Uzumaki Shixia understood that Pain wanted to focus on an elite force.
That was why Akatsuki's core members were almost all S-Rank rogue ninja from the major Shinobi Villages.
Still, he chose his words and voiced his thoughts.
"Lord Pain, there's something missing from your plan!"
"Akatsuki's next step is to capture the tailed beasts and create a Tailed Beast Weapon."
"The Five Great Shinobi Villages have tailed beasts, while the smaller villages don't."
"As the Five Great Shinobi Villages develop, they squeeze the smaller villages' room for survival to an enormous degree."
"In that case, why don't we subjugate or ally with the many small Shinobi Villages and take on the major Shinobi Villages together?"
"Are we really going to fight the Five Great Shinobi Villages head-on with a core membership we can count on two hands?"
Uzumaki Shixia's words left Pain in thoughtful silence. This was a path he had never considered.
The enemy of one's enemy was a friend.
Under these circumstances, Akatsuki and Amegakure did indeed have a wealth of potential allies!
Akatsuki's current approach focused on an elite force.
Kakuzu, Sasori, Orochimaru, Kisame Hoshigaki, Uchiha Itachi, and former members such as Juzo Biwa.
They were all S-Rank rogue ninja from the major Shinobi Villages.
Each had outstanding abilities, but for one reason or another, their respective Shinobi Villages had no place for them.
Apart from those core members, Akatsuki did have some insignificant peripheral members.
But there were very few of those, too.
Nagato's original idea was for Akatsuki to continue pursuing the elite approach, recruiting powerful rogue ninja from the major Shinobi Villages.
But there was undeniably nothing wrong with what Uzumaki Shixia had just said.
The smaller villages could not compete with the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
As the Five Great Shinobi Villages developed, they challenged the smaller villages' survival and growth in many ways.
It was fair to say that most smaller villages had some conflicts with the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
In that case, subjugating and allying with smaller villages to fight the Five Great Shinobi Villages together was a viable idea!
While Pain weighed the matter, Uzumaki Shixia privately grumbled about him and Akatsuki.
"Akatsuki's core membership follows the elite approach."
"So if you only look at those core members, Akatsuki seems incredibly impressive and prestigious."
"But there are only so many core members. You can count them on two hands."
"Most missions with even a little difficulty require those core members to take action."
"When they're short-handed, even Nagato, their leader, has to control the Six Paths of Pain to capture people."
At that thought, Uzumaki Shixia shook his head repeatedly.
Developing and managing Akatsuki this way was not only undignified; it also exposed two problems within the organization.
First, it lacked enough top-tier fighters.
Second, it had no talent development system whatsoever.
To bolster its top-tier forces, it could keep recruiting rogue ninja from large, medium, and small Shinobi Villages, or even train its own.
As for a talent development system, if the goal was simply to produce powerful ninja, that was hardly complicated.
With a large enough pool of rank-and-file ninja, a few gifted individuals were bound to emerge and become formidable fighters!
Nagato, who controlled Pain, knew Akatsuki had certain problems.
But he had not considered things this deeply before. In his view, his subordinates should do the work if they could.
If they could not, he would control the Six Paths of Pain and handle it himself.
Things were different now. Uzumaki Shixia had given him an excellent suggestion.
With this strategy, Akatsuki could unite more forces and achieve its goals faster.
While Pain was still weighing the matter, Uzumaki Shixia continued speaking.
"Amegakure isn't actually that short on missions now."
"More clients have come to Amegakure to post missions lately than ever before."
"With Kakuzu and me here, the number of clients coming to Amegakure will only keep increasing."
"As far as I know, even clients from very far away have already started coming here to post missions."
"As Kakuzu's and my reputations on the black market continue to grow."
"More and more clients will arrive with all kinds of commissions."
"And subjugating or allying with Kusagakure would bring Amegakure tremendous benefits."
"Once we control Kusagakure, we can put its ninja's learning abilities and ninjutsu research capabilities to work for us."
"Once we control Kusagakure, the organization will amass more wealth."
"With a larger pool of rank-and-file ninja, some exceptional individuals might emerge."
"Those ninja could serve under Akatsuki's core members and handle difficult missions, rather than the extremely difficult ones."
"In short, if we keep following this line of thought, there's still plenty we can do."
"And all of it would benefit the organization's development."
When Uzumaki Shixia finished, the Akatsuki members in the open area at the Tower all looked surprised.
None of them knew much about Uzumaki Shixia.
Before this, they had only thought of Uzumaki Shixia as a mission fanatic.
