Naruto, on his side, returned to Konoha Village with Team 7, while on the other side, the Shadow Clone operating as Menma, after handling the follow-up matters in the Land of Waves, began to inquire about the current situation of Hidden Mist Village.
A question lingered in his mind: at this point in the timeline, had the Village of the Bloody Mist policy truly ended or not?
Utilizing the intelligence network initially established by the Ash organization, he quickly obtained some crucial information.
The feedback showed that the terrifying policy of the Village of the Bloody Mist had not completely ended, but the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, had already stepped down.
Currently, Hidden Mist Village was temporarily in a leaderless state, with the most senior and respected Elder Master stepping forward to temporarily lead the Village's daily affairs, maintaining basic operations.
This result surprised and confused Naruto.
His original understanding was that Hidden Mist Village became the infamous "Village of the Bloody Mist" entirely because Obito, after Rin's death, turned dark and used his Sharingan to control the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura.
However, a detail he had overlooked or misunderstood surfaced: the prototype of that cruel, high-pressure "Bloody Mist" policy had already begun to emerge during the reign of the Third Mizukage, and it did not entirely start during the Fourth Mizukage's era.
Due to its unique geographical environment and historical reasons, Hidden Mist Village had always harbored radical and xenophobic forces internally.
If Naruto could re-watch the original Naruto series at this moment, he would see that on the night Obito witnessed Rin's death and completely fell into darkness, the Hidden Mist Ninja participating in the ambush were already referring to their Village as the "Village of the Bloody Mist."
Of course, it is undeniable that after Obito successfully controlled the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, with his Mangekyo Sharingan, he greatly intensified and distorted the pre-existing Bloody Mist policy, pushing it to an even more extreme and inhumane peak.
Foolish acts such as forcing Ninja Academy students to kill each other as a graduation exam, and persecuting and cleansing families with Bloodline Limits... these were largely exacerbated by Obito's covert manipulation and instigation.
Now, the Fourth Mizukage had stepped down... This likely meant that Obito's direct control over Hidden Mist Village had ended, and the behind-the-scenes manipulator who caused all the trouble had most likely left.
After a comprehensive analysis, Hidden Mist Village, having experienced decades of internal strife, self-harm, and talent drain, had seen its military and economic strength plummet to a historical low, leaving it extremely weak.
The Village's current top priority was undoubtedly internal rectification, appeasing the populace, and restoring its vitality; it had neither the time nor the power to expand externally or provoke incidents.
Since the Land of Waves incident had settled, and the news of Zabuza Momochi and Haku's "deaths" had not been confirmed, with even some clues suggesting they might still be alive... then, for Hidden Mist Village, which was in a state of extreme weakness and craving for talent, what would they do?
The answer was almost certainly clear.
The Hidden Mist Village's high-ranking officials, especially the Elder Master who was temporarily in charge, would likely immediately try to send people to contact and find Zabuza and Haku, attempting to bring back this formidable "Demon Man" rogue Ninja and the even more precious young man with the rare Ice Release Bloodline Limit.
Of course, with Menma's strong intervention and "life-saving grace," Zabuza Momochi and Haku were already branded with the Ash organization's mark.
If Hidden Mist Village still dared to try and poach them at this point, it would truly be wishful thinking.
Menma was extremely confident in the effect of personally pulling Haku back from the brink of death, and the system's subsequent notification sound immediately confirmed his judgment of Zabuza's loyalty.
"Ding!"
"Congratulations, Host: You have established a bond of Level 4 with the original character 'Zabuza Momochi'!"
"Points earned: 600!"
Good heavens... Menma felt a slight surprise in his heart; the first bond established actually jumped directly to Level 4?
This was enough to show that Haku's position in Zabuza's heart was far more important than imagined, perhaps even more important than Zabuza himself would admit.
In his bond records, besides Satsuki's case, where the emotional impact was too intense, causing the level to directly "exceed calculation," and Might Guy's case, where the "youthful resonance" reached Level 3 upon their first meeting, Zabuza's initial Level 4 affinity firmly ranked second.
However, a scene that unfolded later at the organization's base left Menma feeling speechless.
Although Haku had been completely healed of his fatal injuries by Crazy Diamond, he remained in a coma for two days due to excessive Chakra consumption during the previous battle.
During these two days, Zabuza stayed almost constantly by Haku's bedside, even eating hastily, just quietly and motionlessly watching Haku's sleeping face, waiting for those eyes to open again.
Finally, Haku slowly regained consciousness.
Zabuza first suppressed his inner excitement and, as calmly as possible, explained the current situation to Haku and the fact that they had joined the Ash organization.
But when explaining the reasons, this guy started to arbitrarily modify the "script."
He completely avoided mentioning that he only succumbed and joined because of Haku, instead fabricating a story, claiming that on that day, Gato betrayed him, leaving him in a desperate situation and almost dying, and that Leader Menma had saved his life.
To repay this life-saving grace, he, Zabuza Momochi, decided to pledge allegiance to the Ash organization.
As for saving Haku... he described it as an "added bonus" that Menma did as an afterthought.
He also deliberately spoke to Haku in a seemingly cold but actually awkward tone, saying, "Listen, Haku, both your life and mine were redeemed from the edge of hell by that organization.
From now on, my blade and my life belong to Ash."
Finally, he didn't forget to add, "Don't ask unnecessary questions.
Just follow me like before."
Menma, listening nearby, was utterly speechless.
"..."
"Aren't you playing tsundere? Who was it who cried hysterically and prostrated himself, begging me to save someone? Now that the person is alive, you're putting on airs again? This act of preferring to suffer than lose face is truly..."
As if to mock Zabuza's awkward statement, just as he finished speaking, a new notification sound immediately rang in Menma's mind.
"Ding!"
"Congratulations, Host: You have established an initial bond with the original character 'Haku'!"
"Points earned: 150!"
Menma was not surprised by this at all.
Given Haku's almost blind loyalty and dependence on Zabuza, hearing that Menma had saved Zabuza's life, it would be strange if he didn't develop a positive affinity for Ash and its leader.
For Haku, the details of how he miraculously survived such fatal injuries were not important; he wouldn't even delve into the extraordinary power behind it.
As long as he could continue to stay by Zabuza's side, no matter where they were, which organization they belonged to, or in what capacity he existed, it made no difference to him.
If the system could measure Haku's bond level with Zabuza, that value would probably already be Level 10 or higher.
Afterwards, Menma arranged their work.
He assigned Zabuza and Haku together to the Ash organization's Anbu, with Uchiha Shisui specifically responsible for leading and deploying them.
Although Zabuza was quite skilled, an elite Jonin, he was indeed somewhat outmatched among the collection of monsters that made up the Ash organization's combatants.
Haku, on the other hand, was still young, in a period of rapid growth, possessed the rare Ice Release Bloodline Limit, and had exceptionally high talent; his future growth into a Kage-level combatant was almost inevitable.
Since Zabuza had given up his ambition to change Hidden Mist, it was a good opportunity for him to cultivate peacefully within the organization, to see if he could further improve or develop new fighting styles under Shisui's leadership.
After properly settling Zabuza and Haku, Menma then withdrew a large sum of funds from Kakuzu, which had just been "extracted" from Gato, to purchase a large quantity of explosive tags, preparing for potential tactical needs later on.
At this point, Menma's Land of Waves-related matters were finally concluded.