Chapter 43: A Mere Jinchuriki, Is That a Problem?

Kakuzu: "???"

Though the Hidden Waterfall Village was only a small ninja village, it possessed a rather unique distinction.

Aside from the Five Great Nations, it was the only hidden village to house a Tailed Beast!

The Seven-Tails, Chomei, resided right within the Waterfall Village.

Among the numerous small and medium-sized hidden villages, this made them entirely one of a kind.

When Shisha made his remark just then, Kakuzu gave such a violent start that he almost strained his century-old lower back!

What kind of joke was this?

This fellow, Uzumaki Shisha, actually claimed he was going to back him for the position of Waterfall Village Leader!

He understood Shisha extremely well.

Shisha was the type of person who would never let go of the hawk until he saw the rabbit.

For Shisha to casually toss out a carrot like this, there had to be an enormous trap hidden behind it!

Without a second thought, Kakuzu immediately shook his head. "This has zero feasibility!"

"The Waterfall Village is different from the Grass Village; the Waterfall Village has a Jinchuriki."

Hearing this, Shisha couldn't help but chuckle.

He spread his hands wide. "Mere Jinchuriki, is that even a problem?"

Kakuzu: "???"

Shisha's words momentarily left Kakuzu stunned.

Yet upon further reflection, Kakuzu realized that things actually seemed to be just like that.

When Shisha had dealt with the wild Three-Tails, Isobu, earlier, he had completely dominated and crushed it throughout the entire process.

Admittedly, a Tailed Beast's strength increased when bound to a Jinchuriki.

Particularly perfect Jinchuriki like Yagura Karatachi, who could achieve an effect where one plus one was greater than two alongside their Tailed Beast.

Still, Kakuzu felt that even if the Waterfall Village's Jinchuriki could perfectly harness the power of the Seven-Tails,

against Uzumaki Shisha, it still wouldn't be enough to look at.

Uzumaki Shisha's true strength had definitively surpassed the Five Kage!

Kakuzu was willing to title him "Beyond Kage."

Observing Kakuzu's conflicted expression, Shisha said indifferently, "No rush, I'll give you three days to consider."

During these three days, his system would be upgrading.

It would be the perfect opportunity for him and Karin to properly stroll around the village.

Once Karin finished eating, Shisha activated the spatial teleportation ability of his "Karma," forming a dark red black hole behind the two of them before they teleported away.

When the two reappeared, they had already arrived atop a tall tower in the Hidden Rain Village.

Due to the constant rainfall in the Hidden Rain Village, its architecture was styled entirely around metal pipes.

As for the living habits of the villagers, people lived on the lower levels, while corpses were kept on the upper levels.

Not long after Shisha and Karin appeared here, a multitude of paper sheets came flying from afar.

These papers quickly converged, transforming into the appearance of Konan.

Upon seeing Shisha and Karin, Konan asked with a completely expressionless face, "What are you two doing here?"

This location was extremely close to the life-support device housing Nagato's true body.

Currently, both Nagato and Konan within the Akatsuki considered Uzumaki Shisha to be the most dangerous individual.

In the off chance that he went erratic at some point and accepted a mission to assassinate the leader of the Akatsuki, coming to assassinate Nagato was a complete possibility!

Shisha hadn't expected that bringing Karin to enjoy the rain scenery would actually end up alarming Konan.

However, after exercising his Mind's Eye perception, he understood what was going on.

Although the room containing Nagato's true body had been fitted with concealment barriers, they were incapable of blocking his Mind's Eye perception.

Because Nagato's real body was nearby, Konan had come straight over the moment he appeared here.

Shisha waved at Konan. "Big Sis Konan, come over and look at the rain scenery."

Hearing this, though Konan maintained her expressionless facade, she rolled her eyes internally.

She had grown up in the Hidden Rain Village since she was a child and had long since seen enough of everything here.

Furthermore, she didn't feel there was anything worth looking at in the rain scenery.

After Yahiko's death, she had completely lost the mood to appreciate scenery.

Karin had initially been somewhat curious about why Shisha had brought her to this place.

Learning that Shisha brought her here to watch the rain scenery, she too couldn't help rolling her eyes.

