32 2/2

Both Konoha genin could hear the devotion in her voice, as she spoke those words. And both of them could understand what she was saying and feeling. They both felt the same way, not only about each other, but Anko, Raphael, and others. They had saved them, perhaps not the way Zabuza had saved Haku, but saved them in different ways.

"Do either of you have a precious person?" Haku asked, turning to them. They looked at each other, before nodding.

"We do Haku…we have people who are precious to us," Hinata said softly.

Haku looked at both of them, before nodding. "Good…then you know what true strength is…remember this, when the time comes to face off against Gato," she said, before starting to throw her senbon again at the target.

The two genin nodded to each other, before moving slowly to join Haku. They might not be friends, but for the moment, they were allies, united in similar cause.

That Night

Gato made his move without warning. Throughout the village, his thugs struck, rounding up numerous citizens and dragging them towards the center of the town. The people not taken followed, wondering what fresh new hell awaited them, as the family of those taken wept silently, believing they would see their loved ones killed.

In the center of the town, Gato stood with the majority of his thugs, as the prisoners were herded into a cage that stood next to the beginnings of a gallows. He smirked, seeing the people slowly gathering, staring in fear of his thugs and the gallows frame that was being put together. He had them in the perfect position. He nodded to one thug, one of his lieutenants, who stepped forward.

"Alright, listen up!" He shouted, getting everyone's attention. "These people are to be executed as an example of what happens when you stand against Gato! He came here to help this village, and instead members of it conspire against him! So to show you all what happens, these people will be hung by the neck until dead on the morning of the second day from now!"

Gasps of fears and weak cries of protests echoed from the crowd, only for Gato to raise a hand. Now he spoke, standing on a small dais. "But…I am not without mercy," he said with a smirk, getting their attention. "If you wish to save your loved ones, then I require one simple thing: the surrender of Tazuna the bridge builder. If he surrenders himself to me before the execution, these people will be spared. Otherwise…say goodbye to your loved ones," he said.

Stamping his cane on the dais, he turned and left, followed by the majority of his thugs. The rest stayed to guard the cell and build the gallows.

The people meanwhile began talking amongst themselves, some of them quite angrily.

"This is all Tazuna fault! If he had just accepted Gato was in charge, none of this would have happened!" One shouted.

"And now our families are going to die because of him! Just like Kaiza!" A woman shouted.

Another man grabbed up a pitchfork leaning against a nearby wall. "Well I say we make sure he does the right thing! Who's with me?!" He shouted.

Several others yelled in agreement, grabbing whatever they could use as weapons, or torches, and the mob quickly headed towards Tazuna's house.

At the bridge builder's house, Naruto and Kiba were currently on sentry duty. Kiba was on the ground, patrolling and using his sense of smell to search for any intruders, while Naruto was perched on the roof, where he could use his eyes, and readily use his crossbow as well.

Naruto had seen the increased illumination from the center of town, and his eyes narrowed. When he saw a number of lights leave the village and clearly heading this way, he quickly leaned over the side. "Kiba-san, we've got incoming trouble. Can you get Kakashi sensei?" He said, as he hopped down, heading for the tents where Anko and Raphael would be.

Within minutes, the two jounin, one Assassin, and their genin team were formed up in front of Tazuna's home. And in the distance, drawing closer, they could hear the obvious sounds of an angry mob. Anko turned to the genin, seeing most of them were tense. "Listen up. I don't want any of you jumping the gun, understood? Do not attack them unless we give the order."

Soon, they saw torches through the trees, and then the mob of civilians appeared, heading straight for them. They did slow though when they saw the shinobi formed between them and their objective. However, anger and fear drove them to continue moving forward.

As they neared, Kakashi stepped forward, trying to look friendly, but nonchalant. "Good evening to you. Can we help you?" He asked, hands in his pocket. It seemed like a relaxed pose, but none of the civilians knew he was clutching a kunai in his pocket, ready to block any incoming blow.

The villagers again faltered, but then one stepped forward, gripping a piece of wood he had shaped into a club. "We're here for Tazuna, shinobi-san. Hand him over and we won't have any problems."

