"Haku."
Zabuza looked at Haku and couldn't help but smile bitterly. "We lost!"
Heh, it was their arrogance that led them to take this mission, and in the end, they failed.
But as he spoke, Zabuza's gaze flicked to Genya standing in front of him, and the fear in his eyes remained clear.
It's all because of this brat!
If not for this brat, the mission would have been completed long ago.
But even the two of them together might still have lost to the Hyuga girl!
One wrong step, and everything goes wrong.
"You told me once that in our line of work, there would come a day when a mission fails!" Haku's cheeks showed a smile, bright and sincere. "But I didn't expect that day to come so soon."
"It's a pity I couldn't help you!"
Haku had long anticipated a scene like this, but he was determined to follow Zabuza through fire and water.
Without Zabuza back then, he might have already been dead.
Plop!
Hinata dropped Haku beside Zabuza and finally turned her attention to Genya with concern. "Genya, are you okay?"
"Do you think a Jonin could hurt me?" Genya rubbed Hinata's head gently, his tone soft, and even added a compliment: "You did really well."
"Not at all!" Hinata's face immediately flushed red at Genya's praise.
Her heart raced like a startled fawn, beating wildly. Genya praised her. He praised her. She had his recognition.
"What about these two killers?" Kurenai spoke up, her tone questioning.
Now that Genya was leading the team, some matters needed to be handled by him personally.
"Heh. Since we're already in your hands, do as you wish!" Zabuza looked at Genya. "Brat, I may have lost to you, but I won't accept it. If there's a next time, I'll challenge you again!"
After saying that,
He glared at Genya, as if he wanted to tear him apart.
Thrum~
At that moment, a vine pierced directly through his stomach, stirring violently inside Zabuza.
Ah~~
Even the toughest man, Zabuza, could not help but cry out in pain under such treatment.
"Brat… if you've got the guts, give me a proper fight!" Zabuza gritted his teeth, speaking slowly and deliberately, but perhaps because of the intense pain, his eyes were blood-red.
"No, I won't kill you. I'll just make sure you can never use chakra again!" Genya looked at Zabuza, speaking word by word. "Don't you hate me? Then watch me in action and be powerless to stop me!"
After crushing Zabuza's chakra core, Genya even went further, severing one of Zabuza's and Haku's arms. This time, both of them cried out in pain.
"All done!"
Looking at the two barely clinging to life, Genya clapped his hands and spoke to Kurenai and the others: "Sensei, we should leave. The Land of Waves is close!"
Huh?
Leaving just like that?
Kurenai and Shino were slightly stunned. They hadn't expected Genya to let the two go.
"You're going to let us go?" Zabuza opened his eyes. His arm and body were ruined, yet he never expected Genya to spare him and Haku.
In truth, he had already prepared himself to die.
Haku blinked, staring at Genya, unsure of what he was thinking. They had wanted to kill him, yet this man spared him. Not only that, he had only crippled one of his arms.
"You'd better leave here and hide somewhere else. Otherwise, next time we meet, I might not be able to hold back and kill you!"
Genya looked at Haku, then glanced down at Haku's lower body… cough, he's a boy, and then back at Zabuza. "You really tried to kill me just now. Cutting off only one arm was too light!"
He had initially considered sparing them because of their actions in the original story, but Zabuza had truly tried to kill him, and punishment was necessary.
With a single motion from Genya, vines wrapped around Zabuza's legs, crushing them both completely.
From that moment on…
Zabuza had only one intact arm left; without it he would be a complete wreck.
Heaved with pain, sweat beading on his forehead, Zabuza let out a groan and finally fainted from the agony.
When everything was finished, Genya led Hinata and the others away with the setting sun at their backs.
"H— thank you."
Haku staggered to his feet and, looking at Genya's retreating figure, thanked him earnestly.
At the same time, Genya lifted the unconscious Zabuza onto his shoulders and started walking in the opposite direction.
He had not killed them; they still had an important task to complete later.
"Genya, why didn't you kill them?"
Not far from there, Kurenai asked Genya in surprise.
Kurenai knew Genya well; if he had acted like his old self, those men would already be dead.
Anyone alive had to be of some use — like the Eight-Tails, or Hideki and his two companions.
But she couldn't see anything about Zabuza or those others that Genya could exploit.
"Maybe it's sentiment."
Genya smiled calmly.
Some things he couldn't explain; perhaps he simply wanted to see what would happen between Zabuza and Haku afterward.
Would the two of them end up together?
Kurenai regarded Genya oddly, feeling that his smile was a little off.
"Hurry up. We'll reach the port of the Land of Waves soon."
Genya said with a laugh and, with Hinata and the others, moved steadily forward.
Within half a day they reached a harbor, and out at sea a small island hung alone on the horizon.
It was not far from the mainland.
No wonder — they planned to build a bridge; the port here was a major hub for ships traveling to and from the Land of Waves.
Genya's eyes narrowed.
That must be Gatō's port; he monopolized all the ships in the Land of Waves and charged whatever he wanted.
Clatter.
At that moment a group of people disembarked from a ship.
Their leader wore small sunglasses and a black suit; he was a middle-aged man, and behind him were pirates holding various weapons.
They glared arrogantly at Genya and his group.
Gatō clicked his shoes as he strode forward and stopped a short distance away, looking at them with contempt.
"You're the ninjas who came to protect Tazuna?" he sneered. "Zabuza that worthless piece of trash failed his task like I thought. The damn fool even took my money!"
"The rest of this, I'll handle myself!"
After saying that, Gatō flicked the cigarette butt from his mouth onto the ground and crushed it under his boot. Then he looked at Genya and the others. "Who's the leader here? I want to talk to him!"
"You can talk to me!" Genya smiled as he looked at the arrogant Gatō. Suddenly, he felt like having a chat with this guy.
A little distraction, a way to pass the boring time.
"You?" Gatō glanced at Genya suspiciously, but quickly continued, head held high. "I don't care who your leader is, but I'll give you five minutes. Take that old man and leave immediately, or…"
"Or what?" Genya's eyes narrowed.
****
Support me on my patreon and read upto 15 early chapters.
https://www.patreon.com/AniScout