Naruto: With Favorabiltity System

Chapter 297: Deidara and Sasori's First Meeting

After Pain's arrival, Konoha and Amegakure reached an agreement to construct a direct railway connecting the two villages.

However, after the research team inspected the Land of Rain's environment, they discovered that prolonged rainfall could significantly impact the lifespan of the train machinery.

Thanks to Orochimaru's expertise, the issue was resolved in just two and a half days.

Haneda didn't fully understand how it was done, but Orochimaru's explanations left him deeply impressed.

At the same time, Deidara was sent to the Land of Rain to assist in tunneling operations.

His assigned partner was unexpectedly Sasori—Haneda's longtime enemy, someone he had wanted to kill for years.

But Haneda did not act against him.

The Akatsuki had only recently established closer ties with Konoha, and making a move now would amount to tearing up their alliance.

Moreover, Obito likely had his own plans for tolerating this alliance between Amegakure and Konoha. Otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed it to happen.

Haneda decided to bide his time and, when the right moment came, secretly strike under the guise of Suna.

Even if the Akatsuki suspected him, without concrete evidence, who could definitively prove it?

Such a move would also test whether the Akatsuki genuinely intended to collaborate with Konoha or were simply using Amegakure as a front.

After all, the current alliance was between Konoha and Amegakure under Pain's leadership—not the Akatsuki led by Obito and Pain.

---

At the Border Between the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire

Sasori, encased in his grotesque puppet Hiruko, trudged along a muddy path with his red cloud cloak trailing behind him.

He avoided the clean, paved roads built by Pain's organization, as there were too many people there, and he couldn't be sure whether Haneda had eyes watching.

Sasori was acutely aware that he could never defeat Haneda with his current strength.

His best option was to wait—wait until Haneda grew old and weak, or until he died of natural causes and was buried in the ground.

As he raised his head to glance at the rain falling endlessly from the sky, his mechanical body felt an inexplicable chill.

He cursed under his breath at Pain and then at Orochimaru.

He couldn't be sure if Orochimaru had left something hidden in him—some kind of tracking device to sell him out to Haneda.

Suddenly, a familiar figure descended from the sky, followed by an overly excited blond child.

Sasori's gaze sharpened. It was Pain, and he had brought Deidara—someone with deep ties to Haneda.

"Leader," Sasori muttered, somewhat guessing why Pain had come but maintaining his usual indifferent tone.

Before Pain could speak, Deidara couldn't hold back. Pointing at Sasori, he exclaimed:

"Hey, hey, hey! Why do you look so ugly?"

"Even though you're Haneda-nii's enemy, you could at least clean yourself up a bit, hmm!"

Sasori had no intention of engaging with the overly energetic child but decided to probe just in case Haneda was nearby.

"Where did this brat come from? It's nearly evening—you should go home and have dinner with your parents."

"Bakayaro! I, Deidara, am a special jonin of Konoha and an artist personally acknowledged by Haneda-nii! I'm no kid!"

Deidara exploded in frustration. He had already wanted to test Sasori, so he fed a handful of clay into the mouth on his palm.

Moments later, small round clay spiders emerged from the hand-mouth.

"Don't overdo it," Pain said calmly from a nearby tree, where he had perched to watch the upcoming fight.

Under Pain's watchful eyes, Deidara's clay spiders crawled across the ground toward Sasori.

"Art is an explosion! Hmm!"

The spiders quickly surrounded Sasori. With a loud shout from Deidara, the spiders detonated in a series of rapid explosions.

"Art is something eternal and perfect. True art is everlasting," Sasori said as he emerged unscathed from a scattered pile of iron sand.

Behind him, the puppet of the Third Kazekage stood, exuding an intimidating aura.

"Well, well. You've got your own artistic philosophy, just like Haneda-nii," Deidara said with a smirk. "But since it's the opposite of mine, I find you really annoying, hmm!"

Deidara prepared to use a more powerful explosive clay, but Pain landed between them, ending the fight.

Deidara, knowing how much Haneda valued Pain, clicked his tongue and reluctantly stood down.

Sasori also put away the Third Kazekage puppet without a word.

"This mission has nothing to do with Uchiha Haneda. Follow me, and I'll show you where to dig the tunnel," Pain instructed.

As they walked, Deidara kept looking back to make mocking gestures at Sasori.

Sasori muttered "childish" under his breath, which infuriated Deidara.

"You call my fleeting explosions artless? Someday, your so-called eternal art will get blown to pieces, and it'll be my fleeting explosion that shines brightest, hmm!"

"You can't," Sasori replied indifferently.

"That's just because I haven't used my ultimate art—C4 Karura! I once blasted an entire supermine with it!"

"You still can't."

"Bakayaro! I have a Flying Thunder God seal personally gifted by Haneda-nii! I could crush you in seconds!"

This time, Sasori remained silent, quietly following Pain.

---

Six Months Later

Time flew by, and half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

Under the policy framework developed by Haneda and refined by Shikaku's cabinet, the high-yield crops had been successfully distributed across most regions of the country.

Half of the southern regions had achieved two harvests in a single year. Although the northern regions lagged slightly behind, with only one harvest of wheat, they were expected to yield another harvest in the fall before the temperatures dropped too much.

Even at this stage, the projected grain income had already surpassed last year's total yield.

The national tax revenue from agriculture was expected to nearly double this year, though commercial taxes had slightly declined due to the public-private partnerships.

At this pace, Haneda was well on his way to fulfilling his first Five-Year Plan—eliminating hunger.

According to a poll conducted covertly by the ANBU using genjutsu, public sentiment had completely shifted.

While the upper-class merchants and certain politicians continued to harbor deep resentment, the majority of the lower-class populace had begun to forget the old daimyo and recognize Uchiha Haneda as the nation's true leader.

And this was without Haneda even engaging in any deliberate propaganda.

Meanwhile, My Struggle, published by Haneda last year, had become the best-selling book in the Land of Fire.

The ideology of the New Will of Fire was spreading throughout the nation.

The Land of Rain, led by Pain, actively studied the Land of Fire's reforms.

They implemented similar policies, such as cabinet systems, public-private partnerships, and planned economies.

Naturally, the aristocracy and wealthy merchants resisted fiercely, but in the face of rising prosperity and full bellies, the dissenters had no choice but to relent.

With a decisive hand, Pain confiscated half of the nation's private capital and redirected it into the state treasury.

Unlike Haneda, however, Pain refrained from abolishing the daimyo outright, instead turning him into a puppet to avoid provoking the other great nations.

Six months later, the railway connecting Konoha and Amegakure was completed and operational.

With deliberate aid from the Land of Fire, nearly a quarter of the grain originally destined for other major nations was redirected to the Land of Rain.

While the other four great nations suffered, the Land of Rain's economy boomed.

Prices fell, factories expanded, and unemployment plummeted.

Compared to the previous year, the quality of life for the people of the Land of Rain had visibly improved.