"Lord Pain, after you and Lady Angel left, the Hidden Rain Village no longer had a voice among the Five Great Shinobi Villages. The Seventh Hokage's promise to develop the Hidden Rain Village was never fulfilled! He only mentioned it to others, and the Five Great Shinobi Villages gave us a money-making opportunity—to handle the waste generated by their development, all sorts of toxic, harmful, and untreatable garbage! The Land of Rain is now filled with poisonous gas, and even the rainwater is corrosive. Some of us once tried to question Konoha, but we were directly beaten back. Konoha never considered the Hidden Rain Village a friend. They believe the Seventh Hokage saved and resurrected their elders and families, and that it had nothing to do with Lord Pain. Lord Pain, you were just a defeated enemy..."
Nagato was mostly confused by the contents of the letter.
For instance, who was the Seventh Hokage? And why did he cooperate with them?
But Nagato still understood the gist of what had happened.
The keyword was [resurrection].
Since there was [resurrection], it must have been his Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique.
It was somewhat unbelievable that he would sacrifice his own life in the future to resurrect the people of Konoha? And choose to trust someone from Konoha to help develop the Hidden Rain Village?
After looking at the photos of the future Hidden Rain Village taken by Bai Mo again, Nagato chose to believe.
"We failed? Or rather, if I'm not influenced by that Konoha ninja, I can succeed..."
Nagato held his head, conflicted, and finally looked up at Bai Mo. "What is your goal?"
Nagato's personality was unique; he could make his own decisions, but all specific options were given to him by others. First, it was Yahiko's options, then Jiraiya's, and then Naruto's.
It was the same now. Facing "certain failure," Nagato didn't know how to change it, so he decided to consult Bai Mo, the leader of the future Hidden Rain Village.
"I want to become the strategist and advisor of Akatsuki, making decisions for the Akatsuki organization and the Hidden Rain Village."
Bai Mo spoke bluntly.
"...There's no problem with you making decisions for the Hidden Rain Village, as long as the decisions you propose convince the two of us. But Akatsuki... Akatsuki's members will be very difficult to command."
Konan spoke, pouring cold water on Bai Mo's idea.
"Is there an Akatsuki meeting soon?"
Bai Mo smiled at Konan and asked.
"What?"
Konan frowned.
A few days later.
In a cave full of barriers outside the Hidden Rain Village, all the core members of the Akatsuki organization gathered.
However, two people were missing.
Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki.
Bai Mo had told Nagato that Uchiha Itachi was a spy sent by Konoha. He told Nagato that whether he believed it or not, Itachi shouldn't attend this meeting, and how to deal with him afterward could be left to Bai Mo.
Not letting Uchiha Itachi come alone would be too obvious, so they simply assigned Itachi and Kisame a mission to investigate Konoha's intelligence. It just so happened to give Itachi a chance to go back and see, and he probably wouldn't refuse.
"Where are Itachi and Kisame? Could they have been killed? Also, who's this new guy?"
Hidan stood there carelessly, pointing at Bai Mo, the only unfamiliar face.
"Itachi and Kisame have other missions. This is Bai Mo, here to apply to be our Akatsuki strategist."
Pain was on a high platform, his voice echoing throughout the cave.
"What?! I don't need any strategist to tell me what to do!"
Hidan immediately shouted upon hearing this, then took out his scythe from behind and pointed it at Bai Mo. "Hey, kid, believe it or not, I'll sacrifice you to Lord Jashin right now!"
The other Akatsuki members watched coldly, remaining silent. Their thoughts were the same; they didn't want any strategist commanding them.
Just as Konan had said earlier, each Akatsuki member was a prodigy and a rogue ninja, making it impossible to meet Bai Mo's demands.
"Does anyone know who in Akatsuki is in charge of economics?"
Bai Mo ignored Hidan's words, set up a small blackboard, and placed a piece of paper on it.
"What's economics?"
Hidan was puzzled.
"It's money, you idiot."
Kakuzu glanced at his stupid teammate and spoke in a muffled voice.
Then, Kakuzu's gaze was drawn to the content on the white paper on Bai Mo's blackboard.
"Under the development of the previous leader, Hanzo, the Hidden Rain Village has achieved a high degree of steam-powered mechanization. Although the ninja of the Hidden Rain Village are not strong, these machines can completely replace manual labor to build and produce various light industrial daily products, which can be sold to the Five Great Nations to earn a large amount of money."
"If there's a problem with initial funding, I happen to have a piece of secret intelligence. Gato, the rich man of the Land of Waves, has taken over the publicly funded bridge. The people want to hire ninja to deal with Gato but have no money. To this end, they even came up with a method to conceal the mission's difficulty, trying to lower the reward to hire ninja. Akatsuki can take on this mission. A symbolic reward of one or two ryo will be enough for them. If possible, we can even cooperate with the Land of Waves long-term. The Land of Waves is located between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water, a strategic location for both sea and land. If the Land of Water wants to develop in the future, it will inevitably need to pass through the Land of Waves to reach the mainland; otherwise, it would have to take a big detour, which would be more trouble than it's worth. Occupying this place will also provide a continuous and considerable income."
Bai Mo pointed at the white paper on the blackboard, explaining.
Kakuzu's eyes lit up more and more as he listened. Bai Mo's plan was completely feasible, and his fluent use of "professional terms" indicated he was indeed an expert!
"Hey, Kakuzu, hey! Don't be fooled by him!"
Hidan saw that Kakuzu was already deeply engrossed and couldn't extricate himself, so he ran in front of Kakuzu and waved his hand. Seeing no reaction, Hidan glared fiercely at Bai Mo. "So what if you can make money? In other aspects, what right do you have to command us?"
"The leader's policy is to collect the nine Tailed Beasts, form a deterrent, and create peace under high pressure. The direction of this plan is correct; there's no problem with it. It's much more reliable than relying on bonds to maintain peace. It's just that this plan has some flaws. We'll talk about the flaws later. Based on this deterrence theory, I have a plan here that is infinitely easier than collecting Tailed Beasts, yet its effect is not much different."
Bai Mo ignored Hidan again and spoke.
"Oh? What plan?"
This time, Bai Mo's words piqued even Pain's interest. These days, Bai Mo had only told Nagato and Konan about the future of the Hidden Rain Village, without mentioning anything else. They had also told Bai Mo the current year. Using the Konoha calendar, it was Konoha Year 60, the "most crucial year in the original story." Everything from the theft of the Scroll of Seals, the Land of Waves, the Land of Snow, the Chūnin Exams, Sasuke's defection, and so on, all happened around this year.
"For this plan to be effective, Hidan must leave; he cannot know about it."
Bai Mo said calmly.
"What?! Why should I leave! You're holding a grudge, aren't you, kid!"
Hidan instantly became furious. His curiosity had been piqued, and now he wasn't allowed to know? Was that fair?
Swish—
Hidan's scythe flew past Bai Mo. Bai Mo grabbed the scythe's handle and threw it back.
"Hmm?"
Kakuzu saw that Bai Mo could steadily catch Hidan's suddenly thrown, high-speed spinning scythe and throw it back, and he looked slightly sideways. Being able to do that meant his taijutsu and reaction abilities had reached a certain level.
After throwing the scythe, Bai Mo patted his sleeve.
"This isn't me holding a grudge. Also, Hidan, practice your taijutsu and your brain more when you have time, or else a Chūnin might just take you out."
"You! &%#@!"
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