Zabuza wanted to force Li Chuan to abandon the incredibly powerful Zen Staff in his hand with the Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique, and then kill him when he was unarmed, but he didn't expect Li Chuan to be prepared.
Would Li Chuan be without weapons?
He had a large collection of knives, spears, swords, and halberds in his mission space, and could instantly take them out and put them back in.
If he wanted to, he could be fighting empty-handed one second, have a long sword in his hand the next, and then the long sword he was slashing with would turn into a great axe the second after that.
Compared to Tenten, who had to perform an action of retrieving weapons from a Sealing Jutsu scroll beforehand, his method was even more unpredictable and difficult to guard against.
"How is that possible? Where did he get the weapon from?"
With his Water Clone defeated, Zabuza, who was controlling Kakashi with the Water Prison Jutsu, instantly widened his eyes.
Because he couldn't figure out where Li Chuan had pulled out the weapon from. Was it a Summoning Jutsu? It definitely couldn't have been from a Sealing Jutsu scroll, otherwise it wouldn't have escaped his eyes.
But Summoning Jutsu also required biting one's finger to perform, and Li Chuan hadn't made that motion just now.
Or, was it some special Bloodline Limit?
"So, so amazing!"
Naruto, hiding in the distance, cheered excitedly when he saw Li Chuan successfully defeat Zabuza's Water Clone. Sakura, beside him, let out a huge sigh of relief.
As for Sasuke, that guy had a constipated expression, probably back to his daily internal struggle of 'Why am I so weak? When will I be able to kill my older brother if I keep this up?'
"Mr. Zabuza, look, will you voluntarily release the Water Prison Jutsu, or should I come forward and help you release it?"
After landing, Li Chuan walked step by step towards Zabuza by the river, holding the long katana.
Zabuza snorted coldly, withdrew his Ninjutsu, and quickly retreated, creating distance between himself, Kakashi, and Li Chuan.
Given Li Chuan's demonstrated combat ability and experience, Zabuza had no chance of defeating him while one hand was controlling the Water Prison Jutsu and his body was immobile.
Rather than that, it would be better to abandon the Water Prison Jutsu and then win by relying on Ninjutsu from a distance.
"Chuan, leave the rest to me!"
Kakashi, emerging from the Water Prison Jutsu, his tone clearly tinged with anger.
Having been tricked by Zabuza, almost putting his target and his three beloved disciples in danger, he was now seething with suppressed rage.
"Alright, then I'll go protect Mr. Tazuna."
Li Chuan's eyes flickered, and he immediately agreed.
He needed Kakashi and Zabuza to both suffer heavy losses, as that would be beneficial to him.
"Fighting me alone? That's not a wise choice."
Seeing Li Chuan turn and leave, with only Kakashi standing opposite him, Zabuza's face showed a cold smile, and then he began to form hand seals.
However, he quickly stopped smiling, because Kakashi was forming hand seals at the same time as him, and all his movements were identical, then he unleashed the exact same Ninjutsu.
He had always thought that Kakashi's Sharingan would only copy and perform Ninjutsu after seeing someone complete it, but he hadn't expected that it could perform them simultaneously and synchronously.
"Here he comes!"
At the same time, Li Chuan, who had reunited with Naruto and the others, was watching the exciting Ninjutsu battle between Kakashi and Zabuza when his ears suddenly twitched.
He sensed that there seemed to be another person in the nearby forest.
If he wasn't mistaken, it should be Zabuza's subordinate, White, who had arrived.
He knew that Zabuza's attack this time had two main objectives: first, to kill Tazuna and complete the mission; second, if the mission failed, to use the battle to have the highly intelligent White analyze Kakashi's intelligence and find his weaknesses.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
After a round of fighting, Kakashi, by copying Zabuza's Ninjutsu and movements, and secretly applying genjutsu to Zabuza with his Sharingan, caused Zabuza's psychological defenses to collapse, ultimately defeating him first with the A-rank Great Waterfall Technique.
"Quick, up the tree!"
Watching the massive water wave surge towards them after defeating Zabuza, Li Chuan grabbed Naruto with one hand and Mr. Tazuna with the other, leaping onto a nearby large tree.
Sasuke and Sakura also followed closely.
After the water wave passed, the heavily injured Zabuza lay beneath the large tree. Several joints in his arms and legs had been struck by Kakashi's kunai, rendering him unable to continue fighting.
However, just as Kakashi was about to finish Zabuza off with a kunai, two steel needles, about thirty centimeters long, suddenly flew out of the dense forest, accurately piercing Zabuza's neck, "killing" him on the spot.
Immediately following, a youth, around fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing a Hidden Mist Village Anbu mask, appeared on the tree trunk.
"Thank you for your help. I've been looking for an opportunity to kill Zabuza."
Every Ninja village has its own pursuit squad, specifically to deal with rogue Ninja who have defected from the village, preventing their bodies from being taken by other Ninja villages after death, which could lead to the excavation of information about secret medicines, Ninjutsu, and other intelligence unfavorable to the village leader.
So the youth's meaning was clear: he intended to kill Zabuza, the Hidden Mist rogue Ninja, and then take his body back to Hidden Mist Village.
Kakashi stepped forward and touched Zabuza's neck, confirming there was no heartbeat, then nodded.
It was peacetime, and as a Konoha Ninja, he could not prevent the Hidden Mist pursuit squad from taking Zabuza's body, otherwise it would cause disputes between countries.
"Wait!"
Just as the youth was about to pick up Zabuza's body, Li Chuan suddenly spoke, stopping him.
The youth calmly looked up at Li Chuan:
"Is there a problem?"
Kakashi and the others also looked at Li Chuan.
Li Chuan said with a smile:
"I forgot to tell you all, although I am not skilled in Ninjutsu, I am somewhat proficient in medical arts. And those two senbon from that young man just now, although they pierced Zabuza's neck, they only struck his pressure points.
Therefore, Zabuza is only in a state of suspended animation (feigned death). He can wake up once the senbon are removed."
"What!"
Upon hearing Li Chuan's words, Kakashi and the others were immediately startled.
At this moment, White, impersonating a Hidden Mist pursuit Ninja, knew he had been exposed. He threw a flurry of senbon, picked up Zabuza from the ground, and quickly fled.
Li Chuan used the long katana in his hand to deflect the senbon, then leaped up and made several jumps through the trees, chasing after the fleeing White.
"You all protect Mr. Tazuna and return. I will go after them!"
"I'll go help too!"
Seeing this, Naruto immediately wanted to follow, but Kakashi stopped him with a hand.
"There might be accomplices. Protect Mr. Tazuna and go home first."
Naruto tried to retort, but then he saw Kakashi roll his eyes and collapse to the ground.
It turned out that although Kakashi had won the subsequent battle with Zabuza, he had exhausted his Chakra and suffered significant injuries.
Unlike his self-invented Chidori and Raikiri, which were powerful but didn't consume much Chakra, the Water Release Ninjutsu Zabuza used were all area-of-effect Ninjutsu that required a large amount of Chakra to perform.
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