Exploit the Opening

All at once, a thick cloud of smoke exploded across the ground, and numerous Ninja Hounds leapt out from within it. Pakkun poked his head out too.

"Yo, Kakashi. Need something?"

"Yeah. Pakkun, I need you to track down Zabuza by scent and restrain him," Kakashi replied.

"The Demon Zabuza, runaway ninja of the Mist? I'll never forget that guy's smell." Pakkun flicked his tail, his nose twitching rapidly as he sniffed the air. "Follow me!" The moment he finished speaking, he led the other Ninja Hounds charging into the thick mist like arrows loosed from the bow. With their sense of smell far beyond any ordinary person's, they locked precisely onto Zabuza's position amid the complicated fog.

The Ninja Hounds divided their work with practiced precision. Some circled in from the left, while others feinted from the front. Sharp barking tore through the silence of the mist in an instant, completely exposing Zabuza's figure before Kakashi.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Haku had already fallen into a disadvantage in his battle against Naruto, whose Nine-Tails chakra was spilling out.

The berserk red chakra around Naruto's body battered ceaselessly against the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, and those diamond-shaped mirrors shattered inch by inch like fragile glass.

Naruto seized the opening and yanked Haku out of the ice crystals. Red chakra spread up along his arm, wrapping around Haku's body as if it were alive.

Haku tried to freeze Naruto's arm with Ice Release, only to find that the instant his chakra touched that berserk energy, it was devoured. The ice crystals had barely formed before they turned to powder.

A scarlet light flickered in Naruto's eyes. Haku had already given up struggling, and in the instant Naruto was about to crush him, he suddenly saw a flash of relief pass through Haku's eyes.

It was not fear, but a calmness as though a heavy burden had been lifted, as if he had been waiting for this moment for a very long time.

Naruto's frenzied movements abruptly froze. The red chakra receded slightly like a tide, and a trace of confusion flashed through his bewildered gaze, as if he did not understand why he was trying to kill the person before him.

Haku took the chance to break free of Naruto's restraint and retreated. He looked at Naruto, his eyes filled with complicated emotion.

"I lost, Naruto. But why did you stop just now? You clearly had the chance to kill me." Haku's voice carried a faint tremor that was hard to detect. He looked at the scarlet gradually fading from Naruto's eyes, and at that face still marked by confusion and pain. Some corner of his heart seemed to be touched ever so lightly.

Naruto opened his mouth, but no sound came out. The anger and power that had nearly swallowed him just now receded like the tide, leaving only a bone-deep exhaustion and emptiness behind.

He looked at his hands, which were covered in shards of ice crystal, then looked at the burn marks left by chakra on Haku's body. An indescribable emotion churned in his chest.

Haku sighed softly, then turned to look at the sky revealed after the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals had completely collapsed. At some point, most of the mist had already dispersed, and sunlight poured down through the clouds, casting mottled light and shadow over the ground. "You really are like him..." he murmured in a voice so soft it could almost not be heard. "You hate loneliness so much, yet you desperately protect something all the same."

Just then, Zabuza's furious roar came from the distance, accompanied by the wild barking of Ninja Hounds and the harsh sound of metal clashing. Haku's expression shifted slightly, and he snapped his head toward the direction the sound had come from, a trace of resolve flashing in his eyes.

He looked at Naruto one last time. That gaze held apology, relief, and a fleeting hint of gentleness. Then his figure turned into a streak of white light and raced toward Zabuza.

Naruto stood frozen in place, staring blankly at Haku's departing back. His outstretched hand stopped in midair. The red chakra completely dissipated, leaving only the cold sensation at his fingertips and the lingering confusion in his heart.

By now, Kakashi had already condensed Chidori and was charging straight toward Zabuza, who had been pinned down by the Ninja Hounds.

The instant Chidori was about to strike Zabuza, Haku flashed in front of Zabuza with the Body Flicker Technique, intending to block Kakashi's attack for him.

At this point, Kakashi could no longer stop. He could only close his eyes. Beside his ears, the buzzing of Chidori intertwined with the sharp shriek of torn air. He could clearly sense the Lightning Release chakra gathered to its limit in his palm screaming wildly, and he could also catch the faint heartbeat and hurried flow of chakra that had suddenly appeared in front of him.

It was Haku's aura, clean as fresh snow, yet at this moment it was rushing toward death without hesitation.

Kakashi's fingertips were almost touching Haku's thin back, and the light of Chidori illuminated his tightly shut eyelids.

After a moment, the sensation Kakashi had imagined, of Chidori piercing through a body, never came. In its place was an extremely hard resistance.

His eyes flew open, and he discovered that his Chidori had struck a rock. He suddenly turned his head to look at Duanmu and found him sitting on the ground, panting heavily.

Just as Kakashi's Chidori was about to hit Haku, Duanmu had used Flying Thunder God to move him away.

