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Mastermind of the Akatsuki 401
🕑 Added 2025-06-10 15:39:11 +0000 UTCChapter 401: Land of Iron
Inside the Amegakure tower, Yahiko also received an invitation letter from the Fourth Raikage.
After reading through the invitation, Yahiko immediately summoned Byakuya, Nagato, and Konan for an emergency high-level meeting.
Once everyone had read the letter, Yahiko habitually looked toward Byakuya.
Just like the masked man’s organization, the Akatsuki was also hunting Tailed Beasts, but their goals were different. The Akatsuki aimed to forge the Tailed Beasts into weapons of deterrence in order to create peace.
The masked man’s intentions, however, were harder to understand. He seemed to want to use the Ten Tails to cast a massive genjutsu that would trap everyone in a dreamlike state.
Such an approach was no different from destroying the entire shinobi world.
What Yahiko was more curious about, though, was whether the recent attacks on the Jinchūriki of Iwagakure and Kumogakure had been carried out by the masked man or Byakuya.
Under Yahiko’s stare, Byakuya frowned slightly and spoke impatiently, "Jeez Yahiko, you should know what kind of person I am. Ever since the battle against Hanzō the Salamander, none of my plans have failed. If I had made a move, Killer Bee would have had no chance of escaping."
Byakuya’s words prompted both Konan and Nagato to nod in agreement.
They were well aware of Byakuya’s strength. He had already possessed Kage-level power many years ago and had now stepped into a realm beyond even the Five Kage. In front of him, both Jinchūriki and ordinary jōnin were no different.
After a moment of silence, Yahiko asked Byakuya, “I believe it wasn’t you, but what do you think about the upcoming Five Kage Summit? Does the masked man have the strength to face the five great shinobi villages?”
All along, the masked man’s displayed power had hovered at the Kage level.
In a one-on-one fight, he would struggle to defeat a top-tier Kage-level opponent. His only real edge came from his space-time abilities, which left others helpless.
But space-time techniques weren’t invincible. Once the five great villages joined forces to hunt him down, the masked man would be worn out by the constant chakra drain and would never be able to gather all the Tailed Beasts.
That, however, also hindered the Akatsuki’s own Tailed Beast collection efforts—an undeniable problem for them.
After a long silence, Byakuya finally replied to Yahiko’s doubts, “The masked man alone can’t threaten the five great villages, but if you add Orochimaru and the Edo Tensei technique into the mix, things become uncertain.”
Byakuya then raised his finger, “Some time ago, when I was away, Orochimaru launched an attack on Nagato. It’s very likely the masked man and Orochimaru have already formed an alliance. They want to take Nagato’s Rinnegan and use it to control the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Orochimaru may have failed in that attack, but Edo Tensei is still powerful. It will bring serious trouble to both us and the five villages.”
“This…” Yahiko fell into a brief silence.
As the weakest in terms of combat ability among the Akatsuki leadership, Yahiko excelled in managing the organization and overseeing its operations. But when it came to strategy and battle, he was completely out of his depth.
Byakuya continued, “I believe that once the masked man and Orochimaru caught wind of the Five Kage Summit, they immediately began preparing a new round of actions against us and the five great villages.”
“Then… should we still attend the summit?”
Yahiko was at a loss and could only turn to Byakuya for guidance.
Byakuya replied firmly, “Of course we must attend the Five Kage Summit. Our participation alone signifies the Akatsuki’s status. Not only must we attend, we must aim to seize a leading role in it.”
Yahiko fell silent again, unsure of Byakuya’s deeper intentions.
At that moment, Byakuya seemed to have made up his mind and slowly said, “There’s one more thing I need to tell you…”
“What is it?” Yahiko seemed to have guessed what was coming and looked uneasy.
Byakuya took a deep breath and said, “You all remember that I’ve long maintained a covert alliance with the masked man, right? Recently, he’s been contacting me frequently, asking me to help him fight the five great villages. He also wants me to attack Nagato and seize his Rinnegan.”
Hearing this, Yahiko’s eyes widened in shock, and both Nagato and Konan turned to look at Byakuya.
Byakuya continued, “I’m planning to launch an attack on Nagato soon and fully infiltrate the masked man’s organization.”
