Chapter 6
*static*
"-Entry Log 93: We have once again failed to align the systems of the Matter Trans- *static* -and lthe mainframe. There is one thing that I've never taken into consideration while attempting teleportation. While I was stuck trying over and over to figure out why we were able to achieve some form of teleportation, just not a controlled one, my little apprentice introduced a new variable. While she was complaining, she had mentioned how she wished she could go back a- *static* -ving her life during her chunin exams. It got me thinking, I'm trying to move matter from one area to another instantaneously without taking into consideration WHERE the matter has to travel through to get there. It can not be destroyed, nor can it be created. So where did my test subjects go? A theory I have is that the subject didn't just travel through space, but maybe through time as well."
*static*
*static*
"-Entry Log 104: Test Number 15; subject is once again a healthy rat. With some recalibration and new variables taken into account, I've decided to shorten the distance, from the other room to just across the room. Are you ready, my dearest An- *static*
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru. Let's revolutionize travel between the nations!"
"Kukuku, right then. Initiating test sequence, 3..2..1.."
*click, electricity whirs, and a poof is heard*
"O-Orochimaru-sama, I-I-I'm getting reading from the mainframe!"
"Let me have a look. Haha, yes, open the test chamber. Let's see how the subject is doing!"
*the door opens before the sounds of Anko throwing up are heard*
"W-well, it's a good thing we didn't test it with humans just yet. The subject has been.. comprised. But I digress, we have made progress!"
"Ugh, progress?"
"Yes, my little apprentice, progress! Even if the rat was deformed, the device transported it in an instant! We're on the right track."
*static*
Present:
"Ohoho, now this ought to be a good time!" Time seemed to slow down for the genin as they watched the jonin. It all happened so fast. One minute, they were guarding the bridge builder. the next thing they knew, Zabuza appeared before getting stabbed by Kakashi. Then he was cut in half! Yet it wasn't them? 'Doesn't matter, Kakashi-sensei has him at his mercy.' Sakura calmed down. 'Then why is he laughing?' were the thoughts of her teammates, not dropping their gaurds just yet. "You know, you won't be able to beat me with that pathetic copy of a technique you just pulled. After all -"
"You can't beat master with a copy!" Kakashi heard the voice from behind him. He wasted no time throwing himself to the ground to avoid getting cut in half at the waist. As the blade flew over him, he pushed off the floor and kicked Zabuza in the chest, pushing him back. Zabuza recovered quickly and brought his sword down on Kakashi. The former anbu operative rolled out of the way from the overheard swipe but didn't get time to recover as Zabuza proved he was proficient with his blade. Even tho the first slash missed, he would use the momentum he had to flip with the sword and kick Kakashi away. Knowing he wouldn't have time to react, he took the kick to his chest and threw down spikes as he flew through the air, stopping Zabuza's charge. He came to a skidding halt just at the perimeter of the spikes. "Clever trick to slow me down," he muttered to himself. He jumped back to avoid Kakashi slicing him across his chest. Twirling the kunai in his hand, Kakashi went for a backhanded slash before attempting an overhead stab. Dodging all of the swipes, Zabuza brought up his sword and swung the broadside of his blade, smaking Kakashi across to the lake. Letting himself fall in the water, Kakashi tried to use his momentary hiding spot to think of a plan.
'Wait, this water feels very dense. Heavy than usual... NO!'
Was all he was able to think before his opponent appeared behind him. "Water Style: Water Prison Justsu!" Suddenly, Kakashi found himself trapped inside a prison of water. "See, I told you! You can't be me with your immitation." he taunted. He threw up a hand sign before the water in front of him and rose. The water turned into another Zabuza that rushed the genin. It threw a palm at Naruto's face, sending him flying while yanking the headband off his head. "So these are the supposed "ninja" of the Hidden Leaf? You're so green. It's pathetic! You can't even h7 I 7andle me in this state." the Demon of the Mist said, mocking the crew. "You're no ninja. You're just a bunch of dead fools playing ninja!" he chuckled as he finished his sentence, throwing the headband on the ground and grinding his heel on it. This aggravated the blond.
