Chapter 15: Dealing with the Demon

-o X o-

I focused, converting chakra to lightning nature, and concentrating it at the tenketsu of each one of my fingertips. Then, I started focusing on each tenketsu in my arm, concentrating chakra at each one. I felt my chakra get restless as I built up the negative charge from my elbow to my fingertips, straining as it looked for escape and balance. The pressure increased with every additional tenketsu I charged, and then burst before I could reach my shoulder.

Bolts of lightning chakra shot out of each charged tenketsu, and I had just enough presence of mind to direct them away from my body. Dozens of streaks of blue erupted from my arm in a wide cone shape towards the open clearing in front of me, travelling for a couple of feet before arcing to the ground.

"Lightning Style: Minor Discharge," I said to myself, breathing heavily at the exertion. Being a Hyuuga meant I was better at concentrating chakra at any tenketsu, not just my hands and feet. I figured I could make use of that, but so far, I could barely utilize the tenketsu in a single arm before losing control firing the jutsu. It was a bit slow to build, and very short range, but it was something.

I slumped to the ground to rest, and looked over at Naruto, who was glaring at a leaf in his palm like it had just insulted his mother. After Sasuke, Hinata, Akiko, and Naruto demonstrated mastery over water walking yesterday, Kakashi had resignedly allowed them to test their chakra natures. "Any luck, Naruto?" I called out, walking over to our packs to grab a water bottle.

"This is the stupidest training ever," he grumbled. "The leaf just won't split! Are you sure I'm wind nature? Do you think Kakashi's chakra paper may have been faulty?"

I rolled my eyes, not that he was looking at me. "I'm sure it was proper chakra paper. You'll get it eventually. For what it's worth, Sasuke and the others haven't made any progress with their elements either."

Sasuke had a natural lightning affinity, meaning his skill with fire jutsu was even more impressive. Hinata was earth nature, Akiko was fire, and Kobi had water. Naruto, of course, had wind nature, meaning that between the six of us, we accounted for all five natures.

I looked up and saw the sun was beginning to descend, meaning we were running late for lunch. But Naruto was stubborn as a bull, and I didn't want to leave him out here by himself as he trained. I grabbed a couple ration bars and tossed one to Naruto. "Eat this. We can practice for a couple hours still, but I want to be back for dinner. Tsunami's cooking is loads better than this garbage."

Naruto caught the bar and dropped the leaf to open it up. It was our third day in Wave, and Kakashi had told us that he was nearly fully recovered. We would likely begin searching for Zabuza's hideout tomorrow, so Naruto and I wanted to get as much training in as we could while we had the time.

Out of habit, I pulsed my Byakugan to scout the surrounding area, and this time I picked up something interesting. A beautiful girl- or rather, a boy dressed as a girl, was wandering through the forest nearby, heading in our general direction. He wore a pink sleeveless dress and had a few senbon hidden in a concealed thigh holster, but no other weapons. He also carried a basket in which he collected flowers, which I recognized from my time at the Yamanaka's as having anesthetic and antibacterial properties.

After a moment, the boy was in hearing range, and I decided to make ourselves known. "Hello?" I called. "Is someone out there? Did I hear something?"

Naruto looked at me a bit funny, but noticing that I had turned off my Byakugan, didn't say anything. The stranger stepped around some trees and into our clearing, a hesitant smile on his face. "Ah, hello, shinobi san. I hope I'm not intruding. This forest has some valuable herbs, and I like to pick them, when I have the time."

"No problem, you aren't intruding! We were just taking a break from the world's most boringest training right now," Naruto said cheerfully. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and this is my friend Tedashi. Who are you?"

The other boy shuffled nervously. "Ah, my name is Haku. It's a pleasure to meet you. Have you been out here all day? You must be quite dedicated, to persist at the, erm, most boring training, even as the day drags on."

