Chapter 56: Yahiko's Letter

Besides Yahiko and Nagato, Black Zetsu also observes Byakuya in the shadows.

Yesterday, when Byakuya suddenly approached White Zetsu, Black Zetsu worried that White Zetsu's identity might have been exposed. However, he discovered that Byakuya had placed a curse mark on all the ninjas except the Root spies, which eased his mind.

Black Zetsu is also secretly relieved that he hadn't directly sent White Zetsu but had instead possessed a ninja. Given the difference between White Zetsu and human anatomy, White Zetsu's presence might have been exposed otherwise.

As for Byakuya's behavior of controlling his subordinates with curse marks, Black Zetsu is already used to such tactics.

Many organizations and clans in the ninja world use similar methods to control their subordinates, with loosely structured organizations like Akatsuki being rare.

However, after observing Byakuya over the past few days and reading his diary, Black Zetsu begins to doubt Byakuya's identity.

According to the version circulated within the Akatsuki, Byakuya is a homeless orphan from an ordinary ninja family who joined the Akatsuki by chance.

The orphan part is believable, but being from an ordinary ninja family is impossible.

Judging by Byakuya's displayed skills and talents, his parents are at least Jonin and related to the now-destroyed Land of Whirlpools.

Byakuya did not join the Akatsuki by luck but through careful planning.

He joined because of Nagato, who is his clan member. Rescuing Karin was also for the same reason – to gather the scattered members of the Uzumaki clan across the ninja world.

What would Byakuya do next after collecting the Uzumaki clan members?

Black Zetsu had speculated before, but witnessing Byakuya's act of controlling spies with curse marks confirmed his suspicions.

Byakuya, being a high-ranking member of the Akatsuki, secretly trained a private army and colluded with external forces for a simple reason.

Byakuya wants to rebuild the destroyed Land of Whirlpools in the Land of Rain. Black Zetsu can't think of any other possibilities.

Nevertheless, for an orphan escaping from the Land of Whirlpools to achieve this is already impressive.

This reminded Black Zetsu of his own thousand-year history. He has been diligently working to revive his mother and now finally sees hope.

In this sense, he and Byakuya are very similar.

The only difference is that no one knows Black Zetsu's plan, while he has already discovered Byakuya's plan. By understanding Byakuya's desire to restore his nation, Black Zetsu could gain a pawn almost as valuable as Madara Uchiha.

In this way, even if Madara's plan fails, Black Zetsu could use Byakuya as the sacrificial vessel to resurrect the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.

After all, from a bloodline perspective, Byakuya is not inferior to his fellow clan member, Nagato, and also possesses significant ambition.

However, this backup plan cannot be rushed.

If Madara suspects something, it would not be worth the risk.

...

Within the borders of the Land of Grass, in the Konoha camp.

After Konoha's victory in the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, the camp atmosphere becomes noticeably more relaxed.

Everyone knows that although the war with Iwagakure is not over, a large-scale conflict is no longer would come to their doorsteps, and signing a peace agreement is just a matter of time.

However, this is the view of the Chunin and Genin in the village. For the frontline commander like Jiraiya, the battlefield is far from over and could restart at any moment. So he could not afford to be careless.

Just then, Minato Namikaze entered the command room along with Kakashi Hatake and Rin Nohara.

Seeing his student and grand-student, Jiraiya put down the reports and asked.

"Minato, what brings you here? Do you have important information to report?"

Minato shook his head with a somewhat troubled smile.

"Jiraiya-sensei, I'm not the one looking for you. Someone else is."

Hearing this, Jiraiya looked at Kakashi and Rin. Kakashi came forward and handed Jiraiya a letter.

"Lord Jiraiya, this was given to us by a ninja from the Land of Rain. They said it's for you."

"A ninja from the Land of Rain?"

Jiraiya frowned, thinking of Hanzō of the Salamander.

If Hanzō were to intervene in the war between Konoha and Iwagakure at this time, the future would become unpredictable.

However, after receiving the letter, Jiraiya's face broke into a slight smile.

This is because the envelope has a cute frog seal on it, a method he taught to Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato.

Opening the letter, Jiraiya began to read it carefully, his smile growing wider.

Seeing Jiraiya smile like that, Minato also followed with a talk.

"Jiraiya-sensei, this letter must be from Yahiko and the others."

Jiraiya nodded lightly and smiled.

"Yes, I didn't expect them to achieve so much in the Land of Rain, realizing everything I once talked about."

"That's great news. Our village will have another ally in the Land of Rain."

Minato also smiled.

Hearing the conversation between Jiraiya and Minato, Kakashi and Rin frowned, not understanding what Minato-sensei and Jiraiya-sama were talking about.

"Wasn't the letter delivered by a ninja from Amegakure?"

Noticing their confusion, Minato quickly explained.

"Kakashi, Rin, do you remember the ninja from the Land of Rain we encountered a few months ago? They later participated in Rin's rescue."

Of course, Kakashi and Rin remembered, but what did this have to do with Jiraiya-sama?

Minato continued, "Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan are all Jiraiya-sensei's disciples, and they established an organization called Akatsuki in the Land of Rain."

"Akatsuki?"

Kakashi was startled, his eyes wide open.

"I remember Byakuya mentioned it. He tried to recruit Obito and me, but we refused. So, it was Jiraiya-sama's disciples who established that organization."

Rin's memories also surfaced.

"So, when Byakuya warned Obito not to step on the explosive tag, was it because they knew our identities?"

"Probably, otherwise they had no reason to help ninjas from another village..."

"Obito..."

Whenever they spoke of the past, Kakashi and Rin couldn't help but mention Obito, their voices filled with regret and sorrow.

Minato and Jiraiya were also affected by the atmosphere and fell silent for a while.

After a moment, Minato turned the topic.

"Let's not dwell on the past. Obito is a hero on the Memorial Stone. Once this war is over, we'll go together to pay our respects."

Jiraiya, who was not very familiar with Obito, also offered a few words of comfort to Kakashi and Rin.

At that moment, Kakashi seemed to remember something.

"By the way, Jiraiya-sama, do you know Byakuya? He seems to be a prominent figure in Akatsuki."

"Byakuya?" Jiraiya shook his head slightly. "I don't know him, but he was mentioned several times in the letter. He seems to be an interesting person, though Yahiko seems to be somewhat troubled by him."