The fog thickened instantly, as if the world itself had decided to hold its breath. This was no ordinary morning weather phenomenon. The damp air grew heavy and sticky, settling on their skin like a cold, suffocating film. Visibility dropped to an arm's length, transforming the forest into an endless, grey labyrinth.
Zabuza Momochi stood on the hilt of his monstrous sword, which was embedded in a tree trunk, looming over them like a nightmare made flesh. He didn't move. He didn't need to. His mere presence weighed on their shoulders, heavier than any training gear.
It was Sakki—Killing Intent.
For Sakura Haruno, the world narrowed down to the frantic thumping of her own heart. The Academy had taught them about Sakki. They said it was simply psychological pressure, a projection of chakra. Theory. Dry words in a textbook.
The reality was nauseating. The air felt poisoned. It felt as though ice-cold needles would pierce her lungs if she dared to breathe. Her legs turned to jelly, and a single panic-stricken thought battered against her skull: We are going to die. We are all going to die right now.
For Sasuke Uchiha, the top graduate of the Academy, this sensation was an even deeper shock. He had been taught rules. He had been taught sparring matches with a referee, a start, and a stop. He had been taught that if you knew the technique and had a plan, you won.
But here, there were no rules.
Sasuke's knees trembled, betraying his will. He wanted to reach for a kunai. His brain, honed by years of drills, screamed: Draw your weapon! Assume a stance! Act!
But his body refused to obey. His muscles had turned to stone, as if filled with lead. Cold sweat trickled down his spine. Zabuza's gaze, even when not directed solely at him, felt like a cold blade pressed against his carotid artery.
I... I can't move, Sasuke realized with dawning horror. Is this a Jonin? Is this a real shinobi? If I blink, I die. If I breathe, I die.
He darted his eyes to the side, seeking support. Sakura was frozen in front of Tazuna, her face whiter than chalk, mouth agape in a soundless scream. She was broken before the fight had even begun.
And then Sasuke looked at Naruto.
What he saw struck a blow to his pride harder than the fear of death.
Naruto wasn't trembling. He stood in a low, relaxed stance, his center of gravity shifted, ready to burst in any direction. His face was calm. Not indifferent, but focused to a razor's edge.
Why isn't he afraid? Doesn't he feel this monstrous pressure?
Naruto felt it.
To his Qi Sensory, Zabuza's aura appeared as a dense, dark blue cloud, saturated with bloodlust. It was unpleasant. Cold. Dangerous.
But deep inside, in the sealed subspace of his consciousness, another being lazily opened one eye.
"Puh-lease..." the Nine-Tails rumbled. "This little human tries to scare you with his malice? What a cute, pathetic attempt. His hatred is a single raindrop. Do not embarrass me, jailer. If you cower before this insect, I will devour you myself."
Naruto mentally snorted. The Fox was right. After feeling the touch of Kurama's infinite, ancient rage, the pressure of a normal human—even an elite assassin—felt like a mild draft.
"Eight points," Zabuza's voice sounded from everywhere at once, reflecting off the water and trees. "Larynx. Spine. Lungs. Liver. Jugular vein. Subclavian artery. Kidneys. Heart."
Each word dropped like a heavy stone into the silence, cementing the Genins' paralysis.
"Which one should I choose?"
Kakashi took a step forward, dispelling the thickening aura of death with a flare of his own powerful chakra.
"If you think I'll let you touch my students..."
But Zabuza had no intention of making small talk.
Suddenly, the figure on the sword blurred. It didn't look like a Shunshin—the Body Flicker Technique. It was a complete dissolution. Zabuza simply vanished, becoming part of the mist.
Silent Killing Technique, Naruto instantly identified.
Unlike Sasuke, Naruto stopped relying on his vision. In this milk-white void, eyes were useless. He switched completely to Qi Sensory.
The world of energies snapped into contrast. The bright, warm fires of his team's chakra. And a blurred, icy smudge moving with incredible speed, arcing wide around their position.
It wasn't attacking Kakashi. It was ignoring the Genin. The target was the old man.
"Sensei, behind us!" Naruto shouted. His voice, stripped of childish notes, cracked like a gunshot.
Kakashi, of course, felt the disturbance too. But he was standing slightly ahead, covering the group from a frontal assault, expecting a direct clash. Zabuza had exploited this, masterfully entering the "blind spot" right between the paralyzed Sakura and Tazuna.
Sakura saw only a shadow materialize from nothing. The giant sword, Kubikiribocho, was already flying in a horizontal arc, aimed to cleave the bridge builder's body in half.
Sasuke saw the glint of steel. His eyes widened. He saw the attack. He tracked the trajectory. But his body remained a prisoner of icy terror.
Move! Move, dammit! he screamed internally, but his feet felt rooted to the earth. He was a spectator at his own execution.
Time stretched.
Naruto realized Kakashi wouldn't reach the intercept point in time. He was too far away. Tazuna would die in a fraction of a second.
Naruto didn't think. There was no room for fear in his mind. There was only a problem statement: Shift the vector of attack.
His Dantian contracted, expelling a concentrated stream of White Energy.
Qi flooded into the meridians of his legs, instantly reinforcing muscles, tendons, and bones to the density of metal. It was Qi Reinforcement pushed to the absolute limit of his small frame.
