Kage: You Call This Guy the Savior?!

Yet, he did not believe that Konoha would truly back these people from the Land of Waves.

He had heard that Tazuna had only commissioned a C-rank mission, and the people sent were nothing more than a group of wet-behind-the-ears brats; the only one worth noting, Kakashi, was already injured.

In such a situation, who could possibly stop him, Gato?

The only thing that annoyed him was that Zabuza had gone missing. He feared the man had been injured and was now terrified of that person called Kakashi—a waste of the many villagers he had secretly captured to feed the man's blade.

These rogue ninjas were truly unreliable; had he known, he would have reported it directly to Kirigakure, perhaps even gaining some benefits in the process.

Standing on the bridge, his subordinates beat the disobedient workers until they wailed in agony. For a moment, Gato felt high-spirited, imagining a future where he used his wealth to "buy" the entire country and perhaps even crown himself as the Daimyo.

When that time came, he would certainly build his own ninja village so he would no longer be manipulated like a puppet by the Mizukage.

However, he hadn't been happy for long before chaos erupted below; someone actually dared to resist, and several of his men had already been beaten to the ground.

"Who are you? How dare you disturb my business!" Gato waved his arms in a fit of rage.

"I am a ninja from Konoha, and I am taking charge of this bridge!" Sasuke revealed his Sharingan, the crimson eyes making Gato feel a twinge of fear.

Hmph, these damned ninjas!

Immediately after, Sakura joined the fray. Although her strength was not equal to that of Naruto or Sasuke, she was more than enough to deal with a bunch of small-time thugs.

"All of you, attack together! Beat these two brats to death!" A fierce look appeared on Gato's face.

However, this was not a matter that could be won by numbers alone. Sasuke handled them with ease and pleasure, not even breaking a sweat.

In no time at all, the ground was littered with thugs groaning in pain, leaving only Gato shivering in the wind, unable to believe what was happening before his eyes.

"My lord, save me!" Gato suddenly screamed.

Suddenly, dozens of Kirigakure ninjas descended from the sky, clearly having been lying in ambush nearby. This sight made Sasuke quickly pull Sakura behind him, his eyes filled with gravity.

Dealing with ninjas was completely different from dealing with ordinary people; no matter how confident he was, he couldn't take on so many people at once.

"Are you planning to go to war with Konoha?" Sakura thought quickly and shouted.

"Hmph, you two brats cannot represent Konoha. It would be a different story if your superiors came instead." A cold, chilling voice drifted from somewhere, answering her question.

"This bridge belongs to Konoha. You intend to destroy Konoha's assets—how is that any different from declaring war on Konoha?"

Just then, Keiichi finally arrived at the bridge and shouted urgently.

"What proof do you have that this is a Konoha bridge?"

"Is this enough?"

As he spoke, Keiichi uncovered the stone carving at the head of the bridge, revealing the four powerful, vigorous characters for "Leaf Bridge" to everyone's view.

Now it was the other side's turn to fall silent.

"It's nothing more than a fox pretending to be a tiger. This is clearly a bridge built by the villagers' pooled funds; how did it suddenly become Konoha's?" Gato grew anxious and quickly interjected.

"You say this is a Konoha asset, yet you let a few brats protect it? That is laughable," the voice said, sounding somewhat gloomy.

"Who said it was only us?" Keiichi adopted a posture of absolute confidence and smiled.

"Are you talking about that heavily injured Kakashi? If he weren't injured, I might be wary, but as he is now... hahahaha." The opponent laughed wantonly.

"Oh? Are you talking about me?" A voice suddenly rang out from behind them. Kakashi emerged from the thick fog, walked slowly to Keiichi's side, and placed a hand on his shoulder, his expression appearing completely relaxed.

"I don't believe your wounds could have healed that quickly!" the opponent said viciously.

The Kirigakure ninjas became restless, appearing as if they were about to pounce.

However, the next moment, something happened that made everyone's eyes pop out: one figure after another appeared from the fog in rapid succession. Just seeing their faces, one familiar name after another was on the verge of being blurted out.

"Hyuga Hiashi!"

"Might Guy!"

"Asuma Sarutobi!"

"Choza Akimichi!"

