Chapter 187: Team Seven's First Battle
"What?" Tazuna turned pale with fright upon hearing this and gritted his teeth. "Damn Kado, to actually do this!"
"Mr. Zabuza, how about we hide for a while?" After cursing Kado, Tazuna turned and suggested to Zabuza.
"Run from what!" Zabuza frowned impatiently. "If they dare come looking for me, it's a perfect chance to kill a few Konoha ninjas to avenge our Kirigakure ninjas."
However, as soon as his voice fell, the hairs on his back suddenly stood on end. He drew the Executioner's Blade from his back, holding it before him while simultaneously protecting Tazuna.
A chakra laser beam as thick as a thigh struck directly onto the Executioner's Blade. A violent explosion roared, and Tazuna's small house was instantly blasted into smithereens.
As the smoke from the explosion slowly dissipated, Zabuza panted heavily, looking down at the Executioner's Blade in his hand; it was already covered in cracks.
And behind him, Tazuna and the boy who had just delivered the news had fallen to the ground, their faces filled with terror.
Zabuza, without a word, took out a bottle of blood from his ninja tool pouch and poured it onto the Executioner's Blade. The moment the Executioner's Blade came into contact with the blood, the cracks on its body, caused by the explosion just now, began to slowly repair themselves.
Zabuza then stared intently at the coast. A huge wave surged upwards, and from the crest of the wave, a large azure serpent burst forth. Atop the azure serpent's head, three youths, not quite fully grown, wearing Konoha forehead protectors, stood proudly.
The leading youth already had his right hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist, looking down condescendingly at Zabuza: "An illegal ninja village formed by a group of rogue ninjas, since when could it represent Kirigakure?"
"Konoha ninjas?" Zabuza's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the three youths atop the giant serpent's head. He brandished the fully repaired Executioner's Blade, pointing it directly at Sasuke and the other two. "State your names!"
"Konoha Genin, Uchiha Sasuke."
"Konoha Genin, Uzumaki Naruto."
"Konoha Genin, Hyuga Neji."
"Hmph, just three Genin?" A trace of contempt flashed in Zabuza's eyes. "An Uchiha, and a Hyuga Main House member? Your Konoha has indeed sent me a generous gift."
Zabuza licked his lips: "Your eyes, I'll take them."
"How unfortunate for you. We also plan to take you and exchange you for a Byakugan that your group of rogue ninjas once stole from my clan," Neji said with a cold smile after unsummoning the sniper rifle he held.
"Hah, arrogant little brats," Zabuza said, his hands rapidly forming seals. A dense fog rose from an unknown source, completely enveloping the area.
"Hidden Mist Jutsu?" Neji looked at the surrounding dense fog unhurriedly. "Do you think this technique has any effect in front of my Byakugan?"
Zabuza didn't say much. Using the cover of the dense fog, he used a body flicker technique to appear behind Naruto. In his view, both the Sharingan and Byakugan countered their Kirigakure's signature assassination technique, the Hidden Mist Jutsu. Therefore, dealing with the blonde one among them who lacked an eye technique first, and then confronting the others head-on, was the correct approach.
"Kid, behind you," the Nine-Tails' voice echoed in Naruto's mind.
"I can see him!" Naruto, wearing the vision-sharing ninja tool, turned and delivered a heavy kick to the side of the Executioner's Blade. After altering the trajectory of the slash, he used the momentum to twist his body and threw a punch towards Zabuza's temple. Zabuza raised his other hand to block, yet the immense force transmitted from the arm shocked Zabuza greatly.
The next instant, a cold glint of purple lightning and a palm wreathed in strong wind arrived in a flash. Seeing this, Zabuza could only use the Body Replacement Technique to dodge away.
Zabuza, back in the dense fog,甩了甩 (shuǎileshuǎi - shook/flung) his hand, his face full of astonishment. These three could be Genin?
However, before he could recover, several bolts of lightning descended from the sky. Zabuza hastily dodged. The lightning striking from above blasted one deep crater after another behind him.
"This fighting style..." Zabuza, while arduously dodging the relentlessly bombarding lightning, frowned as he looked at the figure not far away, surrounded by viscous purple lightning, its eyes glinting with a scarlet light. This figure slowly overlapped with the image of that person who had cast a deep shadow over their Kirigakure years ago.
