The group traveled for quite a while further until the surrounding lands became swampy and traversing by land became a rather hard procedure so that they were now on a boat going down a larger river.
"I swear these mosquitoes are going to kill me at some point.", complained Sakura and scratched her arm with an annoyed frown on her face.
"Then maybe you would stop complaining so much when that happens.", answered Sasuke with a deadpan expression. But he quickly slapped his own left arm because he got stung as well just now.
Kaito chuckled lightly and didn't say anything otherwise to that comment. Sometimes women are so unbearable it's like you get to have to take extra care for them.
"We are about there. You should be able to see the bridge by now.", mentioned the guy that steered the boat.
Soon they could see a huge unfinished bridge.
"Whoa, it's huge!!", shouted Naruto right at the get-go and the man from before got slightly frightened.
"Hey, not so loud! Do you want others to hear us? Why do you think we use the mist for cover and don't ignite the engine?", complained the man.
Kakashi sighed but Naruto realized and remained silent.
They went along the bridge to a smaller one that looked like some kind of aquäduct. But who would need watering in this place?
Finally being able to get down from the boat at some small hut, the group went their separate ways from the boatsmen.
Kaito looked around rather suspiciously into the surrounding mangroves because he could sense chakra from nearby.
The sheer amount of it was a glaring difference and on another whole level then those two guys they met much sooner on their journey.
But Kaito could not yet pinpoint its exact location.
Instead of hiding, the person emitting that chakra was practically saying he was here. The chakra was basically everywhere. "There!!" Just at that moment, Naruto threw a shuriken into a bush.
Everyone looked in that direction and nothing came out of it.
"Heh, must have been a rat...." Naruto tried to act cool as if nothing happened.
"Stop acting cool, you moron! There was nothing there!", growled Sakura at him
"Can we please not throw around shuriken like that?", commented Kakashi and knew Naruto tried to be useful but is overdoing it.
"Are you sure you sensed something there, brother?", asked Kaito and gave Kakashi and quick hand signal that he was also feeling someone close by.
Kakashi nodded to his signal.
"Hey, midget!! Stop acting like an idiot!!", shouted Tazuna with an annoyed voice.
But Naruto ignored him because he saw some shadow hush by this time and once again threw another shuriken.
"I said stop it!" Sakura this time hit Naruto on his head.
"Hey, I swear I saw something. There is definitely someone after us!", rebuked Naruto to being accused wrongly.
Kakashi and Kaito both walked over to see a white bunny being scared for its dear life because the shuriken hit very close to its head on the tree behind it.
Naruto saw that and was apologizing to the bunny he nearly killed and made into dinner.
While also getting yelled at by Sakura the ominous feeling that Kaito felt grew and he could finally feel the exact location of the ninja that was hiding.
Taking the initiative, Kaito grabbed into his pouch and threw a kunai with an explosive tag into the direction he sensed the enemy. That made everyone besides Kakashi that was focused on it flinch.
"Now you are joining your brother in the shenanigans!?", shouted Sakura but seeing Kaito use an activation sign and hearing the corresponding explosion coming from the direction where he threw the kunai made her rethink her words.
"Well, well...." A voice sounded and a massive sword came flying down from the sky and landed on the ground where it got stuck with half its body in the soil with its hilt upwards.
A man landed on the hilt very skillfully in a crouching manner and looked at them. His balancing was perfect.
His short black hair was covered by the head protector and his mouth was covered by white bandages. His upper body was free and the only remarkable other feature he had was arm and ankle sleeves that were in the color of marine camo with grey colored pinstriped pants that were rather normal for Kiri ninja.
"...The Copy-Ninja Kakashi Hatake and his little runt group. I must say that the sensor type over there is a quick thinker." His gaze was locked on to Kaito for a second. "Even scorched a little bit of my clothing. That explains how you survived the other guys ambush...No, actually. I guess there is no way small fish could even be a challenge to you. Say, how come Konoha is sending such a high profile individual like yourself on a mission like this?"
"I wouldn't have expected Zabuza Momochi here. What does a missing-nin from Kiri do here? You working for Gatou?"
When Kakashi asked that question Naruto was about to engage Zabuza but Kakashi immediately prevented him from doing it.
"You guys stay back and protect the client. This guy is a number too big for you. He is a Jounin missing-nin."
Then Kakashi sighed. "That I actually have to use this..." With this comment, he raised his left hand and slowly raised his head protector that covered the left eye to reveal the closed eye with a scar running vertically through it underneath it.
Then it opened and showed a single crimson-colored iris that had a black line around the black pupil. And in that line, three tomoe aligned themselves in a triangular pattern.
Zabuza narrowed his eyes and jumped down from the hilt taking his sword into his hand and pulling it out from the ground. His chakra started to rupture out into a vortex of malevolence.
Kaito who looked very closely at their exchange got sudden shivers and cold sweat run down his forehead. That was not only because the feeling he felt was so different from before but both Kakashi and Zabuza were emitting a cold bloodlust he had not felt his whole life.
