Chapter 40 Gatos attack

The ninja were gathered around Tazuna and his family's dinner table as they were setting up their plans to defend the village. There were many little things to represent certain buildings or areas of the village as they planned it out. Kakashi and Kurenai had to admit it was strange working with Zabuza but the man knew the kind of people that Gato had and so far the plan was looking good.

"So then we're in agreement on the plan," Kakashi said looking it over one last time and then looked to Zabuza, "You're sure the attack will be today?"

"Not all the way but given that he tried to have me killed with Haku says he's ready," the former Mist ninja said.

As the adults were talking the genin were already preparing in another room, Team 7 was told to get rid of the weights on their wrists and ankles so that they would be able to move more freely and not to hamper their speed. While doing this both teams were preparing in different ways, Shino was communing with his bugs to help with planning out the possible things that could happen to them. Hinata was busy ensuring that her healing supplies were well stocked up as well in case anyone got injured as well as the few medical supplies they were keeping here as well. Kiba was looking over his equipment with Akamaru asking the dog questions, mostly about which pills the dog felt he could handle if they were needed.

Team 7 was doing the same although they were also looking over their weapons as well. Sakura was polishing her metal tonfas checking for any weakness in the metal that could make the weapon break just in case. Naruto and Sasuke were working on their swords as well the atmosphere was pretty tense as no one was saying anything.

For Team 8 this would be their first major battle, Kiba was actually looking forward to it while Hinata was a bit more nervous, and Shino...well it was hard to tell with him what he was feeling. Team 7 had been through something like this before sure not as big as this but they were preparing themselves for the battle ahead.

Inari had been nervous about the whole thing although lately he had been thinking on things seeing kids, not much older than him preparing for battle was a little unsettling. He saw Naruto taking care of a sword with great care as the younger boy came closer to take a good look at it.

Naruto couldn't help but smile behind his mask at the boy's interest and looked at him. "Like it?"

"It looks pretty cool but it looks different then Sasuke's." Inari told him.

"Yeah it's a chakra blade it actually can channel chakra from the user. This belonged to my grandfather and then my father and now it's mine. It's served the Hatake family for three generations and now it's my turn to carry it." Naruto told him and he was proud to wield this blade. There was an untold amount of history with it and now it was his turn to add to that history.

Inari looked at the blade his eyes widening a bit more at the thought of the sword being in use for so long. It didn't look that old plus there was no damage on the blade either. Then he looked back to Naruto again. "Why are you guys doing this? I mean you don't have to risk your lives for us."

"Because it's the right thing to do, we were hired to protect your grandfather but we're taking a little leeway with our mission. In a way we're still protecting him but now we're just expanding how. I figure with Gato gone he'll be pretty well protected and if the village is safer for it than that's one hell of a nice bonus right? At least that's what I think my dad plans on telling to Hokage to explain all of this." Naruto gave the boy a wink to let him know the meaning behind his words.

Inari could only give a small smile knowing that the boy really meant.

-Bridge-

It was later in the day when Tazuna and his people were working on the bridge, so far things were going well and in a week the bridge should be finished. It was like a dream come true, one of if not the largest over water bridge was nearing completion and soon the village would have a direct trade route to the main land for the first time ever. They wouldn't need to 'relay' on shipping companies like Gato's anymore. Now trade caravans could make their way into the village on their own for once and since the bridge belonged to the village no company had any rights to it.

That meant that Gato couldn't sink his claws into it like he had with many other businesses in their land which was slowly choking his village into a slow death, although he knew that plan that didn't mean he wasn't nervous about all of this. There was just a lot riding on this and the waiting was nerve racking for the old man as well.

He sighed as he gave out orders to the workers, they may be the bait for this trap but there was still a bridge to build and no matter what he wasn't losing any time.

It wasn't until one of the workers came up behind him, "Hey Tazuna, I think we have company."

Tazuna turned around and there he could see a group of people walking towards them. He could see Gato out in front and his blood ran cold at the sight of the man. Normally he wasn't one to hate another person but in Gato's case he made an exception, this man had caused untold amounts of pain to his village and family. There was nothing more he would love to see than that man to get what was coming to him.

Gato stopped a few yards away with a grin on his face looking over the bridge. "It seems you never learn do you Tazuna? I would have thought my demonstration in town with that boy of yours would have stopped you from this foolishness. You were also lucky to make it back but this ends here old man, once you're gone I'm going to demolish this bridge and then the village will serve as an example for others."

"But first, where are those Konoha ninja?" Gato looked around but saw only construction workers.

Tazuna gave a small smile that left Gato confused.

"All around you," Tazuna said.

