Zabuza Momochi

- Zabuza's initial appearance when confronting Team 7. - Zabuza's full appearance. 1/2 Zabuza was a tall and noticeably muscular man with light grayish skin, short spiky black hair, dark brown eyes, and small eyebrows. He was normally seen wearing bandages like a mask over the bottom half of his face. Under his mask, he had a relatively narrow jawline and jagged-teeth, a trait he shared with his fellow Swordsmen. He wore his forehead protector sideways on his head, and prior to his defection from Kirigakure, donned the village's Anbu uniform and flak jacket. After his defection, and during his first appearance, he was seen shirtless, with his chest only covered by a belt to which he attached his Kubikiribōchō, wearing baggy pants with the striped pattern typical of Kirigakure and mimetic wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, with matching leg-warmers. During his second appearance, he wore a sleeveless black shirt and matching pants, complete with a waist-guard, and yet again, Kirigakure's striped wrist and leg-warmers. Other swordsmen of his generation wore attire identical to this, implying that they might be clothes related to the group. While donning this attire, much like his fellow Swordsmen, he had bandages loosely tied around his neck like a scarf. As a child, Zabuza's attire consisted of a dark sleeveless shirt with light shoulder-straps and a circular mark on the back, sporting the kanji for demon (鬼, oni). He also wore dark pants with two straps covering the bottom and a hip pouch, along with black shinobi-sandals and dark fingerless gloves.

Before the term of the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, Kirigakure began the practice of pitting Kirigakure Academy graduates against each other in death matches as a final exam with the exceptionally skilled students named prime candidates for the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. After Zabuza, not yet a student himself, killed over one hundred Academy students, the practice was discontinued and he would thereafter be known as the "Demon of the Hidden Mist". His fame grew over the years as he became an Anbu, killing the Konohagakure ninja Kumade Toriichi at that time, before finally joining the Seven Swordsmen. During the Fourth Mizukage's reign over the Bloody Mist, Zabuza came to disagree with the workings of the village. He gathered a group of followers and attempted a coup d'etat against the Mizukage, only to be betrayed by one of their own; resulting in a failed attempt on Yagura's life. Zabuza subsequently fled the village with Haku and some other followers, such as the Demon Brothers, becoming mercenaries in order to gather funds for a second attempt in the future, which is why he worked with Gatō. With his departure he took the Kubikiribōchō with him, causing Kirigakure to lose one of its famed swords. As Zabuza was accepting work from corrupt people, however, many of his followers became disillusioned about such goals and left; one of whom was Gengo. At some point after, he discovered Haku, a child with a special kekkei genkai and began training him to be the ultimate weapon, planning to use him for his comeback. In the anime, he and Haku witnessed the Kaguya clan attacking Kirigakure yet chose not to help his village. Soon after, they encountered Kimimaro, the soon-to-be-sole survivor of the Kaguya. Although Haku wanted to talk to the boy, Zabuza forced him to leave Kimimaro alone and keep moving.