Low Noon Showdown part 1
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At behest of their undead master, the hordes thundered forward. Rotting sinews, clanking bones, and gnashing jaws surged upon the living defenders like a tsunami's storm surge. As if a betrayal from the wind gods upon them, the howling gales from the vampire's storm assisted the monstrous mobs, guiding them with the surety of a precision arrow. For the lesser minions of the dynasty on the right flank however, this precision sent them not to a chink in Oda's armor, but a might and sturdy plate. For the demons of steel and ice awaited them.
The defenders, not deterred by this gliding apocalypse before them, roared in challenge. Haku and Zabuza planted their feet before rushing at breakneck speed to meet them. The two sides clashed with the resounding boom of a thunderclap, beginning the battle in earnest. The great bridge rattled with the sudden force applied, with under construction portions beginning to crack, but the main structure held firm. Haku, using his speed, stabbed, and impaled through the frontal horde of ghouls, bats, and wolves while Zabuza cleaved and slashed through them with his massive blade like a whirlwind of steel. Placing his hands on the ground, Haku began molding chakra to use his Ice Release for the one technique he had that was good for crowd control.
"Certain-Kill Ice Spears!" Haku called out as a massive amount of razor-sharp ice spikes erupted from the water on the surface of the bridge beneath their enemies.
The ice spikes impaled and slashed through many enemies while freezing others, doing a massive amount of damage to the weaker foes on the right flank. The widespread of the Ice Release technique shredded through a large amount of the weaker forces like a razor-sharp blade through paper. Smirking in pride underneath his bandages, Zabuza threw his Kubikiribōchō at his opponents, the blade spinning like a buzz saw as it cleaved through them. Rushing into the gap in the crowd, Zabuza caught his blade out of the air by the hilt and spun with its momentum, turning into a tornado of blood and death as he slashed through the enemies before him with his massive blade.
Zabuza's rotation slowly came to a halt as he slashed with his blade through a vampiric ghoul, killing it instantly. He then went through four hand seals while kneading chakra in his stomach.
'Water Release: Water Bullet Jutsu!' Zabuza thought before expelling a large volume of water in the form of a powerful torrent from his mouth aimed at hitting targets, making sure to keep his mouth narrow to turn the technique into a high-pressure stream.
The narrow, high-pressure torrent of water tore through the vampiric foes before him like they weren't even there. Any enemies that survived were then frozen by Haku's ice before being smashed into pieces by the water stream's second pass over them. Making one hand seal, Zabuza began using his chakra to mold and shape the water around him.
"Water Clone Jutsu!" Zabuza called out, making a platoon of about thirty-two Water Clones of himself.
With demonic smirks beneath their bandage masks, the thirty odd Zabuza's all charged in and began hacking and slashing their ways through their foes. With the odds more evened now, the vampiric horde began losing numbers even faster. As this was going on, Haku made a specific hand seal for a technique that could maximize his speed.
"Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!" Haku called out as he began freezing water nearby into large ice mirrors surrounding part of the horde on all sides, cutting off their escape.
Entering into one of the mirrors, Haku's reflection became visible inside all of them. Then, in a flash, all of the creatures of the horde inside the dome of ice mirrors were cut to pieces in an instant. Dispelling the jutsu, Haku went into close range combat with a razor-sharp sword made of ice in order to preserve more chakra for later. Seeing that their numbers were depleting fast, the right flank of the horde had no choice but to bring in their heaviest hitters. A Vargulf at the back in command of the right flank roared as it pointed at the two demons in an order to attack. With that order, a Zombie Dragon and two Terrorgheists advanced on dreadful wingbeats.
"Haku, distract the Vargulf! I'll handle the other three!" Zabuza yelled through the frightful winds.
"As you wish, Zabuza-san! You're more suited to deal with them anyway!" Haku yelled back before surging forward at top speed towards the massive vampiric brute.
Gripping his blade, Zabuza smirked as he pointed it at the winged terrors of the skies. "Come on, you ugly bastards!" He taunted before rushing in at his foes.
