"I submit!"
At this point, Zabuza no longer had the power to choose. The sheer disparity in their strength had shattered his pride. To survive and continue his ambitions, he had to bow.
"I pledge my loyalty as well!"
After Zabuza agreed, Haku followed suit without a moment's hesitation. His life belonged to Zabuza; if Zabuza served this boy, so would he.
"Good."
Shiro extended his hand, palm facing outward. "Wood Style."
A steady stream of emerald-green Wood Style chakra began to visibly gather and pulsate around his hand.
"Wait! What are you doing?!"
Zabuza instinctively flinched, hurriedly trying to shield the battered Haku behind his own injured body, expecting a final, lethal strike.
But in the next second, Shiro pressed his glowing hand against Zabuza's chest. Instead of crushing pressure, a surge of incredibly pure, warm life force poured directly into Zabuza's chakra coils.
Before the mercenary's shocked eyes, the deep gash originally inflicted by the Executioner's Blade began to knit together and heal at a rapid, visible pace.
"What's the matter? Don't want me to treat your subordinate next?" Shiro asked, an amused smirk playing on his lips.
"N-No... it was a misunderstanding on my part," Zabuza stammered, his eyes wide.
Feeling the pain vanish and his stamina return, Zabuza immediately dropped to one knee, bowing his head respectfully. He hadn't expected his new 'Lord' to possess such miraculous medical ninjutsu, nor to actually use it on defeated pawns.
This unexpected display of benevolence made Zabuza feel that the forced submission wasn't such a terrible fate after all.
Under the soothing, absolute healing power of the Wood Style's massive vitality, both rogue ninjas quickly recovered to peak physical condition.
"My Lord, our lives and our blades are yours to command," Zabuza and Haku said in unison, remaining on one knee.
"Alright. Stand up. I don't have many major, ongoing demands for you," Shiro began, getting down to business. "However, I do have a primary objective for this region."
Shiro looked toward the distant skyline where the shipping magnate's headquarters loomed. "I want you to infiltrate Gato's compound. Eliminate him, dismantle his immediate inner circle, and completely seize all of his financial and physical assets."
This was the exact reason why Shiro had decided to recruit subordinates.
Just as the 'benevolent' Third Hokage required the ruthless Danzo to manage the village's darkest shadows, someone always needed to handle the bloody, tedious affairs in the background. Shiro possessed absolute power, but he naturally didn't have the time or the desire to personally deal with bureaucratic massacres and accounting.
"Understood, My Lord!"
Zabuza immediately grasped Shiro's intention. A cruel, familiar smile returned to his face beneath the bandages. For elite rogue ninjas and mercenaries like them, orchestrating a hostile takeover and slaughtering a defenseless billionaire's mafia was practically a vacation.
"Furthermore, My Lord..." Zabuza gritted his teeth, reaching into his pouch. He pulled out several high-capacity storage scrolls. "I currently have roughly one billion ryo saved up in various secure accounts and physical bounties. It was my war chest for a coup in the Mist... I offer it all to you as a pledge of loyalty."
Zabuza handed over the savings he had accumulated from years of frantically taking on high-risk, blood-soaked assassination missions.
At this moment, Zabuza didn't realize that relinquishing his life savings was the most correct, profitable decision he would ever make. It was precisely because of this absolute display of loyalty that Zabuza, currently a hunted stray dog, would eventually be granted the power and backing to ascend to the position of the Fifth Mizukage.
"Keep it for now; consider it operational funding for your new unit," Shiro said, waving the scrolls away. "Also, drop the 'My Lord' title. Just call me Shiro."
Shiro felt distinctly uncomfortable with the overly formal title. Coming from the mouth of a hulking, demonic mercenary like Zabuza, it made Shiro sound like some sort of cliché underworld kingpin.
"As you command, Lord Shiro!" Zabuza amended, still feeling that a title of respect was mandatory given the power dynamic.
Shiro sighed, deciding not to press the issue, and waved his hand to dismiss them. "Go settle the Gato situation. We'll rendezvous later."
This interaction perfectly highlighted the sheer convenience of having competent subordinates. Having to personally wade through a warehouse full of screaming, untalented thugs just to kill a fat businessman would have been far too tedious and beneath his station.
Having successfully subcontracted the dirty work, Shiro casually shunshined back to the main village in the Land of Waves.
Upon arriving at the village square, he gathered the elders and publicly announced that, effective immediately, Gato's tyrannical hold over the shipping lanes and the region was permanently broken.
"Ah... this... your kindness, Lord Ninja! We shall never forget this for as long as we live!"
The Village Elder collapsed to his knees, openly weeping with overwhelming relief. Shiro was truly their savior.
"By the way, benefactor," the Elder sniffled, wiping his face as he gestured to a group of men behind him. "We promised you our Village's treasure. Please, you must accept it!"
Two strong fishermen stepped forward, struggling slightly as they carried over a large, heavy object wrapped tightly in a faded red cloth. It looked to weigh at least fifty pounds.
"What exactly is this?" Shiro asked, genuinely curious.
He unwrapped the red cloth. Beneath the fabric lay a massive, jagged, incredibly dense piece of what looked like dark, hardened armor plating or an oversized, petrified scale.
"Benefactor, the origins of this object are extremely mysterious," the Elder explained reverently. "It was hauled up from the deepest trench of the channel by one of our bravest fishermen a few years ago."
"According to him, when he brought this thing to the surface, the surrounding schools of fish became violently agitated, fighting each other to get close to it. He even claimed a giant sea monster began to rise from the depths, forcing him to cut his nets and flee back to shore."
Listening to the Elder's fantastical tale, Shiro placed his hand on the rough, armored surface and began to analyze it.
