Zabuza's S.Adventures 25 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Kejmur

-VB-

Zabuza’s S.Adventures
Chapter 25

-VB-

Zabuza stared at the inferno raging where once a Fire border outpost stood.

His mind spun while the ninjas around him stared at the fire with gritting jaws and fire in their eyes.

“Enemy action,” one of the ninjas declared. “Who? Where could they be?”

‘Why haven’t they attacked us yet?’ Zabuza thought, but didn’t say it out loud, so he tempted fate with his words.  “It doesn’t matter, we have to find the next outpost,” he spoke up instead. “We need to see whether or not this is an isolated incident or a full-on invasion by any of the other lands.”

The others behind him grunted out their acknowledgement. Many of them bore their wounds without complaints, but he knew that some of them, especially the chunins with the least stamina, were on their last legs.

Should he split them up?

---

Jinzo stared at Zabuza’s back.

He knew that the higher-ups trusted this man. If the rumor mill was right, then he was either sleeping with the Hokage’s friend or sleeping with the Hokage herself. Jinzo didn’t care about that, merely that the Hokage would let a foreigner so close to her.

No, he didn’t doubt the Hokage’s decision to allow Zabuza large leeway in many matters, such as taking command. It was, after all, his connection that brought the remnants of Kirigakure’s clans to join Konoha.

Some of the things he’s heard about what’s happened in Kirigakure from the mouths of the refugees themselves made certain who those clans laid their loyalties to.

But did he trust the man, Zabuza, himself?

He was powerful, and when their commander just died, he took over command efficiently and led them to the base they were supposed to report to with minimum casualties despite the number of injured among their number.

If this was any other circumstance, then this would have been the perfect showcase of how good Zabuza was at not only command but leadership among other skills. If Zabuza was indeed the one who leaked information, then right now, he could kill them all.

Jinzo did not doubt for one second that Momoichi Zabuza was strong enough to kill them all.

Yet he didn’t.

Perhaps it was because they, the chunins and one jounin, were not worth breaking cover. It was always possible that Zabuza was playing the long game. Jinzo also knew that Zabuza had burned the orders. He’d seen it, and the chakra attached to it was gone, meaning that it was truly burnt to ash. There was no information Zabuza could pass on if he was a spy.

Again, he didn’t think Zabuza was. The man was too straightforward for that.

“What do we do now?” he asked instead, putting his trust in the foreign but now a Konoha man.

Zabuza glanced at him for a moment before staring at the fire again.

“We move to the next military outpost. I’ll stay with two others and fight to keep any pursuers off of our backs. Everyone else, take the injured and move. Now.”

There was not a single hesitation. Everyone moved as commanded.

“I’ll stay with you, sir,” Jinzo spoke up.

“Me too.”

Jinzo looked and saw Yoshirama, a genjutsu specialist. Considering he was a ninjutsu specialist and a medic, it made for a very good combination of a strong frontliner, fragile but effective mid-range utility, and strong long-range attacker.

Zabuza hummed. “Make sure to not place yourself between any two enemies. That’s a death sentence.”

“Hai!”

As they watched the troops fall to the west - away from the center of the Fire-Lightning border - and carried their injured comrades with them, Jinzo couldn’t help but feel that this might be where he would die.

Sniff.

He glanced at Zabuza.

“Here they come,” he grunted as he held up his sword, the Kubikiribucho. He then took a deep breath in, and summoned a mist to cover them all. “Tight formation. Do not get separated at all cost.”

Then-.

He hurled the sword?!

The sword sang as it cut through the air like a saw.

Before Jinzo could complain that the mist obscured his view, Zabuza jumped into the thick mists, disappearing within a second.

Less than a moment later, he heard the screams of the Mist Butcher’s victims.

Clicking his tongue under his breath, he pulled out his kunais, one in each hand, and waited.

Yoshirama stood in front of him.

“Enemy!” he hissed in his whisper before casting a technique. Someone screamed as they emerged from the mists, clutching at their eyes.

They had Kumo’s headband!

Instead of using a ninjutsu, Jinzo sped forward and sliced the ninja’s throat with one clean sweep before jumping back to position. The man gurgled as he collapsed onto the hard-packed dirt and burnt shrubs.

“Kaminari-!”

Jinzo snapped a kunai towards the direction of the voice, and grinned in triumph when the technique cut out with a scream.

And then there was a slash.

Yoshirama almost screamed when a head, with a Kumo headband, landed right in front of him with a splat.

Jinzo got ready again, and only a moment later, he was flinging his kunai.

---

Was it because Kumo-nin weren’t prepared for this kind of fight that they won so handily?

Zabuza stared down at the bodies of thirty Kumo-nin that he and the two who remained with him.

Well, one.

During what felt like an hour-long battle, the second guy to volunteer got himself separated after a particularly nasty explosive attack from the Kumo-nin. Tossed to the side and away, he lost his way and panicked.

And then died after calling for help in the middle of enemy formation hidden by the mist.

In his honor, Zabuza split the headbands they looted from the Kumo-nin three ways - collected headbands could be turned in for monetary reward, especially if the action took place within home territory; i.e. the owner of the headband were in illegal missions or operations. Headbands also had identification numbers on them.

They burned all of the bodies, gave Yoshirama a quick but proper burial, and left.

They had catching up to do with the team they sent ahead.