Nagato's Choice

Konan walked up to Nagato.

The timid boy of yesteryear is now the guardian deity of the Land of Rain.

Rain Village Nagato's reputation resounded throughout the lands.

Of course, the most infamous one has to be that beast from Hidden Leaf Village.

There are even rumors that Hidden Leaf Village now has not only gained a God of Shinobi, but also that the Ghost Senju Ninjutsu has been completely inherited by a certain beast.

What's worse, this beast not only inherited the Ninjutsu of the Ghost Senju, but also officially became the head of the ANBU of Hidden Leaf Village.

Anyone in the Ninja World who makes a living from intelligence gathering feels that the future is bleak.

As everyone knows, the White Ghost of Leaf Village is good at making money, but he's even better at playing pranks.

Moreover, Leaf Village has also Impure World Reincarnation Senju Tobirama, the founder of the ANBU. It's foreseeable that the once fearsome Leaf Village ANBU will soon be revived.

This pressure weighed heavily on the heads of every ninja organization.

The same applies to Nagato.

"The rain is coming," he said. "The future is becoming increasingly difficult to see."

Konan: "... Nagato, there are no outsiders here, just act normal."

Nagato was immediately shattered.

"Sorry... I'm used to it..."

"Are you worried about Leaf Village?" Konan asked.

A while ago, Jiraiya came again, ostensibly to reminisce about the past, but his words were nothing more than a hope that Nagato could form a powerful alliance with Leaf Village.

Nagato and Konan could see it clearly.

My mentor Jiraiya a truly good person.

He is also an extremely loyal member of Leaf Village.

But Nagato and Leaf Village can't see eye to eye.

Of course, from Akatsuki to Rain Village, Nagato, as the leader of an organization, still possessed basic qualities, and he didn't hesitate in the slightest when he spoke.

Jiraiya arrived in high spirits and left satisfied.

In contrast, Nagato and Konan felt no joy whatsoever.

Because of Uchiha Shingen, Nagato had to expose the surrounding situation early on. It can be said that he made a good adjustment, and Amegakure, relying on his powerful strength, embarked on a different path.

That is, by taking advantage of Leaf Village's momentum, financial and material resources flowed in continuously, leading to rapid development.

Although the population of the Land of Rain has not yet recovered to its historical peak, the current Rain Village is no weaker than it was before the Second Shinobi World War.

However, such adjustments were actually passive, and everything depended on the support of Hidden Leaf Village.

Leaf Village not only has the ability to support Rain Village, but it also has the ability to bring Rain Village back to its original form.

This false prosperity failed to even achieve Yahiko's goal.

That is to liberate and transform Rain Village.

Without liberation, how can there be any transformation?

Jiraiya may not have meant it that way, but every time he came, Nagato and Konan saw it as a reminder of this fact.

"Leaf Village is becoming increasingly domineering," Nagato said. "Uchiha Shingen is about to officially take the stage."

"Hasn't he always been here?" Konan asked, puzzled.

This freak has been in the public eye ever since the Third Shinobi World War, and more than a decade has passed in the blink of an eye.

"It's different. He used to be a free agent with limited means, but now he's officially the head of Leaf Village's ANBU." Nagato felt a headache coming on just thinking about it.

Only the five major villages can afford to operate ANBU.

For villages outside the five major villages, the ANBU is just too useless.

The ANBU operations between the five major villages are called special operations. If villages outside the five major villages are targeted by these five rogue departments, it's almost like fighting a local war.

Even so, you can't say that someone hit you.

The regular army didn't move.

Now that the Leaf Village ANBU is in the hands of someone like Uchiha Shingen, it's practically a nightmare for the entire Ninja World.

The most obvious effect was that as soon as the news spread, Leaf Village's influence in the underworld skyrocketed.

This can be seen from Kakuzu's feedback: many assassination missions involving Konoha Ninja have been removed from underground Bounty Exchange in the Land of Fire and its surrounding areas.

Uchiha Shingen might not be able to catch the culprit in time, but he will definitely be able to find out which Bounty Exchange issued the mission.

Everyone believed he was capable of doing it.

Kakuzu a great deal of resentment towards Nagato over this matter, and his words were nothing more than an encouragement for Nagato to kill Uchiha Shingen.

Nagato, in response, only wanted to add some decorations to Kakuzu's head.

If he could really take it down, would he have waited until now?

Nagato had a temper but couldn't vent it, after all, Kakuzu too damn dedicated. Now even the finances of Amegakure were overseen by Kakuzu, who was incredibly honest, incorruptible, and devoted himself to his work!

Besides, he's ruthless and doesn't recognize his own family.

The entire Amegakure knows that the god and saintess of Rain Village do everything in their power to protect the village, and that the fair and intolerant Kakuzu ensures that every penny of Amegakure's money is used where it is needed.

As long as Amegakure is Kakuzu, there is no room for the giant rat to exist in Amegakure!

Nagato sometimes really felt like he'd found a father figure.

But he also had to admit that thanks to Kakuzu's meticulous nature, Amegakure's financial situation was very secure.

"Nagato, don't overthink it," Konan said. "The ANBU under Uchiha Shingen's control might be terrifying, but if they want to shake our organization, he has to take action himself. Now that he's officially in charge, can he still show up all the time?"

Nagato thought about it and realized that it made sense.

Leaf Village is a large village, and the head of the ANBU, a high-ranking official with absolute power, is definitely too busy to cause trouble.

His mood immediately improved.

"Konan, you have a far-sighted view." Nagato smiled.

