As a martial artist, perceiving an enemy's movements isn't solely through sight; wind, breathing, sound, scent, killing intent, and all other aspects can be used to determine a person's location.
Even with his eyes closed, Li Chuan could still fight relying on his exceptional physique and rich experience.
Zabuza's Silent Killing Technique was indeed formidable, almost allowing him to move without making a sound in the thick fog, but it still couldn't escape Li Chuan's perception.
"Clang!"
Facing the unexpected Zen Staff, Zabuza frowned, immediately redirecting the kunai aimed at Tazuna to meet the powerful Zen Staff heading straight for his chest.
"Such immense force!"
As the kunai and Zen Staff collided, his expression instantly changed, and he hastily retreated to dissipate the force coming from the Zen Staff.
A Zen Staff is inherently a heavy weapon, and the one in Li Chuan's hand was specially commissioned by Kinoe, weighing twice as much as a regular Zen Staff.
If Zabuza had been holding his Kubikiribōchō at that moment, he might have been able to contend with it, but holding a kunai, which is like a dagger, he naturally couldn't withstand it head-on.
Furthermore, as a martial artist, Li Chuan's physical strength was already formidable, and coupled with the Sage Art Chakra, which enhances the body, he applied force using special techniques.
When that Zen Staff struck, if Zabuza hadn't been experienced enough to retreat quickly, choosing to resist it head-on, his wrist would likely have been broken by now.
It was only then that Zabuza truly began to take Li Chuan seriously.
In the Ninja World, information is extremely important, so any Ninja who is somewhat powerful will generally appear in the Ninja Handbooks of various Ninja Villages.
Therefore, even if Zabuza and Kakashi were meeting for the first time, they could immediately recognize each other's identity and roughly know each other's general information.
Similarly, if a Ninja isn't even mentioned in the Ninja Handbook, their strength generally won't be very great, at least in the eyes of an Elite Jonin like Zabuza, they don't require too much attention.
Zabuza just didn't expect that eight months ago, Li Chuan was still a Prince of the Land of Fire, and after becoming a Ninja, he was basically always at the Fire Temple; apart from the people of the Fire Temple, no one knew Li Chuan's strength.
Even Chiriku didn't actually know Li Chuan's true strength.
Because the Ninjutsu Li Chuan secretly learned that were not from the Land of Fire were basically never displayed in front of Chiriku; he only practiced them privately.
Some ruthless and killing moves from a martial artist's combat were also never used in sparring with Chiriku.
One must always keep some trump cards; otherwise, if all information is known by others, it's easy to fall into a passive position during combat.
"As expected of an Elite Jonin!"
Li Chuan turned to look at the retreating Zabuza, unable to help but exclaim.
Just now, Zabuza used his Silent Killing Technique to ambush Tazuna, and Li Chuan, taking advantage of his opponent underestimating him and focusing on Kakashi, counterattacked, which was also a surprise attack.
Yet, even so, Zabuza was still able to react in time and evade the attack without injury by retreating and dissipating the force.
"So fast!"
No sooner had he finished marveling at Zabuza's experience than he saw Kakashi seize the opening, appearing behind the retreating Zabuza, silently plunging a kunai into Zabuza's waist.
"Pfft!"
However, unexpectedly, the Zabuza who had the kunai plunged into his waist instantly turned into a puddle of Water on the ground.
And behind Kakashi, another Zabuza surprisingly appeared.
"Pfft!"
With the same sound again, Kakashi also turned into a puddle of Water, and a kunai appeared at Zabuza's neck.
"What exactly is going on?"
Naruto and the other two still hadn't figured out what had happened.
From Zabuza's ambush on Tazuna to Kakashi holding a kunai to Zabuza's neck, it seemed like a long time had passed, but in reality, it was only one or two seconds.
"Just now, as Zabuza was forced back by me, he had already used the Water Clone Jutsu, hiding his true body in the thick fog.
And Kakashi, when Zabuza used the clone jutsu, copied his Ninjutsu, also hiding his true body in the thick fog.
So, in fact, just now, it was their Water Clones fighting!"
Li Chuan explained with a somewhat solemn expression.
He could clearly see both their movements with his eyesight, but given his proficiency in Ninjutsu, he couldn't yet instantly use a clone to replace his body like them.
To be honest, any enemy with slightly worse eyesight who encountered the two of them might have been taken out by their clones in the first round.
"Little Monk, your eyesight isn't bad, and Copy Ninja Kakashi lives up to his reputation, being able to see through and copy my Ninjutsu so quickly. However, this is as far as it goes!"
Suddenly, a figure appeared in the thick fog, then attacked Kakashi from behind.
It turned out that the Zabuza whose neck was held by Kakashi was still a Water Clone; the real Zabuza had been hiding in the thick fog all along.
Due to his Sharingan, most of Kakashi's Chakra was restricted, and the amount of Chakra he could use was very small, while the Shadow Clone Technique required half of his Chakra each time.
Therefore, Kakashi was very cautious about using the Shadow Clone.
This is different from the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique; if it were the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, Kakashi could also create hundreds of clones, but just as he himself said, they could only be used to bluff.
The Multiple Shadow Clone Technique distributes Chakra evenly throughout the body. Assuming Kakashi has one hundred Chakra, then after he creates one hundred clones, both his main body and each clone would only have one Chakra; they would look good, but fighting would be practically impossible.
However, if he uses the Shadow Clone to create one, then the clone has fifty and the main body has fifty, so the combat power naturally wouldn't be weak. If he creates another, the clone has twenty-five and the main body has twenty-five, which is still acceptable.
But if he continues to divide, it would weaken the main body's combat power too much.
Therefore, the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique is only suitable for people with large amounts of Chakra, like Naruto, whose Chakra is explosively abundant; even if he creates dozens or hundreds of clones, each clone still has a lot of Chakra.
Although Zabuza is an Elite Jonin like Kakashi, he isn't burdened by the Sharingan, and his Chakra amount is that of a normal Elite Jonin; creating a few more Shadow Clones wouldn't affect his strength too much.
At this moment, Li Chuan raised the Zen Staff in his hand, then lowered it again.
When Zabuza's main body was still, concealed by the thick fog, Li Chuan couldn't perceive him either, but when Zabuza charged towards Kakashi, the slight airflow generated by his body was enough for Li Chuan to discern Zabuza's location.
If he were to throw the Zen Staff in his hand at this moment, he could naturally interrupt Zabuza's attack immediately, but he thought about it and decided not to do so.
Because it didn't align with his initial action plan.
Anyway, with Kakashi's skill, he certainly wouldn't be taken out by Zabuza just like that.
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