~Sasuke~

I was getting overwhelmed with Haku's senbon needles when I heard Sakura's voice. "Sasuke, take this!" I glanced up to see my kunai being thrown back toward me. Just as I went to catch it Haku intercepted it, I fell to one knee as Sakura said, "He caught it." Haku turned to look at me, but just as he did something shattered the mirror he was reaching out of. He got hit again before he landed on the ground.

It only took him a moment to recover but he seemed to realize who hit him. He vanished into thin air before I heard someone react. It was a girl about my age, she sprinted toward me with Haku just behind her.

I tried to steady myself to help but she rolled and landed on one knee in front with her back to me. She'd blocked Haku's needle with some sort of knife.

She was wearing a strange outfit that I'd never seen. Black shorts with a grey sash hanging down from her left leg, and a pouch on her left calf. Her top was dark green shirt with a slit on her left arm and her right arm being bare. Her hair was long, straight and in a pony tail. It looked like she shot Haku with an arrow, she had a quiver hanging on her right shoulder with her bow. Her right hand had a glove on it.

'Why was she here? Who is she?'

Haku broke my confusion when he commented. "So you are here."

"Yup! I'm here for the rescue!" She cheerfully said

"I'm not sure it's him that needs to be rescued."

"Haku remember." Zabuza said from the outside, Kakashi looked. I mean really looked at her before his eyes widened. Haku answered, "Yes Zabuza-" She interrupted him, "Of course he remembers, but it's not gonna be easy." She stated confidently. Haku turned his head in question and she elaborated. "You want Tazuna dead." She attacked Haku with her knife, "and you want me alive." She blocked his senbon and used his mirror to flip over him and take her place back in front of me in a protective stance. "But the only way you're gonna kill Tazuna or him is by killing me first."

'So they were looking for her too, but they wanted her alive, she was smart to use that to her advantage, but why is she here?'

"Where is Kalen?" Kakashi questioned

"Brat got beat up by Haku, guess that means she's wide open." Zabuza laughed. Another voice came from the forest, "Like I'd ever let that happen."

'who are these people?'

He had short brown straight hair with Hazel eyes. He was a serious person, with a scowl on his face. He wore black baggy pants, with a black jacket. On his back was a sword that hung comfortably.

He walked up to Zabuza, not seeming to care about the element of surprise. "I've never had my target challenge me before, but then again, I've never had my target hunt ME!" he laughed.

"We're here about the reward."

"Ah that? sorry. That's a secret, I'd have to be on my deathbed before I tell you that."

Before I could even blink the person was in the air with his sword coming down on Zabuza's head, the demon barely jumped out of the way. "That can be arranged." He seethed. "Don't get too cocky Tyiadain, it's the pretty one we want alive, your bounty only works if your dead."

Tyiadain? What kind of name is that? and bounty's? It looks like we got caught in a whole annoying situation.'

Zabuza lifted his sword to swing at this 'Tyiadain' guy when ANOTHER person came out of the water, he had white hair and a typical purple ninja outfit. He materialized saying, "That sword is so old, I think you need another one." He smirked, Zabuza frowned at the inconvenience.

The newest stranger received a blow to his gut and was thrown to the ground. The girl noticed and dropped her guard to run to him while shouting, "Nema!".

'So his name is Nema.'

Haku came up behind her but the other two in her group countered. There was a puff of smoke and when it cleared I saw the girl facing Haku with her fingers making some weird symbol. Her pointer and pinky fingers touched making a diamond, with her thumbs creating a triangle above the diamond. This some how created a barrier that blocked Haku's attack.

The two male members of her group were behind Haku, swords drawn ready to strike.

"You weren't thinking about hurting my best friend were you?" The Nema character asked in a dark tone.

"How can I? When she has that barrier and you two lackeys on a short leash." Haku insulted. "Go protect Tazuna." The 'Tyiadain' guy commanded.

"Or Nema and I can switch roles." She suggested, taking out her knife again, causing her barrier to drop. "No, stick to the plan A-"

"Kalen if I followed your plan then we would still be in the tree's watching this guy be slaughtered. I'm fighting with him."

'His name is Kalen Tyiadain, the other ones name is Nema, so what was her's? and her attitude, reminded me a lot of Naruto.'

'Great.'

Nema vanished and then spoke, making me realize he was now next to Sakura, "Fine have it your way. Kalen she won this battle. Your 1 and 2 bro." Kakashi didn't seem to worry about his close proximity to the bridge builder, so I didn't either. In fact I took this opportunity to strike at Haku, who just blocked my attack with ease.

