Chapter 206: First Casualties
"Brother Li, you didn't kill those two Iwagakure ninja, did you?" Yahiko asked nervously, clearly worried that Li Yao might say yes.
"No," Li Yao replied. "I know where the line is. After I found out why they attacked us, I had a friendly chat with them and let them go."
"That's good." Yahiko let out a huge sigh of relief. He feared that if shinobi from the Great Nations died, it would only spark greater hatred and make any future negotiations more difficult.
At that moment, Konan picked up on something in Li Yao's words and quickly asked, "Brother Li, why did they attack us?"
Li Yao answered, "The Three Great Nations believe that Akatsuki's rise in the Land of Rain is being supported behind the scenes by other major countries. They're afraid we'll attack them during wartime, so they're trying to investigate whether we're just a puppet organization backed by one of the Hidden Villages."
"This…" Yahiko and Konan hadn't expected such a reason. All they had done was try to develop peacefully, and they had already become a thorn in others' sides.
"So they killed our comrades just because of that?!"
"I can't accept this."
"…They can't die in vain."
"Those bastards must pay."
To learn that their comrades had been killed simply because of a suspicion that Akatsuki might be someone's puppet enraged everyone in the room.
It made them feel like their lives were utterly meaningless in the eyes of the Great Nations.
The Three Great Nations didn't value them at all. Just based on speculation, they had already killed twenty-six of their comrades.
"Brother Yahiko…" Everyone turned to Yahiko, waiting for his decision.
But under their expectant gazes, Yahiko shook his head and said, "To stop killing with more killing will only create greater cycles of hatred. That's not what Akatsuki stands for."
"Then… they just die for nothing?" someone immediately retorted.
"No." Yahiko's expression hardened as he spoke loudly, "As long as we stand united and continue fighting for peace, the day we bring peace to the Land of Rain and the ninja world… their deaths will not have been in vain."
"Otherwise, if we abandon Akatsuki's ideals of peace today, then yes… they will have truly died for nothing, and everything we've worked for will be meaningless."
"But…" someone still felt unwilling. To watch their comrades die and do nothing about it was unbearable.
Yahiko said, "I'll go and negotiate with the shinobi of the Great Nations. I'll make them admit their wrongdoing and apologize. I'll ask them to stop treating Akatsuki as an enemy. Only through resolving hatred can peace ever come. Otherwise, it'll never end."
It had to be said—Yahiko had real leadership talent.
After his speech about peace, most of those present calmed down. Though the hatred in their eyes remained, they stopped talking about taking revenge against the Great Nations.
However… a group that wouldn't avenge fallen comrades, no matter how noble its ideals, could only keep the loyalty of so many.
It was foreseeable that, once this decision became public, Akatsuki would face its first major loss in members.
Sure enough, that very night, three high-ranking members approached Yahiko and asked to leave Akatsuki.
"Sorry, Brother Yahiko… We just can't forget the pain the Great Nations have brought us."
Though they understood and even hoped for the peace Yahiko envisioned, the longer they thought about it, the more their anger burned.
They simply couldn't forgive the Great Nations' shinobi for killing their friends.
And they couldn't sit idly by and watch those enemies escape unscathed.
"But…" Yahiko tried to persuade them.
"Take care." The three men, perhaps fearing Yahiko's powerful rhetoric, didn't give him the chance to speak further. They used body flicker and vanished.
Li Yao shook his head as he watched from the side.
Yahiko was still too naïve.
Hatred is the foundation of what makes people human. A world without hatred simply doesn't exist—unless it's the world of Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Sure, resolving hatred requires mutual understanding.
But the prerequisite for mutual understanding is mutual deterrence.
Only when both sides fear each other can they truly sit down, talk calmly, and eventually reach an agreement through understanding.
When you kill and eat a fish, did you and the fish reach any mutual understanding?
No.
So if, in the eyes of the powerful, you are just like that fish—something to be killed and consumed as a matter of course—
Then can you still talk about mutual understanding with that power?
Impossible.
That's why Yahiko's ideals are destined to fail.
Only overwhelming power can serve as the foundation for understanding.
This was something Hashirama Senju understood well. That's why he created the Hidden Village system to fulfill his dreams.
Yahiko, however, had yet to realize this. His path to achieving his ideals would be long and hard.
The next day.
At the demonic tongue-shaped entrance atop the central tower, Yahiko said, "I'll leave the Wind Country to you, Brother Li, and Sister Koyuki."
"No problem," Li Yao replied with a smile. Koyuki nodded, standing beside him.
"We'll go negotiate with Konoha's shinobi," Yahiko said, looking at Konan and Nagato. They nodded in agreement.
Then the five of them split into two teams—one headed for Sunagakure, the other for Konoha.
…
Southern Land of Rain.
Inside a black stone cave.
Two shinobi from Sunagakure sat cross-legged on the ground, forming hand seals.
Between them was a captured Akatsuki member, connected to them by black sealing formulae.
Steam was rising from the Akatsuki member's body.
The two Suna shinobi were performing a memory-search technique.
After a while, they stopped. One of them turned to a young shinobi seated nearby and said, "Lord Kazekaze, we've found all the Akatsuki leaders."
"Any signs of people from Konoha or Iwagakure?" Kazekaze asked, narrowing his eyes.
"None," one of them replied, shaking his head. "The leader of Akatsuki is named Yahiko, an orphan from the Land of Rain. The other four core members are also orphans. There's no sign of Konoha or Iwagakure shinobi among them."
"I see…" Kazekaze frowned in thought, then said, "Looks like we'll have to talk with the Akatsuki leader directly."
Over the past half-month, they had secretly extracted intel from the minds of seven Akatsuki members.
Unfortunately, these members were low-ranking. Their memories revealed no evidence of support from Iwagakure or Konoha.
To understand Akatsuki's true nature, they'd have to talk to its leader.
And how would they talk?
The young Kazekaze gripped the hilt of his katana, a smile forming on his face—but it froze halfway through.
"Who's there?!"
Kazekaze suddenly turned around, drawing his katana mid-spin and slashing toward the cave entrance.
Zing!
A sharp wind blade burst from the katana, flying toward the mouth of the cave.
"Hoh!"
Li Yao's eyes lit up. This young Suna shinobi had remarkably strong Wind Release chakra. The wind blade released from his sword wasn't just an ordinary technique—it had properties akin to a precision-cutting slash, far sharper than a normal wind blade.
In response, Li Yao raised his hand and slashed down with a wind blade of his own.
Zing!
Screech!
The two blades collided. Though Li Yao's larger wind blade had more chakra behind it, it was cut in half after just a moment of deadlock.
"Not bad, not bad!"
Li Yao dodged with a body flicker and admired the smooth, razor-thin cuts left on the ground and cave walls. He looked at the young Suna shinobi with increasing satisfaction.
What luck.
He'd just secured his Earth-style clone—and now the Wind-style clone had practically delivered itself.
"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Rise!"
"Earth Style: Sand Transformation Technique!"
The two Suna shinobi reacted immediately after Kazekaze's clash with Li Yao. One raised a platform beneath them, while the other turned the rock ceiling into sand.
Rumble!
The cave collapsed. Li Yao retreated outside. The rocky hill before him exploded into a mass of sand, and Kazekaze and the two Suna shinobi landed nearby.
Now the three of them could clearly see Li Yao and Koyuki.
"Lord Kazekaze, those two are part of Akatsuki's top five. Their real names are unknown, but most members refer to them as Brother Li and Sister Koyuki."
The two who had just scanned the Akatsuki member's memory quickly reported to the young shinobi in the center.
(END CHAPTER)
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