"Who the hell are you?!"
Gato, displaying not the slightest sense of impending doom, instead fixated on Izayoi's insolent remark just now. He raised a finger to point at Izayoi and shouted, "What are my men doing out there? Some random stranger got in, and they didn't even notice? Useless trash, the lot of them!"
Izayoi touched the chin of his mask, remarking, "So it's not really the Mist Village's fault. The problem is that you people have tamed those ninjas so completely that they've lost their fighting spirit. That explains how a rogue shinobi who could be an ace in any of the Five Great Villages sees a billionaire tycoon like you and doesn't just kill you and seize your assets, but instead is working for you as a hired hand."
At those words, Momochi Zabuza frowned. He involuntarily glanced at Gato, suddenly feeling Izayoi had a point.
"W-what are you saying?"
But Izayoi's remarks also jolted Gato, reminding him he was just an ordinary person—whereas these men wielded extraordinary powers, and one of them was a missing-nin on the wanted lists of the major Hidden Villages.
The realization struck him like cold water, and he instinctively stumbled backward, calling out to Zabuza, "Zabuza, I'll pay you ten million ryō! Kill this guy, right now!"
"Aren't you curious how I got in here?"
Izayoi lifted a hand toward Gato, smiling faintly. "Simple…with this."
In the blink of an eye, Gato's body lifted off the ground, pulled toward Izayoi by an unseen force. Losing control over his body, Gato panicked and yelled, "Zabuza, help me!"
Whoosh—
Zabuza shoved Haku aside, spun around with power, and hurled the massive Executioner's Blade. Enormous in size, it whirled through the air like a Fuma Shuriken, roaring toward Gato in a spinning arc. Indeed, the blade was aimed at Gato, not Izayoi. In other words, Zabuza intended to kill them both.
"That fellow is my money tree. I can't have you killing him," Izayoi said calmly, lifting his other hand.
In the next moment, that giant spinning blade seemed to slam into a frozen patch of air, halting abruptly in midair and floating there, unmoving. It was the first time Zabuza and Haku had witnessed such a power. They both stared, eyes wide and pupils shrinking.
"There's a guy who calls himself God because he claims to wield a power no one can resist," Izayoi remarked, tightening his grip on Gato's neck. He stretched out his other hand, splaying his fingers with a mischievous smile. "So, would you two like a taste of God's power?"
Before Zabuza or Haku could respond, Izayoi gently spoke the name of a technique: "Shinra Tensei."
Boom!
An invisible repulsive force seemed to distort the very air, draining all color from Zabuza and Haku's bodies and turning them black-and-white like a manga panel before engulfing them in blinding white light.
A heavy explosion ripped through the center of the Land of Waves. Thick dust rose up like a mushroom cloud. Many townsfolk were startled by the noise, but on seeing the mushroom cloud's location—Gato's estate—their faces lit up with obvious delight. Some even clasped their hands in prayer, hoping that Gato had finally gotten what he deserved—preferably by dying in that blast.
The mushroom cloud came and went quickly. It had barely climbed before a sudden gust of wind blew it apart. The mansion was now rubble. Izayoi hovered over the wreckage, clutching the back of Gato's collar.
Through the mask's Tenseigan gaze, he scanned the rubble and locked his focus on one particular spot. Then, with a simple wave, he used gravitational power to shift aside the broken stones—revealing Momochi Zabuza and Haku lying there, bodies soaked in blood, bones fractured in multiple places, internal organs severely injured. Both had lost consciousness but still clung to life.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Landing on the ground, Izayoi formed a seal with one hand and split off a clone. He told it to keep Zabuza and Haku from dying, then turned to the completely terror-stricken Gato, gently patting his face. "So, all that money of yours…is it stashed in a safe down in the basement?"
"Y-yes…yes, exactly…"
Snapped out of his daze, Gato reached wildly for a last lifeline, nodding repeatedly. "All my money is in a safe. I've got more stashed in other places, tons of it… If you spare my life, I'll hand it all over… Just don't kill me, please! I beg you!"
By that point, tears streaked Gato's face. He'd been frightened out of his wits—and little wonder.
To an ordinary citizen, ninja seem like elites standing high above them. But to feudal lords, nobles, and the ultra-rich, ninja are often just extremely useful hired hands.
Once someone becomes wealthy, they can hire ronin, rogue ninja, or missing-nin to do their dirty work—if the job succeeds, fine; if the mercenaries die, no problem.
None of those mercenaries ever tried to seize the client's fortune. Big-time lords and guys like Gato subconsciously believed that ninjas wouldn't betray them and would abide by professional rules.
Even someone like Kakuzu, infamous for his obsession with money, still worked regular gigs and hunted black-market bounties—never simply robbing or murdering his clients.
But Izayoi broke that mold entirely. Irreverent, unburdened by any "professional ethic," he was a dangerous lunatic in their eyes. It was perfectly normal for Gato to be scared stiff on meeting such a foe for the first time.
"Oh? So you've got other treasure stashes?"
Izayoi frowned, then jabbed a pressure point on Gato's body to knock him out. "I guess I'll see how much loot you've got first."
He tossed Gato over to his clone, then raised both hands, using his gravitational power to levitate countless stones.
Quickly, he uncovered the stairs leading down to the basement. Izayoi had already sensed where the vault was—otherwise he wouldn't have unleashed that repulsive blast so recklessly.
But since there was no light in the safe, he didn't actually know how much was inside, which was why he'd kept Gato alive.
Descending the steps, Izayoi came to a two-meter-high metal safe with a combination lock. He didn't know the code, and he didn't bother waking Gato to ask. Izayoi simply pressed his palm against the edge of the door. Boom! With a thunderous crash, the door and frame caved in. A few more controlled blasts of repulsion, and the door tore free, leaving the safe's contents in plain sight.
Without the door blocking them, a dazzling glow burst from inside like a ray of morning sun. Izayoi stood there, hands on his hips, staring at the pile in the safe. If he took off that plain white mask right then, you'd see that his Tenseigan eyes had vanished—replaced by huge dollar money signs.
He was rich—filthy rich!
~~~
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