Chapter 58: Ninja Cost-Effectiveness

"Why hasn't Jiraiya-sensei replied yet? Could something have happened?"

A few days later, in the Akatsuki office, Yahiko, who hadn't received a reply, began to wonder.

However, Yahiko quickly dismissed this bold thought.

Jiraiya-sensei was one of the Three Legendary Sannin of Konoha. His performance in the war was on par with the Five Kage, making him one of the top ninjas in the world. Even if Akatsuki were to be destroyed, Jiraiya-sensei would be fine.

Could it be that Jiraiya-sensei hadn't received the letter? But Konan had clearly handed the letter to Kakashi.

Kakashi was Minato's disciple and a Jonin of Konoha. He should have been able to see Jiraiya-sensei. Perhaps the ongoing conflict with Iwagakure had occupied too much of Jiraiya-sensei's attention, and he simply hadn't had time to reply yet.

With this thought, Yahiko convinced himself and didn't dwell on the matter.

As the leader of Akatsuki, he had a lot of work to handle daily. Besides the routine paperwork, he also needed to care for his subordinates in various departments and even had to squeeze in time for training.

Instead of wasting time wondering why Jiraiya-sensei hadn't replied, it would be better to take the time to visit him.

However, that would have to wait until the war was over. Given the current situation among the nations, meeting with Jiraiya-sensei would be difficult and could easily be exploited by those with ill intentions.

Pulling his wandering thoughts back, Yahiko stood by the window, looking at the distant scenery.

Since Byakuya gathered spies and established the Akatsuki Anbu, the Akatsuki base had undergone significant construction. They cut down surrounding forests, built canals, and paved roads.

What was once a village-sized base gradually evolved into a town.

However, Yahiko found the term "Anbu" somewhat inappropriate. Anbu were supposed to be assassination squads, but Byakuya's Anbu was more like a prison camp, exploiting spies infiltrating the organization.

Yahiko could tolerate this behavior.

As for Byakuya.

After several weeks of hard work, the Anbu members gradually realized that Byakuya wasn't making them clear land and engaged in infrastructure projects to torture them for information.

He was simply using them as free labor, making them work hard in the mountains.

Once this became clear, many Anbu members began to slack off, using only a fraction of their strength and even sneaking in naps while Byakuya was resting.

The only exception among them was White Zetsu.

As a plant-based being, White Zetsu could survive on photosynthesis alone and worked tirelessly, never seeming to tire.

Besides being quite talkative, White Zetsu was essentially perfect labor.

The other Anbu members watched White Zetsu working tirelessly, drenched in sweat, and couldn't help but grit their teeth in frustration.

"Dude, don't forget you're a spy too. Do you really need to work this hard?"

"Could it be that you're actually a spy sent by Byakuya to infiltrate the group of spies?"

After a full day of hard work, Byakuya moved the book from his face and looked at his Anbu members.

"Let me see how well you've completed today's tasks."

Hearing Byakuya's lazy tone, the Anbu members hurriedly nodded.

Facing Byakuya, they were too afraid to voice their anger. They were willing to endure the hardship because their lives were more important.

As spies, they had always worked 24/7, constantly worried about exposing their identities.

Now that their identities were revealed, they resigned themselves to their fate. There was no need to live in constant fear anymore, as resistance was futile.

Not only did Byakuya control their lives with a curse mark, but even without it, they couldn't overpower him.

The intelligence they had received was false. Byakuya wasn't a mere Chunin approaching Jonin level; his strength was at least that of an elite Jonin. In any major ninja village, he could hold a high-ranking position.

Byakuya flew into the air, surveyed the construction site, and nodded in satisfaction.

The productivity of ninjas was indeed extraordinary. Even when slacking off, they were dozens of times more efficient than ordinary people. No wonder the ninja world hadn't yet widely adopted chakra tools.

It wasn't that chakra tools were unaffordable, but that ninjas were simply more cost-effective.

Returning to the ground, Byakuya brought the Anbu members to the training ground. While distributing today's food, he also gave them paper and pens.

Seeing the paper and pens, the Anbu members' expressions changed.

After weeks of pretending, Byakuya was finally showing his true colors. However, based on their recent experiences, they were not yet willing to betray their respective villages.

They were ninjas with strong beliefs, and even facing death, they wouldn't sell out their villages.

Byakuya took note of their expressions. He didn't actually care about the information they held. If he truly wanted intelligence, he had Nagato's Rinnegan's backing.

Nagato's interrogation techniques were highly efficient, capable of directly extracting souls for questioning.

Though it did tend to be lethal.

Moreover, judging by the chakra levels and ranks of these individuals, Byakuya realized they might not even know as much about their villages' secrets as he did. There was no need to extract intelligence from them.

After a moment of contemplation, Byakuya's cold voice broke the silence:

"We, the Akatsuki, are a humane organization. You've been here for two weeks now; it's time to write home and report your safety."

Hearing this, the Anbu members were stunned.

Byakuya wasn't interrogating them; he was allowing them to send information back to their villages, fulfilling their mission of infiltrating Akatsuki.

But during their time in Akatsuki, all they had done was work and sleep.

They hadn't had any opportunities to gather intelligence. They didn't know what to write, and they doubted whether Byakuya would alter their letters.

They even suspected that Byakuya was giving them this chance so they would work for Akatsuki a few more days. After all, many of them had weaknesses back in their villages, in addition to Byakuya's curse mark on them.

Seeing through their thoughts, Byakuya continued.

"Rest assured, I won't read or alter your letters. Akatsuki is not an enemy of the major ninja villages. We just want to stay peacefully within the Land of Rain, protecting the civilians here. These past few days, you've observed Akatsuki and know we harbor no ill intentions."

Peace-loving my ass. A peace-loving organization identifies spies and instead of punishing them, it uses the spies for manual labor like animals and also implants the Curst Seal on them but Seeing Byakuya being so forthright, the Anbu members could only exchange helpless glances before they began writing their reports.

Whether or not their letters would be intercepted, they genuinely wanted their superiors to know about their current predicament.

If their villages could rescue them, that would be ideal. If not, at least it would serve as a warning to future infiltrators that Akatsuki, despite being newly established, had the ability to identify spies.

As for whether Akatsuki had ambitions, they couldn't be sure.