“I, Suigetsu Hoozuki, challenge you, Zabuza Momochi, to a fight, and if I win, the Kubikiribocho will be mine!”
Zabuza looked at the young man pointing a sword at him with some amusement before shrugging his shoulders.
“Sure, let’s do it.”
Yuna had already told him that Suigetsu would soon challenge him for the Kubikiribocho, so he wasn’t the least surprised by his challenge. Besides that, this was actually how the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist worked. If you wanted to become one of them, you had to challenge them to a one-on-one battle and defeat them. Suigetsu was far from the first person to issue such a challenge to him.
Frankly, Suigetsu could be considered Zabuza’s worst match-up since his ability to turn into water would render most of Zabuza’s skills useless. Despite that, Zabuza wasn’t the least bit worried about winning this fight.
Suigetsu became excited at the mere thought of possessing Kubikiribocho soon and immediately attacked Zabuza, causing him to shake his head in incredulity.
*Clang*
Two swords clashed, coming to a standstill, but unlike Suigetsu, who was holding his sword with both hands, Zabuza was only using one.
“You want to wield Kubikiribocho with that kind of weak body? Please tell me you are joking.”
As soon as Zabuza stopped speaking, he started using more of his strength, resulting in Suigetsu getting pushed back. Suigetsu gritted his teeth while trying to contend against Zabuza’s strength, but no matter how much he exerted himself, he couldn’t content against Zabuza.
However, a smirk appeared on Suigetsu face as he let go of his sword while rushing towards Zabuza, resulting in Zabuza cutting straight through him. That would be a fatal wound for most people, but Suigetsu body could turn into water, so Zabuza’s attack harmlessly passed through him.
“Hehe, so what if you have more physical strength than me? That won’t help you if you can’t hit me!”
A kunai appeared in Suigetsu hand, which he swiftly stabbed into Zabuza’s neck, causing him to grin.
“Hahaha, I finally got my hands on the first of the seven swo…”
*Splatter*
A second Zabuza had appeared behind Suigetsu and slapped the flat side of his blade against Suigetsu’s head, making it pop like a water balloon. However, instead of blood, water splashed everywhere, and only a few seconds later, Suigetsu head reappeared.
Suigetsu glanced at the Zabuza he had just attacked and clicked his tongue in annoyance when he saw how he turned into water.
“So you managed to substitute yourself before my attack hit you, huh? How unlucky.”
“Unlucky? Don’t kid yourself by telling yourself that that was a close call for me, brat. While you were still shitting your diapers, I was already out there fighting in a war. There is no way such a little trick could catch me off guard.”
Suigetsu frowned when he heard Zabuza’s words but didn’t refute them. Experience-wise, he was indeed at a disadvantage. Additionally, he had to drop his sword during the surprise attack, so it was now uselessly lying on the ground, out of Suigetsu’s reach.
Zabuza saw Suigetsu’s dilemma and shook his head. He casually moved his foot and kicked Suigetsu’s sword back to him, who caught it with a surprised expression on his face.
“Someone who would let go of his sword wants to wield Kubikiribocho, huh? Go home, kid. This fight is over.”
Zabuza turned around and walked away without saying anything else, making Suigetsu’s face flush in anger.
“What do you mean by over?! I’m still standing! This fight is far from over!”
Zabuza didn’t stop walking and only casually waved Suigetsu’s words away with his hand.
“Meh, Yuna will scold if I splatter your blood all over the arena, so get lost.”
“My blood? Bullshit! I can not bleed! You are just running away because you have no way to defeat me!”
Suigetsu ran after Zabuza, causing him to shake his head.
“*Sigh* When I heard that someone would challenge me for my sword, I started looking forward to a good sword fight, but instead, I get a little kid that only relies on his innate ability to turn into water.”
Suigetsu swung his sword at Zabuza, forcing another disappointed sigh out of him. Zabuza’s hand blurred, and before Suigetsu could understand the situation, his sword was sent spinning into the air by Zabuza’s.
“You are just blindly swinging your sword around while relying on your ability to turn into water for defense. Do not rechallenge me before you learn how to wield your weapon correctly. Additionally…”
Zabuza’s hand blurred again, resulting in a small red line appearing on Suigetsu’s right cheek.
“… it is not impossible to cut you.”
Suigetsu was confused about what Zabuza had just done, but he quickly realized that something wet was flowing down his cheek, and as soon as he checked what it was, his eyes widened in surprise.
“B-Blood? I’m actually bleeding.”
“What does she always claim? There is nothing that I can not cut or something like that? Well, I’m far from claiming something so ridiculous, but I’m still thankful that Yuna helped me improve my swordsmanship. Otherwise, I might have actually lost against a brat like this.”
Although he was insulted again, Suigetsu couldn’t hear Zabuza’s words at all. He was still looking at the blood on his fingers in disbelief while muttering to himself.
“He can cut me? How is that possible? Why can a sword that isn’t coated in lightning chakra hurt me? That’s impossible!”
Meanwhile, Jugo, who spectated the fight, could only shake his head at Suigetsu’s current situation. Although the two weren’t exactly friends, Jugo still felt a little pity for Suigetsu but didn’t know how to cheer him up.
He lost in a fair fight, and despite Suigetsu treating it as a fight to the death, he only was scolded after his defeat. It was rather pitiful that he was treated like a child, but Jugo thought that that was still preferable to dying. After all, as long as he is alive, he can try again. Well, considering Suigetsu’s current mental condition, that might be rather unrealistic, but who knows what conclusion Suigetsu will reach.
As for Jugo himself, he was pretty much living how he always wanted to. Since Yuna put a seal on him, he didn’t go berserk even once, and he was even hired by the Uzumaki clan. Not as a mercenary or anything like that, but as a gardener.
Jugo hated fighting and hurting other people, so a job like that was exactly to his taste. Well, he would have preferred a position involving more animals, but beggars can’t be choosers.
He might decide to ask the Inuzuka clan for a job at some point, but for now, he would stay with the Uzumaki clan. Their friendly and outgoing behavior was healing his soul, which had grown weary from all the unintentional killing he was forced to go through..
