Obito: Everything is going according to my plan!

"You're... the Hokage?!"

Once Konan saw who had appeared before her, her tense body relaxed a little, but she remained on guard.

This was nothing like what she had expected.

Normally, as an envoy from Amegakure, she should have been summoned to the Hokage's Office if Bai Ye wanted to see her.

How could she have known that the crafty Bai Ye would show up right in front of her?

"Obviously. This is our first meeting, isn't it? Let's take a walk."

"I..."

This Hokage...?!

How could he act so familiar with her already?!

Konan parted her lips, but her refusal caught in her throat. She really did not want much contact with Bai Ye.

Yet he had given her no chance to refuse!

And so she followed Bai Ye through Konoha. At first, people had looked her over curiously, but once she was walking with him, everyone around them greeted him warmly.

The sight surprised her a little. Although that surprise passed in an instant, Bai Ye, who had been watching her all along, still caught it.

"Are you wondering why I'm so popular in the village?"

Huh?!

Was he asking her?!

After Bai Ye finished speaking, Konan nodded. Following a moment's hesitation, she asked, "I've heard that the Uchiha don't have a very good reputation in Konoha..."

Before coming here, she had learned that the Uchiha were not welcome in Konoha at all.

And in her view, given that the Uchiha had seized power by force on top of their poor reputation...

The villagers should have hated them even more.

Yet as she walked through the village, what she saw did not seem to match the rumors.

The Uchiha and the villagers did not seem to be at odds.

Konan had not intended to bring this up, but since Bai Ye had raised the subject himself, she followed his lead and asked.

"That used to be true, but do you know what the villagers want?"

"Peace."

Konan answered.

Having lived in the Land of Rain, how could she not know what ordinary people needed?

Peace!

If they had enjoyed peace back then, they would never have become war orphans.

"Anything else?"

"A better quality of life, too. That's why I came this time."

Konan saw things very clearly.

She knew perfectly well that once people could live in peace, what they wanted most was enough to eat.

Yet even now, many people in the Land of Rain still could not survive.

Because they could not afford food!

And it was not just food they could not afford. Their lives were desperately straitened in every other respect as well.

Unlike Nagato, whose dream was to change the entire shinobi world...

Konan's wish was actually simple: she wanted everyone in the Land of Rain to live better lives.

"Interesting... no wonder the people in your village call you the Angel."

Bai Ye was not surprised in the slightest that Konan could say such things.

She was, after all, known as the Angel in Amegakure.

Konan was a gentle person by nature.

But now that he had exposed her identity, Konan was inwardly shocked. Bai Ye actually knew everything?!

He had intelligence on Amegakure?!

Amegakure's information was supposed to be secret!

Before Nagato's plan began, not even the slightest detail could be allowed to leak.

Once they attracted the attention of the Five Great Nations, capturing the Tailed Beasts would be anything but easy.

"Don't be so nervous. Looking into you a little was necessary."

Bai Ye stopped and turned away, no longer looking at Konan.

As they talked, the two had already reached the foot of Hokage Rock.

Gazing out over all of Konoha from there, Bai Ye seemed reflective as he said, "War is merely an outgrowth of economics. When everyone in a village lives and works in peace, who would want a war?!

"Everyone is just trying to stay alive.

"Do you know why conflict breaks out in the shinobi world?"

Time for talk-no-jutsu!!

Bai Ye knew that Konan would later relay everything he said to Nagato.

Besides, these words were meant for both of them in the first place.

Exposing Konan's identity just now had certainly put her on guard.

But in Bai Ye's view, it had also laid the foundation for their cooperation.

He felt that he might as well get straight to the point.

After all, he did not believe he could change their minds in a single meeting.

"Because of the great nations' greed!"

Konan took a deep breath. She knew she might offend Bai Ye.

But she still had to say it!

From their brief interaction, she at least felt that Bai Ye was not a tyrannical man who could not bear to hear the truth.

Besides, Konan did not want to put on a false front with him.

That would only disgust her.

"It's nothing more than a struggle over resources and territory. Land, Tailed Beasts, resources, hatred, and revenge form an endless cycle, and wars repeat themselves. The great nations' greed... if you really want to put it that way, hasn't Konoha always been the one getting attacked?"

