The remaining two days pass by in the blink of an eye. Sasuke finally got his kunai from the tree. I didn't attempt to use the fire whips again.
Regrettably it is out of my league for now. I don't know if I will ever be able to use them, my chakra supply is just too small.
Once I looked back on my experience with the fire whip I noticed that unlike a standard chakra string the fire whip needs continuous chakra input to stay formed. Like I said, I don't have the chakra supply. I burn through it too quickly, pun intended.
Today is the day. The day that we face Zabuza and Haku at the bridge. I want to say I am ready. I'm not. This will be my toughest battle yet.
Team 7 wakes bright and early on the seventh day of our stay at Tazuna's house. Once Kakashi rounds all three of us up, he starts to give us a pep talk.
"Alright team. Today is the most likely day that we will encounter Zabuza again. He should be healed by now so be ready for a fight at a moments notice. You three are not to engage Zabuza. Defend Tazuna. If the hunter nin shows up I want Alvarcus to engage."
"Really? Why me?" Sasuke is faster than me, I thought he would fight against Haku. That is what happened in cannon.
"The only thing we know for sure about the hunter nin is that they use senbon. With your chakra strings you can throw them back. If Alvarcus gets overwhelmed, Sasuke you help him. Sakura, you protect Tazuna no matter what happens." Kakashi explains.
We all nod our understanding.
"I am proud of you all. You have all grown so much since you first became my students. Remember to work together and we will win."
"Can we go now? I'm looking forward to this fight." Only you would Sasuke, only you.
"Sure. To the bridge!"
We make it to the bridge without issue. Once we get there though, there is a major issue. All the workers are on the ground, hopefully just passed out. At the worst dead.
"They are here. Be ready." Kakashi places himself before us protectively, ready to go to battle at the drop of a hat.
Alright. Here we go. Alvarcus vs Haku. I can do this.
"Kakashi, you decided to show up after all. Oh and you brought the prize, the bridge builder himself, Tazuna! I tell you what, I'm in a good mood. Haku here," Zabuza gestures at the hunter-nin "tells me your magnet release brat doesn't want to fight."
Kakashi quickly glances at me.
"You hand over Tazuna, you can walk home. If you don't, you'll go home in pieces."
"Consorting with the enemy now, Alvarcus. When did you have time to do that?" Kakashi is deadly serious.
"It's not like that Kakashi-sensei. She's the forest girl."
Kakashi actually visibly recoils.
"Oh get your mind out of the gutter! I'm twelve! We didn't do anything."
"We most certainly did not." Thank you Haku. "I am not into my own gender."
"Oh come on! You too Haku? I am a BOY dammit!"
"Really?" Zabuza growls. "If I would have known that my water clone wouldn't have held back for as long as it did."
"Why does everyone think I am a girl?" I whine to the heavens.
"I am fairly certain it is the hair." Sakura chimes in. "You do have very nice hair, it's prettier than mine. I have no idea how you keep it straight, mine's always a mess in the mornings."
"That's it! I'm cutting my hair! Anyways, no I did not consort with the enemy. We picked herbs together and talked about our reasons for our actions. Nothing more, nothing less."
"He is not lying." Haku collaborates my story.
"Thank you Haku."
"Enough! I did not come here to talk! Kakashi! Will you hand over the bridge builder?" Zabuza is revving to go.
"Nope. He has grown on me. Like a fungus." Ew, gross. Yet also accurate.
Zabuza grins like a maniac. "Then we fight. Haku, dispose of your new friend."
"As you wish."
Kakashi and I approach Zabuza and Haku. Haku and I move away from the jonin. Neither of us want to get caught up in their fight.
"You know Haku, we don't have to fight."
Haku pulls out a handful of senbon. "I am afraid we do. Zabuza-sama has order me to. I am his tool, to be wielded how he sees fit. He wishes you dead, unfortunately for you I will grant his wish."
Senbon fly at me. I send them right back with my strings. It's a hell of a lot harder to do this with senbon, kunai are much easier to track.