Kakashi just raised his one visible eyebrow. "Oh? Well I'm afraid Tazuna is asleep at the moment. Perhaps you could leave a message?" He asked.

At that moment, the front door opened, and Tazuna stepped out warily, looking over the crowd and situation. "What's going on here?" He said.

Immediately, one of the villages pointed at him angrily. "YOU! This is your fault! You just had to provoke Gato, didn't you?!" The villager shouted, as others yelled in agreement.

"Gato's taken some of the other's hostage, and threatens to execute them if you don't turn yourself in! We're here to make sure you do!" Another shouted.

Tazuna was taken aback by their shouts and yelling, and was about to respond when Anko stepped forward now. "I'm afraid we can't let you do that," she said.

"This isn't your business shinobi! This is between us and that old man!" One woman shouted, pointing at Tazuna. "Stop hiding behind these hired goons!"

Tazuna growled as he stepped off the porch. "Don't you people get it? I'm trying to free us from Gato's tyranny! How can you all just live under his thumb like this?! Don't you have any pride in yourselves?!"

"Look at what pride got us! Kaiza is dead Tazuna, and now more people are going to die because of your pride! How many more people need to die before you stop trying to fight the impossible?!" The apparent leader of the group said.

"Is it impossible?" Asked a calm voice, as Raphael stepped forward. "Is it impossible to face Gato?"

"He already killed our village's hero! Kaiza was the strongest and most noble of us, and Gato easily defeated him and executed him!" Another man shouted from the crowd. "How can we fight him?!"

"By standing together against him," Raphael said, making the people pause. "When Gato first came, and Kaiza stood against him, how many of you supported him? How many of you went with him, to fight and stand against Gato. None of you, right?" He said.

When no one responded, Raphael continued. "What would have happened, if you had stood up to Gato as one whole village? Instead of relying on one man to save you, you had relied on yourselves, to protect you and your village. Would you be here right now? Would Gato still be here?"

"Tazuna here is putting his life on the line to help this village," Anko said, pointing to Tazuna. "Like Kaiza, he's willing to protect this village, even as it abandons him to save itself. Is that how you really want to live? Head down, bowing and scraping to get by? Is that who you people really want to be?!"

The crowd now had lowered their weapons, looking guilty and ashamed. A few though still seemed determined to bring Tazuna in. "What about our friends and family? Should we sacrifice them for Tazuna? Why is he more important than them?!" The woman from earlier shouted, getting a few 'ayes' from some of the others.

"He's not," Kakashi said simply. "But he's your best chance for survival."

"They're right though," Tazuna said, looking to the three shinobi leaders. They had talked to him earlier about what they had learned, and now knew he had to help sell part of the plan. "Those people out there are going to suffer because of me. Isn't there anything you can do to help them?" He asked.

Anko nodded, playing along. "We'll do what we can to save those people. Perhaps if Gato is attending, we can even try to go after him," she said. "But we'll focus on rescuing those people and protecting Tazuna."

The crowd's anger seemed defused at this, though most still seemed unconvinced. But they knew there was little they could to actually get to Tazuna, if these shinobi refused to hand him over. A fair amount of them also felt guilty at the words that had been spoken to them. Now they slowly dispersed, most starting to leave, while a few stay to send hard glares at Tazuna, before leaving as well.

Up above, Inari watched from his bedroom window, listening to all of it, but especially what the shinobi had said. Biting his lip, he slowly moved away from the window, and turned to his closet. He slowly opened it, and pulled out a box from deep behind everything else in said closet. Slowly, he opened it, revealing a rough crossbow, and a small quiver of bolts. Gently picking it up, his eyes watered as he held the last gift Kaiza had ever given him. Slowly, his eyes grew hard, and he grabbed the quiver as well, his face set and determined as he began checking the crossbow to make sure it was functional.

The morning of the execution

It was a beautiful morning as the sun rose, the sky blue and the birds chirping. To anyone else, it would have been wonderful.

