Chapter 28: Land of Waves (5): Zabuza's Might, Team Four's Misfortune.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.

End Banner has something to say: Habiki's team 3 will be changed to team 4. I forgot that team 3 is Guy's team, oops! Anyway, team 4 will be forgotten soon, so don't worry about it too much.

After Habiki finished discussing various strategies with Sasuke, he turned to his team and looked at them carefully. His team consisted of two boys and one girl, namely Eito, Kioshi, and Mako.

Both Eito and Kioshi had earthy brown hair and eyes, while Mako had ink-black hair and leafy-green eyes.

"Team three, can you fight?"

Habiki inquired. Eito and Kioshi had many deep cuts and slices on their torso and thighs that had already scarred. This was the result of the ambush from those two chunins when they were making their way to the land of waves.

The chunins were wielding chains with sharp spikes, and both Eito and Kioshi would've immediately died if not for Mako using all her strength to resist the chains with a kunai.

After that, Habiki instantly killed those two chunins.

"Habiki-sensei, we won't be a burden."

"Eito is right, Habiki-sensei. We'll fight until the reinforcement arrive!"

Seeing the two boys flex their muscles, Habiki's lips twitched and he had the urge to punch them in the head, but he didn't have to do anything in the end.

"Ow!"

"Mako, what was that for?!"

The kunoichi in his team did the job for him.

"All right, all right. Since you say you can fight, you'll help support Sasuke and I. Don't rush in to fight the bandits up close, just throw some kunai and shuriken to give us openings, understood?"

"Yes, sensei!"

Habiki smiled in satisfaction. Then, he turned to face Sasuke, who was borrowing a storage scroll from Benjiro. Habiki was baffled about how Benjiro could have so many storage scrolls filled with dozens of kunai, but now wasn't the time to ask.

"Here. Good luck, Sasuke."

"Thanks. We'll definitely crush these bandits. Don't worry."

"I'm not worried," Benjiro chuckled when he saw Sakura taking deep breaths in the corner, "Hey, Sakura, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. I'm just nervous…"

Sakura rubbed her arms. Ever since she returned from planting the scrolls, she felt uneasy. Plus, this was her first time putting her life on the line.

"Don't worry, Sakura. I and Sasuke will make sure that you return to konoha in one piece, so just do your best, okay?"

"Fuu…" hearing Benjiro's kind words, Sakura took a slow, deep breath and breathed out before smiling. "Don't worry, you two. Even if I'm not as good as you two, I'm still a konoha kunoichi!"

Seeing team seven's deep bond, Habiki felt a little surprised. If he was correct, team seven had just been formed barely a month ago.

"Habiki-sensei, the bandits have already arrived in the field."

"Already? Well, remember what I told you, and do not die. Go!"

"Yes, sensei!"

Habiki turned into a streak of shadow and rushed toward the field, while the six genin looked at each other for a moment before running after Habiki.

"So many…"

They've been prepared to fight against two hundred bandits, but actually seeing them surrounding their camp, the six genin couldn't help but feel nervous, except for Sasuke.

Sasuke's heart was thumping with joy, and his body was itching to rush into the battlefield. He borrowed two storage scrolls with three dozen kunai from Benjiro, so unlike before, he won't run out of kunai for his shurikenjutsu.

On the other hand, Habiki felt that something was wrong. The 200 bandits arrived, but instead of attacking, they stopped about a hundred meters away from their team.

"Be careful, they must be planning something…"

"Zabuza! Come out!"

Before Habiki could finish talking, a short man wearing a black suit and sunglasses appeared. Team seven recognized the man, he was the business partner of their client.

"Gatō, what is the meaning of this?"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man materialized in the middle of the battlefield. He had a great, broad sword resting on his shoulder and was wearing a black shirt and striped, grey pants. Seeing the man and the kubikiribōchō on his shoulder, Habiki's heart jumped in excitement.

'Ten seconds left… and he's in between two explosive scrolls. I don't know who's more unlucky between us and Zabuza of the mist…'

"Zabuza, I have a bandit army behind me, give up. Leave the land of waves and never return!"

