Zabuza: The Greatest Swordsman [A Naruto Fanfic]

Four days remain before Team-6 is plunged into war...

Currently, Yagura is standing just opposite to the forested area of the training grounds.

"So, you want me to teach you how to fight in a dense mist?" Folding his arms and tilting his head, he peers at his student with those pupil-less eyes of his.

"Yes! That is what I want!" Zabuza replies bluntly.

He is the only one in-front of yagura... His teammates aren't around, most likely busy with their own training.

"Can you do it or not, sensei?"

Annoyed by the brat's behavior, Yagura snapped, "Of course I can! Who do you think I am?" But then, like a seasoned actor, he quickly composed himself. "Before I teach you that, have you mastered what I taught you yesterday? Can you already walk on water?"

"I wouldn't say I am good at it, but I can do it!"

"That's good enough for now... Now then, as you can walk on water, we will do our training on it's surface."

To reach the river, they walk into the forest. The river, seemingly hidden by the trees lining its banks runs through the middle of the forest.

As they are on their way, they come across Utakata, diligently practicing tree climbing. It doesn't seem like he has mastered the technique yet.

Nonetheless steadily he is reaching the tree-top, as indicated by the kunai marks along the upper section of the tree-trunk.

"Too slow," Zabuza remarks at his fellow teammate, despite the fact that he himself took days of practice to master tree walking.

After waking up from his coma, the only special techniques he knew a bit about on how to train were Rasengan and tree walking.

So whenever he got the time, he would practice tree walking by walking on the walls of his apartment.

Returning to the matter at hand...

Utakata completely ignores Zabuza's taunt. Covered in dirt and sweat, he continues his practice.

Yagura, after leaving the boy with some advice, exits the forested area along with Zabuza following in his steps.

Reaching the river bank, they meet another of their teammates... Ruka, drenched in water from head to toe, is practicing walking on the water surface.

Splash! She falls into the water but quickly swims out and continues her practice. Unlike Zabuza, it seems she can swim.

looking at the girl, Zabuza notes "How is she learning so fast when Utakata on the other hand is struggling? In fact, she is even faster than me." he walks up to his sensei.

Yagura turns back toward zabuza "Her low chakra reserves combined with her talent in chakra control make her perfect for such training."

"Does that mean Utakata has large chakra reserves as he is taking more time?" Zabuza asks but it is more of a amzed remark.

"Yes, the larger the chakra reserve one has, the harder it is to build up and control that chakra."

Listening to Yagura's explanation, Zabuza ponders to himself...

'Naruto was also very bad at chakra control in the beginning. He would use large amounts of chakra when performing simple jutsu; ultimately leading to failure...'

'Only when he got better guidance from Kakashi and Jiraiya was he able to show his true potential as a Jinchuriki... wait! Jinchuriki??'

Something clicked. The mystery that's been bugging him all this time.

'Utakata is a jinchuriki!!—right now he isn't, but he will be in the future... no wonder I thought he looked familiar.' At last, Zabuza finally puts it together...

Clap! An abrupt clap from Yagura snaps him out of his inner monologue. "What are you dazed for? Focus! Now we will start our training."

They walk toward the shallow part of the river. Standing on the surface of the flowing water, Yagura swings his hand in an upward motion, indicating Zabuza to start.

The air around Zabuza starts to turn white as he forms the seal of confrontation. Rapidly, the mist spreads to the surrounding area. "This is good enough!" Zabuza exclaims...

Inside the heavy mist, he sees nothing but white. Then suddenly, bam! A sharp pain assaults his back. Wincing in pain, he straightens his back.

"Pain is the best way to learn," Yagura's stale voice reaches him. compelling him to be more alert to his surroundings.

The place returns to its ghostly silence. Only the faint rippling of water reverberates in his ears. His heart beats faster as he feels a pressure down his spine.

Zabuza catches glimpse of something. In front of him, a large black club rips through the mist. Its hook-end ensnares Zabuza's legs, and the club swings, dragging him down to his knees. Thankfully, he hasn't fallen into the water... yet.

Plunge! One of his legs plunges into the water. "This is embarrassing," he tries to pull his leg, but then he loses control over the chakra flowing down his other leg, that was keeping him on the surface.

Splash! His lower half fully submerges into the water. "Sensei!" he calls out, but no response comes. "You know I can't train underwater, right?"

A reaction finally came. "Always remain calm. Shinobi need to have full control over their mind. You can only survive for a long period of time if you remain calm in any situation."

As Yagura stops speaking, a hand grabs Zabuza's shoulder, rapidly pulling him up from the water. For a second, he becomes a cloth hung mid-air on a rope.

His whole body above the water, he feels the water surface with his feet...

Subsequently, as he is released from the grip, he is able to stand on the water surface, thankfully saving his face from yet another awkward situation.

'Phew! At least I avoided being laughed at by sensei. Focus, Zabuza, focus!!, I have to sense every movement around me.'

The world converges into one... He stands, unmoving, unthinking. Unshaken by the doubt that was there just a moment ago. He becomes one with his environment.

Swoooosh! He dodges an object aimed at his shoulder. This single motion makes him sweat bullets. "Huff! Huff! Are you trying to kill me, sensei?"

"They are blunt, they won't kill you... it will only break some bones. No big deal, right?"

"Yeah, right!" That one kunai nearly scared the soul out of Zabuza.

Like that, they continued their practice for the whole day...

....

The third day of training is a bit different from the previous days...

Zabuza, blindfolded, has been instructed to walk around the training ground. Today, Yagura is busy helping Ruka perfect her ninjutsu. Utakata, on the other hand, is busy practicing water surface walking.

Alone, Zabuza roams among the trees and bushes. Tack! Tack! He lightly taps the ground with a stick. "Phew! I have finally reached the stone road." A cloth wrapped around his eyes, he sees nothing but black.

A little while back, his sensei had explained the importance of this training to him. "Try to sense the objects around you. If you are able to do it, you can fight even while being blind."

"With continuous practice, you will be able to obtain a higher level of reflex. It is different from the ability of sensory ninjas who use chakra to sense others. It is more of an archaic reflex of humans. Different from our five basic senses, this intuition to sense things is called the sixth sense..."

Zabuza had obviously heard about the sixth sense in his past life. Although unproven, many people believed in its existence. 'Sigh! There's a long way to go before I can gain this sixth sense... Right now, I might as well improve my other senses.'

'I have to empty my mind.' He does just that, emptying his mind of unnecessary doubt. He tries to feel everything around him, every smell, every touch, every sound.

'Is this a rock?' He can only guess what's in front of him. "Maybe if I combine my natural senses with chakra, it will be easier. Either way, I don't have any other option currently."