BFTS: Chapter 205
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"Kenshi-nii, you didn't kill those two Iwagakure ninjas, did you?" Yahiko looked at Kenshi with anxiety, afraid that Kenshi would say he did.
"No." Kenshi said, "I know the importance of things. So, after finding out why they attacked us, I had a friendly chat with them and let them go."
"That's good." Yahiko breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid that if the people from the three great nations died, it would cause even greater hatred, making communication difficult in the future.
At this moment, Konan noticed the reason for the attack that Kenshi had mentioned. She quickly asked, "Kenshi-nii, why did they attack us?"
Kenshi replied, "The three great nations thought that Akatsuki's rise in the Rain Country was because of the support of other great nations. They were afraid that we would attack them during the war, so they came to investigate whether we were a puppet organization secretly supported by other Hidden Villages."
"This..." Yahiko, Konan, and the others didn't expect this to be the reason. They were just developing peacefully, and they had become thorns in the side of others.
"Just because of this, they killed our comrades!!"
"I don't accept it."
"... They can't die in vain."
"Those bastards must pay the price."
The death of their comrades, simply because the three great nations suspected that their organization was a puppet organization secretly supported by each other, was unacceptable to many people present.
This reason made them feel even more insulted. The three great nations didn't care about their lives at all. They had killed twenty-six of their comrades simply because of suspicion.
"Yahiko-nii..." Everyone looked at Yahiko, expecting his decision.
However, facing everyone's expectant gaze, Yahiko shook his head and said, "Killing to stop killing will only lead to greater hatred. That's not what our Akatsuki should do."
"So... they died in vain?" Someone immediately retorted.
"No." Yahiko's expression was firm. He said loudly, "As long as we stand together and continue to strive for peace, when we bring peace to the Rain Country and the ninja world... they won't have died in vain."
"Otherwise, if we betray Akatsuki's ideals of peace today, then... they will have truly died in vain, and all our previous efforts will have been meaningless."
"But..." Someone was still unwilling. Their comrades had died in vain, and they could only watch, unable to do anything.
Yahiko said, "I will go negotiate with the ninjas of the three great nations. I will make them admit their mistakes and apologize, and stop being hostile to our Akatsuki. Hatred can only be resolved through understanding. Otherwise, there will be no end, and peace will never come."
It has to be said that Yahiko had great leadership skills.
After his speech about his ideals of peace, everyone present calmed down. Although there was still hatred in their eyes, they no longer mentioned taking revenge on the ninjas of the three great nations.
It was just... an organization that couldn't take revenge for the sacrifice of its comrades, even if its ideals were strong, how many people would remain loyal forever?
It was foreseeable that after the decision of this conversation was spread, Akatsuki would experience its first major reduction in members.
Sure enough, that night, three of the high-ranking executives told Yahiko that they had decided to leave Akatsuki.
"I'm sorry, Yahiko-nii. We still can't forget the harm the three great nations have inflicted on us."
Although they understood and even hoped for the peace that Yahiko spoke of, the three of them went back and the more they thought about it, the more their anger grew.
They still couldn't forgive the ninjas of the three great nations for killing their comrades.
They also couldn't just sit back and watch, allowing the ninjas of the three great nations to leave safely.
"But..." Yahiko wanted to persuade them further.
"Take care." The three of them, perhaps afraid of Yahiko's talk-no-jutsu, didn't give Yahiko a chance to continue. They immediately used Shunshin and left.
Kenshi watched from the side and shook his head.
Yahiko's thoughts were still too naive.
Hatred was the foundation of what made a person human. There was no world without hatred. If there was, it would be the world of Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Resolving hatred does require mutual understanding.
But the prerequisite for mutual understanding is mutual fear.
Only with mutual fear is it possible for both sides of a hatred to sit down calmly, negotiate, communicate, and eventually reach a mutually understood agreement.
When you kill a fish to eat it, do you have mutual understanding with the fish?
No.
So, if in the eyes of a strong person, you are like a fish that he can kill and eat as he pleases,
In that case, do you think you can still have mutual understanding with the strong person?
Impossible.
Therefore, Yahiko's ideals were destined to be an empty dream.
Only powerful strength is the foundation of mutual understanding.
