Reborn in the Mist

By the third day at sea Zabuza decided sailing wasn’t the mode of transport for him, at least not with drunkard captains at the helm. The unending rock and sway of the ship grew violent at night, the sea thrashed wave after wave, daring to topple the pathetic ship. Two nights in a row Mangetsu, the adult genin, and Utakata joined Ao to attempt taming the sea and found success most times, the only consequences being wood rot and buckets of water to scoop off the deck.

Hazardous as the journey was, it was nothing compared to the company. There was some entertainment in watching Maita Funato glare at Mangetsu at every passing opportunity. Maita was largely friendly with the rest of the teams, though friendly in this context counted as returning greetings and choosing the help others where he could— the girls especially found favour in his presence, he’d cut up fish he caught himself over the fire for Haruka and would help Akari reignite the camp fire with jutsu when flint wouldn’t work.

Whenever it came to Mangetsu though, Maita radiated killing intent so strong it caught Ao’s attention enough to make the stoic one-eyed Jounin speak on team cohesion again. Zabuza thought it a lost cause, Maita Funato was a shinobi with an agenda he considers far more important than participating in the Chuunin Exams. He stared at Mangetsu with the bloodlusted eyes of an avenger and it wasn’t difficult to piece out why.

The arrogance purge missed one, Zabuza thought as he flung a senbon at the warbling water. It split through and skewered his dinners tail, the fat fish flopped, frantically wiggling away best as it could only to get scooped up in a net with three other fishes.

“Woo hoo! Akari, Haruka, I got a great catch!” Team 5’s shameless Genin cheered, heaving the netted catch in his hands.

Zabuza growled up at him. “That was mine. My senbon is still stuck in its tail.”

The man looked down at him, mouth agape as he stared like an idiot. “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t…just let me..” he pulled the net closer to his chest and began to reach in to fetch Zabuza’s claim only for all three fishes to flop, wobble and wriggle their way out of the net with a resounding splash.

“Just great…” Zabuza muttered as the man cried out uselessly.

His teammates came running over from the ship with a bucket of their catches, “Hey! Where’s the catch?” Akari yelled out, pointing accusingly at his empty net. She was the louder of the two and likely the weaker one in Zabuza’s opinion. Her twin Haruka carried herself in a manner of Zabuza respected— quiet, observant and consistently prepared.

“Sorry Akari, I stole Zabuza-san’s catch and was trying to return it when…well, the entire school got out. Hahahaha.” He kicked back his head laughing at his own poor joke, Akari groaned, wiping her exasperated face as she began looking over at Zabuza. Her lips parted to say something but decided against it, settling for a simple apology instead. “Sorry about him, Zabuza-san, he means well.”

Zabuza nodded, his eyes turned back to the disturbed waters beneath their feet. They were spread out and hunting for their meals for a reason, with so many people clustered over his spot he wasn’t surprised to see the waters clear of any fish he would’ve hope to catch. The sun was a pleasant orange on the horizon already and once it set there wouldn’t be nearly enough light to make any reasonable attempts.

Gotta get a meal, Zabuza’s stomach growled at him. After a full day of chores and attempting to avoid undue interaction with the other teams, Zabuza was dead tired, dehydrated and hungry. He’d made sure to pack energy bars and rations, enough to feed him through another day or two assuming he dared to eat out of it but he packed them for the destination, not the journey.

“Why do we have to separate our catches anyway? I thought we’re meant to be Team Kirigakure.” Haruka scoffed, her gaze purposely fixed on him as she said all this loud enough for him to hear.

Zabuza almost smiled. He knew she was the stronger of the twins but he didn’t expect her to be as outspoken as her sister. Akari shook her head and grabbed her sister’s arm, dragging her away, “I thought we said we’d let it be?” Akari hissed at Haruka.

“Let her speak her mind, I have no trouble hearing it.” Zabuza said before they could get any further. He smirked at Haruka who met his gaze with a heating glare. “Say it.”

