(Kakashi's POV Continued)
Thirty-five minutes had already passed, and by now Sasuke was just leaning against the side of the boat with Natalia's sleeping form in his arms. I caught him a couple times accidentally running his fingers through her hair. It was pretty hilarious to say the least, because he'd blink realizing what he was doing and then quickly stop. He started getting frustrated with himself that he kept accidentally doing it, and would stare down at his hand in a manner that looked like he was asking it "what the hell are you doing?!" Like I said, hilarious.
Sakura was still facing away from everyone, which I was thankful for, because it meant that Natalia could stay asleep in peace without any yells from her about how she was in Sasuke's arms. Naruto was just the usual Naruto. He'd turn around to us but then constantly face the front of the boat again from his excitement for traveling.
As we made our way through the sea, we noticed the fog surrounding us, making Sakura point out, "This fog's so thick, you can't see anything."
For some reason Naruto started sniffing the air.
"The bridge isn't far now. Our destination's just ahead, the Land of Waves," the rower informed us, making everyone face each other again.
Of course, this meant that Sakura finally laid eyes on Natalia in Sasuke's arms, so she dramatically gasped. Right when she was about to speak, I raised my hand to stop her, "Sakura. Don't say a word. She needs to sleep right now so she's not tired later on."
She raised a brow and calmed herself down, "Why does she need to sleep right now? And why would she get tired later?"
I sighed, "She takes pills every day that suppress her chakra. They're necessary because she can't control all of the chakra she has yet, because it's too much for her small body to handle and she can't shroud it enough for enemies not to detect her. The only problem with the pills is that she gets side-effects from them. Drowsiness, headaches, and apparently hot flashes too, although they're rare and I've never seen it happen before." Both hers and Naruto's jaws slightly slacked from this. I then added, "That's why I let her take naps whenever possible. And why I often tell you two specifically to keep your voices down because of her headaches." They both made "ohhhhh" faces. Sasuke rolled his eyes at them.
We then approached the bridge and Naruto decided to be loud, even though I had just told him not to.
"Woah! It's huge!" he shouted. Sasuke smacked him on the back, and we all shot him "are you serious" looks. He slapped his palms over his mouth trying to stay quiet.
This of course woke Natalia up and she muttered, "That's what she said." We all either facepalmed or sweatdropped. Well, besides Naruto, he just looked confused. Natalia merely giggled and finally opened her eyes. Once she did, they widened and she jerked away from Sasuke. "Um what?"
Sasuke answered her, "You fell asleep on me."
"And you actually held me?"
He shrugged, "I wasn't just going to let you fall or wake you up."
A flush krept up her face, "Oh. Well um, thanks." He nodded in reply.
I then felt the need to finally question Tazuna, "Mr. Tazuna... before we reach the pier, I want to ask you something. The 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."
After a few silent moments, Tazuna finally gave in, "I have no choice but to tell you. No, I want you to know the truth. Like you said this is beyond the scope of the original mission. The one who seeks my life is a very short man who you've heard of before, since you spoke of him earlier." My brows knitted together. "He's one of the wealthiest men in the world. The shipping magnet, Gato."
My eye widened, "Huh? Gato? Of Gato Transport?" I turned my head to Natalia and she nodded in confirmation. I turned back to Tazuna, "He's a business leader, everyone knows him. Why would he target you?" And also Natalia more importantly.
"Who? Who? What? What?" Naruto asked impatiently. Did he seriously forget about the Demon Brothers saying he was after Natalia?
Natalia made him quiet down, "Shut up, owl. Listen and you'll find out." Owl? Ohh, because of the who who thing. I mentally facepalmed.
Tazuna explained, "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. 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 simply 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. I am the bridge builder."
Sakura held her chin in thought, "So that's it. Since you're in charge of the bridge, you're standing in this gangster's way."
Sasuke then added, "That means those guys we fought in the forest, they were working for Gato. They did mention him after all."
Naruto was visibly struggling to keep up with them. Natalia, on the other hand, almost looked bored as if she heard this a thousand ti--.
Oh. She probably had heard this before...
I was still confused about something, "I don't understand. If you knew he was dangerous, knew he'd send ninja to eliminate you, why did you hide that from us?"
Natalia answered for him, "The Land of Waves can't afford a higher-ranked mission than C. They're poor, even their nobles. It's too expensive, especially for the commoners who are helping him build the bridge."
Tazuna nodded. "If you end the mission when you drop me ashore, there will be no bridge. They'll assassinate me before I reach home... But don't feel bad about that. Of course, my sweet little grandson will be upset. He'll cry, --"
Natalia held a hand up for him to stop, "I swear to god, if you're about to imitate Inari, I will flick you." He gave a sheepish grin.
"And you do NOT wanna be flicked," Naruto added while shuddering at the memory.
Natalia faced me, "Dad, we have to do this mission. So just accept it." I raised my brow and she whispered, "TBK."
I sighed and turned back to Tazuna. "Well, I guess we have no other choice. We'll have to keep guarding you."
"Oh, I'm very grateful," he thanked me and then asked Natalia, "How'd you convince him so quickly?"
