(Hi, guys. I got a new chapter all lined up for you to enjoy.)

As both squads from Konoha and the Dragon Village continued down the forest path on their way to the Wave country, Tazuna decided to get to know more about the ninja guarding him.

"I've only heard rumors about the infamous Foot Clan, and based off the way you guys fought the rumors were true."

"Yes. We of the Foot Clan are a ninja group no one would dare mess with." Naruto answered.

"Unless you wanna find out the hard way." Karai added.

"You two must be proud being the children of your village leader."

Naruto didn't know how to respond to it still knowing he wasn't officially the child of Oroku Saki, so Karai answered on behalf of them both, "We sure are." Naruto smiled knowing he was spared the pain of lying.

Kakashi spoke up, "We should be reaching our destination soon." suddenly they heard a ruffle in the bushes, and they stopped.

Hun squinted his eyes and threw a kunai at the bush causing a white rabbit to hop out in fright.

"It's just a rabbit." Sakura sighed in relief.

But the others looked at the rabbit and were suspicious of it, "A rabbit with a white coat in the middle of this time of year?" Sai asked the others.

Tatsu with his special hearing heard something coming, "Everyone, down!" Hearing that, everyone hit the dirt as a giant sword swung in and nailed a tree. They looked up seeing the weapon and Hun gasped, "Where did that come from?"

"From me." came a voice as Zabuza suddenly appeared and pulled his sword out of the tree.

"That guy's huge." Naruto gasped.

"Just like his sword." Karai added.

Kakashi squinted at the man, "That sword and your Mist headband. You must be the infamous Zabuza Momochi the demon of Kiri."

"How quaint." Tatsu added.

Zabuza chuckled, "It's ho hard to blend in with a reputation like mine. And based off both your appearances, you are Konoah's Kakashi of the Sharingan."

"Sharingan?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

Zabuza turned to Tatsu, "And based off that demon mask, your headband, and the fact you could hear my sword coming so quickly, you are the Foot Clan's famous Blind Swordsman; Hattori Tatsu."

"Correct you are." the swordsman confirmed.

"Zabuza Momochi?" Naruto gasped.

"Oh, man this is beyond what I was expecting." Karai added in equal shock.

"So you're targeting Tazuna as well?" Kakashi inquired.

"Yes. Due to the failure of those brainless brothers I have to clean up their mess.' Zabuza gripped the hilt of his sword.

"There's no way we're letting you near Tazuna." Tatsu warned him.

"Everyone, protect the client at all costs!" Kakashi ordered, as the six genin surrounded Tazuna.

"Leaving an old man's life in the hands of mere children? You'll soon regret making that choice." Zabuza warned them.

"Don't be so sure." Tatsu answered, as he removed his demon mask.

Both squad leaders engaged with Zabuza, with the Mist Ninja using his giant sword to try and cut them both down. But with Kakashi's experience and Tatsu's hearing, the two were holding their own.

"Who is that guy?" Sakura asked, while they protected Tazuna.

"Zabuza Momochi," Karai answered, "From what we learned at the academy he's a former Mist Shinobi from the land of Kiri."

Naruto continued, "Like Kakashi said, he has a reputation as the Demon of the Mist. He used to work on the Assassination group. And was also one of the legendary Seven Shinobi swordsmen. But years ago the group disbanded after a failed attempt in the assassination of the Mizukage."

"Not bad, kids." Zabuza answered, as he formed hand signs, "Water Style; Water Dragon Jutsu!" he created a dragon projectile made form water at a nearby lake and attacked Kakashi and Tatsu who dodged.

"If it's gonna get this intense, I may as well go all out." Kakashi said, as he lifted his headband to uncover his one eye to reveal with was red with three black tomoe markings in it.

"No way!" Sasuke gasped.

"So that's the Sharingan." Zabuza squinted, as Kakashi engaged Zabuza.

"What's up with his eye?" Tazuna asked.

"Sasuke, isn't that the Sharingan?" Naruto asked the boy.

"That's right." Sasuke confirmed.

"Sharingan?" Tazuna asked, as Sasuke explained.

"It's supposed to be an ocular bloodline known only to my family. It allows the user to track the movements of an opponent before said opponent even makes them."

When Zabuza used his Water Dragon jutsu again, Kakashi copied his hands signs and created one of his own. The two water dragons collided sending water all over the terrain.

