The Seed Sprouts, the Demon Arrives

Haku ran.

It would be more accurate to say she fled in panic.

Her slender figure stumbled through the forest shrouded in morning mist, as if the most terrifying monster imaginable were chasing her from behind.

But she knew that what truly frightened her did not come from the outside world, but from the lake called "self" within her heart, into which a massive boulder had been cast.

She stopped behind a huge cedar tree, pressing her back tightly against its rough bark. The cold touch calmed her violently heaving chest somewhat.

She gasped for breath. Beneath her mask, it was impossible to tell whether the moisture on her exquisitely delicate face was sweat or tears.

Almost unconsciously, she raised a hand, trembling fingertips gently touching the blue wildflower that had been carefully tucked into her hair.

The petals still bore the morning dew, cold and damp, yet they seemed to carry a strange warmth that traveled from her fingertips all the way to the deepest part of her heart.

"Tools do not feel sadness."

"You have very beautiful eyes..."

The blond boy's words echoed over and over in her mind like an inescapable curse.

Liar... liar!

Of course she felt sadness!

On that snowy night, when her parents looked at her with hatred and fear, when the villagers raised torches and farming tools and treated her like a monster, she had been so sad she nearly died!

But from the moment Lord Zabuza picked her up from hell, she had told herself that tools did not need emotions.

Sadness, joy, confusion... those were all useless emotions. They would only become rust on Lord Zabuza's "sharp blade."

Her existence was to become Lord Zabuza's most useful tool.

Her life was to burn for the sake of realizing Lord Zabuza's ambitions.

That was the sole meaning of her existence, the entirety of the creed she lived by!

Yet today, this boy named Naruto Uzumaki had effortlessly torn apart the ice she had spent more than ten years weaving with just a few words and a flower.

He had not looked at her as though she were a monster.

He had not looked at her as though she were a tool.

He had even... seen through the gender she had deliberately tried to forget.

With an appreciative, equal, even faintly gentle gaze, he had told her that she had "very beautiful eyes."

This feeling...

It struck more fiercely than any blade piercing her heart, and was more intoxicating than any illusion.

[ Ding! Detected that target character 'Haku's' self-perception as a 'tool' has been violently shaken! Her suppressed 'individual worth' is awakening!]

[Affection +30! Current affection: 30 (flustered upon first meeting)]

Beneath her mask, Haku bit her lip hard as an unprecedented wave of confusion and panic swept over her.

She feared this feeling, this unfamiliar, uncontrollable feeling, would prevent her from remaining that pure tool who existed only for Lord Zabuza.

She suddenly tore the little flower from her hair, intending to hurl it to the ground and crush it beneath her foot.

But when her gaze fell upon those fragile yet beautiful blue petals, her hand froze in midair.

In the end, she could only lower her hand helplessly and clutch the flower tightly, tightly in her palm, as if it were the only piece of driftwood she could seize while drowning.

Elsewhere, Naruto walked leisurely back to the group with his hands in his pockets.

"Naruto, you're back?"

Kakashi closed Icha Icha Paradise in his hand. His dead-fish eye glanced at him, carrying a hint of barely noticeable scrutiny.

"Yeah, I just took a walk. There's nothing in this dump. Boring."

Naruto yawned and casually made something up.

He had concealed his presence well, but the chakra fluctuation from the instant he activated the Byakugan could never escape Kakashi's notice.

But so what?

This bargain-bin teacher could never guess that he had merely conducted a little psychological profiling, while incidentally planting a seed called "self" within a closed-off girl's heart.

[System prompt: Host, your approach toward 'Haku' seems somewhat different from your previous domineering style?]

"Heh." Naruto sneered inwardly. "Different prey naturally requires different traps. For someone like Haku, whose heart is bound layer upon layer in shackles, smashing them open with brute force would only shatter her along with the treasure inside. What I need to do is find that one key and let her willingly walk out herself."

The curve of his lips held the confidence and amusement of a skilled hunter.

"Compared to simple conquest, isn't it more interesting to personally carve an uncut gem and watch her bloom with peerless brilliance in my hands?"

"Zabuza, Zabuza. You treat her as a tool, but you do not realize that once a tool begins to wonder, 'Who am I?' it is no longer a tool."

Watching Naruto's thoughtful expression and faintly wicked smile, Sasuke's brow furrowed even deeper.

There was an increasingly unreadable air about this dead last, and it irritated him for no reason.

The rest of the journey passed without incident.

By evening, the group had finally arrived at Tazuna's home on the coast of Wave Country.

The door was opened by Tazuna's daughter, the gentle and virtuous Tsunami.

Behind her hid a little boy with hostility in his eyes, Inari.

Naruto could not even be bothered to raise an eyelid at the hostility of such a brat.

In his eyes, the resentment of the weak was the most boring and worthless emotion of all.

The night passed without incident.

The atmosphere during the following journey became somewhat oppressive.

After the boat reached shore, they stepped onto the land of Wave Country.

There were few pedestrians on the streets. The occasional villagers who appeared all wore numb, fearful expressions, and when they saw these shinobi wearing forehead protectors, they avoided them from afar as though fleeing a plague.

The entire country was shrouded in a lifeless gloom, as if even the air were gray.

By evening, the group had finally arrived at Tazuna's home.

The door was opened by Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami.

She was a gentle woman, but an unshakeable sorrow lingered between her brows.

Behind her hid a little boy whose eyes were filled with hostility and resentment, Inari.

"Shinobi... shinobi can't save this country either," Inari growled in a low voice, glaring fiercely at Naruto's group. "You'll all die in the end! Just like Kaiza did!"

Naruto could not even be bothered to raise an eyelid at the hostility of such a brat.

In his eyes, the resentment of the weak was the most boring and worthless emotion of all.

The night passed without incident.

The next morning.

After everyone finished a simple breakfast and escorted Tazuna back onto the muddy path leading to the bridge, a sudden change occurred!

Without warning, a thick white fog that could not be dispersed spread in from every direction!

The fog arrived with extreme strangeness. In barely a dozen seconds, it had completely swallowed everything around them.

Visibility instantly dropped to less than five meters.

The air became cold, damp, and viscous.

The surroundings were deathly silent; even the chirping of insects and birds had vanished.

"Everyone, be careful!"

Kakashi's voice became more serious than ever. He pulled Tazuna behind him in one swift motion, his entire body like a fully drawn bow!

Then, at that moment!

An utterly frigid, cruel, terrifying killing intent, as if it could freeze marrow itself, swept toward them like a tsunami, blanketing the heavens and earth!

A sinister, hoarse voice, like sandpaper scraping together, echoed from all directions within the thick fog.

"Heh... hehehe... Copy Ninja Kakashi, and you cute little brats. My target is only that old man. Hand him over, and I can let you die quickly."

Kakashi slowly raised his left hand, his gaze instantly turning sharp as a blade!

He tore away the forehead protector covering his left eye, revealing a strange pupil as crimson as blood, three black tomoe slowly rotating within it!

The Sharingan!

Kakashi stared at the rolling fog ahead and pronounced, word by word, the name that represented bloodshed and slaughter in the Shinobi World:

"The Demon of Hidden Mist—Zabuza Momochi!"