Haruka snatched her arm away and scoffed. “Say it? Alright then, you’re selfish. You and Mangetsu are selfish.”

Zabuza’s smirk only grew. He shrugged and raised his hands in faux surrender, “Your bumbling teammate released my catch so unfortunately I can’t sell you any fish.”

Confusion scored across Haruka’s face one second and the next it contorted as the insult slighted her. Her lip curled with disgust, “I don’t care if you’re supposed to be grading or supervising us, I know you’re just a Genin, you’re not like your teammates. You’re not even like Mangetsu and somehow you still feel like you have the right to be cruel and selfish. Rina-taicho was right.”

Zabuza’s smirk had dropped before she even made a mention of Rina, his fist clenched shut as he gritted his teeth at the twins. They looked up at him, defiance in their eyes even as his killing intent rolled over them.

“Hey, hey, let’s all just calm down an—”

“Shut up.” Zabuza didn’t need another word to put the man in his place, he gulped, hands shaking with fear as killing intent continued to subdue their entire team…except for Haruka.

Her knees trembled even as she spoke with building resentment. “Go ahead, do your worst, demon!”

It had been a long time since anyone beneath him dared to call him that to his face and even longer since he felt a dime of emotion about it. Zabuza caught his rising breath and let it out in a huff that came out as a scoff. He toned down the killing intent and smirked at Haruka as he unclenched his fists.

“You’re right, I have been selfish.” Zabuza said, shocking the entire team such that their mouths fell open. Annoying as Utakata’s hovering was, his persistent friendship and the patience that came with it let Zabuza understand that despite his justifications, he wasn’t above reproach.

Even now as he forced a smile up on his lips his mind counted all the reasons he shouldn’t coddle anyone. At the same time, a corner of his mind chirped in Utakata’s annoyingly optimistic voice, listing out the few but valid reasons why he shouldn’t act like his usual self— one amongst all being the simple fact that it didn’t cost him anything to be nicer or even polite to the shinobi he’s working with. In fact, there was much more to gain by putting up a smile rather than a scowl— weak or not, even if all of Team 5 and 8 failed the Chuunin exams, they’d still serve alongside Zabuza as Kiri shinobi.

I don’t want more friends but I don’t need more enemies either. Straightening his palm, Zabuza offered Haruka a handshake and said, “The mission hasn’t begun yet but I can still aid you, as part of Team Kirigakure.”

Haruka and Akari looked positively bewildered. Haruka’s mouth shut and opened several times before she came to grasp with her words, “You…don’t have to be weird about it.” She muttered, eying his outstretched hand in confusion.

Zabuza curled back a sneer as he put his hand away. “I’ll find another spot.” he said, already spotting Utakata a fair distance from the ship, Mangetsu carried their basket lazily.

Before he could leapfrog out of yet another awkward interaction a harsh whistle cracked across the sea, turning all heads onto their one-eyed squad captain. He glared harshly at them from the ship's ever creaking mast, the ship’s captain as always drowned himself in alcohol before unfurling the tied sails. They picked up wind quickly and Ao didn’t need another word before all nine ‘Genin’ set off in a sprint.

“There’s just a bit of noon left.” Zabuza heard the captain drawl as he and others arrived. “Could get a glimpse of the beach and dead sail through the night to get there.”

Ao nodded approvingly, already seated by the corner of the deck where he would be served a large portion of their hard won catches once fried but also watched the waves for any large enough to capsize the ship. He scowled at the horizon, veins twitching dangerously around his hidden Byakugan. Whatever he saw out beyond the horizon seemed to please him because his shoulders dropped and a hint of relief creeped onto his stoic features as he turned to the fully gathered Team Kirigakure.

“Prepare yourselves. TheWind Country is just beyond the horizon, another night, perhaps a day and we will find ourselves at the Fukasa port town.” His pinned gaze hardened against each of them, “We’ll be met there by shinobi of the Sand, they’ll lead us to their village. All of you, behave yourselves, I shouldn’t need to tell you but the details of Team 3’s role at the Chuunin Exams are top secret.”

