed with worry as she reached her hand in front of Sasuke to try and touch my shoulder. I shook my head and mumbled that I was fine and to watch Kakashi.
"Heh" Zabuza said closing the shuriken and pressing it harder on Kakashi's hand. Kakashi struggled but managed to push it away. It flew away disappearing into the mist. Zabuza and Kakashi jumped away from each other and landed again on the water. Zabuza made a hand sign. Kakashi immediately copied.
"The Sharingan!" Sasuke cried in recognition. I put my hand over my chest and formed it into a fist as I tried to ease my raspy breathing. I closed one of my eyes in pain. Sasuke looked at me out the corner of his eye.
"We don't need you dying on us" Sasuke said sternly. I made a small huff noise as I scowled and glared at him folding my arms in front of my chest. Gee, nice to know you actually care. Zabuza made multiple hand signs and Kakashi copied them perfectly.
"TORI!" they finished at the same time. Tori means bird I think. Neji showed me the twelve zodiac signs and said they were used in jutsu. The water rippled between them.
"Suiton: Suiryuudon no Jutsu!" they cried. Two dragons made purely out of water rose out of the water. Hand signs flashed before my eyes as I watched the dragons collide, watery teeth biting into one another. Water flew in the place of blood from the great creatures as the Jonin beneath them were soaked. A wave hit Naruto and a wave came towards me, Sasuke Tazuna and Sakura. We all put our guard up but I was pushed back. Sasuke grabbed my arm before I was washed away. I wrapped my arms around his arm as I closed my eyes against the rush of water.
Naruto popped his head out the water gasping for breath. Under the water dragons, Kakashi and Zabuza were pushing against each other. Kakashi with his kunai and Zabuza with his huge sword. My eyes widened. I felt a presence. A presence that was pure yet was no doubt a ninja. Even after the dragon jutsu had finished, Kakashi and Zabuza were still pushing against each other. They both jumped back. They ran round and ended up switching places. They both put there arm up, Kakashi mirroring Zabuza perfectly.
"He's not just copying he's moving the same way at the same time" said Tazuna.
"How's he doing that? How Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. Sasuke ignored her and just kept his eyes glued to the fight. I released my death grip on Sasuke's arm, realising it probably felt dead after my hold on it in the last couple of minutes. Kakashi and Zabuza lowered their arms at the same time.
"Going to do next?" said Kakashi. Ok I was officially confused.
"Nani?!" Zabuza cried. They both formed a hand sign.
"It makes you furious doesn't it?" Kakashi said.
"Ha! All you're doing is copying me! Like a monkey!" said Zabuza. I suppressed an immature snort of laughter at our great sensei being referred to a monkey.
"You can't beat me with cheap tricks, I'll crush you!" they both cried at the same time.
"GRR! When I'm finished with you you'll never open that monkey mouth again!" Zabuza cried angrily as he did hand signs. A shadow appeared behind Kakashi. It became Zabuza. But... Zabuza was in front of Kakashi? Zabuza's eyes widened. So it's not his clone? It's made of Kakashi's chakra…
"Mizuton: Mizu uno Jutsu!" Kakashi cried. Uno?...What does it…? The word vortex suddenly popped into my head. How did I come up with that? Maybe I'm being influenced by the fact the anime is originally Japanese. The three coma marks on Kakashi's Sharingan span round his iris. A circle of water went in front of Kakashi then water shot towards Zabuza.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Zabuza cried. Zabuza was pulled underwater. Water rushed at me, Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna again. I grabbed hold of Sasuke's shirt on impulse, as he was the nearest solid thing to grab hold of. He had his arm round my back keeping me from being washed away. I was getting light-headed and things kept going fuzzy. I had a constant trickle of blood coming out my mouth. Poor Naruto was getting pushed everywhere by waves and was shouting and screaming his head off.
"Naru--!" I was cut off by a violent cough. Naruto managed to grab hold of a tree branch. He was still being pushed around but at least there's less chance of him drowning now. The presence was still there. I could sense it was a boy in his mid-teens, about fifteen. How I could sense it was a mystery. I didn't understand it and thought I was losing my marbles so decided not to mention it.
I sensed a rush of wind and the presence moved. The water smashed Zabuza against a tree. Zabuza took a deep breath. He coughed. Kunai flew into him and he cried out in pain. Kakashi was on a tree branch above Zabuza.
"You're finished" Kakashi said. The water disappeared showing the trees it had destroyed.
"HOW!? Can you see into the future?" Zabuza cried.
"Hai... this is your last battle EVER" said Kakashi. Two long needles flew into Zabuza's neck. Blood flew into the air. We all gasped. Zabuza's body fell to the ground. Kakashi checked his pulse and nodded in confirmation. Zabuza was dead.
But something doesn't seem right... His heart's stopped, yet his life force... What the?! How am I coming up with this stuff?!
"You were right this was his last battle" said a voice. It was soft and delicate, I knew it was male but it was so gentle it could easily be mistaken for a female's. I looked up at the presence I had felt for a while.
"Arigatou, I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time, waiting for this chance to finally take him down" the ninja said. He was masked and had long brown hair which was mostly tied in a bun. As gentle as his voice was, it was completely devoid of emotion.
"By your mask, I see that you're an Oinin from the Kirigakure no Sato" said Kakashi.
