4.
We camped out that night in a clearing. The boys got firewood and set up tents; I cooked the food and made a fire. The next day, we made our way through the forests that covered our section of Fire Country and to the coast. That was when the scenery really started to get different, and it felt like we were traveling for the first time, seeing new places. We emerged from the thickets of trees and out onto a black pebble beach. We walked unsteadily over the pebbles to where the edge of the water was lapping gently. I had never seen the ocean before. It came and left the shore in soft sounds. The water was slate grey, slightly foamy, and it looked freezing; a blanket of fog hovered over the sea and obscured the greyish sky, making it hard to look farther into the distance. There was a slight chill in the air, a salty sea breeze playing over my skin.
"Kakashi-sensei," I asked after a moment, "will all the hired missing nin be from Water Country?"
Kakashi thought about this. "Possibly," he offered after a while. "That country is close to here. And it would make sense to stay around this area, water being a Mist nin's element. But you shouldn't assume they'll all be missing nin. Someone could have gone to the official village with a job, just like Tazuna-san came to us."
I noticed Tazuna was listening closely.
We met up there, on the pebble beach, with a man and a rowboat. At least, I thought it was a rowboat until we all climbed in, cramming, the tiny vessel rocking unsteadily, and I saw there was an engine. The man didn't use the engine, and silently, he set out rowing us toward the Wave instead. When I asked him about this, he said, "We don't want to be found. No one's supposed to go in or out of the country anymore."
My expression must have said it all, and even Kakashi-sensei's eyebrows had risen. Just how big was the man after Tazuna, and why was he after him? "Tazuna-san..." Kakashi said uneasily.
"I know," said Tazuna, huskily, solemnly. "My story.
"The man after my life is Gatou, CEO of the Gatou Shipping Corporation. He's a billionaire. Underground, he sells drugs and is in the black market; aboveground, he's a ruthless businessman who specializes in the hostile takeover of other companies. By any definition, he is a very bad man. The Wave was a fishing country, an island, just going along. We didn't have much, but we had enough, and we were okay with that. Then Gatou set his sights on us - an entire country. He's the type of person can do that. He bought out all the other shipping companies in the Wave and pretty soon he was in control of everything: all official travel in or out of the island, all the fishing, everything. He's made people poorer and poorer and increasingly desperate, blocking any way off the island and insisting on special taxes for use of his shipping. He basically controls everything now. What he says goes.
"I began a project of building a huge bridge, from the island to the mainland, so there would be a way out and even a way to do fishing that Gatou couldn't control. He fears this way out, and that's why he's after my life."
"You're not the only worker on the bridge," I realized, "but you're its symbolic leader. He's targeting the psychology of the other islanders. He wants to go for their heart. That's why he's singled you out." I had become enthralled in the tale.
"And why he's hiring particularly vicious ninja," added Sasuke, nodding to me. I felt a thrill of nervousness and foreboding now that I knew who and what were behind the attacks. Suddenly, I was glad I had my teammates with me.
Then Naruto at last tugged on my sleeve. His eyes were the same big as before when he'd frozen up before the Onikyoudai.
"I don't understand," he pleaded.
I thought for a moment. "Remember when little boys used to play kings in the schoolyard?" I asked.
Naruto was still unsure. "Sometimes I saw stuff like that happen..."
I wondered if we were the first friends Naruto had ever had. I also wondered why. He seemed an outgoing enough sort.
"Well, then you know how it works. Usually, one king will become the leader, and he'll lord over the rest. But sometimes another boy comes in, and he takes everybody by surprise and everyone becomes awed by him. So the first lead king loses some of his power. The first king is Gatou, who wants to rule the island. And the new king is Tazuna, who's building a bridge so he won't let him."
Something clicked into place in Naruto's face. "Oh," he said. "Alright. Why couldn't you have just said so in the first place?"
"Congratulations, Sakura, you just did what Iruka-sensei failed to do for years. You successfully explained something to Naruto." Sasuke smirked as Naruto swore him out. But the lightheartedness inside the boat faded quickly.
"I've already told you that if you don't help me, things will just get even worse for my home," Tazuna said. "I will definitely die. My daughter and young grandson might die...
"Will you help me?" he asked at last, and in a way he was also pleading.
"This will turn into an A rank, or at least it has the potential to. But if we all accept the risks..." Kakashi-sensei turned to each of us. I personally was terrified. But somehow, I felt bound to help Tazuna. How could one say no to something like that? My teammates had already nodded, and so, after a long pause, I nodded as well. I hope I don't prove my parents right, was my first, absurd thought. "Alright. We'll continue escorting you," Kakashi said to Tazuna, and the man brightened up, at once seeming relieved.
