"NOW that I'm here, everything will be okay!" Naruto said, feigning strength and confidence as he stood before his allies and adversaries.
"What happened to a shinobi's element of surprise?" Tazuna said, puzzled by Naruto's bold and unique entrance.
"When it comes to Naruto," Riki said, sighing as she eyed the blonde, "all elements of a shinobi just seem to . . . disappear."
"I could tell that much at first glance," Tazuna commented, earning a laugh from the girls guarding him.
"All right here I go!" Naruto yelled, bringing Sakura, Riki and Tazuna's attention back on him. "Shadow Clone jutsu!"
"You weren't joking earlier, were you?" Tazuna asked Riki, taking her previously said words to heart.
"I actually was, but this . . ."
Just as Naruto was about to activate his technique, Zabuza sent a flurry of shuriken his way, stunning Naruto and his team.
"Get out of the way, Naruto!" Kakashi yelled as Naruto watched the shuriken get closer, and expression of fear present on his face.
But as the shuriken were about to hit him, a number of senbon knives intercepted the shurkien and diverted them off their path. All eyes rushed to Haku, the sole owner of the senbon knives, Zabuza and Naruto in particular, as they looked at him with more confusion than they had earlier.
"Naruto, what kind of idiot would shout out and perform their jutsu right in front of the enemy's eyes?" Kakashi shouted at his student.
"Huh?" Naruto looked around as he took in the scene around him. How Tazuna was being shielded by a worried Sakura and Riki, how Kakashi stood a few metres from Zabuza, how Sasuke was nowhere to be seen, and how all eyes were on him.
"The essence of a shinobi is deception," Kakashi explained. "The way you made your entrance earlier, that's just you coming to be a target . . ."
"But I went through all of the trouble of coming to the rescue!" Naruto said, his voice a mix of frustration and disappointment.
"Haku . . . What's the idea?" Zabuza began, reffering to the interference of his attack
"Zabuza, leave this kid to me . . ." Haku asked, pushing himself off the floor, his clothes slightly wet from the puddles of water on the bridge's surface and the condensated mist. He moved to outside the crystal dome of mirrors. "Let me fight this battle my way."
"So you mean no interfering, Haku? You're naive . . . as usual. " The duo spoke without facing each other, instead each turned to face their enemy.
"I'm sorry," Haku replied.
"That's fine with me! Because I'll beat you up anyway!" Naruto shouted, pointing at Haku.
Riki looked between Sasuke and Haku, and again between the two, looking both boys up and down. From what she could see from her own two eyes, Sasuke seemed to have many cuts littering his body, yet it looked as if none of them had caused any large internal injury despite his screaming earlier. Senbon knives were widely known as surgery tooks, but none had yet to penetrate deep into Sasuke's body all.
Kakashi took a step forward towards Naruto in attempt to aid him, only to be blocked by Zabuza taking a step in front of him.
"Don't be getting any wierd ideas," Zabuza warned. "If you move, you'll know what'll happen to that old man and those girls, right?"
Kakashi didn't reply, deep in thought. Zabuza took this as an opportunity to speak on. "How about we just leave it to the young guys to fight it out, hm?"
Naruto raised another accusing finger at Haku, his arm outstretched. "You're that one boy from back then! I can't believe you're on Zabuza's side! How dare you deceive us like that!"
"I'm sorry, but you heard your sensei back there. The essence of a shinobi is deception and deceiving the enemy. Don't take it personally," Haku explained plainly, though Naruto had seemed to take his words to heart.
From within the dome of crystal mirrors, Sasuke raised a kunai knife, and expression that resembled a grimcae worn on his face. He threw it straight through a gap in the mirrors and at the masked boy's face. Haku merely moved his masked face back, avoiding the knife with barely any effort. Sasuke let his face mirror his internal surprise at Haku's swift reaction.
"I haven't forgotten about you either," Haku said, barely glancing at Sasuke beneath his mask. "I would rather you had just went down quietly, but it looks like it won't work out that way." His voice hardened. "Fine. I'll just put an end to it now." He took a few steps towards his crystal mirrors.
"O-oi!" Naruto called out, his voice halting Haku.
"I'll get to you afterwards, Naruto."
Haku then stepped into the mirror, his form disappearing from where it previously was as he shone in front of Sasuke within the mirror. His reflection played out across all the mirrors, until Haku stood identically in all of them. Naruto looked on at it with wide eyes, perplexed.
"So, let's begin." And within a few seconds, Sasuke's screams could be heard again, Naruto flinching as he heard the raspy screams of agony leave his throat for the first time.
"Sasuke!" he shouted out of worry, watching through the gaps between the mirrors as more lines of red appeared on Sasuke's visible skin.
