"Tch~ What a miserable backwater. There's seriously nothing to eat around here?"
Hidan grumbled endlessly as he turned two fish over the campfire. He and Kakuzu had originally planned to buy provisions at the local market, but thanks to Gatō's prolonged stranglehold on the country, there was barely anything worth selling on the open market. Even food was nearly impossible to come by, and in the end, they'd had to wade into the water and catch fish themselves just to secure dinner.
"Basic recon complete. A merchant named Gatō currently controls this place. The local daimyō is the type who takes the money and turns a blind eye to whatever his subordinates do—works perfectly for us."
Leafing through the intelligence he'd gathered, every word out of Kakuzu's mouth carried a note of satisfaction. Hidan, still fiddling with the grill, perked up instinctively. "Oh? So what you're saying is, as long as we can shut the daimyō up with enough cash, we can run this place like kings? Aha~ Then I can spread the word of Lord Jashin far and wide around here!"
"In theory, yes. But first, we need to make the man currently in the way disappear. And he should have plenty of money on him."
Kakuzu tucked away the intelligence papers and flexed his fingers. "Finish eating. We're handling this tonight."
"Oh! You don't have to tell me twice—killing people is something I never get tired of, no matter how many there are!"
Hidan licked the corner of his mouth with a bloodthirsty grin, his excitement plain for anyone to see. A political figure like the daimyō would be tricky to touch, sure. But a man like Gatō—no real backing, operating entirely in the underworld—was fair game for Akatsuki. Slaughtering him like a pig wouldn't raise a single eyebrow. Predators eating other predators was simply how the criminal underworld worked.
Just then, a strange humming sound cut abruptly through the air. Kakuzu raised his head. Within his line of sight, a white clay dragonfly zeroed in on his position and flew straight toward him. The tall rogue ninja blinked, then extended his hand—the one bearing his Akatsuki ring—and let the clay dragonfly alight on his palm.
"Huh? Isn't that one of Deidara's toys? What's it doing here?"
Hidan eyed the little thing curiously. Without question, this clay dragonfly was a specialized communication device. It had been infused with a directive to track Akatsuki rings—once released, it would automatically home in on any nearby member wearing one.
"No... Deidara should still be deep inside the Land of Fire right now. So the person who has this thing is..."
After a moment's thought, Kakuzu's brow twitched. He channeled chakra into the dragonfly, released it back into the air, and followed it. Hidan grabbed his grilled fish and trailed after him, thoroughly confused.
The dragonfly didn't fly far. It came to a stop near the shoreline, where a figure stood on the beach with her back to them. She raised one hand, and the dragonfly instantly shrank to the size of a fingertip and dropped into her palm.
"Kakuzu and Hidan? Has Lord Pain another important task for us at this hour?"
The figure with her back turned was slender and graceful, her dark hair hanging smooth and neat behind her. Without question, this was an extraordinarily beautiful young girl. The cadence of her voice—and the way she addressed Pain—made Kakuzu and Hidan exchange glances.
Plenty of people in the shinobi world knew their names. Plenty knew Pain's name too. But the only person who had ever addressed Pain as "Lord Pain" was someone Kakuzu and Hidan had heard about from Suigintou herself last time. And they were certain no one had been surveilling Akatsuki at the time—if Akatsuki could be monitored by outsiders, then there wasn't a single organization in the shinobi world capable of keeping a secret.
Granted, it was possible that Suigintou had been interrogated or placed under someone's control, but there was no way to confirm that on the spot. For now, dialogue was the only option.
"Wait... Suigintou?"
Hidan frowned and looked the girl up and down, though it didn't take him long to put it together. "I see—so the girl you had me and Kakuzu capture last time was just a body double."
"This is certainly... unexpected, running into you here. But is this body your real one?"
Kakuzu's tone carried a note of surprise, but his very next words betrayed his nature: "What—have you set your sights on this country too?"
"Heh..."
Hinata turned to face them. From that single question, she immediately grasped why these two were here. They'd come for the exact same reason she had: this country.
"I see. Lord Pain's eye for opportunity is as sharp as ever. This country may be resource-poor, but its geographic position is second to none. It's practically tailor-made for setting up a factory."
The remark made Kakuzu's fingers relax at once. Akatsuki's chief financial officer nodded approvingly. "Good. Hearing you talk like that puts my mind at ease—you're definitely the real Suigintou."
"Heh~ Then let's exchange intelligence. I believe it will prove beneficial to our collaboration."
Getting straight to business, Hinata had no intention of wasting time. Kakashi hadn't exhausted himself this time around the way he had in canon, and if she stayed out too long and got caught, it would be a serious headache.
