Those dozens of Ice Senbon, tempered with killing intent colder than ice, reached their target almost the instant they appeared.
They sliced through the air with shrill whooshes that set teeth on edge, sealing off every vital point on Naruto's body that could kill him in a single strike—his heart, neck, temples, and more.
The attack was ruthless, and its timing viciously precise—it had perfectly seized the instant after Naruto's forced burst of power, when his blood and qi had fallen and the muscles in his right leg were still screaming in rigid agony!
It was an assassination worthy of a textbook!
"Not good!"
Amid the ruins of the Water Prison Technique, Kakashi's Sharingan abruptly contracted!
This surprise attack was of exceptionally high quality!
Forget Naruto being turned away from his opponent with his old momentum spent—even at his peak, Kakashi would have had to use the Substitution Technique immediately to evade such a vicious attack. He would never have dared take it head-on!
On the bridge, Sasuke's newly awakened One-Tomoe Sharingan spun wildly. Amid that chilling gleam, he clearly caught the fleeting stiffness in Naruto's back!
This timing... Sasuke's mind went ice-cold, not from fear, but from a genius's instinctive analysis of the battlefield. It's the price of that kick! He isn't invincible! He has weaknesses too!
"Watch out!"
Kakashi's roar had barely left his mouth before it caught in his throat.
Because the expected spray of blood never came.
Yet neither did Naruto emerge completely unscathed.
At that critical instant, the golden figure made a reaction that surpassed everyone's expectations!
He did not turn around, nor did he even attempt to dodge!
Boom!
Chakra erupted violently from beneath his feet—not to move him, but to generate a furious rotational force!
Naruto spun like a top at high speed, his golden hair whipping up fierce gusts of wind!
As he spun, his right hand became a blurred golden afterimage, actively meeting that barrage of death!
Clang! Clang! Keng! Pfft—!
A dense succession of scalp-numbing impacts rang out!
Most of the Ice Senbon were knocked aside by his arms, the backs of his hands, even his knuckles, using angles so tricky they seemed driven by a beast's instinct!
Yet even the most meticulous defense had its flaw!
Several of the deadliest senbon ultimately pierced through that rotating defensive net!
But at the instant they were about to stab into his heart and neck, that hand swinging behind him finally seized them tightly in its palm at the very last moment, missing by mere fractions of an inch!
"Hiss—"
Naruto sucked in a sharp breath, and his rotation came to an abrupt stop.
He slowly opened his hand. The Ice Senbon he had caught had already shattered beneath his terrifying grip, yet their sharp icy splinters had still pierced his tough palm, and several streams of blood slowly ran down the lines of his hand.
He was injured.
Though it was merely a negligible flesh wound, it undoubtedly proclaimed one fact—he was not a god.
"Thousand Flying Water Needles!"
A clear, cold cry came from the shadows of the forest.
A slender figure wearing a Hidden Mist ANBU mask appeared on the water like a ghost, blocking Naruto's path as he was about to flee.
"Zabuza-sama, go!"
It was her.
Naruto slowly raised his head, a cold killing intent flashing through his azure eyes.
He did not even look at that loyal "tool" protecting her master. Instead, he brought his bleeding palm to his mouth, extended his tongue, and licked the blood from it with savage deliberation.
That look seemed to say: You have successfully angered me.
"Haku! You..." Zabuza was both shocked and enraged.
Yet before he could finish, the golden demon across from him moved!
Boom—!
The water beneath Naruto's feet suddenly exploded into a circular crater!
His body became a golden cannonball that tore through the air, charging violently toward Haku and Zabuza!
This time, he was not an uncapturable bolt of lightning, but a purely brutal charge—visible to the naked eye, yet so fast it drove people to despair!
Fast!
Too fast!
Kakashi's Sharingan could follow his trajectory, but a profound sense of helplessness rose within him.
That was not technique. It was an ancient beast using the most primitive method to shorten the distance between two points!
Sasuke's One-Tomoe Sharingan was spinning at its limit, and even began to seep blood!
He saw it!
He clearly saw every pulse of Naruto's leg muscles during his charge, the violent paths chakra traced across his body!
It isn't the Body Flicker Technique... He coats the soles of his feet with chakra to reduce friction, then combines that with the explosive power of the Sage Body... So that's it! This is true speed!
