Chapter 3: Fight or Flight
Leaving Naruto to rest after training all night again, the other members of Team 7 escorted Tazuna to the bridge. However, once they arrived there was panic. Tazuna's men were strewn about the ground, some injured and some dead.
"What happened?!" the bridge builder exclaimed enraged that someone had hurt his men. Much like several days before, the entire area became shrouded in mist. Kakashi instantly recognized the jutsu and ordered Sasuke and Sakura to be on their guard. They formed a circle with their backs to one another, prepared to strike.
"This is Zabuza's hidden mist jutsu isn't it, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. The jonin nodded as he prepared a plan of attack.
"I see you've still got those brats, Kakashi. He's trembling. Poor thing!" Zabuza's voice mocked from within the fog. Sasuke tensed at the jab. Suddenly, water clones surrounded the group.
The Uchiha stopped shaking and smirked. "I'm just trembling with excitement," he countered. Kakashi smiled at his student; the boy reminded him of himself.
"Go for it Sasuke," he instructed. Sasuke slashed and struck all of the water clones until they were nothing by puddles. From afar, Haku and Zabuza looked on impressed by his power. "Impressive," Haku remarked as the pair revealed themselves.
"My suspicions were correct. That whole bit with the hunter-nin was just a cute little act to trick us. You two are working together. Hiding behind that mask now is pretty pathetic." Kakashi's remarks shocked Sakura as she realized that her sensei was correct.
"You're one to talk sensei," the kunoichi added in reference to Kakashi's black mask.
Sasuke's mean glare locked onto the duo. "Hiding behind that mask is poor acting. I'm going to take you down." He raised his kunai for emphasis.
"Sasuke-kun! You're so cool!" Sakura praised as she clasped her hands together. The copy nin slouched as his student had just copied him, the copy nin.
"Go!" Zabuza directed to his partner.
"Right!" Haku started spinning towards Sasuke like a tornado. The raven haired nin hadn't seen a move like this before, but he didn't let it scare him. If he really needed to, he had a trick up his sleeve he could employ. He'd only save that if things got messy because he felt a long battle coming on and he didn't want to run out of chakra too quickly.
"Let Sasuke handle this Sakura. Protect Tazuna, and stay close to me" the leaf jonin commanded. Sakura got in front of their client with two kunai in hand.
Sasuke and Haku traded strikes. Haku was extremely fast, but the Uchiha was determined to win at any cost. After a particularly strong clash, the two spun around. Sasuke struck Haku's blade again, but he was stuck.
"Give up. I don't want to kill you. Besides, I'm faster than you." Despite Haku's attempt to convince Sasuke to back down, he refused.
"I'm not giving up," the Uchiha replied.
"So be it." While maintaining his kunai against Sasuke's, the masked nin began to flow through a series of hand signs with one hand. All of the nin, except Zabuza were flabbergasted. Even Kakashi hadn't witnessed something like this.
Finishing his hand signs, he yelled, "A Thousand Needles of Death!" He stomped his foot, and the surrounding puddle rose and formed numerous tiny pins materialized behind Sasuke.
Remember your training, Sasuke reminded himself.
Haku released the water senabon, and jumped back several meters. The collision of water caused a small explosion. However, Sasuke had dodged the attack by sending a burst of chakra to his feet. He landed behind Haku.
"You're even worse than Naruto. How stupid," Sasuke remarked. He tried to stab Haku, but the nin spun around and counterred the attack with his blade. Sasuke flung the kunai in his other hand, but Haku ducked in time to dodge it. In response, he swung his foot and kicked Haku back to Zabuza's feet.
"Seems I am faster than you," Sasuke bragged.
Moments later, the mist nin stood up. He held his hand in a sign as waves of blue chakra emanated from his being. The air became chilling.
"Hidden Jutsu!"
Sasuke looked around him as frozen structures formed an enclosed circle around him. His mouth hung open at the strange and forbidding jutsu. Flashing another hand sign, the mist nin entered the mirror. Each mirror populated the foe's image like a kaleidoscope.
