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Kirigakure:
In this village, what was currently being displayed in the manga pages was deeply connected to their land.
Inside the art store, the name "Zabuza" was not spoken mockingly.
Rather, it was spoken with pride. Although the manga mentioned that Zabuza was a missing-nin from the Hidden Mist Village, the reason hadn't been addressed yet.
So, a kind of connection remained between the readers, linking Kiri and Zabuza, who still wore the village symbol on his headband without cutting it in half or removing it. That detail hadn't gone unnoticed.
Several shinobi had pointed it out quietly, as though it carried some weight they weren't yet ready to put into words.
"This is how Mist men fight," said one shinobi in a low voice.
"Not with noise… but with suffocation."
Genin Akibino, one of the Seven Swordsmen, stared at the pages of chapter 24.
"Sasuke is good," he admitted, tapping one finger slowly against the counter as he read.
"But Haku is amazing, too."
"Where did Zabuza find himself a student like this?"
Next to Akibino, another swordsman of the current generation of the Seven Swordsmen of Mist, who wielded the Samehada sword, a member of the Hoshigaki clan, spoke.
"Geniuses are not exclusive to Konoha, you know…", Akibino replied sarcastically, not even looking up from the page.
"I love the pace of the battle between Sasuke and Haku, but what's up with this soft boy? Why doesn't he want to kill Sasuke? He has dozens of chances."
On the other hand, a female member of the current generation of the Seven Swordsmen of Mist spoke.
"You said it yourself, it's because he's soft…", another shinobi replied.
"I don't think so. If you keep reading, you'll change your mind later…", another Mist shinobi said, his voice carrying a strange certainty, as though he had already decided what kind of person Haku was long before reaching the end of the chapter.
The store fell briefly quiet. Even those who hadn't spoken continued reading, the rustle of turning pages the only sound between them.
…
"He can create the seals with one hand?"
The Third Mizukage, Hozuki Mizuro, widened his eyes as he watched the intense battle scene between Sasuke and Haku.
"This is really shocking!"
Even Ao was surprised, showing an expression similar to Kakashi's in the manga. He rarely let his composure slip, but the panel had caught him genuinely off guard.
"Is this really a special jutsu?"
The Third Mizukage felt a sense of familiarity as he saw the ice needles forming from the water beneath his feet. Something in the imagery pulled at a distant memory he couldn't quite place.
"Amazing! Sasuke dodged it!"
At the moment Sasuke leapt using his chakra control to evade Haku's dense attack, Ao and the other readers were stunned by the dramatic twist in the battle. Mizuro instinctively leaned forward, as though closing the distance between himself and the page would make the outcome clearer.
In the manga scene, Zabuza stood shocked at Haku losing a speed battle against another of his peers.
And in the art store, young Zabuza was astonished by almost everything… even before this moment, he didn't even know how to fight as a shinobi.
The concept of a speed battle, of measuring advantage in fractions of a second, was something he had only just begun to grasp.
At just five years old, he hadn't even entered the academy yet and knew almost nothing, only the shinobi basics his father had taught him. Little things. Proper stances. How to fall without hurting yourself. How to breathe before something frightening.
"Observe… how one advantage can turn the battle… It seems your counterpart's student has become slower than Sasuke, who has mastered partial chakra control."
Momochi Genma spoke with half-closed eyes, watching his son. Genma wanted to protect his son from bullies, but he couldn't always shield him.
So he wanted him to learn, understand, and mature quickly to be able to defend himself. Every trip to this store was a lesson wrapped inside a story.
After all, Zabuza was already on the radar for elimination by many forces in Kiri. Genma knew the only reason it hadn't happened was because of the manga's author and the owner of the art store.
The mysterious man who stayed behind the counter, always smiling and mixing wine.
He never read the chapters loudly. He never rushed anyone out. He simply watched, and occasionally refilled someone's cup after being asked.
"Did Haku lose…"
Young Zabuza stood in shock at the result of the first clash between Sasuke and Haku, his small hands clutching the edge of the counter.