After several minutes, Hinata and Kakuzu finished their exchange of intelligence on the Land of Waves. Most of what Kakuzu provided was information Hinata already knew, but it still served to reinforce her picture.
"So you're here on a genin mission, escorting the old bridge builder."
Kakuzu stroked his chin, eyes narrowing. "And the old man is planning to build a bridge connecting this country to the outside world? Now that's interesting."
"Hey, hey—but if this place actually gets connected to the outside, won't that be a problem? So are you telling us to take out the old man too?"
Hidan tilted his head, trying to follow along. "But didn't you just say your instructor and teammates are all staying at the old man's house? Don't tell me you want us to wipe them all out in one go?"
"Heheh, if that's the case, I'll do this one pro bono. How about it?"
Kakuzu's smile turned dangerous. Clearly, as a man who dwelled in darkness, he relished the prospect of betrayal.
"That won't be necessary. Even if it came to eliminating them, I'd prefer to do it personally. And besides—it's the exact opposite. I don't intend to destroy the bridge. I want it completed on schedule."
Hinata smiled faintly. Destroy the Great Naruto Bridge? What kind of short-sighted fool would come up with that idea? A bridge of this scale—in the real world, it would cost hundreds of millions and take years of labor to build.
Here was a bridge she didn't have to fund or lift a finger for, one she could reap the benefits of the moment she arrived. Blowing it up would be certifiably insane.
"Hah? But won't a completed bridge cause problems? And if people can come and go too freely, that's not great either, is it? You've completely lost me."
Hidan was struggling mightily to keep up with Hinata's thinking, and it showed.
"The reason that fool Gatō wanted to restrict passage is because he lacked the ability to do anything better. Sealing off travel was the only way a man of his caliber could maintain control. But you two—are you really going to tell me you lack that kind of strength? Besides, in this world, controlling sea routes is far easier than controlling land routes. Kakuzu, with your Earth Release ninjutsu, tell me: is it really so difficult to lay a ring of hidden reefs around this island nation's sea lanes that no ship could pass through?"
Hinata tilted her chin up slightly, a gesture that lent her an air of unmistakable arrogance. But Kakuzu, far from taking offense at being looked at this way, let out a genuinely impressed "Oh?" It was clear he found her reasoning remarkable. "I see! You mean to do the exact opposite: cut off this country's sea routes entirely, then consolidate control over the bridge. That achieves an even tighter grip than what exists now—am I right?"
In reality, sea routes were difficult to prohibit because you couldn't set up checkpoints the way you could on land. Even everything Gatō had done amounted to controlling the main harbors and dispatching enforcers to crack down on anyone who tried to sail out privately.
That approach was inefficient, to say nothing of the constant leaks. Important figures like Tazuna had managed to slip in and out of the Land of Waves under cover of other fishermen.
But this was the shinobi world. With Earth Release ninjutsu, never mind adding a few reefs to the ocean floor—given enough chakra, you could theoretically build entire artificial islands.
And reefs were effectively checkpoints in the water. No ship, however sturdy, would dare clash head-on with submerged rock formations. The only options were to navigate around them or destroy them outright.
If Earth Release ninjutsu were used to lay a complete ring of reefs around the Land of Waves' surrounding waters, any other vessel trying to enter or exit freely would find it utterly impossible. It would amount to a true maritime blockade.
At that point, the Great Naruto Bridge that Tazuna was building would genuinely become the sole channel connecting the Land of Waves to the outside world. Controlling it meant controlling all access to the country—a strategy ten times more effective than anything Gatō had ever managed.
"Exactly. And if possible, have someone skilled in fish-based summoning help stock the reef waters with sharks, piranhas, and the like. I'd prefer that anything trying to pass through without authorization ends up as fish food."
Hinata raised her sleeve to her lips and gave a delicate cough. Her instructions prompted Kakuzu to nod without a moment's hesitation. The tall rogue ninja shed every trace of a powerful combatant's pride and answered without prompting: "Kisame specializes in shark summoning. I'll have him stock the area with a sufficient number of pets."
"Mm-hm~ So then, that guy—what's his name, Gatō? You said he hired Zabuza, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist? Want us to go collect their heads tonight?"
Hidan volunteered eagerly. He had his own agenda: if the Land of Waves could truly be brought under total control, he very much hoped to use it as a base for preaching Lord Jashin's faith. Making a good showing now was important.
"Mm... no. This mission is mine to handle, after all. So focus on sealing off the sea lanes for now. I want the moment that bridge is completed—one week from now—to be the moment the Land of Waves belongs to us completely. As for Gatō, leave his life and his money alone for one more week. After my real body departs, you can make your move."
Turning away, Hinata's voice carried undisguised ambition and confidence: "I believe this is the perfect location for our factory."