"Hey! Give that back! Who are you anyway, huh? Saying we're aren't ninja? The headband proves it!" A dark chuckle emerged from both Zabuza and his clones, causing an eerie echo sound. "No, you're not ninja. Once you've been between the line of life and death over and over, to the point where it doesn't faze you anymore.. when you feel the life of another, leaving their body after death.. once you have entered our bingo books.. that's when you can call yourselves, ninja!" Sakura shivered while Satsuki sucked her teeth, and her grip on her kunai tightened. "You three, take the bridge builder and run! His clone can't get too far from his body without the jutsu being undone!" Kakashi yelled at them from his prison. 'Run? We lost the chance to run the moment you got caught.' Were the thoughts that ran through Satsuki's head. 'He'll just hunt us down one by one and kill us all!' They needed to get him out. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR RUN!" Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration, 'No! I'm not gonna be scared anymore! I trained hard to get to where I am.' He looked over at his longest and dearest friend. Her face was contorted in frustration while her onyx colored eyes conveyed fear. He hated that look. "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!" Naruto shouted as he charged the clone. Sakura reached her hand up in a desperate vain to try and stop him. She didn't have to say anything as someone else voiced her thoughts, "NARUTO DON'T!" Shouted the Uchiha as she watched in horror. The clone didn't flinch as he punted the orange clad shinobi back to his teammates, bouncing a few times before coming to a halt. This time, though, he had his hitai-ate, in hand.
"You're always have a home with us here, Naruto-kun! So please don't hesitateto stop by if you want to visit or if you need a place to stay"
"I am looking foward to seeing what you do, you're capable of great things Naruto-kun. I'm glad my imouto met you."
"You remind me of an old friend my boy. If you anything like him, you'll go on to do great things.
"Please, take care of Satsuki for us."
'I won't let either of you down!' putting on his hitai-ate back on Naruto stared down his opponent. "Hey you eyebrowless freak!" at this Zabuza rose a non existent eyebrow "Put this in your bingo book, the future Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki, never backs down from a fight! That he will become the strongest ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village and get the respect I deserve! And don't forget to write how i kicked your sorry butt!" he yelled. 'I-I don't know why but, I feel like Naruto can actually do something to turn the tied. I've never seen him so confident before' Thought Sakura as she stared at her teammate. He did wonders in restoring moral into the grab. Satsuki was happy that the mist made it hard to see her faint blush as she stared at her friend. She felt herself calming down at his words 'You're such an idiot' she though with a small smile to her. Kakashi while impressed with his student's resolve he voiced his thoughts "That's great and all but this isn't a game! You guys can't handle a jonin level threat yet!" Naruto looked over his shoulder to his teammates, they nodded their heads in agreement. They needed to get their sensei back! "Tazuna?" Sakura called out to the man. He hung his head in a bit of shame, "You know, this is technically my fault. I hired you guys under false pretenses and now your sensei is in trouble. You don't have to worry about me, do what you have to do to save your teacher."
