Chapter 226: The Establishment of the Akatsuki Organization
Mie rested her cheek against her palm, tilting her head to watch Konan spar with Yahiko across the rain-slicked courtyard. Konan was such an excellent, empathetic girl—who wouldn't fall for her?
Especially a chronically dull introvert like Nagato. Even though their growing faction had recruited a small army of rogue ninja, Nagato barely spared a glance for any of them. Konan was the only one who could effortlessly draw him out of his shell.
Whenever Nagato spaced out alone in some gloomy corner, Konan would march right over and drag him into whatever activity the group was doing, determined to cheer the gloomy boy up. It was only natural that he would catch feelings.
Nagato stood a few paces away, his head lowered slightly. The perpetual damp wind of the Land of Rain lifted his crimson side bangs, revealing eyes that were supposedly fixed straight ahead, but were, in reality, locked onto Mie.
The moment Mie shifted her gaze toward him, Nagato's eyes instantly darted away, landing safely back on the affectionate, laughing duo of Konan and Yahiko. A faint, incredibly rare smile actually tugged at the corners of his lips, making Mie click her tongue in silent amazement.
She suspected this was the classic 'I am happy just seeing the person I love be happy' type of smile.
Such deep, deep, and utterly tragic love.
As one of the most prestigious endgame bosses in the Shippuden timeline, Nagato's emotional output was an absolute goldmine. His mood value yield provided a massive, stable income, far surpassing whatever Yahiko and Konan could generate.
This was precisely why Mie favored the red-haired boy. Who cared if he had the personality of a wet cardboard box? His mood values paid the bills.
As the personnel at the base swelled, Yahiko finally made his move. After returning from a particularly grueling mission, and with a few subtle, manipulative nudges from Mie, he gathered everyone together. Clearly, this wasn't a sudden whim; the fire had been brewing in his chest for a long time.
"The organization's name shall be Akatsuki—the dawn that pursues true world peace!"
Behind the scenes, every single gear of this new organization turned according to Mie's quiet guidance. Naturally, the new recruits assumed Mie would take the mantle of leader, but Mie had absolutely zero interest in that administrative nightmare and happily shoved Yahiko onto the throne.
Being a leader meant managing logistics, rations, and endless paperwork. How incredibly annoying. Being the leader's master, however, was entirely different. She could slack off openly, eat their food, and bask in their reverence without lifting a finger.
She had already played the exhausting infrastructure-building game back when she was operating as Stelle and Kazushi. She absolutely refused to do it again.
If she took charge now, she would just be a glorified beast of burden, doomed to build bases everywhere she went. It was boring.
While the rest of the base didn't mind Mie dodging the leadership role, Black Zetsu had a massive issue with it.
Currently, Mie sat with her hands folded elegantly beneath her chin, staring blankly ahead. A serene, almost sacred light seemed to radiate from her very eyes, making her look as though she were about to ascend to Buddhahood right then and there.
Her ethereal, untouchable temperament was so convincing that Black Zetsu genuinely paused, wondering if this was still the manipulative Mie he knew, or if some high monk from a temple had possessed her body.
But no. How long had he known this menace? From the era of Senju Hashirama all the way to the present day, he knew exactly how deeply duplicitous this woman was.
So she died once, devoured Ye, regressed her age, and came back looking more youthful. The rotten core inside was still the exact same.
"What are you still pretending for in front of me? Aren't you tired of this act?"
Black Zetsu simply couldn't fathom what went on inside her head.
"It is fine to put on your little holy act for the kids, but why hand the position of Akatsuki's leader to Yahiko? Yes, he is your disciple, but with the title in his hands, how inconvenient will it be for you to maneuver? Shouldn't absolute power be held in your own hands?"
Mie slowly shifted her gaze, granting him a lazy, sidelong glance before asking a question in return.
"You claim to be the physical will of Lord Sojin, yet aren't you also timid and secretive in everything you do? You never take the initiative to step into the light, preferring to skulk in the mud and shadows like a pathetic worm."
Black Zetsu choked. He hadn't expected her to turn the interrogation around so viciously. He looked down at his pitch-black, viscous body, a form that screamed abnormal monster to anyone with eyes, and fell into a sullen silence.
It wasn't that he didn't want to step forward. The prerequisite for leading humans was actually looking like one.
Any sane, intelligent person who saw him would immediately draw a weapon, not trust him.
Fortunately, the Ninja World was a meat grinder of endless slaughter. The constant bloodshed meant that almost every ninja was, to some degree, mentally unstable. Everyone was a lunatic. That shared madness gave him the perfect blind spots to operate within.
"That is entirely different. Lord Sojin granted you power, and he granted me the ability to gather intelligence. Only by cooperating can we achieve his grand design."
