Lost finger

We reach the Hokage's tower.

Iruka is at the mission desk.

"It's an escort mission", Iruka states.

"Who are we escorting? A noble? Maybe a princess !", Naruto asks eagerly.

"Or it could be a pot-bellied old man, that smells like alcohol, and has the mood of a constipated shit", I state.

Iruka gives a wry smile.

"Jeeze you didn't have to ruin it!", Naruto says.

"Boys...let's behave in front of sensei", Sakura states.

Kakashi clears his throat.

"All right then ....let's meet our client first, Tazuna the master bridge builder", Announces Kakashi.

The beaded curtain moves and an old man with a towel on his neck shows up.

Sake ....no bear in hand.

He takes a look at us. Snorts through his nose.

Looks at Iruka and says," I wanted ninja...not brats . What's up with you leaf shinobi, huh? Trying to screw me over?", he says with raised eyebrows.

Who is screwing who here?

"Say what now...come here and let me show you who is a brat you stinky old man?", Naruto points at him.

"Meh...how is this shorty?", Tezuna asks.

"I'm gonna beat your ass", Naruto screams.

I grab him by the cloth.

"Oh, my...no need to worry master bridge builder. They may be kids but they are ninjas nonetheless. And I am a jounin. So you are in good hands", Kakashi says.

I let go of Naruto.

I walk towards him.

"Hello Tezuna san. Do you see this in my hands", I show him a kunai.

"Yeah....what of it?", he asks.

With a sleight of hand, I vanish the kunai.

"Now, how about you check your breast pocket?", I ask.

With a hump, Tezuna touches his pocket.

"You ninja and your party tricks. ....you think you can impress me with.....", he cuts himself off as a premium bear can appear in his hands.

"You know what kid....you are cool", Tazuna says while scratching his head and holding the can.

"You are welcome. I am Sasuke. This is Sakura. And the short one is Naruto", I say.

Naruto is fuming.

"Yeah... I'm Tezuna. The master bridge builder. The bridge that I'm building will change many lives. So, the people who aren't happy about it are naturally swinging for me. I will be in your care", he says with a slight nod.

"Likewise", I finish.

I turn towards Kakashi.

He and his poker face.

We agreed to meet up the next morning and are Dismissed.

Before we move out.

"Good job with the client", sensei praises.

I shrug.

"You carry those things with ya?", Naruto asks.

"Always! Flowers, money, and Alcohol are the weapons of the wicked. Fight without throwing a punch", I say with a grin.

"That's lame", Naruto states.

"If the client is cooperative, it will make things easy for us", Says Sakura.

"He would be cooperative anyway when we save his ass from the bandits", Says Naruto.

Sakura wanted to say something.

I cut in.

"Yeah...that's true. But by then it might be too late. Also, maybe I didn't want a Client that complains about everything we do", I say.

Naruto huffs. I'm still not convinced.

"Man...who hurt you....did ya eat something weird today, you got the mood of a chicken that is having a hard time laying eggs", I try to brighten up.

"Shut up , chicken Uchiha", Naruto blurts.

Uoooo!....that's name gonna stick. Gotta nip it in the bud.

"Hei...are looking down on me because I take care of chickens? Are you looking down on the hard-working people?", I say with a frown.

Naruto gets a red face.

"No...I didn't mean..."

"Yes, you did. You looked down on the profession.

You wanted to be Hokage, man. I expected better from you", I say with a huff.

"I apologize okay!?... I like eggs too you know....", Says Naruto.

I hear a giggle. Sakura is laughing.

Kakashi sighs.

"This got to be the weirdest team to exist", he states.

#######

It is 5 in the morning. Meetings at 7.

I prepare the eggs. Pack up my traveling pack.

Took some extra kunai, tags, and Band-aids, the list is long.

Then there is my favorite belt buckle.

My favorite scroll holster. Allows me to hold quite a few scrolls.

Yeah, it kinda exposes me as a ninja tool user. But, they say," The closer you look, the less you see".

