Sea World Bridge Weaving Technique

Whoosh—

The kunai in Sasuke's hand pierced the heart of the last person present. With that successful strike, Sasuke's emotions gradually calmed down.

At first, the blood-soaked scene had made him extremely uncomfortable, but now he was beginning to enjoy the feeling.

He looked toward Zabuza, silently expressing his gratitude for stepping in twice to block attacks for him.

Zabuza remained expressionless. Faint killing intent lurked in his emotionless eyes as he tightly gripped a kunai and slowly walked toward Gato.

By now, Gato had been scared out of his wits. He lay limp on the ground, utterly stripped of the lofty, world-dominating bearing he had once possessed.

Now, he was merely an utterly pathetic ordinary man, looking incomparably miserable before a ninja.

"I... I was wrong! Lord Zabuza! I was wrong!" Gato cried out hoarsely, his voice full of fear and despair.

"Spare me! Spare me! I'll give you all my money!" he continued to beg, his eyes filled with terror and helplessness.

"I'll be your dog! I'll make money for you! Lots and lots of money! I'll build up your power!" Seemingly thinking of something, Gato hurriedly offered all sorts of tempting conditions, trying to make Zabuza change his mind.

"Please! Lord Zabuza! Grandfather! Spare me!" Gato screamed himself hoarse, tears streaming down his cheeks as his body trembled uncontrollably from overwhelming terror.

However, Zabuza did not stop walking in response to Gato's pleas.

His face remained entirely blank, as though he had not heard Gato at all.

"If you knew it would come to this, why did you do it in the first place?" Zabuza said slowly, his voice so calm that it seemed devoid of emotion.

As his words fell, two sharp shuriken flashed from his hand like lightning, accurately striking Gato's two remaining legs and severing them instantly.

Gato let out a miserable scream and collapsed to the ground after losing his balance.

Gato writhed painfully on the ground, trying to escape this nightmare-like scene.

However, the massive loss of blood gradually blurred his consciousness, leaving his mind heavy and muddled.

His struggling was weak and futile, like the final death throes of a wounded beast.

Zabuza watched it all coldly, a trace of disdain and disgust flashing through his eyes.

He slowly walked up to Gato, stopped in front of him, and looked down at the man who had once been so arrogant.

He spat viciously at Gato, the contemptuous saliva splashing onto Gato's face as though declaring his utter scorn for this human scum.

"Not everyone is a ninja from the village, and not everyone can be bought with money."

"Gato, go repent in hell!"

Zabuza spoke coldly, then kicked Gato's helpless body hard into the icy seawater.

Gato's body traced an arc through the air before finally falling into the raging sea.

The seawater swiftly swallowed his figure, as though dragging him into a bottomless abyss from which he would never return.

Gurgle, gurgle—

Gato, who had just fainted from blood loss, was jolted awake after choking on water. With no limbs and the seawater's buoyancy, he actually floated on the surface.

The area was quickly dyed red by the blood seeping from his severed limbs, attracting countless fish.

Gato's face was twisted with pain and despair.

"Hidden Leaf Village's ninjas... save me... I'm willing to..."

Unfortunately, before Gato could finish speaking, an unknown fish dragged him into the depths of the sea.

Naruto and Sakura had returned as well. Seeing corpses scattered all around, Naruto began searching for Sasuke.

When he found that Sasuke was unharmed, he finally broke into a wide grin.

"Sasuke! Are you okay?"

Sasuke nodded, and Naruto separated some of the medicine they had bought and had Sakura deliver it.

Zabuza glanced at the deep seabed. After thinking for a moment, he still chose to go back.

He was proficient in Water Release. Once he entered the sea, he was confident that he would most likely be able to escape.

Moreover, he could tell from their attitude that they would not take their anger out on Haku if he left.

But...

He was already a failure. He did not want to become a traitor too.

He walked back over to Kakashi and Obito, signaling for them to seal the Chakra in his body.

"No, forget it. As fellow ninjas, I don't want to see someone slap you around while you're powerless to fight back again."

Obito glanced at Zabuza, then ignored the complicated look in his eyes.

"Sasuke, you performed very well just now. Keep it up. This is your reward!"

Obito tossed a scroll toward Sasuke.

Having received Obito's approval, a smile flashed across Sasuke's face.

"Thank you, Master..."

When Sasuke saw what was inside, his pupils contracted before he became completely excited.

Besides optimized C-rank versions of the Great Fireball Technique, Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, and Dragon Fire Technique, it also contained several B-rank ninjutsu!

According to the instructions and principles in the scroll, these B-rank ninjutsu had already been simplified to roughly the level of C-rank ones!

Fire Release - Phoenix Flower Claw Crimson

Fire Release - Great Fire Dragon Technique

Fire Release - Fire Dragon Flame Bullet

Fire Release - Wild Storm Dance

Fire Release - Great Fire Annihilation

"Sasuke, study hard. Once you've mastered them, I'll teach you the even stronger Flame Release developed by our Uchiha Clan!"

Faced with the grand promise his master had painted for him, Sasuke said he would definitely work hard enough to earn it.

The people of the Land of Waves had already gathered around them.

