CHAPTER 136 - Akatsuki's Investigation

Currently, Minato only has two ANBU squads, totaling thirty-four members under his direct command. Half of the remaining ANBU are still under the orders of Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the ANBU squad leader and deputy leader are Hiruzen's eldest son and daughter-in-law. Only the two squad leaders report directly to Minato.

With such a small number of personnel, it's difficult for Minato to allocate enough resources to track down the rogue ninjas. The ANBU squads are busy maintaining internal communication and order within Konoha, while the remaining four teams are responsible for intelligence gathering across the Land of Fire and handling Hokage-related tasks.

With these limited resources, Minato has had to put the idea of expanding the ANBU on hold, especially since the village is struggling with post-war finances. Konoha, which just fought a war where it faced four nations, has spent a considerable amount of money on compensating families of fallen ninjas. Other expenses, such as building checkpoints, providing medical supplies, and training new recruits, have drained the budget. Moreover, the tense relationship between Konoha and the Daimyo's office has meant that financial support from the government hasn't increased much, further complicating Minato's situation.

At the same time, Danzo's Root organization requested higher funding, even more than during the war. Minato, not knowing what exactly Root was up to, immediately rejected the request. Although Minato had no right to question Root in the past, as Hokage, he now had the authority to oversee its activities. 

Minato's request was not unreasonable. Most of Root's tasks were external operations, including tracking rogue ninjas, so Minato had every right to expect results from them. Danzo couldn't argue with that—who demands money without fulfilling their duties?

Thus, the four senior officials came to see Minato, not to argue against the budget cuts, but to ask him to relax the decision. Minato reluctantly agreed not to reduce the funding, but only if Root provided results.

---

19, after returning to the Hyakusa Trade Association's office in Konoha, was approached by several subordinates eager to hear about his negotiations with Konoha.

"How did the talks with Konoha go?"

With his mechanical body hidden among the people, 19 was the only one from Hyakusa who came to Konoha. The rest of the mechanical figures stayed behind. Konoha had many sensory ninjas, and if they detected the presence of mechanical bodies within Hyakusa's ranks, it would arouse suspicion and lead to an investigation. Fortunately, 19 had been modified with biological nanotechnology by 18, and thus, he was allowed to visit Konoha without detection.

"Everything is settled. The contract has been signed. From now on, Hyakusa will supply all of Konoha's medical supplies and pharmaceuticals," 19 responded. "Ximu, you stay in Konoha. Once the deposit is paid, inform the headquarters to send the first batch of goods."

"Understood, Lord 19." Ximu, a quick-witted person with some talent for negotiation, had passed 18's covert assessment and been entrusted with such duties.

"Nan, take a copy of the contract and head to the Sasaki family." 19 instructed another woman.

The Sasaki family primarily dealt in medical supplies, with Konoha being their biggest client. However, now that Hyakusa had stolen the contract from under them, the Sasaki family's business had nearly collapsed. Without Konoha's business, and with other smaller nations unlikely to continue purchasing from them, the Sasaki family was left with a difficult choice: either pay a price to join Hyakusa and retain their business or watch their family's most important trade be taken over.

This was Hyakusa's strategy: to use their far superior technology to invade and consume the resources of the ninja world, eventually expanding across the entire Land of Fire and into the four great nations. Hyakusa would dominate all medical supplies, and eventually, everyone in the ninja world would depend on Hyakusa's products. 

Meanwhile, the Uzumaki Trade Association didn't need such a slow and deliberate approach. No one could rival them in the computer business. 18 had already upgraded the computers three times, more than doubling their performance. The five great nations welcomed the Uzumaki Trade Association's computers with open arms, as no one could find fault with them.

Ninjas might resist technology due to tradition, but commoners and nobles had no such hesitations. The convenience and entertainment of computers made it an irresistible innovation for them.

