"We're back."
Naruto looked at Konoha's gates not far away and spoke with feeling.
"Hey, we were only gone for a little over ten days!"
Karin looked speechlessly at Naruto, who acted as though he had returned home in glory after years away, and quipped.
"Also, even if Uncle Zabuza and Haku are prisoners, don't treat them like souvenirs you're bringing home!"
Well, Zabuza and Haku had recovered quite a bit, and the Sealing Jutsu of Karin, Naruto, and Kushina inside Naruto's belly had almost completely sealed away the chakra in their bodies.
And so, the sight of Naruto carrying the two of them back to the village appeared at Konoha's gates.
"Hey, Naruto, you beat me, but could you stop humiliating me like this?"
Zabuza could tell Naruto was feeling playful, but did he not have any dignity to preserve like this?!
The great Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist, had been carried back by a child who had graduated just over a month ago.
If word got out, forget returning to Kirigakure-Zabuza wanted to dig a hole and bury himself right now.
"Eh, all right, then."
Naruto put the two down and scratched his head. Just then, a shout rang out.
"Oh, Kakashi, you're back."
Izumo Kamizuki came out and greeted Kakashi, then looked at Zabuza and Haku and slowly asked, "What's the situation with these two?"
Kakashi spread his hands and said innocently, "Rogue ninja from Kirigakure we captured during the mission. Zabuza Momochi and his subordinate."
Izumo Kamizuki studied Zabuza in surprise. He had never expected the man wrapped in bandages, whom Naruto had just been carrying, to be Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist.
"That's Kakashi for you. I didn't expect you to still be so strong after all these years in retirement."
Izumo Kamizuki