The land of demons resembled a bustling construction site enclosed by concentric circles.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
Pieces of stone bricks flew in the air, and under the control of magical gravity, they were stacked neatly on the four-wheeled cart.
Such miraculous scene attracted exclamation and applause from a large number of workers.
Confronted with the continuous admiration of those around him, Nagato felt slightly shy.
Because he used a secret ninjutsu typically reserved for battle on a construction site, he often wondered if his he had worked so hard to train were going to waste.
Though the eyes of the laborers nearby were filled with kindness, and they didn't find it odd for a ninja to use ninjutsu in transporting stone bricks but Nagato hadn't yet adjusted to the local rhythm, making it difficult for him to fully immerse himself.
Yet, he temporarily suppressed his embarrassment, gripping the recruitment flyer tightly.
"Hiring brick movers, ninjas preferred. Three meals provided during work hours, and a daily wage of 10,000 ryo."
After enduring a long journey spanning several days, he and Konan arrived in the distant country of Land of Demons, a nation far away from the Land Of Rain. This special country enjoys the status of being a neutral country in the ninja world.
Within this nation, the culture of shrines and priestesses can be seen everywhere, and the strong mystic atmosphere allowed Nagato to enjoy the exotic scenery once again.
However, this enjoyment proved couldn't last long because he and Konan had an extremely important mission in this foreign land.
The largest chamber of commerce in the Land Of Demons was the Purple Rose Chamber of Commerce.
. The target of their mission this time, the Purple Rose Medical Company, was also affiliated with this large chamber of commerce that spanned across many countries and held international repute.
It was rumored that the Purple Rose Company's initial establishment owed much of its success to promotional efforts of this Chamber Of Commerce.
In essence, Akatsuki needed to amass a substantial sum of money.
Konan was entrusted with the mission of procuring medicines, while Nagato roamed Oni City alone and, by chance, stumbled upon a temporary job.
Unlike the people of the Land of Rain, the citizens of the Land of Demons had cheerful faces and an optimistic outlook on life, a stark contrast to the impoverished and war-stricken regions of the Land of Rain.
This contrast Nagato envious.
However, he recognized that this was the unique privilege of a neutral country, one that bestowed various advantages and benefits.
Given the geographical predicament of Land of Rain, achieving neutrality was an unattainable aspiration. As soon as a major nation launched a war, the Land of Rain was the first to endure the consequences.
The economy crumbled, citizens faced displacement, starvation, and domestic politics teetered into corruption. It was no exaggeration to claim that daimyos and numerous nobles had become puppets of major nations.
Nevertheless, the people of the Land of Rain never succumbed to defeat. In every crisis, someone inevitably emerged to set an example for the suffering peop6 of the Land of Rain.
Thinking of these circumstances, Nagato's heart brimmed with determination.
As he added more chakra, additional stone bricks were manipulated by his ninjutsu, "Banshō Ten'in," gliding smoothly onto the four-wheeled transport vehicle, ready for the laborers in charge of transportation.
It wasn't until dusk began to descend, casting a dusky hue, that the construction site overseer instructed everyone to stop work and commenced the distribution of today's wages.
Nagato received his earnings, only to discover that they exceeded the promised 10,000 ryo mentioned on the flyer; instead, he held a full 50,000 ryo in his hand.
"Well, it seems there are too many..." Nagato said, intending to return the additional 40,000 ryo.
However, the construction site supervisor intervened, stopping Nagato with a smile. "Keep it, kid. You've accomplished a workload that dozens of people might struggle to complete alone. Consider the extra 40,000 ryo as a reward."
Refusing the money would leave the man feeling uneasy.
Thanks to Nagato's efforts, the following day's work was completed ahead of schedule.
"...Thank you."
Nagato wasn't known for being talkative, but he possessed a keen sensitivity to people's intentions, whether goodwill or ill will.
He felt the genuine enthusiasm and sincerity of the locals here, a stark contrast to the people of the Land of Rain, who often in need of charity.
Holding fifty thousand ryo, Nagato felt a profound sense of satisfaction.
Throughout his life, he had never received such a huge sum of money.
Thinking of Konan's debt of 10 million ryo owed to the Purple Rose, Nagato realized that by working on the construction site for 200 days, he could nearly clear that portion of Konan's debt.
Was this the power of the Rinnegan? As he looked at his hands, he had never realized before that the power of his Rinnegan could make money so easily.
Recruiting ninjas for construction work made the Land Of Demons a strange country in Nagato's eyes.
That was Nagato's perspective.
In his previous understanding, ninjas were primarily seen as tools for fighting, and even Akatsuki mostly accepted missions related to fighting.
