Unfortunately, Zabuza's sudden charge and assassination attempt failed to achieve its intended effect.
Sasuke's reaction speed far exceeded his expectations. Almost the instant Zabuza raised his blade, Sasuke appeared in front of him, blocking the massive sword with a kunai while the kunai in his other hand swiftly slashed across the enemy's throat.
Zabuza's eyes widened in disbelief. He quickly raised a leg and kicked Sakura and the Tazuna behind her flying away together before being cut across the throat by Sasuke's blade.
Splash!
Zabuza collapsed to the ground and turned into a burst of water.
It was only a Water Clone.
When Sakura and Tazuna were kicked away, Naruto immediately rushed after them, leaping past the pair and smashing another clone that had attempted a sneak attack into a spray of water droplets with a Rasengan.
Zabuza's first assassination attempt had failed.
The mist gathered once more, and the atmosphere fell silent. Team 7 regrouped together, protecting Tazuna in the middle.
This time, Naruto did not blow away the mist again. Instead, he created dozens of Shadow Clones that formed a protective perimeter around them.
No helping it—having enormous amounts of chakra really did let you do whatever you wanted.
Zabuza suddenly felt a splitting headache.
This was supposed to be some overlooked genin squad from Konoha?
Yeah right, as if he'd believe that bullshit!
"Kid, you're not very honest, are you? Your teammate is an Uchiha, and you possess monstrous amounts of chakra. And this is what you call an unvalued squad in Konoha?"
One of Naruto's Shadow Clones replied, "Can't be helped. Konoha has way too many talented people. A two-tomoe Uchiha and someone like me with just a bit more chakra than normal don't even rank that high."
Beside him, two tomoe spun within each of Sasuke's eyes.
He had never experienced sacrificing a teammate. He had never witnessed his older brother slaughtering their parents.
His Sharingan had fully awakened through Higashino Makoto's training system—by training Yin Release chakra to a certain level until the dōjutsu naturally manifested on its own.
At the time, the entire Uchiha Clan had been greatly encouraged by this development.
It completely proved that they could awaken those legendary cursed eyes without having to endure unbearable suffering.
Now Zabuza had fallen into a dilemma.
He no longer believed a single word Naruto said.
Not even the sentence particles.
This squad definitely had a jōnin instructor accompanying them.
The only question was where that person was hiding. Maybe they had temporarily stepped away for some reason.
Yet within the range covered by the mist, Zabuza could not sense anyone else present.
Now he had no choice but to end this quickly.
And that meant using his real body personally.
Water Clones were useless against those two brats. They only wasted chakra.
After making his decision, Zabuza charged straight out and began hacking apart Naruto's Shadow Clones with his blade, instantly plunging into a one-against-many battle.
One man against dozens of Shadow Clones.
Sasuke also drew his weapon and blended into Naruto's clone group, launching a relentless series of taijutsu attacks against Zabuza.
Relying on the advantage of his oversized blade, Zabuza quickly cut down more than half of the annoying Shadow Clones. Then, during his taijutsu exchange with Sasuke, he used the superior strength of a fully grown adult to forcibly kick Sasuke backward.
After that, he spun around and swung several more slashes, eliminating the rest of Naruto's Shadow Clones as well, displaying astonishing taijutsu and swordsmanship.
But at that moment, Naruto and Sasuke's ninjutsu had already reached him.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
This was the pair's combination ninjutsu.
Wind amplified the flames, making the attack unbelievably fast as it shot toward him in the blink of an eye.
Caught off guard, Zabuza could only hurriedly form seals and use a simple Water Release wave to block it.
But how could that possibly stop the combined wind-and-fire assault?
The Water Release was blown apart on the spot as the fused ninjutsu slammed directly into Zabuza head-on.
"GAAAH—!"
With a miserable scream, Zabuza was swallowed by flames.
When the fire finally dissipated, only a half-charred corpse remained on the ground. The sight was horrifying, and its breathing was weak.
