After Yahiko woke up, he looked at Uchiha En with a confused expression. He didn't recall anyone named Uchiha En being in the Akatsuki Organization.
"Who are you? Why are you in our base?" Yahiko asked.
"Let's save that question until after you've seen Nagato and Konan! I don't want to explain myself twice."
Hearing the names Nagato and Konan, Yahiko remembered what had just happened. He subconsciously covered his chest, only to find it completely unharmed.
Yahiko froze for a moment, then jumped off the bed and ran outside.
Konan, who had been waiting anxiously, burst into tears of joy when she saw Yahiko run out full of life. Nagato's eyes were also red-rimmed.
After the three chatted for a while, they finally turned their attention to Uchiha En.
"Friend, thank you very much for saving me. Nagato said you were sent by the Hokage, so you must be a Konoha Ninja, right?" Yahiko asked.
"That's right. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Uchiha En."
"Uchiha? You are a member of the Uchiha Clan? But isn't the Uchiha Clan..."
"Konan! That's enough!" Konan's words were cut short by Yahiko.
Konan realized she had said something inappropriate, and her expression became awkward.
Uchiha En, however, didn't mind. It was common knowledge in the Ninja World that the Uchiha Clan and the Hokage Faction didn't get along.
"Ahem! Uchiha En, why would your Hokage help us?" Yahiko asked, pulling the conversation back.
"There are three reasons. First, Hokage-sama is a lover of peace, and he hopes Amegakure can be as peaceful as Konoha. Hanzou clearly cannot achieve this, and Hokage-sama believes you are more likely to bring peace to Amegakure than Hanzou."
"Second, Hokage-sama and you share the same teacher. Hokage-sama's name is Minato Namikaze, and he is also a disciple of Jiraiya, one of the Sannin."
"Third, Hokage-sama's wife is named Uzumaki Kushina. Nagato, you should be very familiar with the surname Uzumaki, shouldn't you?"
Hearing Uchiha En's question, Nagato subconsciously nodded. That was his mother's surname.
"Kushina-sama has red hair just like you. She, like your father or mother, is a survivor after the fall of the Uzumaki Clan. You two should be considered clansmen."
"If you count it up, you truly have a destiny with Hokage-sama—you are fellow disciples and also kinsmen of Hokage-sama's wife. No wonder Hokage-sama chose to trust you." Uchiha En sighed.
After hearing Uchiha En's words, the three—Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan—had differing expressions.
Nagato looked bewildered. He had heard his mother speak of the Uzumaki Clan when he was little, and he had thought his mother was the only survivor. He never expected there to be other clansmen.
Konan, on the other hand, recalled the days she spent with Jiraiya; those were the happiest times of her life.
Only Yahiko had not fully relaxed his guard. He hesitated before asking Uchiha En, "Uchiha En, if I remember correctly, besides the Amegakure Ninja, there was a group of Ninja dressed similarly to Konoha Anbu among those who ambushed us. Who were they?"
Uchiha En had no intention of hiding anything and immediately sold out Danzo.
When Yahiko heard that Hanzou had actually contacted people from Konoha to eliminate them, he trembled with rage.
"So you came here because the Hokage discovered Danzo's suspicious movements, then sent people to investigate and learned of our existence, which is why you came to help, right?" Yahiko continued to ask.
Uchiha En nodded, confirming it.
"Does the Hokage intend to support us against Hanzou?"
"No, Hokage-sama has no such intention. We won't be providing any further assistance. Hokage-sama only sent me to help this time due to personal feelings; it has nothing to do with Konoha's politics."
Yahiko fell silent upon hearing this. To be honest, the Akatsuki Organization's development had entered a bottleneck. If the Hokage were willing to support them, it would indeed be a good path forward, but doing so would inevitably mean losing some autonomy.
Yahiko had originally assumed the Hokage sent someone to help them for this exact purpose, and he was actually conflicted about whether to form an alliance with the Hokage.
But judging by Uchiha En's attitude, he had been overthinking things.
Since the Hokage sent Uchiha En purely to help, they should express their gratitude, both for emotional reasons and logical ones.
With no conflict of interest involved, the attitude of Yahiko and the others toward Uchiha En improved significantly. After sitting down and chatting for a while, they became much more familiar with each other.
At this point, Uchiha En changed the subject and said, "Yahiko, Nagato, Konan, have you noticed something?"
"What is it?" Yahiko asked.
"Your Akatsuki Organization is being targeted by many people. Just now, when I entered your base, I noticed someone monitoring you underground." As Uchiha En finished speaking, lightning flashed in his hand, followed immediately by a scream from beneath the ground.
Hearing this, Nagato formed hand signs and used Earth Release to bring the corpse from underground. The body was none other than a White Zetsu.
Yahiko and the others' expressions changed drastically upon seeing the White Zetsu. They hadn't noticed this guy's presence at all. When did he sneak into the Akatsuki Organization's base?
"These forces are complex and intertwined, but their sole purpose for approaching you is Nagato's Rinnegan."
"Then what should we do?" Konan asked.
"If you want to protect the Rinnegan, you must make yourselves stronger quickly. Nagato, when you were confronting Hanzou just now, you should have awakened some of the Rinnegan's abilities, correct?"
"This power is the key. As far as I know, the Rinnegan can grant a portion of its Eye power to a person, regardless of whether that person is alive or dead."
"As long as you become more skilled at using the Rinnegan, when you can remotely control a person using the Rinnegan's Eye power, the corpse can move and even use some of the Rinnegan's abilities."
"You can use these corpses as substitutes, and you and Yahiko can retreat into the shadows. Let the corpses openly control the Akatsuki Organization, while you secretly search for those hostile towards you."
"This incident where Yahiko was 'killed' is an excellent opportunity to retreat into the shadows."
"But this guy has been watching us for so long; he might have already sent out the intelligence that Yahiko is still alive," Nagato said, pointing at the White Zetsu.
"Don't worry! In my perception, this guy never left the underground beneath your base. He shouldn't have had time to exchange information," Uchiha En said.
Yahiko and the others clearly took Uchiha En's words to heart, and all three fell into contemplation.
Nagato certainly wouldn't be able to control corpses in the short term, but he had already received inspiration from Uchiha En. The birth of the six paths of pain should happen much earlier than in the original work.
Uchiha En didn't say anything more. Too much talk leads to mistakes, and he had already done enough.
Afterward, Uchiha En said goodbye to Yahiko and the others and returned to Konoha.
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