Gato's Arrival

But Kakashi suppressed the cracks again immediately.

And Kakashi no longer planned to show him any mercy.

The three Tomoe of the Sharingan began to spin slowly.

Between flying fingers, Kakashi's Hand Seals were so fast that his movements were almost invisible. The mud of Earth Release once more surged from beneath Zabuza's feet, a Fire Release fireball blocked his escape route from the side, and a Water Release Water Dragon Bullet descended from the sky to smash him down onto the ground.

A succession of combined Ninjutsu poured down onto Zabuza like a violent storm, every single move precise and in place, without the slightest surplus motion.

Zabuza attempted to counterattack, but after losing one arm, the bulk of his mobility, and suffering continuous bombardments, his speed could no longer keep up with Kakashi's rhythm.

The Kubikiribōchō was struck away by the Water Dragon Bullet, spinning as it embedded itself in the distant dirt. Immediately after, Kakashi's figure appeared before him, a kunai tracing two precise and vicious arcs across both of Zabuza's wrists.

With two crisp cracks, Zabuza's wrists broke on cue, thin white bone shards piercing through his skin as blood dripped down his forearms.

Zabuza's hands hung down powerlessly, completely losing the ability to perform Hand Seals.

Kakashi stood before Zabuza, looking down at him from above. The lingering electric arcs of the Lightning Blade still danced at his fingertips, emitting a faint buzzing sound.

"You've lost, Zabuza."

Just at that moment, Sakura also rushed to the battlefield.

She panted heavily, her gaze searching the battlefield anxiously before fixing on the ground in the distance.

"Sasuke!"

At a single glance, she saw Sasuke covered in blood. Her complexion instantly turned pale as she ran over stumble-after-stumble.

She saw that Sasuke was lying on the ground, his entire body bristling with Senbon, and the blood beneath him had soaked a patch of earth.

His face was as white as a sheet of paper, and his eyes were tightly closed. If not for the extremely faint rise and fall of his chest, he looked almost indistinguishable from a corpse.

"Sasuke..."

Sakura knelt by Sasuke's side, her hands trembling as she wanted to pull out those Senbon, yet feared pulling them would cause the wounds to bleed more. She grew so anxious that large teardrops fell down.

"Sasuke, speak to me. Sasuke, open your eyes and look at me. I'm Sakura. Don't scare me, I'm begging you..."

Right amidst Sakura's weeping cries, a discordant voice came from afar.

Following that, a heavy sound of footsteps drew closer from a distance, accompanied by the clattering discord of colliding metal.

At the other end of the bridge, a dense, dark crowd of figures appeared.

Gato led them at the front.

He was short and stout, wearing an exaggeratedly expensive kimono as he walked at the very front of the procession. His left hand leaned upon a gold-inlaid, jade-set walking stick, while his right hand rested boldly on his hip.

And behind him stood dozens of wandering samurai holding various weapons. Some carried katana, some hefted long spears, and others had chains wrapped around their arms, each wearing malicious smiles as they sized up everyone on the battlefield.

Gato came to a halt on the bridge, first glancing at the blood-drenched Zabuza lying on the ground, then looking at the pale corpse on the ground, and finally letting his gaze fall upon Kakashi and Sakura as a sarcastic smile surfaced at the corners of his mouth.

"Tsk tsk tsk, isn't this the renowned Demon of the Mist, Momochi Zabuza?"

Gato's voice was sharp and grating: "How did you end up in such a sorry state? Huh?"

Zabuza leaned against a shattered rock, his breathing heavy due to his injuries and massive blood loss.

He lifted his gaze to look at those wandering samurai behind Gato, speaking hoarsely.

"Gato, why are you here?"

"Hahahahaha..."

Gato threw his head back and laughed.

He laughed for a moment before abruptly cutting the laughter short. The expression on his face instantly shifted to one of sharpness and gloom. "You ask me why I'm here? Naturally, I'm here to clean up after you."

As he spoke, he paced over to Haku's corpse, lowering his head to look at Haku's delicate face-still stained with blood and dirt-and kicked Haku's body with the tip of his shoe in disgust.

Then he raised his foot and kicked Haku's corpse viciously, kick after kick, as if venting some kind of long-pent-up malice.

"Wait..."

Zabuza emitted a low sound from his throat.

The voice carried a texture that made one's spine turn cold.

Gato, who was kicking Haku's corpse, did not hear him. He kicked with zest, still cursing aloud.

"I told you to stop..."

Zabuza's teeth gnashed together with a clatter.

Blood overflowed from the corners of his mouth, which were wrapped in bandages, dripping onto his tattered trouser legs.

He turned his head to look at Kakashi, all arrogance and coldness vanishing from his gaze, leaving behind only something indescribable.

"Kakashi..."

Kakashi frowned as he looked at Zabuza.

"Sorry."

"Our fight ends here."

Having said these words, Zabuza tossed a kunai high up into midair.

The kunai tumbled a few times in the air, reflecting the dim daylight, and then began to plummet downward.

Zabuza's legs exerted sudden force, his entire body springing up from the rubble. He opened his mouth and bit down on the grip of the falling kunai, the sharp blade facing outward, and then charged straight toward Gato's direction without a moment's hesitation.

In an instant, the sarcastic smile on Gato's face stiffened completely, rapidly transforming into extreme terror the next second.

"Ah... stop him!"

"Quickly stop him, you bunch of trash, block him!"

Screaming, Gato stumbled as he retreated back into the crowd of wandering samurai. Because he retreated too hastily, the gold-inlaid, jade-set walking stick slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground.

Amidst his screams, a group of wandering samurai raised their weapons, forming a wall of blades to meet the charging Zabuza.

The leading samurai carried a katana, watching Zabuza-who was covered in blood, with both hands hanging limp and a kunai bitten between his teeth-as he rushed toward them, and could not help but let out a mocking laugh:

"Do you think that relying on your single strength, you can defeat so many of us?"

"What a joke!"

Zabuza did not answer him because his mouth, biting the kunai, could not speak.

He answered with action.

The next second, his figure appeared right in front of that leading samurai. His neck whipped around fiercely, the blade of the kunai tracing a cold, fierce silver arc through the air, precisely slicing open that samurai's throat.

Swish!

A line of blood spurted from the samurai's neck.

The wandering samurai's laughter abruptly ceased. The katana in his hand dropped to the ground, and both hands clutched his neck. His eyes bulged wide open, his mouth opening and closing without producing any sound, and then he toppled straight down like a chopped-down tree.

Zabuza did not pause at all. Like a passing ghost, his whole body wove through the group of samurai close to the ground.

The kunai in his mouth became his sole weapon at this moment. With every flick of his head and every twist of his waist to turn his body, the blade of the kunai claimed a life.

Throat-slashing, heart-piercing, slicing through the femoral artery.

Zabuza was an Elite Jōnin, once the youngest member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of Kirigakure.

Even though he was covered in wounds at this moment, and even though his hands were crippled, he still possessed combat intuition and killing skills far surpassing any samurai.