First Battle Against Zabuza

Another two hours later, having crossed the sea and bridge shrouded in thick fog, Naruto and his group officially entered the borders of the Land of Waves.

The Land of Waves was a country composed of many small islands, and the moment they stepped onto the outer island, they were targeted.

There were two opponents, an elite Jonin and a Chunin, clearly displayed within Naruto's super perception.

They should have been Zabuza and Haku.

As they just walked into a small woods, a giant blade suddenly shot over from not far away.

"Careful, get down!"

Kakashi shouted, and everyone immediately dropped prone to the ground as they watched a huge long blade graze everyone's scalp, spinning and embedding itself into the tree trunk opposite.

Following that, a tall muscular ninja with his face wrapped in white bandages stood atop the giant blade.

With his back to them, he struck a pose and turned his head to cold-heartedly look at Naruto and the others.

"Oh my, isn't this the rogue ninja of Kirigakure, Zabuza Momochi?" Kakashi looked at the opponent and spoke, then prepared to lift his left eye mask to use the power of the Sharingan.

"Oh? So it is the Sharingan ninja Kakashi. How about you hand this old man over to me?" Zabuza looked at Kakashi and said coldly.

Kakashi naturally could not agree, and the atmosphere instantly grew tense.

"Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, form up and protect Mr. Tazuna! I will deal with this guy!" Kakashi looked at Zabuza and ordered without looking back.

The three of them immediately went to the side of the drunken old man to protect him.

"Ninjutsu: Hidden Mist Technique!"

Zabuza jumped onto the surface of the water and gathered chakra, and instantly, the surroundings were shrouded in a thick white mist.

The battle was on the verge of breaking out.

"Eight spots: throat, spine, liver, lungs, carotid artery, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart." Zabuza's voice drifted out from the dense mist, revealing terror. "So, which spot should I choose?"

Zabuza used threatening words and emitted a killing intent, exerting psychological pressure on everyone.

Hum!

The killing intent suddenly erupted intensely from Kakashi not far in front of Naruto, intertwining with Zabuza's killing intent.

Yet this suddenly erupted killing intent instead scared Naruto and Sasuke first, making their entire bodies tremble involuntarily.

It seems I still have a long way to go before reaching the level of the strong. Naruto gritted his teeth to resist the killing intent emanating from Kakashi, trying his best to calm himself down.

He thought to himself that perhaps when he had killed enough people relying on the Heart of Slaughter, he would also have such intense killing intent.

At that moment, a figure suddenly appeared behind Naruto, emitting a terrifying aura.

Kakashi reacted at the very first instant, using the Body Flicker Technique to appear before this figure and thrusting a kunai fiercely into the opponent's abdomen, while Naruto and the others took the opportunity to dodge in all directions.

Yet what Kakashi struck was merely Zabuza's Water Clone.

The next second, another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, holding the Kubikiribōchō and slashing fiercely toward Kakashi's waist.

"Kakashi-sensei, behind you!" Sakura warned.

The Kubikiribōchō waved and cleaved Kakashi in two, yet without any blood splattering. As it turned out, the Kakashi before them was likewise just a water clone.

Meanwhile, Kakashi's real body appeared behind this Zabuza, holding a kunai and placing it against the opponent's neck.

"It's over!" Kakashi said coolly.

"So, so amazing!"

Everyone stared in a daze, inwardly full of admiration for Kakashi's strength.

Yet Kakashi was far too confident in his own strength; he could not look cool for even three seconds before the situation on the field instantly reversed.

As it turned out, the Zabuza controlled by Kakashi with a kunai was similarly a water clone.

Meanwhile, Zabuza's true main body quickly appeared behind Kakashi's main body, and after a few simple yet violent taijutsu exchanges, he kicked Kakashi flying into the distant lake.

The battle happened too quickly, and before Naruto had time to react, Kakashi was already kicked flying away.

Seeing this, he immediately unleashed the ninjutsu for which he had already formed the hand seals.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

A whirlwind violently impacted toward Zabuza, but Zabuza dodged it using the Body Flicker Technique.

After giving Naruto a cold glare, Zabuza chose to head toward Kakashi who had fallen into the lake; compared to the brat Naruto, Kakashi was the greatest threat.

In the distant lake water, Kakashi had just poked his head out of the water when he was captured by Zabuza's main body using the Water Prison Technique, and then he opened up spectator mode.

At least in Naruto's view, with Kakashi's strength, it was simply impossible to be captured by the enemy so easily. As long as he unleashed a Lightning Release: Chidori, Zabuza outside the water prison would be electrocuted.

With Kakashi doing this now, he was probably looking to train the three of them and see how their performance would be.

Zabuza controlled the Water Prison Technique with his right hand, and after forming hand seals with his left hand alone, a water clone instantly materialized before his eyes, looking coldly at the three of them.

"Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, hurry up and take Mr. Tazuna and run!" Kakashi flashed his gaze in the water prison and continued:

"You are no match for Zabuza. In order to control me right now, his main body cannot leave, and a water clone will automatically disappear once it leaves the main body for a certain distance. Take the chance, run now!"

"Tch!" Naruto sneered. "Without you, we'd be killed by Zabuza sooner or later."

He spoke the truth, and also saw that Kakashi was testing them once again.

"Hahaha, did you think that putting on a forehead protector makes you a real ninja?" Zabuza's water clone sneered, educating Naruto and the three of them with the attitude of a senior.

He seemed rather fond of playing the teacher.

"Real ninjas are those who constantly hover between life and death! They are those strong enough to be written in my handbook by yours truly!" Zabuza's water clone said quite proudly.

"Guys like you aren't even qualified to be placed in my hands!"

The moment Zabuza finished speaking, he vanished from his spot. Without even thinking, Naruto used the Substitution Technique to dodge to the side and rapidly formed hand seals.

Bang!

Zabuza's water clone appeared before Naruto's former position, kicking the substitution log to pieces with a single foot, a hint of surprise inevitably flashing through his eyes.

"Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!"

Right at that moment, a pair of hands abruptly emerged from beneath Zabuza's water clone's feet, grabbing the opponent and pulling him straight into the earth.

"What?" Zabuza's water clone exclaimed in shock; he had not expected that the brat he had just been despising would wipe him out in the blink of an eye.

Naruto leaped out of the ground, raised his right foot, and kicked the water clone's head fiercely, shattering it into a puddle of liquid.

Everyone was dumbfounded. Even though that was merely a water clone of Zabuza, it still possessed a portion of the elite Jonin Zabuza's strength, yet it was broken by Naruto in just two moves!

One could only say that the opponent looked down on Naruto far too much, leading to capsizing in the gutter.

"Brat! You've completely angered me!"

Zabuza, standing beside the water prison in the distance, let out a cold snort, and after uttering a losing-face remark, he once again formed hand seals with one hand, causing yet another water clone to appear and charge at Naruto with his blade without another word.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Naruto gave a soft shout, and dozens of shadow clones immediately appeared around him, lining up in four rows while simultaneously forming hand seals rapidly:

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

"Water Release: Water Trumpet!"