Chapter 6: The Land of Waves I - Zabuza vs. Team 7


March 15, 64 AFL

"Zabuza Momochi also known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist," Kakashi started with an unreadable expression on his face, "So what's a rogue ninja like you doing all the way out here Zabuza?"

When he received no reply Kakashi turned to his team and said, "All of you stay back you'll only be in the way." Naruto and Sasuke looked at him angrily but complied and Kakashi began to move his headband, slowly uncovering his left eye,

"If this guy is our opponent I'm gonna need this." Zabuza looked at Kakashi calmly and finally began to speak, "Kakashi of the Sharingan, would you mind handing me that old man?" Kakashi answered the rogue ninja calmly,

"All of you get in Manji formation and protect Tazuna, that is your mission, I'll handle him myself," finally placing his headband into his proper place and revealing his three tomoe sharingan eye. Zabuza actually began chuckling a little, "Too see the sharingan in action is a privilege but to face it in combat is a true honor!" he stated with a sick sense of joy.

Naruto couldn't help but question Sasuke, "I know a little bit about your eyes but what makes them so damn special?" Naruto inquired. Sasuke scowled at him a little but started explaining,

"The sharingan are my clan's kekkei genkai, with this unique dojutsu the user can comprehend and copy any ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu and reflect the attack right back at the opponent," Sasuke activated his own sharingan showing off his one tomoe right eye and the two tomoe's in his left.

"Oh, so that's how you always win your a cheater," Naruto said calmly with a foxy grin. Sasuke started giving Naruto a death glare but Sakura gave both boys a bonk to the head and nearly screamed, "Stop your bullshit and concentrate you baka's!" the boys complied and returned their attention to Kakashi and Zabuza.

Zabuza was waiting for them to finish before he said, "Not bad brat but you've only scratched the surface, the sharingan can go as far as to copy another person's entire fighting style if the user so wishes, as for you Kakashi you were in my bingo book too and you had a kill on sight order placed on your head, Kakashi of the Sharingan also known as the man who knows a thousand jutsu,

"Kakashi the Copy Ninja," Zabuza finally finished. Naruto and Sakura looked at Kakashi with a new sense of pride but Sasuke was scowling at him. Kakashi noticed and said to the last Uchiha,

"I'll explain the story behind this eye later Sasuke, for now help Naruto and Sakura protect the bridge builder!" Sasuke huffed but did as he was told. Zabuza was done playing talk no-jutsu with Kakashi and said, "Ok that was fun but I have a job to finish, time to kill the old man!"


Team 7 tightened their defenses around the bridge builder but Zabuza actually moved away from them and landed on a large body of water. He held one hand in the air and one by his face as he began to mold his chakra, he formed the signs for Ox, Snake, and Ram. The water began to swirl around his body and an impenetrable mist started to form around them,

"Water Style - Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

As soon as Zabuza activated his jutsu he vanished from view. "He'll be targeting me first," Kakashi stated calmly, "Sensei who is that guy?" Sakura asked him, she was terrified and in her mind the more information she had about her opponent the safer she would be. "Zabuza Momochi, ex-leader of the Hidden Mist Assassination Unit, one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, and master of the silent killing technique," Kakashi explained.

"Silent Killing?" Sakura and Naruto questioned him, "Yes, he uses this jutsu to attack unseen without sound or any warning of any kind. It's so bad that if you lose concentration even for a second you'll be dead before you realize it and even worse my sharingan isn't powerful enough to see through mist this dense," Kakashi replied honestly, "So don't lower your defenses even for a second!" Kakashi then sighed a little, "Well if we fail we only lose our lives," he stated nonchalantly, "Sensei!" Sakura said enraged at Kakashi's comment and made a mental note to give him a very good, "Love Tap," to his head when this was over.

