Chapter 408: Nagato's Rampage (8.4k)

During the rest of the journey, Kakuzu paid close attention to Muyue.

He believed that Muyue's ideas were impossible—far too unrealistic.

If Muyue himself could not accomplish what he preached, then what he proposed was nothing but empty talk.

But the more he watched Muyue, the more Kakuzu had to admit that the man was a truly good person in every sense.

If everything about Muyue was an act, then Kakuzu could only say that Muyue was absolutely the shinobi with the strongest disguising ability in the ninja world.

Every action Muyue took seemed to come from his heart, with no trace of performance.

When teaching ninjutsu to the other shinobi, he treated everyone equally and never abandoned those who lacked talent.

"You are so perfect that you seem like you don't belong to this world. But being too perfect is also a flaw. What is your real goal?" After much deliberation, Kakuzu still believed Muyue was hiding something.

"Then you think a bit too highly of me. I'm certainly not perfect." Muyue looked at Kakuzu with some surprise.

He hadn't expected Kakuzu to rate him so highly, to think he was excessively perfect.

But in truth, Muyue wasn't deliberately acting. Most of his actions followed his genuine heart.

If he had to talk about acting, he acted more in Konoha. Except when he was with his disciples or at the Ninja Academy, Muyue spent most of his time performing a role.

Muyue was aware of his own shortcomings. Although his followers considered him knowledgeable, much of his knowledge stayed on the surface. After all, Muyue wasn't a specialist in those fields; in his previous life, he had merely been an ordinary normal-school student.

Muyue could only localize the contents he knew as much as possible, then experiment.

Directly applying his knowledge was unrealistic. Not only were there differences in development levels, but the ninja world was also a world with supernatural powers.

For example, Muyue said that the Sage of Six Paths' Ninja Sect should not use a hereditary system. But even without a hereditary system, the elected shinobi would still be descendants of the Sage of Six Paths.

Because the leader chosen in that era, not necessarily the strongest, had to be among the top tier. And the Sage's descendants naturally inherited extraordinary talents from him, far surpassing ordinary people.

Of course, Muyue still believed there was a big difference between becoming a leader through one's own ability and becoming one through blood relations.

"As for my goal... I suppose I just want to make the world a little better." Muyue thought for a moment and answered.

Muyue never minded doing good deeds within his ability. He wanted to take disciples like Nagato to increase his strength, but he could also incidentally make the Rain Country a better place.

"What benefit does making the world better bring you? With your strength, you could start a shinobi organization to earn money. In a few years, you'd have enough to enjoy luxury for several lifetimes. Wouldn't that kind of life be happier?" Kakuzu couldn't help asking further.

A smile appeared on Muyue's face. "Then why do you keep earning money endlessly? Because you don't have enough to spend?"

Kakuzu was stunned, unable to answer Muyue's question for a moment.

Of course, he had more than enough money. The bounty from each high-reward mission Kakuzu completed was enough for an ordinary person to live extravagantly for several lifetimes.

Kakuzu began recalling his career as a black-market shinobi. Every time he completed a mission and increased his assets, he felt a strange sense of accomplishment. Villages might betray you, comrades might betray you, but money wouldn't.

"You feel happy when you earn more money. I feel happy when I see the people living better and the world at peace. These are different pursuits." Muyue said leisurely.

The watching disciples wore thoughtful expressions, and some shinobi even recorded the conversation.

Since Kakuzu joined the group, this had become the daily routine of the Rain Country journey team.

At first, some shinobi were dissatisfied, feeling that Kakuzu didn't respect Muyue.

But Muyue himself didn't rebuke Kakuzu and even said he was inquisitive. Then the followers found it hard to say anything more.

Later, the followers discovered that Kakuzu observed carefully and asked sharp questions—questions that also troubled them inside. So every time Kakuzu asked something, the other followers silently assumed it was time for a small lesson and listened carefully.

