Standing atop the enormous cleaver embedded deep within the tree was a tall, imposing figure. Bandages wrapped around his lower face, leaving only sharp, ruthless eyes visible—eyes that bore into them like blades. His muscular build radiated deadly strength, and the cold mist swirling around him seemed to amplify the sinister aura emanating from his presence. His Hidden Mist headband, bearing a deep slash through its metal surface, marked him unmistakably as a rogue shinobi.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed instantly, his Sharingan spinning slowly to life as he recognized the man standing above them. "That's Zabuza Momochi," he said coldly. "One of Kiri's Seven Swordsmen, user of the Kubikiribocho, or the Exectutioner's Blade. He specializes in water-style ninjutsu and the silent killing technique."
A cold chuckle rumbled from Zabuza's throat. "Well, well," he said mockingly, amused yet impressed, "no wonder the Demon Brothers couldn't handle you brats."
Kakashi stepped forward, posture shifting from lazy to deadly serious in a heartbeat. "Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata—stay back. This enemy is out of your league."
"But Kakashi-sensei—" Naruto started, determination flaring in his blue eyes.
"No arguments," Kakashi said firmly, reaching up and sliding his headband aside, revealing the crimson Sharingan spinning slowly in his left eye. Sasuke stiffened slightly, surprised yet intrigued by the sight.
Zabuza raised an amused eyebrow, voice dripping with sarcasm. "The legendary Sharingan? I'm honored you'd show me that eye so soon, Kakashi."
Ignoring Zabuza's mockery, Kakashi stood protectively between his team and the rogue shinobi, his voice dropping into a serious tone. "This enemy is beyond your current level. Guard Tazuna and do not interfere."
Without another word, the seasoned jonin widened his stance, prepared for battle. Zabuza swiftly leaped down, pulling his massive sword effortlessly from the tree, landing gracefully on the surface of the water. He smirked beneath his mask, eyes glittering dangerously.
"The bounty on your head will fetch me quite the fortune, Kakashi," Zabuza growled, flying through hand signs faster than their eyes could follow. "Hidden Mist Jutsu" he called out.
Instantly, a dense, heavy mist flooded the area, suffocating all visibility. Naruto activated his sensory ability, sharply aware of how the oppressive chakra-infused mist disrupted his usual clarity. Beside him, Hinata flinched slightly, her Byakugan pulsing briefly as she immediately struggled against the thick haze that impeded her vision.
"Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked quietly, worriedly glancing at her.
"I-it's nothing," she whispered, voice strained as she struggled to regain focus. "The mist…it's saturated with chakra. My vision can't penetrate it easily."
Naruto nodded in agreement, his senses strained. "Yeah, I can feel it too. My sensory technique's getting muddled—he's strong."
Suddenly, the air shifted dangerously. A thick, suffocating wave of killing intent cascaded over them like an icy tidal wave, pressing down on their bodies. Hinata's knees shook violently, her small frame nearly buckling, but she grit her teeth and stayed upright, determination sparking in her eyes. Sasuke clenched his fists tightly, sweat trickling down his temple, forcing himself to remain calm despite the immense pressure. This is what a jonin level battle feels like, he thought. Only then did he realise how much Kakashi held back on them during training, even on Naruto.
Naruto felt like a heavy blanket of iron had wrapped around his chest, every breath difficult. This…is intense, he thought, his body tense. But I won't fall that easily. He tried activating his sensory technique again. While he couldn't sense Zabuza, since the whole clearing was filled with his chakra, he sensed another chakra signature about 400 meters away. Whoever they are, they must be strong to be able to mask most of their chakra. I barely even sensed them. Ignoring that, but keeping his guard incase they were an enemy, he focussed in front.
Ahead of them, Kakashi stood calmly, completely unaffected by the oppressive atmosphere, even managing a casual eye-smile at his students. "Don't worry," he said softly yet reassuringly. "I won't let anything happen to any of you."
Naruto's hands rapidly flashed through a series of seals, eyes sharp and determined as chakra surged through him. Taking a deep breath, he called out, "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough" Instantly, a powerful gust erupted from him, tearing violently through the mist, dispersing the chakra-infused haze and granting them precious visibility.
As the fog scattered, Zabuza appeared clearly, momentarily surprised before narrowing his eyes dangerously at the blond genin who dared interrupt his technique. Naruto smirked confidently, sensing the swordsman's irritation.
"Wind manipulation, impressive brat," Zabuza growled, his voice low and dangerous. "But it won't change your fate!"
