"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed, "Where is Kakashi-sensei?!"

"H-he went to go talk with Tazuna." Naruto replied, his voice thick with worry, "What's going on?!"

"I don't know." Sakura replied semi-earnestly, "Get Sasuke. Make sure to not stray far from me. We can't get separated."

"It feels like death!" Naruto held tightly to a kunai, his knuckles turning white.

"It's called a killing intent." Sakura tried to keep her voice steady, "Most high-class ninja are capable to producing one. Don't worry though, I promise to protect both you and Sasuke. Go! Get Sasuke!"

Naruto looked frantically through the mist, finally finding Sasuke, frozen in fear, kunai aimed for his own chest.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called, running over to his petrified friend. The Uchiha looked about ready to take his own life if it meant escaping the mist. "What the fuck are you doing?!" With a powerful lurch, Naruto yanked the kunai out of Sasuke's quivering hand. "Stop being a fucking baby and help us fight whoever is trying to kill us!"

For once, Sasuke was devoid of a scathing remark. He looked so vulnerable and scared, as if he was being reminded of something that had happened to him long ago.

"You're never this much of a wussy." Naruto shook Sasuke's shoulders, "What is wrong with you?"

Sasuke couldn't open his mouth to form words in case he'd vomit. He could barely hear Naruto's concerned voice over the sound of blood rushing through his head and the images of his murdered family flashing through his eyes. The last time he'd felt a killing intent this strong was on that night. The night he lost everything.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's voice was more soothing now, "Come on, Sakura's waiting for us. She promised she'd protect us. Don't worry, okay?"

No. That's not what Sasuke wanted. He didn't want someone's damn protection! He wanted to be capable of protecting himself, yet he couldn't. Here he was, shaking like a newborn, unable to move his terrified body or form a single word. Sasuke was so mad at himself. Naruto was able to withstand the killing intent with ease; in fact, he brushed it off as if it wasn't even there. But he, the self-proclaimed 'strongest member of team seven', was acting like a frightened little puppy. It wasn't fair! Using his rage to fuel his movement, he stood up straighter.

"Thank god Sasuke, now let's go find Sakura." Naruto sighed in relief, guiding Sasuke's shaking legs towards their female teammate.

"There you are!" Sakura sighed in relief upon seeing her two teammates again. "We need to help Kakashi-sensei right now! The enemy confronted him and he can't fight the enemy off plus protect Tazuna at the same time!"

"On it Sakura-chan!" Naruto announced confidently, "Do you have a plan?"

"How would I? I don't know what the enemy is capable of!" Sakura lied through her teeth. Still, she wouldn't hold all of her information from her teammates, instead she'd release it when the knowledge she had was plausible. "Sasuke, Naruto, let's go!"

Sasuke forced his fear to the back of his mind, running numbly alongside his teammates. Yes, he was still afraid, how could he not be, but he was more frustrated; all he wanted was strength, and lately, he had been feeling weaker than ever! Still, he grit his teeth and rushed into battle like a proper shinobi. He refused to be worse than Naruto ever again.

Sakura wanted to sigh in relief when she saw Kakashi more than holding his own against Zabuza. The scene was similar to the one in her previous life, but still, something struck her as off. She could sense Haku's chakra, but it wasn't located in the trees or the clearing behind her as it had been before. Instead it was located closely behind Zabuza, masked well, but not unnoticeable. It could just be paranoia and Haku would move later on in the battle, but it still rubbed Sakura the wrong way; she wanted to slap herself. Getting worked up by the positioning of a ninja when they had shown up thirty minutes to an hour early? Ridiculous. Shaking her head, she jumped into battle mode.
"Sasuke, guard the bridge builder!" She commanded, running towards Kakashi and Zabuza, kunai in hand. "Naruto, back me up!"

"Do you know what you're doing?" Sasuke spat, obviously miffed that he would have to guard Tazuna instead of fight.

"I've got a plan!" Sakura insisted, running towards the fight.

Kakashi was currently dominating a hand-to-hand battle. He threw punch after punch, ducking gracefully under Zabuza's quick movements. Sakura gasped as a punch connected with Zabuza's face. Reeling back from the impact, a small line of blood dribbled out of his mouth, suggesting shattered teeth. Kakashi didn't waste a moment. Before Zabuza could retaliate, he rotated his body and landed a solid roundhouse kick right at Zabuza's ribs. Of course, one kick was not enough to finish the missing-nin. He jumped back towards the river, weaving rapid fire hand-signs. A titanic wave of water rose from the river, razing the plants and undergrowth as it barreled towards Team seven. Sakura clenched her teeth as she gazed at the incipient wave, absolutely unsure of how to counter it. Unfortunately, her chakra affinity was earth and though she had learned water jutsu, her current body didn't have the chakra. Breathing a sigh of relief, she noticed Kakashi weaving the same hand signs in hope to cancel out the jutsu.

