Feigning Death

Sasuke froze, but instinct made him act at once.

He spun around, driving the kunai in his hand viciously toward the seemingly empty spot.

"Clang!"

The crisp ring of metal colliding exploded through the mist.

Zabuza's figure flashed past, his single eye filled with shock.

How is that possible? How did he find me?

"Sakura, three o'clock below you. Detonate."

Naruto's command came immediately after.

Sakura did not hesitate in the slightest and formed hand seals at once.

"Boom!"

The blast wave temporarily blew away the thick mist in a small area, revealing Zabuza, who had just dodged there.

Though it had not injured him, it disrupted his assassination rhythm once more.

"What... exactly are you?"

Zabuza's voice came from deep within the mist, carrying a trace of fear for the first time.

Kakashi stared at Naruto in shock as well.

Are you the teacher, or am I the teacher?

Mist was a killer's curtain, but it was also a prisoner's cage.

For the first time, Zabuza found the dense fog he depended on for survival unbearably troublesome.

"Sasuke, five meters to your front right. Three Explosive Tags. Throw them in a fan formation."

The instant Sasuke heard the command, his body reacted. Humiliation and exhilaration, two utterly opposing emotions, clashed violently within his chest.

Like a puppet following a preset program, he swung his arm with perfect form.

Three Explosive Tags tore through the white mist, shooting toward an apparently empty space in a triangular formation.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The chain of explosions dispersed a patch of mist, revealing Zabuza's figure as he dodged in disarray.

The place where he had just landed was the center of the explosions.

"Sakura, maintain vigilance."

Naruto's voice rang out again, leaving no room for anyone to think.

"Any chakra fluctuation that comes within ten meters of Tazuna—detonate the preset traps immediately. No need to ask."

"Yes!"

Sakura's response was sharp and brief. Fear was tightly shackled by something called discipline.

She was no longer the girl who screamed. She was a sentry, a living trap trigger.

Zabuza moved rapidly through the mist like a cornered beast.

For the first time, his prized assassination technique seemed utterly ridiculous.

That boy with his eyes closed was an invisible net cast across the sky.

"Interesting! This is far too interesting, Hatake Kakashi!"

Zabuza's laughter came from every direction, twisted by the dense mist until it sounded inhuman.

"Where did you find a monster like this?"

Kakashi's Sharingan remained locked onto the afterimages of chakra, yet he was always one step too slow.

Naruto's perception surpassed sight.

"Sasuke, three meters behind you. Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu. Area coverage."

Sasuke's chest heaved violently. The chakra expenditure left him dizzy.

But he still formed hand seals.

Small fireballs scattered like shotgun pellets into the thick mist behind him.

"Puff, puff, puff..."

The fireballs vanished into the fog, with no sensation of hitting anything.

"How naive!"

Zabuza's voice suddenly exploded beside Sasuke's ear!

He passed through the gaps between the fireballs, his massive Kubikiribōchō cleaving down at Sasuke's head!

The stench of death rushed toward him.

Sasuke's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

"Shift half a step left. Raise your kunai. Target his wrist."

Naruto's order arrived almost simultaneously with Zabuza's attack.

There was no time to think, no time to judge.

Trust, or death.

Sasuke's body made its choice.

Almost instinctively, he took that tiny step to the left.

"Clang!"

The side of the Kubikiribōchō nearly brushed past his nose as it came down, smashing into the ground and sending shards of rock flying.

Meanwhile, the kunai in his hand precisely knocked aside the hand gripping the blade.

The tremendous force split the web between his thumb and forefinger, blood running down the kunai's handle.

But he had survived.

After missing with his strike, Zabuza immediately retreated and merged back into the thick mist.

"Do you see now, Uchiha brat?"

His voice carried a hint of cruel mockery.

"Your pride, your bloodline—they are worth nothing before that guy. You are merely a blade in his hand. Once you become dull, he will throw you away."