She shrugged, "I happen to be a very persuasive individual." I snorted. "What? I can be! You don't think Biki's training was for nothing did you?" She smirked and then claimed, "You'll see." I just chuckled as there was no doubt in my mind that she'd prove it. Ibiki Morino was an expert at messing up people's heads, so under his tutelage, I almost feared what she was capable of.
"We're approaching the shore," the rower let us know. "Tazuna, we've been very fortunate. No one has noticed us so far."
"Nice going," Tazuna complimented.
The fog began to clear out and we could finally see the country. We arrived at the pier and hopped out of the boat. The rower then bid his farewell and wished us good luck on our journey.
After thanking the rower, Tazuna turned to us, "Okay. Take me to my home, and I mean get me there in one piece."
"Right," I responded.
'The next ninja they send won't be Chunin, they'll be Jonin, elite ninja with deadly skills.' I thought, already dreading this mission. 'And because Natalia said 'TBK', I'm positive whoever we meet, she won't be allowed to change something or participate in the fight. Knowing her, she'll participate but completely hold back, since she is capable of wiping out any enemy that comes her way. She's skilled in practically every skill there is...she's a true prodigy. Even though she can't flaunt it. And she deserves to.'
While walking through the forest, Naruto started running forward out of nowhere. I heard Natalia grumble something under her breath when she saw this.
He randomly shot a kunai towards a bush, shouting, "Over there!" Everyone except Natalia freaked out, and were on high alert. After waiting for something to happen, Naruto dismissed it, "Hm. It was just a mouse."
"Mouse?! Yeah, right!" Sakura shouted angrily and pointed an accusing finger at him, "Everyone can see through your stupid act! You're so obvious it's embarrassing!"
I then warned him, "Naruto, those are kunai knives. They're dangerous!"
Tazuna growled, "STOP TRYING TO SCARE ME, YOU SCRUFFY LITTLE DWARF!"
Naruto wasn't paying attention to any of us and started looking around again, "Hey! Is someone hiding over there?" He turned. "No! They're over there!" I then sensed whatever it was at the same time as him. He threw a kunai knife in the direction of the foot of a tree, and shouted, once again, "Over there!" But then Natalia intercepted it with her own kunai. "Hey, why'd you do that?!"
She groaned, "Because you were about to throw that kunai at an innocent bunny!" A what? She then ran towards the direction of the said "bunny" and picked it up, cradling it. We followed her, and she looked up at me with a raised brow, making my eye widen as I realized it.
(Natalia's POV)
While I waited for my dad to finish analyzing the situation and adding everything up about the snow rabbit, I put the rabbit back down and told it to go free. It hesitated, but eventually listened to me, as it wanted to stay with me. I stood back up and sighed, but then instantly tensed up as I felt both of their chakra signatures. I shoved down the urge to look up in his direction, because I knew he was watching us.
'Oh great, I'm about to get another scolding...'
"You okay?" Sasuke asked, walking up to me. I nodded. He looked skeptical but nodded in return. There was something different about him..
My dad then shouted at the exact moment I heard/sensed it too, "Look out!" The famous blade that had the ability to reform itself through the iron from its victims' blood came straight at us. That wasn't what shocked me though...
Sasuke threw himself onto me, tackling me onto the ground, and everyone else ducked by throwing themselves onto the ground as well.
We both grunted in pain but once we locked eyes, it was over. We were entranced, and pink dusted our cheeks. We hadn't been this close to each other's lips since that time he fell on top of me on his couch. And just like that time, I had never been more tempted to do something in my life. Our lips parted at the exact same time and practically trembled in desire. Although something ruined the moment, making my eyes widen immensely and my cheeks turn completely red.
He gave me a questioning look.
I stammered while looking down, "I-I can feel your..on my..." His eyes then widened in realization and he quickly jumped up to his feet and bolted five feet away from me. I could see the red on his cheeks too as he adjusted himself down there. I kinda just sat there, blinking at nothing, from how fast everything just happened. I couldn't believe he got a...and it was on my...! Holy Heckerballs! And it turned me on way too much, as I was feeling all tingly down there.
My dad's voice broke me out of my thoughts, which I was thankful for, because that instantly erased all horny thoughts that came to mind. He said, "Well, well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi, rogue ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist." Oh great...
Naruto tried running up to attack him, but my dad held his hand in front of him to halt his motion. "You're in the way. Get back."
"But why?!" Naruto questioned.
He replied, "He's not like those other ninja. He's in a whole other league... If he's our opponent, I'll need this." He lifted his hand to his headband and gripped it. "This could be treacherous."
The wielder of the Executioner's Blade finally spoke, "Kakashi of the Sharingan Eye. Did I get that right?" Sasuke was broken out of his trance by now too, and his brows furrowed from this. From the corner of my eye, I saw that he snapped his head at me, probably wanting to ask how, but I ignored him for now. "Before you remove that headband, I have something I need to ask."
My dad questioned him, "Oh yeah? And what would that be?"
"It's not a question for you. It's for her." He finally turned to me, making my eyes go wide as I shook my head no. Everyone got on guard, especially my dad. He took a deep breath and shouted at me, "What do you think you're doing here?! It's not safe for you yet! I told you to flee the country until I was done with you know who!"
