Zabuza: The Greatest Swordsman [A Naruto Fanfic]

Clang! Splash! Iron clashing and water splashing can be heard from the mist. "What could be happening inside?" Ruka's anxiousness is plastered on her gloomy face.

"Hmph! He is probably getting beat up by Sensei," Utakata is certain of it, and for a very good reason... After all, what can one accomplish in just three days?

'Hope the idiot doesn't lose too horribly,' but of course, he is a big soft— 'No point being better than a loser after all.' Well... maybe not!!

"Don't say such bad things, he is our friend... Zabuza kun!, please be alright?" Joining her hands together, she prays for the boy.

'Friend huh?' Utakata can't help but twitch the corners of his mouth. "He won't die, don't worry," he decides to reassure the girl.

Inside the mist, Zabuza catches his breath after launching a flurry of slashes at his Sensei.

He is able to precisely locate Yagura by utilizing his physical senses together with his basic chakra sensing ability.

Basically, what he does is, he releases a thin wave of chakra from his body as the focal point. The chakra dissipates after traveling to a distance of approximately 20 meters, which isn't much but it works, as it is also the maximum distance his mist covers.

The wave can't even be seen with naked eyes, though a sensory-nin would still be able to detect it.

When an object comes in contact with this chakra wave, the inconsequential amount of chakra bounces off the object, doing no damage, but as Zabuza is able to sense anything his chakra senses, he is able to gauge the approximate location of that object, its shape, and its size.

Getting close to the target, he uses sound to further pinpoint their location. But even still, to know the target's stance, he has to get dangerously close to them...

This is the hardest part. If unaware of this crucial detail, he won't be able to tell if he is attacking from the front or the back of his target.

'If only I could focus chakra on my eyes, ears, and nose, this would have been a whole lot easier.' It's not that he didn't try doing it, but every time he tried, sharp pain would assault those parts of his body.

He reckoned this is because of his chakra control still not reaching the necessary standard.

'Guess, there's no point complaining. I still have a solution for it after all..." He closes his eyes. All of his senses working in sync, he scans the whole area...

Suddenly opening them, he swish! He goes in for— slash! Dodge! Yagura dodges it, twisting his body. 'Silent killing?' Wielding his club, he strikes back. "I nearly didn't notice you, good! You finally are learning to carry out silent killing inside this mist."

Clang! In a fluid motion, Yagura's club meets Zabuza's sword. "Tho it's only a given, you were very good with swords after all." To perform silent killing one moves closer to a target without making any sound, followed by slitting the enemy's throat. It's a simple and effective.

Screech! The sword drags along the club as Zabuza tries to repel it back. "It's nothing to brag about. everyone can do it."

Yagura smiles at the boy. "Heh! Pretending to be humble! Although silent killing is easy to learn, it's hard to be good at, you have to have a talent for it."

Yagura retracts his club, allowing the boy to breathe a sigh of relief.

Stepping something like a meter back, Zabuza fixes his gaze at his Sensei, who is barely visible even this up-close. "What about my senses? How much do you think they have improved?" He really wanted to find this out for a while now.

His Sensei, however, averts his gaze and starts whistling, trying to find out if doing so inside a mist really summons ghosts or not.

"Sensei???"

Yagura is really facing a dilemma right now. 'What do I say? do i say,... That it's truly amazing he has achieved a level that even I took more than two weeks to reach??... Absolutely not!'

"Sensei??" his student calls out again.

"It's alright! Better than most genins and chunins. Tho you have a lot to improve... you have three apparent areas to work on. One is your chakra sense, second is infusing your sensory organs with chakra, and finally, the third is to achieve a sixth sense."

"You have done good reaching the level you have reached. Your mastery in sensing is even. a little bit faster than mine. But don't get too conceited. When I was your age, I was still stronger than you are now." Of course, a teacher has to brag about what they were as a kid.

"Heh! You still look my age tho".....Peace!... people!, this is what digging your own grave is like... Such a remark, was it really worth it? Right now, there is no one to answer such a question.

All because a carbonated cola for brains has triggered the self-destruct button... The world has arrived in the great age of awkward silence... [A.N-supeeeer!!]

.....

The mist starts to recede as the two figures emerge out of it. Yagura is obviously clear with no signs of any problem, but the same can't be said for the poor Zabuza. He seems a little slow in walking, even limping a bit.

Upon closer inspection, Ruka calls out to her friend. "Zabuza-kun, what happened to your head?" There are two bumps on each side of his head, looking like two small goat horns.

"These are battle injuries, don't ask further."

Respecting Zabuza's wish, she starts healing him. 'That insecure man, just because of a word he beat me up in the name of training. Power is truly justice.' -Did he really learn his lesson?

His bumps were subsiding as Ruka heals his body. A single drop of tear trickles down his left eye. "Ruka, you really are an angel. Is this what having a little sister is like?"

Ruka, however, was too caught up on healing him to hear his muttering. "Did you say anything, Zabuza-kun?"

"No, nothing."

This dramatic scene, Utakata and Yagura both utter a single sentence after watching the whole of it play out. "So stupid!!"

The team didn't dwindle around for long as Yagura and Utakata spar. During the spar, Utakata brought out his two new techniques, (Drowning bubble technique) and (soap bubble slime). his four day of training has shown this result.

At last, after Ruka had properly healed Zabuza, it was her turn to spar. She too had improved her abilities. During the spar, she not only used Water Release Jutsu, but also Wind Release Jutsu. Altogether she used four jutsus:

Water Release- (Water Wall), (Water Wave)

Wind Release- (Wind Breakthrough), (Gale Palm)

Yagura had taught her the Gale Palm jutsu, during the previous two days.

As tomorrow will be their first day in battle, they finish their training early to take some rest and be in their best condition.

Just when the team is about to disperse and head home, they are surprisingly stopped by Ruka. "Wait a minute, please." It seems, she has something to say.

"I have requested my parents to prepare food for us.... You three haven't eaten any breakfast, right?... You can have it in our restaurant... S—so will you come?" She is anxious, especially regarding her Sensei. She is unsure whether he will agree to such a thing or not.

In Kirigakure, unlike the civilians, shinobis rarely ever eat in restaurants. As in this village, ninjas mostly keep to themselves, and most of them interact with others only when necessary.

Looking at Ruka's gloomy face, her team realizes something. Her inviting them is not so simple as it seems... Yes, she is worried!!—worried something may go wrong in the war. She is trying to make this fleeting moment last a bit longer. She fears losing her friends.

"Ahem! Now that my student has made such a request, how can I reject it?" Yagura isn't very good at cooking, so the invitation really looks rather appealing to him... He speaks while slowly nodding his head, trying to make it seem like it was such a hard decision for him to make.

Zabuza gulps down his saliva. "Sensei really brings up a good point. I also agree." Of course, he was already planning to go even if the other two didn't. Smiling sillily, he can already smell the aroma of good food.

Utakata sighs at the situation. 'Wasn't he sour about getting beat up a moment ago?' He really isn't used to such people. Silence means he is okay with it.

Team-6 makes a unanimous decision... Deciding to enjoy their last free day as a team, they head toward the restaurant.

Though it was a treat from Ruka's parents, Yagura still chose to pay the bills.