Shattering the Tool Theory, Ye's Swordbearer

Haku frowned slightly. Though a sharp pain shot through his chin, he did not dodge. He merely stared with those clear yet lifeless eyes directly into Ye's pitch-black gaze.

"You want to trade your life for his?"

The mockery at Ye's lips was utterly undisguised as he looked down at Haku.

"Your life? A guy like you, who sees himself as someone else's tool... tsk, you're not even qualified to die by my hand."

Ye forced Haku to raise his head, his fingers tightening as his cold voice reached the boy's ears.

"Put away that pathetic, cheap self-indulgence."

Haku's body trembled. For the first time, panic and helplessness appeared in eyes that had previously held only the resolve to die.

Ever since the day he awakened his Kekkei Genkai, was hunted by his father, and collapsed on the streets half-frozen to death before Zabuza took him in, he had assigned himself a single purpose for existing.

He would become Zabuza-sama's weapon—a tool with no thoughts, one that could be discarded or abandoned at any time.

That belief was also the only thing he could cling to in his bleak life, and it had supported him until now.

Yet now, Ye had dismissed that belief as utterly worthless.

"A tool can only kill when its master swings the blade, cover the rear when its master runs away, and once it breaks... it gets tossed aside."

Ye released him as though his hand had touched mud, allowing Haku to fall into the mire. His gaze passed over Haku and landed on Zabuza, who was kneeling behind him.

"Turn around and look at the state he's in."

"He can't even protect his own life. Do you think... he deserves a weapon worthy of his hand?"

Zabuza did not utter a single word in rebuttal. He clenched his teeth, veins bulging across his hands as he pressed the Kubikiribōchō into the mud. His heart was filled with humiliation, yet his head remained lowered.

Every word Ye spoke made his chest tighten.

The cruel reality lay before him. He had indeed lost. His assassination attempt on the Fourth Mizukage had failed, his subordinates were dead or wounded, and if Ye had not appeared here, he and Haku were destined to become two corpses in the forest today.

"From today onward... you no longer need to be anyone else's tool."

His voice was domineering, carrying an unquestionable will as Ye looked down at the bewildered Haku.

"You are a person. You are Uchiha Ye's swordbearer."

"Your worth is not proven by dying for someone else... only the power in your hands can decide whether you live or die."

Haku sat dumbly in the muddy water as Ye's words echoed over and over in his mind.

Swordbearer.

The one who held the sword.

A faint light appeared deep within his eyes, which had lain dormant for years. His sense of self was slowly awakening.

Ye did not leave him any more time to think. With a silent thought, he immediately retrieved the reward from the System Space.

A low hum came from his palm.

Even the air nearby frosted over. A ball of deep-blue energy appeared in Ye's hand, its light spreading in all directions.

The source of laws pushed to its limit by the system—Ice Release: Absolute Zero.

The moment the sphere appeared, the mud within ten meters froze into hard earth. White frost spread outward as Kabuto Yakushi pushed up his glasses, sensing danger and taking half a step back. Izumi, too, felt a piercing chill from the ice and snow.

Ye raised his right hand, locked onto his target, and slammed the deep-blue sphere resting on his palm into Haku's chest.

A freezing current burst from Haku, sweeping through the area with him at its center as it surged upward and whipped the branches overhead.

"Aah!"

An exquisite hexagonal ice crystal mark formed between his brows. Haku threw back his head and let out a cry of pain and exhilaration as the source of Absolute Zero expanded and reshaped the meridians within him. His previously frail chakra pathways turned into a pure deep blue, and cold seeped through his skin.

The ice cracked sharply again and again.

The broken trunks and branches around them, still dripping with water, were completely frozen in an instant and turned transparent as ice. The mud beneath their feet stopped flowing, and ancient black ice spread outward, turning everything within a hundred meters into a sheet of ice.

The bloodstench filling the area was covered by the pure scent of ice and snow. Every trace of moisture in the air was drawn away, and sunlight reflected off the frozen ground in dazzling rainbow colors.

Zabuza watched Haku in midair, countless crystalline ice blades circling the boy as waves of bone-chilling chakra pressed down upon them.

The strength and purity of this chakra surpassed every member of the Yuki Clan he had ever seen. Even ordinary Kage-level experts fell far short of it.

A single move could wreak tremendous destruction, while a single gift could forge a supreme expert who surpassed the limits of bloodline.

Such divine power was not something any mortal could possess.

Haku landed upon the crystalline ice and lowered his head to look at his hands, slowly curling his fingers into fists.

A crisp sound came from before his palm as the air formed a tiny crack of ice under the low temperature.

All of Haku's confusion had faded away. He raised his head, his delicate face illuminated by icy light. Ye's reflection appeared in his ice-blue eyes, which now held nothing but absolute devotion.

He dropped to both knees on the ice, placed both hands on the ground, and offered Ye the most solemn bow.

"Lord Ye... Haku accepts. I am willing to become your swordbearer and kill everyone who stands in your way... for you."

Zabuza looked at Haku kneeling on the ground, then at the indifferent Uchiha Ye. The last remnants of ambition and pride in his eyes vanished together.

He drew the broken Kubikiribōchō, took a deep breath, and drove its broad blade upside down into the black ice. His massive body then dropped to one knee, his head bowing heavily.

"I, Zabuza Momochi, am willing to devote my life to Lord Ye!"

"Wherever you point, I'll cut... until the day I die!"

[ Ding. Successfully subdued core plot characters Zabuza Momochi and Haku. Key supports for reshaping the Blood Mist's structure have been established. Rewards issued. ]

The system's mechanical prompt sounded in Ye's mind. He merely nodded slightly.

"Get up, all of you."

Ye turned and walked toward the edge of the forest, unconcerned with the two behind him. Izumi put away her black umbrella and followed closely after him.

Kabuto Yakushi, who had been responsible for watching their rear, hurried forward. After confirming that it was safe, he took out an encrypted scroll that had just been intercepted through a secret technique and handed it to Ye.

"Lord Ye, congratulations... you've gained two more formidable subordinates."

Ice and snow reflected across his lenses as Kabuto adjusted the round-framed glasses on his nose, light glinting over the glass.

"However... an urgent report has just arrived from the intelligence network along the northern coast of the Land of Water."

Kabuto paused and only continued after confirming there was nothing unusual around them.

"That sinister Orochimaru has also infiltrated the Land of Water. He has concealed his movements well and is heading toward that deserted northern coastline."

Ye stopped walking. Without rushing to read it, he accepted the scroll and wiped away the sealing formula on it.

The scroll unfurled, and several clear coordinates of strongholds entered his sight.