The last chapter ended with impending doom for Kakashi, and all he had to do this chapter was to step back! Awesome, Kishi, and you had me thinking one of your characters was in mortal peril. Bad Deus Ex Machina is bad, I guess. I should be thankful Kakashi didn't turn into a log, though.

I guess Oda was just capitalizing on Zabuza's arc finale to bring (somewhat cheapishly) some more "emotion" to the Ninja War.