Zōri

is an ill-tempered mercenary from the Land of Waves. He first appeared alongside his partner, Waraji, as a swordsman hired by Gatō to be his bodyguard.

Part I
Gatō ordered Zōri and Waraji to kidnap Tsunami to force Tazuna, Tsunami's father and the bridge builder, to stop building his bridge. When Waraji threatened to kill Tsunami's son Inari, Tsunami also threatened to kill herself unless they let him go. Since Zōri was told by Gatō that they only needed one hostage, they leave Inari alone and proceed to take Tsunami to the bridge. However, Inari (remembering what Kaiza told him) ran to save his mother. Ultimately, Naruto came and got Tsunami away from Gatō's men. Both Zōri and Waraji were then defeated by Naruto's Shadow Clone Technique and were tied up and left there.

Part II
In the anime, Zōri makes a brief appearance when Suigetsu and Sasuke are wandering around the Land of Waves searching for the Decapitating Carving Knife. Suigetsu and Zōri bump into each other, and Zōri tries to provoke a fight. But as soon as he sees Sasuke, he becomes instantly unnerved and retreats. Later on, Suigetsu and Zōri bump into each other again. He attempts to flee again, but is quickly captured by the two and taken to a back alley in an attempt to interrogate him. He is initially reluctant to tell them of the whereabouts of the sword, but eventually tells them once Suigetsu threatens him.

In Part II, he appears virtually unchanged from his appearance in Part I.

Trivia

 * Zōri and Waraji make an appearance in Hidden Leaf Village Grand Sports Festival!, when Naruto has to go to the bathroom.