Chapter 446: Akatsuki
"Dead?" Hidan was slightly stunned and turned his gaze to Itachi Uchiha.
"Wasn't Kisame in a team with Itachi Uchiha? How could he die?"
Following Hidan's voice, everyone also invariably turned their gaze to Itachi.
Even though they were all unruly and powerful S-rank rogue ninja, in everyone's eyes, there were still obvious strength divisions among the Akatsuki members. For example, Deidara was recognized as the weakest member...
Due to the extremely high deterrence of the Sharingan, especially the Mangekyo Sharingan, and the record of instantly defeating Orochimaru with one look, everyone unconsciously placed Itachi on a very high level of strength.
Even a level second only to the leader.
—This was already quite close to the truth.
And Kisame Hoshigaki was also recognized as one of the experts. Even someone as proud as Sasori of the Red Sand dared not claim he was confident of defeating this human beast.
How could someone die in a team composed of two such powerful individuals executing a mission?
Rather than accepting that Kisame was killed by the Seven-Tails or other people from Takigakure, they would rather believe that internal strife occurred between Itachi and Kisame, causing Kisame to be killed by Itachi personally...
"It's true!" Zetsu said in his habitual glib tone, "I saw it with my own eyes, and I carried his corpse back personally. Kisame-senpai weighs one hundred and sixty jin (80 kg). Dragging him with Earth Style for hundreds of kilometers, I was exhausted to death!"
"Is the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki really that strong?" Kakuzu frowned, but what he was thinking about was another matter—
What was Kisame Hoshigaki's bounty again? He wanted to take Kisame's corpse to claim the bounty!
Right, if the Seven-Tails' strength was also very strong, her bounty should be even higher.
Going to make a fortune this time!
"No!" Zetsu replied, "It wasn't the Jinchuriki who killed Kisame; she was very weak. Big Brother Itachi instantly defeated the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki with one look as soon as they met! The person who killed Kisame, you all know her, and the impression is very deep..."
"Guess who she is?"
Seeing everyone's thoughtful expressions, Zetsu playfully kept them in suspense.
"It's Haruno Sakura."
Itachi Uchiha said coldly.
He had no interest or time to pay attention to Zetsu's little Q&A game and gave the answer directly.
"Haruno Sakura?"
Hidan, Kakuzu, and Sasori of the Red Sand repeated the girl's name with tacit understanding.
Haruno Sakura, they were indeed deeply impressed.
Extremely impressed!
Hidan rubbed his face. The severe pain from being hit head-on by Monstrous Strength last time seemed to remain in his nerves. He asked loudly: "Why is it her again?"
Quite a coincidence. Among the battles Akatsuki fought with the outside world, except for the battles to capture Jinchuriki, almost all other battles were directly related to that Water Style girl.
"Not a coincidence... At that time, Haruno Sakura was taking the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki back to Konoha." Pain explained, "The battle occurred to snatch the Jinchuriki."
"If that's the case, then Haruno Sakura is too amazing. Fighting against Itachi and Kisame alone, and still able to kill Kisame!" Obito—now active as Tobi—stood at the far edge, pretending to be surprised and shouting loudly.
Itachi looked at Obito with his cold three-tomoe eyes.
The sharp gaze seemed to pierce through the mask on Obito's face, seeing the true face under this man's mask.
"No, Kisame was killed in a one-on-one battle with Haruno Sakura." He said slowly.
"Oh... then what about you, senpai? What were you doing at that time?" Tobi asked back.
No answer.
Itachi Uchiha responded with silence, ignoring Tobi's question. His cold facial features and indifferent expression made it impossible to see his thoughts.
Was it impossible to explain, or did he disdain to explain?
"Big Brother Itachi was tied up by Sasuke Uchiha." Zetsu interjected, "Kisame-senpai was confident he could take out Haruno Sakura, so he asked Big Brother Itachi not to interfere."
"As a result, not long after, he was taken out!"
Zetsu's tone, it was hard to say whether he was gloating, although his words were superficially full of respect for his senior.
"Let's not talk too much about irrelevant things." Pain coldly interrupted the conversation below, "Our task is very urgent. We need to extract the chakra of the Seven-Tails, Five-Tails, and Two-Tails Jinchuriki in one go. Counting the rest time in between, this will take at least more than half a month to complete."
"More than half a month?" Zetsu was somewhat surprised, "Is it because of the lack of Orochimaru, Deidara, and Kisame? The time is much longer than estimated!"
Pain nodded: "So this time Tobi will also join as a substitute member... Stop the idle talk, hurry up and start!"
Everyone stopped talking and silently formed the "Ram" hand seal.
Chakra began to circulate frantically.
A faint fluorescence suddenly flickered faintly from the mouth of the Gedo Statue.
"Sealing Jutsu: Phantom Dragon Nine Consuming Seals!"
Pain abruptly raised his chakra, manipulating the Gedo Statue to spit out nine illusory, shimmering giant dragons, biting towards the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki lying on the ground!
The process of sealing the Jinchuriki was lackluster and skipped.
More than half a month later.
Land of Rain, in Akatsuki's base.
In a familiar spacious hall.
The three of Akatsuki, Pain, Konan, and Obito, seemed to be used to meeting here.
Konan slumped on the side sofa, her red and black robe hanging aside, wearing only a form-fitting combat suit, the collar slightly open for ventilation. Her lazy sitting posture completely revealed the slender legs and exquisite figure of the only female in Akatsuki.
Although she didn't want to show signs of weakness in front of Obito, after nearly a month of hard sealing, Konan, as a woman, had long begun to run out of stamina. Upon returning to the base, she just wanted to lie down and not move a finger. Despite trying to pull herself together, Konan really had no strength to sit upright anymore.