Although Shiro wasn't immediately sure exactly which creature it belonged to, he could clearly sense that the object was essentially a battery containing a massive, terrifyingly dense amount of ambient Water-attribute natural energy.
When Shiro experimentally channeled a tiny pulse of his own chakra into the object, the entire scale hummed and vibrated, resonating intensely with the water vapor in the air!
"Since it clearly possesses mystical properties, we usually just bury it near our main irrigation reservoirs," the Elder continued, scratching his head. "Because every time we put it in the ground, the soil becomes incredibly fertile, and a massive amount of fresh water bubbles up to fill the wells the very next day."
The Village Elder was a civilian, so he lacked the vocabulary to explain the object's passive chakra-radiating effects clearly.
"We cannot unlock its true potential; to us, it is merely a convenient farming tool. It is far better suited in the hands of a powerful shinobi like yourself!" the Elder insisted respectfully.
"I see. I will gladly accept it," Shiro nodded, slipping the massive scale into a storage scroll. "In return for your generosity, I will ensure that funding and security personnel are provided to help you complete the Great Bridge without further interruption."
Shiro had already mentally assigned Zabuza to act as the temporary foreman and security chief for the Land of Waves until the bridge was finished.
"Thank you! Thank you, benefactor!"
Afterward, Shiro traveled to Gato's primary headquarters to check on Zabuza's progress.
As expected, by the time Shiro strolled through the front gates, the opulent mansion was eerily quiet, and the marble floors were painted with a literal river of blood.
"Lord Shiro!"
Zabuza emerged from the master office, casually wiping a splash of blood from his cheek with a rag. Upon seeing Shiro, he immediately stood at attention to deliver his report.
"Gato and his entire inner circle of enforcers have been permanently dealt with. The remaining thugs scattered."
"Excellent. What about the financials?"
"We have secured the primary vaults," Zabuza reported with a dark grin. "We've tallied approximately 2.1 billion ryo in physical cash and bearer bonds. The remaining fixed assets, shipping deeds, and various contraband resources haven't been fully cataloged yet, but the total value is immense."
It truly had to be said—having a highly efficient, ruthless subordinate to handle hostile corporate takeovers was incredibly convenient.
"Good job," Shiro praised.
He unsealed a specific weapon scroll and tossed it across the room.
Zabuza caught the heavy object on instinct. He looked down and his eyes widened.
"My Executioner's Blade!" Zabuza gasped, instantly becoming visibly excited as he gripped the familiar, blood-stained hilt of his beloved weapon.
"Thank you, Lord Shiro!" Zabuza bowed deeply. He hadn't expected Shiro to simply return the legendary sword. He assumed the boy would keep it as a trophy or sell it.
*Then again,* Zabuza realized, *with Lord Shiro's god-like power... a crude chunk of iron like the Executioner's Blade is practically an insignificant toy to him.*
"Transfer about five hundred million ryo into a secure spatial scroll for me to take back as immediate walking around money," Shiro instructed. "The remaining billions will stay under your control here to fund your operations and rebuild this country."
"As you command," Zabuza said respectfully, immediately moving to prepare the funds.
"By the way, Zabuza," Shiro called out, pulling the massive, red-wrapped scale from his own inventory. "Take a look at this. See if you've ever encountered anything like it during your time in the Mist."
Shiro figured that as a former elite of the Water Country, Zabuza might possess specialized knowledge regarding marine anomalies.
---
"Something from the ocean?" Zabuza asked, showing a hint of genuine curiosity as he approached.
However, the moment Shiro unwrapped the red cloth and revealed the massive, jagged piece of dark armor, Zabuza stumbled backward, nearly crying out in surprise.
"This is...!"
Seeing Zabuza's visceral, terrified reaction, Shiro knew he had hit the jackpot. The mercenary definitely recognized it.
"Lord Shiro... I have felt that exact, terrifying chakra signature before," Zabuza breathed, his visible eye wide with apprehension as he stared at the scale. "It radiates the exact same, oppressive aura as the Fourth Mizukage!"
"Yagura?" Shiro pondered the name for a moment.
If it shared the exact chakra signature of Yagura Karatachi, the perfect Jinchuriki of the Hidden Mist, then Shiro knew exactly what he was holding.
It wasn't just a sea monster's scale. It was a physical piece of Isobu, the Three-Tails.
"Lord Shiro... how in the world did you obtain a piece of a Tailed Beast?!" Zabuza asked, his voice hushed with awe and fear.
Shiro simply chuckled and explained that the local fishermen had quite literally hooked it by accident and used it to water their cabbages.
Zabuza was rendered speechless. He was profoundly shocked by Shiro's incredible, heaven-defying luck. People waged world wars over Tailed Beast fragments, and this boy was just handed one as a thank-you gift by a bunch of farmers.
With the hostile takeover complete and the massive fortune secured, Shiro had thoroughly handled all of his covert business in the Land of Waves. It was time to return to Konoha and play the role of the dutiful, recently promoted Jonin.
Coincidentally, having successfully delivered Tazuna, Kakashi and the rest of Team 7 were also preparing to depart for the Leaf Village that very afternoon.
Shiro decided he didn't mind accompanying them on the journey back; it would provide an excellent alibi for his timeline.
"Shiro!"
If one were to ask who was the absolute happiest about Shiro deciding to accompany Team 7 on the long walk home... it was undoubtedly Sakura.
"Shiro, is your solo mission already complete?" Sakura asked curiously, jogging up to walk beside him, a bright blush on her cheeks.
Team 7's mission had simply been to escort Tazuna safely to his home. Now that they were on the return leg, the atmosphere was much more relaxed.
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