Hidden Rain Village.
Lead-gray clouds hung low in the sky, and raindrops pelted the outer walls of the metal towers.
Minato used the Body Flicker to reach the top of an iron tower, hiding in a dark corner to observe this hidden Village in the rain.
The architecture of the Hidden Rain Village was quite unique compared to Konoha, dominated by steel and pipes, with a cyberpunk vibe.
Occasionally, Rain Ninjas carrying black umbrellas would sweep through the streets, quickly disappearing into the depths of the crisscrossing alleys.
There was no sunlight, no birds, and even the wind was wrapped in a cold, damp moisture.
Cold and damp—this was Minato's first impression of the Hidden Rain.
It exuded an air of loneliness, unlike Konoha, that realm of vibrant vitality where all things competed for growth was still fresh in his mind.
As a Jonin, Minato had been to the Land of Rain for several missions, but every time he arrived at the Hidden Rain, he felt a sense of oppression.
Due to the perennial rain, its location in the cracks between large nations, and the environment of constant warfare, the Rain Ninjas had formed a combat system centered around assassination, poison techniques, Water Release, and Genjutsu.
In terms of operations, the Hidden Rain Village focused on surprise attacks, decapitations, and intelligence gathering as its core business, mainly taking on assassination commissions from other countries.
Minato had faced off against Rain Ninjas several times, so he was naturally clear about the characteristics of the Hidden Rain.
Minato looked toward the tallest tower in the Hidden Rain Village, where the Demigod Hanzo resided.
The reason the Land of Rain wasn't being toyed with by the great nations and hadn't become a fence-sitter like the Land of Grass was entirely due to Hanzo's formidable strength and prestige.
The Hidden Rain Village centered around Hanzo's personal authority, relying on Hanzo's "Demigod" combat power to deter the great nations.
During the Second Great Ninja War, Minato's teacher Jiraiya, along with Orochimaru and Tsunade, had teamed up to face Hanzo.
The three most outstanding Ninjas of Konoha actually failed to defeat Hanzo and were even suppressed by him.
Of course, Hanzo didn't crush Jiraiya and the others either; instead, he acknowledged their strength and bestowed upon them the title of "Sannin."
Now that ten years had passed, Hanzo's Ninja stats had also declined.
But Minato had no intention of confronting Hanzo; his trip was merely to scout for Nagato's whereabouts.
Konoha had already lost Tsunade; if someone were hit by Hanzo's poison, there would truly be no way to detoxify them.
Minato silently released his Chakra Sensing Technique and suddenly detected a familiar Chakra.
Minato was stunned: "Elder Danzo?"
Inside the tallest tower of the Hidden Rain Village.
Danzo was currently discussing the partitioning of the Akatsuki with Hanzo.
"Yahiko must die. His naive ideas have already influenced the Ninjas in the Village; many have already defected to the Akatsuki."
Hanzo was dressed in black, with long platinum-blonde hair and a respirator similar to a helmet on his head.
Although he showed no expression, the coldness in his tone was audible.
Hanzo was old; he was no longer the ambitious "Demigod" he once was. Now, he cared more about his personal authority.
He considered himself the sun of the Land of Rain; if an ordinary person didn't break down in tears upon seeing him, they would face six strikes in one second from the Rain Anbu.
Now, the Akatsuki's momentum in the Land of Rain was grand, and with that superb Medical Ninja, they had even more soaring ambitions; many Rain Ninjas had turned to join them.
Danzo nodded: "Root can assist the Hidden Rain in eliminating the Akatsuki, but afterward, please hand over all the Ninjas of the Akatsuki to Root."
"..."
The Anbu behind Hanzo showed expressions of anger. Root didn't cherish talent; they wanted to capture the Akatsuki Ninjas and take them back to Konoha for human experimentation.
Ninjas from these great nations loved to capture people from small countries for human experiments.
Hanzo remained silent for a moment before nodding heavily: "Fine, but afterward, Root must take the initiative to admit to being the culprit who eliminated the Akatsuki."
