Welcome to Konoha

It was worth mentioning that the small fraction of supplemental ninja happened to be Sarutobi Hiruzen's confidants.

Although some of these ninja passed the background checks, they were still dumped onto the frontline border outposts.

Meanwhile, ninja from the major clans still acted as monitors.

These confidants of Sarutobi Hiruzen would, unsurprisingly, spend many years languishing away at the border outposts.

At this moment, Takuya had no idea that he had been targeted by Jiraiya.

He was currently dealing with a certain matter.

"Lord Hokage, two more spies were caught in the village yesterday. Thanks to the efforts of the Intelligence Division, their identities have been confirmed as coming from Kumogakure and Iwagakure."

Nara Shikaku, the aide to the Hokage, was reporting the situation inside the Hokage's office.

"The border is completely normal. For now, the other villages seem to want to probe for intelligence before deciding whether to make a move.

"But I think they will inevitably start testing us sooner or later."

Nara Shikaku concluded.

"Ah, it's fine. If they dare to come, we'll chop off their claws."

Takuya smiled and said. He was in a good mood right now; Kakashi had returned last night, the first joint mission between the direct ANBU and Root squads had been a complete success, and the remnants that the Sarutobi clan had secretly nurtured outside had been thoroughly cleaned out, relieving him of a future worry.

After staying in the office for a while, Nara Shikaku left.

He had a lot on his plate right now.

Takuya smiled as he watched Nara Shikaku leave. He was practically playing the role of a hands-off boss these days, and life had been quite relaxed over the past few days.

After getting off work, he walked for just a few minutes and headed home.

The Uchiha clan had finally moved back to their old district yesterday.

Thanks to Yamato's efforts, the housing construction in the old district had progressed very quickly.

Without Yamato's help, perhaps a week wouldn't have been enough for the Uchiha clan to complete the move.

A subterranean cave.

Atop two giant palms.

Standing on each finger were several phantom projections, uniformly dressed in black trench coats embroidered with red clouds, wearing conical hats with wind chimes tied to them.

It was a rare full assembly meeting of the Akatsuki organization.

Deva Path Pain radiated a massive amount of pressure, slowly sweeping his gaze across the vacant fingers before speaking in a cold voice: "Black Tortoise, where is Uchiha Madara? What is he busy with this time? I said we were holding a meeting today to decide major matters for the Akatsuki organization."

Black Tortoise was Zetsu, who wore a pitcher plant around his body.

Zetsu said somewhat awkwardly: "He disappeared, and I can't find him either."

He wasn't lying; he really had lost track of Obito.

Deva Path Pain frowned. Uchiha Madara was a secretive fellow who was always elusive and mysterious, but whatever.

Deva Path Pain relaxed his tightly furrowed brow, scanned everyone standing on the fingers, and began: "Our manpower in Akatsuki is still far too small. We need to recruit more people into the fold to get things done."

He looked at Zetsu and asked: "Have you found anyone suitable to join recently?"

Zetsu replied: "I found a good candidate in Kirigakure of the Water Country. His strength is very impressive. A guy named Kisame Hoshigaki, known as the Tailless Tailed Beast. We can absorb him."

'The Tailless Tailed Beast,' Deva Path Pain muttered softly, a bizarre glint flashing in his eyes. "Good. Konan, you and Zetsu go handle this matter and recruit this tailless tailed beast into our organization."

"Understood." The slender, purple-haired figure nodded in assent.

At that moment, three dust-covered figures arrived at the gates of Konoha in the Land of Fire.

"Halt, state your—"

Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki, the duo on guard duty at the gate, perked up when they saw three people wearing hooded robes approaching.

However, before Izumo Kamizuki could finish speaking, the lead person proactively pulled down their hood, revealing their face.

Black hair, with two deep tear troughs on the face.

Oh.

Izumo Kamizuki recognized the identity of the person: "So it's Itachi, haha. Please come right in, please come in."

Kotetsu Hagane coughed and felt a lingering sense of relief in his heart. This was Lord Hokage's son; thank goodness he hadn't delayed them.

The two brothers enthusiastically stepped aside and ushered Itachi and his two companions into Konoha.

Itachi's gaze swept over them, and he nodded in greeting before leading the two people behind him into Konoha with unslackening pace.

"Welcome to Konoha, Kisame."

Stepping onto the wide streets of Konoha, the packed earth beneath their feet had long since been tamped down day and night, turning into an exceptionally sturdy and hard ground surface.

Uchiha Itachi took it upon himself to introduce the place to Kisame Hoshigaki.

Yakushi Nonō, walking beside them, remained silent. With her sharp intellect, she had already noticed that this talent specifically named by the Hokage seemed to harbor an indescribable fondness for Uchiha Itachi. Seeing that Itachi was willing to act as a guide, she was quite happy to let him be.

"That over there is a special landmark of Konoha—the Hokage Rock," Uchiha Itachi said slowly, pointing to the portraits carved into the massive cliff face. "The head sculptures carved on it, from left to right, are the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, who founded Konoha; the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama; and the Third Hokage—"

His words cut off right there, and a trace of astonishment flashed in Itachi's eyes. For no other reason than the fact that the spot where the Third Hokage's head sculpture had originally been located... had actually been shaved off?

It must have been something his father did.

Expressionless, Itachi directly skipped over it. "The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze." At this, his gaze shifted slightly as he noticed the fifth completed sculpture as well: "And the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Fugaku."

Having removed his hood to reveal his true appearance, Kisame Hoshigaki looked at the sculpture of the Fifth Hokage with a certain excitement in his eyes. "That's that lord?"

Itachi and Yakushi Nonō knew the reason for his excitement. Before the two of them had picked up the mission at the Hokage's office and departed, his old man, Uchiha Fugaku, had handed them a specific message to relay to Kisame Hoshigaki.

At the time, neither of them quite believed it. Kisame Hoshigaki was, after all, a Jonin of Kirigakure; why would he defect just because of such an unrealistic statement?

However, when they tracked him down in Kirigakure, things didn't go smoothly at first. It wasn't until Itachi remembered his father's instructions—figuring his father wouldn't shoot arrows without a target—and decided to try speaking those words to Kisame Hoshigaki that something unexpected happened. To both Itachi and Yakushi Nonō's shock, the initially reluctant Kisame Hoshigaki actually believed it!

He believed that Konoha would pacify the ninja world and forge a peaceful future!

Good grief, even Itachi and Yakushi Nonō didn't really believe that statement, so how could Kisame Hoshigaki, an outsider, buy into it?

One could only say that the world was full of wonders.

Still, both of them were glad to see the mission completed, and without stopping to rest, they brought Kisame Hoshigaki rushing back.

"Yes, that's the sculpture of the Fifth Hokage. I'll take you to meet him now."

Itachi offered a rare smile as he spoke.

"Great, great, let's go, let's go."

Kisame Hoshigaki's eyes lit up. Seeming to sense its master's excited mood, the robes on his back twitched a few times.

Neither Itachi nor Yakushi Nonō found this surprising. They both knew that Kisame's weapon was Samehada, one of the Seven Ninja Swords of the Mist.