"Inoichi Yamanaka!"

"Shikaku Nara!"

"..."

What was happening? Why had Konoha's strongest Jonin all rushed over at once? Was this bridge really that important to them?

Seemingly unconcerned with the grim situation on the field, the various Jonin greeted Kakashi one by one, their expressions as relaxed as could be.

Conversely, the Kirigakure ninjas began to retreat involuntarily, their faces turning deathly pale and their morale plummeting.

As the saying goes, a tree stands by its shadow; ninjas who had made a name for themselves were all stained with blood. Since they were nothing more than ordinary Genin or Chunin, how could they not feel afraid?

"This is Konoha territory. Get out of here!" Keiichi stepped forward, his voice full of arrogance.

Faced with such provocation from a twelve-year-old boy, these Kirigakure ninjas didn't dare utter a single harsh word, breaking out into cold sweat instead.

Seeing that the other side had no intention of retreating, Keiichi suddenly unfurled a scroll. With a poof, a weapon appeared—it was none other than the Kubikiribōchō.

"The rogue ninja from your village, Zabuza, has already been killed by us. This is the proof. If you want this blade back, have your Mizukage personally negotiate with the Hokage and show sufficient sincerity."

Seeing the Kubikiribōchō, the Kirigakure ninjas stared at each other, completely stunned.

They knew best just how ferocious the Demon was; everyone felt fortunate they hadn't been in the same generation as Zabuza, otherwise, they would have surely perished!

The person hidden in the shadows couldn't help but sigh, his final doubts dispelled. If Konoha hadn't dispatched their most elite forces, how could that guy Zabuza have died so cleanly?

To think that a few children like those before him could kill Zabuza was nothing but a joke!

It seemed these ignorant commoners had reached some sort of agreement with Konoha behind the scenes, selling out the bridge!

And so, the Kirigakure ninja retreated, leaving without a trace of hesitation, and even Gato had vanished into thin air before anyone noticed.

After a long while, Keiichi waved his hand wearily and said, "Naruto, that's enough."

At once, the 'Jonin' who had been so high-spirited just moments ago burst into clouds of smoke, revealing themselves to be the Multiple Shadow Clones Naruto had deployed.

To be able to use the Transformation Jutsu to mimic the appearance of various Jonin while maintaining a Multiple Shadow Clone technique—only Naruto, the inventor of the Harem Jutsu, could pull that off.

"Ouch, that nearly scared me to death," Naruto slumped to the ground, exhausted.

"Naruto, you deserve the primary credit for this!" Keiichi gave him a thumbs-up.

"That goes without saying!" Naruto replied with a smug, identical gesture.

Keiichi let out a breath of relief; the Land of Waves Arc had finally come to an end.

Chapter 25: Heading Home

"Trash, you're all just a bunch of trash!" Back at the company, Gato smashed everything he could lay his eyes on.

With Kirigakure refusing to support him, he had no way to destroy the bridge, for he could not afford to provoke an enemy like Konoha.

In this way, his shipping business would inevitably suffer; who knew how much money he would lose in the future!

But before he could even settle down, he suddenly felt a sense of suffocation, and the next moment, his feet left the floor as his entire body was hoisted into the air.

It felt as if a pair of invisible hands had clamped around his throat.

"I am very disappointed in you," a voice stated.

"My lord... my lord, I was wrong..."

"Where did you go wrong?"

"I... I didn't pay enough tribute..."

"It seems you still don't know where you went wrong. The money you earn was always mine to begin with; what does the amount of tribute matter?"

"I... I..." Gato had an ominous premonition, and he panicked.

"Your mistake was taking in Zabuza. He is a rogue ninja from our Kirigakure; isn't that an act of betrayal?"

"I was wrong... I was truly wrong..."

"You calculated well, didn't you? Thinking you could attract other rogue ninja by taking in Zabuza and build a force of your own?"

"..."

"It's a pity you aren't a ninja and cannot understand us at all. Even if Zabuza hadn't died, he would have killed you sooner or later. Did you really think you could control him?"

The words struck Gato like a bolt of lightning, and his face flushed deep red.

