Kakuzu: “???”

  Even though Takigakure is only a small shinobi vilge, it’s rather special. Among all the vilges outside the Five Great Nations, it’s the only ohat has a Tailed Beast! The Seven-Tails, Chōmei, is sealed in Takigakure. That alos it apart from all the other medium or small vilges.

  When Senshi spoke, Kakuzu’s body stiffened, almost throwing out his tury-old back. What the heck is he talking about? Senshi was suggesting Kakuzu bee the Taki-Kage?!

  Kakuzu knew Senshi very well: Senshi never gave away bes for no reason. If Senshi was tossing him a “carrot,” there had to be a massive pit behind it. Without overthinking, Kakuzu immediately shook his head.

  “This isn’t feasible. Takigakure isn’t like Kusagakure; they have a Jinchūriki.”

  Hearing that, Senshi just grinned and spread his hands.

  “A mere Jinchūriki—how is that a problem?”

  Kakuzu: “???”

  His words left Kakuzu momentarily stuhehought it over and realized Senshi might be right. Senshi had effortlessly crushed the wild Three-Tails before. Even though a Tailed Beast is stronger when it has a Jinchūriki—especially a perfect Jinchūriki like Yagura, who bine forces with his beast to achieve “more than the sum of its parts”—Kakuzu suspected that even a fully synized Seven-Tails Jinchūriki wouldn’t be much of a threat to Senshi. In Kakuzu’s judgment, Senshi’s real strength already exceeded that of the Five Kage—he ractically “beyond Kage.”

  Seeing Kakuzu’s flicted expression, Senshi shrugged.

  “No hurry. I’ll give you three days to think about it.”

  Over the hree days, his system would be upgrading anyway, so he po spend some time expl the vilge with Karin. Once Karin finished her meal, Senshi activated his Kāma space-time transportation ability. A dark-red vortex, like a bck hole, formed behind them, and thewo vanished from sight.

  They reappeared at the top of a tower in Amegakure. Thanks to the vilge’s perpetual rain, its architecture was dominated by metal piping, and people typically lived on the lower levels while leaving the upper levels for st bodies. No sooner had Senshi and Karin arrived than a flurry of paper flew in from afar, quickly assembling into Konan’s figure.

  At the sight of Senshi and Karin, Konan wore a bnk expression.

  “What are you two doing here?”

  They were, after all, quite close to the life-support chamber where Nagato’s real body was kept. Currently, both Nagato and Konan saw Senshi as the most dangerous individual in the Akatsuki. There was no telling if he might one day accept an assassination tract targeting Nagato himself.

  Senshi hadn’t expected that merely io watch the rain with Karin would draw Konan’s attention. But once he probed briefly with his Mantra, he uood the reason: Nagato’s real body was indeed nearby, and although that location had protective measures, it couldn’t block his sensory ability. Konan had rushed over as soon as Senshi turned up in that area.

  Senshi waved lightly.

  “Miss Konan, we came to watch the rain.”

  Hearing that, Konan remained poker-faced, though internally she was rolling her eyes. Growing up in Amegakure, she’d had more than enough of the rain—and it held no appeal for her. After Yahiko’s death, she had lost any i in such things anyway.

  Karin, oher hand, also wondered why Senshi had brought her here. But once she learhat it was just to see the rain, she couldn’t help rolling her eyes, too.

  “Miss Konan,” Senshi said gently, “there’s still so mu life that’s beautiful. You just o learn to look for it.”

  Long ago, Konan had been a much more cheerful girl. After Yahiko’s death, she was devastated and became the cold, impassive “ice queen” she was now. She initially didn’t feel like hum Senshi; with no immediate tasks that needed his attention, his presence here made her uneasy, so she felt the o keep an eye on him.

  Hearing his remark about “the beauty in life,” Konan couldn’t resist responding.

  “The only ‘beauty’ in your life is the endless stream of missions, isn’t it?”

  From what she knew, Senshi’s greatest i y in taking on missions, earning pay, and just w nonstop. Surely that was the “beauty” he talked about, right?

  Senshi let out a hearty ugh. Hearing Konan’s deadpan sarcasm, delivered so seriously, was uedly amusing. Who in their right mind would think of never-ending missions as the pinnacle of a fulfilling life? Missions were only a means, not the end. His real joy came from growing stronger. Even Kakuzu was in it for the money, not just for the sake of missions.

