Horse Talisman

Konoha, Ninja Academy.

Listening to the sound of the chunin teacher's chalk scratching against the blackboard at the podium, Qian Yu only found it noisy; he decided it was better to focus his gaze on the system panel instead...

[Dimensional Points: 15,000]

In the capital of the Land of Fire, the entire imperial court had been replaced by Shadow Ninja who were capable, efficient, and incorruptible. This was undoubtedly a subversion of the entire country, directly earning Qian Yu a massive windfall of Dimensional Points.

"Well then, it's time for the next talisman to make its appearance..."

The "next talisman" Qian Yu referred to was, naturally, the Horse Talisman remaining in his possession.

Although the Horse Talisman possessed the divine power to repair and heal everything, making it no exaggeration to call it a life-saving artifact, Qian Yu was merely a student at the Ninja Academy. It seemed there wasn't enough high-pressure environment for him to utilize the Horse Talisman.

He reckoned that using Armament Haki would be enough to sweep through everything on campus and become the school bully, right?

While deploying the Horse Talisman, Qian Yu also made a decision: to use all the Dimensional Points he had earned, as well as all those he would obtain in the future, to draw from the Twelve Talismans.

Only by completing the story would more people be influenced.

Although exhausting all his earned Dimensional Points only yielded a "Snake Talisman" and a "Dog Talisman"... at least he wasn't standing still...

While the ability of the Snake Talisman wasn't of much use to Qian Yu, the Dog Talisman was formidable, symbolizing the divine power of immortality... If Orochimaru found out about it, he would likely pay any price to obtain it, wouldn't he?!

Qian Yu decided that this time, he would not choose to drop the talismans in Konoha. He needed to spread the favor, letting the entire Ninja World experience the power from another dimension.

"Qian Yu!"

Just as Qian Yu finished editing the script, the chunin teacher at the podium, watching Qian Yu's mind wander, finally lost his patience. He pulled a piece of chalk from the box and threw it at Qian Yu in a high arc.

--Snap!

The chalk hit Qian Yu squarely on the forehead with pinpoint accuracy, followed immediately by the chunin teacher's booming voice—

"Get out and stand in the hallway!"

While Qian Yu felt the morning chill brushing against his face, Uncle, with the cooperation of the Konoha Anbu, had also quickly developed a spell to locate the next talisman.

"The next talisman is the Horse, which can eliminate all external forces..."

The map before Uncle was lifted by a green glow, and finally, the horseshoe used as a medium struck a spot on the map.

"Heh... as expected, there are no chakra fluctuations... Qi Magic... it truly makes one curious..."

Watching Uncle's display of Qi Magic, Orochimaru, standing to the side, didn't even blink. His long, snake-like tongue unconsciously licked his lips; he was most interested in such unknown things.

"Heh... Hanzo's territory, is it? It seems we have to go abroad."

Orochimaru recognized the location where the horseshoe had pinned the map at a glance: the Land of Rain, a small nation wedged between the Land of Fire, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Wind.

Konoha Forest, on the way toward the border of the Land of Fire.

As Orochimaru moved forward like a ghost, utilizing the tree branches, he shifted his gaze to Chixing, who was carrying Uncle on his back.

"Chixing-kun's appearance is quite unique~"

Even in the Ninja World, which was home to centipedes and spiders larger than humans and a vast variety of biological species, no one had ever seen an individual like Chixing. As a "fanatical scientist," how could Orochimaru not be interested? From the first moment he saw Chixing, he had already wanted to dissect, draw blood from, and experiment on him.

"Ah, that's because I'm from 'Bikini Bottom'..."

"Bikini Bottom? Is that a place name?" Orochimaru had never heard of it. Just as he was about to continue asking Chixing about his origins, he was interrupted by Uncle. "Chixing! There is no time for chatting; we must get the talisman before the Shadowkhan!"

"Heh... are you on guard against me?"

Chixing accelerated forward, and Orochimaru also learned the personalities of the two through their simple conversation.

Uncle belonged to the type of person who was very troublesome and cautious. As for Chixing... he was dim-witted and looked very easy to deceive.

"It seems I need to find a way to be alone with Chixing-kun..."

Land of Rain.

