The wind howled loudly as everyone stood watching, Zabuza had a knife to his throat, and the owner of that knife was Kakashi.

" You're finished," Kakashi declared.

" Huh?" Aceso gasped.

" All right!" Naruto shouted happily, Sakura chuckled, Zabuza too laughed.

" Huh?" Kakashi asked.

" Finished?" Zabuza mocked. " You really don't get it, do you? Your technique is nothing but a crass imitation. I'll never be defeated by a mere copycat ninja like you." Kakashi grunted as Zabuza continued laughing. " You're full of surprises, though. You'd already copied my Water Clone Jutsu when you made your little speech. Very skillfully executed. You made your clone say those words to draw my attention while you hid in the mist, waiting for me to make my move. Nice try, but I'm not that easy to fool." Suddenly another Zabuza appeared behind him.

" Hey! That's a clone too!" Naruto shouted. Zabuza swung again, Kakashi ducked. Zabuza swung around and kicked Kakashi, he went flying and across the ground. " Now!" He took out his sword and began to charge" Huh? Makibishi spikes." He slid to a stop. " Trying to slow me down. Hmph. " He turned around. " Foolish."

" Sensei!" Aceso and Naruto shouted as Kakashi slammed into the water.

" Huh?" Sakura gasped.

" He has great physical skill too," Sasuke noted, Kakashi surfaced.

" Ah, fool," Zabuza growled as he appeared behind Kakashi. " Water Prison Jutsu!"

" No!" Kakashi exclaimed. A ball of water appeared around him, Zabuza had one hand in it, and he was laughing.

" This prison is made of water, but it's stronger than steel," Zabuza explained. " It's hard for you to fight when you can't move. So much for the great Kakashi. I'll finish you off later. But first, your little friends will have to be eliminated. He made a hand sign. " Water Clone Jutsu!" Aceso watched with horror as a thing appeared out of the water, taking the form of a Zabuza, everyone gasped. " You think wearing a headband makes you a ninja. When you've hovered between life and death so many times it doesn't faze you, then you may be called a ninja." At this point, the Zabuza water clone had come out of the water. " When you've become so deadly, your profile is entered in my bingo book, then you may have earned the title ninja. But to call upstarts like you ninja is a joke." He put his hand to his mouth and vanished.

" He disappeared again," Aseco commented suddenly Naruto made a grunt, they looked at him flying back and his headband flying into the air.

" You're just brats," Zabuza said as he put a foot on the headband.

" Naruto!" Sakura gasped.

" Listen!"Kakashi shouted. " Get the bridge builder and run! You can't win this fight! He's using all his power to keep me in this prison. So he can only fight you with his water clone. But the clone can't go far from his real body. If you get away from him, he can't follow. Now run!" Sasuke and Aceso looked at each other, before looking at each other, Sasuke let out a yell before charging towards the fake Zabuza. Sasuke threw a ton of throwing stars, Zabuza sliced at them all, he looked to see no Sasuke,  then looked up to see him coming down on him from the sky.

" Now!" Sasuke shouted Aceso did hand symbols, the ropes around her body undid themselves, and tied around the fake one Zabuza's sword arm, and held it down. Aceso had hold of the other end. Zabuza stopped Sasuke and grabbed him by the neck. He then threw Sasuke and pulled the rope forward, Aceso went flying.

" Sasuke! No!" Sakura shouted.

" Aceso!" Naruto shouted, he then looked at Sasuke. " He got Sasuke." He gasped and shakingly turned towards Zabuza, Aceso had dug feet into the ground and was trying to not go any further, but Zabuza was very strong." Naruto let out a yell as he tried to get away, but stopped. He turned back and stood up, clenching his fist. Zabuza gave a good tug, Aceso went flying, she let go of the rope, but continued to fly forward, Naruto started yelling and running at Zabuza.

" Huh? Naruto, no!" Kakashi cried out.

" Naruto!" Sakura screamed. "What in the world are you doing? Aceso!"

" Fool," Zabuza laughed. He grabbed Aceso, as Naruto ran into them and threw them both flying, blood sprayed. She laid just a little away from him, her face was towards the ground.

" What are you thinking, charging at him by yourself?" Sakura demanded angrily. "Even Sasuke couldn't get to him! We're only Genin and a Doctor! We can't defeat a Jonin! What did you think you'd accomplish by that?"

" You weren't just going to let my sister die, were you?" Naruto asked as he shakingly got up. Aceso looked at him questionably as she shakingly pushed herself up a little, looked over to see the headband.

" The headband?" Aceso asked he was shakingly trying to stand up. Aceso crawled over to him shakingly, put a hand on his chest and her hand glowed, transferring little chakra to him, she then collapsed back on the ground. He picked her up, steading her to stand.

