Ice and Blood Revenge, Haku's Debut

The shattered steel gate lay across the muddy street, while large sections of the walls on either side had collapsed. The sea wind swept the rising dust and mist back into the village.

Ye never stopped as he stepped over the scattered bricks and steel wreckage.

Haku followed slightly behind him, his expression unmoved as his hands rapidly formed seals before his chest.

Ram, Rooster, Boar, Dog.

The hand seals were complete.

Kirigakure's shrill alarm rang throughout the long street, piercing the dense mist as it carried deep into the village.

A dense barrage of whistling sounds followed. Large numbers of Anbu ninja wearing animal masks rushed out from the surrounding fog, swiftly taking up positions on nearby rooftops and high walls.

No one wasted words, nor did anyone issue another warning.

The ninja who had survived the Bloody Mist Village struck with lethal attacks from the very start.

A dark swarm of shuriken shot in from every direction, blotting out the already faint sunlight overhead. At the tail of every shuriken was an Explosive Tag that was about to burn out.

At the same time, more than thirty jonin proficient in Water Release formed seals together, and immense chakra gathered in the air.

Water Dragon Bullet, Water Wall, Water Wild Wave—dozens of high-intensity Water Release techniques merged into a raging torrent and crashed toward the five-man squad in the middle of the street from every direction.

The concentrated barrage, powerful enough to destroy the entire block, was already close. Yet Zabuza still stood where he was with his greatsword on his shoulder, Kimimaro lowered his head to inspect his fingertips, and Izumi Uchiha had not even activated her Sharingan.

The boy walking at the very front making his move was exactly what they had all been waiting for.

After taking a step forward, Haku pressed his hands together. The bone-chilling chakra amassed within him immediately poured out through his feet.

A thick white frost rapidly crawled across the wet street, and a freezing current spread outward in a ring. Muddy water froze into solid ice wherever it passed, while the collapsed buildings became coated in crystalline shells.

A clear, cold voice drowned out the roaring all around them, emerging from Haku's slightly parted lips.

"Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals: Cold Abyss."

Dozens of enormous ice mirrors, each over ten meters tall, burst from the ground, their pale, frigid aura rolling continuously across their surfaces.

These mirrors had long since ceased to be ordinary crystals. Dense cold light flowed deep within their surfaces, while their interiors connected to an endless, invisible realm of extreme cold.

The Water Release techniques pressing in from every direction lost their momentum the instant they touched the freezing current.

Then came a dense chorus of freezing sounds. Ice rapidly spread along the streams, sealing every Water Release technique in the blink of an eye.

The enormous water dragon hovering less than three meters above Ye's head still held its lunging posture, its whiskers and scales intact, but its entire body had already become a crystal-clear ice sculpture.

The overwhelming waves were likewise frozen in midair. Layer upon layer of ice pillars filled the space over the long street, forming an inverted sheet of ice.

The Explosive Tags mixed among the Water Release had not yet burned out when the flames on their paper were extinguished by the cold, frozen into solid ice along with the surrounding moisture.

Haku turned his hands over, and chakra immediately erupted outward through every ice mirror.

A deafening blast swept through the long street in an instant.

Along with countless Explosive Tags, the frozen water dragon shattered in midair, and a vast cloud of ice powder drifted down from above.

Fine ice crystals swirled beneath the sunlight, reflecting blindingly cold radiance. A deadly snowstorm now blanketed Kirigakure's streets.

Atop a distant watchtower, Ao kept the binoculars raised before his eyes for a long time, veins bulging across the back of his hand.

After lowering the binoculars, he rapidly formed seals. The veins around his right eye immediately bulged high.

Byakugan activated.

His vision pierced through the ice mist filling the sky and locked directly onto the delicate-looking boy at the front of the group.

The instant he saw the chakra circulating within Haku's body, Ao's chest abruptly tightened, and his breathing paused for half a beat.

