Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Naruko started the fight by making a shadow clone. The clone nodded to her and shot off at the shirtless man. He chuckled and swiped at her with his sword.

"I thought you had a grand plan or something? Is this the best you can come up with?" Zabuza asked, dispelling another clone that jumped through the smoke of the first one. However, he saw the real one smirk on the shore. He furrowed his forehead bumps, trying to figure out what she was planning.

It became evident when he saw another clone throw what seemed to be a bottle of pepper spray at him, the trigger taped down. He avoided the stream of pepper spray and laughed loudly. "HAHAHAHA! Taking away my sight, smart! But you're a million years too slow for me, girl!" Zabuza chortled, sending a clone of his own at her. It got intercepted by Ino and dispelled with a few dozen kunai to the face. The clone dispersed into water and the momentum flung it onto Ino, drenching her.

"Dammit! Now my makeup is ruined!" Ino screamed in frustration. Zabuza frowned at that.

"You don't have time to be worrying about makeup, brat!" Zabuza shouted, launching a few kunai at her. Ino yelped and rolled out of the way, hoping she wasn't going to be hit. She couldn't see the kunai, they were going way too fast for her genin eyes to see.

Zabuza, in his annoyance at Ino's reactions not being proper of a ninja, almost forgot about Naruko. But he didn't forget, and as such simply swung his giant blade to his left side, nearly bisecting Naruko. She spun over the blade and used her momentum to perform an axe kick down onto his head. It was blocked once again by the blade.

How fast can he move that giant sword? It has to be at least a hundred kilos! Naruko wondered. Zabuza grinned and pushed Naruko back easily, not even straining his arm holding her on his sword. Naruko grinned right back.

Then she spit.

"GAAH! What the fuck was that?!" Zabuza shouted, throwing her back to shore with the force of his blade. Naruko cackled.

"Hot sauce! Feel the burn!" Naruko shouted in delight. Zabuza's eyes were tearing up, trying to get rid of the volatile substance. "Ino! Now!" Naruko shouted. Ino, just having recovered from the ranged attack from Zabuza, replied in an affirmative.

"You got it! Lightning style: Thunderclap!" Ino announced her technique. A bullet of lightning shot toward Zabuza. He heard it and leaned out of the way, but Ino predicted that. "Katsu!" The bullet imploded, sending a deafening shockwave throughout the clearing. Even Naruko's ears were ringing, and it was detonated multiple meters away from her! "Okay, he's stunned! Let's go!" Ino shouted. Naruko agreed, and they shot off.

Unfortunately, Zabuza had the bright idea to use water to clear out his eyes. He could see again. His grin turned sinister as he blocked both of them with the 30 cm wide flat of his blade. "Oh, this is fun! You are putting up quite a fight! Unfortunately, it's over for you now!"

Instead of throwing them with his blade, he quickly pulled back and sliced his foot in a roundhouse toward them. Ino was the first target, and she collided with Naruko and they shot off. They landed in the water.

Naruko was stunned for a few seconds. When she came to, she barely had any breath left. She panicked, looking around for Ino. I'm almost out of breath! I need to find her quick!

She kept searching, swimming deeper and deeper. There! She found Ino's body slowly sinking. She wrapped her arm around Ino's torso and swum as hard as she could back to the surface. Just a little bit more! Her lungs were burning. She needed oxygen, and quick.

Just... a little... bit... more...

Her vision was starting to get black spots. She was out of time.

"So I'm back here, huh?" Naruko commented, looking at her surroundings. It was a familiar sewer. "Is this the end for me?" she asked. She turned around to face Kurama's cave. "I'm sorry I wasn't a great vessel or clan member. Hopefully we can see each other in the afterlife," Naruko said solemnly. Kurama looked at her confusedly.

"What are you even talking about? I don't think you under stand what being a demon means," Kurama said. Naruko tilted her head in confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Kurama sighed.

