Someone Actually Entered

After returning from Yahiko's place, Shiba Seika began drafting a letter to Hanzo the Salamander.

He had no intention of defecting to Hanzo—in fact, he planned to take down that old geezer in the future and squeeze every last coin out of him! But for now, he still had to stabilize this nominal guardian deity of the Land of Rain. The two masterminds behind the future fall of the Akatsuki Organization were Hanzo and Danzō. Shiba Seika's plan was to pacify the former first, then focus on dealing with the latter! This wasn't just because Danzō was more hateful, but also because Shimura Danzō now represented Konoha. As a Rain Ninja, Shiba Seika had natural legitimacy in opposing Konoha! In contrast, Hanzo the Salamander was still the public face of the Land of Rain. Openly opposing Hanzo would only plunge the Land of Rain into premature civil strife.

Shiba Seika wasn't afraid of civil war—he didn't care about war, in fact, he quite enjoyed watching rivers of blood flow. But he cared about timing, about whether he could reap the greatest benefit from this civil war! Right now was clearly not a good time. The Third Great Ninja War had only just begun. Major events he knew well from his past life—like the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, the Battle of Kikyo Mountain, and the First Generation Seven Ninja Swordsmen getting kicked down to three lucky mascots—hadn't even happened yet. This meant the war hadn't truly entered its climax. The great ninja villages were still in a phase of strategic probing and stalemate; no one had yet beaten each other's brains into dog food. If the Land of Rain suddenly erupted into chaos at this point, the surrounding great ninja villages would likely be all too happy to pause their own fights, carve up the Land of Rain, and then resume. Just like they had once joined forces to destroy the Land of Whirlpools!

Only when the war fully escalated, and the great ninja villages were all mired in quicksand with no way to extricate themselves, would Shiba Seika consider it the best time to deal with Hanzo the Salamander! Until then, his stance was always to stabilize this Demi-God first. Appear submissive on the surface, lull the opponent into complacency. So this letter was filled from start to finish with sycophantic praise! He lavished ink on Hanzo the Salamander's outstanding contributions to the Land of Rain's development, fondly recalled the Demi-God's many glorious achievements in the last Great Ninja War, and wildly hyped up Hanzo's brilliance and martial prowess. In summary: I say, Lord Salamander, your insight is supreme!

Then he hinted that the Land of Rain was still seething with undercurrents, with Sand Ninja and Rock Ninja frequently roaming inside its borders. The Akatsuki Organization had been tirelessly protecting the Land of Rain's people, rooting out these traitors and rebels—they were loyal ministers through and through! Finally, he earnestly hoped the Demi-God would trust them more, while offering up a bit of supplies as a token of sincerity, hoping the Demi-God would graciously accept it. This long letter was absurdly fawning—even Shiba Seika got goosebumps writing it—but in reality, aside from a pile of flattery, he made no substantive concessions. He neither ceded command of the Akatsuki Organization nor promised to halt its expansion. Instead, he subtly demanded more "trust" from Hanzo. If Hanzo the Salamander got dizzy from all this bootlicking and actually gave his word, he'd have fallen right into the trap! The very next day, Shiba Seika would take that chicken feather as a command arrow, wield Hanzo's trust to round up all the Rain Ninja who had extorted Akatsuki members, and slaughter them!

This was Shiba Seika's style—he didn't care about losing face, only about real, tangible benefits! The only pity was the one-eighth of supplies offered as tribute. But there was no helping it. Thanks to Yahiko's earlier reckless generosity, the fact that they had seized supplies was no longer a secret. Without paying a "friendship fee," this matter would be hard to smooth over. After finishing the letter, he handed it, along with a scroll sealing the supplies, to Konan. She would send it to Hanzo the Salamander via her Paper Butterfly. In the short term, Shiba Seika had no intention of meeting Hanzo face-to-face. When the day came that he was fully prepared, he hoped their first meeting would be their last—a kill on sight!

