Haku and Zabuza

At the summit of the mountain behind Flower Capital, the once-crude stone hut had become a vast, magnificent mountain retreat. Beasts and birds played among swaying spirit herbs and immortal trees.

Spirit Energy rolled like clouds and waves, while rosy light spread in shimmering layers. It truly was a home fit for immortals.

Inside his retreat, Lu Zeming sat cross-legged, light flickering around him. The worry in his eyes would not fade.

After a long while, he opened his eyes and let out a long, heavy breath.

"Still no good."

He stood at the peak of Foundation Establishment, only a hair's breadth from Core Formation. Yet that hair's breadth was a chasm: so close, and still impossibly far.

Rin pushed the door open, with Braised Pork, as big as a hill, following behind her.

"Stuck again?"

Lu Zeming shook his head with a rueful smile and looked out the window. "At this point, hard training alone won't get me through. Core Formation requires insight into my own 'path,' a breakthrough in my state of mind. But I still haven't found it!"

Rin asked anxiously, "What will you do now?"

"I'm going to get out and see the world."

Rin paused. "Travel?"

Lu Zeming nodded. "Perhaps the world beyond here will give me a different perspective!"

"I'm coming too. I've hit a bottleneck as well!"

Lu Zeming affectionately ruffled his younger sister's hair.

"All right, all right. You can come!"

In the Land of Water, inside an abandoned fishing-boat warehouse near the docks.

A few faint candles flickered, casting the shadows of two figures, one large and one small.

Zabuza Momochi leaned against a weathered wooden wall, his eyes half-closed. Blood had soaked through most of the bandages around his abdomen.

The Kubikiribōchō lay across his knees, dried blood on