A/N: Hello everyone. It's been a while, I know. I was busy with...Uhhhhh(Crap! If I say procrastinating, I'm screwed!)…Sleeping! Yeah, that works I think. Anywho, here's the next chapter. Sorry for the wait! Happy leap day! Enjoy…
It was a week later, the day the attack was due. Currently Kakashi was walking with Sakura, Sauske, and Tazuna as they headed toward the bridge early in the morning. Sakura of course, had found something to complain about.
"How come the loser gets to sleep in while we're up early protecting Tazuna?" Sakura asked in a high, whiney voice.
"Because" Kakashi said, slightly peeved because he was interrupted from his book "Instead of shirking his duties like you did, Sakura, Naruto constantly worked and did more than he had too. While he watched the bridge builder, he constantly helped with the bridge by using the multi-shadow clone jutsu. You on the other hand simply stopped working when you thought I was gone. Hence he gets rest and you don't. Sauske is here because there might be a chance for him to use his new skill." Kakashi said the last part as he noticed Sauske was about to ask a question.
"Also," Kakashi thought as there was a brief lull in the conversation "a well rested kit has more energy to play."
After thinking this he let out a low chuckle. Everyone just looked at him funny.
"Whoops! Sorry." Kakashi covered. "Just something in the book."
Sasuke and Sakura looked disgusted while Tazuna just had an understanding perverted smile.
This time Kakashi let loose the chuckle inside his mind. "I can't believe I remember the reason Yugao and I told Naruto he couldn't have a guard shift at night. I hope Naruto forgives me soon."
As the group approached the bridge Kakashi noticed something was off about the fog. There was usually fog in the morning to to the fact that the bridge was right over water, but it was way thicker then it should be. Usually you could see about 50 feet. Now you were strained to see even 20 feet.
Things only got worse the farther they went in.
Once they were around 40 feet into the bridge, they started to see bodies littering the ground. This scared Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna, while Kakashi was just glad there wasn't any blood. That signified that the workers were just unconscious and not dead like they would be in a worst-case scenario. The mist soon started to thicken so that you could barely see five feet in front of you.
"Everyone!" Kakashi yelled as he realized what was going on. "Get into formation delta!"
After the order Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke formed into a triangle formation around Tazuna, forming something similar to the Greek letter delta. A couple of seconds later, a voice started to emanate from the mist.
"My, my." Taunted Zabuza. "Do you really think you can defeat me without the help of that blonde kid? I forget his name, what was it?"
"I believe he said his mother said never to talk to strangers." Kakashi replied.
"Ah yes. That's quite the memory you have there oh famed copy ninja."
"Naruto." Sauske growled out.
"What?" was the reply that resonated through the mist.
"I said," Sauske continued to growl "his name is Naruto. I'll do what the loser couldn't. I'll state all of our names correctly. The loser was Naruto Uzumaki, the girl is Sakura Haruno, and I'm Sasuke Uchiha." After his deceleration, Sauske had a smirk. At least HE could get their names strait.
For a while nothing happened. Everyone grew tense. Then laughter burst through the mist.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha!" Zabuza laughed. "Kakashi, you have possibly trained the dumbest ninja alive! Hahahahahahahahahaha!"
Sakura and Sasuke held a confused expression so Kakashi elaborated.
"You never give your name to an enemy ninja." Kakashi lectured. "Otherwise, if said nin is caught, they might find a way to link you to themselves ,and not in a good way, as a form of revenge. It could lead to a war. Therefore you use a fake name that can't be traced to a village but is still famous enough to know who it is. That is one of the reasons ANBU use animal names instead of their real ones. You just quite possibly set up the hidden leaf village to a war with the village hidden in the mist."
Sakura and Sauske now held looks of horror on their faces.
"Now, the only safe way out of this is to kill him."
"Kakashi, I presume your finished giving your students the life lesson they won't need for long."
"Why won't they need it for long?" Kakashi asked, though he already knew the answer from dealing with several people with the same mindset as Zabuza.
"Because…" the voice from the mist said. Suddenly water began to form into the shape of ten Zabuzas each with their own executioners blade resting on their shoulder. "A life lesson is only good as long as your alive!" the Zabuzas said in unison.
"Sasuke." Kakashi simply stated in reaction.
Sasuke nodded and dissapeared in a blur of blue. When he finished Sauske grew a smirk, just as all the clones burst into water.
"Interesting." Zabuza said, once again having his voice echo throughout the mist. "Haku, it seems we have someone who wishes to take your place as the fastest ninja. Assert your position!"
A lone figure appeared in a patch of mist that considerably less dense then all the areas around them.
