"Damn it!"
Zabuza felt a sharp jolt in his mind—his vision blurred and the world around him distorted into a swirl of confusion.
"Genjutsu Release!"
He was still an elite jōnin. Reacting instantly, Zabuza disrupted his chakra flow and forcibly broke the illusion.
Unfortunately for him, Sasuke wasn't particularly skilled in genjutsu. If he had been, that technique alone might've taken Zabuza out for good—Zabuza's resistance to genjutsu was notoriously low.
Still, even that brief hesitation was enough.
When high-level shinobi clash, even a split-second distraction can be fatal.
"Dance of the Crescent Moon!"
Sasuke split into three figures, each wielding his flaming sword Blaze of Fire. In a flash, they struck simultaneously—targeting Zabuza's throat, stomach, and kidney.
Blood sprayed into the air.
Thud.
Zabuza's body crashed to the ground.
"Hmph."
Sasuke clenched his hand, and the Blaze of Fire dissolved into countless glowing sparks. The dense mist Zabuza had conjured also vanished with it.
"Cough… cough…"
Still alive, Zabuza forced himself up, blood gushing from his mouth and staining the bandages on his face.
He had taken a direct hit from a lethal technique—yet somehow, he still clung to life. If not treated soon, however, he wouldn't survive much longer.
Then—whistling through the air—three senbon needles aimed for Zabuza's exposed throat.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sasuke hurled a kunai from his thigh pouch, perfectly intercepting the needles.
"Zabuza is my prey," he said coldly. "And using throwing tools in front of an Uchiha? You've got guts."
"I've had my eye on you for a while now."
Sasuke's body radiated killing intent. He stared toward a nearby tree branch—where a white-masked figure stood.
"Thank you for your help," the masked ninja said softly. "I've been waiting for the right moment to eliminate Zabuza."
Kakashi—finally back in action—narrowed his eyes at the mask.
"That mask… you're from the Kirigakure Hunter-nin corps?"
"Sharp as expected. Yes, I am," the masked ninja confirmed.
"My mission is to hunt down the missing-nin, Zabuza Momochi."
The next second, the masked ninja appeared beside Zabuza, preparing to finish the job.
Whizz!
A shuriken cut through the air and interrupted the motion.
"No, you're not," Sasuke said, brimming with confidence. "You deliberately avoided his vital points. If you really intended to kill, you'd have aimed for his heart or brain. And no real assassin would use something as delicate as senbon."
"You're his accomplice, aren't you?"
Sasuke rarely spoke this much—but in his battle-high state, he was energized and composed.
"Fight me," he demanded. Without waiting, he charged.
This Sasuke—honed under Naruto's personal training—was no longer the reckless rookie from the early canon. Both his strength and his strategic mind had leveled up.
Even Naruto had to admit:
"Damn… he really pulled it off."
---
"Forgive me, Lord Zabuza… I was too slow," the masked ninja said softly, no longer hiding their identity. With a flash of hand signs—
"Ice Release Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"
A palace of rotating ice mirrors formed around Sasuke in a brilliant formation.
But Haku—unlike Zabuza—wasn't as strong. On top of that, his kind heart remained a fatal flaw.
Soon, he too fell, collapsing beside Zabuza.
---
Flat on the ground, Haku murmured:
"Forgive me, Lord Zabuza…"
"…Maybe this is our fate," Zabuza replied through another mouthful of blood.
"To think… even Konoha brats are this strong now…"
He turned his gaze toward Kakashi.
"Kakashi… end this quickly."
Zabuza was calm about death. Back when he slaughtered every other genin in the Bloody Mist graduation exam, he had already prepared himself for this kind of end.
This was the shinobi's fate.
A raised blade.
A clean kill.
Silence.
---
Though the story of Zabuza and Haku is touching… they were still Kirigakure shinobi, Naruto thought as he watched in silence.
And all Mist ninja deserve to die.
The Uzumaki Clan—his ancestral home—had been wiped out by the Mist.
---
"I'm just a shadow clone," Naruto reminded himself.
"I was assigned to follow Team 7 for this mission—but Sasuke is the main player this time. Whatever choice he makes, I'll support it without question."
Yes, the Naruto standing here was just a clone.
The real Naruto had switched out from the moment they left the village.
In fact, Naruto had sent out multiple clones—one of which had arrived in the Land of Waves before Team 7 and was now at the estate of the local daimyo.
The real Naruto?
He was currently in Amegakure, the Village Hidden by Rain.
---
In Amegakure...
"Senior…" said Nagato with deep respect, staring at the figure he had summoned: Naruto.
To locate them just by sensing faint traces of chakra—this Uzumaki elder had to be incredibly powerful.
A being like a thousand-year-old sage.
That's what Nagato believed—and it only deepened his awe.
Technically, Naruto wasn't lying.
He was the reincarnation of Asura—founder of both the Senju and Uzumaki clans.
So yeah… Naruto = Nagato's ancestor?
Beside Nagato, Konan stared at Naruto with suspicion.
Dealing with a masked man claiming to be Uchiha Madara was already frustrating—now another "Uzumaki elder" in a mask? It was just too much.
She wasn't as easily convinced as Nagato.
I must stay alert, she thought. These people all want to use Nagato. Use his Rinnegan.
Then Naruto dropped a bombshell:
"Your condition isn't good. You don't have much time left, Nagato."
His voice was calm, as he looked at the frail, skeletal boy seated in a special mechanical chair.
He studied the black chakra rods embedded in Nagato's back—formed from Yin-Yang Release—and spoke again:
"This is too much strain on your body."
Honestly, the Six Paths of Pain looked cool—but in practice, they were inefficient.
Six remote puppets couldn't match the raw strength of Nagato's true body. They also wasted massive amounts of chakra.
If Nagato wasn't crippled, there would be no need for such methods.
And they were a liability—vulnerable to being picked off one by one.
"From what I can tell… you've been using powers you haven't fully mastered," Naruto continued.
"You know what that means, don't you? You're burning through your own life."
"Even with the immense chakra of the Uzumaki, at this rate, you've only got a few years left."
---
"What can we do, then?" Konan asked immediately, cutting in before Nagato could answer.
Since Yahiko's death, Nagato was all she cared about.
"It's okay, Konan," Nagato said gently.
Though Nagato didn't mind dying, he still hesitated—seeing the determination in Konan's eyes.
Naruto paused, then spoke:
"I have two options."
Konan's eyes lit up with hope.
"First, remove the Rinnegan and replace them with normal eyes."
The true cause of Nagato's deterioration was the premature summoning of the Gedo Statue.
It was draining him like a chakra juicer.
And the Rinnegan—not originally his—was consuming even more chakra than a standard Sharingan. If not for his Uzumaki heritage, he'd have been long dead.
By removing the Rinnegan and abandoning the Gedo Statue, his body could recover within a few years.
It was a valid solution.
But—
"Impossible!"
Both Nagato and Konan objected at the same time.