Chapter 19 All Mist and Mirrors

Hello everyone, it's me again.

I'm sorry for the delay in getting these chapters out, but trying to put a new twist on the Wave Arc is much harder than I thought it would be, not that I thought it was easy to begin with.

Anyway, Haku shows up this chapter and maybe we'll see what Team 8 is up to. Also, I intend to explain a bit about Zabuza's sword, the Kubikiribōchō, so if this chapter seems a bit ridiculous at points please bear with me. I promise that I've set things for this chapter up in previous chapters and am not just pulling things out of my ass.

I don't own anything everything belongs to the respective owners, I just write this story.

Enjoy.

Somewhere in Fire Country

If one asked about hotspots in Fire Country two things would happen: 1) they would be on the receiving end of a grimace for the bad joke; and 2) they would hear about Tanzaku Town. Tanzaku Castle was one of the biggest tourist attractions in Fire Country but there was more to Tanzaku Town than that. Most people who came to Tanzaku Town came because of its casinos and fine women who could be found in brothels or hostess clubs depending on the guest's preference. Every once in a while a group of bandits would set their sights on the tourists, or rather their money. It was for this reason that Team 8 was sent to Tanzaku Town.

It was also for this reason that Team 8, or at least their sensei, was not enjoying the mission.

I hate being a new jonin, I have to take whatever mission the others don't want, Kurenai thought.

Her displeasure must have been apparent for all to see because Kiba asked, "Everything alright Sensei?"

"I'm alright, I just don't think Tanzaku Town is an appropriate place to send new genin," Kurenai explained.

"Why?" Kiba asked.

"Loose women," Kurenai said.

"Gambling," Hinata added.

"Booze," Shino finished.

"C'mon Sensei, the three of us are at least 12-years-old, it's not like we don't know about this stuff," Kiba responded.

"Glossing over how that sounds, it doesn't mean I have to like it," Kurenai stated, hoping to end this conversation.

Picking up on her sensei's discomfort Hinata decided to ask, "How do you think the other teams are doing?"

"I'm sure they're fine, Hokage-sama would never send genin fresh out of the academy on a life-threatening mission if he could avoid it," Kurenai said.

"I hope so, I've had a bad feeling for a while," Hinata said.

"I'm sure Naruto is fine, I mean what's the worst that could happen," Kiba told Hinata.

Back in Wave

I wonder if it's possible to have someone tempt fate for you? Naruto wondered.

"What makes you ask?" Kurama asked.

No reason, Naruto answered as he resumed staring down his opponents, Zabuza's bunshins. With Interdiction at the ready he charged in, the humming of the ethereal blades could be heard all the way out on the lake where Zabuza had Kakashi trapped.

"That kid has guts, it's a shame he has to die," Zabuza told Kakashi.

In his current position all Kakashi could do was bluff so he said, "Careful Zabuza, others have underestimated Naruto and got burned for it."

"All the more reason to get rid of him now then," Zabuza responded.

Back on land a few Mizu bunshin had intercepted Naruto and had started to attack. They broke through my barriers so I need to find another way to stop them, Naruto thought as two of Zabuza's bunshins made to strike him from behind and were stopped and destroyed by two Mu bunshins. This allowed Naruto to focus on the bunshin in front of him, and with Interdiction vibrating at its current speed he was able to cut right through said Zabuza's clone.

Zabuza was slightly impressed by the blonde genin's display, after all not many genin could turn around a situation like this. At the same time however, he was furious, he never imagined that a genin could defeat his clones even if they were only 1/10th as strong as he was.

Who the hell is this kid, clones or not my experience should still have given me an edge! Zabuza thought. His mental rant was interrupted when he saw his final clone nail Naruto in the stomach before the blonde genin could destroy it. I guess the kid just got lucky, Zabuza thought as Naruto slid back from the force of the Mizu bunshin's attack.

Naruto, however did not let this setback get him down, he quickly righted himself, dismissed Interdiction, and took out a scroll. After unsealing the contents, which in this case was a fuma shuriken. "Sasuke, think you can aim properly in this mist?" Naruto asked his teammate.

"Oh I think I can manage," Sasuke answered.

"Good then catch, we're putting a new twist on an old favorite," Naruto said as he tossed the weapon to the Uchiha.