Naruto smirked at this and turned back to Kakashi. "Well, you heard him, Kakashi-sensei! We got permission to save you! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Ten more Narutos appeared in a poof a smoke. With a battle cry, all eleven of them charged the water clone. Zabuza was quick and with a giant swing of the sword. he sliced a few and smacked the rest away. They exploded into a poof of smoke except for the real one who was reaching in his pack. "Satsuki, think fast!" he threw a folded demon wind shuriken, which Satsuki unfolded as she spun, 'Well I'll be. You never cease to amaze me.' She thought as she looked at Zabuza. "Demon Wind Shuriken: Windmill of Shadows!" she threw it with all he might. The water clone chuckled as it reached for its sword. "Really? A Shuriken? That's nothing." It braced itself until the suddenly the shuriken flew past him to its creator. "So you decided to aim for me instead, huh? Clever, but," he caught the shurkien with ease. "Not good enough!" his eyes went wide as he saw another fuma shuriken flying towards him. 'In the shadow of the first was a second shuriken?' seeing no other option, Zabuza jumped over it. 'Got him,' Satsuki thought with a grin "See I told you shurik-"
*poof*
Zabuza's eyes went wide as the shuriken that flew past him turned into the brat he was fighting, and he threw a kunai at him. Left with no choice, he jumped out of the way of the kunai, releasing his jutsu. Kakashi fell into the lake before he quickly stood on the surface of the water. "Not a bad plan, Naruto. You weren't trying to fight. The plan was to free me, wasn't it." It was a statement more of a question on his part. "Hehe, sure was! I used the cover of the smoke from my shadow clones to throw myself disguised as the shuriken to Satsuki! Being the great ninja she is, she realized what my intentions were!" Naruto stated proudly, very happy with the praise and outcome of his strategy. "Grrr, I got distracted, that's all!" Zabuza growled out, lifting his sword to face down the copy nin. He was breathing heavily now. "Don't flatter yourself. You were forced to let go because you underestimated my students." Kakashi stared at the man. The 3 tomes in his sharigan eye spun slowly. "That trick won't work on me again, Zabuza. This time, I'm taking you down!"
'He's out of breath? Sure, he got more of a fight than he expected, but he's barely exerted himself." Kalashi wondered as he scanned the man, noticing some odd details of the man. 'He's not at his best, that's for sure. Should make my job easier at eliminating him.' Were the thoughts that jonin had as he got into a battle stance. They stared at each other as they waited for the other to make the first move. Suddenly, they ran at each other, clashing in the middle. Zabuza brought his blade down on Kakashi, who used his kunai to block and redirect it towards the water. Zabuza didn't let this stop his advanced, as he let the blade slice through the water and spin with its momentum to attempt another swing. Kakashi dodged to the left and deflected another swipe from Zabuza. Zabuza tried to bisect Kakashi once more, only for him to dodge under and punch him in the face before attempting to stab at the man. Kakashi was rewarded with the tip of his kunai grazing the king before he was kicked away. "ENOUGH!" Zabuza yelled before he started going through hand signs.
"Ushi, saru, usagi, nezumi, inoshishi, tori, ushi, ba, tori, nezumi, tora.."
Kakashi landed across from Zabuza and started going through the same hand signs at the same time as Zabuza
"Ushi, saru, usagi, nezumi, inoshishi, tori, ushi, ba, tori, nezumi, tora.."
In unison, they both went through a series of hand signs before landing on their final hand sign. "..tori! Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" They both yelled. The water started to rise around them till it formed into two dragons made of water. Biting and clawing at each other, trying to gain the upper hand before suddenly they both exploded, sending water flying into the clearing. The two female genin and Tazuna braced as water rushed towards them. Tazuna was unfortunate enough to be in Naruto's way as he too came with the huge wave that crashed into them. Sending them both into a tree. 'T-Thats not p-possible. Not only did he copy me, but he was able to perform the jutsu at the same time as me!?' Zabuza thought in disbelief. The chances of someone not only keeping up with all the hand signs of the jutsu, but to do it simultaneously as the caster before you.. It's not possible. After no one could mirror moves that perfectly. "Why you little.." he got into a position to throw a hand symbol on for Kakashi to mirror his movements perfectly. He growled before putting one hand in the air while the other positioned at his chest in a half tiger seal. Kakashi followed his exact movements perfectly. He put his arms down and ran towards the right in a semi-circle motion. Kakashi didn't miss a single beat. 'This damn copy cat. I'm sick of this-'
"Monkey see, monkey do bit?" Kakashi finished his thoughts for him. 'W-what!? No! He can't be-'
"Reading my mind, that's absurd!" Kakshi once again finished for him. Zabuza's eyes widened.'What is going on?' he thought as what looked like an image of himself was standing behind Kakashi. However, it wasn't him completely. His eyes glowed a fiery red, his skin was rotting away, his ribcage was showing, and his mouth hung agape, the badages around his mouth torn off. 'What on warth is that!? Is.. is that.. ME!?' The haunting image of himself was standing behind Kakashi following his movements before suddenly, "Water Style: Water Vortex Jutsu!" Zabuza was swept away by a massive tidal wave before being pinned to a tree. 'This can't be! I was gonna cast the jutsu, and yet he beat me to it?' His thoughts were cut short as he yelled out in pain, six kumai had met their mark on his arms and legs. Kakashi landed on the branch above him. "C-can you see into the future?" Zabuza questioned in disbelief. "Yes and your future.. is death!" Two senbon needles suddenly entered Zabuza's neck, causing him to stop moving and drop dead. A look of shock on his face. "Well, would you look at that. His future was death."