To the group heading towards the bridge though, the beauty was lost on them. Today was the day Gato intended to spring his trap, and they would attempt to counter that trap. They had managed to get final details worked out with Zabuza, so everything was ready. Tazuna had ordered some of his work crew to stay in town, to offer moral support to those whose loved ones were now prisoners. The others he ordered to leave town like they were going to work on the bridge, but then to hide at a certain point, where they were replaced with a number of shadow clones from Naruto. These clones would proceed to the bridge and begin 'working' waiting for Zabuza and Haku to arrive with Gato and his men.

Naruto himself had left before dawn, to infiltrate the town plaza and set everything he needed up. That left the remaining genin and their jounin sensei to guard Tazuna, along with Raphael.

The genin were all nervous, with Hinata being the only one who seemed calm. Out of all of them, Hinata was the only one to have actually been in life or death battles so far, during her assassination missions. Despite her experience, she still was nervous, something Anko had always assured her was normal. Seeing Ino nervously fidget with her kusarigama, she gave her a calm smile. "Don't worry Ino. We'll be fine," she said, calming her teammate.

Ino nodded, trying to give a confident grin, before looking to Sakura. "Hey…stay close to me, okay?" she asked her friend. Sakura just nodded, unable to smile or say anything.

As they approached the bridge, they could already see the fog in place, meaning Zabuza and Haku were ready, and Gato was more than likely nearby with his thugs, ready to spring the trap at the right moment. Anko took a deep breath, looking at Raphael. "Here we go," she said, gripping her twin ulaks.

In town, the people had gathered in the village square, feeling fear, anxiety, rage, and sorrow as they saw the completed gallows. Ten heavily armed thugs stood on the perimeter of the square, weapons very much evident to cow the populace, while another two thugs stood at the gallows with one of the lieutenants. None of them seemed to notice the hay cart that had been rolled to one side of the town hall, nor did they notice the hooded figure crouched in the shadows of the bell tower atop the town hall.

The lieutenant, seeing the time had come, now stepped forward. "Let it be known on this day that these people are hereby sentenced to death by hanging, for compliance in aiding the bridge builder Tazuna!" He shouted. "Bring forth the first group!"

The two thugs went down to the prison cell, opening it and dragging out five of the prisoners, who were now crying and pleading for someone, anyone to save them. Some of the people in the crowd tensed, as if to step forward, but cowered at the sight of the weapons. Others just looked away, as the people were brought up to the gallows.

As the first noose was placed over the first victim's head, the hooded figure stood up surveying the area, before nodding. Turning, he leapt over the edge of the bell tower, and somersaulted, landing in the hay cart. Easily stepping out, the black and dark orange clad figure quickly began moving out of the alleyway, and into the square. A thug standing in front of the alleyway never knew what killed him, beyond a sharp pain in the back through his heart, while a hand covered his mouth. As he fell to the ground, dead, the figure stepped over them, retracting the blade back into the bracer on his left arm.

Each of the prisoners now had a noose around their neck, each one forced to stand on blocks that would be kicked out from under them when the time came. The lieutenant was about to order his two minions to kick the blocks away when he saw a flash of movement in the crowd. Blinking, he looked again, his eyes widening as he saw the hooded figure approaching rapidly through the crowd, one gloved hand reaching back to the crossbow on his back. "There, that man! Stop him!" He shouted, pointing to the quickly approaching figure.

The two thugs drew their swords, approaching the stairs leading up to the gallows, as the hooded figure pulled out the crossbow and shot the first one in the throat. He fell down the stairs as the figure dropped his crossbow and drew the ninjato on his back in a lightning fast movement, blocking the downward slash from the other thug before quickly stabbing him through the throat with the hidden blade under his left arm. As the thug dropped to his knees, grasping his throat, the hooded figure jumped on his shoulders, using him as a springboard to launch himself at the lieutenant on the gallows, who was trying to draw his sword. He wouldn't get a chance, as the figure drove him to the ground, and the last thing he saw was a pair of vivid blue eyes and a flash of light on metal (1).

