Uchiha Shisui rose at that and walked over of his own accord, extending a hand as he greeted Shiba Seika with a smile.
"Hello, I'm Uchiha Shisui. As you can see, I'm a Konoha ninja."
(Uchiha Shisui)
Uchiha Shisui spoke gently and was very polite. He looked every bit the well-behaved young man, without the slightest trace of the arrogance one might expect from someone of a great ninja village and clan. He gave off a very pleasant impression.
Shiba Seika walked over and shook his hand. "Hello, I'm Aizen, a Rain ninja."
Shiba Seika had a good first impression of Shisui, but that didn't stop him from smoothly giving a false name the moment he opened his mouth.
Tama, standing nearby, looked up in surprise, only for Shiba Seika to swiftly pop a dried fish into her mouth.
"Meow~" One lick told her it was spicy. Tama's eyes curved into delighted crescents, and she forgot all about questioning him.
Uchiha Shisui noticed nothing amiss, assuming it was just an affectionate exchange between a cat-loving owner and his feline companion.
"So you're a Rain ninja? Then you must be quite impressive to have been accepted by Cat Country, Aizen."
Shisui praised him sincerely.
He knew the cats of Cat Country were very particular. Even when doing business with ninjas, they wouldn't lower themselves by accepting any useless ninja as their owner.
That was probably why Cat Country had never become very well-known in the Shinobi World.
Since birth, this was the first time Shisui had ever seen a ninja who wasn't from the Uchiha Clan in Cat Country.
"You're too kind, Shisui. I'm just an ordinary Chunin."
Shiba Seika was modest, but at the same time, he'd made up his mind: he wasn't going to reveal any personal information.
If he hadn't lacked a Forehead Protector from another village, he wouldn't even have admitted to being a Rain ninja.
With the one-eyed Gray Cat Shopkeeper acting as intermediary, Shiba Seika and Uchiha Shisui soon began discussing the purchase of ninjutsu scrolls.
Shisui didn't agree right away. "Sorry, I'm afraid I can't make that decision on my own. I'll need to go back and ask our Clan Head."
Shiba Seika nodded to show he understood, then tentatively asked, "Is Mr. Fugaku Uchiha the current Clan Head?"
Shisui looked a little surprised, then answered honestly, "Yes. I didn't expect you to know so much about the Uchiha Clan, even though you're all the way over in the Land of Rain."
"The Uchiha are a renowned clan in the Shinobi World and one of the two founding clans of Konoha. Even Rain ninjas like us greatly respect a prestigious clan like yours, so it's only natural that we'd keep an eye on you."
That one sentence dispelled Shisui's doubts and even earned Shiba Seika his goodwill.
"I understand. Don't worry, Aizen. I'll be sure to pass your request on to the Clan Head."
He really is an innocent, well-behaved kid. Shiba Seika sighed inwardly.
At the same time, he quickly considered how making contact with Uchiha Shisui might benefit him.
Given Shiba Seika's personality, there was no way he was simply planning to befriend Uchiha Shisui, no matter how good his first impression of him had been.
The first thing that came to mind was using Shisui to find out more about Konoha, especially Root and Danzo.
Shiba Seika was still figuring out exactly how to do that.
He hadn't expected that, a week later, before he'd had the chance to make a move, Uchiha Shisui would invite him to meet in Cat Country again and take the initiative to ask him something.
"Aizen, this might be a little abrupt, but I wanted to ask: since you're a Rain ninja, have you heard of an organization called the 'Akatsuki'?"
Shiba Seika's fingertips twitched ever so slightly, but he kept his expression perfectly composed and continued smiling calmly as he spoke.
"I've heard a little. They're mainly active in the southern part of the Land of Rain. Recently, they've won the recognition of Leader Hanzo. They're a very energetic organization. Why are you suddenly asking about them, Shisui?"
With a few casual words, Shiba Seika distanced himself from the Akatsuki Organization, leading Shisui to believe he was a subordinate loyal to Hanzo the Salamander.
