A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome to chapter 3! We know been a bit, but we've been working on other things as well, both solo and together. Also, hit a bit of writers block on this story soo...yeah. Anyway, thanks go to MaxGentlman ! my friend, co-author and beta go check him out he's awesome, I perticularly enjoy his story Hey Jojo a crossover of Hey Arnold and Jojo's Bizzare Adventure, it's great.

Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto, just own the OC's featuring in this story!

Enjoy!

Things became very interesting for Team Seven, starting the very next day. First there was their training. Kakashi had begun to teach them the tree walking exercise, Zabuza however wanted to take that to another level.

In addition to training in tree walking he had wanted to evaluate them all. Which brought them here, the middle of the forest early in the morning.

"Is there a reason we have to be here so… E-early?" Naruto asked between a giant yawn.

"Kakashi-sensei said that he had some kind of special training in mind though I wish we could have had a little more sleep," Sakura admitted, rubbing her eyes.

"More importantly where are the other three?" Sasuke asked, seeming his usual grumpy self, though maybe a little more polite since his cousin had turned up.

It was as Sasuke pointed this out that the other two realized he was right. None of the kids Zabuza had brought were anywhere nearby.

"Maybe they got to sleep in or..." Naruto began before he was forced to duck as a large log swung in from the side of them. Landing on their sides, Team 7 stood only for several senbon needles to come flying at them from all angles.

"Move!" Sasuke said as they each made to dodge the needles. Naruto was kicked in the gut by Haku, Sasuke punched in the jaw by Tsukiya and Sakura hit in the back of the head by Karin. All three fell to the ground.

Looking up, they found Zabuza and his team along with Kakashi staring down at them. "Well, your reflexes aren't bad, your combat readiness leaves something to be desired," Zabuza said dismissively.

"Wait, but that wasn't exactly fair, I mean we're half awake and you attacked us from out of nowhere," Sakura said, rubbing the back of her head.

"First thing, pinky, you're supposed to be a shinobi, and in the shinobi world you can't always be expecting a fair fight." Zabuza said dismissively. Sakura growled as they all got to their feet.

"They had to attack us from the shadows! If they didn't there's no way they could have beaten me!" Naruto said, thrilled though he was about other Uzumaki, he still hated to lose.

"Is that right? Well then, come on Naruto let's see what you've got," Tsukiya said, stepping up from the group and cracking his neck.

"Alright you asked for it!" Naruto said, smirking as he made a cross hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He said as suddenly there were ten Narutos in front of Tsukiya, who smiled.

"Come on then," He said calmly as they all charged him. Tsukiya dodged a hit from either side. Grabbing one Naruto by the wrist, he swung him around, slamming him into another one before tossing a senbon in each one and making them vanish.

The fight didn't improve much, and soon Naruto was again on the ground Senbon at his neck before Tsukiya helped him up.

"Okay, so your Taijutsu needs work too," Zabuza sighed.

"Also, they had just begun the tree climbing exercises," Kakashi added.

"Alright then, let's begin," Zabuza said and all of Team Seven felt an almost unnatural chill run down their spines and swallowed audibly.

The next days were complete and total hell for them, in the mornings Kakashi would teach them tree walking and after a few hours of that, Zabuza and his group would work on their combat and jutsu abilities.

Over the course of all this training, they had each improved and found their strengths. Sakura had natural great chakra control, Sasuke had a talent for learning Jutsu, and Naruto had massive Chakra reserves, which according to Aiko, was the case with many Uzumaki.

They trained and guarded in shifts. No matter what, one of them would be guarding the Tazuna home and at least two were at the bridge waiting for an attack they knew eventually would happen.

Sakura had also begun to learn medical ninjutsu from Aiko and Karin. They had also found out just how Haku and Tsukiya had gotten so fast when Haku had surrounded the three Genin members of team 7 with his Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals and thrown senbon needles at them from all directions.

It had been painful to say the very least. Try as they might to dodge them, nothing had worked. Naruto was inwardly thankful that he had not been their enemy at the time, because he was fairly sure he could have killed them at any time if he had wanted too. The bright side was the constant strain and Sasuke's rising anger at being unable to catch him had awakened his sharingan.