"Impressive. You are well informed" the ninja replied.
"A tracker ninja?!" Naruto cried, pointing accusingly.
"Naruto you don't even know what that is! You missed the lesson on it as usual. Tracker ninja or Oinin have a special role, try coming to class sometime. When a rogue ninja breaks away from his village he carries all sorts of secrets with him, secrets of his people, trackers are specially trained to hunt down these people and eliminate them, that way the secrets of their people remain secrets" explained Sakura.
Is she a human encyclopaedia or something?
"That's correct, I'm a member of the elite tracker unit in Kirigakure no sato, and it was my duty to stop Zabuza" the ninja said. Naruto ran forward and glared at the ninja.
"Kore ha nani desu ka yo?! Anata daredatoomou?!" Naruto cried angrily. What is this? Who do you think you are? The voice in my head sure was helpful. "Did you hear me?!" Naruto said.
"Take it easy Naruto, he's not our enemy" Kakashi said.
"That's not the point did you see what he did just like that!?" Naruto cried pointing at Zabuza's body. Kakashi began walking over to Naruto. "Zabuza was huge and powerful! Like some kind of monster! And this kid who's no bigger than me, brought down Zabuza with one move, like it was nothing! What does that make us! We're just fumbling around we don't know anything! Oukeireru kotoha dou sure ba yoi desu ka?!" Naruto shouted. How can I accept that?
"Well even if you can't accept it, it DID happen Naruto" Kakashi pointed out. Kakashi put his hand on Naruto's head in a calming gesture. "In this world there are kids younger than you and yet... stronger than me" He looked over at me. Or was it Sasuke? Probably Sasuke, after all I'm in a pathetic state, I didn't help anyone...
The ninja disappeared from the tree in a gust of wind and appeared next to Zabuza's body. He put Zabuza's arm over his shoulder. He bowed respectfully.
"Your struggle is over for now. I must deal with the remains." He looked at me and even though they were hidden by his mask, I felt our eyes meet. My eyes widened. My breath becoming lost in my throat.
"KARI!?" my team shouted. I looked at my hand. I was going fuzzy...? Fading away...? Naruto tried to grab me but his hand went straight through me. It felt like a cool breeze. I couldn't breathe. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as I fainted...
It was as though Kari was fading away. Naruto's hand went straight through her, like she was a ghost. Her eyes closed and she became solid as she fell back. Me and Naruto both caught her.
"Kari-chan! Kari-chan!? Watashini kiku kotoha deki masuka yo?! Weikuappu!!" Naruto cried, asking if she could hear him and begging for her to wake. He glared at the ninja. "DOU YATTE KARI-CHAN DESU KA!?" he shouted immediately blaming the unknown ninja and demanding to know what he had done to our female blonde team mate. The ninja looked round at Kari. I couldn't see his eyes but his head moved to face her.
"She's bleeding quite badly, you should get help for her" he said softly, sounding slightly… concerned? He looked back at Zabuza. "There are many secrets in this body; they must not be allowed to get into the wrong hands. Please excuse me. Farewell" the ninja disappeared taking Zabuza's body with him. Naruto gasped.
"He disappeared!" Naruto cried. Kakashi sighed putting his headband over his scarred eye once more. Naruto ran to the place the ninja was last seen, leaving me to deal with the unconscious girl.
"He's gone Naruto, let it go" said Kakashi. Naruto fell to his knees and repeatedly punched the ground.
"GRR! WAREWAREHA KOKODEDONO YOU NAKOTODESU KA?!" Naruto cried angrily. Baka, we're here for the mission you know that. Why else would we be here. "Watashitachiha nanimonai yo! Shinjirare nai!" We're nothing! I can't believe it! I was surprised at how those words stung. My aniki said I was nothing…
"Naruto..." Sakura said sadly, her eyes downcast. Kakashi walked over to Naruto and grabbed his arm, stopping him from punching the ground again.
"As ninja, the things we encounter are never easy, save your anger, for the next enemy" said Kakashi. He let go of Naruto and turned round. "We haven't completed our mission yet we still have to take the bridge builder to his bridge" said Kakashi.
"Sorry I caused all this trouble for ya! You can rest at my house when we get to the village!" Tazuna said cheerfully.
"But before that..." Kakashi said looking at Kari. "We need to get Kari some help" Naruto looked round at her.
"Kari-chan..." he said quietly, idiot sounded about to cry, he hasn't even known her that long. Yet still, she put her own life at risk trying to help us... She tries to befriend us and make us happy. She looks out for us though she's not as strong or experienced as us. My eyes narrowed noticing she had got distinctly paler.
"All right then, Sasuke you carry Kari, but take it easy, your ribs are in bad shape too, if you need to, pass her to Naruto" said Kakashi who looked to Naruto for confirmation. The knucklehead nodded immediately, showing he was more than willing to carry and most probably drop and further injure our unconscious team mate. Kakashi sighed taking a step forward. He stopped his visible eye wide. He fell forward, collapsing in the ground lying rigid and still. Naruto ran over while myself and Sakura stood frozen in shock. I picked up Kari and me, Sakura and Tazuna ran over to Kakashi too.
"W-What happened?" Sakura cried.
"Kakashi-sensei...?" asked Naruto. Uncertainly. "K-KAKASHI-SENSEI!!"