Izumi's POV
Why does he have to yell so much...! I thought as Naruto yelled something about heroes painting a target on himself, Maybe if I stay hidden... I was still contemplating this when I was dragged into a dome of ice mirrors.
Sasuke's POV
"I'm here to--" Naruto whisper yelled to me, but was abruptly cut off when he fell to the bridge when a fist connected with his face, "Ow...!" he whimpered laying with his face down.
I never thought that I'd see Izumi angry at Naruto like she was at that moment, "You idiot!!!" she growled grabbing Naruto's collar and shaking him back and forth in her rage, "I could've still been useful, but no you had to drag me in here!" I almost laughed when I saw that at the one moment she did get angry at that idiot was when she needed to be serious, "Oi! Don't act like you're so much better, Uchiha!" Izumi glared daggers at me, "If you hadn't gotten trapped in this Jutsu I wouldn't have been dragged into this situation, to begin with!"
"Fair enough," I grumbled refocusing on the battle at hand, So the real one's over there! I twirled around seeing as Haku readied an attack and I drew a kunai from the pouch on my leg.
"Over here!"
Hmm... Looks like destroying the mirrors is my only option... Izumi's eyes darted from mirror to mirror in analysis and Naruto merely looked confused. I quickly formed the hand signs of both the horse and tiger, Fire style fire ball Jutsu! I screamed within my head, Since these mirrors are made of ice...
To my surprise, the fire jutsu didn't even make a dent in Haku's ice mirrors, "Since that didn't work... How about some teamwork!" Izumi gave me an annoyed smile, but it faded quickly as she saw movement in the corner of her eyes, "Crap!" she gasped making a quick hand sign a long katana of wood appeared in her hands, "Get back!" she ordered forcing both Naruto and I behind her, "Gah!" Izumi breathed as red trickled down her arms and legs as Haku's needles stuck out from her flesh.
"What was that about teamwork?!?" I cried at her as Naruto and I blocked her from the next attack ending with all three of us sliding backwards onto the bridge.
Izumi's POV
I could use that... but... No, it uses too much chakra. "What to do....?" I sighed removing multiple of the needles from my arms.
"Which one is the real one?!?"
"Try all you like you'll never know the secret. You can't defeat me. I can't lose!" the masked boy taunted watching as Naruto made a hand sign of his own.
"Shadow clone Jutsu!" Naruto bellowed not paying any attention as Sasuke screamed for him to stop, "If I have to smash every single one of these mirrors to find the real one, so be it!"
"That won't work." came Haku's voice once again, "I move at nearly light speed... To me, you might as well be moving in slow motion.
I understand now... Why this boy is so strong... He too has a Kekkei Genkai. Not even Sensei could copy this Jutsu.
"No, I won't let it end like this!" Naruto snarled glaring coldly at Haku, "I've got a dream... To become the greatest Hokage."
"I too once had a dream... I find it difficult to fully embrace the way of the shinobi." Haku said upon hearing Naruto's statement, "Please, don't make me kill you... However, if you come at me again I will be forced to kill the kindness within my own heart and act as a shinobi. This bridge is where our dreams will collide... I wonder whose dreams will win in the end..." he explained simply, "Please try not to hate me, but I am willing to do anything to protect the person that is precious to me. Doing so is my own dream. To that end, I will become a true shinobi and I will kill the three of you that stand in my way." the three of us smiled as the masked boy finished his little speech.
"Sasuke! Izumi! Naruto! I know you can do it!" we could hear Sakura screech... then silence.
"Well just standing here certainly isn't doing us any good." I turned to my two comrades.
"We're all wounded... But we'll just have to tough it out...." Sasuke stated the obvious, "We'll be fine as long as he doesn't kill any of us. After all, there must be a limit to his chakra too. His attacks have been growing weaker." Sasuke sprinted forward wielding a kunai knife, but was immediately stopped as one of Haku's needles plunged into his leg just below the knee.
"Kyyyyaa!" Sakura screamed from somewhere on the other side of the bridge.
"That voice was...?" Sakura?!? Sasuke realized it too and slowly rose to his feet while Naruto was laid panting and passed out on the cold bridge, but soon he too awakened managing to get to his knees in a feeble attempt to find his feet, Does Sasuke see something I don't..? Wait his eyes?!? The Sharingan? What a time for it to awaken?
"I see you too share a kekkei Genkai. A blood line trait." Haku noted as Sasuke continued to stare at him, "I cannot allow this fight to go on any longer. My own Jutsu expends a large amount of chakra, so there's a limit to how long I can go on using it." Haku turned down his head and held more needles in an almost defensive way, "I'm sure the longer this goes on the more you'll use the Sharingan to perceive my movements! Especially considering how well you can already see me." the masked boy burst from the mirrors headed directly to the once more passed out Naruto, "Time to end this!"
Naruto?!? I cried in my head somehow managing to find myself in a sitting position, It's no use... My chakra is dangerously low... I can't do anything? I'd hardly call myself a Senju in this state.
As those thoughts plunked around inside my head Sasuke was the one who moved saving our blond comrade, "You are always getting in my way..." Sasuke muttered in a gravely voice.
"Sasuke you di--" Naruto started turning his head to Sasuke proudly, but then he realized... the cold truth and his eyes widened immeasurably as he stared at the raven-haired boy that stood before him. The two of us were silent for a long time as we sat noting the countless number of needles protruding from Sasuke's skin making him look more like a porcupine than a person. Red was pooled at his feet and was also splattered in every direction around him, "Why...?"
"Get that dumb expression off your face, Idiot and you too Izumi..." Sasuke struggled to turn his head, "Why? You ask me why...? Hmph..." he smirked looking down as blood dripped from his lip, "I used to hate you, you know... I don't know why... My body... it just moved on its own." with that his eyes slowly closed and the boy slowly fell backwards only to fall into Naruto's arms.
No, Sasuke! I silently begged in my head that the image that I'd just seen had been an illusion, but my body still refused to move and I could sense that something had changed withing Naruto at that moment. A dangerous something. A dangerous something that I'd hoped would never happen throughout my time on team seven.
"He came to protect you knowing it was a trap... He sacrificed himself for you... He was a shinobi deserving of great respect. Is this the first time? The first time you've lost someone precious to you? Such is the way of a ninja.
"I used to hate you too... Sasuke..." Naruto remained crouched still holding Sasuke's motionless body in his arms, "I won't forgive you!!!!!!!"
A gasp had caught itself in my throat upon seeing the blond boy's eyes. They were a dark red and the pupils were slits similar to that of a cats. A dark, blood-thirsty chakra surrounded him healing every single wound that penetrated his body, and I... I had failed at my mission. The seal that bound the nine-tailed fox had broken in my presence and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Even if I could've moved there's o way I could've moved at that moment as I would've been frozen in fear by the one I called my comrade.