Haku seemed not to hear Naruto's words. He continuously shuttled back and forth among multiple ice mirrors, seemingly preparing a killing move.
"Hey, what on earth are you planning to do?" Naruto had a bad feeling and quickly said to Sasuke, "Sasuke! Shoot fire directly at the ice mirror."
Just as Sasuke was about to use his Fire Release Ninjutsu, Haku transformed into a white phantom and rushed towards them at high speed, intending to take out Sasuke first. After all, Sasuke's Fire Release posed a great threat to the ice mirrors.
In fact, Sasuke had long wanted to shatter the ice mirrors all at once. However, Haku's footwork was simply too strange, like a ghost, roaming among the ice mirrors and launching surprise attacks unexpectedly. That's why Sasuke had been trapped in the ice mirrors all this time.
"With me here, you won't be able to touch Sasuke!" Naruto formed hand seals and shouted, "Multiple Kage Clone Jutsu!"
So what if you have fast footwork? Even if you're so fast that I can't see you, I'll just fill this space with Kage Clones and squeeze you so tight you can't move.
Naruto made up his mind and channeled a large amount of Chakra into the Multiple Kage Clone Jutsu, creating over a hundred Kage Clones in one go.
Haku was startled, and Sasuke was completely stunned. Over a hundred Narutos, along with Sasuke and Haku, were all crowded into the narrow space of the ice mirrors.
"How about that?" Naruto's real body, squeezed to the point of having difficulty breathing, said, "This move is called the Big City Subway Squeezing Jutsu! I dare you to say you're not scared. Don't think that only you ninjas live in pain every day."
At this moment, Haku was tightly squeezed among more than a dozen of Naruto's Kage Clones. No matter how hard Haku struggled, there wasn't an inch of space for him to move, as if he were in an ocean of Narutos.
"Naruto..." Sasuke's handsome face was distorted from being squeezed, and he said painfully, "Like this... I can't use Fire Release... can't form hand seals..."
"What time is it now... There are no good conditions for you now," Naruto said. "Hurry up and shoot fire to blow up that ice mirror."
Sasuke couldn't release the Fire Release for a long time. Naruto angrily said, "Sasuke! You graduated from the Ninja Academy with full marks, after all..."
"Fire Release! Great Fireball Jutsu!" Stimulated by Naruto's words, Sasuke's strong sense of pride forced him to force out a mouthful of fire.
Using Fire Release in the narrow space actually increased the power of the Ninjutsu by one rank, causing a violent explosion. However, most of the things blown up were Naruto's Kage Clones.
"Run quickly!" After blowing up the ice mirror, Naruto's first words were to urge Sasuke to escape with him.
Sasuke was taken aback. Now that they had escaped, the young man's strength was greatly reduced without the ice mirrors. Moreover, Sasuke now had the Sharingan. If he coordinated well with Naruto, they could easily counter him.
"Why do we have to run?"
Facing Sasuke's question, Naruto thought to himself: I planned all this just to help you awaken your Sharingan. I never meant to fight to the death... Now that Sasuke has successfully awakened the Sharingan, what are we still doing here if we don't leave?
Naruto ignored Sasuke and quickly ran forward. Sasuke had no choice but to follow Naruto's steps.
Unconsciously, Sasuke had already recognized Naruto. In a ninja team, the one who usually takes control of the situation is usually recognized as the team leader by default. And at this moment, Sasuke had subconsciously regarded Naruto as the leader of Team 7.
Sasuke ran up and asked, "Why are we running away? What's your idea? Aren't we gonna take care of those guys chasing us?"
Naruto turned around and shouted to Haku, "Haku! Jonin Kakashi is in that direction. If you've got the balls, come and chase us. Then the three of us'll team up against you. If you're not afraid of death, just come!"
Haku stopped in his tracks and stood still.
"Hurry up and find the billionaire Gato. Maybe Zabuza Momochi is about to die at his hands," Naruto shouted again.
"Naruto, what on earth are you talking about?" Sasuke clearly didn't understand.
At this moment, inside a nearby fishing shed, Kakashi was alone, staring blankly at the hemp rope on the floor. This rope was originally for tying up the injured Zabuza Momochi, but now Zabuza was nowhere to be found.
Kakashi showed a worried look. The Demon Man Zabuza's escape was hard to tell if it was good or bad. It seemed this mission was really full of twists and turns.
Zabuza Momochi was a ninja from Kiri in the Land of Water. In the Ninja Academy graduation exam when he was a kid, he single - handedly wiped out all his classmates, getting rid of all his competitors and becoming the top of the class. Since then, he had earned the title of the Demon Man.
Later, as an adult, he failed to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage and defected from Kiri. From then on, he became a homeless drifter.
Meanwhile, Naruto and Haku were staring each other down from afar, glaring at each other, and neither dared to move.
Haku was the first to speak, "Is Zabuza Momochi still alive?"
"Yeah," Naruto said. "He's still alive now. But I'm not sure about later."
Haku immediately turned around and left, leaving Naruto and Sasuke standing there. Sasuke said dissatisfiedly, "We could've beaten him with just the two of us. Why'd you let him go?"
"Have you forgotten our mission this time?" Naruto said with a grin. "It's just a C - rank task. We didn't make much money off that old man. Why should we go all out?"
Sasuke was rendered speechless. He was a bit conflicted inside. Naruto was obviously very strong, but why's he being a coward now? It didn't seem like a ninja at all.
"Why did you learn ninjutsu?" Sasuke asked. "Isn't learning ninjutsu for battles? To kill those you wanna kill?"
"Well, let me think," Naruto frowned and said. "The essence of a ninja is trickery. Ninjutsu is a kind of trickery jutsu. If I can fool the right people, my jutsu is a success."
Sasuke completely didn't understand and scolded, "What trickery jutsu? How can a trickery jutsu beat an enemy?"
"Just wait and see," Naruto said meaningfully. "The billionaire Gato probably won't make it through tonight. We don't even need to do anything. This mission's completed ahead of schedule."
Naruto looked at the rising full moon in the distance and said, "In a ninja battle, it doesn't have to be close - range combat or a crazy flurry of ninjutsu. The scariest ninjutsu is to mess with people's minds."
At this moment, Naruto remembered what had happened a few hours ago. Naruto went to the billionaire Gato's base alone. First, he used the Transformation Jutsu to turn into Haku's appearance.
After Naruto turned into Haku, he came in front of Gato. Gato was a huge fat guy, decked out in gold and silver, oozing the aura of a rich guy.
There was a group of over a hundred thugs around Gato. Gato had no idea how much money he spent every day to keep these thugs around.
Gato saw Haku coming back and asked, "How's the mission going? Did you kill Tazuna? Why isn't Zabuza here?"
Naruto, who had transformed into Haku's appearance, said, "The mission failed. Tazuna is still alive. Zabuza got seriously injured. He'll come back later to recover."
Gato bit the cigar in his mouth and spat out the cigar butt along with his phlegm, then said, "You failed the mission and still have the nerve to come back? You couldn't even kill an old man. How dare you say you're so powerful and call yourselves the Demon Man..."
"Give us another chance," said Naruto in Haku's guise. "Since Zabuza got seriously injured, he needs money for medical treatment. The reward should be raised."
"Hahaha," Gato laughed loudly. "You failed the mission and still have the nerve to talk about getting more pay. Do you know why I hired Rogue Ninjas? It's because you're cost - effective. I never thought you'd be so useless. Why should I waste more money on you?"