In a flicker, Yagura disappears from the boat. A minute or two later, he reappears. "Their numbers exceed 100, and although they are just pirates, many of them seem to have a basic understanding of chakra. They also have cannons attached to their boats."
"Tread with caution. I will only help when necessary. This will be your training of sorts."
The three genins didn't object to Yagura not helping them. Rather, they liked the idea, wanting to gauge their own strength. The fight with Yagura doesn't count!
Puzzled by something, Utakata questions, "But how do we reach the island? We three can't walk on water. Do we just charge right in?"
"Don't worry, I have a solution for that," Yagura says, smirking.
.....
It was the usual time of day for the pirates, but then, "Oi, look! There's a boat in the distance. Quick, inform the boss of this and ready the cannons."
"Sensei, is this really a good idea?" Ruka calls out nervously.
"It's a great idea. Now, start!"
Right away, Zabuza executes a seal of confrontation. "Hiding in the mist jutsu!" In an instant, the air is filled with mist, rapidly covering the whole coastline with the aid of the plentiful seawater around them.
Right when Zabuza's role is done, Ruka's role starts. "Wind release, breakthrough!" Taking a deep breath, she starts expelling a gust of wind, which the sails pick up, rapidly thrusting the boat forward.
Now it's up to the sailor to safely maneuver them to the shoreline. "Don't worry, miss. I have done this many times before," the old sailor reassures Ruka while grabbing the helm.
Tearing through the mist, the boat bursts out of it, reaching the shoreline in a big splash! Jumping down from the boat, they immediately launch an attack.
Using his newly bought sword, Zabuza strikes his unsuspecting prey one after another.
Ruka, on the other hand, uses one of the only two water-style jutsus she knows. "Water wall technique!" As the name suggests, she temporarily creates a wall of water around her target, rendering them unable to provide any backup to their allies.
The pirates are left speechless. "Wa-what? How?" Unable to respond to the attacks, they become easy pickings for the three ninjas. "Aaaah!" "Help!" The cries of utter terror fill the air.
Amidst the panicking pirates, a composed voice rings out. "Don't panic. Surround them in groups. Overwhelm them with our numbers," the pirate boss commands aloud.
Utakata scoffs at that. "As if you dirty pirates can be our match." He conjures a series of bubbles aimed precisely at pirates that are grouping around them.
With a snap of his fingers, the bubbles set off. A chain of explosions occurs in quick succession. The act of clumping up together becomes their biggest undoing.
Zabuza doesn't let this chance go. In a swift motion, he cuts down an unprecedented number of enemies, unprepared and outmatched by the continuous assault of three ninjas. They fall like dominoes.
When they were finally done, no pirates are left standing around their immediate vicinity. Glancing around them, they see all the disfigured men, their victims are writhing in pain. Some have lost their limbs, some their eyes, while others are bleeding out.
Many are unmoving, eluding only one thing. Zabuza and Utakata look away. Ruka, however, is unable to do so. Aspiring to be a medical-nin, she feels a deep loss in her heart... But right now, she cannot afford to be saddened by her enemies' deaths. she has a mission to complete.
Clenching her small fists, she is determined to move on.
"Now! This is the moment! Launch an attack while they are exhausted!" Yelling out of his lungs, the pirate boss Gataro, with thirty of his close henchmen, charges at the three.
Zabuza, being the nearest one, faces an onslaught of sword strikes from Gataro.
Thankfully, the other pirates are not able to join in. Ruka was able to create a water wall in time, effectively blocking the other pirates in their tracks. If not, the situation would be very difficult for Zabuza to face.
Using chakra to enhance their blades, like a samurai, the pirates easily blast away the water wall. But before they could go and help their boss, they are stopped by Utakata's "large explosion Bubble." Ruka and Utakata work together to deal with the underlings.
"How long do you think they can last, huh?" Gataro taunts Zabuza, showing his rotten teeth. Using the two swords in each of his hands, he executes unrelenting strikes at the young ninja.
Stepping a few steps back while dodging and parrying the pirate's strikes, Zabuza reaches the seashore. 'This bastard is really annoying. Two swords, huh? I have never fought a two-sword user.'
'Excluding sensei, he is probably the strongest opponent I have ever faced. I will give him that.'
"But this ends now!" Zabuza hurls a large amount of seawater from the shore toward his opponent, blasting him some meters away.
"What? What was that? How did he get so strong?" Just as Gataro is about to stand up, "wind style breakthrough!" Gataro gets blown away by Zabuza's sudden burst of power, both literally and figuratively.
After a brief moment in the air, Gataro is struck on a nearby tree, bleeding from both his nose and mouth. "You fools, guard me!" He shouts at his underlings, opening his mouth, his disfigured teeth had become even more unsightly.
The pirates going to help Gataro take away a huge stress load from Utakata and Ruka.
They had initially taken an attack and defense approach. Utakata would attack while Ruka would defend and support. This had worked in stalling the pirate henchmen in place, but quickly became unsustainable. Both of them, especially Ruka, started running out of chakra.
Zabuza is stopped by the henchmen when he tries to finish off Gataro. Fighting off ten of the henchmen at once, he is unable to reach his target. 'Where did he go?' The pirate boss disappears from everyone's eyes.
"Utakata, can you find him?"
"Yes! I can sense his chakra inside that big warehouse," he replies while fighting off a pirate with his kunai.
'According to sensei, the kidnapped villagers are inside that warehouse. Don't tell me!'
"Stop this fighting all at once," Zabuza's fear comes to light. "If you all want these people to live, then stop while I am still being nice," Gataro threatens, pointing one of his swords at a young girl's neck and the other one at all the remaining people in the warehouse.
"If you three take even a step and disregard my warning, starting with this girl, I will kill every sheep locked in here."
"How can you treat human lives like that? Aren't you also human?" a dam has crumbled down as water cascade down Ruka's cheeks, faced with such an ugly side of human beings she is unable to comprehend it.
"Shut up, you brat. I don't care what you think," he fumes with anger.
As Gataro is distracted by Ruka, Utakata subtly brings his bubble-blowing pipe near his mouth, ready to attack. But before he could execute the attack, the pirate boss notices him. Agitated by this action, he is about to kill the girl he was keeping as a hostage.
But before he could do any of that, swoosh! Bam! A vortex of wind crashes onto his body, blowing him away for the third time in a row.
The vortex of wind had come from inside the warehouse. A boy comes into view, dragging the chains that bound him. He walks out through the warehouse entrance. He is none other than the kekkei genkai user, the pirate boss was planning to sell.
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