Chapter 25

"Are you both ready?" Naruto asked as he stood side by side with Hana and Hayate as they stood high above the ground on the tree tops. Down below they looked down upon a large hidden hideout five miles away from the main town in Wave Country.

The past 7 days the trio had spent in Wave Country they had spent both helping the town and ensuring the genin team Eiji was on was ready for a confrontation with Zabuza and his accomplice.

In town Naruto's multiple clones continued fishing in the harbor and feeding the town with what he caught. It put smiles on the face of many people and it kept them fed each day which was a step up from their previous situation. He helped with their food as much as they could but he knew money was what would ultimately help this town. And they needed lots of it.

Secretly he had used his Mokuton to build more houses. A few here and there to prevent suspicion from the others. Now was not the right time to reveal the power he somehow inherited from the Shodaime Hokage.

At Tsunami' home Hayate and Hana had helped the genin team while Hana had focused her time on Sakura. The girl was truly pitiful but was at least making steps to improve her physical abilities. You couldn't have just brains in the shinobi world. The brawn was needed just as much. For that they got Sakura's stamina up while making progress on making her chakra reserves larger.

Hopefully sense had finally been knocked into the girl. At least that's what they all hoped anyway. They managed to at least get rid of this stupid diet the girl was on.

With Sasuke and Eiji the two had been taught how to walk on water. Once they did so they were told to spar with one another, learning to control their chakra to keep them on top of the water while trying to focus on their opponent at the same time. It took a while but eventually they finally got there. They would train Sakura in the water walking exercise once her chakra was up to snuff.

Then the two boys were told to focus on the jutsu they knew before they were taught a new jutsu. So Naruto had Hayate watched over them and practice. This way they could gain better mastery over their jutsu, control the amount of chakra better while enabling them to make them more powerful while using less chakra.

Both boys grumbled at that since they thought they were good enough at their jutsu as it was but a quick spar with Hayate showed them how wrong they were.

Naruto was confident that Team 7 could hold the duo down long enough for them to arrive to the bridge. Kakashi was ready, Eiji was ready, Sasuke was ready and Sakura he hoped was ready.

"So do you think he's really there?" Hayate asked, his eye focused intently on the building. "What if everything the guy told us was lies?"

The trio had spotted a member of Gato's thugs and decided it was time to end Gato's reign in Wave Country once and for all. They had seen the destruction that he had caused and knew that enough was enough. No one, not even a rich man like Gato would be allowed to get away with such horrendous crimes.

Killing innocent lives, forcing people out of their homes and rendering people homeless and starving. Naruto would not allow such an evil person to live a moment longer.

"I know he is." Hana responded, her eyes going all canine like as she and the triplets growled. "I can smell him from up here. The man smells repulsive. I'm actually looking forward to this."

"You and me both." Naruto responded as he dropped out of the tree tops and marched towards the hideout.

"Do you think Zabuza and the unknown shinobi are within?" Hayate asked as Hana smelled the air. They knew they would have a fight on their hands if the Seven Swordsman member was inside. It was a good thing for them that Naruto was with them and had experience when it came to fighting the swordsman. Before she could answer Naruto already beat her too it.

"Their not. They both would have had large chakra signatures if they were but I'm sensing no one of that nature. It's just bandits. No ninja training what so ever if I'm reading it right."

"They've gone for the bridge?"

Naruto nodded. "It's likely. The team on the bridge will be fine. Kakashi can deal with Zabuza and I'm confident that Eiji, Sasuke and Sakura can handle the accomplice."

"Are you...are you worried?" Hana asked as she touched his elbow. Despite his hard expression, she knew he must have been troubled with the fact that his brother would be in such close proximity with a member of the Seven Swordsman. She knew if it was Kiba on the bridge then she would want to be there to protect him. Even if she and her little brother weren't seeing eye to eye right now.

An older sibling couldn't help but be worried about their younger siblings.

