Morning came and Sakura found herself eating breakfast with Sasuke and Kakashi. Sasuke was drinking his tea, when Naruto barged in. He looked extremely disheveled and he was also panting.
"Guys you're not gonna believe me, but...I think I just meet the hottest guy ever..." said Naruto. Sasuke spit his tea.
"WHAT?" asked Sakura.
Naruto started explaining his encounter with the boy and how he thought it was a pretty girl. He went as far as to compare him with other females they knew. Sakura realized that Naruto must have meet Haku without his mask. The boy had really feminine features, using that to his advantage in his missions for the rogue nin.
After hearing Naruto's weird encounter, they all finished breakfast and went to act as bodyguards for Tazuna while he worked. That's how team 7 spent the following days, protecting Tazuna and training. As much as she enjoyed this, Sakura knew she needed to prepare for Zabuza, so she started gathering her weapons and counted her poisoned ones.
Next morning Team 7 came across a horrific sight. All of Tazuna's workers were laying in pools of blood. Sakura rushed to check their pulse. She shook her head when she realized they were dead.
"W-what happened here?" asked Tazuna, his expression, a combination of disbelief, grief and fear. She walked back to her teammates when a thick fog started spreading in the aria.
"This is..." said Naruto.
"Zabuza's fog..." said Sasuke.
"Protect Tazuna!" ordered Kakashi.
A deep chuckle echoed through the fog. "Kakashi...I see your brats are still here...Look at that one, he's so scared he's trembling." said Zabuza.
Sasuke smirked, an attempt at hiding his fear "I'm trembling because I'm exided." then he and Naruto recklessly attacked Zabuza's clone.
"Brats, I'll leave this to you, Haku." said Zabuza while appearing with Haku next to him.
"Looks like you were right about him, Sakura. His story was a scam." said Kakashi. Sakura gripped her kunai in response. Both the boys started attacking Haku. Sasuke and Haku's kunais clashed while Naruto attacked him with his shadow clones. Haku dodged the attack almost effortlessly. If Naruto and Sasuke worked together, they could defeat Haku. If they worked together, sadly that wasn't the case. Both of them were attacking recklessly, mostly nullifying each other's attacks in an attempt to strike the masked boy.
"Stop getting in my way, dobe." said Sasuke.
"Me? You're the one who keeps dispelling my shadow clones with your stupid shuriken, Teme." said Naruto. Both boys glared at each other.
Haku saw them arguing and used this opening to perform the hand signs for Makyō Hyōshō. Sakura's feet moved before her brain could register. She quickly pushed the boys away from the mirrors, effectively trapping herself. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit was all Sakura could think as she saw the mirrors surround her.
"Sakura!" "Sakura-chan!" cried the boys.
"Don't come near, or you'll get trapped too." she yelled at them. They were about to protest when another Zabuza water clone came at them. They both started fighting it.
Sakura saw Haku in one of the mirrors and glared. "You shouldn't have done that, now you'll die." said the boy as he trew senbons. Sakura blocked the sebons coming at her with her kunai. Then she dodged more coming from behind her again and again. This was getting her nowhere, she needed to finish this and quickly. At first she tried running out of the dome, but she was stopped by an invisible barrier that threw her back. Ok, so that wasn't working... Maybe she can shatter them. She did a backflip while dodging some senbons and pulled a kunai. Once she landed she threw it at the mirror but she was surprised to see Haku catching it.
After her last attempt at escaping, Haku increased his pace. The senbons were coming at her, faster and in increased number. This time 2 of them struck her shoulder. Sakura gasped in pain. This wasn't good... The needles keeped coming and every time she dodged, minimum 2 got her. Sakura threw another kunai, just to catch her breath. She looked terrible, multiple senbons sticking out of her arms and legs, she had even more embedded in her back. When another one grazed her cheek, she decided it was too close to home. She needed to do something, but what? That's when she heard Naruto call more shadow clones and suddenly it clicked. That's it, she knew how to get out.
"N-Naruto! Make 10 clones and tell them to surround the dome. We need to hit the mirrors simultaneously, got it?" yelled Sakura.
"You got it Sakura-chan" said Naruto, as he and Sasuke finished Zabuza's clone. In a puff of smoke, the clones appeared, surrounding the dome. Sakura quickly hit the mirror and one by one, all of them cracked. She panted as she watched the dome shatter around her.
She felt her teammates approach her. "...em out..." said Sakura.
"What?" asked Naruto.
"Pull them out!" said Sakura with a raspy voice. Both boys nodded and started pulling out the needles. Sasuke pulled the ones from her back while Naruto took care of the ones in her arms and legs. After they got rid of all of them, they laid Sakura on her back, she was facing them.
"Sakura..." breathed Sasuke. "Why?" asked Naruto.
Sakura merely chuckled." Because...I care about you both...very much...and I didn't want you two...to get hurt..."
"So you just decided to get hurt instead of us?" whispered Sasuke.
Sakura stretched her arms and touched Sasuke and Naruto's cheek. "If it meant...keeping you safe...then yes." as she said that, Sakura felt darkness take her. The last thing she heard was her teammates call her name.