We passed the bridge soon enough, a vast and unfinished pier-like structure, covered in abandoned construction equipment. It was made of a dark, thick wood. (Why Gatou couldn't just hire someone to set the dry part of the bridge on fire, I didn't know, but I was glad all the same that he hadn't thought of it.) There were huge, column like support structures for the bridge leading down into the depths of the ocean, holding the whole thing up. The sheer scope of the project was awe-inspiring.
"That's amazing," said Naruto, quietly, a smile filling his face. I'd thought he might be able to appreciate the drama and rebelliousness of it all.
"It's getting there," said Tazuna, but there was unmistakable pride in his voice.
We all looked quietly up at the bridge as we passed underneath, becoming engulfed in shadows, the quiet sounds of water all around us. We rowed through an archway hewn into the rocky cliff of the island and down a dark tunnel lit dimly by orange lights. We could hear a dripping coming from somewhere. We had been blinded by fog, but all of a sudden, the fog disappeared; the air was clear and we could see the light at the end of the tunnel coming for us. It approached closer and closer...
And then we were through and abruptly, blinking and startled, in the middle of a clear, sunny day. One could row up right to the edge of the city, the first houses of which were placed on wooden stilts before the coastal village faded away into dry land farther back on the island. In the water before the village, those same dark trees grew clear out of the calm, sparkling ocean. The houses and buildings were small, with wooden planks for walls and tin roofs.
Naruto watched everything in excited awe, and even I was fascinated.
Our boatman rowed us right to the edge of the village, where we climbed up onto the wood. My head felt muggy now, a tiredness setting in belatedly now that we had arrived at our destination. My mind, nevertheless, was buzzing with a frantic kind of energy. It was a bizarre sensation, one that I would learn was unique to traveling.
"This is where I leave you, Tazuna," said the boatman seriously. "Stay safe."
Tazuna nodded to his friend. "Thank you."
The man kicked in the motor and sped away.
We took up guard positions around Tazuna, in a formation, and he led us around the edge of the village and into more thickets of trees. It would have been like Konoha, except the trees were different - darker and more twisted - and there was the constant brush and scent of sea air, pervading everything. "I live out beyond the village, right near the coast," said Tazuna in explanation.
So we were walking down another winding trail toward his house, and I started after a while to get a peculiar feeling. I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting to see someone, jumpy, but there was never anyone there. It took me a while to puzzle out this feeling.
"Does anyone else feel like... we're being watched?" I asked at last.
My teammates straightened and everyone paused.
"It's probably nothing," I said quickly. "I don't mean to alarm anyone..." But everyone was already looking around to the underbrush around us, looking for things out of place, searching for an assailant.
To our surprise, it was Naruto who spotted something first.
"Movement there!" he shouted suddenly, and threw the kunai in that direction. I took a stance and so did the others, coming in tighter around Tazuna, looking in the direction of that bush, waiting and waiting... But nothing came.
"Maybe I hit him," Naruto said at last, with a vicious kind of hopefulness.
"I heard it thunk against the tree. It would have made a different sound if you'd hit someone," said Sasuke.
"Someone should go see what's going on," I said.
"Go right ahead," said Sasuke sarcastically.
"I'm not going ahead," I returned indignantly.
"Well neither am I, because it's a stupid idea," said Sasuke.
I was hurt. "Hey -!"
"Yeah, Sasuke, stop being such an asshole," snapped Naruto.
"Oh, for the love of God, I'll go look," said Kakashi, rolling his eyes at us, and he moved past us to root around in the bush, searching for something. We saw him pause after a moment.
"Sensei?" I asked worriedly. "Is everything okay?"
"They don't have you at knifepoint, do they?" asked Naruto, sounding oddly eager.
"... Not exactly," said Kakashi, and I couldn't understand the dryness to his voice. "It's not dangerous," he said. "Come see." I couldn't read his expression, but he was staring down at the ground.
We walked over curiously to look. Sitting there, frozen and dazed, shell shocked, was a white snow rabbit with a throwing knife embedded in the tree just above its head. "Naruto, I've heard of rabbits dying of shock from loud noises. You could have killed it," I despaired.
Naruto, clearly horror struck, kneeled down and began apologizing to the poor rabbit.
"Why are you all so worried? It's just a rabbit," said Sasuke, confused.
"Rabbit hater," I said, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Rabbit! Are you gone?! Speak to me!" Naruto was shouting dramatically, clutching the rabbit in his arms.
"You're all bizarre," said Tazuna fervently.
"But, Kakashi-sensei -" I said as I noticed something, turning around to him. "It's not winter and it's not snowing. Why would the rabbit be white...?"
I trailed off as I saw Kakashi. He had moved away from us to stand straight in the center of the clearing, staring at nothing. His face was serious. He seemed to be listening hard, straining...
"Kakashi-sensei?" I added, softer. Sasuke and Naruto at last turned around as well.
"Hey, Sensei," said Naruto, in a normal, louder tone of voice. He seemed puzzled. "What's up?"
