Chapter 396: Sōsuke Who Loves Peace

In addition to having one Shadow Clone openly pretending to be the main body leading the team, Muyue also had another Shadow Clone hidden in the shadows protecting the disciples.

After discovering the Akatsuki ninja, the Shadow Clone that was secretly protecting them immediately dispelled itself and sent its memories back to the main body.

Upon receiving the memories, Muyue rushed over, separated a new Shadow Clone to protect Kakashi and the others, and then the main body followed the Akatsuki ninja to find the Akatsuki base.

Because he wanted to test the concealment ability of the Transformation Jutsu, Muyue used it to mold himself a face that somewhat resembled Aizen.

The reason it was only somewhat like Aizen's face instead of directly using Aizen's face was that Muyue had previously used the Transformation Jutsu to turn into Aizen on a mission, and Uchiha Madara's side might have that information.

Even if they couldn't see through Muyue's transformed appearance, the exact similarity might still arouse suspicion.

If it was only somewhat similar, plus they couldn't see through the transformation, then there would basically be no problem.

Muyue activated the Transparent World to conceal his aura and quietly infiltrated the village where the Akatsuki was located.

"Leader Yahiko, today we helped a village drive off three rogue ninja," a tall, skinny ninja said excitedly to Yahiko, who was practicing taijutsu.

"The two of you drove off three rogue ninja—that's pretty good," Yahiko laughed and praised.

Although he was quite a bit older than Yahiko, the tall, skinny ninja revealed a heartfelt smile upon receiving Yahiko's praise.

As a ninja organization, the Akatsuki's conditions were not great; their base could only be in a small village, and there were no perks. Most of the ninja who joined the Rain Village were drawn in by Yahiko's personal charisma and wanted to change the Rain Country together with him.

"We don't have that kind of strength. It was some passing Konoha ninja who gave us a hand," the tall, skinny ninja explained.

It's a terrible thing for a ninja to lack self-awareness. If he got arrogant and took all the credit, he might later take on missions beyond his abilities.

Upon hearing the words "Konoha ninja," Nagato beside Yahiko glanced involuntarily at the tall, skinny ninja.

"Those Konoha ninja were really strong. Even though they looked only about ten years old, they were all very powerful. They took care of the three rogue ninja in less than a minute, and there was a very skilled medical ninja—after she treated someone, not even a scar remained."

The tall, skinny ninja recalled the battle with Kakashi and the others and exclaimed in admiration.

"If you train hard, you can become stronger too," Yahiko encouraged with a smile.

"Mm." The tall, skinny ninja now felt like training.

"Are you the Akatsuki?" Muyue jumped down from the rooftop and walked slowly toward Yahiko and the others, asking.

Several Akatsuki ninjas quickly assumed combat stances, watching Muyue warily.

"We are the Akatsuki. What, did you come to commission us for a mission?" Yahiko gestured with his eyes for the surrounding ninjas to put down their kunai and said with a smile.

In Yahiko's view, although Muyue had infiltrated, the fact that he dared show himself openly meant he probably wasn't here to cause trouble.

If he wanted to fight, a sneak attack would have been a better choice, since none of the Akatsuki members had detected Muyue.

"Nothing much. I just heard that the Akatsuki is a ninja organization dedicated to peace, so I came to take a look," Muyue answered Yahiko's question while continuing to walk toward Yahiko and Nagato.

Most of Muyue's attention was focused on Nagato's face.

Back in the River Country, Nagato had seen Muyue's original appearance. If Nagato's Rinnegan saw through the transformation, he would certainly be surprised.

"That's right, the goal of our Akatsuki is peace in the ninja world. Before that, we will first make the Rain Country peaceful." Yahiko, thinking Muyue was a ninja looking to join the Akatsuki, enthusiastically spoke about his ideals.

As he spoke, Yahiko also walked toward Muyue, ready to explain his peace plan in detail.

"Don't go over. This person is very strong." Nagato grabbed Yahiko, who was about to walk toward Muyue.

He could see the powerful chakra inside Muyue's body, so Nagato didn't feel comfortable letting Yahiko get too close to a ninja who had infiltrated like Muyue.

Yahiko paused, then smiled and patted Nagato on the shoulder, saying, "Isn't you here, Nagato? I trust you."

Then Yahiko and Nagato walked together to a spot about one and a half meters from Muyue.

"You say you want to make the Rain Country peaceful. How do you plan to do it?" Muyue asked with a smile.

"Protect the villagers from rogue ninja attacks, spread our organization's ideals, and attract more ninja with the same vision to join us. Once we become strong enough, even the Five Great Nations won't dare start a war with the Rain Country," Yahiko answered quickly.

The first three ninja who joined the Akatsuki did so after being defeated by Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan and then inspired by Yahiko's ideals.

"During the Second Great Ninja War, the Rain Village had thousands of rain ninja and their leader Hanzo, known as the Demigod, yet they still couldn't escape war. In your opinion, with your plan, when will the Akatsuki surpass the Rain Village of the Second Great Ninja War era?" Muyue asked calmly.

In Muyue's view, the only chance the current Akatsuki had to realize its ideals lay with Nagato, but Nagato carried Uchiha Madara's schemes, which could instead lead to the Akatsuki's downfall.

"It will... in..." Yahiko suddenly stumbled over his words.

Counting himself, Nagato, and Konan, the Akatsuki currently only had about twenty ninja. Not to mention the Rain Village during the Second Great Ninja War, they were still far from the present-day Rain Village.

"What advantages do you think your Akatsuki has over the Rain Village or other ninja organizations that would make those ninjas choose to join Akatsuki instead?" Muyue continued to ask.

