Naruto had a scowl on his face as he looked down into the clearing from where he was crouched on a tree branch, with Clementine and Victor being crouched on the other larger branches that were dotted around the outskirts of the clearing.
Things had not been going the way Naruto had hoped, they had quickly managed to catch up to Kakashi and his team, having run over the stretch of water between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wave.
They hadn't even needed to wait to use Kakashi and the bridge builder Tazuna as bait. As by the time they caught up with them, Kakashi and Zabuza were already locked in combat. With Zabuza's apprentice hovering around waiting to leap in and Kakashi's team all huddled around the bridge builder in a defensive formation.
It had been at this point that things had started going wrong; Naruto had told Kakashi to leave, giving him a way out of here with his bridge builder and team. This would leave just Zabuza and Haku alone in the clearing, with any chance of escape being cut off by Naruto and his team.
But it was not to be, Kakashi had decided on being stubborn, which had led to a stalemate as Kakashi demanded they reveal themselves before he would trust them and Naruto telling him to leave or there would be consequences.
"Mito, Sakura, Sasuke take Tazuna back a bit, I need him out of the way." Kakashi said as he gestured for his team to slowly back away. Clearly the man had recognised that they were in a standoff, and was hoping to get his team and client out of the way before anything happened.
Tazuna nodded nervously at that, even as the surrounding genin's began to slowly back away. Or at least Sakura and a number of Mito's clones did, with the original and Sasuke saying behind.
"We'll back you up Sensei." Mito said her voice holding an edge of stubbornness.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at this, this was the first time he had seen his sister in three years. She had changed, she was older now, more mature, gone was the remnants of baby fat that had still clung onto her.
Now she was quite lithe, she still had the same colouring's as their mother, with long waist length red hair tied back in a ponytail and sharp violet eyes. Naruto felt a slight weight in his heart as he looked at the resolve in her eyes. He hadn't realised how much he had missed his overbearing sisters.
"No the mission is to protect the bridge builder and that is what you must do." Kakashi replied harshly as he kept an eye out. His vision becoming clearer as Zabuza stopped using his Hidden Mist jutsu. It seemed the Master of the Silent Kill was not that comfortable with the mist when he was the prey.
"You should go with them Kakashi. There is no need for you and your team to get mixed up in this." Naruto tried one last time, knowing that the stalemate was coming to an end. Without the mist covering them Naruto knew the highly trained eyes of Kakashi and Zabuza would find them.
"Not until I know you won't attack us from behind." Kakashi responded his Sharingan eye spinning as the mist became thinner and thinner. The man was being over cautious now, undecided over whether or not Naruto and his team were enemies.
"They might not attack you in the back Kakashi, but know that I will the moment you and your little team turn to leave." Zabuza said as he swung his sword slightly.
Naruto frowned at that, Zabuza was trying to stop Kakashi from leaving as he knew he would stand more of a chance in a three sided fight than he would if he were to go one on one with a trained Kirigakure Hunter-nin team.
The very slight creaking of wood was all the warning Naruto got as Clementine it seemed got tired of waiting. In a blur the masked girl hit the floor before rushing Zabuza from behind her twin blades in hand.
Letting out a sigh Naruto unsealed his axe before making eye contact with the now visible Victor on the other side of the clearing. As one they leapt into the mist free clearing, both of them aiming to engage with Zabuza.
Seeing this Kakashi instinctively moved forward, Mito and Sasuke following behind, despite having been told to get back.
Zabuza swung his sword around as he felt someone attacking him from behind, whilst Haku leapt away from Zabuza looking to intercept Victor.
With the clash of blades Clementine and Zabuza engaged in combat. The both of them fighting in blurs as Clementine's superior speed, strength and reflexes battled against Zabuza's superior skill and experience.
The two of them were soon in a stalemate, as Zabuza used his wide blade to fend of Clementine's stilettos. Whilst Clementine found herself having to constantly dodge and weave around his heavy counterattacks. Letting out a snarl, Clementine used her armoured greaves on her right leg to knock Zabuza's blade away from him, before she slammed her blade into his chest.
Zabuza's body dissolved into water as she made contact. With Clementine having to dodge wide eyed as Zabuza's blade the Kubikiribocho slammed into where she had just been standing.
...
' Victor '
...
Victor grunted slightly as he once again had to move from his position. His opponent the fake Hunter-nin, Haku, was an annoying one. She seemed to have an endless supply of senbon, thin metal needles, to throw at him, and the worst thing was she was very accurate.
Already he had half a dozen of the metal needles dug into his body. Luckily though, he had been able to dodge them well enough so that they had not hit anything important or vital, still though, they were very annoying all the same.
Lashing his hands out Victor pumped chakra into the wire shooting contraptions he had on both of his wrist. Using his chakra to both release and guide the thin wires as he swung his hand around.
The chakra infused wires acting like a whip, as they sliced through anything they touched, ripping apart the nearby trees and the ground at his feet. Unfortunately though, they had not hit the brat, who thanks to her incredible speed was able to maneuver around all of Victor's attacks so far.
Victor scowled at this, his maniacal smile dropping as he thought about how much easier this would have been if he had had time to cover the area in his traps. Flicking his wrist Victor retracted his wires, pulling them back into his intricate gauntlets.
The fake Hunter-nin stopped as she saw that, making sure to keep her distance but still obviously curious about what Victor was up to.
"Have you decided to give up?" Haku asked calmly as she eyed Victor.
"Give up?" Victor replied a sinister grin on his face, now why would I do a thing like that. As he said those words both of his hands soon became enshrouded in blue chakra. Lunging forward far faster than before, Victor almost took Haku by surprise.
As he stopped fighting her using a mid-range fighting style and instead began attempting to engage her in hand to hand combat.
But once again Haku's speed prevailed, as to did her knowledge of the Shinobi arts as she instantly realised how dangerous fighting her opponent up close would be.
"Chakra Scalpels." Haku said as she looked at Victor's glowing hands a look of concern on her face.
Chakra Scalpels were a skill Medic-nins learnt, although it had more uses than just in medicine as it was also often used in combat by Medic-nins to deadly effect.
They were meant to be used for making highly accurate incisions in surgeries, but they had an unusual quirk, Chakra Scalpels can make cuts inside the body without harming the skin. Suffice to say, when used correctly this technique could be highly deadly.
"So tell me little one, do you give up?" Victor replied sinisterly as he crouched low to the ground, consciously aware of what his other teammates were doing as he did so.
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