A battle between Jonin is not a sparring match. It is a natural disaster.
For the Genin, the events unfolding on the lake blurred into a chaotic mess of water explosions and the ringing clash of metal. Kakashi and Zabuza moved at speeds the uninitiated eye could not track, remaining mere shadows that tore through the mist, trailing wakes of chakra and spray.
"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu! (Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)"
The voices of the two Jonin merged, birthing a haunting echo.
Two gigantic serpentine dragons of compressed water surged from the lake, rearing up before colliding with a deafening roar. The shockwave slammed into the shore, forcing the students to shield their faces with their arms. Water rained down in a torrential downpour, washing away the mud and sweat.
Then, silence.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, scanning the space with Qi Sensory. Kakashi's bright fire of chakra had suddenly frozen. The flame, usually calm and powerful, was now trapped inside a dense, crushing sphere of foreign energy.
The mist thinned, revealing a grim tableau.
Kakashi was trapped inside a massive sphere of heavy water. He couldn't move. His body floated in suspension, while Zabuza's arm, immersed in the sphere, maintained the technique.
"Water Prison," Zabuza's voice dripped with dark triumph. "Got you. It's over, Kakashi. And now... I'll deal with your brats."
The water beside him churned, and a figure slowly rose to the surface.
A perfect copy of Zabuza. A Water Clone.
He stepped onto solid ground, and the crushing pressure of Sakki returned with doubled intensity.
"Run!" Kakashi's muffled shout came from inside the sphere. "You can't beat him! Your mission is to protect Tazuna! Get out of here!"
An order.
A logical, correct order from a commander who understood the gap in power.
Sasuke took a step back. His heart hammered somewhere in his throat.
Run? Yes... we have to. This is a monster. Even a clone has the power of a Jonin. There are no chances. If we stay, we die.
The "Genius's" logic dictated the only solution: retreat. His legs were already tensing for a dash backward.
"Stand your ground."
Naruto's voice was quiet but firm, cutting through the noise of the lapping water.
He didn't retreat. On the contrary, he stepped forward, shielding his teammates.
"Are you crazy?!" Sasuke hissed, his voice cracking into a falsetto. "Didn't you hear Sensei? We can't win!"
"If we run, he kills Kakashi-sensei," Naruto answered calmly, not turning around. His gaze was riveted to the clone, his mind feverishly calculating variables. "And then he catches up to us and butchers us along with the old man. Flight is death."
His inner eye analyzed the structure of the technique. The clone was a dense cluster of chakra. Too strong for a direct clash. His Qi-Taijutsu at its current level wasn't enough to destroy the copy in a single strike without leaving himself open to that sword.
I don't need to defeat the clone, Naruto reasoned coldly. I need to force the real Zabuza to remove his hand. Destroy the technique from the source.
The Zabuza-clone smirked beneath his bandages.
"Brave words for a future corpse. You think wearing a headband makes you a ninja, little brat?"
He vanished.
The speed was transcendent.
BAM!
Naruto flew backward, taking a heavy kick squarely to the chest. He tumbled through the air but corrected his posture, landing on his feet and carving deep furrows in the earth with his sandals. Body Tempering saved his ribs from shattering, but the impact knocked the wind out of him.
Sasuke froze, watching how easily his teammate was swatted away.
"You are not shinobi," the clone's voice drew closer. "You are just children playing ninja."
Naruto spat a glob of blood onto the grass. His eyes narrowed.
I can't handle him alone. I need a ranged attack. I need firepower.
He looked at Sasuke. The Uchiha was on the verge of panic, but in his hands, he gripped a collapsed Fūma Shuriken.
"Sasuke!" Naruto barked, forming a cross seal.
The Uchiha flinched. There was so much authority in the voice that he instinctively turned his head.
"Stop shaking!" Naruto began channeling chakra—crude, blue, voluminous. "I have a plan. Listen! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
The air exploded with pops of smoke. Twenty perfect copies filled the shore.
The clones rushed silently at Zabuza's doppelgänger. It wasn't an elegant attack; it was a brawl. The clones threw themselves at the enemy from all sides, disregarding their own safety.
Zabuza laughed, swinging his sword.
The strikes were brutal. The copies burst one after another, turning into smoke. The sword bisected them, kicks crushed them, but they kept coming. They grabbed the clone's arms, his legs, hung off the blade, creating chaos.
A living shield. A meat grinder designed to buy time and obscure vision.
The real Naruto, hidden in a cloud of smoke, appeared beside Sasuke.
"Fūma Shuriken!" he hissed into his face. "Unfold it! Now!"
"What are you..."
"Don't argue!" Naruto's eyes flashed like steel. "Throw it at the real one! The clone is a distraction! The target is the one holding the water prison!"
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke obeyed. His body reacted faster than his pride could object to being commanded by his rival. He snapped the massive folding shuriken open.
"Shadow Shuriken!" the Uchiha shouted, launching the blade with a jumping spin.
