Naruto extends his arm towards Zabuza's chest and performs a one-inch punch.
Naruto's movement was so fast that Zabuza was unable to react or make any move to dodge or block the attack, and in the process, he puked a mouthful of blood that stained his bondage and covered half of his face.
"Did I use too much force?" Naruto whispers to himself while staring at Zabuza, who is currently kneeling on one knee.
Zabuza was unable to hold the water sphere, making Fugaku break free of the Water Prison. Fugaku greedily breathes the air while his eyes stare at Naruto.
'Unbelievable...' Fugaku thought to himself.
Even with his Sharingan activated, he is almost unable to follow Naruto's movements, especially when he turns closer to Zabuza's real body.
Fugaku knows that Naruto is strong for his age, as he already saw it during the Bell Test, but the speed Naruto displayed right now is many times faster than before.
Zabuza immediately tries to gain distance between him and Naruto while staring at the latter warily.
Zabuza must admit that he greatly underestimated Naruto, especially after seeing his initial move against his clone. While Zabuza thinks that he can easily overpower them, reality gives Zabuza a rude awakening.
Zabuza still felt the pain in his chest after receiving Naruto's attack. He didn't even manage to enhance his defense against the attack thanks to Naruto's incredible speed.
Zabuza tightly held the Executioner Blade as he stared at Naruto and Fugaku, who had already fully recovered from the imprisonment.
'This is going to be difficult,' Zabuza thought to himself.
He knew fighting two people would be difficult, especially given the fact that one of them is stronger than him. While Zabuza acknowledges Naruto's capabilities, especially his speed and strength, Zabuza still believes that he can still win against Naruto with his abundant experiences.
The problem was Fugaku, who clearly wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, and fighting both Naruto and Fugaku will definitely be something incredibly difficult.
"Thanks for the help, Naruto; let me finish this fight," Fugaku said while his three tomoe sharingan slowly spun.
Naruto turned his head back and said, "I'll deal with him myself."
Fugaku was slightly surprised, but he was about to disagree when Naruto turned his head towards Zabuza and began speaking, which greatly shocked everyone.
"Zabuza, from what I heard, you are part of the infamous Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Is that correct?"
"What is it?" Zabuza responds.
"I want to test whether your swordsmanship is really that good," Naruto calmly said.
Beneath Naruto, his shadow suddenly expands, and a black katana with chains at its end slowly arises from the shadow.
Fugaku's eyes locked in at the katana, and not because of its design but more specifically because of how the sword suddenly appeared. Fugaku doesn't have any knowledge of such a technique, and even the Nara Clan, who are well versed in shadow, didn't have such a technique in their arsenal.
Naruto dashes straight to Zabuza, and the moment the distance between the two of them is closer, Naruto launches a diagonal slash at Zabuza, which the latter blocks using the Executioner Blade.
'Heavy! 'Zabuza thought while using all of his strength to redirect Naruto's attack.
Zabuza tries to counterattack but is quickly parried by Naruto in an effortless manner, no less, which really enrages Zabuza, yet this rage didn't cloud his judgment; he knows the consequence if it did, especially since he used such tactics against Fugaku earlier.
Zabuza can only try his best to deal with Naruto as quickly as he can.
Yet it didn't take long for Zabuza to notice the fact that their speed and power started to equalize, unlike the earlier exchanges.
In this situation, one might assume two things happened: either Naruto started to exhaust himself faster or Naruto slowly matched his speed and strength to Zabuza.
Zabuza wasn't blind and immediately guessed it was the latter, and this really made his blood boil. A teenage boy manages not only to overpower him but also to mock his swordsmanship by equalizing their speed and strength and having a contest on swordsmanship.
After staring at the sword fights between Naruto and Zabuza, Fugaku tries to intervene, as Fugaku knows he needs to deal with Zabuza in order to weaken Gato's forces, but suddenly finds himself flying towards his students and client.
Fugaku urgently flips and skids at the top of the lake and stares at the culprit who attacked him, which was Naruto's clone.
"Don't intervene," the clone coldly said, widening Satsuki's and Hinata's eyes.
