Chapter 425: Amamiya Kenichi's Intelligence Network
"I didn't expect you to take over the Land of Water and Kirigakure all by yourself."
Inside the phantom body space, only Amamiya Kenichi and Nagato remained. Nagato no longer bothered hiding his true intentions.
"It was just good luck. Besides, Kirigakure's strength wasn't that impressive anyway," Kenichi said with a shrug.
Occupying Kirigakure had indeed exceeded his expectations. At first, he had thought that a single atomic bomb would not be enough to deal with the village.
After all, Kirigakure still had the Three-Tails.
Who would have thought that even the Three-Tails could not stop Kenichi's atomic bomb? Although it had survived, it had barely been clinging to life. In the end, Kenichi had simply ended its suffering.
Perhaps atomic bombs had some special bonus effect in the ninja world.
"Even if it wasn't impressive, it was still one of the great ninja villages," Nagato said, looking at Kenichi with a complicated expression.
Although he had decided to cooperate with Kenichi back then, he had never expected Kenichi to advance this quickly.
Without even needing Nagato's help, Kenichi had occupied Kirigakure and the Land of Water on his own.
That made Nagato's gaze toward him rather complex.
This guy was truly a madman.
Occupying Kirigakure and the Land of Water was not the real problem. After all, if Nagato wanted to do such a thing, it would not be impossible. The Super Shinra Tensei he had prepared earlier had the power to flatten an entire ninja village, and he also had a way to deal with the Three-Tails.
However, the trouble had never been the occupation itself.
The real trouble was the situation one had to face afterward.
The Akatsuki possessed enough strength to occupy a ninja village and a country, but Nagato had been biding his time until now. The plan to collect the Tailed Beasts had not even begun yet.
His intention was simple. If he did not act, then he would remain still. But once he did act, he would strike decisively and collect all the Tailed Beasts as quickly as possible.
That was the only way to avoid being discovered by the ninja villages and then jointly besieged.
Even with the Rinnegan, Nagato still felt uncertain about facing the combined siege of five villages. That was precisely why he had spent so long preparing.
But he had not expected Kenichi to move so quickly.
Before Nagato was even ready, Kenichi had already taken down Kirigakure and severely wounded the Allied Shinobi Forces.
That made Nagato feel as if he could no longer fully see through Kenichi.
"If we move the base here, will that guy notice anything?" Kenichi narrowed his eyes.
At first, he had disagreed with moving the Akatsuki's base to the Land of Water. After all, keeping the Akatsuki rooted in the center of the ninja world was also beneficial to him.
If the four great ninja villages chose to attack the Land of Water at the same time, then with the Akatsuki stationed in the center of the ninja world, his strategic options would be much broader.
At that time, if they attacked from two directions, perhaps they could even ambush the various ninja villages. Or they could have Nagato use Super Shinra Tensei in the other ninja villages to quickly stabilize the overall situation.
Kenichi had been very curious about this before.
If Nagato's Super Shinra Tensei was so terrifyingly powerful, why had he not simply spent a few days using one Super Shinra Tensei on each ninja village?
If he had done that, there would not have been so many later troubles with the Allied Shinobi Forces.
Super Shinra Tensei had flattened Konoha, killing countless ninja. Even Kakashi had died during Nagato's attack on Konoha. One could imagine how powerful that technique was.
Even if some powerful individuals could survive, it could still solve most problems and even nip in the bud those geniuses who might become threats in the future.
However, Kenichi later realized that his identity as the Heavenly Demon had already been exposed. Konoha and the other ninja villages knew about it now.
If the Akatsuki continued to remain in the center of the ninja world, there was a very high possibility that they would be besieged.
Moreover, moving the Akatsuki's base to the Land of Water would also make it easier for Kenichi to monitor and research Obito and Black Zetsu.
After all, if Nagato was in the Land of Water, there was no way Uchiha Obito would not come, right?
Once Obito came, Black Zetsu would naturally follow.
When Black Zetsu arrived, Kenichi wanted to research how exactly Black Zetsu crossed the sea. Could he possibly merge into seawater?
At the same time, Kenichi could also strike at Obito.
When Obito arrived, Kenichi could bring out the resurrected Rin Nohara in front of him.
Then, with Rin's cooperation, he could arrange a carefully staged scene to shake Obito even further and strike at that bastard from multiple angles.
