On the great bridge, within the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals.
Lee was constantly resisting the onslaught of ice needles.
With these ice mirrors present, the flying needle attacks seemed to have no end.
This made him once again feel envious of those ninjas who could perform Ninjutsu.
Since childhood, he had suffered cold looks because he could not master Ninjutsu or Genjutsu.
Taijutsu was his only choice.
Similarly, with perseverance and sweat beyond ordinary people, he constantly tempered his Taijutsu, hoping to become stronger.
Every punch and every kick from the past was an affirmation of himself.
But this endless cycle isn’t the way either.
I must break through these ice mirrors.
After thinking this, he immediately took a deep breath and exerted all his strength to break through in one direction.
His feet slammed against the ground, and his body shot toward the ice mirror.
His speed this time was extremely fast, arriving in front of Haku in the blink of an eye.
As he threw a punch, the air seemed to be torn apart by the strike, letting out a sharp whistle.
Clang!
The ice mirror Haku created shattered, and he grunted as he flew backward into a new ice mirror.
With just this one blow, he understood that his Taijutsu was completely no match for Lee’s.
These ice mirrors were incredibly hard, even Sasuke’s Fire Release hadn’t left a single mark.
But now, it had been shattered by a single punch from Lee.
Therefore, the only thing he could rely on was his Kekkei Genkai: Ice Release.
Furthermore, although Lee did not have the Sharingan, the visual acuity he had developed through years of practicing Taijutsu was also extremely powerful.
Almost the moment Haku moved to another ice mirror, Lee had already shifted his footing and followed right after him.
Bang!
The ice mirror shattered again.
Forced by necessity, Haku could only switch to a new location once more.
The current situation was like a reversal of the previous battle.
In the process of dodging, Haku had no chance to strike at all.
Because if he lingered even slightly, Lee would catch his true body.
He could only keep switching and creating new ice mirrors to stop his opponent.
Sasuke, Naruto, and the others outside the field were absolutely jaw-dropped seeing this scene.
“Was Lee always this strong?” Haku, who had beaten them to the point of being unable to fight back, was actually being chased and pummeled.
Moreover, that wave of flying needle attacks earlier made one’s scalp tingle just looking at it.
There was simply no gap to dodge.
If Lee hadn’t used his overwhelming physical strength to force a breakthrough, they might have been finished long ago if it were them.
Naruto finally understood why Lee had thanked Haku for sparing their life.
It turned out the guy hadn’t even considered them as real opponents.
At the same time, Zabuza was also observing this battle.
Although he had a brief exchange with Lee last time, in less than a month, he found that the boy had become stronger again.
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Lee, and some other new generation members he didn’t know—the appearance of these people made Zabuza lament the strength of Konoha once again.
The strength of a Ninja Village requires not only veteran powerhouses but also a new generation that can keep up.
Compared to Kirigakure…
sigh, it’s hard to put into words.
Zabuza thought to this point and prepared to personally deal with Kakashi before going to finish off Tazuna.
However, Kakashi had a similar idea.
Both wanted to take out the enemy’s main force, so they rushed at each other simultaneously.
On the other side, the battle between Haku and Lee continued.
During this time, Lee had almost adapted to the Elementary Leg Wraps, and his strength had grown significantly.
For this fight against Haku, he only wore the weights gifted by Guy, so his speed was exceptionally fast.
Using the reaction force from kicking and shattering the ice mirrors, he kept chasing Haku down.
This kind of pursuit was a great test of eyesight.
He had to judge Haku’s location at the same time he shattered a mirror, and then use his kicks to shift positions.
But after practicing punching while running, his dynamic vision had improved greatly, allowing him to fully keep up with Haku’s hand seal speed.
Bang, bang, bang…
The sounds of shattering grew closer and closer, and the completion rate of the ice mirrors became lower and lower.
Finally, during one pursuit, Lee caught Haku’s arm before he could finish his hand seals.
“You can’t run anymore, Haku.” Leaf Strong Fist!
With a bang, Haku was punched to the ground.
Just as he was about to get up, Lee sent him flying with a fierce Leaf Whirlwind kick.
“Haku, you were distracted just now.
Was it because of Zabuza?” Just then, because Zabuza was stained with Kakashi’s blood, he was caught by the ninja dogs.
Kakashi took the opportunity to stab two Kunai into his arms, neutralizing the strength of one arm.
Haku prepared to use the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals once more.
Lee said, “Give up, you can’t win against me now.
I held back on that kick just now, consider it an offset for you showing mercy to Naruto earlier.” Haku said coldly, “You are a naive fellow too.
But I won’t let you succeed a second time.” Although his Chakra was running low, he couldn’t lose.
Especially now that Zabuza was at a disadvantage, he needed to end the fight quickly to help him.
However, just as the two were about to clash again, a piercing sound rang out.
“This is…?” Lee looked toward the sound and found that this noise, which sounded like thousands of birds chirping, was coming from Kakashi’s hand.
Kakashi, sprinting at high speed, held a mass of lightning that continuously emitted that chirping sound.
Just as Lee was curious about this Ninjutsu, Kakashi had already rushed in front of Zabuza.
No, it was in front of Haku.
The boy had used the ice mirrors to move himself over, blocking the way in front of Zabuza.
“Watch out!” Seeing this, Lee grew anxious.
He didn’t care about Zabuza’s life or death, but he still owed Haku for one life.
He had only just repaid the debt for Sasuke’s life, there was still Naruto’s life.
So, in his urgency, he immediately rushed over as well.
With a squelch, Kakashi’s Raikiri pierced into Haku’s body.
However, it had only gone halfway in when Lee suddenly appeared and grabbed his arm.
“Ahhhh!” The sudden surge of electricity immediately made Lee’s whole body tremble.
But he death-gripped Kakashi’s attack and, at the critical moment, kicked Zabuza and Haku away.
“Whew…” White smoke was rising from Lee’s body and he said with difficulty, “This is for Naruto’s…
I’ve repaid you.” After saying that, he fell straight down with a thud.
Although Kakashi’s strike had first hit Haku, because it was stopped by Lee before reaching the heart, the subsequent Lightning Chakra was mostly borne by Lee.
So, the one most severely injured was actually Lee.
When the Lightning Release vanished, Kakashi was stunned by the scene before him.