Chapter 65 – Zabuza Strikes
"Naruto, a lot of hostile intent is heading this way."
The Nine-Tails' voice echoed in Naruto's mind.
So much malice rushing over it had to be Zabuza bringing his men.
Naruto's eyes turned razor-sharp. Without a second's hesitation he shot forward, stepped in front of Haku, and clamped both hands like iron pliers round the youth's elbow joints. A swift twist and shove then he grabbed more rope, wound it round Haku's upper body and pulled it tight.
"Ngh—!"
A stifled groan escaped Haku's lips.
Both arms lost all strength, dangling limply; the shoulder joints had been deftly dislocated by Naruto.
The clean move stripped Haku of any ability to form hand signs or fight back.
"Zabuza's brought company plenty of them!"
The instant Naruto finished speaking...
"Shff!"
"Shnk!"
No further order was needed; the well-trained Ninja sprang up by reflex.
Even Akamaru snapped into combat, fur bristling, fangs bared in a low, menacing growl, his small body taut as a drawn bow.
Kakashi reacted fastest, rattling off crisp battle orders; years of experience let him deploy for optimum effect in a heartbeat:
"Hinata, Ino, Sakura!"
He called the three kunoichi by name.
"Guard Tazuna's family inside the house—and Kurenai-sensei while she recovers. Keep them safe at all costs!"
"Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba!"
His gaze swept the three aggressive, well-meshed boys.
"You three engage the enemy head-on with me!"
"Shikamaru, Choji, Shino!"
Finally he looked to the remaining members.
"Stick with Asuma; follow his lead and look for chances to flank or support!"
"Yes, sir!"
The group answered in one firm, ringing voice.
The three girls moved without hesitation, forming a tight triangular guard round the clients and the wounded Jonin, Kunai ready, every sense on alert.
At the same moment Naruto, Sasuke and Kiba shot after Kakashi through the front gate like arrows loosed at the oncoming foe.
On the other side Asuma took point, leading Shikamaru, Choji and Shino out the side door like ghosts, slipping into position for a pincer.
Outside, a thick, cloying mist had crept in, cutting night visibility to almost nothing.
From somewhere deep in that pale shroud came a shrill whistle, growing louder by the second.
The terrifying howl of the kubikiribōchō cleaving the air.
Battle was about to ignite!
Naruto stepped to Kakashi's side, lifting Haku by the back of the collar.
Haku's feet dangled, dislocated arms swaying uselessly.
"So you're the Demon Zabuza Momochi?"
Naruto kept his left hand on Haku while his right found the hilt, whisking out the wooden sword with a rasp.
It was no ordinary bokken wood born of Wood Release. Naruto could channel Chakra through it like any Chakra weapon.
"Thought I'd meet someone famous, but it's just some brat."
From Naruto's voice Zabuza guessed he was still a teenager, though unusually tall as long as it wasn't the Fourth Hokage, he still had a chance of getting out alive.
He tightened his grip on the kubikiribōchō, every sense on edge.
"Let Haku go… drop this mission, and I'll let you walk away."
"Let us walk? The question isn't whether you'll allow us to leave, but whether we'll allow you."
The instant Naruto finished, hundreds of Shadow Clones flickered into being round the mist, hemming in Zabuza and Gato's men.
Every clone held the same wooden sword, stance set to strike.
Inside the house Ino linked everyone with the Mind Transfer Jutsu.
After a quick mental exchange they all knew Naruto's plan.
Once his clones had the enemy surrounded, they would launch their assault.
Kakashi gave a slight nod, right hand already on a Kunai.
From the shadows Asuma lit a cigarette, his Chakra blades sheathed in glowing blue edge.
"Now!"
Kakashi's bark cracked like thunder, igniting the fight.
With his left hand he snapped the Konoha forehead protector aside; the Sharingan he'd kept hidden glinted coldly beneath the moon three black tomoe spinning in crimson, bathing the mist in weird red light.
A shrill, thousand-birds screech erupted in his left palm as violent blue lightning condensed and compressed.
Lightning Cutter!
Kakashi became a bolt of blue lightning, streaking straight for Zabuza in the fog.
Naruto's clones all carried his taijutsu skill; their wooden blades blurred into after-images, pummelling Gato's men so hard they couldn't even lift a guard.
The bokken looked harmless, yet with Chakra behind them every swing could split stone and break bone.
The ronin and ragged Ninja among Gato's hirelings couldn't parry the strikes.
Sasuke's hands flew through seals; his chest swelled, then spat several dragon-headed fireballs.
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!"
"Fang Over Fang!"
Kiba and Akamaru became twin spinning whirlwinds, rampaging through the enemy ranks.
Where they passed, foes toppled like wheat under a scythe.
Asuma's flanking team burst from the side, Chakra knives glinting, while Shino's insects and Shikamaru's Shadow Imitation Technique seized control of the battle's tempo in an instant.
Zabuza swung the kubikiribōchō, yet Kakashi's Sharingan foresight and Naruto's harassing clones kept him boxed in, unable to break through.
"Hiding in Mist Technique!"
The fog thickened into an almost solid white shroud, swallowing the whole battlefield.
Visibility crashed; even comrades at arm's length turned into indistinct shapes.
Zabuza's silhouette melted into the misty curtain.
His voice drifted from every direction: "Inside this fog… I am the master."
Hinata stilled her breath, veins bulging round her eyes; her 360° penetrating sight ignored the white wall of mist.
To her the entire battlefield lay crystal-clear.
Every flow of Chakra stood out sharp and bright.
Zabuza Momochi's savage, icy Chakra blazed like a bonfire in a midnight forest, every movement tracked to the smallest twitch.
"Naruto-kun, behind you!"
Hinata's thought shot through Ino's Mind Transfer network straight into Naruto's mind, precise as a laser: "He's directly behind you diagonal right, downward slash!"
Naruto trusted her intel absolutely; he didn't hesitate, didn't even glance back.
Muscle memory outran thought. His right arm, knotted round the Wood Release blade, whipped backward and up, the Chakra-infused sword a blur of green as it parried blind.
Clang!
Steel rang through the fog.
The massive kubikiribōchō, driven by Zabuza's killing intent, crashed against Naruto's up-flung wooden blade.
The impact cracked the ground under Naruto's feet, yet his Chakra-hardened sword held the fatal blow at bay.
Sparks lit the mist, flashing across Naruto's calm profile and Zabuza's stunned, snarling face as it loomed from the white dark.
"What?!"
Zabuza's roar of shock and fury cut through the fog.
"How could you see where I was?!"
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