Sling!

Zabuza's hulking weapon crashed down against Kakashi, only for the blade to vibrate with the sensation of splattering wood as opposed to cutting through flesh. His body and vision shifted backwards, catching Kakashi preparing for a back-elbow strike.

Sling!

Another swing. Another substitution.

Zabuza's eyes spotted yet another Kakashi to his side, this time attempting to take him out with a straight stabbing motion.

Another swing. Another substitution.

Noticing another copy on his other side, Zabuza quickly flipped the swords blade upwards (retaining his control on the hilt) before jamming it rearward into what he hoped to be the jonin's stomach.

The sound of smoke exploding and timber cracking seemed to either savvy up or finally bore Zabuza, as he began swinging the sword counter-clockwise at another noticeable clone…only he didn't stop. Over and over, he felt the sword cleave through wood, popping the ever-emerging substation clones faster than they could properly appear.

This decently-planned attack only ended up gifting Zabuza a small circle of carved up stumps instead of Kakashis dead body. The mist-jonins beady eyes began to scan over his surroundings, looking for even the smallest sign of his foe…

After the loud sounds of dispersing smoke and metal meeting wood that had radiated through the area, even the slightest noise would become noticeable. In this case, it was the echo of air and mist breaking above Zabuza

Without even thinking, he thrust his sword directly upwards, scattering mist around the blade. With renewed surrounding vision, he saw Kakashi's face inches away from the sword's edge, its sharpness reflecting into his eye.

The man had no choice but to land flat on his back to avoid being split in two, only for him to come eerily close to the sword again, when Zabuza planted it into the dirt, close enough to his head that Kakashi could swear he lost a few locks of hair.

As he quickly leapt up to his feet, Kakashi thanked god for his opponent's sudden lack of hand-eye coordination, only to realize that it had not been sudden as much as calculated.

Fwoosh!

Zabuza used his sword as a dirt-imbedded roundabout, swinging through the air by the handle and unleashing a dropkick onto Kakashi's chest, which sent him flying backwards. However, the damage had not stunned the leaf-ninja as much as Zabuza had initially counted on, as Kakashi transitioned his fall into a back roll, redirecting himself into a sprint at his enemy, who had left himself open in an attempt to retrieve his still buried sword.

Kakashis boot cracked against Zabuzas hand, throbbing pain enough to cause the latter to drop his grip on the stone-embedded weapon. In a hasty reply, Zabuza threw out two fast punches, the first of which was blocked and the second of which was caught.

His view of the world was shaken around as Kakashi yanked him backwards, holding both of his arms against the back of his head.

Crack!

The masked man's knee connected with Zabuza's back, bending his spine slightly. His eyes shut closed in agony, snapping open again in hopes of finding something that could help him avoid a second strike. In the miniscule amount of time he had before Kakashi began to prepare his knee again, his eyes rested on one thing.

Fwoosh!

Kakashi's knee shot out once more, only for it to hit the air as opposed to Zabuzas back, the mist-ninja leaping in the air and vertically running up the visible parts of his entrenched sword, finally using this momentum to leap upwards and flip over Kakashi, redirecting the grip that had been clutched over his neck in an effort to try and suppress Kakashi's breathing.

His attempt to choke out his foe was short lived, as Kakashi quickly leaping into a front somersault off the ground, shoving both of his feet into Zabuzas stomach and diving forwards, while his opponent stumbled back.

Wasting no time in resuming the fight, Zabuza quickly charged at Kakashi yet again, arms draped downwards, instead of rigid like they were before. The leaf-ninja threw out an angled hook kick but it was easily weaved through, a lazy uppercut being chucked from the shinobi who was now underneath him.

Zabuzas clothed knuckle reached further and further for Kakashis face, only to be met with air as its target gently reared his head back before catching Zabuza flat on the back of his head with a downwards axe kick, laying him out level on the ground.

Sensing the fight's impetus was in his favor, Kakashi leaped upwards, completing two full spins through the air before transitioning his falling momentum into a kick. Zabuza visibly flinched as he rolled away, hearing the sound of his opponent's heel cracking into the stone ground.

The sword now served as a dividing barrier, Kakashi on one side, deciding his next move, Zabuza on the other, slowly getting up. This divide was quickly removed, as Kakashi yanked the sword from the ground, fully intending to use it. The only problem?

He hadn't counted on it being quite this heavy, and as a result, had lifted it far too high to control, nearly tipping over backwards at the weapons weight. Sensing a lull in the fight, Zabuza leaned onto his back and used his legs to launch upwards, kicking Kakashi in the gut while he himself landed on his back, Kubikiribōchō landing in his hands.

Quick on the rebound, Kakashi snatched a kunai from his satchel and began to wield it like a chakra-blade, resting the metal against his knuckles. His arm moved in a blur; the swift motion almost too fast for Zabuza to keep up with.

Clang!

Using the weight from the handle hanging on his knee, the mist-ninja pressed a palm towards his sword, pushing it back upright in time to block the kunai strike that was heading his way, his block perfectly harmonizing with the strength of Kakashis strike to send the jonin staggering in reverse.

Before he could even hope of mustering a counter-attack, Zabuza darted forward, hanging low to the ground with his sword at the ready. Sensing a powerful attack intended to slice him up, Kakashi tacitly pushed out his kunai in an attempt to simply heed the assault, only for this to turn out being a grave miscalculation.