A new twist? Alright, I'll play along, Sasuke thought as he took aim and threw the shuriken.

Zabuza was under the impression that the genin were going to destroy his bunshin, so when he saw the shuriken miss his water-based doppelganger he was ready to start gloating. However he wasn't so full of himself that he missed the shuriken's flight path, he saw it heading straight at him. Due to his jutsu, Zabuza could not move without releasing Kakashi, but thanks to all his years of experience his reaction time was good enough to catch the massive projectile in his free hand.

Even after this Zabuza was on high alert, he expected a second shuriken to come flying at him and sure enough one did just that. Fortunately for the Demon of the Mist, this second shuriken was low enough for him to jump over.

Naruto, who was still on the shore at the time said, "Zabuza-san, that shuriken has a few surprises attached to it just for you." After Naruto had said that he snapped his fingers and four transparent spheres appeared on the shuriken's blades and they began fire ethereal blades at Zabuza. Many of the blades hit the mark, which was the small of Zabuza's back. With the speed at which the blades where fired they hit Zabuza with enough force to break his concentration on the chakra in his feet which in turn caused him to fall into the lake and release his jutsu, freeing Kakashi.

I sense a large amount of malice and bloodlust headed in this direction, Naruto thought. Before Naruto had a chance to blink Zabuza appeared in front of him, sword raised and eyes full of fury. Zabuza brought his sword straight down in an attempt to bisect Naruto, who could only prepare to block with Interdiction, the ethereal blades humming louder than ever.

What happened net shocked everyone; instead of Naruto being bisected it was Zabuza's sword that was cut in half. As he was recovering from his shock Naruto thought, That's right, the louder Interdiction hums the faster it's vibrating and the better it cuts, I was so shaken up that I forgot.

Zabuza was the next to recover and the first thing he did was say, in a terrifyingly calm voice, "You know kid, after that killing you shot right to the top of my to-do list."

Naruto's only response was to say, "Should I be flattered or terrified, because honestly Zabuza-san I'm feeling a mixture of both."

"That's natural," Zabuza responded as he found an opening in Naruto's stance and kicked him into a tree. The shock from the impact caused Naruto to dismiss Interdiction. Seeing that the blonde genin was vulnerable, Zabuza made to finish him off with what was left of his sword.

"Kid, in the entire time that I've had this sword no one has ever broken it, so I think it's only right that your blood be used to repair it," Zabuza said as he arrived in front of Naruto.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, hoping that he could by time for Kakashi to get back on his feet.

"Well, since you're about to die I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you. My sword is called Kubikiribōchō, and like the other weapons employed by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, my sword possesses a unique power, the ability to reform itself using the iron harvested from the blood of its victims. It happens almost instantaneously and is supposedly capable of bringing the weapon back to its original condition no matter how severe the damage is, as I will now demonstrate" Zabuza explained as he lifted up the Kubikiribōchō in an attempt to deal a finishing blow.

Fortunately for Naruto that explanation bought Kakashi enough time to recover and after a well-timed kawarimi, Team 7's sensei was parrying the Kubikiribōchō with a kunai.

"Sorry about the delay Naruto, I think I might have inhaled some of the water in that prison." Kakashi told his student.

"It's fine Sensei, right now I'm just glad we were able to get you out," Naruto responded.

I've never been so glad to have someone disobey my orders, you kids really did listen during the survival test, Kakashi thought happily. Turning his full attention back to Zabuza, Kakashi said, "Now Zabuza, my team and I have things to do so I would appreciate it if we could finish this now."

"I couldn't agree more Kakashi," Zabuza responded as he fell back to the lake and started going through hand signs.

"So that's how it's going to be huh?" Kakashi asked no one in particular as he followed Zabuza's lead.

From what the genin were able to see Zabuza and Kakashi were both preparing the same jutsu. Kakashi quickly caught up to Zabuza and soon he was a few hand signs ahead.

Zabuza sped up his hand signs in an attempt to catch up to Kakashi. While this was happening he thought, This doesn't make any sense, he was copying me until just a few moments ago. Why is he so much further along on this jutsu than I am? For that matter how can he even know what jutsu I'm going to use?

