A few days later, Gen's group arrived in the Land of Waves by boat.
"Never thought I'd be back here again..."
Looking around at the familiar scenery, Kakashi scratched the back of his head.
"Last time we were here, our luck wasn't great—we ran into Uchiha Itachi and Biwa Jūzō. But in hindsight, maybe that was for the best..."
"Alright, enough about the past," Jiraiya interrupted, clapping Kakashi on the shoulder with a grin.
"We should be looking ahead. Besides, it wasn't such a bad thing. At the very least, we were able to clarify a lot. Don't you agree, brat?"
"Yeah."
Kitagawa Gen scanned his surroundings as well. His last visit here hadn't been a bad experience.
Even though they'd encountered Biwa Jūzō, he had managed to trick him with Purple Lightning and walked away with quite a few gains.
Still… there was something that lingered in his heart.
"Kakashi-sensei, I heard from some of the Konoha merchants that Kado in the Land of Waves has been getting more and more out of line. Maybe we should—"
"Stop!"
Before Gen could finish, Kakashi's expression changed and he hastily cut him off.
"We have more important things to focus on right now. Don't go getting distracted, understand?"
"Our priority is the mission at hand!"
Kakashi just couldn't understand—why was Kitagawa Gen so fixated on this Kado guy?
He had to admit, Kado was indeed going overboard, and yes, the man was ridiculously rich.
But the problem was… none of this had anything to do with them. Wouldn't it be no different from robbery?
Konoha had a reputation to uphold.
"You little brat..."
Even Jiraiya couldn't help but grimace, suddenly recalling one of Gen's previous outrageous remarks.
He was beginning to seriously wonder what the academy was teaching these days, for Gen to have turned out with a personality like this.
"Of course I know all that! But I do have my reasons."
Gen looked a bit aggrieved. It was true that he had been eyeing Kado's money—but that wasn't actually his intention right now.
After all, even if they took action, how were they supposed to recover the money afterward?
Besides, it wasn't like there wouldn't be other chances later…
"Kakashi-sensei, Jiraiya-sama—if Kado wants to tighten his grip on the Land of Waves, what do you think he'd do?"
"You mean..."
Kakashi and Jiraiya were both seasoned shinobi. Just that one sentence seemed to trigger something in their minds.
"Using shinobi to maintain control—rogue ninja, and missing-nin?"
Konoha did collect intelligence from surrounding smaller nations, but all of it got funneled into the Anbu. Kakashi had long left the Anbu, and Jiraiya never concerned himself with those reports.
So it was natural that some things might slip past their notice—just like how, in the future, Kakashi led a team to the Land of Waves without ever expecting to run into missing-nin from Kirigakure.
But now that it was pointed out to them, the situation became clear.
"Exactly. Rogue ninja and missing-nin—especially the latter."
Gen nodded.
"According to what we know, Kirigakure is currently in utter chaos. A large number of shinobi will likely defect, which means..."
"Which means the most convenient escape route would be toward the Land of Waves—and the Land of Waves just so happens to have someone like Kado."
Jiraiya now fully grasped Gen's reasoning. He nodded slowly in approval.
"If that's the case, and we can make use of those individuals' knowledge of Kirigakure, it might actually save us some trouble."
"True..."
Kakashi nodded as well, though his expression as he looked at Gen was… complicated. He wasn't quite sure what to say.
He suspected Gen's motivation still had a lot to do with Kado's wealth.
But somehow, even with that motivation, the kid had managed to turn it into something useful?
"And besides, Jiraiya-sama—do you remember what I told you last time?"
At that moment, Gen spoke again, catching Jiraiya slightly off guard.
After thinking for a moment, Jiraiya recalled it.
"You mean how Uchiha Obito has someone behind him… and that he was manipulated into hating Konoha?"
"Yeah. I've been thinking about that ever since—and I have an even more terrifying theory now."
Gen's expression turned grim as he continued.
"Even though Kakashi-sensei's teammate died by accident, it was still at the hands of a Kirigakure ninja. That grudge… that guy probably hasn't let go of it.
"Then there's his hatred of Konoha, and the Nine-Tails incident. If we connect the dots—what if all of that was a test run?"
"A test run?"
That one phrase instantly darkened both Kakashi and Jiraiya's expressions.
Thinking it through... it really wasn't impossible. Especially considering that guy had indeed tried to stir up trouble in Konoha before!
