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AN EERY laugh erupted from Zabuza as he lowered his weapon, ignoring Yuri's attack. She furrowed her brow but kept her sword raised. She swung it down, aiming for his neck. However, he quickly evaded it and roughly shoved her away, sending her toppling over the side of the bridge as she yelped in surprise.

"Yuri-Sensei!" Her squad members called out in panic. Though over their yells, they could not hear her shout 'Plant Style: Lily Pad Catch.' The three Mist genins began to silently mourn for their sensei until a large lily pad sprouted from the river below the bridge, and their unscathed sensei knelt on top.

"You are going to pay for that," she muttered to herself as she jumped off the flower, landing beside her squad who all looked up at her in awe as she weaved the 'release' hand signal, her large lily pad disappearing as a result. "Pay attention," she ordered before they quickly followed her command.

"Impressive... thought you had died." Kakashi casually spoke to her.

Yuri scoffed at his back-handed compliment, implying that she was too easy to kill. But before she could yap his ear off with complaints about his attitude, an icy aura radiated from Zabuza and Haku's direction. She cast her gaze upon them, seeing the masked boy surrounded by tendrils of blue chakra, emitting from his body. With a single-hand sign, large icy mirrors began to surround Sasuke, caging him in a dome. "Secret Jutsu: Crystal Ice Mirrors!" Haku yelled. He stepped into one of the ice sheets, his physical body disappearing and replaced with a flat reflection until all mirrors showed the same image.

"What?! How does that work?" Kakashi asked, worry laced in his tone.

"It's the Yuki clan kekkei genkai, Ice Release. They were all eliminated due to their dangerous jutsu, but Haku remains." Yuri explained quickly. "His jutsu is unknown to me but I can almost guarantee that Sasuke is not going to survive in there."

Concern etched into his hidden expression as he raced towards the icy dome. However, Zabuza appeared in front of him. "If you enter this fight, you fight me. That boy has no chance against that jutsu. He's finished." Haku began his attack on the Uchiha boy, multiple needles flying from all angles, slicing at his skin. "Just try and help him and I'll kill the rest of them in a heartbeat." Zabuza threatened.

Sasuke's kunai was flung from the dome, landing at Sakura's feet. In an instant, she picked it up and ran toward the dome, leaping in the air and flinging it to her teammate. Though, Haku reached out of one of the mirrors and grabbed it before it reached its desired destination. "He... he caught it?" Sakura exclaimed in disbelief.

"Sakura! Get back!" Sezaki called out, worried for her new friend's position on the battlefield.

The pink-haired girl sprinted back, standing behind Yuri who stretched out her arms in front of the four genin.

"Yuri-Sensei, you have to help Kakashi-Sensei and Sasuke! Please!" Sakura begged, tears brimming in her green eyes.

"I will, don't worry," Yuri reassured the girl. She took one last glance at the stagnant Kakashi and Zabuza, making sure that if Zabuza made a move towards Yuri and the genin, Kakshi would stop him. She turned towards Team 4 and the remains of Team 7. "Sakura, Yaragi, you guard Tazuna. Doremi and Sezaki, you will remain on backup. I will make sure you are not brought into this fight - any of you - but if I need help, I will call you, okay? For now, guard the others." The four nodded, taking their positions.

In a flash, Yuri was standing beside Kakashi, her katana drawn as she stared Zabuza down. "Two against one, I like those odds, don't you?" She asked Kakashi.

"Agreed."

All of a sudden, a shuriken flew out past Kakashi and Yuri, heading straight towards Haku's face, knocking him out of his ice mirror.

"Who was that?" Yuri questioned, alarmed.

Kakashi chuckled. "Number one hyperactive, knucklehead ninja."

From a cloud of smoke, a yellow-haired boy in an orange and blue tracksuit emerged.

"Naruto Uzumaki is here! Believe it!" Naruto cockily announced. "Ha! Now that I'm here, everything will be alright!"

"Oh? This brat again..." Zabuza grunted.

Both Yuri and Kakashi lowered their gaze in disappointment, their shoulders slouching. If he had just stayed hidden, he would have been much more useful, Yuri thought, no doubt Kakashi thinking the same.

