The following trip to the bridge had been rather uneventful. If anything, the only suspicious activity the entire time was Naruto taking a short trip to a nearby stream to cleanup a mess across his form after having a serious backfire on a jutsu he wanted to test after leaving Tsunami's house, and returning to the group to tell them he met a girl that was picking herbs for her precious someone. Sin was rather quiet the entire time yet making it known in his expression that he wanted nothing to do with copycat ninja or the arrogant uchiha. If he spoke he was strictly giving his students a few pointers about defending themselves from a swordsman and to remember to use the sensory training he gave them to avoid oncoming attacks before they could start.

By now, Naruto and Hinata were far above the expectations of their sensei and miles ahead of their fellow genin. They felt ready to tackle any problem that stood in their way but always remembered that acting like a Sasuke would only get them injured or killed in the end. They knew to rely on their fellow ninja and initiate teamwork the entire time to ensure minor or no casualties at all. Still, it worried the two that they were going to encounter an S-Rank rogue ninja that had the capability to kill a kage, and it was worse with the relayed information from tsunami that a man by the name of Gato was in their lands sucking every villager dry of their food and money, and if if there was nothing left to take, the women were taken as payment and put through a fate worse than death itself.

As such, the anxiety rose with Hinata clearly expressing her anger about such a monster existing in the ninja world. She was irritable to everyone, even her sensei, and the only saving grace of keeping her in control was Naruto being there to help her calm down whether it was said anger or anxiety from the idea of being captured and turned into a slave for Gato.

When the trip to the bridge came to an end, the swordsman was nowhere in sight and Sin couldn't get a signature of foreign energy nearby, thus leaving the decision to break apart in multiple groups and surround Tazuna while he was working on the bridge, though with great reluctance since he was the only bridge builder there and the mist was so thick he could barely see his hand.

Kakashi was not for the idea of breaking into groups but agreed in the end after seeing how Sasuke wasn't going to cooperate with the other and decided to taking a section of the bridge with his genin. Sin took his own to a thicker section of mist to remain hidden whilst watching Tazuna and ordered the ice queens to make their own group.

During this time, Sin had divided his attention between advising his students on how to remain hidden and protecting the client, maintaining communication with everyone in five minute intervals, and finally splitting the free time he had to meditate on a nearby post and think about the next spell he was going to teach his genin as a jutsu. He knew the possibilities were almsot endless thanks to inventing some of his own spells and learning hundreds of them during his training in the other world, but the sheer danger they posed made him question how to give his teachings in the step by step process whilst making sure they were going to remain in one piece and breathing.

"I can't teach them to conjure fire since that is at a master level and it would probably burn them. Their potential is unlike anything I've seen before though, so I have no doubt that they'll surprise me." He told himself very quietly, listening for any suspicious sounds. "I guess manipulating it would be the next best lesson since it won't be as dangerous."

Meanwhile in those deep thoughts, he watched as Naruto and Hinata conversed about their new weapons and to use them in the upcoming battle, if possible that is. He was happy that his genin were still vigilant even while chatting, unlike the other genin who simply stood in one spot and looked or listened for anything strange about the situation. It pained the man to see how unorganized Kakashi was with his team and almost wanted to intervene through the method of superiority to get all of his ducks in a row. However, he was Naruto and Hinata's sensei and it was not his job to lead the situation completely. He was under supervision and had to focus mostly in making his genin survive.

Unfortunately, just as he worked on the thought using strategic measures there was a loud scream from Tazuna followed with a large energy coming to Sin as he broke from his meditation. He turned to the direction it was felt and rushed past the others as they bolted to the bridge builder's position. He unleashed a gust of wind at the man's location and saw that Tazuna was on the floor holding his hands up to a man with a cleaver-like swordman over his head.

