I'm drawing manga in Naruto

Chapter 215 The Last Words, the End of the War

Previously, Akabane didn't have much interest in the Land of Rivers.

This place is too chaotic. The whole country is filled with rogue ninjas and wandering ninjas, and now there are also wandering samurai.

It can be said that the rules of the state are completely ineffective here; on the contrary, the rules of the underworld have more authority.

However, when he set foot on this land again and saw the many changes that Chaochuan Town had undergone because of the Pirate King, a crazy idea suddenly arose in his heart—

The idea of ​​taking over the land of rivers and developing it into a large manga kingdom, cooperating with Kakuzu, and expanding one's influence all stemmed from this concept.

In any case, it makes little difference whether the royal family of the River Country exists or not.

Kakuzu acted swiftly; by noon the next day, his shadow clone had quietly approached him.

It's done.

The person in charge was a special Jonin from Sunagakure, but he was just unlucky to run into Kakuzu.

The money is gone, and the people are gone.

Now that the list of mercenaries he recruited has fallen into Kakuzu's hands, finding people from that list is much easier than searching the streets himself.

The message he brought was very important.

The recruitment of these mercenaries was indeed orchestrated by the Sand Village. Therefore, the Sand Village's target is not the Land of Rivers, but somewhere else entirely.

The most likely location is the area north of the Land of Wind, near the Land of Birds.

Because that place is very remote, full of hills and ravines, and there are no ninjas in the country, simply put, that country is a territory that any country with ninjas could conquer.

It is situated between Amegakure, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Earth, maintaining a delicate balance. In addition, the country is very poor, with many mountains and no special mineral deposits, so Amegakure and the Land of Earth are not very interested in it.

It's different for the Land of Wind.

The land of the Wind Kingdom is too barren, so even this kind of worthless thing can be eaten with relish. The reason why the other two countries are in charge of this area is mainly because they don't want the Wind Kingdom to succeed.

Another advantage of dealing with the north is that Amegakure and Iwagakure also participated in the war in the Land of Whirlpools.

However, logically speaking, dealing with one enemy is always better than dealing with two. It can only be said that the Sand Village judged that Konoha, with only half the fighting strength, was stronger than the Iwagakure and Amegakure combined.

This is very puzzling.

Akabane pondered for a long time but still couldn't understand why the Sunagakure team had abandoned their strategy here.

However, this is definitely good news.

Since Sunagakure will not launch a large-scale attack on the Land of Rivers, Akabane is no longer needed to remain in charge here.

The day he returns home is drawing near.

of course……

To end his business trip early, he first had to convince his boss.

Therefore, Akabane wrote a report detailing the data and information he had gathered, and asked his colleagues who were lurking in the caravan to help deliver it.

If I could go back soon, I would definitely be more comfortable at home.

Akabane lay on the bed, feeling somewhat bored. After thinking for a moment, he created a shadow clone and sent it out to find a place to draw and update its manga.

The influence of One Piece is gradually expanding in the Land of Rivers, so he needs to work hard to update it.

Not just One Piece.

It's about time that Yuhi Shinku's manga was released. It's been more than a month since I came back from Sunagakure and I haven't seen him produce anything yet. Could he be even more lazy than me?

Akabane lay on the bed.

Though the body remains still, renewal is in my palm.

Ninjutsu is convenient.

On the third day, the reply from the Third Hokage finally arrived. The Third Hokage was not interested in what Akabane was planning to do by cultivating a force in the Land of Rivers; he was only concerned with the results of the battle.

After reading the reply, Akabane felt a little sad.

He had worked so hard to gather intelligence and even wrote a battle report expressing his reasonable speculations. He just wanted to end his business trip and go back to relax. But the Third Hokage only praised him once and wanted him to go back to take charge of the reserve department!

Isn't someone temporarily taking over?

He regretted it a little; perhaps he should have submitted the report a few days later, so he could have stayed in the land of rivers for a few more days.