"The rabbit was bred in captivity," said Kakashi at last, tonelessly, not looking at us. "That's why it's white."
"So... I don't understand? Is it somebody's pet?" I asked. Sasuke had tensed up, as if he understood exactly what was going on, but I was still confused.
A humorless smile flitted over Kakashi-sensei's features. "In a manner of speaking," he said.
I had an idea that the rabbit belonged to someone, and whoever it was, they were dangerous. I began to turn around to Naruto. "Naruto, why don't you put the rabbit down -?"
"DUCK!" That was Sensei's voice. I'd never heard him sound that loud before. Too late, I perceived a tell tale whistling in the air. I threw myself to the ground, Naruto threw himself to the ground, Sasuke yanked Tazuna down along with him in a none too polite way, and Kakashi was already down and then up again as soon as the threat had passed.
A huge sword, a massive broadsword in the shape of a butcher's knife, had been bodily tossed outward, spinning, attempting to cleave our entire group's heads from their bodies. We just barely got out of the way in time, the broadsword snatching at the edges of our hair as it flew over and past us. A man followed the sword, which stuck into the farthest tree trunk; he perched atop it, come out of hiding at last. I wondered how long he had been following us.
We walked slowly out into the clearing to meet him, almost as dazed as the rabbit. We were standing in the middle of a flat space of grass with a pond beside us. The man standing on his broadsword across the clearing from us wore camouflage, but his chest was bare, heavily muscled, and - most formidably, perhaps, for a ninja - it was completely unscarred. He, too, wore a cloth face mask, and his ninja marker was that of a missing nin from the Hidden Village of the Mist. I recognized it from the Onikyoudai.
He smirked. "Sorry," he said, shrugging. "Had to give it a shot. No use going through a battle if I could just kill the old man with slow reflexes."
Kakashi's eyes had narrowed. I had never seen him so alert. "Clever," he said after a moment, "using a replacement spell with that trained rabbit when Naruto caught you move. Even I didn't understand for a moment."
The other man paused in something like surprise. At last, hard to read, he smirked again. "I'll take the compliment," he said mockingly.
"I always respect a worthy adversary," Kakashi returned, calm, deceptively polite. "Momochi Zabuza. Jounin level ninja. Exile from the Hidden Village of the Mist. You're in my Bingo Book."
All of a sudden, Naruto charged forward, attempting a reckless attack. I had opened my mouth to shout out, but Kakashi-sensei beat me to it. He immediately put out a hand and held Naruto back, sharply.
"Stay back," said Kakashi, in a tone that was similar to his movements, to the look in his eyes. "You know how I had you fight the Onikyoudai? That's not happening here. You're not fighting this one. Didn't you hear what I said? Jounin. The only Jounin any of you are fighting anytime soon is me." Kakashi looked backward at Naruto, almost angry. "So stay back."
After a moment, reluctantly, Naruto took a step back, holding his knife tightly.
The situation hadn't made sense since Zabuza had stepped into it, and it didn't make sense now. Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate to reveal that his other, usually hidden eye was a blood red color, with three black tomoe circling around in it. He said he couldn't win in this fight without it. Zabuza called Kakashi "CopyCat Kakashi, the Sharingan user." He said Kakashi was also in his Bingo Book.
I tried to puzzle this out in my mind, from my place beside Tazuna.
Kakashi's eye must be a special chakra-enhanced eye, like with Hinata's Byakugan. That must be why the two names shared the same end root. When activated, the silvery, pupil-less Byakugan eyes bulged with chakra. They gave the user a 360 degree field of X-ray vision. The Sharingan couldn't have done the same thing, but it must be similar. Like with Hinata, it must run in Kakashi's family, and it must do something special, give the user some sort of strange power. But why did he only have one? Hinata had two. And what did Zabuza mean by "copycat"? What did the Sharingan do, exactly? Why did its power make Kakashi-sensei so formidable an opponent? Now was hardly the time to ask.
"Team Seven," said Kakashi, in a tight order, "form the swastika formation around Tazuna. Guard him, and stay out of the fight."
"What about teamwork?" Sasuke was, to my surprise, the one who dared to ask.
"Not interfering in my battle is your teamwork," said Kakashi.
"But what -? And what's with your eye -?" Naruto began. Not the time! I pulled him aside and the three of us formed around Tazuna. From there, we muttered to each other, without disturbing the fight.
"Zabuza is the best the Hidden Village of the Mist, Kiri, had to offer," I said. "That's why we can't fight. Kakashi's eye is a special hereditary thing enhanced by chakra."
"Hereditary -?"
"Inherited," I said. "Some ninja clans have special chakra abilities, passed down through the generations. They're called bloodline limits." (Ino had something similar, too. It wasn't a bloodline ability, exactly, but her clan history made her predetermined to do particularly well at her family's mind control spells. Most of the advantages my friends had over me went back to their bloodlines.)
