The Shadow Clone crouched down and peered through the crack.
That Haino bird hadn't been killed. Instead, it was being kept inside the room.
Judging from its appearance, it seemed to be a female. It remained constantly alert, staring at the door slit, surrounded by an enclosed area marked with sealing techniques on the fence.
However,
when the shadow clone lowered its body and looked through the crack again,
it suddenly became terrified.
Its once-frantic movements came to a sudden halt.
Found the captain, opened up the small house.
At this moment, the Haino grew even more frightened.
Though illusion techniques had altered its memory, its animal instinct still retained certain impressions—perhaps even without knowing why, it felt fear toward this presence.
Akaba squatted down, staring directly at the tiny creature.
From a ninja's perspective, its power wasn't strong at all. With sufficient accuracy, even a Genin could kill it easily.
But—
this intelligent creature was actually far more useful than Sunagakure's hawk messengers. When it came to delivering messages, it was absolutely first-rate.
"Don't be afraid," Akaba said gently. "You changed after eating the Human-Human Fruit—you got a human shape and a lot of smarts. So you must understand me, right?"
Akaba fixed his eyes on it.
The Haino sensed killing intent.
With trembling voice, she replied, "I-I do understand… but… not good at speaking."
"Good, then we can communicate. We're ninjas from Konoha. I know Hainos long for freedom and hate being confined. But—"
"No, I want to live."
She cut him off before he could finish.
Her voice sounded beautiful yet clearly panicked. In just a few days, she had learned quite a number of human words through eavesdropping and guessing.
'Freedom' was one such word.
Everyone on the ship was stunned—even Jiraiya dropped the manga without thinking.
This bird had refused cooperation until now, yet as soon as Akaba arrived,
did surrendering come down to preferences?
"If that's the case, you're officially part of Konoha now. You'll have to help us with tasks. No problem with that, right?"
"Y-yes! Y-yes!"
The bird nodded violently, fearing any hesitation might lead to her instant demise.
Akaba fell silent.
This response surprised him. Weren't Hainos supposed to value freedom highly and fiercely resist their fate?
For example—
[Let the storm come harder!]
Indeed.
It seems like art always reflects the artist's thoughts, but you can't just force them onto someone else.
The communication with the Haino briefly concluded.
"Alright, done."
In a few quick actions, the shadow clone removed the sealing technique placed upon the fence and freed the bird.
After exiting, she didn't transform into human form. She merely enlarged herself slightly while retaining her Haino shape—a choice Akaba understood perfectly because she wasn't yet used to that power.
Many hoped Akaba would bring her with us.
As ninjas, they all understood how valuable a summoned messenger bird possessing intelligence could be. With proper training, it could become the best communication tool imaginable.
But this was only a shadow clone, which couldn't make such decisions.
They talked a little longer before the shadow clone ran out of chakra and vanished automatically.
Back in Konoha.
Akaba received feedback from the shadow clone, gaining a general understanding about the effects of the Human-Human Fruit.
Jiraiya didn't go for the kill, but that wasn't a big issue.
Hainos have their own strengths.
After all, for a ninja, Devil Fruits aren't particularly useful. Besides, weakness has its own advantages—take Haino for example; despite having eaten a Devil Fruit, he still dared not resist and eventually had to cooperate.
Because he understood that only through cooperation could one survive.
The next morning bright and early,
Izumi Yamano delivered the manga to Konoha. This batch of manga already included works from many other authors, such as Yuhi Shinku, Uzumaki Mito, and others.
However, the best-selling manga was still Akaba's personal work.
In Naruto, it had reached the part where Kakashi leads Team Ten on their revenge mission against the Immortal Duo. Meanwhile, in One Piece, they'd just finished the boring Long Island arc and introduced the key character "Aokeiji."
Although quite a few ninjas had gone out on missions, after the manga update, the newly renovated little teahouse by the village gates was packed with customers.
Of course, there were exceptions—
Like Yagami Sachika.
Since Akaba saved Nightdance, he too joined the ranks of manga readers. And because he had already retired, he had plenty of free time to indulge in reading.
So early in the morning, he had already taken a seat outside to read.
Same as Nightdance, he absolutely loved the One Piece manga. Many sword techniques imagined within excited him greatly—he almost couldn't wait to grab a blade and try them out. Unfortunately, he was no longer able to do so.
"The Ice-Ice Fruit's insane power—Devil Fruits really throw the whole balance out of whack."
Yagami Sachika couldn't help feeling envious.
Though his clan also possessed a Kekkei Genkai known as Toton, its abilities were mainly for assassination purposes. Additionally, due to the effects of Toton, their physical constitution had always been rather weak.
Devil Fruits were different.
Their biggest downside was simply being vulnerable to seawater.
If only I could have a Devil Fruit—hell, even a Zoan-type one would do just fine!
Yagami Sachika daydreamed.
Had he possessed an animal-type Devil Fruit back then, he wouldn't have gotten injured from physical exhaustion, nor would he now be facing premature retirement at barely over thirty years old.
