I'm a God, Ok? (Naruto/God-SI)

The news spread fast, people almost ran to tell others that Gatō was captured, most of the thugs he had were dead already and the rest ran far away from Wave after seeing what happened. Those too sick to fight either got arrested or killed if they resisted, a few managed to escape, but no one was too worried about it.

By the time night arrived, the city was full, Haruka ordered Gatō's burning to be held where Ayumu once preached and the place he burned. She figured it would be fitting.

People gathered in a large circle around the area, none wanting to miss the event. Kazuo had healed every wounded follower he could, the mood was better than ever. People were laughing and drinking openly everywhere you looked.

Many were disappointed that Gatō was already unconscious when they staked him up, but even that got turned into insults and joke thrown at the man.

Haruka waited until the majority of people settled down before speaking loudly enough for everyone present to hear her clearly.

"Brothers, sisters! Today we finally avenged our beloved High Priest!" She started shouting passionately over the cheers rising from everyone around them both. "No longer will Wave suffer under this rat's oppression!"

More cheering answered her words as she paused briefly to allow it all to sink in properly.

She then gestured towards the pitiful figure of Gatō tied to a stake behind her before continuing once more. "Behold your oppressor! Hung like any common thief!"

Her followers booed at him angrily, some even threw things at him such as rocks or rotten food.

"But he will not die nameless! He will not die unknown!" Haruka shouted again after letting everyone get their feelings out. "Everyone shall know of Gatō and how he fell here today! Everyone shall know what happens to those who would dare harm the people of Wave!"

Another round of cheers erupted from all sides around them both, growing louder and louder until it seemed impossible for them to grow any further.

With one final nod from her, two men stepped forward holding torches in their hands.

They approached the piles of firewood carefully placed beneath where Gatō stood bound before throwing them inside without hesitation or mercy. Almost instantly, flames began licking hungrily at everything nearby, as thick black smoke rose high into the air above everyone gathered there watching intently.

Some laughed as others cried tears of joy while still, others watched silently, but no matter which reaction you saw amongst those present... There was undeniable satisfaction written across each face.

Haruka turned away from it all soon afterward, though, even with anger at Gatō still boiling inside her, she couldn't handle seeing someone burn like that again...

She walked towards where Kazuo stood near Kenji and Hikari, watching as everything played out just like they had planned. When he noticed her approaching him, however, Kenji smiled brightly before walking over to meet her halfway through her journey towards him.

He hugged her tightly once he reached close enough proximity between themselves. "We did it! We actually did it!"

Haruka returned his embrace just as strongly, feeling tears welling up within her own eyes despite herself. "Yes we did..."

They made their way back to Kazuo and Hikari, who were now both looking rather happy too. Even if neither showed much emotion normally. She gave each of them quick hugs as well before stepping back slightly so she could address everyone.

"What happens next?" Hikari asked curiously. "Do we have a plan?"

"Ah, who gives a shit?"Kazuo suddenly blurted out.

"Kazuo!" Haruka admonished him, but she couldn't hide the amusement in her voice either.

"Let's go get drunk, we can worry about the complicated stuff later." He finished with a small smirk on his lips.

"That's probably the best idea you've ever had," Kenji admitted after thinking about it briefly. "I know of a tavern nearby."

And that's what they did, celebrating together late into the night, while the corpse of Gatō continued burning brightly until dawn.

***

Tazuna was worried sick. He managed to convince Konoha to protect him, sure, three of them were brats, but he was assured the cyclops-looking one was one of the strongest Jonin around.

Still, he rang the bell, his friend was supposed to be waiting with a boat for them to use, but he was nowhere to be found. Tazuna grew more and more worried by the second.

Then finally, he heard something.

It sounded like... singing?

Drunken singing at that, what in the world was going on!?

"Hello? Is anyone there!?" He shouted towards the source of the noise.

"Zunāaa! Izat you!?" A man's voice called out drunkenly from the fog. Soon after that, a small boat rowed its way over to them, revealing several people. All of them drunk off their asses.

"What in the world...?" Kakashi muttered from behind him, sounding just as confused as Tazuna himself.

"Mister Zuna! Good newz! Gatō iz dead!" The same man shouted loudly at him before stumbling backward into someone else sitting inside the boat with him.

"What?" Tazuna asked wide-eyed. "Dead?"

"Yea! Burnt at da stak!" Another man chimed in happily. "Wave iz free!"

Tazuna was speechless, he felt relief and happiness wash over him all at once. This couldn't be happening... could it?

Did he just waste his money on hiring Konoha for nothing? No, that's not important right now!

"Oi! are yous da Shinobi?" A woman sitting next to the two men spoke up this time. "Thank you for coming out here! But iz no longer necessary! Da bridge iz safe!"

