Ryou appeared while eating candy.
It held a scroll of documents, which Ryou had previously asked Candy to steal from the Kazekage Building, detailing the high-level plot against Pakura.
Candy looked at Ryou, who was being ridden by a woman, and said with a touch of exasperation, "Again, being ridden by a woman, Uchiha Ryou, are you worthy of the Uchiha name?"
"How dare you!"
Ryou flipped Pakura over and was about to grab Candy, but Candy jumped onto Ryou's head and gave Ryou's brain a good jolt with Lightning Release.
"Useless, how can a good man of the Uchiha Clan grovel beneath a woman?"
That makes sense!
Ryou's head, shocked by Candy, cleared up a bit, and he no longer groveled beneath Pakura.
But he still needed to absorb something.
What in this world can you absorb that makes you happy and has no side effects?
Candy was furious: "You're truly beyond saving!"
Candy angrily threw Pakura's documents at Ryou's head, then activated the Mayfly Technique to burrow underground, adopting an 'out of sight, out of mind' approach.
"Damn you, evil Uchiha!"
Pakura desperately hit Ryou's head, but ultimately slumped powerlessly onto the bed.
Pakura then noticed the dossier Candy had left behind. She tremblingly reached out to pick it up, hesitating for a long time before opening it.
Pakura actually already had an answer in her heart. She had gradually grown tired of the inaction of the higher-ups and often clashed with Rasa and the Village elders.
She had long become a thorn in their side.
This trip to the Land of Water for peace talks with Kirigakure was probably a trap set by the higher-ups to eliminate her and suppress the solidarity of the common Shinobi.
If not for the threat of Madara, the Sunagakure higher-ups would never have recalled Pakura, who was still in the Land of Water at the time.
Pakura had long suspected, but dared not face the truth, dared not uncover it.
She was afraid that if she knew, she would cast aside the larger goal of uniting against Madara, unable to resist going on a rampage and destroying the Village's unity.
But… one must eventually face things.
Pakura opened the file detailing the higher-ups' plot against her.
Her pupils suddenly constricted, and the blush on her face instantly shattered, leaving only shock and disbelief.
The file meticulously detailed the transaction between Rasa, the Sunagakure elders, and Kirigakure higher-ups: Sunagakure wanted to negotiate peace with Kirigakure.
Kirigakure's precondition for peace talks was the assassination of Pakura; only by killing Pakura would Kirigakure negotiate peace with Sunagakure.
Sunagakure… agreed!
The higher-ups of both Villages agreed that Sunagakure would send Pakura as an envoy to the Land of Water to negotiate peace with Kirigakure, where Pakura would then be personally executed by Kirigakure.
"Rasa—"
Flames burned in Pakura's eyes as she roared at the ceiling, as if she would transform into a scorching storm the next second.
If not for Sasori's barrier, Pakura's furious roar would have spread throughout the entire Sunagakure by now.
Pakura's rage was so intense that even Ryou's spore found it hard to control.
Her chakra seeped out, and the air in Pakura's room rapidly heated up.
Pakura's temper flared, and Ryou, who had moved the battlefield and was suddenly drinking water, got his lip scalded.
"Pakura, what are you doing? You burned me!"
Ryou looked at Pakura's furious expression, and cold anger surged in his eyes.
As if to burn the entire world.
The air in Pakura's room grew hotter and hotter.
Ryou quickly tried to calm Pakura down: "Pakura, Pakura, don't be angry. Tomorrow, we'll kill Rasa and the Village elders together."
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Pakura clenched her fists, unable to believe that Rasa would actually use her as a sacrifice and sell her to Sunagakure.
How ridiculous, she was still preparing to fight alongside these people?
How could they defeat Madara with such worms?
Pakura was filled with rage, wanting to go on a rampage in Sunagakure, to vaporize Rasa and the elders who had framed her.
But she couldn't—
Just as Rasa and the others could halt their plot against her because of Madara, Pakura also couldn't destroy the Village's unity for personal revenge.
She could only swallow her anger, suppressing all her unwillingness and fury.
Pakura was genuinely very fired up right now.
She was a Scorch Release Shinobi, usually very hot-tempered, so she always tried to wear as little as possible. Now, after Ryou's instigation and learning of the higher-ups' plot against her, her temper flared even more.
Even the spore inside Ryou's body couldn't withstand the intense heat within her.
I'm very fired up right now!
Pakura grabbed Ryou's hair, fiercely using him as a tool to vent her anger.
"Pakura, you scoundrel!"
...
Konoha.
The Third Hokage and two senior elders personally received Kakuzu.
"Senior Kakuzu, I didn't expect you to live this long?"
The Third Hokage looked at Kakuzu's face, finding it hard to imagine that this was an old man who had lived from the Warring States Period until now?
The Third Hokage and Utatane Koharu were also people of the Warring States Period, but they were only born in the Warring States Period.
It was the late Warring States Period, the final battle between the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan.
Strictly speaking, they were not people of the Warring States Period; their stage was the era of the Five Great Nations.
But Kakuzu was indeed a contemporary of the First Hokage and Madara.
Just not as famous as those two.
Shinobi also observed seniority. Although the Third Hokage looked much older than Kakuzu, Kakuzu's seniority was greater than the Third Hokage's.
The Third Hokage still had to respectfully address him as senior.
Kakuzu looked at the Third Hokage expressionlessly, his tone cold: "Third Hokage, I don't care whose hands the Shinobi World ultimately falls into; I only care who can bring me money!"
"If your hiring price doesn't suit my fancy, I'll immediately go pledge allegiance to Uchiha Madara."
"Kakuzu, you must understand, this is Konoha, the strongest of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, not some rogue Shinobi world where you can act as you please."
Utatane Koharu was a bit angry. A rogue Shinobi, and a useless one at that, who was beaten like a stray dog by the First Hokage back then, where did he get such a big mouth?
This old geezer really thinks that just because he exchanged a few blows with the First Hokage, he can lord it over us.
Kakuzu looked at Utatane Koharu with murderous eyes: "Junior, what did you say?!"
Utatane Koharu snorted: "Kakuzu, do you think Uchiha Madara is as easy to talk to as we are? If you went to the Hidden Rain Village, could you even come back?"
"..."
The 70-something-year-old comrade fell silent, clearly having been hit where it hurt by Utatane Koharu.