"I should've tutored you more on this. Well, here we go. Demons run off of youki, and that's it. No need to eat, no need to breathe, no need to sleep. Of course, you're half human, so you normally do, but you can sustain yourself for at least a little bit without having to breathe. Just put some youki in your lungs to essentially "feed" them oxygen. I'll do it for you, since the clan still hasn't taught you young'uns how to control your youki properly. Then finish your damn swim and fight the eyebrowless freak." Kurama said. Naruko grinned.

"Thanks Kurama! Now I won't die!" she exclaimed in happiness. Kurama hid his smile.

"Yeah, whatever. Go kick his ass for me."

"Oh, I will." Naruko grinned wickedly.

She snapped into consciousness and immediately noticed a difference. Wow! I feel incredible! Is this what actually using youki feels like? She danced a little in the water. No! Now's not the time for that! Gotta save Ino, then free Kakashi and Sasuke! She swam to the surface by the shore and dragged Ino out of the lake. She put Ino on her side so that if she swallowed water, she could throw it up and not choke on it. Then Naruko stood up and faced Zabuza.

"This time, you're going down!" she declared. Zabuza laughed loudly.

"Well, come at me then! This is so much FUN!" he screamed like a mad man. Naruko took two handfuls of shuriken and threw them at him, following closely behind them. He deflected the shuriken then tried to swat her out of the air. Through pure instinct and adrenaline, Naruko landed on his blade and hopped off it quickly so as to avoid being shot away. She threw another handful of shuriken at him, and this time a few hit. They were too close for Zabuza to properly react to the flying stars. He shrugged it off, though.

Naruko held a kunai in each hand and engaged him in a brief taijutsu bout. In that, she managed to cut him twice, but he also probably broke a few of her ribs from the force of his punches. How is he this good? He's still got his right hand immobilized by the water prison, and he can't even move away from it! He's a sitting duck, and still ten times better than me! Naruko was getting frustrated. How was she supposed to beat someone who was this far above her skill level? She jumped back over to the shore

Naruko grinned.

"You're not the only one with water on their side," she said. She flashed through a few hand signs, then slapped her hands down onto the water's surface. She didn't announce the technique's name, but it was fairly obvious what it was supposed to do. At first, there were only a few ripples, but they quickly picked up in intensity. Soon, there were full fledged waves along the water's surface. Zabuza got off balance, but not so much as to break his concentration. While he was focusing on staying in the same spot, he took his eyes off of Naruko for a few seconds. That was what she wanted. She flew through more hand seals, then put her hand up to her mouth with her index finger and thumb forming an "O" around her lips. She blew as hard as she could through her fingers, and an enormous gust of wind shot at the unsteady Zabuza.

"Gah! Fucking brat! I'm gonna kill you now!" he shouted in frustration. He whipped his sword around, but all of a sudden felt a constricting force on the arm holding the blade. He scowled and looked behind him, seeing Kakashi standing there nonchalantly with a tight grip on Zabuza's wrist.

The answer: you don't fight him. Naruko thought victoriously to herself. She limped over to Ino and laid down, drained. Now that she was no longer in charge of the fighting, her adrenaline disappeared. It took all her willpower to not just pass out right then and there.

Well, maybe a few minutes wouldn't hurt...

Kakashi jumped back, noticing the boot flying toward his torso. His Sharingan eye was still active, and after observing him for the few minutes he was inside the water prison, he was very confident he could win.

"Your fight is with me now, Zabuza. Don't be prepared to get lucky a second time." Zabuza grinned maniacally.

"Luck? Luck has nothing to do with it, Kakashi. It's simply a matter of me being better than you," Zabuza declared. Kakashi chuckled.

"Whatever makes you sleep at night." Kakashi disappeared and reappeared directly behind Zabuza, slicing down with a kunai. He was blocked by the massive cleaver that Zabuza wielded, but that was what he wanted. His clone came up from Zabuza's right and launched a rib shattering Water Bullet. He overloaded the technique with chakra, drastically increasing the concussive force and lowering the piercing force. He knew Zabuza was good at fighting through open wounds, so he wanted to break his body internally.