Naruto slowly retracted his hidden blade, standing up from the corpse as he turned, seeing the thugs surrounding the crowd rushing to get at him. As one rushed the stairs, he readied his sword, only to blink as he saw a rough metal bolt slam into the man's sword arm, causing him to scream as he dropped the cleaver-like blade. Wasting no time, Naruto quickly slew the man, before looking up as he saw Inari standing there, his own rough crossbow in hand and an iron helmet on his head. Inari raised his crossbow high. "FOR NAMI!" He shouted.

Naruto grinned as he raised his own sword. "PEOPLE OF NAMI! THIS IS YOUR TIME! TAKE BACK YOUR HOME!" He shouted to them.

The people could only stare, seeing the dead thugs, seeing Inari, the young child, armed and ready to fight. And in that moment, something snapped. As the thugs struggled in the crowd, one person suddenly grabbed one, dragging them down as they yelled and screamed, releasing pent up rage. In an instant, the people of Nami had grabbed the remaining thugs, dragging them down, beating and pummeling them, grabbing their weapons and stabbing them. A spirit of resistance and rebellion broke out amongst the people, as they let loose their rage.

Naruto quickly freed the prisoners on the gallows as the others were pulled from their cage, before dropping down to the ground. He smiled as he took his crossbow from Inari, who retrieved it for him. 'Thanks kid," he said. "Kaiza would be proud of you."

Inari began to tear up a bit, as the other people of Nami cheered, raising weapons taken from the dead thugs, or grabbing other implements. Naruto lowered his hood and quickly raised his hands to draw their attention. "People of Nami! This isn't over yet! Gato is still out there; ready to spring a trap for Tazuna! He thinks that he will win this day. But will you let him? OR WILL YOU FIGHT?!" He shouted.

The people cheered, raising their weapons, as Naruto nodded. "Then come on!" He shouted, leading them out of the square and towards the bridge, a tidal wave focused on the destruction of the one who had oppressed them for so long.

At the bridge, the Konoha shinobi currently were on the incomplete structure, shrouded in fog that Zabuza had put up. The missing nin had met up with them there, after using the fog to shroud Gato's view of what was happening on the bridge. Now they waited, occasionally making noise and performing jutsu so as not to arouse Gato's suspicion. The fog would have deadened any sound, but it paid to be careful.

Raphael stood near the edge of the bridge, along with Tazuna. Below, they knew that the crew of the Ru-Same were in boats, waiting for the signal to scale up and join the battle against Gato's thugs.

Eventually, after about twenty minutes, Kakashi nodded. "It's about time," he said. "Everyone, henge. Make it look like you're worn out and wounded," he said.

The shinobi quickly did so, while Raphael moved forward to join them. After the shinobi had finished their henge, Zabuza began to weaken the fog around them, lowering it to make it seem like he was tired.

As the fog lessened, they soon saw the shapes of Gato and his thugs at the end of the bridge where the woods were. They were amassed there, waiting.

As soon as they were visible, Zabuza, who was acting tired, called out. "Gato, get your thugs in here!" He shouted, as if calling for backup.

Gato, standing at the head of his force of thugs, just smirked. "Truly pathetic. The big bad Oni no Kirigakure, begging for help? You're nothing but an imp, playing big," he sneered.

Zabuza glared at him, 'leaning on his sword'. "What the hell are you doing Gato?" He demanded, eyes narrowed.

"You missing nin are far too expensive to keep around," Gato said simply. "So I'm doing what any good business would do. Men, kill them all, but feel free to take the women as a bonus if you can," he said.

His thugs cheered, raising their weapons, and preparing to charge. Yet as they did so, Zabuza just grinned as he slowly straightened up, the wounds on his body and perspiration disappearing. The same held true for the other shinobi, as they dropped their henge. Anko looked over her shoulder at the genin. "Sasuke, Kiba, you two form a line with Haku. You're our second line. Nail any thug who gets by us. Hinata, Sakura, Ino, you three hit them from afar, keep them off Tazuna."

The genin and one missing nin nodded as they got into formation, while Raphael joined Kakashi, Anko, and Zabuza, drawing his crossbow.

Gato sneered as he saw this, his confidence not gone. "So, you decided to betray me Zabuza," he said. "You shinobi are so untrustworthy."

