All characters and story belong to Kohei Horikoshi and Masashi Kishimoto
—That's not a toy, bastard! —Bakugo exclaimed, removing the claws that pierced his skin from his arm. —Even if he doesn't show it, it hurts almost as much as a toothache. —Then he showed his most terrifying smile that made the chunin sweat from the fear it instilled in him. —DIEEEEE! —With his healthy arm, Bakugo used his quirk on the guy's face. Not with enough force to kill him but enough to leave him unconscious and with permanent wounds on his face.
"You never cease to amaze me, Bakugo," Kakashi said with a smile under his mask, carrying the other chunin, who was also unconscious, on his shoulder.
"Kakashi-sensei is alive!" Sakura thought, very happy.
—Bah, show-off. —Sasuke thought, looking at Kakashi.
"Heh," Bakugo smirked. "You're quite the showman, one-eyed!"
"Good work, guys. The three of you did great for this being your first time facing off against other ninjas from other villages," Kakashi said, proud of his students.
"Huh? But I thought you were torn to pieces?" Tazuna said, not understanding.
"Kakashi-sensei used the Kawarimi no Jutsu. The Body Replacement Technique is a very basic but very useful evasion technique. The jutsu activates when the user is hit," Sakura explained.
"You're a know-it-all, big-headed girl. But you were the first to believe he was killed," Bakugo said, rolling his eyes.
"Shut up, Bakago!" Sakura exclaimed angrily. Then she noticed the wound on the blond's arm, and she went from being angry to worried. "Bakugo... your arm..."
"Uh, it's just a scratch," Bakugo said, dismissively. But the truth is, it was more than just a scratch; the wound was quite deep.
"Bakugo, these ninjas have poison in their claws," Kakashi explained. "So don't move too much or you'll spread the poison. We need to heal you immediately." Bakugo looked at his wound; his arm was starting to go numb. "But first…Lord Tazuna. We need to talk."
Kakashi tied both unconscious chunin to the nearest tree with his chakra thread. He then woke them both up with a double kick to the face.
"These are chunin from the Hidden Mist Village," Kakashi explained, pointing to the headbands they wore on their foreheads.
"How did you find out it was an ambush?" asked the one who wasn't hurt by Bakugo.
"It's weird to see a puddle on a clear day when it hasn't rained in days," Kakashi said.
"In that case, why did you let them attack us?" Tazuna asked angrily.
"I could have finished them off quickly, but then my students wouldn't have learned anything. Besides..." Kakashi glared at Tazuna. "I had to know what their goal was and what they were up to."
"What are you getting at?" Tazuna asked nervously.
"I wanted to know if they were coming for us, ninjas who attack other ninjas. Or if they were coming for you, the master bridge builder," Kakashi explained. "And it's become clear they were coming for you. When you offered us your assignment, you requested standard protection from thieves and bandits. You didn't mention any ninjas looking for you. If that was the case, this mission would be downgraded to B-rank or even A-rank, with the corresponding cost." Tazuna looked down dejectedly. "You had your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable."
"We're genin, this is too much for our level," Sakura said. "We should return as soon as possible and have Bakugo's poison wound treated at the hospital."
"No way!" Bakugo replied firmly. The other four turned to look at him, confused. "I refuse to let my first mission end like this!"
—This isn't our first mission, we've done numerous D-rank ones...—said Sakura
"Those weren't missions! This guy may be a drunk and a liar, but we've agreed to protect him, and that's what we'll do. You can go back to the village if you want; I'm staying. I keep my word," Bakugo announced with a determined expression.
—But your wound...— Sakura tried to make him understand.
"That's easily solved. Those who use poison as a weapon, unless they're idiots, always have an antidote in case they accidentally hurt themselves. So..." He approached the chunin and used his ability to transform his face into the most terrifying thing in the world. "Tell me where the antidote is if you don't want to die." The threat gained credibility with the blond's mini-explosions.
"In my right pocket..." said the mist chunin, terrified.
He rummaged around in the indicated place until he found a bottle of green liquid. He then drank the contents in one gulp. Finally, he took some bandages out of his backpack to stop the bleeding.
"Easy and simple. Just like I said," Bakugo said, flashing his cocky grin again.
