Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

Black hair, his mouth and nose were wrapped in white bandages, covering half of his face.

The headband was worn diagonally on his head, and the four wavy lines on the headband, two above and two below, indicated the man's status.

Like the two demon brothers before them, they were ninja from the Hidden Mist Village.

"I never expected that you would be in the Land of Waves... a rogue ninja from Kirigakure, the Demon King Zabuza Momochi."

Kakashi stared intently at the man and revealed his identity.

Keeping a watchful eye on Zabuza, Kakashi gave the order to the Team 7 members behind him, who were in battle stance: "This guy is not someone you can handle. Get into defensive formation and protect Tazuna."

After speaking, Kakashi reached out and lifted the headband he had been wearing as an eyepatch over his left eye, revealing the eye that had been hidden all along.

The left eye, marked with a vertical scar, has a strange, bright red eye within its socket, with three black tomoe swirling within its pupil.

"I never expected that the person protecting that old guy would be the famous Copy Ninja—Kakashi with the Sharingan."

Zabuza also spoke in a tone that suggested he knew Kakashi inside and out.

Chapter 16 The Battle of the Jonin

"Kakashi Hatake, you are an inconspicuous figure who cannot be ignored on the assassination lists of the ninja ANBU of various countries."

Zabuza looked down at Kakashi, acknowledging his strength: "If the enemy is you, then the Demon Brothers' defeat is only natural."

Kakashi stared intently at Zabuza. Although he had anticipated that after the Demon Brothers, the next attacker would be a Jonin, he hadn't expected it to be such a renowned figure as Zabuza Momochi.

This is not an opponent that can be dealt with immediately.

This is troublesome...

Kakashi not only had to protect Tazuna's safety, but also prevent Zabuza from shifting the focus of the battle from him to the three members of Team 7 in order to restrain him.

That's why Kakashi used the Sharingan directly.

Although Naruto and his friends are among the best genin.

They could get involved in battles between Jonin, and as Genin, they were a burden in themselves.

"I didn't deal with those two guys; my subordinates did."

After a moment of deep thought, Kakashi opened his mouth and responded to Zabuza's words.

"Oh?"

Upon hearing Kakashi's words, Zabuza showed a slight hint of curiosity.

Zabuza glanced at the three members of Team 7 who were protecting Tazuna in a defensive formation, as if he wanted to personally verify the truth of the information that the inexperienced genin had taken down a chunin.

Zabuza's slight eye movement, shifting his gaze, is a gesture that is almost imperceptible to the average person.

However, Kakashi's Sharingan in his left eye possesses the characteristic of "observation eye," allowing him to perceive the flow of chakra and even the slightest movements of others.

Even though Zabuza slightly shifted his attention to Team 7, Kakashi still noticed this tiny flaw.

Kakashi's extensive combat experience allowed him to seize this fleeting opportunity to strike!

A sharp, piercing thunderclap suddenly resounded behind Zabuza.

Zabuza's pupils contracted sharply; Kakashi was still within his sight...

Shadow clones?!

The answer came instantly to my mind.

Zabuza quickly turned around, preparing to meet Kakashi's sneak attack.

But his gaze happened to fall upon that bright red Sharingan—

In addition to being an "observation eye," the Sharingan also possesses the characteristics of a "hypnotic eye."

Kakashi's Sharingan-based genjutsu stunned Zabuza for a second.

It was in that crucial second that Zabuza, who could have dodged Kakashi's attack, was precisely pierced through the chest by the blue lightning in Kakashi's hand!

With just one strike, the battle between Kakashi and Zabuza, two Jonin, came to an end!

"What...what kind of ninjutsu is this?!"

Sasuke stared in disbelief at the lightning in Kakashi's hand; he had never seen such a powerful ninjutsu.

"I've never seen this kind of ninjutsu in any books before... Kakashi-sensei, is he really that strong?"

Sakura couldn't contain her shock either.

Kakashi's ninjutsu was so advanced that even she, who had memorized the knowledge from the ninja academy textbooks perfectly and had a perfect score in theory, was unaware of it.