Unfortunately this seemed to slightly return and even bloat Sasuke's already over large ego. Naruto sighed as he came into his room and then stopped in surprise at finding Aiko waiting for him.

"Naruto, I wanted to talk to you," She said gently.

"Oh, uh, okay?" Naruto asked confused. He sat down beside her and Aiko looked at him for a moment before speaking.

"Listen Naruto, why do you pretend to be dumber than you really are?" She asked simply.

"I… what do you mean?" Naruto asked evasively Aiko looked at him an eyebrow raised, a skeptical look on her face. He didn't seem willing to give so she sighed.

"According to Kakashi, you mastered the Shadow Clone Technique in a few hours of one night. Then you took on and a defeated a Chunin with it. All that after stealing a sacred scroll from your villages Kage. You may not be the smartest kid, but I bet you are smarter than you act."

Naruto opened his mouth then closed it, then opened it again before letting out a sigh.

"Okay, so maybe I am, but I have my reasons. It's just… I was already an outcast in Konoha anyway. I just wanted people to like me, and sometimes people don't like it if someone like me was too smart so, I sort of limited myself, I thought maybe people would like me a little more that way." He admitted rubbing the back of his head.

"Naruto, that's not a good way to live your life. You can't keep pretending to be what you aren't. You could do so much more, be so much more, if you don't restrain yourself." She said gently.

"Well, I don't do it all the time. I mean my chakra control needs a lot of work, and while I am smarter than people think, I am also nowhere near Sakura in that department, or Shikamaru." Naruto said defensively.

"Well maybe you shouldn't do it at all, people should like you for, well, you. Besides, our clan is an incredible clan we have produced outstanding Ninja over the generations, I think if you wanted to, you could be a great one." She said, Naruto seemed a bit uncertain.

"Just think about it, believe me, you'll feel better if you drop the mask and stop letting Sakura hit you, kid." She said before standing up, wishing him a goodnight and leaving Naruto alone with his thoughts.

-A Few Days Later, Tazuna Family Home-

Naruto was bored, though to be fair that had a lot to do with the fact that he was on guard duty with Aiko, and nothing had happened. This was how things had been since Zabuza and his group had joined, two of them guarded the house while the others guarded the bridge site. Letting out a sigh of boredom, he let his mind drift back into the conversation he had had with Aiko.

She might have a point really, maybe it was time he dropped the mask and let out a little more of himself. As he turned back towards the house, mind still racing he heard a scream from the house.

Channeling chakra into his feet he ran into the house as fast as he could. He found a hole in the wall of the living room. 'Guess their finally attacking' He thought.

Peering through the hole in the wall he saw Inari closer to him. Just beyond Inari were two men with swords on their hips. Behind them was Tsunami who was tied up and unconscious. Naruto quickly began to plan as he listened, he noticed Aiko lining up a shot with some blow darts from where she was hidden in the tree's.

"Give me back my mother!" Inari said determinedly, glaring at the two men.

"Listen kid, if you want to keep breathing you'll go back in the house." One of the men said to Inari .

"I said give her back!" Inari said running at them. One of the men drew his sword and slashed at Inari.

Naruto chose then to act. He used the Substitution Jutsu and switched Inari out with a nearby barrel. Then he used the Body Flicker Technique so they appeared behind the men beside Tsunami.

"Just a second, Inari." Naruto said making a cross hand sign "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Then men turned around in time to see two orange blurs coming at them. They managed to block a few of Naruto and his clone's strikes, but Naruto had not strictly speaking been trying as before the men could draw their swords each was hit in the neck with a dart. Their eyes widened, and then they both fell to the ground.

"That should keep them down for hours." Aiko said, smirking as she and Naruto tied the men up.

"Good, can you watch over them while I go see if the others need help?" Naruto asked as Aiko nodded. He turned to the other two.

"Good work Inari, you were very brave and you gave us the opportunity to get you both safe." Naruto said ruffling the young boys hair.

"Now then you take good care of your mother. I'm heading over to the bridge to see if the others need help." Naruto said smiling as he set out.