"Do you know? We are willing to spend vast resources to arm and cultivate puppets precisely because they are lifeless objects. But the moment a puppet develops its own thoughts, the first thing one must do is destroy it, lest it turn against its master."

Understanding the implication in the other's words, Gato began to struggle desperately; he did not want to die.

However, it was to no avail. Before long, his legs went limp, and he was dead.

In this life, although Gato did not die at the hands of Zabuza, he still failed to survive this day. The great power of fate was not so easily shaken.

To Kirigakure, Gato was completely inconsequential; it was merely a matter of changing the lock on their own wallet.

The bridge was successfully completed, and the Konoha party prepared to head home. News had long since been sent back to Konoha, and they would naturally send people to take over the subsequent matters, so there was no need for them to worry.

With Gato's sudden death, the Gato Company vanished overnight. The crisis of the bridge was completely resolved, and everyone could leave with peace of mind.

Although this mission had been incredibly perilous, bringing them to the edge of death several times, Naruto and Sasuke wished they could have such experiences more often, for they both felt their rapid growth.

The improvement in their strength during this period was greater than the past few months combined.

"The mission is over, Keiichi. When will you finally be willing to spar with me?" On the way back, Sasuke kept his eyes fixed on Keiichi; this was already his eighth challenge.

"We haven't even reached Konoha yet. If we exhaust ourselves and a group of enemies suddenly pops out, wouldn't that be a disaster?" Keiichi replied with bored indifference.

"With Kakashi-sensei here, do you really need to worry about that?" Sasuke curled his lip, clearly not believing him.

"Lord Kakashi might save you, but he might not necessarily save me..." Keiichi muttered, not daring to speak too loudly for fear of being overheard and having someone hold a grudge against him later.

"Then what exactly do you want?" Sasuke was becoming impatient.

Leaving the village this time, he suddenly realized one thing: there were so many powerful ninja out there, and the key was that some of them were the same age as him!

Having been called a genius for so long, he had actually started to believe it. He had thought that, at the very least, he was the best among his peers in the village, but Keiichi's appearance had shattered that dream.

What kind of bullshit genius am I? Isn't that just shameless?

He always felt that when others looked at him, that was what they were thinking deep down.

The real problem is, if things keep going like this, how long will it take for me to get revenge on that guy Itachi!

"Rest easy. Isn't the Chunin Exams coming up soon? You're worried you won't have a fight then?"

"Chunin Exams?" This was the first time Sasuke had heard of them.

"When the time comes, every major ninja village will send their most elite genin to participate. You'll understand what it means to be surrounded by the strong soon enough."

These words immediately invigorated Sasuke. He wasn't afraid of encountering experts; he was only afraid that he wouldn't be able to prove that he was the strongest among them all!

"Then you'll definitely be participating, right?"

"That's not necessarily true." Keiichi scratched his hair in frustration. "My teammates are all lying in the hospital, and the crucial thing is that I don't have a team leader. How am I supposed to enter the exams all by myself..."

"Since that's the case, let's have a fight right now." Sasuke immediately turned serious.

As he spoke, Sasuke didn't bother asking for Keiichi's consent and launched the first strike against him.

Yet, Keiichi dodged that punch with ease, effortlessly side-stepping the follow-up combo as well, leaving Sasuke to punch nothing but air.

"What!" Sasuke was shocked. He had assumed that since his strength had improved so rapidly, Keiichi should have found him difficult to handle.

However, the other boy's relaxed demeanor shattered his perception.

This ability to predict his opponent's movements every single time was just like himself when he activated his Sharingan!

Seeing a crimson glow rise in the depths of Sasuke's eyes, Keiichi hurriedly deactivated his own Sharingan, terrified that the other boy might notice something.

He then leaped away, jumping repeatedly across the tree trunks to put some distance between himself and Sasuke.

"I told you I wasn't going to fight you, and you actually went for real!"

"Don't you run!" Just as Sasuke was about to give chase, Naruto blocked his path.

"Your opponent is me! I'll be the one to fight you!" Naruto pointed his thumb at himself, his face written with defiance.

Even if that guy Keiichi was strong, it didn't mean you, Sasuke, could just ignore me!

"Come back when you've gotten stronger!" Sasuke, however, had lost all interest in Naruto.