All the workers turned into puffs of smoke as they turned into Team 7, with the majority of them being shadow clones of Naruto who had put them into a henge. There was also Zanbuza as well grinning almost evilly under his bandages, in fact with the amount of killing intent he was giving off even those on his side were giving him some space.

Gato looked at the ninja in front of him; he hadn't planned on them being here let along Zabuza being here. Gato had thought the man when he heard the news of his escape would be on the run. Not once did he think he would actually join the other ninja.

It was obvious he was worried from the look on his face but he still had on a sly grin on his face. "You think you're all so smart, well by this time the village will be having a surprise with all of the rest of my men. I thought I had cowed this village but I guess they needed a reminder. Maybe if I take a member of each family they'll learn their lesson and I doubt the old fool can live with that kind of blood being spilt am I right?"

Tazuna looked a bit sickened at the thought, it was bad enough what had happened to his son in law but he knew that Gato wasn't bluffing. The man was the kind that could do something like that and not even lose a bit of sleep over it.

"You're a bigger fool than I thought," Zabuza said to him. "You honestly think all of the Konoha ninja are here?"

Back in the village the men that Gato hired started to terrorize the village, you could hear the shouts and cries of panic as the criminals busted into homes, or businesses. The people were running in the streets and some of men were carrying or dragging people into the streets but thankfully Team 8 was on the job to protect the village.

Kiba was with Akamaru on a rooftop as he saw a few men dragging out a family, as an Inuzuka he like the rest of his clan had strong ties to their families so seeing one being attacked only made him angry.

"Let's go Akamaru," he said giving the small dog a special pill of his. The puppy ate it and his fur turned red as he took on a more vicious look. Kiba got on all fours as his dog jumped unto his back.

"Beast Human Clone jutsu!" Kiba said as both he and Akamaru transformed. Kiba's nails and fangs grew out giving him a slightly feral look as Akamaru turned into an exact copy. It was a clan jutsu that made their dogs take on the forms of their owners and a bit of their dogs went into them enhancing them.

"Fang over fang!" Kiba cried out as they both jumped into the air and starting to spin, they looked like two mini-tornados as they flew into the group of thugs. The men scattered as they were hit by the Inuzuka team, their bodies covered in claw marks.

Shino was in another part of the town as he calmly looked over the scene, earlier he had used his bugs to mark all the civilians in the town with a special pheromone so his bugs would know who to protect and who to hurt. He raised his arms as swarms of black insects flew out over his area of the town, the criminals soon found themselves being covered in his bugs as they ate their chakra. It only lasted a moment but the men fell to the ground too weak to move.

He recalled his bugs to him and moved on to another section to defend.

Kurenai ended up trapping her opponents in mass illusions she wasn't as kind as her students as she slowly took out the hired criminals. The made them see their allies as enemies and she watched coldly and calmly as they killed their comrades not knowing the truth. When there was one left she easily came up behind him and slit his throat. Some may see what she did as cold and unfair but she was a ninja and at times things needed to get this dirty in order to win and protect others.

After she was done like the rest she went in search of others.

Hinata felt nervous, she never was one for violence but she knew what would happen if she did nothing. She still remembered how she froze in her first battle, she had done better the next time but this time there was a whole village to protect. She found a couple of hired swords chasing two children for fun apparently.

She jumped down in front of the men who looked on in amusement.

"Y-you will leave them and this village alone," She told them although she wished she hadn't stuttered or had put more force into her voice. The men just laughed at her and told her that she should have stayed home playing with her dolls.

Hinata readied herself as she activated her bloodline, she could see their chakra paths and they would learn that she may be the most gentle of the Hyuga clan she was in no means not a threat. They came in at her and they were surprised by the speed and agility she was showing by twisting out of their attacks. Her hands with lightning speed struck at their key chakra points. In a matter of seconds she had them both on the ground unable to move.

She cast a quick look to see the children had run off and she wished them well, a loud sound caught her attention as her eyes picked up more trouble a few blocks down as she ran towards it.

In another part of the village at Tazuna's home, his daughter and grandson could hear the sounds of the battle. Tsunami was worried, not only for her village but for her grandfather and the ninja he had hired. Inari looked up at his mother and he could see that she was worried sick. He on the other hand had a new found faith in Naruto and his friends.

"It will be okay mom," Inari told her and she gave a small smile. "I'm going to check on Haku okay?"

The small boy went up the stairs to where the injured ninja was still recovering. He looked in bad shape to the young boy and couldn't help but wonder at times how the older boy managed to hang on with a wound like that. He entered the door to see that Haku was asleep again, there was still some food left and he reached down to take it so it wouldn't spoil when he heard the commotion downstairs.