The sight was enough to make Sin push magic throughout his body and accelerate himself to blinding speed before unsheathing Setsuna-Maru and raise it against the masked man in a reckless style. The force of their blades clashing together was enough to push them both away, which gave Sin ample opportunity to grab the bridge builder by his collar and toss him to Kakashi while Naruto and Hinata came to his sides.

"Protect the builder!" He ordered, never taking his gaze off the mist ninja.

Dammit. That wind should have blown the mist away, but it was barely enough to see them. This might be harder than I expected.

Kakashi was going to respond but was caught with ice needles in his shoulder and hip. He doubled over with Salura coming to his aid as another figure appeared out of the mist with senbon in her hands and a familiar mask about her. He was quick to warn Kurenai and the others about their sudden encounter with the fake hunter, but the ice queens were met with a problem of their. Bandits who abandoned the ninja way surrounded them and enclosed the gap between them and the other ninja with seals that produced walls of fire.

"Got a problem of our own Kakashi!" Tsume yelled.

Kakashi understood the situation and forced himself back to his feet, though weakened and cursing himself for not thinking that the fake hunter-nin would have done a sneak attack in the mist when they were separated.

Sin had just a moment to look back at his genin charging the swordsman before taking a defensive step away to ready himself. He knew that control was of the essence at this point with his students not needing to see and discover that he was far more powerful than he let on. At most, he could display raw skill to overpower the assassin and let his students join the fray whilst protecting them. He was not a teacher at this time, nor a parent-figure. He was their leader and he had to guide them to victory without losing them.

The masked man swung his cleaver over his back and glared at Sin, watching him take a familiar stance in the art of the sword and feel a little nostalgic at how for seeing it.

"The Ko Gasumi." He said, impressed with the man. "I haven't seen that in a very long time."

"I take it your Zabuza?" Sin questioned, watching the man's every move as he nodded in response.

Zabuza's nod was all that Sin needed whilst taking a sensory measurement of the energy flowing through his body, and boy did it surprise the immortal to feel such malevolent energy in a simple being. He hadn't felt something like this since the night his third son tried to use dark magic and accidentally unleashed his violent half on their home.

Sin was barely able to process that his students took the offensive, the attack happening now with the launching fire against Zabuza while throwing their kunai in the midst of the fire. He took this chance to focus his thoughts do his own attack by leaping into the smoke while the man was blind. When everything came into the clear he realized that Zabuza was not there and threw his blade over his shoulder at the last second to block the man's seversword from splitting him down the middle. He cursed as he just discovered that the S-Rank ninja was deadlier than he anticipated and had to release more of his power to keep up.

"You're quick." Zabuza commented, disappearing with Sin at frightening speeds that not even Hinata's byakugan couldn't keep up.

Zabuza didn't take kindly to having another opponent when his desire was to put down Kakashi after confirming that he was indeed the copycat of legend, but Sin was just as quick as him and countering every lunge or swing that was made with a simple flick of Setsuna-Maru and maintaining ample distance between them.

Sparks flew and grunts were heard in the clash as the two genin watched carefully while maintaining hold of the situation and sensing anyone to possibly approach.

Suddenly those senses went on high alert with more bandits appearing from crawling over the rails of the bridge and attacking them.

"Kill the brat but keep the girl alive!"

Both genin went on the defensive and focused on their own problems whilst listening to the two swordsman leapt all across the bridge, leaving no quick image for anyone even with experience in speed to see them going at it with the intention to maim the other.

Sin's eyes darted everywhere after he and Zabuza stopped at the unfinished end and grabbed one another's hilt, preventing the other to attack. He saw in a brief moment that everyone was handling themselves quite well until seeing that Sasuke was in an ice dome and Kakashi was busy battling what appeared to be ice clones that kept regenerating with the moisture in the air. The boy's fire jutsu was doing nothing to help him and the fake hunter nin was moving from mirror to mirror, planting senbon into the uchiha's form.

"I'd worry less about them," said the rogue ninja, pushing harder on the immortal's wrist as his chakra flared a deep purple. "You're fight is with me at the moment."

