"Talking"
"SHOUTING/SCREAMING/YELLING"
'Thoughts'
"Jutsu"
"Tailed Beast Talking"
'Tailed Beast Thinking'
Sound Effects
Date & Time
|Location|
[Flashback]
[+]
Chapter 6: Team Seven Vs Ice Demons pt 1
[+]
Next day
May 17
Dinner was being set when Hinata, Atsushi, Kakashi, Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari turned their heads towards the door at the sound of wood creaking and followed by the door shutting behind the people who entered.
Two figures entered the building covered in dirt and grime from their hair to toe even their clothes weren't spared, both barely managing to walk, bending their backs over as they struggled to walk up straight.
In fact, they both needed the other in order to hold each other up.
"Naruto-kun... Sasuke-san…" Hinata recognized the two.
"Why do you two look so dirty?" Tazuna asked the boys.
"We had a pretty interesting spar." Naruto answered with a grin, Kakashi nodded his head out of approval. Earlier he had seen both boys challenge each other in a taijutsu battle and was clearly impressed with their forms.
"So who won?" Atsushi asked.
"It ended in a draw." Sasuke deadpanned, he didn't seem happy about the outcome of the spar.
"Don't sound like that," Kakashi began, "You four are showing remarkable improvement in every aspect of your training. I'm quite proud of you guys." He praised.
Sasuke closed his eyes and let out a small smile while Naruto weakly fist pumped, a action which later resulted in both him and Sasuke leaning backwards then dropping to the ground on their bottoms.
"You stupid idiot!" The Uchiha insulted as the others except Inari began to laugh, with Kakashi and Hinata being the quietest.
"The bridge is almost complete." Tazuna informed the group after Naruto and Sasuke managed to sit down at the table. "It's all thanks to you."
"But don't push yourselves too hard." Tsunami warned the Genin, Naruto and Sasuke in particular due to late sparring.
"I wanted to ask this for a while now, but... why did you decide to continue on with the mission even when you found out I lied about the mission details?" Tazuna asked Kakashi directly.
"Not doing the right thing when knowing it is right is the coward's way out. Under a strong and valiant commander, there is no such thing as cowardice or weak soldiers." Kakashi quoted, much to the confusion of Tazuna and Tsunami. Seeing and picking up the confused faces he clarified, "They're the teachings of the previous Hokage."
"Well since everyone is here, it's time to reveal the plan," Areku began as he took a sit besides mask wearing Jonin, "As we all know Zabuza should make an appearance at the bridge tomorrow." Tazuna visibly flinched which the Kishida noticed, "Fear not we will allow not any harm befall you or your family members."
"Thank you."
"Now here is the plan, Kakashi and three of the Genin will escort Tazuna to the bridge to face Zabuza while I and one of the Genin will stay back here in case Gato sends some thugs here."
"So who gets to stay back?" Sasuke asked because there was no way he was going to miss a clash between giants.
"I wouldn't force anyone to stay back." Areku stated, "He or She will just have to volunteer so anyone?"
Silence followed that question for about a minute. Unknown to everyone, Inari was glaring at Naruto who seemed content, eyes closed and his arms on the table without a care in the world.
Inari arms began to tremble as he began to clench his fists and grit his teeth so hard and for so long that he didn't know he was doing it. His vision began to blur as he felt drops of water in his eyes.
"Why…" He asked.
"Huh? Why what?" Naruto raised his head out of interest as he looked at Inari, only to see multiple tears streaming down the boy's face as he stood up and slammed his hands on the table with force, an angry look on his face.
"Why do you keep pushing yourself to the point of ending up like that? All this training is just a worthless waste of time! Gato has an entire army, they'll beat you down and kill you!" Inari bellowed at the top of his lungs, ignoring the looks of awe the others were giving him, "Why can't you see it?! The strong always win and the weak always lose!"
Everyone could hear Inari's voice beginning to break, his tone starting to crack as he gave into his emotional depression.
Naruto shrugged it off as he closed his eyes and replied, "Speak for yourself! With me here, something like that won't happen with me around."