"So... what does the Sharingan eye do?" Naruto asked.
To my surprise, Sasuke answered. "It can look at an opponent's technique, break it down, and send that information back to the user's muscles to have them be able to perform the same technique. It copies."
"So the only limitations would be if the opponent was too much stronger or faster or had better chakra abilities, or if the technique was hereditary and only certain people would be able to do it," I analyzed thoughtfully. "But Sasuke, how did you know all tha -?"
"Because you're right," said Sasuke, his voice hard, his eyes never off Kakashi. "The Sharingan does run in someone's family. It runs in mine."
My eyes flew open in surprise. "So how does Kakashi...?" I began. Kakashi was a Hatake. Not an Uchiha.
"Exactly," said Sasuke. "I would surmise that his mother must have been an Uchiha. But I don't know for sure." He sounded frustrated.
"Just ask him," Naruto suggested.
"Naruto," I said in exasperation, "do you not understand the tone right now?"
As we'd talked, Kakashi and Zabuza had traded barbs. Then, suddenly, Zabuza leaped off his sword and sheathed it at his back. He jumped from there and directly onto the water in the pond, standing on top of it, like some great mythic religious figure, chakra emanating outward from his feet to keep him standing on an unstable surface. At this, my team and I paused, staring in wonder. Then Zabuza made a hand seal and did a water elemental ninjutsu spell to make fog appear as if by magic in the very air around us, cold and cloying, hemming us in, until we couldn't see more than a few inches in front of us, could barely see Kakashi-sensei. As for Zabuza, he had completely disappeared.
That was when Kakashi-sensei filled us in, from where he was standing guard in front of our group, waiting calmly for an attack. He said that before he turned traitor, Momochi Zabuza was a member of the Kiri's ANBU - ANBU being any Hidden Village's black ops corps. Zabuza was an assassin known for his "silent killing" techniques. Most commonly, he would sneak up silently on the person through his self-created mist and slit their throat, possibly before the victim even knew what was happening.
"It is possible that you will be dead before you realize it," said Kakashi calmly. "And I cannot use my eye to its fullest potential in these mists. So don't let your guard down."
I was not exactly reassured. Swallowing, I took a stronger stance at my place beside Tazuna, taking out a kunai and holding it in front of me. I tried to keep my hands from shaking. It was hard.
"But on the plus side," Kakashi said after a moment, "if he catches you, you're only going to die." I would have thought he was kidding, but it didn't fit his tone or the moment.
Something about the wording, then, struck me as odd. "What else would happen to us if we were caught by the enemy...?" I asked, and as I spoke, my eyes widened. I'd realized the answer to my own question.
Kakashi was saying Zabuza was not prone to torture or rape.
This, strangely, just shook me more. It wasn't long before the mist gradually began to thicken and thicken, until we couldn't even see Kakashi anymore, though he was standing just a few feet in front of us. Then a voice began, Zabuza's voice; in a fit of ventriloquism, it echoed through the mists on all sides of us, each of us only able to see ourselves, feeling alone and isolated and cold, the voice coming from everywhere. Its heavy killing presence everywhere. Slowly, cruelly, it began listing all the points of vulnerability on the human body, cataloguing ways we could be killed, saying Zabuza could see all of us and could strike at any time.
I realized that I was dealing with someone who was insane. And that was a terrifying realization.
Stop shaking, I told myself. Stop shaking. But I couldn't.
Then Kakashi released his chakra out into the air around him, and suddenly the mists around our little huddle cleared a little. We could see him again. I immediately relaxed under the incredible chakra presence of Kakashi-sensei. It was heavy, but also oddly comforting. That strong person was fighting for us. I almost smiled at his straightened back.
Then I heard some gasping over to my left and I looked around - my eyes widened.
Sasuke clearly didn't feel the same way about the heavy chakra presence. It had just doubled all the stress put on him, and as Naruto'd had his breaking point, as I'd had mine, Sasuke at last had his breaking point too, and he had it in spectacular fashion. His breathing was erratic, sweat was forming on his brow, his face was pale. Then, in a sudden mad fit, he grabbed his knife and stabbed it toward his stomach region, his expression desperate.
Gasping, I reached over and grabbed his wrist. "Sasuke -!" I hissed. "Snap out of it!"
"But - but I can't - my life - it's not my own anymore - I can't stay here and wait to die - I can't - I can't -"
His voice didn't even sound like his own; his eyes were big and hysterical as they stared at me. I realized I'd never heard Sasuke sound afraid before. He was gibbering.
I had read somewhere, once, that the most talented are just the ones who push themselves the hardest, and are in reality the ones with the most delicate psychological balance. I'd never really believed it until now.
"What the fuck -?" Naruto, who had a gift for putting it like it is, was saying. He clearly had no idea how to help his friend, and his helplessness made me feel helpless, and damnit this wasn't working!