Reality is very cruel—without sufficient benefits, even Uchiha Madara left with not a single Uchiha willing to go with him.

Because in the Leaf Village, one could enjoy unprecedented peace; following Madara was all unknowns.

"We…" Yahiko wanted to say something, but discovered that Akatsuki seemed to have no particular advantages—they had neither money nor training resources.

"Akatsuki is a place where everyone fights together for peace!" After a moment of hesitation, Yahiko finally said.

"There's no denying that many ninjas aspire to peace, but how do you get them to believe that Akatsuki can achieve everything you say?" Muyue seemed somewhat disappointed in Yahiko.

Yahiko fell silent for a moment, because he realized that aside from talking about dreams and everyone working together, he had no other answers.

For the first time, Yahiko felt so keenly how far they were from their ideals.

"Leader Yahiko is a genius ninja. If he keeps growing, he will definitely become a powerhouse that shakes the ninja world," said a member of Akatsuki in Yahiko's defense.

"Yes, although our Akatsuki was founded very recently, its reputation is no less than some organizations that have been around for over a decade—that's enough to show we're on the right path," said the tall, thin Akatsuki member.

As Yahiko's followers, they firmly believed that Yahiko would succeed.

"That only means you stand out among ninja organizations," Muyue retorted.

Most ninja organizations exist to make money and more money—when one pops up loudly proclaiming love and peace, getting a bit famous is only natural.

"Right now, you have nothing but ideals. Even if you manage to grow stronger, have you considered the Rain Village's stance? Have you considered the stance of other ninja organizations?

Have you thought about how to earn enough funds to keep the organization running? Two or three dozen ninjas can scrape by together, but a hundred? Or more?

Have you considered how to maintain peace if you achieve it? If the peace you worked so hard for falls back into war in a few years or a decade, what will you do then?"

Muyue's barrage of questions left the Akatsuki members completely dumbfounded. Yahiko especially wore an embarrassed expression—there were many things he truly hadn't considered yet.

After all, he was just a fourteen-year-old boy who had never been to school.

Even though he was put on the spot, Yahiko wanted even more to invite Muyue to join Akatsuki. He felt that Muyue could bring them a leap in development.

"You're right—our Akatsuki still has many shortcomings. So I want to invite you to join us. Let's work together to change those shortcomings and bring peace to the Rain Country and the ninja world!" Yahiko said with a serious expression.

"If you're willing to join Akatsuki, your status will be equal to the leader's!" Yahiko offered the biggest bargaining chip he had.

Actually, he wanted to say he would give Muyue the leader position, but Akatsuki was the fruit of his and his comrades' efforts, and giving it so easily to someone he just met would show that he didn't value his like-minded companions in Akatsuki.

If Muyue could truly solve all the problems he had raised, Yahiko would willingly let Muyue become the sole leader.

Yahiko yearned for peace. If Akatsuki could truly bring peace to the Rain Country and the ninja world, then it didn't matter who the leader of Akatsuki was.

"Leader Yahiko, that's not good." The surrounding Akatsuki members looked at Yahiko in surprise.

"There's nothing wrong with it. We're all fighting for the same ideal. Having a leader is just to guide everyone forward better," Yahiko said with a smile.

"That doesn't attract me. If I wanted, finding a few dozen ninja subordinates wouldn't be difficult." Muyue refused Yahiko.

"Then what would it take for you to join Akatsuki?" Yahiko persisted.

He didn't doubt that Muyue was boasting, because even Nagato said Muyue was very strong.

A powerful ninja using their strength to build a ninja organization of a few dozen members truly wasn't hard.

Muyue smiled without speaking and turned to leave.

"At least tell me your name," Yahiko called out.

Muyue paused his steps but didn't turn around. "Sōsuke."

After saying that, Muyue quickly left the village where Akatsuki was based.

Watching Muyue's retreating figure, a trace of regret appeared in Yahiko's eyes.

He felt that Sōsuke was also a ninja who aspired to peace—otherwise, why would he have gone through so much trouble to find them?

But their performance had displeased Sōsuke, which was why he didn't join.

"Everyone needs to work even harder from now on, so that more excellent companions will join us," Yahiko encouraged the Akatsuki members.

The Akatsuki members nodded and each started to work hard. That scene just now would likely be unforgettable to them for a long time.

"The Rinnegan still won't do." Muyue checked the information scanned from Nagato's body.

He wasn't too disappointed—the Rinnegan is considered the top-tier existence in the Naruto world, and Black Zetsu spent over a thousand years just to get one Uchiha Madana to successfully awaken it.

Muyue didn't hold much hope for the Rinnegan, because even if he could copy it, he couldn't use it now. This thing isn't meant for ordinary people. Even Nagato, with all his chakra, felt drained using it, and Obito, who had a large amount of Hashirama's cells in his body, only dared to transplant one eye.

After glancing at Nagato's data, Muyue directly deleted Nagato's information.

Nagato had a huge amount of information, and a lot of it overlapped with the Third Hokage's data—Nagato also knew many ninjutsu.

"The disguise ability is decent enough—it wasn't seen through by the Rinnegan." Muyue recalled Nagato's reaction just now to confirm the transformation's camouflage capability.

As a Konoha ninja, Nagato should have some impression of him, but judging by his reaction just now, he clearly didn't recognize Muyue at all.

After achieving his goal, Muyue returned to his team and swapped out the Shadow Clone to continue the mission.

Although Nagato was very important to him—an opportunity to gain a massive amount of chakra—his current disciples were even more important.

Moreover, Muyue had already thought of a specific plan. If it went smoothly, besides taking Nagato as a disciple, he could also earn a lot of rewards in the Land of Rain.