Jiraiya's Twins

Chapter 17

Sakura stared at the three boys from further back next to the bridge builder. She first started at Naruto as he tied his headband and then to Sasuke but ultimately ended on Tadashi. She was shocked at how cool he was under pressure and how he's brought the team together during a moment of weakness. 'Had he always been like that? He almost seems cool.'

"Alright," Naruto said, turning to face Zabuza once more,"Let's bring this guy down."

"Heheheheh." Zabuza began chuckling, unsettling the children. "You think your plan is going to keep you in this game?"

"Don't be hasty!" Kakashi yelled. "This battle was over the moment we got caught! Your job is to protect the bridge builder not to prove how brave you are! Take him and get out of here! Stay on mission!"

"Kakashi sensei is right! This is not the time to be dumb Tadashi! everyone get out of here!" Katsumi yelled. She didn't want to die, but this is reality, she didn't think ahead and now she is going to die with her teacher.

This made the four children pause and look towards the bridge builder who was hiding his face beneath his hat. His body was shaking but when he showed his face it was full of angry determination. "Forget me!" He yelled. "Do what you have to do to save your teammates!

"Alright did you hear that?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah let's take this guy down quickly."

"Naruto. Sasuke. Our only way out of here is to get through to Kakashi sensei. If he's free then we have a chance of surviving." Tadashi said. "Let's get our teacher and my sister back for the creep."

"Mhmhmhmhmhmhm, hahahahaha. Look at you still playing your little games, pretending to be ninja. By your age these hands had already crushed many opponents."

"Zabuza the Demon." Kakashi said, looking at Zabuza from within the water prison.

"Ah so I was in your bingo book too?" The assassin responded.

"Long ago in the village hidden in the mist, also known as blood mist village, before a student could become a ninja there one final test."

"You know about the graduation exam?" Zabuza asked, a bit surprised.

"What graduation exam? Is it like ours? Katsumi asked sniffling in-between most of her words. What kind of graduation exam could make a person like Zabuza.

The rogue ninja only laughed in response to Katsumi's question. "Did you have to kill your fellow classmates to pass?" This caught the entire group except Kakashi by surprise. "Imagine, young ninja like you eating together, training together, and then comes the final exam where the only they change the rules, kill or be killed, the only way to pass was to kill your friends or die. You can't stop while your opponent still breathes. He was your friend! Share your dreams! Now you have to kill him."

"That's so cruel." Sakura cried covering her mouth with her hands.

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

"What evil? What change? What caused the terror?" Sakura asked?

"Without pause or hesitation a young boy who wasn't even a ninja approached the class and took out 100 other students." Kakashi finished.

The children stared at Zabuza in shock while he stared off towards the sky. "It.... it felt so ..... Good!" A murderous aura exploded from Zabuze causing the children and the bridge builder to take a step back. Zabuza dashed forward faster than the kids could track. In an instant he was in front of Sasuke. His elbow rammed into Sasuke's stomach who fell and rolled onto the ground. The assassin continued his assault on the young boy once more ramming his elbow into the boy's stomach. Sasuke flattened by the attack and the ground coughed up blood and cry out in agony.

"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled out.

Zabuza slammed his foot onto Sasuke's boy causing the boy to moan in pain even more. He reached over his shoulder and grabbed the hilt of his sword ready to behead the young ninja. "Hmhmhmhmhm, you're nothing." Zabuza continued to press his foot down on Sasuke's body, enjoying the pain he was causing.

"Stop right there!" Naruto yelled, "Shadow clone jutsu!" Shadow clones of Naruto began to appear around Zabuza who kept his hand on his sword ready to defend himself. By the time the clones had stopped appearing there were thirty images of Naruto, each holding a kunai knife, ready to charge in and defend their teammate.

Naruto and his clones launched into the air and came down on Zubuza's clone knives aimed to kill. The water clone responded by swinging his greatsword upwards sending all his attackers flying back. Many of the clones began disappearing into clouds of white smoke as their durability reached its limit.

"It's no use, his skills are too advanced! We can't defeat him." The bridge builder buckled.

"I'm not giving up, I still have this!" As Naruto flew back he pulled out a strange folded piece of metal and threw it at Sasuke.

Sasuke reached out and grabbed it, understanding immediately what the item was and what Naruto's plan had been. He unfurled the weapon, revealing it to be a demon wind shuriken. Sasuke jumped himself into the air and launched the deadly shuriken at Zubaza. The water clone stood still ready to intercept the weapon as had done with all their previous attacks. So the look of surprise on its face was priceless for the children as the shuriken whizzed around its body and towards the main Zabuza.

"So you pasted the clone and aimed for my real body huh?" The real Zabuza said as the attack drew closer. "But not smart enough!" He reached out a hand and caught the demon shuriken by it's inner handle stopping the attack.

"Huh?" No sooner had it caught the weapon that a second one appear seemingly for nowhere. "A second shuriken thrown in the shadow of the first? The Shadow Shuriken Jutsu."

'The second shuriken is right on target and he can't dodge this one' Sakura thought, clenching her hands to her chest.

The shuriken whizzed through the air and approached Zabuza. Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, and the bridge builder watched the intense exchange. Katsumi listened intently hoping that whatever plan the boys came up with worked. Just as the shuriken was within a few feet of Zabuza he jumped into the air avoiding the attack completely. "I told you that shuriken can't touch me!"

The shuriken sailed past Zabuza harmlessly and the group felt a feeling of despair, all except Sasuke. He simply smiled at Zabuza. The shuriken kept going about ten feet further before popping into a cloud of smoke. In its place was Naruto seemingly suspended in the air with a kunai knife in his hand. The earlier attacks had all been feints leading up to the real setup of him getting behind Zabuza. He hurled the blade at Zabuza aiming directly at his face. The assassin with no other options pulled away from his water prison, dodging the attack but freeing Katsumi and Kakashi in the process.

Katsumi wasn't expecting the sudden drop. She fell into the water and involuntarily gulped some down. She began panicking, splashing her arms around in the hopes that she could find her teacher's arm again.

"You little brat!" Zabuza yelled, gripping the shuriken he'd caught earlier and preparing to attack Naruto, who was now falling back towards the lake. The shuriken in Zabuza's hand burst into smoke just as the other one had before it. Tadashi grabbed Zabuza's wrist and pulled the large man down while at the same time kicking both his feet upward, using Zabuza's face as a springboard to launch himself into the water. The assassin stood dazed for a moment but by the time he came around to his senses, Tadashi was already swimming back to the shore with his sister hanging onto his back kicking the water to him along.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Katsumi, Tadashi, good work all of you. Leave the rest to me."