We were all minding our own business as we walked towards Tazuna's house, I was enjoying the scenery when suddenly god knows what got into Naruto as he ran ahead of us.
He looked around before taking out his kunai and threw it at a bush, shocking us.
"Soko da!" (There!)
We just stood there staring at Naruto's sudden outburst, could he have lost too much blood and gone mad??
After it was obvious that Naruto didn't actually threw a kunai at an enemy and he probably did it to look cool, we raged.
"Heh... just a mouse."
"Quit trying to show off! There was nothing there in the first place!" Sakura was the first to lecture him.
"Please, Naruto. Don't use kunais recklessly. They're really dangerous." Kakashi sensei seemed anxious.
"Hey brat! Don't go scaring us!" even Tazuna-san joined in on lecturing Naruto.
Sasuke gave a "I'm done with this guy" look, while I facepalmed, "Naruto, if you hurt anyone because of that, you're gonna get it."
But, of course, he wasn't listening, "Huh? I sense a presence there! No, over here?!"
"There!" he shouted before throwing another kunai at another bush.
For that, Sakura hit the back of his head while scolding him, "Stop it, already!"
Naruto winced in pain as he clutched his head, "Someone's really been targeting us this whole time, dattebayo!" he tried to explain himself but Sakura doesn't believe him.
"Yeah, right!"
"Do you think he's right?" I asked Sasuke as I watched Kakashi sensei walked over to see what did Naruto hit.
"Hmph, very unlikely."
"I mean.... maybe he really did sense something." I tried to give Naruto the benefit of the doubt.
"Naruto! What have you done?!" Sakura shouted again once she followed Kakashi sensei into the bushes.
"Oh? He actually did hit something?" Curiosity got me and I walked closer.
"Gah! It's a bunny!" Naruto quickly ran over to pick up the bunny while apologizing profusely.
It was a white rabbit and by the looks of it, it's still in shock as it lay there with its eyes wide and mouth open. What a lucky rabbit, guess that the Grim Reaper didn't want to collect its soul today. Or maybe the Bunny Reaper.
Naruto was rubbing the rabbit against its face in his attempt to apologize.
"Naruto, let the rabbit go already. I don't think you're helping it to calm down..." I was starting to go over to pry the rabbit out of his hands when Kakashi sensei who was standing further away from us suddenly shouted.
"Everyone, get down!!"
We looked up to see a huge ass sword flying towards us, okay actually, towards Tazuna-san. Tazuna-san was rooted to the spot staring at the sword that was flying towards him, I reacted quickly and lunged at him, causing us both to fall onto the ground.
The sword hit a tree instead and a man immediately appeared standing on it's hilt with his back facing towards us, but his head was turned slightly towards us allowing us to see his face. He was a tall and fit man, with short spiky black hair and dark brown eyes. He has bandages wrapped around the bottom half of his face like a mask. He wore his forehead protector sideways on his head, clearly showing the symbol of Kirigakure.
He was shirtless too and he wore matching arm and leg warmers as well as long baggy pants with a striped pattern. He had an intimidating look on his face and I gulped, he looks like a powerful ninja.
"Well, well. If it isn't the rogue ninja of the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza!" Kakashi-sensei said out loud.
Nani? Rogue ninja? Holy shit, that must mean that he's really dangerous!
But Naruto was already running forward, don't tell me he doesn't know what a rogue ninja is?! He plans to fight him?!
Thankfully, Kakashi-sensei immediately stopped Naruto. "You're in the way. Get back, you guys." he ordered.
"Why?!" Naruto protested, seemingly unaware of the tense atmosphere.
"He's on a totally different level from the other guys." he explained to Naruto.
Then, Kakashi-sensei slowly raised his left hand to his forehead protector that was covering his left eye.
What is he gonna do?
"I assume you are Kakashi, the Sharingan user...." the guy named Zabuza started.
Sharingan? Chotto matte, isn't that the Uchiha clan's doujutsu? Why does Kakashi have it?
