Seina listened to the area, extending the spell to the original 20 meters, but heard nothing. Just as she was about to turn around, she thought she heard the breathing of something behind some bushes, and Naruto, hearing through her, threw a kunai without thinking. Nothing happened. She heard the sound of what seemed to be a small animal, and as they all approached, they saw a terrified white rabbit, pinned to the tree trunk by one ear.
"No! I almost killed a poor rabbit!" Naruto cried, carefully removing the kunai and handing the petrified rabbit to her to heal it. "Seina-nee, help!"
Seina healed the rabbit and saw through Sasuke's eyes the thoughtful face of Kakashi-sensei, who was looking at the rabbit with curiosity. Suddenly, she realized it was a completely white rabbit. She remembered the academy classes about the fauna and flora of each region and knew it wasn't a native specimen, which meant someone had imported it from another area or the person themselves had migrated from a distant area bringing the rabbit along.
"Duck!" Kakashi-sensei shouted, and they all obeyed. Sasuke even knocked Tazuna down.
A huge sword flew where their heads had been and then embedded itself in a tree trunk. She heard feet land on the blade of the sword and, looking up, saw a psychotic-looking ninja. He was half-naked, wearing only gray pants and bandages on his face and neck that covered up to his nose. His eyes were wide open as if he were excited, and his pupils were tiny. He looked totally crazy, or drugged. Maybe both. It took her a few seconds to place him, but thanks to her raid in the Konoha library, she knew he was a ninja from the Land of Mist. A swordsman. Zabuza. She supposed now he wasn't just a famous swordsman but also an exiled ninja.
"Form up. Protect Tazuna and stay out of the fight."
They obeyed, forming around the client, and saw Kakashi-sensei uncover his eye for the first time. Naruto, being closer, managed to see his eye and realized it had a sharingan with three tomoe.
"Finally, I get to see the famous sharingan. I feel honored. They say those eyes can not only read and defeat ninjutsu and genjutsu, but they can also copy the opponent's techniques. That's what scares people the most," the enemy mused aloud, staring intently at their jonin-sensei. "When I was a member of the Mist Assassins, I stole some information about you, and that's what it said. The man who has copied over 1000 ninja techniques. Kakashi Hatake."
"How is it possible that Kakashi-sensei has that eye? Only some members of the Uchiha clan manage to awaken it," Sasuke thought to himself, and they all heard him.
"If that's the case, then that eye clearly isn't his," she replied, and Sasuke blinked in surprise.
"Do you think he stole it? No. Of course not. You think someone gave it to him. Someone from the Uchiha clan."
"That's the most logical reason. Considering Kakashi-sensei, I don't see him capable of stealing an eye from a comrade."
"Can you really do that?" Naruto asked, astonished. "And what did he do with his other eye?"
Seina mentally shrugged. She had no idea, but judging by the scar Naruto had seen, it seemed he had suffered a severe cut in that eye. Once everything was over, they could ask him the truth, if he deigned to give them an answer.
"We've talked enough," Zabuza cut in, crouching on the blade of his sword. "The fact is, I have to kill that old man. You have to protect him. So, it seems I'll have to beat you first."
He jumped off his weapon's blade and took his sword with him toward the shore. They saw him form a seal and disappear into the mist.
"He'll come for me first, so be very careful," Kakashi-sensei informed them quietly.
They saw him bring his hands together to form a seal, and Seina squinted. Was he doing the same as before? Swapping himself for a clone and hiding? It made sense, especially if he was right about Zabuza coming for him first and expecting a direct attack. Suddenly, they started feeling a murderous intent that left Naruto and Sasuke frozen. She, having been on the brink of death multiple times at the hands of magical creatures like Dementors, or at the hands of Voldemort himself, could withstand it by using magic to protect her mental barriers. Sasuke and Naruto, realizing this, took refuge in her mind and managed to relax their petrified postures. Tazuna, traumatized and white as marble, wasn't so lucky.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you, even if I die," Kakashi-sensei told them without even turning to look at them.
Immediately after, their teacher was split in two horizontally. Naruto let out a small cry of horror, but they quickly saw it was a clone. Just as she had suspected. A kunai appeared at Zabuza's throat, and they saw Kakashi-sensei appear behind him.
"Surrender."
"You're not going to beat me with those techniques. Although you surprised me. Your clone caught my attention by talking while you hid. However, I am not that easy to defeat!"