Although there wasn't much to do here, all the houses in the town were being renovated and gradually transformed into some of the more common house types seen in One Piece. Seeing the entire town transformed into this form because of his manga, he felt a great sense of accomplishment.

However, lingering any longer doesn't seem like a good idea.

The work always needs to be done. If we don't go back now, the preparation department will be in complete chaos later, and it will be even more troublesome to clean up.

There's no other way, I'll have to go back.

Akabane packed his things, but before leaving, there were a few things he needed to explain.

"Nakagawa, you've done very well lately. Keep it up. It's best to take over more territory and not just limit yourself to Chaochuan Town. I haven't trained you all this time just so you can do nothing. Also... whatever you do, don't offend Kakuzu."

Nakagawa's personality is not assertive, and in a sense, he is not suitable to be a leader. However, he is obedient and will carry out any orders meticulously.

Just like this order, Nakagawa didn't understand it in his heart, because his ambition and vision were very small, and Chaochuan Town was already very big to him.

But once he receives an order, he immediately starts thinking about how to do it.

Not long after, Nakagawa spoke up, "Sir, there's a shipyard in Huichuan Town nearby. Should we expand there next?"

Shipyard?

Akabane glanced at him and nodded slightly.

To be rich, build roads first.

Controlling Huichuan Town means controlling the ships. Once you establish a fleet, it will be much more convenient for both acquiring territory and transportation. Ideally, you should also be able to directly control the shipyard.

That way, they can also own the shipbuilding business in the future.

Hmm, this guy definitely knows it; he's incredibly good at making money.

Akabane pondered for a moment and felt that Nakagawa wasn't entirely useless; he was simply unsuitable to be a leader.

"You decide what to do. If you don't have enough manpower, contact me using the old method."

"Yes."

He himself certainly didn't have any means of communication, but Orochimaru did.

Nakagawa and Orochimaru communicated through snakes, so as long as Orochimaru received the news, Akabane would also find out.

After explaining all this, Akabane set off back to Konoha.

He happened to have ten chapters of One Piece manuscript and five chapters of Naruto manuscript on hand, all of which were the result of his shadow clones' hard work over the past few days. He could send them to Izumi Kou Yamano for printing.

It's been seven or eight days since the last update, and my points have stagnated.

Akabane returned to Konoha quickly, arriving that very evening. He also sent a shadow clone to find Izumi Kouno and ask him to help print the manga he had on hand.

Yamano Izumi's work hasn't been printed for a while either. With the recent start of the war, they're working overtime on all sorts of ninja tools, keeping them incredibly busy. So, while Akabane's manga has been submitted, the update speed is definitely not as fast as before.

Upon returning to Konoha, Akabane didn't go home but instead went to find Orochimaru first.

Although establishing the base was a shared idea between him and Orochimaru, Orochimaru was the one who carried it out. Since he had impersonated someone else, he still needed to communicate with Orochimaru to avoid any errors due to information asymmetry.

Especially Kakuzu.

This guy is not to be trifled with. Orochimaru is no match for him right now. If something goes wrong, Zhe's side will be in big trouble.

Upon arriving at the Anbu, perhaps because it had been quite some time since he had been there, a rare Anbu member peeked out to check the situation. Upon seeing that it was Akabane, he did not stop him but instead said, "You've come to see Orochimaru? Perfect timing, there are two letters that you need to review personally."

"Um...did the teacher send this over?"

Akabane couldn't help but be slightly taken aback.

Sending back two letters from the front lines would have come at a considerable cost. It's quite strange that Danzo went through all that trouble to send these letters, yet didn't urgently ask the Third Hokage to help spread the word.

He followed the secret agents inside and found the two letters.

Judging from the symbols and decorations on the outside, it should be in the style of Uzushio Village. Akabane turned the envelope over, and the cover read "To my daughter".

A letter from the Whirlpool Tree Sea to the Whirlpool Seigetsu.

The other letter was for him.

