The light rain pattered.
Sasuke chatted with the purple-eyed girl along the way, gathering quite a bit of information about Amegakure.
The purple-eyed girl was named Fuyo. She was a sensory-type Shinobi who habitually used Chakra-concealing techniques.
Because of this, Sasuke hadn't sensed her immediately.
"After Hanzo of the Salamander died, a new leader took over and introduced a series of policies for cooperation with neighboring countries."
"Among them, the most popular one is hiring ninjas." Fuyo walked slowly, explaining softly.
"Amegakure's weather is overcast, and its Shinobi have a mysterious and unpredictable style, most skilled in concealment, reconnaissance, assassination, and similar work. Other villages with needs in these areas hire Amegakure's Shinobi to complete tasks on their behalf. This reduces mortality rates while improving task completion… killing two birds with one stone."
"A Shinobi Village that doesn't actively assign missions but primarily accepts employment." Sasuke nodded, murmuring to himself.
It sounded like a place with a lot of freedom.
The current Sasuke didn't yet know that Amegakure's so-called new leader was the Nagato he was desperately searching for.
Even less did he know that the organization Nagato founded was the very one Itachi defected to…
The Akatsuki.
"We're here." Fuyo stopped in front of a building, bowed slightly, inviting Sasuke to enter.
When dealing with handsome guys, even the most aloof girls would unconsciously be a bit more complimentary.
It was human nature.
"Thank you." Sasuke wore a disguised smile and walked slowly into the building.
The surroundings were empty, with only a few Shinobi inquiring about missions.
They all wore masks, no forehead protectors, making it impossible to tell which country they were from.
"Amegakure accepts missions from all countries. To avoid conflict, those coming to hire don't wear forehead protectors and don't state their country in public." Fuyo looked towards the hall, explaining quietly.
'Hmm.'
'That made sense too.'
Sasuke nodded, his gaze turning towards a side room on the left.
"What's over there? Why is there no one?" The place Sasuke was looking at was a dark room.
On the table at the room's entrance were the word 'Information'.
But there wasn't a single person nearby.
It's very strange.
"Oh, that's a department established by Amegakure's leader, specifically for collecting certain special intelligence. If you have reliable sources of information, you can check it out. The rewards are very generous." Fuyo glanced over and said casually.
"Oh? A department for collecting intelligence?" Sasuke immediately became interested.
'Amegakure, as a mercenary Shinobi Village, had no stance of its own and no enemy nations.'
'Theoretically, they shouldn't have much interest in something as pointedly specific as intelligence.'
'But, if Amegakure's leader was that Nagato from back then, then the existence of an intelligence collection department became reasonable.'
'Ten years apart, Jiraiya-sensei's whereabouts are elusive. Now that Nagato has achieved success, it's only natural he'd want to find his former teacher's whereabouts.' Following this logic, Sasuke reasoned in his heart.
'Nagato had the Rinnegan, and Yahiko and Konan weren't lacking in talent either.'
'In terms of strength, it was possible for them to become leaders.'
'According to Jiraiya-sensei, Yahiko had grand ambitions in his childhood.'
'He had the great vision of unifying Amegakure and bringing peace to the world.'
'So there was motive too.'
A gleam flashed in Sasuke's eyes, and a smile curled his lips.
'There was over a fifty percent chance that Amegakure's leader was the trio from back then.'
'In that case, then the content this intelligence department wanted to collect must be…'
"How could it be this?" Sasuke walked slowly to the front of the intelligence department, his pupils instantly contracting sharply.
In the intelligence department, under the S-Rank intelligence section, the most prominent task was actually…
Find the whereabouts of the Kyubi's Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Naruto!
'Why him? The leader of Amegakure is targeting Naruto?' Sasuke was utterly puzzled.
At the same time, he grew even more curious about this mysterious leader of Amegakure.
"Ah, you shouldn't look at the S-Rank intelligence tasks. Intelligence at this level needs to be verified by the leader personally. Anyone who provides false information or intentionally omits key details will be killed by the leader." Seeing Sasuke's action, Fuyo hurried over, her face full of admonishment.
"You mean, by taking an S-Rank intelligence task, there's a chance to meet your leader?" Sasuke's eyebrow raised, his voice rising slightly.
"Yes, S-Rank intelligence must be confirmed by the leader personally before the reward is issued. It seems to involve very important matters. Anyway, it has nothing to do with us. Let's go over ther..."
Just as Fuyo pointed elsewhere,
A smile curled Sasuke's lips as he forcefully tore off the S-Rank task from the intelligence department.
At the same time, he quickly typed in the group chat:
[Second Pillar Thinks He Can Do It: @The Dead-Last Jinchuriki, Get out here! I'm going to sell you... cough, sell your information!]
[The Dead-Last Jinchuriki: ???]
Naruto, who was on the move, looked at the message in the group chat, and was utterly bewildered.