Seina watched somewhat exasperated as Zabuza commented on the situation, but then saw Zabuza appear behind Kakashi-sensei, putting another kunai to his throat. Damn it. The first Zabuza exploded, proving to be a water clone. Immediately after, Zabuza swung his sword at Kakashi-sensei's back, and Kakashi-sensei bent down to the ground to avoid being decapitated. He tried to kick him from behind, and Kakashi-sensei used his own leg to throw the sword away. They both separated, putting distance between them.
Meanwhile, she took advantage of the fight between them to create a few clones that she hid among the nearest branches and bushes. She had told them not to fight and to protect the client, but her clones could be of help to her without putting them in danger. Zabuza pivoted on the sword stuck in the ground and lunged at Kakashi-sensei, who jumped to avoid the sword and was thrown into the sea. Before he could touch the water, which seemed to be the enemy's preferred element, Seina used one of her clones with Kakashi-sensei's henge to switch places with him. She was grateful she had done it because, as soon as her disguised clone of the jonin stuck his head out to breathe, he was captured by Zabuza in some kind of water bubble.
"How did you realize?" Sasuke asked, brandishing a kunai.
"I heard him make too many seals to be just a water clone," she informed him that, despite not seeing it, the mist didn't hide the sound of the wind when performing different ninja seals.
"We'll finish this later," he assured him, with one hand inside the bubble. "Now, I have to deal with the old man. Mizu bunshin no jutsu."
Seina listened to Zabuza's clone's monologue, who was determined to tell them they weren't real ninjas because they hadn't killed people like him, blah blah blah. When he finished trying to humiliate them, he disappeared, and she didn't even have time to hear him when she saw his leg stretched out ready to kick her brother in the head. Luckily, Kakashi-sensei appeared and diverted it. Zabuza's expression was hilariously surprised. Seina had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing.
"You! Impossible!" he jumped back and glanced at the Kakashi-sensei trapped in the bubble. "Another clone? And I thought you wouldn't fool me again!"
"You should have been more attentive," Kakashi-sensei said, and she saw her clones coming out from various places in the forest with their teacher's face, attacking Zabuza. "I won't fall for the same technique again."
Kakashi-sensei exchanged some taijutsu combos, and when Zabuza backed off toward the sea, seeing that he wasn't winning the fight, he followed. She knew from one of the destroyed clones that Kakashi-sensei had given them instructions to disguise themselves as him and not draw attention to her, letting Zabuza believe that Kakashi had dodged him. Surely, to avoid humiliating him and prevent him from attacking her out of spite. They saw Kakashi-sensei follow Zabuza to the sea and how he used his sharingan to copy the enemy's movements seal by seal.
"Suiton: suiryuu-dan no jutsu!"
Seina watched with shining eyes as two huge water dragons crashed into each other, causing the technique to neutralize itself.
"Grab Tazuna!" Kakashi-sensei warned them when he saw the water heading towards them.
Naruto grabbed the client, and they all jumped back, landing on one of the nearest branches. Seina quickly glanced at the bridge builder, but he seemed too scared to open his mouth. She noticed that Naruto and Sasuke were more focused on Kakashi-sensei's fight than on protecting the client, so she mentally reprimanded them. Naruto created several clones to cover their backs, and then they continued watching as Kakashi-sensei copied every gesture and every seal of the enemy, irritating and visibly frustrating him.
"You won't be able to beat me, stupid monkey!" they both shouted at the same time. Zabuza became enraged.
Seina noticed the moment when Kakashi-sensei started the genjutsu. Zabuza was so angry that all his attacks were useless that he didn't even realize.
"Suiton: daibakufu no jutsu!" Kakashi-sensei used it, and Zabuza, upon seeing it, seemed more fearful than angry.
A huge wave of water suddenly headed towards Zabuza, smashing him against a large tree. Kakashi-sensei didn't hesitate to pin him to the tree with a few strategic kunais. Just as he raised a kunai to finish off Zabuza, senbons pierced his neck. Sasuke, Seina, and Naruto turned to see the ninja on top of a branch. Seina frowned as she realized that the sound of the water had prevented her from hearing him and that, for a second, they had been unprotected. She mentally noted to modify the aura spell to be able to use it on missions and avoid a weakness like this.
Zabuza, while she was thinking, fell to the ground. Dead. She heard his heart stop and relaxed slightly. Kakashi-sensei checked Zabuza's pulse on his neck and stood up, looking at the other ninja dressed in a kind of green and orange kimono and wearing a Mist-style Anbu mask.
