HSU: Ch. 332

There really weren't many people who could take on this job.

In the office, Masashi was reviewing a set of supporting intelligence materials from the Secretariat Division concerning the Land of Rain.

The compiled dossier described the recent developments in the Land of Rain and Ame.

As one of the key nodes in Konoha's alliance network, intelligence and special operations regarding the Land of Rain and Ame had always been major responsibilities of Konoha's ANBU.

Konoha's surveillance of that country was comprehensive and multi-layered.

After the Third Great Ninja War, the Land of Rain gained a new title, the birthplace of third-type ninja organizations.

Originally, the Land of Rain was a strong ninja nation. But when its institutions decayed, a large number of ninjas lost stable sources of income and began to spontaneously form all kinds of "third-type organizations."

So-called "third-type organizations" referred to any ninja groups existing outside of villages or clans.

These groups typically lacked complex structures, existed beyond any national system, and varied in size. They made their living by taking leftover contracts from the major ninja villages.

They had no fixed bases and were highly mobile. Although their biggest clients were the villages themselves, they often made trouble for those same clients. Their partnerships with villages were anything but stable.

For the ninja villages, such unreliable partners, who occasionally turned on each other, were an insult to professional conduct.

And for those freelance groups operating on the move, switching sides, even to a third party, was just standard practice.

In such an environment, Akatsuki emerged as a rare exception.

For one, they took each mission seriously and never went back on a contract.

For another, their relationship with Ame was fixed and consistent.

At first, it was a subordinate relationship. Later, it became an alliance, because Nagato had taken control of Ame in a very... hard-core way. He had stormed into the village, slaughtered Hanzō and his entire household.

At the time, even Konoha assumed Ame would fall into chaos after that. But surprisingly, the Ame ninjas accepted it with open arms.

It was then that the other nations truly realized just how unpopular Hanzō had become in his own village.

Among all the great powers, Konoha's ANBU kept the closest watch on Nagato. After all, back then Konoha's ANBU had cooperated with Hanzō to wipe out Akatsuki.

They hadn't succeeded, but the enmity was very real.

That's how ANBU operated. They came and went in the shadows.

Everyone had a story or two of ANBU eliminating an "ally." As long as the clean-up was tidy, nobody could say a word.

When the Uchiha clan was feeling disgruntled back in the day, they'd go pick fights with Suna's ANBU to blow off steam, and the Hokage Building had no objections.

That was how alliances worked: the public relations were handled by diplomats, and the dirty work by the ANBU.

When two great villages became allies, their ANBU could practically beat each other's brains out.

Smaller villages didn't have formal ANBU divisions, but they had similar institutions.

In Ame's case, its "ANBU" was essentially Akatsuki.

Now that Masashi had become the head of Konoha's ANBU, his subordinates had renewed confidence in working on missions involving the Land of Rain.

Being unafraid of death was one thing. Knowing you were walking to certain death and still charging in was another.

So, while infiltrating Ame itself remained difficult, gathering intelligence on the Land of Rain proceeded smoothly, resulting in the thick stack of reports now on Masashi's desk.

He read them carefully.

He would bring them to the Hokage's office later, but reporting was different from merely delivering documents. He needed to fully understand the situation, to summarize concisely yet meaningfully, and present concrete strategies.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be a report. It'd be a test for the Hokage.

If your boss is already overworked and you dump an exam on him, that's just cruel.

After finishing the materials, Masashi pressed one of the many call buttons on his desk.

There were a lot of buttons, an entire row, but that couldn't be helped. This was the Hokage Building: too many ninjas, too many chakra mechanisms, so electronic devices never worked properly.

Fortunately, everyone was on the same floor, so it was easy enough to visit in person.

Soon, an ANBU operative entered the office.

"Notify the team leaders responsible for Ame's and Akatsuki's intelligence. Tell them we're having a meeting."

"Yes."

Once the operative left, Masashi packed up his things.

The document folder wasn't big enough, so he found a bag to fit everything.

Let Minato, with his chronic obsessive neatness, enjoy the sight to his heart's content.

Doing the prep before a report was a subordinate's duty.

But giving him extra paperwork? That was his personal revenge for being roped into overtime.

"Just wait to get scolded tonight."

After tidying up, he made himself a cup of tea.

Holding his steaming cup, he walked over and settled into the large sofa nearby.

The long-standing tradition of holding quick meetings in the commander's office had been well preserved by the ANBU. These days, the coffee table was bigger and the sofa wider than ever.

Placing his teacup on the table, he already heard the sound of breathing outside the door.