"Sasuke," I said firmly, "you can't kill yourself. Kakashi-sensei's going to save us. You're in the middle of a battle. If you die, Tazuna-san will be left vulnerable." Not sure what else to say, I ended, "Man up, you have a job to do." Then, frowning, I turned back away and got in my stance again.
But Sasuke's breathing had eased. After a moment, shakily, he nodded and seemed to regain his composure, retaking his own stance.
"Kakashi-sensei's going to save you?" Zabuza's voice asked after a moment, mockingly. "Such high expectations of your Sensei..."
It was not a promising start.
Thus began a battle of wits. Zabuza leaped suddenly into the middle of our formation, only for Kakashi to attack him and uncover him to be a Water Bunshin, only for another Zabuza to attack and uncover Kakashi to be a Water Bunshin, and so it went, back and forth, Bunshin attacking Bunshin. I was just barely keeping up. There were hundreds of little movements going on within the mists behind the scenes that I wasn't even aware of, as the two Jounin ran around, hidden from us and each other, put up facades to trick each other. I hadn't even been aware of when they'd both moved away to watch our group. It must have been when we couldn't see Kakashi.
Finally, it seemed we'd hit upon the real them, because they turned to kenjutsu and taijutsu, rather than tricks. Zabuza fought with his sword against Kakashi's hand to hand combat. Kakashi just kept dodging and dodging backward, sometimes with the help of small weapons and pieces of equipment to slow Zabuza down, until Kakashi jumped backward and right into the pond. It couldn't have been a mistake and must have been intentional. But... wasn't water Zabuza's element?
Sure enough, Zabuza jumped on top of the water and created a spell, a bubble of water with air inside it trapping Kakashi completely, leaving him unable to get out. Suddenly, we were vulnerable, and the only weakness I could see was that Zabuza had to use one of his arms and hands to hold the Hydro Prison Spell in place and the other to make one handed hand seals. Zabuza turned to us, and promised to kill us.
He created some Mizu Bunshin, coming hulking up out of the water to attack us, only a fraction of Zabuza's original power but still fearsome. As he made them, he talked. He went on and on about the superiority of his power because it didn't come from copies, and he insulted us and told us we were little children acting like ninja. "You don't seem to be listening," he said, turning his shark-like dark eyes on me, noticing my seeming contempt. "Let me tell you a story."
"The Hidden Village of the Mist was a vicious place. Vicious, and full of poverty. Its Ninja Academy was an intensive boarding school. In it, young kids were paired off from the get go. The partners had to sleep together and eat from the same plate, train together and work together. The graduation ended with the two children, by now best friends, forced to fight it out to the death against each other. One would die, and the other would become a ninja.
"That's a ninja. One who can say they've been through a life or death situation, murdered, and thus survived. You know how they found me? Amid the massacred ruins of a graduating class. I'd killed the entire class. And it wasn't even mine. I was nine.
"Demon. That's what they began calling me. The Demon of the Mist. They changed the whole graduation process just for me, eliminating the struggle between best friends.
"But what can I say? It just sounded like fun. Cutting my way through all those people. All that blood. I wanted to be a good ninja, and that's what a good ninja is.
"You three? I doubt you've ever even seriously injured someone. You're not ninja. And I'm going to prove it to you by killing you."
There was a quiet, hidden kind of sadism to his voice.
Then he and the trapped Kakashi-sensei disappeared back into the mists again. We paused, tense, waiting, waiting...
And at last, the Mizu Bunshin attacked, whirling out from their place within the mists. There was one for each of us, and then I didn't have any time to focus on anyone's fight but my own. The Zabuza before me, wholly intimidating, moved fast, blew past my taijutsu guard, and slammed into me with great force, lifting me off my feet. I was slammed to the ground; I was pinned down by the legs, by the neck, and also by the arm that was holding my kunai knife. I couldn't breathe...
But somehow, my body told me what to do. It had gotten used to being beat around by Sasuke. I used my free hand to grab a handful of dirt and throw it into his eyes, clawing across his face. His grip on my neck slackened for a second. He flinched backward, more annoyed than anything, but that gave me the chance to angle the kunai knife and throw it to my other hand, so that I caught it on the flat sides of the blade. I turned the knife right around in my free hand and I stabbed him in the knee, so that his leg slackened momentarily, water coming out of it, and I could get my leg out from underneath him and give him a hard knee right in the genitals.
I don't care how tough a ninja you are. Getting kicked in your special place by a girl hurts.
He doubled over reflexively, his eyes widening, a sound involuntarily escaping from him. I used my newly freed arm and leg to give myself purchase and slide out from underneath him, straightening his arm holding mine sideways at an odd angle. Now up on my knees, I did as I was taught; I hit over his elbow and under. He was just so ripped that it didn't break the joint, but it did allow me to free my other arm from his grip and stand up completely.
