Chapter 6

The boat we were currently seated in ran through the water at a slow pace, as the motor couldn't be used; It would be to noisy. I knew that what Kakashi and Tazuna were talking about was rather important, but being near the water kept my mind away. It wasn't that I hated water or was afraid of it, no.. it's the exact opposite. I love it. It's so calming and soothing, it makes me forget the things that i've done in my past.

"Setsuna, are you listening?" Kakashi's voice broke me from my thoughts and I turned to look at him before shaking my head once in answer. He sighed with a small sweat drop. "I guess I'll have to tell you-" 'It's fine, I already know' I told him, my gaze staring deeply into his. He rose an eyebrow in question "Really?" 'Gato.. right?' He slowly gave me a nod before turning back to Tazuna and began talking to him again.

I could feel a stare on my back and I glanced over my shoulder, only to find it was Sasuke. I kept my expression empty and my eyes dull as they usually were. This got me a scowl as Uchiha crossed his arms over his chest and looked away.. still glaring 'What's his problem?' I pondered to myself, confused as to why he was acting this way.

After a while longer, we passed through a tunnle and once coming out at the other end, I nodded my head approvingly. The land of the waves always has been a nice country and from the looks of things.. still is. When we got out the small boat, we said our goodbyes and began walking towards the village. "Alright! I want you to get me to my home in one piece" Tazuna ordered as we rolled our eyes.. well, not me, but the others did.

The walk was quiet.. for once, and I noticed Sasuke and Naruto silently competing with each other in who walks the fastest. I for one, decided to walk near the front as well. I could feel an all to familiar presence and if Gato sent who I think he sent, we'd all be in for a tough battle.

"Over there!" Naruto shouted, flinging a kunai towards the bush with a not so usual serious expression. There was an awekward silence as everyone except from Sasuke and Myself stared Uzumaki wide-eyed. "Hmph! It was just a mouse" I shook my head disapproavingly at his pose. "Mouse?! Everyone can see through your stupid act" Sakura informed as Kakashi told Naruto to stop playing around with kunai.

We all went over to see what Naruto had hit and found a white rabbit instead of a mouse. I swear Sakura couldn't scream any louder "Naruto! You almost hit the poor rabbit!"

I narrowed my eyes ever so slightly as I glanced around the place and eventually caught the gaze of Kakashi's. '..Do you feel that? They're here' His eyes widened a fraction and he nodded, also feeling something off around here.

As soon as I felt it coming towards us, I appeared right behind Tazuna and pushed his into a kneeling position with his head down. "DUCK!" Kakashi hollered, his voice filled with worry that one of us would get our heads chopped off by the large sword swinging our way.

Said sword stopped as it hit a nearby tree, horizontally, and a, currently, unknown figure jumped onto it with his back facing our way. As everyone stood back up, an eery silence fell upon us and by the look Kakashi was giving, I could tell he also knew who this man was.

"Well, well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi. Rouge ninja from the village hidden in the mist.." Kakashi greeted as he took a step forward, hands in his pockets and an all to familiar lazy expression. Just as Naruto was going to run past Kakashi, urging for a fight, said sensei stopped him. "Your in the way, get back!" He ordered. "But why?" "He's not like the others ninja. He's on a whole other league" I nodded my head and spoke so that everyone, except Zabuza, could hear me 'He's right Naruto. You'd only get yourself killed trying to fight this man'

As Kakashi went to bring his headband up from over his eyes, Zabuza finally spoke "Kakashi of the sharingan eye huh? Too bad though, you'll have to hand over the old man" Another short silence passed by us before Kakashi ordered us to get into the 'Manji formation' and to make sure we protect Tazuna. I stared at Kakashi's eyes as though I'd seen it before.. which I had.. once long ago. Naruto and Sakura looked confused and Sasuke.. of course he would be angry.

"Well, seems like I get to see the Sharingan in action. This is an honour" Zabuza stated as he turned around to face us fully. His eyes then trailed over each of us and once his gaze shifted over to me, his eyes widened. The others were currently in a conversation about the Sharingan, except for Kakashi, who was glanced between us with confusion clearly shone over his half covered face.