"Of course master Zabuza." the figure, who they could now tell was wearing a combat kimono and a hidden mist ANBU mask, said in a feminine voice.
"Sasuke, don't go." Kakashi warned. "it could be a…"
But his warning was met with deaf ears as Sasuke ran towards the figure, the mist becoming thicker behind him.
"…Trap." Kakashi finished, a tiny bit too late.
"Well Kakashi" Zabuza said as he finally showed himself. "that's two of your students down. What will you do now? Zabuza asked.
"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, sincerely confused. "Sakura is next to me, Naruto is at home, and I doubt Sasuke died that fast.
"Trust me Kakashi," Zabuza started but was soon interrupted by Kakashi who said.
"There isn't a lot to trust about you, you do realize that, right?"
"Haha you caught me there Kakashi, but seriously, no one is as fast as Haku. Plus, he has an ace up his sleeve."
"What about Naruto?"
"Oh, Gato sent a couple of men to kill everyone in that house." Zabuza said dismissively while waving his hands in a matter that ment it didn't matter. "He won't last long."
Tazuna and Sakura were visibly worried, while Kakashi burst out laughing.
"What's so funny Kakashi?" Zabuza asked with one eyebrow cocked. "I didn't think you were the type of person to laugh at a subordinates death."
Kakashi pulled himself together for a while before saying. "He really is who you think he is. Unlike most ninja, who have a kunai under their pillow, he has an armory."
"You mean to say that rumor is true!" Zabuza responded, clearly surprised.
"It was exaggerated a bit." Kakashi answered. "What really happened was his mother tried to wake him up. Let's just say he is now the master of sleeping in."
In that brief conversation, Kakashi completely forgot somebody very important.
"How does the loser have that big of a reputation?" Sakura thought.
Meanwhile, at Tazuna's house, Tsunami heard a knocking of the door.
"I'm coming!" Tsunami shouted as she walked towards the door, Inari right behind her out of curiosity.
When Tsunami opened the door, it was not the neighbors. Instead it was two large men with loose trousers and no shirt. Each had a katana strapped to their belt.
"Such a shame." the bigger man said to the other. "She looks so good, can't we use her once before she has to be killed?"
Tsunami grew frightened as she heard this, but then remembered the instructions Kakashi gave her. She quickly grabbed Inari and ran up the stairs. The men just laughed as they walked after her.
The men stopped as they saw a kunai lodged into the wall at an odd angle. They slowly approached the room that was opposite the kunai, only to find a child sleeping on his back with his hands under the pillow. "This will be easy!" the larger man thought as he entered the room. Only to dodge to the right as a kunai came sailing past him.
"Just like I expected from a ninja. Now… WHAT THE FU-!" the man's thoughts were abruptly cut off by one of the two mace and chains Naruto released if someone were to enter and dodge the kunai to the left or right. Upon smelling the blood, Naruto began to open his eyes.
"Tsunami! Oi, you there!" Naruto asked, worried that he had killed her.
"I'm here Naruto!" Tsunami answered as she poked her head out from behind the door.
"What happened?" Naruto asked upon seeing the dead body in his room.
"Just what Kakashi predicted would happen." she said as she scooted around the body in the hallway and into Naruto's room.
*FLASHBACK*
Kakashi was just about to leave the house that morning. As he was about to leave his head jerked up in remembrance and walked back to Tsunami while saying "You guys go ahead. I need to ask Tsunami something."
Once the group was out the door Kakashi beckoned to Tsunami.
"Yes?" She asked, curious about what he would want.
"I think Gato might send men here after you." Tsunami's mouth opened in shock at this information. Kakashi saw she was about to have an outburst and covered her mouth with his hand.
"Shhhhh." He soothed. "It's okay, Naruto's here. He may be asleep, but if you do what I say perfectly, those men will be dead before they touch you. If you see men bearing you ill will, grab Inari and run up the stairs. Naruto has a kunai lodged in the wall so that if he throws a kunai, and it misses but there are multiple enemy's, it will kill the person right behind the person he was 'intentionally' aiming for by ricocheting off the kunai since the logical thing to do would be to wait in the hallway, If they have experience with ninja. So what ever you do, don't pull out that kunai. When you get to Naruto's room don't go in. He throws a kunai at whatever first steps into his room. Instead, since the door swings outwards, open the door and hide behind it."
"Why?" asked Tsunami as she finally was able to get out of Kakashi's hand.
"Because Naruto throws a kunai at the first living thing to step inside his room. Not open it. Immediately after, he throws two maces and chains so that if you were to dodge left or right it will still hit you."
"What if there's more than two?"
"As a fail safe, he keeps a tanto under his pillow as well. This is because by the time Naruto smells blood, he will be completely awake. That is how fast his reactions are."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you!"
