Chapter 24 - - 24 Battle With Zabuza
After the two sides retreated, the scene suddenly fell into a strange silence.
Guy looked solemn. After this short confrontation with Zabuza, more than ten stab or cut wounds appeared on his body, although these wounds were really shallow and not really penetrating through his skin, he was injured anyway.
Zabuza was also not in a much better condition, he was panting heavily while holding his broad sword.
During the confrontation, Guy was able to deliver a kick to Zabuza in the ribs, the effect seemed to be certainly visible from Zabuza's current state who was unable to straighten his waist properly, and signs of feeling dull pain were visible from his breathing.
Kuroto standing on the tree saw this opportunity and immediately said, "Guy, you can retreat, let me handle him from here on."
Guy didn't argue to Kuroto's order and silently stepped back for a quick retreat.
Although the confrontation just now was short, it did allow Guy to weigh his options against Momochi Zabuza. He understands it all full well that if not for using Hachimon Tonkou, it would be really difficult for him to beat the enemy.
As soon as Guy retreated, Kuroto silently stepped down on the ground below from the tree branch. In the presence of everyone, Kuroto calmly walked forward towards Zabuza and said with the same contemptuous tone, "I am different from Guy, I won't need to get so serious to deal with a low-level, no-name, pathetic Mist ninja like you."
Kuroto's tone clearly showed he was looking down at Zabuza similar to how Boa Hancock looks down on everyone except for Luffy, he was clearly expressing that he was talking to a pathetic bug he could squash at his whim, or at least that's what he wants everyone here to believe.
But where did Zabuza received such contempt? He was now furious for being looked down on: "A brat like you dare to call me a no-name...! That's it now you have done it!!!"
... step…. step…. fooosh….
Kuroto immediately injected chakra into his legs and rushed towards Zabuza at a flashing speed!
This was the opportunity he was waiting for!
Although Zabuza was surprised by Kuroto's sudden change of actions, but he wasn't just some rookie ninja, after all, refocusing his mind to the state of battle-ready, he immediately slashed his sword horizontally opposite to the direction of Kuroto's incoming momentum.
"Swish…"
The cutting wind generated by the slash rushed in Kuroto's direction.
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But Kuroto wasn't afraid at all, and no one has noticed the Tenseigan shining with magnificent light under the goggles he was wearing.
Through the incomparable insight on the Tenseigan, he had already noticed the flow of Chakra in Zabuza rushing towards the Chakra veins in his hands, and at the same time, there was no chakra rushing towards his legs at such intensity adding to the fact that there was no sharp contraction of muscles in his legs.
This series of small details led Kuroto to know Zabuza's tactical intentions in advance.
Zabuza made the horizontal slash just to force Kuroto back, the leg muscles didn't contract to show there would be no follow up chasing or incoming sword slash attacks towards Kuroto's retreat, and since the chakra was still continuously rushing towards his hands indicated that he plans to use ninjutsu attack to follow up the previous slash.
After understanding Zabuza's intention and making all the tactical calculations in a matter of split seconds, Kuroto directed chakra in his muscles accordingly.
For the others witnessing the fight.
Kuroto suddenly stopped!
Leaned back a little! And then rushed towards at a faster speed....!
Kuroto's whole set of movements were done in an instant while avoiding the cross slash; with almost no extra effort, he didn't retreat and went ahead in Zabuza's direction.
"...…What............??????"
Seeing that the enemy didn't change his direction or retreated, it seemed that he wasn't worried whether Zabuza would add a follow-up sword slash, instead use ninjutsu in the direction of his retreat, that is if he did retreat.
Instantly he realized that Kuroto has seen through his tactic, but now it was already too late to change his course of action, Kuroto was already very close and not at all deceived, as soon as he approached Zabuza, he waved his hands and struck a series of Gentle Fist attacks.
Seeing the incoming strike, Zabuza's heart couldn't calm down.
At this moment, whether he swings the sword or directly discard it to make a series of hand seals to launch some ninjutsu attack, it was already too late.
Bang… bang… and bang......
A series of low muffling sounds of palm hitting the body sounded in the field, but it was transmitted clearly to the ears of everyone present here.
Amidst the sound of the palm strikes, Zabuza's body trembled and finally dropped to the ground like a deflated ball.
…...plop...
…..
.
......hisssss...…
Whether it was the other three Anbu of the Mist Village or Konoha's Anbu, both sides took a cold breath.
