Starting as the mastermind behind Naruto

Chapter 261 Tsunade: These two Akatsuki members look somewhat familiar.

Payne's exposure was inevitable.

After the Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, was attacked in Kirigakure, she attempted to launch a plan to ambush the Akatsuki using the Six-Tails Jinchuriki. Unfortunately, the plan was thwarted by the invasion of Konoha by Kakuzu and his group.

However, Mei Terumi did not give up on Utakata, the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, and even sent people to persuade him to return to the village.

However, the disheartened Six-Tails Jinchuriki rejected Mei Terumi's proposal. Utakata believed that he was capable of protecting himself and that returning to Kirigakure to face those who discriminated against him or tried to take away his Tailed Beast would be more dangerous.

Mei Terumi was truly helpless.

The entire Hidden Mist Village has been breached by the Akatsuki. What can a mere Six-Tails Jinchuriki do? Staying outside at this point is just handing his head to the Akatsuki.

Unfortunately, Mei Terumi's authority is truly insufficient.

Moreover, Mei Terumi's methods were relatively mild; she only assigned a portion of the ninjas to monitor and protect the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, and continued to persuade him to return to the village.

Unfortunately, facing an enemy of Pain's caliber, it was already quite an achievement for the Kirigakure ninja responsible for protection and surveillance to manage to escape and deliver messages. At least they brought back information about a newly exposed member of the Akatsuki.

Strictly speaking, the blame should be shared equally between Uehara Naraku and Shimura Danzo, with Danzo even taking a larger share.

If he hadn't killed Shimura Danzo and rewarded him with Dark Harvest, Uehara Naraku wouldn't have destroyed Kirigakure for the power of Dark Harvest.

If Uehara Naraku hadn't destroyed Kirigakure, Terumi Mei wouldn't have been so deliberately hostile to the Akatsuki, nor would she have been so deliberately protecting and monitoring the Six-Tails Jinchuriki.

Now that Mei Terumi has obtained information about the newly emerged Rinnegan member of Akatsuki and the disappearance of the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, she sends these two pieces of information to her ally, Konoha, because the reports from Akatsuki are shared between Sunagakure, Kirigakure, and Konoha.

Konoha Village.

The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, is currently attending classes at the Ninja Academy. This is a rare opportunity for Tsunade, who is known for taking time out of her official duties to enjoy a leisurely life.

"Haa!"

Tsunade suddenly twisted her body and stomped her foot on the ground. The enormous force of her foot destroyed the floor, and the entire empty space was instantly turned into ruins!

A group of ninja trainees, still in a daze, watched this scene. They did not feel the warmth of the Will of Fire, but rather the violence of the Hokage.

"Hey, what are you standing there for? Clap!"

Tsunade looked at the group of kids with displeasure.

After a moment of silence caused by her words, the elementary school students at the ninja academy broke into scattered applause, making the scene even more awkward than before.

Most of the boys were so frightened that they didn't know what to do.

Most of the girls are big fans of the Fifth Hokage.

Tsunade looked around at the excited girls with satisfaction, then reached out and rubbed the Byakugan-wielding girl at the front: "Hanabi's eleven years old this year, right? She'll graduate and become a ninja next year, so keep up the good work!"

"Yes, Lady Tsunade!"

After nodding seriously, Hyuga Hanabi suddenly asked, "Lady Tsunade, may I become your disciple?"

"ha?"

A question mark appeared on Tsunade's forehead. She crouched down, looking at the Byakugan-wielding girl with a puzzled expression, and chuckled, "I saw you training in Gentle Fist; you were already a genius Hyuga ninja! Are you still going to become a medical ninja with me?"

"No."

Hinata Hanabi calmly shook her head, her hair swaying slightly. Even though she was only eleven years old this year, it was clear that she would definitely become a beautiful female ninja in the future.

Hyuga Hanabi's expression turned serious, her eyes hardening with determination: "I want to learn Lady Tsunade's superhuman strength techniques, kill Uehara Naraku, and avenge my father!"

Three or four years ago, during the Konoha Incident that erupted during the Chunin Exams, Hyuga Hiashi, the head of the Hyuga clan, was crippled by Uehara Naraku while protecting a group of genin as they escaped.

Therefore, the entire Hyuga clan was forced to elect another ninja from the main branch, Hinata Hyuga, as the head of the main branch. At that time, she was still a genin.

Since then, the Hyuga clan has gradually become more low-key.

Hinata Hanabi grew up amidst the pride of the Byakugan clan. Her father and sister doted on her, and she herself was a little genius. It can be said that she had a privileged childhood.

Everything changed after the internal strife during the Chunin Exams ended.

Hiashi Hyuga became despondent due to his disability and placed all his hopes on his two daughters; Hinata Hyuga usually appeared very tough in public, but she would always secretly shed tears at night.

