Especially when the two brothers heard the words about not attacking again.
The corners of their eyes twitched slightly as they turned their gaze toward Hatake Kakashi, who stood not far away.
Although they did not recognize Kakashi's face at first glance (after all, their initial sneak attack had been aimed directly at Kakashi, which clearly proved that the two brothers did not know the appearance of Konoha's famous jōnin), they were very familiar with the title associated with him.
The "Copy Ninja," Hatake Kakashi, the man with the Sharingan eye.
The Demon Brothers had heard of him before.
Among the jōnin of the Five Great Ninja Villages, this was undoubtedly a terrifying existence.
When they realized that they were now facing two jōnin—one of whom was Hatake Kakashi, a shinobi whose fame and strength were in no way inferior to Zabuza Momochi—the thought of abandoning the mission could not help but rise from the depths of their hearts. Compared to ordinary ninja, the Mist Village's assassination units were indeed more decisive and ruthless when carrying out missions, but even so, everything depended on the mission itself and, more importantly, on the enemy they were facing.
Judging from the current situation, the gap in strength between the two sides was painfully obvious. If Zabuza were to clash head-on with Kakashi, let alone the fact that there was another jōnin present, even the three genin behind them could potentially surround and kill the Demon Brothers once the opportunity appeared. If they tried to forcibly complete the mission under such circumstances, they might truly end up losing their lives here.
However, these thoughts remained buried in their minds.
In reality, it was impossible for the two brothers to retreat on their own initiative. At this moment, they were still under Zabuza's direct command. Unless Zabuza issued an order to withdraw, they could only think about retreating—but absolutely could not turn that thought into action.
"Are you all right, Kurenai?"
Facing opponents of this level, Kakashi naturally did not let down his guard in the slightest. His chakra remained tightly locked on Zabuza, appearing relaxed on the surface but fully alert in reality. He slightly tilted his head and asked Kurenai Yuhi in a calm, low voice.
During the brief interval when Kakashi had just blocked Zabuza's attack—
"Yes. No fatal injuries."
Kurenai quickly adjusted her breathing and dealt with her wounds in a simple manner. Battles between ninja were often decided in an instant, sometimes by a single mistake, but in other cases they could devolve into prolonged stalemates. Kurenai's promotion to jōnin was undeniable proof of her strength, yet when compared to elite jōnin such as Kakashi or Zabuza, the gap was still obvious.
It was not to the point of being instantly killed in a face-to-face confrontation, but under normal circumstances, it would have been extremely difficult for Kurenai to hold out for long against Zabuza without being cut down.
Fortunately, Zabuza lacked sufficient information about her.
Among shinobi, intelligence was often the most decisive factor in battle. Even in future conflicts that could reshape the world, familiarity with an opponent's abilities could dramatically influence the outcome.
Kurenai knew a great deal about Zabuza.
But Zabuza knew almost nothing about Kurenai.
Furthermore, Kurenai was a jōnin who specialized in genjutsu.
Taking advantage of this information gap, she managed to stall Zabuza for a considerable amount of time using illusion techniques.
It could even be said that if Zabuza had been less experienced or less cautious, he might have been killed the moment he was caught in Kurenai's genjutsu at the beginning of the fight. However, as her illusions were cracked one after another, and with her trump cards becoming increasingly difficult to deploy against a fully alert opponent, Kurenai suffered multiple injuries under Zabuza's relentless pressure.
The only fortunate point was that none of them were fatal.
And just before a decisive blow could land—
Kakashi arrived in time and blocked the strike.
If Kakashi had been even a single step later, what would have remained there would have been Kurenai's cold corpse.
"Sensei, are you all right?"
From the other side, Team Eight rushed forward. Inuzuka Kiba, Hyūga Hinata, and Aburame Shino stood in front of their employer—Dazna, the bridge builder and the key figure of the Land of Waves mission—while looking at their jōnin instructor with undisguised concern.
Seeing the expressions on the faces of her students—
"I'm fine. Don't worry."
Kurenai smiled gently and spoke in a calm voice.
"You three protect Mr. Dazna. Leave the rest to your teachers."
"Yes, Kurenai-sensei!"
Seeing that their teacher was not seriously injured, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino finally let out a sigh of relief. Although Kurenai was deeply dissatisfied with Dazna's concealment of the true mission difficulty—nearly causing her team to be wiped out—this was clearly not the time to pursue responsibility. The most urgent priority was to repel the enemy in front of them.
Not far away, Zabuza Momochi stared at Hatake Kakashi and Kurenai Yuhi, his brows tightly furrowed.
As a former member of Kirigakure's assassination unit, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, and the wielder of the Executioner's Blade, Zabuza was a shinobi who once possessed both the strength and potential to inherit the title of Mizukage. In this early stage of the Naruto story, his power undeniably placed him among the top-tier antagonists.
His strength was firmly within the realm of an elite jōnin.
At this point in time, before Kakashi had fully awakened and mastered the Mangekyō Sharingan, the two of them were more or less evenly matched.
Originally, dealing with Kakashi alone would already have been troublesome for Zabuza.
Now, with Kurenai added to the battlefield—and as a genjutsu specialist no less—even someone as arrogant as Zabuza would not believe that the mission could still be smoothly completed.
That said, despite knowing that they held the advantage in numbers, Kakashi and Kurenai did not relax at all.
They subtly adjusted their positions, spreading out just enough to firmly protect Team Eight and Dazna behind them.
This formation was meant to prevent Zabuza from bypassing them and directly targeting the genin.
Such a scenario was something Kakashi and Kurenai absolutely had to avoid.
Seeing their stance, Zabuza's expression grew even more severe.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced toward the depths of the forest on the opposite side.
A flash of white seemed to disappear in an instant.
Zabuza's furrowed brow slowly relaxed.
Standing before him were two jōnin.
Even if he pushed himself to the limit and managed to hold Kakashi and Kurenai back for a short time, the Demon Brothers would clearly struggle to complete their part of the mission.
From the previous exchange, it was already obvious that when facing the Aburame clan, the Hyūga clan, and another Konoha genin who worked seamlessly with them, the Demon Brothers were on the verge of being killed.
Although Zabuza still had trump cards that he had yet to reveal
Even so, the probability of successfully completing the mission would not exceed fifty percent.
Almost within a single second, after weighing all the advantages, disadvantages, and risks
Zabuza Momochi made the decision to retreat.
The Duel doesn't end here… it only gets more intense.
30+ chapters ahead are already waiting.
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