Chapter 67:- A surprise in the City

"Thank you for the food, Miss Tsunami," Naruto said with a smile. 

"There is no need to thank me. You all are my father's savior. This is the least that I can do for you all." Miss Tsunami politely replied. 

She was very grateful to them. 

As she took the dishes and went to the kitchen to wash them, the team finally had some time to talk. 

"Sensei, how long will we be staying here?" Sakura asked. 

"Not long. Maybe 3 to 5 days at most. I am sure Zabuza and his men will attack very soon." Kakashi said. 

'This time, I am pretty sure they will try to deal with Hanabi first. Since with her eyes, she could always spot him.' Kakashi thought to himself. 

"Kakashi-sensei, how about we remove the root of all problems? Once we eliminate the root of all problems, then after we leave, there will be peace in this small nation." Everyone understood who Naruto was talking about. 

"You mean Gato?" Asked the old man Tazuna as he walked in. 

"Tsunami, please get me lunch. I am hungry." He then sat down next to Naruto. 

"Boy, killing Gato is far harder than you think. I suggest you give up." He was saying this for their own safety. 

As long as the bridge could be rebuilt, Gato could do nothing. 

"Giving up is not my style, old man. Giving up is not my Ninja way." Naruto seriously said. 

But to Sakura and Hanabi, this looked very cool. 

"How long would it take for you to complete the construction of the bridge?" Kakashi asked. 

"Not too long. Maybe two months would be enough." Tazuna said.

"How about I complete the construction of the entire bridge for you?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

"Boy, did you drink any alcohol? Because you have been saying shits for a while now." Tazuna angrily said.

"Old man, not everyone is like you." Naruto snorted and said.

"With my crystal style, I can easily complete the construction of the bridge." Hearing this, the old man felt that it wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"Even if you build a crystal bridge, people would start breaking bits of the bridge and sell those crystals in the market. So the entire bridge would probably disappear within a few years at most." Kakashi poured over Naruto and Tazuna's hopes.

"That's true." 

"Alright, while waiting for Zabuza, I am going to start all of your training. As for Naruto, you can continue to train on your own for now. If you have any doubts or problems during your training, then you can approach me." From Kushina, Kakashi knew that Naruto's training method was different. 

"I am going to focus on you three." Kakashi did not specifically mention Sakura since he did not want to embarrass her in front of everyone. Among his students, she was the weakest one. Sakura needed some serious training; otherwise, she would be a liability to the rest of the team. If she did not improve, instead of contributing to the team, the team would need to contribute to save her every single time. 

'Sakura has some serious talent for chakra control. She has the potential to become the main healer of the Team. That is, only if she decides to go down that path.'

'In her previous battle, she has shown a talent for Genjutsu. If she becomes to master Genjutsu, then there will be very little that I can teach her. I would need to ask for Kurenai's help in such situations.' Kakashi thought in his mind. 

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Scene change______

While Kakashi personally trained the girls, Naruto found himself completely alone. He decided to use this time to head to the main city of the land of waves. 

Before leaving, Naruto left 40 clones of his to practice Fuinjutsu.

After changing his appearance a little bit, Naruto went to the city. 

The condition of the city was really bad. People were starving. There were homeless people. 

Naruto could see small children along with dogs and cats searching the trash bins for something to eat. 

People wearing torn clothes. 

Till now, Naruto haven't seen a healthy person in the City. Every person that he saw till now was very skinny and malnourished. 

'This all has happened because of Gato. He needs to be removed from this place.' Naruto was now more than determined to eliminate Gato. His arrival has put the whole Land of Wave in poverty. People were struggling to even find their daily meals. 

As Naruto walked on the street, many people looked at him. Their eyes expressed different intentions. 

Some looked at him with greed in their eyes. 

Some looked hopeless. 

Some looked dead. Their eyes were empty of any emotions. It was as if they had completely given up on any will to continue living. 

As Naruto was walking on the street, he spotted a ramen shop. The shop owner had no customers. 

Seeing the young man, the shop owner greeted him with a warm smile. This was the first customer that he had. 

"Hello!! Can I get a miso Ramen?" Naruto politely asked. 

"Sure.....!!!" The owner got to work immediately. 

"You're not here, are you?" The owner asked while working. 

"Yeah....!! I am from the Land of Fire." From walking into the city, Naruto had removed his headband. 

"So you're a Shinobi?" 

"Yeah....!! I used to be one. Now, I am a traveler." For some reason, Naruto remembered about Jiraiya after he responded. In the last decade of his life, his master lived as a traveler. 

'I can't wait to see you again, Pervy-Sage." Naruto thought with a fond smile. 

"So, how is business here?" Naruto curiously asked as the owner served him his ordered bowl of Ramen. 

"It's bad.....!!" The owner had a helpless look on his face. 

"The only people that come to my shop are the locals who, most of the time, don't have any money and want some free Ramen. If I continue feeding them for free, then more hungry locals and children will come. Unfortunately, I am not rich. I can't keep feeding them for free." Hearing this, Naruto nodded his head. 

"Do you know the reason behind this all?" Naruto asked in a low tone. 

The owner fearfully looked around. Seeing that no one was listening, he leaned forward and replied in a very low tone. "Ever since that Bastard Gato has arrived in the Land of Wave, our lives have become miserable."

"We can't even protest against him since he has hired many rogue shinobi and gangs. Whoever dares to raise their voice against Gato gets killed." 

"For how long has this been happening?" Naruto curiously asked. 

"For close to 6 months now." The owner replied. 

(Note - I don't know how long Gato ruled the land of Waves)

The owner was about to continue speaking when he noticed another person walking in this direction.

The new customer sat a few seats away from Naruto, facing the owner. Naruto did not even bother to check who it was as he was busy enjoying his Ramen.

"Welcome, what can I get you?" The owner happily asked. He was happy to get customers. 

"One bowl of Miso Ramen with extra boiled eggs." Hearing the familiar tone, Naruto's whole body suddenly became stiff. The chopsticks in his hands fell into the Ramen bowl. 

'Is that...!!' At lightning speed, Naruto turned his head to his right to look at this person's face to confirm if it was really her. 

'It's her...!!!" Naruto was completely frozen in shock. 

'But what is she even doing here?' Naruto's mind froze. In his previous world, she never came here. 

The woman felt that another person was staring at her. She also curiously looked at the young man's face and asked. 

"Excuse me, is something wrong?" Her tone was neutral. She was neither cold nor warm. There was no expression on her face. 

'What's Konan is doing here?' Naruto's mind had stopped working. 

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Author's thoughts - It's more like a little bit of a spoiler. Haku will not be a woman. I wrote this chapter in a very short time. So it's not that big. The Chapters will get bigger from the next chapter onwards. Also, for the next 10 to 15 chapters, the story might feel a little bit slow (even though I don't think this way) but things will change soon. 

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