Chapter 17: Zabuza the Monster
Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto
Zabuza appeared again on the water with both hands in individual Ram hand-seals. One arm was straight up while the other was in front of his face.
"Over there!" Naruto said about to pull out some weapons to throw at the man when he remembered Kakashi was leading this battle. He silently placed his weapons back in his pouch for later.
"And on top of the water!" Sakura exclaimed as well though Naruto wasn't sure why she didn't know Ninjas could stand on water.
It was a basic Chakra Control exercise as well though Kakashi actually didn't teach them much aside from physical conditioning and teamwork.
Meanwhile Zabuza was releasing a large amount of Chakra into the air and said, "Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu."
And with that he disappeared into the mist.
"He's gone!" Sakura exclaimed.
Kakashi looked at the lake and warned his team, "He'll come after me first. Momochi Zabuza as a member of the Hidden Mist was known as an expert in silent killing.
You don't even notice until you're already dead…plus it's not like I can use the Sharingan Perfectly. You guys be careful."
It was then that Naruto noticed that the mist was getting thicker and…it felt heavier as well? Like it was laced with something he couldn't tell properly. But his thoughts were cut off when Zabuza's voice resounded all over the place.
"8 Choices…"
"Huh? What?" Sakura looked around and saw nothing…inside of a place covered in mist by the enemy.
"Liver, Lungs, Spine, Chevical, Neck, Brain, Kidney, Heart. Which one should I go after?"
The voice was halfway there between growling and echoing which made him sound frightening.
Kakashi was silent when he clapped his hands into the Ram hand-seal with both hands and started to channel a massive amount of Chakra with his killing intent coming out combating the killing intent Zabuza was spilling out as well.
The air was heavy.
That was what Naruto noticed when the two wills of these Jonin cashed. It was like both of them could come out of nowhere and slay them where they stand and they could not do anything at all.
This was a feeling that Naruto felt before on a lesser scale and thus he was not as affected as his team-mate.
Sakura was stuck there frozen like Tazuna while Sasuke being the more competent one was shaking knowing what was going on.
"Sasuke" it was then that Kakashi called out to him, "Don't worry. I'll protect you guys even if it kills me" he turned to eye-smile at them with both eyes now, "I don't let my comrades die."
"We'll see about that!"
Naruto felt Zabuza appearing the centre of their formation in that moment. A moment ago he wasn't there and now he just appeared! He slipped into their guard so easily as well.
This was the skill level of a Jonin, something that he; a Genin could not match right now.
"It's over!" Zabuza started to swing his giant blade towards Tazuna while everyone else could do nothing but watch. Kakashi crashed in the way while knocking away his team and Tazuna who jumped away while stabbing a Kunai into Zabuza…who was leaking water from the stab wound.
"Water Clone?!" Kakashi exclaimed.
Spotting a figure behind his Sensei about to swing into him, Naruto shouted, "Behind you Sensei!"
The blade cleanly cut through Kakashi's body as Sakura who had a clear view of the action screamed. The red blood turned into clear water and it was revealed that the thing that Zabuza cut was a Water Clone as well.
It was then that Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza with a Kunai to his neck with one statement, "It's over!"
But Zabuza started chuckling, "Hehehehe, it's over? You don't get it. There is no way you can defeat me with your monkey like imitations. But that was impressive of you" he said without concern that a weapon was next to his neck.
"At that time…you had already copied my Water Clone Jutsu and had your Clone to say those words to attract my attention while the real you stayed in the mist and watched. Nice plan but-"
A voice appeared behind Kakashi and was the real Zabuza growling beind him, "I'm not that easy."
In shock, Zabuza killed the Water Clone just as Zabuza swung his giant sword at Kakashi who ducked to dodge but the man continued to spin and kick Kakashi into the water.
Zabuza was about to charge in and finish the job when he found Makibish; a type of spiked ball trap spread over the ground.
"Foolish" Not minding them at all, Zabuza moved quickly with a Body Flicker behind Kakashi as he came out of the water.
The water was inbued with his Chakra which made it heavier than normal which was the perfect trap.
Naruto watched with horrid fascination as Zabuza smirked, "Heh, fool. Water Prison Jutsu!" forcing the water around Kakashi to spread out and trap him in a water sphere with him in the centre before monologuing.