"Shut up!" Inari bawled his eyes out, closing his eyes tightly as he remembered Kaiza getting executed in front of his eyes, "It makes me sick, how you go through life just laughing everything off without a care in the world! You don't know anything about this country, you're just being nosy! You don't know one bit about how it feels like to suffer and to be treated like a worm!"
Naruto's body movement stiffened as he dipped his head further down towards the darkness of his arms. Hinata let out a quiet gasp as she knew that Inari was starting to push Naruto's buttons, she glanced at Sasuke to see him giving Inari a look of anger and disgust, Atsushi remained silent but was glaring at the boy with fury.
"Just look at you, crying and whining as if you're some sorry little helpless victim!" Naruto growled as he sent a feral gaze of daggers straight into Inari's eyes, causing him to freeze up on the spot, "For all I care... a spineless crybaby like you can just keep on crying!"
Inari immediately looked at Naruto out of shock before breaking down in the spot, not being able to handle how vicious Naruto was being towards him.
Tsunami quickly ran over to Inari in an attempt to comfort him, only for her son to shove her arm away and run out of the house.
Naruto pushed himself out of the chair, declaring that he had lost his appetite before leaving the dinner table for where he was sleeping in the house.
Atsushi stood up out of his chair preparing to go after Inari, but Kakashi stopped him.
"I will go after Inari." The Jonin said.
[+]
|Outside Tazuna's house|
Inari heard footsteps on the hard wooden floor; someone came after him, probably his mother.
To his surprise, it wasn't Tsunami, or even Tazuna, it was Kakashi, no doubt here to scold him for lashing out at Naruto.
"May I join you."
That statement was not a question.
"Just save it, I know you're here to tell me to take back what I said, well I'm not! I was only telling you the truth!" Inari exclaimed loudly, hoping that with putting force into his voice that Kakashi would just leave.
Kakashi didn't answer as Inari heard the sound of footsteps coming closer to him. Inari glanced at the man as he took a seat next to him.
"Tazuna-san told us what happened to your father…" Kakashi started.
Inari narrowed his eyes out of anger, Naruto knew?! He knew, and he had the audacity to say what he said?!
"Naruto also grew up without a father for all of his life. In fact, he didn't even know what the love of having a parent felt like." Kakashi continued, revealing that Naruto grew up without both of his parents or a parent like figure. "And he didn't have a single friend back in village, and the villagers themselves resented him."
Inari's ears perked up out of interest. So... Naruto was all alone? Is that was Kakashi was saying?
"He was all alone, but what about you, the pale-eyed girl, the green haired guy and the other guy?" Inari asked.
"I didn't make much contact with Naruto when he was younger. Naruto had met Atsushi, Hinata and Sasuke in the Academy. Due to... reasons that I can't state, Sasuke had become antisocial, and he deemed the others in his class as weak and not worth his time."
Kakashi paused to let that sink in.
"On the other hand, Hinata was one of the few who actually wanted to befriend Naruto. However, problems with her clan made her to lose confidence in herself. No matter how much she wanted to, she could never bring herself to confront Naruto."
"Atsushi happened to be the only one who actually succeeded in becoming Naruto's friend. He sees Naruto and the others as his siblings since he couldn't have any due to his parents' early demise. He acts as the elder brother to each one of them, offering assistance in times of need, always listening to their problems and coming up with solutions for them."
Inari was surprised at this, as when he overheard some of the team's conversations, they seemed happy.
"Despite all of this, Naruto never grow timid nor give up or cry. He's desperate to make people acknowledge him... it's his dream and he would put his life on the line in order to fulfill that dream. I think that Naruto just got tired of crying, and decided to do something about it." The more Kakashi said, the more InarI realized that he was wrong about Naruto.
He did suffer... a lot.
"That's why he knows the true meaning of being strong, like your father. Naruto is probably the one who can understand your pain the best."
"Those things that Naruto said to you earlier, while they seem harsh and outright cruel…"
Another long pause as Kakashi looked at Inari, giving him an eye smile.
"I'm sure he's told himself the same thing thousands of times." After that Kakashi left the boy to his thoughts.
[+]
May 18
|Unfinished Bridge, Wave|
"W-What is all of this?!" Tazuna exclaimed out of shock as he witnessed the multiple bodies of the workers on the ground.
