After Naruto left Zabuza's hideout, he did not leave a clone behind to keep watch.
Schemes targeted the heart. Any able-minded person could speak, but knowing what to say, how to say it, and how to use words to achieve your goals was an art. It required a clear head and a thorough understanding of the causes and effects behind the entire situation.
As always, battles between ninja were never simply about killing. They were contests of intelligence.
If Naruto had not watched Naruto twice in his previous life and understood Zabuza's character arc so well, even the most eloquent words would have struggled to achieve his goal.
The deeper someone's obsessions and convictions ran, the easier it actually was to attack their heart.
For someone like Zabuza, perhaps his sole reason for living was to erase his past crushing defeat and prove himself by taking control of the Land of Water.
Once someone like that began to waver and his convictions collapsed, he simply could not go on living.
It was like a man working himself to the bone to earn money. No amount of hardship or humiliation mattered, because he firmly believed that if he worked hard enough, he could give his three children a good life. But if he suddenly discovered one day that none of those three children were his, his convictions and purpose would collapse along with that revelation...
A sword cut the flesh; a blow to the heart cut the soul.
With a few leaps, Naruto reached the crown of a towering tree. He looked down over the entire Coastal Town, then formed hand seals with one hand and murmured, "Wood Release Clone."
Whoosh.
Two Wood Release Clones pulled free of Naruto's back and landed steadily on the treetop.
Naruto looked at the two