Nearly a month had passed since the Water–Fire Dual-Kage talks.
Akatsuki, whose fame had soared after serving as security during the summit, finally prepared to leave the Land of Iron and return to the Land of Rain.
"Ugh… I feel like after this month, my mastery of the Shadow Clone Technique has surpassed ninety-nine percent of all ninja in the world…"
Under a star-bright sky, Yahiko lay on a rooftop blanketed in snow, counting stars as he complained to Nagato beside him.
"Seriously. Expanding a small group of a few dozen into about two hundred already had us working until we couldn't tell day from night. How do leaders of the great villages manage a whole village?"
"Tell me about it," Nagato sighed, the dark circles under his eyes heavier than before.
He drew a glittering clump of snow toward him with chakra, staring into it.
"Just providing food, clothing, shelter, and travel needs for over a hundred new members already forced us to dip into the payment we received from Kaguya Ren."
His voice turned weighty.
"And once we return, we still need funds to build a base, maintain operations, cover constant expenses, buy weapons and medicine…"
Even Nagato sounded tired.
"Even if we took the entire one billion ryo in that black-market account… without income, it would only last a few years."
"Which is why the big villages keep starting wars," Yahiko said with a bitter laugh. "Expand influence, secure more countries."
He stared at the sky.
"No missions, no commissions—then the village can't support ninja. Lose elites, lose military power, lose a nation's trust… and it spirals."
Yahiko's voice softened.
"If we hadn't tried to run a large organization ourselves, we might never have understood the great nations' leadership even a little."
Nagato's eyes gleamed with thought.
"…That might've been Ren's purpose in dragging us into the summit."
He spoke slowly, choosing each word.
"Anyone can shout 'peace' as a slogan. But to truly achieve it, we must see the objective causes of war—and find answers."
Nagato exhaled.
"We have to use nonviolence to stop the chaos… and solve the fuses that ignite endless wars."
He looked up at the stars.
"That's… too much."
Yahiko groaned and flopped into a starfish shape on the roof.
Nagato stretched and pulled out the token Ren had given them, staring at it thoughtfully.
"It might not all need to be done by us alone."
He traced the object lightly.
"At least for solving the fuses… I don't think Ren would mind giving us ideas—and letting us test them for him."
Yahiko turned his head, suddenly attentive.
"Why?"
"Because he never really hid his ambition to unify the ninja world," Nagato said calmly.
He remembered Ren speaking of strange "future" notions, then dismissing them with faint disdain.
"Remember how he said he didn't want to keep fighting Konoha—not because he couldn't win, but because he couldn't guarantee control over the Land of Fire after victory?"
Nagato's gaze sharpened.
"If he's thought as far as post-war governance of Fire Country, then he must have thought about what comes after unification, too."
He shrugged slightly.
"As long as our paths don't clash yet, borrowing some of his thoughts—and testing their feasibility ourselves—doesn't hurt."
Yahiko sat upright, thinking seriously.
Jiraiya had shaped them. And Ren had… disturbed them.
Jiraiya, a product of the Will of Fire, was still bound to a very "ninja" way of thinking. His longing for peace was real—but did he ever offer a concrete route?
No.
Ren was different.
Born in Kirigakure, he should've been even more "ninja," yet he carried ideas that didn't feel like a shinobi at all—ideas too far ahead for this era.
Yahiko couldn't understand how someone from that cold, closed place developed such thinking.
But he couldn't deny that Ren's words could shake him.
After a long silence, Yahiko asked quietly:
"Nagato… aren't you worried we'll be influenced too much? That we'll drift from neutrality and end up fully leaning to his side?"
"We shouldn't deny what is right," Nagato replied, gripping Yahiko's hand with his cool fingers.
"Our teacher Jiraiya is from Konoha. We accepted his teachings, formed Akatsuki, and pursued peace without violence."
He spoke evenly, resolutely.
"Ren is from Kirigakure. For those of us born in the Rain, his identity is at least less bitter than the ninja who once invaded our homeland."
Nagato's mouth curved slightly.
"If we can accept Jiraiya's teachings, we can accept the correct, useful parts of Ren's thought to refine Akatsuki's ideals."
He looked at the darkness beyond the roof.
"And don't forget—among our new members, there will be spies from the great villages."
Nagato's gaze was steady.
"So what? If they truly work for Akatsuki's ideal and peace, why should we care about the banner they were born under?"
Yahiko snorted, a self-mocking smile appearing.
"Tch. So the Rinnegan really is that ridiculous, huh? Even when it comes to things that aren't physical, you see further than the rest of us."
Nagato laughed softly.
"Maybe. But you don't get to slack off and dump your work on me, Yahiko."
"As if," Yahiko scoffed, straightening. "I'm Yahiko—the leader of Akatsuki. A little insecurity won't—"
A few soft paper petals drifted in and formed Konan's upper body.
"Yahiko. Nagato. You're here."
Her voice was calm, but urgent.
"Come to the meeting room. There's an unexpected situation—you two need to decide."
Unexpected?
Nagato and Yahiko exchanged a look, then leapt down from the roof and hurried to the meeting room.
When they arrived, Konan and Uzumaki Karin were already waiting.
"What happened?" Yahiko asked immediately. "Another group trying to snatch the bloodline prisoners? Or an unknown force approaching?"
"Uh… neither," Karin said, scratching her cheek awkwardly as she toyed with her red hair.
"I was interviewing the last batch of new members with Konan—assigning work based on what they're good at—and I felt… a really weird chakra."
"How weird?" Nagato's posture shifted instantly into vigilance.
"It's… like a chakra I kept sensing at the summit. Someone who was there a lot."
Karin gestured vaguely, then looked at Nagato.
"I never entered the meeting hall, so I can't tell who exactly it was besides Ren… but you saw them. If you use Mind's Eye of the Kagura, you should be able to recognize it."
Someone… present at the summit.
Yahiko and Nagato ran through possibilities.
The Third Hokage and Third Mizukage—old men in their sixties—would never do something so absurd as infiltrate Akatsuki themselves.
Minato, newly installed as Fourth Hokage, wouldn't be idle enough to take a part-time job here, either.
That left only the Kiri-side guard, Yagura, and Konoha's guard—Jiraiya.
"Don't tell me… it's you."
Nagato activated Mind's Eye of the Kagura, his expression turning strangely complicated.
And in his perception—a chakra that felt unmistakably like Jiraiya's revealed itself.
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