Chapter 340: The Trouble Caused by Too Much Information
The simplest method would, of course, be to bring Nagato onto the airship with him.
It was convenient, and an airship was not exactly easy to hide. Unless Black Zetsu could perfectly merge into the airship itself, Amamiya Kenichi would have nothing to worry about.
The problem was that he needed the right opportunity.
It had to be an opportunity that would naturally let Nagato board with him, while at the same time not arousing Black Zetsu's suspicion.
The second option was to have Nagato follow him by airship all the way to the Land of Snow. But that would still require using an airship anyway, so after thinking it over, Kenichi gave up on the idea. It felt redundant.
"Leader, about the method you mentioned earlier, proving my value without taking missions, I have a good suggestion."
Kenichi's eyes shifted slightly, and in the next moment, he came up with a suitable plan.
Better yet, Nagato himself had just brought up the topic, which gave Kenichi a perfectly reasonable excuse and also kept the real subject he wanted to discuss from being exposed.
"...Go on," Nagato said, his gaze dangerous. "But if you are going to talk the way you did earlier..."
Nagato swore he had never wanted to expel an Akatsuki member this badly.
Amamiya Kenichi's research ability was undeniably outstanding, but what Nagato truly wanted was a quiet organization.
Not one filled with nonstop squawking that made it sound as though the Akatsuki had switched to performing skits.
"My weapon," Kenichi said with a smile. "My very special weapon. As long as the organization masters how to deploy it, then some missions can be handled using my method. I will be responsible for supplying the item to the organization."
He cast out the bait directly.
Yes, it was an idea he had only just come up with.
Since Nagato had said that if he did not want to perform missions, he needed to prove his value in another way, then Kenichi's idea was simple, provide weapons, specifically thermobaric bombs.
Of course, supplying weapons was only the surface level reason.
What he really needed was to get Nagato onto the airship, take him high into the sky, and then talk about what truly mattered.
It was tedious, troublesome, and exactly the kind of thing Kenichi hated dealing with.
But because Black Zetsu existed, he had no other choice.
"Oh? Your weapon?" Nagato's interest was immediately piqued.
Of course, he knew some things about Amamiya Kenichi. That peculiar destructive weapon of his was no secret.
After all, Kenichi had used it many times. Not every attack left no survivors, and from the accounts of those who had lived through it, his thermobaric bomb had already gained a clear image in the eyes of the world.
People called that fat, cylindrical thing the Fat Demon.
That name had spread across the entire Ninja World.
Countless people were trying to figure out what exactly the Fat Demon was, and why it could cause such devastating destruction. Yet even now, no one had managed to create anything similar.
Even so, there were still some people in the Ninja World whose brains were either full of water or had holes in them. They had started making imitation ornaments and keychains modeled after it, and surprisingly, those things sold extremely well.
After all, the people of the Ninja World admired strength.
"Yes. With that, even if I do not personally take missions, that should still count, right?" Kenichi asked with a smile.
At the same time, he kept his senses fully spread out, watching the surroundings carefully.
And yet, there was still no movement.
Black Zetsu was like something that did not exist at all. Kenichi could not even tell whether Black Zetsu was nearby or whether it had run off, unable to endure his long winded nonsense.
But he could not afford to gamble.
Bringing Nagato over was important, and it was also dangerous.
At present, Black Zetsu and Obito still believed that they were the hidden chess players in control from the shadows, so they would not rashly take desperate action.
But once Kenichi pulled Nagato over to his side, it would become a serious problem for both Obito and Black Zetsu.
So they definitely would not sit still and do nothing.
"..." Nagato did not answer immediately.
He was thinking.
The destructive power of the Fat Demon was no small matter. It had already forced the Five Great Nations to upgrade their defensive barriers.
The barrier ninja in Kumogakure, who had not been particularly valued before, had suddenly become hot commodities in the village.
It had to be said that Amamiya Kenichi really was capable. By himself, he had pushed the entire Ninja World into developing stronger defensive barriers.
Of course, that had also created some minor trouble for Nagato's future plans.
"Alright." Nagato finally nodded.
The Fat Demon was worth the investment. Even if Kenichi did not personally move, simply supplying that weapon would still significantly increase the Akatsuki's destructive power.
"But before that, I need to demonstrate it for you first," Kenichi said with a grin. "Leader, would it be convenient for you to come up on the airship with me?"
He revealed his real goal without hesitation.
As long as Nagato got onto the airship, Black Zetsu would not be able to monitor them.
This was the only opportunity.
And this time, the timing, the location, and the circumstances all aligned perfectly. Nagato had personally proposed the condition, Kenichi had come up with a solution that let him avoid missions, and demonstrating the weapon was entirely reasonable.
Black Zetsu should not become too suspicious.
"...Alright." Nagato hesitated for a moment, then agreed.
Konan looked at her friend with concern.
Nagato's real body could not be too far from the puppet he controlled. If he flew too high...
But Nagato gave her a reassuring look. He was not worried about something at this level, and he genuinely wanted to see how the weapon Kenichi was talking about worked. It would greatly help the Akatsuki accelerate its accumulation of strength.
So Konan stayed behind.
Her excuse was that she had other matters to handle, but Kenichi knew the truth. Konan was staying to watch over Nagato's real body, while Nagato controlled Pain and boarded the airship with Kenichi.
The airship slowly rose into the sky.
Kenichi checked again.
Everything on the airship was normal. There were no abnormalities at all. Forget Black Zetsu, even a tiny insect would have been caught by the chakra Kenichi had spread out and thrown off.
But Black Zetsu was simply nowhere to be found.
Kenichi frowned slightly.
Either Black Zetsu had not followed, or it had truly merged itself into the airship perfectly.
