Chapter 358: Light Akatsuki and Dark Akatsuki
Masahiko's expression changed several times, his face looking quite spectacular.
Seeing this, the fat Daimyo quickly put away his mocking expression and asked in surprise, "Senior Great Ancestor, is there really a Goddess?"
Masahiko nodded slightly, turning his head to look at the child who had finally stopped crying. "Shu, did your father ever tell you about these things?"
Shu shook his head, speaking for the first time, "Father never told me, but he wouldn't lie!"
"A thousand years ago, the Goddess..." Masahiko muttered. Things went round and round, and suddenly it circled back to Kaguya. If this Land of That really had offended her, and still had survivors to rebuild the country and continue to this day, it was quite a feat.
"Is the annihilation of the Land of That this time just a coincidence, or intentional? If it's a coincidence, then it's nothing, just this country being unlucky. If it's intentional, then it's very troublesome..."
Masahiko paused, focusing his mind to check the Black Zetsu seal on his body, but couldn't find any abnormalities.
"Did Black Zetsu lay down a countermeasure before being sealed by me? Or did that guy learn about Kaguya by chance... Unfortunately, I don't know much about the events of a thousand years ago either." Masahiko sighed inwardly. "I have to prepare for the worst. That guy's goal might not just be to resurrect Madara and become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki. It's very likely that, like Black Zetsu, he's thinking of unsealing Kaguya."
"Ugh..."
A faint groan suddenly came from in front of him. Masahiko raised his hand to cancel the medical ninjutsu, and the unconscious samurai Tatewaki slowly opened his eyes.
"Where is this... you are... General Mifune! And Okisuke..."
"Tatewaki, do you still remember what happened?" Mifune took two steps forward, not rushing to catch up on old times.
Masahiko listened quietly from the side as Mifune asked his questions, but ultimately didn't gain much. The samurai named Tatewaki didn't know much either. He only remembered that around noon yesterday, they were suddenly attacked from the sky. Houses collapsed one after another, and after barely protecting himself for a short while, he was buried underneath the rubble.
As for the reason he appeared in the Land of That, it was because he received a commission from the Daimyo of the Land of That—to go to the Land of This to be the guard for the young lord, Shu.
Hearing this, Masahiko felt things were bad. Sure enough... the child started crying again.
"A sudden attack. It doesn't look like it was for treasure, but deliberately aimed at annihilating this country. Is it really because of Kaguya?" Masahiko thought to himself. "No, he had the strength to annihilate the Land of That a long time ago, why only now..."
With too little intelligence known, Masahiko could only temporarily crown that guy with the title of 'Suspected Black Zetsu's Countermeasure'.
On the other side, Mifune and Tatewaki finally finished catching up. Tatewaki now knew that the child was Shu, the young lord of the Land of That, and also knew that Masahiko had saved him.
Struggling to get up, he walked in front of Masahiko and performed a samurai bow. "Thank you for saving me, Senior!"
"Mm." Masahiko nodded and turned to Mifune. "The matter here is basically resolved, we can head back. On the way, I'll explain the strength and goals of Akatsuki to you in detail."
The fat Daimyo immediately spoke up from the side, "Senior Great Ancestor, our Land of This is not far from here, why don't you..."
Masahiko waved his hand to interrupt. "You'd better quickly organize the able-bodied men of your country to return, it's getting late. When I have some free time, I'll go visit your country. Also, the matter of the Goddess has nothing to do with you, and it's not something you can manage either..."
The fat Daimyo immediately nodded, then turned to Mifune. "Lord General, what if that attacker returns..."
Masahiko finally understood what he was worried about and shook his head. "The possibility of his return is not high. If he really comes back... consider yourself unlucky."
The fat Daimyo's face turned green. "Senior Great Ancestor... Lord General Mifune!"
Mifune's face was heavy. "Senior, if that organization really returns and continues to commit such acts of slaughtering cities and annihilating countries..."
Masahiko shook his head. "They probably won't. If they really did... then the only places left in the world would be the original Five Great Nations and our Land of Whirlpools. Even your Land of Iron would have to merge into one of the great nations to have the power to protect yourselves."
Seeing Mifune stunned, Masahiko also sighed helplessly. He felt that this Akatsuki was more troublesome than the one in the original story. With fewer people, they were hard to track down, and they acted without any scruples. Of course, perhaps the Akatsuki in the original story had also slaughtered countries, but it just wasn't shown in the anime?
"You don't need to worry for now, just prepare for the worst. Let's head back first."
Leaving aside the four who came, there was an extra wandering samurai, Tatewaki, on the way back. These samurai all had a certain 'spirit'. Even though his client was gone, Tatewaki still took on the role of Shu's guard. Masahiko was quite happy with this. Shu was considered the only descendant of the Land of That; that guy might come back to look for him. Tatewaki's strength was decent; he should be able to delay him for a few seconds.
"His name is naturally suited to be a guard: Tatewaki (sword-bearing) Guard."
On the way back, Masahiko explained the personnel and goals of Akatsuki to Mifune in detail, and in passing, mentioned the matter of Kaguya. If these words hadn't come out of Masahiko's mouth, Mifune and the others would probably have treated them as mythological stories.
"In other words, this Akatsuki organization is a terrorist organization, and their ultimate goal is to resurrect Madara Uchiha, resurrect the Ten-Tails, and even resurrect the Goddess Kaguya Otsutsuki you mentioned, to... destroy the world?" Mifune confirmed.
Masahiko nodded. "That's roughly it. I don't know much more either."
Hearing so many secrets for the first time, apart from the ignorant child, the three samurai fell into deep thought.
After a long while, Mifune turned around and spoke. "Senior, even if we have to search the entire ninja world, we must eradicate such a dangerous organization!"
Beside them, Tatewaki hesitated before speaking up. "General Mifune, when I was wandering in other countries a few years ago, I seemed to have heard that there is an organization called Akatsuki in the Land of Rain..."
"Oh?" Mifune's spirits lifted.
Masahiko was startled, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, almost digging a hole for Yahiko again.
"It's not them." Masahiko quickly interrupted. "That Akatsuki organization was created by the current leader of the Land of Rain, Yahiko. It's an organization created for the peace of the ninja world. They have already persuaded the Hidden Stone Village and the Hidden Sand Village to join. In a little while, they might even come to the Land of Iron to ask you to join..."
Masahiko explained Yahiko's vision of peace to Mifune. "The fundamental goals of these two Akatsuki organizations are opposites. Yahiko and his group are for peace, while the Akatsuki that annihilated the country is for war."
Mifune nodded thoughtfully, leaving Masahiko stunned.
"I seem to have unknowingly acted as a lobbyist for Yahiko. Normally, it would be impossible for Mifune to agree to the Land of Iron participating in ninja world affairs and joining the Akatsuki organization. But now with the threat of that... 'Dark Akatsuki', that might not necessarily be the case."
Masahiko nodded slightly. "If the Land of Iron can really join, Yahiko's peace plan will have a lot more backing. This country annihilation incident actually helped Yahiko a bit. His luck is truly not bad..."
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