As a small nation wedged between three great powers, the lives of the people in this country were not good, especially after their leader, Hanzo, entered old age and became muddled; the lives of the citizens could truly be described as being in dire straits.

Land of Rain, in a valley near an Akatsuki base.

"Yahiko, Nagato! Come quickly! There's a child here!"

Konan called out to her companions, completely ignoring the rain soaking her blue hair and robes, as she lifted the white-haired little girl from the muddy puddle and held her in her arms.

"Konan, how is she?"

"It seems she's just exhausted... Should we take her back and have someone check on her?"

"Hm? This is..."

As Konan stood up, she suddenly noticed that the little girl seemed to be clutching something in her hand... but this wasn't the time to worry about that; saving a life was more important.

Akatsuki base.

After cleaning the white-haired girl's body and changing her into fresh clothes, Konan placed her on a soft bed and tucked her in. Just as she was stroking the girl's white hair, intending to let her rest well, she suddenly noticed the scar that had appeared on her chubby, youthful cheek, which looked as though it had been there for a long time.

"It seems this is another poor child..."

That's right! This white-haired little girl with a scar on her face was none other than Jack!

She had originally intended to follow Qian Yu's orders and drop the Horse Talisman somewhere in the Land of Rain to set the stage for the upcoming story, but on the way, she happened to run into the Akatsuki trio wearing their "predecessor robes." (Black robes with red trim, lacking the red cloud pattern.)

Qian Yu had a sudden flash of inspiration and had Jack disguise himself as a suffering child, collapsing into a puddle. Sure enough, Jack's frail and adorable appearance stirred Konan's protective instincts, and she immediately brought Jack back to the Akatsuki base.

As for why he wanted to get the Horse Talisman into the Akatsuki organization? Naturally, it was because the more chaotic things were and the more people involved, the more Dimensional Points he could earn!

Then there was the Snake Talisman... Qian Yu had also found a nice home for it.

As for the Dog Talisman? That had a wonderful use! To prevent Nagato from summoning the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path too early and causing a certain old man with one foot in the grave to die prematurely, the Dog Talisman naturally had to be deployed at a fixed point.

Earn a wave from Konoha, earn a wave from Amegakure, and then earn a wave from the Akatsuki—a triple win! (Meaning Qian Yu wins three times.) Why wouldn't he do it?

Amegakure high tower.

This was the tallest building in Amegakure and the office of the leader of the Land of Rain, Hanzo.

Hanzo, who was so cautious that he rotated his guards every twenty-four hours, had no guards in sight in his office at this moment; only two figures remained, conversing face-to-face in the dim room.

"Lord Shimura Danzō, don't tell me you came all this way just for fun!"

Standing before Hanzo, backlit and wearing a gas mask, was the man whose dark expression seemed visible even through the mask—Shimura Danzō!

Seeing that Hanzo was becoming impatient, Danzō slowly rose, gripping his cane, and said, "Then I shall get straight to the point..."

"I presume Lord Hanzo is no stranger to the organization known as Akatsuki?"

It was not yet the time in the original story for Shimura Danzō to manipulate Hanzo into eliminating the Akatsuki, but because Root had intercepted news that Uncle and his group were heading toward Amegakure, he coveted the talismans and desperately needed a bargaining chip—a way to make his own people "legally" present on Hanzo's turf.

That was why he chose to strike at the Akatsuki ahead of schedule.

"Akatsuki?"

Hanzo was somewhat puzzled. Although the Akatsuki had grown quite a bit, in Hanzo's eyes, they were just a circus troupe put together by a bunch of brats; what was there to be concerned about?

But in the next instant, Danzō's words ignited a murderous intent in the naturally cautious and power-hungry Hanzo.

"Lord Hanzo, the Akatsuki has grown more than tenfold in just a few short months. I imagine their current membership is nearly rivaling the number of ninjas in Amegakure, is it not?"

"On my way here, I even heard many of your citizens hailing the Akatsuki as saviors, completely disregarding you as their leader."

--Bam!

Danzō's words undoubtedly struck a nerve in Hanzo's heart. He slammed his palm down with such force that the desk shattered, his pupils constricting and his gaze turning vicious:

"You mean to say... they want to 'set themselves up as kings'?!"

Before Danzō could reply, the office door was suddenly knocked upon in rapid succession--