Chapter 18

The day was just like any other day. There was nothing to discern from any other day. The sky was bright, the people were still moving about to get their many chores done to feed their families.

I knew otherwise. Today was the day. It has been one week since we fought Zabuza. We were all preparing to leave with Tazuna, in order to keep him protected. I take a subtle glance to Kakashi, and he glances at me.

He forms a cross-shaped hand sign, and a shadow clone pops up behind him. It jumps away instantly, no one even noticing, save for Naruto, but he only heard the sound. He frowns in confusion, then turns back forwards, tense. I smirk to myself. That training is getting to him. He would've ignored it last time, not stay on guard.

Me and Kakashi formulated a plan for today over night. He was worried about me staying up late, thanks to that… outburst I had a couple days ago, but I was fine. It's in the past…

Anyways, we decided to have Kakashi leave a shadow clone for those thugs Naruto took care of last time. Other than that, our plan was simple. Go to the bridge, and kick some ass. Perfect.

With everything set to go, we depart for the bridge. We had to move at a civilian pace because of Tazuna, but it was fine. I conversed with Naruto and Sakura, both for myself, and them. I could tell they were still worried about me. I needed them to see I was fine now.

It didn't take too long for us to reach the bridge. And once more, we found a haunting sight. Workers, strewn about the bridge, some simply injured and unconscious, others unnaturally still… As much as I'd like to keep deaths to a minimum, we needed Zabuza to still be seen as against us. He had to do this…

I was ripped from my thoughts as the mist begins forming over the bridge. My eyes narrow and dart around, trying to find where Zabuza and Haku were. Even if this was similar to last time, I didn't need to be caught off guard somehow.

Sakura shivers and looks around in fear as the bridge is completely blocked off from sight. I frown, and my eyes widen slightly as I activate my Sharingan. I see Kakashi frowning as well, a kunai in hand, but close to his headband. Naruto was gritting his teeth, glaring at the mist, his hands clenched at his side.

"Well Kakashi, seems like you are still tugging those brats around with you." My eyes snap over to the cloud in front of us, and I see two figures in the mist. Zabuza and Haku finally showed themselves.

Zabuza chuckles, his disembodied voice coming from the mist, but never from a specific point. As he does this, multiple copies of Zabuza emerge from the mist. Each one of them were grinning widely under their masks, a grim satisfaction in their eyes.

"And look at that one. He's even shaking in fear." My eyes widen slightly, and I look at my hands. They were in fact shaking. But I didn't feel fear. I smirk slightly as I realize what this was. It happened last time, and it was happening again.

I smirk at the clones and say "I'm not afraid. I'm excited." The clones all seem to look at me with wary expressions as a grin forms on my face. The fangs and slit eyes must make me look like some sort of predator.

Kakashi lowers his kunai slightly, guarding his chest in sacrifice of quickly revealing his Sharingan. "Sasuke, go for it."

My grin widens, and chakra rushes into my limbs. The world moved in slow motion as I moved at full speed. I stop at each clone, using a kunai to slice a lethal point before moving to the next. The clones couldn't do anything but gape at me in surprise and shock. I flicker back to my team, and all the clones disperse into water. This took only one second.

Naruto blinks, then goes wide eyed. "What the hell?! So fast!" Sakura nods in shock, looking at me in surprise. I just grin at the mist, the thrill of battle already coursing through me.

It was at this point Zabuza and Haku disperse the mist slightly, showing themselves and the mist covered battleground behind them. Zabuza eyes me and says "Brat's fast. What the hell kind of training did you put them through Kakashi?"

Kakashi just eye smiles and says "Oh, this is their own training. I had nothing to do with it."

Beside Zabuza, Haku shivers momentarily. Not enough to notice if you weren't watching, but my Sharingan was up. I see, and frown. That was a shiver of fear. Why was Haku afraid? She was a steel wall last time, nothing fazing her but Zabuza's death.

I push the thoughts to the side as Zabuza lowers his sword. It hits the bridge with a loud crash, cracking the ground slightly. "Well, enough pleasantries. You know what I want Kakashi."

Kakashi frowns, his cheerful demeanor instantly dropping. "And you know my answer."

Zabuza chuckles and says "Well, let's settle this then. Haku, you take the brats. Kakashi is mine."

