Zabuza's Defeat and Retreat
Boom!
The combined attack of Naruto and Sasuke was no less powerful than the clash of Ninjutsu between the two Jonin earlier!
With a deafening roar, the fireball engulfed the Demon Brothers with unstoppable force. Instantly, a fierce wind arose, whipping up sand and stones! The scorching blast tore through the thin mist, and when the dust settled, a shallow black crater remained on the ground, where the Demon Brothers lay lifeless.
The Demon Brothers are out!
Sakura pondered, "There should still be Yuki Haku hiding on the battlefield." She had used the Substitution Technique to hide herself in the shadows, avoiding Haku's sight, so she could Zabuza to defeat Zabuza with her Water Gun Technique! Leaving the Demon Brothers behind for Naruto and Sasuke was both to give them a chance to fight and to Sasuke them to Zabuza Naruto Haku.
Seeing the Demon Brothers killed, Sakura, who was hiding in the forest, seized the opportunity to use her Ninjutsu!
Water Release: Super Water Gun Technique!
A ball of water containing extremely high pressure appeared in Sakura's hand. All that was needed was for Sakura to open an opening, and the high-pressure water jet would shoot out!
At the same time, Sakura also sensed another Ninjutsu taking shape beside her!
"Water Release: Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!" A delicate shout came from the depths of the forest. With the fluctuation of Chakra, the dense mist quickly condensed into countless sharp water Senbon, which appeared in a hemispherical shape around Sakura, their sharp tips gleaming with a solemn light!
Haku didn't fall for the trap at all. He didn't care about the lives of the Demon Brothers at all! Because Haku loathed the Demon Brothers with their bloodstained hands, he didn't take them seriously. On the contrary, he instinctively felt that Sakura, who used the strange Water Release, was the most dangerous person! Therefore, when he discovered that Sakura was about to ambush Zabuza, Haku reacted immediately!
White's interference was half successful.
After months of continuous practice, Sakura's mastery of the Water Gun Technique has improved even further, and her execution speed is now a notch faster than before! Just as Haku's Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death was about to condense the mist into a water ball, Sakura completed the Ninjutsu. A white, misty stream of water shot out from Sakura's hand, hurtling towards Zabuza at five times the speed of sound!
Using water as a blade, nothing is invincible! The Water Gun Technique should have cleanly Zabuza, but Sakura had no choice but to stop the Water Gun Technique the moment the Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death were formed. The Senbon of senbon blocked her vision, and Kakashi was Zabuza, so she couldn't see his position. If she continued to maintain the Water Gun Technique, the slightest deviation could accidentally injure Kakashi!
Damn it! Sakura gritted her teeth, thinking angrily, "If Haku's Ninjutsu had been even a second slower, if Kakashi hadn't been by Zabuza's side...!"
However, the Water Gun Technique, which lasted for less than a fraction of a second, still caused Zabuza enormous damage. The water blades, fired under extremely high pressure, sliced through Zabuza's left arm from left to right like cutting tofu. If it had extended just a few more centimeters, it would have severed Zabuza's entire left arm! In an instant, blood gushed out from the cut!
Excruciating pain, fear, and shock!
Zabuza had no doubt that if he had held out for even a second longer with this strange and powerful Ninjutsu, he would have been cut in two! What was even more terrifying was that despite its immense power, the Chakra Ninjutsu were not as strong as those of a high-level Ninjutsu. When he first sensed the faint fluctuations of the Water Release Ninjutsu, Zabuza thought it was just a low-level Ninjutsu and never expected it to be so destructive!
Operation failed!
Zabuza realized this. Kakashi alone was enough to put him in a tough fight, not to mention an enemy with powerful Ninjutsu lurking nearby. He had used all his trump cards but had gained no results. Instead, the Demon Brothers were dead and he himself was seriously injured!
Last night, when the Demon Brothers reported their situation, Zabuza immediately deduced that Kakashi was protecting Tazuna with a few fledglings who had graduated at most a year ago. He figured they only needed to pay attention to Kakashi; the other three were insignificant. Zabuza looked down on Konoha's "greenhouse-raised" ninjas. Having emerged from the Mist Ninja's brutal graduation ceremony, he considered these bloodless fledglings to be cowards and weaklings. But today, the bloody reality showed him the consequences of ignoring these fledglings. The pain in his left arm shattered his inexplicable sense of superiority!
Savagery and bloodshed do not equal strength!
"White, let's retreat!" Zabuza shouted, then dispelled the Water Prison Technique. Zabuza his left arm tightly with his right hand, slung his Kubikiribōchō over his back, and quickly moved away from the battlefield! His pale face, blood-soaked body, and hurried steps made Zabuza's figure look so disheveled!
