Southwest coast of the Land of Waves.
The salty sea breeze sliced through the mist, leaving only a thin veil behind. Waves crashed against the rocky shore, kicking up frothy white foam.
By now, the civilians had all been evacuated. The only ones left were a group of Black Hoe thugs, tied up tight and stuffed into coffins, gagged with smelly socks and rags, muttering and yelling through their muffled cries.
The heavy wooden coffins in the plaza were too much trouble to move, and nobody wanted anything to do with Kado's crew or the Black Hoe gang. Kasha decided to just shove them inside—if they somehow survived the upcoming battle, they'd face the Land of Waves' judgment.
If they died? Well, the coffins were already there. No waste.
When Kakashi returned with Naruto and Sasuke, they spotted Hikari standing alone on the shoreline, gazing into the distance. Six water spears, each as long as a grown man's arm, hovered around her, bobbing up and down. The spears spun so fast they warped the air around them.
Hikari's six long spears spun wildly, then suddenly froze. The tips, shaped like menacing vertical pupils, split open with a crack.
Naruto, whose dynamic vision wasn't quite up to par, couldn't make out the attack's details. All he saw was something flash by, and then a dense cluster of holes appeared in the distant mist.
"Whoa, that's so cool!" Naruto's eyes sparkled, completely won over by the flashy combat style.
This was way cooler than plain old taijutsu!
"Kakashi-sensei, can you tell what kind of ninjutsu she's using?"
Unlike Naruto, who was caught up in the spectacle, Sasuke—obsessed with power—strained his eyes until they were bloodshot, but he could only catch blurry, transparent afterimages.
It looked like some kind of elongated chakra, but the details were unclear. The only thing he was sure of was that this weird ninjutsu definitely wasn't Water Release.
"Probably some kind of vacuum air bullet," Kakashi said, frowning as he analyzed it with his three-tomoe Sharingan, which had far better dynamic vision than Sasuke's two-tomoe version.
Hikari's sensory abilities confirmed that Zabuza's fight with the enemy was happening two nautical miles away.
A laser-cannon-style ninjutsu could maybe reach a little over a thousand meters, nowhere near enough to take out a strong enemy four kilometers away.
What she was firing were vacuum air bullets, morphed into a unique shape. Only Wind Release, nearly weightless and partially ignoring air resistance, could travel four kilometers and still pack terrifying destructive power.
But these weren't your typical spherical air bullets. They were conical, with a thicker tail and a pointed tip. Kakashi had never seen a ninjutsu with this kind of transformation, so even after studying it, he wasn't entirely sure.
What Kakashi didn't know was this:
These specially shaped air bullets were modeled after sniper rounds from another world. Designed with aerodynamic streamlining, they ditched the primer at the back, leaving just a finger-length warhead. This pushed the already-light Wind Release to its absolute limit.
Whoosh—whoosh!
The water spears spun at high speed, firing off sniper-like vacuum bullets. The mist was instantly riddled with layered holes, like a honeycomb. The six spinning spears were like silenced sniper rifles, but with the absurd firing rate of a Gatling gun.
Hikari's big brother loved using these to take down zombies—combining the high power and penetration of a sniper rifle with the rapid fire and infinite ammo of a machine gun. Add full-on wall hacks, and you're basically unstoppable!
Hikari wasn't her big brother from CF, but she was pulling out all the stops.
Her Byakugan, far stronger than the average, pierced through the fog of war. Purple, tidal-wave-like chakra surged, loading her "clips." The six machine-gun-style floating cannons hummed, unloading a barrage on the immortal zombie duo.
A wild grin spread across her face. She was starting to get why her big brother loved this so much.
As for that earlier scene where Zabuza got saved? That was her doing.
The situation hadn't been that dire at first. When she set up her sniper shot, Zabuza had only just been grabbed, not yet at the point of having his heart ripped out.
But what she hadn't expected was how tricky super-long-range combat would be. Sniping from four kilometers away demanded insane precision. Even a slight twitch of her floating cannons could throw the shot off by hundreds of meters. Multiple shots missed entirely, not even grazing the enemy's clothes. The downside of having wall hacks without an aimbot was painfully clear.
Luckily, her control over ninjutsu and chakra was far beyond normal.
After firing over a hundred shots, she got the hang of ultra-long-range shooting.