Fine mist sprayed down on the genin as Zabuza was pushed backwards by the force of Kakashi's wave. It was strange really. Before, Zabuza had put up more of a fight, but now, he looked pathetic compared to Kakashi. Flashing his crimson eye, Kakashi copied Zabuza's jutsus so quickly it looked as if he was predicting the future. Fear and frustration grew evident in the missing-nin's eyes as he realized that he was outmatched. Still, Sakura was afraid. The fight was going so differently than it had previously. Zabuza wasn't supposed to be getting his ass kicked, and Naruto and Sasuke were supposed to learn to work as a team.

"Sakura, what was your plan?" Sasuke implored, still shielding Tazuna.

"I don't think it'll be of use..." Sakura looked worriedly at the battle, "From what I've heard of Zabuza, he's supposed to be a lot stronger. Does he seem wounded to you?"

"No." Sasuke raised a single eyebrow. "He just seems like an average jonin that doesn't stand a chance against Kakashi of the Sharingan."

"But he's one of the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist!" She insisted, still not letting her guard down, "He should be stronger!"

Sasuke looked at her with anger and confusion, "Why are you mad that Kakashi's winning? Do you want to die?"

"No!" Sakura shook her head defiantly, "I-it's just-" she sighed, "shannaroo. I don't know."

Naruto looked back at her, "Should we help Kakashi out, or should we just sit back and watch him kick ass?" He asked.

"It looks like Kakashi's got this." Sakura sighed, growing more worried by the second.

She was right, within minutes, Kakashi had Zabuza pinned to a tree and half-unconscious, his kunai about to slit the missing-nin's throat. Before he could finish the job, he was forced backwards. A large hunk of ice barreled towards him, hitting him square in the chest. Thankfully, he wasn't severely injured, but he was definitely surprised. A figure emerged from behind the trees, scooping up Zabuza's limp body; Sakura didn't know if she was thankful or not, but the boy who had saved Zabuza was indeed Haku. Nevermind, she wasn't thankful. Instead of pretending to be a hunter-nin, Haku burst in and saved Zabuza as an ally.

"What are you doing?!" Sasuke demanded, brandishing his kunai.

"He was foolish." Haku stated in his soft, raspy voice, "He has not been well, yet he insisted on rushing into a fight." With that final message, he disappeared in a cloud of snow, taking Zabuza with him.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Sakura thought. This is so different. What's even going on?! How could my minimal changes influence the future already?! "What just happened?" Sakura muttered, glancing worriedly at her teammates.

"Now that's a question for the ages Sakura-" Kakashi's eyes rolled backwards as his fell forwards, his knees buckling.

In the blink of an eye, Sasuke rushed over to Kakashi and caught him before he fell, grunting as he supported the unconscious man's weight.

"What happened to Kakashi-sensei?!" Naruto exclaimed, his eyes wide with panic, "Is it poison?! Is he..." he paused dramatically, "Dead?!"

"No Naruto." Sakura sighed, "He overused his chakra. From what I've heard, the sharingan is rather draining."

"How do you know about the sharingan?" Sasuke questioned, his voice low and menacing.

"There are plenty of reference books in the library. It's not difficult information to come across." Sakura assured Sasuke, looking slightly exasperated. "Now let's get Tazuna to the land of waves. I have a feeling our mission won't be done there though."

"Hn." Sasuke agreed. Or at least Sakura thought he agreed; he never made sense anyway.

-------------------------------------------

Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, was the equivalent of a saint. The minute she saw the three genin carrying the burden of their unconscious sensei, she took him off their hands and provided them with well-needed and well-deserved refreshments.

"My goodness!" She exclaimed, looking at their dirty, tired state, "What on earth happened?"

"We ran into one of Gato's hired henchmen, Zabuza." Tazuna sighed, running his fingers through his sparse hair, "If only building this bridge wasn't so goddamn hard."

Sakura cringed at the forlorn looks on Tsunami and Tazuna's face. Their village was severely impoverished and their only hope lay in the new bridge; of course they weren't just able to build it without problems. "Is there anything we can do for you, Tsunami?" Sakura offered, smiling kindly at the woman, "We'd really love to help in any way we can."

"Oh I couldn't impose such things on you." Tsunami shook her head, playing the role of 'good hostess' perfectly.

"Please, we insist."