Rushing in, most of Zabuza's clones leaped up, slashing, and cleaving into the three-winged beasts. Great gashes and chunks of bone and rotting flesh were torn into by the multitude of great blades. However, try as they might with this frenzy of blades and storms of steel, these creatures were healing. Worse than that, they were healing faster than normal. They, as they took damage, became more and more wreathed in a dark, foul aura that enhanced their healing. The first step to properly doing damage was to bring them to the ground, and the steel wielding demon would have to get their titanic rotting wings soaked.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!" The three Zabuza's called out, molding, and controlling the water around them with chakra to form three massive, serpentine water dragons.
The massive water dragons then proceeded to bite down into the Zombie Dragon and Terrorgheists, dragging them down out of the sky and slamming them into the bridge's surface with the force of small tidal waves. With their wings soaking wet, the creatures were grounded and unable to fly. Smirking, the three Zabuza's joined their thirty brothers as they rushed in to attack the beasts. Roaring in challenge, the three-winged monstrosities rushed into the fray as well.
The Zombie Dragon snapped at eleven of the Zabuza's with its jaws full of sword-like fangs and slashed with its razor-sharp claws, trying to cut down that third of the platoon as best as it could. Inhaling air, the rotting beast exhaled a stream of virulent miasma at him. It merely touching a nearby tree near the edge of the bridge made the tree quickly begin to wither and weaken. The Demons of the Hidden Mist looked in surprise before quickly recovering.
"Don't let that stuff touch you!" The lead Zabuza yelled out as the other ten all went back on the attack with him.
"No shit!" One of them shot out.
"Quit backtalking and keep chopping! These things will go down eventually if we hit them hard enough!" The lead Zabuza roared, and they rushed in to try again.
Swarming the beasts, their slashing blades were met by claw and maw. Several of the platoon got too close to one of the Terrorghiests as it launched its deathly shriek, obliterating the clones in short order. Undeterred, they overwhelmed the lumbering goliath hulks with their numbers and went in for the kill. Swords dug deep into ancient bones and slabs of rotting flesh, yet try as they might, they could not bring them down. No matter how deep the wound, how many times they sliced up the bones, they reknit themselves like a macabre jigsaw puzzle back into place with this monstrous aura.
"This isn't working! We need a new plan!" One of the Zabuza's called out.
"Split 'em up! If we can get them away from each other, maybe it'll slow that healing crap down!" The lead Zabuza called out, barking the order to his clones.
Nodding, the platoon split into thirds, and each began leading their respective foe to a different part of the bridge. Thankfully, the rotting goliaths took the bait and followed. It was quite obvious that, despite their great powers, they weren't very intelligent. Once the three massive beasts were far enough away from each other as the Zabuza's attacked them, the aura disappeared as their healing slowed down dramatically.
Seeing this, the platoon of Demons smirked underneath their bandage masks. If they weren't healing as fast, that meant that they could be properly cut. And, if they could be cut and wounded more long term, that meant that these things could finally die. As a bit of revenge, especially on the Zombie Dragon, the demonic platoon decided to make their deaths especially brutal.
Swarming the Zombie Dragon with the lead Zabuza, the first third of the platoon hacked and slashed at the draconic walking corpse. They weren't doing much damage… yet. But that would change soon enough as the beast was becoming more and more enraged by the annoying pests attacking it. Finally, its rage peaked as it decided to end this. Inhaling air once again, it prepared its breath attack. Unknowingly, it had fallen right into the squad of eleven Zabuza's trap.
Going through hand seals, the eleven Zabuza's prepared to unleash a team attack to finish this thing off. "Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu!" The Zabuza's all called out, directing a large volume of water from beneath the bridge around them and manipulating it in front of them in the form of a massive vortex of water.
The Zombie Dragon unleashed its pestilence breath in response to the attack, the two blasts of elemental power meeting in the middle. For a moment, the two seemed at a standstill. However, it only lasted for a moment. The eleven Zabuza's put more chakra into the attack, increasing the power of the jutsu and plowing straight through the breath attack of the draconic corpse beast.
