"Over? You really don't get it, do you?" Zabuza sneered, his eye staring down at me. I held my kunai tightly, my hands shaking lightly. "Your technique is nothing more than a crass imitation. I'll never be defeated by a copycat ninja. You're full of surprises though. You copied my water clone jutsu before I attacked. Very skillfully executed. You had your clone here all this time while you waited for me to make my move. Nice try...."

The Zabuza Kakashi had held up dissipated and dropped to the ground. We all ducked again as Zabuza swung his sword and I held up my arms, gasping in shock as the water wrapped around my body flung up and hardened into ice, shielding myself from the onslaught. He knocked me back. I hit the ground, coughing lightly as I felt my ribs start to burn from the position I had landed in.

"Water prison jutsu!" I hear Zabuza shout. I whirled around on my haunch, staring at Kakashi trapped in a water orb that had been held by Zabuza. A water clone appeared in front of me, reaching down and grasping my hair. "You know kid, there's a reward for whoever brings in your head to the land of Lightning. I think I'll take it myself!" He sneered, gripping tighter as I whimpered in pain. I kicked my leg up, catching him in the chin. He dropped me and kicked me back. I coughed again, but something bubbled out of my throat. I leaned to the side, spitting out blood and looking back upwards, glaring at Zabuza's clone. I get up to charge again.

"Ren! What are you doing?!" Sakura shouted, trying to stop me.

"What do you think?!" I shout back, baring my kunai and rushed forward. I got kicked back again with more force, my lungs refusing to work as his boot nearly crushed my chest.

"Alright! Sasuke! Listen up! Can you hear me?!" Naruto shouted as I tried to sit up. Sakura helped me up and checked to see if I had any major wounds.

"Yeah, I hear you!" Sasuke replied.

"I've got a plan!" Naruto shouted. I smiled to myself and wiped the blood dripping down my chin.

"Finally thinking about teamwork, huh?" Sasuke sassed.

"Alright! Let's go wild!"

~*****~

I watched in awe as Naruto summoned an army of shadow clones, going right for Zabuza. Unfortunately, they were no match for the clone. "he really has grown, hasn't he?" I hum to Sakura, the both of us getting into defensive positions.

"Yeah..."

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouts, flinging the wind shuriken towards Sasuke, who caught it with ease. He opened the shuriken, holding it out in front of him.

"Demon Wind Shuriken: Windmill of shadows!!" He yelled before jumping into the air and aiming at the real Zabuza. My stomach twisted up as I stared at the Uchiha, my cheeks feeling like they were on fire. I covered my mouth with my fist as I looked away for a second.

'Show off....' I thought to myself. Sakura squealed in delight.

"He's so cool!" She cooed.

Zabuza caught it, obviously thinking that there's no way we'd get the drop on him. But that technique is a little unique. There's a second shuriken in the shadow of the first, so he has no free hands to catch the next. His eye widens and he leaps upwards, his grip still in the water prison jutsu. In a cloud of smoke, the second shuriken disappeared, and Naruto emerged, throwing a kunai directly at the defenseless ninja. He pulled his hand out of the water prison. Sakura cheered happily besides me, grasping my hands in excitement. Zabuza went to throw the shuriken at Naruto, but Kakashi stopped it with his knuckle.

Naruto popped out of the water with a gasp. "That was an excellent plan, Naruto!" Kakashi praised. "You've really grown, haven't you?" Naruto began to explain the plan to Kakashi.

"You just lucked out." Sasuke mumbled as he appeared besides me.

"Total luck." I agreed with him.

"It was a fluke!" Tazuna shouted.

"Still, it wasn't half bad." I say to Sasuke, smiling lightly. "You sure can be cool when you want to." I jeer, making him smirk.

"Fantasizing about me already?"

I started to cough as Zabuza growled. "I got distracted and lost my grip on the water prison!"

"Don't flatter yourself!" I call out, receiving that glare. "You weren't distracted. You were forced to let go!"

"Sakura, Ren, you know what to do!" Sakura and I leaped backwards, guarding Tazuna as Sasuke joined. Kakashi and Zabuza started flipping out hand signs and I felt my own brain copying their hand signs. Water Dragon Jutsu. They both had created flawless water dragons and they cancelled each other out. Zabuza seemed to be losing his cool. My eyes widened as they started the hand signs for the Giant Vortex jutsu.

"Get down!" I command to every one. 'Tiger-snake-rat-snake-tiger'. "Water Style! Water Wall Jutsu!" A giant wall of water surrounds us as the Giant Vortex Jutsu takes places, wiping out everything in it's path. I try to keep my concentration up, hoping the wall would hold and we won't get washed away.

Everything cleared, and the wall dropped. Zabuza lay against a tree, breathing heavily as Kakashi appeared on the branch above him. "Can you really see the future?" Zabuza asked.

"Yes, this is your last battle... ever." Kakashi announced.

And a few seconds later, it was. Two senbon flew out from the trees, piercing the demon's neck, taking his life. I gazed up at the boy on the branch. He wore a white mask, and I thought about the anbu masks back home. "You were right. It was his last battle." The boy said monotonously, jumping down from his perch.

I took a step towards the body, feeling my legs want to crumble from over use of my chakra. I pressed my fingers to his neck, looking for the pulse. "No vital signs...." I say to Kakashi. I looked back at the boy. "You're from the Hidden Mist, and I right? A tracker?"

"Impressive. You're well informed. I'm a member of the elite tracking unit of the Village Hidden in the Mist. It was my duty to take down Zabuza." He said softly. Naruto tried running at him, but Kakashi stopped him. "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."

"Shouldn't-" I stopped short, feeling my world tilt. I collapsed onto my knees as the boy disappeared with the body. I held a hand to my head, the chills starting to come back.

"He's gone, Naruto. Let it go." Kakashi ordered.

"What are we doing here?!" I gazed at Naruto, leaning against the tree as he began to pound onto the ground. "We're nothing! I can't believe it!"

Kakashi stood by Naruto. "As ninja, the things we encounter are never easy. Save your anger for the next enemy." Kakashi turned to me and smiled as I tried to get up. "We haven't completely our mission. We still have to get the bridge builder to his bridge." Tazuna began to smile, laughing awkwardly.

"Hehe, sorry to have caused all this trouble for you. But eh, you can rest at my place when we get there. Kakashi nodded, going to take a step towards me.

"Alright, let's get a move on!" His body froze midstep. He fell forward, landing in front of me.

"Kakashi!" I yelped, launching forward and turning him over. I pressed my fingers against his neck. "He's got a pulse. It looks like he's just drained." Naruto and Sasuke lift Kakashi to haul him to Tazuna's house as Sakura helps me up. I lean against her and try to walk, but my chakra had been drained from those jutsu's I had to do. I almost fell forwards, gasping out in exhaustion.

"Come on, Ren. We can make it, alright?" Sakura chants as I feel my head start to fuzz over. Everything sounds garbled as I see Sasuke run to us, handing over the other arm of Kakashi to Tazuna. My eyes slip closed as he takes hold of me.