Chapter 58: Mirai Sarutobi is About to Be Born
"It seems this guy is quite wary of Qianye," Konan said, walking up to Pain.
"To be able to annihilate the Sarutobi Clan, which numbered several thousand, in such a short time, naturally means he has a very good standard," Pain said calmly.
"So what should we do next? Should we continue to follow his orders and have Zetsu team up with Qianye?" Konan asked.
"There are no better options at the moment," Pain turned to Konan. "Do we have any leads on the woman Qianye asked us to protect?"
"Yes," Konan nodded.
"That fast?" Pain was a little surprised.
One must know that most of the Akatsuki Organization's intelligence came from Zetsu, and Zetsu was allied with the Masked Man.
Without relying on Zetsu, and with Konoha strictly blocking Uchiha information, it wouldn't be easy to investigate Mikoto's identity.
"No, I didn't put in much effort. I directly asked her name, and then simply investigated. Her name is Uchiha Mikoto. What's interesting is that she seems to be Uchiha Itachi's mother," Konan said.
"That is quite interesting indeed. Rumor has it that besides Itachi's younger brother, there are no other Uchiha survivors. I didn't expect there to be another one besides Uchiha Izumi. It seems the Uchiha clan's annihilation wasn't as simple as imagined."
Pain muttered, "Well, this doesn't have much to do with us. Now we just need to ensure the plan proceeds smoothly."
As he spoke, his body floated into the air, drifting towards Rain Village.
Konan spread her Dance of the Shikigami, her body transforming into countless paper pieces, following closely behind.
At the foot of the mountain.
Qianye, bored, said to Zetsu, "You two are so slow."
"You're too fast," White Zetsu retorted, handing over several scrolls. "These are your next missions."
Qianye flipped through them, roughly looking them over, and couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Assassinations, bridge bombings, bandit extermination... you really take on any mission, don't you?"
"There's nothing we can do about it. The organization is just starting, and it needs a lot of funds," Black Zetsu replied.
"If you're short on money, why don't you just find a wealthy family and rob them, like me? Anyway, this world lacks everything except unscrupulous merchants and wealthy landlords. At most, you kill them afterward to silence them. Why bother with these pointless missions?" Qianye said while browsing the scrolls.
"There are no impenetrable walls in the world. The iron rule of the Ninja World is to obtain remuneration by taking on missions. No one, including the Five Great Nations, is allowed to break this. The Akatsuki Organization is no exception. If this rule is violated, it will attract too much attention and could very likely lead to encirclement by the Five Great Nations."
"The downfall of the Land of Whirlpools back then is a lesson. They directly established a system where the Ninja Village and the country were one, which was intolerable to many nations, ultimately leading to disaster."
Black Zetsu patiently explained.
"That's truly disgusting. To control such powerful strength, yet yield to those weak individuals who hold positions without contributing. What a tragic world."
Qianye symbolically formed a hand seal with his right hand. With a bang, the smoke dissipated, and several Shadow Clones appeared out of thin air.
He distributed the mission scrolls to the Shadow Clones, then turned his back to Zetsu and said, "You're responsible for leading the way. As for the fighting, leave it to them. As long as they don't encounter a Kage or a powerful Jinchuriki, there won't be much of a problem."
"Isn't that too lax? I can feel that each of your Shadow Clones possesses very powerful Chakra, but Shadow Clones cannot recover Chakra. If the mission is delayed because Chakra runs out, the leader will blame you."
Black Zetsu did not want Qianye to move away from his surveillance, so he used Pain as an excuse.
"You can rest assured about that. These aren't ordinary Shadow Clones; they can recover their own Chakra. If anything goes wrong, and the leader blames me, I'll take full responsibility."
"Alright, that's all for now. I'm going to cultivate."
"If Black Sixth has any new missions, you can just give them to this Shadow Clone. If they encounter anything beyond the clone's capabilities, it will send me a message."
Leaving that statement, Qianye's figure flickered and disappeared from the sight of the two Zetsu.
"What should we do?" White Zetsu asked in a voice only he and Black Zetsu could hear, looking at where Qianye had disappeared.
"He's really a troublesome fellow. Let's take his Shadow Clones to the mission location first, then report to the leader and Tobi later," Black Zetsu replied. His figure slowly melted into the ground.
After Black Zetsu disappeared, Qianye stopped, tilted his head towards Konoha, and muttered to himself, calculating the time, Danzo and Asuma Sarutobi's child should be born by now, right?
At the same time.
Land of Fire. Konoha Village.
A certain secret underground base.
The dim candlelight flickered slightly as a gentle breeze blew in.
"You're awake. How do you feel now? I've sealed off the news, so no one will know about your physical condition. You can rest assured and recuperate..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat by the bed, looking at his son, who he usually considered rebellious, lying on the sickbed with a look of utter despair. A pang of Pain shot through his heart, and he sighed deeply, unable to utter the last word, 'fetus.'
It had been nearly seven days since the annihilation of the Sarutobi, Shimura, and Uchiha clans.
Konohamaru had already been discharged from the hospital and was sent back to the Hokage Building by Hiruzen Sarutobi's men, entrusted to the care of Konoha Special Jonin Ebisu.
To prevent Konohamaru's already fragile young heart, which was increasingly vulnerable due to losing his family, from being subjected to secondary harm.
Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately sealed off the news of him and Asuma Sarutobi being castrated.
Originally, with Asuma Sarutobi's physique,
Although he had a few broken ribs and lost his lower body parts,
According to Konoha's medical conditions, he should have been discharged quickly.
But it's better to be safe than sorry.
While the Medical Ninja were treating Asuma Sarutobi's injuries and examining his body, they actually discovered that he had an additional warm chamber inside him, one that only females possess.
And a resident had already been born inside it.
That resident's vitality was extraordinarily vigorous, changing almost daily.
Within a few days, Asuma's belly had become like a ball.
This terrified the Medical Ninja responsible for treating him.
They reported it to the hospital director immediately.
The director then reported it to the Third Hokage.
The Third Hokage was also greatly shocked, a mixture of joy and alarm.
The joy was that the Sarutobi family would finally not be without an heir.
The alarm was that the subject was his son.
If a grown man's condition like this were to spread, his reputation as the Most Powerful Hokage of All Time would be completely ruined.
But to preserve the Sarutobi family's only potentially fertile offspring, he ultimately decided to keep the child.
For this, out of necessity, he moved his son to this secret underground base, and even the Medical Ninja who knew about Asuma's condition were brought over.
P.S.: First update. Please give recommendation tickets and monthly tickets.
Thanks to [River God Boss] for the 700 Qidian coins reward.
Thanks to [Crimson Wing Twilight] for the 5000 Qidian coins reward.