Hanzo's Hesitation

Because they were close to the border, Yichen and the caravan soon reached the border between the Land of Earth and the Land of Rain. Yahiko and the other two were not there. As usual, Yichen handed the caravan over to the Akatsuki Organization members and then planned to wait at the border.

However, after the handover was completed, Yichen noticed something unusual. Through his Sensory Ninjutsu, Yichen located four ninjas 2 kilometers away. Judging from their Chakra levels, they were likely four Chunin, with one of them having a slightly higher chakra level, possibly a Special Jonin.

After thinking it over, Yichen deduced that this might be the Anbu of Amegakure.

Yichen didn't act Hanzo. He was prepared for Yichen's attention to their transaction, but he hadn't expected Hanzo to happen so quickly. It was only the second transaction, and the Amegakure's Anbu were already nearby?

After the caravan left, Yichen sensed that the Amegakure Anbu had also followed, so he also signaled his subordinates to quietly follow.

If this Anbu doesn't act, then Yichen won't act either. But if this Anbu chooses to attack the caravan, then Yichen won't hesitate. After all, this trade route has just begun, and if something unexpected happens now, without security guarantees, it will be too difficult to expect other caravans to join in.

Fortunately, this Rain Village Anbu Squad seemed to have only been ordered to monitor the caravan. They followed it to a border town and then left. They probably realized there were quite a few Akatsuki Organization members in the town.

The Team 7 followed the Amegakure Anbu for a while longer, and only returned to the town after confirming that the ANBU had indeed left.

Yichen gave a few instructions to his three subordinates and then entered the town alone.

As expected, Yahiko and his two companions were also in the town. The town was bustling with activity because Hiroteru's caravan was carrying twice the amount of goods as last time, and with the addition of two more caravans, the scale of trade this time was much larger than before. In addition, the Land of Rain also organized a caravan, so the town was suddenly full of vitality, and children came out in groups to look around as if they were at a temple fair.

This made Yichen somewhat happy. Although his purpose was not pure, it was a good thing to bring some improvement to the lives of ordinary people.

Because both trade agreements with the Land of Earth were very popular with the local people, they also lost their previous indifference towards Yichen, a ninja wearing Forehead Protector Iwagakure.

They arrived at Yahiko and the others without any trouble. Yichen made no attempt to conceal his presence, Nagato immediately noticed Yichen arrival, then excitedly informed Yahiko and Konan.

Then the three of them put down what they were doing and headed towards Yichen.

Yahiko first expressed his feelings, and then asked Yichen why he had come in person.

Yichen said, "During the border handover, I discovered a group of Amegakure Anbu were monitoring the caravan. Fearing something might happen to the caravan, I followed them all the way to the outskirts of the town, but the Amegakure Anbu have now left."

Seeing the surprise on Yahiko's and the other two's faces, but not much wariness, Yichen sighed inwardly. He was from the Land of Earth, while they and Hanzo were from the Land of Rain. Perhaps in their eyes, he was the outsider. It was best not to say anything more.

So Yichen brought up the matter of adding two more caravans with Yahiko, and said that after returning this time, it would be a while before he could come back again. This was because Yichen had to return to the village to hand over the mission and apply for an expansion of the investment scale of Iwagakure.

Yahiko was very happy, feeling a sense of excitement that his ideal was about to come true.

Yichen didn't want to discourage them, so he asked about the Land of Rain's caravan. Logically speaking, the Land of Rain suffered heavy losses in Second Shinobi War and shouldn't have recovered so quickly. This caravan must have an unusual background. Yichen noticed that the caravan was very large, even larger than Hiroteru Zhao's three teams combined.

As expected, Yahiko told Yichen, "This caravan was directly dispatched by the Daimyo of the Land of Rain."

It turns out that after Yahiko made contact with the Daimyo of the Land of Rain, the Daimyo was very supportive of Yahiko, not only promising to pay for the mission but also forming a caravan. The Akatsuki Organization was very excited to receive the Daimyo's support and immediately mobilized the entire organization to cooperate with the caravan in purchasing supplies.

Yichen thought to himself, "No wonder."

It turns out that the Daimyo of the Land of Rain is supporting the Akatsuki Organization. In the Land of Rain, only a daimyo would dare to casually organize such a large-scale caravan. Hanzo's quick attention to this area is probably also due to the daimyo.

It's hard to say whether it's a good thing or a bad thing that the Akatsuki Organization gained Hanzo's attention so early.

It seems we need to keep an eye on the movements at the Root.

While it's uncertain whether Hanzo will join Danzo again, monitoring the Rain Village's movements in the Land of Rain is extremely difficult. It's much easier to keep an eye on the Root's activities.

However, if Root is involved, they will inevitably try to avoid being detected by Akatsuki Organization in order to target Akatsuki Organization. It will probably be impossible to keep track of Root's movements through Akatsuki Organization anymore.

Yichen was somewhat troubled. He was unaware of the village's layout within the Land of Rain, making it difficult to keep track of the Root's movements. It seemed he would have to discuss this matter with Ōnoki upon returning to the village.

