The battered little boat struggled ashore on the desolate, muddy coast of the Land of Waves. Thick mist wound around dead trees like a cold burial shroud, its oppressive weight making it hard to breathe. Tazuna hurried along, wanting only to get home as quickly as possible.
But the omen of death moved far faster than his footsteps.
The enormous, fearsome Kubikiribōchō spun out of the thick mist with a shriek of torn air. With a crash, it buried itself deep in the trunk of a huge tree in front of them, blocking their path.
A tall figure wrapped in bandages, with only his vicious eyes exposed, appeared soundlessly atop the sword's hilt like a weightless ghost. Overwhelming killing intent poured down like ice water, instantly seizing everyone's hearts.
"Well..." Zabuza Momochi's hoarse voice rang out, teasing them like a cat toying with mice. "If it isn't Konoha's Copy Ninja, Kakashi. What a coincidence. Would you hand over the old man behind you?"
"Sorry, but that's not happening." Kakashi raised a hand to his forehead protector, his tone more grave than ever.
"Is that so? What a shame." Zabuza's voice abruptly turned cold. "Then I'll just have to bury all of you here."
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Technique!"
The mist instantly thickened, swallowing every trace of light and sound and turning the world into a gray-white labyrinth of deathly silence.
"Back to back, everyone! Stay close to me!" Kakashi shouted sharply, yanking up his forehead protector to reveal his tightly shut left eye. "He's a master of the Silent Killing Technique!"
The Sharingan! Sasuke's pupils contracted sharply as he stared at Kakashi's abnormal eye, his mind roiling with shock. The Sharingan! Why does Kakashi-sensei have the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan?!
But there was no time to dwell on it. Zabuza's whispers drifted in from every direction like voices from the underworld, tormenting everyone's nerves.
The battle that followed became a desperate struggle. Zabuza appeared and vanished like a specter in the mist. Kakashi scrambled to keep up, barely protecting everyone through the Sharingan's perception alone, but his chakra and stamina were draining rapidly.
"No other choice..." Kakashi gritted his teeth and suddenly began forming hand seals, his Sharingan fixed on a spot in the dense mist-the position from which he predicted Zabuza would launch his next attack!
Sure enough, Zabuza's silhouette appeared there. Seeing Kakashi form hand seals, he snorted coldly and immediately began making his own at tremendous speed!
"Hmph, you want to pit your ninjutsu against mine, Copy Ninja Kakashi? Water Release!"
Kakashi's heart jolted. His Sharingan frantically copied and analyzed his opponent's absurdly elaborate sequence of hand seals and chakra flow, while his own hands replicated them in perfect synchronization!
Rat-Ox-Tiger-Rabbit... Dragon-Snake-Horse... Goat-Monkey-Rooster... Dog-Boar-Rat... Ox-Tiger... Kakashi cursed inwardly. What the hell is with this many hand seals?!
After the two enormous water dragons collided and dispersed, Kakashi stumbled, braced one hand against the ground, and gasped for breath. Even his Sharingan seemed to dim. "D-damn it... All flash and no substance... It uses too much chakra..."
A forty-four-seal Water Dragon Bullet? Utterly idiotic! Tobirama gave a deeply contemptuous snort inside Ling's mind. Those fools in Kirigakure haven't improved in decades! And this Kakashi brat is just as inflexible. Doesn't he know how to optimize it?!
At that very instant, as Kakashi gasped for breath, his previous strength spent and fresh strength yet to come!
"Now!" Naruto suddenly roared!
"Ah!" Sasuke instantly understood Naruto's intent!
Naruto immediately transformed into an enormous Fūma Shuriken, and Sasuke grabbed the "shuriken" and hurled it with all his strength at Zabuza, whose figure had just emerged from the mist!
"Such a cheap trick!" Zabuza sneered, turning aside to dodge it effortlessly.
But then!
"Shadow Clone Technique!" Naruto instantly released his shuriken transformation in midair. Another Naruto rushed out from the side and threw himself at Zabuza with no regard for his own life, locking his arms around Zabuza's dodging body!
"What?!" Caught off guard, Zabuza's movement faltered!
That momentary hesitation was all it took!
The enormous, real Fūma Shuriken-the physical one Sasuke had thrown earlier-was already whistling toward him!
Slash!
This time, Zabuza failed to dodge completely. The Fūma Shuriken's sharp edge opened a bone-deep gash across his chest, and blood instantly poured out!
"You two miserable brats!!" Pain and humiliation drove Zabuza into a complete frenzy, rage devouring his reason! He unleashed a terrifying burst of chakra that blasted Naruto's Shadow Clone away. Ignoring the wound across his chest, he swung the Kubikiribōchō down at Naruto and Sasuke, who lay exhausted on the ground with despair on their faces, with enough terrifying force to crush everything in its path! Fueled by fury, the blow was lightning-fast and unstoppable!
