---
But it was too much, and too fast.
From the left, right, front, back, and even from above and below, deadly attacks came flying.
Outside the mirrors, Tao Di Zabuza was lurking, harassing, waiting for the perfect moment to strike a fatal blow.
This situation was extremely dangerous — it was a perfect kill zone.
Yet Ye Dou still endured. He didn't activate his Armament Haki, nor did he use Tekkai (Iron Body).
If he relied on them now, he would lose the crucial sense of crisis he needed. He would not be able to sharpen the perception in his mind.
Thousands of senbon continued to burst from the Demonic Ice Mirrors, littering the ground until it looked like an abandoned field choked with steel needles.
Ye Dou's body was also pierced with numerous senbon. Though he managed to avoid most of the attacks, he couldn't evade them all.
Still, he resisted the pain, keeping himself calm and focused.
Observation Haki — also known as Kenbunshoku Haki — was deeply tied to the mind. Only by maintaining absolute calm could it be used and flexibly controlled.
If he panicked, lost reason, or let emotions cloud him, he would never awaken it.
The power of Observation Haki lay in perception and prediction — sensing emotions, detecting the strength and position of creatures outside his field of view, and predicting an enemy's movements.
At its highest level, it could even glimpse a fragment of the future — an ability few in the world possessed.
Pshh! Another senbon stabbed into his flesh. Bright blood seeped from Ye Dou's body.
At that moment, he looked utterly battered. He wasn't exactly a pincushion — but close. His entire body was riddled with embedded senbon.
However, despite appearances, the senbon couldn't inflict fatal wounds.
Ye Dou's physical strength had already surpassed 200 on his internal scale — an inhuman, steel-like toughness that made him more like a living fortress than a normal shinobi. Even Haku's most precise senbon couldn't fully pierce his muscles or reach his vital organs.
The only real threat was blood loss and eventual weakness from it.
But Ye Dou ignored even that.
His mental state now was extraordinary — absolute calm, thoughts moving at heightened speeds, every pore of his body open, feeling every subtle change around him.
Gradually, his movements became lighter, sharper.
The world around him — even the relentless attacks — seemed to slow down.
Of course, time hadn't actually slowed. His reaction speed and predictive senses had risen dramatically. His brain issued commands faster, and his body obeyed instantly.
---
Inside the Demonic Ice Mirrors, Haku was astonished.
At the start, Ye Dou could barely dodge 5 out of every 10 senbon.
But now... 6, 7, 8...
And by now — 9 out of 10 attacks missed entirely.
Eventually, not a single senbon could touch him anymore.
Haku, being extremely sharp, realized it.
The enemy wasn't simply dodging — he was using this deadly battle to train himself.
"He's practicing... with us?" Haku thought, feeling a chill.
"Don't hesitate, Bai!" Zabuza barked coldly from outside. "If he wants to die that badly, we'll oblige him!"
He too had realized it.
This opponent was insane. A lunatic who used the threat of death itself to force his own evolution.
But it didn't matter — they would simply kill him before he succeeded.
Thus, the attacks grew fiercer.
---
No matter how Haku and Zabuza tried, Ye Dou had completed his transformation.
He moved like a phantom, weaving through the barrage of senbon.
None could touch him now.
The moment a Zabuza clone tried to close in, Ye Dou reacted instantly, slicing through the water body technique, causing it to dissolve harmlessly.
Suddenly, Haku shifted into the front mirror, launching a full-force barrage of senbon.
Ye Dou twisted his body at the last second, narrowly dodging — but the laces of his mask were severed.
The mask began to fall.
Calmly, as if he had already foreseen it, Ye Dou reached out with his left hand and caught the falling mask.
Then he turned to face them, his true appearance fully revealed.
---
"It's you—!"
"Impossible!"
Both Haku and Zabuza froze in shock.
Their hearts pounded wildly.
The high bounty — the underground black market's 100 million ryo bounty — was attached to the face of a Konoha shinobi they had encountered earlier.
How was that possible?!
The bounty had existed for years.
Did this mean that Ye Dou had already been threatening the Hidden Leaf even as a child, escaping from its hands when he was still under ten years old?
Their disbelief was overwhelming.
---
Outside, in the mist surrounding Zabuza's hidden camp, it was deathly silent.
"This kid… he's just a newly graduated genin, only thirteen at most..." Zabuza thought grimly.
"But this bounty existed long before now!"
Cold sweat dripped down his back.
He instinctively became wary, looking around nervously, half-expecting Hatake Kakashi or another ambush force from Konoha.
Although he felt it was unlikely, the possibility wasn't zero.
"Relax," Ye Dou said casually.
He stepped forward, and a strange purple ripple — the manifestation of his Haki — ran through his body.
The countless senbon embedded in his flesh were pushed out and clattered to the ground.
"I'm alone," Ye Dou continued, as if reading Zabuza's thoughts.
"But it's a pity... you're all going to die here today."
Crack!
He crushed the mask in his hand.
It was a clear signal — no survivors would be allowed.
Zabuza's face darkened. He roared, "Bai!"
---
Without hesitation, Haku launched another full-force assault, drawing dozens of senbon from within the ice mirrors.
The will of Zabuza was absolute to Haku.
For Zabuza's sake, he would do anything — even kill.
But—
Boom!
With a single blow from Ye Dou's blade, the unbreakable Demonic Ice Mirrors — the bloodline limit technique combining Water and Wind Chakra — shattered like fragile glass.
"What—!?"
"My... my mirrors!" Haku gasped in disbelief.
"What kind of power is this?!"
Ye Dou turned the knife smoothly in his left hand and spoke plainly:
"Domineering."
With a simple sweep of his blade, the ice mirrors — the pride of Haku's Hyoton bloodline limit — were smashed to shards.
---
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