Saito met up with them at the station where they walked along the man-made path to the old, run down temple. Standing at the front gates reminded them of their past battle encounters at the Shogun's palace. As the gates opened, all seemed too quiet. Yagami sensed an ambush with his Sharingan and all three men drew their katanas to battle Shinsengumi members that ended in a bloodbath. Proceeding into the large hall it slowly spilt into three paths. Saito took the left, Kenshin with the right and Yagami walked to the center. Meanwhile a Shinsengumi member ran to a large room where the new and corrupted Shogun sat patiently on a couch surrounded by two ladies.
"My Lord, the challengers are here." Taking a puff from his pipe, the Shogun spoke, "Good, release the three resurrected bodies, I have a surprise for their friends back at the Dojo. Keep searching for more of the bodies." Saito entered his room and it was filled with mist. His opponent than spoke from the shadows, "A challenger? You're brave, but yet a fool to challenge the Hidden Mist Village's 'Seven Swordsman Of The Mist' Leader!" Saito was unimpressed by his opponent's speech and readied himself. The opponent continued, "I am Momochi Zabuza, and it takes a lot of guts to step up and face me!" The mist than cleared away to reveal the man none other than Zabuza himself. Saito drew his katana and readied himself. It was no surprise since he had fought alongside against Yagami before, learning a few tips off him.
"Allow me to present you a welcoming gift. 'Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu' (Water Release: Water Wave Explosion Technique)!" A large water pillar came from the ground and exploded in front of Saito, blinding his field of vision. Zabuza made use of the diversion and charged through the explosion and attempted a strike on Saito but was parried away. Saito delivered the ground level fang thrust and was evaded by Zabuza when he jumped in mid-air. Saito looked at his opponent with a sarcastic expression.
"Too easy." The Miburo Wolf drove the blade into the chest of his opponent. To Saito, it was an easy victory but something caught his attention offguard; the opponent bled water and slowly transformed into a puddle; clearly a water clone. Zabuza came from behind and swung his blade and grazed Saito's limbs, disabling him from performing his fang thrust.
"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" the puddle of water transformed into a dragon and was aimed towards Saito. Straining his thigh muscles, Saito moved forwards and sliced the dragon in half, destroying the ninjutsu. Zabuza was amazed at the skills of Saito but plan to use his jutsus as an advantage.
"Kiri Gakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Technique)!" The whole area was once again filled with the same mist. Saito again went into his fang thrust stance but this time he prepared himself in the Shiki point. Deep in anticipation, upon vision of a blurry image of Zabuza, Saito charged towards his opponent and struck at the middle but the opponent blocked the thrust with his gigantic blade. Exerting his last ounce of strength, Saito drove the blade through and let go of the hande, resulting in the blade breaking and driving through Zabuza's chest.
"How…" As Saito took his katana, he wiped the blood away as he gave his farewell biddings, "Never underestimate the abilities of a former Shinsengumi member."