---14---

Kasumi POV

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I kept glancing nervously back at my brother, staring at his left hand which he’d very cleverly stabbed. I’d admired his vow of pain and I thought it was pretty smart because it had at least stopped the poison from spreading through his body. I sighed as the boat rocked again.

Okay, so we fixed Naruto’s hand, kept walking until we met...drum roll please...THE ROWER! Yes, the Rower, so that explains why we’re in a boat.

I clutched my stomach as the boat rocked again. Normally I can take boats but I think the world is against me today, plus I’ve just seen a fair amount of my brother’s insides, so, yeah.

‘Not good with boats Kasumi?’ Kakashi Sensei asked. I nearly jumped up and down and did the jiggle dance, Sensei’s learnt my name! Finally! Took him long enough.

‘No, I’m fine, just not having a good day today,’ I said shakily. Sensei gave me an awkward closed-eyed smile, he must’ve seen my face because I probably turned green then and I soon found myself hurling over the side. Attractive.

Someone patted my back, I thought it might’ve been Naruto or Sasuke but to my surprise, it was Sakura. After I’d finished puking, I gave her a friendly smile. She grinned back and shuffled beside me, now I don’t know if she sat next to me to try and be nice or to get closer to Sasuke. I glanced up into the sky and sighed, there wasn’t really a sky to see it was just mist.

‘WOAH! IT’S HUUUUUUUGGGGEEEEE!’ Naruto yelled as a huge monster of a bridge emerged from the thick white curtain.

‘Hey! Keep it down you!’ the Rower hissed. ‘The mist is keeping us hidden for now, but we need to be quiet, that’s why I’ve turned the motors off, and I’m now rowing. We’d be in big trouble if Gato caught us...’ I froze. Gato? As in, Gato the small dude who’s mega rich and also extremely heartless? Ohhhh, we’re all dead, so very, very dead...

‘Mr. Sensei, sir? There’s something that you should know...it’s about the request I made to your village. You lot might’ve guessed that this mission is more dangerous than you and your students could ever have imagined...’ Tazuna bowed his head. ‘You see, there’s a really scary man, who wants me dead. You’ve probably heard of him, a small man that casts a very large shadow...’

‘Gato,’ I finished, looking down, my fists clenched. Everyone looked up at me, surprised.

‘Kasumi?’ Sasuke asked worriedly. Sakura placed her hand on my shoulder but I shook it off. I felt a familiar throbbing in my heart...I ignored it, the last thing I wanted to do was draw attention to myself and I’ll admit one thing; this man is a truly ruthless creature, merciless, and murderous.

‘I’m fine guys, really,’ I plastered a smile on my face. The nodded, uncertain whether to believe me or not, but they turned back to Tazuna as he continued speaking.

‘Hai, Gato. He came to our island, we thought he’d leave, but, he’s taken over. His main fear is that bridge, the one I’m constructing. If it makes it to the mainland, we’ll be able to get help and more of a chance on defeating Gato! I don’t know what he wants with our land; as for the whole island, we barley have enough as it is! I have no money though, and hiring an elite, B-ranked body guard would be far more that what I could afford...’ Tazuna finished. I rubbed my eye making it hurt more, I opened it and sighed. I closed my eyes and listened to everything around me, trying to visualise what everything must look like without all this mist.

I tried to imagine what was going on around me. There was a large, wide, beautiful lake, with mossy banks and lily pads by the shore. Ducks were touring up and down, following the currents, leading towards the sea, where a huge, nearly done bridge stood, stretching out across the sea. Then there was a much smaller bridge, with a tunnel just about big enough for this boat, which lay ahead.

The water lapped gently on the side of the boat. I opened my eyes and found I could barely see. The mist was gone and we were in a tunnel with dim lights.

The boat pulled out of a tunnel and up to an old wooden dock with a boat house that looked ready to collapse at any moment. We clambered out of the boat and Tazuna turned to the rower and thanked him for everything he’d done. The rower nodded and turned his motor on and raced off down river, into the thickening mist.

---

I followed the others, occasionally I stopped because of my ankle. Sasuke seemed to notice and slowed a bit to help me. I smiled at him and he shook his head at me. I reminded myself how lucky I was to have him. I felt my cheeks go a light shade of scarlet. But the happy, warm and fuzzy feeling was soon snatched away. Suddenly, my brother felt the need to fling his weapons into a bush.

‘There!’ he yelled as we all jumped, and then he tried to act cool by pulling this funny pose. I face palmed. Sakura looked as if she was about to blow.

‘Hehe, I guess it, uh...was just a mouse!’ Naruto laughed weakly.

‘A MOUSE! NARUTO THOSE ARE WEAPONS NOT TOYS!’ she hissed, pointing accusingly at Naruto.

‘Please Naruto, be more careful those weapons can be just a weenie bit dangerous,’ Kakashi Sensei sweat-dropped.

‘Midget! Don’t go scaring us!’ Tazuna growled. Naruto pouted but we kept walking.

