All the members of Team 7 looked up to the sword to find a tall man standing on the blade. The man was wearing striped pants, no shirt, and camouflage sleeves, but his noticeable feature was the bandages around his lower face and the fact that his hitai-ate was on sideways. He stood upon the sword glaring towards Tazuna with a blank expression in his eyes.
Kakashi immediately recognized the man. "Well if it isn't Zabuza-kun, the Demon of the Mist." He said as he stared toward Zabuza.
"Hn. It's an honor to be recognized by the famous Sharingan Kakashi." Zabuza replied with a chuckle "Now if you'll just hand over the bridgebuilder I'll be on my way."
Kakashi raised a hand up to his hitai-ate and raised it up to his forehead, revealing his Sharingan eye. "Team, guard Tazuna, don't get into this fight; it's way over your heads." He said as he looked towards his team before turning to Zabuza "You know I can't do that Zabuza, it's my mission to protect Tazuna and I never fail my mission."
"It's my mission to kill the old man and I'll have you know that I don't fail my missions either." Zabuza replied as he jumped down from the sword and grabbed it, pulling it from the tree with no problem. He quickly stuck the sword on his back and brought his hands into the seal of confrontation. "Kirigakure no Jutsu."
A thick shroud of mist quickly enveloped the whole area, blocking out the vision of everyone, even Kakashi's Sharingan.
"Everyone be careful. He is a master of Silent Killing. He will kill you before you even know that you're dead." Kakashi said quietly.
Suddenly a disembodied voice came out of the mist. "There are 8 places on the human body that will cause instant death when cut… but I'm sure you already know that so I'll skip the boring stuff." Zabuza said.
There was a brief moment of silence before Kakashi sensed something behind him. He turned just in time to see Zabuza swinging his large blade toward Tazuna. He dashed forward, unsure if he would make it on time, pulling out a kunai and preparing to block the attack. He was almost in range when Naruto quickly pulled out a kunai and stepped into the slash, raising the kunai and blocking it, though he struggled to match Zabuza's strength.
Kakashi, seeing that Naruto stopped the attack, quickly went on the offensive trying to stab Zabuza in the side. Zabuza noticed this and quickly jumped back to avoid the stab before turning and slashing downwards with his oversized sword. Kakashi halted and jumped back to avoid the blow but due to the length of the sword he still received a shallow cut on his arm causing him to grunt in pain. He quickly got over the pain and blurred through some hand seals before sticking his hand to his mouth with his thumb and index finger in a circle. "Katon: Karyuendan!" he called out as he expelled a stream of flames that took the form of a dragon. Zabuza jumped backwards to avoid the attack before having to jump to the side once again as the fire changed direction and followed him. He dodged the attack for another moment before he quickly did a set of handseals. "Suiton: Suijinheki!" he said as a wall of water rose from the lake he was now standing on to block the fire dragon. The dragon collided with the wall of water, the attacks cancelled each other out, shrouding the area in steam.
When the steam cleared Kakashi was standing on the water as well, the two jonin eyeballing each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Sasuke and Hinata looked at them in shock. This was the first time either had ever seen two shinobi of this caliber battle. "The killing intent is so strong… it's so much that I feel like a weaker person would be tempted to kill themselves just to get away from it. So this is what it's like when two jonin fight." Sasuke thought as he shivered a bit. Hinata had a similar thought. They really were outclassed here.
Zabuza was the first to move, running towards Kakashi with his sword drawn back ready to strike. He made a horizontal slash only for Kakashi to block it with a kunai. He corrected himself and spun around delivering a vertical slash, which Kakashi also blocked. Zabuza was about to attack once again when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down to find a second Kakashi emerging from the water, with a kunai buried in his chest. Kakashi grinned at his victory before Zabuza burst into water. "Mizu Bunshin" Kakashi thought as he turned to watch Zabuza cleave through his clone in a pood of smoke. Zabuza then turned towards him and threw the sword, causing him to duck to avoid it. As soon as the sword passed above his head, he saw Zabuza turn to water and splash back into the lake. He quickly turned around and saw Zabuza emerge from the lake and grab the sword before slashing downward. Kakashi didn't have time to block before the sword hit him on the neck, cleaving him in two. Zabuza grinned, happy that his deception strategy worked out.
His joy was short lived however as Kakashi turned into water. He was about to look for Kakashi when he felt the cold steel of a blade against his neck. "This fight is over." Kakashi said as he held a kunai against Zabuza's throat. Zabuza stiffened up briefly before he ducked backwards and to the side and grabbed Kakashi's hand in one quick motion. He used his momentum to throw Kakashi over his shoulder. Kakashi righted himself and landed upright skidding back on the surface of the water.
"It's time to end this." Zabuza said as he began a long string of handseals while chanting them out loud. Kakashi's Sharingan was spinning slowly as he began to copy each seal, keeping up with Zabuza. They both finished at the same time. "Suiton: Suiryuendan!" both said as two large water dragons rose of from the lake and began fighting for dominance. Kakashi and Zabuza both dashed forward, kunai clashing against sword before they both jumped back again.
Zabuza started to run forward again but stopped when Kakashi did the same. He ran to the left and was shocked again when Kakashi did the same. "Is he-" Zabuza thought before being cut off by Kakashi.
