"Kakashi of the sharingan eye, I presume. If it wouldn't be too much trouble…" he glanced over his opponent's shoulder at the others huddled together. "Could you surrender the old man?"
Sasuke perked up at the mention of Kakashi's title. Kakashi looked to his team.
"Assume the manji battle formation! Protect Mr. Tazuna. All of you stay out of the fight. That's the kind of teamwork this situation demands. And now, Zabuza," Kakashi lifted his headband to reveal a cardinal red eye, a bright contrast to the inky darkness of his other eye. The red eye had black circle in the center, with three tomoe, markings resembling commas, circled around it. "Shall we?"
The deadliness of those eyes as they peered into their opponent was a surprise to all, and most certainly Nishira. She couldn't help her gaze as it kept flicking from Zabuza back to Kakashi, her lips pursed in contemplation.
"Ah! To face the legendary sharingan eye so early in our acquaintance. This is an honour"
Naruto piped up. "You keep calling it a sharingan eye. What the heck is it?"
Sasuke waited a beat before answering, the tension pinching his shoulder and fist clenched at his side. He swallowed the bile of anger before calmly explaining to Naruto. The venom tinted his words despite his iron clad restraint.
"Shinobi who have the sharingan eye have mastered a form of ocular ninjutsu, or dojutsu. It enables them to penetrate and see the reality behind any illusion or spell. And to reflect the power of the magics they penetrate back on those who cast them. A mirror wheel, or sharingan, eye is one of several types used by the masters." Sasuke reflected. "And there's more."
Zabuza chuckled darkly.
"Heh-heh exactly. There is more indeed. Most formidable of all is the acuity with which the sharingan can discern and then duplicate its opponent's greatest skill. When I was an assassin for the Kirigakure, I possessed the usual bingo book – a kind of who's who of our enemies. It had quite the extensive write-up on you. Including a mention of your impressive record. The man who penetrated and copied over a thousand different techniques… Kakashi the copy ninja."
Sakura looked to Nishira who threw a knowing grin at the younger girl's face painted with disbelief.
"But he's… Kakashi sensei is just…" her eyes travelled back to their teacher, with renewed speculation. Their laid-back unbothered old man of a teacher who was consistently and reliably tardy, a stark contrast to the fierce protector before them. Unobserved by most present was the deep glare that Sasuke directed at Kakashi's turned back. What the boy was not saying was that particular ability was unique to few members of the Uchiha clan only, his clan. Sasuke's nails began piercing his palm, drawing red crescent moon markings, as he desperately wanted to know how his sensei had acquired the eye, and who he had taken it from.

Zabuza squatted on the sword handle.
"Enough! Pleasant as this conversation has been, the time for talk is over. I'm on a very tight schedule to polish off the old man."

At the reminder of the threat to their client, the other four positioned themselves around Tazuna, Sasuke in front, Sakura and Naruto flanking each side, and Nishira at the back. Zabuza smirked.
"But Kakashi, it looks like I'm going to have to kill you first."

The sword was wrenched from the tree to follow its wielder leaping off and efficiently landing in the body of water nearby. Emerging onto the surface, Zabuza made a sign with his hand as streams of water danced around him, his sword tucked back into its holder on his back. The chakra festered around him like dancing mist.
"The finest of the ninja arts… the Kirigakure Jutsu."
And with those words, he simply faded into the mist.

Kakashi stayed where he was.
"He will come after me first. Momochi Zabuza of the Kirigakure assassin corps is a famous master of the silent killing. Letting your guard down around him buys you a direct trip to heaven. I haven't necessarily mastered every aspect of the sharingan eye so, all of you stay on your toes!"
Nishira could almost hear the kids' hearts beating through their chests, their fear was contagious as she gripped the handle of her ninjato a little tighter, in her gut a crackling need to keep them safe was foreign in her belly and yet fell naturally into place. Her gaze focused as she readied for them to become targets.

