Leading from the front

Konoha Hokage's Office Konoha.

"What does the Raikage think of our Konoha's previous proposal?"

Minato's suggestion startled the Raikage for a moment; he wondered what it was.

In just a few breaths, the Fourth Raikage A's eyes lit up.

"You mean, the matter of sending Killer B to Konoha for protection?"

Minato smiled and nodded.

"Killer B's journey to Konoha will be at its weakest point. If this news is accidentally leaked, do you think the Akatsuki will take action?"

After careful consideration, the Fourth Raikage A felt that the plan was actually quite sound.

This is the best opportunity as long as the Akatsuki still wants to capture the Eight-Tails.

Otherwise, once the Eight-Tails arrives in Konoha, even if they want to launch a strong attack on Konoha, they may not be able to do anything to the Eight-Tails.

"Then—how can we ensure that the Akatsuki receives this message?"

The Raikage wanted to perfect the plan even further.

Minato looked at Taiichi; of Akatsuki members, Taiichi knew the most.

"There is a member in the Akatsuki named Zetsu who is in charge of intelligence work. His concealment skills are extremely high. Under normal circumstances, even the Byakugan cannot detect his existence."

Killer B definitely has clones monitoring him. If you explain the situation to Killer B a few times outside, he'll quickly notice.

The Fourth Raikage A suddenly broke out in goosebumps all over his body; it was a strong physiological discomfort.

Imagine having a pair of eyes watching you every moment.

Even when he was eating, sleeping, or using the toilet, this gaze was constantly watching him, making the Fourth Raikage A feel uncomfortable all over.

But believe it or not, if that's really the case, then leaking information to the Akatsuki wouldn't be difficult at all.

The matter has been discussed to this point, and the general outline has been explained. The remaining specific execution steps require joint deduction by the strategists of both sides, which cannot be figured out by a few people just making up their minds now.

The Raikage then took his leave, as he truly did not wish to linger in Konoha any longer.

After Taiichi left the Hokage's Office and dispelled the Shadow Clone that had been leading the mission, a memory surfaced in his mind.

It turns out that the task assigned to my three apprentices today was to help a family take care of their children.

Konoha is really getting all sorts of novel missions these days.

Taiichi remembered that when he first became Genin, there were no such "interesting" missions.

The Flying Thunder God arrived at the spot where the Shadow Clone had disappeared; it was the rooftop of the house from the mission.

Below, the three little ones are busy trying to make the child happy. This little guy is indeed difficult to take care of, no wonder his parents would rather spend money to hire ninjas to help than take care of him themselves.

In the half hour since we received the task, the little guy has been having trouble with everything – pooping, being hungry, and crying whenever he's unhappy. He's really worn out the three little ones.

Taiichi watched from above for a while, and then shook his head repeatedly.

With such carefree parents and clueless ninjas, if this child continues to grow up like this, he's bound to become a spoiled brat.

Taiichi over the roof and climbed into the house. Seeing the three helpless people, he could only offer some advice. "This child is old enough to understand things now. You can't give him everything he wants just because he cries. Make sure he's safe, clean, and not hungry. As for his other unreasonable demands, let him cry for a while."

With Taiichi's instructions, the three little ones were overjoyed and immediately adjusted their strategy.

When the child started crying and throwing a tantrum because he couldn't get his toy, the three of them simply ignored him and watched him quietly.

After several unsuccessful attempts, the child realized that this method was ineffective and had no choice but to do it himself.

Only then would the three of them step forward to help.

In this way, the child is actually easier to take care of.

The task wasn't finished until the afternoon, when the child's mother came home from get off work.

The three little ones, dragging their weary steps, followed Taiichi to hand in their mission.

"Teacher, please don't take on these kinds of assignments again. It's a nightmare."

Jiangtai took a breath and finally couldn't help but start complaining. Yami and Itachi next to him nodded repeatedly, agreeing with Jiangtai's words without any doubt.

"Heh, you three little devils, do you think you can just refuse a mission whenever you want?"

Taiichi finally got a chance to teach the three little ones a lesson about the cruelty of the ninja world, so he naturally had to show off his skills.

