Seven years ago, the Third Tsuchikage personally appeared at the border, intending to kill Uchiha Akira, only to have his legs severed by him. Now, during the recent Jōnin Exams, the Third Tsuchikage had even hired the Akatsuki to assist in assassinating Uchiha Akira.
Fugaku understood that the Third Tsuchikage was utterly determined to eliminate Uchiha Akira. He clearly saw Akira as a threat that had to be removed.
But now, Fugaku was sending Uchiha Akira to Iwagakure to negotiate reparations. Was he not concerned that the Third Tsuchikage might go mad again?
No, he wasn't worried anymore.
After all, this assassination attempt hadn't just shown Konoha the extent of Uchiha Akira's strength—it had demonstrated it to the entire shinobi world. There was no need to mention anything else; just the Deep Forest Emergence technique alone was enough to make any opponent lose the will to fight.
After all, if someone could use such a jutsu, numerical advantage didn't mean much anymore. It was like the legendary Third Raikage, who had been surrounded by tens of thousands of shinobi, only to die after exhausting himself. But if he had a large-scale attack like Deep Forest Emergence, no number of shinobi could have stopped him.
So, sending Uchiha Akira to deliver the prisoners and extort reparations from Iwagakure was a perfect fit. On one hand, his strength had grown to the point where he wasn't just a prodigy anymore—he was one of the strongest in the shinobi world. On the other hand, as a direct victim of the attack, he had every right to be the one to demand reparations.
However, what Fugaku didn't expect was that Uchiha Akira would bring Sasuke, Kakashi, and Naruto along with him.
Who was Sasuke? A Mangekyō Sharingan wielder!
Kakashi was already known across the shinobi world as the Copy Ninja, and even more importantly, he too had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye.
And Naruto? He didn't need much explanation—he was the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki!
With Uchiha Akira himself, this made four Kage-level shinobi leaving Konoha together. Was this really a negotiation team?
Were they sure this wasn't an invasion force heading to attack Iwagakure?
This group was more than enough to invade the entire Iwagakure village, if not completely destroy it. There were probably only two people in Konoha who could mobilize such a powerful squad for a mission: Fugaku and Uchiha Akira.
While Fugaku was left contemplating all of this, Uchiha Akira and his team were already on their way toward Iwagakure.
Along the way, they frequently passed through towns and took breaks, and the news about the attack on Konoha during the Jōnin Exams had already spread throughout the shinobi world.
Whenever they entered a town, Uchiha Akira could hear people discussing the event. On one hand, there were discussions about him, mostly focused on his Deep Forest Emergence technique. Countless people were astonished—Wood Release, the legendary power that had ended the Warring States Period, had reappeared in the shinobi world! And it wasn't from the Senju Clan, but from the Uchiha Clan! The implications of this were terrifying—how much was still hidden from the world?
In addition to the awe surrounding Uchiha Akira, there was also much discussion about the Akatsuki. The Rinnegan—the legendary eyes—had reappeared in the world, and their wielder had even been able to fight Uchiha Akira on equal footing. The fact that the Akatsuki, with only a few members, had caused such chaos in Konoha had shaken the shinobi world to its core. Nobody expected there to be such a powerful organization lurking in the shadows. It seemed the waters of the shinobi world were far deeper than anyone had imagined.
Without needing to actively seek out information, Uchiha Akira was already hearing plenty just by listening to the discussions around him. After a good dinner in one of the towns, the group returned to their rooms to rest for the night.
However, that night, Uchiha Akira sensed something and soon saw a familiar snake slither through his window. The snake opened its mouth and spat out a large scroll.
"Here it is!" Akira's eyes gleamed, and his mood improved significantly at the sight of the snake.
He opened the scroll, unsealing it to reveal the money that Kakuzu had sent—12 million ryō in total! Akira was overjoyed.
Great! With this 12 million, he'd be able to keep himself going for at least another couple of weeks. It was clear now—using Kotoamatsukami on Kakuzu had been worth it. The money just kept rolling in!
What made it even better was that all this money had been stolen from the Akatsuki. Could anything be more satisfying than that?
