The reason Gato had been holding off on destroying the bridge was because it was too close to the Land of Fire. A big explosion would definitely attract attention.
And whether that attention was good or bad, the more eyes on the Land of Waves, the worse it would be for Gato.
But now, if he didn’t destroy the bridge soon, the construction would be finished, and even more people might find out.
While he still had Zabuza and Haku working for him, he might as well take care of everything in one go.
It wasn’t just Tazuna and that annoying bridge—if Zabuza and Haku ended up dying with those ninja from the Leaf, even better.
Gato had only recently realized that Zabuza and Haku were actually undercover agents.
All along, those two had been secretly working with people from the Land of Water, slowly draining his funds.
Before he knew it, a big chunk of his inco was gone. It finally hit him that sothing wasn’t right.
Looking deeper, he found that Zabuza and Haku had shown up in the Land of Waves not long after Kaiza’s death.
So of his internal records didn’t match up either—most likely those two had secretly changed them.
By now, it was too late to recover or move his assets. Since the ninja from the Hidden Leaf were already here, might as well let them all tear each other apart.
"Hmph, fooling isn’t that easy."
Gato tossed the radio onto the couch. He planned to sit back and let the others fight it out until both sides were worn down—then he’d swoop in and take everything for himself.
...
As soon as Team 7 and Tazuna got the news, they rushed toward the bridge.
anwhile, in the forest, two n holding katanas were casually testing their blades on whatever they could find.
Once Gato spread the word about blowing up the bridge, he knew Tazuna’s group would definitely head that way.
To make sure that guy didn’t cause more trouble, Gato sent so n to use the distraction to kidnap either Inari or Tsunami.
Their mission was to wait until the others left and then go to Tazuna’s house to grab one of them.
*Crack.*
A sudden sound of candy wrapping ca from behind.
The two n turned around at the sa ti. When they saw a young man in black with no weapon, matching grins spread across their faces.
"I was just thinking there’s nothing alive around here to test my sword on. And now soone walks right up!"
"There’s barely anyone around. Killing him shouldn’t be a big deal."
Gato did whatever he wanted here. Killing a civilian or two didn’t matter at all.
The locals were too scared to fight back anyway.
The two n coolly flicked their katanas with their thumbs, then drew them out in one smooth motion.
They rushed forward at full speed. Hatake Satoru was busy popping a piece of candy into his mouth.
He looked like he hadn’t even noticed them.
Then, with a flash of cold light, blood splattered everywhere.
The two n stared in disbelief.
Their blades had gone straight through their own chests.
What just happened!?
They had clearly aid their swords at *him*.
How did the blades end up stabbing straight into their own hearts!?
They collapsed at Satoru’s feet, eyes wide open. Their swords had run them through like they’d just committed a brutal suicide.
Satoru casually moved his hands a bit, and the faint blue mist around him faded away. He adjusted the mask hanging from his waist.
The mask was facing inward, showing only the white lining, hiding the front design.
"If you want to kill yourself, don’t do it in front of soone else~ I’m on a schedule, you know. It’d be a sha to miss the best part."
"Mmm... strawberry flavor. Not bad."
He stepped over the lifeless bodies without a care and walked toward the edge of the forest.
...
The bridge was still covered in thick fog. A few knocked-out construction workers were lying on the ground.
Kakashi looked around cautiously. While the Land of Waves was surrounded by sea and often foggy,
sothing about this fog felt different from usual.
"You seriously can’t see *anything* in here!"
Naruto squinted and shouted, full of energy. This was his first ti actually standing on the bridge, and the fog here was even thicker than below.
It kept getting heavier by the second.
Sasuke’s eyes fell on the collapsed workers nearby.
They were still visible when the group first arrived...
But now they were nearly hidden by the fog.
"Stop yelling. This is the Hidden Mist Technique."
"The Hidden Mist Village is famous for assassinations mostly because of this move."
So this ti, it wasn’t just a couple of weak Chunin like before.
They were able to use the Hidden Mist Jutsu—no doubt about it, the people here this ti are probably at the jonin level or even higher.
Kakashi lowered his body slightly, frowning as he stepped back. The three kids quickly surrounded Tazuna, standing alert and watching their surroundings.
"You got here pretty fast, Sharingan Kakashi."
"Oh? And you even brought three kids who’ll just get in the way."
Almost in the blink of an eye, seven identical figures appeared around them, each holding a massive executioner’s blade.
..... .... ...
And all of them started speaking.
"One of the Seven Ninja Swordsn—Momochi Zabuza?!"
Seriously? What kind of crazy opening is this?
Kakashi hesitated for a brief second when he saw Zabuza’s face. Maybe they really should have redone this mission from the start.
The Seven Ninja Swordsn work directly under the Mizukage, handling all sorts of high-level missions.
But why is this guy showing up here!?
The Land of Water has been developing at an insane pace these past two years. They have no reason to squeeze the Land of Waves like this.
What’s really going on here...?
Kakashi didn’t have ti to figure it all out. Whatever the Land of Water was after, one thing was clear for now—Zabuza was the enemy.
"It’s a water clone. Naruto, Sasuke—go!"
Good thing he’d given these kids so extra training. Kakashi suddenly felt like a student who had secretly reviewed before a surprise test.
Naruto and Sasuke paused for a split second, then threw shuriken and kunai at the water clones from both sides.
Sakura stood firmly in front of Tazuna to guard him.
In an instant—splash! Six or seven clones were torn apart, turning back into puddles of water as they hit the ground.
"Oh? You saw through the water clones—not bad."
"Your opponent is here, Haku."
Zabuza stepped out of the thick mist, walking straight toward them. Next to him was soone wearing an ANBU-style mask from the Hidden Mist.
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