Can't leave my toys behind if I'm going against 1 of the 7 swordsmen in the mist.

I walk to my usual spot and sit down.

I see an old lady coming.

"Good morning Mrs. Sato. You look beautiful today", I say with a smile.

"Ooh! You don't have to do that Uchiha san. I will buy your eggs anyway", she says while hiding her blush with her palm.

I carefully pack 2 pairs of eggs and give her.

She suddenly holds my hand.

"Yuriko uchiha.....!", she is trembling.

"She was a good woman. She was good to me.....thank you for continuing her small business. Sasuke kun. You are a very kind child", she says.

I cup her hand in return with a smile.

"The pleasure is mine. I'm very grateful that you agreed to take care of her chickens while I'm out on missions", I say.

She nods while biting her lips, not trusting her voice to come out.

She pats my head and shoulder, then leaves.

I touch my head. The warm feeling still lingering.

I wonder if the real Sasuke had these interactions.

If he had, would it make any difference?

Yuriko Uchiha, was the woman who I had my first crush on.... so to speak. She was a married, mature woman in her 30's with 3 kids.

She had the biggest butt in the compound.

I always admired them.

Is that the reason I am tending to her things specifically?

No...im taking care of Mom's poison garden, Shisui's guitar, and my father's calligraphy.

"Better not be", I muse to myself.

#######

The eggs sold early and I set off for the gate.

I see Sakura waiting there. She waves, and I wave.

Then there is this awkward silence that takes place when Naruto is not around.

I lean against the wall.

"You're early", I state.

"Hmm... I just thought you'd be here", she hummed.

"The chickens can be loud", I say.

"Say Sasuke kun! You said you hated chopsticks! Why is that?", she asks with wide eyes filled with curiosity.

Okay....that came out of the blue.

"Well....Sakura-san... it's something I never told anyone ever. I don't have any problems telling you, but It's the burden of secret", I say.

"You know how "burdened" I am already", she says with her mature lady smile.

I remember the night when I stole the forbidden scroll from Naruto.

I huff. Sakura puts up a finger.

"Alright. How about this, you tell something about yourself, and I tell something about me. Doesn't have to be about chopsticks", she states.

I sigh.

"Alright. Let's start with something simple, like food. What's your favourite", I ask.

"I ....like ration bars....", she replies shyly.

Wha.....

"You mean the ration bars they give us on mission? That peanut-flavored one? I like that ....."

"The rice-flavored one", she cuts in.

Okay.....wtf....that's a blend as hell.

"All right, you said you like rice with water. What is that? How does it taste?", Sakura asks.

"Ohh....that's unusual in this land I know. It's a thing that I picked from a book that described people from far south", I say.

"There are nations in the south", Sakura asks curiously.

"Of course, there is, back to the topic. They leave rice in cold water for the night. In the morning it's eaten with salt and anything spicy. It kinda feels tipsy when you eat a lot of it. The best part is that it makes you feel full", I say with a smile.

"Hmm.....I would like to try that", she says.

"How about this? Once we are done, you can swing by the compound?", I say.

Sakura narrows her eyes.

"Taking a lady back to house sounds like one of those novels that Kakashi sensei reads", she says with a bewitching smile.

"You can just decline ", I say deadpan.

She lightly punches my shoulder.

I see Naruto walking this way yawning.

Even Tazuna appeared.

"It has been an hour, where the hell is your sensei?", Tezuna asks with veins popping.

I took a short 15 minutes Shut my eye. Woke up from his rant.

"Calm down Danna! Do you know what they say about strong shinobi? The weirder, the more capable", I say with a yawn.

He doesn't look convinced though.

Heck...talk about weird. Kakashi didn't teach us a single thing for the past few weeks we have been in his care.

The biggest reason would be, I couldn't come up with something that I wanted to learn.

I can't just get out there and say," Please sensei, teach me Flying raigin ", cause that's what I need.

