"He's… he's weak?"
Zabuza's face darkened, veins standing out on his forehead. He exploded chakra in a violent gust that ripped branches and dust from the trees.
He'd always been arrogant and cold, capable of swallowing pride for the sake of a plan — yet Ayato's contemptuous tone had stung him like nothing before. At first Zabuza suspected the three-minute taunt was a trick. Now he realized: there was no trick. Ayato's offer of time wasn't strategy — it was pure, unchecked arrogance.
"Don't regret it, brat. I'll tear that smirking face off you. Your head — the one with a bounty of a hundred million — will belong to me!"
Zabuza formed seals in a blur and slammed both palms down onto the earth.
"Water Release — Great Waterfall Technique!"
The ground trembled and a mountainous wall of water erupted like tidal waves ripping up from the soil. The roaring torrent smashed through the forest, toppling trees with apocalyptic force and hurtling straight at Ayato.
This was no ordinary jutsu — an A-rank Water Release that few shinobi could use without exceptional chakra. The deluge carried weight measured in dozens of tons; anything caught beneath it would be crushed.
"N—no way…" Naruto's eyes went wide as saucers. He stared at the heaving, ocean-sized waterfall in utter disbelief. That jutsu was terrifying.
"This… can't be!" Sasuke's Sharingan locked on the oncoming maelstrom; a bead of cold sweat rolled down his face. Zabuza's capability to call forth such an A-rank Water Release in a place with no natural water made his power unmistakably monstrous.
And yet—Ayato had just called him weak?
Don't make me laugh.
Not only would genin like them die under that torrent; many chūnin and even some jōnin would be pulverized.
"What do we do?" Sakura's knees buckled and she sank to the ground. She had no way to stop or dodge the waterfall.
This was the power of an A-rank rogue ninja — utterly terrifying.
"A waterfall, huh? Strong for the average ninja, sure."
Ayato watched the rolling wall of water with casual interest. Then he slapped both hands against the earth.
"Earth Release — Ground Core."
The ground beneath Squad Seven convulsed. Cracks spidered outward as a slab of dense, ironlike earth shot up — a rigid block of stone that lifted Naruto, Sakura and Tazuna into the air and bore them out of the torrent's path.
Naruto barely had time to close his eyes before the slab flung him upward. "Waaaaahhh—!" he screamed, helplessly airborne.
Sasuke exhaled in relief. "No hand seals and he still used Earth Release… that's terrifying." He flicked a quick look at Ayato. The man had simply slapped the ground and produced a massive earth construct. Ridiculous. Preposterous. Outrageous.
Sakura sat semi-collapsed on the rock, legs like cooked noodles, and stared down at the boiling, roaring water below. Her face was pale and she swallowed hard — the steam and the sight of that unnatural waterfall left her shaken.
What would happen to Ayato now?
"SENSEI — watch out!" Sakura's shout was full of panic. The wave was already almost upon Ayato; only a hair's breadth separated him from the oncoming deluge.
Ayato popped a dango into his mouth, blew out a breath of flame and let the heat bloom.
"Fire Release — Great Blaze Annihilation."
A searing inferno burst from his mouth, a rolling wall of towering heat that instantly began vaporizing the waterfall. Steam and scalding mist exploded into the air as water met such intense flame; the fire-wave roared forward, not extinguishing, but sweeping toward Zabuza.
"No way — he used both Earth and Fire without hand seals…" Zabuza's face tightened. He had no time for elaborate thought; he was on the defensive. He spat out water techniques in retaliation.
"Water Release — Water Dragon Bullet Technique!" Three colossal serpentine water dragons whipped up from behind him and lunged to bite at the advancing inferno.
"Water Release — Water Formation Wall!" He hammered out hand seals, the ground trembling as a towering, pressurized water wall sprang up, shielding him.
Boom — the clash was cataclysmic. Steam and great clouds of scalding mist billowed, and while the inferno lost some of its teeth to the water, residual flames set the forest ablaze. The surrounding trees caught and the whole wood began to burn.
Zabuza dropped to one knee, clutching his charred left arm. He gaped at Ayato. This is absurd. To barely hold his fire back, Zabuza had had to throw three high-level water techniques — and even then, the impact left him singed. He'd never before seen such a ridiculous fire jutsu.
The gap in power — it was monstrous.
No wonder Ayato had such insufferable arrogance. If Ayato actually had that strength, he had every reason to be cocky.
Perched atop the earthen slab, Naruto watched Zabuza's blackened arm and blurted, "W-what? Flame beats water? Is that—"
"Idiot, of course not." Sasuke folded his arms, cold. "Water counters fire. Everyone knows that. What you don't get is scale. When chakra differences are enormous, elemental counters don't matter."
Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose and said, "Ayato taught us: the power of a jutsu scales with the amount of chakra put into it. If one person's chakra is overwhelmingly larger, even a counter element can fail."
Naruto nodded earnestly, pretending he'd understood. "Ah — chakra power!"
"Chakra." Sakura glared at him.
Meanwhile Ayato, dango still in his mouth, offered a mock apology. "Sorry, sorry — I just hate being soaked. I can't stand the soggy feeling, so I had to evaporate it."
It was true: he genuinely disliked getting wet.
He lifted his chin and looked at Zabuza with a faint, arrogant air. "Also — I didn't expect you to be this weak."
That, too, was not entirely false. Ayato had casually thrown out a fire jutsu just to keep dry — nothing more. He'd expected it to be a small trick to avoid drenched clothes. He certainly hadn't expected Zabuza to need three different water techniques just to barely blunt it.
Could it be the newbie reward?
Since the master–disciple system had doubled his chakra reserves, all his jutsu now hit with doubled strength.
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