"I am but I'm confident Eiji will be okay. He knows when he is over his head and he knows how to deal with stressful situations. Remember Hana-chan he was taught by our parents. Eiji know's how to keep himself safe." Naruto explained while taking a deep breath. "Besides I left a clone watching from afar just in case. That way the clone could let me know if something was going wrong."

"So how we going to do this? Sneak through the roofs and take them out one by one before we get to Gato or just go straight for where Gato is residing?"

"Neither." Naruto told them as he took out his swords and immediately slashed the wall to pieces, creating a large entrance for them into the building.

"We're going to force are way through and kill anyone who get's in our way."

Both watched as Naruto jumped through the destroyed wall and began to unleash hell on all the bandits that got in his way.

Behind him Hana smirked wildly and decided to let her inner beast out. Hayate watched Hana get on all fours alongside her ninken, her hair going wild and spiky before she charged inside and could already begin to hear her fang over fang being put to good use.

Hayate sighed and scratched his head before he took out his sword. Might as well get this over with he whispered to himself, letting out one last cough before he joined his comrades.

Inside

"Get out of my way you fool." Gato shouted as he pushed one of his hired bandits out of the way, a briefcase in his hand as he yanked a painting off of the wall to reveal a safe behind it. He was a very shot man who barely came up to most peoples shoulders with light brown hair that stuck upwards and small green glasses that barely covered his eyes. He wore an expensive looking suit while a cane rested in his left hand.

"Damn that Zabuza. I should have known he would fail." he muttered angrily to himself as he opened the safe and began stuffing large quantities of cash inside of the briefcase. He didn't care if small notes fell out. All he cared about was getting his money and running for his life.

He had been enjoying his day, expecting Zabuza and his apprentice to arrive with the news that they had killed the Bridge builder at last. Instead he heard a piece of the lower walls get destroyed before the sounds of pure carnage made it to his ears. He quickly sent as many of his bandits towards the intruders which was roughly around 200.

However if the noises he could hear as well as the loud growling and barks he guessed they were getting hacked away like yesterdays dinner.

"Come on come on." he muttered to himself trying to stuff as much as he could before eventually making it to his limit. He would have to try and come back for the rest when the intruder had either left or been killed by his thugs.

His head shot up when he heard the yells of death become louder and louder and realized the intruders were now on the same floor as them and were likely just outside the door to his office.

His head shot around to look at the dozen thugs that were in his office to protect him. "Well don't just stand there. Go and kill them. I'm not paying you to just stand around and do nothing all day." he demanded though it didn't sound threatening with the fear lacing his voice.

The thugs all gulped and looked at each other nervously. None of them particularly wanted to go out there. They knew whoever was out there could easily kill them if they had managed to get past all the thugs on the lower level.

After a few seconds and feeling a swirl of courage, one of the thugs nodded to Gato and ran out of the room with his sword drawn high into the air. He exited through the door and cried out a loud war cry.

A second later however that cry came to an abrupt halt. They all waited and listened before a loud thud hit the door to the office and a sword suddenly appeared through the wooden door with blood laced around the steel.

"I need to leave right now." Gato mentally shouted to himself before he ran across the room and opened one of the windows. He looked down and gulped when he saw the long drop to the ground. There was no way he was getting out of this with some kind of bodily injury.

He contemplated it for a second before he heard the door getting smashed to pieces and he saw what could only be described as three pairs of demonic looking eyes all scanning the room before landing on them.

"GET THEM!" He shouted making the thugs jump before they lunged and charged at the three shinobi.

Gato didn't hang around to find out what happened before he jumped from the top of the widow and headed straight towards the ground.

The moment the short man hit the ground he dried in agony as he felt a loud crack in his left leg and fell to the ground. It felt as if fire had gone up his leg and was burning him from the inside out. He didn't need to be an expert to know his leg was likely broken from the fall.

He rolled around on the ground for a few seconds before he remembered what was happening. Despite the agonizing pain in his leg he manage to stand with his leg dragged lifelessly. He was mentally thankful for the cane right now as he used it to help support his weight.