Duanmu's Flying Thunder God had already been unskilled to begin with, and Flying Thunder God itself was an extremely chakra-draining technique. Forcibly transferring a ninja with such a massive amount of chakra had placed an enormous burden on his body.

His face was as pale as paper, his lips were cracked, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat. He barely even had the strength to lift a hand, but when he saw that both Kakashi and Haku were unharmed, he still forced a weak smile onto his lips.

Zabuza looked at Haku standing in front of him, then at Duanmu, who had collapsed in the distance from chakra exhaustion. For the first time, shock and disbelief appeared in those eyes that had always been cold.

Seeing this from afar, Naruto shouted, "Nice one, Duanmu!"

Naruto had never been someone willing to watch another person's life fade away. Now, witnessing Haku's act of sacrificing himself to protect someone else, the value he placed on life and his longing for bonds grew even stronger.

He looked at Haku's determined back as he stood in front of Zabuza, then remembered how Sasuke had stepped forward to protect him just now. The two similar forms of protection intertwined in his mind, giving him a deeper sense of what "protecting" someone meant.

But Zabuza would never accept this "kindness." He suddenly tore free of the Ninja Hounds' bites. Though his left arm was clamped tightly in Pakkun's jaws and dripping with blood, he still dragged the Executioner's Blade and staggered toward Haku. "Get out of my way! You useless tool!"

His voice was hoarse and violent, but complicated, unreadable emotions surged in his eyes. Whether it was the shame and anger of having his disguise exposed, or a moved feeling he refused to admit, even he himself could not say.

Haku only stubbornly stood in front of him, his thin shoulders trembling slightly. "Mr. Zabuza, we've already lost."

At that moment, among everyone on the field, only Kakashi still had some chakra left.

Duanmu had already been drained dry by the Flying Thunder God just now, and Sasuke and Naruto had both been seriously injured in their battle with Haku. As for Haku and Zabuza, the two of them had also consumed a great deal of chakra. Haku in particular, after maintaining the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals and resisting Naruto's rampaging state, now had a face as pale as paper and could barely even support himself standing.

Zabuza, meanwhile, had spent too much stamina in his fight with Kakashi and the Ninja Hounds' restraint. The wound on his left arm was still seeping blood, and every breath pulled at stabbing pain.

Kakashi looked at the scene before him, his hand tightening slightly around his ninja tool. He knew this battle was already nearing its end, but there was no joy of victory in his heart, only a heavy exhaustion.

An extremely discordant voice rang out from the other side of the bridge. "And here I thought you were some Demon of the Mist. In the end, you still couldn't complete the job."

The newcomer was none other than Gato. At this moment, more than a dozen burly men wielding weapons followed behind him, contemptuous smiles on their faces. They clearly regarded Zabuza and Haku's wretched state as a joke.

Gato slowly walked forward, the gravel under his feet crunching. He pointed at Zabuza with his riding crop, his tone filled with mockery. "I spent so much money hiring you to kill that old bridge builder, and not only did you fail, you even got beaten into this state by a few brats and a cripple. You've really disgraced the name of 'Demon'!"

His gaze swept over Haku's pale face, then landed on Kakashi, a sinister look flashing in his eyes. "But that's fine too. Since you're useless now, go die. Saves me from wasting any more time."

As he spoke, he waved at the subordinates behind him. "Kill them all. Don't leave a single one alive!" Those burly men immediately surrounded them with savage grins, the blades in their hands flashing with cold killing intent beneath the sunlight.

Zabuza looked toward Gato, and scarlet killing intent like he had never shown before surged in his eyes. That killing intent was no longer coldness toward an enemy, but a mix of betrayed rage and a kind of despair even he himself had not noticed.

He stared fixedly at Gato's smug, ugly face. The Executioner's Blade let out a low hum in his hand, as if echoing its master's fury. "Gato..." He squeezed the name through his teeth, his voice as hoarse as two stones grinding together, every syllable carrying the stench of blood. "You think... you can humiliate me like this?"

The smile on Gato's face instantly stiffened, then turned into an even more arrogant laugh. "Humiliate you? Zabuza, you're nothing but a beaten dog under my feet now! You think you still have the right to talk about humiliation? Let me tell you, from the moment you accepted my employment, your life stopped belonging to you!"

He paused, then pointed his riding crop at Haku, his tone turning even more venomous. "And you, pretty boy. Don't think you can survive by acting pitiful. Once I'm done with them, I'll show you what real pain is!"

Haku's body trembled slightly, but he still did not retreat. He merely shielded Zabuza even more tightly.

Zabuza looked at Haku's thin back and felt the faint trembling coming from his body. The emotions suppressed inside him erupted like a volcano.

At that moment, Kakashi's Ninja Hounds also released Zabuza. Zabuza looked toward Kakashi. "Kakashi, looks like we'll have to call a truce for a while."