For Obito, crushing his heart was the cruelest method.
"Probably not. After all, the news that you, the Heavenly Demon, attacked the Allied Shinobi Forces and caused the death of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, has already spread throughout the ninja world," Nagato said, shaking his head.
He was not too worried about this issue.
He had only made this decision today after hearing that piece of intelligence. After all, with the Heavenly Demon attacking Konoha's Hokage and causing the Hokage's death, it was perfectly normal for the Akatsuki to choose to move to the Land of Water to avoid being implicated.
Even if that man was extremely suspicious, he would not be able to find any obvious clues.
After all, if the Akatsuki continued to stay in the Land of Rain, it would eventually be attacked by the various ninja villages.
Kenichi nodded.
That was true.
He had already killed Hiruzen Sarutobi as the Heavenly Demon.
Although the Akatsuki would also attract serious attention from the other ninja villages, it could not be ruled out that they might be besieged by those villages.
In that case, choosing to relocate was also normal.
"Have you tried researching them during this period? What were the results?" Kenichi yawned.
He had already exited the phantom body space and returned to the capital of the Land of Water, to his own laboratory. Now he could slowly chat with Nagato about what had happened during this period.
"No. Their behavior has been very normal. I also tried searching for the person you mentioned, but even with the Rinnegan, I couldn't find any trace of him," Nagato said, clearly in a poor mood.
He had tried searching for Black Zetsu before, but he simply could not find him.
That had made Nagato lose his appetite for a while.
After all, the thought that someone might be hiding nearby and watching while he ate made his entire body uncomfortable.
He had even worried that Konan might be spied on while bathing.
Konan was also his friend, but she was a woman. Nagato had not known how to bring up such a thing.
"If that guy were so easy to find, he wouldn't be so disgusting," Kenichi said, not especially concerned.
Black Zetsu's combat ability might not be impressive, but his concealment ability was definitely at the highest level.
In a sense, if Black Zetsu were treated as the true protagonist of Naruto, then the whole story would become a behind-the-scenes novel about Black Zetsu saving his mother, where Black Zetsu, acting as the hidden mastermind, achieved his ambitions by taking advantage of Uchiha Madara's foolishness.
But this also indirectly proved that Black Zetsu's own strength was not particularly great.
If Black Zetsu were truly powerful, then why would he need Uchiha Madara to act at all?
He could simply complete the plan by himself.
It was precisely because Black Zetsu lacked sufficient ability that he had to borrow Uchiha Madara's power.
Therefore, it could be concluded that Black Zetsu did not possess the power to subdue the Tailed Beasts. At the very least, he definitely could not subdue the Nine-Tails.
"Who exactly is this person you mentioned?" Nagato frowned as he looked at Kenichi.
He knew very little about Black Zetsu. All he knew was that Black Zetsu was with the person who called himself Uchiha Madara.
"I don't know. The only time I saw him was at the Akatsuki's base," Kenichi said, shaking his head.
Although he knew that Black Zetsu was a temporary creation left behind by Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, how was he supposed to explain that to Nagato?
Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's appearance back then had been a massive plot hole because there had basically been no foreshadowing beforehand.
Everyone had thought Uchiha Madara was the greatest villain and the final boss. Who could have known that Ōtsutsuki Kaguya would suddenly appear?
Then Black Zetsu suddenly betrayed Madara, pierced through his heart, and began narrating his grand plan and everything behind it.
So, was Kenichi supposed to tell Nagato the story of Black Zetsu saving his mother?
If he did, he would also have to explain why he knew about such ancient events, and that would be far too troublesome.
Nagato sighed.
Not knowing that person's true identity made Nagato uneasy.
With such powerful concealment ability, what exactly was Black Zetsu planning?
And why had he joined the Akatsuki?
Moreover, that person had never revealed this ability in front of Nagato.
What was he trying to do by concealing it?
His intentions were truly damnable.
"Oh, right. When the Akatsuki moves here, I want to research the Gedō Mazō," Kenichi said, remembering an important matter.
The Gedō Mazō was the husk of the Divine Tree.
Although all nine Tailed Beasts had been extracted from it, leaving only an empty shell, it should still possess research value.
"That's fine. After all, I still need to compensate you. But didn't you already take some of it before?" Nagato looked at Kenichi in confusion.