"We have to come up with a plan." The girl said as she got in a stance next to me, "I'm an archer but I have this knife, and I'm fast. I can be a distraction for you."

"What?"

She smiled and explained "Zabuza has been hired to kill my brother and capture me, they want me alive, which means I can afford to be a distraction. Do you have the Sharingan?"

So she knew I was an Uchiha, and she was so calm and happy during this whole situation. I shook my head to answer her question. Her bright blue eyes were still lit up but the frown she made her look concerned. "Better learn how, we're gonna need that and whatever you do, don't let him get back in those mirrors. I don't know much about it, or if he can bring it back."

"Right" was all I could say. She'd jumped up in the air while taking out her bow and firing a shot at Haku. She almost managed to hit him.

After a few moments, she got him to turn his back to me, which I took advantage of. He fell to the ground when my Kunai hit his right shoulder, but he successfully grabbed her leg and pulled her down with him. I tried to get up to stop him from recovering, but the senbons in my legs prevented me from doing so.

He made the required hand signs and the mirrors returned, the girl stood up and spun to see she was trapped in the mirrors, I fell back to the ground as Haku went to go back inside his jutsu. His hand was the only thing out of the mirrors when it was struck by a kunai, she turned her attention to the puff of smoke that appeared outside of the mirrors. "Who is that?" '

'That fool!...such a show off.'

Haku muttered. "Number one, hyperactive, knucklehead ninja."

"Naruto Uzumaki is here! Now that I'm here everything is going to be just fine."

I heard Sakura yell, "Naruto!" from her place.

"The main character of a story usually appears like this and defeats the enemy in a flash." He talks to much.. "Alright, let's do this! Shadow replication!" He started to make shadow clones when Zabuza threw shuriken, I heard Kakashi yell, "Oh no, dodge it Naruto!" but the dope wasn't moving, the girl got up to help when Needles stopped the Shuriken. "Who?" Zabuza questioned

"He was saved." The girl exhaled in relief next to me as her team-mate Nema said, "How lucky, the enemy's attacks collided with each other." Sakura then yelled, "what were you thinking Naruto!?"

Kakashi continued the scolding, "What kind of idiot tries to execute a technique right in front of the enemy?" Naruto was shocked, Kalen added, "A ninja's strength lies in the shadows, it relies on your ability to deceive your enemy. What are you teaching them Kakashi?" Naruto screamed and Kakashi stood to lecture again, ignoring the Tyiadain. "When you execute a technique, you must still do it while the enemy is not looking. You must take them by surprise and think beyond the normal boundaries. The way you appeared back there only makes you target practice."

It finally hit Naruto, he threw his hands up on his head saying, "Oh crap. I came here to help though."

"Haku, what's the meaning of this." Zabuza demanded, turning our attention back to the fact that Haku had stopped the attack on Naruto. Haku didn't face Zabuza, but said, "Zabuza, let me handle him, I want to fight him my own way." "What was that?" Naruto questioned.

Their conversation was cut off when the girl asked me, "Are you ok? Seems your team-mate can help us." "I doubt it, he's a dope." I replied, "We may need him, Haku is strong and if he gets in those mirrors, we're in trouble." I nodded as my kunai was handed to me.

I looked back to Haku, who was chatting with Naruto. It pissed me off. 'You don't have time to chit-chat like that!' I thought.

I threw my kunai at the side of his head, but he dodged it with ease making the girl move. She took her bow out and shot arrow after arrow at Haku. Two hit him while the others missed, he appeared behind her and tossed her back. I barely got up to catch her.

"Your making it hard to keep you breathing."

"Don't you touch her!" I heard Kalen shout, trying to get past Zabuza, who stopped him. "Your sister is in good hands don't you worry he won't kill her, it's you that should be careful."

'So Kalen is her brother.'

"We can't beat him if we're both in here." The girl mumbled into my shoulder, as if speaking to herself.

She had a point though, maybe now that Naruto's here we can actually do some damage, all we need is for him to attack from the outside! I smirked at the plan that came into my head.

"hey, I snuck in here to save you, pretty cool move huh Sasuke?"

I felt my body stiffen as I saw Naruto whispering to me...

He was now in the mirrors with us.

"Your supposed to sneak up on your opponent, not your ally" The girl sighed quietly.

