Within the borders of the Land of Rain.

Mud and filthy water splattered across the battlefield. Yahiko, his expression resolute, led a unit of Akatsuki fighters in battle against the Hidden Rain Village's forces. Looking around, under the heavy downpour, his black-robed comrades were falling one after another.

Facing the Hidden Rain's coordinated pincer attack and their well-prepared offensive, the Akatsuki forces were unable to form any effective defense or meaningful response in the moment.

They had been ambushed by the Hidden Rain Village.

The ambush had caused heavy casualties throughout the engagement. At this moment, the other Akatsuki members around them were desperately attempting to organize rescue efforts while simultaneously searching for a path of retreat.

"Yahiko, we cannot keep going like this. We are going to have to leave some of our comrades behind."

Not far away, Konan spoke with her face drenched in rainwater, her eyes filled with worry.

This was a rebel faction stronghold within the Land of Rain, surrounded by several villages that had been deeply affected by the ongoing conflict. Akatsuki had come here specifically to suppress the disorder.

However, they had not anticipated that the Hidden Rain Village had already predicted their appearance and had taken control of this particular rebel group in advance. A portion of the rebels and Hidden Rain ninja had been disguised as ordinary civilians.

When Akatsuki moved in to subdue the area, the disguised forces launched a sudden attack that caught every Akatsuki member completely off guard.

Put plainly, this trap had been designed specifically to exploit Akatsuki's compassion.

This Akatsuki group, an armed force that had risen from within the Land of Rain itself, was fundamentally different from the various organizations that had appeared before them. They did not use large-scale warfare to cause destruction and plunder resources. They genuinely helped the refugees throughout the Land of Rain with real sincerity.

Furthermore, Yahiko as their leader had already made his name known throughout the country, and both his methods and his convictions had been thoroughly studied by the Hidden Rain Village.

This young leader revered peace. Even when eliminating hostile forces within the Land of Rain, he would not pursue and kill enemies to their final breath. Instead, he would do everything possible to minimize casualties, using pressure and tactical positioning to force enemies to surrender or disband rather than destroying them outright.

In the eyes of the Hidden Rain Village, this kind of peaceful ideal was simply laughable. Too naive. It contradicted the cruel reality of the ninja world and was incompatible with the fundamental rules of survival.

But they seemed to have underestimated something essential. Under Yahiko's leadership, Akatsuki had genuinely grown stronger and stronger over time. There was nothing ephemeral or fragile about what they had built. What the Hidden Rain Village dismissed as a saintly heart had instead become Yahiko's most powerful form of personal charisma, continuously attracting like-minded people who believed in something greater than themselves to join his cause.

That was precisely why Akatsuki stood where it stood today.

"I will not abandon a single one of my comrades."

Facing Konan's suggestion, Yahiko's eyes were completely steady. Without another word, he immediately launched himself toward a nearby comrade who was being attacked by Hidden Rain fighters and pulled him free.

Nagato saw this and followed immediately.

Konan watched Yahiko's retreating figure, her brows furrowing slightly for a brief moment. Then a smile appeared on her face.

Yes. This was Yahiko. Their leader. The symbol of everything they understood themselves to be.

Although Yahiko's personality made Akatsuki's operations, especially on the battlefield, far less tactically flexible and increased the difficulty of every engagement considerably, it was precisely this quality that gave the current Akatsuki its extraordinary cohesion. Saying they were attracted by his ideology was not entirely accurate.

It was more precise to say that all of them were able to move forward together and give everything they had for the Land of Rain not because of ideological unity, but simply because of who Yahiko was as a person.

"Quickly move the wounded to safety. Those still capable of fighting form a defensive formation and do everything possible to prevent the enemy from tightening their encirclement further."

Konan called out to the comrades fighting around her and immediately led several people charging in one direction.

"You few follow me to break through the enemy's line and open an escape route to the outside."

"Yes!"

Not far away, the Hidden Rain forces' commander stood on an elevated position, watching the Akatsuki fighters struggling desperately in what was clearly a dangerous situation. He sneered coldly.

"Hmph. Struggling uselessly. A group of low-ranking ninja who dare to oppose the village. Truly tired of living."

With that, he raised his hand. The Hidden Rain fighters standing around him instantly dispersed and moved toward Yahiko, Konan, and the other core Akatsuki members.

"Peace? The Land of Rain exists as it does today, and all of you have survived to this day, which means you should be grateful to Lord Hanzo. Without him, you would not even have the right to stand here. This is already Lord Hanzo's generous reward to people like you. Do not be so endlessly greedy."

The Hidden Rain commander's cold gaze locked onto Yahiko's figure as he spoke with undisguised contempt. A moment later he moved, joining the battle directly.