"Believe it!" Naruto said exuberantly. "I don't care how boring, or how hard, or how miserable the training; if it will make me stronger, then I'll push through! I'll master this leaf splitting exercise any minute now, I'm sure!"

Haku smiled gently. "Ah, your confidence is inspiring. But why do you work so hard? You must have some great goal in mind to push you to such extents?"

"That's right!" said Naruto. "I'll become the strongest in the village- that's the only way that I'll become Hokage! And that's my dream!"

"Wow, that's quite a dream," Haku replied neutrally. "And you, Tedashi? Why do you work so hard?"

I looked at Haku for a minute and thought about it. I knew what drove him, and I wondered if I could say anything that would change how things would play out in the days to come, maybe give him a soft spot towards us that we could use to convince him to betray Gato. But after a minute, I realized that it was all unnecessary, because I really did have precious people I wanted to protect.

"I also want to become strong," I answered sincerely. "There are some powerful monsters out there in this world, and some of them threaten serious harm to the people who are important to me. If I become strong enough, then I can stand by my friends when the worst in this world rear their heads. That's why I train."

Haku responded with a small smile. "I see. I find that admirable. I think that when there is someone precious to you that you want to protect, that is when you become truly strong." He hesitated for a moment, then continued. "I wouldn't want to waste any more of your training time. It was a pleasure to speak with you, but I must be going."

"Our pleasure!" Naruto called out happily. "I hope we can see you again before we leave!"

Haku's smile didn't falter. He simply nodded and turned, heading back to whence he came.

Once he was out of ear shot, Naruto turned to me. "What a nice lady! And can you believe it? She was even prettier than Hinata-hime!"

I snorted. "Haku is a dude, Naruto." He recoiled in shock, and I continued, "I thought he looked suspicious- no one we saw in town looked anywhere near as well off as Haku, right? Something is odd about him. I think he might be the mysterious partner who fought with Zabuza against Team 7, the one with the Ice Mirrors. He was concealing some senbon in a thigh holster."

"No way!" Naruto replied, shocked. "Haku is a guy?! Wait, never mind that. She's… He's an enemy? But he was so nice! Why would he be working with a rogue ninja like Zabuza? And why didn't you do anything? We could have taken him together!"

"Maybe," I hedged, considering it. We probably could have taken him if we reenacted the canon fight with me playing the role of Sasuke, not something I was particularly eager to do. "But I have a better plan. Send a clone back to Tsunami's house and let them know the situation. You and I will follow Haku and let him lead us right to their base. Then we can sneak back, get Kakashi and Anko, and storm the hideout in the morning."

"Ah, yeah, good idea!" Naruto agreed, sending off a clone to be our messenger. "I need to talk to Haku again once we win and see what's going on in his mind, anyway. Let's get moving!"

I activated my Byakugan, and we started tailing our mark.

-o X o-

A little over an hour later, we came across a large building where Zabuza had made his encampment. I watched as Haku made his way into the building and towards Zabuza's room.

"He's in there," I said to Naruto as we reached the edge of the tree line, allowing Naruto to scope out the building as well. "Haku is heading for Zabuza's room, which is located on the second floor of the far side of the building. Zabuza has a bunch of bandages on, but it doesn't look like his wounds are too bad, as far as I can tell. He could probably fight just fine if he had too. By the Sanin, he has a big sword. That thing's taller than we are."

"Did you just swear by the Sanin?" Naruto asked, amused. "What are they, some kind of kami?"

"I thought you actually paid attention in history class? The Sanin are three of Konoha's legendary ninja, trained by the Third Hokage himself."

"Bah. I mostly only paid attention on the days Iruka sensei talked about the Hokage. Anyone less than Hokage are small fry, right? Anyway, do you need any more info, or should we get back?"

"Hmm, alright, just give me another minute to memorize the layout and key access points, then we can go. Haku just reached Zabuza, by the way. I see some of Gato's men in the building, but they all have civilian level chakra systems; they aren't ninja. It looks like he has a small treasure box in basement too- wait, what is Haku doing? He just jumped out the window on the other side of the building- Oh no, we got to go, now! He's coming this way!"