In the ANBU offices, clear footsteps were rare. After all, ANBU were used to moving silently.

The door opened.

The first one to step in was an old acquaintance, Terai.

Back in the day, this former Root ninja had infiltrated the Land of Earth to gather intelligence. Now he was one of the main pillars of the intelligence division.

He no longer operated abroad. He had married a woman from the Land of Earth and even had a child.

Even Danzō had approved of that.

Terai had spent many years undercover in the Land of Earth, monitoring the movements between Iwa and Suna. When he went out, he'd been a fresh-faced rookie. When he returned, he was already a seasoned veteran. It would have been strange if he hadn't started a family.

Danzō had even allocated an extra living subsidy for him and arranged emergency extraction protocols for his whole family, just in case.

He hadn't personally signed the order to bring Terai home, but after his downfall, Minato found the file and immediately issued the recall.

In fact, the ANBU had to launch a special operation to rescue him. Because of the brief chaos that followed Danzō's fall, Terai's file was stolen by enemy spies. If Danzō hadn't made meticulous backup plans while alive, Terai's entire family might not have survived long enough to be rescued.

To this day, he remained deeply grateful to Danzō.

And as for Masashi, whom he'd only met once years ago and hadn't even managed to bum a cigarette off of, Terai also had a good impression of him. Not only did he give off the same "type" of vibe as other Root veterans, but when he became acting commander, he also reactivated many ex-Root ninjas.

Root ninjas didn't lack ability. What they cared about was recognition.

And once he realized how seriously Masashi regarded Nagato, he'd volunteered to take charge of that case.

"I'm here. Mind if I smoke today?"

"If you still want a second kid, maybe smoke a little less," Masashi said, taking a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and tossing it to him.

Terai was a heavy smoker.

"Got it!" He caught the pack happily, tore it open, pulled out a cigarette, and stuck it in his mouth.

"I've gone through all the materials," Masashi said, pushing the ashtray toward him. "I'll have to report this to the Hokage. Tell me, what made you conclude that Akatsuki has changed leadership?"

"You've read the reports, so I won't repeat what's already in there. I'll just tell you the other stuff." Terai lit up his cigarette and shifted into "meeting mode."

"You know, the way I ended up in the Land of Earth... that was a beautiful misunderstanding."

"Oh? You were forced into it?" Masashi asked with interest.

"No, nothing like that. Back then, there were only about a dozen of us officially in Root. Everyone knew who was who. We all took orders directly from Danzō. I'd just joined, and as usual, after recruitment, he sat each of us down for a talk, asked what kind of work we wanted to do."

"So what did you tell him?"

Based on his experience, Masashi felt this was going to be a good story.

"I told him I wasn't picky. 'For the sake of the village, whoever you tell me to kill, I'll kill,'" Terai said.

"Well, that's not wrong," Masashi nodded.

"Exactly, who would take that seriously, right?" Terai sighed. "But he didn't play by normal rules. He actually believed me, got even more fired up than I was, and said there was a small-time target I could use as practice."

"Did you ever think maybe he didn't believe you? It was you who took it seriously?"

"Maybe. Anyway, I went to the Land of Earth, took care of the guy. Afterwards, Tatsuma came to me in person and told me that the target had been a double agent skimming Konoha's funds. The hole he left behind had to be filled, and there was no one else available, so Danzō told me to stay for a while."

Yup, Masashi thought. A good story indeed.

"I ended up staying in the Land of Earth for good. Later, when the war quieted down, that's when Akatsuki first appeared. Their leader back then was a man named Yahiko." Terai's tone turned serious. "Honestly, Akatsuki was a strange bunch. At first, they sided with Konoha and Ame, fighting against Suna and Iwa. Most of their members were war refugees, not trained ninjas, but Yahiko personally trained them. Their slogan was all about achieving peace."

Masashi knew well that the first generation of Akatsuki had been just like that.

"But Konoha wanted the Land of Rain to hold back Iwa's possible moves. How did Hanzō screw that up?"

"Probably a matter of reputation," Terai replied. "Hanzō had grown conservative in his old age. The people of the Land of Rain were tired of chaos. They saw Yahiko as the true protector of their country."

"Just because of that?"

"Of course not. There wasn't hard evidence, but at the time, Danzō suspected Akatsuki wanted to enter Ame. And by 'enter,' he meant seize power."

"That's a death sentence," Masashi nodded. "But even so, Akatsuki's goal had always been Ame. After all these years, how did they suddenly change leadership?"