As time passed, Muyue and his group had already covered most of the Rain Country. They only needed to finish the northwestern part bordering the Earth Country to complete their journey through the Rain Country.

At this point, Muyue no longer lectured alone. He let his followers summarize what they had learned and share their own insights.

"I want to speak first!" Yahiko said excitedly.

He had a lot to say, not only to his comrades in the Akatsuki but also to Muyue and the shinobi who had traveled with them.

"Following you, Uncle Sōsuke, I've really gained a lot. Before, I only thought that I wanted to bring peace to the Rain Country and the ninja world, but I never deeply considered how to achieve that goal..." Yahiko passionately recounted his gains along the way.

"So, boss, have you figured it out now?" Kyūsuke asked with a grin.

Yahiko immediately froze, then said with less confidence, "How could such a problem be solved that easily? But I believe that if we all work together, we'll definitely find the right answer."

"There you go again with 'work together,' boss. Your speech skills are as bad as ever." Kyūsuke couldn't help teasing.

The other Akatsuki members burst into laughter, and even Nagato couldn't help but smile.

Yahiko's speech had no technique whatsoever; it relied entirely on passion and enthusiasm, and at first he was often mocked by the other Akatsuki members.

"Ahem, don't worry about that kind of thing. Anyway, studying is very necessary, and practice after studying is also important. This experience of traveling through the Rain Country has given me even more confidence in the peace cause ahead." Yahiko coughed lightly, then continued his narration.

"I used to not like the Rain Country—in fact, I even hated it a little. Because I was a war orphan, I lost my parents as far back as I can remember, and I wandered everywhere. The Rain Country never gave me any warmth; all it left me with was war, cold, and hunger."

No one spoke, listening quietly to Yahiko's personal account.

Many among them could empathize with Yahiko—the Rain Country had endured too many wars and created too many orphans.

Then Yahiko talked about the change in his mindset, gradually shifting from hating the Rain Country to hating war and pursuing peace.

"I personally experienced how miserable the life of a war orphan is. I don't want there to be more war orphans like me in the Rain Country or the ninja world in the future. Uncle Sōsuke, everyone, join the Akatsuki! Let's fulfill the dream of peace together!" At the end, he excitedly extended an invitation.

He believed that any ninja who acknowledged Ninshu would acknowledge the Akatsuki, because both pursued peace and everyone could strive for the same goal.

Kyusuke gave Yahiko a thumbs-up—this was indeed a good opportunity for the Akatsuki to grow stronger.

"You sure know how to pick your timing. But let's discuss other matters later." Muyue clapped and smiled, taking the lead.

The other ninjas gave Yahiko a warm round of applause; aside from anything else, Yahiko had indeed put a lot of effort into his speech.

Next, they continued with voluntary participation—if no one volunteered, Muyue would randomly call on someone.

Nagato hoped it wouldn't be his turn, because he wasn't good at this kind of thing.

But unfortunately, this activity included everyone. Even though Nagato kept silently praying not to be picked, he was chosen when about half the people had already gone.

At a loss, Nagato walked up to the temporarily built earthen platform. Looking down at the dozens of ninjas, he opened his mouth to say something, only to find his mind a complete blank.

In fact, Nagato usually paid close attention in class, because Muyue's lessons were interesting enough that even listening to them as stories wasn't boring.

But in this situation, he had completely forgotten everything Muyue had taught in class, as if he had never known it at all.

Nagato envied Yahiko very much. Although Yahiko wasn't good at public speaking and often got teased, he was always full of passion when giving a speech.

"Just say whatever your own thoughts and feelings are—there are no requirements," Muyue said gently with a smile, seeing the awkward atmosphere on stage.

"If you feel nervous, just imagine everyone down there is a radish."

Under Muyue's reassurance, Nagato's mood eased a lot, and he gradually recalled what he wanted to say.

"Nagato! Look at me, look at me!" Yahiko suddenly said.