Both were possible, which made the situation even more annoying.
"It looks like I need something else..." Kenichi's eyes darkened.
Black Zetsu, that damned cockroach, sooner or later he was going to catch that bastard and lock it in a specially made container for daily experiments.
It was truly disgusting.
He could not even confirm whether Black Zetsu was there when he wanted the smallest bit of privacy. If he knew nothing, perhaps he would feel better, but because he did know about Black Zetsu, he constantly felt as though he were living under someone else's gaze.
"That is high enough." Nagato suddenly spoke.
Kenichi glanced at him. They still had not reached his usual cruising altitude, but he stopped anyway. This height was enough.
Moreover, he had already roughly tested the range of Nagato's puppet control. It definitely was not the limit, and Nagato certainly had hidden cards left, but that was fine.
"Leader, I will show you." Kenichi took out a sealing scroll.
Pain stepped forward and stood at his side, watching with curiosity. Nagato truly was interested in these things.
But then Kenichi's hand suddenly trembled, and something slipped out.
His pupils shrank.
In an instant, he pulled out a backpack, shouted, "Watch out!" and the entire airship was swallowed by flames.
The explosion was not too big, yet not too small either. It was just enough to destroy the airship completely.
Kenichi forcibly endured the blast, then opened his parachute.
At the same time, he sharply noticed that at the instant of the explosion, a lump of black matter seemed to have fallen away.
His eyes instantly turned cold.
So Black Zetsu really could merge perfectly into his airship?
How exactly had that thing done it?
Fortunately, he had prepared for this possibility. Otherwise...
"What exactly are you doing?" Nagato asked coldly through Yahiko's body.
At the instant of the explosion, he had used Shinra Tensei to repel the flames, so he was not injured. Now he floated in the air, staring at Kenichi with icy displeasure.
If Kenichi had not warned him first, and if Nagato himself had still been standing within the blast range, he really would have suspected that Kenichi had done this intentionally to attack him.
"Leader, what do you think about the proposal I made last time?" Kenichi asked.
He had opened his parachute and was slowly descending from the sky, speaking to Nagato while drifting downward.
Nagato's pupils contracted.
"I had no choice but to do this, Leader," Kenichi said with a grin. "Do you not think there are some people in our organization with absurdly strong concealment abilities?"
Whether it was a weapon demonstration or a bomb "accidentally" falling, the point of all of it had been to create this very moment.
Even with a parachute, he could not stay in the air too long, so this had to be handled quickly.
"I will keep it short. Your peace plan will not work, Leader. That method cannot bring true peace. A world where people can completely understand one another does not exist. As long as there are people, there will be selfish desire."
"So what I want is a unified world, a unified nation. No more Five Great Nations, no more small countries, the entire Ninja World would become one nation. There would be no more Konoha ninja, no more Kumo ninja. Everyone would simply be ninja of that one country."
"Only that method can create a peaceful world. There may still be some conflict and instability at the beginning, but people ultimately long for peace. We only need to suppress the ambitious, let that peace continue for a hundred years, and once the people have accepted the idea of one unified country, once there is no longer any conceptual division between nations, then peace will come naturally."
Kenichi spoke very quickly.
There was simply too much information in those words, so much that for a moment, Nagato had no room to think.
"The organization is not a safe place, Leader. Opportunities like this are rare. If we cannot find somewhere absolutely secure next time, I will not say anything else." Kenichi glanced at Nagato as he spoke.
He knew very well that Nagato would not immediately form a conclusion. Making a decision like this was not easy.
"...Wait," Nagato said, rubbing his brow. "What you just said was too chaotic..."
He was now also beginning to notice that something was wrong.
Everything that had just happened had looked like coincidence, but now it clearly was not.
It had all been deliberately arranged by Amamiya Kenichi.
Still, this only made Nagato more confused. Had all this trouble really been necessary? He had been on the airship himself, yet he had felt no one else's presence and detected no sign of ninjutsu.
Kenichi rolled his eyes.
If Nagato were not such a pitiful person, and if he did not also have some good ideas, Kenichi would never have bothered going this far.
But Nagato was, in Kenichi's plans, the future candidate for head of the judicial department.
So he forced himself to stay patient.
"There are some very special people in the Ninja World," Kenichi explained. "Their strength might not be great, but they are naturally skilled at concealment. They can hide in the earth, in trees, and even inside my airship just to listen to our conversation."
Then he glanced downward.
They had already descended a good distance. If this conversation continued any longer, it would become troublesome.
So he pulled out another sealing scroll and took out half of a thermobaric bomb, pretending he was only explaining the weapon.
"...Next time, find a safe place and release a thought wave," Nagato said after a long silence. "I will use the Outer Path: Demonic Statue Chains to communicate with you there. That should be safer."
To be honest, he did not fully believe what Kenichi was saying.
After all, he possessed the Sage's Eye, and under its observation, he had discovered nothing unusual.
But what Kenichi said did sound plausible, and in the end, Nagato chose caution.
Kenichi's eyes brightened.
That would be even better. Communication would become much more convenient. He would only need to find a way to pull Nagato toward the Land of Snow and avoid the Black Zetsu problem there.
"Leader, remember this, do not tell anyone about our conversation. No one at all," Kenichi said seriously.
Nagato silently nodded.
If what Kenichi said was true, then even the inside of the organization was unsafe.
Still, was it really true?
Nagato found it hard to believe, which was only natural. The whole thing sounded absurd, and he had never personally witnessed it.
But caution did no harm.
"Now then, the way to use this weapon is..." Kenichi said.
He still briefly explained how the thermobaric bomb was used, but what he took out was only an ordinary model, not the improved version.
After all, the newest and most advanced products were for his own use.
The older thermobaric bombs were for export.
.....
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