"Sasuke, be careful. Don't forget we need to capture him alive," Neji said, while continuously throwing some strangely shaped metal rods that appeared beside him towards the surroundings.
"Alright," Sasuke nodded, slightly retracting the lightning. But before Zabuza could even breathe a sigh of relief, a blonde figure burst out from the surrounding dense fog with a loud shout.
Zabuza swung his blade and shattered it. However, the next second, another blonde charged out from a different direction.
[Shadow Clones, Shadow Clones, Shadow Clones! Damn it, where did this kid get so many Shadow Clones!] After Zabuza consecutively slashed over a dozen of Naruto's Shadow Clones into smoke, he couldn't help but become agitated. Who normal could have so many Shadow Clones? Besides, if an ordinary person created so many Shadow Clones, the chakra amount in each clone should be very scarce, making it impossible for them to launch any decent attacks. But the attacks launched by the Shadow Clones rushing towards him just now, each one forced him to face it with utmost seriousness.
Zabuza had no choice but to proactively dispel the Hidden Mist Jutsu. After the dense fog cleared, Zabuza looked at the surrounding sea of yellow, and beads of cold sweat also appeared on his temples.
Seeing the dense fog was gone, Naruto's Shadow Clones simply swarmed forward. Zabuza, seeing this, could only rapidly form hand seals.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
From the sea not far from Zabuza, a giant dragon formed from condensed seawater burst through the waves, roaring as it charged towards Naruto's Shadow Clones.
Naruto's Shadow Clones shattered one after another under the impact of this giant dragon. Seeing this, Zabuza let out a long sigh of relief.
[Good thing this is by the seaside; otherwise, I really would have been done for.] Zabuza thought to himself, stepping on the thick layer of water left behind by the Water Dragon Jutsu, raising his hand to wipe the large beads of sweat from his temples.
"You seem to be celebrating a bit too early."
Zabuza looked towards the sound. When he saw the youth, also stepping on the accumulated water, his long sword glinting with purple lightning, his pupils constricted.
Sasuke plunged Ziden heavily into the accumulated water. The purple lightning instantly began to spread along the water.
Once, on the battlefield of the Third Great Ninja War, a saying circulated among their Kirigakure ninjas: never use large-scale Water Style ninjutsu against Uchiha Douhuan, because those techniques would become the caster's death warrant.
Zabuza was still young back then and didn't quite understand the meaning of this saying. But now, he understood.
Zabuza could only leap high. However, the next instant, six purple lightning dragons burst out from the water surface, roaring as they charged towards him, sealing off all his escape routes.
Zabuza continuously looked around. Now, even if he used the Body Replacement Technique, he couldn't find a place to escape. Within a radius of nearly a hundred meters, it was all accumulated water flowing with high-voltage current. He feared he would lose the ability to move the moment he landed. Thus, Zabuza could only grit his teeth, use the Executioner's Blade to protect his vital points, intending to tank this ninjutsu, and then use the recoil force of the technique to escape to a relatively safe place.
His plan succeeded. After tanking this blow, the impact of the exploding Lightning Release ninjutsu sent him flying a great distance. However, as a price, the Executioner's Blade in his hand was now covered in cracks. At the same time, Zabuza also spat out a mouthful of blood in mid-air, clearly having suffered internal injuries from the impact just now.
Zabuza, after landing, struggled to his feet. Disregarding the ceaseless intense pain wracking his body, Zabuza turned and fled in disarray.
Those two brats he fought just now, either one of them already possessed Elite Jounin level strength! That Uchiha brat was even like a carbon copy of Uchiha Douhuan, the dark cloud hanging over their Kirigakure! If they were given another two years, what then? He had to escape back to Kirigakure immediately, bring this news back to the village, and then organize manpower to hunt them down! Otherwise, once they matured, their Kirigakure would never have a chance to rise again!
However, before Zabuza could take two steps, a large area of bizarre runes suddenly appeared on the ground beneath him. The little chakra remaining in his body was drained in an instant. Chakra chains erupted from underground, completely binding his hands and feet.
Zabuza looked up towards the edge of this rune-covered area. He saw that at the edge of this area, a metal rod was inserted into the ground every few meters. Only then did Zabuza understand what purpose those things the Hyuga brat threw out earlier served.
"This thing works pretty well," Sasuke was the first to arrive beside the completely bound Zabuza, examining the trap Neji had laid out earlier, which could link together to temporarily form a chakra-sealing Fūinjutsu.