There was the sound of the door being forced open and his mother's scream. He heard the sounds of unfamiliar men's voices. There were the sounds of struggling and Inari ran downstairs, he saw the mess of the kitchen from the over turned table but he didn't see anyone. Then the sounds he noticed again were outside this time and so he ran out fearing for his mother. As soon as he got out the door he saw two men had his mother.

"Mom!" Inari yelled out trying to run to her but he had been in such a hurry he hadn't noticed a man had been by the door. He felt a strong hand grip him by the back of his neck as he tried in vain the thrash out of it.

"Inari, please don't hurt him!" Tsunami told their captors.

"Sorry lady but the boss says the old bridge builder is to pay for getting in the way, you and the kid are going to be the message," One of the men holding her told her without a hint of remorse at all.

The other one leered at her thinking, "You know the boss didn't say when to kill them and she's kind of pretty. You think he'd mind if we had some fun with her before we do her and the kid in?"

"Leave her alone!" Inari shouted out as one of the men licked the side of her face.

The men laughed but suddenly the one holding Inari gave a grunt as his body jerked and then fell forward. The last two men were stunned seeing their comrade fall down with a slim metallic object dug into the base of his skull at the neck. Everyone looked up to see a very haggard looking Haku there. He was barely standing up and he looked like he was in pain with the effort with a modified sling holding his arm.

Haku had woken up from the noise and it had been a major effort to even get this far, but these people had helped him when he had tried to kill a member of their own family. He felt that he owed a dept for this family plus he liked them as well.

"Who the hell are you!" One of the men demanded.

"You're death," Haku said simply and with his good hand threw the two senbons at the other men, both hitting them in the side of their eye as the small metal weapons impeded into their brains killing them instantly. Haku lost any strength he had left and sank to his knees unable to even stand up anymore.

Tsunami and Inari ran to the boy as the woman helped to keep the young man upright.

"What are you doing out of bed, you could have been killed." Tsunami said even though she was so grateful for the boy's help with his injury.

Haku gave a small smile, "I know but I had to help for all the kindness you've shown me."

"I'm more surprised you can even stand," Inari said to the pale looking boy.

Haku gave a small smile, "You know the secret to true strength? When you have something precious to you to protect, that's what gives you the strength to carry on no matter what."

Inari instantly thought back to his father, he thought back to that horrible day when he had seen him killed in front of the entire village. There had never been any fear in his eyes, in fact in one moment he had locked eyes with Inari and he had actually smiled. Inari didn't understand it then how his father could have endured all of that and why he fought Gato. But after what Haku said, maybe that was the reason why his father had never given up.

His father had never given in no matter what Gato's men had done to him. And now there was Naruto and his team and friends defending their village without showing the same fear. Inari then remembered how he had been acting since his father's death and he felt ashamed. His father wouldn't want him to be like that and thinking about his father he knew what he had to do.

Inari got up and started running to the house.

"Inari, what are you doing?" Tsunami asked her son.

"Something I should have done awhile ago." Inari told her getting the supplies he needed. The village for too long had been cowed under Gato's power but he was just one man. There were kids not much older than him putting their lives on the line for his village and how can they hold their heads up with pride if the village not once even tried to help? It was time for the village to get its pride and its honor back and he knew the way to do it.

-Bridge-

Back on the bridge Zabuza was hefting his large sword preparing to hack to pieces as many men as he had to, to get at Gato. The rest of the ninja team looked just as ready as well, there were a lot of them but they were just mercenaries. A ninja was far more deadly than any mercenary although with the numbers they had it would give them a bit of pause.

But only for a bit, Kakashi and Zabuza were there up front as both men readied themselves for the battle.

"Team 7 you know the plan, we're frontal assault, Naruto and Sasuke you're the middle and Sakura you're our defender for those that slip past." Kakashi ordered out calmly.

Team 7 went into action as the boys drew their swords spacing out to be on the outside while Sakura was centered in the formation at the back to protect Tazuna. They made a diamond shape formation as they waited for the mercenaries to charge, they didn't have to wait long. The men charged at them figuring with their numbers they didn't have anything to fear.

Zabuza and Kakashi showed them otherwise as they started to cut into the mercenaries. Zabuza like before used his massive blade to cut a bloody path of death through them, although the plan was for him and Kakashi to thin the group he still wanted to get at Gato. Kakashi had a kunai in each hand as he preferred to use his quickness and agility when fighting, he moved through the enemies dodging their attacks and using fatal counters.

Naruto and Sasuke gave each other a small look, Naruto grinned under his mask and gave the Uchiha a silent challenge. Sasuke noticed this and gave his usual smirk and got himself ready. Both boys had killed before and although Sasuke had an easier time he was remembering Kakashi's words to him earlier. Naruto was doing the same, he was controlling his breathing and preparing himself to kill again. He didn't want to but he was a ninja now. He would feel bad later at the moment he had people to defend and his team needed him.