"Reading your mind? Yes." Kakashi said out loud.
Zabuza put his hands in the confrontation seal, with Kakashi following along once again. He quickly moved them to make a circle in front of his face, Kakashi doing the same once more.
"Bastard! All you're doing is-" Zabuza yelled out
"Copying me you monkey!" Kakashi finished. As Zabuza's eyes turned red from the anger
"I'll make sure you can never use that eye or mouth again" Zabuza yelled as he quickly began another series of handseals, noticing Kakashi doing the same. As he looked at Kakashi he saw an image of himself behind Kakashi doing the seals. "Is this one of his genjutsu?" Zabuza thought, causing him to momentarily lose focus. That was all it took as Kakashi completed the jutsu.
"Suiton: Daibafuku no Jutsu!" Kakashi yelled as a large section of the lake rose up and swirled around him for a moment before shooting forward and slamming into Zabuza. Zabuza was picked up by the massive wave and sent crashing through the landscape, uprooting trees and destroying everything in its path. It finally ended with Zabuza crashing against a large tree, almost knocking him out.
"This fight is over." Kakashi said as he jumped down in front of Zabuza.
"H-How… Can you see the future?" Zabuza said quietly.
"Yes. And in yours I see death." Kakashi said as he glared into Zabuza's eyes with his Sharingan spinning slowly. With that Kakashi started in with a kunai to cut Zabuza's throat, but before he could reach him several needles appeared from nowhere and stuck themselves through Zabuza's neck.
Kakashi quickly pulled back and looked to the source of the needles, seeing a man in a nearby tree. The man was short, wearing a green haiori over red pinstriped shirt and pants and had a brown sash tied around his waist. His most distinguishing feature, however, was the white mask with red swirls and the Kirigakure symbol on the forehead.
"You were right. Death was in future." The mysterious man said as he jumped down from the tree.
Kakashi quickly bent down and checked Zabuza's pulse, finding none. "He's definitely dead." Kakashi thought before standing back up and looking at the man in the mask. "Judging by that mask, you must me a hunter-nin?"
"Yes, I have been following Zabuza for some time now waiting for a chance to take him out. I thank you for helping me." The hunter-nin said nodding toward Kakashi. He then bent over and started to grab Zabuza. "Now I must take the body back to Kirigakure so that he may be disposed of properly."
He stood up with Zabuza on his shoulders and started to leave before he had to drop Zabuza and quickly dodge a kunai. "Wait just a second. Isn't the protocol for hunter-nin to destroy the body on site? To make sure that none of the village secrets get out?" Naruto said as he started walking towards the pair.
"Naruto! He's doing his job, attacking him could be seen as an act of aggression from Konoha to Kiri. Let him leave if he chooses not to destroy the body here." Kakashi said in a stern tone looking right at Naruto.
"Trust me Kakashi-sensei, this man isn't who he says he is." Naruto replied as he blurred through a set of hand seals. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu." He said before expelling a stream of fire out of his mouth towards Zabuza's body.
Just as the fire was about to consume Zabuza, a shield of ice shot of from the ground in front of him blocking the fire. The fireball quickly dissipated leaving the ice untouched around Zabuza. The hunter-nin jumped towards Naruto and held up a one-handed handseal. "Hissatsu hyoso." He said as the wall of ice shot several spikes out trying to impale Naruto and Kakashi. Both shinobi jumped back to dodge the spikes before the hunter-nin jumped to Zabuza's side and tossed him over his shoulder before shunshinning away.
"Dammit! He was a fake, you were right Naruto. I should have finished him when I had the chance." Kakashi said as punched his palm. He then covered up his Sharingan and turned to the rest of his group. "Alright guys, let's get Tazuna home to safety. Zabuza is not dead so we need to rest up and train you so you'll be able to help." Kakashi said and started walking off before collapsing face down. "Okay I guess I used too much chakra… I can't move my body." He said with a small chuckle.
Naruto bent down and picked up Kakashi, throwing him over his shoulder. "Alright guys, let's get to Tazuna's so we can get some rest." Naruto said as they began their walk. Unbeknownst to everyone else in the group, Naruto was channeling his chakra into Kakashi, accelerating his healing process and replenishing his reserves that were down to near nothing.
It didn't take long before the group made it to Tazuna's house where Naruto situated Kakashi in a bed so that he could get some rest. After he got Kakashi in bed he went back downstairs to talk with his team and maybe get some food.
As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs he could smell food coming from the kitchen and made his way in there to find Tazuna, Hinata, Sasuke, and Tazuna's daughter Tsunami gathered around the table with several bowls of soup spread around. Tsunami noticed him first and greeted him "Naruto-kun, have a seat, I just finished cooking udon soup. I set a place for you." She said pointing to the empty seat next to Hinata.
Naruto graciously nodded before moving to his seat and sitting down. "Thank you Tsunami-san." Naruto said before he scarfed down his bowl and several more that Tsunami offered him as well. The three genin finished their meals before thanking Tsunami and leaving the table.
"Guys get some rest, tomorrow we need to train. Zabuza is not dead and he has an accomplice. They'll be back as soon as Zabuza has had a chance to recover." Naruto said earning a nod from the other genin before they all headed off to bed to get some rest. Tomorrow would surely be a rough day.