As the mist grew thicker so did our anxiety and tension. My eyes darted around the white cloud searching for any sign of, well, anything.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura called out.
"Don't worry, he'll target me first." Our sensei replied sounding totally at ease.
"But who is he?" Sakura asked. I frowned; all this talking is giving away our position. Sure he created the mist to hide himself but we could use that to our advantage. Of course, we can't now that Sakura decided to end her silent streak.
"His name is Zabuza Momochi. He's an ex-ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist and a master assassinator using primarily the silent killing technique. With his technique you'll pass from this life to the next without even realizing it." My mouth grew dry as I bit my lip. Now we were really in for it...
"The sharingan can't fully neutralize it so make sure to keep your guard up. If we fail, we only lose our lives." Kakashi-sensei ended light-heartedly.
"W-what?" Sakura spluttered.
"How can you say that, sensei?" Naruto shouted.
"Eight points." Zabuza spoke from somewhere. My shoulders tensed uncomfortably as I tried desperately to pinpoint his location. "Larynx, spine, liver, lungs, subclavian artery, jugular, and kidneys... now, which should be my kill point?"
The mist thickened, a feat I didn't think was possible at this point. I took a cautious step back and tightened our ranks. I could feel the unease around me, which I expected, but the unease seeping from the boy next to me was stifling. Sasuke was trembling. I watched him from the corner of my eye and saw him slowly turn the kunai in his hand towards himself.
I side stepped slightly and put my hand on his forearm comfortingly. Or at least, I hoped my gesture was comforting. Sasuke froze in his shaking to look at me. I gave him a small nod hoping to ease his nerves.
"Sasuke," Kakashi-sensei called out, "don't worry. I'll protect you all with my life." Sasuke took a silent breath and calmed himself. No longer needed I began to withdraw my hand and head back to my original position a side step away from him. I froze feeling something warm on top of my hand, keeping it pressed against Sasuke's arm.
Sasuke had put his hand on top of mine. I looked up to him with an eyebrow raised. We stood there frozen for a few seconds before Sasuke released me and I moved back to my position. Sasuke hadn't glanced at me once.
In an instant Zabuza was before us. I hadn't been paying attention to the battle so I was caught off guard and mentally scolded myself for being such an airhead. My mouth popped open as I shakily held my kunai knife in front of me. Sakura let out a little squeak of surprise. Suddenly Kakashi-sensei was behind Zabuza, holding his own knife to Zabuza's neck.
"It's over." Kakashi-sensei declared confidently. Our little group sighed in relief only to halt when Zabuza began to chuckle.
"Is it?" he questioned playfully as his body splashed to the ground.
"Water clone..." I muttered feeling stupid for not picking up on that sooner. The real Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi-sensei holding a knife to our teacher's neck the same way Kakashi-sensei had held his knife to the clone earlier.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled out worriedly as Sakura muffled a helpless cry. Kakashi-sensei gave us all a friendly smile before he too splashed into a puddle at our feet.
"I see," Zabuza spoke. He turned on his heel and began to laugh as he dodged Kakashi-sensei's next attack.
He jumped away from our sensei, "you had already copied my jutsu before I even made my move. You spoke to that little brat over there with your clone in order to draw my attention away. Clever, copycat nin. But be warned, I won't fall for the same trick twice!" the two clashed in a heated battle of taijutsu and the mist around us began to clear up as Zabuza focused more on his fight with Kakashi-sensei than keeping up the jutsu.
What... is that smell?
My nose twitched and my focus turned away from the battle in front of me to the forest around us.
"Lilly and pine needles..." I muttered to myself not noticing my team giving me weird looks. My eyes darted around the forest surrounding us. For some reason I was having a hard time pinpointing the scent, something that had never happened to me before.
"Uh, Miyu, are you ok?" Naruto asked distractedly as he watched the battle before us.
"Uh," I murmured in a half-hearted attempt at replying to the boy who probably wasn't listening to me anyways.