Nagato looked toward Yahiko and saw a big, fat white radish—Yahiko had used the Transformation Jutsu to turn into a radish.

Nagato was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing; Yahiko's appearance was just too funny.

"Go for it, Nagato!" Yahiko cheered him on.

Some other Akatsuki members who liked to pull pranks also used the Transformation Jutsu to turn into radishes, forming a bizarre sight among the crowd. A few non-Akatsuki ninjas found it interesting and joined in.

Looking at the sea of radishes below, Nagato fought back laughter and began to share his own thoughts. It wasn't particularly great, but he managed to finish smoothly and present his viewpoint.

After everyone had spoken, Muyue looked at Kakuzu.

"What are you staring at me for? I'm not your student." Kakuzu said, crossing his arms.

"But it won't waste much time. Anyway, you've got nothing better to do right now." Muyue said with a smile.

Kakuzu's face darkened slightly. If he hadn't come to the Rain Country and run into Muyue, he would be either making money or on his way to make money right now.

Kakuzu snorted coldly, looking annoyed, and strode straight onto the earthen platform to blast everyone. In Muyue's group, besides helping a little at mealtime, he was idle almost all day; it was fair to call him the group's observer.

In Kakuzu's words, Yahiko was a hot-blooded fool who, in the ninja world, would easily be tricked and even help count the money for his swindler; Nagato bottled everything up and didn't speak, so he couldn't even make his comrades understand each other—how could he talk about making everyone understand each other? Chichang was so cautious he might sell out his teammates; except for Muyue, Kakuzu cursed everyone using everyday examples.

As for Muyue, the person Kakuzu most wanted to roast was Muyue himself, but he really couldn't find any angle to attack, and his pride wouldn't allow him to fabricate things.

"You should really thank Kakuzu—not everyone is so attentive in helping you correct your mistakes," Muyue joked.

The ninjas all laughed. Actually, those who had been called out at first felt very awkward—it was practically a public execution.

But as Kakuzu kept talking, their awkwardness faded. If everyone was publicly executed, then no one really was.

In the evening during dinner, the ninjas were still teasing each other with the criticisms Kakuzu had given them.

"Uncle Sōsuke, I think we could split up and go to various villages to give speeches and spread Ninshu's teachings. That way, we can both speed up progress and better train everyone's abilities." Yahiko came up with a good idea.

Spreading Ninshu's teachings was something Muyue had only recently proposed; earlier travels had just been about spreading the name of Ninshu and training everywhere.

After all, the Rain Country is the territory of the Rain Village, so they still had to be somewhat restrained at the start.

"Let's see what everyone thinks. You can vote on it." Mu Yue left the decision to everyone.

In the end, most people agreed with Yahiko's idea. The daytime speech had given them all some insights.

After deciding to split up, Mu Yue formulated a specific plan.

Regarding personnel, for safety reasons each group had to have seven or more members, and they couldn't be too far apart. Every three days, they would report back to Mu Yue with their results and attend lessons.

After Mu Yue gave them a few days of emergency training, the team was divided into seven groups and began their operation.

Yahiko declined the invitations from other Akatsuki members and, along with Nagato and Konan, invited several ninjas he had good instincts about.

He wanted to use this opportunity to let the ninjas in his team learn more about the Akatsuki.

At first, Yahiko proceeded smoothly, whether it was spreading the ideals of Ninshu or helping his comrades better understand the Akatsuki.

But accidents always come suddenly.

In a village on the border of the Rain Country, Yahiko and his team were attacked by Iwa ninjas.

"We are ninjas of the Rain Country. There is no war between the Earth Country and the Rain Country. Are you mistaking us for someone else?" Yahiko didn't want to fight a pointless battle and tried to stop their attack with words.

But the Iwa ninjas ignored Yahiko's words and instead launched a fierce assault on him because he looked like the leader.