'There just may be hope for these people after all.' Naruto thought.

-Bridge Construction Site-

The rest of the two groups were guarding Tazuna, as well as helping to finish the bridge. As they worked Karin felt two large chakra signatures approaching rapidly.

"They're coming!" She called out urgently.

Everyone scrambled, Sakura, Karin, and Sasuke surrounded Tazuna. Kakashi, Zabuza, Haku and Tsukiya stood in front of them. The formation was simple, designed to put the stronger fighters as the first line of defense.

As they waited, Kakashi pulled up his headband keeping his left eye closed for the time being. Tsukiya and Sasuke both activated their sharingan. Then a few large ships came floating through the water.

When he saw them coming, Zabuza gave a single gesture. Without wasting a second Haku and Tsukiya jumped over the side of the bridge and each fell into hand signs

'Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame' Tsukiya thought, letting out a wide wave of fire from his mouth as Haku finished his own hand signs.

'Wind Style: Great Breakthrough.' Haku released a powerful gust of wind, amping the force and heat of Tsukiya's flames so that by the time they landed two of Gato's ships were burning with men frantically leaping out to avoid burning to death.

However, from one of the ships, Aoi calmly jumped and landed on the water, staring across at the two teen boys.

"And here I thought Raiga was being paranoid when he told me to be careful of you two. Impressive combination, but I'm afraid if you want to beat me, you'll have to do better than that." Aio said.

"Don't worry we're just getting started." Haku said drawing a few Senbon as Tsukiya drew his sword and Gunbai.

"I hope so." Aoi said, drawing his swords, one of them a blade made of lightning-natured chakra. He smirked before charging them as they charged him. The remaining boats bumped into the harbor and several men led by Raiga made their way onto the bridge.

-On the Bridge-

Zabuza and Kakashi heard the clash of metal as well as the hum of lightning natured chakra. Zabuza knew that the two of them could handle Aoi, but he was worried for them if even a little.

'Damn it, I'm getting soft.' He thought privately before he and Kakashi turned their attention to Raiga at the head of a group of thugs.

"Well, well, Zabuza. Never thought you'd be so afraid of me you teamed up with the Leaf Village." He said patronizingly.

"I'm not really, but it seemed a good alliance to me took some of the work off my shoulders." Zabuza said cracking his neck as Kakashi opened his Sharingan at last.

"It won't save you or them, even with Kakashi of the Sharingan on your side. You're outnumbered and once Aoi finishes off the two brats down there, then you really have no chance.

Zabuza let out a derisive snort, "If Haku and Tsukiya can't beat him, then clearly I wasn't harsh enough with their training." He said.

Raiga shrugged before raising his voice; "Men take them out remember to anyone who manages to kill Zabuza, Kakashi, the brats, or the bridge builder gets a bonus." He said casually waving them forward.

The men charged and Zabuza and Kakashi both went to work taking out men as they came. Raiga waited and then he saw and opening. He unsheathed his swords, the Kiba blades of Kirigakure.

They were a pair of swords, each with slim and straight double-edged blades. Both blades had an upward-curved bladed prong near the tip of one side of the blade and another one near the base of the blade's other side. At their bases are smooth brown hand guards with a round grey hilt.

They sparked to life with lightning natured chakra as he sent a crescent shaped blast of energy at Kakashi's back. Zabuza blocked several mens swords with his own and called out;

"Kakashi, dodge!"

Kakashi turned just barely in time to leap over the lightning, he smelt singed hair as it passed beaneth him. Landing, Raiga appeared in front of him and stabbed him through with one sword.

Only for Kakashi to turn into a plank of wood. Raiga's eyes widened briefly before Kakashi appeared to his side and slammed his foot into Raiga's ribs, knocking him backward. He spun around, planting his foot into the back of Raiga's head. Raiga turned to water before appearing near Zabuza and swinging for his head.

Zabuza ducked, pushing himself back and under the slash, causing Raiga to cut clean through a few of his goons heads as their bodies fell to the ground. Zabuza swung his sword at Raiga, who dodged, getting another four men cut clean in half as he landed a few feet away.

