Zabuza stood in front of Kujira, holding his sword over his shoulder with Kujira too afraid to move, staring into the face of death in Zabuza's eyes.
"It's time to die, kid," Zabuza said, taking no pity on him as he knew what it was to be a shinobi.
Kujira could feel his legs shaking, knowing there was nothing he could do against a monster such as this man that stood before him.
"This is it... It's all over." He said to himself, watching Zabuza lift his sword into the air.
Zabuza suddenly pulled his sword down, using it to block a barrage of bone bullets and senbon needles, quickly jumping back to gain some distance when Hattori appeared and slashed his hand using his steel style to turn it into a blade.
"Interesting," Zabuza said, seeing that Hattori had suddenly appeared out of nowhere moving at high speeds to attack him and try to take him off guard.
Hattori was surprised that Zabuza had been able to block his attack, seeing how it was a surprise attack with no warning.
Zabuza quickly pushed Hattori away before he swung his body around and attacked with his sword, forcing Hattori to use his swift style and retreat only just avoiding the counter-attack.
"My turn!" Kimimaro shouted, rushing in with his bones sticking out of his entire body, attacking with acrobatic movements and forcing Zabuza to defend himself from all sides as he clashed with him, straining his eyes to keep up with all of the oncoming attacks.
"You..." Zabuza said, remembering Kimimaro from their last encounter, and seeing that he had the same ability as Fuyona.
"Looks like you have grown since last time," Zabuza said, smashing the side of his sword into Kimimaro's ribs, and taking him off the ground with the weight of the attack.
Hattori was quick to appear again, attacking Zabuza from behind with his steel-style enhanced punches, aiming for a vital spot at the back of the neck and base of the skull.
However, Zabuza was too fast for him and grabbed his right wrist as he slipped the punch, twisting Hattori around with a wrist whip and lifting his sword with his free hand, getting ready to smash the blade into Hattori's stomach as he hit the ground.
"Ice style, Ice pillar jutsu!" Haku shouted, suddenly using his ice style to trap Zabuza in, freezing his entire body with only his hand and sword sticking out of the ice.
"Now!" Kimimaro shouted, giving Koyuki and Yuri the signal to unleash their jutsu from the distance.
"Fire style, demon trap jutsu!" They both shouted, suddenly throwing a barrage of shuriken with wire wrapped around them, wrapping around the ice pillar and covering it in paper bombs.
Koyuki flipped into the air and unleashed a large fireball from her mouth, hitting the ice pillar and causing all of the paper bombs to explode, destroying the entire area with the destructive force of the paper bombs as well as her fire style combined to create a powerful explosion.
"Alright, we did it!" Kimimaro said, picking himself up from the powerful blow he had taken to his body, only having survived thanks to his bone defence taking the brunt of the blow.
Haku also watched the smoke rise from his vantage point, not seeing any sign of Zabuza having been able to dodge the attack.
"Are you alright, Kujira!" Koyuki said as she ran over to him, seeing that he and his team were in bad shape.
"It's alright now, we got him." She said, looking to Yuri who pulled out a medical bad from her weapons pouch and headed over to Chika and Rokuro to check on them.
Hattori and the others also came over to him, seeing that they had done their best to stay alive against an opponent like Zabuza.
"No... it's not over, he's still alive!" Kujira suddenly shouted, pointing his hand over towards the treeline, causing everyone to turn around and look.
"Seems you brats have gotten stronger," Zabuza said, standing without a mark on his body as he leaned his weight on his blade.
"No way... How did he?" Hattori said, not sure how he survived their attack.
Zabuza dropped from the tree onto the ground, lifting his sword up onto his shoulder as he looked at the brats in front of him.
"Seems like Fuyona is teaching you well." He said.
"Zabuza..." Haku said, seeing that he had become even stronger than the last time they met.
"This is Zabuza, the demon of the mist?" Koyuki said, taking in his appearance and sword.
"Even with a coordinated surprise attack, he was still able to see it coming and is treating us like a joke," Kimimaro said, getting pissed off, but also realising that he was strong.
"What should we do?" Koyuki asked, knowing that they had been told not to fight him by Fuyona himself.
"Don't even think about running." Zabuza suddenly said, putting them on their toes.