Naruto's reaction wasn't as strong as Sasuke's or Sakura's.

Having memories of his past life, he knew very well that the blue lightning emitting a sharp, piercing sound from Kakashi's hand was Kakashi's self-created S-rank ninjutsu, Lightning Blade.

But Naruto still frowned.

His frown wasn't out of admiration for Kakashi's strength, but rather because he was troubled by the fact that Zabuza was still alive.

From the moment he set foot on the Land of Waves, Naruto has maintained the use of the Wind Sweeping Dawn Technique.

Naruto stopped using the Wind Dawn Technique after Kakashi began using the Sharingan, in order to prevent Kakashi from detecting the chakra in the wind through the Sharingan's "observation eye" characteristic.

However, before that, Naruto had already sensed that the Zabuza Momochi who appeared in front of them was not the real Zabuza.

Kakashi only "killed" one of Zabuza's clones...

The two streams of chakra hidden in the shadows are actually Zabuza and Haku.

Damn it!

Kakashi noticed the abnormal surge of electricity from the lightning that had pierced Zabuza's chest and realized what the problem was.

The next moment, Zabuza's body turned into water and fell to the ground.

"That's right, it's a water clone!"

The real Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, who was wielding the Lightning Blade, and answered in an extremely mocking tone.

A kunai pierced Kakashi's throat as he unleashed the Lightning Blade, and the next moment, Kakashi turned into smoke and vanished.

Everything that had just happened seemed like a dream. Zabuza still used the large sword that was cleaving the tree trunk as his foothold, looking down at Kakashi on the ground.

"...You used up a lot of chakra with that move just now... What a pity, Kakashi Hatake."

Zabuza stared at Kakashi, no longer paying attention to the three members of Team 7 behind Kakashi and Tazuna whom they were protecting.

"Looks like to kill that old guy, I'll have to get rid of you first."

Having made his decision, Zabuza used the Body Flicker Technique to disappear from the tree.

Along with Zabuza, the enormous sword also disappeared.

When Zabuza reappeared, he had already put his greatsword back on his back and was standing on the water not far away.

One of his hands was raised straight up, and the other was placed in front of his chest, both hands forming hand seals.

Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Technique.

A thick white fog instantly appeared around Zabuza, and the wind blew by, expanding the fog's reach.

In the blink of an eye, the thick fog enveloped Kakashi and his companions.

Zabuza, who was standing on the water, had vanished without a trace...

No! That description isn't accurate either!

Zabuza was more like he himself had turned into the fog, becoming the fog itself!

Listen carefully!

Kakashi stared at the spot where Zabuza had disappeared and said to Naruto and the others, "This is Zabuza Momochi's silent killing technique."

"The three of you must stay focused and on high alert. If you let your guard down even slightly, he could kill you, who knows where he is hiding in the fog!"

In the brief moment Kakashi spoke to remind them, the fog grew thicker and thicker.

"You know my methods very well, Kakashi."

Zabuza's voice came from the mist, sometimes near, sometimes far. It was clearly just one person's voice, yet it seemed to come from all directions within the mist.

"In that case, you should know what kind of attack I'm going to make next, right?"

"Heart!"

"throat!"

"neck!"

"lung!"

"..."

Zabuza exerted immense pressure on everyone with terrifying words from within the fog.

He was only halfway through his sentence when he suddenly stopped speaking.

The thick fog gave way to a natural tranquility.

The tension among everyone was raised to its highest point!

Kakashi immediately formed hand seals!

"Sasuke, Sakura!"

At the same time, Naruto shouted loudly to remind the two people next to him.

"Let's start with you kids!"

This time, Zabuza's voice became incredibly clear.

Sasuke and Sakura were both startled; Zabuza had appeared behind them without a sound.

Zabuza raised his sword high, ready to kill all three members of Team 7 in the next moment!

"Don't even think about it!"

Kakashi appeared in front of Zabuza, grabbed Zabuza's hand that was wielding the sword, and plunged the entire kunai into Zabuza's kidney.

However, what flowed from Zabuza's wound was not red blood, but water!