"Because their cooperation with Ame changed," Terai explained. "And Ame suddenly stopped subsidizing Akatsuki. They're actually demanding repayment now. You know about the operation to wipe out Akatsuki back then. The wild card was Nagato. At the time, he was completely unknown inside Akatsuki. Even we didn't pay attention to him. Looking back, he was their secret weapon. After that incident, he became the leader, and Akatsuki changed completely after that."

"I know that," Masashi said. "The current Akatsuki and the old Akatsuki are not the same."

"Actually... it's still kind of the same thing," Terai continued. "I've been keeping an eye on that organization ever since. After Nagato became the leader, Akatsuki started acting more 'normal.' But based on my analysis, Nagato's goal is the same as Yahiko's. He's just using a different approach. He's been recruiting powerful missing-nin to boost his forces. But after he got control of Ame, he never converted Akatsuki's core members into Ame ninjas. I figure he wants to keep an escape route open for the village."

Masashi hadn't thought about it that way before.

Because of his preconceived notions, he had always viewed Nagato purely as Akatsuki's leader, not as Ame's leader.

But what Terai said... made sense.

Nagato might not care about Ame, but Yahiko did.

"But recently, Sasori and Kakuzu joined Ame. It hasn't been officially announced yet. And because Orochimaru is also an Akatsuki member, Ame and Oto have been communicating through Akatsuki. But now, Ame has officially sent its own envoy to Oto. From now on, they won't be using Akatsuki as a middleman," Terai spread his hands. "A sudden move like this... unless Nagato has lost control over Akatsuki, no other explanation fits."

"Sasori and Kakuzu joined Ame? Are you sure?"

"Of course," Terai said. "It's already confirmed. They're listed on Ame's official ninja roster. Nagato just hasn't let them show themselves in public."

"Good." Masashi slapped his thigh. "That makes things easier."

If those two had joined Ame, then it was solid proof. Akatsuki was no longer under Nagato's control.

Both of them were core members of Akatsuki 2.0, basically veterans and Nagato's trusted subordinates.

Kakuzu aside, Sasori was a walking time bomb.

He'd been wondering who to send to probe the situation, but now it was unnecessary.

Nagato was strong. Extremely strong.

Ame had once been his weak point. But with Kakuzu and Sasori joining, Ame could now compete with even the weakest of the Five Great Villages.

This wasn't good.

And Konoha wasn't just Ame's ally. It was also Suna's ally.

Konoha had to take Suna's demands seriously too.

"Terai, get ready. Find a way to leak the news about Sasori joining Ame. But make sure no one knows it came from us. I'm going to report to the Hokage."

"Won't this make Suna a bit... overexcited?"

"No problem. That's exactly what we want." Masashi patted Terai on the shoulder. "An ANBU that doesn't stir up trouble isn't a real ANBU. Our job is to find trouble. Now that we've got the chance, not making a move would be letting down the ANBU name."

With that, Masashi rushed out the door, leaving Terai alone in the office.

"Wait... what..." Terai was still frozen mid-gesture, as if asking for a hand to pull him up. But Masashi was already gone.

This new boss was... wild. Even wilder than Danzō back in the day.

Power really does give you confidence.

He admitted to himself that if he had that kind of strength, he'd act the same way.

He sat down on the sofa, silently smoked a cigarette, then got up to carry out his orders.

Meanwhile, Masashi had already charged straight into the Hokage's office.

Literally charged.

This time, Minato was actually there. He'd caught him.

But then...

"Hokage-sama, what are you doing?"

Masashi stared at Minato, suspicion rising in his mind.

It wasn't strange. Every Hokage liked to stand by the window pretending to be cool.

But why did Minato look like he was about to jump out of it?

If he wanted to leave the office, why not use the door? And wasn't he the guy who could teleport?

"Oh, Masashi." Minato calmly closed the window. "Nothing. I've been on leave for a few days. I'm just not used to not seeing the view from here."

No way. This guy was acting way too suspicious.

But Masashi didn't have time to play detective with him now. He pulled a thick stack of documents out of his bag.

Seeing that thick bundle, Minato immediately felt a headache coming on. His impression of Masashi was that he was good at solving problems. But if Masashi came to him with a stack of documents, then it was definitely something beyond his own authority. Never a small matter.

Right now, Masashi was the official head of the ANBU. His nominal rank wasn't very high, but his actual power was enormous. He could organize intelligence operations or even launch special missions in the name of the village, and only needed to report to the Hokage afterward.

Danzō had been called the "Darkness of the Shinobi" precisely because, as Hokage Advisor, he also held this same authority.