As glass shattered from above him and screamed when the dead body of one of his thugs landed next to him, his throat cut with a large looking blade and eyes rolled back into the back of his head.

Gato fought through the pain in his leg and moved as quickly as he could through the misty forest. He didn't dare look back as he was too afraid to see what kind of destruction and carnage lay there.

'I gotta get somewhere safe. I have to get to one of my safe houses.' he mentally shouted to himself before a scream ripped through his throat as two pairs of sharp jaws locked onto both of his legs and pulled him down to the ground. He screamed and wailed in agony and tried to claw at the dirt before his pain sensors overloaded as two swords suddenly went through his hands and pinned him to the ground.

His face was a mess of emotions as he very slowly tilted his head, pain still erupting from his throat as he looked up towards his captors.

Naruto stood in front of him, his normally warm eyes now cold and emotionless, ignoring the fact that his clothes were covered in blood while having splatters of blood on his cheeks. Beside him Hana and Hayate were in a similar state though Hana was growling at him viciously, her inner beast telling her to rip this man limp from limp. Two of the triplets had their jaws on his legs while the third was near his face, his muzzle almost touching his face.

"Please...p-please don't kill me. I-I'll give you what ever you want. Money, power, women, slaves, anything. You name and I can give it to you. Just don't kill me." He wailed. He was desperate. He didn't want to die. This could not be the need of the mighty Gato. He still had so much to do.

Naruto's face never changed. "Anything?" Naruto asked showing Gato that maybe there was some hope.

"Yes anything. You name it and I can do it." Gato repeated, a blink of happiness on his face. He might just live.

All was silent before Naruto said "Bring everyone you had killed back to life."

Very quickly Gato's face dropped as fear and horror appeared on his face, his skin losing all its color. Despite the pain going through is body he felt numb as he heard those words. Of all things it had to be the one thing that was impossible. He felt as if his life was flashing through his eyes.

"B-But I c-can't do that." was he managed to say before Naruto turned to look at Hana.

"Hana you know what to do." he whispered before Hana's face lit up with the wicked retribution. The retribution of all of Wave Country as she spoke the three words Gato never wanted to here.

"End him boys."

The last thing Gato saw was the jaw of the third dog as it lunged at him and latched itself around his throat as the life was literally ripped out of him.

The three shinobi just stood their as Gato was quite literally ripped into pieces by Hana's ninken. The death might have been brutal and vomit worthy but all three knew Gato got exactly what he deserved. A disgusting death for a disgusting person.

After another minute the dogs ended their assault, all three looking pleased that they were the ones who gt to kill the one who caused such innocent people harm. The dog felt great pride and happiness as the three shinobi patted their heads while Hana cooed at them for killing the bad man.

Anko was starting to rub of on her in a dangerous way.

Naruto walked towards the mutilated body in front of him and removed his swords from Gato's hands. He sheathed Shusui before he used the other to swiftly cut of the Gato's head. He needed proof after all that Gato was dead.

"What now?" Hayate asked as Naruto used a fire jutsu to burn the rest of Gato's body. He watched as Naruto created four clones and ordered them to go back into the Gato's hideout and collect as many valuables as they could and seal them into scrolls. Everything in there would go to Wave Country in order to help them get back to prosperity and peace.

"Go to the bridge?" Hana asked as she cleaned the triplets muzzled with a few handkerchiefs while getting rid of the blood on her face and her comrades faces too.

"The bridge. We have a favor of goodwill to fulfill first." after all Naruto told them before they jumped into the tree's and took off, the burning body of Gato remaining on the ground and becoming nothing but a pile of ash.

The Bridge

"Damn it Sasuke stop trying to fight him all on your own." Eiji shouted as Sasuke got pushed back beside Eiji, cuts and bruises covering their bodies as they stood inside a large dome of mirrors made of ice. The Uchiha's face was one of annoyance and anger the moment they got trapped inside this ice dome.