After all, all the members of the Hyuga clan's main and branch families hoped that Hinata, as the clan head, could shoulder the heavy responsibility of the clan and uphold the prestige of the Byakugan!

Hinata Hanabi had been observing all of this, and she had deeply etched the name of that enemy into her heart, as well as into her training dummy.

Uehara Naraku!

Uehara Naraku!

Upon hearing Hyuga Hanabi's words and seeing the determination and hatred on the Byakugan girl's face, Tsunade's smile gradually faded.

"I won't agree to that."

Tsunade shook her head.

These words made Hinata Hanabi's face turn ugly.

After a while, Tsunade gently stroked Hanabi's head and whispered, "If one day you come not for revenge, but to better protect your family and prevent the tragedy of Konoha from repeating itself, then come find me then!"

"..."

Hinata Hanabi remained silent for a while.

After a moment, the little girl nodded and said, "Yes, Lord Hokage."

After leaving the ninja academy.

Tsunade tilted her head back listlessly, sighed, and said, "Honestly, a child this young shouldn't be bound by hatred! Otherwise, wouldn't they end up like that brat Sasuke, resorting to any means for power?"

"This is the remnant of war..."

Shizune, who was beside Tsunade, was holding a small pink pig and sighed softly, "The last time Uehara Naraku came, I saw that little Sarutobi Konohamaru secretly hiding nearby, trying to assassinate Uehara. He kept clamoring to avenge the Third Hokage!"

Sakura Haruno, walking on the other side, tossed her hair and whispered, "I always felt that Uehara-senpai wasn't a bad person back then!"

"Tch, are there truly purely good or purely bad people in this world?"

Tsunade snorted coldly and said with dissatisfaction, "That brat was only doing it for his village, which is understandable. After all, he's just a ninja following orders from his superiors. Let's not bring this up again."

It's better not to bring this up.

When this matter is mentioned, Tsunade can't help but want to curse Shimura Danzo.

Unfortunately, Root leader Danzo Shimura had already been suspected of dying in battle, and before his death, he caused Konoha a major obstacle.

"Hokage-sama!"

An ANBU ninja landed in front of Tsunade and respectfully announced, "The envoys from Kirigakure have arrived, bringing the latest intelligence on the Akatsuki!"

Another ANBU ninja landed in front of Tsunade and said in a deep voice, "Hokage, intelligence from the Land of Earth has just arrived. Iwagakure was breached by Akatsuki, suffering heavy casualties, and the Five-Tails Jinchuriki has been captured by Akatsuki!"

Another ANBU ninja landed in front of Tsunade and said softly, "Hokage-sama, an envoy from Iwagakure has come to negotiate. They hope to exchange information about an Akatsuki member who has not yet revealed himself for information about the Akatsuki!"

"..."

Tsunade's forehead twitched involuntarily.

Just as Tsunade was about to head to the Hokage's Building, another ANBU ninja appeared before her and said in a deep voice, "Hokage-sama, Shibuki, the leader of Takigakure, has sent a message, also about Akatsuki!"

"..."

Tsunade's emotions gradually became volatile. She clenched her fist tightly and punched the wall next to her, knocking it down!

After doing all this, Tsunade gritted her teeth and squeezed out a few words: "I'm going to the Hokage Building right now to see what's going on! Why are those Akatsuki guys suddenly launching such a large-scale operation!"

The land of earth, the land of water, the land of streams.

A shadow fell over Tsunade's mind. If her guess was correct, the messages sent by Kirigakure and Takigakure were probably also about the theft of Jinchuriki.

As Tsunade had predicted, things turned out just as she had.

Inside the Hokage Building, after Tsunade met with the envoy from Kirigakure, she immediately learned that the Six-Tails Jinchuriki had been captured by the Akatsuki and that an enemy with the legendary Sage's Eyes had appeared.

The intelligence brought by the messenger from Takigakure was rather grim. Before the entire village could put up any decent resistance, several members of Akatsuki stormed in and captured the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, Fu.

This was not unexpected for Tsunade.

After all, Takigakure simply didn't have the strength to protect the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki. Tsunade had mentioned offering to protect him, but unfortunately, Shibuki of Takigakure didn't dare to agree.

Now look what's happened, they've been captured by the Akatsuki.

The envoy from Iwagakure was quite interesting.

This envoy from Iwagakure may have been instructed by Onoki; their primary goal was to obtain the location of Akatsuki's stronghold through negotiation.

"..."

Tsunade was completely speechless.

Who the hell knows where the Akatsuki's base is?

If Tsunade knew where Akatsuki's base was, she wouldn't be sitting in the Hokage's office listening to this bad news; she would have already started organizing the Allied Shinobi Forces to attack Akatsuki.

