When old townsfolk meet, tears well up from shared emotions.
Seeing a fellow countryman from the Land of Rain rush in, the employees who had been forced to sign contracts felt a spark of hope rise within them.
At last, at last—someone had come to rescue them.
Days of relentless work had gradually numbed their senses.
Some had tried to escape, but it was utterly useless.
The factory compound's towering gates and walls were like an impenetrable fortress—no one could scale or breach them.
As for protests or resistance? Forget about it.
Any who resisted would be met with the contract as leverage, threatening massive financial penalties for leaving.
"Are you all okay?" the newcomer asked.
Something felt off to him. The others appeared physically fine, yet something about their appearance seemed strange.
His question triggered a flood of tears among the workers, who began pouring out accusations against the Fire's Root Factory.
"They're not human—we're made to work nonstop every single day. We don't have a moment to ourselves."
"Exactly! I wanted to go home and visit my family, but they wouldn't let me. Said it's a closed system—you can't leave before completing at least a month."
"Fire Country's liars lured us here, treating us worse than animals!"
...
Everyone started talking at once, describing their suffering, leaving the Akatsuki members stunned.
Meanwhile, another Akatsuki member, Daibutsu, received word of the situation and quickly linked up with three other Akatsuki members.
"Leader Yahiko, you've finally come!" Upon seeing Yahiko, the leader of the organization, Daibutsu felt as if he'd seen a long-lost relative.
With tears welling in his eyes, he stood up from his workstation and joined the group.
Working here these past days had always been agonizing for him.
As a ninja, he could endure all sorts of torment and pain, yet the assembly line job had left both his spirit and body numb. It had become a silent, invisible form of torture.
After Daibutsu recounted his experiences over this period, Yahiko clenched his teeth in rage.
"The factory set up by Fire Country has gone too far—they refuse to treat people from the Land of Rain like human beings!"
The infamous '007' working system meant that aside from eating, sleeping, and using the restroom, every other minute was spent working—completely devoid of freedom.
Although Yahiko didn't fully understand what constituted proper corporate benefits, this definitely wasn't it.
"Daibutsu, let's go. First, we need to get out of here."
"Once we escape, we'll spread word of this place to the people of the Land of Rain so they won't be deceived again."
Later, when Root ninjas saw the chaos inside the factory, they struck hard against the Akatsuki members.
Overshadowed by the Root forces, the Akatsuki fought a defensive retreat, covering the escape of a group of workers.
Though some were saved, many others remained captive.
Once outside the factory in the Land of Rain,
Through the accounts shared by the Akatsuki and some escaped workers from Fire's Root Factory, the brutal conditions became widely known across the Land of Rain.
In no time, the citizens were seething with anger, boiling over with fury.
Some protested outside Fire's Root Factory, while others sought counsel from Sanshouo Hanzo.
To them, Sanshouo Hanzo, the hero of the Land of Rain, surely must have been misled and blinded by Fire Country's false promises.
"What a foolish Danzo Shimura, letting things go wrong at the factory."
The news reached Hanzo of the Sanshouo, who became extremely angry and immediately tried to contact Danzo.
This was something he had personally guaranteed, so for it to turn out this way was like slapping his own face.
In his opinion, harsh working conditions at the factory would help boost the Land of Rain's economy. Even if the people of the Land of Rain had to endure some hardship, it was acceptable.
After all, from what he heard from his subordinates, although the work was extremely tiring, not a single person had died.
Would they rather live uncertainly day by day or have full room and board? Obviously, the latter was better.
Let the people of the Land of Rain suffer a little. Everything was for the development of the Land of Rain.
"You Root dogs," Hanzo of the Sanshouo coldly said to the Root ninja before him, "tell Danzo Shimura to fix this issue right away, or I'll have no choice but to break our previous agreement."
He wasn't bluffing when he said this.
Actually, he himself had ambitions regarding Fire's Root Factory.
If he hadn't known how formidable Danzo Shimura was and if he weren't lacking Danzo's thick skin, he might have already taken control of the factory long ago.
Back in Konoha,
Within the dark confines of Root,
Danzo stared coldly at the intelligence report sent by his subordinate, his eyes fixed firmly on the name "Akatsuki organization."
"Damned fool, daring to ruin my plans."
He never expected that a small organization within the Land of Rain could nearly cause a major problem at his factory there.
Some workers leaving had caused slight unrest, but hadn't threatened its foundation.
Thanks to the Land of Rain's brutal living conditions and the precarious survival of its lower class citizens,
At Fire's Root Factory, although people were overworked without personal freedom, they could at least eat their fill and not worry about tomorrow.
Precisely because of this, some originally planning to leave decided to stay.
Leaving was easy, but they still hadn't received their wages after working so long.
There was only one month left anyway; waiting a few more days wouldn't matter.
Danzo's sinister face was shrouded in shadows as he gave a coded signal. Immediately, one of his trusted men, Fu Yamanaka, stepped forward.
"Lord Danzo."
"Fu, there's been an issue at the factory in the Land of Rain. Go deal with it."
As Danzo's most loyal subordinate, Fu had earned his complete trust.
Plus, with his Yamanaka heritage and ninja techniques, he was more than capable of handling matters in the Land of Rain.
"Yes, Lord Danzo." After receiving the mission scroll, Fu immediately departed toward the Land of Rain.
The Land of Rain wasn't large, nor very far from the Land of Fire, making it very familiar to Fu, who often undertook missions there.
Leading a team, Fu entered the Land of Rain while simultaneously gathering various pieces of intelligence.
After gathering detailed intelligence, Fu developed a clear understanding of the situation.
The anger and resentment among the common folk of the Land of Rain toward Fire's Root Factory was all due to rumors.
At least, that was Fu's perspective.
In his view, baseless and vague rumors were putting Fire's Root Factory under serious pressure.
And the catalyst behind it all was the Akatsuki organization, a newly formed small organization within the Land of Rain.
Most members of the Akatsuki organization were passionate youths who wanted to change the current state of the Land of Rain. Unfortunately, they possessed nothing but raw passion, believing that verbal communication alone could bridge the gaps between people and bring about world peace.
Seeing this idea, Fu Yamanaka, who had worked within Root and witnessed the ugliness and evils of the human world throughout his life, let out a laugh.
"How ridiculous. Such a completely foolish belief."
"Allow me to show you the true nature of this world."
Fu Yamanaka immediately wanted to teach the other a harsh lesson, shattering his naive illusion.
How could people truly understand each other through mere communication?
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