Rules anime versions of the characters mentioned here
zabuza gets no jutsu, he has to win based on his skills with his sword
round 2, he can use his jutsu
Standard equipment for both, zabuza gets his sword and akebino gets the helmet splitter
Did he get some better speed feats when he was reanimated? Its been awhile since Ive seen those parts. His feats in the wave arc were atrocious,but expected since it was the first arc. Kisame never really got blitzed besides Naruto in his chakra mode, Ay and Bee in their chakra modes, and Gai in gates. Zabuza isnt on that level.
Did he get some better speed feats when he was reanimated? Its been awhile since Ive seen those parts. His feats in the wave arc were atrocious,but expected since it was the first arc. Kisame never really got blitzed besides Naruto in his chakra mode, Ay and Bee in their chakra modes, and Gai in gates. Zabuza isnt on that level.
If Akebino has his elemental techniques, then Zabuza would need to blitz him to win the furst round.
Supposing that, both have similar showings of speed against Kakashi so there is no reason to think that Zabuza could blitz. Akebino could easily protect himself with his Water Prison and attack from range until he tags Zabuza.
Looking into the spirit of the thread, a test of skills, the only advantage we can give Zabuza is with the Silent Killing Style which he is specifically noted to be the best at. We have not seen Akebino with Water Style or tactics so we cannot put him down in that regard. In terms of pure swordsmanship, they both seem to just throw their swords in front of them so it comes down to the swords themselves.
In that case, the cleaver beats the hammer. For damage, the hammer requires a two-hit combo that allows for deflection while the cleaver need only strike once. In situational clashes, Zabuza can win by a thousand cuts, allowing his sword to be broken in exchange for drawing blood from the follow-through of his attacks. Zabuza would then continuously replenish his sword while Akebino loses blood . . .
If Akebino could land a clean hit, he would win. I struggle to see that happening because the hammer effect was implied to rely more on surprise than anything else. On top of that, Demon Energy is implid to allow Zabuza to ignore any pain and push his body to its physical limits, so he may even overlook a strong hit to land one of his own.
That said, does the title mean to say that Akebino gets the Demon Energy boost as well?
Kisame, with his showings against Killer B, outscales in physicals and energy technique output.
His master, Suikazan, is also implied to have high energy levels which combine with his hair techniques to give him a clean edge in that regard. Perhaps Zabuza would win the fight, but Suikazan has all-around better scaling.
Mangetsu is implied superior to all others, and at least Suigetsu who hard counters Zabuza, so he should be stronger too. The same applies to Suigetsu due to his secret technique.
Then there is Chojuro whose blade hard counters the cleaver and who should have better scaling with his participation in the fight against the homonculi.
