"Whether or not Tsunade believed that the Ōtsutsuki were invading, she still had to consider compromising."
"There's a saying: 'Among three people walking together, one of them can be my teacher.' No matter how capable someone is, there will always be things others do better and things they can learn."
"Even if no one was qualified to be her teacher, if she wanted to improve further, inspiration from research by top-level ninja in the same field could help her achieve twice the results with half the effort."
"And even if she didn't want to improve further, what about the people she cared about? What about everyone else in Konoha?"
"Joining would mean trading your own 'knowledge' for multiple portions of 'knowledge' from other villages."
"Refusing would mean watching helplessly as the other villages shared their knowledge, grew stronger, and left you behind."
"..."
Mei Terumi and Kurotsuchi listened to Shirozumi's words, lost in thought.
This was a sort of open conspiracy, wasn't it?
Shirozumi had used Tsunade as an example, but in reality, Tsunade could be replaced with Konoha or Kumogakure.
Of course, there were still details to work out. For instance, if the other party refused to join and instead sent ninja to kidnap people or turn the "students" to steal their knowledge, how would they counter that?
And to set this open conspiracy in motion, they first needed to demonstrate enough influence.
Otherwise, no one would care, and it would all be for nothing.
The method was like making hundreds of copies of the Sunflower Manual in a martial arts world and handing one to everyone in the jianghu.
If you didn't practice it, you'd fall behind everyone else, and if someone killed you with a casual blow, you'd have only yourself to blame.
If you did practice it, you'd have to give something up, and you still wouldn't gain much of an edge over the others.
"We'll have to think this over ourselves."
"There's no rush."
Mei Terumi and Kurotsuchi needed to think carefully about what strengths their villages could offer, and what areas they needed to improve.
But Shirozumi said there was no rush.
They wouldn't establish the academy until after they had recruited Orochimaru, at the very earliest.
After saying goodbye to the two women, Shirozumi returned to Konan's lodgings.
As the leader of Amegakure, she didn't enjoy quite as good accommodations as the Mizukage and Tsuchikage, but they were still decent and fairly spacious.
"Hm?"
Shirozumi pushed open the door and saw that, besides Konan, there was a red-haired little girl in the room. She was sitting nervously on her knees beside the low table, drinking warm milk.
Actually, while discussing Medical Ninjutsu with Mei Terumi and Kurotsuchi earlier, Shirozumi had already thought of someone.
—Karin.
And Karin wasn't the only one.
Aside from Sasuke, the other three members of Team Hawk were all "healers."
Suigetsu could heal with his Hydrification Technique.
Jugo could use cell regeneration, filling the injured person's wounds directly with his own cells.
And Karin needed no introduction. One bite from her was like drinking a health potion.
You could say that when Sasuke was in his edgy phase, the reason he could "get carried away and take a beating" without dying was largely thanks to these three devoted healers.
Why "largely"?
Because sometimes he was also rescued by a certain helpful fellow clansman, the Masked Man.
"She's related to Nagato. I happened to see ninja from her village bullying her, so I saved her and brought her here," Konan explained from nearby.
"Looks like you really have changed, Konan."
Shirozumi sat down with a smile.
Shirozumi had rekindled the hope in Konan's heart. And last time, he had mentioned how, in the future, she would deliberately send Hydrangea to her death and turn her into the Animal Path, making herself the kind of person she used to hate most.
Now, Konan had found her old self again.
"When I saw her, it was like looking at my past self..."
Konan didn't deny it. She walked over and sat down too. "But our mission this time..."
"It doesn't matter. Don't forget, we came to save the Third Hokage. Konoha should be grateful to us."
Though that was what Shirozumi said, he picked up Karin's Kusagakure Forehead Protector from the floor and tied it around her arm. "Keep wearing this for a few more days, until the Chunin Ninja Exams are over."
Then he took a Konoha Forehead Protector from behind his back and, while Karin stared at him in confusion, tied it around her other arm.
What was that supposed to mean?
A three-village sex slave?
"Are you even going to ask her?" Konan asked, seeing that Shirozumi was about to take Karin back to Amegakure just like that.
"I—I want to!" Karin hurriedly raised her hand, eager to make her wishes known.
She was afraid that if she waited a moment longer, she'd be abandoned.
Shirozumi understood exactly why Karin was reacting like this.
It was only natural.
It didn't matter that Konan had told her Nagato was also an Uzumaki. Even if Orochimaru had shown up, he could have taken her away without saying a word.
The people of Kusagakure were simply too twisted.
Karin and her mother had a special constitution, one that was rare even among the Uzumaki Clan.
One bite could produce the effects of advanced Medical Ninjutsu.
For a small village without any skilled medical ninja, this constitution was a prized resource.
So how should Karin and her mother have been treated?
The kind ones would train them to become competent Medical Ninja, then find a way to study cell cultivation and develop a method for mass treatment.
The evil ones would make them have as many children as possible while keeping them healthy, so their special constitution could spread.
The ordinary ones would let people bite them, but keep a close eye on Karin's mother's health, make sure she got enough nutrition, and let her rest when she needed to.
What had Kusagakure done?
First, they'd bitten Karin's mother to death, then made Karin take her place.
An ordinary person raising a chicken would know to wait for it to lay eggs—for the sake of sustainability.
Kusagakure hadn't even thought of that.
They were as outrageously stupid as Takigakure, the village next door to him, which had sent Kakuzu to assassinate Hashirama Senju.
"If you're willing, then you're willing. Don't get so worked up."
"Don't take the Chunin Exams. Your teammates are gone, anyway, and you can't take part by yourself.
"Just stick with Konan and me and watch as a spectator."
"Okay!"
Karin agreed to Shirozumi's proposal without the slightest hesitation.
She didn't care about becoming a Chunin.
What mattered was escaping the hell that was Kusagakure.
—
The next day, the written portion of the Chunin Exams began.
For the first exam, the Third Hokage used the Telescope Technique and projection to broadcast what was happening in each exam room for everyone to watch.
Not many people had come to watch.
The Daimyo, merchants, and officials had come to see the fights. They had no interest in a written exam.
Mei Terumi and Kurotsuchi had come, though.
They had guessed what the written exam was really testing, and knew that if even a fifth of the rookies they'd brought managed to pass, that would be a lot.
But that wasn't the point.
They'd brought these rookies here so they could experience the harshness of the ninja world.
If they couldn't find the resolve to carry on this time, at least they'd know what to do next time.
Konan and Shirozumi didn't go watch the Konoha Genin cheat on their exam. Instead, they took Karin for a stroll through the streets of Konoha.
Konan suggested taking Karin to the bathhouse to wash up, but Shirozumi vetoed the idea.
Konan was puzzled.
As the two of them talked, a white-haired old man suddenly scratched his butt and turned to look at them.
Since Shirozumi and Konan had been walking and talking, Jiraiya had only heard a somewhat familiar voice—and seen Karin, the red-haired girl lagging behind them.
"Konan? Wait, did Nagato have a gender change?" Jiraiya wondered if he'd spent too much time in brothels and was now seeing and hearing things.
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