...
The first thing Sakura registered when she woke up was Tazuna looking concerned at her. The next was pain, a LOT of pain. She slightly winced when she stood up.
"Oh Sakura! Thank goodness, the boys were really scared when you passed out... " said Tazuna.
The boys? That's right they were fighting Haku and then she and Naruto broke the mirrors. "What happened after I passed out?"
Tazuna frowned "I don't really know how to explain it, but I think they thought you died and then something weird happened with Naruto. Suddenly he was having this weird red cloak-like thing around him and attacked the masked boy. The way he fought, it was almost animalistic." The Nine-Tails chakra...
"I see...Where are they now?" And as if to answer her question she heard Naruto yell."Nevermind..." She started walking towards the sound of her best friend, ignoring Tazuna's protests. She needs to get to them, to protect them! She got close enough to see Zabuza swing his sword at Kakashi, if it made contact her sensei would be dead. Quickly she pumped chakra in her leg and kicked the ground with a resounding CRACK, effectively throwing Zabuza off balance. Both men jumped away from each other.
"Sakura-chan! You're alive!" exclaimed Naruto. She also saw Sasuke looking quite relieved. She was about to answer them when got cut off by Gatō. The little gremlin started explaining his plan to Zabuza, about not paying him. Zabuza got a dark look in his eye and told Kakashi they weren't enemies anymore. Gatō ordered his men to attack and Zabuza cut through them like wet paper. When he got in front of the crime lord he simply decapitated him. He was about to walk away when Naruto called him out about Haku. Zabuza's comment about not caring what happened to his 'tool' clearly angered Naruto, who slapped Zabuza with a good dose of Talk no Jutsu. Then he collapsed of his injuries and like last time, he asked team 7 to lay him next to Haku.
That's when Sakura noticed something weird about Haku, his chest was rising, he was breathing... "He's alive."she said almost automatically. All eyes were on her.
"What do you mean, pinky?" asked Zabuza.
"You heard me, he's breathing, but he will die if he doesn't get medical attention. I can help you, i-if you'll let me..."
"Do whatever you want kid." was Zabuza answer, she looked for permission at Kakashi who nodded. She crouched and started working on both their injuries, both hands glowing green with medical chakra. After she stabilized them both she started feeling the effects of chakra depletion. She felt arms hoist her from behind and was surprised to see it was Sasuke who helped her.
"Why? Why help us brat? We almost killed you and your team, yet you still healed us." said Zabuza.
Sakura sighed "Yes, you did almost kill us and I'll never forgive you for that, but...if there was a chance I could have helped you...I had to take it...I will always help a person if I can...It's just how I am..." she started seeing black spots around her vision"Maybe...I'm just...too soft...to be...a ninja." And then she fainted again.
...
Sakura woke up to the white ceiling of Tazuna's house. She was lying on her futon, her arms and legs being bandaged and her back too. She was about to get out of the futon when she saw someone walk in. It was Kakashi.
"Kakashi-sensei!" said Sakura.
"Sakura, I'm glad to see you are awake. How are you feeling?" said her sensei.
She shrugged "I'm good, it's not that bad..."
Kakashi chuckled. "Really? Because I remember a little genin that said-"
"Don't you dare use my words against me, sensei." said the pinkette.
The white haired man pat her head. "I'll go get the boys." A few minutes later Naruto and Sasuke barged in the room. Naruto practically flung himself at the girl and hugged her.
"I'm so glad you're ok, Sakura-chan!" said Naruto relieved.
"Get off of her, dobe, she's still injured." said Sasuke.
"Ah, sorry Sakura-chan, I didn't hurt you did I?" asked Naruto.
"N-no, no I'm fine, really! What happened after I passed out?" asked Sakura.
Naruto shrugged. "Nothing much really, Haku woke up and we carried you here to get your injuries treated."
"I see..."
"Do you think you can travel Sakura?" asked Sasuke. She nodded and the boys left her to pack. In about half an hour she was ready to go. Maaan was she sore... Every step hurt. She slowly made her way out of the house where she saw the rest of team 7 talk with Zabuza and Haku.
"Good to see you again, pinky!" said Zabuza. She only waved in greeting.
"What are you guys gonna do now?" asked Naruto.
Zabuza shrugged "Probably gonna stick around here, this place ain't that bad. And maybe do some missions, we'll see."
"Good luck." said Sakura. Zabuza spoke again.
"Ah, don't leave yet pinky, the brat wanted to give you something." Zabuza made a gesture for Haku to come forward. The boy came near Sakura and placed a flower crown on her head.
Sakura smiled. "Thank you, Haku, it's really beautiful."
Behind Sakura, Inari and Naruto were having their teary eyed goodbyes. Then he turned to Haku and told him he'd better keep his promise of writing letters. Apparently the 2 of them decided to become penpals. A bit later Tazuna appeared and announced the name of the bridge 'The Great Naruto Bridge'. After all of this, the 4 of them walked back home.