"Warui na... But you need to hand over the old man."
Everyone stares at Kakashi-sensei waiting for him to say something to answer our questions, but instead he told us to protect Tazuna-san.
"Get into the Manji battle formation, protect Tazuna-san. Don't get yourselves involved in this fight no matter what."
"Huh?" he wants us to stay out of it??
"That's the kind of teamwork that we need in this situation." he explained as he lifted the headband that was covering his left eye, exposing a vertical scar along his left eye.
"And now, Zabuza..." he opened his left eye revealing the classic red iris with a black outline along with three black commas in a circle and a single black dot in the center of the eye. The Sharingan.
"Fight me."
I noticed that Naruto was looking at Kakashi-sensei in fear, he probably has never seen it before hence why he's afraid.
"Well now... I never expected to see the rumored Sharingan this soon. This is an honor." Zabuza turned around to face us completely.
Naruto clearly couldn't handle being in the dark anymore, "Everyone's been saying Sharingan, but what is it?!"
Sasuke being the expert here answered Naruto's questions. "Sharingan. Power that the light of the eye generates and the pupil emanates." He looked up at Zabuza, "The user of this doujutsu is said to possess the vision to see through Genjutsu, Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, and is able to deflect them. The Sharingan is a type of eye that is unique to a doujutsu user."
"However, that is not the only power of the Sharingan." I looked over to see Naruto focusing intently on Sasuke's explanation.
"Well said. That is not all." Zabuza praised Sasuke for his explanation, "What's more frightening is that such an eye can assess an opponent's techniques and copy them."
While Zabuza was explaining the Sharingan's powers, I noticed that a mist was beginning to form, and it was becoming thicker.
"When I was in the Anbu Black Ops for Kirigakure, I possessed the Bingo-book which contained information about our enemies. It had quite the extensive write-up about you...." he began.
"About the man who has copied over a thousand different techniques... Kakashi the Copy Ninja."
Whoa..... not gonna lie but that sounds pretty cool, plus being listed in an assassin's book, Kakashi-sensei must be super strong! Even though he doesn't look like one.
We were all still staring at Kakashi in shock and newfound respect when Zabuza spoke again, interrupting our thoughts.
"Let's end the talking here. I must kill that old man immediately."
The 4 of us genin immediately positioned ourselves around Tazuna-san with a kunai in our hands, us forming a circle and him inside of the circle. I stood behind Tazuna-san, facing the back just in case the enemy sneaks up on us from behind but I still turned my head around to watch him.
"But... it looks like I will have to defeat you first Kakashi."
With that, he quickly jumped away, pulling his sword our of the tree bark and disappeared.
"Over there!" Naruto shouted.
"And he's even on the water?" Sakura voiced out in disbelief.
When he reappeared, he was standing on top of the water, a hand held out in front of him and another arm raised. He seemed to be making the ninjutsu sign with both hands. The still water beneath him began moving around him like a vortex. Droplets of water were encircling him in a perfect sphere, I assume that the water may be following the path his chakra is making.
"Ninja Art, Hidden Mist Jutsu."
He disappeared like mist right before our eyes, the water calmed down and a leaf replaced Zabuza, floating in the air and landed on the water, right where he should be standing.
"He's vanished?!"
"Shit, where did he go?" I looked around, noticing that the mist was starting to become even dense.
"He will come after me first...." Kakashi sensei walked closer towards the edge of the water.
"Who is he sensei?"
"Momochi Zabuza, he's an ANBU Black Ops member of the Hidden Mist and is known for his mastery of the art of silent killing." He elaborated further, knowing that we were clueless as to what he was saying, "As the name suggests, it's a killing skill that is implemented in an instant in silence."
"By the time you realize it, it's possible you may find yourself in the afterlife. I haven't totally mastered the use of my Sharingan, so don't lower your guard down guys."
