Inside Akaba's residence in the Sakuma Clan territory.
A snake slithered noiselessly into his room from outside. Its chakra reserves were nearly depleted—it had clearly expended a great deal of energy crawling all the way from the Research Institute.
Akaba heard the movement and immediately woke up.
Seeing the snake,
This was one of Orochimaru's methods of communication—an application of the Reverse Summoning Technique.
The little snake raised its head and spat out an intelligence scroll.
"Madara plans to leave the Land of Rivers and has even assigned Kakuzu to locate that child from the Uzumaki clan?"
Receiving this news, Akaba felt somewhat surprised.
At the same time, he doubted its authenticity—Kakuzu might've already pledged loyalty to Madara, which meant this intel could just be a setup by Madara himself.
Of course, this was only a guess—not a certainty.
At the bottom of the intelligence scroll, there was also a personal note from Orochimaru:
"Need to determine Kakuzu's stance first."
"I understand. Return now."
Akaba gently patted the snake, and in an instant, it vanished back to Ryuchi Cave.
After the snake left, he held the slip of paper and fell deep in thought.
Since both Kakuzu and Madara's situations remained unclear, whether Kakuzu came to meet him directly or contacted through tavern channels would be unreliable. He needed to personally go to the Land of Rivers.
But...
He felt so tired!
Traveling all the way to the Land of Rivers himself wouldn't just wear him out—it'd all be for confirming Kakuzu's true allegiance. After some consideration, Akaba devised a plan—
Have a caravan assist in bringing a Flying Thunder God marker into the Land of Rivers.
As long as there was a spatial marker of the Flying Thunder God there, he could then teleport there after expending a bit of chakra.
As for Mito Uzumaki and the village side, he would decide whether to share this intelligence only after clarifying Kakuzu's alignment and Madara's movements.
Once decided, Akaba left his house.
It was already around noon—the Manga Shop should have received new deliveries by now. Also, since Nightdance returned yesterday, he wondered how Nightdance's talk with her father had gone.
While pondering these thoughts, he used the Flying Thunder God technique to teleport toward the manga shop.
However,
Upon arrival, he suddenly sensed a familiar chakra signature.
Yagami Sachika?
Had he actually come in person?
Akaba felt astonished. He quickly left four Multiple Shadow Clones behind to run the shop and walked out to investigate.
Sure enough, stepping outside, he saw Yagami Sachika seated inside the small teahouse—a place converted from one of the Nara Clan's old warehouses. Despite being called "small," it wasn't really that small.
This little teahouse not only delivered orders but also prepared various homemade treats.
They served everything from fresh juices and fruit teas to homemade fruit desserts. Customers gave overwhelmingly positive reviews about these drinks and snacks, gradually drawing more people who stayed to read manga there.
A shame they don't have access to ice yet—they could add smoothies to their menu otherwise.
Although consuming the Ice-Ice Fruit would allow them to make iced beverages like smoothies, spending twenty thousand points on such a luxury seemed a bit excessive.
Losing himself in random thoughts, Akaba found himself at the little teahouse before he knew it.
Rather than going straight to greet Yagami Sachika, he instead ordered a watermelon juice and a cup of fruit punch from the counter, carrying both drinks to stand before Sachika.
"Uncle Sachika, what an unexpected surprise! Please accept my apologies for not noticing you sooner."
"What does it matter? I just happened to stop by to read some manga."
Yagami Sachika smiled.
When Akaba handed him the fruit tea, he was initially reluctant. But after a moment's hesitation, he accepted it and thanked him.
Then he spoke, "Your manga café is really well done. It's much more fun to sit here with a group of people, eating snacks and discussing the manga plots than watching alone at home."
"Haha, that was Yunlang's idea originally."
Akaba didn't take personal credit. Although many designs for the manga café were indeed his work, the original concept had definitely come from Sakuma Yunlang.
As for his design style,
From the entrance, you could see the counter and seats on both sides formed perfectly symmetrical arrangements.
Yagami Sachika drank while looking around and chatting with Akaba.
After talking about various topics, when he'd finished reading most of the manga, he finally asked, "Last night, Nightdance came back and asked me whether I'm interested in carving these figures. Are you planning to have me participate in woodcarving?"
"You're highly skilled with blades; woodcarving shouldn't be any problem."
Akaba flattered while complimenting.
In reality, he didn't actually know how skilled Yagami Sachika was with sword techniques—he merely assumed since the Gekko Clan passed down the Dance of the Sword through generations, they wouldn't produce a clan leader who couldn't handle a blade.
Yagami Sachika smiled without exposing Akaba's flattery.
"Well," he said after a pause, "woodcarving itself won't be an issue, though my speed probably won't match Kozuke's."
As the Gekko Clan leader, he had more than a little confidence in his sword techniques.
"Then there's no problem. As for pay—"
"Just give me what Kozuke gets."
Yagami Sachika said indifferently.
After hearing this, Akaba paused, then showed a slightly strange expression on his face.
"You don't even know what terms Kozuke agreed to, do you?"
Wanting to avoid making the other person think he was trying to scam him, Akaba carefully decided to explain upfront, "Master Kozuke plans to use all proceeds from the woodcarvings to establish a poverty relief charity fund, helping families and orphans who have been displaced by war and poverty."
