Because he had deliberately and inadvertently absorbed a great deal of information about the ninja world over the past few months, Akashō now understood ninjas far better than when he used to laze around. So he came up with what he believed to be the most reasonable explanation on his own.
By midnight, the four of them had turned over every stone. Forget Obito's body—even the underground passage Akashō had come out of earlier had completely collapsed and vanished.
Since Akashō never mentioned the tunnel, Kakashi and the other two, having found nothing, could only give up searching for Obito's body and sit down to rest.
Watching their dejected expressions, Akashō quietly calculated his next move.
The Earth–Fire battlefield was almost certainly about to end. As the final battlefield, its conclusion would signal that the Third Great Ninja War was entering its final stage. His "harvesting" plan could no longer continue.
But now, Akashō had already shifted his target. No longer focusing on tightly gathered ninja forces or powerful leaders he could reap in bulk, he aimed instead at figures of great status and reputation—so that the name of the Dark Council would spread, elevating the fame of Kokushibo and the others.
That was the subtle difference between the two phases of his plan. Both involved stirring up trouble, but one focused purely on immediate gains, while the other balanced both immediate and long-term gains.
More importantly, Akashō had once asked the system a question: if a genin contributed reputation points through fear, and later grew stronger to the level of a jonin, could he still provide reputation points?
Surprisingly, that trash system had given him a direct answer.
Whether reputation points could be obtained again had nothing to do with the target's growth in strength—it depended on whether fear or respect for Akashō still existed in their heart.
Taken further, that became quite complicated and required deeper investigation.
At present, Akashō had also confirmed through experiments that Shadow Clones and the Villain Template could complement each other. The details of his next plan would need careful consideration.
Unfortunately, the backlash from using Shadow Clones transformed into template characters seemed rather severe. Today, Bertholdt Hoover and Neferpitou had only traveled for a few hours and fought a relatively easy battle, yet it nearly pushed Akashō to the brink of death.
Was it because his main body was still too weak?
Biting his finger, Akashō frowned deeply.
"By the way, Akashō."
Minato Namikaze suddenly broke the heavy silence. Walking over, he hesitated before saying,
"Tomorrow, come with us to blow up the bridge. Once the war ends, you should go back to Kokushibo."
Akashō: "???"
What the hell?
Had Minato lost his mind?
Why was he suddenly kicking him out?
Could it be that after being suppressed by Bertholdt earlier, he'd gotten fired up and wanted to use him as bait for another trap?
Akashō stared blankly at Minato and cautiously asked, "Can you tell me why?"
Minato sighed. "Akashō, you might not realize just how troublesome Kokushibo and the others have become in the eyes of the four great villages besides the Hidden Cloud Village. Once they expose themselves, they could very well be hunted jointly by all four."
"Especially today—I fought Bertholdt Hoover and Neferpitou. Before the fight, they even revealed the name of their organization."
"In the past half-year, Kokushibo and their group have stayed extremely well hidden. As long as they didn't show themselves, no one could find them."
"But don't forget—you are the one loose end they've left in the open."
"Before, I thought they'd be discovered sooner or later, and since their strength might not be enough to protect you, I wanted to keep you by my side to avoid you being dragged into it."
"But now, their strength far exceeds my expectations, and they won't be easily exposed. Meanwhile, the Third Great Ninja War is about to end. If you return to the Hidden Leaf Village with me, even though the chances are small, I still worry I might not be able to protect you in an accident."
"So it's better for you to go back to Kokushibo and the others."
Hearing Minato's analysis, Akashō stroked his chin thoughtfully.
So Kokushibo and the others had already drawn this much hatred… to the point of being jointly hunted by four great villages?
They only killed a few people—was it really necessary to make such a big deal out of it? And the Hidden Mist Village—he hadn't even harvested them yet, so why were they joining in?
But if that was the case, wouldn't his plan collapse before it even began?
For a moment, Akashō was stunned. He had spent so long crafting the name "Dark Council" for his plan—only to be told that being associated with it would get him hunted. All his effort seemed wasted.
And with four great villages involved, he couldn't afford to ignore it.
This was troublesome.
Was his venture really going to collapse halfway through?
No… calm down. This organization's name would definitely be useful in the future. The real issue was what to do during the transitional period.
Originally, after the Third Great Ninja War ended, Akashō planned to roam the ninja world, spreading the legends of three template characters to harvest reputation from ordinary people. After visiting several key transport hubs, he would return to the Hidden Leaf Village, use connections to gather intelligence on the five great villages, and look for an opportunity to ignite the Fourth Great Ninja War.
The reason he didn't plan to start another war immediately was twofold. First, in his view, after such a costly war, the villages would be too weakened to fight again anytime soon.
Second, as mentioned before, once someone provided reputation points, their fear or respect had to fade before they could contribute again.
Logically speaking, it would take several years for genuine fear to dissipate.
Since harvesting ordinary people required him to act brutally while in template form—and considering the potential multi-year cooldown—this was why Neferpitou had abandoned the principle of conserving valuable "resources" today and directly crippled Han.
Beyond that, Akashō also planned to unlock the fourth Villain Template—an S+ rank—before initiating the Fourth Great Ninja War. Only then would he have the confidence to fully harvest the gathered "crops," especially since he might end up facing all five great villages alone.
However, an S+ template required a minimum of nine million reputation points.
Four times that of an S-rank template.
Today, Neferpitou had fully demonstrated the value of an S-rank template. By Akashō's estimation, S− templates ranged from low Kage-level to Kage-level, while S-rank templates ranged from Kage-level to peak Kage-level.
As a side note, Akashō found the term "new Kage-level" rather unappealing, so he borrowed a classification system from another series, calling it "low Kage" and "peak Kage."
Based on Neferpitou's strength, an S+ Villain Template might reach the so-called "beyond Kage" level.
Without relying on ordinary people, collecting nine million reputation points would likely require harvesting every possible target across the five great villages—something nearly impossible in a short time.
And the reason Akashō now wanted to go to the Hidden Leaf Village was simply because his thoughts were in disarray. He needed time to calm down, reorganize his ideas, and redefine the direction of his plan.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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