While the party was being held in the Mechanical City, the various nations of the Shinobi World also received intelligence reports from their spies, each falling into shock and panic.
The Floating Continent descending over Konoha, thousands of immortal and indestructible puppets destroying over half of Konoha, forcing them to surrender...
Just as the new year began, such fantastical news arrived.
If it weren't for the previous news about Sunagakure creating a floating continent, the villages of the Shinobi World would have thought this was some kind of New Year's joke!
After the initial shock and disbelief, they also began to seriously confront this issue.
The Floating Continent flies in the sky, making its movements difficult to track and preventing them from taking precautions in advance.
If the enemy attacks their village like they did to Konoha this time, while most of their Shinobi are away, who could withstand it?
But keeping a large number of Shinobi in the village is unrealistic.
Leaving aside wartime, even during peace, Shinobi must go out on missions. It's simply impossible to keep most of their strength in the village.
…
Kumogakure.
The newly appointed Fourth Raikage, A, also had a grave expression upon receiving this news.
Ignoring terrain, unable to track its movements, yet capable of carrying the military force of an entire Shinobi Village... The floating continent is simply too much of a bug for the current Shinobi World.
However, A merely felt troubled by it; he wasn't at a loss like the other villages.
Although not as much as Konoha, certain Shinobi Clans within Kumogakure also have unclear connections with the Sage of Six Paths.
They also received many inheritances and treasures from that Shinobi Progenitor.
Leaving aside the treasures once used by the Sage of Six Paths, the technology passed down from the Ninshu, used to create weapons capable of dealing with calamity-level threats, the 'Chakra Cannon', is their true trump card.
Although it requires Chakra even a Tailed Beast would find difficult to supply for a single use, for decades, Kumogakure has been accumulating Chakra day and night for the Chakra Cannon, enough for several shots.
This cannon, said to be capable of shattering even the moon, might cause massive collateral damage when used against targets on the ground, but there's no such concern when used against the floating continent in the sky.
If Sunagakure dares to bring the floating continent to Kumogakure, he guarantees he'll shoot it down.
As for the consequences of shooting it down...
Hah, if Sunagakure dares to use it in war, they should have considered the consequences of being shot down.
If they didn't think about it...
Hah, why should he worry about something the enemy didn't even consider?
At worst, it's mutual destruction.
Otherwise, do they expect him to surrender to spare the lives of the Shinobi World's inhabitants?
The Raikage lineage has always been brash, preferring death over surrender, never knowing the meaning of backing down.
"This is an opportunity. We can take advantage of Konoha's heavy losses to send troops and take back what we lost last year." The Fourth Raikage looked at the troop deployments of various villages on the map and murmured.
His secretary, Mabui, who was standing nearby, couldn't help but ask, "Are we going to send troops against Konoha?"
"No, against Iwagakure!"
The Fourth Raikage slammed his hand hard on the map on the table, his hair standing on end with anger. "They dared to stab us in the back! This time, we must make them pay in blood!"
…
The Land of Rain is a country where it rains heavily all year round, making it unsuitable for farming.
In pursuit of development, the country had no choice but to embark on the path of industrialization. Amegakure is proof that this country's industrialization is at the forefront of the world.
Although only a medium-sized village, its architecture is extremely developed, with high-rise buildings everywhere and steam boiler plants visible all around.
Heavy rain washed away the blood.
Nagato sat on the edge of the central tower, letting the rain pour over him, overlooking the entire village.
"With this, Amegakure is ours." Zetsu, revealing the upper half of his body from the wall, spoke.
"This is only the first step in executing the plan." Nagato said expressionlessly. "Using Amegakure as cover and funding, secretly gather experts, form an organization to capture the Tailed Beasts. After the preparations for the Outer Path Statue are complete, begin operations. Complete all captures before the Five Great Nations react."
"That's right, that's the plan!" Zetsu nodded. "Capturing Tailed Beasts must be done by experts. Also, to avoid attracting the attention of the Five Great Nations, the number of people should be kept as small as possible. My suggestion is ten, including you and me."
"Ten, huh..." Nagato considered briefly, then nodded. "Fine, ten. Do you have any candidates?"
"Currently, only two are suitable."
"Two?" Nagato frowned slightly. "That's too few."
"After all, they need to be experts capable of capturing Tailed Beasts. They're not common cabbages."
"I understand. Then go find the people."
"Experts capable of capturing Tailed Beasts… I don't have the ability to find them. You need to go recruit them personally. As you know, I'm not good at fighting."
"Understood."
Sensing the impatience in Nagato's tone, Zetsu didn't mind and continued in his usual tone. "There's one more thing."
"What is it?"
"Jiraiya!"
Hearing this, Nagato's body trembled slightly but immediately returned to normal.
His face was indifferent, showing no emotional fluctuation.
"What about Jiraiya?"
"He's searching for your whereabouts in the Land of Rain. It seems he knows you're not dead."
