After both sides stepped back, the battlefield fell into a sudden silence.
Kai's expression was serious. At that moment, he had over ten cuts and slashes all over his body. While most of them were superficial, barely breaking the skin, he was still injured nonetheless.
Zabuza stood with his sword gripped horizontally, breathing heavily with a twisted expression. A solid kick from Kai had landed squarely on his ribs—probably breaking a few—and he couldn't straighten his back. Each breath came with a jolt of pain.
From the treetop, Hyuga Kagami saw an opportunity and immediately spoke up. "Kai, step back."
Kai didn't argue and quietly retreated to the side.
Though brief, their skirmish had been enough for Kai to gauge Zabuza's strength. He knew that without resorting to forbidden techniques, it would be nearly impossible to win.
Hyuga Kagami gently leapt down from the tree and walked toward Zabuza in front of both allies and enemies. "I'm not like Kai," he said. "To deal with fodder from the Mist like you, I don't even need to take it seriously."
His tone was calm, his expression full of disdain, as though he was addressing a mere stray dog.
Zabuza had never been so openly disrespected and instantly flew into a rage. "You dare call me fod—"
Whoosh—
Hyuga Kagami dashed forward, launching himself at Zabuza.
He had been waiting for this exact moment.
Though enraged, Zabuza wasn't green. Realizing he had fallen for a taunt, he immediately clamped his mouth shut and swung his massive blade horizontally at the charging Kagami.
Swish—
The blade cut through the air with a shrill noise.
But Kagami didn't flinch. No one noticed the beautiful glow flickering behind his goggles—his Tenseigan had activated.
With the Tenseigan's unparalleled perception, Kagami had already seen it all. Zabuza's chakra was flowing into his arms, and there was no buildup of chakra in his legs. His leg muscles also showed no sign of tightening.
All of this revealed Zabuza's tactics.
The horizontal slash was clearly meant just to push Kagami back. The lack of leg muscle tension meant there was no follow-up attack planned. The chakra flowing into his arms meant that after forcing Kagami to retreat, Zabuza planned to drop his sword and form hand signs for a jutsu.
In that split second, Kagami predicted Zabuza's next move by analyzing his chakra flow and subtle muscular movements.
Stop.
Lean back.
Kagami's entire motion flowed seamlessly. He dodged the slash effortlessly, all while keeping his distance razor-thin.
"No way..."
Zabuza was stunned. Kagami had dodged with such precision, not a fraction more or less, clearly unfazed by the possibility of a follow-up attack. Zabuza suddenly realized that Kagami had seen through his entire strategy. It was too late to change tactics.
Just as Zabuza's blade finished its arc and before he could recover, Kagami ducked low and closed the distance. His twin palms lashed out in a flurry of Gentle Fist strikes.
Seeing Kagami's chakra-coated palms coming at him, Zabuza's heart sank.
It was too late to swing the sword again or abandon it to cast a jutsu.
Thud-thud-thud!
A series of muffled impacts echoed as Kagami's palms slammed into Zabuza's body.
His body shook violently before collapsing like a deflated balloon.
*Hiss...*
Both the Mist's assassination team and the Hidden Leaf's Anbu collectively gasped.
Not because Zabuza had lost, but because he had been taken down so swiftly and easily!
Even Kakashi, famed as a genius, wouldn't have a guaranteed win against someone like Zabuza. Yet Hyuga Kagami had finished the fight in a single exchange. It was clean, effortless—Zabuza might as well have been a rookie genin.
Standing in the center of the battlefield, Hyuga Kagami remained calm and composed.
He glanced at the three Mist ninja nearby, then flicked the unconscious Zabuza into the air with his foot and kicked him toward them.
"Take him and get lost."
Two of the Mist ninja caught Zabuza, while the third protested, "We're under orders to eliminate a missing-nin!"
Kagami raised his head slightly, gazing down at them with contempt. "That missing-nin is my mission target. If you interfere, I won't hesitate to eliminate all of you as well."
Seeing Zabuza unconscious and the two Hidden Leaf Anbu watching nearby, the Mist trio exchanged glances before quickly retreating with Zabuza in tow.
Once they were gone, Kagami didn't even acknowledge the Anbu. He called over Kai, who had already bandaged his wounds, and resumed pursuit of the rogue ninja group.
The two Anbu looked at each other.
The older one murmured, "Hey, wasn't that Gentle Fist just now? Is he from the Hyuga clan?"
The fox-masked Kakashi nodded. "Yeah, I know both of them. We were in the same class. One's Might Guy, the other's Hyuga Kagami."
The older Anbu was surprised. "I thought your class didn't have anyone exceptional besides you. What the hell?"
In Kakashi's graduating class, nearly everyone else had died in the war. Those who survived barely made it to chunin, while Kakashi alone had become a jonin at a young age. To the older Anbu, Kakashi had always seemed like the undisputed elite of that generation.
Even Kakashi himself was puzzled.
He hadn't paid much attention to Hyuga Kagami before. Kagami had always seemed average, nothing remarkable. But today's performance had left Kakashi stunned—especially Kagami's unshakable confidence, even in front of the fearsome Mist assassination squad. It reminded Kakashi of his teacher, the Fourth Hokage.
The older Anbu added, "We should report this to the Hokage. Someone like that should be given priority for Anbu recruitment."
Back with Kagami—
As they dashed forward, Kai couldn't help but ask, "Kagami, why didn't we ask those Anbu for intel on the rogue ninja group?"
Kagami smiled. "No need. The Mist assassination squad showing up means the rogue ninjas really are defectors from the Mist. As for the Anbu, they were probably just here to monitor the Mist team's movements. Otherwise, they would've stepped in."
Kagami didn't need much thought to piece it together.
The Mist wanted to handle their own traitors—and take the bodies back too. That suggested at least one of the rogue ninjas had a kekkei genkai.
Meanwhile, Kakashi and the other Anbu were likely sent to monitor Mist movements. The lack of confrontation confirmed this.
Kai nodded. It made sense. If those Anbu were only watching the Mist team, they probably didn't have any useful intel. And since they already had a trail to follow, there was no reason to waste more time.
Kai then grinned. "Kagami, that was amazing back there. That guy looked pretty tough, but you dropped him without even breaking a sweat."
Kagami's lips curled into a modest smile...