I sighed, "I know, but I'm on my first real mission and I'm not alone, so it's fine!"
Everyone was just snapping their heads back and forth between the two of us with extremely confused faces.
He shook his head, "It doesn't matter, you know what orders I was given." I pouted. He then sighed, "If you're back here, at least make sure you use a transformation jutsu. Got it?"
"Yes, Zabu Sensei.." I muttered in defeat.
"SENSEI?!" everyone else asked incredulously at the same time. Then my dad yelled, "ZABU?!"
I nodded at him, "Yeah, isn't it cute? I think it's cute. And it helps with the whole "I'm on steroids" thing for him."
Zabu huffed, "Will you stop saying that? I'm just in shape, not on steroids!"
I countered, "Well you look like you are! And Ha--you know who agrees with me! Also, how many times do I have to tell you to START WEARING A SHIRT!" I was just thankful that his pants were so high-waisted because they covered enough of his abs.
"I don't need one! And he only agrees with you because he likes you and you know that." He crossed his arms.
I blinked, "I thought he was over me." I briefly glanced at Sasuke and saw that his expression hardened. Seriously? Jealous? AGAIN?
Zabu responded, "Nope. I think your rejection just made him want you more, but he'd obviously never try anything because he "respects" your decision or whatever." Sasuke's face went back to normal after hearing that I rejected Haku. Okay, seriously, was he bipolar or something? He was acting like he hated me earlier and now he's somewhat caring again.
"Well, yeah he respects that, because he's nice," I pointed out.
"If you think he's nice then why'd you reject him?"
"How many times do I have to say he's not my type and there's already someone else?!"
He rolled his eyes, "Riiight, how could I forget about that Sasuke kid, or whatever his name was?" My eyes widened immensely. "What?" He then grinned(it was obvious through the mask), "Don't tell me here's here..let me guess...the ravennette who got a boner from laying on top of you?"
"YOU SAW THAT?!" Sasuke and I shouted in unison with the biggest blushes ever.
This obviously caused everyone to freak out.
My dad gave Sasuke a death glare, "You got a WHAT?!"
Sakura looked like she was about to burst out in tears, "Wh-WHY?!" 'Because I'm hot. Duh...'
Naruto was just laughing his butt off while pointing at Sasuke, "HAHAHAHAHA YOU GOT A... AAAAHAHAHAHA!!!" The blushing Sasuke grunted, extremely annoyed by him and everyone else.
Tazuna was just rolling on the floor laughing.
I growled at Zabu, "You're gonna regret that."
He smirked, "What are you gonna do? Hurt me? You couldn't hurt me, even if you tried... which is going to suck for you because I'm going to have to take drastic measures if you don't hand over the old man. You don't want me to kill your precious teammates, do you?"
I narrowed my eyes, "Even if I care for you, I can definitely hurt you, you know that. Especially if you're going to hurt my teammates. Their lives are my top priority." They smiled at that. "I may not be able to kill you.." I jerked a thumb toward my dad, "But he can." I turned to him and smirked, saying, "Daddy, do your thing." I saw the hidden smirk outlined by his mask and he gave a nod in reply.
Zabu held up his hands, "Hold on. 'Daddy'?"
My dad ignored his question and gave his orders to us, "Quick! Manji formation! Protect the bridge builder, and stay out of this fight. I taught you teamwork, now it's time to use it. But Natalia, I'll need you to provide me back up, if you can." I nodded. He then finally, though slowly, lifted his headband, revealing his infamous scarred eye and Sharingan. "I'm ready."
"Well, looks like I get to see the Sharingan in action," Zabuza said. "This is an honor."
Naruto then started asking, "Everyone's saying, 'Sharingan, Sharingan'. Will someone please tell me what Sharingan is?!"
I looked at Sasuke expectantly. He in fact answered Naruto, "Sharingan. A rare power that resides in the eyes. The user of this visual jutsu, or doujutsu, can instantly see and comprehend any genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu, and reflect the attack back on the attacker. The Sharingan is a special, rare form of doujutsu. However, there's more to the Sharingan than that. A lot more."
"You got it right, boy," Zabu complimented? Sasuke. "But you only scratched the surface. The Sharingan can analyze an opponent's technique, and then copy it to the smallest detail." He then turned his head to my dad, "As for you, Jonin, in the assassination unit of the Hidden Mist, we had a standing order to destroy you on sight. Your profile was in our bingo book. It called you, the man who copied over 1,000 jutsu, Kakashi, the Copy Ninja."
I knew Sakura was asking herself if he was really a famous ninja, so I turned to her to freak her out a bit, "Yes, he's famous." She just blinked.
Naruto balled his fists, "Wow, that's so cool!"
I also knew what Sasuke was thinking, so I then turned to him, "No, he's not half Uchiha or anything like that."
"Then how--"
"I can't explain right now," I quickly told him and focused my attention back on Zabu.
"Enough talking," he said. "I need to exterminate the old man... now."
The three Genin quickly got into Manji formation and guarded Tazuna. I stood calmly beside my dad and whispered, "I can't do much, TBK." He just sighed and nodded.
