The mist, now devoid of Zabuza's will, began to dissipate, revealing a scene of contained chaos.

Kakashi landed on the water with the grace of a ghost, his Sharingan burning with a cold, calculating light. The water splashed around him in small droplets that seemed not to dare touch him.

“Good work… team,” he said, and each word, though spoken with his usual laziness, carried the weight of a ton.

The adrenaline that had kept Sakura standing vanished in an instant. The thread of chakra she had used to guide the kunai snapped, and with it, her strength. A trembling gasp escaped her lips and she dropped to one knee on the tree branch; the mental exhaustion was far worse than any physical fatigue.

“We… we did it…” she whispered to herself, looking at her hands as if they belonged to someone else.

Down in the clearing, Naruto tried to stand, leaning on his good knee.

“Of course we did!” he exclaimed, though his voice was more of a pained groan. “No one can beat Team Kakashi, believe it!”

His right hand clutched his left shoulder, where blood had already soaked completely through the orange fabric.

Hinata was the first to move. The icy fury that had transformed her into a tempest of blows dissipated at the sight of Naruto's wound, replaced by a wave of panic. She ran to him, her movements still fluid, but now charged with a palpable anxiety.

“Naruto-kun! Your shoulder! You’re bleeding so much…”

“It’s nothing, Hinata-chan,” he lied with a forced grin. “My shoulder feels like Teuchi used it to tenderize the meat for ramen, but I’m fine!”

Sasuke watched the scene from a distance. His arrogance had been erased, replaced by a cold confusion. He had seen Hinata dismantle the clone with an efficiency his mind refused to process. He had seen Sakura, the girl he considered a nuisance, design the winning strategy with flawless logic. And he had seen Naruto, the idiot, sacrifice himself without a second thought.

His entire belief system, built on innate superiority and individual power, had been shattered in a matter of minutes. The result was a silent, bewildering fury, directed not at them, but at the incomprehensible reality before him.

“Zabuza,” Kakashi’s voice cut through the air, drawing everyone’s attention back to the true conflict. “Your clone’s purpose is finished. And now, I’m afraid, so is yours.”

Zabuza, standing on the water, was not smiling. His face, visible through the tatters of mist, was a mask of disbelief and rage.

“Kakashi… the Copy Ninja. I never imagined I’d find a man with over a thousand jutsu in a forgotten corner like this. Let alone that his brats would be so… troublesome.”

“You underestimated my students,” Kakashi replied, taking a step across the water, slowly closing the distance. “That was your first mistake. Your second was letting me out of your cage.”

Zabuza let out a harsh, joyless laugh.

“A mistake? No, Kakashi. This was just a warm-up. Now that I know what I'm up against, the real slaughter can begin.”

With astonishing speed, Zabuza began to weave hand signs. They were complex, a dance of fingers so fast that Sakura, even with her analytical mind, could barely follow them.

“I can’t follow his hand signs!” Sakura exclaimed, forcing herself to her feet, her role as an analyst overcoming her exhaustion. “He’s… he’s too fast!”

“Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu,” Sasuke said under his breath, identifying the technique with a precision born from years of study. His pride demanded he prove that he, too, understood combat at this level.

But then, something strange happened. Kakashi, facing Zabuza, began to perform the same hand signs, at the same speed, in perfect sync. It was like watching a reflection.

“What…?” Sasuke gasped. “What is he doing?”

Hinata, her Byakugan still active, watched the flow of chakra.

“Kakashi-sensei’s chakra is changing…” she said, her voice filled with awe. “He’s copying his signs! One by one, at the exact same time!”

“No, it’s more than copying,” Sakura interjected, her Analytical Eye working at full capacity. “He’s doing it in perfect sync. It’s like he’s reading his intentions. He isn't just copying the signs; he's replicating the necessary chakra flow for the jutsu before Zabuza even finishes molding it. It’s as if his Sharingan deciphers the technique’s structure in real time.”

Zabuza finished his sequence.

“Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!”

The lake water rose like a roused beast, forming the head of a colossal dragon that roared and lunged at Kakashi.

But at the same moment, Kakashi completed his own jutsu.

“Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!”

Another dragon, an exact replica of the first, rose from the water and met Zabuza’s in a thunderous clash. Giant waves crashed against the shore, drenching the genin and Tazuna, who screamed in terror. The two water dragons fought, biting and twisting in a vortex of elemental power before dissolving and collapsing back into the lake.

Zabuza’s face was a mask of pure disbelief.

“How? Can you see the future?” he snarled, taking a step back on the water.

“Yes,” Kakashi lied with devastating calm. “And your future is death.”

Zabuza’s shock gave Kakashi the opening he needed. He shot forward, kunai ready. Zabuza reacted, swinging his massive Kubikiribōchō to block.

