Soon, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan were invited to the meeting room for "tea."
"Don't be so serious. You guys act like we're criminals being interrogated!" Yahiko laughed.
"What? People sent by Hanzo can't even admit their identities?" Danzo sneered from across the table.
"Although we're from Rain Country, we're not working with Hanzo," Yahiko replied seriously. "Allow me to formally introduce myself—I'm Yahiko, leader of the Akatsuki organization!"
Seiki asked softly, "Akatsuki?"
"A group devoted entirely to peace!" Yahiko nodded firmly, winking at Seiki as he chuckled, "Heh, you still remember me, right Seiki?"
Danzo suddenly perked up, "Hmm? You two know each other?"
Yahiko spoke casually, "We met during the Chunin Exams two years ago."
Danzo eyed him suspiciously. "You've got the skills to sneak in without being noticed. There's no way you'd flunk the Chunin Exam preliminaries!"
"We snatched a slot originally meant for Amegakure. Naturally, we couldn't afford to draw too much attention," Yahiko shrugged. "See? I told you we weren't associated with Hanzo!"
Not finding any incriminating evidence, Danzo grumbled unhappily, "Hmph! What's your opinion, Supreme Commander?"
Seiki didn't pay attention to his sarcastic tone but instead carefully observed their surroundings.
He had every reason to be cautious—the current situation was uncannily reminiscent of that day when Nagato summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
There was Danzo again, and yet another supposed pursuit of peace. If he substituted Danzo for Hanzo, it would practically recreate that moment exactly.
Therefore, he needed to keep an eye on Xiaobai working in the shadows.
"Obviously using my eyes to look," Seiki answered offhandedly before smiling toward the three newcomers. "Yahiko, Nagato, Konan—it's been a long time."
Yahiko patted Nagato and Konan on the shoulders and laughed, "Told you Seiki wouldn't forget us old friends!"
Konan shot him a glare. "Then why sneak us in like this and put Seiki in a difficult position?"
At this, Yahiko hesitated, mumbling, "What if our official request got rejected? That would've been embarrassing."
Truthfully, all three of them were deeply shaken inside.
Compared to two years ago, they had already created the Akatsuki organization and become its leaders—an achievement indeed.
But what about Seiki? He had now become the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces representing both Konoha and Sunagakure—an undoubtedly prominent figure compared to them!
Thus, they wondered if Seiki—a big name these days—would still remember old friends from just one meeting back then.
After exchanging some lighthearted banter, Yahiko turned serious again. "We came here today for one thing only—peace!"
"Peace?"
"The pain brought by war has been great enough. If things escalate further, neither side will benefit."
Yahiko inhaled deeply and bowed his head solemnly onto the table. "Please—don't allow this war to expand further!"
"Foolish! Naive!" Danzo scoffed. "You expect our two great villages to abandon cooperation based solely on your words?"
"For once, Seiki aligns with Danzo," Yugito said. "Konoha has always been dragged into wars passively. You should say that to Iwagakure and the others. Besides, war has reached this point already—it's no longer something one or two people can change. Everyone's been forced onto this battlefield, and we won't stop until reaching the very end!"
Seeing Seiki's firm stance, Danzo glanced sideways in slight surprise. "Hmph! He's much more decisive than Hiruzen on this issue!"
Hearing Seiki's words, Yahiko lifted his head without any embarrassment. "Haha, so it's still not possible after all?"
At this moment, Nagato asked puzzledly from the side, "But weren't you also longing for peace, Seiki? Why are you rejecting our vision for peace then?"
"I certainly desire peace too, but the pursuit of peace must be based upon reality," Seiki replied shaking his head. "If we're really talking about peace, ending this war as soon as possible is what true peace requires!"
Nagato appeared dazed. "End the war... as soon as possible..."
Danzo had already become impatient by now. He came today to extract information from them regarding Hanzo, not to listen to their childish peace games.
"You three, leave quickly if you have nothing else!"
He was now convinced they weren't working for Hanzo. With such idealistic views, there was no way they could survive under Hanzo's leadership.
Seiki tapped the table in frustration. "Elder Danzo, please be a bit more polite toward my friends."
Danzo turned his head stubbornly. But since Seiki's performance today was barely to his liking, he decided not to argue with this brat.
Konan gave Seiki a grateful look. "Thank you. We were rather presumptuous today."
"Don't mention it. However, as a friend, I still needed to warn you..." Seiki's voice became low and heavy. "It would be best not to try using your peace rhetoric on Tsuchikage and Hanzo. They won't be as accommodating as I am."
Yahiko nodded earnestly in response. "I understand. We won't go looking for them intentionally!"
"'Won't go looking for them intentionally,' Seiki mused inwardly. 'Well, that's probably better. Now I just need an opportunity to obtain the [Amaterasu Rain Control Technique]—injecting chakra into rainwater, manipulating it freely, even controlling [Sensor-type techniques] over extremely long distances.'
"If I can figure out its principle, maybe I can fix the flaw where [Five-Sense Control Technique] can be detected by sensory ninja!"
The essence of genjutsu boiled down to the utilization of chakra. The difference lay in how ordinary genjutsu disrupted opponents' chakra to create illusions, while manipulating the five senses meant arbitrarily controlling the flow of chakra within opponents' bodies.
And this particular method might be detected by enemies with strong chakra perception ability or creatures like Zero-Tails that belonged to completely different systems.
Of course, they could merely identify the problem—similar to how Zero-Tails knew it was caught in a genjutsu yet found it difficult to break free.
For Seiki, who pursued perfection, even such minor imperfections were already annoying enough.
Therefore, he needed a more sophisticated method of utilizing chakra.
For instance, infusing chakra into air itself, or like [Infinite Tsukuyomi], injecting chakra into moonlight.
By using these mediums as carriers to approach targets, he could achieve effects that concealed and deceived chakra.
At the same time, seeing Nagato and the others walk out of the camp unharmed, Xiaobai, who had been lodged in a tree while secretly watching, finally relaxed.
"Phew, good thing no one noticed his Rinnegan!" Xiaobai heaved a silent sigh of relief, then clenched his teeth and muttered, "I can't afford to wait any longer. I must bring Madara before them soon to guide them directly. Otherwise, once his Rinnegan 'awakens' [i.e., regains its full power] and he experiences that overwhelming strength, it'll be hard for him to remain loyal to Madara's authority!"
"But given Madara's current state, there's no way he'd be able to pull it off with them. We'll need to find a proxy among them first, and I'll also have to establish a credible identity before revealing myself publicly—in Madara's name..."
"Hmm...who should I pick?"
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