"But..."
White Zetsu Awei hesitantly asked with some confusion, "If it weren't for us guiding Jiraiya, he probably wouldn't have discovered Konan's situation, right?"
"Some things are destined."
Akihara Kagura shook his head, refusing to take the blame upon himself: "This isn't our mistake. We only brought forward what was destined to happen, giving them more time to handle it."
"Think about it..."
"If we don't let them meet now..."
"In the future, when they meet, Konoha Ninja and the Akatsuki Organization are bound to fall into a slaughter. How would they handle it? They wouldn't even have time to manage it or have the possibility of communication, and would have to start killing each other."
"Now that they've met..."
"In the future, when they meet again, they'll surely have enough time to understand each other's position, to figure out what attitude they should take, even if it leads to mutual killings, there'd be no regrets."
"Letting them meet is beneficial for both of them."
After Akihara Kagura finished speaking, he summarized the conclusion that he was a good person: "Actually, we're doing a good deed. It's for their benefit."
After summarizing, Akihara Kagura added, "But this world is twisted; we do good deeds, yet can't leave a name, so they won't appreciate us either."
"What you're saying... makes sense."
White Zetsu Awei felt that Akihara Kagura's words were quite reasonable.
No matter who was here, they couldn't pick out where Akihara Kagura was wrong. They were indeed considering Jiraiya and Konan for that master and apprentice pair.
"Are you going to make a move?"
White Zetsu Awei proactively inquired: "Help Jiraiya or Konan? I think we should help Jiraiya, I've heard Konan's attitude towards Obito isn't that great anymore..."
"It's not the right time to help yet."
Akihara Kagura shook his head softly: "Even catching Konan won't do much. What we need to bring out isn't Konan; we need to keep making trouble for Jiraiya-sensei with the Akatsuki Organization..."
"Only this way..."
"In the future, when we return to the Akatsuki Organization, if someone doesn't allow us to take charge, we'll find a way for that person to be hunted by Jiraiya-sensei."
This plan for Akihara Kagura served multiple purposes.
The first, let Jiraiya discover the Akatsuki Organization ahead of time. In the future, he can use Jiraiya or Konoha to eliminate the disobedient ones inside the Akatsuki without dirtying his hands or causing dissatisfaction within the organization;
The second, complete Orochimaru's mission.
The third, the Akatsuki Organization will always face trouble from Jiraiya's pursuit, and even risk being destroyed by Jiraiya and his students. Uchiha Obito could not ignore that, and would definitely come over to issue orders. Saving the Akatsuki in such tasks surely comes with high rewards, right?
The fourth, if Jiraiya is to take me to chase after the Akatsuki, or even destroy it, there might be a task, like maybe letting one of his disciples go, so you can't blame Akihara Kagura for exploiting opportunities.
Of course.
Akihara Kagura isn't a selfish person.
He is also thinking for his teacher Jiraiya, afraid that the teacher might be too shocked in the future. So revealing the identities of Orochimaru and Konan earlier to Jiraiya is also a consideration.
Akihara Kagura watched Jiraiya standing at the town's highest point, a smile hanging on his lips: "I've really helped you a lot, Jiraiya-sensei..."
"..."
White Zetsu Awei nodded in agreement.
If Jiraiya didn't have a disciple like Akihara Kagura, he'd only wander aimlessly in the town's tavern, gathering a group of waitresses to drink with him, not pursuing or investigating as he is now, with a clear goal in life.
"Prepare a bit."
Akihara Kagura chuckled lightly, slowly closing the inn's window: "This time, we're definitely heading to the Land of Rain."
"The Land of Rain is not peaceful!"
White Zetsu Awei recalled the country where the Akatsuki Hideout is located and brought up the situation in the Land of Rain: "Now the Land of Rain is in the midst of a civil war! Even after the Third Ninja War, this civil war has not ended!"
The entire Land of Rain was indeed still in the throes of civil war.
White Zetsu Awei was very familiar with the history of the Land of Rain, even aware of every timeline of its internal conflict, including the enmity between the Akatsuki Organization and Salamander Hanzo.
After all...
The Third Ninja War actually hadn't ended too long ago.
In the latter stages of the Third Ninja War, the previous leader of the Akatsuki Organization, Yahiko, had a brief encounter with Salamander Hanzo, resulting in heavy losses for Akatsuki.
Salamander Hanzo and Shimura Danzo teamed up to ambush Akatsuki, and their leader Yahiko died in battle, with most members perishing in that war.
Of course, Uchiha Obito wasn't innocent in this; at the time, he had just awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, using the opportunity to clear out the weak from Akatsuki, putting all the blame on Shimura Danzo and Salamander Hanzo.
White Zetsu Awei was well-informed about these events, recounting that history from a few years ago: "Taking advantage of this opportunity, Obito guided Nagato to create the current leader of Akatsuki, Pain, who was made using the corpse of the previous leader Yahiko..."
After the Third Ninja War completely ended, Pain and Konan disappeared, relying on Uchiha Obito's guidance to develop the new Akatsuki, while sending people to recruit the wandering ninja of the Hidden Rain Village, never forgetting to establish a new Hidden Rain Village.
Many ninja from the Hidden Rain Village, unwilling to endure the decayed rule of Salamander Hanzo, struck a mark across their Hidden Rain forehead protectors to join Pain and Konan, challenging the rule of Salamander Hanzo over the Hidden Rain Village.
Perhaps because the number of ninja under Pain and Konan was still insufficient to take over the Hidden Rain Village's control, the internal conflict in the village wasn't considered too intense;
Or maybe it was out of concern that eliminating Salamander Hanzo without possessing a strong enough ninja title would draw the coveting eyes of other Great Country Ninja Villages upon the Land of Rain; they also hadn't uncovered where Hanzo was hiding.
Even as the civil war in the Land of Rain grew more intense, Salamander Hanzo still remained hidden in the Hidden Rain Village, worried about possible assassination attempts by Pain, constantly in hiding, long devoid of the stature of a Ninja Demigod.
"Salamander Hanzo is still alive?"
Akihara Kagura raised an eyebrow, proactively inquiring: "I heard Salamander Hanzo is a Ninja Demigod, not sure if there's a chance to see him..."
"Still alive!"
White Zetsu Awei nodded, continuing: "However, apart from us, nobody knows his whereabouts, not even Pain can find out where Salamander Hanzo is."
Yes.
Salamander Hanzo is very afraid of death.
The whereabouts of this Ninja Demigod are unknown to many ninja in the Hidden Rain Village, let alone antagonists like Pain. Only the White Zetsu can use the Mayfly Jutsu to discover his location.
"When visiting the Hidden Rain Village, make sure to see him properly."
Akihara Kagura laughed a little, speaking softly: "Salamander Hanzo's title of Ninja Demigod isn't bad, maybe we can borrow that a bit..."
"Bor...borrow?"
White Zetsu Awei didn't quite understand what good that title was for.
"How about using him as a stepping stone?"
Akihara Kagura stretched lazily, nonchalantly continuing: "The Ninja World calls him a Ninja Demigod, indicating that he's only a bit below the God of Ninja, the First Hokage..."
"So... you're going to use his head?"
White Zetsu Awei frowned, feeling that Akihara Kagura wasn't intending on borrowing the name in a straightforward way.
"What's the matter?"
Akihara Kagura shrugged, having no qualms about the matter, even coming up with a reason: "Salamander Hanzo once had an alliance with Lord Danzo, and he hasn't even come to pay respects to Konoha, blatantly ignoring Konoha's prestige, and I was once Lord Danzo's subordinate..."