"You tried to escape to the water. That was a mistake now that I have you in an inescapable prison!" The man glared down at Kakashi, "It's tougher when you can't move you know" Zabuza made a one handed sign, "Now Kakashi, we can finish things later, first I'll take care of them."
Naruto felt some dread as the man said the name of the Jutsu, "Water Clone Jutsu."
Out of the water, a copy of Zabuza appeared in front of them as it started speaking to them as well with the real Zabuza and Kakashi who was still trapped watched on.
The Water Clone stumbled a bit before it started talking, "Wearing those headbands and acting like Ninjas. A real ninjas is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death."
Zabuza instantly moved closer to Sakura who was the closest and said, "Only when you're good enough to be listed in my handbook can you start calling yourself ninjas. You are not ninjas but trash to be slaughtered!."
Sensing the killing intent from the Water Clone alone; Naruto started to sprint to protect Sakura and shouted, "Sakura! RUN!"
But it was too late.
Sakura was stuck frozen on the spot and didn't even have a weapon out to defend herself as Zabuza kicked her and beheaded her in one go.
The Loop ended there.
To say that Naruto was in a dilemma was an understatement.
He had a problem; no two problems and both of them needed close work in order to make it work. The first was Sakura. He really wanted to like the girl but after more than a year in the Time Loops it was quite hard when all she treated him was badly.
Plus it didn't help that she was pitifully weak.
The thing is that Sakura did NOT want to train properly at all. She diets which lowers not only her strength but also her future growth as well. She like that time with Zabuza would not be able to react in time and just die like that.
She was more like a civilian that could barely use Chakra; he checked. Her Chakra Control was near perfect but her Chakra Reserves in turn were near nothing.
The second problem was Zabuza himself. He was stronger than Kakashi in Taijutsu which…other than the use of Water Clones and that Water Prison Jutsu was the entire fight.
Even though Sensei said that he would fight alone, he would probably lose trying to protect everyone.
That meant he needed to fight withut worrying about his team which was impossible in that scenario.
Naruto couldn't even get into the battle since all he knew were close combat moves and nothing long range except for throwing weapons which didn't help with Jonin level fights.
"Wait…didn't Sasuke have that large fireball and those smaller ones?" Naruto questioned his memory and found that Sasuke could use long range attacks. So didn't he?
Was he afraid?
There was a lot of killing intent going around so that may be the case…
That was another problem he had to deal with…he needed a way out of the situation…hmm he could ask Kakashi about the exact scenario so he had an extra opinion on what to do there.
But first…he needed to get Sasuke with those Resistance Seals for that Demon Brothers fight and he needed to get those D-ranks to get more cash.
Most of these things can be done with Shadow Clones but there were certain things like actually physically training himself that he needed to do himself.
With a sigh, Naruto decided to see what else he could do in that situation when it came to it.
"Kakashi-sensei" Naruto after a week of re-training went up to his Sensei and asked him at the beginning of one of their training days, "What do we do if an enemy Ninja captures you and sends a clone to try and kill us?"
Kakashi seemed to be startled enough of the question that he looked away from his orange book.
Sasuke on the other hand while also startled by the question was interested. He knew his Sensei was powerful but there were more powerful Ninjas out there…like Itachi. What would happen if their Sensei was captured or kill?
Sakura on the other hand felt that Naruto was asking another stupid question and wanted to cater to her Sensei a bit by shrieking out, "BAKA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ASKING?!"
After recovering their hearing, Kakashi said, "Mare mare. That is indeed an important question from Naruto you know" he then looked as if he was in deep thought and said in a serious tone, "If there was ever a situation where I cannot protect you…run."
"Run?" Naruto tilted his head; not exactly the words he expected.
Pointing to himself he declared, "I'm actually quite powerful even among Jonin you know; an Elite Jonin whose strong enough to last against even Kage level foes to some extent even if I have little hope on defeating one with my current abilities."
The team nodded taking it in though not fully understanding what that meant. The difference in skills between the two sides was too great after all.
"But if I was taken out that means the enemy would be someone of equal rank to me; an Eilite Jonin as well or an A-rank enemy nin. These kinds of people don't need much effort to kill any of you if you try to fight" he explained which caused the team to tense a bit. It was not a nice feeling to know there are those out there that can easily kill you.