He looked up just in time for me to slam a particularly vicious and angry palm heel right into his nose, and the Bunshin at last dissolved into water.
I looked up, taking in a sharp breath, pushing my bangs back from my eyes, my bun in disarray. The mist had faded. Zabuza, curious, had wanted to see what his fights had come to, and Kakashi from within his sphere could see as well. I had defeated my Bunshin, and so had Sasuke, though Sasuke was bleeding - they were weak enough that we had managed to overcome them. They weren't Zabuza.
But Naruto, predictably perhaps, was having problems.
He was bruised and beaten; Zabuza had taken his hitai-ate away from him and stomped it underneath his foot, and he kept punching Naruto this way and that, smirking in cruel amusement as Naruto rushed back up to meet him every time, his taijutsu clumsy and untrained. "Naruto!" I called out, and Sasuke even made a step forward to go help him, but Naruto's voice rang out.
"No!" he called fiercely from where he was lying on the ground. "Don't help me!"
We watched in awe and worry as he shot himself forward again, skidding on his stomach on the ground, and he got kicked away by the head in a spurt of blood. That was it. I was going to help him whether he liked it or not! I ran over to him... only to find him prone on his back, bloody lipped and triumphant.
The hitai-ate was back in his hand. He'd made Zabuza lift his foot to kick him.
Naruto grinned up at me.
"... I... I'm so sorry, Naruto," was the first thing I said. "I should have made you train with Sasuke-kun along with me, I should have done more to help you -"
Naruto blinked up at me in surprise. Then he smiled, gentler. "Don't worry about it," he said. "It's me that slacked off. Not you."
Sasuke's terse voice broke in, and Naruto scowled amusingly. "Not to break up the moment or anything," said Sasuke, standing straight and watching the whole scene with narrowed eyes, "but we do still have a situation."
We looked up to find Kakashi along with both Zabuza and his Mizu Bunshin watching us - Zabuza curiously. Reassessing.
"Well," Kakashi broke in dryly, "I suppose it would be too much to ask for at this point for Zabuza-san to just let my little Genin run away."
"Zabuza would never let us run away," said Sasuke. "Even if we ran away now, he would come after us again later and Kakashi-sensei wouldn't be there. Kakashi knows that."
We were huddled, the three of us, near Tazuna, trying to strategize a plan. I looked over at Kakashi. Unseen by Zabuza, I saw him point. Run, I saw him mouth through his face mask.
"Are you sure he knows that?" I asked, wincing.
"If he doesn't, he should," said Sasuke firmly.
"But shouldn't we ask Tazuna which way he'd rather die?" Naruto asked dryly; maybe Kakashi-sensei was rubbing off.
"We have to save Kakashi," said Sasuke.
"But we should ask our client whether he wants to die now or later," said Naruto pointedly.
"He's right, you know," I added. "Tazuna-san." I looked up at him as sweetly as I could. "Is it okay if we go beat that guy?" I pointed.
"I'm the reason you're in this whole mess," said Tazuna. "Don't let me stop you." He was as bewildered as I believed my father might have been. He had the face of a man who knew he was out of his depth. Maybe it was better that way.
"See? Now, I have a plan," said Naruto, looking around to us.
"It shouldn't be hard to get through the Bunshin, at least," I said. "We've done it before. Naruto just has to stay back -"
"No, I have to go in there," said Naruto. "And not for ego reasons. I mean... I really do. Really really. But actually..." Naruto looked over at me consideringly and I thought maybe I shouldn't have spoken up at all.
"Well?" Zabuza began expectantly as we turned back to him. "Have you decided?" It was the Bunshin speaking, a cruel smirk playing across his face. He seemed amused by our attempts, more than anything. At least he wasn't telling us we weren't ninja anymore.
In response, Naruto made the hand seal and shouted, "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" He blitzed Zabuza with a crowd of Kage Bunshin, all coming at him at once, and my job was to hide within the mass next to the real Naruto - who grabbed my hand - and then we were running amid a whole crowd of shouting Narutos straight at a water-based copy of a homicidal man. And I was like, How did my life get to this place?
But I was also really nervous and then it was show time, so I didn't have very long to dwell on it.
Half the Narutos got around Zabuza's Bunshin, pushing him face-first toward me; the other half lifted me up into the air as I arced in a kick toward Zabuza's face. (Being a girl, I was lighter and more agile than my teammates.) Zabuza grabbed me by the leg and flung me away at the same time as he pushed all the Narutos away. "Pathetic," he spat. All of us were left skidding across the ground on our asses, which fucking burned by the way, and I was next to the real Naruto again, who was falling right behind a Kage Bunshin.