Hanzo also valued his reputation. With the Akatsuki's prestige being so high, Hanzo couldn't afford to tarnish his own name and be reviled by the people of the Land of Rain.
So, he wanted Root to take the blame.
"Deal!"
Danzo nodded. In any case, Root's reputation was already as dark as it could be. He was known as the "Darkness of Shinobi," so this bit of blame was insignificant to him.
Hanzo warned again: "Danzo, your Root must absolutely not harm Yakuganra. You must ensure he remains completely intact."
There was another even more important reason why Hanzo wanted to eliminate the Akatsuki, and that was to seize Ryou for the Hidden Rain.
The Rain Anbu had found a death row prisoner with only one breath left to investigate, and they had seen with their own eyes Ryou shocking the person back to life.
Hanzo was astounded when he heard this.
A powerful tool should only be held by the virtuous.
Hanzo had offered a position below only one person but above ten thousand to recruit him, but the other party's ambitions lay in the Ninja World.
In that case, he had no choice but to take him by force.
As long as a medical master like Ryou joined the Hidden Rain, the Village would immediately become the Sixth Great Ninja Village of the Ninja World.
Danzo pondered for a moment and nodded: "Fine."
Danzo was busy colluding with Hanzo and had lost contact with Konoha, so he didn't know that Tsunade had already been captured by Madara.
If he had known, he would have fought Hanzo for him no matter what.
A top-tier Medical Ninja was comparable to a whole Ninja unit; as long as he was on the battlefield, no one would have any worries.
Hanzo nodded: "Good. In that case, I can lead the Hidden Rain to participate in the Third Great Ninja War and support you in becoming the Fourth Hokage."
Danzo immediately broke into a smile.
Yes, Danzo wanted to become Hokage; he dreamed of it.
Orochimaru was not up to the task and didn't have the bearing of a Hokage at all, while Tsunade's momentum was very grand.
Danzo thought about pulling the Hidden Rain onto the battlefield to use them to settle the Third Great Ninja War and obtain a massive amount of reparations.
With that kind of prestige, he could also become a Hokage candidate.
Suddenly, a Root Ninja and Danzo's right-hand man, Aburame Ryoma, appeared in the meeting room with Danzo and Hanzo, leaning over to whisper to Danzo.
Danzo frowned deeply upon hearing this. Why would Minato appear here? And he had something very important to tell him?
Could it be that the Fourth Hokage has already been chosen?!
Wouldn't all his efforts then be in vain?
"Hanzo, wait a moment. Something important has happened in Konoha; I'll go deal with it."
Danzo stood up and left, and Hanzo didn't stop him.
These past few days, Danzo had been staying in the Hidden Rain. Presumably, the war between Konoha and Kirigakure had reached a conclusion?
Hanzo was disdainful. For someone like Danzo, who lived in the shadows, to want to become Hokage, you can keep dreaming!
"...What?! Uchiha Madara has been resurrected?"
Danzo's eyes widened in horror. He then quickly looked around vigilantly and waved his hand for the surrounding Root members to be on alert.
Danzo now felt that the Hidden Rain and Hanzo were no longer important; even Kirigakure and the Ninja World War were no longer important.
Ninjas who had come from the Sengoku era understood deeply what Madara and Hashirama truly meant.
Why was Hanzo called a Demigod? Why didn't he dare call himself a God?
Because there were truly two great gods above him.
Even though their era had passed, Hanzo still didn't dare call himself a God.
He couldn't handle it, and he certainly didn't have the ability.
Even the title of "Demigod" was something the Hidden Rain had hyped up through marketing. If Hanzo had even half the strength of those two, he would have turned the Hidden Rain Village into the Sixth Great Ninja Village long ago.
Danzo's heart was still in a state of shock. He stared intently at Minato with his one eye and said, "Minato, you're not lying to me, are you?"
This blonde kid was also a Hokage candidate and one of his formidable rivals for the position.