Naruto: Reborn With An AI Chip

After that sharp verbal exchange, a heavy silence settled over the battlefield—an eerie calm that everyone instinctively understood as the prelude to a storm.

Renjiro kept his Observation Haki active—his "slow-motion sight"—but the strain was beginning to show.

A pounding headache crept into his temples. The signs were clear—he was nearing his mental limit. He had already been using the ability for far too long.

Yet Renjiro didn't dare stop. Out of the two dozen shinobi gathered here, he was the only one capable of detecting Zabuza's silent assassinations. If he dropped his guard now, they'd all be lambs to the slaughter.

Thankfully, Zabuza wasn't aware of Renjiro's near-exhausted mental state—otherwise, he would have remained hidden in the fog, stalling until Renjiro was completely drained.

But fortunately for them, Zabuza didn't make him wait long.

"Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

In the next moment, Zabuza's low and grim voice echoed through the surrounding fog once again.

"Another Hidden Mist Jutsu?" Renjiro muttered, puzzled for a moment.

The battlefield was already shrouded in a suffocating mist—so thick they could barely see their own hands. Could it possibly get any worse?

"Could it be—" Then the realization struck Renjiro, and his face turned pale.

Zabuza wasn't just trying to make the mist denser—he was saturating it with his chakra. By embedding his chakra into the fog, he effectively turned the entire environment into an extension of his senses, granting himself total spatial awareness while remaining unseen.

There was nothing Renjiro could do to counter that. He wasn't a Jonin—he didn't have the chakra reserves to disperse the mist like Kakashi did in the anime.

His only option was to focus even harder, heightening his senses, examining every shift in the air, every flicker in the fog, every irregular ripple.

"Where would he attack from? Left? Right? Or behind?!"

Renjiro ran through every possibility, putting himself in Zabuza's shoes. If he were Zabuza, where would he strike?

But he didn't expect this—Zabuza came from the front, and his target—was Renjiro himself.

"Got you!"

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three shuriken sliced through the air, curving toward Renjiro like heat-seeking missiles.

"He chose me?!" Renjiro's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't expected to become Zabuza's first target.

Of course—Zabuza had read the situation perfectly.

Whether it was his battlefield awareness or high intelligence, Zabuza had chosen the right target. Renjiro was the keystone holding this makeshift unit together—Zabuza knew that as long as Renjiro was removed, the core would fall, and the rest would collapse naturally.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

With Observation Haki guiding his movements, Renjiro twisted his blade and deflected all three shuriken. But just as he regained his footing, a flicker of motion caught his eye.

Zabuza had already circled around!

Without thinking, Renjiro hurled two kunai in that direction.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Zabuza, who had anticipated everything—hadn't anticipated this.

The kunai came too fast. He barely dodged; one of them made a shallow cut across his neck.

"Such terrifying reflexes…" Zabuza muttered in shock and disbelief as he retreated into the mist, with blood trickling down from his neck.

"It's not sensory... He's not detecting me in advance. He's just reacting—his reaction speed borders on superhuman. In that split second of visibility, he reads the threat and counters. That's a gift…"

Zabuza was certain—Renjiro hadn't sensed him beforehand. He wasn't using a conventional sensory technique. That meant all of his reactions came in the moment, the instant he spotted the threat.

That wasn't just instinct, that was talent, freakish, terrifying talent.

"But it ends here!"

Zabuza launched his next assault—once again, heading straight for Renjiro.

"Persistent bastard!" Renjiro growled.

Clangg! Clangg!

With a swift move, he raised his blade and clashed it against Zabuza's. Sparks flew as kunai and sword collided again and again.

"Hyper-reactive reflexes… I've never fought someone like you..." Zabuza said mid-duel, his voice filled with excitement and bloodlust.

The comment caught Renjiro off guard. His grip faltered, as he thought: "I didn't expect him to have such high IQ at this age."

While it wasn't exactly reflexes in the traditional sense, his Observation Haki Mode could easily be mistaken for hyper-reaction. In some ways, it wasn't completely wrong—but it was dangerously close to the truth.

Observation Haki wasn't a direct reflex enhancer, but the effect was strikingly similar.

"You've got a rare gift." Zabuza said with a cold smile. Then his voice turned sharp:

"What a shame, really. That gift of yours? You're barely tapping into it. And it's wasted on you. Because you already lost... the moment you met me."

Renjiro clenched his jaw in frustration.

He didn't believe in fate. Fate couldn't dictate the life of someone like him—not someone who had transmigrated into this world.

That alone was already a break from destiny.

Just by coming to the Shinobi World, he had already stepped beyond fate's reach.

"I already know about your super reflexes." Zabuza said with a mocking smile: "I might've hesitated before. But now? It's over."

Renjiro sneered and said: "Talk all you want. I've already figured out your identity."

"Oh? Is that so?" Zabuza replied, his tone was dripping with disbelief.

"You're just a butcher who slaughtered his classmates. The Demon of the Mist." Renjiro said flatly with a mocking smile.

There was a pause. Renjiro felt the air temperature drop by several degrees.

Zabuza's next words came out cold, filled with killing intent: "…Good. When you reach Hell, tell them Zabuza sent you."

Clangg! Bang!

With a snarl, Zabuza's attacks turned wild and furious. The pressure forced Renjiro to abandon formal swordplay and switch to hand-to-hand combat—faster, tighter, more instinctive.

"Did I hit a nerve? Is the Demon of the Mist really so easy to rattle?" Renjiro thought. To him, Zabuza had left himself open, too easily provoked by a few choice words.

Just for a moment, Renjiro hesitated—but only for a heartbeat. Opportunity overrode doubt. He surged forward and slashed his blade at Zabuza with all his strength.

Whoosh!

A clean strike. Zabuza was cleaved clean in half.

"…Got him?"

"Too easy—" Renjiro's instincts screamed. Something was wrong.

"You fell for it, rookie!" Zabuza's cold voice came from behind.

A second Zabuza emerged from the mist, pressing a kunai against Renjiro's neck. The one he'd just sliced melted into droplets and splashed to the ground.

Water Clone Jutsu!

"Renjiro!"

"You bastard!"

Meri and Maemon shouted in horror, their faces turned pale. The rest of the squad tensed, drawing their weapons—but no one dared move, Renjiro was held hostage.

Zabuza chuckled with a sneer: "Popular little guy, huh? Guess your death's gonna break a lot of hearts."

Despite being held at knifepoint, Renjiro's expression didn't change: "Water Clone Jutsu…"

"Not bad." Zabuza smirked, sounding almost pleased.

"That incident you brought up? Everyone knows it. You thought that would shake me? Please. You don't earn the title 'Demon' by being sentimental."

Renjiro sighed and said: "Truly worthy of the title... Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist."

"Demon, huh?" Zabuza muttered something under his breath, then shook it off.

"You've got guts, kid. Ever think about defecting to the Mist?"

That caught Renjiro off guard.

Zabuza had seen enough to recognize raw potential. Reflexes like that? With proper training, Renjiro could become a monster in his own right. And Zabuza wanted to see it—up close.

But Renjiro's reply came sharp, filled with resolve and mockery: "In your dreams."

Zabuza's eyes darkened as he shook his head. In a voice filled with quiet pity, he said:

"It's a pity to kill you here."

With a cruel grin, he tightened his grip on the kunai.

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Author's Note:

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