With Gato's death, the group of samurai hired by him completely lost their reason to fight.
But immediately after, another, more dangerous thought began to spread among them.
"The boss is dead, no one is paying the commission..."
"A wasted trip? Are you kidding me!"
"Aren't there still people in the town?"
"The Land of Waves may be poor, but we can always squeeze some profit out of it if we loot it."
In an instant, pairs of eyes turned in unison toward the direction of the Land of Waves town. Their eyes burned with the desire for plunder, the fear on their faces gradually replaced by greed.
"This is bad." Kakashi said in a low voice.
Just then, the sound of chaotic footsteps and clashing metal came from the direction of the town.
Immediately after, a group of young and middle-aged men from the Land of Waves rushed to the bridge head, armed with harpoons, hoes, wooden clubs, and crude bows and arrows, blocking the exit of the bridge completely.
At the lead was Tazuna's grandson. At this moment, his eyes were bloodshot and his face was resolute.
The crowd behind him erupted into a chaotic shout. Some voices were trembling, some were choked with sobs, but not a single person retreated.
Naruto looked at this group of people. They wore patched clothes, and the weapons they held could hardly be called weapons. Some people's legs were trembling, and the hands gripping the weapons were shaking so much that they were swaying.
'Relying on you is not as good as relying on myself.'
He took a deep breath and formed a cross hand seal with both hands.
Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!
Bang bang bang bang bang...
After the smoke cleared, hundreds of Shadow Clones stood on the bridge, arranged in a square formation.
All the Narutos clenched their fists in unison, their knuckles cracking in a chorus, their eyes staring simultaneously at the samurai.
Kakashi looked at this formation. 'This method can intimidate this group, it's worth a try.'
Shadow Clone Technique!
Thinking of this, Kakashi formed the same hand seal. Following a dense burst of smoke, Kakashi's Shadow Clones appeared on the other side of the bridge.
"Come on, let's do it!"
Hundreds of Naruto clones and dozens of Kakashi clones spoke simultaneously. Their voices overlapped, forming a deafening wave of sound that echoed over the bridge. The bridge was silent for a second.
Clang!
The katana in a samurai's hand dropped to the ground.
Then came the second, the third, the tenth sound.
The samurai who were still clamoring to loot the town just moments ago had their fighting spirit collapse in an instant when faced with this terrifying number of ninjas. They threw down their weapons and ran, scrambling backward in a panic.
In less than half a minute, only scattered weapons were left on the bridge deck.
After a brief shock, the townspeople of the Land of Waves erupted into deafening cheers.
"Great!"
"We defeated Gato!"
Naruto watched this scene and dispelled his Shadow Clones. Kakashi's Shadow Clones also vanished at the same time.
...
Afterwards, Kakashi carried Zabuza and placed him next to Haku's body.
Zabuza lay beside Haku, watching for a long time. His gaze went from initial ferocity, to numbness, and then to something shattered that could never be pieced back together.
Then, Zabuza slowly closed his eyes.
Kakashi stood to the side, not saying a word from beginning to end.
Naruto stood in the distance, watching this scene. He did not walk over to look, nor did he say anything.
Just then, Sakura's surprised voice broke the silence.
"Sasuke?"
Sakura had been guarding Sasuke's side, holding his hand with one hand, while the other kept wiping the tears from her face.
Just a moment ago, she felt the hand in her palm move. She looked down abruptly, right as Sasuke's eyes slowly opened.
Sasuke's consciousness was clearly still in a state of confusion. His vision blurred, and the first thing that came into view was a patch of pink hair, then Sakura with her tear-stained face, and then the gray sky above.
He tried to move his body, but the wounds all over him flared with intense pain, causing him to grunt and furrow his brows tightly.
"Sasuke, you're awake! Don't move, you're covered in wounds..."
Before Sakura could finish her sentence, her body had already moved. She threw herself forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Sasuke's neck, tears gushing out.
Sasuke was jostled by this hug, and all his wounds protested, making him wince in pain.
"Sakura, let go first, it hurts..."
He squeezed out a few words in a hoarse voice.
Sakura cried even louder.
Seeing that Sasuke had woken up, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Kakashi hoisted Zabuza and Haku's bodies onto his shoulders. "I'm going to find a place to bury them."
After saying this, he disappeared with a Body Flicker technique in the direction of the woods at the end of the bridge.
Naruto withdrew his gaze and walked toward Sasuke and Sakura. He looked down at Sasuke's condition. Most of the senbon stuck in his body had been carefully removed by Sakura, and the wounds had been bandaged to stop the bleeding. Although his face was frighteningly pale, his breathing had stabilized significantly.
"Can you move?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke looked up at Naruto, his eyes filled with something complex.
He remembered the last scene he saw before losing consciousness: the terrifying red Chakra that had erupted from Naruto.
At that time, Naruto was so calm he seemed like a different person. His eyes lacked their usual liveliness, replaced by a composure he had never seen on him before.
"Obviously..."
Sasuke gritted his teeth, using his uninjured arm to prop himself up off the ground, trying to stand up on his own. Sakura hurriedly supported Sasuke's other shoulder, placing his arm over her own.
"Let's go back to Tazuna's house to rest first. In your current state, let alone fighting, you can't even stand steadily." Naruto said.
Sasuke wanted to retort, but his body was uncooperative. In the end, he could only grimace, letting Sakura support him as he limped toward Tazuna's house.
Along the way, Sasuke and Sakura looked at Naruto from time to time.
Is this the Naruto they knew?
The Naruto from before always walked with a bounce in his step, constantly chattering about nonsense like "I'm going to be the Hokage." The expressions on his face were always exaggerated to the point of being annoying. He was either grinning foolishly or shouting, and he would feel uncomfortable if he was quiet for more than three minutes.
But the Naruto walking in front of them now had a steady pace, his back straight. He occasionally turned his head to check behind him, confirming Sasuke was following, before continuing forward.
This subtle action made Sasuke's brows furrow even deeper.
It wasn't that he hadn't seen Naruto being serious before. During battles, he would occasionally erupt with surprising seriousness. But that kind of seriousness was completely different from the current calmness.
Sakura's feeling was more intuitive. She supported Sasuke the whole way, sneaking glances at Naruto no less than ten times.
This Naruto, who was always hovering around her, shouting "Sakura-chan, I like you!" at the drop of a hat, hadn't even looked her in the eye since just now.
It wasn't the kind where he was intentionally ignoring her, but rather, it was like he was looking at someone he knew but wasn't close with.