From a distance, I see Kakashi just walking towards us.

It felt weird, that the "Kakashi of the Sharingan, the copy ninja" the best jounin of Konoha would just walk into a scene.

I look at Naruto, I can see it in his face, he is sharpening words to throw at our ever-so-late sensei.

What does Kakashi see in Naruto? Obito?

And Sakura as in Rin.

Then what does he see in me?

He walks in.

"I see my cute genins are here. Ready for our first mission?", he asks.

Naruto opens his mouth.

I grab his shoulder.

"What?" He asks. I shake my head.

Just drop it.

"Yeah....sensei...we are ready?", Sakura says.

I looked at Sakura, and couldn't help their wide eyes.

I guess she knows? This Sakura always has been a curious cat.

"He is late!", Tezuna states.

Well....I guess there is no avoiding it.

Kakashi prepares to give his spectacular excuse.

"I couldn't find my lucky socks ", he says.

I look at his feet. He is wearing sandals.

I sigh.

"3 out of 10 sensei", I rate.

"Eh? Why the low marking? What did I do wrong?", Kakashi has raised eyebrows.

We shake our heads and be on our way.

#######

It's our first time outside the village.

The theme may be Japanese, but the landscape doesn't have that feeling.

The small road stretches far in between mountains.

The array of paddy fields on the surface of the mountains.

Rivers flowing with shimmering water.

We walk.

I look at Naruto.

Look at Sakura. Kakashi.

Thier smile.

Konoha.

"Is this enough for me to lay down my life?" I ask myself.

I take a deep breath.

Sunlight after rain, seeps into my soul.

"What? Basterd? Tired already? Come on, we have a long way to go", Says Naruto.

"Sasuke kun? Do you want to rest?", Sakura asks me concerned.

I look at the scenario in front of me.

And a puddle of water, that screams of chakra.

I unseal my axe from the seal on my wrist.

Naruto and Sakura instantly go into attention.

Sakura has vanished.

I guess that leaves me to guard Tazuna.

Kakashi got spattered into pieces by a large barbed chain.

Okay, the drama's over.

"Naruto you're on!", I say nonchalantly.

The yellow guy just stands there.

Eh?! Did he freeze?

"Oi...this is no time for jokes, make clones now!!!", I order. Those two are closing in.

Already those chains are circulating Naruto.

If he gets wrapped up in them, he is dead.

He is frozen.

"Oh fuck!"

I throw my axe last minute and pin a chain to the ground. With a whip of my metal wire attached at the end of it. I tightly bind the barded chain and pull it away.

One of them lashes at Naruto, he is still standing there dazed.

But a Katana pierces the guy in the stomach.

Sakura has saved the day.

The other guy screamed his comrade's name.

Then proceeded to come after me. More like Tazuna.

He whipped out a single kunai and came at me.

Is.....he....using any genius? Or...is he hiding hand signs? A ninjutsu?

No....nothing.....just a desperate guy.....unable to comprehend that his boy just got killed.

Oh man...what a nutcase.

That guy could've been me right now, if not for Sakura.

Just seconds of difference. A little bit of hesitation.

I sigh.

The guy swings at me. But the poker extended from my axe head had already gone through his heart.

A lifeless body slumps to the ground.

Naruto turns around to see me sprayed with blood.

Kakashi re-enters the scene, of course, he is not dead.

"Maa....I guess the situation is under control?!" He says.

He left us to our demise against missing-nin.

Sakura gives him a harsh look while giving Naruto a pet on the still-mortified Naruto's back.

I spit at his feet.

Naruto snaps his head at me.

I grin with my blood-stained face.

And raise my axe at him.

"Here ....take it", I urge.

He hesitantly takes the bloodstained axe in his hands.

"Me and Sakura killed 2 people for you Naruto. Because you couldn't protect yourself", I say while pushing my finger on his chest.

He looks at me with terrified eyes.

