Gatō Company

Name: Gato Corporation Leader: Gato Known Members: Gato, Zori, Waraji Affiliation: Land of Waves Status: Unknown

Gatō was a powerful shipping magnate whose shipping company was. He took control of. He was a cruel man, responsible for humiliating and killing Kaiza in public for being the country's hero. Kaiza's death had the effect of demoralizing the people of the country, to the point that they no longer had the courage to stand up to Gatō. Gatō was protected by two bodyguards, Zori and Waraji.

A large shipping company that dominated the waters of Land of Waves, it was actually a front for much shadier activities, such as smuggling illegal goods and dealing drugs. Owned by the corrupt Gato, who used his monoply over 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. This effectively made the Land of Waves the Gato Corporation's personal fief. With the death of Gato at the hands of Zabuza, the fate of the Corporation is unknown

Land of Waves
Gatō hired Zabuza Momochi and his men to assassinate Tazuna, and stop him from finishing the bridge, which would connect the Land of Waves to the outside world and allow its economy to recover. After Zabuza's arms were broken in battle by Kakashi Hatake (who was hired to defend Tazuna), Gatō assumed that Zabuza would be unable to complete this job, so decided to have his own swarm of thugs to finish the job and kill Zabuza. Since Zabuza was still able to wield a kunai in his mouth, this mistake cost Gatō his life. (In the manga, Zabuza chopped off Gatō's head with the knife after being struck by several of his cronies. In the anime, Gatō 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.