Before leaving, Zabuza paused briefly on the tree, taking one last deep look in the direction from which the water blade had been shot. The girl, surrounded by Haku's Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death, calmly unleashed her Water Release, easily blocking Haku's attack. Zabuza immediately recalled the scene where his Kubikiribōchō had been stopped by the seemingly frail girl; the pale blue water shield and the girl's confident emerald eyes were deeply imprinted in his mind.
"Looks like I'll have to add another new name to my notebook...!"
Zabuza sneered, clutching his wound as he leaped away from the tree trunk. The innocent tree was shattered by the incoming water jet the instant Zabuza away. He then leaped and flashed through the trees several times, disappearing from the maximum range of the Water Gun Technique and vanishing into the sea of trees.
Sakura watched helplessly as Zabuza disappeared from sight, stopped her water sword attack, and returned to Tazuna's side. She had almost managed to keep Zabuza there forever; if this were a game, it would probably be considered fighting a boss way above her level, and she would have leveled up several times over!
Kakashi jumped from the river onto the open ground, looked around warily, and then breathed a sigh of relief, "Alright, don't be nervous! They're gone!"
"Let's take a break!" Kakashi said, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, which had been slowly spinning, stopped and turned back into black eyes. Then, Kakashi pulled down his Forehead Protector to cover his right eye and sat down on the ground. Using the Sharingan to fight Zabuza had been a huge burden for Kakashi, and seeing Zabuza's defeat, he felt exhausted both physically and mentally.
Naruto immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but Sasuke hesitated, looking at Kakashi before finally asking, "Kakashi-sensei, why do you have the Sharingan?"
"Huh? Sharingan? What's that?" Naruto asked, completely confused.
"The Sharingan!" Sasuke exclaimed, explaining to Naruto, "It's the eye Kakashi-sensei looking at earlier... People with this kind of eye can use Dōjutsu, instantly seeing through Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu, and copying them to counterattack!"
However... the Sharingan is a bloodline unique to the Uchiha; even within the clan, only a few possess this special physique! Sasuke didn't say this aloud, because Kakashi definitely knew this! He simply looked at Kakashi quietly, waiting for his answer.
Kakashi glanced back at Sasuke briefly, then turned back to look at the distant sky, as if recalling something.
"It's a long story about those eyes... I'll tell you about it another time! But I definitely don't have Uchiha Clan blood."
Sakura did know this; she had carefully read Kakashi Gaiden before transmigrating and knew that Kakashi's eyes belonged to Obito. She also heard that Obito didn't die and even became a villain.
The Sharingan is rarely passed down outside the Uchiha clan, and Kakashi only managed to keep it because of his powerful connections. There's also the possibility that this Sharingan actually hinders Kakashi's strength; otherwise, Kakashi could very well have become the next White Fang of Konoha. Of course, all of this is gossip Sakura has heard in Konoha over the years; the first one is somewhat plausible, while the second is pure fabrication.
Sasuke was clearly not satisfied with Kakashi's answer, but he had nothing to say. He just frowned and fell silent.
"You guys did a great job today!" Kakashi said with a smile, seeing that Sasuke was in low spirits. "Naruto and Sasuke's Ninjutsu just now was a brilliant combination. I never imagined that your combined Ninjutsu could be so powerful!"
"Of course! Don't you know whose idea it was!" Sakura quickly jumped out, shamelessly taking credit for it, with a smug look on her face.
"Hmph! You have the nerve to say that...!" Sasuke curled his lip, looking utterly disdainful. "Besides this idea, which of your ideas is even remotely plausible?!"
"Exactly!" Naruto chimed in, adding insult to injury. "You always need us to help you with your experiments, and you've never succeeded even once!"
Sakura, caught red-handed, playfully stuck out her tongue, but this level of embarrassment wasn't enough to break her skin! Thanks to her previous life in an era with advanced internet, Sakura's mind was full of all sorts of wild ideas. She had some recollection of all the unrealistic fantasies and daydreams online, so after transmigrating to the world of Hokage, she naturally tried out all sorts of these ideas!
The combined Ninjutsu Sasuke and Naruto used today was a technique Sakura saw online; this kind of combination achieves a 1+1&g effect. Naruto almost never uses elemental Ninjutsu in the original work, but that doesn't mean he can't, just that he doesn't use it well. For Naruto, Rasengan, Shadow Clone, and Taijutsu are sufficient for most battles.
Sakura, being Ninjutsu prodigy, disapproved of Naruto's monotonous fighting style and always tried to get Naruto to learn more Ninjutsu. Unfortunately, it wasn't until much later that Sakura realized it wasn't that no one taught Naruto Ninjutsu, but rather that Naruto disliked Ninjutsu requiring more than five hand Hand Seals! For Naruto, memorizing such complex Ninjutsu would be quite tiring!
Of course, if we use teamwork as an excuse, Naruto is still happy to contribute his strength.