A Difficult Technique

Sensing the attack from behind, Haku remained calm and formed a single-handed seal to perform a technique. "Ice Release: Ice Rock Dome."

Thick ice formed a shield and blocked the kunai.

"How hard!"

Kakashi had put a lot of force into his strike, but the ice hadn't even been scratched. The recoil had left his arm numb.

Haku continued forming hand seals. "Water Release: Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death."

Water droplets gathered in the air around Haku, then turned into senbon. Hundreds of "water senbon" completely surrounded Kakashi.

Though they were made of water, chakra enhanced their force, making them no less deadly than ordinary senbon.

Forced to defend himself again with Earth Release, Kakashi shouted, "Earth Release: Earth Style Wall."

This time, he shaped the earthen wall into a hemisphere that covered his body.

Of course, it still had a dog's head.

As Kakashi used the wall for cover and considered how to deal with Haku, the temperature around them plummeted, and the ground beneath his feet gradually froze.

Kakashi immediately dispelled the Earth Style Wall and retreated before he could be frozen.

Through his Sharingan, he could see the chakra inside Haku rapidly diminishing. "You've been using so many techniques in quick succession. How much longer can your chakra hold out?"

"Until my chakra runs out,"

Haku replied in the same calm tone. "You won't get the chance to interfere with Lord Zabuza."

Kakashi felt conflicted. Even now, he still hadn't figured out the full extent of Naruto's abilities. "I wonder how long Zabuza can last against Naruto."

The Great Waterfall Technique finally ended.

Zabuza kept his cool and watched carefully. "That monster of a kid definitely won't die that easily, but his Shadow Clones should be able to take out a few of them."

Even the impact of the Great Waterfall Technique hadn't thinned the mist. The wide bridge was empty except for the marks left by the jutsu's impact.

Zabuza couldn't help frowning. "Could they have all been swept into the sea?"

Unable to be sure, he created a Water Clone to check.

There wasn't a single person nearby, and he couldn't find any other traces.

"Something's wrong!"

Zabuza's guard was up. "That monster of a kid couldn't have just disappeared. Where did he go?"

"Looking for me?"

That monster kid's voice!

Every hair on Zabuza's body stood on end—he hadn't noticed at all how his opponent had appeared.

He turned around, took a defensive stance, and braced himself for an attack.

But the attack he expected never came. The monster kid was just standing some distance away, not approaching.

"Kakashi-sensei said you were a rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist, but I didn't see a slash on your Forehead Protector."

Naruto's voice carried through the mist. "Did you really betray your village?"

Zabuza didn't understand why Naruto was asking him that. He stayed alert and silently recovered his strength, slowly refining and building up his chakra.

"You don't want to talk? Fair enough. We're still in the middle of a fight, after all."

Naruto tightened his Forehead Protector, his tone serious. "I'm going to change the Ninja World, so I'll defeat you, but I won't take your life."

Zabuza wanted to yell, "Who do you think you're looking down on, brat?" But he couldn't. A powerful pressure weighed on him like a mountain, leaving him barely able to breathe.

Naruto said, "Here I come."

Zabuza braced himself, though what he really wanted was to scream, Don't come any closer!

Suddenly, Naruto vanished from Zabuza's senses, just as he had appeared before.

Then came the impact. It appeared without warning, struck upward, and slammed into Zabuza's chin.

Zabuza didn't even have time to form a thought before he lost consciousness and fell to the ground, motionless like a frozen squid.

Naruto crouched down and touched the chakra mark he'd left on the ground. "Dad's Flying Thunder God Technique is really useful."

He'd barely finished speaking when his dad's voice came from the Sealing Space. [Wait a minute, Naruto. The Flying Thunder God Technique was created by the Second Hokage, not me.]

"Huh? I thought you'd created it, Dad."

[Creating a jutsu isn't that simple. It took me three whole years to develop the A-rank Rasengan. The Flying Thunder God Technique is an even more difficult S-rank technique, and it's a Space-Time Ninjutsu. If I had to develop it from scratch, it would take at least ten or twenty years. More likely, I'd never finish it in my lifetime.]

"So the Second Hokage was really strong, huh?"

[Of course! The Second Hokage wasn't as strong as the First, but when it came to developing jutsu, perhaps only the Sage of Six Paths, the progenitor of all shinobi, could surpass him.]

"But, Dad, I don't think I've seen many jutsu developed by the Second Hokage."

[That's because most of the jutsu the Second Hokage developed were classified as forbidden. The Multi Shadow Clone Technique you've mastered, for example, is an A-rank jutsu developed by the Second Hokage—and it's forbidden.]

"Come to think of it, why is the Multi Shadow Clone Technique forbidden?"

[You might not notice it, but the Multi Shadow Clone Technique actually consumes a lot of chakra. A ninja without ample chakra could die from exhaustion if they forced themselves to use it. On top of that, the mental fatigue that piles up when a large number of Shadow Clones are dispelled can also be dangerous. If our master hadn't thoroughly trained your mind as well, your mother and I wouldn't have let you use the Multi Shadow Clone Technique for training, even with your huge chakra reserves.]

"I see... Could the Flying Thunder God Technique be forbidden too? I've never heard anyone in the village mention it, and I've never seen anyone use it."

[Not at all. Although the Flying Thunder God Technique is an S-rank jutsu, it isn't dangerous in itself. No one uses it simply because it's very difficult to learn.]

"Huh? The Flying Thunder God Technique is that hard?"

[Very hard. After the Second Hokage developed the Flying Thunder God Technique, many people in the village tried to learn it, including the Third Hokage. But in the end, I was the only one who managed to master it and use it proficiently.]

"Ha! Now you can add me to that list!"

[You really are talented, but you still have to thank our master for learning the Flying Thunder God Technique. Thanks to the solid foundation our master gave you, you might not even be able to use the Rasengan otherwise.]

"If Kurama hadn't deliberately disrupted me with his chakra, it probably wouldn't have come to that."

[Don't drag me into this for no reason. I didn't deliberately disrupt you back then. I was just using chakra to strike the seal as usual.]

"That's what I call deliberately disrupting me."

[Tch!]

"Hey, Kurama, with that attitude, aren't you worried our master might do something to you?"

[Tch, shut up! You don't need to worry about me!]

"Don't say that. If our master gets angry, I'll apologize along with you."

[Enough talk! And quit dawdling. Deal with this whatever-his-name-is Zabuza. A group of people full of ill intent have gathered over there.]

"It's probably Gato. But the people he hired seem to be samurai, not ninja, so they aren't much of a threat to us. Things should be about the same on Kakashi-sensei's end. I'd better go ask Kakashi-sensei what he thinks."

Naruto took out two sealing scrolls and unrolled them to use as ropes. He hoisted Zabuza in his hands and headed toward Kakashi.

At that moment, at Tazuna's house, Sasuke and Sakura stood guard at the entrance like a pair of gatekeepers.

Sakura glanced anxiously in the direction of the bridge. "I wonder how Naruto and Kakashi-sensei are doing."

"They won't lose."

Sasuke said confidently, "Naruto can use the Flying Thunder God Technique. Even if something goes wrong, he and Kakashi-sensei can retreat in time. Our job is to guard this place and wait for them to come back."