You Finally Awakened the Sharingan

"One after another, every Konoha ninja deserved to die." Since he had run out of senbon, Haku took bamboo skewers from his ninja tool pouch. With a breath of cold air, he instantly froze them solid.

Naruto froze. He had not expected such a change and accused him, "You're way too cunning! When did you get an ability like this? Even I didn't know! You can freeze bamboo skewers with just one breath!"

"Sasuke, you're seriously useless." Naruto turned around and said, "Did you see that? That guy is getting stronger and gained a new ability. What about your Sharingan? Still hasn't come out?"

"How do you know about the Sharingan?"

"The whole Konoha lumber supply only has one family producing Sharingan. Who wouldn't know?"

While Naruto and Sasuke traded jabs, Haku launched a fierce attack. The frozen bamboo skewers shot toward them like a dense rainstorm. Several ice skewers struck Naruto in the back, instantly twisting his expression in pain.

This time, Naruto had truly brought disaster upon himself. To Haku, Zabuza Momochi was the meaning of his life, the conviction that allowed him to keep living.

Years ago, when Haku was still young, he awakened the Ice Release Bloodline Limit. This power represented war and slaughter. In certain regions, those who possessed Kekkei Genkai were unwelcome and could even be executed.

War and slaughter had brought far too much suffering to the ninja world, and that suffering brewed even more misfortune.

Those who feared war hated ninjas and everything associated with them, including those with Kekkei Genkai, even if the person who had awakened it was only a child.

When someone discovered that Haku had awakened the Ice Release Bloodline Limit, the first person to raise a butcher's blade was his father. Under his mother's desperate protection, Haku finally escaped from his father's blade.

Victims who feared war ultimately raised their blades against innocent children, believing that doing so would end this twisted world, never realizing they were only making it uglier.

One snowy winter, Haku met Zabuza Momochi. With only a glance as they passed each other by, they recognized that both had lost their homes. Two homeless wanderers thus came together.

Seeing Haku's fierce offensive, Naruto knew he had touched Haku's reverse scale. This was no good thing. One wrong move and he might die miserably at Haku's hands.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!" Naruto formed hand seals and unleashed the technique, instantly creating more than thirty Shadow Clones around himself. He used them as shields to block Haku's ice bamboo skewers.

"We can win!" Naruto said. "Even if Haku has gotten stronger and gained a new ability, he has to breathe on the bamboo skewers to freeze them. That takes preparation time and lowers his attack frequency."

"Sasuke! I'll use my clones to distract him. You find an opening!"

"I've been looking for an opening this whole time. I never stopped, but he's too fast! My eyes can't keep up with him!" Sasuke stared with his eyes wide open.

"It's useless. Even if there are two of you, neither of you will leave alive today." Haku kept breathing on the bamboo skewers, freezing them before violently hurling them out. Naruto could only keep using Shadow Clones to block them, constantly buying Sasuke time.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

Naruto used the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique for more than ten rounds in a row. Each time, he released dozens of clones to block Haku's attacks. His chakra was beginning to fail him, and he panted, "Sasuke, aren't you ready yet? At this rate, I'll have to die right in front of you."

Sasuke was under no less pressure than Naruto. He gritted his teeth and held on, but as time passed, he noticed that Haku's movements seemed to be slowing down.

"Naruto, can you still hold out?" Sasuke said. "I think my eyes can finally keep up with him."

"I might as well just die." Naruto said dejectedly, "You have no idea how much those ice bamboo skewers hurt when they hit. It's like being stung by bees. If more than a dozen hit at once, the pain would kill you on the spot."

At that moment, Haku continuously fired ice bamboo skewers. More than a dozen struck Naruto's vital points all over his body. The pain sent Naruto collapsing to the ground, where he writhed desperately. Before long, he stopped struggling and lay completely still.

Naruto weakly said, "S-Sasuke... I can't... go on... You have to... live... Tell Hinata... that I like her..." With that, Naruto closed his eyes and breathed his last.

"Naruto—" Seeing his companion die, Sasuke was overcome with grief and rage. His eyes underwent a tremendous change, his irises turning from black to red as a single tomoe emerged within each pupil. He had successfully awakened the One-Tomoe Sharingan.

After awakening the One-Tomoe Sharingan, Sasuke found that the entire world had changed. The wind seemed to have stopped, the leaves seemed to have ceased swaying, and even Haku, who had flown like lightning moments ago, now moved as slowly as a crawling turtle.

"Got you." Sasuke's eyes finally caught Haku's trail. No matter how swiftly Haku darted through the various Ice Mirrors, Sasuke's eyes could follow him.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Sasuke formed hand seals and struck quickly. He sank his breath into his abdomen, puffed out his chest, and exhaled. The flame from his mouth transformed into a massive fireball that hurtled toward Haku.

Sasuke calmly watched the results of his attack. That strike had successfully burned away half of Haku's clothes, even leaving burns on his lower legs.

"I can hit him." Sasuke instantly found his confidence. Since entering the battle, let alone counterattacking, he had not even been able to keep up with Haku using his eyes. He could only stand there and take a beating. Now that the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique could hit Haku, he finally had the strength to fight back.

Haku flew into a rage. He took every remaining bamboo skewer from his ninja tool pouch at once, deeply exhaled onto them, and froze every single one into incomparably hard ice bamboo skewers.

Haku wasted no words. He directly hurled every remaining ice bamboo skewer, scattering them like heavenly maidens tossing flowers. They became a dense barrage of ice spikes that blanketed a wide area.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Sasuke used Fire Release ninjutsu again, burning a large number of ice spikes into ash. Yet there were simply too many of them, forcing him to retreat again and again to evade them.

"Ow!" Naruto jolted upright, covered head to toe in ice spikes. He angrily shouted, "Haku! You're going too far! I already died in battle, so why are you still attacking me? Don't tell me you learned it from me and even whip corpses!"

Haku was stunned. Naruto had been hit by so many ice spikes, yet he was still hopping around as though nothing had happened.

In truth, only Naruto knew that the Nine-Tails was sealed within him. The Nine-Tails' unique chakra always helped repair Naruto's wounds. His external injuries healed at an astonishing speed, and his body's resistance to blows was far beyond that of ordinary people.

Haku angrily demanded, "Why aren't you dead yet?"

"That's a long story." Naruto scratched his head and said, "At the very least, I'd have to start with the day I was born, when a fox came to my village..."

At that moment, Naruto inadvertently caught sight of Sasuke. Sasuke was wearing an expression of delighted surprise. Just moments ago, he had truly believed Naruto was dead. He never expected Naruto to come back to life, leaving Sasuke overwhelmed by both grief and joy.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried out. "You finally awakened the Sharingan!"

Naruto turned to Haku and said, "Zabuza Momochi isn't actually dead. Hurry back. If you return too late, the wealthy Gato might kill Zabuza."