two.

(—don't make promises you can't keep)

"Hey, hey girl." 

Winter looked up at the sound of Tazuna's voice, issuing a soft, "Hmm?" 

"How did you know those ninjas where there?" Tazuna asked her curiously. 

She shrugged her shoulders, "I felt like there was someone watching us so I spread out my chakra and found two different malicious chakra sources. That's how I knew they were there." 

Kakashi looked at her, "How did you do that? I thought only tracker-" 

"I knew someone who was a tracker-nin, he taught me well so I usually was the tracker or sensor nin on missions though sometimes I was a heavy hitter also." Winter interrupted Kakashi without a thought, looking gloriously bored.

"Ah." 

It took Naruto about a minute to process this information before asking Kakashi, "HEY SENSEI WHAT'S A TRACKER? AND WHAT'S A HEAVY HITTER?" 

Winter sighed heavily, murmuring underneath her breath,"I am surrounded by idiots."  

"Naruto, a sensor nin is the same as a tracker nin, with the exception of rank. Usually, tracker nin are used for assassination missions and in the ANBU Black Ops. While sensory nin can use their chakra and various techniques to find their targets. A heavy hitter is just another name that skilled ninja get for their ability to attack head-on. These ninjas are to be wary of because they can be trained to not have to hide, to attack straight on and come out with minimal damage. Since Winter has been a Genin for a year it is most likely her sensei observed her and decided her types. This can be put on their ninja registration card so the Hokage can see which types of missions would suit each ninja. But for you to be considered both, that is unusual, normally not a combination you can see every day." Kakashi said looking at the mysterious ninja.

"I'm better as a heavy hitter, but I was the only one who could really do the sensory stuff so Ina-sensei made me practice a lot," Winter explained. 

"Ha! If you're so great why did your team get disbanded huh?" The blond asked. 

"Naruto! That was very rude!" The pink haired girl said, "But you do have a point." She muttered underneath her breath. The Uchiha hned in agreement.

In. Out. In. Out. Do not bash their heads in, do not bash their heads in. In. Out. In. Out

Winter struggled to remain calm and Kakashi thought back to what Inazuma had told him.

"Listen Kakashi, Winter is almost always going to act indifferent until she either gets to know you or... well you do something to make her angry. And it is really hard to do that. So whatever you do, don't mention her family or clan. Do not threaten me, the Hokage, or Konohamaru. This will get her angry, but no matter what you do... do not insult her late team. Winter is extremely talented and if you do this you shall make her furious which can lead to severe injury, or if you are an enemy nin, death. She will keep it bottled inside until she can't stand it anymore and then she will snap. I have seen it happen once before, trust me you don't want to have to try and stop her."

Kakashi cleared his throat, "Tazuna, I believe it is time to tell us what we are really up against."

Their client glanced around nervously, "I will, once we are in the boat." True to his word, once they were situated inside the boat with Winter trying to keep her distance from the blonde, he started to explain.

"So let me get this straight, Gato is after to kill you because if you manage to build this bridge then he won't be able to control your village?" Kakashi asked to make sure that his team got the just of it. 

"Yes, that is correct." 

"Well, then we will get you home in one piece." He reassured the bridge builder.

Winter frowned, the Land of the Waves was close enough to where he came from. Could she be able to face him after only two weeks? She closed her eyes frustrated, and gently traced the scar running down her eyelid. It had become a habit of hers. Sasuke looked at the girl sitting next to Kakashi-sensei and noticed what she was doing. Hmm, wonder how she got that. He pondered on the question before casting it to the back of his mind. The trip was silent until Naruto Uzumaki saw the bridge.

"WOAH, IT'S HUGE!" He all but shouted into the mist-covered waters. 

"Hush!" The rower said urgently, "You need to be quiet, why else we not be using the motor." He explained in a low voice. They soon reached shore and silently thanked the rower who quickly sped off.

Resuming the formation they had in the Land of Fire they set off, hoping the journey would be quick and silent. Kakashi glanced around, worry settling in him. They got lucky last time, the ninjas were only low Chunin, and when he glanced at Winter he saw her hands on the back of her neck again. She was thinking the exact same thing he was, this time it would be someone like him, a Jonin. 

