BlackStar_BH:
I have some good news for the readers of this fanfic on Webnovel.
Well, I listened to the advice and decided to speed up the story without affecting the core of the fanfic, which lies in the characters' reactions to the manga.
Starting from Chapter 100, you will notice a change in the speed of the narrative. Some events from the manga may be skipped, as that's part of what increasing the story's pace means.
In the advanced chapters on Patreon and Ko-fi, I've already begun the arc of Volume 6, where the Chunin Exam in the manga reaches its conclusion.
Greetings to all of you, and enjoy the chapter!
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The shock did not end with Haku's death.
What followed on the next page was even harsher, utterly shattering the readers' hearts.
[— Manga Scene —]
Zabuza, instead of crying or screaming, smiled a demonic smile behind his shattered mask.
"Hehe~ Well done, Haku…"
'This boy…' Kakashi looked at Haku's smiling face and his empty eyes. 'He's already dead.'
He glanced sideways at Zabuza, who raised his massive sword, Kubikiribōchō, trying to cut them both down at once.
'He's planning to slice us together!!'
"Kakashi-sensei!!" Sakura screamed in panic.
'Let me stay by your side as a tool.' Zabuza heard the voice of Kid Haku beside him as he brought his sword down toward his student's corpse and Kakashi.
"I sure picked up something useful! Giving me this final chance!"
But Kakashi managed to evade the attack while holding Haku's body in his arms.
'Unforgivable…' Naruto trembled as he glared at the scene in fury.
"Naruto… Stay there." Kakashi said to Naruto as he gently closed the eyes of the deceased boy.
"This is my fight."
[— End Scene —]
"You filthy scum!"
Maito Dai shouted inside Konoha's art store, his veins nearly bursting with rage.
"That's not a shinobi! That's a monster! How dare he desecrate the sacrifice of that brave boy?!"
"This is unbearable!"
Young Maito Gai's eyes were literally overflowing with tears at this scene.
Even Orochimaru, who had been watching coldly, stuck out his tongue in intrigue.
"Hoo… This Zabuza is interesting. He perfectly embodies the ancient doctrine of the Mist. A tool is used even after death."
"Hehe~ Well, what do you expect from a man who killed one hundred students when he was young? He's a demon, after all."
For some reason, Orochimaru felt drawn to this version of Zabuza.
…
In Iwagakure, Ōnoki shook his head in regret.
"He's gone too far. Even in war, there is dignity in death. With this act, Zabuza didn't just kill Haku—he killed his own humanity as well."
"It seems Kakashi is angry as well…"
"Hm… Did Sakura discover Sasuke's death?"
…
Back in Konoha, Haruno Kizashi felt a deep sadness when he saw Sakura's face as she stared at Sasuke's 'dead' body.
"Sigh~ This must be incredibly hard on her."
In the manga scene, Sasuke lay sprawled on the ground, his body filled with sharp needles like a human porcupine.
He looked unquestionably 'dead'. Sakura had even checked his body, confirming its coldness.
"This… no, Sasuke isn't really dead… right?" Mebuki covered her mouth.
She hadn't yet recovered from the emotional surge caused by her sympathy for Haku, and now the manga was reminding her of another cruel reality.
Sasuke's death.
For some reason, she instinctively sympathized with Sakura.
Mebuki felt as if she were sitting on the mist-covered bridge herself, staring directly at Sakura as she watched Sasuke's 'corpse'.
"Huh? Did I disconnect from reality again!?"
Before she could fully grasp what was happening, she heard a sad voice.
"I… I always scored 100% on the ninja academy exams…"
The voice was tinged with sorrow.
"Is that your voice, Sakura-chan?"
Mebuki couldn't believe she was hearing the voice of someone who was supposed to be just a fictional character, completely unrelated to her real life.
"I was top of the academy too, just like you…"
Realizing that her voice wasn't actually being heard by Sakura or the old man Tazuna, Mebuki understood that she was only hallucinating due to her deep immersion in the manga's events.
"I memorized over a hundred shinobi sayings… I always wrote the correct answers…"
"One day, this question appeared on a test…"
"Write down shinobi saying number 25…"
"I wrote the answer as usual…"
As she heard this, Sakura's words overlapped perfectly with Mebuki's.
"No matter what situation… a shinobi must keep emotions on the inside… You must make the mission your top priority, and you must possess a heart that never shows tears."
...
..
"Here… take this…"
The deep illusion suddenly shattered at the voice of a young man's voice.
"Wipe your tears—they're pretty bad."
Haruno Kizashi held out a handkerchief to her.
Mebuki had never felt emotions like this before.
She was a fourteen-year-old kunoichi, and a genin at that. She had experienced love back in the academy and could understand Sakura's feelings.
But why did she empathize with her to this extent? She didn't know.
"Thank you…"
Mebuki felt slightly embarrassed by the strange young man who had noticed her tears and hurried to offer her a handkerchief.
"No need to thank me. I understand—you're not the only one saddened by this scene."
"It strikes deeply at a sensitive nerve for us shinobi who place the mission above the lives of our comrades."
"Shinobi Rule Number 25 even robs us of the right to cry over a fallen comrade."
…
Sakumo caught Kizashi's words.
He looked at his son, who was watching the battle between his counterpart and Zabuza with unparalleled intensity, seeming just as detached from reality.
'To think my son will grow up to be a man who follows his own rules… I'm truly proud.'
Kakashi's famous line still echoed in his mind:
"In the shinobi world, those who break the rules are scum… but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum."
He didn't think he would ever forget it.
"To think I'll be enlightened by my son's future counterpart's words… truly… frightening."
Sakumo whispered to himself as he returned to reading the manga.
His eyes were fixed on the scene of the pitiful boy Haku's death—and on the seemingly heartless man, Zabuza.
"However, I look at it… He's been affected… already."
"His body movements has changed…"
"He's grown less sharp."
"Heh~ He acts like a demon on the surface, but inside, he's already crying."
"Well then, Zabuza… when will you stop pretending?"
In an instant, the more Sakumo observed the clash between Zabuza and Kakashi, the more clearly he could see the difference.
The same difference Kakashi himself had already realized.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 107: A Tool Called "Shinobi."
Chapter 108: The Devil's Tears! ( A Legendary Chapter.)
Chapter 109: The End of a Devil Who Realized His Humanity.
Chapter 110: Life in Exchange for Death.
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