Before Zabuza could rush toward the genin, Kakashi blurred into motion, intercepting him with incredible speed. A kunai plunged straight into Zabuza's chest, the sharp clang echoing clearly. Zabuza's eyes widened for a brief moment before he smirked, his form melting away into a splash of water. A water clone! Kakashi realized instantly, his Sharingan spinning rapidly as he searched for the real threat.
"Not bad, Kakashi," Zabuza's chilling voice whispered from behind, and before Kakashi could react, the massive Kubikiribōchō rested menacingly against his throat. "But you're still too slow."
Kakashi chuckled quietly, body dissolving suddenly into water as well. Two can play this game, he thought, stepping silently out of the shadows. "A water clone, Zabuza? You're predictable."
Zabuza laughed, genuinely amused as he turned to face the Copy Ninja. "You've earned your reputation, Kakashi of the Sharingan. Distracting me with your little speech about protecting your students—so you could copy my Water Clone Jutsu unnoticed." He tightened his grip on his massive sword, eyes narrowed but pleased. "Impressive."
Before Kakashi could respond, two strong arms erupted from the water beneath him, grabbing his legs. Kakashi's eyes widened briefly in surprise as the real Zabuza burst from below, sending Kakashi crashing into the lake with immense force.
The water was cold, heavy around Kakashi as he struggled to right himself. Damn it…this water is too dense! Just as he realized his mistake, Zabuza appeared above him, hands already flying through seals.
"Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu!"
Instantly, a powerful sphere of dense, chakra-enhanced water formed around Kakashi, holding him immobile. He struggled fiercely, but Zabuza chuckled darkly, confident in his victory. "Don't bother, Kakashi. This water is denser than steel. You won't escape."
Zabuza glanced toward the genin, smirking as he formed another quick set of seals. With a low whisper, he said, "Water Clone Jutsu," creating a perfect replica of himself, which appeared beside him, watching the genin menacingly. The water clone hefted a second enormous blade, mirroring Zabuza's intimidating stance.
"Run!" Kakashi shouted urgently, fighting desperately against his watery prison. "This fight was lost the moment I got caught—take Tazuna and go!"
Naruto clenched his fists tightly, shaking his head stubbornly. "No way, Kakashi-sensei! We're not leaving you here!"
Sasuke stepped forward, his Sharingan blazing defiantly. "Even if we did run, Zabuza would easily track us down once he finished you off. There's no point in running."
Hinata's voice trembled slightly, but her eyes held an unwavering resolve. "Y-you taught us that abandoning a teammate makes you worse than trash. We'll stand and fight, Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi stared at his students in shock before pride and frustration battled inside him. They weren't backing down.
Zabuza laughed openly, clearly amused at their determination. "Such brave little brats. You really think you know anything about being shinobi?"
Naruto glared fiercely at the rogue swordsman, blue eyes blazing defiantly. "We know enough, Zabuza Momochi—enough to understand exactly what kind of monster you are."
Sasuke glanced at Naruto, slightly surprised at his knowledge, while Hinata watched nervously but resolutely.
Naruto's voice softened slightly, eyes narrowed with quiet intensity. "I've studied your village. Kirigakure, the 'Bloody Mist.' Your graduation exams were barbaric—students forced to kill their best friends to graduate as genin. It only stopped after one boy slaughtered his entire class—over a hundred students. That's how you got your title, isn't it? Demon of the Hidden Mist."
Zabuza's eyes narrowed dangerously, yet an eerie, twisted smirk formed beneath his bandages. "Impressive. You've done your homework, brat."
Naruto held his gaze, unflinching. "We know exactly who we're dealing with."
The mist thickened suddenly, swirling ominously around them. Zabuza's eyes glowed sinisterly through the haze.
"Then allow me to give you a taste of reality," he growled dangerously, gripping his blade tighter, eyes locked fiercely onto Naruto.
Naruto glared defiantly, hands gripping tightly onto a kunai as the real battle began.
Naruto swiftly assessed the dire situation, his gaze hardened with determination. He quickly turned toward Sasuke and Hinata, his voice clear and commanding, a stark contrast to the playful boy they'd known so far. "Formation 14! Combine the finisher with maneuver five!"
Sasuke and Hinata's eyes widened simultaneously. They didn't hesitate, instinctively recognizing the urgency in Naruto's voice. In an instant, Naruto formed the cross-shaped hand seal, creating four shadow clones that charged aggressively at the Zabuza clone.