We're done for! The thought flashed through Naruto's and Sasuke's minds at the same time.
Kakashi's eyes widened in anguish. He tried to save them, but his depleted chakra made him a beat too slow!
At that critical instant!
A figure appeared in front of Naruto and Sasuke like a phantom!
It was Ling!
Facing the furious downward swing of the Kubikiribōchō, powerful enough to split mountains and shatter stone, Ling's gaze was frighteningly calm. His hands formed seals so quickly that only afterimages remained!
"Water Release: Water Mirror Barrier!"
A curved water shield instantly formed, far denser than before. Its surface was smooth as a mirror and even faintly refracted light into distorted shapes. It positioned itself precisely in the Kubikiribōchō's path!
Clang-!!!!
Another deafening crash erupted! This time, the Water Mirror Barrier rippled violently but did not immediately shatter! Its mirror-smooth surface even deflected part of the slash's force. The Kubikiribōchō scraped past the shield's edge and slammed into the ground beside it, carving a deep trench!
Ling grunted, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. The ground beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, but he held firm! Once again, he had blocked the demon's furious strike head-on!
"You annoying little brat!!" Zabuza roared, pulling back his sword to attack again.
But the precious delay Ling had bought, less than a second, was already enough!
"This ends here, Zabuza!" Kakashi's icy voice sounded like death's proclamation!
At some point, Kakashi had closed to point-blank range. Ferocious lightning gathered around his right hand, radiating a heart-stopping power and an ear-piercing shriek like a thousand birds calling at once! The lightning was intensely compressed, exuding an aura of destruction!
"Lightning Blade!"
Kakashi gambled everything on this blow, concentrating every last bit of chakra in his body into it as he drove straight toward Zabuza's heart with unstoppable resolve! Its speed and cunning angle, guided by the Sharingan's lock, made it a killing strike!
Zabuza had only just withdrawn his sword. His previous force was spent, fresh strength had yet to come, and his chest was wide open. He had no time to mount any effective defense! He could only watch the fatal lightning rapidly swell in his vision as the shadow of death engulfed him!
It's over! The thought flashed through Kakashi's mind.
But in the instant before the Lightning Blade pierced Zabuza's heart!
Something changed without warning!
Countless sharp senbon rained down like a violent storm. They were not aimed at Kakashi. Instead, they struck the "vital points" all over Zabuza's body in a dense, precise barrage!
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The sounds of senbon piercing flesh rang out in rapid succession!
Zabuza let out a pained grunt. Covered in senbon like a hedgehog, he instantly stiffened and crashed to the ground. His breathing rapidly grew so faint that it seemed it might stop entirely at any moment.
A slender figure wearing a Kirigakure Anbu mask landed lightly on a nearby branch, speaking in a cool, calm voice. "Thank you very much. I'm a member of Kirigakure's Pursuit Unit. I've been hunting the missing-nin Zabuza Momochi."
Kakashi forcibly halted his Lightning Blade a mere inch from Zabuza's heart, and the raging lightning slowly dissipated. He dropped to one knee, panting heavily, but his Sharingan remained fixed on the masked Anbu who had suddenly appeared, his gaze sharp with scrutiny and deep suspicion.
The placement of those senbon... was too precise, as though it had been calculated to interrupt his fatal strike while perfectly creating the illusion of a lethal attack.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stared at the sudden turn of events, dumbfounded. They had yet to recover from their brush with death.
Inside Ling's mind, Tobirama's bone-chilling declaration rang out, tinged with the certainty that his suspicions had been confirmed:
Hmph, those two are working together. Those senbon look fatal, but every single one perfectly avoided all the truly vital points. Some were even deliberately driven into pressure points that induce a deep deathlike state and paralysis. This brat came to save him, not kill him. Not bad acting, though.
Kakashi seemed to have reached a similar conclusion, but his chakra was completely exhausted, and his body was worn to its limits. He barely had the strength to stand. He could only watch as the masked boy swiftly dropped down, shouldered the "corpse," thanked them again in that cool voice, and vanished into the thick mist in a few bounds.
"We... have to get to Mr. Tazuna's house immediately..." Kakashi said with difficulty, panting heavily, his face as pale as paper. He needed an absolutely safe place to recover his chakra.
The thick mist drifted slowly, as though nothing had happened.
But everyone knew the battle was not over. The departing "corpse" and "pursuer" were like venomous snakes hidden in the mist, ready to bare their deadly fangs again at any moment. And Ling's defense at that crucial instant, as unyielding as an iron wall, had also been burned deep into everyone's memory.
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