Mist swallowed the sea.
Where Kakashi fought Zabuza, the water vanished into white silence, sound reduced to echoes and intent. Zabuza's voice drifted through the fog, close one moment, distant the next.
"So this is the Copy Ninja of the Leaf," he said lightly. "Annoyingly resilient."
This battle was different from before. They stood on open water, and Zabuza had already judged the exchange. Rather than press, he chose the mist.
"Give it up, Kakashi," the voice continued, cold and patient. "Walk away now."
Kakashi didn't answer.
"If you don't," Zabuza went on, "then not only you, but those three children will die as well."
A pause.
"That black-haired one especially. Kurosuki Raiga may be unstable, but he's no weakling."
Kakashi's grip tightened.
Raiga.
He had suspected as much when lightning split the boat earlier. Hearing it confirmed still sent a chill through him.
After a moment, Kakashi smiled.
"You're underestimating my students."
A low laugh answered him.
"So be it."
Steel tore through the fog.
Zabuza burst forward, executioner's blade swinging. Kakashi met it head-on, White Fang flashing as sparks rang out. The clash vanished back into the mist, metal screaming against metal.
Elsewhere, Naruto and Sakura were trapped in a frozen maze.
Mirrors of ice rose in a formation around them, fog weaving between the surfaces. White's presence flickered from reflection to reflection.
"Leaf Strong Whirlwind!"
Naruto spun forward like a living storm, his kick tearing through the air. White barely slipped away in time, reforming within another mirror as needles of ice flew out in retaliation. The senbon shattered against the pressure Naruto generated, scattering uselessly.
Naruto's kick obliterated several mirrors at once, ice bursting into glittering fragments.
White's expression tightened. He reformed the mirrors again, chakra draining steadily.
They're too strong, he realized.
In a straight fight, he couldn't win. All he could do was stall.
"Damn it," Naruto growled as the mirrors reappeared. "They keep coming back."
"Sakura?" he called.
"Almost," she answered without looking away. Her eyes traced the mist itself. "The fog is saturated with chakra. Give me a little more time."
She was breaking it down, piece by piece.
If she could collapse the mist, the mirrors would fall with it.
The scene shifted again.
Sasuke stood alone in the fog, water rippling beneath his feet. Small cuts marked his body, dark against pale skin.
Raiga's voice laughed from everywhere at once.
"So much for seeing through everything, Uchiha brat."
Raiga lunged from the mist, twin blades flashing. Sasuke countered instantly, lightning flaring.
The strike pierced straight through Raiga's chest.
Too easily.
The body dissolved into water, splashing back into the sea.
At the same time, pain flared in Sasuke's leg. A shallow cut, precise.
Raiga's laughter grew louder.
"You can't see me," he jeered. "Not in my mist."
Sasuke glanced down at the wound. Just once.
Then he waited.
He knew where Raiga was. He always had.
Some injuries were deliberate. Others unavoidable, interference from Ranmaru's eyes threading danger into his perception. None of them mattered.
He wasn't trading blows anymore.
He was waiting for the moment Raiga stopped testing and decided to kill.
And it came.
Lightning bloomed behind him.
Raiga burst from the fog, all hesitation gone, blades howling as he committed fully to the strike.
Sasuke moved.
A golden blade flashed, not toward the arms, not toward the throat, but straight through the opening Raiga created himself.
The sound was soft.
Wet.
Raiga froze.
He looked down at the light piercing his chest, blood spreading across the water beneath him. Slowly, he raised his head and stared at the boy in front of him.
"How did you know…?"
Sasuke didn't answer.
The fog rolled on.