Defeating Haku

One Demonic Mirror after another shattered into a shower of flying ice shards beneath Naruto's Shadow Clones' fists. The absolute defensive formation that had driven Sasuke into a corner moments ago was as fragile as a glass display window now.

Ice crystal fragments fell like a torrential downpour, piling up in a glittering layer across the ground.

Haku tried to salvage the situation.

His fingers flew as he attempted to reform the Demonic Mirrors, but Naruto's Shadow Clones gave him no chance.

The moment they shattered one mirror, they rushed straight toward the next. More than a dozen Shadow Clones worked in clear coordination—some focused on destruction, while others kept Haku's real body pinned down.

Whenever Haku formed Senbon, a Shadow Clone would immediately close in from the side, forcing him to abandon his attack and defend himself.

In just a few breaths, every Ice Crystal Magic Mirror except the one concealing Haku's real body had been completely shattered.

At that moment, Naruto's real body moved.

He scooped up the unconscious Sasuke and slung him over his shoulder. Chakra erupted beneath his feet, and he became a red flash, charging through the falling ice shards and out of the Magic Mirror Formation.

Haku saw it.

He instinctively tried to stop him, fresh Senbon already pinched between his fingers. But the instant he moved, the dozen or so Naruto Shadow Clones swiftly regrouped after smashing the mirrors and rushed before the mirror Haku occupied, surrounding it completely.

Three layers inside, three layers outside.

More than a dozen Narutos wrapped in red chakra had sealed him in without a gap.

Pairs of blue eyes stared coldly at Haku inside the mirror like hunters surrounding their prey. If Haku so much as twitched, attacks would rain down on him from every direction at once.

Naruto gently set Sasuke down and walked toward Haku, who was surrounded by the clones.

Haku stood inside the final remaining Demonic Mirror. The fists of more than a dozen Naruto Shadow Clones were already pressed against its surface. At the slightest movement from him, this last mirror would shatter as well.

He glanced at the airtight encirclement around him, took a deep breath, and formed Senbon between his fingers again.

This time, he did not point them at any of the clones. Instead, he held the Senbon between his fingers and slightly spread his arms.

The next instant, Haku's body spun sharply within the mirror.

"Ice Release Secret Technique: Thousand Flying Ice Needles of Death!"

Countless Senbon erupted from Haku in all directions, firing out in a full three hundred and sixty degrees without a single blind spot.

The dense barrage of Senbon was like an exploding rainstorm of pear blossoms. Every needle carried enough force to pierce flesh, covering every corner of the surrounding space.

Faced with this indiscriminate attack, the Shadow Clones remained calm.

Some twisted aside, letting the Senbon skim past the hems of their clothes.

Some raised their hands and condensed chakra, knocking away the incoming Senbon with the backs of their hands at the last instant.

Others leaped straight up, allowing Senbon to pass beneath their feet and embed themselves in a row in the ground behind them.

In the brief gap after the attack, Naruto immediately controlled the Shadow Clones to press forward.

Empowered by the Nine-Tails' chakra, the Shadow Clones advanced far faster than before.

Haku had only just unleashed Thousand Flying Ice Needles of Death, and before he could even retract his arms, one Shadow Clone had already closed to within arm's reach.

"Bang!"

A fist slammed solidly into Haku's abdomen.

"Mmgh..."

Haku grunted, his body involuntarily curling forward as a glistening trace seeped from beneath his mask.

The second Shadow Clone cut in from the left and punched Haku's shoulder blade. The crisp crack of displaced joints was clearly audible.

The third came around from behind and kicked Haku behind the knee, forcing him down onto one knee.

Bang...

Bang...

Bang...

The dull sounds of fists striking flesh rang out continuously, mixed with the sounds of Shadow Clones bursting apart.

Haku truly was skilled. Even while being surrounded and attacked, he managed to burst two Shadow Clones with Senbon at extremely close range, and even had enough strength left to knock another clone back with a clean elbow strike.

But it changed nothing.

There were simply too many Shadow Clones. With the Nine-Tails' chakra amplifying them, every punch carried a force no genin should have been capable of producing. Haku's injuries rapidly piled up.

At last, one Shadow Clone's fist smashed viciously into Haku's mask.

Crack!

With a crisp sound, the mask on Haku's face split down the middle, fragments scattering to the ground.

Behind it was a face so delicate it hardly seemed masculine.

His skin was pale to the point of near transparency, and his fine features possessed a beauty somewhere between that of a young boy and a young girl. Several strands of black hair fell loose as the mask broke, clinging to his pale cheeks.

"Bang!"

With a dull impact, Haku's body was sent flying by a punch. He rolled twice across the ground before coming to a stop.

Before he could struggle to rise, the remaining Naruto Shadow Clones swarmed over him, pinning down his shoulders, arms, and legs and firmly restraining him against the ground.

Naruto's real body slowly walked over to Haku and looked down at that face, beautiful enough that he had to admit it.

He naturally knew this was Haku.

An orphan with the Ice Release bloodline limit, found by Zabuza as a child and raised as a tool, yet someone who had always held deep feelings for Zabuza. Gentle by nature and completely unsuited to being a ninja, he would eventually die beneath Kakashi's Lightning Blade while saving Zabuza.

But the current "him" did not know any of that.

So Naruto silently watched Haku for a while before speaking.

"So it was you."

The sentence was so simple that it conveyed no information at all.

Haku looked up at Naruto. Blood stained the corner of his mouth, and there was little fear in his eyes—only the calm resignation of someone who had accepted his fate.

He had lost, utterly and completely.

It was not merely a crushing defeat in strength, but a complete loss of momentum.

From the destruction of the Demonic Mirrors, to being surrounded, to his mask breaking and being restrained, he had not even managed more than a few effective counterattacks.

"Stay here and wait for this farce to end."

Naruto thought for a moment before speaking, then turned to look toward the battle within the thick mist ahead.

Haku froze for a moment, then struggled to ask, "Why?"

"I killed your companion. He was pierced through his entire body while trying to protect you!"

Naruto did not respond.

Sasuke was not dead, of course. He was only severely wounded and unconscious.

But Naruto did not need to explain that to Haku. An explanation would only invite questions like how he knew Sasuke was not dead, making things more troublesome.

Sometimes, silence was the best answer.

Haku looked at Naruto's unruffled face, opened his mouth, then lowered his head. His eyes dimmed, and in the end, he said nothing.

Just then, a terrifying force of lightning suddenly exploded in the distant fog.

Crackle... sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

Even from dozens of meters away and through layers of thick mist, the sharp, piercing shriek of lightning sounded as though it were right beside their ears, making everyone present feel their skin go numb.

Lightning flashed within the fog, casting the outlines of the mist into shifting light and shadow, as though some enormous beast had awakened amid the clouds.

"Lightning Blade..."

Naruto silently spoke the name of the technique in his heart.

Kakashi and Zabuza's battle had reached its final stage as well.