Zabuza Momochi

was a missing-nin from Kirigakure, and the first major antagonist of the series.

Background
In the past, Kirigakure had the practice of pitting Ninja Academy graduates against each other in a battle to the death for a final exam. After Zabuza, not yet a student himself, killed all one hundred of that year's students, the practice was discontinued. Zabuza would thereafter be known as the "Demon of the Hidden Mist". His fame grew over the years, as he became both an ANBU and a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. He also killed the Konohagakure ninja Kumade Toriichi. At some point he discovered Haku, a child with a special kekkei genkai and began training him to be the ultimate weapon. In time he attempted to kill the Mizukage in a failed coup d'état, and subsequently fled with Haku and some other followers, such as the Demon Brothers.

The anime adds Zabuza to scenes depicting the Kaguya clan's history. When the Kaguya attacked Kirigakure, Zabuza did not help in the village's defense. He and Haku later ran into Kimimaro. Although Haku wanted to talk to the boy, Zabuza forced him to leave Kimimaro alone and keep moving.

Personality
Zabuza was initially portrayed as aggressive, arrogant, cruel, cold and ambitious, willing to become Gatō's thug to gain enough funds to start a second coup d'et on the Mizukage, and kill anyone who stands in his path. He willingly uses his own men and others as pawns to fulfill his ambitions, as he raised Haku to be an efficient tool to be discarded when he had no use to exploit; although unlike future villains, he was blunt about the purpose that his recruits were needed for, not the manipulation of pretending to be kind to inspire loyalty. He is an observant adversary who is able to analyze his opponent's techniques after seeing it once, but becomes overconfident if he sees the technique as useless. In his last moments, it is revealed that he cared for Haku, and after being convinced by Naruto Uzumaki, he sacrifices his life to kill Gatō, and dies wishing he could join Haku in the afterlife.

Appearance
Zabuza wore bandages like a mask covering his nose, mouth and ears. Without his mask, it was visible that he had a relatively narrow jawline. Like the rest of Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Zabuza has sharp teeth. He also has short black hair and brown eyes. In some scenes, he is shown to not have eyebrows. Zabuza was shown wearing Kirigakure's vest (prior to his defection) and the headband (which he still does). During his first attempt at Tazuna's life, he was bare-chested, but the second attempt he changes to a black sleeveless shirt. He also wears striped armbands that extends all the way to his elbows, just like Kisame Hoshigaki. Zabuza is also shown to be very tall and muscular.

Abilities
A water-user and a sword-user, Zabuza was a very vicious battler, preferring more direct attacks rather than deception, along with strong taijutsu skills. Even as a child who had yet to begin in the Academy, he had enough prowess to kill 100 trained students single handedly. However, despite Zabuza's aggressive nature, he had been shown to be a crafty ninja with enough skill to kill opponents through zero visibility, capable of misdirecting his opponent. A testimony to his skill is shown when a water clone of his fought team 7, considering Naruto had it completely surrounded with several shadow clones, the clone needed only to swing it's sword a few times to beat them all, an impressive feat considering a water clone only has one tenth of the originals skill.

Kenjutsu
His signature weapon was the Decapitating Carving Knife, an oversized broad sword. The sheer size of this blade demonstrated great physical strength on Zabuza's part. Apart from handling it very skillfully, Zabuza could also throw it spinning at several enemies. He threw it with enough power to lodge itself into a hard tree trunk. He also wielded a curved kunai (which in the anime is Kirigakure's variation of the standard kunai) designed for thrusting and stabbing instead of slicing.

Nature Transformation
Likely, in part, due to him being from the Hidden Mist, Zabuza seemed to prefer water manipulation techniques, and had been shown to have great skill in them. He was especially adept at the Hidden Mist Technique, mostly because it allowed him to show his true forte: Silent Killing. His skill at it was considered unrivaled, and he had mastered it to such an extent that Zabuza could strike his opponents without the need of sight, simply by focusing on any slight sounds made by the opponent. He also creates water clones to act as doubles for his assaults, and launches powerful torrents of water in the forms of dragon missiles and giant waterfalls at his opponents.

Land of Waves Arc
In order to gain funds for a second coup d'etat, Zabuza became a mercenary assassin for hire. As one of his jobs, he was hired by Gatō to kill a bridge builder named Tazuna. When the Demon Brothers were sent to eliminate Tazuna and failed, Zabuza decided to take care of him personally. Upon tracking down his target, Zabuza found that Tazuna was being protected by Kakashi Hatake and his students. Wanting to test his ability, Zabuza challenged Kakashi to a battle, and Kakashi complied by revealing his Sharingan.

Soon after the battle began, Zabuza managed to catch Kakashi off guard, and trapped him with his Water Prison Technique. Needing to stay with Kakashi to keep him imprisoned, Zabuza sent a water clone to kill Tazuna and the rest of Kakashi's team, believing it to be a simple matter. Naruto Uzumaki, however, managed to sneak up on Zabuza, forcing Zabuza to release Kakashi. Freed, Kakashi and Zabuza resumed their battle, though Kakashi's Sharingan quickly gave him the upper hand. Copying Zabuza's Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique before he could use it, Kakashi managed to defeat Zabuza.