Only now did they realize that beyond carrying out missions, Uzumaki Shixia possessed such wisdom and strategic vision!
Just as the Nara Clan had long served as Konoha's strategists.
Could Uzumaki Shixia serve as Akatsuki's strategist as well?
But that thought merely flashed through their minds.
There was no need to ask what he would choose between going on missions and staying with Akatsuki to devise plans.
Uzumaki Shixia would choose missions with his eyes closed!
After thinking for a long time, Pain exchanged a glance with Konan.
They both understood each other's meaning: Uzumaki Shixia's words made a great deal of sense.
As everyone looked thoughtful, Uzumaki Shixia could not help feeling rather pleased with himself.
Of course, he knew all this because he had transmigrated. Everything from his previous life served as a knowledge base for his thinking and decisions.
Many insights and strategies could be applied flexibly, no matter the setting.
In more technical terms, the suggestion he had given Pain was a strategy of building alliances.
Unite the many small and medium villages whose survival and development were affected by the major villages, and confront the Five Great Shinobi Villages together!
Moreover, even if none of those Shinobi Villages had anyone ready to join the organization as a core member, they were bound to have talent worth cultivating.
Many ninja might not be outstanding at first.
But with proper training, their strength could become downright terrifying!
Many ninja had started out as unremarkable failures, such as Might Guy, Jiraiya, and Obito, who lurked behind the scenes of Akatsuki.
Akatsuki and Amegakure undoubtedly possessed the ability, funds, and technical expertise to train ninja.
After weighing the matter, Pain made his decision.
He looked at Uzumaki Shixia and spoke in a serious tone.
"Your proposal is excellent. I've decided to adopt your superb strategy and subjugate Kusagakure!"
Delighted, Uzumaki Shixia rubbed his hands together and looked at Pain. "That'll cost extra!"
Pain: "???"
Uzumaki Shixia said sheepishly, "Ahahaha, different jobs have different prices!"
"Different missions require different services, so of course the fees differ too."
"Besides, facts aside, who's going to work hard without a little extra reward?"
"If you want a horse to run, you've got to feed it, right?"
Faced with an eccentric member like Uzumaki Shixia, Pain could hardly muster any temper.
He could either compromise or send someone else to do it.
But no one else in the organization seemed capable of completing this mission perfectly.
Besides, if they actually pulled this off, it would greatly benefit the organization's development.
After some thought, Pain compromised.
"How about this? The organization will hire you and Kakuzu to subjugate Kusagakure for ten million ryo."
Uzumaki Shixia shook his head at that.
"Lord Pain, the situation in Kusagakure is rather complicated."
"Kusagakure is divided into two major factions: Grass Fruit and Grass Flower."
"They fight fiercely among themselves, but they're also extremely hostile to outsiders! They're very difficult to deal with!"
"What's more, Kusagakure's ninja are exceptionally skilled at studying and researching other Shinobi Villages' ninjutsu."
"Ninjutsu from large, medium, and small Shinobi Villages alike could turn up in the hands of Kusagakure's ninja."
"There's also some unusual intelligence circulating in Kusagakure, claiming they possess some extremely powerful ninja tools."
"Supposedly, these Ninja Tools even date back to the time of the Sage of Six Paths."
As Uzumaki Shixia was about to continue explaining the mission's difficulty, Pain interrupted him.
"I understand. Get to the point!"
Uzumaki Shixia rubbed his hands together and spoke with a chuckle.
"In short, subjugating Kusagakure will cost extra!"
"I'm not asking for much. Just raise it to Master Chiriku's price."
Pain and the other Akatsuki members could not help twitching at those words.
After spending so long with Kakuzu, Uzumaki Shixia had picked up some of his bad habits.
For instance, remembering people by their bounties.
That was undoubtedly rather rude to the people with those bounties.
Pain, however, turned his gaze toward Kakuzu.
He did not know how much Master Chiriku, a former member of Fire's Twelve Guardian Ninja, was worth on the black market either.
Pain asked casually, "What's Chiriku's bounty?"
Kakuzu blurted out without hesitation, "Thirty-six million ryo!"
He knew this sort of thing all too well!
Before Uzumaki Shixia joined Akatsuki, he had spent most of his time thinking about how to kill all those people with enormous bounties.
Now, however, Uzumaki Shixia, that Mission Perpetual Motion Machine, had run Kakuzu ragged. All he wanted was some proper time to rest and recover.
Hearing that, Pain could not help considering something as well.
To make up for this enormous expense, should he go kill Chiriku now?
Before you continue