Haku had stopped his flurry of attacks after a full minute, watching Sasuke pant on the floor as deeper cuts tore into his skin. As Sasuke looked around, whisking his head left and right as he thought of a way to combat Haku's almost unbeatable attack, he didn't notice Naruto creep into the dome until Naruto announced his presence right beside him.
"Yo! I came to save you! You okay, Sasuke?"
Sasuke jumped at the sound of his voice. "Naruto? What're you doing here, you idiot?"
"Who are you callin' an idiot?! I came in here to save you, believe it!"
"If you're also in here then..." Sasuke looked away from Naruto, evidently upset. "Darn it! I've had it, you fool!"
"Fool? What do you mean by fool, fool!"
Sasuke stood up, pushing away his frustration. "Since it's come to this, all that's left is to smash the mirrors!" He quickly weaved his handsigns, surprising Naruto. "Fire style -"
"Oi, what are you planning to do?!"
"-Fireball jutsu!" A large ball of fire left Sasuke's mouth as he exhaled,blowing onto the mirrors and giving them a vibrant flame. A few of the mirrors cracked a little at the force of the fire, but didn't melt at all, ruining Sasuke's plan of melting them.
"It's not working at all!" Naruto said as he hurried to stand, watching as the fire slowly grow weak.
"That's level of firepower won't melt my mirrors," Haku stated. As if on cue, Haku held up three senbon within his right hand, ready to attack the two boys as the fire diminished.
The screams continued.
At the force of the attack, the boys fell down onto the backs, skidding backwards on the wet floor. "Darn it!" Naruto exclaimed angrily. "Where's the attack coming from? Are there clones?" Naruto stood up again, weaving a handsign. "I'll just destroy all the mirrors! Shadow Clone jutsu!"
"Don't!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto to stop him, but it was too late. Copies of Naruto popped up left and right, with Naruto himself jumping at one of the mirrors. But before even one of the clones could touch a mirror, Haku's senbon knives rained down on them, each clone being dispelled as a result, with Naruto himself falling down onto the floor beside Sasuke.
"This is a Teleportation jutsu that uses mirrors than can only reflect my image. From my speed, it seems like you guys aren't moving at all . . ."
"So what?!" Naruto shouted in response, annoyed and angered. "I can't die here yet! 'Cause I have a dream that must turn into a reality . . . A dream to have my strength recognised by the people of my village and become Hokage!"
"For me, becoming a shinobi is incredibly difficult. If I can, I don't want to kill you guys . . . And I don't want to get killed by you guys . . . But if you guys are going to keep coming at me, then I'll kill my feelings with a sword and become a ful shinobi," Haku said, his tone slightly solemn.
"This bridge is the battlegrounds that connects each of us to our dreams. I, for the sake of my dream. You guys, for the sake of your dreams. Please don't hold it against me. I want to protect the person dear to me . . . I work for the sake of that person, I fight for that person, and I want to make that person's dream a reality.
"For that dream, I will completely become a shinobi . . . And I'll kill you guys."
▂▂▂▂▂❦▂▂▂▂▂
"No real shinobi will come out of a peace addicted village like yours," Zabuza started, laughing. "Because they dont learn the most important part of being a shinobi, the 'experience of killing'."
Kakashi ignored Zabuza's taunts at student's lack of experience in homicide, rather deciding to commence the fight. His hand reached to lift the top of his headband that covered his Sharingan eye. "I'm sorry but... I'm going to have to finish this in an instant."
"The Sharingan, again? What an unimaginative guy!" Zabuza commented, smirking.
With a push off the ground, Zabuza took off towards Kakashi, pulling out a knife from his pocket before lunging at Kakashi's eye. The knife pierced through Kakashi's hand that gripped the knife at it's blade. Kakashi kept his left hand on his headband, the right dripping blood onto the bridge floor.
"You might call me an unimaginative guy, but you are afraid of the Sharingan after all, Zabuza!"
Zabuza chucked, as if to cover up his breaking facade. "The secret of a shinobi isn't something you can show your opponent so many times."
"Be appreciative. You're the only one who has had the luxury to see it twice . . . And there won't be a third time."
"Even if you were to beat me, you can't defeat Haku..." Zabzua stated ominously, yanking his knife out of Kakashi's gloved palm, leaving a deep wound. "His ability beats mine. The terrifying ability of a Kekkei Genkai. In other words, I have acquired a sophisticated tool. Unlike the scrap you carry around!"
Zabuza looked behind at the crystal dome that had gotten quiet after the start of Kakashi and Zabuza's fight. "Just because the scrap has gotten together, doesn't mean they'll ever beat Haku!"
"There's nothing more that I hate than strangers bragging . . . Let's get this over with! "
"You asked for it. 'The same jutsu won't beat me twice' . . . Was that what you said back then?" Zabuza raised his hands into a handsign. "Ninja Art, Hidden Mist jutsu."
