:: Chapter Six

'Crap. This is bad. This is really bad.'

Sakura kept her place in front of their client as she assessed their current predicament. Her hands were starting to ball into tight fists, itching to be put into use. The temptation to use her real capabilities was overbearing that she had to bite her lower lip to prevent herself from punching the ground beneath her to turn the tide of the situation in favor of them.

At the present, their teacher was encased in a circular water cage held by Zabuza. The three of them were positioned in front of Tazuna, listening to the worsening of their situation as they learned of the enemy's sheer power through a recount of his past.

Sakura's eyes scanned the scene in front of her; she had to do something to make their situation better. Sasuke and Naruto had spoken of a plan to free their silver-haired teacher from Zabuza's entrapment, and as a strategy started to formulate in her mind, she hoped that whatever the two boys in front of her came up with will be enough of a distraction to kick off her own plan.

Just then, a Zabuza clone charged towards them with lightning speed and elbowed Sasuke on his gut. The young Uchiha flew back from the force of the attack and landed ungracefully on his back with the clone hovering over him at once, the arm it used to elbow him landing hard on his stomach once more, causing him to cough out blood.

Instinctively, Sakura reached for her weapon pouch and her fingertips held the bundle of senbon she stashed inside. She was just about to pull out the delicate yet lethal needles and send them hurtling through the air and towards the clone when she stopped herself halfway from doing so. Naruto had summoned his own shadow clones and all the doppelgangers had pounced on the Zabuza clone.

A flash of memory elapsed in Sakura's mind and she mentally commended Naruto and Sasuke for their brilliant plan that they were about to execute in a few moments. She had to act fast; otherwise, the opportunity would slip by and she would lose the chance to incapacitate or, now that she thought about it, even kill their enemy all with just a flick of her wrist and the thin weapons she now held in between the fingers of her fisted hand.

The real Zabuza was distracted enough from the fuuma shuriken slicing through the air and travelling at full tilt towards him that even when he noticed the second shuriken that shadowed the first one, he was not prepared for the set of senbons that accompanied the first two shuriken. He managed to dodge the second shuriken that was hiding underneath the first shuriken's blind spot but there was nothing he could do to deflect the senbons. Without any pause, he turned his head to the right to look at the blonde kid who had materialized and replaced the second shuriken. The kid had released a kunai aimed for his right arm that was keeping the water cage intact and he had no choice but to release Kakashi on instinct.

Two things happened simultaneously: to avoid the kunai thrown by Naruto, Zabuza swung his body backwards to the left and then blacked out, falling backwards into the water.

Naruto emerged from the river, coughing out the water that went to his air pipe. "We did it!" he yelled, raising a fist in the air. The plan that he and Sasuke came up with had worked perfectly; Kakashi was free.

Said jounin appeared before Naruto in a flash and despite his liberation from the water cage he was imprisoned in not too long ago, there was only a grim expression on his face. His eyes were focused on the body of water behind Naruto. He was aware that the kunai his student tossed towards Zabuza was the reason he was free, but it was not the same weapon that lead to the Mist nin to now float motionlessly on the river. To ensure that what his eyes were seeing was real, he leaped towards the floating body and nestled the neck on his left hand so that the index and middle finger of his right hand could feel for any pulse. There was nothing.

'He really is dead…'

In a blink of an eye a short figure emerged in front of Kakashi, scooping Zabuza's corpse into his arms with ease and grabbing hold of his giant sword before it sank deeper into the bottom of the river. The figure bowed swiftly. "Thank you very much. I have been waiting for an opportunity to kill Zabuza for a while now."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. Judging from the height of the person and his voice, he was not much older than his students. He observed the pale white mask that concealed the new arrival's face. The Mist symbol was engraved on the smooth surface of the boy's false front, and the only distinguishing feature was the two, thick, red tendrils swirling from the left cheek of the mask to where his mouth would have been.

"A Hidden Mist hunter-nin?" Kakashi inquired, although there really was no uncertainty in his question.

