Suffice to say, Momochi Zabuza was not your everyday ninja. I knew enough from the lingering malice surrounding the man. Veins were showing around my eyes as we were gawking at the newcomer. My uneasiness was still building up because I thought that I had sensed two chakra signatures that were hidden in the leaves before. Chakra was focused on my third eye to enhance my Byakugan perception and there he was; the other person in our predicament hundreds of meters away. The previous uneasiness never faded away still, it got worse when the other one suddenly vanished from my perception."You appeared to be Sharingan no Kakashi. Sorry, but the old man is mine," Zabuza said. I couldn"t contain my surprise when I heard it and instinctively looked at Kakashi-sensei. Within my Byakugan"s perception, his left eye"s chakra signature was different from his. The answer to that condition would only be that it is a transplanted eye. Still, even my surprised expression couldn"t top our brooding expert, Uchiha Sasuke. I understood him though, with his clan wiped out, he must"ve wondered if our sensei was one of his clan.
"Surround and protect Tazunsan. Do not enter the fight. That"s the teamwork here," Kakashi-sensei was serious, "Zabuza, first, fight me."
He pulled his headband upwards revealing the aforementioned Sharingan.
"Ah, I already get to see the famous Sharingan. I"m honoured," Zabuza said monotonously. Clueless as he was, Naruto questioned what a Sharingan was. Sweat dripped from Sasuke"s forehead when he explained it to Naruto.
"Sharingan, it is said that some have the ability in their eyes to read and defeat all types of genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu. The Sharingan is one of the types of a pupil that gives you this power," he explained.
"But that"s not the only ability the Sharingan has," he added but it made Naruto became more puzzled.
"It can copy your ninjutsu," I said and Zabuza agreed with me.
"When I was a member of Kiri"s a.s.sa.s.sin team, I kept a handbook. It included information of you and this is what it said--the man who has copied over 1000 jutsu, "Copy Ninja Kakashi"," Zabuza said and an intense stare-down contest broke out between them. Sasuke, ignoring Naruto"s question was looking intently at Kakashi-sensei.
"I think I don"t deserve that name anymore," Kakashi said while chuckled a little.
"Now, let"s end all the talking. I have to kill that old man," Zabuza finally said.
"Hikari, now!" Kakashi ordered. I wasted no time and formed a series of seals.
"Rat, Dog, Tiger," I mumbled seriously, "Mokuton Mokujoheki!"
A dome of wood grew from the ground encasing Tazunsan and my friends. It was very dark inside but we still managed to hear some sort of chatter outside of it.
"Interesting student you have here, Kakashi," we heard.
"You heard what I said," we heard Kakashi-sensei said.
"I can"t see." Naruto was complaining.
"Mokuton jutsu?! How?" Sasuke questioned. I would have answered his question but that was not the time for it. I withdrew the Fudo Masamune and channelled my Ranton towards it and it glowed giving us light.
"Listen to me, guys, I need you to be very vigilant. Yeah, it is Mokuton jutsu but mine is not strong enough, but, it is enough to give us time. I sensed another enemy nearby so I need to find him before we fell further down their trap. You guys okay to deal with this?" I asked my team. They all showed a determined face at me.
"Dobe and I got this," Sasuke confidently said. I got no time to reply when I saw Zabuza was going to slash the dome. I weaved forward between them and when the sword got through it clashed with my Fudo Masamune causing the dome to explode to smithereens. I was lucky to channel my Raiton to counter his tremendous strength with the large sword.
"Here, I had my hopes so high. It was nothing more but weak woodworking," Zabuza"s voice boomed and I immediately slashed through him. It turned out to be a Mizu Bunshin. I looked around and found out that we are inside a heavy mist. I also found out that the weak chakra signature that was lost earlier had come back.
"Kakashi-sensei, I am so sorry, I have to take care of something," I said and retreated. I broke formation to chase the very minute chakra signature that I felt.
"Hikari, no!" Kakashi-sensei yelled.
"I"m sorry I"ll come back as soon as I can. I have a gut feeling," I yelled and then disappeared leaving a lightning crack in the air. I flickered behind a boy that was wearing a mask. Fudo Masamune was at his throat ready to slice it through.
"State your business here. And if I find you the least bit suspicious, I slit your throat," I threaten. He then knocked my blade away and jumped a few feet behind with senbon in his hand. Judging from his speed and mobility, I am guessing that he is at least above Sasuke"s level.
"I have no business with you, Konohnin. My business is Momochi Zabuza. I am here to hunt him down and kill him. I am a hunter-nin," he calmly said. It was a possibility but my uneasiness merely simmered down slightly. I couldn"t afford to take any chance as my friends were facing a threat right then. Lightning chakra leaked out of Fudo Masamune as I crouched and corrected my stance. I just couldn"t shake off the uneasiness that I felt. He didn"t make any move out of fear of getting his hideout known. I charged at him and our weapons clashed.
"What proof do you have to validate your words?" I said. I heard Kakashi-sensei screamed at them to run away and I was tempted to go at them.
"I have no reason to prove myself other than what I had told you, Konohnin," he pushed me back and we circle the perimeter, testing out each other"s blind spot. Then, I felt Kakashi-sensei"s lightning chakra was building up. It seemed that Naruto had managed to free him somehow. The missing-nin must have sensed it too. He stored his senbon away and bowed at me with palms facing me.
"I wished we could continue this. But Momochi Zabuza will be dead in a few moments and I will claim him. Until then," he then disappeared from there. Gritting my teeth, I too disappeared from the place. I appeared next to Kakashi-sensei who jumped a bit. There was a couple of senbon protruding Zabuza"s neck. It was gnarly to say the lease.
"Did you do that?" sensei questioned.