"Big Sis Konan, there are still many beautiful things in life; you must learn to seek them out."

Konan in her youth had actually been a relatively lively girl.

Following Yahiko's death, Konan suffered a tremendous blow, transforming thereafter into an expressionless iceberg beauty.

Konan originally wanted to ignore Shisha, and the Akatsuki currently had no missions requiring Shisha to execute immediately.

It was just that with Shisha lingering here, she felt somewhat uneasy and needed to keep watch nearby.

Hearing Shisha's previous words, Konan couldn't help but retort, "There are many beautiful things in life—do you mean endless missions?"

Based on her understanding of Shisha, the thing Shisha seemed most interested in was executing missions and earning bounties.

Therefore, this must be the beautiful thing in life to Shisha, right?

"Hahahaha..."

Shisha was directly amused by Konan.

Moreover, Konan remained completely expressionless while talking nonsense with a straight face.

How could anyone's beautiful thing in life be continuously executing missions?

Executing missions was merely a means, not the end.

What truly brought him joy was continuously growing stronger.

Even Kakuzu—wasn't he just doing it for money?

As Shisha laughed heartily, Konan only felt utterly bewildered.

Yet she still faintly sensed that Shisha harbored no malicious intent.

Shisha appearing here with Karin really did seem to be for the purpose of appreciating the rain scenery.

Only, what was there to appreciate about the rain scenery?

This gloomy sky, the ceaseless drifting drizzle, and the accumulated water on the streets—Konan actually disliked them.

While she was pondering these matters in her heart, Shisha's voice rang out once more.

"Big Sis Konan, actually, you could have the ninjas from the Grass Village redesign the village."

"The village's current drainage system is far too crude."

"The buildings in the village also lack aesthetic appeal, looking just like factories."

Hearing this, Konan remained silent.

She didn't care much about these matters right now.

Besides, in her view, the Hidden Rain Village was already quite good as it was.

Compared to the era ruled by Hanzo of the Salamander, and compared to the previous period when it remained sealed off, the village had undoubtedly improved vastly.

If the village could have been as nice as it was now when she, Nagato, and Yahiko were young, they surely would have lived very happily.

Thinking of this, Konan spoke up.

"The village is already very good now; your previous proposal was quite good."

"However, the Akatsuki's goal is not to build villages."

"No matter how well the village is built now, once war breaks out, pain and despair will still descend!"

"Only by realizing the ultimate goal of the Akatsuki will true, eternal happiness appear."

Karin was left completely bewildered listening to Konan's words.

Shisha, however, knew what this was all about—it was actually a scam devised by Black Zetsu with the ultimate purpose of resurrecting Kaguya Otsutsuki.

There was no need to expose these matters just yet, and furthermore, he could guide Konan in a positive direction.

"Big Sis Konan, after the Hidden Rain Village and the Grass Village united, both villages improved across all aspects."

"If all the small and medium-sized hidden villages in the ninja world could unite and form a Shinobi Alliance,"

"then even the Five Great Nations would not dare to rashly wage war against the members of the Shinobi Alliance."

"Numerous small and medium-sized hidden villages each possess fields they excel at or specialized local products."

"Once these goods are freely exchanged to supply each other's needs, every village can achieve rapid development."

"Right now, it's merely the Hidden Rain Village and the Grass Village uniting, and it has already brought such massive improvements to both villages."

"If more hidden villages join this Shinobi Alliance, the advancement of the Hidden Rain Village and the others will be even faster."

As Shisha spoke these words, a thoughtful expression inevitably surfaced in Konan's beautiful eyes.

A long time ago, he had mentioned a similar topic.

Back then, she and Nagato hadn't been certain whether this model was viable or not.

The successful unification of the Hidden Rain Village and the Grass Village had verified the feasibility of this model.

If more hidden villages were to join in and form the Shinobi Alliance that Shisha spoke of, it could indeed to a great degree prevent war.

Ever since the First Shinobi World War, it had always been the great nations clashing while the small countries suffered.

The many small countries sandwiched between several great nations frequently ended up relegated to battlefields for the great nations!

After careful consideration, Konan raised a critically important question.

