Kakashi lifted the part of his headband obscuring half of his face, revealing a scarred left eye, the eye's pupil red in color, which three black commas within the pupil itself.
'What is that eye?' Menma thought to himself.
"That eye... it's an honor to face the legendary Copy-Ninja, Kakashi Hatake, or Kakashi of the Sharingan." Zabuza stated.
"What's so special about that eye?" Dhuveena asked.
"That eye is known as the Sharingan, the famed dojutsu of the Uchiha Clan. It is capable of immediately seeing and anticipating all ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu." Zabuza explained, before picking up his sword and forming a single seal.
'Ishiro's clan?' Menma asked himself.
"Kirigakure no Jutsu(Hiding in Mist Technique)." Around Zabuza and the whole forest in general, a thick veil of mist suddenly appeared, obscuring the visions of everyone there. That was until Dhuveena realized something.
'Wait, I have the byakugan!' Dhuveena thought, making unique hand seals. She opened her eyes, turning her pupils completely white, as veins appeared around her eyes. 'I can see now.' She thought, looking around the mist.
Akane trembled. Never once had she been in so much anxiety. In the face of two powerful shinobi, she could only shake and stumble, before pulling out a kunai and pointing it towards her own throat.
"Akane! Don't worry! I will not let any of my comrades or students die in this forest!" Kakashi declared, pulling out a kunai, as Akane calmed down slightly.
"Easier said than done." Zabuza mocked, appearing behind Tazuna, Akane, Dhuveena, and Menma, lifting his large cleaver of a sword over his shoulder. "It's over for you all now. I'm sorry to say, but this is what happens when kids try to play ninja."
Before Zabuza could cut all of them in half, Kakashi rushed forwards, stabbing Zabuza in the neck with his kunai. Suddenly, Zabuza collapsed into a puddle of water.
'A water clone?!' Kakashi thought to himself. 'I've underestimated him.'
"That could've worked, but I'm no simple shinobi." Zabuza mocked, appearing behind Kakashi and sliced him in half. "You of all people should be aware of the fact that the Demon of the Mist has never failed a paid murder." After Zabuza finished his speech, however, Kakashi collapsed into a puddle of water as well. Kakashi then appeared behind Zabuza, holding a kunai to his throat.
"It's over." Kakashi declared.
"Kakashi-sensei! Behind you!" Dhuveena warned, seeing movement in the mist. Heeding her warning, Kakashi plunged his kunai behind him, destroying another of Zabuza's water clones.
"Hmph? Well, that's a minor inconvenience," Zabuza said casually, kicking Kakashi into the lake while he was distracted. As Kakashi emerged from below the lake, Zabuza outstretched a hand behind Kakashi's head. "Suiro no Jutsu(Water Prison Technique)." In a second, Kakashi was left confined within a bubble of water.
'This is a terrible situation.' Kakashi thought to himself. "Guys! Take Tazuna and run now!"
Menma turned and was about to run, before stopping in his tracks and grasping his right hand, looking at the bandages wrapped around it. "No. I won't run. Not again." Menma declared, making a seal in the shape of a cross. "Kage-bunshin no Jutsu(Shadow Clone Technique)!" Many white clouds of smoke appeared, before being replaced by ten clones of Menma as the cloud dispersed.
"Those aren't just decoys... Those are actual copies!" Dhuveena exclaimed in disbelief.
There was one problem. Neither Menma nor his clones could actually see anything in the mist, and before they knew it, one of Zabuza's water clones came in between all ten clones, before dispersing nine of them into clouds of white smoke. Before Zabuza's water clone could finish off the last clones of Menma, as well as the actual Menma, Dhuveena substituted herself in place of Menma before outstretching both of her arms. "Hakkesho Kaiten(Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven)!" Dhuveena spun at high speeds, being encased by a small layer of chakra, repeatedly striking the clone, dispersing it into a puddle of water.
'I see how she saw my clone in the mist, she's a Hyuga...' Zabuza thought to himself. 'Well as long as I have Kakashi trapped, they can't do anything.'
Menma opened his backpack, pulling out four knife-shaped blades with rings on the end. "Akane, take these," Menma said, before tossing the blades towards Akane, who caught them and formed them into a large Fuma shuriken.
"Alright, I gotcha," Akane smirked, realizing Menma's plan. She threw the shuriken towards Zabuza, before forming a few hand seals. "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu(Shadow Shuriken Technique)!"