"Well, well, maybe this will be more interesting than I thought." Raiga said smirking at them before going on the offensive again.

-Karin, Sakura, and Sasuke-

Sasuke was weaving between the men as they charged, knocking them out or off the bridge as they came. Karin too stood a little ways behind him, taking out those that managed to slip past him.

Sakura stood, Kunai in hand, directly in front of Tazuna and behind the other two, watching in awe, and even slight fear, as the four people in front of her fought. A few times, some of the men had slipped past, and almost made it to her before one of them had saved her.

It was this that made Sakura realize something very important. In spite of all her book smarts and great chakra control, she was almost useless here. She knew no jutsu's beyond what the academy had taught her, and what little she had learned in the last few days. The same could be said for her Taijutsu.

She made a promise right there and then that, should she survive this, she would make more of an effort to become a better kunoichi. Though the problem was she was not sure if she would live long enough to see that promise through as one of the men managed to slip past Sasuke, dodge Karin's chakra scalpel, and made a beeline straight for her.

She raised her kunai, ready to do whatever she could to defend Tuzana, when an orange blur ran past her and hit the man, sending him flying a bit backwards.

"Sakura, are you okay?" Naruto asked, looking back at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks Naruto," She said, smiling at him.

Naruto nodded before heading directly into battle, making several clones of himself that all joined in the massive battle that raged on in front of her. She sighed, even Naruto, the dead last of their graduating class was of more use and knew more than her when it came to being a ninja.

'I will get better, once we get through this.' She vowed to herself.

-Tsukiya and Haku-

Tsukiya leaped off the water they stood on and landed beside Haku on one of the bridge's support beams. They stared down at the man. He was strong, there was no doubt there. The trouble was that they couldn't get close enough to attack.

Likewise, his attacks and the sword of the Thundergod was keeping them at bay between electrifying the water and his senbon rain technique.

"You have a plan? Dodging isn't going to win us the battle." Haku said.

"No, really? I hadn't thought about that.' Tsukiya said sarcastically.

"Shut up, if we can just get a second to work things out. Maybe get a little closer." Haku muttered.

Before Tsukiya could respond Aoi threw his umbrella into the air. It glided high above them before raining down senbon needles from within. Holding up his Gunbai and sword, Tsukiya blocked as many as he could.

Thanks to his Sharingan, that was a fair few. But still, some slipped past, slashing his and Haku's arms and legs as they moved. The instant the rain stopped, Aoi appeared before them. He had drawn his other blade now.

The blade was black with a distinct purple hardening line and its handguard had flower-like edges. The Kashira, tsuba and kojiri end cap were golden, and the sheath still hanging at his hip was black, decorated with dark red circles split in even thirds.

It was a beautiful sword, but the truly amazing thing was what it was doing to the man's chakra. It was circulating and storing his chakra. He was channeling chakra into it then it was circulating it back into him, except the chakra coming from the blade seemed more potent. To his sharingan, it was giving him a substantial increase in power.

Tsukiya saw all this in a split second thanks to his sharingan, as well as a satisfied glint in the man's eye. He reflexively brought his sword up to block the other. There was a loud clash of metal on metal and then Tsukiya's blade shattered where the two had met.

Rotating himself out of the path of Aoi's blade though still receiving a slash, he and Haku landed a few feet away. He stared at his now halved blade, then back up at Aoi. Aoi smirked looking down at them.

"Lovely blade, isn't it?" He asked holding the katana up as if examining a fine painting.

"It's certainly something else." Tsukiya said almost casually his brain moving a mile a minute as he communicated to Haku with careful hand signs behind his back.

"Once we kill you, I'll have to take that." Tsukiya said smirking.

"That assumes you will not only win, but live to see tomorrow." Aoi said.

"I have no doubt that we will." Tsukiya said as he fell into hand signs alongside Haku and both stopped.

"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" The both said as the area was suddenly covered in thick clouds of mist.

"Ah, hiding from me now? Or maybe you intend to run?" He asked lighting up the Thundergods Blade.

"Not exactly." Haku's voice said coming from seemingly everywhere.

