A/N: So we turn the camera to a mission we all know very well. The land of waves arc. I'll try and keep this short, or at least a little less detailed than the normal one. I want to show the little changes in the characters in this AU. Anyway, hope you enjoy!
In the Land of Waves, Team 7—Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura—finally arrived at their destination. Their mission: to protect a bridge builder named Tazuna. However, their arrival was met with unexpected peril. The Demon of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi, ambushed them, attempting to seize them in a surprise attack. He was ultimately thwarted by Kakashi Hatake and his team.
Following the intense confrontation, Team 7 made their way to Tazuna's house, their temporary base of operations until it was safe to depart.
Inside the house, Kakashi stirred from a deep sleep. Sigh… I think I overdid it using my Sharingan, he thought.
"Are you alright, Sensei?" Kakashi turned to his right, where Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, stood with concern etched on her face.
"I've been better," he admitted. "It'll be a few days before I can walk normally." He attempted to sit up.
"It's better if you don't move," Tsunami advised gently, easing him back down.
"Right…" Kakashi grunted, resigning himself to his prone position. He glanced toward the doorway as Team 7 entered the room.
"Look, Kakashi's coming around," Naruto announced.
"Naruto… I told you to call me Sensei," Kakashi corrected gently.
"Sorry…" Naruto mumbled, scratching his head apologetically.
"That Sharingan is incredible, but… if it puts that much stress on your body, then maybe it isn't worth it," Sakura said, taking a seat beside Kakashi's bed.
Tazuna scoffed. "Well, you did take down one of the most powerful ninja assassins, so we'll be safe for a while."
"Right, but…" Sakura hesitated. "What about that boy with the mask? What about him?"
"He's from the elite tracking unit of the Hidden Mist," Kakashi explained. "Those masks are only worn by the most elite shinobi."
"What exactly do they do?" Sakura inquired.
"The Anbu Black Ops, also known as the Inferno Squad, destroy all traces of a rogue ninja's corpse," Kakashi elaborated.
"A shinobi's body contains many secrets—hidden jutsu, chakra, special medicines used on his body. These are the secrets of his village, and if his enemy finds them, his people will be in grave danger."
"For instance," he continued, "if I were to die at the hands of an enemy, they would try to analyze my Sharingan. In the worst case, my entire jutsu could be stolen and used against my home village. It is the sacred duty of the shinobi trackers to prevent this."
"To keep the village secrets safe," Kakashi concluded, "if a ninja betrays his village, the trackers hunt him down, eliminate him, and obliterate every trace of his existence. That's their speciality."
As Kakashi answered his team's questions, outside the Land of Waves, the boy in the mask placed his knife kit beside Zabuza. They had sought shelter in a dilapidated hut, its straw roof offering minimal protection, the interior shrouded in near-darkness.
He reached for Zabuza's mouth with a pair of thick scissors. "First, I'll cut the mouth cloth, drain the blood, and—"
"That's enough… I'll do it myself!" Zabuza growled, his hand gripping the approaching hand before it could reach his face.
"Oh, you've already come back to life."
Zabuza grunted, yanking the senbon from his neck. "Damn it, you're brutal… Haku."
Zabuza began removing the remaining needles embedded in his body.
"You're the one who's brutal, Zabuza," Haku retorted. "If you keep pulling them out like that, you really will be finished."
Zabuza glanced back at him. "How long will you keep wearing that phony mask? Take it off!"
Haku touched the mask. "I have good memories of this mask, and it was quite useful for tricking that ninja." He removed the mask, revealing his long hair gathered in a white bun holder, with two locks framing his face, bound by metal cuffs. His skin was so smooth that one could easily mistake him for a girl.
"Besides," he added, "it was useful to fool those ninja."
Zabuza frowned. "If you were going to put me in a momentary death, you could have used a different acupuncture point. You're annoying as always."
Haku smiled, his eyes closing. "You're right."
Haku's smile lingered as Zabuza glared at him. "I just didn't want to scar your beautiful body… And the neck doesn't have as much muscle. It's easier to hit the acupuncture points there." Zabuza finally stood.
"You shouldn't be able to move much for a week. But you might be able to move sooner than that."
Zabuza shook his head. "You are so pure and clever. That's what I like about you."
Haku smiled. "It's because I'm just a kid."
His smile faded, replaced by a serious expression. "Look… the mist has cleared. Next time… will you be alright?"
Zabuza's gaze hardened, his face etched with rage as he thought of Kakashi.
"Not that I have a choice," he growled. "But next time… I will defeat the Sharingan."
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Back inside Tazuna's house, while Kakashi remained unconscious, Naruto and Sakura attempted to unveil the mystery beneath his mask.
Suddenly, Kakashi's eye snapped open.
"Woaah!" Naruto yelped, leaping back in shock, his hand colliding with Sakura in his hasty retreat.
