Chapter 424: Have you ever thought about replacing the daimyo?
When suddenly asked about the development of the Amegakure Village, Konan's expression stiffened slightly.
However, thinking of Kaito's identity and the various help he had provided to the Akatsuki organization before, she sighed and began to tell the story with a little annoyance.
At the beginning of the story, Konan commented on the current situation of the Amegakure Village.
"It's not great, inside or outside."
This is actually not too surprising to Kaito.
The main reason is that Nagato has always maintained contact with Yahiko. Although Kaito has not taken the initiative to find out, he must know something more or less.
So at this moment he continued to wait quietly for Konan to continue explaining the details.
"During the reign of the Amegakure Village's Hanzo of the Salamander, Amegakure Village was actually relatively powerful in the Land of Rain. Because they needed the name of Hanzo to maintain superficial peace, in fact, even the daimyo's status in the Land of Rain was not as high as that of the head of the ninja village."
"However, now that Yahiko has taken over as the leader, there are still many opposing forces within the Amegakure Village. The daimyo has even proposed several times to cut Amegakure Village's funding."
"As for the outside world, as the news of Hanzo's death gradually spread, the three Lands, the Land of Fire, Earth, and Wind, all sent people to verify the situation. The Land of Fire and Wind were fine, at least they openly acknowledged Yahiko's identity as the leader, but the Iwagakure Village has been instigating the opposition forces in the village to re-select a leader, and has launched several small-scale coups. Although they were all suppressed by Yahiko and his men, they still caused quite a stir."
When saying these words, Konan's tone was very calm, as if she was a bystander, narrating what had happened recently in the Amegakure Village.
But Kaito could see that Konan was just pretending to be calm at this moment.
The collision between ideals and reality, the Akatsuki organization, which once worked hard for the peace of Amegakure, has been exhausted both physically and mentally by the internal and external troubles.
After all, Yahiko's current strength and reputation are not enough to support the power of Hanzo of the Salamander who was once known as a 'demigod'.
This is also the reason why Kaito proposed that Yahiko continue to govern the Amegakure Village as Hanzo of the Salamander.
However, people are always responsible for the decisions they make.
But in the end, Konan still forced a smile on her face and continued.
"This joint Chunin exam is actually a good opportunity for us Amegakure. Yahiko also hopes to show the potential of Amegakure in this exam, give the Daimyo more confidence, and make the next generation of the village more cohesive."
When Kaito heard this, he just shook his head secretly in his heart.
The Daimyo of the Land of the Rain's distrust of Yahiko, or the current Amegakure Village, actually comes more from external pressure and the gap in internal strength.
In this situation, what is needed more is the improvement of combat effectiveness.
As for the so-called potential and future, a small country like this, which is surviving in the cracks, actually cannot consider so much.
Even if these Genin of the Amegakure Village can really kill all the other village Genin in the exam, what can it do?
As long as the big ninja villages send out a few more Jonin, they can easily defeat the Amegakure Village, and the resources that the Daimyo of the Land of Rain should give up will not be reduced.
However, when Kaito saw Konan's expression, he also understood.
Perhaps Yahiko and Konan were aware of this, but in this situation of internal and external troubles, they had no better choice.
Leaving aside Yahiko, Konan definitely has the potential to become Kage-level.
But growth takes time after all. It is unclear how long the Amegakure Village can last under the current situation.
'Should I let Nagato go back and help Akatsuki survive this period?'
As soon as this idea popped up in Kaito's mind, he immediately rejected it.
It's not that Kaito is stingy and reluctant to give up Nagato's fighting power.
Given the personalities of Yahiko and the others, and given that Kaito saved Nagato's life before, the Akatsuki organization must be Kaito's most loyal ally.
Helping Amegakure stabilize the regime is also a good thing for Kaito.
But what supports Nagato's Kage-level strength now is more his pair of Rinnegan.
Apart from the abilities brought by these eyes, Nagato's strength is actually not much stronger than Yahiko and Konan.
If he takes personality factors into account, they may be even weaker in actual combat.
But if Nagato frequently used the power of the Rinnegan in the Amegakure Village.
Even with Kaito's "transform" to disguise him, it probably won't take long before he'll be targeted by Black Zetsu and the others.
By then, the Akatsuki organization will most likely return to the old path in the original work, let alone bring peace to the Amegakure Village.
Thinking of this, Kaito looked at Konan in front of him with sharp eyes and told him the plan he had prepared long ago.
And this is also the real purpose of Kaito's asking Konan to come over for a talk this time.
"Have you ever considered replacing the Daimyo of the Land of the Rain with Akatsuki?"
"What?"
Faced with Kaito's sudden proposal, Konan was stunned.
She looked at Kaito with astonishment and was speechless for a long time.
First the two of them were originally talking about the recent development of the Amegakure Village, but suddenly they were talking about replacing the daimyo.
Is it because the Daimyo wants to cut the funding for the Amegakure Village?
More importantly, what Kaito said was too shocking for the native residents of the Ninja World.
According to the inherent values of the people in the ninja world, ninja is a profession, a mercenary, a bodyguard, and a thug. From the beginning of their existence, they have been there to serve the nobles and daimyo.
Even in a large-scale war like the Great Ninja War where life and death were the focus, what it was fought for was nothing more than the share of missions between countries.
Occasionally, there would be situations like occupying territory, but these were just tasks proposed by the Daimyo, the largest client of the ninja village, or the investor.
Ultimately, these occupied territories will still be handed over to state management.
The ninja will eventually return to the ninja village and make a living by carrying out missions and relying on military funds provided by the daimyo.
Perhaps some of the more powerful ninja villages will have the upper hand in transactions with the daimyo and have more say.
That's just like mercenaries charging higher fees or a big store bullying its customers.
In essence, ninjas were still trading parties, providing services to daimyo and nobles.
But now, Kaito told her.
Do you want to replace the daimyo?
Mercenaries overthrow the regime? Who will manage the country?
Facing Konan's clear and confused eyes, Kaito smiled and repeated the question.
"How about it? Have you ever considered letting Akatsuki lead the Land of Rain?"
(End of this chapter)