"If you're going to abandon this kind of mission just because a child is crying, what will you do if you encounter clients who are even more difficult than this child in future missions?"

To put it more seriously, what if future missions severely conflict with your values, or even require you to kill everyone you encounter along the way for the sake of secrecy? Would you abandon the mission?

"If your abandonment leads to the leak of mission information, resulting in significant casualties in Konoha, how will you handle the situation?"

One question after another, like the resounding toll of a bell, echoed incessantly in the three little ones' ears.

These are problems they genuinely hadn't considered before.

Now that Taiichi brought it up, they put themselves in his shoes and imagined it. The thought sent chills down their spines.

These issues are all increasingly difficult to resolve, especially the last question, which is truly a difficult choice for them.

"Teacher, if it were you, how would you handle the last question?" Itachi, as expected, is quick-witted; unable to figure it out himself, he directly asked the person in charge.

"Hehe." Taiichi stopped, turned around, lowered his head, and stared intently at the three little ones.

"If it were me, I wouldn't let this happen at all. There are many ways to avoid people, such as using the Flying Thunder God, flying in the sky, or using Earth Style to sneak underground. It just depends on whether you have the ability."

As for the possibility of being seen, then as a ninja, getting one's hands stained with blood is necessary. This has nothing to do with personal morality; it's simply to minimize the damage.

The three children seemed to be deep in thought. Today's lesson was of paramount importance to them, no less so than their five years of study at the Ninja Academy. Only by undergoing this kind of spiritual transformation could a ninja be considered a true ninja.

From that day on, the three little ones' attitude towards tasks changed significantly.

They no longer complained about the boring tasks, and they did even the simplest tasks with great care.

This change was undoubtedly what Taiichi wanted to see, and unexpectedly, a simple lecture was enough to make all three of them take it to heart.

Taiichi saw this and was delighted.

Who wouldn't love such a hassle-free land!

Time flies by Tenten, and another month has passed in the blink of an eye.

The Land of Grass, the Akatsuki Base.

"Tap tap tap tap"

A series of footsteps approached, and judging from their rapid frequency, one could imagine how anxious its owner was.

Pain and Obito were discussing how to resolve the Akatsuki's financial crisis when they were interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

The two of them turned their heads unhappily toward the entrance, just in time to see Jue Earth Flow a beaming smile.

"Oh! Everyone's here! We've brought you some good news!"

Judging from the cheeky tone, Pain and Obito knew that it must be White Zetsu speaking.

Only these White Zetsu would be so disrespectful and brainless.

"Since it's good news, you can go first. Hopefully, you won't disappoint us, otherwise, Black Zetsu will probably have to change bodies again."

Obito said unhappily.

During this period, the Akatsuki's financial crisis became increasingly urgent.

Before Kakuzu died, as the chief financial officer of the Akatsuki, although he didn't make the Akatsuki extremely wealthy, everyone was doing quite well.

Even if the finances are a bit tight on a particular day, Kakuzu will organize people to go out and do some missions. More often than not, he will personally take on some high-value bounty missions to make up for Akatsuki's financial shortfall.

But since his death, that position has been vacant.

If the timeframe is short, it's fine, but if it goes on for a long time, all sorts of financial problems will arise.

Besides Kakuzu, where else can one find talent in this area?

Each and every one of them was either a murderer or inhuman, forcing the blame to fall on Pain and Obito.

As for Konan, she already has a lot on her plate because Akatsuki all the internal affairs and logistics. If she is given more responsibilities, she might cause a huge mess at any time.

That's why Obito has such a bad temper now. If it weren't for the fact that seven of the Nine Tailed Beasts had already been captured, and the plan had taken a big step forward, he would have doubted whether his mission could still succeed.

White Zetsu clutched his chest, feigning fear, but said smugly, "Thank goodness, this is actually good news."

Without further ado, he waved his hands and began to describe his discovery.

"Cloud Village can't handle it anymore. They're sending the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki to Konoha, entrusting Konoha to protect the Eight-Tails for them."

"What kind of good news is this? With the Eight-Tails in Konoha, our operations will be even more difficult. I think you really want to go back to the drawing board and try to fool me with this kind of news!"