Zabuza's eyebrow raised. Then, he shrugged his shoulder and dropped his sword on the ground.

BANG…!

"Is that so? Then, no problem. Give me my pay."

"What pay? You didn't do shit, and you still ask for payment?!"

Gatō yelled, making Zabuza narrow his eyes with furrowed brows.

"You… don't want to pay me? Do you think my title, Demon of the Mist, is just a pretty decoration?!"

"Hmph, I'm not afraid of you. You're just one man, even if you have your companion with you, I have an army behind me! Come at me if you dare."

"You're asking for death… but first, let me get my revenge on these leaf ninjas," Zabuza scoffed before turning toward Habiki, whose eyes were madly twitching, "I still haven't forgotten that humiliation."

Zabuza sneered and suddenly, a thick mist appeared and covered the field. "Ox (ushi), snake (mi), ram (hitsuji). Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu," Zabuza whispered, but everyone heard it.

"Shit! What the hell, why did the scroll not activate?! Sakura, what happened when you buried the scrolls?"

"Habiki-sensei, I just buried the scrolls, I didn't open them!"

Sakura trembled, afraid of taking the blame. Luckily, Habiki wasn't irresponsible.

'Someone tampered with the scroll. Was it Zabuza, or was it Gatō?'

Habiki would never blame Sakura for the scroll malfunctioning. After all, if Sakura tried to open the scroll, the scroll would explode on her face, and she'd be blown into bits.

"What are you talking about?"

As Habiki was looking around, he heard a whisper behind him and froze on the spot.

"What a scaredy cat."

Wooosh—shrrrk!

"ARGH!"

"Eito!"

When Habiki heard a tearing sound behind him, he regained his senses and hurriedly turned back, only to have warm, dark-red liquid splatter all over his face. When he looked down, he saw Eito's body, but his head was severed from his shoulders, blood pouring out like a broken faucet.

"Zabuza, you bastard!"

"Ha-ha-ha, curse me only if you have the ability!"

"AHH!"

"No! Kioshi! Damn it, stick together, and don't stray too far from me!"

When his second student got decapitated without him having the chance to react, Habiki ordered the remaining genin to gather together. Team seven hurriedly grouped up with Habiki, but Mako was frozen on the spot, trembling like a lone leaf on a cold winter night.

"Mako!"

Seeing a great blade hurling toward Mako, Habiki tried to body flicker next to her but he was a step too late. Mako died without even knowing it.

"DAMN IT! Snake (mi), rat (ne), bird (tori): Earth Style: Earth Flow Spears!"

From the ground, earth spikes rose from the ground and surrounded Habiki and team seven.

"Tiger (tora), rabbit/hare (u), boar (i), ram (hitsuji), dog (inu), ox (ushi), snake (mi). Earth Style: Earth Wall!"

After the spikes formed, Habiki created four, thick, earth walls that surrounded them, and when the four earth walls were formed, an earth roof formed above their heads.

"Did he just trap himself?"

Seeing Habiki form a box around him and team seven, Zabuza rubbed his eyes to see if he was dreaming. Unfortunately, he didn't have any water jutsu that could penetrate the earth wall, and he was too lazy to hack down the earth wall using his blade.

"Zabuza! Don't forget about me! Attack him!"

Just when he was about to face Gatō and his bandit army, Zabuza heard Gatō yell.

"Oh, Gatō, I haven't forgotten about you yet, don't worry," Zabuza scowled and began weaving hand seals.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

When the bandits rallied up and charged at Zabuza, Zabuza weaved dozens of hand seals in less than a few seconds and launched a massive water dragon at the enemy, decimating about fifty in an instant.

"Damn! Quick, launch blade slashes!"

When the bandits saw the water dragon come toward them, they infused their weapons with chakra and swung them at the water dragon.

A dozen more bandits died before the water dragon dissipated.

"Gatō, this is the price of betraying me."

"What?!"

