Good is rewarded with good, evil is rewarded with evil

So-called Rogue Ninjas were different from the powerful missing-nin who could survive pursuit squads from ninja villages. They were merely ordinary people who had learned the Chakra Refining Technique through chance opportunities.

Most of them had never learned ninjutsu. They simply used chakra to strengthen their bodies before fighting with cold weapons.

As for their strength, most of them were weaker than even the most ordinary Genin. Even the best among them were, at most, as strong as an average Chunin.

As for Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, while Sakura was one of Konoha's most ordinary Genin, she had been an honor student at the Academy and possessed exceptional talent for chakra control.

If she had been placed in an ordinary small ninja village outside the Five Great Villages, she would have been considered a genius-level Genin.

There was even less need to mention Naruto and Sasuke. Leaving aside the Nine-Tails Chakra, Naruto's own chakra reserves alone were already more than a hundred times those of Kakashi, an Elite Jonin. He was also proficient in the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, and his Body Technique was not bad either.

The other possessed a Single Tomoe Sharingan, was proficient in Fire Style ninjutsu and Shuriken Jutsu, and was the strongest genius of their class.

The two had already possessed the strength of Chunin from some small ninja villages when they first left the village. After these past days of chakra control training, they had grown even stronger.

The three of them would not have an especially easy time fighting over a hundred Rogue Ninjas, but their chances of victory were certainly very high.

"Looks like being a teacher isn't easy either, Mr. Kakashi!"

After Sakura and the other two became embroiled in a melee with the Rogue Ninjas, Li Chuan smiled at Kakashi beside him—or rather, Kakashi's shadow clone.

It turned out that when Sasuke had rushed out earlier, Kakashi had secretly followed him as well. The one left here was merely a shadow clone.

"Can't be helped. My three subordinates are too adorable. I can't let anything happen to them."

Kakashi was somewhat surprised by Li Chuan's sharp perception. He raised his forehead protector and smiled.

He was not actually worried about those Rogue Ninjas. What truly concerned him were Zabuza, hidden in the shadows, and the boy who had rescued Zabuza.

Since Gato had already appeared with his men, Zabuza and that boy, whom Gato had hired, had to be nearby.

Li Chuan smiled at that. He knew what Kakashi was thinking, and Zabuza and Haku really were hiding in the thick fog beneath the bridge right now. However, they were not there to deal with them, but to kill Gato.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Five minutes later, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke stood there panting. Before them lay Rogue Ninjas sprawled all over the ground, along with Gato, whose legs had gone weak from fright.

Gato had not expected that so many men he had spent money raising would be unable to defeat three little brats.

Had he known, he would have hired more missing-nin like Zabuza from the Bounty Hunter Guild.

"Just you wait! I won't let you get away with this!"

Gato spat out his threat in a rage, then turned to flee.

Seeing this, Naruto and the other two turned to look at Kakashi, seemingly waiting for his instructions. Kakashi merely shook his head.

Clearly, Kakashi did not want to kill Gato here.

Their mission was to protect Tazuna. If Gato sent people after them, they could drive them off or kill them. But as long as Gato himself did not attack them, they could not easily kill him.

Otherwise, it would certainly damage Konoha's reputation afterward.

If this incident caused the wealthy magnates to collectively develop a distaste for Konoha and stop coming there to issue missions, Konoha's income would be greatly reduced.

Of course, if they had accepted an assassination mission, that would be another matter. But openly, the major ninja villages would never accept missions to assassinate wealthy tycoons, daimyo, or government officials.

Those kinds of missions mostly appeared only in underground Bounty Hunter Guilds.

Therefore, under normal circumstances in this world, wealthy magnates like Gato generally faced no danger as long as they did not encounter some utterly deranged missing-nin.

"Slash!"

Just as Gato's figure began to gradually disappear across the bridge, an extremely chilling sound suddenly rang out.

Then they saw Gato's head instantly fly from his body, arc through the air, and fall beneath the bridge, while his body crashed onto the ground with a bang.

"Hmph, just a mere ordinary man!"

Zabuza emerged from the fog carrying the Executioner's Blade. He kicked Gato's headless corpse into the sea, with the masked Haku at his side.

"Zabuza!!!"

Seeing Zabuza appear and immediately kill Gato with a single strike, Kakashi, Naruto, and the others all revealed incredulous expressions.

What was this supposed to mean?

"Enough, Kakashi. Stop hiding. I know you're nearby. This time, I have no intention of fighting you."

Zabuza glanced toward a large boulder to Naruto and the others' left.

Kakashi's shadow clone beside Li Chuan instantly dispersed, while the real Kakashi, who had been hiding behind the boulder, revealed himself and shielded Naruto and the other two behind him.

"Why did you kill Gato?"

"That bastard tried to kill me while I was injured last time so he wouldn't have to pay me. So I had no choice but to collect the payment myself!"

Zabuza sneered, then looked at the wary Kakashi.

"Don't worry. Although I really want another fight with you, and you fooled me with your Sharingan genjutsu last time... after killing this guy, the real pursuit squad will probably arrive soon. I have to conserve my strength."

"If that's the case, then that's for the best."

Kakashi also sighed inwardly in relief.

He was confident in his ability to defeat Zabuza, but he wasn't certain that Li Chuan and the three genin, who had just finished a battle, could overcome that boy.

So if they could avoid fighting, that was naturally for the best.

More importantly, Zabuza was a rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist Village, not Konoha. Why should he help another ninja village eliminate its rogue ninja? If not for Hidden Mist's conspiracy back then, Rin would never have died.

To be honest, if he had to name the two villages he hated most, the Hidden Mist Village and the Stone Village would top the list. One had caused Rin's death, and the other had caused Obito's.

"You're a good opponent. When the chance comes, we'll settle this again!"

Leaving behind those final words, Zabuza vanished from everyone's sight with Haku.

"Gato is dead, and Zabuza's group won't cause any more trouble. It seems the people of the Land of Waves can finally live happier lives in the future. As expected, good is rewarded with good and evil with evil. It's not that retribution doesn't come—it simply hasn't reached the right time yet."

After Zabuza left, Li Chuan walked over to Kakashi and the others with a smile on his face.

Zabuza and Haku's appearance had been deliberately arranged by him, so that anyone with ulterior motives would not connect Gato's death and the subsequent seizure of his assets to the merchant caravan under Li Chuan's command.

Otherwise, there would have been no need for Zabuza to kill Gato. Li Chuan could simply have secretly taken care of Gato himself.

Now the story was perfectly clear: the rogue ninja Zabuza had fallen out with his employer Gato, killed him, taken a sum of his money, and fled.

Li Chuan's friend, the kind-hearted merchant Matsukawa, helped the Land of Waves build its bridge and, incidentally, purchased Gato's estate after his death, leading the people of the Land of Waves toward a wonderful new life.

Kakashi, the Konoha Ninja, the three Genin, and the bridge builder Tazuna could all testify to that.