'No matter what, Haku will step in and save him by faking his death, so once Naruto and Sasuke work together to release my dad out of the Water Prison Jutsu, I can start fighting for real.' I quickly devised.
Zabu looked at my dad, "So I'll have to fight my student and eliminate you first, eh, Kakashi? So be it." I noticed he only said eliminate for him, and not me. I knew it, he did have a heart! Well, I already knew that because of how he cried for Haku in the anime, but still!
He then disappeared, but I quickly spotted him in the lake making his hand sign and preparing a huge amount of chakra for his Hidden Mist Jutsu.
Naruto spotted him too, "He's over there!"
"Standing on the water!" Sakura added.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" we heard Zabu say, as he disappeared once again, but this time in the mist that was beginning to form around us.
"He vanished!" Naruto pointed out the obvious.
My dad started walking forward, "He'll come after me first. From what I could from the earlier conversation with Natalia, he will refrain as much as possible from hurting her."
'I mean... I can't really get hurt that much, since my regenerative abilities will heal most of my injuries at an instant, even if I don't have all my chakra.'
"But who is he?" Sakura asked.
I rolled my eyes at the thought of listening to an explanation and zoned out again.
'I wonder if I should use Wood Style in this fight... As long as Sakura and Naruto don't see, I'm fine. Zabu has only seen me use it once, so he doesn't know what I can do with it.. Actually, maybe not because everyone's eyes will be on me when I'm fighting him. Ugh.' Oh yeah, Zabu had always known about my Wood Style because we actually met after he caught me with the Legendary Lady Tsunade and found out I was her daughter.
I zoned back in while my dad was saying, "Well, if we fail, we only lose our lives." I sweatdropped.
The fog continued to grow thicker.
"How can you say that?!" Sakura snapped at my dad.
Naruto then pointed out the obvious again(something both Sakura and Naruto tended to do a lot), "The mist is getting thicker and thicker."
Tazuna assumed, "The Land of Waves is surrounded by ocean. The swirling mists are ever present." Uhh. That's not really what was going on, Tazuna.
As the fog finally made it impossible to see anything, my dad and I went back to back. I knew this was the one weakness of the jutsu for Zabu as well, because he couldn't see through anything and would just use his hearing as a way to detect people.
After Zabu listed off the most effective points in the body that he can target to kill someone, my dad and I used his weakness to our advantage. Because he couldn't see, my dad copied his Hidden Mist Jutsu and performed it himself, along with the Water Clone Jutsu that he copied before when Zabu was on the water. He watched from the shadows like Zabu was and left his clone with me. I created a regular shadow clone and made it go underground with the Hidden Mole Jutsu to launch a sneak attack on Zabu. The amount of chakra needed for our jutsus(mainly his) caused some of the mist surrounding us to disperse from the force of it.
Because we could all somewhat see each other again, I noticed Sasuke trembling, so I walked up to him and placed a hand on his cheek to whisper, "You're okay, calm down. I'm here." His breathing leveled out again as we stared into each other's eyes and he nodded.
I went back to my dad's clone's side, as he said, "Sasuke, don't worry. I'll protect you with my life. All of you. I will not allow my comrades to die." He gave them a closed eye smile, "Trust me."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Zabu declared, flashing to the middle of my teammates' Manji formation with his legs spread apart. "It's ov--" My clone interrupted his claim, by coming up from underground and punching him straight in the balls. "AAGHH!" Zabu cried out in pain. My clone and I bursted into laughter while everyone deadpanned at me- or us.
And just like that, his body fell into a pool of water, since it was the water clone my dad copied from. Also, it looked like the other Genin and Tazuna peed themselves or something because of the clone's remains. My clone released the jutsu, and I wiped my tears from all the laughter.
Deciding to "catch everyone off guard", Zabu then launched a sneak attack on my dad, which I was expecting, so I body flickered behind the clone, quickly took out my katana and blocked Zabu's blade that he directed at him.
'Haven't used this baby in a while.' I mentally smirked.
Everyone gasped at my speed.
Then, my dad's real body snuck behind him and held a kunai at his neck, saying, "Don't move." Zabu's eyes widened, realizing that the Kakashi he tried to attack was a mere water clone, and my dad released the jutsu. "Now it's over. You're finished," my dad claimed.
"Alright!" Naruto cheered. Sakura was still in a state of fear but she let out a giggle, thinking it really was over, and not knowing that that Zabuza was in fact a water clone too. Sasuke was still on guard.
Zabu's clone let out a chilling and low laugh, "Finished? You really don't get it, do you? Your technique is nothing but a crass imitation. I'll never be defeated by a mere copycat ninja like you. And Natalia, don't forget who taught you how to properly wield that sword." My dad and I grunted in frustration. He chuckled hoarsely, "You two are full of surprises, though. You, Natalia, predicted exactly where I was going to attack, and made a shadow clone hide underground to attack me. Very sneaky. You even defended Kakashi's clone to make me truly believe it was him. And you, Kakashi. You'd already copied my Water Clone Jutsu when you made your little speech. Very skillfully executed. You made your clone say those words to draw my attention while you hid in the mist, waiting for me to make a move. Nice try..." Before the real Zabu could attack, I channeled my lightning style into my katana, which instantly eliminated the clone. It electrocuted me a bit too, but I didn't really care.