Suppression of bandits in the Land of Rain, along with dealing with rougue ninjas engaged in sabotage within the Land Of Rain, constituted the primary objectives of Akatsuki.
Not to mention the ninja village organizations of the five major countries, each had established a more comprehensive mission system, signifying a nation's military might and thus determining their status in the ninja world.
While working on the construction site earlier, Nagato encountered no fewer than a dozen people who were ninjas. From their conversations, they appeared to be permanent special workers here. The attributes of ninjutsu also made them exceptionally well-suited for various complicated mission on the construction site.
This left Nagato quite perplexed. It wasn't that ninjas were incapable of handling regular jobs; it was merely a temporary role, with their primary focus always centered on fighting.
Encountering a nation like the Land of Demons, which specialized in training this particular type of ninja, was an entirely new experience for Nagato.
"Nagato, where have you been? I've been waiting for you here for a long time."
Gathering at the entrance of a hotel in Oni City, Nagato arrived late, causing Konan to express her dissatisfaction.
"Sorry, this city is incredibly prosperous, and I got carried away for a while."
Nagato sheepishly scratched his head and offered an apology to Konan.
"Indeed, we're not here for tourism."
"How did the purchase of medicines go?"
Nagato inquired about the purchase of medicines.
"I've already bought everything. As expected, the medicine prices in this country are much more chraper than in other places, saving a lot of money than expected.."
Konan appeared greatly satisfied, and a smile appeared on her face.
While the long-distance journey had been somewhat tiring, the ability to buy such a huge amount of complete medicines and even have some money remaining eas indeed a good decision to visit the Land of Demons.
"That's wonderful."
"Our Akatsuki's operational funds have consistently been tight, and now we can finally set aside some for emergencies."
Seeing Konan's genuine happiness on that day touched Nagato's heart slightly.
At any given moment, he only needed to protect this smile, and everyone's dream would be fulfilled.
He silently swore in his heart.
The heavier the burdens on his shoulders, the more resolute Nagato felt about his longing for peace and the eradication of war.
"Konan..."
"What's the matter, Nagato?"
Upon hearing Nagato call her name, Konan looked up at him with suspicion.
"No.... It's nothing. I was just thinking that we have accomplished a lot this time, and Yahiko and everyone will be happy."
"Of course, they will be happy, especially since they have so much money left over this time. However, Yahiko has gone to negotiate with Suna and the Konoha ninjas, so there might be some problems..."
As she spoke, Konan's face had obvious concern.
Those were the ninjas from the five major countries, fundamentally different from the ninjas of their smaller nation. Be it Konoha or Suna, they weren't entities they could provoke lightly.
"At the beginning, even Hanzo-sama had to compromise with Konoha..."
Hanzo The Salamander, the leader of Amegakure, was a legendary ninja renowned throughout the Land of Rain.
Even he had made concessions due to Konoha's strength.
The Akatsuki organization, insignificant in the Land of Rain, couldn't easily sway the intentions of these major ninja powers.
Konan suddenly felt that Yahiko negotiating with the ninjas of Suna and Konoha was a highly risky endeavor.
"Yahiko will definitely succeed! Even if we fails this time, there will always be another opportunity. As long as we continue to strive, Akatsuki's ideals will be passed down through generations. Sooner or later leading to true peace."
Nagato's gaze held unwavering determination.
Konan nodded in agreement. If they were to accept defeat now, they would be ashamed when reflecting on their past selves.
"Then let's return to the Land of Rain. That's our home."
...
Roran.
In the quiet room where the dragon vein sealing device is stored.
From the closed eye device, purple light seeped out, which is the color of the dragon chakra, quite different from the color of ordinary chakra.
Ruri found herself alone in this room, her gaze fixed upon the dragon vein sealing device as if thinking about something.
"Aren't you curious about the remaining half of the dragon vein's power?"
Ayane appeared at the doorway, holding a freshly heated pancake in her hand. She stepped inside and asked Ruri curiously.
"I just found things a bit strange."
"Strange? What do you mean?"
Ayane couldn't quite understand Ruri's insinuation.
After dealing with the time-space disruptors who had arrived from another time and space, resolving the crisis in Roran covertly, and taking away half of the dragon vein core to render the dragon vein's power incomplete, prohibiting individuals from other time and space from accessing this power to disrupt the present time and space to make trouble.
As Shiraishi had explained, they had no control over other time and space, but the order of their own time and space couldn't be disturbed.
"Dragon veins are the natural energy of the Earth with the assistance of the power of the earth. Unless the Earth's natural energy is entirely depleted, theoretically, removing half of the core would only temporarily weaken the dragon veins. After a decade or more, they might recover and once again possess the power to traverse through time or space, either to the past or the future."