Zabuza quickly stood upright, flicking his sword straight up before bringing it down against the kunai as if it were the hands of a clock, the small knife being ripped from Kakashis hands thanks to the small holes that were engraved in the Kubikiribōchō.

This wasn't the end of the assault, as Zabuza flipped the blade around like he was a kid doing finger tricks with a pencil, moving the weapon down to his legs before it shot back up at Kakashi's head, the leaf ninja barley able to dodge without his joints cracking from the sudden movements he undertook to do so.

With this small bit of push-back, Zabuza created a grand opening for himself. Again, he stuck the sword into the ground, but he was not keen to repeat his mistakes, using it as an improvised poll, as he swung around, landing a flush kick to Kakashis head.

"Aah" Kakashi involuntarily yelled, view bobbing downwards, as Zabuza completed his rotation, feet firmly planted on the ground, that was until his left leg shot backwards, connecting hard with Kakashis shin.

As well as aiming to break a bone, the kick also served the purpose of pushing Kakashi off his feet and onto the ground, face first. If a sudden lack of sight wasn't enough, Zabuzas scream of "Water Release: Rising Geyser!" did nothing to calm the man's nerves.

The earth under Kakashi begin to crack and shatter, while the sound of running water got louder and louder, until finally, a large portion of the land came loose and went spiraling into an ever-emerging lagoon, Kakashi in tow.

Water filled his lungs almost immediately, seeping through the thin fabric of his mask as he desperately tried to maneuver himself back upright, the shaking of his arms creating small barrages of bubbles in the water.

"Water Release: Water Prison Jutsu!"

Weight began to press down on Kakashi, as the water began to compress around him into an oval shape. Slight, murky bits of light began to shine into the fluid blue ripples, as a murky Zabuza kept his hand on the river ball.

Meanwhile, the genin looked on in shock.

He got him?! Naruto yelled internally; eyes widened.

This is bad. Sasuke braced his kunai.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfu

Inner-Sakura chanted over and over, the outer-Sakura's face drooping in hopelessness.

Zabuza simply laughed, as he rested the sword on his back his attention shifting from the imprisoned Kakashi to the three students to his center, resting a hand on the ball of water to make sure it stayed functional.

"Hey, I don't have a problem with killing kids but…" His finger stuck out menacingly at Tazuna, the old man reacting as if he was being held at gunpoint. "…he's the only one I'm after, you'd only be throwing your lives away for nothing."

Pain surged through Naruto's left hand.

"Hey, asshole!" The Uzumaki screamed over at Zabuza, fiery determination brimming from his eyes. "If you think we're going to just let the geezer die, you've got another thing coming! He's got a…"

Much like a train on wooden tracks, Naruto's heroic speech quickly went off rails, turning around to Tazuna sheepishly.

"…What do you have? Like, family?"

"Daughter…son-in-law." The man mumbled back, clearly too scared to give a proper answer. Naruto snapped back to Zabuza, eyes burning alight once more.

"HE'S GOT A DAUGHTER AND A SON-IN-LAW TO GO HOME TO! So, if you want to kill him, you're gonna have to kill me!"

Silence overtook the area, the sound of the birds faintly punctuating both the weight and ridiculousness of Naruto's words (to be honest, he wasn't even sure if he believed them.)

Zabuzas cruel eyes were both at once amused and impressed, as he reached over to the water prison.

"Alright then…" Using his free hand to cast seals, he eventually slapped it onto the liquid sphere, water dispersing around the webbing of his fingers and running down his hands, darkening the material of his gloves.

With force, he tore his palm from the surface, only for some of the water to flow with him, a streak of it curving through the air with a complete disregard for gravity.

"Water Release: Water Clone Jutsu." The suspended water began to shift and shape into perfect clone of Zabuza, its initial translucent, blue appearance quickly taking identical form to the mist-ninja, who unsheathed his sword and handed it to the clone.

While their attention was certainly focused on Zabuza above all, Naruto and Sakura managed to notice Sasuke signaling them, gritting his teeth.

"You two…" He harshly whispered, eyes remaining locked on the clone ahead of him. "stay in formation."

Naruto and Sakura nodded their heads in a sign of acknowledgment, although this small buzz of strategy was short lived as Zabuzas light footsteps began to break into a sprint, clumps of brown dirt kicking up onto his black and white sandals.

As the impeding wave death drew closer and closer, Sasuke stood his ground, not in protection of his comrades or anything like that, but because he hoped maybe he could catch Zabuza off-guard.

Instead, it was him who was unprepared.

"Hey, kid…" Zabuza growled, not halting his sprint as his beady, devilish eyes shot up at Sasuke with quantifiable bloodlust. "You look ready to kill…but you don't look ready to DIE!"

Sasuke shoved out a kunai, in an attempt to block the forthcoming assault, but the action itself displayed just how much he underestimated his enemy's speed. Paying the lethal weapon aimed at him no mind, Zabuza threw the Kubikiribōchō up into the air.

Before any of the genin could react, the mist ninjas cracked the back of his elbow into the back of Sasukes head, the boy's body immediately going limp. Zabuza completed his rotation, catching the sword and using his own spinning force to add more power to his horizontal swing, aimed at Tazunas legs.

Clang!

Due to using power outside his own, Zabuza had relinquished some of his control of the blade, meaning Naruto had prime opportunity to stomp on it, the edge of it just barely missing Tazuna.