"Bakugo..." Sakura said, surprised by how brave the blond was.
"This guy..." Kakashi thought in admiration.
"I have to admit I was wrong about you, brat. You're still rude, but you've got guts," Tazuna said, pleased with the blond's decision.
"All right, let's get on with the mission. But no more lies from now on, Master Builder," Kakashi said.
Along the way, Tazuna told them the story of his country. That they were being harassed by the developer Gatoh to stop the bridge's construction, using mercenaries to do so. And that he lied about money; his country couldn't afford a B-class mission.
The five of them took a boat across the sea that separated the Land of Fire and the Land of Waves. They landed on the coast of the Land of Waves, but they still had half a day's walk to go before they reached Tazuna's house. Kakashi spotted a white snow rabbit near a tree.
"Snow rabbits change color depending on the sunlight. They only have white fur in winter, but it's spring. That means they were raised in a cage and released for a purpose: the Kawarimi no Jutsu (the replacement technique)." Kakashi thought, looking around, alert to any movement. "They're here."
Thanks to his caution, he quickly noticed a shadow approaching them.
"EVERYONE ON THE GROUND!" Kakashi ordered, his face worried.
"Huh?" the other four said at once.
They didn't understand what was happening, but they obeyed without question. A large, whirling sword nearly tore their heads off. It narrowly missed them and lodged itself in a tree. A moment later, a huge, eyebrowless man was leaning on the sword's handle.
"Well, well. If it isn't Zabuza Momochi, the deserter-nin from the Hidden Mist Village," Kakashi said.
—HEY! YOU FUCKING EYEBROWLESS GUY! ATTACKING FROM BEHIND IS FOR CRAWLING PEOPLE! —Bakugo shouted, annoyed and going after him.
"Back!" Kakashi ordered, blocking his way with his arm. "This one isn't like the other ninjas. He's in a completely different league than the other two from before."
"I'll have to use the sharingan," Kakashi thought.
"Back!" Kakashi ordered, blocking his way with his arm. "Zabuza isn't like other ninjas. He's in a completely different league than the other two from before."
"I'll have to use the sharingan," Kakashi thought.
"You're Kakashi, the one with the sharingan eye. Aren't you?" Zabuza said, still perched on his sword. "Sorry, but the old one is mine."
"What did the eyebrowless guy mean by the sharingan eye?" Bakugo thought, confused.
"Sharingan? Impossible..." Sasuke thought, biting his lip.
"Quick! Form a cross! Protect the bridge builder," Kakashi ordered. "And stay out of this fight. I've taught you the importance of teamwork. Now's the time to put it into practice."
Sakura, Sasuke, and Bakugo obeyed, though the latter grimaced in disgust. Then, Kakashi placed his bandana over his forehead so that his left eye was uncovered. A scar covered that part of his face from top to bottom, and his eye had a red iris, with three black blades hovering over its pupil.
"That eye..." Bakugo thought, straining to remember. "I've seen that eye before..."
After a few seconds, the image of Itachi pulling the katana from Mikoto's heart came to mind.
—ITACHI! —Bakugo thought, alarmed. —But... why does my sensei have it? Could it be some kind of jutsu?—
"Well, looks like I'm going to see the Sharingan in action. What an honor!" Zabuza exclaimed, smiling beneath the bandages covering his face.
—But the sharingan is an ocular type kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan... Could it be that Kakashi is a member of my clan?—Sasuke thought.
"I guess I'll have to kill you before I kill the old man," Zabuza said.
Zabuza then pulled his sword from the tree and, with a burst of momentum, leaped into the lake near his position. He hovered over the water, making a seal with his hands.
"He's accumulating a lot of chakra..." Kakashi thought.
—NINPO, KIRIGAKURE NO JUTSU! (Fog Bank Technique)—Zabuza shouted.
A thick fog was forming around him, making it impossible to see him.
"He's gone!" Sakura exclaimed worriedly.
"Don't worry. He'll come for me first." Kakashi tried to calm his student. "But don't let your guard down."
The fog was getting thicker and thicker.
"8 possible choices. Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, aorta, kidneys, and heart." Zabuza's voice sounded very calm. "Which of those points will I attack?"
Kakashi began to accumulate chakra, forming a seal.