Despair?
No!
Not only was there no despair in Sasuke's eyes, they instead burned with an unprecedented fire called [Analysis] and [Desire]!
"Demonic Ice Mirrors!"
Faced with this world-destroying momentum, Haku's eyes, always full of confidence, showed an emotion called shock for the first time!
She immediately formed hand seals at lightning speed, preparing to use her strongest Kekkei Genkai!
However, Naruto's battle instincts were far more terrifying than she had imagined!
At the instant she formed her seals, Naruto forcibly twisted his body in the midst of his high-speed charge and plunged his right hand into the water!
Splash!
He violently swept up a huge mass of water, turning it into an irregular wall that smashed fiercely toward Haku!
The move was crude, savage, and utterly devoid of beauty, yet it was the most effective tactic!
For the first time, Haku's prideful hand-seal speed was forcibly interrupted by such an unreasonable method!
She had no choice but to retreat half a step to avoid the wall of water.
And that half-step was already an insurmountable gulf!
The instant the water wall shattered with a crash, that golden figure was already upon her!
"!"
Haku's mind went blank in an instant!
She only felt an irresistible, terrifying force clamp down on the wrists of her hands as they formed seals!
The force was so great that she felt as if her bones were about to be crushed!
Strength, speed, combat intelligence... everything was completely crushed!
Before Haku could recover from the overwhelming gap in their strength, Naruto suddenly yanked and twisted his arm!
Using a grappling technique, he pulled her completely off balance, sending her body spinning uncontrollably into him!
"Ah—!"
Haku let out a short cry. The next second, she felt a pair of arms like iron pincers lock her tightly against his chest from behind!
It was a perfect combat hold. Her arms were twisted behind her back and her body was restrained; she could not use any ninjutsu at all!
Humiliation, terror, helplessness... all kinds of emotions instantly shattered every bit of Haku's calm!
"Let... let me go!"
She struggled desperately, but the iron arms wrapped around her did not budge in the slightest!
Click.
A soft sound rang out.
Amid her fierce struggles, the white ANBU mask on her face, representing her identity as a "tool," finally gave way. A crack split it down the middle, and then it fell into the water with a splash.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
On the bridge.
Sakura and Sasuke stared blankly at the unbelievable scene on the water.
Beneath the mask was a face... a face of such breathtaking beauty that even heaven and earth seemed to lose their color!
Her skin was whiter than snow, her brows like distant mountains, her lips like cherry petals.
That face, cold beyond compare yet beautiful beyond compare, resembled a pure snow lotus quietly blooming atop a snow-covered mountain peak that never melted—an unparalleled beauty capable of toppling kingdoms!
This... this terrifying assassin...
Was actually a woman?!
And such a... beautiful girl?!
Sasuke's ever-cold face froze completely.
He felt that his worldview had once again been smashed to pieces by Naruto in the crudest possible way!
He had considered himself a genius, only to be instantly defeated by a single Water Clone Technique.
He looked down on women, believing they were all troublesome creatures.
Yet now, this powerful enemy who had driven both him and Kakashi-sensei into a desperate situation, and had even seized the opportunity to injure Naruto, was actually a girl even prettier than Sakura?!
What the hell?!
Amid the ruins of the Water Prison Technique, Kakashi was utterly dumbfounded as well.
His Sharingan was wide open, as though his eyeball were about to pop right out of its socket.
First, his student had turned out to be a deeply hidden humanoid Tailed Beast who had shattered an A-rank Water Release with one kick.
And now, this formidable and ruthless Hidden Mist assassin was a breathtakingly beautiful girl disguised as a man?
What kind of hell-difficulty mission was this Wave Country assignment?!
As the center of everyone's attention, Naruto lowered his head and watched with interest the stunningly beautiful, panic-stricken face in his arms, as well as her snow-white neck flushed red with humiliation and anger.
Feeling the soft yet resilient body against him, along with the weak force of her desperate struggles that seemed more like coquettish resistance, the domineering possessiveness within him as a male instantly surged to its peak!
He leaned close to Haku's ear and teasingly whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"With a face that pretty, it's a waste for you to be an assassin."
"Why not become my exclusive collectible instead?"
Before you continue