Their enemy was the accomplice of Zabuza Mamochi and was proving to be stronger then they first thought. They couldn't tell whether their opponent was a male of female due to the thick clothing and the mask covering their face. All they knew was the name of this person was Haku.

If that wasn't enough then they quickly discovered their opponent had a bloodline. The Hyoton bloodline that allowed Haku to combine water and wind to create an ice affinity. It quickly made their fight all the more difficult.

"Get out of my way idiot." Sasuke demanded as the black haired boy quickly duck and rolled to the side when a large spear of ice was thrown at them from one of the mirror's in front of him. Eiji rolled away as well before the two watched as Haku appeared in all of the ice mirrors as if they were being taunted.

Sasuke's eyes spun rapidly as he openly glared at their opponent. He was extremely pleased with himself that moments ago he managed to awaken his sharingan. It was a sign that he was getting stronger and that soon he would be able to surpass his brother. At least that's what he liked to believe as one tomoe presented itself in his left eye and two in his right.

A short distance away and hidden in the mist they could hear the battle going on between Kakashi and Zabuza. The grinning of Kakashi's kunai's and Zabuza mighty sword could be heard from a long distance away. Both Jonin level shinobi were going at it with everything they had.

Somewhere they also knew was Sakura doing what she could to protect the bridge builder. She might not have been very strong but she was determined to do her job at any cost. Even if a small part hoped it would impress Sasuke.

"It's a shame. I expected better from the Son of the Fourth Hokage and an Uchiha. I guess I was wrong." Haku taunted as senbons made of ice appeared in her hands. In all of the mirrors in fact.

"I'm an Uchiha. There is no one superior to us." Sasuke said hotly as Eiji appeared behind him, standing back to back.

"Shut up Sasuke-teme. She's trying to get you all riled up so you make more mistakes."

"Shup up Namikaze. I don't need your help."

"YES YOU DO! We can't beat this person alone. We need to work together." Eiji encouraged but Sasuke was blatantly ignoring him. Since his sharingan awoken, it was if Eiji could feel Sasuke's ego and pride suddenly get boosted. If they survived this then he was not looking forward to putting up with Sasuke for the foreseeable future.

"Maybe you can't but I'm an Uchiha." Sasuke replied making Eiji feel like he was talking to a brick wall. Why did Uchiha's have to have sticks up their ass. Why couldn't he be more like Itachi and his Aunt Mikoto.

The duo managed to dodge the next set of senbons that were launched their way and only managed to dodge thanks to Sasuke's sharingan and Eiji's great reflexes. His father had drilled into Eiji head when it came to reflexes and dodging attacks.

"Fighting among each other is a sign that you will not win. How can you win when you are fighting with each other?" Haku motioned before she jumped out of the mirror and landed a strike on Sasuke though Eiji managed to at least block with his forearms when she got to him.

Eiji threw his shurikens at the ice user while Sasuke fired a fire jutsu but Haku quickly escaped their range by melding back into the ice mirror.

"See! Even our enemy thinks our team work sucks." Eiji hissed at Sasuke as he quickly went back to back with Sasuke again.

"Like I care what what this person thinks. I will not be beaten by the likes of you." Sasuke declared as he ran through is hand signs. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu." he called before shooting flower shaped fireballs out of his mouth that collided with many of the ice mirrors.

Sasuke was about to grin but his face quickly turned to one of disbelief and anger when he saw his jutsu had no effect. His opponent was still unharmed and didn't have so much as a burn mark on the clothing.

"How are they so strong?" Sasuke hissed. He didn't understand what he was doing wrong. He should be stronger then this. He was an Uchiha!

"You heard what Kakashi-sensei said. They're are people all over the world that are our age and yet are as strong as he is. Maybe even stronger. Look at Naruto and Itachi after all. They're only 18 and Itachi is already an Anbu Captain and Naruto managed a draw with the Sandaime." Eiji told him even if he knew it would do nothing to change their situation.

