One hour later.
Karin Uzumaki finally let out a long breath.
She slowly sat up straight.
She was still the same person she was just a moment ago, but she felt... different.
Like she had grown up.
Rubbing her incredibly sore neck, she looked at the pair of expectant big eyes in front of her and said with a trembling voice, "Unbelievable..."
Aoi Uchiha's eyes widened.
Curiosity made her impatient to ask for details.
Considering that Aoi was younger than her, Karin didn't want to say anything at first. But unable to withstand Aoi's pleading, she had to concoct a heavily censored and abridged version of events. Yet even with that, Aoi's eyes were already shining.
A few minutes later, Karin suddenly paused.
"Wait..."
She turned her body sideways and pressed her ear against the door again.
The long movement began to play once more.
Drums beat fast, shaking soul and spirit,
Bright moons shine, revealing heart's merit.
Monkey wreaks havoc in the Lunar Hall,
Spring night is short, till morning call.
---
The Next Day.
Musashi crawled out of bed.
Stretching his over-trained muscles, he sighed once again.
"I can't keep doing this."
"I must cherish my body, and also cherish Big Sister's body."
"Next time!"
"Next time, I'll definitely be careful!"
He walked out of the bedroom, washed up, and started making breakfast.
After heating up Ayame's portion, Musashi went to wake Karin up for breakfast.
He called out twice, but there was no response.
"What's going on? Breakfast is ready and she's still sleeping in?"
Saying this, he went to Karin's room and knocked gently.
No answer.
He opened the door.
"Karin, get up and ea—Aoi? You didn't go home last night?"
Aoi Uchiha sat up with her eyes closed.
She forced them open a slit and saw it was Musashi.
"Big Brother... morning..." she mumbled, subconsciously shaking Karin, who was sleeping like a log next to her.
"Big Brother is calling you to get up."
"Get up for what? I'm sleeping all day today... even if the teacher comes, it's useless!"
Karin said with her eyes closed, rolling over to find a new position to continue sleeping.
"Ah!" A cry of pain rang out.
Musashi's expression changed. He rushed to the bedside in two steps, looking at Karin with concern.
"What's wrong?!! Where does it hurt!?"
Karin opened her eyes, tears streaming down her face from the pain.
Her right hand clutched her neck tightly.
"I... I... I have a stiff neck..."
Aoi Uchiha: (;￢д￢)
---
Musashi soon pulled himself out of the joy of being a newlywed.
He threw himself back into his training.
In the room, the sealing barrier was activated.
Musashi focused his mind, looking at Haku, who seemed a little nervous in front of him.
"Are you ready?"
Haku nodded awkwardly. "Re... ready."
"Then let's begin."
Haku gently extended his hand.
As his chakra flowed, the temperature in the room began to drop, and frost flowers appeared out of thin air.
Water vapor generated rapidly, condensing into a mirror of ice so clear it could reflect a person's image.
Musashi gripped the pen and paper in his hand and said,
"Continue! Haku, use your full power."
Haku gave a soft affirmation.
This was the first time he was using his Kekkei Genkai not for training, but to demonstrate it to another person.
He felt a sense of shame, like he was being peeped at.
But this was the condition for Musashi letting Zabuza go; he couldn't refuse.
Ice mirrors appeared one after another, floating and finally forming a circle within the room.
Even though he deliberately restrained the range of the jutsu, it still occupied almost the entire space of the room.
Looking at the ice mirrors close at hand, Musashi's eyes held novelty and wonder.
Kekkei Genkai.
A power that too many people in the ninja world could only dream of but never reach.
Now, right before his eyes, the veil of mystery was lifted, revealing it fully.
He reached out and gently touched the surface of an ice mirror.
It felt slightly cool to the touch, lacking the biting cold of ordinary ice and snow.
"Very little chakra dissipation."
"The temperature transfer is much slower than ordinary ice."
Musashi controlled his chakra to flow out of his fingertips, covering the ice surface, quietly sensing it.
However, he couldn't feel much profundity.
A moment later, he retracted his hand.
"Haku, enter."
Hearing this, Haku tapped his toes lightly. Under the force field surrounded by the ice mirrors, his whole body floated up weightlessly.
The next moment, he merged into the ice mirrors.
"Move quickly! Just like when you attacked Sasuke before," Musashi issued another command.
Haku's figure began to shuttle continuously between the ice mirrors.
The speed was so fast that only afterimages could be seen.
At this speed, let alone Sasuke, even Musashi would find it difficult to catch up.
With his consciousness highly focused, Musashi opened his eyes to their widest, staring dead at the phantom figure flashing rapidly within the space.
He wanted to find the truth behind Haku's rapid movement.
As time slowly passed, he began to see some clues.
"It's not pure speed."
"In the ice mirror space, this movement trajectory looks more like a phantom."
"Quasi-elementalization?"
Elementalization—or perhaps Chakra-fication—was a definition Musashi guessed and gave himself.
He vaguely remembered that in the Naruto world, besides physical running, the Body Flicker Technique, and even Summoning, there was another way of movement.
Gaara's body, under specific circumstances, would transform into sand without a physical form.
Konan could turn into paper.
It seemed Obito could also become spatial—not simply hiding in the Kamui dimension, but turning his own body intangible to leave his original spot.
This was a conjecture he wasn't too sure about.
A special means that only powerful ninjas who had mastered ninjutsu chakra to a certain degree had a chance of mastering.
It was also his theory for the principle of Haku's movement within the secret technique space.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain Haku's speed within the Crystal Ice Mirrors.
After all, normally speaking, extreme speed would inevitably be accompanied by powerful force. But in Haku's battles, that kind of force wasn't felt.
Suppressing the chaotic thoughts in his mind, Musashi used all his mental energy to perceive the changes in Haku.