"The weather is truly strange," Itachi said, walking into the rain and looking at the continuous downpour. "It's like two different worlds inside and out!"
"And I don't know if it's my imagination, but I always feel a very faint amount of Chakra in this rainwater!"
Naruto nodded at his words and said, "You're right. This rain is actually the effect of a detection Ninjutsu called [Rain Tiger at Will Jutsu]."
"The one who releases this Ninjutsu is the leader of the Akatsuki Organization!"
"Rain Tiger at Will Jutsu? I didn't expect you, Naruto, to know about things here, even though you haven't left the Village much!"
In Itachi's opinion, the reason Naruto knew was probably due to his mysterious personality clones.
That's right, Itachi had given a name to Grey Wolf and these other products of split personalities: personality clones!
After walking for another ten minutes, the two finally saw the full view of Rain Ninja Village.
The entire Rain Ninja Village resembled an iron city.
The buildings were assembled from various thick and thin pipes; if it were a bit more futuristic, it would be somewhat like cyberpunk!
"Is this Rain Ninja Village? It's really very different from Konoha!"
Itachi was also entering another Ninja Village for the first time and was quite curious about other Ninja Villages.
Just then, two figures, a man and a woman, flew over from a nearby building.
The two were Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki Organization, and Konan, Kakuzu's lifelong rival.
When Naruto and Itachi entered the territory of Rain Ninja Village, Pain detected them through the Rain Tiger at Will Jutsu.
Both Itachi and Naruto had Kage-level Chakra, which naturally made Pain wary.
So he came personally with Konan.
Pain landed on the ground, looking at Naruto and Itachi expressionlessly and asked,
"Who are you? Why have you come to Rain Ninja Village?"
Itachi looked at Naruto beside him, and Naruto discreetly stepped back, signaling Itachi to speak with Pain.
After all, Nagato was using Pain to negotiate, and as the behind-the-scenes BOSS, how could Naruto speak personally? This was the time for his subordinate, Uchiha Itachi, to step forward!
Itachi naturally didn't know what Naruto meant, but seeing Naruto push him forward, he didn't decline.
"I am Uchiha Itachi, the spokesperson for communist red ideology!"
Pain: ????
Pain looked curiously at Konan, who was standing behind him. "Which small Ninja Village is the communist ideology from?"
Konan shook her head and said, "There is no such Ninja Village. With the surname Uchiha, he should be an accomplice of Uchiha Shisui. Their place doesn't seem to be called a Ninja Village; it's called the Red Base!"
Pain heard this and remembered what Kakuzu had said earlier.
Some time ago, Kakuzu was beaten up, and then he came back saying he wanted to invite the person who beat him into the organization. But when he went with Orochimaru and Sasori, he was beaten again.
After that, the matter of inviting Uchiha Shisui was dropped.
Pain didn't expect someone from that Red Base to come personally.
"Uchiha Itachi, is it? Do you want to join our Akatsuki? If so, we welcome you."
Itachi didn't immediately refuse but asked curiously, "What is the Akatsuki Organization's purpose? Or rather, what is the Akatsuki Organization's ultimate goal?"
"The Akatsuki Organization…" Hearing Itachi's question, Nagato suddenly thought of the orange-haired young man with a bright smile.
"Akatsuki represents the dawn. When Akatsuki's light shines across the entire Ninja World, no one will go hungry, and no one will lose important people due to war!"
That's right, these words were spoken by Nagato's former best friend, and the dawn in his heart, Yahiko.
But Yahiko was dead, so Akatsuki had changed. Akatsuki still represented the dawn, but Akatsuki would become the darkness before the dawn arrived.
"Akatsuki is the dawn, a symbol before peace. Our ultimate goal is to make the Ninja World feel Pain, to make the entire Ninja World realize that peace is not easy! To make the entire Ninja World experience the same Pain. When everyone believes war is painful, there will be no more war!"
"The dawn after the darkness will surely come!"
At this point, Pain spread his hands and continued, "Uchiha Itachi, join Akatsuki! Let us witness the arrival of dawn together!"
"How will you make the world feel Pain? Will you rely on Akatsuki's strength alone?"
Seeing Itachi's interest, Nagato thought carefully. Currently, the Akatsuki Organization's funds were not sufficient, and their members were not numerous enough. Revealing the Akatsuki Organization's goal now was indeed a bit unstable.
"You don't have to worry about that. We, the Akatsuki Organization, possess a weapon capable of making the entire Ninja World tremble, enough to make everyone in the Ninja World feel Pain!"
Itachi frowned after hearing Pain's words.
Naruto, on the other hand, was dying of embarrassment.
What kind of chuunibyou lines are these? Naruto felt that if he weren't wearing shoes, his toes would have dug out a two-story villa in the ground!
Just then, Itachi spoke.
"Is this the peace you hope for?"
Itachi didn't immediately negate Pain's idea, because if the goal was peace among Ninja, absolute power was indeed the best method.
Itachi's mind was now completely open; he didn't believe that in the Ninja World, Ninja nobles were everything.
But Pain? His thoughts were still focused on Ninja and nobles.
Seeing that Itachi didn't immediately refute his statement, Nagato, who was controlling Pain, felt a sense of agreement.
This made Nagato even more eager to recruit Itachi into the Akatsuki Organization.
As for Shisui? What was that?
"Yes, this is the peace I believe in! And I will see my idea through to the end! To bring true peace to the Ninja World!"
Itachi shook his head and said, "No, peace is not such a superficial thing!"
"Your approach can indeed eliminate war, but have you considered that you might become the fuse for a larger war?"
"You hold a weapon that can make the entire Ninja World tremble. What if you die? This weapon will become the fuse for a new round of great wars in the Ninja World, and the kind of war that never ends."
"Because… any faction that obtains your weapon will have the right to speak, and self-interest will make everyone lose their humanity!"
Itachi's words made Nagato fall into deep thought.
Nagato wasn't thinking about whether his approach was wrong but rather how to prevent what Itachi had described from happening.