Naruto: Forgotten Prodigy

Chapter 12

Zabuza stood firm, before he coughed up some blood, staining the bandages over his mouth. If he turned around, they all would see that he had a horizontal gash across his body. The deepest cut was on his right bicep which was cut halfway to the bone, which ran across his chest to the other bicep. Smirking to himself, he heaved Kubikiribōchō onto his shoulder with his left hand before he started to sway. Though, before he could fall, a masked figure in a kimono appeared next to him and leaned him onto their shoulder. Without waiting for a response from any of them, he vanished in a swirl of mist.

After Anko brought Naruto back to the shore of the lake, she was met with a teary eyed Yakumo and Satsuki who asked if he was alright. To everyone's relief, the cut he received was wasn't life threatening, the deepest part being near his shoulder was halfway towards cutting the bone, which Anko took care of quickly.

As Anko carried unconscious Naruto she took around if the clones were disappears , when she turned around and she was shocked that the shadow clones didn't disappeared, the girls were scared as they know that if the user of the clones that was in unconscious state they will disappear, but, they saw them they didn't really disappeared. A clone was walkig towards her, as the clone stand in front of her, he asked " Sensei what is your orders?" Anko looked at Tazuna and he said " my house, its only few meters away." The duo nodded and Anko announced " Okay team, let's go". When she finished, she turned around and saw a clone talking to his fellow clones and they roared as they were still in the heat, after that they left.

(Scene change - Unknown place)

The masked figure that had Zabuza held close gently put him down as they started tending to his injuries. After a few seconds, Zabuza snapped his eyes open, locking his gaze on the person treating him.

"Ugh... Haku, that you?" He asked, slightly disorientated from the blood loss.

"Yes Zabuza-sama, it's me. I'm sorry that I let you get this injured. I should've stopped that shinobi when I had the chance." Haku solemnly said in a feminine tone, removing the mask on their face to reveal a beautiful yet sad face. She expected to get yelled at for failing to protect him, but she got yelled at for a completely different reason.

"Are you an idiot? That was a one on one duel between that brat and me. If you had interfered, I would've cut you down for tarnishing my name as a swordsman. I don't have much left, but that brat reminded me that I still do have my reputation as a swordsman." He said in a stern tone, as he started checking over his injuries, being actually surprised at the damage that he sustained.

"Damn, that brat wasn't half bad. If I had been a little slower I would've lost my arm. Guess he wasn't bluffing when he said he was different from the other brats." He was broken out of his assessment by Haku who reminded him to be careful.

"Zabuza-sama, please don't strain yourself. Next time, I'll take care of that boy. You focus on recovering your strength, Gato said that in the case that we failed to eliminate the target, we'll gather and eliminate them within the coming week or two." Haku said, but once again was surprised by her master's words.

"You don't get it do you Haku, that brat is mine and mine alone. You take care of his sensei and those other brats, but me and him have a duel to finish next time. We'll give them until the day that sleazeball decides to attack to recover." After hearing her master's orders, Haku nodded and returned to tending his wounds as Zabuza thought back to duel.

"That kid... He's good, he's really good. The only reason it turned out like this was because he's inexperienced and I'm rusty. Heh, he's gonna be a monster in the future..." Ohh Zabuza, he is really already a monster, you cannot see his real 'power'. Your guess was right all along.