Naruto looked at me in alarm, and then back to where Haku had just come into view from around from the side of the building. Then we were off, sprinting back into the forest.

"How did he know we were there?" Naruto yelled.

"I don't know! Zabuza must have known somehow and told him. Shoot, he's gaining on us. I think we're going to have to stand and fight, we aren't going to outrun him-"

Even as I spoke, a barrage of ice needles flew our way.

"Incoming!" I called, but Naruto was caught off guard. Unable to see behind him, two icicles pierced his thigh and calf, sending him sprawling across the forest floor. I turned to face our pursuer, who gracefully landed a short distance away.

"It's a shame it has to come to this," Haku said coldly, forming more ice needles in the air around him. "Don't make this difficult. Surrender, and we'll exchange your life for the bridge builder's. You will live to fight on and achieve your dreams."

Naruto yanked the icicles out of his legs with a grunt, then turned to face Haku from the ground. "No way are we giving up without a fight! It's two on one, you should be considering your own surrender!"

Haku sighed. "Very well. Let me make the situation you are in abundantly clear. Crystal Ice Mirrors."

A prison of ice slabs formed us, and as Haku leapt into one, her visage appeared in all of them. "There is no escape for you now. So will you surrender peacefully, or must I force you to surrender painfully?"

"We'll never surrender to you, lady! Er, I mean dude!" Naruto shouted, getting into a combat stance.

"Only one is real-" I began to say, but Haku stuck before I could explain more.

All the Haku images appeared to draw two senbon and throw- but only one of the images was true. I could see the real one's chakra signature, the rest were just mirrored images. Even so, Naruto, still off balance from his leg injuries, didn't even see it coming as the two senbon struck him in the neck from the side, and he collapsed.

I almost panicked when I saw his heart stop beating and his lungs stop breathing, but his chakra still circulated, and I realized it must be the same pressure points that Haku used on Zabuza in canon to fake his death.

Two more senbon shot out from a mirror behind me, but I had the advantage of knowing which was the real Haku, and dodged them. I looked at the Haku image that threw them, even though the real Haku had moved to a different mirror, and tried to think of a way to fight back.

"I see you have some kind of kekkei genkai of your own," Haku's voice echoed in the chamber of mirrors, ominously distorted. "But it will not save you."

His chakra started bouncing from mirror to mirror as fast as I could track, and each time he released a spray of ice needles, firing from every angle. But by seeing which mirror held the real Haku, I managed to dodge all his projectiles at the small cost of some rips in my clothes. He kept up a constant barrage for about thirty seconds, then paused to rest.

"You have keen reflexes," he said calmly, narrowing his eyes. "And it doesn't matter which angle I attack you from, you react equally quick to a threat from any direction. Does your kekkei genkai give you some kind of chakra sense? No, your reactions are too precise for it to be a general sense of direction. More likely, you have 360 degrees of vision, and an additional ability to pick out the real me from the illusions."

I took a deep breath. If Haku wanted to give me time to counterattack by verbally dissecting the Byakugan, that was fine by me, but the accuracy of his deductions was a bit unnerving. I didn't have anything with enough power to break the mirrors, so I had to hit Haku himself to break the jutsu. But he was so fast, I could hardly track his movement between the mirrors, let alone take the time to aim and fire. And he hadn't shown any patterns to his movement yet.

"Hmm, you have a face of stone, Tedashi," Haku continued, his lips quirking upwards into the barest hint of a smile. He formed another set of ice needles. "That's a ninja skill in and of itself. I can neither confirm nor deny my hypothesis based on your reaction. But it doesn't matter. If you still refuse to surrender, I will increase the pressure until your defenses fail."

