Zabuza/Haku vs Kisame/Itachi

As Mugetsu laid in wait to ambush possible attackers, the Akatsuki was getting bolder with their plans and planned two simultaneous attacks, both on location that were within Aion's predictions.

The end result would be double the pain for Obito and Zetsu as they were fated to see their forces thinning from this venture that was doomed to failure from the start.

In the end, the lucky ones were Zabuza and Haku along with Tayuya and Isaribi. The former pair got matched with Kisame and Itachi while the later pair squared up with Sasori and Deidara.

Moving on to the actual engagements, Itachi was actually secretly working with Mugetsu but very few members, even amongst the core members were aware of that.

Itachi himself was under the direction to act as if he was not affiliated with Mugetsu to the point of handling battles that same way he would've if not an ally.

Shiki had Soul Substitution Seals in place for all members of Mugetsu so even in the of chance there were casualties, the worse case scenario would not happen. These circumstances predictably resulted in a fierce fight.

"So it's the brat Zabuza huh? Thrown in you lot with Mugetsu?" Kisame greeted, making Zabuza's eyebrow twitch as both pairs faced off.

"If in isn't the sharkboi as my boss calls you." Zabuza greeted back and this time, it was Kisame's eyebrow twitching as Itachi and Haku just observed the exchange with interest and even some amusement.

'So Shiki-san calls Hoshigaki Kisame sharkboi . . . It's my first time hearing it.' Haku thought to herself.

'Sharkboi . . . Shiki-san can make up some fitting nicknames. I wonder if he has one for me too?' Itachi thought to himself.

"Haku, I'm going over there and settle some stuff with this one." Zabuza suddenly said.

"Funny, I was thinking of something very similar." Kisame responded and they both took some distance to have a one on one, leaving Haku and Itachi behind.

"Shall we wait or shall we warm up just in case?" Haku asked in her usual gentle tone but with underlying currents of chilling cold.

"Might as well." Itachi replied and they both got ready for a fight of their own.

On the other side, the fight had already broken out without any further talking.

The Executioner's Blade and Samehada clashed as both swordsman fought for the upper hand. Originally, Kisame should have had Zabuza beat in physical strength but with Mugetsu's patented enhancements, now the opposite was true.

That, coupled with how Samehada was not really build for straight up sword fights, meant Kisame was getting pushed into a disadvantage.

One thing Kisame still had over Zabuza however, was ninjutsu skill. While Zabuza was much more of a personal fighter, Kisame had numerous wide area Water Style jutsu and plenty of chakra to use them with.

This being the case, he quickly took some distance and putting his palms together after throwing Samehada into the air, he unleashes his jutsu.

"Water Style: Super Exploding Water Shockwave!"

A huge volume of water was spat out of his mouth and created a huge water dome for them to fight him which would give him a large advantage as Samehada had many advantages in underwater combat and Kisame himself had several jutsu for this particular type of battlefield.

He then immediately unleashes another jutsu.

"Water Style: Five Hungry Sharks!"

Five water sharks form and rush towards Zabuza.

'Hidden Mist Jutsu'

He immediately used an improved version of the jutsu that he had developed during his time in Mugetsu. Despite the normal version being unusable in water, this one wasn't nad made it impossible to see in the entire water dome.

Not only that, the "mist was packed full with chakra and Zabuza had melded into it completely sho even a skilled byakugan user could not find him in there. Even Shiki could barely pick him out and he was one of the world's best sensors, quite possibly the best.

Kisame was no slouch either. Seeing his opponent managed to avoid his sharks and hide, he moved to both search for him and prevent himself from being ambushed at the same time.

"Water Style: Thousand Hungry Sharks!"

The five sharks of before turner into a much larger group as they surrounded Kisame to prevent a sneak attack as per Zabuza's specialty and continuously sweeped the water dome, searching for their target by touch since the assassin was not intangible and only very well hidden.

Back to Itachi and Haku, the battle was more quick paced since their were both speed type fighters.

Haku blitzed around with her Spacetime Ice Mirrors while throwing ice projectiles at Itachi WHile the latter just carefully observed and counterattacked with Fire Style and shurikenjutsu.

Unfortunately for him, already know how dangerous it was to fight Itachi, Haku just avoiding closing up and kept her eyes closed the entire fight, only tracking Itachi with her other senses and sensory abilities.

This would have put her at a big disadvantage in melee but with her superior mobility, she could afford to avoid cross range entirely and just wear Itachi down from a distance while relying on her enhancements to let her outlast her opponent in such a battle of attraction.

Still, she was using far more chakra than Itachi was and the Uchiha's counter attacks were getting more and more precise as the tide of the battle showed signs of beginning to turn against her.

As for the other fight, Zabuza, realizing it was only a matter of time before he was cornered if he did nothing, moved silently closer to Kisame and unleashed a powerful slash that cut apart the water sharks between Zabuza and him as well as sending a water blade flowing in Kisame's direction.

Kisame immediately dodged and more sharks covered the opening.

The events repeated themselves a couple more times, with Zabuza failing to hit Kisame but the latter being disturbed by the attacks enough that the search was no longer effective as each attack created a temporary gap Zabuza could exploit.

'The brat has improved a lot in the past few years . . .' Kisame thought to himself.

'Those Mugetsu employee benefits must be quite nice.' He frivolously thought before deciding to get more serious as the battle was going nowhere fast.

He fused with Samehada, turning into an actual wereshark and, much to Zabuza's surprise, he started sensing vaguely where Zabuza was.

The feeling was not clear though and he would lose the trace if he moved too fast but Kisame had his water sharks slowly encircle the area where he vaguely sensed Zabuza and then had then slowly tighten the encirclement until Zabuza was caught.

Quickly figuring out he busted, Zabuza made the choice to forcefully break through the sharks. By having all of the sharks encircle Zabuza's general position, Kisame had left himself open and Zabuza was intending on using that against him.

Itachi and Haku were still in the previous deadlock and Haku was loosing her ground as Itachi was starting to graze her with his counterattacks. There would be not cross interference.

Zabuza broke for it, slashing through the water sharks between him and Kisame while going in for the kill.

He slashed Kisame but, to his shock, it was just a water clone and, from bellow, the original was already firing his jutsu.

"Water Style: Super Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!"

A huge and powerful water shark barreled towards Zabuza and actually caught him causing significant injuries but not crippling one's due to his Mugetsu developed Chakra Armor.

Near the same time, Haku got hit square by Itachi's Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu and was sent flying with some gnarly burns, being saved from worse by her Chakra Armor, much like Zabuza before her.

Zabuza and Haku were now being pushed hard, just doing their best not be taken out. Itachi and Kisame were two of the Akatsuki's best and it showed.

All of Musgetsu's core members were instructed to not make use of some key abilities if not absolutely necessary as it might reveal too much of their hand to the world at large.

But, in case an important mission or one's life is at risk, they had authorization to use these abilities should they judge it necessary.

Until now, no one had needed to use them and Haku along with Zabuza did not want to be the ones known for caving first and having to rely on Shiki's personal power to win rather than their own.

In their mind, Shiki already gave out so much for what they perceived as so little that they should at least repay him by fighting for him with their own prowess.

Still, failure was even worse and they were being pushed hard . . .

'Zabuza-san.' Haku mentally communicated.

'It seems we have no choice." Zabuza communicated back as they both decided to unveil one of Mugetsu core members' trump cards to turn the tide of battle.

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