"...I never thought I'd see you again Setsuna" Giving a short nod, I replied so that everyone could hear me this time. 'I agree.. Zabuza' Said man's expression was unusually soft and I saw something pass through his eyes.. something unrecognisable for someone like myself whos known to have no emotions.

Kakashi stepped towards me and went to place a hand on my shoulder, but I moved away, not wanting to be touched "Setsuna-chan! Do you know this guy?" I didn't answer Naruto's question as it was none of his business. 'Tell them anything.. and I won't let you leave unharmed' I told Zabuza with a much colder voice. Luckily, I made it so that the others couldn't hear anything; it's easy to switch between the amount of people I want to hear me talk.

Giving a barely noticeable nod, Zabuza turned his head back towards the others and made it so that mist was surrounding us. "Enough talking! I need to exterminate the old man. Now!" I watched as my teammates scurried to surround Tazuna and as Zabuza crowched down into a launching position. With great speed, he ripped his sword from the tree and disappeared. I already knew where he was, so I didn't bother in turning around to face him like the others did. "He's over there! On the water!" Sakura, as per usual, shouted out the most obvious things. I could tell that Zabuza was building up a large amount of chakra, as did Kakashi. This technique.. I knew. 'Ninja art: Hidden mist jutsu' - was it's name.

"He vanished.. Sensei" Sakuar started "Don't worry, he'll come after me first" "But.. who is he?" Kakashi sighed before answering her questione "Zabuza Momochi, the ex-leader of the hidden mist assassination unit. He's a master of the silent killing technique. As the name suggests, it happens in an instant, without sound or warning of any kind. It's so fast that you pass from this life without even realising it. So DON'T! lower your guard" He ordered with warning to his tone of voice.

A moment of chilling silence passed by us as the other glanced around from the corners of their eyes, trying to locate the enemy ninja. I, on the other hand, could sense him well enough and knew where he was, but decided that the others should try and fight this one for themselves.

"8 Points. Larix, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian arteries, kidneys, heart! Which will be my kill point?" He asked himself. After a moment, Kakashi sent chakra into the air and sent the mist away. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Sasuke not being able to bear the bloodlust and was about to take his own life.

I flashed in front of him and placed my hand over his, eventually ungripping them from the kunai. He stared at me suspiciously but then turned to Kakashi, who began speaking "Sasuke. Calm down! I'll protect you with my life, all of you" I shook my head once 'I don't need your protection, save it for them' Zabuza laughed mennicingly "I wouldn't be so sure"

In the blink of an eye, I was behind Tazuna and had kicked Zabuza away from him. Countless gasps of shocks came from my teammates and the bridge builder himself. Getting up, Zabuza refused to look me in the eyes "I wish not to fight you.. Setsuna" He stared down at the kunai embedded into his heart and the sound of water splashing against the floor made my team gasp again.

I already knew he was a water clone and knew that the actual one was coming up from behind. Just before he swung his sword, I disappeared and in place was Kakashi's own water clone. "Don't move" The real Kakashi ordered from behind Zabuza as he held a kunai to his Jugular. "Now.. Its over" I, once again, shook my head. 'He can't be killed this easilty' I stated to myself.

Zabuza began chuckling rather darkly "Kukuku.. finished.. You really don't get it do you? Your technique is nothing but a crap copy. I'll never be defeated by a copycat ninja like yourself" The fight continued and in the end Kakashi ended up in the water. 'That's the last place you want to be right now Kakashi' I informed him with a dull look.

However, before Kakashi could even say anything back to me, Zabuza was already in the water and had already began his justu 'Water prism jutsu' I nodded to myself as a large sphere of water surrounded Kakashi.

This was a great jutsu since it was nearly impossible to break through from the inside, but there is a drawback. Zabuza has to keep his hand inside of it at all times, otherwise it'd simply break. "So much for the great Kakashi. I'll deal with you later, but first, your little friends have to be eliminated..." He looked over to me "Except from Setsuna of course" I could feel the stares from my teammates other than Kakashi on my backs.. they were all curious, but I wasn't just going to let them know anything about me anytime soon.

