"Who are you?"
Kado didn't feel any sense of danger. Instead, he was irritated by Izanami's earlier rudeness. Raising his hand and pointing at Izanami, he shouted angrily, "What are you people doing outside? You can't even notice an outsider entering? You're all useless!"
Izanami gently touched the lower part of his mask and sighed. "It seems the problem doesn't lie with the Hidden Mist Village. Rather, the Ninja have been domesticated by people like you, losing their bloodlust. That's probably why a rogue Ninja, someone powerful enough to be a trump card among the Five Great Nations, chose to earn a living through employment instead of simply killing a rich man like you and taking your fortune."
Zabuza Momochi frowned slightly upon hearing this. He instinctively glanced at Kado, suddenly realizing that Izanami's point made a lot of sense.
"W-What are you saying?" Kado stammered.
But Izanami's words had already struck a nerve. Kado suddenly remembered that, in the end, he was just an ordinary person. The individuals before him were Ninja—extraordinarily powerful beings—and not just any Ninja, but rogue Ninja hunted by the great villages.
That thought terrified Kado. He stumbled back in panic before yelling at Zabuza, "Zabuza! I'll give you ten million taels! Kill him! Kill him now!"
Izanami chuckled and raised a hand toward Kado. "Aren't you curious how I got in?"
Kado's body suddenly floated into the air and began drifting toward Izanami.
Panicking, Kado shouted in desperation, "Zabuza! Save me!"
Whoosh—
Zabuza pushed White aside, summoned his strength, and flung the Executioner's Blade with all his might.
The massive blade spun through the air like a giant windmill, hurtling directly toward Kado.
Yes, the blade wasn't aimed at Izanami—but at Kado.
Zabuza's intent was to kill both of them at once.
"This guy is my money tree. I can't let you kill him," Izanami said with a grin, raising his other hand.
In the next second, the spinning Executioner's Blade halted mid-air, as if time and space had frozen. It hovered motionless in front of everyone.
Zabuza and White stared in shock, their pupils narrowing. It was the first time they had seen such a display of overwhelming power.
"There once was a man who called himself a god," Izanami said, tightening his grip on Kado's neck while spreading the fingers of his other hand. "He claimed the title because no one could resist his power."
With a sly grin, Izanami asked, "So, do you want to experience the power of a god?"
Before Zabuza and White could react, Izanami softly spoke the name of a technique:
"Shinra Tensei."
—Boom!
An invisible force, like Amenotejikara, twisted space itself. The color drained from Zabuza and White's forms, transforming them into black-and-white outlines, as though they were being erased from existence. They were swallowed by a burst of white light.
A massive explosion shook the central region of the Land of Waves.
A mushroom cloud of dust and smoke billowed into the sky.
The explosion sent waves of fear through the local residents. But when they realized the explosion had occurred at Kado's estate, joy lit up their faces.
Some even put their hands together in prayer, silently hoping that Kado had been obliterated in the blast.
The mushroom cloud was brief—it was quickly swept away by artificially summoned winds.
Where Kado's luxurious villa once stood, there was now only a field of rubble. Floating in the air above the ruins, Izanami held Kado by the collar like a piece of luggage.
Through the mask, the Reincarnation Eye scanned the wreckage below and locked onto a particular spot.
Izanami raised one hand and lightly waved.
A gravitational pull swept through the air. Debris and rubble began lifting, revealing two severely injured bodies—Zabuza Momochi and White.
Their clothes were torn, their bodies bloodied and broken. Bones were fractured, organs damaged. But they were still alive—barely.
"Shadow Clone Technique," Izanami muttered.
After landing, he formed a hand seal and summoned a clone of Izayoi.
He instructed the clone to stabilize Zabuza and White and ensure they didn't die too quickly.
Walking over to Kado, who was now trembling and speechless, Izanami slapped him lightly on the face.
"All your money—is it in the basement safe?"
"Y-Yes! Yes, yes!" Kado stammered, seizing the question as a lifeline. "It's all in the safe! But I have more! I have hidden stashes elsewhere—lots of money! Just don't kill me! I'll give you everything! Please, don't kill me!"
He broke down completely, crying and pleading.
It was understandable.
To common people, Ninja were distant, near-mythical beings—dangerous but honorable.
But to nobles, Daimyos, and the ultra-rich, Ninja were simply tools—useful ones, but still tools.
Once Kado became wealthy, he hired rogue Ninja and ronin the same way a lord might buy guard dogs.
To him, it was transactional. Give money, get results. If they failed, he lost nothing but coin.
Even Kakuzu, infamous for his greed, still adhered to a kind of professional ethics—taking contracts, hunting bounties. He never randomly looted rich people's homes.
None of Kado's hired men had ever thought of betraying him for his wealth.
No one had dared.
And then came Izanami—a rogue with godlike power and no interest in playing by the rules.
Kado had never encountered someone so wild, unpredictable, and utterly indifferent to societal norms.
So his fear was natural.
"You have other stashes too?" Izanami narrowed his eyes, then poked an acupoint on Kado's neck, knocking him out.
"Well, let's see how much you've got first."
He tossed the unconscious Kado to the clone, then raised both hands.
Using Attraction, Izanami lifted massive amounts of rubble into the sky.
A hidden staircase was revealed beneath the ruins, leading to the basement.
Izanami had already detected the safe's location earlier, which is why he had been so willing to destroy the area with Shinra Tensei. But the lack of lighting in the safe meant he couldn't assess its contents without opening it.
That's why he'd kept Kado alive.
Descending the staircase, Izanami approached a two-meter-tall, fully metallic safe with a combination lock.
He didn't bother asking Kado for the password.
Instead, he simply placed his hand on the seam of the safe and, with a thunderous crack, the steel bent inward.
After a few more blasts of Amenotejikara, the door crumpled completely.
The interior of the safe was finally exposed.
Without the door, a blinding golden light spilled out from within, wrapping Izanami in a warm, glowing hue.
He placed both hands on his hips and stood tall before the stash.
If he were to remove his pristine white mask right then, one would see that his Reincarnation Eyes had vanished—replaced by two large $ signs.
I'm rich!
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