After Ino took over Haku's body, she made a gesture, and her Shadow Clone immediately released the Water Prison Technique.
The Mind Body Switch Technique had this one drawback: shared damage. If Haku suffocated to death now, Ino's body would also die with him.
Using one's own spiritual energy to exist between life and death, neither truly alive nor truly dead, was a Six Paths Level power. Typical examples were the Six Paths Sage, who gave Naruto and Sasuke their power-ups, and Obito, who sent Kakashi his Sharingan from afar.
Ino was far from that level; once her body died, her spiritual energy would be unable to survive for long.
After taking control of Haku's body, she took a deep breath.
The young man's physical fitness was not even as good as Ino's. There were almost no signs of taijutsu practice, and his strength? Ino clenched her fist to test it. Haku's strength was also not high, basically the lowest strength level for a 15-year-old male Ninja.
"Hey, hurry up, Kakashi-sensei's battle is almost over," her Shadow Clone urged her.
"Alright, alright! I'll try it now."
Ino attempted to extract Chakra from Haku's body.
Bloodline Limit abilities were dependent on the body. Orochimaru coveted Sasuke's Sharingan precisely for his body. Bloodline Limit was body energy, a manifestation of ancestors frequently using a certain ability, solidifying it into their bloodline. It didn't require the individual's spiritual energy; whoever occupied the body could manipulate it.
With a thought from Ino, Wind Release Chakra and Water Release Chakra began to merge within her body. She held her left hand out flat, and after waiting four or five seconds, wisps of freezing air appeared in her palm.
"Wind 4, Water 6 ratio for fusion?"
"No, it needs to be more precise. Hmm... Wind 3.5, and Water doesn't seem to be 6.5 either?"
Haku didn't need to master advanced Water Release or Wind Release; relying on genetic memory, he could naturally fuse Ice Release Chakra.
If Ino wanted to develop her own Ice Release, she would have to start from scratch. She would need to raise both Water Release and Wind Release to a very high level, and then, using the precise ratio, fuse Ice Release Chakra.
In the mental world, Haku showed no anger, fear, or other emotions about his body being taken over. He sat kneeling in a very feminine way in a corner of the mental world, his tone quite calm.
"What a remarkable Secret Technique. Are you going to replace me?" he asked directly.
Ino was now extremely proficient with the Mind Body Switch Technique. She chatted with him while sensing the Chakra fusion ratio.
She said, "Of course not. I'll knock you out in a moment, and then I'll go back. Hmm, I'm just a little curious about your Chakra; don't mind me."
Five minutes later, Ino kept her word, knocked Haku out in the mental world, and then returned to her own body.
"Tsk tsk, even when this guy faints, his posture is so... so strange," Ino's Shadow Clone critiqued Haku's unconscious posture.
Ino opened her eyes and dispelled her Shadow Clone. She looked twice; Haku's posture was indeed quite strange.
It was one thing for this young man to like wearing women's clothes, but after he fainted, his legs were tightly crossed, one shoe had fallen off his left foot, leaving it bare, his long hair was plastered to his body, wet from the Water Prison Technique, and his face held three parts confusion and seven parts helplessness, with faint tear stains visible at the corners of his eyes. Someone who knew would say this was a defeated enemy Ninja; someone who didn't would think he had encountered something strange.
Ino waved to the two lively young men in the tree, signaling for them to come watch him while she, an old lady, rested for a bit.
Naruto and Sasuke watched Haku, while Ino rested in the tree.
She closed her eyes, and the system panel finally quantified the conditions required for her to unlock "Ice Release."
Ninja Skill 10, Spirit 9, Hand Seals 10, Water Release Lv5, Wind Release Lv4. After meeting these conditions, by blending Chakra at a ratio of Wind 3.45 to Water 6.55, plus 1 system point, she could unlock Ice Release Lv1.
Ino was a bit short in all aspects. She wasn't particularly urgent about Ice Release, so she kept these values as a reference and then closed the panel.
The other battle also concluded with Kakashi and Asuma's victory. Two against one, dealing with Zabuza, capturing him alive was not difficult.
"Release my subordinate. You can take my head and exchange it for a bounty anywhere you want. He's still a child and has nothing to do with this!" Seeing Haku lying pitifully on the ground, his life unknown, Zabuza said fiercely.
Asuma explained the transaction between Konoha and Hidden Mist. Hearing that the two Villages valued Haku, not himself, Zabuza secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, he sneered, "You better keep a close eye on me. If I escape or die, Haku certainly won't live alone."
Kakashi nodded perfunctorily, "Thanks for the reminder. We'll be careful."
Before long, Haku woke up. Seeing Zabuza captured, Haku offered no resistance.
Soon, Shikamaru, Choji, and Sakura arrived with Raiga Kurosuki and Ranmaru to rendezvous.
There was no touching reunion between fellow countrymen, as they were not familiar with each other. Now that they were both prisoners and would be escorted back to the Hidden Mist Village together, there was naturally nothing more to say.
Haku and Ranmaru, however, did feel a bit of an immediate connection. They had similar backgrounds, both from Bloodline Limit families in the Hidden Mist Village, and similar experiences: one was to be "Lord Zabuza's tool," and the other was to become "Raiga Kurosuki's eyes."
Not long after, they began chatting, with one calling the other "Sister Haku" and the other "Sister Ranmaru."
Half an hour later, they discovered they were both men, and the atmosphere became inexplicably awkward. Sakura looked utterly speechless, while Ino almost burst out laughing.
The Hidden Mist Village in the Land of Water was located overseas, requiring a journey across the sea to reach it.
There were numerous small islands in the vast ocean. That area was originally a continent, but it was shattered when Otsutsuki Hagoromo and Hamura Otsutsuki rebelled against their mother, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
The land sank into the sea, with only some of the former mountains becoming small islands, scattered across this sea area.
There were some survivors on the islands, and in some places, there were small Ninja Villages, considered survivors of the great war involving the Ōtsutsuki family.
After entering the Warring States Period, powerful Ninja Clans like the Senju and Uchiha aimed for hegemony. The Yamanaka Clan chose to hide in a valley, while some Ninja Clans unwilling to be drawn into the war traveled overseas with their families. After Senju Hashirama established Konoha Village, these reclusive Ninja Clans united with the local people to establish the Hidden Mist Village.
In recent years, the Hidden Mist Village had been severely troubled by Uchiha Obito. After the Fourth Mizukage's death, the Village adopted a policy of recuperation: outsiders stay out, and we won't go out.
The hegemony of this sea area was relinquished, with the northern sea area occupied by the Hidden Cloud Village, which had always possessed high combat power.
The Konoha group did not want to conflict with the Hidden Cloud Village, so they took the southern route to the Land of Water.
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