Chapter 43: The First Ninjutsu, Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique
After dealing with Zabuza's Water Clone, Yoruha called out to Kakashi, "Kakashi-sensei, focus on his real body. You don't need to worry about this side."
The corner of Kakashi's mouth lifted. "Bringing you along was a wise choice."
The strength Yoruha had shown just now pleased him immensely.
From instantly killing those two Chunin earlier to defeating Zabuza's Water Clone now, Yoruha had not used a single ninjutsu, yet the power he displayed had already reached the level of a Jonin.
And Kakashi could tell that Yoruha's taijutsu was clearly far stronger than it had been when he tested him before.
If Yoruha's taijutsu had been at this level on the night Kakashi tested him, there was no way Kakashi could have beaten him that easily.
And that was under the premise that Yoruha had never formally learned taijutsu.
From then until now, Yoruha had basically been fighting purely on instinct, not actually knowing any taijutsu at all.
It was easy to imagine how powerful he would become if he formally learned it.
Zabuza looked at Yoruha, his expression grave.
"This annoying little brat really is troublesome."
Zabuza knew that if he didn't get rid of Yoruha, there was no way he would be able to kill Tazuna.
One-on-one against Kakashi, he didn't feel much pressure.
Even though Kakashi's reputation was immense.
Zabuza himself was also an Elite Jonin, and one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
He believed there wasn't much difference between himself and Kakashi.
But with Yoruha added in, killing Tazuna became very difficult.
After all, the purpose of this mission wasn't to settle who was stronger than Kakashi, but to assassinate Tazuna.
As Kakashi charged at Zabuza, Zabuza gloomily swung the Executioner's Blade.
Clang, clang, clang...
For a time, the two fought atop the lake's surface, one wielding the Executioner's Blade, the other a Kunai, metal crashing against metal, sparks flying.
A pure taijutsu clash between two Elite Jonin.
Their speed and strength left Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura—seeing a Jonin battle for the first time—utterly stunned.
For the first time, Sasuke felt how small he was.
"So this is a Jonin? Yoruha was right. Kakashi really is strong."
Naruto clenched his fists. "Damn it, why am I so weak? I can't help at all."
Beside him, Sakura stood guard by Tazuna with complete focus.
She was the weakest person here. Even Sasuke and Naruto couldn't join Zabuza and Kakashi's battle.
Naturally, she had even less chance of taking part.
But she looked toward Yoruha.
The shock Yoruha had given her was simply too great.
First he had instantly killed two Chunin and saved her, and now he'd taken down a Jonin's Water Clone and saved all four of them.
Yoruha's strength had already surpassed theirs by far too much.
Back at the Ninja Academy, he had barely had any presence at all.
Yoruha's attention, meanwhile, was fully focused on the battle between Zabuza and Kakashi.
This fight was giving him a lot of improvement.
After all, this was a battle between two Elite Jonin. Even if it was only a pure taijutsu exchange,
it could still give Yoruha plenty of insight.
Watching this battle had even allowed Yoruha to pick up some taijutsu.
Before this, he hadn't known any taijutsu at all and had fought purely based on physical ability.
As Zabuza saw Kakashi's attacks growing fiercer and fiercer, he knew that if this continued, win or lose, he wouldn't be able to kill Tazuna.
So he swung the Executioner's Blade hard, and the terrifying force sent Kakashi flying backward.
Zabuza leaped back.
While still in midair, his hands moved through seals at high speed, and in the blink of an eye the hand signs for a ninjutsu were complete.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique."
"Roar—"
A dragon's cry rose from the water's surface.
Several columns of water shot up from the lake, and in an instant they gathered into a water dragon over ten meters long in the air.
The water dragon howled as it flew straight toward Yoruha.
It was extremely fast.
By the time the knocked-back Kakashi reacted, his heart sank.
"This is bad—Yoruha still doesn't know ninjutsu."
But the water dragon was too fast. In the blink of an eye, it was already in front of Yoruha and the others.
After casting the ninjutsu, Zabuza's lips curled upward. "No matter how strong your taijutsu is, it'll be hard to block this ninjutsu. Hahaha!"
"Roar—"
The water dragon roared, terrifying and swift.
It was just about to swallow Yoruha and the others whole.
Kakashi tried to move in for a rescue, but he was too late.
Yoruha looked at the roaring water dragon rushing at him and frowned.
"It really is a powerful ninjutsu."
In that instant, Yoruha's hands moved rapidly.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique."
"Roar—"
Just as the water dragon Zabuza released was about to crash into Yoruha and the others,
Yoruha's hands flashed through seals.
In an instant, drops of water began condensing around him.
These droplets spun rapidly around Yoruha.
In the blink of an eye, they formed a gigantic water dragon dozens of meters long.
It was even larger than the water dragon Zabuza had created.
The enormous water dragon leaped out over Yoruha's head.
Like a terrifying dragon flying up from the sea, it roared as it charged toward the water dragon released by Zabuza.
Rumble!
The two water dragons collided instantly.
The impact caused violent tremors, and the ground within dozens of meters cracked open with countless spiderweb-like fissures.
The moment they collided, the giant water dragon released by Yoruha blasted Zabuza's water dragon apart into spray.
And the giant water dragon Yoruha had formed suffered no damage at all.
Like a living creature, the giant dragon roared toward Zabuza.
In an instant, its several-meter-wide dragon head opened its jaws and lunged to swallow him.
Zabuza was stunned.
"Impossible. How does he know this ninjutsu? At his age, there's no way he should have that much Chakra."
"And his Water Dragon Bullet Technique created water from nothing, without even borrowing the lake's water."
"Where did this brat get such terrifying reserves of Chakra?"
"Why is my Water Dragon Bullet Technique worse than a brat's? Why is his Water Dragon Bullet Technique so much stronger than mine? Is this guy even human?"
Countless thoughts flashed through Zabuza's mind in that brief moment.
But when he saw the giant water dragon opening its maw at him,
he had no choice but to use Body Flicker Technique to evade.
Rumble!
The giant water dragon missed Zabuza and instead plunged straight into the lake where he had been standing.
"Roar!"
Zabuza appeared dozens of meters away in an instant. Looking at the several-meter-high waves the water dragon had stirred up in the lake, even someone from the Bloody Mist like him felt lingering fear.
"What a terrifying Water Dragon Bullet Technique. Its power is far beyond mine."
"This guy is a monster."
"If that had hit me, my corpse probably would've been blown to pieces."
Meanwhile, Kakashi, who had come over to Sasuke and Naruto's side, was also staring at Yoruha in disbelief.
Kakashi muttered to himself, "That Water Dragon Bullet Technique... could it be that he learned it just by watching Zabuza?"
The instant that thought appeared in Kakashi's mind, the hairs all over his body stood on end.
That kind of learning ability was simply too terrifying.
And most terrifying of all, after learning it, the ninjutsu Yoruha released was actually far stronger than Zabuza's.
Kakashi himself wasn't even confident he could release a Water Dragon Bullet Technique at the same level as the one Yoruha had just used.