Chapter 76: Preparations
Rain Shinobi Village, inside the hospital.
"This is a map of Konoha."
Konan spread a map on the table. Su Xiao, Nagato, and Konan looked at the map.
Attacking Konoha was no simple matter; it required thorough preparation. Even though Nagato was very strong, a reckless assault on Konoha could still fail.
"There are three main attack points: Konoha Hospital, the logistics supplies storage area, and the assembly point for Konoha's patrol ninjas nearby. Destroying these three locations will smoothly cripple Konoha..."
Konan began explaining her plan.
"This plan..."
Nagato looked at the map, but seemed to be considering something else.
"What's wrong, Nagato?"
Konan felt her plan was fairly complete.
"It's nothing. Let's go with your plan. We'll adapt if anything unexpected happens."
In truth, Nagato already had a plan in mind. Simply defeating Konoha wasn't his goal; he wanted to erase Konoha completely.
"Our objective this time isn't just to attack Konoha. There's a more important mission."
"Kurama, right?"
Su Xiao guessed what Nagato was about to say.
"Correct, Kurama. Someone has already gone to capture Gyuki, so Kurama will be captured during this operation. Bai Ye, hold back a bit when capturing Kurama."
Nagato meant that Su Xiao shouldn't devour the tailed beast half to death.
"We'll see how it goes. Capturing a Jinchuriki alive isn't easy, especially Kurama's."
The three continued their discussion, gradually refining the plan of action.
However, many preparations were needed before executing the plan, such as entrusting some high-difficulty missions to Konoha.
Large ninja villages had considerable expenses. Relying solely on the Daimyo's support was clearly not enough; they couldn't let their lifeline be completely controlled by others. Therefore, major ninja villages accepted commissions from other forces. The larger the village, the higher the fees. Although the fees were high, these villages had good credibility, with Konoha and Iwa leading the way.
After accepting a commission, the village would dispatch ninjas to carry it out. Konan submitted commissions to Konoha through special channels, and the commissions were of high difficulty with generous offers.
These channels had been cultivated over a long period and had cooperated with Konoha several times before, so there was no worry about Konoha becoming suspicious.
Weakening the enemy was equivalent to strengthening oneself. Su Xiao and the others were about to go to war with Konoha, so they would use any method that could increase their chances of victory.
That said, Nagato and Konan did not mobilize any ninjas from Rain Shinobi Village.
Not only that, but during the battle, Konan would try to avoid appearing in Konoha. If she did appear, all witnesses would have to be eliminated.
Konan handled all affairs in Rain Shinobi Village. Although the village was isolated, some of her information would inevitably leak.
If Konan were exposed, the remnants of Konoha after the war would follow the trail and surely come knocking.
...
After preparing everything, on the day before the battle, Su Xiao, Konan, and Nagato left the Land of Rain under the cover of night. The Land of Rain had rarely stopped raining.
The Land of Rain was located in the crevice between the borders of the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind, not too far from Konoha. Traveling at full speed, they could arrive in over ten hours.
Su Xiao rode on Bubu Wang's back, while Konan and Nagato ran on foot. Nagato's body had recovered, so this level of travel was nothing to him.
Su Xiao lowered his head, light flickering in his hands as if he were kneading something. Seeing this, Konan, who was running, instinctively moved away from Su Xiao, as if he were holding something dangerous.
"So that's how it is."
Su Xiao seemed to be studying something, occasionally nodding or shaking his head.
In his hand was a piece of blue clay. This was the Explosive Clay technique he had obtained from Deidara in exchange. He had paid with the formula for a Special Grade Alchemy Bomb to get this from Deidara.
Of course, obtaining this technique didn't mean he had the same ability as Deidara. The Explosive Clay was just a prototype; its power wasn't too great. The post-processing was the key, which was also Deidara's strength—what he called art.
Originally, Explosive Clay wasn't used for combat but as a raw material for fireworks. It was only after Deidara's modifications that it gained its current power.
Su Xiao observed the blue clay in his hand. Its properties were similar to Explosive Clay. Explosive Clay was infused with Chakra, while this blue clay was infused with Cyan Steel Shadow Energy.
Although Special Grade Alchemy Bombs had decent power and were easy to carry, they could only be manufactured in Reincarnation Paradise without materials, and the cost was high.
Su Xiao had been wanting to improve Alchemy Bombs, at least making them producible anytime, not just stored as inventory.
He had been studying the Explosive Clay technique for over half a month. Today, he finally produced a finished product, but the result was unsatisfactory.
It turned out that Special Grade Alchemy Bombs and Explosive Clay couldn't learn from each other. Although their appearances and effects were similar, their materials and manufacturing techniques were vastly different.
The blue clay Su Xiao made couldn't even change shape, let alone explode.
Sometimes persistence was necessary, but persisting without hope was foolish.
"Indeed, Explosive Clay and Alchemy Bombs are completely different. This was to be expected."
Su Xiao tossed away the blue clay. As Bubu Wang ran, the blue clay disappeared.
The experiment had failed, and his mood inevitably sank a little. Chakra and Cyan Steel Shadow Energy were different, both in nature and function. The failure was expected.
"If I could master Chakra, there might be hope. Chakra..."
Su Xiao suddenly thought of a possibility—a possibility to improve Special Grade Alchemy Bombs.
Alchemy Bombs were made from several materials + Mana. What would happen if Mana were replaced with Cyan Steel Shadow Energy?
Once this idea appeared, it wouldn't go away. He urgently wanted to experiment.
Unfortunately, he couldn't experiment before returning to Reincarnation Paradise. Although he couldn't experiment, he could speculate in his mind whether this method was feasible.
Thinking made the journey less boring. Before he knew it, the three had arrived within Konoha's territory.
After reaching the forest near Konoha, they didn't immediately attack the village. First, they needed to find a hiding place for Nagato and set up the control platform he used to manipulate the Six Paths of Pain.
Konan handled this. She waved her hand, and a large amount of paper flew out. These papers gathered together, eventually forming the shape of a tree.
After shaping, the paper tree developed branches and green leaves. As long as one didn't observe it up close, they wouldn't notice it was a fake tree.
There were vast forests around Konoha, with countless types of trees. This oddly shaped fake tree, nearly ten meters in diameter and shorter than other trees, wasn't conspicuous.
Konan walked into the fake tree and began setting up the control platform for Nagato to manipulate the Six Paths of Pain. The main body of this platform was made of wood, with a base of a black metal, the same material as the metal spikes on Nagato's body.
Three hours later, the control platform was successfully set up. With this, Nagato could remotely control the Six Paths of Pain.
Although the Six Paths of Pain were powerful, controlling them had many prerequisites. This was a ninjutsu Nagato had developed based on the Rinnegan.