Naruto: I'm really not an evil scientist!

Nagato first turned his gaze to Orochimaru, who immediately lowered his head and pretended to be dead, as if everything around him was irrelevant.

"The kids at home have been really annoying lately, always wanting their dad and refusing to practice properly... My research is also entering a critical phase. I'm currently trying to fuse Hashirama cells with Sharingan genes to explore entirely new life forms, so I'm really too busy... I'm sorry." Orochimaru's explanation sounded reasonable, and Nagato already knew his personality.

But seriously... are you just bored? Why are you taking care of so many kids? Are you really planning to properly manage your Sound Village?

Therefore, Nagato turned his attention to Kakuzu.

Kakuzu stopped the rapid-fire abacus work in his hands—he hadn't stopped since the meeting started, clearly not taking the meeting seriously at all.

"No, there are several hot trends recently. My financial ninjutsu model shows that the currency market is about to experience violent fluctuations."

"I can't leave at this time because of the organization's funds!" Kakuzu's reasoning was equally valid, and Nagato could only nod and say nothing more.

The magistrate is in charge of the money, and he has been doing a great job since taking office.

Nagato was well aware that much of the money in Kakuzu's accounts came from suspicious sources, and a deeper investigation might uncover many interesting things.

Moreover, his reaction speed to the market is too fast, to an abnormal degree—clearly, this is not a capability that Kakuzu should have.

After all, he's already this age. If this were his own ability, he would have made his fortune long ago. How could someone in his fifties still be making money by killing people?

His best friend is a real bastard, but he has long since shown Nagato through his actions that compared to playing the monopoly game, the money from killing people is pitifully small.

However, Nagato never pointed out Kakuzu's problem from beginning to end.

After all, they were rogue ninjas, so it's normal that they had some things they couldn't say.

To be a bold guess, Kakuzu could very well be a spy planted by his junior brother.

It would be strange if that bastard didn't insert the needle into Xiaoli.

However, Nagato has no intention of investigating.

Both of them are moving towards their own goals. Although their destinations are different, there are indeed many points of intersection along the way... just like now.

He can't possibly turn everyone in Akatsuki into a traitor, can he? Besides... the Land of Rain is in dire need of funds for its recent development... Nagato doesn't agree with all of his junior's views, but what he described in his economics book is indeed brilliant.

So Nagato naturally thought of the Land of Rain.

He wanted to experiment a little there.

In any case, that's Nagato's hometown, so there's nothing wrong with building more infrastructure and factories there.

Even if something goes wrong... we won't lose money.

Nagato then turned his gaze to Sasori of the Red Sand.

"Boring..." Sasori of the Red Sand expressed his attitude with just two words: he didn't want to go, he didn't want to care, and he didn't care at all.

Nagato knew that this guy was an artist who pursued so-called eternal art, and recently he had become obsessed with research combining puppetry with biotechnology... If you don't want to go, then don't go, just don't cause any more trouble for me.

Nagato did not persist and turned his attention to the three newly joined members.

The three new guys are very strange.

One called himself Afei, and his behavior was erratic and crazy; the other called himself Jue, and he always appeared and disappeared mysteriously.

And the last one... calls himself Namikaze.

The first two are fine, but the last one, Namikaze, is quite interesting.

She was a woman, and... this surname... Regardless of what others thought, Nagato's first reaction was that she might be related to the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

The biggest difference between commoner ninjas and clan ninjas is that commoner ninjas do not have a complete system of inheritance. They have no secret techniques and do not know where they should develop. So they spend their lives in endless wars in a daze. This is what most commoner ninjas experience.

Can someone reach the Kage level solely through their own talent and ability?

It is almost impossible.

Minato Namikaze's talent is undeniable, but his master was Jiraiya, making them a staunch master-disciple pair.

The First and Second Hokage were incredibly powerful, but to a large extent, it was because they came from the Senju lineage and had the best inheritance.

The same principle applies to the Uchiha clan.

Even Nagato himself... He couldn't imagine how many years it would have taken him to reach his current level if he had only relied on his own exploration without Jiraiya's guidance.

While a Jonin-level ninja might be considered exceptionally talented, a Kage-level ninja definitely has a lineage or a master-disciple relationship, or a family tradition.

Chapter 458

The woman in front of me, Namikaze, doesn't look 20 at all... A 20-year-old female Kage-level fighter... Is she related to Namikaze Naruto? That's unlikely.

Given how much his junior brother cared for Naruto, it's impossible that he would give away such a young and outstanding relative like Namikaze.

So, is it just a simple coincidence... or perhaps she really likes the surname Namikaze, so she deliberately chose such a pseudonym for herself... Nagato couldn't figure it out, but fortunately, he didn't care much about the loyalty of his subordinates.

The experiences of each rogue ninja could fill a book, but he had no intention of inquiring about them one by one.

As long as the task can be roughly completed, nothing else matters.

Nagato's eyes darted around before she finally spoke.

"Namikaze, go and defeat Shirogane Soumei, can you do it?" "...Yes!" Namikaze agreed readily, unlike the other traitors who dragged their feet.

"Well, that's fine then..." Nagato didn't say anything more and ended the ninjutsu.

He has many more important things to do.

"Xiao Nan, let's go."

