"Chihiro. Get Tazuna and Naruto out of here," Sugira says. "Naruto, leave me some clones."

"Like hell I'm running away and abandoning sensei, asshole!"

"That's not what I'm asking. We don't know what allies he has. Help Chihiro protect Tazuna, so I don't have to worry. Naruto... I don't demand much of you. But listen to me on this."

Naruto grumbles, but glances at Chihiro and Tazuna, then makes enough clones to fill the clearing multiple times over, and turns to start pulling Tazuna away.

And, while Naruto's clones distract Zabuza and his clone - 

Sugira starts to cast.

Illusion of Calm, to hide what he's doing.

Zabuza's going to hit him if he wants, so he sets aside his defensive spells.

Expeditious Retreat, to increase his speed.

A scroll for Blurred Movement, to at least give him a chance.

And then he turns into a Naruto, darts into the crowd even as he leaves his illusion behind, and he can't go far from it before it'll dismiss but he gets to the edge of the range then teleports his full five-foot range, past the clone, and he keeps sprinting - 

He readies himself to teleport again if the Zabuza clone looks like it's even getting close to him. His plan is to pull the same thing against Zabuza he did against the two enemies earlier - except instead of getting near the business end of that sword he plans to teleport multiple times to get behind Zabuza at an angle (this time casting True Strike as he moves), and then stab - this time with Shocking Grasp. Not much damage against a jounin, but either it'll force Zabuza to let go, or Sugira will be able to dance around and keep stabbing him if he doesn't.

The suffusion of shadow clones seems to be doing an adequate job of distracting Zabuza's clone, who's swinging his sword in wide arcs to clear them out.

Zabuza dodges Sugira's first strike, is clipped by the second, has to break his connection to the water prison to evade the third. He spins, goes to attack Sugira-

-but his strike is blocked by Kakashi, dripping wet but free again.

And Sugira is going to back the hell off.

Probably a wise move, as the two jounin begin trading ninjutsu of increasing size, Kakashi copying Zabuza's movements perfectly. After two enormous dragons made of water collide with each other, Zabuza seems to stop moving while Kakashi continues to cast. An explosion of water knocks Zabuza up and back on to land, crashing against a tree.

Kakashi moves in for the kill, but before he can get there, a pair of senbon seem to sprout out of Zabuza's neck. A slender figure in a plain white mask bearing the mark of Kirigakure hops out of concealment nearby. "So ends Momochi Zabuza," they say. "You have my thanks for weakening him."

"First question: can I tell the boss and Chihiro to get back here," one of the few remaining Naruto clones ask. "Second question: what the fuck mask dude how'd you just kill someone powerful like Zabuza like that - "

"Zabuza was already down. A very determined duck probably could've finished him," Sugira says, eyes narrowed at the masked man. Who both didn't help earlier and for some reason stopped Kakashi's kill... A desire for the body to be a certain way? A misdirection? A personal vendetta? "Who are you?" he asks.

Kakashi verifies Zabuza's death by checking his pulse. Finding it lacking, he straightens and backs away. "They can come back. He's a hunter-nin of Kiri."

     "Indeed. I have been tracking Momochi Zabuza for some time. Konoha's assistance in this matter will be remembered." The stranger flickers over to Zabuza and picks up the body. "I must dispose of the body. Farewell." With that, they disappear.

"...Right." Naruto's voice is skeptical. Still, the clone dismisses.

A few stick around, just in case they need to talk more.

Sugira drags a hand down his face. "Any injuries?" he asks, evaluating himself. He's mostly sore and exhausted... More of a headache than actual physical tiredness, though, from pushing himself arcana-wise.

"I'll live. You might have to carry me to the village," he says. Then he collapses.

His teacher's an idiot.

He walks up to Kakashi and starts checking his pulse as another Naruto clone dismisses, then turns to the clones: "Naruto, how long can you maintain three clones, one transformed? I don't have a stretcher or anything in my medical pack, so your clones carrying him's going to be best."

"Long enough, but boss should make them fresh."

"Right. Then come help me get him situated..."

He tends to Kakashi while they wait for the others, thinking - they'll need a way to prevent any more ambushes. A spread of Naruto clones in a moving circle around them's probably the best way to do that... He's not good enough at illusions to make it look like they're all somewhere they're not, which he should probably address... But Naruto can make decoy teams... And it wouldn't hurt to have Naruto clones sprint ahead to make sure it's safe at Tazuna's house, and to alert Tazuna's family to the situation...

He updates Chihiro and Naruto thoroughly when they arrive, and runs his plan - have Naruto clones carry Kakashi, a medium number of clones as scouts around and ahead of them, and at least two decoy teams. He does note he thinks it's unlikely they'll be attacked again before they get to Tazuna's house, but these are precautions they should've been taking in the first place.

Chakra exhaustion, is Chihiro's diagnosis. He will likely be asleep for a minimum of sixteen hours, and will not recover fully for almost a week. Using so many clones might attract more attention than they are prepared to deal with, however.

And Naruto's bad at stealth...

He still wants them to have the single far forward scout, but the others are less important, since a jounin-level opponent could get around Naruto easily. What's her evaluation on duplicates of the team? He's uncertain how easy different opponents would find it to see through that, and doesn't think it'll draw undue attention -

Their destination is known and from this point, there are no alternate routes. Decoys are unlikely to draw fire and they would be better served saving the chakra for defense.

Right. Thanks.

He updates his plan with that input. Notes to himself that he's out of practice and jumpy. Finished securing Kakashi, and gets them moving.

They get to the village safely and uneventfully. It's definitely seen better days. Tazuna says they can stay at his home. His daughter is there, and she assists in getting Kakashi shifted onto a bed.

Kakashi doesn't wake until the next morning.

There's a Naruto in the room with him. "Sensei! You're awake!" he shouts.