Arriving at the Land of Waves

Naruto realized where he had gone wrong.

Hinata and the others were not Naruto.

Thanks to the system, Naruto possessed Super Self-Healing and did not fear injury.

Hinata and the others did not.

Accidents always happen because one underestimates the opponent.

"Kakashi-sensei, I won't act recklessly in battle again. Life-and-death struggles between ninja are never a good thing."

"We would much rather see everyone living in harmony!"

Naruto crushed the Demon Brothers' weapons with just two stomps, then admitted his mistake to Kakashi with a clear understanding of the situation.

Kakashi turned around, his gaze sharp as he looked at Tazuna, the bridge builder from the Land of Waves who had concealed the true difficulty of the mission.

Kakashi said coldly, "The attackers were at the level of Chunin, and their target was clearly you. What you called an escort mission can hardly be classified as a C-rank mission."

Kakashi was not about to play the fool.

Unable to hide it any longer, Tazuna wore a sorrowful expression, recounting with great emotion the suffering of the people in the Land of Waves, the crimes of the merchant Gato, and his own firm resolve to sacrifice himself.

Hinata, kind-hearted, sympathized with Tazuna and the people of the Land of Waves.

Sakura Haruno's sense of justice flared: "Master Tazuna, I am willing to lend you a hand."

Kakashi stroked his chin: "Naruto, Gato controls all the resources in the Land of Waves. With his wealth, it would be very simple for him to hire even stronger ninja to deal with Tazuna."

Naruto said: "Kakashi-sensei, continuing to escort Tazuna to the Land of Waves will inevitably make an enemy of Gato. But if we abandon the mission, it will surely affect Konoha's reputation and your own future, Kakashi-sensei."

Continuing the escort was more in line with the conduct of a Konoha ninja.

Kakashi said to Tazuna sternly: "Master Tazuna, the rank of this escort mission has changed; it is at least higher than A-rank. I will tell you clearly: you can only use their kindness this one time."

Tazuna laughed heartily and offered his thanks.

And so, Hinata and Sakura Haruno continued forward with Tazuna, while Naruto and Kakashi stayed behind to deal with the Demon Brothers.

"Should we tie them up?" Naruto asked Kakashi: "They don't look like good people at all."

Kakashi looked at the slashed forehead protectors of the Demon Brothers and said expressionlessly: "They are rogue ninja from Kirigakure. Judging by their behavior, they have likely been working as assassins for a long time. Their disguise skills are decent, but leaving them here is not appropriate. Send them on their way!"

Naruto was not surprised by this method of handling them.

Kakashi was no saint.

Having fought on the battlefield since his early teens, Kakashi had long realized that some ninja truly deserved to die!

Naruto turned away.

Kakashi followed.

Two Shuriken flashed through the air, piercing the hearts of the Demon Brothers.

It was unclear who had made the move!

On the sea.

A wooden boat carried Naruto and his group toward the Land of Waves.

The sea was quite calm.

Naruto sat at the stern, holding a braised pork rice ball, and asked: "Master Tazuna, if we chose to abandon the mission, what would you do?"

Tazuna took off his straw hat and laughed bitterly: "I would return to the Land of Waves alone. The ending would certainly be death at Gato's hands. In that case, my lovely granddaughter would never see her beloved grandfather again, and my daughter would weep every day, forever harboring hatred for Konoha."

"No, we won't let such a tragedy happen." Sakura Haruno was moved by Tazuna's fearless spirit: "Naruto, how could you ask Master Tazuna such a question?"

Naruto smiled awkwardly: "I won't ask again. I think I see the bridge; it's over there."

On the pillars of the unfinished bridge, Tazuna's son-in-law, Kaiza, was still hanging.

Tazuna's eyes widened, and he pulled at his hair in agony: "He was hung to death by Gato in front of everyone just to protect me."

Sakura Haruno covered her mouth in shock; she had never seen such a cruel method of killing.

Hinata pressed her palms together, praying for the soul of the departed: "My condolences!"

At the landing point.

The remaining ninja thugs saw the wooden boat drifting slowly toward them and hurried to pass the news to their superior.

Gato chewed on a cigar and said with some irritation: "Zabuza, the two guys you sent out failed. The ninja from Konoha have already brought Tazuna back."

The cigar was unlit, not a wisp of smoke rising from it.

Zabuza sat on the sofa with a wide, relaxed posture, his eyes like those of a wolf: "Gato, you don't need to remind me. If you think we aren't up to the task, why don't you let the ninja thugs you have on hand wear down the Konoha ninja's stamina first?"

The newly appointed ninja leader wanted to distinguish himself before Gato and immediately knelt to request: "Boss, my brothers and I will not let you down."

Gato spat out the cigar and crushed it under his foot: "Zabuza, just watch from the side. Watch how the Konoha ninja are ruthlessly trampled under my feet. Then, I will make your leader follow me with complete submission."

Gato's gaze lingered on Su's face for a moment; such a pure girl should be accompanying him.

Su closed her eyes, enduring the urge to strike.

Zabuza stood up and laid his heavy blade, the Kubikiribōchō, across Gato's path: "Gato, my great blade has long been thirsty. Keep your eyes from wandering where they shouldn't."

Gato adjusted his glasses: "Move!"

On the coastline, as Gato's figure appeared, more and more ninja thugs gathered around.

The ninja leader brandished a large serrated blade, shouting: "Brothers, kill the old man Tazuna and everyone on that boat! Boss Gato will give you all a generous reward."

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Hundreds of ninja thugs shouted in unison, their momentum fierce and aggressive.

On the wooden boat.

Sakura Haruno's face turned pale: "Are we really going to fight against so many people?"

"Yeah!" Naruto added fuel to the fire: "Didn't you say you wanted to help the expert? If Gato, who runs a criminal syndicate, didn't have many thugs under his command, how could he control the entire Land of Waves?"

The ninja thugs were not without organization.

Tazuna saw Gato standing on high ground behind the crowd and gritted his teeth: "That is the villainous Gato. He is the one who stopped the people of our Land of Waves from building the bridge!"

Kakashi stepped to the bow of the boat: "Naruto, we are about to dock."

Naruto jumped to Kakashi's side: "Kakashi-sensei, although I don't really want to be passively involved in a great battle to save the people of the Land of Waves, we've already come this far, so I want to resolve this quickly."

"Kakashi-sensei, do you see those people further away? They are watching. This time I can help them kill one Gato, but in the future, who will be able to help them kill the next Gato?"

"Kakashi-sensei, the people of the Land of Waves are too far from true salvation, too far from true awakening."

Kakashi suddenly couldn't understand Naruto's words.

What was Naruto planning to do?

The ninja thugs hurled weapons toward the wooden boat.

Naruto soared into the air, raising his right hand above his head: "Fire Release: Super Giant Burst Rasengan!"