"Untrustworthy? You're the one who was planning to stab us in the back, you sack of shit! You're the traitor here, not me! I would have finished the job, but you had to be a fucking cheapskate. Well now, I'll get the pleasure of gutting you nice and slow!" Zabuza said, anger and bloodlust in his eyes.

"It doesn't matter now. Men, attack!" Gato shouted, as his thugs charged forward with a yell.

Raphael raised his crossbow, dropping the first thug as they charged, while Anko immediately launched a spread of kunai and shuriken alongside Kakashi. The front rank of thugs fell to these ranged projectiles, wounded or dead, as Raphael reloaded with practiced ease and fired again. With no time for a third shot, he slung his crossbow onto his back and drew his sword, charging with Anko, Kakashi, and Zabuza.

Below, Mukei heard the roar of battle, and nodded to his crew members, still hidden by the remaining mist. "Away boat crews!" He shouted, as grapnels were thrown onto the bridge, and the pirates of Ru-Same quickly began scurrying up, Ameyuri and Mukei in the lead.

On the bridge, Zabuza cleaved through four thugs with a single blow of his sword, spinning it around to deflect a spear at his back and then bringing it down at a thug in front, cutting him vertically in half. A thug crept up behind him with a kunai, only to be dispatched by a thrust from Raphael's sword, as the Assassin moved to watch Zabuza's back. "You must be faster mi amigo," he said, deflecting a cleaving blade with his dagger and slashing across the throat of said blade's owner with his sword.

"You haven't seen anything yet!" Zabuza shouted gleefully, basking in the carnage as he spun the sword around his and Raphael's head, decapitating three thugs dumb enough to be within range of his sword.

Nearby, Anko was using her flexibility to slash her way through the thugs, dancing around blades, axes, and spears as she cut throats and slashed through arms and legs, rendering her targets dead or crippled. Blood flew off her two ulaks as she spun, deflecting a sword thrust at her. She grabbed the man's outstretched arm, leaping and wrapping her legs around his head as she grabbed another nearby thug's neck. With a powerful spin and twist, she snapped both their necks as she spun in the air, landing and quickly moving on to her next victims.

Kakashi was putting his years of experience to use, dancing around the clumsy moves of the thugs and knocking them out, breaking bones with his taijutsu, and killing them with a single kunai. His Sharingan allowed him to dance around them easily, predicting their moves.

However, the numbers were telling, and the thugs were pushing them back slowly. What's more, they were moving behind the adult shinobi, and began charging towards the genin standing between them and Tazuna. Haku, Sasuke, and Kiba got ready to fight, while Hinata took charge of the third line. "Get ready girls," she said, her bow out and an arrow nocked to it.

Ino and Sakura both gripped kunai and shuriken, waiting as the thugs drew closer to Sasuke and Kiba, before Hinata shouted. "FIRE!"

The three kunoichi began to unleash a hail of arrows, kunai, and shuriken upon the thugs, dropping more of them as they approached the trio ahead of the girls.

Haku readied her senbon, eyes narrowed behind her mask. "Be ready," she said, only for Kiba to growl.

"Let's just hit them now!" He shouted, as Akamaru transformed into him, and both took on a slightly more feral appearance consisting of longer nails and canine teeth, before they charged forward. "Gatsūga! (Fang over Fang)" He shouted as he and Akamaru became a pair of twisters that slammed into the front ranks of the thugs.

"Damnit Kiba!" Sasuke shouted, as he and Haku were forced to charge as well, to cover the brash Inuzuka's back. Hinata meanwhile put up her bow, drawing her retracted naginata and holding it at the ready. Ino and especially Sakura trembled a bit, seeing the violence much closer now.

Sasuke grunted as he held two kunai in hand, using everything he had learned and practiced to cut his way through the thugs. He unfortunately had to keep up his guard as they all surrounded him, constantly having to check his back. Finding himself hemmed in, he jumped up, running through hand signs before unleashing a massive fireball at the thugs below him. Quite a few were caught in the blast, and they screamed as they were engulfed in the flames, being burnt alive. Those caught on the outskirts were burnt as well, whimpering as they dropped to the ground clutching their burnt limbs.

