Akatsuki

The rain in the Land of Rain fell without end. The climate here was far too damp, and Karin was not used to it. But Nao had instructed her to infiltrate Akatsuki, so she could only put up with it for the time being.

By now, Karin had successfully joined Akatsuki. It had not been particularly troublesome. Following the intelligence Nao had provided, she had come to the Land of Rain under the pretense of looking for relatives. The relative she was searching for was named Fusō.

Fusō was Nagato's mother.

On the surface, Karin was merely a helpless little girl seeking refuge with her clansmen. In truth, she felt nothing for the Uzumaki. After all, she had been born in Kusagakure and had grown up under Kusagakure's harsh treatment. What feelings could she possibly have for a family she had never even met?

Karin was rather curious. Kushina Uzumaki was clearly the princess of the Uzumaki and the Fourth Hokage's wife. After settling down in Konoha, why had she not tried to rescue her suffering clansmen?

Maybe she had reasons she couldn't help.

She did not know whether using her identity as a clanswoman as a bargaining chip to fool Nagato would work. Still, Akatsuki had been recruiting powerful rogue ninja to begin with. Though Karin was young, she had the impressive record of destroying an entire country, something ordinary people could not compare to. The previous member who had claimed to destroy a nation single-handedly had been Sasori of the Red Sands.

Because Karin was so young and was Nagato's relative, Konan took slightly better care of her. She intended to place her in Akatsuki's outer ranks as a reserve trainee.

Konan was very interested in the Box of Bliss, as were Akatsuki's other members. Karin told them everything she knew without holding anything back. This was also Nao's order: spread as much information about the Box of Bliss as possible.

Karin disguised herself as an innocent young girl. She believed such a persona would more easily lower the others' guard. Although she had indirectly destroyed a country, she still considered herself pure and spotless. Her sense of good and evil was incomplete, like that of an ignorant child. Perhaps it had merely been a moment of anger when she casually wished for the Land of Grass to disappear. To her, it was like pouring a kettle of boiling water into an anthill, done only for fun. She would feel no remorse afterward, much less guilt. She was truly innocent—and wholly without goodness.

Opening the Box of Bliss required a great many sacrifices. Karin said Kusagakure had been secretly making offerings to the Box of Bliss in an attempt to dominate the Shinobi World. However, just as the sacrifice was about to be completed, Kusagakure's two factions split apart. Amid the chaos, Karin accidentally arrived before the Box of Bliss and completed the final step of the ritual. Then she made a wish. After all, her mother had died in Kusagakure. She had merely wanted a small measure of revenge.

The Box of Bliss was far too huge to carry. Later, ninja from other forces came to the ruins searching for it, so Karin abandoned the box and ran away.

Karin's acting was terrible. She somehow made an innocent girl seem exaggerated and greasy. But that did not matter. Even if her performance had been flawless, Akatsuki would not have trusted her any more. They only half-believed the information she revealed—this organization had never had such things as trust or loyalty.

Once Karin had explained everything about the Box of Bliss, Kakuzu wanted to kill her and exchange her for money. "Prices have been rising far too quickly lately, and the organization is short on funds. This little girl's bounty is quite high. She has no value left anyway, so we might as well make use of waste."

No one reacted. They quietly watched Kakuzu attack Karin. In the end, Karin sadly realized that identities and personas were useless effort. Strength was the key to standing firm. That trainee named Tobi acted like an idiot with his atrocious performance, but no one truly treated him like one.

Pain and Konan had tacitly allowed Kakuzu's actions because they were testing Karin. Akatsuki did not keep useless people.

Fortunately, Karin was not truly a fragile girl. Draped over her body was a faintly reddish dark-brown robe made of human skin, embroidered with strange and intricate patterns. Nao had personally embroidered it. Apparently, when she had once been Dongfang Bubai, she had learned excellent needlework. Karin did not know who Dongfang Bubai was, but she treasured this robe dearly.

When Kakuzu's attack came, the patterns on the robe swiftly began to writhe, spreading outward as if they had come alive. They quickly formed a web of rust-red sinew-like veins. Countless barbs, fleshy tumors, suckers, and sharp fangs danced wildly along those veins, effortlessly blocking Kakuzu's assault.

After several exchanges, Konan promptly stopped them. She looked at Karin with a complicated expression. All she could say was that she truly was worthy of being called a witch. She looked so cute and harmless, yet the techniques she used were so... difficult to describe.

Karin officially became an Akatsuki trainee.

Akatsuki was currently facing a shortage of funds. Just as Kakuzu had said, prices had inexplicably risen, and the cash Akatsuki had accumulated had depreciated considerably.

Ninja did not understand economic issues. They could only rely on the most primitive method—taking on more missions to earn more money. As it happened, Akatsuki had recently received a major order. Yet Konan and Nagato were somewhat hesitant, because this mission crossed a line—human trafficking.

Ninja from Iwagakure had privately contacted Akatsuki to conduct a human trade. They had no special requirements. Even elderly, weak, sick, or disabled civilians would do, as long as there were enough of them.

"I heard the Tsuchikage obtained the Box of Bliss. He is probably gathering sacrifices, but does not want to dirty his own hands." Konan's tone was icy. "Pain, it would be best if we did not get involved in this."

Akatsuki was a secret organization operating behind the scenes. This was not yet the right time for it to step into the spotlight. If they targeted civilians, especially civilians in such huge numbers, Akatsuki would likely become the public enemy of the Shinobi World ahead of schedule.

Pain agreed with Konan's view. "In that case, refuse Iwagakure. Kakuzu will have to work harder in the future."

"By the way, has Zetsu found out why prices suddenly rose?"

Prices had risen—and risen sharply at that. The impact on small countries was enormous. As the Land of Rain's de facto ruler, Pain naturally paid attention to it.

Konan shook her head. Zetsu had not uncovered anything. More precisely, he did not care about the matter in the slightest. A financial crisis was something ordinary people should worry about. What did it have to do with ninja?

Even after living for a thousand years, Black Zetsu seemed to still not understand how human society functioned. He could only deceive simple-minded ninja. At this point, he had yet to realize what consequences the financial crisis would bring to the Shinobi World.

The Land of Rain had already been affected. For Akatsuki, the most direct consequence was food.

A month after joining Akatsuki, Karin could not help grumbling, "Why do we eat dried fish for every meal? Is there no other food here?"

"All the nearby food businesses have gone bankrupt," Kisame Hoshigaki, who happened to be passing by, kindly explained. "The Land of Rivers borders the Land of Rain. This year, the fishermen along the Land of Rivers' coast had a bumper harvest, so fish products are very cheap."

At this point, Kisame's voice suddenly grew subdued. Karin could not help asking, "Mr. Kisame, what's wrong?"

Kisame smiled. "I just suddenly remembered that, for some reason, fish from the distant sea have flooded into the coastal waters this year. All fishermen should have a bumper harvest."