The blonde breathed in to say something, but his quip would never become audible, as the metal below him began to slip away from under his sandals.

"Huh?"

Zabuza quite literally pulled the rug out from under him, balancing the sword vertically with the tip of it touching the ground, before he unleashed a tactical kick to the the weapons side, dominoing it into Naruto's face.

This short intervention, however, had given Tazuna enough time to break off into a full-on dash, running away from the assassin as fast as a 65-year old conceivably could. Zabuza fully intended to follow him, but the sound of metal whizzing through the air distracted him.

Flashes of pink, white and black entered his vision, his eyes slanting in focus as Sakura threw out what appeared to be a piece of wire, the thin, metal thread heading straight for his eye. It didn't take much effort for him to catch it, but he soon realized that this may have been the girl's attention.

"Ha!" Sakura laughed triumphantly, as the wires true nature became apparent, small, sharp barbs running along its length, digging into Zabuzas hand. He simply looked back at her with a fixed, unimpressed expression before raising his hand up, showing that the intended cutting effect was useless when he was made of water, said liquid dripping down the cut that had been made in his glove.

"Oh."

Sakura proceeded to eat a faceful of dirt as Zabuza yanked the razor wire forward, with far too much force for her to contend with. Taking half a second to ensure she hadn't substituted, Zabuza circularly spun his sword, severing the line of wire while flicking out the bit attached to his hand.

He shifted his body-language towards Tazuna who, as expected for a man of his age, had barely made it fifteen feet away from Zabuza.

"Water release: Wave slicer." His sword began to flourish with the scent of the ocean, small bits of water leaked and compressed from the sharp edge of its blade. This dripping soon turned to steam as one of his most powerful…

Bam!

A hard fist slammed into the back of Zabuzas head, knocking both his awareness and vision loopy and sending his attack flying upwards towards the sky.

Despite being completely put off-balance, Zabuza managed to muster up enough focus to throw a harsh kick backwards, his foot connecting with something that felt human. Turning a still dazed head towards his attacker, he found Naruto standing there, smirk plastered on his face.

Uncharacteristically quiet (especially considering his expression), the genin began to run at Zabuza, fist thrusting for a punch.

Seconds passed as he ran, the man in front of him clearly not considering him a threat, as no matter how close the young boy got, he seemingly refused to react.

Closer.

Closer.

Closer.

SLING!

In the time it took Naruto to blink, Zabuza had already decapitated him. The Uzumakis (last) expression was one of shock and horror as his head became disconnected from the rest of him.

Poof!

Smoke exploded around Naruto, the white screen temporarily blocking Zabuza's eyesight. By the time it faded, the battlefield was decidedly empty aside from the real Zabuza and the water prison.

As the clone began to slowly scan his surroundings, its caster reflected on what he'd just saw.

Was that a shadowclone? Kid's chakra must be wrecked, that's a jonin level-jutsu…

His surprise quickly simmered with the sight of Kakashi swimming around the water prison, looking futilely for any imperfection.

"Air getting thin in their huh, Kakashi?" He said, bitter sarcasm clinging at his word. A response unsurprisingly never came. Instead, Kakashi's own mind raced with thought, trying to figure out a way that he could escape from the circular cage.

I'm running out of breath. I've got six minutes tops until I start choking. This isn't good.

"Hold on, where's the old dude?" Naruto mused, his bright blue eyes peeking out from behind a tree, weary of Zabuza's clone, who was patrolling the outside area.

"I don't know." Sakura answered, more focused on the currently drowsy/unconscious/possibly dead Sasuke, who she'd laid out onto the floor, using a bundle of leaves as a makeshift pillow (it really was dire straits)

Naruto turned to the girl; his eyes suddenly transitioning to a thousand-yard stare.

"…Hey Sakura."

"Yeah?" The girls voice was shaky, but she still took the time to answer.

The memories of the shadow clone finally became comprehendible by Naruto. "I felt something…weird." A shiver travelled down his spine, as Sakura stared at him, with disturbed but wide eyes.

Conversation halted between them, just for a few seconds.

"…Wake up sleeping beauty will ya?" Naruto finally said, returning to scouting Zabuza with an apparent disregard for the existential crisis that had just washed over him.

"Okay." Sakura said again, lumps forming in her throat while her mind buzzed with visions of Zabuza cutting down the tree branches, easily disemboweling Naruto before moving onto her, sword glinting demonically as he laughed and-

Okay, maybe it was for the best to just wake Sasuke up.

"Hey…Sasuke?" She gently shook him, not being able to help noticing how his hair rested against his forehead, unusually messy.

"Hey…Sas-AAH!" A hand raised up to her throat as Sasukes eyes snapped open, both of them letting out a yell of anguish. Sakura's teal eyes grew with fear as the Uchiha instinctively grabbed a kunai from his belt and shoved it towards her optics, his eyes pulsating with unfounded fear.

"Hey, hey, easy!" Naruto semi-yelled back, preparing to jump at Sasuke to block the kill, but his words were apparently enough to snap his rival out of his murderous daze.

Sasukes kunai-grabbing hand froze, as did his entire body. After taking a few seconds to comprehend exactly where he was and what he was doing, his gaze shriveled up in guilt as he pushed himself away from Sakura.

"Sorry, sorry…" He said, the sorrow and culpability present in his voice abnormal for his character. Sakura mouthed quick "it's okay" the complete shock of his outburst stacking onto an already awful amount of stress that had built up when Zabuza made his appearance.