I gulped and looked down to see that my hands were sweating from fear, I quickly wiped my hands on my kimono before tightening the grip on my kunai. I'm the only one who's guarding our backs, so I must be vigilant, I can't let fear get to me or we're all gonna die!
"Well, if we fail, we'll only die." I can't even tell if that was Kakashi sensei's attempt to lighten the mood or if he was being serious.
"How can you be so carefree?!" Sakura sounds like she's done with his carefree tone.
If I thought the mist just now was dense, I take it back, all of a sudden the mist became so thick that I couldn't even see the bush that was in front of me.
"The mist is getting thicker!"
"The Land of the Waves is surrounded by ocean, so mist rises very easily." Tazuna explained to Naruto who was starting to freak out, and to be frank, me too.
"I can't see sensei anymore!" Sakura told us.
"What???" I gulped, the eerie silence is making me tense.
Ugh... this is bad..... I can't tell where Zabuza is.....
"Eight spots...."
"Huh? What was that?" I looked around trying to determine where did the voice come from.
"Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, subclavian artery, kidney, heart." Zabuza's voice was the only thing that broke the silence, and it sounded very ominous.
"What is he getting at?" I said out loud.
"So many choices, which vulnerable spot should I pick?"
My eyes widened at his last sentence and my hand started to shake. I have no idea what half of those things are, where would he attack from?
Suddenly I felt a gust of wind which caused the mist to dissipate, I turned to see that it was Kakashi sensei's chakra.
Sugoi... he managed to release that much chakra to blow away the mist? This is good, I can see better now at least.
"Sasuke." Kakashi sensei spoke.
Hm? Did something happen? I can't see Sasuke from here.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you with my life. I won't allow my comrades to be killed."
Huh.... so Sasuke got scared? That's pretty rare for him, seeing as how he's so composed all the time.
"I wonder about that..."
Zabuza?! I quickly turned around following his voice to see that he had appeared inside our circle in front of Tazuna!
How did he even - damn it! We were too slow!
"Game over." I saw as he started to swing his sword when Kakashi sensei lunged at him, knocking all of us to the ground, and since I was behind Tazuna, he fell on top of me.
"Ack!" I felt the wind being knocked out of me after Tazuna fell on me, me cushioning his fall. He won't be getting broken bones, but I might.
"O-oh! I'm so sorry girl!" Tazuna apologized as he moved off of me.
I shaked my head to indicate it was fine.
Zabuza's eyes widened and after looking closely I could see why, Kakashi sensei had managed to stab him in the abdomen with his kunai.
But... instead of blood flowing out of his wound, it was.... water?!
"Sensei, it's a clone!" I quickly shouted to warn him.
Just as I shouted it, the real Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi sensei.
"Sensei! Behind you!" Naruto and I shouted in unison.
"Shine!" Zabuza then swung his huge sword at Kakashi sensei and I closed my eyes quickly, only hearing the sound of his sword slice through Kakashi sensei.
Sakura screamed and I opened my eyes to see..... WATER AS WELL?!
Zabuza seemed to have noticed that Kakashi sensei had used the water clone jutsu as well, his muscles tensed as he prepared to defend but Kakashi sensei was faster. Kakashi sensei already had a kunai at Zabuza's neck, preventing him from making any sudden movements.
"Don't move. It's over for you."
That was..... awesome.
Just as Naruto and Sakura started to cheer, Zabuza started to chuckle. "Heh... do you think it's over?" He sneered.
"You just don't get it. It'll take a lot more to defeat me than copying me like a monkey. A lot more."
Wait... what is he saying? Does he actually have something else up his sleeve?
Hey guys, so I realized that I've been doing really short chapters, so I'll be starting to write longer chapters from now on, which will obviously be taking more time now. Especially since my semester has started and I've another professional exam to pass this month >.<
I noticed that more people have been reading my stories though, and that's made me so happy. And thanks to the reader who voted for last chapter! I'm trying really hard to come up with more original side stories to add in here and there so bear with me please!