"Hey! That one's a clone too!" Naruto shouted, stating the obvious again.
"Dad! Behind you!" I warned him.
Zabu appeared behind him, swinging his sword at him and continuing his previous statement, "..but I'm not that easy to fool!" My dad ducked under Zabu's sword, but then Zabu planted it into the ground, gripping the handle and spun around and kicked him in the gut, launching him towards the water in an upwards motion. At the same time as this happened, another one of Zabu's clones -that I wasn't aware he made- kicked me in the back in the same direction. It all happened so fast.
"Now!" the real Zabu shouted, running full speed at us while we were still in the air, but then stopped when he almost stepped on Makibishi spikes my dad left behind on the ground. "Trying to slow me down. Hmph. Foolish." He then quickly changed his route to us.
As we fell in the water, I could hear Naruto and Sasuke calling out our names. The second we came up, we felt how heavy and dense it was. I knew why.
Zabu appeared behind us, making the hand signs, "Ah, fools. Water Prison Jutsu!"
"No!" my dad cried.
We were both trapped into the jutsu together- much to my surprise.
"I thought only one person could be trapped in this!" I presumed.
Zabu responded, "That's normally true, but you're small enough to fit with someone else." If I could, I would have facepalmed at that. I could barely move and breathe in that thing. He chuckled, "This prison is made of water, but it's stronger than steel. It's hard to fight when you can't move. Quite frankly, I'm disappointed you got caught so easily in this, Natalia. And so much for the great Kakashi. I'll finish you off later. But first, your little friends will have to be eliminated."
He then made a water clone that spoke to my teammates about becoming a deadly and ruthless ninja.
While he was talking, I whispered as quietly as possible to my dad, "Don't worry, we won't be trapped for too long."
"TBK?"
"Yeah. Otherwise, I'd have broken us out of here by now."
"But how? We can't move to make hand signs."
"Not all jutsus need hand signs, dad," I pointed out. "And I could just use my chakra alone to burst the bubble."
He practically gave me a pleading look, "You sure you can't do that right now?"
"No, TBK!" I whisper-shouted. He just sighed.
"If you two are planning to escape, forget it. No one's ever been able to escape this jutsu," Zabu told us.
I replied, "Actually, quite the contrary. I was talking about how my teammates will save us."
"What?!" my dad asked incredulously.
Zabu laughed, "Those weaklings have no chance against me, look at them."
We returned our attention to them and watched Zabu's clone kick Naruto. I winced at the sight. Every one of them looked frightened.
My dad grunted and decided to shout at the Genin, "Listen! Get the bridge builder and run! 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 can get away from him, he can't follow. Now run!"
I sighed sharply, "NO!"
My dad was taken aback by this, "Natalia! They can't--"
I ignored him, "You guys can't win a fight against him, but you have another option! I know you can figure it out! And use teamwork!"
Sasuke looked like he was already beginning to strategize, and the rest just looked unsure, since they were still scared.
I then whispered to my dad, "Have faith in them." He sighed and nodded slightly (he couldn't move much).
Sasuke then bolted at the clone, shooting shuriken at him.
'Didn't I literally just say to use teamwork and that you can't win against him?'
Zabu's clone of course blocked all of them with his sword, deflecting them back to Sasuke. Sasuke jumped over them and tried to attack him from the air, which was dumb, because the clone merely grabbed him by the neck and threw onto the ground. I gritted my teeth.
'Damn it, Sasuke...'
Every inch of Naruto's body was trembling. He turned around to run away, but the moment he glanced down at his hand, he froze. I knew he was thinking about his speech from earlier, and how hard he had worked to get to where he was. He looked back at his headband underneath Zabu's foot that fell off from the kick, and determination once again filled his eyes as he slowly stood up.
With a warrior cry, he charged at Zabu, making everyone freak out.
"Huh? Naruto, no!" my dad hollered.
Sakura screamed while holding her head, "Naruto! What in the world are you doing?!"
Once he got to the clone, it just looked like Zabu kicked him away easily, when in reality, Naruto accomplished exactly what he wanted.
Sakura angrily asked him, "What are you thinking, charging at him by yourself? Even Sasuke couldn't get to him! We're only Genin! We can't defeat a Jonin! What did you think you'd accomplish by that?" She then softly gasped at the sight of his headband in his hand. She made a thoughtful expression, which made it clear that she realized what Naruto's real goal was. He just wanted the headband back.
I smirked.
Naruto rose from the ground, "Hey, you... the freak with no eyebrows." I snickered. "Put this in your bingo book. The ninja that will become Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves..." He straightened himself up and started to put on his headband. "He never backs down." Once he tightened it, securing it in place, he claimed, "His name's Naruto Uzumaki."
Zabu had clearly grown angered by this new-found confidence. My dad looked almost... proud, making me smile.
Naruto then called out to Sasuke, "Alright, Sasuke, listen up! Can you hear me?"
'Naruto, China can hear you....and they don't even exist here!'