Sasuke and Naruto both let out relieved sighs.
They had actually defeated a powerful jōnin.
Not just any jōnin either, but a famous shinobi known throughout the ninja world.
This was practically the greatest victory and biggest accomplishment since the start of their careers.
But now was not the time to start celebrating early.
After the burnt corpse stopped breathing, Naruto drew another kunai and forcefully hurled it at Zabuza's body.
After all, their teacher had said before that making sure to finish off enemies was a good habit.
BOOM!
The corpse exploded and transformed into a snow-white rabbit.
Sasuke: "Substitution Technique?"
Naruto: "Crap! Get down!"
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!
Momochi Zabuza, who had secretly hidden himself away, had finally completed that absurdly long string of hand seals.
A massive water dragon descended from the sky and slammed directly into the center of the four-person formation.
In the ensuing chaos, they were forced to leap in different directions.
Naruto and Sasuke landed on one side, while Sakura took Tazuna and jumped the other way.
The distance between them was not very great by shinobi standards.
But their opponent was an experienced jōnin.
The danger level instantly skyrocketed.
Just as the two boys tried to regroup with Sakura again, Zabuza emerged from the water and blocked the squad's two main combatants by himself, one blade per opponent.
"Haku, move!"
Ice Release Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!
Around Sakura and Tazuna, mirrors of ice suddenly rose up from every direction.
A figure merged into the ice mirrors, and before long, every mirror reflected his image.
All of the reflections simultaneously raised their hands and unleashed a dense barrage of senbon needles.
Sakura was not weak.
But her mental fortitude was still inferior to that of her teammates, who had already killed before.
At first, she had been intimidated by Zabuza's killing intent, and now, trapped in this tense battle, she could not even bring out half of her abilities as a shinobi.
She only had enough time to raise a circular earthen wall to block the left, right, and rear directions.
Then she positioned herself in front of Tazuna and desperately used her kunai to deflect the senbon needles as best she could.
But no defense could last forever.
Haku's senbon needles came in overwhelming numbers, and the attack angles were viciously tricky. Before long, Sakura had been turned into a human pincushion, letting out a string of miserable screams.
Sasuke was a classic tsundere.
On the surface, he found her annoying and thought Sakura only dragged the team down. But after being teammates for so long since graduation, he had already come to regard her as an important companion.
Now, hearing his teammate's screams, he became frantic with anxiety. The two tomoe in his eyes spun wildly, and in that moment of desperation, a third tomoe emerged on the spot.
"You bastard—get the hell out of my way!"
Relying on the explosive increase in his ocular power, Sasuke hit Zabuza with a glare-powered genjutsu. Then he kicked him flying toward Naruto while he himself rushed straight toward Sakura's location at top speed.
Lightning Release: Chidori!
Dense currents of electricity crackled like the cries of a thousand birds.
Holding Chidori in his hand, Sasuke shattered every ice mirror blocking his path and charged directly into the battlefield.
Only after seeing Sakura standing there like a pincushion yet still stubbornly shielding Tazuna did he finally let out a huge sigh of relief.
As long as she wasn't dead, that was enough.
At the same time, Zabuza's thoughts stalled for an instant after being disrupted by the three-tomoe genjutsu, allowing Naruto to slam a Rasengan into his lower back.
With a scream, Zabuza was instantly reduced to half-dead.
Seeing that his Ice Release was utterly ineffective against Sasuke, the masked pretty-boy immediately realized he was no match for the enemy. Completing the mission was impossible.
The moment he heard Zabuza's scream, he abandoned the target altogether and flashed to Zabuza's side, blocking Naruto's follow-up attack.
The battle came to a halt.
Both sides had suffered injuries, but Zabuza's side was clearly at a disadvantage. Their main combat force had gone down, while Konoha's two primary fighters were still full of energy.
On top of that, the Uchiha brat had awakened a three-tomoe Sharingan.
