Brat! What Kind of Sorcery Was That?!

Zuo Hao tilted his head. There was not a trace of tension in his scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Only the amusement of a cat toying with a mouse.

He pulled a hand from his pocket and leisurely picked at his ear.

"What? Didn't catch that? Then I'll say it again."

He cleared his throat and spoke even louder, as if afraid someone might not hear.

"I said that Kubikiribōchō of yours is pretty nice."

"I've got high standards. Ordinary kunai and shuriken don't interest me, but that sword of yours just about catches my eye."

Zuo Hao clicked his tongue and looked over the door-sized blade in Zabuza's hands.

He looked like someone picking out a watermelon at a market. He even reached out and measured it in the air.

"Lend it to me for a few days."

"Don't worry. I keep my word. If I say I'm borrowing it, I'll give it back."

"Of course, I might get tired of it before then. If you can't wait, come find me in Konoha. Tell the guards you're looking for Sahiro Uchiha. They know me."

In the thick mist, Zabuza's browless eyes went wide.

He had spent decades killing, clawing his way from the Bloody Mist Village's assassination training camp into the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Never once had he encountered anything like this.

A brat who looked twelve or thirteen had asked to borrow his sword just as he unleashed the Hidden Mist Technique and prepared to start killing?

It took Zabuza several moments to confirm he had heard correctly. Then rage exploded in his chest.

"Brat!!!"

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to?!"

"Sure do." Zuo Hao still wore that infuriatingly lazy expression. He even waved a hand in front of his nose, as though Zabuza's breath stank.

"Zabuza Momochi. One of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Expert in Kirigakure assassination techniques. Your wanted poster makes you look pretty fierce."

"But honestly," he said, tilting his head as his grin widened, "did you forget to wash your face before they took that picture?"

For a moment, the air went still.

Naruto and Sakura both sucked in a breath. Sasuke's eye twitched. Kakashi covered his forehead.

Zabuza's hand shook around Kubikiribōchō, his knuckles cracking. Veins bulged along his temples, and his face beneath the bandages turned dark red.

"Brat... you're dead!"

Zabuza shot out of the mist. Kubikiribōchō carved a dazzling arc through the moonlight as he brought it down on Zuo Hao's head with force enough to split stone.

He held nothing back.

The blade shrieked through the air. The violent gust blew every pebble and blade of grass from around Zuo Hao's feet, while the pressure gouged a trench half a foot deep into the ground.

If that strike landed, it would cleave not just a man but an ox in two.

Zuo Hao did not dodge.

He did not even move.

He stood there, hands back in his pockets, gazing up at the descending blade as calmly as if he were watching a performance that had nothing to do with him.

"Zuo Hao!!!" Naruto screamed, already lunging forward, but Kakashi caught him.

"Don't move," Kakashi said quietly. "Watch closely."

Kubikiribōchō fell.

The gleaming blade passed through Zuo Hao's body.

Cut him clean in two.

Yet Zuo Hao was completely unharmed.

"What?!!!"

Zabuza's pupils contracted. He tried to pull back his sword and retreat, but there was nothing to push against.

The blow felt as though it had struck water. The blade had passed through Zuo Hao's body without so much as touching the hem of his clothes.

He could not stop.

The momentum of his full-force swing carried him straight through Zuo Hao's "body." He stumbled several steps before regaining his balance, sending ripples spreading across the lake beneath his feet.

Zabuza spun around. Zuo Hao was still standing in the same spot, his pose unchanged.

"You..." For the first time, uncertainty entered Zabuza's voice. "Brat, what kind of sorcery was that?"

"Sorcery?"

Zuo Hao repeated the word, then laughed. It was not a loud laugh, but it carried far across the silent lake, ending on an infuriatingly smug note.

"It wasn't sorcery."

Zuo Hao raised his right hand and twirled a finger beside his temple, as though winding it up.

"Your brain just can't keep up."

Zabuza's chest heaved. His face beneath the bandages contorted.

He plunged Kubikiribōchō into the lake and formed hand seals so fast his hands blurred.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

The lake erupted. A column of water soared upward and took the shape of a dragon, opening its vast jaws to bite Zuo Hao.

Zuo Hao remained where he was. He even found time to yawn.

The water dragon passed straight through him and struck nothing.

"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"

A sphere of water closed around Zuo Hao, but the instant it formed, he walked out through its walls.

Yes, walked. He took a few steps, stopped, and glanced back at the empty water prison with a faintly disappointed look.

"That's it?"

Zuo Hao stretched.

"Tell me, Zabuza, how did you ever graduate from Kirigakure? This is enough to make you one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen? Kirigakure's standards must be awfully low."

"Brat!!!"

Zabuza finally lost all reason.

He abandoned every flashy ninjutsu, gripped Kubikiribōchō with both hands, and became a blur, unleashing a storm of taijutsu strikes at Zuo Hao.

Horizontal slashes, downward chops, rising cuts, reverse diagonal strikes, thrusts.

Ten minutes later, Zabuza stood panting, staring at the unscathed Zuo Hao in utter disbelief.

"Finished swinging?"

Zuo Hao tilted his head. That half-smile had never left his face.

He even squeezed in another yawn.

"Out of strength? After just a few swings?"

Zuo Hao shook his head with an air of earnest concern.

"Zabuza, I hate to say it, but you're not much of a fighter. How did you become an elite jōnin with stamina like that? You can't even hit a genin. Wouldn't that be embarrassing if word got out?"

"You!!!"

Zabuza forced down the blood rising in his throat.

He was Zabuza Momochi. He had killed more people than he could count. What hadn't he seen?

But never had a brat been so arrogant in his presence, so hateful, so deserving of a slap—and so impossible to hit.

Zuo Hao suddenly took a step forward.

Zabuza instinctively stepped back.

That single retreat stunned Zabuza himself and everyone on the shore.

Naruto's mouth formed an O.

Sakura covered her mouth in disbelief.

Sasuke stared, his eyes wide with astonishment.

Even Kakashi's sleepy eye went round.

Zabuza Momochi, an S-rank rogue ninja and one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, had been forced back by a twelve-year-old genin.

"What do you want?" Zabuza asked through gritted teeth.

"Didn't I tell you? I want to borrow Kubikiribōchō."

Zuo Hao shrugged as though it were obvious.

"I'm not asking for much. Get on your knees and beg, and I might give you a few more days."

Zabuza's killing intent surged. "In your dreams!!"

"Then I guess that's that." Zuo Hao snapped his fingers. "Kakashi-sensei, I'll leave the rest to you. I've had my fun."

The next instant, Zuo Hao vanished without warning and appeared beside Kakashi on the shore.

Zuo Hao patted Kakashi's shoulder, his tone solemn.

"Do your best, Kakashi-sensei. I believe in you."

Kakashi stared at him without expression. After a long pause, he forced a few words through his teeth. "...What a wonderful student you are."

"You flatter me."

Zuo Hao smiled modestly and walked toward Naruto and the others.

Zabuza stood on the lake, his hand shaking around Kubikiribōchō harder than before—purely from rage.

"Sahiro Uchiha! I'm going to kill you!!!"

Just then, a mysterious figure emerged from the mist.

Zuo Hao was leaning against a tree, a stalk of foxtail grass that had appeared from who knew where bobbing at the corner of his mouth.

That was... Haku!