Meanwhile, Zabuza approached Kakashi. " I am your opponent, right?" the mist mim reminded him. He looked over his opponent's shoulder and saw Sasuke getting hit left and right by the senabon. He was unable to dodge since he was caged in the ice mirror jutsu. A senabon hit Sasuke's left hand causing his kunai to fly out of the ice prison and land in front of Sakura. The pink-haired girl grew scared as she watched her crush become wounded and helpless.
In a rare moment of bravery, she charged towards the mirrored cage and threw the kunai to Sasuke, but Haku caught. Sasuke groaned in pain as he grovelled on the ground.
Kakashi wanted to help his student, but he had to take care of Zabuza first. His opponent would slaughter Sakura and the bridge builder if left unattended.
To everyone's surprise, a barrage of shuriken struck the ice mirrors and forced Haku out his mirror. The mist nin fell out of the prison and lay limp.
Not bad dobe, Sasuke thought. He knew it was that knucklehead without seeing him. Sasuke began to create a plan. It could work if Naruto stayed outside the jutsu and hidden. Unfortunately, Naruto, being the number one knucklehead, revealed himself and entered the jutsu.
"Don't worry! The hero is here, so everything will be ok now. Believe it!" he declared with a grin.
"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed as hope bloomed in her heart that Sasuke would be ok.
He would have been much more effective if he had stayed hidden. What an idiot. Looks like we'll be working on stealth when we get back to Kohona, the silver haired jonin thought as his visible eye twitched in annoyance.
Shut up dobe, Sasuke thought. There went his plan.
Zabuza moved to strike Naruto, but his partner stopped him.
"I want to fight him," Haku stated as he stood up. Zabuza withdrew and turned back to face Kakashi.
Again, Kakashi contemplated going to save the boys.
"Watch. Let's see how they do. Besides, I'll kill the bridge builder if you move," Zabuza forcefully suggested as if sensing Kakashi's dilemma.
He had very few options, including his sharingan. It would be difficult, but he would have to use it. He lifted his headband and activated his doujutsu.
"No matter. I've learned how to defeat the sharingan," his opponent claimed before he disappeared in the mist.
He struck Kakashi with his eyes closed, making the Sharingan's genjutsu ineffective.
"Your eyes are useless because I can kill based on sound alone," Zabuza explained with his kunai piercing the copy nin's hand. He retracted his blade and darted into the fog planning to finish off Tazuna. As a last resort, Kakashi decided to use one of his original jutsu.
X
The blond nin used his infamous shadow clone jutsu, but Haku was too fast and destroyed his clones. Then, Sasuke used his fire ball jutsu, but the sheets of ice remained intact. In anger, Naruto used his shadow clones again. Haku wiped them out, but Sasuke started to understand the nin's movements. It was time for him to use it.
"Sharingan!" Sasuke's eyes become blood red. He began to evade Haku's attacks, but Naruto was unable to do so. Haku recognized the red kekkei genkai as the sharingan and began to doubt his ability to win against the Uchiha, so he went for the weak link - Naruto.
The mist nin charged with force at Naruto to deliver the final blow, but Sasuke guarded the blond and took the hit. Naruto gasped as he observed his teammate. Senabon had impaled almost every inch of his form, and he was barely standing, fighting the pain and exhaustion.
"Why?" the blond asked quietly.
"You're my friend." Sasuke coughed up blood and slumped to the ground. "You better kick this guy's ass for me," he ordered as he shut his eyes and his breathing stilled.
The blond assumed that Sasuke had taken his last breath. Instantly, he became enraged. He and Sasuke may have just become friends, but he was the closest thing Naruto had to a brother. The loss catalyzed a growing pain within his body and channeled itself into orange chakra. It was so potent that it was visible. As the energy grew, the blond's wounds healed while claws, fangs, and slitted pupils emerged.
Outside of the ice prison, the two jonin both sensed this new chakra, and each initially wondered whether it belonged to the other jōnin. However, Zabuza determined that the chakra was far too powerful to belong to Kakashi. The copy nin recognised it as the Nine-Tailed Fox chakra. He prayed that the seal holding the jinchuriki wouldn't break free before he finished Zabuza. He drew a scroll, smeared his blood on it, summoning his nin hounds.
"It's time to finish this Zabuza."
