After Kisuke walked out of the Feudal Lord's mansion, the Feudal Lord turned to Tamaki Ran and said, "Do you think he can kill Gato?"
"Feudal Lord, whether he kills him or not, it benefits us."
"I heard someone else is leading the samurai squad now?"
Tamaki Ran quickly said, "It's a down-on-his-luck samurai named Kuroba. He angered a noble in the Land of Iron and ran here to the Land of Waves. Because he's good at training, I let him lead. The samurai squad is much stronger now than before."
"Have someone bring Kuroba here, I want to speak with him."
"Yes, Feudal Lord."
Tamaki Ran said, then stood up and headed to the army camp.
Not long after, Tamaki Ran brought Kuroba before the Feudal Lord. The Feudal Lord looked at the tall, straight young man and said, "There's a dangerous task I need you to do. If you succeed, you'll be the commander of the samurai squad and even become a noble. Will you do it?"
"I will."
"Good. Tomorrow, you'll follow Kisuke. After he kills Gato, you'll lead the samurai squad to kill Kisuke. Of course, make sure Gato is dead first."
Kuroba bowed and said, "I guarantee the mission will be completed."
The Feudal Lord laughed and said, "I await the triumphant return of my new samurai squad commander."
"Thank you for your kindness, Feudal Lord."
After that, Kuroba went to the army camp. The Feudal Lord turned to Tamaki Ran and said, "Keep an eye on Kuroba. Once the plan succeeds, make him disappear. After Gato dies, I will lead the Land of Waves to greatness."
Saying this, the Feudal Lord stood up happily. In the Feudal Lord's eyes, Kuroba wasn't worth angering a noble from the Land of Iron.
Tamaki Ran immediately knelt on one knee. "Under your leadership, Feudal Lord, the Land of Waves will surely be great."
The Feudal Lord smiled and said, "Go fulfill the conditions the merchant spoke of."
"Yes, Commander."
Tamaki Ran left the Feudal Lord's mansion and went to his own office.
Once at his office, Tamaki Ran called for one of his trusted men.
"Go to the army camp and spread a message in town, that the Feudal Lord has asked the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire for help, and the people have already left the Land of Waves."
The servant heard and left. This was the secret order Kisuke had asked the Feudal Lord to give, and it was also the Feudal Lord's way of showing his commitment.
After investigating for the past few days, Kisuke found that Gato wasn't in the Land of Waves. To kill him, he had to trick him into coming back.
Once Gato heard this news, he would have to return. Otherwise, if the Feudal Lord successfully got help from the Land of Fire's Feudal Lord, Gato's business in the Land of Waves would be gone. He had to stop it.
Sure enough, in a house somewhere in the Land of Fire, Gato received the news. Gato was a fat man with glasses, looking like a typical merchant.
Gato slammed his hand on the table, yelling, "We must stop the people from the Land of Waves going to the Land of Fire's Feudal Lord, or everything is over!"
Gato was so scared because the Land of Waves was an independent country, and ninja from other countries couldn't interfere. Gato's power was the strongest in the entire Land of Waves. If they successfully invited ninja from the Land of Fire, the best outcome for Gato would be his business in the Land of Waves being completely destroyed.
"Damn it, get in here!"
Instantly, a few of Gato's thugs and hired ninja came into the room.
"You ninja, go deal with the people from the Land of Waves heading to the Land of Fire's Feudal Lord. Kill them, and each of you gets 50,000 ryo."
Gato pointed at a few wandering ninja. Hearing about the 50,000 ryo, the ninja vanished without a trace.
"Zabuza-san, my men will handle the people going to the Land of Fire. Tomorrow, we'll go to the Land of Waves together."
Zabuza, carrying his Kubikiribocho, walked out of the house without looking back, saying, "Fine, fine, as long as the money's good, the Demon of the Hidden Mist will take care of all your problems."
Gato watched Zabuza leave, very pleased with him. He was very strong, though he demanded a lot of money, but with his strength, any amount of money was fine.
"Damn it, this means I have to make that brat of a Feudal Lord taste my power, let him know who really rules the Land of Waves!"
...
Gato stepped down from his carriage, watching the blue sea roar in the wind, kicking up white waves.
"What a beautiful sight, Land of Waves, I'm here."
Gato wasn't far from the Land of Waves, he probably got on a boat about a day and a half ago.
Gato had some guesses about what would happen when he returned to the Land of Waves. Although he spent most of his time in the Land of Fire, he had people everywhere in the Land of Waves, so he was quite aware of the situation there.
Recently, there had been many deaths in the Land of Waves, and the samurai squad kept recruiting and training. In Gato's eyes, the Feudal Lord probably wanted to declare war on him, and he had no choice but to accept.
Of course, Gato knew everything, and the reason he still came was because Zabuza was with him, a guaranteed win.
At this moment, in the Feudal Lord's mansion, Tamaki Ran was reporting to the Feudal Lord.
"This time, we secretly recruited 500 people, bringing the Guard Squad to a total of 1000. With the training these past few days, they have some fighting power."
"Good, has Gato arrived yet?"
"No, Feudal Lord, not yet, but he should be soon. He can't wait, this is an open trap."
"What about the samurai squad?"
"They haven't gone out these past few days, they've been training in the army camp."
"Alright, go prepare. Gato must die this time."
The Feudal Lord finished speaking and sent Tamaki Ran to prepare. The Feudal Lord had secretly recruited 1000 people this time, wanting to overwhelm the ninja with sheer numbers. Most of the ninja Gato hired were wandering ninja. One or a few, even dozens, might be fine, but hundreds would be too much. And he didn't need to kill all the wandering ninja, once Gato was dead, the Feudal Lord would win.
The Feudal Lord looked at the distant sky, silent for a long time.
In the army camp, the sounds of samurai training never stopped.
Gato sat on his boat, looking towards the Land of Waves.
Kisuke stood by the window, looking at the Feudal Lord's mansion.
This moment was coming.
Gato got off the boat at the port. The port was packed with people, about 600 of them, all wandering samurai and thugs under Gato's command.
Gato led his 600 men towards the Feudal Lord's mansion. Kisuke went to the army camp to mobilize the samurai squad, while Tamaki Ran led 1000 guards to form a line in front of the Feudal Lord's mansion.
At this moment, the town streets were empty. Everyone had shut their doors, trembling as they watched the armies outside through cracks in their windows.
When Gato led his forces to the front of the line, he saw the 1000-strong formation.
He yelled towards the Feudal Lord's mansion, "Feudal Lord, come out! What are you going to do now? They can't do anything to me!"
The Feudal Lord walked out of the mansion.
"Since you've returned, I have a way."
Both sides were actually a bit nervous, neither expecting the other to have such strength.
Gato was nervous about the 1000-strong Guard Squad, plus over 500 in the samurai squad.
And the Feudal Lord was nervous about Zabuza. The Feudal Lord had seen Zabuza before, and he knew that with Zabuza's power, he could easily be killed.
Just then, Kisuke and Kuroba, with 670 samurai, blocked Gato's escape route from behind.
Seeing someone blocking their way back, Gato's men immediately started to panic.