When Hanzo's messenger appeared before Yahiko and Konan and said, "Lord Yahiko, Miss Konan, Lord Hanzo requests your presence," Yahiko was struck by an overwhelming surge of excitement. "Konan, Lord Hanzo wants to meet us!"
The name "Hanzo" carried a special meaning in the Land of Rain—it had become a symbol of hope.
Whenever a ninja or civilian mentioned his name, they couldn't help but feel their hearts stir with admiration, gratitude, and pride.
With poison and martial prowess as his foundation, Hanzo was like a sharp sword piercing through an iron curtain, cutting through the darkness of the Land of Rain in an instant.
The Land of Rain had once been the ruins of an ancient capital. It had welcomed countless people who had lost their livelihoods in the great nations of Earth, Fire, and Wind, and who had come here to scrape by. It was a "city of wanderers." But when the era of hidden villages began, that city of wanderers became a "country that wept day and night." Situated between the nations of Earth, Fire, and Wind, it was a small country like the Land of Grass and the Land of Rivers, and it shared their fate.
During the Ninja World War, it was the first to bear the brunt of the fighting. When the war ended, it still bore the brunt, suffering the lingering aftershocks.
The Five Great Nations enjoyed peace, but the Land of Rain did nothing but weep... It had no right to peace. During the war, it had been caught up in events beyond its control; after the war, the great nations' reach still stretched into its territory, and the fighting continued without end.
Assassinations and counterassassinations; spies and sabotage... Nearly every story of the ninja world's darkest shades of gray and black played out here, day after day.
And it went on until the Second Ninja World War, when a poisonous man named Hanzo of the Salamander appeared. He boldly declared war on the Five Great Nations, defeated the Sand Ninja, the Rock Ninja, and the Hidden Leaf Village single-handedly, and proclaimed to the ninja world through his unparalleled martial prowess and deadly salamander poison:
The Land of Rain could say "no" from a position of strength. At last, the Land of Rain had a chance to catch its breath and enjoy a rare moment of peace.
Though the rain fell endlessly and poverty was widespread, though the sun was nowhere to be seen, this was still a rare place where people could catch their breath and sleep without fear.
This peace had lasted to the present day. As long as Hanzo of the Salamander didn't provoke the great nations or involve himself in their affairs, nations such as Earth, Fire, and Wind would avoid the Land of Rain in this war.
This wasteland of steel and concrete sheltered the world's poor.
Hanzo!
He was the one who had forged peace in the Land of Rain.
That wasn't a story.
It was a fact.
He was an idol to everyone from the Land of Rain, including Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato. In their hearts, Hanzo's standing was even higher than Jiraiya's.
Konan was just as excited. "Really? It's Lord Hanzo!"
Yahiko naively assumed that the Akatsuki's actions had pleased Hanzo, and that he wanted to meet them to acknowledge their achievements. He called over someone else, exchanged a few words with them, then went to find Nagato himself. The three of them headed to Amegakure together.
Outside Amegakure, Hanzo stood waiting in silence. The surrounding Rain Ninja were just as quiet, like machines.
A suffocating presence spread through the silence, making Danzo envious. He envied Hanzo's imposing aura:
It was the kind of domineering presence born from invincibility, the sort that could crush everything and overwhelm an entire generation. No matter how much he put on airs, Danzo could never imitate it.
"Kin, how do you think this demigod of the shinobi world will deal with the Akatsuki?" Danzo asked Uchiha Kin.
Danzo didn't speak to his own subordinates. He'd trained them until they were so dull that they weren't suited for conversation.
When he wanted to talk, he had no choice but to turn to Uchiha Kin.
Uchiha Kin's thoughts stirred. "He probably won't leave trouble behind for the Land of Rain." In truth, he had an even more certain answer in mind: Hanzo would choose to kill the naive Yahiko and spare the ruthless Nagato.
To do so, he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice his own life or the ninjas around him. He couldn't kill the entire Akatsuki, because the group held the Land of Rain's "hope."
More precisely, that meant Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato.
More precisely, it meant the strength of those three.
The Land of Rain needed an "heir." The foremost requirement was strength, along with a worldview that wasn't naive or childish.
He was already old, with no one to succeed him. For the sake of the Land of Rain, he had to leave either Konan or Nagato behind. And in his heart, he was more inclined to choose the young girl, Konan—she had no real ideals, and she was quite strong.
Her paper-based ninjutsu had already become remarkably sophisticated. If Yahiko's naivety no longer held her back, and Nagato's ruthlessness no longer dragged her down...
A girl like her, who had no grand ideals and only wanted the people around her to be well—how perfectly she suited Amegakure.
The Land of Rain needed no part in international conflicts. It only needed to live its own life in peace. The best choice was a leader who was strong yet had no ideals or ambitions.
Nagato was the next-best option. The boy was ruthless enough! Violence lurked within him, and he could also use his strength to deter others and preserve peace.
But he had ideals...
In the Land of Rain, where resources were scarce, ninjas were scarce, and elite ninja were even scarcer, Hanzo had no real choice. He could only choose among those three; there wasn't even a fourth option.
Yahiko had to die, Nagato might survive, and Konan had to live.
That was how Hanzo ranked them in his heart right now.
The only reason Hanzo hadn't killed Nagato was that Nagato had summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Just thinking about the statue made Uchiha Kin grow faintly excited. I wonder if the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path looks the same as it did in the manga.
Uchiha Kin had been in this world for thirteen years now, and he'd seen enough to understand that many things in this real world differed from the manga.
Especially the effects of certain things. In the manga, a punch might crack a wall, but that didn't happen in reality. Here, a punch would go straight through, leaving a hole.
His excitement was so palpable that even Danzo could sense it. Danzo gave him a curious look. "You seem a little excited."
Uchiha Kin said, "I am. After all, I'm about to see Hanzo in action. The demigod of the shinobi world... I wonder how earth-shaking his fighting will be!"
"Don't focus on that. You should be thinking about getting me out of here the moment things go wrong."
Danzo, as usual, had no idea how to talk to people. He immediately doused Uchiha Kin's enthusiasm. Uchiha Kin glanced at him and thought, Is this really the time to talk about running away? No wonder you've only got a handful of subordinates.
Staying alive was all well and good. If things looked bad, retreating immediately was fine—even running away. But you couldn't say that now.
It wasn't appropriate!
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