Chapter 615: Winning Hearts
"Chief, Lord Hanzo asked me to give this to you after the battle," the Rain Ninja Anbu explained.
Mugetsu took the scroll, placed it in his Ninja tool pouch, then formed a hand seal and used Medical Ninjutsu on Hanzo.
Under the influence of Yang Release Chakra, Hanzo's wounds gradually healed.
Seeing this, the surrounding Rain Ninja seemed to understand something, as if they had grasped part of the reason behind Hanzo's actions.
"Take Senior Hanzo and prepare his remains. Also, have someone clean up the traces here," Mugetsu said to the Rain Ninja Anbu.
Then, Mugetsu looked at the other Rain Ninja.
"I know everyone may be feeling down right now, but there are many matters we need to handle. A meeting will be held in half an hour. Everyone must attend."
The Rain Ninja Hanzo had brought were not ordinary Rain Ninja. They were Amegakure Jōnin who held important positions in the village and were part of its management.
"Understood, Lord Sōsuke," one Rain Ninja replied after adjusting his emotions.
During the second unrestricted lecture, he had followed Hanzo to Six Paths City and had developed a good impression of Sōsuke.
Hanzo's death pained him, but he did not hate Sōsuke.
Because in his view, this was not a struggle for fame or profit. It was Hanzo's inheritance ceremony, and Sōsuke was the successor Hanzo had chosen.
The other Rain Ninja also responded. None of them chose to cause trouble.
On one hand, Hanzo had already prepared them mentally. On the other hand, Sōsuke becoming the Chief of Amegakure was not unacceptable to them.
Because Sōsuke was a Ninja from the Land of Rain and had always worked for peace in the Land of Rain, with visible results.
This was one of the most important reasons.
Everyone had seen what the Shinobi Sect had done. They knew Sōsuke and the Shinobi Sect genuinely wanted the Land of Rain to prosper.
Noticing that the Rain Ninja were not hostile toward him, Mugetsu nodded inwardly.
Although these Rain Ninja were weak enough that Mugetsu could easily kill them, management could not rely solely on killing.
He had only just taken over Amegakure. If he immediately went on a killing spree, who would manage it? The entire village would fall into chaos.
Mugetsu took Nagato to the Rain Ninja office building and walked to the door of the Chief of Amegakure's exclusive office.
Pushing open the wooden door, Mugetsu surveyed the office's layout.
Aside from a few decorations unique to the Land of Rain, it did not give Mugetsu any special feeling. It was just an ordinary office.
"I didn't expect the outcome to be like this. I shouldn't have talked Yahiko out of it last night," Nagato sighed.
For the Shinobi Sect, this result was perfect.
Not only had Mugetsu become the Chief of Amegakure, but Hanzo and the former high-ranking officials of Amegakure had also died, meaning they would not obstruct Mugetsu's integration of Amegakure's power.
Before coming, Nagato had not expected things to progress so smoothly.
He had thought Hanzo and Danzo would besiege Mugetsu. He had even considered the possibility that Hanzo might mobilize Amegakure's Ninja army to surround Mugetsu.
But he had never imagined that Hanzo would admit defeat and pass the leadership to Mugetsu.
After all, Hanzo had once used the guise of cooperation to lure them into a trap and kill them. Because of that, Nagato had found it difficult to imagine what Hanzo's true character was like.
"What happened with Yahiko?" Mugetsu asked, pulling out the office chair and sitting down.
"He wanted to come with us to Amegakure to meet Hanzo," Nagato explained.
If Yahiko had come, even if he had not exchanged a single word with Hanzo, Nagato felt that seeing Hanzo like this would have made the trip worthwhile.
"Notify him to come over now," Mugetsu said, taking the scroll from his Ninja tool pouch.
He could still see Hanzo's final appearance now. Later, when he visited the grave, he would only see a photograph.
Nagato felt that Mugetsu's words made sense. He nodded, then went out to contact the Shinobi Sect.
Mugetsu opened the scroll and began carefully reading its contents.
"Sōsuke, by the time you read this scroll, I will already be dead."
Mugetsu sighed softly.
Perhaps Hanzo had already resolved himself to die when he sought out the Shinobi Sect.
That was why he had not accepted any of the chances Mugetsu gave him.
"You do not need to feel anything special about this. I only want you to understand one thing: only you can bear the heavy burden of the Land of Rain."
"Although you are now the Chief of Amegakure, I still want to remind you not to merge Amegakure with the Shinobi Sect for the time being. Doing so will draw the attention and hostility of the Five Great Ninja Villages."
Mugetsu showed an approving expression. This matched his own thoughts.
His system was a teacher system, not a Shinobi Sect prosperity system. Rushing to merge the two forces would do more harm than good.