"Okay, take me to my home." Tazuna demanded, "And I mean get me there in one piece." He glances at Naruto pointedly.

The group walked for quite a while until Winter got that feeling again. Softly spreading out a blanket of chakra she is surprised when it comes across not one, but two people. Their chakra was either really well hidden or they were no threat. She guessed the first one. She bites her bottom lip as she thinks, noticing Naruto glaring at the Uchiha, before running ahead and throwing kunai in random directions, making the others freeze. He leaps into the air and flings a kunai to the left, landing in a crouched position with his arms outstretched. Winter's eyebrow twitches as she openly glares at the idiotic blonde.

He stands up straight, a smug look plastered on his whiskered face. "Hmm, it as just a mouse." He says smugly. 

"Mouse? Yeah right! Everyone can see through your stupid act. You're so obvious, it's embarrassing!" Sakura yells, pointing a finger at him. 

"Naruto! Those are kunai knives, they're dangerous!" Kakashi reprimands his student. 

"Hn." Is the only thing Sasuke says looking unimpressed. 

Winter rolls her eyes and continues on walking, "Let's just get this mission done. The sooner I can get back, the sooner I can get away from all of you, no offense Tazuna. You're not to bad."

The traveler shakes his head, "No offense taken, I can understand where you are coming from." 

"Hey is someone hiding over there? No, they're over there." Naruto peers around trying to look cool. Naruto suddenly throws a kunai in the direction he just said. 

"STOP TRYING TO SCARE ME YOU LITTLE DWARF!" Tazuna shouts as the group saunters over to where he had thrown the kunai. Sakura is the first to spot the rabbit twitching in shock with tears and Naruto's kunai stuck in the tree above its head.

Winter pauses feeling one of the people coming towards them... fast. "Ah, I'm so sorry little rabbit." Naruto coos. Winter narrows her eyes before suddenly widening them in shock. 

"Everyone down, NOW!" She yells tackling Tazuna to the ground, with a giant sword barely missing them. The sword slammed into a nearby tree and as they stood up a man with blue high waisted pants appears on the handle, gazing at the group with cold beady eyes. Winter tilts her head slightly to the side, assessing the man in front of them. He seemed vaguely familiar.

"Well, well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi," Kakashi said as he walked closer to the tree that the man is on and Winter's eyes widen in recognition. "A rogue ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist and..." He is cut off by the cold voice of his newest addition to the team.

"A member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist." Winter finishes taking out her twin katanas, the black blades gleaming in the light spinning them around with deadly precision. 

"Oh, you know who I am?" Zabuza chuckles, "It's not every day that you meet a Genin who knows my name." 

Winter stares at him with frozen eyes, "I did my research."

Naruto suddenly rushes forward only to be stopped by Kakashi's unstretched arm. "You're in the way, get back," Kakashi orders slowly. 

"But why?" Naruto protests as he clenches his fists. 

"He's not like those other ninjas," Kakashi answered him, his eye glued on Zabuza, "He's in a whole other league. If he is our opponent, I'll need this." Kakashi raises his hand to his Hi-ate, revealing a blood red eye with black tomoe in it. "This is going to be dangerous."

"Kakashi of the Sharingan." Zabuza says in a low voice, "Did I get that right? Not that it matters, you just have to hand over the old man." 

Winter cracks her neck loudly and walks over to Tazuna standing in front of him in a defensive stance. "Quick Manji formation." Kakashi orders, "Protect the bridge builder and stay out of the fight, I taught you teamwork, it's time you use it." Winter scowls, he is not going to keep her out of this fight. 

"Well, looks like I get to see the Sharingan in action," Zabuza says as he turns around on his sword. "This is such an honor." He taunts.

"Everyone keeps saying 'Sharingan, Sharingan'!" Naruto exclaims in frustration, glancing between Kakashi and Zabuza, "Will someone please tell me what Sharingan is?"

