When the Hiding in Mist Technique was activated, and the fierce killing intent between the Jonin violently clashed, the inexperienced trio of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura immediately felt immense pain, even being pressured by that invisible force to the point of almost drawing their blades to end their own lives.
But after Kakashi uttered that classic line from the Hokage, "I will never let him kill my comrades," the trio's fear was instantly dispelled by these warm and resolute words.
"That's not necessarily true."
Zabuza's icy voice was like a ghost's; without anyone noticing when, he had already crossed the Executioner's Blade and suddenly appeared before the three who were protecting the client.
The terror of the Hiding in Mist Technique was revealed. Even Kakashi with his Sharingan could only realize it when the opponent had already circled behind him.
But if that's the case, why not just swing the blade without a word and complete the mission directly?
The answer was revealed in the next moment.
When Kakashi hastily turned to defend and was sliced in two by Zabuza, turning into a puddle of water, it was merely a Water Clone. Zabuza knew full well that without dealing with Kakashi first, Tazuna's safety would be difficult to shake.
Watching this battle of mutual scheming and step-by-step lethal intent, Naruto no longer felt any of the joy from earlier when he had accidentally forced Zabuza out with a shuriken.
In a battle of this level, even Sasuke couldn't get involved at all. It turned out that in front of true masters, he was still so far behind!
Just as Amane had previously thought in her heart, this was a transformative battle for Team 7.
If they could overcome this hurdle, during their rapid growth period, they could transform like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, possessing the mindset and willpower sufficient to participate in the Chunin Exams.
Soon, the situation on the battlefield took a turn for the worse.
"You got careless, Kakashi."
Originally, Kakashi wanted to take advantage of being kicked into the water by Zabuza to stay there a bit longer, deliberately showing weakness to lure out the opponent's opening.
However, he was instead outsmarted by Zabuza and trapped in the Water Prison Technique.
"As long as my hand doesn't leave, you can't escape from this. Alright, we'll settle this later. I don't know what you were thinking, bringing three rookies to complete a mission like this."
After saying this, Zabuza did not use the Water Clone Technique to deal with Naruto and the others as in the original work.
Instead, he shouted, "Now!"
In an instant, beside Tazuna, two figures appeared completely out of thin air and launched the most vicious attacks in a split second, directly targeting Sasuke and Sakura.
"There are still companions?!"
Kakashi's heart sank, but currently, he was trapped in the Water Prison and couldn't move, so he could only hope that Zabuza's subordinates were at a level that Naruto's trio could handle.
Facing the sudden assault, the fastest to react was naturally Sasuke.
He immediately wanted to leap to protect Tazuna, but a handsome youth moved even faster than him!
"What!"
The Kunai in Sasuke's hand was precisely deflected by a slender ice senbon. He intended to counterattack, but his opponent's speed far exceeded his expectations!
In just an instant, Sasuke was kicked flying. Sakura, who was guarding the client, saw this and immediately cried out nervously, "Sasuke-kun!"
"Not focusing on the battlefield—you don't have the talent of a Ninja."
Sakura snapped back to her senses because of these words and felt her body pierced by an icy coldness.
As strength rapidly drained from the wound, she collapsed weakly. In her blurry vision, she only saw a man with blue hair and shark-like teeth expressionlessly withdraw his blade, his gaze not even lingering on her for a moment.
At this moment, Sakura perhaps truly understood.
As a Ninja, things like beauty or romance were secondary. If you were outmatched in skill during a mission, even the person killing you wouldn't spare you a second glance.
This was the reality of the Ninja profession.
"Naruto... run..."
Her emerald pupils gradually dimmed. The last thing she saw was Naruto, alone facing three enemy Ninjas of similar age, and behind him, the client Tazuna sitting paralyzed on the ground, eyes filled with terror.
"You missed, Haku."
Chōjūrō looked at Naruto, whose palm was pierced by an ice senbon, panting heavily but stubbornly protecting the target, and said coldly.
Haku ignored Chōjūrō. Only a thoughtful expression appeared on his delicate face.
Just moments ago, when he threw an ice senbon at Tazuna's head, this blond-haired kid had pushed Tazuna down with unbelievable speed.
He immediately followed up with a few more, but even though they hit, the other seemed completely unfazed.
So now he was somewhat unsure of Naruto's level. Especially since Haku noticed that this person's aura seemed to have become very violent, and the wounds from the senbon earlier seemed to be healing.
"He's a bit strange. I'll hold him off; you go complete our mission for this trip."
As Haku spoke, Chōjūrō also prepared himself.
Then they immediately took action without the slightest hesitation!
Just this point alone completely outclassed the current Team 7!
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Hundreds of Narutos instantly filled the surroundings, causing the two to pause their movements involuntarily.
No wonder—if these were truly Multiple Shadow Clones, then the amount of Chakra within this blond-haired youth was simply inhuman.
Additionally, for the two of them now, the problem was troublesome.
With so many people, killing them one by one would be a time-consuming and laborious task.
It must be said that Naruto truly lived up to being the number one unpredictable Ninja. With just this move, he managed to somewhat balance this extremely disadvantageous situation.