Without merging them, both the Shinobi Sect and Amegakure were still under his control. Aside from some inconvenience in administration, there were no major drawbacks.
Merging them would be different.
In the eyes of other Ninja forces, the Land of Rain would instantly become more formidable and possess even greater potential.
The current structure of the Ninja World was the Five Great Nations system established by the Five Great Ninja Villages through several major wars, with the Land of Fire, Land of Wind, Land of Earth, Land of Lightning, and Land of Water dividing the interests of the Ninja World among themselves.
The rise of the Land of Rain would inevitably affect the current order, and suppression would be unavoidable.
"You may falsely claim that I am still alive. If the intelligence work is done well, it should not be exposed for several years."
Mugetsu revealed a thoughtful expression.
He would temporarily keep this suggestion in mind and discuss it during the meeting.
He was not planning to hold a century-long funeral for Hanzo, but he also did not intend to throw Hanzo into some random pit and bury him casually.
Mugetsu wanted to hold Hanzo's funeral according to the normal standards for a Chief of Amegakure, but that would make intelligence work more difficult.
"Jun, Ken... these few can be considered decent talents among the Rain Ninja."
Next were the names of several Amegakure Jōnin.
Probably because the scroll could not contain too much content, Hanzo only wrote down a few names, then marked a document for Mugetsu and indicated that more detailed information was there.
Mugetsu found the document and glanced through it, realizing that Jun was the first Rain Ninja who had responded after he spoke earlier.
In addition to the information on certain Ninja, Hanzo also briefly described Amegakure's current situation in the scroll.
The Second Shinobi World War had caused Amegakure heavy losses, but after more than a decade of recuperation, the Rain Ninja had recovered much of their strength.
Before the Shinobi Sect emerged, Amegakure's daily situation had been fairly good.
After the Shinobi Sect emerged, Amegakure had been forced to spend energy confronting it, and some commissions had been taken away as well, slightly hindering its development.
However, the Shinobi Sect was still very young, so overall, Amegakure remained a relatively healthy Ninja Village.
"One thousand six hundred and fifty-two Ninja. Adding the two hundred Ninja of the Shinobi Sect means nearly two thousand Ninja can be mobilized," Mugetsu thought, putting down Amegakure's Ninja data.
With more than eighteen hundred Ninja at his disposal, Mugetsu could not only maintain security in the Land of Rain very well, but also dispatch more manpower to promote the Shinobi Sect.
When it was almost time for the agreed meeting, Mugetsu took Nagato to the largest conference room in the office building.
Inside the conference room, there was only one chair with a backrest. Other than that, it was empty.
Mugetsu sat directly in the only chair and waited for the Amegakure Jōnin to arrive.
Nagato stood beside Mugetsu.
"Lord Sōsuke."
"Chief."
As the appointed time drew closer, the Amegakure Jōnin arrived one after another, greeting Mugetsu, who was seated in the chair.
When the time arrived, Mugetsu cleared his throat lightly and said, "The meeting begins."
"The first matter we need to discuss is Senior Hanzo's funeral."
The Rain Ninja all showed attentive expressions.
This was indeed an important matter.
Hanzo had ultimately been killed by Sōsuke. If Sōsuke handled Hanzo's funeral carelessly, then no matter how good their impression of Sōsuke had been before, they would still feel uncomfortable.
"My idea is to follow the normal protocol. However the funerals of previous Chiefs of Amegakure were handled, Senior Hanzo's funeral will be handled the same way."
The Rain Ninja nodded. There was indeed nothing wrong with that.
"However, Senior Hanzo also had an idea. He believed that if the Five Great Ninja Villages learned Amegakure was under my control, it would arouse their suspicion. He wanted to use an intelligence gap to create the illusion that he was still alive, thereby buying time for the development of the Land of Rain."
As he spoke, Mugetsu looked at Nagato.
Nagato immediately understood, took the scroll, walked to the front of the Rain Ninja, and spread it open.
The Rain Ninja could clearly see Hanzo's advice to Mugetsu written on the scroll. As for some other contents, they were covered by a slip of paper.
Some information was not suitable for everyone to know.
"It's Lord Hanzo's handwriting!"
Some Rain Ninja looked at the familiar script and instantly recognized that the scroll had been written by Hanzo himself.
Other Rain Ninja saw the line, "By the time you read this scroll, I will already be dead," and could not help feeling their eyes grow hot.
After around three minutes, Mugetsu looked at the Rain Ninja standing at the front on the left and asked, "Jun, what do you think?"
Jun was stunned. He had not expected Sōsuke to suddenly ask for his opinion.
After composing himself, he showed a serious expression and said, "I think Lord Hanzo's idea is very good. We can simply bury Lord Hanzo and conceal the news of his death."