"Could you keep it down?" Naruto whispered sternly, returning his full attention to the mist-ninja outside the tree-ridden abyss. "You keep that shit up and we're all dead."

Sasuke wanted to protest but he knew he had no case, so instead he just stayed silent looking sideways near the ground.

"We need to figure out how to get Kakashi-sensei out of that big water ball."

"…It's a water prison jutsu. You have to remove his contact with the water." Sasuke added, this useful information only serving to cause Naruto to eye him with further scrutiny.

"Wow, that would've been nice to know instead of telling us to "stay in formation"" The blonde yelled as loud as he possibly could under the circumstances, adding in a mocking imitation at the end for good measure.

"Did you stay in formation?"

"What do you think?" For all his idiocy, Naruto was generally succeeding in making Sasuke look stupid. A debilitating but aggressive stillness hung in the air, no one knowing what to say next, before, finally, eyes pointed at the ground, Sasuke spoke up.

"If we're going to take down the clone, we need to sever his body in some way, to the point the water can't keep redistributing his chakra around itself."

"That's not how it works!" Naruto was quick to argue. "My shadow clones die when they take enough dama- "

"You can use shadow clones?" Sasuke cut him off, neglecting to mention the difference between shadow clones and elemental clones.

"Yeah...but that's not the point! The thing is- "

The Uchiha quickly blocked out Naruto's incorrect ranting, the tirade turning into nothing but white noise. A plan started to form in Sasukes mind, as the boy reached downwards a clutched the blades of a fuma-shuriken.

Interrupting his rival once more, Sasuke spoke up, eyes replacing fear with ingenuity.

"I've got an idea."

Zabuza was really regretting casting his mist-jutsu, because it made finding the old man really fucking difficult. Normally, his hearing was far greater than sharp enough to find even the most intricate detail in his fog, but Tazuna must've just stopped moving entirely, because the vapor had fallen silent.

FWOOSH

FWOOSH!

Two shuriken's shot outward, mist dissolving around the edged metal. It was here that the quiet assisted Zabuza, as he was able to immediately pin-point and react to the attack.

Sparks flew off the metal of his sword as he easily blocked the shuriken, the small flicker of heat the emitted from the parry fading into the mist. Before he could entirely recover from this distraction however, Sakura leapt out of the mist visibly preparing for a kick.

"Hya!"

Given that he'd just parried the shuriken, Zabuza was left slightly out of position. A vertical slice would serve him well, while also not leaving him open, but according to Sakura's flight path that he'd calculated in his head, he would not have enough time to reorient his sword before ending up with a broken nose.

Instead, he swung the sword horizontally, intending to split Sakura in half.

Then he saw it.

A small circle of light reflected off Sakuras waist, trailing backwards towards the misty unknown that lay behind her. Half a second worth of analysis painted the picture clearly in Zabuza's mind. Sakura had created a bungie cord of wire, and if there was three of them, that meant…

Sakura shot back through the air, her natural force completely switching backwards, as she quickly faded into the foggy air. This development left Zabuza in an unexpected position, with his sword outstretched in a parallel slash but no actual target to receive the attack, too much power behind it for him to stop himself.

As a flash of black began to appear through the cloudy air, he realized this was their intention. The sound of footsteps was audible outside his range of vision, but right now, he didn't care to chase them.

Sasuke's body flickered into view, knee braced. Zabuza realized there was nothing he could do, except twist his wrist somewhat in an attempt to keep the boy from totally besting him. The Uchiha's foot shot out, connecting with the blunt edge of the sword.

Swoosh!

The kick gave the blade enough momentum to continue its trajectory, becoming imbedded inside the water clone's abdomen. Fluid begin to run down and puddle up on the sword's horizontal edges, the cut not being quite deep enough to fully disband the clone thanks to Zabuza's wristwork.

Sasuke briefly hesitated (having fully expected to end the clone's "life" there) but returned to the offensive quickly, throwing out another kick at the dull edge of the Kubikiribōchō in an attempt to further implant it in the water clone.

His kick never met metal as Zabuza caught the attack and pulled Sasuke closer, before using the same hand to smash Sasuke's forehead down against the sword that was still stuck in him. The Uchiha collapsed to the ground, eyes twisted and seeing stars, giving Zabuza more than enough time to retrieve his sword.

He raised it upwards before bringing it down on Sasuke hard enough to crack the ground underneath him…however, the blade only hilted itself onto a log.

Getting real sick of substitutions

Zabuza's mind echoed with annoyance, as he raised up his weapon with the wood stump still hanging onto the end.

"Shadow Mob Jutsu!" Naruto's shrill scream came bursting through the situation's intensity, cleaving any tension like a knife through butter. Not only was it annoying, but it was also echoed a dozen-fold as Naruo charged at Zabuza, flanked by numerous copies of himself.

"Oh, here we go…" The mist-ninja groaned, straightening himself out and letting his muscles breath…before his sword ripped through the air, the chunk of wood that had been attached going flying directly at the front Naruto.

Bam!

It wacked him over the head, causing the boy to almost immediately fall over, eyes wide, white and stunned.

Zabuza was unimpressed.

Did he really just heed the pack when he had eleven other decoys he could've used as cover?

