Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Thanks so much for the reviews; I hope you guys enjoy the story! I decided Zabuza and Mei (the fifth Mizukage) would be a pairing in the story. I really appreciate the reviews so keep them coming!

Chapter 1
Exodus from the Mist

Zabuza Momochi was a man of action and few words. He was also a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, ex-Anbu, and the aptly dubbed "Demon of the Mist." All of these things meant that he was very good at killing people and not dying in the process and now he was being forced to do something harder for him than anything else.

Zabuza Momochi was running away.

This doesn't usually happen to someone like him and every muscle in his body was crying out to turn around and have a stand up fight against his pursuers. That was what he would normally do, but that only applied when the most powerful shinobi in the Land of Water had ordered the entirety of the villages infamous "hunter-nin" to come after you. As it was, Zabuza was jumping from tree to tree while keeping a thick mist around for at least a mile. If the man he knew only as the Fourth Mizukage was smart, he would dispatch everyone in the village to eliminate him. He knew that Mei Terumi was likely chasing him now, and that meant very bad news for him should she manage to catch him.

Mei had been three years above the class that had Zabuza had murdered. He had a feeling things would have turned out differently if she had been among the hundred students who died that fateful day at his own hands. He knew that Mei was something else entirely from most of the idiotic shinobi hailing from the Mist. She was smart, a damn fine strategist and she wasn't the kind of person to lead from the rear either. She was also very flirtatious and the only woman who managed to make Zabuza blush. Zabuza would never admit it, but she was probably the only person he would miss from Kirigakure now that he was officially a missing-nin.

Zabuza continued on his path, traveling in almost complete silence to avoid detection. His Hiding Mist Technique meant that he didn't have to worry about being seen, but any Mist shinobi worth their weight in water knew to hunt by sound and not sight. That being said he couldn't really hear any signs of pursuit, this either meant that he was succeeding at avoiding Kirigakure shinobi, or the ones around him were good at the Silent Killing Style. If they wanted to try to match him in that game they were more than welcome to try it, no one was better at Silent Killing than Zabuza.

Suddenly a gout of fire erupted from the mist and destroyed the tree Zabuza had landed in. He focused chakra into his feet and rode the falling tree down until it was near the ground, then jumped to another tree only seconds before the flaming tree struck the ground. The resulting crash from the tree trunk and limbs hopefully covered up the sound he had made jumping to the next tree. He waited in perfect silence, waiting for his opponent to make the same mistake every shinobi had made just seconds before Zabuza opened their throats with a blade.

He focused chakra into his ears to amplify their hearing capacity; he could hear someone breathing at a hundred yards in this state. There was only silence to greet him as he didn't move an inch. He racked his brain for any shinobi from the mist who actually used fire styles. It was a short list, but Mei was at the top of it. If he had to fight her he wasn't sure that he would be leaving Kirigakure after all.

Zabuza waited and waited for that first sound that would give away his opponent's position. Each second felt like an eternity with only the sounds of the burning wood to meet his ears. Somewhere in that dense mist was a shinobi smart enough to shut their mouths in his presence, six feet under the soil, Kirigakure was littered with corpses of shinobi who never managed to learn that lesson.

After at least twenty minutes a new sound came to Zabuza's ears. His opponent was using a mist technique expelled by their mouth. He braced himself against the tree to rush the sound and kill his opponent but paused for a moment. Why would his opponent create even more mist in the area? Zabuza's mist was so thick that most shinobi wouldn't be able to see six inches in front of their face. Suddenly the sound of the mist stopped and was followed by the sound of acid eating away the upper part of the forest.

Shit! I guess I know who I'm up against then, Thought Zabuza. He jumped from the tree canopy just as he felt the skin on his arms start to sting. He landed where he had gauged the noise had come from earlier and immediately swung his sword in a wide arc in front of him. He managed to earn a gasp from his opponent as she ducked the strike then backed away.

"I knew the Fourth would send out the best shinobi to try to kill me, but I never expected to have to fight you, Mei," said Zabuza.

Mei was locked in a low stance keeping a close eye on his blade. She looked Zabuza in the eyes and a small smile crept onto her face.

"Zabuza… Why are you doing this? I can't believe you thought you could just fight the Mizukage and expect to survive running away from Kirigakure." Mei never stopped smiling, even though she knew one of them would have to die for the other to live.

