"We apologize. We have no intention of being enemies with Konoha. In fact, Akatsuki's goal is to achieve peace in the Shinobi World, not war. The reason we attacked your village's ninja was out of concern that Iwa Ninja and Suna-nin might infiltrate the Land of Rain disguised as Konoha ninja."
Yahiko bowed in apology, revealing some of the truth.
Behind him, Raj sharpened his claws.
The moment Yahiko bowed, Raj surged forward.
To protect Rin and Obito earlier, he had chosen to enlarge himself for greater attack power. Now, for this sudden strike, speed was paramount.
As he lunged, he activated the Gate.
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, Raj had crossed the distance, closing to within a step or two of Yahiko.
Yahiko was about to use the Body Flicker Technique in conjunction with the Substitution Technique to escape when he felt his ankle seized.
He was abruptly pulled underground.
Earth Release: Headhunter Technique.
"What do you think you're doing?"
A swarm of Amegakure Ninja rushed forward, but Raj had already enlarged himself again.
His massive tail coiled around Yahiko's head, his eyes gleaming fiercely as he glared at the remaining Amegakure Ninja.
Alone, the Amegakure Ninja might not have feared them, and Yahiko was confident he could escape. But the figure that had appeared in an instant left them all frozen in place.
'Flying Thunder God Technique - Minato!'
"Go ahead. They won't hurt me," Yahiko said calmly.
It was indeed a misunderstanding, and he understood Konoha's reasons for wanting to capture him. After all, he had injured that Uchiha clan child.
In this situation, no one could easily set aside their prejudices.
The other Amegakure Ninja exchanged glances but ultimately bowed their heads in acceptance of the order.
"Yes."
"Can you move your tail away? It's so itchy!"
"Meow~ I'll let you go, but don't cause any trouble."
Raj released the cat tail, reverted to his human form, and deactivated the "Gate" state, panting slightly at the edge.
But he wasn't about to miss this opportunity to fleece the sheep...
Yahiko initially resisted, but with only his head above ground, he had no way to fight back. He could only stare expressionlessly at the tail.
Matatabi thought Raj was courting disaster. Tails were vulnerable; what if the guy got angry and bit it?
Wait, that guy had the "Cat Hair Hardening Technique." If he bit down, the one who'd suffer would be the orange-haired Amegakure Ninja.
'How tragic!'
'Crossing paths with this black cat was like being cursed for eight lifetimes. The worst part was, sometimes you didn't even know what you'd done to provoke it.'
'Being a cat is hard, but being human seems even harder,' it muttered to itself.
Before long, Minato freed Yahiko from the earth. He hadn't intended to harm Yahiko or take him hostage.
He merely used the opportunity to force back the Akatsuki ninja, allowing them to discuss matters too sensitive to be shared in public.
Behind them, Rin used medical ninjutsu to treat Obito's injuries, while Kakashi and Matatabi stood guard.
Only Raj, Minato, and Yahiko remained.
"Konan..."
"You mentioned you're also disciples of Lord Jiraiya?"
"That's right," Yahiko replied after a pause.
Though the man was his senior, Yahiko hadn't lost to him directly, but rather to a combined ambush by a cat and a brat.
'Ugh, telling anyone would bring shame upon our master.'
With this thought, Yahiko glared at the cat, feeling a sharp pang of humiliation.
'That cat must be looking down on me! It has to be!'
Unable to voice these thoughts, Yahiko simply pondered them briefly before asking, "Your mission must be to monitor the situations in Sunagakure and Iwagakure, right?"
"Correct."
Raj was gently nudged by Minato.
Seeing Minato's beaming smile, he wordlessly retreated to the back.
He couldn't resist glancing at his points.
His score had just increased by nearly 1,100-a decent haul.
'As expected, group battles are the way to go.'
Even if everyone but Yahiko was just small fry, they still added up to a good number of points.
'If only I'd bundled up all those Akatsuki members earlier! They were all walking points!'
"We have intelligence on the movements of the two villages," Yahiko said.
"They met in this area three days ago."
"Who met with whom?" Minato immediately tensed.
If Sunagakure and Iwagakure had truly made contact three days ago, it was entirely possible that Sunagakure had issued orders to their border spies to go into hiding yesterday.
"Iwagakure's representative was Onoki's son, Kitsuchi. Sunagakure's representative was a young man with red hair, likely Rasa, a Jonin from Sunagakure. We don't know the specifics of their conversation."
Yahiko paused, straining to recall the details.
After a few seconds, he continued, "Also, though there's no immediate activity, intelligence from our spies in the Land of Wind suggests Sunagakure may be planning something soon."
"Excellent. We can definitely cooperate," Minato said, his face breaking into a sincere smile.
This was the best news he'd heard recently: Amegakure had an organization just like theirs, aiming to prevent Sunagakure and Iwagakure from joining forces.
Moreover, the leader of this organization was a disciple of his teacher, Jiraiya.
Whoosh!
With a rustle, Konan and Nagato landed on a thick branch of a nearby tree.
Seeing everyone looking peaceful and calm, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
They had been worried something might have gone wrong with Yahiko's group.
"Since you're also a student of our teacher, why don't you join us for a visit to the place where Teacher Jiraiya taught us? It's not far from here, and though the child has received treatment, he needs a short period of rest."
Yahiko understood how to deepen relationships.
Since Minato was also Jiraiya's disciple, Jiraiya himself became the natural bond between them.
His thinking was simple: Akatsuki was still weak compared to Amegakure, let alone the Five Great Nations.
To achieve their path to peace, like-minded allies were essential.
"This is definitely where Lord Jiraiya lived," Minato said, his voice filled with delight.
He had indeed found numerous traces of Jiraiya's extended stay here.
"Meow~ He must have liked Konan the most, right?" Raj said, jumping onto Minato's shoulder, glancing around, and speaking bluntly.
Judging by the photos in the room, Jiraiya clearly favored Konan.
"Raj, you shouldn't speak about Lord Jiraiya like that," Rin said, pulling the cat back.
Obito, however, unexpectedly agreed with Raj's words.
But he felt the cat was dragging him down.
'Before criticizing others, one should first examine oneself. Hmph, just another pervert!'
He considered himself different.