Naruto : Akatsuki Bizzare Strategist!

Was the underground black market spreading baseless rumors with all these gossip stories?

They had plenty to say in their own defense.

The shinobi world was largely peaceful now, and with the Five Great Ninja Villages leading sweeping reforms, villages and nations had become more tightly integrated while the mission system grew increasingly standardized.

Their old business was practically being squeezed out of existence!

They had spent years building up credibility.

Now was the time to cash it in.

Besides, they had already made it perfectly clear that this was gossip news.

Anyone who took every word as absolute truth was the one with the problem.

And they were hardly afraid of people coming after them over it.

The underground black market used to do things far worse than publishing celebrity gossip.

They openly posted bounties on core figures from all the major villages, and even that had never resulted in them being completely wiped out by retaliation.

Compared with that, hiding from a few angry people offended by some gossip was easy.

Besides, they were only using this to earn enough money to survive while transitioning into a new line of business.

If people seriously wanted to start assassinating others over their influence on shinobi-world gossip, shouldn't they go after Kakashi first for writing those world-shaking masterpieces?

…

An hour later, at Sunagakure's Flying Raijin Formation transfer point, the traveling group had grown noticeably larger.

At the three gossipmongers' enthusiastic urging, Pakura decided to accompany them to Kirigakure as well.

Back then, Rasa had sold her out to Kirigakure.

A celebrated war hero like Pakura had ended up ambushed without warning and riddled with kunai until she resembled a pincushion.

Because she had never imagined her own village would betray her, she had not been on guard at all.

She had not even managed to use a single technique before she died.

Ironically, Rasa himself had also died because someone stabbed him in the back.

There was no doubt that Rasa had cooperated with Orochimaru only to be assassinated by Orochimaru and his people afterward.

Orochimaru himself had admitted as much.

The real question was how Rasa had died.

According to Sunagakure's autopsy report, Rasa suffered a single fatal piercing wound through the heart.

Apart from that, his body had almost no injuries.

Even his clothing remained largely intact.

The same was true of the two Sunagakure ANBU guards who died alongside him.

The scene showed practically no signs of an intense battle.

And what did that imply?

It hardly needed explaining.

Rasa fought by manipulating Gold Dust.

If he had entered a real battle, the result should have been an earth-shaking spectacle with Gold Dust surging like enormous waves.

Yet the crime scene showed nothing of the sort.

Every sign suggested that Rasa had basically been sitting there eating hot pot and singing songs with Orochimaru…

Then suddenly got stabbed to death.

What was the alternative?

That Rasa had simply been so weak he got one-shotted?

In any case, Sunagakure had ultimately reached that conclusion.

And after spending so many days observing the village since her resurrection, Pakura had already let go of her hatred toward Sunagakure itself.

What remained was Kirigakure.

After all, they were the ones who had actually killed her with the world's most literal manual version of the Shadow Shuriken Technique.

At the time, Sunagakure had been fighting both Kirigakure and Iwagakure on separate fronts.

Pakura had been one of their most important fighters against Kirigakure.

Her Scorch Release was not countered by Water Release the way ordinary Fire Release was.

If anything, it could evaporate Water Release techniques outright—including Kirigakure's signature mist.

So Pakura had never felt the slightest guilt when killing Kirigakure shinobi.

If anything, she had felt like she was doing the shinobi world a public service.

When Pakura proposed traveling to Kirigakure, Naruto, who knew absolutely none of that history, immediately responded:

"Sure, sure!"

Apparently, as long as the group kept getting bigger and livelier, Naruto was happy.

Kakashi and Gaara, however, knew the background and immediately realized something might be wrong.

Kakashi remained silent and looked toward Gaara instead.

The Kazekage was standing right there.

There was no reason for Kakashi to be the one asking.

"Pakura-san, what exactly do you intend to do in Kirigakure?" Gaara asked directly without bothering to dance around the subject.

The instant he did, the three gossipmongers began whispering among themselves.

Then they quietly shared their conclusions with a few nearby spectators who had come to watch.

Those listeners immediately looked crestfallen.

So the rumors really were true.

Lord Kazekage did not like women.

He liked Uzumaki Naruto!

Just look at the difference.

When dealing with male shinobi—even men whose political views directly opposed his—Gaara remained patient and considerate.

But when it came to a female shinobi?

No tact.

No subtlety.

Straight to the point.

"You guessed correctly. I'm going to Kirigakure for revenge."

Pakura seemed pleased by Gaara's straightforwardness and answered just as directly.

"More precisely, I'm going there to see whether I still need revenge."

Technically, that was not very direct at all.

The first half of her sentence instantly made the surrounding temperature seem to drop.

Only after she added the second half did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

After all…

"Uchiha Madara" was still nearby.

The last person who had tried to destroy peace, Hōichi, had already been elbowed into kneeling on the ground and sincerely repenting.

If Pakura had taken another second or two to finish her sentence, "Madara" might already have come charging over with his giant speaker.

"The Kirigakure shinobi from the Bloody Mist era were all lunatics."

Completely unaware that she had just narrowly escaped the Gate of Elbow, Pakura continued explaining seriously.

"They would kill even their own comrades at the slightest excuse just to prevent even the possibility of information leaking.

"I want to see what Kirigakure looks like now that the Bloody Mist system has supposedly been dismantled.

"And I also want to see what kind of woman the new Mizukage is—the one who ended that policy."

"So that's all."

Gaara relaxed.

"Then that's fine. Senior Pakura, please give the Mizukage my regards."

As expected of a former war hero.

Even after suffering such a betrayal and carrying so much hatred, Pakura was still fundamentally kindhearted.

Unfortunately…

"What did Lady Pakura mean by that?"

"I know, I know! Let me explain! Lady Pakura actually likes women. That's why she stayed single her entire life. This time, she heard about how beautiful the Fifth Mizukage is, so she wants to…"

"Oh! You're right! Look, Lady Pakura's fingernails are even trimmed short~"

"?"

The people gossiping about Pakura were not the three gossipmongers.

They were the random spectators who had just been chatting with them.

No matter how reckless Maki and the others were, even they would not joke about Pakura like this right in front of her.

Especially since Maki was literally Pakura's disciple.

The three gossipmongers had never imagined that ordinary Sunagakure villagers would possess such incredible talent.

They had already learned how to take one rumor and extrapolate ten more.

The gossip had finally come back to bite them.

Pakura had been standing there seriously explaining why she wanted to visit Kirigakure when that massive pile of nonsense floated over from behind her.

Her mind went completely blank.

She no longer even knew how to continue speaking.

And what did the fingernail thing mean?

Why did she not understand that part?

She had an Edo Tensei body.

Her nails did not even grow!

The length they were now was exactly how they had been when she died.

So why were people talking about her trimming them?

What the hell did that imply?

"Sensei, they said it! This has nothing to do with us!"

Maki hurried over to Pakura and frantically defended herself.

"And besides, this actually proves our earlier argument again!"

"Proves what?"

Pakura looked completely lost.

"That the rise of gay-type ninja has nothing to do with Makoto!"

Maki explained with complete seriousness.

"We already said that if male shinobi become bond-type ninja, then they might start looking at Makoto like some delicious little treat, which would put him in danger."

"And now we have another piece of evidence."

"If female ninja like you started becoming gay-type ninja too, wouldn't Makoto suddenly gain a whole bunch of romantic rivals for no reason?"

"And worse, they'd be the kind of rivals who could steal women away from him extremely easily."

Maki delivered her conclusion with absolute conviction.

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