Looking at the man in front of him, Kozue almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
He obtained information about the man's whereabouts through the minds of his thugs in the city and arrived with a large number of shadow clones to take everything from the man.
Meanwhile, his thugs in the city were dropping like cockroaches as his shadow clones hunted them down, causing panic and joy among the population.
These guys tried to put up a fight, but they were no match for their shadow clones.
All they could do was try to escape, hoping their boss would save them, before taking a few steps and falling dead.
What they didn't know was that their boss was also in trouble and would soon follow them to the other side.
Besides the man standing like a statue in front of him, Gato's subordinate in front of him and the others in the rest of the mansion were also paralyzed.
While her shadow clones roamed and searched the mansion, Kozue continued to examine the man's mind, and all the things he did caused Kozue to feel not a single ounce of pity for him.
The idiot had planned to stay away from the bridge builder if he returned with ninjas from the Leaf Village and Zabuza failed to stop them.
If he killed the bridge builder, all the better.
Whether they were going to kill the Leaf ninjas or bother them, he thought they would go after Zabuza and not him.
But the idiot had an inflated ego and believed his usual tactics would always work.
The betrayal of Zabuza when the man was badly wounded in the original story was something Gato had been doing regularly throughout his long career as a businessman.
If the ninjas he hired were in bad shape, Gato would kill them so he wouldn't have to pay them anymore.
That's how greedy the man was.
Of course, not every time.
When the rogue ninjas or mercenary ninjas he hired were in perfect condition when they finished their jobs, or at least could defend themselves, Gato didn't take any risks and paid them with a heavy heart and then dismissed them.
He distrusted ninjas too much to have one around him all the time, which is why he only kept low-level thugs and samurai around him.
He only hired ninjas temporarily.
In this case, he hired Zabuza when he learned that the bridge builder headed towards the land of fire and guessed that he went to recruit ninjas from the leaf village.
It is out of fear that the bridge builder would lead those ninjas towards him that he did nothing to his family.
In any case, the Leaf ninjas would leave and he could take control of the bridge he had built.
As the new Daimyo of the country, Gato hoped to use that bridge to gain riches.
Otherwise, I would have destroyed that bridge a long time ago.
But his plans were ultimately destroyed when, in the future, he would lead his men to try to kill both sides, Zabuza and the Leaf ninjas, and die in the attempt.
Kozue didn't know what Gato would do next if he succeeded.
Blame Zabuza for the deaths of the Leaf ninjas?
The Leaf Village would investigate, and the man would be finished at the slightest suspicion.
After all, the last Uchiha and the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki was on that team, not to mention Kakashi, an elite Jonin whose death would not be ignored by the Leaf Village.
Even if Gato doesn't know this, he would still be in trouble with the Leaf Village.
Here you can see that Gato had a very high ego thinking that he would be fine by having connections and dealings with merchants and nobles of the land of fire.
He thought too highly of himself to believe that the Leaf Village wouldn't touch him just because they hadn't done anything to him so far.
Kozue shrugged because it wasn't her problem and began issuing orders to her shadow clones.
Not only those scattered throughout the land of the wave, but also those scattered throughout the land of fire.
Gato was very rich due to his shady dealings and had secret bases throughout the land of fire and the land of waves where he hid most of his wealth.
The rest was in the form of buildings and various businesses, where a large amount of money circulated.
Upon receiving the information, their shadow clones went to work and set out to visit each of those secret bases.
And if what he found in Gato's mind was true, the man had 100 times the amount of money he stole from Root.
Or rather, he received a voluntary donation from Root.
After finishing examining Gato's mind, Kozue wondered what to do with him.
Gato was trash and would definitely die.
In addition to human trafficking, the man was also involved in the cultivation and sale of drugs.
A large part of his merchandise was planted and harvested in the land of the wave, which is why this was his base and why he later wanted to take control as its Daimyo.
Many men in this small country worked on their farmland, so that was the reason why the country had not yet completely collapsed.
They lived off the money from the harvest of these plants, money that was little because Gato didn't pay much either.
Just enough for them to live and not cause problems.
Having decided to kill Gato, Kozue considered whether to do it now or later, and in the meantime used him to take control of the rest of his businesses.
But in the end he shook his head, knowing that the change of ownership would attract attention.
Attention that I didn't want yet.
He was opening stores every day all over the land of fire, and he was doing it quickly because he knew later it wouldn't be so easy.
The products he planned to sell would attract bad attention, and certain people would not allow him to continue opening stores if he did not comply with their demands.
After all, for your dimensional store to assume that a store was yours meant having it in your name, and you would find it difficult to buy properties or land in the future.
Although he could easily take control of the land of fire and open more shops, his brazen act would definitely attract the attention of the sage of the 6 paths resting in the pure land.
Therefore, he had to open enough stores before they would prevent him from buying more properties.
When that time comes, all you'll have to do is manage your stores and earn a large number of points every day.
With the power of the dimensional shop in her territory and her own strength, Kozue was confident that the forces of the Land of Fire and the Leaf Village would not be able to stop her from selling whatever she wanted, therefore, she could stay here and quietly gather a large number of points.
Kozue finished examining Gato's mind and with a snap of her fingers, the man's body burst into flames like a human torch.
At that moment the Genjutsu on Gato ended and the man regained consciousness.
And while he remembered being about to go out with his subordinates to find out about the recent danger, now everything had changed and he was being burned alive.
"¡AAAAAAHHHH!"
Gato's scream would have attracted attention so that perhaps he could be saved, but everyone in the mansion was in a trance and could not help him, and there was no one else living nearby.
And Gato wasn't the only one.
All around the mansion, all of Gato's subordinates began to burn like torches while shadow clones of Kozue watched over everything.
And everything was perfect.
Thanks to Kozue's great control over her energy, the fire from the human torches couldn't even harm the mansion and they didn't go out until they reduced the bodies of their victims to ashes.
And at that moment, one of the shadow clones had sent confirmation that they had found the Daimyo of this small country and his family.
Recalling what she found in Gato's mind about the Daimyo, Kozue shook her head at what had happened.
He had literally invited a wolf into his house.
Gato arrived as a wealthy merchant interested in investing, and the Daimyo turned a blind eye to many of his crimes.
After all, he received a good sum of money every month.
But what they didn't expect was that in such a short time Gato had amassed a great deal of power and staged a coup, locking them up against their will for several years.
Gato had them trapped in this mansion and promised to release them when one of the Daimyo's daughters got married.