Gato Arrives

But he quickly suppressed the crack again.

And Kakashi no longer intended to show him any mercy.

The three tomoe in his Sharingan began to turn slowly.

His fingers flashed through seals so quickly that their movements were nearly impossible to see. A swamp of earth release surged up beneath Zabuza's feet once more, a fireball from fire release sealed off his escape route from the side, and a water dragon projectile crashed down from above, smashing him to the ground.

A relentless combination of ninjutsu poured down upon Zabuza like a raging storm. Every move was precise, without a single wasted motion.

Zabuza tried to counterattack, but with one arm largely incapacitated and after being bombarded continuously, his speed could no longer keep up with Kakashi's rhythm.

The Executioner's Blade was knocked away by the water dragon projectile, spinning through the air before plunging into the dirt in the distance. Then Kakashi appeared before him, his kunai carving two precise, vicious arcs across each of Zabuza's wrists.

With two crisp cracks, both of Zabuza's wrists broke. Jagged white bone pierced through his skin, and blood dripped from his wrists.

Zabuza's hands hung limply at his sides, completely unable to form hand seals.

Kakashi stood before Zabuza, looking down at him. Residual arcs of electricity from the Lightning Blade still danced at his fingertips, making faint crackling sounds.

"You've lost, Zabuza."

Just then, Sakura arrived at the battlefield as well.

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

"Sasuke!"

She spotted Sasuke at once, covered in blood. Her face instantly turned pale as she stumbled toward him.

Sasuke lay on the ground, his body riddled with senbon needles, while the blood beneath him had already soaked through a patch of earth.

His face was as white as paper, his eyes tightly shut. If not for the faintest rise and fall of his chest, he would have been almost indistinguishable from a corpse.

"Sasuke..."

Sakura knelt beside Sasuke. Her hands trembled as she wanted to pull out the senbon, but she feared that removing them would make the wounds bleed even more. Large tears streamed down her face in panic.

"Sasuke, say something! Sasuke, open your eyes and look at me! It's Sakura! Don't scare me, please..."

Amid Sakura's cries, an incongruous voice came from the distance.

Heavy footsteps drew closer, accompanied by the clatter of metal striking metal.

At the other end of the bridge, a vast mass of dark figures appeared.

Gato stood at their head.

Short and fat, he wore an ostentatious, expensive kimono as he walked at the front of the group. His left hand rested on a gold-and-jade-inlaid cane, while his right hand was planted arrogantly on his hip.

Behind him stood dozens of wandering samurai wielding all manner of weapons. Some carried katanas over their shoulders, some held spears, and some had chains wrapped around their arms. Each wore a malicious smile as they sized up everyone on the battlefield.

Gato stopped on the bridge. He first glanced at Zabuza, lying on the ground covered in blood, then at Haku's corpse, before finally turning his gaze toward Kakashi and Sakura. A mocking smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this the renowned Demon of the Mist, Momochi Zabuza?"

Gato's voice was shrill and grating. "How did you end up in such a pathetic state, huh?"

Zabuza leaned against a chunk of broken stone, breathing heavily from the blood he had lost due to his injuries.

He looked at the wandering samurai behind Gato and spoke hoarsely.

"Why are you here, Gato?"

"Hahahaha..."

Gato threw back his head and laughed.

After laughing for a while, he abruptly stopped. The expression on his face instantly became harsh and gloomy. "You're asking why I'm here? Of course I came to dispose of you."

As he spoke, he paced over to Haku's corpse. Looking down at Haku's delicate face, still beautiful despite being stained with blood, he kicked Haku's body disdainfully with the tip of his shoe.

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

"Stop..."

A low sound came from Zabuza's throat.

There was something in that voice that sent chills down one's spine.

Gato, who was kicking Haku's corpse, did not hear him. He kicked with growing enthusiasm, still cursing under his breath.

"I said, stop..."

Zabuza's teeth ground together.

Blood seeped from the corner of his bandage-wrapped mouth and dripped onto his tattered pant leg.

He turned his head to look at Kakashi. All the pride and indifference in his eyes had vanished, leaving behind something indescribable.

"Kakashi..."

Kakashi frowned at Zabuza.

"I'm sorry."

"Our fight ends here."

After saying that, Zabuza tossed a kunai high into the air.

The kunai flipped several times in the air, reflecting the dim daylight before beginning to fall.

Zabuza suddenly drove his legs forward, launching himself from the rubble. He opened his mouth and caught the falling kunai by its handle, blade facing outward, then charged straight at Gato without hesitation.

In an instant, the mocking smile on Gato's face froze completely. The next second, it transformed into utter terror.

"Ah... Stop him!"

"Stop him! You useless fools, stop him!"

Gato screamed as he stumbled backward into the crowd of wandering samurai. He retreated so hastily that his gold-and-jade-inlaid cane slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

At his screams, the wandering samurai raised their weapons and formed a wall of blades to meet the charging Zabuza.

The leading samurai had a katana slung over his shoulder. Looking at Zabuza rushing toward them covered in blood, his hands hanging at his sides and a kunai clenched in his mouth, he could not help but let out a mocking laugh.

"You think you can beat all of us by yourself?"

"What a joke!"

Zabuza did not answer, because he could not speak with a kunai in his mouth.

He answered with action.

The next second, his figure appeared before the leading samurai. He snapped his neck sharply, and the kunai's blade carved a cold silver arc through the air, cleanly slicing open the samurai's throat.

Slash!

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

The wandering samurai's laughter stopped abruptly. The katana fell from his hand as he clutched his throat with both hands, his eyes wide and round. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Then he fell stiffly like a felled tree.

Zabuza did not pause. He moved like a ghost threading through the crowd of samurai, skimming close to the ground.

The kunai in his mouth had become his only weapon. Every snap of his head, every twist of his waist and turn of his body, took another life with the kunai's blade.

Slashed throats, pierced hearts, severed femoral arteries.

Zabuza was an elite jonin and had once been the youngest member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist.

Even covered in wounds, even with both hands crippled, he still possessed combat instincts and killing techniques far beyond those of any samurai.