Disclaimer:
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 32: The Ice Prison
After leaving Tsunami to clean the mess, Naruto made his way towards the bridge.
If Gato had sent those two swordsmen to kidnap the builder's daughter, there was a good chance that they were also attacking Tazuna himself.
He regretted not leaving one of them alive to get some information, but he got a bit carried away, and those two were too weak anyway.
"Oh… so I was right…" He spotted several of the builders running away from the bridge, and when he got a bit closer, he could see clear signs of an intense fight going on.
'What is that thing?' There was a large crystalline structure in the middle of the bridge. Next to it were Zabuza and Kakashi.
A short distance away, he saw Sakura standing in front of Tazuna.
'Is Sasuke in there?' He was the only one missing. And since Zabuza was obviously alive… Sasuke was probably fighting his accomplice… that ninja hunter pretender from the other day.
"Ahhh!" A loud scream came from inside the ice.
"Sasuke!" Sakura screamed with desperation while staring intensely at the ice structure.
Kakashi tried to move but was blocked by Zabuza.
"If you get past me… I'm killing that girl and the builder." The Mist ninja said with a cruel smile.
"I'm sorry, Tazuna… I need to go help him." Sakura pulled out a kunai.
"Y-yeah… go do your thing…" The builder said.
Sakura ran forward and threw a kunai aimed at the ice structure where Sasuke was trapped.
The surface of the ice started to ripple… the figure of the masked ninja hunter got part of his body out and caught the kunai.
'That's an interesting move…' Naruto considered that he was close enough already. He pulled several shurikens and sent them to the target as fast as he could.
The masked boy was taken by surprise and barely blocked the attack, suffering some cuts in the process.
"Naruto?" Kakashi was not expecting him to arrive so soon. "Didn't they send anyone to attack Tazuna's house?" He hoped that Naruto didn't leave too soon and left Tsunami and her son completely unguarded.
"Wait! You left my daughter alone?" Tazuna yelled.
"They only sent a couple of swordsmen and I already took care of them. Your daughter should be fine for a while." Naruto tried to calm the old man down.
"You took care of them, huh?" Zabuza smiled. "I really like this kid."
"Master Zabuza, let me fight the genin in my own way." The masked boy said.
"You don't want me to interfere?" Zabuza asked. "You are too soft, Haku… fine, but be careful around that blonde one. Don't give him a chance to kill you… he will take it." He said as he glanced over at Naruto. There was something about that genin that felt familiar to him. He did not have the aura of an inoffensive genin but it was more like the ninjas from his country. Zabuza could not understand how Konoha could produce a boy like that with their gentle training methods.
"You are my opponent then?" Naruto approached Haku before moving his eyes towards the ice structure. On a closer look, it became obvious that it was not just one piece of ice but many frozen panels floating close to each other, forming a dome shape.
"I am… why don't you step inside? I'm in the middle of something with your teammate." The masked ninja pointed at his ice cage.
Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"You must be thinking I'm stupid… there is no way I will just walk into a trap." He took off running directly towards the ice. "I'll just break it from outside." By the way Haku had protected the ice from Sakura's kunai, it must mean that it is not very resistant.
He threw his remaining shurikens, aiming at three of the panels, trusting that the other ninja would not be able to protect everything at the same time.
But he was wrong… Haku was faster than he predicted, and his aim with those senbons was precise enough to intercept every single projectile that Naruto launched.
'Fine… I'll use my fists.' He approached the nearest ice panel and threw a punch at it.
In an instant, Haku emerged from the ice like it was a pool of water and blocked his punch.
"Fire release… Grand Fireball!" Sasuke called from inside the ice prison.
Naruto could see some of the flames appear from beneath the ice panels, but none of them melted.
"I'm afraid that my ice will not be melted by that level of technique," Haku claimed with a hint of pride in his voice.
Naruto then felt the grip on his arm increase, and he was now being pulled inside the ice.
He tried to use his free hand to attack Haku, but he was much slower than his opponent, so his other arm was also grabbed, and now he had no way to prevent himself from being pulled.
"Urgg…" He felt a sense of disorientation and then, he was rolling on the floor.
"He got you too… how useless," Sasuke grumbled.
Naruto looked up and realized he was now inside the ice prison.
"Tsk! He got me good there."
Now that he had fought the masked ninja a little bit, he could make a more accurate evaluation of his strength… and it was not good for him.
'He is several times faster and stronger than those two chunin we fought before. This Haku may already be at the level of a Jonin.'
Even after understanding the situation a bit better, he did not despair. This was not the first time he was facing someone much more powerful… but he still had a few tricks up his sleeve.
'I'm not going to die again so early. I'll have to show them.'
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