The White Yaksha had proven, with absolute facts, just how much he could interfere with and sabotage the Akatsuki's various operations. This was especially obvious when it came to matters involving the tailed beasts: if the Akatsuki wanted to capture tailed beasts, he wanted to kill tailed beasts. The targeting here was far too direct. He was completely going against them.
Then came the question. If Hagoromo received information that members of the Akatsuki were hunting tailed beasts, what kind of reaction would he have?
Would he remain indifferent?
Naturally, that would be the best possible situation. In that case, Sasori and Deidara could capture the Two-Tails' jinchūriki according to the original plan. However, the chance of that beautiful possibility happening was almost zero. Based on the Akatsuki's understanding of Hagoromo, he would definitely get involved in anything related to tailed beasts.
Once Hagoromo took action against Sasori's two-man team—and this was, after all, the most likely situation—the Akatsuki also had corresponding countermeasures.
By now, the Akatsuki could no longer continue operating according to their original single-step method, because that made things too easy to disrupt and too easy to fail. They had to formulate a new program and change their guiding ideology.
If one thought about it a little, when it came to actions targeting tailed beasts, where did the Akatsuki's advantage over Hagoromo lie?
This was a very simple question…
The Akatsuki had more people.
Although Hagoromo was famous throughout Konoha, in practice, he could basically be regarded as a single individual acting on his own. What about the Akatsuki? The Akatsuki had ten extremely powerful shinobi in operation. Therefore, they could advance on multiple fronts and act simultaneously. Under such circumstances, they could completely make it so that if Hagoromo paid attention to one side, he would be unable to look after the other.
If they were willing to pay a certain price and bear certain losses, then even Hagoromo's actions were "controllable."
And the possible price this time was undoubtedly Sasori and Deidara.
While Hagoromo was operating in the direction of the Land of Rice Fields, most of the Akatsuki's forces had already invaded the Land of Water. There lay their main targets for this operation… seizing and controlling the Three-Tails and the Six-Tails in one stroke.
Barring the unlikely, even if Hagoromo immediately learned of the Akatsuki's operation and then turned around to rush toward the Land of Water, by the time he arrived, it would already be too late.
Itachi's intelligence explained exactly this issue. The Two-Tails was not the Akatsuki's main objective. Sasori and Deidara were merely bait meant to deal with Hagoromo. The Akatsuki's real targets were the Three-Tails and the Six-Tails.
However, under these circumstances, they were very likely to enter a large-scale direct conflict with Kirigakure… The Akatsuki's actions had suddenly become bold. To be honest, this was a little beyond Hagoromo's expectations. However, it was also reasonable, since his own actions were too fatal to the Akatsuki. Under this pressure, the Akatsuki had no choice but to speed up their operation.
The Akatsuki had to break the situation open again. They could not let matters continue following Hagoromo's rhythm forever.
However, returning to the point, there was an extremely key question here…
Were Hagoromo's actions really controllable?
Uh, to be honest, sometimes even Hagoromo himself was not quite clear what he was going to do next.
For example, the Fifth Hokage had forbidden him from making moves against the tailed beasts of other villages, and he seemed to have truly stopped doing so. But now? He was turning around and charging into Amegakure.
There was one situation the Akatsuki had not predicted: Hagoromo knew far more about them than they believed.
In order to obtain two tailed beasts, while also resisting Kirigakure if necessary, most of the Akatsuki's forces were currently in the Land of Water. Although Hagoromo could not reach them, correspondingly, they could not reach Hagoromo either.
And because most Akatsuki members were unable to return to reinforce it, Amegakure's strength was now hollowed out. Thus, Hagoromo decisively seized this opportunity to strike when the time was right.
Hagoromo and Team Six, four people in total, rode Yatagarasu and rushed all the way toward Amegakure. Along the way, Hagoromo explained the current situation to Mirai and the others.
"In other words, we're going to attack Amegakure now?" Mirai's tone carried surprise. After all, Hagoromo's sudden decision was a little too terrifying.
Although it was not one of the Five Great Nations, Amegakure had always been something that could not be underestimated. More importantly, there was the comparison of enemy and allied strength. Facing an entire village, they had only four people.
Four versus a village—no matter how one looked at it, that did not seem very reliable, right?
