Obito complained mentally, but he still climbed down from Kakashi's back, aware that Kakashi was likely tired from the travel too, as Kakashi was panting heavily.
"Uh..." As soon as he got off the ground, he felt weak in his limbs and sore in his muscles.
The first and second gates of the Eight Inner Gates i.e. Gate of Opening and Gate of Healing, didn't usually cause much damage to the body, but Obito had to use them in his recent deathly battle, as it was his first time opening the gates, his body couldn't adapt properly to so much stress.
While opening the gates also gave him access to unique taijutsu abilities and superior physical capabilities, the backlash was also strong.
Though, the current muscle weakness was only because he didn't rest enough.
"Forget it, I'll help you." Kakashi sighed. He was unsure about the situation, but it seemed that Obito couldn't move properly for the time being, so Kakashi helped him because he didn't want his time wasted and get the trip over with soon. And he could return to his soft and comfortable sleeping bag.
Takeshi was carrying Rin on his back, and their destination was the Akatsuki's small base they visited last time. The distance was a bit far, especially with two injured people who needed to be carried, so the speed was naturally quite slow.
Fortunately, Yahiko and Konan arrived halfway. Yahiko was very enthusiastic and carried Obito on his back. So, Takeshi gave Rin to Konan, and she helped transport her with her origami.
With apparent that sexism was at play here. Obito shed tears silently in his heart, but he was relieved when he thought that Rin was safe. As long as Rin was well, everything was worth it.
Back in the Akatsuki's base, Kakashi fell asleep as soon as he arrived - he was also very tired. Minato helped them lie down, and then took Takeshi out of the room to prevent him from disturbing Kakashi and Obito, who were resting.
"Minato-senpai, can I know what information you've got?" Yahiko came over and asked. He didn't ask Minato directly what his mission was, because it was confidential, but he could atleast try to buy the information.
The purpose of their cooperation was exchange of information, so this is in line with their goal for communication.
"The Third Kazekage is indeed missing, and it is suspected that Sasori of the Red Sand might be responsible." Minato told him non-sensitive information (non-sensitive for Konoha).
"Sasori of the Red Sand?" Konan was slightly surprised. 'Wasn't that the proud genius puppeteer of the new generation of Sunagakure? The disappearance of the Third Kazekage was actually related to him. It was unbelievable.'
"It's related to him... No wonder the Sunagakure sent ninjas everywhere to search, but the Third Kazekage was so powerful that he was defeated by Sasori. This is quite embarrassing," Yahiko couldn't help but complain.
As usual, Nagato stood in the back and said nothing. After that, Minato and Takeshi looked at them together, and the meaning was obvious.
Konan was the first to react and said, "We have found out that the Sunagakure is willing to cooperate with the Iwagakure , but the two villages don't seem to have reached an agreement. Then something happened likely caused by you, so the ninjas of the Sunagakure were urgently withdrawn, and the negotiations were aborted."
"Thank you for the information." Minato bowed slightly. Although there wasn't much information, the cooperation between two villages was alone was enough to make Konoha raise alertness.
There aren't many things that the Sunagakure and the Iwagakure can cooperate on. Looking at the whole ninja world, they can only cooperate to deal with the Land of Fire and Konoha. With the limited ability of Akatsuki, even getting this information wouldn't be easy.
However, both he and Yahiko's team could feel the urgency of the coming war.
Yahiko hesitated for a moment before asking, "What can we do to stop this war?"
"It can't be stopped. After several years of recuperation, each village has recovered a lot of strength. Sunagakure wants to fight, Iwagakure is eager to obtain more land and resources, Kumogakure's movements are unknown, but they definitely won't stand still, Kirigakure..."
Minato paused when he mentioned the Kirigakure . The Kirigakure rarely participated in the Second Shinobi World War, so they didn't lose many elite ninjas.
After so many years of training and accumulating strength, Kami knows what the current situation and strength of the Kirigakure is.
While Minato didn't say everything, but the meaning was clear. This is not a simple conflict caused by a certain problem, but a war caused by the dissatisfaction of the major powers with the status quo and unwillingness to settle for the current situation.
No one can stop it, Konoha can't, and Akatsuki can't. Yahiko and the other two fell silent.
