Gato was dead.
He died in his own home, eyes wide open in terror—
—as if he had witnessed something horrifying in his final moments.
He had hired a bunch of practically useless wandering ronin, foolishly believing that they could rival real shinobi. He didn't even take Zabuza seriously.
Upon learning of Zabuza's demise, he immediately gathered his men and prepared to strike at Tazuna.
But before the plan could be put into action, he was slaughtered in his own home.
His subordinates were also completely wiped out—
—without a single one spared.
It wasn't that the era of the samurai had passed.
Rather, in the face of the shinobi, it had never even begun.
This world, for over a thousand years, has always been one ruled by shinobi.
"Mission complete."
With a swift flick, he shook the blood off his katana and slowly sheathed it.
A black-clad shinobi stared at Gato's corpse as he spoke.
A discreet wireless earpiece nestled in his ear.
Uchiha Genmei—
Following after Tetsuka (OC), Izumi, Yashiro, and Inoka (OC), he was the first of the new generation of Uchiha to pass the "Go Test."
A rising star among the surviving Uchiha.
"Good work."
The voice in his ear came from Naruto—
—or more accurately, a shadow clone of Naruto.
Upon hearing this, Genmei stood at attention and respectfully responded:
"It's my honor to serve you."
Naruto held a status among the Uchiha that surpassed even the clan leader.
The Uchiha revered him with near fanatical admiration.
This was no accident—
—Fugaku had greatly helped fan the flames from behind the scenes.
"Tell the others: absorb Gato's assets as quickly as possible. He was an extremely fat, oil-drenched cash cow. We won't need to worry about funding for quite some time."
On the surface, Gato was the CEO of a shipping company.
Behind the scenes, he controlled the economies of several small nations, using any and all means to exploit the people and amass a fortune.
Guess how rich he was?
Even Naruto had to admit—when he saw the numbers—he was tempted.
But the man's vision was pathetically narrow.
As an ordinary human, he couldn't grasp the fundamental difference between shinobi and wandering samurai.
On top of that, he was miserly—
—hiring cheap ronin and refusing to spend on capable shinobi.
Who knows whether to call him a fool, or just a greedy idiot.
He was, without exaggeration, a walking goldmine.
"If anyone dares get in the way—kill them."
"If needed, the Fūma Clan can assist."
The Fūma Clan, or Fūma Family, was a once-declining shinobi clan, desperate to reclaim their former glory.
They specialized in shurikenjutsu, with the Fūma Shuriken being their signature weapon.
They also had deep expertise in chakra research, but had fallen out of favor due to lacking any kekkei genkai.
They had minor ties to Orochimaru and Pain;
one of Pain's Six Paths—the Animal Path—was actually a shinobi from the Fūma Clan.
However, they had rarely appeared in the main storyline and were mostly relegated to background lore.
In recent years, they had been subdued by the Fourth—
—now acting as vassals to the Uchiha.
After all, the current Uchiha population was far too small to handle everything alone.
And given the clan's prideful nature, many tasks simply didn't suit them.
Better to leave them to be a sharp-edged dagger.
"Use the shipping company's funds to mass-produce chakra armor. As much as possible. We'll need it soon."
Chakra Armor was a unique technology from the Land of Snow.
Its ruler, Kazahana Dotō, spent over a decade developing it.
A specialized suit that could boost attack power, generate barriers that nullify ninjutsu and genjutsu, and even come equipped with wings.
In essence, it was a vastly downgraded version of Iron Man's armor.
For ordinary shinobi, it was a valuable life-saving tool.
The Land of Snow, located in the far north, had recently been conquered.
It was now a vassal state of Uzushiogakure.
After witnessing overwhelming power, its current ruler, Kazahana Dotō, like the warden of Hozuki Castle, swore allegiance to Naruto.
That celebrity princess, Koyuki Kazahana, never wanted to be a ruler anyway—
—so she could now go back to living comfortably as a movie star.
"I won't disappoint you," Genmei replied, trembling slightly from excitement.
Unconsciously, he activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, which spun furiously.
His admiration for Naruto bordered on worship.
And he was far from the only one in the Uchiha clan who felt that way.
"By the way, it's time to establish a branch base in the Land of Waves."
"Yes, sir."
The daimyo of the Land of Waves had already sworn allegiance to Naruto three days ago—
—as long as he could continue living a life of luxury, he didn't care about anything else.
Frankly, all the daimyō of the Five Great Nations—and so-called nobles—were already rotten to the core.
As long as they could enjoy themselves, nothing else mattered.
A bunch of hedonistic celestial nobles in all but name.
Naruto, while giving orders, looked down at the world map of the shinobi world.
South of the Land of Snow was—
"Next target: The Land of Demons."
"Notify Izumi and Inoka. Send them there. But be cautious—
that monster named Mōryō has strength on par with a tailed beast."
"If necessary, summon the Box of Ultimate Bliss."
"Two immortal beings—
—I believe Go will be very interested in him."
In truth, Naruto was also quite interested in the equipment of the Sky Ninja,
but unfortunately, they didn't seem to exist in this world.
Those fantasy-style wind-nature tools would have to wait.
---
Thanks to the removal of Gato's interference, the Great Naruto Bridge was completed one week later.
At the same time, Gato's shipping company was formally taken over by Naruto.
Uchiha Izumi and Inoka arrived in the Land of Demons and engaged in battle with a religious leader named Yomi.
"That was a close call, but mission accomplished," Kakashi said lazily, beginning the return journey with Team 7.
Despite encountering dangerous enemies like Zabuza and getting involved in two shinobi-level battles, he had barely needed to lift a finger.
It felt more like a vacation than a mission.
'Having powerful students really makes things easy.
The only downside is—they learn too fast. No sense of accomplishment.'
His gaze shifted to Sasuke.
Over the course of the mission, Kakashi had grown more and more satisfied with his student.
He was practically Kakashi's younger self all over again.
'I imagine this is how Minato-sensei felt back then, too.'
He noticed that Sasuke knew a variety of Fire-Style jutsu but very few Lightning-Style techniques—
so Kakashi had passed down his signature move, Chidori (Lightning Blade).
To his surprise, Sasuke picked it up extremely quickly.
In just a week, he had already mastered the basics.
And he was already working on developing his own combat style.
At this pace, the upcoming Chūnin Exams would be a breeze.
Kakashi's eyes then turned to Naruto and Karin.
Their strength was on par with Sasuke's—if not even greater.
In fact, Naruto surpassed him.
This team could probably participate in the Jōnin Exams and still dominate.
They were easily the strongest group of Genin this generation had to offer.
Finally, his gaze landed on Sakura Haruno.
And...
Sigh...
With no Tazuna tagging along to slow them down, their return trip was far faster than the journey there.
Soon, they were back in the Leaf Village.
"Sakura."
Just as Kakashi dismissed them, Naruto suddenly called out to her.
"Wanna come over to Sasuke's place for dinner?"
"We're teammates, after all."
She never expected Naruto to personally invite her—
—to Sasuke's house, no less.
In that moment, Sakura felt like happiness had fallen right into her lap.
She didn't even hesitate before blurting out:
"Yes!"
Naruto, eyes narrowed, smiled like a fox.
No one could guess what he was really plotting.
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