Kakashi after the Inari-Naruto drama last night had formulated a plan which involved Naruto staying behind along with Areku to protect Tsunami and Inari in case Gato's goons attacked while the rest faced Zabuza.
Kakashi inspected the some of the victims, he felt their pulses. "They aren't dead just injured." He informed Tazuna before turning to one of his students, "Hinata!"
Hinata nodded, knowing what to do as she formed multiple hand signs, bringing her hands up to her face as she uttered one word, "Byakugan!" Veins bulged around her eyes as she began to scan the area around the bridge, eventually looking down into the ground, using the Byakugan to see through it.
She gasped out before crying out, "I see seven chakra signatures close by, five are lurking under the bridge! Six of them are the same person while the other one is different!"
'Water Clones, and the other person should be the hunter-nin.' Kakashi thought to himself, "You three, get ready! Protect Tazuna-san!" Kakashi commanded, prompting Hinata, Atsushi and Sasuke to take a defensive stance around Tazuna, forming a triangle defense with him in the middle.
A sudden thick mist rolled into the area, the same Jutsu from last time.
"Sorry for the wait... Kakashi." The chilling voice sent shivers down Genin's spines, "I had to make sure that I was rested and ready for this battle."
"Same here." The Silver haired replied.
A chuckle was heard before a wave a killing intent erupted causing the Genin's and Tazuna to fell weak in the knees, "They're shaking again." The Swordsman commented as he stepped out of the mist.
He was taken aback when said Sasuke suddenly smirked, "I'm shaking out of excitement." The Uchiha said surprising the nuke nin.
"Finally round two!" Atsushi declared grabbing a kunai from his pouch.
"Tch… water clones ATTACK!"
Kakashi have a confident eye smile at his students, "Go for it!" The three Genin reacted quickly, Hinata jumping over the blade and striking one of the clones in the chest, her hands were immediately drenched as the clone reverted back into water. Pivoting on her foot the Hyuga went after another that had managed to bypass her and was heading towards Tazuna, who had frozen in place due to fear. With great speed she jumped into the air and struck the clone in the back returning it to its natural state.
Over to Sasuke; he simply rushed the first one, sidestepping its blade and slashing it across the stomach. Wasting little time he headed towards another who welcomed him with a horizontal sword slash only for the Uchiha to avoid it by springing himself into the air then tossing his kunai at the clone's cranium. The kunai struck home and the clone turned back into water.
Atsushi ducked as the clone swung it's blade before attempting a leg sweep which the water clone jumped over while bringing its executioner blade down on the Kishida's skull. Said Kishida avoided having his head cracked by barrel rolling out of way leaving the clone to implant its blade into the ground giving the green haired the opportunity to finish it off with a backstab.
"Kakashi-sensei, above you!" Hinata pointed to the sky, where two more water clones were coming down on the group in a sneak attack attempt.
The Jonin merely pulled out some shuriken and hurled them at the clones, the Shuriken pierced though and water rained down.
"Hmm those kids got stronger, particularly the Uchiha." Zabuza voiced before turning to his side just as his companion walked out from within the mist, "It seems a rival has appeared for you, Haku."
"So you're the fake hunter nin." Kakashi stated analyzing him with his own eye.
"I'll fight him." Sasuke declared.
"Sasuke-san!" Hinata exclaimed out of surprise.
"Sasuke! You can't fight him all by yourself." Atsushi warned.
"I have to get him back for that little act he pulled on us. I hate conceited guys like that." Sasuke explained bluntly.
"I-I don't think that's a good idea…" Hinata whispered, Atsushi agreed with her but it seemed that the Uchiha didn't care about what they said, he was hell bent on fighting the guy identified as Haku.
"Alright Haku, take care of the emo brat." Zabuza commanded and received a 'Yes sir' in return.
Haku began to walk towards Sasuke, but then he soon blurred out of existence.
"What?!" The Uchiha gasped out of shock then immediately took out a kunai from his pouch and gripped it tightly. He heard a faint noise to his left and reacted accordingly.
CLANG!
The sound of kunai meeting senbon rang throughout the air as the figures of Haku and Sasuke were seen glaring at each other, albeit Haku's eyes were hidden behind a mask.