"What will you ever do to make up for it? Hmm?", I ask while patting his shoulder. He looks at the axe that I gave him.

Things got a bit cheesy.

Gotta tone it down.

"Get your shit together man...this is not a game", I say with a smile.

"..yeah...yeah...got it", Says Naruto.

Sakura looks at him worried. Kakashi just looks amused.

"Naruto?", she asks.

Naruto just looks at the axe. Then he gripped it so hard that the wooden handle it sounded like moaned a bit.

"Ahm...!", Kakashi asks.

"You.... okay?", he asks.

Oh....

"Yeah... I'm good sensei", then I looked at Sakura. She is now giving water to Tazuna who was down on the ground from the intensity.

"She has done it before", I say to confirm.

"Yep...looks like it", Says Kakashi.

"What do I do?", I ask.

"Well....you can talk about it. Talk to a therapist if you have nightmares.....", Says Kakashi.

"Tch...not that...I'm talking about Sakura. How do I respond to that?", I ask.

"How she responds to you, both of you are ninjas, you don't judge her, she won't judge you", he says with a shrug.

"Yeah...so act natural. Don't talk about it!", I repeat.

"Yes and no. Talk about it if you need to, I'm here for my genins ", he says.

I give him a narrowed-eye look. All those weeks he

Didn't even show up properly for the mission. Now, acting all chummy.

Not that I mind Kakashi involved more with us.

With another "ahm", he starts questioning Tazuna now.

"Yeah...Gato is after me", he admitted.

"You mean the richest man in these parts of the land of fire?", I ask.

" The bridge will cut off his supply fees. People won't have to pay for water protection. Also, we will have more laws coming in from the mainland, so his goon influence will diminish".

I shrug. Kakashi raises his eyebrows.

"From the looks of it, he doesn't want any of that and has done quite a bit of investment, hiring missing nins", he says.

"Which.... doesn't match up with yours. If you are hunted by fellow ninjas logically it will at least be an A-rank mission", he says. Face as unreadable as ever.

But Tazuna is sweating.

"Hold up, I know I screwed with you, but lives are at stake here. People have died at his hands, just because they couldn't pay protection money and those stode against him faced horrible fates. If this goes on, the land of Wave will turn into nothing but a pirate Dock, sucked dry for all its worth.

Please, help me build this bridge", he pleads.

"Maaa.....I don't know. Team 7. Do you wish to continue this mission", he looks at Sakura first.

She shrugs.

"I don't have a problem", Sakura shrugs.

Then looks at me.

"I don't know sensei. Naruto almost got skinned. Maybe we need....."

"I'm good. Let's continue", Naruto cuts in.

He is glaring at me.

"You're sure about this?", I ask with a smirk.

"Yeah....I THINK I'm good to continue the mission. Unless you wanna chicken out", Naruto snarls at my face.

The bloodied axe is strapped to his back.

"Okay....cool", I shrug.

After we sealed the dead bodies, letting Tezuna gulp down a peg or two, we set off.

"You wanna.....keep that axe?", I ask. Cause, if he doesn't need it....why waste it? I just wanted him to get a feel of the thing, to kinda intimidate him.

Like how Itachi made me go through Tsukoyomi.

'Tough things never last, only tough men last',

Quote:" Pspspspsps"[ violently flapping tounge]

He takes it in his hands and holds it in front of me.

"I will give it back to ya...once I paid my debt", he says.

The hair on my back stood up.

He .....looked so fucking cool.

"Yeah...you got this mother fucker!", is what I wanted to scream. But that would ruin it.

I just smile.

"I will look forward to it".

Sakura looks at us.

" Boys are weird", she says to Kakashi.

He has no response to that. Nobody has.

"It's just a guy thing", he says.

We marched on.

And arrived at the beach.

Hiring a boat we set sail.

######

It has been a few boring hours of gliding in misty water.

The weather is cold, but not that cold.

But as we reach the lands of the wave, it's as if the color is being sucked dry.

Just a smell of salt in the air.