"Sensei just used the Water Dragon jutsu like Zabuza." Sakura gasped.

"Another power of the Sharingan allows the user to copy the hand signs or just about any jutsu." Sasuke added.

"Amazing." Hun gasped.

Zabuza was getting annoyed with Kakashi messing with his mind by mimicking all his movements, while Tatsu engaged him sword to sword. After pushing Tatsu back he spoke, "Enough of this. Let's see how well you fight in this," he formed hand signs, "Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

Suddenly the air around them started getting thicker, and soon the area was covered in a heavy mist, "What's happening?" Tazuna looked around, as they could barely see anything, even each other.

"This is Zabuza's trademark hidden mist jutsu!" Kakashi called.

"I can't see a thing." Naruto looked around.

"Nobody move, we have to protect Tazuna." Sasuke reminded them.

Tatsu called out, "Clever trick, Zabuza. Unfortunately, your technique has no effect on me since I'm already blind."

"That may be," Zabuza's voice came from all around them through the mist, "But can your acute sense of hearing save you from my other specialty?"

"What other specialty?" Sakura asked her team who were just as oblivious.

"The Silent Kill technique!" Kakashi gasped, as he and Tatsu braced themselves, and suddenly each was about to get stabbed with a kunai by two Zabuza's. When it looked like the two were fatally stabbed, they were replaced by logs.

"Damn!" Zabuza cursed, as the two Jonin reappeared and attacked them, with the one Tatsu fighting getting launched backward and suddenly dissolved into water.

"So a water clone." Tatsu suspected after hearing the splash.

"How did you avoid my kill?" Zabuza demanded.

"True the Silent Kill technique is extremely silent, but when you've trained like we have even that can be avoided." Tatsu answered.

"I'll have to remember that for next time." Zabuza replied, as he engaged the two again, who were determined to keep Zabuza from slipping into the mist to disappear.

As the genin remained guarding Tazuna, Naruto spoke, "I know both our sensei's our strong, but I hope they're both strong enough against someone like Zabuza."

"I hope so too." Hun answered.

Suddenly appearing behind them was another Zabuza, "Surprise!" he attempted to slice Tazuna and the kids, only for Hun, Sai, and Sasuke to tackle both Sakura and Tazuna out of the way. Naruto and Karai quickly drew their own swords and used them to repel Zabuza's big sword.

"Oh, man, I don't think our blades are strong enough." Karai struggled.

"Don't give in!" Naruto ordered, as they tried keeping Zabuza at bay, but truthfully were starting to feel the weight of Zabuza's blade coming down.

Eventually the two step sibs broke free and jumped back to avoid the full chop. The water clone of Zabuza spoke, "You kids fight well, as far as Foot Ninja go. But compared to me you are still novices."

"Typical words from an adult." Naruto scowled.

"You think you're ninja just because you wear your village headband?" Zabuza asked rhetorically, "You have no idea what it means to be a shinobi until you've gone through what I have. Even before I was a shinobi I had already stained my hands with blood."

"What?" Sakura gasped.

"What is he talking about?" Sai wondered.

Zabuza's clone hearing their curiosity decided to enlighten them while the real one continued to fight Zabuza and Tatsu, "Decades ago, the land of Kiri was very different place. Especially the academy."

"What do you mean?" Karai asked.

"At the academy we were put into pairs and for our final exam had to fight literally to the death."

"Whoa." Sakura said in shock.

"Oh, yes. And me, well I wasn't even in the exam, and I murdered the entire class."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at the man with surprise, as Sasuke spoke, "You murdered an entire class of academy students?"

"Yes. And I held no remorse for that. I worked my way up through the ninja ranks becoming infamous for silent killing. Eventually I joined the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri and gained my signature blade as you've seen it. However, my loyalty with Kiri didn't last forever for as things descended into the years of the Bloody Mist, most of my fellow comrades were killed or went rogue. I was one of them. Since then I wandered the ninja land in search for work or just killed out of sport."

"Jeez." Naruto gasped.

"So you see, only until after you've gone through the same kind of trials as me you are just children playing shinobi!" the clone laughed.

Naruto and the genin squinted their eyes, as the boy spoke, "We do not play around!" he quickly summoned hundreds of shadow clones.

"Naruto!" Hun and Karai called, as the Naruto armada attacked the water clone who used his clone sword to wipe out half of them.

"Impressive creating so many shadow clones, but not even an army of you is enough to crush me."

