After waking up, Yahiko looked at Uchiha Yuan with a puzzled look on his face. He didn't remember that there was a person like Uchiha Yuan in the Akatsuki organization. "Who are you? Why are you in our base?" Yahiko asked.
"This question… let's save it for when you meet Nagato and Konan. I don't want to explain twice."
Upon hearing Nagato and Konan's names, Yahiko recalled what had just happened and instinctively clutched his chest—only to find it completely unscathed.
He was momentarily stunned, then jumped out of bed and ran outside.
Konan, who had been anxiously waiting, burst into tears of joy upon seeing Yahiko running around energetically. Nagato's eyes were also red with emotion.
After the three talked for a bit, they finally turned their attention to Uchiha Yuan.
"Thank you very much for saving me, my friend," Yahiko said. "Nagato said you were sent by the Hokage. So you're a Konoha shinobi?"
"That's right. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Uchiha Yuan."
"Uchiha? You're from the Uchiha clan? But isn't the Uchiha clan at odds with the Hokage—"
"Konan! That's enough!" Yahiko interrupted Konan before she could finish.
Realizing she had said something inappropriate, Konan looked a bit embarrassed.
Uchiha Yuan didn't seem to mind. The Uchiha clan's tense relationship with the Hokage faction was well-known throughout the shinobi world.
"Ahem! Uchiha Yuan, why is the Hokage helping us?" Yahiko brought the conversation back on track.
"There are three reasons. First, the Hokage is a peace-loving person. He hopes the Hidden Rain Village can be as peaceful as Konoha. Hanzo the Salamander clearly can't achieve that. Compared to him, the Hokage believes you have a better chance of bringing peace to the Rain.
Second, the Hokage and you share the same teacher. The Hokage's name is Minato Namikaze, and he was a disciple of Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin.
Third, the Hokage's wife is Kushina Uzumaki. Nagato, you should be quite familiar with the Uzumaki surname, right?"
Upon hearing Uchiha Yuan's question, Nagato instinctively nodded—that was his mother's surname.
"Lady Kushina, like you, has red hair. Like your mother or father, she is a survivor of the Uzumaki clan's downfall. You could even say you two are of the same clan.
When you think about it, you and the Hokage really are connected—fellow disciples under the same teacher and kin to his wife. No wonder the Hokage chose to trust you," Uchiha Yuan sighed.
After hearing Uchiha Yuan's words, the expressions of the three varied.
Nagato looked confused. When he was young, his mother had told him about the Uzumaki clan, and he thought she was the only survivor. He didn't expect there were others.
Konan was reminded of her days with Jiraiya—the happiest time of her life.
Only Yahiko remained guarded. He hesitated and asked Uchiha Yuan, "If I remember correctly, the ones who ambushed us included not only Rain ninja, but also some who were dressed very much like Konoha's ANBU. Who were they?"
Uchiha Yuan made no effort to hide the truth—he directly exposed Danzo.
When Yahiko heard that Hanzo the Salamander had contacted people from Konoha to get rid of them, he trembled with rage.
"So you came here because the Hokage noticed Danzo's suspicious activities and sent someone to investigate, which led to discovering us, right?" Yahiko asked again.
Uchiha Yuan nodded in acknowledgment.
"Is the Hokage trying to support us against Hanzo?"
"No. The Hokage has no such intention. We also won't be providing any future aid. The Hokage only sent me this time due to some personal sentiment—it has nothing to do with Konoha's politics."
Hearing this, Yahiko fell silent. Truthfully, Akatsuki's development had hit a bottleneck. If the Hokage were willing to support them, it would be a promising direction—but such support would inevitably cost them autonomy.
He had assumed the Hokage's assistance was meant for such a purpose and was hesitating about forming an alliance.
But from Uchiha Yuan's attitude, it was clear he had overthought it.
Since the Hokage had sent Uchiha Yuan just to help, then out of both emotion and reason, they owed their thanks.
With no political strings attached, the trio's attitude toward Uchiha Yuan warmed considerably. Sitting down together, they chatted for a while and became much more familiar.
Then Uchiha Yuan suddenly changed the topic. "Yahiko, Nagato, Konan… have you noticed something?"
"Noticed what?" Yahiko asked.
"Your Akatsuki has attracted a lot of attention. When I entered your base just now, I noticed someone underground spying on you." As he spoke, lightning flashed in his hand, and a scream rang out from beneath them.
Nagato quickly formed hand seals and used Earth Release to pull the body from the ground. The corpse turned out to be White Zetsu.
The three of them were shocked to see him. They had never noticed his presence. When had he infiltrated their base?
"These forces are complicated, but they're all approaching you for one reason—Nagato's Rinnegan."
"Then what should we do?" Konan asked.
"To protect the Rinnegan, you must become stronger as quickly as possible. Nagato, when you faced off against Hanzo, you must have already awakened part of your Rinnegan's abilities, right?
That power is the key. As far as I know, the Rinnegan can bestow part of its ocular power to another person—whether that person is alive or dead.
Once you master the Rinnegan, you can remotely control a body with its power. That corpse can move and use some of the Rinnegan's abilities.
You can use these corpses as stand-ins, hiding your real self and Yahiko in the shadows, while the corpses act openly as the face of Akatsuki. You two can then secretly hunt down those who harbor hostility toward you.
Yahiko's death this time is a perfect chance to disappear from the frontlines."
"But this guy has been watching us for so long. What if he already sent out information that Yahiko isn't dead?" Nagato pointed to White Zetsu and said.
"Don't worry. According to my sensing, this guy never left the base's underground. He shouldn't have had the time to relay any intel," Uchiha Yuan replied.
Clearly, Yahiko and the others took Uchiha Yuan's words to heart. The three fell into deep thought.
Nagato wouldn't be able to control corpses immediately, but he had already been inspired by Uchiha Yuan—the birth of the Six Paths of Pain would likely come much earlier than in the original story.
Uchiha Yuan didn't say much more—too many words lead to mistakes. What he had done was already enough.
Afterward, Uchiha Yuan bid them farewell and returned to Konoha.
(To Be Continued...)