"Fire Style: Headhard Flame."
Kakuzu manipulated Earth Grudge Fear, spitting out a blaze that transformed into a sea of fire upon impact, instantly incinerating the remaining Iwa support troops.
"Hey, Kakuzu! If you destroy the Rain Country's supplies, don't drag me into it when the leader complains!"
Raiga shouted when he saw Kakuzu recklessly using large-scale jutsu. In hindsight, he should've handled it himself—at least Lightning Style caused less damage to sealing scrolls than Fire Style.
"Hmph, if they're paying so little for a war mission, they shouldn't expect so much."
Kakuzu snorted. Seeing that no Iwa-nin survived, he withdrew his Earth Grudge Fear masks. Once the flames died down, he searched the corpses.
"Nice quality sealing scrolls. Selling these on the black market will bring in a decent profit."
He collected all the scrolls carried by Iwa's logistics unit. After unloading their contents, he planned to sell them. Iwa used only the best—each scroll could fetch at least 100,000 ryo. This bonus alone rivaled what Konan paid him for the battlefield assignment.
Kakuzu also wanted to check if any of the dead Iwa-nin were on the bounty list, but Raiga, impatient, urged him, "Let's go already. No one's putting bounties on logistics staff."
Still, Kakuzu made sure to finish his checks before leaving with Raiga's grumbling behind. They had another mission to complete.
"Nagato, are you preparing to move on Konoha?"
In a small house in the Land of Rain—where Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko once trained under Jiraiya—Konan and Nagato had come to rest after defeating Iwa-nin.
After using the Super Shinra Tensei, Nagato had spent a large amount of chakra. He had been held off for a while by Kitsuchi's desperate resistance. Even after the other five Pains arrived, Kitsuchi managed to destroy the Naraka Path at the cost of his own life.
Without the Naraka Path, damage to the other paths had to be repaired by Nagato himself, a significant disadvantage in battle. He needed time to recover and rebuild a new Naraka Path, so he and Konan stayed in their hidden base.
"Any movement from Konoha?" Nagato asked.
Konan shook her head calmly. "Nothing so far. After receiving the injured from Iwa, they stopped their advance. Likely planning how to deal with you. After all, Pain's abilities were heavily exposed in that fight. Nagato, do you want—"
"It's fine, Konan," Nagato said flatly. "Pain didn't even use his full power against Iwa. And now the Six Paths aren't enough to unleash my full strength. If something unexpected happens, I'll summon the Gedo Statue and finish Konoha off."
Konan's face showed concern. "Don't do that, Nagato. If you summon that thing again, not even a medical machine can save you."
The last time he summoned the Gedo Statue, Nagato was reduced to skin and bones. Though he'd recovered a bit through medical tech, using it again would cause even more severe damage.
Nagato shook his head and reassured her. "No need to worry, Konan. Let's wait until Konoha shows they can actually deal with the Six Paths. Once we have enough intel, we'll move."
This victory over Iwa and Konoha, as Akatsuki, was a show of force to intimidate the major nations. After beating two neighboring powers, it would make capturing the tailed beasts much easier.
Now that the great nations knew of Akatsuki's capabilities, they had to reevaluate their stance on Pain, someone powerful enough to repel two villages single-handedly.
Within the Sand Federation, Elder Jie Kang signed an agreement with Hyuga Mirai on behalf of the federation after receiving a reply from the frontlines via Yekura. With this, the federation expanded its territory again, and the Uzumaki Trade Association officially became part of the Sand Federation.
However, this development wasn't public yet. The inclusion of Hyuga Mirai and Ayaka Uzumaki was still limited to internal circles. Fully merging their power would take time.
But right after the agreement, Hyuga Mirai received a request for help from Tsunade.
"What is this, running to the grown-ups and whining again?" Hyuga Mirai couldn't help but chuckle at Tsunade's message.
Konoha's troubles had tied Tsunade to her Hokage desk. Orochimaru still hadn't shown up despite promising to help her, so she exaggerated her difficulties and reached out to Mirai for assistance.
Mirai agreed to pressure Orochimaru on her behalf and decided to make a trip to Konoha, bringing her some good sake to lift her spirits.
After all, being stuck at the Hokage desk for three straight days was rough. All the post-Uchiha clan fallout had landed squarely on Tsunade's shoulders.
After her Hokage inauguration, she barely had time outside the office before being dragged back to her desk.
If it were Hyuga Mirai, he would've already given up.
Last time Tsunade left in such a carefree fashion, she forgot to take the gene optimization injection he'd prepared. This time, he'd bring it along.
The injection would help her awaken Wood Release. Once she had that bloodline limit, no one could shake her from the Hokage seat—not even if Hiruzen Sarutobi used Edo Tensei to bring Senju Hashirama back. Konoha's shinobi would still support Tsunade.
Mirai had already laid out the broad plans for integration; the rest of the details could be handled by No. 18.
After informing Ayaka Uzumaki, Mirai departed from the Sand Federation. At his speed, he could reach Konoha in half a day.
Tsunade had long told him the weak points and entry routes into Konoha's barrier.
Upon entering Konoha, Mirai headed straight for the Senju Clan compound.
Though it was called a clan compound, since the Senju clan disbanded and merged with Konoha, there were only five or six houses left. These had remained since Mito Uzumaki's time. Kushina had also lived here, along with Nawaki and Tsunade. The rest had been given to Konoha by Hashirama Senju.
Over time, the Senju compound, like the Uchiha's, was relocated to the outskirts. If not for the possibility of Tsunade returning, Konoha's higher-ups—Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo included—probably wouldn't have built even these remaining homes for her.
When Hyuga Mirai arrived, he found the house unkempt. He frowned, split into a few shadow clones, and cleaned up before sitting down. Even without OCD, a messy house was still intolerable.
Tsunade wouldn't be available during the day. She had no excuse to leave work. Only after nightfall did she instruct her staff to organize less urgent documents and hurriedly left the Hokage building, rushing home.
If she didn't leave soon, they'd dump another pile of urgent files on her.
Back at the Senju compound, as soon as she entered, Tsunade noticed the place was much tidier. Then she saw Hyuga Mirai by the table—and on that table, the sake she'd been dreaming of. Her eyes lit up as she ran over and sat down.
Without even grabbing a cup, she cracked open the bottle and took several gulps. Letting out a satisfied sigh, she grumbled at Mirai, "You finally came!"
Seeing Mirai's familiar figure, Tsunade instantly felt the pressure on her ease.
(End of Chapter)