What made Haku and Chōjūrō even more frustrated was that when they used agile footwork and refined techniques to successfully reach the client, Grandpa Tazuna...
This guy was actually a Shadow Clone transformed by Naruto!
Neither Haku nor Chōjūrō were sensory-type Ninjas, so now they could only stay here with hundreds of Narutos, wearing them down while quickly finding their target amidst the harassment.
"This blond brat looks stupid, but his combat intelligence is surprisingly good. However, his combat power is far too lacking. Kakashi, how long do you think his clones have before they're all wiped out? Can he still create this many Shadow Clones?"
In front of the Water Prison Technique, Zabuza watched the battle ahead and spoke casually, as if he were an absolute outsider.
However, his words couldn't be ignored by Kakashi.
[That sword-wielding youth's level is average, but that youth using the Ice Release Bloodline Limit is simply not something Naruto and the others can handle right now.]
Based solely on Haku's movements and the strength he displayed, Kakashi optimistically judged his power to be at least that of a Special Jonin.
And this was without him showing much of his Ice Release Ninjutsu.
[Since Naruto has already replaced the client with a Shadow Clone, the optimal choice now is to immediately retreat with the injured Sakura and Sasuke under the cover of the clones!]
The Water Prison Technique couldn't seal Kakashi for too long. If Naruto made the above choice, then they still had quite a bit of hope in this situation.
But Kakashi understood that Naruto probably wouldn't be that rational, and Sasuke's condition was currently unknown, while Sakura was severely injured.
Kakashi couldn't help but regret accepting this mission.
Huff... huff... Suddenly, from somewhere in the forest, a strange sound came.
The appearance of this sound instantly attracted everyone's attention because any Ninja would know that this was the sound produced by a fuma shuriken flying at high speed.
And the target was... Zabuza!
Watching the fuma shuriken that shot out from the forest and flew toward him in the blink of an eye, Zabuza sneered disdainfully.
[With this accuracy, was it thrown by Sasuke?]
Kakashi thought to himself while feeling a wave of exhaustion. He never expected Sasuke to join Naruto in this madness.
However, Kakashi's exhaustion was about to turn into shock!
The flying fuma shuriken was caught by Zabuza's other hand, and then another fuma shuriken appeared from a blind spot.
This was a throwing technique known as the Shadow Shuriken. Simply put, the surface shuriken was just a decoy; the real killing move was the hidden shuriken.
But for Zabuza, this was still just a trivial trick. He merely jumped in place to dodge it.
And it was this action that unveiled Team 7's counterattack!
The shuriken that Zabuza dodged by jumping in place was actually Naruto's Main Body transformed using the Transformation Jutsu.
Now positioned behind Zabuza, Naruto attacked the hand controlling the Water Prison Technique with a Kunai, successfully allowing Kakashi to escape early!
"What a beautiful strategy! Well done, you've all grown. Leave the rest to me!"
His crimson Sharingan fixed intently on Zabuza.
"Tch! Annoying... I thought they were just rookies, but it seems they have some skill?"
Seeing Kakashi free, Zabuza felt a bit troubled, but his expression showed no panic whatsoever, not even a ripple.
Kakashi keenly noticed this.
But thinking about it, it was normal. With just Haku alone able to completely overwhelm Naruto's trio, Zabuza naturally didn't need to be nervous.
So Kakashi immediately understood what he should do.
Run.
Naruto had already secretly protected the client, Sasuke seemed fine based on that shuriken throw, and even Sakura had disappeared from where she had fallen earlier.
He only needed to... "Stay here and hold off the three of us; that's enough."
Zabuza, who was currently clashing with Kakashi, suddenly spoke, his words laced with mockery.
A bad premonition instantly arose in Kakashi's heart.
"This mission is very important to us, Copy Ninja Kakashi."
The moment Zabuza slowly spoke, a blinding flash of lightning suddenly Breaking in Kakashi's Sharingan's field of vision! Its target was none other than Naruto, who was rapidly moving away from the battlefield!
"A third subordinate?!"
Kakashi was shocked and immediately moved to intercept! However, Zabuza in front of him held him down firmly like a rock!
[Not good! Naruto absolutely cannot be harmed here!]
If Naruto died here, causing the Nine-Tailed to enter a period of necessary rebirth, that would be too dangerous for Konoha.
Even putting that reason aside, Kakashi absolutely could not let his teacher's child die.
In his urgency, Kakashi Strive threw a Kunai, attempting to intercept the lightning mid-air. But this feeble obstacle was utterly negligible in front of the attacker.
The other didn't even need extra movement; merely by unleashing a powerful Lightning attribute Chakra from his body, he easily deflected the Kunai!
Kakashi could only watch helplessly as that swift lightning, Enveloped a Brownish-red figure, Holding a sharp blade, he rushed straight to Naruto!
In an instant, Kakashi made a decision.
Even if he had to take a hit from Zabuza and die, he must stop this person and at least severely injure Zabuza!
And just as Kakashi was about to act...
A pitch-black figure Flash In the battlefield like a ghost, appearing precisely in front of Naruto.
In that split second, a A raging hurricane roared out. toward the front!
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