"This is a new ninja tool developed by Tenten and Karin, still in testing. Tenten specifically asked me to bring it before we left," Neji said.
"Let's tie him up first," Sasuke nodded, then took out a coil of specially made rope from his sealing scroll, intending to tie Zabuza up.
However, Zabuza suddenly burst out at this moment, lunging towards Sasuke with a kunai in hand.
"Die! Uchiha genius brat!" A trace of determination flashed in Zabuza's eyes. In the current situation, escape was impossible. But to be able to take down an Uchiha genius brat, who was very likely Uchiha Douhuan's direct disciple, before dying, would be a death without regrets.
However, Zabuza then suddenly saw the three tomoe in Sasuke's Sharingan eyes slowly spinning.
The next instant, Zabuza collapsed powerlessly.
"Hey, Sasuke, this guy seems to really think you're his teacher," Naruto, arriving late to the scene, chuckled upon seeing this. "Actually daring to look directly at your Sharingan."
Neji's mouth twitched slightly upon hearing Naruto's words, then he reminded, "Don't just say things like that randomly. If Teacher hears it, he'll probably beat you up again."
After Sasuke tied Zabuza up tightly, he applied two more sealing jutsus on him, completely sealing off any possibility of resistance.
"Sasuke, how do we deal with the people here?" Neji, seeing Zabuza had completely lost the ability to resist, turned to look at the surrounding village. The moment the battle started, Tazuna and his grandson had taken advantage of the chaos to disappear. Many surrounding houses were also damaged in the battle just now.
"We don't need to worry about that. Without the threat of ninjas, Uncle Kado will take care of things afterwards," Sasuke said.
...
One week later, the news of Zabuza being captured by Konoha reached North Kirigakure Village. At the same time, word came that if Uchiha Douhuan wanted to spare his life, they would have to exchange that Byakugan in their hands for him.
Terumi Mei was instantly overwhelmed with anxiety upon receiving the news. This move by Konoha could be said to have completely hit their North Kirigakure's vital spot.
Using a Byakugan that their Kirigakure had gone to great lengths to obtain in exchange for the life of an Elite Jounin – this exchange was a loss no matter how you looked at it. Although Zabuza was one of the strongest in their North Kirigakure, the Byakugan was a Kekkei Genkai capable of changing the landscape of a war. No leader of any ninja village would agree to such an exchange.
But North Kirigakure was different. The current North Kirigakure was a village barely maintaining its cohesion under South Kirigakure's financial offensive, relying on Terumi Mei constantly painting grand promises. If Zabuza, who could have survived, died in Konoha because the higher-ups were unwilling to part with a Byakugan, it would be a huge blow to their North Kirigakure's morale.
The ninjas of North Kirigakure endured arduous marches, often without enough food or warm clothing – wasn't it all for the beautiful future Terumi Mei spoke of? But now, for the sake of a Byakugan, you weren't even willing to save a comrade? If Zabuza really died, then his subordinates in North Kirigakure would definitely mutiny.
"Lady Mizukage, Zabuza's subordinates have now gathered around the Mizukage Building. What do we do now?" Hoshigaki Kisame came into Terumi Mei's office, sighed deeply, and then asked.
"Do we have any other choice?" Terumi Mei smiled wryly. "Have Ao come over."
Terumi Mei's office fell into a long silence. After a while, Terumi Mei finally spoke, "Do we know who Zabuza fell to?"
"According to the news brought back by those who escaped from the Land of Waves, Zabuza was defeated by three Konoha Genin," Hoshigaki Kisame reported.
"Genin?" Terumi Mei showed an expression of disbelief upon hearing this. "Are you kidding me?"
"One of them, an Uchiha clan brat, fights very much like Uchiha Douhuan. This squad is suspected to be Uchiha Douhuan's direct disciples," Kisame stated.
"So, this is another Konoha genius?" Terumi Mei gritted her teeth. "Their Konoha geniuses truly emerge endlessly, while our Kirigakure specializes in producing..."
[Vermin.] Hoshigaki Kisame silently completed the two words Terumi Mei left unsaid in his mind.
Although he really didn't want to admit it, Terumi Mei was right. If Konoha was the cradle of geniuses, then their Kirigakure could already be called a hotbed for vermin.
(End of Chapter)
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