A fog rolled in around them with slow patience, building a searing anticipation of those wrapped within its haze and blocking the majority of their sight. An ethereal voice echoed through the mist, whispering in each of their ears simultaneously.
"There are eight targets."
Sakura looked wildly around for the source of the innerving voice.
"Throat, spinal column, lungs, liver. The jugular vein, the subclavian artery. Kidney. Heart."
A throaty laugh flitted around them.
"So many choices. What vital, vulnerable place shall I choose."
Kakashi deliberately looked around them, before throwing his hands into a sign, and closing his right eye. Nishira steadily controlled her breathing, scanning the dense fog. The feeling of bloodlust bled through the air, filling their noses and mouths, seeping into their lungs. It was heavy and suffocating. Nishira watched as Sasuke began to tremble, fear threatening to overtake him. Nishira steeled herself against the impending attack, this was no time for nerves.
"Sasuke." Kakashi called to him without turning to face him. "Even if he gets me, I'll still protect you." He turned his head to see them out of the Sharingan eye. "I will never let me comrades die."
An answer came through the mist.
"I wouldn't bet on that."
Zabuza reappeared in front of Tazuna, in between the three shinobi bodyguards. His sword draped across his hunched back as he looked up to make gloating eye contact with Kakashi.
"Shit!" Nishira turned to try and get them all out of the way but only managed to hook her arm around Tazuna.
"Game over."
A blue flash interrupted his killing sweep, Kakashi drove a kunai knife into Zabuza's belly, knocking the three younger members of team seven out of the way, Tazuna fell into Nishira's arms, the force sending her back onto her backside, the old man clumsy and heavy in her lap. Kakashi looked at the wound of his opponent and saw that water seeped instead of blood.
"Sensei! Behind you!" Naruto pointed to Zabuza who materialized behind Kakashi's open back. The fake copy on the end of Kakashi's blade disintegrated into a splash of water. The version at his back swung his deadly sword, catching his opponent off guard. Sakura's screams echoed in the clearing as the sword connected with his flesh, splitting it with fatal ease. Before the split pieces of Kakashi's body could hit the ground, his body shifted to water that splashed onto the ground.
What? He copied me? Zabuza searched around him for the real Kakashi.
His opponent's voice came from behind him.
"Don't move. Game over." Kakashi held a kunai to Zabuza's throat. Nishira watched her younger teammates let out breaths of relief. However, instead of the defeat they expected, the team was surprised to hear him laugh.
"You think this is over? You just don't get it. It will take more to defeat me than mimicking me like an ape… a lot more. But you are good. In that short of a time, you duplicated my water doppelganger technique. And by making your doppelganger say something you would have said yourself; you ensured all my attention would be focused on it. While you yourself used the Kirigakure technique of hiding in the mist, watching my every move! To bad for you…" his voice suddenly came from behind Kakashi. Kakashi's breath hitched. "I am not that easy to fool!"

Before mustering the energy to swing the sword. Kakashi ducked to avoid the giant sword, but Zabuza planted his sword into the dirt and driving his kick right into Kakashi's ribs, robbing him of breath, and sent him flying across the clearing into the water. Zabuza went to follow him, until he spotted black caltrops littered on the ground and stopped.
"Trying to slow me down. Foolishness."

Kakashi surfaced, curious as the water dragged unnaturally at his limbs. Zabuza appeared standing on the water behind him, which revealed his plan all along.
Art of the Water Prison
A thick orb of fluid and impenetrable water surrounded Kakashi, sealing him within its cold grasp. Too thick to fight his way out, he realized he'd been trapped as Zabuza chuckled.
"That prison is inescapable. You're trapped. You running around free makes it too hard for me to do my job. I'll finish you later, after I've dealt with all the others."
He made a sign with his free hand.
Art of the Water Doppelganger

