I, Sasuke Uchiha, Am Konoha's Strongest Ninja

"You actually killed him." Haku's face was full of hatred as he said in a resolute tone, "You took away the value of my life, so I have to kill you!"

Sasuke took up a fighting stance, thinking, He was clearly locked in the fishing warehouse. How did he escape? Could Zabuza Momochi be nearby?

Haku's face darkened. Within his small body, two emotions seemed to be brewing—anger and sorrow.

Sasuke immediately sensed that something was wrong. The boy before him seemed determined to fight him to the death.

"Wow." Naruto, hiding in the shadows, wore an entertained expression as he silently cheered Sasuke on. He smugly thought, Sasuke, after today, you'll be able to awaken the Sharingan. You should be thanking me.

Haku slowly walked forward, his steps unhurried. Sasuke did not dare act rashly. He watched as Haku's body gradually merged into an Ice Mirror, and even Sasuke found the technique unbelievable.

More than a dozen Ice Mirrors floated in the air, completely surrounding Sasuke. Yet none of them reflected his face. Haku's figure alone appeared in every mirror.

"What kind of technique is this?" Sasuke swiftly analyzed the situation. The five major ninja nature transformations were wind, fire, lightning, earth, and water, yet the secret technique used by this boy belonged to none of them.

Haku slowly raised his right hand. Sasuke immediately went on guard, but before he had time to react, he felt himself struck by a dense barrage of attacks from every direction.

"It doesn't hurt?" Sasuke focused his eyes and saw countless bamboo skewers scattered across the ground.

"What kind of weapon is this?" Sasuke was baffled. What ninja would use bamboo skewers as weapons?

Sasuke was not the only one confused. Even Haku himself looked stunned. His ninja tool pouch had clearly contained thousands of steel needles, each one exceptionally hard and incredibly sharp. They could easily pierce skin, strike acupuncture points, and inflict such agonizing pain that a person could die from it.

Someone switched out my steel needles! The thought flashed through Haku's mind, but he simply could not understand who would replace his steel needles with bamboo skewers—or who would do something like that.

"Hehehe." Naruto, hiding in the shadows, was holding a cloth sack filled with Haku's steel needle weapons.

Naruto spoke softly, "Sasuke is still pretty weak right now. To look after him, I had no choice but to replace all your steel needles, Haku. Otherwise, you definitely would've beaten Sasuke to death. If anything happened to Sasuke, I wouldn't be able to explain it to his brother."

Haku was furious beyond measure. Even without steel needles, he could still take Sasuke's life with bamboo skewers.

Haku hid within the Ice Mirrors, darting back and forth among the dozen mirrors with astonishing speed. Sasuke could do nothing, because Haku moved so fast that Sasuke could not see anything at all.

Sasuke took one step forward, and Haku continuously fired more than a dozen bamboo skewers from behind him. Fortunately, the skewers were not very lethal and did not injure Sasuke.

When Sasuke looked to the left, Haku used the Ice Mirrors to swiftly move to the right, specifically attacking Sasuke from blind spots.

Naruto watched for a while and realized something was off. Haku could not hurt Sasuke with bamboo skewers, and without a threat to his life, Sasuke's potential could not be awakened.

"Hmm, it looks like getting the Sharingan will require taking a little risk." Naruto picked out a hundred steel needles—only a tenth of the total—and stuffed them into a cloth sack before tossing it directly onto the battlefield. The sack landed in front of an Ice Mirror.

The cloth sack that had appeared out of nowhere caught both Sasuke and Haku's attention. By now, both of them knew that a third person was hiding at the scene.

"Who is it? Who's hiding nearby?" Sasuke grew increasingly nervous.

Haku stepped out of an Ice Mirror, picked up the cloth sack from the ground, and opened it. Inside were all his steel needles, though there were fewer than before.

After picking up the hundred steel needles, Haku returned to the Ice Mirrors. Sasuke immediately attacked, trying to stop Haku from entering one, but Sasuke's movements were far too slow. He had no way of stopping him. In Haku's eyes, all of Sasuke's movements were like those of a snail.

Once Haku had his steel needles, it was like a tiger growing fangs. The needles were far deadlier than bamboo skewers. When they pierced the skin, it felt like being stung by bees, a pain that sank into the bones. Sasuke's expression changed at once.

Naruto counted the needles. The number embedded in Sasuke's body had nearly reached one hundred. It's time for me to make my entrance, Naruto thought.

"Die!" Haku shouted angrily, hurling the last handful of steel needles at Sasuke.

Sasuke was in too much pain to resist. At the final moment, he helplessly closed his eyes, but he did not feel the bee-sting pain he had expected.

Sasuke opened his eyes and saw a familiar back—Naruto's back.

Naruto stood before Sasuke, using his own body to block every steel needle. With a determined gaze, he said, "Sasuke, you can still stand, right?"

Sasuke nodded and rose to his feet again, fighting shoulder to shoulder with Naruto.

"It was you?" Haku was somewhat afraid upon seeing Naruto appear, but when he thought of Zabuza Momochi's death, he realized he had nothing left to fear.

"Naruto, be careful. That guy suddenly showed up. We don't even know how he escaped," Sasuke warned.

Naruto knew perfectly well, because he had planned everything. Some time earlier, Naruto had sneaked into the fishing warehouse where Haku was imprisoned and used the Transformation Technique to assume Sasuke's appearance.

Disguised as Sasuke, Naruto entered the fishing warehouse and saw Haku bound hand and foot. Haku's face had turned pale with fright when he saw that the fake Sasuke was holding a bloodstained bandage.

Naruto, disguised as Sasuke, gave Haku a strange smile and said, "I, Sasuke Uchiha, killed Zabuza Momochi. The Uchiha Clan produces Konoha's finest ninjas. Naruto is nothing but dead last in Konoha."

"What did you do to Zabuza?" Haku screamed hoarsely. "What did you do?!"

"Hmph." Sasuke said sinisterly, "Zabuza Momochi, known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist, is already dead by my hand. I cut off his head." With that, Sasuke threw out a bloodstained bandage.

Haku recognized that bandage. Zabuza usually wrapped it around his mouth and nose like a mask, and he rarely ever removed it.

Zabuza's personal bandage was stained with blood. Clearly, someone had slit Zabuza's throat, causing blood to gush out and soak the bandage.

"Hahahaha!" Naruto's fake Sasuke laughed wildly in delight. "Hahahaha—I, Sasuke Uchiha, am Konoha's strongest ninja! Even Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist, died by my hand!" After finishing his performance, Naruto's fake Sasuke quickly slipped away.

"Ahhhhh!" Haku let out a heart-rending cry and struggled with all his strength. At last, he broke free from his restraints, grabbed the bloodstained bandage, and chased into the forest with a dark expression.