Haku nods, looking at me and Naruto. I frown and say "Sakura, you protect Tazuna. Me and Naruto will take care of the fake hunter-nin." Sakura nods, grateful she didn't need to fight front lines. She still only knew the basics and medic ninjutsu. She didn't know any good combat techniques like Naruto and Sasuke.

I eye Haku, and Zabuza chuckles once more. "Let's begin." With that, him and Haku jump back into the mist. Me, Naruto, and Kakashi all follow at the same time, each of us jumping into our own fights.

Kakashi and Zabuza skid to a stop in front of each other. Zabuza's predatory grin drops, and he says "Do we really need to fight Kakashi? If what your Hokage said is true, then we'll need energy for the mob later."

Kakashi sighs, then says "We need to make it believable. At most, no lethal techniques. Alright?"

Zabuza shrugs, lifting his sword. "All techniques are lethal, but I'm assuming you mean the over-the-top ones. Fine by me."

With that, the mist seems to form around Zabuza, masking him from Kakashi's vision. His lone eye narrows, and he pushes up his headband, revealing his Sharingan. He takes a shuddering breath, the chakra drain already high. He forces himself to calm, and then analyzes the mist.

It was laced with chakra, too much for him to see. But… he could react to sudden attacks with it. Now, the question was, where was Zabuza?

"I realized something last time we fought Kakashi." Kakashi turns around to where the voice came from, but no one was there. His eyes dart around once more, searching for Zabuza.

"That eye of your's, the Sharingan, it requires direct eye contact to work its genjutsus. So… all I need to do is keep my eyes closed." Kakashi's eyes widen in realization.

Zabuza chuckles and says "You can tell. Too bad. I'm already well versed in moving without SIGHT!" Zabuza yells the last word as he dashes from the mist, his massive cleaver sword slicing through the air. Kakashi jumps out of the way, barely avoiding the blow.

As he turns to Zabuza, he curses mentally as he sees Zabuza's eyes closed. He was hoping for a flicker, just a slight opening of the eyelids. It was a natural response to when the eyes are closed. Obviously, Zabuza doesn't have this same flaw.

Before Kakashi can retaliate, Zabuza goes back into the mist, disappearing once more. Kakashi looks around, then says "Enough of this."

He forms the ram hand sign, then flares his chakra around him. The mist disperses rapidly, clearing the area and allowing Kakashi to instantly locate Zabuza a short distance away.

Zabuza tsks and opens his eyes, taking care not to look at Kakashi's eyes. "Guess we have to do this the old fashioned way."

With that, Zabuza dashes forwards, sword drawn back for a powerful swing. Kakashi swiftly dodges to the side, cringing slightly at the crater the sword made in the bridge. He then quickly ducks below the follow up swing, then lands on his hands and kicks the sword up and off its original course.

Kakashi quickly spins on his hands and launches himself backwards. As he does so, he quickly flashes through hand signs and yells "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

A massive fireball flies forwards from Kakashi's position. Zabuza quickly flashes through hand signs as well and yells "Water Style: Water Wall Wave!"

Zabuza brings his head back, pulling down the single covering over his mouth. He then shoots a gigantic wall of water in front of himself, and well over the fireball as well.

The fireball collides with the fireball and instantly disintegrates, unable to hold its form against its natural enemy. Kakashi watches this, then goes wide eyed as the wall begins to tilt… towards him.

Kakashi instantly flash through a few hand signs, then disappears as the water collapses upon his position. It cracks against the bridge, flowing out the sides and covering the battlefield in water.

Zabuza doesn't stop at the illusion that his jutsu worked. He instantly tenses, looking around for where Kakashi went. His eyes dart around, looking in all directions. All, but one.

The ground cracks beneath Zabuza, and his eyes widen in shock as a hand grabs his ankle. His body seems to flicker, but nothing happens. In fact, the hand tightens its grip as Kakashi appears from the ground.

He pulls on Zabuza's ankle, bringing the ninja over his head. He brings him forwards and slams the missing-nin into the ground. Kakashi eyes the body as it stills, then dissipates into water. No wonder Zabuza seemed to flicker.

Kakashi hears a whistling in the air and ducks once more, avoiding the side slash Zabuza just did. He flicks a kunai into his hand from his pouch and stops the next hit, grunting in exertion.

