"No way I'll pay more! Thugs raised like pigs, do you think you can kill Tazuna from the hands of Konoha ninjas?" Naruto, transformed into Haku's appearance, sneered. "You're just daydreaming."
There were sounds of swords being drawn all around. Dozens of glinting katana were pointed at Naruto.
"If you want to kill Tazuna, I have a good suggestion." Naruto, in Haku's form, slowly approached Gato and suddenly threw several shurikens.
Naruto didn't want to kill Gato, so he threw the shurikens at a slightly deviated angle. In Gato's panicked gaze, two of the most skilled thugs rushed forward and blocked all the shurikens for Gato.
Gato was still in a state of shock. When he came to his senses, he realized that the one who looked like Haku (actually Naruto in Haku's guise) had escaped.
"Cut that brat to pieces! I'll use his flesh as fish bait!" Gato roared.
Over a hundred thugs rushed out and surrounded Gato's stronghold, searching high and low for Haku's traces.
Naruto, in Haku's guise, ran all the way and reached the fishing shed where Zabuza was being held. First, he untied the bandage covering Zabuza's face, then pretended to check Zabuza's wounds and secretly stained the bandage with blood.
"How did you escape?" Zabuza was severely injured, but when he saw that it was Haku, he felt a bit more at ease.
"I'll rescue you first." Haku untied the ropes binding Zabuza and supported the seriously - injured Zabuza out of the fishing shed.
They had only walked a few steps when an unusual noise came from behind the fishing shed, which startled both Zabuza and Haku.
"You go first," Haku said reluctantly. "I'll hold them off. Maybe the Konoha ninjas have noticed something."
"No," Zabuza said. "You have to come with me."
"Have you forgotten my past promise?" Haku said. "Please think of me as a tool. You gave meaning to my life when it was at its darkest. Use me as a tool in this critical moment."
Zabuza was overjoyed. Haku was just a kid he picked up on the street. He thought the kid had some value, so he took him in, taught him ninjutsu, trained him, and honed his killing skills, hoping that he could be helpful at a crucial time.
"Okay." Zabuza turned around and walked away. After walking about ten steps, Zabuza stopped. After hesitating for a while, he disappeared into the forest.
The Haku who let Zabuza go was actually Naruto in disguise. Naruto stared at Zabuza's departing back. He thought to himself, 'Zabuza, will your heart ache when you leave alone while the one pretending to be Haku is willing to hold off the enemies for you?'
After Zabuza left, Naruto ran to the back of the fishing shed. It turned out that Naruto had just set up a simple Booby Trap. When someone came out of the fishing shed, it would trigger this trap. The trap would shoot kunai towards the window of the fishing shed, thus causing the commotion.
With the commotion created by a single trap, Naruto deceived Zabuza into thinking there were pursuers, making Zabuza return to Gato's stronghold first.
At this time, Naruto, with the blood - stained bandage, came to the fishing shed where Haku was being held. Naruto used the Transformation Jutsu again and this time transformed into Sasuke's appearance.
After transforming into Sasuke's likeness, Naruto continued to act the part, portraying Sasuke as a ruthless individual. In order to gain fame, he even intended to kill Zabuza to make a name for himself. This deception left Haku heart - broken, which led to the subsequent battle between Haku and Sasuke, successfully awakening Sasuke's Sharingan.
A simple Ninjutsu - Transformation Jutsu! This was just an exam requirement for graduating from the Ninja Academy in Konoha Village. Almost every ninja could perform it. However, when Naruto used it, the Transformation Jutsu became a terrifying technique to manipulate people's minds.
Under Naruto's plan, he not only helped Sasuke awaken his Sharingan but also broke the alliance between Gato and Zabuza. He made the enemy factions turn against each other until they were completely destroyed.
Back to Naruto and Sasuke, Sasuke couldn't understand Naruto's intention at this time. Naruto didn't want to explain too much, so he said, "You'll know tomorrow."
"What on earth is going on?" Sasuke felt quite frustrated. He was just practicing on wooden stakes in the forest when he unexpectedly encountered Haku, was unexpectedly attacked by Haku, and the battle unexpectedly ended.
Naruto got closer to Sasuke to observe his Sharingan up close. It was a very beautiful pair of eyes.
Since Naruto was too close, Sasuke blushed a little. He shifted his gaze and asked, "What are you doing?"
"The Sharingan is really beautiful." At this moment, a bold idea popped into Naruto's mind. Soon, an unexpected guest would pay a visit to Konoha. That guest was extremely eager for the Sharingan. Maybe this was an opportunity.
Sasuke's face turned even redder. Being complimented by Naruto on the beauty of his eyes vaguely felt like a confession. Sasuke was a bit dazed and quickly took two steps back to keep a distance from Naruto.
"Hahaha." Naruto laughed to ease the awkwardness and said, "Let's go back."
On the way back, Naruto looked up at the full moon in the sky and knew that in some corner of this ninja world, there was also someone looking up at the moon. That person was Zetsu!
Zetsu was extremely weak, not even good at Ninjutsu. However, he was a master at manipulating people's minds and sowing discord. Despite being a weakling, he was a great threat to the ninja world. Many powerful Ninjas had been manipulated by him.
Naruto gazed at the full moon, his heart filled with restlessness. He truly hoped that the confrontation with Zetsu would come soon.
The next morning, the sun was shining brightly. Naruto was in a great mood. He had breakfast with everyone and waited for good news.
Kakashi had recovered sufficiently to get out of bed and have breakfast with everyone. During the meal, Kakashi announced some bad news. "Everyone, listen up. Zabuza and Haku have escaped... From now on, we have to stay more vigilant until Tazuna leads the villagers to finish building the bridge."
"Oh, no!"
Just then, the door was suddenly pushed open. Tazuna rushed in and excitedly said, "Gato is dead!"
"What!" Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura were shocked at the same time.
"How did he die?" Sasuke quickly asked.
"Based on the news from the city, it seems that he was killed by the Rogue Ninja he hired," Tazuna said. "I'm not sure about the exact reason. Anyway, Zabuza and the young man not only killed Gato but also wiped out his group of thugs."
"Gato's stronghold is now littered with corpses, and the blood has dyed the entire stronghold red." Tazuna said. "There was a passerby who saw Zabuza killing folks then. It was seriously terrifying. He was like a fiend from hell."
"What about Zabuza's whereabouts?" Kakashi asked.
"I don't know." Tazuna said. "After Zabuza killed Gato, his whereabouts became unknown. Will he come after us for revenge?"
Sakura was so scared that she could hardly hold the spoon. It was really an uneasy breakfast.
"Zabuza shouldn't come." Naruto said leisurely while having breakfast. "We took on Uncle Tazuna's mission to protect him. And Zabuza took on Gato's mission to kill him. That's why we had a mission intersection with Zabuza."
"The guy who gave out the mission, Gato, is gone. Naturally, the contracted ninja won't come to carry out the mission. We've temporarily lost touch with Zabuza."
Sakura breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. Kakashi also thought Naruto made sense, but everyone didn't dare to relax. They spent more than ten days on high alert. Tazuna successfully led the villagers to build the cross - sea bridge, and Zabuza never showed up.
So, with this C - rank task successfully completed, Kakashi led the members of Team 7 back to Konoha.
During Team 7's journey back, Zabuza and Haku stood on a hillside, eyeing Kakashi and his group from a distance.