"I'm gonna have some fun with you brats, we can make a little game of it." He then said, smiling behind his bandaged face.
"Now let's see... Six of you in fighting condition." Zabuza said, counting how many of them were there.
"Water clone jutsu!" Zabuza said, making a simple hand sign and creating six clones standing before him.
"Here's the game, if you can survive a battle with one of my clones and defeat it, I'll let you live." He said.
"However, if you can't... Well, you get the idea." Zabuza said, watching the expression on their faces, taking pleasure in their fear.
Normally this was not something Zabuza would do with his prey, toying with them for sport, however, for some reason he couldn't help himself when it came to these brats, knowing that they were Fuyōna's students seemed to peek his interest in how strong they had become.
"Alright, let the game begin!" Zabuza said, allowing his clones to get to work, charging at their targets with their swords raised.
"Look out!" Kimimaro shouted, watching as the clones attacked with all of their power.
"A water clone has only 1/10 of the strength of the original! We can take them out if we work together!" Haku said, blocking an attack from his clone enemy using a senbon needle, pushing back the full force of the executioner's blade.
"Is that right," Zabuza said with a smirk on his face.
Suddenly the clone that Haku was fighting grabbed his wrist, stopping him from using his free hand to make hand signs, already knowing he could make them with only one hand.
"Oh no!" Haku said, doing his best to break his wrist free of his grip, trying to pull it free as he felt the weight of his blade becoming too much.
"These are no ordained water clones. I suggest you give it your all while fighting them." Zabuza said, watching as his clone that fought with Haku put the boy on his toes.
"Haku look out!" Kimimaro shouted, trying to rush to his aid.
However, another of the Zabuza clones jumped into the air, attacking him with a powerful downwards slash.
Kimimaro stopped in his tracks, jumping back to avoid the attack of his sword that smashed into the ground, forcing the earth to burst from the weight of the attack.
"Damn it, I can't get past him," Kimimaro said, seeing his shadow burst through the dust as it swung another attack at him.
Kimimaro ducked under the slash, allowing his bones to burst out of his ribs to counterattack.
"Don't think so kid." The clone said, letting go of his sword so he could move back faster to avoid Kimimaro's attack.
To Kimimaros's surprise, he dropped to his knees and spun around, swiping his legs out from under him with a spinning sweep.
Kimimaro dropped to the ground, watching in shock as Zabuza grabbed his sword in mid-air and swung it down at him, getting ready to clever him in two.
"It's over!"
Kimimaro was forced to use as many bones as he could from his body all at once, forming a huge later of spikes that were just able to stop the sword in its tracks.
"Impressive kid." The real Zabuza said as he watched from the distance.
The other clones were also engaging in combat, giving Zabuza a good show as he watched them fight it out with the other brats.
Koyuki was doing her best to avoid his attacks and took advantage of her speed. However, even while using such a large sword, Zabuza was still able to wield it as if it weighed nothing, proving that his physical strength was on a different level.
"Fire style, fireball jutsu!" She shouted as she unleashed the jutsu after gaining some distance.
Zabuza watched as the fireball flew towards him, lifting his sword into the air as he got ready to cut it in half.
"Now scatter!" She said, surprising Zabuza as her fireball suddenly burst into smaller ones that were covering a bunch of shuriken she had concealed in the fire jutsu.
"Impressive!" Zabuza said, turning sideways as he used the flat of his blade to cover his entire body, reflecting the fire shuriken as they bounced off his blade.
"He blocked it!" Koyuki said in surprise that he had made it look so simple.
"Oh no, I have to try something else before he attacks again." She then said, reaching for another weapon in her pouch.
"Allow me." The clone said as it placed its sword into the ground.
"Water style, water prison jutsu!"
Koyuki's eyes burst open as another Zabuza appeared behind her, grabbing her shoulder before water burst all around her, trapping Koyuki in a water prison jutsu.
"The clone used a clone!" Koyuki said, holding her breath as the water inside the barrier filled up above her head, signalling that she didn't have much time left.
Hattori and Yuri were also busy fighting their own clones of Zabuza, trying to work together to fight them at the same time with Hattori taking advantage of his swift style, he was able to attack either of them at a rapid rate, while Yuri could provide support and attack from a distance or mid-range.
