Chapter 48: Did Nagato Change Gender?
"Whether Tsunade believes in the truth of the Ōtsutsuki invasion or not, she still has to consider compromise."
"There's a saying: 'when three walk together, one can always be your sensei'. No matter how strong a person is, there will always be areas where they fall short, places where they need to learn."
"Even if no one is qualified to be her sensei, if she wants to take another step forward, she still needs inspiration, research produced by other top-tier ninja in the same field, to achieve twice the result with half the effort."
"And even if she no longer wants to advance further herself, what about the people she cares about? What about the others in Konoha?"
"If she chooses to join, she trades one share of her own 'knowledge' for multiple shares of 'knowledge' from other villages."
"If she refuses, then all she can do is watch as other villages exchange what they know, grow stronger, and gradually pull further and further ahead."
"…"
After listening to Shiromo's words, Terumī Mei and Kurotsuchi both fell silent in thought.
This was practically an open conspiracy, wasn't it?
Shiromo had used Tsunade as an example, but in reality Tsunade could easily be replaced with Konoha itself, or Kumogakure.
Of course, there were still details to work out.
For example, what if the other side refused to join and instead chose to send ninja to kidnap people, or tried to turn "students" to steal knowledge? How would they counter that?
And there was also a fundamental prerequisite for launching this open scheme: they first had to display enough influence.
Otherwise, no one would care, and all of this would be meaningless.
This method was like copying the 'Sunflower Manual' hundreds of times in a wuxia world and distributing it to everyone in the martial world.
If you didn't practice it, you'd fall behind and get casually killed by others, no one to blame but yourself.
If you 'did' practice it, you'd have to pay a price, and even then you wouldn't really surpass anyone.
"This is something we need to think through ourselves."
"There's no rush."
Mei and Kurotsuchi needed time to carefully consider what advantages their villages could offer, and what areas they needed to supplement.
Shiromo, however, said there was no hurry.
Establishing an academy would at least have to wait until Orochimaru was brought under control.
After bidding farewell to the two of them, Shiromo returned to Konan's lodging.
As the acting head of Amegakure, her treatment was slightly inferior to that of the Mizukage and Tsuchikage, but it was still quite good, spacious enough.
"Hm?"
When Shiromo pushed the door open, he saw that besides Konan, there was also a small red-haired girl inside.
She was kneeling timidly beside the table, drinking warm milk.
In fact, when Shiromo had been discussing medical ninjutsu earlier with Mei and Kurotsuchi, he had already thought of someone.
Uzumaki Karin.
And not just Karin.
In Team Taka, aside from Sasuke, the other three were all "supports."
Suigetsu had Water Release hydration healing. (Hydrification Technique)
Jūgo could expel and transplant his own cells, directly filling in damaged tissue.
As for Karin, one bite was basically the same as chugging a full HP potion.
It could be said that during Sasuke's chuuni phase, when he would "randomly get beaten half to death on a whim" yet somehow not die, it was almost entirely thanks to these three support characters doing their jobs properly.
Why say 'almost'?
Because in certain situations, he also relied on the rescue of a certain enthusiastic masked man of the same clan.
"She's from Nagato's clan. I ran into her being bullied by ninja from her own village, so I saved her and brought her here."
Konan explained from the side.
"It looks like you really have changed, Konan."
Shiromo sat down with a smile.
Konan had had the hope in her heart reignited by Shiromo. Combined with their previous conversation, where he pointed out that in the future she would deliberately send Ajisai to her death to create the Animal Path, turning herself into the kind of person she once hated, the current Konan had rediscovered her former self.
"When I saw her, it was like seeing my past self…"
Konan didn't deny it. She slowly walked over and sat down as well.
"But our mission this time…"
"It doesn't matter. Don't forget, we're here to 'save' the Third Hokage. Konoha should be grateful to us."
Shiromo said this casually, while picking up Karin's Kusagakure Village forehead protector from the floor and tying it around her arm.
"Wear this for a few more days during the Chūnin Exams."
Then he pulled out an Amegakure forehead protector from behind him and, amid Karin's completely confused expression, tied it onto her other arm.
What did this mean?
Three-village contract slave?
"You're not even going to ask her?"
Seeing Shiromo prepare to just take Karin back to Amegakure like this, Konan spoke up.
"I…I'm willing!"
Karin immediately raised her hand, blurting it out in a panic.
Afraid that if she hesitated even a second, she would be abandoned.
Shiromo understood very clearly why Karin reacted this way.
It was completely normal.
Not to mention that Konan had already told her that Nagato was also an Uzumaki like her, even if Orochimaru himself had shown up, he wouldn't have needed to say anything to take her away.
Kusagakure was just that twisted.
Karin and her mother possessed a special constitution, rare even among the Uzumaki clan.
One bite could produce the effect of high-level medical ninjutsu.
For small villages with no competent medical ninja, this kind of body became a priceless treasure.
So how 'should' Karin and her mother have been treated?
The benevolent approach would be to train them into proper medical ninja, then research cell cultivation to achieve mass treatment.
The evil approach would be to keep them healthy while forcing them to produce children nonstop, increasing the number of special bodies.
The average approach would still involve biting, but with constant monitoring of Karin's mother's health, proper nutrition, and rest.
So what did Kusagakure do?
They literally bit Karin's mother to death.
Then they switched to Karin.
Even ordinary people know to let a chicken lay eggs for sustainable use.
Kusagakure didn't have 'any' such concept.
Their level of insanity was comparable to the neighboring Takigakure sending Kakuzu to assassinate Senju Hashirama.
"If you're willing, then you're willing. Calm down."
"You won't be participating in the Chūnin Exams. Your teammates are gone anyway, you can't take part alone. Just stay with Konan and me and be a spectator."
"Okay!"
Karin agreed without the slightest hesitation.
She didn't care whether she became a chūnin or not.
Escaping Kusagakure, that hell, was what truly mattered.
—
The next day, the first stage of the Chūnin Exams began.
The first test was a written exam. The Third Hokage deliberately used the Telescope Technique along with projection ninjutsu to display footage from each examination room for everyone to watch.
Not many people came.
Daimyō, wealthy merchants, and officials were here to watch fights. They had no interest whatsoever in a written test.
Mei and Kurotsuchi did come.
They had already guessed the core purpose of this written exam and knew that if even one-fifth of the rookies they brought managed to pass, that would already be impressive.
But that wasn't the point.
The reason they brought these rookies was to let them experience the cruelty of the ninja world.
If they couldn't firm up their resolve this time, then at least next time they'd know what they needed to do.
Konan and Shiromo didn't go watch Konoha's genin cheat on the exam. Instead, they took Karin out for a walk around Konoha's streets.
Konan suggested taking Karin to the bathhouse to clean up, but Shiromo vetoed the idea.
Konan was puzzled.
As they talked while walking, a white-haired old man suddenly scratched his butt and turned to look at them.
Since Shiromo and Konan were talking as they walked, Jiraiya only caught a familiar voice, and noticed the red-haired Karin walking a bit behind them.
"Konan? …No, that's not right. Did Nagato change gender?"
Jiraiya wondered if he'd been visiting too many pleasure houses lately, maybe his ears were ringing and his eyes were playing tricks on him.
(End of this chapter)