บท 373: Chapter – 368 Proposing A Deal

Akatsuki's retreat was instantaneous and before anyone could have reacted, they all just disappeared.

As a result, everyone on the battlefield could only stare with frustration but was too helpless to do anything about it.

With Akatsuki gone, the attention of all the shinobi of the tri-Alliance present here shifted towards Yama and Homusubi who were looking at the disappearing Gedo Mazo.

The Akatsuki may have retreated but everyone here was still on their edges. The leader of Amatsukami and Homusubi are still here, neither do they have any intentions of withdrawing nor do they have any intentions of pursuing after Akatsuki. So, they were worried as there can only be one reason why those two are still here.

Sandaime looked at Yama with a thoughtful expression. This raid against Akatsuki was undoubtedly a big defeat for the tri-Alliance. The blame for this shameful defeat falls on the shoulders of the three Kages. But they cannot keep dwelling on it and have to prepare for the future attacks that may come at them at any time.

After all, the three villages have declared open hostility against Akatsuki. And Akatsuki will definitely not just sit back and accept it, they will retaliate to the bitter end. This time Akatsuki might not have had enough time to prepare for this attack but the next time they come they will come much stronger than ever.

From the results of this time then have learned that Akatsuki is definitely not something that the shinobi villages can deal against. None of the villages has a shinobi strong enough or skilled enough to fight against the leader of Akatsuki as well as that Tobi guy.

From what everyone here has told him and from what he has witnessed himself if the leader of Amatsukami had not personally intervened in this battle then the concept of shinobi itself would have been completely wiped out along with the three Kage.

In such a scenario, the existence of Amatsukami is the key to everything.

So long as Amatsukami exists, Akatsuki will remain contained as there is someone out there to keep them in check.

Fight fire with fire, poison with poison, and evil… with evil…

Therefore, the Hokage has no intentions of making any move against the leader of Yama, for now at least.

After all, compared to Akatsuki, Amatsukami is certainly less damaging. All the information he has on Amatsukami points out that the members of Amatsukami do not kill anyone other than their targets. While Akatsuki is completely different in this regard, they kill whoever comes in their way.

Although Hiruzen can't exactly figure out the true intentions of Amatsukami, he will have to figure out Amatsukami's true intentions if he wants to manipulate them to constantly keep Akatsuki on the edges.

While Hokage was thinking about how to manipulate the Amatsukami, Raikage who is more brawn and less brain stepped forward and shouted at Yama, "Now what? Do you still want to fight us? Well if that's the case then come at me, I will see what exactly are you capable of!"

Different from Hokage, Raikage was obviously much more angered.

The Akatsuki has retreated and from what he has been told, Nii Yugito has disappeared along with them. Additionally, he was unable to kill Hiruko so his frustration is over the charts.

Listening to Raikage's words Hiruzen thought, 'Is Raikage being reckless as always, or has he thought something through here? Anyhow, this is still a wonderful opportunity, now we can have some conversation with all too mysterious Yama… and perhaps I can at least figure out something that can be used.'

Jiraiya quickly stopped Raikage, "Raikage-dono, please don't be impulsive… the Natural Energy around Yama is so dense that even me who has extreme difficulty in sensing it is able to feel it… Moreover, Homusubi is standing behind him… I have not seen him use Susano'o or those Golden flames of his for the entire battle, which is to say that both of them are still too much for us to handle…"

Toad Fukasaku nodded, "Jiraiya boy is absolutely right… I have never seen anyone capable of carrying such an amount of Natural Energy in their body… perhaps Shodaime Hokage of Konoha was the only one who could have matched him…"

Shisui on the side has some other thoughts, he knew full well that with his personality Yama would definitely not stay here for so long for no reason. The fact that he is still here means that something is on his mind.

While everyone was wondering and making their own conclusions Yama thought, 'Phew, finally the petrification has started to wear off, at least some degree of movement is no longer a problem for me now.'