"Sharingan," Sasuke suddenly speaks up, "A rare power that resides in the eyes. The user of this visual Jutsu or Dojutsu can instantly see and comprehend any Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and Ninjutsu and reflect the attack back on the attacker. The Sharingan is a special, rare form of Dojutsu. However, there's more to the Sharingan than that. A lot more." Winter stares at him, wondering if the silent boy had unlocked his own Sharingan yet.

"You got that right boy," Zabuza commends, "But you only scratched the surface. The Sharingan can analyze an opponent's technique and then copy it to the smallest detail." Suddenly, mist starts gathering around the group, completely restricting their sight. Winter quickly closes her eyes and uses her chakra to sense what is going on. Even though she will run out of her chakra quickly, it will be enough to help. Zabuza's voice rings throughout the mist. "As for you Jonin, as the assassination that's being led by the Hidden Mist, we had a standing order to destroy you on site." He haughtily informs Kakashi. "Your profile was in our bingo book. It called you 'The Man Who Copied over a Thousand Jutsus; Kakashi the Copy Ninja."

"Wow, that's so cool!" Naruto exclaim in bewilderment and Winter rolls her eyes, what a way to let the enemy know where you are. 

"Enough talking," Zabuza's voice echoes about, "I need to exterminate the old man, now!" Tazuna gasps, and Winter screws her eyes shut tighter in concentration. Where is he... "So, I'll have to eliminate you first Kakashi? So be it." Zabuza states and it sounds like he's smirking. 

"He's over there!" Naruto shouts for the whole world to hear.

"Standing on the water," Sakura adds, trying to be helpful.

"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu." Zabuza proclaims and the limited visibility they had disappeared. 

"He'll come after me first," Kakashi mutters walking over to his team.

"Eight points..." Zabuza's voice resonated around the area. "Larynx... spine. Lungs... liver. Jugular... subclavian artery... kidneys. The heart...." He continues, "Now, which one will be my attack point?" He questions chuckling lowly. Sasuke starts to shiver out of fear, feeling the wrath of two Jonins. 

He takes out a kunai, but Kakashi calls out to him. "Sasuke!" Kakashi calls, shaking Sasuke out of his thoughts, "Calm down, I'll protect you with my life, all of you. I will not allow my comrades to die, trust me."

Winter's breath hitches as she remembers a promise so familiar to that. 

"Winter, don't worry. We will all make it out of this alive, I promise." 

She growled lowly, "Don't make promises you can't keep." Kakashi's eyes widen a fraction, what did she mean by that? Winter continues on searching. Where is he? Where is he... there! 

"I would listen to the girl," Zabuza said swinging his sword down at Tazuna.

A sound vibrated around the clearing, making Team 7 and Kakashi look at where the mist had cleared. It was the sound of two different metals clashed against each other. Tazuna stared wide-eyed at the back of the red cloak while Winter grunted underneath the weight of Zabuza's sword. Her katanas were held in an X formation, and her eyes glared fiercely at him. Kakashi rushed over to help but was intercepted with another of Zabuza's clones.

Winter pushed Zabuza back and lunged forward, soon the two were exchanging a parry of blows, each trying to overcome the other. The others were focused on Kakashi's fight, leaving Winter able to talk. "Hmm, I can't help but notice the unique choice of names for your swords. Ryu and Riku, twin names, but for humans, not swords." Zabuza said trying to distract the black haired kunoichi. 

"Hmph, I don't care what you think of the names. I'm only interested in what you know." She tried to roundhouse kick him, but he quickly blocked her foot. 

"In what I know?" He inquired, curiosity getting the better of him. 

"Yes, you are a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. I want to know where I can find Raiga Kurosuki." 

At this Zabuza laughed loudly, "What business would a Genin like you have with the Thunder of the Hidden Mist?" 

"That's for me to know and you to burn in Hell." Winter dashed forward and kicked his chin making him fall back. She quickly slit his throat watching as the clone turned into water. Winter had gotten separated from the others and quickly put her katanas back into their sheath and climbed up a tree to assess the situation.