From the water rose a copy of Zabuza, with identical eyebrows furrowed as it lay its eyes on its prey. Nishira stepped in front and looked over her shoulder at her teammates.
"Get back in formation. Should the opportunity come, I want you all to run. Promise me you'll run."
She didn't wait for their response. Pulling out a kunai from her pack into her free hand, she looked at the doppelganger and squared off.
"Hold on Kakashi sensei, I'm coming." This statement seemed to amuse her opponent.
"Alright child, you think you stand a chance against me?"
"You're not the only one with insatiable blood lust, Zabuza."
Nishira closed her eyes and held her free hand in front of her mouth, with the index and middle fingers pointed upwards. A breeze rolled through, and wiped Nishira away from sight, until only her eyes were left, she opened them and directed her rich mahogany gaze at the doppelganger Zabuza until she was completely removed from view.
"I've seen this trick before."
Nishira appeared into view above her watery opponent, throwing a kunai. He leapt backwards easily to avoid it, holding out his sword as an effective barrier. But Nishira disappeared again. A rustle in the leaves on the other side of him had the Zabuza clone turn towards it. Only to be met with the silent shadow of Nishira at his back. The ninjato sliced easily across his neck like through softened butter. Moments after separation, the clone transformed into water and gravity pulled it down. Nishira looked towards the real Zabuza, still holding his hand out and holding her teacher hostage. She was about to leap to his rescue, until he held up his hand again to her chagrin.
Art of the Water Doppelganger

Before Nishira, three more clones generated. She leapt back out of reach of the giant sword, a tricky and effective barrier between her and the prisoner. Without giving her a moment to breath, they leapt into action. She dodged and weaved as fists, kicks, and deadly blades swung around her. Zabuza's formidable strength was evident in every sweep of his limbs and sword, but his moves lagged beside her quick lethal strikes. She dodged it easily but found little opening to attack. She growled in frustration, knowing it wouldn't be long until she slowed from exhaustion at this pace.

Her eyes tracked each of them while looking for the opportunity to go after the real figure of Zabuza. She looked out onto the water towards him and saw the mask covering his lower face shift as though he were smirking. From behind her, a voice announced her mistake.
"Taking your eyes off the enemy is a sure way to die."
She felt a rough hand grab the collar of her jacket and throw her off her balance. Being flung around with such strength, had her jostled and rolling painfully until a tree trunk stopped her momentum, ripping a painful cry from her. Her necklace, broken from his grip, lay on the ground near the clone's sandaled feet, the evidence of the chain's mettle was the red mark that bloomed around her neck as she coughed.

Nishira shakily got up and gripped her ninjato, wincing at what would be a splendid bruise tomorrow. She got into a battle stance, bending her knees, and sprinted back in, her eyes alight in rage. Avoiding his offensive attacks, she danced around it and sidestepped his grip and spotted an opening, dragging her blade across the gut of one and swept up to slash from belly to shoulder of the second. They simply just reverted to their water form and disappeared.

She was about to face off with the third doppelganger, when a sound caught her attention. A fourth newly forming doppelganger appeared behind the group, who's attention was fixed on her. With quick thinking she raised her hand into a sign and narrowly missed being hit by the doppelganger in front of her by disappearing into the wind. Nishira reappeared in front of the clone that targeted the old man and her teammates, pushing them aside. Nishira didn't quite make it out of the way of his sword. The tip sliced neatly across her belly, and as he ripped it out, her blood splattered along the ground and coated to the end of the weapon staining it red.
"No!" Kakashi yelled from his prison.

Nishira's hand went to the wound putting pressure on it, the hot and sharp sting throbbed almost unbearably. She didn't dare look down, instead, she looked behind her to see more doppelgangers populating behind them, relentless in their pursuit. She looked back at her teammates, Sakura's bright green eyes stared at her wide in fear, triggering a deep instinct in Nishira.
"Get down! Now!"
They obeyed without needing to be told twice. Nishira removed her blood-stained hand and intertwined it with her other hand and made signs for a newer jutsu she'd been working on, praying it worked, she needed it to work.
Art of Tornado Wave of Destruction
A powerful chakra forming into an eruption that came from her chest, and with a deafening boom, it ravaged all around them, disintegrating whatever doppelgangers were caught in its wave. When it dissipated, Nishira swayed slightly from a spinning in her head, and pressed her hand against her abdomen again. She let out a shaky breath and closed her eyes against the electric tremors that wracked her belly. She grit her teeth, but a gravely voice made her open her eyes
"So close, but not enough."

Nishira opened her eyes to see another Zabuza clone, who simply backhanded her with enough force to send her sprawling. She stopped when a rock embedded into the ground connected with the back of her head, and the world went black.