Inside The Hidden Rain Village.
After returning, Uehara Naraku headed straight for the tower in the village.
As expected, Nagato was still repairing his Asura Path. He's genuinely taken a liking to modifying the Asura Path Pain.
"Have you returned?"
Nagato set down the tools in his hand, glanced at Uehara Naraku who entered, and coughed a few times before speaking: "Now that the matter between the Uchiha Brothers is resolved, let's prepare to capture the Five Tails, Six Tails, and Seven Tails next!"
Having witnessed Uchiha Itachi's death today, Nagato also foresaw his own end approaching and decided to seize the opportunity to hasten the progress of resurrecting the Gedo Statue.
"Capture three tailed beasts directly?"
Uehara Naraku raised his eyebrows and couldn't help but glance at Nagato: "Why the sudden urgency? It would be very dangerous..."
"Don't worry."
Nagato waved his hand and said with a smile: "Among them, the Five Tails poses the greatest challenge. This time, I will go into action with the Pain of Six Paths..."
"No, you should go after the Six-tailed Jinchuriki instead!"
Uehara Naraku interrupted Nagato, speaking in a deep voice: "I'll go with Deidara and the others to capture the Five-tailed Jinchuriki from The Hidden Rock Village. Just in time, Uchiha Sasuke has also awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan like Uchiha Itachi and can be quite useful."
"Hmm?"
Nagato's face suddenly showed a bit of surprise as he looked up: "Uchiha Sasuke has also awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan?"
"That's correct."
Uehara Naraku's expression was somewhat complicated as he explained softly: "Uchiha Itachi hid it very deeply; everything he did was to protect his brother. That's what Hoshigaki Kisame told us at Uchiha Itachi's grave."
Uehara Naraku sighed quietly: "But precisely because of that, Uchiha Sasuke has also awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, providing us with a powerful combat force."
"Just right."
Nagato nodded: "If it's the Mangekyo Sharingan, it should be of considerable help. Then you go capture the Five-tailed Jinchuriki, Kakuzu and Hidan will go after the Seven-tailed Jinchuriki from the Hidden Waterfall Village, and I'll go after the Six-tailed Jinchuriki."
Nagato coughed a few more times before continuing: "Once we've captured them, only the most powerful Eight Tails and Nine Tails will remain..."
"I'll find a way with those matters."
Uehara Naraku furrowed his brows and waved his hand, using Star Infusion twice on Nagato: "Just stay in the village and take care of your health!"
"It's okay."
Nagato shook his head, smiling as he patted his hand, explaining: "I also want to see the day the Gedo Statue is resurrected."
"..."
Uehara Naraku shook his head without speaking.
After a simple discussion with Nagato, Uehara Naraku left the tower and walked along the streets of The Hidden Rain Village, unconcerned about the pouring rain falling on him.
With more and more tailed beasts being captured, they could no longer afford to delay.
Uehara Naraku wiped the sweat from his face and looked back at Nagato's tower. He must quickly extract Nagato and Konan from the Eye of the Moon Plan.
Not only must he extract Konan and Nagato, but he must remove both of them; otherwise, after the Ninja World War ends, it will be too late for them to leave.
The Rinnegan must temporarily remain.
Because these Rinnegan eyes are needed to resurrect Uchiha Madara, and then resurrect Otsutsuki Kaguya, and afterward transplant them back to Nagato once the war is over.
Hmm?
Not quite right either.
The burden of the Rinnegan is too great.
Uehara Naraku furrowed his brows, pondering how to solve Nagato's problem. Perhaps he should create a new pair of eyes for him once he obtains the Yang Power?
"Forget it."
Uehara Naraku looked up at the four-way pipelines of The Hidden Rain Village, pinching his fingers: "Anyway, the priority should be getting Nagato and Teacher Konan out as soon as possible. What a bother, how on earth can this be resolved!"
Once Uchiha Madara is resurrected, Uehara Naraku will no longer be able to completely grasp the situation, making the Akatsuki much harder to control.
So before that happens, it's imperative to remove Nagato and Konan out of the picture.
Uehara Naraku glanced at his main task progress, raised his eyebrows slightly, and was about to return to his room when suddenly an umbrella landed on his head, sheltering him from the rain.
"What are you doing here in the rain?"
A youthful feminine voice reached Uehara Naraku's ears.
When Uehara Naraku turned his head, he saw Ajisai, Suiren, and Fuyou standing behind him.
Compared to Ajisai's disrespectful demeanor, Suiren and Fuyou were noticeably more grounded, bowing respectfully: "Lord Uehara."
"Why are you here?"
Uehara Naraku glanced at the scarce pedestrians on the street and quietly said: "Is it your turn to patrol again?"
"No, we just returned from a mission outside."
Ajisai replied with a blank expression: "Uehara Naraku, we're going to report to the Angel. Do you want to join us?"
"No."
Uehara Naraku shook his head, preparing to turn and leave, but suddenly halted and asked: "Wait, what mission were you on? If I recall, ninjas in the village are prohibited from leaving, right?"
"We were meeting with the emissaries from Konoha at the border..."
"Emissaries from Konoha?"
"Hmm."
"Why did they come?"
"They delivered a new letter."
Ajisai nodded and answered quietly: "We're about to deliver this letter to the Angel."