Yahiko rescued his wounded comrade and pushed him aside to safety. Hearing the enemy commander's voice carrying across the battlefield, he turned and spotted the commander moving toward him. Yahiko immediately rushed forward to engage.

"Do not worry about me. Save the others first!"

Nagato, who had been about to follow him, stopped as Yahiko's words reached him. He watched the familiar figure moving away through the rain.

Nagato's eyes were filled with exhaustion, but the fighting spirit within them did not waver for even a moment.

Anyone else could retreat. But Yahiko would never retreat, because of who he was and what his position as their leader meant to every person fighting beside him.

This battlefield approach, which seemed reckless and without strategy on the surface, gave every one of his comrades a profound and unshakeable sense of security. It made every member of Akatsuki willing to lay down their life without hesitation.

The heavy rain fell harder and harder. The sounds of blood and screaming intertwined without pause, and the battle situation grew increasingly complex.

But the Akatsuki, who had been facing a desperate situation, gradually began to turn the tide.

Yahiko alone carried the morale of every comrade around him, displaying a will that left even the Hidden Rain Village fighters visibly shaken. The Hidden Rain commander had planned his operation meticulously and believed every contingency had been accounted for.

He had never imagined that this group of low-ranking ninja and fighters would possess a degree of resilience that defied all normal expectations. If this had been any ordinary armed organization, the battle would have ended long ago.

What the Akatsuki members displayed on this battlefield was a will that even the Hidden Rain Village could not help but be struck by, a quality that dazzled even their enemies. This feeling was something one could only truly understand by actually fighting against them.

Every member had twisted themselves into a single rope, each one carrying a spirit of sacrifice, willing to die themselves rather than allow a comrade to be harmed. This kind of fighting spirit had never existed on any ninja world battlefield before.

It was completely selfless.

Bang.

Finally, after a long and brutal exchange, Yahiko's fist sent the Hidden Rain commander crashing to the ground, and with that blow, Akatsuki's victory in this engagement was completely declared.

The Hidden Rain commander lay in the mud and water, struggling to rise.

Beside him, Yahiko held a kunai in his hand and gestured for the man not to make any sudden movements. He did not bring the blade down.

The Akatsuki members still capable of action were cleaning up the battlefield around them, but none of them were killing the remaining Hidden Rain fighters either. It did not appear they had any intention of taking prisoners.

"Take your people and go."

"Return and tell him this. Whatever the Hidden Rain Village intends to do, it cannot stop Akatsuki from moving forward. We have no desire to stand in opposition to the Hidden Rain Village. We are simply completing our own mission, to let this country that has endured wound upon wound finally have its cries of suffering heard without being drowned out by the rain."

Yahiko spoke in a low and steady voice.

Go?

Hearing that Yahiko intended to release him, the Hidden Rain commander was visibly startled for a moment. Then a sharp and contemptuous smile crossed his face.

"Naive. As long as you hold onto thinking like that, you will never reach your goal."

His eyes as he looked at Yahiko carried a complicated quality, and his words carried a deeper layer of meaning beneath the contempt.

Yahiko seemed to catch something in the man's expression. He smiled with quiet confidence.

"Is that so? I believe we will succeed."

The Hidden Rain commander said nothing more. He gestured to the surviving Hidden Rain fighters around him and prepared to withdraw.

Yahiko slowly lowered the arm holding the kunai.

But a moment later, something changed.

Suddenly, the droplets of water falling through the air seemed to slow down. Time itself seemed to stop at that instant.

Yahiko's pupils slowly expanded.

Because the Hidden Rain commander standing before him, in the space of a single blink, had his neck snap ninety degrees to the side, dying instantly without even a sound, all breath leaving his body immediately.

In the distance, Konan and Nagato and the others also witnessed this moment.

A figure in black clothing wearing a mask had appeared silently behind the Hidden Rain commander and killed him in an instant. And none of Yahiko's group had sensed his presence at all.

Who?

Yahiko's mind went completely blank for a moment.

His eyes met the pair of pupils visible beneath the red-tinted mask as the two of them faced each other.

"Showing mercy to an enemy in the middle of a battle is the single greatest stupidity on any battlefield. Because the consequence comes back like a boomerang, and it will very likely hit you or the comrades beside you. In other words, by letting him walk away, you were putting your own comrades at risk of dying."

The red-masked figure opened his mouth suddenly, his voice low and slightly hoarse, staring directly at Yahiko as he spoke.

"Furthermore, I agree with what he said. On the battlefield, still clinging to the ideal of peace and wanting to carry that conviction through to the end is something that simply cannot be done."

"If you insist on persisting, if you continue to lead Akatsuki this way, you will absolutely never see the moment when the sky finally clears."

Yahiko said nothing.

...

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