And a gigantic bridge.

We sail past it, looking at it in awe.

"How do you make this thing?", I wondered.

"That's the master builder's secret. With my techniques and materials, the bridge will be done in a few months.

We dock by the shore. Not much activity going on here.

"The main town is a bit further inside the island, we rest for the day and start work tomorrow. You guys can start protecting or whatever after that!", Says Tazuna.

I chuckle.

"If I'm honest with you Tazuna san....we will have to guard you even when you shit if it's a ninja who is after you ....."

Kakashi grabs me by the shoulder.

"Maa....I think we CAN relax a bit, Sasuke Kun. Tazuna san, why don't you lead the way", Says Kakashi.

We enter the woods.

"Kakashi sensei is here, we you really need to worry that much?", Sakura asks all cutesy

Look at that girl. She just killed a...

What am I thinking?....

I look at Sakura long and hard. She fidgets a bit and a blush forms on her cheek.

She looks cute. Same as ever. What does it matter if she killed or not? Why am I bringing that into this?

Naruto smacks my head.

"Quite staring at her you pervert", he screams.

Kakashi sighs shaking his head.

"I'm so gonna die", Tazuna states.

"Not on my watch. We are awesome and will make sure to protect you, Tazuna san." Naruto says.

"Hah", I look at Sakura.

She tensed up.

Kakashi's hands twitched a little.

"Whop whop whop whop whop..!!!'"

"Get down", Kakashi commands.

Naruto dives in with Tazuna. Sakura as usual vanishes. She is spamming that shit, huh. Well.....given her chakra control, it's understandable.

I see the giant sword just casually spinning at me.

Quarks of the Sharingan, you get to see the world as it is and the reality is that we are now fighting an A-rank missing nin.

As I bend backward to get out of its way, casually slap an explosive tag on it.

I mean...who wouldn't?

The sword hits the tree trunk behind us, easily supporting the muscular half-naked ninja.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan its an....!"

"Boom!!!" The shock wave makes me step back.

The tag explodes, I made it a bit extra potent.

Well.....didn't expect it to be this big.

Surely this isn't enough to take HIM out.

So, I unseal my axe and order Naruto to make clones, for god's sake. which, he already did and transformed them into Tazuna and me.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan....", calls the half-naked ninja, with blood dripping down his forehead.

His hands look weird with the kunai though.

"Jabuja momochi" Kakashi is on guard.

"Momo what now?", Naruto asks.

"Momochi", I correcte him.

He takes a look at me.

"You got troublesome genins", he states as he sheaths the broken sword on his back.

"Talk about it", Kakashi huffs.

"You're gonna tell us who he is? Or what?", I say with a deadpan.

"He is an A-rank missing ninja from the Hidden Mist. Jabuja momochi" Kakashi prepares with his kunai.

"One of the 7 swordsmen of the mist", he says with a grime voice as he unravels his Sharingan.

By the time Kakashi is done, removing his headband, Jabuja has already gone through 9 hand signs and cast the Hidden Mist jutsu.

Either Kakashi is confident or just wants to look cool so bad that he gives the enemy leeway.

The whole area is now covered in mist and can't see a thing.

Then there it is, the blood lust.

Slapped to my face like a "whopm" 100 times more potent than Sakura's dad.

I see Naruto is trembling.

I feel my face twitch. My scars pulling.

"Liver, kidney, stomach, heart, brain, spine, which one should I take first?" A deep voice echoes in the mist.

"I am Jabuja Momochi and I am your assassin for the day",

The fog gets thicker and the bloodlust stronger.

A very defenseless Kakashi stands in the middle of the fog.

Well, not him his clone. The guy replaced himself with a water clone and hid in some bush long ago.

Why water clone? Duh!

His clone did a burst of chakra that cleared the fog.

Jabuja is in the middle of our formation, ready to decapitate Tazuna.

"He is completely ignoring us", I thought to myself.