Not for anything but because Kuroto solved Zabuza like a piece of cake!
Is it so simple to defeat Zabuza?
Obviously, No!
The strength of Momochi Zabuza is simply amazing, neither Hatake Kakashi, hailed as the most genius in this generation of Konoha Shinobi, nor the Anbu Shinobi standing next to him would be able to win against him with complete certainty.
But Kuroto appeared so relaxed, the confrontation was so simple, and he defeated Zabuza pretty easily as if the opponent was just some fledgling underdog.
Kuroto's on the other hand, still kept the indifferent and cold expression.
He glanced at the three other mist shinobi standing not far away, turned around, and kicked the unconscious Zabuza in their direction.
"Take him and get out!"
The three Mist Shinobi's supported Zabuza, while one of them spoke, "We are ordered to hunt down the rebellious nin!"
Upon hearing this reply Kuroto raised his head slightly, looked at the Mist ninjas, and said coldly, "The rebellious nin you speak of is my target. If any of you dare to intervene, I don't mind disposing of you lot together."
Seeing the unconscious Zabuza and 2 more Konoha Anbu, standing not very far away, Mist's group looked at each other, nodded to each other, and then hurriedly retreated while carrying Zabuza on their backs.
After the Mist Shinobi's retreated Kuroto didn't speak anything to the Anbu, directly called Guy, who had wrapped his wounds, and continued to chase after the mission target.
.................................….
After both Guy and Kuroto left, the two Konoha Anbu ninja looked at each other.
The elder Anbu muttered, "Hey, did that kid used Revolving Heaven just now? Is he from the Hyuga Clan?"
Kakashi who was still in his Kitsune Mask nodded to the elder Anbu's word and spoke, "Well, I know both of them. We are from the same class from the academy, one is Might Guy, and the other one is Hyuga Kuroto."
Elder Anbu was surprised by Kakashi's words, "If I remember correctly, in your year, other than you there were no promising students, right? Then how come both of them were so strong?"
That's right, most of the Shinobi's of Kakashi's year have already died in the war, and those who survived were high-level chunin, only Kakashi was ahead of his pears and managed to qualify as a Jonin at such a young age, so in the eyes of Anbu, Hatake Kakashi is the most genius of his generation, but here it appears that's not entirely the case.
Kakashi was also at a loss at this moment.
He didn't have a very deep impression of Kuroto, according to his understanding Hyuga Kuroto was a mediocre student and didn't have any sort of talent to attract any attention to himself, but Kuroto's performance today really surprised him, the attitude and confidence Kuroto showed in the face of the assassination unit of the Mist Village, unconsciously reminded Kakashi of his teacher, Namikaze Minato!
The elder Anbu continued with some emotions in his words, "Make sure to write down the event of today and report to Hokage-sama after returning. Such talents should be brought to Anbu first, especially in the situation the village is facing currently."
........................…
On Kuroto's side.
Guy couldn't help but ask Kuroto, "Kuroto, why don't we just ask the Anbu ninja if they have any information about those rebellious ninjas?"
Kuroto smiled upon hearing Guy's question, "Because it would be pointless, so there is no need for that since the Mist Assassination unit appeared here indicates that those wandering ninjas are indeed rebellious-nin of Mist Village, and the appearance of Konoha Anbu here should be only for monitoring this very assassination unit, otherwise they would have already started the battle."
Now there is no need to think anymore, it is not difficult to guess.
Mist Village sent assassination unit simply means they want to clean up their mess themselves and take away the corpses with them. This means that there might be a ninja among the rebels with Kekkai Genkai unique to the Mist Village
Kakashi and the other Anbu were obviously sent to monitor the entry of the Mist assassination unit in the Land of Fire, this can be confirmed because they didn't start the battle but only stood in a stalemate.
Now that Guy heard Kuroto's words, it made sense.
'If the Konoha Anbu ninjas were only responsible for monitoring the entry of the Mist assassination unit, then they wouldn't have exact information about the team of those wandering ninjas. Moreover, I have already locked the traces of the team of wandering ninjas, so there's no need to delay any time.' Thought Kuroto silently.
Then they continued to chase when suddenly Guy said, "Kuroto, what you did just now in the battle just now was really beautiful, I really didn't expect that the enemy couldn't even stop or counter your approach."
Kuroto's lips curved slightly after hearing Guy praise him, although only slightly but he smiled in a reserved manner............
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