On the other side of the battlefield, the mist churned restlessly.
The Water Clone of Zabuza advanced at an unhurried pace, boots crunching softly against damp earth. His posture was relaxed, almost casual, as if he were strolling rather than approaching three armed shinobi who had clearly prepared themselves to fight.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stood in a tight formation before Tazuna, kunai drawn, muscles tense. Their eyes never left the approaching figure.
Despite their vigilance, Zabuza felt no pressure at all.
Three brats, he thought with contempt. Barely Chūnin level.
A single Water Clone was more than enough.
Even if something went wrong, Haku was hidden nearby. The situation was firmly under control.
Naruto, feeling the weight of Zabuza's killing intent rolling over them like cold fog, clenched his fists. His teeth ground together as irritation and adrenaline surged through him.
"That bastard…" Naruto muttered. "It's just a clone—don't act so high and mighty!"
He took a step forward, intent on charging first.
Before he could move any farther, a hand snapped out and seized his sleeve.
"Don't," Sasuke said sharply, yanking him back into position. His Sharingan-less eyes were dark, focused, and tense. "Don't fight alone."
Naruto turned on him, bristling. "What are you talking about—"
"He's dangerous," Sasuke cut in. "That killing intent… It's almost solid."
His jaw tightened.
"It's close to the pressure that Lock gives off."
If Sasuke hadn't already experienced that suffocating presence multiple times—hadn't felt the way his instincts screamed when Lock surfaced—his legs would have frozen long ago. He knew that feeling. And Zabuza's clone carried something eerily similar.
"I feel it too," Sakura said quietly.
She had been silent since the start of the confrontation, her hands steady but her heart pounding. After everything that had happened recently—after what she had witnessed, after the confusing emotions stirred by Lock—she felt unsettled in ways she couldn't quite name.
Still, she forced herself to focus.
"This enemy isn't like the others," Sakura continued. "Should we… should we ask Lock to be ready?"
"No!" Naruto snapped.
The word came out too fast, too sharp.
Sakura flinched in surprise. Sasuke shot him a look.
Naruto immediately realized how harsh he sounded and tried to rein himself in.
"I mean—" he said, exhaling hard. "I don't want to rely on Lock all the time. I want to win this myself."
Sakura frowned, unconvinced.
"To me, that just sounds reckless," she said. "Naruto, this guy can fight Kakashi-sensei head-on. With Lock backing us up, we wouldn't have to worry—"
"That's exactly the problem!" Naruto interrupted.
His chest burned as the words spilled out.
"Lock and I are the same person! If he can do it, so can I! I'm not inferior to him!"
For a brief moment, silence hung between them.
Naruto didn't say it out loud, but the truth gnawed at him.
Before, when the Nine-Tails' chakra leaked freely, he wouldn't have hesitated. He could have overwhelmed enemies with sheer volume and power. But now, with that path sealed off, there were no shortcuts left.
No cheats.
Only himself.
Zabuza's clone finally stopped a short distance away.
A crooked grin spread across his face as he listened to the genin argue.
"Heh," he sneered. "You're awfully confident for children playing dress-up."
His voice was rough, heavy with disdain.
"Putting on a forehead protector doesn't make you a ninja. Only those who've crawled out of real battlefields—those who've stared death in the face—deserve that title."
He took a step forward.
"Only the names written in my handbook count."
Naruto's eyes flashed. "Shut up!"
Zabuza ignored him.
"As for you…" His form blurred.
"He vanished!" Sakura shouted.
"No—he's coming straight at us!" Sasuke barked.
The clone reappeared in front of Naruto in the same instant.
A violent whip kick, wrapped in a howling burst of wind, slammed toward him.
"You're not qualified!"
The impact came—
—and stopped.
Naruto grunted as the force smashed into his crossed arms. His boots dug into the ground, skidding back several inches.
At the same time, Sasuke had already moved.
