Chapter 28: The Unseen Hand
Sasuke's lungs burned, his chakra reserves screaming in protest as he maintained the torrent of dragon-headed flames. The stone maw of Ganseki's jutsu hissed and cracked, finally crumbling into a pile of superheated slag and rubble just short of the terrified workers. He dropped to one knee, panting, the immediate threat neutralized but at a great cost to his stamina.
Hinata, too, was breathing heavily, the exertion from pushing her Twin Lion Fists to counter Ameyo's attack leaving her drained. She had saved the workers, but the gambit had left her momentarily exposed.
Sakura, her heart pounding with adrenaline, finally got the last of the cowering workers to relative safety behind a stack of steel beams. "Stay down!" she commanded, her voice holding an authority she never knew she possessed.
They had done it. They had weathered the storm, pushed past their limits, and protected their charge. But in the cacophony of their desperate defense, they had all lost sight of the quietest, deadliest threat.
Like a ghost materializing from the mist, Haku stood beside Tazuna. Her movements had been utterly silent, her presence masked by the larger, more explosive jutsu. The defenders were all occupied, their focus drawn to the overt displays of power. No one was left to guard the primary target.
Haku's masked face turned towards the bridge builder. Two senbon needles, glinting with deadly precision, were held between her fingers. This was her duty. Zabuza-sama needed this man dead. It was her purpose. Her hand rose, poised to strike the vital point on the bridge builder's neck, a swift and merciful end.
But as she looked at the old man, her gaze flickered past him, to the boy with black hair and piercing blue eyes who was currently locked in a deadly dance with Raiga in the distance. Byakuya-sama... The name was a painful whisper in her soul. A wave of guilt and sorrow washed over her, but she forced it down. Duty came first.
Her hand shot forward.
It never reached its target.
A hand, firm and unyielding, grasped her wrist, stopping the lethal strike cold. The clang of a kunai meeting her senbon was the only sound.
Haku's eyes widened in shock. From the mist, a figure had materialized, standing protectively in front of Tazuna. A perfect copy of Naruto. It had his black hair, his impassive face, and the same intense, piercing blue eyes.
"That objective will not be met," the Naruto clone stated, his voice a calm, even monotone.
Haku stumbled back, pulling her hand free as if burned. Her carefully constructed composure shattered. It was him. A perfect copy, radiating the same calm authority, the same soul-deep presence. To be confronted by him, even a duplicate, was her deepest fear realized.
The clone didn't press an attack. Instead, it settled into a familiar stance, hands held open, body perfectly balanced. The Hyūga clan's Gentle Fist.
Seeing the noble, precise fighting style—a style so befitting the man her soul remembered—used against her was a unique form of torture. She couldn't bring herself to fight it. She couldn't bring herself to harm him, even a copy.
"You will not harm him," the clone said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Torn between her duty to Zabuza and the overwhelming instinct of her past life, Haku's mind raced. She couldn't win. Not like this. She needed to create distance, to escape this impossible confrontation.
Her hands flew through one-handed seals. "Secret Art: A Thousand Needles of Death."
Moisture in the air coalesced and froze, forming a swarm of deadly ice senbon that shot towards the clone. It wasn't an attack meant to kill; it was a diversion.
The clone responded with calm efficiency. "Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm."
A powerful burst of pure chakra erupted from its palm, creating a shockwave that blasted the ice needles out of the air, shattering them into glittering dust.
While the clone was occupied, Haku flashed through more seals. "Secret Art: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals."
It wasn't the full prison. A handful of crystalline ice mirrors materialized around her, their surfaces shimmering in the mist.
Sasuke, having finally caught his breath, witnessed the exchange. His teeth clenched so hard his jaw ached. The real Naruto was holding off Raiga Kurosuki, a legendary swordsman, and his clone was single-handedly neutralizing another high-level threat. The gap between them wasn't just a gap; it was a chasm, and it was growing wider with every passing second.
Haku glanced one last time at the clone, a universe of conflict visible in her eyes even behind the mask, before stepping back into one of the mirrors. Her reflection shimmered, and she vanished without a trace, the mirrors dissolving back into the mist.
The clone did not pursue. It turned its head, its blue eyes sweeping over Tazuna and the workers, ensuring they were safe. Then, it simply stood there, a silent, unmoving sentinel—a testament to the foresight of its creator, who was still locked in a battle far across the bridge. The immediate danger was over, but for Haku, the true battle had just begun.