"I feel the hostility from both of them. My body is unable to move, fearing that at the slightest movement I'll be dead. If this tension and hostility continues much longer, I'll go crazy!" Sasuke thought, beginning to lose his temper. "I've never felt anything so chilling. It's like I'm being cut."
"This feeling reminds me of what I felt during my encounter with All for One," Bakugo thought, sweating profusely and unable to move. "This is going to get ugly."
"Calm down," Kakashi said, bringing both Bakugo and Sasuke out of their trance. "I'll protect you with my life." He turned around and said this last bit with a smile.
"I wouldn't be so sure," Zabuza replied, placing himself in the middle of the formation of the three ninja children.
From that moment on, everything happened very quickly. Zabuza tried to cut the four in half, but Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza and stabbed him with his kunai. But there wasn't blood, only water. Zabuza's body turned into water. The Mist Ninja moved behind Kakashi and cut him in half, but he was also a water clone. The real Kakashi was pointing his kunai at Zabuza's neck.
"It's over," Kakashi announced.
—Well done Kakashi-sensei!—Sakura exclaimed with a smile.
"It all happened in an instant..." Bakugo thought irritably. "I'm still far from this level."
—Hahahahaha. You mean it's over? —Zabuza said. —I'm not that easily beaten. —
Once again, what appeared to be Zabuza was actually a water clone, emerging from behind Kakashi, the true mist ninja. With a slash, he tried to cut Kakashi in half; Kakashi narrowly dodged it by ducking, but couldn't avoid Zabuza's kick, which sent him flying into the lake. Half of Kakashi's body was covered in water.
"This isn't normal water. It's dense and heavy," Kakashi thought worriedly.
"Stupid!" Zabuza exclaimed, standing behind Kakashi and making seals. "SUIRO NO JUTSU!" (Water Prison)
"Shit..." Kakashi thought, his eyes wide.
A giant bubble enclosed Kakashi's body. Zabuza had one hand stuck inside the bubble, and Kakashi was unable to move from that prison.
—Hehe. This prison is impregnable. I'll deal with you later, but first... —Zabuza made a seal with his free hand. —MIZUBUNSHIN NO JUTSU! (Water clone)—
From the water of the lake emerged another Zabuza who walked slowly towards Tazuna and the three genin.
"You think that just because you wear a bandana you're already a ninja. How wrong you are!" Zabuza's clone disappeared into the dense fog.
—Fuck... —Bakugo thought, getting into a defensive stance. —I don't see anything...—
This was demonstrated when Bakugo didn't see the water clone's kick coming, sending him flying and gashing his forehead and lip. The blow accidentally knocked his headscarf off his forehead.
—BAKUGO!—Sakura shouted with a worried expression.
—TAKE TAZUNA AND LEAVE! YOU DON'T HAVE A CHANCE TO BEAT HIM! AS LONG AS HE HOLDS ME IN THIS PRISON, HE WON'T BE ABLE TO MOVE! —Kakashi shouted, concerned for his students. —THE CLONE CAN'T STAY TOO FAR FROM THE REAL ONE! LEAVE!
"Thanks for the tip, one-eyed," Bakugo said, getting up from the ground and spitting a little blood from his split lip. "Though I don't know if it's right to call you that right now. I'll have to call you something else. But that'll be after I make that weird guy with no eyebrows pay."
—THIS IS NOT A GAME, BAKUGO! THIS FIGHT IS OVER THE MOMENT I WAS CAPTURED! —Kakashi shouted. —OUR MISSION IS TO PROTECT THE BRIDGE BUILDER! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT?—
"Shit..." Bakugo muttered, looking back at Tazuna. "It's true I promised to protect that drunk."
"All of this happened because of me," Tazuna said, looking sadly at the ground. "Because of my desire to live. But I won't let that get in the way. Do what you think is right, blondie!"
"Heh," Bakugo smirked. "You heard the drunk, gray-haired. Although if I can teach the eyebrow-less guy a lesson and protect the drunk, all the better. So..." He looked at his teammates. "Big forehead, Sasuke!" He turned his face to look at his teammates.
"STOP CALLING ME THAT, BAKUGO!" Sakura shouted, partly out of anger and partly to relieve the stress she was feeling from the fight against Zabuza.
