Eat Monk's Staff

The Executioner's Blade, one of Hidden Mist's seven strongest ninja swords, was heavy and exceptionally sharp. It also possessed the special ability to heal itself after absorbing blood.

"Without his preferred weapon, he should be a lot easier to deal with later."

Li Chuan removed the Executioner's Blade from his zen staff, then took out a Sealing Scroll and swiftly sealed the Executioner's Blade inside.

A Sealing Scroll was an extremely expensive ninja tool. It functioned much like a spatial bag, allowing items to be sealed within a scroll using chakra and retrieved whenever needed.

Although he had the Mission Space, it could only store items obtained from side missions and could not be used under normal circumstances.

So before setting off on his travels, he had asked Kino to buy him a Sealing Scroll to carry with him.

Now, it was perfect for sealing away the Executioner's Blade and preventing Zabuza from taking it back later.

It was not like he had much interest in the Executioner's Blade anyway. A weapon with such an odd shape was difficult to wield smoothly without years of practice. Still, keeping it out of Zabuza's hands would weaken him somewhat.

More importantly, aside from being able to repair itself after breaking, the Executioner's Blade had no particularly outstanding traits compared to the other six ninja swords of Hidden Mist.

Zabuza turned around and saw Li Chuan sealing his Executioner's Blade into the scroll. He was so furious that the bandages on his face nearly burst apart.

He had originally intended to test the waters with a psychological battle, only to be taught a lesson by that unknown monk over there.

"Well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi, the fugitive ninja of Hidden Mist?"

Seeing that Li Chuan had actually sealed away Zabuza's Executioner's Blade, Kakashi silently gave him a thumbs-up in his heart. Then he walked beneath the tree where Zabuza stood and began his own psychological battle.

Known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza had been forced to become a rogue ninja after leading his subordinates in a failed assassination attempt on the Mizukage. While evading pursuit, he gathered funds in an attempt to return to the village and overthrow Hidden Mist's bloody rule.

Even Kakashi had to treat a ninja with such a reputation cautiously.

"Heh, the ninja who has copied over a thousand ninjutsu—the Copy Ninja, Kakashi. It is an honor to meet you here.

"However, I advise you to take your subordinates and leave immediately. Do not stop me from killing that old man, or your path as a ninja may end today."

His sword was gone, but he could not lose in terms of presence. Zabuza crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at Kakashi and the others, appearing utterly domineering.

Naruto wanted to step forward and show what he could do, but Kakashi directly blocked him behind himself.

"This isn't a ninja you can fight. Go protect Mr. Tazuna."

After saying that, he lifted his forehead protector, revealing the Three-Tomoe Sharingan that had always been hidden beneath it.

"So this is the Sharingan!"

The moment Kakashi revealed his Sharingan, not only Zabuza but even Li Chuan deliberately glanced at it.

The Sharingan was one of the three great Dojutsu of this world, the bloodline limit of the Uchiha Clan, descendants of Indra, the Sage of Six Paths' eldest son.

It possessed powerful abilities such as observation, copying, and hypnosis. Its wielder had perception far beyond that of ordinary people, allowing them to observe the flow of chakra, cast and see through genjutsu, and copy Body Techniques and non-bloodline-limit ninjutsu.

Of course, the prerequisite for copying ninjutsu was having the corresponding chakra nature. If one only possessed one or two natures, then even with the Sharingan, they could not copy ninjutsu of other attributes.

Kakashi had copied over a thousand ninjutsu and become so famous throughout the ninja world because, like Li Chuan, he was also a ninja with Five-Attribute Chakra.

"Good stuff, but it's a bit useless when transplanted into someone who isn't from the Uchiha Clan."

The Sharingan was certainly a good thing, but transplanting it into someone outside the Uchiha Clan placed a tremendous burden on the body, greatly reducing the amount of chakra they could use.

Moreover, the truly powerful Mangekyo could only be awakened after the death of one's closest and most beloved person, which was honestly hard to accept.

At least for now, he had no intention of setting his sights on the Sharingan.

"Then there's no need for any more nonsense. I'll kill you first!"

Using the Body Flicker Technique to appear on the distant river, Zabuza formed a special hand seal.

"Ninjutsu: Hidden Mist Technique."

As a massive amount of chakra poured forth, a dense fog rapidly rose around them, enveloping everyone.

Kakashi drew a kunai and stepped forward. As he sensed for the vanished Zabuza, he calmly reminded Naruto and the others:

"This is a ninjutsu of Hidden Mist Village, and also Zabuza's specialty—the Silent Killing Technique. It uses dense fog to obstruct vision, then quietly approaches and kills the enemy before they notice. Be careful."

After the reminder, he specifically turned to Li Chuan and asked:

"Chuan, please help me watch over them."

In Kakashi's view, among them, only Li Chuan, whose Body Technique was fairly good, would not be instantly killed by Zabuza. As long as Li Chuan watched over the others a little, Kakashi could focus on dealing with Zabuza.

"Don't worry, leave it to this little monk. This little monk may prefer vegetarian food, but this little monk's zen staff is no vegetarian!"

Li Chuan forcefully planted his zen staff into the ground, a serious expression appearing on his face.

He had no confidence in defeating Zabuza one-on-one, but holding him off for a while would not be a problem.

Behind him, Sasuke, the other two, and Tazuna had already been so intimidated by the astonishing killing intent radiating from Zabuza and Kakashi that they could not speak. They even had the illusion that if they moved even slightly, they would die immediately.

At the same time, they admired Li Chuan for being able to reply so calmly in such an environment.

Zabuza was a ninja who had grown up under Hidden Mist's Blood Mist policy. His graduation exam had required him to kill all of his classmates, and the number of lives he had taken during missions was beyond counting.

Before the Fourth Hokage died, Kakashi had likewise been extreme in temperament, always immersed in darkness.

Do not let his current cheerful demeanor fool you, or the fact that he always liked reading a copy of Icha Icha Paradise whenever he had nothing to do. The enemies he had killed during missions were no fewer than Zabuza's, and he had even participated in the Third Ninja World War, a war like a meat grinder.

The impact of the killing intent emitted by those two on Naruto and the other Genin, who had only just graduated and never killed anyone, was easy to imagine.

As for Li Chuan, he had killed plenty of people in underground boxing matches in his previous life. During those years in Sokovia, the blood on his hands had only increased from what it had been in his past life.

That was why they felt no psychological pressure at all when facing the clash of killing intent between Kakashi and Zabuza.

"Is that really so?"

At that moment, Zabuza's voice suddenly rang out from within the thick mist. Before anyone could react, he had already thrust a kunai at Tazuna, who stood surrounded at the center.

Faced with an attack from a jonin-level opponent, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura could do nothing but have their hairs stand on end instinctively. They had no time to react at all.

"Eat Monk's Staff!"

They could not react in time, but Li Chuan could.

Without even turning his body, he kicked the Zen Staff up and held it horizontally. As though he had eyes on the back of his head, he drove it toward the spot where Zabuza had appeared.