Obito was clearly angry. He stood up, looked at White Zetsu, and approached step by step, as if he was about to make a move at any moment.

"Hey~ Hey~ Listen to me!" White Zetsu waved his hands repeatedly, while continuing to back away.

But the next moment, he abruptly stopped, his voice becoming low and menacing, "Useless, what a waste of time. Let me do it."

Obito stopped in his tracks; he realized that Black Zetsu was online.

"The arrival of the Eight-Tails in Konoha is indeed a challenge, but on its way Konoha, it's only accompanied by Cloud Village guards. This presents us with the perfect opportunity to strike."

Well, you know what, it's actually true.

Obito frowned, carefully considering the feasibility of the matter.

Pain, who had remained silent until now, was the first to raise a question.

"Is your information reliable? Could it be a trap set by Cloud Village and Konoha?"

Black Zetsu froze. This was indeed a problem. He had been so caught up in his excitement that he hadn't given it much thought.

He recalled every detail of how he had overheard the intelligence.

It was a large Training Ground, Anbu by ANBU guards. The Fourth Hokage Fourth Raikage only revealed this news to the Jinchuriki after he finished sparring with the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki.

The Jinchuriki's expression at that moment—that surprise was definitely not feigned. Black Zetsu was certain that it was the first time the Jinchuriki had learned of this plan.

"The source of the information is correct; it was said by the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, and their expressions at the time showed no sign of falsehood."

As for whether it might be bait, it's hard to say. But I think, regardless of whether it's bait or not, this is an excellent opportunity.

"Black Zetsu is right. Whether it's bait or not, the Eight-Tails has left Kumogakure. As for whether there was an ambush, then..."

It's time to see what we're capable of!

Obito's face revealed a sinister smile, Tomoe in his eyes spun rapidly without him noticing.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and on this day, Taiichi appeared silently in Raikage's Office.

Besides the Raikage, only Killer B and Mabui were present here; to maintain secrecy, no one else had been notified.

Taiichi at the Flying Thunder God Kunai stuck in the ground and breathed a sigh of relief.

The Raikage's willingness to use Killer B bait was based on his trust in Konoha.

Taiichi entrusted his Flying Thunder God Kunai to Cloud Village, which also required trust.

If a trap were set here, Taiichi would be badly injured even if he didn't die.

Shaking off the random thoughts in his head, Taiichi bent down and pulled out his Kunai before standing up again and asking the Raikage with a solemn expression.

"Lord Raikage, let me confirm again: should we intervene when the Akatsuki and Killer B are fighting, or wait until Killer B is taken back and sealed away? I think you all know how different the danger levels are between these two approaches."

The Raikage frowned and looked at Killer B.

Killer B also looked back at the Raikage, but his eyes were filled with determination.

"Hey, bro, trust me!"

The Fourth Raikage A was filled with admiration; this was truly a man of Cloud Village. His reluctance to part with him increased even further.

At this moment, Killer B changed his tone, and his speech became rhythmic. He gave himself a thumbs up and nodded repeatedly.

"I am a disciple of Cloud Village; no one can defeat me."

The admiration on Fourth Raikage A's face vanished instantly, replaced by utter disdain. He turned to look at Taiichi, his tone becoming serious.

"It's decided. If we can't defeat them and get kidnapped, we'll follow them to their base and then take action."

Taiichi glanced at the Raikage, then at the confident Killer B, before nodding.

"Alright, in that case, let's begin. Killer B, you can set off now."

Killer B stopped rapping, said to the Raikage, "Big brother, I'm leaving," and turned to leave the Raikage's Office.

Taiichi walked to the window and watched Killer B walk away alone. He couldn't help but turn to look at the Raikage.

"Aren't you going to assign anyone to guard you? Just this one person? That seems too fake."

Raikage glanced at Taiichi sideways, Taiichi lazy to even utter a rebuttal.

But Mabui spoke up, explaining, "This is more in line with Killer B's character. Besides, sending people to protect him would only increase casualties, and Killer B himself doesn't agree with it."

Well, Taiichi had nothing to say either.

Only after Killer B disappeared from sight did Taiichi turn back to the Raikage and say, "I'll be going now too. I'll send an update every half hour on Killer B's latest situation."