Hyuga Soushu's visit to the Rain Ninja Village yielded unexpectedly rewarding outcomes.
Though he had only made a brief appearance at the groundbreaking ceremony and met with some mid-to-lower-tier ninja from the village, the resulting reputation boost could not be replaced by mere materials or money.
And this seemingly intangible thing called "reputation" could still play a significant role in this relatively peaceful era.
The only regret was that despite ordering his subordinates to secretly search throughout the Land of Rain for any existence of a ninja organization named Akatsuki, or missing ninjas such as Yahiko, Nagato, Konan, and others, Soushu found no trace of them. It was as if these people had never existed within the Land of Rain at all.
Regarding this, Soushu could only temporarily attribute it to the butterfly effect—his actions in the Ninja World had created great storms, thoroughly altering history's trajectory.
After all, even Jiraiya himself had already vanished without a trace. Tracking down his apprentices would not be an easy task either.
Nevertheless, upon Sanshouo Hanzo's strong recommendation, Soushu eventually selected one hundred Rain Ninjas from the village ranks, incorporating them into the Standing Ninja Army as a unit known as the "Water Ghost Corps"—serving specifically as the underwater combat force within the standing army.
In this way, the connection between the Ninja Clan Capital Corporation and the Rain Ninja Village became further deepened, and to a certain extent, Sanshouo Hanzo succeeded in binding both parties together even more tightly.
Moreover, with the excavation of the canal, their ties and bonds would inevitably grow deeper and deeper.
Even if the Rain Ninja Village's independence might gradually erode over time, reducing it merely to a source of mercenaries or a training base for the Ninja Clan Capital Corporation, for Sanshouo Hanzo—who had long abandoned ambitions of dominating the ninja world—it felt like a tolerable, even acceptable, outcome for the Rain Ninja Village.
After completing his southern tour of the Land of Rain, Soushu led his entourage eastward to inspect the former South-Central region of the Land of Fire.
The ruling ninja clans of this Central-Southern region belonged to the Hokage faction.
However, for both the Ruling Four Ninja Clans and the Ino–Shika–Cho triad, Hyuga Soushu's arrival was definitely not good news.
Back then, the biggest reason the Ruling Four Ninja Clans agreed to join the Ninja Clan Capital Corporation—setting aside their conflicts with Konoha's F4—was that poor governance in their domains led to massive product surpluses, forcing them to reluctantly seek membership in the corporation to obtain sales channels.
Nowadays, although the Ruling Four have officially joined the company, due to historical reasons, their voice carries even less weight than the Ino–Shika–Cho triad, making it an extremely awkward position.
Even in private, when it came to governing the South-Central region, the Ruling Four still held ultimate authority. Yet the Ino–Shika–Cho triad still had many of their members directly serving within Soushu's ninja forces—a safety net in case they needed a fallback plan later on.
The ruling Four Ninja Clans, however, face a different reality. Aside from Konoha, which appears prosperous but is in fact gradually declining, they control nothing more than the South-Central regions—and even there, they must share profits with original Hokage-aligned clans such as the Ino–Shika–Cho.
Therefore, after much heated debate, the ruling clan of the Southern District eventually decided to send their largest-ever welcoming party to greet Hyuga Soushu and his personal ninja forces.
Meanwhile, as Hyuga Soushu toured various regions, Konoha's prisoner, Hyuga Hiashi, quietly married the fiancée chosen by his father—the former head of the Hyuga Main House.
Yet this wedding was held with such minimal fanfare that it failed not only to reflect the dignity of the Main House but also fell short of Hiashi's rank as Western District Security Commander under the Policing Department.
As for the ceremony itself, Hiashi stripped away nearly every formal step, holding no banquet and keeping the number of witnesses from both families to an absolute minimum. Essentially, aside from the bride's relatives and a few Branch House ninjas still loyal to the Main House, there were almost no other guests at the Shinto wedding.
Even so, many dignitaries still voluntarily sent their blessings and gifts upon hearing of the marriage.
His younger brother Hizashi personally arranged for a magnificent gift to be brought back from the eastern coastline. Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, sent people specially to visit and offer congratulations along with an extremely significant and generous gift.
"Could it be that the Third is trying to interfere with the authority of the Policing Department?"
The most notable part of the Third Hokage's gift was a commission letter.
