Xuan Yu was unaffected by the Heavenly Path's influence and continued to share his thoughts as casually as ever.
"With Kakuzi and me working together, we swept through missions at an unbelievably high rate of efficiency across Grass Country, the Land of Rivers, the Land of Rain, and parts of the Land of Fire's Black Market. We earned the organization a mountain of commissions. There's no denying that, right?"
Just like the commissions earned by shinobi from the villages, the Akatsuki took a cut of the commissions its members earned. This was an important source of income for both the villages and mercenary organizations like the Akatsuki.
The Heavenly Path didn't dodge the point. He readily nodded in agreement. "That can't be denied. The number of missions you completed in just over a month was equivalent to what other two-man teams complete in an average of eight months or even a year. And the commissions you earned for the organization were even greater, since you completed so many extremely difficult missions."
Xuan Yu grinned. "Then what's the problem? The Akatsuki needs a huge amount of commissions to carry out its plan to create a Tailed Beast Weapon. Kakuzi and I can do ten years' worth of work in one! You couldn't find Akatsuki members as outstanding as us if you searched with a lantern, Brother Men. You should be celebrating!"
The Heavenly Path said coldly, "That's a separate matter! I don't deny that you and Kakuzu are good at completing missions, but the negative impact you've had on Amegakure has seriously affected the Akatsuki's development."
Xuan Yu retorted, "The negative impact on Amegakure has nothing to do with me or Kakuzi. Once a mission is posted at a Black Market Bounty Exchange, any shinobi can take it."
"Kakuzi and I didn't just complete a large number of missions in Grass Country and the Land of Rivers. We also swept through parts of the Land of Fire's Black Market. Why hasn't the Land of Fire reacted to our actions, while the leaders of Grass Country and the Land of Rivers are so unhappy with us? The real problem lies with Grass Country and the Land of Rivers themselves."
"Since ancient times, conflicts in the Ninja World have always been about great nations competing for supremacy while small nations suffer. Grass Country, the Land of Rivers, and the Land of Rain are all small nations trying to survive in the cracks between great nations' rivalries. Instead of uniting against a common enemy, they fight one another. That's the fundamental mistake."
This time, Xuan Yu cut through the fog and got straight to the heart of the matter.
His words even struck a chord with Nagato, who was controlling the Heavenly Path Pain.
After a brief silence, Nagato had the Heavenly Path speak. "And?"
Konan, too, watched Xuan Yu with great seriousness.
What Xuan Yu had just said was a truth that most people overlooked almost all the time.
When conflict erupted among the great nations, small nations that had no part in it still saw their lands turned into battlefields.
The leaders of the great nations didn't care how the shinobi or civilians of small nations felt.
Every conflict among the Five Great Shinobi Nations was fought for their own interests. Whether small nations were left in chaos was none of their concern.
Xuan Yu had only mentioned this truth in passing, something most people automatically overlooked.
But when he saw that Nagato, Konan, and even the other members of the Akatsuki were interested, he took advantage of his knowledge to explain his understanding of the Ninja World to them.
"The Five Great Shinobi Nations and the Five Great Shinobi Villages are powerful, with formidable fighting forces. They also possess Tailed Beasts, powerful weapons capable of deterring the entire Ninja World. Almost every Ninja World War was started by the Five Great Shinobi Nations. The small nations caught between them were either swept away or turned into battlegrounds in the great nations' struggle for supremacy, becoming hell on earth where rivers of blood flowed."
These few words from Xuan Yu left the Heavenly Path and Konan silent.
Xuan Yu was right. The Land of Rain was a small nation that often became a battlefield for the great nations.
Nagato, Konan, and their late friend Yahiko had all become war orphans after their country was turned into a battlefield.
So the small nations weren't natural enemies. They were natural allies.
They were too weak. If they wanted to stop the great nations from bullying and trampling them at will, they had to unite.
As the Heavenly Path and Konan began to realize this, Xuan Yu cleared his throat and said, "The small nations across the Ninja World should unite, share what they have, and work together to advance! Take the Land of Snow, for example. Its strength lies in creating scientific ninja tools like Chakra Armor. Amegakure could bring in their technology to accelerate its development."
"Grass Country, for instance, lacks high-level combatants, so its shinobi can't handle the difficult missions posted on its Black Market. We can complete those missions and help employers in Grass Country deal with urgent problems."
"Then there's Kusagakure, which has made considerable progress in studying ninjutsu. Its strengths could complement Amegakure's. Other examples include the Land of Artisans, which excels at crafting ninja tools, and the Land of Grain, which has abundant food resources. All these strengths could complement one another."
The Heavenly Path and Konan both looked thoughtful.
The other Akatsuki shinobi were equally pensive.
There was no doubt that what Xuan Yu was describing was a path the Akatsuki had never considered.
Although nothing like it had ever happened in the Ninja World, the idea made sense.
If small nations didn't want to be bullied and trampled by the great nations, joining together and developing collectively was their only path forward.
Small nations with abundant food could contribute food, those with large populations could contribute people, those rich in natural resources could contribute materials, and those skilled at crafting ninja tools could contribute technology...
Once many small nations contributed their strengths and formed a Small Nations Alliance, the great nations could no longer do whatever they pleased to them as they had before.
After thinking it over, the Heavenly Path shook his head again. "It's a good idea, but nothing like this has ever happened in the Ninja World. That shows how difficult it would be to pull off."
Xuan Yu retorted, "Brother Men, aside from the possibility you mentioned, there's another one! Maybe this has never happened simply because no one has ever tried. If the organization is willing to pay me 100 million ryo, I can quickly get a small nation to form an alliance with the Land of Rain."
Heavenly Path: (O_O)???
So this was what Xuan Yu had been leading up to all along!
Setting aside whether Xuan Yu could actually pull it off, even if he could, why should the Akatsuki spend that much money?
The Heavenly Path asked outright, "What does the Land of Rain forming an alliance with another small nation do for the Akatsuki? Why should the Akatsuki spend so much money?"
For once, Xuan Yu spoke seriously. "Brother Men, there are way too many benefits! Once the Land of Rain forms an alliance with other small nations, they can trade with each other and boost their economies."
"The more prosperous the economy, the better the village will develop. There will be more mission requests from all sides, giving shinobi more work and encouraging more people to become shinobi."
"The Akatsuki can obtain a great deal of funding as the village develops. The flood of mission requests will also provide the Akatsuki with a huge share of commissions. If we can bring a few more small nations on board in the future, these advantages will build up and bring about a qualitative change."
After hearing Xuan Yu out, the Heavenly Path began seriously considering whether his plan was feasible, while Konan was very interested in the proposal.
She often helped the children of Amegakure, so she knew that most people in Amegakure and the Land of Rain still lived in poverty.
The Akatsuki's ultimate plan could bring lasting peace to the Ninja World.
But helping people escape poverty and achieve prosperity didn't conflict with lasting peace, just as two parallel tracks could run side by side.
She looked seriously at Xuan Yu and asked, "How confident are you that you can bring the Land of Rain and another small nation together?"
Xuan Yu thought it over. "As long as the commission is paid, I can complete this mission no matter what."
Hearing that, Konan immediately looked at the Heavenly Path. She was very tempted by Xuan Yu's proposal and wanted to let him give it a try.
Before you continue