  While Senshi roared with ughter, Konan looked puzzled but sensed he wasn’t hostile. Maybe he genuinely had e just to appreciate the rain. She herself saw no appeal in the stantly overcast sky and the ceaseless drizzle that made the streets slick. She’d never liked it, especially after Yahiko’s death.

  As she this, Senshi spoke again:

  “Miss Konan, you could have Kusagakure’s shinobi redesign the vilge a bit. Right now, our drainage system is too primitive, and the architecture cks aesthetic appeal—it’s like a big factory.”

  She didn’t respond. Holy, she didn’t feel that strongly about it, and in her mind, Amegakure was already a lot better off than it had been under Hanzo, or back when it was locked down. She figured if the vilge had been this stable back when she, Yahiko, and Nagato were young, they would have lived a much happier life.

  With that in mind, Konan said,

  “The vilge is already fine as it is. Your previous ideas worked well, but the Akatsuki’s goal isn’t to build up the vilge. Even if we perfect this pce, when another war breaks out, pain and despair will just return. Only by realizing the Akatsuki’s ultimate objective we achieve genuine, eversting peace.”

  Karin was baffled. Senshi, however, kly what this was about—a pn engineered by Bck Zetsu to resurrect ōtsutsuki Kaguya. For the time being, he had no iion of exposing that, but he did hope to steer Konan in a more positive dire.

  “Miss Konan, after Ame and Kusa formed their partnership, both vilges made immense progress in every aspect. If all the medium and small vilges baogether—like a shinobi alliance—even the Five Great Nations would have to think twice before waging war. Each small vilge has its own specialties or unique local products. If they all traded with each other, every vilge would see rapid growth. Right now, we’ve only bined Ame and Kusa, and look how far we’ve e. If more vilges join this alliance, Amegakure and the others will advance even faster.”

  While he spoke, Konan’s eyes betrayed a thoughtful expression. He’d mentiohis idea before, and at the time, both she and Nagato had been uain if it was viable. Seeing Ame and Kusa’s success proved that maybe Senshi’s model had merit. If more vilges joined such a “Shinobi Alliance,” it could greatly reduce the likelihood of war. Starting with the First Shinobi World War, it was always the rge nations that battled, while smaller ones got trampled. Vilges caught between big tries iably became the battlegrounds.

  After a moment’s deep sideration, Konan raised a critical question:

  “But why would other medium or small vilges follow Kusagakure’s example and cooperate? How you be sure?”

  It was a tough question. Kusagakure’s alliah Amegakure only worked so smoothly because Mui had, in effect, wiped out the old leadership, and now he was in full trol. Konan’s question wasn’t easy to answer, but Senshi replied anyway:

  “It’s actually doable. We subdue them with force first, then reason with them—offer both pressure and profit. If we show them both power and bes, they’ll e around. Besides, now that Ame and Kusa have grown so fast, spies from those other vilges probably already reported back. When the leaders see all the perks that an alliance brings, some of them might e knog on their own. Of course, the Five Great Nations won’t be thrilled about a tightly bonded allianaller vilges. Most of these smaller vilges have been victims of the Great Nations’ expansion, or else they’re basically the Great Nations’ vassals. If they unify, it’ll definitely impact the Great Nations’ is.”

  As Senshi expined all this, Karin’s eyes were already spinning in fusion; it was far too plicated for her. She’s still got a ways to go, Senshi thought, *if she wants to bee the “mission mae.” Konan, oher hand, was deep in thought.

  The Akatsuki’s goal of gathering all the Tailed Beasts put them directly at odds with the Five Great Nations. Relying on the Akatsuki alone, or on Amegakure alone, wouldn’t be enough to hahe iable flict. But if other medium and small vilges joihem, it might further Akatsuki’s pns signifitly.

  Meanwhile, Konan’s real body ferred telepathically with Nagato.

  “Nagato, what do you think of what Senshi just said?”

  Although Nagato’s body was frail, his mind was sharp. After a moment, he answered:

  “If he actually make it happen, it’s a solid idea. Ba the First Hokage’s time, the ninja world experienced a brief peace thanks to Hashirama’s overwhelming power. If Senshi’s ‘Shinobi Alliance’ form, a bunall vilges might avoid war for a long stretch. More importantly, ohe Akatsuki starts colleg Tailed Beasts, we’ll iably csh with the Five Great Nations. Ame alone, or even the Akatsuki alone, won’t suffice to challehem. But if enough smaller vilges stand with us, ush our pns forward. The key is whether he get them to willingly join this alliance. Anyway, there’s o intervene now. Let’s watd see what he does .”