The mist began to grow thicker as Naruto commented on it Tazuna explained, "I told you the Land of Waves is an island nation, he has all the water he could possibly want for his dirty tricks." The mist grew so thick that Team 7 lost view of their sensei which terrified them but they remained steadfast in their formation hoping against hope that Kakashi would take the rogue ninja down with little difficulty. That hope was crushed however when the group of teens heard Zabuza's demonic voice,

"Eight points, larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, and the heart, now which one would you all like to be your kill point," the jouin stated coldly. Kakashi immediately flared his chakra dispersing some of the mist around himself and his team. His team was not looking good, they were all scared, Kakashi could see that, he had to reassure them somehow, he spoke the first words that came to his mind,

"Stay calm you three, I'll protect you with my life, all of you! I will not allow my allow my comrades to die, trust me," he winked at them and turned to face the bulk of the mist again desperately trying to locate Zabuza with his sharingan. His three students calmed down and once again readied themselves for anything to come.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Kakashi!" Kakashi turned around and there was Zabuza directly in front of the bridge builder. He had slipped by the genin through the mist and his sword was within inches of the old man's throat as he screamed sadistically, "It's over!"

Kakashi intercepted the blade with one of his kunai as his free hand spun around and stabbed Zabuza in the side with another but the rogue ninja just dissolved into a pool of water,

"Water clone!" Kakashi stated in shock as Zabuza appeared behind him and sliced him in half from top to bottom. Zabuza thought he had won but when he saw water and not blood he knew what Kakashi had done unfortunately for him now there was a kunai to his neck, "Now it's Over!"


"Your finished Zabuza," Kakashi stated with confidence but what surprised him was that Zabuza was actually laughing. "You really think I'm beat, your techniques are just a mere imitation of my own and I assure you I will never be defeated by a pathetic copy cat like you," Zabuza continued to chuckle,

"I will give you credit though, you had already copied my water clone jutsu when you made your crappy little speech, skillful using your clone to draw my attention, while you played my game and hid in the mist waiting for me to strike, well done, but I'm not that easy!"

Zabuza suddenly dissolved into nothing but water, Kakashi looked around frantically for Zabuza but it was Naruto who found him first, "Sensei he's behind you!" Naruto screamed trying to warn his sensei of the danger. Kakashi turned around and he and Zabuza traded several blows with fist meeting flesh and steel meeting steel until finally Zabuza hit Kakashi with a good kick to the midsection knocking him into the air towards the direction of that body of water that Zabuza had used for his Hidden Mist Jutsu. Zabuza grabbed his sword and charged towards the direction Kakashi had flown but stopped as he noticed several sharp items on the ground, "I thought you were better than that Kakashi trying to slow me down won't work," Zabuza stated annoyed and jumped in the water after Kakashi.

Kakashi slowly rose to the surface and the first thing he noticed was the density of the water, "This isn't normal water, it's heavy, shit!" Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi and waved several quick and fluid hand signs,

"Water Style - Water Prison Jutsu!" Zabuza screamed and as he did Kakashi was surrounded by a thick sphere of water that was stronger than steel. Zabuza began laughing, "Pathetic, so much for the great Kakashi master of over a thousand jutsu, now I think it's time I let you watch my clone slaughter your students!" Zabuza stated coldly.

"Water Style - Water Clone Jutsu!" Zabuza made another water clone and began mocking the terrified genin, "You think those headbands make you ninja, true ninja have seen life and death countless times. If your profiles ever get placed into my bingo book then maybe you will be close to being true ninja but you three, you're a joke and a disgrace to the name shinobi!" Zabuza stated.

As soon as the rogue ninja finished his clone appeared directly in front of Naruto, before the young ninja could do a thing he felt Zabuza's foot in his face as he flew back several feet losing his headband in the process. "Just little fucking brats!" Zabuza screamed as he proceeded to stomp Naruto's prized headband into the dirt.

"Naruto-kun!" Sakura screamed in worry, she rarely added the -kun suffix, usually when he made her very happy she would grant him that reward but in times like theses it tended to slip out. Kakashi analyzed the situation and voiced his opinions with great worry for his team,

"Take Tazuna and run! I can't escape this prison but his clone can't wander far from his real body, Now run!" Kakashi repeated himself. 'Running was lost as an option as soon as you got caught,' Sasuke thought, 'No matter where we go he'll track us down and kill us all. Manji formation is a joke and even with Sakura and Naruto were still screwed. Our only chance is to rescue you,' Sasuke finalized. Sasuke started charging Zabuza throwing several kunai and shuriken in an attempt to get in close, as he did he lept into the air and tried to strike the jonin with same move that had knocked out the chunin earlier, a hard kick to the head but Zabuza dodged and grabbed Sasuke by his throat. Zabuza chucked him back toward the rest of his team, he wasn't injured but was a little shaken as both of his teammates cried out in concern,

"Sasuke!" "I'm fine dobes," Sasuke stated as he rose from his feet and tried to figure out what the hell to do.

