Chapter 36: Gato?? I'm the One Getting Hurt Again  

"Are you guys okay?" 

Haku spoke again, but after seeing Naruto's injuries, he looked a little embarrassed. Naruto definitely didn't look "okay." 

"Sorry, the guys on my ship can be a little rude." 

Haku wasn't here to fight. 

Despite his gentle appearance, Haku was actually a deeply kind and compassionate person. 

But as Zabuza once said, kindness needs great strength to support it. 

If you don't want to hurt others, but also don't want your friends to be hurt, then you need enough strength to protect that kindness. 

"I was off training with my captain recently, so I didn't know all of this was happening." 

Haku bowed slightly to Sasuke and Sakura in apology. 

Luckily, nothing too serious had happened. Their side only had minor injuries, and the other side's wounds weren't too severe either. 

"You... aren't you their vice-captain?" 

Sakura stammered as she spoke, completely confused by Bai's actions. 

"Oh! Right, sorry. Here, take these potions first. I need to take these guys to the hospital." 

Sakura's words suddenly reminded Bai, and he quickly realized—the most important thing right now was getting the injured to safety.

Sakura froze for a moment as she looked at the potion shoved into her hands. Sasuke was also stunned. 

Wait a minute, aren't you the vice-captain? Shouldn't you be helping your crew instead? 

Their way of thinking was completely out of sync. Ever since they got involved with these pirates, it felt like their brains were running on different wavelengths. 

They were all people, so why did they seem so different? The only one who seemed to fit in with these pirates was probably Naruto, who was currently unconscious. 

But Haku didn't care about any of that. He had no idea what Sakura and Sasuke were thinking. 

Instead, he quickly lifted Jin. 

At this moment, the rest of the Blade-less Pirates had also arrived. They ignored Naruto and the others, focusing on taking their own crewmates away. 

"By the way, those two over at the port are with you, right? If you're taking them to the hospital, just mention my name." 

Haku said to Sasuke and Sakura before leaving. 

"The port?" 

Sasuke and Sakura were confused. They were at the port now, but not in the area where the ships were docked. 

They carried Naruto and walked 200 meters in the direction Haku had pointed. That's when they saw two people lying by the roadside. 

These two were in terrible shape—bruised, battered, and barely in one piece. Their faces were swollen and bruised, looking just as bad as Naruto. 

They had clearly been through a tough fight. 

But they weren't from Konohagakure. 

"Let's go, Sakura." 

Sasuke said coldly. Their intelligence-gathering mission was already complete. There was no need to get involved in anything extra. 

"I want... to take them with us." 

Sakura stopped, turned around, and lifted the two men. 

Seeing this, Sasuke didn't say anything. But he also didn't wait for her. He walked ahead, carrying Naruto, while Sakura followed behind with the two injured men. 

Meanwhile, Haku was glaring angrily at the group of pirates in front of him. 

"Gato! Explain. What happened?" 

"Vice-captain, those two ninjas tricked us first! They claimed to be from the Uzumaki clan, so we made the first move." 

"Just because of that?" 

Haku stared at Gato, making him break into a nervous sweat. 

"Vice-captain, but... those guys dared to lie to us! Shouldn't we teach them a lesson?" 

One of the pirates spoke up. 

"And they even used the name of the Four Emperors to fool us! That's a big deal—our captain respects those people." 

Hearing this, Zabuza nodded. At least these idiots knew how to stand up for their captain. 

"Yeah, vice-captain! We only did this to protect the honor of Four Emperors Shanks!" 

"Huh?" 

Zabuza froze. Wait, weren't they doing this to protect his honor? Who the hell was Shanks? Did they even know him? I'm your captain! 

"Gato, was this your idea?" 

Zabuza locked eyes with Gato. Something was off—Gato must have pulled some strings behind the scenes. 

"Captain, I swear I'm innocent!" 

"I was just worried they had their eyes on the Land of Waves." 

"If they do, what does that have to do with us? *You* are the ruler of the Land of Waves, not the Blade-less Pirates. 

And from the very start, I've made it clear that we're only here to collect protection fees. You were the one who started this fight." 

Zabuza said harshly. 

Hearing that, Gato was stunned.

Now that I think about it... yeah, that's exactly what happened. 

At first, Zabuza came to the Land of Waves to collect protection money. But when Gato refused to pay, they started fighting. 

Then, Gato almost got killed by Zabuza's blade and had to beg for his life. 

After that, the Blade-less Pirates were formed, and somehow, Gato ended up on the ship, even becoming the third-in-command. 

But now that he really thinks about it... he was never actually part of the Blade-less Pirates. He was just the guy they came to collect protection money from. 

"..." 

The other pirates were stunned after hearing what Zabuza said. 

Wait a minute… when did Gato become one of them? 

Realizing this, the pirates quickly stepped away from Gato, making it clear they had nothing to do with him. 

They were members of the Blade-less Pirates, not Gato's crew. 

Gato was frozen in place. 

"Captain… are you saying I'm not a part of the Blade-less Pirates?" 

"Nope. You've always been the ruler of the Land of Waves. Gato, you actually dared to use us, the Blade-less Pirates?" 

Zabuza stood up. Since he couldn't find anyone else to take his anger out on, Gato would do just fine. 

"Haku, take Gato outside and hang him at the door for the night." 

"Yes, Captain." 

Haku immediately dragged Gato outside. 

At that moment, Gato finally snapped out of it. So he was still the ruler of the Land of Waves? Then why did it feel like his position wasn't all that high? 

As he dangled outside, shivering in the cold wind, he couldn't help but think things over. 

Meanwhile, inside the ship, the crew had quieted down. Their job was to protect the Land of Waves. Unless the place was invaded or attacked, they weren't supposed to interfere. 

They might be pirates, but even pirates had their own code of conduct. 

But as the saying goes, rules are dead, but people are alive. 

Looking at his injured crew, Zabuza knew he had to do something to get back at them. 

"Captain, here's all the intel on those five ninjas." 

Five portraits were placed in front of Zabuza—Naruto, his two teammates, and the two other genin. 

"Ninjas from Konohagakure… but if genin are on a mission, they should have a jonin leading them." 

Zabuza fell into thought. If it was just an average jonin, it wouldn't be a big deal. But if it was one of the elite jonin, things could get tricky. 

In Konohagakure, elite jonin were either from a prestigious clan or absolute geniuses. None of them were easy to deal with. 

"Haku, distribute the medicine I gave you. Once they're healed, we'll go after them." 

Zabuza still had some potions left from Jiraiya, ones he had never used. 

"Huh?" 

"C-Captain… I already gave those to the three ninjas." 

Zabuza went silent for a long time. 

Then, he let out a deep sigh. 

As expected, a genius like Haku really was similar to Shanks—his brain just worked differently from normal people. 

"…Sigh." 

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