Dawn broke with a morning mist. It hung in the air, heavy and damp.
Zabuza peered out from the cover of bush and mist. There was the cave the Leaf ninja had holed up in. The new genin were holding watch outside, but they looked more like children out camping than ninja. The pink-haired girl had curled up against the black haired boy in blue, who was in turn sharing jokes with the loud blonde one.
If he needed to swing his sword more than once dispatching those fools, he didn't deserve to call himself a ninja.
Haku was hidden somewhere nearby. Zabuza was proud of the boy; not only did he not know where he was, but he had almost disguised that he had some feeling towards the blonde one. No surprise, if he really was capable of Ice techniques. Zabuza smiled. All the more reason to destroy the brat. A broken connection like that would make the boy much more useful. Zabuza thought about that for a few more heartbeats. “Eh, thinking isn't my style,” he grumbled.
The attack came without warning. One moment, three kids are hanging out. The next, a half-naked man with a stupidly big sword was standing amongst them, and they were flying away...and puffing into chakra smoke.
Zabuza's eyes flared as the realization that he had slaughtered mere clones passed through his mind. “It's a trap!”
“A bit late for that,” came a new voice. The surrounding brush exploded into smoke. Zabuza scowled more. “Henges. I was careless.”
Kakashi Hakate, Zabuza recognized him. He stood diametrically opposed to the cave entrance, with the most options to intercept any avenue of retreat Zabuza chose. At his side, creating an orange wall right up to the rock face of the cave, that blonde genin's clones. Zabuza schooled his features into neutrality. He couldn't ignore the clones. They'd barely slow him down at all, but blondie's jutsu was something to respect and if he had this much chakra...that left into the cave. “Quite the trap, Kakashi Hakate.”
“Oh?” Kakashi asked. “I thought it was rather simple. Perhaps you've just lost your touch.”
Zabuza grinned. “Then let me sharpen my skills on your skull!” He rushed Kakashi, bringing his sword in a sweeping horizontal arc. A few of blondie's clones poofed as he cleaved through them, then Kakashi's kunai caught the blade. Zabuza grinned more. “As I thought. You're the real Sharingan Kakashi! Haku!”
“Hai, Zabuza-sama,” the fake hunter-nin said calmly. He lept from hiding and ran for the cave. Senbon shot from his hands as if magically propelled, and Narutos fell like so much smoke and mirrors. Haku twitched slightly; one of the clones had turned into an ice sculpture rather than smoke. Ice clones? he marveled. Why hadn't he ever thought of that? Then he was inside the cave.
Kakashi broke away from Zabuza and carefully circled the other jonin, putting himself between Zabuza and the cave. “Let's keep this fight between you and me, why don't we?”
Zabuza snorted a laugh. “You think your ice genin can take Haku? I trained that boy to be the ultimate ninja! He is a machine for killing, nothing more! He cannot lose to brats playing at ninja!”
Kakashi raised his headband from his eye. “Maybe. But how will he fare against three geniuses and a dragon?”
“Dragon?” Zabuza asked mockingly. “You think a great deal of your training, don't you Sharingan Kakashi?”
“No mortal can teach that jutsu. Enough. I will give you a moment to repent.”
Zabuza grinned all the wider. “Then I will take that moment to strike!”
Kakashi poofed into a log and the real Kakashi struck at Zabuza from his blind spot. “You talk too much,” Kakashi said calmly.
Zabuza's sword did his talking after that.
Haku made it past the first turn and slowed. In true ninja fashion, Team Ten had chosen a cave where the first turn cut off all lines of sight from outside. In a way, he was now much further from Zabuza than he had been a few steps back.
He took a few more steps and barely avoided the tripwire. “A trap?” he wondered. Had the ninja really expected an attack that far in advance? He looked around much more carefully and saw a dozen more, now that he knew what he was looking for. They were well hidden, ready to trigger braces of kunai, exploding tags, and wire cages. “Almost got me,” he mumbled. He made a few signs and froze the triggers solid, disarming the lot of them.
“Oh, you can use one hand seals, eh? Very impressive.”
Haku recognized the voice. “The scrawny kid from the river.”
“Scrawny kid? You're a troublesome one. Why don't you just turn around now so I can go back to sleep?”
Haku scowled. The voice was carefree, but at the same time he could tell it was being carefully echoed. The brat could be right behind him as far as he could tell. “Give me the bridge builder and I'll make sure you'll sleep for an eternity,” he said, walking forward cautiously.
“Tempting, but no. Besides, are you sure you got all the traps?”
Haku's foot chose that time to step on a false rock. It slid away, but Haku was far too ninja to be unbalanced so easily. The pressure trigger snapped a light on in a lantern just before his eyes, dazling him briefly. “What!?” He never saw the punch coming.
