It took a good half-hour of talking.
Suien finally finished telling Fu his "entire" plan.
Of course, this so-called "entire" plan was mostly hot air. The only parts that were true were the specific tasks he needed Fu to do. The rest—the vast majority of it—he kept to himself. In Suien's eyes, Fu was nothing more than a pawn to be used.
Once he successfully got rid of Shibuki, Satoru, and the others, and seized control of the Hidden Waterfall Village, he intended to replace the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki immediately.
As one of the village's prospective high-ranking officials, Suien was quite familiar with the sealing techniques his village used for the Tailed Beasts.
He wanted the Leader's seat. He wanted the Hero Water passed down through the village's history. And he wanted the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, too!
Strength, status, authority!
Suien was determined to become one of the top figures in the ninja world.
"Okay, I get it. I'll do exactly what you said, Uncle Suien. Leave Jun-san and the others to me; I definitely won't let them interfere with your plan," Fu said, clenching her fists and nodding heavily.
"I believe in you, Fu. You are the most talented ninja in our Hidden Waterfall Village, after all. Don't worry, as long as everything goes smoothly, at most a few people will get hurt. Even Shibuki—as long as he isn't stubborn as a mule and is willing to turn back in time—these mistakes can still be fixed."
Suien patted Fu's head, wearing a fake, gentle smile as he spoke softly.
"Mhm!"
"Alright then, I won't stay here any longer. You need to be careful too. Just act according to the scheduled time in the plan."
"Understood. You can count on me, Uncle Suien!"
At this moment, Fu's face was written full of seriousness.
"See you later then!"
After giving Fu's small shoulder a final pat, Suien flickered away.
He sped off toward the other side of the housing area. Watching Suien gradually disappear into the jungle, Fu took a deep breath and slapped her cheeks hard with both hands.
"You have to pull yourself together, Fu. You can do this!"
After psyching herself up, Fu wore a look of determination and headed in the opposite direction.
"Big Brother Echizen! I have a training routine I need your help with!"
Only after she had gone far away could the girl's clear, loud voice be heard in the distance.
The girl had fallen completely into the trap.
Seeing that his plan was proceeding so smoothly, the departing Suien found it hard to suppress the joy bubbling up inside him.
"I didn't think it would be this easy!"
He revealed the signature, rampant expression of a villain whose scheme has succeeded.
"I told you, don't push me. You brought all of this on yourselves, Shibuki, and you too, you old ghost Satoru!"
A look of viciousness surfaced in Suien's eyes.
Just as he left the perimeter of Fu's exclusive training zone on the eastern side, a middle-aged man with a long face, dressed in brown clothing and wearing a Waterfall forehead protector, was already waiting for him.
Seeing Suien appear, the horse-faced man's face lit up with joy, and he hurriedly stepped forward to greet him.
"Lord Suien, is everything going smoothly?" the horse-faced man asked with a look of eager anticipation.
"Heh, of course, no problem at all. That little girl Fu is still too young, and that kid Shibuki is the same. Everything is going exactly according to plan," Suien said with a touch of arrogance.
"As expected of you, Lord Suien! Then, shall we proceed as scheduled? Once the personnel have been lured away, we launch the surprise attack directly? That kid Shibuki will never guess that you never actually left the village!"
Hearing his boss's affirmative answer, the horse-faced man looked overjoyed and began kissing up to him wildly.
"Heh, no rush, no rush. It's not the critical moment yet. We have to wait until everything is in place. Have our men, and the people from that side, arrived yet? I don't want to see any issues with missing personnel when it's time to execute the plan!"
Suien smiled and waved his hand first, then lowered his eyelids slightly, a cold glint faintly visible in his pupils.
"Yes, Lord Suien. Our men are all prepped and ready, just waiting for your order. As for the people from that side... the final notice from the day before yesterday said they would arrive at the designated location this morning. They're just waiting for you to rendezvous with them."
The horse-faced man replied immediately with a respectful expression.
"Excellent. Let's go then!"
Suien nodded with satisfaction.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Immediately after, the two of them left the spot one after another, flickering away toward another location.
After traveling for a good hour or so, they arrived at a cliff area in the southernmost part of the Hidden Waterfall Village, right on the southern border of the Land of Waterfalls. Originally, there were some Waterfall ninja stationed here for security, but they were either Suien's subordinates or had already been "cleaned up" in advance, so there was no risk of exposure.
Just as Suien arrived, a group of ninja appeared on the flat ground below the cliff. There were dozens of them, dressed completely differently from Waterfall ninja.
The man leading them had short green hair and a long sword strapped to his waist. His expression was extremely fierce, matching the somewhat powerful chakra aura emanating from his body.
And the forehead protector he wore, etched with four vertical lines resembling rain, proved he was a ninja from the Hidden Rain Village.
The moment Suien saw the newcomer, his eyes narrowed slightly.
"So it's Aoi-san from the Hidden Rain. I thought Karin-kun would be leading the team."
Suien strode forward to meet him. As he spoke, his eyes subconsciously glanced at the long sword on the man's waist, a faint look of sharpness flashing in his pupils.
"Heh, what? Is Suien-san not satisfied that I'm the one providing support?"
The green-haired man named Aoi spoke with a slightly malicious smile curling the corners of his mouth.
"No, no, no, how could that be? I couldn't be happier to have a powerful ally like Aoi-san. Why would I be dissatisfied? You've truly misunderstood me."
Suien laughed lightly, looking at the man before him with a peculiar tone. This man was originally from the Hidden Leaf but was now a Jonin of the Hidden Rain.
Originally, this green-haired guy wasn't big news in the ninja world. Back in the Leaf, he was just a decent Chunin, maybe Elite Chunin on a good day.
A ninja like that, even if they came from the Leaf, was nothing special.
But later, this ordinary Leaf Chunin defected and managed to take something with him—the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju's personal weapon: the chakra blade known as the Sword of the Thunder God (Raijin Sword).