With beauty in front of him, Obito didn't even spare her a glance, just looking at Pain expressionlessly.
"Our Ms. Eyesore has added a lot of trouble to Akatsuki again!" He sat on the other side and said coldly.
Kisame was the best pawn under his command, bar none, much more useful than Pain who thought highly of himself after gaining power and treated himself as a "god." Unexpectedly, he died so quickly, which was why Obito felt angry.
"That's right. However, she only killed Kisame and didn't stop us from retrieving the Seven-Tails..." Pain responded nonchalantly.
Kisame died, but he didn't feel heartache like Obito; in Pain's eyes, Kisame was just an ordinary member of Akatsuki. For a "god," even a character like Kisame was just a consumable. If his life could be exchanged for the Seven-Tails, there was nothing to regret.
This transaction, although not profitable, was not a loss either.
"Find an opportunity to get rid of her as soon as possible." Obito said with vigorous killing intent.
Actually able to kill Kisame... Haruno Sakura's growth was shockingly fast, somewhat beyond his expectations.
For things that might go beyond his control, Obito's first thought was to destroy them.
Just as he managed to destroy the Uchiha clan with endless geniuses back then.
Pain just shook his head: "Although she is an eyesore... the upcoming Tailed Beast retrieval missions are all carried out in places far away from Konoha. We don't need to, nor do we have enough energy and combat power to complicate matters!"
Except for Konoha's Nine-Tails and the Seven-Tails in the surrounding small country, the remaining Tailed Beasts were not around Konoha—
One-Tail belonged to Sand; Two-Tails and Eight-Tails belonged to Cloud; Three-Tails and Six-Tails belonged to Mist; Four-Tails and Five-Tails belonged to Stone.
So, for the upcoming missions, Pain didn't think they would encounter Haruno Sakura.
Naturally, there was no need to rush to act against her.
"Don't worry, Madara! When the plan reaches the stage of retrieving the Nine-Tails, I will take action personally!"
Pain's tone was so cold that it seemed to condense frost from the air.
Konoha Village.
The village of his mentor Jiraiya.
And the village that killed all his relatives!
Pain would never forget the scene that day when Konoha ninja broke into his home and killed his parents.
As repayment, Pain planned to let Konoha people also taste the flavor of broken families and death!
Obito looked at Pain's determined eyes, knowing that once he made up his mind, he wouldn't change it easily.
"By the way," he didn't continue trying to persuade Pain, but talked about other topics, "Following the alliance of Konoha, Sand, and Mist, Cloud and Stone are also eager to join this alliance to deal with us together!"
"Hmph... just chickens and dogs." Pain snorted disdainfully and concluded without hesitation, "Even if a mob unites, they are still a mob!"
His words were full of arrogance towards the Five Great Ninja Villages.
Pain didn't hide this point.
He also didn't think this alliance would become any threat. The hatred between the Five Great Ninja Villages was as deep as the sea; how could they unite so easily? Forcibly brought together, it would only become a freak with more internal strife than external war.
"That's right, it is indeed difficult for the Five Great Ninja Villages to truly unite," Obito said calmly, "Unless..."
Unless they encountered a strong enemy that a single village couldn't contend with.
And that was the Akatsuki organization, whose activities were becoming more frequent, retrieving more Tailed Beasts, and causing increasing losses and threats to each village.
Pain pondered for a moment.
He was just arrogant, not stupid, so he quickly admitted that Obito's words indeed made sense.
"If that's the case, and the Five Great Ninja Villages can really work together to fight against us, then this is indeed a bit troublesome... Although this still cannot hinder Akatsuki's will, it's better to have as little trouble as possible." Pain lowered his eyelids, speaking slowly while thinking.
"Do you have any good ideas?"
Obito smiled slightly under the mask.
"I have already thought of a way." No, it should be said, the methods were all old tricks, never changed.
"Just create some incidents slightly... and they will fall into mutual suspicion and distrust, and the so-called alliance will collapse without being attacked!"
Just like provoking the relationship between the Uchiha and the village back then...
As long as the Nine-Tails controlled by the Sharingan did some bad things in the village, the Uchiha clan, who couldn't hand over or find the culprit, would drift away from Konoha amidst suspicion and distrust. Then adding a little more fuel could completely destroy this clan!
"This won't take up too much of our energy. Leave this matter to me!"
Obito said finally.
He didn't tell Pain that there were other calculations of his in this.
Pain looked at him deeply.
This Uchiha clansman who called himself Madara Uchiha had always been outside his control. In the Mist Village, in Konoha, he did many things not instructed by Pain.
Obviously, this time, he would definitely have his own calculations in it.
This man was not trustworthy.
At this moment when the plan was progressing smoothly and the dawn of success could be faintly seen, what rose in Pain's heart was a strong wariness towards his partner.
"Then I'll leave it to you." Pain said so.
He hid his thoughts, nodded to Obito, and watched him disappear into the hall as a ripple in space.
"He's gone." Konan said softly.
"Hn... let's disperse too." Pain looked in the direction Obito left and replied absently, "You worked hard."
"Nagato, you rest too..." The woman struggled to stand up, walked to Pain's side, and said gently.
"Don't carry everything on your own shoulders... Our plan is proceeding smoothly. The new world you want to create will arrive soon." She patted his shoulder and smiled faintly, "Don't exhaust yourself before that!"
A smile appeared on Pain's cold face at this moment.
"God... will not be exhausted."
"Thank you, Konan."
Konan showed a tranquil and gentle smile on her face.
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