Gatō


 * Age: 481 (deceased)
 * Height: 162.5 cm1
 * Weight: 69 kg1
 * Birthday: April 301
 * Blood Type: A1
 * Seiyu: Naoki Bandou
 * Voice Actor: Fred Tatasciore (anime), Daran Norris (Naruto: Ultimate Ninja)

was a powerful shipping magnate whose shipping company was actually a front for much shadier activities, such as smuggling illegal goods and dealing drugs. He took control of the Land of Waves' shipping routes and created a monopoly by isolating the country from the outside world, preventing free import and export and turning it into an impoverished, hunger-stricken country in the process. He was a cruel, greedy man, also responsible for humiliating and killing Kaiza for being the country's hero, traumatizing Inari, who saw Kaiza as a father figure, in the process. Gato is protected by two bodyguards, Zori and Waraji.

Gato hires mostly missing-nin from Kirigakure — including Zabuza Momochi, Haku, and the Demon Brothers — to assassinate Tazuna and stop him from finishing to build the bridge which would connect the Land of Waves to the outside world and allow its economy to recover; however, after Zabuza's arms were broken in battle with Kakashi Hatake (who was hired to defend Tazuna, along with Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha), Gato assumed that Zabuza would be able to do no damage with broken arms and informs him of his plan to dispose of him since, in his own words, "No one cares what I do to your kind once the job is done." Therefore, he calls a swarm of thugs to finish the job. Since Zabuza was still able to wield a kunai in his mouth, this mistake cost Gato his life. (In the manga, Zabuza chopped off Gato's head with the knife after being struck by several of his cronies. In the anime, Gato was stabbed and slashed several times, then knocked off the bridge.) Zabuza died, and the renegades were scared away by Kakashi, Naruto, and the combined force of the villagers. The bridge, described by Kakashi as "the land's hope," was completed and named the "Great Naruto Bridge" by Tazuna.

His name is spelled with and without a circumflex in the English manga. The revised Hepburn romanization is Gato. The first official data book spells his name as "Gatoh". Coincidentally, the character looks almost exactly like his voice actor, Fred Tatasciore.