The newly empowered Naruto attacked Haku with an unexpected ferocity. His barrage of needles were useless against Naruto's roar. Haku attempted a physical attack, but Naruto was able to dodge it and grab him. The jinchuuriki host released a powerful burst of chakra and punched Haku in the face, sending him flying through a mirror and destroying all the other mirrors as a result.
Once Haku's body fell to the ground, he stood, and Naruto charged at him with the intent to kill. As he did , Haku's mask cracked and broke away, revealing the face of the boy whom Naruto had met in the woods days ago. Mere inches from Haku's face, Naruto stopped his attack and returned to his normal form.
"Why won't you kill me?" Haku questioned. The blond responded with a weak punch to the face.
"I don't understand you," the blond snarled. He was puzzled by Haku's appearing to give up. Was it a rouse?
"I'm useless to my master. He is my precious person, and I cannot protect him. If I can't do that, I don't deserve to live. Please kill me," the foe reasoned. Naruto still didn't understand, but he could see Haku's defeated visage without him hiding behind his mask.
"I killed your friend. You should seek revenge," Haku challenged.
Kakashi's ninja dogs had successfully located and restrained Zabuza. Nine dogs gripped him with their teeth. He wasn't going anywhere.
"They were able to find you so easily because my blood got on your sword," the copy nin explained.
"This is the end of the line for you," he noted as he gathered chakra in his right hand forming his raikiri, the lightning cutter jutsu. Simultaneously, Naruto and his sensei rushed at their respective opponents. However, Haku moved in front of Zabuza at the last minute, taking the full force of the lightning jutsu. Zabuza took advantage of Kakashi's shock and flung his sword towards him, but Kakashi was fast. He dodged the blade and jumped back with Haku's body still stuck on his hand.
He removed his hand from the impaled body and laid the body to rest on the ground. He glanced behind him and saw that Naruto had carried Sasuke's body close to Tazuna and Sakura. With his sharingan activated, he could see a small flicker of chakra within Sasuke, but he didn't have time to relay that information to the rest of the team.
"Stay out of this fight and guard Tazauna," he said before dashing back into the mist.
Sakura gasped upon the sight of Sasuke's bloody and battered body.
"Sasuke-kun!" she cried in anguish as she crouched down and tried to rouse him. "It's no use Sakuran-chan," Naruto replied sadly. She shook her head trying to fight her welling tears.
"It's ok to cry now Sakura," Tazuna offered. She exhaled harshly and began to sob over the Uchiha's body. She loomed over him as her tears dripped onto him.
On the other side of the bridge, Zabuza was unable to strike Kakashi as he was thrown backwards with every attempt. Kakashi initiated the next attack and hit one of Zabuza's arms with his lighting blade. Then, he struck the other arm, leaving Zabuza unable to defend himself.
Dissatisfied with Zabuza's inability to kill Tazuna, Gato and his forces arrived to do it themselves. They were fast approaching the pair.
"Give up. There's no point in us fighting anymore," Kakashi declared as he stopped attacking the nist nin. Zabuza stood still and decided that the copy nin was correct. He dissipated his mist jutsu, making Haku's body and the others visible.
Gato walked up to Haku's body, and kicked it.
"Not so useful anymore," he remarked with a menacing laugh. Zabuza seemed indifferent which angered Naruto.
"Aren't you going to do something? Haku sacrificed himself for you! You were the most important person to him! He would do anything for you," the blond argued to Zabuza. Still, he stayed quiet and unmoving.
Naruto continued, "Haku died a tool, and he'll never accomplish his dreams." With that, Zabuza broke into tears and admitted defeat.
"You're right. I …." he trailed off. He reflected upon the pureness of Haku's heart and his devotion to him. He didn't even want to be a shinobi, but he did so for Zabuza's sake. Taking it upon himself to avenge his student, he tore away the cloth covering his mouth and borrowed a kunai from Naruto. With the kunai in his mouth, he charged through Gato's men, slaying anyone who got in his way despite being attacked himself.
When he finally reached Gato, Zabuza's body was bleeding and bruised, but he couldn't die until he took his revenge. He stood tall above the businessman ready to kill.
"We won't be going where Haku is," he stated with a grin as he stabbed Gato in the chest. The tycoon slowly descended to the ground. He coughed and hacked until he couldn't hold onto life anymore.
