Kakashi's Doubts: Was Shinki the Fourth Hokage's Son?

However.

Zabuza's downward slash carried the full force of his body, and it came in fast and fierce!

Kakashi had also been forced to defend himself in a hurry.

So.

After Kakashi blocked Zabuza's strike, the blade slid a short distance down his Kunai.

Finally.

It sliced into Kakashi's arm!

The blow cut through Kakashi's flesh, nearly reaching the bone!

But Kakashi had no time to worry about the searing pain in his arm. He held Zabuza's great blade back with one hand, fighting as he retreated.

He was beginning to miss the days when Shinki was around.

If Shinki had been here for today's battle, they would never have fallen into such a difficult situation!

Inside the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, Naruto and Sasuke were being completely suppressed!

Meanwhile, on Zabuza and Kakashi's battlefield.

Because he had to protect Tazuna while fighting, Kakashi was hampered at every turn. Fighting with one hand was incredibly difficult.

Clang!

After parrying Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō yet again, Kakashi was gasping for breath.

Inside the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, Naruto and Sasuke had tried to break out of the encirclement, only to end up with thin needles stuck all over their bodies.

The two boys were in despair, guessing that Haku's next attack might pierce straight into their brains and hearts!

"Shinki, hurry up and get here!"

The helpless Naruto cried out.

The next moment.

A dark figure appeared behind him!

It was Shinki, who had used the Body Flicker Technique to teleport here!

As soon as Shinki appeared, he shouted, "Don't worry, I'm here!"

His shout.

Not only drew Haku's attention, but also caught the attention of Kakashi and Zabuza on the neighboring battlefield.

Kakashi's eyelids drooped, and he cursed Shinki as an idiot in his heart.

The essence of being a ninja was deception. He should have attacked when his enemy was unprepared.

If the guy had snuck over quietly, he might have pulled off a sneak attack.

Instead, he had made such a show of himself, as though afraid nobody would notice him.

Now he had ruined any chance of a surprise attack!

After appearing inside the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, Shinki began forming Hand Seals!

"Fire Style..."

An angry Kakashi shouted, "Idiot!! Don't form Hand Seals when everyone's attention is on you!!"

Forming Hand Seals took a considerable amount of preparation time.

The time he spent forming them was the perfect opportunity for someone to catch him off guard!

Unfortunately, Kakashi's warning came too late.

As soon as he finished speaking, Zabuza hurled a pitch-black Kunai!

The Kunai flew at tremendous speed, straight toward Shinki as he formed his Hand Seals!

Whoosh!

Clink!

Shockingly.

Just as the Kunai was about to pierce Shinki's body, he vanished on the spot!

When he appeared again.

Shinki was behind Zabuza!

A Rasengan made of turbulent Chakra had gathered in his palm!!

Whoosh!!

Shinki thrust his palm down, and the Rasengan made of turbulent Chakra slammed into Zabuza's back!

Boom!

The blow drove Zabuza's body straight into the bridge.

Under the impact, a massive crater was smashed into the newly built bridge beneath Zabuza!

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Shinki called out.

Kakashi understood at once. He crossed his hands and rapidly formed Hand Seals.

"Water Release, Water Prison Technique!!"

When he finished forming the seals, a huge sphere of water appeared, enclosing Zabuza's body.

With Zabuza restrained, Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief.

That kid Shinki had deliberately pretended to form Hand Seals for a Fire Style technique, so Zabuza would lower his guard.

Then he had used the Flying Thunder God Formula he had placed earlier to attack with the Body Flicker Technique!

It seemed that Shinki had truly mastered the principle that deception was the essence of being a ninja!

Wait!

Kakashi keenly sensed that something was wrong!

What had Shinki just used to attack Zabuza?!

Σ(っ °Д °;)っ

That blue ball of Chakra!

Tsk!

Wasn't that the Rasengan his own teacher had developed?!

Shinki had even learned that?!

First Flying Thunder God, then Rasengan.

Could he have inherited the Fourth Hokage's legacy?!

Could he be the Fourth Hokage's biological son?

Kakashi couldn't help wondering whether Shinki was hiding any other secrets!

Was there anything this kid couldn't do?!

Inside the water prison.

When Zabuza recovered from the heavy blow, he found himself back inside that familiar sphere of water!

Zabuza: (´இ皿இ｀)

It was hard to imagine.

He, Zabuza, the Demon of the Hidden Mist, had fallen to the same kid twice!!

And both times, he had fallen to the same move!

Flying Thunder God!

Flying Thunder God again!

Damn it!

As long as he made it out alive this time, he would definitely kill every single person in the world who knew Flying Thunder God!

Zabuza yelled from inside the water prison, "So what if you've captured me? Now you, Kakashi, have to maintain the water prison and can't move, and your two useless students can't even fight back against Haku."

"Even if things are worse for us now, it's still just a one-on-one fight between that red-haired brat and Haku."

"And Haku has fought his way out of countless battlefields. A brat who just graduated from the Ninja Academy and hasn't even seen blood probably wouldn't dare kill anyone!"

"From the sound of it, that kid who uses Ice Release does seem to have a better chance of winning."

Kakashi answered Zabuza and looked at Shinki's back ahead of him. "But I don't think Shinki will let me down."

Inside the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals.

Shinki walked in through a gap between the mirrors.

When Naruto and Sasuke saw Shinki come in, they immediately panicked. "Why did you come in? Once you're in, you can't get out!"

Shinki didn't answer them. Instead, he looked up and studied the semicircular domain of mirrors.

He had never seen a technique like this before!

He wanted to learn it!

"What's your Ninjutsu called?" Shinki asked. From his tone, he seemed to be speaking to Haku.

"Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals. It's the Kekkei Genkai I inherited," Haku answered Shinki's question.

Naruto and Sasuke stared in astonishment.

The conversation between these two.

Why wasn't there any hostility?

Shouldn't they have started fighting the moment they met?

Shinki looked thoughtful, then asked a question that left everyone dumbfounded:

"Kekkei Genkai... what's that?"

Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto: "..."

The two of you are fighting right now.

Do you think he has time to answer that question?!

Haku actually answered, "It's a Ninjutsu that only people with my bloodline can use. Nobody else can."

Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, and Zabuza: "..."

He actually answered!

But this wasn't the time for a lesson!

You two were fighting right now, hey!

Could they show the battlefield some respect?!

"All right." After listening to Haku, Shinki sighed.

A Ninjutsu that only people with a particular bloodline could use.

That would be a little hard to figure out...

"All right, I'm ready. We can start fighting now," Shinki said.

Haku nodded inside the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals.

And with that, the battle officially began!