This time, she bounced back and force between a small number of mirrors in front of me, focusing all her attacks from one general direction, and forcing me backwards as I dodged. Figuring now was as good a time as any for a counterattack, I gathered lighting chakra at the tips of my index and middle finger, pointed them at Haku like a finger gun. Using only the two tenketsu in those fingertips should allow me greater control, even if it was less powerful. A spark crackled my fingertips, and I yelled as I pushed the chakra forward, "Lightning style, Lightning Pistol!"

Haku focused and crouched, ready to evade, as the ends of my fingers sparked. Twin bolts of electricity fired forward, one from each tenketsu- and almost immediately arced downwards to the ground, not even coming close to where Haku crouched at the ready. "Well, damn," I muttered, as Haku stared at me with a look of confusion.

Then he flickered to a mirror behind me, one that he had driven me towards. Immediately, he formed and released another volley of ice needles, and this time I was too close to properly dodge. I grunted as two cold spears pierced my shoulder, and another grazed my thigh.

And Haku was smart enough to press the advantage and continue the assault. Now that he had drawn first blood, he followed up mercilessly, steadily scoring more and more hits as my injured body didn't react quite fast enough. I summoned lighting chakra into my palm once more, and fired a wild blast in front of me, a half dozen bolts releasing from various tenketsu, but it was a desperate gambit and grounded out before hitting my target again. Realizing my defeat, I dropped to a knee and surrendered.

"I give," I said sullenly, pulling a few of the thin ice needles from my body. Whether by good fortune or design, the icy needles dulled the pain of the wounds they inflicted, and Haku hadn't been aiming for anything lethal in the first place. I'd taken a multitude of injuries, but they were all shallow and would completely heal within a couple days. Haku was the gentlest deadly apprentice ninja assassin ever to grace the earth.

The mirrors melted around us, and Haku approached me, ice needles hanging in the air around him, poised to strike.

"Pick up your friend. We shall return to Zabuza," he commanded.

I plucked out the last of the ice needles, then walked over to Naruto's limp form and hoisted him over my shoulder. "I really need to get better at lightning control," I muttered, quietly.

Haku heard it and smirked. "Yes, that was a bit underwhelming. Did you recently start learning that… what was it, Lightning Pistol attack?"

I sighed. "Honestly, I made that up on the spot. I only started learning how to expel lightning nature chakra this week. It's a tricky thing to control."

"Ah, you're a rookie then. Don't tell Zabuza sama, if you please. If he hears that I had to break out the Crystal Ice Mirrors and still took this long subduing a couple rookie genin, he'll lecture my ear off."

"Don't worry, I'll tell him whatever story you want if it keeps Naruto and I alive. By the way, why are you guys out here working for a thug like Gato anyway? You don't seem like the underworld bodyguard type if you ask me."

Haku frowned. "Yes, well, Gato wouldn't be my first choice for a client. Zabuza's either, for that matter. But we need the money, and it allows us to… no, I shouldn't be speaking of this. If you must ask questions regarding our mission, you may ask Zabuza, but I warn you that he may be less… civil in his responses."

"Noted," I said, trying to surmise as much as I could from the clues Haku gave me. They were rogue ninja and needed money. Kiri was after them, so it would be safer for them to flee to the other side of the world. However, they were still in the area, so they had some objective nearby. Wave Country was close to Fire Country, Noodle Country, Hot Spring Country, and Water Country. Of those options, most likely they wanted to be close to Water Country, particularly Kirigakure, probably because they had a stake in the civil war that was currently being waged there.

We arrived at their base of operations, and Haku led me up to Zabuza's room. We got plenty of odd looks from Gato's goons as we passed, but none of them said anything to bother us. Haku opened the door when we got there and ushered us in.

"Zabuza sama," she greeted, "I captured the Konoha ninja who were spying on us. We can use them as bargaining chips to trade for the bridge builder."