Zabuza had managed to catch up to Kakashi and they both called out "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" However, because Zabuza was trying to figure out how Kakashi, The Copy Ninja, was able to go from copying him to being a step ahead, Zabuza's dragon was less powerful and he paid for it. As soon as Kakashi's dragon destroyed Zabuza's it slammed the missing-nin into a tree on the opposite side of the lake.

Zabuza was having a difficult time getting to his feet, so it was not hard for Kakashi to reach him. Kakashi was ready to go in for the kill but paused when Zabuza started asking questions.

"How did you do that? Can you see the future?" Zabuza asked.

"I can, and your future is death," Kakashi said. However, before Kakashi could slit the missing-nin's throat two senbon came flying out of nowhere and lodged themselves into the left side of Zabuza's neck.

"You're right, he's dead," A voice said. Standing in the trees was what appeared to be a hunter- nin wearing a plain mask with the symbol for Kiri on the forehead. The hunter-nin then said, "Thanks for the assistance; I've been after this one for a while now."

"No problem," Kakashi said, however he was thinking, Is this that Haku person, dammit I'm out of chakra. Either I let them both get away or I try to finish off Zabuza and face an opponent who we know nearly nothing about.

Naruto, who was convinced this person was Haku decided to come forward and see I he couldn't get some information out of him. I'm sure this is Haku but it doesn't seem like this person would be Zabuza's partner, I'm not sensing any malice. Just to be sure though let's see if I can't get you to slip up, Naruto thought. Carrying the broken part of Kubikiribōchō Naruto asked, "Do you want this back too? I'm sure the Mizukage would be happy to have it."

"I think you're right, Mizukage-sama will surely be pleased," the unidentified hunter said as he picked up Zabuza and used the shunshin no jutsu to make his way across the lake to Naruto in order to take the broken half of Kubikiribōchō.

"I'm sure, what do you think the Mizukage will give you for Zabuza and the sword?" Naruto asked.

"I'm just a hunter-nin doing my job, but I'm sure he'll be pleased," the ninja said, unknowingly giving himself away.

"He will? I was not aware that Terumi Mei was a man, Haku-san," Naruto said.

As soon as those words left Naruto's mouth Haku made an unfamiliar hand sign and called out, "Sensatsu Suishō," before jumping away.

The water in the air became visible and then formed into needles around Naruto. All Naruto could think to do is was counter this technique with one of his own so he punched the ground and called out, "Rakuhouha."

The light-based projectiles from the technique destroyed the needles before they could hit Naruto but Naruto then noticed that the balls of light were coming back towards him. All he could do was dive into his shadow and wait until the projectiles collided with each other. Dammit, two of my most useful techniques have been countered in less than a day, Naruto thought as he waited until it was safe to come out.

When Naruto reemerged he saw that there were a number of what seemed to be mirrors with Haku's image surrounding him. Before he could get into a defensive stance Naruto noticed that the mirrors were melting. The blonde genin then heard Haku say, "Zabuza-sama's well-being takes precedence here, so consider yourself lucky," And with that Haku took Zabuza and disappeared.

Kakashi, who saw what happened said, "Well we're safe for now so if the rest of you don't mind I'm going to pass out now." With that Kakashi pulled his hitai-ate over his Sharingan and then fell forward.

"Sensei! What do we do now?" a nervous Sakura asked.

"My house isn't that far from here you can all rest there," Tazuna said.

With that Sasuke and Naruto went to pick up Kakashi and followed Tazuna to his home.

And that's the chapter.

I don't think I did too badly with it. I am however sorry it took so long; these chapters are getting harder to write.

For the rest of the Wave Arc I am going to start off with what Team 8 is doing just to show that I didn't forget that Hinata and her development are important to this story. I just hope it isn't too late for that.

I know Rakuhouha hasn't been a major part of the story but hopefully now I've given Naruto a reason to improve it. Like I said Naruto will be learning all of the light-based techniques used by Zero from the Megaman X games.

Speaking of things owned by Capcom, I would like to thank the people who brought us Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All, specifically those who wrote the plot for the final case of that game. Those who have played the game will recognize some elements of that case in Naruto's trap for Haku. Those who haven't should look for Farewell, My Turnabout on Youtube and if they want to know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, read and review. Until next time.