Naruto instinctively had a bad feeling. "You didn't find any trace of Haku?"
"We did find him," Pakkun said awkwardly. "But Zabuza saw Blue while he was retreating. You know, he's rather large..."
Naruto's expression stiffened. "Blue—the biggest one, with the meat all over his face?"
"Yes. And when Blue came back, he said Zabuza came out carrying his giant sword, which scared him into immediately canceling the summoning."
Sakura's brows furrowed slightly. "That means he's almost fully recovered... Strange. According to the timeline, shouldn't he still need a few more days?"
Naruto's face darkened. "It was Gato. He probably hired someone to help Zabuza recover quickly."
He explained the workers' situation in detail, and everyone's expression turned grim.
Sakura was silent for a moment before breaking the quiet. "Let's look on the bright side. At least we know Zabuza's current situation ahead of time, so we won't be caught off guard."
Sasuke rubbed his fists together and smiled faintly. "I really do want to spar with that guy now."
Naruto glanced at him. The guy Sasuke mentioned should have been Haku.
Speaking of which, after witnessing Naruto and Haku's abilities some time ago, Sasuke's chuuni aura had faded considerably, and he had also been training much harder.
Now the skies had cleared and the rain had stopped. Pillar Brother felt like he was back in business.
Naruto thought, Sure enough, getting beaten up by strong opponents really is Uchiha Sasuke's fate. He then patted Sasuke's shoulder comfortingly. "When the time comes, you can fight Haku one-on-one."
Sasuke said nothing, merely giving a cold snort.
The three of them and one dog began transporting the food back in an orderly fashion. Along the way, they compared the list of Gato's associates Naruto had obtained and knocked out every mercenary patrolling the road, tying them all together. They also tossed some food into the workers' small courtyards.
There were the most mercenaries around Tazuna's old house. Since they had already gone that far, the three of them threw all the bound mercenaries into Tazuna's home.
Still, this was merely drinking poison to quench their thirst. Until Gato was eliminated, the Land of Waves would never know peace.
The associates' group had just begun to show its edge, while Zabuza had recovered from his serious illness. The storm was brewing, and the air was thick with tension.
In the living room of Tazuna's new house, under the dim yellow light—
"We'll make our move tomorrow."
Kakashi placed his crutch to one side and spoke to the others in a solemn voice.
"The longer we delay, the worse it will be. With Gato's methods, re-indoctrinating the people is only a matter of time."
Naruto agreed with Kakashi. Although Gato wasn't strong in combat, he had the power of money. At worst, he could simply buy another batch of food.
Sakura thought for a moment before asking, "Naruto, when did you say Konoha's reinforcements would arrive?"
"Probably within the next two days. I don't know the exact details. Boss, what's your plan?"
Kakashi looked around at the three of them. "Right now, Zabuza and the masked child are the greatest threats. Since we already know where they are, we'll find an opportunity to launch a surprise attack on them tomorrow. Once they're dealt with, we'll carry out a 'decapitation' operation against Gato."
Simple and straightforward.
Sasuke couldn't help asking, "Isn't this plan too simple?"
"No. I agree with the boss's idea." Naruto shook his head. "The more complicated a plan is, the more steps we have to consider. If something goes wrong at any one of them, the entire plan could collapse."
Kakashi nodded with a smile. "Exactly."
Sasuke was surprised. Before, Naruto had merely stolen the spotlight from him in terms of combat ability. How had he now surpassed him in strategy as well?
As if noticing Sasuke's gaze, Naruto said blandly, "Pillar Brother, if you're bad at something, practice more."
"Naruto, say that again if you dare!"
Naruto yawned without responding. Seeing this, Sasuke's eyes grew even colder.
"Stop. If either of you says one more word, I'm going to start beating people up." Sakura calmly stopped them.
The two of them shuddered at the same time and finally let the matter drop.
Sasuke prided himself on his well-rounded strength, but during this period, his wariness of Sakura had only increased.
There was no other reason. Sakura had made achievements in both Super Strength and Water Style Jutsu, and Sasuke had personally seen her smash a huge boulder apart with her bare hands.
"She could only smash a crack into it before..." At the time, Sasuke's heart had been rocked by turbulent waves. He had also begun pushing himself harder, practicing Fire Style Jutsu whenever he had free time.
All in all, the combat power of the three had already given Kakashi the faint feeling that he could no longer keep them fully under control.
"There's another problem," Sakura suddenly said. "Do we need to leave someone here to guard the place?"
Kakashi pondered for a moment before saying, "Sakura, can you stay here and protect Mr. Tazuna and the others?"
"I can." Sakura nodded without hesitation.
"Then I'll feel reassured." Kakashi signaled for them to prepare their personal belongings. They would set out first thing tomorrow morning.
After the meeting broke up, Naruto couldn't help finding Sakura and asking in a low voice, "Hey, what are you thinking? You're not farming dungeons anymore?"
Based on Sakura's personality as a veteran Soul Game player, he figured she would at least want to personally teach Gato a lesson, right?
"Sasuke needs Haku's secret technique to stimulate his eye-opening, and you and Kakashi will be there too. They won't be able to cause any trouble." Sakura answered calmly.
"Besides, I keep feeling that something is wrong. Gato clearly knows we exist, yet he still developed so many associates. I suspect he has another objective."
"That's why I'm staying here. If Tazuna gets captured by Gato's associates, then everything will be over."
After hearing this, Naruto began to hesitate as well, but he couldn't figure out what kind of trick Gato could pull.
Maybe Lady Haruno Sakura is simply being too cautious?
Naruto pretended to be relaxed. "I feel like you might be too tense because you've been training so intensely these past few days, and this whole associate business has put too much pressure on you."
"How about we talk about something more relaxing? Um..."
"Like what?"
"For example, let's talk about you. Right! I don't think I've ever seen what you looked like in your previous life." Naruto blinked.
"How about this? We both use Transformation Jutsu to show each other what we look like. We can treat it as officially meeting face-to-face in another world?"
"No."
"What's the matter? Could it be that you're ugly? Don't worry, I'm not some shallow guy who only cares about looks."
"I said no."
Naruto scratched his head. The more Sakura acted like this, the more curious he became about her true appearance. He began pacing back and forth.
"I'll cover your meals for the entire month!"
"...I have parents. They'll cook for me."
"Oh, right. I forgot. Then name a price, and I'll go buy a lottery ticket!"
Naruto suddenly remembered that Naruto in the original story had been extremely lucky with money, the kind of person who could win just by buying a random lottery ticket.
"I can earn money myself." Sakura refused him clearly, making it clear that she wouldn't spend a man's money.
After that, Naruto proposed more than ten different ideas. He only finally gave up when Sakura was about to give him a head massage.
"Seriously, that coy attitude... She's definitely a woman. At least that rules out the 'bottom' option."
The next morning.
Naruto and Sasuke, along with Kakashi, were all ready.
Before setting out, Kakashi repeatedly reminded them, "When we encounter the enemy later, you must follow my orders. Don't act on your own like last time."
"Don't worry, Boss."
"Let's go."
Sakura watched the three of them and gently raised her right hand to her cheek.
Her right eyelid had started twitching again.
Before you continue