The Legend of Konoha's Shooting Star

For the Sake of Dreams

"Now that I'm here, everything will be fine!!" Naruto declared grandly. "The main character of a story usually shows up in these types of situations and instantly... kicks the enemy's ass!!"

"Naruto!!" Sakura said excitedly as she and Tazuna lit up, pleasantly surprised by the arrival of reinforcements.

'Hmph... That brat...' Zabuza thought, narrowing his eyes.

'He talks too much...' Sasuke thought, chagrined.

'Geez... That idiot!!' Kakashi thought, sweat-dropping. 'What kind of loud entrance is that? And he calls himself a ninja? ... Where the heck is April?'

"..." Haku stared at Naruto, remembering their encounter in the forest a couple of days ago. So it was him... "!?" he gasped, startled when he was suddenly hit by a powerful blow, even though none of the others had even so much as twitched. His eyes widened behind the mask when he found himself staring into a pair of determined blue eyes as the heels of the purple-haired girl who had just emerged from the mist dug into his gut. The moment April had him, she glued her feet to him by concentrating her chakra in her soles for a moment as she curled herself in to grab him by the front of his kimono and head-butted Haku, sending him crashing towards the ground. The impact from her forehead protector made a deep dent and small crack in his mask. Haku was stunned for a moment, but he managed to use his momentum to roll over and throw April off, flinging her at the railing of the bridge. April grabbed the railing and swung herself back around, delivering another powerful kick to send him flying.

'Ah, there she is! That's our girl!' Kakashi thought with a smile. At least one of them knew the value of a surprise attack. She had taken advantage of the moment everyone was surprised by Naruto's sudden appearance to launch another attack and separate Haku even further from Sasuke and the ice mirrors.

"!!" Zabuza furrowed his brow as April sprinted alongside the falling Haku, pulling in front to strike again before he could land. April skidded to a halt and made a fist, preparing to meet Haku with a punch hard enough to finish splitting that mask in two. But before she could land a hit, Zabuza targeted her with handful of shurikens from behind. April sensed the attack and immediately countered by pulling herself down into a crouch as she spun around and threw a handful of her own shurikens to counter his, while Haku simultaneously threw some needles while her back was turned.

"April!!" Kakashi yelled, furrowing his brow.

"!" April's eyes widened as she watched the first of the needles sail past her cheek and quickly dropped, flattening herself out on her stomach, in case there were more headed her way.

"!?" Everyone gasped as all three attacks collided and canceled each other out completely.

"..." April furrowed her brow in confusion for a second, but quickly rolled back onto her feet as she carefully maneuvered herself into a defensive position while keeping her eyes on their enemies. She had managed to avoid taking any damage, but it had given Haku enough time to regain control of himself and throw the rhythm of her attacks off. She wouldn't be able to get the drop on him again so easily... The bridge was silent as everyone stared at April and Haku in astonishment.

'Wha... What just happened...?' Sakura wondered, dumbfounded. It had all happened so fast... The two young shinobis had packed so much action into the space of a few seconds that the only ones able to keep up had been Kakashi and Zabuza.

'Now that's how you make an entrance...' Sasuke thought.

'I see... So this one is... the fastest and the most adaptable...' Haku thought. The fact that she could keep up with him at his real speed was impressive...