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Dialogue
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 26: Tactical Explosions
"Ahh!" Sakura screamed and dropped to the ground, pulling Tazuna along with her.
Sasuke, who had been busy throwing kunai and shuriken at the real Zabuza, was startled by the sudden explosion and turned to look.
"Naruto, what kind of explosive tag was that?!" He had never seen one that exploded in such a way.
"It didn't just explode; it also burned everything around the area of the detonation," Zabuza said, narrowing his eyes.
Naruto walked out from behind the smoke. "Explosive tag? Ohh! You just gave me an idea!" He recalled a book chapter about Konoha's explosive tags and how to use them efficiently.
"An idea?" Sasuke was getting worried.
"Yes…let's blow him up." Naruto pointed at the Mist ninja.
"Kakashi is there too," Sasuke felt the need to remind him. They were trying to save their teacher, not blow him up.
"Don't worry, the water should protect him." Naruto pulled out a few kunai. What he used before on the clone's sword was a rank 1 Fire Seal. They worked a bit differently in his world, but it was somewhat equivalent to the explosive tags everyone mentioned.
Except his seal was a lot more volatile since it concentrated a large amount of yang energy in a single spot and let it go out of control. This created a fiery explosion with a short radius of effect.
"Let's see…" Naruto placed the seal on the kunai. The metallic surface became red as the yang energy accumulated and grew out of control. He could not waste any time, so he threw the kunai at Zabuza immediately.
Zabuza hurriedly created another water clone between him and Naruto. The newly created clone intercepted the kunai before it exploded.
"Right, he can still do that… That's fine, I have more." Naruto still had nine more kunai left. There was also no need to throw them one at a time.
He was no seal expert, but even for him, it would be easy to make three or four at the same time. This was the lowest rank of seal, after all. Even newly joined disciples could learn them back at his old sect.
Four kunai, two in each hand, became fiery red as he pumped them full of energy, and then he threw them at Zabuza.
The ninja was now forced to make several more clones since he wasn't sure if one was going to be enough.
They were all instantly destroyed, and Naruto prepared to throw even more kunai.
Zabuza was starting to get worried. As a veteran Jonin, he had large reserves of chakra, but he wasn't a chakra beast like Kisame. The prison containing Kakashi was already taking a heavy toll on him, and the clones were not cheap to make.
'If that boy keeps this up…I may be in trouble.'
"Ha!" Four more kunai flew at Zabuza.
"Shit!" He was forced to make more clones to stop them.
"Sasuke, how many kunai do you have left?" Naruto asked.
"Five… Can you really keep this up? That must consume a lot of chakra, right?" Sasuke wasn't even sure what Naruto was doing, but by the size of the explosions, they must take a heavy toll on Naruto's reserves. His 'Great Fireball' was extremely taxing and he could only use it twice before becoming tired.
"I'm perfectly fine. Just need more kunai to throw. Go ask Sakura and have her give you more."
While Sasuke went away, Naruto continued.
After four more clones were destroyed, Zabuza was starting to feel bad. His breathing became labored and heavy.
"Getting tired? You can't compete with Naruto in terms of chakra," Kakashi told him.
"Shut up and die already!" Zabuza screamed at Kakashi. He then realized that for a moment, he stopped keeping track of Naruto. When he looked back, Naruto wasn't there. And the other black-haired boy wasn't there either. They had both disappeared.
His eyes moved to Kakashi… and he realized that the bastard had distracted him on purpose.
Zabuza heard something and immediately reacted by making a clone in that direction.
The clone blocked something, but it didn't explode afterward.
"A shuriken?"
A red kunai then came from a completely different direction.
"They tricked me!" Zabuza understood the deceit. They were both hidden, so the black-haired boy was now also throwing weapons at him, but those were not explosive.
'They want to make me waste my remaining chakra.'
He had no time for a clone, so he had to resort to another water technique to stop the kunai. This one was not as effective, and he still felt some of the explosion's effects on him.
"Urggg…"
More weapons came flying at Zabuza from different directions as Naruto and Sasuke moved through the nearby forest that surrounded the lake.
Now the Mist ninja had to do extra work and identify which ones were explosive and which ones he could just block with his free hand without wasting more energy.
Zabuza was having a hard time keeping his breath steady. He also needed to keep his concentration on the Water Prison while tracking all the weapons thrown at him and reacting accordingly.
Eventually…the inevitable happened. His hold on the Water Prison wavered, giving Kakashi a chance to escape. The white-haired ninja was not going to waste this opportunity. His students had worked hard to give him this chance.
The prison exploded, and Zabuza was sent flying into the woods.
Kakashi's Sharingan began to spin. He stared at Zabuza with an impassive expression, but deep inside…he was extremely angry.
"Now it's my turn…Zabuza. And let me tell you something. I never fall for the same trick twice."
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