"How can we ensure that other small and medium-sized hidden villages will cooperate with the Hidden Rain Village just like the Grass Village did?"

This question was not easy to answer.

The reason the Grass Village cooperated so closely with the Hidden Rain Village was because the upper echelons of the Grass Village had been rounded up in one go by Muryo!

Right now over at the Grass Village, whether it was Village Chief Chino or Elder Gima and the others, they were all senior wage laborers.

The entire Grass Village had become Muryo's personal dictatorship.

Though Konan's question was difficult to answer, Shisha answered it nonetheless.

"This matter is actually quite easy to handle."

"For these hidden villages, we can first subjugate them with force, and then reason with them by appealing to emotions, making sense of logic, and tempting them with benefits."

"Using both kindness and severity, we needn't fear these hidden villages failing to fall in line."

"Furthermore, following the union of the Hidden Rain Village and the Grass Village, the rapid development of the two villages must have already been reported back by spies from other hidden villages."

"Once the higher-ups of these small and medium-sized hidden villages see the benefits of village unification, they might even actively request to join the Shinobi Alliance."

"Of course, the Five Great Nations will be unwilling to see such a closely united Shinobi Alliance exist."

"After all, the vast majority of small and medium-sized hidden villages are either victims along the development path of the Five Great Nations or else vassals to them."

"Once numerous small and medium-sized hidden villages unite closely, it will exert a massive impact on the interests of the Five Great Nations."

While Shisha was discussing these matters, the beautiful eyes of Karin, who stood beside him, were already filled with dizzying swirls.

There was no help for it; her little brain simply couldn't comprehend such complex matters.

It seemed she would be like Shisha from now on, becoming a new-generation mission-harvesting machine.

After listening to Shisha finish, Konan wore a contemplative look on her face.

The Akatsuki intended to collect all the Tailed Beasts, placing them naturally in opposition to the Five Great Nations.

Binding all small and medium-sized hidden villages to their war chariot to jointly resist the Five Great Nations was indeed a brilliant idea.

Konan's true body was also communicating with Nagato at this very moment.

"Nagato, what do you think of the ideas Uzumaki Shisha just talked about?"

Inside the life-support device, Nagato was skin and bones, yet his mind remained extremely active.

After brief consideration, he said, "If his ideas can be realized one by one, they are very sound concepts."

"During the era of the First Hokage, due to his strength reigning supreme across the ninja world, the ninja world also attained a brief peace."

"If the Shinobi Alliance that Uzumaki Shisha spoke of can be formed, for a considerable time to come, the numerous small and medium-sized hidden villages will likely not be dragged into the flames of war."

"Of course, the most important point is that as the Akatsuki begins continuously collecting Tailed Beasts, it will inevitably generate conflict with the Five Great Nations."

"Depending solely on the Akatsuki, or solely on the strength of the Hidden Rain Village, it is impossible to contend against the Five Great Nations."

"With the assistance of other small and medium-sized hidden villages, the Akatsuki will be able to advance its plan better."

"The premise is that he must be able to make other small and medium-sized hidden villages willingly join the Shinobi Alliance."

"In short, ignore him for now and watch how he acts next."

"Cough, cough, cough..."

After speaking a great deal in one breath, Nagato began to cough violently.

Seeing this, Konan felt a growing wave of anxiety regarding Nagato's health within her heart.

Both Nagato and Yahiko were exceptionally important partners to her.

Up on the tower in the Hidden Rain Village, Konan's paper clone cast a deep look at Shisha before transforming into countless flying paper fragments and dispersing.

Upon seeing this, Karin said with a somewhat envious tone, "Lord Shisha, I want to learn this jutsu!"

"No! You don't!" Shisha reached out and ruffled Karin's hair.

Konan's paper clone technique was not something so easily learned.

In Shisha's impression, this jutsu seemed to be something only Konan could perform.

"This should be some kind of special secret jutsu, you can't learn it."

Karin didn't dwell on it for long. "Shisha, can I go out and buy some ingredients, then come back and practice cooking?"

Her beautiful eyes were filled with anticipation.

"This..."

After careful consideration, Shisha said, "Alright, but if it doesn't taste good, you'll be responsible for eating the food all by yourself."

