Chapter 180: Nice to Meet You, I'm Your New Boss
Naruto clenched his fists, wanting to charge up.
This time, Kakashi grabbed his head in annoyance. "First, tell me what you're going to do when you charge out there. As long as you can explain it clearly, I won't stop you."
"Of course it's because they killed so many people!"
"Then why didn't you stop that group of people when they were about to kill them?"
"I..."
"Look closely. Gatō is still alive. So what just happened was a deathmatch between ninja. You have no reason to interfere in someone else's deathmatch. Are you afraid you won't die fast enough?"
With that, Kakashi pushed Naruto away, his gaze on Zabuza complicated. He was witnessing the end of a ninja's road. Unlike Naruto, Kakashi had experienced countless hopeless situations and knew deep down that some things just couldn't be done. At least for now, Naruto was not qualified to do them.
"Kakashi Hatake. It seems you don't intend to make a move?" Zabuza said with difficulty, slowly sitting up with Haku's support.
"How much longer can you live? If you're about to die, I can collect your body for you, out of respect for you as a good opponent and a good teacher."
Zabuza laughed arrogantly, then coughed. "I'm not dead yet. We'll meet again."
"Let's hope not. Otherwise, I won't hold back next time."
Kakashi pulled Naruto along, leading him and the others away. As he had said, this mission to the Land of Waves had already been upgraded from C-rank to B-rank the moment the Chūnin ambushed them. And when Zabuza attacked, the mission had been upgraded to A-rank.
This battle just now was purely a lesson.
Kakashi had to use this unplanned deathmatch to teach Naruto and the others that a ninja must do what a ninja is supposed to do. The rest was not for them to manage, nor could they. As for what happened next, that was even further beyond his consideration.
Just as Kakashi's group walked away, Akiyama Makoto appeared, wearing his mask.
"Lord Boss! Please, I beg you, save Lord Zabuza!"
"Don't worry. He won't die."
He didn't act immediately, but placed his hands on their shoulders.
The next moment, he disappeared with them, reappearing in front of a large group of horse-drawn carriages. This scene once again shocked Zabuza and Haku.
Although they had never seen the Flying Thunder God Technique, who in the entire ninja world didn't know the name of Konoha's Yellow Flash?
"Y-You're the Fourth Hokage?" Even Zabuza subconsciously used honorifics, his voice trembling.
"No. I told you, I'm a civilian."
"As for where my ninjutsu comes from, you should know that the Fourth Hokage didn't create it either."
The reason he had revealed it to the two of them was that he would definitely be using it frequently to appear before them in the future, so hiding it was meaningless. But Zabuza and Haku were professional ninja; keeping a secret for a short time wouldn't be a problem. What's more, he had already left a Hiraishin mark on them just now. "Homecoming Minato" might not be very effective against Kage-level opponents, but it was not something they could resist.
A glint flashed in Zabuza's eyes. He had a guess as to his identity. He didn't know the lineage of the jutsu, but when it came to creating ninjutsu, there was another person in Konoha who was just as famous. Looking at it now, was this man his disciple, or his blood heir?
As Zabuza was thinking, Gatō came stumbling over, shouting for the coachmen to drive the carriages. He wanted to escape, to get away from that bloodthirsty demon, Zabuza.
But no matter how he pushed, the coachmen didn't move. They had clearly all been put under his genjutsu.
Only then did Gatō see him, and also Zabuza and Haku beside him.
He gritted his teeth, rushed over, and bowed obsequiously. "So it was you, my lord!"
"Thank you so much for helping me capture these two traitors! I've prepared a bonus of one hundred—no, five hundred million Ryō for you!"
"If you kill them now and come back to my headquarters with me, I'll give you the cash immediately!"
Makoto gave Gatō a second look. He hadn't expected him to be able to take out 500 million in cash. At a conservative estimate, Gatō's total assets had to be in the tens of billions. As expected, a truly fat sheep!
"Alright."
