'He's showing off again,' Naruto thought, a flicker of pride mixing with the observation.
"Damn it," Zabuza grunted as his vision blurred. A wave of dizziness washed over him, as his world twisted into an unrecognizable mess. He reacted on pure instinct, forcing his chakra into a chaotic surge to shatter the genjutsu. For an elite jonin, it was a reflexive, desperate act.
Sasuke's genjutsu was still crude. A more practiced hand could have ended the fight right there, especially against an opponent with such a glaring weakness to illusionary techniques.
But even a split-second pause was a death sentence in a battle between jonin.
"Dance of the Crescent Moon!" Sasuke's voice was sharp. Three identical figures blurred into existence, each lunging forward with his flaming katana. They struck Zabuza simultaneously, at his neck, his abdomen, and his waist. Blood sprayed into the mist, and with a heavy thud, Zabuza's body collapsed to the ground.
Sasuke let out a short breath. He clenched his fist, and the three crimson weapons dissolved into particles of flames that faded into nothing. As they vanished, the dense mist Zabuza had summoned began to thin and drift away.
"Cough, cough..." Zabuza struggled to push himself onto an elbow, blood seeping from his wounds and staining the bandages around his mouth a dark red. True to his reputation as the Demon of the Mist, he was still breathing, but only just. His body was ravaged, without immediate medical attention, he wouldn't last much longer.
A soft whistle cut through the air as three senbon needles flew toward Zabuza's exposed neck.
*Clink. Clink. Clink.*
In a single fluid motion, Sasuke drew a kunai from his thigh pouch and threw it, deflecting all three needles with precision.
"Zabuza is my prey," Sasuke said, his voice low. His gaze lifted to a nearby tree branch where a ninja in a white mask stood perched. "I've been aware of you the whole fight. You have some nerve, trying a trick like that in front of me."
"My thanks," the masked ninja said, their voice calm. "I was waiting for an opportunity to eliminate Zabuza."
Kakashi, who had remained a silent observer until now, finally spoke up, his eyes fixed on the mask. "That mask... you're from Kirigakure's Hunter-nin Corps?"
"Indeed, you are correct." the ninja replied. "My mission is to dispose of the rogue, Zabuza."
In the next instant, they appeared beside Zabuza's fallen form, hand raised to strike.
*Fwsh!*
A shuriken spun through the air, forcing the 'hunter-nin' to leap back.
"No, you're not," Sasuke stated, his tone unwavering. "Those senbon were aimed to incapacitate, not kill. You deliberately avoided his vital points. A true hunter-nin would have gone for the heart or the brain, not with needles meant for disabling." He fixed his gaze on the masked figure. "You're his accomplice."
For someone who rarely spoke, the words tumbled out, sharp with a thrill he hadn't felt in a long time. "Fight me."
He didn't wait for a reply, charging forward.
This Sasuke was a world away from the boy he might have been, his mind now as sharp as his blade.
Naruto nodded his head as he praised him, "He saw through the lie."
"Zabuza-sama, I'm sorry," Haku said, his voice now clearly that of a young boy. His disguise was broken. "He was too fast... I couldn't react." With his cover blown, he abandoned the pretense and formed a hand sign with a single hand. "Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"
A dome of crystalline mirrors materialized around Sasuke, trapping him within the spinning reflections. But Haku lacked Zabuza's raw power, and more importantly, his ruthlessness. The battle was over almost as soon as it began.
Haku lay on the ground, defeated, his gaze fixed on Zabuza. "Zabuza-sama... I'm so sorry."
"Perhaps this was always our destiny," Zabuza rasped, a fresh trickle of blood escaping his lips. He let out a ragged breath. "What has Konoha been teaching brats these days?" He looked over at Kakashi. "Just get it over with."
There was no fear in his voice. Ever since that day in the Bloody Mist, where he butchered all his classmates, he had known his life this day would come. This was the fate of a ninja.