Admittedly, saying that was somewhat shameless.

The Land of Fire occupied the best land. Who else would they attack?

"And if we're being precise, wasn't Hanzō the one who started the Second Shinobi World War? A war launched to expand his territory..."

Bai Ye's words left Konan unable to respond.

The reason the Land of Rain had become a battleground contested from all sides back then...

Was that Hanzō had launched a war, triggering the Second Shinobi World War.

Even without Hanzō, someone else would still have started that war.

But...

She felt that perhaps this was not what Bai Ye really wanted to discuss with her.

"Have you ever considered this? When people share this land, some have enough to eat while others don't, and those others live in terrible conditions. Naturally, they'll start thinking about taking what the other side has.

"So at its core, war is simply the result of insufficient productive forces. If everyone had enough to eat, who would still start a war?!

"I've given some thought to cooperating with Amegakure. Since you've come this time, we can give it a try. The purpose of cooperation is to give the people of both countries better lives."

What?!

Listening to Bai Ye, Konan had initially thought their proposed cooperation was probably finished.

Yet she had never expected Bai Ye to agree to it.

They were going to cooperate, just like that?!

"Give me a list later so I can look it over. If there are no problems, I'll begin cooperation between our two sides."

"All right. Thank you."

Konan nodded. After speaking, she glanced at Bai Ye and finally added, "You're different from what I imagined."

"Different? I'm simply looking at things from a human perspective. The people of Amegakure are human, and so are the people of Konoha. With greater power comes greater responsibility.

"Since Konoha is the foremost Ninja Village in the shinobi world, we naturally have to shoulder that responsibility. I also hope the entire shinobi world can achieve true peace!"

True peace?!

With greater power comes greater responsibility?!!

As Konan listened to Bai Ye, she could no longer suppress the shock in her heart.

She had never expected him to say such things.

Hearing those words from someone belonging to a great nation was truly surprising.

Konan opened her mouth, but in the end, she did not know whether to praise Bai Ye's broad vision or say something else.

"I'll give you the list for our cooperation later, then. Lord Hokage, I'll take my leave."

In the end, she did not know what else to discuss with Bai Ye and said goodbye first.

Bai Ye did not stop her. Watching Konan walk away, he knew full well...

This meeting had only been a probe.

If he appeared too impatient, it would have a considerable impact on his later plans.

Both Konan and Nagato were still highly wary of Konoha.

For now, this was merely preliminary cooperation.

It also counted as an initial attempt to make contact with Nagato and see how things went.

At present, he still had plenty of matters to handle.

Kirigakure, Akatsuki, and Kumogakure were all still restless.

Why did it feel as though everything had started going a little wrong after he took office?!

Elsewhere.

After returning, Konan used a special method to contact Nagato and tell him about her conversation with Bai Ye that day.

Hearing Bai Ye's ideas, Nagato fell silent.

He had never expected such words to come from Bai Ye.

"Nagato, I actually think he makes a lot of sense."

If she truly set aside her prejudices, Konan agreed with much of what Bai Ye had said.

But after she said that, Nagato's voice grew lower. "Konan, have you forgotten what Konoha did to us?!

"Don't let their hypocritical faces fool you. That man is definitely plotting something else.

"Don't be deceived by Konoha's sugar-coated attacks..."

In Nagato's eyes, Konan's softening attitude was extremely dangerous.

After all, these were merely a few small favors from Konoha. With just a few words, Bai Ye had made Konan feel that Konoha was not so bad after all.

That was a very dangerous situation.

"Nagato, I know... but I still want to trade with him. At least he was right about one thing: the civilians of our Land of Rain deserve better lives, too..."

"All right. If we're talking about everyday necessities, we should indeed give it more consideration..."

Nagato understood this point well. At least with the current trade, Amegakure could benefit from the arrangement.

"Mm..."

Konan said nothing more.

She knew all too well everything Konoha had done to Nagato. Getting this far was already quite an achievement.

At least in Konan's view, this was good enough for now!

Although they had begun trading with Konoha long ago...