The purpose of their founding "Akatsuki" was bringing peace to the world, so people don't suffer the pain they did. While they knew it wouldn't be easy, but now, after listening to Minato's words, they had some understanding of just how difficult and complex it is to achieve this goal.
The atmosphere was heavy. Takeshi was watching from the side. He wanted to interrupt, but due to his identity as a cat, it was not easy for him to participate in the discussion of these complex topics, so he could only remain silent.
Later, Nagato got up and left. Takeshi wanting to avoid this dull atmosphere, left to follow Nagato.
When they were almost at the forest, Nagato turned and stared at Takeshi. "Why are you following me?"
"Meow~ Hunting for food." Takeshi sat, looking around, just in time to see his face and the corner of his right eye.
Nagato was silent for a moment. 'Food? Then why are you following me ?', He was just a little bored and wanted to go out for some fresh air, but Takeshi went into the forest ahead without saying anything more.
Nagato sighed softly. 'Forget it, let's just follow this cat.' Otherwise, relying on this cat alone, while Takeshi may be able to hunt but not bring back anything they can consume.
When it comes to hunting in relation to this cat, the mouse from last night automatically pops up in his mind. 'This damn cat, he won't just catch mouse in the forest again right?! Will we have a mouse feast?'
Nagato was stunned for a moment, then he shuddered a little, quickened his pace, and walked past Takeshi to the front, thinking about his own stomach, he decided to do hunting himself.
There are many wild animals in this forest, but due to the rain all year round, it is generally difficult to find wild animals, at least for Nagato, so he went straight to a river beside him after he went out. Fish while is the easiest to catch, wouldn't be enough for everyone to eat.
However, not long after entering the forest, Takeshi disappeared.
Nagato was hesitating whether to go up to take a look, and he saw the cat coming out of the tree hole under the tree, and it seemed that the prey was still wrapped around the cat's tail.
'What the hell?' Nagato had a bad premonition, wondering what the cat would pull out from there...
"Meow~" Takeshi flicked his tail and threw out a prey.
Nagato narrowed his eyes, kicked the mouse away, and then said unhappily: "You don't eat the mouse yourself, why are you giving it to me to eat it?"
"Meow~" While pretending to act innocent. Takeshi secretly pulled up the system panel and saw the he had gained points again, and smiled in his heart. Anyway, they would be leaving soon, so why shouldn't he dig some more points before they left.
He turned around and ran. Not long after, he smelled another scent. This time it was not a mouse but a rabbit.
Because it was raining, the rabbit hid in its nest and did not come out. Takeshi followed suit, using his tail and Wild Lion's Mane Jutsu to catch the rabbit. Not long after he caught the rabbit and pulled it out.
"You caught mouse again?" Nagato saw Takeshi digging out something from the hole in another tree again, and his heart jumped. He was quite tempted to use Rinnegan Eyes abilities to send this cat flying.
"I got something good, meow~" Takeshi was completely unaware of what was on inside Nagato's head. Even if he knew, he would only be happy. After all, he would get alot of points.
But for Nagato, when Takeshi pulled out the prey, he was abit shocked. Because this time it wasn't a mouse. What was pulled out was a rabbit.
When it fell into Nagato's hands, it was still alive, without any injuries. The only problem was that the rabbit seemed to have peed in fear.
Takeshi pulled back his fur and shook it away, as he didn't was his fur getting dirty, but Nagato was in a worse situation.
Nagato's expression is rather grim, as he remained speechless.
"Meow! There's a squirrel up there..."
"No!"
"It's not a mouse, it's a squirrel meow~"
"No regardless! I will go catch some fish." As the man and the cat were arguing, and the poor rabbit was dragged by its ears to the riverside, and then tied up with a straw rope.
As Takeshi stood there watching Nagato catching fish, as saw Nagato use the Water Release to push fish out of water.
There was no skill, just using ninjutsu to bully the fish. After catching couple fishes, they took the fishes and rabbit back to the base.
Yahiko took care of the butchering process, and then let Konan be responsible for cooking. The division of tasks was quite clear.
As they dined, Takeshi couldn't help but voice his thoughts, "Meow~ Eating rabbits? How can you do that? They're way too adorable!"
"Then why are you eating it as well?" Nagato snapped, his anger rising.
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