Nagato didn't completely agree with the masked man's ideology, but neither did he fully reject it. After all, he also believed that true understanding between people was very difficult to achieve.
Later, Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan discussed and decided that Akatsuki could continue cooperating with them, but they would remain highly cautious. The decision of whether or not to capture the tailed beasts would be postponed.
Speaking of tailed beasts—after the attack on the Two-Tails' jinchuriki, the Fourth Raikage was enraged and ordered Kumogakure's ninja to investigate the incident.
Uchiha Yuan and Hyuga Asana had flown in and out without leaving traces, but Kumogakure uncovered something else—apparently, the Three-Tails had been reborn.
Moreover, it hadn't reappeared in the Land of Water, but in the Land of Waves.
When the Fourth Raikage heard this, his eyes lit up. A wild tailed beast? Why should they just hand that over to Kirigakure?
So, the Fourth Raikage immediately sent people to the Land of Waves.
On their end, Obito also learned of the Three-Tails' rebirth through Zetsu. Now that the Fourth Mizukage was under their control, sealing the Three-Tails within him would increase their combat power.
Obito thus had the Mizukage dispatch a team to the Land of Waves.
Back in Konoha—on the day after Orochimaru and Hyuga Asana left—Kakashi led the ANBU directly under the Hokage to seal Orochimaru's laboratory.
Before leaving, Orochimaru had explained that among the remaining three children, two had failed to adapt to the First Hokage's cells. However, their bodies had already been modified and had enhanced chakra and vitality—good candidates to become shinobi.
Yamato still needed a few more months to fully merge with the First Hokage's cells and master Wood Release.
Kakashi's mission during this period was to protect this test subject and prevent anyone from interfering.
Meanwhile, Danzo was like an ant on a hot pan, restless and anxious.
There was no doubt that he was behind exposing Orochimaru's human experiments to the Third and Fourth Hokage.
Danzo's original plan was to force a fallout between Orochimaru and the village. When the village pursued him, Danzo would seize the opportunity to gain control over the Wood Release child.
But what Danzo hadn't anticipated was that the Third and Fourth Hokage actually suppressed the situation, and Orochimaru hadn't rebelled.
Danzo had assumed that with Namikaze Minato's character, he would never tolerate such a thing—even if the Third Hokage wanted to cover it up, Minato wouldn't agree.
He had expected the two Hokage to end up at odds, with the Third being distracted chasing Orochimaru, which would allow Danzo to take the child unnoticed.
But Namikaze Minato had actually chosen to side with the Third Hokage.
"Damn it! How long has Namikaze Minato been Hokage? He's already learned to compromise!" Danzo slammed the table in frustration.
"Danzo-sama, we've noticed many of the Third's ANBU stationed near Root. Every time we enter or exit, we're being followed. Some missions are becoming difficult to carry out," reported one Root shinobi.
Danzo sighed. It was obvious that this was the Third Hokage expressing his discontent.
There wasn't much he could do. The deed had been done, he'd been exposed, and there was always a price to pay.
The Third sending ANBU to monitor him was clearly a move to further restrict his power.
Root had already lost personnel under the Fourth's reforms, and now, even operating freely would be difficult.
But Danzo wasn't in a hurry. He knew Sarutobi Hiruzen well—he was just acting out of anger. After a few days, once he cooled off, Danzo would just need to offer an apology and things would settle.
With that thought, Danzo turned to his subordinates: "Put all missions on hold for now. Wait for my next orders."
"Yes, Danzo-sama!"
Meanwhile, at Uchiha Yuan's home, he had just finished his daily game.
Over the past few months, he had been balancing chakra and ocular power. His current stats looked like this:
Chakra: 944
Constitution: 263
Ocular Power: 1101
Vitality: 445
Nature Affinity: 4
Level: lv59 (40/100)
Attribute Points: 0
Uchiha Yuan estimated that he'd reach level 60 in another half-month.
He always looked forward to major level-ups, since the skills gained from them were very practical.
What he needed most right now was to strengthen himself as quickly as possible.
Now that he had taken control of the Dove Faction, the conflict between the Doves and Hawks had become his problem to handle.
The highest authority among the Hawks was the Elder Uchiha Yuu, but the brains behind their strategies was Uchiha Chizan. Most of the faction's operations were planned by him.
Uchiha Yuan had been gathering information on Chizan and was increasingly uneasy about what he found.
He learned that Chizan specialized in genjutsu and was particularly obsessed with researching it. Like Uchiha Setsuna, he was a fanatical admirer of Uchiha Madara.
Chizan was deeply dissatisfied with the current state of the village. Unlike most Hawks who wanted Uchiha to rule Konoha, he dreamed of leading the clan out of the village, following in Madara's footsteps, and founding a new home.
In Chizan's view, the Uchiha clan didn't need Konoha to survive. On the contrary, the village had always exploited them.
Especially during the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars, Uchiha suffered huge casualties. Chizan suspected that Konoha was targeting the clan intentionally.
So he wanted to leave Konoha and rebuild.
Yuan could understand this perspective—but he didn't agree.
The Sharingan was one of the most powerful bloodlines in the shinobi world, and many sought to obtain it.
If they left the protection of Konoha, the clans and villages interested in the Sharingan would surely attack them.
Even with three Mangekyō Sharingan users, the Uchiha couldn't compete with the overall might of a hidden village—especially when factoring in elite jōnin and regular forces.
The Uchiha only had about 500 ninja left, and not all of them even had the Sharingan. How could they resist all the others?
This was the shinobi world—a world where the strong preyed on the weak. Strength was the only true authority.
So leaving Konoha was clearly unrealistic. Chizan was no fool—he must either have some hidden trump cards, or a fully detailed plan ready to implement.
(To Be Continued...)