"Thank you for everything Haku," Zabuza proclaimed as he fell to the floor.
Without any way to be paid, Gato's forces decided to loot the town as payment for their services. Completely spent or passed out, Team Seven didn't know what to do.
An arrow landed in front of Kakashi as the villagers appeared armed with Inari leading them.
"Stay out of our village!" the young boy yelled as the other residents cheered. Naruto grinned and he and Kakahsi used their little chakra to create clones and aid the villagers. Realizing that they were vastly outnumbered, the mercenaries fled.
Naruto and Kakashi looked back to see that Sasuke had awoken due to the noise.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura smothered him with a tight hug causing him to cough.
"Can't breathe!" he choked out. Sakura removed herself and apologized timidly as she blushed. He could see that she had been crying as her eyes were red and puffy. He was reminded of when his mother wept after Itachi had saved him from Orochimaru. His female teammate could be annoying, but she only had good intentions.
"Don't worry about Sakura. Just help me up," Sasuke offered with a smirk. She nodded eagerly and supported him as he stood.
Their blond teammate ran over to the pair with their sensei trailing behind.
"Teme! You're okay!" the blond cheered. Sasuke smiled softly and waved.
X
Team Seven returned to Konoha after they buried Zabuza and Haku together followed by a night of celebration with the villagers. It took a week to get back to the village because Kakashi and Sasuke needed to take frequent breaks due to their injuries. Out of all of the unexpected twists and turns of their mission, the most surprising outcome was that Tazuna decided to honor Naruto for his contagious bravery and named the bridge "The Great Naruto Bridge". However, having spent a month with the braggadocious nin, Tazuna smartly decided to tell him once he was older and a bit more mature.
When they arrived at the village gates, a figure was waiting there and waved at the group. Sasuke groaned as they approached the village entrance.
"What's wrong?" Naruto questioned. Sasuke mumbled something under his breath about an overprotective brother and shot the blond a glare. They entered Konoha, and the individual walked towards them. He had sleek jet black hair pulled into a ponytail, and his coal eyes were identical to Sasuke's. His frame was lean and long, clearly meant for speed and stealth.
"Otouto, Kakashi-senpai," he greeted.
"How nice of you to retrieve Sasuke, Itachi!" Kakashi commented.
"I take it your mission was a success?" the Anbu clad Uchiha inquired.
"There were a few surprises, but we handled it well," Kakashi replied as he looked over his three students with pride. Itachi glanced at the other members of the team - the blond boy and pink haired girl. He decided to introduce himself.
"How rude of me not to introduce myself. I'm Itachi, Sasuke's older brother." He smiled at the pair, glad to meet Sasuke's friends.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be Hokage!" the blond proclaimed with a confident grin.
Itachi chuckled, "You've got a lot of work to do then." He looked at the female teammate waiting for her to introduce herself.
"Um, I…. I'm Sakura Haruno. Nice to meet you," she spoke shyly with pink cheeks as she tucked her hair behind her ear. She thought Sasuke was handsome, but his older brother was hot. He was tall, fit, and had a voice like velvet. She prayed that Sasuke looked like Itachi when he got older.
Immediately noticing Sakura's flustered state and blushing, Sasuke's gaze flickered between her and his brother. He decided that he didn't like it. She only acted that way around him, starry eyed and nervous.
He paused because he refused to believe that he cared. This was Sakura. Sakura was annoying, loud, and obnoxious. It didn't matter that she was the most analytical of their team, extremely caring, or had the most beautiful jade eyes.
Angry with his train of thought, he glared at his brother who only gave him a sheepish smile. It wasn't his fault that most girls were shy around him. Sasuke should know that being the heartthrob of his class.
"I need to report to the Hokage, but I'll see you three -" gesturing to the genin, " in a week, bright and early at 6 AM at our normal training ground." Kakashi disappeared from the scene in a puff of smoke as Naruto and Sakura groaned.
"We should go too, Sasuke. Kaa-san wants us home for dinner," the older Uchiha suggested. He turned to face Naruto and Sakura. "How about you two join us for dinner tomorrow at our house. Is 6:30 ok?"
The blond nodded enthusiastically. The opportunity to get to know Sasuke's super cool older brother was very appealing. "I'll be there. Believe it!"