The massive disc sliced through the air with a whistle, bypassed the melee of clones, and streaked toward the real Zabuza standing on the water.
The assassin, still holding Kakashi, lazily shifted his gaze.
"Useless."
With his free hand, without even looking, he caught the giant projectile by the central ring. The blades froze centimeters from his neck, continuing to spin hungrily.
"You are too predictable..."
But in the shadow of the first shuriken, a second one was hiding.
A classic Uchiha technique. The second Fūma Shuriken flew in the "blind spot" of the first.
Zabuza's eyes widened. He couldn't remove his hand from the prison. His other hand was occupied with the first shuriken.
The only exit was a jump. But that would break the contact with the water, and the prison would collapse.
"Damn it!" the swordsman growled.
He was forced to release the sphere and jerk his hand back. The prison, losing its power source, collapsed into the lake with a massive splash. Kakashi fell into the water, gasping for air.
But the second shuriken...
It flew past Zabuza. A miss?
No.
With a loud POOF of smoke, the shuriken transformed into Naruto.
"Take this!" Uzumaki roared.
He appeared behind the enemy's back, gripping a kunai. Qi Concentration flooded his feet, kicking off the air itself, giving his strike an unnatural acceleration.
He didn't aim for the neck—Zabuza would have dodged. The target was the arm reaching for the sword.
Snarling in fury, the Demon of the Mist twisted with inhuman flexibility. He avoided the fatal blow, but the blade grazed his skin, leaving a bloody gash.
Naruto splashed into the water next to his coughing teacher.
"Sensei!"
Kakashi was already standing on the water. His vest was soaked, but the Sharingan burned in his eye, now devoid of any trace of laziness. His chakra roared to life, kicking up waves.
On the shore, the water clone that the remnants of Naruto's army were fighting collapsed into a puddle. The technique dissipated—the original had lost concentration.
"Excellent plan, Naruto," Kakashi's voice was low and dangerous. He stared at the enemy. "And excellent support, Sasuke. You did well."
Sasuke stood on the shore, breathing heavily. His hands were empty. He stared at Naruto climbing out of the water.
That was... his plan? The realization burned his insides like acid. He used the clones as cannon fodder. He forced me to throw the shuriken, knowing I would do it. He transformed into a weapon himself. He... he used me as a tool in his tactics.
Humiliating.
But it worked. Kakashi was free.
Zabuza retreated several meters, weaving hand signs. Blood trickled down his arm.
"Little brats..." he growled, condensing his Sakki to a tangible density. "I'll tear you to pieces before I kill your commander!"
"No." Kakashi instantly appeared before him. Without the burden of protecting others, he was faster. "Your opponent is me. And this time, I won't be caught."
The battle flared with renewed vigor, but now the advantage was on Konoha's side.
The Copy Ninja mirrored every seal of the enemy, suppressing him psychologically.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu! (Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique)"
A gigantic mass of water swept Zabuza away, slamming him into a tree on the shore. The swordsman slid to the ground, battered and exhausted.
Kakashi loomed over him with a kunai.
"It's over. You lost."
Climbing onto the bank, Naruto watched the scene intently. His Qi Sensory was operating at its limit. He felt Zabuza's chakra fading. But he also sensed something else.
Thin. Sharp. A presence.
Up in the tree.
"Sensei!" Naruto started.
THWIP-THWIP!
Two long senbon needles embedded themselves precisely in Zabuza's neck.
The body jerked and went limp. The chakra Naruto had been feeling vanished instantly. As if someone had flipped a switch.
Kakashi leaped back, looking warily at the branch. Standing there was a slight figure wearing the mask of a Kirigakure Hunter-nin.
"Thank you." The hunter's voice was soft, almost polite. "I have been tracking this missing-nin for a long time."
Kakashi walked over to the body, checking for a pulse.
"Dead," he stated, looking up. "Hunter-nin from the Mist?"
"Correct." The stranger nodded. "Your battle made my task easier. I am taking the body. It holds many secrets of our village."
He vanished along with Zabuza's corpse in a swirl of leaves.
Naruto frowned. Something was wrong.
Instant death, he analyzed. Sensory perception showed a complete disappearance of energy. But... why senbon? That is the weapon of doctors and acupuncturists. It rarely kills instantly unless hitting the brain or heart directly. The neck... a strange choice for a guaranteed kill.
But he remained silent. Kakashi-sensei swayed and began to topple sideways. The exhaustion from the intense battle and Sharingan usage was taking its toll.
"Sensei!" Sakura rushed to him.
Naruto looked at his own hands. His fingers trembled from overexertion. The clones and constant use of Qi had drained him.
He shifted his gaze to Sasuke.
The Uchiha stood apart, clenching his fists until the knuckles turned white. He wasn't looking at the fallen teacher. He was looking at Naruto with a gaze that held a mixture of hostility and involuntary recognition.
The battle was over. But the conflict within Team 7 was just beginning.