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Mastermind of the Akatsuki 329
🕑 Added 2025-02-19 09:00:06 +0000 UTCChapter 329: Settling Matters in Sunagakure
After learning the truth about his identity, Naruto neither caused a scene nor lost control. He calmly accepted the fact that he was the son of the Fourth Hokage and the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails. He even decided to continue practicing the Will of Fire moving forward.
Upon receiving this news from White Zetsu, Byakuya smiled mysteriously.
Naruto’s access to records about the Fourth Hokage and Kushina was no coincidence—it was intricately tied to Byakuya. If not for Byakuya’s instructions for Shisui to prepare in advance, Naruto might have had to wait until after the Pain Invasion arc to discover his parentage.
The question of why Naruto learned about his lineage so late is a curious one.
In the original timeline, as Naruto grew older and his unique status as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki became more apparent, many shinobi in Konoha must have suspected his identity. However, these individuals either hid the truth or deceived him outright. No one ever told Naruto directly.
If Naruto hadn’t broken the Eight Trigrams Seal himself, he might never have known he was the son of the Fourth Hokage.
The reason for this secrecy was simple. Initially, no one knew his true identity, and later, they were too afraid to let him know.
Suppose Naruto had discovered he was the son of a hero yet endured such unjust treatment as a child. In that case, it might have caused a mental imbalance or even triggered a destructive rampage, resulting in another Nine-Tails incident.
Only when Naruto had enough strength and status—earning recognition as a hero of Konoha—did the village plan to reveal his lineage. By then, a successful and respected Naruto wouldn’t have pursued the grievances of his childhood.
But that was the Naruto of the original timeline. In this altered reality, Naruto was raised under the influence of Black Zetsu.
Even though Black Zetsu followed Byakuya’s orders and acted as a grandfatherly mentor, Naruto was inevitably affected by his influence and gradually progressed toward "darkness."
Naruto’s reaction to learning the truth was very telling—Byakuya was quite satisfied with his progress toward "darkening."
If Naruto had reacted with outrage or stormed into the Hokage’s office to demand answers, it would have shown that Black Zetsu’s influence wasn’t thorough enough and that Naruto still had faith in the Will of Fire.
However, the current situation has changed. On the surface, Naruto professed belief in the Will of Fire, repeated it aloud, and even practiced it in his daily actions.
But deep down, Naruto didn’t honestly believe in it. He merely treated the Will of Fire as a tool.
Naruto understood that as long as he displayed behavior aligned with the Will of Fire, he would gain more benefits. Not only would it lower the Third Hokage’s guard, but it would also sway hesitant villagers and shinobi to his side.
By making Naruto use the Will of Fire instead of being brainwashed by it, Byakuya achieved his goal through Black Zetsu’s guidance. This approach would cultivate a vastly different Naruto from the original timeline—a Naruto who could eventually join Byakuya’s Akatsuki organization.
Pulling his scattered thoughts back together, Byakuya quickly wrote letters to be delivered by his wood clones to Black Zetsu, Shisui, and Kabuto Yakushi.
These three were his key operatives in Konoha, where Black Zetsu was responsible for the "Child of Prophecy," Naruto, Shisui Uchiha monitored the Hokage’s office and the ANBU, and Kabuto Yakushi, the most secretive pawn, gathered intel on the inner workings of Konoha.
After finishing the letters and sending them off with the clones, Byakuya turned his attention to a mission report sent by Sasori.
Sasori wasn’t fond of mission reports but was enthusiastic about exchanging puppet techniques ideas. He had written extensively about the future of puppetry and new developments. Byakuya skimmed through this before reaching the crucial piece of information at the end.
Two months after the Fourth Kazekage’s defection, Sasori had successfully become the Fifth Kazekage. He gradually adapted to his role and got along well with Rasa’s three children.
After carefully reviewing the report, Byakuya felt a sense of relief.
He had orchestrated Sasori’s rise to power as the Fifth Kazekage to exert control over Sunagakure. However, Sasori’s ability to maintain control over the village was still uncertain. After all, Sasori had defected from the village as a teenager and was a notorious "problem child."
There was always the possibility that Sasori might grow tired of the Kazekage position and defect again.
With Sasori successfully becoming the Fifth Kazekage, Byakuya couldn't help but reflect that Sasori indeed had what it took to secure the position. Despite wandering the world for over a decade, his sense of belonging to Sunagakure had evidently not faded.
As a puppeteer, Sasori's personality was akin to a scientist's—so long as he had ample experimental materials, he could immerse himself in research indefinitely. As for the administrative duties of the Kazekage, those could easily be delegated to others.
The shinobi world operates on the principle of power above all else. Constantly handling bureaucratic affairs leaves little time for training. However, with Sasori now as the Fifth Kazekage and a member of the Akatsuki, Sunagakure could, in theory, now be considered subordinate to the organization.
"If that's the case, shouldn't the system be rewarding me with a huge payout?" Byakuya mused.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, the familiar sound of the system notification echoed in his ears:
[Sasori of the Red Sand has become the Fifth Kazekage, and Sunagakure has officially joined the Akatsuki. You have received the Wind Release Ninjutsu Compendium, the Advanced Puppet Manufacturing Compendium, the Wind Release Mastery, and a large amount of chakra.]
The notification chimed for a solid ten seconds. The rewards sounded generous, but Byakuya still felt slightly disappointed.
"The entire Sunagakure has joined the Akatsuki; logically, I should get a reward for every single ninja in the village, right?"
Even if lower-ranking shinobi and chunin weren't included, there should still have been dozens of notifications.
Then again, on second thought, most Sunagakure shinobi likely only possessed basic ninjutsu and taijutsu. Only a select few elites would have mastered advanced techniques or kekkei genkai.
The system rewards combined all these individual contributions into significant upgrades, such as the Wind Release Compendium and the Advanced Puppet Manufacturing Compendium. The individual chakra fragments from each shinobi had also fused into the "large amount of chakra" reward, saving Byakuya the hassle of managing numerous small rewards.
After claiming his prizes, Byakuya felt a warm current flow through his body, expanding his chakra reserves significantly.
The "large amount of chakra" was no exaggeration. While still falling short of the chakra levels of a full-tailed beast, it was not far behind. His already formidable chakra reserves had grown even more terrifying.
Out of curiosity, Byakuya opened his system panel and checked his personal stats.
The word "Tailed Beast+" stood out prominently, indicating that his chakra levels had surpassed that of an average-tailed beast and reached a realm beyond the capabilities of ordinary shinobi.
And yet, this was not his limit.
Byakuya speculated that if he could bring all five great shinobi villages under his control and gather all the tailed beasts, his chakra reserves would surpass Kurama's and approach the level of the complete Ten-Tails.
At that point, he might not even need to become the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki to attain Six Paths-level power.
However, as his rewards accumulated, his abilities grew increasingly diverse. By now, he had mastered nearly half of the Bloodline Limit in the shinobi world and could no longer track how many jutsu he had learned.
At this point, Byakuya felt more like the true "Professor of Ninjutsu" than anyone else.
After all, he had genuinely mastered over a thousand jutsu.