"And if we are protecting a client? What happens when we can't run?" Naruto asked though wasn't alluding to what would happen against Zabuza yet.
"I still say to run…but if you cannot and have to fight or if there is a chance that you can free me from capture even if it is unlikely then does your best to survive and train hard now to survive."
Naruto took that into account.
Once again Kakashi was trapped in the Water Prison Jutsu that Zabuza used.
It was quite ironic for a world in which there were so many unpredictable things happening in a battle that it went out exactly the same as before even if Naruto needed to act a bit.
He was still frightening as shit of Zabuza. Both he and Kakashi after some digging were A-rank Ninjas; just under S-rank, the Kage or monster rank.
In turn his team consisted of Sasuke who was around C-rank; Sakura who was below D-rank and himself who was a high D-rank or C-rank like Sasuke.
Yeah…even a tenth of the ability of that Water Clone was enough to kill them.
"Water Clone Jutsu" Zabuza said as from the water a clone of him appeared. There was still that distinct pressure from killing intent from the Water Clone.
Looking around; Sakura was luckily further from the fight while he and Sasuke were at the front needing to take this clone down.
Taking a Kunai out and making a Cross Sign Naruto shouted, "Sakura! Get to Tazuna and protect him!" while glaring at the Water Clone, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Poof!
With a good deal of smoke; Naruto created a full 100 Shadow Clones at once using the Multi-varient of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It took way less Chakra that way and he might need the Chakra later so he wasn't going to spend at once.
"Oh? So you can use that Kinjutsu eh?" the Water Clone of Zabuza mused looking amused but still in the end took out his giant sword, "But! A hundred of you still won't kill me!" before swinging wildly at the Shadow Clones who charged in while skilfully dodging the ranged attacks from the ones that stayed back.
"Dobe…you…" Sasuke looked shocked at Naruto who did this but Naruto cut him off, "Not now Teme. We are about to die to THAT!" he pointed at the Water Clone, "And I need your help to live through this with hopefully saving Kakashi-sensei."
By the time he was speaking (which couldn't be more than 10 seconds) half of his Shadow Clones were destroyed and quite brutally from the memories he got from them.
Naruto couldn't help but to flinch at all of those Shadow Clones being killed.
And the fact that he just experienced the many many methods he just died several times over in an instant.
Sasuke looking at the destruction a mere Water Clone was making compared to Naruto's own Shadow Clones had no time to even insult Naruto in any way as he agreed mentally and asked, "Yeah. I use my Fire Ninjutsu from afar?"
Naruto shrugged and stated, "More or less. I really don't have any ranged attacks aside from throwing weapons which I need to correct later on. Don't worry about destroying my Shadow Clones. I can make a LOT more."
"Let's do this!"
Both boys went into position.
"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke rapidly made the hand-seals and breathed out a giant fireball from his mouth.
Naruto was impressed; this was a C-rank Jutsu from what he remembered and grew hotter and more power with more Chakra in it.
The Fireball however quite slow to a Jonin's perspective and the Water Clone of Zabuza easily dodged the fireball and started to charge at them.
"Shit!"
Naruto made another batch of 100 Shadow Clones to stall Zabuza but in the end he managed to kill Sasuke who tried and failed to fight back.
"Damn it!" Naruto cursed.
The Loop ended with his death but not before Naruto made another note to learn a move that allows him to move quicker…
Waking up again Naruto counted and this was the fifth Loop since this checkpoint.
The first Loop ended due to Sakura being a coward and abandoning Tazuna to the Demon Brothers. The second Loop ended since Naruto didn't persuade the Hokage to give them the C-rank mission.
The third Loop ended with Zabuza killing Sakura and now the fourth Loo ended with Zabuza killing Sasuke…that seemed to be a reoccurring theme here and it made things a lot harder for Naruto. His team-mates needed to get stronger but more than that, Naruto had to keep them out of trouble.
"What I am lacking right now is in speed…" Naruto muttered. He needed to find a way to get faster aside from physically doing so.
Naruto was pretty sure everyone fast enough in his perspective to a certain extent was not a training freak like Gai and Lee.