The swirling vortex punched through the attack and went straight into the beast's mouth before going down its throat. As the massive water jutsu continued to go down its throat, the creature began to expand more and more. Eventually, with nowhere else to go, the water reached a point where the beast's body could no longer contain it all. With a resounding eruption, the beast exploded in a blast of putrid water, bones, and rotting flesh. The remains of the Zombie Dragon began raining down on the Zabuza's in the form of filthy water and chunks of flesh.
The lead Zabuza sighed at this. "Well, we won… but I am definitely going to need a bath after this is over. Probably a lot of baths…" He said in frustration as his Water Clones dispelled from using up too much chakra.
Meanwhile, with the second third of the platoon, they were busy battling one of the Terrorgheists. The large, bat-like fiend was healing a lot less than before, so it was actually slowing down with each wound inflicted. Its attacks became sloppier, slower, and easier to predict. Noticing this, the eleven Demons started backing it bit by bit into a proverbial corner.
Even as the Terrorgheist slashed, bit, and shrieked in an attempt to take them down, it couldn't hit them well. Eventually, the beast left itself too open and left its neck exposed. A mistake that would be its undoing. Leaping into the air, six of the eleven Demons lept at its exposed neck and slashed with all their might. This combined blow lopped off the Terrorgheist's head as the Zabuza's all landed, the great, bat-like head falling to the surface of the bridge with a massive thud on impact. Smirking, the Zabuza's thought they had won. But oh, how wrong they were.
As the great, cavernous frame slammed into the stone bridge, the Zabuza's turned to face the final member of this trio. However, they were rocked by a sudden shockwave as its great ribcage burst open to reveal a giant cloud of flesh ripping bats. The original Zabuza was too late to save the squad of his water clones as they viciously overwhelmed the doppelgangers, tearing them apart in a frenzy akin to a swarm of flesh-eating fish from his home.
"Well shit… I guess that's why Oda drowned the thing while killing it." Zabuza commented as he quickly went through four hand seals, "Water Release: Water Bullet Jutsu!"
With that, the main Zabuza unleashed another massive torrent of water from his mouth and sent it crashing into the cloud of bats. As the bats screeched and flew in, most of them were washed away and killed by the pressure of the water jutsu. Those that were not flew around Zabuza, trying to bite into him. Slashing with his blade and throwing kunai knives, Zabuza tried to kill the annoying pests as quickly as he could. Inevitably, Zabuza did manage to kill them, but not without taking some superficial injuries.
With a frustrated groan, Zabuza looked at his wounds. "Great… NOW I'm going to have to get Haku to clean these after this is over before they get infected. Just perfect…" He bemoaned his terrible luck.
Charging in at the final of the winged beasts, Zabuza prepared to back up the last eight of his platoon of water clones. Already knowing how to take this thing out, Zabuza began going through a massive amount of hand seals in rapid succession. Once he finished, he began molding chakra to manipulate water from the nearby ocean. Seeing his plan, the clones began slowly pushing the bat-like monstrosity closer and closer to the edge of the bridge with their continued assault.
As they pushed back the beast, it fought back tooth and nail to kill them. However, bit by bit, it kept getting pushed back even as it slowly overwhelmed them. Finally, the last water clone was defeated as the beast glared at Zabuza with hatred in its eyes. But, by then, it was too late as the Demon of the Hidden Mist enacted his plan.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!" Zabuza called out with a demonic smirk underneath his bandages as a massive dragon made of seawater erupted up from the ocean by the edge of the bridge.
The beast turned to look back at the water dragon and prepared to unleash its eldritch scream. However, by then, it was too late. Its fate had been sealed.
Biting down on the abomination, the water dragon pulled it off of the bridge and dragged it down into the depths of the sea. For several minutes, nothing happened. Then, however, the sea at the edge of the bridge exploded in a massive blast of seawater as the beast died and exploded into bats beneath the surface, the bats bursting upon its death. Try as they might, the creatures of the air flopped and floundered in the water, reaching their untimely demise.
