Chapter 14: Which One of You Is Going to Die?
"Sorry. I'm a Kirigakure hunter-nin. I've been waiting for a chance to kill Zabuza for certain, so when I saw that opening just now, I couldn't help taking action."
"I see."
Kakashi looked at Haku and pretended to understand.
"You used quite a bit of chakra in your fight with him just now, didn't you? Could you leave the rest of the battle to me? After all, he is a missing-nin from Kirigakure."
Haku asked in a humble tone.
Kakashi gave a light laugh when she heard that, then replied, "It's fine. He's already injured. I'll be able to kill him very soon. After that, I'll cut off his head and hand it to you."
What?!
The moment he heard those cruel words, a trace of panic flashed through Haku's eyes, and he instinctively clenched his fists.
"Huh?"
Even Naruto and the others were stunned when they heard that.
Cutting off someone's head was a little too... brutal.
"This world is just like that. The moment you harbor the intent to kill, either you kill the other person, or the other person kills you."
Kakashi spread her hands, her tone somewhat emotional.
Then she continued, "That's what being a ninja is. A high-risk profession. Everyone here had parents who were ninja too, right? But how many of you still have both parents alive? That's just how it is."
Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other and both fell silent.
"My parents are obviously still alive..."
Seeing that the atmosphere had become a little strange, Sakura did not dare refute her loudly and only muttered softly.
"...Zabuza-san, please leave first. I'll hold them off."
Haku hesitated for a moment, then quickly made his decision.
Since the other side truly intended to kill Zabuza, he could only stop them and create a chance for Zabuza to escape.
"Huh?"
Naruto, Sakura, and the others were stunned again.
Wasn't that masked boy supposed to be a Kirigakure hunter-nin?
Why was he suddenly helping Zabuza escape?
"Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals."
Haku rapidly formed hand seals, and one white ice mirror after another quickly surrounded everyone.
"What? What is this?"
Naruto and the others, who had never even heard of Ice Release before, were all startled by the sight.
"Raikiri!"
Suddenly, a sharp sound of thunder rang out. Kakashi rapidly formed hand seals, and in an instant, a large amount of blue electric current gathered in her right hand.
In the next second, Kakashi swung her right hand, and the Raikiri in her hand swiftly extended and lengthened, turning into a blue blade of light.
The moment the blue blade touched the surrounding ice mirrors, it sliced through them like a knife through tofu, cutting them apart one after another.
Immediately afterward, mirror after mirror shattered with a crash, turning into countless glittering ice crystals in the air.
"This...?!"
Haku, who had never encountered such a situation before, froze for a moment, not knowing how to react.
Even Zabuza, who had been preparing to flee in the distance, was stunned.
"That's impossible!"
How could Kakashi possibly be this strong?
Even if she could break Haku's Ice Release, there was no way she should have been able to do it this fast.
"It's over."
Kakashi then pointed the blue blade of light in her hand at Haku's forehead.
"I'm sorry, Zabuza-san..."
After finally reacting, Haku's expression dimmed somewhat as he spoke weakly.
"So strong, Kakashi-sensei!"
Naruto and Sakura also came back to their senses at that moment and looked at Kakashi with faces full of admiration.
That troublesome-looking ice mirror technique had been broken in an instant.
And what was that blue blade of light in Kakashi-sensei's hand, covered in countless streams of electricity?
It looked so cool.
Even Sasuke felt his heart heat up a little.
It seemed Kakashi really was quite strong.
If he followed her and trained under her, maybe he really could become stronger.
"How about this. I can spare one of you. Do you choose for yourself to live, or for Zabuza to live?"
Kakashi suddenly asked with a rather wicked sense of amusement.
"I'll die."
Haku answered without the slightest hesitation.
"That's not your choice to make. I want Zabuza to choose."
Kakashi looked with interest toward Zabuza in the distance.