Naruto turned his gaze to Zabuza and wore a terrified expression as one idea came to mind, 'I have to get Sakura-chan and get the hell out of here, if I don't he'll seriously kill us both,' he thought but as he put his right hand to the ground he felt a sharp pain run through his body. Naruto looked at his bandaged hand and directed his gaze over to Sakura, and then Sasuke, and finally Kakashi, remembering his promises to Hinata and Sakura as well as his sensei's words from a few minutes before he finally regained his composure.

'No, I'm a ninja and the son of the Fourth Hokage, believe it! I promised myself that I would protect Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan no matter what pain I had to go through and I refuse to give up now!' Naruto thought to himself and after looking at Zabuza for a moment he charged him full force.

"Naruto, No!" Kakashi stated in shock at the blonde ninja's actions. "Naruto-kun what the hell do you think your doing?" Sakura cried out in confusion as Naruto got closer to the enemy nin, Zabuza just muttered, "Damn fool," and once again kicked Naruto in the face sending him a good thirty feet back as he skidded on the ground.

Sakura instinctively yelled at her blonde baka, "Naruto what the fuck were you thinking, were only genin none of us can beat him alone and I will not be widowed at thirteen, you damn baka!" Sakura growled but as Naruto slowly got to his feet she saw he was holding his headband and she realized,

'He risked his life for his headband, I hate to admit it but that was kinda…' 'Kinda Hot!' inner Sakura finished for her while licking her lips. Sakura tried to suppress a blush and she looked at Naruto again and he started to speak,

"Hey freak with no eyebrows, put this in your crappy book.
The shinobi who will become Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves!"
Naruto tied his headband tight to his forehead,
"He never backs down,
He protects his loved ones with his very life,
and his name is Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto stated with a new sense of conviction.


Naruto turned to Sasuke, "Your listening right teme cuz I have a plan," the blonde spoke to his friend and rival in confidence. Sasuke smirked, "Oh so know your ready for teamwork huh dobe," he replied nonchalantly.

While the boys discussed their plan Sakura was caught in a daze by her baka's actions
'What is this feeling? I've never felt this way before, Naruto's so determined, am I?
Am I finally starting to truly fall for him?' the pink haired teen questioned.
Sakura was finally brought out of her stupor by Naruto's words,

"Ok Sasuke let's bring this ugly bastard down!" Zabuza began chuckling coldly, "Brave words brat but any plan you make will result in your death, I assure you of that," Kakashi heard Naruto and Zabuza from his prison and couldn't believe what he was hearing,

"What the fuck did I just say?" Kakashi screamed from inside his prison,

"This battle was over the second I got caught, listen take Tazuna and run, I can't escape this prison but his clone can't move far from his real body so run!"

Kakashi cried out almost like he was in pain. Naruto and Sasuke looked at Tazuna who just sighed at made eye contact with the two boys,

"This is my fault so don't worry about me just do everything within your power to save your sensei," he finally said.

Sasuke smirked and Naruto smiled as the two genin turned to face the legendary demon,
"Alright you heard him," Sasuke said and Naruto replied, "Yea we'll put him in his place believe it!" Zabuza broke down in a fit of laughter, "Still pretending to be a ninja, when I was your age my body count was in the hundreds!" he continued laughing sadistically. Team 7 were a little shaken by the rogue ninja's boast but they retained their composure until Kakashi and Zabuza began elaborating further,

"Zabuza the Demon," was all Kakashi said before Zabuza spoke up, "So I really was in your book, I'm flattered," he informed Kakashi calmly. Kakashi began to explain to his team how truly sick and sadistic an opponent Zabuza was, "Long ago in the Village Hidden in the Mist also known as Blood Mist Village before a student could become a ninja there was one final barbaric test!" Kakashi said with disgust in his voice. "Oh so you've heard of the final graduation exam as well have you!" Zabuza began laughing again and it finally pissed Naruto off.

"What's the big deal, we had a pretty tough final exam too and we barely passed," Naruto stated honestly albeit angrily. Zabuza stopped laughing immediately and gave the young blonde an unsettling look, "Did you have to murder the other students to pass?" he began laughing again, "Imagine it in your village, all of the bonds and friendships you built over the years, all torn away in a single day by either being murdered or murdering one of your best friends!"

