Zabuza Momochi

Zabuza Momochi (桃地再不斬, Momochi Zabuza), known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist (霧隠れの鬼人, Kirigakure no Kijin), was a missing-nin from Kirigakure, a member of the Seven Mist Ninja Swordsmen, and the first main antagonist of the series. Zabuza died in Episode 19 “The Demon in the Snow” (ザブザ雪に散る…, Zabuza Yuki ni Chiru…)” of the original Naruto anime killed by Gaito’s men alongside his former partner Haku.

History

Due to his reputation, Zabuza is known by the nickname the Demon Hidden in the Mist (霧隠れの鬼人, Kirigakure no Kijin). This title is due to the fact that he wiped out an entire generation of academy students who were going to graduate from the Village that year without prior training, changing the customs and examination used for the graduation of students in the Hidden Mist Village, since until then, they had to kill all their classmates in death matches.

Zabuza would eventually become one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, where he acquired his Kubikiribōchō sword, which he enjoyed sharpening as long as possible. He was also a member of Kirigakure’s ANBU division, becoming the top specialist in tracking, silent assassination and espionage. Later, Zabuza found a boy named Haku wandering the countryside, and offered to take him as his tool.

Haku accepted and became loyal to Zabuza, learning from Zabuza and protecting him whenever necessary. Zabuza planned a coup d’état to the Water Country, attempting to assassinate the Feudal Lord and the Mizukage (who was possibly Yagura), the bearer of the 3-tailed Bijuu. The assassination failed, forcing Zabuza and his subordinates to leave the country. As revenge, the Hidden Village of Mist sent ANBU personnel to kill Zabuza and his accomplices. Hoping to gain the funds for a second strike, Zabuza became a contract killer.

Part. 1

Land of the Waves

Zabuza is hired by Cat to kill the bridge builder Tazuna. When the two Chūnin are defeated by Team 7, Zabuza says that he will kill Tazuna himself. When he follows him, Zabuza learns that Tazuna is being protected by Kakashi Hatake and his students. Wanting to prove his ability, Zabuza challenges Kakashi to a battle, and Kakashi accepts by revealing his Sharingan.

Shortly after the battle begins, Zabuza catches Kakashi off guard and traps him with his water prison technique. Needing to stay by Kakashi’s side to keep him imprisoned, Zabuza creates a copy of the water to kill Tazuna and the rest of Kakashi’s team, believing it would be an easy thing to do. Naruto, however, devises a good plan to get to Zabuza disguised as a Devil Wind Shuriken, forcing Zabuza to release Kakashi.

After this, Kakashi and Zabuza continue their battle, although Kakashi’s Sharingan gives him an advantage. He quickly copies and performs the Water Dragon water technique to nullify the one launched by Zabuza and finally with the great waterfall technique he defeats Zabuza, but at the last moment Haku appears disguised as Anbu and takes him away saving his life.

A week later, Zabuza and Haku appear before Team 7 for a rematch. While Haku fights Naruto and Sasuke, Zabuza fights Kakashi. After seeing how the Sharingan works, Zabuza devises a strategy against him, covering the area in a thick fog to prevent visibility and nullify the Sharingan. In doing so, Zabuza severely damages Kakashi with his sword.Kakashi, however, allowed him to be able to attack him, with his Ninken, who use their advanced sense of smell to sniff out the blood that was now on Zabuza’s sword to follow and thus trap Zabuza. With Zabuza unable to fight, Kakashi prepares to kill Zabuza with his Lightning Cutter, and attacks him.

Before he reached his target, Haku stands in front of Zabuza as a human shield and absorbs the full force of the attack, fulfilling his promise to be a tool for his master by dying instantly. Freed as a result of Haku’s intervention, Zabuza begins his attack to kill Kakashi although Kakashi is able to avoid it. Surprised that Kakashi could dodge it, Zabuza gives Kakashi the opportunity to stab him in both arms, rendering them useless. At that moment, Gatō comes to the conclusion that Zabuza is costing him too much and revokes his agreement so he decides to finish Zabuza off.

Having no reason to kill Tazuna, Zabuza ends his battle with Kakashi, though Naruto is not satisfied by this. Angered that Haku died for Zabuza while Zabuza had shown no sign of remorse, Zabuza, realizing how important he was to Haku and how much he loved him, regrets everything that happened to Haku. Zabuza has a great rivalry with Kakashi.

Part. 2

Zabuza is revived by Kabuto, along with other famous ninja through the Impure Resuscitation Jutsu, to prepare for war. When Zabuza along with the other revived ninja go towards the battlefield, he starts talking to Haku stating that he does not like to fight for anyone who takes advantage of a person’s death. When his group was attacked by the Surprise Attack Division, Haku used an ice dome to protect them. Zabuza pointed out that he had no need to do so, seeing the other members regenerating, mentioning that not only did they bring them back, that it is impossible to kill them.

Later, he attacks the members of the division which were pulled from Sai’s birds, but was stopped by Kakashi and there they started talking remembering the good times until Kabuto decided to take away the personality of his puppets. As that happened Zabuza told Kakashi to stop him and then some kind of demon formed behind him. Kakashi and the others retreat starting the battle against the ninjas resurrected by Kabuto, after a small lapse of time Gari and Pakura summon some tombs which had the bodies of the past generation of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, at that moment Zabuza’s sword somehow returns to his possession.

Then being all these powerful swordsmen who had their weapons back after being summoned by Mangetsu, they started to attack the alliance so Zabuza used his Jutsu: Concealment in the Mist to make it harder for his opponents to counterattack being a great massacre. When Zabuza was attacking several ninja so that his sword began to regenerate using the blood of his enemies, Kakashi attacked the ninja but Haku willingly received the attack.