"You are a complete loser, you're a shinobi, think carefully before you move!" I yelled, because of this moron, the plan we just came up with was gone, already!

"What the hecks your problem! you should thank me for coming in here to help you!"

"Naruto, if we're all inside here- forget it! I've had it with your mistakes."

"And I've had it with your attitude believe it"

I didn't even bother answering him, this wasn't the time or place to do this. "That's it i'm gonna destroy these mirrors right now!" I stood up with the girl and started making the required hand signs.

"Hey what attack are you using?" Naruto questioned.

"These mirrors are made of ice, and how do you destroy ice? figure it out, FIRE BALL JUTSU!"

The girl ducked her head on instinct so that she wouldn't get caught in the cross fire. My fireball jutsu hurled towards the ice mirrors. But when it made contact, the mirrors were still standing.

"That didn't do anything at all!" Naruto yelled.

"You'll need much more heat to melt this ice" Haku replied, the girl jumped out from in between my arms and tried to attack Haku, but there was a blinding light once more, and we were thrown back by his senbons once more.

"Where is he? where's the needle attack coming at us from, are they clones? we have to find the real one! which one is it?" Naruto looked around like an idiot, staring into each mirror.

"Look into every mirror as hard as you like, you'll never find the answer you seek?" Haku answered, his voice seeming to come from every mirror.

"Oh yeah? Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto made a bunch of clones appear around him, as he attacked the mirrors, I saw the girl running toward them shouting "No Don't!"

Senbons were sent toward the clones but the girl jumped in the way, protecting Naruto and his clones. Or at least she tried to, before any of them could actually hit her, Haku had appeared above her and threw her back down to the ground towards me. I caught her as Naruto's clones vanished.

When there was only the real Naruto left he lifted up his fist.

"HEY! Who said you could hurt that girl!?" He turned to look at her and his eyes widened slightly. "Hey your the girl from last night, the one we saw in the forest."

'She was the one we were chasing last night? How long has she been watching us?'

Naruto lunged at Haku again, which the girl took as an opportunity to get outside to shatter the mirrors hopefully. Just as she reached the edge I heard Nema shout, "Grab my hand!" he reached out to take hold of her hand.

Just as their hands were centimeters apart, Haku dragged her into the mirrors with him.

~Alai~

'If I could only make it out of the mirrors, I'd be of more use, we could even beat him!' Nema signaled me to come to him so I jumped out of Sasuke's arms and made a break for the edge. He then yelled, "Grab my hand!" I threw my hand out, but just before our fingers touched, I felt Haku wrap his arm around my waist and drag me away. This time though, I wasn't thrown back into the middle with Sasuke and Naruto, I was pulled into Haku's mirrors and was trapped.

I slammed my fists against the mirrors, trying to force them to set me free. I saw Sasuke and Naruto's face, they were shocked.

Naruto became angry as Haku's voice explained, "This will keep her unharmed, this is none of your concern."

I turned to where Nema is, he looked worried as well as Kashi's, they both knew. Yet no-ones face was as scary as Kalen's.

It showed not only sheer terror, but rage. He looked to Nema before appearing in front of Haku, beating him. Nema took the opportunity to knock the mirror and catch my attention. He whispered, "Don't worry Ali! you'll be out of there in no time!" smiling.

As he cut the ice I was on lookout. I couldn't do much but watch as Zabuza attacked Kalen, leaving Haku to stop Nema. He tried to dodge but Haku was too fast for him.

"These mirrors only reflect my image, allowing me to move at light speed. Through my eyes, you appear to be moving in slow motion."

In the distance I saw Kalen reluctantly facing Zabuza once again, Kashi heard Haku's explanation of his technique and stiffened.

"I knew it! It's a blood line, a Kekkei Genkai, a move you can't learn, something that's passed down generation to generation, within a single clan. not even I can't copy it."

"Theres no way to destroy it, and no way to stop him."

That was Kalen's voice, he looked to the mirror I was in with mixed emotions, they held anger, sadness, regret and guilt. He was giving up hope, and was now fearing what he knew would have to be done.

My gaze was shifted when I saw Naruto getting up off the ground. "I couldn't break through, so what? he's not gonna stop me. I'm not giving up and i'm not gonna lose here, cus i have a dream and no ones gonna take it away from me. someday i'll be respected in my village, that's my dream, to be the greatest Hokage."

He had enough hope to make up for Kalen's lack of made me smile.

'As long as their's hope, we can win this.'

