He could rule out the Land of Fire first. In the original timeline, the Third Mizukage of the Mist Village had died under mysterious circumstances, and the Fourth had been controlled by Obito for a long time, creating the "Bloody Mist Village" and causing a great deal of trouble. With Obito's intelligence, even if he were ten times stronger after turning to the dark side, it was hard to believe he could control a Kage with genjutsu. But if Madara had done it himself, then it was not out of the question.
So, it was likely that the Land of Water was now Madara and Black Zetsu's main base.
Would Madara interfere in this ninja war? For example, by controlling the Mist to consciously weaken Konoha's strength?
After some thought, An Yan decided that with Madara's personality, it was hard to say. If he thought it was necessary, he would probably do anything.
But how many years could Madara live after this battle? Although the Gedo Statue was keeping him alive, it wasn't a panacea. He probably wouldn't even live to see the Third Great Ninja War.
As An Yan was pondering what Madara and Black Zetsu would do, a small orange-haired boy suddenly bumped into him, his little hand reaching for his wallet.
An Yan instinctively grabbed the boy's arm. Only then did he realize he was in an unknown village in the Land of Rain.
The battle with Madara had kept him on high alert. Although his physical condition was at its peak thanks to his breathing to heal, his mind was inevitably tired. He had wanted to find a place to rest before continuing on his way, but he had run into a thief.
He lifted the little boy up. From his clothes, he seemed to be a war orphan. It was normal for him to steal to survive.
The boy didn't struggle. He just covered his head, as if waiting for a beating. He was probably used to it.
Seeing the atmosphere, it seemed wrong not to hit him. An Yan raised his hand, pretending to strike, but was actually thinking about what to get the kid to eat after he had scared him a little.
Seeing his raised hand, the boy flinched and squeezed his eyes shut.
Just then, a little girl with light blue hair ran over. She held up a paper flower and pleaded in a low voice, "I'll give you this paper flower. Please don't hurt Yahiko."
This orange-haired boy is Yahiko, so the blue-haired one must be Konan.
An Yan raised an eyebrow. He had found another treasure. Yahiko's strength was debatable; the poor kid had died at fifteen or sixteen, so his potential was unknown, but he was at least at the Jonin level. But Konan was definitely Kage-level potential.
She had loved origami since she was a child. After being taught by Jiraiya, she had chosen a fighting style that infused chakra into paper. After systematic study, she had independently developed the Paper Release secret technique. What kind of talent was that?
Her paper disguise could not even be seen through by the Mangekyo Sharingan. How practical was that? And her six hundred billion explosive tags had almost killed Obito. That spoke volumes about her strength.
Some say the six hundred billion tags were bought with money earned by the Akatsuki over the years, but An Yan didn't think so. He believed it was the result of her Paper Release. She must have created a jutsu to mass-produce them.
With her strength, she was just one Mutual Multiplier Explosive Tags away from becoming a god.
An Yan smiled and took the paper flower, then gently put Yahiko down.
"Thank you for the paper flower. I had no intention of hurting this little guy. What's your name?"
Seeing An Yan's interest in Konan, Yahiko, who had been as meek as a kitten, suddenly became fierce and stood protectively in front of her, trying to look intimidating.
But without strength, even an angry expression looks like a pout.
An Yan smiled and patted his head, then stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth, which immediately pacified him. He looked at Konan with a smile.
She shyly hid behind Yahiko and said in a small voice, "I'm Konan, and he's Yahiko."
An Yan nodded and asked directly, "Konan, Yahiko, right? I'm a ninja from the Land of Fire, from Konoha. Would you like to come with me to Konoha?"
Konan was puzzled. "Is that the village with the ninja?"
An Yan nodded. "Yes, it's a ninja village. I can take you there, and you can receive ninja training and be protected by a great nation, away from this war-torn land of Rain."
It sounded wonderful, but Konan didn't agree immediately. She turned to Yahiko, as if waiting for his answer.
Yahiko looked conflicted. "We want to change the terrible situation in the Land of Rain with our own efforts. If we leave, can we still change it?"
An Yan smiled and said slowly, "You won't get a chance to change the environment here. This is a world where the strong prey on the weak. No matter what you want to change the world into, you first need overwhelming strength. And a small country like the Land of Rain will never produce a truly powerful ninja. Only the ninja villages of the five great nations can give you a chance to achieve your dream."
Yahiko thought about it and felt it made sense. He immediately decided to go with An Yan to Konoha. But before they left, there was one small thing to take care of.
And so, An Yan followed Yahiko and Konan to their "home," which was actually a cave. It was high up and provided shelter from the rain. Inside were a large amount of supplies they had collected.
To An Yan's surprise, they packed their personal belongings and then put all the food into a pre-prepared bag and went out.
An Yan watched from a distance as the two children knocked on a resident's door and apologetically left the food with them.
The three of them then set off for the border of the Land of Fire.
On the way, An Yan asked why. Konan was embarrassed, but Yahiko told him the story.
They were both war orphans, and getting food was a problem. They usually had to steal to survive.
There was a vendor from whom they could always easily get food by having one person distract him while the other stole. At first, they thought they were clever, but after being caught and beaten by other vendors, they realized the first vendor had known all along and had been letting them take the food to survive.
The story of the kind vendor warmed his heart. It seems that no matter the environment, there are always kind people.
....
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