The Iwagakure ninja hesitated for a moment, then stammered, "But according to our information, Konoha and Sunagakure joined forces to retrieve the Fifth Kazekage, Gaara, who had been captured by Akatsuki..."

That's because...

Tsunade wanted to mention Uehara Naraku and Amegakure's contributions, but fortunately, she was politically astute enough to immediately swallow Uehara Naraku's name again.

After all, if Iwagakure takes this opportunity to establish friendly relations with Amegakure, it will be very detrimental to Konoha's situation.

"alright!"

Tsunade slammed her hand on the table and said coldly, "If you're willing to negotiate, then hand over the intelligence you have! Perhaps that Akatsuki member you're talking about is already on our intelligence list!"

"This…"

The Hidden Rock Envoy isn't very good at negotiating.

After a moment, he remembered the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki's, instructions and said in a deep voice, "Besides the information Konoha can give us now, we also require Konoha to immediately notify our village once they find Akatsuki's hideout!"

"rest assured."

Tsunade glanced at the Iwagakure envoy with displeasure and said dismissively, "The more teammates you have, the better. It's not something a single ninja village can accomplish if you want to wipe out Akatsuki!"

"...I hope that Lord Hokage will keep his promise."

The Iwagakure envoy gritted his teeth, placed the scroll in his hand on the Hokage's desk, and said in a low voice, "This is the information about Akatsuki's contact person with our Iwagakure Village."

"ha?"

Tsunade couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips into a mocking smile, saying, "We always thought that Iwagakure and Akatsuki were close partners!"

During the Grass Country incident, Iwagakure, with the help of Akatsuki, inflicted many casualties on Konoha, a grudge Tsunade remembers very clearly.

Seeing Iwagakure destroyed by Akatsuki, Tsunade couldn't be happier, especially since these guys now need Konoha's help. If it weren't for the bigger picture, Tsunade would have really wanted to kick this Iwagakure envoy out.

"Um?"

After Tsunade unrolled the scroll, her brows furrowed involuntarily: "This woman is actually a rogue ninja from Amegakure?"

Tsunade rubbed her temples, looking at the sketch on the scroll: "It looks kind of familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before."

"Has the Hokage seen her before?"

The Iwagakure envoy had just received the information that Konoha had given him.

To be honest, the Iwagakure envoy was a little abrupt. What if Tsunade knew the woman on the scroll? Wouldn't their intelligence be meaningless?

"rest assured."

Tsunade glanced at the Iwagakure envoy and said softly, "This member is not yet on our wanted list. Your intelligence is very valuable, and our agreement still stands."

Only then did the Hidden Rock Envoy turn and leave, relieved.

Tsunade continued to stare at the scroll, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

On the scroll.

It depicts a female ninja with a cold and aloof appearance.

This female ninja wore a headband worn by a former Amegakure ninja and a black robe uniform from the Akatsuki organization, giving her an unapproachable air.

The scroll contained some information about her, such as light blue hair, light orange pupils, a bouquet of paper flowers often worn on her head, and that she was particularly skilled in a certain paper-based secret technique that allowed her to ignore physical attacks.

While Tsunade was still pondering, a tall, white-haired old man led a blond-haired young ninja into the Hokage's office, excitedly announcing, "Hey, Tsunade, we're back!"

"Jiraiya? Naruto?"

Tsunade subconsciously put down the scroll in her hand, looked up at them with some surprise, and said, "Why are you back? Did Naruto successfully master Sage Mode? Didn't you spend many years..."

"Shh! Shh! Shh!"

Jiraiya quickly put a finger to his lips, slowly walked to the Hokage's desk, and sighed, "Anyway, he's successfully mastered Sage Mode! It's just that maintaining Sage Mode for a while is a bit of a hassle..."

The Nine-Tails within Naruto Uzumaki does not allow other summoned beasts to share Naruto's body. This means that although Naruto has successfully mastered Sage Mode, he cannot sustain it for very long in battle.

Fortunately, this little guy found another shortcut.

After finishing discussing Sage Mode, Jiraiya glanced at the scroll in front of Tsunade and asked in surprise, "Hmm, what are you looking at? Why did you look so grim just now?"

"oh."

Tsunade's brows furrowed again instinctively. She first handed the intelligence scroll sent by Iwagakure to Jiraiya, and then took out an intelligence scroll sent by Kirigakure and handed it to him as well.

Tsunade's expression was somewhat unpleasant. She said softly, "This is information we just received. The Akatsuki has two more hidden members. I think I've seen them before..."

Aww, it's late again!

I fucking swear!

I went to bed too late last night and forgot to set the timer. There will be two more updates this afternoon.

(End of this chapter)