In which Haruhi makes puns and Team Seven gets a wake up call.
It had took a bit more convincing to get Kakashi back on track.
The three genin in a panic had shoved Haruhi onto him, pleading in their respective ways to talk him down. Unlike how it was originally, Kakashi this time around seemed like he wasn't going to budge on his decision to go back to Konoha, even without Sakura's support.
So she fell back on humor.
"Kakashi, I'm not that big of a deal, really! Don't let little old me stop you! I'll be quiet as a mouse! C'mon, don't be a lightweight!" She half-joked, pressing him on.
He reluctantly snorted in amusement, before catching himself and crossing his arms. Sasuke smirked, and Naruto and Sakura giggled. Tazuna stayed carefully neutral as his life depended on whether or not she could sway Kakashi.
That combined with earlier protests from Naruto had tipped him over the edge. His head fell back in defeat. They gathered their things, on higher alert than last time. They walked in silence as the mist grew thicker and thicker, signifying a large body of water was near. Strangely enough, some of the tension left her as the sun became blocked out, photons scattered by the mist. The crunch of wet gravel was strangely reassuring, even when that transitioned over to the near smooth silence of the moss on the seaside rocks.
With the harsh glare of the sun out of her face, she felt better.
Tazuna let out a low whistle that echoed across the water. Her ears strained when she heard a responding one, and a figure on a boat glided over. She was giddy in excitement. She had lived in the great lakes region, and large bodies of water were just a part of her life. It was almost like she was home again-except for the smell of salt.
They boarded the boat with little fanfare, Haruhi hiding again in Sakura's bag. Kakashi was already upset Tazuna had found out about her existence, no need for the farrier to find out. The water was a bit choppy-signifying a coming storm. They all sat criss-cross applesauce.
"This fog's so thick, you can't see anything." Sakura whispered.
"I know." Haruhi sighed happily.
"You're so weird." Sasuke scoffed at her.
"Well, you don't like sunshine that much either, emu." She said faintly.
Naruto exploded in laughter.
"Sakura, punch him." Haruhi hissed. Cracking her knuckles, she did just that.
"HEY!" Naruto screeched, the punch having the opposite effect of what she intended.
"Keep it down, there's reason why were being silent! Cutting the engine and moving through the dense fog-so they don't see us!" The man snapped.
"…"
"...The bridge isn't far now, our destination is just ahead. The land of Waves."
Tall dark shadows appeared from the mist like the legs of giants. Despite being shrouded, the bridge was truly impressive. It arched out of the water and out of view, and seemed to be holding the mist at bay. It ended abruptly like a cliff, and various construction vehicles were scattered along it.
"Mr Tazuna, before we reach the pier, I want to ask you something." A moment of tense silence. "I men who are after you, I need to know why. If you don't tell us, I'm afraid I'll have to end this mission when we drop you ashore." Kakashi said.
Everyone was watching Tazuna attentively.
He opened his mouth and spoke. "I want to let you know. As you said, this is beyond the scope of the original mission. The one who seeks my life is a very short man, who casts a very long and deadly shadow."
Very nice usage of literary devices. She could respect that.
"A deadly shadow?" He asked, fake politeness lacing his voice." Hm, who is it?" She wasn't fooled, Kakashi was very interested.
"You know him, or I'm sure you've heard his name before. He's one of the wealthiest men in the world, the shipping magnet Gato!"
"Huh! Gato? Of Gato transport!? He's a business leader, everyone knows him!" Kakashi said, rattled.
Naruto leaned forward excited.
"Who who!? What what?!"
"Gato, is a very powerful tycoon from a famous company, that's true, but below the surface, with the same ruthless methods he uses to take over businesses and nations he sells drugs and contraband. Using gangs and ninja."
Is was deathly silent.
"It was one year ago when Gato first set his sight on the land of waves he came to our island and used his vast wealth to take total control of our transport and shipping. Anyone who tried to stand in his way simple...disappeared. In an island nation a man who controls the sea controls everything! Finance, government, our very lives! But there's one thing he fears, The bridge! When it is complete it will join us to the land and that will break his control."
He looked up.
"I, am the bridge builder."
It was silent for a moment, before Sakura and Sasuke summed up what happen, connecting the dots with the nin in the forest.
"I don't understand, if you knew he was dangerous, knew he would send ninja to eliminate you, why did you hide that from us?
"...Because the land of waves, is a small, impoverished, nation. Even our nobles have little money. The common people who are building this bridge, they can't pay for a A or B-ranked mission. It's too expensive. If you end the mission when you drop me ashore, there will be no bridge. They'll assassinate me before I reach home. " He intoned.
