Zabuza Temporarily Exits the Stage 1/2

The situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

Naruto was still afraid.

Everyone felt fear, especially when facing an enemy far stronger than themselves.

The moment you overcame that fear, it meant you had grown.

What was that famous quote again?

—What does not destroy me makes me stronger.

Applied here, it became—what does not scare me to death makes me bolder.

Just like in the original story, Naruto used multiple Shadow Clones as cover, transformed into a Fūma Shuriken, and successfully approached Zabuza's real body, which was maintaining the Water Prison Technique, through Sasuke's Shadow Windmill. This nearly perfect strategy, combined with their seamless teamwork, exposed a flaw in Zabuza's defenses and allowed Kakashi to break the Water Prison Technique.

Freed from the water prison, Kakashi began using the Sharingan to copy Zabuza's Water Release, then used the Sharingan's genjutsu to make Zabuza hallucinate and throw his thoughts into disarray.

In the end, Zabuza was struck head-on by Kakashi's copied Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique, blasted hundreds of meters away, and pierced in several places by kunai. He seemed doomed.

Hatake Kaito and Sarara both breathed sighs of relief, and they were even somewhat pleased.

As a rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist Village and a major criminal who had attempted to assassinate the Mizukage, Momochi Zabuza had been pursued by the Hidden Mist Village's ANBU countless times, yet he was still alive and kicking.

If someone like him were killed by Kakashi, it would boost morale internally, display their military strength externally, and, best of all, slap the Hidden Mist Village hard across the face.

Hayato's expression, however, became even more focused.

Because Haku, who had been hiding in the shadows all along, moved.

In the original story, Haku had merely appeared, inserted two senbon into Zabuza's neck, and taken away Zabuza's "corpse."

Did Kakashi really not suspect Haku's identity just because he wore a Hidden Mist ANBU mask?

Of course he did!

The ANBU's usual practice was to dispose of corpses on the spot, taking only the heads when necessary. As an old hand in the ANBU, Kakashi had already determined that Haku was Zabuza's accomplice the moment Haku tried to take away Zabuza's "corpse."

But Kakashi had already been drained dry by the Sharingan. He was at the end of his rope.

Was the Sharingan powerful?

It was~~~ incredibly powerful. Not only was it powerful, but it could continuously evolve: one tomoe → two tomoe → three tomoe → Mangekyō → Eternal Mangekyō → Rinnegan. Every upgrade came with a huge gift package. It was absurdly overpowered.

But something that awesome naturally came at a price.

Bloodline diseases, blindness, and all kinds of mental issues—these were among the internal causes behind the Uchiha Clan's destruction.

Even Uchiha clan members sometimes could not withstand the Sharingan's chakra consumption and physical burden, let alone Kakashi, an outsider who had received a transplant.

Kakashi practically wished for Haku to hurry up and take Zabuza away.

What Hayato feared was that Haku might change his mind and suddenly attack.

This was not a manga, after all. People's actions often changed on a whim, and Haku might not have failed to notice that Kakashi was only putting up a strong front.

In the end, Haku did not attack and vanished with Zabuza.

Hayato could not quite understand why Zabuza and Haku had not attacked together. Even if their original plan had been to gather intelligence on Kakashi, could the plan not have changed?

If Haku had attacked in the original story, had Sarutobi Hiruzen also arranged for an ANBU squad to protect them in secret?

So many coincidences!

You could call it protagonist's luck, but luck was part of strength too, wasn't it?

Kakashi, who had been bluffing with an empty fort strategy, finally collapsed to the ground.

They had won. The process had been full of twists, but the result was a narrow and costly victory.

Zabuza had displayed impressive ninjutsu and taijutsu, and his strategic ability was no weaker than Kakashi's.

Kakashi's Sharingan copying ability and genjutsu ability had been quite astounding.

Overall, the scene of the two of them trading Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique and Great Waterfall Technique had been spectacular and gorgeous.

Hayato watched Hatake Kaito. His face was covered by a mask, so his expression could not be seen, but his body language revealed the conflict in his heart.