Zabuza's arm shakes in exertion, but he just chuckles. "You shouldn't have done that Kakashi. Demons are always STRONGER than MORTALS!"

The force on Kakashi's kunai seems to double, and Kakashi hisses in pain. His kunai cracks, and his eyes widen. He quickly jumps back, the sword slicing through the air in front of him. The sword almost cleaves through the whole bridge floor, and Kakashi eyes it with slight surprise.

He lands a good distance from Zabuza, then says "I thought we were doing no over-the-top jutsus."

Zabuza just shrugs and says "The Water Wall Wave jutsu is pretty easy to avoid. You could handle it."

Kakashi rolls his eyes, then grimaces as a pain sparks in his Sharingan. He blinks in surprise, then squints slightly. He could've sworn he saw some sort of black spiral…

Zabuza sees Kakashi's sudden change of attention and says "Oi, Kakashi! What's going on?"

Kakashi blinks, and the strange, small spiral in the air disappears. He shakes his head and says "Nothing, nothing. Let's continue"

With that, the Kakashi in front of Zabuza flickers slightly, then pops. Zabuza's eyes widen and he mutters "Son of a-!"

He turns around and brings his sword up with both hands, blocking the overhead cut Kakashi was swinging at him. The ground cracks slightly beneath him, and he grunts slightly in exertion and surprise. "What. The. Hell?!"

Kakashi jumps back, a trail of white light following his kunai. His kunai pops in smoke, and a short tanto is seen in Kakashi's hand. He brings it in front of his face, the blade flashing in the light. "It's been a while since I last used the Sabre. Seems it'll come into play now."

Kakashi had decided, along with a long list of other things to work on, to begin training with his father's Sabre once more. It still brought him painful memories, but according to his future (past?) self telling Team 7, his father and himself made peace in the afterlife. How that happened, he didn't know, but it did. It eased the pain a bit, and he was able to hold the Sabre without flashes of painful memories.

Zabuza narrows his eyes as he sees the short blade. He was once part of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, so he knew all of the famous blades in the world. The White Light Chakra Sabre was one of them, and that blade Kakashi held was definitely it.

Zabuza glares at Kakashi and says "And who was complaining about going overboard?"

Kakashi eye smiles and says "I need to test it. Let's try this out."

Zabuza sighs, then shrugs again. "Whatever."

The two blur once more and meet in the center, both swords colliding with each other. Despite its small size, the short tanto held its ground. This was due to the potent white chakra within the blade, increasing its durability and cutting power significantly.

The two back off, then disappear. They reappear a short distance away, Kakashi defending against Zabuza's overhead swing. Once more they disappear, and this time Zabuza is backing away and defending from a quickly swinging Kakashi.

Kakashi goes for a forwards jab with the Sabre, and Zabuza slams his sword into the ground and vaults over it. Kakashi misses Zabuza and hits Kubikiriocho, putting a decent dent in the side of the blade.

On the other side, Zabuza lands and kicks his leg out, hitting the massive blade at the bottom. The blade shoots upwards, smacking Kakashi in the knees with the broad side of the sword. Kakashi's legs crumple momentarily and he falls to the ground.

Zabuza grabs his blade and brings it down quickly. Kakashi rolls to the side, pushes against the ground with his hands, and vaults upwards. His actions allow him to avoid the side slash Zabuza made, and he twists his body midair to land on Zabuza's sword.

Kakashi quickly kneels down and slaps a slip of paper on the sword and jumps away. Zabuza hears the sizzling and quickly grabs the paper and slaps it on the ground before using a Body Flicker to get out of the blast radius. The exploding tag unleashes its power in a giant ball of flame, covering the area in smoke.

Zabuza flies backwards out of the smoke, his sword in front of him. He rolls on the ground some, before sliding to a stop. He groans, then picks himself up. He frowns as he sees how damaged Kubikiriocho was.

He couldn't move fast enough from the explosion, only reaching the outer ring of the explosion. He had used his sword to block the damage, and he was paying the price for it.

Zabuza pulls out a scroll and seals his sword in it. It was in no condition for use, not in these circumstances. He couldn't just butcher meaninglessly this time, so he had no blood to repair it with.

He sighs and stands up. "Fuck you Kakashi. You broke my sword."