"Yuri look out!" Hattori shouted as he quickly blocked an attack from one of the Zabuza's using his forearm coated in his steel style, reflecting Zabuza's sword away.
"Now!" He shouted, getting Yuri to dash forwards and attack with a slash to his exposed neck.
"Don't think so!" The other clone said, quickly intervening and blocking her attack for his fellow clone, giving the other Zabuza time to push Hattori back and counterattack Yuri.
"Yuri was fast and flipped backwards, landing in a perfect cat pose as she avoided his attack, watching Hattori dash behind one of them to try and take him out with a slash to the back of his neck.
However, both the Zabuza clones worked together and deflected each of his attacks, seeming to be able to predict where he would attack from and use each other's ability to counter and defend at the same time, pushing him back and rendering his swift style almost useless.
"Not good, I can't get one of them alone to take them out!" Hattori said as he appeared by Yuir's side, trying to think of a plan as he watched them both.
Meanwhile, Kujira was face to face with his own clone of Zabuza, doing his best in his tired state to fight him off.
"Come on kid, I know you have more in you than that!" The clone said, sending Kujira flying back into a tree with a powerful strike.
Kujira hit the tree, feeling the wind get knocked from him as his lungs start to spasm.
"It's no use... I can't defeat him, even if he is a clone." Kujira said, winching as he looked up slowly in the clone's direction, knowing he had already expended too much chakra in his last battle.
"I grow tired of this, if you won't fight back then I think it's time to put you out of your misery." The clone said, deciding to get serious with him.
"Haku twisted his arm and was able to break free from Zabuza's grasp, flipping back and throwing a set of senbon needles to cover his retreat.
The clone lifted its sword and blocked the senbon, not stopping there as it charged at Haku, slicing the blade towards his chest.
Haku was forced to think on his feet as the sword was about to cut him in half, taking in a large breath he exhaled it with great force, using a small wind style to push him back and avoid the attack.
"Not bad kid! But let's see how you handle this!" The clone said before he threw the sword causing it to come flying towards Haku like a windmill of death.
Haku ducked under the blade and watched as it hit the tree behind him, slicing clean through the thick trunk of the tree before it carried on its path, cutting a few more trees down before finally sinking into the last one having lost its speed.
"Your mine!" The clone said, appearing behind Haku having used the sword as a distraction, allowing him to get close to the boy and grab his shoulder.
"Water prison jutsu!"
Haku watched as water expanded around his body, trapping him in a bubble of water that was harder than steel.
"It's over for you kid, honestly I thought you had more potential than this." The clone said, giving him a disappointed look.
Haku smiled, getting a more interesting look from the clone, wondering what he was thinking.
"This was my plan all along," Haku said as the water around him started to freeze, trapping the clone's arm inside of the frozen ball of water as it did.
"Argh! You brat!" The clone said, trying to pull it free.
"It's no use!" Haku said as he suddenly slid out of the ice and stuck a senbon needle into the clone's neck, taking it by surprise with his escape from the ice.
The real Zabuza watched as Haku had defeated the first clone, turning it back into the water before he set his sights on one of the others, going to help his teammates.
"Seems I was right about that one." He said, feeling a small smile form on his lips.
Kimimaro was locked in a ferocious battle with his clone, flipping and attacking the Zabuza from all angles as he tried to push him back.
"This kid is tenacious." The clone thought as he blocked another attack with his sword, feeling the power of the boy getting stronger.
"Something is off with this one." The real Zabuza said as he watched their battle, feeling a stronger chakra at play here.
"ARGH!" Kimimaro roared as he spun around and placed his hands into the ground, flipping into a handstand and using his legs to attack before flipping back onto them and attacking with his arms again, forcing the clone to block each attack without being able to counter.
"That ability... He can literally use any part of his body as a weapon and attack in a never-ending cycle like a dance!" The clone said to itself, ducking under a slash while lifting its left leg up to avoid a bone aimed at his shin, all while continuing to block more attacks with his sword, being forced back at an impressive rate.
"Just like him..." Zabuza said, watching the boys fighting style carefully.
Kimimaro took a heavy squat onto the ground before springing into the air, flipping around in a half turn in the air so his back was facing Zabuza from above.
"What in the?" The clone said, bracing itself for another attack as its back hit a dead end, leaving it nowhere to go.