Did he forget that I almost blew him up and destroyed his sword? Is it too difficult to accept reality?

I just stand there, with my axe nonchalantly.

Kakashi is running towards us.

Why? ....why would he do that? Sakura is here. She was right here standing all this time, she could cut down this clone easily.

Is she in danger? Doesn't look like it. Jabuja sure as hell doesn't know she is here.

Sakura pierces the clone and it drops down to earth. Yeah.....Kakashi didn't know she was here.

Oh my god, that's what you get for bailing on us all the time. You don't know shit about the techniques of your team.

Sakura turned around in disbelief to counter the slash made by the second clone, which I intercepted.

I parried his kunai, spun the axe, and parried again.

This clone fights well. He is not using the broken sword to cut me down and repair it... I don't know why he isn't. Does he not want to kill us? That was supposed to be Haku's thing.

Kakashi came in clutch and stabbed him in the back. The clone disappears.

Then he stabbed Kakashi in the back.

Kakashi slumps down into the water, to Jabuja's surprise.

"Hmp...Sharingan!", he cursed as he was checkmated by Kakashi by the throat.

Whoa?!!!

A slight giggle escaped my mouth.

Does he think, Kakashi copied his jutsu on the fly?

"What's so funny rate?", a giant sword comes hurling at me from above

I block it with my axe, the impact is so hard it causes my foot to dig in. I reinforce my arms with chakra or else my bones might just snap.

Jabuja raised an eyebrow and didn't expect me to tank the attack.

"You think sensei needs to copy water clone from you? Get real, he has been to the same wars as you", I somehow squeeze the words as we engage in an arms wrestle.

With a sudden burst of strength, he pushes me and I am forced to kneel.

"You don't what you are talking about, brat!!!" Jabuja roars.

This isn't looking good.

Real Sensei should've popped up by now.

Is he....does he think I can take on Jabuja?

"Oh fuck it", I turn on my Sharingan.

"Shit, another one?", Jabuja curses.

I quickly let of of the axe, hoping Jabuja would fall with the momentum.

He didn't and very swiftly followed with a horizontal slash, a spin over his shoulder, and another horizontal slash.

I dodge and Perry them. He is spinning the sword around, using its hunk of a body to execute fast attacks. Without my Sharingan, I would be minced meat by now.

In another spin, suddenly he touches the very edge of the sword at the sharp end and uses the hilt butt like a spear.

I saw that coming, but it was so fast that I couldn't dodge. Hit me square in the stomach. But the axe head absorbed some of the brunt. Pushed me back a few meters. This is what they call in the Souls games, posture break....or stance break. He has broken my control over my center of mass.

Do you know what follows a stance break?

He is going to dash and decapitate me.

Naruto runs in between us, but he is kicked away like trash and Jabuja continues his forward momentum like nothing happened.

I pull the wire attached to the ace that I let go before and it hurls towards me.

You either dodge it or get pinned by it to decapitate me.

He dodges it. By spinning out of the way.

The axe comes back to Daddy and I brandish them in a stance.

Jabuja hurls his sword on his back, with his nose slightly up as if looking down on me.

"You aren't bad, kiddo!", he states.

Eh!?.... did I just get praised by The Jabuja?

Shit, my cheeks are turning red.

"Aaahhj....ha ha...Jabuja sama is just humble...gah ha ha ", I blurt.

"Don't get your hopes up, kid. Being "not bad" won't help you survive ", he points his giant sword at me like it weighs nothing.

I very faint smell of Night Queen brushes my nose.

Getting shit together I return to my serious mod.

"We will take our chances"

A sword pierces through his chest.

Sakura has done it again.

Alas, that was a clone.

Sakura looks stunned. Where is the real one?

She looks at me.

"Beats me", I shrug.

I see Jabuja appearing out of the small puddle and....he cuts down Tazuna.

Ofcaurse, Tazuna was a Naruto clone.

This time Jabuja is stunned. Naruto does a replacement jutsu with the dying clone and lines up a clean punch.