Akabane fell silent. The fact that he had been sent back from the front lines with great difficulty was clearly not as simple as just reporting that he was safe. As the clan leader, others could escape into the Land of Fire, but he was the only one who could not escape back.

This is a farewell letter.

A simple piece of paper, yet it feels as heavy as a thousand pounds.

He sighed softly, put down the letter addressed to Xiao Qingyue, then picked up the one for himself, opened the envelope, and took out the paper inside.

“Akaba, Danzo told me about Kiyotsuki’s situation. I’m glad you gave Kiyotsuki the opportunity to make her own choice, and I’m happy that my daughter can live safely in Konoha.”

"Even if she becomes a Jinchūriki, I have nothing to say, because it is the destiny of our clan..."

"From now on, please take good care of her. If possible, I hope you will change her surname to Kurama and Uzumaki, and let her disappear from the ninja world forever."

"Whirlpool Tree Sea, my final work."

Akabane let out a long sigh.

The war seems to be coming to an end, though the cost is estimated to be devastating. The Uzumaki clan is clearly aware that they can no longer bear the surname Uzumaki.

Fortunately, it's all over now, and the family wasn't completely wiped out, which is better than anything else.

He pondered for a moment, then instead of opening Uzumaki Kiyotsuki's letter, he put it away, intending to give it to her.

Afterwards, he went over and chatted with Orochimaru for a few minutes.

There's really nothing much going on. Orochimaru is now a pure tech geek, completely absorbed in ninjutsu research. He's already figured out the sound detector, and it's playing a significant role on the front lines.

His topic is now very subtle—soul and gender.

It's unclear what his purpose is in researching this topic, but the soul is extremely profound and is clearly too obscure for him at present. It's estimated that he will give up after a period of research.

"By the way, were you the one who planned and orchestrated the situation in Chaochuan Town?"

As Akabane finished speaking, he couldn't help but mention Chaochuan Town.

When Chaochuan Town was mentioned, Orochimaru said with pride, "That is my best work. In the future, the Land of Rivers will be completely transformed into the rules and systems of One Piece."

"Okay, keep it up."

Akabane gave a thumbs up.

He only wanted to control the underground forces in the Land of Rivers, but Orochimaru had a much bigger goal: to bring the entire One Piece system to the Land of Rivers.

But thinking about it, it doesn't seem impossible.

The Land of Rivers doesn't have its own ninja village, so it's unlikely to get any worse than it is now. Even if the king has any objections, once he gets his subordinates on board, the royal family has no choice but to reluctantly agree.

Chapter 216 The more you hate, the more you suffer, the stronger you become!

Having not seen each other for a long time, Orochimaru was unusually interested in chatting, even temporarily putting aside his ninjutsu research.

Akabane actually wanted to leave earlier, but he couldn't resist being pulled along, so he had no choice but to sit down and listen patiently.

"Akaba, after completing the research on sound detection a while ago, I took a look at your manga updates in my spare time. Although you portrayed me as a very strange character, I still have some questions after reading it."

Orochimaru grabbed his research notes. "Both humans and beasts have souls, but what is the essence of the soul? Does it have a gender?"

Good question, I'd like to know too!

This question is too philosophical; he could come up with a whole host of similar questions.

For example, if you transform and find a girlfriend, is it a lesbian relationship or a heterosexual relationship?

My girlfriend and mom have swapped souls, and I need...

Cough!

Akabane stopped daydreaming and pondered how to answer.

"At the beginning of a person's life, the soul is like a blank sheet of paper. It is only through gradual teaching and learning that one understands the difference between men and women. Therefore, I believe that the soul has no gender. What determines gender is a person's own thinking and memory."

Orochimaru answered the question without waiting for Akabane's reply, then stood up and walked to the experimental table.

There were two boxes on top, containing a mouse and a cat.

"If I swapped the souls of a cat and a mouse, and their memories, they would quickly adapt to their new identities, and so would humans."