'Interesting, so he's able to react to Haku's speed but not how long?' Zabuza wondered before he began moving towards the biggest threat on the bridge - Kakashi.
"Hinata, Atsushi stay close to Tazuna-san and stand guard! Don't get too far from him! Without Naruto, we have one less person to help guard, so you cannot make a mistake! Let Sasuke deal with this guy!" Kakashi ordered as he gripped his headband.
"What if Sasuke requires some help?" Atsushi asked.
"You wouldn't be able to help because you will be dealing with them." Zabuza answered pointing to the mist beside them.
"Atsushi-san, I'm detecting 4 chakra signatures in the mist." Hinata informed.
"Look like Sasuke will have to wait." The green haired responded before dropping into a taijutsu stance. Hinata sadly agreed before following suit.
The mist cleared revealing four more Zabuzas who charged immediately towards the Genin, 'Please hurry Naruto-kun.' Hinata thought before both Atsushi and her charged back.
[+]
|Tazuna's home|
Inari was washing his hands in the bathroom when he heard a loud crash then his mother scream. He ran out of the bathroom and down the stair to find two men looming over his mother in the kitchen. Tsunami was backed up against the counter trembling slightly as she stared at the men with their swords.
"Mama!" He yelled in worry.
The two men turned to him at the same time, the one on the left spoke "What do you want brat?"
"Run Inari! Don't come in!" Tsunami yelled frantically.
"Should we grab him too?" The left one asked.
"We only need on hostage." The right one said.
Inari flinched behind the doorway. Hostage? They were going to take his mom?
The one wearing an eye patch drew his sword slowly, "Heh heh too bad… For him!"
"Wait!" Tsunami shouted. "If you dare touch my child I will bite through my tongue and drown in my own blood. Then you won't have a live hostage?"
Tears slowly dripped down Inari's face.
The right man laughed, "Be grateful to your mum kiddo."
"Aw, man… but I'm dying to cut someone!" The left man said.
"Relax. You gave your blade a pretty good workout before we even got here. So get over it and let's go." His partner said to him.
Inari sobbed behind the door frame as the two men tied his mother's hands together and dragged her away.
He cursed himself for being so weak. He was afraid! He didn't want to die! Inari cried furiously as he bemoaned his weakness. Then suddenly Naruto's voice came to him again, "Just look at you, crying and whining as if you're some sorry little helpless victim!" He looked at his hands. Inari thought about what his father had told him before, 'if something is precious to you. Protect it with all your strength! Even if it costs you your own life!'
'Everyone else is so awesome. So cool and strong… Can I? Could I be strong too like Daddy?' Inari thought. He wiped his eyes and stood.
The eye-patch man leered over Tsunami's shoulder as they walked. "Heh heh…. Such beautiful skin, so smooth and lovely, it's a shame not to be able to cut it."
"Stop dawdling!" His partner snapped.
Just as they were about to leave the premises of the house a voice rang out.
"WAIT!" Inari shouted. "Y-you get away from my mama!"
The boy charged the two men with a roar as they laughed.
"This kid is a waste of space!"
"Let's cut him!"
"Yeah!"
They slashed at Inari with their swords as Tsunami screamed and closed her eyes.
The men's eyes widened as their swords chopped into a log instead of a small boy.
"KAWARIMI (SUBSTITUTION)?!" They shouted in confusion.
A voice rang out behind them, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
Inari opened his eyes and looked up at a smiling blonde.
"Good job distracting them so I could save your mother Inari!" Naruto chirped.
"N-naruto!" Inari exclaimed.
"Hey isn't that one of Tazuna's body guards?" the man with the eye-patch said.
"Yeah." the other one said.
"Let's get em!"
They wildly charged at Naruto, hands on the hilts of their swords. What they didn't expect is for the Uzumaki to disappear in a puff of smoke revealing another log.
"Huh?! Where did he go-" Was all eye-patch could say before he and his partner fell down unconscious. Inari just gaped at the blonde who had simply chopped both men on the back of their necks and they were out like lights.