Hell if their training was what it took to be THAT fast than there were too many training freaks in the world. He heard rumours that the 4th Raikage was able to somewhat match the 4th Hokage in speed with his Lightning Armour.
A man using pure speed of his body to match someone using Space/Time to move instantly all over the place.
The Raikage was a monster deserving of a level itself...and several more while he's at it.
But then Naruto realised something when thinking about the Raikage.
A Ninjutsu.
There were Ninjutsus out there that could allow him to go faster than before even if it was temporary. That was something he could work on and stay with him no matter how many times he looped.
With that in mind, Naruto decided to analyse what happened and how to prepare better against Zabuza. For the most part Kakashi can handle things…but that Water Clone…
"A Water Clone is a 10th the strength of the original. But in 10 seconds that one 10th clone managed to destroy 50 Shadow Clones easily. At that point I'm a solid Genin level ninjas so does that mean that Zabuza Clone is at the Chunin level or something?" Naruto groaned.
Shaking his head Naruto was sure that was not the case; Zabuza was not that strong but his Water Clones were Chunin level.
If that was really the case than a lot more people would be using Water Clones at that level. That only meant…
"My Shadow Clones are still too weak" he sighed.
Even though his Shadow Clones were also created with the same level as him it didn't mean they had his endurance to take a hit. They literally popped in a single hit.
"Which means I need a move that increases my speed even more than before" he sighed. He was pretty sure that there was a move that did this. It was something that he saw Jonin and even Chunin use often to move from one place to another.
Though there was probably a good reason why they didn't use it often in battle and instead used it to travel faster.
With this in mind, Naruto created more Shadow Clones and sent them for training and one to meet his team while he himself placed up a Transformation and went straight to the Library.
Perhaps there was something there about the method to do this?
5 hours later with Shadow Clones helping and Naruto pretty much went through the entire Genin section of the library.
There were lots of stuff including the most basic elemental jutsus that were at best ranked D-rank which he would practise later but there was nothing on getting yourself to move faster.
Well in a Jutsu form that is.
From what he could tell; there were few ways on using Chakra to make you stronger.
This included methods on increasing your senses; Chakra to the eyes would increase your sight, Chakra to your ears increased hearing, Chakra to your nose increased smell, Chakra to your mouth increased sense of taste. Increasing sensitivity to touch was there but was rarely used due to increased pain when hit.
But there was also the reverse to these as well. While you could use Chakra to increase your senses; you could also use Chakra to make sure these senses are not overloaded.
For example he heard through some Shadow Clones and conversations later that the Inuzaki Clan was proficient in blocking out excess smells to not get overwhelmed due to their enhanced smell.
Of course Naruto tried these methods out; both the sense enhancing and the sense blocking and caused a large number of Shadow Clones to dispel due to overloading these techniques with too much Chakra.
Other use of Chakra to enhance yourself comes in the form of using Chakra to boost your body's capabilities.
To go faster; one method was the reverse of the Tree Climbing exercise where instead of trying to stick to the ground, you would push off it to increase speed.
Another method was to use Chakra to increase your reaction speed lacing Chakra into your nerves.
He had enough sense to allow his Shadow Clones test out any new methods of training so he didn't get disable from one of them accidently. The reaction speed enhancement was actually quite difficult and required a lot more Chakra Control then he had and instantly killed any Shadow Clones he used when trying it out.
"It was a good call to not use it myself else I would reset the Loop or worse have to stay in the hospital for a month…" Naruto shuddered. Due to his…early days in that place he had a massive dislike to it.
He also; by the end of the day had limited success with the other Chakra methods he had found.
To be honest to himself; he only had around a third chance of getting each of them correctly and he would probably need a couple of months to get some of them to an acceptable level.
Furthermore with the details the Genin section gave him of these techniques which were incomplete and vague, it would be harder for him to use it properly unless aided by a Jonin or have access to the Chunin or higher section of the Library.
Naruto sighed to himself, "It seems that I need to rely on Kakashi-sensei for this again…"
While relying on his Sensei was something that was expected; Naruto had lived and relied on himself for so long that it felt weird to rely on someone other than for the more basic things.