Even though he failed, there was no guarantee he wouldn't try again. And if he held a grudge against Kirigakure to begin with, then using Kirigakure as his testing ground—
"If that's really the case, then things are even more complicated."
Kakashi's face tightened, growing more serious by the second.
"No doubt."
Jiraiya nodded too, realizing how severe the situation could become.
"It's possible the Mizukage wasn't just hired… but manipulated."
"We'll only know for sure once we get there. But now, at least we have a clear plan and a target, don't we?"
Gen smiled. He'd been waiting for this moment for a long time.
If they were going to catch Uchiha Obito, the simplest route was to go directly for the Mizukage!
Once the Mizukage became the focus, everything else would fall into place.
"Now all we need is a guide..."
As that thought passed through Gen's mind, he noticed someone approaching from the distance.
...
"Zabuza-sama, we're almost there."
Along a narrow path in the Land of Waves, Haku and Zabuza were making their way deeper into the country. Their target was, of course, Gato.
After Zabuza's failed attempt to assassinate the Mizukage, the two of them had taken advantage of the Kaguya clan's uprising to flee Kirigakure and become rogue ninja.
But life hadn't exactly been easy for them in the years since. They'd taken assassination jobs wherever they could find them, living a rough and unstable life.
Now, Zabuza had his eyes set on Gato—who was actively hiring ninja—as a way to secure a more stable income and amass enough funds to one day return to the Land of Water with power.
Gato was a scumbag, no doubt. But the man had money—and that was enough.
Zabuza, having gone through Kirigakure's rigorous professional training, was much like Kisame: a man who still upheld a certain standard of professionalism. He had no intention of simply cutting Gato down and walking away.
"Yeah. Let's pick up the pace," Zabuza said with a nod. His voice was cold and devoid of emotion.
"The sooner we finish this, the more time we'll have to return to Kirigakure for a look around. Things over there…"
Zabuza was an ambitious man. Like Kisame, he still held feelings for Kirigakure deep down.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have risked everything to try assassinating the Mizukage, hoping to change the state of his homeland.
Even after leaving, a part of him still cared.
"You'll definitely succeed, Zabuza-sama."
Haku nodded firmly at his side. As Zabuza's tool, he would support whatever decisions Zabuza made—without question.
The two continued forward along the path. But before long, both suddenly furrowed their brows.
Up ahead, three figures were walking toward them—and judging by their outfits…
"They're all ninja… From Konoha?"
Zabuza gave them a glance. The white-haired middle-aged man looked familiar to him, but he couldn't immediately place him.
He ignored the kid entirely, but the white-haired man with the forehead protector covering one eye caught his attention.
"The Copy Ninja of Konoha—Hatake Kakashi?"
...
"Huh? Who are they?"
Kitagawa Gen and the others also looked toward Zabuza and Haku in confusion—especially Gen, whose expression turned strange.
Wasn't that Zabuza and Haku?
Judging by the timeline, it seemed about right. This was around the time they'd end up working under Gato.
He also noticed that Zabuza wasn't carrying the Executioner's Blade on his back.
Truth be told, Gen wasn't all that clear on the Naruto timeline. He seemed to recall that during the Kaguya clan's extermination, Zabuza already had the Executioner's Blade, and that he'd even had a run-in with Kimimaro back then.
But during that period, Uchiha Itachi hadn't yet massacred his clan, and Biwa Jūzō hadn't been killed by the fully conscious Fourth Mizukage either. It was all a bit messy.
Still, Gen didn't care much for those details. The moment he saw Zabuza, he knew—this was exactly the man he'd been waiting for.
Especially Haku. That Ice Release might prove useful to him later.
"This guy looks like a rogue ninja from the Mist, no?" Jiraiya asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
Kakashi nodded.
"Yeah. Momochi Zabuza, known as the Demon. Rumor has it he led a failed coup in Kirigakure and fled the village. I didn't expect to run into him here."
"Huh? A coup?"
Gen blinked and muttered softly, "So he managed to escape after all that? That must mean… he knows Kirigakure pretty well, doesn't he?"
In truth, Kakashi and Jiraiya had already begun considering the same thing—even before Gen said it aloud.
They'd taken Gen's suggestion seriously and were planning to investigate Gato, hoping they could find a rogue Mist ninja to serve as a guide.
And now, as luck would have it, a big fish had swum right into their net.
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