"The Third Kage intends to submit himself to the Fire Daimyo!"
Aozora's calm and steady voice spread across the entire platform, clearly reaching the ears of everyone in the Akatsuki.
Upon hearing Aozora's words, everyone slightly narrowed their eyes, instinctively shifting their gazes toward him. Even Pain's expression turned more serious.
The Daimyo and the Kage represent two opposing pillars of a great ninja nation; their mutual restraints have always been a stumbling block for the development of both the country and the ninja village.
If the Daimyo and the Kage were to unify as one, then both the nation and the ninja village would experience rapid growth.
Especially for the Land of Fire, with its most fertile lands and strongest heritages, it could become powerful enough to sweep across the world if both sides united and developed themselves over a decade or more.
Orochimaru licked his lips and sneered, "Well now, I never expected you to understand my teacher better than me!"
Orochimaru's words added a trace of suspicion into everyone's eyes. Pain asked directly, "How did you find out about this?"
Aozora glanced around at everyone before saying, "Although there is a certain hierarchical relationship between the Daimyo and the Kage, they actually operate independently. The Daimyo controls the livelihood of the nation, while the Kage commands the strongest military force."
After seeing everyone nod, Aozora continued, "The Daimyo and the Kage are like twin pearls balancing the state. How could the Daimyo dare reduce half of the ninja village's budget when Konoha is currently defending against attacks from two other great villages?"
Pausing briefly, Aozora questioned further, "Unless the Kage and the Daimyo had an agreement beforehand, how could the Daimyo risk national collapse by proposing a reduction in the ninja village's budget during wartime?"
"That does make some sense," Pain admitted.
"But that's just your guesswork!" Orochimaru interjected.
Aozora smiled slightly and said, "What if I told you that the second son of the Kage has secretly become the Daimyo's personal guardian shinobi already?"
"What?!"
This time even Orochimaru was left speechless. He had previously thought Aozora was merely making things up, but this new information could be verified directly.
Aozora continued, "At a time when Konoha faced crisis, rather than contributing to the village, the Kage's own son secretly became the guardian of the Fire Country's Daimyo. Hiruzen Sarutobi had prepared everything meticulously.
Even if the war went badly and he stepped down from being Kage, the Sarutobi clan had already secured an unshakable position.
To ensure the Daimyo's smooth takeover of Konoha after the war, Hiruzen had also quietly weakened the powerful clans within the village, especially major families like the Uchiha and Hyuga."
This time, Orochimaru stayed silent. After all, could anyone truly claim that Asuma Sarutobi and his father, Hiruzen, were really on bad terms?
Who knows? It might just be a case of 'the bitter body plan' — playing the victim to gain sympathy or an advantage.
Pain fell into contemplation, thinking about whether the Third Kage leaning toward the Daimyo would affect Akatsuki's plans.
Even if the Third defected to the Fire Daimyo, Konoha wouldn't be absorbed by the nation in the short term, nor would the overall power of the Land of Fire rise rapidly.
Moreover, despite receiving significant financial support from the Fire Daimyo, Konoha would still mainly produce large numbers of low-to-mid level ninja, while producing high-level elite jonin would remain difficult.
Despite this, Aozora revealing such critical intelligence sufficiently proved his reliability.
Pain fixed his serious gaze on Aozora and said, "Your performance has earned our trust. From now on, deny Konoha even more strongly!"
Aozora gave a slight nod.
Next, under the witness of other veteran members, Aozora and the other two donned black cloaks embroidered with red clouds.
Seeing Konan take out purple nail polish, Aozora couldn't help but twitch his face. He was such a good-looking guy—he really didn't need this kind of girly stuff.
Aozora hesitated, "Can I skip applying the nail polish?"
Beside him, Guitou Ryuji nodded in agreement. "It's too feminine. This is something girls use!"
Watching Guitou Ryuji offend all the Akatsuki members with just one sentence, Aozora silently mourned for him. This guy probably wouldn't survive long.
Konan explained, "Intense battles often leave no remains behind. This nail polish proves our identity."
Pain didn't speak but simply stared straight at Aozora and Guitou Ryuji.
Aozora shrugged slightly and took the nail polish, brushing it on without complaint.
Seeing this, Guitou Ryuji grumbled a bit but also accepted the nail polish.
Once the newcomers were fully dressed, Pain asked Aozora, "Did you bring the South Ring?"
Aozora nodded and pulled out the South Ring from his sleeve.
With a wave of Pain's hand, the South Ring flew back to him.
He introduced, "Each core member of the Akatsuki possesses their own unique ring. Each holds its own significance, tied directly to our organization's greatest secret."
After checking the ring, he tossed the South Ring along with a scroll to Kisame.
