Haku

Haku (白, Haku), from his full name Haku Yuki, was an orphan from the Land of Water who was taken in and trained as a ninja by Zabuza Momochi. He had the ability to combine the Wind and Water Element to form a new Kekkei Genkai called Ice belonging to the Yuki Clan. Haku died in Episode 18 The Weapons Known as Shinobi (忍という名の道具) of the original Naruto anime killed by the Raikiri of Kakashi Hatake.

History

Haku was born in the Land of Waves, a place with a very cold climate, where it is apparently always snowing. In the village, after going through a war, the use of ninjutsu and the Kekkei Genkai was strictly forbidden. People who possessed the Kekkei Genkai were hated and had to hide their abilities.

One afternoon, while Haku was playing in the snow, he discovered his ability to manipulate water in its solid and liquid states (his Clan’s secret ability to use Ice). However, his father discovered this and murdered his mother. At the moment he tried to kill his own son, Haku performed an ice spike expansion, killing his father.

After the death of his parents, Haku runs away from home and wanders the streets of a city looking for food. One afternoon, while on a bridge, he is found by Zabuza, who takes him in as his student upon discovering his special abilities and trains him as a personal guard. Being the only person who cared about him, Haku develops a special feeling for Zabuza and thanks to him he finds his purpose in life, even if it is as a tool to kill.

Haku specializes in his Ice Style, speed and the use of Senbon needles, becoming an exceptional Shinobi at his young age in the Hidden Village of the Mist. He becomes a Renegade Ninja of The Mist along with Zabuza after staging a failed Coup to the Land of Waves and they become mercenaries and hired assassins. At some point, after becoming a renegade ninja, he assassinates an ANBU Special Hunter of the Mist and steals his mask and, as Haku said, he liked that mask, as it reminded him of old times.

Part One

Prologue – Land of Waves

Haku first appeared when Zabuza was about to be killed by Kakashi, Haku, disguised as an ANBU hunter, stuck Senbons in his neck so they would believe he was dead. Thanks to his plan, the ninjas of Konoha allowed him to take the body, believing it to be from Kirigakure. Later, in the forest he revived Zabuza and took him to the lair where he rested for a week to ask his new target for a rematch.

During that time, they came face to face with Gatō, when the tycoon was approaching Zabuza,Haku,threateningly ordered him to take his filthy hands away from him after which Zōri and waraji try to attack him but Haku snatches their swords and places them on their necks with his own swords warning that he was starting to get angry. Afterwards the ninja was in the forest collecting medicinal plants where he met Naruto, having a conversation about the purposes of life and that of his loved ones.

A week later, Zabuza and Haku appear on the bridge for a second battle with Team 7. Here, it is revealed that Haku was the ANBU who took Zabuza’s body and was his ally. The young ninja fights against Sasuke, attempting to kill him with his water needles, but fails, causing him to use his Secret Jutsu Demon Mirror Ice Crystal with the intention of killing him.

During one of the attacks against his opponent, Naruto appears as reinforcement, although he ends up being trapped along with his friend inside the jutsu after an oversight by Naruto. Sasuke is fiercely attacked, causing Naruto to awaken the power of the Nine-Tailed Fox, destroying the Ice technique and with it his ANBU mask after a strong punch from Naruto. Seeing Haku’s face, he recognizes him, stopping attacking him and thus the Kyubi’s power returns to his body.

Then, surprised, he asks Haku why he did such things, answering that he was trying to protect the person he loved the most: Zabuza. At that moment, he feels the sensation that his master was going to be killed, so he moves at a great speed to protect him, receiving Kakashi Hatake’s Raikiri right in his heart, causing his death. In the end, Zabuza also dies after avenging his student’s death and is buried next to him on a coast of the island.

Part Two

Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation

Haku is resurrected by Kabuto along with other famous ninja through the Edo Tensei to prepare for war. When Haku is sent along with the other revived ninja to the battlefield, Haku begins to wonder what is going on, starting to talk to Zabuza and said that even though his mind is clear, his body is moving on its own.

When they are near the battlefield, they are attacked by some birds with Explosive Seals. Seeing this, Haku protects himself and his master with an Ice Dome. Then, Haku detects the surprise attack ink birds from the Surprise Attack Division traveling on a larger sized Sai bird and then, Haku appears above them with his Secret Jutsu: Ice Crystal Demonic Mirrors and knocks them down with his senbon.

Upon landing, he joined Zabuza and the other “zombies” to finish off the fallen division. The zombie group was stopped by the Third Division, Rock Lee decides to stop Haku himself. Zabuza then talked to Kakashi, who revealed that Naruto had improved a lot, as he had fought very hard following his ninja path. This news brought a smile to Haku’s face, who believed that Naruto could only continue to improve.

After, Kabuto upgrades his Impure Resurrection Jutsu with Orochimaru’s chakra, Haku and Zabuza were able to resist being totally controlled for a short time. During this time, Haku tells Kakashi to stop them and added that his dream was to die as their tool, but as Zabuza was revived, he failed.

