[Pain, after you and Angel left, Amegakure no longer had any right to speak with the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
The development of Amegakure promised by the Seventh Hokage was never realized at all!
He only mentioned it to others, and the Five Great Shinobi Villages gave us a chance to make money—handling the trash brought by their development, all kinds of toxic and hazardous garbage that couldn't be processed!
The Land of Rain is filled with poisonous gases everywhere now, and even the rain carries corrosion.
Some of us once wanted to go to Konoha to question them, and ended up getting beaten right back out.
Konoha never regarded our Amegakure as friends; they believed that it was the Seventh Hokage who saved and resurrected their elders and family members, which had nothing to do with Pain, and that Pain, you were merely a defeated loser...]
Nagato was completely baffled by much of the contents in the letter.
For instance, who was the Seventh Hokage? And why did he cooperate with the other party?
Yet, Nagato still grasped what had transpired overall.
The keyword resurrection.
Since there was a resurrection, it definitely had to be his Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique.
It was somewhat unbelievable that in the future, he had actually sacrificed his own life in order to resurrect the people of Konoha?
Choosing to trust someone from Konoha would help Amegakure develop?
After taking another look at those photos of the future Amegakure captured by Shirozumi, Nagato chose to believe.
"Did we fail? Or are you saying that as long as I remain uninfluenced by that Konoha ninja, I can succeed..."
Nagato clutched his head in inner conflict, and finally raised his head to look at Shirozumi: "What is your purpose?"
Nagato possessed a very particular personality; he was capable of making decisions on his own, yet all the concrete options were always provided to him by others.
At first, the options given to him by Yahiko, then the options given to him by Jiraiya, and the options given to him by Naruto.
Much like Fang and Du's Strategy, one could not simply say that Du Ruohui lacked agency.
It was the same now: facing a "destined failure," Nagato did not know how to bring about change, and decided to consult Shirozumi, this future leader of Amegakure, for his opinion.
"I want to become the strategist and mastermind of Akatsuki, directing the development of the Akatsuki Organization and Amegakure."
Shirozumi spoke with blunt candor.
"...There is no major issue with letting you handle Amegakure's policies, as long as the strategies you present convince the two of us, but Akatsuki... the members of Akatsuki will hardly obey your commands."
Konan spoke up, dashing cold water on Shirozumi.
"Does Akatsuki have a gathering recently?"
Shirozumi smiled and asked Konan.
"What?"
Konan's brow furrowed.
A few days later.
Inside a cave filled with barriers outside Amegakure, the major members of the Akatsuki Organization gathered together.
Two people were missing, however.
Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki.
Shirozumi had told Nagato that Uchiha Itachi was a spy dispatched by Konoha.
Regardless of whether Nagato believed it or not, he was instructed not to let Itachi come to this gathering, and how to deal with him afterwards would be left to Shirozumi.
Excluding Uchiha Itachi alone would be far too conspicuous, so they simply assigned Itachi and Kisame a mission to scout out Konoha intelligence.
It just so happened to grant Itachi an opportunity to return and take a look; presumably, he would not refuse.
"Where are Itachi and Kisame? Could they have been knocked off by someone? Also, who is this new member?"
Hidan stood there swaggeringly, pointing at the single unfamiliar face, Shirozumi.
"Suzaku and Nanto have a separate mission. This is Shirozumi, who has come to apply for the position of strategist for our Akatsuki."
Pain stood atop the elevated platform, his voice echoing throughout the cave.
"What?! This old man doesn't need any strategist pointing fingers and ordering things around!"
Upon hearing this, Hidan immediately cried out, instantly unhooking his scythe from his back and aiming it at Shirozumi, "Hey, brat, believe it or not, I'll sacrifice you to Lord Jashin right now!"
The other members of Akatsuki watched with cold detachment, remaining completely silent.
Their thoughts were identical: they did not wish for any strategist to command them.
Just as Konan had stated earlier, the members of the Akatsuki Organization were each and every one proud sons of heaven, as well as rogue ninjas, rendering them utterly incapable of satisfying Shirozumi's demands.
"I wonder who in Akatsuki is in charge of economics?"
Shirozumi ignored Hidan's remarks, setting up a small blackboard with a sheet of paper laid out across it.