Aoi looked around, keeping his eyes peeled and that was fortunate because had he dropped his guard he would have been impaled by the needles that came flying from his left and in front of him.

He dodged them jumping up and back through the air only to find himself looking into the glowing red eyes of Tsukiya. Before he could move either of his swords to block the Uchiha's gunbai slammed into his ribs.

He was sent flying backwards, flipping in the air he landed on the water. He barely had a chance to look around before he was again beset by needles. He was forced into this pattern if he wasn't avoiding needles he was avoiding blows.

With the thick chakra filled mist he couldn't get a grasp on exactly where they were. As he received more slashes across his body from the needles, he let out a roar of rage.

"ENOUGH!" He shouted slamming the sword of the thunder god down into the water as he also channeled chakra through his Katana before releasing it in a wave of force finally blasting the mist away.

He found both the boys grunting in pain and twitching from he electric attack. Smirking, he made his way over to them, his swords both drawn.

"Not bad boys. You both certainly have a lot of potential, but it's over." He said, standing above them.

"You have far more confidence than you have earned." Tsukiya said the pained look on his face becoming a smirk even more pronounced than Aoi's as he and Haku seemed to vanish into smoke and the world around Aoi seemed to become a haze.

Aoi gasped again, at some point during the fight, he had been placed under Genjutsu. A Genjutsu moreover that had been complete enough he had no idea. As the world began to solidify again he found himself surrounded by a dome of mirrors made from ice.

Outside the dome, the Uchiha stood as his sharingan stopped spinning and he smirked as the other boy appeared in every mirror.

"Now," Haku said smirking from every mirror and holding up two hands filled with Senbon; "what was that you said about this being over?" He asked before senbon flew from seemingly every direction.

They sliced open wounds all over his body, embedding themselves in his arms, legs, and chest. He fell to his knees, blood leaking from him as his grip on his swords was lost completely causing them to sink into the water below. Haku didn't let up raining down needles from all sides.

When he did finally stop, Aoi was barely breathing as Tsukiya stopped in front of him going through hand signs. He stopped, placing his hand on the water, it rippled beneath them and slowly Aois swords came up on water pillars.

Tsukiya took the sword of the Thundergod and placed it on his hip before grabbing the katana. He held it up. It felt heavier than a normal katana would. The chakra stored within felt calming. Channeling his own through it, he was surprised at how it cycled back into him more potent than before.

"Tell me, what do you call this?" Tsukiya asked looking down to the barely conscious Aoi. The man looked up.

"If I tell you, and hand the blade over, spare my life." He said weakly.

Tsukiya looked down at him, appearing to think it over. After a short time he nodded; "Fine." He said as Aoi very carefully handed the blades sheath over.

"It is known as The Black Blade, Shisui." He muttered. Had he looked up in that moment he would have seen Tsukiya's eyes widen just slightly before becoming focused again.

"Thank you. Come on, Haku. Lets go." He said, turning his back on the man who sprung up drawing a kunai aiming for a killing blow at Tsukiya's back only to be barraged by needles. He dropped again.

"That's an unfortunate choice on your part." Tsukiya said before driving the blade through Aoi's heart.

"I would have let you go." He sighed as the man dropped, this time his body sinking down into the water.

"Come on, we should see if the others need any help." Haku said and Tsukiya nodded as they headed up the bridge.

-On the Bridge-

Kakashi and Zabuza were in trouble. It wasn't that they couldn't kill Raiga. Between the two of them, they were confident they could. The issue was they never had an opening large enough. They were too busy dodging his attacks as well as the attacks of Gato's men.

Additionally, Kakashi was beginning to worry about the others as well; 'Stay focused, I have to trust that they can handle themselves.' Kakashi thought, dodging several attacks and sending five men tumbling over the side of the bridge.

He was then forced to flip backwards, away from a slash of lightning chakra.

"When I'm through with you two and your little brats, I'll throw you all one big funeral!" Raiga yelled as he charged his blades once more with lightning.

Then, as he moved to discharge more lightning, a foot slammed into the back of his head. As he was bent forward, another attacker flipped over, slamming both their knees into Raiga's face and sending him flying backward before he managed to flip and land on his feet.

