Land Of Waves :
While the real Zabuza maintained the Water Prison with a look of sadistic triumph, his Water Clone turned its attention toward the two Naruto Shadow Clones standing near the shoreline.
The Water Clone leveled the massive Executioner's Blade, its voice a low, gurgling rasp. "You little pests... you really think a few flimsy clones can bridge the gap between a brat and a Demon?"
Inside the Triple Pillar Barrier, Naruto's eyes remained half-lidded, his fingers tapping a rhythmic pattern on the hilt of his sword.
The first Shadow Clone, Alpha, lunged forward. He didn't use a flashy jutsu; he moved with raw, desperate speed, a kunai gripped in a reverse strike.
Zabuza's clone scoffed. With a single, effortless swing of the Kubikiribōchō, he swatted the kunai aside and drove a heavy, water-loged boot into Alpha's chest. The impact sent the clone skidding backward across the mud, his form flickering as his chakra stability wavered.
"Pathetic," the Water Clone hissed, closing the distance in a blur of motion. He raised the giant blade high, intending to cleave the "weak" Naruto in two.
It was exactly what Alpha wanted. As the blade began its descent, Alpha didn't dodge. Instead, he reached up, his fingers locking around the blunt back of the Executioner's Blade, sacrificing his hands to anchor the weapon in place for a split second.
In that heartbeat of stagnation, the second clone, Beta, erupted from the ground behind the Water Clone. He hadn't been waiting for an opening; he had been the opening.
Beta didn't carry a sword. His hands were empty, but his sleeves were rolled up, revealing a glowing, crimson Explosive Tag pinned directly to his palm.
With a guttural shout, Beta launched himself through the air, wrapping his arms around the Water Clone's neck in a vicious, unbreakable bear hug. He pinned the assassin's arms to his sides, locking his legs around the clone's waist.
"What!?" the Water Clone sputtered, his liquid form rippling in surprise.
"Katsu," Beta whispered into the mask of the Demon.
The explosive tag flared with a blinding, white-hot intensity.
BOOM!
A violent shockwave tore through the clearing, shattering the silence of the mist. The explosion was contained, a focused burst of heat and pressure. Beta disappeared in a standard puff of white smoke, but the Water Clone—made of nothing but cohesive chakra and river water—couldn't survive the thermal trauma.
The Water Clone didn't just die; it detonated. A massive spray of boiling water rained down over the clearing, leaving nothing behind but a scorched patch of mud and the heavy, metallic scent of ozone.
The real Zabuza, still anchoring Kakashi in the Water Prison, flinched as the feedback from his destroyed clone hit his mind. His eyes darted toward the smoking crater where his double had been.
"You little... you used a suicide charge?" Zabuza's voice was thick with a new emotion: genuine irritation.
Inside the crystalline cone of the barrier, Naruto finally looked up. His face was devoid of the shock that Sakura and Tazuna were currently wearing. To him, the loss of two clones was a cheap price for tactical clearance.
Kakashi, still trapped within the swirling orb, watched through the distorted water. His lone eye crinkled in a mixture of pride and a growing, deep-seated concern.
Suddenly
The river, which had been Zabuza's playground only moments before, suddenly betrayed him. The water beneath his feet didn't just ripple; it roared. A violent, clockwise vortex—an Uzumaki—tore through the surface, the centrifugal force so sudden and immense that it shattered the cohesion of the Water Prison like glass.
Zabuza was thrown backward by the sheer torque of the water, his boots skidding across the surface as he scrambled toward the muddy shore. He watched, eyes wide with a rare flash of confusion, as the vortex swallowed the gasping Kakashi whole.
As the churning water settled, Kakashi emerged onto the bank, drenched and coughing, but very much alive. He stood hunched, his hands on his knees as he dragged air into his starved lungs.
"Huff... huff... Good job, Naruto," Kakashi managed, his Sharingan already locking back onto Zabuza. He was internally reeling.
To create a localized vortex of that magnitude while being underwater—and to have a clone precisely intercept him in center so he wasn't crushed by the pressure—required a level of spatial awareness and water manipulation.
( Really , Even I did not notice when he send those clones )
"Huh? What happened?" Sakura asked, her voice echoing inside the Triple Pillar Barrier. She had seen the water explode, but the mechanics were a blur.
Naruto didn't turn his head. His eyes were fixed on the distance, his mechanical blade still humming. "There are plenty of my clones in the field, Sakura. More than you saw."
