Naraku Uehara

Chapter 1 Naraku Uehara

Inside the dark cave.

The sound of dripping water was intermittent and continuous.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps splashing through the water echoed in the secluded cave, immediately alerting the man and woman hidden within.

"Payne, someone's coming!"

The woman frowned, her hands instantly transforming into sheets of origami, imbued with chakra and appearing exceptionally sharp. Her voice was calm: "Besides the two of us, only Madara and Zetsu know this place... Has it been them?"

"No, it's a strange ninja."

The man raised his head, his eerie eyes fixed on the cave entrance and the figure that had appeared. His voice sounded cold and ruthless: "Xiao Nan, go and kill him!"

Even though they abandoned the principles of the first Akatsuki organization here twelve years ago because of the death of their old friend, it doesn't mean they want to see strangers enter the place where their old friend once lived.

Killing a strange ninja who sets foot on this inviolable land is a crime without any guilt for either man or woman.

They were used to killing.

"Excuse me, is this... the Akatsuki's base?"

Before they could make a move, the figure that appeared in the cave spoke first to the man and woman standing inside: "I am Uehara Naraku, son of Uehara Hajime. Twelve years ago, he told my mother that he had joined an organization called Akatsuki and was going to follow Lord Yahiko, but he has never returned since."

"..."

The woman stopped swinging the paper shuriken, and the man's expression stiffened slightly. They heard a somewhat unfamiliar name.

No, or rather, I'm somewhat familiar with it.

At least for women, it's still familiar.

Because that ninja named Uehara Hatsumi once died protecting her, ultimately falling to the enemy's blade—a meaningless sacrifice.

As the figure gradually approached the cave entrance, the man and woman could see what the person looked like.

This is a boy who even wears his ninja headband askew. He is wearing a large, long-sleeved robe, which is obviously a bit too big for his age.

The uniforms of the first generation of Akatsuki look rather rudimentary now, because Akatsuki was extremely poor at that time.

However, it still makes one feel nostalgic.

"Are you Uehara Hajime's son?"

The man rolled his eerie eyes, staring intently at the boy before him. Noticing the boy's striking resemblance to his father, he said in a deep voice, "We have no one like him in our organization. You can leave!"

"..."

The woman opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but when she looked up at the man beside her pleadingly, she only saw him shake his head slightly.

The woman bit her lip, but ultimately fell silent.

The boy gripped a kunai tightly in his hand, seemingly trying to appear calm. But as he stopped and turned to leave, he caught a glimpse of the man and woman's faces. Suddenly, he put the kunai away and reached into his pocket.

The man and woman in the cave exchanged a glance, their expressions showing surprise. As their guard was raised, the boy took out a photograph.

"..."

The boy looked down at the photo.

He looked up again, glancing at the man and then at the woman.

Then, the boy held up the photo towards them and said softly, "Excuse me, are you Lord Konan and Lord Yahiko?"

"..."

The man and woman fell silent.

That photo was the only one ever taken of the first generation of Akatsuki. Many of the later members were missing from the photo. At the time, because everyone considered Akatsuki to be a peaceful organization, they did not pay much attention to the information about its members, and many people sent it to their families.

Moreover, the Yahiko mentioned by the boy was the first leader of the Akatsuki organization, and the source of their increasingly depressed mood.

The man looked exactly like Yahiko, because the man's body was originally Yahiko's corpse, which he had turned into a powerful puppet.

The person controlling the puppet was a red-haired boy in the photo.

"Lord Yahiko doesn't seem to have changed much."

The boy rambled on, saying, "Although Lord Konan is quite old, you can still see the features of her when she was young..."

"..."

The woman's face darkened.

The man calmly gazed at the boy before him, then suddenly spoke: "Your father is dead. He died in battle twelve years ago. I've already forgotten his name. The weak are not worth remembering."

"Pain!"

A look of panic flashed across the woman's face!

In any case, she never expected that the man would speak the truth so bluntly, especially since he was a descendant of someone from their past!

The boy's face fell, and he retorted forcefully, "If you don't remember his name, why do you say he died in battle?"

"because…"

The man looked at the boy and said coldly, word by word, "Twelve years ago, only two people from the entire Akatsuki organization survived."

"...He can survive!"

The woman suddenly shouted, then added, "If it weren't for me, many people could have survived."

"..."

The man beside her seemed to want to say something to comfort her, but seeing the woman's downcast face, he finally stopped himself.

"I see."

The boy's expression instantly hardened, and he waved his hand coldly: "Since he died twelve years ago, I won't blame him."

After saying that, the boy turned and left.

However, before Uehara Naraku could take two steps, a strange force pulled his body back, and the man grabbed his collar with his hand!

"Your father may not have been particularly powerful, but he was still a respectable ninja. Don't you have any feelings for him at all?"

"Payne, let him go!"

The woman anxiously reached out and grabbed the man's arm, trying to make him loosen his grip on the boy's collar.

Uehara Naraku tugged at Payne's hand, looked up at the man's eerie eyes, and a mocking smile flashed across his face: "I'm sorry, but I was only born twelve years ago. Apart from this photo at home and this piece of clothing, I have no memory of him whatsoever."

From his words, the image of a man who abandoned his wife and children leaps out at us.

Regardless of the circumstances, it sounds rather strange that a ninja named Uehara Hajime would abandon his wife, who had recently given birth, and his newborn son to follow a mysterious Akatsuki organization.

"…sorry."

The woman beside her stammered an apology.

Konan's eyes welled up with tears. Twelve years ago, they were all only fifteen years old and could not understand how much sacrifice the ninjas who followed them had made back then.

Now they know only the tip of the iceberg.

"There's no need to apologize; that was his choice."

The boy shook his head, pulled his hand away from the man's, and said softly, "I came to find Xiao's base because my mother wanted to know about him before she passed away."

Xiao Nan looked at the boy and asked nervously, "Your parents are both dead, so...where are you going now?"

"Of course, we'll go and seek refuge with Lord Hanzo!"

Uehara Naraku shrugged and explained, "For the past few months, I've been a wandering ninja, gathering information about Akatsuki and my father's whereabouts... Now that my wish has been fulfilled, of course I'm going to join Lord Hanzo and become a proper ninja."

"..."

Pain and Konan exchanged a glance. A descendant of the first Akatsuki member was actually going to join his father's killer?

This brat named Uehara Naraku doesn't know the truth. How can those who know the truth, especially Konan, tolerate such a thing happening?

"no."

Konan reached out and grabbed his shoulder, squatted down in front of him, and said with a cold expression, "Your father, Uehara Hajime, joined Akatsuki, so his child is also a member of the organization!"

"Your organization...it seems a bit like a pyramid scheme!"

Uehara Naraku looked back and forth between Konan and Pain, couldn't help but blink, and subconsciously blurted out a comment.

but…

He finally achieved his true goal.

A notification sounded in Uehara Naraku's mind: Side Quest: Join an Organization (1/1), Quest Completed, Reward: [Gallio the Colossus of Justice] Summoning Contract.

(End of this chapter)