"Dreams...It was not my desire to be a shinobi, it's painful, I don't want to kill you, but if you advance, I will have no choice, then I will kill the kindness in my own heart, and fully embrace the shinobi way, and there will be no mercy, no turning back, this bridge will be the battlefield, where our dreams collide. now I must fight for my dream, just as you fight for yours. please do not blame me, I fight for someone who is precious to me. I live for him and I face death for him so that his dream may become reality, that is my dream. and for the sake of that dream, if I must, I will act as a shinobi and take your lives."

'So Haku doesn't want to kill anyone, come to think of it, based on his skills. He could have killed them and taken me a long time ago.'

~Kalen~

Alai was still trapped in those mirrors. Zabuza wasn't going to let me get close enough to her, but even if I could, if what Kakashi said is right, then I wouldn't be able to break through the mirrors anyway.

I knew that she saw the look in my eyes, she showed understanding and looked as if she were begging me to not give up. She was prepared but wouldn't give up 'til the very end.

'She never gives up...'

"Sasuke Naruto! take this guy out, you can do it!" I heard the pink haired girl shout from her place in front of the bridge builder.

"Don't push them Sakura, even if they somehow found a way to overcome this jutsu, they still couldn't beat this ninja." Kakashi announced, he was losing hope too.

'If we all make it out of this, Alai's going to beat us.'

"How can you be so sure?" The little girl asked again, she gave off the impression that she wasn't the fighting 'type'.

Zabuza simply laughed as I exchanged a few blows with him. Kakashi on the other hand continued explaining to the girl why we were giving up.

"They have the desire to win, but they don't have the instinct to kill, that boy is a whole other breed, he lives for pain, he thrives on it."

"Exactly" Zabuza looked to Kakshi. "Your village has become complacent, your trainees never learn the most important lesson of all. To kill the feelings in their own hearts, to crush opponents mercilessly, to destroy with no emotion or regret."

"But then sensei what are we gonna do, sensei please tell us!" This girl was beginning to get on my nerves.

Kakashi didn't answer her, instead he went to lift his headband, no doubt ready to use the Sharingan.

"Sharingan? your no fun Kakashi, using the same old trick!"

'He's seen Kakashi's sharingan technique?'

Zabuza prevented Kakashi from removing the rest of his headband, I jumped in and used my sword to buy Kakashi more time.

"Sensei no!" The girl shrieked from behind us.

Kakashi chuckled "If it's just an old trick, why did you just try to stop me?"

"Let your opponent see your jutsu too many times and he'll find a way to use it against you." Zabuza pushed off my sword and lunged for Kakashi, I took the moment to swing at his open back. He dodged though.

'Dammit!'

"Then count yourself lucky, your the only man who's seen my sharingan twice, shows over. There won't be a third time."

"Even if you did defeat me, you'd have no chance against Haku, when I found him he was just a street kid, but I trained him in the most advanced ninja techniques. I taught him everything I knew, plus he had special abilities that he refined on his own, the boy developed quickly. soon he could face the most powerful enemy, outnumbered. total darkness, it didn't matter, he struck with perfect accuracy. He cared nothing for his own life, or the lives of others, he'd become a unique fighting machine, a shinobi. In the end his powers surpassed even mine, his bloodline trait cannot be defeated by anyone. I've created a tool that can destroy anything that stands in my way, unlike the pathetic fools that follow you around!"

So Haku can surpass even the man I was fighting? We need Alai's power now, and if I didn't get Alai out of those mirrors soon, then we might all be dead.

~Alai~

"I didn't get him, but I'll try again, as many times as it takes. Shadow clone jutsu!"

"Naruto!"

As Naruto made more clones, Haku threw more senbons, impaling not only Naruto and his clones, but Nema and Sasuke as well. Naruto landed on the ground for a moment before getting back up.

"How is he doing that!" He was getting angry, to the point where I swear I could hear him growl from here. I looked to Nema and Sasuke. Sasuke seems to have figured something out, and Nema knows it too. He looked to Sasuke and whispered in his ear. When Sasuke replied, I saw Nema's face light up and flash me a smile.

'They have a plan!'

"One more time, shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto was oblivious to the fact that there was so much going on around him. I giggled slightly. Haku on the other hand was getting a bit annoyed.

"Don't you see that it's useless!?"

I started banging on the mirror again, trying to gain Haku's attention so the boys can get a chance, I jumped in the air when I suddenly felt Haku behind me. I looked over quickly to the boys to see them still dodging senbon needles.

