Qiuqa highlights 4 key points from Naruto Classic Episode 17.

1. A Beautiful Face

Haku unleashed a barrage of needles at Naruto, but the Nine-Tails’ chakra cloaking the boy’s body effortlessly deflected the attack. Naruto could now easily evade Haku’s sudden strikes, completely matching his incredible speed.

Seizing Haku’s wrist, Naruto delivered a devastating punch to his face. The sheer force launched Haku backward, crashing violently through the Ice Mirrors and shattering the jutsu into a million pieces.

Sprinting forward, Naruto readied another heavy punch as Haku stood before him. However, his fist stopped mere inches from his opponent’s face.

Haku’s shattered mask fell away, and Naruto froze in shock as he recognized the figure before him—the beautiful boy he had met in the forest. Haku asked if Naruto was hesitating out of pity. Coldly, he reminded Naruto that he was the one who had just killed Sasuke.

2. Haku’s Past

A flashback revealed Haku’s tragic past. When Maimunah married her husband, Saiful, she kept a dark secret from him: she possessed a Kekkei Genkai. One day, she caught her young son, Haku, manipulating the shape of water. Weeping, she slapped him, terrified to realize he had inherited her cursed bloodline.

However, Saiful had secretly witnessed the exchange. Driven by fear and hatred, he murdered Maimunah and attempted to kill his own son. But in a desperate act of survival, Haku turned the tables, slaughtering Saiful and his armed mob.

Back in the present, Naruto asked why Zabuza was the most precious person in Haku’s life. Haku explained that, much like Naruto wanting to become Hokage to earn Konoha’s acknowledgment, Zabuza was the first person to ever truly acknowledge Haku’s existence.

While his own parents had despised and feared his Kekkei Genkai, Zabuza saw it as a valuable, indispensable gift. Because of this, Haku had sworn his life to helping Zabuza realize his dream of staging a coup against Kirigakure.

3. Zabuza & Gato

Elsewhere on the bridge, Kakashi used his Summoning Jutsu to call forth a pack of ninja hounds. They immediately swarmed Zabuza, biting deep into his limbs and pinning him completely in place.

Kakashi explained that he had intentionally let himself get slashed so his blood would stain Zabuza’s sword, allowing his hounds to track the assassin by scent. He noted that Zabuza had been caught because of his own arrogance in fighting with his eyes closed in the mist.

Kakashi then revealed he knew Zabuza’s history: the assassin had once attempted a coup but failed after being unable to assassinate the Mizukage. That failure turned him into a rogue ninja, forcing him to flee Kirigakure alongside his loyal subordinates.

Kakashi deduced that Zabuza desperately needed funds to launch another strike against Kirigakure, as well as a safe haven from tracker ninja. This was the exact reason he had chosen to work under Gato’s employ.

4. Kakashi’s Raikiri

Kakashi prepared to unleash his Raikiri (Lightning Blade). Pinned and helpless, Zabuza was nevertheless impressed to see the legendary technique in person. Kakashi told him that Tazuna—the man Zabuza was hired to kill—was a symbol of courage and hope for the people of the Land of Waves.

Kakashi declared that a true shinobi should never harbor dangerous ambitions that only bring suffering to the masses. Unfazed, Zabuza calmly replied that he didn’t care in the slightest—he only wanted to fight for his own dream.