Zabuza Momochi

1. 1
   The boy who became a demonDebut Arc · Land of Waves

   A hundred lives, before the Academy

   In the Bloody Mist era, Zabuza — not yet a student — kills over a hundred of that year's graduating class. The rite is discontinued after him, and the world names him a demon.

2. 2
   The Seven Swordsmen

   Master of the Silent Killing

   Zabuza rises into the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Kirigakure's elite blade corps. He becomes a master of the Silent Killing — the art of striking unseen and unheard.

3. 3
   The failed coup

   Cast out of the Mist

   Zabuza moves against the Fourth Mizukage, intent on overthrowing him. The coup fails. Branded a traitor, he leaves Kirigakure a missing-nin, taking his blade and little else.

4. 4
   Haku, the tool he raised

   A weapon he refused to love

   Zabuza takes in the orphaned Haku and trains him, telling himself — and the boy — that Haku is a tool, to be used and discarded. He believes it. He keeps believing it for a long time.

5. 5
   Land of Waves

   Against Kakashi and Team 7

   Hired to kill the bridge-builder Tazuna, Zabuza clashes with Kakashi Hatake and Team 7. His mist and his blade make the encounter the moment Team 7 learns what the shinobi world really is.

6. 6
   Tears, and a death beside Haku

   The demon weeps

   Haku dies shielding Zabuza, and Naruto's words about that devotion finally break him open. Weeping, Zabuza cuts down the traitor Gatō with a kunai in his teeth, and dies in the snow at Haku's side.

Zabuza fought the way the Hidden Mist taught its assassins to fight — from inside a fog, where an enemy could not see the blade coming. He was a master of Water Release and of the Silent Killing, and he carried Kubikiribōchō, an executioner's sword large enough to behead with a single swing. More than any technique, what he projected was menace: a killing intent so heavy it took the shape of a demon at his back.

Play today's Narutodle or browse past answers.

• Who is Zabuza Momochi?+

  Zabuza Momochi is a missing-nin of Kirigakure and a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Feared as the Demon of the Hidden Mist, he was the first major antagonist of the series, faced by Team 7 in the Land of Waves.
• Why is Zabuza called the Demon of the Hidden Mist?+

  Zabuza earned the name as a child. Before he was even enrolled in the Academy, he killed over a hundred of that year's graduating students — an act so brutal that Kirigakure discontinued the graduation rite, and called him a demon ever after.
• What is Zabuza's sword?+

  Zabuza wields Kubikiribōchō, the Executioner's Blade — one of the seven legendary swords of the Hidden Mist. The massive blade can repair any damage to itself by drawing on the iron in the blood it has spilled.
• What was Zabuza's relationship with Haku?+

  Zabuza took in the orphaned Haku and raised him, telling himself the boy was only a tool to be used and discarded. In truth he came to care deeply for Haku, and admitted it — weeping — only after Haku had died protecting him.
• How did Zabuza die?+

  After Haku died shielding him, and Naruto's words broke through his hardness, Zabuza turned on the businessman Gatō who had betrayed them. He cut his way through Gatō's thugs with a kunai held in his teeth, killed Gatō, and died of his wounds in the snow beside Haku.
• Has Zabuza been a Narutodle answer?+

  Zabuza is in the daily answer pool of 210 characters. The Previous Narutodle Appearances list on this page shows every date he was the Classic answer, each linking to a replayable archive puzzle.
• How do you guess Zabuza in Narutodle?+

  Zabuza's Kirigakure village is uncommon and narrows the board, and his Seven Swordsmen attribute is a rare signal. His Momochi clan is rare, and his Nature column pairs Water with Earth.