And analyzing them with his observe skill only gave him question marks.
Kakashi Hatake lvl ?? - HP100% CP99%, Zabuza Momochi lvl ?? - HP100% CP100%
'You got to be kidding me! Did Kakashi screw with me in the bell test!? And what is about that insane consumption? I can see his Chakra go down by the second!' Kaito was really seeing how Kakashi his CP overall was diminishing every few seconds by 1%.
"Fight me, Zabuza.", said Kakashi while staring down his opponent.
"What an honor. I get to see the Sharingan from the start?", smirked Zabuza and prepared himself into a stance. Suddenly a demonic aura started to seep out of his body. "I think I don't need to hold back here...Not with both Jinchuriki with you. Don't you think so as well, Haku?"
"Yes, Zabuza-sama." A light voice resounded and Kaito's eyes enlarged because he could not feel the presence that was now right beside him on the left. His eyes wandered there but the only thing he could see is an ice pickle going straight for his head.
Of course, it hit and the others got shaken out of their relaxed atmosphere.
"Brother!!", shouted Naruto and gritted his teeth but at the same time Kaito's body went up in smoke and a log stayed where his body was.
"That was close....This is annoying...An Ice Kekkei Genkai? And in a damn water-heavy location as this...Sakura, keep Tazuna safe. Naruto, be careful and Sasuke, try not to underestimate this guy."
"Hoooh~? You must be well trained in anatomy to discern my gender?", asked the person clad in a loose kimono-like outfit with the same pinstriped overall look as Zabuza while having his voice muffled by the white and red mask from the mist village special unit.
'Shit...What exactly is going on here? I thought my memories told me Haku is only getting involved later?' Kaito was glaring at the new entry into the game.
Haku Yuki lvl 37 - HP100% CP99%
At least he was not as overpowered as the other two. But he should still be around High-Chunin to Special-Jounin level, if not actually reaching Low-Jounin.
Breathing in and out slowly Kaito calmed down. His brain was racing to come up with solutions and ideas to beat this opponent.
He even actually started to smile now. It was about time he could go all out. He wanted to see how much of a difference the chakra amount made that he got from the months since his graduation.
Not sure if I want to keep it this was or changing it and following canon. Haku was actually a character I was interested to implement into Kaito's team but cant see how that would come to be. Hope the chap was alright. I will try to update this story a little bit more the next few days.
Kakashi glanced back over his shoulder to his team and a worried expression surfaced with a deep frown on his face. His Sharingan rotated for a second analyzing the chakra and Jutsu from Haku.
"Someone from the Yuki Clan...I would rather get to keep you guys alive and question you about a few things. For example why you got so much information about us being here...Especially our village secrets concerning our Jinchuriki..." Kakashi's glare became fierce now and he lifted his Kunai further up to change his stance.
Zabuza engaged and performed a wide close-ranged horizontal swing with his blade. But Kakashi easily ducked and still followed his movements closely. Right at the moment when he was nearly kneeling down and had some grip and balance back, he started to rotate on his heel and kick at Zabuzas's stomach with the other leg to try and stagger his opponent.
But that attempt was blocked by Zabuza with his sword switched in front of him to the broader side after the first attack missed.
With a simple short jump and the momentum of the kick, he was back at some range to perform another attack with the full length of his sword this time around.
"Sorry, but you will have to drag me to one of your information extractors first if you want that information.", snorted Zabuza while performing his vertical slash.
Kakashi was actually still rather focused on the safety of his inexperienced team but he also had no time to actually keep track of all the things happening around him and the quartet at the same time.
His only hope now was that he could deal with Zabuza fast enough to get over to help them. Darn the fact that he used his Sharingan before he knew that two enemies were present. He could have at least conserved some chakra at first.
On the other side, the group of four started to engage against Haku.
The senbon needles that Haku used flew mainly at Kaito's direction and landed about close to his feet while following his retreating and evasive movements.
Haku had extremely great accuracy with throwing weapons and the sheer amount of them kept Kaito on his feet.
To his annoyance, Kaito could also see some of them gracing past him and emitting a cold chill.
That was because not all of them were made of metal but some were also made on the run through Haku's Hyouton(IceRelease).
With the abundant surplus of water nearby as well as the air being extremely humid with the slight mist floating around Haku didn't really waste much chakra doing so. Performing Jutsu was also dependent on the environment. If you stood in a hurricane and such, your wind Jutsu would for example gain extreme strengths.
Looking over to his brother, he could see Naruto making about ten shadow clones and start barraging Haku with his own kunai and shuriken that he had.
Kaito smiled a little bit since Naruto used a special attribute of the Shadow Clone Jutsu that copied all simple weaponry and effectively produced more weapons that could injure out of thin air.
The interception of his brother also brought him some breathing time that was dully needed. And even though he gained some opportunities it was not that much.
