Sakura's Mouth Escape

Meanwhile.

Two figures sped through the dense forest. Looking closely, it was Naruto and Sakura's real bodies heading rapidly toward Zabuza's hideout.

After briefly treating Sakura's wounds, she insisted on joining Naruto in battle.

Thump, thump, thump...

Naruto sensed something and said grimly to Sakura beside him, "All my Shadow Clones have been dispelled, but Sasuke has awakened his eyes too. Both of them have the Double Tomoe. Things are going better than expected."

"Then there shouldn't be any suspense," Sakura said calmly. "I observed Sasuke's training. He's far stronger than he was in the original story, especially in Fire Style Jutsu and Shurikenjutsu. Haku can't possibly be his opponent."

"But I'm worried Gato may have some kind of contingency. To be safe, let's use the Nine-Tails to travel and end the battle as quickly as possible."

"Sure."

With that, Naruto picked Sakura up from behind. Huge wings instantly spread from his back. He gave them a fierce flap toward the front, and his flight speed immediately increased tenfold!

After cooperating with the Nine-Tails and beginning to receive its Chakra, Naruto's control over the Nine-Tails Chakra had improved by leaps and bounds.

He had no idea why this was happening and could only wait until they returned to the village to study it slowly.

Of course, the main reason he was flying so fast was to avoid the awkward situation of arriving after the enemies had already been dealt with...

Didn't they say third time's the charm?

Sakura: "By the way, there's something else I want to discuss with you."

Naruto: "What is it?"

Elsewhere, the battle between Zabuza and Kakashi had already reached its climax.

Thanks to the constant explosions, Kakashi had also begun deliberately using Fire Style and Lightning Style Jutsu, preventing Zabuza from gaining much of an advantage.

"Ninjutsu: Hidden Mist!" Zabuza vanished into the mist again, widening the distance between himself and Kakashi.

"You must be quite proud of your Mist Technique," Kakashi said as he pulled out a scroll and formed the Tiger seal with both hands. "Unfortunately, I happen to be an expert at tracking."

With that, he slammed the scroll onto the ground.

"Ninjutsu: Summoning! Earth Style Fang Pursuit Jutsu!"

The runes on the scroll immediately began burrowing into the earth!

"Stop wasting your effort. There's no way you can see me... Wait, what is this?"

Several Ninja Dogs suddenly burst from the ground beside Zabuza's feet, restraining every part of his body!

Just as in the original story, Kakashi had never relied on his eyes to track people. He relied on his nose.

"Gaaaaah!" Zabuza immediately began struggling desperately.

"Give up. Your future... holds nothing but death!"

Kakashi's expression was solemn and dignified. He formed another series of hand seals, gathering lightning in his hand.

"W-What?!" Zabuza's eyes widened. "You can actually see the Chakra in your hand so clearly..."

Another battlefield.

Sasuke's clothes were tattered, and his body was covered in wounds, but his momentum was like a rainbow and his gaze blazed brightly. His expression held nothing but indifference.

"Did that idiot Naruto run off...?" he murmured softly. Before him, Haku was bound by an iron rope covered in spikes.

He looked utterly miserable.

Haku looked at Sasuke and spoke with difficulty. "Congratulations... You can kill me now."

"Kill you?" Sasuke shook his head disdainfully. "What meaning would that have for me? You're merely a stepping stone. Besides, defeating Naruto is far more meaningful than killing you right now."

After awakening his eyes, Sasuke was overflowing with smugness, determined to make the moment as stirring and heroic as possible.

But the moment he thought about the fact that his awakening had been triggered by that dead-last, Sasuke felt so miserable that he wanted to lose his memory on the spot.

Now, he desperately needed a glorious victory to restore his unbalanced state of mind.

Whether he killed Haku or not was completely unimportant. The main thing was to find a chance to beat Naruto as soon as possible.

Just then, Haku felt an intense pang of unease.

He abruptly turned toward Zabuza's direction.

Mr. Zabuza!

A tremendous wave of Chakra instantly erupted around Haku's body, tearing free all the wires embedded in him. He was determined to rush over and rescue Zabuza immediately.

Sasuke didn't even turn his head. In the time it took to form a single thought, he appeared beside Haku. Haku knocked Sasuke's kunai aside with a swift strike, then formed hand seals with one hand.

"Bang!"

A muffled thud rang out!

Haku's vision suddenly went black, and he fell straight to the ground. The conviction in his heart forced him to struggle back up, but Sasuke quickly stomped him down again.

"Good presence, but you're too slow," Sasuke said flatly.

Just as Haku had grabbed Sasuke's right hand with one hand, Sasuke's entire body instantly flipped around. His clean, decisive kick struck Haku in the back of the neck and sent him crashing to the ground.

Perhaps because Sasuke had always been beaten by monsters, most people overlooked his already monstrous talent for growth.

Even Haku, who had unleashed his potential, could only sigh in despair.

"Mr. Zabuza..." Thin tears had already gathered in Haku's eyes.

"Three seconds. Two seconds. One second..."

One second later, Zabuza would die completely to Kakashi's Lightning Cutter.

"Bang!!"

Suddenly, a gigantic crimson hand lunged toward Kakashi. Kakashi hurriedly dodged, allowing Zabuza to escape the fatal blow.

"Naruto, Sakura?" Kakashi looked at the two of them in surprise.

Standing on a tree branch, Naruto withdrew the Nine-Tails Chakra into his body and said awkwardly, "Boss, what if I told you I was just controlled by the Nine-Tails? Would you believe me?"

Kakashi's eyes widened. He even began seriously wondering whether Naruto had been possessed.

"I was the one who had Naruto stop you," Sakura said as she stepped forward, signaling for Naruto to deal with the remaining grunts while she spoke with Kakashi.

After Naruto left, Sakura jumped down from the branch and walked toward Kakashi. "Teacher Kakashi, please spare Zabuza's life and send him to Konoha."

Kakashi furrowed his brow slightly. "Zabuza is a rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist. He carried out multiple assassinations. If he remains alive, more innocent people will die."

Sakura nodded, but her gaze remained calm, as if Kakashi had merely mentioned a trivial matter.

"Teacher Kakashi, I noticed that you said Zabuza was a rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist, correct?" Sakura said calmly. "The Hidden Mist also has designs on Konoha. If Konoha could imprison Zabuza, the village would likely gain another political bargaining chip."

"The Hidden Mist is most wary of sharing its techniques with others, which is why it created the pursuit squad. Their fundamental purpose is to make rogue ninjas from the Hidden Mist disappear completely, preventing enemies from finding any trace of their techniques in the corpses."

"Teacher Kakashi, a living Zabuza will only be more valuable than a dead Zabuza."

Kakashi stared blankly at Sakura. He had never expected her to consider the issue from the perspective of the bigger picture.

Most importantly, when Sakura spoke of Zabuza, it was as if he wasn't a person at all, but merely an object...

Kakashi remained silent. He simply threw several kunai, crippling both of Zabuza's arms, then said to Sakura, "Sakura, what you said does make a great deal of sense, but I don't believe you would suddenly start caring about the village's major affairs."

"Why don't you be honest and tell me your true purpose?"

A little over ten minutes earlier, Naruto had asked Sakura the exact same question.