Before Gatō could turn his head, a blade had already fallen on his head, severing it from his body. The last thing Gatō saw was the demon-like wrathful face of Zabuza.

"Benjiro, did he leave?"

"Yes, sensei. And Gatō's bandit army left after Gatō died."

"Phew… okay, we'll start heading to konoha now. Can you run, Benjiro?"

"Yes, sensei."

After that thrilling experience, even though it was excruciating to move, Benjiro didn't want to stay in the land of waves for a moment longer.

"Okay. I'm sorry, Benjiro. Here, let me carry you on my back."

"Thank you, sensei."

After Habiki put down the earth walls, they looked around and headed toward the nearest forest. They were headed toward Konoha.

BOOOOMM!

When they heard a sudden explosion behind them, team seven jumped and took out their kunai, while Habiki's face turned ugly.

'All that planning, down the drain without even a single enemy seeing it. Haaa… I guess Zabuza is the lucky one, while I'm the opposite.'

"That was anti-climactic. But with Gatō dead, I should loot his base. He's dead anyway, let it count as donation."

Behind a tree, a man wearing a black cloak chuckled. He saw Habiki and team seven heading toward him, but he didn't move. Instead, he opened a scroll and wrapped it around his body.

Fooosh—fooosh—

When team seven and Habiki went past him, the man chuckled.

"Thanks to master, I am invisible, perfect for spying on others! Oh well, let's loot Gatō and report to master later."

Fooosh!

"Gatō is killed by Zabuza?" as Yukito leaned close to the carriage door to eavesdrop at the melodic sounds of battle, Yukito read a note that appeared with a puff of smoke in front of him, "I thought Zabuza was heading to the land of whirlpools already, I didn't know he was vengeful."

Yukito laughed and looked at the gold-colored scroll in front of him.

"That damned Gatō is filthy rich. No wonder he can hire a bandit army. But first, I should warn Karasu so that he doesn't attack Zabuza and that Haku person."

Yukito nodded and wrote on a piece of paper. After the ink dried, he folded it in two and placed it down on the floor before weaving hand seals.

"Ninjutsu: Reverse Summoning Jutsu!"

When Yukito's palm touched the folded paper, the paper vanished in a puff of smoke.

"You sent team 8 to rescue team 7 and team 4?"

Inside the hokage tower, Danzō entered Hiruzen's office and questioned the old hokage behind the desk.

Hiruzen raised his brow.

"Is there a problem?"

"No… but isn't team 8 disbanded?"

"Well… the hyūga heiress pummeled her father to the ground when she heard that team 8 was disbanded because of her, so the hyūga clan head was forced to reassemble team 8," Hiruzen chuckled when he remembered the scene, "Thankfully, the other two members of team 8 wasn't informed of the ordeal, as it happened in just one day, so nothing complicated happened."

Hiruzen chuckled and glanced at Danzō mockingly.

"What? You weren't informed? Your ROOT division must be slacking."

Danzō narrowed his eyes but didn't reply.

"Hiruzen, what about the bandits around the land of fire?"

Instead, Danzō changed the subject.

"Oh," Hiruzen frowned, "Those damned bandits are multiplying like ants. I don't even know where they came from, but they all suddenly appeared as if a juicy pie appeared in the land of fire and they are all dying to take a bite."

For some reason, no matter how much konoha hunted them down, the bandits didn't dwindle. Instead, they kept multiplying like cancer cells, reminding Hiruzen of a certain forbidden secret.

"Hiruzen, the ANBU must deal with this promptly, or the daimyo will not be pleased."

Danzō suggested.

"Tell you what, since the ROOT division is so excellent at assassination, order them to deal with the bandits," Hiruzen sighed, "My poor ANBU are all tired, and they are mainly used for easier tasks like babysitting. They can't possibly handle such a difficult task, don't you agree, old friend?"

Danzō's eyes twitched, while Hiruzen smirked. He had long thrown his shame out the window after Danzō kept bothering him. He wanted to make Danzō taste his own medicine for once.

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