Shinju opened his mouth and spat out a massive fireball!
"Whoosh!!"
Two samurai failed to dodge in time. The fireball slammed straight into them, instantly turning them into two charred corpses!
The moment those samurai were burned to death, Inari realized that his mother was also in the fireball's path!
Seeing what had happened to the samurai, Inari's eyes went wide with rage and terror.
He shouted in panic, "No!!"
But then he saw the fireball suddenly extinguish in mid-air.
Inari: (꒪⌓꒪)
Shinju looked in satisfaction at the vanished fireball.
This was the result of his new understanding of chakra over the past few days—absolute mastery over ninjutsu!
Shaken, Inari rushed over to check on his mother's condition.
Fortunately, the fireball had gone out in time. She hadn't been harmed at all.
Right after that, Inari turned and dropped to his knees with a thud.
"Thank you!!"
He said earnestly, "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to stop those two samurai. I probably wouldn't even be alive right now."
"That's right." Shinju nodded. What Inari said was true.
Shinju said, "You can't just act on hot-blooded impulse. Sometimes, to reach your goal, you have to use your head."
"You two should hurry back. Gato sent samurai to take you as hostages—something must have happened at the bridge. I'm going to check it out."
With that, Shinju vanished on the spot.
...
On the bridge.
Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke had just escorted old man Tazuna onto the structure.
Looking up, they saw that the workers who should have been there waiting for them were all lying on the ground.
The tools for building the bridge were scattered everywhere, and the workers lay motionless, their condition unknown.
Kakashi instantly realized they were under attack.
He told Sasuke and Naruto to keep Tazuna in the middle and stay alert.
Just as everyone's nerves were stretched taut, a thick mist began to rise over the bridge.
It enveloped them, shrouding their vision.
"Hidden Mist Jutsu… is it a Kirigakure assassin?"
Kakashi's tone was grave as he gripped a kunai in his right hand, warning Naruto and Sasuke to be extremely careful.
At that moment, Tazuna said, "It's my fault… I dragged the workers into this."
"Old man, this isn't the time to lose heart. You just wanted to help this island," Naruto reassured him.
"Yeah. If the bridge isn't finished, in the foreseeable future, the whole Land of Waves will live under Gato's shadow. More and more people will be displaced, go hungry, and starve to death on the streets."
Even the usually cold Sasuke added a word of encouragement.
Suddenly!
A ghostlike figure appeared behind them—
Carrying a massive sword over two meters long on his back!
"Hey… chatting in front of me like this… are you looking down on me?"
Zabuza's voice was low and chilling.
The next instant, he swung his executioner's blade again!
"Whoosh!"
Kakashi stepped forward to block.
"Clang!"
A heavy impact rang out, forcing Kakashi back half a step, his pupils trembling.
"Zabuza? Weren't you already taken back to Kirigakure by the hunter-nin?"
Then Kakashi recalled that masked, young-looking hunter-nin.
"Oh… looks like we were tricked."
"Copy Ninja of the Leaf—so you've just realized that now?" Zabuza said smugly.
He formed a series of hand seals.
"Whoosh!"
Seven or eight Water Clones appeared, surrounding them.
Zabuza counted the number of people and noticed Shinju wasn't there. "Where's that red-haired brat? Not here? Hmph, lucky for him. If he were, I'd personally pierce his heart."
"As for you lot, enjoy your deaths. This time, I won't let you get away!"
Naruto shot back,
"Hold it! Last time, you were the one who ran away! And you even used such a sneaky trick to fool people! ╭(╯ε╰)╮"
Zabuza: "…"
"That was tactics!" Zabuza's face reddened as he tried to justify himself.
"Eyebrowless old man, was that the kind of turtle tactic where you just play dead?" Naruto's jab was razor-sharp.
Zabuza: (▼皿▼#)
Little brat with a big mouth!
He couldn't take it anymore. Several Water Clones lunged at Naruto!
Kakashi and Sasuke exchanged a look.
"Swish! Swish!"
They moved at the same time, kunai flashing as they engaged the clones.
Two seconds later—
With fluid, coordinated movements, Kakashi and Sasuke destroyed all of Zabuza's Water Clones.
From within the mist, Zabuza sounded intrigued.
"Oh? The kid's improved—you can now take my Water Clones head-on."
"I won't make the same mistake twice. This time, I'll send you straight to hell and watch you die." Sasuke reversed his kunai grip, his face cold.
"Nice words, but you're still not worthy to be my opponent," Zabuza sneered.
As his voice fell—
A short figure appeared at the mist-covered end of the bridge.
As the figure came closer, Team 7 recognized his outfit and the mask symbolizing Kirigakure's hunter-nin.
It was the same person who had taken Zabuza away days earlier.
"So you really are working with the eyebrowless old man! Baka!" Naruto yelled angrily.
Back then, seeing this person take Zabuza away had already made him mad.
Now that he knew it was a trick, he was furious.
The masked ninja spoke politely. "I'm sorry. I have something I want to protect as well."
"Don't waste words on them, Haku!"
Zabuza ordered, "I'll keep Kakashi busy. You take out those two brats."
Then he added, "Especially that short blond one—tear his mouth apart later! (ꐦ ▼皿▼)"
Naruto: ⊙▽⊙
Short blond one… that was clearly him.
Feeling annoyed, Naruto snapped, "Eyebrowless old man, you're so petty! I just said a couple of harmless things, and now you're targeting me."
Zabuza made a throat-slitting gesture to Haku. "Do it!"
He then charged at Kakashi with his executioner's blade.
Beside him, Haku pulled a few senbon from his pouch and flung them at Naruto and Sasuke!
Both dodged to the side.
The needles missed, embedding themselves in the wooden bridge.
Avoiding the deadly strike, Naruto still couldn't resist taunting,
"Even if Kakashi-sensei's held up by the eyebrowless old man, there's just one of you. I've got Sasuke, so the odds are in our favor."
"Is that so?"
Haku's voice was calm, neither distinctly male nor female.
The next moment, his hands formed seals.
"Crystal Ice Mirrors!"
"Shhhhhh…"
Several sheets of ice appeared out of nowhere, forming a semicircular barrier that closed in around Naruto and Sasuke!
Naruto, Sasuke: ◝₍ᴑ̑ДO͝₎◞
"What kind of weird jutsu is this?!"
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