All of them erupted into cheers once again after hearing those words.

The Konoha Shinobi behind Tazuna were looking at each other confused. Who was Gatō? Why was he burned at the stake? What even happened?

"Tazuna-san?" Kakashi called out. "What's going on?"

Tazuna's nervousness came back as he realized that maybe misleading Konoha might have been a terrible idea... but it didn't matter at the moment, his home was safe!

***

DP: 4132

There is nothing I love more than seeing a number go up, and it's even better when that number represents my literal divinity.

Even with spending a good amount on the whole meteor shower thing and saving my followers from death in a few instances, I still managed to make a decent profit!

Wave was safe, my religion was the one that dealt with Gatō, and I was going to repress the memories of seeing Kenji gleefully slaughtering the nonbelievers and the memory of Haruka coldly ordering the burning of Gatō, where did the sweet woman that I met go?

Was it my fault for getting close to her and then martyring Ayumu? Nahhhh, couldn't be me.

Now, how much can I afford to give Zabuza?

Well, let's see... the mental blessing was out, I didn't want to make a potential enemy smarter, and until Zabuza believed in me or had something tying him to Wave, that is what he was. The physical blessing would be a waste for obvious reasons, anything that would be noticeable enough would cost too much.

Chakra already made him strong enough to punch people through walls, anything more would require a pretty high price. Same for Chakra related blessings.

I guess I could think on it a bit more, I still have time before I need to meet up with Zabuza again.

Oh! Also, Team 7 arrived today! I would need to make sure they didn't fight with Zabuza, actually it would probably be a good idea to not let them see anything about my actual strength, Danzo still existed, after all. The last thing I needed was that paranoid fuck targeting me because he somehow found out about my power.

***

Honestly, Kakashi rated this as one of the weirdest missions he had ever taken. He had done many missions that went wrong over his career as a Shinobi, he had done many missions that were boring or simply tedious.

But this is the first time he had done a mission that went from potentially disastrous to entirely pointless in an instant.

He didn't really care too much about getting paid, maybe this would be a lesson for his cute little Genin.

A lesson about how shitty clients, at least.

"So... what now?" Sakura asked nervously from behind him while eyeing the clearly drunk people rowing their boat away from them.

"We should probably escort Tazuna-san back home at the very least," Kakashi mused aloud before glancing back at said man. "If you wouldn't mind leading the way?"

Tazuna nodded hesitantly before walking away from the riverbank with all three of them following closely behind him.

They made small talk on their way towards the bridge builder's house, mostly about Gatō and who he was, since the drunkards were half alcohol by volume at this point, they didn't give a lot of information.

The short version was that he was some rich criminal that ran Wave like a mob boss would, stealing money, killing whoever disagreed with him, etc...

Very depressing stuff, so pretty standard for what Kakashi had seen during his career.

When they arrived at Tazuna's house, Kakashi noticed immediately that something was off. There were four people waiting outside for them, two men and two women. Three of them were armed, while one was carrying a basket filled with bread.

They smiled warmly upon seeing Tazuna approach, though their expressions quickly turned somewhat suspicious when they saw Team 7 standing there alongside him.

"Tazuna! Welcome back!" The unarmed woman greeted happily as she put her basket down onto the ground next to herself before stepping forward to give him a big hug. "Have you heard the news?"

She seemed completely oblivious to her companions' gazes lingering warily on Kakashi and his students, which wasn't too surprising considering how friendly she appeared to be overall.

"Yes... I heard." Tazuna replied after breaking away from the embrace awkwardly. He cleared his throat before speaking again. "Ahem... These are Konoha Shinobi, they came to protect me while building the bridge."

The woman's eyes widened slightly at those words before turning towards them and bowing deeply. "Thank you! For coming all this way for us!"

Kakashi could feel his cute little Genin shifting uncomfortably behind him at hearing that. Awww, they were embarrassed!

"Please come inside, we have so much to talk about!" She continued excitedly without waiting for anyone else to respond first.

"Well? Come on in!" Tazuna grumbled softly under his breath as he moved past everyone.

They followed suit soon afterward, Kakashi gave a nod to the three... guards? Who awkwardly stepped aside so they could enter the house.

"So... what exactly happened?" Tazuna asked after everyone settled down inside his home, sitting around the dining room.

The woman, who introduced herself as Tsunami, started telling a wild tale of a priest being burned at the stake, a cult uprising against Gatō, and meteors falling from the sky. All of which sounded farfetched if you weren't a Shinobi.

They talked long into the night, with Tazuna eventually falling asleep in one of his chairs. He told his students to rest up, he himself would need to rest too eventually, this whole cult thing needed investigating.