However, the fact that Fū was here proved she definitely had not followed the plan. And that was indeed the case.
The Akatsuki organization's goal was the tailed beast, while the ones who died were the people protecting her. She could not just sit by and watch her village comrades die because of her.
What happened after that was simple. After Fū revealed her tailed beast transformation and blatantly "fled," even though Mōryō knew her purpose was to lure him away, he did not care. His objective on this trip had always been the tailed beast.
After roughly understanding the situation, Furina let out a soft sigh. This matter was right and also not right. Protecting comrades was naturally fine, but from a more realistic perspective, it had been far too reckless.
The importance of a jinchūriki to a village was beyond question. From the conversation just now, Furina could also tell that the others in the Hidden Waterfall Village got along fairly well with Fū. It was not like some ninja villages where the jinchūriki faced only malice.
This showed that in the Hidden Waterfall Village, she was not treated as a weapon but as a comrade. That was probably why Fū had been willing to draw Mōryō away alone.
After all, if someone were treated like a monster in their village every day, how many people would be willing to make such a self-sacrificing choice?
After chatting for a while, several more people arrived from the distance. They all wore the same forehead protector as Fū, and the one in the lead had an extremely anxious expression. Their identities were obvious.
Through a brief exchange, Furina gained an understanding of the newcomers. The somewhat young man leading them was actually the leader of the Hidden Waterfall Village, and the two accompanying him were also jōnin from the village.
Although from a personal sense they did not seem particularly strong, since they dared to come support Fū, they were probably among the top few strongest in the Hidden Waterfall Village. Otherwise, if they had been weaker, they might have lost the will to fight the moment they saw Mōryō.
Not only would they fail to help, but the negative emotions like fear they produced would even amplify Mōryō. That would truly be a disaster.
"Sorry for the embarrassing display. This time we are truly, deeply grateful for your help. Without you all, Fū would probably have met a grim fate."
"The Akatsuki organization is capturing tailed beasts everywhere in the ninja world. There's a high chance they're plotting something to overturn the world. So helping you is also helping ourselves. No need to be overly concerned."
Looking at the village leader who had first scolded Fū and then turned to express thanks again, Furina simply waved her hand. She really did think that way. Her original reason for acting had only been to help Shion eliminate the threat of Mōryō.
Saving Fū from danger had just been a convenient side action, so she did not want to dwell too much on this matter.
"You may think that way, but it truly helped us a great deal. Fū is a very important comrade to me..."
"Okay, okay, I accept your thanks. If there's nothing else, we'll be leaving first. If we delay here any longer, when I get back I'll probably get nagged by my master again."
Seeing that Furina and the others were preparing to leave, the village leader's face showed obvious hesitation, as if he were thinking about something very important.
"Um..." Finally, just as the group had started moving, the village leader spoke up. Furina slightly tilted her head at the sound, seeming not at all surprised.
"Could we possibly ask you to let Fū go with you to Konoha? Of course, I'm not asking you to help for free. Whatever you need, feel free to name it."
"Oh?"
Upon hearing this, although Furina stopped in her tracks, she did not immediately agree. She said nothing, just looked at the other with a half-smile that was not quite a smile.
Meeting Furina's gaze, the village leader could not help feeling somewhat nervous. Although the other appeared very calm, for some reason she brought him immense pressure.
Even so, at this moment he could no longer back down. Ever since the tailed beasts of the major ninja villages had been captured one after another, he had been constantly worrying about the threat from the Akatsuki organization.
And today, that worry had become reality. The Akatsuki organization truly lived up to its tremendous reputation in the ninja world.
Just one official member, along with a group of somewhat strange-feeling ninja and some terracotta warriors of unknown origin, had already made it nearly impossible for their entire ninja village to resist.
If Fū had not voluntarily transformed into her tailed beast form to lure him away, the Hidden Waterfall Village would at the very least have suffered heavy casualties in the end.
It could only be said that even though the Hidden Waterfall Village was already among the top tier below the Five Great Ninja Villages, when facing a powerhouse like Mōryō, without someone of comparable strength to pin him down, they were completely powerless to resist.
And this was merely the result of Mōryō acting alone. According to intelligence, Akatsuki members basically operated in pairs. If another Akatsuki member had joined in, he dared not even imagine what the outcome would have been today.
In truth, because of Mōryō's overwhelming performance, the Hidden Waterfall Village leader somewhat overestimated the overall strength of Akatsuki members. In terms of individual combat power, Mōryō already ranked among the top in the Akatsuki.
In a frontal fight, the only one with absolute certainty of completely suppressing him was probably the Akatsuki leader, Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan.
Others like Obito or Uchiha Itachi might have a good chance of winning if it truly came to all-out conflict, but fully suppressing him head-on would still fall a bit short.
However, the Hidden Waterfall Village leader did not know this. In his view, the other Akatsuki members were likely all powerhouses on par with Mōryō. Even if Mōryō failed here this time, others would surely come later to clean up the mess.
And next time, they would not be so lucky as to have Furina conveniently passing by.
In short, although Fū had a very good relationship with him and the Seven-Tails was an important part of the Hidden Waterfall Village, in today's increasingly rampant Akatsuki era, the tailed beast had started to feel like a hot potato to them.
Tailed beasts were indeed very strong, but what use was that? The Akatsuki organization clearly intended to collect all the tailed beasts. If they failed this time, next time it might be a two-person team, or even more people acting together.
If that situation really occurred, the Hidden Waterfall Village would certainly have no ability to resist. Since that was the case, rather than stubbornly keeping Fū and eventually attracting powerful enemies that would lead to their destruction, it was better to find a new path for Fū.
This was for her sake, and also for the Hidden Waterfall Village. And this time, the chance encounter with Furina was the best person he felt he could entrust her to.
Her identity was the current Hokage's disciple. Once Fū reached Konoha, she could look after her to some extent. Moreover, she was young, and from their brief exchange he could roughly determine she was a good person. At least Fū would not jump out of the wolf's den only to enter the tiger's mouth.
And most importantly, her strength was sufficient.
He had already personally experienced Mōryō's power while in the Hidden Waterfall Village. Even Fū, who had a good relationship with the Seven-Tails and could freely transform into her tailed beast form, was no match for him.
These experiences were enough to prove Mōryō's strength. Yet such a powerhouse, according to Fū's description, had apparently been beaten by Furina to the point where his life or death was unknown, with seemingly no ability to resist.