With a single handed handsign, Zabuza created a water clone and sent it towards us. "You think wearing a headband makes you a ninja? When you hover between life and death so many times that it doesn't fase you, then and only then may you be called a ninja. When your so deadly that you've even entered my Bingo book, then you may be called a ninja. But to call upstarts like yourselves ninja, is a joke" He disappeared into a cloud of mist and before long, Naruto was kicked away, headband flying right off from his forehead.

"Your just brats!" He announced angrilly. "Naruto!" Sakura shouted concern just before Kakashi told us to leave "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! Still, the clone can't go that far from his real body. So, if you get away from him, he can't follow. Now run!"

Sasuke, ignoring Kakashi's plea, ran at Zabuza and flung many shuriken but Zabuza swiped them away with his sword and grabbed the young ninja by his throat. I knew what was going to happen next and was ready to catch Sasuke. As I helped him stand straight up again, he coughed and glared. I didn't bother to do anything about the way he looks at me, as usual and walked over to Zabuza, Shamisen at the ready.

Zabuza's gaze shifted over to me and his glare softened again. "Setsuna.. what would Sentaro say if he found out we had to fight?" I sighed 'He would kill you for even trying it' "That's right" He began with a curt nod "And I don't want Sentaro hunting me down. So, stand aside and let me kill the brats and the old man" I was about to answer, when Naruto stood up and charged. Nonetheless, he was only kicked away again.

He stood up, Headband in hand and smirked at Zabuza "Hey, freak with no eyebrows! Put this in your Bingo book. The ninja that will become the hokage of the village hidden in the leaves. His names Naruto Uzumaki!" Zabuza looked right pissed off now, but Naruto ignored him and turned to Sasuke "Alright Sasuke, listen up. I have a plan" "Teamwork huh?"

There was a lot of talking after that, but I didn't want to listen due to the fact that I already knew Zabuza's past, how he killed all those people etcetera, etcetera..

Soon enough, However, the fighting was back on and Naruto and Ssauke went through with a rather good plan.

As they went through with this plan, I felt someones presence in the forest. Turning around, I began walking away, only to be stopped by Sakura's voice "Setsuna? Where are you going?" I didn't answer and merely waved my hand once before jumping into a nearby tree.

I carried on through the forest, right until I saw a boy a few years older than myself with a mask on his face. He was only able to sence my presence once I was just behind him. In the blink of an eye, he turned around, senbon needle in hand and was ready to strike at my neck. However, seeing my face, he stopped just as the senbon scratched the skin.

"S-Setsuna!" He exclaimed, as if he didn't know I was with the others.

I nodded once 'Haku.. it's been a while' He nodded and took off his mask, smiling happily at me. "It has. We've missed you Setsuna.. Especially Zabuza.." He mumbled the last bit and engulfed me into a hug. Even though I don't like touching people, other than Sentaro, Haku and Zabuza are the only other few people who can. He sighed into my neck and I could even feel him smiling.

The moment lasted not much longer, however, as he quickly jumped up and placed his mask back on his face. "I have to go now.. Zabuza needs me" I gave a single nod in understanding and recieved one last hug before he jumped off.

Waiting a couple of minutes, I walked back to where my team were, only to find an angry Naruto and worried Sakura. But, when I came into her view, she also grew angry "Setsuna! You can't just walk off like that! You could have helped us" I stared at her and blinked once, twice and a third time before turning to a fallen Kakashi.

Walking over to Sasuke, I placed my Shamisen in his arm and strolled over to Kakashi "Hey" Sasuke called. 'What?' I asked, everyone able to hear me "What do I do with this?" I raised an eyebow slightly 'Hold on to it for me. It's precious and very delicate and if Naruto or Sakura hold it.. I don't want them braking it' He nodded in understanding after a moment and the two others shouted "Hey!"

Kneeling down, I pulled Kakashi onto my back, turned to Tazuna and said 'Lead the way'