After sending the letter, all that remained was waiting. Everyone in the organization was anxious. A man's reputation was like a tree's shadow—at this time, Hanzo the Salamander still carried immense weight in the hearts of many Rain Ninja. Fortunately, just two days later, before even a reply had come back, many people already sensed a positive change. That day, an Akatsuki member returned to the base in surprise, bursting through the door and shouting excitedly. "Good news, brothers! Good news! The ninjas outside Falling Rain Village all pulled out last night. I checked the woods outside the village this morning—they took their tents with them. Looks like they don't plan to blockade us anymore."

Throughout the rest of that day, more and more members came back reporting good changes. "The folks in the southern town told me: the ninjas who'd been threatening them every day finally didn't show up today." "The group of Rain Ninjas we clashed with three days ago shot a letter over with a kunai today, saying it was all a misunderstanding." "I went out on my usual patrol today and finally didn't get ambushed for no reason!" By evening, Yahiko finally let out a long sigh of relief. "It seems Lord Hanzo has finally understood us."

Shiba Seika happened to be staying in Yahiko's room waiting for a reply at that moment. He rolled his eyes and bluntly undercut him. "This has jack to do with understanding. It's purely because the money arrived." Yahiko wanted to argue for his ideals, but before he could speak, everyone else started praising Shiba Seika in unison. "Seika-kun, you really know how to handle things! Before you came back, we were all at our wits' end!" "Yeah, we really rely on you, Seika-kun!"

Yahiko was rendered speechless by the scene.

Though deeply displeased, he couldn't find a reason to argue.

Because before Shiba Seika returned, he himself truly couldn't find a solution.

This was his failure as a leader...

What made it even harder to bear was that this time, even Konan and Nagato didn't come to comfort him.

Konan wasn't even looking at him; instead, her eyes were closed, her mind wandering elsewhere, likely manipulating the Paper Butterfly flying outside.

Before long, Konan opened her eyes and exclaimed in surprise, "A reply has come!"

Everyone's spirits lifted!

The Paper Butterfly carried the letter into the room. Yahiko reached out to take it, but unexpectedly, the butterfly bypassed him and landed smoothly and naturally on Shiba Seika's hand.

For a moment, Yahiko's expression froze slightly.

Fortunately, no one in the room was paying attention to him at that moment; instead, they all stared at Shiba Seika as he opened and read the letter.

This spared Yahiko from embarrassment...

Soon, Shiba Seika finished reading. Seeing his odd expression, everyone's hearts, which had just begun to settle, rose in unison.

"What's wrong, Seika? What did Hanzo say? Could it be..."

Shiba Seika patted Konan's hand reassuringly, signaling her not to panic.

"Don't worry. Hanzo's letter showed no hostility toward us; in fact, he praised us.

The matter is resolved satisfactorily. Everyone should be able to sleep well tonight."

The people in the room let out a collective sigh of relief, then showered Shiba Seika with thanks and praise.

Only Konan remained uneasy and pressed further: "Then why did your expression look so strange just now?"

Shiba Seika handed her the letter and said, "Sister Konan, see for yourself. It seems we'll have an additional task soon."

His odd expression wasn't due to a bad outcome, but purely because he found it unexpected.

In his letter to Hanzo, to exaggerate the crisis in the Land of Rain, he had casually fabricated a line, claiming that Sunagakure and Iwagakure were recently running rampant within its borders.

His intention was merely to amplify the external threat and remind Hanzo the Salamander not to start a civil war at this time—to weigh the consequences himself!

But who could have guessed that in his reply, Hanzo the Salamander would actually give him a task—

To deal with a Sunagakure ninja squad that had infiltrated the southwestern part of the Land of Rain.

Needless to say, Shiba Seika's expression was hard to maintain the moment he saw that line in the letter.

I just made that up off the cuff, and there really are Sunagakure ninjas sneaking in here?

Damn! What kind of place is this Land of Rain? Anyone can just come and go as they please?!