Aside from the ninja games, 18 had developed several other games suitable for all ages, which were released on the Uzumaki Trade Association's computers. While gambling games like cards and Mahjong might not appeal to children, they were a great distraction for some of the nobles. The introduction of the five great nations' networked rankings stirred a competitive spirit among the nobility. For instance, the Yamato family in the Land of Fire didn't want to see members of the Iwa clan appear on their leaderboard, so they invested significant resources into the game just to outdo them.

During the war, these games didn't show their true potential. However, with the brief period of peace after the war, they became a major source of entertainment and mental relief for many in the ninja world. The ninja world, a land long untouched by major development, was now under the growing influence of Hyuga Mirai's order. Once his control reached eighty to ninety percent of the world, the remaining ten percent of rogue ninjas who refused to join would be swept away by history.

As for the Akatsuki organization, after some time, their core members had expanded to six: Pain, Konan, Kakuzu, Juzo, Zetsu, and Mizuto from the Hidden Rain Village. Currently, Kakuzu and Mizuto, codenamed "Three-Platforms," were handling the financial collection tasks for the organization, but tensions between the two were rising, and it wouldn't be long before their conflicts erupted. Konan had teamed up with Juzo for the time being, working on financial matters unless urgent tasks arose. With the current shortage of personnel, they couldn't yet proceed with their main plans, so collecting more funds was necessary to strengthen Akatsuki.

Suddenly, Pain activated the shared consciousness technique through the ring, connecting the minds of several Akatsuki members to the fingers of the Outer Path statue. 

"Why the sudden summons? I'm about to reach the underground money exchange; can you give me another partner? Or else, I'll just end up killing him," Kakuzu muttered from the fingertip of the statue.

"You bastard," Mizuto snapped, ready to argue with Kakuzu.

But before their argument could escalate, Pain intervened. "Zetsu, share the intelligence you've gathered."

"No problem. You might not believe it, but I've infiltrated Konoha for quite a while and overheard something in their discussions," Zetsu began, but Pain interrupted him.

"Get to the point, Zetsu."

Zetsu grumbled but relented, "Konoha was well-hidden, but I managed to find out. One of the Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru, has defected. And another member of the Hyuga branch, named Hyuga Mirai, has defected alongside him."

"The Hyuga branch? You mean the one with the guy who's been seen with Sasori?" Konan interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't see a Caged Bird seal on him."

The Caged Bird seal, which is associated with the Byakugan, is as well-known in the ninja world as the Sharingan's tomoe. Even some smaller ninja villages are familiar with it.

"Well, maybe the Hyuga genius defected because of that," Zetsu chuckled. "A bird yearning for freedom finally broke free from its cage."

"Hyuga Mirai... the one who's been called the next medical genius in Konoha?" Konan asked, recalling the bounty. "I remember hearing his reward was thirty million ryo in the underground money exchange."

Zetsu quickly corrected him, "Kakuzu-san, that was old news. Now, this guy has a pure Byakugan. When the other great ninja villages learned about this, his bounty probably skyrocketed four to five times."

"Four to five times," Kakuzu's voice rose, then he immediately lowered it and asked, "Zetsu, where is he?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Kakuzu-san. It's already hard enough to gather all this in such a short time. How could I possibly track down a Byakugan's whereabouts?" Zetsu waved his hand and then gave a wicked laugh. "And you might not even be able to defeat that Hyuga genius. I overheard from Konoha's ANBU that he easily defeated Jiraiya, one of the Sannin. Konan was able to return that day because he likely didn't want to fight."

"Even Jiraiya couldn't defeat the Hyuga ninja?" Konan thought, a frown tugging at her brow. Thinking back to that time, her escape seemed like luck. If heand Sasori had acted together, she certainly wouldn't have gotten away so easily.

"Well, if that's the case, this person definitely has impressive strength, fitting the standards we look for in recruiting main members of Akatsuki," Pain said, turning to Zetsu. "Zetsu, continue to gather information on Orochimaru and Hyuga Mirai. Once we have their whereabouts, I will personally go and recruit them."

(End of Chapter)