The appearance of the clone in my shadow was quite unexpected, because at that very moment I was focused on sealing another shinobi who wished to use my services - today was the day when I was personally on duty in the shop, replenishing the rapidly melting stock and taking individual orders from those who wished - but I kept my brush and finished the job, especially on all the fuin that are provided in the list of services, I had long ago gained a hand and drew almost automatically, quickly and efficiently.
Having injected a decent amount of medical chakra into the flashed drawing, I stood back and looked at the perfect work on the jonin's back with some pleasure.
After activating it with a short pulse, the large and complex pattern began to crawl into a single point and soon formed a small hieroglyph with a ligature of symbols around it, no larger than the palm of my hand.
- It's done, Itoki-san," he turned to the still-frozen man, "Iyaku Fuuin is ready to work.
- Thank you, Nara-dono," the jonin stood up and dressed, bowing.
After quickly sorting out the payment and escorting the customer out, I left a sign on the counter saying that individual orders were temporarily suspended, ordered the kage bunshin behind the counter not to be disturbed, and quickly retired to a secure room on the second floor, only then ordering the spy who had returned from Amegakure to disperse.
Habitually going over the memories of the returned shadow clone, I nodded satisfied - Nagato and company had managed to negotiate with Hanzo after all.
The fact that the trio was alive could have been realized earlier by the emptying of the spatial vault, but since direct surveillance of the Rinnegan's owner was impossible, they had to work around the other side to gather information.
And it pleases me that the agreement made by Amegakure under Salamandra's leadership to accept Akatsuki into his ranks is genuine and without a double bottom, judging by the conversations of the latter's closest associates.
This means that Rain has not just one very strong shinobi, but two and a bit weaker, but still posing quite a threat even to the elite fighters, forming a very powerful power block, which Iwagakure will not be able to grind down so easily.
In the last war, they couldn't handle one Hanzo, and neither could Konoha, by the way, and now, the old man would have an equally powerful partner and serious support. The Rainmakers are supposed to repel any military forces that try to cross their territory soon after the border is breached.
I was hesitant to interfere in Nagato and company's fate for a long time, given the potential risks of disclosure by other interested parties, but after carefully considering the approach and method of communication, when even my chakra was diluted by the seals and lost its uniqueness, I decided to take the risk.
I simply have no right to leave unattended a man who possesses a weapon of mass destruction, no less effective than a biju and capable of flattening even such a large settlement as Konohagakure with a couple of blows.
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