He stared and was surprised to see Zabuza's brats had joined the fight, Aoi's swords hanging from one boy's belt.

"Sorry it took us so long, he was stronger than we expected," Haku said throwing a handful of senbon needles into the men surrounding them.

"Much as we both hate to admit that," Tsukiya added.

"It's a slight to personal pride," Haku sighed as they slowly began to turn the tides against Raiga and his men along with Naruto and Sasuke. Raiga was getting desperate, he couldn't touch them and they were starting to make headway to getting at him.

The attacks got closer and closer to him. He was on the back foot, Zabuza's sword grazed his side. Had he moved a split second slower it would have taken off an arm.

As he flipped away his back towards the bridge they all heard slow, even sarcastic-seeming, clapping as a slightly raspy voice spoke.

"Really? Even at a discount this is what I get for legendary shinobi. I am not impressed; one dead and the other getting closer to it," Gato said as they all looked up to see him standing behind a large group of more thugs.

"You ever feel like some people have too much money?" Haku sighed.

"Gato, what are you doing here!? I have this under control!" Raiga growled.

"You'll forgive me if I disagree. I've come to cancel our deal. Shinobi have been more trouble than they're worth for me. Why hire them when a large group of grunts will do better for less?" Gato asked.

"You bastard, you think you can betray me and get to live!?" Raiga demanded.

"Yes, I do. Men, an extra hundred thousand for each shinobi head." Gato smirked.

-Kakashi and Zabuza-

As they watched the exchange it became clear to both Jonin that things were starting to spin out of control, and they needed to wrap this all up soon.

"I have an idea," Zabuza whispered carefully, signalling to Haku and Tuskiya as he leaned over to carefully explain the plan.

"That could work, thought we'll only get one shot at this," Kakashi muttered.

"I know, but this will work. It's the only real shot we have." Zabuza said.

"Right, okay, ready when you are." Kakashi said.

Zabuza nodded as Tsukiya and Haku fell into hand signs. Before Raiga or any of the goons could move they were done.

"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" They said, again bathing the area in a thick mist that Zabuza added to as they all moved as one.

-Raiga-

The second the mist covered the area, Raiga was in a defensive position as he called out.

"Really Zabuza!? The Hidden Mist technique? Are you that desperate?"

He smirked as suddenly, a figure leaped from the mist. Raiga moved, charging his swords and stabbing both into the figure only to see Kakashi. However, the moment he noticed it was Kakashi, the man became lighting chakra.

It rushed through the swords and Raiga and he was paralyzed from the suddenness of it. Then, from behind him, he heard a sound almost like thousands of birds chirping. The area near him glowed bright blue, even through the mist.

Then, in seconds, a hand burst from his chest, glowing with blue lightning. Raiga stared in shock, his vision blurring at the edges, swords clattering to the ground. As the last thing he heard was not Zabuza's voice, but Kakashi's.

"Lightning Cutter," He said simply in an almost growl as he removed his now caked with blood hand from Raiga's chest as the Mist Ninja fell at his feet, dead.

-Zabuza-

As soon as the mist had settled in, Kakashi and Zabuza had begun to move. Trusting Kakashi to know what he was doing Zabuza moved. Slipping around and through the goons without being noticed he stopped behind Gato and spoke in a low cold tone.

"You know what? I never thought that someone so small would become such a giant knife in my side."

Gato's eyes widened, he spun around so fast his cane clatered to the ground. He held his arms up as if in a sign of surrender, taking in a breath to call out for help. By the time he had Zabuza was already in motion a glint of silver and horrible *CRACK* as Gato's spine was ripped clean through. He stood for a moment as if frozen.

Then his top and bottom halves fell apart and Gato's body fell over the side plunging into the water below. Zabuza had only a second to really enjoy his moment before the mist vanished.

'Shit, the boys must be nearly out of chakra,' He thought as the thugs saw two things Gato was dead, and so was Raiga judging by the amount of blood covering the ground and Kakashi's hand.