" I don't know what you did, but thanks," Naruto said as he said stood up, with a little more strength. " Hey, you...the freak with no eyebrows--Put this in your bingo book--The ninja that will become Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves--" He let go of Aceso and put on his headband. " He never backs down." He looked back up, with fire in his eyes. " His name's Naruto Uzumaki." Everyone looked at him, either in hope or killer instinct. " All right, Sasuke, listen up. Can you hear me?"

" Yeah, I hear you," Sasuke confirmed.

" I've got a plan," Naruto declared.

" Ha," Sasuke laughed. " So you're finally thinking about teamwork, huh?"

" All right," Naruto smiled as he wiped the blood off the side of his mouth. " Now, guys, let's go wild!" They all nodded. " Okay, ready. Let's bring this guy down." Zabuza began laughing more.

" Big words for such a little man," Zabuza mocked. " You think your plan's going to keep you in the game?"

" What are you doing?" Kakashi demanded " I told you to run! This fight was over the moment I got caught. Now, take off! Your mission is not to prove how brave you are. It's to save the bridge builder. Stay on mission!"

" Huh?" Naruto breathed. " Bridgebuilder?" They all looked back at him.

" Well, I--I guess this all happened because of me," Tazuna said he looked at the ground. Because of my desire to live. But I won't let that stand in your way now." He then looked up. " Forget about me, and do what you have to do. Go ahead and fight to save your sensei!"

Hmph," Sasuke sounded as he looked forward. " All right. You hear that?"

" Yeah. Believe it. You ready?" Naruto asked. Zabuza laughed, even more, mocking them.

" You really haven't learned anything, have you?" Zabuza laughed. " Still playing your little game, pretending to be, ninja. When I was your age, this hand had already crushed many opponents." Everyone gasped.

" It's not all about crushing opponents to be ninja," Aceso declared. " It's about defending what's most important to you."

"Silly girl," Zabuza laughed

" Zabuza. The demon," Kakashi commented.

" Oh. So I was in your book too, huh?" Zabuza asked.

" Long ago, in the Village Hidden in the Mist--Also known as Blood Mist Village--Before a student could become a ninja, there was one final test," Kakashi began to explain.

" Hm," Zabuza sounded as he looked at Kakashi. " Do you know about the graduation exam?"

" What graduation exam?" Aceso asked. Zabuza started laughing again.

" What's the big deal anyway?" Naruto demanded. " We had graduation tests too."

" Did you have to kill the other students to pass?" Zabuza asked.

" Huh?" Naruto gasped, and Aceso's eyes grew wide.

" Imagine young ninja like you--Eating together, training together-- And then comes the final exam," Zabuza began to explain. Only they changed the rules -- Kill or be killed. You can't stop while your opponent still breathes. He was your friend, shared your dreams. Now, it's him...or you."

" Ten years ago in the Village Hidden in the Mist, the graduation exam changed," Kakashi added on. " One year before, a dark evil had filled the school with terror."

" What's he saying?" Sakura asked. " What evil? What kind of change? What caused the terror?"

" Without pause or hesitation, a young boy who was not even a ninja approached the class and took down over a hundred other students," Kakashi explained.

" It..." Zabuza began. " It felt so...Good!" They all gasped. Suddenly Zabuza had elbowed Sasuke, sending him flying through the air. He landed on the ground, then Zabuza elbowed Sasuke in the stomach, and blood flew out of his mouth.

" Sasuke!" Sakura shouted. Zabuza put a foot on Sasuke and pinned him to the ground as he grabbed his sword. Sasuke cried out in pain.

" You're nothing," Zabuza laughed.

"Stop right there!" Naruto ordered as he began to do a Jutsu. " Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Suddenly multiple Naruto's appeared, all ready to attack,

" Oh," Zabuza breathed. " Shadow clones. And there's quite a few of them.

" Woah," Aceso breathed.

" Here we go," all the Naruto's declared as they readied the kunai knife in their hand. They all jumped forward and piled on top of Zabuza, Aceso leaped forward, focused her chakra, and put her hand on Sasuke's chest, he began to look a bit stronger than a few minutes ago, she then took her handoff.

" Aceso?" Sasuke asked. "Since when---"

" No time to explain," Aceso answered as all the Naruto's went flying.

" His skills are too advanced," Tazuna concluded as Sakura gasped. " He's too powerful. There's no way to defeat him." All the Naruto's went flying back, all disappearing, smoke everywhere.

" I'm not giving up!" Naruto shouted as he opened his bag and dug around in it. " I've still got this! Sasuke!" He threw out a weapon, it spun rapidly. He yelled, jumped up and grabbed it, then faced the opponent.

" Huh?" Zabuza asked.

