I can’t do this! Hinata thought frantically. I can’t take him! But…but I can’t run away? I…I have to…
“Screw that!” Naruto yelled. He walked next to Hinata and cracked his knuckles. “Kakashi-sensei, what is the word?”
Kakashi smiled. “Teamwork.”
“That’s right!” Naruto pointed at Haku. “That is what it means to be a Konoha shinobi! You’re facing both of us, dattebayo!”
I’m fighting with Naruto!? Ack, don’t faint!
Haku grimaced slightly. There wasn’t enough water for him to make his ice mirrors. This fight was going to start ugly if it was two on one.
Then Naruto made a familiar sign.
Haku threw a set of senbon before it became much worse than two on one and readied some water techniques that would cover the bridge in puddles.
Kurenai signaled a halt on top of a bridge strut. It was the furthest from shore, closest to the battle, and provided her a great view.
Kiba stopped instantly, as did Sasuke. Both crouched low.
“Who is the guy fighting Naruto?” Kiba asked.
“Didn’t see him last time,” Sasuke muttered. “Why are we here?”
“Teamwork doesn’t always mean fighting by your comrades’ side,” Kurenai said. “Look at how it’s going. Hinata is still guarding Tazuna. So is Kakashi.”
“He is?” Kiba asked.
Sasuke frowned. His sharingan wasn’t working yet, but he felt closer than he had since…since. He studied Kakashi as hard as he could. “He’s tense. Ready. And Zabuza…knows it. They’re keeping eachother in check.”
“Exactly,” Kurenai said, impressed. “So how do we break that balance?”
Sasuke thought that over. “We get Tazuna out of there.”
Kurenai nodded.
Kiba grinned. “You’re not as dumb as you look.”
Sasuke glared at him.
Shino looked to the door. “Someone is coming.”
“Eh?” Sakura asked, clearly nervous. “How do you…your allies?”
“Yes. Get the civilians in the cellar and have them lock the door. Hurry.”
“Do they have a cellar?” Sakura muttered, running into the building. She had to be quick if she planned to back Shino up.
Haku deflected Hinata’s strike with an icicle senbon and hopped away. He’d already taken one blow from the Hyuuga; a careless strike he thought couldn’t hurt at all. His kidney was still tingling. If the girl put any real intent into her strikes, she’d be very dangerous. As it was she was merely dangerous for a genin.
Naruto was at Haku now. His raw strength made him formidable, and ice senbon merely shattered against whatever his skin was made of.
And without speaking, the two genin were coordinating like they belonged together. Hinata would push him, he’d get some distance from her, then Naruto would show up to push him while Hinata guarded Tazuna and caught her breath. It was a dance with two unwanted partners, and Haku was hard-pressed to keep up and prevent Naruto from summoning and stay close enough to Tazuna that the bridge builder was still under threat.
But he was spreading water all around them with each jutsu, and now it was ready. He made the sign.
Naruto slowed his attack as the first mirrors rose from the water. “What is this?”
“You have fought well, Naruto-san,” Haku said softly. “But I am afraid I cannot allow you to win.” He stepped into one of the mirrors.
“It ends now,” a dozen Haku said at once.
Sasuke frowned at the ice mirror dome thing. “Why is it everyone outside Konoha has weird techniques?”
“That’s not true,” Kurenai said idly.
“You don’t call that a weird technique?”
“You think Konoha doesn’t have weird techniques?” Kurenai corrected. “Now help me with the net, or this jutsu won’t work.” She saw Hinata run into the dome and grimaced. The shy girl’s enthusiasm was a welcome sight…but that was a little foolhardy.
Hinata eeped as another barrage of senbon flew at them. She had seen through the technique almost instantly and was able to avoid the senbon, but she wasn’t fast enough to actually hit Haku. Her juuken required contact and her short stature required the closest of close combat. It was a stalemate.
Naruto was no better. His clothes were cut all over, although the skin they showed had cuts so shallow they didn’t even bleed. His breath jutsu lashed out again and again, but Haku was simply too fast, and his kekkei genkai was too powerful for the limited power Naruto could bring to his draconic talents in this human form. “Why are you doing this?” he snapped. “If you’re Zabuza’s comrade, shouldn’t he be fighting with you!?”
Haku was burning chakra, but smiled grimly beneath the mask regardless. He had to engage Naruto and Hinata at the same time, had to herd Naruto towards the center so he could only use his breath rather than his fists, and he had to keep up a constant barrage of attacks. Despite all this, however, his chakra reserves would hold out long enough. The Hyuuga was getting slower. One more volley, and she’ll have a cut on her clothes. Two more and she’ll bleed. She’ll die on the third. “Fool, I am not Zabuza-sama’s comrade!” Haku launched himself from the mirror for another barrage. As predicted, Hinata was a hair’s breadth too slow, and her sleeve sliced open to show unmarked skin beneath. Haku returned to the mirror. “I am Zabuza-sama’s weapon.”
Zabuza watched the battle with a growing smirk. “You see, Kakashi? Haku is the perfect shinobi. He has killed his own emotions to become the perfect killing machine.”
Kakazhi held his eyes on Zabuza. “I don’t need to look to feel the chakra he’s pouring out, or smell the air clean of blood. Your killing machine is only wearing himself out.”
If Zabuza had a witty remark, it was lost when he felt a genjutsu fall over his eyes. It was sloppy and he brushed it aside almost as negligently as his sword stopped Kakashi. The bare moment of distraction was enough to spark their fight anew. “Oho, so one of your other brats is hiding and tried to stop me with a genjutsu that sloppy? Pity, I was rather enjoying…our…talk?”
Zabuza’s commentary drifted off as he saw Kurehnai Yui jump up to the bridge from the water on his left, run across, scoop up Tazuna in a giant butterfly net, hop down to the water on his right, and run off at full speed.
Zabuza decided the only possible explanation was that he was under a genjutsu and made the sign to dispel it. Instantly the net-wielding Kurenai vanished.
Tazuna did not reappear on the bridge.
Zabuza looked around and finally noticed Kurenai, with a net, carrying Tazuna, running away, on the water…to the left. A perfect mirror of what he thought he had seen under genjutsu.
The next thing he was aware of was Kakashi’s fist, a kunai gripped in it to give extra clout when it impacted his face.
Kiba blinked. “What just happened?”
“She put Zabuza under a second genjutsu when he broke the first,” Sasuke said, staring intently at the fight.
“Yeah yeah so he’d miss the second while his attention was on the first. I know that.”
Sasuke spared Kiba a tired look. “Then what are you asking about?”
Kiba pointed at Kurenai, running towards them, with a very confused Tazuna in a giant net. “That.”
“Oh.” Sasuke waved the issue away and looked back to the fight. “Naruto calls it his Refuge in Audacity Jutsu. He invented it on a noodle mission three weeks ago.”
Kiba stared at Sasuke for a moment. “…is that a joke?”
“That’s why the jutsu works.”
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Tue, 31 May 2011 18:41)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.