Haku was ambidextrous and his focus on Kaito did not change one bit. The mask was still looking in his direction while the right hand still threw projectiles at him and the other hand actually started to produce an ice wall that blocked all ranged attacks from Naruto that would have hit his body.
Sasuke saw that and tried to use his great fireball and melt the ice down that blocked Naruto's attacks.
"Sasuke! Don't!" Kaito's advice came too late and his fire slammed into a fast erected ice dome from Haku. To make things worse the Ice produced more vapor and flushed a thick mist into the surrounding. The already existing mist became milky white and the vision became gradually worse.
"Shit...", cursed Kaito and darted around with his eyes while his sensor ability is on full throttle.
He still tried to figure out a solution to Haku's blood limit. It was one thing to have a lot of theories in one's head but to really tackle a problem needed careful consideration.
Somehow he was now very envious about Shikamaru's quick logical 5 steps ahead thinking that was nearly inhuman.
Kaito had actually too little information about Haku. Yes, he knew his blood limit and a few abilities of his but his opponent was also intelligent and born into a warring time where blood was basically the only thing he saw.
You could clearly see he was used to fights against multiple opponents and used his advantage to the utmost ability.
That is if he is even going all out. Kaito still knew about the demon mirror that he could perform but still did not use at the moment.
Just when thinking about the further steps with this situation Kaito could sense how Haku dashed right at Sasuke.
Acting immediately he printed and used a wind attributed Jutsu after slamming his hands together. 'Fuuton: Great Breakthrough'
A powerful gust from his mouth traveled through the mist into the direction near Sasuke and Haku. It was powerful enough to let most of the thicker mist travel away so that Sasuke could see Haku and react in time.
Sasuke deflected the thrown needles from Haku that came into contact with him before he arrived and then locked with Haku's Kunai into a strength struggle where their Kunais ground against each other and the slightest lack of concentration meant possible death after losing that confrontation
Sasuke actually smirked at that moment because he could see Naruto jumping at Haku from behind. "Gotcha...", he said.
"I don't think so...Did you forget my actions just a moment ago?", answered Haku and printed signs with just one hand.
That surprised Sasuke and he had to immediately retreat before he became a pincushion from the hundreds of small fine ice needles flying at him shortly after.
Haku created a water shield all around himself and let droplets burst out from it into Sasuke's and Naruto's direction. While in the air they solidified into icicles.
"Suiton: Dragon Bullet!" A large Dragen came crashing along the muddy road, split into two separate heads, and swallowed both directional attacks from Haku.
It was a Jutsu performed by Kakashi who had found the time to perform it with a Shadow Clone while his original still danced with Zabuza in a close quarter Kenjutsu battle. That is if a kunai against a massive cleaver of a sword could even be considered a fair match.
Kakashi even started injecting lightning chakra into his kunai to bolster his attacks and defense against the massive blade that also starting to glow a sinister purple with the dark chakra Zabuza emitted.
But that little safe and loss of further chakra let some pain surface at his left eye and he slipped a little in concentration and got a slash across his protective vest in return. Zabuza did not let mistakes go unpunished.
"It's over!", shouted Zabuza confidently but suddenly Kaito appeared in front of Kakashi with a katana in hand and blocked the swing after slashing against the incoming attack.
The impact was sadly too much and Kaito was sent flying into Kakashi behind him after his blade snapped from the contact.
Zabuza looked at the duo sliding along the ground and stopped for a second.
"Remarkable speed you got there. I think it is even faster than Haku. But you should stop wielding a blade, kid. I am one of the seven mist swordsmen and a mere blade that is not even infused with chakra is not going to hold out much of a clash. Such an actual waste of good chakra metal..." Zabuza let his eyes travel to the broken blade that was now stuck in a tree.
Kaito coughed lightly and stood back up. He did not rebuke this guy's claims since using Flying Thunder God and infusing chakra into a blade at the same time was not yet a thing he was able to do.
It was truly a dumb waste of a fine blade but besides that, he got what he aimed for and smirked at Zabuza. "I wonder about that."
Zabuza looked at him and suddenly noticed how some Ninken(Ninjadogs) bit into his limbs and paralyzed his body.
"What the? When did this..?" Zabuza cursed and realized something. He looked at the Kakashi behind Kaito and saw him disappear into smoke. "Damn it!!" Zabuza mobilized his last energy and dispelled the Genjutsu that he was put into from Kaito. Somehow Kaito managed to perform it with just a single blade contact. "That I was put into such a simple Genjutsu!"
"Too bad it's too late...", said Kakashi and was already lunging forward from behind Zabuza with his Chidori, ready to take his life. But right at that moment, an immense drain of chakra made his Jutsu falter a little and it deviates, giving Zabuza time to act and try to deflect it.
The outcome was that Kakashi still hit the left shoulder of Zabuza instead of his abdomen where his heart was. But it was still a rather nasty wound.
"Zabuza-sama!!" Haku that was somehow kept busy by Sasuke and Naruto for that short while immediately shouted out and exploded in anger.
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