Ruri's explanation caused Ayane to momentarily stop eating her pancake and think about the situation.
After Ruri's reminder, the truth indeed seemed rather odd.
"Perhaps it was a sudden event, and he was somewhat careless, so he was a little negligent?"
Ayane pondered, tilting her head.
"Negligent? I can hardly imagine someone like him making such a basic mistake."
There was a sneer on Ruri's face, and she disagreed with Ayane's point of view.
Ayane shot Ruri a dissatisfied glare, always sensing that this Sharingan woman had a grasp of some important secret that remained hidden from her.
"If you were aware of a power capable of moving time and space within this world, what would you do?"
Ruri refrained from answering to the question.
"Hmm... I will probably use this power when faced with difficult setbacks, returning to a time when circumstances still had potential for change. It's such a convenient ability; it would be a waste not to use it in such a manner," Ayane pondered momentarily before providing her response to Ruri's question.
This line of thinking resonated with most individuals. When regretting a decision or outcome, many yearned to revisit the past and amend the course of history.
Ayane, too, had regrets and sought to rectify certain aspects of her past. Although she recognized that these events were fixed in history, she couldn't deny the possibility of succumbing to the temptation to change the past should the burden become too much.
"So, what would you do if you repeatedly failed in changing what you wished to change when you returned to the past?"
"I will continue to revisit times where I hadn't met failure. If I still failed, I will persist in manipulating time and space, repeating this process of defeat. If I came across my past self obstructing me, I might even resort to killing her..."
Following Ruri's train of thought, Ayane experienced a shudder, causing her to stop eating her pancakes.
She hadn't considered the implications fully.
At that moment, she understood the sheer terror and magnitude of the dragon vein's power to move across time and space. In comparison, even the resurrection of the deceased, an act that defied the laws of nature, paled in significance.
"Then, Shiraishi-kun..."
Ayane's voice quivered slightly.
"I suspect he harbored fears of becoming such a person, which is why he deliberately suppressed that memory," Ruri conjectured.
Otherwise, Shiraishi wouldn't have summoned Katsuyu to the Land of Demons, inscribed history from the past, and transmitted the actual historical account for the collective human consciousness.
"Whether it's the history that will happ7 in the future or the events of the past, it is all that has happened, that is the real history. If, at some point, he uses the power of the dragon veins to manipulate time and space for his personal gain, he will become the very person he hated and despises the most."
Ayane fell silent.
As she contemplated Shiraishi's grand plan, although she couldn't see the full extent of it, she recognized that it would lead to a earth shaking shifts that subverts the previous cognition.
When arranging such an extensive plan, there were no guarantees of success until the final outcome was reached.
In the event of failure, one might inevitably resort to the power of the dragon veins to return to a time and space before the failure occurred.
In doing so, one could potentially encounter their unchanged former self and face an inevitable conflict, potentially plunging into a sorrowful cycle of perpetual failure and repetition. Instead of becoming yhe loathsome figure, it might be better to remain ignorant from the outset.
"Honestly, I kind of regret backing up that memory about the future."
Ruri sighed, revealing a genuine sentiment that ignorance equated to bliss.
"I've already made that choice, and I don't intend to erase that part of my memory."
Ayane's demeanor soured slightly.
"But perhaps this is within his expectations as well," Ruri suddenly said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Ayane was stunned
"Fake masquerading as reality, but he is good at it,"
Ruri replied without elaborating further. She then examined the seal on the dragon vein device, causing her three-tomoe Sharingan to flash brightly.
"Release!"
The seal on the ground was immediately covered with new seals, covering the original seal.
"The composition of this sealing technique..."
After scrutinizing it, Ruri paused momentarily before continuing, "As expected of his handiwork, everything is truly flawless."
Ayane joined Ruri in inspecting the topmost seal, displaying an expression of astonishment.
She hadn't anticipated that Shiraishi's sealing jutsu for the dragon vein's containment would be this particular method. This discovery implied that all of Ruri's earlier speculations were likely correct.
...,...
Minister Anrokuzan of Roran had secretly abducted Roran's citizens and established an underground puppet weapon factory within the city.
The Queen of Roran found it hard to believe her eyes, but the individuals who had been kidnapped to this secret weapons factory were the very civilians who had gone missing from Roran some time ago.
Each of them had been subjected to gruesome torture, left emaciated and in tattered clothing. When Anrokuzan vanished, the puppet soldiers lost control and stopped functioning, allowing the captives to escape and report Minister Anrokuzan's heinous crimes.
After a thorough investigation, the Queen of Roran reluctantly accepted the grim reality that Anrokuzan, a trusted minister, harbored sinister intentions against Roran.