I flinched as I felt a tug in my gut. I glanced at Sasuke who hadn’t seemed to notice my sudden reaction. My heart stopped when Naruto flung another set of weapons at a new bush.

‘THIS TIME! OVER THERE!’ he growled. Sakura thumped him over the head and gave him a good telling off while I followed Kakashi Sensei, who seemed to have notice something.

I flinched when I saw a poor bunny, looking scared out of its wits. I noticed its fur; it still had its winter coat. It was spring, something told me that this critter hadn’t seen the light for a while...

‘Sensei?’ I glanced up at him nervously.

‘Hai Kasumi...’ he nodded slowly. ‘Everyone, take cover!’ he yelled. I blinked as a blur flashed before my eyes and I froze. Oh great, I forgot I wasn’t exactly the best at taking cover. I felt my feet stick to the ground and my whole body froze over. I felt someone pull me down with them and I was shocked to see that Kakashi had thrown himself over me. I looked to my left and saw that Sakura had done the same to Naruto, she was shielding him. What was with us Uzumaki’s? Always freezing at the times we needed to be unfrozen at? Pffffh!

‘A-Arigato Sensei’ I stammered. Kakashi-Sensei gave me a weak smile and helped me up where we got a good look at the guy who’d just tried to kill us. A shiver went down my spine as I saw a masked guy standing on the hilt of an over-sized meat knife. Scary.

‘Who is this guy Sensei?’ I asked.

‘Who is this guy Sensei?’ I asked.

Kakashi hesitated.

‘Well, well...if it isn’t Zabuza Momochi, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist...’

Naruto launched himself forward, only to be stopped by Sensei and I. Naruto gasped.

‘No Naruto, don’t risk it. You wouldn’t know what hit you,’ I warned. Dad had told me enough about ninja that I should avoid, and this guy was one of them and he was pretty high on the list of ‘Do Not Talk To Strangers’ list.

‘Kasumi’s right,’ Kakashi said. ‘Don’t get involved. Give me some room, this one’s on a whole different level to our previous opponents. This might get a little rough...’

Kakashi placed his hand on his headband, as if he were going to take it off.

‘Kakashi of the Sharringhan Eye. Hehe, if it’s no trouble, would you surrender the old man?’ Zabuza’s ice cold voice pierced through my thoughts. The others looked puzzled but I was following the conversation.

‘Take battle formation and protect Mr. Tazuna. All of you stay out of the fight, that’s the only teamwork this time. And now...Zabuza...’

Sensei pulled up his headband off of his eye to reveal a Sharringhan. The others gasped but I wasn’t surprised.

‘Shall we?’

‘Ahh, to face the legendary Copy Cat Ninja, when we barely know each other, hmm well this will be interesting,’ Zabuza chuckled. I backed up with the others and prepared myself, ready to protect Mr. Tazuna, despite his name-calling fits. I am not a TOMATO! Grrrrr!

I thought of Mom and Dad, hoping and praying that they were okay and if I survived this, I’d go home to them and bring Naruto with me, then we could all be a family again!

I became so lost in thought that I didn’t notice Zabuza charging up his attack, the mist thickening, and then Zabuza disappearing...

‘HE’S GONE!’ Sakura stated the obvious, but I didn’t have time to roll my eyes at her, we were in combat now and even though we were forbidden to get involved, we couldn’t run or hide. It was a fight for our lives too.

‘There are eight main targets...the throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, kidney...heart...So many choices, what vital, vulnerable place shall I choose? Heehehe,’ Zabuza’s voice echoed all around us, intimidating us. I felt Sasuke shaking beside me. I turned worriedly and placed my hand on his.

‘Sasuke...’ I whispered.

‘Calm down, even if he gets to me, I’ll still protect you,’ Kakashi said as if he’d finished what I’d been about to say. I gave him a supportive smile.

‘I’ll never let my comrades die!’ Kakashi said turning and giving us a one-eyed smile. I relaxed a little but I felt a cold draft. I turned, my eyes widened, to see Zabuza in between us all. I thrust my left arm out and kept Mr. Tazuna behind me and I saw Zabuza’s evil eyes rest on me and then he swung his blade. I felt the stinging and throbbing around my eyes and I felt myself fly backwards. I rolled in the dirt and heard my name being called. I opened my eyes but all I saw was darkness. W-what’s going on?! I wasn’t dead, and I wasn’t unconscious. No wait...

‘GIVE ME BACK MY SIGHT!’ I screamed. I heard Zabuza’s evil laugh and Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi Sensei all yelled my name...

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sorry guys! I've been revising for my exams next week and i also got my laptop and all my other stuff confiscated, because i'm clever like that hehe. well here's the next chapter. i hope u enjoyed it! so so soooooo sorry! the next update will probably be next friday night and after that, i'll be updating all my stories everyother day because exams will be over! yay! anyways. arigato and this is dedicated to all of you guys for waiting so long and patiently for the next chapter. I love u guys cos ur all the best ^^ >.<

A/N - pic of Kasumi on the side