"Watch it, Sakura-chan, you almost took my eye out with that leaf!"
Sakura choked back a gasp of surprise, and the thread of chakra, so fine it was nearly invisible in the sunlight, snapped. The leaf she had been making dance in the air a meter away fluttered softly to the ground.
"Naruto, you idiot!" she snapped, jabbing an elbow into his ribs. "I was concentrating!"
"I know, and you were doing great!" he replied with a beaming smile. "You can already lift small rocks! Before you know it, you'll be lifting Choji!"
"I don't think my threads are that strong," Sakura muttered, but she couldn't stop a small smile of pride from gracing her lips. She looked at her fingers, amazed. The power now flowing from them was addictive.
The path leading into the Land of Waves was narrow, flanked by trees so tall their canopies formed a green roof over their heads. Hinata walked on Naruto's other side, her hand held firmly to his arm. It had been that way since they got off the boat. It had become a quiet, comforting habit, born from the need for solace after hearing Tazuna's tragic story. Her grip on Naruto's arm tightened subtly upon hearing his comment.
"You shouldn't joke about that, Naruto-kun."
"But it's a compliment!" he defended himself. "Sakura-chan's strength is growing so fast!"
"What's growing fast is your stupidity," came Sasuke's voice, sharp as a shard of ice, from the right flank of the path. He walked several meters away, a solitary figure whose hostility was an extra layer of humidity in the already heavy air.
Naruto stuck his tongue out at him, a childish gesture that contrasted with the seriousness of their mission.
"Don't listen to him," he whispered to Sakura. "He's just jealous because your chakra control is better than his."
"Don't say that," Sakura replied, though a faint blush of pleasure colored her cheeks.
It was true. Since the ritual, she felt chakra like an extension of her own body. Right now, as they walked, she had a dozen nearly imperceptible threads extended around her, fastened to small roots and stones on the sides of the path. They weren't traps, but an early warning system, a sensory web that informed her of every little animal that moved in the undergrowth. It was her way of practicing, of familiarizing herself with the new symphony of power vibrating inside her.
Kakashi, walking ahead with an increasingly nervous Tazuna, watched the scene from the corner of his eye. His team's dynamic was a fascinating puzzle. Naruto was no longer the loud clown screaming for attention; he had become the discreet conductor of a very strange orchestra. He had empowered his two female teammates and now guided them with a confidence that defied all logic.
He warned them about Zabuza before they even touched land, Kakashi thought, turning a page in his book without reading it. A white rabbit, huh?
"Hey, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, changing the subject. "Do you think you could cheat at cards with your threads? Like, pull an ace from someone's sleeve?"
"Naruto! That's cheating!"
"Not if it's for a good cause! Imagine all the money we could get from Gato in a poker game. We'd win his whole country from him!"
Hinata let out a soft giggle, a crystalline sound that made Naruto smile.
"I don't think it works that way, Naruto-kun."
"You guys have no business sense," he sighed dramatically. "Okay, how about this? Can you snatch the bell from that bird's collar over there without it noticing?"
Sakura followed his finger. A small, red-breasted bird was perched on a branch about five meters away. The challenge lit up her eyes.
"Maybe…"
She focused, and a single thread, finer than a hair, extended from the tip of her index finger. It moved with the slowness of a snail, winding through the air so as not to disturb it and alert the bird.
From a distance, Sasuke watched with a frown. What are they doing? Playing games? We're ninja on a high-risk mission, surrounded by enemies, and they're playing with leaves and birds? The incompetence irritated him, but there was something in Sakura's concentration, in Hinata's watchful calm, that didn't fit with simple stupidity. There was a synergy he couldn't understand, and that's what infuriated him the most.
Sakura's thread was centimeters from the bird. Naruto and Hinata held their breath.
And then, everything stopped.
Hinata stood completely still. Her hand squeezed Naruto's arm with a force that surprised him.
"Naruto-kun."
Her voice was a tense whisper. The game was over.
"What's wrong?" he asked instantly, his own stance becoming alert.
"There," she said, her gaze fixed on some dense bushes to the left of the path. "I saw it."
Kakashi stopped at the front, his conversation with Tazuna cut short. He turned slowly.
"What did you see, Hinata?"
"The white rabbit," she answered, her voice firm and clear. "I just saw it pass by."
Naruto nodded, his face a mask of seriousness.
"It's the signal. Zabuza used a substitution. He's already here."
Sakura instantly dissolved her threads, her entire body shifting into a defensive posture.