"Yeah, I hear you," Sasuke responded.
"I've got a plan."
"Ha. So you're finally thinking about teamwork, huh?"
My eye twitched, "You're one to talk!"
He obviously wasn't expecting me to say that and blushed in embarrassment. I softly chuckled.
Naruto grinned, wiping some blood off his chin, "Okay. Ready? Let's bring this guy down."
Zabu laughed, "Big words for such a little man. You think your plan's going to keep you in the game?"
I noticed my dad growing more and more wary, so I reassured them, "Don't worry, nothing bad will happen to them. I promise. Their plan is perfect."
He sharply sighed, "Okay. I know you're not lying, so I'll trust you. It's just..."
"I know, Dad. But they're not stupid. Well... at least not always."
He chuckled.
Naruto and the others started asking Tazuna if it was alright with him for them to rescue us instead of running.
Tazuna replied to him, "Well, I...I guess this all happened because of me. Because of my desire to live. But I won't let that stand in your way now. Forget about me, and do what you have to do. Go ahead and fight to save your sensei and Natalia! In fact, please save her, I wouldn't know how to explain to my grandson that his favorite person in the entire world died because of me."
Sasuke turned to Naruto with a determined smile, "Hmph. All right. You hear that?"
Naruto was grinning, "Yeah. Believe it. You ready?"
Zabu laughed... again, but this time like a maniac, "You really haven't learned anything, have you? Still playing your little game, pretending to be ninja. When I was your age, this hand already crushed many opponents." They all gasped.
My dad then blurted, "Zabuza. The demon."
"Oh. So I was in your book too, huh?" Zabu realized.
My dad informed the Genin, "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."
Zabu turned to him, "Hm? Do you know about the graduation exam?"
Naruto was confused, "What graduation exam?" Zabu laughed. "What's the big deal anyway? We had graduation tests too."
Zabu laughed sadistically for the hundredth time, "Did you have to kill the other students to pass?" Their eyes widened. "Imagine young ninja like you, eating together, training together, and then comes the final exam. Only they changed the rules, kill or be killed. You can't stop while your opponent still breathes. He was your friend, shared your dreams. Now, it's him... or you."
"Ten years ago in the Village Hidden in the Mist," my dad explained, "the graduation exam changed. One year before, a dark evil had filled the school with terror."
"What evil?" Sakura asked, her voice laced with fear, "What kind of change? What caused the terror?"
He answered, "Without pause or hesitation, a young boy who was not even a ninja approached the class and took down over a hundred other students.
"It..." Zabu looked up, reminiscing as if they were the good ol' times, "It felt so... Good!" Sasuke and Naruto gasped, trembling, as they weren't aware Zabu was that ruthless.
I then realized, 'Wow, if I was never his student and spent so much time with him... he definitely would have tried to kill me during this fight.'
All of a sudden, Zabu striked Sasuke. When Sasuke landed on the ground, he punched him right in the stomach.
I then bellowed, "ZABU STOP! YOU DON'T NEED TO HURT HIM SO MUCH!" I couldn't help it. It just looked so painful the way he did that to Sasuke.
He ignored me and stepped on Sasuke where he had punched him, and then took a hold of his blade.
Actual anger filled me, "I SAID STOP!" My Mangekyou Sharingan subconsciously activated and I accidentally performed Thunder Kaminari on him.
(Sasuke's POV)
Out of absolutely nowhere, Zabuza stepped off of me screaming his head off while holding his hands to his ears. It looked like something was hurting his ea--
My eyes widened in realization and my head snapped to Natalia.
There they were... those eyes that I could never bring myself to ask about...at least not fully. She told me what abilities they granted her, but she'd never talk about the night she got them. And I never asked. I knew it'd bring back too much pain to her. It was the same way with me, so that's how I understood.
She looked so angry but then once she realized what she was doing, she quickly deactivated them and shut her eyes before anyone besides me could see. Kakashi started speaking to her, but I couldn't hear.
'Was she really that angry when she saw me get hurt?... Ugh. This is why it's so hard to push down my feelings for her. This entire mission has been driving me insane from how close I'm getting to her again. I just can't stop wanting her. She shows so much care for me, so why doesn't she want to be with me?! I don't get it. Every single girl wants me. But why not her? She's a whole other story that I'm having a hard time reading.'
Naruto used Zabuza's pain as an opening for him to attack.
"Shadow clone jutsu!"
I think about 50 Narutos appeared and they all dogpiled on Zabuza. It only took a couple seconds for Zabuza to push all of them off of him!
Tazuna pointed out, "His skills are too advanced. He's too powerful. There's no way to defeat him." Wow, thanks for the motivation, old man.
As Naruto's clones scattered and disappeared all over the place, one of them called out to me while throwing me a demon wind shuriken. The moment I caught it, I instantly sensed that it was the real Naruto in disguise.
"So that was your plan? Not bad, Naruto.' I internally complimented him.
I spun around and discreetly added my own demon wind shuriken on top of Naruto's, to perform the jutsu: Demon Wind Shuriken: Windmill of Shadows.
"Shuriken? You'll never touch me with that," Zabuza claimed.
