Chapter - 19

The fight between Sasuke and Haku was furious. Haku was too talented. Kakashi was dumbfounded to see Haku in action. His precision was immaculate. Not a single movement was a waste. But Sasuke was doing a good job trying to keep up with him. But even the Uchiha was faded in front of Haku. The senbons were Haku's specialty. One hit and you would hit the ground. His movements were almost invisible. Sasuke was having difficulty now. He was getting tired. Sasuke was using chakra control training to use in his hits to increase the impact.

Kakashi was observing closely but he had complete faith in Sasuke.

"Impressive huh? Haku is too much for that Uchiha kid of yours." Said Zabuza

"Well there's no doubt the kid is talented. But don't underestimate the power of Uchiha.". replied Kakashi.

"We'll see that in a while." Said Zabuza mockingly.

Sasuke finally caught one hand of Haku to try and stop him from making hand signs.

"Heh. Not so fast now are you?" said Sasuke with a smirk.

"You underestimate me." Replied Haku coolly.

Then Haku did the unbelievable. He lifted his other hand and started making hand gestures. Kakashi's eyes opened up wixde.

"What? One hand hand signs?! That's next to impossible. And for a kid to be able to do it?! Unbelievable!"

"Heh. I told you. Your Uchiha kid is no match for Haku." Said Zabuza.

But Sasuke countered all of Haku's attacks which was making Zabuza frustrated. At this rate, the fight won't end. So Zabuza ordered Haku to finish the fight faster.

"Haku, this kid is tough enough to counter your attacks. Finish it quickly."

Suddenly there was total silence. The silence was broken by Naruto's boisterous entry.

"Hey guys! Your hero is here now! No need to be afraid."

Kakashi face palmed and spoke to himself.

"This idiot. He should have kept his presence hidden till the right moment. Well he's Naruto. What do you expect?"

Zabuza eyes Naruto and turned his gaze back at Kakashi.

"Reinforcements? This kid? Even with a 100 kids like him, you guys won't be able to defeat Haku."

Sakura assessed the situation and decided that this time, she would enter the ice dome with Naruto and Sasuke. That seems to be the best decision than standing here, doing nothing. Kakashi-sensei will be able to hold up against Zabuza so Tazuna won't be in much danger. I'll leave a shadow-clone with Tazuna. She decided to tell that to Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei. Listen. You will be fine against Zabuza so let me leave a shadow clone with Tazuna-san for his protection and let me fight against Haku too."

Kakashi pondered over it and decided that since he didn't have any idea about what was about to happen, he should trust Sakura. Haku did seem tough enough to need all three of them work together.

Suddenly the fog got too thick. Sakura made a clone and stood alongside Sasuke.

"I'll support you, Sasuke."

Haku made hand signs and suddenly Sasuke and Sakura were surrounded by rectangular ice slabs shaped like a dome. Haku entered the ice slab and appeared in all of them.

"Sorry, but this fight is over for you two. Nobody has escaped through this jutsu before." Said Haku.

Zabuza watched and laughed.

"Those two kids will die now Kakashi. That jutsu has no loopholes. No exits. And you can never try to copy it because you can't."

Kakashi's eyes widened

"You mean… it's a Kekkei Genkai?!"

Zabuza nodded. Kakashi was scared now. What's going to happen to Sasuke and Sakura?!

Meanwhile, inside the dome, the tension was rising. The senbons were coming from everywhere and Sasuke couldn't understand how. Haku was the one throwing them but could he possibly be this fast to move in all the slabs and attack like this? He was more concerned about Sakura though. He had to protect her. Naruto was outside the dome so they could create an opening by attacking from inside and outside. He was about to shout the instructions to Naruto when he saw him beside them.

Sasuke's jaw dropped at his stupidity. "You idiot! Why did you come inside?! You could have made an opening for us!"

Naruto stared at him and plainly said, "Well you guys were ignoring me even when I made that flashy entry."

"So you decided to be grab attention by your idiotic move?!" said Sasuke.

He took long breaths and thought to himself. Okay what's done is done. He is an idiot but if we all three work together we can burst out. But how do we plan out our escape?