Zabuza's eyes widened for a moment, he had been prepared to kill his comrades from Kirigakure, but didn't expect to speak with them. He looked a Mei in the eyes and lowered the tip of his blade to the ground. Mei recognized the action as a break from combat and rose to her full height, still smiling.

Zabuza stared at her for a moment then lowered his gaze.

"You know that Yagura is being manipulated by someone, Mei. The guy was never that cruel when we were children. Whoever is pulling the strings in the reason the Land of Water has become so destitute! I don't know if it's genjutsu, blackmail, or something else entirely but this can't be allowed to persist. If I can kill Yagura, then work the next Mizukage to prevent this from happening again, then our country can remember our pride and honor. If I can do this…then I will be able to look at myself in the mirror and not be ashamed of what this country made us!"

Mei actually stopped smiling and had closed her eyes as Zabuza had finished his thoughts. Zabuza stared directly at her waiting for her to respond. Finally she opened her eyes and stared back into his for a moment.

Then she held her hand up to her mouth and began laughing out loud. She even snorted once or twice in the process. Zabuza couldn't begin to fathom just what the hell she found so amusing, but he could tell this wasn't malevolent laughter you hear from bad guys before they do something wicked. He knew because he had taken classes on that laugh in the academy. Kirigakure shinobi were trained in every facet of intimidation.

"So you are telling me that the Demon of the Mist has become a patriot? I'm sorry, that's just so funny don't you think? And here I thought you couldn't be any more attractive, Zabuza Momochi!"

Zabuza couldn't believe she was being so nonchalant about this whole situation. They would probably be fighting to the death in the next ten minutes! The last comment made him glad for the bandages that covered his face and he hoped that the red coloring his cheeks wouldn't rise any further.

After Mei stared at him for another moment smiling, her face dropped to a somber expression that seemed strange written on her beautiful visage.

"You are right though, Zabuza… There is no way that Yagura, the real Yagura would have let us become the Bloody Mist. But you know being a shinobi is about duty to those you serve!"

"I would be serving this country if I had killed the Mizukage! As it is I'm going to find a way to bring him down and then rebuild this country with my own hands! If you plan on trying to stop me then I'm afraid you are going to have to kill me. I won't be brought back to be made an example of!" Zabuza yelled.

He then put his hand upon his sword and drew it up in a defensive stance. He didn't want to kill Mei, to avoid it he had a feeling he would have to take off at least two of her limbs. It would be just another burden that would weigh on him in the coming months.

Mei never prepared a combat stance and continued to stare at Zabuza. Finally she leapt onto the trunk of a tree, facing down toward Zabuza as she began forming hand seals. Torrents of fire flew from her hands and converged on Zabuza's position which he deflected with his sword while producing more mist from the water on the ground. He leapt away and began throwing kunai in her direction. Right as his feet hit the ground he realized that she was slowly turning the ground to mud with a combination of water and earth jutsu. Mud was very noisy…

He hit the ground and slid a few feet before more fireballs came hurtling towards him from above. He drew upon the water on the ground and from the air to form the Gunshot Jutsu. Zabuza began firing condensed water at blinding speeds right where the fireballs were coming from. They struck the tree with enough force to shatter the trunk where Mei was releasing her jutsu. He needed to get her in close range where he could use his sword. Taijutsu wasn't Mei's specialty, which pretty much meant she was good enough to kill most shinobi in a taijutsu match, but Zabuza wasn't most shinobi.

As he continued to dodge fireballs while throwing water bullets, he leapt from muddy ground to tree trunk trying to formulate a plan to bring her into melee range. More fire jutsu flew at his location and he leapt back toward the muddy earth. As he was sliding through the mud on the ground he noticed a lull in the rate of fire jutsu heading his direction. Suddenly waves of heat rolled over him as lava began spurting from the ground in his direction. He leapt above the ground onto a tree. The lava caught the tree on fire and it began to sink into the molten earth.

Zabuza formed several hand seals and began firing water onto the molten rock and it solidified. He landed on the steaming stone and immediately hurled his giant sword where he heard Mei producing more fire jutsu. Her eyes widened as she leapt over the blade and back onto solid ground. When she hit the ground she was surprised to see Zabuza standing directly in front of her swinging a kunai directly at her heart. The blade sank deep into her flesh, it was a fatal blow.