Before Zabuza could be killed by Kakashi, however, Haku appeared, disguised as a hunter-nin, and threw two needles into Zabuza's neck, apparently killing him. Taking Zabuza's body away, under the guise of needing to destroy it, Haku revived Zabuza, the needles having been used to paralyze him. Although Zabuza's life had been saved, he needed a week to recover, and he planned to kill Tazuna and Kakashi then.

A week later, Zabuza and Haku appeared before Team 7 for a rematch. As Haku dealt with Kakashi's students, Zabuza dealt with Kakashi. Having been told how the Sharingan worked by Haku, Zabuza blanketed the area in a thick mist, to avoid falling prey to the Sharingan's influence. In doing so, Zabuza was able to slash Kakashi with his sword, greatly damaging his opponent. Kakashi, however, allowed himself to be attacked, and summoned his ninken to sniff out the blood, now on Zabuza's sword, to track and pin him down.

With Zabuza unable to fight back, Kakashi prepared to kill Zabuza with his Lightning Cutter, and charged at Zabuza. Before the Lightning Cutter could meet its mark, however, Haku appeared as a human shield, and took the full force of the attack, fulfilling his promise of being a tool for his master. Freed as a result of Haku's intervention, and not willing to allow the opening Haku had created to go to waste, Zabuza tried to slash through Haku's body to kill Kakashi, though Kakashi was able to avoid it and disable Zabuza.

With Zabuza no longer able to battle, Gatō arrived, and revoked their agreement so that he could have his own henchmen kill Tazuna instead. No longer having a reason to kill Tazuna, Zabuza ended his battle with Kakashi, although Naruto was not satisfied by this. Angered that Haku died for Zabuza, while Zabuza had shown no signs of remorse, Naruto lectured him on the feelings Haku had for him, and the loyalty he felt towards Zabuza.

Brought to tears by Naruto's words, Zabuza revealed that he really did care about Haku, and valued him higher than a simple tool. Wanting to repent for what he had done, Zabuza took one of Naruto's kunai, and charged through Gatō's men to get to Gatō, being stabbed multiple times along the way. Upon reaching Gatō, Zabuza killed him, and collapsed due to his injuries. As Gatō's men fled, Zabuza asked Kakashi if he could be brought to Haku, to which Kakashi complied. Being by Haku's side in death, as Haku was by his in life, Zabuza wished that he could go to the same place as Haku. Kakashi believed that they would be able to go to that place together. Team 7 buried them next to each other, with the Decapitating Carving Knife stabbed into the ground.

Legacy
Following Zabuza's death, Kirigakure ninja began associating him with members of Team 7; Kisame Hoshigaki referenced Zabuza when he first met Kakashi, while the Fifth Mizukage and Chōjūrō believe Sasuke was the one who defeated him and Haku.

Zabuza's sword is taken from his grave site in Part II by Suigetsu Hōzuki (or Tenzen Daikoku in the anime, but then retrieved by Suigetsu later).

Trivia

 * Zabuza's surname, "Momochi", might be from the famous ninja, Momochi Sandayu.
 * Zabuza's first name means "never cut twice" in Japanese, while his surname, "Momochi", means "peach earth" in Japanese.
 * Despite his short appearance in the series, Zabuza was still very popular in the character popularity polls.
 * In some scenes of the anime, Zabuza did not have any eyebrows. He was called eyebrowless by Naruto several times, even giving him the Nicknames 'no-brows' or 'eyebrowless freak'.
 * Zabuza made a cameo appearance in a omake Naruto Shippūden episode, appearing on a lantern.
 * According to the Naruto databook:
 * Zabuza has completed 191 official missions in total: 4 D-rank, 67 C-rank, 79 B-rank, 29 A-rank, 12 S-rank.

Quotes

 * "When I was your age, my hands were already soaked in blood..."
 * "A shuriken? You'll never touch me with that!"
 * (To Kakashi) "All you're doing is copying me, like a monkey! You can't beat me with cheap tricks!!"
 * (To Kakashi) " When I'm finished with you, you'll never open that monkey mouth again!"
 * (To Kakashi) "You're right. Those little people and their little dreams, why should I care about them?! I have my own dream!"
 * (To Team 7) "When you've hovered between life and death so many times that it doesn't faze you, you may be called a ninja. When you've become so deadly that your profile has been entered into my bingo book, then you may have earned the title ninja."
 * (To Naruto) "Your words cut deep, deeper than any blade."
 * (After expressing feelings for Haku and removing his mask)" Well? Cat got your tongue? Are you so surprised to discover that I'm human? Even shinobi are human. No matter how hard we try, we always fail to escape that simple fact. Well at least, I have failed."
 * (To Gatō) "Uh uh...I won't be joining Haku. Where he's gone I cannot follow. We wouldn't be welcome where Haku's gone to. Hell's where WE'RE going, Gatō!"
 * (To Gatō) "Even the unremarkable Demon of the Hidden Mist can die and become a real Demon in hell!"
 * (To Gatō, about Hell) "I can't think of a more fitting destination for a demon ninja, can you?! I'm told there are many demons down there - of all shapes and sizes! Oh yes, I should fit right in! You, on the other hand, Gatō...Well,I fear you're in for a long and very painful eternity!"
 * (Last words to Haku) "You were always at my side, the least I can do is to be beside you at the end. I know it cannot be, but I wish I could go to where you have gone. How I wish I could join you there, Haku."