Then his voice changed and she choked on her muffled laughter.
"Grandad granddad! I want my granddad!" He whisper shouted in a high pitch voice. Everyone sweat dropped.
"Oh and my daughter will condemn the ninja of the hidden leaves denouncing and blaming you for abandoning her father and blaming you for a life of sorrow!"
Naruto and Sakura whimpered, and Sasuke looked a bit sick. Uh, not her kids! While she may not have cared for Sasuke very much, she definitely didn't approve of Tazuna's guilt trip.
"We get it! No need for this cheese, old man!" She hissed.
Kakashi scratched his leaf symbol.
"Well...I guess we have no other choice!" He said
"When you said we were going on a trip, I didn't think it would be a guilt one." Haruhi quipped. Everyone agreed.
"Ahh, I'm very grateful!" He said cheerfully, throwing a peace sign over his shoulder. Haruhi couldn't help but grin in amusement, before frowning.
"Then this won't be the last of it then. The next people Gato sends will be more powerful." Haruhi cautioned. The pre-teens needed to know what would happen. The atmosphere became serious and the lightheartedness from Tazuna's little display disappeared.
As if emerging from some dream, they crossed under the bridge, and left the heavy mist behind. Then they saw the land hidden in the waves. Shallow water trees were rooted in the sea and houses on stilts were a few ways off the shore. Everything was bathed in sunlight, giving it the illusion of being a happy place. Seagulls, something she hadn't heard in ages, called from all around.
She inhaled the scent happily, listening to the sound of the flying rats with glee she never would of thought she'd have for them. A memory of her and her family on the beach crossed her mind, her and her little cousin throwing pretzels at the gulls causing a smile to spread across her face.
They drifted up to a wooden pier and one-by-one they jumped off, Sakura scooping her up.
"That's as far as I go, good luck!" The farrier said.
Tazuna thanked him, and he pulled his motor for the first time and left.
"Okay! Take me to my home, and I mean get me there in one piece!"
They started down another path, Tazuna and Kakashi in the rear, her and the genin upfront. Sasuke increased his pace, now toe-to-toe with Naruto. Naruto growled and sped ahead.
"Naruto! Get back here!" Haruhi called.
"Not gonna let Sasuke-teme beat me again! I'm gonna be alert Haruhi-sensei!" He growled, whipping out a kunai and looking back and forth. Kakashi and everyone else had stopped and just watched the spectacle.
"Over there!" He hurled a kunai into the bushes, siphoning off leaves.
"Huh?!" Said everyone. A beat of intense silence where everyone started at the bushes.
"Oh, just a mouse." He said casually. Tazuna growled in anger, and Sakura started yelling how fake he was. Kakashi, very stressed at this point, lectured that kunai were dangerous.
"STOP TRYING TO SCARE ME YOU SCRUMPY LITTLE DWARF!" Tazuna bellowed. Naruto shrugged it off and dramatically started scanning the bushes. Then he threw another kunai. Sakura's bag was now of sweltering proportions.
Sakura whacked him over the head then got into an argument with Naruto. But Haruhi's eyes were on Kakashi. He walked over to the bushes where his kunai had thunked into the tree trunk, separating the leaves. She was struck with a sense of deja vu, back at the bell test. Through the leaves she could see a twitching white rabbit and a kunai inches over its head.
Haruhi frowned.
A white rabbit, near the beginning of summer? It was part of a rabbits evolution to shed it's white fur for brown for the summer, part of a survival thing that she had read up in a nature book. White for blending in with snow, brown for dirt and branches So a white rabbit was weird. Sakura walked closer and got a good like at the traumatized creature.
"Naruto! Look what you did!"
"Ah! A rabbit!" He screamed, horrified. He ran forward and hugged it, as if that could erase the past few minutes. Everyone gathered around to watch the scene, except Kakashi who was eyeing their surroundings suspiciously. Her eyes followed his and a tingle of foreboding shot down to her toes. Trying to shake it off, she asked Sasuke;
"Hey Sasuke, would you like to hold the rabbit?"
"And become flea bitten like Naruto? No thanks."
But it didn't help. Kakashi turned and scanned the treeline, eyeing the rays of sunshine passing through, and the dark upper branches.
"Look out!" Kakashi shouted.
Like a helicopter the giant blade streaked toward them. Throwing themselves to the ground, it soared over head harmlessly, gouging a tree trunk. She coughed, the bag breaking her fall. She shivered as she lifted the heavy bag above her, energy flooding her limbs in order for her to lift the bag-something she shouldn't have been able to do.