Hearing the commotion, Tsunami re-entered the room. "Oh, Kakashi-sensei, you're awake."
Sakura punched Naruto sharply, scolding him. "Idiot! What are you doing? We were so close to seeing what's underneath the mask!"
Kakashi winced, clutching his eye. 'What's this? Zabuza is dead… But what is this feeling? I feel like I'm missing something very important…'
He rested his chin in his hand, lost in thought. 'No… something is strange. Could I have missed something?'
Silence filled the room as everyone watched Kakashi, deep in contemplation.
"What's wrong, Sensei?" Naruto finally asked.
Kakashi blinked, breaking free from his reverie. "Huh? Well…"
"Naruto, do you remember what I told you about the body disposal teams?"
"I mean, yeah, you said, umm… they always have to dispose of bodies as quickly as possible, and ummm—"
"I said that usually, body disposal teams dispose of the bodies they've killed right there," Kakashi finished, clarifying Naruto's incomplete recollection.
"Yeah, that's right!" Naruto grinned, recalling the information.
"So what?" Sakura asked.
"He means to say…" Sasuke interjected, "It's suspicious that the shinobi assigned to dispose of the body didn't do it right there and then. Instead, he took the body with him and left."
Kakashi nodded. 'His deduction skills keep improving. It seems Itachi truly is teaching him something,' he thought.
"And the weapons he used," Kakashi continued. "Simple needles."
Sasuke and Naruto exchanged a worried glance. 'No way!' They both reached the same conclusion.
Tazuna entered the room, drawn by their conversation. "What are you guys talking about?"
Kakashi turned to him. "Most likely… Zabuza is still alive."
Sakura and Tazuna's eyes widened in disbelief, while Naruto and Sasuke shared another uneasy look.
"What the hell do you mean?!" Sakura exclaimed. "You said you checked and said he was dead!"
"Yeah, I did… But that was most likely a momentary death."
Kakashi recounted the earlier battle. "Unless it hits the vital organs, the needles that hunter-nin uses have a low probability of killing someone. They're even used by doctors for acupuncture therapy. Hunter-nin know the body's structure thoroughly. Putting a person in a momentary state of death is probably easy for them. First, he carried the body of a much heavier Zabuza. Second, he used a weapon with a low probability of killing. These two points indicate that his motive was not to kill Zabuza but to save him. We can't ignore that possibility."
Tazuna looked disturbed. "Aren't you overthinking? Hunter-nin are supposed to kill missing-nin," he argued, recalling Kakashi's earlier explanation.
Sasuke shook his head. "When you consider those points, it only makes sense that Zabuza is alive."
"In any case, we'd better prepare," Kakashi stated. "With all these suspicions, we'll prepare before it's too late. That's a shinobi rule. Besides, whether Zabuza is alive or not, there's no guarantee Gatō hasn't hired even stronger shinobi."
Kakashi glanced ahead, noticing Naruto's grin. His fists were clenched tightly, clearly relishing the possibility that their enemy had survived. 'Heh, he's actually happy that Zabuza is alive,' Kakashi thought.
"Sensei, what do you mean, 'prepare before it's too late'?" Sakura asked. "You can barely move."
"Oh?" Kakashi slowly rose to his feet, surprising Sakura. Her eyes widened as she saw him standing upright.
"You guys will receive training," he announced.
"Heh? Training?" Sakura questioned.
"Sensei, what good will a little training do?! Our enemy is a ninja you struggled against, even with the Sharingan!"
"Sakura, who saved me while I was struggling?" he countered rhetorically. "You guys are growing rapidly." He smiled at Naruto and Sasuke. "Well, I've been training you two since you were kids, so I expected as much, and you still ended up surpassing my expectations. Well done. And Sakura, if you don't want to be left behind, I suggest you keep working harder every day." They all smiled at him.
"But anyway, this training will last until I can move again. I'll finish the fight next time. And I understand that you can't do this without me."
"But Sensei, if Zabuza is alive, he could attack us at any moment. Isn't it dangerous to train on the fly?" Sakura asked.
"About that," Kakashi replied. "A person put in a momentary state of death… it should take a while before their body is back to normal."
"So we train until then," Naruto said with a grin. "Sounds like a lot of fun!"
Suddenly, a young boy in black overalls and a cute little bucket hat entered the room, his grim expression instantly deflating Naruto's enthusiasm. "That's not fun," he stated flatly, shattering the lighthearted mood.
"Who the hell are you?!" Naruto demanded, frustrated by the interruption.
The boy removed his shoes and walked over to Tazuna. "Oh! Inari! Where were you?" Tazuna asked.
"Welcome back, Grandpa," Inari replied, offering a hug. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura watched as he pointedly ignored them.
Tsunami walked over, placing her hands on her hips disapprovingly. "Inari," she said commandingly, "say hello to these people. They are ninjas who protected Grandpa."
The room remained tense, the shift in atmosphere entirely due to Inari's arrival.