Of course, these were just idle thoughts.
Should he actually obtain a Devil Fruit, he'd most likely give it to Nightdance first. After all, children were the future of the clan.
But truthfully,
he hadn't come here just to read manga. He was also waiting for Akaba's arrival.
Reading manga was just an added bonus.
After finishing One Piece, he picked up the latest volume of Naruto again.
Naruto had progressed to the part where Hayate Gekko died. Honestly speaking, as the Clan Leader of the Yagami clan, he had serious objections toward this plot segment.
It was true that the Yagami clan was physically weak, but surely not to the point of "losing five layers of strength upon losing one's sword!" If the sword gets stuck, why not just drop it and keep running?
Assigning only Hayate alone to tail someone for such an important mission did fit the storyline, yet Konoha couldn't possibly have sent nobody else to support him. As long as he delayed or fled, he could eventually reunite with his teammates.
Unreasonable. Simply unreasonable!
As he continued reading, Yagami Sachika felt increasingly bitter.
This weakling ended up being the only Yagami clan member to appear in the whole story.
Admittedly, the Yagami bloodline was naturally frail, so they couldn't blame others for criticizing them—but the story was indeed enjoyable nonetheless. However, reaching this section involving Kakuzu—
He found himself hesitating for a few seconds.
When the **First Hokage** was still alive, Yagami Sachika had been very young. He vaguely remembered something like that happening, but wasn't it a **Wood Clone** who fought against Kakuzu?
Thinking about this, Yagami Sachika's expression immediately turned strange.
Of course, he wasn't the only one to notice this discrepancy. In the distant Land of River, Kakuzu and Madara had also noticed the same inconsistency.
The Land of River was relatively close to the Land of Fire, so they received manga updates faster—by the next day, they usually got everything from the previous day.
Thus,
When Madara and Kakuzu both obtained the latest chapters and finished reading all the plot developments, Madara fell into deep thought, then cast a suspicious stare at Kakuzu.
Kakuzu felt immense pressure under that gaze.
The claim of having "fought against the First Hokage" had originally just been a story Kakuzu made up to satisfy the elders in his village—an exaggerated tale he later used as a catchphrase to showcase his strength.
He might've even mentioned it while fighting Akaba.
But now sitting before him was none other than Uchiha Madara.
Which made things incredibly awkward.
"You actually fought Hashirama? That's hard to believe. But I guess it must've been a Wood Clone," Madara said bluntly. "If it were the real one, even with a thousand hearts, you wouldn't be worth half of Hashirama's strength."
Madara glanced at him coldly before continuing mercilessly, "Don't look discontented. While wood clones do possess a considerable portion of the original's power, they can't use Sage Arts or certain powerful jutsu. If that guy had really gone all out, he could've shattered a thousand hearts in one strike."
As the number one fanboy of the Ninja World, Madara understood Hashirama Senju better than anyone.
That guy was far too kind-hearted.
He only revealed his full power when truly angry or focused. Someone like Kakuzu wouldn't even count as a warm-up act for Hashirama—more like a bit of light entertainment.
"Madara, I never actually said any of those things—it's all from the manga!"
Kakuzu groaned inwardly.
Honestly, he was still not quite used to working under someone else.
Back then, he hadn't had a choice, but nowadays Kakuzu preferred being a merchant. Unfortunately, trouble always seemed to find him no matter what.
Deep down, Kakuzu had to admit—he really missed working with Akaba.
No need to please others, no forced assignments, no constant scolding like he was someone's son...
Madara didn't continue mocking him.
After finishing the manga, he simply put it aside, sat quietly for a while, then stood up and said, "You've worked hard lately. I'll be leaving the Land of River for a while, so you can ease up a bit."
"Oh?"
Kakuzu showed some surprise.
Madara was leaving?
This was unexpected, though upon reflection, Madara's presence had brought many problems to the Land of River. The region had just begun stabilizing after relative peace, only for chaos to resurface. Indeed, staying longer probably wasn't ideal.
Still, where would he go next?
While pondering this internally, Kakuzu merely nodded slightly and asked, "If Madara is leaving the Land of River, is there anything you'd like me to do?"
"Instructions?" Madara snorted. "Hmph. You're not cut out for grown-up stuff—you wouldn't be much help anyway. Though if we're talking about tasks... Keep an eye out for any suspicious members of the Uzumaki clan for me."
Madara stood up, and in the next instant, vanished from sight entirely.
Suspicious Uzumaki Clan Member?
Kakuzu furrowed his brows slightly, finding himself thinking of the person he was supposed to track down earlier.
After Madara left, he took out the sketchpad.
The sketch showed a Uzumaki clan member—striking red hair immediately caught the eye. The note added that the target might be accompanied by a bizarre creature with mind-control abilities.
"It seems Madara and Akaba are looking for the same person," he murmured.
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
~ 100+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
~ More *Free* Chapters and Books Available on Patreon!
patreon.com/Tansnovel
<><><><><><><><>