The mob of Naruto's began to circle around their enemy, eyes mischievously glinting in the cool, misty air. Despite being severely outnumbered, Zabuza felt little fear, gaze circulating over the pack as he mentally did a headcount (discarding the one that had already been ).

11

Two Naruto's attempted to rush him down from two different sides. One was promptly stabbed…

10

The other was knocked backwards, as Zabuza transitioned the straight piercing into a strike with the sword's hilt, not even looking at the clone he'd just knocked down. The crowd quickly realized that simply feeding him kills may not have been their best option here, beginning to shift strategies.

One Naruto dived at Zabuza's leg with a kunai, which was quickly blocked by his sword. Just then, two more Naruto's dived through the air, one holding a kunai, the other empty-handed. Thinking on his feet, Zabuza punted the grounded clone hard enough to make it disperse...

9

While swinging his sword up clockwise, and attempting to cut through the two airborne ones.

8

His sword's range just wasn't wide enough, however as one of the clones managed to successfully bypass the slash, slamming his fist into Zabuza's cheek. The attack barley phased the older man, but it did serve well in pushing him back somewhat (exactly what Naruto wanted)

The mist ninja felt his legs rest up against an elevated body and even without any line of sight, he realized this was Naruto attempting the classic schoolyard trip trick. The heel of Zabuzas sandals came crashing down against the clone's head in a move that would've drawn brain matter had it been the real boy.

7

Zabuza continued to walk backwards, paying no thought to the rapidly advancing Naruto clones. The number of footsteps he heard clumped together in an amalgamation of sound, too mixed together for him to be able to accurately guess how many clones were left (had he not been keeping count)

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tip

One of the clones stepped out of rhythm, the small change in beat costing him his existence as Zabuza swiveled around faster than he could blink, stabbing him.

6

Three Naruto's attempted to engage with him from the front. To them, it was a fight, but to Zabuza, it felt more like a dance.

One charged at him with the kunai. He was easily caught and thrown aside, recovering instantly and charging back at the jonin, along with the other two. Two kicks were thrown at Zabuza, one from either side, but both were blocked, as he dropped the sword.

Taking hold of one of the clones' feet, Zabuza proceed to use him as a human shield, blocking a kunai assault from the previously-cast aside Naruto.

5

This same kunai was quickly torn away from the shadow clones' hands and used to impale his throat…

4

While Zabuza delivered a hook kick to the third of the offensive trio, not even gazing at him as he effortlessly destroyed the copy in taijutsu. The turning of his back may have been more of a mistake than he realized however, as the weight of the four remaining clones quickly piled onto his back, only for them to be just as quickly slammed onto the ground, bodies scattering.

Zabuza plunged his sword through one, the resulting smoke further intensifying the mist.

3.

The leftovers' faces became stricken with panic and they readily decided that this fight may not have been worth it. Three streaks of orange began to dart through the mist, running as fast as their legs would carry them.

Zabuza, who had been busy dealing with the one he'd just killed, looked over at the fleeing mob.

Their head start wasn't going to be worth much.

Initially slow, the man began break into a light sprint, gazing at the clones much like a lion would gaze at a Zebra. His footsteps got faster and faster before his sword buried itself in the ground, Zabuza using it like a pole vault to elevate himself upwards, grabbing the sword out of the ground as he began to fly.

He blew through the air, cool winds crashing against his face, only slanting his eyes further and further. Finally, he descended onto the pack of clones, who looked up in shook before they were all collectively taken out by the demon of the mists bombing run.

Relishing the feeling of land beneath his feet once more, the man celebrated his bout of innovation, stowing his sword onto his back.

Then, as his sandals shuffled around the ground, he became aware of a small marking that been made. Casting his vision downwards, he found what appeared to be a front facing arrow that had been messily drawn with a kunai.

FWOOSH!

Wind broke as two large, deadly fuma-shuriken came spinning through the misty overlap. His attention snapped to the weapons direction, finding Sasuke with his hand outstretched.

They overlapped and intersected like two race cars, cutting through the thick air that polluted the area and giving Zabuza's water clone no time to…

SNIKT!

…dodge.

One of the shuriken tore through the duplicate, sending small bits of liquid spilling onto the ground (followed by a much larger waterfall as the water clone fully collapsed in on itself)

Although one's momentum may have been halted, the other weapon continued to fly forwards, leaving no doubt that the actual target was the real Zabuza, a realization that quickly dawned on the mist ninja.

The sound of the shuriken tearing through the winds made what little time he had to think seem even shorter, while Kakashi's water-logged eyes lit up in surprise.

No room to dodge without breaking the water prison. Can't block it with Kubikiribōchō. I can either run or…

His eyes reflected the ever-approaching rotation, seeing it over and over and over again. It was here he found the weak-spot he needed.

…got it!

Zabuza thrust out a kick towards the inside of the fuma shruiken, carefully angling his foot through the blades to avoid getting sliced. While his grip on the water prison may have been tested, he succeeded in dispelling the shuriken…except it didn't feel like metal.

Smoke exploded around the ninja tool, fading away to reveal Naruto, the real Naruto, holding a kunai.

"Got ya."

His words perfectly timed with the dispersion of his previously "knocked out" shadow clone.

Zabuzas eyes widened, as the kunai glinted fatally.

Naruto straightened his arm up, before finally unleashing a baseball-style throw of the knife, well-aimed towards Zabuza's face. The accuracy of the pitch left no doubt in anyone's mind that it could kill.