She shakily rose from the bag, which Sakura was now clutching to her chest.
A man, Zabuza, she remembered, stood on the thick handle of the sword, some thirty feet up.
Sakura plunged her hand in the bag, and took out a kunai from another pouch to Haruhi's left.
"Well well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi, rogue ninja from the village hidden in the mist." Naruto tensed up and clenched his kunai, rocking impatiently on the balls of his feet, looking as if he would lunge forward.
"Hold Naruto back." She hissed up at Sakura, hiding in her bag. Sakura's hand darted out and grabbed Naruto's shoulder, but before he could yell the fierce glare on her face shut him up.
"Everyone, stay back. He's not like those other ninja. He's in a whole other league." Kakashi warned. "If he's our opponent, I'll need this..."
And oh my god, it was happening. The Sharingan. Kakashi's hand drifted upwards, every eye in the clearing on him. She clenched the strap. She had only seen it once, when he had his panic attack in the kitchen late at night. But she hadn't seen it since then. The copy wheel was something to be afraid of; it was frightening to stare into it. Plus the fact that none of the genin knew about it, especially Sasuke.
Her heart beat rapidly, and her limbs trembled with the force of her grip. She was suddenly overcome with the urge to jump as hard as she could and run. She was strangely sure she could get away. Weeks of almost constantly being carried left her feeling bottled up and about to explode with foreign energy.
The genin fixed Kakashi with an intense gaze, under the impression he was going to take of his mask.
"Kakashi of the Sharingan eye, did I get that right?"
Sasuke gasped, stress lines appearing under his eyes.
"It's too bad, huh? But you'll have to hand over the old man." He rasped out again.
Kakashi glared harder, never taking his eye off the ball.
"Now quick manji formation! Protect the bridge-builder. And stay out of this fight! I taught you teamwork, now it's time to use it."
He lifted his headband and opened his eye.
"I'm ready!"
Everybody silently freaked, Naruto sweating before yelling in confusion.
"Everyone keeps saying Sharingan sharingan! Will someone please tell me what sharingan is!"
Sasuke spoke.
"Sharingan. A rare power. It resides in the eyes. The user of this visual jutsu can instantly see and comprehend any genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu. And reflect the attack back at the attacker. The sharingan is a special, rare, form of dojutsu. However, there's more to the sharingan than that. A lot more. " That had to be the most she had ever heard him speak, and she was impressed despite herself of his knowledge, even though it made sense for him to know so much.
Zabuza had maneuvered himself to face them on the narrow sword handle. "You got it right, boy. But you only scratched the surface. The sharingan can analyse a opponents technique, then execute it to the fullest detail. "
Mist spread over the road and trees, and instead of feeling comfortable it felt oppressive. She whimpered and ducked down further into Sakura's bag.
"As for you, jounin, the assassination unit in the village hidden in the mist we had a standing order to destroy you on sight. You're profile was in our bingo book. It called you 'The Man who Copied over a Thousand Jutsu'. Kakashi, the copy ninja."
The longer his raspy voice talked, the harder she shook. Her veins were filled with tension. Tears dribbled down her chin and she was glad the genin couldn't see her because they'd freak out.
"Wow, that's so cool!" Naruto shouted. No, it wasn't, but he'd find out soon enough. Meanwhile Sakura was reconsidering Kakashi and Sasuke was having a crisis. This was the first time she had seen the boy this rattled-including the bell test.
"Enough talk. I need to exterminate the old man. Now."
The genin darted in front of Tazuna, kunai's out and guarding him from all sides. Her blood roared in her ears and she blinked spots out of her eyes.
"He's over there!" Yelled Naruto
"Standing on the water!" Sakura said, louder.
Something was whirring, spinning past her as she stuck the top of her head out of the bag, making ripples in the water and pulling on her.
"Ninja art, hidden mist jutsu!"
Godgodgodgodgod, she couldn't even see the trees anymore.
"-He'll come after me first." Kakashi said darkly as he walked in front of them. She felt a stab of fear.
kakashi was going to get hurt, and it was all her fault. He was willing to turn them all around and back to Konoha for her but she talked him down. 'It was too late for regrets', she thought, hunkering down.
Kakashi launched into an explanation of Zabuza's background, and she felt her stomach drop with each detail. When he got to the silent killing technique, she felt Sakura shiver.
"Well, if we fail we only lose our lives..." Kakashi snarked sardonically.
"How could you say that!" Sakura gasped.
Kakashi vanished, swallowed by the mist. They were alone. She beat off a wave of panic, remembering him leaving her by herself on the counter.
"Eight points." A voice hissed from all around.
"Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart. Now, which will be my kill point?"
Fuck her, that was some scary shit. She felt the tension ripple through the clearing. Killing intent. It was a solid delivery and if she had been a different person, she would have peed herself. Her teeth chattered like it was ten below with a wind chill off the lake.
A sudden blast of wind rocked the bag straps and then Kakashi was visible again, surrounded in an aura of blue chakra. She stopped trembling. A smile unwillingly crept up on her face and her grip on the leather strap loosened a bit. Kakashi would get through this. Nothing significant had changed so far.
To her left Sasuke raised his kunai with both hands in a motion like he was going to stab himself. Sweat dropped down his pale face. Before she could call out Kakashi looked back.
"Sasuke! Calm down. I'll protect you with my life." He looked at her, her eyes wide. "All of you." He smiled, the expression out of place in the tense atmosphere. "I will not allow my comrades to die! Trust me."
"I wouldn't be so sure."
Zabuza had apparently teleported directly into the middle of their circle. The scream caught in her throat and she flung herself to the bottom of the bag. She gritted her teeth as the bag with her inside lurched backwards from where Kakashi had flung them to safety. The world swayed as she righted herself and her crooked glasses, feeling the gravel through the cloth. She peeked out.
Kakashi held a kunai stuck inside Zabuza, as she looked on wards she noticed the waterfall coming out from the stomach wound. A water clone.
"Sensei behind you!" Naruto shouted.
Kakashi turned wide eyed, before being slashed in half by a giant sword. He fell apart in ropes of water. Kakashi had copied Zabuza with his Sharingan. 'Zabuza was gonna get it, Kakashi was pretty good!' She thought with giddy relief.
"Don't move." A kunai was held to the other Zabuza's throat. She knew Kakashi had survived the fight, but she could have sworn there was more to the fight than this. Something about being trapped in water...? But it was obvious Kakashi had the upper hand.
"Now, it's over." Kakashi said in a low voice that sent a rush of warmth through her. It would be okay. She unclenched her fist, but it was still shaking. Similarly the genin gave various noises of approval.
Until Zabuza started laughing, arm limply holding his giant sword. Kakashi pressed the kunai closer to his neck.
"Finished?" Zabuza said in a voice coated in humor and poison." You really don't get it, do you? Your technique is nothing but a crass imitation."
"Kakashi it's another water clone!" Haruhi screamed in panic from Sakura's bag.
Kakashi slashed his knife across it's throat and a waterfall erupted from the water clones severed throat.
A growl erupted from the mist and Kakashi just barely dodged the sword cleaving towards him. A donkey kick from Zabuza then had him sailing through the air. He disappeared with the shirtless man in pursuit, who jumped head first into the water.
Kakashi rose from the lake, hair dripping and heavy.
"Fool! Water prison jutsu!"
And then Kakashi was encased in a ball of vibrant water.
"This prison is made of water, but it's stronger than steel. It's hard to fight when you can't move. So much for the great Kakashi."
A rush of anger flooded her. He was just trying to lead Zabuza away from the genin. While having Kakashi taking down like this wasn't comforting, It was reassuring what she said hadn't mattered though, it meant she hadn't changed anything.
"I'll finish you off later. But first, your little friends will have to be eliminated." He growled. "Water clone jutsu!"
When the second Zabuza emerged from the water, her limbs trembled like trees being buffeted in a thunderstorm. The same rush as before flooded her. She could only hope things went like in canon, or she might accidentally be killed.
But something bothered her. Logically speaking, it made no sense for Zabuza to hold Kakashi in prison. He could have just killed him right away.
"You three, stay together! Don't rush him. Don't panic. Like Kakashi said during the bell test, if you three work together there may be a chance of taking him out!" Haruhi hissed up at the three genin so that Zabuza wouldn't hear. The genin gulped, grouping together.
"-When you've hovered between life and death so many times it doesn't faze you-"
"He can't make more than one at a time, it seems. The prison takes a lot of Chakra to maintain. If we can get around the clone to the vulnerable Zabuza and free Kakashi, we have a chance." She whispered frantically. The three nodded, their hands trembling.
"-But to call upstarts like you ninja, is a joke." The mist got heavier, and she felt Naruto losing it. In a series of movements that she wouldn't have been able to follow otherwise, the clone's knee connected with Naruto's jaw, sending him flying and knocking his headband off.
"Listen! Get the bridge builder and run!" Kakashi's voice wavered from the water.
" You can't win this fight! He's using all his power to keep me in this prison so he can only fight you with his water clone, but the clone can't go far from his real body. If you get away from him he can't follow. Now run!"