Satsuki and Hinata initially felt relief after Naruto saved their sensei from dying in the Water Prison as well as defeating Zabuza clones, but their relief turned into confusion, especially after Naruto decided to fight Zabuza in swordsmanship.
Their confusion suddenly transformed into shock after Naruto's clone suddenly attacked Fugaku, who was clearly trying to end the fight in a short period of time.
"What the hell are you doing, Naruto?!" Satsuki yelled out loud while her eyes stared at Naruto's clone.
"Just like I said, don't intervene," the clone calmly responds.
Naruto turned his head towards Fugaku. "If you intervene again, I wouldn't mind killing you right here and right now."
Staring at Naruto's eyes, Fugaku knows that Naruto is serious right now, and while Fugaku has a trump card he can rely on, he bets that Naruto does as well.
Fugaku started to think about why Naruto suddenly decided to make a move after he was incapacitated by Zabuza. It was because Naruto was starting to gain interest in Zabuza's capabilities, especially the latter's swordsmanship.
Naruto didn't save him because he was his sensei, but he just unintentionally saved him because Naruto just wanted Zabuza to fight in swordsmanship.
Zabuza also reaches the same conclusion as Fugaku, especially about how Naruto started to increase his power and speed when Zabuza tried to use ninjutsu.
Throughout their exchanges, Zabuza realized that Naruto improved at a rapid rate, as if he were devouring the skills he had honed for years in these exchanges.
This didn't bring Zabuza in despair, but he was delighted, especially after seeing his own swordsmanship slowly improve. While it wasn't as fast as Naruto, it improved nonetheless.
Zabuza slowly forgets his objective and focuses on exchanging blows with Naruto and honing his skills as a swordsman and reaching another level.
Fugaku didn't intervene but just watched closely, and the changes in Zabuza weren't something that went unnoticed; in fact, the changes were so open that Hinata and Satsuki already saw the changes.
As the time passes, Zabuza suffers more cuts from Naruto's katana than Naruto, which results in his speed slowing down at a slow and steady pace.
Zabuza tries to compensate by predicting Naruto's movements, which results in failure, but he doesn't give up and continues to use different tactics just to keep up with Naruto.
Naruto and Zabuza clash their blades one last time before they distance themselves.
Zabuza is staring at Naruto intently, and his eyes show the joys of fighting with swords with someone with similar or higher skills. This feeling was something he had almost forgotten and just now resurfaced thanks to Naruto.
"I must admit it was fun," Naruto suddenly said, "But... you are no longer able to keep up with me, so let's just end this for now."
Naruto turns his back and walks towards his group.
"I haven't been defeated yet!" Zabuza yelled with all his strength.
Naruto stops and turns his head back. "With your current condition, it is only a matter of time before you will be defeated, and killing you wouldn't benefit me in any shape or form, but you are welcome to try challenging me."
Naruto then returns, walking to his group.
Zabuza didn't want to admit it, but Naruto was right. With his current situation it was only a matter of time before his defeat, and it was clear to him that Naruto spared his life not only because he wanted Zabuza to challenge him once again but in full strength.
Zabuza already suffered some damage before Naruto and he clashed their swords, and while it would be an improvement for him if he were in full health when fighting Naruto, the end result will be the same.
But Zabuza doesn't mind since he wanted to feel that joy once again, even just for a moment.
"What's your name?" Zabuza asks, and one can feel the respect he felt in his voice.
"Naruto Gojo," Naruto responds.
After hearing Naruto name Zabuza, he quickly disappeared in the area, and Fugaku didn't chase him down. Not only because he didn't want to but also because he wanted to fight Zabuza at his full strength.
The defeat he faces at the hands of Zabuza is quite humiliating for Fugaku, but he also understands the reason behind his defeat. He let his emotion controlled himself especially fighting someone at Zabuza'scontrol him, level.
Zabuza, who was in a similar situation, didn't let his emotion control him when fighting Naruto, and this was something Fugaku saw.
This was something Fugaku needed to learn for their next battle.
Naruto's katana is quickly swallowed by his shadow as Naruto continues to walk towards his group.