Can't block…can't reflect…I'll have to…

Nearly leaving it too late, Zabuza regretfully ripped his arm away from the water prison, darting out of the kunai's path as the sound of the structure beginning to collapse washed over the arena (as well as Naruto clumsily landing against the stone flooring)

With moisture now provided to the previously malnourished ground, Kakashi took a deep breath of air, before standing up straight, gaze quickly darting between Team Seven.

"…Good job." Was all he said, though even this tiny acknowledgment was enough to brighten up the student's expressions.

His focus was torn of the children by the sound of metal scraping against rock became more and more notable, Zabuza having retrieved the Kubikiribōchō, his beady eyes becoming more defined with murderous intent than they ever had before.

He realized he only had a few seconds left before his chance to kill Kakashi had become completely squandered and made a desperate last dash, the metal of his sword dragging along the rocky ground.

Kakashi casually moved an arm upwards towards his headband, slowly pulling it upwards. Red light began to shine from the revealed left eye, Zabuzas own sinking in fear as the display of crippling crimson pierced his soul and left his heart racing.

Woah! He's got a red eye! Naruto beamed, really only paying mind to how badass he thought it looked.

Wow…makes sense he keeps that covered up. Inner-Sakura snickered.

Sasuke felt his lungs hitch, confusion racing through his brain.

But...but, that's-

The sharingan! Zabuza mentally cursed himself for letting the battle devolve to this point. Eager to rectify his mistake, he leapt upwards, indenting to bring his hulking weapon down on Kakashi, but by the time his attack hit the ground, the copy ninja was nowhere to be seen.

Zabuza had a second to come to this realization before a fist smashed into the side of his head, dropping him to the ground. An angered attempt at retaliation from the mist ninja was met with a swift kick to the head, followed almost instantaneously by another one to the back of his neck.

Currently seeing double, Zabuza barley managed to block a third kick coming his way, using the wide side of his sword as a shield, before standing up and shoving his shoulder into it, creating a small bit of distance between him and Kakashi.

This spacing was quickly rendered null, as the leaf ninja rushed him down again, arms held up in a boxing guard. Zabuza attempted to break it, but his barrage of punches only served to leave himself open, as Kakashi weaved through the flying fists, delivering another one of his own to the side of Zabuza's head.

A grapple attempt from the demon of the mist was quickly shut down, Kakashi taking the opportunity to grab the man's arm and thrust his knee into his Cubital Fossa, extending the joint far further than it should go.

"Aaah!" Zabuza screamed, as intense pain shot through the upper-half of his arm, Kakashi not sparring a thought as he transitioned so that his back was facing Zabuzas front, going through hand signs while still keeping hold of the other man's arm. The rocky terrain of the ground started to crumble as he used an earth release technique to summon a rectangular pillar of rock behind the two of them.

Slam!

The full weight of Zabuzas body was lifted over Kakashis shoulder, before he was slammed onto the ground in a judo hold, no seconds wasted before Kakshis used the injured arm to spin a still-grounded Zabuza into the rock wall, his form connecting with it hard enough to cause small cracks in the rocks.

The missing nin's vision began to swirl, eyesight completely shot from the repeated hits he'd taken. Luckily for him, his hearing was still at least somewhat functional, enough so that he had enough awareness to roll away from the collapsing stone pillar, somersaulting onto his feet only to catch a hook kick to the side of his mouth from Kakashi before being thrown onto the collapsed wall of rock as fast as he got up.

Kakashis red eye glinted as he quickly went through hand seals, creating an O shape around his mouth.

"Fire Style: Fireball- "Small simmering sparks of flame began to bleed through his mask but were quickly snuffed out as a quick-thinking Zabuza kicked up the water of one of the nearby puddles into Kakashis face, causing the man to break into a coughing fit as steam ran down his lungs.

In his fuss to expel all the vapor from his insides, Kakashi turned his back to Zabuza, basically providing his foe with an open target. Drawing Kubikiribōchō, a still disoriented Zabuza leapt towards his opponent, providing a drowsy slash to his back.

"Aaah!" Kakashi yelled, blood beginning to run down that large line that ran down his chunin jacket.

The watching genin felt their hearts start to race even harder, eyes going wide at the attack.

In the meanwhile, Zabuza had already leapt backwards, hands clapping together in different signs before he finally unleashed a mighty attack.

"Water release: Geyser Kamikaze!" He yelled, a ball of thrashing waves forming in his hands, growing larger and larger.

"Eeck!" Sakura squealed, realizing the areas natural water gravitating towards the attack, which was clearly growing uncontrollable in Zabuzas hands, bubbling up further and further until…

WOOOOOOSH!

As if it was a bomb, it exploded, water and waves spiraling around the battle field leaving no one unscathed, first consuming Kakashi and Zabuza himself into the current-hardened gorge. The body of water continued to bulge outwards, hurtling towards the rest of Team Seven.

"Oh shit!" Naruto screamed, starting to back away from the ever-approaching ocean, only to get swept up as easy as the rest. Sakuras screams quickly transformed into bubbles under the sea, while Sasuke leapt onto a tree, hand clinging onto the branch hard enough to crack it.

He gravely underestimated the water pressure of the expanding lagoon however, as the branch was torn apart with the rest of the tree, submerging Uchiha in the void of water. His fingertips temporarily broke the surface with fight, but much like anything else nearby, they soon began to sink.