After securing the thugs, Naruto took a deep breath and faced the boy, "Inari I'm sorry for calling you a helpless victim yesterday, it wasn't my place." He apologized.
"It's OK Naruto-san and I shouldn't have also said what I said yesterday." Inari also apologized.
"So we are cool then?" the blonde asked, offering a hand which Inari shook.
"We are." The boy replied with a smile. Before Naruto could return the smile he realized something.
"They are going to attack the bridge which means Kakashi-sensei and the others will need my help!" Naruto immediately sprinted out of the house towards the bridge, he could hear the cries of pain originating from the surrounding forest as Areku and his shadows clones inflicted pain upon the thugs. Yea the green Jonin had things under control.
[+]
|Bridge Battle|
Sasuke and Haku parted away from each other, taking a step back as they both spun in place, preparing to strike each other with their respective weapon, once again locking in place due to a struggle with their weapons clashing against each other.
"I don't want to kill you, but you won't back off no matter what I say, right?" The shake of raven haired's head along with his grin all but confirmed the answer, "As I thought... but no worries cause you won't be able to keep up with my next move. I have the upper hand here!"
Haku held up his free hand and brought it up to his face then began making hand seals much to Sasuke's shock.
'He's forming hand seals with only one hand!' Sasuke widened his eyes as he realized that he will have difficulty blocking whatever the fake hunter nin was going to dish out.
"Hidden Jutsu: A Thousand Needles of Death!" On Haku's exclamation, the water left by the Zabuza's water clones rose from the ground and separated into a thousand bits, changing into the form of senbon needles they all flew toward the last Uchiha.
Said Uchiha formed the ram hand sign as he began to concentrate some chakra to his feet while the needles rushed towards him, preparing to strike him in a 1000 different places in order to kill him.
[+]
"Sasuke-san!" Hinata called out of concern as the needles seemed to have hit Sasuke, a blue smokescreen erupting as a result of the impact, however her concern turned to relief when she saw him leap out at the last moment with her Byakugan, using his Chakra to propel himself in the air before landing safely a couple feet away.
"Hinata above!" The Hyuga leapt out of the way of a blade which impacted the position she was seconds ago.
"Thanks Atsushi-san." Hinata said as she struck the clone.
"You're welcome, now focus." Atsushi ordered as he impaled a clone in the thigh.
[+]
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Several miniature fireballs raced towards Haku.
Said teen just made some hand seals, "Water Style: Water Encampment Wall!" Water rose up and formed a barrier which neutralized the fireballs.
While forming the barrier Haku had shifted focus off Sasuke who used that to appear right behind him with a right punch. Haku reacted quickly avoided the punch then leapt away from the Uchiha. Sasuke unhappy that he missed grabbed some kunai and tossed towards Haku aiming for the head, Haku let out a yelp of surprise as he crouched down to the ground, avoiding the kunai to the head.
However it turned out that Sasuke anticipated the crouch as he ran forward and nailed the teen with a spinning kick sending the fake hunter nin flying towards his master.
The impact of his 'tool' colliding with the harsh ground caused Zabuza to disengage from Kakashi, "Wait Haku was beaten in speed?" Zabuza asked with widened eyes, genuinely surprised by Sasuke's actions.
"You can't make fun of our team just because they mere Genin." Kakashi retorted as he continued, "Sasuke Uchiha is the rookie of his class! Hinata Hyuga is the village's little princess who packs a mean punch!"
Hinata blushed slightly at the compliment despite the situation.
"Atsushi is the glue which binds the team together and the last one likes to show off and he's number one when it comes to surprising people. He's the #1 hyperactive knucklehead ninja, Naruto Uzumaki!" Kakashi spoke with a hint of pride in his voice.
"Haku, do you understand that you're going to get defeated if you keep fighting like that?" Zabuza asked his companion, who rose back to his feet.
"Yes." Haku answered as a purple fire like substance began to radiate off of him.
"Wh-What is that?!" Atsushi wondered out loud.
"That's... cold air…" Sasuke identified, still confused on what Haku was doing while said boy began making hand seals.
"Sasuke, behind you!" Came Hinata's voice prompting the Uchiha to turn to his back to sight of ice forming behind then around trapping both him and Haku in multiple mirrors made of ice in the shape of a dome.
