Momochi Zabuza scowled as the mist thickened once again.
He had thought the woman would fall quickly. Yet she had proven unexpectedly resilient. Her chakra reserves, on par with a full jōnin's, had allowed her to maintain a Hiding in Mist Technique troublesome even for him, a master of Silent Killing.
And now, more gnats had arrived.
At first glance they were genin, but the truth was different. A boy whose Silent Killing and taijutsu mirrored his own, another whose Fire Release techniques carried frightening power, and even a rare medical ninja hidden among them.
A formation like this… It was as if he had netted a prize catch.
No matter. His movements could not be exposed to the ANBU. If he failed to kill these little pests, the future would only bring greater trouble.
Four shinobi. Three genin and one tokubetsu jōnin. It was only a matter of time.
Zabuza adjusted his grip on the Decapitating Carving Knife and prepared to finish the job—
Thump. Thump. Thump.
From within the mist behind him, a strange rhythm echoed.
Even with his mastery of Silent Killing, Zabuza was unsettled to find himself so precisely tracked.
"Demon Momochi Zabuza… may we talk?"
A clear feminine voice drifted through the fog.
A pale figure emerged, tapping a blind staff, wrapped in a white cloak, a strip of black cloth covering her eyes.
He did not hesitate.
A flash of killing intent sparked in his gaze as he swung the great blade in a brutal arc, a black crescent splitting the mist and bearing down toward her skull.
He did not care how she had found him. One cut would end it.
Clang!
The girl's porcelain arm rose as if lazily, one slim finger pressing against the blade's edge.
Steel shrieked against flesh. The enormous weight and force of the sword vanished into her tiny frame like a pebble into the sea. Not even her fingertip trembled.
Black steel against pale skin. Massive blade against fragile finger. The sheer contrast was staggering.
Then she flicked her finger.
Dong!
Like a temple bell tolling.
The giant blade shuddered and cracked. With a sharp snap, the Decapitating Carving Knife split in two.
Zabuza's killing eyes cleared into disbelief.
"Leave… now."
Creak… crackle…
From beneath her cloak came grotesque noises, like a beast gnawing marrow. Her slender form distorted, her body swelling in unnatural shapes.
White skeletal hands writhed out from the seams of the cloak, clawing like damned souls escaping hell.
Silver hair lashed like serpents, whipping and stabbing like steel needles.
Her perfect features remained calm, eerily beautiful. That beauty itself became uncanny terror.
"I don't want to kill you looking like this. Please, Zabuza-san."
The so-called Demon found himself staring at something far worse.
Gulp.
He, who had killed without blinking, swallowed hard and retreated half a step.
The Demon of the Mist… had truly met a ghost.
…
"How is she, Sensei?"
Sweat streamed down Ona's temple. Maintaining the vast Hiding in Mist had drained him nearly to collapse.
"Not dead yet…" Mari Kuriu leaned against Shin Okamura, her face pale from blood loss.
"The wound in her stomach is closed. Her shoulder is dislocated with a hairline fracture. The rest are surface cuts. With rest, she'll recover."
The green glow of Karin Kozan's palm lit her eyes an even deeper jade.
Shin grinned in relief.
Though the weakest in battle, Karin was a prodigy, mastering advanced medical ninjutsu while still a genin. If she said Mari would live, then Mari would live.
"You shouldn't have come for me…" Mari's voice was weak. "The enemy is Momochi Zabuza, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. And with him… a monster of the Yuki clan. We don't stand a chance."
At the word "Yuki," her lovely features twisted with fury.
"Yuki? But weren't they."
"I saw it use Ice Release."
"Zabuza… and Yuki…"
Shin murmured the names, his cheerful nature swallowed by dread.
Zabuza needed no explanation. A master of Water Release and Silent Killing, a perfected version of Ona. And the Yuki clan, with their kekkei genkai of Ice Release, natural enemies of Fire.
"It doesn't matter. We're here already." Ona turned his sharp profile toward Mari, his voice steady.
"No matter what, we won't abandon our comrades. That was the rule you gave us when we were assigned to this team. It's because you are different from the Blood Mist shinobi that we followed you without regret."
"Don't disappoint us, Sensei."
"Tch… being lectured by my own students, how disgraceful for a teacher!"
Crack!
"Ahh!"
Mari clenched her teeth and wrenched her shoulder back into place.
"Karin, next time, use anesthetic."
"Save it for later." Karin shrugged. The green glow faded from her palm. "Speaking of which, we've been healing here for a while. Where's Zabuza?"
…
The fog in the forest thinned.
Konome Taketori folded the monstrous bone appendages back into her body and stooped to pick up her blind staff.
After his blade was stopped with a single finger, Zabuza had tested her once more, hurling senbon at the eyes hidden beneath her blindfold.
He had seen them bounce away, bent and useless.
And then he had turned and left, silent as a decision made.
Through the mist, Konome glimpsed Mari and her team alive and whole. She tapped her staff and walked back toward camp.
A life for a life.
They had helped her escape Kirigakure, so she repaid them in kind.
For her, forcing back a jōnin like Zabuza was not worth surprise.
The shinobi world was not like the fantasy novels of her past life.
Here, power gaps did not always decide battles.
Information and matchups reigned supreme.
Hadn't Nara Shikamaru, only a chūnin, defeated Hidan of the Akatsuki, whose ability should have been unstoppable?
Mari's squad would eventually fall prey to Zabuza's Silent Killing.
Yet if Konome faced Mari's squad herself, she would be crushed under Mari's Water Release, Shin's firepower, Ona's taijutsu, and Karin's healing.
But against Zabuza?
She had the perfect counter.
His Silent Killing and mist were useless before the Byakugan. His pure physical strikes shattered against her reinforced bones. His Water Release, no matter how heavy, was still physical force. So long as her organs endured, she could take it.
His Water Prison was too slow. In her three-hundred-sixty-degree vision, every chakra movement blazed like sunlight.
A complete mismatch.
From the start, he could never beat her. Even knowing he was the stronger shinobi.
When she tracked him through his own mist, when she blocked his sword with a finger, he too had understood.
"Konome?"
Mari's voice cut through the thinning haze.
"I'm here."
Konome rose with feigned relief as the four rushed over.
"Mari-neesan, you're alive!"
"Save it. Move."
Mari hoisted Konome onto her back. The girl's unnatural weight nearly brought her down, but she assumed it was her own weakness from blood loss and pressed forward.
Karin scooped up supplies, while Shin and Ona masked their tracks against pursuit.
The Mist Village team and the hidden monster named Konome Taketori resumed their march toward the Land of Fire, tension heavy in the air.
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