Starting as the mastermind behind Naruto

Chapter 152 Kisame is a little short on cash!

Within the Land of Fire, undercurrents are surging.

After Konoha's leadership temporarily resolved all external enemies through peaceful means, they immediately turned their attention to cleaning up internal strife, ostensibly to track down Orochimaru's spies.

Jiraiya secretly took matters into his own hands and began to supervise and investigate the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's confidant, searching for the ANBU member who claimed to have been monitoring Naruto Uzumaki, in order to prevent the Third Hokage's dark secrets from being used by others.

This information must absolutely not be leaked!

If it were someone as shameless as the Kazekage, Tsuchikage, or Raikage, that would be one thing; they don't care whether their actions are respectable or not, as long as it benefits the village, they'll do it.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi's character design is different.

No matter how much Jiraiya investigated the Anbu members who had once protected Naruto Uzumaki, he could not find this person, and Jiraiya could only temporarily define him as missing.

Unfortunately, Jiraiya discovered many of Hiruzen Sarutobi's dark secrets, such as secretly supporting Orochimaru and Danzo Shimura in conducting human experiments in Konoha.

These dark secrets completely shattered Hiruzen Sarutobi's long-standing image of a kind-hearted person, and at the same time, there was a special ANBU (Anbu) that was responsible for Hiruzen Sarutobi's dark affairs.

These materials are written in great detail.

Strangely, this secret unit was codenamed "Orphan."

Jiraiya and the Konoha leadership believed that this Anbu member codenamed "Orphan" was likely directly under Hiruzen Sarutobi and had been operating alone without any partners.

After all, his code name is Orphan!

A small river in the wild.

Kabuto Yakushi handed the grilled fish to Naraku Uehara: "Lord Naraku, Konoha has been investigating the Anbu who reported to Naruto Uzumaki outside his window that night. It seems the little gift I left for them when I left will be discovered soon."

"What gift?"

"Some of the dark history of the Third Hokage."

Kabuto Yakushi pushed up his glasses meaningfully and said softly, "I've always believed that as a qualified spy, we must never let anyone notice that there are two extra people who shouldn't be involved in something."

Otherwise, it would be easy for them to suspect us. Even the slightest suspicion can breed hatred in the eyes of those secret agents who don't need evidence.

Both Orochimaru and Naraku have attracted too much hatred in the Konoha Crush plan, which I can use to plunge Konoha into even greater chaos.

Kabuto Yakushi is going to use a series of facts and evidence to prove that the person who self-destructed by Naruto's window that night was definitely Hiruzen Sarutobi and an ANBU ninja.

Kabuto Yakushi did not hide his plan.

Now that Konoha has begun investigating this matter, he will soon arrange for a Konoha ANBU member codenamed "Orphan" to defect and tell more people that Hiruzen Sarutobi, who has already died in battle, orchestrated the Nine-Tails attack and murdered the Fourth Hokage and his wife.

After explaining his plan, Kabuto Yakushi added a very philosophical quote: "If you're going to put on a show, you have to do it properly."

"You're a real talent!"

Uehara Naraku sighed. As expected of Kabuto Yakushi, who was destined to become the true mastermind behind the ninja world in history, he could arrange everything meticulously.

Uehara Naraku suddenly raised an eyebrow and asked curiously, "Did the Third Hokage really have such a dark history?"

"It's more than what Lord Naraku compiled."

After nodding, Kabuto said in a low voice, "How could a Hokage who has held power in Konoha for nearly forty years be a kind old man? Some people, when they get old, will use a compassionate face to cover up the fact that things are peaceful."

As a spy, Kabuto Yakushi knew quite a lot.

However, having such a highly intelligent subordinate subtly highlights how incompetent Uehara, the mastermind behind the scenes, is. Despite having so much intelligence, Uehara is not as meticulous as Kabuto Yakushi in his work!

Uehara Naraku thought for a while, and the grilled fish in his hand started to taste a bit bland. He frowned and said, "I don't want to eat anymore. In the village, Teacher Konan makes grilled fish every day. You're going to make me grilled fish here too!"

"Well…"

Kabuto's expression immediately turned somewhat awkward: "It's too late. How about I go to a nearby town to buy some dumplings tomorrow?"

"No need, I know a place that sells them."

Uehara Naraku shook his head and said softly, "I'll go find Kisame Hoshigaki directly. You do your job and don't let me down."

"Yes."

Kabuto respectfully lowered his head, watching as a stack of cards slowly appeared at Uehara Naraku's feet, then vanished instantly before his eyes.

After a long while, Kabuto slowly raised his head, holding the grilled fish in his hand, and said with some regret, "Lord Naraku seems a bit naive... Those homeless children in the Land of Fire can only scavenge for food in the garbage dump because they don't know how to fish!"