"Wasn't trying to crush you. I was just stalling," Naruto answered smugly, "Now!"

"What?!" the clone gasped, as Sasuke and Karai threw kunai with paper bombs attached and struck the clone in the back. The two tags ignited and blew the clone into a puddle.

"Alright!" Sakura cheered.

As Zabuza looked back seeing his clone defeated, he spoke to the adults, "I got to admit, those kids are very resourceful."

"That they are." Tatsu confirmed.

"But not even they will be able to save you!" Zabuza was about to attack again, only to find his legs stuck, "What is-" he looked down seeing black and white tiger creatures clutching his legs holding them in place, "What are these things?"

As it turned out Sai who was close to Sakura, Tazuna, and Hun held out an opened scroll, and was wielding a paintbrush.

"You've fallen prey to my super beast scroll technique." Sai said.

"Those are drawings?" Karai asked in surprise.

Sakura spoke, "Sai's jutsu allows him to bring creatures that he paints to life."

"It's handy for offense, defense, and recon." Sasuke admitted.

"Guys, you're embarrassing me." Sai chuckled.

"Enough of this!" Zabuza slayed the beasts with his sword turning them into blobs of ink.

"Still eager for more, Zabuza?" Tatsu asked.

"Because we can do this all day." Kakashi added.

"You won't have all day." Zabuza warned them, until he felt enormous heat coming up from behind.

He spun to see Sasuke and Hun both used the fireball jutsu which combined into an even bigger fireball that was on a direct course with the swordsman. Zabuza quickly used another water dragon to repel it but felt someone coming up right from behind him. He spun and saw Tatsu coming at him with both his arms vibrating. When the blind ninja pressed his hands to Zabuza, the Mist ninja gasped and was flung across the ground hitting a tree hard enough to break it.

"Whoa!" Sakura gasped.

"No way!" Sasuke was equally shocked.

Zabuza groaned, as he looked over at Tatsu, "That technique you used on me. Was that really-"

"Yes," Tatsu answered, "The sato oshi strike; a technique developed by the Foot Clan during its founding days. Known only to those of high rank such as myself and my Master Oroku Saki; The Shredder." he suddenly gasped as he dropped on one knee.

"Sensei!" Naruto and his squad cried.

"While it's a power technique, it does come with its drawbacks." Tatsu groaned.

"Don't worry, Tatsu. I don't think Zabuza will be going anywhere now." Kakashi assured him.

Zabuza growled, as he struggled to get up only for some needled to nail him in the neck causing him fall down lifeless.

The shinobi got defensive as the mist started lifting. They saw approaching was a figure wearing a mask, "Arigato, I've been tailing Zabuza for quite some time. Thanks to you guys I finally have him."

"Who're you/' Tazuna asked.

"A tracker ninja, I assume?" Kakashi asked.

"Correct." the figure confirmed, "I was tasked with locating Zabuza and bringing in his body to be properly disposed of."

Kakashi checked Zabuza's pulse, "No vital signs. He really is dead," he said which got the Genin sighing in relief, especially Tazuna.

The boy went by Zabuza, "Now if you'll excuse me, I must go. Thank you again." the boy disappeared with Zabuza's corpse.

"So that's it?" Hun asked.

"Looks that way." Naruto confirmed.

"That was scary." Sakura trembled.

"We better get out of here." Karai suggested, as she and Hun helped their sensei to his feet.

"My daughter and grandson might be worried, we should hurry." Tazuna said, before Kakashi fell to the ground.

"K-Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed, as she, Sasuke, and Sai ran up to him.

"Guess I overdid it there." Kakashi groaned, as he covered his Sharingan eye with his headband again to preserve whatever chakra he had left.

"Here let's get him to my home, my daughter is fairly good at treating wounds," Tazuna began, "And Tatsu can rest there as well."

"Then we better hurry." Naruto said, as the genin helped their sensei's along with Tazuna leading the way. What they weren't aware of was the very hunter ninja had been watching them leave through the trees and thought to himself.

'These shinobi are indeed formidable. I've never seen anyone match Zabuza the way they did together. He definitely won't be in a good mood when he wakes up." and with that he took off.

(And there you go. Squad Seven and Kappa dealt with Zabuza, but he will be back tougher than ever. The technique Tatsu used on Zabuza was the technique Shredder used on Batman in Batman vs the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Catch you next time.)