"Why do you talk so much?"
Uehara Naraku's face turned a bit black, looking at this little girl suppressing her anger: "Can't you say it all at once? Only answer when I ask you something? Where's the letter, hand it over to me!"
"I want to give it to Angel…"
"Giving it to me is the same thing!"
Uehara Naraku couldn't help but tap her forehead with his finger, speaking discontentedly: "Anyway, if Konoha has some invitation, it's still going to be me who'll represent us!"
"..."
Ajisai unhappily held her forehead and slowly took out a scroll to hand it to Uehara Naraku.
This was really no other option…
The entire Hidden Rain Village knew that Uehara Naraku was already the true hidden leader of the village, and everyone had to absolutely follow his commands.
Even Angel wouldn't hinder any of his actions, and all matters within the Hidden Rain Village had to be reported to Uehara Naraku.
"Having you as an Intelligence Ninja would be maddening!"
After Uehara Naraku received the scroll, he tapped Ajisai's head again, ordering coldly: "Hold the umbrella higher, I want to read the scroll."
"Ugh…"
The young girl tiptoed, still puzzled on why someone like Uehara Naraku would become Angel's disciple!
After Uehara Naraku opened the scroll in his hand and glanced at its contents, his expression couldn't help but turn exceptionally interesting.
Uehara Naraku pondered for a moment, then snatched the umbrella from Ajisai's hand: "You all go rest! I'm going to deliver the message!"
"..."
Ajisai, standing in the pouring rain, looked at her now empty hand, and then at the place where Uehara Naraku disappeared, her little face full of confusion.
What's… the situation here?
In Konan's office, a cup of goji berry tea was placed on the desk.
Konan sat in front of her desk, carefully reviewing each document, when Uehara Naraku came in holding the umbrella, making her smile slightly: "The rain is really heavy today, Naraku finally learned to use an umbrella?"
"Uh…"
Uehara Naraku shook his head speechlessly, reaching out to place the scroll he held onto Konan's desk, spreading his palm open: "Teacher, the letter from Konoha… Take a look at what it says!"
"What's up?"
Konan slowly opened the scroll, and upon seeing the contents, her brows gradually furrowed.
After a while, Konan looked at Uehara Naraku, her expression equally perplexed: "The Fifth Hokage of Konoha wants to visit Hanzo of the Salamander?"
"…That's probably correct."
Uehara Naraku folded his hands together.
Konan's expression remained puzzled, she glanced again at the scroll, continuing to ask: "Then she also wants to hold a Five Kage Summit to jointly defeat Akatsuki, with the meeting location set in the Land of Rain?"
"…That's probably correct too, right?"
Uehara Naraku rubbed his forehead.
Why does that woman Tsunade want to visit Hanzo!
Did she forget the humiliation of being granted the title of Sannin by Hanzo many years ago?
Tsunade's letter conveyed a rather firm attitude, which made the whole situation headache-inducing, just where to conjure a Hanzo from?
And how could the Hidden Rain Village allow other ninjas to enter?
Isn't that nonsense?
As soon as someone enters, if they can ask for Uehara Naraku or Hanzo of the Salamander's name, their entire worldview will almost certainly be greatly impacted!
Konan sighed softly, murmuring: "Forget it, I'll prepare a strongly worded rejection letter."
"Hopefully, that woman can abandon this idea!"
Uehara Naraku could not stop shaking his head, wondering if in recent years he's acted too excessively, has the ninja world warped to this extent?
A Five Kage Summit to defeat Akatsuki, actually wanting to host it at Akatsuki's headquarters, the Land of Rain, that's truly fearless!
While Konan was preparing the reply to Tsunade, Uehara Naraku casually asked: "Teacher, have you ever thought about the future?"
"The future of what?"
"What we will be like in the future."
Uehara Naraku twisted his fingers, quietly asking: "For instance, after the Gedo Statue revives, when the ninja world becomes peaceful, do you have any plans or something you wish to do?"
"..."
Konan's pen suddenly stopped.
After a moment, Konan re-took her pen, lightly saying: "Then… I suppose I would continue to watch you become the leader of the Hidden Rain Village, and see you take over us as the ruler of the entire world…"
"Teacher Konan doesn't want to travel around the ninja world or anything?"
Uehara Naraku looked at Konan's neat handwriting, he couldn't help but remind her: "Just like the Fifth Hokage Tsunade who sent us this letter, I've heard she traveled across the ninja world for many years, seemingly experiencing quite a lot of interesting things…"
Uehara Naraku was hinting at Konan's mindset.
Unfortunately, Konan replied without lifting her head: "I heard the Fifth Hokage of Konoha has a nickname, 'The Legendary Fat Sheep,' do you think traveling is interesting?"
After speaking, Konan suddenly paused, her gaze calmly resting on Uehara Naraku: "Naraku, are you trying to say something to me? Is it because you think I've been constraining you, making you feel bored?"
"I haven't."
Uehara Naraku immediately denied it, rubbing his brow: "I just discussed with Lord Nagato earlier, thinking our plan is about to succeed, maybe we should consider doing something else…"
Konan was silent for a moment before she grasped her pen again, softly saying: "You can do whatever you want, I'll always be with you."
"..."
Uehara Naraku slowly tightened his fingers.
What if I don't want you all to stay by my side now?