"I'll check with my parents, but I should be able to go," Sakura said. She was trying to keep from hyperventilating at the thought of dinner with Sasuke's family. The idea was equal parts exciting and intimidating. While it would be nice to spend some more time as a team, Sakura wasn't so sure about Sasuke's family. The Uchihas had a reputation as being somewhat adverse to outsiders. They had gotten better with other nin in the past few years, but the overall clan still did not have a high opinion of civilians. Considering her civilian background, the kunoichi was nervous.
Before Sasuke could protest, Itachi gripped his shoulder to silence him. "We'll see you tomorrow," Itachi said as he led his brother back to their home.
Once they were out of Naruto and Sakura's earshot, Sasuke questioned his brother's actions. "Nii-san! Why did you invite them to dinner?" He crossed his arms and glared at his brother.
The older teen smiled apologetically. "Don't kill the messenger. Kaa-san asked me to invite them." Sasuke sighed. If his mother had a hand in this, there was no way around it. While his father could be strict, he was predictable. If he was caught out of line, Fugaku would just make him train more.
However, his mother was unpredictable and far worse. If she wanted to punish him, she was creative. Sometimes, she'd make him try a dessert she prepared or do his own laundry. The worst type of punishment is when she made Sasuke run errands for her which included dropping off little gifts of food to some of his less likeable clansmen like his cousin Inabi, who had a terrible temper and made fun of him for being shorter than him. The worst is when he had to interact with some of his female relatives. Most of the ones in his age range blatantly flirted with him and gave him love letters or their own gifts. It was obnoxious. At least Sakura didn't do that.
"It won't be that bad. They seem nice." Itachi tried to cheer Sasuke up, but he stayed quiet, brooding. His younger brother, upon turning twelve had entered into a somewhat angsty preteen stage. Their family, including Itachi, had a much harder time talking with him. He didn't like opening up and could be a little sensitive. Which is why Mikoto wanted to encourage Sasuke to lean on his teammates. He needed to be close to people other than his family.
X
"Believe it! I will be Hokage," the blond spoke.
"We'll see about that. You'll need to beat me in a sparring match first, which you haven't done," Sasuke challenged. The whole table laughed, even Fugaku.
He was just like Kushina, except for his looks. Those were clearly from Minato. Mikoto couldn't help the smile forming on her face when Naruto said his catchphrase, similar to what Kushina would say. She was delighted to host Sasuke's teammates, and even more excited to finally get to know Naruto. Now, she had a plausible excuse given he was her youngest's teammate. After her friend's death, she had wanted to connect with Naruto, but the village council, especially Danzo, had cautioned against it. They didn't want Naruto's lineage or status as a jinchuriki to get out to him. She obliged, but, in exchange, she requested that Sasuke be placed on a team with Naruto. Thankfully, the Sandaime had kept his promise.
As for Sasuke's other teammate, she was a bit shy and nervous. However, she was polite and very cute. The few times Sasuke spoke of her, he had complained that she was annoying. Mikoto figured it was because Sakura probably had a crush on her son which she found adorable.
"Sakura-chan, do you know what you want to do yet?" Mikoto inquired. Naruto had talked a lot during dinner already, but she wanted to know more about Sakura.
"Oh, I'm not exactly sure yet, but I'm interested in being a medic-nin." She felt uneasy with four pairs of eyes on her.
"That would be a great fit for you since you're very analytical and do well with theory," the Uchiha matriarch offered with a genuine smile. It was good that the girl had significant aspirations.
Sakura blushed at the compliment. "Thank you Mikoto-san." However, it puzzled her that Mikoto knew about her skills. The only way she would know of her strengths would be Sasuke, but she found it hard to believe that he would speak of her.
Said boy choked and coughed on his tea. He was taken aback by his mother's comments and very embarrassed. Suddenly, all eyes were on him.
"You ok?" the blond asked. He patted Sasuke's back until he recovered.
"Yeah. I'm good." He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and continued eating his food in hopes of diverting the attention. Thankfully, his mother suggested moving on to dessert and started clearing the table. Sakura offered to help, and so did Naruto, but Sakura stopped him.
