Drake watched with interest as Zabuza and Kakashi, who were above the lake, completed the forty-four hand seals of the Water Dragon Bullet Technique almost simultaneously, and then controlled the lake water to condense into two water dragons that collided with each other in midair and canceled each other out.
To be honest, after showing off their hand speed for so long, the power of the Water Dragon Bullet Technique was only to this extent. It really made one wonder why Zabuza had learned this technique in the first place.
You had to know that Tobirama Senju could simplify the hand seals of this technique to three. Even if he couldn't reach that level, it was really suspicious of the gold content of the Mist Demon to form hand seals in place for more than ten seconds.
After Zabuza and Kakashi started a battle of wits and exchanged a wave of water clones, Drake yawned out of boredom.
The way ninjas and mages fought was completely different. In addition to Chakra, the techniques they had mastered, and combat experience, the ability to adapt in battle was also an important factor in determining the final victory.
In the protagonist Naruto Uzumaki's several classic battles, the main reason why he was able to achieve victory was his "unpredictability number one" characteristic.
In other words, battles between ninjas relied on their brains. It wasn't that mages didn't need tactics in battle, but battles between mages would ultimately return to a real fight of magic power and magic.
And the reason why Drake felt bored was that his level was too high, and he couldn't find anything to appreciate in Kakashi and Zabuza's struggle.
Zabuza was also a little anxious at this time. Kakashi, this elite Jōnin, was indeed worthy of the name, and his strength in all aspects was faintly above him.
Especially that Sharingan with its amazing insight. All of his movements seemed to be seen through by him.
What was deadly was that his most skilled Hidden Mist Technique and Silent Killing Technique had been blocked, and he hadn't been able to find a way to open the situation.
Zabuza glanced at Drake. It was all because of this guy that his Hidden Mist Technique had been broken!
Just as killing intent flashed in Zabuza's eyes, Kakashi also seized the opportunity, and a kunai pierced Zabuza's heart.
But Zabuza's body turned into a stream of water, and fell down with a crash.
Kakashi ignored the water clone in front of him, and began to look for Zabuza's real body as soon as possible.
Ripples appeared on the surface of the water on the shore, and a figure dragging a large sword sprang out from it, shooting towards Drake like a sharp arrow.
Seeing Drake, who seemed to have not reacted yet, neither defending nor dodging, Zabuza ignored the fact that there wasn't a trace of panic on Drake's face, and swung his sword over.
Clang!
The crisp sound of metal colliding rang out, and Zabuza was also shocked by what he saw, just like the Demon Brothers.
His sharp Kubikiribōchō was a secret treasure of Kirigakure. Compared to the other six ninja swords, although its special ability was only blood-sucking and regeneration, its sharpness was definitely the strongest.
But what was he seeing? The blade had indeed slashed on that fierce-looking man's arm, right! Why wasn't there a wound? Why were there sparks? Was this man really human?
In the ninja world, even ninjas of the Kage level would be injured and bleed if they were stabbed by a kunai without any defense.
It was really beyond his common sense for someone like Gajeel to use his body to collide head-on with a blade.
Gajeel let out a signature laugh, and then, in Zabuza's shocked gaze, opened his mouth and bit towards the blade of the Kubikiribōchō.
Clear tooth marks appeared on the blade of the Kubikiribōchō, and Gajeel forcibly gnawed off a piece of the blade.
With a crunching sound in his mouth, Gajeel swallowed the fragments of the Kubikiribōchō directly.
Not only Zabuza, but even Naruto Uzumaki and the others widened their mouths in surprise.
Gajeel grinned and said, "The knife is not bad. A lot of power has surged out after eating it!"
Magic power surged out from Gajeel's body. Although they couldn't sense the magic power, the others were blown back by the gale that was stirred up.
Iron-gray dragon scales appeared on his skin. For a time, Gajeel had completely changed his appearance.
Kakashi hadn't moved when he saw Zabuza attacking Drake.
Even for Kakashi, Zabuza the Demon was a difficult opponent. Even if he was confident that he could resolve the battle, it would take some effort.
But for the mysterious Drake and Gajeel, although Kakashi couldn't figure out how strong they were, what he sensed was definitely not something that Zabuza could touch.
Zabuza's attack also allowed Kakashi to see what the abilities of these two people were.
