Chapter 172: No Desire...

Not long after, a young man in his twenties came out first, with a sword at his hip and about a dozen people following him.

These men were a ragtag bunch of unsavory sorts. By comparison, the young man only looked somewhat more presentable, though he still had a shifty demeanor—he gave off the vibe of a small-time thug, with narrow, roaming eyes that wandered all over the place.

In any case, he didn't look like an upstanding citizen.

"We meet again, Teishi," he said in a low-rent tone of voice.

The disreputable gang behind him showed no sign of attacking; they looked absolutely terrified, as though they might scatter at any second.

"Mr. Ketsu, you're too polite," Teishi replied with a fawning smile. "Could you tell me when I can start working?"

"Working?" Ketsu froze for a second before saying, "Oh, that. Yes… so, those Konoha shinobi with you—?"

"Surely you haven't forgotten—I mentioned to you that I'd be hiring ninja from the Konoha for protection on my trip there and back. You also agreed to reimburse me—" Teishi rubbed his hands together nervously. "Remember? That shop in Tanzaku Town, where we discussed all the details?"

Right now, he suspected Ketsu was pretending not to remember, in order to avoid paying. Ketsu might have a group of apparent mobsters behind him, but they looked terrified. Even if they were thugs, they were likely just cannon fodder.

"Is that so?" Ketsu made a face of sudden realization while secretly grumbling to himself, "Damn it, I must've been drunk again…"

Nonetheless, seeing that these really were just Konoha ninja on a paid job—and not there to eradicate him—he felt greatly relieved. "No problem, I'll cover that expense," he said with a dismissive wave, then motioned for his men to disperse.

In the end, only the tattooed man from earlier stayed by his side as a guard.

"Thank you, Mr. Ketsu." Teishi couldn't help flashing a grin of yellowed teeth. "So, please—when do I start working?"

"Oh, right." Ketsu smacked his forehead. "The garden I need you to tend isn't here."

He turned slightly and said, "Kusawara, you take them there."

The tattooed man—Kusawara—looked stunned, as if to say, "You sure you want me to do it?" But Ketsu just waved them off and disappeared back upstairs.

Kusawara seemed to wage an intense internal battle, but, upon seeing Teishi's anxious expression, forced an awkward smile and said, "Fine, let's go. I'll show you."

Shortly thereafter, the group left the huge mansion. Around dusk, they arrived at another residence near a local town.

The townsfolk, upon seeing them, showed obvious fear and revulsion—steering clear so as not to walk anywhere close.

Kusawara didn't demand that Teishi start working immediately; he simply told him they could stay there, that someone would come by tomorrow. Then he took off in a hurry.

"They really are the remnants of Gatō's gang…"

After dinner, having inquired about local rumors, Link mostly figured out what was going on:

That young guy, Ketsu, used to work for Gatō, bullying local villagers for him. When Gatō died, the townspeople drove him away. Somehow, he got his hands on some money, re-hired the surviving members of Gatō's gang, and suddenly rose to become the boss of a new yakuza group.

Their current stronghold was the same former Gatō compound in the mangrove forest—that weird building they'd seen earlier in the day.

Even the large estate that needed Teishi's gardening work was a place Gatō once owned, which Ketsu repurchased.

As for Kusawara, the tattooed man, he was said to be a violent ronin who'd slash people at the slightest provocation, reputedly a vicious thug even among yakuza. But these days, he looked… well, not so intimidating anymore.

"A small-time hood suddenly flush with cash, hanging out and spending money in Tanzaku Town…"

Link started suspecting Ketsu might have found the hidden loot that he was after.

Leaving some shadows behind to watch over the residence together with his three subordinates, Link slipped away under cover of darkness to check out Gatō's old base once more.

Even at midnight, it was still brightly lit.

He didn't go in directly, instead using Earth-Style: Subterranean Voyage to tunnel in from below. A skilled earth-release ninja didn't need to break in from the front door; tunneling was enough.

He crept along beneath the ground, and upon reaching the underside of the structure, he quickly located a basement behind and below the main building. It was empty—nothing inside but footprints, presumably left by a single individual.

Given that he couldn't be certain this was the same "villa" Gatō had mentioned, Link circled the mangrove forest, too. Despite his speed, he found no further secret facilities.

"Seems I'm too late." He wasn't exactly disappointed; he'd expected in advance that any intel from dead men might be outdated.

But he was still surprised that Gatō's stash had been found so quickly.

"I guess there's no point hoping too much for the other leads."

Link briefly considered simply robbing Ketsu, but the guy had been blowing money in Tanzaku Town, buying Gatō's mansion, and paying off his subordinates. Who knows if he had any left? He was the textbook example of a wannabe thug who'd suddenly come into cash, living lavishly, calling in friends and partying—bound to go broke again soon.

"Plans can't keep pace with reality…"

Still, he hadn't come away empty-handed. From info Sasuke had mentioned, Link tracked down Zabuza Momochi and Haku's burial site, along with Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō (Executioner's Blade).

Refining his chakra, he formed seals and performed a summoning.

Standing on the Executioner's Blade, he released a Summoning Jutsu—and a semi-transparent figure was pulled back into the living world.

A fair-skinned, black-haired, pink-kimono-wearing beautiful young man, his face still delicate, looked at the unfamiliar Konoha shinobi in surprise. "This place… doesn't seem like that world…?"

"I brought you from the Pure Land," Link explained, slightly perplexed himself. Evidently, he'd discovered another clue to how this summoning technique for souls functioned.

Was it the grave and corpses that enabled him to summon Haku, or the presence of the Executioner's Blade?

"You…" Haku suddenly raised a hand to his mouth in surprise. "You're the one who was always talking in that world."

He studied the teenager standing on top of the sword, showing a gentle smile. "I never expected you'd be so young in person."

Rude… Link remained expressionless. "Do you want to see Momochi Zabuza again?"

Haku froze, then murmured, "So… I could still see Zabuza-sama again?"

But then he shook his head softly. "No… I guess I was already a failure, a useless tool…"

In that battle, he'd lost to Naruto and been stripped of his very purpose as a tool. Even dying for Zabuza's sake, if he somehow returned to the living world, he felt he had no reason to continue existing. That was precisely why, believing he no longer had a purpose, he never responded to the mysterious voice calling people in the Pure Land.

He had no desires in the living world.

~~~

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