Sasuke was patient. He had to be. He didn't have the sharingan yet, but he knew how to read chakra a little. This guy was higher than he was. One on one, he didn't stand a chance, unless he got an opening. So he went along with Shikamaru's plan.
Sakura was a useless fangirl, but when the Nara heir told her Sasuke would be impressed by traps she went all-out. They were efficient, hidden, and theoretically effective traps hidden in the entrance corridor and a number of hidden weapons in the cave proper they could trigger at will. Too bad the chunin guy froze all the wires and wrecked them, but now he was on edge. That was good.
The lantern was the signal, and an opening. Sasuke took it and did his best to introduce the chunin's gut with his spine.
That was the plan, anyway.
Haku didn't see Sasuke coming, but he knew he was open and, instead of flinching from the sudden light, tightened against it. Sasuke's punch impacted his forearm. “Heh.”
Sasuke grunted as Haku reversed his arm, grabbed Sasuke by the wrist, and slammed him into the cave wall. “Is this all you have?”
“Not exactly.”
“You again?” Haku asked, turning to look deeper into the cave. Beyond the lantern he saw him, the kid from the river.
Shikamaru smiled. “Aren't you going to kill me now?”
Haku hesitated. This kid used some shadow jutsu to make Zabuza break his own sword. It hadn't lasted long, but it was effective. Not as strong as Zabuza, Haku doubted he'd fare better. And if he walked past the lantern...
“Your shadow will come right to me,” Shikamaru agreed. “And then you're done.”
Sasuke recovered and went after Haku again. Kunai in each hand, right slash, left, roundhouse, spin to knife, stab at the ear. Haku was half a step ahead, no more, keeping Sasuke at bay with a senbon. They traded a great many blows, until Haku got the better hand and pushed Sasuke into the lantern. “What will you do without shadows?” he mocked.
“Make more.” Haku's eyes went wide as a new light appeared, behind Shikamaru. The light was so close, dodging wasn't an option. Shikamaru's shadow enveloped the tunnel itself.
“Suiton!” Haku cried, running the handsigns for a Water technique. All the ice he had created melted, merged, multiplied in an instant, and a heavy stream of water barreled down on Shikamaru, who was only halfway through his own handsigns.
“Hooray for big boned!” yelled a boulder of flesh. Choji rolled into the path of the spray and powered through it, getting soaked and sending water spraying all over the cave, but leaving Shikamaru on his feet and the lantern dry.
Haku's eyes darted around behind his mask as he sought an escape. He had a few seconds before the genin's shadow would come after him…ah. It was still a shadow. Haku jumped to the cave ceiling and twisted in midair. The chakra in his feet held him to the ceiling as he charged forward.
Shikamaru stared as Choji rolled away. He hadn't anticipated the ninja running on the ceiling. His shadow was too far away. He grimaced and twisted his chakra-charged shadow up the side of the cave, knowing very well that by the time he managed to get the enemy, he himself would be dead.
Then Sasuke kicked Haku in the back of his head. "Don't forget about me!" he raged.
Haku pulled himself into a ball and rolled past Shikamaru before jumping back to his feet. He faced Sasuke and took the cave around him in.
The kunoichi were missing. So was the target. A last line of defense? The round one and the shadow user were hurrying out of Sasuke's way, acting like they were low on chakra. They still hadn't recovered from the thrashing Zabuza gave them. That left the ice user…and the Uchiha charging him down.
Sasuke was in a rage. He had a kunai in each hand and was flailing wildly, his form deteriorating under a drive to be stronger than anyone else. He would take this enemy down himself. He was the rookie of the year! He…was…Uchiha!
Clarity struck like a lightningbolt.
Haku hesitated. Sasuke just blinked and suddenly his eyes were red, with a dot spinning in each iris. "Sharingan," he whispered.
Sasuke gave a feral grin. "I see you!" he yelled, half cheer and half battlecry. He charged back into the fray, but his moves were smoother, his blows closer to hitting.
Haku responded with senbon to parry and water techniques to attack. The cave became soaked.
Shikamaru frowned. Why water techniques when he had a kekkei genkai? Wait. "He's setting something up!" he yelled.
"Too late," Haku said. The water congealed into puddles that turned to ice and rose as a cage of mirrors around Sasuke. Haku calmly walked into the closest mirror. "You fight well. But it ends now."
"Not even half way!" came a loud voice.
Haku sighed. The ice user. Well, now that he'd readied his ultimate technique, not even he could-
Naruto leapt in from the shadows and simply punched through an ice mirror like it was rice paper.
Haku stared, dumbfounded. "Impossible!"
Naruto held up a chunk of ice and grinned ferally. "Really? Felt pretty easy to me. You sure you’re an ice ninja?" He took the chunk into his teeth and broke off a chunk, chewing noisily before swallowing. "Now that I've eaten, I feel reenergized."
Haku's mouth hung open behind his mask. "What…what are you?"