The goons seemed to take it all in for a moment there was nothing but silence. Then one of the men called out;

"The boss is dead, that means no pay!" Zabuza let out a breath, this just might work in their favor as some of the men began to grumble.

Then another man spoke sinking the slight hope he had, "Now hold on a second boys, these ninja look pretty weary, I bet all of us working together could take them down then we raid the village take what or who we want get something out of this," The man said.

'Damn it, we're all nearly off our feet here. Gotta get the kids out at least,' Kakashi thought as half the goons turned to face a cornered Zabuza and the other half face him, his team and Zabuza's team.

As they all prepared to move, an arrow flew through the air and landed at the lead man's feet.

"You want to get to our town? You have to go through all of us first!" Inari's voice rang out. All of them turned around and were surprised to see the whole town there armed with everything from pitch forks and pans to the crossbow that Inari was loading another arrow into. Aiko stood beside him, Kunai drawn.

The men stepped back a bit in surprise at all the armed villagers.

"Inari, boy are we happy to see you," Naruto said.

"What? You thought we would let you all fight our whole battle for us?" He asked.

Naruto just smiled. "Hey don't leave me out of the fun." he said making a quick cross hand sign and creating four shadow clones.

"I may have just enough left to help out here." Kakashi said making his own cross hand sign. The area was suddenly filled with about fifteen of Kakashi

"Alright, you all ready to do this?" They clones asked the men as the others drew their weapons.

The men quickly back peddled, some of them jumping off into the water or onto the boat they had come in realizing how the advantage had shifted. The villagers all cheered as the ninja all let out sighs of relief and Kakashi slid his headband over his sharingan.

Even Zabuza felt relieved, casually walking through the now retreating men back towards the others. As the towns people began to celebrate the last of the thugs vanishing there was suddenly a sound of clapping.

Karin, and her mother being sensors felt them before the others, but they all did feel them.

Tsukiya and Haku were instantly back to back with Zabuza. Team Seven also fell into a circle formation. Sasuke and Tsukiya had instantly activated their sharingan, though how long they could stay active in this state neither was sure.

"There's six of them, they must be good too. They got so close before we noticed," Zabuza said.

Just as Zabuza said this, four people jumped out landing around them. All of them wore hunter-nin masks on their faces.

'They found us a lot faster than I thought they would!' Zabuza thought, slightly panicked.

"Kakashi, you all need to get out of here this fight is not yours. It's ours," Zabuza said.

There was the sound of sandals on the bridge and two more people appeared at the bridge current end.

The first one was a middle-aged man with blue hair which is styled in a moused-up manner. His left eye was blue and his right eye was covered by an eye-patch. He wore a talisman in each ear with the kanji for a humble form of "to hear" written on them twice on each side.

The other was a slender woman in her thirties. She had green eyes, and ankle length, auburn hair styled into a herringbone pattern at the back, a top-knot tied with a dark blue band, and with four bangs at the front. Two of the bangs were short, with one covering her right eye, and two were long, crossing each other on her bust, just below her chin.

She wore a long-sleeved, dark blue dress that fell just below the knees. It seemed to be closed at the front with a zip, and was kept open on the front-right side from the waist down. The dress only covered up to the upper part of her arms and the underside of her breasts. Underneath, she wore a mesh armour that covered more of her upper body than her dress, but stops short of covering her shoulders and still leaves a sizable bit of her cleavage visible. She also wore shorts in the same color as her dress and, underneath those, mesh leggings reaching down over her knees. Around her waist, she wore a belt with a pouch attached to the back on the left along with high-heeled sandals and shin-guards reaching up over her knees, dark blue polish on her fingers and toes, and dark blue lipstick.

"Ao and Mei. So they sent you after us? Flattering." Zabuza said.

"Mei? As in Mei Terumi the dual bloodline wielder you told us about?" Haku asked and Zabuza nodded. While the others mouths fell open they had never heard of a dual bloodline wielder.

"Well, we're dead." Tsukiya said.

A/N: Yeah, cliffhanger...evil we know but hey gotta be a little evil sometimes. Anyway, we hope you all liked it! Feel free to leave a review, fav, or follow and all that and see you next chapter!