"Do you have a plan, Bakugo?" Sasuke asked.
"Something like that," he said in a low voice so Zabuza couldn't hear him. "This fucking fog is preventing me from knowing where the eyebrow-less clone is. But the important one is the real one. And you heard the unpunctual one. He can't move while he's still in the water prison. I'll make an explosion so huge, the giant will be forced to undo the jutsu or he won't get first-degree burns."
—Wait a minute, Bakugo. You don't have enough power yet to do something of that magnitude. —Sasuke said.
"Trust me. This isn't the first time I've done this. You guys just protect the drunk from my explosion," Bakugo said, moving forward slowly and stretching.
"Have you stopped chattering like parrots?" Zabuza asked sarcastically. "You'll rue the day you decided to play ninja. Because you're not ninjas. When I was your age..."
"And who's chattering like a parrot now?" Bakugo said, interrupting Zaubza's speech. "SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU EYEBROWLESS MONSTER! I don't give a shit about your pathetic life, so save your little speeches."
"You foolish brat..." Zabuza said, a vein popping out of his forehead. "You'll be the first to die!"
—BAKUGO, GO AWAY! THAT'S AN ORDER! —Kakashi shouted
—Canoso, if I remember correctly, you said that those who didn't obey the rules were trash, but those who abandoned their teammates were worse than trash... —Bakugo said, rolling his eyes.
"This is different! You don't stand a chance against him!" Kakashi exclaimed.
"Hmm, we'll see." Bakugo replied with a cocky smile.
Then he looked at his hands for a moment.
"This is going to be a pain for my arms," Bakugo thought. "And I might run out of chakra. But that's all I can think of. If that fucking fog weren't around, I could come up with a better plan. I hope this 12-and-a-half-year-old body can make a similar explosion to the one I used on that half-and-half bastard."
Bakugo fixed his gaze on where his sensei was trapped. He began to run, then, using explosions, propelled himself into the air. As he approached his target, the spinning motion increased thanks to the momentum Bakugo was exerting with both hands. Little by little, he was forming an explosive whirlwind of increasing intensity.
"What the hell?" said the water clone hiding in the mist. He swung his sword at it, intending to stop it, but the whirlwind repelled it like nothing had happened.
—PREPARE TO DIE, YOU BASTARD WITHOUT EYEBROWS! —Bakugo shouted in his whirlwind and a few meters away
"This kid is crazy!" Zabuza thought with some concern. "I'll protect myself with Kubikiribōchō (Zabuza's sword)."
—HOWITZER IMPACT!—he shouted
Bakugo's speed and spinning power made it the biggest explosion he'd ever made in his new world. But, just as Bakugo feared, his small body only managed to create an explosion a little more than half the force of what he used against Todoroki. Luckily for him, it was big enough to scare Zabuza and he jumped to avoid getting singed.
Bakugo has no memory of what happened after the fight. It was mainly because he fainted immediately after performing his attack due to using too much chakra. When he woke up, his arms were in terrible pain. He was in a room, and inside were Sakura, Sasuke, Tazuna, a woman Bakugou didn't know, and Kakashi. There were also two beds. He was resting on one, and Kakashi was resting on the other.
"The sharingan is very powerful, but I don't think it'll be very useful if it leaves you immobile for a week, sensei," he heard Sakura's voice.
"You're a piece of shit, gray-haired..." Bakugo said.
"Bakugo!" Sakura said happily. "You're finally awake! You had me worried!"
"What happened to that eyebrowless bastard?" Bakugo said, quickly sitting up. This sent a sharp pain through his arms. "Fuck..." he groaned at the pain.
"I'm glad the fight didn't make you lose your bad manners, brat," Tazuna said rudely, but deep down he was very happy that Bakugo was recovered.
"You're the only rude one here, drunk!" Bakugo said, pointing his finger at him. It was a big mistake; the movement sent his arm into agony. "Oh, shit!"
"You've used too much chakra on your arms. I advise you not to move them for a considerable period of time. Until they heal," advised Kakashi, staring at the ceiling, unable to move.
"I'm not taking advice from a cripple!" Bakugo retorted, but he actually listened to them, keeping them quiet. "Can someone tell me what the hell just happened?"