'Good thing it's not for that.' I inwardly smirked.
I jumped up in the air and threw the set of shuriken aiming at the real Zabuza.
That Zabuza said, "So you passed the clone and aimed for my real body. Smart... But not smart enough." He caught the first shuriken but then instantly sensed the second one, "Huh?" As it came straight at him, he muttered, "A second shuriken in the shadow of the first. The Shadow Shuriken Jutsu."
We all waited for it...
He then jumped over it, which I was expecting.
He repeated his claim, "I told you, a shuriken can't touch me!"
I smirked and watched as it transformed into Naruto. Everyone gasped except Natalia, she grinned happily. Really, she looked ecstatic as if she wasn't angry just 3 minutes beforehand. Was she bipolar or something?
Zabuza gasped, "What?!"
"Eat this!" Naruto shouted and threw a kunai at him.
Having no other option, Zabuza released the Water Prison Jutsu, and ultimately, released Natalia and Kakashi. Our plan played out perfectly.
He then took out his own demon wind shuriken, "I'll destroy you." But before he could do anything, Kakashi stopped him by blocking the shuriken with merely his fist.
Natalia then used her body flicker technique, that she seemed to have mastered to a level that she was nowhere near as a young girl, and appeared in front of me of all places.
While Kakashi complimented our plan and Naruto explained it, Natalia placed her hand on my stomach, making the both of us annoyingly blush a bit. I didn't know what she was doing, until her hand illuminated with her favorite color.
"Are you hurt anywhere else?" she asked me. I didn't want to look so weak, so I shook my head no. She raised a brow at me, knowing I was lying. I sighed, "My lower back."
She merely nodded and healed my back. The thing was... she didn't walk behind me or anything, she just wrapped her arm around me so her hand could reach from where she was standing. Her eyes were averted the entire time, but I knew she liked being close to me.
Out of nowhere, a smirk emerged on her face and she said, "I knew you two would figure it out." I blinked.
'That's right, she told us that there was another option and to use teamwork...'
"How'd you have so much faith in us?" I asked her, completely oblivious to the world around us.
She shrugged, "I don't know, I just did." She then finished healing me and finally made eye contact with me, "Even if you've been ignoring me, I know you would never give up on me. Well... at least not in the sense of letting me get hurt."
I looked down and briefly thought to myself, 'Give up on her? I did basically give up on her, didn't I? On trying to be with her. I'm so stupid.'
I looked back up into her eyes, "Natalia, I'm so--"
A tense aura made us slightly jolt. We both then snapped our heads to what was going on in the real world. Kakashi and Zabuza were making hand signs at the same time, making me realize that Kakashi was copying whatever jutsu Zabuza was casting, with his Sharingan.
Natalia then groaned for some reason, "Ugh. I am so not letting this drag on." She then body flickered behind Zabuza and slashed him on the back with her katana. Woah, that was brutal... but pretty cool.
"AHH!" he cried out in pain, stopping his hand signs.
The two then got into a full-blown kenjutsu battle, which no one could keep up with.
I heard Sakura gasp in awe and I quickly realized that we needed to be guarding Tazuna during this. I came closer to her and Tazuna, saying, "Sakura, you know what to do." She nodded and we got in a defensive stance in front of him.
As we were watching Natalia fight, I saw her secretly make one-handed signs for that jutsu. At first I thought she was using it to conceal her regular Sharingan, but the first thing she did was glance at Kakashi, which made me realize that it was actually her Mangekyou and she was most likely sending him a message with her Thunder Kaminari.
Suddenly, Kakashi started making numerous hand signs behind Zabuza, and exclaimed, "Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!"
A large vortex of water emerged from the lake and shot forward at Zabuza. Natalia jumped out of the way just in time and ran to my side to help with Tazuna. The vortex carried Zabuza through the forest at such a rapid speed that the excess water would splash us with a great force.
Zabuza then washed up against a tree in front of us. Multiple kunai were shot at him and lodged into him.
We looked up and saw Kakashi kneeling on a branch. "You're finished," he claimed as the water cleared out from the scene and returned to the lake.
"How?!" Zabuza asked incredulously, "Can you see into the future?"
"Yes," Kakashi responded, but it was obvious he was lying, because seeing into or knowing the future is just nonsense. He then raised a kunai threateningly, "This is your last battle...ever."
But before he could do anything, senbon needles came out of nowhere and shot Zabuza in the neck. He dropped dead.
'What the hell?!'
We all gasped, except Natalia for some reason.
We then noticed some masked guy who didn't look much older than us show up on the scene. Once again, Natalia didn't look surprised to see him.
He chuckled, "You were right. It was his last battle."
Naruto then finally started making his way towards us and seemed to be growing frustrated with the situation.
Kakashi jumped down to Zabuza and checked his pulse.
Yeah, dead.
The masked guy bowed, "Thank you. I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time, waiting for this chance to finally take him down."
Kakashi spoke to him, "By your mask, I see that you're a tracker ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist."
"Impressive," the guy replied, "You're well informed."
The loser named Naruto got into a fighting stance and shouted, "A tracker!"