"Hey, brat, you're freaking me out." Tazuna grumbled as he shakily lifted his bottle to his lips in an attempt to hide his fear.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura screamed. My eyes widened and I spun to see our sensei caught in a water prison. Zabuza had made a clone to come after us as he held our sensei captive.
Torn between wanting to aid my team and discover what that unusual scent was, I worriedly watched my sensei for any reprieve from my decision. Kakashi-sensei watched me carefully. I glanced between him, the Zabuza clone, and the forest surrounding us in an attempt to tell him. Kakashi-sensei raised a speculative eyebrow at me.
Kakashi-sensei your eyebrow answers none of my questions.
"Listen, Team 7. Zabuza has to keep his arm here to keep up the water prison jutsu and his clone can't go far from his original. I want you all to take the bridge builder and run." Kakashi-sensei called out.
"What? And leave you, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura yelled back with tears in her eyes at the mere prospect of abandoning our sensei. Zabuza laughed.
"Admittedly, it's a good idea. You brats wouldn't stand a chance against me. That's why you should just hand over the bridge builder and scurry on home." I frowned. Whenever an enemy tells you something is a good idea it's almost always a terrible idea.
Plus, wasn't it Kakashi-sensei that told us never to abandon our friends? 'Those who ignore the rules are scum, but those who would abandon their friends are worse than scum'. Kakashi-sensei is our friend too.
"I don't think we should run." I commented steadily to my teammates.
"Yeah! Miyu is right! I would never abandon a friend, it's my ninja way!" Naruto yelled out. He then proceeded to charge towards Zabuza in a classic Naruto way. Zabuza just laughed and swatted the boy away. Naruto flew back, the force of the hit causing his headband to fall off.
"Ninja way? Can you brats even call yourselves ninja?" Zabuza laughed as he stomped on Naruto's headband.
"We passed the graduation exam just like everybody else!" Sakura defended seeming a lot more fired up than she was a few moments ago.
"Oh, the graduation exam. How hilarious." Zabuza scoffed. From his water prison Kakashi-sensei gasped, gaining our collective attention.
"I was wondering if it was you. You've made your way into our Bingo Book as well, Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Mist." A chilling silence settled over us.
"What...?" Naruto started out quietly prompting Kakashi-sensei to explain.
"Years ago, in the Village Hidden in the Mist, the graduation exam was brutal. In order to pass the students would be pitted against each other in a fight to the death. Then, one year, a child who wasn't even enrolled in the school killed all of the other participants." Sakura gasped and Naruto scrambled into a defensive position. Sasuke hadn't relaxed to begin with so he stayed the same. We all knew where the end of this story was headed.
"Zabuza Momochi was the name of the child." Kakashi-sensei finished much to Zabuza's mirth.
"It's a shame really. I was the strongest so I became their greatest tool. That is, until they changed the rules. Then I was too much for them to handle, so the village cast me out. Now here I am taking up demeaning assassination jobs just to make ends meet." Zabuza cut out coldly. It was clear he held little regard for his home.
".... I don't care." My head snapped towards Naruto who stood at the ready, a fire blazing in his eyes like two blue flames of determination.
"I don't care who you are or what you've done, I'll protect my friends!" he then charged Zabuza again. Zabuza scoffed, no longer amused as he once again swatted Naruto away.
"Naruto, what are you doing, you idiot?" Sakura scolded. Naruto ignored the girl, for what must've been the first time in his life, as he rose to his full height with a smirk. In his hand was his headband, the one that had previously been beneath Zabuza's foot.
It didn't matter how small the action was or how futile our attempts in this battle had been, to us that headband signified a victory. I gave Zabuza a toothy grin for my friend as triumph radiated off of our small group.
"Hmm, your teeth..." Zabuza murmured.
"Hey, Sasuke, come here for a minute. Sakura, guard the bridge builder and Miyu, keep Zabuza distracted." I huffed. Naturally, after getting all excited about Naruto's victory I would be stuck with distraction duty. Lame.