  Cough, cough… Nagato broke into a fit of coughs, and Konan grew worried, recalling how important both Yahiko and Nagato were to her. She’d already lost Yahiko too soon; she didn’t want anything to happen to Nagato as well.

  Standing atop the tower, Konan’s paper e fixed Senshi with a long look, then dissolved into tless slips of paper that scattered in the wind. Watg, Kari a twinge of envy.

  “Senshi, I want to learn that jutsu!”

  “No,” Senshi replied, tousling her hair. “You really don’t.”

  Konan’s paper ninjutsu wasly something you could just learn, and as far as Senshi could recall, only Konan had ever demonstrated it.

  “It’s probably some special secret teique. You ’t just pick it up.”

  Karin didn’t dwell on it. “Senshi, could I go buy some ingredients and practice cooking?” She looked at him, eyes full of hope.

  “Hmm…” Senshi thought it over. “Sure, but if it turns out badly, you have to eat it yourself.”

  “It won’t be bad at all!” Karin excimed, and then a transparent vortex appeared before her. In a fsh, she vanished from their room.

  Senshi couldn’t help shaking his head, half-amused. He’d apparently steered Karin astray; now she was using Kamui for even the simplest outings. He could imagihe look on Obito’s face if he ever saw someone else using dual Kamui. As for Senshi himself, he had his own system ste for space-time needs, and he also had his even faster, more ve Kāma for telep.

  Before long, Kariurned with a bunch of groceries, heading straight for the kit.

  “Hold on!”

  The thought of Kushina’s notoriously questionable cooking fshed through Senshi’s mind, and he quickly stopped Karin.

  “Si’s your first time cooking, let’s practi an open area outside—it’s safer.”

  Gathering the tools and ingredients, Senshi teleported Karin to a clearing in the wild.

  “Senshi,” Karin asked, perplexed, “why do we have to cook out here?”

  Senshi chuckled.

  “Sometimes, ninja might say they’re cooking, but iy they’re making explosive tags. It’s safer out in the open.”

  Karin rolled her eyes, then focused on rinsing the ingredients in the nearby creek and chopping them on a board. After just one gnce, Senshi knew he’d made the right call bringing her outside. As cute as Karin was, her knife skills were abysmal: each piece she cut came out a bizarre shape.

  She built a small fire with wood, heating up the pan and p in half the pot of oil—more like a quarter, but still way too much for stir-frying. Senshi could only rub his forehead in exasperation, thinking, At least I’m not expeg gourmet cuisine here. Clearly, Karin had no experience cooking at all.

  Woof!

  Because there was too much oil left on the heat for too long, the oil caught fire. Karin, startled, rushed to the creek to fetch water.

  “Stop!” Senshi shouted. He grabbed the bzing pot, covered it with a lid, and cut off its oxygen supply. The fmes died out quickly. He didn’t bother expining why that worked—he figured it might be over Karin’s head right now. Better she just know that “when this happens, do that.”

  Failure is the mother of success, though. After that first mishap, Karin learned not to pour in so much oil or overheat the pot. She decided to try fryiballs this time, but the oil still spttered everywhere.

  “Susanoo!”

  Initially, she was a bit scared. Hot oil sptters could burn her skin. But if she put herself inside Susanoo and used it to manipute the cooking utensils, she erfectly safe.

  “What the…?”

  A short distance away, Senshi gaped at the sight. Karin already use Susanoo? Well, I guess she does have Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan now. Still, seeing Susanoo used for cooking was mind-boggling. Imagine how the Uchiha aors would react, rising from their graves in protest. Then again, a jutsu is just a tool, so if Susanoo helped Karin cook safely, there wasn’t really a problem.

  In the end, her cooking was retively successful, though her methods were, uh, unventional. She’d probably o do it outdoors from now on. She tearfully ate her own bed fried meatballs, which were teically edible…but definitely not what you’d call delicious.

  After pag up her cookware, Senshi used his Kāma teleportation t them back to their lodgings. Having a “tattoo” did indeed make travel a breeze—he could go anywhere, anytime he liked.

  Bleam