Zabuza watched Kenya's devilish smile, and his heart gave a violent twitch.
As an assassin who walked the line between life and death, he knew exactly what that look meant.
It was the gaze of an absolute powerhouse looking down on the weak.
The casual indifference of deciding whether an ant lived or died.
"Do it."
Zabuza closed his eyes and stiffened his neck.
He gave up all pointless resistance.
"Dying at the hands of a monster like you won't disgrace my name as the Demon."
His voice was a little hoarse, but it carried the blunt bravado of a man ready to face death.
Since he couldn't win, his sword was broken, and his kunai had snapped too.
He might as well die quickly.
Yet the fatal blow he expected never came.
Instead, someone gave his shoulder two pats, neither hard nor light.
Zabuza opened his eyes in confusion.
Kenya, who had been wearing a devilish grin just moments ago, had already returned to his lazy demeanor.
With a wave of Kenya's hand, the black iron wooden spikes pinning Zabuza down instantly dissolved into black smoke.
Without their support, Zabuza fell heavily onto the sand.
"What would dying accomplish?"
Kenya turned toward the campfire, muttering as he walked.
"There's not even anyone to talk to on this deserted island, and Haku's too young to do heavy work."
"You look pretty sturdy. Killing you would be a real waste."
Zabuza froze, unable to process this for a moment.
"You... you're not killing me?"
He had only just threatened to kill the man!
In the cruel Shinobi World, mercy toward an enemy was cruelty toward yourself. Even a Genin understood that.
"What do I get out of killing you? Can I trade you for rice crackers?"
Kenya reached the campfire and plopped down.
He picked up a skewer of sea beast meat roasted golden and dripping with fat, then took a huge bite.
"Haku, grill some more. This isn't enough."
Kenya called out through a mouthful of food.
Haku immediately ran over from the side, though there was still some fear of Zabuza in his eyes.
But seeing Kenya's utterly unconcerned manner, he gathered his courage and deftly turned the meat on the grill.
"Uncle, it'll be ready soon."
Haku answered obediently.
Watching the harmonious scene beside the campfire, Zabuza felt his worldview suffer a tremendous shock.
"Come sit down. What are you standing there for, playing a pillar?"
Kenya tipped his chin at Zabuza.
"I happen to need a foreman for manual labor."
"Food and lodging included. I can even teach you a couple of Taijutsu moves now and then."
"Well? Are you in or not?"
Zabuza swallowed, his gaze involuntarily drawn to the sizzling, fatty roast meat.
He had been wandering for a long time, eating and sleeping outdoors, and hadn't had a decent hot meal in ages.
Then he looked at Haku's heartfelt smile.
It was a smile he had never seen in the Bloody Mist Village, that place in the Land of Water filled with betrayal and slaughter.
Zabuza lowered his gaze to the Kubikiribōchō lying on the ground with a huge notch in its blade.
The strength he had once taken pride in couldn't withstand a single blow from this man.
"Do I have a choice?"
Zabuza gave a bitter laugh and slowly trudged over to sit beside the campfire.
He said nothing more, simply picking up a skewer of meat and biting into it hard.
Hot fat burst across his tongue.
Zabuza actually felt a faint sting in his eyes.
And just like that.
Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist whose very name had once terrified the Land of Water.
Under the combination of overwhelming physical force and the temptation of a roast meat meal, he somehow became Kenya's number-one worker.
Early the next morning.
The island's tranquility was shattered by an earthshaking rumble.
"Hurry up! Stop dawdling!"
"Stack that black iron wood more neatly! The foundations need to go another two meters down!"
Holding a twig as a pointer, Kenya shouted instructions.
And in front of him.
Bare-chested, Zabuza ran across the construction site, drenched in sweat, carrying a black iron wood log weighing several tons.
"Yes... boss!"
Zabuza gritted his teeth and answered in a strained voice.
Though the log weighed as much as a small mountain, whenever he wanted to slack off, all he had to do was recall Kenya's terrifying forehead smash from yesterday.
Every muscle in his body would involuntarily tense, and he would run faster than a rabbit.
Kenya nodded in satisfaction.
"Now that's the energy a young man should have!"
Ever since they had acquired Zabuza as their free, high-grade labor force.
Construction on the island base had progressed by leaps and bounds.
Kenya used Black Iron Wood Release to provide an endless supply of indestructible building materials.
Zabuza became the "chief brick hauler," responsible for transporting and assembling the heavy timber.
As for Haku, he naturally took charge of feeding the two of them, finding new ways to prepare all kinds of seafood feasts every day.
In just half a month.
An enormous structure built from black iron wood, as sturdy as a war fortress, had already begun to take shape on the granite platform.
Towering walls, rows of arrow towers, and even a gravity training ground and an enormous open-air bath.
How was this surviving on a deserted island? It was practically a vacation at a local tyrant's palace!
Kenya stood at the fortress's highest point, looking down over the bustling construction site.
Then he glanced at the merchant ships that occasionally passed across the sea.
A bold plan gradually took shape in his mind.