Sin focused his attention back on the criminal ninja and smirked as he said: "Oh don't worry. This won't take long for me."

Zabuza's eye widened at that comment and failed to see the knee that rose to his chin and connected with great force, knocking him midair and now at the disadvantage when he saw through his pain that Sin was above him and holding what appeared to be a ball of lightning on his index finger.

"Strike!"

"Uh oh." Zabuza exhaled as he used his chakra to mold the only defensive measure he could think of as the lightning shot down at him.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu." He bellowed and was instantly engulfed by a large serpent made of water that appeared from the river and shot back down. He disappeared in the river for a moment before leaping over the rails and performing the same jutsu once more with Sin still in the air.

Sin had no choice but to break his own rule and pump himself full of magic to dodge the oncoming water dragon that was mere seconds from devouring him. He accelerated his magic and screamed for the quarter-release seal on his body to open before using the wind tome to propel himself to the floor of the bridge.

Meanwhile in the equal standoff between the two jounin, Naruto and Hinata finished up and prepared to join Kakashi and Team Seven after seeing how the ice ninja was giving them quite a hard time, but the appearance of Sin's power stopped them both with the hyuuga focusing her byakugan on her sensei and seeing an anomaly that made her rethink about him.

"Naruto, wait." Hinata beckoned, grabbing his wrist and drawing his attention to the battle before them. "Do you feel that?"

To the blonde genin there was nothing abnormal about the atmosphere around them until he sensed with her an overwhelming force that was fluctuating dangerously. He'd thought it was the sheer force of killing intent between his sensei and Zabuza but quickly realized with deeper focus that it was solely coming from Sin as he stood his ground against the rogue ninja. This was precisely what the boy anticipated after the last few weeks of training helped him see past the curtain of current power seeping off the man's skin as he examined the aura that was changing colors ever so slowly with each minute passing between the clash of swordsman.

It was until he saw for certain that Sin was was calm and collected while Zabuza was panting that his mind clicked at the situation.

"Sensei's holding back."

"Not just that." Hinata said as she focused through kekkai genkai to find the anomaly. "His chakra isn't depleting at all, and the longer they fight the more intense it becomes. It's almost as if he has an unlimited supply within his body."

Naruto was surprised by Hinata's words and watched ever so carefully to see just what their teacher was hiding until she dragged him away by a tug of his wrist and forced him to put some distance between them for their own safety and try to find the others in the mist. It was contradicting to the boy to leave their sensei to his own fight with Zabuza but the look he saw in the man's eyes told him that it would be best to stay out of the way.

Still, he couldn't just leave his teacher to fight alone.

As the battle intensified with all parties, Sin and Zabuza responded with hard looks to one another after taking a moment to breathe. Neither was opening up their defenses nor dropping their guard even a little, but instead assessing the danger of fighting eachother and calmly researching their skills.

Sin simply smirked and used his magic to tie hair back before, throwing it into a large bunch wrapped in a magic coil. It quickly became apparent that he had to put forth more effort to subdue the ninja before he had time to return to his comrades and aid them, and he couldn't afford to divide his concentration any more when he was trying so hard to keep his magic at a par level with Zabuza's abilities.

"Thought this was going to be easy? Didn't expect someone to give you a hard time?" Sin mocked.

Zabuza responded with a narrowed look and chuckled underneath his mask. He was impressed with Sin's speed and most importantly the strength that was keeping his sword at bay. He never encountered someone with the power to block or deflect his seversword when it outweighed most ninja he killed with it.

"You're pretty good." Zabuza acknowledged, getting a bow from the immortal. "It has been a long time since I've fought someone who can match me with a sword. However, this is my field of battle and I'm done playing."

Throwing the sword over his back, the rogue ninja performed hand seals and focused his chakra. "Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

Another wave of mist engulfed the area and Sin was left alone with visibility of his comrades disappearing in the distance. He had no idea where Zabuza had gone, but he could hear the chuckling of that man's raspy voice as listened to him unsheathe again the kubikiribocho.