"Pathetic," Sasuke hissed, though this time his insult lacked conviction. His eyes scanned the forest, searching for a threat his pride had kept him from seeing, but that the others, somehow, had anticipated.
He refused to be left behind. With a sharp, defiant movement, he threw a kunai that whistled through the air and embedded itself in a tree trunk, right above the bushes Hinata had pointed to. It was a gesture of impatience, a provocation meant to force any hidden enemy to reveal themselves.
A rustle of leaves.
And then, a man appeared in the middle of the path, as if he had materialized from the very air. His face was covered in bandages, his dark eyes watching them with cruel amusement. On his back, a gigantic sword, the Kubikiribōchō, seemed to swallow the sunlight.
The pressure that descended upon them was instantaneous and overwhelming. It was like being submerged in ice water, a killing intent so pure it paralyzed the lungs.
Tazuna let out a choked cry.
Kakashi moved between the newcomer and the rest of the group, his book already put away, his relaxed posture belying the intensity in his gaze.
"Well, well," Kakashi said, his voice dangerously calm. "If it isn't Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist."
A shiver ran down Sasuke's spine. It wasn't fear. It was the raw, dark thrill of facing overwhelming power. It was a challenge.
Sakura activated her Analytical Eye. The pressure wasn't just a feeling; it was an oppressive wave of chakra emanating from the man, designed to intimidate and paralyze. But her ability allowed her to see through it, to analyze it as a phenomenon, not an emotion. It's a psychological tactic, she thought. He's trying to beat us before the fight even begins.
Hinata, however, saw something much worse. With her Byakugan, Zabuza's aura was a violent whirlwind of dark chakra, a bloodthirsty cyclone spinning around him. She saw the immensity of his power.
"It can't be…" she whispered, her grip on Naruto's arm becoming desperate.
Zabuza smiled beneath his bandages, an unseen curve that was felt in his voice. His gaze passed over the genin and settled on Kakashi.
"So, you're the Jonin in charge."
"And you come with four little brats," Zabuza continued, his eyes pausing for an instant on Hinata. "This just got interesting."
The tension was thick enough to be cut with a kunai. It was a stalemate, a duel of glares and wills in the middle of a forgotten path. Zabuza finally looked down from Kakashi and set his predatory eyes on the terrified Tazuna.
"I have a job to finish. Hand over the bridge builder, and maybe I'll let your students live to see another dawn."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Kakashi replied. "He's my client."
Zabuza's smile widened.
"Pity."
In the blink of an eye, Zabuza vanished from his spot and reappeared on the surface of a nearby pond, standing on the water with insulting ease. He began to perform a series of hand seals at a dizzying speed.
"Ninjutsu: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"
A thick, unnatural fog began to billow from the water, spreading rapidly. In seconds, the world dissolved into an opaque white wall. Visibility dropped to zero. The sun, the trees, the path… everything disappeared. Only they remained, trapped in the beast's milky stomach.
"Sensei… I can't see anything!" Sakura cried out, panic finally seeping into her voice.
"Stay calm!" Kakashi ordered. "Defense formation! Protect the bridge builder! Don't get separated!"
But it was Naruto's voice, clear and filled with unexpected authority, that cut through the fear.
"We will not panic!" he shouted, his voice a beacon in the dense fog. "We have a plan! Hinata, you're our eyes! Tell us where he is!"
"I can't…" Hinata replied, her voice strained with concentration. "The mist is saturated with his chakra. It's like trying to find a single drop of water in the ocean. It's interfering with my Byakugan."
"Then switch tactics!" Naruto insisted. "Sakura, get your threads ready! Create a sensory perimeter, a web! Alert us to anything that moves!"
"Got it!" Sakura responded, and she instantly began extending dozens of fine threads in all directions.
"Sasuke!" Naruto continued. "Get ready to counterattack! The second they give you his position, you attack with everything you've got!"
"I don't need you to give me orders, dobe," Sasuke hissed from somewhere in the mist, but there was a hint of reluctant obedience in his voice.
"I'll protect Tazuna with my clones!"
Poof. Poof. Two clones appeared instantly, flanking the terrified bridge builder.
Kakashi listened to his student's improvised plan. It was the natural coordination of a team that trusted in each other's strengths. And at the center of it all was Naruto. A genuine smile, full of pride and a hint of fear, formed beneath his mask.
From the depths of the fog, Zabuza's voice came, cold, methodical, and filled with the promise of violence.
"Eight points… Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart… Which point shall I show you first?"
The threat, designed to sow terror, was met not with the screams of frightened children, but with the tense, coordinated silence of a team that, against all odds, was ready for him. The real battle was about to begin.