Chapter 165: Handling the Aftermath
While Naruto followed Team Seven back to Konoha Village, on the other side, the shadow clone operating under the identity of "Menma" began gathering intelligence about the Hidden Mist Village's current situation after handling the Land of Waves' aftermath. A question circled in his mind: at this point in the timeline, had the Bloody Mist policy actually ended?
Using the intelligence network that the Ember organization had initially established, he quickly obtained some key information.
The intelligence feedback showed that while the Bloody Mist's terrifying policies hadn't completely ended, the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, had stepped down.
Currently, the Hidden Mist Village was temporarily in a leaderless state, with the most senior and respected Elder Genshi temporarily leading the village's daily affairs and maintaining basic operations.
This result left Naruto somewhat surprised and confused. His original understanding was that the Hidden Mist Village became the feared "Bloody Mist" entirely because Obito had darkened after Rin's death and used his Sharingan to control the Fourth Mizukage Yagura.
However, a detail he had overlooked or misunderstood surfaced: the cruel, oppressive "Bloody Mist" policy had actually begun taking shape during the Third Mizukage's reign, not entirely originating with the Fourth Mizukage. The Hidden Mist Village, due to its unique geographical environment and historical reasons, had always harbored radical and xenophobic factions.
If Naruto could reread the original Naruto manga now, he would see that on the night Obito witnessed Rin's death and completely fell into darkness, the Hidden Mist ninja participating in the siege were already calling their own village the "Bloody Mist."
Of course, it was undeniable that after Obito successfully used his Mangekyo Sharingan to control the Fourth Mizukage Yagura, he greatly intensified and twisted the already existing Bloody Mist policies, pushing them to even more extreme and inhumane heights.
Things like forcing academy students to kill each other as graduation exams, persecuting and purging families with bloodline limits... these atrocities were largely exacerbated under Obito's covert manipulation and instigation.
Now that the Fourth Mizukage had stepped down... this likely meant Obito's direct control over the Hidden Mist Village had ended, and that troublemaking mastermind had probably cleared out.
Analyzing comprehensively, the current Hidden Mist Village, after decades of internal strife, self-destruction, and talent drain, had its military strength and economic power fallen to historical lows—utterly weakened.
The village's current priority was undoubtedly internal reorganization, pacifying the populace, and recovering vitality. They had neither the time nor strength for external expansion or stirring up conflicts.
Since the Land of Waves incident had been settled, and the "deaths" of Momochi Zabuza and Haku hadn't been confirmed—there might even be some clues suggesting they could still be alive—what would the Hidden Mist Village, currently in extreme weakness and desperate for talent, do?
The answer was almost certain.
The Hidden Mist's leadership, especially the temporarily governing Elder Genshi, would very likely immediately attempt to send people to contact and search for Zabuza and Haku, trying to bring this skilled "Demon" rogue ninja and the more precious youth with the rare Ice Style bloodline limit back to the village.
Of course, under Menma's forceful intervention and "life-saving grace," Momochi Zabuza and Haku had already been branded with the Ember organization's mark. If the Hidden Mist Village still deluded themselves into trying to poach them now, they were truly dreaming.
Menma was extremely confident in the effectiveness of personally pulling Haku back from death's door, and the system notification that immediately followed confirmed his judgment of Zabuza's loyalty.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations Host: Established Bond Level 4 with original character "Momochi Zabuza"!]
[Points gained: 600!]
Not bad... Menma felt mildly surprised. Establishing a bond for the first time that jumped directly to level four? This was enough to show that Haku's position in Zabuza's heart was far more important than imagined—possibly even more than Zabuza himself admitted.
In his bond records, aside from Satsuki's emotional impact being so intense it went "Beyond Calculation," and Guy-sensei reaching level three on first meeting due to "youthful resonance," Zabuza's initial level four affection ranked solidly second.
However, what happened next at the organization's base left Menma somewhat speechless.
Though Haku had been completely healed of his fatal injuries by "Crazy Diamond," he remained unconscious for two days due to excessive chakra consumption from the earlier battle.
During those two days, Zabuza remained by Haku's bedside almost constantly, barely eating, just quietly and motionlessly watching Haku's sleeping face, waiting for those eyes to open again.
Finally, Haku slowly awakened. Zabuza first suppressed his inner excitement and explained their current situation and the fact that they had joined the Ember organization as calmly as possible.
But when explaining the reasons, this guy began arbitrarily modifying the "script."
He never mentioned that he had submitted to joining because of Haku. Instead, he fabricated a story, claiming that Gato had betrayed him that day, leaving him in desperate straits and nearly dead, until Leader Menma intervened to save his life.
To repay this life-saving debt, he, Momochi Zabuza, decided to pledge loyalty to the Ember organization. As for saving Haku... he described it as something Menma did in passing as a "bonus."
He even deliberately used a tone that seemed cold but was actually awkward to tell Haku: "Listen, Haku, both our lives were ransomed back from hell's edge by that organization. From now on, my blade and my life belong to Ember."
Finally, he didn't forget to add: "Don't ask unnecessary questions. Just follow me like before."
Menma, listening from the side, was utterly speechless. "..."
What's with this tsundere act? Who was crying their eyes out in dogeza begging me to save someone? Now that the person's saved, you're putting on airs again? This whole "saving face while suffering inside" routine is really...
As if to mock Zabuza's awkward speech, just as his words finished, a new notification immediately sounded in Menma's mind.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations Host: Established initial bond with original character "Haku"!]
[Points gained: 150!]
Menma wasn't surprised 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 positive feelings toward Ember and its leader.
For Haku, the details of how he miraculously survived such fatal injuries didn't matter, and he wouldn't even deeply question the extraordinary power involved.
As long as he could continue staying by Zabuza's side, no matter where they were, which organization they belonged to, or what identity they held, it made no difference to him.
If the system could measure Haku's bond level with Zabuza, that number would probably already be level 10 and beyond.
Afterward, Menma arranged work assignments for both of them. He assigned Zabuza and Haku to Ember's ANBU division, under Uchiha Shisui's direct leadership and coordination.
Though Zabuza's strength was considerable—elite jonin level—among the current monster-filled combat personnel of the Ember organization, he was indeed somewhat lacking.
Conversely, Haku was still young, in a period of rapid growth, possessed the rare Ice Style bloodline limit, had extremely high talent, and would almost certainly grow to Kage-level strength in the future.
Since Zabuza had abandoned his ambition to change the Hidden Mist, it was perfect to let him peacefully train within the organization and see if he could advance further under Shisui's guidance or develop new combat methods.
After properly settling Zabuza and Haku, Menma withdrew a large sum from the funds Kakuzu had just "extracted" from Gato, preparing to purchase large quantities of explosive tags for tactical preparations that might be needed later.
With this, Menma's Land of Waves-related affairs were finally completely concluded.