While Iruka taught him a number of things including the more complex characters to read and write as well as Hokage-jiji; in the end it was Naruto who relied on himself to study those methods with hard work alone.
While Gai and Lee helped him with his Taijutsu; he was already working on it and getting help from them was like sharpening a blade in the right direction. Naruto was already studying Taijutsu styles to make his own at that point.
For a Genin; Naruto's skill set was not bad.
Combine this with his Shadow Clones and he was well on his way for Chunin…hopefully.
He still struggles on controlling more than 10 Shadow Clones in battle aside from making them charge at the enemy head on without any technique. And the memory transfer while useful in training was more annoying in battle.
Did he really need to know how many different way he could die?
Shaking his head, Naruto made sure he knew what he was going to do. These Chakra Enhancement techniques were a useful thing to have even if they were basic for stronger Ninjas.
Hopefully he could use these to make sure Kakashi doesn't get captured again.
"Damnit!" Naruto shouted.
At this rate everything would go the same way as before with Kakashi being captured in the Water Prison Jutsu and the Water Clone slaughtering the rest of them! He had to finish this was quickly as possible.
Reserving anything was a bad thing at this point.
"Mult-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he screamed.
And with one go, a large amount of mist was created as Naruto created over a 1000 Shadow Clones at once all glaring at Zabuza.
"What is…this?" the no eyebrow man muttered in shock though not as shocked as everyone else there with them.
It looked like with this they would be able to proceed with the mission at last.
"TAKE HIM DO-"
However something hit him in the neck and with great drowsiness and with every last Shadow Clone he made popping at the same time; his fight went to an end and with it; the Loop.
"What the hell was that?" Naruto wondered.
The last thing he recalled was that he made a shit-tone worth of Shadow Clones and was about to order them to take down Zabuza. However he was taken down by something or someone before he did anything.
Was there another person with Zabuza?
That was a frightening thought. Someone who was there but did nothing and someone who could've aided Zabuza at any moment in the fight when things went too far from what it was expected to happen.
Such as a blonde kid like him creating over 1000 Shadow Clones at once.
Yeah…no wonder why that hidden guy pretty much killed or knocked him out the moment he created so many clones at once.
Which meant he couldn't do the same to power through the fight; he needed something else to at least push Zabuza down enough for Kakashi to defeat the guy; though…it was kinda sad that the mission now depended on him to succeed.
If it was him before the Time Loops and…well lots of new stuff happening in his life; he would've been elated for the opportunity.
However he was not and this was giving him a headache.
Kakashi-sensei was supposed to be an elite…well he was but it seems Zabuza or something of his rank was hard to find which made their situation worse than it should be for a simple C-rank mission.
Naruto sighed thinking of all the time spent on solving how to survive the fight.
He needed more information as well.
It looked like that Water Prison Jutsu didn't allow the real Zabuza to move so he used a Water Clone instead.
That was one point of interest for Naruto. Enough thrown weapons at that direction with larger weapons like those Giant Shurikens could free Kakashi.
Else Sasuke could use a Fireball to do the same as well. Sakura could be useful for once and help out as well.
Water Clones were only 1/10 the strength of the original but they were strong enough to take down enough of his Shadow Clones to be a threat. This Water Clone would stop them from attacking the real Zabuza the moment they moved to.
Getting rid of it was good but stalling the Water Clone is better in the short term at least.
"Hn."
"…."
Naruto paused for a second.
"…."
He thought about what just happened.
"SHIT! I TURNED INTO A BROODY TEME!" he shouted. It was lucky there was no one living near him due to…circumstances.
"Need to not be a teme. Need to not be a teme. Need happy thoughts. Yes happy thoughts" he repeated to himself frantic.
There was good in the every lasting loop he was stuck in. He could get stronger no matter how many times he died. He had as many second chances as he had even if he worked hard to avoid any death on his side.
He would eventually get strong enough to become Hokage!
"Yosh! Let's do this!" Naruto exclaimed. He needed to be more positive. No more brooding aloud!
There were definitely some perks in being stuck in this particular part of the Time Loop.
Yeah; let's at least try that and if that doesn't work then he would work more on getting stronger while gaining experience with the battle against Zabuza. It wasn't everyday where you could face a Jonin level foe as many times as you want.