Zabuza skidded across the surface of the water along his back. He pushed his hands behind his head, popping himself back up with a flip. He laughed crazily. "Now this is what I'm talking about!" he shouted. He shot a water shark at Kakashi, but Kakashi dodged and threw a water dragon back at Zabuza. It just barely missed, but the tail swung wide and slapped Zabuza in the chest, once again causing more blunt damage.

"You can't win, Zabuza. I can see the future, and I know your every move. Your future is death," Kakashi said ominously. Zabuza spat out a glob of blood.

"Is that so? Well, your future is bullshit, because I don't plan on dying any time soon!" Zabuza shouted. He pushed off and held his sword horizontally, hoping to bisect Kakashi with the force that his speed was generating. It was a last ditch attempt. Zabuza was running on fumes, and Kakashi knew it.

Kakashi jumped and threw a kunai into Zabuza's back. Zabuza grunted and spun around. He faced Kakashi with a serious look, before going through a long sequence of hand seals. It didn't surprise him when Kakashi was going through the exact same hand seals.

"Damn monkey-"

"Copying me doesn't scare me. Am I right?" Kakashi finished the sentence for Zabuza. Zabuza panicked for a brief second. "Can he actually see the future? That's what you're thinking. Well, it's true. I can. And like I said before, the only thing in your future is death." Kakashi finished the hand seals before Zabuza and released the massive wall of water. It crashed down on Zabuza. Kakashi finished the jutsu and started walking up to Zabuza, taking out a kunai. Before he could strike, though, a senbon shot into Zabuza's neck. A masked nin jumped out of the trees.

"Thank you for your assistance. I was tracking this man down for quite some time, and you have helped me finish him off. You have done a service to Kirigakure no Sato," the masked man said. Kakashi inclined his head in greeting.

"Ah, a hunter nin. It was no problem. I can also help you burn the body," Kakashi said, testing the nin. The masked shinobi shook his head.

"No, thank you. I shall do it myself. Good day." With that, the hunter nin took Zabuza and his sword and hopped off through the trees. Kakashi looked in the direction the hunter nin went for a few seconds, then sighed. He headed back to his team and client.

"Well, that's all for now. We should be safe. Sasuke, you carry Ino. I'll get Naruko. Tazuna, can you lead the way to your house?" Kakashi ordered. Tazuna nodded.

"... Yes sensei," Sasuke said, subdued. He didn't look like his usual self. There was no arrogance in his voice or stance. He looked contemplative right now.

Come to think of it, where was he for the entire last half of the fight? When they got out of the prison, Kakashi fought Zabuza, but Sasuke seemed to have disappeared.

Interesting.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, they finally made it to Tazuna's house. He led them inside, and they were greeted by a beautiful black haired woman.

"Otou-san! You're back! Oh, I was sooo worried!" she exclaimed, hugging Tazuna. He chuckled and pat her back.

"Yeah, I'm back. And it's all thanks to these brave ninjas. Why don't you introduce yourself?" Tazuna suggested. The woman bowed deeply.

"Thank you for protecting my father. My name is Tsunami," Tsunami said. She righted herself, then got a good look at everyone. "Oh dear, you all must be exhausted! Come with me! We have two spare bedrooms for you to use." She motioned for Kakashi and Sasuke to follow her. They went up the stairs, and took a left. "Okay, the room straight ahead will be for the boys, and the room on the right will be for the girls," she explained. Kakashi nodded in appreciation.

"Thank you very much, Tsunami-san. We could all use a little bit of rest right now," Kakashi said. Tsunami smiled.

"Of course. I'll tell you when dinner's ready," she said. Kakashi thanked her, then brought Naruko into the girls' room. Sasuke followed with Ino. They laid the girls down gently, trying not to aggravate any wounds they had. Then the boys went to the other room and chose their own beds. Then, and only then, did Kakashi allow his chakra exhaustion to set in. He was out like a light.