Only then did Yahiko realize that these Iwa ninjas were all formidable—they might be an elite squad from Iwa.

"Don't hurt anyone. Subdue them first." Yahiko said loudly.

He was mainly reminding Nagato, because if Nagato got excited and unleashed the power of the Rinnegan, he might instantly kill them.

Nagato nodded. In this situation, killing Iwa ninjas would bring trouble to the Rain Country.

However, Yahiko and his team didn't want to harm the Iwa ninjas, but the Iwa had no such scruples. Every attack aimed at Yahiko's vital points.

This put Yahiko, who was surrounded, under great pressure. Carelessly, a bloody cut was slashed across his arm.

Seeing the blood spray from Yahiko's body, Nagato froze.

Yahiko was the person Nagato cared about most, bar none.

When Nagato lost his parents and wandered the shinobi world, it was Yahiko who led him forward, guiding him out of grief and into a new life.

Although Konan was also a valued companion in Nagato's heart, Yahiko held a special place. To put it bluntly, Yahiko was the first ray of light Nagato encountered when he fell into darkness.

"Die!" The Iwa ninja fighting Nagato immediately seized the opportunity to thrust his sword at Nagato.

Bang!

Nagato's Rinnegan trembled violently, and a terrifying aura rose from his body. The Iwa ninja attacking him was instantly sent flying backward, slamming heavily into the ground and dragging a trail of blood.

The other Iwa ninjas sensed this terrifying aura and were all startled.

But before they could make a move, Nagato killed them all with extreme speed and eerie, powerful means.

By the time Nagato came to his senses, the ground was covered with corpses, and the four Ninshu comrades were all stunned.

They hadn't expected that besides Mu Yue, there was another strong person in the team, and so young at that.

"Yahiko, I'm sorry, I..." Nagato said, lowering his head.

Without a doubt, he had messed up.

Yahiko looked at Nagato's somewhat pale face, sighed, and smiled to comfort him:

"Uncle Sosuke said it, didn't he? For ninjas who want to kill us, we can give an equal counterattack. It's only natural. You did nothing wrong."

Nagato erupted to protect him, so of course Yahiko had no reason to blame Nagato.

"Nagato, do you feel any discomfort?" Konan asked with concern.

"It's okay. I just consumed a bit too much chakra just now." Nagato shook his head and replied.

"Since this happened, I think it's necessary to report to Uncle Sosuke. Let's go back early this time." Yahiko thought for a moment and said.

No one objected. The seven of them immediately hurried back to the village where Mu Yue was.

After Yahiko and his team left, several ninjas wearing Konoha Root uniforms appeared.

"So it's the Rinnegan. I never thought the Rain Country would possess such power." Shimura Danzō looked at the dead Root squad members with an expression of surprise.

The Senju, Uchiha, and Uzumaki are all descendants of the Sage of Six Paths. This has led to Konoha having a wealth of information about the Sage of Six Paths. Shimura Danzō knew that the Sage of Six Paths was not a legend but a real existence.

However, Danzō had not expected the Sage of Six Paths' Rinnegan to appear in the Rain Country.

"Demi-God Hanzo, Sage Sōsuke, and the Rinnegan—these three powers must never be allowed to converge!" Shimura Danzō's eyes flickered with deep wariness.

In his view, the Rain Country's overall strength had grown too great and was already enough to threaten Konoha.

"Fortunately, I discovered this in time; otherwise, the consequences would be unthinkable." Shimura Danzō inwardly sneered at Hiruzen Sarutobi's incompetence.

Now that Sage Sōsuke had allied himself with the Rinnegan, if this were left unchecked and the three powers merged, an existence rivaling the Five Great Ninja Villages would emerge.

Although Shimura Danzō very much wanted Hanzo and Muyue to clash directly, his investigations showed that the two were not enemies and had even met amicably once.