“Byakuya, you’re going to attack me?” Nagato’s eyes were full of disbelief.
Byakuya nodded slightly, then said, “To gain the masked man’s complete trust, I have to go through with this. Besides, I don’t believe he’s truly the mastermind behind the Eye of the Moon Plan. I think someone else is pulling the strings.”
“What do you mean by that?” Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan all turned to look at Byakuya.
If they didn’t know for sure that Byakuya would never betray the Akatsuki, they might have already considered him an enemy. After all, he had just admitted to planning to take Nagato’s Rinnegan.
Byakuya took a sip of water, then looked straight at Nagato and said, “Nagato, let me ask you something—do you really think your Rinnegan is natural?”
Nagato widened his eyes.
“You’re a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan. Why would you suddenly awaken the Rinnegan out of nowhere?”
Nagato was stunned. He had no answer. Though his parents had Uzumaki blood, they weren’t shinobi. From a bloodline perspective, he had no reason to possess the Rinnegan.
“Byakuya, but… Jiraiya-sensei said I was the Child of Prophecy…”
Nagato tried to refute Byakuya, but halfway through his words, even he began to doubt himself. He didn’t truly believe he was the so-called Child of Prophecy.
In the shinobi world, the only one truly worthy of being called the Child of Prophecy was Byakuya.
Back when they were all still teenagers, Byakuya had already shown a maturity far beyond his years. While it was true that orphans often matured earlier than their peers, Byakuya was different—he always seemed to have a wealth of methods and theories to draw upon.
Even more terrifying was that Byakuya almost never made mistakes, and even if he did, he could correct them quickly. All these signs pointed to him being the true Child of Prophecy.
Nagato took a deep breath and said, “If my Rinnegan is what you need, then come and take it now. I believe you won’t betray our dream.”
Byakuya shook his head and said, “I can't take it now. If I’m going to pretend to betray the Akatsuki, then we must have a dramatic battle. Otherwise, the masked man will become suspicious.”
“Alright, I’ll leave it to you then.”
In front of Byakuya, Nagato returned to his usual indecisive self. That had always been his naturein this timeline or the original one, Nagato was never a decisive shinobi.
In the original timeline, he had always followed Yahiko’s lead. Before Yahiko’s death, he upheld the ideal of peaceful negotiation. After Yahiko died, he sought to become the god of a new world in his place.
But in this timeline, the person Nagato trusted most had shifted from Yahiko to Byakuya.
After this exchange, both Yahiko and Konan fell into silence. They didn’t know whether Byakuya’s decision was right or wrong, but it seemed they had no other choice.
After a moment, Yahiko asked, “If you’re going to feign defection from Akatsuki, are you still going to attend the Five Kage Summit?”
“Of course. But only through a wood clone.”
Byakuya replied without hesitation, “A summit like this is a major event in the shinobi world. I have no reason not to attend. And to distance myself from Akatsuki, I have to strike Nagato while you’re all away. Even though I’ve defected from the organization, Akatsuki is still a peace-seeking group.”
Byakuya then shrugged his shoulders, “Who knows? Maybe in the end, the Five Great Shinobi Villages will have to rely on Akatsuki to defeat me and the masked man.”
Yahiko thought for a while and finally understood Byakuya’s logic. He asked, “Byakuya, this fake defection of yours—could it be that beyond gaining the masked man’s trust, you’re also trying to unite Akatsuki and the Five Great Shinobi Villages?”
Byakuya nodded slightly. “Something like that. If we use war to absorb the Five Great Shinobi Villages, even if peace is achieved, it will come at a heavy cost. Every shinobi is a precious asset to the shinobi world—I don’t want to see too many of them die. And if we can shape a sufficiently powerful enemy to force everyone to unite, and then use peaceful means to merge the villages, the losses would be minimized.”
After hearing Byakuya’s decision, the three fell into silence.
They hadn’t expected that Byakuya would go to such lengths for peace in the shinobi world. Not only would he risk great danger by infiltrating the masked man’s organization, he would eventually become the enemy of the entire world.
After a long while, Nagato quietly said, “Byakuya, you don’t have to sacrifice yourself like this. I could defect from Akatsuki instead. With the Rinnegan and the Six Paths of Pain, I also have the qualifications to be the shinobi world’s enemy.”
