Hattori and his squad had now finished dealing with the remaining shinobi that had tried to ambush them, seeming to make light work of the chunin and genin that had been sent to attack them.
"So what in the hell is going on?" Iseto Uchiha asked as he turned to his squad mates.
"That's obvious, isn't it? Our enemies tried to ambush us and stop as many of us from getting to the Waterfall." Hattori said as he looked at one of the dead Cloud ninja's faces.
"Well in that case, shouldn't we get a move on towards the Waterfall and try to regroup with other squads?" Iseto said, getting a nod from his own teammates in agreement.
"That's a great idea, Iseto." Both Seno and Horime said as they looked at him in amazement, causing Yuri to almost throw up in her mouth.
Hattori was about to speak, but his senses suddenly picked up on movement and caused him to put his guard up.
"Hattori!" A familiar voice yelled, causing him to relax just a little.
Haku and the others landed on the ground next to him and the others took the leaf shinobi by surprise, especially Iseto, who had not seen them since the chunin exam.
"I see you survived the ambush too," Hattori said, not seeming surprised.
"Sorry but we don't have time to chat, we need to find Ganryu and fast!" Koyuki said, not wasting any time as she and Kimimaro quickly took off not wasting any time.
"Wait, what's going on?" Yuri asked as she watched them dash off.
"We have information that Zabuza has been hired to kill Ganryu," Kujira said as he, Rokuro and Chika also stopped to catch their breath.
"Right, if he's involved then we had better get moving," Hattori said, remembering how things had gone down last time.
"Hold on a minute, why should we go back? If anything we should press forward." Iseto said, not liking the idea of heading back.
"You three can do whatever you want, but I'm heading back," Hattori said as he turned his back on Iseto and his teammates.
"Wait, what!" Iseto said in response, looking to Haku, remembering his battle with him back in the exams.
Hattori didn't bother saying another word as he quickly took off, racing towards the direction that Kimimaro and Koyuki had headed in, with Yuri following close behind him.
"Looks like we are all going now," Rokuro said, having caught his breath now, and feeling a little safer with the increased numbers.
"Come on, let's move it or we will be left behind again!" Kujira said, seeming frustrated that the others had left already.
Meanwhile...
"How long can you keep this up for? Ganryu!" Zabuza yelled as he attacked with another handful of water clones, using his mist to keep his presence hidden while his clones attacked for him.
Ganryu had to admit, even though they were mere water clones, their strength in numbers was giving him a hard time.
Ganryu was quick to block an overhead attack from one clone, using the explosive sword to instantly counter with an explosion that took the clone down with one hit. However, another attacked not a moment after, aiming for a vital point.
"Shit!" Ganryu said as he pulled his cleaver blade from his back, being forced to use it to block the attack before he kicked the water clone in the head, forcing it to burst into water.
"I'm not sure about you, but I could do this all day." Zabuza's voice said, echoing through the mist as Ganryu took a solid stance, holding both of his swords up in defence.
"Yeah... Well as much as I like spending time with you, I don't!" Ganryu said, quickly ducking under another slash from a water clone before he kicked its legs out from under it, making sure to go for the knee so the clone would burst from the damage.
Next, Ganryu blocked another strike from his left with his cleaver sword, deflecting the attack before he smashed his blast sword into the clone's chest, creating a large explosion and blasting the other clones that were in the area away at the same time.
The real Zabuza could sense that all of his clones had been caught in that explosion, leaving only him left as he hid under the cover of the mist.
"Darn it... I guess its time I got involved." He thought.
"Did you think you were the only one who made a name for himself by using the killing-in-mist technique, Zabuza?" Ganryu said as he suddenly appeared behind him.
"When did he!" Zabuza thought, as he quickly pulled his sword around his back, trying his best to block the attack from Ganryu's blast sword.
-Boom!-
The blast sword connected with Zabuza's executioner's blade, sending both Zabuza and Ganryu flying back from the force of the explosion.
"Darn it, that sword is beginning to become a thorn in my side!" Zabuza yelled as he regained his balance, checking his blade for damage and seeing a crack. Causing the expression on Zabuza's face to harden even more.
"What's wrong Zabuza, did I hit a nerve?" This time being Ganryu's voice that was echoing through the mist.
"The only thing you did was prolong your death," Zabuza said as he lowered his sword and took a deep breath.
"Is that so..." Ganryu said as he quickly appeared out of the mist, attacking head-on as he wanted to press his advantage.
With his cleaver blade, Ganryu attacked high, watching in surprise as Zabuza choose to dodge the attack by letting go of his own sword completely, stepping inside of Ganryu's stance as he pivoted on his heel, forcing Ganryu to turn as fast as he could to try and overextend his other arm in an attempt to hit him.
However, Zabuza was too close to the inside of Ganryu's reach and swiftly used his fist to strike Ganryu's elbow joint, hyper-extending it and forcing him to lose his grip on his weapon.
"Aghr!" Ganryu grunted, having no choice but to bite through the pain as he tried turning the other way so he could attack with his cleaver blade again.
"I don't think so!" Zabuza yelled, quickly ramming his elbow into Ganryu's shoulder to stop his attack while also grabbing his shirt with his other hand.
"Take this!" Zabuza yelled as he turned his hips and pulled him over his shoulder before slamming him into the ground with a perfectly executed throw.
"Aghr!" Ganryu grunted as he hit the ground, feeling the air get smashed out of him on impact, struggling to breath.
"Now you die!" Zabuza yelled as he reached over to his sword, taking the handle in his grasp.
Ganryu couldn't move thanks to that throw, feeling as if his back had just broken from the force of it.
"Shit... I can't move." Ganryu thought, watching as Zabuza was about to deliver the final blow.
"Wind burst jutsu!"
Suddenly a huge burst of wind style let rip, blowing all of the mist away in one fell swoop, distracting Zabuza for a split second before he realised he was under attack.
"I don't think so!" Zabuza yelled, quickly turning around as he attacked with his sword, feeling it slice through the flesh of whoever it was.
"Wait, what!" Zabuza said as he saw his blade pass right through the person's body, not seeming to have any effect whatsoever.
"Sorry, but that won't work on me!" Kogetsu said as he attacked with his own sword, catching Zabuza across the chest with a good blow as it drew blood.
"You bastard!" Zabuza yelled as he jumped back to create some distance.
"He must be from the Hozuki clan." Zabuza thought as he watched him carefully.
"Ganryu, are you ok?" Kogetsu asked, quickly kneeling down next to him so he could get a good look.
"I've been better."
"Yeah, I can see that much." Kogetsu said as he turned his attention back to Zabuza.
"It's over now, You can't beat both of us," Kogetsu said, taking a strong stance as Ganryu slowly got back up too.
"Hmm... Maybe, maybe not." Zabuza said, not seeming to care that Kogetsu had joined the fight.
"Two against one... I guess now I can get serious." Zabuza said as he cracked his neck.
Kogetsu didn't like this and had a strange feeling about the situation.
"This isn't good," Ganryu said, getting a strange look from Kogetsu.
"What do you mean?"
Ganryu took a good look at Zabuza, seeming to see him slightly differently now than he had done before.
"This isn't the same Zabuza that we knew... No. He's gotten much stronger than the last time I saw him." Ganryu said.
"I guess he wasn't called the demon of the mist for nothing," Kogetsu said, having only heard the stories.
"Now... Its time to show you what a real demon looks like!" Zabuza yelled, letting his demon aura burst to life as his chakra took form above him, creating a visible demonic aura.
"I'll show you my true power!"
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That's the end of this chapter! I hope you enjoyed and as always, have a great day!