Zabuza's voice echoed in all over, but Sin was inexperienced fool to these kinds of fights. "There's a reason I'm an S-Rank Assassin. Now let's see how well you can do when blind."

Sin was in a panic when he realized his comrades could be in serious danger after hearing them yell that they couldn't see anybody. Yet he could hear that the battle with bandits was coming to a slow halt as he spin in circles. He cursed under his breath after trying to sense for the man and realized that his chakra was all over in the mist, making it impossible to pinpoint his location.

Shit, this is bad!

"Got you." It was only thanks to Sin's blinding speed that he was able to stop the massive sword from skewering him. He was in trouble though, as the edge of Zabuza's weapon slid off Setsuna-Maru and grazed his hand before returning into the mist. A scratch at best compared to what he's suffered in many other battles, but Sin didn't think the situation would be so difficult.

Sin continued to hear the rogue chuckle in the mist until he saw him leap out of the mist wildly. He was ready and he connected with the giant blade in a standing conflict with the appearing ninja smiling beneath the mask.

"You've got no chance."

"Oh really?" Sin smiled dangerously, channeling his magic into his throat. "Light Tome: Heaven's Song."

Zabuza didn't understand a word the immortal said until his mouth opened and light started to grow in the back of his throat. He knew better than to stand there any longer and leaped away at the second of watching a concentrated beam of light escapes Sin's mouth and graze his right shoulder.

Time seemed to stop between the two, one in awe of such power while the other in astonishment of dodging a deadly technique.

"What the hell was that?" Zabuza thought. This man was too powerful to be a normal man, let alone another jounin just doing his job.

Things really accelerated when Sin began with long range combat. He went tome after tome with a near unlimited knowledge of spells to use on his opponent, as he predicted, was easily blocked with more water style jutsu and that damn giant sword proving to a defensive weapon by cutting most of his spells in half.

Zabuza was now at a serious disadvantage and spun around from arcs of light coming out of the immortal's fingers, his body getfting tired from lugging his sword for to long in battle. As he dodged the last arc of light he saw that Sin was nowhere to be found. He felt the strange aura from Sin however, and focused on it intensely.

Just as he pinpointed Sin in the mist and threw his blade around to block a swing to his torso, something stopped them both from continuing the fight. A roar of beastly fury and chakra spiking to unimaginable levels as the air itself was filled with killing intent that was almost enough to make Sin a little worried.

"SASUKEEEEEE!"

Sin knew that voice and grew concerned with Zabuza as to what just transpired.

"Naruto?"

Five Minutes Prior

Naruto and Hinata were quick to make their way through the mist and tackle any bandit that got in their way as they approached the injured Uchiha who was surrounded by the ice ninja's frozen mirrors. It was only thanks to them getting there in time to block the young enemy from putting a decisive in the emo's neck when his back was turned. They were fast in responding by hurling fire techniques just above his head and force the mystery person back into one of said mirrors while they foolishly stepped inside.

"Sasuke, you're too injured to fight." Hinata said with little concern, yet giving into consideration that he was still a ninja from konoha and had to help him in the end. She was fast to remove her medical pouch and proceed with bandaging the most dangerous of his wounds, but Sasuke's arrogance got the best of him with a slap to her hand while Naruto surveyed each mirror carefully.

"I don't need help from you weaklings!" He spat, forcing himself to stand.

"Yeah you do!" Naruto said loudly. "You can't take this guy alone. We have to work together."

Naruto continued to wait for the ice ninja to strike with Sasuke behind him. He and Hinata were now circling to emo prince as he assessed how much chakra was left in his system.

Unfortunately the battle was not slow as their opponent had made it out to be with him. The masked ninja shot out of a mirror from behind when the the hyuuga and jinchurriki had their backs turned and. She had her eyes set on putting the startled uchiha down with a few senbon to his heart and readied the final blow as he moved in an unorthodox manner.