"Hidden Jutsu: Demonic Ice Mirrors!" Haku recited the name of the technique as he proceeded to step into one of the mirror that formed, shocking everyone present, except Zabuza of course.
Sasuke widened his eyes as he witnessed Haku's entire body appear on each and every mirror.
"Let's begin," Haku said as Sasuke scanned each and every mirror, "I will show you my true speed." Haku held multiple senbon in between his fingers as multiple senbon were thrown from the entire mirrors at great speed.
"Fire Style: Flamethrower Jutsu!" A stream of red hot fire shot out of the Uchiha's mouth and collided with the ice mirror. Unfortunately the Ice mirror didn't melt under that intense heat, it was still stood solid.
"My Ice is immune to all forms of heat so your fire jutsu has no effect on it." Haku revealed before continuing his as assault.
Sasuke yelled out in pain as the multiple senbon nicked at his skin and clothes, causing blood to spill out and his clothes getting ripped.
"Sasuke/Sasuke-san!" Atsushi and Hinata exclaimed in unison.
Upon hearing their cry Kakashi directed his attention to the mentioned student, "Damn it!" Kakashi cursed as he ran towards the ice dome only for Zabuza appear right in front of him cutting off his path.
"I'm your opponent, remember? He's a goner now that Haku has unleashed that technique." Zabuza retorted with a cocky smile under his mask.
Kakashi frowned but knew the only where to help Sasuke was by defeating the nuke nin first.
'Just hand on for a little bit Sasuke.'
[+]
As Sasuke continued to get assaulted by the senbon, he gave it his very all to keep the kunai in his hand gripped, trying to fight through the pain, spotting a chance Sasuke threw his kunai at a mirror in front of him in an attempt to shatter it.
To his surprise a hand popped out of the mirror and grabbed the Kunai, the rest of the body followed revealing Haku who turned the kunai around and was about to throw it at the Uchiha, who was still feeling the pain of the senbon.
However, the next thing they knew, Haku was hit in the face by a single Shuriken, causing a crack to form in his mask as the Shuriken had come from the outside of the ice prison. The Shuriken impacting the mask caused Haku to drop to the ground before immediately getting back up to his knees in order to guard himself.
Outside the prison, a silhouette of a certain blonde appeared.
"NARUTO UZUMAKI HAS ARRIVED!" The Uzumaki declared causing several sweat drops and face-palms from nearly everyone present.
'Just when I thought Oji-san and I had beaten that attitude out of him.' Atsushi sighed.
'That idiotic show off' Sasuke thought as he picked himself off the ground. He was covered in scratches and cuts from the needles, but nothing was fatal… yet.
'That idiot' Kakashi said to himself. Zabuza got a little laugh at Kakashi's facial expression. 'What kind of ninja does he think he is, barging in like that?'
Naruto threw a few shuriken at the distracted Zabuza, only to have them knocked away by Haku's needles.
"Hmm, so you don't want me attacking them? You're soft as always, Haku" Hearing from Zabuza made Sasuke that Haku was been holding back. He looked down at his body and noticed that the senbons hadn't hit any major organs even though the teen had deadly accuracy with senbon.
He hated to admit it but he needed Naruto help in order beat Haku, with the Uzumaki working on the outside and himself on the inside, Haku won't be able to focus on both of them at the same time which will leave him with a lot of openings. Sadly, the Uchiha would first have to swallow his pride and ask Naruto for help assuming the blond hadn't done what he just did.
"Sasuke, I came in here to save you" Naruto said, now inside the ice dome along with his teammate who was seconds away from beating the knucklehead senseless but couldn't as Haku resumed his onslaught of senbon.
Naruto made a bunch of clones to attack the mirrors, hoping that one of them would be able to get Haku, however Haku was too fast and the clones were easily defeated. Noticing that Naruto and Sasuke needed some help, Kakashi revealed his Sharingan, ready to fight Zabuza seriously and put an end to this mission.
"The Sharingan. Is that the only trick you have Kakashi?" The Swordsman asked mockingly, "You should know better than to show your moves to an opponent more than once." He finished clashing his sword with the Jonin's Kunai.