Naruto made the hand seal and whispered, "Henge," the first time he'd ever whispered a technique - I really would have to teach him about silent spells later - and he turned into a fuuma shuriken. I made a genjutsu, silently, another of the basic ones we'd been offered at the Academy. This one made something unnoticeable - easy to miss. I used it on Naruto as the fuuma shuriken, tapping it/him softly on my way by. I was just at the right angle to see the Naruto Kage Bunshin slip the transformed fuuma shuriken into his pack. All the other Naruto Kage Bunshin let themselves disperse, so that the copy remaining looked like the real one.
Naruto really did come up with good ideas. Who'd known having a prankster on the team would come as such a bonus?
"Fine!" said Naruto the Copy, acting as if in desperation. I tried to look suitably hurt and worried, dainty, curled up there on the ground behind him. (In my mind, I was concentrating on not letting the genjutsu go until the exact right moment.) "Let's try this!"
And he took out and tossed the fuuma shuriken to Sasuke, who took it and added his own regular fuuma shuriken in one smooth, flawless move only he would have been able to pull off. He threw them, in the shadow shuriken technique, with precision - straight past the Zabuza Bunshin and toward the real one. Zabuza jumped over and dodged the first shuriken easily without ever breaking his Hydro Prison. But of course, he couldn't see the second "shuriken" coming at him after the shadow of the first. I waited, and waited - NOW!
I released the genjutsu, and then there was another fuuma shuriken about two seconds away from Zabuza's midsection. His eyes widened. "What the fu -?!" He bent over backward, but Naruto transformed while right above Zabuza and left a deep cut with his kunai knife across Zabuza's mid section. Then, while Zabuza was crying out in pain, Naruto flew past Zabuza and aimed the kunai knife straight at Zabuza's arm, letting it fly.
Zabuza was forced to release the Hydro Prison to avoid the kunai taking out his arm, and Kakashi landed on top of the water nimbly on his feet, freed once more. The kunai, meanwhile, flung itself straight into the Zabuza Mizu Bunshin, who dispersed.
Plan successful.
Zabuza had gone for his sword and was going straight for Naruto in fury, bleeding heavily, so quickly I made a hand seal again and Naruto disappeared from Zabuza's view. I figured the notice-me-not wouldn't be strong enough, so I did the invisibility one.
Zabuza blinked and stopped in shock as Naruto disappeared. Then he realized what was going on. He released a pulse of chakra and the genjutsu broke, but by that time Kakashi had sped in front of Naruto, shielding the by-now-swimming boy. Zabuza looked around...
He saw me, lying all the way across the shore as the Naruto Kage Bunshin dispersed beside me. Zabuza's face twisted into a snarl, and even all that distance away I felt alone and vulnerable. "You little bitch -!"
Then Kakashi aimed a kunai at Zabuza's neck, Zabuza blocked with the broad side of his sword, Zabuza whirled back around again, and the two were facing each other.
"Not so fast," said Kakashi. "I'm your opponent. And I can tell you, the same trick won't work on me twice."
Sasuke hurried over to me and he even helped me to my feet, a sign of respect he usually only showed me after spars. We made a two person formation in front of Tazuna together, and after a moment, I waved to Naruto to try to swim around behind Kakashi and make it back to shore. Naruto's eyes moved around quickly, assessing the situation, and then he started the trek back to shore.
"Well. I guess I lost myself temporarily. I let go of the Hydro Prison technique," said Zabuza, feigning carelessness but breathing heavily with blood all down his front, his eyes frantic and paranoid.
"No, you didn't 'lose yourself temporarily'," said Kakashi. "You were forced to let it go. By my ninja. And by the looks of it, they even managed to injure you." Kakashi let his eyes go slowly down and up Zabuza's frame before coming to rest back on his face with deadly seriousness. There was anger, hidden in there too.
"Good job, team," he said. "I shouldn't have told you to run. It appears you can handle yourselves."
And abruptly, I felt pretty damn proud of myself.
The last part of the fight between Zabuza and Kakashi was even more puzzling than the rest of it. I realized what I was seeing must be the Sharingan in action. By the time Naruto came up to join our formation, Zabuza was pretty frazzled by it.
Kakashi kept doing Zabuza's movements at exactly the same time Zabuza did them. By the time Zabuza had finished a ninjutsu spell, so had Kakashi. They kept canceling out each other's attacks because each was an equal copy of the other. Their chakra skills appeared to be matched. In one memorable case, they made two enormous copies of elemental water dragons crash against each other, throwing water all over the shoreline and all over us. The water dragons canceled each other out.
They fought against each other, sword against taijutsu and kunai knives, a fascinating whirl of expert movement, but Kakashi was always exactly where Zabuza was going to be, blocking him.
Then Kakashi moved on to doing things even faster than Zabuza did them. And this part, I didn't understand at all. It appeared to be a sort of hypnosis - the eye appeared to be suggesting things to Zabuza even before he'd thought of doing them. That was the only thing I could think of, because Zabuza's eyes never left that Sharingan anymore, wide and panicked. Zabuza would try ninjutsu spells, and Kakashi would complete the spell before Zabuza, using the attack against him while he was unprepared. Kakashi had just copied, just knew, that many spells. He appeared to be suggesting likely ones to Zabuza's mind.