Naruto watched the scene unfold, his expression blank. 'It might be a touching story to read about and to see in anime, but they're from the Kiri.' His thoughts were cold, devoid of the pity his original self might have felt. 'They're Kirigakure ninja. They all deserve to die for what they did to Uzushio.' The destruction of his ancestral homeland was not a debt he would forget.
'Besides, I'm only a shadow clone. My mission is to observe Team 7. This is Sasuke's fight to win or lose, and I'll support whatever choice he makes.'
The Naruto standing on the bridge was indeed a clone. In fact, the real Naruto had never left the village with them. He had dispatched several clones, one had even arrived in the Land of Waves ahead of the team and was already at the daimyo's estate. His real body, meanwhile, was far away, deep within the rain-soaked towers of Amegakure.
--**--**
In Amegakure, the air was heavy with the smell of rain.
"Elder," Nagato said, his voice respectful. The masked figure before him had appeared as if from nowhere.
'To have found this place based on his skill alone...' Nagato thought. 'This Uzumaki Elder really might be as powerful as expected of someone who has lived for over thousand years.' The thought solidified his deference.
In a sense, Naruto wasn't lying, according to the original setting, he was the reincarnation of Ashura's chakra, and Ashura was the ancestor of the Senju and Uzumaki Clans. Technically he is over thousand years old.
Konan remained silent beside him, her posture tense. She watched the newcomer with deep suspicion. 'First a man claiming to be Madara Uchiha, and now an Uzumaki elder,' she thought, her eyes narrowed. 'Both of them wearing the same mask. It's too convenient. They're here for Nagato's eyes. They want to use him.'
Naruto's voice, raspy and hoarse, cut through her thoughts. "Your condition is grim, Nagato. Your life is burning away." He was looking at Nagato, who sat slumped in a complex mechanical device, his body emaciated and his face gaunt.
Naruto's gaze shifted to the black rods protruding from Nagato's back. 'Chakra receivers,' he analyzed silently. 'Formed with Yin-Yang Release. They're what's killing him.'
Aloud, he said, "Those rods... they are too great a burden for you."
'Controlling six bodies at once is an incredible waste of chakra, and far weaker than using his own power directly. It just leaves him vulnerable to being picked apart.'
"You used a power you weren't ready for, didn't you?" Naruto continued, his tone flat. "Do you understand what that means? You are borrowing against your own life force. Even for an Uzumaki, your reserves have limits. In your current state... you have a few years left. At most."
"Then do you have a solution, Elder?" Konan demanded, stepping forward before Nagato could respond. After Yahiko's death, Nagato was all she had left.
"Konan, it's alright," Nagato said quietly. His own life meant little to him, only Yahiko's dream mattered. But under Konan's pleading gaze, he fell silent.
"I have two proposals," Naruto said after a moment. He could feel Konan's desperate hope radiating from her. "The first is simple: remove the Rinnegan and replace them with ordinary eyes."
The root cause of Nagato's severe physical overexertion was prematurely summoning the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, the Gedo Mazo. It acted like a juicer, constantly draining Nagato's chakra.
Furthermore, the dual Rinnegan weren't Nagato's original eyes, even an ordinary Sharingan, when transplanted into an outsider, consumes a vast amount of chakra, let alone the Rinnegan, which is an evolved form.
If Nagato didn't possess the Uzumaki Clan's physique, he would have been completely drained long ago. If he removed the eyes, stopped using the Gedo Mazo, and allowed a few years for recovery, Nagato's body would quickly recover due to his Uzumaki Clan physique. This was indeed a good choice, but this method...
"Impossible!" Konan and Nagato exclaimed simultaneously.
===============
Dear Readers and Fans,
For those eager to dive into next chapters earlier before others, I invite you to join us on Patreon. By becoming our Patron, you not only gain access to exclusive advanced chapters but also help us continue this endeavour and expand it further.
https://www.pat reon.com/8Ashes8
(no space)
You can read upto 7 Chapters in advance.