This is something that Hashirama Senju understood very well. That's why he fulfilled his wish and established the Hidden Villages.
Yahiko hadn't realized this yet. The path to realizing his ideals would be very difficult.
The next day.
At the entrance of the evil spirit's tongue on the top of the tower, Yahiko said, "The Land of Wind side, I'll leave it to you two, Kenshi-nii and Yezi-nee."
"No problem." Kenshi smiled. Yezi nodded and stood beside Kenshi.
"We'll go find the Konoha ninjas." Yahiko looked at Konan and Nagato. They nodded in agreement.
Then, the five of them split into two groups to find the Hidden Sand and Konoha people.
...
Southern Rain Country.
Inside a black rock cave.
Two ninjas from the Hidden Sand Village sat cross-legged on the ground, forming hand seals.
Each of them had a black sealing technique pattern connected to a member of Akatsuki in the middle.
The Akatsuki member was emitting steam.
The two Hidden Sand ninjas were using the Memory Exploration Technique on this Akatsuki member.
After a while, the two Hidden Sand ninjas stopped and said to the young ninja sitting beside them, "Kazeyuki-sama, we've found all of Akatsuki's high-ranking members."
"Are there any people from Konoha or Iwagakure?" Kazeyuki's eyes narrowed as he asked.
"We didn't see any." One of them shook his head and said, "The leader of Akatsuki is called Yahiko. He's an orphan from the Rain Country. The other four core members are also orphans. We didn't see anyone from Konoha or Iwagakure."
"I see." Kazeyuki frowned and thought for a moment. Then, he said, "It seems we can only talk to Akatsuki's leader."
Over the past half a month, they had secretly learned various information about Akatsuki from the minds of seven Akatsuki members.
Unfortunately, these Akatsuki members were all low-ranking. From their memories, they couldn't see any evidence of whether Akatsuki was being supported by Iwagakure or Konoha.
To figure out the true situation of Akatsuki, they could only talk to Akatsuki's leader.
As for how to communicate?
Young Kazeyuki gripped his samurai sword. A slight smile appeared on his face, but the smile stopped halfway, frozen before it could fully bloom.
"Who's there!"
Kazeyuki suddenly stood up and turned around. His samurai sword was drawn the moment he turned, and he swung it towards the entrance of the cave.
Clang!
In an instant, a sharp cutting wind blade shot out from the samurai sword, heading towards the entrance of the cave.
"Huh!"
Kenshi's eyes suddenly lit up. This young Hidden Sand ninja had strong Wind Release chakra. The wind blade released from the samurai sword wasn't a simple wind blade. It had the same sharp attribute as a slash, much stronger than ordinary wind blades.
Facing this attack, Kenshi raised his hand and drew a line. He also released a wind blade towards it.
Clang!
Hiss!
The moment the two wind blades collided, the giant wind blade that Kenshi had infused with more Wind Release chakra was cut open after a moment of stalemate.
"Not bad, not bad!"
Kenshi used Shunshin to dodge. He looked at the thin, smooth cut on the ground and the top of the cave, then looked at the young Hidden Sand ninja with even greater satisfaction.
He couldn't believe his luck.
He had just found an Earth Release clone, and now a Wind Release clone had come.
"Earth Release - Earth Dragon Rise!"
"Earth Release - Sand Transformation Technique!"
The moment Kenshi and the young Hidden Sand ninja, Kazeyuki, clashed in one move, the two Hidden Sand ninjas immediately used Earth Release to lift themselves up while simultaneously transforming the rocks above the cave into sand.
Boom!
The cave collapsed. Kenshi retreated. The rocky mountain in front of him turned into a cloud of sand and exploded. The young Hidden Sand ninja and the other two Hidden Sand ninjas landed aside in mid-air.
At this moment, the three of them could finally see Kenshi and Yezi's faces clearly.
"Kazeyuki-sama, they're two of the five core members of Akatsuki. We don't know their names. Akatsuki members usually call them Kenshi-nii and Yezi-nee."
The two Hidden Sand ninjas, who had just learned Kenshi and Yezi's identities from the memories of Akatsuki members, quickly told the young Kazeyuki in the middle.
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