The air began to get thick with fog, clouding all of the ninja and Tazuna's vision. Riki blinked through the fog, unable to see the kunai knife in front of her, again, just like their last battle with Zabuza.
"Mr Tazuna! Don't move from Riki and I's side at all!" Sakura shouted over the fog.
"You don't have to tell me that twice," he mumbled as Sakura and Riki covered each side of his body.
A group of shuriken flew at Kakashi, and they were deflected with his kunai accurately, even through the thick mist.
"Well done for dodging them. Just what I expect of Kakashi of the Sharingan . . ."
At the sound of Zabuza's voice Kakashi soun himself around, coming face to face with a blurry image of Zabuza that was caused by the thick mist. Though what left Kakashi bewildered wasn't the appearance of Zabuza, but the fact that he had his eyes closed and his hands still in the sign he had used to cast the jutsu.
"But the next time you see me, that'll be the end of it all. You overrate the Sharingan too much," Zabuza said before disappearing into the mist again.
"What?" Kakashi questioned, shaken by the situation.
"Yoy spoke as if you saw through everything but your foresight was wrong. Kakashi, you can't read my mind or see my future. The Sharingan is merely a diversion that makes you believe that! Those who have the Sharingan have perceptive and hypnotic eyes . . . you only pretended that you could see the future!"
At the news that Zabuza had found out the truth about his technique so soon, Kakashi had been left with his eyes wide open. Now he had been made the surprised one rather than Zabuza, though he wouldn't let that distract him from defeating him.
"I will shut off your ability to use your hypnotic eye in a close distance battle," Zabuza finished off.
"Why?" Kakashi questioned. "That means that you will also lose your abilty to see."
"Did you forget? That I am a genius in silent killing, a technique to find the target just by sound?"
The atmosphere grew silent, with the few exceptions of the screams that erupted from the crystal dome. The two girls, Sakura and Riki, let their eyes flash left and right, their eyes peeled for any traces of the enemy. Riki, who was stationed to Tazuna's left, let her eyes move in all directions through the white cloud of mist ahead of her. Sakura, who was stationed at Tazuna's right, focused on keeping her kunai steady in her hands, gulping down a lump in her throat as she watched the blank white mist.
A black figure moved in the corners of their eyes. Zabuza.
They were quick to react. They both brought their kunai up, ready to react and block his gigantic sword when Kakashi appeared before them, his back to them, and they retreated their knives.
"Too slow," Zabuza said, and swung down his sword. The sword had impaled Kakashi in the chest, but not as deep as it had looked at first glance.
The two girls stood facing Zabzua on each side, their knives held for defence as their teacher clutched his chest in pain.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
"Are you okay, sensei-!"
Zabuza quickly cut Riki off, assuming his authority over the situation. "Your reaction time is getting slower, Kakashi . . . your students have clouded your judgement, and it seems to have clouded your Sharingan with an even heavier cloud. Even though you have those impressive eyes, your ability to read your enemy's movements is getting cloudy." Zabuza grinned maniacally, his eyes wide with an odd sense of pleasure.
"Amuse me more, Kakashi..." he continued, "I want to repay my debt in an amusing way. Don't worry. Anytime now, Haku will defeat those kids." He lifted his sword up again, the tip dripping with crimson blood. "You better apologise to them in tears when you are in 'the next world' for your lack of strength."
And Zabuza disappeared into the mist once more.
"I don't believe him!" Sakura exclaimed, shaking slightly. "Sasuke-kun would never get defeated, Naruto won't either . . ."
"Exactly," Kakashi added, his lone red eye staring into the mist. "I believe in their strength. Naruto . . . he's the number one hyperactive knucklehead Ninja. And Sasuke is a member of the most excellent clan in the Hidden Leaf Village!"
"That can't be!" Zabuza said, his voice echoing in the mist.
"Yes, it is . . ." Kakashi confirmed. "His name is Sasuke Uchiha. He bears within his body the famous Kekkei Genkai of the Uchiha clan! He is a Ninja genius."
"He's the remaining survivor of that tragic clan? No wonder he grows so quickly. But . . . That's the same as Haku! Nobody has ever beaten that secret jutsu of Haku's. Not one person in the past." There was a long pause, before Zabuza spoke again, his voice sounding deeper and more threatening. "Either way, it's about time I end this."
"Riki! Sakura! Don't move away from here!" Kakashi ordered, his body barely visible to the girls and Tazuna that stood behind him.
"Right!" Sakura and Riki replied in unison. And they assumed their positions on either side of Tazuna once more, watching Kakashi's back fully disappear as he ran out into the pale mist.
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I'm back with another chapter!
If they're any spelling mistakes, please ignore them, I was legit half asleep writing this.