Akatsuki’s Investigation

At present, Namikaze Minato had only two directly controlled Anbu squads, totaling thirty-four people. The remaining half of the Anbu still followed Sarutobi Hiruzen’s orders. Moreover, the Anbu Captain and vice-captain were Sarutobi Hiruzen’s eldest son and daughter-in-law. Only two squad captains answered directly to Namikaze Minato.

With so few people, four Anbu teams had to be permanently stationed in Konoha just to handle communications and maintain order in the shadows. The remaining four teams were responsible for intelligence and communications throughout the Land of Fire, as well as the Hokage’s direct assignments.

With so little manpower, Namikaze Minato simply could not spare anyone to hunt down rogue ninja.

As for expanding the Anbu, Namikaze Minato had considered it, but the village truly could not allocate funds for additional personnel.

Having just gone through the Shinobi World War, Konoha Village had practically fought one against four. Death benefits alone cost an enormous sum.

Then there were the costs of building front line outposts, ninja tools, medical care, education for new students, and countless other expenses. On top of that, Konoha’s unpleasant relationship with Daimyo Manor meant its allocated funds had not increased by much. All these reasons gave Namikaze Minato a terrible headache.

At this time, Danzo’s Root had even applied for a budget higher than during wartime. Furthermore, Namikaze Minato knew absolutely nothing about Root’s operations, so he directly rejected their funding request.

Previously, Namikaze Minato had not been qualified to ask questions. But after becoming Hokage, he had the right to inquire into Root, a subordinate department of the Anbu.

Moreover, Namikaze Minato’s demands were not excessive. Most of Root’s missions involved external affairs, and hunting rogue ninja was within Root’s responsibilities as well. Danzo had no way to refute Namikaze Minato’s request.

How could they demand money while refusing to work?

Therefore, when the four higher-ups came together to find Namikaze Minato, they merely made him relent slightly. Their funding would not be reduced, but Root had to produce results.

"How did the negotiations with Konoha go, Lord Nineteen?"

After Android 19 returned to the Hundred Herbs Company’s Konoha office, several subordinates curiously approached him to ask. Aside from Android 19, not a single mechanical being had come to Konoha.

There were quite a few Sensor Ninja in Konoha. If they discovered mechanical bodies within the Hundred Herbs Company, it would certainly arouse Konoha’s vigilance and investigation. Android 19 had only been permitted to come to Konoha after Android 18 modified him with Bio-nanites.

Within Konoha, the Hyūga Clan rarely activated the Byakugan unless there were special circumstances. Though it was not an explicit rule, it was an unspoken convention and the wish of the other Ninja Clans.

As long as the Hyūga Clan did not inspect him with the Byakugan, Android 19 would not risk being exposed.

"The negotiations have been settled, and the contract has been signed. From now on, Konoha’s medicines and medical equipment will be supplied by the Hundred Herbs Company. Ximu, remain in Konoha. Once Konoha pays the deposit, notify headquarters to deliver the first batch of goods."

"Understood, Lord Nineteen."

Ximu, whom Android 19 had named, was clever and somewhat gifted in conversation. After undergoing Android 18’s secret assessment, he had been permitted by her to take on some important responsibilities.

"Minami, take the copy of the contract signed with Konoha and make a trip to the Sasaki Family."

Upon hearing Android 19’s order, the other woman nodded in acknowledgment and prepared to visit the Sasaki Family again to negotiate with them.

The Sasaki Family’s business also involved medical supplies. In the past, Konoha had been their largest client, while the rest of their customers came from several surrounding Small countries. But now that the Hundred Herbs Company had taken Konoha’s business, the Sasaki Family’s trade had practically been ruined.

Furthermore, after losing Konoha as a business partner, those other Small countries might not continue purchasing the Sasaki Family’s goods either. With a better option available, who would spend more money on inferior products?

If the Sasaki Family wished to preserve its business, it could only pay a certain price and join the Hundred Herbs Company. Otherwise, the trade their family relied on for survival would be seized by the Hundred Herbs Company, and the entire Sasaki Family would decline.

Thus, whether the Sasaki Family chose to preserve its lands, servants, and slaves, or chose the business it depended on to survive, would depend entirely on their decision.

Encroachment!

They would use technology several levels beyond the Ninja World’s natives to seize their interests, then use the profits that had originally belonged to them to exchange for the Ninja World’s most fundamental means of production, gradually expanding across the entire Land of Fire and eventually the Ninja World.

This was the direction Hyuga Mirai had set for the Hundred Herbs Company’s development. In medicine and medical supplies, they would gradually encroach from the Land of Fire into the surrounding Small countries, and finally into the other four Great Nations.

Whether nobles or other companies, anyone who did not board the Hundred Herbs Company’s warship would only be smashed apart and sunk by it, becoming history.

In the end, everyone in the Ninja World would be able to use only the Hundred Herbs Company’s medicines and medical supplies when they fell ill.

The Uzumaki Company did not need to develop as slowly as the Hundred Herbs Company, because no one could compare with the Uzumaki Company in the computer business. Android 18 had already upgraded computers through three generations, more than doubling their performance.

