In truth, Koharu had a lot she wanted to say to Hiruzen. But considering that Hiruzen was still the Hokage—and that what she wanted to say might be a bit too foul—plus thinking about Hiruzen's strength, she could only remain silent.
Just as Hiruzen himself had said, even if Tsunade truly became the Fifth Hokage, Hiruzen would always be her sensei. At that point, taking on a position as a Hokage advisor would still leave him with some degree of power.
But what about her, Utatane Koharu?
If Hiruzen took over the work she had been doing, what was she supposed to do?
Oh, she could always go back to the Konoha prison and see if she could achieve enlightenment there…
'I can only hope those people from the Akatsuki are at least somewhat reliable…'
'As long as they can deal with Uchiha Keizumi, even if Tsunade really inherits the position of Fifth Hokage, there will still be room to turn things around!'
Koharu knew she could no longer rely on Hiruzen. To preserve the power in her hands, she had already contacted the Akatsuki.
As for the thoughts of his old comrade, Hiruzen naturally had no idea. He was still feeling a bit guilty—once he stepped down, he could only hope she would come to terms with it.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Keizumi, along with Uchiha Izumi and Tachibana Jirō, had begun leaving the Land of Water.
"Keizumi-sama, is it really okay to leave the Land of Water to people like Biwa Jūzō?"
Izumi looked at Keizumi ahead of her and couldn't help but voice the question she had been holding in.
"No problem, meow!"
"That Biwa Jūzō is a smart man, meow. And he has no way out—he'll definitely do his best!"
Tachibana Jirō spoke first, cutting in before Izumi. He would never doubt Keizumi's decisions—unlike certain people who actually questioned them!
"No matter how well he does, once I return to Konoha, I'll send a few people over."
"If we want to build a police force, the Uchiha clan has plenty of experience."
"Earlier, three clan members completed Gatō's task. I plan to send them to the Land of Water. They've served in the police force before, and they've already preliminarily proven their sense of justice. Working together with Biwa Jūzō, there shouldn't be too many problems."
Keizumi patiently explained to Izumi. To him, the Land of Water was an experimental site—a testing ground to see whether Absolute Justice could truly make the shinobi world a better place.
As for whether it could?
After Keizumi had initially established an order of justice in the Land of Water, he received new feedback from that justice—the Water Contract.
Its function was simple: as long as he was in any place with water, Keizumi could freely convert that water into the chakra he needed. In other words, he would never again have to worry about running out of chakra.
However, the Water Contract's progress was currently only a little over twenty percent. As Absolute Justice truly took root in the Land of Water—and even grew strong—
Once the progress reached completion and the true Water Contract was formed, it would mean that however much water existed in the entire shinobi world, that would be how much chakra Uchiha Keizumi possessed!
After Keizumi and the others had walked some distance, White Zetsu and Uchiha Obito suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"Didn't Nagato say we shouldn't conflict with Uchiha Keizumi?"
"Then why are we being told to scout Keizumi's route back to the Land of Fire?"
White Zetsu looked at Obito in confusion, not understanding why they were here.
Clearly, Nagato had already declared within the Akatsuki that they would no longer clash with Keizumi. He had even shut Kakuzu up a few times—so why, in the blink of an eye, were they now investigating Keizumi's movements again?
Obito's expression, however, was especially grim. He had only been assigned to gather intelligence right before the operation—and the key point was, he had been appearing within the Akatsuki as "Tobi" at the time.
As a peripheral member of the Akatsuki, under the watch of Kakuzu, Sasori, Kisame, and even the newly joined Hidan, Tobi had no way to refuse the mission!
Obito understood very well—this was Nagato doing it on purpose, openly expressing his distrust.
"Nagato and Konan… they've been influenced by Keizumi's words!"
"First Utatane Koharu from Konoha, then the Land of Earth—someone as proud as Nagato, how could he not take action?"
"That new guy who just joined the Akatsuki—Hidan—was recruited behind our backs."
"I used to think bringing in Hidan was just to strengthen the Akatsuki. Now it seems they were already preparing for a war with Uchiha Keizumi!"
Obito felt extremely frustrated. He had thought he'd finally gotten smarter, only to be thoroughly outplayed by Nagato.
And all this time, it had mostly been him plotting against others. Sure, Black Zetsu made most of the plans—but whose will was it? His, Obito's!
But after Keizumi's trip to the Land of Rain, Nagato and the Akatsuki were now acting as if they didn't include him at all.
"Didn't Black Zetsu say not to clash with Uchiha Keizumi?"
"He also said Keizumi hasn't affected our plan yet. Is it really okay to have Nagato and the Akatsuki fight him?"
White Zetsu had been forced to grow a bit smarter recently. Not much—but at least enough to raise objections.
"What's not okay about it?"
"If Nagato fails, he'll only become more dependent on us."
"If he succeeds, then getting rid of Uchiha Keizumi—this troublemaker—is also a good thing!"
Obito spoke bitterly. To him now, both Keizumi and Nagato were equally irritating.
Keizumi went without saying—Obito had no idea how the guy knew his identity, but knowing it was one thing… why the hell did he have to go around talking about it?
As for Nagato?
An uncontrollable pawn was, in Obito's eyes, naturally something detestable.
"What if—I mean, what if—the Akatsuki gets completely crushed by Uchiha Keizumi?"
White Zetsu spoke with concern. Keizumi seemed extremely strong. Based on the intelligence they had, his Susanoo had already reached the complete form.
On top of that, he had revealed both Lava Release and Wood Release. White Zetsu was genuinely worried the Akatsuki might get wiped out.
"That won't happen!"
"I'll be watching the battle the entire time!"
"If Uchiha really crushes the Akatsuki, I'll take them and retreat!"
Obito's tone was firm—but he knew it better than anyone: if possible, he absolutely did not want to face Uchiha Keizumi head-on.
No other reason.
He was simply wary of Keizumi's Heaven's Punishment Flame.
Unlike Black Zetsu, he wasn't immortal.
If he really took a hit from that flame… he might not be able to endure it—and might even end himself.