Naruto and Sasuke were both beaten up and bleeding, Sakura was 'protecting' Tazuna with a kunai, and Kakashi was stuck in a water prison. Her mind was racing, calculating what would be the most effective jutsu to use against something water based. She scurried down the tree and headed deeper into the woods until she could see the back of Zabuza. Taking a deep breath she conjured up all the feelings of anger, frustration, and pain she had felt these past few weeks. A red-hot feeling surged through her body and she started to sprint as fast as she could. Lighting started to spark around her and she suddenly leaped up into the air and did a few hand signs, dragon, ox, hare, dragon. Lightning crackled around her causing everyone to turn around and stare at the girl fast approaching the water.

"Lightning Embodiment: Rakion Surge!" She yelled out hitting the water. The lightning gathering around her body raced across the water making an explosion when it hit its mark. Zabuza's cry of pain made Winter look up seeing him holding a charred hand and Kakashi was now free. 

"Why you..." He growled and started to run towards Winter. 

Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of him. "Your battle is with me now."

Winter swam back to shore and leaned against a tree, struggling to catch her breath. That jutsu was powerful and took a lot of her chakra, add in the chakra she used to find the Demon Mist Brothers (the Chunin from before) and to find Zabuza, she was running low. 

"Winter!" Sakura surprisingly called out. 

Winter glanced over at her, small spots dancing across her vision. "I'm fine. Just need to... rest for a little bit."  She slowly walked over to where Tazuna and the others were and sat down panting. 

"Uh, you are smoking. Like your clothes." Sasuke commented awkwardly. "

Huh?" Winter looked down and noticed the edges of her cloak and shoes were indeed smoking. Small sparks emitted from her for a couple minutes while Winter half-heartedly patted off her clothes. "An after effect of the jutsu I used." She muttered.

A thump alerted her to Zabuza who had fallen down, two senbon needles in his neck. "You were right, it was his last battle." A tracker-nin appeared on the branches of a tree and then jumped down to grab Zabuza while Naruto shouted about something. "I must dispose of the remains, please excuse me." Both he and the body wavered, then disappeared. 

Winter furrowed her eyebrows, weren't tracker-nin supposed to dispose of the body right then and there. Another thump and she looked over at Kakashi who had fallen, most likely from overuse of the Sharingan. Sighing Winter stood up and walked over to him, ignoring the stares of Naruto and Sasuke as she hoisted him up and across her shoulders, making sure he didn't bump into her katanas.

"Let's go." She said turning to Tazuna. 

"Ah, right of course. You can stay at my house until your Sensei recovers."

***

Kakashi slowly woke up, blinking his one eye and looking around. He was surprised to see Winter laying not too far from where he was, sound asleep. A bandage covered her forearm but that seemed to be the only injury she had. "Kakashi-sensei, you're awake!" Sakura came into the room, followed by Naruto and Sasuke. He slowly sat up, ignoring the stiff muscles. He once again glanced at Winter and Sakura seemed to understand his confusion. 

"After Winter carried you here she disappeared for about an hour. When she came back it looked like she was in the forest and she muttered something about setting sensor traps before collapsing. I think she used too much of her chakra." He nodded understanding. A small groan caught their attention, and Kakashi looked over at Winter. Her eyebrows were furrowed and suddenly her eyes opened quickly, she bolted upright and looked around.

"Winter? Is something wrong?" Sakura asked softly. 

Winter frowned before shaking her head, "No, I'm fine." She got up stretched her arms catching Naruto's attention when he saw something just above her hip. 

"Hey Winter, what's that?" He shouted pointing at her hip. 

She raised an eyebrow at him before shrugging her shoulders, "A birthmark, though most think it's a tattoo." This caught everyone else's attention. 

"Um... what is it exactly?" Sakura asked tentatively not wanting to anger her, after all, she had seen how Winter fought Zabuza. With a sigh, Winter lifted her shirt skillfully ignoring the blush on the male Genin in the room.

Just above her hipbone was a silver mark of the outline of a wolf and the kanji for wolf in the middle. "It's a double kanji meaning both wolf and storm." She lets go of her shirt and stretches her arms again. "I need to go talk to Tsunami, why don't you tell them why there is a 99 percent chance Zabuza is still alive." The door shut behind her with three stunned Genin and a shocked Jonin.

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