Sasuke's teeth ground together.

He could not refute it.

Because that feeling of being controlled was so clear.

Yet at the same time, the sense of security brought by the positive results of following those commands, again and again, was equally real.

Naruto's voice remained calm.

"Emotion is the greatest enemy in battle. Sasuke, regulate your breathing. Your heartbeat is too fast, and your muscles are stiffening."

He was not comforting him. He was pointing out an error that needed correcting.

Kakashi's Sharingan had remained fixed on the battlefield.

He watched Naruto use Sasuke and Sakura, two "components," with the mastery of a battlefield commander. He watched the famed Momochi Zabuza struggle like a moth caught in a spiderweb, every attempt to break free seeming futile.

"Such completely different styles, yet he gave me the exact same sense of reassurance as Sensei. How strange."

Kakashi focused even harder as his hands began rapidly forming seals.

Boar—Dog—Bird—Monkey—Ram—Horse—Snake—Dragon—Rabbit—Tiger—Ox...

Because the children were so capable, he did not need to force Zabuza into a corner himself. He could focus entirely on intercepting Zabuza.

Then, he caught an opening.

Another volley from Sasuke forced Zabuza into a wide evasive move to the left, leaving his body briefly stiff.

That's enough!

Kakashi hesitated no longer. His scarlet Sharingan spun rapidly as his hands formed seals at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.

Vast, surging chakra gathered before him. The moisture in the air was violently drawn out, forming an enormous whirlpool.

"Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!"

He would use this strike to end the battle once and for all—and show his students that their teacher was quite capable too.

A massive torrent took the form of a roaring beast, tearing through the thick mist and crashing toward the briefly frozen figure.

However, just as the surging water was about to swallow Zabuza—

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Several slender metal needles shot from the mist on the other side, whistling through the air faster than the water itself.

Their aim was terrifyingly precise. Every one of them struck a vital point in Zabuza's neck.

"Urgh..."

Zabuza's body stiffened sharply. A trace of astonishment flashed through his eye, and then his entire body collapsed backward as though his bones had been pulled out. The massive Kubikiribōchō slipped from his hand and crashed to the ground with a clang.

The wave missed him and slammed heavily into the distant ground.

A small figure silently emerged from the mist.

The person wore the white mask of the Kirigakure Hunter-nin and landed soundlessly beside Zabuza.

"Target confirmed: Kirigakure rogue ninja, Momochi Zabuza."

A clear voice rang out, too ambiguous to tell whether it belonged to a man or woman.

"Thank you for driving him into a corner. It made my mission much easier."

Kakashi frowned. He stepped forward, watching the suddenly appearing hunter-nin warily.

"You are... Kirigakure ANBU?"

"That is correct."

The masked ninja crouched down and extended two fingers toward Zabuza's neck.

"Death confirmed."

Kakashi walked over as well and checked for himself.

The pulse had stopped.

The flow of chakra had completely vanished too.

Zabuza was dead.

"By regulation, I must dispose of this body immediately."

As the masked ninja spoke, they effortlessly hoisted Zabuza's large body onto their shoulder.

"He carries many secrets about Kirigakure in his mind. They must not fall into outsiders' hands."

The moment those words fell, the figure flashed away, disappearing into the gradually thinning mist with Zabuza's body.

Everything was over.

It had happened too quickly for anyone to react.

Sasuke could no longer hold himself up. He dropped to one knee, gasping violently.

Sakura relaxed as well, her legs giving out as she slumped beside Tazuna.

Only Naruto remained standing where he was.

He slowly opened his eyes. Within those blue pupils was neither the joy of victory nor the relief of surviving disaster.

There was only an unfathomably deep calm.

He walked over to Kakashi and lowered his gaze to the puddle on the ground.

"Sensei."

He spoke.

"Hunter-nin usually destroy the brain and heart first to ensure the target is completely dead."

"Not use Senbon to create a state of feigned death."