Chapter 123 (Patreon)

The woman had approached Sasori with an invitation to join her organization.

Sasori had no interest in joining some strange group. He would rather be left alone to study puppetry and pursue the art of eternal beauty.

But the woman was far stronger than he had expected. Her abilities were a perfect counter to his puppets. Even when he brought out his Third Kazekage puppet, he couldn’t land a single blow. Several of his puppets were blasted apart by her explosive paper tags, and even the Third Kazekage puppet suffered heavy damage.

Sasori had survived on his own long enough to understand the rules of the shinobi world. He couldn’t defeat her, so he accepted her invitation.

Joining would mean giving up some of his freedom, but at least he could continue his research into eternal life. If he provoked her further and she stuck an explosive tag to his face, his art would be finished along with him.

In the end, Sasori joined the organization known as Akatsuki. He was told that its goal was to bring peace to the world. Whether or not he believed that was another matter, but he knew better than to call his new comrades delusional to their faces.

After receiving his Akatsuki cloak and the ring that marked his place in the organization, Sasori learned the name of the woman who had defeated him: Konan. She was the leader’s closest confidante and handled much of the organization’s affairs.

【Image: Konan】

Besides Sasori, the rogue ninja from Sunagakure, Akatsuki also had Kakuzu, a notorious bounty hunter from Takigakure, and a strange, androgynous figure who resembled a Venus flytrap: Black Zetsu.

But it was only after Sasori met the organization’s leader, Pain, that he began to think world peace might not be entirely beyond reach.

Pain possessed a pair of ripple-patterned eyes—the legendary Rinnegan, said to belong to the Sage of Six Paths. It was as if a legend had stepped into the real world.

When Fū first arrived in Konoha, she had been nervous and reserved. But after just one day, she had already grown fond of the village.

No one stared at her as if she were a monster. She had Haku to look after her, and Naruto and Karin to play with. It was far more fun than being back home.

Yugito, however, was far from carefree. The moment she saw Fū, she was stunned—and so was Matatabi, the Two-Tails sealed inside her.

“Are you sure you sensed that correctly?” Yugito asked.

Matatabi rolled her eyes. “I’m certain. She’s the Seven-Tails’ jinchūriki.”

“But the Seven-Tails is supposed to be in Takigakure. How did it end up in Konoha? What is the Fifth Hokage planning?”

“Why ask me? I’d like to know that myself.”

Matatabi fell silent. She seemed to settle down to sleep, but in truth, she had entered the depths of Yugito’s consciousness and drawn the Seven-Tails in with her.

She had even invited the Nine-Tails, but Kurama ignored her.

From the Seven-Tails, Matatabi learned the general outline of what had happened.

It seemed Konoha had brought Fū back to protect her and prevent Takigakure from falling into the hands of Danzō or some other ambitious figure. But now that Konoha had two Tailed Beasts, would it really be content to maintain the status quo?

Matatabi wasn’t convinced.

Everyone knew how humans viewed the Tailed Beasts: as terrifying weapons of war. As the saying went, possession of a powerful weapon bred the desire to use it. Once Fū had been trained, Konoha might well start a war.

The Seven-Tails, too, was curious about why Matatabi was in Konoha.

When it learned that she and Yugito had been captured and were being held there as hostages, it nearly laughed itself sick.

Ever since the Tailed Beasts had been sealed inside jinchūriki, this was the first time one of them had been treated as a prisoner—or a hostage.

“People used to say Shukaku was the weakest of us. Now I see you’re even worse than he is, Two-Tails.”

“Hmph. What’s so funny? Gyūki was captured once, too. If you ran into the Uzumaki Clan’s sealing techniques, you’d be immobilized as well.”

“That’s not necessarily true. I can fly. Even the Uzumaki Clan couldn’t do much to me.”

As it spoke, the Seven-Tails spread its wings and beat them a few times.

In the shinobi world, the ability to fly offered a tremendous advantage. Even shinobi skilled in long-range ninjutsu would struggle to hit a fast, agile target in the air.

But flight didn’t make anyone invincible. If it did, Ōnoki would have conquered the entire shinobi world by now.

Still, there was no need to bring up Ōnoki. A better example was right in front of them.

“When Danzō came to Takigakure, why didn’t you fly away with your jinchūriki?” Matatabi asked. “Was it because you didn’t want to?”

The Seven-Tails fell silent.

While the two Tailed Beasts spoke, Roy was in the Tailed Beast space inside Kushina, recounting what had happened during his trip to Takigakure.

Kurama had ignored Matatabi’s invitation for more than one reason. He had little interest in talking with the other Tailed Beasts—and, more importantly, they couldn’t know as much about what had happened as Roy did.

If Kurama wanted to hear the story, he wanted the whole thing. Who would settle for half-baked gossip?

“You’ve worked hard, Roy-kun,” Kushina said. “What are you planning to do with that little girl?”

Kushina had no intention of taking the Tailed Beast away from Takigakure.

As Chiyuki had explained to Shibuichi, bringing Fū to Konoha had been about protecting her. They wanted to keep the Seven-Tails from being seized and used by someone with their own ambitions.

Kushina wanted to know what Roy intended to do next. Would he let Fū live freely, or train her to become a jinchūriki who could control her power?

Roy’s answer was simple.

“Train her.”

There were two reasons for his decision. First, he planned for Konoha to gradually replace the feudal lords, beginning with the Land of Fire, and eventually unite the entire shinobi world. He believed that would offer the best chance of achieving peace—and prepare them for the Ōtsutsuki Clan’s arrival.

Second, whether it was Nagato or Obito, Roy had ways to deal with them. He wasn’t too worried about either of them capturing the Tailed Beasts.

Black Zetsu, however, was a different matter. Roy didn’t yet have a reliable way to deal with him.

White Zetsu could evade most sensory techniques. If the White Zetsu Army created the kind of disguises seen during the Fourth Great Ninja War and infiltrated Konoha to cause chaos, it would be a serious problem.

Roy had tried using Kidō to sense them, but he hadn’t detected any trace of White Zetsu.

He couldn’t tell whether there were simply no White Zetsu within range, or whether Kidō couldn’t detect them at all.

With that uncertainty, he could only prepare for the worst. Kushina needed to become a perfect jinchūriki and learn to sense negative emotions through the Nine-Tails’ power. That ability could help her detect Black Zetsu and the White Zetsu hiding among them.

But completely eliminating Black Zetsu wouldn’t be easy.

He was Kaguya’s third child. His combat ability might have been unimpressive, but his ability to survive was extraordinary. Calling him immortal would not be far from the truth. Unless they used the Six Paths’ Yin–Yang Release to seal him, even the Uzumaki Clan’s most powerful sealing techniques might not be enough.

As long as Black Zetsu remained, defeating Nagato and Obito wouldn’t solve everything. Some other schemer might appear and stir up trouble in the shinobi world.

The best option was to train the jinchūriki so they could protect themselves. Even if they couldn’t win a fight, they needed to be able to escape. That would make it much harder for Black Zetsu to capture the Tailed Beasts.