Ice Shield · Demonic Mirror Ice Crystal!

Zabuza and Kakashi were locked in a stalemate in the distance.

Haku wanted to finish the mission as quickly as possible, so he eventually struck Naruto hard.

Ice Needles, each about the length of a forearm, shot toward Naruto, who was standing below and grinning foolishly. They whistled through the air with a terrifying whoosh.

But just as the needles pierced Naruto's body—

Bang!

Naruto's figure burst apart in a puff of white smoke at his feet, vanishing without a trace.

"What?!"

"That was a clone?!"

Haku was stunned.

But before he could recover from the shock—

Several more Narutos had already charged silently toward him from behind.

"Hey! Surprised? Didn't see that coming?"

Naruto's shout sounded like a taunt.

Haku had only just turned toward the voice when several kicks struck him head-on, sending him flying!

Clang!

Zabuza gave the Kubikiribōchō in his hands a slight push.

The two men, who had been locked in a stalemate just a moment earlier, immediately separated.

"Damn it..."

Glancing aside, Zabuza saw Haku's small figure rolling wildly like an autumn leaf in the wind.

He had run out of patience.

Taking advantage of the brief moment when he and Kakashi were apart, he shouted to Haku:

"Haku, stop wasting time. Use your trump card!"

"If you keep dragging this out, that kid will come back, and we'll be in trouble!..."

Bracing an arm against the ground, Haku slowly rose to his feet.

He adjusted the mask on his face and turned toward Naruto.

"So you're a little kid who's been pretending to be weak to catch me off guard."

"If your chakra reserves weren't so low, you might really have beaten me..."

Naruto grinned like a chūnibyō.

"Heh heh. You're strong, but I, Naruto, am going to be Hokage one day."

"How could I be as pathetic as you say?..."

Haku nodded gently.

"Very well. I won't hold back from here on."

"You'd better be careful, or you might lose your life..."

He seemed to have instantly regained the elegance he'd had while wearing a kimono.

Haku replied playfully.

"Uh..."

Naruto was taken aback.

To be honest, this was the first time he'd fought a girl.

If it weren't for the mission, he'd have rather pretended to be sick...

In the instant Naruto stood there, distracted—

Haku's hands flashed through a series of seals.

Then, with a rumbling boom, eight walls of ice slowly rose around Naruto, their surfaces as smooth as a lake. They trapped him firmly inside!

Like a beast cornered in a cage, Naruto had barely had time to react before he became a bird trapped behind bars.

If Neji had been there to see this, he would definitely have called it a masterful move...

"This..."

Naruto was bewildered.

Trapped there, he saw his own image reflected in every direction, as if he were surrounded by prisms.

Real and unreal, the reflections made him feel, for a moment, that nothing around him was real.

At certain moments, the boundary between reality and the world inside the mirrors seemed to blur.

It left Naruto with the occasional illusion—

That he was the one inside the icy world.

And the reflection in that icy world was his true self.

"Th-this... This is... a Kekkei Genkai!..."

Watching from afar, Kakashi's eyes contracted sharply when he saw the eight walls of ice in the distance.

His voice carried so clearly that even Sakura and Tazuna, standing farther away, heard every word.

"Kakashi-sensei, what is that? And what's a Kekkei Genkai?..."

When Kakashi had taught them Chakra Control in the forest, he'd casually mentioned it.

But he'd only touched on the subject in passing and hadn't explained further.

Now, several days later, Sakura heard him mention again this system of training that surpassed the five basic chakra natures.

The question slipped out of her almost unconsciously.

She even seemed to have forgotten how dire their situation was.

"A Kekkei Genkai is a powerful ability passed down through heredity."

"Like my Sharingan, it can awaken one or even several special abilities."

"I never expected a girl around Sasuke's age to be a ninja with a Kekkei Genkai."

"Judging by the looks of it, he's using Ice Shield, a Kekkei Genkai that combines Wind and Water chakra..."

"To encounter a ninja with such a rare Kekkei Genkai in a place this small is truly unusual..."

Kakashi spoke gravely.

He wasn't so much explaining it for Sakura as he was deliberately letting himself—and the delighted Zabuza beside him—hear.

Back when he had spent years following Danzo in Root, he'd learned that the more a person had, the more they had to consider before acting.

Zabuza was already a formidable Jonin.

Now he also had a girl with such a Kekkei Genkai at his side.

With such a bright future ahead, Kakashi couldn't believe Zabuza would lose his mind and abandon everything to keep fighting him.

But what Kakashi hadn't expected was that Zabuza laughed when he heard this. Then he shot back with brazen confidence:

"Kakashi, I see you know my future looks bright."

"But look at yourself. With Konoha behind you, you may not be able to call the wind and summon the rain, but at least you never have to worry about food or shelter."

"Now look at me, brother. I'm like a willow leaf drifting in the wind, living every day without knowing whether I'll see the next sunrise."

"How about you back off, and we call it a friendship?"

"I happen to admire that kid Sasuke, too. Just say the word, and if you ever need anything, I, Zabuza, will do everything in my power to help!..."

His words were bold, and his expression seemed entirely sincere.

Kakashi's brow furrowed at once.

Naruto, you'd better hold on...

Kakashi thought to himself.

"Ninja Art: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"

With a change of hand seals, Haku's small body instantly merged into the wall of ice in front of him!

The eight walls of ice were crystal clear.

Looking up, Naruto couldn't see their tops. They seemed to pierce the clouds!

"Damn it... Looks like jumping out is impossible..."

"Multi Shadow Clone Technique!"

Gritting his teeth, Naruto formed another set of hand seals. Dozens of solid-looking Shadow Clones appeared inside the cage formed by the ice walls.

At his command, they all charged toward the eight walls of ice.

Naruto had thought he could use his numbers to break through the ice and escape.

But after his clones struck the walls in a flurry, their efforts came to nothing.

Those eight walls of ice were like iron—unbreakable!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At that critical moment, more clouds of white smoke burst apart.

One after another, the Shadow Clones vanished with them.

"Damn it... I've run out of chakra again..."

Naruto clenched his fists as a bead of cold sweat slid down his forehead.

The situation had taken a sudden turn for the worse, and Naruto was instantly in danger.