The Satori Leader Appears!

Benteng Village.

"This is Benteng Village. Let's grab something to eat first."

Roy looked at the village before them, his expression calm.

After running into members of the Satori Organization in the previous village, Roy seemed to have already forgotten all about it.

As they talked, the three of them entered a restaurant.

"You three are ninja, aren't you?"

"Have you come out to carry out a mission?"

"The ninja of Konoha are always protecting us all. You don't have to pay for this meal."

"Please accept it as my thanks to Konoha."

After the dishes had been served, a middle-aged man gazed at Roy and the others with admiration.

The three of them looked young, but they wore Konoha Forehead Protectors.

Everyone knew that, within the Land of Fire, Konoha's Forehead Protector carried a lot of prestige.

"No need. We'll pay."

"By the way, boss, we'd like to rest here for a day. Is there anywhere you'd recommend?"

Roy declined the offer, then asked.

"We have rooms here."

"If you find the place suitable, you can stay with us."

The owner remained enthusiastic.

In his eyes, ninja were their protectors.

He would not be able to keep running his restaurant if it weren't for the ninja.

"Then sorry for the trouble, boss. Just prepare one room for us."

After saying that, Roy continued eating.

The owner nodded and went off to get the room ready.

"Roy, things here are a little different from what we heard."

"According to the information we have, they shouldn't be this friendly toward our ninja."

Itachi sounded puzzled.

Benteng Village had never asked Konoha for help. Why were they acting like this...?

"Other ninja have been using Konoha's name to operate here."

"But they've been doing good."

"What is the Satori Organization trying to accomplish?"

Roy was puzzled, too.

"Roy, why are we killing members of the Satori Organization?"

At last, Itachi asked the question he had been holding back.

Hearing him, Roy turned and looked at Itachi in confusion.

"Itachi, sometimes I wonder if you're really a ninja."

"Don't you think the things the Satori Organization does pose any threat to the village?"

"Or do you think the Uchiha we lost to kidnappings during the Ninja World Wars shouldn't be blamed on them?"

Roy sounded helpless.

Itachi's thinking was still too simple.

Focusing on one task could certainly make someone much more efficient.

But it could also make their thinking rigid.

"Then what exactly is the Satori Organization trying to do?"

Itachi asked again.

"They want a force that can keep the Ninja World in check."

"They want the great ninja villages to be less eager for war."

"But they're too weak to restrain them for now."

At some point, a man had appeared at their table.

He wore a smile and spoke in a gentle voice.

"Ding! Congratulations, host. You have completed the Satori Organization investigation."

Before Roy could react, the system's notification sounded in his ear.

"Hm?"

Roy looked up at the man before him.

He seemed familiar, but Roy couldn't place him.

Itachi immediately gripped the kunai in his hand, staring at the newcomer warily.

Izumi, meanwhile, was still catching up.

"Sorry. I was rude to intrude."

"I'm the leader of the Satori Organization. You can call me Satori."

The man smiled as if introducing himself to some ordinary friends.

"A Konoha ninja?"

Roy narrowed his eyes and studied Satori.

Based on the information he'd received earlier, Satori might once have been a Konoha ninja.

He also looked rather old.

"Young man, you've got a sharp mind."

"You guessed right, but I can't figure you out."

"Uchiha Roy, why are you so hostile toward the Satori Organization?"

Satori stared at Roy, his crimson eyes beginning to spin.

"Sharingan!"

The moment Itachi saw his eyes, he stood up.

His emotions turned violent.

After all, Itachi had awakened his Mangekyō under Roy's ocular technique, and Danzo had taken Uchiha Shisui's eyes.

The man before them clearly wasn't an Uchiha. Itachi had never heard of him.

That meant he had probably stolen the eyes from an Uchiha.

In the Ninja World, that was a blood feud.

"Itachi, sit down."

Seeing that Itachi was about to attack, Roy spoke in a low voice.

"What you just said—that's what the Satori Organization is doing, isn't it?"

"Then let me tell you what I'm doing."

"I don't have any particular grudge against the Satori Organization. But you attacked me first, so I had no choice but to fight back."

Roy answered directly.

Of course, he didn't mention the system's requirements.

"Don't worry. The ones you killed before were members who couldn't resist temptation and betrayed the Satori Organization."

"If you hadn't killed them, I would have taken care of them myself."

"Someone is secretly trying to control the entire Ninja World to achieve an unknown goal."

"They were also bewitched by this mysterious being."

Satori spoke slowly.

The reason he could sit there and talk with Roy and the others was simple: he didn't care about the Satori Organization members who had died.

Otherwise, he would have attacked them already.

"Is this mysterious being a black blob of some kind?"

At the mention of a mysterious being, Roy immediately thought of Black Zetsu.

Then, looking at Satori, Roy suddenly felt confused.

Who exactly was this guy?

"I don't know yet. I haven't fought him directly."

"But I can tell you this: he has the Sharingan, too!"

"He may even be stronger than me."

Satori spoke with an even expression.

"He has the Sharingan, too?"

"Could it be..."

Roy had nearly worked out who it was.

Madara Uchiha!

That was close to Roy's own guess: Madara Uchiha and Black Zetsu.

The Satori Organization's targets were those two.

He had to admit, Satori had an unusually sharp eye.

He also knew many of the Ninja World's secrets and had even made contact with Madara Uchiha.

"Then you came to find us because..."

Roy had guessed most of it.

But he still didn't know what Satori wanted.

The story seemed to be taking a strange turn.

Roy wasn't sure what would happen next.