"Thank you very much. I've been looking for Zabuza to kill him."
"You must be a hunter from Kirigakure."
"That's right. My task was to hunt down the missing ninja Zabuza Momochi. With your permission, I'll take care of this corpse."
The ninja took Zabuza and disappeared. Kakashi-sensei sighed and lowered the ninja headband to cover his eye. Naruto's clones deactivated and they landed on the damp ground with the client, who seemed to have come to his senses.
"Well done, team. Let's go. We have to take Tazuna home."
"I'm really sorry, guys," said Tazuna, laughing, probably from the adrenaline rush. "Why don't you come to my house and relax for a while?"
Immediately after, Kakashi-sensei fainted. Seina blinked in surprise at seeing him faint. She quickly approached his body, mentally asking Sasuke to cover her, and used a medical spell to check his health. She realized he was completely exhausted. He had a couple of cuts and bruises, but nothing serious.
"He's exhausted," she informed them, to everyone's relief. "We'll have to carry him."
"Leave it to me, nee-chan," said Naruto, and she nodded.
"Well, Tazuna-san?" Seina prompted Tazuna. "Can you show us where your house is?"
"O-of course. Follow me."
It took them half an hour to reach the bridge builder's house, where they were greeted by his daughter.
"Father! But what happened?"
"Nothing serious, Tsunami," Tazuna hugged her and then introduced them. "These are the Konoha team I hired. Sasuke, Naruto, and Seina-san."
Both Sasuke and Naruto realized he hadn't addressed them with honorifics and sent him irritated looks. Seina, meanwhile, smiled to see that her presence had intimidated the old man enough to respect her. They took the jonin to a guest room, where they were given futons for everyone to sleep on, as Kakashi-sensei was completely knocked out and didn't seem likely to wake up soon.
"We'll let you rest for a while we prepare the food," the daughter informed them, and they nodded.
They were left alone, and Seina approached Kakashi-sensei. Since she didn't want to undress him while he was unconscious, she used a medical spell to heal his wounds.
"It seems like the Sharingan consumes a lot of his chakra," said Sasuke. "He shouldn't be unconscious after using only 5 jutsus."
"He had it activated when he raised his headband," Naruto thought aloud, recalling the moment.
"Is it possible that he can't deactivate it?" Sasuke asked, looking at her.
None of the three knew how to answer that question. She raised his headband and saw that, despite being unconscious due to lack of energy, the Sharingan was still active. Sasuke was right. He couldn't deactivate it. She used a diagnostic spell localized in his eye to try to figure out what was happening and saw, comparing both orbs, that it seemed like the Sharingan had been transplanted somewhat messily. The optic nerves were connected correctly; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to see or process information, but it was as if the transplant had been incomplete. Perhaps the person who did it had no idea how to transplant a special eye.
"Can you help him?" Naruto asked, who had been following her train of thought.
"I think so. Comparing both eyes, I can see that the transplant of the eyeball itself is correct, but it seems like the Sharingan part wasn't transplanted."
"What do you mean?"
"It's as if transplanting a special eye required 2 transplants: one for the eye itself and another to... connect the Sharingan to the brain, so to speak."
"That makes sense," Sasuke commented. "The Sharingan isn't just an eye."
"I'm going to try."
She used her magic to treat the physical stress caused by the Sharingan, and then, as she had no idea where the Sharingan was supposed to connect to the brain, she simply let the Sharingan use her magic as a conduit and connect to the brain on its own, which was impossible solely with Kakashi-sensei's chakra. Magic, however, was more sensitive and had a life of its own. Seina was simply acting as a crutch for the Sharingan.
"I think you did it!" exclaimed Naruto. "Look at his eye."
She opened her eyes and saw how the Sharingan had disappeared, giving way to a black eye instead of Kakashi-sensei's dark gray ones. She treated the area with a spell again and then covered his eye.
"Why are you covering it?" her brother asked, confused. "Now he can use it without fainting. He doesn't need to hide it anymore."
"You're such a dobe. If people see him like this, they'll ask questions about who healed him after all this time," Sasuke scolded Naruto. "If Seina hides it, perhaps Kakashi-sensei won't realize it until later, and then even he won't know for sure what happened."
They let Kakashi-sensei sleep peacefully and laid down for a while, after she protected the guest room to prevent any surprises. She woke up from her impromptu nap upon sensing someone at the door. She heard Tsunami's characteristic footsteps and got up.
"Seina-san. How is your sensei?" Tsunami asked.
