Naruto: IY Ch. 22

"Damn it, I lost another heart."

In a forest laid to waste, trees leaned and fell all over, some sliced in half, others bearing massive craters left behind by water jutsu. Leaves drifted through the air, torn and broken.

The air reeked of smoke and the acrid smell of burning wood. The ground was full of craters and chaotic trenches.

"Looks like we won't make it back in time for dinner tonight."

Yahiko gasped heavily. Beside him, Sakumo was wiping blood off his tantō. Judging by the subtle tremble in his hands, this battle hadn't been easy.

In the bushes, Teuchi and his wife, protected by Nagato, stared at the scene in horror.

"So this is... the world of ninja?" Teuchi squinted at the heap lying on the ground, what looked like a tangled ball of thread.

"Just kill me already," said the ball of thread.

Well, well. A literal walking treasury shows up, and you think I'm gonna let you run?

"I won't kill you, but I'm definitely not letting you go," Yahiko stopped Sakumo from finishing him off.

The figure lying on the ground, reduced to a single remaining heart, was none other than Kakuzu.

He had always thought himself righteous. Yet someone, some jerk, had put a bounty of five million ryō on him on the black market. Nagato had a bounty of 21 million ryō.

Dead or alive.

A man who loved money more than he loved women, Kakuzu came after them for the reward. He scoffed when he discovered Sakumo, who alone was worth tens of millions. Once he calculated the total combined value, he made his move.

The result? Yahiko and Sakumo crushed four of his hearts and left him lying on the ground.

"You're not killing me? Who the hell do you think you are?" Kakuzu's face couldn't be clearly seen, but his furious voice rang out.

Yahiko's mercy reminded him of that fateful day when he fought the First Hokage. The details were blurry now, but the result was the same, he ended up lying on the ground just like today.

Hashirama, seeing that he was in bad shape, spared him out of pity.

"You pity me too, brat?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Yahiko picked up the bundle of threads, unsure whether it could even be healed back at the village.

Yoake welcomed all, especially those with twisted minds like this guy.

"Sakumo-san, once we're back, your responsibility will be managing and rehabilitating prisoners. I'm assigning you the role of Warden of Impel Down."

Thus, Yahiko handed the tangled thread to Sakumo.

"Prison warden, huh?" Sakumo thought it wasn't a bad job, it actually suited the laid-back life he was starting to envision.

But would Kakashi turn out bad, knowing he had become this relaxed?

Carrying Kakuzu, he set off to start his new job. He was even looking forward to missions from Yoake.

Guys like him probably enjoyed those rehabilitation projects anyway.

---

The next day, they returned to the village. And that afternoon, when they finally reached Impel Down, Sakumo realized he'd been too hasty. He thought it was just hard labor and reeducation for the inmates, but even the guards and the warden himself had to attend ideological classes?

"We're building a prosperous, democratic, free, and harmonious nation!" Yahiko's shadow clone, dressed in formal attire, passionately shouted from the front of the crowd.

"We are the patriotic, dedicated, honest, and friendly citizens of Yoake!"

Sitting among the crowd of guards, Sakumo felt a strange, stirring excitement in his chest.

"The nobles may block out the sun in the sky, but they cannot block the light of hope in our hearts!"

"Do you want your children to grow up with no dignity, reduced to servants at the beck and call of those people?"

Sakumo clenched his fists in excitement. Yahiko's speech was openly rebellious by shinobi world standards.

But thinking about it... did he really want Kakashi to grow up to serve some decadent noble?

At first, he didn't care much. But now, after hearing Yahiko's speech... Brilliant ninjas reduced to pet-finders for noble ladies, just for a few ryō.

How ridiculous was that?

He shouted with the others, "We don't want that!"

"Praise the Sun!"

Every now and then, Yahiko would use shadow clones to give lectures to Yoake's internal positions and officials.

The curriculum? Great ideological teachings from another world.

Those who learned would teach others, who in turn taught more, one to ten, ten to a hundred... until the spark became a wildfire.

---

In the village school's classroom, though there were no computers or any modern tech, what there was... was Yahiko's concentrated effort dripping as sweat from his forehead.

This was the real Yahiko.

He didn't trust the unpredictable shadow clones to handle the teaching of future educators.

As photos were passed to the dozen or so teachers in the room, Ikkaku fell silent. The photos in his hand showed the daily life of civilians in the shinobi world's poorest regions.

The technology in the shinobi world was bizarre. There were no movies or television yet, but the photographs taken were shockingly clear.

Emaciated civilians with hollow eyes were captured by the camera, anyone could guess the kind of life they lived.

It was devastating.

In his other hand was a different set of photos, secret shots from a noble gathering. The table overflowed with delicacies.

The next photo showed the trash bin, everything from the previous image had been thrown away.

They lived on the same land, so how could their worlds be so different?

By the end of the afternoon, the first-timers were left mentally shaken.