Naruto responded to the sound of metallic piercing skin with a flinch and spun around to be sure if Sasuke was still alive after hearing that. He had no doubt that his most hateful comrade was weaker than him, but he never expected what just happened in front of him.

Sasuke smirked as he held the gasping hyuuga by her arms and used her as a human shield, blocking the senbon that were now right in the middle of Hinata's bleeding chest with his ice using opponent flinching at the cold, ruthless action he committed. She knew she was just a tool meant to be used by Zabuza, but she knew through her time fighting alongside the assassin that he wouldn't even think of doing such a thing to her.

Sasuke chuckled after letting Hinata fall to the ground. "Well at least she was useful."

"Hinata!" Naruto shoved the uchiha aside and kneel to his girlfriend with his hands under her head and back, her breaths growing a gurgling sound as the blood trickled from her lips.

The world seemed to collapse with the sight of his girlfriend's pale eyes turning more grey with each passing second of her trying to talk.

"Nar. . ."

"Hush!" He ordered, trying to help the girl by pushing on the wound as a last ditch effort to keep her from bleeding out, but it was only excruciating for her and making the wound worse as the battle outside of the mirrors went on.

"You are a monster." The mystery ninja said before disappearing into another mirror.

Sasuke continued to smirk as he watched with glee of Naruto's suffering. "At least she had the honor of serving the last uchiha."

"Sensei. Hinata's hurt!" Naruto screamed frantically, unable to think of anything else that could help Hinata.

No response came.

"Sensei, where the fuck are you!?" His panic blew into full-blown tears as Hinata cupped his cheek and smiled weakly.

"It's okay, my love."

However it wasn't, it wasn't okay at all. She was afraid of dying and worst of all leaving Naruto alone when he suffered so much during his childhood. She hated how he was so alone and became very grateful over the months of becoming a team that she was there to fill the emptiness she knew was in his heart. Now she was losing her life at the cost of a selfish boy that cared for nothing but himself, and it pained her more to know that was the reason of her dying. If anything, beyond that fear, she wanted to at least die for someone close to her heart.

"Hinata. . ." Naruto scowled underneath his hair after she gave a quick peck to his hand, listening to the uchiha chuckle while waiting for their enemy to reappear. He looked up to Sasuke's menacing grin and stopped moving with only one painful thought in his head running like a broken record.

At least she had the honor of serving the last uchiha

At least she had the honor

At least she

At. . .

Naruto's view became of curtain of red as humanity disappeared in his heart. His goofy and energetic personality dissolving into malice and fury as his chakra blazed into a bubbling red that surrounded his still form. Time moved forward once more when he gently put his dying girlfriend to the ground, unaware that the bubbling chakra was surrounding his form and extending to remove the senbon and heal the girl.

Sasuke took his eyes off the mirror and saw Naruto's appearance becoming more distinguished with claws and eyes he'd never seen before along with the overwhelming chakra shaping into a fox.

"SASUKEEE!"

Back To Sin

"Naruto?"

Without warning, Sin's sensory went into overload as the mist was suddenly blown away by a chakra wave that launched Sasuke across the bridge. The battle between him and Zabuza ceased at the sight of Naruto standing over his lifeless girlfriend before launching himself at the emo on all fours. Sin looked to the injured uchiha for a split and understood that something happened before disappearing from Zabuza and reappearing in front of his enraged student in a flash. There was massive distortion between his magic and Naruto's red chakra as the fight between them started with hands connected and heads butted against one another.

The aura of his magic and Naruto's chakra swirled and clashed with the energy breaking into arcs that flew all around them as Kakashi to advantage in attacking the startled Zabuza. No one else dared to get close when his and Naruto's power was destroying the bridge in their standoff.

"Naruto, what happened!? What did Sasuke do!?" Sin screamed in a panic, holding the roaring boy at bay.