Zabuza growled lowly. He was standing now, leaning casually against a wall next to his sword, arms crossed and looking menacing. Had I not seen him struggling to take that position with my Byakugan when we approached the building, I could have been fooled by his laid-back demeanor. He was mobile, but still in significant pain.

"Why aren't they tied up? Sloppy, Haku. Bind them. And what's keeping me from just killing you two now, and then killing the bridge builder after?" he asked gruffly, glaring at me.

I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise as Zabuza released a small dose of killing intent. Enough to make a normal genin nervous, but not so frightened that he would seize up completely. Having felt the Kyuubi's chakra, however, the current display paled in comparison.

"Zabuza Momochi. It's an honor to meet the Demon of the Hidden Mist, one of the Seven Legendary Swordsmen," I said. Zabuza merely glared at me. I took a steadying breath, then spoke my defense. "You already fought the Copy Ninja, Kakashi, and from what I can tell, it was a close match. A rematch between the two of you could go either way. But my own jounin sensei has now joined him, and against the two of them, your odds decrease significantly. I think we may be able to work out an arrangement that gives both sides what they want, and which conveniently allows my teammate and I to live to die another day."

Zabuza, deeming me insufficiently cowed, upped the intensity of his killing intent. I felt Haku twitch a bit as he bound my wrists and ankles with thick cloth, then did the same to Naruto, who was still out cold on the floor. The way he restrained us bound our fingers tightly within the cloth, preventing us from making hand seals. Rock Lee or Might Guy could probably snap the heavy-duty cloth bindings with brute strength, but I doubted I could.

"You have nerve, kid, trying to bargain with me," Zabuza said coldly. "The only thing you have to offer is the bridgebuilder, which results in a failed mission for Konoha. So, the question is, what does the Copy Ninja value more? Your life, or the mission? Your life only has value to me if Hatake is willing to make a deal."

I held his gaze, willing my body not to shake as the killing intent continued to intensify. I took another deep breath to calm myself, then spoke again, a bit shakier. "If push comes to shove, Kakashi will value our lives over the mission. That is his ninja way, regardless of what Konoha would prefer. He values his comrades above all. The question is, what do you want, Zabuza? Surely, your highest goal isn't merely to please the dirtball known as Gato. Do you just need the money, perhaps to help with the Kiri rebellion? Is Gato simply the easiest paycheck? If that's the case, perhaps we can negotiate a better deal."

Zabuza growled again and glared threateningly. "You speak with confidence about matters of which you know nothing, little leaf. What makes you think I'm helping the rebels?"

"The slash through your headband proves you're not loyal to the current Mizukage," I began. "As a rogue ninja who carries the legendary sword Kubikiribocho, there must be a dozen or more Kiri hunter nin trying to track you down and reclaim it. And even so, you stay in Kiri's back yard, which places you at high risk. Why else, unless it's to contribute to the rebel cause? Or at the very least, you're keeping an opportunistic eye on things."

He stared at me, contemplating. "You're a clever kid," he muttered. He almost looked amused. "You're lucky you were born in Konoha, where they value such things. You wouldn't have made it past graduation day in Kiri, but with a bit of luck, you might make it to adulthood yet." He looked at me seriously, taking my measure. "You're not too far off base with your guesses. But Gato's offer isn't chump change. He's giving A-rank mission pay for this job, and even if you outbid him, who's going to hire us in the future once they hear we backstabbed our client when the enemy made a better offer? You're slick, kid, but you're not that good. I'll trade you for the bridge builder. You fail the mission, but you live to tell about it. If you learn to fight as quick as you talk, you might even become a real ninja and make it into my bingo book someday."

