Although Hinata's Amulet had helped him escape disaster, the two-on-one situation was still unfavorable for Lin Fan.
And he still had to figure out how to complete the guidance mission by making Zabuza give up on hunting Tazuna of his own accord.
It seemed he could only do his best and give it a try.
Watching Haku and Zabuza slowly approach, Lin Fan couldn't help giving a bitter smile.
Soon, as Zabuza approached Lin Fan with the Kubikiribōchō in hand, he suddenly saw a Kunai shoot out from inside the stone monument.
"Hmph, have you finally fallen into despair? You think firing a Kunai will be enough to take me down?"
Zabuza let out a cold snort, looking rather pleased with himself.
He casually deflected the Kunai with the Kubikiribōchō, sending it flying straight past his side.
What he didn't know was that Lin Fan had already marked the Kunai with the Flying Thunder God technique.
The next second, Lin Fan caught the Kunai and escaped from inside the stone monument, breaking free of Haku and Zabuza's encirclement.
"What?"
Zabuza had thought victory was in his grasp. When Lin Fan suddenly appeared beside him with the Body Flicker Technique, his pupils shrank in shock.
But that was far from the only thing that would shock Zabuza.
Lin Fan's scarlet eyes suddenly lit up.
His rapidly spinning Three-Tomoe Sharingan stared at Zabuza coldly.
"Zabuza, fall into the illusion of my Sharingan!"
"Not good!"
Zabuza immediately shut his eyes tight and prepared to use Kirigakure's unique secret technique to break the genjutsu.
But against the ultimate illusion cast by Lin Fan's fully mastered Three-Tomoe Sharingan, it was no more than a desperate, futile struggle.
The two merely glanced at each other, and Zabuza was dragged into the illusion, unable to resist.
Inside the illusion.
It was a bright, sunny morning.
Inside the largest arena in the Land of Water's Kirigakure.
Three hundred and sixty-three students from the latest Ninja Academy class, all about to take their graduation exams, waited with excitement.
Young Zabuza was one of them.
Once he passed the exam, he would become a Genin of Kirigakure.
It was also the first step toward serving his village and making a name for himself in the Shinobi World.
"The Mizukage has arrived!"
Someone shouted excitedly, and every student in the arena turned to look toward the viewing platform.
A man with green hair, purple eyes, and a youthful face walked out, wearing a blue-and-white hat marked with the kanji for "water."
He was the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure, Karatachi Yagura, Zabuza's idol at the time.
"The Ninja Academy graduation exam begins now.
"Fight freely within the arena. Only those who survive will earn the right to bear the title of Genin of Kirigakure."
Yagura looked down at them and spoke coldly.
When they heard that the graduation exam would force classmates who had spent every day together to kill one another, many panicked and chose to flee the arena.
"Trying to run?
"You worthless fools think you can become shinobi of Kirigakure?"
Yagura gave a cold snort, then ordered his subordinates in the arena to take action.
Zabuza watched as one fleeing child after another was struck by flying Kunai and fell into pools of blood.
Some of them had shared meals and bedding with him.
The pungent stench of blood in the air completely doused Zabuza's excitement about graduating.
He finally understood that the world of shinobi was far more brutal than he had imagined.
The graduation exam began, and the remaining children started fighting one another in a merciless battle to the death.
By then, Zabuza's heart had turned to ash, and he had become a blood-soaked demon straight from hell.
The Kunai in his hand flashed again and again, piercing countless throats and hearts.
Before long, corpses were piled high in the arena, and blood covered the ground.
The scarlet blood spurting from his opponents mixed with sweat and tears, gradually blurring Zabuza's vision.
No one knew how much time had passed. The once-crowded arena held only two survivors.
Zabuza's eyes were bloodshot from killing. He could pinpoint his opponent by sound alone, and without hesitation, he drove his Kunai into the other person's heart.
"Zabuza-kun..."
When Zabuza heard that familiar, gentle voice calling his name, his heart clenched.
He hurriedly rubbed the blood from his eyes and opened them.
Before him was a beautiful young girl, her eyes growing hazy as the light of life faded from them.
She was the girl Zabuza had liked most at the Ninja Academy.
Her consciousness fading, she collapsed into Zabuza's arms.
"Why?
"Why were you so stupid? You could've dodged that attack!"
Zabuza desperately pressed down on the girl's heart as blood gushed from the wound, howling at the sky in anguish.
"B-because you were my opponent, Zabuza-kun. Becoming Mizukage... isn't that your greatest dream?"
After speaking haltingly, the girl's face had grown deathly pale. She managed a kind smile for Zabuza.
To walk the path of a shinobi, he had accidentally killed the girl he loved most.
Zabuza could no longer contain his grief. Great tears mingled with blood and fell onto the girl's pale face.
"Don't cry. Congratulations, Zabuza-kun. You have to become a great shinobi, okay? I'll always watch over you from above."
The girl's heart soon stopped beating.
Now, reliving the painful memories of his childhood inside the illusion, Zabuza's eyes were already glistening with tears.
Then the illusion ended, and everything turned black.
A pair of enormous Three-Tomoe Sharingan appeared before Zabuza, staring straight at him.
"Heh heh. Zabuza, how does it feel to relive the memory of killing the girl you loved most with your own hands when you were a child?"
A sinister voice suddenly spoke from within the illusion.
"The past can't be changed. All I can do is protect the people by my side who are still alive and never let them leave me."
Zabuza spoke in a low voice.
"Heh heh. You think you can protect the people by your side? That's the biggest joke I've ever heard.
"Do you know that your incompetence and stupidity have repeatedly gotten the people beside you killed?
"It happened before, and it'll happen again!"
The sinister voice rang out harshly within the illusion.
"Impossible! I can do my best to protect them. I won't make the same mistake I did as a child!"
Zabuza glared furiously and swung the Kubikiribōchō in his hand.
He wanted to cleave the Sharingan staring at him in two.