So after discovering that the final leg of Muyue's journey bordered the Land of Earth, Danzō immediately brought his men to stir up trouble, hoping to spark a conflict between Muyue and Iwa.

Now Shimura Danzō felt this was not enough; he needed to crush any possibility of cooperation between Hanzo and Muyue.

Shimura Danzō ordered his men to collect the bodies of the fallen Root members, then used the Transformation Jutsu to take the forms of Yahiko and the others, ambushing and killing a squad of Iwa-nin. After cleaning up the scene, Danzō took the bodies of the Iwa-nin to Amegakure.

Upon learning that Shimura Danzō had arrived in Amegakure, Hanzo received him in person.

In the eyes of other villages, Shimura Danzō was Konoha's second-in-command and could represent the village.

"Hanzo, I truly feel indignant on your behalf," Shimura Danzō suddenly said with a look of righteous anger, as if Hanzo had suffered a great injustice.

"Why do you say that?" Hanzo looked at Shimura Danzō with confusion.

Both in status and strength, they could be considered equals, so Hanzo did not object to Danzō addressing him by name.

"You so generously recognized the young talents of the Rain Country and actively helped them gain fame, yet they have not inherited your aspirations for peace; instead, they have willingly brought war to the Rain Country." Shimura Danzō began his carefully prepared speech.

Hanzo's expression turned serious, indicating for Danzō to continue.

"As you know, Hanzo, Konoha is currently at war with Iwa, in addition to two other opponents: Kumogakure and Kirigakure.

Although a powerful Konoha does not fear challenges, the war among the four great villages will cause great destruction to the ninja world. Konoha cannot bear to see the world suffer, so we thought of having you, Hanzo, mediate and arrange peace talks between Konoha and Iwa." Shimura Danzō spouted nonsense with a straight face.

Within Konoha, there was no voice advocating peace talks with Iwa, as they held the advantage.

Hanzo nodded, somewhat acknowledging Danzō's reasoning.

However, he did not believe that Konoha was motivated by a desire to prevent suffering in the ninja world; he simply thought Konoha was buckling under pressure and wanted to reduce their number of enemies.

Hanzo saw no issue with Konoha approaching him to be the mediator, after all, he was the only small-village leader who stood at the pinnacle of the ninja world, enjoying renown throughout the shinobi nations.

"But my ninja uncovered an unfortunate incident—those ninja of the Rain Country who call themselves the Ninja Sect attacked Iwa-nin and killed them." Shimura Danzō wore a pained expression as he spoke.

"Because they wore Amegakure headbands, my men initially thought they were Amegakure ninja, but investigation revealed they were not."

An awkward expression appeared on Hanzo's face. This was an unavoidable consequence after the Second Shinobi World War for Amegakure.

During the Second Shinobi World War, Amegakure's ninja force suffered devastating losses—most were killed in action, and some defected—leaving the village with too few ninja to complete commissioned missions, let alone maintain domestic security.

To revive Amegakure, Hanzo issued a decree: shinobi of the Rain Country could take an exam to receive an Amegakure headband and undertake Amegakure's commissioned missions, though only those ranked A-rank or below. Mission fees were also higher than those for regular village ninja; those who performed well could become full-fledged Amegakure ninja.

Thus, in the Rain Country, a ninja wearing an Amegakure headband was not necessarily an Amegakure ninja; only those wearing both the headband and the standard Amegakure uniform were one hundred percent genuine Amegakure ninja.

"Although they are not Amegakure ninja, they are still shinobi of the Rain Country, and they wore Amegakure headbands. Iwa will probably hold this against the entire Rain Country." Shimura Danzō sighed mournfully, as if grieving the lost chance for peace talks with Iwa.

Then Shimura Danzō ordered his men to bring out the bodies of the Iwa-nin.

Hanzo examined them carefully and confirmed that they were indeed Iwagakure ninja.

Most Iwa-nin practiced Earth Release, which could be identified by traces of training on their bodies.