That chakra circulation path had completely departed from the conventional fusion of Water and Wind attributes. The icy energy had already merged with the surrounding environment, leaving no distinct boundary between them.

This had long surpassed the level of altering material forms. It had begun to touch the origin of environmental change, ultimately reaching true absolute zero.

How could the Yuki Clan's Kekkei Genkai possibly be this powerful?

As his breathing grew increasingly rushed, cold sweat slid from Ao's temple to his chin before dripping over the edge of the watchtower.

He had personally taken part in the campaign that purged the Yuki Clan years ago.

Even the Yuki Clan patriarch hailed as the strongest in history could not possibly have frozen the combined Water Release ninjutsu of thirty jonin in an instant.

The battlefield had not yet been fully cleared when Haku's figure rapidly faded from where he stood, blending into the towering ice mirrors around him in the blink of an eye.

His body appeared within dozens of mirrors at once, overlapping afterimages racing between their surfaces so quickly that no one could track his path.

Snow and ice suddenly shifted direction and rapidly converged in the air, forming countless slender ice senbon that poured down upon the upper levels of the surrounding buildings.

The screams lasted only half a cry before they abruptly ceased along with the frozen bodies.

The ice senbon that pierced the Anbu ninja sent frigid chakra into their flesh at the same time, and ice rapidly spread from the wounds throughout their entire bodies.

In less than half a minute, an entire squad of elite Anbu had been frozen atop the rooftops and high walls.

Some were still posed as though fleeing, some had raised their hands to form seals, and others held up ninja blades in preparation to counterattack. The fear had not yet faded from their eyes, but their bodies had already become lifeless ice sculptures.

Even the final sounds of pleading vanished completely beneath the spreading ice.

The district, once damp and warm, was engulfed by extreme cold in the blink of an eye. The pooled water on the road froze into ice nearly half a foot thick, while sunlight fell over the ice sculptures scattered everywhere and reflected broad swathes of cold white light.

After stepping out from an ice mirror beside Ye, Haku's breathing remained steady, and not even the edge of his clothes was disheveled.

On an abandoned high-rise several hundred meters away, two figures silently landed at the edge of the rooftop.

The red-brown-haired woman standing in front looked past layers of ruins toward the district covered in ice and snow.

Terumi Mei's composure had completely disappeared. Her brows drew tighter and tighter, while the hand hanging at her side quietly clenched her sleeve.

Chojuro, standing behind her, tightly gripped the twin blades Hiramekarei on his back. Sweat seeping from his palm slowly trickled down the hilt.

"This Ice Release... is seriously frightening."

As she murmured those words, Terumi Mei never took her eyes off Haku.

Possessing both Lava Release and Boil Release Kekkei Genkai, she was far more sensitive to changes in chakra than ordinary ninja.

The boy's Ice Release far surpassed that of every Yuki Clan member from back then. Whether in chakra intensity or control over cold, he had reached a level she could not begin to measure.

There were only five of them, yet the power displayed by this squad was already enough to overturn the entire balance of the Land of Water.

After clearing the field, Haku turned toward the street corner, preparing to deal with the remaining enemies still hidden in the shadows.

At that moment, a vast shadow covered the sky overhead, and the entire street darkened by several shades.

A tall, powerfully built figure leaped down from the top of a high-rise amid raging water currents, landing directly on the ice-covered street.

A muffled boom shook dust loose from the nearby buildings.

The newcomer stomped through the thick ice in the street. Violent force surged outward through the ground, sending ice shards and water spray into the air.

A broad-bladed sword wrapped in white bandages fell immediately afterward, smashing heavily into the ground and plowing a trench several meters long ahead of it.

Slowly straightening up, the man revealed a shark-like, vicious face. His lips split wide to either side, exposing a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Ho, this Ice Release really is rare... It's got me a little excited."

Pulling out the broad-bladed sword and resting it on his shoulder, Kisame Hoshigaki swept his bloodthirsty gaze across the five of them before finally stopping on Zabuza.