"You should listen to your friend. He sounds alot smarter then you are." Haku told him before showering them with another wave of iced senbons.

This time though neither were as lucky as before and found a senbon or two landing the strike. Sasuke with two in his left left arm and Eiji with three in his right leg. Both winced and felt their limbs go numb, the senbons hitting specific nerve points.

"Now we're really in trouble." Eiji muttered while Sasuke's temper was just getting worse. With his arm numb he resorted to trying single handed hand signs but quickly felt Eiji grip his arm and push it down.

"Don't be stupid. You try that you could end up getting yourself hurt. If you can't use single handed hand signs then don't try without someone more experienced." Eiji told him as Sasuke growled in annoyance.

"Well do you have any bright idea's Namikaze." Sasuke asked and too his surprise he saw Eiji nod his head.

"I do but we need to work together. I have jutsu that might be able to put this person down. But I will need your help to distract Haku." he told Sasuke who for just this once out his pride to the side as Eiji whispered into his ear.

Haku observed the two boys conversing and felt that she would need to keep her guard up. If either of them were like their predecessors then she knew she couldn't afford to make a mistake.

More senbons appeared in her hands and was about to unleash them when she watched as Eiji made the ram hand sign and shouting "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Haku watched as 20 solid replica's off Eiji appeared in a poof of air and watched as they all began flying around the enclosed space, punching and kicking at the iced mirrors.

"Your efforts are futile. These mirrors of ice are laced with my chakra thus strengthening them. You cannot break them with fists and feet." Haku told them in a boring tone. he had thought their previous efforts of attacking her mirrors head on were evidence enough.

The copies didn't listen and they continued anyway as Haku quickly got annoyed with these repeated efforts. Clearly she was wrong at having high hopes at having a challenge with these two genin.

"Sensatsu Suishō!" she commanded as dozens and dozens of iced senbons appeared in her hands and prepared to throw them again at her enemy. There was enough senbons to put down a small village if necessary. There was no way these two boys would be dodging the amount she was about to throw at them.

However before she could she watched as Sasuke threw a a kunai before her towards the fighting clones with a explosion tag lighting up behind it. An explosion quickly sounded out and caught the attention of the others.

Zabuza ceased his fighting with Kakashi for just a second and grinned from beneath his bandages covering his mouth. "It sound's like Haku is having fun with your student Kakashi. I doubt they will last much longer at this rate. Haku is known for being quite cruel."

"Don't write my students off just yet Zabuza. They are stronger then they appear. They are of the Uchiha and Namikaze families.." Kakashi told him before the two rushed each other, sparks flying off their weapons as they met.

Haku covered her eyes. The explosion as well as the smoke from the destroyed clones had caused her vision to become very limited and couldn't see her tow opponent. Staring inside the ice mirror was causing her no vision and tentatively leaned part of her body out of the mirror the real her was residing in.

"Where are they?" she thought before she saw the shadow of Sasuke Uchiha appear and saw him throw kunai and shuriken towards with his one good arm towards her. Not thinking about looking for the other boy she deflected each strike with her ice made senbons. All except one that was off target and sailed past her iced mirrors.

Sasuke was barely standing. He had been a little too close to the explosion and had black soot covering his body. The fight was beginning to tax him more and more.

"All you have done was slow down the inevitable. I will now end you now just as as Zabuza-sama has commanded." Haku told them only to realized that with the smoke now disappear, Eiji was now missing from the dome of ice.

Haku now leaned her entire body out of the mirrors to get a better look. Neither boys were likely in any condition to fight her properly now. It was time she landed the final blows to them before making her way over to the bridge builder and their pink haired comrade. "Where is he? Uchiha-san?"

Sasuke face slowly lifted up to meet her and surprised Haku when she saw he had a light smirk on his face while breathing heavily. "Why don't you ask him yourself."