The boy adjusted the body he was carrying so that it was now resting on his shoulder and nodded in affirmation. "You are correct. I am a member of the Hidden Mist Hunter-nin team—"

"Wait!" Naruto intervened. His voice was a mixture of astonishment, confusion, and anger, and it was evident in the way he focused his wide, angry eyes at the newcomer. "W-what the hell! How can you just! Zabuza! He was—" He was having difficulty forming any coherent thoughts. This hunter-nin in front of him, he was so sure that their age difference was not much. And yet, out of nowhere he appeared and was taking credit for Zabuza's death. How was it that this fresh arrival managed to kill their enemy without breaking a sweat? His whole body shook at the mere thought of it.

"Do not worry, Naruto. He is not an enemy," came Kakashi's reassurance.

"But that kid! He killed Zabuza! I don't understand! He's just the same age as me, and yet—" his barrage of words were cut short when he felt Sakura's hand gently squeeze his shoulder. He glanced at her with an expression that indicated that of helplessness.

"In this world, there are kids who are younger than you and yet stronger than me," Kakashi spoke with a hint of understanding what all three of his students must be feeling at the moment. In their world, nothing was equal. Some were stronger than the others, regardless of age, gender, or the village they belonged to. It was the harsh truth of being a ninja. Kakashi threaded the surface of the river towards the bank, ruffling Naruto's hair as he passed by him.

The hunter-nin made a move to leave and turned around. He looked at them over his shoulder and bid his goodbye. "The battle is now over. This body holds a lot of secret, so I must go and dispose of it. Thank you once again, and farewell." With those words the masked ninja fully turned his back towards them and disappeared in a whirlwind of leaves.

Sakura observed the leaves as they swirled with the wind before falling gently on the surface of the river and creating tiny ripples. Her eyes narrowed slightly. In the past, the two bases they had of the possibility that Zabuza was still alive was the disposal of his body and the weapons used to terminate him. It was such a dead giveaway then, but, as embarrassing as it was, there was no blaming her younger self for not knowing any better. Now, aside from those bases, Sakura had a much more solid evidence to infer that Zabuza was still alive and that the hunter-nin was on his side. After all, the senbons she hurled towards the missing-nin were deflected by the hunter-nin himself; not that those proofs were really necessary considering that she was from the future.

Sakura bit her lip, determining that her action may have complicated things for her. She supposed that her failed attempt was a blessing in disguise; had she succeeded, she would have risked exposing her secret and even if that did not become a problem, she did not have any explanation at the ready if ever her team interrogated her about her unfounded skills. For now, she must play along with Kakashi's assumptions—she knew that a ninja of Kakashi's caliber noticed the peculiar behavior of the hunter-nin—and hoped that the silver-haired jounin was also distracted enough to fail to notice that she had thrown senbons towards the enemy with great accuracy and an intent to kill.

"Eh?! Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura's head snapped up from her thoughts at Naruto's worried clamor. The group only managed to take a few steps away from the temporary battleground before Kakashi passed out and fell straight on the solid ground face-first.

In a small clearing, the Mist hunter-nin decided that the little bed of grass surrounded by trees was suitable enough to perform his next course of action. Gently, he laid down the larger body he was carrying and stabbed the soft earth with the giant sword. He pulled out a roll of thick fabric from his weapon pouch and unrolled it to reveal surgical supplies. Choosing a scissor among the tools, he was just about to cut the bandage that wrapped around Zabuza's face when the older man's hand shot up, grabbing his wrist and keeping it in place.

Zabuza pried down the bandages covering his mouth with his fingers and said, "That is all right, Haku. I'll do it myself."

The younger of the two sighed. "If you insist." He silently watched as Zabuza firmly wrapped his fingers at the first senbon that pierced through his neck, dully grunting as he rashly pulled it off.

"Damn. You sure are rough." Zabuza grabbed another senbon, peering sideways at the noiseless boy beside him. "And your interference was quite early. I still could have handled myself pretty well against that copycat ninja even with those brats' help." Once more, he hastily pulled the needle in his hand off.

"I'm sorry, but I had to do it or you would have been killed." Haku's voice was absolute, to which he received a chuckle from Zabuza.

