𝙇𝘼𝙑𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍. | 𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗨𝗧𝗢

VIII

"EVERYONE get down!"

A large blade swung over the group of six. Riki blinked, and the next thing she knew, she felt her body crashing into the soil. Sakura had dragged Naruto and Riki down to the floor with her as she ducked down and the three of them fell to the grass with a 'thud'.

The large sword wedged itself into a tree, and then, a split second later, a man appeared, standing on its long hilt.

"Well, well," Kakashi walked near the tree where the man was at, hands still in his pockets. "If it isn't the most famous Rouge ninja of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi!"

Just as Sakura helped Naruto and Riki off the ground, the blonde charged at the man, letting out a battle cry. He was about to run past Kakashi but the grey haired man didn't allow him to pass. Kakashi held an arm in front of Naruto, shielding him from the enemy whilst also blocking him from intercepting Zabuza.

"You're in the way," Kakashi said with low tone of voice. "Get back."

Naruto grew annoyed at Kakashi's words, even though his teacher had tried to protect him. "Why?!"

"He's on a totally different level than the guys from earlier." Kakashi's short explanation didn't seem to satisfy Naruto at all, and the blonde gritted his teeth. Kakashi gripped his left hand over the left part of his face.

"I assume you are Kakashi of the Sharingan, the copy ninja . . ." Their attacker said, his back towards them, his neck twisted to look at them. Sasuke flinched at the metuon of the Sharingan.

Kakashi had a Sharingan?

"Sorry," Zabuza said, his deep, raspy voice shaking up fear inside Riki. "I'll have you hand over the old man."

"You guys, get into the Manji battle formation." The team looked at Kakashi, slightly confused. "Protect Tazuna and don't get involved in this fight. Got it?"

Kakashi finally pulled up his headband off his left eye. And under his headband was a crimson eye that had three black commas that surrounded a black pupil. Naruto gasped beside Kakashi in surprise and Sasuke was baffled.

"Well," Zabuza trailed off. He turned his whole body and faced the group below him. His full appearance instilled fear in not only Riki but most of Team Seven. "I never knew I'd be able to see the famed Sharingan so early . . ."

"Sharingan this, Sharingan that!" Naruto shouted. "Everyone keeps talkin' about this Sharingan, what the heck does it even mean?!"

"The Sharingan . . ." Sasuke muttered, "The user of the so called Visual Jutsu is said to possess the vision to see through all Genjutsu, Taijutsu and Ninjutsu and is able to deflect them. The Sharingan is a type of unique eye to the user of the Visual Art. However, that is not the only power of the Sharingan."

"Well said," Zabuza congratulated Sasuke. "But that is not all. What is more frightening is that the eye can asses a person's techniques and copy them. When I was in the Anbu Black Ops, search information about you was in our Bingo Book. There was also domething else in the Bingo book. It was about a man who had copied over a thousand skills . . . Kakashi, the Copy Ninja!"

After a few seconds of tensed silence, Naruto spoke." T-That's awsome, believe it!" he shouted.

"Let's end the talking here." The man crouched down in his sword's hilt and stretched. "I must kill that old man immediately."

Tazuna gasped at the Rouge nin's declaration. The genin of Team Seven rushed into the Manji formation, with Riki as the fourth addition that guarded Tazuna from behind. They all held a kunai knife in their hands, ready to strike if the Rouge ninja ever came close to Tazuna.