REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!Chapter 88: Rebuilding Konoha? Did Anyone Ask the Uchiha?
That day, while Yasushi was treating Nagato, White Zetsu suddenly arrived with a report.
"Leader, the Land of Wind has sent a request. They're asking permission to pass through the Land of Rain so the Sand Village's forces can march on the Land of Fire."
The Land of Rain sat wedged between the Lands of Fire, Wind, and Earth—a buffer zone between greater powers. If the Wind Country wanted to invade Fire Country, they'd need to pass through either Rain or River Country.
"Hmph. A pointless test." Nagato's voice dripped with contempt as he flatly refused. "Tell the Wind Country's envoy they're not permitted to set one foot in the Land of Rain."
His tone grew harder, more bitter. "These great nations—they're the source of every conflict in the shinobi world. The moment there's even the slightest disturbance, they descend like ravenous hyenas fighting over scraps of meat."
"People who've never experienced the agony of war firsthand will never understand how precious peace truly is. These arrogant great nations need to feel that pain themselves."
White Zetsu tilted his head curiously. "So should we stop the Wind Country from invading the Land of Fire? I've been scouting ahead, and Konoha's remaining forces are sending people to recall Tsunade and Jiraiya. They're planning to rebuild the village."
Rebuild the village?
Yasushi, who'd been uninvolved until now, suddenly bristled at those words.
Rebuild Konoha? Did anyone ask if the Uchiha clan agrees? Without the Uchiha clan's permission, nobody gets to rebuild that village!
But Nagato spoke before Yasushi could voice his objections.
"Our goal is to make the Five Great Nations experience the pain of war so they'll understand peace's true value—not to utterly destroy them. Konoha has already experienced that pain after recent events. Let's observe their response first. If they show genuine remorse, we'll see. If they remain unrepentant, destroying them completely won't be too late."
He paused, considering the larger picture. "As for the wars between the great nations—"
Nagato fell into contemplative silence, clearly conflicted.
At his core, Nagato was a pacifist. He waged war only to force the nations into maintaining peace. According to his vision, the Akatsuki should act as the ultimate deterrent—beating down every nation, bringing them pain, making them submit. Not letting the nations slaughter each other in endless cycles of bloodshed.
In other words, in this new world order, the Akatsuki had to be the main character. The other nations couldn't steal the spotlight.
Seeing Nagato's intention to intervene, Yasushi immediately grew displeased.
The Akatsuki could beat down the entire world if it wanted—but it absolutely could not shield Konoha from disaster!
For Yasushi, the most critical objective right now was making Konoha disappear from the shinobi world entirely, not establishing dominance over it.
He quickly interjected with his objection.
"Leader, the Five Great Nations may oppose each other, but their attitude toward smaller nations is remarkably consistent. The great nations can slaughter each other all they want, but no small nation is allowed to rise above its station."
"We destroyed Konoha, which has already made the other four nations wary. That's why the Wind Country is testing us now. If we clash with the Wind Country, the other nations will likely conclude that the Land of Rain is trying to rise to prominence. They'll unite to suppress us."
"We should keep a low profile right now and avoid making the other four nations too threatened, or they'll band together against us. Although we don't fear those great nations, war breaking out serves no purpose for our plans."
"Right now our members aren't all assembled. Even if we captured the One-Tail and brought it back, we couldn't seal it. Plus, we've depleted most of our war supplies from the previous battle. Starting another war recklessly isn't wise."
"Better to let the nations tear each other apart for a while, weaken their forces, then we can sweep in and claim total victory. Our most important task now is further strengthening the Akatsuki and reviving the Ten-Tails."
"Once you become the Ten-Tails jinchuriki, Leader, even if all Five Great Nations unite, there'll be nothing to fear."
Nagato actually listened to Yasushi's counsel. After considering it carefully for a moment, he nodded.
"You make valid points. We'll proceed according to our established plan—first complete our roster and maximize the Akatsuki's strength."
He turned to White Zetsu. "Still no trace of Hiruko?"
"Someone spotted him near the Land of Water." White Zetsu nodded. "But pinpointing his exact location will take some time."
"The Land of Water?" Nagato instinctively glanced at Yasushi, seeking relevant intelligence.
Yasushi thought for a moment. "Hiruko's Dark Release—I believe he stole that in the Land of Water. We could conduct a targeted investigation based on that information."
He paused, then made a decision. "Actually, forget it. I'll head there with Orochimaru and wait for him in advance. Otherwise, with such distance between locations, by the time we get word and travel there, he might've already taken his prize and gone into hiding again."
After these days of treatment, Nagato's body had recovered considerably. From here on, he could rely on the Uzumaki clan's formidable natural healing to recover on his own. The process would be slower, but he no longer absolutely required Yasushi's treatment.
And slower recovery had its advantages—it kept Nagato from getting overconfident and trying to single-handedly challenge the entire world, potentially shielding Konoha in the process.
Nagato, unaware of Yasushi's true thoughts, was quite pleased with his proactive attitude. He nodded. "In that case, depart immediately. Recruit Hiruko back to the organization."
Yasushi rose with a cheerful smile, leaving with White Zetsu to find Orochimaru.
Orochimaru was clearly at a critical juncture in his experiments and showed obvious irritation at being assigned a mission.
But one of Orochimaru's virtues was his keen sense of timing and circumstances.
After complaining briefly, Orochimaru still packed up his equipment and departed alongside Yasushi.
Watching Yasushi's group leave Rain Village, Obito's face darkened as he spoke to Zetsu beside him.
"Uchiha Yasushi is absolutely the biggest variable in our plan."
"Just because he hasn't leaked information about the Moon's Eye Plan to Nagato yet doesn't mean he won't in the future."
"We can't let him continue existing within the Akatsuki. We need to find a way to eliminate him!"
But this time, Zetsu refused quite decisively.
"Obito, you don't need to worry about Yasushi's situation."
"Although he's somewhat unhinged and uncontrollable right now, very soon he'll have a weakness."
"I made a deal with him before—to help resurrect his family members."
"When he completes this mission and returns, Nagato should be mostly recovered. At that point, I have a method to convince Nagato to use the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to revive Yasushi's younger brother."
"Once he has his beloved brother back, he'll have something binding him. He naturally won't be able to do anything too crazy, and he certainly won't dare offend us!"
"His beloved brother?" Hearing this, Obito's mind suddenly flashed back to the nightmares that had been plaguing him recently.
In those nightmares, he either killed his beloved Rin or his second-most-beloved Kakashi, each time with creative new variations. Being repeatedly tormented with his deepest attachments had nearly driven him insane.
Now hearing that Uchiha Yasushi intended to resurrect his most beloved brother, Obito's eyes immediately gleamed with cold malice as vicious thoughts flooded his mind.
"I'll make him understand that this world is ultimately false. Only by creating a perfect dream world is there any true path forward!"
"The Moon's Eye Plan must succeed!"
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