"What kind of nonsense is economics?"
Hidan asked in confusion.
"It means money, you idiot."
Kakuzu glanced sideways at his foolish teammate, speaking in a muffled tone.
Immediately afterward, Kakuzu's gaze was captured by the contents of the white paper on Shirozumi's blackboard.
"Under the development of the previous leader, Salamander Hanzo, Amegakure accomplished a great deal of steam-mechanized development.
Although the strength of Amegakure's ninjas is not formidable, these machines can completely replace human labor, manufacturing and producing all sorts of light industrial lifestyle goods to sell to the Five Great Nations and earn massive amounts of money."
"If there is an issue with starting capital, there happens to be a piece of classified intelligence right here.
Gato, a wealthy tycoon in the Land of Waves, has forcefully seized a bridge built through the joint fundraising of the common citizens. The citizens wish to hire ninjas to deal with Gato, yet they lack funds.
Because of this, they even devised a method to conceal the mission difficulty, hoping to lower the mission bounty in order to hire ninjas.
Akatsuki can completely take on this mission, and they only need to symbolically give one or two ryo for the bounty.
If possible, we can even establish a long-term partnership with the Land of Waves.
The Land of Waves is situated between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water, serving as a strategic hub connecting the ocean and the mainland.
If the Land of Water is to develop in the future, it will inevitably need to pass through the Land of Waves to reach the mainland, otherwise being forced to make a massive detour, which would outweigh the gains.
Occupying this place will also yield a continuous and substantial revenue."
Shirozumi pointed his finger at the white paper on the blackboard as he explained.
The more Kakuzu listened, the brighter his eyes shone.
Shirozumi's plan was entirely viable, and furthermore, Shirozumi tossed out those "professional terms" as naturally as breathing, demonstrating that he was indeed a seasoned expert!
"Hey, Kakuzu, hey! Don't let yourself be fooled by him!"
Finding that Kakuzu had already become completely immersed and unable to extricate himself, Hidan hurriedly rushed in front of Kakuzu and waved his hands.
Seeing that there was zero reaction, Hidan glared viciously at Shirozumi: "So what even if you can make money? In what other aspects do you have any qualification to command us?"
"The leader's guiding principle is to collect the Nine Tailed Beasts, establish a deterrence, and create peace under high pressure.
The direction of this plan is correct and without issue, far more reliable than peace maintained through things like love.
It's just that this plan has certain flaws.
I'll speak of the flaws in a moment.
Based purely on this deterrence theory, I have a plan right here that is countless times easier than collecting the tailed beasts, yet the results will not be much inferior."
Shirozumi spoke, ignoring Hidan once more.
"Oh? What kind of plan?"
When Shirozumi spoke this time, even Pain's interest was piqued.
During these past few days, Shirozumi had only spoken to Nagato and Konan about the future of Amegakure, without mentioning anything regarding any other aspects.
They had also informed Shirozumi of the current year.
Using the Konoha calendar, it was Konoha Year 60, precisely "the most crucial year in the original work."
From the theft of the Scroll of Sealing, the Land of Waves, the Land of Snow, the Chunin Ninja Exams, Sasuke's defection, and so on, all of them took place around this very year.
"In order to keep this plan effective, Santai must be sent outside; he must not be allowed to know about it."
Shirozumi stated calmly.
"What?! Why the hell do I have to go outside! You brat are settling a personal grudge, aren't you!"
Hidan instantly flared up in anger.
His curiosity had now been completely hooked by Shirozumi, and yet they weren't even going to let him know?
Swish—
Hidan's scythe grazed past Shirozumi's side, but Shirozumi grabbed the hurl-handle of the scythe and hurled it right back.
"Hoh?"
Seeing Shirozumi steadily catch and throw back the rapidly spinning scythe of Hidan, who had launched a sudden attack, Kakuzu cast a sidelong glance in mild surprise.
Being capable of accomplishing that demonstrated that his taijutsu and reaction speed had already reached a certain caliber.
After tossing the scythe back, Shirozumi brushed off his sleeves:
"I am certainly not settling any personal grudge here. Also Santai, spend more time practicing your taijutsu and your brain, or you might just get yourself wiped out by a Chunin."
"You! &*￥#"
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