Haku (Naruto)

Haku is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto. Template:Spoiler

Background

Haku was born in a snowy village in the Land of Water. During Haku's childhood, civil wars ravaged the Land of Water, and since those with kekkei genkai were commonly used as the most terrifying tools of war, many people irrationally dreaded and hated these people. Haku's mother possessed a Kekkei Genkai but kept it a secret from her husband and the rest of the village. Haku awakened this power when he was very young. Upon revealing this to his mother, she scolded him and ordered him to keep it a secret. When Haku's father found out that they were both possessors of the dreaded Kekkei Genkai, he murdered his wife and attempted to do the same to Haku. Even though he was still very young, Haku was able to overpower and kill him in his panic, apparently without realizing it until after the deed was already over. He wandered the Water Country as an unwanted, beggar child until he was found by Zabuza, who agreed to take him in and wanted to merely use him as a tool. Haku is fiercely protective of and devoted to the older ninja to an extreme, accepting his life as essentially Zabuza's possession and asking Naruto to kill him when he feared he could no longer be useful to his master.

It is revealed in chapter 316 that Haku's kekkei genkai actually comes from the ability to control two elements at the same time, notably wind and water, and creating a new element to manipulate. Called "Hyoton" (Ice Jutsu), it is similar to the First Hokage's and Yamato's Mokuton (Wood Jutsu).

Haku is kind but straight forward, a drastic contrast from Zabuza. He doesn't appear to change mentally, which suggests that Zabuza's personality never really did rub off on him, but that would be understood. Zabuza didn't exactly treat him as family but rather as a tool, to be used, then cast off. Haku himself admits that he has trouble accepting the entire shinobi philosophy, as it requires killing, something which he despises doing and has never yet done. The fact that Haku has never (intentionally) killed another human is a testament to his purity, something that Kakashi makes reference to in his eulogy on the bridge.

Sexuality

Haku falls into the category of a cross-dresser. It's not certain if Haku and Zabuza had any form of a sexual relationship, or if their relationship was more familial in nature. Many fans outright deny any possibility, while many fans conversely insist that it's true; the truth of the matter is that there have only been hints and not proof of either. However, even in the English translation of the manga, Haku has been referred to as Zabuza's "consort", a term which is generally used to describe a spouse, although many don't believe this, and there have been many wars taking this piece of information out with the excuse of it being point of view. Also, when Haku was explaining to Zabuza why he attacked the pressure points in his neck, he stated (in the English dub) that he didn't want to "mark up his flawless body."

Wave Country arc

In his first appearance, he masqueraded as an hunter-nin from Kirigakure sent to kill Zabuza Momochi. Haku actually had a kekkei genkai and many special techniques, the most powerful being the Demonic Ice Mirrors, but he also attacked using Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death (Ten-thousand Stinging Needles of Death in the English manga) and senbon (acupuncture needles). Haku is the only ninja so far who can use one-handed handseals; this may be a unique skill he devised, or it may possibly be another genetic ability of his advanced bloodline.

Haku knows a great deal about human anatomy, and can damage, kill, incapacitate, or otherwise disable another instantly with his needles, showing that he is a very skilled master in Shinjutsu. He demonstrated this when he managed to throw two needles into exact pressure points into the back of Zabuza's neck, and made it appear that he was killed instantly, but was actually in a coma-like state and had awakened by himself later. The same had later happened to Sasuke. Kakashi Hatake realizes that Haku must have been taught at an ANBU academy, as ANBU are trained to know every single detail and specific anatomy of the body, though it's possible that he could've simply learned these skills from Zabuza, who, in fact, was part of the Kirigakure ANBU.

He also has an amazing gift of observation and deviation. He can witness a move just once and can easily find a way to counter it, as to when he observed Kakashi and Zabuza's first fight, he had by then discovered the extent of Kakashi's Sharingan abilities, and gave Zabuza a way to simply counter the Sharingan's ability to copy every precise detail of his opponent's fighting style, and the ability to control the user's opponent that makes it seem as if they can read into the opponent's mind or see into the future.

In Zabuza's last battle over what was later named the Great Naruto Bridge, Haku sacrifices his life by taking Kakashi's Raikiri which was aimed at Zabuza. Haku says he was fighting for his own dream — which was making Zabuza's dreams come true — but in the end, he fought for the dreams of Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno as well, by purposely putting Sasuke into a temporary death-like state much like he did to Zabuza, when he could have easily killed him. Haku, as Kakashi put it in the manga, was "a pure spirit: as true and clean as newly fallen snow."

Trivia

• The name "Haku" (白) (which is written in jōyō kanji) means "white", but is also in advertence to his immaculate personality.
• Haku's family name is often thought to be Shiro (also meaning "white"). However, this is fanon, as this confusion is caused by the Malaysian Dub, in which Haku's name was changed to Shiro in Episode 15.
• Haku remains very popular despite his relatively early death, routinely appearing in favorite character lists (as well as some of Naruto's own flashbacks, particularly during the Chunin Exam arc). However, he has fallen out of the top ten favorite characters.
• Haku was apparently stronger than Zabuza, as Zabuza stated that over time, Haku's jutsu skills eventually surpassed that of his own.
• Haku's Demonic Mirror Ice Crystals technique has been changed to Crystal Ice Mirrors in the US dub and the Ice Crystals Magic Mirror Technique in the Viz manga. His bloodline is known as "Secret Arts of Water" in the Viz manga.
• In Chapter 316, it is revealed Haku's bloodline limit was known as Hyoton. It worked through mixing wind and water-based chakra simultaneously to create ice.