Naruto was gone though, replaced with the instincts of a beast that just lost everything

"TALK TO ME!" Sin bellowed, realizing that his enraged genin was pushing him and decided to open his magic a little more to try and keep the situation as still as possible.

Unfortunately he didn't expect the sudden growth of Naruto's power to branch and attack him and felt the full force of it. He was choked by the chakra tail as it lifted him up and slammed him against the bridge repeatedly before getting throw away like trash with nothing stopping the genin from attacking the fearful uchiha. However, pain was nothing new to the immortal as he processed what the hell just happened and recovered the second he stopped sliding across the bridge with splinters now lodged in his skin.

It's the demon inside him! That has to be it!

Sin rocketed forward after sheathing his blade as Naruto ran towards the emo with a claw ready to cut him down. Sin barely made in time to kick Naruto away and snap his fingers to teleport Sasuke far away from the battlefield and focus his attention on his student who leaped out of the water after falling off the bridge. He now had the boy's attention and decided there was no other choice in the matter.

He ripped his torn shirt off and built his magic until he felt the seal suppressing it from breaking out. He ignored that Kakashi made a landing blow on the ice ninja that threw herself in front of the jutsu that was meant for Zabuza.

"THREE-QUARTER RELEASE!"

In an instant he was shrouded by his intensifying aura and jumped forward to meet the boy with a kick to his stomach. However, the deadly chakra branched once more with a growing hand that reached for him while another shot off the boy's back. Sin back-stepped before finding his footing to maneuver around the appendages with no chance of closing in to either decide on sealing the chakra or wear Naruto down, if he could that is after sensing that Naruto was only releasing a tiny fraction of the power.

"Dammit, no choice but-" Sin stopped at the sound echoing in his head, a womanly voice screaming at the top of her lungs as the chakra almost got him the stomach.

"YOU WILL BE MINE!"

Sin listened for the voice until he was left with no choice but to focus entirely on the boy. The deadly clash of magic and chakra grew the closer the two became, broken wood rising into the air while the ground shook at the sheer power between.

"He's getting stronger. Gotta do it now." Sin whispered to himself whilst pumping magic into his right hand, unaware that another individual appeared out of the blue with a cheeky grin about him and Zabuza glaring at said individual.

He grasped his wrist tightly with his left hand and charged forward with multiple symbols glowing on his palm. He dodged left and right of the two chakra hands and closed in on the boy.

Same process, Same outcome. He thought while connecting his palm to Naruto's chest. Sorry Naruto.

When the palm pressed against the boy's chest, the red chakra shrunk and at the last second grabbed Sin's entire arm as the spell weaved a blinding light that pierced the seal on Naruto's stomach, making the beast within cackle madly.

"Light Tome: Heaven's Redemption!"

Light, burning light that blinded the two, shot out of Naruto's back and forced him to fall as the red chakra receded back into his stomach. He screamed in his own voice before passing at from the pain with only a second to see in his own vision that his teacher was standing over him with a burnt and smoking arm.

The end of the clash felt right to Sin as felt his magic go to work in his healing his damaged arm, and even though he suffered experimentation during the young part of his life, he still admitted that it hurt like hell to have destroyed his limb for the sake of saving his student from becoming a monster.

"Fucking hell!" Sin was thankful after a minute of enduring the pain that his arm was back to normal, and decided to teleport his student away before assessing what caused everything blow out of proportion.

However, he didn't have to make said assessment when Kurenai appeared in a swirl of leaves with Hinata in her arms. He saw in that moment the reason for Hinata's lifeless appearance and helped Kurenai set her down.

He looked over the wound and sensed that she was alive, but barely.

"What happened!?"

"I don't know." Kurenai responded as calmly as she could, examining the wound. "I saw her like this after Naruto punched Sasuke and went after him."

It didn't take a genius to put the whole matter together after hearing that Naruto punched the brooding emo and almost killed him. Sin was going to find out what happened, even if it meant using magic to rip memories out of the boy to get the truth. But for right now, he had to keep his hyuuga student alive and heal her before death decide to take her into the next realm.