Supporting one another, they offered their highest respect to the heroes who had just saved them, saved the bridge, and saved the Land of Waves.

Among them, Sasuke and Zabuza received the most praise and flattery.

It was Sasuke's first time being a hero, so he was still somewhat unaccustomed to it. Naruto, however, watched with overwhelming envy.

Being acknowledged by others... felt amazing!

Too bad it wasn't him!

Zabuza, on the other hand, was in a daze. Everywhere he went, people feared him, whether because of his face or his identity as a rogue ninja.

But these civilians...

This atmosphere... if only the Land of Water could be like this...

"Caw—"

Just as everyone below was still cheering, a clear, ringing cry suddenly came from the sky.

Immediately afterward, a massive Giant Bird soaring with outstretched wings appeared in everyone's field of vision.

However, to everyone's surprise, the Giant Bird did not truly descend to the ground. Instead, it rapidly transformed into a cloud of white mist in midair and vanished without a trace.

At the same time, a tiny black dot in the sky plummeted downward at an astonishing speed, like a falling meteor.

Kakashi, Zabuza, and the others could not help but feel puzzled.

"Huh? Someone's falling from the sky!"

Naruto shouted in terror. He wanted to catch the person, but was afraid of being crushed to death himself.

"What do we do? Hurry and save him!"

As the black dot fell, Kakashi and Zabuza noticed the person's distinctive red hair.

Someone from the Land of Whirlpools? The thought arose in both their minds at once, and they could not help pondering it.

The civilians below also descended into chaos.

Some guessed fearfully, "Could he be one of Gato's men?"

Others voiced their concerns. "Don't tell me his target is our bridge?!"

The entire scene was instantly filled with tension.

Fortunately, at the crucial moment, the mysterious person descending from the sky displayed extraordinary skill just before reaching the ground.

His body became incomparably light, floating down like a feather before landing steadily beside Kakashi and Obito.

"Nagato, you're here!"

Nagato swept his gaze around and smiled. "Looks like I missed a good show..."

But when he saw the corpses covering the ground, he frowned slightly.

"Those people..."

Obito explained the mission and Gato's situation to him, and Nagato nodded.

"They truly deserved to die!"

Seeing that the newcomer was with the heroes from earlier, Tazuna led the people of the Land of Waves in thanking them.

"Tazuna, shouldn't you settle the payment for hiring us?"

Kakashi spoke from the side, his tone carrying some resentment.

If this guy had not carelessly issued the mission, he would not have been captured alive along with Naruto and Sasuke this time!

He had originally thought it was just a C-rank escort mission where they would beat up a few bandits. Instead, they ran into rogue ninjas, and it became a B-rank Mission. He had figured that, with his Elite Jonin strength, it would still be no big deal. Then Zabuza showed up, bringing Haku with him, and the difficulty instantly rose to A-rank. Before he could even say they should give up and go home, his counterpart from a Parallel World arrived with his best buddy. This damn thing had become an S-rank Mission. He was carrying out an S-rank Mission with three burdens and one traitor, yet getting paid C-rank Mission money. Damn it!

"Of course! Of course!"

Tazuna nodded repeatedly.

"All right, Kakashi was joking. If he cared about money, he would have abandoned you when you first ran into those two ninjas."

After chatting with them along the way, Kakashi had also learned that this variant of himself possessed at least a little human warmth. At the very least, he was a tool that knew how to adapt.

"Thank you! The two of you are actually the ones I should thank most!"

"Though the Land of Waves is poor, we can still bring out some treasures!"

As Tazuna spoke, he waved into the distance. Soon, several people appeared carrying bags of local specialties along with gold, silver, and jewelry.

"A small token of our appreciation!"

But Kakashi shook his head and only took some seafood to put away.

"All right. Although we also lack money and supplies, don't worry about us when you people can barely afford to eat!"

Seeing that his things had not been accepted, Tazuna looked somewhat disappointed.

"Then... then give this bridge a name! The Land of Waves will remember this day forever!"

Tazuna spoke, hoping to use this as a gift of thanks.

"Heh, that's not bad. But you misunderstand. The ones you should thank aren't us, but the Empire behind me!"

"This bridge will be called Empire Bridge!"

"You can also discuss it with your people. Since your Daimyo does not care about you, once our Empire fully enters this world, you can join the Empire! The Empire will treat every one of its citizens equally, no matter where they are!"

Tazuna had come to understand things clearly during the journey. Although these ninjas were unwilling to join because of their so-called beliefs, he had been shocked by and longed for the grand vision they described.

"Can we really? I can decide for everyone right now. We are willing to join the Empire!"

"It's just... I'm afraid of our Daimyos..."

Seeing fear appear on Tazuna's face, Obito smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry! I didn't mean right now. Once the Empire fully enters this world, you can simply join without resisting!"

Hearing that the people here were all willing to join the Empire, Nagato was somewhat happy as well.

The resentment that had weighed on his heart for so long eased. Thinking that the people of the Land of Waves were so sensible, Nagato looked at Tazuna.

"In that case, let me give the Land of Waves a meeting gift on behalf of the Empire!"

"Earth Release - Sea World Bridge Weaving Technique!"