"And you took in three disciples specifically to build this organization. Now that it exists, you throw away the leadership. Isn't that a complete waste of all your previous efforts?"
Mie said indifferently, "Even though Yahiko wears the leader's hat, I know every single breath the Akatsuki takes. If I want something done, my influence ensures it happens. As for you, you cannot do a single thing. Without me, you achieve nothing. That is the real reason you cannot step forward, isn't it?"
Her expression of having seen through the mortal world shifted into a look of visible, unfiltered disdain, making Black Zetsu recoil in anger.
She could have just called him useless and been done with it. But no, she had to beat around the bush, weaponizing her disciples' achievements just to rub salt in his wounds. How incredibly polite of her.
"Fine. Just keep pampering them. Watch with your own eyes as they take Ida Mutzuki's naive peace plan and blindly strive for world peace. But mark my words, the moment they realize there is something wrong with you, they will deliver a swift, fierce, and perfectly accurate backstab."
Mie didn't even blink at these words. Not a single ripple of emotion crossed her placid face. Black Zetsu ground his teeth, completely unable to guess what she was actually plotting.
"If peace in the Ninja World were that easily achieved, Ida Mutzuki and Enkawa Kazue wouldn't have died. The time is not ripe yet. Behave yourself."
Seeing that she was absolutely determined to remain the lazy power behind the throne, Black Zetsu realized further argument was useless.
"As long as you know what you are doing. Just don't forget your duty."
Black Zetsu sank slowly into the stone floor and disappeared from the Akatsuki base.
He still wasn't at ease letting Mie operate on such a loose leash.
There were always gaps in his surveillance, and this woman acted entirely on her own chaotic whims. To ensure the plan wouldn't develop any fatal flaws, it was better to find someone else to keep a close eye on the Akatsuki.
Three days later, Kazushi, who was wandering the war-torn borders of the Ninja World behind a featureless mask, received a sudden notification from White Zetsu that Black Zetsu demanded a meeting.
Kazushi had just managed to track Kakuzu's elusive trail and was preparing to intercept the miserly bounty hunter, while carefully hiding her true identity, of course.
Receiving the summons now was incredibly annoying, but maintaining her cover took priority, so she abandoned the hunt and made the long trek back to the Land of Rain.
"How is it? You have scouted the current state of the Ninja World thoroughly, haven't you? Is it just as I predicted?"
Black Zetsu, having suffered a humiliating defeat at Mie's hands, immediately slipped back into his wise, omniscient persona the moment he faced Kazushi. His tone was deep, echoing with the manufactured weight of a being who held deep insight into the world's suffering.
Kazushi nodded helplessly. She sank into a wooden chair, her posture radiating exhaustion.
"The last great war was so devastating that all the major nations are desperately scrambling to recover their strength. The fragile alliance between the Four Great Nations has completely collapsed. Now, they have gone right back to stabbing each other in the back over scraps of resources. The internal strife in the Land of Water is particularly severe, and they have already begun a systematic persecution of anyone possessing a Kekkei Genkai."
"Although Konoha is developing steadily, they lack a truly overwhelming master to suppress the other four nations. Once those nations recover their military might and grow envious of the Land of Fire's abundant resources, war will inevitably break out again. The Ninja World is doomed to fall back into chaos."
Black Zetsu molded his shadowy mass into a humanoid silhouette. He sat on the edge of the table opposite Kazushi and, in a bizarre display of hospitality, thoughtfully poured her a cup of hot tea.
"Exactly. It is precisely as you have witnessed. Therefore, regarding this flawed concept of peace in the Ninja World, one crucial step must be changed. Once this step is corrected, your and the Fourth Hokage's grand plan can finally succeed, bringing true, eternal peace to this land."
Kazushi looked up, staring at him fixedly.
"Which step?"
"The step of persuading everyone!"
Black Zetsu eagerly brought out the grand rhetoric he had prepared long ago, carefully explaining his twisted logic to Enkawa Kazue piece by piece.
"The Fourth Hokage once discovered a supreme Ninjutsu, a power capable of rewriting the very structure of the world: the Infinite Tsukuyomi. As long as the scattered chakra of the Ten-Tails is gathered, and a chosen vessel becomes the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, they can use the Rinnegan to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Every living soul in the Ninja World will be pulled into a flawless genjutsu. Inside that dream, you can finally persuade them. You can strip away their hatred and change their thoughts without resistance."
His low voice was incredibly steady, vibrating with the conviction of a prophet who had seen the ultimate truth of the universe. Speaking with such absolute certainty carried a hypnotic persuasiveness, making anyone who listened unconsciously want to believe him.
"As long as we gather the Ten-Tails and have a Rinnegan wielder activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi, we can forcibly align their thoughts within the genjutsu world and promote the absolute unification of the Ninja World. Only then can our true plan be realized."
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