"He's fine. I healed the few wounds he had. It's just a matter of him regaining his energy."
"Do you think he could eat?"
"I'll try to wake him up."
She took the food tray from Tsunami and had Naruto wake up Kakashi-sensei with a clone. She didn't have to go through much trouble because, although he woke up, he was more defenseless than a newborn kitten and couldn't attack them.
"Kakashi-sensei, we have food for you. Can you sit up?" she asked, and saw the jonin try, but without success. "It's okay. Pass me those cushions."
She elevated Kakashi-sensei's upper body so he wouldn't choke on the food, and when he was almost sitting up, she picked up the spoon to feed him. Before removing his mask, she raised an eyebrow in his direction, silently asking if he wanted her to. Kakashi-sensei nodded slowly, and she gently lowered the mask to his chin. She was impressed. Contrary to Naruto and Sasuke's wild theories, Kakashi-sensei was very handsome. Sasuke and Naruto gave their teacher privacy to avoid making him uncomfortable, leaving the room.
"Now I understand why you wear a mask," she joked. "To avoid having a fan club like Sasuke, right?"
Kakashi-sensei chuckled wearily, accepting the compliment without further ado, although she could see a slight blush on his pale complexion. She didn't say anything more about it, downplaying the matter. Seina fed him the fish soup, the bowl of rice with soy sauce, and a fruit, then wiped his mouth with a napkin. She securely put the mask back in place.
"Thank you, Seina," he said.
She nodded and summoned a couple of clones.
"I'll leave them here just in case."
"Okay. I think I'll try to stay awake for a few minutes. I have to think of something..."
She nodded again and got up. While eating with Tazuna's family, she thought about the bridge and how long it would take to finish it. She had seen that it was relatively close to completion, but with the mercenary ninjas from this Gatou person and Kakashi-sensei recovering, they might end up staying longer than expected in the Land of Waves.
"Do you know how long your sensei will need to recover?" Tazuna asked.
"No idea, old man," said Naruto. Seina slapped his head, eliciting laughter from Tsunami. "We've never seen him like this before."
Seina pondered over the invigorating potion she had in her pouch. Damn. If she gave him one of those a couple of times, she knew he would quickly regain the lost chakra. If she added to that the fact that it seemed his eye no longer consumed his chakra, he would probably be back on his feet in a couple of days.
"Do you think Kakashi-sensei will need that potion?" Sasuke asked mentally, and she shrugged.
"Zabuza is dead, but according to what Tazuna said, Gatou has hired more ninjas. I don't know if he can continue the bridge with just the three of us protecting him."
In the end, what convinced her to give him the potion was Kakashi-sensei's assertion, who was still awake when they returned to the guest room, that Zabuza was alive.
"How is that possible!?" Naruto asked. "You yourself confirmed he was dead!"
"I know, and he had no pulse, but with the senbon, you can stop the heart temporarily. What caught my attention was the fact that the hunter didn't burn his body right there," he explained to make them understand. "He left with the corpse. That's unusual."
"You think he didn't take it to burn it somewhere else," Sasuke affirmed, "but to revive him."
"Exactly. I'm pretty sure we'll see both of them again. Fortunately, your training is quite advanced. I don't see what new things I could teach you now to face him. All we can do is wait for me to recover."
"As for that..." she sighed and pulled out the vial she had prepared. "It's an invigorating potion."
"Where did you get that?" Kakashi-sensei asked, surprised. "Did Tazuna give it to you?"
"No. I made it myself," the jonin looked at her with curiosity and surprise. "Considering how some people treat Naruto and me, I've been making ointments and potions for a long time."
"And you say with that potion I'll regain my energy?"
"Not entirely, but it's a start."
"Alright."
Seina helped him take it, and she saw Kakashi-sensei almost imperceptibly open his eye. She hadn't tried soldier pills that ninjas ate, which had the same function as the potion, but judging by his reaction, it must be working. Kakashi-sensei observed her, once again lying on the futon.
"Where did you learn to make it?"
"Books from the library, from the hospital, experiments..." she shrugged. "I have a few recipes that work."
"We'll talk about it when we get to Konoha," Kakashi-sensei assured her, and she nodded. "How often can I take one of those?"
"Once a day. I'll give you another one tomorrow."
She sighed and created about 10 clones to read the hospital books she had brought with her. Now that she had lied about how she had acquired the knowledge to make something like that, she knew that the only option left for her not to get caught was to actually have that knowledge.