Pain said solemnly: "Go and investigate the situation over there. If possible, recruit that person as a new member of Akatsuki."
Four years ago, in that tragic incident, nearly all members of Akatsuki were killed, leaving only Konan and Nagato alive.
Hanzo of the Salamander, deeply fearful of Nagato's [Eyes of God], no longer dared to leave his hideout. Instead, he remained holed up under the heavy protection of Amegakure's Ninjas, constantly sending out teams to search for traces of Nagato and Konan, hoping to eliminate them once and for all.
Meanwhile, Nagato, due to the immense Chakra expenditure from summoning the Gedo Statue four years ago and the creation of the Six Paths of Pain, had yet to fully recover. Forced to lie low, he waited for the right moment to strike.
Nagato was waiting for the completion of the Six Paths of Pain, Obito was waiting for an opportunity to weaken Konoha, and Black Zetsu was quietly maneuvering in the shadows.
And so, they all remained in hiding. It wasn't until nine years later, when the Six Paths of Pain were fully completed and Akatsuki had recruited several powerful Missing-nin that Nagato finally launched his revenge against Hanzo of the Salamander, taking full control of Amegakure.
The timeline should roughly align with the period after the first Chunin Exams.
Because during the first Chunin Exams, Amegakure had sent Ninjas to participate, and their forehead protectors were still normal.
But by the time Jiraiya infiltrated Amegakure to gather intelligence, Amegakure's Ninjas had already slashed their forehead protectors, while those without the slashes were labeled as 'remnants of Hanzo's faction'.
"Hmph, let me go see what this rat is up to." Obito was also somewhat interested in this mysterious Ninja.
He intended to gather information and assess how this person might affect the Eye of the Moon Plan.
If he could be exploited, he might prove to be a useful tool.
Black Zetsu chimed in at the right moment: "I'll come too. I'll also plant a few White Zetsu there to keep an eye on things."
Pain gave a slight nod, his Rinnegan watching as 'Uchiha Madara' vanished into thin air and Zetsu sank into the ground.
After they left, Konan waited a moment before speaking up, "Madara will try to recruit that person as his own subordinate, won't he?"
At the moment, Akatsuki consisted only of Nagato, Konan, 'Uchiha Madara', and Zetsu. Since 'Uchiha Madara' and Zetsu had joined together, they were clearly aligned. If they were put in charge of recruitment, any new members would likely become part of their faction.
This would undermine Nagato's control over Akatsuki.
"I have a feeling... that guy called 'Shura' won't be ordinary." Pain said coldly before closing his eyes.
Nagato's consciousness returned to his main body.
After hearing what Nagato said, Konan said nothing more and turned to gaze at the endless rain outside.
…
Hoshigakure.
At the village square, Hikari was imprinting a 'mark' on each team of Hoshigakure's Ninjas tasked with escorting the villagers away.
As her fingertips emitted a faint red Chakra, her Mangekyo Sharingan's pattern appeared on the backs of the Hoshigakure's Ninjas' hands before fading into their skin, disappearing without a trace.
The Hoshigakure's Ninjas who were branded with the 'mark' did not notice anything unusual… they couldn't even sense the presence of the 'mark'.
"Are you tired?" Menma, wearing a white three-eyed fox mask, stood beside Hikari. After the last Hoshigakure's Ninja was marked, he finally spoke up with concern.
By now, dusk was approaching. Most of Hoshigakure's residents and Ninjas had already relocated, leaving the village nearly empty, with only a few Ninjas remaining behind to guard it.
Hikari shook her head slightly.
Although she had branded over 200 people with the 'mark', this amount of Chakra consumption was insignificant to her.
"If we connect all these marks to form a Chakra Network, how much Chakra would be needed to sustain it?" The combination of the Engraved Tsukuyomi and Yachihoko is so powerful that Menma is already considering how to use Hikari as the central server to establish a Chakra Network.
Under this plan, any Ninja bearing the mark could activate it to communicate and exchange information across any distance via the Chakra Network. It could even be used to transfer Chakra to wounded soldiers for healing.
With proper development, linking all Ninja's Chakra together could essentially create a new Ninja Religion!
"Chakra Network?" Hikari frowned slightly, "At present, with just these two hundred or so people, I can maintain it on my own. But if the number doubles or more, it's hard to say."
She had never tested the upper limit of Yachihoko's Chakra transfer capabilities.
Menma fell into thought. He remembered that in the game, Hikari had used Yachihoko to imprint marks on Ninjas through VR helmets, and with the help of some scientific ninja tools, she had established a rudimentary Chakra Network.
This allowed her to control many Ninjas at once.
But clearly, Hikari alone couldn't support such a massive Chakra Network System.
'Chakra…' Menma thought of the Tailed Beasts.
'If the Tailed Beasts' Chakra were used as the 'power source' and 'information processing hub' for this network, what could be achieved?'
This idea filled Menma with anticipation.
The Nine Tailed Beasts all had their own Jinchuriki, but there was also the Zero-Tails, a creature that could be captured.
Moreover, the Soragakure's fortress was powered by the Zero-Tails, and it even had a super-heavy cannon that could fire using the Zero-Tails' extracted Chakra as energy. (T/N: It's written as Sky Village, but I changed it to Soragakure, which means village hidden in the sky.)
This suggested that Soragakure must have already conducted unique research on Chakra energy conversion.
'The problem is, I don't know the exact location of Soragakure.'
Menma recalled that the fortress was hidden underground in the ruins of Soragakure, but he had forgotten most of the details from the Movie where it appeared. He'd have to look up more information later to confirm its exact position.
"Menma! One o'clock direction! White Zetsu!" Suddenly, the warning from the little Nine-Tails exploded in his mind.
Without any hesitation, Menma raised his hand and threw out three kunai wrapped with explosive tags.
Whoosh-
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The three kunai embedded themselves into a large tree, the explosive tags on their tails igniting instantly.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three deafening explosions erupted in the forest, reducing the surrounding trees to splinters.
From the smoke, two figures emerged unharmed, walking forward calmly.
The one in front wore a deep blue cloak, his spiky hair partially hidden beneath a tiger-striped mask, a long sword hanging at his waist.
The other had a bizarre, venus flytrap-like appearance, his black-and-white body looking particularly eerie in the twilight.
"Enemies?" Hikari immediately shifted into a combat stance.
The moment Menma had thrown the kunai, she had already activated her Sharingan. Her sharp eyes caught a glimpse of a scarlet Sharingan peering through the single eyehole of that tiger-striped mask!
Obito's figure flickered in the light of the explosions, his lone Sharingan fixed on the white three-eyed fox mask of Shura before shifting to the girl beside him, whose Three-Tomoe Sharingan was now fully active.
'A stray Uchiha?' Obito didn't recall any surviving Uchiha outside the clan.
But that didn't matter.
"Allow me to introduce myself," Obito said, his voice deliberately cold and lofty, "I am… Uchiha Madara."