The Hyoton - 7

"This looks bad." Tazuna's voice was gruff as Naruto, Haku and Anko formed a circle around him, tense and wielding either kunai or senbon.

"Hey, Haku-kun, could you get rid of some of this mist maybe?" Naruto suggested quietly, noting his full control over all kinds of water.

Haku said nothing and with a small blast of chakra, the water molecules that had formed a thick haze all around them bent to his will and flew apart. The air was clear once again and Naruto would've sighed in relief if there hadn't been six water clones of the nukenin surrounding them with swords raised.

Two of the water clones each received a flawlessly aimed senbon to the eyes, destroying them instantly. Tazuna looked around wildly, wondering how it could happen so fast. Haku stood in front of him and Naruto leapt out at the water clones seconds after Anko had.

It was more chaotic without Gaara, Naruto realized while dodging a deadly sword swipe. The redhead could have destroyed all of the water clones at once with his sand. It also put more pressure on Haku, who was currently defending the bridge builder, a duty clearly not well suited for someone without a sand shield.

There was a shout and Naruto's head whipped around as Haku was propelled backwards by the dull edge of Zabuza's blade. He watched as the black haired boy crumpled to the ground, trying to regain his breath. This left quite the dilemma, as Anko was too busy tangling with another water clone ensnared by her shadow snakes.

"Back off, bastard!" The words left the blonde's mouth before he could stop himself, and the Mist shinobi turned, abandoning Haku and targeting the bridge builder.

Naruto quickly formed two shadow clones and leapt. Tazuna stood motionless, helpless without Haku. The clones reached him first, each grabbing one of Zabuza's arms in an effort to restrain him, "Weaklings." The clones howled as they were thrown off and destroyed and the nukenin turned again to the old man, eyes crazed.

Tazuna looked on in shock as the blade stopped short of him and Zabuza's eyes narrowed, glowering down at the short ninja who had gotten in his way.

Naruto wore a triumphant grin. His considerably smaller kunai fending off against the looming zanbato, which had made a clean, shallow slice from his left shoulder and proceeded down his chest until the kunai prohibited any more leverage.

"Hey, old man...just go already." Naruto ground out through clenched teeth while glaring at Zabuza, "Haku-kun won't let anything happen to you."

Remarkably, the bridge builder stumbled back towards the other young genin nearby, still staring as Naruto's shoulders shook from the strain of deflecting the huge sword. Zabuza didn't seem impressed with the boy's strength.

"Naruto! Get over here-!" Anko's order was cut off as the water clone she was preoccupied with nearly landed a fatal blow.

Blood dripped slowly off of his orange jacket. "That old man, he has...a lot of important things to do," Naruto spat as the nukenin withdrew his stained blade, "I'm not gonna let you kill him because I'm going to be Hokage! And that means I can't let assholes like you run around and do whatever you want!"

"Naruto-kun!" Haku stood in front of Tazuna, throwing senbon which bounced pathetically off of the missing nin's zanbato.

"You can't be Hokage if you're dead." Zabuza said simply, raising his sword over his head and swung downward again.

*

Gaara's sand swarmed around the blade before moving on to crush Zabuza, who promptly leapt back to avoid it. Naruto grinned as his red haired friend appeared next to him, arms crossed, with his usual scowl plastered on his face. It was safe enough, so the blonde kneeled down to rest, his arm putting pressure on his gaping wound.

"Gaara, you've gotta stop sleeping in."

"Shut up."

His sand collected around Naruto and Tazuna in wait, and somewhere behind them there was a pleased whoop as Anko finished off the last of the pesky water clones. The real Zabuza didn't give any indication that Gaara's arrival made a difference.

"How bad is it?"

Naruto looked up at Gaara, frowning, "How should I know, bastard? It's bleeding a lot so I'd say it can't be good huh?"

"I would've liked to have cut you in two, boy," Zabuza sneered, "This won't take much longer."

Haku had somehow gotten behind him, senbon out, and had hit a few of the nukenin's pressure points before he rounded on the genin with a snarl.

Anko was beside Tazuna, and before she could protest, Haku continued to drive the Mist ninja back, "Suiton: Water Dragon Blast!"

A current rose up from the side of the bridge and plunged down, just barely missing Zabuza as he avoided the strike. Haku couldn't exactly pinpoint where his aggression was coming from, but he didn't have much time to think about it.

'This person cares for no one but himself.' He threw many more senbon, missing any and all vital points and it seemed Zabuza was entertained, dancing around Haku's frenzied attacks as if he were playing a child's game.

'Now is my chance!' Haku did his best to clear his head and quickly formed hand seals he had memorized the day before. The water that had drenched half of the bridge was at Zabuza's feet. It didn't take much chakra to mold the once amorphous water into sheets of ice.