"The last thing you need is to break Mikoto-san's china. I'll just take your dishes up with mine." Naruto grumbled but let her take his dishes.
Fugaku excused himself from his study since he had work to do regarding security for an upcoming event in the village, leaving Naruto, Itachi, and Sasuke alone in the dining room.
"I suppose that Sakura-san is the reason that you scored second on theoretical exams at the academy," Itachi remarked casually.
"Hai," he grumbled.
"Sakura-chan is really smart," the knucklehead conferred.
"It's good to be challenged by your teammates," Itachi further explained. His comment reassured Sasuke that he didn't find fault with him not being the best with the written exams. Sasuke's abilities as a shinobi were a touchy subject. Fugaku's strict and somewhat critical attitude in earlier years had made Sasuke sensitive.
"By the way, how does your mom know that Sakura-chan is a brainiac?" Naruto questioned aloud.
Trying to avoid an embarrassing situation, Sasuke merely shrugged. The other Uchiha caught on to Sasuke's discomfort and stayed quiet.
"Did you talk about her with your mom? Hmmm?" Naruto pressed with wiggling eyebrows.
"Shut up dobe," Sasuke spat.
"Ooooh! You have a crush on Sakura-chan!" the blond teased.
"I do not, so be quiet!" Sasuke lowered his voice so as to not alert Sakura or his mother. If either of them got any ideas, it could be disastrous. He didn't want his mother to play matchmaker, and he didn't want Sakura to think he was interested in her because he wasn't. She was a teammate, and recently a friend.
Naruto stopped baiting him, but he had a smug expression. His arms were crossed, and he had a ghost of a smirk, as if he had discovered some life changing secret. Sasuke inwardly groaned. He had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last time Naruto teased him about this alleged crush.
From across the table, Itachi observed the interaction with quiet amusement. Now, he couldn't help but wonder if his brother was interested in Sakura given his flustered reaction to the teasing and his mother's remarks.
Sakura and Mikoto returned to the dining room with dango and dessert plates in hand.
"I heard you two yelling all the way from the kitchen! If you keep arguing, I'm going to have to sit between you," Sakura scolded with her hands on her hips.
The blond gulped. He was aware that violent disciplining could follow Sakura's yelling. It would be very uncool if he got beat up by her in front of Sasuke's badass Anbu brother.
"Don't worry Sakura-chan! Everything is fine," the blond answered with his hands up in surrender. She raised an eyebrow and glanced between the bickering pair. "It better be." She sat down and helped Mikoto serve dessert.
The homemade dango was warm and scrumptious. Naruto licked his fingers and sighed constantly. He had never had a homemade meal this good before. The few times he attempted cooking were disastrous, so he ended up eating instant ramen anyways.
"Mikoto-san, thank you so much for hosting us!" Sakura stood up and bowed to the matriarch.
Abruptly, the jinchuriki stood up. "Oh yeah! Thank you! The food was great! It might even be better than Ichiraku!" Mikoto thanked the pair and sent them home with leftovers and an invitation to visit whenever they wanted to do so.
The whole walk out of the compound, Naruto had been strangely quiet. Sakura was concerned because Naruto was normally chatty. It occurred to her that he might have been reminded of his lack of family. He didn't talk about it much, but she knew he was an orphan. She couldn't imagine not having her loving mom or quirky dad to come home to. No home cooked meals. No constant company. No one to share her fears and dreams with.
"Hey, Naruto?"
"What's up Sakura-chan?"
"Take my leftovers. I didn't want to be rude and refuse them, but there's plenty of food at my house." He wanted to protest, but he accepted the kind gesture.
"Thanks Sakura-chan!" She beamed at him.
After having dinner with the Uchihas he was a little jealous. He longed for the comfort and warmth of a family. His friend was more lucky than he knew. At times, family felt like an unattainable and unfamiliar concept.
Looking down at the leftovers in his arms, he smiled. Actually, he did have a family. He'd be ok.
X
From the shadows, a figure in black approached the cave. He entered and handed the snake sannin a package.
"Here are the IDs and documents. You'll need them to enter the village."
Orochimaru accepted the envelope with a sly smile. "Give Danzo my thanks Anbu-san." The root agent nodded and disappeared into the night.