Previously
The rest of his shift and the night went by swiftly.
When morning came, Kakashi was woken by soft kisses peppering the back of his neck. The silver-haired man sleepily laughed as Katsuro tightened his embrace.
"Good morning, love." Katsuro greeted warmly. Kakashi turned his head to receive a good morning kiss from the younger.
"Mm. Good morning to you, too." They stayed snuggled up like this for a moment, just taking in each other's warmth and love.
"KAKASHI-SENSEI! KATSURO! WAKE UP!" The shrill voice of a certain female pelted their ears.
The two groaned.
"There went our quiet morning," the genin deadpanned. Kakashi laughed and the two got up and ready to start the day.
The two exits the tent to the sight of Tazuna crawling from his tent with a pained expression and a hand covering his ear. Sasuke was disassembling his tent and ignoring Sakura who was trying to get his attention.
"Ohayo-minna! I hope everyone rested well!" Kakashi cheerfully greeted. Sakura and Tazuna returned the sentiment while Sasuke grunted.
Everyone took out their morning rations of granola bars and dried fruit along with their canteens of water. When everyone was done and camp cleaned up, the group continued on their mission.
As they came closer and closer to the ocean a heavy fog began to set in. A few minutes later and Katsuro could feel two powerful chakras signatures, one stronger than the other. He dropped back some to walk next to Kakashi.
"There are two strong signatures further ahead," he spoke lowly. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and gestured for the sensor to pull ahead.
"Okay, Team. The fog is getting denser and due to the fact that Gato had hired ninja, we can expect even stronger opponents the closer we get to Wave," the jōnin warned. Everyone gave their affirmative and kept their vigilance.
About 30 minutes later, there was a rustling in the bushes to the right of them. Sasuke responded by throwing a kunai in that direction. Everyone stood ready though Katsuro furrowed his brow when he noticed the incredibly small chakra signature in the bush. He walked over and parted the foliage to see a pure white rabbit petrified by the near skewering. He picked up the animal, cradling it and stepped back onto the road to show them.
"Aww! It's just a little rabbit!" Sakura gushed.
"Cute though it may be, the fact that it's fur is white in spring means that his rabbit was raised in doors. The enemy is near," he explained and released the animal back into the forest.
Sure enough, the fog became even more dense and they could feel a heavy killer intent.
"Get down!" Kakshi and Katsuro called out. Everyone hit the floor, Tazuna being shoved down by Katsuro, and a huge sword went spinning over their heads to lodge into the tree behind them. A bandaged man shushin on top of the broad blade.
"Well, well. If it isn't Kakshi of 1000 Jutsu. You must be the reason why the Demon Brothers failed their mission to kill the old man and never returned," the mysterious man observed as he appeared and stood on his blade. The group of 5 got up to confront their new enemy.
"Zabuza Momochi of the Bloody Mist. What is an A-ranked shinobi doing under the employ of a shady businessman like Gato?" Said famous ninja questioned in a ready position.
"Not that it's any of your business, but if you must know I've gotta make a living, ya know? Now get outta my way or I'll kill you and your little genin, too." The now known Zabuza warned as he jumped off his sword, yanked it out the tree and propped it on his shoulder.
His killing intent was so strong that Sasuke and Sakura had a hard time withstanding it. Sakura was trembling so bad with thoughts that they could never beat this guy and unknowingly brought her kunai up to her neck. Sasuke was only a little better than his teammate. His hand was clutching the sword he carried till his knuckles turned snow white.
"It's okay!" Kakashi's voice pierced through the fog on their heads, "I won't let my comrades die!" His reassurance visibly relieved the two, though Sasuke grit his teeth at his apparent weakness.
"You won't let your comrades die? Ha! What kind of strength do your wet-behind-the-ears genin have? They don't know what it really means to be a shinobi!" Zabuza raged and dropped into a really stance, "but I'll teach them, then kill them!" He raced forward and swung his Kubikiribocho down with intense force at Tazuna, but he was intercepted by Kakashi with his own chakra-infused kunai.
The two were in a power struggle before they jumped away from each other.
"Not bad. It would be interesting to see how I measure up to The Sharingan Kakashi." The eyebrow-less man smirked.
Sasuke whipped his head to his teacher.
"Sharingan…?" 'How does Kakashi have the Sharingan? He isn't an Uchiha!' The young raven clenched his fists.
"Guys. We have to protect Tazuna-san." A certain dual-haired genin spoke up. The other two turned to him.
"Don't tell us what to do!" Sakura griped.
"Do as he says! Zabuza might try to still attack Tazuna-san as we battle. Your jobs are to ensure his life while I handle him." Kakashi commanded and again clashed against the missing-nin.
The three genin surrounded Tazuna with only Sakura and Sasuke actually positioned to defend versus Katsuro who was watching the fight while also keeping note of where the other chakra signature was. It wasn't too far. In fact, it was several yards to their left hidden in the shrubs near the water bank.
'Curious. Why does their chakra feel like… snow? It's icy but with a softness to it,' the teen mused. Katsuro's attention was drawn back to his lover and their enemy when the two began to bring forth elemental jutsu. You could tell Zabuza started to freak out when Kakashi, Sharingan revealed, copied each jutsu the dark-haired man attempted until he was frozen with fear because Kakashi was predicting his every jutsu, causing him to get swallowed up by Kakashi's Water Dragon.
Kakashi released a sigh of relief and exhaustion when Zabuza was seen floating face down in the water. He was about to make his way back to shore when there was a shout.
"Kakashi! Look out!"