"Kakashi... looks like there's no point in us fighting anymore," Zabuza said with a bitter smile.
"Yeah."
Kakashi glanced at Zabuza's wound and said, "But it might be too late anyway."
"Yeah... urgh!"
Zabuza coughed up more blood and collapsed to the ground.
His body felt weaker and weaker, and his eyelids were growing heavy. He knew he didn't have much time left.
In the last moments of consciousness, he stared at Haku, lying not far from him.
He was so beautiful and kind. But Zabuza had raised him into the perfect tool—and now he had died for him...
A kid like that... how could he *not* care?
"Haku..."
Naruto didn't expect Zabuza to die before he could finish him off.
But it didn't matter. As long as he was dead.
Now the only thing left was Gato and his men.
Compared to Zabuza and the others, Gato's thugs weren't much of a threat.
But to stop Gato from hiring more ninja in the future, Naruto planned to make sure none of them left alive.
"Kakashi, leave these guys to me," Naruto said calmly.
Sasuke beat Haku. Kakashi took down Zabuza.
Now it was his turn to handle the final boss.
Kakashi agreed with a nod.
"You guys hear that? This brat says he's gonna take us all on by himself?"
"Hahaha! I think he's gone completely crazy!"
"Once we beat him so hard he cries for his mom, he'll realize this isn't some ninja game!"
"Hahahahahaha!"
Hearing his men laugh so confidently, Gato felt just as sure of their victory.
But that blond brat's eyes really pissed him off!
"Alright, enough talk. Go take that brat out!"
"Yes, boss!!"
"Brat, you're dead!!!"
"Next time, don't play ninja games in your next life!!"
Dozens of samurai and ronin charged at Naruto with all kinds of weapons.
But Naruto didn't panic at all!
He jumped high into the air, forming a hand sign with both index fingers and thumbs, and began gathering a huge amount of glowing energy!
"Yasakani no Magatama!!!"
In a flash—
Countless glowing blasts shot from Naruto's hands, raining down on the samurai and ronin!
Before they could even react, the blasts tore through them and ended their lives instantly!
In just a few moments, the entire bridge was covered in chaos, with bodies of samurai and ronin lying everywhere!
*Gulp.*
Everyone stared in shock at the destruction Naruto had caused.
"What... kind of jutsu is this?"
Kakashi couldn't even imagine how he'd deal with an attack like that.
Was it Earth Release?
Judging by the damage on the bridge, regular Earth Release would only slow it down a bit. It couldn't possibly block that move completely!
Kakashi realized Naruto was becoming more and more of a mystery to him!
Sasuke clenched his fists.
He didn't know when he'd finally be able to catch up to Naruto.
For the first time, Tazuna felt truly shocked by a ninja's power.
With strength like that, this boy could probably destroy the entire Land of Waves by himself.
What a terrifying power. So this is what a ninja is?!
"Ah… ah! Don't kill me!"
"I have money! Please don't kill me!"
Gato had been hiding far away, and Naruto hadn't attacked in his direction, so he managed to survive.
But after seeing what Naruto could do, he felt like being alive or dead didn't even matter anymore.
It was just too scary!
This kind of power… it's not something humans should have!
Money?
Naruto scratched his cheek, looking a bit unsure.
"Kakashi, if he dies, does his money count as unclaimed property?"
"..."
"Well, technically yes, but how do you know he doesn't have a kid or some relatives to inherit it?"
Kakashi explained, "If he has heirs and you take his money, that's theft. That's not what a ninja should do!"
A ninja isn't supposed to steal, but they *can* break into houses, assassinate people, gamble, and visit brothels for missions...
Naruto rolled his eyes, then casually shot a laser and killed Gato.
Felt like he just missed out on a fortune!
Still, even though he liked money, it wasn't something he was obsessed with.
He liked money because he didn't have much to spend—
not like Nami, who just genuinely loved hoarding it!
So even if he *did* miss out on a huge fortune, Naruto didn't really care.
Because his daily expenses didn't need that kind of money anyway.
"Gato is dead now, so I guess there's no more enemies, right?" Tazuna suddenly said.
"In theory, yes. But for your safety, we'll keep taking turns guarding you until the bridge is finished, Mr. Tazuna," Kakashi replied.
"Thank you all so much!"
Tazuna bowed deeply to the three of them, then went straight back to building the bridge with full focus.
For the future of the Land of Waves, Tazuna worked nonstop!
Even after everything that had just happened, nothing could stop his determination to finish the bridge!
"You're really working hard."
Naruto sat by the edge of the bridge with Sasuke, watching Tazuna running around, exhausted and out of breath.
His determination was admirable, but... when was this bridge ever going to be done?
The next day,
Tazuna realized that if he kept doing everything alone, the bridge would never be finished, so he once again called on the villagers to help.
This time, since Gato was dead, no one refused him!
Every man in the village who could still work joined the bridge construction project.
And like that, one month later—
The bridge connecting the Land of Waves and the Land of Fire was finally completed.
As for its name, Tazuna decided to call it — the Great Konoha Bridge!
Originally, he was going to name it "The Great Naruto Bridge" because he was moved by Naruto's actions,
but now it had a totally different meaning!
"The Great Naruto Bridge" was meant to thank Naruto for his efforts for the Land of Waves.
But "The Great Konoha Bridge" was to show gratitude to all the ninjas of Team 7 from the Hidden Leaf!
...
The next day,
by the time Team 7 returned to Konoha, it was already evening.
Still, Kakashi brought them straight to the Hokage's office to report the mission.
If it had been before, he definitely would've waited until the next day to report to the Third.
But since this was the first mission where a Jinchuriki left the village, Kakashi couldn't afford to delay—it was important to put the Third Hokage at ease.
"Hm… I didn't expect so many things to happen. You all worked hard." After hearing Kakashi's report, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked a bit surprised.
He hadn't expected Team 7's first C-rank mission to end up involving an enemy as strong as a jonin!
Luckily, their team leader was Kakashi. That was definitely reassuring.
"Old man, don't just say we worked hard. Give us something real," Naruto said flatly.
"..."
Hiruzen was already used to Naruto being blunt. He chuckled and said,
"Although this mission turned out to be more dangerous than a C-rank, Mr. Tazuna only paid 10,000 ryo,
so each of you will still get 2,500."
Naruto pouted and tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling, looking annoyed.
Hiruzen didn't mind Naruto's reaction. He turned to Kakashi and said,
"Alright, Kakashi. Team 7 did a great job this time. You all should take a break for now."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
!
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