Haku, being the Academy-proclaimed genius that he was, wouldn't have dreamed of using such an underdeveloped ability without a plan. His chakra permitted the creation of eight mirrors, seven encircling the Mist shinobi and one positioned above the rest.

He quickly re-examined the strategy he had developed in his head from the night before (more like thinking feverishly instead of sleeping to devise some feasible plan) while he ran at Zabuza, who still stood at the center of the ring of mirrors, not in the least threatened.

Anko stared, mouth agape, but caught herself after a moment and smirked, 'I guess Naruto really didn't hit his head...'

Naruto and Gaara were impressed by the memorable feat; however it was uncertain whether Haku's new technique would work.

Haku dove into the nearest mirror, and Zabuza's reaction was almost quizzical. A calculating glare quickly returned to his face.

Haku was admittedly frustrated as he prepared to throw a flurry of senbon at the missing nin once he began to laugh. Even an enemy should be cautious of such a unique skill, but Zabuza was clearly the exception.

"You're not like those other Hyoton ninja," The nukenin said after ending his deranged chortling, "It seems you have discovered something they haven't, although you may never see their techniques for yourself either," He paused, "You're going to need to do better than this."

"Kick his ass Haku!" Naruto barked, fed up with the arrogant Mist ninja.

He didn't need to be told twice.

Haku dove in and out of the mirrors, just shy of light-speed, while launching round after round of senbon. Zabuza could clearly not evade all of the projectiles, and there were grunts of pain as a number of the needles lined the back of his neck as Haku aimed for critical points.

Though the speed of his movements was downright near impossible to follow, Haku felt his chakra wane just to keep the mirrors levitating, let alone to stay in shape. And it seemed that Zabuza had noticed an error in Haku's assaults after only a short time.

Haku was moving so quickly that he had no way to avoid the zanbato that had inexplicably been raised to interfere with his projected path. He dodged away to his right, hoping to enter another mirror when he was stopped with a jolt that jarred his bones.

Zabuza had effortlessly caught Haku by the scruff of his gi, similar in appearance to a helpless kitten. Still wild with adrenalin, the dark haired boy twisted around and plunged the remainder of his senbon into the nukenin's arm, striking a few weak points.

He expected to be thrown aside, or maybe even beheaded, but Haku couldn't force down the rising apprehension in his stomach as the zanbato came around in full swing, smashing each mirror he had created as if they were made from the most flimsy of glass.

The young ninja began to struggle as the rough hand closed around the back of his neck, poised to snap it with the least bit of effort. Although the thought did cross his mind where that strange chakra he was sensing was coming from...

Haku's peripheral vision detected the flash of visible, red chakra that collided with the back of Zabuza's head and sent him and the nukenin crashing to the ground. Haku regained his feet, wondering how Naruto had gotten so strong, or why he wasn't resting when he was suffering from such a large wound.

Except...there was no wound, he noticed upon further inspection. Blood was indeed splattered all over his orange jumpsuit, but the gash that was once hemorrhaging a few minutes before was completely gone.

And then it occurred to him, 'This is...the Kyuubi's chakra isn't it?' It was odd, he thought, how he hadn't noticed Naruto's feral appearance sooner. Haku was suddenly wondering what the outcome of the battle would be as Naruto continued on ahead and Zabuza found his footing again, and could only fend off the blonde's enormous strength with his zanbato.

Anko felt a chill drip down her spine; she hadn't expected Naruto to be able to tap into the demon's chakra, 'Was his seal broken somehow? And what about-?'

She glanced over at Gaara, who looked appropriately enraged, but nothing in the way relating to the Shukaku's chakra exploding out of him. Somehow she was able to relax a bit.

Anko stood close to Tazuna, wielding two kunai. Naruto landed another Kyuubi-powered punch at Zabuza, clipping the nukenin's head again and sending him back a considerable distance.

Haku was dizzy, apparently suffering from a major loss of chakra. He still had his senbon out, although from the look of it he only had a few more to spare. What was for certain was that he was no longer in fighting condition. Surely Gaara and Naruto would pull up the slack.

It looked like Naruto was coming back to his senses (human ones at least), as he stumbled around the nukenin who continued to swing his zanbato ruthlessly. He had made another water clone too, which Haku spotted in dread as it came up from behind Naruto but was promptly crushed by Gaara's sand.

Naruto finally leapt back after another dozen of his shadow clones were demolished, letting Gaara try his luck against the missing nin. The redhead and his sand paused abruptly as Zabuza turned with a snarl, directing his attention to the opposite end of the unfinished bridge.

'Short attention span maybe?' Naruto pondered before realizing that Zabuza had lost all incentive to fight, just because there was someone watching them a short distance away, 'Wait a minute...'