Chapter 318: Hanzo's Invitation
After seeing Fugaku and the others out of the village, Kyosuke thought for a moment and decided to head over to Minato Namikaze's house.
Calculating the time, the Hokage should have finished his work for the day, which meant it was the perfect opportunity for Kyosuke to bum a free meal.
As the savior of the couple—and their child—Kyosuke felt absolutely zero guilt about imposing on them.
"Waaaah!"
In the Namikaze household, Kyosuke stared helplessly at the wailing infant Naruto in his arms. With a face full of black lines, he quickly passed the baby back to Kushina. Meeting the amused gazes of the couple, he sank into the sofa with a resigned sigh, waiting for dinner to be served.
"It seems I'm not exactly popular with children," Kyosuke said, spreading his hands in a self-deprecating gesture toward Minato.
"Haha, don't take it personally. Sometimes Naruto doesn't even buy what I'm selling," Minato replied with a sympathetic laugh. The two then fell into idle chatter about this and that.
Soon, a delicious spread was laid out on the table. Kushina poured a glass of sake for both men, then raised her own cup. She looked at Kyosuke with a serious expression. "You know, you saved all three of our lives. You've been so busy lately that I haven't had the chance to properly thank you. Today..."
Hearing this, Kyosuke quickly waved his hand to stop her. "There's no need for that between us. Minato-san took great care of me back in the day. It was only right that I did what I did. Please, don't mention it again, haha."
Seeing Kyosuke's insistence, the three exchanged warm smiles and drained their cups. The topic was officially put to rest.
Once they had eaten their fill, Kyosuke finally brought up the true purpose of his visit.
He recounted everything in detail: the attack on his three students, his clash with the enemy, and his discovery that the assailant had infiltrated the Cloud Village's diplomatic envoy.
Listening to his description, Minato and Kushina reacted much like Fugaku had—disbelief that such an unknown powerhouse existed in the shinobi world. However, Kyosuke had no reason to fabricate such a story, so they accepted the grim reality.
Just as Kyosuke feared, Minato agreed that this seemingly simple diplomatic visit was likely to spiral into something volatile. Based on Kyosuke's description, this incident could evolve into a severe crisis.
Thinking of the village that had only recently known peace, Minato let out a soft sigh. Looking at the serious-faced Kyosuke across the table, for some reason, he recalled the words Kyosuke had spoken during his last visit.
Is peace through mutual understanding... truly that difficult to achieve?
Minato found it hard to accept internally, yet he could no longer flatly deny Kyosuke's consistent political stance.
Unification of the Shinobi World.
"Sigh." Minato sighed again, muttering to himself, "Easier said than done."
"Hm?" Kushina noticed Minato's strange mood and asked with concern, "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"Oh, I'm fine," Minato replied, shaking off his thoughts. He forced his attention back to the matter at hand. "I understand the situation. I'll make secret arrangements immediately. If things truly turn toward the worst-case scenario, we need to be prepared to respond."
"Good. As long as you're aware," Kyosuke nodded silently. The three then began to discuss the specifics of the defensive deployment.
Meanwhile, in a secret base in Amegakure (Hidden Rain Village).
"Nagato! Yahiko! Look at this!"
Konan, who had grown into a beautiful young woman, ran into the innermost room of the base, waving a letter with excitement written all over her face.
"What happened?" Yahiko asked curiously. Seeing her secretive demeanor, he helplessly took the letter and read it himself.
After a quick scan, a look of joy spread across Yahiko's face.
"This is great! This is truly great! Our efforts have finally been acknowledged!"
"What is it, Yahiko? Don't keep us in suspense, tell us!" profound curiosity bubbled up from the other Akatsuki members nearby.
"Ahem." Yahiko cleared his throat and shared the contents of the letter with his comrades.
The letter was written personally by Hanzo of the Salamander. Its purpose was to use the Akatsuki's ideals and growing influence to propose peace negotiations with the Three Great Nations of Fire, Wind, and Earth.
If this move succeeded, Amegakure would truly usher in a long-lasting peace. For Yahiko and the others who had strived for this goal for so long, the excitement was palpable.
"That's wonderful, Yahiko. Your dream is about to come true," Nagato said with a smile. He valued the friendship between the three of them above all else. As long as it was something Yahiko wanted to do, Nagato would help with all his might, even if it wasn't the life he had originally envisioned for himself.
Hearing Nagato's congratulations, Yahiko clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Nagato, this is all because of you. Without you, we could never have achieved this on our own. Thank you. Truly, thank you."
Seeing this, the others also chimed in, thanking Nagato for his years of effort. Faced with their praise, the introverted Nagato could only scratch his head and giggle foolishly.
I am happy. This is everything I ever wanted... Nagato thought to himself.
The next day, everyone packed up early. Since this was the Akatsuki's first official negotiation with Hanzo, Yahiko and the others went to great lengths to prepare.
"Nagato, how does my hair look? Is it too flashy? As the leader of the Akatsuki, should I change to a more steady style?" Yahiko stood before a mirror, fretting over his spiky orange hair which even he felt was a bit blinding.
Unfortunately, asking Nagato was useless; he was clueless about fashion. Yahiko found himself missing Konan, who had departed the previous night as part of the advance envoy team.
"Sigh, Hanzo-sama really thinks of everything. If not for his subtle advice in the letter to send an advance party, the Akatsuki might have embarrassed ourselves in front of all those factions today," Yahiko said, wiping non-existent cold sweat from his forehead before twisting and turning in front of the mirror again.
Nagato gave him an amused look. Not caring much for appearances himself, Nagato slowly pushed the door open and walked outside.
Watching the sun gradually rise over the horizon, Nagato felt an inexplicable restlessness.
Today should have been a day of celebration for the Akatsuki, but Nagato couldn't shake a deep sense of foreboding.
Needing to clear his head, he decided to take a walk alone to calm his nerves before the big event.
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