"That's right. Next, we're going to infiltrate Amegakure… Don't worry too much. The Amegakure shinobi have numbers and nothing more. Right now, that place is the Akatsuki's nest, so Hanzō, as well as the trusted shinobi who guarded Hanzō, have long since died. Those shinobi who were already dealt with were the true strength of Amegakure. So right now, we only need to be wary of two or three people," Hagoromo explained.
"…This time is a special exception. Next, you can go all out and make as much trouble as you want."
"Make as much trouble as I want?"
Hearing Hagoromo say this, the worry on Mirai's face seemed to vanish completely.
"Mm. Make a huge mess."
Hagoromo's enunciation was exceptionally clear, as if he was implying something…
After many years, Hagoromo was returning to his old trade. He was about to invade someone else's shinobi village again. However, this time, it should be called an eye for an eye. He was merely responding to the other party's invasion of Konoha back then.
After making simple arrangements, Hagoromo stopped speaking… At this moment, his emotions were extremely complicated.
Should he say "finally"? Finally, he was beginning to do what he had always wanted to do?
With the level of fury Hagoromo had back then, it could be said that his rage could not be restrained, could not be controlled, and could not be resisted. By now, perhaps he had already become quite calm. But it was precisely this calm that made him even more frightening.
Did he view certain people as enemies and therefore hate them?
No. How could things be that simple? The feeling Hagoromo held was the silent indifference of already viewing certain people as dead.
They had long since become dead people. It was just that now, Hagoromo was going to lend the God of Death a small hand.
In terms of location, the Land of Rice Fields could not be considered close to the Land of Rain. However, under Yatagarasu's desperate sprint, Hagoromo's group spent less than a day piercing through layer after layer of national borders, invading the Land of Rain, and landing on the outskirts of Amegakure.
It had been raining in the Land of Rice Fields, and it was raining in the Land of Rain as well.
But this rain was clearly somewhat different. After Hagoromo and the others descended from midair and walked forward for some distance, Mirai suddenly tugged Hagoromo to a stop.
"What is it, Mirai?" Hagoromo asked.
"There's a special chakra mixed into the rainwater ahead… It's spread extremely evenly and finely."
Rainwater? Chakra?
Hagoromo thought for a moment, then said, "It should be Amegakure's sensory ninjutsu. Mixing chakra into the rainwater and using it to sense intruders. This is a little troublesome."
"In that case, it seems there's no point in choosing whether to infiltrate by air or not…"
This kind of large-scale regional sensory ninjutsu would expose them the moment they stepped into it. It seemed impossible to avoid.
Hagoromo's judgment was not wrong. If they continued forward, they would enter Nagato's Rain Tiger at Will Technique's detection range. Once he walked into it, he would naturally be discovered immediately.
"Since we can't hide, then we'll go straight in from the front… Mirai, you can begin. From now on, you're the main force."
Mirai seemed to have been waiting for Hagoromo's instruction. She had already made her preparations, so after Hagoromo's words fell, she formed hand seals and began using a technique.
What she used was a Summoning Technique. The summoned beast she called forth was a slug, but the hand seals for this Summoning Technique were more complicated, and the individual slug summoned did not come from Shikkotsu Forest…
This slug was not large, and the position where it appeared was also rather strange. It manifested directly on Mirai's right shoulder… because this slug itself was something sealed inside her body.
To explain simply, slugs were a kind of superconductive material for transmitting chakra. As receiving terminals, they could even distribute Tsunade's medical chakra instantly to over ten thousand individuals. This was an extremely outstanding trait… especially if used as the connecting body for external equipment.
So, although this was its first appearance, in truth, this slug had been hidden inside Mirai's body since several years ago, because it carried Mirai's birthday present…
The Mangekyō Sharingan of Shisui of the Body Flicker.
Azure chakra began violently spilling out from Mirai's body, then gathered around her into bones, muscles, skin, and armor!
Perhaps it was a towering giant, or perhaps it was an invincible tengu. In any case, this was the dōjutsu parasitic within the Uchiha clan's Mangekyō Sharingan, constructed using the Uzumaki clan's enormous chakra.
This was called…
Susanoo.
The rain washed over the enormous chakra construct, unable to obstruct it in the slightest. This towering giant walked step by step toward Amegakure.
A siege weapon, of course, had to be used to lay siege.
Rain Tiger at Will Technique? Detection? Discovery?
Who cared!
If they could stop it, then by all means, come and stop it.
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