After destroying Zabuza's water clone, Yoruha called out toward Kakashi:
"Kakashi-sensei, focus on dealing with the real one. You don't have to worry about things here."
A faint smile tugged at Kakashi's lips.
"Bringing you along was the right decision."
The power Yoruha had just displayed filled him with satisfaction.
From the moment he'd instantly taken down two chunin to now, defeating Zabuza's water clone — Yoruha hadn't even used a single jutsu. Yet the strength he showed was already at the level of a jonin.
He could clearly feel that Yoruha's taijutsu had improved drastically since the last time he'd tested him. If Yoruha's hand-to-hand combat back then had been like this, Kakashi would never have beaten him so easily.
And this was all without Yoruha ever formally training in taijutsu.
Up to this point, Yoruha had relied purely on instinct — fighting with nothing but his physical ability. He didn't even know real technique.
Which meant, if he were ever to truly learn taijutsu, his power would become unimaginable.
Zabuza stared at Yoruha, his expression grim.
"This damn brat… he's really a handful."
He knew that if he didn't deal with Yoruha first, killing Tazuna would be impossible.
One-on-one against Kakashi, he didn't feel much pressure. Despite Kakashi's fearsome reputation, Zabuza himself was also an elite jonin — one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. He believed there wasn't much difference between them.
But with Yoruha added into the fight, killing Tazuna had become far more complicated.
After all, his mission wasn't to compete with Kakashi — it was to assassinate Tazuna.
As Kakashi charged at him again, Zabuza's eyes darkened and he swung his executioner's blade.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
On the surface of the lake, steel met steel — one man wielding the massive Executioner's Blade, the other deftly maneuvering his kunai. Sparks flew as metal clashed in rapid succession.
Two elite jonin locked in pure taijutsu combat.
Their speed and power left Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura — seeing a jonin battle for the first time — utterly stunned.
For the first time, Sasuke felt how insignificant he really was.
"So this… this is a jonin? Yoruha was right — Kakashi really is strong."
Naruto clenched his fists.
"Damn it! Why am I so weak? I can't help at all!"
Meanwhile, Sakura guarded Tazuna carefully.
She was the weakest here. If even Sasuke and Naruto couldn't step into the fight between Zabuza and Kakashi, then she definitely couldn't either.
Still, she couldn't help looking toward Yoruha.
The impact he'd left on her was overwhelming.
He had saved her by instantly killing two chunin earlier, and now he'd taken down a jonin's water clone, rescuing all four of them.
Yoruha's strength had completely surpassed anything they could imagine.
And yet, back in the academy, he'd hardly had any presence at all.
Yoruha's focus, however, was entirely on the battle between Zabuza and Kakashi.
Watching two elite jonin fight was an enormous learning opportunity.
Even if it was only a pure hand-to-hand contest, there was still much to learn.
Simply observing them gave Yoruha countless insights.
In fact, just by watching, he was already starting to pick up bits of taijutsu — something he'd never known before.
All this time, he'd fought purely through raw instinct.
Zabuza, feeling Kakashi's attacks growing fiercer, realized that at this rate, regardless of who won or lost, he'd never get the chance to kill Tazuna.
He swung his Executioner's Blade with brutal force, sending Kakashi flying backward.
Leaping into the air, Zabuza's hands blurred through seals, forming a jutsu in the blink of an eye.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
A deep, thunderous roar burst from the lake.
Streams of water surged upward, twisting and merging into a massive dragon more than ten meters long.
With a deafening roar, the water dragon lunged straight toward Yoruha.
Its speed was terrifying.
---
Kakashi, recovering from the blow, realized what was about to happen and his heart sank.
"Damn it — Yoruha doesn't even know ninjutsu yet!"
But the water dragon was already almost upon them.
Zabuza's lips curled into a smirk.
"No matter how strong your taijutsu is, there's no way you can block this! Hahaha!"
The roaring water dragon surged forward with unstoppable force, ready to swallow them whole.
Kakashi wanted to intervene, but he was too far away.
Yoruha frowned as he watched the massive dragon rushing at him.
"What a powerful jutsu…"
Then, in a flash, his hands began to move.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
Just as Zabuza's dragon was about to crash into them, Yoruha's fingers blurred through hand seals at blinding speed.
Instantly, droplets of water began to rise and swirl around him — not from the lake, but out of the air itself.
In the blink of an eye, they gathered into an enormous water dragon, far larger than Zabuza's.
The massive beast surged upward from above Yoruha's head like a sea-born leviathan and roared as it charged straight toward Zabuza's dragon.
BOOM!
The two water dragons collided in midair, shaking the earth with a thunderous explosion.
The ground within dozens of meters cracked like shattered glass.
But the clash lasted only a heartbeat — Yoruha's gigantic dragon completely tore through Zabuza's, bursting it apart into a spray of water.
And Yoruha's dragon didn't stop.
It kept roaring forward, alive with furious momentum, jaws wide open as it dove straight for Zabuza.
Zabuza froze in disbelief.
"Impossible! How does he know this jutsu? With his age, he shouldn't have nearly enough chakra for that!"
"And his Water Dragon — it came from nothing! He didn't even use the lake's water!"
"Where does this kid get such terrifying chakra?"
"Why is his Water Dragon Bullet stronger than mine? What is he?!"
Countless thoughts flooded his mind in the span of a second.
But seeing the colossal dragon's mouth about to swallow him whole, he could only use Body Flicker to escape.
BOOM!
The giant dragon crashed into the lake where Zabuza had stood, sending towering waves surging several meters high.
Even the "Demon of the Hidden Mist" felt a chill down his spine.
"What terrifying power… That jutsu's strength completely dwarfs my own."
"That kid's a monster. If that thing hit me, I'd be nothing but fragments."
Meanwhile, Kakashi, now beside Sasuke and Naruto, could only stare at Yoruha in shock.
He muttered under his breath:
"That Water Dragon Bullet… Did he just learn it by watching Zabuza?"
The moment that thought crossed his mind, his blood ran cold.
Such learning ability was beyond terrifying.
And the most frightening part of all—
The jutsu Yoruha had just learned and unleashed wasn't merely equal to Zabuza's.
It was far stronger.
Even Kakashi wasn't sure he could release a Water Dragon Jutsu of that level himself.
---
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