Which is dodged and thrown over his shoulder and crashed Naruto on the ground, who was also a clone.

The real Naruto [according to my Sharingan at least] engages him with an axe.

Well, he is quickly over powered, thrown, and lands right beside me.

"Good job with Tazuna", I say.

"Humph! This bastard is tough", Naruto states.

"Tough, that's the Zabuza, the demon swordsman of the mist brother! Just stay alive!", I whine.

Sakura has gone dark again. I wonder what she has in mind.

"As much as I would like to play around, it's time it ends. Hand me the bridge builder over!", Jabuja flares his bloodlust again.

Sakura was nearing him and the intense killing intent in point-blank range blew her cover.

Jabuja's sword, fast and precise, follows Sakura's torso.

Kakashi springs out of the ground and blocks it.

That was a dumb and sacrificial move as Jabuja trapped Kakashi in a water prison and created 3 clones to guard him.

I see Naruto has regained sense. Sakura is out of danger.

Kakashi is in a bubble of water screaming at us to abandon him.

Maybe from the effect of the blood lust, my sense of surroundings is a bit hazy.

But I am hanging in there.

"No, we are not gonna abandon our sensei", you can guess who that was.

"Worse than trash", mutters Sakura. She is in her kill mode again. Man, this girl's gotta chill. Changing the whole personality to fight ain't good for health.

"Mass shadow clone jutsu", Naruto screams.

An army of clones appears and surrounds me and Naruto.

I take a deep breath and nod at Naruto. The clones shuffle and we vanish in the crowd.

It's easy actually. You just follow a random clone's shadow. Even if the person can sense chakra, as long he is looking at the trick, he will be confused.

I see Jabuja raising his eyebrows.

"Party tricks", his clones snort as they dash in to attack.

Jabuja's clone started popping Naruto's clones left and right.

But, some of them are taking a beating.

Supercharged clones.

One of them is Sakura. She picked up my axe to go with the role.

Well...that one's extendable.....I guess she knows what she is doing.

She just threw it at Jabuja. And provided from previous experience, he dodged it instead of blocking it with his free hand.

The Flying Axe took an acute turn in midair.

And went straight at Kakashi, into the giant balk of water.

Kakashi catches it. Under normal circumstances, he would be way out of range. Not with this one.

He swings with precision and extends it.

With blinding speed, the axe head strikes on Jabuja's hands.

Jabuja releases the jutsu at the last nanosecond.

I see a finger on the ground.

If not for his good reflex, he would've lost his wrist.

I wonder if he can do jutsu without a finger.

But we are still dealing with the clones.

I am underground by the way.

Stabbing one clone in the leg, I emerge and grabe its neck, Sakura desperately pushes her katana from the side and finishes it.

The other two clones catch on and dash at us.

But the swarm of Naruto dogs pile them.

One of them breaks free and charges at us.

It throws a kunai at me, I hastily dodge it, but it swings its sword in that short opening.

Sakura comes in and parries it. The clone suddenly swings around with the motion and kicks Sakura.

Clone follows up with another swing. His arm muscles bulge and so chakra enhanced I can see it with my Sharingan.

Sakura is down.

It will be fast and heavy. I can't dodge it. Only block it, but it will blow me away.

I take it head-on. It's so heavy it rattles my bones.

My axe wood handle is deeply chipped.

But I'm not blown away.

Sakura is again in front of me blocking with nothing but her hand guard. With a slight twist if her wrist grabs, she grabs the blade.

I vault over and stab it in the neck.

The clone dissipates into water.

"Sakura San. Are you okay?", I ask in concern as she is on her knees.

"I'm... okay. gotta back up Naruto", she winches at the pain. A small blood trail along her mouth.

Did....did he break her ribs? Did she break anything inside?

My face twitches and my skin gets goosebumps.

I .....I am quite angry.

Oh my ....this is new.

Forget about saving or whatever I'm going to kill Jabuja.