He slammed in beside Naruto, shoulder to shoulder, adding his strength to the block.
The two of them absorbed the blow together.
Behind them, Sakura reacted without hesitation.
She shoved Tazuna hard to the side, sending him stumbling clear, then kicked off Naruto's back and launched herself into the air.
Steel flashed.
Her shuriken screamed through the mist, aimed precisely at the clone's head.
Zabuza raised an eyebrow.
"I suppose I underestimated you… just a little."
He twisted his leg, releasing more force. Naruto and Sasuke were thrown back, forced to roll to avoid crashing into Tazuna.
Zabuza's other hand snapped to the hilt of the Kubikiribōchō.
With a brutal swing, he intercepted the incoming shuriken mid-air, batting it aside as sparks flew.
"There's plenty more you've underestimated!" Naruto shouted as he scrambled back to his feet.
Confidence flickered in his eyes—not arrogance, but resolve.
"I suggest you start writing our names down early!"
As he spoke, Naruto leaned close to Sasuke and Sakura, lowering his voice.
"Remember the bell test," he whispered rapidly. "Same coordination."
"I'll pin him with Shadow Clones. Sasuke—do exactly what you did back then."
Time was short. He didn't need to explain further.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed in understanding. Sakura gave a sharp nod.
Zabuza watched the exchange, the faint amusement in his gaze evaporating.
Veins bulged along his forehead.
"You brats…" he growled. "Playing ninja like it's a game."
His expression twisted, slipping into something darker—something reminiscent.
"To think you became a ninja by passing such a merciful little exam…"
Naruto's blood boiled.
"What are you talking about?!" he yelled. "We passed a brutal exam, too! Only thirty percent made it!"
That made Zabuza freeze.
Then he laughed.
A harsh, barking sound that echoed unnaturally through the mist.
"Thirty percent?"
He doubled over, clutching his face.
"Keh… keh…"
"In my graduation exam," Zabuza said slowly, lifting his head, "I had to slaughter all one hundred other candidates."
The words hit like a hammer.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all went still, horror flashing across their faces as the image formed unbidden in their minds.
Zabuza's laughter vanished.
In its place, pure killing intent poured out.
"The survival rate wasn't thirty percent," he said coldly. "It was less than one."
The moment the last word left his mouth, Zabuza lunged.
Too fast.
But Naruto had already begun forming seals.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
With a thunderous boom, nearly a hundred Narutos burst into existence, flooding the battlefield from every angle.
They surged toward Zabuza all at once.
Zabuza didn't retreat.
The Kubikiribōchō whirled through the air like a massive fan of death.
"Keh…" he chuckled. "Numbers don't bridge the gap in quality."
In a blink, clones burst apart into smoke—dozens erased in seconds.
But the assault forced Zabuza's position into the open.
That was the moment Sakura acted.
"Fūma Shuriken: Shadow Windmill!"
A massive, four-bladed shuriken tore through the mist toward him.
Zabuza caught it cleanly.
But—
"Now!" Sakura shouted.
From the shadow of the first weapon, a second shuriken split free, slicing toward Zabuza's torso.
His grip on the sword prevented an immediate guard.
He was forced to leap back, narrowly avoiding the strike.
Before he could land, Sasuke's voice rang out behind him.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Zabuza spun, eyes widening.
"Damn it—Transformation Jutsu?!"
The Kubikiribōchō swung, cleaving through the roaring flames—
—but this was only a Water Clone.
The heat tore through it. Cracks raced across its form.
"So I actually fall to brats…" Zabuza snarled. "Haku—why haven't you—"
Before he could finish, thin senbon needles whistled through the mist.
A calm voice followed.
"Hunter-nin of the Hidden Mist… executing the rogue ninja Zabuza Momochi."
The clone collapsed.
And the battlefield fell silent once more.
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A/N: Advance Chapter Has Been Uploaded. Please Check It Out. It will really help me out and will keep me motivated to continue.
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