Uchiha Itachi.
This was a name that could make an old man like the Third Hokage feel all sorts of complicated emotions. This man had used his "own strength" to stop the Uchiha rebellion and annihilate his own clan. But how many people could truly empathize with the suffering in baby's heart?
The resolve, despair, and deathly emotions within it were not things one could imagine just by trying. But the weathered Third Hokage could probably understand at least a tiny fraction of it. If a shinobi's capacity to endure were used to measure their talent, then there was no doubt that Uchiha Itachi was a true shinobi.
"Are you certain it was Uchiha Itachi?" the Third Hokage asked Yagoromo in return.
Although in many situations the possibility of Yagoromo being reliable was roughly equal to a sow climbing a tree, this time, the sow really was sprawled on the tree.
"It was indeed him," Yagoromo said.
He knew the Hokage was not asking because he doubted him, but because, on a personal level, he found it a little hard to believe. After all, this was probably the first time in several years that he had obtained accurate intelligence about Uchiha Itachi's activities. He had not expected that after leaving the village, Itachi had actually joined some organization.
Wholeheartedly devoted to the public, One-Punch Princess—did this count as infiltrating the enemy's ranks?
"According to Uchiha Itachi's intelligence, including him, this organization has ten members in total. All of them are extremely powerful shinobi who defected from various hidden villages. And their first objective in gathering together is… to obtain all the tailed beasts."
Yagoromo's following explanation was even more difficult to believe. Someone plotting to obtain a tailed beast was not particularly unusual. But what was this nonsense about obtaining "all" the tailed beasts? Did that mean they wanted all nine of them?
"So I suspect that the purpose behind their recent invasion of Sunagakure was very likely to take away the One-Tail's jinchūriki."
"As for their plans and methods of handling the tailed beasts after obtaining them, that is still unknown."
Just this one passage made the Third Hokage and Jiraiya fall completely silent.
Throughout history, there had been no small number of organizations, Ninshū branches, and individuals who wanted to obtain tailed beasts and make use of their power. However, situations where someone wanted to obtain the power of all tailed beasts were rarely heard of, because that enormous power, once gathered together, was simply impossible for shinobi to control.
But this shock was not the main reason for the Hokage's silence. The main reason was that Yagoromo's words caused him to draw a certain association.
The first objective was obtaining all the tailed beasts. Their method was violent enough that they did not hesitate to invade Sunagakure. This would very easily make one think of the Nine-Tails incident that happened in Konoha twelve years ago. Wasn't it practically the same?
The mastermind behind the Nine-Tails incident had still not been identified. All along, there had only been complicated guesses without a definite target. Looking at it now, could that organization have also been involved in that incident? Or perhaps it had even been planned by them?
The Third Hokage and Jiraiya looked at each other, then spoke the same name together:
"Uchiha Madara."
During the Nine-Tails incident, there had been three people who first came into contact with the enemy: Minato, Kushina, and Yagoromo. According to the intelligence Minato left behind at the end, the enemy possessed the ability to control tailed beasts and space-time ninjutsu superior to his own. Therefore, his guess regarding the enemy's identity had been Uchiha Madara.
However, the problem was this: was Uchiha Madara some old turtle bastard? If one estimated his age, how could he possibly have lived until now? Moreover, in the First Hokage's final battle with him, the First had truly killed him… Theoretically speaking, Madara still being alive should have been impossible. But what if?
After all, Uchiha Madara was a shinobi whose name stood alongside the First Hokage's. A shinobi with that kind of strength naturally could not be measured by common sense. Regarding whether he had really died, Konoha once again began to harbor doubts.
As for Yagoromo's account, the person who had blocked him at the time was an enemy who possessed the Rinnegan, which made the other side seem even more powerful and mysterious.
In other words, during the Nine-Tails incident, there had been at least two enemies participating in the operation. In that case, the possibility that the other side had gathered into an organization naturally existed…
So if there really was such a possibility, was that organization the one Yagoromo was now talking about? If so, with the existence of Madara and the Rinnegan, no matter what this organization's goal was, it absolutely would not be simple. They might even be plotting something major enough to threaten the entire shinobi world.