"What? You mean donating everything to charity?"
Yagami Sachika froze, then after a few seconds of shock, said, "Helping the poor and orphans is indeed appropriate—they've suffered greatly from the wars. Fine, we'll go with Kozuke's plan then."
"Alright."
After Akaba replied, he didn't say anything else, nor did he mention any contracts or agreements.
Although figurines weren't cheap, for a family like Gekko, money wasn't really an issue—the words were already spoken, so there was no chance of backing out.
Actually, deep within his heart, Yagami Sachika felt regretful.
Though his clan didn't care much about this money, he personally did. As head of the household, he didn't have as much money as outsiders imagined—he had to request funds from his wife every time he went out.
Even though part of the sculpture earnings would go to the clan anyway, secretly making one extra piece—who would ever know?
He was f***ing regretful!
Internally, he felt his heart bleeding, yet he had to pretend rich for the sake of the clan's dignity.
Akaba sipped his watermelon juice.
Using [Observation Haki] and his sensor ability, he could "feel" the intense emotions coming from Yagami Sachika.
After thinking for a few seconds, he whispered, "How about this—I'll donate six parts of the profit, giving you one part of that share."
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
"Alright then."
Akaba stopped trying to persuade him further.
After all, those wooden figurines were only sold to the wealthy, and he was only getting three-tenths of the profit no matter what. Originally, he just wanted to give Yagami Sachika a way to save face, but now—
If you're hell-bent on this path, I've got no problem with it.
He finished his watermelon juice, stood up, and went back to work.
Most readers from Konoha didn't really react much to the Amegakure OVA—it just seemed shady, like there was more going on than met the eye.
But for Amegakure itself, this side story carried deeper implications.
Hanzo, known as the "Half-God," had been killed, and others had taken over leadership of Amegakure, steering the village in a different direction.
At this point, there was no Yahiko or Konan yet, and their backgrounds weren't even mentioned in the story—most people could do was speculate and associate.
That naturally gave rise to a certain idea:
The Akatsuki Leader and the Paper Release ninja didn't represent Amegakure alone—they symbolized those within small villages like Amegakure and Taki who refused to be crushed and bullied by powerful nations.
They wanted to change their fate and craved power, so they slowly but surely started gathering under one banner.
Although it's just a manga, it tackles real-world issues—highlighting them for everyone to see and making small villages realize they don't have to stay helpless.
Of course,
More sheep still make sheep—but back then came a ninja named Hanzo, coincidentally hailing from the small nation of Amegakure.
Hanzo indeed harbored such thoughts, unfortunately, most alliances and coalitions in the Ninja World proved unreliable.
Take Konoha and Sunagakure, for example.
Their alliance was nothing but skin-deep;
Even though Konoha was falsely accused, Sunagakure turned a deaf ear, insisting on demanding answers with feigned innocence just to reap some benefit.
If even Konoha found itself treated like this, what hope did smaller nations have?
As for Akatsuki's ideology…
Hanzo clearly understood—it was utterly unacceptable.
Despite being called the Half-God, that very word "half" meant he paled in comparison to legendary figures like the Ninja God Hashirama Senju.
Hashirama could dominate the entire Ninja World alone, whereas Hanzo merely compelled surrounding villages to fear Ame slightly—should war truly erupt, battles would still occur right here in Rain Nation, showing no mercy.
Unless someone out there really could assemble a team of handpicked ninjas as strong as the Five Kage—and gather every last Bijū.
Thinking about this, he let out a bitter chuckle, saying, "Unless Hashirama Senju or Madara Uchiha rose again from death, who else could possibly create an organization like Akatsuki?"
However,
Just at that moment, a dark shadow silently appeared inside his office. As Hanzo chuckled, the figure calmly remarked: "What if Madara Uchiha truly still lives?"
What?
Instantly, Hanzo's smile froze—he sharply turned his gaze in this direction but saw nothing, only a strange black silhouette.
This shadow was too strange—it might not even be a living being, more like some twisted form of Ninjutsu.
"What are you?"
Hanzo's guards instantly emerged, eyes filled with alertness.
"I am Madara Uchiha."
The dark figure replied coldly.
Unconvinced, Hanzo let out a mocking laugh: "You're Madara Uchiha? What proof do you have!"
"Hmph. Proof isn't necessary, and I don't need you to believe me either. One day, you'll realize I'm still alive. At that time, you must choose: will you join me and help build a peaceful world, or continue being oppressed by the great nations?"
As his voice faded, the dark figure quietly disappeared.
Hanzo shouted a few times but received no reply. He realized the other had already left. A wave of shock washed over him, and he sat down with a complicated expression.
He hadn't sensed how the other had arrived—or how he'd vanished.
This ability… could it really belong to Madara Uchiha?
If this person truly was Madara Uchiha, then seeking him out probably meant wanting to establish "Akatsuki" in reality. But as for the goal—
World peace? Just lip service. If he ever took those words seriously, he would surely lose.
"Leader, who was that just now?"
"I don't know. It might have truly been Madara Uchiha, but it doesn't matter to us. We can just sit back and watch what happens. The Sunagakure Village won't fall into chaos this time either."
Hanzo sneered coldly.
The incident involving Sunagakure Village was almost certainly connected to this "Madara."
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