"Super Kage-level… huh?"
Yahiko looked up at the massive ice coffin that was still releasing bone-piercing cold, as though it would stand forever on the border of the Land of Rain.
He sighed and said with deep emotion, "So the level above the Five Kage is something close to a god or a natural disaster?"
"Since it is a higher existence capable of completely crushing a 'Kage,' having that kind of power should be quite normal, right?"
Rei patted the ice coffin beside him, the one sealing Hanzo inside, and spoke casually.
"A genin can completely suppress an ordinary person in a one-on-one fight. A chunin can easily fight one against a hundred when facing ordinary soldiers. An elite jonin in peak condition can conquer a city by himself. And for those shinobi who bear the name 'Kage,' or possess strength equal to a 'Kage,' they can completely defeat all the military power of a small nation alone…"
"In the entire shinobi world, the only forces capable of forming an overwhelming advantage that a small nation's military power absolutely cannot resist are the Five Great Shinobi Villages under the Five Great Nations. So by comparison, a shinobi who can crush the Kage of one village should roughly possess the power to challenge one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages alone and win, right?"
"Challenge one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages alone and win…"
Listening to that description, Yahiko, who had nearly exhausted all his talent just to reach jonin standards, could not help falling into a daze.
"Can that kind of thing really be done?"
"Can't it?"
As Rei dispelled the unused sea above the clouds, letting it once again become heavy rain scattering down upon the Land of Rain, he asked back casually.
Yahiko looked at the sea in the sky that was pouring down over the Land of Rain, then closed his mouth and obediently nodded.
Although it had borrowed the geographical advantage of the Land of Rain, the fact that Rei could toy with a sea in the sky spanning a radius of several miles as he pleased was already enough to make everyone who saw it feel sincere awe.
"All right. This crisis is more or less resolved. After I explain a few more things to you, I should head back. The meeting in Kirigakure was only halfway done. If I stay here too long, I'll be complained at when I return…"
Rei turned around and walked through the slowly parting rain curtain toward the four members of Akatsuki.
As he took off the black robe with red clouds, he said unhurriedly, "Judging from the current situation, the bet we made earlier should count as my overwhelming victory, right? So after you stabilize Akatsuki, Nagato, remember to copy a copy of the Uzumaki clan's secret techniques from that Uzumaki Karin and send them to Kirigakure, along with your own cells… There should be no problem with that, right?"
"No."
Nagato nodded firmly.
To him, the lives of Yahiko, Konan, and the other companions who had founded Akatsuki with him were far more important than the Uzumaki clan's secret techniques.
Using those things to exchange for Rei saving most of Akatsuki's members was clearly an extremely worthwhile deal.
As for what Rei would do with his cells…
Nagato had no channel to understand it.
Nor did he want to understand it.
"Good. Then next, you should have about a month to rest, recover, and rebuild."
Rei raised a hand and poked the ice coffin that was still releasing waves of cold, then said lazily, "Although my chakra has been added to the seal of Eternal White Coffin, and it is also combined with the special weather conditions of the Land of Rain, it is still ultimately a rootless tree and a water without a source. There is no way for it to exist forever… One month. At most one month. Hanzo will break free from Eternal White Coffin's seal and emerge from within. When that happens, you will have to rely on yourselves to resolve the problems of him and Amegakure."
"…Wait, Hanzo isn't dead!?"
Jiraiya cut in with some astonishment.
"After being sealed in such an extremely cold ice coffin, and spending a month without food or water, he can still survive?"
"If I wanted him dead, why would I need to use this level of sealing technique?"
Rei rolled his eyes, expressing deep contempt for Jiraiya's brain, which had suddenly stopped turning.
"Precisely because I need him alive, I used a sealing technique. Jiraiya, don't tell me Orochimaru beat your head so badly that you can ask such an amateur question. Oh, right. You even abandoned your work in Konoha, hid your identity, and ran off to join Akatsuki…"
Jiraiya's old face darkened.
He immediately began looking left and right, changing the topic.
"Ahahaha, weather like this really is suitable for finding an izakaya and drinking a few cups."
The three members of Akatsuki did not follow Jiraiya's rhythm and clown around with him.
Instead, Yahiko spoke in a very serious tone.
"Leaving behind Hanzo, who will soon make a comeback, and Amegakure, which may or may not truly obey our orders… Is this a test for us?"
"Enemies on Hanzo's level are rare even when looking across the entire shinobi world. If you want Nagato to bring out the power of those Rinnegan as soon as possible, then a deathmatch against an enemy like this, who absolutely will not hold back, is necessary."
Rei nodded to Nagato, whose expression had suddenly become solemn.
Then he looked at Yahiko and Konan and said in a low voice, "If Hanzo is the trial left for Nagato, then Amegakure is the test left for you two… Do you know why?"
"Nagato is the power to pacify a chaotic era, while we are the ideals that maintain peace… Is that it?"
Yahiko took a deep breath and asked in return.
"The road toward peace is destined to be covered in thorns. Peace and rule can never be maintained properly through one person's violence alone… As for the Land of Rain, I will place certain reforms and experiments here that are not suitable to immediately carry out in the Land of Water, but are absolutely necessary."
"If even people like you, Yahiko, who sincerely care about peace, cannot properly understand and digest those things, then I suppose I will have no choice but to use forceful methods to make everyone first act according to my ideas."
"…So this is how you see us, Rei Kaguya?"
Yahiko fell silent for a while before asking with a complicated expression.
"All gifts bestowed by fate have often had their price marked from the very beginning…"
Rei looked at Yahiko with an amused smile, as well as the empty space behind Yahiko.
"Or rather, compared to becoming my experimental base for exploring an age of peace, would you prefer the Land of Rain to become Kirigakure's forward position inserted between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth?"
"The first option is still better."
Yahiko shook his head.
Then he stretched out his hand, already soaked by rain, and grasped Rei's hand, which had not been touched by a single drop.
"Happy cooperation."
"Happy cooperation."
The moment his words fell, Rei took a step back and smiled.
"Then I will see you all another day, members of Akatsuki… I hope that when we meet again, you will still be as full of expectation for the future, and as unwavering in the path you have chosen, as you are now."
White smoke exploded outward.
Rei Kaguya, already changed into the Mizukage's haori, vanished beneath the endless rain of the Land of Rain and returned to the mist-shrouded Kirigakure council hall outside the window.
And in the void behind Yahiko, a black-and-red eye slowly closed with a gaze mixed with countless emotions.
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