And since he can move now, Yama turned towards the tri-Alliance and said, "Calm down Raikage… you should be grateful to me, after all, if I hadn't been here to stop Nagato from going overboard, you as well as the rest of your pitiful alliance would have met the same fate as that cat of your village did… in fact, the reason why the octopus was rescued is also me…"

Raikage was silent… as much as he hates to admit it, Yama was spot on.

Hokage took the initiative to speak, "And why exactly did you come here? I don't believe that anyone has offered any bounty to stop the leader of Akatsuki. And you certainly had no reason to intervene. And I don't think I can believe that you were here to 'help' us!"

Yama chuckled, "True… Objectively speaking I did not have any reason to save your lives, and truth be told I did not have any such intentions, the mere reason I came here was to test how much Nagato has grown…"

Everyone frowned, "What do you mean?"

"It's very simple actually… I have been waiting for so long for someone to appear in this Shinobi World who could match up to me… Nagato, the bearer of Rinnegan, the eyes of Rikudo Sennin gives me this hope… but he has much to learn and grow to reach where I stand…" – Yama explained, and continued, "You see, it's rather lonely to stand at the peak… and the existence of Nagato gives me the hopes of ending my solitude."

"What exactly are you trying to imply here?" – Jiraiya questioned, "And what do you mean by 'ending your solitude'? And the way you speak, it's as if you have always been aware of the Rinnegan…"

Yama chuckled, "Well of course I have always been aware of the existence of Rinnegan that Nagato bears… why wouldn't I? My entire purpose of coming here today was to push Nagato to his edge and make him realize that he is far from becoming a God as he believes, this will make him pursue strength more than ever."

"Why do you want to do that...?" – Jiraiya questioned, "What are your true intentions?"

"It's too early for all of you to get answers to either of the two questions…" – Yama said.

At this time, Homusubi who has been silent for the entire time spoke, "Yama it's time we leave too…"

Yama nodded, "True, I have had enough fun for today… I suppose it's time for me to sleep" – Then he turned and started to leave.

Homusubi was similar and he too turned and started to leave, but suddenly stopped and said, "That would be unwise of the two of you… if you do make a move, then do know that the result awaiting you all will be much worse than what Hatake Kakashi went through I was kind enough to not have killed me but it does not mean that I would be merciful on those trying to attack Yama… And that's not even considering the fact that you would be declaring open hostility towards Amatsukami too… Akatsuki alone is beyond you all, would you much rather make an enemy out of us too and have both the villages end up being destroyed at once?"

Hearing Homusubi's words both Raikage and Jiraiya stopped.

Homusubi nodded, "That was a good decision. I am a pacifist and I hate violence; therefore, I like to avoid unnecessary battles. But do know that if anyone here were to make a move on Yama, then the result awaiting them would be their worst nightmare…"

Yama said without turning back, "You shouldn't have stopped them Musubi."

Musubi said, "You just wanted to see if Raikage at his top speed can manage to touch you when trying to take you by surprise… And you also wanted to see just how he would scream when you torture the hell out of him, am I right?"

Yama did not deny, "Sigh now I won't ever be able to find that."

"Don't get ahead of yourself you bastards!" – Raikage roared and the Lightning Chakra armor was flickering stronger than ever. He was truly angered now.

Yama said to Musubi while pointing towards the Raikage, "Look now you have angered him…"

Musubi questioned, "So what should we do with him now? Shall I burn him to death with my flames?"

Yama thought about it and said, "No… that wouldn't be fun…"

Musubi questioned, "Then what do you suggest?"

Yama said, "Hmm… I am not so sure… Raikage is pretty useless anyway… so ignore him, he will die soon enough anyway. Oh, now that I think about it, these villages are truly screwed, if Akatsuki attacks them again then they would be done for good."

Musubi nodded, "Indeed, you are right."

Yama thought a little and then turned around, and said, "In light of this, I suddenly thought of something…"

"And what is it that you have thought up?"

Yama did not answer Musubi but said to Hokage, "Hokage… in light of the troubles that your villages will be facing from now on regarding Akatsuki, how about I propose you a deal?"

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