“So, this is Wave.”
Ren observed the unfinished bridge, who despite its current state expressed much more than any other bridge he'd seen before
In comparison, it made them look like ants even with the boat put together.
His moments of gawking were cut short however, much to his dismay and reluctance.
Team 7 and Tazuna were pulled over to the shore and the boat quickly left as soon as it had appeared, seemingly afraid of someone noticing the act. ‘They must be pretty scared of Gato.’
“Before any of you blame him, remember that everyone here is scared shitless of Gato. A single word from him and their entire families could perish just on a whim of his. It’s been years and yet we cannot do anything.”
The group continued to walk and soon they entered a forest, outside the village in the coastal area they had been in previously. It didn’t take long for Ren to notice there was something wrong. He felt two enormous chakra-presences nearby.
One much larger than the other, but it was not like the other one was tiny either.
Using discrete eye contact with Kakashi, the latter immediately understood what Ren was trying to tell him. The fact he couldn’t sense the presence of the other entity meant that it was at least a Jounin who was hiding.
‘Fortune favors the bold.’ Ren let out a chain of curses before several lines of crimson-red seals appeared on his body and dispersed. With this, he was at one hundred percent strength. The sword that he had around his waist was unsheathed and he quickly got to work.
A lone blade was thrown at them and they all had to duck to dodge it.
“FUCK!”
Naruto cursed out as he leaped backwards while grabbing Tazuna along with him, not wanting any danger to fall to the old bridgebuilder.
The massive blade was easy to identify, it was taller a grown man, and with two circle-like cuts from the blade. It was shaped similarly to a butcher knife. What was the most special thing about it was the extremely long handle which somehow did not break under the pressure. One of the seven greatest swords Kiri had witnessed, Kubikiribocho.
A silhouette soon landed on top of the sword’s handle and menacingly stared at Kakashi. Even Ren felt sort of intimidating by the glare of the eyebrow-less figure he recognized inside ten seconds of thinking.
Zabuza Momochi, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, whose moniker was Demon of the Hidden Mist and a rogue ninja. The leader of a failed coup and also the one who had ordered the four chunins to attack them.
He was easily someone above normal jounin-capabilities and even Ren was not sure if Kakashi could win in a confrontation with him.
‘No, his chakra reserves might be similar, but for some odd reason I don’t feel like Zabuza is on Kakashi’s level.’
Zabuza had an infamous reputation all over the Elemental Nations for the many deeds he had done over the years, but Kakashi Hatake was the son of the White Fang, someone who was stronger than even the three Sannins.
Ren decided it was not time to freeze and created several shadow clones as fast as he could. Each of them jumped towards different directions for an unknown cause. It didn’t seem like Zabuza had even noticed what they were.
“Zabuza Momochi, the pay must be quite hefty if you bother to work for a man such as Gato.” Kakashi smiled underneath his mask as a hand went over the headband which covered his other eye.
“I’ll need to take you seriously if I want to stand a chance of winning.”
His headband now resting on his forehead, Kakashi opened his other eye and revealed something which stunned Sasuke.
A sharingan. A crimson eye with three tomoes in a circle.
“Kakashi of the Sharingan, fighting you would be a pain. So, would you be as nice as to surrender that old man to me instead?”
Zabuza’s hoarse and rough voice resonated as he turned around to face the group.
“Well either way, to face a wielder of one of the three legendary doujutsus so early after knowing each other… It’s an honor.”
Ren stared at Naruto, if not for the fact he had made sure to teach some sense onto the blond, he would undoubtedly already have tried to attack Zabuza. Instead he was being careful and protecting Tazuna.
‘Good, Kakashi-sensei can focus on Zabuza while me and Sasuke offer the occasional support, not like it will be worth that much. But my clones will soon finish that seal so if he doesn’t do something about the-‘
His words were left unfinished as memories came surging inside of him.
‘An Ice style user?! What! Why would they obstruct my shadow clones, judging purely from their appearance they’re a hunter anbu from Kiri, this makes no sense. Unless… They’re a rogue one!’
“Teacher, they have a helper who can use Ice jutsus somewhere hiding. He took down my shadow clones” Ren discretely told Kakashi while covering his lips so Zabuza wouldn’t hear him. There was the chance of him using chakra to enhance his hearing, but there wasn’t time for such things.
He really needed to create a communication seal sometime in the future though, it would come in handy in times such as this.
‘Still though, that person must be the other one I sensed. Zabuza’s pockets truly are thick if he has a chunin nearing jounin in terms of power helping him lead such a coup. The bloodline purge in Kiri must’ve really made the bloodline users struggle to follow such a man.’
“Kakashi, Konoha’s resident Copy Ninja and one of the most feared shinobi to live there right now. Back when I was still a shinobi of Kirikagure and could still use the Bingo Book you were one of the most feared. A man who has copied over a thousand jutsus they call you.”
Looking at Sasuke, the boy was frowning. He was clearly in denial because of the title Zabuza had referred Kakashi with earlier on. Noticing this, Ren threw a rock at him and earned his attention together with a glare which promised pain.
“While I’d like to just talk and solve it that way, unfortunately I have a job to do and a person to capture.” Zabuza stepped out of the handle of the sword and up the tree but no one batted an eye, already used to stuff like that while learning chakra control techniques from Kakashi.
He grabbed the sword by the handle and pointed it at them with ridicule visible in his eyes.
“If you’re not going to leave, you will be in my way and I will have to get rid of all of you!” He shouted as he leaped away, leaving only an afterimage behind for them to see.
“Since you might be as well as dead, I will let you experience Kirigakure’s greatest assassination jutsu; Hidden in the Mist!”
Kakashi frowned at the usage of the jutsu as mist started to materialize out of nowhere. With each passing moment, the mist got thicker and thicker and Zabuza was no longer visible. It hadn’t even taken that long, so they couldn’t even have prevented it even if they wanted.
“Naruto, look over Tazuna carefully, your sight will be your biggest enemy in the current conditions. Trust your hearing and instincts more than your eyes in this battle.” Kakashi spoke out while trying to pinpoint Zabuza’s location with his sharingan.
‘This is a pretty immense concentration of chakra, the equivalent of what it would take to use a B to A Rank jutsu, pretty impressive if you ask me.’
“Zabuza is a master of silent killing, one of the most famous ones you could say. It’s pretty much visible that he’ll come for me first so be careful and protect him. Sasuke we’ll have to rely on you for sight, do cover that part for Naruto alright? As an Uchiha even your normal eyes should have higher ocular ability than most.”
Sasuke nodded
“Both of you, there’s a hidden opponent somewhere around here so be careful of any projectile which could fly your way.” Ren spoke out while throwing several scrolls on the ground.
‘If they don’t want me to show my fuinjutsu prowess, then I’ll do just that and some more. Since this is a water-style technique, I’ll just use my own one to disperse this technique, I refuse to believe he has a higher affinity to water than I do.’
Spreading six scrolls in a circular fashion, the kanjis engraved on them started to shine with an azure light courtesy of his hand-seal.
“There are eight targets: Kidney, heart, throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, the jugular veins, the subclavian artery. So many choices yet so little time… what do I chose? Heh-heh.”
Zabuza’s voice left faster than it came, but it gave most of them a panic attack. Ren didn’t care either way.
“Water Turrent Sealing Method!”
‘… But first let’s secure Tazuna.’
