Danzo raised his left arm and made a gesture for the others to keep their distance. The Root operatives accompanying him slowed down, leaving plenty of space.
"As a genius among Konoha's younger generation, I've always paid close attention to you... The Uchiha place too much importance on bloodline. Since you can't awaken your eyes, things must be difficult for you in your clan." Danzo's voice was gloomy. Honestly, the words themselves should have sounded warm and inviting, but coming from him, all the emotion seemed to be filtered out.
What remained was a dry, flavorless monotony, nothing but bare facts. No wonder you can't beat Hiruzen Sarutobi, Uchiha Kin thought. You're absolutely terrible at making your words convincing.
Still, the "honesty" itself made up for the lack of warmth, at least somewhat.
Uchiha Kin said, "It's probably because I devoted myself to Medical Ninjutsu. They find it a little hard to accept. They're still reasonably tolerant of ordinary clan members who haven't awakened their eyes—they just don't like me very much."
"Uchiha emotions are intense and prone to extremes. That's the root of the problem," Danzo said. "I'm actually very glad to see someone as levelheaded as you among the Uchiha."
After that, Danzo asked Uchiha Kin about some of the unique aspects of his Medical Ninjutsu. The two seemed to be getting along splendidly.
Though Danzo did most of the talking, while Uchiha Kin merely chimed in.
Danzo's words were so dry that Uchiha Kin found even agreeing with him boring. So he took a more active role, quietly steering the conversation and asking, "I've heard some of the clan elders say that Lord Danzo is a master of Wind Release—
"I'm personally quite interested in Wind Release. I think some of its techniques could be adapted to help with Medical Ninjutsu.
"They could be useful for surgery, wound cleansing, and things like removing internal bleeding. If I could learn Wind Release, my medical skills would surely improve by leaps and bounds." He took the initiative and steered the conversation toward ninjutsu.
The mention of "Wind Release" struck right at Danzo's heart—without a doubt, it was the skill he was proudest of.
"Wind Release... Could it be used in surgery, too? That's a possibility I'd never even considered," Danzo said.
"If you want to learn Wind Release, you should start with Vacuum Orb. It's a low-difficulty technique that's easy to learn, but once mastered, its potential is tremendous. It can also be transformed into Great Vacuum Orb, Vacuum Wave, Harmful Pressure, Wind Blade, and other techniques.
"The hand signs are simple, too. You start with Rat, Rabbit, and Tiger. The key lies in coordinating chakra to use the pathways efficiently and grasping nature transformation."
Without realizing it, a note of emotion crept into Danzo's voice. He sounded...proud.
It was the most he had ever said at one time.
He explained the principles behind Wind Release in painstaking detail.
Uchiha Kin committed every word to memory, then flattered Danzo. "As expected of a Wind Release master. You've explained the entire system so thoroughly."
"Hmph. My understanding of Wind Release is far superior to Hiruzen's," Danzo said. "He has breadth, mastering all five natures, but when it comes to Wind Release, I—"
"Indeed."
"By the way..." Danzo finally remembered the real reason for their meeting. "Your mission. Once we meet Hanzo, if you sense anything amiss, get me out of there immediately. Don't concern yourself with anything else, and don't ask questions. Just make sure I'm safe!"
Uchiha Kin didn't say "Yes." Instead, he repeated Danzo's words back to him. "Once we meet Hanzo, if I sense anything amiss, I'm to get Elder Danzo out of there immediately. I'm not to concern myself with anything else, only to ensure Elder Danzo's safety."
"Correct," Danzo said.
Danzo fell silent. At a gesture from him, the Root shinobi behind them caught up.
The group continued on in silence, carrying their suffocating tension all the way to the Land of Rain.
A vast expanse of gray clouds hung permanently in the sky. Beneath them stretched a slanted curtain of light...the falling rain. The buildings in the rain were dark and indistinct, while the towering steel forest seemed to reach into the clouds, emanating an overwhelming sense of oppression.
Uchiha Kin quietly opened one of the Byakugan inside his body. The entire village of Amegakure appeared in his sight as if a three-dimensional world had been forcibly flattened.
He could see only the outlines of the buildings, but the people moving inside them were crystal clear. In particular, a dazzling chakra source, bright as white light, stood at the very top of the tallest building. That was the heart of Amegakure's rule.
Hanzo?
Uchiha Kin poured in more chakra, trying to get a clear look at Hanzo. To his surprise, Hanzo seemed to sense something. He turned his head sharply, like a hawk, and looked in Uchiha Kin's direction.
Of course, he couldn't see anything.
He had simply sensed Uchiha Kin's gaze through an instinctive flow of awareness that belonged not to a shinobi, but to a warrior.
"Who's watching me?" Hanzo murmured. He sent someone to investigate, but they found nothing. Someone on the battlefield probably used a scouting technique, he thought, and dismissed it. He then instructed the shinobi under his command, "If you see any outsiders, notify me at once."
Not long after that, one of his subordinates came to report. Hanzo put on his armor immediately and called over his trusted men. "Come on. Let's meet the Darkness of the Hidden Leaf!"
He wouldn't let Danzo enter Amegakure. He couldn't bear the thought of anything going wrong in his village, so he led his men five kilometers outside it, toward the direction Danzo was coming from.
Hanzo and his party spotted Danzo and stopped. Danzo and his party spotted Hanzo and stopped, too.
"Lord Salamander, you asked me to come, so here I am," Danzo said.
Hanzo nodded. "Good. Let's talk."
"Here?" Danzo glanced around. "Is this how you treat your guests in Amegakure?"
"This is the most suitable place, isn't it?" Hanzo said. "If we went into Amegakure, you wouldn't feel at ease. This place shows the sincerity we have toward each other. Please."
"Very well. The Akatsuki in your village threaten Konoha's military security. We've already discussed this before, so there's no need to go into detail. What we need to talk about now is how to handle them!"
"Agreed."
"Lord Salamander, how do you intend to handle this?" Danzo got straight to the point. He had never been good at putting on an act.
Hanzo laughed, a cruel glint flashing in his eyes. "How about I send someone to invite the Akatsuki leader here right now? We can have a good talk about 'peace.' What do you say?"
"How will we talk?"
"Your people can stand guard outside. I'll speak with them personally, and I'll make sure Konoha gets a satisfactory explanation."
Hanzo of the Salamander had spent a long time devising a plan for dealing with Akatsuki. In fact, he had already settled on what to do.
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