“And have you thought about this? You have a great reputation in the shinobi world. I’m just a nobody. I have a valid reason to betray Akatsuki, but you don’t.”
Byakuya shook his head, walked over to Nagato, and said, “Nagato, don’t try to steal my thunder. If you join the masked man, you’ll be devoured, bones and all. Don’t forget, your Rinnegan isn’t your own. It likely came from the one pulling the strings behind the masked man.”
Hearing that, Nagato froze. He knew he was no match for Byakuya.
Even if he infiltrated the masked man’s organization, he wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything. In the entire Akatsuki, in the whole shinobi world, only Byakuya had the power to make a deal with the devil and still walk away.
Seeing Nagato fall silent, Byakuya patted him on the shoulder and said, “You just stay here and wait for me to take the Rinnegan from you... and with it, your supposed destined death...”
By the time he finished, his voice had become inaudible.
---
After the internal meeting, Amegakure decided to participate in the Five Kage Summit.
Once the news was made public, the entire village erupted with excitement. It meant that Amegakure had officially stepped into the ranks of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, becoming the sixth independent village.
Although years of development had already made the Ame-nin aware of their country’s growing power, this was the first time they had received official recognition from the other five villages—something that older generations had only dared to dream of.
After deciding to attend, they moved on to selecting representatives.
This time, three members of Amegakure’s “F4” core, Yahiko, Konan, and Byakuya, would travel to the Land of Iron for the summit. Nagato would remain in the village to guard against potential attacks from other forces.
Soon, the delegation departed under the watchful eyes of Ame-nin.
At the top of Amegakure’s tallest tower, Nagato quietly watched them leave. He was ready to sacrifice himself—for the dream of the Akatsuki.
At that moment, Byakuya turned around and gave him a deep, lingering look.
---
The Land of Iron lay in the northern region of the continent, not far from Amegakure, and even within Akatsuki’s sphere of influence.
Unlike other small nations, the Land of Iron maintained no relations with the outside world. It had no shinobi villages and was a sacred land for samurai—the last true nation of warriors.
Yahiko had once visited its leader, General Mifune, in hopes of bringing the Land of Iron into Akatsuki’s alliance. But every attempt had been met with firm refusal.
Other shinobi villages had tried similar tactics, but all were rejected.
Mifune had even issued a public statement declaring the Land of Iron a permanently neutral nation, one that would never get involved in ninja affairs.
Faced with Mifune’s unwavering stance, the major shinobi villages gave up trying to recruit them. After all, the benefits of controlling the Land of Iron were minimal as it had no valuable ports, farmland, or mines.
All it had were warriors, relics of an older age, who still clung to the way of battle.
Upon entering the Land of Iron, Byakuya and Yahiko immediately felt the northern cold and bundled into thick coats. A squad of patrolling samurai at a major crossroad spotted their approach and came over at once.
Upon recognizing Byakuya, Yahiko, and Konan, the squad leader politely said, “You must be Yahiko-dono, Byakuya-dono, and Konan-dono. General Mifune instructed me to escort you to the site of the Five Kage Summit.”
Byakuya gave a slight nod, then suddenly asked, “Have the other villages arrived yet?”
The samurai captain paused, then replied, “That’s unclear at the moment. But aside from the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure, you seem to be the earliest to arrive.”
Byakuya nodded. “So we’re the first ones here. I wonder if there’ll be a chance to spar with the other Kage. It’s been too long since I had a good fight. Maybe we should set up an ambush.”
Cold sweat broke out on the samurai’s back. He had no idea how to respond.
Yahiko saw his discomfort and said, “Byakuya, don’t tease them. If you want to fight, go fight the masked man. He’s the real enemy of the shinobi world.”
Byakuya smiled and replied, “You’re right. The masked man is a far better opponent.”
Once the Ame convoy had moved on, the samurai captain finally let out a breath of relief. One of the younger samurai beside him asked in confusion, “Captain, why were you so nervous just now?”
The captain glanced at him and said, “That was Byakuya, a shinobi who stands shoulder to shoulder with the Five Kage. His teacher was the demigod Hanzō. His strength may even surpass General Mifune’s.”
