Hitoshi woke up in a cold sweat, luckily before Sakura had. He wanted to bang his head against a wall until it caved in. He swore he wouldn't think about Itachi. But here he was anyways. The ginger sighed and got up, ready to make breakfast with Tsunami-san.

It was almost the whole Team Seven, minus Naruto, going to the bridge that day. Naruto and Sasuke had gotten into a fight the previous day, and Naruto ended up needing some bed rest, so he stayed at Tazuna's house. Everyone else was heading to the bridge, ready for an attack.

As soon as they got there, they noticed the collapsed forms of Tazuna's helpers. They were breathing still, but only slightly. Suddenly, an icy cold mist started crawling in from the surrounding ocean, covering the bridge in a dense fog.

"This mist... They're coming!" Kakashi shouted, and Team Seven went back to back, surrounding Tazuna. Hitoshi quickly summoned the two demon females, because the twins would kill him if he didn't.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting." Zabuza's voice echoed through the mist.

"Ooh, let me at him, Hito-kun!" Daylight shouted. "I'm bored!"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of those two." Kisame chuckled. "You have fun with Kakashi. And your protégé can take care of the brats."

Zabuza grunted. "Sounds like a plan to me."

They heard a whoosh of wind as the mist-nin flew in to attack. The twins laughed happily and charged Kisame, sword and fan in hand. Kakashi and Zabuza began to exchange blows, and the masked nin sprinted towards the three genin.

"Sakura! Protect Tazuna-san!" Hitoshi shouted, as he rushed to meet the hunter-nin.

The two exchanged a few blows with kunai, before clashing in the middle. The pair held their ground and struggled against one another.

"I don't want to have to kill you." The hunter-nin told Hitoshi. "I would prefer it if would back down."

Hitoshi cocked his head to the side. "Please tell me you don't honestly think that's going to happen."

The masked shinobi sighed. "I knew it wasn't, but I was hoping. But, you have the disadvantage here."

"Oh?" Hitoshi questioned. "How so?"

"I've already made two preemptive moves. The first is the water scattered across the ground. And the second was blocking one of your hands."

The mist-nin began to form one-handed handseals. Hitoshi was mildly impressed by this, but needed to protect himself. The masked shinobi stomped one of his sandals into a puddle of water. The puddle splashed upwards and formed into tiny ice senbon.

Hitoshi was extremely impressed by this, as Ice Release was always one of his favorite kinds of chakra release to read about. Of course, the ginger couldn't use it, but it was interesting to watch. The senbon came flying downwards towards the ginger, and the hunter-nin leapt away. Hitoshi simply used the Mizugakure no Jutsu to fuse with the small puddle underfoot, allowing the ginger to escape from the needles.

Hitoshi could tell that the shinobi was surprised by this, and the two acknowledged each other's prowess. Sasuke started to sprint at the hunter-nin, who was forced backwards by Sasuke's assault.

Zabuza laughed from somewhere inside the mist. "Do you intend to allow your prey to become you killers, Haku?"

The mist-nin, now known has Haku, bowed his head. "Of course not." He insisted, kicking Sasuke away from him. Hitoshi hadn't yet attacked, his extreme curiosity of Ice Release techniques forcing him to watch from a distance.

Hitoshi's greatest weakness was that he wanted to learn and explore as much as he could. Anything that caught his curiosity he would study unto death, and it couldn't get much better than watching someone show it to him in person.

However, Hitoshi did move to stand beside Sasuke. To protect him, he insisted to himself, though he knew that he just wanted to see the Ice Release as closely as possible.

Haku used a strange handsign, and Hitoshi noticed ice forming behind himself. It grew upwards like a stalagmite, before flattening and becoming an icy mirror. Many mirrors began to appear, surrounding Hitoshi and Sasuke with their own reflections.

Hitoshi was happy to have seen such a beautiful jutsu up close and personal. It made him happy in the deep parts of his soul that were hard to satisfy.

Then Haku stepped into the fucking mirror, and made Hitoshi's life that much better. The ginger watched as Haku was reflected across all of the mirrors, and was extremely impressed and grateful that he managed to live long enough to see such a jutsu being performed. Unfortunately, the jutsu also looked very dangerous, so he probably wasn't going to be alive for much longer.

"Are these... mirrors?!" Sasuke questioned. "What on earth?!"

"Now, I'll show you my true speed." Haku's voice echoed throughout all of the mirrors. The reflections all simultaneously raised senbon, and began to throw them at the two.

Hitoshi's body reacted before his mind did, dodging the senbon rather easily, and only being hit every few seconds. Yamiko had a similar training exercise, just with thorns instead of metal needles. This began to give the ginger slight PTSD flashbacks, and he began at shake a little.

Sasuke wasn't faring very well. He wasn't as accustomed to dodging small weapons, and was getting hit much more than Hitoshi. The ginger noticed this, and his eyes flashed in anger. Even if Sasuke was going to betray him for revenge one day, that didn't mean that Hitoshi was going to allow him to get hurt.