After stashing away the money, Akira turned his attention to the letter Kakuzu had sent along with it. Reading through it, he found that most of the information was already known to him. For example, the Akatsuki had a new member named Tobi, who always wore a spiral-patterned mask and had recently been paired with Kakuzu.
There was also a note about Tobi's strange ability, which allowed him to phase his body between solid and intangible states, and Kakuzu warned Akira to be cautious if they ever faced off.
Additionally, Kakuzu mentioned that the leader of the Akatsuki wielded the Rinnegan, and shockingly, there were six individuals within the organization who all possessed Rinnegan. Even Kakuzu, a veteran member, had been stunned by this revelation.
Six pairs of Rinnegan—what kind of terrifying power was that?
Finally, Kakuzu's letter revealed that the Akatsuki had officially entered the second phase of their plan: capturing the tailed beasts. Akira was warned to stay alert.
Overall, the letter confirmed three main points—points Akira had already been aware of from the original series. The appearance of Pain's Six Paths in the Akatsuki wasn't surprising, but it seemed that after their failure in Konoha, Nagato had grown more cautious and unleashed the full force of his Six Paths.
Additionally, the Akatsuki had officially begun their plan to capture the tailed beasts.
After pondering this information for a while, Akira memorized everything carefully, then destroyed the letter. His thoughts then drifted to his Life Simulator.
Spending one million ryō, the simulation began.
[One week later, you arrive in Iwagakure successfully.]
[Two weeks later, on your way back to Konoha, you hear that Sunagakure has been attacked. The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, has been killed, and the Akatsuki has captured the One-Tail Jinchūriki, Gaara.]
[The Five Kage Summit, originally planned, has been postponed due to the death of the Kazekage. Sunagakure requests aid from Konoha.]
[Six months later, more than half of the nine tailed beasts have been captured by the Akatsuki. The shinobi world is in chaos.]
[One year later, Uchiha Madara is revived. Your use of Wood Release catches Madara's attention, and you are killed by him.]
When the simulation ended, Akira sighed and shook his head.
Each simulation always ended with his death. He had grown used to it by now.
However, the way he died revealed much about his growth. At first, his death was inevitable during the Uchiha clan massacre. Later, when he left Konoha and became a rogue shinobi, he sometimes died at the hands of Kakashi, or even by Kakuzu. Then, as he grew stronger, he died at the hands of Nagato. Now, it seemed that only Uchiha Madara could kill him in the simulations.
The stronger his enemies became, the more it reflected his own rapid growth.
After using the simulator, his chakra reserves increased slightly. Over a year, the gains weren't dramatic, but for Akira, it was part of a steady accumulation.
Even if the increase was small, a day's worth of growth for him was equivalent to a year for others. What more could he ask for?
But aside from the increase in chakra, the intelligence he gleaned from the simulator was equally important.
What did the simulation say?
One week later, you will arrive in Iwagakure.
Given their pace and the fact they were pulling a cart of prisoners, this made sense. It would take about a week to reach Iwagakure.
Then, they'd spend a few days there extorting compensation before heading back. Two weeks later, Akira would hear about Gaara's capture and Rasa's death.
This meant the attack on Sunagakure would likely happen while he was still in Iwagakure.
Even though Sunagakure had been at odds with Konoha in the past, they were now potential allies in the fight against the Akatsuki. More importantly, Sunagakure hadn't completely severed ties with Konoha.
If he could help them, it would be worth doing. After all, if he could thwart the Akatsuki's plan to capture the tailed beasts, that would be a significant win.
Delaying their plans would buy him more time to grow stronger.
With that in mind, Akira made a decision.
The next morning, as they gathered for breakfast, Akira addressed the group. "Kakashi, the three of you keep heading toward Iwagakure, but there's no need to rush."
"Huh? Where are you going?" Kakashi asked, surprised.
"I need to head to Sunagakure. From what I've gathered, the Akatsuki is about to attack them and target the One-Tails' Jinchūriki."
"Once I'm done in Sunagakure, we'll deal with Iwagakure," Akira explained.
After all, with the upper hand in negotiations with Iwagakure, there was no rush.
"Understood," Kakashi nodded, accepting Akira's explanation without questioning where his information came from.
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Note: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 255+ at patreon.com/Emik01.