"Senki Ryuji told him, I suppose."
Nagato easily deduced the sequence of events.
After all, it was such a meticulously planned situation. Even Nagato could see through it; how could that genius puppeteer who was checkmated not see it?
'He himself didn't have the time to investigate this matter, so he told Jiraiya, who had a master-disciple relationship with him, that he wasn't dead and was even saved by Uchiha Madara, letting Jiraiya investigate.'
'It solves a potential problem without wasting manpower or time. Killing two birds with one stone indeed!'
Nagato said coldly, "It's not time yet. You go deal with it."
"I can't beat him."
Hearing this, Nagato fell silent.
After a moment, he looked up at Zetsu and asked, "Then what use are you?"
"Gathering intelligence!"
"White Zetsu gathers intelligence!"
"I am the command center!"
"The previous White Zetsu could also serve as a command center!"
Hearing this, Zetsu fell silent.
After a moment, he looked up, meeting Nagato's gaze directly. "I am the will of Uchiha Madara. I will supervise your execution of the Eye of the Moon Plan to prevent deviations."
"In other words, to monitor me?"
"Correct."
Zetsu admitted it frankly.
Even if he didn't say it, Nagato was well aware of this.
"Then I really don't see what use keeping you by my side serves." Nagato looked at Zetsu, a cold light gleaming in his eyes, his killing intent undisguised.
Looking at such a Nagato, Zetsu felt a headache.
He knew this version of Nagato would be difficult to control, but he didn't expect him to be unable to restrain his desire to kill him so soon.
'Should I use the trump card Madara left?'
Zetsu thought to himself.
If he used the trump card Madara left, their relationship would change from cooperation to control.
But that trump card was meant for Nagato to use the Rinne Rebirth later.
If used now, if Nagato would rather die than submit, the entire plan would be ruined.
'Let's test the waters a bit more.'
Zetsu sighed inwardly, looking at Nagato expressionlessly. "Are you serious?"
"Of course... I'm not."
Nagato withdrew his gaze, looking outside again. He continued, "No matter how unwilling I am, deviations might occur during the execution of the plan. With you here, they can be stopped in time."
'Just giving me a warning, huh!'
Black Zetsu inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
If Nagato really wanted to kill him to eliminate future trouble, he really wouldn't know what to do.
Probably, he'd have to feign death again and operate from the shadows.
But thankfully, the worst-case scenario didn't happen.
Thinking of this, a faint smile appeared on Black Zetsu's face. "Actually, I am of some use."
"Oh~"
Nagato was noncommittal about this.
"Although I can't help in terms of combat power, in other aspects, I can be of great use."
"Then tell me."
"Do you know about Sunagakure's Mechanical City?"
Hearing this, Nagato fell silent once more.
The matter of the Floating Continent descending over Konoha and forcing Konoha to surrender… Zetsu had told him about it last night.
The effectiveness of this sky fortress in its debut battle was beyond his imagination.
If this thing becomes an obstacle to the plan in the future, he doesn't know how to deal with it.
After all, it's constantly flying in the sky with no fixed position. Just finding its location wouldn't be easy.
"The power of the Floating Continent achieved such results in its first battle. Its effectiveness far exceeded the imagination of everyone in the Shinobi World... No, to be precise, it's the effectiveness displayed when paired with the immortal and indestructible autonomous puppets." Black Zetsu corrected the mistake. "If Sunagakure later drives this thing to the battlefield, the Third Shinobi World War will end very quickly. That's not conducive to the development of our plan."
The strength of the Five Great Nations is too overwhelming. For the plan to succeed, the more chaotic the environment, the better.
If the war ends, their actions will be very conspicuous, easily drawing attention from all parties.
"So then, what do you plan to do?"
"Give the nations of the Shinobi World something to counter the Floating Continent." Black Zetsu chuckled lightly. "Currently, solving the Floating Continent problem is impossible. But things to counter it do exist in the Shinobi World."
"...I see." Nagato was silent for a moment, then spoke. "Then let's split up. I'll go gather organization members. You go deliver the 'things' to the Five Great Nations."
"It's intelligence; I don't have the actual thing!" Black Zetsu said. "Also, I won't give it to them for free. They have to pay for it. That way, we'll have funds for the organization's activities."
"Just don't mess it up."
"Leave this to me." Black Zetsu said confidently. Then he asked, "To cover the plan, the new organization will operate under the banner of mercenaries. What should it be called?"
"Name..."
Nagato looked up at the sky. Dark clouds rolled, not a trace of dawn in sight.
The words Yahiko spoke when he founded the Akatsuki for his dream, the words Ryuji spoke to him about the nature of war… the two constantly intertwined and clashed in his mind, finally leaving behind the harsh reality.
"Akatsuki. The new organization will be called Akatsuki!"
Nagato clenched his fists, breathing heavily as he spoke.