Gento released Mabui, his brow furrowing.
He gently pushed Mabui aside and said in a low voice:
"Go out first, I have an urgent matter."
Mabui opened her eyes, quickly straightened her collar, and restored her usual calm composure.
She bowed and withdrew from the study.
Gento then closed his eyes, sensing Orochimaru's position.
The mark of the Flying Thunder God was still there.
He did not hesitate; forming a seal with one hand, space distorted, and his figure vanished from the study.
The next instant, he was already standing inside a dark cave.
Orochimaru was leaning against a stone pillar at this moment. Seeing Gento arrive, he let out a raspy laugh.
"Gento, you have arrived at just the right time. The meeting is about to begin."
Gento nodded, saying nothing more. He directly put on the Akatsuki cloak and transformed into the appearance of Nanashi.
Following that, both of them simultaneously channeled chakra into their rings, casting the Astral Projection Jutsu.
Phantoms began to condense in front of them.
Pain, Konan, Kakuzu, Hidan, Deidara, Sasori, Zetsu, and Kisame.
One figure after another appeared in the dim space.
Pain's Rinnegan swept across everyone:
"Deidara and Sasori have successfully captured the One-Tail Jinchuriki, Gaara of the Hidden Sand Village."
"In addition, Kakuzu and Hidan have also successfully captured the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, Fu of the Hidden Waterfall Village."
"The purpose of summoning you all today is to perform the extraction of the Tailed Beasts from these two."
Deidara was the first to jump forward, gesturing with his hands, his face full of smugness:
"This capture of the One-Tail Jinchuriki was entirely thanks to my art!"
"You guys should have seen the clay bombs I dropped over the Hidden Sand Village! The scale of that explosion, that gorgeous brilliance..."
"In short, art is an explosion! Hahaha!"
Sasori stood to the side expressionlessly, not saying a word.
On the other side, Hidan squatted on the ground, spinning the Scythe in his hand, muttering away:
"That little girl of the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki ran quite fast, but she still could not escape my judgment."
"A pity, truly a pity, that I cannot sacrifice her to Lord Jashin. Having to only extract the Tailed Beast, Lord Jashin will definitely be unhappy."
Seeing that this group of freaks showed a tendency to continue chatting idly, Pain hurriedly raised his hand to stop them, saying:
"Do not idle chat any longer. Let us begin extracting the Tailed Beasts immediately."
Saying that, he formed hand seals with both hands.
The massive fingers of the Gedo Statue emerged from the darkness.
A purple chakra dragon emerged from the statue's mouth, pouncing toward the two Jinchuriki bound on the ground.
Gaara was wrapped in the sand of the Sand Binding Coffin, unconscious.
Fu was bound tightly by Hidan's chains, her face pale.
The chakra dragon bit their bodies, beginning the extraction of the Tailed Beasts.
The yellow chakra of the One-Tail Shukaku and the blue chakra of the Seven-Tails Chomei were stripped away bit by bit.
After a long time, the chakra of the two Tailed Beasts was finally completely absorbed into the Gedo Statue.
Gaara and Fu lost their signs of life.
One-Tail and Seven-Tails, gathering complete.
Deidara stretched his arms:
"It is over at last. Calculating the time, the pursuers from the Hidden Sand Village are probably about to arrive."
Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, a racket resounded from Deidara and Sasori's side.
Deidara said with a chuckle:
"Yo! The pursuers from the Hidden Sand Village have caught up! It seems they did not see enough of the previous art performance."
Sasori said indifferently:
"Let us go. I do not like wasting time. Dispose of them immediately."
Following that, the phantoms of the two were the first to dissipate.
Kakuzu suddenly spoke:
"There was previously news claiming that the Hidden Gento Village possesses three Tailed Beasts, namely the Two-Tails, Three-Tails, and Nine-Tails."
"Is the organization considering taking action against the Hidden Gento Village immediately to seize the Tailed Beasts?"
Hearing this, Konan's expression on the other side could not help but stir.
Kisame also immediately looked at Nanashi, whom Gento was disguised as, and said:
"Nanashi, you brat hail from the Hidden Gento Village. Do you have any suggestions?"
Just as Gento was about to weigh his words to speak, Pain suddenly raised his hand to stop him.
"The strength of the Hidden Gento Village cannot be underestimated. In a direct conflict, we do not have absolute certainty of victory."
"Once the Tailed Beasts of the other villages are collected, we will concentrate the strength of the entire organization to launch a surprise attack on the Hidden Gento Village."
"When that time comes, while Gento Uchiha remains unaware, we will directly catch them off guard!"
Hidan immediately waved his scythe and shouted loudly:
"Yes, yes, yes! When that time comes, we must definitely show that detestable Gento Uchiha some color!"
Kakuzu nodded, having no objections.
Pain spoke last:
"Each team will continue their missions. Meeting adjourned."
The phantoms of everyone then began to dissipate one after another.
Gento withdrew his chakra and glanced at Orochimaru beside him.
Orochimaru licked his lips:
"Where to next?"
Gento did not answer. Forming hand seals, he divided off a Shadow Clone.
"The clone will go with you. I have other matters to attend to."
Orochimaru did not press further, leaving the stronghold with the Shadow Clone.
Gento's original body closed his eyes, sensing the Flying Thunder God mark he had previously left on Hidan.
Following that, he activated the Flying Thunder God.
Space shifted.
Gento's figure appeared inside a dilapidated shrine.
Kakuzu and Hidan were just preparing to leave, with Hidan still clamoring:
"I haven't made a sacrifice to Lord Jashin for several days now. I must quickly sacrifice a few people, otherwise Lord Jashin will be unhappy."
Kakuzu was expressionless:
"Suit yourself."
Suddenly, a figure appeared out of thin air in front of the two.
Hidan and Kakuzu reacted swiftly, entering battle stances at once.
Hidan raised his blood-smeared triple-bladed Scythe, and Kakuzu's black threads emerged from his sleeves.
Only after clearly seeing that the newcomer was their colleague Nanashi did Kakuzu relax, though the vigilance in his eyes did not diminish:
"Nanashi? Why are you here? Weren't you in a team with Orochimaru?"
Hidan, however, was not as calm as Kakuzu, shouting:
"Hey! How did you brat suddenly appear right beside us!"
"And what kind of ninjutsu is this that you are using? To actually be able to suddenly appear in front of us without any warning?"
Gento did not answer their questions, instead casting his gaze onto the ground.
Lying there at this moment was a young girl.
She had light blue hair, a delicate face, and was wearing the shinobi attire of the Hidden Waterfall Village.
Except that, now, she was already devoid of breath.
It was precisely Fu, the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, who had just had her Tailed Beast extracted.
Gento walked forward, squatted down, and collected Fu's corpse into his Yomotsu space.
Then he stood up, looking at Hidan and Kakuzu with a smile:
"I have a use for this corpse, so I will take it with me. You two have no objections, right?"
Kakuzu said indifferently:
"It is just a useless corpse anyway. Take it if you want."
Hidan, however, stared at Nanashi, whom Gento was disguised as, with a face full of disbelief, revealing an expression of utter disdain and disgust as he said:
"Ewww! I say, Nanashi, no wonder the Hidden Gento Village didn't want you. So you are this kind of pervert! You won't even spare a corpse!"
The corners of Gento's mouth twitched, and several dark lines rose on his face.
He took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to beat Hidan up right there and then, and said flatly:
"Hidan, I have a piece of important intelligence regarding the Hidden Gento Village to tell you alone. Come over here with me for a moment."
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