"Konoha is already targeting Lord Sōsuke's Shinobi Sect. If they learn that Lord Sōsuke has also become the Chief of Amegakure, they will definitely become extremely wary of the Land of Rain."
"Furthermore, Lord Sōsuke's Shinobi Sect is already on good terms with Iwagakure. If Iwagakure learns of this, their attitude toward the Shinobi Sect may change."
"Sunagakure has always been very wary of Amegakure as well. They may take action after hearing the news."
As Jun analyzed the advantages and drawbacks, many Rain Ninja nodded in agreement.
This was indeed a measure whose benefits far outweighed its drawbacks.
After all, this was not about refusing to bury Hanzo. It was only about not holding a grand funeral, which most Rain Ninja could accept.
One had to remember that during intense wars, many Ninja could not even have their bodies recovered and could only receive symbolic funerals.
"Lord Hanzo sacrificed so much for Amegakure. How can we let him die in obscurity?" another Rain Ninja said emotionally.
"At least, at least let everyone in the village know."
The atmosphere fell silent for a moment.
This was a difficult reason to refute.
Hanzo had indeed done much for Amegakure.
Without Hanzo, Amegakure might have remained an ordinary and unremarkable Ninja Village.
Mugetsu looked at the emotional Rain Ninja. This was also one of the Ninja mentioned in Hanzo's scroll, Ken.
The name sounded a little strange to him, but in the current world, it was a normal name.
Mugetsu scanned the room and said, "Let me tell you my thoughts."
"The funeral will be held according to the normal standards for a leader."
"Lord Sōsuke, in that case..." Jun could not help wanting to speak, but Mugetsu interrupted him. He had not finished speaking.
"But we will not publicly announce my identity as the new Chief of Amegakure," Mugetsu continued.
"We will choose a Ninja to act as the public leader and deceive the other forces. In addition, the relationship between Amegakure and the Shinobi Sect will remain unchanged for the time being."
"What do all of you think?"
This was a compromise.
The most cautious option would definitely be to spread false information and create the illusion that Hanzo was still alive.
That way, in the eyes of other Ninja forces, the Land of Rain would not only have Sōsuke, a powerful individual, but also the demigod Hanzo, effectively adding a top-tier powerhouse out of thin air.
Hanzo's reputation had indeed suffered after his defeat to Sōsuke, but that did not mean Ninja would underestimate his strength.
Aside from his defeat to Sōsuke, Hanzo had never lost to anyone else.
Prudence was indeed important, but Mugetsu felt that the emotions of his subordinates also had to be valued.
He was an airborne Chief of Amegakure. Gaining recognition from these former subordinates of Hanzo was also an extremely important task.
"Lord Sōsuke's idea is better than mine. Although it lacks Lord Hanzo's deterrence, it will also make the surrounding Great Ninja Villages feel more at ease," Guang Jun praised.
He was very happy, feeling that Hanzo's efforts had not been in vain.
Whether Sōsuke could lead the Land of Rain to accomplish Hanzo's unfulfilled goals was still unknown.
But Sōsuke had indeed not disappointed them. Even after defeating Hanzo and becoming the Chief of Amegakure, he still showed Hanzo sufficient respect, rather than considering only benefits.
"Your idea is very good," Ken also briefly expressed his agreement.
When Ken first heard Sōsuke mention Hanzo's funeral, he had actually been somewhat angry.
Because he felt there was no need to discuss it. A grand funeral would have been enough. If Sōsuke brought it up, he must have had some other motive.
Now, Ken felt somewhat guilty. He thought he had misjudged Sōsuke and had been shortsighted.
The Rain Ninja all agreed. No one raised an objection.
If Mugetsu's system could display everyone's favorability, Mugetsu felt that the Rain Ninja should currently be gaining favorability toward him wildly.
Besides Hanzo's funeral, Mugetsu also brought up the issue of the Shinobi Sect.
Amegakure and the Shinobi Sect did not need to merge immediately, but deepening their communication was necessary.
Mugetsu's idea was to have Ninja from Amegakure study at the Shinobi Sect, while Ninja from the Shinobi Sect would perform missions in Amegakure. This would help both sides gain a clearer understanding of each other and strengthen their sense of shared identity.
After Mugetsu finished handling Amegakure's affairs, he opened his system panel.
Danzo, this high-ranking official of Konoha, did indeed have influence.
With Danzo's death, Obito and Shisui's life missions both underwent some changes.
Among them, Shisui's progress was the most obvious, directly surpassing a mission settlement node.
Mugetsu could only say that Danzo truly lived up to his reputation as the King of Blame. The changes caused by his death were indeed significant.
.....
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