But after seeing it, Kakashi was even more confused. Gajeel's appearance could only be caused by a special Kekkei Genkai.
But even with a Kekkei Genkai, Chakra was needed to activate it. But Kakashi didn't sense any Chakra fluctuations on Gajeel's body at all.
But even without Chakra, Gajeel's state gave him a strong sense of oppression.
Kakashi silently thought about how he would deal with it if he was in Zabuza's position, and then he began to mourn for Zabuza.
Facing Gajeel, who had entered Dragon Force Mode after eating the special metal, Zabuza naturally felt the danger as well.
So he quickly formed hand seals in an attempt to use ninjutsu, but this time his opponent was Gajeel.
"Too slow. Who would wait for you to use these tricks!"
Kakashi couldn't help but feel that he had been ridiculed, but he immediately focused on more important things.
"So fast. Is it the Body Flicker Technique? No, it's pure physical strength!"
Gajeel had arrived in front of Zabuza almost as soon as he had finished forming the first hand seal, and a literal iron fist punched over.
It was another water clone. Zabuza showed the qualities that a qualified ninja should have, and managed to escape at the last moment.
But he didn't expect that Gajeel's arm would turn into an iron rod with rivets, and would extend out to directly hit Zabuza, who hadn't retreated far.
Zabuza heard the sound of bones breaking. As an assassination master, he could clearly feel how many ribs had been broken.
After flipping several times in the air, Zabuza finally straightened his body, and fortunately managed to grab the Kubikiribōchō and block the pursuing Gajeel.
Gajeel also swung his arm, which had turned into the Iron Dragon Sword, and met the Kubikiribōchō. The two men, who both had unkind appearances, began to slash at each other crazily, and for a moment, it was impossible to tell which one was the villain.
But the Kubikiribōchō only left white marks on Gajeel's steel scales, while Zabuza himself was constantly gaining wounds.
After colliding a few more times, the Kubikiribōchō finally couldn't bear the weight and was cut off in the middle. If Zabuza hadn't used the Body Replacement Technique in advance, he would probably have been cut open together!
But even so, Zabuza, who was covered in blood, didn't seem to have any ability to resist.
Just then, two slender beams of light flashed past and shot into Zabuza's neck. It turned out that they were two senbon needles, which had directly pierced Zabuza's neck.
Zabuza's pupils dilated, and then his whole body fell down.
A person wearing a mask followed closely and landed next to Zabuza.
"Thank you so much. I've been looking for a chance to kill Zabuza."
The person said this, and Kakashi had already recognized the mark on his mask.
"That mask... You're from the Kirigakure Hunter-Nin Squad, right?"
The masked man said, "That's right. It's my job to hunt down renegade ninjas!"
He helped Zabuza up and said, "Your battle ends here! I still have to deal with the corpse, because it contains too many secrets. I'll take my leave first...!"
Before he could finish speaking, a hand pressed on his shoulder, making his heart stop.
Drake said in a low voice, "Even if you're someone from the Hunter-Nin Squad, this guy is our opponent that we defeated. Are you trying to steal our spoils of war?
But I can give you a chance. You can deal with the corpse here as you said!"
Kakashi also narrowed his eyes. Unlike in the original plot, where he had been in a damaged state, he was quite clear-headed and keenly sensed that this person was not right.
The bodies of ninjas were an important source of information. Whether it was the ninjutsu they possessed or the information they knew, it could be obtained from the body using special methods.
So each ninja village had special units to recover the bodies of their own ninjas.
And these units would either dispose of the bodies on the spot, usually by dissecting them and dissolving them with special potions.
If time was tight, they would only cut off the head, because the brain was where the information was stored.
So the Hunter-Nin Squad would never and didn't need to take away the complete body.
This person was of course not from the Kirigakure Hunter-Nin Squad as he had said, but Zabuza's partner, Haku.
Haku only felt that the hand on his shoulder was like a branding iron, and he couldn't even use his Ice Release.
Drake looked at Haku, whose body was completely stiff, and released his hand after knowing that the other party wouldn't take any unwise actions.
"Now revive Zabuza! Let's discuss what you're going to use to exchange for your lives!"
__________________
For more advance chapters visit patreon.com/bars45.
For 10$- All advance chapters.
"Schedule"
Monday - Friday - Update 3 Chapters a Day
Saturday - Sunday - Off