"Ryōta, Shinichi, you came too."
"Miss Mieko, I'm so glad you're all right," Ryōta said happily.
Mieko rolled her eyes. "I'm a medical ninja. Who would come after me? But do you know what happened?"
"Actually, we don't know what's going on either."
Ryōta scratched his head and leaned closer, lowering his voice. "The captain suddenly told us to go home in the latter half of the night. I'm afraid he's the only one who knows the details."
"I sensed my surroundings a little on the way here. A lot of people are gone," Shioame suddenly said.
By "gone," he definitely meant they had been killed.
Even those who weren't sensory ninja had seen it on the way here.
"What about Lord Hanzō...?" Mieko asked.
Shioame shook his head. "I couldn't sense his Chakra..."
Everyone fell silent, and an eerie hush settled over them.
Just then, the doors opened. Tsunodahara walked in, took his place on the raised platform, and announced:
"I have good news for everyone. Last night, Lord Pain slew Hanzo of the Salamander, the sinner of Amegakure."
Do you hear yourself?
Lord Hanzō, the pillar of Amegakure, was killed, and that's good news??
The crowd stood stunned for a few seconds before erupting:
"What?! Lord Hanzō was killed...?"
"How is that possible? A ninja as powerful as him..."
"Just who is Pain?"
Hanzō had ruled Amegakure for decades, and his authority had built up over many years. His strength was deeply ingrained in everyone's minds, and they couldn't accept the news so quickly.
Tsunodahara made a gesture, and a figure instantly appeared on the platform. It was Aoki Tsuki, who tossed the corpse in his hands down in front of the crowd.
But when everyone saw the corpse's face clearly, their expressions changed drastically.
"Ah... Lord Hanzō!!"
Someone cried out and stumbled backward repeatedly, a sign that the faith in his heart had crumbled.
His mind had suffered a tremendous shock.
"The rumors were true. Lord Hanzō... is dead!"
After a moment, once everyone had accepted the fact, Tsunodahara spoke again. "As you can see, Hanzō is dead. He lost his convictions and became afraid to die.
"He colluded with Konoha's ninja to slaughter the village's young people. Someone like that was no longer fit to lead the village forward. Fortunately, we now have Lord Pain."
A believer's expression appeared on Tsunodahara's face.
At his side, Aoki Tsuki secretly admired him. He could never have said something like that himself, especially not in front of so many people.
"Just who is Lord Pain...?"
"Lord Pain is the savior sent by heaven to our Amegakure, the new god of this world!"
"A god...??"
Even Hanzō had never dared call himself a god. The only person in the Shinobi World to earn that title was the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, whom the world revered as the 'God of Shinobi.'
"That's right. Everything that happened last night was the 'divine punishment' Lord Pain brought down. His power is as boundless as the sea. Haven't you noticed? The rain stopped today."
Tsunodahara's reminder made everyone realize that it really hadn't seemed to rain that morning.
They had all been preoccupied and hadn't paid much attention to it. The rain in the village hadn't stopped in a long time.
"Could this be Lord Pain's doing...?" someone ventured.
If it was true, that was terrifying. It certainly didn't seem like something a person could do.
"That's right. This is one of the miracles Lord Pain has shown us. To demonstrate Lord Pain's tolerance toward the people, the last day of every week will henceforth be a 'no-rain day.'"
Tsunodahara described something so astonishing in a matter-of-fact tone, making Pain seem even more mysterious.
"Furthermore, Lord Pain has entrusted Lady Angel with managing the village in his stead. From now on, Lady Angel will decide all village affairs."
Rustle...
A flurry of paper flew in through the doors.
It quickly gathered in the air to form Konan, with a pair of white wings made of paper at her back, just like an angel.
She hovered there, gazing coldly down at the crowd.
They were only a group of Chunin and Genin. They had never seen such a wondrous sight before, and every one of them stared with their mouth agape.
Aoki Tsuki and Tsunodahara hurriedly dropped to one knee and led the salute. "Lady Angel!"
Seeing this, the others dropped to their knees one after another and shouted, "Lady Angel!!"
This was the herd effect. Whatever the lead sheep did, the others would instinctively copy it without thinking.
That was also the value of Aoki Tsuki and Tsunodahara's presence here. They were now the village's only two Jonin, capable of calming everyone's panic and taking the lead.
Konan wasted no words and delivered the divine decree directly:
"From today onward, Amegakure has only one master, and that is Pain. You are forbidden to speak to outsiders about matters within the village, especially any information concerning Lord Pain.
"Hunt down Hanzō's supporters. Leave none alive."
"Yes!!" everyone answered in unison.
No one paid any more attention to Hanzō's corpse lying off to the side.
No matter how much good or evil he had done, it had all lost meaning the moment he died.
Konan then began appointing personnel to the relevant departments. The village had to get running again, missions had to be taken, and everyone still needed to eat.