Its contents officially appointed Hyuga Hiashi as Chief Commander of the Patrol Unit under Konoha Anbu.
This so-called Patrol Unit, under Anbu command, was meant to cooperate with the now-defunct Policing Department in carrying out internal and external defense and patrol duties throughout Konoha.
According to everything Hiashi knew up to that point, no such Patrol Unit had ever existed within Anbu's structure.
"This can't be a bad thing, no matter how things unfold later."
Hiashi's newlywed wife voiced her own perspective: "After all, the Third needs to consolidate the remaining clans in the village. He also needs our strength. Otherwise, relying solely on those self-serving civilian shinobi who chase profit above all else won't allow him to stand against Soushu for long."
"I understand," Hiashi Hyuga said.
He sighed, "It's just that I didn't expect them to be completely indifferent about it."
He lifted the commission letter in his hand and continued, "To be honest, this so-called appointment order might have already been discovered by the clan and the Uchiha before it was even issued. Yet they haven't responded at all until now."
"Since it's listed under the Anbu division, perhaps the clan finds it difficult to interfere directly."
Although Lady Hiashi had grown up secluded in the inner chambers of her family, she still had a certain understanding of these matters. "If that is the case, then we may proceed accordingly."
"After all, this way they will only think we've decided to remain in the village."
"Don't forget, during the meeting years ago, Soushu promised publicly that the leadership of the clan wouldn't be passed down hereditarily; but that was merely a temporary measure. Now that Mahiru is pregnant, if we don't take a clear stance, there could be misunderstandings."
Lady Hiashi didn't continue, but Hiashi Hyuga already understood what she meant.
In short, this decision essentially meant going against the mainstream direction of the Hyuga Clan. Although this move might provoke dissent and discontent among some Hyuga ninja, at least it would clarify that he wasn't merely lying low and waiting for the right moment, but actively taking action to dispel suspicions of passivity and hesitation. After all, as the former legitimate heir of the Main House, he still carried considerable weight and expectations within the clan.
Conversely, accepting an Anbu patrol assignment would equate to voluntarily removing himself from the competition for the leadership of the Hyuga Clan—and even more broadly, from clan power struggles altogether. Such a move would amount to self-imposed limitations, possibly seen as degrading or self-tainting behavior, which would inevitably diminish his influence and status within clan affairs.
"I see," Hiashi nodded.
Then, with his wife's help, he began drafting a reply letter expressing acceptance of the Third Hokage's commission. The letter was full of hollow expressions of loyalty, like "dedicated service to Konoha," devoid of sincerity.
"Phew."
After completing the final lines, Hiashi finally exhaled in relief.
From then on, he had effectively severed all ties with most of the Hyuga living outside the village!
After failing to persuade Orochimaru, Jiraiya wandered around Konoha for several days before leaving the village once again, roaming across the Ninja World while secretly recruiting members and weaving an intelligence network for the Dawn organization.
During this time, he hadn't received any summoning from Mount Myoboku, even though he had already sent word to the Senior Toad Sage through a Messenger Frog about Orochimaru's refusal, yet no response came as expected.
Therefore, Jiraiya simply pushed aside thoughts of the collaboration between the two holy places, dismissing the idea as just another impulsive and impractical scheme concocted by the Senior Toad Sage. He resumed focusing entirely on what he considered the right course of action.
With the loss of financial support from daimyos and court nobles, the number of wandering samurais surged rapidly.
As a result, it didn't take long for Jiraiya to establish the basic structure of the Dawn organization in the former Kinki region near the Daimyo's court and recruit over a thousand agents of varying caliber.
Although the reliability of these guys — both in terms of strength and loyalty — was highly questionable, it didn't really matter much to Jiraiya.
After all, for now, quantity mattered more than quality. Once he had enough numbers, he could worry about their actual quality later.
However, although the Ninja Clan Capital Corporation paid no attention to such trivial movements among those they considered as nothing but lowly riffraff, some ronin still held true loyalties toward the Daimyo.
Thus, the former Fire Daimyo, now confined to only a small corner within the Daimyo's court, also learned about someone secretly gathering forces behind the scenes.
As a result, someone had finally come looking for Jiraiya.
"Lord Minamoto wants to see me?"
Jiraiya felt quite surprised after receiving the message relayed by an organization member.
He originally thought the displaced daimyo and courtiers had long given up and accepted their fate, never expecting them to secretly send someone to invite him.
