In truth, Koharu Utatane had a great many things she wanted to say to Hiruzen Sarutobi. But considering that Hiruzen was still the Hokage, that some of the things she wanted to say were a little too foul, and that Hiruzen's strength was still very real, she could only stay silent.
Just as Hiruzen himself had said, even if Tsunade really did become the Fifth Hokage, Hiruzen would still be her teacher. By then, he could at least secure a position as Hokage advisor, so it wasn't as if he would lose all authority.
But what about her?
If Hiruzen was going to do the job she'd been doing, then what exactly was she supposed to do?
Oh, right—she could go back to Konoha Prison and see if she could attain enlightenment there instead.
"I can only hope that those Akatsuki people are actually reliable."
"As long as they can get rid of Uchiha Chizumi, then even if Tsunade really inherits the seat of the Fifth Hokage, there'll still be room to turn things around!"
Koharu knew perfectly well there was no point relying on Hiruzen anymore. In order to preserve the power in her hands, she had already contacted the Akatsuki herself.
Naturally, Hiruzen had no idea what his old companion was thinking. He still even felt a little guilty. Once he stepped down, all he could do was hope she'd eventually come to terms with it.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Chizumi, Uchiha Izumi, and Kitsujiro had already begun leaving the Land of Water.
"Lord Chizumi, is it really okay to leave the Land of Water in the hands of Biwa Jūzō and the others just like that?"
Looking at Uchiha Chizumi walking ahead, Izumi finally voiced the question she had been holding in for some time.
"It'll be fine, meow!"
"That Jūzō guy is smart, meow. And he has no way back now, so he'll definitely give it everything he's got!"
Kitsujiro jumped in before Uchiha Chizumi could answer. He never doubted Chizumi's decisions—not like certain people who actually dared question them.
"No matter how well or badly he does, once I return to Konoha, I'll bring a few people over."
"When it comes to building a Police Force, the Uchiha have plenty of experience."
"There were three clan members who completed the Gatō mission before. I'm planning to send them to the Land of Water. They've already served in the Police Force, and they've also already proven their sense of justice to a degree. Working together with Biwa Jūzō, there shouldn't be any major problems."
Uchiha Chizumi patiently explained it to Izumi.
To him, the Land of Water was a test site—a place to test whether Absolute Justice could, in fact, make the shinobi world a little better.
As for whether it could become better?
After Uchiha Chizumi had established the initial framework of a just order in the Land of Water, he had received a new reward from justice itself: the Water Covenant.
The covenant's effect was simple. As long as there was water anywhere, Uchiha Chizumi could freely convert it into whatever chakra he needed. In other words, he would never need to worry about lacking chakra again.
At the moment, however, the Water Covenant's progress was only a little over twenty percent.
As Absolute Justice truly took root and flourished in the Land of Water—
once the Water Covenant reached completion and became a true covenant, it would mean that however much water existed in the shinobi world, that was how much chakra Uchiha Chizumi would possess.
After they had traveled some distance, White Zetsu and Uchiha Obito suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Didn't Nagato say he wasn't going to clash with Uchiha Chizumi anymore?"
"Then why are we still being sent to scout out Uchiha Chizumi's route back to the Land of Fire?"
White Zetsu stared blankly at Obito, completely confused as to why they were here.
Nagato had clearly said in front of the Akatsuki that they would no longer provoke Uchiha Chizumi. He had even shut Kakuzu up over it. So how had things suddenly turned into them investigating Chizumi's movements again?
Obito, meanwhile, had an exceptionally ugly look on his face.
It was only right before the operation that Nagato had assigned him to gather intelligence. And more importantly, at the time he had still been appearing inside the Akatsuki under the identity of Tobi.
As one of the Akatsuki's lower-tier members, "Tobi" had no way to refuse the mission while being watched by Kakuzu, Sasori, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Hidan, who had only recently joined.
Obito understood very well that Nagato had done it on purpose. In fact, Nagato had practically made his distrust explicit.
"Nagato and Konan were still influenced by what Uchiha Chizumi said!"
"First there was Koharu Utatane from Konoha, then the Land of Earth. Someone as proud as Nagato was bound to make a move sooner or later!"
"That new guy the Akatsuki recruited—Hidan—they brought him in behind our backs."
"At first I thought they were just recruiting him to strengthen the Akatsuki. But looking at it now, they were clearly preparing for war with Uchiha Chizumi from the very beginning!"
Obito felt miserable. He had only just started thinking he'd finally grown a brain, only to get completely outplayed by Nagato the next instant.
And for so long, it had always been him setting other people up. Sure, most of those schemes had really been planned by Black Zetsu—but did that make them any less his will in the end?
But ever since Chizumi had gone to the Land of Rain once, Nagato and the Akatsuki now acted like they wanted nothing to do with him anymore.
"Didn't Black Zetsu say not to provoke Uchiha Chizumi?"
"He also said Uchiha Chizumi hasn't interfered with our plan yet. Is it really a good idea to let Nagato and the Akatsuki go to war with him?"
White Zetsu had been forced to grow at least a tiny bit of a brain lately. Not much—but enough to start raising objections.
"What's wrong with it?"
"If Nagato fails, he'll only end up relying on us even more."
"And if he succeeds, then getting rid of a menace like Uchiha Chizumi is a good thing anyway!"
Obito spoke bitterly. At this point, both Uchiha Chizumi and Nagato irritated him.
As for Uchiha Chizumi, that hardly needed explaining. Obito still had no idea how Chizumi had figured out his identity in the first place—but even if he had figured it out, why did he have to go and blab it everywhere?
And Nagato?
In Obito's eyes, any chess piece he couldn't control was naturally something hateful.
"But what if—and I mean what if—Uchiha Chizumi just completely wrecks the Akatsuki?"
White Zetsu spoke with obvious worry. Uchiha Chizumi looked absurdly strong. Based on the intelligence they currently had, Chizumi's Susanoo was already at the Perfect Form level.
Add in the Lava Release and Wood Release he'd revealed, and White Zetsu was genuinely concerned that the Akatsuki might get obliterated.
"There's no way that happens!"
"I'll be watching the battle the whole time!"
"If Uchiha Chizumi really does crush the Akatsuki, I'll pull them out!"
Obito's tone was extremely firm.
But he himself knew best that, if it were at all possible, he had absolutely no desire to face Uchiha Chizumi in person.
There was no deeper reason—
he was simply genuinely wary of Chizumi's Flames of Judgment.
Obito was nothing like Black Zetsu. He wasn't immortal. If he really got hit with the Flames of Judgment, he felt like he might not be able to endure it—and would probably end up killing himself instead.