Saint Zabuza?!

It was not that the Demon Brothers did not know any more advanced Ninjutsu. Their lives were still in Kakashi's hands, after all, so they could only use this kind of harmless Ninjutsu.

"It's over, Mr. Kakashi. You can let us go now, right?" The Demon Brothers breathed a sigh of relief.

"Not yet." Kakashi smiled as he reminded them.

As soon as Kakashi finished speaking, Menma and Sasuke, who had been trapped, turned into two logs with two poofs.

"What? The Substitution Technique? When?" The Demon Brothers were horrified and hurriedly turned their heads, searching all around for the two of them.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Several shuriken flew toward the Demon Brothers, forcing them to leap left and right to evade them.

One of the Demon Brothers was still in midair when a small, pale fist suddenly entered the corner of his eye. It was Sakura!

But he had just exhausted his old momentum and had yet to gather new strength, leaving him completely unable to dodge.

"Hmph, it's just a little girl's fist. How hard could it possibly be? I'll just take it head-on and then... pfft~~~"

One of the Demon Brothers collapsed to the ground, unable to rise.

The other was also left struggling under the combined attack of Sasuke and Menma.

Seeing the Demon Brothers fall into a disadvantage, Kakashi Hatake spoke up and stopped Menma and Sasuke from continuing their assault.

"That's enough, Menma, Sasuke. Don't waste any more time."

As soon as he spoke, Menma and Sasuke's attacks grew even fiercer.

Realizing things were about to go badly, the Demon Brother endured two more blows, pushed off with his feet, and crawled and stumbled out of their attack range.

Then he dropped to his knees with a thud, raised both hands, and desperately kowtowed as he shouted, "Stop hitting us! We surrender! We surrender!"

The moment he finished speaking, Kakashi appeared behind him in an instant. He struck the Demon Brother on the back of the neck with a hand chop, then borrowed hemp rope used for tying cargo from Gato. He tightly bound the unconscious Demon Brothers and hung them from a large tree by the roadside before signaling Gato to organize the convoy and continue onward.

After an unknown amount of time, the Demon Brother whom Sakura had knocked out quietly opened one eye. After confirming that Kakashi's group had gone far away, he broke free of the ropes and released his other companion as well.

After taking two heavy slaps, the Demon Brother whom Kakashi had knocked unconscious slowly woke up. Seeing his companion's bruised and swollen face, he immediately felt fortunate.

Leave a little room when dealing with others, and you'll meet again someday. Kakashi Hatake, you know the rules! The Demon Brothers acknowledge you!

On the carriage, Menma asked in confusion, "Teacher Kakashi, is it really appropriate to just leave those two Ninja by the roadside?"

Without raising his head, Kakashi closed his eyes and rested. "It's fine. Those two are pretty sensible. One pretended to be unconscious, and the other surrendered. There won't be any danger."

"That's not what I meant. I meant, shouldn't we silence them permanently?" Menma asked.

Hearing this, Kakashi opened his eyes and frowned at Menma. "Why are you so bloodthirsty at such a young age?"

"Huh? Isn't that how it works?" Menma was puzzled. Didn't novels always write it that way? The protagonist killed decisively and used ruthless methods.

"Of course not!" Kakashi explained. "First of all, this is an escort mission. Protecting the employer's safety is our top priority.

Unlike infiltration and assassination, as long as the other side does not pose a threat to the employer, we generally cannot kill them.

Second, they are registered Ninja of the Hidden Mist Village. Although they entered the country illegally, they have not committed any crimes within the Land of Fire, so we can only deport them.

If we killed them without regard for the consequences, it could easily cause a diplomatic incident.

Finally, and most importantly, they held back while fighting you, so I returned the favor and spared them. Otherwise, illegal entry alone would have been enough to make them suffer."

"So the Shinobi World isn't just about fighting and killing. There are also human relationships and social customs!" Menma sighed. The three of them could naturally tell that the Demon Brothers had held back, but they did not care. Who said they had already used all their strength?

"Mm, that's a very fitting summary!" It was also Kakashi's first time hearing the Shinobi World described as human relationships and social customs. He found it quite reasonable and could not help praising Menma.

After the Demon Brothers' attack failed, Menma and the others encountered no further attacks.

After traveling for several days, they finally reached the coastline of the Land of Fire. The weather by the sea was clear that day, and from the shore of the Land of Fire, they could faintly see the outline of the Land of Waves.

They boarded Gato's merchant ship and sat on the deck, slowly sailing toward the Land of Waves alongside the waves and seagulls.

After half a day of sailing, the merchant ship carrying Menma and the others was nearing its destination.

As they drew closer to the Land of Waves, they saw a bridge under construction. Its piers stood over a hundred meters tall, and faint clanging sounds drifted down from above.

Gato was raging inside the cabin. "Damn it, what are those ronin even good for? Didn't I tell them before I left not to let those people continue construction?"

Clang~

The merchant ship docked at the pier. Gato stormed off the ship and roared at the subordinates who had come to greet him, "Where is that idiot Oda? Didn't I tell him before I left to take people and stop that old man from continuing construction?"

"Lord Gato, Executive Oda was injured by Ninja from the Hidden Mist Village. He is currently bedridden and recovering."

"Lord Gato, you have to stand up for us!"

"Yes, Lord Gato! The moment you left, several Ninja from the Hidden Mist Village showed up and attacked us!"

"Right, right, right! That old man Tazuna hired them. They're determined to build that bridge!"

"That's right! Executive Oda only tried to talk sense into them and told them not to meddle in other people's business, but they attacked him immediately!"

"And there's more! They even said, what the hell is Gato? Even if the Hokage came, they'd beat him without hesitation!"

Gato's subordinates all spoke at once, filing their complaints.

Gato waved a hand and gathered the subordinates who could still move. Taking Kakashi Hatake and the others with him, he hurried toward the construction site.

Before long, everyone arrived at the construction site. With their boss and the Konoha Ninja he had hired backing them up, Gato's subordinates immediately grew bolder. Shouting a string of rolling-tongued insults like "Kono yarou~~~" and "Temee~~~~," they punched and kicked the nearby workers away from the construction site.

Seeing that things were going badly, several workers hurried off to ask Tazuna and the Ninja he had hired to intervene.

Not long afterward, Tazuna appeared in Kakashi's group's sight with a group of people behind him.

The two sides faced each other. A tall Ninja stepped out from behind Tazuna and called out loudly, "Yo, I was wondering why Gato dared to come back. So you're the one backing him up, Konoha Technician—Kakashi Hatake."

The speaker was tall and muscular, with black spiky hair and an enormous sword strapped to his back.

Kakashi looked toward him and responded, "I didn't expect to run into you here, Saint of the Hidden Mist Village—Zabuza Momochi!"