Konoha's Mission Master

The two of them sped through the forest, and in order to reach Amegakure as quickly as possible, Jiraiya chose an extremely remote wilderness. This road was the most direct route to Amegakure. The two of them suddenly went from the bustling and noisy city into the quiet and silent forest.

In the forest, any sound could attract the attention of predators, so hiding oneself as much as possible has become an instinct for the creatures here. Yakumo and Jiraiya traversed this silent forest, with the stars shining brightly overhead.

In the latter half of the night, Jiraiya stopped.

The two of them are not superhumans after all, and they need to recover their strength.

Jiraiya used local ingredients to clean raw meat and grill it over a fire to prepare for eating, while Yakumo seized the opportunity to start completing daily quests.

"The Land of Rain... the girl's disappearance has lasted for four months. Judging from the timeline, it was shortly after we left the Land of Hot Springs. I estimate that the enemy this time is very likely to be those... blood-eyed monsters."

Jiraiya flipped the grilled meat while analyzing the intelligence.

On the other hand, Yakumo's shadow clone is practicing the Yin-Yang Seal by forming hand seals. The progress of this sealing technique is quite slow, and it can only gain about two or three points of proficiency per day.

After Yakumo upgraded her Sage Mode to the perfect level, she stopped using gold coins to upgrade and instead saved them up systematically.

In my memory, the New Year's Rewards Shop will open in January, at which time you can use the gold coins you've accumulated to get a few Master Breakthrough Scrolls.

"This time... we won't let them get away with it."

Yakumo spoke firmly, not only for the mission but also to avenge those innocent girls.

"We'll continue our journey in half an hour."

Jiraiya quickly finished the grilled meat, immediately closed his eyes to rest, and was already snoring loudly within a few breaths.

Seeing this, Yakumo also closed his eyes, but he did not fall asleep immediately, since he did not have Jiraiya's ability to fall asleep instantly.

At this time, in Orochimaru's residence in Konoha.

Without hesitation, Orochimaru injected a dark purple chakra ball into his body, and a faint purple tinge gradually appeared in his narrow, vertical pupils.

The deep-seated knife wound on his chest began to heal rapidly, and at the same time... Orochimaru injected the vibrant Hashirama cell extract into his body.

The wound healed at an increasingly rapid pace. This was a slash that Hanzo the Salamander unleashed before his death, pushing himself beyond his limits. He even imbued the wound with some strange will, hindering its healing speed.

Two days later, Jiraiya and Yakumo arrived at Amegakure.

The two went directly to the tallest tower in Amegakure, which was the Akatsuki's new base. Everywhere there were Akatsuki members wearing black cloaks with auspicious cloud patterns.

Amegakure has returned to stability, as can be seen from the number of pedestrians braving the rain on the streets.

More than half a year later, Yakumo met the trio again.

Yahiko still wore a bright, sunny smile, while Nagato seemed somewhat unnaturally distant, and Konan welcomed Yakumo's arrival.

The conference hall is located on the tenth floor of the tower.

Jiraiya was reviewing the intelligence gathered by the Akatsuki during this period. The disappearances did indeed begin four months ago, starting with two or three people disappearing every four or five days at the beginning, but now people are disappearing almost every day.

"I'm sorry, Master Jiraiya. It was because of my bravado and arrogance that the girl went missing... and things have escalated to this point..."

Yahiko lowered his head and took the initiative to admit his mistake.

"Hey, it's all your fault."

Jiraiya patted Yahiko on the shoulder to comfort him.

"I'm sorry..." Yahiko repeated, and Jiraiya quickly continued to comfort him. The two then began to discuss the true meaning of peace.

Konan then stepped forward to ask Yakumo about some details of the Palm Healing Technique, and Yakumo explained the key points of the Palm Healing Technique to Konan in great detail.

It had been more than half a year since I last saw Xiao Nan. She had grown taller and her figure had become even more slender and graceful. Her legs, which occasionally peeked out from under her robe, were as white and flawless as jade.

She gave Yakumo a very warm feeling.

Half an hour later, Yahiko inappropriately gathered the trio to challenge Yakumo once again.

During this sparring session, Yakumo decided to take special care of Yahiko. Ten minutes later, Yahiko clutched his stomach and collapsed to the ground.

Yakumo is taking special care of Yahiko because the timing of his challenge is inappropriate. If another girl is harmed during this time, it will be Yahiko's fault.

On the other hand, because his bravado and arrogance led to the deaths of more than forty girls, it is not something that can be forgiven with just an apology... that's too lenient.

During their sparring session, Yakumo noticed that Konan's combat abilities hadn't improved much. He guessed that this was because Konan was spending more time on medical ninjutsu, and the angel of Amegakure was gradually transforming into a healer.

"Let's go, let's finish the mission first," Jiraiya said.

Jiraiya believed that if they dealt with the Blood Robe Priest sooner, the residents of the Land of Rain would suffer less.

"it is good."

In fact, the two of them left the village without the Hokage's permission. To avoid any unnecessary trouble, the best way was to complete the mission quickly and return to Konoha.

Guided by Akatsuki intelligence personnel, the group arrived at the home of the last missing girl. The windows were decorated with paper flowers cut from the dead, and on a platform not far away, many white flowers soaked by rain were displayed.

