Amegakure.
Nagato received Obito's intelligence and frowned slightly as he looked at the information on Goenji.
"This person looks familiar," Konan Nan said.
"This is Uchiha Goenji, the guy who stirred up trouble in Amegakure about two years ago and attacked the nobles. We also faced him, but we were no match for him back then."
Nagato remembered it very clearly; they had faced off against Goenji back then.
At that time, Yahiko was still alive.
To prevent the Land of Rain from losing its power, they found Goenji, but Goenji ran away quickly when he saw that there were many of them.
Nagato still remembers the intense struggle against Goenji's power back then; it was a powerful force, but thankfully they outnumbered each other.
Unexpectedly, he has now grown to the point where even Uchiha is wary of him; it's simply unbelievable.
Konan: "Is that the guy? I remember him. He's definitely a tough opponent."
She remembered too.
When they faced Goenji, with so many of them, Goenji still managed to escape. They knew then that they were no match for Goenji in a one-on-one fight.
"Since he's become so strong, we must become even stronger, strong enough to terrify him."
Nagato stood atop a tall building in Amegakure, looking westward at the Amegakure. Raindrops pattered on his face as he spread his arms wide and uttered a bold statement.
He possesses the Rinnegan, so his growth rate is definitely faster than the other party's. This is the legendary eye of the Sage of Six Paths, and his talent is also quite good.
Whoosh--!
Just then, many figures appeared in the distance.
That was the ability he had developed during these days of dedicated research into the power of the Rinnegan —the ability to control puppets.
Each puppet possesses a portion of the Rinnegan's abilities.
I can help him with many things.
Given his own abilities, Nagato felt that Goenji was no match for him, having never witnessed the power of a god.
They won't understand.
Splash!
Konan used the Paper Technique to block the rain from her head, her eyes and face expressionless, just as she had been since Yahiko's death.
"The Akatsuki is making good progress and has already infiltrated many small countries. Those nobles, for their own benefit, have already hired us. Soon we will be able to start from the surrounding small countries and gradually seize the power of the major powers."
Their current goal is to weaken the power of the five ninja villages and reduce the number of missions they need to undertake.
The Akatsuki, was the best resource for the infighting among the nobles of small countries, even more useful than the Five Great Ninja Villages.
Therefore, as the nobles and merchants of these small countries gradually become dependent on the Akatsuki, the tasks will gradually shift towards the Akatsuki. At that time, the workload of the Five Great Ninja Villages will decrease, and their resources will also decrease accordingly.
This is Akatsuki's current objective.
"Very good. I'll take on a role like Goenji from now on. Let's focus on achieving our organization's objectives first."
The idea of a small country surrounding a large country and then gradually eroding its resources and power was Nagato had thought about for a long time and discussed with that Uchiha 'Madara'.
Strengthen yourself and weaken your enemy.
A desolate and barren land.
A pillar of Firelight shot through the air from the Yamanaka.
Rumble--!
The explosions and bursts of Firelight surged forth like a tidal wave.
The towering mountain peak vanished from its original location, leaving only a huge crater.
Fire Release: Radiant Flame Strike
Goenji looked at the vanished mountain peak, which was about a thousand meters high, now leaving only a crater, and a look of satisfaction appeared in his eyes.
On his shoulder, something resembling a cannon slowly turned into Firelight and disappeared.
At such a close distance, the Radiant Flame Strike's attack power, which increases with distance, wasn't even fully utilized, yet it still managed to achieve this. If it had accumulated more Chakra, it could have shattered that fake moon in the sky.
Moreover, it is not yet fully perfect and requires further adjustments. The day of completion is just around the corner.
However, it should be completely completed within a month.
"Untie!"
Bump--!
The clone disappeared from the spot.
Konoha.
Five months have passed.
Aburame Fuzei's belly grew bigger and bigger, Goenji kept an eye on it every day, watching it wherever she went.
"Little Erlang, carrying his schoolbag, goes to school..."
Goenji placed his ear on Aburame Fuzei's belly and sang some nursery rhymes.
There's no Chinese in the Shinobi World, so to Aburame Fuzei's ears, it just sounded like Goenji was humming nonsense, but the rhythm was still pretty good.
Aburame Fuzei: "Hey, how's your wedding preparation going? Didn't you say you wanted to give the kids a surprise?"
Previously, Goenji had mentioned that they would prepare a special surprise wedding for Aburame Fuzei, so that everyone could attend when the baby turned one month old.
But these past few days, Goenji seems to have done nothing but stay by his side Tenten.
However, she also knew that Goenji must have used a clone to do it.
Upon hearing this, Goenji proudly laughed and said, "Hehe, this surprise won't just be a surprise for you and the child, it will be a surprise for the entire Shinobi World. They will all know that the wedding of Uchiha Goenji and Aburame Fuzei is the most romantic wedding in the world."
Just you wait, the entire Shinobi World will be in an uproar because of this."
His surprise was genuine.
His wedding, naturally, had to be different from everyone else's.
It is a very memorable day.
We should also do something truly memorable to preserve this memory.
And no ninja after him will have a wedding as good as his.
In the original story, a wedding Naruto's, where all Five Great Ninja Villages participated, was considered by Goenji to be a bit too low-class.
"What surprise could possibly make you so confident?" Aburame Fuzei was incredibly curious.
A wedding is just that, nothing special. What's so surprising about it?
At most, it'll be a bit more romantic, with more people, and we'll come up with some new ideas or something.
Upon hearing this, Goenji shook his head, refusing to speak, but the smile on his lips remained uncontrollable.
As a time traveler, and a capable one at that, no longer someone struggling to survive, how could he possibly let his wedding be so hasty!
Goenji looked up at the sky outside the window.
The direction of the high moon.
He was going to wear a groom's suit at the wedding, carry the Radiant Flame Strike, and unleash a massive pillar of fire that would knock the moon down.
Let the disappearance of the moon become an embellishment to his wedding.
He also made the entire Shinobi World remember him.
While we're at it, let's also eliminate the threat posed by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki on the moon.
He wanted the entire Shinobi World to be able to participate in his wedding.
From Goenji's perspective, this... must be a very romantic thing.
[During today's live stream, another girl added me on WeChat (a social media platform) to discuss novels. Sigh! How can I be so charming? I don't know where to begin! It's a pity none of them are after my looks; they're all blind! They don't even care about my appearance!!! Then there's another female fan whose book took off yesterday, earning 5,000 yuan a day. I admit, I'm incredibly jealous. Why is she already married?! Aaaaaah!]