Haku meanwhile was easily moving through the thugs, stabbing them with senbon at key points on their bodies to render their limbs useless, or grabbing their weapons from them and crippling them with their own tools. She was a blur, barely visible to any of them except a green and white blur that left them bloodied and in pain on the ground.

Kiba was still tearing through the thugs with Akamaru, but had to eventually stop due to how dizzy he was becoming. Surrounded by thugs, he growled as he resorted to the Inuzuka taijutsu style, utilizing a wild flurry of punches, kicks, and clawlike slashes to drive his opponents back. Akamaru rushed to join him, watching his back as the two fought with teeth, fists, and nails.

It was at this moment that Mukei and his crew scaled onto the bridge, and the first ones up drew their weapons. "C'mon boys! We can't let the Konoha shinobi have all the fun!" Mukei shouted as his crew cheered, rushing forward with more of the crew following up from behind.

Gato could only growl angrily as he saw this wave of reinforcements rush up from the water end of the incomplete bridge. "PUSH THEM BACK!" He shouted to his thugs. Unfortunately, his thugs were too uncoordinated to command. Over half of them were still caught up simply trying to even wound the four adults who were tearing through them, and those who had moved past them to go after the genin were being slaughtered now by the pirates of the Ru-Same.

Kiba growled as he moved forward with the pirates. "Let's go!" He shouted, only to be tripped by a spear. Whirling over, he saw a thug standing there with a spear, preparing to stab him. He prepared to shunshin away, only for blood to spurt out of the man's chest as a blade pierced through it from behind. His eyes widened as he rolled to one side to avoid the collapsing corpse, his eyes landing on a familiar hilt. Looking back, he saw Hinata coming up, pulling her sword from the thug's back.

"Watch yourself, Inuzuka-san," she said shortly, returning to guard Tazuna with Ino and Sakura. However, both girls were just standing there, in shock. The mist was gone now, and they could see clearly not only the battle, but also the carnage. The blood on the ground, the severed limbs, the wounded crying out in pain, begging for mercy. But what stuck most in their minds were the bodies riddled with kunai and shuriken. Weapons they had thrown, that they had used to end these people's lives.

Ino just stood there, staring at the bodies, while Sakura dropped to her hands and knees and began to throw up. Hinata shook her head, moving and touching Ino's shoulder, causing the girl to look at her with a blank stare. "Take care of her," Hinata said, nodding to Sakura.

Ino looked down at Sakura, stared at her for a few moment, then nodded before kneeling next to Sakura, gently touching her shoulders. Hinata meanwhile extended the sword into its naginata form, waiting in case any of the thugs managed to slip past the pirates. That outcome did not seem likely though.

Gato was realizing the same on his end. He had thought that his thugs, due to their sheer numbers, would hold the edge over the shinobi. Even when it became apparent he had been tricked by Zabuza, and that none of the shinobi were weakened by battle, he still felt that the sheer number, plus the fact that the shinobi could not utilize the full extent of their ninjutsu without destroying the bridge, would give his men enough of an edge to defeat the shinobi. Clearly he had underestimate not only the shinobi's ability in hand to hand combat, but also their resourcefulness, as he saw the pirates now joining up with jounin to push his thugs back more. Even now, individuals or groups were either falling back, or throwing themselves over the sides to avoid the forces coming at them.

Gato growled as he grabbed the nearest group of thugs. "We're getting out of here. Form a ring around me," he stated. The thugs hurriedly did so, as Gato turned, only to see the villagers of Nami storming out of the trees, cutting down the retreating thugs they ran into and yelling madly as they rushed the bridged. Gato cursed as he found himself and his men trapped on all sides now.

A lull came over the field as the last of the thugs fell back to the ring surrounding Gato, and they now found themselves hemmed in. The shinobi and pirates on one side, and the villagers of Nami on the other. Before anyone could charge though, Raphael stepped forward.

"You men! I'm going to give you a choice, here and now. If you throw down your weapons, I promise you will not die this day. Whether your crimes demand execution or imprisonment, you will at least live to see a fair trial. All we want is Gato. Give him to us, and you'll live," he said, sword drawn and dripping blood.