"Okay, listen to me!" Sin demanded, making his girlfriend focus on him. "I'm gonna heal her but I need your help. I want you to pull those out, but before you do I want you tell me so I can immediately shut the wound. Okay?"

Kurenai nodded as Tsume and Anko finished off the rest of the bandits and approached to see in their horror what happened. They were not going to stand there though, as Sin knew he was going to need more than just Kurenai's hands to fix Hinata.

"Perfect." He spat, pointing for them to get down to their level. "You two, hold her arms and legs. This is going to hurt like hell for her."

Seconds went by with three kunoichi preparing themselves mentally before getting into position to help the teenager. As Sin readied his magic he waited for them to nod and put both hands against the girl before her coat and shirt removed. He was ashamed of having to undress his student, but for the most effective measure of healing he had to press skin against skin in order to make full contact with his magic.

Waiting calmly, he watched as Kurenai carefully grabbed the senbon before jerking them out, making the weakened Hinata gurgle a raspy gasp.

The writhing pain turned into intense agony with Sin putting his hands on her wound the moment the senbon came out and channeling magic into her body as he focused some into his eyes once more to see her insides, his eyes immediately bleeding from the overflow.

"Shit!" He muttered, seeing the worst damage. "Her heart has three small holes."

He quickly began to chant a spell of his own design whilst ignoring the screeches of his student and accelerated the flow of his magic through her veins. He pushed more and more until the chakra coils were on the brink of bursting and concentrated entirely on healing his pain ridden student. The writhing agony grew more and more with the ice queens showing they had warm hearts by comforting the crying genin as the wound started to close up.

Sin was almost in a panic after seeing with his enhanced eyes that the last hole tried to open back up but was quick to push harder on the healing process. He made the seconds feel like minutes until finishing his work with a deep sigh and turning around to give Hinata a little privacy. Still, it didn't mean he wasn't certain that Hinata was going to live. He was waiting with his back turned to hear at least a breath from the girl with his heart racing to the point of blocking out all sounds.

"Sensei?"

His body stiffened at the sound of her voice and waited for her to dress before turning around to face. He couldn't know though, not when no one was telling him if she was decent, and decided to keep facing the damage to the bridge. His attention was caught though by the mystery ninja without her mask on and laying on the bridge lifeless with Zabuza and Kakashi standing over her. As much as he wanted to attack the rogue ninja he was curious as to why neither was fighting and decided to approach, ignoring the hand that reached out to him.

After briefly walking around the two he noticed that the mystery ninja was a girl with little life left in her thanks to Kakashi's killing jutsu that left a gaping hole in her chest. He wasn't sure what to process at the moment so he decided it would better to get answers rather than find out what transpired between the two. However, it was only thanks to Zabuza looking down to his right arm that Sin noticed the head of a man with glasses in his grasp.

"What's going on?" Sin asked, looking back and forth at the two. "I thought we were in battle."

"Battle's over." Zabuza replied monotonously, sighing again at the sight of his only friend wheezing as she began to lose consciousness.

Kakashi sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Turns out Zabuza and his friend were hired by Gato, and he broke the deal which left him in a vulnerable position as you can see."

"Wasn't wise of him to do that," Zabuza held up Gato's head to Sin. "Especially when the rest of your henchmen barely adds up to ten."

Sin nodded with understanding the situation now and kneel to the girl as she took the last moment of being awake to look at him. He examined the wound after the rest of the group picked up Naruto and Sasuke and walked over with Hinata using them as leverage to walk. No one spoke after Kakashi explained why he nor Sin were fighting Zabuza and simply watched.

Until. . .

"Hey, that's the girl." Naruto said, surprising everyone that he'd woken up and got on his feet.

"Huh?" Sin raised an eyebrow at him.

