Chapter 164 - 30

Chapter 30: Catching senbon with One Hand, Pinning Haku to a Tree with the Other"An ordinary herb gatherer?"Naruto stood up from the grass and brushed the dirt off his pants."Would an ordinary herb gatherer have such a heavy scent of blood on them?""Although you used a high concentration of snow lotus sap to mask it, and even sprayed on milk-scented perfume."Naruto walked toward Haku step by step.Every step felt like it was landing on the rhythm of Haku's heartbeat."But that can't fool my nose.""That's a scent one only gets from dealing with corpses for a long time.""And that Chakra inside you."Naruto stopped behind Haku, only half a meter away."It's as cold as an ice cube.""Apart from a descendant of the Yuki clan with the Ice Style Bloodline Limit, I can't think of any other possibility."His identity was completely exposed.Haku stopped pretending.The killing intent belonging to a Ninja erupted instantly.He spun around abruptly, three senbon flying in a triangular formation toward Naruto's throat.Fast. Accurate. Ruthless.But in Naruto's eyes, this movement was as slow as a slideshow.Snap.Naruto raised his hand.With two fingers, he nonchalantly caught the three potentially lethal senbon.It was just like pinching a cigarette."Too slow."Naruto flicked his hand casually.With a thud, the senbon embedded themselves deep into the nearby tree trunk."Is this the extent of your strength?"Naruto took a step forward, forcing Haku to lean against the tree."When you saved Zabuza that day, you used this same child's play of a hidden weapon, right?""Two needles to the neck to induce a state of suspended animation.""And then you carried the body away right in front of us."Naruto reached out and braced his hand against the tree trunk beside Haku's head, creating a perfect tree-pin once again."I have to say, your acting skills are much better than your assassination skills.""As an assassin, you're too gentle.""You don't use poison or blades to kill; you insist on using these things that look like acupuncture needles."Naruto lowered his head, looking into those panicked eyes behind the mask."You don't want to kill anyone at all, do you?"Haku bit his lip.That cold mask was ruthlessly shattered.His biggest secret, his weakest side, was exposed like this before this boy."Since you know I am an enemy."Haku looked up, forcing himself to meet Naruto's gaze."Why didn't you expose me just now? Why didn't you attack?"The wind stopped.Haku's fingers froze in mid-air; those few lethal senbon now felt scalding hot.Why not attack?This question struck his heart, which had long been accustomed to obeying orders, like a heavy hammer. As a tool, there was no need to think, only to execute. But facing this boy who had completely exposed his back, that thing called "killing intent" had actually dissipated from his fingertips."Because..." Haku's voice was very soft, as if afraid to disturb the dew on the leaves, "I don't want to kill.""You don't want to kill?"Naruto turned around.He didn't adopt a defensive stance; his hands were still in his pockets. That slacker demeanor made it seem as if he wasn't facing an assassin capable of killing a Jonin instantly, but rather a primary school student who didn't want to do their homework."You have a blade in your hand, yet you say you don't want to see blood." Naruto took a step forward, his shoe crushing a dry twig. "Usually, only two types of people say things like that. One is a saint, and the other is a dead person."Haku instinctively stepped back.That sense of oppression didn't come from Chakra, but from the other person's overbearing sense of inevitability."I don't hold a grudge against you." Haku lowered his hand holding the senbon. "Since there is no grudge, there is no need for killing. I just want to gather herbs to save the person I want to save.""Naive."Naruto scoffed.He raised his hand and pointed at his own stomach."Do you know what this is?"Haku was stunned for a moment, his gaze falling on the seal on Naruto's abdomen. Although it was covered by clothes, he could feel a nauseating Chakra full of hatred coming from there."Monster." Naruto grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. "That's what people in Konoha Villagecall me. Son of the Demon Fox, jinx, dead-last."Haku didn't speak. He was all too familiar with this kind of treatment. People with a Bloodline Limitexisted in the Hidden Mist Village just like this. Feared, ostracized, and treated as an omen of bad luck."The milk I drank growing up was expired; when I went to buy a mask, the shopkeeper threw me out; walking on the street, people would throw stones at me." Naruto spoke about these painful past experiences nonchalantly, his tone so relaxed it was as if he were telling someone else's story. "If it were you, what would you do? Hide in a corner and cry? Or find a cave and bury yourself?"Haku pursed his lips.He had indeed cried. On a snowy night, in his parents' pool of blood. Until he met Zabuza."I didn't cry."Naruto extended one finger and tapped lightly on Haku's mask.Clink.A crisp sound."I drank the expired milk and trained my stomach to be like iron. They threw stones, so I trained my dodging techniques. They called me a monster, so I became a monster for them to see."Naruto leaned close to Haku's ear, his warm breath fanning out."The strong don't need to beg for approval. Only the weak feel that they are a tragedy because of how others see them.""I want to become Hokage, not to get that bunch of idiots to approve of me, but because I want to stand at the very top and tell them: I am the rule."Boom.Haku felt something shatter in his mind.All this time, he had considered himself Zabuza's tool. Because he had been abandoned by the world, as long as one person needed him, he was willing to give everything. This was a form of attachment, a humble way of existing.But the boy before him was different.Both were in the darkness, both were spurned by the world.What Naruto chose was not attachment, but conquest."You..." Haku's voice trembled slightly, "Don't you... find it exhausting?""Exhausting?" Naruto acted as if he had heard a joke. "Watching those people who once looked down on me now have to look up to me—that sense of satisfaction is something you can't even imagine."[Ding! Detected strong psychological fluctuations in target character "Haku".][Current status: Envy, confusion, worldview reshaping.][Reward: Talk-no-Jutsu proficiency +10, Haku's Favorability +20 (converted to admiration).]Naruto looked at Haku's dazed expression with satisfaction.Brainwashing successful.He turned around and looked outside the woods. From here, one could see the village of the Land of Waves; the dilapidated houses were like sores plastered onto this once-beautiful land."Look at this country." Naruto pointed into the distance. "This is the real tragedy."Haku followed Naruto's gaze.The streets were empty. Occasionally, a few gaunt villagers would walk by, moving in a hurry as if they were avoiding some terrible monster."Gato controls the shipping and has cut off supplies," Haku said softly. "This is the world of Ninja, where the weak are prey to the strong.""Bullshit, 'weak are prey to the strong'."Naruto cursed unceremoniously.He kicked a stone at his feet. The stone whistled through the air and snapped a small tree as thick as a bowl."This is called disgusting.""Look at those villagers, each one like they've lost their souls. That brat named Inari cries all day long, worshipping that dead stepfather like a god, yet he doesn't even dare to pick up a knife himself."Naruto scratched his hair irritably.He wanted to say some profound principles, like how economic blockades lead to the collapse of social structures, or learned helplessness caused by class stagnation. But after racking his brains for a long time, he realized that his limited knowledge really couldn't support such a grand narrative."It's just like..." Naruto frowned, gesturing a circle with his hands, "like a bowl of ramen."Haku: "?"Ramen?Is this some profound metaphor?