She'd hoped to snipe all of Kakuzu's hearts in one go, but he reacted, shifting his hearts slightly. Her air bullets only managed to shred a bit of his black threads.
In theory, that Earth Grudge Fear Water Release should've dodged too.
But it was too busy restraining Zabuza with a ton of tentacles, slowing itself down. It couldn't react in time and got pierced through its chakra core, dying instantly.
Maybe Water Release ninjas were just cursed with bad luck.
Hikari thought about it—every Water Release ninja she knew seemed to have rotten luck.
Zabuza, the ultimate jinx, was a given. Kisame was doomed to be betrayed by Samehada, that backstabbing blade. The Fourth Mizukage got puppeted by Obito, running the Hidden Mist into the ground. The Second Hokage, known as the fastest ninja in the world, died covering Sarutobi and Danzo's retreat. Was Water Release just cursed with E-rank luck?
As she pondered, she caught sight of Zabuza accidentally getting his back sliced open by a giant scythe in the distance.
When Hidan licked the blood off his scythe, his face breaking out in black-and-white patterns, Hikari felt her theory was spot-on.
---
Meanwhile, out on the misty sea.
Zabuza had no clue what that scratch on his back meant.
Compared to the minor cut, the two monsters behind him—riddled with holes like a beehive yet still moving like nothing happened—had completely shattered his worldview.
The Ghost of the Mist had run into actual ghosts. Two of them, at once!
Did becoming a ninja on par with a Kage mean you had to shed your frail human body?
Thinking of Hikari, Orochimaru, and now these two freaky monsters, Zabuza started to suspect some kind of truth.
But there was no time to dwell on it.
Noticing the vacuum bullets precisely avoiding him and blasting the two monsters, he quickly traced their trajectory back to their source.
The Land of Waves, where he'd survived for five years.
And there was definitely another non-human monster there—one who could take on these two undead zombies. Those air bullets were almost certainly her work!
Four freakin' kilometers!
Zabuza couldn't help but marvel inwardly. Gripping his Decapitating Carving Knife to shield his face, he charged toward the Land of Waves, like a brave warrior weaving through a hail of gunfire.
In reality, he was just running for his life.
Dying heroically was for when you had no hope of surviving. Now that he had a shot at living, he was going to claw his way to safety.
---
Behind him, no one bothered chasing Zabuza's escape.
Ding, ding, ding!
The mysterious vacuum sniper bullets were deflected by Kakuzu's black threads.
Earth Release clashed with Wind Release, kicking up dust and gusts that rippled across the calm sea like petals.
Kakuzu, whose upper face was completely gone, had tentacles writhing from his skull, like hair planted straight into his brain. No brain, yet he moved just fine.
He'd long since shed his human body. His usual appearance was just a human-shaped Earth Grudge Fear wrapped in skin.
"Kakuzu, can you pinpoint the enemy?"
Hidan's terrifyingly hollowed-out body was nearly healed. Vacuum bullets pierced his forehead, blood spraying from the back of his head like a sprinkler, but he just tilted his head back and shrugged it off.
Licking the blood off his scythe, his skin turned black and white, like an ink painting.
"Didn't see 'em," Kakuzu said, his lipless mouth moving, exposing black threads. It was creepy as hell, and who knew how he was even "seeing" anything.
"Don't kill Zabuza yet. My Earth Grudge Fear got wrecked—I need his heart to replace it."
Ever the penny-pincher, Kakuzu hadn't forgotten about Zabuza's heart, signaling Hidan not to curse-kill him and waste it.
"Uh… can't kill him right now."
Whoosh, whoosh!
Hidan swung his scythe, blocking air bullets aimed at his eyes. His immortal body had some self-healing, but complex structures like eyes recovered slowly. If a limb got cut off, he'd need Kakuzu to stitch it back on.
"Why not?" Kakuzu asked, surprised. Hidan's ability was beyond broken—swallow an enemy's blood, sync with them, and use his immortal body to curse-kill them, ignoring distance or defenses.
That's why he hadn't rushed to chase Zabuza.
Now Hidan was saying he couldn't kill him? Did Zabuza have some curse resistance?
Hidan, his face black and white, grinned helplessly. He smeared blood with his shoe, turning the sea pink, like spilled ink.
"We're on the damn ocean! I can't do the ritual!"
"Tch!" Kakuzu scoffed, annoyed at Hidan's dumb excuse, tilting his head to dodge another air bullet.