It had to be said that although their conclusion deviated severely from the actual situation, among the Third Hokage and Jiraiya's messy guesses and wild theories, they had still linked Uchiha Madara and the Rinnegan together.
"What is this organization called?"
After remaining silent for a while, during which the Hokage unknowingly smoked several pipefuls of tobacco, he finally asked again.
"It's called Akatsuki."
If not for the half-informed Yagoromo and Uchiha One-Punch Princess, who had infiltrated the enemy, the first person to bring back intelligence on Akatsuki should have been Jiraiya. Under the current circumstances, at the very least, the basic intelligence no longer required Jiraiya to risk his life.
"Then this organization called Akatsuki—where is their base? Did Itachi explain that?" the Hokage asked next.
Since they already knew someone was plotting a conspiracy, and judging from the look of it, an enormous conspiracy at that, the Third Hokage naturally had to be more cautious. At the very least, he needed to know where these people usually holed up, so that if necessary, Konoha could take the initiative and strike first.
Regarding this question, to the Hokage's disappointment, Yagoromo responded by shaking his head.
Although Itachi had indeed not explained that Akatsuki's headquarters was in Amegakure, that did not mean he was a scammer. In truth, he felt the White Yaksha should be able to infer this matter, and therefore did not specifically explain it during the limited time they had. Unexpectedly, however, Yagoromo was the real scammer.
Yagoromo considered that if he told Konoha the location at this time, Konoha might take the initiative to attack. But Yagoromo clearly did not want the village to do that, so he concealed the information to a certain extent.
This was also to avoid Konoha suffering losses in strength. In reality, his approach could not be considered wrong, because sometimes Konoha was also unreliable in how it handled matters. If Yagoromo were familiar with the original plot, he would empathize with this point even more: just look at the composition of the Uchiha Itachi capture squad Konoha sent at a certain time and place, and one would understand that even a great shinobi village could sometimes fail to accurately estimate strength. Forget dealing with Itachi; Itachi's best buddy Hoshigaki Kisame would more or less have been enough to handle them, and that was under the even more difficult requirement of capturing rather than killing.
"In any case, the intelligence Itachi passed back is extremely important. Although we have no way to take concrete action for now, first, notify Kakashi's side and have them pay attention to Naruto's safety…"
"Second, Yagoromo, you must act as soon as possible and bring Tsunade back with the greatest possible chance of success."
For now, Konoha, having obtained only partial intelligence, could only respond to all changes by remaining unchanged. The intelligence Itachi passed back was still quite credible. Moreover, the Hokage was relatively reliable. At the very least, he did not propose some rotten idea like using Naruto as bait to lure Akatsuki into action… After all, that was Danzō's way of doing things, not the Hokage's.
However, after Yagoromo roughly explained this matter, the Third Hokage believed he had already attached considerable importance to it. But compared with the seriousness of the situation, his level of attention was still somewhat too low.
With the Hokage's imagination pushed to its limit, the most he could think was that a group of chūnibyō were currently indulging in wild fantasies about controlling the entire shinobi world. How could he possibly imagine that behind the chūnibyō there was also a high-school-sophomore syndrome, someone who wanted to wipe out the entire world in one go?
"I understand."
Yagoromo had not intended to drag out Tsunade's matter for too long to begin with. Now, it merely meant he would act a little faster.
From the bottom of his heart, Yagoromo also hoped that the person sitting in the Hokage's seat would be someone like Tsunade.
Including internal factors such as his personality, external factors such as the Hokage's restrictions on personal freedom, and the need to handle a whole mess of complicated affairs, Yagoromo naturally had no interest in that position. He did not want to do that job himself, nor could he do it. But that did not mean "Hokage" had no meaning to him. As long as he remained in Konoha, that meaning existed.
To put it simply, if Tsunade became Hokage, then through Tsunade, Yagoromo's influence over the village's overall strategy would become stronger. Under those circumstances, many matters would become much simpler.
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