"Yeah, ya know!" Naruto added, his spiky hair bouncing as he nodded.

Tsunami sighed in resignation, "I suppose you three could run to the market for me. I'll give you a list." The woman stood up quickly from her chair and hurried to grab a loose sheet of paper. After quickly jotting something down, she handed the folded note to Sakura. "Thank you so much." She said sincerely, "I really hope your sensei will be okay."

"I'm sure he will!" Naruto assured, skipping out of the house with the rest of his team.

"We haven't talked about this enough," Sasuke started, "so what happened with Zabuza? Who was the masked figure?"

"An ally of his." Sakura speculated, "It's strange though. He was wearing a hunter-nin mask, yet he didn't try to act like a hunter-nin at all!"

"That's true." Sasuke nodded thoughtfully, "Perhaps he was expecting to utilize his disguise, but he deemed it useless?"

"I honestly don't know." Sakura groaned. "It just...rubs me the wrong way."

"Hn."

-----------------------------------------------

The town was genuinely dilapidated. The small houses were riddled with holey roofs and cracking walls while the selection of food was frankly pitiful. Sakura gazed guiltily at the knobbly knees and painfully visible ribs of the children begging on the streets; begging from whom, Sakura was unsure, but it was still depressing nonetheless. She stifled a gasp when she saw a young girl limping down the street with a black and purple bruise covering the entirety of her lower leg. Overcome with the need to assist the girl, she ran over.

"May I help you?" She asked, her voice soft and kind.

The girl backed away suspiciously, her body tense.

"I promise, I'm just going to heal your leg. Nothing more." Sakura insisted, motioning for the girl to sit beside her.

The girl complied.

"What's your name?" Sakura asked, her hand glowing with a soft green light.

"Amara." The girl whispered, staring intently at Sakura's hands as they knit the fractured bone back together. Once the bone was fixed, the bruise faded completely, leaving Amara's leg merely dirty. "Th-thank you." She gazed at Sakura with deep admiration. "That was amazing."

"I'm glad I could help." Sakura helped Amara to her feet and watched her as she skipped away.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sasuke ran over to Sakura, "You're going to attract a crowd and both you and I know you don't have enough chakra to heal everyone in this town."

"No, not all at a time, but throughout our stay, I can try." Sakura retorted, crossing her arms.

"How do you know we'll be staying that long?"

"Look at the state Kakashi-sensei's in. Do you really think we'll be going anywhere any time soon?" Sakura looked smugly at Sasuke and turned to the small crowd she had attracted. Villagers young and old had gathered in a small clump around the bench she had been previously sitting at. Slowly, an old woman approached her, cradling an infected arm.

"Thank you so much for healing Amara." He bowed respectfully and Sakura was taken-aback. Wasn't she supposed to bow? "I would really appreciate it if you could heal my arm. We don't really have a doctor here."

"Of course." Sakura agreed, "Please sit here."

"Sakura-" Sasuke started.

"I'm fine Sasuke!" Sakura insisted, "Herd these people into some semblance of a line would you?"

Sasuke didn't like being ordered around, but he somehow didn't feel angry at Sakura. Strangely enough, he admired her actions despite the fact that he was annoyed with her at the moment. Or was he? Was it that he was annoyed with himself, but needed to find a receptacle? Sasuke shook his head, as if to clear the thoughts from his mind. Sighing at his uncharacteristic behavior, he made sure the villagers were as organized as possible. It was so strange; he felt a warm feeling in his stomach when he watched Sakura help people. In fact, he too wanted to aid the needy. He blinked several times at his realization. Somehow in the trauma of his childhood, he forgot the joy he felt when he was able to help people. Still driven by this awakening, he walked over to Sakura.

"Can I help?" He asked monotonously.

Sakura tossed him a roll of bandages. "If I heal someone with a broken bone, wrap the appendage so that the healed bone doesn't get jostled."

"Hn." Sasuke grabbed the bandages and forced back a strange urge to smile. 

A/N: As promised, here's the chapter! 

So I call this chapter the: Sasuke gets some goddamn feelings chapter. And I know, he probably seems mighty OOC, but this time, I think it's called for. In the anime, he has a mini panic-attack when meeting Zabuza, but is consoled by Kakashi. I think if Kakashi wasn't there, he would have been so much more scared. Not to mention, if Sakura offers her protection, Sasuke would just be frustrated. And as for the healing scene, Sasuke was a nice kid. He was funny and he loved his brother. I get this gut feeling that he actually wants to help people, but is too numb to feel the compassion. But with the weakness he experienced earlier, I feel like he's slightly thawed now. Anyway, hope that made sense. 

Please read, vote, and comment!