The Fuma shuriken cloned itself into two, flying towards Zabuza, who cut the higher shuriken into two with his sword, before jumping over the lower shuriken. Suddenly, the Fuma shuriken dispersed into a cloud of white smoke, before revealing one of Menma's clones, who threw a kunai at Zabuza. The plan was simple, Menma was trying to make Zabuza lose his grip on Kakashi's prison by dodging the kunai, and by then they would've won, but he could never have predicted the fact that Zabuza would stand still, the kunai would meet its mark, and lodge itself into Zabuza's side.
"Nice try, but such a simple trick will not work." Zabuza mocked, pulling out the kunai and throwing it at Menma's last remaining clone.
"Well then, how about a complex trick?" A familiar voice asked from behind Menma, before passing a few herbs to him. Menma turned around and noticed who it was.
"Why are you always late, Ishiro?" Menma asked. "This is the second time today!"
"My apologies, but we have more pressing matters," Ishiro stated, revealing himself to everyone there.
"That one does actually look competent. He's not a genin, is he?" Zabuza asked.
"Long story, but I'm in no mood to explain," Ishiro replied, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, his onyx black pupils turned red, both having commas within them each, shocking everyone there except Kakashi.
'Ishiro's got those eyes too?!' Menma thought to himself.
'Those eyes belonged to his clan... I just never expected him to have them...' Dhuveena thought.
'Hell yeah! We're winning this!' Akane thought to herself.
"This might be trouble," Zabuza stated.
"Akane, can I borrow this?" Ishiro asked, picking up her sword.
"Um, sure? But please ask first next time." Akane replied.
Ishiro walked forwards, as Zabuza sent two water clones towards him. As the first clone slashed at Ishiro, the second one slashed as well from a different direction. Ishiro blocked the first slash with Akane's sword while blocking the other clone with the back of his fist, cutting it open and making his blood drip from the open wound. Unfazed, he slashed the first clone, before stabbing the second clone, dispersing both of them into puddles of water.
"He's definitely no genin, he's an Uchiha, what's next, elemental ninjutsu?" Zabuza asked rhetorically.
"Good idea," Ishiro stated, putting both of his hands on the surface of the lake.
Ishiro closed his eyes, as the water started to ripple, the faint noise of static electricity in hearing distance. Suddenly, the water on the lake started to ripple violently, as many volts of electricity were sent throughout Zabuza's body, releasing Kakashi from the water prison. Taking the initiative, Kakashi kicked Zabuza to the other side of the lake. Zabuza stood up again, starting to go through hand seals. Seeing this, Kakashi began going through the same hand seals.
"Those are the same seals, the Sharingan huh?" Zabuza asked. "Stop-"
"Copying you?" Kakashi asked. "I don't have my nickname for no reason, Zabuza."
The two warring shinobi finished their hand seals. "Suiton: Suiryurdan(Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet)!" Two large dragons composed of water emerged from behind the two shinobi, before rushing at high speeds towards each other. Before Zabuza's dragon could gain the upper hand, however, a fireball struck the water dragon, dispersing it. Ishiro had cast a fire jutsu, guaranteeing the victory of Kakashi's Jutsu. The water dragon struck Zabuza, sending him flying into a nearby tree. Before Kakashi could finish the job, however, two senbon(needles) plunged into Zabuza's neck, incapacitating and seemingly killing him, as an unknown shinobi masked jumped next to Zabuza's body.
"Judging by your mask, I'm guessing you're a hunter-nin from Kiri?" Ishiro asked.
"And you would be right. I have been tracking Zabuza for weeks." The hunter-nin replied.
Kakashi put two fingers on Zabuza's neck, before lifting them. "He's dead."
The hunter-nin picked up Zabuza's body, before jumping off. Menma stomped his feet. "That kid was almost the same age as me, but I couldn't do anything, while he snuck up on Zabuza, the same guy that gave us all trouble! That's not fair!"
"That hunter-nin was a girl," Ishiro replied. Almost immediately, Menma had a change in tone.
"Well, maybe it was just skill..." Menma replied.
"Look, Menma, there are kids out there stronger than you." Kakashi started, placing a hand on Menma's hair. "And yet, stronger than me."
After finishing his statement, Kakashi collapsed to the ground. Ishiro rushed over, before covering Kakashi's sharingan with his headband. "He's out of chakra, we need to hurry." Agreeing with Ishiro's analysis, Tazuna led team 7 to his house for some much deserved rest.