Panting a bit, Zabuza headed back towards the Vargulf. He knew Haku wasn't equipped to kill that thing by himself. He'd require his help. Try as he might, no amount of Ice Release jutsu could bring down a creature so bulky, ferocious, and swimming in unholy energies.
Speaking of the masked ice demon, this entire time his master had been fighting the winged abominations, he had been holding the line against the Vargulf. He has tried his needles, but they did little more than annoy it. Going through hand seals, Haku stomped the ground as he took control of the water around him and his target by molding his chakra to control it.
"Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!" Haku called out as the water shot up into the air and formed a massive number of long needles, which surrounded the Vargulf.
Haku carefully aimed the needles at his target before firing them at rapid speeds. The various water needles impaled the Vargulf, making it shriek in rage and pain. More angered and annoyed than hurt, the beast set its sights on Haku as it tried desperately to attack him. However, the needle attack had wounded it enough that it was slowing down while it healed.
Dodging and ducking around its attacks, Haku tried to find an opening to attack it. However, no matter what, he couldn't find an opening. As the beast tried to pounce on him, Haku thought quickly and molded his chakra for a defensive jutsu.
"Ice Release: Ice Rock Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!" He called out, rapidly freezing the air around himself.
Soon, the freezing air and water turned into an icy, transparent igloo-like dome around him to protect him. The Vargulf crashed into the dome but could not budge an inch. Even as it unleashed a flurry of attacks, it couldn't even crack it. Much to its rage, the dome was too solid.
Finally, its assault on Haku's defense was interrupted by a torrent of water hitting it, pushing it back. Looking in the direction it came from, Haku was pleased to see his master had arrived to aid him.
"Zabuza-san!" Haku called out as his ice dome cracked and fell apart, leaving him panting.
"Don't let up, Haku! Don't give it any respite!" Zabuza roared, gripping his sword tight enough to nearly make his hands bleed.
Nodding, Haku turned to face their foe as Zabuza rapidly went through hand seals. Finally finished, he began molding chakra. Neither he nor Haku had much chakra left. This had to be their final blow. Manipulating the water around them, Zabuza prepared for their strongest collaboration jutsu.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!" Zabuza called out as the water he was manipulating took the form of a dragon once more.
Haku used his Ice Release to freeze the water dragon, which then took off at the dazed bat monstrosity. It collided with an icy explosion, freezing the Vargulf in place before it could scream in a massive ice pillar surrounded by multiple pieces of ice. Slipping into the ice pieces, Haku began jumping and zipping through the ice pieces at near instantaneous speeds to attack the pillar the Vargulf was trapped in. Finally, his job done, Haku got out of the way as Zabuza was surrounded by a demonic-looking aura of chakra.
Putting the last of his strength into this one attack, Zabuza swung his massive blade upwards. The force of the slash split the pillar with the Vargulf inside it in half. The two halves then crumbled to pieces, killing the Vargulf. Zabuza and Haku panted as they tried desperately to catch their breath.
"H… Heal… from that… you… vampiric… bastard…!" Zabuza panted out as he and Haku flopped to the ground of the bridge, trying to catch their breath.
Targos tried to drop the hammer, but Zabuza is a bigger one frankly. This one I have to give most of the credit to Uzumaki Ricky. He is a far better fight scene writer than me and is an encyclopedia of Naruto knowledge. And you will be seeing more of his work in the coming weeks as the fighting is only going to ramp up from here. I highly recommend his various Naruto stories. He doesn't have the most out there on the site, but a good smattering of different kinds of them. Especially Shy fox chronicles, a revamp of his popular Naruto: Life of a Shy Jinchuuriki, of which the revamp I am also assisting. Speaking of Ricky, here's his take on the chapter.
Uzumaki Ricky: Damn, this chapter wasn't easy to finish! But we're done! Hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it!
Next time, we shift our gears down the line of contact as Kakashi leads the ragtag coalition forces into the heart of the horde. Tune in next time for part 2, the heavy hitters of the Deadwatch VS the Shinobi, criminal, and village coalition.