Konan gave an awkward yet friendly smile.

What she just said... hopefully it didn't lead Nagato in a strange direction, right?

"However, this only makes things a little easier for us; it doesn't change the overall situation." With less worry, Nagato began to consider more practical issues. "Why don't we start with those Jinchūriki who have left their villages?"

"Should we start now?" Konan, a little worried. "Shouldn't we start with the One-Tail?"

"The longer this drags on, the worse it will be for us," Nagato decided. "This Ninja World still has ninja tools that can seal Tailed Beasts in advance. As far as I know, Kumogakure has not handed over such a thing."

"Can the intelligence be confirmed? Although Kumogakure was severely damaged by Uchiha Shingen in this war, it is still one of the Five Great Villages."

"The real damage to Kumogakure goes far beyond this," Nagato laughed. "I don't know where they offended Uchiha Shingen, but he's been hunting down Cloud Village's future talent pool for a long time. The damage from this war is just the surface. They can't keep up with the demand for talent. Strictly speaking, Cloud Village is now inferior to Rain Village."

What do you want to do?

"On the surface, we can act by challenging the status of Kumogakure, thus concealing our true purpose. In this way, Leaf Village will have nothing to say, Uchiha Shingen would love for the other villages to fight each other."

"What if such ninja tools have already fallen into Leaf Village's hands?" Konan felt that given Uchiha Shingen's cunning, it was unlikely he would let such a thing go.

There are only two in the entire Ninja World.

"Then we can capture the Tailed Beasts. If Rain Village is upgraded to a Great Ninja Village, how can it be without Tailed Beasts? This is a rule set by the First Hokage. At most, Uchiha Shingen will cause trouble, but he cannot openly stop us." Nagato had thought it through very clearly.

He also follows the Uchiha Shingen; regardless of whether there are any results or not, he'll just try his luck a few times first.

Setting multiple goals for an action is never a bad thing.

"I understand. Since you've made your decision, I'll have my subordinates cooperate." Konan nodded.

That's how we've lived for so many years.

"Thank you for your hard work, Konan," Nagato said softly.

"No, you're the one who's worked the hardest among us." Konan's words came from the bottom of her heart.

She saw Nagato's hardships and shared the burden of that darkness with Nagato.

To a large extent, Nagato today is a victim of Leaf Village's dark side.

In Konan's opinion, there is simply no organization in the world darker than Leaf Village.

Nagato was originally a very timid person, but even the most timid person can become ruthless when pushed to the brink.

"Nagato ..." Konan wanted to say something more, but Nagato in front of her raised his hand with a serious expression.

"Konan, stand behind me," Nagato said.

Having spent many years together, Konan realized what was going on when she saw Nagato's expression.

She immediately obeyed Nagato's orders, flashing behind him. Her cold, beautiful face revealed skin as smooth and delicate as paper, turning page by page.

An unfamiliar voice echoed in the room.

"Excellent, very keen senses."

"You'd better show yourself," Nagato said, Rinnegan at a corner of the room. "Or you might as well not come out at all."

"You're using the Rinnegan quite well. Hmm... you possess Chakra sensing abilities, something I didn't notice back then."

A dark shadow emerged from the corner of the room.

The newcomer's figure was hidden in the shadows and not very clear. What Nagato and Konan saw at first glance was a pair of menacing, scarlet eyes.

Konan immediately looked away, while Nagato met her gaze.

Possessing the Rinnegan, he is one of the few people in the world who is completely unafraid of Sharingan Genjutsu.

"You're very confident, that's good. Now that you have these eyes, you should have this kind of presence."

The person in the corner came out.

Nagato and Konan finally realized that this was an ancestor.

"Impure World Reincarnation..." Nagato was silent for a moment, "You are Uchiha Madara."

As members of the Akatsuki, Nagato and Konan were very familiar with this name.

Yahiko believed that anyone who used this name was either crazy or stupid, because even he knew the weight of that name.

The real Uchiha Madara would never have hidden himself.

But this one in front of me, even without knowing any information, I could tell just by looking at it.

This is genuine!

Chapter Three: Nagato's Choice

"Uchiha Madara ..." Nagato shifted his position, this time completely shielding Konan behind him.

Having the Rinnegan doesn't mean you're invincible. He experienced this firsthand with Uchiha Shingen at the time still only Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

To put it bluntly, being invincible and being able to protect the weaklings around you are two completely different things.

"Hmm... you have no doubts about my identity at all? Well, I can give you some credit for your intelligence work." Uchiha Madara didn't even see Konan, as if she weren't a person.

In his eyes, this kind of paper-thin escape technique was flashy but useless.

He swaggered into Amegakure, and considering that this was Pawn's territory, he didn't kill anyone.

If someone blocks his way, he'll just glare at them and head to the side of the road to contemplate life.

She was quite kind and approachable.

He was disappointed when he entered the village.

Although the rain was heavy, the village's defenses were so weak that he had no expectations for Nagato's organizational abilities. His impression at the time was that Nagato was just a mediocre talent who had obtained a high position by relying on his eyesight.

Uchiha Madara didn't value Amegakure's power, but as a legitimate ninja village, Amegakure's anti-infiltration capabilities could reflect the quality of Nagato's organizational abilities, and thus indirectly reflect Nagato's planning ability as a pawn.

Even before entering Amegakure, he knew who his vessel was through Chakra perception.

Although he had heard about it from Black Zetsu, the fact that such an unremarkable child could possess such strength made him take a second look at him.

However, their organizational and anti-submarine capabilities are both insufficient.