NOVEL WEB Chapter 27 – “Lord Zabuza”
"How dare someone stand against me?!"
Gato's pig-like body swayed with every word, clearly fuming with rage.
"Hey, Zabuza! I didn't pay you to just sit there!"
Seeing Zabuza lounging around like nothing was happening only made Gato angrier. He had shelled out a small fortune to hire this guy, and now that he was in trouble, Zabuza was acting like it didn't concern him?
Zabuza's expression darkened visibly at the provocation.
Just as Gato was pointing at him and ranting, a needle suddenly landed beside his fat head—so close it could've easily been embedded in his skull if the attacker wanted it.
"Did you think I wanted to be in this hellhole?"
Zabuza was seething inside. For the measly pay Gato offered, he'd come all the way to this godforsaken backwater. Not only that, but his precious Executioner's Blade had been taken from him.
He'd lived through most of his life without this much frustration. And now this fat pig wouldn't shut up? Zabuza had been wanting to kill him for a while now.
"You brought this on yourself. I'm only here to take care of the bridge builder!"
Having lost his blade, Zabuza was eager to squeeze more money out of Gato. Otherwise, this job would've been a complete loss.
"What, you're raising the price now? I already gave you thirty million ryo!"
Gato mentally cursed Zabuza and his entire family a thousand times over. These damn ninja were even more ruthless than he was. Not only had they pocketed tens of millions, now they wanted even more.
All he'd asked for was some old man to be taken out, yet this guy was trying to extort him again.
But what Gato didn't realize was…
Zabuza was just being honest. For the risk of putting his life on the line, this was barely even worth it. Konoha had clearly underestimated the difficulty of this mission—but so had Gato, especially the strength of Konoha's forces.
"Fine, name your price. What'll it take to make you act?"
No matter how pissed off he was, Gato had no other choice but to compromise. His strongest henchman had been quietly eliminated without a trace. If that was the case, what good were the rest?
"I'll do it… but—"
"The price goes up."
"…Fine! Deal!!"
Gato gritted his teeth and gave in. As long as Zabuza could deal with the Konoha ninja, what was a little more money? He could always make it back by squeezing it from the peasants.
What neither of them knew was that Zabuza was about to face the very person who had scared him into abandoning his weapon.
But to be fair—that was normal thinking. Who could've expected that a simple bridge-building mission would draw in someone that powerful?
After that, Zabuza left Gato's base with Haku.
"Lord Zabuza, where's your blade?" Haku asked, noticing that the Executioner's Blade Zabuza usually carried was gone.
"Don't bring it up. I ran into a powerful opponent on the way," Zabuza replied darkly, telling a half-truth. "They were stronger than me and managed to take it."
Of course, he couldn't say he'd panicked and dropped the blade after getting scared witless by a single jutsu. That would destroy the image Haku had of him.
"Someone managed to take your weapon?!" Haku was stunned. If even Lord Zabuza had been overwhelmed, then recovering the blade seemed next to impossible.
"The chakra inside that guy was monstrous."
Even just remembering that encounter made Zabuza uneasy. That person's chakra was more terrifying than some of the Tailed Beasts he'd encountered. He wasn't unfamiliar with Jinchūriki—in fact, he'd once tried to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage. But even then, the pressure hadn't been as intense as what he felt today.
"Whatever. Let's go bleed Gato dry first."
Zabuza led Haku in search of the person from earlier, hoping to take care of it quickly.
"He rescued the children, right? That means he'll definitely return to the village. We just need to keep watch there."
Honestly, it wasn't a bad plan. But Zabuza had no idea who he was about to face.
Meanwhile, back with Team 7—
"Kakashi-sensei, isn't this mission way too easy? I feel like there's been no challenge at all!"
Team 7 had just arrived at the island in the Land of Waves, but thanks to Nagi, all the threats along the way had already been cleared out. As a result, they hadn't encountered a single enemy—making the mission feel like a basic C-rank task.
Naruto, naturally, was not pleased. He wanted to fight, just like Nagi.
"Don't aim too high too fast."
As their teacher, Kakashi had to set the record straight.
"Nagi's taking on higher-level missions because the lower ones no longer mean anything to him."
"But you three? You're still a long way off."
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]