Explosive Step.
The ground beneath Naruto's foot exploded in a fountain of mud.
To Sasuke, it looked like teleportation. One moment Naruto was to his left, and in the next, he was already in the path of the giant sword, holding a simple kunai in front of him.
Idiot! The thought flashed through Sasuke's mind, mixing with horror. That's an executioner's blade! It weighs more than you do!
Naruto understood the physics. Blocking such mass rigidly was suicide. He would simply be cut in half along with the kunai.
So he didn't strike the edge. He struck the flat of the blade at the very last moment, utilizing the inertia of his jump and vector force.
CLANG!
The sound was deafening, like a hammer striking an anvil.
A standard Konoha kunai, made of quality steel, could not withstand a collision with one of the Seven Swords of the Mist, saturated as it was with an elite assassin's chakra. The metal shrieked and shattered into silvery fragments.
But it was enough.
Naruto's strike, amplified by the explosive power of Qi, knocked the trajectory of Kubikiribocho downward by dozens of degrees.
The blade, which should have bisected Tazuna, passed with a hollow whoosh dangerously close to his body and slammed into the earth with a sickening crunch, kicking up clods of dirt.
The shockwave from the collision flung Naruto backward. He rolled over his shoulder, killing the momentum, and instantly sprang to his feet, grimacing in pain. His right arm was numb to the shoulder, fingers trembling, and his palm was blooming with bloody abrasions from the shattered hilt.
"What?.." a genuinely surprised voice echoed from the mist.
Zabuza, whose hand still rested on the hilt of the sword embedded in the ground, looked at Naruto for the first time with genuine interest.
"Brat... You... blocked that? You could see me?"
The second Naruto had bought them expired.
"Get away from them!"
Kakashi was already there. He appeared in front of Zabuza, grabbing the hilt of the executioner's blade with his gloved hand, preventing the assassin from ripping the weapon from the earth. With his other hand, he gripped a kunai.
The Jonin's eye flicked to Naruto. Kakashi had seen everything.
It wasn't just luck, he analyzed instantly. Reaction speed beyond a Genin. No hand seals or visible chakra flare warning of a dash. He just... was there. Pure kinetics. And that strike... he knew he couldn't stop the sword, so he ruined the aim.
"Good work, Naruto," Kakashi said aloud. His voice was cold as ice, but beneath the chill lay deep professional respect. "Now leave the rest to me."
Zabuza laughed hoarsely. He released the sword, leaped backward, and dissolved into the mist a split second before Kakashi's kunai could graze his skin.
"Kakashi of the Sharingan..." the Demon's voice resonated from everywhere again, but now there was less contempt and more thrill. "And this strange blonde. Interesting. Very interesting. I didn't expect a Genin to be able to alter the trajectory of my strike. At the cost of his weapon, of course."
Naruto stood, breathing heavily, clutching his numb right arm with his left hand. He felt the Qi slowly circulating in the damaged limb, soothing the bruised nerves.
The difference in power is massive, he stated coldly to himself. My body withstood the overload, but the weapon didn't. If I had hesitated for even an instant, I would definitely be dead.
He looked up and met Sasuke's eyes.
The Uchiha was still standing in the same spot, paralyzed by realization. Sasuke looked at the shards of the kunai lying in the mud. Then at the deep furrow left by Zabuza's sword. And finally, at Naruto.
Sasuke's world collapsed.
I couldn't even move a finger, he thought, tasting bile. I was paralyzed by fear. I, the elite, the Uchiha... I stood like a statue. And he... he jumped under the blade. He forced the sword to deviate. While I trembled, he acted.
It was worse than a defeat in sparring. In sparring, one could blame luck. But here, there was only death. And Naruto had looked it in the face and spat, while Sasuke Uchiha stood like a frightened child.
"Sasuke, Sakura!" Naruto's voice, harsh and commanding, ripped them from their stupor. "Manji Formation around Tazuna! Now! The battle isn't over!"
Kakashi, standing with his back to his students and scanning the mist, widened his eye for a fraction of a second.
He's giving orders? The thought raced through his mind. In this situation, Genin usually seek protection from their Sensei. But he is taking command of the squad while I engage the primary target. And, what is most surprising... it is absolutely the correct order.
Sakura, sobbing once, rushed to Tazuna, drawing a kunai with shaking hands. Naruto's command served as an anchor for her, something to grab onto to keep from going insane.
Sasuke slowly, as if in a dream, drew his kunai. His hands were still trembling, but now not just from fear. He was drowning in rage. Rage at his own weakness. And a dark, burning jealousy toward the one he was used to considering beneath him.
I won't forgive this, Sasuke thought, stepping into position, back to Tazuna, but never taking his gaze off Naruto's back. I will never forgive myself that you proved to be stronger again.
Kakashi slowly raised his hand to his headband.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," he said, sliding the protector up to reveal a scarlet eye with three tomoe spinning ominously in the gloom. "Now I will fight for real."
***
Daily marathon is over! New chapters: Mon/Fri. Want more? I have +30 chapters as a backlog on my Boosty! Due to regional banking restrictions, Boosty is my only Patreon alternative. It's safe and easy with a bank card. Search for "edraianth" on Boosty or check the link in the Bio! https:// boosty (dot) to / edraianth