"He lost the speed battle, but I don't think he'll lose the fight entirely," Genma replied again, resting a hand on his son's shoulder without looking away from the page.
…
[—
"I can't have you underestimating my team by calling them brats. Sasuke is Konohagakure's 1st rookie."
Kakashi said calmly, adding, "Sakura is the brightest in the village."
'Hell yeah!!' The evil Sakura internally celebrated hearing that.
"And the other one is… The show-off, hyper-active, 1st loudest ninja in the village."
Upon hearing this, Zabuza began laughing: "Hehehehe…"
"Haku, do you realize? At this rate, we'll be driven back."
"Yeah." Haku stood, a cold aura emanating from him. "We can't have that…"
'What's this chill?' Sasuke wondered internally, taking caution.
This time, Haku was serious.
The water beneath Sasuke's feet began freezing, forming reflective mirrors.
"Special Jutsu: Demonic Ice Mirrors!!"
Demonic mirrors formed around Sasuke from every direction, creating a semi-enclosing dome.
—]
Readers in Konoha could feel the cold seeping from the manga pages at that moment. Several of them rubbed their arms without realizing it, the artwork doing something to them that they couldn't quite explain.
"This…"
"Ice Release Kekkei Genkai…!" whispered Danzō coldly, following the chapter as Sasuke was trapped inside.
His single visible eye moved across the panel slowly, methodically, cataloguing every detail of the technique's structure.
"So… this boy is not ordinary. Is he from the nearly extinct Yuki clan?"
Konoha had records of most clans in the lands with hidden villages. The Yuki clan was one of the prominent clans in the Land of Water, known for their Ice Release Kekkei Genkai, which made them a target for all shinobi in the Land of Water.
Their persecution had been thorough and well-documented, even if spoken of only in hushed administrative tones.
Thus, Hiruzen easily associated Haku with the Yuki clan.
But even then, he wasn't entirely sure. The boy's face gave nothing away. That, too, felt deliberate.
The manga page reflected a shocking scene: Sasuke was trapped inside the demonic mirrors, which Haku merged with, appearing in every one.
…
"Genjutsu, huh?"
Shikaku Nara was surprised by the current scene, immediately linking it to mind-affecting genjutsu. He was already running through counter-strategies before he had even finished the thought.
In fact, Haku was attacking Sasuke from only one mirror, but Sasuke had been tricked into thinking all the mirrors were attacking him with needles.
"Are you done now, Sasuke?"
Shikaku shivered at the sight, thinking he wouldn't be able to do anything if placed in the same situation. Even knowing the trick didn't make it feel any less inescapable. That was the terrifying part.
"Scary…"
Chōza swallowed, and his lashes trembled at the scene.
Sasuke's fresh blood from enduring the brutal attack was still smeared on the open manga page before him. The artist had rendered it without restraint. There was no mercy in the image, and no promise that anything would improve.
"When will Naruto arrive?"
"Do you think he'll help?"
Inoichi Yamanaka muttered curiously, glancing between the panel of Kakashi restrained by Zabuza and the panel of Sasuke barely standing inside the dome of mirrors.
For him, the battle had reached a deadlock for Sasuke, and the only hope was Naruto, especially after Kakashi was hindered by Zabuza. Whether that hope was misplaced, none of them yet knew.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 92: Chaotic Reactions
Chapter 93: Just a Tool.
Chapter 94: Sharingan's Secrets. Orochimaru Enters!
Chapter 95: The Uchiha Bloodline! Endless Suspense!
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BlackStar_BH:
The chapters currently available on Patreon are up to Chapter 120.
There are 30 advanced chapters available now:
5 chapters in the Silver tier ($5 subscription), 5 more chapters in the Gold tier ($10 subscription), 5 more chapters in the Platinum tier ($15 subscription), 5 more chapters in the Diamond tier ($20 subscription), and 10 more chapters in the Emperor tier ($30 subscription)
On Patreon and Ko-fi, too.
In the coming days, chapters will be made available for all tiers, reaching up to 50 advanced chapters… Enjoy!