But the ANBU commanders who came after him had neither the guts nor the ability to shoulder such power. Over time, people had simply forgotten how terrifying an ANBU commander was supposed to be.

And now, someone like Masashi, who not only had this power but also the will to plan and act decisively, was standing in front of him with a thick stack of files. There was no way this was a small issue.

"What is it this time?" Minato sat down at his desk and began leafing through the documents.

"Ame has split from Akatsuki. Kakuzu, the missing-nin from Taki, and Sasori, the missing-nin from Suna, have joined Ame," Masashi reported. "Ame's current strength is on a completely different level. They're definitely going to seek a higher standing. But Sasori's... special nature will inevitably lead to conflict between Ame and Suna. Stopping this is already beyond ANBU's capabilities. I need more jonin."

When he accepted the position as ANBU commander, he had already planned this out.

This position was also beneficial to him personally. He could use external operations to help the jonin loyal to his side accumulate achievements, just like how Danzō had once hired him to hunt down the Hannya Black Ops.

He had accumulated far too many merits over the years, more than he actually needed. It was necessary to let other jonin shine more.

After all, win-win cooperation is what makes things sustainable.

"They actually joined a ninja village?" Minato was taken aback.

His first reaction was that he'd have to suppress Ame.

Back during the Third Great Ninja War, he had been responsible for this front. He knew very well that the "strong nation dream" of the Land of Rain was a deeply ingrained belief shared by the entire population from the bottom up.

As a person, he was gentle. Whether as Hokage, teacher, ninja, student, scholar, husband, or simply as a human being, he was almost flawless.

But years of fighting and surviving in this brutal shinobi world, and becoming Hokage, had turned his gentleness into a skill, not just a temperament. The gentle Minato was always weighing what action was most appropriate, always finding a balance between reason and feeling.

So when he saw Ame's growing strength, Minato didn't hesitate to decide that for Konoha's sake, they would just have to become weaker.

"I understand. I'll have Shikaku fully support your operation," he said solemnly. "But... there must be no accidents. We have to mediate between both sides promptly. Suna must not be weakened."

Konoha's diplomatic priorities had shifted.

In the past, Kumo was aggressive, and Iwa was waiting for an opening. Konoha had needed good relations with Kiri and Suna to tie down the forces of Kumo and Iwa, while also making Kiri and Suna check each other.

But now, Kumo and Iwa were so battered that they wouldn't recover for years. Meanwhile, Kiri, though it had surrendered, had suffered the least. It had become Konoha's main focus.

An alliance with Suna was a key diplomatic strategy to reduce the military costs of restraining Kiri.

"You can rest assured," Masashi said. "I won't let anything happen to the Kazekage and his son."

He fully understood what Minato really meant by "weakening." But the important thing was that Minato agreed.

That meant he could unleash ANBU as he pleased.

If Nagato wanted to make a move, then he could make a move too.

Kaguya, Hagoromo, Madara. He wasn't taking sides with any of them.

Because all three, despite their different goals, ultimately wanted to reunite the nine tailed beasts.

Masashi's thinking was simple: as long as the nine tailed beasts never come together again, the Ten-Tails won't appear. If the Ten-Tails doesn't appear, there won't be the Infinite Tsukuyomi. No Infinite Tsukuyomi means money keeps flowing, the party goes on, and none of the apocalyptic crises ever happen.

To put it bluntly, whoever tries to mess with the Tailed Beasts, he'll mess with them.

Nagato and Madara weren't the type to just talk. They were action takers.

"I've already sent Terai to handle the intelligence dissemination," Masashi said. "I'll report back to you as soon as there's any update."

Minato nodded in approval.

"Oh right, one more thing," Masashi said. "Just now... you were planning to jump out the window, weren't you?"

"I'm the Hokage. How could I jump out of the window?" Minato shook his head firmly, refusing to admit it. "You really saw it wrong."

Masashi suddenly remembered Fugaku's evaluation of Minato.

Now that he thought about it, it was spot on.

Minato was not the kind of friend people normally imagined. From a young age, he'd always thought from a high-level perspective, constantly considering the big picture. He calculated gains and losses like a Hokage, fought decisively when needed, and did what had to be done. Once Hiruzen saw his brilliance, he had nurtured him as the next Hokage without hesitation.

He had always been more rational than emotional, even with Kushina.

It wasn't hard to see why a man who had spent his entire life under that kind of pressure would suddenly feel "relaxed" and start wanting to retire.

And this method he was using now...

The Second Hokage used this trick too! Masashi could tell!