Gato Is Killed

He knew all too well where the human body was most vulnerable, and he knew exactly how to deliver the most precise kill in the smallest space and the shortest time.

The glint of kunai flashed constantly through the crowd, each flash accompanied by a scream and a spray of blood.

One warrior after another fell, their swords and spears unable to even aim at their target before their lifelines were cut short.

Watching Zabuza's crazed figure dart back and forth through the crowd from afar, Kakashi frowned slightly.

He felt that Zabuza did not need anyone's help right now.

An enraged beast had its own battlefield.

But Zabuza was not invincible after all.

His injuries were too severe. Losing both hands had left him unable to maintain his balance or deflect force, and his stamina was draining rapidly.

After slitting the throats of more than a dozen warriors in succession, he began to slow down, and flaws started to appear in his movements.

A spear thrust in from the side. Zabuza failed to evade it completely, and the spearhead tore through the flesh at his waist, leaving a wound so deep that bone was visible.

Then another blade struck his shoulder from behind, blood running down its edge.

Then came an arrow, piercing through his thigh. The arrowhead protruded from the back of his leg, dragging a bloodied section of shaft behind it.

But Zabuza did not stop.

Covered in weapons, with an arrow lodged in his thigh and a blade sunk into his shoulder blade, he walked step by step through the warriors who had already been scared out of their wits.

Bright, scalding blood traced a broken red line across the ground. With every step, more blood dripped from his wounds, mixing with the dirt beneath his feet into dark red mud.

The warriors began to retreat.

For many of them, this was the first time they had seen what a real ninja was.

The man before them was not human at all. More weapons were stuck in him than they held in their own hands, and he bore so many wounds that a single glance made their scalps tingle—yet he was still walking.

Blood from the kunai dripped down Zabuza's chin, pooling into a small puddle.

At that moment, his face was fully exposed to the sunlight, like a demon that had just crawled out of a battlefield of carnage.

The last few warriors standing between him and Gato exchanged glances, then threw down their weapons in unspoken agreement and ran.

Gato collapsed onto the ground, his fat body scooting backward nonstop until his back struck the bridge railing. There was nowhere left to retreat.

"Don't... don't kill me... I have money. I'll give it to you, all of it!" Zabuza did not say a word.

He lowered his head and looked at the short, fat man who had kicked Haku's corpse, at that face twisted beyond recognition by overwhelming terror.

The next instant, cold light flashed from the kunai.

Gato's scream stopped abruptly, as if an invisible hand had crushed it at the source.

A horrific bloody line appeared across his short, thick neck. Blood surged from the cut, drawing a high arc through the air.

He clutched his throat with both hands, his mouth opening and closing like a fish thrown onto shore. Then Zabuza kicked him away, sending him over the bridge railing and into the frigid sea with a splash.

A vast patch of red foam spread across the water's surface before everything fell still.

With Gato dead, the wandering warriors he had hired completely lost their reason to fight.

But soon, another, more dangerous thought began to spread among them.

"The boss is dead. No one's paying us anymore..."

"We came all this way for nothing? Are you kidding me?"

"Aren't there still people in town?"

"The Land of Waves may be poor, but if we loot the place, we can squeeze out something..."

In an instant, pairs of eyes turned in unison toward the town of the Land of Waves.

The greed of plunder burned in their eyes. The fear on their faces gradually gave way to avarice as the warriors tightened their grips on their weapons.

"This is bad," Kakashi said quietly.

Just then, chaotic footsteps and the clatter of metal came from the direction of the town.

A group of young and middle-aged men from the Land of Waves rushed to the bridgehead with fish spears, hoes, wooden clubs, and crude bows, blocking the bridge exit completely.

At their head stood Tazuna's grandson, his eyes red and his face set with determination.

A messy chorus of shouts erupted from the crowd behind him. Some voices trembled, others were choked with tears, but not one person retreated.

Naruto looked at them.

They wore patched-up clothes, and the weapons in their hands could barely be called weapons. Some of their legs were shaking, and the hands gripping their wooden clubs trembled so hard that the clubs shook too.

"You're better off relying on yourselves than on them!"

Naruto took a deep breath and formed a cross hand sign.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!

This time, the smoke was larger than it had ever been before.

When it cleared, more than a hundred of Naruto's shadow clones stood in neat ranks across the bridge.

More than a hundred Narutos formed a tidy square formation, a brilliant sea of gold bathed in sunlight filtering through gaps in the thick mist. Their presence was overwhelming.

Every Naruto clenched his fists at once, their knuckles cracking in unison. They all stared at the wandering warriors, terrifyingly silent.

Kakashi looked at the formation, and his one visible eye curved slightly.

"This could intimidate them. It's worth trying..."

"Shadow Clone Technique."

With that thought, Kakashi formed the same hand sign.

A dense cloud of smoke followed, and Kakashi's shadow clones appeared on the other side of the bridge. Their green ninja uniforms formed a striking contrast with Naruto's golden ranks—green and gold, sealing off the bridge exit as tightly as an iron barrel.

"Come on, make your move!"

More than a hundred Naruto clones and dozens of Kakashi clones spoke at the same time. Their voices layered together into a deafening wave that echoed above the bridge.

The bridge fell silent for one second.

Clang!

A warrior's katana fell to the ground, the sound of metal striking stone especially crisp in the silence.

Then came a second sound, a third, a tenth.

The wandering warriors who had just been shouting about looting the town saw the terrifying number of ninja before them, and their fighting spirit shattered in an instant.

They threw down their weapons, turned, and fled, scrambling away in panic.

One person running spurred ten others to run, and ten running spurred everyone to run. In less than half a minute, only weapons scattered in every direction remained on the bridge.

The wandering warriors fled completely, leaving nothing but a mess behind.

After a brief moment of shock, the townspeople of the Land of Waves erupted into earth-shaking cheers.

Some jumped and shouted in celebration. Some dropped to their knees and kowtowed toward the sea. Some threw their hats into the sky. Others embraced each other and wept uncontrollably.

"Great!"

"Great!"

"We defeated Gato..."

The cheers traveled from the bridgehead all the way out to sea, drowning out even the sound of waves crashing against the reefs.

Naruto watched the scene and released the Shadow Clone Technique. In an instant, all the shadow clones turned into white smoke and vanished beneath the sunlight.

Kakashi's shadow clones disappeared at the same time.