A funeral had just taken place here. Upon hearing the purpose of Yakumo and the others' visit, the male head of the household immediately knelt in the floodwater and kowtowed repeatedly, as if grasping at the last straw. His blood mingled with the floodwater.

Yakumo quickly helped him up.

"I beg you, sirs, you must save my daughter. I am willing to offer all of my family's wealth."

The man pleaded earnestly.

"How long has that girl been missing?" Yakumo asked.

"My daughter has been missing for about three days..."

Yakumo knew that the man's daughter had less than a 10% chance of survival.

"I've done my best..."

These ordinary people who failed to become ninjas could only set aside their dignity and press their heads to the ground to beg for help when they encountered unexpected situations.

“Let’s begin,” Jiraiya said, knowing full well that the chances of this man’s daughter still being alive were extremely low.

The Akatsuki intelligence agents helped the weeping man back into the house, watching his distraught figure.

Yakumo began rapidly forming hand seals.

"bump."

As the white mist rose, Milkball shook its thick fur in dissatisfaction, clearly disliking the persistent drizzle.

"Find the owner of this garment."

Yakumo gave the order, his expression somewhat grim.

All this tragedy stemmed from his initial caution…

If he had disregarded the danger and killed the three blood-robed priests in the underground encounter, these tragedies would never have happened.

If given the chance again, he would still choose to be cautious.

"Meow."

When Milkball noticed Yakumo's unusual mood, it immediately transformed and ran away instead of acting cute or playful. The group of people and the leopard darted through the steel drainage pipes.

Five minutes later, the milk ball stopped, and in front of them was a drainage channel as tall as a person. The enemy that Yakumo was looking for was hiding in the drainage system of Amegakure.

The enormous sewer pipes seemed to devour all light, making the environment dimly lit with visibility less than twenty meters, creating an oppressive atmosphere.

"I'll go in with Yakumo... that'll be fine."

Jiraiya made a decision.

"Let's go."

Yahiko's face showed a struggle, but he ultimately chose to follow Jiraiya's arrangement and lead the remaining Akatsuki members to guard the pipe exit.

The two people and the leopard moved forward through the water. As time passed, the environment became extremely dark, and only the sound of the rushing water could be heard around them.

The air was thick with the stench of decay, and gray rats were gnawing on the garbage in the corner.

In the darkness, blue light emanated from Milk Ball's eyes.

The two people and the leopard moved quickly through the sewer pipes. The place was oppressive and dark, and the air was foul, which made people feel hopeless. Thick silt was piled up at the corners of the pipes, and occasionally a few pale bones could be seen.

Yakumo took out a gas mask and put it on.

Milkball let out a slightly wary cry. Not far away, a rotting corpse hung on the wall, and at the foot of the corpse, in the silt, lay the skeletal remains of rats.

On the wall, circles and triangles outlined a sacrificial formation, an evil aura spreading outwards, along with the lingering stench of blood in the air.

Yakumo creates shadow clones to refine natural energy.

The two people and the leopard continued forward, ding-dong, ding-dong.

This is the end of the drainage pipes. Massive amounts of rainwater converge in this huge pit, forming something like an underground lake. Legend has it that the underground lake of Amegakure is connected to the ocean, which is why the underground lake has never been filled by rainwater.

On the surface of the underground lake, many wooden boats float, and inside each boat lies a sleeping girl who has been missing for some time. In the center of the lake, the Blood-Robed Priest, Twilight, sits on a platform, praying to the great evil god.

Beneath him lay thick, filthy blood plasma, forming a complex array of immortality.

…a triangle is enclosed within a blood-red circle.

Eighteen enormous pipes connect the underground lake, collecting all the rainfall from Rain Village into this underground lake, forming eighteen huge blue water columns.

With a bang, Yakumo and Jiraiya used the burst of chakra to break through the murky water column and jump out of the pipe, standing still on the vast lake surface. This underground lake was several times larger than Yakumo had believed, almost like a calm sea.

"You...it's you again!"

The Blood-Robed Priest, Twilight, cried out in surprise, his white beard fluttering in the wind; he was already considering retreating.

With a loud bang, Yakumo exerted force with his feet, creating a water column several meters high... which exploded directly. He began to run at high speed on the lake, rushing towards the Blood-Robed Priest.

A row of water columns exploded one after another!

"The followers of our God are immortal!"

The blood-robed priest shouted, and pairs of blood-red eyes emerged from beneath the water. The next second, dozens of disheveled figures broke through the lake.

Their bodies were emaciated, their exposed skin covered with black scales, and even their cheeks had developed gills. Although they were humanoid, they looked more like fish, and their eyes were devoid of any consciousness, like humanoid puppets.

"Celestial Technique: Round Dance!"

In an instant, the Sage Mode mark appeared on Yakumo's forehead, and silver-white arcs of electricity surged and erupted, directly and frantically destroying the formation and bloody slime located at the bottom of the lake.

The Twilight Priest's immortality array was instantly broken.

"The birth of a divine child!"

At dusk, a series of soft explosions echoed from the surface of the underground lake. Dozens of blue infants crawled out of their mothers' wombs, emitting terrifying and sharp shrieks.

Yakumo leaned forward, focusing his mind and calming his spirit.

His eyes, hidden beneath the gas mask, were calm yet tinged with coldness. Upon seeing this, the double-bladed strikes suddenly became even more ferocious.