Chapter 12

It was several hours later that the group of ninja found themselves on the road to wave. Sasuke was at the front of the group, with Tazuna directly behind him, with Hinata and Naruto standing behind him while Kakashi stood a few feet behind them.

The silence would seem almost oppressive were it not for the happily chirping birds around them. Hinata had, on occasion asked questions to Kakashi but other than a few short answers there was little interaction amongst the group.

Tazuna was unnerved by the silence as was Hinata and Sasuke to some degree. Kakashi didn't care all that much since he had his book. And a talkative Naruto possibly spoke like eight words a day, so yeah…he was good too.

Of course, both Hinata and Sasuke were too prideful to be the first ones to break the silence and Tazuna didn't have much to say.

But then just as Hinata felt she was about to burst from the feeling of boredom she caught sight of a peculiar thing. A puddle in the middle of the road.

She silently activated her byakuugan and saw the figure of two men's chakra signatures. She was about to say something to Kakashi when the hollow metallic voice of her third teammate reached her ear, making a shiver crawl down her spine.

"Quiet." Was his stern command as he kept his gaze forward, never even pausing in the slightest.

Hinata hesitated for a moment before she decided to keep her silence. If she and her teammate had seen it, Kakashi must have as well.

As soon as they passed the puddle, two ninja, predictably emerged from the water and wrapped a bladed chain around Kakashi, tearing him to pieces.

"One down." One of the nins spoke. Before they rushed toward Tazuna.

Sasuke leapt up and threw a shuriken, with enough force to pull the chain back until both the chain and the shuriken hit a tree. He then took out a kunai and threw it, hitting the center of the shuriken, pinning both the metal star and the bladed chain to the tree.

Hinata acted then, moving forward at speeds that were quite impressive for a gennin and gave a chakra enforced palm thrust to both ninja's stomachs. This would have normally damaged either their stomach or liver, but alas the two merely vanished into puddles of water.

Hinata and Sasuke felt their eyes go wide and immediately Hinata saw the real nins come from her right, ready to wrap her in their chain.

Before they even made it five feet however the black and red form of the third teammate appeared in front of her.

The demon brothers continued running, unfazed by the new arrival. As they went to wrap the chain around him however both were caught in a one armed headlock, by the new arrival of Kakashi.

Kakashi saw the slight twitch of Naruto's fingers on the hilt of his sword and sighed in relief. 'Sorry Naruto. But I want information.'

With the two nins currently unconscious in his headlock he turned back to Hinata and Sasuke. "Nice teamwork you two." He remarked lazily. Sasuke smirked and crossed his arms and Hinata also looked rather smug at the accomplishment.

Kakashi then turned to Tazuna. "We need to talk."

The bridge builder gulped down the lump in his throat. "A-alright."

It was several hours later that team seven found themselves walking down the dirt path that led to wave country. After Tazuna had told his tale, Kakashi asked his team weather they still wished to continue, knowing that the next shinobi they faced would likely be a jounin.

Sasuke grunted his response, which basically translated into. 'I'm not backing down from this.'

Hinata had also voiced her opinion. 'It would be a cowards way to abandon a mission, especially one where others need help.'

He didn't even have to ask for Naruto's opinion. So after debating it for several moments he figured there wouldn't be much harm in continuing especially with Naruto as his backup should things go haywire.

And now he found himself in this situation. 'GET DOWN!" The copy nin yelled tackling Tazuna down while Sasuke fell to the ground on his own and Naruto covered Hinata just as a massive Zanbatou flew over their heads.

The group looked up to the sword that had stabbed itself into a tree just as a man with bandages covering his face appeared over the hilt.

"Momochi Zabuza." Kakashi said as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"Hatake Kakashi, the famous Copy nin of Konoha." The demon of the hidden mist said in a slightly amused voice.

Kakashi lifted his forehead protector. "Ahhh, the famous Sharingan, so soon? I'm honored. Still, this doesn't have to get too bloody. Hand over the old man and none of the little brats have to get killed."

Kakashi turned to his team. "Stay out of this, I'll fight him." Kakashi said, delivering a pointed glare towards Naruto, hoping the blond had caught it.

The confrontation was short, in comparison to most of the battles Naruto had witnessed. In the end, Kakashi was kicked into the water and was placed within a water prison.

"Well it looks like you lost Kakashi." Zabuza spoke up smirking at his beaten opponent but his smirk died on his lips as he saw Kakashi's own smug smirk. "Why are you smiling copy cat?"

Kakashi's smile widened. "Because your problems just got a lot bigger."

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