"I'll explain this later. The most important thing now is that you all have to be careful."
"Diamond formation! Protect Tazuna-san! None of you are allowed to interfere, now is the time when teamwork is most needed!"
Kakashi said and glanced at Naruto. They both looked at each other, then nodded.
"Your opponent is me!"
Kakashi looked at Zabuza with a solemn face, and lifted the ninja headband off his left eye, revealing a scarlet eye with three black tomoe eyes in it.
"Sure enough, it's the Sharingan! Why does he have it?!"
Sasuke, who had been watching Kakashi from the side, clearly saw the familiar eye in Kakashi's left eye socket.
But now that the enemy was in front of him, he could only bury the questions in his heart and ask them later.
"Damn it, even I haven't awaken my Sharingan yet!"
Sasuke didn't know that he had already awakened his sharingan, so seeing Kakashi's eyes at this time, he thought of that man again, and at the same time became dissatisfied with his progress again.
"Well... I didn't expect to see the legendary Sharingan so soon, what an honor!"
Zabuza sneered.
"I used to be in the Mist Shinobi assassination unit. In the bingo book, your information said that you copied over thousands of ninjutsu, that's why your called Hatake Kakashi, the copy ninja"
"..." Kakashi didn't speak.
"Okay, let's stop chatting here, I have to get rid of that old man quickly."
Tazuna's legs trembled and cold sweat dripped down his forehead hearing it.
"This ninja... is not an ordinary person!"
When Naruto and the others saw that Zabuza was about to make a move, they instantly protected Tazuna in a zigzag shape.
"But it seems I have to kill you first, Kakashi!"
Swish!!
Zabuza's body flickered away.
"Where did he go?"
"There."
Naruto pointed at Zabuza who was standing on the lake and exclaimed.
"Hidden mist jutsu!"
After Zabuza finished the hand seals for the jutsu, the area was instantly shrouded in thick white mist, and there was no trace of Zabuza.
"Everyone be alert. When he was in the Mist Shinobi assassination unit, he was famous for his silent assassination skills."
Kakashi turned on his perception to the max and spoke seriously.
"You'll be dead before you come to your senses! My Sharingan can't help much here, so you must be more careful!"
Kakashi was really tired at the moment, if he knew that he would encounter Zabuza, he would have taken the three kids back to Konoha no matter what!
It was just a C-level mission, it was not worth it to make him work this hard!
...
"Captain, what should we do? Do you want to make a move?"
"Nine Tails Jinchūriki seems to be in danger!"
The root ninjas hiding in the distance looked at Zabuza who was fighting Kakashi and asked.
"No, we don't need to make a move if it's not a fatal situation. Moreover, Danzo-sama said, this was the best scenario to test the strength of the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. If he goes berserk early, we can deal with him later! But let's be careful!"
"yes!"
...
"The root ninjas don't seem to be reacting... It seems that I will have to deal with them before returning to Konoha."
Voice of all things not only helped find the position of the root ninjas in the thick fog but also heard the conversation of the root ninja.
They hid well, but Naruto's sensing ability was too overpowered.
"Boy...my sword is not something everyone can handle..."
"Are you ready to be killed by me?"
Sakura was very nervous when she heard the voices coming from all directions.
Everyone was vigilant and carefully observed their surroundings.
Only Naruto was unmoved, after all, he could 'listen' clearly and knew Zabuza's position.
"So many vital spots? Where should I strike first..."
Suddenly, with the sound of Zabuza's voice falling, a piercing chill swept through everyone.
"This, this strong murderous aura! It feels like if I blink, I will be killed...! This is a Jōnins' killing intent, I can't stand it...It's better to die than this..."
Sasuke was intimidated by Zabuza's killing intent, trembling all over, not daring to move an inch.
"Don't worry, Sasuke, I will protect you with my life!"
Kakashi suddenly turned around and smiled gently at Sasuke and Sakura.
"I will never... let him kill you guys!"
"That's not necessarily the case!"
The voice of Zabuza suddenly appeared in between the crowd,
"Go to hell kid!"
Zabuza grabbed Kubikiribocho, and at the same time stabbed Naruto with a kunai.
"!"
Sasuke and Sakura turned pale seeing Naruto being stabbed.
Kakashi's heart also trembled. He rushed quickly with a handful of kunai.
When Zabuza thought that he had succeeded, Naruto's body suddenly turned into flames and disappeared.
"?!"
Kakashi quickly stabbed Zabuza, but what flowed out of the wound was not bright red blood, but water.
"Kakashi-sensei! Behind you!"
Sakura screamed!
A Kunai scratched Kakashi's neck, but to his surprise, Kakashi too was just a clone.
"Water clone? Could it be that he copied my ninjutsu in the fog?"
"And that kid, could it be the fire clone?"
Zabuza said as he stared at the now dead water clone of Kakashi
"Don't move."
...