Capítulo 17: STEAL

This was it; if memory served, Momochi Zabuza was about to strike.

While everyone gathered around Naruto to check on the frightened rabbit's state, Sakura silently withdrew from her pouch the scroll that contained the Manyuu blade. She unfurled it, revealing a pre-drawn Summoning Jutsu formula, courtesy of the System. Sakura laid the scroll flat on the ground, bit her thumb until she drew blood— ouch— and let the blood drip onto the black runes etched on the scroll. There was a little poof of white smoke, and the Manyuu blade appeared, lying flat on the scroll. And once its purpose had been served, the scroll modified by the System returned to its previous state: an empty sealing scroll.

As far as katana went, the Manyuu sword was fairly unremarkable; it was about a meter in length, and the Manyuu name was inscribed at the base of the blade, near the rectangular tsuba. Sakura could only hope that the System hadn't stolen the sword from the original Chifusa in another world, or she would be in trouble…

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Sakura spotted a whirl of grey.

"Everyone, get down!" Kakashi yelled, the urgency evident in his voice.

That thing was too big to be called a sword; too big, too thick, too heavy, and too rough, and yet legally distinct enough to not infringe on any copyright-protected material: indeed, Zabuza wielded the Kubikiribōchō, the Decapitating Blade of the Seven Swords of the Mist. It had the handy ability to repair itself using the blood spilled from enemies, but that was about it!

The enormous sword was spinning through the air right towards her; or rather, right towards the old man Tazuna, who was standing right behind her! Time seemed to slow down, as Minato's reflexes kicked into high gear. Sakura dropped to the ground and kicked Tazuna's legs out from under him, making him fall backwards to the ground with an, "oof!"

The Kubikiribōchō hummed as it spun through the air right above them, and time seemed to slow down even further. The Dragon Slayer— no, the Buster— no, the Kubikiribōchō, was truly a massive piece of metal. Upon closer inspection, Sakura could clearly see that two holes had been manufactured into the blade; one semi-circular hole near the base on the cutting edge, and one circular hole near the end, in between the cutting edge and the spine of the sword.

She wasn't quite sure what the holes were for, but she certainly knew what she was going to do with them!

In one swift movement, Sakura snatched up the Manyuu blade from the ground and thrust it upwards, just as Zabuza's sword was flying over her head… and just in time, she managed to run her sword through the round hole located at the tip of the Kubikiribōchō. Sakura felt a strong jolt; her sword nearly jumped out of her hands, but she somehow managed to hold on to it.

The larger blade spun around Sakura's katana, showering her with sparks and filling her ears with the squeal of metal grinding against metal, but she still held on for dear life!

Immediately after throwing the Kubikiribōchō, Zabuza flickered to the tree where his blade ought to have lodged itself into, confident that nobody would even try to intercept his massive hunk of iron of a surprise attack. In his mind, landing on his own sword would have made for a cool entrance, but unfortunately for him, he had missed Sakura catching his sword.

While the Body Flicker Jutsu did allow one to move faster than the eye could see, that also included its user!

As Zabuza abruptly left the flicker state, he stopped being affected by tunnel vision caused by moving at extreme speeds, and his peripheral vision returned to normal. And much to his surprise, he found himself standing in midair, instead of on his sword! Nevertheless, Zabuza was still a Jōnin-level shinobi, so even though the Kubikiribōchō was not where he had intended it to be, he still managed to save face and avoid falling by sticking sideways to the tree.

And that is when Zabuza saw Sakura tilting her katana sideways, sending his Kubikiribōchō, which was still gyrating around her sword, clattering to the ground… right where she had left her open sealing scroll. The pink-haired girl was obviously trying to seal away his weapon before he had even had the chance to use it! He had to stop her, now!

Both of the Jōnin suddenly disappeared from Sakura's field of view at the same time, and she froze; where were they!?

Kakashi and Zabuza suddenly reappeared right in front of her; they exchanged a few blows, and then Zabuza leapt away and landed on the surface of a lake behind him, putting some distance between the two of them.

Knowing that it was now safe for her to do so, Sakura quickly dived for her scroll and shouted, "Seal!" The Kubikiribōchō vanished with a small poof, and a drawing of the sword appeared on the sealing scroll. Sakura rolled up the scroll and stored it inside her pack.

'Sealing success!' Inner Sakura crowed.

"I was going to give you the option to surrender the old man to me," Zabuza said, a manic gleam in his eyes, "but, you've successfully managed to anger me, so you're all dead meat. I look forward to feeding your blood to my Kubikiribōchō, Kakashi of the Sharingan, and you, little girl…"

"You and what weapon?" Sakura taunted him. "And what kind of swordsman throws away his own sword, anyway?"

But instead of answering, Zabuza thrust his left hand straight up and brought his right hand to his chin, performing the seal of the ram, even though his two hands weren't touching each other.

"Water Style: Hiding in Mist Jutsu…"

"Sakura!" Kakashi said sharply. "You've already done more than enough, but this isn't the kind of battle that Genin can interfere with. Assume the Manji battle formation with Naruto and Sasuke, and protect Tazuna-san!"

'The Manji formation?' Inner Sakura cackled. 'Won't we get cancelled on X (Twitter) for this?'

This wasn't the time to be cracking jokes, so Sakura leapt away and joined up with her teammates.

A veil of mist was quickly spreading outwards from the lake water at Zabuza's feet and falling on their surroundings, impeding Team Kakashi's ability to see. Despite the mist growing thicker, Kakashi lifted his forehead protector, revealing his Sharingan; meaning that he was taking this seriously.

A sinister chuckle rang out, though the sound was slightly muffled and diffused because of the mist, making it hard to pinpoint where it was originating from…

"It's just a Zabuza," Sakura mumbled nervously to herself. "He's got nothing on Kakashi, we'll be all right…"