On the other hand, Sakura was experiencing this for the first time. She decided to lay back and assess the situation but there were very less openings to calm down and assess. But she could understand Haku's movements after a while. But he was very precise in his attacks. The kunais her and Sasuke were using were useless. Haku was aiming for blind spots and vital points at that speed. He truly was impressive. Having Naruto outside was reassuring but she knew if she didn't tell him to stay outside, he was going to barge in. she was about to say it but she saw him beside them in an instant. She looked at him with a deadpanned expression. Idiot then, idiot now. Well no use now. We have to work together to defeat Haku.

"It's time to end this. It doesn't matter how many reinforcements you have, you three are going to die here." Said Haku in a cold voice.

"You don't get to decide that weirdo! We three are going to kick your butt." Screamed Naruto.

"Naruto, take out your kunai. He attacks with senbons by moving from one slab to another. He aims for vital spots." Explained Sakura.

Sasuke was shocked to hear that Sakura had already figured out his technique. He looked at her and saw that she was in focus mode. She wasn't wasting energy on useless moves or making useless attempts to escape. That would bring more damage than good. Naruto on the other hand was behaving completely opposite. He kept making dozens of clones to fill up the dome and ran for spaces to get out. But it was all in vain. Well, not completely. It helped Sasuke think of an attack.

"Naruto. Do your jutsu again. I've got an idea."

Naruto was dead tired and out of chakra but he still agreed. All three of them were full of senbons but thankfully they avoided all the vital spots. Sakura was more injured but nobody could understand how. Maybe Sasuke's idea will help them escape.

"Sakura, when I do my jutsu, you run. Got it?"

Sakura nodded. And waited for the signal.

"NOW!"

Naruto screamed and did his multi shadow clone jutsu. Sasuke did his fireball jutsu and it burned the end of Haku's hakama. Sakura ran for the space between the slab but couldn't reach there as Haku had recovered and pin pointed his attack at her. It hit Sakura at a vital spot.

"Sakura!" "Sakura-chan!" screamed both Sasuke and Naruto.

"Sorry, you guys. I wasn't fast enough." Apologized Sakura.

"Forget that! Are you okay? He pin pointed you." Asked Sasuke full of concern.

"I'm fine." She replied curtly.

Now they were in trouble. They re-tried the technique again and again till Naruto and Sasuke were totally out of chakra and energy. They couldn't even move.

"It's over. You people should say goodbye to each other."

"You haven't won yet." Said Sakura with a glare. Damn it. Will I have to use my true power here?

"The most dangerous opponent here is you, girl. Protecting these two this whole time must have taken a toll on your body."

"Protecting…us? What is he saying, Sakura?" asked Sasuke. Naruto also wanted to know so he asked with his eyes. Sakura turned her head away and didn't reply. Slowly, a drop of blood hit the ground. It came from Sakura's mouth.

"Sakura! What's going on?! Are you alright?" asked Sasuke panicly.

"You didn't figure it out? She has been taking all the critical hits in your place and protecting you from my attacks. She's quite precise as well." Said Haku.

Both Naruto and Sasuke stared at her with their eyes wide open. She was protecting us? And here I thought she was just laying back. She could predict those precise attacks all by herself and moved fast enough to get in the way so they wouldn't reach us? She's insane! Are we really that hopeless?

Sasuke was going crazy. How could she even think of doing something like this?! He grabbed her by her arm and twisted her around to look at her. It was true. She had taken a lot of damage and some of her vital spots had been hit. She was bleeding from her mouth.

"Sakura…you…"

"It's fine Sasuke. What's important is that you two are fine." She said with a smile.

Now Sasuke was angry. She dared to smile. Right now?

"Don't ever do this again. You got me?" he said with his eyes hooded.

"I said it's fi—"

"No, it's not fine! Don't put your life on the line for us. We can work together. You don't have to take the burden on yourself!" replied Sasuke lividly.

"The bastard is right, Sakura-chan! Don't do this ever again!"

Haku was watching them and thought that they were a good team.

"You guys make a good team. But I'm afraid it won't last long. It's time to finish this."

This was the worst possible situation. Both Sasuke and Naruto were out of commission and unable to move from the ground. Sakura was injured more than them. Haku was about to attack. He raised his senbons and threw them.