Zabuza's hideout, like Tazuna's new home, was located deep within the forest. The dense foliage made visibility even worse, and even in the early morning, it seemed as though dusk had fallen.
Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke were concealed in nearby bushes, constantly scanning their surroundings.
"Looks like there are no traps nearby," Naruto said softly after surveying the area.
Kakashi nodded and said solemnly, "I'll make the first move later. You two are responsible for holding off that masked boy. If anything goes wrong, retreat first."
Naruto glanced to the side and saw Sasuke's body trembling slightly. He chuckled under his breath. "What's wrong? Got Parkinson's?"
"No." Sasuke shook his head, his expression instead filled with excitement. "I'm excited."
"Sure. You can fight Zabuza later."
"...I suppose that works."
Naruto felt that if Sasuke had a tail, it would probably be sticking straight up right now. He couldn't help looking forward to seeing whether Haku or Sasuke would get beaten senseless.
Sasuke was stronger than he had been in the original story. He could no longer be judged by common sense.
Suddenly, the three of them heard a flurry of sounds coming from the forest.
Shadowy figures emerged like bamboo shoots after the rain and began searching the surrounding area.
Most of them were wearing ninja forehead protectors!
"This is bad," Naruto thought, secretly cursing. The situation had once again diverged from the original story. He couldn't help wondering whether that bastard Gato was actually a cockroach.
How could these enemies 'reproduce' so quickly...?
Kakashi signaled for them to hold their breaths, then gestured for them to continue waiting.
They couldn't alert the enemy yet.
Naruto couldn't help thinking. Given Zabuza's temper, he might not be willing to cooperate with so many people. His own fighting style also leaned toward assassination.
Well, if we end up fighting Zabuza later, I'll use the Talk no Jutsu to sow discord between him and the other ninjas.
At that moment, all three of them heard a man wearing a headscarf shout toward the surroundings, "Are you still not coming out?"
Naruto's scalp went numb. Is he calling them out?
That can't be. How could they possibly know when we were going to launch our ambush?
Another person nearby clicked his tongue. "My friend, are you really sure they're hiding here?"
"The chief predicts everything like a god. There can't be any mistake." The headscarf man's gaze was as firm as though he had already joined the party.
"Watch me force them out. Fire Style..."
His hands began forming seals at lightning speed!
Every hair on Naruto's body stood on end. He hurriedly whispered, "Good grief, they're actually doing it! Boss, what do we do?"
Kakashi said, "Retreat first."
The headscarf man finished forming his seals. "...Fire Dragon Bullet!"
In an instant, the surrounding temperature began to rise sharply. Naruto immediately scattered, but that also exposed their whereabouts.
Kakashi swiftly pulled up his forehead protector. Just as he was about to cover Naruto and Sasuke's retreat, he felt a huge blade appear behind him.
"Heh heh. Your opponent is me."
Zabuza had appeared from nowhere. Holding his greatsword, he pressed its tip against Kakashi's back.
"Zabuza..." Kakashi's gaze instantly grew extremely grave.
"Don't turn around. If you dare point that Sharingan at me, I'll cut you in half on the spot." Zabuza narrowed his eyes.
Naruto dodged several shuriken and shouted at Zabuza, "Zabuza, have you become Gato's dog now?!"
Zabuza whipped his head around, his gaze seeming ready to hack Naruto into eight pieces. "The contract I accepted can only succeed. Failure is not an option!"
With that, he flashed Kakashi a meaningful smile. "Besides, Gato still has some use."
"What do you think, my friend?"
Although Naruto knew Zabuza's intention, he still felt terrible all over. Could you stop talking like such a creep?!
Are you really never going to let that 'my friend' thing go?!
Naruto's opinion of Gato's brainwashing technique rose another notch. He even suspected that if Zabuza spent a few more days with him, he would replace his outfit with a Korean-style trench coat...
Meanwhile.
"Clang!" Sasuke spun repeatedly, using a kunai to firmly deflect the needles thrown by the enemy beside him.
"Not bad speed." Haku calmly assessed Sasuke's taijutsu, as though his improvement was hardly worth mentioning.
Sasuke glanced at Zabuza and gritted his teeth. "Are you people insane? You're actually going to support that devil, Gato!"
"I only obey Mr. Zabuza's orders." Haku's tone was as cold as ever. "Mr. Zabuza's orders are absolute. Rather, my very life belongs to Mr. Zabuza..."
Sasuke grew increasingly impatient. He flashed forward, kicked Haku, and opened up some distance before completing a hand seal in an instant.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
The enormous fireball instantly engulfed the ninja beside Sasuke. Compared with the fireball he had released before Fugaku at the beginning, it had nearly doubled in size!
Like Naruto, Sasuke's control and use of Chakra had improved rapidly during this period!
Haku dodged it like a ghost, then used Body Flicker to appear in a blind spot behind a tree trunk. He threw several needles in quick succession toward Sasuke.
The needles shot precisely toward the vital point at the back of Sasuke's neck!
But Sasuke seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He nimbly rolled sideways to dodge them and looked at Haku disdainfully.
"You keep saying 'Zabuza, Zabuza' all the time. Don't you have any opinions of your own?!" Sasuke's tone was harsh. He detested Haku's values to the extreme.
Once, he too had followed behind someone like a lackey. Yet that person had not only betrayed him, but also caused his entire clan to perish on their own grounds.
Blindly placing one's trust in someone would only lead to immense suffering after the relationship fell apart.
Sasuke intended to use overwhelming force to completely 'correct' Haku's values.
He charged toward Haku at Body Flicker speed, but Haku calmly blocked every one of Sasuke's attacks.
"At least I have one advantage right now," Haku said indifferently. "I've completely restrained you with only one hand. That means my other hand can still threaten you."
With that, Haku began forming seals with one hand.
Seeing this, Sasuke couldn't help recalling what Naruto had said while they were training by climbing trees that day.
"Sasuke, that Masked Man's methods are extremely strange. I thought about it for a long time and came up with an all-purpose way to break through his defenses."
Sasuke glanced sideways at Naruto. "What good idea could a dead last like you come up with?"
"Stop acting so smug in front of me." Naruto waved his hand. "Let me put it this way: Zabuza uses water. If that masked boy has followed Zabuza since childhood, then the jutsu he uses is most likely related to Water Style too."
Naruto continued, "So, what can restrain Water Style?"
"You got one thing wrong. I also restrained you with only one hand." Sasuke looked coldly at Haku, then suddenly pulled the nearly transparent wire in his other hand.
"Bang!!!"
"Bang!!!"
The ground beneath Sasuke and Haku instantly erupted in a massive explosion, and black smoke completely engulfed them both!
"So what can restrain Water Style?"
"Fire." Naruto shook the Explosive Tag in his hand. "Although Water Style counters Fire Style, as long as the flames are strong enough, they can evaporate all the water. Of course, the prerequisite is that you first use Fire Style Jutsu to dry out the surroundings."
"In a humid environment, we'll probably be at a disadvantage."
What Naruto did not mention was that Haku could freeze the water on the ground into ice, which would make the battle even more difficult.
"Explosive Tags? Interesting." Haku burst out of the black smoke. One corner of his clothing had been scorched by the flames from the explosion, and he had lost the elegance and composure he previously possessed.
Sasuke calmly emerged from the other side. His gaze was clear and filled with resolve.
Before you continue