Inside the detention chamber of Uzushio village, a drama king was giving quite a show for Shūya and Orochimaru.
"Black-clad old man," advised Shen, "I'd recommend confession now while leniency is still an option."
White Zetsu, previously sleeping soundly, now wore a look of total confusion.
Before he could even ask what was going on, however, Shen jumped right in with his accusation.
"I mean, come on—do you really think being a good guy like this is worth all that suffering? Does this look like how we treat someone trying to help us? Don't give me that look! I already know you were trying to warn us about those attacks happening in Uzushio!" Shen firmly placed the blame squarely on White Zetsu.
"But wait, how did..."
"Black-clad old man sure is humble," Shen continued before the other could protest. "Helping the good guys without expecting anything in return? You're truly a role model for us all!"
White Zetsu just stared wordlessly, wide-eyed at this sudden turn of events.
Internally, he was desperately analyzing where his plan might have gone wrong, quickly settling on one likely possibility.
"You must be from Amegakure village, right Black-clad old man? Earlier I sent out a Shadow Clone Technique for a little reconnaissance and found this!" Shen raised his hand and slapped a stack of freshly printed photographs against the bars of the detention cell.
"!!!"
The photos made White Zetsu's eyes go even wider.
Clearly visible in the pictures were multiple Rain ninja squads moving swiftly across Uzugakure territory toward some unknown location.
"I understand you must have your reasons," Shen said, flashing his capitalist colors at the appropriate moment, "but it's best if you just confess everything now!"
Faced with such undeniable evidence, White Zetsu had no choice but to start talking.
As he listened, Shūya's expression became darker and darker: "Does Amegakure village think so little of our Uzumaki clan? Do they really believe they can just kidnap whomever they want? We're not just some kind of circus act for them to grab whenever they please!"
Shen knew perfectly well that White Zetsu hadn't actually revealed everything he knew.
Still, Shen figured things had gone far enough to proceed to the next step of his plan, so he wasn't sweating the small stuff.
This transmigrated soul could use his foreknowledge as an excuse, sending out clones to investigate while claiming he had long suspected something was amiss.
If White Zetsu exposed the truth about his identity as just another working stiff, though, things would get much more difficult to cover up.
"Now Shūya," Shen said, flashing his capitalist grin, "I've got plenty of interesting things here—want to check some out?"
"What sort of 'things'?" Shūya asked, naturally curious since he already knew this young mind was behind all the latest innovations coming from Konoha.
[Bombs], replied Shen. [Powerful bombs created by combining chakra explosions with various ninja tools!]
"Chakra? Ninja tools?"
Shūya suddenly remembered reports he'd received earlier about a certain black-clothed youth making large purchases of these exact materials.
He connected the dots instantly: "So this is what you were after all along!"
"Earning money isn't shameful!" declared Shen, flashing his capitalist grin. "It's just business, after all!"
Watching from left to right, finally understanding the full picture, Orochimaru realized his major investor was simply looking to cash in on this crisis.
"So how much do you want?" Shūya sighed and prepared to accept the inevitable.
Shen, wearing the smug smirk of a capitalist, said humbly, "Not at all high. If you can't pay right now, you could always send some people to Konoha to work off the debt. Our 'Uchiha Corporation Limited' offers great benefits, you know."
"Work off the debt? I don't know… Something about this feels suspicious," Shūya murmured, a chill creeping down his spine.
"We Uchiha have always been honest in our dealings! Ask Snake Uncle if you don't believe me—he's our company's chief consultant!" Shen added subtly, flashing two fingers briefly toward Orochimaru.
Orochimaru, delighted at securing an additional twenty percent funding, instantly began praising, "Indeed, Clan Head Shūya! Uchiha Corporation Limited not only guarantees no overtime work but also provides full social insurance and housing fund contributions. Working here feels just like being back home!"
Seeing even the disciple of the current Hokage had vouched for it, Shūya relaxed. "Alright then, how many workers do you need exactly? The Uzumaki clan isn't large in number."
Shen smiled again—a meaningful, deep smile—"No rush for that. Let's first deal with those Rain ninjas."
"Fine, then we'll proceed this way," Shūya readily agreed upon hearing this buy-now-pay-later approach.
"Pleasure doing business with you, Uncle Shūya."
"Pleasure doing business with you too, little sly fox from Uchiha."
"Hahahaha!" x2
The two let out matching laughter as they exchanged glances, both chuckling heartily.
The lingering laughter slowly lifted the mood inside the detention chamber at that moment.
Standing there silently watching everything unfold, Orochimaru and White Zetsu both knew deep down that someone else's intentions couldn't possibly be so simple.
They exchanged glances filled with pity for the poor soul laughing along with them.
Thus, on that very afternoon, a certain little mole had to get back to work again.
Only this time, the bombs were planted much closer together compared to when they were in Sunagakure village.
"Uncle Shūya, you can secretly arrange for people to evacuate now," the hardworking little mole reported later, returning to the detention chamber.
This room had now become the temporary command center for dealing with the Rain ninja abduction incident—on one hand to keep things under wraps, and on the other, to prevent any potential spies from interfering.
"Okay, I'll go make arrangements right away," Shūya responded—but suddenly felt something wasn't quite right. "Say kid, why are you so damn good at this? Have you done stuff like this before?"
Shen immediately put on a solemn expression, denying firmly, "Impossible! I was Konoha's Two-Time Outstanding Student. Otherwise, do you think Hokage would've skipped the usual protocol just to promote me to chunin?"
"Makes sense, actually," Shūya nodded in agreement.
He appeared convinced (or perhaps he was subtly persuaded).
""x4
The three members of Team One and White Zetsu all wore helpless expressions.
After all, they were well aware of the notorious record of troublemaking carried by this particular person. Every single word coming from him was completely unreliable—not even a punctuation mark could be trusted.
Orochimaru had also brought Nayou and Nawaki along. He believed this mission would definitely help mend the fractured teamwork currently plaguing Team One with Nayou and Nawaki included.
As for another unfortunate worker? Well, he was simply dragged along to do all the hard labor.
Plus, having been "redeemed" by Shen, he believed his participation would benefit the real plan.
"Shūya, what do you think?" Shen politely asked before sharing his own idea. "I think once they come in, we should just blow them all up at once. Don't worry, Uzumaki Village won't be destroyed."
"I have no objection," Shūya replied, his mouth twitching uncontrollably—he hadn't expected this at all.
Everything had already been decided, so why even bother asking for his opinion?
Shen felt completely satisfied with the situation. He had broken the entire plan down into six steps and had already completed the first three.
Step One: Discover the movements of the Rain ninjas.
Step Two: Collect all the ninja tools and chakra within Uzumaki Village.
Step Three: Obtain evidence of the Rain ninjas' activities and persuade Shūya to cooperate.
Step Four: Once the Rain ninjas arrive, activate the outer bombs to wipe them out.
Step Five: After an unnoticed second wave of attack, declare Uzumaki Village unsafe and detonate the bombs at its underground center.
Step Six: Bring all the displaced Uzumaki clan members into Uchiha Corporation Limited to repay their debts through labor.
The self-proclaimed mastermind was laughing like a maniac to himself, unaware that those backstabbers would soon pay him a special "visit" before the operation even began.
Would his so-called six-step plan actually work?
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