I will send him to heaven before Haku, he can meet up with him there. All I need is the ...

Suddenly Sakura grabs me by the wrist.

I look at her. She has a pleading look in her eyes.

"I'm okay", she says firmly.

... ...okey....?....

Oooooo.....

I smile.

Gotta keep smiling. The normal one.

"Sasuke Kun looks ugly when you smile like that", Sakura says as she gets up.

"You look cute no matter how you smile", I say with my poker face.

Sakura has a sudden splash of blush as I pull her up by the hand.

She is standing straight. I look at her with Sharingan.

Unlike Byakugan I can see chakra points and lines clearly, mine can only see traces of it.

Her flow looks fine. I hope there is no internal damage, her mouth bled when she bit down her lips to stand the pain in her chest to block the last swing.

Sakura wipes her mouth. Now, that I look at her....she has very light freckles. Did Canon Sakura have freckles?

I look away.

Naruto is.....doing a pretty good job of keeping the clone busy. If I'm correct, the actual Naruto is guarding Tazuna, somewhere in the south of the woods.

Even in that direction, there are a lot of his clones scattered so, it's hard to pinpoint.

And Kakashi....well....he is fighting Jabuja and it is going as canonical as it can get.

Except, Jabuja is now always on the offensive to keep a low distance to hinder Kakashi from using any jutsu since he can't.

I picked up the finger from the ground and sealed it in a preservative seal. let's see what we can do with it.

Now, should I fall in with Kakashi? It looks like he has it covered there.

Or should I back up Naruto?

Oh well, I can cover both.

Making the hand seals for water clone [ which I just copied from Jabuja],

A solid, me appears before me from a swirl of vapor and water.

"Convenient ", Sakura wonders at the Sharingan.

Convenient is an understatement. An elemental clone is not only solid and can take a hit, but it is also less chakra-consuming. It's one of those I wish I had known.

I guess, I've been so used to Naruto using chakra-heavy jutsu so much that it made me forget that clones are supposed to be used for tactical purposes. Not to make an army out of thin air.

And with Sharingan, I can learn it on the spot.

"Do you want one?", I ask.

"Eh?", Sakura is confused.

"If you want one, I can give you one. You just need one sharingan to work with anyway", I say with a shrug.

Sakura is still in a daze at my statement.

I hand an explosive axe to the clone.

"Sakura-san, could you please, back Naruto with my clone, I will go to Kakashi", i muse.

Sakura nods.

I take off.

There is this genjutsu that makes the enemy see multiple hands while fighting.

Something like "demon hand " was the name.

Instead of making multiple hands, make an extra pair.

Use it to faint, like they do in wrestling.

Of course, something like this won't work in Jabuja.

But as tired and wounded as he was, a few cuts and bruises were unavoidable.

From the corner of my eyes, I see team Naruto is done with the clone.

We are going to regroup and take out the main threat.

I see hoards of Naruto rushing at us from the woods. I guess Naruto is making more reinforcements. He is leading the charge.

.....why would he be in front of the clone army? That makes no sense.

Oh well....we are done here anyway.

Haku will be here any minute now.

Any second.

A sharp whistling sound.

A thud.

Jabuja's body is on the ground.

An off-white striped Kimono, long hair bound to a .....hair accessory that I don't recognize.

With grace, the masked ninja lands on the ground without making any sound.

Jabuja had the same grace, the fact that he trained the said ninja is visible.

But a touch of feminism makes it all look.....different.

I huff in relief. It's over.

"Sasuke, stay alart!", Kakashi orders.

I look around, unlike me, Naruto and Sakura are terribly on edge.

I reluctantly put my guard up.

Now, when you see a skilled warrior, not attacking you and just standing there, would usually mean that he or she doesn't wish to fight. it's a shinobi world. There is no value in politeness.

But still, you can't attack a person you just met and not on the offensive.

Then what do you do?

"Who are you !" Kakashi asks.

You talk. That's what.