Two-Pronged Preparations

Time went back to one day earlier.

As soon as Izayoi left the Black Market, he saw Zabuza Momochi and Haku, who had been bound by a Shadow Clone, waking up from unconsciousness.

"Impressive. You woke up so quickly. As expected of Zabuza, the 'Demon' and one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist." Izayoi praised him.

"You didn't kill us. Do you intend to hand me over to the Hidden Mist Village or the Black Market?" Zabuza Momochi asked weakly.

Before Izayoi could speak, Haku hurriedly said, "Please don't hand Lord Zabuza over to the Hidden Mist Village or the Black Market. I'm willing to earn money for you and use it to repay Lord Zabuza's bounty."

"You ninja really have strange ways of thinking." Izayoi complained. "I already killed Gato, so all that guy's wealth definitely belongs to me. Do you really think I still care about your paltry sum?"

After saying that, Izayoi couldn't help asking Zabuza Momochi, "How much is your bounty?"

"Seventeen million ryo." Zabuza Momochi answered.

Izayoi immediately looked disdainful. "You're both Elite Jonin. How come you're worth less than half as much as Asuma Sarutobi of the Hidden Leaf Village?"

Zabuza Momochi was speechless.

Could they even be compared? What was the other man's status, and what was his own?

If he hadn't possessed the Executioner's Blade, the Hidden Mist Village might not even have been willing to pay seventeen million ryo.

"I quite like you two idiots. If you hadn't followed your professional ethics, Gato's fortune wouldn't have fallen into my hands."

Izayoi dispelled the Shadow Clone and smiled. "So do one thing for me, and I'll let you go."

"As long as you let Lord Zabuza go, I'll do anything you ask." Haku immediately spoke up.

Hearing that, Zabuza Momochi felt a surge of warmth in his heart. Then he looked at Izayoi and said, "I'm best at assassination."

"I don't need you to kill anyone." Izayoi pointed at Haku and asked, though he already knew the answer, "What's your name? Do you have a bounty on you?"

"My name is Haku. I'm Lord Zabuza's tool, and I don't have a bounty on me." To prove that he wasn't lying, Haku endured the excruciating pain throughout his body, removed the mask that had escaped destruction by the Repulsion and the rubble, and revealed a perfect, delicate face.

"Good. I have a mission for you." Izayoi walked over to Haku, took a scroll from his person, and tossed it onto the ground. "Go to the Sand Village and buy these materials for me. Then I'll let you and Zabuza Momochi go."

After saying that, Izayoi rolled up his sleeve, revealing his fair arm. Then, as if remembering something, he lowered his head and asked Haku, "By the way, are you a man or a woman?"

"I'm a man." Haku replied.

"Such a shame about that face."

Izayoi lowered his sleeve, lifted the hem of his robe, and extended his lower leg in front of Haku. "Take a bite. One bite, and your injuries will heal."

Seeing this, a glint flashed through Zabuza Momochi's eyes. "Physical Stamina Healing? Are you a survivor of the Uzumaki Clan?"

"No wonder you were one of the culprits who destroyed the Whirlpool Country back then. Your Hidden Mist Village sure knows a lot about the Uzumaki Clan." Izayoi spoke sarcastically.

Hearing their exchange, Haku realized what was happening as well. He hurriedly leaned forward and gently bit Izayoi's lower leg, afraid that biting too hard would anger him and cause him to kill both Haku and Lord Zabuza.

The moment he bit down, Haku's eyes widened.

It was like being immersed in a hot spring after standing on a frozen wasteland in the dead of winter. A warm current that dispelled every negative energy surged throughout his body.

Under the effects of that warm current, Haku's external and internal injuries healed at a visible rate.

Even the bones shattered when the Repulsion blasted him away and sent him crashing repeatedly into the mansion, as well as his bleeding internal organs, all reconnected and recovered as if time were reversing.

This was the might of the Uzumaki Clan's Physical Stamina Healing.

Even Tsunade, whose body had been severed in two in the original story, had been able to use Physical Stamina Healing to gain a new lease on life.

In only a brief moment, all of Haku's injuries had healed.

Izayoi rubbed his lower leg against Haku's clothes, then said, "The scroll lists the materials you need to buy. I'll give you a budget of thirty million ryo later. Buy as much as you can."

"My lord, I'll definitely complete the mission you've given me. Please heal Lord Zabuza as well." Haku performed a Dogeza before Izayoi and spoke respectfully.

"Get lost. Do you think just anyone is qualified to bite me? If I didn't need you to work for me, you wouldn't even deserve this treatment." Izayoi snapped. "This guy won't die. If you return early, you'll still have time to take him for treatment. Remember, you have only ten days. If you take longer than ten days, I'll assume you're dead."

"Haku, don't worry about me." Zabuza Momochi agreed.

"...Yes."

Soon, Haku took the money and scroll Izayoi had given him and used Body Flicker to head in the direction of the Land of Wind.

Izayoi created another Shadow Clone, had it carry Zabuza Momochi on its back, and left the area.

"Won't you wait here for Haku to return?" Zabuza Momochi asked. "You didn't seem to tell him where to meet you."

"There's no need. As long as he appears in the Land of Fire, he won't escape my sight."

How arrogant.

Could it be that he also awakened the Mind's Eye of the Kagura of the Uzumaki Clan? Or does he have an intelligence network spread throughout the Land of Fire?

Come to think of it, don't all members of the Uzumaki Clan have red hair? Why is his hair white?

The Transformation Technique, or is he a mixed-blood?

Zabuza Momochi wondered inwardly.

After arriving at a cave more than a hundred kilometers from the Black Market, Izayoi threw Zabuza Momochi inside and left a Shadow Clone to watch over him. Then Izayoi used the Tenseigan to monitor the entire Land of Fire and began waiting for the outcome.

Izayoi didn't know whether Sasori of the Red Sand would tell Nagato that he had been robbed.

But considering that his Repulsion and Gravity had been exposed, Izayoi felt there was a high chance that Sasori of the Red Sand would tell Nagato.

If that's the case, then this Vest of mine should have entered the sights of Nagato, as well as Obito Uchiha and Black Zetsu.

After all, powers like Repulsion and Gravity, which resembled fundamental laws, weren't something just anyone could possess.

In the original story, there had been no secret technique capable of controlling these two abilities.

They were one of the fundamental abilities of the Ultimate Eye Technique.

Besides Deva Path Pain, another person capable of using Repulsion and Gravity had appeared in the Ninja World—and he even wore a pure white mask without eyeholes. Izayoi didn't know whether Nagato and Obito Uchiha would feel uneasy, but he knew that Black Zetsu definitely would.

After all, Black Zetsu had worked hard for a thousand years before finally seeing hope of rescuing his mother in this era.

Now that an anomaly had suddenly appeared, Black Zetsu would dig three feet into the ground to find Izayoi.

Considering the Yin-Yang Release, Spore Technique, and Impersonation Technique of Black and White Zetsu, as well as the Mayfly Technique, which allowed them to move rapidly underground, sever all traces of their presence, and merge with the earth, plants, and trees, even Hagoromo Otsutsuki and Hamura Otsutsuki couldn't discover them. Izayoi didn't believe that his Tenseigan could find them either.

White Zetsu's intelligence-gathering ability was the best in the Ninja World. He might even learn that Izayoi had purchased Human Puppet materials on the Black Market.

To avoid being caught in a trap, Izayoi needed to make a second set of preparations.

That was why he had spared Haku and Zabuza Momochi!