On that fateful day, the Queen of Roran ordered a comprehensive search for Anrokuzan throughout Roran. She was determined to apprehend him and provide answers to her people.
After assigning this task to her soldiers, Queen Roran ventured alone to the serene chamber where the dragon veins were sealed. She meticulously inspected the seal in place.
According to the accounts of the abducted citizens, Anrokuzan had been exploiting her trust to harness the dragon vein's chakra, with the aim of creating a vast army of puppet soldiers.
His intentions included asserting control over Roran and, potentially, launching a war with the outside world, dooming Roran to an irredeemable fate. The mere thought of this sent shivers down Queen Roran's spine.
While examining the quiet room, Queen Roran made a startling discovery. She couldn't access the deeper core of the dragon vein.
Each generation of Roran's queens possessed the unique ability to connect with the dragon veins, allowing them to touch the core—the primary source of the dragon vein's power.
Alarmed, she took a step back when the ground's seal suddenly lit up, revealing a new seal that was also connected to the dragon vein.
"This... Could this be his doing... Anrokuzan!" Queen Roran immediately suspected Anrokuzan, who had yet to be captured. It seemed he sought to privately harness the dragon vein's power, worsening her connection to it by establishing a new seal.
Although she could still control the dragon vein's chakra to provide Roran with ample energy, the connection to the core was severed. She sensed that the dragon vein's power had been reduced by half, which was troubling.
Apart from Anrokuzan, Queen Roran couldn't fathom who else could have easily approached this location, tampered with the seals, and siphoned off the dragon vein's power.
"Your Majesty," the guards reported upon returning to the palace.
"Any news on Anrokuzan's capture?" Queen Roran asked, her concern extending to the missing half of the dragon vein's power.
"I regret to inform Your Majesty that Anrokuzan is still missing. We've scoured every corner of Roran, but there's no trace of him," the guard replied.
Queen Roran sighed, her frustrations mounting. It had been quite some time, and Anrokuzan remained at large. He likely had already fled Roran's territory and hidden elsewhere. This predicament gave her a throbbing headache.
While she yearned to recover the missing half of the dragon vein's power, Roran was isolated and lacked influence on the world stage. Engaging the might of the major nations to hunt down Anrokuzan was simply implausible.
A few days later, Shiraishi returned to the Land Of Demons from Roran. In a laboratory, he discussed the dragon vein's management with Katsuyu's clone.
"Shiraishi-sama, this doesn't appear to be a complete dragon vein," observed Katsuyu upon examining the dragon vein core that Shiraishi had brought.
"That's correct. This is only half of the dragon vein core. Since Roran is built ontop the dragon vein, we must leave half of the core intact to prevent the underground from collapsing," Shiraishi explained.
"I see. Given Roran's connection to the dragon vein, we must indeed proceed with caution," Katsuyu responded.
Shiraishi then asked for Katsuyu's advice. "What are your recommendations, Katsuyu?"
Katsuyu pondered briefly before offering a suggestion. "Although it's a core, it functions primarily as a container for chakra. Shiraishi-sama, may I take this half of the dragon vein core to the Shikkotsu Forest to nurture it? It needs time to accumulate sufficient chakra."
Katsuyu emphasized the core's dire need for replenishment. The chakra loss in this half of the core was huge, and the available chakra was insufficient to meet its and Shiraishi's expectations.
To unlock the full potential of the container, it must be recharged with chakra to fully harness the dragon vein's original power.
"However, I didn't anticipate the dragon vein's power being so much weaker than what I previously witnessed. The dragon vein beneath Roran may be deteriorating over the next hundred years,"
Shiraishi couldn't understand how powerful the dragon veins were in the past, but the power of the current dragon veins was enough for him to use.
"That's the plan for the dragon vein. I'm in no rush to use it at the moment. Next, I need to address internal matters within the Land Of Demons. By the way, Katsuyu, how is the progress on recording history?" Shiraishi asked with interest.
While Shiraishi had gone to Roran to secure the dragon vein's power, his clone remained in the Land Of Demons, recording the history of Shiraishi's past experiences in a meticulously transcribed book.
"Hmm... because the amount of information is too large,, I couldn't remember some details accurately. However, I instructed the historians to document major events and crucial secrets. Some of the revelations are quite unbelievable, Shiraishi-sama. I believe you should prepare yourself mentally before going deep into this history,"
Katsuyu cautioned, aware of the shock the past's history held for those in the present era.
"Rest assured, I've gone through many trials and tribulations throughout my journey. Regardless of the historical content, I won't complain or be shocked,"
Shiraishi replied with a serious expression, expressing that he was already mentally prepared.
Satisfied with Shiraishi's response, Katsuyu led the way to another room, where they began studying the history that had been forgotten by the people of this era for thousands of years.
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