Zabuza died without resistance.
Already crippled from Sasuke's earlier attack, he had no strength left to fight back. When Sasuke's Chidori pierced straight through his heart, Zabuza could only glare in powerless rage.
"Weakness itself is a sin."
Sasuke withdrew his hand from Zabuza's chest, flicking the blood from his fingers with cold arrogance. He had been waiting for the perfect chance to utter those words, and now he finally had.
Not far away, Haku arrived just in time to witness his master's death. No matter how fast he was, it was nothing compared to Sasuke's strike. All he could do was watch helplessly as Zabuza fell.
His eyes turned red not from bloodline, but from grief.
The boy whose heart had been filled entirely with Zabuza for as long as he could remember now felt a surge of killing intent. For the first time, hatred consumed him.
He wanted to kill the Uchiha. He wanted vengeance for Zabuza, even if it meant dying afterward.
But between him and Sasuke stood another figure.
Hinata.
Her Byakugan was already activated, the bulging veins spreading across her pale face, giving her delicate features a sharp, battle-ready ferocity.
"Move," Haku snarled, his voice trembling with fury.
"Not a chance," Hinata replied, shaking her head.
"Ice Release: Crystal Ice Mirrors!"
Haku's cry was filled with madness. Mist swirled and froze instantly, forming smooth, glass-like mirrors of ice that floated in the air, encircling Hinata on all sides.
The mirrors reflected light eerily, enclosing her within a dome of glacial death. Then, without warning, Haku's body blurred, flickering between mirrors faster than the eye could track. His form refracted endlessly until only streaks of ghostly shadows remained.
It was his most lethal technique.
"Die!"
Haku shot out from the nearest mirror, his body accompanied by a storm of glittering senbon made of ice. They whistled through the air like a deadly rainstorm, thousands of frozen needles converging from every angle.
For most shinobi, this would have been certain death.
But Hinata wasn't most shinobi.
Through her Byakugan, every senbon's trajectory was clear. Every movement of Haku's chakra was laid bare before her.
Her body moved without hesitation.
"Gentle Fist Art: Rotation!"
A surge of chakra exploded from her small frame as she spun at incredible speed, creating a dome of whirling energy. The barrier deflected the incoming senbon with relentless precision.
Clink! Clink! Clink!
The sound of ice breaking and needles shattering filled the air as they ricocheted off the shield. Not a single one pierced through.
Haku's eyes widened from within the mirrors. His first assault an attack that had ended countless battles had been stopped cold.
This girl… her strength was far beyond what he had anticipated.
Still, his rage would not subside.
"That Uchiha… I'll kill him! Even if it costs me everything!"
He ignored Hinata, trying to dart past her in a blur of mirrors. But Hinata's spinning chakra barrier slowed to a halt. She knew continuing Rotation would drain too much chakra, yet unlike many in her clan, she no longer suffered from malnourishment or weakness. Ever since training with Naruto, she had been eating properly, her body growing stronger each day. Her chakra reserves were immense far greater than anyone suspected.
As Haku flickered toward Sasuke's direction, Hinata's gaze sharpened.
"Gentle Fist Art: Twin Lion Fists!"
She let out a sharp cry as brilliant blue chakra erupted around her hands, shaping into the roaring heads of twin lions. In the instant she predicted Haku's path, she struck.
Her fists slammed against the mirror Haku was about to emerge from.
CRACK!
The ice shattered violently, shards scattering across the battlefield. Haku staggered, forced out of his high-speed movement, and hastily formed hand seals.
"Ice Release: Ice Dome Shield!"
A thick wall of ice rose between them just in time to block her strike. The impact rattled the shield, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface as chunks splintered off.
But Gentle Fist was not about brute strength. It was about precision, penetration, and destruction from within.
Hinata's chakra surged past the ice and slammed directly into Haku's body.
"Ahh!" Haku coughed, his breath catching as his chest seized. He felt his chakra points violently disrupted, the flow within him faltering. His face went pale as blood trickled from the corner of his lips.
He stumbled back, his body screaming in protest. The shield before him crumbled into fragments.
Through the falling shards, Hinata's pale eyes bore into him like blades. They were calm, merciless, resolute.
This girl… outwardly so fragile, yet inwardly unyielding.
"No… Zabuza-sama…" Haku's lips trembled as despair weighed on him. He knew now that revenge was impossible.
"Ice Release " he tried to form another jutsu, his fingers twitching through the start of seals.
But Hinata saw everything.
Her Byakugan tracked the faintest shift of chakra, the smallest twitch of muscle. She didn't wait for him to finish.
In a blur, her body vanished from his sight.
And reappeared behind him.
Her fingers glowed with concentrated chakra, sharp and lethal.
With a single thrust, she pierced forward.
The world fell silent for a heartbeat.
A faint sound of flesh being pierced echoed in the stillness.
Haku froze. His eyes widened in shock, pain, and disbelief.
Hinata's strike had landed with flawless precision straight through his heart.
The unfinished ice mirrors shattered around them, collapsing into sparkling fragments that drifted to the ground like dying snowflakes.
Hinata withdrew her bloodstained fingers, her expression calm but her gaze heavy.
"You…" Haku gasped, his voice faint, before darkness consumed him.
He collapsed to the icy ground, still as stone.
Hinata stood quietly, her pale eyes lingering for only a moment before dimming, her Byakugan fading. For all her gentleness, she had shown no hesitation when it came to protecting her comrades.
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