Ikkaku looked at the book "How to Train Your Teacher" in his hand, then back at the photos.

The Hokage had said, anything that stirred within Yoake must be reported immediately.

Such rebellious activities... better not let the Hokage find out.

After finishing the lecture, Yahiko hurried to find Konan.

Meanwhile, Ikkaku sent information back to Konoha.

Hiruzen, at this moment, was reading the intel: Yoake values children greatly, and the Uzumaki clan had taken root there.

"The Uzumaki clan went to there?"

He stood and walked to the window, gazing up at the faces of the First and Second Hokage carved into the rock.

He was a man who didn't understand politics.

In the end, he had let down Tobirama's expectations.

Sigh...

"Temporarily lift the economic sanctions on Yoake. It doesn't pose a threat to Konoha. If merchants want to do business there, let them."

He spoke as the hidden ANBU agents listened quietly.

After a pause, he added, "Tell Ikkaku and the others: the 'Trojan Horse' plan continues as scheduled."

"Yes."

---

Deep within Impel Down, Jiraiya had lost count of how many days he'd been locked up.

With all his intelligence networks, he never discovered that Yoake, while poor on the surface, was spiritually vibrant. Although the days here were dull, there were many like-minded companions in the prison.

A few had even agreed that once they got out, they'd pool their savings to open a hot spring resort.

Of course... he was very interested.

He'd heard the hot spring idea was one of Yahiko's whimsical thoughts. But after proposing the first one, Konan had immediately banned it as "inappropriate." But to be honest, it made him look forward to it even more.

Yahiko's wild imagination, Jiraiya had always seen it since he was seven. If Nagato didn't have those Rinnegan, Yahiko would've been his top pick as the most promising student.

At this moment, Yahiko was hugging Jiraiya and crying. Beside them, Konan's eyes were red, and Nagato had his head lowered, softly sobbing.

The children crying like this... he felt it was his duty to be here!

"What happened? Who did it?"

"N-No one..." Yahiko kept crying.

"Nagato, you say it."

"Well... Yahiko went to Konoha to 'recruit' a ninja," Nagato mumbled, and if Jiraiya weren't a ninja with excellent hearing, he wouldn't have heard it.

"So... it was Hiruzen-sensei?"

Just for one ninja? He was that petty?

This is outrageous...

"Give me a pen!"

Jiraiya was going to write a letter to Hiruzen.

So generous when it came to Danzō, but when it came to his own student's students, he was so small-minded?

"Sensei, don't... it'll upset your teacher."

"... I'm sorry."

Nagato kept his head down, still sobbing.

Such good kids... even at a time like this, still worrying about me.

"Bring me a pen! Anyone who hurts you, even if it's Hiruzen-sensei, I won't forgive!"

"Sensei!"

The trio clung to Jiraiya, sobbing, "Waaaah... there's no better teacher in the world!"

"Don't be afraid, I'm here." Jiraiya's eyes reddened as he gently ruffled their hair.

[Hiruzen-sensei, Yahiko and the others just recruited one ninja from Konoha, did you really have to be this petty? Fine! I'm telling you, it was me who told them to recruit him. I know how hard it is for those kids to build a village. I'll use my military merits from the Second Great Ninja War in exchange for that ninja, tell me, is that enough?]

After writing the letter, he asked with a smile, "Right, who exactly was the ninja you recruited?"

Yahiko sealed the envelope tightly and replied, "Ah... I think his surname is Hatake."

Jiraiya immediately realized the gravity of the situation and cautiously asked, "Hatake...?"

"Hatake Sakumo."

Just as he feared. Yahiko innocently replied.

"Damn it! Stop! Jiraiya-sensei!"

Jiraiya: "..."

Come back! Damn it, all of you come back! Give me that letter back!

I've been set up!

You actually recruited Sakumo? If Hiruzen-sensei sees this letter, won't he...

He could only find another inmate to complain to. He didn't even know if their beliefs aligned, or if they'd even have a good conversation.

"Why do you use chakra like that?" He felt a faint chakra fluctuation from the neighboring cell.

"How else can you count money without chakra?"

A strange answer came from next door.

Jiraiya was stunned. What does that mean?

He stuck his head out to look into the next cell.

The guy next door wore a black mask, and green light glowed from his eyes. He was counting a wad of cash with intense focus.

As for the earlier statement, "how else can you count money without chakra," he finally understood what it meant.

This guy used chakra to count money?

What kind of bizarre obsession was that?

"Hey, you over there. Interested in opening a hot spring resort with me after we get out?"

"A business? Does it make money?"

"Well... not really. I just want to open one for fun."

"Oh. Not interested."

After a short exchange, Jiraiya realized... this guy seemed to only have money in his eyes?

What kind of weirdos are locked up in the depths of Impel Down?

One of his other neighbors was a mute who tinkered all day with mysterious "ding-ding-clank-clank" noises.

And now this one counted money with chakra?