He nodded in agreement again, and then, to Gatō's despairing gaze, used the Mystical Palm Technique. This time, Zabuza and Haku were both heavily injured, so the treatment took a little longer.
Gatō stumbled backward, then turned and ran without looking back.
Zabuza felt his injuries. "Boss," he said, "do you need me to take care of him for you now?"
"No. I'll do it myself."
His words drew a strange look from Zabuza.
"Boss, I remember you said you were a civilian, right? Is it appropriate for a civilian to just kill someone?"
"We're both ninja, but we're rogue ninja. So even if we kill him, it won't cause much trouble."
"I doubt any hidden village would be bored enough to send a Jōnin to their death for this."
Zabuza was telling the truth. Although he couldn't beat Kakashi, his strength was undoubtedly in the upper tier among Jōnin. And with Haku and his Ice Style as a wild card, most Jōnin would indeed fall under his Executioner's Blade if they weren't careful.
"It has nothing to do with that. It's just... I have to get used to the feeling of killing."
"Using Gatō to pop that cherry seems just right."
Although he had killed countless people in his simulations, and had even personally experienced the process through his memories, there was still a gap between that and reality. It was time to break his vow of not killing.
He then healed Haku. Once they had their mobility back, he unhurriedly chased after Gatō.
In the end, he found the cowering Gatō in a small wooden cabin by the road.
"How much money do you want?! I'll give it to you! I'll give you everything, just let me live!"
He approached him step by step. "Do you think you're more important to me, or is your money more important?"
Gatō said cautiously, "Me?"
He shook his head.
"Then it's the money?"
He raised his hand.
"What is the answer?!"
"The answer is..."
He used a genjutsu to extract all of Gatō's hidden assets, then thrust his hand through his throat. The warm sensation of blood didn't make him feel strange at all. Besides the training from his simulations, his spiritual power in reality was terrifyingly strong. He naturally wouldn't be fazed by such a small stimulus.
"Of course, your disappearance is what's most important to me."
He pulled his hand back, used Water Style to wash off the blood, then used a Great Fireball to burn Gatō to ashes. Finally, he used Wind Style to blow his ashes into the sea.
After doing all this, he dusted off his hands, turned around, and saw that Zabuza and Haku had followed him. He gave them a smiling greeting.
But the two of them were silent. They were used to killing and being killed. But this was the first time they had seen a guy who, one second, called himself a civilian, and the next, was destroying a corpse with such professional skill.
"Don't just stand there. We still have a lot of work to do," he urged again.
This time, Zabuza spoke. "Boss, what do you need us to do? Just give the order."
"Simple. Clean up all the ninja on this island."
"Those who have a history of wantonly killing innocents, kill them directly. Those who followed Gatō's orders and ran wild, drive them out. If there are any useful ones left, tell them their salary is increased by thirty percent."
"If there's really no one left to use, then use your channels to recruit new ninja. Remember, their resumes should be as clean as possible."
"From now on, the Land of Waves will focus on legitimate business. After all, I'm just a civilian, not some bloodthirsty villain."
The corner of Zabuza's mouth twitched. He accepted the order and left. He wouldn't complain about his actions. As a ninja, he just had to obey orders. As for how to distinguish who had done evil, the answer was simple. He would tell everyone he was recruiting villains and was going to lead them on a big job. Anyone who admitted to being a villain would just be killed.
On Makoto's end, after sending Gatō off, he turned and went back to the great bridge. He was here to see someone.
Sure enough, after the battle here had ended, Tazuna had been the first to rush up, inspecting the damage to his precious bridge.
When he appeared behind him, wearing his mask, he didn't panic. Instead, he looked relieved.
He slowly turned his head and looked at him. "It seems I couldn't escape death after all. Are you the new ninja Gatō hired?"
"If you want to kill me, then do it."
He smiled and took off his mask. "No. I'm the new boss of the Land of Waves United Co., Ltd. You can call me Akiyama Makoto."
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