The water clone growled in irritation, swinging the massive Kubikiribōchō with increasing desperation. Despite his strength, he couldn't penetrate the flawless teamwork of Naruto's clones. Each strike was smoothly dodged, and every potential opening swiftly closed before he could exploit it. His frustration grew as the coordinated assault intensified.
Then he noticed, too late, the rapid sequence of hand seals from two separate directions.
"Wind Style: Divine Wind!" Naruto shouted clearly, hands finishing the last seal.
Simultaneously, Sasuke, standing several feet back, rapidly formed his own seals, voice sharp and focused. "Fire Style: Hellfire vortex!"
The two attacks collided spectacularly, creating a devastating vortex of flame and wind, roaring ferociously toward the startled water clone.
The clone snarled, quickly raising his hands to form a defense. "Water Style: Water Wall!" Pouring all his chakra into the barrier, he barely managed to block the amplified technique, though it forced him to disperse in the process, leaving the original Zabuza momentarily vulnerable.
As the steam from the violent clash of wind and fire cleared, a spinning Fuma Shuriken burst from the lingering mist, hurtling straight toward Zabuza with lethal precision. The rogue shinobi smirked beneath his bandages, arrogance coloring his features as he effortlessly reached out, gripping the shuriken in his free hand. Too predictable, he thought smugly, his fingers tightening confidently around the metal.
But his smirk faltered as he sensed something else—another shuriken, hidden perfectly within the shadow of the first, speeding straight at him. With a curse, Zabuza leaped upward, narrowly evading the razor-sharp blades that passed inches beneath his feet.
Yet just as he breathed a sigh of relief, the second shuriken transformed abruptly, revealing Naruto midair, a determined gleam in his eyes. Before Zabuza could react, Naruto's body began glowing ominously, his chakra flaring intensely.
Zabuza's eyes widened in shock. An exploding clone! Realizing his mistake too late, he tried to twist away, but his legs wouldn't move. Water chains suddenly erupted from the lake below, tightly binding his ankles and preventing escape. In shock, he turned sharply toward the shore, seeing Hinata with her hands locked firmly in a snake hand-seal, calling out "Water Style: Water Chains Jutsu".
"You brat—!" Zabuza snarled furiously, struggling desperately against the surprisingly powerful water chains restraining him. He used the Fuma Shuriken and slashed it at the chains with all his might, shattering the chains.
He tried jumping away, but the clone detonated violently, enveloping the battlefield in a powerful explosion.
The real Naruto smirked from the shore, knowing the battle's momentum had shifted. Kakashi, now released from the water prison, sank quickly beneath the surface, narrowly escaping the blast zone.
When the chaos subsided, Zabuza stood shakily on the water, breathing raggedly. Pain radiated sharply through his severely burned left arm, blistered and angry from second-degree burns. His right torso bore deep, painful first-degree burns, his bandages partially singed away, revealing a face twisted in pure fury.
"Damn brat…" Zabuza growled, eyes blazing murderously through the pain. "I lost my focus and released the water prison. You're going to pay for that."
He was about to rush the genin again when suddenly, a furious Kakashi reappeared directly in front of him, intercepting a thrown Fuma Shuriken with the reinforced steel plate on his glove. Rage etched clearly onto Kakashi's normally calm face, the Copy Ninja snarled fiercely at Zabuza, Sharingan blazing with intensity.
"You didn't release the water prison, Zabuza—you were forced to," Kakashi growled dangerously. "Now it's my turn."
Kakashi and Zabuza simultaneously jumped back, swiftly creating distance between them. Zabuza's hands blurred furiously through a long sequence of hand signs, each movement precise, rapid, and aggressive. Kakashi's crimson Sharingan spun rapidly, effortlessly picking up every seal Zabuza made. In perfect synchronization, Kakashi mirrored Zabuza's signs, matching him sign-for-sign with uncanny precision.
Finally, their voices echoed simultaneously across the lake:
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
From the lake beneath their feet, two colossal dragons made entirely of water surged upward, spiraling violently around each shinobi, roaring ferociously. Their bodies coiled, twisted, and then collided in a cataclysmic crash, sending a powerful shockwave of displaced water surging toward the shore.
Naruto's eyes widened in alarm as he noticed the huge wave speeding toward him, Sasuke, Hinata, and Tazuna. Without hesitation, he stepped forward, firmly planting himself between his teammates and the incoming torrent. He clapped his palms together sharply, chakra surging through him as he released his own technique.
