Now that Minato is dead, Hakushi feels a heavy stone has fallen from his heart.
"It looks like Konoha doesn't need to worry for the time being. Next, we'll see if Hidden Cloud takes action."
Yagura nodded.
"But before that, I also need to remind you of something."
Hakushi's expression became slightly more serious.
"What is it?"
"This time, those who used the Nine-tailed to cause Namikaze Minato's death weren't me. I provided this information to someone named Nagato, who used to join a group called 'Akatsuki'. He was the one who made the move."
Hakushi said this.
"Akatsuki?" Yagura pondered while touching his chin and said looking into Hakushi's eyes: "I think I've heard of this organization somewhere. It is said to be a somewhat famous organization around the Land of Rain. Some years ago, when I was focused on the war in the Land of Rain, I summarized some intelligence, among which included this 'Akatsuki' organization."
"Basically correct. Although Hidden Rain Village is now a vassal of Konoha, Akatsuki will not dissolve because of this. It will definitely stir up turmoil in the Ninja Realm."
Hakushi said this.
"Even so, should it have nothing to do with me, right? I have no contact with Hidden Rain Village."
Yagura countered.
The tragedy in the Land of Rain was caused by its unique geographical environment, ravaged by ninjas from Konoha, Hidden Sand, and Hidden Rock.
But it has nothing to do with the isolated Hidden Mist. In every war in the Land of Rain, no Hidden Mist Ninja has ever intervened, thus having no deep relationship with the Land of Rain.
"No, it's very related. Nagato has the Rinnegan, and if I'm not mistaken, his next goal should be secretly collecting intelligence on the Tailed Beasts from the Five Great Nations and launching a plan to capture the Tailed Beasts. Now that you have become the Three-tailed Jinchuriki, you will be targeted by him sooner or later."
Upon hearing this from Hakushi, Yagura suddenly widened his eyes.
Rinnegan? Tailed Beasts?
If it wasn't certain that Hakushi wasn't someone who shoots without aim, Yagura would have thought Hakushi was telling a mythical story.
He always believed the Rinnegan of the Six Paths Sage was a baseless myth.
"Here's some intelligence about Nagato, destroy it after reading. Based on the recent information I received, Nagato's subordinate, White Zetsu, has been secretly gathering information on renegade ninjas from various nations. It's not clear what they are specifically doing now, but it is highly likely they want to recruit renegade ninjas and gather their power to assist in capturing the Tailed Beasts."
Hakushi took out a scroll and placed it before Yagura.
Yagura took the scroll and felt the situation suddenly become troublesome.
He knows very well how strong Hakushi's side is, and even he has focused on Nagato of Akatsuki. Not having eliminated this threat immediately has already explained something.
"I understand; I will be cautious about the Rinnegan matter and strengthen the protection around me."
Since the opponent is someone even Hakushi needs to take seriously, Yagura feels increasing the protection around himself is necessary.
Because in the future, he will not only be the Three-tailed Jinchuriki of Hidden Mist but also the Fourth Mizukage.
Seeing Yagura treating the matter as an approach of a formidable foe, Hakushi paused and chuckled: "Of course, there's no need to be overly nervous about this. Nagato, when taking real action, still needs considerable time for preparation. Plus, I still need him to divert attention from Konoha for me temporarily."
"..."
Yagura suddenly felt that Konoha, supposedly the strongest Ninja Village among the Five Great Nations, actually has quite a tough situation.
Being targeted by renegade ninjas from his village, and also by the holder of the Rinnegan, should this be considered fortunate or unfortunate?
There was nothing more to discuss after this; further cooperation would have to wait until the situation in Hidden Mist stabilizes before new negotiations.
Bidding farewell to Yagura, he hurriedly returns to the Hidden Mist Village not far away, without extra time to discuss matters with Hakushi.
"Is it over?"
Ruri walked over at this time.
"Yes, it went smoother than expected. Next, we just need to wait for news from Hidden Cloud."
Hakushi breathed a sigh of relief; having secured Hidden Mist, the Land of Demons' future layout in the Ninja Realm would also be much smoother.
"Traditional Ninja Villages wanting to break free from the 'rule' of the Daimyo and nobility is not an easy task."
Ruri added.
Traditional ninjas do not engage in production, most income earned by ninjas is just enough for maintaining ninja tools and purchasing training resources, barely solving the problem of food and clothing.
Ninja Village development funds can only be provided by the nation's Daimyo and nobility.
Once the Daimyo and nobility cut off funding supplies, the Ninja Village must 'lay off' to reduce the number of ninjas, which would mean weakening the Ninja Village's military power.
Hidden Mist Village is such a typical example, and it is an extremely bad one.
The root cause of the Mist Village's bloodiness is due to continuous cuts in military funds by the Daimyo and nobility of the Land of Water, causing Hidden Mist's military power unable to develop benignly.
As Mizukage, the foremost duty is hoping for Ninja Village's prosperous development.
To this end, in the context of drastically decreasing military funds, in order not to reduce the village's overall military power, they began to adopt an elite route.
The so-called elite route is now the prototype of 'Blood Mist'.
Letting graduates slaughter amongst themselves to prematurely understand the essence of ninja combat.
Later it was not just the Ninja School, it spread to many other layers outside the school, filling Hidden Mist Village with the smoke of battle and the smell of blood everywhere.
To a certain extent, it did indeed boost the military power of Hidden Mist Village, but also left behind very terrifying hidden dangers.