Chapter 92: Dawn
"Lord Leader, are you referring to a jutsu capable of controlling a person's mind?"
Hakuun looked at Kael, raising an eyebrow slightly.
Kael nodded calmly.
However, Hakuun's next words caused him to frown.
"There is no genjutsu in the Shinobi World specifically designed to control a person's free will. Genjutsu is, at its core, the manipulation of spiritual energy. To date, no powerhouse has emerged with spiritual energy potent enough to fundamentally alter a person's will—or at least, none that I am aware of."
"That is indeed just your ignorance. At the very least, the Uchiha and Kurama clans are renowned for their spiritual power..." Kael thought to himself, but he didn't voice this aloud. Instead, he dismissed Hakuun to go about her duties.
He already had a rough plan in mind, but with Jade still around, he needed to wait a bit longer. In the meantime, there was something else he needed to do.
Land of Rain.
A goshawk soared at an altitude of ten thousand meters.
As soon as it entered the Land of Rain, the entire sky turned pitch black. Whenever the Thunder-Wind Eagle approached the dark gray clouds where lightning flickered, it drew dense currents of electricity toward its body, as if it were the world's best conductor.
Faced with nature's might, Kael felt his own insignificance.
Feeling a wave of numbness from the electricity, Kael ordered the Thunder-Wind Eagle to descend, weaving through the curtain of rain.
Raindrops pelted the wind-attribute shield surrounding the eagle, creating a loud, rhythmic patter. A chill crept into Kael's heart.
The signs of the ninja war were already emerging, manifesting as chaos in the Land of Rain.
Flying over dilapidated, desolate villages, he saw fresh corpses by the roadside, with crows and wild dogs fighting over the carrion.
Kael saw groups of ragged civilians migrating toward unknown destinations—homeless wanderers who had lost their way.
This wasn't an isolated incident; the entire route through the Land of Rain was a tragedy. It weighed heavily on his heart, reminding him of his own home destroyed by the Jashinists.
"Wars between ninja always force these innocent commoners to bear the bitter fruit. What difference is there between those great nation shinobi and the inhuman Jashinists...?" Kael murmured to himself.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp! —Boss, the weather here is awful, and the smell of death is everywhere. By the way, why did we come to this godforsaken place?"
Because of the eagle's massive size, the torrential rain hitting its chakra shield was like thousands of senbon needles striking it every second, drastically increasing its chakra consumption.
"Dawn. I'm here to find an organization dedicated to saving the Land of Rain from its suffering, a group of young people dreaming of peace."
Kael patted the Thunder-Wind Eagle's head and smiled. "This rainy place is probably the worst environment for the Explosive Flies, but I have no choice. You guys are my eyes. Go find the Akatsuki organization for me!"
As he spoke, Kael formed hand seals.
Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram.
"Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!"
In the Shinobi World, most contracts between ninja and beasts were blood contracts, requiring blood as a medium for every summons. However, Kael had signed non-blood, equal contracts with his summons, similar to Tenten summoning tools or Tobirama Senju's Reanimation Jutsu. He didn't need to bite his finger every time—otherwise, he'd die of blood loss before the fight even started.
A dense swarm of Explosive Flies appeared out of thin air on the Thunder-Wind Eagle's back, then instantly dispersed, flying toward the ground below.
He didn't summon all of his flies, as his goal wasn't to fight. Furthermore, the Summoning Jutsu consumed chakra; the larger, stronger, and more chakra-rich the summoned creature, the more it cost Kael.
The Summoning Jutsu wasn't complex; it was a standard support jutsu for elite ninja. Realizing his summons were getting too big to carry around constantly, Kael had spent the last few years signing formal summoning contracts with all of them.
Kael's pupils began to flicker rapidly as he switched between the perspectives of individual Explosive Flies.
After only about ten minutes, he found his target.
One fly's vision pierced through the layers of rain, locking onto a group of people on the ground.
Most of them wore raincoats fashioned from straw and discarded plastic bags to shelter from the wind and rain. They lined up, trembling but hopeful, to receive food. A few individuals, dressed as ninja and wearing black conical hats, were enthusiastically distributing food to the displaced refugees.
Kael's expression grew complex.
The core of the Shinobi World was power. To think one could save the people of this country through unity, love, and charity was a delusion. But these were just teenagers, about his own age; it was hard for them to realize where the fundamental problem of this country lay.
After all, even someone as strong as Hanzo of the Salamander was oppressed by the great nations' ninja and couldn't free his country from its predicament. As he aged, he had lost the resolve he once had.
Kael's gaze grew distant as he muttered, "Perhaps only when the dream is shattered will the cruel truth awaken a person. Right? Nagato..."
Once the refugees had received their food and dispersed, the young people quickly packed up their supplies and sought shelter from the rain under an eave.
They were members of the Akatsuki, moved by the organization's great and noble ideals to join without hesitation.
The organization hadn't been established for long, and even its leader was just a teenager. Most members were rogue ninja from the Land of Rain, though some were defectors from other nations, all touched by Akatsuki's beautiful philosophy.
When a group of hot-blooded youths gathered, they were full of motivation, sharing a common dream and working towards it together.
This country had become lethargic and gray, but Akatsuki was the last ray of sunlight breaking through the cracks in the Land of Rain's sky.
What they wanted was simple: a peaceful country, a Shinobi World without war.
The group under the eave was silent, but the atmosphere wasn't heavy; hope was written on every face.
Suddenly, a red-haired youth with a fringe covering his right eye looked up slightly. His visible left eye revealed a strange pupil with ripple-like patterns.
The rain was still falling. He spoke calmly.
"Someone is coming!"
The group under the eave froze.
Someone else coming to hide from the rain in this weather?
Splash!
The next moment, the sound of a boot stepping into a puddle rang out from outside.