The Team silently acknowledged this warning, there was little to misunderstand about that— should any of them get found out they’d be disqualified and Kirigakure would be shamed on an international stage.

“Good, now hurry up with dinner, the winds are picking up and before long the waves will too.” Ao said, turning back to stare at the horizon.

The teams mumbled affirmatives before everyone slowly moved to the centre of the deck. The camp fire from last night was still arranged atop a large steel surface the captain was all too generous to provide— he too got a fair cut of their catches.

“Tough luck out there?” Utakata said, nudging his side as he and Mangetsu dumped out the fishes they’d caught. One was as large as a small child and despite being out of water for so long flopped on the deck and towards water, each flop spilled blood from a gash in its dorsal fin.

Mangetsu released a shuriken with a flick of his wrist, ending the valiant escape attempt in a heart beat. Akari and Haruka carried over the large washing basin; there wasn’t any need to de-scale the fish in Zabuza’s opinion and he’d argued uselessly against the crowd on the first day out at sea.

“Yeah, something like that.” Zabuza said, retrieving a kunai and squatting by the basin to help, much to the brow-raised surprise of the twins. He didn’t offer an explanation, not even to Utakata’s clown-like grin.

“It happens. Are you excited? We’re almost there, the first exam will be a breeze but I wonder what it’s like in the Sand Village, can’t wait to see it.” Utakata yapping kept up even as he sliced the scales off the fish into the water filled basin.

Over by the camp fire Maita and Tamura trying their best to reignite it with the charred firewood they had left over— everyone had prepared rations but the darn ship captain didn’t put a thought to anything they’d need for their days at sea.

“I am.” Mangetsu said, breaking his hours-long silence. “For the Sand Village I mean, the exams…will be fine.”

Zabuza smirked at him as he tossed a cleanly descaled fish onto the heap Maita and Tamura would roast by the fire. “Are you sure you’re not the least bit concerned? You’re as much Genin as I am.”

Mangetsu stared deadpan at Zabuza. “Only a bit. But I know Mizukage-sama wouldn’t strip me of my rank just because…I’ll be fine.”

Zabuza shared a look with Utakata, neither of them expecting Mangetsu to be so vulnerable. He’d spent most of the three day trip brooding to himself and silently doing what chores were left behind, occasionally he’d get in a glare-down with Maita as they went about the ship but even then he barely offered a word of acknowledgment to the Funato’s silent challenge.

Guess he had to loosen up at some point, Zabuza thought as he tossed another finished fish into the basin. He gave his next words a pause of thought as Utakata patted Mangetsu on the back and said, “You’re skilled as any other Chuunin, even more so than some and you’re a prodigy, Mangetsu. Yagura-sama is merely testing your resolve.”

“Maybe…” Mangetsu muttered in the most pathetic showing Zabuza had seen of him.

Deciding to speak his mind, Zabuza stood up on his feet and glared down at Mangetsu, “Stop worrying, you’re making us look bad. What’s at stake for you is for me as well and I know I am more than enough to win this stupid exam tournament so why are you so scared?”

The ship hushed at Zabuza’s words, like everyone and even the croaking sea itself stopped to listen to what Mangetsu had to say. His prodigious rival looked as much a child as he was, his eyes darted around the faces that turned to watch, eying their reactions, measuring himself up to perceived expectations. Zabuza knew it all too well.

“Mangetsu…?”

He caught his eyes at last and with it the pleasant sight of his rival’s resolve hardening. Mangetsu’s knees wavered, like he meant to stand up but after a quick glance at the deck— the near dozen of an audience pretending not to listen— he stiffened his lip and scoffed at Zabuza’s show of concern, turning back to the chore.

“Whatever, you don’t have to be weird about it…”

Zabuza sighed and sat back beside a star eyed Utakata, his cheek surely hurting from having his dreams come alight, slowly but perhaps surely.