"The fight was just getting started. All Sharingan Kakashi can do is copy me," Zabuza snarled. His sharp teeth were exposed as he bared his teeth in annoyance.

Haku was quiet once more. However, the frown on his lips indicated that he was in deep thought. "On the contrary," he finally said. The dark look the sword-wielding ninja gave Haku did not even faze him. Instead, he returned the sullen gaze with a definite look of his own.

"The fight would have been over if I did not interfere," Haku explained. He watched intently as Zabuza reached for another senbon on his left shoulder. "That," he indicated with an upward tilt of his head, "is not mine. And two other would have fatally pierced your jugular and your heart if my other senbons failed to deflect them on time."

Zabuza's grip on the third senbon intensified to the point that he almost snapped it in half. Brusquely, he pulled it out without a word. He could feel Haku's gaze on him once more, probably wondering what he was thinking about.

'Those damn brats…'

The silence between the two stretched as Haku broke from his musing and began to quietly pack away his supplies. Zabuza had gone eerily still. As he rolled the fabric and slid it back into his weapon pouch, he heard Zabuza emit a low chuckle that escalated into a full-blown laughter.

"What is it, Mr. Zabuza?"

Zabuza did not even cast him a glance, instead his laughter continued as though the boy did not ask a question. It took him a minute to calm down, and by then the darkness in his eyes had returned.

"It seems that I have not given those ninja-wannabes enough credit." He pushed the upper half of body off the ground using his elbows.

Haku fought the urge to help the taller ninja as this would just result in rejection. "You will not be able to move for a week until your full strength has returned. Will you be alright next time?" he asked instead.

"Next time, I will defeat the Sharingan. And I will kill those brats."

Kakashi's only visible eye snapped open. When he did, he tried to move to no avail; his whole body was aching. He had passed out after their fight with Zabuza.

"YOU'RE AWAKE!" There was no mistaking that the voice belonged to Naruto. Kakashi swore that the dull thudding in his head evolved to a full-blown headache.

"Not so loud, Naruto!" Sakura gently smacked the blonde up his head which, considering her strength, was still pretty hard. She turned her attention to their freshly awoken teacher, assessing his condition. "You must be feeling very sore Kakashi-sensei. You did overtaxed yourself during your fight against Zabuza." When Kakashi nodded in affirmation, she picked up the teapot that was by her side and poured some of its content into a cup. "Here, I made you some herbal tea with the help of Miss Tsunami. It will help you feel better." She handed the clay teacup to Kakashi while motioning at the dark-haired woman in the room, omitting the fact that Tazuna's daughter had only helped locate the herbs and that she herself did all the preparations.

Kakashi gazed at his rippled image on the surface of the tea, lost in his own thoughts. Something did not sit right inside him. Something was out of place, and it had something to do with the hunter-nin.

"Is something wrong, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto's curious voice snapped him out of his reverie.

He turned towards his students, who were all seated at the spot next to his feet. "Huh? Well… did you notice something odd with the way that boy disposed of Zabuza's body?"

Sakura was the first to speak. "By that, you meant that he left with the body right? Hunter-nins are supposed to get rid of their target's body at the very same spot where they killed their target." At the odd look her two teammates gave her, she added, "Read it on a scroll."

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "That is correct. Also, the boy's use of senbons as killing weapons is suspicious. It is not very lethal unless a vital organ has been hit." He paused, letting the new information sink in amongst his three students.

"It means that Zabuza may still be alive," Sasuke concluded.

There were gasps, and Naruto's shout, of surprise in the room at the possibility that their opponent may have faked his death and that the hunter-nin was truly Zabuza's accomplice rather than pursuer.

"How is that possible Kakashi-sensei?! You checked him yourself!" Naruto shouted in protest. There was a supporting nod from their client, Tazuna.

A mere shake of his head was Kakashi's reply. "It may have been that instead of killing Zabuza, the hunter-nin pierced various points in his neck that will cause momentary death."

Sakura added, "And because he's a hunter-nin, he will most likely know which points to zero in on."

"Correct again, Sakura." Kakashi sighed. "Because of these two suspicions, we must assume that the enemy is still alive. Momentary death will delay a person's full recovery for as long as a week. In the mean time, while I recover, we will use the time we have to train."

