S-Rank, Zabuza

The fog did not rise. It crashed down.

First, the distance disappeared. Then, the nearby vanished. Finally, even his own hands blurred. Ringo looked down at his palm. Five fingers. But their edges had already melted away, like ink spreading through water.

This was not natural. There was chakra in the fog. So thick that even breathing grew heavy. Every breath felt like drinking cold water.

"Don't move."

Kakashi's voice came from within the fog. It was not loud. But Ringo could hear the difference. It lacked that usual lazy tone. It was tense.

Naruto swallowed. Sasuke's Sharingan glowed in the fog, its two tomoe spinning.

The fog stopped moving.

It had not dispersed. It had frozen solid. As if someone had pressed pause. The mist hung in midair, neither drifting nor turning, simply fixed in place. The fog opened a path.

It was not blown open by the wind. The fog was making way for something.

A blade emerged first.

It did not fly out of the fog. It spun as it descended. Slowly. Slowly enough for them to see every nick along its edge. Every scratch. Every drop of dried blood.

The blade stabbed into the ground.

It was not merely piercing dirt. The blade was saying, "I'm here."

The ground shook! Ringo felt the soles of his feet go numb for half a second.

Behind the blade stood a man.

He was not much taller than the blade. Bandages wrapped his face. No eyebrows. His eyes did not look—they pressed down. It was as though something had pinned down their chests. Not fear, but weight. The man's very existence had weight.

The system lit up.

[Detected: S-Rank Missing-nin: Momochi Zabuza: Demon of the Hidden Mist: Recommendation:]

The rest was blank.

Ringo understood. It was not that the system did not know. It simply had no recommendation. Because a gap like this could not be bridged by advice.

"Copy Ninja Kakashi." Zabuza's voice came from behind the bandages, muffled, as if it had risen from underwater. "Will you hand the old man behind you over to me?"

Kakashi did not answer. He lifted his forehead protector. The three tomoe in his left Sharingan spun in the fog. Not as they usually did. They were fully active.

"Team 7, protect Tazuna. Don't come near me."

"That's not the issue here," Naruto said, gripping a kunai. "What... what the hell is he?"

"The Demon of the Hidden Mist," Kakashi said. "An S-Rank missing-nin from the Hidden Mist. You three—"

Before he could finish, Zabuza moved.

He did not charge them. The fog charged for him. Mist contracted from every direction, wrapping around Zabuza's body before he vanished. It was not invisibility. He had become part of the fog.

Kakashi's Sharingan tracked the mist. His hand came out of his pocket. A kunai. In his left hand.

"Behind me—"

Clang.

The kunai struck the Executioner's Blade. Kakashi was knocked back two steps. It was not that he lacked strength. The sword was simply too heavy. It did not slash—it smashed. Every swing carried the blade's own weight. It was not a man wielding a sword. The sword was carrying the man.

Zabuza emerged from the fog. His blade lay across his body. He smiled.

"The Sharingan really can see."

He formed a seal with one hand.

Not five seals. One. Water surged up from the ground—not a puddle, but a wave. A wave wrapped in chakra. Kakashi twisted aside, but the wave was not meant to strike him. It was drawing a circle.

Water Prison!

It was not a ninjutsu. It was a cage. Water spun around Kakashi, faster and faster. It was not sealing him in—it was locking him down. Every ring of water pressed inward. Kakashi's breathing was cut off. His Sharingan still spun, but his body could not move.

"Three little brats." Zabuza stood beside the Water Prison, one hand maintaining it while the other formed seals.

Water Clone. Two of them. Identical.

"Kakashi will suffocate sooner or later. You—"

Before the Water Clone could finish, Naruto charged.

"Let him go!!"

His punch passed through the Water Clone. It had not hit—it was water, reforming after his fist passed through. Naruto froze for half a second, and the Water Clone kicked him in the stomach. Naruto flew backward! He slammed into a tree, leaves rustling down.

Sasuke's shuriken arrived. Four of them. Fan-shaped. The Water Clone twisted aside. Three grazed past, while one lodged in its shoulder. But the wound healed. Water filled it back in.

"Uchiha. Sharingan. But you're still too green."

Sasuke gritted his teeth. Fireball Jutsu—but the fog was too thick. The fireball flew through the mist, most of it devoured by moisture. By the time it reached Zabuza, only a ball of hot air remained.

"That's it?"

Ringo did not move.

He had been watching the entire time. Not Zabuza—the system.

Inside the card slots were the Demon Brothers' Water Release Fragment. White. A Shuriken Technique Fragment, also white. Two white cards. If he combined them—water plus cutting—

It was not analysis. It was instinct. Shuriken could carry water. Water could carry cutting force. Path B. A risk. Fifty percent.