"You're assuming Gato is actually going to pay you," I countered, getting Zabuza to raise an eyebrow. "I may be young, but I know his type, and I bet he plans to betray you at the first opportunity. He'll let you and Kakashi knock each other around, then he'll sweep in with his goons and finish off the wounded winner- or so he thinks. He doesn't understand what a ninja of your caliber is capable of. If you just stage the fight with Kakashi, he'll come out with his thugs, and you can clear them out. Future clients will know that he betrayed you, and you simply took retaliatory action. You can keep the A rank pay, plus whatever else you can loot from his operations here, and then you can negotiate a deal with Konoha to compensate you for our release. I heard that the bridge builder was planning on giving Konoha a cut of the trade revenue generated by the bridge. You could probably negotiate a cut for yourself in return for your cooperation, and a steady source of income could go a long way in funding a rebellion."

"Quite a theory, kid," Zabuza said after a moment, relaxing the killing intent at last. "If you came up with that whole spiel on the spot, you probably deserve to live. But I'm not risking everything on the story of an enemy ninja. There's nothing to stop Kakashi from cutting me down during our little 'play fight' as we wait for Gato to emerge and betray me, and nothing to guarantee Konoha will cut me in to any profits. No, you have everything to gain here, and I have everything to lose."

I frowned, trying to think of what else I could say to convince him, but he seemed to have made up his mind. Naruto chose that moment to wake up and began speaking groggily.

"Eh, huh? Where am I? Ah, Tedashi! Ah, Haku chan too! Ack, that's Zabuza! What's going on?" he yelled as he flopped around in his binds and took in the people around him.

"So, not all Konoha brats are gifted with a silver tongue," Zabuza said with a snort. "Haku, bring them outside. Their comrades will likely be arriving any minute, and we need to be ready to negotiate."

With some effort, Haku hoisted each of us over his shoulders while Zabuza picked up his blade and lead the way outside, doing an admiral job of not limping. Haku unceremoniously dumped us to the ground when we reached the clearing outside the building, and Zabuza held his blade to our throats threateningly.

"I don't want catch an inch of movement from you brats," he said coldly. "Your comrades will come, we'll negotiate a trade for the bridge builder, and we'll go our separate ways. If you stay put and keep from running your mouths, I'll leave your heads on your shoulders. Got it?"

We gave minute nods, and Zabuza retracted his blade away from us. "Haku, if negotiations break down, kill them both. I'll need to focus on Kakashi, so you're in charge of guarding the captives during the talks. If it comes to a fight, kill these two immediately, then handle any minions he brings along.

"Yes, Zabuza sama," Haku said quietly. Zabuza nodded, gave us one last look, then headed to the edge of the forest to wait. We were still seated just outside the building and had a good thirty meters of distance between us and the ex-Kiri jounin; enough to give us the semblance of privacy, but I suspected he could still hear us if he wanted to, meaning I couldn't make further attempts to persuade Haku.

"What's your deal, Haku?" Naruto grunted quietly. Apparently, he didn't have as much faith in Zabuza's hearing as I did. "Why do you follow around a useless thug like that?" I visibly cringed.

Haku hissed, and a shadow crossed his face. "Don't speak that way about Zabuza sama. You know nothing of him. He took me in when I had nothing and no one. As a child, I was despised by my own parents and… turned out of my home. I was useless, and I would have frozen or starved to death, but Zabuza found me first. He gave me purpose. He turned me into his tool, made me useful. He is my precious person, and I will serve him with all my life."

Naruto reacted quietly, surprisingly contemplative. "I see," he said slowly. "He's like a grouchy Iruka sensei then."

Haku looked at him askance. "You have a sensei who rescued you from death?" he asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I do," Naruto said challengingly. "I don't know who my parents are or… or what they thought of me, since I never knew them. But almost everyone in my village thought I was a monster, a threat. One of my academy instructors even tried to kill me. But Iruka sensei looked deeper and saw me as a comrade, a fellow leaf shinobi. He risked his life to save mine. Now that I think about it, if he was the only one who saw me like that, and if he asked, I probably would have followed him to the ends of the earth as well. But you know what? I'm guess I'm just luckier than you, because now I have more than just Iruka sensei. I have Tedashi, and even Sasuke teme, and Anko sensei and Akiko chan, they all see me as a comrade, and became my precious people too. Maybe Zabuza's not as bad as he looks, but I still hope that you have a chance to meet more precious people too, Haku chan."

