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"I know of it," the Raikage said, his brows knitting together. He still couldn't quite follow where Midorima was going with this.
Midorima gave a small nod. "The leader of Akatsuki possesses the Rinnegan."
"What?" A's mouth fell open. He stared at Midorima in genuine shock. "You're serious? But isn't that supposed to be an eye technique only the Sage of the Six Paths ever had?"
Midorima shrugged. "Believe it or not. But I can tell you this much: Akatsuki's plan is to use the Rinnegan to collect all nine tailed beasts and ultimately fuse them into the Ten-Tails. I'm sure you've heard the legend. Everyone knows the tailed beasts were originally one single entity. The Sage of the Six Paths divided that power into nine separate beings. What Akatsuki is trying to do is reverse that process—recreate the Ten-Tails."
"That's just a legend," A said, shaking his head dismissively.
From the very founding of the five great ninja villages, there had always been nine tailed beasts. While stories claimed the Sage had split the Ten-Tails into nine parts, no one had ever witnessed such an event. To most people it remained nothing more than myth.
"Is the Rinnegan itself just a legend too?" Midorima countered.
A's lips curled into a faint, skeptical smirk. "Even if everything you're saying is true, there's still one thing your story can't explain. If the Rinnegan really has the power to collect tailed beasts, why hasn't anyone tried it before now?"
Because no one before had encountered Uchiha Madara—or rather, the person pretending to be him.
Midorima kept that thought to himself. Out loud he said, "We need to go back to the beginning. Do you know where Akatsuki's base is located?"
"Where?"
"The Hidden Rain Village."
"That village!" A's eyes narrowed as recognition hit him.
The Hidden Rain was technically only a minor ninja village, yet it had repeatedly found itself at the center of major battlefields.
"Exactly," Midorima confirmed with a nod. "That one."
"Hmph. If they're bold enough to pull strings behind the scenes, I'll wipe them out myself!" A growled through clenched teeth.
"While I hate Akatsuki as much as anyone, I don't recommend dragging the Hidden Rain Village into this," Midorima said, shaking his head.
"What do you mean? Are you saying the shinobi they killed don't deserve justice?" A snapped, anger rising again.
"Do you know why Akatsuki is collecting tailed beasts in the first place?" Midorima asked in return. "Nothing happens without reason—not even the atrocities committed by people like them. There has to be some motive driving their actions, right?"
"You're saying… you actually know what it is?"
"I know a little," Midorima admitted. "It all started during the Second Great Ninja War. Hanzo became the spark that ignited the entire conflict. In the end, the war turned on his own village and made the Hidden Rain one of its main battlegrounds. As the instigator, Hanzo deserved to die for what he did. But the strangest thing about the ninja world is this: despite being the root cause, Hanzo somehow survived the Second War. Yet the conflict left the Hidden Rain devastated. Hanzo eventually parted ways with another group of people who genuinely wanted peace. The divide grew so severe that they stood on the brink of open warfare. That second group eventually became Akatsuki—or at least the precursor to the organization we know today. Hanzo died in that internal struggle, but the Hidden Rain never recovered. The village grew poorer and more desolate with every passing year. Friends and family members perished in the war. Even the so-called victors often ended up completely alone. Akatsuki never abandoned their original goal, but they changed their method of achieving it."
"By fusing the Ten-Tails?" A asked.
"Exactly."
"Childish," A scoffed. "As if the Ten-Tails could ever stop wars from breaking out."
"I thought the same thing," Midorima said. "Their idea is to use the Ten-Tails to trigger a war on a scale so massive that humanity will never forget the pain it causes—thereby preventing future wars forever. To me, that kind of thinking is almost adorably naïve. They understand power, but they don't understand people. Greed is stronger than the fear of death. Besides, human lifespans are finite. The old generation dies off; a new one rises to take their place. The great wars exist only in history books for the young. To them those events are just 'legends'—the same way the Ten-Tails and the Sage of the Six Paths are legends. Humans forget. Always."
Before crossing over, Midorima had watched footage of wars far more brutal than anything in the ninja world. Yet time after time, war arrived—perhaps delayed, but never absent.
A fell silent. Midorima's words echoed in his mind.
He had never seriously considered the connection between war and collective forgetting. But now that someone had pointed it out, the logic felt undeniable.
"From a personal standpoint," Midorima continued, "I despise their methods, but I actually agree with their stated goal. The truth is, the people who should be working toward that goal aren't Akatsuki or any single individual. It should be the five great ninja villages. Don't glare at me—you know exactly what I mean."
A frowned but shook his head, waiting for the explanation.
"The wars between the five great villages always drag smaller villages into the crossfire. Sometimes even conflicts between minor villages have the fingerprints of one of the great powers behind them. The major villages have never truly led by example or worked to stabilize the surrounding smaller ones. Instead they pull those villages in as pawns… As Akatsuki gradually became what they are today, the great villages bear part of the responsibility. You showed them that the old path was impossible."
A looked at Midorima again. This time he saw real anger in the other man's eyes—anger directed not only at Akatsuki, but at the great villages themselves, including the Hidden Cloud.
"I never wanted things to turn out this way…" A muttered, voice thick with frustration.
"Right now Akatsuki already has several of the tailed beasts. The five great villages have to act—together. Otherwise it won't just be the five great villages at risk. The entire ninja world could get dragged in." Midorima paused, then added, "And there's something else I need to say about Killer B."
"What?" A's gaze snapped to his brother.
Killer B looked equally confused. "This involves me?"
"Yes," Midorima confirmed. "Akatsuki captured one of Killer B's clones. For the moment they won't come after him directly, but if he keeps moving around freely and they discover the deception, they'll target him again. Next time he might not be so lucky. Until this is resolved, it's best if Killer B stays low-profile."
Killer B's temper flared; he opened his mouth to argue. But before he could speak, A cut in.
"Fine. That's what we'll do."
"But I—" Killer B started to protest, raising a hand. The moment his eyes met his brother's stern gaze, he deflated instantly.
"He won't be going anywhere," A said firmly. Then his tone grew more serious. "But there is one major problem. Fighting Akatsuki alone would be nearly impossible for the Hidden Cloud. The other great villages have shown almost no interest in uniting against them. Even the Mizukage has probably already returned to the Hidden Mist by now. My thinking is this: the five great villages might eventually take Akatsuki seriously—but only if there's a clear catalyst to force their hand."