"You should be honored. You're the first opponent to see my Sharingan twice" Kakashi stated as they disengaged.
"Well I won't fall for the same trick twice!" Zabuza called out before making a hand seal, "Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Suddenly, the area around them was covered in a thick mist which Zabuza disappeared into.
[+]
Back in the ice dome, "Damn it. I can't fail here. I have a dream I need to fulfill" Naruto said out loud. Haku then experienced a flashback upon hearing Naruto's words.
[+]
[Flashback]
'Dream?!' He remembered himself as a lonely child. His home in the Land of Water had just been destroyed after the Mizukage's persecution of people with bloodlines. Soon he saw Zabuza standing before him. "An unfortunate child" Zabuza said. "A brat like you is wanted by no one. You will die with neither freedom nor dreams."
"Hehe, you have the same eyes as me" Haku said to Zabuza, striking some sort of emotion in the Demon.
[+]
[Flashback Ends]
"Dream. Becoming a true shinobi is difficult for me. If possible, I do not want to kill you, nor have you kill me. But if you come at me, I can harden my kind heart and come at you as a true shinobi" Haku said to Naruto and Sasuke. "This bridge is the place we fight to connect our dreams. Please don't hate me I just want to protect someone precious to me, fight for them, and make that person's dreams come true. That is my dream. For that, I can become a shinobi and kill you if I must."
[+]
Zabuza laughed at what Haku was saying. He knew that Naruto and Sasuke had not killed anyone yet and that they did not know what it was like to truly become a shinobi. Kakashi heard this, but couldn't see anything. The mist was too thick, even for his Sharingan. But he figured that Zabuza couldn't see either. Suddenly, about a dozen shuriken flew towards the Silver haired who just barely managed to block them.
"Impressive that you were able to see them Kakashi of the Sharingan." Zabuza complimented as he appearing behind said Jonin.
Kakashi turned around to see Zabuza's eyes were closed before the nuke nin retreated back into the mist. 'Dammit!'
"You have overestimated the use of your Sharingan Kakashi. Acting as if you could read my mind and see the future, but the Sharingan is merely a trick. Basically, it involves hypnotism and attention to detail. By using those two abilities, you can make it seem like you are seeing into the future when you are actually predicting. The answer to combating it is simple. First, I use the mist to make that keen eye of yours useless. Second, I keep my eyes closed to prevent you from influencing me. However, I am an expert in silent killing. I can kill you just by hearing your breath." Kakashi was worried by this realization.
Leaving the Jonin to the thicken mist Zabuza moved towards Tazuna, hoping to take out the bridge builder but to his surprise Kakashi appeared in his way. Angered he swung his blade attempting to cut the Leaf Jonin into chunks of Meat.
Kakashi had just enough time to throw himself backwards dodging most of the attack; however, the blade still sliced across his chest, creating a rather large gash. Zabuza slipped back into the mist again and waited for an opening.
Kakashi had once been in charge of the ANBU and the Sharingan wasn't his only trick. He gazed at his wound and came up with a plan, making a few hand seals he slammed his hand on the ground, "Summoning Jutsu!" In a puff of smoke eight ninja dogs appeared, "Earth Style: Fanged Pursuit Jutsu!"
[+]
Atsushi after dispersing Zabuza clones ordered Hinata to watch over Tazuna while he planted explosive tags all over the Ice dome. Once done he jumped a good 20 feet away from the dome then made the hand seal for 'explode' prompting numerous explosions to came to life.
[+]
|Inside the Ice dome|
Haku grabbed some senbon and prepared to launch them at Naruto but some explosions rocked the dome disorienting everything within it including the ice user as he misfired the senbon.
The needles hit Sasuke in the chest in what appeared to be the liver. Naruto saw his rival slump to the ground before he too joined as a single needle that failed to take hit the Uchiha struck the blond in the neck at roughly the same spot where Zabuza was hit when he was 'killed' a week ago.
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A/N: Thanks for all the reactions at the previous chapter, I really appreciate them.
Hope you enjoyed it. Up next part 2.
Please Review and follow.
24/22/20: Minor changes.
Total number of words: 5666 words
Jamesco1292002