The moment Haku let out a low cry, countless senbon suddenly formed in the water all around them.
The senbon had clearly been made by freezing the water into ice.
Shikamaru looked at the senbon surrounding him from every direction, his brow furrowing deeply.
Choji had only just woken up after using Human Bullet Tank. At this stage, using the technique left him unconscious for a short while, mainly because his body couldn't handle spinning so fast.
Choji saw what was happening and immediately warned him:
"Shikamaru, move!"
"Swish, swish, swish..."
The next moment, countless senbon shot rapidly toward Shikamaru. With disaster just a hair's breadth away, Shikamaru pushed his chakra to the limit, unleashing astonishing potential.
He stomped hard on the ground, then leaped high just as the ice needles were about to pierce him, barely evading the attack.
"Oh? They actually missed? Looks like this kid was hiding his strength after all."
Haku was a little surprised and looked up at Shikamaru in midair.
Shikamaru now had three shuriken in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, he sent them flying toward Haku.
"Pathetic trick!"
Haku gave a cold snort. He saw through the shuriken's trajectories completely and swung his senbon, knocking them all aside one by one.
At the same time, he spun around and kicked Shikamaru, who had just come up behind him.
The two exchanged dozens of blows, neither gaining the upper hand.
After one final clash, they both retreated five meters and watched each other warily.
Haku glanced at Shikamaru and said calmly:
"Looks like you really were holding back quite a bit. But you must be out of tricks by now."
After speaking, Haku let out an extremely cold aura and formed an unusual hand seal.
"What a pity, young man. It's all over!"
"Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"
Huge ice crystals slowly rose from the bridge, eventually forming enormous mirrors that surrounded Shikamaru.
Then Haku seemed to lose his physical form, slowly merging into the mirrors.
Shikamaru looked around. When he saw Haku's figure appear in every mirror, his brow furrowed.
"Inside these Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, my speed will reach its peak."
Countless Hakus spoke at once from the mirrors. Shikamaru couldn't tell where Haku really was.
"He can only be inside one of the mirrors, which means the others are just illusions?"
Shikamaru took out a kunai and threw it at a nearby mirror. It struck with a sharp clang.
"This is bad. As expected, I can't break these mirrors as I am now..."
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, gripped his kunai, and warily surveyed his surroundings as he silently searched for a way to counter the technique.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"
Suddenly, dozens of senbon shot in from every direction. Shikamaru looked startled and instinctively dove to one side. He swung his kunai with both hands, but could only deflect the senbon coming from the front. Several cuts inevitably appeared across his back.
"It can't be that every mirror is real. But just now, the attack really did come from all directions."
Shikamaru crouched halfway, replaying every detail of his first clash with Haku in his mind.
Senbon formed from ice, mirrors formed from ice, merging into the mirrors...
Lu Yu's eyes lit up slightly as he boldly reached a conclusion:
"Looks like this guy can use ice-style ninjutsu. And this technique greatly increases his speed. And..."
Shikamaru glanced at his injuries and narrowed his eyes as he reasoned:
His opponent probably only wanted to knock him unconscious, not kill him.
With that in mind, Shikamaru shouted:
"Choji, use Human Bullet Tank from the outside!"
"Huh? Shikamaru, you should've said so sooner..."
A familiar voice came from beside Shikamaru. While Shikamaru had been thinking, Choji had quietly come over, worried that something might happen to him.
"..."
Shikamaru looked at Choji's innocent expression and covered his face helplessly, on the verge of tears...
Elsewhere, Zabuza looked strangely at Asuma. Even after hearing Shikamaru's shout, Asuma didn't react at all.
"Heh, Asuma, you didn't expect this, did you? I have a partner, and your students don't seem to be in a very good situation. If this goes on, they could be in danger..."
Asuma smiled indifferently. At the sound of Zabuza's voice, he immediately dashed off to the side and found Zabuza's position in just a few leaps.
Zabuza looked at Asuma in surprise, and the two immediately clashed.
"I have to thank you, Zabuza. You awakened the fighting spirit that had been sleeping inside me. And, by the way, my squad has four members. There's still one more who hasn't arrived..."
"Heh. Even if another person shows up, they still won't be a match for Haku."
As Zabuza spoke, he brought Kubikiribōchō crashing down toward Asuma, but Asuma caught it steadily with Flying Swallow in one hand.
Asuma clenched Flying Swallow in his free right hand and slashed hard at Zabuza. Zabuza tilted his head and narrowly dodged the attack.
"Heh, so the legendary Twelve Guardian Shinobi are nothing more than—"
Zabuza had only gotten halfway through his sentence when he abruptly stopped. A fierce pain suddenly struck his face. He instinctively touched it and was horrified to find his hand covered in blood.
Asuma gave Zabuza a cold smile:
"Don't let your guard down, Zabuza. Otherwise, you'll die at my hands."
"Hehehe, interesting..."
Zabuza disappeared into the mist again. His voice suddenly became erratic, and Asuma furrowed his brow, a sudden sense of foreboding rising within him.
"Damn it, don't underestimate me!"
Choji angrily pulled the senbon from his body and formed hand seals:
"Multi-Size Technique! Human Bullet Tank!"
Shikamaru immediately shouted when he saw him:
"Stop, Choji..."
But Choji was too angry to listen. In an instant, he grew enormous, tucking his head and limbs into his body.
"Heh, you useless fatty."
Haku gave a cold laugh.
The next moment, just as Human Bullet Tank began, countless senbon appeared all around and shot toward him.
"Pfft, pfft, pfft..."
Choji was such a huge target that the senbon didn't even need to be aimed to hit him. If they struck ordinary parts of his body, he could still endure them in this state.
But Haku aimed every attack at the body's pressure points. The intense pain deflated Choji like a punctured balloon, and he quickly returned to normal size. His eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
"Choji!"
Shikamaru hurried to Choji's side and felt for the pulse in his neck. Only then did he relax a little.
As expected, the senbon had avoided his vital organs. He was only unconscious for now.
Shikamaru looked around, a glint flashing in his eyes:
"My body has somehow adapted to his speed. If this keeps up, I'll have the advantage. Moving at high speed must use up a lot of his chakra."
"Looks like your partner is done for. Now it's just you..."
Haku watched Shikamaru coldly from inside the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, then launched an attack.
"Swish, swish, swish—"
Shikamaru had been watching his surroundings warily. When he saw the senbon coming from every direction, he channelled chakra into his feet and sprang into the air. His kunai flashed rapidly, knocking several senbon out of the air before he landed steadily on the ground.
"This guy can keep up with my speed now?"
Haku looked at Shikamaru in the mirror, surprised. A cold look then flashed in his eyes:
"Then I'll have to finish this quickly. If this drags on, I'll be at a disadvantage. Maintaining high speed uses up a lot of chakra, after all."
"Secret Technique: Thousand Flying Water Needles!"
All the water on the ground turned into needles. On closer inspection, there were more than a hundred of them, densely filling the air as they flew in from every direction.
Shikamaru gave a bitter smile as he faced hundreds of senbon from all sides, despair flashing in his eyes:
"Looks like this is where it ends for me..."