"Huff~ Huff~ Huff~"
On the field, Naruto and Sasuke were panting heavily, their bodies drenched in sweat.
"He's so strong!"
Naruto looked at Haku with a grave expression.
After joining the battle, it was only through coordination with Sasuke that they managed to trade blows with Haku, and even then, just barely.
But after these exchanges, their opponent only had a few superficial wounds.
Whereas the two of them were already covered in injuries.
"You are very skilled, but I can't drag this out any longer."
Across from them, Haku glanced towards Zabuza's distant battlefield and knew he had to end this fight quickly.
So he formed hand seals and said,
"Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"
As soon as the words were spoken, dozens of crystalline ice mirrors rose from the surroundings, completely encircling Naruto and Sasuke, while Haku himself vanished into the mirrors.
"What is this?!"
Naruto and Sasuke looked around, alarm bells ringing loudly in their hearts.
The next instant,
Swish! Swish! Swish!
A large number of senbon shot out from the ice mirrors in all directions, flying towards them at a speed they could hardly react to.
"Waaahhh!!"
Faced with such an attack, the two had no means to fight back and could only endure bitterly amidst the onslaught of senbon.
A moment later, the attack stopped, and the two involuntarily dropped to one knee.
Their bodies were now covered with a large number of gruesome new wounds, each one testifying to the ferocity of the previous attack.
But strangely,
Although these wounds looked terrifying, they only caused a slight loss of blood and were not fatal.
"Let's end this here. You are not my match, and I don't wish to kill you."
Haku stepped out from an ice mirror, looking at them calmly.
Although he considered himself Zabuza's tool and was willing to do anything Zabuza commanded,
At his core, he was also a kind person who disliked killing.
Unless absolutely necessary, he would not kill anyone.
"Damn it!"
Naruto and Sasuke supported each other, slowly standing up.
Although they usually seemed to dislike each other, they actually held a certain respect for one another in their hearts.
So their previous cooperation, and even now helping each other up, was done without awkwardness.
"What kind of move is that?"
Naruto asked through gritted teeth.
"How should I know."
Sasuke retorted irritably.
"It seems you still refuse to give up?"
Seeing them stand up so resolutely, Haku sighed helplessly.
"Of course! We have people we want to protect!"
Naruto wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his expression firm.
"People you want to... protect?"
Hearing Naruto's resounding answer, Haku's eyes behind the mask grew somewhat distant.
He remembered that he, too, had people he wanted to protect when he was young: his mother and father.
Unfortunately, his father killed his mother, and he himself accidentally killed his father.
In one night, he became a homeless orphan.
It wasn't until Zabuza found and took him in, giving him a new meaning for his life.
From then on, there was only one person left in his heart that he wanted to protect.
That was Zabuza-sama.
Returning to the present, he looked at Naruto and said softly,
"I also have someone I want to protect."
The next instant, a large number of senbon appeared again, flying towards Naruto and Sasuke like a swarm of wild bees.
"Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall!"
At the critical moment, two figures suddenly appeared in front of and behind the two boys. They quickly formed hand seals and slammed their hands on the ground.
Instantly, two semicircular earthen walls rose abruptly, blocking all the incoming senbon.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
Seeing the familiar figure in front of him, Naruto shouted joyfully.
"It seems I'm not too late."
Kakashi dispelled his shadow clone and looked at the two with a light laugh.
After accepting Goku's desire to fight alone, he had rushed over here.
As soon as he arrived nearby, he discovered Naruto and Sasuke were in danger.
So he created a shadow clone and used the Body Flicker Technique to appear on the scene, using two Earth-Style Walls to protect the two in time.
"Kakashi-sensei, the opponent is strong."
"Although it's frustrating to admit, I don't think the two of us can win."
After a moment of silence, Sasuke looked at Kakashi and said.
Proud as he was, he had to admit that the current opponent was temporarily beyond his ability to match.
"Sasuke! How can you give up so quickly!"
Hearing Sasuke's discouraged words, the never-say-die Naruto jumped up in protest.
"Hmph! Idiot."
"What did you say?!"
With their pillar of support present, the two actually started bickering again.
"Alright, you two, that's enough."