Haku tried to keep his face still, but I could tell he was affected by Naruto's speech. I decided to throw in my own follow up and prayed Zabuza wouldn't murder us mid-speech.

"I know, at least to some degree, what it is like to be rejected from your clan," I said softly, "I've heard rumors of the terrible things Kiri does to kekkei genkai users, and it sounds like hell. I'm sorry you had to suffer that. I know what it means to find precious people after the pain of rejection, and your situation was more desperate than mine. But I was telling the truth earlier, Haku. If we can find a way to call a truce between your party and ours, we can work out a real agreement. I know we're not from the same village, but Naruto and I would be willing to be your friends. Perhaps even allies if we can work out a deal between Konoha and the Mist Resistance."

Haku looked contemplative for a moment, and I mentally noted that he didn't contest the suggestion that he was part of the rebellion. Then he spoke softly. "I… I'll keep that in mind. But Zabuza comes first. For now, we must simply hope for a successful negotiation."

We didn't have to wait much longer in the grassy clearing at the forest's edge before Zabuza visibly tensed up. I activated my Byakugan and saw the rest of Team 6 and 7 approaching, minus Kobi, and with Tazuna in tow. Haku drew a senbon in each hand and held them to our throats.

When they emerged from the forest, Kakashi spoke up, his Sharingan already out and active. "Zabuza Momochi, we meet again. I see you tricked and captured some of our gullible genin. Might I mention, you look a little worse for wear this time around."

Zabuza snorted. "You're not in top shape yourself, Copy Ninja Kakashi. But it doesn't matter. We have the bargaining power here, and we'll make the deal simple. You hand over the bridge builder, we'll hand over the brats."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "You know the ninja rules. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made for the sake of the mission."

Zabuza grinned savagely, and even with his mouth covered by bandages, I could see where he earned his Demon of the Mist moniker. His visage was terrifying. "Ah, but Kakashi, you already played your hand by bringing the bridge builder with you. You knew how this would end, and you came ready to negotiate. No more games. Hand him over, or the kids die."

Kakashi glanced to me briefly, and I instantly realized what he wanted. I started building lightning chakra at my wrists and ankles. He moved his gaze to Haku, and I felt the senbon at my throat give way slightly as his hand went limp. With my Byakugan, I could see that Haku's eyes were starting to glaze over, the signs of a genjutsu taking hold of his chakra system. But unfortunately, Zabuza realized at the same moment.

"Haku!" he yelled sharply.

At the same instant, electric chakra exploded from the tenketsu near my wrists and ankles, burning through the bindings and flying randomly around me. I spun away and kicked Haku in the gut, who had been disoriented by both the genjutsu and the stray lightning bolts that stung him.

Zabuza sprinted towards us, and I felt the full force of his killing intent this time- whatever he had displayed during our verbal sparring before was just child's play. But Naruto was still bound and helpless on the ground at my feet, and something steeled within me as I realized I had to buy us just a second or two of time, or we were both dead. Anko and Kakashi were already sprinting towards us on Zabuza's heels, but the Demon of the Mist would get here first.

Haku hadn't disarmed me of my supply pouches, but I remembered Kobi's severed fingers, and I doubted that I would be able to successfully parry that monstrous meat cleaver of blade with a simple kunai any better than he could. I did have a second to gather my chakra though. Hastily, I focused on concentrating chakra at every tenketsu in my body, and quickly converted it all to lightning. Several small bolts zipped across my skin where my control faltered. As Zabuza drew back his blade, an instant before he was close enough to strike, I released it all.

