Two Paths (Sequel to Why Me)

The Wrong Choice

We reappeared at a secluded area, then sat down to begin the jutsu and appeared at our designated place on the statue thingy. I looked down the whole time not wanting to make eye contact with anyone else.

"If I never left the village then would Asuma still be alive?" I thought.

"As soon as the Sanabi is done, we'll seal the Nibi too. This will take at least six days. Be prepared." Pein told us.

"Six days....Damn long! This is stupid." Hidan complained.

"Hidan...you shouldn't be one to talk." Kakuzu said.

"But that could just be said it's only a justification for battle..." Pein said.

"You bastard....are you saying that just to make fun of me?!" Hidan yelled.

Usually I would be laughing at their bickering but......I wasn't in the mood.

"No...I have no intention of making fun of the reason you fight. I'm in the same boat as you; the reason for war doesn't matter. Religion, beliefs, wealth, land, grudge, love, or just because....No matter how ridiculous the reason, it becomes a reason for war. The wars will never cease. The reason can come after it...the instinct demands battle."

"No one's listening to you talk on and on! I have my way of doing things I have my own goals too. I have no intention of giving everything to this group!"

"I know that Mariah is listening, but as long as you belong to the group Akatsuki you will work for its goal as well. If the Akatsuki's goals are met, then your with will be achieved quickly as well."

"Hmph Mariah listens to everything! No matter how cool you act, the goal of the Akatsuki has just become gathering money! Just like Kakuzu..The type of reason to fight that I hate the most!!"

This caught my interest.  I never knew the real reason for gathering money or even the goals for the Akatsuki.

"That's right, our immediate goals are indeed money...but the real goal of Akatsuki lied elsewhere for that goal, we need a huge amount of money."

"Next to Mariah and Tobi I'm the newest member, so I've never heard anything from you about it! Sneaking around when I'm not there."

"Are you pouting? Fine I'll tell you about it now. The Akatsuki's final goal will be met by taking it step by step. There are a total of 3 steps. The first is money. After that we use the money to create the first true mercenary organization the shinobi world has ever seen."

"Huh? That's the same thing the ninja villages do now. You take a mission, complete it, and get paid. You'll be the leader of a tiny, ghetto village with no country to back it up! That's retarded!"

"You couldn't be more wrong, let me explain. What it means to be a ninja village within a country. Those with large powerful ninja villages can be said to be in the shinobi business because so much of their money comes directly from those villages. By taking missions within and beyond the country the ninja earn large sums of money. Enough to merit saying that they're the lifeblood of the country's economy.

"So, for these countries to remain financially stable, they need war but nowadays, most missions amounts to small skirmishes large, destructive wars have all but disappeared as a result, many shinobi are losing their place as the smaller countries try to cut expenses.  These shinobi who lived only to fight and risked their lives for the village are abandoned. The five great countries are in no danger both the countries themselves and their villages have many clients some within the country and others past their borders. However, that doesn't work for the smaller ones the costs to maintain a shinobi village are about the same in both war and peacetime. If those smaller villages reduce their forces too drastically, they won't be able to survive if a war breaks out."