"I have more hunting experience than anybody. Stupid boys." I growled out. Sakura just shrugged at me and hardened her defensive stance.
"Tell me, white-haired brat. Are you from the Mist?" I raised my eyebrow at Zabuza, not at all interested in having a casual conversation with the enemy. Zabuza rolled his eyes at me.
"I'm not deaf. I heard the orange kid tell you to distract me." I sighed. Once again, Zabuza was right. Having a stupid conversation with the enemy did classify as distraction.
"No," I growled, "I'm not from the Mist." My answer only seemed to amuse Zabuza.
"Hmm, that's very interesting. I always assumed the Leaf was filled with pansy ninja, but your sharpened teeth is a common practice in the Blood Mist Village." He gave a dark chuckle. I frowned, not liking where he was going with this.
"Miyu, what's he talking about?" Sakura murmured to me. I pursed my lips, unwilling to explain.
"Do you know what has sharp teeth, like the ones your little friend possesses?" Zabuza asked. Sakura glanced at me in confusion.
"What's he on about?" Sasuke grumbled coming back from the meeting with Naruto. The two boys now stood present for the one thing I wanted to keep hidden from my feint-hearted friends.
"He's talking about Miyu's sharp teeth." Sakura filled in.
"What about them?" Naruto asked.
"Don't you have a plan to enact?" I grumbled out.
"So tell me, Leaf brats. What has sharp teeth, sharp claws, and impeccable senses?" Zabuza riddled off. With a frown I glanced down at my unusually sharp nails, my teammates following my gaze.
When we all were silent for too long Zabuza granted us reprieve from our confusion.
"Predators." He laughed in answer.
"So?" Sasuke asked seeming to grow tired of Zabuza's stupidity. Only, I knew he was only just brushing the point he wanted to make.
"Miyu, was it? How many have you killed? Do you enjoy the taste of another's blood after you've ripped out their arteries with your jaw? How many times have you stalked your helpless prey with your enhanced senses only to claw and tear it to shreds?" my shoulders tensed as my teammates turned to me with wide eyes.
"Tell me he's not serious, Miyu. I mean that's crazy. Who uses their teeth as weapons?" Sakura laughed nervously.
"Why else would her teeth be so sharp?" Zabuza laughed.
"Of course she has to be a predator. She lived with a pack of wolves for five years, remember?" Sasuke protested with a roll of his dark eyes, easing Sakura and Naruto.
"So you're a wolf-girl? Fascinating. So have you killed humans or only other animals like yourself?" Zabuza seemed to be having a field day with the, somehow, mass of information he had gotten at my expense.
"Miyu wouldn't kill people. That's crazy. Right, Miyu?" Naruto added seeming to feel at ease after remembering that I'm basically an animal. Not exactly a comforting thought, mind you.
I didn't answer.
"Team 7, he's just trying to turn you against each other! Don't listen to him and just run already!" Kakashi-sensei yelled out. Of course, Kakashi-sensei knew how hardened I actually was. He was the one who found me after all.
Covered in blood if I remember correctly.
"Right, our plan." Naruto suddenly remembered.
He couldn't have remembered 5 minutes ago when we were talking about their 'animal' of a teammate?
"Ready, Naruto?" Sasuke asked with a smirk, his game face on.
"Oh yeah, let's do this." Naruto added, a goofy grin on his face. Suddenly, I was faced with another whiff of lily and pine needles. I whipped my head around in attempt to find the source.
"You smell something don't you, Miyu?" Sakura murmured, for once, too quiet for anyone other than Tazuna to overhear.
"What? You mean that crazy guy wasn't kidding about the wolf-brat?" Tazuna slurred out. Sakura and I ignored him.
"Keep them out of trouble." I gave Sakura a trusting smirk and she smiled in return, determination shining in her eyes.
"Will do. Be safe, Miyu." I nodded to her and snuck away from the battle into the surrounding forest.
Very long chapter today, but you guys deserve it! Get ready for a little action in the coming chapters!