I could tell that some tenketsu didn't fire correctly, but still, the result a vast multitude of small bolts of electricity shooting out from various tenketsu, in every direction. There was no chance to aim, and plenty of bolts grounded out uselessly to the ground, but it didn't matter. Zabuza's sword conducted several of the bolts right up to his hand, in addition to the few that struck various points on his body. If he was in peak condition, I'm not sure it would have even made him flinch. But in his weakened state, the combined jolt was enough to cause him to falter and stumble for a split second. Then Kakashi was on him, wielding nothing but a bare kunai, and yet it was enough to drive Zabuza back and away from us.

I felt myself begin to collapse, and then Anko was at my side, unleashing a flurry of her own flaming senbon at Haku. After creating a bit of space, she grabbed Naruto and I and leapt back to safety, dropping us off at Tazuna's feet. Hinata stood guard over us while Sasuke and Akiko sprinted towards Haku. Anko moved to help Kakashi.

"What was that technique?" Hinata asked quietly. Her Byakugan was observing the battle, but she made the intentional gesture of directing her eyes at me after she cut Naruto loose. My blonde teammate was also a bit stunned, and I realized I had caught him in my electric blast as well.

"Uh, that was my first time actually executing it," I said honestly. I rolled my shoulders and groaned at the soreness felt throughout my body. I had blown through nearly half my chakra reserves in one burst with the reckless attack. "I think I'll call it Lightning Style, Discharge. It felt wasteful though, did you see how many hit the enemy? I was a bit too panicked to count."

Hinata nodded. "Yes, I watched carefully. About half your tenketsu didn't have enough chakra built up to release anything substantial, but I counted 165 bolts fired in total. Nine struck Zabuza's sword, which I think caused the most damage. Three struck his body. Three hit Naruto, and two hit Haku. The rest just shot to the ground. So that's a hit rate of seventeen out of 165, or a little bit less than ten percent accurate, and that's generously including friendly fire and excluding the tenketsu that fizzled out."

I sighed. That was abysmal, but at least it was enough to get the job done today. Zabuza was really sweating now, and though Haku created a set of ice mirrors around Sasuke and Akiko, they were fighting back-to-back and defending each other well. Akiko was channeling the spirit of Asakura and was quick enough to deflect the ice needles with her katana, while Sasuke's Sharingan-enhanced reflections allowed him to do the same with kunai in each hand. It also seemed like Haku was slower than he was earlier; he must be feeling the fatigue as well.

Naruto finally shook off the electric stupor and climbed to his feet. "Next time, watch where you're throwing those things," he said with an amused grin, shaking out his limbs. "Looks like our allies can use a hand though. Do you have any ideas on how to get Haku chan? I thought about just charging in there, but then I realized how stupid that would be, since he took me out instantly the last time he got me in that ice prison trap."

I grinned. "Yeah, I think I have an idea," I said, feeling better as my chakra balanced out internally. I had used more than I had ever used in a single technique, but I was still fit to fight. "Do you feel confident about your substitution jutsu now?"

"Yeah, I can do it," he said, looking determined. "Anko gave me hell for not being able to do it in that training exercise, but I have it down now."

"Alright, good," I said, digging through my supply pouch. "Here's the plan. Make two clones, have them hold on to these, and then have them substitute with Akiko and Sasuke."

Naruto looked down at the fat stack of paper bombs I pulled from my supply pouch. He started grinning like a loon. "Yes! Your stupidest plans are always my favorite. Time for the debut of the Uzumaki Kamikaze Clone!"

We both beamed like the pyromaniacs we were, then took off towards Haku's ice prison. Naruto made two clones and split the explosives between them. When we got near enough, Naruto called out, "Sasuke! Akiko! Tag out!" and I felt a burst of chakra as he attempted the substitution. Both targets went along willingly, and two Naruto's popped into their place in the prison.

"Special Delivery Haku-chan! An Uzumaki Special, Kamikaze Clone!"

-o X o-

AN: The end of the Wave Arc is fast approaching, then on to the Chunin Exams. Some butterfly wings have been flapping.