Then Zabuza seeing that Kakashi’s hand was stuck in the disciple’s body attacked with his sword cutting Haku in half and hurting Kakashi a little, during their fight Zabuza was trapped by Ensui’s shadow and then sealed in Maki’s cloth causing him to be trapped and could not be summoned again. Eventually his soul was returned to the world of the dead by the Impure Resurrection Cancel and thus his sword Kubikiribōchō would remain in Kakashi’s hands.

Legacy

After Zabuza’s death, the ninja of Kirigakure began to associate him with the members of Team 7. Kisame Hoshigaki references Zabuza when he met Kakashi, while the Fifth Mizukage, Ao and Chōjūrō believe that Sasuke was the one who defeated him, and also Haku.

After Zabuza’s death, Kirigakure ninja began to associate him with the members of Team 7. Kisame Hoshigaki references Zabuza when he met Kakashi, while the Fifth Mizukage, Ao and Chōjūrō believe that Sasuke was the one who defeated him, and also Haku.

Appearance

Zabuza was a tall and very muscular man, dark, short spiky black hair, semi-slit brown eyes. He was used to wearing bandages as a mask. Under his mask, he had relatively narrow jaws and sharp teeth, just like his fellow swordsmen. He wore his headband and before his defection from Kirigakure, he wore his standard uniform and vest. After his defection and during his first appearance, he was seen bare-chested, with his chest only covered by a sash to which he attaches his Decapitation Knife, wearing baggy pants with the typical Kirigakure stripe pattern and elbow-length wrist warmers matched with leg warmers.

During his second appearance, he wore an outfit similar to the one that his former partner Kisame Hoshigaki wore under his Akatsuki cloak: a black sleeveless shirt with matching pants, and once again, the Kirigakure striped wrist and leg warmers. He looked quite intimidating.

Personality

Zabuza was initially portrayed as an aggressive, arrogant, cruel, cold and ambitious being, willing to stoop to becoming a mere thug for Gatō in order to obtain enough funds to initiate a second coup against the Mizukage, and kill anyone who stands in his way, including Gatō once he has sufficient funds. His reputation for cruel and ruthlessness that began in his childhood, when he had to put to death every fellow candidate at Kirigakure Academy under the Fourth Mizukage’s regime, earning him the nickname “The Demon Hidden in the Mist” (霧隠れ の 鬼 人, Kirigakure no Kijin).

He willingly used his own men as pawns to fulfill his ambitions; he looked at Haku as an effective tool to be discarded when he had no use to exploit, though unlike future villains, he was blunt about the purpose that his recruits will be needed to fulfill his goal, he did not manipulate them, but intended to be kind to inspire loyalty in those he recruited.

He was an attentive adversary who was able to analyze his opponent’s techniques after seeing them once, but becomes overconfident if he sees the technique as useless. In his final moments, it is revealed that he cared deeply for Haku, and after being redeemed by Naruto, he ultimately sacrifices his life to kill Gatō, and dies wishing he could join Haku in the afterlife. However, he seems to react to hearing about him, telling them to shut up.

Kakashi has also pointed out that Zabuza had hesitated for a moment before the idea of breaking through Haku to get to Kakashi during their battle on the bridge, the lack of hesitation in the Fourth Shinobi World War let Kakashi know that Zabuza’s control was completely different.

He also demonstrated a sense of honor, as seen after being revived, expressing his displeasure with the idea of working for anyone who would stoop so low as to use the dead as his tools. His sense of honor was further amplified when he declared to Kakashi to stop him and Haku from causing harm.

Abilities

The Water Element and the sword were Zabuza’s most distinctive characteristics during fights, preferring more direct attacks rather than deception, as well as having Taijutsu skills and Kenjutsu skills. Despite Zabuza’s aggressive nature, he had proven to be a skilled ninja with enough ability to kill opponents through zero visibility, a testament to his talent being shown when a water clone fought Team 7, considering Naruto had completely surrounded him with shadow clones, only to swing the sword a couple of times to defeat them all, an impressive feat considering a water clone only has a tenth of the original body’s ability.

Chakra Nature Transformation

Zabuza possessed the Water type chakra nature, being more than adept with it, due to it being hidden in mist. Zabuza seemed to prefer water manipulation techniques, and has shown great skill with these. He was especially apt at the technique of concealment in the mist being called: “The demon hidden in the Mist” thanks to this one. His skill was considered unparalleled, and he had mastered it to such an extent, that Zabuza could strike his opponents without needing to see, simply by focusing on any slight sound made by him.

This ability was later used in the Fourth Ninja War, where he was able to slaughter several ninjas without being seen. He also created water clones to act as doubles in his fights, and launched powerful torrents of water in the form of dragons and giant missiles at his opponents.

Kenjutsu

During his time as a Kirigakure ninja, Zabuza was one of the Seven Mist Ninja Swordsmen, a powerful group of ninja who employed special, massive swords in battle. Even after defecting from the village, Zabuza retained his weapon: Decapitating Knife, a large broadsword whose shape was intended to decapitate enemies in battle. He was a master in its use, displaying great swordsmanship, being able to defeat numerous enemies, and claiming that the sword “never cut a second time”, implying to have killed a large number of people with a single attack.

The weight of the weapon did not seem slow, as he could employ it in combat for long periods of time without visible strain on himself and without great fatigue with it, something his former student, Suigetsu Hōzuki, has not yet achieved.