"No, he did," I answered while my eyes were still on the self-proclaim hunter-nin. He was standing on a tree from the other side of the clearing.
"Check for his pulse," Kakashi-sensei ordered and before I moved forward, he held my shoulder with his eyes on the hunter-nin, "Byakugan only."
Veins were showing around my eyes as I focused on him. There is no pulse, heartbeat or even a chakra flow.
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"Yeah, he"s dead alright," I muttered then I turned towards the hunter-nin.
"Thank you very much. I have been searching for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time," the boy in the mask said.
"That mask, you"re Kiri"s hunter-nin," Kakashi said while remaining vigilant as did I. We are in the presence of an amazing shin.o.bi, to say the least.
"Impressive. You are correct," the boy said.
"Hunter-nin?" Sakura inquired.
"They hunt down missing-nins. At least, that"s what he said," I said. Kakashi-sensei was quiet as he thought through the situation.
"What the h.e.l.l?! Who are you?!" Naruto suddenly yelled.
"Don"t worry Naruto, he"s not an enemy," Kakashi-sensei finally rose. Somehow my uneasiness still hasn"t gone away.
"I"m not asking that! That Zabuza, that Zabuza was killed! A guy that strong, a guy that strong was killed by a kid! By a kid not much different from me!! We look stupid!! How can I understand that?!" Naruto complained angrily. I somehow released the breath I was holding for a long time as our sensei walked towards Naruto.
"Well, I know how you feel, but this is also the truth," Kakashi-sensei rustled Naruto"s hair, "In this world, there exists kids younger than you yet stronger than me."
Then he stared at me.
"You disobeyed my order," he sharply said.
"I was suspicious of our guest here." I returned his tone. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at both of us. The boy appeared next to Zabuza"s corpse to haul it away.
"Your battle is now over and now I must dispose of this body since it seems to be a body with many secrets. Farewell," the boy said before disappearing. Kakashi-sensei exhaled the breath that he seemed to also hold for long.
"Now we have to get Tazunsan back home," Our sensei said. Tazunsan was yelling about something and it attracted those three"s attention. Luckily for our sensei, I was still looking. Kakashi-sensei had pa.s.sed out from the excessive Sharingan usage.
"Are you alright, sensei?" Tazunsan"s daughter, Tsunami-san asked. Kakashi-sensei was lying under the futon that Sakura had laid out for him.
"Yeah, I just can"t move for a week or so," he answered. Sakura, being the caring person she is, scolded our sensei.
"What? The Sharingan is incredible but, if it puts that much stress on the body, I guess you have to think before using it," she said while I was undoing my sandals next to Naruto.
"Well, we defeated that strong of a ninja this time. We should be safe for a while!" Tazunsan was still shaken from the event. Sweat could be seen on his forehead aside from his paled-out face.
"By the way, who was that masked kid?" Sakura asked.
"That"s the mask worn by Kirigakure"s special hunter-nin team. They are also known as body erasers. They have to completely dispose of the body without a trace. A ninja"s body has within it secrets of the village"s ninjutsu, information on different chakra types, herbs and other things that will reveal things about the village"s secret," our sensei explained, "for example, if I died, the secrets of the Sharingan could be revealed. If you don"t be careful there"s the danger the enemy will steal your jutsu. A ninja body can reveal important information. So, by killing and disposing of the missing-nins who have abandoned their village, the hunter-nin protects the information from getting out. They are the specialists who guard their village"s secrets. No sound, no smell. That is a ninja"s end."
"So that Zabuza has been chopped up and disposed of? Scary!!" Sakura exclaimed. I was staring at my feet recalling the scene when Kakashi-sensei scolded me.
"I"m sorry that I disobeyed your order. I had this uneasy feeling that I felt since the Meizu brothers appeared. I couldn"t shake it. When I saw the boy"s chakra signature and confronted him, the feeling could not disappear. I just could not trust the boy," I said before I turned to face Kakashi-sensei and he was smiling.
"It"s okay, I understand. Had it been that it was an ally of Zabuza, we could have been caught off guard by an ambush. So, I think that is a good call. I"m going to sleep now," Kakashi-sensei said before he immediately fell asleep. I smiled at his trust in me. I noticed that Sasuke was staring at our sensei.
"Sasuke, it was not his eye. I saw it with my Byakugan. It was a different chakra signature," I said to answer his unspoken question. Sasuke jumped at my words and then shut his eyes.
"I know. If he is an Uchiha, he wouldn"t be lying down like this. I am curious about how he got it," he said.
"It is not my place to say it. But knowing Kakashi-sensei, he must have not obtained it willingly," I said and there was no response from Sasuke. Sakura went up and help Tsunami-san in the kitchen. Tazunsan was lying down and fell asleep next to Kakashi-sensei.
"Naruto, tell me what happens after I left," I asked the boy who was silent the whole time. His eyes lit up and went on explaining it detail by detail with slight exaggeration on his prowess. It was about the end of the conversation when he asked something brilliant.
"Hey, aren"t you curious about how does Kakashi-sensei looked under the mask?" Naruto asked and Sakura suddenly peered out of the kitchen. Her eyebrows rose as she looked at us. Then Naruto crept towards our sensei and reached for his mask very, very slowly. Sakura was standing on the other side of Kakashi-sensei. I slammed my hands on my face.
"Don"t you think that he will notice you guys," I muttered. When Naruto"s hand was an inch from the mask, Kakashi-sensei suddenly woke up. Those two were so shocked they fell on their behind with Sakura screaming. Our sensei rose as Tsunami-san went in to see what the commotion was about.
"Oh, Kakashi-sensei, you"re awake," she said but our sensei was dead silent. His hands were on his face as he thinking about something.