"So it is true, you do have the magnet release."
Let her think what she wants. Misdirection can be powerful.
"Unfortunately for you I have a bloodline too, and my bloodline removes your advantage. Ice Release: Senbon!"
Senbon of ice fly out of Haku's sleeves and race towards me. I kawarmi with a barrel of bricks on the edge of the bridge.
"Missed me!" I taunt Haku.
"I will remedy that."
I seriously need to stop taunting my opponents. More senbon of ice fly at me and I roll out of the way. One senbon sticks into my shoulder.
"Good shot Haku." I pull the senbon out and throw it to the ground. Drawing kunai I taunt her, "If that is all you can do I will be fine."
I send strings out of my forearms to connect to the kunai. I draw more kunai and repeat the process until I have 10 of them hovering around me at various positions. If she thinks I have the magnet release I better act like I do.
"Here I come!"
I charge at Haku, attempting to either spear her with kunai or force a taijutsu fight. All I really want to do is to keep her from using her demonic ice mirrors. Once those go up that is game over.
Haku dances backwards, always just out of my range while constantly pelting me with senbon. For every twenty that I block with my hovering kunai defense, one makes it through my guard. Shoulders. Legs. Gut. Chest. Arms. Hands. Feet. Back. Very soon I look like the world's weirdest porcupine.
"Sasuke! I could use a little help here! You're faster than I am, we need to corner her."
Sasuke steps up. "Fine. I'll engage in taijutsu. Support with your... magnet release. Defend first, offense if you see an opening." Good, he is playing along with the ruse.
The tide of the battle turns. With Sasuke's help the fight is no longer evenly matched. We are pushing Haku back into a corner. Slowly but surely our victory is getting closer.
"I can not fight both of you as I am now." She leaps away from us, putting at least ten meters between us.
"Then surrender. We will spare your life." Sasuke offers.
"You misunderstand, I simply need to move faster. Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"
A dome of ice forms around Sasuke and me. Shit. This battle just got a lot harder.
"The battle is over. Surrender and I will spare your life."
I lodge a kunai in a mirror with Haku's reflection. "Sasuke. Give me all your kunai." He looks at me and raises an eyebrow. "Now dammit! We need to get out of here so unless you have a fire jutsu that can melt the ice hand over the kunai!"
"Grand Fireball!" Sasuke's attack rages towards the ice. There was no effect, the ice that his fireball melted reformed. There's no way were getting out of here like that. Sasuke tosses me his kunai pouch.
"Alright. Here is the plan – ouch!" A senbon spears through Sasuke's kunai pouch and into my hand, pinning it closed. "That's a dirty trick and you know it Haku! Ouch! The butt? Really? Ouch! Aim for Sasuke dammit! There is more than one of us here!" I spear my ten floating kunai into ten unique mirror images of Haku's face.
"Not good enough. You need to be faster to hit me."
"Shut up. I don't need to be faster." I pull the kunai out of the mirrors to start blocking the senbon again.
I rip the senbon pinning Sasuke's kunai pouch from my hand. That is going to hurt a lot tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I ripped out a chunk of skin with the senbon. Opening the pouch I take his kunai and toss them into the air. I now have twenty floating kunai at my command.
"Sasuke. I want you to hit the highest mirror with your fireball jutsu. I'm going to hit the other twenty at the same time." Senbon start flying like crazy. Within seconds dozens of new senbon hit Sasuke and me. Haku realized that she can't dodge that.
"NOW!" I roar.
The kunai fly. The fireball shoots through the air. They all find their mark.
"Did it work?" Sasuke asks.
"I don't know. Is the dome still up?"
"Yeah. Do ice techniques stay formed when their user dies?"
"How should I know? I've never fought against an ice user before."
"You always know random obscure facts. It's kind of your thing." Sasuke blandly replies.
"I'll save you the trouble." Oh shit that's Haku. "It didn't work."
Two senbon impale me in the neck. The last thing I remember seeing is Sasuke's horrified face and a flash of crimson.
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