However, Kabuto touched the scroll in his ninja tool bag and realized that Uehara Naraku hadn't actually taken the funds intended for building the orphanage.

Kabuto couldn't help but sigh, saying, "But compared to Lord Orochimaru, Lord Naraku seems to be much purer!"

In the silent jungle.

Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha headed towards Konoha.

They heard news of the Chunin Exams chaos in the Land of Fire and learned of Hiruzen Sarutobi's death, but Itachi Uchiha was unaware of Danzo's death.

Therefore, Itachi Uchiha planned to return to Konoha to warn Danzo, and also wanted to check on his younger brother Sasuke Uchiha to see if he was alright.

As Kisame Hoshigaki passed by a roadside shop, he saw a young man sitting on the steps of the shop, wolfing down a dumpling with a very uncouth mouthful of food.

"Mr. Itachi."

Kisame Hoshigaki grinned, chuckling as he looked at the young man. "Doesn't that down-on-his-luck guy look a lot like one of our organization's interns...?"

"They really do look alike."

Uchiha Itachi looked up and examined the area carefully for a moment, his expression immediately turning somewhat grim: "Hmm? That must be Uehara Naraku, right? What's he doing here?"

This doesn't seem right.

It is said that this guy just assassinated the Third Hokage of Konoha, and even used the reputation of Hanzo the Salamander, a demigod of ninja, to force Konoha to sign an alliance agreement recognizing Hanzo as the Amekage.

Konoha is definitely not a good place.

The true agreement is known only to Amegakure and Konoha.

If Hanzo the Salamander were still alive after the news broke, he would probably twist the head off Uehara Naraku, the person who signed the agreement.

Whoosh!

A bamboo skewer was stuck in Kisame Hoshigaki's foot.

Uehara Naraku looked at Kisame Hoshigaki with a dark expression and extended his palm: "Kisame-senpai, Itachi-san, I'm a little short on cash lately, could you lend me some money?"

"To be honest, I wouldn't dare lend it."

Kisame Hoshigaki shook his head quickly, completely disregarding his identity as a spy for Uehara Naraku, and explained in a low voice, "If something happens to you, and Konan-senpai asks about it, I can't take the responsibility."

Kisame Hoshigaki grinned and continued, "I've heard that Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, has been quite active in the Land of Fire lately. I can't afford to let my money go to waste..."

"..."

Uehara Naraku muttered "coward" and turned to look at Uchiha Itachi. If it weren't for Uchiha Itachi being there, he would definitely have made Kisame some grilled shark fin soup.

However, in private, Kisame Hoshigaki is exceptionally respectful to Naraku Uehara, perfectly embodying the life of a spy.

However, when they meet on the surface, that bastard Kisame always likes to mess with his mind, pretending that they don't know each other well.

Itachi Uchiha avoided the trivial matter of borrowing money and instead asked, "Uehara, why are you still here? Haven't you returned to Amegakure yet?"

"I don't have the money for the trip!"

Uehara Naraku smiled slightly.

What kind of ridiculous excuse is that you don't have travel expenses?!

After a moment of silence, Itachi Uchiha loosened his collar, took out his wallet, and abruptly changed the subject: "You just mentioned borrowing money, how much do you need?"

"One million taels, perhaps?"

After stating a large sum of money, Uehara Naraku continued, "Next time I can approve an additional 1.5 million taels for your activities."

"Not that many."

Itachi Uchiha pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to Naraku Uehara: "I only have 100,000 ryo here. Don't tell Konan-senpai that I lent it to you."

"I understand."

Uehara Naraku readily accepted the money: "And you two, did Lord Pain assign you any tasks? Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"No wonder he's the organization's treasurer; he's all talk and no action once he's been paid!"

Kisame Hoshigaki glanced meaningfully at Itachi Uchiha and chuckled softly, "Hehehe... We want to take advantage of the chaos in Konoha to investigate the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and see if we can capture him."

"This task is simple..."

Uehara Naraku glanced at the two men and lowered his voice, saying, "The entire Hidden Leaf Village is in chaos right now. If you expose Akatsuki's existence and still can't bring back the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki for Akatsuki, doesn't that mean you have no value left?"

"..."

Itachi Uchiha's eyes shifted slightly, and he sighed, saying, "This is the leader's order; we can only risk our lives to carry it out."

"Xiao will not tolerate incompetence."

Uehara Naraku blinked and said softly, "If you fail, the organization will likely submit a new candidate for the internship. But don't worry, this person is much weaker than you."

Uehara Naraku chuckled and continued, "If Itachi-san is willing, he can kill that new member at any time. I believe the people in the organization won't blame you."

Thank you.

Itachi Uchiha nodded.

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(End of this chapter)