The sound of metal on metal filled the clearing. The fight became a blur of speed and steel. The genin could only watch, feeling like ants witnessing a battle between gods.

“I can’t follow them,” Sasuke said, his voice a mixture of frustration and awe. “They’re moving too fast. One second they're here, the next, they're over there.”

“Zabuza’s sword is heavy, but he wields it like an extension of his arm,” Sakura analyzed, forcing herself to think tactically. “Every strike is meant to kill. Kakashi-sensei isn’t attacking, just dodging and blocking. He’s waiting for an opening.”

“He’s tiring him out,” Hinata said, her eyes fixed on the chakra flows. “Zabuza’s chakra is explosive. Kakashi-sensei’s is controlled. Zabuza will exhaust himself first.”

And so it was. After a flurry of furious attacks that Kakashi dodged with almost insulting grace, Zabuza leaped back, panting slightly.

“I see you’re not just an imitator, Kakashi. But let’s see you handle this.”

Again, his hands flew through a new series of signs. This time, Kakashi didn’t copy them. He waited.

“Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu.”

Zabuza slammed his palm onto the water's surface. The entire lake began to churn, forming a massive whirlpool that sucked in trees and rocks from the shore. At its center, a pillar of water rose like a column, roaring with destructive force. The giant wave loomed over them like a death sentence.

“It’s going to crush us!” Tazuna yelled, falling to his knees.

But Kakashi had already moved. He jumped back, landing on the shore beside his students.

“Stay behind me!”

He performed a different series of signs, one Sasuke recognized from his clan’s scrolls.

“Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu!”

Kakashi slammed his palm on the ground. The earth trembled, and eight ninja hounds, each with a different outfit and a fierce expression, erupted from the soil, barking and growling.

“Pakkun, Bull, Urushi, Shiba, Bisuke, Akino, Ūhei, Guruko! Get him!”

The hounds didn’t flinch at the wave. They ran across the water’s surface as if it were solid ground, their fangs gleaming.

Zabuza, surprised by the strange summoning, was forced to release his vortex to defend himself from the pack bearing down on him.

“Dogs? You’re attacking me with pets?”

But these were no mere pets. They were living weapons. Pakkun, the small pug, latched onto his leg, biting with incredible force. The others surrounded him, leaping and attacking from all angles, preventing him from forming hand signs.

“Now!” Kakashi commanded.

The hounds, with perfect coordination, pounced on Zabuza, tackling him and pinning his limbs with their jaws. He was immobilized.

Victory seemed imminent. Kakashi prepared for the final blow, his hand already forming the sign for the Chidori, a miniature lightning bolt crackling in his palm.

“It’s over, Zabuza.”

The air filled with a palpable tension. The genin held their breath. This was the end.

And then, a sharp whistle cut through the air.

Two senbon needles, thin and lethal, shot out from the trees and embedded themselves in Zabuza’s neck with surgical precision.

Zabuza’s eyes flew wide, a final look of surprise on his face. A trickle of blood seeped from his mouth. His body went limp and fell into the water with a dull splash, floating facedown.

Dead.

The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by the confused barks of the ninja hounds.

Kakashi dispelled his Chidori, his Sharingan watching the scene with a disbelief that didn't fit his victory.

A figure landed softly on a nearby branch. They were slender, of average height, and wore the mask of a Tracker Ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist.

“Thank you for weakening him,” the tracker said, their voice soft and androgynous, devoid of emotion. “I have been hunting Zabuza for a long time. He is a wanted criminal in my village, and I had orders to eliminate him.”

The tracker jumped down to the water and knelt beside the floating body.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must dispose of the body. The corpses of rogue ninjas contain secrets that must not fall into enemy hands.”

Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration.

“He killed him!” he growled. “After all that… it wasn’t us.”

Sakura, on the other hand, felt a wave of relief. It was over. They had won. They were safe.

But Kakashi wasn’t convinced. He walked to the water’s edge, his Sharingan still active.

“Tracker ninjas destroy the body on the spot,” he said, his voice thoughtful. “To protect the village’s secrets. Taking the body is… unusual.”

The tracker lifted Zabuza’s corpse over their shoulder with surprising ease.

“There are special techniques that must be performed in private. Do not worry. He will not cause any more trouble.”

And with those words, the tracker and Zabuza’s body vanished in a swirl of leaves.

The battlefield fell silent. Kakashi’s hounds dissipated into puffs of smoke. The mist finally lifted, revealing a sun that seemed too bright for the violence they had just witnessed.

Naruto tried to stand again, but a wave of dizziness washed over him.

“My… my shoulder…” he gasped, the pain returning with a vengeance.

“Naruto!” Sakura rushed to his side, with Hinata close behind.

“Don’t move, you idiot,” she said. “The wound is deep.”