"She's the girl I saw walking through the woods when I left the group to go clean up from my dragon breath backfiring after I tried to apply more fire to it." Naruto kneel beside his sensei and groaned, holding back a few tears since this was his first time seeing an actual kill. "She was really nice in fixing my jacket after she pointed out that the corner was burnt. I don't know how she did it but she was fast."

"That's one of Haku's special traits." Zabuza commented with a chuckle. "I don't know she did it but she was good at fixing clothes."

It was then by the Naruto's words that Sin made a decision he never expected himself to make. This girl was an enemy that caused serious trouble for his group and typically in situations such as this he wasn't compelled to be the good guy most saw him as, but a tug on his heart after seeing the sadness in Naruto's eyes made his mind and body work in sync.

Startling the other ninja, especially the masked swordsman, he did what he felt was necessary and applied his magic to his hands and proceeded with the same healing technique he performed on Hinata. It wasn't as quickly as the first time however, not when the wound was larger and more difficult to heal, plus his body was starting to burn up from using so much and he could barely concentrate with his mind splitting it's focus onto the uchiha who decided to wake up and make his presence known.

That is until Tsume threatened to cut off his balls if he didn't keep quiet, emphasizing with a kunai pointed at his groin. Anko was quick to wrap a hand around Sakura's mouth and shut her up with a chop to the neck because she had no tolerance for her bullshit after the hell they just went through. Now she just had to decide who to pawn off the unconscious banshee too.

When it was finally, Sin fell back sweating and panting for air with the results of his healing showing when Haku opened her eyes and looked around to find that everyone but the ice queens and the banshee surprised. She was quick to stand up and pull out what remained of her senbon and prepare to strike until Zabuza grabbed her hand and shook his head.

"No more Haku. We're done here."

Haku's eyes widened at the man. She never heard him talk so calmly. "But Zabuza, they-"

"Gato stabbed us in the back." He held up the former dictator's head and pointed to Sin with his other hand. "Plus that guy right there just saved you from knocking on death's door."

Sin looked up and chuckled at the girl while taking the cloth Kurenai gave him to clean his.

"Don't mention it." He stood up and gave himself some distance from the group until Naruto was brought back to the reality of his girlfriend living and breathing. He hugged Hinata and kissed her, and then charged his sensei with a hug before crying into his sore with the repeated thank you's coming out in chokes.

"Hang on." Kurenai said, surveying the area. "Where is Tazuna?"

"UP HERE YOU ASSHOLES!"

Everyone looked up to a nearby tree and saw that their client was hanging off a branch that caught him by his belt. Tazuna confused the entire group as he ranted to the one person that gave him this much trouble.

"You damn white haired kid with your fancy tricks!" Tazuna yelled at Sin as everyone approached. "YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN ME TO A SAFER DISTANCE BEFORE USING YOUR DAMN JUTSU. THAT CRAP BLEW ME UP HERE SO GET ME DOWN!"

If it hadn't been for Naruto lacking control in funny situations, no one would have laughed at the man for his problem. Even the all serious genjutsu mistress was giggling with her fellow kunoichi while paying no attention to Zabuza approaching the laughing immortal.

"Hey." Zabuza grabbed his attention. "Guess I owe one."

"Huh? For What?" Sin responded, making the swordsman rub his head with embarrassment.

"For saving Haku." He said quietly, making sure his partner didn't hear. "Look, I may be a cold-blooded killer but I care about the kid and I hate being in debt to someone. So hurry the fuck up and decide what I can do to pay you back. And don't ask for money because I don't have any."

Sin was a little surprised at Zabuza's honor and came to the decision of respecting what was given. He pondered what would be best to receive in return for saving the ice girl, and came up with the best idea after remembering what he gave Naruto.

"Alright," he quipped, making the mist ninja shift uncomfortably at his smile. "I know just what you can to pay me back."

"And that is?"

"You're gonna come back to Konoha and help teacher Naruto the way of the sword."