Zabuza finished calmly and Kakashi began once again, "Ten years ago the final exam was permanently changed because one year prior pure evil infected the school with terror," Kakashi said. Sakura was frightened and couldn't stop herself from asking, "What terror? What evil?" the young girl asked them in worry. Kakashi looked her way and said, "Without any warning of any kind, a young boy who wasn't even enrolled approached the school and massacred over a hundred other students!" Kakashi finished his explanation and Team 7 looked at the demon who was just standing their with an odd expression on his face.

"It, It felt so…, so good!" Zabuza screamed in joy scaring the crap out of Sasuke and Naruto and forcing them to let down their guard. Zabuza's water clone was on them in seconds, he gave Sasuke a hard elbow to the stomach knocking him to the ground. The jounin wasn't going to give Sasuke a chance to recover as he slammed his elbow once again into Sasuke's midsection causing him to spit up blood.

"Sasuke!" both Uzumaki's screamed in worry as Zabuza started stomping Sasuke's chest in with his foot. Naruto growled out in anger "Enough, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he cried and within the next few seconds at least thirty Naruto clone's appeared on the battlefield. Zabuza stepped a few feet away from Sasuke and gripped his sword,

"Not bad kid shadow clones and quite a few of them too this should be fun," the demon stated. The group of thirty Naruto's attacked him all at once but not even one clone landed a good a hit as Zabuza proceeded to saw through them like butter with his massive blade. Zabuza finally landed a kick on the real Naruto sending him back at least twenty feet but as he flew through the air he took something out of his bag and tossed it to the last Uchiha,

"Were not done yet, believe it, we've still got this!" Naruto stated as he threw the unknown weapon to his best friend, "Sasuke think fast!"

Sasuke did just that catching the weapon with ease he noticed something odd about it and smirked, "Not bad Naruto," Sasuke thought. Sasuke finally revealed the weapon to be a demon wind shuriken, a large, four-bladed shuriken originally made famous by the Fuma clan. Sasuke looked at Zabuza with that sadistic grin he rarely let anyone see,

"Demon Wind Shuriken - Windmill of Shadows!" he screamed as he leaped into the air and threw the demon wind shuriken with all of his Uchiha might. It whizzed by Zabuza's clone and headed straight for the real Zabuza and Kakashi who was still trapped in the Water Prison Jutsu. It came within a few feet of Zabuza's face as he smirked,

"Smart but not smart enough!" he stated as he caught the large shuriken with his free hand. Zabuza quickly grinned but looked up and was startled,

"A second shuriken in the shadow of the first, the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!" Zabuza thought. He reacted quickly jumping high enough to avoid the shuriken but low enough to keep one hand in the water prison. "Pathetic!" Zabuza screamed but as he did, he heard a poof a smoke and behind him he saw the number one knucklehead ninja himself.

Naruto quickly threw a kunai and Zabuza had no room to dodge and was finally forced to break the water prison jutsu. Zabuza turned to Naruto with pure hatred in his eyes as he spun the demon wind shuriken that he had caught in his hands,

"Die!" Zabuza screamed as he tried to throw the large weapon at the young boy but the blade met the metal on Kakashi's wrist. Kakashi looked at Zabuza with pure rage, his killer intent rising to new levels as he stared Zabuza down with his sharingan.

Sakura was ecstatic that Naruto's plan had saved them as she let out screams of joy, "Sensei your safe, Naruto-kun's plan actually worked, believe it!" Sakura covered her mouth and looked around oddly again.

Tazuna gave her a puzzled look but didn't comment. Naruto finally emerged from the water and Kakashi praised his brilliant strategist of a student,

"Well done Naruto that was an excellent plan, to out smart a jonin like that, very impressive and you too Sasuke your teamwork was flawless, I'm very proud of you," Kakashi stated.

"Well of course!" Naruto began, "Sakura-chan was right there was no way any of us could have taken him down by ourselves so I transformed into the demon wind shuriken and when I threw it to Sasuke-teme it looked like a real shuriken. When Sasuke grabbed me he could tell it was me instantly and he spun around quickly pulling out his own demon wind shuriken. Now there were two shuriken, a real one and me so when Sasuke threw the first one, I hid in the shadow of the second and you know the rest. I had no idea that breaking up his prison would piss away his water clone though that was a bonus, believe it!"