The ninja that appeared wore a pinstriped outfit, which stopped at his knees. Over this, he wore a green haori with white trimmings and around his waist, a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped around his waist twice. He also wore light-brown platoon sandals with straps in the same color as his kimono and nail polish on his fingernails and toenails in matching blue green color. His long hair was gathered in a white bun holder, while two locks of his hair fell loose framing his masked face, bound with metal hair cuffs at the ends The mask was white with thin, curved eye-holes and a red wavy design in place of the mouth. The Kirigakure symbol on the mask showed who this was. An elite tracker ninja for Kiri. "I've been hunting him for a while now. thanks for giving me an opportunity to finally bring him in." he said with a bow. Kakashi covered his left eye before walking over to the corpse and started inspecting it. After a few minutes, he was satisfied. "He's dead. Well, that's that. There is nothing more for us to do here." he preparing to head out. Naruto, however, wasn't satisfied. He ran up to the hunter nin before yelling "Hey who do you think you are, huh?Coming in here at the last second, taking him down."
"He isn't our enemy, Naruto. Our job is to protect the bridge builder, and that's what we will continue to do." Kakashi stated to the boy who grit his teeth."But sensei, this guy can't be older than me, and he just came in and killed Zabuza like it was nothing! He's so much stronger than us!" How was there this big of a gap between himself and this random kid. "That's just the way things work sometimes. They're people as young if not younger than you, but stronger than me." His words seemed to do the job a bit while also frustrating him as well as his other students. 'He's right. We could barely make it, though, and this guy just showed us.' Satsuki thought, clenching her fist. Sakura blinked the tears away. 'Am I just meant to be a weakling?' she thought to herself.
"I'll be headed out now. Take care of yourselves, shinobi of the leaf." the hunter nin said before he vanished in a swirl of leaves. "Well, time to hea-" Kakashi never finished his sentences as he suddenly fell forward, landing fave first into the dirt. Everyone ran towards him. "Gah, Kakashi-sensei, are you alright!" Naruto started freaking out over the fact that their sensei just dropped like a sack of potatoes. Both him and Satsuki sat him up, checking his pulse. "He has a pulse and is still breathing." Satsuki stated to everyone else. It seemed to just be chakra exhaustion. Nothing two weeks' worth of rest won't be fixed. "Mr. Tazuna, how much further till we reach your home? " Sakura looked at the builder, who just smiled. "Not long now, we're almost there. We have a spare room for you to put your sensei for the time being." he stated, helping the genin lift up the tuckered out jonin.
A young looking woman was in her kitchen working on a simple stew for her son. The kitchen table was set behind her, and she looked out the window to where her son used to play. She didn't reminisc long as she had to call him over for dinner. her pink short-sleeved shirt with a red collar didn't have a single stain on it as she moved over from the stove to the sink at the window to finish washing up. A knock at the door broke her from her thoughts, and she headed over. She opened the door. "May I hel-" her words were cut short as she saw who was at the door. "Hey Tsunami, I'm back and with Ninja to protect us!" Tazuna stated while moving to the side to show off the four behind him. Tsunami didn't hesitate and threw her arms around her father. "Oh, thank Kami, your home! Inari and I have been worried sick!" she started ushering everyone in. "Come in, come in. I'm so sorry I wasn't expecting guests, so I didn't make enough food for seven people."