What had it been? Five minutes, ten minutes? Tazuna hadn't kept track of time, having darted behind a tree early on in the fight. Nervously, he began to wipe clean his spectacles only to notice his hands shaking.

"Ah damn it, I really must be getting old."

FWOOOOOOSH!

The sound of rushing water alerted him to the fact that this definitely wasn't his cognitive ability failing. Gently pushing the glasses back onto his face, Tazuna poked his head out from behind the tree to see an avalanche of waves hurtling towards him.

"WHAT THE HEL- "Water filled his mouth in place of where words used to be, washing him (and his surroundings) away.

After around fifteen seconds of nonstop flow, the running river began to dispatch in on itself, quickly dispersing through a narrow but long crevasse in the landscape.

The first sign of life from the aftermath was Zabuza coughing up dirt, the muddy washed grime of the ravine plastered on his face. His limbs felt like rubber, he could barely stand, having to use his sword to prop himself up even slightly.

His gaze lingered on his environs. The three genin kids were scattered around the river bank, either unconscious, dead or too sore to stand. Not a threat. The bridge builder looked awake, but he wasn't getting anywhere anytime soon.

Must've taken a bad fall. Zabuza mused, looking over the man, who was trying to scurry away by crawling through the dirt.

Zabuza attempted to follow him, but a nagging sensation kept him frozen, one thought constantly pounding away at his head.

Where's Kakashi?

The answer presented it to him quite easily as he saw the leaf jonin face up in the dirt, clearly knocked out. There was only one thing left to do. His chakra was completely shot, barley having enough left for one jutsu, he couldn't risk Kakashi waking up and starting another fight.

Slowly, he trudged over to him, wet sandals collecting residual mud from the riverbank. It took him nearly thirty seconds to make it over to the body. Raising up his sword, he brought it down upon Kakashi, intent on piercing his foes heart.

The blade connected, Zabuza fully collapsing as soon as he felt the sword impale something, eyes snapping shut in exhaustion. He stayed there, on his knees for a few seconds, just letting the cool, soothing air overtake him.

What was he doing?

Oh yeah, bridge builder.

Slowly, he reactivated his vision…only to be met with the sight of a damp log sitting where Kakashis body used to be.

"Son of a…"

Crack!

Kakashi's knee bashed into his back, planting him face-down in the dirt. Zabuza turned around and tried to throw a punch but it was kicked out of the air, sending a debilitating pain down his arm that was only matched by the kick to the chin that followed.

With an aching back and heavy limbs, Zabuza pushed himself up to face similarly fatigued Kakashi. Both could barley feel their bodies, both were panting heavily. The fight that commenced was nothing like their previous one. As that one had been fast and slick, this one was slow and weighty.

Zabuza threw two slow punches, which were easily dodged through, Kakashis' sharingan glimmering with calculations. Another punch from the mist-ninja was caught, before he was pulled into a knee strike to the gut.

Zabuza fell to his knees but Kakashi never gave up control of the wrist, viciously stamping his foe in the face three times, before delivering a kick that pressed in the elbow, putting even more pain on the already injured ligament.

"Aaaahh…" For a brief moment, Zabuza converted the burning pain in his face and arm to adrenaline. Kakashi felt his energy level slip, not able to keep the control of the wrist in the face of his foes renewed vigor.

This gave the mist ninja opportunity to attempt another barrage of punches, each one being blocked by a double hand guard. For a brief moment, he thought he was one step ahead of Kakashi, spotting the copy ninja pumping up his leg for what was sure to be a bicycle kick.

Zabuza guessed correctly, dodging to the side of his opponent, only to eat an elbow to the mouth for his troubles, the initial attack having been a feint. As he fell to his knees, red marks began to seep through his face tape, dropping down to the dirt and drying up.

It's like…he knows what I'm going to do before I do…that eye? Does it have the ability to…?

He looked up at Kakashi, growling in defiance.

Read the future?!

Deciding to put his theory to the test, Zabuza pushed himself up off the ground (having to put weight on his damaged arm), facing Kakashi down as the last bit of chakra he had left began to swirl around him, any water residue that was left on the bank building up around him.

His hands snapped to a sign.

Kakashi followed at the exact same time.

Zabuza transitioned to another.

Kakashi almost did it faster than him.

The pace began to build up, both of there hands shuffling into place at speeds that would blur to the normal human eye.

OX, TIGER, CRANE, OX, TIGER

OX, TIGER, CRANE, OX, TIGER

Despite Zabuza setting the jutsu, it was hard to tell who was copying who.

After around five seconds, the demon of the mist attempted to shatter symmetry, finishing his seals and letting out a roar (which was duplicated perfectly by Kakashi)

"WATER RELEASE: WATER DRAGON JUTSU" They yelled simultaneously, the nearby puddles forming into long blue dragons, true to the techniques name. The two majestic beasts charged at the others summoner with a mighty roar, only serving to cancel each other out and create an improvised rainfall over the two shinobi.

Rain droplets poured down upon the pair, soaking them from the hair to their sandals. There was a moment of what could be considered peace, as both took the time to breath, until Zabuza yet out a primal yell, running at Kakashi with his hand clearly outstretched.

His footsteps were short, barley even constituting a "run". He could barely stand up with how low his chakra was, it was a miracle he could even walk in the first place. It came as no surprise to anyone that his chin ate yet another shot from Kakashi, the force behind the punch sending Zabuza flying back into the dirt.