"It definitely won't taste bad!" Finished speaking, Karin caused a distorted, transparent vortex to appear before her, and the next instant she vanished from their residence.

Witnessing this scene, Shisha felt somewhat between laughter and tears.

Karin had been led astray by him; nowadays she didn't even bother walking when going out, directly opening Kamui to go wherever she wanted.

Though he wondered what Obito would think if he ever saw a dual-Kamui user.

As for Shisha himself, when it came to space he had the system space, and for teleportation he had the much faster and more convenient "Karma."

Before long, Karin returned having purchased several ingredients and headed straight for the kitchen.

"Wait!"

Thinking of Kushina's somewhat cringe-worthy culinary skills, Shisha quickly stopped Karin.

"Little Karin, seeing as this is your first time cooking, I think it's better if I take you out to an open-air area to try it."

With that, Shisha tidied up the kitchen before bringing Karin, the cooking utensils, and the ingredients all together out into the wilderness.

Karin asked with utter incomprehension, "Shisha, why do we have to go outdoors to cook?"

Hearing this, Shisha smiled and said, "Some ninjas look like they're cooking on the outside, but in reality, they might be manufacturing explosive tags, so going outdoors is much safer."

Hearing this, Karin couldn't help rolling her eyes.

However, she soon went over to a nearby stream to wash the ingredients and began cutting them up on a chopping board.

Shisha took just one look before he determined that bringing Karin to an open space in the wilderness to cook was a remarkably wise choice.

After all, Karin was still a little cutie right now; she possessed zero knife skills, and as a ninja, the food she cut out ended up looking bizarrely shaped!

After igniting the stove fire with firewood, Karin proceeded to pour half a pot of oil directly into the wok.

Half a pot was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was at least a quarter pot of oil, all set for stir-frying!

Seeing this, Shisha could only massage his temples with a headache.

Fortunately, he had harbored zero expectations for Karin's cooking skills.

Now it seemed Karin truly didn't know how to cook.

"Whoosh!"

Because there was too much oil and it had heated in the pot for too long, the oil inside directly burst into flames.

Seeing this, Karin was startled.

She prepared to run over to the nearby stream to fetch water and put out the fire!

"Stop!"

Shisha stopped Karin once more, then moved the oil wok to the side and covered it with a pot lid to cut off the air supply.

Without sufficient oxygen inside the oil wok, the flames quickly extinguished.

Shisha didn't explain the principles to Karin; with her little brain, she probably wouldn't understand if he told her right now.

As long as she knew how to handle such situations when they arose, that was enough.

One had to admit, failure was the mother of success.

Having experienced her first failure, Karin not only learned that she couldn't use that much oil, but also that the oil wok couldn't be heated for too long.

It was just that when she started deep-frying meat balls this time,

the oil in the wok was still splattering everywhere.

"Susanoo!"

Initially, Karin had felt somewhat frightened.

If that scalding hot oil splashed onto her skin, she would definitely get burned!

However, if she used the Susanoo to protect herself, and manipulated the Susanoo to cook, she wouldn't have to worry about this trouble at all!

"Huh? This..."

Not far away, witnessing this scene, Shisha was completely dumbfounded.

Karin could actually use Susanoo?

Since she already had Eternal Mangekyo, it didn't seem that strange that she could use Susanoo.

No, wait!

Was Susanoo meant to be used like this?

If the ancestors of the Uchiha clan were to see this, wouldn't they pop their coffin lids right open?

Of course, whether it was ninjutsu or dojutsu, they were ultimately tools for ninjas to achieve certain goals.

That being the case, Karin using Susanoo like this right now didn't seem to be a problem either.

This attempt by Karin to learn cooking turned out to be relatively successful.

Only, due to her rather unconventional cooking style,

she would probably only be able to cook food out in open wilderness areas from now on.

Once Karin finished cooking, she tearfully ate the blackened deep-fried meat balls all by herself.

The food she cooked was edible, though the texture left much to be desired.

When she finished cleaning up the cooking and culinary utensils, Shisha used the spatial teleportation ability of "Karma" to take her back to their residence.

Having a karma seal truly made things exceptionally convenient—she could go wherever she wanted.