Zabuza Escaped

Elsewhere, Gato's hidden storage chamber.

Naruto looked at the piles of money in the chamber, the priceless special blades, the various precious items, and the Ninjutsu Scrolls. A smile gradually appeared on his face.

He casually picked up a stack of cash and flipped through it, then 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 squander it recklessly, this money would be more than enough to support him for hundreds of years.

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 neglected Ninjutsu. Even if he could not use it himself, he would certainly have collected it.

"That makes sense. Living in this world, strength is essential if you want absolute status. Gato seemed pretty ambitious, but now it all belongs to me."

Naruto quickly gathered the items in the chamber: money, ninja tools, Ninjutsu Scrolls, and all kinds of precious materials needed for forging blades.

There was too much stuff for the Storage Space to hold. Fortunately, Naruto found several Space Scrolls here, though the wealthy Gato had never known how to use them, so they had been left empty.

Naruto gladly accepted them without hesitation and packed all the remaining items into the Space Scrolls.

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

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

He had to wait for them to recover before he could keep earning Experience Points, so Naruto could not be bothered with them. Instead, he returned to his room to sense the benefits of 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 bodies inside.

"They're all dead. Killed in a single strike." Zabuza's expression grew solemn after inspecting them.

"Killed in a single strike? There shouldn't be anyone that powerful in this country. The people from Konoha would never do something like this. Who could it have been?" Haku asked in surprise.

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

Zabuza quickly entered the house. When he saw Gato's corpse with its eyes still wide open, his expression became even grimmer.

"As expected, every one of them was killed in a single strike. Fear remained in their eyes. And these broken weapons... it seems they were snapped by an unknown expert during the attack, then that expert used the broken blades to instantly kill everyone."

Zabuza rapidly assessed the scene. The more he deduced, the more serious his expression became, because his conclusions indicated that these people had been killed in mere seconds.

Even he could not kill that quickly. Zabuza could easily kill these people, but he absolutely could not do it with one strike each.

That speed proved that an unknown expert of even greater strength had come to the Land of Waves.

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

As Zabuza spoke, he decided not to keep fighting Konoha. After all, with their employer dead, no one would pay them anymore.

Furthermore, Gato's death would certainly draw the Land of Water's attention. The pursuit ninja sent by the Land of Water might discover their trail and continue hunting them down.

"What should 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 out 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 in confusion, drawing Sasuke's attention as well.

"Nothing. I'm going out for a moment."

Naruto set down his bowl and chopsticks, then stood and walked out of Tazuna's house.

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

But...

Naruto had just walked out, and when Sasuke followed right after him, Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did he go?"

Sasuke quickly scanned the area, but Naruto was still nowhere in sight. "Sharingan!"

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

"He vanished in the blink of an eye. What incredible speed. Could Naruto have gotten stronger again?"

Sasuke's expression turned serious as the pressure in his heart grew heavier. "It looks like I'll have to keep asking Kakashi-sensei to teach me new abilities."

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

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

"Kakashi-sensei, you..."

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Sakura ran over as well. The moment she saw the book in Kakashi's hands, her eyes widened. "Pervert!!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Naruto raced across the water at tremendous speed.

"I didn't expect Zabuza to withdraw so decisively. But the plot can't be ruined. I have to drive Zabuza and Haku back so the story can continue. Otherwise, how am I supposed to earn Experience Points? If they don't go back..."

Naruto cracked his neck, producing a series of popping sounds. His eyes were cold.

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

Poof!

White mist drifted away, revealing Naruto transformed into Saitama, standing quietly atop the water. "Zabuza, you'd better listen. Otherwise..."

Poof!

Dense Qi surged through his body. Naruto's figure, which had been running across the water, suddenly rose into the air and shot into the distance.

Flight Technique!

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

Even many low-level Saiyans possessed this ability. Though Naruto was in the Naruto World, he had still successfully mastered it and sped like lightning toward Zabuza.

Several miles away, above the water.

A small wooden boat sailed across the water, with two people standing aboard it as they headed toward the Land of Hot Water.

"We'll be safe once we get here. The sea is my domain, and there is seawater all around us. The deeper we go into the sea, the safer we'll be." Zabuza seemed to have relaxed.

"Lord Zabuza, are you worried about Hidden Mist's pursuit? It felt like you left in a great hurry," Haku asked doubtfully.

"That's part of it. Another part is that the mission is over. But what worries me more is that unknown expert. Now that we're at sea, with my Water Release Ninjutsu, I'll have a chance against any enemy."

As Zabuza spoke, confidence gradually appeared on his face.

"I see. Your Water Release Ninjutsu really is powerful." Haku nodded in agreement.

"Is that so?"

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

"Who is it?!"

Hearing the voice, Zabuza and Haku hurriedly looked up toward its source. The next second, their pupils sharply contracted.

[Experience Points +1]

[Experience Points +2]