That fit the stereotype most people had of Rain ninjas at the time.
Shisui sighed with a troubled expression before replying, "You don't know, Aizen, but lately, a lot of people in our village have been talking about this 'Akatsuki' organization. The Clan Head agreed to your request to trade, but one of his conditions is that he wants to get some information about the Akatsuki from you."
When Shiba Seika first heard that, his heart sank. This is bad. Has Konoha already set its sights on us?
Fortunately, he was a skilled actor. He suppressed his alarm and continued asking as if nothing was wrong, "Oh? Why is that? Is there something going on?"
Only after Uchiha Shisui finished explaining the reason, looking worried all the while, did Shiba Seika finally breathe a sigh of relief. He'd even nearly laughed out loud.
Let's turn back to a little over a week earlier.
With the outbreak of the Great Ninja War, intelligence agencies across the major ninja villages had all kicked into high gear.
In Konoha, Shimura Danzō had also regained a fair amount of power thanks to his command of Root, a massive intelligence organization. Things had been going smoothly for him.
But then, one day, a report brought back by one of his subordinates completely ruined the good mood he'd built up over the past several days.
It contained the statement of commitment Minato Namikaze had made a while earlier, which Shiba Seika had deliberately arranged to have spread.
The report also emphasized Minato Namikaze's identity, making it seem as if it wanted the entire Shinobi World to know that the next Hokage had already been decided.
At Root's base, Shimura Danzō roared in fury. "Damn it! How dare he?! That Minato—how dare he?! What gives him the right to represent the village without permission?! And can he just declare himself the Next Hokage whenever he feels like it? Did I approve? Did the elders agree?! Does he have any respect for the village at all?!"
The Root ninja who had delivered the report was a little confused.
At first, he'd assumed Lord Danzō was furious because a Rain Country organization called the "Akatsuki" had gotten ahead of itself, spreading a statement like that without informing Konoha and provoking Lord Danzō.
He hadn't expected Lord Danzō to be so upset for this reason.
It seemed... ridiculous, yet somehow reasonable.
But the next moment, the young Root ninja quickly bowed his head, forcing himself to drive such disrespectful thoughts about Lord Danzō from his mind.
No one was there to back him up. The more Danzō endured it alone, the angrier he got. The more he tried to let it go, the more cheated he felt!
He couldn't take it anymore. He stormed straight to the Hokage's Office and slammed the report scroll down on the Third Sarutobi Hiruzen's desk.
"Danzō, what are you doing now?" Sarutobi Hiruzen puffed on his pipe and looked at him impatiently.
"Hiruzen, look at what Minato Namikaze has done! He's giving away the village's interests! How can we let Konoha bow so casually to a small ninja village like the Rain?"
He wasn't about to admit to Sarutobi Hiruzen that he'd lost his temper because someone had called Minato Namikaze the Next Hokage.
His usual tactic was to start by accusing the other person of acting against the village.
Unfortunately for him, Sarutobi Hiruzen was so troubled that he didn't have the patience to deal with him.
"Danzō, we're already fighting on two fronts against Sunagakure and Kumogakure. Kirigakure and Iwagakure have also been making plenty of moves near the borders lately, and they could join the war at any moment. We don't have the strength to go after the Land of Rain right now.
"Besides, Minato has already explained the circumstances to me. He was mainly trying to save his student. I don't think he did anything wrong."
But Danzō couldn't care less about any of that.
Minato hadn't done anything wrong? Did that mean Hiruzen had also accepted him as the Next Hokage?
"Hiruzen, you're far too indulgent toward Minato! You'll regret it!"
"Enough!" Sarutobi Hiruzen took the pipe from his mouth and shouted, "Danzō, I'm the Hokage now!"
As expected, the conversation ended with Danzō slamming the door behind him as he left.
And just like that, Danzō would never forget the name of the Akatsuki Organization in the Land of Rain!
Before you continue