Sakura looked at the two boys affectionately, 'They give one hell of a show when they fight each other but when they work together there teamwork is unstoppable, cha!' Sakura thought. Zabuza scoffed,

"You got lucky brats but it won't happen again, I just got careless," Kakashi looked at Zabuza with malice, "You weren't careless they forced you to let go, Kakashi started, "You got me with that trick once but it won't happen again,"


Zabuza smirked and tried striking Kakashi with the demon wind shuriken once again but Kakashi managed to deflect it far off into the distance. Both men jumped away from each other and Kakashi began to use the true power of his sharingan eye. Zabuza began running through several hand signs at a breakneck pace but Kakashi soon followed making the exact same signs,

"Water Style - Water Dragon Jutsu!" both men screamed and after they did two dragons made of water that were at least five times the size of the two jonin rose up out of the body of water they were standing on and ferociously engaged each other in battle. The two dragons created such a force that Naruto was knocked back to shore alongside his team and Tazuna who were now drenched from head to toe. As the water died down the two men engaged in combat once again only stopping when Zabuza's powerful sword met Kakashi's steadfast kunai.

"Somethings going on here, why did both of our jutsu's occur simultaneously? Does that bastard have me trapped in some sort of genjutsu?!" Zabuza thought angrily. The two men backed away from each other again and slowly began circling the other, they began forming the same signs once again, "Can he read my mind as well?" Zabuza thought.

"Your just a copycat Kakashi nothing more than a monkey!" Zabuza stated, "I won't be defeated by cheap tricks, I'll kill you!" both men said in unison shocking Zabuza but what actually scared him was the ghostly image of himself behind Kakashi, "Why am I over there, what is this bastard doing? Zabuza thought.

"Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!" Kakashi suddenly screamed knocking Zabuza out of his state of confusion. A giant vortex of water formed in front of Kakashi and it suddenly slammed into Zabuza with full force burying the jonin in the vortex of rapidly moving water.

"What is he doing? I was just about to use that jutsu damn him he copies my techniques before I can even use them!" Zabuza thought in anger.

The vortex launched Zabuza through several trees with its amazing power finally slamming him into one as the justu's power finally died down. Kakashi threw several kunai into Zabuza's body but none of the wounds were lethal, it mattered little though. Zabuza was beat and completely out of chakra for all intents and purposes it was over.

Kakashi walked up to Zabuza and simply said "Like I said before your finished Zabuza," Zabuza coughed up some water and asked, "How? Can you see into the future?" the rogue shinobi questioned,

"Yes and this is your last battle!" Kakashi stated as he raised a kunai. As Kakashi went for the kill two senbon needles flew through the air at high speed and struck Zabuza in the neck killing him instantly.

Kakashi looked for the source of the attack and saw a young man standing in the tree above Zabuza. He was wearing a mist tracker mask and a standard Kirigakure pinstriped outfit which stopped at his knees. Over that he was wearing a green haori with white trimmings, and around his waist was a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped around his waist.

The unknown ninja laughed, "You were right it was his last battle," he stated simply. Naruto looked at the unknown man with malice as Kakashi went to go check Zabuza's vitals. Sure enough for all intents and purposes Zabuza was dead, Kakashi looked at the unknown shinobi and found him bowing to him,

"Thank you for helping me with Zabuza, I've been hunting him for a long time, waiting patiently for an opportunity like this to finally kill him and end his madness," the unknown shinobi explained.

"From your mask I'm guessing you're a tracker from the Mist village, am I right?" Kakashi questioned. "Well done you live up to your reputation Kakashi of the Sharingan " the tracker nin stated.