" Demon Wind Shuriken: Windmill of Shadows!" Sasuke shouted. Sakura gasped in excitement and Tauzna grunted, Aceso stayed low.

" A shuriken?" Zabuza asked. " You'll never touch me with that." Sasuke jumped up, as he was falling, with a good arm, he chucked the shuriken.

" Hm?" Zabuza asked as the weapon went around the clone. " So you passed the clone and aimed for my real body. Smart. But not smart enough." He snatched the weapon. " Huh?" A second was still coming toward him. " A second shuriken in the shadow of the first. The Shadow Shuriken Jutsu." Everyone intensely watched, as Zabuza jumped over the second one, but Sasuke smirked, and the second one turned into Naruto. Sakura and Aceso gasped.

" What?" Zabuza demanded.

" Eat this!" Naruto yelled as he threw his kunai knife.

" Huh?" Kakashi asked. The weapon was sailing for Zabuza's back, he moved his hand, breaking the Water prison. He got cut right below the eye, and he growled heavily. He spun the real shuriken rapidly.

" I'll destroy you!" Zabuza growled. Suddenly the sword stopped, Kakashi had his fist against the blade, and blood dripped heavily as Naruto fell into the water.

" Kakashi Sensei!" Sakura gasped happily as Naruto resurfaced with a smile on his face.

" Naruto, that was an excellent plan," Kakashi complimented. " You've really grown, haven't you?" Naruto let out a laugh.

" I knew I couldn't beat him with my shadow clones," Naruto concluded. " That was just to distract him. While he fought the clones, I turned into the demon wind shuriken. He didn't know what to do. Believe it. I used one of the clones to transform into the shuriken. When I threw it to Sasuke it looked like a real shuriken. Sasuke could tell it was me in a second. He spun around so no one could see and pulled out his own shuriken. Now there were two shuriken. One was real. One was me. I hid in the shadow of the real shuriken. And my real target was the real Zabuza. Of course, I knew that I couldn't fight Zabuza myself. That wasn't in the game plan. I just wanted to get in there and break up his water prison. I didn't know his clone would be wrecked too. Ha. That was a bonus. Believe it."

" Don't brag," Sasuke advised. " You just lucked out."

" The whole thing was just a fluke!" Tazuna shouted.

" It was brilliant," Aceso commented.

" I got distracted and lost my grip on the water prison," Zabuza admitted.

" Don't flatter yourself," Kakashi warned. " You weren't distracted. You were forced to let go."

" Huh," Zabuza breathed as he looked at Kakashi.

" Hmm," Sasuke breathe as Naruto chuckled.

" Your technique worked on me once. But it won't work again," Kakashi declared. " So what's it going to be?" Everyone watched intensely, Naruto still in the water.

" Sakura, Aseco, you know what to do," Sasuke spoke, the two nodded and made a manji formation around Tazuna with Sasuke.

" Huh?" Kakashi asked after Zabuza grunted happily. He closed the shuriken and began to force the blade down towards Kakashi. He pushed it away, sending it flying into the air. The two both jumped far from each other.

" The Sharingan," Sasuke stated as Kakashi's one eye went wide. Zabuza began to do his Jutsu and spoke, Kakashi then did the same thing.

" Tori, " they both said at the same time and two giant water dragons popped out of the water. " Water style. Water dragon Jutsu. " The two dragons elegantly danced around each other, the higher they went, the more they crossed each other. Then shot down Kakashi and Zabuza, the water broke when the two crashed into each other. A giant wave formed, and water went all over, Sasuke pulled Aceso up by the shirt as water flooded past them. The dragons' bit each other, and water sprayed everywhere. Then Naruto popped out from the water, panting. Kakashi and Zabuza were now in the middle, blades against each other, both grunting loudly. Aceso did her Jutsu and the rope flew out again, this time it wrapped around Naruto, she hung on the other end. She wanted to make sure Naruto didn't get swept away. The two fighting adults jumped back and everyone gasped. The two began running a circle. Kakashi copied every one of Zabuza's moves.

" Huh," Zabuza breathed, he then put his hand up and another by his mouth, Kakashi did the same. To create a water clone. " Huh."

" He's not just following. He moves the same way at the same time," Tazuna noted.

" How's he doing that? How, Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

" Going to do next?" Kakashi asked out loud as they moved their arms down. " It makes you furious, doesn't it?"

" Huh," Zabuza breathed. " All you're doing is copying me like a monkey.

" You can't beat me with cheap tricks," Kakashi and Zabuza said at the same time. " I'll crush you."

" When I finish with you, you'll never open that monkey mouth again," Zabuza threatened. Suddenly a shadow appeared behind Kakashi, it turned into Zabuza himself. The real Zabuza seemed surprised by it.

