The Tool Named Shinobi

Kakashi ruins Zabuza's arms, cutting off any chance of another strike. With Zabuza now unable to reach Tazuna, Gatō rolls in with a mob of hired thugs to handle the killing personally. Spotting Haku's body and recalling how the boy once fractured his arm, Gatō desecrates the corpse. The act enrages Naruto, though what stings him more is that Zabuza appears unmoved. Zabuza counters that the two of them were only ninja, weapons made for war, hollow of feeling or bond. Naruto fires back that this was never true of Haku, who held Zabuza dear. The words land, and Zabuza weeps for having never valued the boy. Seeking to atone, he clamps a kunai between his teeth and cuts a path through the thugs to Gatō, taking off the tyrant's head before crumpling under the wounds Gatō's men inflict.

Kakashi cripples Zabuza's arms, and Gatō arrives with thugs to kill Tazuna himself, defiling Haku's body. Naruto confronts Zabuza about Haku's devotion, breaking through his tools-of-war mindset. In tears, Zabuza charges the mob with a kunai in his mouth, decapitates Gatō, and collapses from the wounds dealt by Gatō's forces.

This is chapter 32 in the fourth volume, closing out the Prologue: Land of Waves arc. Its Viz edition uses the plural title The Tools Called Shinobi. The chapter resolves Zabuza's arc through his reconciliation with Haku's memory.