In the training ground, he had chosen Path A. The safe option. But this was a battlefield. Kakashi was trapped in the Water Prison. Naruto had only just climbed to his feet. Sasuke was panting.

If he did not take the risk, there was only death!

He pressed it.

The synthesis panel opened in the fog. It was not the quiet light of the training ground. It was within the mist. Light scattered through the fog. The outline of the panel was blurry, but the words were clear.

The Water Release Fragment flew from its card slot. It was not white, but dark white. Different from the one in the training ground. Frosted. Its light was wrapped in a layer of mist.

The Shuriken Technique Fragment followed it in.

The two cards began to spin.

They did not turn slowly. They whirled. Water circled the shuriken, faster and faster. The water did not cling to the surface—it seeped inward. Iron and water did not merge. They were infused.

One minute.

Ringo's finger rested on the panel. His heartbeat was too fast. It was not nervousness. The synthesis was consuming his attention. Not deliberately—it felt as though something had grabbed hold of him. He could not look away. Even his breathing changed. He was not gasping. He had forgotten to breathe.

Zabuza's Water Clone turned its head.

"What is that little brat doing?"

Sasuke stood in front of Ringo. Three shuriken in hand. He was not trying to hit. He was buying time.

"Ringo, hurry."

Naruto climbed up. Clone Jutsu. Three of him. They blocked the Water Clone.

"You're not getting through—"

Ding.

It was not the usual ding. Shorter. More urgent. Like a prompt.

[Synthesis Successful: Golden Water-Blade Shuriken: Water Release Attribute: Cutting Power Increased by 50%:]

Ringo opened his hand.

He was not holding a shuriken. Water spun in his palm. A ring of water wrapped around a blade. It was not wet. It was dry. But he knew that the instant it struck its target, water would enter through the cut.

It was not iron that cut.

It was water.

He threw it.

It did not fly in a straight line. It curved. Water had inertia, unlike iron. It could not go straight. But the curve was faster.

The water blade cut through the fog. It did not merely pass through—it sucked the mist into its own rotation. A line was carved through the fog. Its target was not Zabuza.

It was the Water Prison.

Water against water.

The water blade struck the Water Prison. It did not bounce off. It ripped a gap through the prison. Water surged out of the crack—not flowing, but exploding. Fog and water mixed together, becoming a fine spray of droplets. They could see clearly now.

At the same time, Naruto's clone slammed into the Water Clone from the left. Sasuke's shuriken pinned off its escape route from the right.

Kakashi emerged from the Water Prison.

He had not broken free. The Water Prison shattered on its own. The instant he landed, his Sharingan had already locked onto Zabuza. His hands had already finished forming seals.

Lightning Cutter.

It was not sound. It was light. Lightning Release condensed in his palm. The cry of birds. Sharp. Piercing. Kakashi rushed forward.

Zabuza twisted aside. But the water blade grazed his right arm. Not fatal, but blood. One drop. Then another. Falling into the fog.

Zabuza lowered his head and looked at his arm.

Then he looked at Ringo.

"Little brat, what technique did you just use?"

It was not anger. It was curiosity. An S-Rank missing-nin had been grazed by a genin.

Ringo panted. His hand was still numb. The Water-Blade Shuriken was single-use. Once thrown, it was gone. But it was enough.

"Nothing special. Just water and wind. Put together."

Zabuza said nothing. The eyes beneath his bandages narrowed slightly.

The fog began to retreat.

It did not disperse. It retreated with Zabuza, like the tide. He backed into the depths of the mist. The Executioner's Blade dragged a line across the ground.

"Kakashi, I'll remember you. And that little brat too."

Another person appeared in the fog.

Not Zabuza. Someone else. They wore a Hidden Mist Anbu hunter-nin mask. Their figure was far more slender than Zabuza's. Standing in the fog, they looked like a sheet of ice.

"Zabuza-sama, do you need my help?"

The voice was soft. It did not sound like the voice of a fighter. But that calmness was more unsettling than Zabuza's pressure.

Ringo's system lit up.

It was not gold. Not orange. It was—

[Detected: Unknown Kekkei Genkai: Unable to Identify:]

Kakashi's Sharingan stared at the mask.

"...Ice Release."

Two quiet words. But Ringo heard them.

Ice Release. A kekkei genkai. An ability the system could not recognize.

The person did not move. Behind the mask, their eyes seemed to be watching Ringo.

The fog thickened again. But this time, there was a new chill within it. Not the cold of water.

The cold of ice.