After chatting for a while, Yichen gestured for Yahiko to go about his own business. Nagato and Konan, who weren't so busy, accompanied Yichen as they strolled around the town.

Yichen and Nagato talked for a while about the nature transformation of Fire Release Nature Transformation.

Nagato was both surprised and pleased to hear that Yichen had grasped the Nature Transformation of Fire Release from his words. In Nagato's view, Yichen had always been the one helping them, while they had helped Yichen far too little.

Previously, Yichen had given all his money to the Akatsuki Organization on two separate occasions, and later helped the Akatsuki Organization find a direction for development. Afterwards, he personally took charge of opening up a trade route between the two countries of Yu and Tu.

During this time, he also helped Nagato complete his transformation to Kage Level and guided the three of them on their ninja paths.

It can be said that the results of Yichen's Yichen to improve favorability were much better than he had imagined.

Now, Yichen is almost as important to the three of them as Jiraiya was back then.

Nagato carefully shared his insights on Fire Release cultivation with Yichen. Although his Fire Release cultivation originated from the Rinnegan, having these insights was still a good thing for Yichen.

To Yichen's surprise, Nagato also gave him four scrolls. These four scrolls contained two Fire Release Ninjutsu, one Water Release Ninjutsu, and one Earth Release Ninjutsu, all of which were C-rank.

Yichen was a little confused. What was going on? Had he managed to get something for free again?

Seeing Yichen's stunned expression, Konan explained on Nagato's behalf, "We know that your Ninjutsu was learned from Iwagakure and cannot be passed on to outsiders, but it doesn't matter if our Ninjutsu is passed on. So after we parted ways last time, we discussed with Yahiko about teaching you suitable Ninjutsu. You've been helping us all along, so please let us help you this time. Please accept our help."

Yichen scratched his head awkwardly and said, "How could I refuse when you're giving me Ninjutsu?" Then, to the surprise of the two, he quickly accepted it.

This scene left Konan and Nagato stunned for a moment, then the three of them looked at each other and burst into laughter.

Just then Yahiko, who was some distance away, also heard the three laughing. Having just finished what he was doing, he quickly came over to share in their joy.

Because Yahiko had made preparations in advance, the transaction here was very quick, completed in half a day. Half a day later, Yichen and his three subordinates once again followed the caravan toward the Land of Earth.

This time, Yichen sensed the situation and found no further trace of the Rain Village following him.

Yichen estimated that Hanzo had probably just received the news and was currently only trying to figure things out and assess the threat level posed by the Akatsuki Organization. After all, the Akatsuki Organization had made contact with the Daimyo while simultaneously doing business with the Iwa ninja; this kind of manipulative behavior, in Hanzo, made him somewhat wary.

Knowing that he couldn't get involved in the affairs of the Land of Rain in the short term, Yichen escorted the caravan forward again after reaching the border.

After entering the Land of Earth, the two caravans that had joined at the border were the first to leave. Before leaving, they contacted the old man Hiroteru and made an appointment to go to the Land of Rain together again next time.

Meanwhile, the caravans from Hiroteru and the Land of Rain were heading to Iwagakure to conduct trade in towns near the village.

After escorting the caravan to its destination, Yichen led his team back to the village. He then reported back to Xiao.

After listening to Yichen's report, Xiao was speechless. Why is it that I can't make decisions about what you report every time, and I always have to report back to Tsuchikage? How can I, as the captain, bear this?

Yichen was embarrassed. He didn't want to either; his imagination was just too wild, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Xiao brought Yichen to Ōnoki's office. This time, it was just the two of them; they didn't bring Yichen's three subordinates because Xiao found that the three were basically dispensable in providing intelligence.

When Ōnoki saw Yichen, he wasn't too surprised. He had already received news that the caravan had returned to the Land of Earth for the second time.

After getting a general understanding of the situation, Ōnoki summoned the four advisors. It wasn't that Ōnoki was making a big fuss, but rather that Yichen was now a candidate for advisor in the eyes of the higher-ups, and they needed to pay more attention to Yichen's views. This attention even outweighed their attention to Yichen's abilities.

Once everyone had arrived, Yichen began to recount in detail the two caravan journeys.

The caravan is gradually expanding, which everyone can see. Yichen only needs to suggest that the village increase its investment in maintaining the ninjas. The higher-ups have no objections to this, and they move on to the next topic.

This was the information Yichen had gathered about Nagato. This time, Yichen directly revealed something that shocked Ōnoki, the four advisors, and Owl: "Nagato possesses the legendary Rinnegan."

"What?" Several exclamations came from above, but Yichen couldn't tell which ones were making the noise.

Yichen had a reason for leaking this information. This matter couldn't be kept secret. As long as the Akatsuki Organization increased its contact with the Land of Earth, this matter would be exposed sooner or later. By bringing it up before it was exposed, Yichen could avoid trouble and increase his Yichen in the eyes of the higher-ups.