These vacuum bullets were fast, sneaky, and hit with the power of a solid B-rank ninjutsu. He could only block them with Earth Spear.
The worst part? They had no idea where the attacks were coming from. His Earth Grudge Fear flew through the sky and found no trace of the enemy. The sea was empty except for the three of them, and the bullets were coming from the direction of that tiny island nation.
Was the enemy really attacking from the Land of Waves?
The idea was absurd, but it was the only explanation. Kakuzu took a deep breath of sea air.
That island was way too far. If the enemy was sniping from there, and the bullets still had this much power after traveling that distance… he didn't even want to think about their original strength.
Whoosh… whoosh!
Another volley came, shredding the airborne Earth Grudge Fear to pieces.
Hidan's neck sprouted countless bloody holes, his face twisting in pain. "Damn sneaky bastard!" he hissed, his voice leaking air. "When I find him, I'm gonna torture him to death and offer him to the Evil God!"
Kakuzu, 91 years old and pissed off, recalled all his flying Earth Grudge Fear. Standing on the endless sea, they were sitting ducks.
"These air bullets are too precise and dense, yet Zabuza's untouched. That's not normal. The enemy's gotta be his ally. Follow him, and we'll find the coward hiding."
Kakuzu, keeping his cool, figured out the key.
"Hell yeah!" Hidan let out a weird roar, excited his partner had a plan.
Brandishing his scythe, he charged after Zabuza, now just a black dot in the distance. As the truly immortal one, he led the charge, with Kakuzu trailing behind.
Zabuza, sensing the monsters closing in again, cursed under his breath and sprinted toward the Land of Waves' coast.
In a flash, the three formed a straight line across the sea, like an arrow shooting toward the island.
---
Then things started getting weird.
Whoosh!!
The air bullets' whistling grew fiercer. The duo stuck close behind Zabuza, curling up to make themselves smaller targets.
The closer they got to the shore, the stronger and faster the sniper bullets became—too fast for the naked eye. In just a few minutes, the immortal duo had taken hundreds of hits.
Hidan, relying on his immortality to lead the charge, was a mess. No part of him was intact—ears and nose smashed, one eye blinded, his left arm blown off into the waves. Kakuzu had to fish it out.
No time to stitch it back on.
They were less than a nautical mile from the island now.
The sniper bullets were now strong enough to break through Earth Spear.
The two cowered behind Zabuza like quails, not daring to peek out. Even Hidan, the most arrogant of the pair, hunched over to minimize his hitbox. They were humiliated—half-dead without even seeing the enemy's face. When had the immortal duo ever taken such a beating?
But the enemy's attacks were relentless, with insane penetration. Even Hidan, not the sharpest kunai, realized these weren't B-rank ninjutsu.
These eerie air bullets were S-rank, crossing four kilometers!
The only reason they could react at all was because the distance weakened the speed and power. What they were feeling now wasn't even the jutsu's full potential.
But realizing it didn't help. They were in too deep.
Charging forward meant facing an enemy of unknown strength. This beyond-line-of-sight ninjutsu had already crushed their pride. Fleeing across the open sea was suicide.
Their only option: follow Zabuza, find the sneaky sniper, and kill them.
It was their only shot at survival. It looked like they were chasing Zabuza, but in reality, they were the ones cornered.
Step, step…
Time flew by.
Three pairs of ninja sandals splashed ripples across the sea. In the distance, they could see a lone figure standing on the shore.
"Don't use your curse jutsu right after we land. Zabuza's not a real threat—don't expose your secret technique because of him. I'll get the enemy's blood, and you can start the curse-kill. One-shot them. Don't hold back thinking you'll toy with them!" Kakuzu, reduced to just a mouth, kept reminding his partner. His body was curled up, four hearts tightly guarded by Earth Grudge Fear tentacles. Aside from two legs sprinting across the water, his upper body was completely inhuman.
"Mmph, mmph—" Hidan, his mouth blasted apart, could only grunt in response. The half-crippled zombie duo radiated killing intent.
Back on the Land of Waves' shore, Team 7 watched eagerly.
Hikari slowly stopped her spinning floating cannons.
Kakashi and the others could see, in the distance, three figures charging toward them in perfect formation, like a Thousand-Armed Kannon.
The battle was about to erupt!
---