Zabuza exhaled slowly as he felt Mei crumple under the blade. She leaned forward against Zabuza's chest as the lifeblood flowed from the wound. She then looked at him with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this, Zabuza…"

She then proceeded to tightly wrap her arms around his shoulders. It was at this moment Zabuza realized this was a clone of some sort, just before it erupted into fire.

Zabuza was blown onto his back by the force of the blast, the entire front of his body was scorched. Mei leapt from her hidden location in the trees over to him and kneeled over his body.

"I wish it didn't have to this way Zabuza. I know you want me to kill you but we were ordered to bring you back alive."

Mei stood up and pressed chakra into her Anbu tattoo to call for reinforcements and a medic for Zabuza. As soon as she finished she felt a slender cord of water wrap around her waist and arms and pull tight, locking her arms to the side of her body. She was shocked to see Zabuza's body fall into a puddle and she realized he was actually behind her and slowly approaching. He turned her body around to face him and she saw that he had a water whip in his right hand which connected them to each other. The then shot out his left arm with another whip which wrapped around his sword and pulled it to him.

The sword was yanked from the ground and flew at Zabuza which he caught without breaking stride.

"I'm assuming you called a medic for me then, Mei? If I know Anbu it will take them about 10 minutes to get here, the organizations is filled with slackers these days. I know if I don't find a way to stop you then you will just keep chasing me…So I'm sorry about this, truly I am."

Mei just stared at him with her arms locked at their side as he took the sword and angled it in front of him, that same smile never leaving her face. Her eyes widened only slightly as he pushed the blade through her chest and out the other side. It wasn't a lethal wound, Zabuza knew enough about human anatomy to know that she would be out of commission for a few days, but with treatment she would recover. She gasped as he pulled the blade from her chest and released the water whip holding her in place.

He dropped his sword to the ground and caught her before she fell. He gently laid her onto the surface of the ground and instructed her to keep pressure on the front of the wound. As she lay on the ground she reached up toward Zabuza's face with a blood stained hand and pulled his bandages down. He didn't have much time to waste but he really didn't want to leave her alone like this, he knew Anbu's procedures by heart but if he was wrong about their timing she could bleed out. She stared at his face and continued to smile and took his chin in her hands, the blood from her wound smeared onto his face but neither of them cared.

"You take care, Zabuza Momochi, Next time I see you…hopefully we won't be trying to kill eachother, and you can start trying to apologize for the huge damn scar this is going to leave."

Zabuza stood and turned to leave, He readjusted the bandages on his face and turned to look at Mei one last time. He then leapt back into the tree tops as he continued his exodus from Kirigakure.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Zabuza had finally escaped the search area for the Kirigakure Anbu. He had a straight run toward the coast hoping that they would think he was traveling toward the Land of Fire. Once he had reached the coast he had turned north to one the islands far north of Kirigakure. The air was very chilly here and the ground was covered with ice and snow. He knew that regions like this hated shinobi due to the civil wars that had permeated the Land of Water over the last several decades. It was just another thing about this country that made him sick. It did have the added benefit of limited shinobi movement in these areas.

He had been traveling through the countryside for several days. He managed to find enough animals to hunt to keep himself fed and his only real concern was planning on how he would gather enough resources to make his next move against the Mizukage. He couldn't get Mei's face out of his mind; he was sure that Anbu would find her and return her to Kirigakure. If the Mizukage was rough with her then Zabuza would have a whole new reason to murder that puppet.

After several more days of traveling he came across a small village covered in snow. This was one of the few tourist traps still functioning in the modern economy. Clearly this village made its money during the winter months, it looked so picturesque covered in snow with icicles hanging from the roof.

He walked by a ramen stand and stopped to have a meal that wasn't cooked over a campfire. As he sat down the man behind the bar scowled in his direction. Zabuza didn't hide the fact he was a shinobi in the least bit, still wearing his mist forehead guard angled on his head. The man walked over and eyeballed the massive sword Zabuza wore across his back. Zabuza could tell the cook was nervous and kept his eyes locked on the man the entire time.

"We don't serve shinobi around here," the man said while his eyes darted between Zabuza's eyes and his sword.

Zabuza didn't say a word, he simply reached his right arm behind his shoulder and unclasped his sword, then pulled it from his back and leaned it against the bar. He never stopped looking at the cook the entire time.

"Look I don't want any trouble from no shinobi! Folks around here just don't like your type and it's bad for business to serve guys like you!" The man was nearing hysterics.