With rapid, ragged breaths, Kakashi began to cast hand signs again, eventually clutching one hand in the other before short bolts of electricity began to emit from his fingertips.

Zabuzas eyes widened. He couldn't move.

The lightning became more intense, breaking out into a fully-fledged body of voltage in Kakashis hand, crackling and sizzling through the heavy air.

It was at this time the three students awoke from their temporary knock out, each one spitting up water at an individual pace. Draining some of the fluid out of his hair, Naruto was the first to speak, with an ever eloquent:

"I think Kakashi-Sensei's about to kill that dude!"

He'd be correct as the teacher let out a bone-chilling cry of "Lightning release: CHIDORI!" before beginning to rush forward at an immobile Zabuza.

The mist ninja braced as the light of the attack drew closer and closer, it's mere presence meters from him already running static down his arms. As he drew nearer, Kakashi yanked his arm back, obviously intending to thrust it back out with renewed force.

Leaves rustled to his side.

Kakashi withdrew the jutsu completely, halting harshly, which turned out to be for the better as a rain of thin, sharp needles descending onto the battlefield, each one piercing into Zabuza.

"Huh?" Naruto spoke what the other two genin were thinking, eyes widening at the sight of Zabuzas own rolling into the back of his head. The scenic sounds of birds chirping became more prominent, as everyone in the immediate vicinity became still and quiet.

Fwoosh!

Dirt and dust spluttered up next to the demon of the mist, as a masked person body flickered into view. Their gender was indiscernible thanks to the white cover that obscured their face, thin eyeholes cutting through the middle of it.

Naruto quickly turned to the others; eyes slightly angered. "Hey, who the hell's that guy?!"

Sasuke let out a liquidated cough, not having fully recovered from the water jutsu before answering with a raspy tone. "Looks like anbu."

He was correct. The individual wore the mask of the Kirigakure Corpse Processing Unit. He was a what was called a "hunter-nin", one of the elite levels of Anbu that existed in the land of mist.

"On behalf of the land of mist and her grace Mei Terumi, I thank you for your assistance the capture of this wanted criminal. I will be escorting the body back to Kirigakure for verification and burial." The voice was soft and faintly feminine.

Kakashi let out a small barely audible sound of recognition, before beginning to walk towards a possibly injured Tazuna. This was all the person needed to sharply disappear, body flickering away with Zabuza's presumably-dead body in tow.

This diffusion of tension was enough to send Team Seven scampering out of their hiding place like mice.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled, as he ran over to him (hyperactivity canceling out any drowsiness or pain he felt)

Kakashi turned to them with (what looked like) a small smile, before crouching down to check on Tazuna.

"Are you alright?"

"Ah, I'm okay but my legs fucked." Kakashi ignored the bluntness of the bridge builders' comments and helped him back up, Tazuna noticeably not putting much weight on his right leg.

"Sasuke, Sakura, can you make sure Tazuna doesn't fall over?"

The two nodded their heads, as Kakashi began to mentally map the path they'd taken in the river rapids.

"We need to go back to camp and col…" He paused. "...coll…ugh."

Drowsiness and fatigue finally overtook Kakashi, the man suddenly collapsing into the dirt.

"Aah!" Naruto and Sakura both screamed while the action only served to inflict more frustration onto Tazuna.

"Oh jesus Christ." He sighed, putting a hand to his head. "You two, carry him." He motioned to Naruto and Sakura, perhaps too military-like.

"Hey, who died and made you leader of Team 7?" Naruto yelled, while still following the orders and picking up Kakashi by his head.

"Possibly him, if we don't get him medical attention in time. My daughters a doctor; it'll be an hour walk." Tazuna replied grumpily, the response causing Naruto to incoherently grumble something expletive.

The two assigned genin lifted Kakashi up between them, struggling to carry him. With their constant stumbling, Tazuna predicted it would turn an hours-worth of walking into three-hours' worth of walking.

"Ah, fuck it, I'll take him." The old man finally barked.

"But your leg…" Sakura said, eyes firmly focused on the mans limp.

"Doesn't matter, get him up on my back."

The two students did as told, hoisting Kakashi up onto Tazuna, much like a backpack. With no words shared between them, they all began to walk, sandals smushing through the wet riverbank mud.

An initial assumption would be that all thoughts were blank, everyone in the area adapting to what they'd just seen and this was true for three quarters of the currently-conscious parties. One person's mind was racking itself faster than ever.

Sasuke strayed behind the group, occasionally shooting quick glances up at the comatose Kakashi, or more specifically, his eye.

The sharingan…how the hell did he get it?!

"AAAH!" Zabuza shot awake, as another needle was ripped from his skin, a surprisingly little amount of blood leaking from the wound.

"Try and stay calm Zabuza-sensei." The "anbu" replied, lax tone the exact opposite of Zabuza's.

"Haku…" He said, having to accommodate to the fact that he wasn't dead. "…I want to go after him."

"I'm sorry Zabuza-sensei, you're in no state to right now."

"…I'm going to fucking kill him." His inflection spiked up in aggressiveness.

"I know." Haku replied, discarding the mask in order to improve his accuracy with the needle removal. His face was feminine but unquestionably male.

At this response, Zabuza realized any more ranting and shouting would akin to a child throwing a tantrum, so he decided to lock it away in his mind, storing the simmering anger until the next time they met.

Kakashi Hatake…you're a dead man.