Naruto was frozen in fear. The two enemy Shinobi who had attacked them and killed their Sensei had split up, one going for Tazuna and the other had appeared behind him. He could feel their desire to kill him in the air. Turning his head the little that he could, Naruto saw the man wore a large gauntlet on one arm with wicked and deadly sharp claws that would cut him to piece's in seconds. His mind and two past lives were screaming at him to move, but he couldn't hear them over the pounding of his own heart and the blood that was rushing in his ears. He was going to die. Oh god, he was going to die! "Naruto! Get a grip, if you don't move you'll die!" Hashirama cried. Thankfully that was enough to bring the blond out of his stupor, and his eyes widened before his training and instincts kicked in and he dodged the claws a second before they touched him.

He then stepped back and shot forwards, attacking in a blur of Taijutsu. Meanwhile the other Ninja had gone after Tazuna. Sakura jumped in front of him with a kunai knife, "get behind me!" she ordered. Sasuke appeared in front of her- it wasn't that he cared, not after what she had said to his brother, but if she died, there would be no one to protect Tazuna from these Shinobi. However before the Missing Mist Ninja, from the scratched headband that he could see around the enemies forehead clearly now, could touch them, he was suddenly in a headlock, with the other Shinobi unconscious over the shoulder of- Kakashi-Sensei! He was alive! Naruto came up to them quickly, "Sasuke, you okay?!" he asked, a slightly worried look on his face, since he knew just how strong his older brother was. The Uchiha nodded, and Kakashi eye-smiled, "well done you three, Sasuke, Sakura, you protected the client, and Naruto, you were able to push your opponent pretty far before I took care of him, well done!"

Naruto beamed, glad to have done something that his Sensei approved of. The Jonnin turned to look at their defeated opponents, "alright, I think we need to have a talk- Tazuna" he said, while the bridge builder looked down.

ŤƁ

After a good amount of pitiful whining from the Bridge Builder when Kakashi had suggested returning to the village since the mission was now B-rank, and both Naruto and Sasuke refusing to go back, Kakashi had agreed to continue the mission. Now the group was sitting in a boat, being rowed across the ocean and into the Land of Waves. Naruto felt on edge and kept staring around them, unable to relax. His hand was on the handle of his Gunbai, rhythmically tightening and loosening his hold, trying to calm himself, but he had a very bad feeling. It turned out a tyrant named Gato had crippled the Land Of Waves' Economy, which relied on fishing and trading with other lands to survive by taking over the transport- though he posed as a business man, underneath he ran human trafficking, drug runs, and other corrupt dealings.

Kakashi had told them that Gato would send Jonnin-level Missing Ninja after them next time. Sasuke was staring around them with his Sharingan activated, trying to spot any threats, while he was rolling a Chakra pill in his hand, waiting for when he'd have to take it. Sakura was staring around herself as well, jumping at every movement of the boat and sound of the waves. Suddenly a huge construct loomed over them. Looking up, Naruto saw it was the uncompleted bridge. 'Holly Shit! That's the bridge? It's huge!' he thought to himself. Hashirama nodded, "it is big- even to me, and I've made bigger constructs with my Mokuton" he said. A few minutes later they were standing on the shore of the Land Of Waves. Tazuna turned to the boatman, "thank you for doing this, especially since you had to risk your safety to help us" he said. The man nodded, "just take care Tazuna, and finish that bridge, otherwise all these risks we're taking won't mean anything" he replied, before he turned on the motor and drove off.

The Bridge Builder turned inland, "now, if you can get me home safely-" he started, before Kakashi nodded, "don't worry Tazuna-San, we will- let's move team" he replied. Everyone continued walking, alert for any sound. Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes and everyone tensed. A rabbit jumped out of the leaves onto the path. Tazuna and Sakura relaxed and the girl cooed at the animal, but the male Shinobi stayed tensed, and narrowed their eyes, 'it's fur is white, but it's the middle of Summer, it shouldn't be that colour,' Kakashi thought, 'unless- it was raised inside away from the sun, specifically for a substitution!' Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Madara and Hashirama thought at the same time. There was a whooshing sound in the air, "Sakura, get down!" Naruto yelled, while Sasuke tackled the bridge builder.

