Chapter 45: [CHAPTER 45] Zabuza's Confidence; Back with His Blade, Gone with the Wind
Zabuza Momochi sneered at Kakashi. "Talk? You want to talk? Are you taking me lightly, huh?"
Kakashi shook his head slightly. "Not exactly, but if I tell you the truth, I am confident in defeating you, even if you have your Decapitating Carving Blade. But I don't want to kill you."
Zabuza snorted. "Oh, is that so? Then how about returning my Blade back to me, then I will listen what you want to talk."
Kakashi raised his brow. "So, you just want to fight. Well, that would also be good, if I beat you enough, maybe you listen to me properly."
Saying this, Kakashi covered his right eye with his forehead protector, leaving only his left eye open, with the THREE-TOMOE Sharingan. "Alright, if that's what you want!"
Kakashi then threw Kubikiribōchō in the air, towards Zabuza. Several meters away from their battlefield, stood Tazuna, guarded by Sakura, looking vigilantly around for any hidden threats.
However, they both could still clearly see Kakashi and Zabuza, and also how Kakashi had thrown the Blade back to Zabuza.
Tazuna, confused, asked, "Is Ninja-sama serious about it, returning the weapon of the enemy back to him?"
Sakura, taking her kunai out, completely alert, also saw this, confused. "I am not sure, but Kakashi-sensei knows what he is doing! And I'm sure he will be okay, after all he is strong."
Even Tazuna nodded; after all, they had all seen how Kakashi had turned those Demon Brothers into paste with one move. Zabuza, seeing his Blade coming towards him, immediately moved at fast speed, catching Kubikiribōchō in mid-air.
Just as he gripped his massive Blade, he swiftly moved it towards Kakashi, who had already changed his position with a wooden log, with Substitution Jutsu. As Kubikiribōchō struck the wood, it cut into two pieces.
Zabuza smirked; after having his massive Blade back, his confidence was high. He turned back, and saw Kakashi was now standing, casually on a tree branch.
Zabuza plunged his Blade into the ground, right beside him, and made a few hand signs. "Water Release: Hiding Mist Jutsu!"
A thick mist, infused with his Chakra, suddenly surrounded the area, severely reducing visibility for everyone in the area and those who were outside. Sakura and Tazuna, at their distance, also only saw a thick mist surrounding the battlefield area of Kakashi and Zabuza alone.
Tazuna stammered, "W-will he be okay?!"
Sakura reassured him, with a determined look, "Yeah, Sensei will be completely fine."
Kakashi, who used his THREE-TOMOE Sharingan to see this Jutsu forming, didn't move, because he could clearly see the Chakra of Zabuza. He saw that Zabuza jumped to his left, however not alone, but made a Water Clone of his, who jumped to the right.
His Water Clone spoke, "Let's see what you will do, Copy Ninja Kakashi!"
Zabuza is an assassin, and thick mist is the best way for him to eliminate targets. Kakashi didn't reply, just made hand signs, and created two Shadow Clones of his, one rushed towards the Water Clone of Zabuza, who, without suppressing his presence, was coming towards him.
And one went towards the left, to the real Zabuza, who was silently, suppressing his presence moving towards Kakashi. Meanwhile Kakashi himself after a few minutes of wait, made hand signs and sent a powerful gust of wind from his mouth, dissipating the thick mist around the area.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough Jutsu!"
Zabuza's Water Clone was swiftly taken down, while Zabuza himself started to have a hard time against Kakashi's shadow clone, thinking it was really Kakashi. Zabuza immediately jumped on the river, the water surface behind him.
Swiftly but hardly utilized Water Prison Jutsu, after a short but fast a paced battle, to trap him inside the spherical prison of water, standing at the water, smirking, huffing lightly.
"What? Is this a shadow clone?" But his eyes widened the next moment, seeing that the mist was gone and two more Kakashi were standing a few meters ahead of him, while the one in Water Prison vanished with a poof.
He thought, 'Just a shadow clone was this hard enough for me to match!'
He started to realize the power gap a little, but still didn't accept it, and Flickered towards Kakashi, making a few hand signs.
Kakashi casually said, "Now, fight my another Shadow Clone."
Kakashi's shadow clone, mimicking the hand signs of Zabuza, which shocked Zabuza, after personally seeing the Copy Ninja's moves. But he still didn't stop, since it was only a shadow clone of Kakashi.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
Zabuza, exploiting the water surface behind him, formed a huge water dragon, that directly moved in blinding speed at Kakashi's Shadow Clone. However Kakashi and his clone weren't close to the river, so the shadow clone only could use its chakra to use this Jutsu.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
However despite that, the water dragon that his clone formed was double the size of Zabuza's, and immediately struck and destroyed Zabuza's Water Dragon, and also had enough power to also impact Zabuza, smashing him several meters away inside the river.
Kakashi asked aloud, "Zabuza, are you willing to talk now?"
Zabuza, inside the river, swam outwards, looking at Kakashi warily, and thought, 'Shadow Clone alone has this much chakra to overpower my water dragon? Is Kakashi Hatake a Kage level ninja?'