Chapter 52: Zabuza Appears – Obtaining the Advanced Thunder Shield: Golden Chidori
After Tazuna finished speaking,
the group fell silent once again.
Even Kakashi stayed quiet.
Sakura frowned slightly and looked toward Naruto.
"Naruto—just agree to help the uncle. He really is so pitiful."
She didn't ask Kakashi—the team leader.
Instead, she turned directly to Naruto for his opinion.
At some point,
in her heart,
Naruto had become the de facto leader of Team 7,
the one with final say.
To be honest, this gave Kakashi a headache.
He hated troublesome things.
The less he had to deal with, the better.
So he happily tossed the problem to Naruto.
After all,
they'd already left the village.
Helping out once wasn't a big deal.
Kakashi decided to play dead fish and stay silent.
Tazuna wasn't kneeling to him anyway.
Let Naruto decide.
"Building a new force needs money. Tazuna has none right now, but he will later."
"And if there's no money—making money is easy."
"Whoever has money, take theirs. In Naruto, who's the richest? Isn't it the president of Gato Shipping Company?"
"Since you've provoked me, your wealth becomes mine. Hand it over!"
Naruto mentally weighed the pros and cons.
This deal was pure profit.
Mainly because Tazuna's earlier moral blackmail had pissed him off.
If Tazuna had simply asked for help,
Naruto would have accepted without hesitation—even for free.
But now that the other party had gone this far,
Naruto wasn't the type to forgive endlessly.
"Alright—get up. We'll continue your mission."
Tazuna had already given up hope.
Hearing Naruto agree, his face instantly lit up with relief and excitement.
"Thank you, ninja lords! Thank you!"
Sakura looked overjoyed.
"I knew Naruto-kun wasn't the kind of person who'd abandon someone in need."
Sasuke gave a cold, arrogant snort and turned his head away.
Though he said nothing,
his expression and body language showed silent agreement.
Kakashi smiled faintly, thinking to himself:
"As expected of Sensei's son—besides monstrous talent, his heart is also solid."
But none of them knew Naruto's true intentions.
Of course, Naruto had no intention of explaining.
"Get up. I don't like people kneeling to me."
"Ah… y-yes, ninja lord!"
Tazuna quickly stood.
Suddenly—an anomaly.
Whoosh—
A high-speed sound came hurtling from the distance.
Naruto and Kakashi reacted instantly!
"Dodge!"
Kakashi shouted, shoving Sakura aside.
Naruto grabbed Tazuna like a chick
and pulled him out of harm's way.
Naruto's current strength was immense.
Carrying an ordinary person while evading
didn't slow him down at all.
Bang—
A massive black cleaver embedded itself into a nearby tree trunk not far ahead.
The sharp blade sank deep.
A figure descended from the tree
and landed perfectly on the handle!
"Hm? This opponent isn't simple."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Seeing who it was,
he didn't hesitate—he pulled his headband up,
revealing the blood-red three-tomoe Sharingan!
He dropped his usual lazy demeanor.
He got serious.
Zabuza raised an eyebrow, a trace of interest on his face.
"So it's Konoha's Copy Ninja Kakashi. What a coincidence."
"But I'm not here to fight you to the death today."
"I just want the life of that old man you're protecting!"
"I've heard you can copy over a thousand ninjutsu from your opponents—truly troublesome. But while I can't beat you, killing you isn't easy either."
"I'll give you some time. I only want the old man. I promise not to touch your students."
Kakashi of Konoha was indeed a tricky opponent.
Even without clashing,
Zabuza had long heard of his reputation.
His mission was only to kill Tazuna.
No matter the method.
Avoiding conflict was ideal.
But if it came to fighting—he wasn't afraid.
As for the two Demon Brothers lying dead over there—
Zabuza sneered inwardly. Trash.
Dead was dead.
Kakashi had fame; Zabuza had his own reputation.
One of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist!
He had assassinated many high-profile targets!
He had the right to be arrogant.
And he was quick to anger.
Sakura stared at Kakashi in shock.
"So Kakashi-sensei is actually this strong?"
She had thought he was just one of many Konoha jonin.
She never imagined his name carried such weight!
Tazuna hid fearfully behind Naruto.
Just one glance at Zabuza
sent chills from his feet to his head.
Ding—Triggering choice mission.
Choice 1: Let Zabuza kill Tazuna.
Reward: One raw watermelon (not guaranteed ripe). (Formerly Flame Flame—you sure you don't want a watermelon?)
Choice 2: Teach Zabuza a lesson.
Reward: Thunder Shield: Chidori
Choice 3: Teach Zabuza a lesson and make him your dog.
Reward: Advanced Thunder Shield: Golden Chidori (Golden Chidori release—three times stronger than regular Chidori.)
The long-absent system's cold notification rang again.
Naruto froze for a second.
Three options in front of him.
First one—pass.
Looking at the remaining two,
Naruto licked his dry lips.
"Heh… do I even have a choice?"
"I choose three!"
Three is good. Three is cool!
Golden Chidori paired with Golden Rinnegan—damn, that's stylish.
Very cinematic.
Plus the system explicitly said:
the advanced Golden Chidori is three times stronger than regular!
No loss picking three!
Coolness factor alone seals it!
Ding—Congratulations, Host has obtained Advanced Thunder Shield: Golden Chidori!
A brand-new set of memories flooded perfectly into Naruto's mind.
How to release the advanced Golden Chidori, how to use it—all appeared instantly.
The system was even thoughtful enough
to fuse muscle memory!
It felt like Naruto had released Golden Chidori thousands of times before.
He knew the technique inside out.
All of this happened in mere breaths.
No one around noticed anything strange about Naruto.
After receiving the reward,
Naruto grinned coldly at the oblivious Zabuza.
"You guarantee not to touch us?"
"You'd have to have the ability first."
"Actually—I used to make keys. Question is… do you qualify?"
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