He remembered that Kenichi had already exchanged rewards for it previously.
"I can never have too much of that kind of thing," Kenichi said with a smile.
But in his mind, he had a unique idea.
The Gedō Mazō's strength was decent, but its complete form required the fusion of all nine Tailed Beasts to create the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki.
Kenichi was thinking that if he could research the Gedō Mazō and then fill it with all nine Tailed Beasts, that would also be a way for him to become stronger.
However, there was a prerequisite.
One needed to awaken the Rinnegan.
The control of the Gedō Mazō should be directly related to the Rinnegan. Without the Rinnegan, controlling the Gedō Mazō would probably be impossible.
Therefore, Kenichi first planned to research whether the Gedō Mazō could be destroyed.
If it could be destroyed, then even if Uchiha Madara were resurrected, it would not be a major problem.
However, even if Uchiha Madara were resurrected now, it probably would not be too troublesome.
After all, the Gedō Mazō required an enormous amount of chakra. The reason Nagato was so emaciated was because he had been drained after summoning the Gedō Mazō.
If he used it a few more times, he probably would not even need to wait for Naruto to grow up and use Talk no Jutsu. Nagato would already have passed away.
If Uchiha Madara were resurrected, he would have to solve two problems.
The first was how to retrieve the Rinnegan.
The second was how to fully resurrect.
Now that Chiyo was dead, there was no one else who knew the One's Own Life Reincarnation.
"No problem," Nagato said without refusing.
It was only the Gedō Mazō.
If Kenichi's plan could be successfully implemented, then even giving the Gedō Mazō to Kenichi would not matter.
Nagato only wanted to create a world of peace.
To fulfill his dear friend's final wish.
After exiting the phantom body space, Kenichi massaged his temples.
The current situation in the ninja world was somewhat strange.
He was not entirely sure what the other four ninja villages were thinking, nor did he know what Konoha intended to do.
Although he had Yakushi Kabuto and Uchiha Shiori establish an intelligence network, building an intelligence network was never a simple matter. It was too difficult to produce results in a short period of time.
At present, the only reliable ways to obtain intelligence were to buy it from information brokers and to have Kabuto provide it.
Before Kenichi could even finish handling the affairs of the ninja world, Obito and Black Zetsu were already coming.
That only made Kenichi even busier.
"Shiori."
Kenichi called out.
Uchiha Shiori instantly appeared before him using the Body Flicker Technique and respectfully lowered her head.
"...Take this to Yakushi Kabuto. You know where he is, right?" Kenichi wrote something on a slip of paper and handed it to Shiori.
Shiori respectfully accepted it and nodded.
She did know Kabuto's location.
Immediately afterward, Shiori extended her hand, and the slip of paper disappeared from her grasp.
Kenichi stroked his chin.
Although he did not know whether this would succeed, he still had to try.
If it succeeded, that would naturally be best.
If it failed, it did not matter.
It was only a casual move.
"...That lord's ideas truly are unique."
Yakushi Kabuto was not surprised by the sudden appearance of the slip of paper.
He picked it up and glanced at it. For a moment, he was stunned. Then he could not help licking his lips.
During this period, he had been causing trouble in Iwagakure according to Kenichi's request, inciting the emotions of the villagers. The effect had been quite good.
"Indeed, the emotions of the populace can be guided," Kabuto said as he looked at Iwagakure outside, a faint smile appearing on his face.
Then he turned and began packing his belongings.
Since Lord Amamiya had issued a new order, it was almost time for him to leave this place.
Moreover, Iwagakure's hounds had been tracking him during this period. If he did not leave soon, escaping would become difficult.
Kabuto touched his face.
Fortunately, that lord had given him a Ninjutsu especially suited for spies.
With this face, leaving Iwagakure would not be a problem.
It just so happened that, during this period, Iwagakure was organizing merchant caravans on a large scale.
Previously, the caravans had been attacked by enemies. Now that this issue had been resolved, they had to quickly resume their normal lives.
Thus, a merchant from Iwagakure named Tsuchiken Hiroshi left Iwagakure with a caravan and headed toward Konoha.
Not long after Tsuchiken Hiroshi left, Iwagakure's Anbu arrived at the room where he had been staying.
However, they found no clues whatsoever.
In the end, the Anbu could only leave the room in frustration.
.....
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