"That's correct. Lord Minamoto wishes to meet with Jiraiya-sama personally. It would be our honor if you agreed to the meeting."
The messenger bowed deeply and spoke, "I myself am one of Lord Minamoto's Senior Samurai, but I disguised myself as a ronin to better carry out my mission. Please forgive this deception, Jiraiya-sama."
"What you just said doesn't matter much — but figuring out who I am? That's actually pretty impressive."
Jiraiya studied this seemingly average underling, but couldn't sense anything special about him.
"It wasn't due to my own ability, but rather because of guidance from another expert."
The subordinate answered honestly.
"Who?"
Jiraiya raised his eyebrows slightly, immediately growing suspicious inside.
Without a word, the subordinate pulled out a small scroll and unfurled it before Jiraiya.
A small insect emerged from the scroll, its metallic-shined shell shimmering as it circled around in the air.
[Parasitic Bugs from the Aburame clan.]
Understanding began forming in Jiraiya's mind.
Sure enough, not long afterward, he sensed several familiar chakra fluctuations rapidly approaching.
"I see."
Jiraiya muttered softly to himself.
Soon after, someone knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
Jiraiya called out irritably toward the door, "I don't recall you being this courteous!"
"Creak!"
The door swung open smoothly. The soundproof barrier he'd set up earlier was shattered completely, and strange chakra ripples spread throughout the room — clear signs that a new sealing barrier had been activated.
Walking into the room were none other than Danzo and his trusted follower, Tatsuma Aburame.
"Like a hyena sniffing blood and charging in already?"
Jiraiya showed absolutely no respect toward his nominal senior martial uncle, immediately delivering sarcastic words: "What? Did you suddenly gain the courage to leave under the village's protection? Aren't you afraid of being surrounded and eliminated by Hyuga and Uchiha's secret forces?"
"You speak too much."
Danzo's expression remained unchanged as he walked straight to one side of the room and sat down on the sofa.
Meanwhile, Tatsuma Aburame observed the surroundings carefully before giving a nod to Danzo.
"Huh?"
At this moment, Jiraiya sensed something was off. "You're using shadow clones?"
"Not for long!"
The Danzo sitting on the sofa instantly dispersed into a puff of blue smoke and vanished. Moments later, another Danzo slowly walked in through the door.
This time, it was the real one!
"You truly live up to your title as the Shadow of the Ninja World. So cautious indeed!"
Jiraiya couldn't help but sneer.
"The Ninja World has changed. If one doesn't act carefully, the consequences would be unimaginable."
Unfazed by Jiraiya's sarcasm, Danzo calmly stepped toward the sofa again and sat down leisurely, as if nothing around him could ever disturb his inner peace.
"Is that so?"
If he were facing an envoy sent by some fallen daimyo, Jiraiya would certainly handle things smoothly. Yet as soon as Danzo—a man full of surprises and danger—stepped across the threshold, Jiraiya couldn't help but tense up. Warning bells went off in his mind.
After all, no one in their right mind would consider Danzo trustworthy.
"I don't expect you to accomplish anything. I'm merely helping you patch up some basic flaws."
Danzo immediately saw through Jiraiya's unease, though he didn't care. "I'm just carrying out some tasks for Lord Minamoto, and coincidentally helping you eliminate some traces. That's all. Don't overthink it."
Jiraiya frowned slightly, clearly not buying Danzo's words.
"Believe it or not. But if you intend to meet Lord Minamoto, you must go through Tatsuma's inspection first."
Danzo pointed toward Tatsuma Aburame.
Jiraiya then turned his gaze to his own subordinate—the secret envoy of Lord Minamoto.
The envoy nodded.
Jiraiya furrowed his brows even more deeply.
"Well then, have them do a quick check."
After hesitating momentarily, Jiraiya finally gave in.
"That is indeed the correct decision."
Danzo nodded approvingly, then leaned on his cane and rose slowly, heading toward the doorway. "Tatsuma will stay here to assist you. But don't let him take unnecessary risks. And if he sees no value in continuing, he'll pull out on the spot."
"You want to join my organization too?"
Jiraiya sounded genuinely surprised.
"Not join—in cooperation."
Tatsuma Aburame spoke up.
"An alliance of has-beens from a bygone age, huh?"
Jiraiya couldn't help but chuckle wryly.
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