The shore was silent … workers felt the pressure of Kakashi's chakra and promptly left when he yelled …
The guards making sure the bridge remained safe for the workers felt the change in the air … Hands reaching for weapons as their knees threatened to buckle under the pressure …
The mist was dense and cold, ice cold …
As the white wall enveloped the shore, frost could be seen building up on the bridge foundations and a thin layer of ice grew over in the damp sand of the shore …
Kakashi cycled his chakra faster inside his body, his hands performing the needed seals for a free-form jutsu to take care of the current problem … Fire and Wind chakra melded together to form a bubble around Kakashi and his genins, keeping them warm against the environmental assault.
[Kakashi] - Be prepared, Zabuza isn't alone, this level of ice control requires a specialist or a bloodline … -
Kakashi could see at the edge of his senses even the guards retreating, so much for extra reinforcements …
Not that Kakashi blamed them, a jounin isn't something you can overwhelm with numbers alone, despite the Wave forces having a few fighters, they were needed on other fronts …
[Jay] - What's the strategy now ? -
Jay's question cut right to the point. If Zabuza has an allie, Kakashi wouldn't be able to fight both of them at once …
[Kakashi] - We can't back away now, you guys will be hunted … see this as a harsh lesson, no plan survives contact with the enemy … stay sharp, stay ready and watch each other's backs … we will get out of this alive, I promise … -
Kakashi said with a small smile to his genins, the week of training made sure they could think and act under the pressure of a jounin … but live combat was an entirely different beast … especially since Zabuza apparently had a surprise in his pocket …
*** *** ***
Zabuza and Haku walked over the water, their chakras mixing into a deadly combination of jutsus … a heavy mist cold enough to freeze an untrained civilian that dared to stay out in it for too long … it was a battlefield changer, and for Zabuza, the perfect tool to weed out the chaff …
Zabuza's senses spread over, the chakra infused mist serving as an amplifier for his perception … As expected, Kakashi countered the jutsu in his vicinity, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the mist but the rest …
[Zabuza] - The shore is clear … -
[Haku] - Should I go for the bridge builder ? -
Haku asked, his voice bank and cold just like the mask he was using …
Zabuza mulled over the option before shaking his head.
[Zabuza] - No, Kakashi and his brats are more dangerous than they appear, I want you to take care of them … -
[Haku] - As you wish … -
[Zabuza] - Remember that the blond brat is a fuinjutsu user, don't repeat my mistake … -
With the final tip from his master, Haku took a few steps to the side, the dense mist engulfing his form, leaving Zabuza by himself.
[Zabuza] - Kakashi, Kakashi … My payment from Gatoh with your head plus that Sharingan of yours … I'll have raised enough funds for the revolution … -
Zabuza tightened the grip on his sword … the civil war in the mist was still raging and Zabuza was out here in bumfuck nowhere working for a billionaire shitstain just to raise money …
[Zabuza] - One more war to fight, a few more enemies to butcher … -
Zabuza slowly strung together handseals, cold water with ice chunks churned together as the jutsu took hold …
*** *** ***
Kakashi felt the change in the air, the gathering of chakra was a tell tale sigh of a big jutsu taking form …
The chakra filled mist made it harder to perceive things, but Kakashi was an elite jounin and a dog summoner, his senses were sharp.