"No problem. Well, I better go catch up."
*FLASHBACK END*
"So, he was able to predict their movements well enough." Naruto mused to himself after Tsunami explained how she knew to hide behind the door. "I want you to go into the most secure room in this house, which is probably the basement. Hide down there and barricade the door. I'm not sure if the men will come back, but it shouldn't be for a while. That will give you time to prepare." After stating this Naruto began to pick up his weapons and put them under his pillow.
Once that was done, he turned to take his leave. Only to hear the sound of crying behind the door. Naruto slowly closed the door a bit to reveal Inari crying behind the door in the fetal position. All Naruto could make out was Inari saying "sorry."
He lowered himself to Inari's level and lifted his chin for eye contact before he asked "What's there to be sorry for?"
"I-I'm s-sorry I brave e-enough to help you o-or mom. I-I was a-afraid."
"Inari, listen to me." Naruto commanded. When Inari stopped crying Naruto continued. "Bravery is not the absence of fear."
"T-Then what is it?" Inari asked back, clearly curious.
"Let me finish." Naruto soothingly said. "Bravery is not the absence of fear, but the will to face it. That is what bravery is. Let no one tell you different."(A/N: Guess what guys! I don't own that quote. I wish I did. -sigh-. I don't own lots of things. Damn.)
After those inspirational words Naruto stood up, and left.
Tsunami got worried, and started to ask "Inari, are you ok-"
But was cut off when Inari abruptly stood up and said "I'm going to rally the villagers!"And then entered his room.
Tsunami didn't do anything. She just stood there and smiled, glad that her son had regained the courage he had lost when his father died.
Sasuke was currently matching the hunter nin, who had been named Haku, blow for blow at the same strength and speed.
"So," Haku said in a feminine voice. "it appears that you can indeed match me in speed but-"
Haku then abruptly punched at Sasuke in the stomach. Sasuke saw this though and caught the punch. Haku then brought a leg up in an attempt to roundhouse kick him, but that was caught too.
"I am able to perform jutsu, unlike you. Therefore I have the upper hand." Haku finished.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke said arrogantly. "You have a hand trapped to. Neither of us can perform a jutsu."
"Unless of course you can perform one-handed seals." Haku answered to Sasuke's inner question.
Haku then quickly went through several hand seals with his free hand. When finished, "Ice release-demonic ice mirrors." was stated.
After Haku stated the jutsu name, the water began to form a dome of 21 6x4 rectangles around them. Ten on the bottom row, going straight around, ten bent inwards on top of the first row, and one in the top. The only gaps were three inches apart. Way too little to crawl through, even for a ninja. Haku then slowly melted into the nearest mirror behind him. Soon, all the mirrors bore his reflection.
"What is this?" Sauske asked, for he had never seen a jutsu such as this.
"This is my bloodline limit." Haku answered in a dead voice, but one that still held a mocking tone. "Unlike you, I have awakened mine, oh great Uchiha. Anyone who becomes surrounded by these mirrors never lives to tell the tale. Let us see how long you last."
With that warning, five senbon came from completely different directions, but all from a mirror. All five hit Sasuke, two in the left leg, and one in every other limb. All of them struck nerve clusters that would cause great pain.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sasuke screamed in pain. The senbon kept on flying. First there were five. Then there were nine. Then 16. Then, after the next throw, 24. "What is this?" Sasuke thought. "Is it teleportation? No, it seems that they are being thrown from a second apart. Now the gap is widening? What's going on?" then Sasuke turned to look in one of the mirrors. In the mirror there were two major differences. One was that he was riddled with 24 senbon.
The second was that he had two tomoe in his right, red eye and one in his left, red eye.
Sasuke saw this, then burst out in a mad, cackling laughter.
"What is so funny?" asked Haku, who was curious how someone could laugh at the face of death.
"Now you've gone and done it!" Sasuke laughed with a gleam of insanity in his eyes. "With my Sharingan awakened, I can now easily defeat you!"
"Is that so?" Haku asked. "Then let us see what happens when you lose those eyes." With that, the image in the mirror changed to one of Haku. Soon after, two senbon flew out at Sasuke, one aimed for each eye.
Much to Haku's alarm, Sasuke pulled out a kunai and deflected both of them.
"What were you saying?" Sasuke said, still with that mad gleam in his eye. "Now that the playing field has been leveled, let us continue."
"No." said a voice from right behind Sasuke.
A/N: Buwahahahahahaha! Cliffhanger! And after so long too. Man am I evil. Who has appeared behind Sasuke? I know, but I'm not telling. Anywho, hope you enjoyed. Please review, you know I love it. THN out!