Naruto extended a hand at Haku's mirror and suddenly the arm turned to a spear of ice from his shoulder. It was jagged and unrefined, but it extended from his body and smashed through the mirror. "What am I? I am a ninja of Konohagakure!"
Haku was knocked out of his mirror. He went flying backwards, the remains of his jutsu crumbling to snow around him. He got his feet under him and recovered, but he was shaken.
"Dragon scales to hold off a glacier, dragon jaws to break the ice," came yet another new voice. Asuma, standing for the first time in days, heavily bandaged and in no shape to fight, walked into the light from one of the adjoining chambers. "It is an ancient jutsu that duplicates the powers of a dragon."
Dragon? Haku snorted. "Myths."
"I ain't no myth, dattebayo," Naruto growled. He inhaled deeply.
Asuma winced. "Surrender. You can't win against a Dragon Slayer."
"A Dragon Slayer?" Haku asked dubiously. "It does not matter. Zabuza-sama will kill you all, even if you kill me."
"Then I'll just beat him too!" Naruto proclaimed. "Ice Dragon Roar!" He exhaled his all, and out of his mouth came a typhoon of ice crystals and biting wind.
“Not in a hundred years,” Haku said sadly. The water around him gathered with shocking speed and encased him in a dome of ice. Unlike the Demon Ice Mirrors, the dome was rounded and Naruto's breath hit at an angle. With only a fraction of the attack's force pressing against the dome, it cracked but did not break, and when Naruto's breath had passed, Haku was still behind his barrier.
“I'm not done yet!” Naruto shouted. He brought his hands together. “Kage bunshi-”
Sasuke clasped his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Don't waste your chakra."
Naruto turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke?"
Sasuke grinned. "Teamwork, remember?"
Naruto grinned back.
Sasuke looked to Haku and the false grin vanished. Naruto's jutsu was powerful, more powerful than he had imagined. And he had the chakra to keep it going. Sasuke wasn't interested in teamwork; he just wasn't willing to let his involvement in the fight be recorded as "saved by Naruto."
Sasuke repeated Naruto's stance and ran through a series of handsigns. "Gaton: Gōkakyū!" He expelled a great gout of flame from his mouth.
Haku's dome was ice enforced by chakra, but sometimes thermodynamics proved greater than jutsu. The ice, supercooled by Naruto's breath, shrieked under Sasuke's flames and shattered. Haku himself lept away as soon as there was an opening, but he still got singed by the chakra flames. He landed hard in the shadows, his ankle not able to take his weight so soon after the injury.
Sasuke was after him in a flash, his Sharingan fixed and unwavering on the boy. The last time, Haku had focused on defense to set up his ultimate technique. Now, though, Naruto's mere presence made that useless. Haku's focus had changed, using defensive moves that flowed into offensive strikes or pushed him into Sasuke's blind spots. In theory.
In practice, Sasuke had the Sharingan. Each of Haku's movements was perfectly analyzed by Sasuke's chakra, and every time Haku moved to flank him, Sasuke could pivot to keep Haku fixed in his eyes. He was still taking blows -- the speed of his eyes did nothing for the speed of his muscles – but he wasn't taking the kind of damage Haku wanted. And on the reverse, Haku had been burning chakra since he entered the cave. The traps, Shikamaru's threat, Choji's defense, setting up Sasuke and finally trying to hold off Naruto. Every ninja in the two teams had done their part to wear a superior opponent down. And it worked – Haku was slower than he had been. He couldn't defend from Sasuke's taijutsu.
After only a few moments, Sasuke had gotten himself into Haku's blind spot and delivered a punishing blow to the boy's kidney. Haku twisted enough to keep his vitals from taking the full force of the blow, but the intense pain of the attack sent him to his knees regardless. And then Haku's world went black.
Sakura walked into the light, carrying a limp Ino. "Are you okay?"
Haku groaned and rolled onto his side, the one without the bruises. "No," he said in a tone of voice that was…off. "Sasuke really beat this guy up."
"Feh," Sasuke said, walking away.
Haku looked after Sasuke with sparkles in his eyes. "Sasuke's so cool."
Naruto turned to join Sasuke, looking vaguely sick. "I think you have a fanboy now."
"Don't even joke," Sasuke grumbled, a note of desperation in his voice.
Asuma hobbled over. "Shikamaru, Sakura, tie the boy up before Ino's jutsu wears off. Even low on chakra, he's got a disciplined mind."
"I figure you have a couple minutes," Haku said, but his voice was a little strained.
"Right," Sakura said, pulling out some rope and wire.
"I thought you used all your wire in the traps," Asuma observed.
"I always keep some in reserve," Sakura said. "Keeps my options open."
"So it's over, right?" Choji asked, watching them tie up Haku while Ino was still in control.
"Kakashi should be just about finished with his fight now," Asuma agreed. "Pity I can't help him, but as I am now I would just get in his way."
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(Posted Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:12)
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