"Sasuke!"
Kakashi watched as Sasuke actually pulled out his ninja sword, genuinely afraid the kid would stab the corpse a dozen times. Besides, this was an internal matter of Kirigakure, and the ANBU boy's attitude had been decent enough.
"Let's leave it at that."
"Completing the mission comes first. Leave that guy to the Kirigakure ANBU."
Sasuke had already walked up to Zabuza but hesitated for a few seconds upon hearing this. In the end, he chose to obey Kakashi and obediently sheathed his twin swords.
Haku in the tree had been utterly terrified by that Uchiha just now.
But seeing Kakashi intervene and Sasuke stop, he let out a long sigh of relief.
However, Haku's relief came too soon. While Sasuke had chosen to listen, he never said he wouldn't do something.
He bent down, scooped up a handful of gravel, and hurled it at Zabuza's body, simultaneously kicking small stones toward the "corpse."
"Get up!"
"Drop this childish trick!"
As he spoke, Sasuke's mind flashed to that annoying bastard Uchiha Kaito. Emotions boiling over, he spat a thick glob of phlegm right onto Zabuza's face.
"Sasuke! That's too much!"
"To a corpse…?!"
Naruto couldn't stand watching Sasuke pelt the body with rocks and sand, even spitting on it repeatedly. The behavior made him deeply uncomfortable.
Kakashi, meanwhile, sighed inwardly.
Honestly…
These twin brothers' personalities were truly awful.
Swish—swish—swish—
Just as Naruto tried to pull Sasuke away, Haku, still perched on the branch, instantly unleashed hundreds of senbon, raining them down at the two's feet.
"Move!" Sasuke shoved Naruto aside, enduring the attack as he drew his sword and charged forward.
Clang—clang—clang—
Sasuke's twin blades danced before him, weaving an invisible barrier that effortlessly deflected the ambush.
"Uchiha… brat."
"I admit I underestimated you."
Zabuza had somehow reappeared in the distance, wiping the filth from his face, his eyes gleaming with battle lust.
Sasuke's expression froze for half a second.
"All your tricks are useless before these eyes."
His Three-Tomoe Sharingan flared to life as he twirled his swords and settled into a combat stance.
Truthfully…
Zabuza's sudden "revival" surprised Sasuke—but only slightly.
His earlier actions had been purely because Kaito's fake-death stunt had flashed through his mind, igniting an inexplicable fury. Testing whether Zabuza was truly dead… was mostly just venting, with a little corpse-stabbing on the side.
"Ah… this…"
Kakashi was stunned.
He had checked Zabuza's body earlier and, finding no signs of life, had believed him dead.
"So that's how it was…"
Naruto realized he'd misjudged Sasuke and muttered an apology, his gaze filled with remorse.
"That's Sasuke for you!"Sakura didn't understand and kept cheering for Sasuke from the sidelines. Naruto immediately snapped out of his apologetic mood upon hearing this, waving his arms and shouting with his loud voice.
"Dattebayo! I, Uzumaki Naruto, won't lose to you!"
Naruto formed hand seals and summoned dozens of shadow clones, charging forward.
Sasuke was holding his own against Zabuza without falling behind, but as time passed, Zabuza's rich combat experience allowed him to gain small advantages over the twelve-year-old Uchiha at critical moments.
The physical gap between them often gave Zabuza a one-second lead in attacks. Moreover, by utilizing the surrounding terrain and Ninjutsu coordination, Zabuza forced Sasuke to fight on the river's surface.
"The power of the Sharingan is truly astonishing."
Zabuza, standing on the water, showed an appreciative gaze before attempting to persuade Sasuke.
"Abandon the mission, or you'll die horribly."
Zabuza's Ninjutsu was extremely annoying, especially since he knew Lightning Release techniques. Zabuza merged with the surrounding mist and environment, occasionally emerging from unexpected angles to ambush him.
Sasuke took two heavy breaths, wiped the blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, and suddenly smirked.
"Funny, I was about to say the same to you."
They were both standing on the water now...
This reminded Sasuke of what Kaito had once told him.
'Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen.'
'If I release a large-scale Lightning Release into the river...'
Large-scale Lightning Release... electrolyzing oxygen...
Oxygen could also react with Fire Release!
Realizing this, Sasuke immediately assumed a "discharge" stance. Zabuza shook his head regretfully.
"If that's the case..."
He slowly raised the Executioner's Blade and vanished into the mist again. Instantly, thick fog enveloped the water's surface, reducing visibility to barely an arm's length.
Sasuke remained unfazed.
After preparing himself, he unleashed a surge of lightning straight into the riverbed. In the blink of an eye, all the fish in the river floated to the surface, belly-up.
Zabuza couldn't help but laugh.
"Kid, is your Ninjutsu for electrocuting fish?"
The earlier spectacle had been so grand that Zabuza had even retreated to the shore, afraid of being electrocuted if he touched the water.
But in the end...
The kid had just electrocuted the fish.
Ignoring the taunt, Sasuke whispered softly to Runtu in his backpack.
"I'm about to use a Ninjutsu... it might be really powerful..."
"Can you make an exception and teleport me away?"
"Go!"
Runtu's reply was as concise as ever. Only then did Sasuke finally relax.
He took a deep breath and rapidly formed hand seals.
Even as the sound of Zabuza's blade cutting through the air reached his ears, Sasuke didn't stop his seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
As the Executioner's Blade descended, Sasuke still ignored the attack from behind and exhaled a torrent of flames forward.
Before the Fire Release could fully manifest, the flames suddenly erupted with a "whoosh," followed by a deafening explosion.
BOOM—
Kakashi, observing from a distance, glanced toward the source of the commotion and couldn't help but curse.
"Run!!"
"Naruto! Get out of here now!"While speaking, Kakashi had already grabbed the client and lifted Sakura by the back of her collar, dashing toward the outskirts of the explosion like a wild dog off its leash.
"Huh? What are you saying, Kakashi-sensei?!"
"I can't hear you!"
Naruto barely managed to reply before the force of the explosion sent him flying. Fortunately, Haku caught him in time.
"My bridge!!!"
Realizing what had happened, Tazuna let out a heart-wrenching scream as he stared at the mushroom cloud rising in the distance.
The location of that explosion...
Was the bridge they had been building!!
And it was almost finished!!
"Konoha shinobi!"
"I'm going to file a complaint against you! A complaint!"
"I'll take this all the way to the Hokage!"
Tazuna, tucked under Kakashi's arm, wailed with tears streaming down his face, but Kakashi merely responded indifferently...
"Go ahead."
"That kid earlier was called Uchiha Kaito."