Chapter 33: Zabuza Momochi
Gato's Hideout,
"What do you mean it is not enough? You were given one task to kill a bridge builder and you can't even do that?"
"Aren't you the demon of the mist?" Gato's angry voice rang inside the room where Zabuza and Haku were sitting.
Zabuza raised his massive sword and said.
"I might be strong but even I can't take down two Jonins on my own. Even with Haku's help, we might not be able to defeat them, especially considering their numbers."
"If you want to kill the bridge builder, you must hire another A-rank missing nin."
Gato gritted his teeth and asked.
"So, who should I ask? Do you know anyone?"
Suddenly, Zabuza smirked and said.
"Yeah, I have the perfect person in mind. Although he hates me, he will definitely help you if you give him enough money."
"Is that so? Then, I will give you one more chance. Call him and kill the bridge builder at any cost." Gato spoke and walked out of the room.
"Zabuza-sama, are you really going to ask that person for this mission? You know just how much he hates you and other swordsmen of the mist." Haku spoke from inside the mask.
"I know but I don't have a choice. There are six genin. While they might just be Genin, we can't let them disturb our battle. So, Raiga would be the best person to defeat that other Jonin while I fight Kakashi of the Sharingan."
"Your job will be to finish those Genins. As soon as he arrives, we will attack them at the bridge."
...............
Next Day,
Naruto walked out of Tazuna's house and went to visit the market area of the village. He wanted to see just how bad the situation was.
When he reached there, he couldn't help but feel a rage building up. The condition of the market was extremely poor.
He didn't even need to speak to any of them.
Their eyes seemed so similar.
Yes, those eyes looked just like his when he was small. Maybe not so isolated but lost all hope.
He was only able to overcome it because he had a goal, a goal that he needed to reach.
Unfortunately for these people, the goal was something too much.
Still, when he was walking around, he found some people trying to steal his Ninja bag from behind while some children were begging in front of him.
"Can you please give me something to eat?" A little girl who was even younger than Konohamaru put her hands together and asked with a sad expression.
Naruto felt a burning pain in his chest but he kept a smile on his face. He bought some bread from the nearby shop and gave it to the girl.
"Thank you so much!" The little girl smiled brightly and ran away with the bread.
When others saw that, some children began to surround him and ask for something. Naruto knew that he wouldn't be able to provide food to everyone like this.
So, he simply shook his head and walked away.
He did let a shadow clone follow the little girl. Surprisingly, she had other friends of her age who were also hungry just like her.
Thankfully, nobody tried to snatch her food. Watching her share that piece of bread, Naruto smiled from the top of the building.
He narrowed his eyes the next moment when he saw two people with Katana moving around the market.
They seemed to be taking food from those stalls.
Naruto instantly appeared behind them with Body Flicker and knocked them out from the back.
Thud! Thud!
"Keep your thing! I will throw these goons away." Naruto said while lifting those two guys by his arms and walking away.
"Little brother, wait! You shouldn't fight them. They are Gato's men. Once they find out about you, they will kill you." The shopkeeper seemed extremely scared but still reminded him.
Naruto smiled and said.
"They can't kill me. But, I do hope that you get your hope back. Right now, everyone seems hopeless but it is not lost. At least, not when we are here."
Swish!
After saying that, he disappeared with Body Flicker and appeared near the forest. He wake them up and started beating them until they spilled every single secret about Gato.
He learned quite a lot of things from them and decided to knock them out.
He tied them to the tree and transformed himself into one of them.
At the same time, he also created a shadow clone and let it transform into the other one.
Finally, after transforming into them, Naruto decided to pay a visit to Gato's headquarters.
Fortunately, it wasn't hard to find. Because the biggest businessman in Land of Waves, his house was certainly the biggest.
He walked inside the building and found several of Gato's men holding the katana.
Most of them were samurai and were weaker than him. But, as he was walking through the building, he stumbled into a room where two of his enemies were staying.
And, the moment he walked in, they immediately sensed his Chakra. Zabuza in specific raised his sword and spoke.
"Who the hell are you? You aren't from Gato's men. Why are you using Transformation Jutsu?"
Naruto simply undid his transformation while raising his hands.
"Wait, wait, there is no need to use violence. Do you really think I came here to give my head?"
Zabuza didn't recognize him but Haku did. He whispered near Zabuza's ears.
Zabuza stared at Naruto and asked.
"What kind of stunt are you trying to pull here? You are only a Genin. You have guts to infiltrate Gato's building and even try to engage in a conversation with me."
Suddenly, Zabuza released his Killing Intent so intense that it instantly changed the atmosphere of the room.
Naruto was surprised but he didn't feel much. He simply narrowed his eyes and whispered.
"Kurama!"
Suddenly, his own Killing Intent mixed with the Killing Intent of Kurama's Chakra burst out. His pupils turned slit and it was red. The red chakra surrounded his body as he spoke.
"I didn't come here to fight but if you incur the wraith of a Jinchuriki, you are more than welcome."
Zabuza was stunned by Naruto's killing intent and when he heard his words, his eyes widened with fear and sweat appeared on his face.
Haku almost got suffocated because of Naruto's aura.
Whoosh!
The next second, it disappeared and Naruto spoke.
"Look! I really came here to talk about something really important not just for me but also for you. So, why don't you listen first and then decide whether to attack me or not?"
Zabuza slowly turned his expression calm and asked.
"So, what do you want to talk about?"
"It is impossible to control a Perfect Jinchuriki but is that really the case?" Naruto started the conversation with a massive drop of information that instantly changed Zabuza's expression.
"While it might not be possible to capture the Jinchuriki in an illusion if they are Perfect Jinchuriki, one can still control the Tailed Beast, right? More importantly, one can also control the person itself."
"You understand me, don't you Zabuza? You know what Kage means for a village. You know what kind of person will get chosen as a Kage. How can such a person suddenly change his mind and start killing his own people?"
Zabuza gritted his teeth and shouted.
"What evidence do you have?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes and said.
"I am the evidence, Zabuza."
Zabuza looked a bit confused so Naruto continued.
"You know about the death of Fourth Hokage, don't you? You know he died killing Nine Tails. But, Tailed Beasts can't be killed so it was sealed inside me."
"I am the evidence that Tailed Beast can be controlled, Zabuza. That person pulled out Nine Tails from its previous host and controlled it to attack Konoha. If Nine Tails can be controlled, why can't you control Three Tails?"
Hearing his words, Zabuza asked.
"You didn't come here to tell me just this, did you? What do you want?"
Only then, Naruto smiled and said.
"Of course, I came here for a reason. But before that, I had to learn a lot about you. Zabuza Moochi, the Demon of the Mist, holder of one of the seven legendary swords."
"You certainly have a fierce reputation but you are trying to earn money for your village, aren't you?"
When he said that, Zabuza's eyes twitched as he shouted.
"Are you kidding me? I am missing nin. Why would I help my village?"
"Because you still love your village. You tried to kill Mizukage because of his tyranny. And right now, you took Gato's offer because he could give you enough money to help the rebellion that is currently going on in the Mist."
"You bastard." Zabuza's veins were popping out as he shouted.
"How the hell did you find out? You are just a Genin."
Naruto shrugged his shoulders and said.
"We just have the common enemy, Zabuza. I lost my family because of that person and you lost even more. You had to betray the village that you loved the most."