"Naruto, you don't even know what that is. You missed the lesson on it, as usual," Sakura pointed out, and then started explaining what a tracker was, but since I already knew what they were, I turned my attention to Natalia.
I noticed that her eyelids were half closed and she was slowly blinking. Anyone who wasn't blind could instantly tell that she was exhausted and needed sleep.
My eyes then widened in realization. I whispered to her, "Natalia, you haven't deactivated y--"
Her eyes closed completely and her body began to go limp. Before she fell, I caught her in my arms. She passed out.
Everyone gasped in worry, even the masked boy, which I found kind of weird. They grew confused, so I quickly explained, "Don't worry, she's just tired and used too much chakra." I then turned to Kakashi and pointed at my eye, making him nod in understanding and sigh in relief. I pulled up her small body and carried her bridal style.
The masked guy then said, "I'm a member of the elite tracking unit of the Village Hidden in the Mist. It was my duty to stop Zabuza."
The loser- I mean Naruto, ran up towards him and growled in frustration while looking back and forth between him and Zabuza's body. "What is this? Agh.. Who do you think you are?" Why was he acting this way? "..Did you hear me?!"
Kakashi stood up, "Easy, Naruto. He's not our enemy."
"Huh? That's not the point. Did you see what he did, just like that? Zabuza was huge and powerful like some kind of monster. And this kid, who's no bigger than me, he brought down Zabuza with one move like it was nothing." Well, we kinda did all the fighting for him, but he had a point. "I mean, what does that make us? We're just fumbling around. We don't know anything. How can I accept that?!"
"Well," Kakashi began, "even if you don't accept it, still it did happen, Naruto." He put his hand on Naruto's head. "In this world, there are kids who are younger than you, and yet.." He gave a brief glance at Natalia in my arms, "stronger than me." I looked down at her.
'And yet, she can't use that strength to its full extent because it'd give away her identity, and... there's a risk I could lose her from that.'
The masked guy then disappeared and reappeared by Zabuza's body and picked him up. "Your struggle is over for now. I must deal with the remains. There are many secrets in this body. They must not be allowed to get into the wrong hands. Please excuse me. Farewell." And then he disappeared in a small swirl of wind.
"He disappeared!" Naruto stated the obvious. He then ran to the spot where the guy disappeared from, thinking he could somehow find him.
"He's gone, Naruto. Let it go," Kakashi told him.
This didn't calm him down, however, as he started recklessly punching the ground and saying, "What are we doing here? We're nothing! I can't believe it!" That's the first.
"Naruto.." Sakura mumbled sympathetically.
I understood why he was acting like this, but this guy needed to calm down. Sure, it wasn't a great outcome, but it wasn't like this was the worst one. We were bound to see worse things in the future now that we were ninja. I wasn't going to let some silly fight stop me from achieving my goals.
Kakashi walked up to him and grabbed his arm, stopping his actions, "As ninja, the things we encounter are never easy. Save your anger for the next enemy." Exactly.
Naruto calmed down a bit and Kakashi turned to us, "We haven't completed our mission yet. We still have to get the bridge builder to his bridge."
The bridge builder then sheepishly laughed, "Sorry I caused all this trouble for ya. But uh, you can rest at my house when we get to the village."
"All right, let's get a move on!" Kakashi exclaimed.
Without warning, Kakashi abruptly froze and collapsed.
After gasping at what happened, we all rushed to him.
"What? What happened?" Sakura questioned.
"Kakashi Sensei.." Naruto muttered worriedly. He then decided to shout it instead, "Kakashi Sensei!"
"Quiet!" I hushed him, "Natalia's asleep. You guys need to carry him. I think he might just be exhausted like Natalia."
Everyone nodded and Naruto and Tazuna picked up Kakashi's body, pulling an arm over their shoulders to hold him. Sakura just watched.
Tazuna then led us in the direction to his house.
For the entire walk, Naruto and Tazuna kept complaining about how heavy Kakashi was, Naruto would constantly ask to trade for Natalia (there was no way I'd do that because it was extremely easy to carry her from how light she was and I just wouldn't want Naruto to carry her because I don't trust him with her), and Sakura wouldn't stop staring at Natalia's unconscious body with pure jealousy. She was so annoying.
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A/N~ If you didn't get it, when Natalia used Thunder Kaminari on Kakashi, she was telling him to perform the Giant Vortex Jutsu like he did in the anime. Natalia had actually learned the jutsu from Zabuza during her training with him, and told Kakashi the hand signs required for the jutsu, since originally, he was supposed to copy it from Zabuza.
Bonus: Sasuke is seriously going crazy about Natalia. He's tried so hard to push her away but nothing works and he's finally realized that he shouldn't just give up on her. Even if he's extremely confused about how she feels, making an effort again. Hearing her words of how she feels bad for leaving him all those years ago and seeing how much it affects her to see him get hurt, made him come to the conclusion that there was no way he was going to throw all of that away. He will have her and figure out exactly why she isn't giving into their love- no matter what it takes.
Important stuff is happening in the next chapter, so look forward to it! Hint: Sasuke and Natalia get closer~ ;)
Hope you enjoyed the boner scene and I'll see y'all in the next chapter! :) :) :) :) :)💙