Kakashi informed him that he succeeded and that Zabuza didn’t see him as a tool, but also cared extremely about him and loved him, which made Haku cry with joy before Kabuto gained complete control over him. Haku, then, killed several ninja along with Zabuza before being stopped by Might Guy and Rock Lee.

During the battle, when he is summoned along with the previous Mist Swordsmen and there is a bloody fight. As Haku sees that his master was going to be attacked, he interferes with Kakashi’s attack. There, because Zabuza couldn’t control himself, he cuts Haku in half with his sword in order to damage Kakashi. In the end, Haku ends up being trapped and sealed inside Maki’s cloth so that he could not be summoned again.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax

Eventually, his soul was returned to the world of the dead by the cancellation of Summoning: Reincarnation of the Impure World.

 

Appearance

Haku was a young boy with an androgynous appearance, even causing Naruto to mistake him for a woman, who exclaimed that he was “cuter than Sakura”, even after he informed him that he was a man. He had long black hair, pale skin, large dark brown eyes, beautiful eyelashes and was of slim build.

Haku’s usual shinobi attire consisted of the typical Kirigakure striped kimono that came down to his knees (very similar to the one worn by Ao, except for the sandals). Over the brown sweater, she wears a teal haori with white trim, and around her waist a sash also brown with a fringed trim.

Along with this, she wears light brown wide-soled sandals with straps of the same color as her haori. She also has her fingernails and toenails painted teal, matching her haori. With this outfit, Haku’s long hair is pulled back with a white bra, while two strands of her hair fall loosely framing her face, pinned at the ends. Haku also wore a dark blue forehead protector with the Kirigakure symbol on it.

When in battle or moving covertly, he wore a Kirigakure ANBU hunter ninja ANBU mask, which was white with thin holes for the eyes and possessed a wavy red design, as well as the Kirigakure symbol engraved on the top.

Personality

Haku was a kind-hearted, intelligent, analytical and delusional shinobi who believed that a person became truly strong when he had someone important in his life to protect.

Despite his talent when it came to fighting, Haku did not like to kill others in his role as a tool, and avoided doing so whenever possible. When forced to face an opponent, Haku would do everything he could to avoid inflicting lethal damage, even putting him in a state of death to prevent him from fighting further, as he did with Sasuke during their battle.

In addition, Haku showed himself to be extremely analytical and intelligent when fighting, as seen during his fight with Naruto and Sasuke as he realized Naruto’s strength and that he would not be able to keep up with him.

Before meeting Zabuza, he had the belief that he was not needed, so when Zabuza offered him the opportunity to serve him, Haku was pleased and found a reason to live in it. His loyalty to Zabuza was such that he decided to die protecting him, and upon learning later from Kakashi how much Zabuza loved him and truly cared for him, Haku smiled and wept with joy.

He also had a certain wrathful nature,as when he broke Gatō’s arm and upon receiving an attempted attack from his two bodyguards he put his swords to their necks to warn that he was starting to become enraged.

Because of Haku’s pure and kind personality, Zabuza believed that, despite his acts as his tool, Haku could prosper in heaven while he would go to hell.

Abilities

After being trained by Zabuza for years, Haku was a very advanced ninja for his age. According to what Zabuza said, Haku possessed such prodigious talent that in many ways he had become more dangerous than he was. Haku possessed a very detailed knowledge of human physiology, thanks to Zabuza’s training as an ANBU. His knowledge was so great, that he could disable an opponent with acupuncture by striking a precise point on the body with a Senbon to cause immediate death or a temporary appearance of death.

Haku was also a very cunning and intelligent shinobi, as he had demonstrated by having great observational and analytical skills, he was able to quickly determine a path around an opponent’s technique or strategy without blocking himself. Haku also had the ability to make one-handed Seals, an extremely rare ability that surprised even Kakashi.

Haku also seems to have a good sense of perception, as he was able to detect the surprise attack of the Shinobi Alliance and the Surprise Attack Division, based on the unusual bird flight pattern Sai had made. In addition to this, he was seen gathering herbs to heal Zabuza, so he may also have herbal and medical knowledge.

Taijutsu

Another defining trait of Haku was his pure speed. He was very fast with his attacks, so that Sasuke could not follow his actions until he had awakened his Sharingan. After that moment, Zabuza was surprised that Haku would actually lose to Sasuke in terms of speed. He was also able to hold his own speed against Rock Lee, who is also known for his speed.

His speed increased to incredible levels with his Secret Jutsu: Ice Crystal Demonic Mirrors, making him appear as if he was in all the mirrors at once in a moment when he was just moving between them at an extraordinary speed.

Chakra Nature Transformation

he most characteristic power of this shinobi is the ability to unite his Water and Wind type nature to form Ice, controlling it at will. One of his main techniques are the Ice Crystal Demonic Mirrors, which allow him to teleport from one mirror to another, he also demonstrated to be able to create Domes that were able to block the Paper Bombs, even exploding at the same time, in the anime, being able to release large spikes made of pure ice.

Thanks to having water chakra, he can use jutsu that utilize this nature such as his Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death. His other most amazing ability is being able to perform one-handed seals without losing speed.