The thugs all looked at each other, before one spoke. "Screw this. I ain't dying for this midget," he said, dropping his club and quickly stepping away from Gato.

The others all looked at each other, then quickly did the same, dropping their weapons and moving away, leaving a fuming Gato. "Traitors, all of you! I swear I'll see you all dead!" He shouted, before pointing his cane at the citizens of Nami. "And you! You should be grateful I even let you breathe the same air as me! Do you not know who I am? I am Gato of Clan Shimada! A clan of powerful and honorable samurai, until your kind came along!"

Gato pointed at the shinobi, the gesture causing his sunglasses to fall off, revealing anger and an edge of insanity in his eyes. "Because of you freaks and your chakra, my ancestors were removed from power! By mere peasants! Forced to live as nothing more than filthy merchants (2)!"

"But no more. No more will people like my grandfather and father be forced to live as dirt when we should be lords of this land! No more will proud samurai families be forced to live out pathetic lives while those who should serve us reap all the glory! Your time is at an end!" Gato shouted madly, drawing a sword out of his cane and charging towards Raphael. "DIE!" He shouted as he charged.

However, his sword was knocked to the side as Mukei stepped in front of him. "You will answer to me Gato, before anyone else," he said dangerously, sword held at the ready.

Gato, froth at the corners of his mouth and mad rage in his eyes, yelled as he lunged at Mukei, wildly swinging his cane sword. Mukei just calmly blocked or parried each blow as if it were nothing. He did not even flinch or move, almost contemptuously turning aside each blow.

Soon enough, Gato's attacks grew weaker and slower, as exhaustion took him, and Mukei pressed the attack, his sword flicking around Gato's like lightning, leaving small cuts or stabs all over the business tycoon's body. With a swift flick of his sword, the cane sword went spiraling off to the side, falling over the side of the bridge.

Gato dropped to his knees, exhausted as he greedily sucked in some air. "D-Damn you…damn you all!" He shouted, trying to get up, only to be booted over by Mukei, and holding his sword to Gato's throat.

"Mukei, wait," Raphael said as he approached, his sword cleaned and sheathed. He knelt down to Gato, who was glaring up at him. "I want to know who you're working for. Tell me, and I can promise you a painless death. Refuse…and I leave you to those who you've hurt, and let them take their justice from you."

Gato sneered at him before spitting at Raphael, who tilted his head to one side, seeing it miss. Raphael shook his head, before standing. "Very well then, what you have left in the mansion and your company will suffice," he said simply, moving away.

Mukei meanwhile stared down at Gato. "You should have taken his deal. Now…you will face justice for all the innocent you've killed," he said, before pulling his sword back and slamming the hilt down on Gato's forehead, knocking him out. Signaling two of his crew to come forward and pull the man up, he turned to the people of Nami. "Many of you have suffered at the hands of this man. So have members of my crew, myself included. This is why tomorrow, in the center of your village, all who wish can take their justice on this man for all the pain, sorrow, humiliation, and loss he has caused!"

The people cheered, some starting to cry and sob as they realized the truth. They were free. They were finally free. And as the sun shone over the blood splattered bridge, for the first time they felt joy and hope for the future.

Finally got this done. So yes, a new twist on the end of the Wave Mission, one I hope you enjoy. Nothing really spectacular, but I hope it's satisfying.

Sorry for the wait guy, been distracted lately with Christmas and stuff. So I hope this was worth it.

Again, please check out the poll I have up currently, contact GunHeliXmon is in need of a beta so please contact them if you're interested, and be on the lookout for the Shifty Quarian. I SWEAR I WILL FIND YOU, SHIFTY QUARIAN! *points dramatically at screen*

Thank you again to my beta readers Bill Alain and Kyuubi123.

Till next time guys!

1. So yes, this was based off the trailer for the original Assassin's Creed game. Hope you enjoyed it.

2. According to the social hierarchy of the Edo Period, merchants were among the lowest ranks of social hierarchy, below artisans. So Gato being descended from a samurai clan, but having to be a merchant? Definitely not happy.