Kakashi body flickers next to him and levels him with a slightly amused glare. "You can always fix it later."

Zabuza just crosses his arms and glares for real, unlike Kakashi. "Define 'later'."

Kakashi shrugs. "I don't know." He eye smiles. "But I do know my sword is better."

Zabuza's eyes shadow, and he says "Taijutsu. Now."

Kakashi puts his hands up in a defensive stance, his Sabre already sealed away. "Ok, ok! No need to be pushy."

He lowers into a fighting stance, as Zabuza does so as well. Kakashi takes the time to notice Zabuza's rigid yet relaxed stance. It was an oddity, but if he had to guess, the fighting style would consist of hard hits flowing into each other. A nice combination of Zabuza's immense strength and incredible speed.

A similar thought went through Zabuza's head. Kakashi was relaxed, and in no way was he defending himself. He was confused as to what this style was. It didn't look like any he knew of before. Maybe Kakashi was best with a kunai, like he's so often seen, and not his fists.

They push their thoughts to the side, waiting to move. Suddenly, a single ice senbon lands in front of them, skidding across the bridge. Their eyes narrow, and they rush at each other.

True to Kakashi's prediction, Zabuza tries to throw a powerful punch at Kakashi's face. Kakashi ducks under the blow, arcing backwards. He snaps his leg up, but Zabuza was able to dodge the blow.

As his style went, Zabuza used the dodging motion of leaning backwards to drop completely and try to sweep Kakashi's legs out from under him.

Kakashi once again uses his hands to dodge the attack. He spins midair, before twisting and bringing a leg down on top of Zabuza's head. It hits with a sickening crunch, and Zabuza is instantly floored.

Kakashi lands and rebounds off the ground, landing a short distance away. The Zabuza he hit disperses into water, and Kakashi narrows his eyes. He turns, then goes wide eyed as he sees Zabuza throwing a kick. He brings his arms up to block, and does so successfully. But, he grunts in pain at the force in the kick. It definitely bruised the bones.

Kakashi slides back, and Zabuza quickly moves into a low uppercut. Kakashi arcs backwards, avoiding the attack. He puts his hands on the ground, and pushes himself back up with a big burst of speed. His body blurs as he seems to spring back forwards, and he slams his forehead into Zabuza's head.

The missing-nin's eyes go white as a searing pain registers in his head. He grips his head reflexively, backing away from Kakashi. Kakashi chases after him, throwing punches and kicks in a relatively random pattern.

Zabuza blocks the blows or avoids them, trying to ignore his bleeding forehead. Kakashi sends one more punch, then drops to the floor to avoid a retaliatory punch from Zabuza. He spins on the ground, picking up speed, then launches into the air. He flips, and brings a leg up. He brings it down with a yell, putting all his strength into the blow.

Zabuza sees this and brings his arms up, blocking the attack. The bridge cracks beneath them from the sheer force in the kick, but Zabuza didn't seem to be too troubled by it. Zabuza grips onto Kakashi's leg, and brings his opponent down to the ground.

Kakashi slams into the bridge with immense force, gagging as his breath leaves him. Zabuza pulls Kakashi back again, then throws the Konoha ninja away. Kakashi flips midair, landing on his feet and sliding backwards.

Both of them pant in exhaustion, eyeing each other warily. They were waiting for something. They didn't know what, but they knew it was coming.

Then, suddenly, the world goes red. Zabuza's eyes go wide as an instinctual fear clings at his heart. He grabs his chest as images of a massive beast, the size of a mountain, roars at him directly. He felt like a pest, an ant, to this indescribable power.

Kakashi stumbles as the effect hits him. He saw something different though. Sasuke, his adorable little student, gripping his head in pain. Over his hunched form stood a massive fox, roaring to the heavens in anguish.

He blinks, and the illusions seem to dim somewhat. He turns to where the feeling was originating from, and his eyes go wide. He could see a red, malevolent chakra coming from an ice mirror dome in torrents. Kakashi stares a bit, fear clinging at him, but more than just the one from this chakra. "Sasuke."

Without another word, he rushes to the dome. Nothing else mattered. He needed to protect his students, no matter the cost. He would not fail this time.

-A/N-

Thus the bridge fight begins! Here is the battle with Kakashi and Zabuza. I am actually quite proud of this. I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did!