Kakashi felt a headache coming on and spoke up to stop them.
Then his gaze sharpened, as if he had noticed something. He moved out from the protection of the Earth-Style Wall and looked outside.
He saw that, at some point, the ice mirrors outside had disappeared, and Haku's figure was likewise nowhere to be seen.
His heart sank with alarm. He immediately looked towards Sakura and Tazuna's direction and, finding them safe and sound, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he scanned the surroundings again and finally spotted Haku's figure on the battlefield where Goku and Zabuza were.
…
Rewinding time a bit.
After Goku blasted apart the water pillar with his Ki blast, Zabuza's heart was filled with gravity.
Because he discovered that Goku's technique didn't require hand seals.
'A hand-seal-less ninjutsu?'
In the shinobi world, almost all ninjutsu required hand seals. Only a very few did not, and these were called hand-seal-less ninjutsu.
Because such techniques were extremely rare, he had only heard of them by name.
He never expected to encounter one today.
"Hey, do you have any other moves?"
After blasting the water pillar, Goku landed on the ground, hands on his hips.
"If not, you're going to lose, you know."
He looked at Zabuza with sincerity, but his words inflicted great damage on Zabuza.
"Damn it! Don't you look down on me, you bastard!"
Provoked to anger, Zabuza stopped pondering about hand-seal-less ninjutsu. He raised his large sword and charged at Goku to strike.
But before his sword could descend, his eyes bulged, and his body bent over like a cooked shrimp.
In the area of his abdomen, a fist was slowly being withdrawn. Its owner was none other than Goku.
"Urk..."
After Goku withdrew his fist, Zabuza slowly knelt down, clutching his stomach, his face full of pain.
"Damn it! You... how are you so strong?!"
Enduring the pain, he looked up at Goku with a ferocious expression, his eyes filled with disbelief.
'I... was taken down by a single punch?!'
At that moment, a sudden gust of wind swept past.
Immediately after, a figure placed itself in front of him and said,
"Sorry, Zabuza-sama, I'm late."
"Cough, cough... Haku, what are you doing here?"
Looking at the familiar figure before him, a strange glint flashed in Zabuza's eyes.
"I came to protect you, Zabuza-sama."
Haku said, slightly turning his head.
However, Zabuza did not accept Haku's goodwill. His tone was icy.
"Tch, I don't need your protection."
"But..."
"No buts! Get out of here!!"
"..."
After a moment of silence, Haku said softly,
"Zabuza-sama, after I became an unwanted, uncared-for orphan, I could never find a meaning for my existence."
"It wasn't until you accepted me that I discovered I still had a little bit of meaning to my existence."
"The meaning of my existence is to protect you, to be your tool."
"And now, by stripping me of my reason for existing, you leave me no reason to continue living in this world."
As soon as he finished speaking, Haku drew a kunai and directly brought it to his own neck.
"Haku!!!"
Seeing this, Zabuza's pupils contracted sharply, and he roared.
Just moments before, as Haku poured out his feelings sentence by sentence, although Zabuza's eyes showed no fluctuation, his involuntarily clenched fists betrayed his inner turmoil.
Outsiders knew him as a cold-blooded killer, but they didn't know he wasn't a heartless person.
Although he initially saw Haku only as a tool, after their long time together, he had long since come to regard Haku as his own family.
So, after realizing that Goku's strength far surpassed what he and Haku could handle together, he wanted to force Haku to abandon him and retreat.
But he never expected Haku to say words that moved him so deeply, and even to take such a drastic action.
He wanted to stop it, but his body could hardly move. He could only watch helplessly as Haku brought the kunai to his own neck.
At that moment, Goku, who had been silently listening to their conversation, suddenly reached out and grabbed Haku's hand, stopping his action.
Then, he placed his other hand on Haku's head and closed his eyes.
And for some reason, Haku offered no resistance, simply watching Goku silently.
A moment later, Goku opened his eyes and looked at Haku seriously.
"I think I understand your situation now."
"The Turtle Hermit old man once told me something that I've always remembered."
"And that is—"
"Train well, study well, play well, eat well, rest well,"
"And live a happy, interesting, and spirited life."