How the hell were they supposed to keep fighting this?
They couldn't.
The enemy had literally unlocked a cheat mid-battle. Absolutely shameless.
...
Naruto cautiously stared at the newly appeared opponent and asked over his shoulder, "Sasuke, how's Sakura?"
"She's fine. Just injured. She won't die."
Haku helped Zabuza up. "I'm sorry, Zabuza-sama. I failed to complete the mission and disappointed you."
"No need to apologize, Haku. They're stronger than expected. Take me out of here first. Their jōnin instructor could return at any moment."
"Yes."
Haku was just about to flee with Zabuza when he suddenly noticed the surrounding temperature plummeting at an astonishing speed.
That sensation…
He knew it far too well.
The rich moisture in the air rapidly condensed into a massive frozen canopy, like an enormous bowl sealing off the entire area.
Zabuza: "Troublesome."
Haku: "This is… Ice Release? Impossible. Could there really be another member of the Yuki Clan besides me?"
At some unknown point, Higashino Makoto had appeared in front of them.
"Come on, just look at how manly and handsome I am. Obviously I'm not one of your clansmen. Ice Release is actually super easy to learn. Want me to teach you?"
Haku: "…"
The last bit of hope in Zabuza's heart died instantly.
"So the jōnin leading this squad of brats was you all along. No wonder they're so young yet possess such shocking strength."
"That blond brat really didn't have a single honest word coming out of his mouth. Looks like someone among them has a very special identity if a person like you was sent to be their teacher."
"Oh? So Zabuza-san knows me?"
Zabuza looked rather speechless.
"Higashino Makoto-dono… do you have some kind of misunderstanding about your own fame?"
"When I was still part of Kirigakure's ANBU, the file on you in the intelligence handbook was the longest—and the most despair-inducing."
"Konoha's Shield. Hell Wind Demon."
"Master of the Flying Thunder God Technique. Possessor of the First Hokage's Wood Release. Independently developed an unknown bloodline ninjutsu. Before even reaching adulthood, you single-handedly defeated a Kumogakure force that included the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki."
"And now it seems you can even use Ice Release."
"You've been absent from the ninja world for so long… I imagine your strength has already reached a level beyond our understanding."
"Wow, am I really that famous? That amazing?"
Haku silently thought: This guy who can also use Ice Release… doesn't seem very serious.
Zabuza replied seriously, "Yes. Extremely famous. Publicly acknowledged throughout the ninja world as the second God of Shinobi."
"In fact, even dying by your hand would be an honor for me."
"Please, do it, sir."
"Why would I kill you?"
"…"
Zabuza suddenly felt like his thought process and Makoto's existed in completely different dimensions.
"Does that even need a reason?"
Makoto pointed at Haku beside him.
"You should thank the kid next to you. He's so soft-hearted he barely feels like a shinobi. If he'd been even a little more ruthless, my adorable students would already be dead."
"Haku… yeah, he really is too soft."
Hearing that, Haku lowered his head with a blush.
He really had held back during the fight. Otherwise, with that girl's terrible combat experience, she and the mission target would have already been turned into sieves by his senbon needles.
Of course, he now understood the truth.
He had never actually possessed a chance to kill them in the first place.
If he had shown even the slightest real killing intent, he and Zabuza would probably already be corpses by now.
"Alright then. Thanks to both of you for providing battle experience to my students. You're free to leave now."
Zabuza looked somewhat dejected.
"So… we were nothing more than sparring opponents for those brats?"
Makoto shrugged.
"What else would you be? Got a problem with that?"
"No. None at all. Thank you for your mercy, sir."
"Oh, right. Don't go back to Gatō. Recover from your injuries and return to Kirigakure instead."
"I heard the village has stabilized again. They might even welcome your return."
"Especially the Yuki Clan kid beside you. He's completely unsuited for wandering around as a rogue ninja with you. Someone that soft-hearted might end up getting himself killed someday."
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