Naruto and Sasuke traded looks and ran out of the cave as fast as their tiered legs could take them.
Asuma facepalmed. "This is going to need a lot of paperwork."
The two genin got out of the cave and stopped suddenly in shock. Kakashi, his back to them, was almost down on one knee. Zabuza was facing them, his sword outstreached, breathing heavily. Neither ninja was unhurt, but it looked like Zabuza had the upper hand…barely. Even so, that he was choosing to marshal his chakra rather than attack when Kakashi was down spoke well about the damage Kakashi had inflicted.
Kakashi shifted slightly and in that moment, Zabuza struck. The gap between the two men vanished in less time than it took to blink, and the clang of sword on kunai echoed in the rocky region. Metal shrieked against metal and Kakashi's kunai flew out of his hand with a fair bit of his blood as company.
Kakashi wasn't done, though. He spun with the blow and tripped Zabuza, who was overextended into his attack. "RUN!" he yelled at Sasuke and Naruto.
Zabuza caught himself with his free hand and flipped back onto his feet, now between Kakashi and his genin. "I knew you would try to protect them," he sneered. "Genin trash. They were able to defeat Haku, though. I will have to punish him if he is still alive."
Naruto's fist clenched. "What?" he growled.
"Oh?" Zabuza wondered. He sounded amused. "The genin thinks he can take me? Come, show me your kage bunshin, child. Perhaps you will last long enough to make killing you interesting."
"RUN AWAY!" Kakashi yelled again. "You can't take him!"
"That doesn,'t matter," Naruto whispered. If we run now, what happens to everyone back in the cave? Sakura, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Asuma-sensei. You." He looked up and planted one foot forward, staring Zabuza in the eye. "You think I can leave everyone else behind!?"
Sasuke was different but the same. He closed his eyes, looked down, and smiled slightly. "We can't escape a jonin, Kakashi-sensei," he said. "We fight here or we die out there." He looked up at Zabuza, his Sharingan fully active. "And I say we use him to get stronger!"
Zabuza smiled more widely. "Oh? You do?" And he unleashed his killing intent.
Sasuke felt like he was drowning for a moment. Haku was tough, but he was nothing compared to this guy. He even beat Kakashi-sensei! How could they…
Naruto ducked his head, not out of fear but going into a crouch. Vapor formed around him and his hands grew icy gauntlets, thick and blocky. "You think a little fear is going to stop me!?" he challenged, rushing Zabuza.
Zabuza calmly grabbed Naruto's punch by the forearm and threw him into the sky. "Would have hurt less if it did."
Sasuke appeared behind Zabuza's head. "I see you!" he yelled.
Zabuza caught the kick without bothering to turn around. "And you're loud." Sasuke found himself thrown into the cliff face.
Then it was Kakashi, and Zabuza had to actually pay attention this time. Straight left, boot to the head, doton trying to drag him underground. All smooth and flowing, but hindered by the need to keep him going after the downed genin. Predictable. Zabuza imagined that if Kakashi hadn't been hindered by the need to protect the cave earlier, this fight would have been very different. As it was, now faced with even more variables to keep track of, Kakashi was stretched too thin. Zabuza caught every attack, and while his counter-swing missed, Kakashi was slowing. And the blonde was about to fall into striking range. Wait, what was the orange eyesore doing?
Naruto was not prone to panic. He had ice in his veins, literally, and it was boiling cold now. He punched at Zabuza, careless of the distance between them. "Ice Dragon Lance!"
Zabuza's eyes went wide and he jumped away from the pillar of ice, its end sharpened to a wicked point, that shot from the genin's arm and buried itself into the ground. It stood into the sky like a beacon, and the orange ninja spun around it to land on his feet, skiing down quickly. Zabuza predicted where the ninja would land and moved to intercept his neck with his sword.
Naruto had other ideas. "Ice Dragon Lance!" he called again, but this time the jutsu shot out of his feet. The impact shattered the first lance, shot Naruto into the air, and he kicked forward, showering Zabuza and everything around him with an unaimed, unpredictable spray of ice shrapnel.
Zabuza cursed and dodged into what looked like the least dense part of the cloud and parried the larger chunks. "What kind of ridiculous jutsu is that?" he muttered. He saw Naruto land in the fog-snow left by his ice where he kicked it. The cover left him a silhouette in Zabuza's eyes. Zabuza frowned slightly. He'd felt killing intent from many ninja. Real ninja, not unblooded genin playing at it. Nothing the ice-user could project at him should have even the slightest effect on him. And yet…the shadows around Naruto were unnaturally deep, and his eyes seemed to glow red. It wasn't real and it wasn't genjutsu, it was just the intent pouring off the boy. This wasn't killing intent. Zabuza could feel that the sheer malice Naruto held for him would not create a killing blow. No, this was more frightening than that. He could feel in that glare that the boy had decided to win, and more than that, to have fun with the fight in the process.
It had been a very, very long time since Zabuza had felt like he was his opponent's chew toy. It had been even longer since he met someone who…wait. Zabuza didn't spare a hand to smack himself, but he wanted to. This was a genin, for crying out loud. An impressive genin, but still a genin. What the hell was he doing, being afraid? He lunged at Naruto, all business. For the crime of making Zabuza doubt himself, there was only one sentence!
Naruto grinned crazily and brought his arms up to block. "Ice Dragon Shield!" he yelled. Ice spiraled from his forearms to form a large round shield of ice between him and Zabuza's sword.
"Naruto, no!" Kakashi yelled. He saw what Zabuza was going to do. When he was too close for Naruto to react, he'd substitute and lunge in from Naruto's flank. Naruto didn't have the speed to counter such a strike, and would be killed instantly. He ran for Naruto's side and saw, gratefully, that he'd make it just in time.
Then Zabuza was behind him and it was Kakashi who faced the blade from an angle he couldn't defend. "Psyche," Zabuza said simply.
Naruto watched Kakashi try to block with his kunai, but succeeded only in turning the cruel blade. That saved his life, but Kakashi still took the flat of the blade to his gut. After all the other damage the fight inflicted, Naruto would not bet on Kakashi getting up from that.
Zabuza threw his head back and laughed. "You really thought you scared me, brat!?" he howled. The laughter died and he drowned Naruto in his own playful killing intent. "You thought me the mouse to your cat?" he asked, his voice a blade wrapped in silk. "I will have fun with you." He walked forward carefully, slowly, drawing it out.
"N…not a cat," Naruto stuttered out. All his confidence had been shattered when Kakashi fell defending him. This was just like what happened with Mizuki! People he cared about kept getting hurt! Because of him!
But he had taken Mizuki down, hadn't he?
"Oh, I'm sorry," Zabuza drawled. "A dragon. Ha!"
Naruto looked at Zabuza and reached deep inside himself. The river was too far. Breathing the air wasn't restoring his chakra fast enough. His reserves, he had to have more reserves, right? He had to…
"Then die, dragon," Zabuza said, and swung his sword.
Red chakra caught the blade with casual ease.
Naruto stood before Zabuza, head bowed, wreathed in red chakra. One hand was limp, the other was up, holding back the sword. It hadn't even touched him; the chakra formed a clawed hand that held the blade with a grip of iron even as the boy looked to be a limp doll. "Not a dragon," he whispered. He looked up, and this time the slitted red eyes in his face had nothing to do with killing intent. "A fox."
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(Posted Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:57)
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