Haku looked confused before she heard a puff of a transformation technique occur behind her while the sound of swirling could also be heard, making her eyes widen as a brght blue light could be seen from behind her.

She turned her body around only to find Eiji inches away from her with a glowing ball of chakra in his right hand.

"RASENGAN!"

The attack hit straight in the stomach of Haku, causing a mixture of saliva and blood to spit out of her mouth and run from under the mask. She spiraled through the air, crashing through the very ice mirrors she created before crashing to the ground hard.

"Gotcha." Eiji muttered as he breathed hard before he fell to the ground panting hard. He crawled over to the side of the bridge and watched as the rest of the ice mirrors around Sasuke felt and smashed to pieces as they fell to the ground. Sasuke looked a little wide eyed at Eiji while feeling a pang of jealousy appear in his stomach before he too fell to the ground as his previous chakra exertion finally hit him.

"It looks like my two students defeated your's Zabuza." Kakashi said as he glared at Zabuza who stood in front of him with his great sword clashing with one of Kakashi's kunai's. Sparks flew off the metal as they continued to press all their strength into the attacks.

"Don't get cocky Kakashi. It's not over yet." Zabuza taunted before pushing Kakashi away and went through a number of hand seals.

"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Dozens of water clones appeared around him and all immediately lunged at Kakashi who covered his right hand in lighting with his chidori.

"Just try it. It's time I stopped holding back." Kakashi taunted back. He zoned in on the real Zabuza with his sharingan, intensifying the chidori in his right hand and preparing to land the final blow. He watched the clones rush forward and knowing that the jutsu would have zapped a portion of Zabuza's chakra away.

Waiting until the moment was right, Kakashi shot forward at such speed that Zabuza was momentarily caught of guard. The Jonin from Konoha sped through the clones of Zabuza before any one of them could strike Kakashi with the mighty sword. Zabuza could only watch as the Kakashi destroyed before he could feel the sparks from the attack hitting him from where he stood.

"This is your end Zabuza. Just like I said." Kakashi told him as he got within just a few feet from the Swordsman of the Mist.

"Raikiri!"

"Wait!"

Kakashi heard as he got close to Zabuza who was looking at the Copy Ninja with surprised eyes at how fast he truly was and seeing how close to death he was with Kakashi attacks only inches away from his chest. A bead of sweat quickly ran down his face at knowing he had almost been bested once again by Kakashi.

Zabuza and Kakashi watched as Naruto, Hana and Hayate appeared a couple of meters away, all still covered in the blood of the mercenaries at Gato's hideout. All three had a serious look on their faces before Naruto sent Hana to heal up Eiji and Sasuke while Hayate went to ensure Sakura and the bridge builder were okay.

"Zabuza Mamochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist?"

Zabuza took a good look at the young man beside him before realizing who he was. "Konoha's Bladed Devil. What do you want kid?"

Naruto bristled at the comment of being a kid but shrugged it off for a moment. He unsealed a scroll from one of the seals on his wrists before throwing the scroll to Zabuza who quickly caught it and opened it up.

"What are you doing Naruto?" Kakashi questioned but got no response back from his sensei's eldest son who kept his eyes on Zabuza.

The Demon of the Mist showed no reaction while reading the content's that were inside of the scroll. After a minute of silence he finally looked up from the scroll. "And this is real? This is no joke?" he finally asked before Naruto nodded in confirmation.

Naruto shook his head while placing his hand on the hilt of Shusui. "Zabuza Mamochi on the special orders of Mei Terumi, the Fifth Mizukage, I have been requested to tell you its time for you to go home. Kirigakure is now free of Yagura's reign and is in need of your help to rebuild. If you should decline this offer," Naruto drew Shusui and pointed it towards Zabuza. "Then I will kill you where you stand.

The sheer iron look that was in Naruto's eyes almost frightened Zabuza who couldn't help but gulp. Even Kakashi felt a shiver go down his spine.

"Decide. Now."