Then from his sleeve, two rings shot forward—one heading toward Aozora, the other toward Guitou Ryuji.
Aozora caught his ring. On the deep red band was written the word "Suzaku." The scroll contained the Projection Technique and the Phantom Nine Dragon Sealing Method.
"So it's Suzaku… Seems like I'm replacing Itachi's position!"
Slipping the ring onto his ring finger and tucking the scroll into his sleeve, Aozora raised his head to look at Pain.
Pain explained, "These rings will represent your identities—Suzaku, Hokuto, and Sanchu. Contained within the scrolls are the essential ninja techniques every core member must master."
Then Pain slowly shifted his gaze across the other Akatsuki members as he announced their code names.
"Zero, Pain!"
"Byakko, Konan!"
"Tama, Sasori!"
"Aokun, Orochimaru!"
"Hokuto, Kakuzu!"
"Genbu, Zetsu!"
After calmly calling out each member's code name and name, Pain finally said, "With the addition of these three new members, the Akatsuki is finally taking shape. Dawn is approaching."
Everyone had assumed Pain would begin announcing the plan, but instead he said, "However, darkness still lingers. The Akatsuki must remain in the shadows for now."
He glanced at Aozora and continued, "The former core member Biwa Juzo was killed, which led to the leakage of some of our intelligence. As a result, we've drawn serious attention from the Five Great Nations and are now a major threat to the Five Great Ninja Villages.
"To avoid unnecessary complications, our future operations will primarily focus on gathering intelligence. The organization will no longer undertake large-scale warfare missions or assassinations involving nobles."
"Please all try to keep your conduct in check, and avoid actions that would destroy countries or raze cities."
When saying these final words, Pain turned his gaze directly toward Sasori.
"Got it!" came a cold, mechanical voice from beneath Hiruko.
Aozora immediately understood—Sasori's [Scarlet Secret Technique: Hundred Puppet Army] must have already reached full maturity.
After issuing this warning, Pain assigned missions to the three new recruits.
Aozora and Orochimaru were given the same task—gathering intelligence about Konoha's defenses and Jinchuriki.
Kisame Hoshigaki was to collect information about Kiri's military preparedness and their Jinchuriki.
Since Guitou Ryuji lacked information sources, he was paired with Kakuzu to handle bounty jobs for Akatsuki's financial needs.
Having concluded the official matters, Pain declared, "Meeting dismissed!"
Before his words had even faded, he transformed into a dark shadow and vanished into the cave.
After Pain disappeared, Konan, the Akatsuki's chief administrator, spoke up. "Three new recruits, come with me!"
Dressed in fresh attire with polished nails, Aozora and the others followed Konan into the dimly lit cave.
"The Akatsuki organization seeks world peace, but simultaneously carries everyone's dreams. As long as you complete organizational tasks, all your needs will be provided by the organization.
Wealth rivaling a nation's treasury, various styles of Ninjutsu, rare and precious materials...
You can obtain anything from this organization!"
Aozora nodded inwardly. If there were absolutely no benefits, even formally joined members would inevitably become passive and neglectful due to lack of motivation.
Soon, Konan led the three to a cave, released the seal, and entered with them.
Seeing countless scrolls piled high like mountains, Kisame Hoshigaki and Guitou Ryuji revealed shock and greed in their eyes.
Aozora maintained his composed expression, secretly shaking his head in disapproval.
Guess it's just too few people around—no one's even bothered to organize this place.
"As new members, you may freely choose two scrolls. Anything beyond that will require contributions to the organization."
Konan calmly offered this grand deal to the three before adding, "Go ahead!"
Upon hearing this, Guitou Ryuji rushed toward the scroll pile.
Kisame Hoshigaki simply asked where the Water Release Ninjutsu were located, then quickly went searching without further delay.
Aozora approached Konan instead and asked, "Any recommendations?"
Konan looked at Aozora with slight surprise before asking, "What kind of jutsu are you looking for?"
Aozora paused briefly before asking, "Do you have Yin-Yang Release techniques?"
Konan's pupils slightly constricted. She thought to herself, not surprisingly, since he came from the noble Uchiha clan, his knowledge was indeed exceptional.
Of course, the Akatsuki had Yin-Yang Release techniques—but they were exclusive to Nagato's Rinnegan and couldn't be taught to anyone else.
Seeing Konan shake her head, Aozora continued, "How about S-ranked Ninjutsu?"
Konan nodded then shook her head again. "We have some! But not here!"
Aozora immediately understood. Even an organization as generous as Akatsuki wouldn't give S-ranked Ninjutsu freely to newcomers.
After getting negative answers twice, Aozora shook his head casually and said, "Then just help me pick two rare techniques!"
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