Soon the men came through the holes in Zabuza and Kakashi's line. The boys were ready as they used their swords to deal with the enemies that came at them. Naruto had created a few clones to help with the defensive lines. He wished he could use his exploding clones but he didn't think Tazuna would appreciate the holes in the bridge. And his wind elements wouldn't really be good in tight quarters with allies so close, the same could use said with Sasuke as his fire techniques as well so the plan called for swords.

Sakura waited in her position, although a part of her hated being in the back they had to protect Tazuna. Plus she wasn't all that eager to go into a killing field, she had gotten over her first kill mostly but she didn't want to do it any time soon. She watched as Naruto and Sasuke were in the heat of battle using their swords to injure, incapacitate and even kill again. She swallowed hard trying to put those thoughts aside, the mission came first. She recalled the lessons in class about putting your emotions aside in a fight in order to get through it.

Soon a few men had managed to break through the second line of defence and were heading towards her. Most likely they viewed her as the least threatening, she remembered how Anko told her that because of her looks most would assume she wouldn't be much of a threat.

'Remember Sakura, you're not exactly the most intimidating looking ninja so they'll take it easy the trick is to use it. IF they make the mistake of thinking you're soft and easy then you have to make them pay for it. You'll only get a small opening before they realize the truth so hit them hard and fast kid.'

Sakura nodded to herself remembering Anko's words while she had been training under her in the use of the tonfas. The men came as her and Sakura could see them relax just like Anko said they would. She waited until they were close and then she unleashed her full fury, without her weights she was much faster and she hit a hell of a lot harder as well.

Cold metal soon met flesh or the metal of their blades, Sakura would feel or even hear bones cracking and breaking as he hit the weakest areas of their bodies. She broke their ribs, joints and the few times she got in a shot at the face their teeth and noses. It was hard work but thankfully Naruto had seen how many were getting through and sent a few of his clones as backup. She was thankful for that and made a mental note that when they got out of this whenever she gained enough chakra she would ask him if he could teach her that move.

Having an extra hand here and there was very useful but now was the time to concentrate on making sure they did survive this day.

Gato saw which way the battle was going after a while, he had thought that the ninja would be too busy protecting the village. His plan to keep the them busy with the village as he killed Tazuna was ruined now, without the client the ninja would have no reason to stay and as soon as they left the remainder of his men were to come back then. Now he would have to flee while he could and hope there was enough men left to start on a new plan.

He turned around to get off the bridge but stopped when saw what was coming towards him on the other side. There was a group of people coming his way but they weren't his men, they were the village and Team 8 was leading the way.

While Team 7 had been busy, Inari had managed to gather up the villagers. After they had seen how Team 8 was fighting for them and some choice words from Inari the villagers had finally managed to find the courage to stand up to Gato. Those that could fight gathered what they could and went to help Team 8, and with their help they quickly managed to wipe up the rest of Gato's men. After they were done Kurenai led them as quickly as they could to the bridge to see if Kakashi's team would need any help.

By the time they got there they could see that Gato's men were in trouble and the man himself was trying to get away.

Gato backed up a few steps as the people were getting closer. Gato was thinking that there had to be a way out of this, maybe he could bargain with them it was worth a shot. Although by the looks of the villagers he was starting to doubt that, he still couldn't believe that things had gotten so bad.

Kurenai was in the lead as the villagers were halted a few yards from Gato.

"Gato, you have serious crimes to pay for," Kurenai said to him. "Murder, extortion, and violence, just to name a few."

"Go ahead and arrest me then," Gato grinned as he found his way out. With his money and resources he could buy his freedom. Sure it wouldn't be cheap and he might do some jail time but nothing too bad and he could use the time to plan his revenge as well.

"Sorry but I'm not letting you off that easy," a familiar voice said making Gato break out in fear as he turned around.

To the man's horror there was Zabuza running towards him, the ninja's eyes were like a blazing fury of hellfire as he came at the man.

"No one tries and double cross me Gato, and it's time for this demon to send you to hell!" Zabuza yelled out as his blade came down and literally cut Gato in half. It was a gruesome scene to most there that weren't used to such violence. Hinata felt sick just looking at it, Shino didn't say anything but even he had a shocked expression on his face. Kiba was at a lost for words for a moment as he stared at the bloody mess that used to be a person.

"Oh man...that was the most brutal thing I've ever seen," Kiba muttered to himself.

After seeing their boss killed the few remaining hired men decided to hope for mercy and surrender.

Next up chapter 41: Mission's End