Instantly, the incoming wave of water split neatly in two, separating mere meters before him and passing harmlessly around the stunned genin and Tazuna, soaking the earth behind them instead.
Meanwhile, Kakashi and Zabuza clashed violently once again in the center of the turbulent waters. Kakashi's kunai ground fiercely against Zabuza's massive Kubikiribōchō, sparks flying from the harsh collision of metal against metal. Their faces inches apart, both shinobi pushed with all their might, locked in an intense stalemate before abruptly separating again.
Panting, Zabuza rapidly began another string of hand seals, frustration flickering through his gaze. Yet, his eyes widened sharply in disbelief as Kakashi not only matched his seals but actually surpassed his speed, beginning to perform the signs even before Zabuza had fully thought of them.
Impossible… Zabuza thought frantically, disbelief clouding his senses.Is he—
"—reading your mind?" Kakashi finished smoothly, his Sharingan blazing fiercely.
Shock flashed clearly through Zabuza's eyes as Kakashi completed the seals at blinding speed.
"Water Style: Great Waterfall Jutsu!" Kakashi called sharply, releasing an overwhelming surge of water toward the rogue shinobi.
Unable to finish his own seals in time, Zabuza was caught defenseless. The massive wave crashed violently into him, carrying him helplessly backward until his body slammed harshly against the trunk of a thick tree. With a groan, his battered form collapsed, unable to move, struggling weakly as pain pulsed mercilessly through his limbs.
Zabuza slumped against the tree, his chest heaving painfully as he struggled for breath. His eyes widened in disbelief, desperately looking toward Kakashi. "Can… you see the future?" he rasped, agony seeping into every word.
Kakashi stepped forward slowly, crimson Sharingan spinning coldly. "Yes, Zabuza," he answered grimly, voice heavy with finality. "And your future… is death."
As those chilling words echoed, two sharp senbon needles suddenly flew from the shadows, embedding themselves with deadly accuracy into Zabuza's neck. His eyes widened briefly, a faint look of shock and betrayal flickering across his face before he collapsed limply to the ground, motionless.
From the trees, a calm, youthful voice emerged, serene yet emotionless. "You were correct, Kakashi-san. His future was indeed death."
Team 7 swiftly turned toward the source of the voice, tensing at the appearance of a slender figure gracefully landing beside Zabuza's fallen form. The shinobi wore a distinctive white porcelain hunter-nin mask, etched with red markings symbolizing Kirigakure's Hunter Division. Dark hair framed the mask, giving a hint of the figure's youth beneath the emotionless visage.
Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly, instantly recognizing the shinobi's chakra as the same presence he'd sensed observing from afar during their battle. They were watching the whole time, Naruto realized warily. They must've been waiting for an opening to kill Zabuza.
Kakashi slowly relaxed his stance, acknowledging the masked figure with a nod. "You're from Kiri's Hunter Division, aren't you?"
The hunter-nin inclined their head respectfully. "Correct. I've been tracking Zabuza Momochi for a long time. You provided an excellent distraction, and for that, I thank you."
Kakashi approached cautiously, kneeling down beside Zabuza's body and carefully pressing his fingers against the fallen shinobi's neck. After a tense moment, he confirmed with a nod. "He's dead."
The hunter-nin silently lifted Zabuza's body, nodding gratefully. "I'll dispose of his remains now. Farewell." In a flicker of motion, the shinobi disappeared with Zabuza's body using a swift shunshin, leaving behind only a small swirl of mist.
As silence fell upon the area, Tazuna shakily cleared his throat, finally breaking the tension. "My house isn't too far from here. We should head there quickly."
Kakashi nodded weakly, taking a few steps before suddenly stiffening, his knees buckling as his strength failed. Naruto instantly moved, catching his sensei before he could collapse fully.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted worriedly, scanning Kakashi's chakra urgently. "He's suffering from chakra exhaustion," he informed his teammates anxiously.
Without hesitation, Hinata swiftly reached into her pouch, pulling out a small soldier pill and tossing it to Naruto. Naruto carefully placed the pill into Kakashi's mouth, helping his sensei swallow it. Sasuke stepped forward to support their sensei's other side, silently assisting Naruto.
"Come on," Naruto urged softly, determination replacing worry in his eyes. "Let's get him somewhere safe."
Together, Team 7 carried their exhausted sensei towards Tazuna's home, leaving the battlefield behind, the echoes of the intense battle still lingering in their minds.