Restless
Nagato nodded. "There is one thing. Tell the defectors who joined the Akatsuki the truth about the situation. If they still don't plan to leave, have them come here to the Land of Rain and officially join the Akatsuki."
"Got it. I'll take care of it now."
Watching Konan leave, Nagato sighed. The helplessness of a small nation had never been more apparent. Still, there was no need to rush. The Land of Rain would soon turn things around!
By then, even if it couldn't rival the great nations, it would be the strongest among the smaller ones.
But that Uchiha Madara fellow still worried Nagato.
What he didn't know was that the so-called Uchiha Madara had already been beaten into a cripple by Torifu.
Recovering would be no easy feat. It would take a great deal of time for him to return to his former state.
He wouldn't be able to travel around the Shinobi World for a year or two.
The entire Otherworld had grown tense in the wake of the Land of Rain's sudden transformation.
Sunagakure had quietly begun training its ninja, while Iwagakure and Kumogakure had started forming ranks outright, preparing to respond to war at a moment's notice.
Even if they wiped out every spy they'd sent, some of them were bound to carry back a few scraps of information.
Although the Land of Rain was poorly situated, the Land of Earth had no qualms about annexing it.
No one would turn down a sunny new territory. After all, the Land of Rain had once been a vast sea of rain, with no practical value whatsoever.
But things were different now. With sunshine, the land could be farmed. And once it could be farmed, it could generate a profit.
Never mind how much for