"Are we going to capture a new tailed beast? Isn't it too dangerous now? We just captured the Seven-Tails..."

"No, I want to return to the Land of Rain... I want to see it with my own eyes..."

……

Bai Lu Kongming has been very active lately. I don't know what method he used, but he actually found out some information about the Akatsuki organization and started investigating.

This is not surprising, after all, the ninja world is never short of all sorts of bizarre techniques that challenge the imagination.

No matter how well Nagato handled it, he inevitably left some clues. If we make good use of them, it is entirely possible to find them out.

For example, Konoha can use the Impure World Reincarnation technique to forcibly solve all murder cases. No matter how well you cover it up, it's useless; we'll just ask the deceased directly.

Terumi Mei was deeply worried about this, but she didn't have a good solution.

Because neither the Mizukage nor the Hokage allowed her to move around, she could only watch from the sidelines.

Mei Terumi couldn't understand why the two Kage were so calm and insisted on making this plan the best course of action—did Nagato really obey your orders and go to kill Hakusuke Soumei?

Even if he did go, knowing it was the Akatsuki organization, he would definitely have made preparations beforehand, such as using shadow clones or various space-time ninjutsu... Without such solid knowledge, how would he dare to investigate the Akatsuki?

Moreover, after these days of investigation, Terumi Mei also discovered that Akira's situation was not as good as many people had imagined.

Yes, it was because Hiruko leaked his information.

Knowing that Nagato was a Super Kage, everyone felt both apprehensive and united against him.

If Nagato really goes too far, he will definitely incur the wrath of the great ninja villages.

It's not like the great ninja villages can't unite. Look how tragically the Sky Ninja died before. As long as Nagato isn't too stupid, there's a limit to how arrogant he can be.

The current situation is like trying to fight a wolf with a stick – you're afraid of both sides.

Bai Lu Kongming's actions seemed a bit reckless, but judging from the Akatsuki organization's situation, they might not actually kill him.

Killing him would inevitably cause the relationship with Kirigakure to plummet to its lowest point.

If Mei Terumi had even a modicum of sense, she would have seized the opportunity to change tactics and use the pretext of avenging Shirahiro Soryu to start a war against the Akatsuki.

Seeing this, other ninja villages would likely also lend a hand. After all, the Akatsuki organization had already dared to kill even a candidate from Kirigakure, and no one dared to imagine what they would dare to do in the future.

This is clearly not what Nagato wanted to see.

If Nagato doesn't make a move against Hakugei Soumei, then Terumi Mei's situation will be even more dangerous—he went to investigate Akatsuki in order to give Takigakure an explanation, shouldn't Terumi Mei do something?

If Mei Terumi continues to provoke the Akatsuki organization, just like Shirahiro Sora, it will inevitably provoke a strong backlash from the Akatsuki.

After all, they are a terrorist organization, not some pushover. If you provoke them again and again, they will get angry, and that anger often means a bloody price to pay.

If Mei Terumi doesn't provoke the Akatsuki... then she'll fall far behind Soryuu in terms of progress.

The current situation is akin to a bird's death waltz as it falls from the sky; the more reckless one is, the closer one gets to victory—and also to death.

No one knows where the Akatsuki's limits truly lie... This is a crazy contest of courage and ability.

Terumi Mei was deeply worried about this.

"No, I have to do something..."

Just as Mei Terumi was thinking this, a sudden piece of bad news was delivered to them.

Bai Lu Kongming is dead.

Clearly, Bai Lu Kongming was prepared. When faced with a formidable enemy, he did not intend to linger but chose to run away directly.

However, this time his enemy... Hiruko leisurely ate Kakashi's bear-shaped cookies, then clicked his tongue at the photos of the scene.

In the photo, Bai Lu Kongming's corpse is sealed by the Earth Explosion Star, surrounded by scorched earth.

"This is really...too brutal."

Is this necessary?

"Why did you even use Planetary Devastation? Why didn't you use Indra's Arrow?" Yagura, who was also eating Kakashi Bear Cookies, gave Hiruko a disdainful look, and then sighed in the same way.

"Regardless of the circumstances, Bai Lu Kongming is dead. As the sole candidate, we have won this election..."

It seems so... If you can't solve the problem, you'll just kill the person, right? You two, do you have any integrity left?!

Mei Terumi pinched the cheeks of the two idiot shadows.

"Even so... we can't just kill him! What will become of Kirigakure's prestige! When Kirigakure elects Mizukage in the future, will they kill each other? We can't set this precedent!" Hiruko immediately began to argue. As a research ninja, he was best at sophistry and logical traps.

"Hey, don't make baseless accusations! What does this have to do with us? It was the extremely insidious and vicious Akatsuki organization that killed the candidate for Kirigakure... We're outraged! Kirigakure is so big, can't it even accommodate two Mizukage?"

"Yes, yes, we are innocent!"... That seems to be the case.

...Yeah, right! Mei Terumi was so angry her liver hurt. If you said this had nothing to do with the two of them, even Temari probably wouldn't believe it.

But then again... given Hiruko's caution, he certainly wouldn't leave any real evidence.

Hiruko is a research ninja, and his "Memory Erasure Technique" and "Evidence Tampering Technique" are no joke.

Even if we take a step back and assume that Bai Lu Kongming is truly dead now, he is indeed dead.