Kakashi and Hongshi slept for an entire day.
Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, stood by the bed, looking at Hongshi. "Tsk, bald at such a young age. What will you do when you're older? Still, you've got quite a sturdy build."
Kakashi woke up first. "Ah! I'm alive again!"
Tsunami asked, "Sensei, are you all right?"
Kakashi still had no strength in his body. "I'll probably need about three days of rest."
Hongshi woke up just then too. "Wow, a beauty!"
Sakura knelt off to the side, somewhat angry. "What's wrong with you? The Sharingan may be powerful, but you can't just ignore its negative effects! You too, Hongshi-kun. Your chakra was almost exhausted yesterday. Why did you keep trapping them? That was dangerous!"
Tazuna laughed. "At least those two powerful ninja were driven off. We can finally catch our breath!"
Hongshi took out two Super Military Rations Pills, swallowed one himself, and handed the other to Kakashi. "Take this and get some more sleep. You'll be fine tomorrow!"
Looking at the Military Rations Pill, Kakashi remembered what Sasuke had been like after taking one. "I'll take it tonight."
Thump! Hongshi flopped back down. "Zzzzzz."
Sakura said, "∑(❍ฺд❍ฺlll), are you an idiot?!"
Kakashi told the three of them, "The mask that Ice Release ninja wore belongs to the Ninja Hunter Division of the Mist Ninja assassination unit. Known as the Corpse Disposal Squad, they completely dispose of missing-nin's bodies, erasing every trace of their existence."
Sakura swallowed. "Are they that cruel?"
Kakashi nodded. "That's right. A ninja's corpse can reveal many secrets. In other words, they're experts at keeping their village's secrets from leaking. Their methods are ruthless, and they're extremely powerful. If he'd kept fighting yesterday, we probably would've been in danger. No scent, no sound-that's how a ninja ends."
Naruto asked, "But wasn't Zabuza already dead? Didn't you confirm it, Kakashi-sensei?"
A sense of unease suddenly welled up in Kakashi's heart. "I did confirm it, and he was indeed dead. But judging by the circumstances at the time, Zabuza may very well have only been in a state of apparent death."
"What! Are you saying they'll come back?!"
Kakashi nodded. "But apparent death does tremendous damage to the body. About a week, I'd say."
Tazuna was somewhat uneasy too. "Kakashi, aren't you overthinking this a little?"
Kakashi said seriously, "No. Once you spot something suspicious, you must prepare before things develop beyond recovery. That's another of a ninja's iron rules."
Then Kakashi relaxed again. "Still, it doesn't matter whether Zabuza's alive or dead. Gato might have someone even stronger anyway."
At that, Naruto and Sasuke trembled with excitement.
Kakashi thought, Why are these two so happy to hear that?
Sakura was a little worried. "But Kakashi-sensei, you can't do much in your current condition. What do you mean by preparing?"
Kakashi smiled. "Hehe, I mean having you train hard, of course!"
Naruto cried, "What! More training?!"
Remembering yesterday's battle, Sakura felt somewhat discouraged. "But Sensei, no matter how much we train, it won't help. The enemy is so strong that even you with your Sharingan and Hongshi-kun had trouble fighting them together."
Kakashi shook his head. "No. Haven't you noticed? You've been growing all along. Naruto especially has grown the fastest."
Hearing Kakashi acknowledge him, Naruto was thrilled. "Kakashi-sensei, don't worry! I'll train hard!"
Kakashi continued, "Still, this is training for you to do before I recover. You can't beat them on your own, so you'll still have to rely on yourselves."
Sakura asked, "Sensei, that masked guy could come to kill us at any moment."
Kakashi shook his head. "No. As long as Zabuza hasn't recovered, he won't dare take the risk. We have a week."
Naruto stood up. "All right! Now things are getting interesting!"
Kakashi took the three of them to the shore again. "This training is like walking on water. Tree climbing..."
