They escaped at the same time.
Two figures moved swiftly through the dense forest. On closer inspection, Naruto's true body was racing straight toward Zabuza's hideout.
After receiving only brief treatment for her injuries, Sakura insisted on following Naruto back into battle.
Beep… beep…
Naruto sensed something and spoke solemnly to Sakura beside him.
"All of my shadow clones are gone—but Sasuke has awakened his eyes. Both of them now have two tomoe. That's better than we expected."
"Mm. That's not surprising," Sakura replied calmly. "I've been observing Sasuke's training. He's far stronger than he was in the original story—especially his survival skills and shuriken techniques. Haku was never going to be his match."
"But I'm worried that Gato still has something up his sleeve," Naruto said. "To be safe, let's use the Nine-Tails to speed things up and end this battle as quickly as possible."
"Agreed."
With that, Naruto scooped Sakura up from behind. Massive wings unfurled instantly from his back, and with a powerful flap, his speed increased tenfold!
Ever since cooperating with the Nine-Tails and allowing its chakra to flow, Naruto's control over that power had improved dramatically.
He didn't yet understand why, so he decided to study it carefully once he returned to the village.
Of course, the real reason for flying this fast was to avoid the awkward situation of arriving after all the enemies had already been defeated again…
You know—three is the upper limit, right?
Sakura suddenly spoke up.
"By the way, there's something I need to discuss with you."
Naruto replied, puzzled, "How should I put this…?"
…
Elsewhere, the battle between Zabuza and Kakashi had reached its climax.
With explosions constantly rocking the battlefield, Kakashi deliberately began using Fire and Lightning Release techniques to prevent Zabuza from gaining too much advantage.
"Ninjutsu: Hidden Mist Technique!"
Zabuza vanished once again, creating distance between himself and Kakashi.
"You should be proud of your mist," Kakashi said, pulling out a scroll and forming a tiger seal with both hands. "Unfortunately for you, I happen to be an expert tracker."
He slammed the scroll onto the ground and shouted:
"Ninja Summoning! Earth Release: Tracking Fang Technique!"
The symbols on the scroll immediately burrowed into the earth.
"Don't waste your effort. You can't see me at all—wait, what is this?!"
Suddenly, several ninja hounds burst out of the ground beneath Zabuza's feet, binding him completely!
Just like in the original story, Kakashi wasn't tracking with his eyes—he was using his nose.
"Aaaahhh!"
Zabuza struggled violently.
"Give it up," Kakashi said grimly. "Your future… holds only death!"
He formed seals again, lightning gathering in his hand.
"W–What?!" Zabuza's eyes widened. "I can actually see the chakra in your hand so clearly…"
…
On another battlefield.
Sasuke's clothes were in tatters, his body covered in wounds. Yet his aura shimmered like a rainbow, his eyes burned like torches, and his expression was eerily calm.
"Naruto ran away…" he muttered.
In front of him, Haku was bound tightly with a barbed steel wire, his face contorted in pain.
Haku looked at Sasuke and spoke with difficulty.
"Congratulations… You can kill me now."
"Kill you?" Sasuke shook his head disdainfully. "Would that mean anything to me? You're nothing more than a stepping stone. Besides, defeating Naruto matters far more to me than killing you."
After awakening his eyes, Sasuke's senses were heightened to an overwhelming degree—the battlefield felt intoxicating.
But the thought that this awakening was connected to that so-called "dead last" left him deeply uncomfortable. He even wished he could forget it entirely.
Right now, what he needed was a decisive, exhilarating victory to restore his shaken pride. Whether Haku lived or died was irrelevant—what mattered was finding a chance to beat Naruto senseless.
At that moment, a powerful surge of resistance rose within Haku.
He turned sharply toward Zabuza's direction.
Zabuza-sama!
A massive wave of chakra erupted around Haku as he broke free from every restraint, determined to rush to his master's rescue.
Sasuke didn't even turn his head. In the blink of an eye, he appeared beside Haku.
Haku blocked Sasuke's kunai with one hand and began forming seals with the other.
BOOM!
A dull explosion rang out.
Haku's vision went black as he collapsed straight to the ground. The belief sustaining him barely kept him conscious—until Sasuke struck him down again.
"Good momentum," Sasuke said flatly. "But far too slow."
As Haku grabbed Sasuke's right hand, Sasuke instantly flipped over and delivered a clean kick to the back of Haku's neck, dropping him once more.
Perhaps because Sasuke had always been defeated by stronger opponents, most people overlooked the terrifying growth he had already achieved.
Even Haku, fighting at his absolute peak, could only let out a quiet sigh.
"Zabuza-sama…"
Tears welled up in Haku's eyes.
…
"Three… two… one…"
One second later, Zabuza would have been killed outright by Kakashi's Chidori.
BOOM!!
Suddenly, a massive crimson hand lunged toward Kakashi. He leapt aside instinctively, allowing Zabuza to narrowly escape death.
"Naruto? Sakura?" Kakashi stared at them in shock.
Standing atop a tree branch, Naruto withdrew the Nine-Tails' chakra and said awkwardly,
"Boss… I told you I was just being controlled by the Nine-Tails. You believe me, right?"
Kakashi's eyes widened. He genuinely began to wonder if Naruto had been possessed by something else entirely.
"I told Naruto to stop you," Sakura said as she stepped forward, signaling Naruto to deal with the remaining soldiers while she spoke to Kakashi.
After Naruto left, Sakura jumped down from the tree and walked up to Kakashi.
"Kakashi-sensei, please spare Zabuza's life and take him back to Konoha."
Kakashi frowned slightly.
"Zabuza is a missing-nin from the Hidden Mist. He's committed countless assassinations. If he lives, more innocent people will die."
Sakura nodded calmly, her expression unchanged—as if Kakashi were discussing something trivial.
"Kakashi-sensei, you said Zabuza is a traitor to the Hidden Mist, correct?" she said evenly.
"The Mist Village harbors hostility toward Konoha. If Konoha detains Zabuza, the village gains an additional political bargaining chip."
"The Mist Village's greatest concern is the transmission of its techniques. That's why they formed the Hunter-nin. Their true goal is to completely erase missing-nin—so no enemy can extract ninjutsu from their corpses."
"Kakashi-sensei, a living Zabuza is far more valuable than a dead one."
Kakashi stared at Sakura in silence.
He hadn't expected her to analyze the situation from such a broad, strategic perspective.
More importantly—when Sakura spoke of Zabuza, it was as if he weren't a person at all, but merely an object.
Kakashi said nothing. He simply threw several kunai, pinning Zabuza's arms completely, then turned to Sakura.
"Sakura… what you said makes sense. But I don't believe you suddenly started caring about village politics."
"Why don't you tell me honestly—what is your real objective?"
Ten minutes earlier, Naruto had asked Sakura the exact same question.
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