"That's OK, miss. We just need some rest for now and a place to lay our sensei down." Naruto stated as he, Satsuki, and Sakura carried Kakashi in. "Of course, right this way," she showed them where they could drop Kakashi and where their rooms were as well as the bathroom. After the day they had all three were enjoying the peace the had momentarily. Sakura went straight to bed after her bath. Naruro was the last to do so and was currently sitting down in their clients' living room. it wasn't anything to extravagant. a couch set in the middle of the room with the kitchen door behind him. He heard footsteps coming down the stairs to his right, which he paid no mind to while he read his scroll.
"Not tired yet, dobe?" Satsuki asked as she sat down next to him and looked at his scroll. "Not just yet. I wanna study the scroll Fugaku gave me for a bit." She rested her head on his shoulder."You know, I could just help you with this one. I learned how to do the Fireball Jutsu a while ago." She snuggled up to him as she told him. She remembered asking Itachi to teach her the jutsu when she was eight. She was trying to impress the blonde when she asked at the time. She'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy the attention she stole away from that harlot Ino. "Yeah, I know, but then you wouldn't let me here the end of it." he stated with a pout. She loved his pouting. It displayed his misery in such a cute fashion. "This is very true. You would owe me forever, " she giggled as she enjoyed the warmth he just seemed to generate. However, she didn't like the idea of competing with a scroll. "Hey, I thought the plan of you turning into a shurkien to throw at Zabuza was pretty smart." she said, fidgeting with her hand a bit. Unsure if she should just grab his hand.
"Really? Gee, thanks. it means a lot coming from you." he said with a small blush on his cheeks. She asked him about the thought process in coming up with the plan, which he said the he thinks her saw it in a movie. After a bit He noticed she was slightly shivering every now and then. "Here you go." he spoke up out of nowhere, wrapping his jacket around the Uchiha and pulling her in close. Never noticing the reddening of her face at this action. Satsuki's fingers intertwined with his and gave his hand a gently squeeze. "Thank you Naru" she said before comfortable silence fell between the two as Naruto studied a bit longer. When they were found by Tsunami the next morning she had to take a picture of the cutest ninja cuddling she has seen.
Somewhere in the forest:
He had just left with the body. He just needed to prepare the necessary tools for the job. "Ah, this one should do just nicely. Hm?" That's odd the body seem to be a bit more pale than usual. Plus the coughing during the fight. Definitely not his best fight. He reached for the neck when suddenly the hand of the corpse grabbed his. "Enough, Haku, I'll do it myself. Damn You're brutal"
Haku watched as his mentor tore the senbon needles out of his neck. "You're the one who's brutal Zabuza-sama. Tearing out the senbons like that will put you back in a death state. A permanent one." he said nononchalantly "Did you have to go for the neck? They're other areas that achieve the same effect." Haku chuckled a bit "Well I could but that would damage your perfect body now wouldn't it?" Zabuza rolled his eyes at the statement. "Whatever we got more important issues. Let me ask you this Haku, what exactly happed to Gozu and Meizu?" Haku pondered the thought before he spoke, "Well Gozu seemed a bit off as if he had cold or fever. It seemed to be enough to slow them down. Should've made sure he was at one hundred percent before sending him out." Zabuza was quiet for a long time before another thought occurred to him. "Was he sick before or after we were by that rock." this caused an eyebrow to raise. "He was fine before..why?
"I don't know, just a feeling I have that maybe we're in over our heads."
Hooray slowly but surely building the world I've envisioned. I've just realized I never actually put a disclaimer but I'm sure you guys don't need a reminder of who owns the characters in Naruto and Cod at the beginning of every chapter. Right?