The Sharingan, I realized, was terrifying. It had allowed Kakashi to move through the mists, and that was weakened. Look at what it was helping him do now.
Naruto seemed confused, but I wasn't about to enlighten him. Zabuza seemingly had no idea what was going on and I couldn't risk him overhearing. Sasuke, of course, understood everything and was watching closely.
At last, Zabuza got angry and panicky, and that was when Kakashi went for the proverbial jugular. He finished Zabuza's technique before Zabuza could and pinned him up against a tree in a flurry of water and several choicely thrown kunai knives. And just as I thought I was about to watch my Sensei murder someone - I couldn't imagine a mere knocking unconscious stopping someone like Zabuza - something completely surprising happened.
Kakashi had just raised his knife over Zabuza.
"Can you see the future?" Zabuza had asked in awe and horror, looking upward.
"Yeah," said Kakashi in a typically dry, deflective way. "You're going to die."
And then two thin, sharp, weaponized needles came arcing down out of a place in the surrounding underbrush and pierced Zabuza through the neck. He slackened, paling, eyes glassy - dead instantly. And from out of the underbrush stepped a small, slim, dark-haired teenager in a Kiri ANBU mask.
"Wow, you're right," said the ANBU pleasantly, lowering his hand. "He's dead."
Kakashi checked Zabuza's pulse just to confirm, but it really was obvious to anyone who was looking that he was dead.
"Thank you," said the ANBU, bowing. "I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza for quite some time. Your recklessness and drama afforded me the perfect opportunity." There was a hint of chill to his soft voice, a tight sort of anger inherent in it. But it was impossible to read anything through that mask. It was why ANBU wore them.
"You mean, our competency in weakening the target afforded you the perfect opportunity," said Kakashi warningly, his eyes narrowed, in a way not unlike that in which he just spoken to Zabuza. "You, I would guess, must be a hunter nin." He stood from beside Zabuza's corpse, his eyes never leaving the intruder.
"What does that mean?" Naruto asked, and for some reason he seemed almost as aggressive and angry as the intruder.
"A hunter nin is an ANBU who hunts down missing nin to guard the secrets of their village. They usually move in groups," I said. "That's one of those lectures you skipped at the Academy."
The dry joke seemed to fall on deaf ears. Naruto was still glaring, disbelieving, up at the hunter nin. "Who the hell are you?" he asked at last.
"Naruto, what do you mean -? Why are you upset?" I asked, bewildered. Insulting a hunter nin was not exactly the smartest idea.
"Naruto, calm down, he's not an enemy," Kakashi added.
"I know that! That's not what I meant! He - he made us look like idiots! He just made all our effort meaningless! And he's not even that much older than me!" Naruto's face was twisted with emotion; he made a sharp hand gesture at himself.
"But he is older, Naruto," I said, worried. "And he said it himself. So did Kakashi-sensei. Without us, he'd never have had that opening. What's the difference, really, in who finished the job? Zabuza's dead. Let it go."
Naruto looked over at me pleadingly, weaker for a moment. "I just... I felt so good about my abilities for the first time," he said tiredly.
"... I can understand your disbelief, Naruto," said Kakashi. "But there are ninja in this world who are younger than you, and stronger than me."
"That's sick," I said, and my teammates looked over at me. "What?" I said. "It is. No child should have to kill people." Maybe I was still a civilian, in some ways.
At last, the hunter nin spoke. "The girl makes sense," he said, stiffly. "It is... distasteful, that such things exist. And she is correct. As... questionable, as some of your decisions to needlessly mutilate the opponent were... you did well. I would not have seen that opening had you not fought Zabuza successfully.
"For Genin, you are... impressive."
I smiled and nudged Naruto, who slowly faded from 'angry' to 'slightly suspicious.'
"And on that note, this should be a lesson to you," Kakashi added. "In battle, choices can happen in the blink of an eye. Never expect things to go in a predictable, linear fashion."
Sasuke and I nodded, and after a moment, Naruto did as well.
Kakashi turned to the hunter nin. "I would assume you want to destroy the body," he guessed sharply.
"Yes." The hunter nin leaped down and hefted the body over his shoulder with surprising carefulness, as if trying not to hurt the open chest wound. "I must take this body away. It is full of secrets."
The hunter nin leaped away silently and in seconds there was no one in the clearing but Team Seven and Tazuna-san.
I frowned thoughtfully. "I thought I remembered from the extra reading that hunter nin always burn their bodies on the spot, to better preserve secrets."
Kakashi was also looking after the hunter nin fixedly. "They do," he said.
And on that alarming note, and with the same fixed expression, he fell over onto his face and fainted.