Seeing Sasuke lose consciousness, Naruto thought he was already dead.
After all, unless he were dying, Sasuke would never say such words.
Naruto held Sasuke's "corpse," tears streaming from his eyes.
Naruto was already emotionally charged, and now Haku started pushing him further into rage.
"He sacrificed himself to protect someone precious. He's a ninja deserving of respect. Is this your first encounter with the death of a comrade? This is the path of the ninja. At least he died for what he believed in."
"Shut up…"
Naruto gently laid Sasuke's "corpse" on the ground.
"I've always considered you my friend… my closest friend…"
Consumed by extreme anger, Naruto resonated with the Nine-Tails within him. The previously flawless Eight Trigrams Sealing Style developed a small crack.
A dangerous yet powerful aura radiated from Naruto, sending involuntary alarm bells through Haku's mind.
Deciding to strike first, Haku prepared to immediately disable Naruto's fighting ability.
Hiding within the ice mirror, Haku formed hand seals.
"Don't hate me… I want to fulfill his dream, and for that, I… will stop at nothing!"
"Ice Release Secret Technique: Shattering Ice Blast!"
An icy shard appeared from the mirror and flew toward Naruto.
As soon as it touched him, it would encase Naruto entirely in ice.
"Activate Laser Beam!"
At this critical moment, Hinata unlocked her hidden potential. Channeling immense chakra through her chakra points—an essential step for performing Rotation—she broke free.
After shattering the ice binding her body, Hinata immediately fired her Laser Beam, directly hitting the incoming ice shard.
Beneath his mask, Haku slightly furrowed his brows.
Compared to Naruto and Sasuke, Hinata posed the greatest threat to him. That was precisely why Haku targeted her first, aiming to disable her combat capability.
Now that she had broken free from his jutsu, the situation became far more dangerous.
Haku wanted to finish them off quickly and reinforce Zabuza.
It was obvious that Zabuza couldn't last long against Kakashi in their fight—without intent to kill before, Haku now had no choice but to harden his heart.
[Ice Release! Glacial Spear Dive!]
Haku hurled ice spikes at the ground—several of them hurtling toward Hinata.
However, Naruto erupted with intense chakra, scattering all the spikes in an instant.
Surprised, Haku and Hinata turned to look at Naruto, whose entire body was now enveloped in red chakra.
"This… cannot be forgiven!"
Naruto lifted his head, his glowing red beast eyes locking onto Haku with fury. "I'm gonna kill you!"
Haku was deeply shocked. "What is this chakra? Impossible! He's actually turned chakra into a tangible form—and… this chakra is beyond belief!"
Naruto's wounds were visibly healing at an incredible speed.
The red chakra coalesced into the shape of a fox's head and roared toward Haku.
Just as Hinata was about to move forward, [Body Flicker Technique] sent Shindai appearing behind her, stopping the girl who wanted to rush in. "Enough, Hinata. Your mission is over. This is Naruto's fight now."
Looking anxiously at Naruto, Hinata asked, "Shindai, what's happening to Naruto?"
"You know about Jinchuriki, right?"
"Yes, I do." Hinata suddenly looked horrified—Shindai wouldn't bring up Jinchuriki for no reason. "Could it be that…"
Shindai nodded. "Right. Naruto is a Jinchuriki. During the Nine-Tails' attack years ago, the Nine-Tails was sealed inside Naruto by Minato-dono."
"But… isn't this too dangerous? Why seal the Nine-Tails inside Naruto?" Hinata couldn't understand.
Shindai answered, "It had to be Naruto. Among Jinchuriki, if someone can truly connect with their Tailed Beast, they can become a perfect Jinchuriki. He'll definitely become one. There's no need to worry about his safety—I wouldn't just stand by if he were in real danger. From now on, he's going to grow rapidly. Finally, he can start collecting rent from the Nine-Tails."
Hinata tilted her head toward Shindai, puzzled. "Collect rent?"
Shindai replied matter-of-factly, "Yeah, when someone lives in your house, they should pay some rent, shouldn't they?"
Meanwhile, on the battlefield where Kakashi and Zabuza were fighting.
Kakashi should have kept pressing his advantage, but Naruto's immense chakra had drawn his attention instead.
Under his mask, Kakashi's expression turned extremely alarmed—but he quickly regained his composure.
Since there was Shindai over there, his priority now was to finish off Zabuza as soon as possible and go reinforce them.
Haku tried throwing Senbon needles at Naruto, but Naruto simply roared, and the chakra alone deflected all the needles.
Naruto locked onto one ice mirror, then dashed toward it at blinding speed and smashed it with a single punch.
As the ice shattered, Haku emerged from the mirror and swiftly slid into another one.
Haku found it unbelievable—the reflections of him within every ice mirror on the battlefield were real enough, yet Naruto had directly pinpointed which mirror contained his true form.
Could it have been a coincidence…?
No! It wasn't chance at all!
Because Naruto immediately smashed another mirror—one that once again held Haku's true form inside.
Haku immediately released an Ice Release Ninjutsu. Half of Naruto's body had already been frozen when the Nine-Tails' Chakra erupted, instantly shattering the ice crystals covering him. He grabbed Haku's wrist as the latter attempted to retreat into the ice mirror.
"What?"
Naruto punched Haku in the stomach. Haku felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, coughed violently, spat out some blood, and was sent flying backward.
Naruto charged forward toward Haku again.
[Ice Release: Hyppou no Jishaku!]
Haku created an ice wall directly in front of himself, attempting to block Naruto's advance.
Naruto produced a Shadow Clone. His true form extended its arm while the clone spun rapidly around it, forming a swirling sphere in Naruto's palm.
Shindai's eyes widened. "No way?"
But Shindai's shock quickly faded.
No, this wasn't the true Rasengan yet—it was only the incomplete one at its third stage.
Even at this stage, if the emitted chakra was maintained and materialized, the Rasengan could cause some—albeit limited—damage.
However, with support from the Nine-Tails' Chakra, even this unfinished Rasengan carried tremendous power.
"Rasengan!"
Naruto slammed the spiraling sphere onto the ice wall. The wall shattered instantly, and the attack retained its full force as it slammed into Haku's stomach.
Haku was blasted away with full force, crashing heavily into the bridge's edge before collapsing limply onto the ground.
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