Naruto: The Nine-Tails' Legacy

Gatō felt that something was very strange.

Had the world changed?

From childhood, he had always been taught one simple truth:

Being evil was natural.

Being good got you killed.

As one of the richest men in the world and the leader of a major criminal organization, everything he had achieved came through his own efforts.

Over the years, he had committed countless crimes.

Murder.

Arson.

Political manipulation.

He had even participated in schemes that toppled small nations.

And every single time, he made a fortune.

Gatō was good at reading people.

Very good.

Those so-called heroes.

Those wandering swordsmen praised by the masses.

Every one of them had died miserably in front of him.

Sure, he wasn't tall.

But once he shattered their legs and forced them to kneel, they didn't seem much taller than him anymore.

And once the leader was gone, the cowardly commoners always fell in line.

None of them dared stand before him.

They all ended up kneeling.

That was how things had always worked.

Nothing had ever been different.

Even when he had "kindly" rescued Zabuza, he hadn't done anything excessive.

He merely planted an explosive seal inside that brat Haku and had them work for him.

Honestly, Gatō felt he had been unusually generous.

Lately, perhaps because of old age, he had even started pursuing what people called "good karma."

Yet good deeds brought no rewards.

Ever since arriving in this miserable little country called Wave, nothing had gone right.

First there was some fool who tried to play hero.

Apparently he was a symbol of hope for Wave Country.

A fisherman.

A worthless peasant with a little more courage than most.

And he thought he could stop Gatō from taking control of the nation.

How could Gatō tolerate that?

A nobody trying to act important in front of him?

But Gatō understood people.

You couldn't reason with those types.

If you talked logic, they talked about justice.

If you talked profit, they talked about ideals.

So naturally—

He had the man killed.

Not only that, he made sure everyone saw the corpse.

A perfect example of what happened to heroes.

As expected, the people of Wave reacted exactly like the peasants everywhere else.

Once they saw what happened to the brave fool, they lost all courage.

They hid in their homes and stayed silent.

Perfect.

As long as they continued selling their labor and allowing themselves to be exploited, he had no interest in wasting more effort on them.

That arrangement suited him just fine.

But then another nuisance appeared.

An old man.

Instead of quietly waiting to die, the old fool began encouraging people to build a bridge.

A bridge that would connect Wave Country to the outside world.

A bridge that would free them from dependence on Gatō's shipping company.

A bridge that would supposedly restore the people's courage.

What nonsense.

What kind of peasant logic was that?

That old man, Tazuna—

Why couldn't he just die peacefully?

At his age, he should have already found himself a grave.

Gatō liked to think of himself as someone who respected the elderly.

And frankly, old men like Tazuna had outlived their usefulness.

Since Tazuna refused to bury himself, Gatō had simply decided to help.

The old man wanted to build a bridge over the sea?

Fine.

Gatō would toss him into the sea and let the fish have him.

If a peasant couldn't be useful, what value did his life even have?

Unfortunately, the idiots he hired failed.

Worse, they reported that Tazuna had gone to Konoha and hired ninja.

Where did he get the money?

That made no sense.

Gatō had complete control over Wave Country.

Clearly his subordinates hadn't searched thoroughly enough.

Some hidden treasure must have escaped confiscation.

After all, under Gatō's rule, people couldn't even afford bags of rice.

They survived by trading labor for scraps of food.

Nobody could have secretly funded Tazuna.

Every shipping route was under Gatō's control.

No outside help should have been possible.

And Konoha ninja weren't cheap.

Who would even accept a mission from a man like Tazuna?

Then his men reported that only a few children had come.

That made sense.

Konoha had probably sent expendable trash.

Then they mentioned a jōnin.

A jōnin and a bunch of kids.

Funny enough, Gatō had a similar pair working for him.

Zabuza and that brat Haku.

Wasn't Zabuza supposedly a former jōnin too?

The only reason Gatō had saved him was because Haku constantly insisted that Zabuza was valuable.

Strong.

Useful.

Important.

A man who had even attempted to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage.

Gatō knew who the Mizukage was.

People in organized crime understood very clearly who they could afford to offend.

Peasants?

Disposable.

Entire nations of peasants?

Disposable.

But Kage?

The leaders of the Five Great Villages?

Those were different.

The villages were the strongest military forces in the world.

Someone willing to attack a Kage definitely had value.

And as always, Gatō judged people accurately.

It didn't take long to realize that Haku mattered a great deal to Zabuza.

At first, Zabuza refused to submit.

He even threatened Gatō to remove the explosive seal inside Haku.

What an idiot.

Gatō simply lied.

He claimed several trusted subordinates also possessed the detonation authorization.

If Zabuza killed him, Haku would die first.

And the fool actually believed it.

Actually believed it.

Zabuza liked acting tough.

Like he was above everyone else.

But all it took was threatening Haku, and suddenly he obediently followed orders.

Pathetic.

People like Zabuza thought they understood evil.

But they didn't.

A true villain could never have weaknesses.

The moment you cared about someone, you handed others a weapon to use against you.

And tools that didn't require payment were the best tools of all.

To his credit, Zabuza initially performed well.

Even that female Konoha jōnin couldn't defeat him.

The real problem was everyone else.

His subordinates couldn't even catch a few injured children.

Still, that wasn't a serious issue.

As long as they remained in Wave Country, they couldn't escape.

The entire nation belonged to him.

But compared to those hiding rats, Gatō noticed something more important.

Zabuza was becoming rebellious.

And Gatō was very good at reading people.

Did Zabuza think he couldn't tell?

It didn't matter.

For now, Zabuza was still useful.

Once his usefulness ended, Gatō would dispose of him.

At the appropriate moment, he would contact Kirigakure.

Surely they would be interested in learning where Zabuza was hiding.

Before that, however—

Tazuna still hadn't died.

"...What a bunch of useless trash."

"When this is over, I'll have Zabuza kill all of them. That way I won't have to pay them."

"Then, when Kirigakure arrives, I'll blow up that brat Haku right in front of Zabuza."

"He'll panic."

"I'll earn a favor from Kirigakure."

"And maybe I can hire someone even stronger afterward..."

Gatō's eyes were vacant.

Kneeling before the sofa, he spoke endlessly.

Recounting his entire life.

His thoughts.

His schemes.

His ambitions.

Across from him, Sasuke sat calmly on the sofa.

His three-tomoe Sharingan glowed crimson.

Silently watching.

When he was certain Gatō had revealed everything he knew, Sasuke slowly rose to his feet.

Lightning crackled along the White Fang blade in his hand.

Without the slightest hesitation—

He swung.

A flash of lightning cut through the room.

And Gatō's head fell from his shoulders.

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