"I will have a large bowl of pork ramen. And if you don't do your job and deliver a bowl of pork ramen to me, then I'm afraid this village will lose a ramen stand, and gain another reason to hate shinobi."

The man turned blue as his eyes bugged from their sockets and he began preparing the ramen. Zabuza wasn't opposed to being civil, but so few things were civil in this country. He would spend the evening in this town and then begin scouring the islands north of Kirigakure for any potential shinobi.

The Land of Water was home to some incredible kekkei genkai, but the people of the Land of Water were simply too shortsighted to realize the potential of bloodline limits. A young shinobi with a bloodline limit was like a sword waiting to be forged, if they were given enough time and attention then they could be the greatest of tools, but the fools that inhabited the Land of Water had not given enough time or thought to training.

The swords were too brittle and they shattered under any form of strain. This happened to entire clans in the region. Entire kekkei genkai were obliterated from the face of the world due to the selfish desires of violent clans. Zabuza could really use some of those lost weapons now.

Finally the ramen was prepared, and Zabuza began to eat. It wasn't bad, but the Land of Fire would always have the best ramen in the world, of that there was no doubt. He finished his meal quickly and laid his money on the counter. As he departed he gave the shopkeeper a withering glance as he strapped his sword onto his back. He slowly walked the streets of the town, if his reception at an inn was as chilly as the one at the restaurant then he decided he would rather just camp out in the forest.

As he walked across a bridge leading out of town he passed a small boy sitting along the far side. The child was dirty and clearly destitute, he wasn't even wearing shoes. This is just another side effect of this country's decline. Kids like this should be in the shinobi academy, or working with their families… Zabuza thought to himself.

The child turned and stared at him as he approached the bridge. Zabuza felt a strange feeling slip down his spine when he made eye contact with the boy. There was something strange about him. He looked at his feet which should have been red, swollen, and potentially in the first stages of frost bite. They were perfectly fine, the child was covered in rags and should have been in the early stages of hypothermia, but he wasn't even shivering.

The signs all pointed to a bloodline limit that had died out before Zabuza was even born. If it was still in existence then Zabuza may have just stumbled upon the single strongest weapon in existence.

"Boy, does the name Yuki mean anything to you?"

The child shrank back from Zabuza when he spoke, as he did the snow around his feet moved in unnatural formations, almost like they were preparing a barrier against Zabuza. That was all he needed to see, this child was a surviving member of the Yuki clan, they had been hunted to extinction following the last civil war in the Land of Water. Their power was fabled, the Ice Release was once one of the most powerful kekkei genkai in existence.

"What's your name boy?"

The child was visibly shaken but he continued to stare into Zabuza's eyes.

"My name…my name is Haku, sir."

"Haku, why are you alone out here? Where is your family?"

Haku's eyes fell to the ground. It was clear to Zabuza that something traumatic had occurred in the boy's past. That was one of the tragic thing about people who aren't taught to control their bloodline limits, they usually hurt those around them.

"Haku, what is your purpose for living? What do you want to accomplish in this life?"

Haku didn't know what to say. He had simply been surviving for the last several years. He thought of Shingen and Kaede and the kindness they had shown him. If he could find a way to repay their kindness and be like them then he would be happy.

"I don't know my purpose, sir. I don't think I have one, but I know I would like to be kind and repay kindness shown to me."

Zabuza never glanced away from the boy. What kind of person with that much raw power just wants to be nice their entire life? The simple truth was Zabuza needed this boy to help him. Within 3 years of training, Zabuza believed this boy could be even more powerful than him.

"Haku, my name is Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist. I'm going to offer you the chance to work with me to bring about change to this land. I will train you to fight and use that power that dwells just below your surface. You will get hurt and you will kill people, but together we can change this world."

Haku's eyes widened and he gaped at Zabuza. Zabuza stared at him for a moment then turned to continue down the path he had been following.

Haku sat and thought about everything he had heard. He didn't know this man but there was something in his eyes that Haku had never seen before. Zabuza's resolve and strength and were etched upon his entire body, in his voice, and in his eyes. Haku knew that this man would accomplish his dreams and neither man nor demon could stand in his way. He stood up quickly and ran after Zabuza. He would follow this man's dreams until he was able to find his own, and hopefully, one day he would be able to help this land and bring kindness to this cold world. One day he may be able to forgive himself for what had happened to his family…