The curtain slowly rose

"Oh, right, there's a new mission!"

"You'll be going to the border of the Land of Water this time. Something unexpected happened there."

Shihōin Naraku had thought he could go back and rest after reporting on his mission. Who knew Hiruzen Sarutobi would hand him another one before he could even leave?

Fuck!

I only just got back!

I fought a whole bunch of people and barely managed to win.

I haven't even caught my breath, and you're sending me out of the village again?

"Oh, there's no rush." Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled as he smoked his pipe. "Just leave before tonight."

Am I supposed to thank you for that?

Naraku turned and left, grumbling and swearing. The ANBU were even busier than the medical department!

Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi paid no mind to Naraku's displeasure. After all, he belonged to the Hokage's faction too. These were minor matters.

"So I'll just wait for Orochimaru to come pay his respects to the old man!"

Naraku walked out of the Hokage Building, stopped grumbling, and glanced back at the building behind him.

"After all, students killing their teachers is a Hokage tradition. That counts as keeping the tradition alive."

With a new mission to undertake, Shihōin Naraku did not stay in the village long. He soon set off with an ANBU squad.

This time, though, he chose different ANBU members to accompany him on the mission to the Land of Water's border.

This was also a way of getting to know them. After two missions, he would be familiar with most of his subordinates.

Upon reaching the border of the Land of Water, Naraku split up with his subordinates to gather intelligence in the area.

"He wore a black cloak with red clouds on it..."

"Yes, there was a long slash across his forehead protector..."

"..."

Isn't that the Akatsuki's uniform?

Judging by the forehead protector this person described, it was Kakuzu, right...?

Naraku paused at the civilian's account, then immediately caught on.

He had never expected to encounter a member of the Akatsuki on an ordinary mission!

He casually gave the civilian some money. Once the man left, Naraku carefully searched his memories.

The Akatsuki at this point...

They should still be recruiting and taking dangerous missions from various countries, then saving up to buy explosive tags for Sis Konan.

"Wait, let me think. Who showed up first?"

Right, Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki!

That was after Orochimaru launched the Konoha Crush Plan. Uchiha Itachi appeared to warn Danzo not to lay a hand on Sasuke Uchiha.

"Why does it feel like the curtain on the Naruto world is about to slowly rise...?"

At that thought, Naraku felt a little excited, the feeling of witnessing a moment in history with his own eyes.

Soon, the other Konoha ANBU members found the battle site, and Naraku hurried over.

"Lord Dragon, according to our investigation, a fierce battle took place here..."

"The two sides used four types of ninjutsu-Lightning Release, Fire Release, Water Release, and Earth Release-and also fought at close quarters!"

One look at the battle site told Naraku that Kakuzu had indeed fought some enemy here.

The other ninjutsu aside, the damage the Fire Release had inflicted on the surroundings was clearly from Fire Release: Searing Migraine!

Naraku had just used that ninjutsu in his previous battle against the Iwagakure ninja. He could not have been more familiar with it.

Naraku surveyed the traces around him with interest.

"Very powerful!"

"The range is ridiculous too, but..."

The Fire Release: Searing Migraine Kakuzu had unleashed was certainly powerful, but after carefully examining the surroundings, Naraku vaguely felt that it did not seem all that impressive.

"Is it because the Mera Mera no Mi strengthens my Fire Release?"

"Or was Kakuzu actually holding back?"

After thinking for a while, Naraku suddenly grew interested in the ninja who had fought Kakuzu. Just who had his opponent been?

Anyone who could fight to this extent had to be at least a jonin. Otherwise, Kakuzu would have killed them long before they could inflict so much damage on the surroundings.

Still, at this point, the Akatsuki took extremely dangerous missions to save money. Some were even on the scale of wars, so it was normal for their opponents to be somewhat formidable.

Of course, Kakuzu had clearly won in the end.

"This mission turned out to be unexpectedly easy..."

No, that's not right either. If we'd arrived a little earlier, we might well have run straight into Kakuzu!

Then this mission wouldn't have been easy at all!

Naraku did not know whether he could kill Kakuzu if they clashed this early on.

But he knew Kakuzu's weaknesses very well. If he caught him unprepared, he still had a good chance of winning.

After another round of gathering intelligence in the area with his subordinates, Naraku led the ANBU back to Konohagakure.

In the days that followed, Naraku began going on frequent missions.

It was exhausting, but in the shortest possible time, he learned everything there was to know about all his subordinates.

One day, after a long stretch of work, Naraku finally had some free time.

After resting properly for two days and growing a little closer to Uzuki Yugao, Naraku got busy with his own business.

He visited a ninja tool shop to buy the materials he needed, then returned to the ANBU.

After some mixing and adjustments, Naraku used the materials he had bought to prepare a small bottle of red liquid.

This red liquid was one of the items necessary to undo the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.

That was right. Naraku intended to remove the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal from several ninja who had formerly belonged to Root!

Not all of them, of course.

Over this period, Naraku had come to see that not every member of Root was utterly loyal to Danzo!

Some ninja had submitted to Danzo because of the power he once held. Others had been threatened through their families and had no choice but to obey.

Some had even been wholly loyal to Danzo at first, only to grow increasingly dissatisfied with Root's dark, brutal practices. After returning to the ANBU, they were actually delighted.

Naraku decided to selectively free these people from the restraints of the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.

The secrets they were keeping concerned Danzo, not him, so he had nothing to fear from removing it.

More importantly, once he removed it, he might gain something unexpected.

"Have Tsuki come see me!"

"Yes!"

With missions being taken at an extremely high frequency for some time, the entire ANBU had been swamped. Now that things had eased up and there were fewer missions, quite a few people were at the ANBU base.

Soon, a knock sounded at the door. That rhythmic pattern was Tsuki's trademark.

"Come in!"

"Excuse me!"

With her long hair tied behind her, Tsuki stood quietly before Naraku.

Yamanaka Tsuki!

She was a ninja of the Yamanaka Clan!

The Yamanaka Clan's ninja specialized in controlling their enemies' minds. They could easily enter the minds of the dead and read their memories, use this to relay intelligence and messages, and even possessed top-tier sensory abilities.

That made the Yamanaka Clan an absolutely indispensable source of talent for both the ANBU and Root!

Their sensory abilities went without saying, offering excellent utility in all sorts of areas.

Their ability to read other people's memories was truly powerful, arguably the most suitable means of interrogation. After all, even if someone died, as long as their corpse remained, crucial intelligence could still be extracted from it!

Within the medical department, Shihōin Naraku oversaw the Corpse Disposal Squad. Its purpose was to dispose of bodies to prevent abilities like those of the Yamanaka Clan from extracting intelligence from them.

For that very reason, the Corpse Disposal Squad even frequently supplied the ANBU with outstanding personnel.

These things made Yamanaka Tsuki's importance clear.

And why Naraku had chosen to help her remove the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal!