Zabuza Momochi

Zabuza Momochi (桃地再不斬, Momochi Zabuza) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto.

Description

Template:Spoiler Zabuza is a former ANBU member and Missing-nin from Kirigakure and an extremely powerful water jutsu user. Being a hidden mist-ninja, most of his jutsu are water-oriented. Zabuza is depicted as a character who is hard nosed, stubborn, and ambitious, so ambitious in fact that he had tried to kill the Mizukage and attempted a coup d'état on the Land of Water, but failed and intended to finance another one by working as an assassin. He is known as the "Demon of the Hidden Mist" (霧隠れの鬼人, "Kirigakure no Kijin") since he once single-handedly killed all of the students in the village's ninja academy as a young, untrained boy. (This event also marked the end of Kirigakure's custom of pitting students against one another in battles to the death.) Zabuza is of Jonin level and, as a member of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist (霧の忍刀七人衆, "Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu"), he wields a large Zanbatō.

Wave Country arc

Hired by Gato to assassinate Tazuna, he is forced to deal with Team 7, who have been assigned to protect Tazuna. During their first encounter, he manages to overpower Kakashi Hatake and trap him within his Water Prison Technique, and would have emerged victorious had it not been for a clever tactic deployed by Naruto Uzumaki. After Kakashi uses Zabuza's most powerful jutsu, Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique, against him, Zabuza's life is narrowly saved by his servant Haku. This young man poses as a hunter-nin to "kill" Zabuza and take his unconscious body away, ostensibly to assure that the secrets it held would not be uncovered by rival ninja clans.

Several years prior to his confrontation with Naruto's group, Zabuza had met the young and lonely Haku on the cold streets and taken him under his wing. In exchange, the boy gave a promise of complete loyalty. In a battle taking place on what is later to be named the "Great Naruto Bridge", Haku honors his promise by sacrificing his own life to save Zabuza, jumping in between him and Kakashi's Raikiri (Lightning Cut) attack. At first, Zabuza appears to think nothing of Haku's act, claiming that he was merely a tool, as are all shinobi. However, as an incredulous and outraged Naruto scolds him for his indifference, he finally admits to having cared for Haku. Shedding tears, he declares that even the most cold-hearted ninja is still human, and thus possesses feelings regardless of how much effort he or she puts into suppressing and concealing them.

File:MomochiZabuza.JPG

Zabuza unmasked (also one of the scenes with him mistakenly given eyebrows).

After being wounded in both arms, Zabuza is confronted and ridiculed by Gato, who appears along with a mob to finish off both the assassin and those he failed to eliminate. Carrying Naruto's kunai in his mouth, Zabuza literally slices his way through the rank and file and finally kills Gato, but is impaled by six different weapons in the process. (In the manga, Zabuza kills him by decapitation with the kunai. In the anime, Gato is slashed and stabbed several times in the chest, and finally thrown off the bridge.) Before dying, Zabuza asks Kakashi to bury him alongside Haku, to which Kakashi complies.

Trivia

• Zabuza, when translated figuratively from the Kanji in his name means "never cuts twice", a fitting name given that he kills most of his opponents with one strike of his knife techniques.
• Zabuza's hobby is sharpening his blades, and his favorite word is "control".
• Apparently, Zabuza does not have any eyebrows. Naruto even addresses him as an "eyebrowless freak" on at least two occasions. While this is certainly held true in the original manga, several scenes in the anime mistakenly show Zabuza with eyebrows.
• As declared by Kakashi, Zabuza was the first opponent to have seen his Sharingan twice before his demise.
• Zabuza considered Naruto to be his last opponent, rather than Kakashi. However, this last battle was a war of words rather than a physical battle.
• Zabuza graduated from the Ninja Academy at the age of nine; his age when he had become a Chunin is unknown. He has completed 4 D-rank, 67 C-rank, 79 B-rank, 29 A-rank and 12 S-rank missions.
• Zabuza is still popular today, even after his very early death in the series. This may be because of his role as Naruto's first dangerous enemy, and the idea that the main character didn't beat him physically, but rather emotionally and mentally.

Zabuza bears a striking resemblance to Shishio Makoto of the Rurouni Kenshin series. Similarities include fighting style(both fight with swords for most of their time seen), ambition(both tried to take over their homeland at some point in their life), and having their faces concealed by bandages(with the color to match).