Aoba's sudden appearance caught all four people present completely off guard.
After all, he had only just become the daimyo of the Land of Fire. Shouldn't he first stay in the Capital of Fire and stabilize things there?
"Aoba, why did you come back so fast?", Shizune asked directly.
She had thought he would be held up for several days.
An unhappy look immediately appeared on Aoba's face, "Shizune-nee, do you not want to see me come back?"
"…"
"That's not what I mean."
How could Shizune not know he was pretending. She rolled her eyes and explained, "I'm worried that you came back so early. Won't something happen over in the Capital of Fire? After all, the Land of Fire is much bigger than Konoha, and the situation there should be a lot more complicated, right?"
"No need to worry about that. Right now the Capital of Fire has my Sensei there, and Aunt Mikoto and the others as well. They can't stir up much trouble."
Aoba sat down in the seat that belonged to the Hokage and said with a smile, "And Shizune-nee, you don't need to think so highly of the daimyo and those noble officials. At the end of the day, they're just a bunch of useless parasites."
"It's just that Konoha really can't spare that many people right now. Otherwise, why would we even keep them around? Using them like dogs later on wouldn't be a problem at all."
"Isn't that a bit too much?"
Shizune, Konan, Samui, and Mabui all had strange expressions on their faces.
In their past understanding, the daimyo and the nobles had always been high and mighty. In their eyes, ninjas were nothing more than lowly tools.
Comparing them to dogs was indeed a bit too shocking.
"What's so outrageous about that? In another couple of years, even if they want to be Konoha's dogs, they won't have the chance," Aoba said seriously.
"You're getting more outrageous the more you talk."
Shizune really couldn't imagine those once lofty nobles begging to be dogs, so she simply changed the topic, "You put aside the matters in the Capital of Fire and came back. There must be something else important, right?"
"Shizune-nee really does understand me," Aoba smiled, but his expression quickly turned serious again.
His gaze swept over Konan, Samui, and Mabui one by one.
"Since Konan-nee is here as well, I'll say it straight. Pain plans to enter the Hidden Cloud Village and make a move on the Eight-Tails."
This was intelligence passed over by Uchiha Itachi through his summoning crow.
Originally, Aoba had instructed Sasori, who was now undercover in the Hidden Cloud Village, to pass the message to him as soon as Pain appeared there. Unexpectedly, it was Itachi's side that sent the news back first.
And he even said that the leader of the Akatsuki seemed to already have thoughts of joining Konoha.
When Aoba learned this, he was completely stunned.
No, neither he nor Konan had even made a move yet. How did Nagato end up prying himself open on his own?
"Pain, he… when?"
After a brief moment of surprise, Konan quickly calmed down. After all, it was something she had already expected.
Once Nagato obtained the Eight-Tails, he would fight Aoba to decide the future path.
The only question was whether Nagato's body could withstand a beating from Aoba.
"Tomorrow. Just in case Black Zetsu has prepared some kind of trick, I'll go as well. Konan-nee, do you want to come with me?", Aoba didn't hide anything.
Black Zetsu, the ultimate schemer of the ninja world, had endured for a thousand years. After finally tricking Uchiha Madara and even getting him to awaken the Rinnegan, how could he possibly give up such a promising opportunity so easily?
Of course, if Black Zetsu really held back, then Aoba would just treat it as going over to watch the excitement and hear some noise.
"Go."
Konan didn't hesitate at all and nodded in agreement.
"Wait a moment!"
It was Shizune who spoke up. Her expression was a bit stiff as she looked at Aoba, "You already brought Mikoto to the Capital of Fire, and now Konan is taking leave as well. So who is going to take care of their work?"
"This…"
Aoba didn't say anything. Instead, he silently looked toward Samui and Mabui, who had been wanting to speak but hadn't found a chance.
After the two of them froze slightly, they immediately understood what he meant.
The expressions on their faces quickly turned a bit forced.
Their workload was already heavier than others to begin with, and now they were being given even more.
'Don't bully us just because we are outsiders!'
Still, neither of them voiced any complaints. Taking advantage of the moment when everyone else had looked over, Samui directly asked, "Lord Aoba, may I ask who this Pain you mentioned is?"
Aoba suddenly remembered that Samui and Mabui still didn't know about the Akatsuki. At this point, there was no need to keep hiding it anymore, "Pain is the leader of the Akatsuki. Konan-nee here used to be the deputy leader of the Akatsuki."
"What?"
Samui and Mabui were both shocked.
They then looked at Konan in disbelief.
They really hadn't expected her to be the deputy leader of the Akatsuki, the organization that had caused such a huge stir some time ago.
They had naturally heard about the Akatsuki collecting tailed beasts. After all, both tailed beasts of the Hidden Stone Village were gone, and even the Eight-Tails had almost been captured. In the end, it was only because the Fourth Raikage arrived in time that the badly injured Killer B was saved.
If that was the case, then the Akatsuki was very likely Konoha's black glove, specially used to collect tailed beasts.
Because among all the jinchuriki, only the Hidden Stone Village and the Hidden Cloud Village had been threatened. Konoha, the Hidden Sand, and the Hidden Mist hadn't had any trouble at all.
The expressions on Samui's and Mabui's faces became extremely complicated once again.
Konan could only return a helpless smile.
After leaving the Akatsuki, she had not taken part in any of the organization's internal affairs.
As for Samui and Mabui, they had no right to refuse Aoba's request. They could only agree and work like beasts of burden, enduring all the hardship without complaint, while Konan and Uchiha Mikoto were away.
———
The noon break quickly passed.
Aoba did not leave Konoha immediately. Instead, he was forcibly kept in the office by Shizune to deal with the work that hadn't been finished over the past two days.
Shizune went off to handle Uchiha Mikoto's side of the work.
For a while, only Aoba was left alone in the office.
A knock sounded on the door.
Aoba didn't even lift his head, "Come in."
The office door was pushed open. After confirming that Aoba was the only one inside, Samui walked in with a hesitant look on her face.
Seeing that there was no sound for quite some time, Aoba finally raised his head.
"If you have something to say, just say it. You and Mabui have been working diligently in Konoha these past two years. As long as it's not an especially excessive request, I'll try my best to satisfy it."
Samui clenched her teeth, "Lord Aoba, if possible, could you spare the Eight-Tails' jinchuriki?"
"Hm?"
Aoba frowned slightly, "I did have someone researching ways to let a person survive even after the tailed beast is extracted, and there have been some results. But you need to give me a reason."
Samui seemed to see hope, "The Eight-Tails' jinchuriki, Killer B, is my Sensei. He took good care of me in the past. If possible, I hope you can at least spare his life."
"Sensei?"
Aoba was a bit surprised. He really hadn't paid attention to this before. After all, a cold and glamorous beauty like Samui really didn't match someone like Killer B, that hip-hop ninja.
And besides, isn't killing one's teacher a tradition in the ninja world?
Even when Aoba dealt with Tsunade back then, it was white blade in, red blade out. Samui actually came to plead for Killer B. That didn't feel very local to the ninja world.
"Leaving his life isn't a big deal, but what can you offer in return?"
Aoba was already calculating in his mind how to squeeze Samui dry, make her willingly accept 996, or even 007. That way, Shizune would have less to do and wouldn't complain about him slacking off anymore.
But to his surprise, Samui stepped forward lightly, her head lowered, and silently walked up to him.
"Samui, what are you…"
Before Aoba could finish his sentence, Samui had already grabbed his hand.
And pressed it onto the secretary outfit that was barely holding on.
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