It was lucky they moved when they did, because it was at that moment that a gigantic sword flew through the air over their heads and embedded itself in the tree behind them with a huge crack! Everyone stood up and turned around just as a man appeared standing on the handle of the sword. He wore no shirt, but instead cow-print arm and leg warmers, Shinobi sandals and a slashed Hidden Mist Headband around the side of his head. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, "well, well, well, Zabuza Momichi, I never expected to see you here" he stated, standing casually, but there was a definite tenseness to his body. Everyone looked confused, then Zabuza spoke up, "Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja, what a pleasant surprise, why don't you hand over the Bridge Builder and I won't have to kill you and the little Genin you have stumbling along behind you" he replied.

Sasuke and Naruto glared at the Missing-Nin, but Naruto especially. Why did everyone always have to look down on him? Kakashi matched Zabuza's glare with one of his own, "sorry, not possible Zabuza, we have our own mission and we will make sure it's completed" he replied. Zabuza shrugged, "alright, if that's how you want it," he jumped off his sword, grabbing it's handle and ripping it out of the tree with one hand. The man landed on the surface of the water, and placed his giant sword back on his back. Then he held one arm straight up in the air, and the other in front of his chest, the fingers of both in the Seal of Confrontation and began focusing his Chakra, "Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Zabuza cried, and a thick mist, much thicker than before began to form around them.

"Everyone Maji formation, protect the Bridge builder!" Kakashi called as all three Genin got into position around Tazuna with their kunai out. For a few minutes it was dead silent other than the sound of everyone's breathing. "Eight points" the voice came from everywhere at once, and it caused Sakura and Tazuna to jump. The two boys had to try very hard not to do the same. "Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart- now, which will be my target?" Naruto could feel it in the air. The Killing Intent. With it came memories of darkness, fire, screaming, running, pain- agony! The blond gasped, 'get a grip damn it, you're not dead yet!' he thought fiercely. However, looking over at Sasuke, Naruto's eyes widened.

The boy was even worse than he had been. His eyes were wide and clouded, his entire body trembling, his face was pale and sweat was dripping down the side of his face. He also didn't seem to be breathing. Damn it! Sasuke must be seeing the Massacre, the memories of the last time he was subjected to Killing Intent. As he watched, the Uchiha slowly raised the hand holding his kunai and positioned it shakily in front of his throat. Naruto's eyes widened in horror- holy crap! Sasuke was going to kill himself! Immediately, the blond reached over and gripped the other boys arm tightly. That seemed to snap his brother out of the trance he was in, at least a little. The Uchiha turned his wide, frightened eyes to Naruto and stared at him. The Uzumaki leveled a serious look on his older brother, "it's okay Sasuke, you're not alone in this- I promise I'll always be here for you, even if it's just for you to lean on when you get tired- I am your brother, and I always will be- after all, bonds are not always forged by blood" he stated, staring straight into Sasuke's eyes.

The black-haired boy stared at him for a moment, before his eyes cleared and he nodded, "thank you Naruto, and you're right of course, I'm not alone in this, and I don't always have to do everything by myself- if I am not strong enough to do something on my own, I know that I'll always have you to support me no matter what" he smiled slightly, while Naruto grinned. "But will that bond save you from me?!" Zabuza's voice called, and suddenly he was in the middle of all of them, with his giant sword ready to be swung and kill them all. Naruto was directly in the swords path, and when Zabuza brought it down, Sasuke's eyes widened, "Naruto!" he exclaimed, moving to intercept it. The giant blade was inches from the Uchiha's neck when suddenly Naruto was standing their instead and blocking the sword with his Gunbai.

"I won't let anyone I care about die! Not when I have the power to save them!" the blond said, glaring dangerously at the Missing-Nin. Zabuza scoffed slightly, "that Gunbai of yours is made of some strong stuff, I had expected it to be cleaved in half along with your body" he replied, pushing harder while Naruto grunted. His Gunbai may be virtually indestructible, but that didn't mean that he was physically strong enough to hold back someone of Zabuza's strength- not yet at least. Suddenly the Zabuza he was fighting against turned into water and splashed to the ground. Naruto blinked, and looked up, only to see Kakashi standing there with a kunai knife in hand, "damn, he used a water clone" the Konoha Jonin muttered. In that moment, everyone noticed two things about Kakashi. One, he had his left eye uncovered. And two, in that left eye was a fully matured Sharingan.

