Chapter 90: Konan’s First Encounter With Hydrangeas
Orochimaru had been coveting Kirigakure for a long time.
Since the end of the Third Great Ninja War, after Kagura Yagura succeeded as the Fourth Mizukage, he implemented oppressive policies against Bloodline Limit families, as well as various inexplicable policies, making the entire village extremely chaotic and causing many excellent ninjas to defect.
Several members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen defected, including Jūzō Biwa and Kurotsuchi Raiga.
“Do you have some intelligence?” Menma had reason to suspect that Orochimaru had spy pawns operating in Kirigakure.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to so precisely locate Kimimaro Kaguya and capture Suigetsu Hōzuki.
“Tsk tsk, I do indeed have some intelligence.” Orochimaru chuckled lightly, with a subtle sense of smugness.
Intelligence about the Blood Mist that even a powerful ninja like Shura, who came ‘from the future,’ had failed to grasp.
“When do we go?” Menma figured that the current Blood Mist was the perfect time to abduct people, and he couldn’t let Orochimaru take them all.
Not to mention Kimimaro, they had to at least abduct White Zetsu too.
“Then three days from now.” Orochimaru’s face was full of smiles.
The current Blood Mist was very dangerous; even for a strong practitioner like Orochimaru, if discovered after infiltrating, he would only have the option to flee.
So he wanted to rope in Shura to come along.
After all, Shura’s battle record was verifiable across the entire ninja world, and both Konoha and Cloud Village were still maintaining bounties on Shura.
Orochimaru even had some unofficial news that the bombing of Kusanagi Village was also done by this Shura.
“Alright, three days from now, I’ll wait for you in the Land of Waves.” Menma nodded and turned to leave.
The Land of Water was a country composed of numerous islands. Although Kirigakure had adopted a sealing policy, the Land of Water had not closed its borders, so there were many ways to head there; the simplest was to take a ship directly from a coastal port to a port in the Land of Water.
Then infiltrate Kirigakure by land or sea.
—————
Rain Village, with curtains of rain weaving through, enveloping the entire Rain Village in a hazy mist.
Konan, disguised with Transformation Jutsu, held an oil-paper umbrella and stepped through the puddles in the alleys that had not yet dried, weaving through the dim market.
The humid air was mixed with the smell of mold and rot, just like this country ravaged by war and left full of holes.
“Hey! Get lost, you stinking brat!” A man’s rough scolding pierced through the sound of the rain, drawing Konan’s attention.
She looked toward the sound and saw a meat stall owner viciously driving away several ragged orphans.
Such scenes were common everywhere in the Land of Rain, or rather, orphans were everywhere in the Land of Rain.
Squeezed between the Land of Wind, Land of Earth, and Land of Fire—three great countries—the Land of Rain was constantly interfered with and influenced by foreign ninjas. During the three Great Ninja Wars, it was one of the main battle zones, so the people of the Land of Rain had grown accustomed to the pain of losing loved ones.
This scene was so familiar, reminding Konan of ten years ago, when she, Yahiko, and Nagato huddled in the ruins.
She carried her basket and, as if possessed, followed the group of children. After the little ones turned into an alley, she deliberately dropped a package of food on the ground.
Rain pattered on the oiled paper package, making a faint rustling sound.
But before she could walk far, a clear shout came from behind: “Big Sister!”
Konan turned back in some surprise.
“You dropped something!” A purple-haired girl stood barefoot in the murky rainwater, her tattered umbrella above her head unable to block the pouring rain at all.
The girl was shockingly thin, her ribs clearly visible under her thin clothes, and her stomach even grumbled uncontrollably upon smelling the aroma of the food.
But her pure eyes made Konan seem to see her former companions.
She turned around and feigned indifference: “It’s dirty now, I don’t want it.”
Then Konan used Body Flicker to leave.
The water droplets she stirred up as she vanished traced crystalline arcs in the air.
Watching the big sister suddenly disappear before her, little Konan revealed a yearning expression.
Holding this package of food, she walked back to her little friends.
“Wow! I told you that guy wouldn’t want it!”
“Quick, open it and see what it is? It smells so good!”
“Don’t grab it, you guys! Leave some for me!”
“I want some too! I want some too!”
Konan stood on the upper floor of a building not far away, watching the purple-haired little girl return to share this food with her companions, a warm feeling flowing through her heart.
After returning to the secret base, Konan began preparing meals for Nagato.
Nagato now had both legs completely severed and had to provide chakra sustenance to the Six Paths of Pain statues, so his daily life could only be taken care of by Konan.
“That guy Madara hasn’t been back for a long time, has he?” After the meal, Nagato’s weak voice came from behind Konan.
“It’s been about half a month.” Konan collected the food scraps.
“Looks like that guy Shura last time gave him quite a shadow.” Recalling how the guy who called himself ‘Uchiha Madara’ returned injured last year, Nagato’s weak voice carried sarcasm.
That guy who called himself ‘Uchiha Madara,’ and that one called Zetsu, were clearly no good sorts at first glance.
When ‘Uchiha Madara’ first found the Akatsuki organization seeking cooperation, Yahiko directly refused, on the grounds that he didn’t seem like a good person.
After Yahiko died, Nagato chose to cooperate with them—scheming with tigers while being vigilant against these two guys every moment.
“Zetsu said Shura is a Uchiha clansman adrift outside, very strong. But no other intelligence was provided.” Konan was unclear about ‘Uchiha Madara’s’ strength, but since he called himself ‘Uchiha Madara’ and had once gone to Konoha to cause the Nine-Tails Attack, even Nagato dreaded his phasing ability somewhat.
Thus, the ‘Shura’ who could injure ‘Uchiha Madara’ naturally became a key focus for Nagato and Konan.
“Moreover, because the opponent has ninjas with very strong sensing abilities, Zetsu said he won’t send White Zetsu near Hoshigakure anymore.” Konan added.
“Heh, I know.” Nagato chuckled coldly softly: “That guy is egging me on to go deal with Shura.”
Although Nagato’s Six Paths of Pain were not yet fully completed, combined with the Rinnegan, dealing with some Kage-level strong practitioners was still very easy.
But he had no intention of going along with ‘Uchiha Madara’ and Zetsu’s ideas, rushing off to the Land of Bears to fight a similarly strong ‘Shura.’
“Looks like they really dread Shura’s power.” Konan thought this was a good thing; having an external strong enemy would make ‘Uchiha Madara’ and Zetsu serve the Akatsuki organization better.
When Konan finished handling these chores and continued helping Nagato craft the Six Paths of Pain, a pitcher plant emerged from underground.
“Yo, Leader, Konan.” Zetsu’s white side greeted the two.
“Where did Madara go?” Konan asked first.
“Probably to Kirigakure. You know, every month he has to go reinforce the genjutsu control over Yagura.” Zetsu replied.
Last time they went to Kirigakure together to find suitable members to join the organization, they happened to encounter Yagura preparing to return to the village from outside.
After ‘Uchiha Madara’ defeated Yagura, he used Illusion Technique to control Yagura and the Three-Tails inside him, which gave Nagato and Konan some initial understanding of ‘Madara’s’ strength.
“Kirigakure?” Konan murmured.
The current violent Blood Mist tyranny in that village was created by that guy ‘Madara,’ and who knows what grudge he held against Kirigakure to mess with it from behind the scenes for so many years.