"Your making a lot of noise."

"Sorry, I'm bored."

"I apologize for not being more, 'entertaining'..."

"You'll be forgiven if you let me out."

"I'm not that interested in being forgiven."

"You should be, just saying. Meanie."

"It's for your own safety Alai."

"Say's the one who's kidnapping me."

He ignores me completely and stops his attack to look over to the other battle, Kalen and Kashi were starting to wear him down.

"I know you need me Zabuza, I'll finish them off quickly!"

As Haku lifted his arms up to throw more senbon, Naruto jumped forward once more.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" 100 more Naruto's appeared around the area, attacking the mirrors all at once. Nema tried to use the distraction to get out but was blocked by Haku. When Haku was chasing Nema, Sasuke's fireball jutsu almost hit the masked boy. Haku became confused as Nema and Sasuke exchanged a look.

"Looks like my best friend hasn't given up yet. I'll be out of here in no time!"

"He read my movements, but that's not possible!"

As Naruto and Nema stood back up, Sasuke looked down to the two of them.

"Naruto, Nema, can you do it again?"

"Of course, nothing can stop me believe it." Naruto shouted back

"Anything to get her out of there.." Nema replied as he stood, Sasuke the hand signs to make his jutsu again.

"Naruto, Nema run for it! get out of here and attack from the outside"

"Alright you got it" Naruto said slightly confused but Nema simply nodded, knowing that Sasuke had figured out the key to beating him.

"You cannot escape" Haku said as he went after Naruto.

"You think you can keep me here forget it!"

Haku managed to catch Naruto and throw him, shortly after I saw Nema come in contact with my mirror, just before Haku appeared behind him and threw him back to the center with Naruto and Sasuke.

"I couldn't get past him." Naruto said as he stood back up.

"That was good you guys.." Sasuke replied

"huh?"

"One more time? Hey Nema, can you get up?"

"Yeah let's do it."

As Nema and Naruto ran for the edges, Sasuke went to make another fireball, but ran for the edge instead.

"No more games, I need to stop this now, this time you'll stay down."

I watched as Sasuke blew a fireball at Haku, he barely dodged it as he reached Naruto and tossed him back. Haku then tossed a senbon into Sasuke's knee.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried out.

Nema was still running and almost made it out of the mirrors when Haku did something unexpected. He appeared in the mirror behind me and put a Senbon to my neck. I gasped in surprise as he spoke out to Nema.

"You escape and I'll take her now." Nema stopped in his tracks and looked to me as I tried to signal him to continue. "You won't hurt her, you need her safe." Sasuke spoke up.

"I need her alive, they said nothing about unharmed. This needle will simply put her to sleep, so I can escape without a fight."

"And what about Zabuza, that whole speech of dying to protect him!?" Nema shouted, he was calling Haku's bluff.

"Zabuza would want me get what's important. He can kill the bridge builder and the Tyiadain male while I escape with the girl."

Nema stiffened as he looked to me. Haku continued.

"Three Genin who aren't skilled enough to fight me, and three guardians who will do anything to keep her unharmed. I doubt-"

A kunai stuck to the corner of the mirror we were in, Haku laughed.

"You can't hit me with that while I'm in here Nema."

"I wasn't aiming for you.."

"What!?" Naruto shouted, Sasuke's head snapped over to the side before realizing what Nema was doing. I remained calm.

"You would hurt your own charge?"

"She's a threat in enemy hands. We guard her knowing that she must be killed if we cannot secure her safety anymore." He stated, trying to hide the emotion, I saw the tears fighting to fall. I made them promise that if I was captured and there was no way to save me. That they would have to kill me.

"Well then in that case.." Haku lowered the senbon from my neck and threw them back out at the boys, causing them all to fall. "I'll have to kill you so that doesn't happen."

~Kalen~

This fight had to stop soon, I could no longer see how Nema was doing in his fight against Haku and I doubted those two genin could be of much help. Even if one was an Uchiha. Zabuza had made his mist thicker, and there was nothing we could do, Kakashi couldn't even see where he was with his Sharingan eye.

"Where would he strike from?" I asked, looking to where I knew Kakashi's body was. His eyes widened.

"Tazuna!"

We ran to where we last knew the bridge builder was, we arrived just as he was about to strike down. Kakashi jumped in the way as I fought off the clone behind him. He was cut badly and the sight caused his female student to scream.