"Alright! You're in for it!" Naruto pointed to Haku. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Yuri, Kakashi and Zabuza all perked up as Naruto announced his jutsu before forging any hand signs. The latter turned and flung several shurikens at the Leaf genin, but Yuri acted just as fast. She knelt, pressing both hands to the ground after a series of hand signs, uttering 'Plant Style: Eating Fly Trap'. A large venus flytrap plant emerged beneath Naruto's feet, snapping him gently in its pink jaws, its green teeth caging him in for protection. Naruto screamed in terror, terrified of being swallowed.

As Zabuza's shuriken drew closer to the plant holding Naruto, three needles clashed with them, sending all of them to the ground. Yuri released her jutsu, allowing Naruto to fall to the ground.

"This is a battle, not a talent show!" Kakashi scolded. "Don't let your opponent see your jutsu. The shinobi's art is deception. Always keep the enemy guessing. You just turned yourself into a human target when you entered this battle."

Naruto's face grew pale with fear and panic. "Ah! I'm sorry! I just wanted to rescue everybody!"

The battlefield grew quiet, besides Naruto's panicked rants. "Haku, what are you doing?" Zabuza seethed to his prodigy.

"This boy... I want to fight him my own way." Haku responded, voice unwavering and deadly calm. "Please."

"Bring it on!" Naruto announced loudly, his panic wearing off as a look of determination took over his face.

Zabuza hummed. "So you want me to leave this to you, is that right, Haku? As usual, you're too soft."

Too soft? The thought ran through Yuri's head momentarily. Her gaze landed on Sasuke who remained in the dome. Though injured, his wounds were only scratches, no wounds were located in vital areas and none were too deep to cause a real problem. Why?

Naruto continued his taunting of the masked boy. Though the older shinobi present knew that if the two were to fight, Haku would emerge the victor. Naruto would likely return as a corpse. Both Kakashi and Yuri looked at each other as if silently communicating what they should do. Zabuza caught on to what they were doing quickly. "Don't even think about it. You go after Haku, I go after the bridge builder."

Yuri contemplated. She did not need this bridge builder alive, she just needed him and Haku dead. But Kakashi did need Tazuna alive. Even with two of them to do each job, it would be difficult. If Kakashi goes to help Naruto and Sasuke, Yuri would have to fend off Zabuza and that would lead to one of their demises and he couldn't risk it being Yuri's just yet. But if Yuri went to help the Leaf genin, Zabuza might target Yuri knowing he can easily deter her from the fight, leaving Naruto and Sasuke to die. It would give Kakashi a chance to step in but no one strong enough to protect Tazuna if Yuri perishes. A thousand thoughts raced around her head. She concluded that Zabuza had to die, the sooner the better so she could call it a day.

Yuri threw her head back with a groan. "You certainly make this hard, don't you?" The pink-and-blonde woman turned her head to Kakashi. "You stay here, Hatake. I'm going to complete my mission." She vanished before his black eyes. She appeared behind Zabuza, holding up her katana to his throat but he had already grabbed his blade, using the side to push her away.

"Oh, little Yuri, not even your cute plant-style techniques can take me down, you know that already." Zabuza teased as if they were children training a decade prior.

Yuri grimanced. "Watch me."

The two fought as Kakashi, Sakura and Team 7 watched. "Kakashi-Sensei? What is Yuri-Sensei's technique, I've never seen anyone in the Leaf Village use it?" Sakura questioned as her awe-struck expression zeroed in on Yuri's manipulation of plants to attack Zabuza.

"It's in a similar vein as Haku's kekkei genkai but slightly stronger. She possesses the Plant Release, it's a kekkei tota. You can't learn it. It has to be in your blood, in your genetic code and passed down from generation to generation in a single clan." Kakashi explained. "I can't even copy her jutsu or Haku's. There's no way to destroy or stop it, only to exhaust the user's chakra. But I've known Yuri for a while now, to exhaust her is like telling Naruto to stop eating ramen - it's impossible. I assume the same goes for Haku and his kekkei genkai."

"She's just the coolest," Doremi whispered to Sakura, in awe at the power of her sensei.