[Kakashi] - Step back, the battle is about to start … -
Kakashi cycled his chakra faster, priming it to perform a jutsu at a moment's notice, his hands blurred in a series of general handseals, leaving the chakra at the cusp of taking form …
Sasuke and Sakura stepped back, feeling the sensation at the back of their necks, the same feeling they spent the whole week training to notice and react to …
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Jay prepared his seals, the engraved pieces of wood and stone stored back at Tazuna's shed, ready to be summoned via the storage tags … each one with an explosive tag placed on them, primed to go off …
***
Inside Jay's mind, Kurama watched from the point of view of his jailer with just a hint of concern … Kurama got a first hand experience of what a fight looked and felt like from the perspective of a meatbag, kyuubi’s non existing heart beat faster as Jay's eyes snapped all over the place looking for his opponent …
Kurama's chakra bubbled as he felt the tension wearing the skin of a mortal …
***
Haku watched from afar, an ice mirror giving him a closer view of his targets, an Uchiha, a girl with pink hair and the little blond bastard that dared to blast Haku's master with explosive tags …
Haku could feel the Blond kid chakra flowing out of him in pulses … a wasteful but effective detection technique …
Deciding to test the reaction of his targets, Haku's hand formed a few seals, the icy mist condensing into sharp ice shards, ready to rain down on his targets …
Haku felt his master’s chakra finally snapping into place as the water around them violently rose in a wave that threatened to crash everything in front of it … ice shards churned with the water making everything even deadlier … the resounding sound of crashing waves and the chirping noise of lightning marked the start of the battle …
Haku waved his hands and a literal hail rained down … as Haku made his presence known …
*** *** ***
Kakashi felt Zabuza's jutsu taking hold, the destructive water wave would crash over the entire shore if Kakashi didn't contest it …
Lightning gathered in Kakashi's hand, current flowing from the carefully molded chakra in his hands towards the rest of his body, nerves primed for movement, muscles taught …
… The chirping noise of countless birds drowning out even the crashing waves.
***
The jutsu was Kakashi's answer to speeds that surpassed comprehension … it became Kakashi's signature …
A prototype born out of Kakashi's desperation to help Minato in battle against foes that surpassed jounins … and also Kakashi's way of keeping up with his only friend Maito Guy … the incomplete lightning armor that Kakashi affectionately called Chidori … the thousand singing birds …
***
Lightning flowed from Kakashi's hand through his body and into the ground … his body jolted forward as if yanked by the current …
A thunderclap sounded out as Kakashi's form blurred in motion …
Like a literal bolt of lightning, Kakashi pierced through the crashing water wave ninjutsu, disturbing the chakra and making the veritable tsunami disperse …
Kakashi felt his muscles becoming sore, his mind struggling with the onslaught of information as the ride in a lightning bolt was over … Kakashi ducked as a gigantic blade passed over where his neck previously was …
Kakashi knew Zabuza must have used quite a bit of Chakra also … take a breather or all in ? …
Both jounins swaped looks before Zabuza opened his mouth, breathing controled …
Take a breather it is …
[Zabuza] - I have to give it to you Kakashi, Kumo’s lightning armor might be better, but yours somehow make a better entrance … -
[Kakashi] - In glad you like it, the worst part about this jutsu is getting the blood and chunks of body out off the hand … -
[Zabuza] - You won't have to worry about it for much longer after I relieve you off your head. Some people are willing to pay quite a penny for the secrets you have inside of that brain of yours … especially Kumogakure -
[Kakashi] - Well … aren't you confident, didn't my student almost blow you up ? -
Kakashi finished regaining his breath and abruptly flung a lightning enhanced Kunai towards Zabuza's head … Zabuza a small beat later swung his sword towards Kakashi’s neck, signaling the end of the conversation as both jounin went back at it.
*** *** ***
Jay felt at the edge of his perception a hail of projectiles coming …
[Jay] - UP HIGH … -
Jay yelled to Sakura and Sasuke, a storage tag puffing into smoke and a chunk of battered metal taking its place.
Jay's metal shield that previously held against the onslaught of Zabuza's water clone now was serving as cover for himself and his teammates against the hail of sharp ice …
Sasuke took the opportunity to make the needed handseals and take a deep breath, Sakura using the time to spot for their enemy …
Sakura put a hand on Sasuke's shoulders and silently pointed at a moving blur in the mist …
Sakura got ready, making handseals herself, her chakra control even sharper as a genjutsu was primed to go off …
Sakura nudged Jay and silently counted.
[Sakura] - Three, two … -
Then she closed her eyes together with Sasuke.
A tag stuck to Jay's shield briefly sparkled as chakra activated the fuinscript, in the blink of an eye, an explosion of light shone through the mist, Sasuke followed Sakura's previous directions, his lungs already filled with the deadly mix of Fire chakra and air … a gout of flames bursting out of his mouth and blanketing that general direction in deadly fire chakra …
***
Haku's eyes watered as the light blinded him momentarily even through his mask … a panel of ice formed from the mist, giving Haku footing to change directions mid air as he felt the heat of a fire jutsu coming …
Haku dodged to the side, going towards the ground, hands already making seals before even touching ground.