Two hours later.
Kakashi watched the three of them walk effortlessly on the trees. "Hmm... Walking on water helped you a lot. Naruto especially has very precise chakra control. Next comes weighted tree climbing."
"Weighted?"
Kakashi pointed to several rocks nearby. "Each of you will carry a rock."
The training that followed wasn't so easy. Adding the rocks raised the demands on their chakra control another notch.
"In a ninja's battles, maintaining and controlling chakra is very important, because you can't stop to rest in the middle of a fight. This is the most basic of basics. Whoever runs out of chakra first is in danger. You must learn to use chakra under all kinds of conditions. Hongshi is much better at this than the three of you. Work hard! Once you've adapted to weighted tree climbing, you'll walk on water with weights."
At the mention of Hongshi, the three seemed to find a goal. They picked up their rocks of their own accord and continued climbing.
A treehouse in the woods.
Zabuza lay in bed, while Haku sat beside him.
Haku seemed to hear something. "Zabuza, someone's coming."
Three people approached the doorway. Leading them was Gato, followed by two men wearing samurai swords, Waraji and Zori, both experienced samurai.
Gato was short, wore a suit, and had sunglasses on. "So you got beaten and came crawling back too! Looks like the ninja of the Land of Mist are all trash. You can't even clean up a mess, and you call yourself a demon!"
The two samurai were about to draw their swords.
Gato stopped them. "Wait."
With that, Gato reached out to pull away the bandages on Zabuza's face. "Let's see why they call you a demon!"
Haku said coldly, "Get your filthy hand away."
Waraji and Zori immediately drew their swords, but Haku's figure flashed, and both swords were already in her hands, held against their necks.
"So fast!"
Zabuza pulled a kunai from beneath his covers. A Flying Thunder God Formula was engraved on it. He held it against Gato's neck. "Gato, someone wants to see you."
Whoosh.
A dark figure flashed into view in front of Gato. It was Hongshi.
Zabuza spat out a mouthful of blood. "Ah! Pfft!"
Hongshi looked down and realized he was standing on Zabuza's stomach. "Oops, sorry, sorry! Are you all right?"
Gato said, "(•́ω•̀٥)?"
After feeding Zabuza a Super Military Rations Pill, Hongshi looked at Gato. "Hey, so you're Gato. I hear you're rich."
Years in business had given Gato a keen eye. He could tell at a glance that, young as Hongshi was, he was someone extraordinary. He immediately put on a smile. "Yes, yes. What can I do for you?"
Hongshi said slowly, "Nothing much. I've suddenly taken a fancy to a little goal. Everything's ready, but I need a lot of funding. Unfortunately, I don't have much money."
Before Gato could answer, Waraji and Zori spoke up first, because the blades had already cut their necks, drawing a little blood. "That's right, that's right! He's one of the ten richest men in the world!"
Hongshi nodded and signaled for Haku to lower the swords. "Good, good."
Gato swallowed. "How... how much do you want?!"
Hongshi pointed at Gato. "I want all your money. Everything you've earned in the past, and everything you earn in the future. It's all mine."
Gato refused the moment he heard that and cursed, "Bastard! Dream on!"
"Mental World!"
Three seconds later.
Gato stopped trembling. "(͡°͜ʖ͡°)✧ Yes, boss! I'll get right on it!"
Hongshi patted Gato on the shoulder. "That's more like it! Stick with me, and I won't let you lose out!"
At the same time, he left a Flying Thunder God Formula on Gato.
"Ah, I've overused my chakra again! Follow the plan!" With that, Hongshi tossed a scroll into Haku's hands. "Practice the techniques in this scroll diligently."
"Yes, boss!"
Poof! Hongshi's body vanished in a cloud of smoke. It had only been a Shadow Clone.
Zabuza sighed. "Even his Shadow Clones can use Mental World? Just who is the boss?!"
Gato had only lasted seven days in the Mental World...