══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══

MORNING CAME once more through the village and the group had all risen from their slumber: all but the Naruto. Once everyone had eaten, they began to leave the house to protect Tazuna at the bridge.

"Ok, I'll leave Naruto in your hands," Kakashi told Tsunami. "He pushed his body to the limit. Overdoing it as usual. So he may not be able to move today at all."

"What about you? You're still recovering yourself?" The mother asked Kakashi.

Kakashi chuckled. "Why? Do I look wobbly? I'll be okay."

Yuri rolled her eyes at the silver-haired man before smiling at Tsunami. "I'm sure he'll pull through. Come on, idiot. Let's go." Yuri pinched Kakashi's ear and dragged him behind her as he yelped, his back hunched due to the height difference between the two rivals.

"Ah! You can let go now," Kakashi grumbled in frustration. His cheeks burned red from embarrassment as the students behind him snickered and groaned at the display.

Yuri mockingly pouted over her shoulder. "Aww, did I hurt you?"

"You wish." Kakashi seethed as she finally let go of his earlobe.

Yuri's magenta-coloured eyes squinted up at the dark ones belonging to Kakashi. While hers held contempt, his glistened with mischief and pride at his small but powerful comment. Before she could erupt with a million insults to hurl at him, Tazuna interrupted them. "Come on. Let's go."

══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══

AS THE group approached the incomplete bridge, all the shinobi sensed something was amiss. With each step they took, the scene became clearer before them. 

Tazuna's builders lay unconscious on the concrete ground, surrounded by their tools. None were badly injured at first glance, but all should show no signs of waking up anytime soon. Some even winced and groaned in pain but kept their eyes clenched shut.

"What happened?!" Tazuna exclaimed. "Someone was here! Someone got to them!"

Kakashi squinted, a single bead of sweat trailing down the side of his face in concern. "Could it be?"

The Mist Jonin's eyes scoured the area, her team of three watching her for directions. Soon, a cloud of mist began to slowly engulf the bridge. "Mist." She whispered. "Team 4! Team 7! Get ready." She ordered. The two teams surrounded Tazuna for protection. 

"I knew he was alive. He just couldn't wait for round two." Kakashi muttered. 

"Kakashi Sensei," Sakura spoke up. "It's Zabuza, isn't it?"

Doremi, Yaragi and Sezaki all perk up at the name spilt from Sakura's mouth. "Zabuza?!" Sezaki exclaimed.

"Yuri Sensei! That's who we're after, right?" Yaragi questioned his sensei. 

Yuri nodded with a hum, her scarred face settled into a determined frown. "This is Hidden Mist jutsu. If it's not Zabuza, it could be another rogue Mist ninja. If that's the case, we capture them and bring them back to Kirigakure.

A beat of silence falls upon the cloudy bridge before the quietness is sliced through by a deep, menacing voice. One that sent shivers up Yuri's back, her mind transporting back to when she was a child. 

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Kakashi." The disembodied voice spoke. "I see you've reunited with my old friend. Long time, no see, Yuri. Did you miss me?"

══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══

TEN YEARS before the present, a young girl with pink and blonde hair is at the peak of her shinobi lifestyle. At only 14 years old, she had already graduated from her Academy, been promoted to Chunin and Jonin, and joined the ANBU of the Mist. 

This girl was a young Yuri Ren. 

Though she had been faced with many hardships as many ninjas do, it seemed she had reached the top of her abilities in the shinobi world. 

That was until a young boy around her age, perhaps a few years her senior, approached her with a proposal. 

The boy had short, scruffy black hair and dark eyes. He wore a loose-fitted navy shirt with cow print bottoms, along with the standard shinobu sandals. He had bandages around his neck, hanging loosely, as if he had pulled them from his face to speak clearly. His teeth were sharp. It was common in Kirigakure for shinobi to file their teeth into shark-like gnashers to appear more hostile, aggressive and intimidating to enemies. Though his appearance was rough, his eyes held a small degree of softness to them as he approached the lonely girl. 

"You must be the Ren girl, right?" He spoke, his eyes never meeting hers, instead looking off into the distance as he spoke to her with his hands in his pockets. 

"What's it to you?" She bit back harshly. At this time, Yuri's face remained fairly pristine, with only one small scar above her left eyebrow. Her eyes were round but held coldness within them. 

"I'm Zabuza Momochi." Yuri's squinted expression widened with a hint of fear. She knew him. Everyone did. He was the reason the rules in the Academy changed. He had killed all his classmates during his graduation, leaving only him as the victor. After his graduation, the rule to eliminate as many of your classmates as possible was ditched. 

Yuri gulped but kept her head held high. "What do you want?"

"You look lonely." He shrugged.

The girl squinted. "Why do you care?"

"What's with all your questions?" He barked back. He sighed out of frustration. "Look, I just wanted to see if you wanted to join this group I'm in."

With a small hint of a smile, she looked up at Zabuza from the corner of her eye. "What's the group?" She asked in a teasing manner, knowing he just scolded her for asking too many questions beforehand. 

Another sigh left his lips but he persevered. "The Seven Sword-"

"The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist?!" Yuri gushed out, her jaw hanging low. The Seven Swordsmen are a group of seven exceptional blade-wielding shinobi in Kirigakure. 

"Enough with the questions already." Zabuza scoffed. "I'm gonna regret asking you soon. But yes, them. We're down two members and we decided that you would be the best fit to fill in one of those spots."

"Why-"

Zabuza held his hand up. "Just accept or decline. No more questions." He scolded once more. 

Yuri nodded. "I accept."

Zabuza smiled tightly. "Good."

══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══

YURI'S SMALL memory was cut short when multiple clones of her old friend, Zabuza. "I see you've both still got brats with you." One of the clones poked. "That one's still trembling. How pitiful." He spoke, referring to Sasuke's shaking hand that clutched a kunai. 

However, his shaking stopped and a smirk replaced his worried features. "I'm trembling with excitement."

Kakashi looked over his shoulder with a presumed smile as his visible eye closed with delight. "Go on, Sasuke."

The Zabuza clones grunted as they lept toward the group, their gigantic blade in hand. Though Sasuke was quicker, slicing them apart, leaving behind a massive puddle of water. 

From behind them, Zazuza began speaking once. "Ooh, so you could see they were water clones, huh? The brat's improving. Looks like you've got a rival, Haku."

"So it seems," the young masked boy beside Zabuza mused. 

Zabuza's dark eyes drifted to the familiar ones of Yuri's. "Yuri. I never thought you'd be teaming up with Kakashi after what he did to you."

Yuri unleashed her dual-ended katana and pointed it toward Zabuza with a scowl on her scarred face. "That's enough, Momochi. You're rouge. You know what I'm here for."

"That's no way to speak to your senpai."