Nagato finally saw his fellow disciple, Namikaze Minato, and also Orochimaru, who had become the Hokage of Konoha.
The first time they met in the Land of Rain, the killing intent and coldness that Orochimaru gave off left a deep impression on him.
If it weren't for Jiraiya stepping in back then, the lives of all three of them might have ended that day.
But this meeting felt completely different.
Although Orochimaru still seemed somewhat indifferent, the terrifying feeling—like facing a giant snake—that Nagato once felt was gone.
Maybe it was because he had become strong enough f to no longer be overwhelmed by Orochimaru's presence.
Or perhaps it was because he now represented both the Village Hidden in the Rain and Konoha's allies, a different position than before.
More likely, Orochimaru himself had changed in ways Nagato didn't fully understand, causing subtle shifts in how his chakra felt.
If Orochimaru wasn't sitting right there in the Hokage's office handling official matters—showing even a gentle side—Nagato might have thought this was a fake Orochimaru, a ninja using transformation jutsu to disguise himself.
The two of them were there to sign a new cooperation treaty between Konoha and the Village Hidden in the Rain.
Konoha was hiring ninjas from the Rain Village to protect valuable minerals in the Land of Rivers.
Kakuzu was involved in the negotiations with Konoha the entire time.
There was no other way—although Yahiko and the others had grown a lot, it wasn't surprising that if Nagato handled it himself, he would be sold out by Orochimaru and Konoha's people, and still be grateful to them.
What surprised him was that, although Konoha was very strict about the mission's payment and final benefits, he didn't detect any traps hidden in the conditions they laid out.
Not to mention between villages, even among merchants, such fair and honest cooperation was rare.
In all his years, Kakuzu had hardly seen a few cases like this. What he saw the most, besides betrayal, was betrayal again.
Because he had witnessed and experienced so much betrayal, the bond and determination between the three—Yahiko and the others—touched him deeply.
It made him look at the three with new respect and value them highly.
Overall, although the Rain Village's goal this time wasn't fully achieved, it helped ease the urgent financial crisis.
Especially for Kakuzu, he now had one more powerful kekkei genkai heart in his chest.
He wanted to take more hearts, but according to Kagetsu's theory, having multiple kekkei genkai hearts fused into his body might cause some burden, leading to a drop in his strength.
Also, the current kekkei genkai hearts didn't perfectly match the two hearts he already had in terms of chakra nature.
The good news was that this situation could be improved.
The Wood Release kekkei genkai heart could boost his body and chakra capacity, allowing him to carry and supply more kekkei genkai hearts.
Kagetsu also promised to custom-make two hearts with chakra natures perfectly suited to him in the future.
But since he was already here this time, and to avoid the trouble of traveling all the way from the Land of Rain to the Land of Fire again for heart replacements, Kakuzu took three replacement hearts with him.
He only needed to use the nutrient solution Kagetsu sold him to keep these hearts active.
In terms of shelf life, at least for the next ten years, Kakuzu wouldn't have to worry about them shrinking or deteriorating.
Nagato and his group, along with the Hidden Rain Village, got what they wanted.
Orochimaru and Konoha also gained something valuable.
The money earned from selling the Healing Tags by Hidden Rain Village was quickly spent over these few days.
The merchants who received the information beforehand and came to Konoha early with their goods all returned fully loaded.
The Hidden Rain shinobi, who traveled a long way to do business in Konoha, suddenly became the most beloved business partners in the eyes of these merchants.
They only needed to deliver the goods within Konoha, settle payments clearly, and even skipped hiring Leaf ninjas to escort the goods for trade in the Land of Rain.
Although they still had to pay considerable business tax to Konoha, overall, they made a profit.
Some smaller merchants who had outdated information witnessed the Hidden Rain shinobi's extravagant spending these days.
While regretting not bringing enough goods themselves, they tried to make connections with the Rain shinobi to learn what the Hidden Rain Village still needed.
Then, they would quickly buy those items from elsewhere and send them to the Hidden Rain Village for trade.
Overall, the Hidden Rain Village had made a big appearance in Konoha these days, and many merchants and traders in Konoha profited from it.
Even the Sand shinobi stationed in Konoha knew about the large trades between the Hidden Rain and Konoha during this time.
But they could only watch helplessly.
Because what the Hidden Rain Village lacked, the Hidden Sand Village also lacked!
For example, food and various precision instruments.
Here's a joke: at least the Hidden Rain might be able to sell water to the Land of Wind, but it was hard for the Sand Village to find specialty products they could sell in large quantities to the Hidden Rain.
Even with poisons, the Land of Rain was not that far behind.
In making poisons and antidotes, the Sand Village could only say their system was a bit more complete than that of the Rain shinobi.
They were very envious.
If in the past the relationship wasn't so close and the interests weren't so solid, after learning about this matter, the Sand ninja would definitely want to get involved to cause some trouble.
At least, the Sand ninja were very interested in the goods purchased by the Hidden Rain Village.
Now that the Sand Village's finances had improved thanks to the Ryūmyaku vein Project cooperation, otherwise, the poor Sand ninja would have tried to seize those goods by force.
Their own Kage didn't care about his reputation at all, using his Kekkei Genkai ability to mine gold in the desert to support the village's expenses.
Who cared about the ninja world's reputation or future troubles?
At least Rasa, after receiving the intelligence from Pakura, casually tossed it aside after reading it.
The ones who became famous in the Third Great Ninja War were not just the major ninja villages.
During the Ninja World War, Yahiko and his group silently eliminated Demi-God Hanzō, the Hidden Mist Anbu Yagura, and under the pressure of the Rock and Cloud ninja, they protected and allowed the normal development of the Hidden Rain Village .
Their intelligence and information had been laid out on the desks of the five Kages.
It wasn't worth offending them during this period of recovery.
Especially since Rasa's whole mind was focused on the Ryūmyaku vein Project.
The Konoha Village, which had been lively for days, did not quiet down.
Instead, it started to feel like the commercial center of the ninja world.
The large gathering of merchants and the pile-up of goods made the village suddenly crowded.
The Third Hokage was urgently called from the Konoha Ninja Academy by Orochimaru.
Together with the leaders of the major Konoha ninja clans, they began planning and expanding the territory and size of Konoha again.
The barriers also needed to be rebuilt, so everything was dealt with at once.
More merchants meant more trade goods and a larger population inside the village — all good for the current Leaf Village.
As for moving residents and rebuilding structures, due to the casualties of the previous ninja world war, there were no major obstacles.
The ninja clans with large land deeds in Konoha naturally did not oppose any of this.
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