Inside the Akatsuki office.
After placing a cup of brewed coffee on the table, Byakuya opened the first letter sent by Black Zetsu. The contents were quite simple.
After two weeks of interaction, Black Zetsu had already gained Naruto's initial trust. Now his standing in Naruto's eyes was now comparable to that of the Third Hokage.
This was entirely expected by Byakuya. Having been an orphan himself, he understood what orphans truly needed.
Although Black Zetsu's methods were somewhat rough, they were within a controllable range, which pleased Byakuya. He silently praised him as one of the hidden hands in the ninja world as he certainly had some skill.
As for why he didn't let Black Zetsu teach Naruto about the darker side of the ninja arts and lead him down a path of destruction...
A completely fallen Nine-Tails Jinchuriki could pose a significant threat to Konoha and even the entire ninja world.
The reason was simple: Akatsuki was an organization that loved peace.
While some members within the organization might secretly plot world-ending plans like the Moon Eye Plan, their motives stemmed from a desire for global harmony.
As long as Black Zetsu instilled the ideals of truth, goodness, and beauty in Naruto, he would eventually stand on their side.
After all, the ninjas who strictly followed the Will of Fire were, aside from the First Hokage, mostly idealistic lower-ranked ninjas who selflessly devoted themselves. The higher-ups in Konoha did not believe in such notions.
Retrieving his drifting thoughts, Byakuya casually wrote down some suggestions for Black Zetsu to pass on and then shifted his focus to other important matters.
For example, the ongoing issues with the Yugakure (Hidden Hot Water Village).
Thanks to the persistent efforts of Yahiko and Konan, Yugakure had also been integrated into the mutual assistance system established by Akatsuki, reaching several cooperative agreements with its allied nation, Amegakure.
The collaboration between a resource-rich country and an industrial nation yielded results greater than the sum of their parts.
However, despite the pleasant cooperation between Yugakure and Amegakure, a significant problem loomed ahead that needed immediate resolution.
That was the issue of distance.
Amegakure lay to the northwest of the Land of Fire, while Yugakure was to the northeast. The two were separated by over a thousand kilometers, with several smaller ninja nations in between.
For Amegakure to develop a closer collaboration with Yugakure, they had to consider the influence of these smaller ninja villages.
If any of these villages chose to obstruct them, their commercial activities would suffer severely. The smaller nations in question included Kusagakure (Hidden Grass Village), Land of Mountains, and Land of Rice Fields
Kusagakure had longstanding grievances with Amegakure and was a village that needed to be dealt with. It also housed Kirigakure's infamous Hozuki Castle, which imprisoned several high-level fugitives.
Considering the international ramifications, Akatsuki couldn't simply strike at Kusagakure directly. They could only look for ways to exploit the conflicts between Kusagakure and Hozuki Castle, hoping to foster a proxy.
Takigakure was an obscure village that mainly engaged in missions; it had little activity otherwise.
The Seven-Tails residing in Takigakure was something that Akatsuki needed to secure. Only by capturing all the tailed beasts could they resurrect the Ten-Tails and initiate the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan.
However, due to the existence of the Seven-Tails, Akatsuki currently couldn't take action.
At this point, the only viable target seemed to be Land of Rice Fields, which only contained a small ninja village called Otogakure (Sound Ninja Village).
(AN: It never existed until Orochimaru founded it. So, author here is making this detail up.)
This village, established by elite ninjas, had a total of only a few dozen people, including its leader.
For Byakuya, incorporating Otogakure wasn't a difficult task, but the name reminded him of one of the legendary Sannin of Konoha, Orochimaru.
He had intentionally left Otogakure as bait, waiting for the right opportunity to strike.
Unfortunately, it had already been several months since Orochimaru's defection, and he hadn't made any significant moves in the ninja world.
If it weren't for knowing the bond between the Third Hokage and Orochimaru, he might even suspect that Orochimaru had died under the Third Hokage's rod.
At that moment, an Akatsuki member rushed into the office, holding a scroll in hand.
Byakuya looked up at the member and asked indifferently, "Is there important intelligence? I remember you were specifically tasked with gathering information about Jiraiya."
The Akatsuki member nodded and handed the scroll to Byakuya.
Byakuya opened the scroll, his eyes narrowing as he read the detailed movements of Jiraiya and the information regarding Jiraiya's efforts to gather intel on Orochimaru from the black market.
With this in mind, Byakuya began to contemplate leaving Amegakure.
Rather than waiting idly in Amegakure for Orochimaru to appear, it would be more effective to actively seek out Jiraiya and, through him, find Orochimaru.
---
After a month of effort, Jiraiya finally discovered Orochimaru's whereabouts through his intelligence network.
To locate Orochimaru, Jiraiya frequently ventured into the red-light districts, risking exposure to the dangers of his past, and eventually learned of Orochimaru's specific location.
Using genjutsu to control a wandering ninja in the black market, Jiraiya concealed himself inside a toad's belly, instructing the ninja to guide him to Orochimaru's location.
Before long, Jiraiya halted, his gaze fixated on a feminine young man standing along the road ahead.
Though this young man bore no resemblance to Orochimaru, transformation techniques could deceive the eyes, but chakra and instincts would not lie.
Emerging from the toad's belly, Jiraiya stared intently at the feminine young man and said, "Orochimaru, drop the transformation technique. Your jutsu can't fool my eyes."
The young man let out a soft sigh, then dispelled the transformation with a complex expression, saying, "So it's you, Jiraiya. Did the old man send you here to kill me? Hah! I never thought our bond would be so fragile. It's truly disheartening, isn't it?"
"The old man sent someone to hunt you down?"
Jiraiya frowned, struggling to believe that the Third Hokage would send someone to kill Orochimaru, who was once his most prized student.
However, thinking it over, he realized that Orochimaru was now a rogue ninja, and chasing rogue ninjas was an obligation for all Konoha ninjas.
Taking a deep breath, Jiraiya spoke slowly, "I'm not here to kill you. I want you to come back. When you return, I'll plead for you in front of the old man. As long as you promise not to continue conducting human experiments in the village, you're still one of us."
At these words, Orochimaru chuckled softly. "If I can't explore the limits of ninjutsu, I might as well be killed. You don't truly understand what I'm thinking. Only a fool like you would foolishly remain in the village."
Orochimaru's words struck Jiraiya like a poisoned dart, igniting a surge of nameless rage within him.
"Orochimaru, I'll say this one last time. I must bring you back today, even if it's just to retrieve your corpse. I can't watch you make these mistakes any longer!"
"You mean to say you can kill me whenever you like?"
Orochimaru frowned, feeling belittled by Jiraiya's words, which only fueled his irritation. Forming hand seals, he lunged toward Jiraiya, initiating a battle.