The Five Great Nations had nothing but praise for the computers produced by the Uzumaki Company and could find no other faults with them.

Ninja might resist computers due to certain traditional habits, but Civilians and nobles would not. They were entertaining, easy to operate, and until people became aware of the risk of intelligence leaks through computers, they would not reject such a novel thing.

Furthermore, besides Ninja Game, Android 18 had developed many games suitable for all ages and released them one after another on the Uzumaki Company’s computers. Children might not like gambling games such as cards and mahjong, but for some nobles, they were quite good for passing the time.

The emergence of online rankings across the Five Great Nations further stirred the competitive spirit of certain nobles.

For example, the Yamagawa Family of the Land of Fire was unwilling to see members of the Iwaiwa Family from Earth Country ranked above them. For the sake of a single ranking, the Yamagawa Family invested considerable manpower into the games, all to compete from afar.

During wartime, these games had not shown their potential. But after the war ended and a brief peace appeared in the Ninja World, games became a major source of spiritual comfort.

The Ninja World was almost like an undeveloped treasure land. Once the order belonging to Hyuga Mirai occupied eighty or ninety percent of the entire Ninja World, the remaining ten percent belonging to ninja would either join it or become history.

After a period of development, Akatsuki now had six core members: Pain, Konan, Kakuzu, Jūzō, Zetsu, and Suito from Amegakure.

At present, Kakuzu and Suito, codenamed Santai, were paired together to carry out the organization’s money-making missions. However, the two had already quarreled several times and disliked each other, so a conflict would probably erupt soon.

Konan was temporarily teamed with Jūzō. Aside from urgent missions, they were also raising funds for Akatsuki.

When there were not enough core members, they could not carry out their plans at all. Taking this opportunity to gather more funds would also strengthen Akatsuki.

Swish!

Pain suddenly used the ring to pull the consciousnesses of several Akatsuki members onto the fingers of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path through the Projector Technique.

"Why so suddenly? I was just about to reach the Underground Money Exchange. Also, can you change my partner? Otherwise, I really will kill him."

After appearing on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path’s finger, Kakuzu was the first to speak. He hated being interrupted when he was about to collect money.

"You bastard—" Suito was not good-tempered either, and he immediately prepared to argue with Kakuzu.

But before their quarrel could begin, Pain interrupted them.

"Zetsu, tell us about the intelligence you gathered."

"No problem. You might not believe it, but this time I infiltrated Konoha and stayed there for a long time before overhearing it during their conversations—"

Pain interrupted, "Get to the point, Zetsu."

"How are you supposed to appreciate how hard I worked without the buildup…" Though he complained, Zetsu still removed most of the earlier preamble and directly revealed the intelligence he had gathered.

"Although Konoha concealed it well, I still found out. Orochimaru, one of the Konoha Sannin, has defected. At the same time, a ninja from the Hyuga Branch Family named Hyuga Mirai defected alongside Orochimaru."

"The Hyuga Branch Family? Are you talking about the one who was with Sasori of the Red Sand?" Konan interrupted in a puzzled tone. "That day, I did not see the Caged Bird Seal on his forehead."

The Caged Bird Seal, a Curse Mark that came with the Byakugan, was as well-known in the Ninja World as the Sharingan’s tomoe. It had been passed down for a thousand years, and even some small Ninja Villages knew a little about it.

"Well, perhaps that Hyuga Clan genius defected from Konoha because of it."

Zetsu chuckled. "A bird yearning for freedom really did break free from its cage."

"Hyuga Mirai… the ninja Konoha called the next Medical Saint? I remember him. His bounty at the Underground Money Exchange was as high as 30 million ryo."

Zetsu immediately corrected him. "Kakuzu, that was old information. That guy now possesses a pair of pure Byakugan. Once the other major Ninja Villages learned of this, his bounty should have increased by at least four or five times."

"Four or five times."

Upon hearing that, Kakuzu’s voice rose several degrees. Then he immediately asked in a deep voice.

"Zetsu, where is that guy?"

"Don’t joke around, Kakuzu. It was already difficult enough for me to uncover all this in such a short time. How could I also investigate the whereabouts of a Byakugan user?"

Zetsu waved his hand, then gave another strange laugh. "Besides, you might not even be able to defeat that Hyuga genius. I heard from Konoha’s Anbu conversations that he easily defeated Jiraiya of the Sannin. The reason Byakko returned that day was probably because he did not want to fight."

Even Teacher Jiraiya could not deal with that Hyuga ninja from that day?

Konan frowned slightly as she thought to herself. If that was the case, then her ability to return that day had truly involved a measure of luck. If he and Sasori of the Red Sand had attacked together, she absolutely would not have been able to leave so easily.

"If that is so, then this person possesses considerable strength and meets Akatsuki’s recruitment standard for core members."

Pain spoke, then instructed Zetsu.

"Zetsu, do everything you can to discover the whereabouts of Orochimaru and Hyuga Mirai. Once we have their trail, I will personally go recruit them."