Though both were ninja of the Hatake Clan, Kaito and Kakashi's fighting styles were vastly different.

Kaito's style leaned toward technique, deciding victory and defeat head-on with swordsmanship.

Kakashi's style leaned toward strategy, with tactics built around the Sharingan.

It was not a question of which was better. Different perspectives led to different conclusions.

Many factors determined victory or defeat in a ninja battle. Powerful ninja always survived their battles, while great ninja always sacrificed themselves for others.

Nagato died, Obito died, Madara died, Kaguya was sealed once again, yet Orochimaru, who had been beaten all along the way, not only survived but even got redeemed.

Based on that unkillable trait alone, Orochimaru could be called powerful.

Perhaps in Sasuke's eyes, it was the Sharingan that made Kakashi so powerful.

But in Hatake Kaito's eyes, the Sharingan had dragged Kakashi down.

Sarara, on the other hand, wore a blankly adorable expression. "What's that guy with no eyebrows doing? Did he zone out while casting ninjutsu? Is this guy really Zabuza, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, nicknamed the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist'? He isn't using the Transformation Technique to impersonate him, is he?"

In Zabuza's eyes, Kakashi's movements had been synchronized with his own, but that had only been an illusion. Naruto and the others had not noticed the tiny difference in timing, but it could not escape Sarara's eyes.

In the end, after Zabuza finished forming the hand seals for the Great Waterfall Technique but failed to release it, Sarara saw it as simply zoning out.

"Genjutsu, idiot."

Hayato was too exasperated to mock her. Had she really not figured it out after all this time? Was her brain full of mush?

"Genjutsu? Genjutsu! Oh, oh, Sharingan Kakashi, right? How could I not know that? I was testing you guys, haha, hahaha."

People like Sarara were always stubborn to the end.

The injured Kakashi stayed at Tazuna's home.

There were two other people in Tazuna's household: his daughter-in-law and grandson. His daughter-in-law was a gentle and virtuous woman, but his grandson, Inari, was a brat who no longer believed heroes existed because of the death of his stepfather, Kaiza.

Inari tried every possible way to drive Kakashi and the others away. Deep down, he did not believe they could defeat Gatō, and he did not want them to sacrifice themselves for nothing like Kaiza had.

Simply put, Inari was helping others in a way that made people dislike him. They usually called that—tsundere.

Kakashi told Naruto and the others that Zabuza was still alive, giving them quite a fright. Once the shock passed, Naruto and Sasuke instead became eager to try again, which greatly pleased Kakashi. Then Kakashi announced the three of them's training plan to prepare for Zabuza's next attack.

At that moment, Inari came out.

Inari's claim that he did not believe in heroes instead stirred Naruto's fighting spirit.

At dawn the next day, Kakashi brought the three of them into the woods to practice tree climbing.

Hayato had practiced tree climbing too, for an entire week. At the time, he had been just over four years old and had fallen more times than he could count.

It was not only a matter of pain and injuries. Chakra training and learning ninjutsu were actually extremely dull, and Hayato had persisted through sheer determination.

When a person knew why they lived, they could endure any kind of life.

Sarara and Hatake Kaito had probably also learned tree climbing and water walking when they were five or six. Naruto had been ostracized by others, Sakura's ninja father was mediocre, and Sasuke's clan had suffered a drastic upheaval just as he was about to learn. That was why they had only begun receiving Kakashi's instruction at twelve.

The three of them, Hayato included, squatted in the distance and sighed with emotion, feeling the inexplicable satisfaction of upperclassmen watching freshmen undergo military training—hehe, your turn now.

[PS] Thanks to Huang Shumi for the recommendation vote, Book Friend 017101080557, Isotora, Lemon Dango Sauce, and squiSu for their recommendation votes. Thanks for the support.

[PS] Special thanks to Lemon Dango Sauce for the 100-point reward.

[PS] This is my first time getting a recommendation on Qidian, so I'm a little nervous. I just hope the numbers won't look too bad. Please support me; there will be more tonight.