Chapter 212 - Mobilizing Against Akatsuki
Night – Hokage Tower
Thick, oppressive clouds loomed over Konoha, blotting out the full moon that hung in the night sky. Darkness swallowed the village, draping everything in a heavy silence.
While the rest of Konoha slept, exhausted after a long day, one place remained lit—faint light still shone from the Hokage Tower.
Inside the dimly illuminated office, Kazane sat across from Orochimaru. Both wore grave expressions, and a stack of intelligence reports lay on the desk between them—something had clearly disturbed them.
After a long silence, Orochimaru picked up one of the reports. His expression darkened further as he said, "This Akatsuki organization… something's not right. At this rate, they might become the biggest threat to our plans of unifying the shinobi world."
He paused, then asked with clear concern, "Kazane, about what Kakashi said… that mysterious leader of theirs—can you handle him?"
In Orochimaru's hand was a dossier with sketches attached—images of Nagato and Killer Bee. The report detailed how Nagato had stormed Kumogakure and, despite the village's full defensive efforts, killed the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki, Killer Bee, and successfully sealed the Eight-Tails itself.
This event had happened earlier that day. Thanks to Konoha's vast intelligence network, news of it had reached Kazane's office almost immediately.
Kumogakure had quickly moved to suppress the information. For now, only Konoha was aware—but it was only a matter of time before word spread across the entire shinobi world.
Orochimaru had never considered Akatsuki a serious threat before. After all, Kakashi and Might Guy had nearly wiped out their headquarters not long ago. With Uchiha Obito acting as a double agent within Akatsuki, Orochimaru had assumed the organization would pose little resistance to Konoha's grand plans.
But after reviewing Obito's recent intel and today's incident in Kumogakure, Orochimaru's view had shifted. Akatsuki was no longer something Konoha could take lightly.
Whether it was the S-rank rogue ninja they had recruited, the mysterious leader rumored to wield the legendary Rinnegan, or even the possibility that Uchiha Madara was still alive—every detail pointed to a threat that couldn't be ignored.
Kazane's expression turned serious as well. He wasn't worried about whether he could defeat Nagato. Kazane had absolute confidence in his own power. The Rinnegan may have been powerful, but it wasn't Nagato's original eye, and unlike Naruto—who had divine-level plot armor—Nagato paid a price for every use of his ocular powers, draining his own life force. Kazane had never once considered such a man a real threat.
As far as Kazane was concerned, the only individuals in the shinobi world worth taking seriously were the Sage of Six Paths—whose chakra still lingered after death—and the elusive Ōtsutsuki Hamura, whose status was unknown. Even if Madara were resurrected with Six Paths powers, Kazane didn't believe he could withstand the power of the fully opened Eight Gates.
However, Konoha still wasn't ready to dominate the world. Just managing the Land of Fire had already stretched their talent pool thin. Even someone as carefree as Jiraiya had been assigned to the former capital to help govern. The rest of Konoha's key figures had similarly been dispatched.
On the bright side, the expansion of Konoha's territory had helped ease internal strife. Prominent clans like the Uchiha, Senju, Hyūga, and the Ino-Shika-Chō coalition had each been granted their own cities. While they remained under Konoha's administration and had to pay taxes, the autonomy and prestige of managing their own territory was more than enough to satisfy them.
After all, aside from paying taxes, they had full control over their domains. They were, in essence, mini-daimyōs of their own city-states.
Tasting this newfound authority, these clans no longer fought over scraps of power. Instead, they now fully supported Orochimaru's leadership, hoping he would continue expanding Konoha's borders—ideally allowing them to govern entire countries someday. That was far more appealing than squabbling for village leadership.
But realistically, Konoha had already reached its administrative limit with the Land of Fire. Conquering more land meant nothing if they didn't have trustworthy people to manage it.
After all, ninja and aristocrats were two very different breeds. Nobles were raised from birth with training in governance. Their families had endured generations of internal power struggles and external threats. The ones that survived were never simple. If they hadn't been capable, they would've been wiped out long ago.
Ninja, on the other hand?
Konoha had always been the most education-focused of all the villages. Even so, the village's size and population were limited. Not all civilian families could afford to send their kids to school. The number of students in each academy year was often just a few dozen. In a good year, maybe seventy to eighty students would graduate.
But half of them were bound to die on dangerous missions. Even among those who survived, how many had the brains or skills to govern? And of those, how many could truly manage a city of hundreds of thousands?
Orochimaru had made education a top priority since coming to power. He'd even implemented nine years of compulsory schooling. But population was finite, and the timeframe was too short. Nine years of schooling barely achieved basic literacy. Even in Kazane's past life, after elementary, middle school, high school, and university—not everyone could be a competent mayor.
According to Kazane and Orochimaru's original plan, these few years were to focus on internal development—education and public welfare. The strategy was to train capable leaders and solidify their hold on current territories. After five or six years of development, they would begin absorbing smaller neighboring nations and, eventually, devour the other four great shinobi nations.
It was an open strategy. With current trends, Konoha's rise was inevitable.
Even if the other villages saw through their plans, they could only watch helplessly. Konoha's power alone meant that even if all the other factions united, they still wouldn't be able to win a war against them.
But Akatsuki wasn't playing by the rules. Their premature collection of the Tailed Beasts had thrown a wrench into Kazane's plan. At this rate, the four great ninja villages would be helpless against them. If Nagato succeeded in sealing all nine Tailed Beasts—minus the Nine-Tails—it wouldn't matter whether Madara was revived or not. The shinobi world would be in chaos either way.
And even if Konoha avoided the worst of it, they would inherit a war-torn world—a shattered husk of the ninja society. Rebuilding it into something stable again could take decades.