"Aoki Tsuki, from now on, you will serve as Amegakure's advisor and handle diplomatic affairs."
"Yes!"
"Tsunodahara, you will be responsible for matters related to the mission office."
"Yes!"
"Hoshiya Fumi, you will continue as head of the medical department."
"Yes!"
Amegakure was only a small village, without that many complicated institutions. Everything was arranged in half an hour, and the crowd gradually dispersed.
The village began running again. Everything seemed to have changed, yet it also seemed as though nothing had changed.
Only then did Konan have time to sort through the various records Amegakure had treasured over the years. Most of the Ninjutsu were common Water Release Ninjutsu; there wasn't a single one of high value.
Even the Ninjutsu here were nearly impossible for those Genin to learn. It would have been strange if a village like this could grow strong.
No wonder Aoki Tsuki has been looking everywhere for Ninjutsu... What on earth has Hanzō been doing all these years...?
After roughly browsing through the Ninjutsu, she moved on to the ninja archives.
Since many people had been killed, much of the information was no longer useful. She needed to sort out and store the files of the ninja who were still alive separately.
For example, those ninja still stationed at the border didn't yet know what had happened in the village. They needed to be tricked into coming back and persuaded; Tsunodahara could take care of that job.
Each ninja's folder had a name on it, and the Jonin, Chunin, and Genin files were stored separately, making everything clear at a glance.
Konan spotted Aoki Tsuki's folder at once. It was the detailed ninja file the village had kept on him.
It included his family relationships, blood type, hobbies, rank, personal connections, and so on. The information card read:
Name: Aoki Tsuki Age/height: 18/185 cm Blood type: A/Virgo Affinity and specialties: mastered Water Release, skilled in swordsmanship, no Kekkei Genkai Parents: Aoki Ryūhei (Chunin, killed by Konoha Ninja during the Second Shinobi World War), Eiko (runs the Kanamonodō Gift Shop) Position: Jonin, guard captain (squad members: Kurokawa, Umatsu, Takuno Jin, Shioame, Ryōta, Shinichi); served as squad leader while a Chunin (squad members: Ryōta, Shinichi, Mieko; Mieko is now a member of the medical department) Hobby/dream: likes salted fish; dreams of becoming Lord Hanzō's bodyguard. Mission record: 8 S-rank missions, 15 A-rank missions, 21 B-rank missions, 31 C-rank missions, all completed. Overall evaluation: excellent
Those were the core details recorded in Aoki Tsuki's file.
After Konan had roughly sorted through everyone's files, she realized with a start that Aoki Tsuki was the only one whose evaluation read "excellent."
Everyone else was rated "good" at best. Either they had failed missions on record, or they had been too old by the time they became Jonin.
"I really did underestimate him."
The records had been written by people, and some parts contained subjective evaluations. The writer's admiration for Aoki Tsuki was evident between the lines.
Clearly, not only was he capable, but his superiors also liked him a great deal.
Passing through the ninja archives, she came to a room dedicated to storing mission records. Konan began by examining the most important S-rank missions.
As expected, she found mission records concerning the Akatsuki.
"This is..." Konan had found the village's earliest record of the Akatsuki, and the person who had written it was none other than Aoki Tsuki.
Organization: Akatsuki Leader: Yahiko Principles: no fighting; hopes to resolve disputes through communication and create peace. Membership: fewer than 10. Threat level: C Recommended response: a group of idealistic young people, most likely to be swallowed up by the waves of the Shinobi World War. They pose no threat to the village for now; observation is the primary course of action. Recorded by: Aoki Tsuki (Chunin) Location: daimyō's residence
Konan was shocked. "The village was already paying attention to us back then?"
Looking back now, they really had trusted others too easily, leading to disaster.
She spent the day roughly reviewing the important contents and gained a fairly comprehensive understanding of the village. Only then was she reassured.
Fortunately, she had experience managing the Akatsuki. Otherwise, suddenly taking over an entire village would have been a real headache.
After returning that evening, she began telling Nagato what she had learned. There were many things to worry about, from the direction of the village's future management to the defense of the entire Land of Rain.
"Have Aoki Tsuki and Tsunodahara been behaving themselves?"
"Mm."
"I've already dug out that woman's secret. She really is a spy Root planted in Amegakure, codenamed 'Shadow Cat.' But I also obtained another piece of information."
"What information?"
"Aoki Tsuki served as the secret liaison between Hanzō and Danzo, while also working for Danzo in secret. The intelligence was passed through this woman."
Konan wasn't surprised in the slightest.
He looked like the sort who would work for whoever gave him benefits. Whether it was Hanzō, Danzo, or the Akatsuki, there was probably no difference to him.
Yet he was very useful.
Without Aoki Tsuki's help, she couldn't have taken control of the village and won over its people so easily.
"Does he know who this woman is?"
"She hid herself very well and passed information through a Ninja Cat. Aoki Tsuki kept watch several times but never caught her."
"I see."