"But... didn't you only summon five?"
"If you only see what I want you to see, you've already lost."
Naruto replied nonchalantly. He didn't mention the clones he'd sent through the mud beneath the riverbed the moment the mist had thickened.
"A shinobi is all about deception,"
Outside, the battle reached its fever pitch. Kakashi and Zabuza engaged once more, their movements becoming a jagged blur of high-velocity steel and elemental discharge. To any observer below the rank of Jonin, they were nothing but flashes of blue and grey amidst the settling spray.
But as Naruto watched the duel, a sharp, cold jolt of static hit his brain. An influx of memories—raw, sensory data and a spike of adrenaline—flooded his consciousness.
(Sasuke?)
Naruto allowed a single Mind Partition to divert his focus, bridging the connection to the clones he had sent to support the Uchiha.
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The Frozen Clearing :
Deep within the frost-rimed woods of the Land of Waves, the silence was absolute, broken only by the ragged, desperate gasps of Uchiha Sasuke. The air here didn't just carry the scent of pine and salt; it carried the biting, sterile sting of a winter that shouldn't exist.
Sasuke stood at the center of a hauntingly beautiful arena: the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals. Shimmering, translucent slabs of ice formed a circular cage around him, each one reflecting the same masked Hunter-Nin.
To Sasuke, it felt like being trapped inside a kaleidoscope of death. A flurry of senbon needles whistled through the air—a sound like the wings of a thousand angry hornets.
He twisted his body, his reflexes pushed to their absolute breaking point, but the speed was too great. A needle grazed his cheek, drawing a thin line of crimson that froze almost instantly.
(He's reaching his limit,) the hidden Shadow Clone observed from the dense canopy above, Sasuke was riddled with Senbons all over his body . The Clone soon got connected with the Main Body .
Through the mental link, the main Naruto's consciousness brushed against the clone's mind. The command was a Green Light
The clone straightened, its eyes narrowing as it watched the Uchiha struggle. There was a flicker of amusement in its thoughts. Sasuke had insisted on handling this "scout" alone, a typical display of Uchiha hubris.
Even with the fifty days of grueling weight Training and also the years of hard work after constantly beaten by Naruto in academy , this Sasuke—though vastly superior to his original timeline counterpart—was still a bird trying to fly against a hurricane. He lacked the Sharingan's predictive clarity and the refined chakra control gained by tree-walking excercise from the original Canon.
( NO Wonder ,except for Might Guy.... no one can dominate a fight with just Taijutsu )
The Shinobi have Chakra Reinforcment to increase speed , The more Chakra control , the faster speed , that's why even Might Guy need to use 8 Gates to fight against opponents of similar Calibar .
With Just increased Physical fitness , expecting Sasuke to go toe to toe with Haku was really wrong , The Boy headed straight in Uchiha Arrogance and got surrounded by Mirrors to become a porcupine .
The clone disregarded the "death" of a previous Naruto double, which had been caught in Haku's Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death. That clone really was a bit careless , it moved to show Sasuke about the so called 'Rescue' , and got caught in middle.
( well , WE clones are different from the main body )
After all , The clones lack the system-integrated passive & Active skills of the main body, but its sacrifice had mapped Haku's rhythm.
The Shadow Clone hit the ground with a silent thud, its hands already blurring through a sequence of seals. In a puff of white smoke, two more clones appeared.
"Time to show the 'Princess' how it's done," the lead clone muttered.
( Those mirrors did't even melt with sasuke's Great Fireball ...hmm yosh let's try this )
The strategy was a clinical execution of elemental rock-paper-scissors.
One clone vanished into the earth, utilizing an Earth Release Hiding like The Mole technique to position itself beneath Sasuke. A second clone circled wide, drawing Haku's focus toward the far side of the mirror array.
The lead clone—the Kunai Clone—channeled a razor-thin edge of Wind Chakra into its blade.
Chakra Blade : Wind Sword Jutsu
The steel hummed, vibrating with enough frequency to cleave through stone. Then The Clone charged directly at the mirrors, its speed a deliberate provocation.
Two clones approached the The mirrors from opposite Directions
Haku, sensing the dual intrusion, reacted with the grace of a dancer. The masked teen emerged halfway from a mirror, arms blurring as he unleashed a wave of senbon toward the Kunai Clone. right after that Haku also arrived at other side to throw senbons again.
( In Those crystal Mirrors his speed is really good ....but not enough )
The Naruto double didn't slow down; it moved in a jagged, erratic zig-zag, the wind-enhanced kunai batting the Senbons out of the air with metallic tings.
Simultaneously, the second clone finished its own seals before Senbons even arrived in front of him. His choice of Jutsu , an original Jutsu by combining Water shots , rotation and Chakra compression but with different chakra nature .
The Clone drew a large breath .
"Fire Release: Blast Bullets!"
Dozens of concentrated spheres of flame streaked through the mist. They didn't just hit the ice; they detonated. The shockwaves rippled through the clearing, the extreme heat turning the outer layers of the mirrors into a blinding shroud of steam.
In that moment of thermal chaos, the third clone erupted from the ground beneath Sasuke's feet, dragging the stunned Uchiha into the safety of the earth just as Haku's counter-needles peppered the spot where he had stood.
The mirrors cracked and collapsed soon by the following Explosion tags .
Haku retreated , his breath hitching behind his mask as the steam obscured his vision. He slammed his hands against the frosted earth as he saw the Kunai clone coming closer.
"Ice Release: Ice Spikes!"
Jagged, crystalline spears erupted from the ground in the Kunai Clone's path. The Naruto double didn't break its stride. It leapt, spinning in mid-air and using the wind-blade to cut the spikes like wooden sticks.
Haku gritted his teeth behind his mask , his hands blurring into a one-handed seal—a feat of legendary chakra control. "Ice Release: Needle Ground!"
The earth became a carpet of frozen thorns, dense and lethal. The Kunai Clone clicked its tongue in annoyance, rolling sideways and halting its pursuit. But the trap was already sprung from the opposite side.
"Earth Release: Mud Shots!"
The second clone, having survived the initial firestorm shockwaves , unleashed a barrage of high-pressure mud. The thick sludge shots were thrown towards Haku.
Haku, disheveled and drained after maintaining the high-rank mirrors and two back-to-back jutsu, threw a desperate volley of ice senbon. He was fast, but he had forgotten the Kunai Clone.
The lead Naruto had already finished a new jutsu with just one Hand-seal , It was the D Rank
"Water Release: Water Shots!"
A series of heavy, high-velocity spheres of water slammed into Haku's torso. The impact was like being hit by a series of iron mallets.
The Hunter-Nin was hurled backward, his body rolling through the dirt and leaves. Using the momentum of the strike to mask his retreat, Haku vanished into the deep woods, a trail of mist following him like a ghost.
The Mud Shot clone dispersed into a cloud of smoke as the last of Haku's ice needles grazed its shoulder. The Kunai Clone stood alone in the center of the now-melting ice arena, the wind-enhanced blade slowly losing its glow.
Nearby, Sasuke emerged from behind the tree, supported by the arm of the third Naruto clone. His clothes were shredded, his skin mapped with shallow cuts, his whole body riddled with senbons , but his eyes were wide with a burning, silent fury.
He had watched everything from behind the safety of a nearby oak. The enemy that had treated him like a toy—the "elite" who had moved faster than his eyes could track—had been dismantled by a few clones. Not Naruto himself. Just his shadows.
Sasuke's hand clenched until his knuckles turned white. The gap wasn't just wide; it was different
"I'm going to report to the main body," the Kunai Clone said, its voice flat "Wait for the signal before you move back " With a soft pop, the clone was gone.
Sasuke stood in the silence, his breath hitching. The remaining clone—the one holding his shoulder—looked at him with a lopsided, familiar grin.
"Well, don't beat yourself up, Sasuke," the clone said, its voice dripping with that irritating, blonde confidence. "That was a Bloodline Limit ninja. Kekkai Genkai, just like your Uchiha eyes or the Hyuga's Byakugan. Ice release is no joke."
"Ice..." Sasuke whispered, his voice cracking with bitterness.
" well , you also helped in drawing his trump cards "
" ....."
" you also helped getting his information and depleating his chakra "
"....But you did it with just clones."
The Naruto clone laughed, a sound that grated on Sasuke's raw nerves. "Haha! Well, don't go comparing yourself to me. I'm the future greatest Hokage, after all. I've got to be a little impressive, right?"
Sasuke looked away, his jaw tight. ".....you are still annoying "
The clone chuckled, already scanning the woods for Haku's return.
( don't know how the main body's side is doing )
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Author's notes :
Should I have approached this different , with main body dominating Haku or something ??
without letting Sasuke even try .
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