By now, Hanzo was already mostly convinced.

After all, a ninja of Shimura Danzō's caliber would not go out of his way to frame a few unknown youngsters for no reason.

"In my opinion, this Sage Sōsuke is far from a good person. His ideology doesn't seem aimed at restoring the Ninja Sect, but rather at stirring up an unprecedented war across the ninja world." Danzō continued to poison Hanzo's mind.

"Some of those Ninja Sect ninja have even said they want to abolish the nobility—how treasonous is that?"

Shimura Danzō's preparations were thorough. Not only were the Iwa-nin's bodies genuine, but most of what he told Hanzo was also true, as he had sent ninja to investigate carefully.

"My teacher, the Second Hokage, deeply respected the Sage of Six Paths. If he were still alive, he would never tolerate such people besmirching the Sage's name. The Ninja Sect—the origin of shinobi—being slandered in this way…" Shimura Danzō sighed as he spoke.

"Although peace talks with Iwagakure may not proceed, if you, Hanzō, want to deal with that Sōsuke or need to resist Iwagakure, Konoha can be your ally." Shimura Danzo said with an air of righteousness.

"I appreciate your intel, Danzo, but this matter is significant and also an internal affair of the Land of Rain. I need to dispatch some ninja to investigate." Hanzō thanked him in a low voice.

Shimura Danzo's words were highly credible, but Hanzō could not completely believe them without verification.

Shimura Danzo's expression did not change; this was within his expectations.

After all, Hanzō had been the leader of a hidden village for so long. If he believed it outright, Shimura Danzo would only despise him internally and continue to use him as a free pawn.

Shimura Danzo was not worried about Hanzō investigating, because he had left no flaws. Even Nagato and Yahiko thought that the Iwa ninja had been killed by them.

…………

"Uncle Sōsuke, we ran into some trouble." After finding Muyue, Yahiko and the others immediately reported their encounter.

"We encountered a team of Iwa ninja. They attacked us for no reason, and while fighting back, we accidentally killed them all." As he said this, Yahiko scratched his head sheepishly.

Even he thought the words sounded strange—they had "accidentally" killed all of them—but it was indeed the truth, no more real than that.

"Are you sure they were Iwa ninja?" Muyue asked after hearing them out.

"Probably yes. They were dressed like Iwa ninja and used Earth Release techniques." Yahiko had never doubted the identity of those Iwa ninja.

After all, that village was on the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Earth; it was not strange for Iwa ninja to appear.

Muyue shook his head. "Uniforms and forehead protectors are not hard to counterfeit, and Earth Release is not exclusive to Iwagakure. Did you examine the corpses carefully?"

All seven shook their heads. They hadn't thought of that. Yahiko and his two companions were inexperienced and didn't know much about such things, while the other four ninja were so stunned by Nagato's power that they forgot.

"Since they attacked first, your counterattack was not a problem. Their deaths were deserved." Muyue did not blame Nagato and the others.

"But we still need to clarify who the enemy was. Take me there."

Yahiko and the others quickly led Muyue to the site of their battle.

When they returned, Yahiko and the others were dumbfounded—the bodies of the Iwa ninja had all vanished.

"Let's ask the nearby villagers. Maybe they disposed of them." Konan suggested a possibility.

"That's possible, but it's more likely that their comrades took them. Retrieving bodies is also an important duty for ninja." Muyue told them not to get their hopes up.

As Muyue expected, Yahiko and the others frantically questioned the surrounding villages but could not find out what happened to the bodies.

Nagato looked guilty. If he hadn't lost control and rampaged, things wouldn't have turned out this way.

"Even though Jiraiya-sensei taught me so many techniques, I still can't control my power properly." Nagato was very disappointed in himself.

Jiraiya said he might be the reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths, the savior of the ninja world, but Nagato thought there would never be such a terrible savior like him.

"Uncle Sōsuke, what should we do now?" Yahiko looked at Muyue and asked.

