A Life for a Third Choice

"Kill me."

Haku lay amid shattered ice, his long hair spread across the bridge deck, the spear tip before his throat without piercing his skin.

"Those who are of no use to Lord Zabuza have no value in existing."

Chiba looked at him, his foot still pinning the wrist capable of forming hand seals.

"Did you decide that yourself?"

"I lost."

"I asked who decided your value."

Haku's gaze passed over the spear tip and landed on the other end of the bridge.

"Lord Zabuza gave me a reason to live. If my strength cannot serve him, there is no point in remaining."

"Wrong answer."

"You want Ice Release from me?"

"I do."

"Then do it. Even a corpse can leave behind Kekkei Genkai cells."

The World Tree panel unfolded within Chiba's vision, its dim branches establishing a connection with Haku's chakra.

[Ice Release cell sample can be extracted.]

[Adaptation paths: low-temperature resistance, freezing conduits, ice-wood composite.]

Three evolutionary paths lit up in turn. As long as the spear tip advanced another inch, the extraction could be completed from Haku's blood.

The ice-wood composite was closest to Haku's Kekkei Genkai.

Freezing conduits could grant Poison Wood and Metal Wood new control abilities.

Low-temperature resistance could make up for Wood Release's current weakness.

Any one of them was worth taking.

But a living Haku could wield complete Ice Release, understood medical ninjutsu, and knew the contact routes between Hidden Mist and the underground shipping lines of the Land of Water.

One cell sample could only drive a single evolution.

A living person could change far more.

Chiba withdrew his spear.

"I won't kill you."

Haku's fingers lifted from the bridge deck, then slowly fell back among the broken ice.

"Why?"

"But you owe me one life."

Chiba tapped the