***
Jay felt something prickle at his perception and was already mid step when Sasuke pulled on his and Sakura’s shoulders making them take a step back …
Sasuke's sharingan caught the moment the frosted sand was breached and a thin ice spike pierced through were Jay previously stood, scraping against the metal shield with a screething noise without breaking … showing how lethal that spike actually was …
Sakura took advantage of that brief moment to throw a handful of shurikens that Jay inscribed for her in the direction of the burst of chakra she felt.
The metal projectiles flew briefly before the fuinscript sparkled and an explosion illuminated the mist, giving them the first actual look at the siluet of their enemy …
Jay focused some more, chakra flowing faster in his body as the sensorial pulses coming out of him became shorter and sharper, while Jay started to molded his chakra into a jutsu …
Sasuke prepared a few handseals while Jay's held position and prepared to form his clones.
Sakura kept rapt attention at her surroundings, chakra primed, cloned illusory shurikens identical to the explosive ones she threw were in her palm waiting until Jay was ready …
Sakura murmured to herself, the few lessons about genjutsu coming to her mind … first establish the threat, then you make them guess …
***
Haku felt the blond boy chakra churning and folding, the metal shield he was using as cover obscuring what he and the others were doing …
Preparing for the worst, Haku condensed some of the mist in a thin layer of ice around his body.
***
Sakura signaled for Sasuke, who swiped his hands above Jay's shield, making a brief wall of flames that obscured them even more.
Sakura threw the illusory shurikens up high, faking them curving down to hit Haku from above …
***
Haku saw the gout of distracting flames almost completely obscuring the shurikens that were tossed high … but Haku saw them and he wasn't talking risks if they were also explosive …
A string of handseals and a panel of ice appeared above Haku, intercepting the shurikens before they came too close … but instead of explosions, there was only a small burst of smoke from an illusory disguise dispelling …
Haku's eyes widened as from behind the flames, a blur shot forward …
… the blur took the shape of the blond boy holding his shield up front like a boulder shot from a trebuchet … the extra size was enough for the shield to brush against Haku's body even as he tried to dodge …
The sheer speed and impact were enough to shatter Haku's thin layer of ice armor as it absorbed the worst of the impact …
Haku ground his teeth against the shock …
[Haku] - … more dangerous than expected … -
Haku reevaluated his assessement, deciding to splurge his reserves instead of being frugal in the hopes of aiding Zabuza against Kakashi …
Haku hands blurred into countless seals, panels of ice were forming out of the mist which was starting to become clearer as it was no longer being sustained.
The mirror like panels were carefully positioned to reflect Haku's form and suround his targets, slowly closing in in a dome …
Chakra enveloped Haku's legs as he executed successive shushins between the mirrors …
***
Sasuke's sharingan strugled to keep track of their opponent …
One thing was clear, they were being surrounded and there was nothing they could do about it …
The masked ninja surrounded them with mirrors and a hail of projectiles, he moved between the surfaces almost too fast to keep track and the reflections on the mirrors made keeping track of everything even harder …
Jay was struggling to keep his shield in the right direction to block the constant hail of sharp ice shards being tossed their way … most of the needle like projectiles shattered against the metal, but some became stuck, leaving the shield heavier and more brittle …
And they came from every direction, sometimes passing Jay's guard and striking his flesh, numbing the muscles with the cold and making everything even harder …
But of one thing the team was certain about … their opponent stopped concerving chakra …
[Jay] - Ideas ? … -
[Sakura] - Blow them up ? -
[Sasuke] - Too slow … Wire trap ? -
[Jay] - Not enough wired shurikens … -
Sakura thought for a moment, the constant bathering of ice against metal making her head hurt.
[Sakura] - Fake wire trap to slow, them blow the mirrors up … -
Jay and Sasuke looked at each other and nodded.
*** *** ***
