Chapter 31: Personal Training
Shortly after Naruto returned to Tazuna's house, Kakashi came back with little Sakura for dinner.
That day was just about teaching them how to practice. The real training would start tomorrow.
Strangely enough, Sasuke didn't come back with little Sakura.
From what Kakashi said, everyone could tell that Sasuke was probably feeling motivated by Naruto's outstanding performance. He wanted to train all night in the forest. He was really working hard.
But Kakashi wasn't going to let him go hungry. After they finished eating, they sent someone to deliver food to Sasuke.
During that time, Tazuna's grandson, Inari, also caused a bit of a scene. He kept shouting that Konoha shinobi couldn't save the Land of Waves.
Naruto and the others couldn't be bothered to pay attention to that brat. He didn't have time to solve Inari's problems.
The day passed quickly.
Early the next morning, Tazuna and Kakashi set off together, taking Naruto to the Great Naruto Bridge.
On the way, Kakashi had already started explaining various things about ninja knowledge to Naruto. He also taught Naruto a few hand signs for common ninjutsu from time to time.
After arriving at the Great Naruto Bridge, Kakashi soon discovered that everything he had just said, Naruto had already mastered. Those simple ninjutsu? Naruto could perform them too.
Seeing this, Kakashi couldn't help but feel surprised. He thought to himself: He had still underestimated Naruto's talent.
So Kakashi took a deep breath and decided to start teaching Naruto about chakra nature transformation.
The truth was, Kakashi couldn't really teach Naruto much anymore.
Whether it was ninjutsu or taijutsu, Kakashi knew it, and Naruto had basically already learned it. In some areas, Naruto was even better than Kakashi.
Even Kakashi's signature self-made ninjutsu, the Chidori, Naruto had successfully studied and learned some time ago using his Shadow Clones.
So Naruto was also pretending now, acting like he didn't know how to do any of it.
Still, Naruto was willing to listen to some of the knowledge Kakashi shared.
After all, this was the first time someone had explained ninja knowledge to him in such detail. Some of it he had never even heard of in the Ninja Academy, which helped fill in the gaps in Naruto's understanding.
Time flew by.
While Kakashi was teaching Naruto, he also didn't forget to check on Sasuke and little Sakura.
After little Sakura learned how to climb trees, she came back to Tazuna's side along with Naruto to help protect Tazuna.
During this time, Kakashi was also looking for news about Zabuza, trying to find any traces of him in the Land of Waves so they could strike first and eliminate the threat.
But no matter how hard Kakashi searched, he couldn't find any sign of Zabuza. It was as if Zabuza had really left the Land of Waves.
What Kakashi didn't know was that after Zabuza left that time, he had truly left the Land of Waves to go into hiding, following Naruto's orders.
So during the time Tazuna was building the bridge, everyone lived pretty comfortably.
Along the way, Gatō sent a few waves of rogue mercenaries to harass them, but those men weren't even ninjas. Little Sakura could handle them all by herself.
Gatō was pretty stupid too. If he wasn't going to kill someone, he should have disappeared. Instead, he still dared to stay in the Land of Waves and try to take control of it.
They couldn't even be bothered to find out what kind of people had come to protect Tazuna and the others, or why those people kept showing up and then suddenly disappearing.
Finally, the Great Naruto Bridge was almost complete, and Naruto's mission was nearly over.
Before the mission ended, Kakashi realized that even though they had protected Tazuna and helped build the bridge, Gatō would eventually take over the Land of Waves again sooner or later.
From there, it was up to Tazuna and the others to fight against Gatō on their own. That wasn't something the ninja should worry about. After all, ninja usually couldn't interfere in the lives of ordinary people, especially when it was outside the scope of the mission.
Still, Kakashi was kind enough to go and intimidate Gatō on Tazuna's behalf, making sure Gatō wouldn't dare act recklessly.
But what Kakashi didn't expect was that shortly after he threatened Gatō, Naruto made his own move the moment Kakashi left.
Naruto wasn't as merciful as Kakashi. The moment he saw Gatō, he didn't hesitate and killed him on the spot.
This man was the richest person in the Land of Waves, and the fortune he had amassed over the years was beyond counting.
After killing Gatō, Naruto searched for all of Gatō's money and took a huge amount—far more than the reward for their little mission.
This was the first source of funding for his plan. Money was essential for building an army.
So after Naruto gathered up the money, he found Zabuza and secretly handed over most of the funds to him. He told Zabuza to do his best to build an army that Naruto could use.
Zabuza was smart enough to know what needed to be done.
Naruto asked him several more times about his next steps, giving Zabuza his instructions, and then left directly.
Soon, the Great Naruto Bridge was finally completed.
The Land of Waves mission was declared over.
Sasuke finally finished his tree climbing practice.
During this time, even though Kakashi had been teaching Naruto about chakra nature transformation, he never taught Naruto the Chidori. It wasn't clear if he thought Naruto couldn't learn it, or if he believed it was still too early to teach him.
But Naruto didn't care. He had already learned it on his own.
Naruto and the others prepared to leave after the construction of the Great Naruto Bridge was finished.
Prosperity and liveliness returned to the Land of Waves once again.
Tazuna was very grateful. He claimed that Naruto and Konoha would always be friends. But that was all in the future, and it didn't really matter to Naruto and the others anymore.
After protecting Tazuna and helping build the Great Naruto Bridge, Kakashi and Naruto quickly left and began their journey back to Konoha.
However, what Kakashi and the others didn't know was that the moment they left the Land of Waves, Zabuza quietly snuck back in, following Naruto's orders.
With Gatō gone, Zabuza was able to settle in completely.
Zabuza followed Naruto's instructions and started operating in secret.
But no one knew about any of this.
The Land of Waves remained prosperous, and on the surface, everything seemed extremely peaceful. But in reality, there was already a new master here.
Someone who would one day shake the ninja world and destroy Konoha.
This place had become the first starting point of Naruto's plan.