"Take this!" Kimimaro said, suddenly unleashing a huge amount of bones that seemed to grow continuously until they covered the entire area and crushed the clone, overwhelming him with a massive amount of razor-sharp projectiles.
Kimimaro flipped back onto the ground, having allowed the bones to separate from his body before looking around the battlefield, seeing that Haku had already defeated his clone and was heading over to help Koyuki.
"That's two down." He said, looking over to Hattori and Yuri.
He could also see that Kujira had been trapped in a water prison-like Koyuki and knew he was injured, knowing he had to help save him.
With that Kimimaro charged toward Kujira, throwing a handful of bone bullets at Zabuza who held the water prison around him.
The clone lifted its sword and blocked the attack, letting the bone bullets bounce off of the blade onto the ground harmlessly.
Kimimaro slid along the ground under his sword kicking the clone's leg out from under it due to him taking his eyesight off of him for a second thanks to his bone bullets.
"Now!" He shouted, allowing bones to fire out of his back hitting the clone who was unable to move due to the water prison, turning it back to water and freeing Kujira.
"You alright Kujira!" Kimimaro asked, watching as he got his breath back.
"Y-yeah... I'm alright." He said, not believing how strong Kimimaro had gotten.
"get some rest and tend to your team, I'm gonna go and help the others." He said, getting a small nod from Kujira who watched him quickly run off.
Meanwhile, Haku had rushed over to help Koyuki who was currently drowning in a water pillar and running out of time.
"I've had enough of this Zabuza!" Haku shouted, forming a bunch of hand signs as he charged forwards.
"So he's finally getting serious is he?" The real Zabuza said with interest as he watched from the distance.
"Ice style, call of 100 blades!" Haku shouted, suddenly creating 100 ice blades all around him, threatening to use all of them at once against the rest of Zabuza's clones.
Haku unleashed the ice swords sending all of them flying towards the clones who had trapped Koyuki and the ones who were fighting both Hattori and Yuri.
The blades flew through the air, overwhelming the clones as they tried to defend against them, however, there were simply too many of them, providing an almost unlimited number of attacks that proved too much for them to defend against.
"He was holding back such a powerful jutsu all this time... Just what else is this kid capable of?" The real Zabuza said as he watched Haku take out the rest of his clones, seeing that the game was over.
"I guess the funs over..." Zabuza said, taking a step forwards to face the brats with his full power.
The others quickly regrouped, with Kimimaro and Haku taking the lead as they prepared to face the real Zabuza.
"Just how strong is this guy... If his water clones were already that strong, then the real deal must be crazy." Hattori said, knowing this was a bad situation.
However, he and Kimimaro were also looking at Haku after having taken the remaining clones out by himself, they both knew he had been holding back for some time now.
"Just how strong has he gotten..." Kimimaro thought, looking to his brother for a moment before shifting his attention back to Zabuza.
"Can we make a run for it?" Koyuki asked, looking at the others to see what they thought.
"No... If we try to run, he will cut us down one by one." Kimimaro said, knowing they had no choice but to fight.
"Now I know I said I would let you live if you survived against my clones... But honestly, I didn't think you would." Zabuza said, lifting his sword up before he stuck it into the ground.
"So, I'm going to finish this with one jutsu!" He said, suddenly performing hand signs at a rapid rate, taking all of them by surprise.
"Shit, we need to defend quickly!" Hattori shouted, knowing whatever jutsu he was about to use would be bad.
Haku watched as Zabuza made the hand signs, seeing his movements get faster and faster as he was nearing completion of them.
"I have no choice..." He said, knowing what he had to do to stop it.
"I'm sorry master, but I have to use that jutsu." He said as he slowly lifted his hand to his mouth and bit his thumb, drawing blood.
"Haku... What are you doing?" Kimimaro said, seeing that he had bitten his thumb.
"Water style, giant vortex jutsu!" Zabuza shouted, summoning a huge amount of water around him.
"No way... We can't stop that!" Koyuki said, knowing this could be the end.
Haku quickly made his own hand signs and slammed his hand onto the ground.
"Summoning jutsu!"
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That's the end of this chapter!
I hope you enjoyed it, until next time! Remember to check out my P.atreon for more, over 100 chapters in advance!