Night.
Steam filled the bathroom.
Izayoi lay in the bathtub, hands clasped behind his head, staring at the misty ceiling.
If you looked closely, you would notice his blue eyes were different from usual.
The color wasn't as deep as before, turning into a lighter sky blue. The black pupils blended into the blue, with a soft white light slowly flowing from within, forming a beautiful, seemingly moving white flower shape around them.
Look even closer, and you'd see Izayoi was spacing out.
Because his gaze wasn't really on the ceiling—it had pierced through the house, like a god's eye, looking down on the entire Hidden Leaf Village.
From Izayoi's perspective, the whole Hidden Leaf—city, suburbs, and forest—was surrounded by a circular wall about twenty meters high.
If the land were sunken slightly, the village would look like a pot, with the city and forest inside as the ingredients.
Above this pot, a transparent dome covered the whole village.
Not just the surface, but even underground had transparent walls.
Anyone inside or outside who touched this invisible barrier would have their chakra and location immediately detected by the sensory team.
This was the Leaf's sensory barrier.
Even the Six Paths of Pain could only choose to reveal one clone's location to force their way in.
But no ninjutsu is perfect, and this sensory barrier had a flaw.
The big barrier had a gap—at the village gate.
Unless in emergencies or special cases, the gate was left unbarriered, otherwise it would overburden the sensory team.
Even so, the barrier disappeared briefly several times a day.
That was when the sensory ninjas changed shifts.
"Shifts change every six hours, so the barrier disappears four times a day," Izayoi muttered with a smile.
At some point, he had moved from the bathtub back to his bed. Outside, the night was deep and silent.
Having found the flaw in the sensory barrier, Izayoi's gaze left the Hidden Leaf and shifted across the eastern part of the Land of Fire.
Soon, his vision landed on a wilderness campsite.
Several tents stood there, the occupants all fast asleep.
A fire burned in the clearing, and a youth kept watch—it was Uchiha Sasuke.
"Just this short distance, plenty of time," Izayoi glanced once more at Dazuna, smiling. "So pitiful, let me help you out."
Indeed, Izayoi was about to dive into the Land of Waves' storyline.
Making puppets and chakra cores required materials; he either had to find them himself or buy them.
After buying the camera, Izayoi was flat broke.
If he only did D-rank missions, he had no idea how long it would take to save enough money for materials.
He had been agonizing over how to earn money—either doing normal missions to save or finding some underground group to rob.
Seeing Dazuna today suddenly reminded him of someone, and he made a decision.
Kado—the world's top billionaire, known for illegal dealings.
If he robbed him, Izayoi could retire on the spot and never worry about money again.
Materials for puppets? Whatever he wanted, he could have.
Thinking this, Izayoi's mouth twitched into a smile—tomorrow he would go rob the rich to help the poor.
...
The next day at noon.
Izayoi took the mission payments he'd saved and went to a ninja tool shop to buy two storage scrolls. Then he split off a shadow clone with a huge chakra reserve.
During the sensory team's shift change, his real body slipped out of the Hidden Leaf and headed straight for the Land of Waves.
The Land of Waves was a small island nation.
Since it was an island, naturally it wasn't part of the ninja continent.
But it was only separated by a single bridge from the Land of Fire.
This little island lay off the eastern tip of the Land of Fire.
If you looked out from the end, you could faintly see the island's silhouette.
Izayoi, who could see anywhere in the Land of Fire from afar, now also spotted the island.
Barely out of the Leaf, Izayoi had already found Kado.
That's the terrifying power of the Tenseigan.
The massive eye on the moon could even monitor the entire ninja world.
With such long-range vision and insight, Izayoi could maintain absolute intelligence advantage no matter what.
The Hidden Leaf lay in the Land of Fire's center. Using ninja teleportation and swift movement, it took less than a day to reach any boundary.
In the original story where Naruto chased Sasuke, the little group took less than a day to get to the northern forest edge.
Izayoi had outpaced the Seventh Squad in only three hours.
Even the Demon Brothers were still ahead waiting for them.
At this speed, by the time they boarded a ship to the Land of Waves, Izayoi would already be gone.
Before even reaching the eastern tip, Izayoi rose into the air, preparing to fly into the Land of Waves.
In the sky, Izayoi had changed appearance—now the mysterious man in the black robe from when he robbed Sasori.
White long hair fluttered in the wind.
A pure white mask without any patterns or eye holes made him look eerie.
His flying posture radiated the aura of a strong fighter.
Hovering above the Land of Waves, Izayoi wasted no time—he landed right outside Kado's luxurious villa.
Then, he stepped inside.
At that moment, Kado was speaking with a man wrapped in bandages from head to toe.
"If your two men can't get this done after over a week, are they even reliable?" Kado's voice was full of displeasure.
"That old man's luck is good. When the Demon Brothers found him, he'd already taken refuge in the Hidden Leaf. But judging by his poor look, he can't afford to hire Leaf ninja to escort him back. When he can't stay in the Leaf any longer, that'll be his death," Momochi Zabuza replied coldly. "If they fail, I'll handle it myself."
"Hmph, I hope so."
"Who is this ordinary man to have the guts to talk to a top-tier rogue ninja like me?"
At that moment, a voice came from the shadows, heard by Kado, Zabuza, and a white-eared figure lurking in the corner.
Izayoi stepped forward, looking at the bandaged Zabuza seated on the sofa next to a large sword.
Curious, he said, "Is your Kirigakure brainwashing so effective? Even after deserting, you still stick to your professional code?"
Before Zabuza could answer, a figure appeared before him.
The white-eared man raised a hand, forming several Senbon needles, speaking gravely:
"Lord Zabuza, be careful—this man… is very strong!"
Zabuza stood, gripping his execution sword, a bloody desire curling the corners of his bandaged mouth.
"Clearly a lawless guy who deserves to be cut down."