Zabuza Escaped

Elsewhere, in Gato's secret storage chamber.

Naruto looked at the piles of money in the chamber, the valuable specialized blades, the various precious items, and the ninjutsu scrolls. A smile gradually appeared on his face.

He casually picked up a stack of bills and flipped through it. Naruto nodded in satisfaction.

With so much money in hand, he would never have to worry about living expenses again. As long as he did not recklessly squander it, this money would be more than enough to support him for centuries.

Of course,

those blades and ninjutsu scrolls interested Naruto even more.

As one of the Ninja World's wealthiest men, Gato could not possibly have ignored ninjutsu. Even if he could not use it himself, he would certainly have collected it.

"True enough. In this world, strength is essential if you want absolute status. This Gato had quite the ambition, but now it all belongs to me."

Naruto swiftly gathered the items in the chamber: money, ninja tools, ninjutsu scrolls, and all kinds of precious materials needed to forge blades.

There was too much to fit inside the Storage Space. Fortunately, he found several Space Scrolls here. The wealthy Gato had not known how to use them, so they had remained unused.

Naruto accepted them with a smile and packed all the remaining items into the Space Scrolls.

"It's a shame Space Scrolls can't be stored in the Storage Space. It would be nice if the Storage Space were bigger." Naruto shook his head and vanished.

Not long afterward, Naruto returned to Tazuna's house. He did not interact with Sasuke and the others again, mainly because he had already absorbed all their Experience Points, and they had yet to recover.

He had to wait for them to recover after some time before he could continue earning Experience Points. Naruto could not be bothered with them, so he returned to his room to sense the benefits brought by this improvement.

Time passed, and soon the next day arrived.

Gato's grand estate.

Zabuza and Haku flashed into the courtyard, their expressions grave as they looked at the corpses within.

"They're all dead. Killed in one strike." Zabuza's expression darkened after examining them.

"Killed in one strike? There shouldn't be anyone that powerful in this country. The people from Konoha definitely wouldn't do something like this. Who could it be?" Haku asked in surprise.

"I don't know. Let's check inside."

Zabuza quickly entered the house. When he saw Gato's wide-eyed corpse, his expression turned even graver.

"As expected, killed in one strike. Terror still lingers in their eyes. And these broken weapons... it seems they were shattered by an unknown expert during the attack. Then that expert used the broken blades to kill everyone instantly."

Zabuza rapidly assessed the scene, his expression growing increasingly solemn. Based on his deductions, these people had been killed in an instant.

Even he could not kill at such a speed. Zabuza could easily kill these people, but he absolutely could not kill them all in one strike.

That speed proved an unknown expert, someone even stronger, had arrived in the Land of Waves.

"This is troublesome. Our employer is dead, so there's no need to continue the mission."

As Zabuza spoke, he decided not to continue fighting Konoha. With the employer dead, no one would pay them anymore.

Besides, Gato's death would inevitably draw the Land of Water's attention. The pursuit ninja they sent might discover their trail and continue hunting them.

"What do we do, then? Leave?" Haku turned to look at Zabuza.

"Yes. We leave immediately." Zabuza gave the order decisively.

The two quickly departed, hurrying toward the riverbank. They planned to set off from there and take a detour to the Land of Hot Water.

At Tazuna's house.

Naruto was eating breakfast when he suddenly turned to look north.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sakura asked curiously, drawing Sasuke's attention as well.

"Nothing. I'm heading out."

Naruto set down his bowl and chopsticks, rose to his feet, and walked out of Tazuna's house.

Sasuke found this strange too. He stood and followed Naruto outside.

But...

Naruto had gone out just before him, yet when Sasuke followed right after, Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did he go?"

Sasuke swiftly scanned the surroundings, but Naruto was still nowhere in sight. "Sharingan!"

The scarlet tomoe spun as Sasuke activated his Sharingan and searched again, but he still found nothing.

"He disappeared in the blink of an eye. What incredible speed. Did Naruto get stronger again?"

Sasuke's expression turned serious as the pressure in his heart grew heavier. Looks like I can only keep asking Kakashi-sensei to teach me new abilities.

After saying that, Sasuke ran quickly to Kakashi's room. But the instant he opened the door, he saw Kakashi reading Make-Out Paradise.

Sasuke froze for two seconds. Naruto's words from before surfaced in his mind. He remembered Naruto saying that anyone who read Make-Out Paradise had weak kidneys and liked peeping at little girls bathing.

"Kakashi-sensei, you..."

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Sakura also ran over. The moment she saw the book in Kakashi's hands, her eyes flew wide open. "Pervert!!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Naruto sprinted across the water at high speed, racing forward.

"I didn't expect Zabuza to retreat so decisively. But the plot can't be disrupted. I have to drive Zabuza and the others back to continue it. Otherwise, how will I earn Experience Points? If they don't go back..."

Naruto rolled his neck, producing a series of cracks, coldness filling his eyes.

"Now isn't the time to use my real body, so I'll use the Transformation Technique. Who should I become? Right, Saitama." Naruto rapidly formed hand seals.

Poof!

White mist drifted through the air, and Naruto, transformed into Saitama, appeared. He stood quietly atop the water. "Zabuza, you'd better listen, or else!"

Poof!

Thick Qi surged within his body. Naruto's figure, which had been running over the water, suddenly rose into the air and flew rapidly into the distance.

Flight Technique!

After his bloodline reached 25%, Naruto had mastered the Flight Technique with only a little practice, just like how Pan had known it from birth in Dragon Ball.

Even many low-level Saiyans possessed this ability. Yet Naruto had successfully mastered it even in the Naruto World, shooting toward Zabuza like lightning.

Several miles away, above the water.

A small wooden boat sailed across the water. Two people stood aboard it, heading toward the Land of Hot Water.

"We're safe once we get here. The sea is my domain, and with seawater all around us, the farther we go into the sea, the safer we'll be." Zabuza seemed to let out a sigh of relief.

"Zabuza-sama, are you worried about Hidden Mist's pursuit? It feels like you left in quite a hurry," Haku asked doubtfully.

"Partly. Another reason is that the mission is over. But I'm more concerned about that unknown expert. Now that we're at sea, with my Water Release Ninjutsu, I can fight any enemy."

As Zabuza spoke, confidence gradually welled up within him.

"I see. Your Water Release Ninjutsu is indeed very strong." Haku nodded in agreement.

"Is that so?"

An indifferent voice suddenly sounded from above, carrying a hint of mockery.

"Who is it?!"

Hearing this, Zabuza and Haku hurriedly looked up toward the source of the voice. In the next second, their pupils contracted sharply.

[Experience Points +1]

[Experience Points +2]