Yahiko was also a bit tired. He felt he wasn't cut out to be a leader. If Muyue had been there, the situation wouldn't have turned out like this.

"Since the trail has gone cold, focus on the task at hand. If they really were Iwa ninja, then people from Iwagakure will surely come again." Muyue said after thinking.

In fact, Muyue knew the whole truth.

Because Muyue had sent a shadow clone to follow Yahiko and the others.

So Muyue knew that the so-called Iwa ninja were actually Root ninja from Shimura Danzo.

Muyue could guess with little effort what Shimura Danzo was trying to do—stir up conflict between them and Iwagakure, and possibly Hanzō as well.

But while Shimura Danzo had a conspiracy of sowing discord, Muyue also had his own plans.

The philosophy of the Ninja Sect that Muyue had founded was bound to clash with the current era's ninja; conflict was only a matter of time.

Rather than exposing Danzo's plot, it was better to go along with it and use it to train the Ninja Sect and the Akatsuki, improving their abilities.

After all, Muyue was still in the Land of Rain and could back them up.

Muyue also had a selfish motive: true fellowship shows in hardship, and a crisis was a better way to raise Nagato's goodwill.

"We'll have to do it for now." Yahiko thought Muyue made sense.

Seeing Yahiko's helpless expression, Nagato felt even more guilty. He returned to the village in silence.

Yahiko and Konan noticed Nagato's mood and comforted him.

Nagato didn't want them to worry, so he pretended to be fine, only letting his true feelings show once he reached his own room.

Knock knock!

Just as Nagato was sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs, curled up in dejection, there was a knock at his door.

Nagato hurriedly composed his expression before opening the door, thinking it was Yahiko or Konan coming to see him.

But to his surprise, it was Muyue, and Muyue was holding a bowl of ramen.

Nagato looked at Muyue in confusion.

Muyue set the ramen down on the table in the room and said, "Eat up. When you're feeling down, eating something tasty makes you feel a lot better."

"But calling something I made myself 'tasty' is a little narcissistic, isn't it? Good thing Kakuzu isn't here." Muyue joked to himself.

Since cooking was one of Hanyu Muyue's notable skills, he generally didn't cook much in the Rain Country.

"What's wrong? Don't you like ramen?" Muyue asked curiously when Nagato remained motionless.

"No, it's not that." Nagato shook his head in reply. His long years of wandering had left him without any picky eating habits.

Nagato was just a bit flattered. He hadn't expected Muyue to notice his mood, let alone make ramen for him.

"Eat it while it's hot. The noodles won't taste good once they cool down." Muyue said with a smile.

Facing the steaming, fragrant bowl of ramen, Nagato glanced at his stomach. He was indeed a bit hungry—using the Rinnegan took a lot out of him.

Nagato thanked Muyue, said "I'll start eating," and began to savor the ramen.

Once he started, he couldn't stop. Nagato's eyes went wide; he had never eaten such delicious ramen before—no, such delicious food.

Nagato, never good with words, couldn't describe how he felt. After each bite of noodles and a sip of broth, his whole body felt warm, as if he had been reborn.

The moment of happiness ended only when his chopsticks came up empty. Nagato realized he had unconsciously finished the entire bowl of ramen.

"Thank you, Uncle Sosuke." Nagato thanked him again.

If two "thank yous" could earn a bowl of such incredibly delicious ramen, Nagato thought that the line of people who wanted to thank Muyue would stretch from Amegakure all the way to the border of the Rain Country.

"If you trust me, tell me what's bothering you. Keeping the bitterness bottled up inside will only make you feel worse." Muyue sat down cross-legged and said.

Nagato was silent for a moment. In his mind, he recalled Muyue's travels through the Rain Country, the care he had shown to them as his followers in daily life, and that extraordinarily delicious bowl of ramen from just now.

ps: This chapter is 8.4k, there will be another one later.