He seemed to be staring right at her, and for a fleeting second she almost caved and told the genin to run. She knew what this meant to him. He had failed his team. Again. And if they died because another one of his mistakes it would crush the man. But the notion that they could escape was a desperate one, they either stood their ground here or they would be hunted down like that rabbit.
Sasuke came up with the same conclusion and his eyes darted to her before training on Zabuza, who was still standing on Naruto's leaf symbol. He gritted his teeth launching himself forward, hurtling shuriken. Her heart lurched in her chest, concern lighting her on fire.
"AH!" Sasuke darted to the side, picking up Naruto then jumping back to her and Sakura, panting. He landed in a crouch, before standing up and glaring at Zabuza.
"We need to come up with a plan." Sakura hissed at both of them. "A distraction."
"Naruto no!" Kakashi yelled in horror. Naruto darted forward and her heart caught in her throat. Sakura clenched the kunai with one hand, and held Haruhi in the bag with the other, desperate for reassurance. Haruhi couldn't breathe and Naruto's shouting abruptly stopped with a choked gasped. She was trembling again, spots in front of her vision with a head-rush.
She peered out. Naruto was in a crouch, clutching his headband. He would be alright. He healed from the wound earlier after all. She heard Sasuke and Sakura whispering behind her.
"-His name is Naruto Uzumaki!"
He jumped back, a few feet away from them."Sasuke, can you hear me?" A nod." So you're finally thinking about teamwork, huh?" Sakura's grip on her had lessened and she could wiggle around now. She was staring transfixed on the two, a blush coating her face.
"Sakura," Haruhi whispered." While they make a plan go guard Tazuna."
Sakura lifted her kunai, jumping in front of Tazuna.
"-When I was your age, this hand had already crushed many opponents."
"Zabuza, the demon." Kakashi stated.
"Oh, so I was in your book too, huh?"
"Long ago in the village hidden in the mist, also known as blood mist village, before a student could become a ninja there was one final test. "
"Do you know about the graduation exam?" Zabuza laughed.
"What's the big deal?!" Naruto shouted." We had a graduation exam too!"
"Did you have to kill the other students to pass?"Zabuza asked.
Oh fuck, fuck that.
"Imagine young ninja like you, eating together, training together, and then comes the final exam, only they've changed the rules. Kill, or be killed!" The three where shocked into stillness."He was your friend shared your dreams! Now it's him or you."
"T-that's so cruel." Sakura clutched her kunai.
"Without pause or hesitation, a young boy who was not even a ninja approached the class and took down over a hundred other students " Kakashi finished.
"…"
"It... it felt so...good!" Zabuza's eyes snapped open.
Yikes! Yikes. The urge to jump into the trees and hide was becoming stronger and she was so close to losing her shit, her head throbbed with energy.
"Ah!" A knee to Sasuke's gut sent him flying and then an elbow to the stomach had blood flying from his mouth.
She and Kakashi exchanged desperate looks, and the guilt crashed over her. A ringing in her ears blocked out all sound as Sasuke was crushed underfoot.
"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" When Zabuza threw off the dozens of clones, one skidded away, searching through it's bag.
"You're not the only one who can use clones." Naruto growled.
"Sasuke!" Naruto threw a folded up Shuriken to Sasuke, who caught it and spun. But there was just one problem.
Zabuza wasn't in the clearing.
"Sasu-ACK!"
The clone reappeared in front of Sakura, grabbing her by the throat. Through a bandaged mouth, he mused.
"I know it was you, the girl of the group who warned Kakashi. I've heard you muttering to the others. You, are a liability."
A icy hand of guilt and horror grabbed her heart as Zabuza raised his sword. Sasuke yelled in horror. But Haruhi didn't hear it.
With energy that had been building up for weeks, she darted into Sakura's weapons pouch unthinkingly, pulling out a shuriken almost as big as her.
"What tha-" She jumped straight from the bag to Zabuza's neck, chakra propelling her right into the clone's jugular.
With a scream, Haruhi dragged the sharp metal across it's throat.
I know some of you may be confused so let me explain. After spending weeks in Naruto when she was only supposed to be there for a few hours tops, it has effected her body. When she first came here, it was with borrowed chakra from the seal, which was how she survived the transportation. She has no chakra of her own, which is why the seal's is now being incorporated into her body. Shes developing a system and all and it's changing her anatomy. Everything is saturated in Chakra and she is absorbing some of it as the chakra from the seal as it fades. This will be very important to the plot later.
Over the recent few chapters and this one especially, you may have noticed signs of her getting stronger, or being able to do things she wasn't able to do before.