Suddenly, Naruto burst out of nowhere, clones popping out of him like raindrops on a stormy day. They charged into the circle, deflecting senbon and attempting to shield Sasuke. Eventually, the clones got destroyed, leaving Naruto standing and defending Sasuke with Hitoshi.

"You... idiots..." Sasuke choked out. The Uchiha managed to get to his feet, deflecting senbon with the rest of them. Sasuke refrained from drawing his new sword, knowing that the slight added range it would give him would be inferior to the versatility of a kunai. Hitoshi was having the best luck out of the three of them, having already gone through similar training. And he was much better with a sword than the other two, using the added range to deflect more senbon.

Sasuke eventually attempted to use a Fire Release jutsu on the ice, only to be sorely disappointed when the frozen water was colder than his flames could melt. The mirrors got a little runny, to Hitoshi's dismay, but Haku was quick to freeze them back up again.

The three kept getting attacked, the only one really seeming to be okay being Hitoshi. Sasuke's eyes were flickering quickly between the mirrors, trying to spot the secret of the jutsu. Naruto continued to create clones, aiding Sasuke in his research, and Hitoshi was attempting to deflect as many senbon as possible.

"Naruto, try to make it out and help Sakura!" Sasuke ordered. "Hitoshi-"

"I already guessed." Hitoshi confirmed, and Sasuke nodded, knowing that Hitoshi was never incorrect with his guesses. It was almost insane, but Sasuke was choosing to rely on the ginger's abilities.

Naruto began to run outside of the mirror boundaries, and Hitoshi followed closely behind. Sasuke shot a fireball at Haku, who had appeared midair. The mist-nin prodigy dodged while still in the air, and somehow landed in front of Naruto. Hitoshi threw his sword, the only weapon he had on him, straight past Naruto and towards Haku. The masked teen barely managed to dodge the crystal sword, and Naruto used those few seconds to escape.

Haku, instead of going after the hyperactive blonde, retreated to his mirrors. Naruto ran into the now extremely thick mist, going to help Sakura defend Tazuna.

Haku sighed, the breathy exhale echoing throughout all of his reflections. "This will not go the way you planned." He warned. A senbon flew into Sasuke's shoulder, knocking the teen backwards. The Uchiha screamed in agony, as more followed, embedding themselves into his flesh.

Next was Hitoshi, the ginger being unable to block the senbon without his sword. He winced and bit his tongue as the sharpened needles pierced his flesh, a few coming out the other side of his limbs. "Well that hurts like a motherfucker." Hitoshi hissed, deciding to leave the needles. If he took them out, it could increase his bleeding.

Back and forth the three exchanged blows, mostly with Haku dealing them out. But occasionally, Hitoshi or Sasuke would get a hit on him. Eventually, the icy prodigy got annoyed by the little game they were playing.

He directed a flurry of needles at Sasuke, knowing full well that the ginger was going to push the Uchiha out of the way. Hitoshi did so, allowing the steel weapons to sink into himself instead of his friend.

"H-Hitoshi- you dumbass!" Sasuke shouted, as the ginger collapsed onto the ground. "Why would you do that?!"

"If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die protecting someone I love..." Hitoshi murmured almost incoherently.

"How pathetic." Haku sighed. "Well, I guess I should finish him off."

'I can't allow Hitoshi to die! I have to see! I have to see where he is!'

Sasuke's eyes widened, as his vision changed drastically. He could see. He could see at least somewhat. Sasuke grabbed Hitoshi off the ground and jumped into the air, enhancing his jump height with his chakra.

When he landed, he placed Hitoshi down and began to dodge around the senbon being hurled at himself. He could guess what had happened. His Sharingan, long dormant, had awakened yet again in this fight.

Haku knew that the Uchiha could see his movements now. It was no coincidence that the raven-haired male kept dodging his senbon, and the mist-nin could see the tomoe in the boy's now crimson eyes. He held the power of a Kekkei Genkai as well.

So, instead of attempting to attack the ravenette directly, he turned his attentions towards the unconscious ginger at his feet. Haku readied his needles and flung them at the collapsed teen.

Sasuke saw what was happening, and jumped in the way.

::

Hitoshi woke up, just in time to see Sasuke jump in front of him. He watched as his friend was impaled by long steel needles, piercing through his chest. Instantly, Hitoshi's mind flooded back to when Kyro had jumped in front of his sword just almost a year prior.

Hitoshi could only watch in disbelief as Sasuke turned back to him, gratitude in his vulnerable onyx eyes, and collapsed at the ginger's feet.

"S-Sas-uke..." Hitoshi croaked out, eyes wide and watering with tears.

"Don't... die... chibi..." Sasuke rasped, before those wide onyx eyes closed.

Hitoshi stared for a few more moments, silently watching Sasuke's body for a moment. Then the ginger started screaming hysterically in fury. The ginger's eyes began to burn like the anger in his soul, pain and desperation taking over any form of rationality that he ever might have had.

His eyes pulsed a ringed lavender purple.