"You can head over there," Ayato said, pointing lazily toward the distant lake. The faint smile on his lips carried a trace of superiority. "Three minutes of free attacks, and on your home turf, too. Once you lose after giving it everything you've got, you won't have any regrets, right?"
"Strange bloodline… overwhelming chakra…"
Zabuza's voice was cold as he stared at Ayato. "Fine. I'll admit it — among all the targets I've ever hunted, you're the strongest."
Even so, he felt no fear.
He couldn't.
He was a tool — a shinobi without hesitation, without emotion.
"Emotion only weakens a ninja. I abandoned mine long ago. In that sense, boy… I'm far superior to you!"
With a backward leap, Zabuza landed on the lake's surface and flew through hand seals.
He no longer cared whether he lived or died — only whether he could achieve his ambition.
He had no emotions. But Ayato did.
And to Zabuza, that was a weakness.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
The lake roared. Five massive water dragons spiraled upward, lunging toward Ayato with brutal speed.
Here, surrounded by water, Zabuza's Water Release was nearly twice as strong as usual.
"No emotions, huh? What a pitiful way to live." Ayato looked calmly at the towering water dragons rushing toward him.
Showing off, flirting, playing cool — these were all things born from human emotion.
Without emotion, what meaning does power even have?
The dragons roared as they collided toward him—
Ayato exhaled lightly.
A single breath.
A razor-sharp gust of wind erupted outward, carving deep gouges into the earth and blowing apart the five massive dragons instantly.
"So… so strong!"
Team 7 was stunned.
A single breath — that was all it took.
He was beyond comprehension.
"To survive and achieve one's ambition — that is a true shinobi! I abandoned weakness long ago!" Zabuza used the Mist Body Flicker, appearing before Ayato, kunai slashing toward his neck.
"A clone, huh."
A faint spark crackled at Ayato's fingertip, blue lightning scattering like blades and ripping the ground around him.
A dull trick.
"Discharge."
Lightning burst outward, shredding the clone, which collapsed into a puddle of water.
"So the real you's gone to attack my students?" Ayato glanced lazily toward Team 7. "A boring little tactic — but very fitting for the weak."
Mist rolled again, thick and suffocating, swallowing the entire area.
"You've got five seconds left."
Walking casually through the mist, Ayato moved toward Team 7 — though only he could see clearly through the fog, the abilities of his Tenseigan unhindered.
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
Ayato vanished.
"Worthless brats — become tools for me!"
Zabuza appeared behind Team 7 using Mist Flicker, so fast they hadn't sensed him at all.
Just as he moved—
His entire body froze.
"What—?!"
Ayato appeared behind him, fingertip pressed to the back of Zabuza's head.
He couldn't move. Not a twitch. His limbs felt as if mountains pinned them in place.
As if gravity itself crushed him.
"You know why I gave you three minutes?" Ayato asked calmly. "Because if I moved first… you'd have no chance to perform."
His fingertip trembled slightly.
"Let me show you something beyond the realm of shinobi techniques."
"Hadō No. 90 — Black Coffin."
A deafening boom ripped across the battlefield.
The air turned heavy, suffocating — a crushing pressure sweeping across the land.
Pitch-black matter erupted from the ground, swallowing Zabuza whole and forming a towering obsidian coffin.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
From inside came a scream — raw, primal terror.
One second later,
the coffin shattered.
Zabuza's body fell from midair, drenched in blood, slamming into the dirt like a lifeless doll.
"For someone who claims to have discarded emotion… you still felt fear," Ayato said from atop the lifted earth pillar, gazing down with indifferent dominance.
Black Coffin wasn't even as strong as he'd expected — but for something that cost no chakra and activated instantly, it was a decent basic attack.
A nice "normal strike."
"We… we won?"
Sakura peeked out from behind a pile of debris, voice trembling with disbelief. "One attack… and he's done…"
"That was SO AWESOME!! Sensei, that technique was insane!" Naruto's eyes sparkled like stars. "Teach me that move! Teach me teach me teach me!!"
He was completely bewitched.
Naruto could already imagine it—
Sasuke wounded and kneeling…
Sakura in danger…
Then HE appears.
The great hero Uzumaki Naruto.
Just one Black Coffin — BOOM — enemy defeated!
Sakura blushes.
Sasuke is humbled.
Naruto stands coolly with the wind blowing through his hair—
Perfect.
Absolutely perfect!
"Heh heh heh… Sakura-chan, I'm not that amazing~"
Naruto giggled to himself, glancing at Sakura then glaring confidently at Sasuke.
"Idiot." Sasuke muttered coldly. "As if you could learn something like that."
Sakura bonked Naruto on the head.
"Stupid Naruto! Sasuke-kun would never lose like that!"
Naruto toppled over, clutching his swelling forehead. "Ow!! Sakura-chan already hit me!"
Ayato sighed. "Annoying brats."
Learn Black Coffin?
Impossible.
That was a reward he earned through endless hassle dealing with Team 7 every day.
Naruto asking to learn it was like a kid who can't even tie his sandals already dreaming of mastering forbidden jutsu.
"Anyway, time to finish the job."
He lifted the Executioner's Blade, lightning flashing—
VOOM—!
The entire lake froze solid in an instant. Air turned frigid, mist crystallizing into tiny white flakes.
A barrage of sharp ice spears erupted from the ground, piercing through Ayato's body—
Only for lightning to arc harmlessly as the spears passed through.
"An Ice Release shield, hm?"
A slender figure wearing a white hunter-nin mask appeared behind Ayato, forming one-handed seals with startling speed.
The newcomer's presence was calm, precise—
and unmistakably dangerous.
A mysterious Ice Release shinobi had arrived.
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