Fighting against Zabuza would be great experience to refine his Taijutsu! Both Shadow Clone style and Individual style!
"Let's do this Dattebayo!" Naruto shouted with glee as he created a hundred clones and charged at the Water Clone.
It was a massacre on his side but after a good five sets of Shadow Clones attacking the Water Clone; he managed to destroy it.
"Yatta!" Naruto cheered as he ordered his Shadow Clones to attack the real Zabuza.
"Not bad…" Zabuza praised, "However this is where you die! Water Clone Jutsu!"
The moment Zabuza shouted that, a dozen more Water Clones appeared.
"NARUTO RUN!" Kakashi shouted frantic as he tried to escape to save him.
However Naruto still grinned and created more Shadow Clones to combat the Water Clones. With the addition of those Chakra enhancing techniques, Naruto was able to make each Shadow Clone the level of a High Genin.
Even if they still popped with a single hit.
From normal Genin level to High Genin level there wasn't much different especially to an enemy of Zabuza's level but with larger numbers...
'Yes, the experience from this fight is GOOD!' he thought slightly insane from all the deaths and repetition and such.
He didn't even bother to dodge as the giant sword split him in half.
Checkpoint 3: Loop 6 End (Total Loops: 58)
A/N:
Zabuza is the first real villain of the story and what's good about the series.
He doesn't have a massive Jutsu that can wipe out of the area, he doesn't have the strength to create caters as he punches nor is he fast to the point that common elite enemies fall the moment he moves.
Zabuza was a Ninja that specialised in silent killing and assassination.
And that meant that he used the basics of basics to become so strong to the point that others with all those flashy stuff they had later on in the series to turn their heads to wonder how the hell is he so good at what he does.
Zabuza in the series is the one to first introduce battles that literally made it clear by Ninjas were so above Civilians in battle. The difference between someone who used Chakra and a simple Commoner.
This basically began the trend in the series to keep on adding more and more stronger Jutsus.
Something that kept things simple but at the same time made the series Shallow in its dept.
There are waaaay more ways that the series could've went. Literally in the first chapter you find that Naruto somehow managing vandalising the Hokage Monument without anyone noticing.
That took stealth, planning and patient.
Everything that seemed to disappear from that point on.
I would've really liked the series after the Timeskip to not dive into the pool that were S-rank battles that required over the top Jutsus of mass destruction to win or even lightly injured the enemy.
I would've really liked to see Naruto maturing enough to be a Chunin in mind and getting promoted after a mission that clearly defined him from a child before whose one ability was charging in head on all the time. (And people think of why Naruto stayed a Genin for so long)
I would've liked to see Naruto's training going from mere power and strengths to tricks and deceptions to take down stronger foes like Akatsuki and their band of S-rank missing-nin.
It is clear that Naruto is unable to beat any S-rank at the beginning of the second part of the series in pure strength, so why didn't he learn how to beat them in other ways?
When I think of the first fight against Zabuza I don't think of Naruto somehow getting another power-up to go faster or pull out even more destructive Jutsus that he would only use once.
I think of an enemy that all his strength, power and brute force cannot defeat no matter what.
Which left Naruto with deception upon more deception and other tricks in other to get the upper hand for that one moment that Zabuza could not force Naruto down like a dog, a single moment where Naruto was going to win not because of his massively overpowered Jutsus or power-ups but because he could out-think his enemy.
And that's what I literally made Zabuza into.
A monster that Naruto could not brute force through.
It was rather simple really, Naruto is a Genin even in skill and strength right now no matter how many Shadow Clones he could make while Zabuza was a powerful Jonin that rivalled Kakashi.
Even if Naruto won, it would not be easy for him.
You see, enemies that are somehow defeated through either plot holes, plot armour and the likes are boring.
Enemies defeated due to a series of strategies that somehow managed to blend together in a plan that could work but did because the conditions were right are interesting.
While I really rather not spend 5 chapters on this fight alone which was why I didn't since the plot needed to move on, I wanted to make sure everyone knew how monstrous Zabuza was in comparison to Naruto.
Zabuza and the comparison to Kakashi in strength only made Orchimaru even more monstrous during the Chunin Exams.
I'm going to have fun with that part.