Inside the two-meter-high and wide safe, there was an overwhelming array of riches.
Stacks of ten-thousand-yuan bills, neatly arranged gold bars, bags brimming with gems, and even jewelry and land deeds were casually stored in the compartments.
Izanami, in both of his lives, had never seen so much wealth in one place.
"Is this what a top-tier tycoon's wealth looks like?" Izanami mused aloud. "If Kado wasn't lying to me, this is just one of his treasure troves. How much does this guy actually have?"
He smiled, his tone shifting to something more gleeful. "Never mind. It's all mine now. Hehehe…"
Izanami produced a storage scroll he had prepared earlier, quickly storing all the cash, gold bars, gems, jewelry, and land deeds from the safe.
Unfortunately, the safe was too large, and the storage scroll wasn't a large or extra-large type, meaning it couldn't fit the entire safe.
However, Izanami had anticipated this and had brought along two storage scrolls for just such a contingency.
Once he had finished collecting the treasures, Izanami returned to the surface and formed a hand seal, creating a shadow clone of himself, imbued with an enormous amount of chakra.
He turned to the clone. "I'll leave the rest to you. No problem, right?"
The Izanami shadow clone smiled and gave a nonchalant shrug. "That's unnecessary. You don't trust me?"
Releasing a surge of Attraction, the clone pulled Kado into the air, preparing to leave Wave Country.
Watching his clone depart with Kado, Izanami took Zabuza Momochi and White into his care, and with the other shadow clone, they flew off into the sky, leaving Wave Country behind.
Within hours, Izanami and his clone arrived at the nearest Black Market. It was located beneath a public restroom—a clever, hidden entrance.
Leaving his clone outside to guard Zabuza and White, Izanami entered the Black Market alone.
As soon as he entered through the special passage, a middle-aged man in a black suit approached him, bowing slightly. "Welcome. Please follow me, guest."
A masked individual was always an enigma. People who didn't want to reveal their identities usually fell into one of two categories: either pretentious individuals or those with significant renown in the ninja world.
The middle-aged man quickly decided to treat Izanami with utmost respect, his mind racing to figure out who he was dealing with.
Izanami, on the other hand, had no idea about the man's internal musings. This was his first time in a Black Market, and his Rinnegan could see far and wide but didn't have the ability to eavesdrop. Without any signs or notices in the market, Izanami wasn't familiar with its protocols.
The man guided him to a private room, where he gestured for Izanami to sit.
"What is it that you require?" the middle-aged man asked with a polite smile.
"I need paper and a pen," Izanami replied. "I want to purchase some materials."
"Yes, of course…" The man's eyes lit up with excitement, quickly assuming this might be a substantial order. He hurried to fetch the items.
Izanami took the pen and wrote down the materials he needed for crafting Human Puppets and Chakra Cores. He then slid the list across the table.
"Can you get these materials?" he asked.
The man took a moment to read the list, then looked back up at Izanami with admiration. "These materials are from the Hidden Sand Village. Some of them are rare, but they can be sourced."
"What's the price here?" Izanami asked, his tone casual.
The middle-aged man stretched out three fingers. "Three times the market price."
Izanami nodded, unfazed. "Okay, prepare thirty portions for me. How long will it take?"
"Three days," the middle-aged man replied after a brief pause. "However, I will need a deposit first. Two hundred thousand ryo should suffice."
Two hundred thousand ryo—equivalent to the reward for a B-rank mission.
Izanami smiled. He wasn't concerned with such an amount. Reaching into his sleeve, he pulled out twenty ten-thousand-ryo bills and placed them on the table.
"Alright, I'll return in three days," he said, standing up and heading for the exit.
As he left, the middle-aged man couldn't help but marvel at the amount of money, already planning to source the materials for Izanami with the full power of the Black Market.
Within less than a day, the news had been transmitted through special means directly into someone's mind.
"The mysterious figure has been located," White Zetsu said with a grin. "Just as Black Zetsu suspected, he chose to buy materials for creating Human Puppets in the Black Market."
"While puppet materials can be found on one's own, it's a time-consuming process. At the moment, the only places capable of quickly supplying these materials are the Hidden Sand Village and the Black Market. It's no surprise he chose the latter," Black Zetsu replied, his tone low and thoughtful.
"We need to inform 'Uchiha Madara-sama' and eliminate this threat immediately," Black Zetsu continued.
Not long after, Uchiha Obito, along with Black and White Zetsu, were communicating with Tendo Pain atop a steel building.
"The mysterious figure has been found. Do you plan to take action yourself?" Tendo Pain asked, his voice cautious.
"Is your injury still bothering you?" he added, sensing something off.
"It's not an injury that time can heal," Uchiha Obito responded. "You know well that this is the man who pacified the chaotic world. There's no recovering from something like that."
If Nagato had ever met Uchiha Madara, he would've recognized this line as a clear giveaway that Uchiha Obito wasn't the real Madara. The true Madara would never speak so openly to someone beneath him. Even without his eyes, he faced the Nine Tailed Beast with nothing but arrogance, unshaken.
Seeing that Obito was still being mysterious and reluctant to take action, Tendo Pain let out a sigh. "Then I'll take the lead. You assist from the shadows."
"Fine, but I'd like to bring someone along."
"Uchiha Itachi?" Tendo Pain asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, his Sharingan technique could prove invaluable. It might help us achieve the results we need," Obito confirmed.
Tendo Pain paused for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. When do we move?"
"Now."
The decision was swift, and the Six Paths of Pain, together with Uchiha Obito, immediately took action.
Izanami, unaware of what was happening, would've likely clicked his tongue in recognition of the formidable scene unfolding.
The two leading figures of the Akatsuki—one acting in the open, the other lurking in the shadows—joined forces, with a flawless and undefeated partner in tow. This was undoubtedly the most powerful trio in the Ninja World.
Taking them on? That would be too much of an uphill battle.