That was still far from enough.

It rained year-round in Amegakure. Even without Nagato's secret technique, the Land of Rain received an enormous amount of rainfall.

Naturally, Amegakure produced little food and generally relied on imports from the Land of Fire.

As for trading with Konoha...

In truth, it was more about the possibility of trading Explosive Tags later!

At present, Konoha sold the most Explosive Tags.

Konoha's Explosive Tags were also primarily made by the Uchiha Clan.

Konan had not brought this up with Bai Ye during this visit.

Mainly because she knew that if Amegakure asked to purchase large quantities of Explosive Tags at a time like this...

It might arouse Konoha's suspicions.

But...

How was she supposed to explain this to Kakuzu?

Spending such a large sum on everyday necessities, then distributing them to the poor...

Given Kakuzu's stingy nature, that would probably be worse for him than death!

But after coming to Konoha, Konan had begun considering it.

Compared with Konoha, the people of Amegakure were living worse than dogs!!

Elsewhere.

After receiving Yagura's orders, Mei Terumi felt rather heavyhearted.

Yagura had agreed to Bai Ye's demand.

He had said that as long as Konoha was willing to negotiate with them, they could even return the Byakugan.

To Mei Terumi, that did not feel like good news.

Ao was her teammate. Even though he had repeatedly stated that, as long as Konoha was willing to negotiate and help improve Kirigakure's situation, he would willingly remove his Byakugan and return it to Konoha.

Still, this attitude had left Mei Terumi somewhat puzzled.

What exactly was the Fourth Mizukage doing?!

What kind of deal required Konoha's Hokage to go there in person?

This was far too strange!

Mei Terumi could not make sense of it at all. And he specifically had to go to Kirigakure.

Could it be...

Mei Terumi thought of what had happened to the Second Hokage.

But why would the Mizukage do this?!

If war broke out with Konoha, Kirigakure would never be able to hold out!

She did not want to think that way, nor did she dare to.

Kirigakure was still in its Bloody Mist era.

But she was only a jonin and had no way to interfere with the Mizukage's decisions.

In Kirigakure, White Zetsu watched Obito with keen interest and asked, "Tobi, you really went all in this time, agreeing to every condition he set. But will Bai Ye really come over!?

"With you doing this...

"Aren't you afraid Bai Ye will suspect your motives and simply refuse to come?!

"It's not as if there's no precedent. This was how Konoha's Second Hokage died!"

White Zetsu felt that Obito's actions might instead arouse Bai Ye's suspicions.

After all, wasn't that how Konoha's own Second Hokage had died?!

If Bai Ye ended up following in the footsteps of that inherently evil, white-haired old geezer...

That would hardly be a good thing.

"He'll come. I know the Uchiha!"

Obito spoke flatly.

Since Bai Ye had laid out his conditions, he would definitely come.

The Uchiha were all reckless brutes. And with his Mangekyo Sharingan awakened and the ability to use Perfect Susanoo, Bai Ye probably thought he was invincible, didn't he?!

"Obito, are you really confident you can keep him in Kirigakure?! If Bai Ye comes, he'll most likely bring Hyuga Hiashi and Shisui along, won't he?!"

Given the current situation, judging by how Bai Ye had brought those two to the Land of Fire Capital...

Those two might well be his choices for the next Hokage guards.

Shisui was at least Kage Level, and more importantly, he had an utterly broken ability like Kotoamatsukami.

Hyuga Hiashi, meanwhile, had the strength of an Elite Jonin.

With Bai Ye added to the mix...

Kirigakure might not actually be able to pull it off!

"Don't worry. I'll make my move!"

Obito spoke calmly, his tone full of relaxed confidence.

As far as he was concerned, there was absolutely nothing wrong with his plan.

He just had to be careful of Shisui's Kotoamatsukami.

Of course, he did not think Kotoamatsukami could affect him, but he still needed to be cautious.

Besides, even if he could not kill Bai Ye, getting Konoha and Kirigakure to go to war would be a good alternative!

As long as Bai Ye came...

He would fall into Obito's trap.

Everything was going according to plan. What was there to panic about?!