" Kurosuki Raiga was his previous name. Now his name should be much more familiar to you all: Mōryō."
After hearing the name Mōryō, everyone present immediately understood the situation.
They had originally thought that the new addition to the Akatsuki was just one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, but now it seemed their assumption was only half right. It was Kurosuki Raiga, but only as an unfortunate soul whose body had been taken over.
The news of Mōryō's earlier revival had spread widely throughout the ninja world, and basically everyone present had heard his name. They just hadn't expected this infamous monster to become one of them.
"Since everyone is here, let's get to today's main topic."
Although he was somewhat surprised that Obito had even managed to pull in a demonic entity like Mōryō, for Pain it was merely unexpected. His strength was his confidence.
In front of him, whether it was a ninja or a demon made no difference, because he was a god, and a god was invincible.
"Phew."
After Pain withdrew his scrutinizing gaze, even Mōryō himself didn't notice that he had let out a breath of relief in his heart. It was clearly just a look, yet Mōryō felt immense pressure from it.
And soon after, Mōryō also realized one thing: even though he now had a decent body, if he were to fight that so-called apparent leader of the Akatsuki, he would definitely not be the winner.
For some reason, Mōryō suddenly recalled the experience of nearly being sealed by Furina earlier, as if this leader of the Akatsuki could also seal him again.
"Because of the five great ninja villages, this world has been mired in conflict for far too long. Even ceasefires bring only brief peace. Too many people have died because of the five great ninja villages' own selfish desires.
The goal of our Akatsuki is to end all these tragedies. You all understand this. And to achieve that goal, the tailed beasts, regarded by the major ninja villages as their ultimate weapons, are indispensable..."
"According to intelligence, the jinchūriki of the Two-Tails, Four-Tails, Five-Tails, and Six-Tails are mostly alone most of the time, while the Three-Tails is in a wild state without a jinchūriki. These are relatively easier to obtain.
So we will target them first, then gather our forces as quickly as possible to capture the remaining tailed beasts. That's roughly the plan. Next, I will assign the tailed beasts each group is responsible for."
...
"In that case, we'll take responsibility for capturing the Seven-Tails. Although the Seven-Tails' jinchūriki is well protected by Takigakure, it's ultimately just a small village."
Seeing that Pain had assigned tailed beasts to the other organization members based on compatibility and had left out himself and Mōryō, Obito proactively spoke up to accept the Seven-Tails capture.
Although Mōryō felt that Obito seemed somewhat ostracized and that he himself had gotten on the wrong ship, there was no helping it. He had come along with Obito, and at this point, saying anything was useless. He could only go along and accept it with him.
"Very well. The capture of the Seven-Tails is entrusted to you." Pain naturally would not refuse Obito's choice. They were currently in the phase of capturing tailed beasts, so having one more person contribute effort was naturally better.
After all, even if there were differences between them, those would come after capturing all the tailed beasts. Until then, they still had plenty of room for cooperation. This was also the current consensus between Nagato and Obito.
"Then, for the sake of this world, everyone, let us strive together."
...
Some time later
Near the priestess's mansion
"Master, Master, how was my performance just now? Did I meet your requirements?"
Having just finished training, Shion didn't hesitate and quickly ran to Furina's side to ask for her evaluation. At this moment, her eyes held nothing else but a full desire for rest.
Right now, the only difference between her and complete burnout was a physical one.
"Look how exhausted you are. See, Hikari, who trained with you, had a much heavier workload than yours, but she's still persisting. Are you really going to admit defeat?"
Looking at Shion panting heavily while staring at her with pleading eyes, Furina couldn't help but smile. Training with her wasn't a joke, but for this pampered little priestess who had been raised in comfort since childhood to persist like this was truly heartening.
"Ahh, Master, you know I've only just started training not long ago. How could I possibly compare to Big Sister Hikari? You're just bullying me!"
Facing Furina's goading, Shion clearly wasn't falling for it. If it had been at the very beginning of her training, this tactic might have worked on her, but after training together for a while, Shion had come to understand one thing.
Whether it was Furina or Uchiha Hikari, having this level of strength at their age made them complete monsters.
Before becoming a ninja, she had only thought Furina was really amazing and that Uchiha Hikari seemed no simple matter. But after becoming a ninja... emm, they were truly (expletive) badass.
And after deeply accepting this reality, no matter how much Furina tried to egg her on, she could no longer shake Shion's desire to just lie flat. And it wasn't that she truly wanted to slack off.
It was just that besides herself, the only ninjas around were two: Furina and Uchiha Hikari. As a total newbie who had just become a ninja, how could she compare to either of them? Even if she burned herself to ashes, it wouldn't work.
Therefore, Shion had come to terms with it. She would just act as a mascot cheering on her master and the others. Anyway, if any real danger came, Master and the others would definitely protect her, just like last time.
It could be said that because there were only Furina and Uchiha Hikari around her, with no one else for comparison, Shion somewhat underestimated her own strength.
As the priestess corresponding to the demon Mōryō, the amount of chakra in Shion's body was also extremely exaggerated. Before she started training, it was like having a mountain of treasure but being unable to mine it.
Furina's appearance was equivalent to handing her a pickaxe. Although she couldn't excavate the entire mountain at once, at least there was now a path for her to walk.
As for how far she could go, that depended on Shion herself. After all, the master leads you through the door, but cultivation relies on the individual. Furina didn't consider herself a particularly good teacher, so it still depended more on Shion's own effort.
And precisely because of this, after seeing that Shion had some misunderstanding about her own strength, Furina had no intention of clearing it up. Instead, she let this wonderful misunderstanding continue.
This way, the other could grow faster and gain the ability to stand on her own. Even if she faced Mōryō alone, she could still confront it—or even defeat it.
After all, although Furina would never let Shion face her nightmare alone, who could say for sure what the future held? Even the ninja world's fastest couldn't always make it in time, let alone her.