"Ha! That sounds like a lot of fun!" Excitement was evident in Naruto's voice as he threw a fist in the air.

A child entered the room just then, seeming to have heard the last bit of the conversation. "That's not fun," he said.

Sakura had to hold back Naruto once more, this time from pouncing on the little kid who was introduced to be Inari, Tazuna's grandson. The child refused to greet the visitors and pointed to them instead, announcing that they will meet their certain death. Naruto was obviously angry at the child's pessimistic views, declaring that he will defeat Gatou to prove Inari wrong. A few more bickering and the child left for his room, claiming that he was going to his room to view the ocean instead. Naruto followed the little boy with the intent to give him a piece of his mind.

Sakura just shook her head before turning to her patient once more. She was not really surprised to find that the teacup he was holding was now empty and yet his mask remained on its place on his face. He must have drunk it while they were distracted by Inari's entrance.

'Sneaky bastard…'

The next morning came too fast for Kakashi who needed crutches since his condition will not allow him to walk on his own. Upon arriving in the deeper part of the woods behind Tazuna's house, they stopped at a region of the forest where tall, old trees stood high. He turned to his students and explained to them what their training was going to be and how it will help them become better ninjas. Sakura helped explain, mostly to Naruto, what chakra was and how it was to be used properly and effectively.

The training began and to his surprise, Sakura was able to accomplish the challenge without even breaking a sweat. The girl had proven herself to be the most advanced of the three with the way she handled herself on their first encounter with the two chuunin-level ninjas, with how easily she dealt with the tree-climbing activity, and her knowledge of medical aid. Speaking of which, the herbal tea she concocted had done wonders and he was feeling a lot better than he did the day before. The last heir of the Uchiha clan, the boy with the demon fox sealed inside of him, and a girl who, despite her lack of any prominent background, was proving herself to be an asset—his students were demonstrating themselves to be a very, very interesting trio.

Sakura jumped down from her perch on top of the tree, thanking Kakashi after he complimented her for finishing the challenge on her first try. Although, she was not very confident that Kakashi's disappointing remark about Naruto and Sasuke's abilities and failure to do the activity on their first try were going to help her be closer to her teammates if they instead get jealous of her. She did not have to worry about it long enough though when Naruto came jogging towards her.

"Woah Sakura! You are so good!" he praised, his voice laced with a little hint of jealousy.

Sakura smiled in return. "Thanks, Naruto."

"Can you… um… maybe give me some tips on how you did it then?" Naruto asked, blushing. He was a bit scared that Sakura would shout at him and chastise him for being bold enough to ask for her help but nothing came. He felt himself involuntarily exhale a sigh of relief.

"Of course, that's no problem," Sakura agreed. She looked around for something to sit on and chose a log that was lying next to the tree she climbed on and sat down. Naruto trailed after her there and sat next to her.

Surprisingly, Sasuke followed suit. His steps were slow and hesitant and he was trying to look anywhere but at her. Sakura could see a faint blush that dusted his pale cheeks when he got close enough and opted to stand in front of her. It was obvious that he was embarrassed at the fact that he, the Uchiha Sasuke, Rookie of the Year, was asking for some tips from Haruno Sakura. However, if it meant that he would be able to accomplish the stupid tree climbing training as fast as she did, then so be it.

Sakura hid a smile as she explained to them how to effectively combine their physical chakra and spiritual chakra, collect the mix, bring the mix to a specific spot in their body, and release it. As Naruto and Sasuke listened intently, a warm feeling began to blossom in her chest at the thought that at that very moment, Team Seven was very close once more.

"So should we try that again?" Sakura straightened up and dusted the soil off her backside.

"Yeah! Thanks Sakura!" Naruto gave her a quick hug and dashed off, most likely afraid that she would blow off and punch him for even daring to touch her. She only shook her head and smiled at his antics.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was not so bold with his actions. In fact, he did not even thank her. The only gesture she received from the constantly taciturn boy was a slight nod of his head. To Sakura, however, that was more than she could ever ask for.

To be continued.