Where's My Saber?

"Mr. Tazuna, we're almost there. It seems Gato hasn't discovered us."

The young man rowing the boat looked at the bridge opening ahead and let out a slight sigh of relief.

Without Gato's permission, leaving the island and going out to sea was already dangerous enough—especially when he was ferrying Tazuna, the bridge builder. If he were discovered, he probably would not live to see tomorrow's sun.

"Thank you for your hard work!"

Tazuna adjusted his hat, his expression turning serious.

Li Chuan's eyes flashed as he listened to their conversation.

He knew that they would soon be facing two Jonin-level ninja: Demon of the Hidden Mist Zabuza and Haku, who possessed a Kekkei Genkai.

He had gotten some idea of what a Jonin's strength was like through his daily training with Chiriku. That was also why he had come to the Land of Waves with Kakashi and the others.

Without Kakashi's help, he could not handle Zabuza and Haku alone.

As they passed through the bridge opening, the fog dispersed, and a beautiful island gradually came into view.

The only flaw was that the houses on the island looked rather dilapidated. Most of the residents on shore wore numb expressions and were painfully thin.

"My home is still some distance from here. Everyone, follow me!"

After disembarking, Tazuna led everyone through the small port town and along a dirt road shrouded by dense forest, heading deeper into the island.

"I can't let Sasuke steal the spotlight again!"

Walking ahead of Li Chuan, Naruto looked at Sasuke, who had his hands in his pockets and wore an arrogant expression. He immediately ran to the front and began putting on a show of inspecting the surroundings, even tossing out a few kunai now and then.

How could his desperate attempt to show off fool anyone? Sakura was so angry that she immediately started yelling at him.

However, Li Chuan had already become secretly vigilant.

The sharp senses he had developed as a martial artist had allowed him to vaguely detect a murderous gaze sweeping over him just now.

Still, he could not determine where it had come from.

"Over there!"

Just then, Naruto's randomly thrown kunai struck something by sheer coincidence, allowing Li Chuan to notice a hint of abnormality. He pushed aside the dense bushes by the roadside and cautiously stepped forward to investigate.

Naruto's kunai had struck the root of a large tree, and beneath it, a white rabbit trembled in fright.

"Did he use the Substitution Jutsu to get away?"

Li Chuan secretly remained on high alert, carefully listening to every movement around him. On the surface, though, he pulled out the kunai and tossed it back to Naruto, then picked up the trembling rabbit and walked out with a smile.

The moment Kakashi saw the rabbit in Li Chuan's hands, his eyes narrowed.

With his experience, he could immediately tell that this was not an ordinary rabbit. It was one specially raised by ninja for use in the Substitution Jutsu to confuse their enemies.

When Sakura saw the adorable rabbit Naruto had nearly killed, she started roaring at him again.

"What a cute little rabbit."

Li Chuan returned to Tazuna's side, deliberately raising the rabbit in his hand before adding:

"Do you think something this cute should be braised or steamed?"

Zabuza, who had just used a rabbit prepared in advance as a substitute, crouched atop a lush tree, secretly poking his head out.

He had been observing the monk below, who was not mentioned in the intelligence report, when Li Chuan's wildly contrasting remark nearly threw him off. A slight flaw appeared in his otherwise perfect concealment.

And that tiny flaw was enough for both Li Chuan and Kakashi, who had also grown suspicious, to discover his location.

"I've been exposed. Then I'll just go straight in!"

Knowing that the brief disruption in his breathing might well have been noticed by the famed Copy Ninja Kakashi of Konoha below, Zabuza stopped hiding. He drew the Executioner's Blade from his back and hurled it with all his might at Tazuna, the target.

"Everyone, get down!"

At a glance, Kakashi saw the absurdly huge Executioner's Blade spinning toward them like a meat grinder, its attack range encompassing every one of them.

He immediately chose the safest and least strenuous response.

If he moved to block the Executioner's Blade, he might be ambushed by the ninja hiding in the shadows. If he did not act, Naruto and the others would never be able to stop it given the blade's speed and force.

But if everyone got down, they could perfectly evade the blade while remaining alert for a sneak attack and counterattacking at any moment.

Li Chuan inwardly praised Kakashi's quick-witted solution. As expected of an Elite Jonin who had experienced countless missions and battles.

However, unlike Sasuke and the others, he did not duck. Instead, his eyes widened as he held his breath and focused. At the instant the Executioner's Blade was about to slash into him—

He bent backward at the waist and, with lightning speed, raised the Zen Staff in his hand, precisely inserting it into the circular hole near the front of the Executioner's Blade. Then, relying on the rock-solid strength of his stance and waist, he forcibly halted the blade's momentum and wrenched it back.

With Kakashi watching, he was not afraid that Zabuza would take the chance to launch a sneak attack. Naturally, he could use this opportunity to seize Zabuza's weapon first.

"What?"

Seeing Li Chuan actually stop that massive blade with the Zen Staff in his hand, even Kakashi could not help being surprised.

Given the speed and power of that blade, stopping it as Li Chuan had—especially inserting the staff precisely into that circular hole to prevent it from being knocked away—placed tremendous demands on one's strength, speed, and eyesight.

This young monk from the Fire Temple had to possess considerable skill in Body Technique, at the very least.

Then again, the Fire Temple was famous for its Body Technique. Its current abbot, Chiriku, had once been one of the daimyo's guards alongside Konoha's Asuma. As Chiriku's disciple, it was understandable that Chuan possessed such strength.

Meanwhile, the moment Zabuza hurled the Executioner's Blade from his hand, he leaped after it toward the large tree where it was supposed to land.

Kakashi of Konoha, the famed Copy Ninja, could not possibly be taken down so easily by a thrown blade. He would most likely tell everyone to duck and evade while remaining secretly on guard.

So this attack was merely a small test, while also giving him a sufficiently imposing entrance.

A ninja's battle tested every aspect: ninjutsu, Body Technique, genjutsu, combat strategy, Chakra reserves, and psychological warfare, among many others.

Especially between evenly matched experts, the outcome of a battle could change over a single minor factor.

Zabuza made himself an imposing entrance not to show off, but to suppress his opponent psychologically and in terms of momentum, creating an advantage for the battle to come.

Yet when he used the Body Flicker Technique to appear where his Executioner's Blade should have been, he found the spot completely empty. There was nothing there.

"Where's my blade? Where's my huge blade?"

Standing on a tree branch with a bewildered look, Zabuza felt his cool image shatter all over the ground.