The Fox, The Cat, The Rabbit, The Wolf and The Exhausted Caregiver

Before We Leave For Leaf

Zabuza and Kakashi finally fought. Both Haku and the three genins had perfected the art of ignoring their guardians.
_________________________________________

"It saddens me greatly at the thought that we will part ways right when we are in the cusp of solidifying our friendship," Kakashi said regrettably.

Zabuza stared blankly at him. "No you fucking don't, you fucking weirdo. Get the fuck away from me," he spat out harshly.

"Now, now, Zabuza. Don't be shy. It's not a crime to admit that we're friends already," Kakashi eye-smiled at him, slowly advancing with his hands up with the intention to hug the man, or at least something along that lines.

"Hatake I swear to the Great Sage if you put even one finger on me, I will fucking cut it and put you in the water prison." he hissed.

"Come on now, Zabuza. Don't be shy. Just a high-five. Just one measly, simple high-five," Kakashi encouraged as he got even closer-

-only to take a few steps back when Zabuza held out his sword to his throat.

"I fucking warned you Hatake," the Mist-nin growled at him in annoyance before swinging it towards the jounin.

Kakashi just laughed as he parried the sword with his kunai, jumping away to land on top of the tree to avoid Zabuza's water jutsu. Making a few handsigns, he spits out a water jutsu he copied from Zabuza and tried to land a kick on him, only to be pushed back when the man used his sword to deflect it.

"Should we stop them?" Naruto asked Sakura as he tried to keep up with the jounins' movements.

Sakura tilted her head in thought. "Nope!" she smiled brightly.

"We're going to arrive late to Konoha if we don't go now." Sasuke signed with a frown. Just as he was about to jump into the fray, a hand firmly grabbed his shoulder and squeezed in warning. Looking back, Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Sakura.

"Don't even think about jumping into that fight, Sasuke-kun." she sternly said with a smile.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm just going to use my sharingan to stop them."

"That's just stupid. You got it quite recently and aren't used to it yet. Plus, Kakashi-sensei has his own sharingan and Zabuza is a jounin. Sharingan or not, a mere genin can't win against a jounin. Much less two." she explained.

"We won't know if we don't try."

"No, Sasuke-kun. And that's final. And if you even think of going against me, I will trap you in a barrier and set Ino on you."

Sasuke paled at that. Just the thought of Ino being anywhere near him in a ten feet radius made his skin crawl, much less one. With a dissatisfied huff, Sasuke crossed his arms and sulked behind Naruto. The blond grinned mischievously and was about to open his mouth to mock the Uchiha but quickly closed it and chose not to say anything at Sakura's warning glare.

Haku, ever the elegant one, just chuckled elegantly at them.

"Since Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza-san is busy and don't seem to be done soon, let's do our report as we wait." Sakura suggested.

"Eh~? Do we have to~?" Naruto whined.

"Unless you want to disappoint Iruka-sensei?" Sakura challenged.

Both Sasuke and Naruto exchanged looks. "No..." they both petulantly answered.

Sakura smiled in satisfaction at their reply. She then turned to Haku. "I can teach you more about seals if you're interested, Haku." she offered.

"Will I not interfere with your task?" he asked politely.

"It's no problem at all, Haku." Sakura smiled.

"Yeah! We're happy to have you hang out with us-ttebayo!" Naruto agreed.

"It's not unpleasant to have you with us," Sasuke signed behind Naruto.

"Then I would gladly take up on that offer, Sakura-san." Haku bowed gratefully and fell in step with them as they went to a more peaceful and quiet environment.

"Wait, where did the kids go?" Kakashi asked two hours later, looking around for his genins while throwing shurikens at Zabuza.

"What? I thought you had eyes on them!" Zabuza growled at him angrily, deflecting the shurikens with his sword before throwing two kunais at Kakashi.

Kakashi easily avoided the projectiles and threw a few jutsus back at him. "Well, sorry for trying to not get killed by you," he answered sarcastically. "And here I thought we were friends."

An earth wall was raised in front of Zabuza, protecting him from the jutsus. "What is it with you and friendship?!" Zabuza shouted behind his cover, making a series of handsigns and spits out another water jutsu the moment the wall crumbled.

"You can't be stuck with Naruto and not hear his famous "friendship is magic and the answer to everything!" lecture and not get infected by his belief." Kakashi remarked as he used a substitution jutsu to avoid Zabuza's attack. "Sage knows why that child has that belief despite his bitter childhood. In fact, he's quite stable compared to Sakura and Sasuke, and Sakura's the boring one. At least Sasuke has his whole "my clan got massacred" thing to explain his grumpiness."

Zabuza paused midway through his handsigns. "...your brats are fucking weird, Hatake."

Kakashi sighed in fond exasperation. "I know."