"Ah tracker what's that?" Naruto decided to direct his question to his Sakura-chan. She sighed and started to explain, "When a ninja goes rogue his village will usually send tracker nin to eliminate the shinobi in question because a shinobi's body is covered in their village's secrets and they can't just let anyone find those out, you know Naruto-baka," she gave him a bonk for skipping classes in their younger days and then kissed his cheek. Naruto turned to Sakura blushing and asked her,

"What was that for Sakura-chan? She giggled. "For coming up with the plan that saved our lives baka, Sakura, answered him. "

You're very smart little one yes I am a tracker from the Village Hidden in the Mist and I am charged with the elimination of the traitor Zabuza Momichi," the tracker nin stated calmly. Naruto gazed over at Zabuza's corpse and his anger returned, he ran up to the tracker nin and scowled at him, "Ok who the hell do you think you are?" Naruto questioned the man in anger,

"Easy Naruto he's not our enemy," Kakashi tried reasoning with the young ninja. Naruto turned and actually turned his scowl on Kakashi, "That's not what I'm trying to say, I mean did you see what he just did, he killed Zabuza like it was nothing, Zabuza was a literal monster, a demon and this kid who's no older than me just killed him in one attack! Tell me sensei what the hell does that make us, were nothing, a joke just brats like Zabuza said we were, how can you expect me to accept that!"

Naruto screamed at his sensei. Kakashi looked at him sympathetically before stating, "Naruto you don't have to accept it but it doesn't change the fact that it did happen ok," he put his hand in the blonde's hair and ruffled it a bit before saying, "The truth is Naruto there are children in this world that are younger than you and yet far stronger than me," Kakashi stated calmly. Sasuke glared at Kakashi's words and thought, 'I have to get stronger, damn it!'

Naruto gave Kakashi a look of indifference and then turned his head to glare at the tracker ninja once again as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves and reappeared next to Zabuza's body. He picked up Zabuza and looked at Kakashi, "I have to go now this body holds many secrets and I have to dispose of it," he said calmly and with that he disappeared with Zabuza in another swirl of leaves.

Naruto walked a few steps in vain in order to pursue the tracker nin but stopped realizing it was pointless and just dropped to the ground in anger and began pummeling it,

"Damn it, Damn it, Damn it!, Were nothing a joke, just brats, I can't believe it!" he said in anger.

"Naruto-kun," Sakura whispered in concern normally she would've of tried to comfort him but she had never seen him like this before. After a while Kakashi finally pulled Naruto to his feet,

"Enough Naruto deal with it as a shinobi your going to see a lot of things that are for the lack of a better term unpleasant but we deal with it and move on, now come on let's go, save your rage for your next opponent," Kakashi finally finished and Sakura ran up and hugged Naruto from the back. He looked over his shoulder and smiled, she blushed and asked,

"Feel better already?" "Whenever you're holding me I couldn't be happier," he answered honestly, she blushed brighter but simply replied with, "I know." She released him and he gave her a confused look at her reply but she told him not to worry.

"Alright, if you two are done playing house we can get a move on!" Kakashi stated and as he turned to walk down the trail the jonin went wide eyed and passed out.

"What happened Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked her, Sakura rushed to Kakashi's side as she answered,

"I think it's just chakra exhaustion but we need to get him somewhere safe so I can diagnose him properly, Sasuke carry Kakashi while Naruto carries Tazuna we'll go much faster that way!" she half ordered half explained to the two teenage boys.

Naruto compiled at once and lifted Tazuna onto his shoulders, "Alright Tazuna-san, point the way," Naruto said laughing as he started sprinting full speed down the trail towards Tazuna's place. "Baka," Sakura smiled at turned to Sasuke who just ignored her orders, Sakura sighed before ripping Sasuke by his collar,

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura started sweetly, "You can pick up Kakashi sensei right now and carry him to Tazuna's or...," she eyed his pants and then made eye contact with him while continuing to hold onto his collar,

"Or I can remove one of your dreams from existence right now which do you prefer!" she yelled out angrily before letting him go. Needless to say Sasuke quickly complied and soon all five of them finally made their way to Tazuna's house.


AN: Not much really changes with this arc the fight remains the same team 7 is still far too weak to poise any challenge to Zabuza at this point so Kakashi will still be the big guns and the training and rematch with Zabuza will go simalarly to canon as well the chunin exams are where were going to start getting some fun changes and find out a few of the other rookie 9's soulmates althought I do expect this arc to eat at least 2 more chapters, the longest waiting period for an update should be about 2 weeks that being just so I get a lot of leeway they shouldn't ever take that long, Thank you for your kind reviews and words and I am sorry if this is way to close to canon for your liking but like I said before it will be a while before there are signifficant changes in the timeline.