To make plans for Karin's mother, he first had to go to the Land of Grass.
Fortunately, he already had a ready-made excuse—
After the death of Ando, the hoarder, the Akatsuki Organization had naturally taken over his secret warehouse.
The kindhearted Yahiko's first thought, as always, was to use the supplies for charity and recruit new members.
But there were simply too many supplies. Even with Yahiko's overflowing compassion, they couldn't all be put to use at once.
So Shiba Seika suggested selling some of them to the surrounding regions to bring in some money.
He thought the neighboring Land of Grass looked like a good choice.
Most of the Akatsuki Organization's members agreed.
A few even joked that it was rare for Shiba Seika to make a good suggestion that wasn't so harmful.
Shiba Seika smiled but said nothing.
They might be speaking a little too soon...
Traveling abroad with a large quantity of valuable supplies during wartime wasn't safe. Shiba Seika went on to suggest that Nagato accompany him.
Yahiko considered it. Though he had a vague feeling that something was off, he couldn't find a reason to refuse, so he had no choice but to agree.
"All right, then I'll leave this to you, Seika-kun."
But then an unexpected turn of events took everyone by surprise.
Konan stepped forward of her own accord. "I'll go along this time, too. I've just made another batch of Exploding Tags, so I can take them to the Land of Grass and trade them for some money."
Yahiko looked at Konan in surprise. "Konan, what about the base's logistics if you leave?"
Konan was resolute. "I'll make all the arrangements before I go."
Yahiko was at a loss for words.
He had a vague feeling that some important change was quietly unfolding somewhere beyond his knowledge!
Yet he couldn't grasp what was happening!
It had only been three days since his last conversation with Konan!
What had happened in those three days?
Unfortunately, there was no one there who could answer Yahiko's questions.
After resting for a few days, Shiba Seika sealed about a fifth of the high-value supplies from Ando's warehouse into scrolls.
Then he strapped the scrolls to his back and set out for the Land of Grass.
Like the Land of Rain, the Land of Grass was a pitiful little country caught between great powers.
Its strategic location wasn't as important as the Land of Rain's, but its situation was hardly any better.
That was because it had no powerful figure like Hanzo the Salamander, whose strength had once earned the respect of the great ninja villages.
As a result, Kusagakure dared to hide its village in an extremely remote location to avoid the fighting.
It was ironic. The Land of Grass's most prosperous town lay on a major road not far from Kusagakure, yet they didn't dare build their village near the town, much less make it equally prosperous.
They were afraid that one day Konoha or Iwagakure might stop in town to resupply and beat them up on a whim.
It was a perfect display of just how lowly a small ninja village could be.
Shiba Seika, Konan, Nagato, and the others traveled for half a day. With a ninja's pace, they reached the prosperous town in the Land of Grass before nightfall.
While selling the supplies there, Shiba Seika secretly summoned the Akatsuki Organization's ninja who had accompanied them.
Most of them had been members of his former squad, including Kenjiro, whom he had tricked just a few days earlier.
By now, Kenjiro had clearly developed an attitude of giving up and taking whatever came. He bluntly asked Shiba Seika, "Captain, what are you planning this time? Where are we going? Who are we killing?"
He'd figured it out by now: the leader, Yahiko, couldn't control the captain at all!
Even if Kenjiro put up his best "resistance," he would still "fall" in the end. He might as well go along with it and enjoy himself from the start.
Shiba Seika waved a hand. "Don't spend all your time thinking about fighting and killing. Our organization's ideal is mutual understanding between people."
Kenjiro gave him a skeptical look. His expression plainly said, Yeah, right. I believe that.
Sure enough, Shiba Seika changed course the next moment. "But some people refuse to understand one another. We have to at least grant them a little dignity."
As he spoke, he spread a map across the table.
"This is a rough map of Kusagakure. I need you to scout it first. Focus on confirming whether they've recently taken in an outsider. The target is a woman, around twenty years old. She may not be a ninja. She has red hair and might be rather frail.
"Once you find her, focus on confirming how she's treated in Kusagakure. Don't act right away. Come back and wait for my next instructions."
Kenjiro was a little surprised. This time, the captain hadn't asked them to silence anyone.
"Is this woman the target we're supposed to grant some dignity?" he asked, following Shiba Seika's line of thought.
But Shiba Seika only smiled mysteriously.
"No, no. How could she be? She hasn't done anything wrong. On the contrary, she's exactly the kind of person who desperately needs others to understand her.
"Unfortunately, the ideal our leader proposed is so fragile and idealistic. I think that as you carry out your reconnaissance, you'll soon see with your own eyes what happens to those who truly need and long for understanding."
Kenjiro looked puzzled. "So who is this woman?"
Shiba Seika didn't rush to tell him. Instead, he gently led him to the answer. "The target's most distinctive feature is her red hair. Who else have you seen with such vivid red hair?"
Kenjiro immediately realized who he meant, and his expression changed.
At that very moment, Shiba Seika deliberately added, "Don't tell him yet. That woman might be a very important relative of his. Let's wait until we confirm it first."
Shiba Seika had deliberately blurred "clan member" into "relative," further tugging at the anxious nerve inside Kenjiro.
What Kenjiro didn't know was that all of this was part of a scheme aimed at him!
Shiba Seika knew very well that Kenjiro wasn't entirely loyal to him.
Kenjiro still had more faith in their leader, Yahiko.
The last time Shiba Seika had tricked him into silencing those wandering ninja, he had used Kenjiro's sister as leverage.
Although Kenjiro had carried out the task, he had never truly accepted Shiba Seika.
Now that he had received such important information, the more Shiba Seika told him not to share it, the more likely Kenjiro was to tell Nagato himself.
In the hearts of these longtime Akatsuki Organization members, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan still mattered more than Shiba Seika.
Shiba Seika wasn't angry about it.
On the contrary, he was glad that someone like Kenjiro was on this trip.
That way, the information would reach Nagato under an airtight pretext!
Even though Shiba Seika had deliberately revealed the truth for Nagato to see, no one would suspect his motives afterward!
Everything would happen naturally.
Now it was just a matter of whether Kusagakure would cooperate.
On that point, Shiba Seika wasn't worried at all.
Going by the original story, the crimes that village had committed against Karin and her mother were truly too numerous to recount!
There was no way Nagato could stay calm after seeing them!
Before you continue