'What?' Naruto thought, 'how does Kakashi-Sensei have a Sharingan? He's not an Uchiha like Sasuke, Madara, or even Indra, so how did-?', 'What is that? that eye? It's all red and weird, why does Kakashi-Sensei have an eye like that?' Sakura wondered, looking creeped out and awed at the same time. 'How does Kakashi have the Sharingan? He couldn't be an Uchiha, could he?' Sasuke thought. Madara shook his head, "no, he's not an Uchiha, for one thing all his physical attributes are wrong- besides with only one Sharingan eye, all the clues point towards a transplant from an Uchiha, though I doubt he's the type of person that would rip the eyes out of one of our Clansmen, so I would hazard a guess that the eye was gifted to him by a member of our Clan, one that was very close to Kakashi" the former Uchiha Patriarch guessed.

"Ah, the Sharingan, I get to see it so soon- lucky me" Zabuza's voice called out from the mist. "You shouldn't really consider yourself lucky Zabuza," Kakashi stated, "everyone who's seen this eye has never lived to talk about it". The Demon of the Mist chuckled, "well then, let's see if you really are as good as they say Kakashi!" Zabuza cried. Suddenly a huge burst of Chakra, coming from Kakashi exploded through the area and pushed some of the mist away. Zabuza's killing intent rose, as did his own Chakra levels. Sasuke choked, the air was so thick with cold Chakra and killing intent. It pushed down on him like an invisible hand, crushing the very life out of him. He knew his previous Transmigrants had been far stronger than this, but it was still overwhelming.

It was all around him, inside of him, 'this feeling- it's as though the tiniest breath, the slightest movement of the eye- would be enough to draw his attack. Like I'm nothing more than someone waiting to die' the pressure built and Sasuke felt like he was slowly being drowned and then crushed by the pressure, 'if it goes on like this I'll go insane!' he thought, as his chest ached for air that wouldn't come. The atmosphere was so heavy and charged with Chakra, that trying to breath it felt like liquid stone, making his chest hurt even more. It was unbearable! 'no, I can't take it, I don't wanna die like this!' Sasuke thought, as his trembling hands brought his kunai up to his chest. "Woah, he's really going to-" Madara cried, but it wasn't them who snapped the Uchiha out of his suicidal thoughts.

Suddenly, a warm Chakra washed over all four of them. Sasuke felt the horrible cold that had invaded his body and numbed his mind to anything but terror melt away, and he finally breathed in, the ach in his chest beginning to die down. The young Uchiha took several deep breaths and turned to the source of the warm Chakra, to see Naruto staring at him with determined eyes. Sasuke stared back at his younger brother, "Otouto-" he breathed. Naruto met his eyes, "I've said it once and I'll say it again- I won't let anyone harm my precious people, if you even think about touching my Nii-San-" his eyes hardened and he glared out at the mist, "I'll make you wish you hadn't been born" he hissed. The blonds Chakra rose, and the force of it was enough to push away the mist, revealing Zabuza standing nearby.

The man chuckled darkly, and smirked, "oh really, well why don't we see if you can back up your claim then?" he asked. Suddenly another Zabuza clone was in between them again, but this time, it moved faster than anyone could see and kicked Sasuke away from the others and onto the lake. Naruto was going to follow, but remembered the bridge builder. With only himself and Sakura guarding him, they had to be very careful. Sasuke emerged through the surface of the lake with a gasp and coughing as Zabuza ran over. Suddenly he stopped and looked at the ground with a chuckle, "Makibishi spikes? You underestimate me" the bandaged man said, before leaping over the trap and onto the surface of the lake. The Uchiha was struggling to stay surfaced, this water was so thick.

Wait- thick? No- that was Chakra in the water! The black-haired boy tried to swim away, but the thickness of the water made it hard to move through, "now!" Zabuza exclaimed, doing hand signs. Naruto's eyes widened as Hashirama informed him what they were for, "Sasuke, get out of their!" he yelled. Zabuza smirked, "too late!" he called, finishing his Jutsu and holding out his hand: "Water Style! Water Prison Jutsu!" he called. The water shifted and swirled around Sasuke, lifting him up and surrounding him in a round bubble of Chakra-laced water. Sasuke was trapped, "Nii-San!" Naruto called with wide eyes as Sakura gasped.

Be Continued