" Water style," Kakashi said. " Giant vortex Jutsu." Suddenly water was spinning, and a hoop shot out, hovering over Kakashi.

" Impossible!" Zabuza shouted as the hoop turned into a ball and shot at him. Water flowed everywhere, everyone stood their ground, Naruto was shouting as the water rushed around him,  Aceso pulled on the rope and kept him surfaced.

" Grab on to the branch Naruto!" Aceso shouted as the waves got stronger. He grabbed onto a branch as the waves flooded in and out, and Aceso retreated the rope around his body, back to her body. The water slammed Zabuza against a tree, and as he was recovering several kunai shot out and hit him, he screamed out in pain. The water began to wash away back into the lake.

"You're finished," Kakashi declared as he was on the branch above Zabuza.

" How?" Zabuza demanded as he looked up at the copycat ninja. Can you see into the future?"

" Yes," Kakashi answered. " This is your last battle ever." He held up a kunai. Suddenly two giant needles struck Zabuza in the neck, blood splashed out as he flew over, and they all gasped. There was a chuckled.

" You were right," a voice said suddenly. Aceso looked up to see another person with a mask on, standing in a different tree. " It was his last battle." Naruto finally pulled himself out of the water.

" Ahh!" He sounded. He growled, looked down at Zabuza, then Kakashi appeared next to the man. He took his pulse.

" No vital signs," Kakashi informed, Aceso went over to check for herself. Kakashi looked up at the person.

" Thank you," they said as they bowed. " I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time, waiting for this chance to finally take him down."

" By your mask, I see that you're a tracker ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist," Kakashi noted.

" Impressive," they complimented. " You're well informed."

" A tracker!" Naruto exclaimed as he jumped in front of Tazuna and the others.

" Naruto, you don't even know what that is," Sakura recalled. " You missed the lesson on it, as usual."

" Tracking ninja have a special role," Aceso informed.

" Try coming to class sometime," Sakura advised. " When a rogue ninja breaks away from his village, he carries all kinds of secrets with him, the secrets of his people. Trackers are specially trained to hunt down, these ninja, and eliminate them. That way, the secrets of their people remain secrets. "

" That's correct," the tracker confirmed. " I'm a member of the elite tracking unit. It was my duty to stop Zabuza." Naruto then forward, grunting, looked at Zabuza, then looked at the tracker growling. He kept looking back and forth at the two.

" What is this?" Naruto demanded. " Who do you think you are?" He pointed at the tracker. " Did you hear me?"

" Easy, Naruto," Aceso advised as Kakashi stood up.

" He's not our enemy," Kakashi added.

" Huh?" Naruto asked as he looked back at his sensei. " That's not the point. Did you see what he did, just like that? Zabuza was huge, and powerful some kind of monster. And this kid who's no bigger than me, he brought down Zabuza with one move like it was nothing. I mean what does that make us? We're just fumbling around. We don't know anything. How can I accept that?" Kakashi walked over as he talked.

" Well, even if you don't accept it, still it happened Naruto," Kakashi said as he stopped next to Naruto and leaned over. He put his hand on his hair and rubbed it. " In this world, there are kids who are younger than you and yet stronger than me." They looked up at the tracker, wind spun around him making him disappear then appeared beside Aceso.

" I'll take it from here," He said gently, he picked up Zabuza and Aceso scooted back, he looked at everyone else. " Your struggle is over for now. I must deal with the remains. There are many secrets in this body. They must not be allowed to get into the wrong hands. Please excuse me." He put a hand up to the mask. " Farewell." The wind spun around again and then they disappeared.

" He disappeared!" Naruto gasped.

" Hmm," Kakashi sighed as he fixed his headband to cover his eye. Naruto ran over to the other tree. " He's gone Naruto. Let it go." He fell to his knees.

" What are we doing here?" Naruto demanded as he punched the ground. " We're nothing! I can't believe it!"

" Naruto," Sakura breathed, Aceso crawled over to him as Kakashi walked over. Kakashi grabbed his arm, preventing him from throwing another punch.

" As ninja, the things we encounter are never easy," Kakashi said. " Save your anger for the next enemy." He then faced the others. " We haven't finished our mission yet. We still have to get the bridge builder to his bridge. Tazuna started laughing.

" Sorry I caused all this trouble for ya," Tazuna apologized. " But you can rest at my house when we get to the village."

" All right, let's get a move on," Kakashi ordered. They began to move again, then Kakashi froze and fell over.

" What? What happened?" Sakura demanded as they all ran over, Aceso put a hand on his back.

" Out of chakra, he overused the Sharingan," Aceso answered. " He needs lots of rest and medical care."

" Kakashi sensei," Naruto breathed.